#i feel like this made a lot less sense than my last answer lmao

[leonenjoyer69]

Both your OCs occupy space in my mind lol I love both Harry and Elias. Would you mind giving some more rambles please and thank you? About either one. I just love learning more about them.

VJEKBKDKF TYSM, I'M GLAD YOU LIKE THEM :D it makes me very happy to know that people enjoy my ramblings and art of my lil fellas :3 (also, all you sweet anons are gonna be the death of me with your mysterious identities!)

(SUB NOTE: if anyone ever has any ideas at all or art requests or something for either of my sillies PLEASE don't hesitate to bring them up I would literally love hearing any suggestion or answering any question ever)

Anyways!!! I've actually been waiting to drop a bunch of stuff on these fellas that I've been talking about with some folks on Discord (which y'all can also ask for if you wanna talk to me on there I LOVE TALKING TO YOU GUYS), so thank you for granting me the perfect opportunity >:3 so, without further ado, I shall begin:

First of all, i just wanted to drop my height HCs bc,,,, why not lmao

I can't exactly visualize heights very well in my mind so these may be a wee bit too tall, idk, but yeah! I think giving Hyde an extra half inch would be funny bc you KNOW that mf would just round up lmao. Elias is a bit taller than Hyde, which Hyde kinda hates sometimes, itty bitty fella.

Anyways!! Harry is first up for rambling bc I have less for him rn lmao. I don't remember if ive mentioned it much before on here, but I know I included it in the fic i did for him, and that's his Scottish accent :3 we as a fandom don't write Jekyll's accent enough so I like projecting it onto injured Hyde and now Harry 😌 MORE SCOTTISH JEKYLL PLEASE-

Harry didn't really have to worry about keeping face in the mindscape (except for when around Mind Lanyon, who would pester tf out of him over it) so he fell back to at LEAST having an accent. He partially fell back on it because 1, it made him feel a wee more comfortable, and 2, because of how often he revisited memories from university (specifically during his and Lanyon relationship ofc), so he's used to hearing himself speaking with at least a drawl.

But yeah, that accent kinda sticks with him when he gains control and he has quite a hard time shaking it, which makes for some fun interactions, like when Lanyon's trying to break down his office door :3333

I believe I've mentioned this, but Harry is very very sensitive to most physical sensations (touch, pain, etc.) and has some light and sound sensitivities for a decent bit after gaining control. Because of how long he spent in the mindscape with numbed senses, It really messed with him to suddenly have control again. Eventually he starts getting used to it again, but for the first few days he's practically on the edge of a mental breakdown at every moment. He's also super jumpy from it (and from the ungodly paranoia he got from the mindscape lmao) and is quite firmly "no touch" for about a week (except for when he initiates stuff with Lanyon). Once he gets used to it tho his touch starved ass is a lot more affectionate and such.

One last thing for him! He's also far more sensitive to hunger and thirst sensations/pain, so he tends to take far better care of their body while in control. It took him a short while to get used to eating and drinking again, but he's more than happy to do it, not realizing how much he had missed it. Plus, he's seen how horrible Jekyll and Hyde would take care of themselves, so he certainly doesn't want their neglect to be his downfall. He's also a bit more sensitive to being tired, but can't sleep very well (especially without Lanyon) because of paranoia and nightmares.

OKAY, NOW, onto Elias!! Most all this stuff is from a discord convo that I didn't feel like rewording, so... Sorry if the formatings weird 💀 (questions are indented and italicized, as well as abbreviated)

OKAY SO, For how Henry (or whoever) convinces Elias to switch back:

Elias usually throws some sort of fit when he's initially order to switch back (except for the very rare instances where he's actively wanting to switch back, like when everyone's busy and he starts getting lonely anyways), though most the time he'll simmer down when Henry starts sorta begging or when either Henry or Lanyon (or very occasionally Hyde) lowkey bribe him. Usually Henry (or Hyde) will bribe him with physical touch/affection (hugs, cuddling, kisses, stuff like that), or bonding time, like going out and doing things together and such (or just doing stuff together at the society, like watching Henry do science or doing paperwork 💀). (Also, sometimes Jekyll will just get somewhat impatient and start asking more desperately and the guilt kinda gets to Elias, Henry usually feels bad about it tho) otherwise, Lanyon will bribe him (quite grudgingly, might I add) with more time out, going to the park with Elias in shadow form and talking, or letting him get a gift for Jekyll or Hyde. But yeah, Elias is lowkey like a little affectionate, overactive puppy :3

[...] I misread "letting him get a gift for Jekyll or Hyde" as "letting him get a gift FROM Jekyll or Hyde" and swore for a moment that sometimes Jekyll/Hyde sent gifts to Elias but Lanyon stole them [... ]

LANYON WOULD TOTALLY STEAL ELIAS'S STUFF TO USE AS BARGAINING LEVERAGE 💀 but yes, bribery is the go to, this guy does NOT like being locked away, so when he does it's either out of guilt or he's getting something out of it, hehe

[...] Imagine that since Lanyon is probably taller than elias, he just hides some lf his stuff on higher places so that he cannot reach them, I feel like Elias would annoy the hell out of him so that he stops doing it though (Lanyon puts them back where they where, and when Elias isn't there, he just hides them again) also, I just imagined Jekyll like guilt tripping or manipulating him so that he drinks the potion

Oh he absolutely would, Lanyon would have a whole "confiscated" shelf for it too, and Elias would definitely whine about it with sooo much persistence. AND JFKGKKF YEAH JEKYLL WOULD 😭😭 both out of selfishness and not, since he still hasn't tested how the formula behaves when an alter ego is out for prolonged amounts of time, and sometimes he just wants Robert back.

Jekyll likes Elias, he just has more of a preference for Lanyon. Jekylls probably also got a bit less patience for Elias's whining after dealing with Hyde's for so long lmao, he always feels kinda bad about being mean or anything to Elias tho, since it's kinda his fault that Lanyon split.

Would Lanyon ever like bother Elias with the fact that Jekyll likes him better?? Like maybe, at one point he just gets too tired of him wanting to hang out with Jekyll and says to him that Jekyll just deals with him out of pity, and like Elias then just feeling kinda bad about it and wondering if Jekyll actually likes him??

If Lanyon's feeling especially spiteful and annoyed, probably, but also Elias worries about that enough on his own and bothers Lanyon with all his self deprecating thoughts anyways 💀

How does Hyde feel about Elias?

He's generally guilt free about the whole "splitting Lanyon" thing and /gen likes Elias way more than he likes Lanyon lmao. He still gets that sorta bitter anger and resentment when he looks at Lanyon, but he doesn't get that with Elias. Hyde kinda thinks that Elias is all the best parts of Lanyon (Except for Elias's emotional sensitivity sometimes, but Hyde deals. He feels surprisingly bad when he upsets Elias..) But yeah, Elias is most of the reason why Hyde is complacent enough to actually kinda lay low after messing up Blackfog and stuff, so Jekyll certainly likes Elias for keeping Hyde somewhat in check lmao

And that's everything I have for this!!! Thank you so much for the ask :D

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Melaka Mystica Deleted Scenes

I know I said I would take a break, and believe me, I have, but I wanted to post these before the desire to write something else came into my head. Now that this has been posted, however, I'm going to go play some Detroit Become Human and try like hell to not start writing out ideas for that as an AU lmao!

Deleted scenes:

Unlike many of my previous AUs, there aren’t a lot of scenes that didn’t make the cut as I followed my original plotlines pretty closely, but there are a few that I mentioned offhandedly that were never fully explained or fleshed out, so I figured I would post segments of my original scribblings just to show where my head was when I wrote certain lines.

(Part 1) This is a little explanation I wrote for myself when I started figuring out the plot so that everything flowed together well and it would feel like time had passed, but not a ton. I wanted it to feel like the genuine passage of time, but I only brought some of these to fruition and I’m pretty sure you can tell which ones!

"The kids have been practicing magic under the watchful eyes of Mick, Miles, and Carrie, who, despite not possessing magic, have worked in the magic shop for long enough to know the basics. The kids have sworn only to use their magic for good, and while they try to help everyone, it’s not always easy. Royce has spent most of his allowance on spell books - most of which don’t work as they aren’t legitimate spell books - and has gone a bit overboard trying to figure out every aspect of their powers. Kona has been practically glued to Bentley, pestering him about why he and the others have been acting strangely, but he refuses to tell her anything until they’re all on board for telling her. Vivien has tried everything in her power to give Mick some semblance of magic and heal her magical ties, but nothing seems to work."

So, yeah, I ended up only mentioning a few of them, but this is a little background to give off some more information on what’s happened since the last story.

(Part 2) Initially, Mick’s bond with everyone - especially the kids and particularly Vivien - hadn’t been affected at all. My original idea was that everything had just returned to normal and that everything was fine. The only time the whole possession thing would have bothered her would have been when the kids chose to give up their magic, making her freak out for seemingly no reason as, until that point, she hadn’t said much of anything about it. However, I realized that it made no sense and, if this had been a legit scenario, I would have wanted to seclude myself for a while in order to protect the people I loved in case something like that were to happen again. In the long run, I changed things around and made it feel like she had taken a lot from it - trauma especially.

(Part 2) Kona’s magical realization would have been a lot more fleshed out if I had followed my original ideas. It was supposed to have a full scene on its own, but I’ll let you read the bit I had written before I explain myself.

"Not long before Serena knocks at the door, Kona comes in, pressing them for answers as they haven't been answering their phones. They push her away because they don’t want her to get hurt if Serena comes, but she’s adamant. Ultimately, she storms off but runs into Dorothea, who sits her down, and they talk for a while, getting to the root of the issue and revealing Kona has abilities as well as she nearly sets the kitchen table on fire when she thumps her fist against it."

Now, if you’re anything like my niece who sort of told me off for getting rid of this, I bet you’re sort of wishing I had stuck it out and written this, but I have a few reasons as to why I hadn’t. First of all, I realized as I was writing that, if I were to break up the tension of Serena’s visit any more than I already had with Kona showing up, it would have brought more focus to Kona and less on the stress of Serena’s entire ending scene. It would have made it less impactful as your attention - or mine, at the very least lmao - would have been more focused on Kona’s abilities and how they suddenly came about. It would have been a jarring shift to go from this scene of Kona finding out she has magic, to Serena and the group’s plan to stop her. Second, I wanted Kona’s entrance in the third chapter to be subtle, yet mildly surprising. I didn’t want to go in-depth on her magic or explain her family’s magical history when the story didn’t need it. Still, I wanted her showing up in the woods to link back to her having a conversation with Mrs. Murphy where she, ultimately, discovered her magic in the first place. And, finally, I also cut this out because I was already a lot further along than I thought I would be and I sort of wanted to just get through Serena’s part and call it at that. However, the facts still stand, and I don’t really regret taking this part out as I feel it all worked out in the end.

(Part 3) Now, this is the part that I think I changed the most, but the first thing that comes to mind is this segment:

"After they ask some questions, Mrs. Murphy explains that, during an eclipse, the power transfer is most powerful and will give the vessel - sometimes a magic-less human - powers of their own as they permanently drain the powers from the witches." 

While not a lot has changed there, I’m sure the word “permanently” caught your eye. Yes, the transfer thing was going to be permanent, and in a way, I wonder what it would have been like if I had kept it this way. It would have killed me to write, but it would have hit everyone - me included - really hard. The three kids who had only had magic for two weeks, sacrificed all of it to save someone who wasn’t even truly a friend to them… I mean, wow, it would have really hurt and it would have been painful for the older group as well, as they knew they now had the kids’ magic with no way of returning it to its rightful owners. I kept going back and forth as to whether it was a goodidea to keep the kids as mages, but in the long run, what’s done is done… right?

