#i hope people don't take this too personally bc im really talking about the general phenomenon

[voidsumbrella]

gonna be obnoxious re: that last post on fandomification; i do think the worst version of that ive been in was the les mis 2012 explosion. the primary fandom source material was already two layers off of the original novel- movie was an alteration* of the musical which was an alteration of the book, which is dense and hard to parse- and then you remove that even further by your interpretation in fanart** and then people who are more interested in engaging with the tropes than the Themes And Narratives lean on those interpretations until the result is something completely divorced and/or directly contradicts the novel.

*said neutrally- you should make the story fit the medium, which will inherently mean changing some aspects, and despite everything i still like the 2012 movie a lot-

**i can... absolutely trace this in lm to two specific artists, who both made work that was simplified for the sake of comedy but recognizably based in the source, and then people took the simplification as gospel.

but no seriously everything ive been Into has the abstraction problem. amnesia's Lore™ is easy to miss, and there were/are a lot of people who watched ppl' lps the game and never actually played it themselves. which is not a inherently a bad thing! survival horror is not a genre for everyone, and the earlier games don't have a story mode and are much harder to digest. but it means their view of the game is already biased, which when added to the fandom tropification machine or just generalized misogyny be normal about justine or ill kill you leads to a lot more shit takes.

yume nikki/fangames run into people hinging their theories on other people's theories being The Only Accurate Read and not something subjective based on symbolic interpretation and the player's actions; metal gear has the curse of being stupidly overcomplicated in difficult to connect ways and very popular with the standard #gamer crowd, who can't fuvking read anyway; asscreed has the same issue but with worse intial writing and a more pointlessly drawn out canon.

ff7 is a shitshow and deserves its own post, which im probably not going to make, because it iiiiis exhausting. its fucking wild how just prioritizing* the original story over the later retcons and thematic contradictions causes ppl to bitch at you for being a Fake Fan™. cant say im big on it.

*those of you who reject the compilation entirely... i salute you, y'all are stronger than god.

anyway. it's healthy to embrace the zen of letting people be wrong on the internet, but boy howdy does it not stop them from being wrong in new and exciting ways. i would study some people in a lab if i thought it wouldn't drive me nuts.

[bikananjarrus]

Hmmmm….im wondering how you feel about hera and maybe Ezra?

jess i love you so much 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜 thank u for letting me talk about the blorbos!!!!!!!

let's start with hera 💚

how i feel about this character:

how do i even begin to express how much i love thee hera syndulla. that is my WIFE. i would kill for her. i would die for her. i would let her talk my ear off about piloting. i would cook her dinner (bc i know in my heart she can't cook). but seriously, i just so admire her dedication to the rebel cause, her standing up and fighting so that everyone in the galaxy can be free. the way that she is filled to the brim with hope and the conviction that they will win, they will beat the empire. she just truly embodies having the heart of a rebel, and i love her so so so so sooooo much!

all the people i ship romantically with this character:

kanan kanan kanan. just kanan <3 he's her person <3 i have a hard time picturing her with anyone else (which i explain a bit better here), and i also headcanon hera as demi, so i think this fits with that too.

my non-romantic otp for this character:

so hard to pick just one! but probably ezra. i'm just so so fond of their friendship, and how welcome hera made him feel immediately, and how much he admires her and learns from her. and they both embody that Star Wars Hope and i love them <3

my unpopular opinion about this character:

i've said it before and i'll say it again, but reducing hera down to just the Mom(tm) of the group is really unfair and disrespectful to her character. obviously being a mom becomes an intrinsic part of her once she has jacen, but she's not just a mom. but especially talking about her dynamic with the ghost crew, she's so much more than the mom of the group. she is a founding member of the rebellion! she's the best pilot in the galaxy (yes i am prepared to argue about this)! she and kanan are EQUAL. PARTNERS. her looking out for sabine and ezra is a little different, but when it comes to kanan and zeb, especially, they're two grown men and perfectly capable of taking care of themselves without hera being forced into a box to mom them.

one thing i wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon:

i wish we had gotten more of her backstory in rebels. we learn very little about her mom in rebels (they told us more in t*b*b, but still not much). and we know she had a brother, but we don't even know his name. also her relationship with her father is really complicated and i wanted more on that.

(there is also one particular scene in s4 that i'm really not a fan of and i think does a disservice to her character, though that's more on the writing than on her. and the way she was written in the ahsoka show (specifically her role as general) was pretty awful imo. but also, more a writing thing than her fault).

and now ezra 💙

how i feel about this character:

google show results for: how to talk about ezra bridger without bursting into tears

like that is my specialist little guy, and i know that sounds unserious, but i am SO so very serious. like! that's my LITTLE GUY!!!!! i am saying that with my WHOLE CHEST and so much AFFECTION AND LOVE. he is everything to me. my sweet cheese. my short king. expert at casting animal friendship. he is the soul of the ghost crew. and imo, he is one of the few characters who embodies hope and love in the same way that luke skywalker does. i love him more and more every single rewatch and i could spend 500 more hours explaining how much i love him and it still wouldn't be enough.

all the people i ship romantically with this character:

big fan of him and tristan (sabine's brother). don't worry mr. bridger. i saw you babbling and blushing like a lovestruck idiot when you met tristan.

also i think him and luke would be cute (they WOULD bicker constantly about ezra being 2 days older, it would be utterly adorable).

there's probably others, and i'm pretty open with who i would ship him with! so long as it's a boy. you can pry gay ezra from my cold dead hands.

my non-romantic otp for this character:

sabine!!!!!!!! that's his best friend!!!!!!!!!!!! sabine ezra siblingism forever and ever <333

my unpopular opinion about this character:

i don't think this is unpopular among most of the rebels fandom (at least not that i've observed on here, in the circles i'm in) but i KNOW there are swaths of the general sw population that think he's annoying and they can't stand him. and you know what! he IS annoying!!!! want to know why?? because he's a TEENAGE BOY!!!!!!! (same kind of people who call teenage ahsoka annoying). and he's just acting the way teenage boys do! like DUH he's being annoying, we're all annoying at 15! but he is absolutely one of the best star wars characters, he has such an incredible arc, and i will accept NO ezra slander in this house!

also leave his little gunsaber alone. y'all are just jealous that YOUR lightsaber can't also shoot people.

one thing i wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon:

hmmm. overall i am so utterly satisfied with his character arc. i do wish we had learned more about his parents.

and EYE would have done his story different from what they did in the ahsoka show. they could've made his time out in wild space so much fucking cooler, they could've done so much more with his force abilities adapting when he doesn't have a lightsaber. ahsoka is such a separate entity in my head from rebels, and his story in rebels is 10/10 amazing spectacular perfect! in the ahsoka show...well. it just could've been so much cooler and more impactful and well :/ we mostly got a nothing burger imo. (eman is great as a live action ezra though!).

also as a treat to me and the shatterpoint lineage, his new lightsaber should've been purple. and he should've had a sick ass space animal companion. he deserves it <3

[atthebell]

Hey i saw your post about the translator and pacs accent from yesterday and thought i would throw in my two cents as a brasillian, though im merelly a hobbyist linguist and havent a degree in it like you so take this with a grain of salt please.