(Part 3) Directly following the last part, we have this: 

"With that knowledge, we jump to them sitting around in Miles’ room, coming up with a plan. Vivien decides that Carrie, Miles, and Mick will keep crystals with them for protection - Malachite for protection from toxic energy, Smithsonite for bringing them back down to reality and granting the clarity they need to make tough decisions, and white Moonstone for full moon power."

As you can probably tell, I took this section and moved it to the second part as it felt more realistic that Vivien would have them take crystals from the shop. It also gave that sliver of friendship between Vivien and Mick, hinting that both of them want things to go back to how they were. Having it here sort of left things between them feeling flat and unnecessarily stiff whereas it felt more genuine putting it in an earlier section.

(Part 3) Something I don’t have any notes for, but remember writing down, was the idea of Serena taking Kona hostage after the scene in the woods goes south. I got rid of it early on as I felt Kona wouldn’t stand for that kind of thing and would be the most obnoxious hostage ever, pushing Serena to dispose of her when she’s driven her too far up the wall. Kona would be the biggest pain in the ass if she were ever kidnapped, and I love her for that.

(Part 3) When I started writing out the fight scene in the commons, a lot changed, but here is where I think things changed the most:

"As Serena makes her appearance, Kona turns herself invisible and begins taunting her, using her newfound abilities to keep the redhead at bay. It works for a while, but as the transfer nears completion, Serena gets desperate and sends a burst of magic around, knocking Kona to the ground. Royce opens his eyes as he hears the fight ending and looks at Carrie with wide eyes before telling her, “Behind you!” Unified by magic, the older trio turns their magic on Serena and, as the transfer completes, they lift into the sky and begin to fight her. In the middle of the fight, Miles sees the kids still stunned by their new abilities and gets Viv’s attention, telling her to get them out of there. Weakened, the young trio find Kona, stumble down the street to the safety of the nearby cemetery (Howard Street Cemetery), and surround themselves with heavy salt rings before collapsing in exhaustion."

Now, there are several parts of this that I broke off and worked on differently - Kona getting knocked out, Miles joining the fight immediately instead of checking on the kids, and the kids going to the cemetery instead of the Murphy family’s home. Kona getting knocked out changed when I realized that she could still work with the others as a distraction, a rune-maker, and someone who could help complete the circle for the exorcism/draining scene. She became more of a foreground character for that, and I like how it panned out. My decision to change Miles’ reaction to the kids was an easy one as I highly doubt he would have just up and left them to fight - he loves them far too much to do that. As for the cemetery thing, it was mainly going to be a callback to the Hocus Pocus movie, but I realized it would be much easier for them to run from the commons entrance to the already salt-protected house on Forrester Street than it would be for them to cross one of the busiest streets in Salem to get to a cemetery for the sake of hallowed ground.

(Part 3) Finally, the last thing I changed here was, well, this:

"When the kids awaken in the morning, they find themselves on air mattresses on the Murphy family’s living room floor. Serena, while grateful to finally have her mind back in order and no longer be possessed, is quick to leave, heading home after making sure to thank everyone for helping her and telling the others that she’d see them at school."

While I loved the idea of Serena knowing she had been possessed and admitting to it, my mom brought up the idea of her keeping it to herself as she didn’t want to sound like she’d lost her mind, and, honestly, I loved that even more. It is entirely up to you to decide whether or not she remembers everything as I made her brush it off as a bad dream and get kind of snippy and evasive over it, but that just felt like something Serena would do. It felt more like her to keep it inside for her own sake rather than admit she needed help and got it from the people she had abandoned for “greener pastures” with the popular squad. It would probably make her think a lot about whether or not she could actually consider the people she now kept close, “friends.” Also, just the idea of her having this internal, existential crisis over being possessed and everything she experienced while trapped inside her mind just made me laugh. 

Actual scenes that were inspired by movies/shows (spoilers, just in case):

Something about Vivien’s interaction with Carrie in the first part was inspired by George Weasley in this scene.

The part in the woods where they’re trying to drain Serena is inspired by this scene from WandaVision.

This scene from Avengers: Infinity War was what drove me to write the interactions in the commons the way I did. Initially, the transfer would have gone almost exactly like this, with everything falling apart around them and the older group having to fight while everything else was going on. It changed a bit, but I was very close to keeping things identical to this. I guess you could say I wanted them to suffer.

Again, I take a scene from WandaVision to show what I originally wanted the fight to end with. This would have been very different, obviously, but it would have caused a chain reaction that I wasn’t prepared for in the slightest, and I just didn’t go with it in the long run. (Kona would have taken on Wanda/Scarlet Witch’s lines and everything while Serena was Agatha Harkness)

Everyone's powers explained:

I know I went over it a little, but I wanted to sort of explain them a bit. The primary ones - Royce, Bentley, and Vivien - are the easiest to explain as they are the moon, sun, and stars respectively. Like in Magicae Maxima, their powers correspond with a color and, again, they are blue, yellow, and purple respectively. However, for the others, I figured I would explain a bit more as I didn’t go into it much in the story.

For starters, I always sort of imagined Kona as a comet - fiery and ready to blaze a trail, but still connected to the cosmos like the other kids. Her colors are a combination of pink and blue, the colors flowing from one to the other like a lava lamp as the heat comes and goes. The easiest to explain are Carrie, Mick, and Miles, who are fire, water, and lightning. Their magic sort of corresponds to the kids’ powers as well, just not the ones they took from. Carrie’s magic reminds me of the solar flares that arc off the sun, tying her abilities to Bentley. Miles’ lightning is quick and hot, like Vivien’s shooting stars, not to mention it flickers purple from time to time. Then, there’s Mick’s water-based magic, which is a direct representation of Royce’s moon abilities. The moon has a gravitational pull that affects the tide, linking her magic to his. As physical representations of the earth, the older trio have a direct link to each of the kids and their respective abilities, showing that the remnants of magic that remain in them after everything is done with the transfer, still have a connection to their origins.

As for the ones I touched on the least, Dorothea, Brady, and Tommy. As I already stated, Brady is a phoenix, Dorothea is a pegasus, and Tommy is a Cetus or a sea dragon. Again, their magic corresponds with the others, but their magic is different. As representations of mythical creatures, they have powers higher than the kids. Dorothea’s aura-reading, clairvoyance, and overall light magic give her a connection with Vivien and Miles; Brady’s heat, light, and fire generation powers give him tie-ins to Carrie, Bentley, and even Kona; and, even though we don’t see him, Tommy’s water manipulation and weather control abilities are a direct link to Royce and Mick. I sort of see this as an Avatar: The Last Airbender type of deal, where there are multiple facets of a person’s abilities, and they just have to find it in themselves to make things happen. The possibilities are endless, really; they just have to find that out for themselves.

Quotes:

(Mick)

*to Carrie or Miles, probably* "I used to think of myself one way. But, after this… I’m something else. I'm still me, I think. But... but that's not what everyone else sees."

“I know I'm here, but I still feel dead inside. I'm just- they-  even the people who say they care about me- I feel like I'm just a pinned butterfly to them now. They just want to put me under a microscope and learn about all my trauma.”

"Every night, the same dream, and every morning, the same nightmare."

“You may have ruined my past, but I won’t let you ruin my future.”

“I know what I’m like… and maybe that’s the issue here.”

“It will get better - maybe not today, maybe not in a week or so, but it will get better. I promise.”

(Serena)

*upon kidnapping Kona to see what she knew* “These are runes, and in a given space, only the witch that cast the runes can use her magic. Your powers are useless here."

"You break the rules of the universe and become the hero, but when I do it, I become the enemy.” *scoff* “That doesn't seem fair, does it?"

“You’re just a pawn - another way for me to get what I want. You’re disposable, kid; get used to it.”

*after being freed* “I want to thank you guys, but at the same time, I want to scream.” *sigh* “It’s been a long night.”

“I still feel it there, in the back of my mind. It’s like a part of me is back to being whatever I was before, but there’s this part of my brain that wants nothing more than to plunge a knife into your chest… I don’t feel like a good person anymore.”

(Kona)

“I’m a bad bitch, you can’t kill me!”

*after Serena divulges her plan to her like Doofenshmirtz to Perry the Platypus* “Look, I have an attention span the size of a Goldfish cracker, and your voice is obnoxious, so I tuned you out, like, ages ago.”

“Everyone’s pretty tired of your shit, Serena, and if I had to guess, you’d probably say the same if you weren’t possessed by such a dramatic bitch of a demon.”

“Remember how you described me as a pawn? Well, this is checkmate. This is it. This is the end. I suggest you resign while you still have the choice.”

(Royce)

“When is she not a total bitch?”

“Why do I feel like we’ve just opened Pandora’s box or something?”

“It feels like there's a hole where my magic used to be. It's like its been ripped out of my chest, and now I'm just left here, bleeding out... It's too warm.”

“After everything we’ve been through… it can’t be for nothing, can it?”

(Vivien)

“You’re not evil, you’re just a little fucked up in the head still, and that’s fine. I still love you.”

“If I had a nickel for every time I’ve seen a demon possess someone this year, I’d have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right?”

“If the demon learned how to drive in two weeks, I’m sure it could learn to parallel park if it actually gave a fuck.”

*typing in Google* “How to get a demon to teach you how to drive.” “Vivien, no!” “Well, if you won’t teach me, it will!”

(Bentley)

“How on earth did she eat the cafeteria food if she’s got dark magic in her? That stuff’s saltier than the ocean.”

“Maybe we can therapize her!” “Therapize?” “We can be her therapist.” “You want to play therapist for a literal demon?” *sigh* “I really need to start thinking things through before I say them, don’t I?”

“Can’t we just pour salt in her mouth or something?” (horrified looks from everyone in the room) “What? It’s a genuine question!”

(Misc.)

“She was your meat puppet, I just cut her strings.”

“Not my mother, you bitch!”

“The thing is, you're using words... but the thing about this world is that the only universal language is violence. And I know we've both spoken that language before.”

“You want to be the hero? Then die like one!”

“Please? For me?” “You can’t just say that. You know I’d give you the world if you asked for it.”

“You used me as a weapon. That's all I was to you. Not a friend, just a weapon for you to use and throw away when you’re sick of it. Well, guess what?! I'm choosing what I fight for now!”

Songs:

No Body, No Crime by Taylor Swift

I Know The End by Phoebe Bridgers

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) by Nancy Sinatra

Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd

Burn The Witch by Shawn James

I know it's not a lot, and I'm very sorry I didn't have more; however, I really stuck close to my original ideas this time. I wish I had more to offer you, but I do hope that you enjoyed these little crumbs of ideas! I think, for a little while, I'm going to work on some one-shots to expand my characters' backgrounds a bit, but for now, I think I'm just going to play some games, maybe a little Minecraft or DBH, and then scroll mindlessly through Pinterest or TikTok for ideas. For now, however, I hope you have a great day and that everything is going well for you across the ocean! All the love!