First of you are absolutelly right about pacs time in canada not really affecting how he sounds, i watched tazercrafts content for years and the accent is the same. As you said pac has not been through language loss or anything like that, so much so that he still has a pretty strong brasillian accent when he speaks english and that before joining the qsmp his fluency level was still a little clunky.

I also agree with you that the reason the translator has a hard time with pac/mike/forevers accents is the training data, which is likely composed of mostly paulista accents.

Now heres where i can add smth, so, idk about the UN thing that you mentioned, but as you said a lot a lot of tradicional brasillian media is filmed in rio. So why isnt there much carioca training data? Well, its probably because most of that media is most likely professionally produced for tv, and most of the people who work in entertainment or news (or politics in regards to the UN training data) actually learn how to speak with a "neutral" accent, which is basically just a paulista accent but slower. With very enunciated words and little to no maneirisms (thats why the translator sometimes gets confused with some slang or repetitions cellbit or bagi say even if they sound paulistas). Idk why that is the established neutral accent, but it sort of is.

The stereotype is basically: paulista – as long as you dont use too much slang – makes you sound professional, carioca makes you sound like you like to party, gaucho makes you sound like a bit of farmer, bahiano makes you sound very chiillllllllll (think surfer dude chad type of chill), nordestino makes you sound straight to the point (but also some people think it sounds simple-minded and poor, i personally dont see it but its a think that enough people think that rich people from that region learn to speak like paulistas/teach their children to speak like paulistas), and honestly i dont know what a northern accent sounds like bc they have so little coverage in media. So yeah, i hope this bring some insight, idk why i wrote this i guess i just wanted to share

thank you for your insight! also i don't have a degree in linguistics, for clarity, but i took classes in undergrad and it's a big area of interest for me personally.

good to know i was right about the canada thing! i feel like that's kind of a piece of language misinfo that people talk about a lot and i wanted to clear it up generally along with the fact that it doesn't apply for pac specifically.

and the stuff about media & the paulista accent is super interesting! that's kind of similar to the accent many broadcast news anchors use in the US, which is a kind of general american accent that is meant to not alienate viewers from across the US rather than having a more regional accents (mental floss & insider articles about said "broadcast voice"). i think that being the case for brazilian media makes a lot of sense! my understanding is this is the case in many countries, so if training data was based on traditional media like tv and movies, it would make sense that it would be less able to understand other accents & various types of slang.

thank you for the accents breakdown! it's always cool to learn about regional differences and how they impact social & media settings.

[fantomette22]

(For Bloodborne)

10, 16, and 18?? 💀

I answered 10 here ! As for the rest it is quite long so putting it under there. Hope you ready ���

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Hm... wait I need to remember all the things I don't appreciate... and try not to make ennemies 😓 (it's really not my goal it's just personal preference mostly. Seriously depending how things are explained and presented there's lot a thing I can actually enjoy! While I would dislike when it's just throw and spam without context.)

Hm well you know as for characterisations when it's reduced to like 2 traits or extreme good / extreme bad it's hm... yeah. I mean I know I ain't a good exemple but I barely share dark headcanons 😓 but they do exist hehe.

Of course absolutely don't mind and love silly shenanigans (when you're hanging with your friends and having fun it's not always very serious) and also more dark and matures ideas. When people share it doesn't mean it's all they think to the characters! Gotta take the all picture!

But it does bother me when people believe in almost caricatural interprets like it's canon and talk down on others with different views. Somehow like they are the worst thing...like wtf.

Also well typical extreme talk about Gehrman, Maria and mostly Laurence I suppose (maybe a bit Lulu aka the holy blade but it bother me a bit less because people are generally not spamming to or being annoying as much as the others. Oh Micolash too). When people reduced them to just 2 things or an extreme. I feel it really doesn't fit with the infos within the game. I'm not a fan at all. They are all morally grey and humans. They are not clearly all black or all white. they are morally gray, they are humans!

In more details now. Well for Gehrman you know my stance already. Clearly yeah he had some issues in his life and did bad things but clearly I don't think he was a misogynistic asshole and all the stuff. Like it just don't make sense to me. I don't even wanna vent about it today XD

As for Maria well. Look I don't have a problem with the headcanon of her being a butch lesbian. I mean it's even one of my AU actually. (to put it really really simply. Bc I like having several interprets disconnect to each other in their own settings). It can be very interesting in an overall big story I think. The problem I have is when it's apparently her only unique traits and if you think or headcanon otherwise for any reasons you are apparently the worst shit to exist and getting block. Being labelled as sexist, homophobic etc. Well idk but that kind of reaction kinda tell me who the real -phobic one is 😕 really that is sad like wow who hurt you people?! to have this much anger to people just trying to have fun. Thankfully it's clearly just a minority of people who are agressive like this. And I hope they will grow, gain maturity and realise there's really no need to be that mean about such a thing. But it's been a while saw smt like this so I prefer to put this behind me there's hope.

As for Laurence I'm not really a fan of him being the ultimate bitch devil (or angel but nobody has that take almost. That would be a change. the tragic vicar who only had good intention but accidentally fucked up and try his best until the end😔 I mean I don't agree with that either but that's a change). I mean by this, that I think he did both. Good and bad things. That he had honorable intentions at first but overcome by a bit of ego and pride he fucked up really bad. And then realised his mistake but it was too late to correct it... his theme inspire great strength but who end in tragedy and pity. So overall tragic these too. Him being depicted as just a smug unlikable bitch is something I have a hard time with. I mean yes I like to imagine him being a smug bitch too at times for sure! it's fun but not like all the time and making it his entire personality. If that make sense. I don't see how he could be an important religious figure, doctor and having so much support by just being a manipulative ass all the time. Especially if he start from ground 0.

And hm... i have nothing again it and people so that we're clear but hm EXCEPT in certains very specific context* I am not personally a fan of Laurence being drawn with horns on his head. It just isn't my cup of tea. I'm not sure to understand what's the interest don't make sense to have Laurence looking normally human + just horns but it's just me.

*EXCEPT WHEN : symbolism and symbolic art (no prob I like those actually. Horns + when he's burning in human form for exemple onlooking like religious symbolism) ; "decoration" like lil detached horns, like you would put flowers or sparkles or little emoji next to a portrait of a characters ; before he transformed but with other signs of beasthood (actually him human with horns can be nice but I prefer when it's like mini horns not full cleric beast ones + idk a giant arm with claws and fur growing, eyes looking weird, teeth growing, his hair being longer and messy etc).

Now last I will stop after...