[cleromancy]

I absolutely enjoyed reading your analysis and take on why people tend to put most of the blame on Tim rather than taking into account that other characters are just as culpable. You really help me understand why Jason stans might resent Tim for victim-blaming Jason more than the other characters (although it is still them showing their double-standard thought process at the end of the day). In truth, no one is innocent in the situation. Everyone is culpable to some degree for blaming a child for his own demise, and its frankly disgusting.

its one of those things thats really interesting both in universe and from a meta perspective bc. blaming jason for his own death when sheila sold him out to the joker who then murdered them both, which dc wrote/illustrated/published, which they decided to do because of the results a fricking READER POLL... its so silly lmao. and by making it jasons fault the blame doesnt rest with batman, for having a robin in the first place, or dc, for writing and publishing the story. absolutely fascinating tapestry of blame and fault here on all levels

i was thinking some more about it though and i do think its got some to do with tims personality and demeanor as well. hes a perfectionist and a control freak and there are times when he expresses that if someone cant hack it to tims (arbitrary) standards they shouldn't be doing it at all, that kind of thing. and this is something bruce and dick both do as well, bruce is pretty famous for it even, but they're also both like... i mean we already talked about bruce in the last ask but on top of that hes like. scary competent and intimidating. like. hes batman! and with dick, dick is the first robin, hes *the* nightwing, dick was canonically this keystone figure for the new earth dcu hero community... hes a big fucking deal yknow. in-universe people listen to them, and for good reason, and out of universe a lot of the time reading it its like. Well they'd know! and by contrast tim does not have that kind of authority he just acts like be does... like hes made a solid name for himself by the time the reboot hits but absolutely not on dick or bruces level. so when Tim says something about like you shouldn't be doing this you're going to get yourself killed its like. who is this squeaky little toddler and why is he telling me what to do. like its like "who died and made you robin" except the answer to that is uh. Jason todd.

anyway yeah i like to rotate this as an aspect of characterization for everyone involved bc in like. the version that lives in my head the narrative doesnt present them as Right so it becomes *about* the tragedy, *about* grief and the way sometimes a story gets warped in retelling, about coping by putting sense in something senseless... but. it gets a lot less fun when youre reading something and the story itself is like "Yes this 14 or 15 year old only died bc he broke the rules he got what was coming to him & he deserved it :)" loud booing i dont care for that at all.

dick is also interesting bc hes one of the only characters i can think of other than leslie barbara who blames bruce at any point for jasons death, which i neglected to mention in my other ask. (its kind of a big topic and in my defense you were just askinf about bruce Alfred and tim... sorry dickie ily) like dick took more work to convince that a new robin was necessary than bruce did and dick like... dick was so angry and heartsick and guilty over jasons death and all those feelings just went *everywhere* including at himself. so its absolutely a lot more palatable coming from dick and-- i mean i mentioned demeanor earlier. tim tends to be either very blunt or very sharp and he is NOT known for phrasing things diplomatically, like, at all. dick might be thinking about the mistakes he imagines Jason making on the road to his death but what he'll say out loud is usually smth like "he wasn't ready," and its also a lot more palatable coming from dick bc you *know* hes also thinking he himself Should Have trained jason more himself or done this or that other thing.

dickies so so so good hes doing his best. i love him so much. what were we talking about

[mx-piggy]

who do you suspect the most this season on the Afterparty?

oh god i'm so indecisive about this, not to mention it took a very slight spoiler/hint for me to even consider Yasper as a suspect in season one, and even then it wasn't until the final moments leading up to the reveal that i realised that it had to be him lmao.

i feel like everyone's a suspect still at this point, which is a cop-out answer for sure, but i'm not intelligent enough to come up with my own theory, so i'm relying a lot on the redditors.

my main theory is that more than one person is involved this season. who? i can't say for sure, but there are certain combinations that i've definitely considered. i think that it'll be someone whose episode is from the first half of the season and someone who is from the last half of the season.

i feel like i still can't rule out Grace or Hannah yet because it makes too much sense that one of them was involved. i want them both to be innocent and to run off into the sunset together, but part of me still thinks one of them did it. that said, from a storytelling point of view, i don't know if the writers would go with such obvious culprits? if the devil's trumpet really is the murder weapon, i feel like it'd be too obvious for Hannah to have poisoned Edgar because she's into macabre horticulture, if that makes sense. then again, there are a lot of theories that the devil's trumpet is a red herring. as for Grace, i feel like the suspicion she's been held with since the beginning could rule her out as a suspect. the ending of Sebastian's episode made them look deliberately suspicious, but, like many people, i think maybe the thing they didn't tell Aniq and Danner is that they were together on the night of Edgar's murder, and/or that they were planning on running away together or something like that. so, i think the fact that they both look so suspicious means they didn't do it?? maybe?? then again, maybe this is a double bluff on the writers' part. god, i'm not intelligent enough for this show. if Grace did it, i think it's likely she was in cahoots with Hannah or Travis, and if Hannah did it, she was in cahoots with Grace, Sebastian or possibly Travis. Maybe Ulysses as well?

once again, i also think Sebastian is still kind of suspicious, but i don't know if the writers would use someone with a similar motive to Yasper again. then again, the writers have gone out of their way to make him look suspicious in earlier episodes, so this makes him look a little less suspicious, if that makes sense? if he was involved in the murder, i think it's likely that he might have done it with Travis or Isabel, or possibly Hannah.

i'm also a little suspicious of Travis after reading some reddit theories. people have noticed that he dumbed himself down a little in his episode compared to how he's portrayed in Sebastian's episode, which is kind of odd given he's supposed to be a self-aggrandising reddit sleuth. if it was him, it'd make sense because he'd feel like he knows how to cover up a murder. if it was him, like i've said before, i feel like it would have been with Sebastian, Grace or Hannah.

i've seen some theories that Edgar was doing something to mess with Isabel's mental state, such as gaslighting or drugging her. that said, i don't think i'm overly suspicious of her just yet (as always with this show, i'm prepared to eat my words). it seems like she does have an issue of some kind with her mental state- some have suggested dementia- so i don't think the writers would go down the route of 'the very mentally unwell person did the murder' if this actually is the case for Isabel because it's kind of insensitive.

i really don't know what to make of Zoe and Grace's family nor Isabel yet, so i'm hoping i'll be able to make a better judgement once some of their episodes are released. i think that Feng, Vivian and Ulysses might just look so suspicious because of a possible family secret they're all hiding, rather than the fact that they did a murder. of the three of them, Ulysses is probably the most suspicious and the most probable of Zoe's relatives i can see as having committed the murder. part of me thinks that the writers wouldn't have any of Zoe's family be involved in the murder because it'd be something that would personally affect Zoe and Aniq too much. then again, they've made a point to say that Aniq needs to stop looking at his 'job' as proving Grace and her family's innocence, so maybe it was them? i could see the writers possibly going down the route of it being accidental if Zoe's family is involved. but, again, i'm prepared to suspect Zoe's family if i hear any convincing theories.

to summarise, i am not intelligent enough for this show and i will be pleasantly shocked by whoever the killer(s) is/are revealed to be. this is a sentiment i rarely hold but in this case: thank god for reddit, or i'd be even more clueless.

(also, to anyone who sees this, i need to hear people's Afterparty theories so feel free to comment, rb or DM me)

[yourmoonmomma]

Its great to know you been taking things with a new perspective! I hope it guides you where you want to be. How is everything going for you in work? Ive been back to classes in university but in another campus, im with just two classes so I go Mondays and Thursdays, I have music and biodance which has been pretty interesting and fun, its a new ambient for me away from all the toxicity from my other campus, interacting with new people and this campus is small but quite nice which I enjoy a lot. Im practicing with keyboard piano/piano and its really fun considering ive never worked with an instrument before (flute doesnt count☠️) on the other side sadly I got the flu lmao not even three weeks and I already got ill lol and ive been looking out for jobs applications but its quite difficult. My dad is moving some strings with a friend of his so I can work in a KFC lol so im waiting for their answer, it would be part time Saturday and Sunday and I would finish my turn around 6-7pm and the best is that is really close to my home so the travel would be short. All for the money tho even if it makes me anxious🤑🤑

Thank you <33 It's going pretty good with work! Only dedicating myself for like the last half of the month in March, I made more than I expected to. So if I remain even more dedicated & focused this month, I think I'll be really really happy with the results!

I'm glad you're back to school, but ESPECIALLY that you're on a different campus!! I play piano, it's a good instrument! I'm glad you're having fun with it <33 Though I am sorry to hear you got the flu :( I hope it clears up soon! My friend had/has the flu, and it hit her reallyyyy bad. Just that time of the year I think! I hope you get the job at KFC, that's so exciting!! It makes sense to be anxious about it, but I know you'll do fine, and after the first few shifts it should start to feel a bit less anxiety-inducing, and a bit more comfortable! I'm happy for you, and proud of you!! <33

[nalgasde-hao]

(Deciding if I should put this as anonymous or show my avatar...I just don't want anyone coming after me when I ask or say this stuff. They're just questions and I like to hear your answers...ah, screw it, I'm just gonna show my avatar. XP )

I got two questions and one opinion. Here's my opinion: I hate how they made Aang in Korra. People say that he was a bad dad, and I feel like he was written that way on the show, which wasn't intentional, but it looked like it was...by the creators themselves. It would seem the creators are in denial of how they made Aang, cause he's their fave character or something. Don't get me wrong, I like Aang too, but...the creators are really unaware of how they made him into a bad dad in Korra. ^^;

Now for the two questions:

Let's just agree that ATLA is the superior show, and Korra is...eh. Now, Kataang happened on that show, which is fine. HOWEVER, do you think if Taang happened, the events in Korra would've been a WHOLE LOT different and maybe a whole lot...better? Cause Aang's kids' Bumi and Kya in Korra felt unwanted by him in a way and Katara would've said something(which I honest-to-goodness think the whole Kataang hooking up 3 months later after the war in ATLA thing is poor writing. Like let us SEE what happened after that!), whereas Toph would've been like "Twinkles, no, get your priorities straight." And honestly, the Aang WE know would cherish those kids either way, it wouldn't matter if they weren't airbenders. I guess what I'm saying is, do you think Aang and Toph would've been the most awesome and take-in-charge power couple ever and that it would affect the story in Korra in general? Think deeply on that.

Do you think Kataang was necessary for the story of ATLA? I mean, I'm kind of being honest, I don't think anything would've changed if it wasn't included. However, I honestly do believe that Taang would've changed and affected Korra a lot more, whereas people would say Zutara would've affected ATLA. Course, I'm a big Taang fan, and I like Zutara a bit, but I'm mostly Team Taang. XD I just also think it would've made sense for Aang to not be so hooked up on Katara and actually start finding other girls attractive(cough, like Toph, cough) as he grows. It's just...I feel like the whole last part of ATLA was just bad writing. ^^; What are your thoughts?

Wow, first of all, thanks for taking the time to write to me! i really appreciate it ( ͡👁️ ͜ʖ ͡👁️)

Regarding your opinion, I COMPLETELY AGREE. I get that Aang only had Gyatso as a father figure until he was 12 y/o, so he's a bit screwed on that front, but I am CONVINCED that what they did with his paternity was an aberration. I mean yes, surely he had to be absent due to his duties as the avatar, but I REFUSE to believe that he would have taken ONLY to Tenzin on a trip to learn the customs of the air nomads. If there is something that ATLA made clear to us, it is that no matter what nationality you come from, Aang is always going to want to make you smile and show you the fun that can be had, so yes, it doesn't make ANY SENSE to me that he wouldn't have brought to ALL their children to their trips. On the other hand, even though it might have happened a few times (because Aang is a bit of a dork pff lmao), Katara would have NEVER let that happend. Aang would have noticed and would have done ANYTHING to make up for the lost time with his two other children, so yeah, totally agree with you there.

I got excited so I'll try to be more brief with the questions ( ͡눈 ﹏ ͡눈)

Well, there are several comics after the Hundred Years War that more or less show Katara and Aang's relationship (and I'm not going to lie to you, even though I love Taang, Kataang are such a cuties). And regarding Taang as parents, I once read a post from @stitch1830 in response to something similar, and I couldn't agree more. More than opposites, both complement each other perfectly, and I think that in the same way that they do it romantically, they would also do it as parents. Toph, grounding expert that she is, would have been stern if she had noticed that Aang had preferential treatment with any of their children. Similarly, we know the flaws in Toph's motherhood, and I feel like Aang would have managed to balance the excessive freedom she gave her daughters, giving them more structure to their lives and a respect for traditions. On the other hand, I'm VERY SURE Toph was terrified growing up of her daughters being alone (of course, she's too stubborn to even show it), I guess afraid that she might be a terrible mother like her parents were to her. No doubt Aang would have calmed all those worries. AAGH I LOVE THEM SO MUCH (╥︣﹏᷅╥)

2. While Kataang wasn't necessary (it certainly wouldn't have affected the plot too much if it hadn't happened), I think it was a natural fit between the two. Extremely stressed and full of traumas from the war, Katara was the safe, maternal and familiar place that he needed so much, while for Katara, Aang was the hope to cling to, the calm she needed from all the anger contained by the war with the fire nation. Let's say that both of them were attracted to each other for those reasons, because they needed each other.