I think a whole fic or interprets on a really dark and realistic Bloodborne universe like our world can be super interesting! But I don't enjoy when people seem to think Bloodborne is 100% our 19th century with just a couple of eldritch things in it? Ok it's closer to us compared to medieval fantasy like DS or elden ring. But I feel it's fantasy too. if we had a map I won't be surprise if that's not Europe or a map that existed in real life. Lot of things don't fit to be actual victorian era. It's just inspire by it : invention and technology aren't on the same lvl. Either they are missing important inventions or are too advanced. (Molotovs appeared during spain war and were named like this during WWII) people don't seem to have 10 children working in factories or mines as well. Women are doctors, academic, hunters etc No steam machine or electric bulb but who knows. I could make an entire things... Looking at all the real life inspirations for the game is great! Create a very realistic story is very cool! But I would personally be more on the side that's it's more of a victorian fantasy. Like Sekiro can't be in our world or how Dark souls is a medieval fantasy as well and isn't medieval age accurate.

Oh boi i forgot about victorian london. Jokes are fine but bloodborne is more inspired on Prague and eastern europe i feel. You and Katy developed it more anyway

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

Ok I don't know how to answer this so have a list (of ideas in my head I need to share /write one day lmao) :

Maria backstory (no seriously I want stories on her childhood, her family, what happened, how she felt toward them. Conflicted? Good terms but separate ways? Actually work for them for a while? Disowned? I wanna know! If she's actually close to Annalise ? More important in royal family that we know? Or really a random noble related to them?) Is her pyromancer real?! why she dislike blood blades?

How she got her Rakuyo

How she met Gehrman? her training? WHAT HAPPEN I NEED TO KNOW uxkcblkDOLFMBOEAMl: (sorry XD) work for Laurence & co too

Important lore Charcacters backstory before this whole mess (Laurence, Gehrman, Ludwig, Willem etc yeah basically everyone lol I won't do the entire list XD but how did they meet each other what bound them what happen.)

Stories how the healing church + blood transfusion actually came to be?

Byrgenwerth era (yeah sorry I love it XD)

So yeah overall timeline before the hunter arrive (help)

Cainhurst, Annalise, vilebloods, potential KING of Cainhurst

So yeah Logarius too

Loran, Isz and pthumerians lore??

Dores and Gatekeeper my beloved

Caryll (yeah just Caryll)

Izzy and bestial hunters. How the bestial rune was forbidden, why Laurence had it etc

Ok is everyone except 5 persons gonna ignore the fact freaking Gehrman can make more than just weapons?! well wood stuff are oblivious but how did bro can make such refined clothes hello?!?!

Religion practise how it works in Yharnam, how citizens and clerics actually practise it.

What's their history, their legend, how the geopolitic within the country is and others XD (it's more a critic about the game in itself than fandom really) In truth I'm a bit sad we know lot of countries and regions within Dark Souls but almost none with Bloodborne! Like many people are from foreign countries and we have 0 names compared to the dozens in DS. we just have like vaguely Yamamura asiatic country, Eileen's one, Valtr's city, Loran and Isz. As for Gascoigne Gilbert Brador and all the others we don't know anything. In Dark Souls we have names and we know where people came from : Catarina, Astora, Forossa, Mirrah, Carim, Vinheim, Lordran etc)

Event being seen by random citizens or young characters growing up could be interesting!

I mean many characters again

I might stop here or it will never be over sorry... I'm not even sure it's really slept one but I wish we have more. There's just so many possibilities and things that can be created!

[xehanortsreport]

now, im not the type of person who typically likes when series give villains an involved backstory or origin - i actually think dark road and to a lesser extent bits of kh3 make xehanort weaker as a character. but i think the excuse of "yeah no his power is the exact same as sora's - making connections between hearts - but he uses it to champion darkness instead of light" is the best one they could've given him.

i don't talk about it much just bc he isn't really the focus of my thoughts but sora is one of my favorite characters not just in kh but in general. i love that he's just Some Guy with relentless optimism and the ability to put a smile on anyone's face. i love that his "special ability" is literally just making friends. he IS hope, and happiness, and joy, and fun and all the things that make life worth living; his role is reminding others of that.

so then, there's something beautiful in having someone who can hold your heart even when it's ugly. to embrace bitterness, pain, sorrow - yes, sora does too, but in a way his brightness can shine too much for some. some people can't be cheered up just yet, or maybe they're seen as too dangerous or scary for people to approach. and for that you need someone who will sit down and quietly take your hand and let you be ugly, just for a moment. you need a xehanort to your baldr.

[moonlightshaiku]

Hello! May I request a pair up? ^^

My names Dahlia (I go by Luka too but mostly Dahlia) and I'm non binary but kinda go with whatever pronouns people call me and wear whatever I feel like. I'm omniromantic and demi sexual!

I enjoy art (writing, dancing, painting, ect..), books, collecting things, bugs (I have a collection of bugs I preserved in bottles myself :), gardening, dyeing my hair black, diying clothes, luxury, science fiction and horror, cats or birds, classical music/metal/and some other alt genres of music, goth and alt everything ngl, gothic fashion or mall goth, organizing, stars, making edits, spending or earning money, bones, zombies, scheming, military stuff, debating, learning bcs knowledge is power, and hiking

My flaws and quirks are that I tend to be jealous, have a bit of a savior/supioriority complex but internally don't think I'm that great yk, a bit impulsive, really blunt, don't sleep don't eat just gotta get what I need done, petty, anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, maladaptive dreaming disorder, nightmares 🌚, half done projects everywhere, competitive, loves to spoil my lover a little to much, can't sit still, needs to be uniqe, daddy issues, only ever listen to those I care for other than that im not a very good listener and a addiction to caffeine and success

My personality is entj with some enfp sprinkled in and 3w4, but basically, selfless to those I care about even a bit, polite, messed up but pretty self sustaining, eccentric, confident, can take charge, creative, assertive, sarcastic, blunt but can and will lie, extrovert, methodical, attentive, thrill seeking, witty, mindful of others unless I don't like the person, passionate, ambitious, stubborn, expressive, charismatic, sophisticated (most the time), adaptable, bit of a day dreamer but also realistic, and can and will do as I please to get what I please (unless your someone Im even just chill with I don't like hurting people to much unless they deserve it or I'm doing it on accident)

And that's it! I hope you have a lovely evening dear freind! I may have ranted a bit sorry :') but thank you so much I hope I wasn't to much trouble!

-🍷

Sevika!

(General Information: Sevika is a character from Arcane. She's a gruff fighter with a metal arm prosthesis. She's also very responsible, intelligent, and will try to end confrontations peacefully if possible.)

Sevika would absolutely love and spoil you! She's really relieved to be with someone who she believes can actually handle themself. She does worry, nonetheless.

She doesn't have a lot of time on her hands, but she'll spend every moment possible with you. Loves spoiling you, just as you spoil her. When her (relatively large) paycheck comes in, she would absolutely love taking you shopping.

She loves your ambition! Whatever you plan to do in your adult life, she will support. She'll get you whatever you need and put as much of her spare time forward as possible.

She probably picks up little trinkets and bugs when she has the time? And (especially if you're forgetful) will leave it on counters/tables. Just little offerings she hopes you won't mention.

Sevika has a lot of trauma, and is surprisingly good at calming people down. She'll usually boss them around, get them functioning and then talk. But she can also be soft. Kneel down and pat, murmur, whatever needed. Whenever Sevika is dealing something, she tends to get irritable and might even cry a bit, quietly and alone. A good, warm meal will calm her enough to talk it over.

Sevika isn't really jealous, and she's fine with your being jealous as long as it doesn't prevent her from doing something. If it does, she'll sit you down and attempt to understand and better the situation.

I can see a lot of good communication in the relationship, and a lot of mutual spoiling (and breakdowns)!

Alternate Pairing(s):

Kylo Ren — Star Wars

[undercover-monsterlover]

I just found your blog and im in my jojo era so i am SO thankful you do jojo matchups you are my savior thank you <3

So! I would like a matchup from JJBA please and thank you! I'm female, fine with any pronouns but i prefer she/her! I'd like to be matched with a man ty

I'm a very optimistic person in general, but certain things just tick me off so badly i can't help it. Most of the time im sweet and kind, im basically the mom friend. I lovee getting to know other people but i struggle with the whole social thing. I'm a sensitive person and i WILL cry or atleast tear up if watching sad movies/shows. I'm an amateur voice actor, it's a passion of mine and i love doing it! I also rlly like going trough my fav characters and looking at who their vas are then get giddy when i hear them somewhere else lol. I also love love drawing even if im not the best and i also LOVE reading, be it manga or books. I could yap about my fav things forever, but i kinda never do because i always think it just annoys people and nobody cares about what i have to say, so i just sometimes bring things up nobody else knows of and they stare at me like 👁_👁. My love language is physical touch for sure i loveee cuddling and holding hands and shit.

I honestly have a kinda specific type even if we don't take appearance into account, that's a different story. I seem to gravitate toward men who are the most childish, loud, overconfident (deserved or not) people on the planet it's honestly so noticeable too if i look at my fav characters. I just want a funny, silly, goofy man.

I'm 5'3 and have looong wavy brown hair that kinda curls up at times. I also have some big ass green eyes, freckles and a shit ton of birthmarks, like i have atleast 3 on every body part. My style is honestly just casual, i basically wear hoodies or oversized shirts 24/7 bc theyre comfy.

Uhh yeah i hope it isnt too much to ask for :3 ty in advance!!

Alright, I'd match you with...

Jean Pierre Polnareff

I felt that Polnareff was a strong match for you, especially given your type. I wanted to match you with someone who is loud, funny, and overconfident, but knows how to tone it down just a touch when appropriate, so you have someone that fits your type, but is still good for you and doesn't wear you out in the long run. I'd say especially in the beginning, Polnareff does most of the social heavy lifting, he could talk to a brick wall for an hour without caring, so it makes it easy for you to get to know him, and become comfortable around him, before you start opening up in return. We know he's a very forward person, so you never really have to struggle to figure out what his intentions are, or decipher complex social cues, what he says is pretty much what he means.

It doesn't take long for Polnareff to consciously decide/realize he likes you beyond just a friend. He especially loves how optimistic you are, he can be a touch reactive, even moody, so your outlook reminds him to look on the brighter side of things. Throughout the show, he's very sweet to the girls and women the crusaders come across, so I think he would take that to the next level with someone he actually knows likes. Opening doors for you, pulling your chair out, generally being very attentive. He's definitely a romantic, and he'll remind you that's because he's a Frenchman at every opportunity.

He is just insufferable during the flirting stage. He is always trying to show off for you, and blatantly at that. Straight up flexing for you, letting you feel his muscles, making a show out of lifting or carrying things. You'll never have to carry luggage or shopping bags again in your life, and he'll probably tell you that point blank. And god does he love to make you laugh. You wanted someone funny? Well he can definitely provide. Even if what he's doing isn't exactly funny, his unashamed attempts to get you to laugh will make you do so anyways. Every ten minutes you'll hear "watch this" only to watch him go off and do the most random bullshit. The others hate it, but you find it cute, he's very eager to please.

I think it wouldn't be too long before he confesses to you, he isn't a very patient man, and he's made it pretty obvious he likes you anyways. I think Polnareff would also unintentionally try to move the relationship forward very fast, you'll have to remind him to take things slow if you don't want a proposal within a month. He probably bought the ring before he even confessed anyways. Polnareff is also very fond of showing affection physically, he's always got an arm slung around your shoulder, or waist, or leaning you against him in cars, stroking your hair, holding hands, anything where there's skin on skin contact. He doesn't want to leave you alone for a second. You'll have to remind him to tone down the PDA if you don't want to be making out in public. And god, the pet names are almost embarrassing at times. "Mon amour, Mon trésor, lumière de ma vie, mon puce." If you ever respond with your own French pet name for him you're being smothered in kisses, btw, use that information wisely.

Polnareff LOVES to listen to you talk, no matter what it's about, and since he's also a chatter mouth, you'll go back and forth for hours. The yap sessions are unmatched in their longevity and intensity. He's often guilty of not actually processing what you're saying, letting it go in one ear and out the other, he just likes the sound of your voice. Maybe even more than he likes the sound of his own voice. And he of course loves your voice acting skills, he thinks it's funny, and cute. He keeps trying to teach you French, so you can "broaden your voice acting options" but he really just likes hearing your accent when speaking his language. He thinks it's sweet how excited you get over voice actors, but god forbid you ever mention someone having an attractive voice, or any show or movie with them is being blacklisted. I have a feeling he'd be a touch jealous overall, which might cause some tension in your relationship if he's not careful, but a conversation should fix that anytime he's going overboard.

Polnareff isn't as interested in books as you are, though he'd never tell you or refuse to let you read to him or talk about it. The manga how we, that he can get into. He's always been into comics and cartoons, so manga isn't unfamiliar to him, and he'll always read your favorites if you ask. He thinks it's adorable when you cry during movies, and he has to stop himself from laughing or cooing at you when you have tears in your eyes, but it's hard for him when he happens to look over at you during a sad screen and you're just staring at the screen with tears in your eyes.

He's always found you attractive, and he never chills out about it no matter how longe you've been dating. He thinks you have just the prettiest eyes he's ever seen, and your freckles are so cute. He seeks out your birthmarks like a scavenger hunt, and if he's feeling even more affectionate than usual he'll make sure to kiss everyone of them. He loves giving you his clothing, since you find oversized clothes comfy, but mostly because he loves seeing you wear his clothes. He may "accidentally" leave his clothes around your place so that you can keep and wear them.

Overall, your more temperate personality is very compatible with his more impulsive one, you keep his mood and his ego in check, and he makes sure you're always happy and tended to.

[the-multiple-prism]

yeah no problem, i can try to be more specific. what are some things that are different for you because of your avpd/being aplatonic? can you have avpd and still like the concept of “friends” or some sort of community around you? is aplatonic just “i dont want friends, i dont like making friends” or can it be something different like “im extremely selective with my friends” or “i want friends but im too scared of rejection/being made fun of/etc so i dont bother making friends at all” i hope this helps!