But you're right, for me, the love that Aang felt for Katara was something platonic, something that had to pass as his first love, after all, she was the first girl he met and who technically saved him from the iceberg. As you say, it would have been much more interesting if both of them grew up to realize that they were each other's support in times of war, and eventually broke up to meet other people (i mean, they met at 12 y/o and 14 y/o, and you say they were together ever since for the rest of their lives? I don't think it's realistic. I guess Aang's world travels and Katara's desire to work in the southern tribe would have also driven them apart over time.

My Taang headcanon is that their relationship started because, first, Aang has to continue to travel the world for his avatar duties, and on the other hand, because Toph hates being stuck in one place, loves freedom, and traveling the world is what connected her the most with it when they were at war. That way she would have joined his travels and little by little they would have begun to fall in love. It would have been entertaining to watch Aang and Toph go through the conflict of realizing that they find each other attractive. (Aang like: "Since when is my sifu so cute? If I fall in love with her she'll kick my ass!, Toph by her side would have been like: "Me? In love with twinkle toes? That skinny? (who is no longer so skinny cofcof) i prefer to be dead before!)

Yeah, I said I was going to keep it short- but FUCK, I really wanted to be able to express everything I was thinking. Thanks again for asking! I'll always be on the lookout and ready to continue talking about a thousand years of Taang and why I think they work so well, cheers!

[covenofthearticulate]

fic asks!!

🎈describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change?

💥 find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

💎 why is writing important to you?

Questions for Fic Writers

🎈describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change? God, I have no idea WHAT my style is, but I definitely know it's changed over the years! I think in the past, I used to think of the entire point of fic as just telling a story, with a beginning, middle, and end. These days, I approach fic as more of an exploration, or a character study. I let myself meander on tangents if I want to, and I spend a lot more time trying to let the emotions breathe so that the plot feels organic rather than just getting from point A to point B, if that makes sense. I spend more time on setting the mood and the tone, which I guess as a result has made my style more lyrical and less literal.

💥 find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

Weirdly, I have 3 fics tied for last, with 34 kudos on each LMAO but I think I'll say something nice about Permission because I've been kinda ragging on it in my other answers asdgsekfghjvbsdf

Even though it was an absolute pain in the ass to write, there are moments of Permission that I think hit really hard! I think my favorite passage in the whole fic is:

I am not like you, Louis whispers in that silent voice between only them. It gives me no pleasure. “Not like me?” Armand frowns, kneading at Louis’ hair as he rolls the words over in his mind. “My love, you are more like me than you will ever admit to yourself.” He lets the words land like a branding iron. Like a kiss. 

I didn't realize it when I was writing it, but I think this was kind of my thesis with this fic LMAO like I think it's really easy for Louis to dismiss his own desires when everyone is fawning over him all the time so I really wanted Armand to check him on that and remind him that he's just as needy and starved and depraved as the rest of them

💎 why is writing important to you?

Fuck if I know LOL! In a lot of ways I still feel like a little girl sitting in my bedroom and making up stories, but as I grow older and am wrestling with different griefs and different Life Things, it's nice to have a place that's familiar. If you asked me 10 years ago, I would've told you that writing was an escape, but right now, writing for me is an exercise in empathy, and it's so incredibly cathartic to be able to feel emotions outside of my own. Like, I get burnt out from Real Life Shit every day, so being able to sit down and like Cry over Louis is actually really important because then when I get up and go about my business, the world just feels a little less daunting and a little less lonely <3

[starrrbakerrr]

In your opinion, please rate thg movie series with 1-5 scale.

(1 = I hate it, 3=neutral, 5 = I love it.)

1.The Hunger Games :

Things that you like :

Things that you don't like :

2.Cathing Fire :

Things that you like :

Things that you don't like :

3.Mockingjay part 1 :

Things that you like :

Things that you don't like :

4.Mockingjay part 2 :

Things that you like :

Things that you don't like :

Thank you 😊

@curiousnonny

I have many drafts of unanswered asks and I’m finally getting around to answering! Thanks @curiousnonny :)

1. THG = 2.5

I don’t hate it and it’s not terrible, some of it is really good actually like how they did Rue’s death. I think my biggest qualm is how poorly they set up Everlark and somewhat mischaracterized Peeta. I remember watching it in theatres and being very disappointed. Having read the book first, it just wasn’t how the world and characters looked in my mind so it was a hard adjustment and I still feel disconnected from the movies. I distinctly remember questioning why they made the cornucopia silver and futuristic when in the book it is described as golden and looks the standard Thanksgiving cornucopia lol (side note: I know the book cornucopia seems unrealistic or out of place in high tech Panem, but I just think it being unrealistic is kinda cool because it’s a remnant of North American culture)

2. Catching Fire = 4

It’s my favorite, and I think a lot of that stems from Catching Fire being my favorite book of the series. They did change some things and it wasn’t perfect. I don’t like how they played up the triangle more than it was. Most of the changes were reasonable however and Everlark’s chemistry was amazing. The beach scene is the best moment of all movies. The entire Quell was great and the standout.

3. Mockingjay Pt. 1 = 3

4. Mockingjay Pt. 2 = 3

I actually never saw the Mockingjay movies until they were on Netflix last year and I can barely remember anything 😭. But I ultimately think they’re better than the first movie. Good, solid 3.

Overall with the Trilogy movies, I think they are really good acting wise and effects/production, but they aren’t the best adaptations of the overall story. I also love the books so much I’ll always be picky about the movies.

Gonna add in TBOSAS –

I’m gonna give it a 4.25 even though I like Catching Fire more. I think it’s casted really well from lead roles to minor roles. I was disappointed in some changes, like lessening the roles of Coriolanus’s classmates (particularly Clemensia and Lyssie). I don’t like how they killed everyone with the snakes lmao. Especially Reaper, though I loved that they had him speak to really get the point across to audiences that didn’t read the book and for that reason I thought it was unnecessary to make him have some sacrificial death. Ngl they dragged out the actual games a bit more than needed when the before and after the games is more interesting to me.

I wish they delved more into Sejanus individually and his relationship with Coriolanus. I love Sejanus so much 🥺. Overall though I think the changes made sense to make the story more digestible and clear to movie audiences. I feel less attached the book so I’m more lenient towards the movie adaptation. I could care less about Snowbaird, but I think TBOSAS is the most thought-provoking book of the series. I think they their best to get the point across. Though I really do hate that because of the movies people have given Snow excuses for his actions and try to justify the very toxic relationship he has with Lucy.

[dovveri]

Hi dovee how are youuuuu?

I actually feel rly bad for her cuz before they even found out she was trans, there were a lot of men who were being rly degrading to her in her comments and also threatening to start stalking her. Like she had to make a post about how she felt uncomfortable and for them to please stop making threats to her safety. This discourse of men and bear tbh gives me headaches cuz men are so butt hurt that they made a video (ai) of a zombie-like bear (slippery skin if I'm not mistaken) that would "definitely kill women" because its literal goal is to brutalize women but only those who chose bear over men. Like imagine having your ego so hurt that you make this as a response to a hypothetical question that was made to inflate the ego of a man who was trying to flirt. And again, because they fail to have any common sense they can't understand the question and why people answer the way they do😭 I saw a 3-minute long video of a girl explaining the answers so that that kind of men could understand and on the comments, there were still some guys who were like "oh, but the bear would definitely kill you!" like-

HIIIIII OMG my fav person to talk to abt 🤢men🤮 omg i didnt know they were saying that stuff to her even before they found out she was trans? thats terrible omg i genuinely think the less centralised womens lives are around men the more misogynistic they get like did u see the recent bumble billboards? a man HAD to have made that and crazy too as like a response to the 4b movement gaining traction in the west they had to be like “celibacy isnt the answer guys!” like what?!?! u can also be celibate and still date men?? and from BUMBLE too like the platform that was meant to champion women making the first move and everything its so disappointing

ok i recently also watched poor things and i DESPISED it like it got so much love and wtv from being a ‘feminist’ film but um????????? no absolutely the fuck not all it did was champion pedophilia like the director (A MAN) ltr just put all his kinks in one movie and called it feminist bcs it was ‘sexually liberating’ and GOD I HATE THIS ARGUMENT like i HATE that the only thing men have gotten out of the feminist movement is “oh! women enjoy sex too? amazing go women!” like NO SHUT UR ASS UP sexual liberation was important bcs it gave women autonomy about WHO they wanted to have sex with, if they even WANTED to have sex with people, it gave them more purpose to sex than just bearing children it allowed them to enjoy sex just as men have been able to for centuries. but feminism is SOOOO much more than that but ofc thats the only part that men pay attention to right? UGH i ranted abt this film more in my letterboxd review LMAO but i wont text dump here

OMG YES EXACTLY THAT LIKE THE MAN V BEAR QUESTION WAS POSED BY A MAN like exactly what u said he asked it bcs he thought it’d be an easy ego boost since in his head there was no way a woman would choose a bear over him. and this zombie ai thing?? wtf theyre literally going to show EXACTLY what we’re talking about bcs people that r making that are also the ones killing women in video games and normalising violence against women and combining it with sexualisation of women? so its rly if they had the tools to do it they would and THEY HAVE THE TOOLS so no wonder we’re terrified?

last point i swear but the line between lust and anger? is SO CLOSE lots of men dont realise it but they can go from being absolutely in love with someone and willing to do anything for them, to wanting them dead or worse (junko furata)

[purplesurveys]

1582

satiating my craving for bts-related questions part 2/5

We start with the basics: Your bias(es)? Your bias wrecker? Bias would be Namjoon, bias wrecker has long been Yoongi.

The music that made you discover BTS? This is always a difficult question to answer because it wasn’t their music that got me into them, but their variety/reality shows that allowed me to know more about them in less rigid/polished situations...but I guess the song that decisively turned me into a fan is Life Goes On. I burst into tears when I heard the lyrics for the first time.

Favorite album? I am forever the biggest cheerleader there is for Map of the Soul: 7.

Top 5 favorite songs? I have a top 2 – Butterfly and Sea – but top 5 is kinda difficult because after those two songs I love all their other stuff equally hahaha. Keeping it to OT7 songs, I’d say other songs that can make the cut would be Autumn Leaves, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and Spring Day.

Favorite solo song from BTS albums? Namjoon: Reflection.  Jin: Epiphany Yoongi: First Love Hobi: Outro: Ego Jimin: Serendipity Taehyung: It’s a very difficult choice between Singularity and Stigma, but I think I’ll go with Stigma because of his amazing falsetto towards the end. Jungkook: My Time.

Favorite solo song out of BTS albums? Namjoon: everythingoes and Bicycle. Jin: ABYSSSSSSSS. Do covers also count? Because his rendition of Autumn Outside the Post Office is beautiful. Yoongi: The Last. Hobi: Blue Side for days. Jimin: With You. Taehyung: Winter Bear. Jungkook: Still With You.

Favorite mixtape? It was Hope World for a while, but mono has since crept up to be my favorite. I listen to the mixtape from start to finish every Sunday evening because it helps calm me down when I start thinking about work.

Favorite friendship? Taejin is my main ~ship because 1) I feel like their friendship is the least focused-on, and I love me some underrated duos lol, and 2) They’re the only ones who have actually fought on camera, and there’s just something about that that made me admire their dynamic more?