- the anon asking about avpd

hi sorry for taking so long to respond to this anon we've been having a time mentally eughghj. anyways yapping below the cut. -ramlethal

avpd alone not taking into account aplatonicism and such, yes you can in fact like the concept of friends and community while having avpd. it is actually pretty likely that you do if you have avpd, the name of the disorder leads to many misconceptions really. people usually assume avoidant means as in not liking people or being averse or antisocial, when in reality it just refers to the main defense mechanism of avpd. which is. avoidance of even potentially uncomfortable social situations, avoidance of relationships unless the pwavpd is absolutely certain they will be liked and not mocked or shamed or embarassed, etc. avoidance to literally everything pretty much. it doesn't necessarily mean you don't like people or dislike the concept of company. avpd is just characterized by hypersensitivty to social situations, criticism whether constructive or not or perceived or literal, and therefore avoidance of anything that could potentially result in it, like social situations and etc. avpd is also pretty much always present with a belief that you are inherently inept (usually socially), "different", "weird", "odd", etc. in our personal experience we've found that we are more comfortable in social scenarios in which there are multiple other people/a group other than us so it's likely we won't be focused on as much because we usually just slip into a corner literal or metaphorical and go quiet and usually panic if we're ever involved in the social interaction. BUT avpd can be comorbid with other personality disorders that might impact how you feel about social scenarios combined with avpd, particularly szpd (schizoid personality disorder) & stpd (schizotypal personality disorder) bc they're all schizotaxic disorders among other reasons. and also npd is a common comorbidity because they use the same core defense mechanisms and beliefs. tldr; no avpd does not Inherently, Alone, mean that you have any particular dislike of people & company in general, but it is often comorbid with other personality disorders that do affect this like npd, szpd, and stpd.

as for the aplatonicism, we cannot speak for non-disordered aplatonics as our aplatonicism very much has to do with the fact that we are profoundly personality disordered so take this with a grain of salt and also generally because we do not speak for aplatonic people as a whole entire group. /lh. we are platonic/friendship averse and repulsed for the most part, we can enjoy talking to other people but its mostly because of our other personality disorder symptoms that make us very much eager for attention and validation. in our case we only interact with other people outside of our partner system to gain things like validation and other goodies that come from the occasional social interaction and such. any social interaction we have is never intended to become friendships and we are genuinely repulsed and disgusted by the idea of it, though we are fine with acquaintances and "mutuals". we do not experience any specific or particular urge to interact with specific people outside of the examples i stated and a few others i probably forgot to mention. thats our personal experience with it

it is also good to note that aplatonicism is a lot of the time associated with VARIOUS MANY OThER NEURODIVERGENCIES and things like trauma though it doesnt have to be. it can mean anything from just simply a person who considers themselves aspec for their neurodivergency and how it impacts their platonic relationships and the attraction to them, or it can just mean "yeah i just. don't feel anything for friends lol". the aplatonic experience is very vast. but we have heard other things. other aplatonic people we've heard have said that they are indifferent to platonic relationships and such and still have them but they just appear differently than an alloplatonics would, or being a complete loner as a result of aplatonicism and not feeling any urge to connect or connection to people and being averse to other people for whatever personal reasons that might be, and then we've also seen very loving aplatonics who are still very positive about platonic relationships OR who instead very strongly feel romantic, sexual, or a tertiary attraction "in place" of their platonic attraction.

aplatonicism tldr: aplatonic is a VERY VAST term used to describe a VAST WIDE ARRAY OF EXPERIENCES that are typically neurodivergent, disordered, traumagenic, etc. if you feel it fits you, use the term.

here's some resources we have for all of these

general apl stuff: definition on lgbtqia wiki, aplatonic masterpost, aplatonicism 101 on AUREA, this one is more a general aspec terms post but it's still cool

community, experience oriented apl stuff: r/aplatonic, our-aplatonic-experience, mlp-friendship-isnt-magic, aplatonicism (blog)

medical avpd stuff: avpd on wikipedia, all about avpd on psychcentral, avpd criteria, avpd criteria 2, avpd on healthcentral

community, experience oriented avpd stuff: avoidantrecovery's avpd tag, avpdvoidspace, avpd diagnostic checklist made by a tumblr user based on the dsm5 criteria, millon's avpd subtypes in more simplified language, rewritten avpd criteria by someone with avpd (HEED THE DISCLAIMERS)

*REMEMBER TO ALWAYS DO YOUR RESEARCH WHEN SELF DIAGNOSING AND TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT POTENTIAL DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSES THAT MAY MIMIC THIS DISORDER AS THERE ARE MANY. WE CANNOT DIAGNOSE YOU WE ARE NOT A PROFESSIONAL. WE ARE JUST A MENTALLY ILL SYSTEM OF HIKIKOMORIS WHO HAVE LIVED WITH AVPD ALL OF OUR LIFE

[lumibye]

hii charm i wanted to ask , what was sycamaris first date ? 🤔 how did it come abt , who asked, how did it go ? im soo interested , and i hope uve had a wonderful weekend ! - @catake

hehe hi clara ! hope your weekend's been lovely as alwayss and i hope your finals went just as well !! i'm sure they did but sending my heart and wishes anyways ofc ofc

( ♡ ) ty honestly sm for encouraging me to talk abt them bc it's all in my drafts but i'm just . . soso shy ( if you could believe it ehe ; ) so it really means a lot to me ! i'm v grateful i get to speak my silly nonsense eek >_< their first date was . . it was a ' date ' but it wasn't ? this is prob a good time to explain why they're ' working together ' ig for context purposes ! ( i'll prob compile this all into a post at some point actually )

( long post again bc my filter is broken ehe ; )

although he has a lot of information on mega evolution in regards to battle , he doesn’t have a lot in the way of contests 

pokemon aren’t affected by any external factors like attacks or status conditions when performing , but they’re still expending a good amount of  energy with the use of moves

so , as someone that’s very invested in the subject , his research and the bond between pokemon and trainer - this information would be valuable to compare and contrast with his current findings

he doesn’t really know anybody in the contest scene? there’s serena, of course, but she’s also currently undertaking the gym challenge and being one of his pupils it doesn’t feel right to stick this kid with even more work considering she’s a dex holder  so mariannes his best bet , even though they're only acquainted at the time they share a mutual acquaintance in serena at least . it's mutually beneficial in a sense , if marianne can't use mega then she's going to be at a disadvantage in the contest circuit ( i hc that contests are similar to ORAS in kalos hehe ) her ' job ' would be to monitor the behavioural changes in her pokemon after rehearsals and performances as well as their general health and wellbeing . there'd be weekly or biweekly ' check ups ' at the lab for more thorough analysis but these ' reports ' are more casual to fit both their schedules also , it's a good excuse to go out for him to go out for coffee considering he's so busy . but they're not dates , don't be silly . . . ( /hj he doesn't intend it to be . . but . . ) anway ! to actually answer your question now ( i'm soso sorry i can talk for aages they live in my head rent free 24/7 ; ) once he proposes this to her at the lab ( it's like on a weekend so nobody's there ) and gives her a list of pokemon that can mega she notices the only one that can is benched because of her accident in the unova circuit reasons and she goes ' umm , i don't really have any on this list at the moment ' and augustine is kind of stumped because this meeting is now way shorter than he expected it to be so he goes ' oh , that's ok . . well let's go out for coffee instead ' ( not those exact words ofc ) because