I love Yoonjin’s friendship for the Yoongi’s-only-hyung bond; Namkook because of the massive amount of respect that friendship contains; Yoonkook because I like the fact that Yoongi lets Jungkook get away with everything that the other boys can’t; and I love the closeness from the 94z and 95z.

Favorite BTS meme? Everytime the Run BTS editors portray the boys with their souls leaving their body after having done something scary or stressful.

Favorite MV? Pretty basic and expected answer but I’ll have to go with BST.

Which member personality is like yours? So I feel like I would jibe with Namjoon the most. He’s an extroverted dude who likes to meet new people; goes out every chance he gets regardless of how much he’s worked and socialized in the past few days; and visiting museums and other cultural spots is his pastime. He also loses everything he owns and breaks everything he touches...at this point, I am convinced I am pretty much just a girl version of him lol.

Jimin also! As a big extrovert himself I feel like we could easily hit it off. He strikes me as someone who’s super chill and can create lots of fun wherever he is and whoever he’s with.

Which member’s style you like the most? I mean I think all Armys are in agreement when we say that Hobi has the finest fashion sense of all the members.

Who's the funniest member? This title goes to both Jin and Jungkook.

Who's the most comforting for you? Namjoon, which I feel like comes out naturally due to his being the leader; and Yoongi, since he is also the most realistic of the boys. He’s the first person to tell you it’s okay to fuck up, be lost, have to give up on your passions for a while, etc because you will eventually find your way.

Who could be the scariest when he's pissed off? I feel like a lot of people would say Hobi, but have you seen Jimin when he gets less-than-happy? He was never the type to hide his annoyance on camera and I wouldn’t want to piss him off lmao. He’s thrown glares and pursed lips towards the members that would otherwise make me feel like want to shrink lol. 

Smile you like the most? Taehyung’s.

Laugh you like the most? There have to be multiple winners for this lmao because Hobi’s, Jimin’s, Jin’s, and Jungkook’s laughs all make me laugh myself.

Voice you like the most? Namjoon’s and Yoongi’s for reasons any other fan would know lol.

Eyes you love the most? Jungkook’s.

Which song can make you cry? (solo/group) Answer: Love Myself.

Which song make you happy? (solo/group) Dimple, because I have one lol

Which song to kick asses? UGH!, or Tear.

Which song to party? Home and Love Maze are perfect for my type of party.

Which song make you feel invincible? Idol and Run BTS.

Sexiest song? Singularity.

Lyrics that touched you the most? From 00:00 –

When the second hand and the minute hand overlap, The world holds its breath for a very brief moment Zero o’clock And you’re gonna be happy, and you gonna be happy Like that snow that just settled on the ground, Let’s breathe as if this is the beginning And you’re gonna be happy, and you gonna be happy Turn this all around A time when everything is new, zero o’clock

Best live performance at an award ceremony? Their 2016 MAMA performance was great overall but I’m particularly a sucker for the Boy Meets Evil/Lie mashup intro that Jihope did. 2019 MMA of course has since evolved to become one of their must-watches and is my absolute favorite.

Best choreography? Fire and Mic Drop.

One of your favorite moments on Vlive? When 95z took over Namjoon’s live and pretended to be expensive sculptures, and Namjoon played along with the gimmick hahaha. Taehyung forcing Yoongi to spit out “I love you” during the latter’s birthday was hilarious too.

The moment you laughed the most with them? Probably the photozone episode of Run BTS. I made SO MUCH noise when I watched that for the first time.

The moment you cried the most with them? I wasn’t there to cry with them then, but it was the moment they gave their speech at the 2018 MAMA especially when Jin mentioned the band had been thinking of breaking up. I know 2018 was mentally the toughest for the boys and the fans so I can’t even imagine what winning all those awards meant for them that night.

Your favourite BTS memory?  Deciding that I was going to be a fan right after I heard Life Goes On for the first time.

[demon-bfoty]

watched a tonne more movies since my last post, so here are some of my quick notes! note that this will have some spoilers for all the movies below so yknow

Nightmare on Elm Street

good story, good writing. much more of a story it felt than the others I watched. Or maybe i mean more content that is plot than just running and dying. cool kinda sins of the father thing. nancy was p cool in that last part. great visuals and effects. freddy got clowned on

Mandy

extrmely good stuff. throughout there were such amazing visuals and shots. the use of colour and lighting was phenominal. the build up to the instigating event was so well paced, and then the secquence of nic cage essentially becoming the slasher and all the action was unreal. great job from all and great acting. nic plays an entirely broken man extremely well. the mild otherworldly aspect was great esp when it turns out to all just be drugs. and how they used the sound!!! all the effects and distortions and reverbs and god knows what else theyre all called but they were fantastic

Scream

fun movie! liked how self aware it was of the slasher genre, makes sense being Wes Craven. the slasher himself was real entertaining and the characters were well written. all the teen like issues and emotional stress. good effects on the kills, still practical which i like. amazing how simple yet iconic the killer outfit is. deffo felt like a good evolution of the slashers that came before it, fun and a bit campy but still serious about it being a horror while having fun with it. while the killer identity wasnt too surprising, and the fact there were 2, i wasnt expecting lillard to be the other! was real good surprise

The Ring

like the amount of focus on the chars and the like history/mystery of it all. the horror elements were cool and well done, lot less of it than the previous ones i have here but strong when used. lot more time given to tension and fear the chars are facing. very green movie.

Mad God

i loved that but idk if i got it lmao. but what a visual masterpiece. an absolute grotesque nightmare with so many questions never to be answered. aesthetic and auditory thrill ride. I do not even know what I can write about this one, I think it just has to be experienced. The way it made me feel, the things I got to experience - I wont be forgetting this for a long time. (ty @zenshousewife for the rec!)

The Omen

yea that p good! well done story and well acted. i can see why at the time this would be freaky to people. the premise for how they came to adopt damien was a bit fricked but sure, american politician. deffo liked the insidious evil vibes. good musicThe Babadook

that was extremely good. EXTREMELY GOOD. taking the time to really build the stress and have us relate to her, while slowly creeping in the horror bits, building to that final act, and that final learning to live with and control your monsters. both the literal and metaphorical stories going on were so good. the design of the babadook itself was simple but effective. the sound design was sick, as was the cinematograhpy. the use of the glitchy visual and frame skipping or lagging almost really worked for me for heightening her stress levels and the fear

The Terminator

very good! deffo see why it was considered horror, even if it was not too horrory. arnie played the robot killer well, though still a bit goofy. when it turns into an actual robot skeleton i think it is way more effective as a scary thing, especially that last part in the factory when it is chasing them, and then chasing her after being blown up. being constantly stalked by this undying killing machine, and sarah's fear feels very real. the fake arnie head was a bit goofy, but the robot skeleton effects were so good. extremely sick. ALSO THE SYNTHS!!!!!

Annihilation

like fuckin hell. if ever i wished i had an insane audio setup it's right now. that was a fucking lesson in audio and visuals. every sound, every noise was just perfect. and every shot was freaking beautiful. the COLOURS! the LIGHTING! it perfectly portrayed what the story was doing. amazing movie. the exhale i had at the end

The Medium

what a movie. absolutely loved the presentation style, it worked so well for this story and heightened it. the acting was suburb, cold feel every emotion. everyone did so damn well. such a tense movie, and so much to stress. extreme recommendation. mink's performance was amazing. the thai culture being presented here, while foreign to me, was shown so well that i could see the importance and the history of it. truly an amazing experience

[seelestia]

HI LIAAA <3

I'm doing good actually! Thanks to you beating tf out of my sore throat- I've actually recovered pretty well by now! :D

Just some mild coughing left, but it's only really triggered when I laugh at something too hard lmao

My roomies are really evoking a lot of familiarity, we've all been friends and classmates for 5+ years so they give me a sense of family so maybe that's why it's less stressful :''D #foundfamily

ALSO! Thank you for answering! and don't worry about late answers/repliess, everyone's busy living their lives irl (i can wait dont worry)

Ngl the only thing i know about alhaitham is that he's got an intimidating face, he's buffer than itto (which is blasphemous), and that he looks like a silver+green version of zhongli lol

Speaking of cyno tho, all i can say is.....I really am a simp for the shorties

oh god chapter 3, oh noooo :''"D

I've actually written like 1.2k words on chapter 3 already but I haven't even gotten past the actual center of the chapter yet :'''D

Here's a snippet of the first few paragraphs just for you lmao:

"Video Game characters seem to be in the same vein as this. The only difference is that the player can actually visually see the characters supposed beauty. The genre has surely made fictional characters easier to visualize as they have already rendered and presented the character through a 3D or 2D model withing the game itself.

And as much as the 3D game models of Genshin Impact were a hit or miss on some of its most prolific characters and its npc’s, what the Reader was looking at right now was nothing if not the epitome of beauty.

Light golden streaks of hair flowing ever so slightly because of the wind. Equally golden eyes with such a warm tone to it that it almost resembles honey.

Slightly tan but looking effortlessly soft skin, light scars littering near his cheeks and forehead but all the more adding to the humbly divine aura surrounding him.

The Reader contemplated whether or not they were hallucinating because of the lack of food and hydration, but they swear they could see light sparkles those black and white mangas use for dramatic effect when introducing a new character.

Aether truly was the protagonist of this world."

That's like the first page of the word document fr, just 90% simping and 10% actual story

Summary of the chapter so far: The author (me) is a simp, as well as the Reader (even tho Reader's in a tough situation rn, they can't hold back the simping)

I'm stuck on how I'm gonna structure the conversation with Aether and the Reader, I already have the end of the chapter planned out but I'm pretty busy considering we have online classes this week :''D (pls be patient, I'll try to post it this thursday or friday fr)

ALSO ALSO, that tiktok you linked in the first ask- that was literally the tiktok i saw that made me ask about how you fet about the sumeru characters interacting with aether :0

Our brain cells just synced up fr 🤯 (pls do send more tiktoks to watch, im very interested lmaoooo)

YES I"VE WATCHED THE TRAILER, I CAN'T WAIT FOR SCARA CONTENTT AAAAAA

my baby's finally getting the attention he deserves TvT

Honestly, it's been great reading ur answers my dear authorr, How are you tho? How's the week been treating you? It's not fair for u to ask me how I am and not me ask the same question >:p /lh

Last question tho- do you think their gonna give scara a redemption arc? For me- I just want him to stay evil fr but if they do the redemption arc really good then the characterization would still be good probably (hopefully lmao)

And with that long ass ramble, I bid you the finest of adieus Lia - ever so sincerely yours, 👹✨ jae <3

hi, jaeeeee! >:D

hehe, i'm glad you're feeling better~ but your body fr said "don't push your luck" when you wanna laugh hard 😭 but i know you'll fully recover soon enough! >:)

found family is already so sweet in fiction but to see it irl is even sweeter :( <3 tell your roomies that your online friend here is giving each of them a headpat through the screen, nyehehe (/lh)

( spoilers about alhaitham and sumeru's first archon quest !! )

aaaa, tysm for understanding! my schedule has been clearing up recently tho, so i got time to answer this per my usual time~ and you're not wrong, alhaitham does look like a silver-green ver of zhongli's model 😭

he is a character with undetermined motives rn because he collaborated with the traveler to achieve a capsule that contained the knowledge about the gods. but at the end of the quest, alhaitham fooled the traveler into thinking that they all lost the capsule while he slipped it into his pocket right under our nose. iirc, afterwards, he said smth to himself about the capsule and the higher-ups, most likely referring to the people from the akademiya (who are vv corrupt btw) — but the thing is alhaitham isn't your average obedient underling, so where his loyalties themselves lie rn is a question shrouded in mystery. with such a powerful capsulecin his hands, will he betray the akademiya or will he not? HMM, MY EYES ARE ON HIM. (also, the way you brought up itto's muscles, helpppp?? 😭 fr tho, hoyoverse what did you do to our oni's arms <//3)

AETHER BEST BOY !! difficulties writing a convo between aether and the reader, you say??? i think it's time for your personal hc's about aether to shine! this is your story, after all~ i personally think his dynamic with the reader would be interesting tho! since he's not originally from teyvat, so perhaps, the reader can relate to him??? the "we wanna go home but we're stuck in this place" gang 🤝 (/j)

NAH, DID OUR TIKTOK FYP JUST SHAKE HANDS OR SMTH 😭🤝 here, have a vv groovy tiktok (diluc jackson /j) and another one about chibi aether because yes !! ;D

AND YEAH, I MAY NOT BE A SCARA SIMP BUT HIS LORE >>> i personally don't think his personality would do a 360° turn after the redemption arc! perhaps, he'd still retain that sarcasm of his but in a more harmless way as a playable character 👀 we'll have to wait and see~ but fr, as soon i saw scara content, i knew i gotta bring it up with you #jaescaralover

[canarypoint]

I actually totally understand you… I only liked reading fics with male characters if there was a female romantic interest involved (like buckynat x reader) and I used to just ignore the parts with bucky hahah now I can’t read any fics with male romantic interests, whether it’s poly or not, it makes me feel uncomfortable.

I think it might be more difficult to figure out your sexuality when you’ve never really dated anyone. Though I’ve never actually dated anyone (officially), I tried to go on dates with guys, and having relationships with guys. I “liked” them until they liked me back, then I’d just ghost them and avoid them. And when I tried to go on a date with a guy I almost felt sick, I thought it was butterflies but the nervousness I felt was just pure discomfort.

And last year I went on a date with a girl and it was just… just felt like it was right, y’know? I was nervous (the normal level of nervousness as anyone would be on their first date), and I actually felt comfortable with her.

The thing that most made me take a while to figure whether I was bi or lesbian was that I couldn’t understand the difference between finding a guy attractive and being attracted to them. I now know when I look at like Chris Hemsworth I know he’s hot but I’m still not attracted to him. You can appreciate someone’s physical appearance without wanting to be with them.

that last part! yes! exactly!! as for the dating guys vs dating girls... yeah, ig i just need time to experience it?

adding a cut for convenience again, sorry.

consciously, i understand the difference between recognizing someone's attractiveness vs being attracted to them, but when i apply it to my own situation with guys, i'm lost and confused and the lines between the two definitions completely blur.

it comes and goes, too. like sometimes i'm just like... "yeah, i wanna try reading [male character] x reader" and as soon as i do, i'm like "oh this feels weird." or i'll watch a tv show or a movie and think "hm, he's cute," and then struggle with that for a while. other times i'll try just... thinking about a male character and i'm like "hm... yeah i don't think so," or "i mean i understand where the hype is coming from, but idk if i get it," y'know?

like bucky or loki. yes i can see that sebastian stan and tom hiddleston are attractive men (albeit problematic? or at least one of them? actor controversy is so confusing to follow sometimes), but idk if i find them attractive the same way other people do.

but then i'll see a gifset of say... nat or carol, and i'm like "yes yes her them i love them they're so pretty" (hence the "shessopretty" tag lmao, and sidenote: carolnat >>>). i just don't really get that with guys?

typing this out, and seeing it actually written in words, i'm kinda sorta getting that "yeah men aren't for me" feeling again lmao.

more often than not, i'm more focused on what guys are wearing, if that makes sense. like, i feel like i'm more interested in their clothes because of gender envy or whatever it is (not gender envy? just... "oh i kinda wish i dressed like that, but also i'm good?")

[pumpkinpaix]

hello there, hope you're having a nice day <3

so i've been reading a lot of fics lately, uk for sanity's sake, and i've noticed that in most of them, lwj doesn't use contractions (eg., says do not instead of don't)?? and i think he doesn't in the novel either but i don't remember lol so i can't be sure but anyway that made me curious - does chinese have contractions as well? does he not use it bc it's informal?

hello there! I’m doing all right, i started to answer this ask while waiting for a jingyeast loaf to come out of the oven 😊 many thanks to @bookofstars for helping me look over/edit/correct this post!! :D

anyways! the answer to your questions are complicated (of course it is when is anything simple with me), so let’s see if I can break it down--you’re asking a) whether chinese has contractions, b) if it does, how does they change the tone of the sentence--is it similar to english or no?, and c) how does this all end up with lan wangji pretty much never using contractions in english fic/translation?

I’m gonna start by talking about how formality is (generally) expressed in each language, and hopefully, by the end of this post, all the questions will have been answered in one way or another. so: chinese and english express variations in formality/register differently, oftentimes in ways that run contrary to one another. I am, as always, neither a linguist nor an expert in chinese and english uhhh sociological grammar? for lack of a better word. I’m speaking from my own experience and knowledge :D

so with a character like lan wangji, it makes perfect sense in english to write his dialogue without contractions, as contractions are considered informal or colloquial. I don’t know if this has changed in recent years, but I was always taught in school to never use contractions in my academic papers.

However! not using contractions necessarily extends the length of the sentence: “do not” takes longer to say than “don’t”, “cannot” is longer than “can’t” etc. in english, formality is often correlated with sentence length: the longest way you can say something ends up sounding the most formal. for a very simplified example, take this progression from least formal to absurdly formal:

whatcha doin’?

what’re you doing?

what are you doing? [standard colloquial]

may I ask what you are doing?

might I inquire as to what you are doing?

excuse me, but might I inquire as to what you are doing?

pardon my intrusion, but might I inquire as to what you are doing?

please pardon my intrusion, but might inquire as to the nature of your current actions?

this is obviously a somewhat overwrought example, but you get the point. oftentimes, the longer, more complex, more indirect sentence constructions indicate a greater formality, often because there is a simultaneous decreasing of certainty. downplaying the speaker’s certainty can show deference (or weakness) in english, while certainty tends to show authority/confidence (or aggression/rudeness).

different words also carry different implications of formality—in the example, I switched “excuse me” to “pardon me” during one of the step ups. pardon (to me at least) feels like a more formal word than “excuse”. Similarly, “inquire” is more formal than “ask” etc. I suspect that at least some of what makes one word seem more formal than one of its synonyms has to do with etymology. many of english’s most formal/academic words come from latin (which also tends to have longer words generally!), while our personal/colloquial words tend to have germanic origins (inquire [latin] vs ask [germanic]).

you’ll also notice that changing a more direct sentence structure (“may I ask what”) to a more indirect one (“might I inquire as to”) also jumps a register. a lot of english is like this — you can complicate simple direct sentences by switching the way you use the verbs/how many auxiliaries you use etc.

THE POINT IS: with regards to english, more formal sentence structures are often (not always) longer and more indirect than informal ones. this leads us to a problem with a character like lan wangji.

lan wangji is canonically very taciturn. if he can express his meaning in two words rather than three, then he will. and chinese allows for this—in extreme ways. if you haven’t already read @hunxi-guilai’s post on linguistic register (in CQL only, but it’s applicable across the board), I would start there because haha! I certainly do Not have a degree in Classical Chinese lit and she does a great job. :D

you can see from the examples that hunxi chose that often, longer sentences tend to be more informal in chinese (not always, which I’ll circle back to at the end lol). Colloquial chinese makes use of helping particles to indicate tone and meaning, as is shown in wei wuxian’s dialogue. and, as hunxi explained, those particles are largely absent from lan wangji’s speech pattern. chinese isn’t built of “words” in the way English is—each character is less a word and more a morpheme—and the language allows for a lot of information to be encoded in one character. a single character can often stand for a phrase within a sentence without sacrificing either meaning or formality. lan wangji makes ample use of this in order to express himself in the fewest syllables possible.

so this obviously leads to an incongruity when trying to translate his dialogue or capture his voice in English: shorter sentences are usually more direct by nature, and directness/certainty is often construed as rudeness -- but it might seem strange to see lan wangji’s dialogue full of longer sentences while the narration explicitly says that he uses very short sentences. so what happens is that many english fic writers extrapolated this into creating an english speech pattern for lan wangji that reads oddly. they’ll have lan wangji speak in grammatically incoherent fragments that distill his intended thought because they’re trying to recreate his succinctness. unfortunately, English doesn’t have as much freedom as Chinese does in this way, and it results in lan wangji sounding as if he has some kind of linguistic impediment and/or as if he’s being unspeakably rude in certain situations. In reality, lan wangji’s speech is perfectly polite for a young member of the gentry (though he’s still terribly rude in other ways lol). he speaks in full, and honestly, quite eloquent sentences.

hunxi’s post already has a lot of examples, but I figure I’ll do one as well focused on the specifics of this post.

I’m going to use this exchange from chapter 63 between the twin jades because I think it’s a pretty simple way to illustrate what I’m talking about:

蓝曦臣道：“你亲眼所见？”

蓝忘机道：“他亲眼所见。”

蓝曦臣道：“你相信他？”

蓝忘机道：“信。”

[...] 蓝曦臣道：“那么金光瑶呢？”

蓝忘机道：“不可信。”

my translation:

Lan Xichen said, “You saw it with your own eyes?”

Lan Wangji said, “He saw it with his own eyes.”

Lan Xichen said, “You believe him?”

Lan Wangji said, “I believe him.”

[...] Lan Xichen said, “Then what about Jin Guangyao?”

Lan Wangji said, “He cannot be believed.”

you can see how much longer the (pretty literal) english translations are! every single line of dialogue is expanded because things that can be omitted in chinese cannot be omitted in english without losing grammatical coherency. i‘ll break a few of them down:

Lan Xichen’s first line:

你 (you) 亲眼 (with one’s own eyes) 所 (literary auxiliary) 见 (met/saw)？

idk but i love this line a lot lmao. it just has such an elegant feel to me, probably because I am an uncultured rube. anyways, you see here that he expressed his full thought in five characters.

if I were to rewrite this sentence into something much less formal/much more modern, I might have it become something like this:

你是自己看见的吗？

你 (you) 是 (to be) 自己 (oneself) 看见 (see) 的 (auxiliary) 吗 (interrogative particle)？

i suspect that this construction might even be somewhat childish? I’ve replaced every single formal part of the sentence with a more colloquial one. instead of 亲眼 i’ve used 自己, instead of 所见 i’ve used 看见的 and then also added an interrogative particle at the end for good measure (吗). To translate this, I would probably go with “Did you see it yourself?”

contained in this is also an example of how one character can represent a whole concept that can also be represented with two characters: 见 vs 看见. in this example, both mean “to see”. we’ll see it again in the next example as well:

in response to lan xichen’s, “you believe him?” --> 你 (you) 相信 (believe) 他 (him)? lan wangji answers with, “信” (believe).

chinese does not do yes or no questions in the same way that english does. there is no catch-all for yes or no, though there are general affirmative (是／有) and negative (不／没) characters. there are other affirmative/negative characters, but these are the ones that I believe are the most common and also the ones that you may see in response to yes or no questions on their own. (don’t quote me on that lol)

regardless, the way you respond to a yes or no question is often by repeating the verb phrase either in affirmative or negative. so here, when lan xichen asks if lan wangji believes wei wuxian, lan wangji responds “believe”. once again, you can see that one character can stand in for a concept that may also be expressed in two characters: 信 takes the place of 相信. lan wangji could have responded with “相信” just as well, but, true to his character, he didn’t because he didn’t need to. this is still a complete sentence. lan wangji has discarded the subject (I), the object (him), and also half the verb (相), and lost no meaning whatsoever. you can’t do this in english!

and onto the last exchange:

lan xichen: 那么 (then) 金光瑶 (jin guangyao) 呢 (what about)？

lan wangji: 不可 (cannot) 信 (believe)

you can actually see the contrast between the two brothers’ speech patterns even in this. lan xichen’s question is not quite as pared down as it could be. if it were wangji’s line instead, I would expect it to read simply “金光瑶呢？” which would just be “what about jin guangyao?” 那么 isn’t necessary to convey the core thought -- it’s just as how “then what about” is different than “what about”, but “then” is not necessary to the central question. if we wanted to keep the “then” aspect, you could still cut out 么 and it would be the same meaning as well.

a FINAL example of how something can be cut down just because I think examples are helpful:

“I don’t know” is usually given as 我不知道. (this is what nie huaisang says lol) It contains subject (我) and full verb (知道). you can pare this straight down to just 不知 and it would mean the same thing in the correct context. i think most of the characters do this at least once? it sounds more literary -- i don’t know that i would ever use it in everyday speech, but the fact remains that it’s a possibility. both could be translated as “I do not know” and it would be accurate.