a.) she's not super familiar with lumiose and having a kind of ' guide ' might be helpful

b.) atp he knows she's a bit of a reserved person and the few times they've met he hasn't seen her with any friends so that's mildly concerning

c.) if they're eventually going to work together he should know her a bit better and

d.) she's piqued his curiosity honestly marianne's very bad at saying no especially on the spot so as nervous as this makes her she agrees , for similar reasons too . this person's offering her an advantage in her career so it'd be rude to say no , wouldn't it ? so they go to soleil ( because taking a shy girl to your best friends cafe on your first outing seems like a really bad idea ) and he offers to pay and she protests and there's that cliche back and forth about who's going to pay that makes the barista a bit ticked off ( people pleasers , the both of them ) and it takes her a bit to open up but he's genuinely enthused when it comes to learning about people . so eventually she does crack a little bit , especially when the topic of coffee comes up . she used to be a barista in castelia and coffee is his passion so that's their jumping off point . after that they both surprise each other with just how similar they are ! they talk about their thoughts on self expression ( he asks about her career ) and just how important it is and their energy just gels . they end up almost gushing to each other about their thoughts and beliefs , which is something she hasn't done in ages since she's been alone for quite a while so it makes her so so happy . he didn't expect this to come out of someone like her and she didn't expect someone primarily invested in research to share her beliefs and ideas . afterwards she feels bad that she's talked primarily about herself but still . . . it feels good and honestly ? that's kind of exactly what he was hoping for and he's pretty happy himself . they both are ig , more than they'd thought they would ! she definitely goes home and screams into a pillow about how embarrasing she was tho ehhehehe

[ciaran]

if you don't mind me asking, do you have a diagnosis of adhd? if not, how did you come to learn that you have adhd? the part about feeling like scribble more than a person resonated like. a lot. so. I'm sorry if this is too personal, you obv don't have to answer if you don't want aaaaaa

haha its fine um. i did my research basically i looked at the symptoms and experiences of other people w adhd and also decided based on the severity of the impact on my life. i do have a formal diagnosis bc i wanted medication but i dont take my meds regularly for various reasons. these are my primary adhd issues

lack of short term/working memory or its very poor (i lose track of tasks easily)

trouble organizing and breaking down tasks

inability to start on things bc every task feels mountainously overwhelming no matter how simple

executive dysfunction ("i really want to do this thing and i can do this thing but i am not why why why why why")

poor emotional continuity/generalized forgetfulness

sometimes brain goes SO fast. other times brain doesnt go at all

sometimes i am so confused by information

people tell me how to do something. i am listening. after they finish talking i DONT know what they said

other things

when im really bored my head hurts and i feel sleepy. the sleepiness is fine but my fucking?? head hurts??? when im too bored???

in school my grades were like, 49% scraped pass in some subjects and 85%+ in others. no congruence whatsoever

i NEED stimulation. i cant do movies or watch anything basically bc i cant just sit there and absorb something quietly. i can read or play video games but if m doing smth w my hands (writing, drawing) i need music. 2 sensory input minimum. 2 simultaneous trains of thought or everything gets derailed

i change tabs and instantly forget what im doing

and i have trouble paying attention to things, i procrastinate, etc. but everyone w adhd is different and you might find that some but not all of these things are you. look at other peoples experiences and pattern match.

lastly, diagnosis is a tool for you to get the resources you need. dont feel pressured to be formally dxed unless you need medication. if you want to self dx then go ahead, just keep a handle on why youre dxing and what youre hoping to get out of the process. remember, its for you. your happiness matters.

[mikomikono]

hi miko! im here with a fic writing question… i was thinking about how to make smut good bc recently i feel like whenever i get to the smut part of the fic im writing i get super bored, like im just rehashing whatever ive been writing in every smut scene ive done for years. you and endles came to mind bc i always find your guys nsfw scenes really compelling, and great, and unique. while also being hot and fun (very important w smut!!) so i wanted to ask if you had any tips for keeping things exciting or fresh when you are tackling those scenes! especially because you guys have experience writing the same characters many times over and manage to be so creative and distinct with every scene ive read from you. so, i guess, penny for your thoughts, if you feel like it! (sorry for sending this only to you and asking for both your opinions, it was the simplest 😭. if u want to answer yourself only thats fine haha)

❤️

Heyyyy oh my god I never expected to become someone ppl would come to for writing advice, what an honour 💖 also, I hope you don't mind me answering publicly, bc I feel like this is something a lit of writers struggle with! I will put it under a cut tho, bc I ended up writing quite a bit oops

So. Smut. It's kinda funny you should ask me about that, bc the first proper sex scene I ever wrote was last year for Steamship Sexcapades (bc I am not counting that one feeble attempt at 19 that was so cringe that I hid it away and didn't even think about trying again for like 8 yrs) but I suppose after writing *checks The Canon word count* a lot since then means something :DD

Here's the thing: I also feel like I'm rehashing things. Constantly. There's only so many ways you can say "cock in hole ➡️ thrust" before you're gonna have to repeat some phrases. And honestly, I feel like I repeat phrases remarkably often! But in a way that's all writing! (or that's how I stop myself from getting too depressed about it lol) The readers don't notice! Usually. And as long as you don't use the exact same wording every single time.

Ok, so here's a few tips on what I, personally, think you need to make a good sex scene:

Don't be afraid of the words. Y'know, the first time I wrote "half-hard cock" I (allegedly) had to take a 10min break and texted a friend that I was not going to be able to do this. But after a while you sort of get used to it and the words that seemed embarrassing stop being that, and become just... Words. And you also shouldn't shy away from more "cringe" words! Sometimes its fun to be a little cringe!

Related, you should try to love the words. But that's just good general writing advice, I feel.

Describe the emotions. Most people feel... something towards those they are intimate with, and that should be true in erotica too. It should be especially true in erotica, I think! Even if it's a one night stand, strangers who met in the club 5mins ago, whatever... You want the characters to feel.

Don't forget the physical. This is a thing that might seem a bit... weird. Like, you're writing sex, how could it not be physical? But what I mean is that you shouldn't forget to describe how it feels to the people involved, most notably your POV character. It's very easy to get lost in describing what they're doing and completely forget to get into the actual feeling. You're not writing a sex manual! And I have read fics where half way through I realise that's what it sounds like.