ANYWAYS, getting all the way back to one of your original questions: does chinese have contractions? and the answer is like... kind of...?? but not really. there’s certainly slang/dialect variants that can be used in ways that are reminiscent of english contractions. the example I’m thinking of is the character 啥 (sha2) which can be used as slang in place of 什么 (shen2 me). (which means “what”)

so for a standard sentence of, 你在做什么? (what are you doing), you could shorten down to just 做啥? and the second construction is less formal than the first, but they mean the same thing.

other slang i can think of off the top of my head: 干嘛 (gan4 ma2) is also informal slang for “what are you doing”. and i think this is a regional thing, but you can also use 搞 (gao3) and 整 (zheng3) to mean “do” as well.

so in the same way that you can replace 什么 with 啥, you can replace 做 as well to get constructions like 搞啥 (gao3 sha2) and 整啥 (zheng3 sha2).

these are all different ways to say “what are you doing” lmao, and in this case, shorter is not, in fact, more formal.

woo! we made it to the end! I hope it was informative and helpful to you anon. :D

this is where I would normally throw my ko-fi, but instead, I’m actually going to link you to this fundraising post for an old fandom friend of mine. her house burned down mid-september and they could still use help if anyone can spare it! if this post would have moved you to buy me a ko-fi, please send that money to her family instead. :) rbs are also appreciated on the post itself. (* ´▽` *)

anyways, here’s the loaf jingyeast made :3 it was very tasty.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 308: VIBE: CHECKED

Previously on BnHA: Lots and lots of Shindou idk what else to tell you.

Today on BnHA: Tired Nomad Deku rescues Shindou from Muscular, and us from Shindou. Muscular is all “OH BOY I SURE CAN’T WAIT TO FIGHT DEKU AGAIN AFTER HE TOTALLY KICKED MY ASS THE LAST TIME!! I’M SURE THIS TIME WILL GO DIFFERENTLY SEEING AS HE’S HAD ALMOST AN ENTIRE YEAR’S WORTH OF ADDITIONAL TRAINING, AND ALSO HAS SIX FOURQUIRKS NOW, IN ADDITION TO THE CONFIDENCE THAT COMES WITH HAVING EIGHT OTHER PEOPLE’S SOULS CHILLING OUT INSIDE HIM OFFERING MORAL SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT.” Deku is all, “[kicks Muscular’s ass effortlessly].” Muscular is all, “[gets his ass totally kicked].” I for one am very satisfied with this, and with respect to all, I would like to hereby declare this post a discourse-free zone. I’m just happy to see my son out here making good use of his FOURQUIRKS, and more importantly beating Muscular in less than seventeen pages so we can all go on with our lives lol.

damn Deku since when were you allowed to look this cool

from this perspective and with the smoke, cape, backpack, and mask more or less obscuring his actual profile, he looks less like a sixteen-year-old boy and more like a grownass man

OH SNAP

we got a glimpse of this in the cleaned-up scan of 307, but seeing both of his eyes looking so distinctively All Might-esque here is... whoa. I mean we know that his face still looks pretty normal underneath the mask and he doesn’t actually have the black sclera, but still, this is an awesome look. mini-Might

lol Muscular

you and me both. I mean no offense, but yeah

so Deku is just standing there silently

typical Deku. tight-lipped and expressionless. mum’s the word. quiet as a mouse. silent as a grave

okay no but seriously this is so weird and creepy though you guys. Deku please say something or else I’m just gonna mindlessly say whatever stupid things come into my head in an effort to make things less awkward

so Muscular is all “I should probably make a cool speech about revenge but Horikoshi couldn’t think of anything good so I’m just going to stand here clenching my fist real slowly”

“I’m not here to go on a monologue” he says, as he monologues about not monologuing

okay you guys I confess I have only read through/watched the Deku VS Muscular fight once because the arm-breaking is just way too uncomfortable for me to revisit. and so as a result, I have completely forgotten Whatever The Deal Is with Muscular’s eye lmao so let me go look it up real quick

okay so it’s a prosthetic, obviously, and he changes it out according to his mood. that part does sound familiar. I just can’t remember which eye is supposed to indicate which mood. don’t tell me I actually have to go back and reread this shit

lol I’m skimming through chapter 75 now and remembering/realizing that I hardly paid any attention to this the first time around because as soon as I found out the villains were after Kacchan my brain was like “TIME TO FOCUS ON THIS AND ONLY THIS NOW AND FOREVER” and yeah. ah memories

anyway so he started out with the flower-looking eye, and then later on he was all

which begs the question, how on earth could I have ever forgotten the most ridiculous panel I’ve ever read lmao

anyway, but so after all of that, I'm only just now realizing that this isn't one of his previous eye prosthetics in the current chapter; this is an ACTUAL FUCKING ROCK that he's just randomly shoved into his eye socket fkdsjlk

so basically (1) I did all of that painstaking research for nothing, five whole minutes of my life wasted THANKS A LOT, and (2) what, and I have never meant this more emphatically, THE FUCK

anyway so now he's leaping at the building that Deku is standing on top of. but he’s not aiming anywhere near Deku though, wtf

(ETA: HAHA YOU BROKE ALL YOUR MUSCLES YOU LOSER.)

...huh

lmao okay then. I hope those annoying citizens in the building next door are watching this go down and rethinking their life choices

dlkdkljk

just keep standing there pressed right up against the window, why don’t you. “WHAT’S GOING ON THIS SUPER CLOSE COLLAPSING BUILDING IS BLOCKING OUR VIEW.” well, folks, we’ve long since known there’s a critical shortage of hero and villain brain cells, but what we’re learning now is that civilian brain cells are also in short supply

OH THANK GOD DEKU IS FINALLY TALKING THAT WAS ACTUALLY UNSETTLING AS FUCK

SO HE’S STILL OUR GOOD, POLITE, WORRIED, CONSIDERATE DEKU UNDERNEATH THAT COOL AND MYSTERIOUS VENEER. for real, thank fuck, because I swear to god if he suddenly started acting like the Dekus in all of the vigilante AUs my interest in this series would have dropped something like 50% lol. just because he dropped out of school and ran away from home and is currently dressed like the physical manifestation of a Linkin Park playlist doesn’t mean he’s not still the WORLD’S BIGGEST DORK okay

I MEAN, THIS RIGHT HERE. THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. HE’S APOLOGIZING FOR THE DELAY

PLEASE FIND THE ATTACHED SHINDOU YOU REQUESTED. BEST REGARDS!!!

OH MY GOD WHY IS HE SUCH A BADASS

something about making bold, confident statements while obscured in smoke?? idk but damn it fucking works

ffjkkl

more importantly, should you tell him you actually need your copy of Shindou in excel format and not pdf?? on the one hand you don’t want to sound ungrateful, but on the other hand what are you even supposed to do with this

this chapter so far consists of like 50% smoke, but on the other hand Deku VS Kacchan 2 had a lot of cinematic smoke too so who am I to complain

OMG IS IT HIS ARMS

IDK DID YOU?! TELL ME YOUR SECRETS. PLEASE, AT SOME POINT THIS FIGHT HAS GOT TO ACTUALLY ADVANCE THE PLOT

OHHHHHHH

IT’S EN’S QUIRK!! OH MY GOD OKAY THAT’S ACTUALLY AWESOME

I CAN HEAR THE SOUND OF DISCOURSE RUMBLING IN THE BACKGROUND BUT I DON’T CARE LOL. WON’T CATCH ME EVER SAYING NO TO ANOTHER SIXQUIRK. GO AHEAD, BRING THEM ON, I WANT TO SEE THEM ALL but take it easy though Deku. don’t want to give yourself lung cancer or anything

also it’s good to see that in a very real sense he’s not fighting alone. the Vestiges really did mean it when they said they could appear more easily now. this is on a whole other level

so is this whole next page still En talking, or someone else? because whoever it is sure is chatty

okay, several things

pretty sure it is En, because he keeps saying “I suppose.” for someone who never said two words until one page ago, this guy sure never shuts up. we can’t all follow Muscular’s lead I suppose. oh my god now I’m doing it too

really like the suggestion of Deku using the SIXQUIRKS like tools in an arsenal, because that’s what he’s good at! it’s almost like he’s been training for this his entire life. “you value quirks too much” LOOK HE JUST THINKS THEY’RE COOL OKAY IS THAT A CRIME

where the fuck did all this rope come from

not gonna ask what the fuck that thing is sticking out from the back of his utility belt. Horikoshi will surely explain this

is that a fucking jetpack. I’m sorry Deku were six fucking quirks not enough for you. you can fucking float??? but JUST TO BE SAFE, LET’S STRAP A PAIR OF ROCKETS TO OUR SHOULDERS IDK

-- or wait, is this all supposed to be like a visual representation of En’s metaphor?? OH MY GOD AM I JUST STUPID LOL, DON’T ANSWER THAT. NEVER MIND. NEW LIST!!

rope = blackwhip

jetpack = float

radio = danger sense

and so I’m guessing that this ridiculously phallic thing is supposed to be a flare or something?? and that = the new quirk, smokescreen. well that was a fucking ride lmao we now return you to our regularly scheduled chapter

so now Deku is floating to his heart’s content and thinking that he’ll just sneak up on Muscular and vibe check his ass or whatever

WOOOOOOOO DANGER SENSE YESSSS I LOVE THIS FOR HIM

okay guys, I'm gonna press pause here for a sec to make a serious note, because I am loving the shit out of this, but tbh I'm having trouble enjoying it as much as I want to because I keep getting anxious thinking about the discourse. I know that a lot of the fandom has very strong opinions on Deku's character development one way or the other, and I want to respect that. but I also really have no spoons to debate this topic at all beyond what I’ve already weighed in on. so if it’s all the same to everyone, I plan on staying out of this discussion, at least this week

anyway! that said, YEAH BOI GET HIS ASS

VIBE: CHECKED. CURB: STOMPED. HOTEL: TRIVAGO

-- OF COURSE HE’S STILL FUCKING FINE LOL HE CRASHES INTO BUILDINGS FOR FUN IDK WHAT I WAS EXPECTING

dammit Muscular. how many fucking quirks does it take to beat you?! the annoying thing is that even with all of his cool new powers, Deku is still something of a mismatch against him. anyway r.i.p. to all these poor buildings

OOOOOHHHHH

you guys have no idea how intrigued I am at the prospect of watching Deku try to play both good cop and bad cop here lmao

anyway so Muscular says he doesn’t know, go figure

“I’m not here to make small talk or anything” he says as he small talks about not small talking

OH MY GOD DEKU

are you really gonna talk no jutsu all of these villains from now on?? that last battle really did have a profound impact on you, huh! interesting

you guys he’s really doing it omg

Deku this guy tried to murder a five-year-old literally just for fun. I mean more power to you, but holy shit you’re really gonna try to defeat Muscular with anger management therapy huh

I MEAN

WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THAT RESPONSE COMING dlkjslkjk