It's never just about the sex. Even if you think it is, it's not. It's about the connection, the narrative, the characterisation... It's about showing something that you can only show through the kind of vulnerable intimacy that sex scenes provide. Even if it's a oneshot pwp, it still has something to say. Maybe that something is wanting to get your rocks off, but also we're talking about fanfiction... We don't read and write that just to get off. It's always about the characters.

Rehashing is fine, actually. As I said, there's only so many ways to describe certain things, and so many ways you can have sex. Except that's not really true, because the secret to keeping it fresh is mixing it up! You can change positions, you can change who's the top/bottom, you can add foreplay (you should) and then change what kind of foreplay you wanna have! You can look into kinks! You can change locations! (I know we've done that a lot) You can add or remove any number of things to make each individual encounter different! And that's the key: repetition is fine, so long as you don't use the exact same everything every time. Case in point, there is a tumblr post which I would link except I'm on mobile, that is titled sth like "list of vocal sounds for smut", which has a list of, well, sounds/verbs (moan, groan, hiss, whimper, whisper etc) and adjectives that could be paired with them (hoarse, needy, quiet, throaty, desperate, wanton etc). The point is, that the best way to keep from sounding repetitive is to mix and match the words so that even if you say "groan" five times in 5k words, it's a different kind of groan every time. The same applies to sex acts! Do you have any idea how much cock Ryunosuke has sucked during The Canon? A lot. But it doesn't feel repetitive (hopefully) because everything else around it is switched up.

And perhaps most importantly: you gotta be at least a little horny for it yourself. I get it, man, writing smut is weird. You sit in front of your computer, staring at the monitor like "hmm is it better to use the word cock or dick or member?" And like... That's not very sexy. But! But!!! At the end of the day you gotta write something that makes you excited! Otherwise what's the point? Why are you writing if it doesn't fulfill you on some level??

Anyway, that's just my thoughts on the matter. If you want more specific help with writing, you can always DM me, I don't mind~

Also, endles says she is too mentally exhausted to properly answer, but she seconds everything I said, especially the point about loving the words. Actually she really wants to say sth about that, so I'm paraphrasing her for the rest of this:

You, as a writer, should love language. You should love the neat little things that language can do and seek out new things to try every time. It's a journey of discovery! Just like sex is always a new journey, even if it's the same characters and the same sex acts, every individual time is a chance to find something new. Let yourself have fun! Write something really stupid and work from that. The way I create scenes by writing jokes, even for serious scenes, because sex at the core is kinda funny. You're standing naked (at least partially) in front of this other naked person and it makes you feel a bit funny.

Also concrete advice: pick a list of 5-10 words you want to use. They can be anything, verbs, nouns, adjectives, as long as you really, really vibe with them, because they make you happy, as long as they're not words you already use a lot. They can also all relate to the same theme if you want! And then find a way to put all those words in.

[allamericansbitch]

speaking of 1989... i really hate that swifties on twitter and some on tumblr are making so much of that era about taylor's eating disorder, saying that she was constantly miserable and talking about how it must be so awful for her to relive that era. in advance i'm sorry if this causes a flurry of anons in your inbox, i don't mean to start anything, i just want to share my experience and i'm not comfortable to do that on my own blog right now.

i have had an eating disorder for a few years now, but i've usually been able to keep it in check. this past year, though, i've been struggling much more than normal. i don't want to share too much but there were many times that i didn't eat anything for 48-72 hours either because of other mental health reasons or because i didn't think i deserved to, as is very common. however, this past year has also had some of the best moments of my life, largely because of the people i surrounded myself with. i made a large group of friends where i don't feel like i have to put on a fake persona to get along with them. i was able to get out of my comfort zone and go to social events and gatherings i previously would do almost anything to avoid. and in many ways, despite the struggle i had i would not want to take back this year because of how many happy moments i've had.

and i view taylor's 1989 era in a similar way. yes, she was struggling with an ED but she was also breaking records right and left with her album, moving to a brand new city, and making such a large impact on the general public as well as the music industry. she perhaps was not doing well in private on the eating front, but i am positive there were other bright moments in her personal life at this time too, that she may have not chosen to share with the public (and understandably so).

all this to say, it's very naive and harmful to reduce a person's life at any moment to the mental health struggles they are going through. as humans, we should give each other grace to be more than our lowest moments and this applies to people like you and me as well as taylor.

i really didn't mean for this to get so long, but thank you for reading and i hope you're doing well sarah 💙

YES YES YES! i've said this before and completely agree! im so sorry you're dealing with that and going through a particularly rough patch rn, sending you love and always remember to be patient with yourself.

fans have always had a very black and white view of taylor (bc they dont see her as a person, rather a character or solely a form of entertainment etc etc), so when she mentions one bad thing, they assume the entire era was miserable and a terrible experience, the whole time. not a moment of happiness or anything. which just lacks so much common sense because you can struggle in one aspect of your life but that doesnt affect all the other aspects of it. plus she has said she's struggled since she was a preteen, so she had her ED when she was in debut era, fearless era, speak now and red era, but they never said she was miserable and awful it was to relive those? so why only 1989? it just goes to show swifties always want to see her struggling in some capacity because it makes her an interesting story to them.

[humanitys-strongest-bamf]

hey, kat. it is that anon.

i just came here to apologize for just ....yeah....how that all went down. i wrote that message in haste. i'm abc so when i saw your post my first thought was "wow kinda not cool of them to say that" but then i thought about how i would've posted the same thing if my relatives were fatshaming me. i agree with you that--especially in a predominantly white society--that we have every right to speak to our identities and cultures, including their unrealistic beauty standards.

i looked through your about-mes and couldn't find any mention of your identity, not that you have to disclose that tho. at the time, i tried to think "how can i tell this person that what they said is not ok if they are not-chinese, but that they have every right to (and i can relate) if they are?" and obviously i did a poor job conveying that. i was weighing the possibility that you were white and saying something racist against the possibility that you were also chinese and you had the right to say that.

didn't want to come off anon because we're moots who just haven't really talked much and i don't want to get off on the wrong foot because i was hoping to become friends eventually. i'm not sure if i can salvage things, so if you want me to just unfollow that's fine.

once again very sorry for my miscommunications. like i said, i was feeling kinda fiery as i thought about the possibility of that post coming from a white person. i hope my apology can bring you some peace. wholeheartedly, i hope you are okay and im sorry once again.

(editing bc I was too stoned to see the part about you being abc alskdkfjfg)

honestly, i think the main thing was that this could have been avoided if you had dm'd me. i'm a *tad* less agitated about it now because i've had time to process and took some anxiety meds.

and thank you for taking the time to clarify. i appreciate it. and again, i get it. you were trying to watch out for a marginalized group. communicating through text is difficult.

tldr;

- you don't have to salvage anything - me explaining the white savior complex a bit more, although I appreciate you clarifying about being abc (so am I!) - although i'm still not okay with the original ask i do appreciate you reaching out again and taking the time to clarify - i'm sorry for being so hostile about it /gen - if you do want to chat feel free to dm (whether about this or hornyposting - i'm stoned af rn lmao and am chilling, esp now that you've taken the time to clarify/reach out)

i wouldn't worry about salvaging anything because it doesnt need to be. you taking the time to type this out already says the world about your position and intentions as more genuine and, honestly

most people don't know. my main gripe was the feeling that someone was trying to come in and shut my voice down. with the invalidation that i have dealt with personally, but also as a community that is constantly having our voice stomped on, the comment about feeling the right to say it was what set me off.