FUCK’S SAKE DEKU, I KNOW YOU MEAN WELL BUT THEY CAN’T ALL HAVE TRAGIC PASTS KIDDO

but. I have to admit, I do still like that he tried. probably knew just as well as we did what the end result was going to be, but still. he made the effort in good faith and I respect that

uh oh

why do I get the feeling Muscular just got a whole lot deader

oh my god oh my god he’s doing the “powering up” stance ffff don’t fucking tell me you can still use your fucking arms here, Deku

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY WHAT’S THIS??

okay so basically he’s saying that whatever it was he sensed in Tomura, he doesn’t sense from Muscular. which, yeah, that sounds exactly right. good judge of character here lol

AHHHHAHAHA YESS

WHOOPS, GET FUCKED I GUESS

WOOOOHOOOOOOOO

lmao so apparently this is the belated result of Shindou’s attack from chapter 307?? I’ll be damned. good for you Shindou!! I always liked you buddy. please just take my word on that and don’t fact check that statement

okay lol the one tiny bit of discourse I will allow is that it’s bullshit that he just did that with his right arm. like, I’ll fully acknowledge that. that makes no fucking sense, and I demand an explanation from the Great Plot Hole Filler himself. he’s never let us down before when it comes to continuity so I’m trusting him not to suddenly start now

that said, we love to see a rematch against a boring guy settled quickly and decisively within the span of a single chapter. THANK YOU

I like that Deku implies that his power is being a smart nerd who battles villains using the power of ANALYTICS. he basically didn’t do anything except restrain Muscular and wait for Shindou’s attack to take effect while halfheartedly checking to see if he regretted any of that murder and stuff

(ETA: and almost forgot to mention, he made excellent use of all four of his active SIXQUIRKS. it’s like the chapter title said; this is basically him fighting all-out, and it’s a sight to see.)

also, as cool as the mask was, this just feels right. like, we had our fun, now let us see his face, yes good

anyway, I think this was a good start towards establishing What’s Up With Deku Right Now! so if it’s all the same to Horikoshi, I would next like to take some time to explore Why’s Up With Deku. that, and What’s Up With Everyone Else, Especially Kacchan. por favor

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

Sorry but what exactly is up with the bad batch arc? I've heard people talk about the issues with echo's white skin but I haven't heard that many bad things about the arc itself? (ik you said you don't want to be negative on your blog so I would absolutely understand if you didn't answer this ask)

Oooooooooooh boy. Well I just had a long, long, LONG rant about it with someone, but I guess I’ve got an excuse to put all of my points onto a post and talk about it publicly now that I got an ask x) I’ll keep it under the cut so I don’t throw my salt in people’s face. I really don’t want to upset people who love that arc - it has redeeming qualities, but overall it pisses me off so much for so many reasons. So here:

The first issue is obviously two members of the Bad Batch (minus Echo) being being just about the furthest thing from maori no matter how much you're willing to stretch it. 

Like... yeah, nah. I wouldn’t even accept Crosshair and Tech (grey haired guy and goggles guy) as Jango’s natural biological sons, nevermind as his clones. 

The problem is that their different appearances are justified by them being described simply as clones with desirable mutations (i.e superpowers). But why the hell did the creators have to change their appearances for that to be a thing? How does that correlate? Sure, the concept of clones with different faces is interesting, except... no, no it’s not, and I’m gonna rant about it in a few secs. But basically it's like they thought giving them different faces would be a good substitute for having different personalities (another thing I’ll come back to). If they really wanted to have buff clones with super eyesight or whatnot they could have just done that, without making them lose what little melanin the lighting of the show had allowed the other Clones to keep. 

But the gigantic problem is... showing that the "regular" clones have VERY distinct identities despite their identical faces has been one of the themes of the show from episode 1. Literally, the first episode of TCW has Yoda taking time out of a mission with galactic stakes to tell the three clones he’s with (who tell him they’re all the same because they have the same faces) that they’re wrong, and that they’re very different in the Force, that their appearance doesn’t matter, that they’re all equally unique and important, and he lists all of their individual skills, strengths and weaknesses. 

And it’s not just me being bothered by that, here’s a post by @cacodaemonia​ saying the same thing. 

Introducing the Bad Batch as "unique" clones who are "different" and "not like their brothers" because they have different faces and skills completely breaks that theme of the show!! Because the entire point of the Clones in TCW is that their faces don't matter, they ARE unique! 

(Plus the Bad Batch’s character designs are so cliche and uninspired it’s just laughable to try and justify bleaching their freaking skin for the sake of visual diversity. 

This took like 10 seconds. I found the first guy by literally googling “soldier movies,” and the other two are Team Fortress characters that look a LOT like Wrecker and Crosshair. One is “Heavy” and one is “Sniper” lmao.

And behold:

The above picture is a Team Fortress reference that I found just by looking up “bad batch clone wars,” so I’m not the only person who sees it.) 

And the batchers don't even have personalities to justify calling them unique! They have no character traits beyond the most cliché american soldier tropes ever. We have a token loner sniper, a token "smart tech guy" who knows everything from xenoanthropology to biology to Separatist computers to sound waves to encryption, a token Badass Brooding Leader and a token “dumb muscle guy.”

I dare anyone to find more about their personalities than this: - Crosshair is the perpetually grumpy sniper who looks down on "regs,” - Wrecker likes to blow up stuff and doesn't like heights, - Hunter is the leader and is friends with Cody, - Tech is smart doesn't trust Echo. 

That’s it, that’s literally it. Four episodes about them and that's all we get. These character tropes are literally the least inventive ever. FFS, Hunter even has a freaking KNIFE! Not a vibroblade, mind you, like in kriffing Star Wars. A knife. Against metal droids. Why. They couldn’t make this more of an american-war-movies cliché fest if they tried. (And sure, he can feel electromagnetic waves so maybe it does make sense for him not to carry a vibroblade and maybe this is nitpicking, but he looks like a ripoff of a Predator character and it pisses me off).

Another thing is that when you introduce characters you have to make them likable - and them despising the normal Clones is a terrible way to do that! And they don't even grow from that because at the end of the 4 episodes arc they just see Rex as not bad "for a reg" and they see Echo as no longer a reg, and both of these things are infuriating! 

The worst thing imo is that Echo then becomes part of them (and irreparably loses his melanin in the process, uuuuuuuuugh) when there is nothing to justify this. 

The dialogue goes like this: 

ECHO: You coming? TECH: Not really our thing. CROSSHAIR: Accolades. WRECKER: Yeah, we're just in it for the thrill. Yo! HUNTER: You sure it's your thing? ECHO: What do you mean? HUNTER: Your path is different. Like ours. If you ever feel like you don't fit in with them, well, find us. (they leave) REX: Those are some of the finest troopers I've ever fought alongside. Echo. You and I go way back. If that's where you feel your place is, then that's where you belong.

Echo doesn't feel like he belongs anymore, okay, but why would he feel like he belongs with the assholes who up to the last five minutes of the mission thought he was probably a traitor, and also verbally expressed that he was not worth saving?? In all of the arc, Echo himself never voices that he feels he’s not ‘like the other Clones’ anymore and that he feels it’s a problem. His relationship with Rex immediately picks up where they left things off - the first thing he does upon being lucid again for the first in over a year is cracking a joke for Rex’s benefit. 

Why would Echo feel like he doesn’t belong in the 501st anymore, when we don't even see him interacting with anyone from his past life except for Rex and Anakin (who are both extremely very supportive of him)?? If there had been one scene of a “regular” Clone (ugh) looking at him with horror and disgust or something, or just Kix and Jesse cracking jokes with Echo awkwardly standing by the side not getting it, I could forgive the show trying to make it feel like he has an identity crisis, but this was so shallow!

The only thing that makes Echo and the Bad Batch’s experiences similar is that they *look* different. It’s so against the themes of the Clones I’m seething just from thinking about it. And what the hell? Echo ALREADY didn’t fit in. That was the WHOLE POINT of Domino Squad. They didn’t fit in because they thought they were better than anyone else because they had trouble getting along with their brothers, so obviously it had to be their brothers’ fault (ahem, Bad Batch?). And you know what happened? Domino Squad OVERCAME that. And Echo and Fives still didn’t “fit in” because their personalities were unique and creative, and they became ARC Troopers because Cody, Rex and the Jedi VALUED THEM FOR PRECISELY THAT. Echo having new and unique skills and a modified appearance is the most bs justification for him feeling like he doesn’t belong!! 

And that brings me to my biggest issue: Rex telling Echo the bad batch are some of the best troopers he's ever met. I'm sorry, based on WHAT? What Rex values above everything is loyalty and brotherhood, and the Bad Batch DOESN'T DISPLAY ANY OF THAT. We never see them even expressing concern for each other! Wrecker treats saving Cody’s life like a trivial issue, because it’s just ‘sO eAsY’ for him, and beyond that we never see them supporting each other or genuinely expressing affection for each other beyond boasting about each other’s skills... 

Sure they can destroy a lot of droids, but they're dismissive of Rex's brothers, and the entire Umbara arc and this arc showed what he thought of that. They keep saying things like "not bad for a reg,” don't show any trust in Rex's skills or experience (even though they can't have been fighting in the war for more than a year and a half when he’s been there from the beginning, and he outranks all of them), they are essentially guerilla fighters which has only minimal value in a galactic war, and they never grow beyond their views of what regs are, and can and can’t do. 

None of that should make them good troopers in Rex's book. Going back to Echo not fitting in, remember who taught the Domino Squad the importance of seeing all of your brothers as important and equally valuable? Shaak Ti, true, but more importantly? 99! The guy the Bad Batch are named after. He did have value and was important and was no less of a trooper than his brothers, even though his mutations made him LESS powerful, not more. (And btw, just from a writing standpoint, the batchers don’t have any weaknesses, which is shit.) Cody and Rex mourned 99 as a true soldier even though it wasn’t his sacrifice that brought them victory (which would have implied that he had value as a soldier and a brother because he saved them, as opposed to him having that value intrinsically), because that’s what a fine trooper is to them. A BROTHER first a foremost, someone altruistic, brave and loyal. The Bad Batch distort the meaning of 99's character with their behavior. They’re not altruistic, their bravery is mitigated by the fact that they’re freaking invincible, so of course they take risks (again, see Wrecker saving Cody without a care because it’s easy to him, as opposed to Rex being ready to run into a burning ship about to explode because his brother is in there, and having to be physically dragged away). The Bad Batch denigrate their brothers for being less skilled, thinking their own abilities make them unique somehow, when 99 could barely fight and was still the one who taught Hevy about being a good soldier. 

And again the batchers don't grow from that. Which is all the more frustrating because the original ending didn’t have Echo joining them, from what I remember of the unfinished episodes, and the arc actually ended with them receiving their medals in front of regular troopers who cheer for them, as opposed to them smugly ostracizing themselves and dismissing the ceremony as trivial and meaningless. (original ending vs s7 ending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab1eCfzKamw) 

It’s so annoying. Do you know what characters never had an entire arc dedicated to them and still have far more personality and more interesting designs and more symbolic weight?? 

Jesse, for starters. Kix. Dogma. Cut. Slick. Keeli. Ponds. Rys, Jek and Thire. Commander Doom. Commander Fox. Wolffe. Hevy. Hardcase. 

Cody was a more interesting character just in his RotS appearances. 

Waxer and Boil had one episode about them and then only two cameos plus Waxer’s death, and they’re still some of the most memorable, beloved Clones of the whole show. And Boil was grouchy and prejudiced like Crosshair, but he has so much growth that we could make a whole thread about it. 

I'd say the last problem with the Bad Batch is that it has cash grabbing money hungry vibes. Different faces are more marketable, cliché personalities are more toy-friendly, and it's basically a big ad for the Bad Batch series. And they throw Echo in the Batch at the end for bs reasons (again, it wasn’t in the original ep from what I remember) and they tease Cody in the show to make sure fans will still watch even if they notice the lack of soul. And less melanin sells more at Disney apparently. 

So that’s my whole pissed rant.