I'm sorry I just kinda assumed you were white (guess we were in the same boat there lmao), but a huge thing that irks me in general (not isolated to this obvs), is that a lot of the people that do these types of callouts are usually someone with multiple dominant identities, and rarely the identity of the group they're trying to protect. and this is a huge problem in the social work field especially because the dominant group is *constantly* speaking FOR the marginalized group, regardless of its what they want or not.

anyway, i'm glad you reached out. i'm still not okay with the ask, but you bringing clarity to it does make it a bit easier to deal with. if you want to come off anon and dm me, i'd be glad to talk and chat, even if it's about this (or levi ackerman's cock idrc)

with anons, comes an extra layer of unease, animosity, and uncertainty, so the potential for miscommunication is very high. but again, the fact that you came out, clarified, despite technically not even needing to because i never would've figured out who you were anyway, says much more about your intentions and authenticity (positive) more than anything else could have

sorry i was so hostile in my responses. this is clearly something i've had to tell people off about. my offer still stands, if you want to dm, please feel free (i'm nice once you get to know me i swear LMAO) to

[astralartefact]

a nier reincarnation tierlist, but why make it easy if you can be annoying and write an analysis of every theme in the gacha game nobody cares about

notes

the following contains far too much analysis for my own good

for many of these you need to also at least know their dark stories to make sense of what i'm writing below the cut (but don't worry i haven't read them all either)

i just wanted a picture for my write up and was too lazy to draw 21 characters so don't take the tierlist too seriously

i call it reinkane for short bc that's its japanese hashtag (i know cane and kane are spelled the same in katakana but as a german i'm more comfortable with ks i guess)

also i know it's Gamer blasphemy to praise a gacha game but i think reincarnation is my favorite nier game im sorry okay i know that's a bad thing to admit but i need you to know i have bad taste

on reincarnation's theme

...and write an analysis of every theme in the gacha...

there is only 1 theme. probably more, but you'll see what i mean

it took me an embarrasing amount of time of going "well, but what is this game really about" (you know, since the other niers are about something too) to realize that it is indeed just about reincarnation - it's just thinking about it in a more abstract/straightforward way.

because the thing that tripped me up was that only about 2 and a half stories are actually about what I thought of as reincarnation (death -> next person) so it can't possibly be about that, right? but if we think about reincarnation as an abstract concept of "something is passed on to somebody else next in line" then basically every single one of these character stories is about that in some sort of way - and at the end of the day isn't having children some form of reincarnation? one of those things where i'm like did everyone else already notice this and its just so basic of an observation that nobody talks about it and i don't want to start the conversation in case it makes me look dumb

the core theme reinkane explores isn't just that though, it's more specifically the loss of agency through this "reincarnation" - it's about parents making decisions for their children, it's about people who don't get to decide for themselves because others already decided for them and in that the writers repeatedly pull from certain 'sub-themes' aside from familial ties:

royalty (basically a more overt version of loss of agency through birth/familial ties - children of reigning royals are born with certain responsibilities they never asked for simply by being children of their parents)

robots (beings created for a purpose by somebody who decides that purpose for them)

heavily enforced societal rules / decisions (rules you have to obey just by being born without any choice not to. it's more of a broader reincarnation in that entire generations make decisions that generations after suffer from instead of 1 person to 1 person)

war (similar to the above, war is basically about somebody forcing their decisions onto somebody else and especially the people who don't even have a say in it have to suffer for it)

and for the most part all of the stories (with a few exceptions) are to some degree about one or more of these. so let's get into some of my favorites:

sarafa

my love. it took a while for me to warm up to her, but once i put it all together i'm just... *chef's kiss* i hope they don't introduce new characters (aside from major ones like mama's true form or something) because she's the perfect book end character to end on.

not only is she a royal character like the very first character (rion), she's also one of the few characters to actually interpret this sort of reincarnation as a good thing!

it's very found family in that the "royal reincarnation" is still very very bad and even worse than rion's for example, but the reincarnation as part of this line of princesses sent to the slaughter also harbors a good thing, since only through their inter-generational sharing of knowledge that is built on all of the princesses that came before sarafa she can finally break the cycle, even if it ends up revealing something far worse.

saryu, hina & yuzuki

if you haven't noticed it yet, the current era of nier (starting after automata) is the "we're ruining our children" era. yorha:dark apocalypse, reinkane, all of voice of cards and even yoko taro's amazarashi (nier anime ed) music video is about it. like literally all of it.

anyways: all three of them (for saryu it's her ex story) are about how their parent's decisions influence their children's lives to a massive degree, in saryu's case it's the absence of her mother that shapes her entire life and with hina & yuzuki it's obvious i think.

hina & yuzuki get bonus points for being the most straightforward "this is how this theme looks in real life" about the theme even if them murdering their parents is obviously heightened for dramatic effect

also i have nothing to say about the hamelin lore except yuzuki turning into a red eye makes him canonically an incel and i won't explain why

priyet

another one where it took me a while to really get what is going on. at first i wasn't too keen on her story since i read her being a monster that wants to hide herself as one of those queer-werewolf allegories that I personally am just not really a fan of. but then i read her hidden stories (because yes. the first four hidden stories for every character are "lore" relevant. somebody is having an aneurysm as we speak foaming at the mouth over "kingdom hearts bullshit") and i like that a lot more even if it's probably more problematic?

basically since most people probably didn't read them bc unlocking them is a bother (if only there was a website for that) the guy who is friends with her and saryu (the one that priyet murders at the end of saryu's story) has a crush on priyet (literal love triangle!!!) and through misunderstandings and bad communication he keeps escalating their relationship until

His whisper played in my ears over and over and over and— "No! I hate this! I HATE it!" Every place he touched me was covered in filth. Every glance caused my hair to stand on end. "I'm gross! I'm dirty! I'm disgusting! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I'm going to be sick!" I took a pair of scissors and jammed them into my bed over and over. By the end of it, my room was a disaster and my throat raw from screaming, but I still felt no better. "Why...?" If things went bad between the two of us, what would happen to me and her? Oh, but I knew. She'd take his side— of course she would. And then we wouldn't be friends anymore.

her hidden story is a surprisingly nuanced look into what makes consent (or rather what doesnt) that i very much appreciate especially coming from japanese writers who are kind of universally handwaved as 'well it's a different culture, they're living behind the moon'

of course that boy is just a child and made a mistake, but society taught him - intentionally or not - to assume that her being nice (because they're friends) must mean she's fair game and her saying no is just her "not being confident" so he just keeps going and it results in her literally becoming a monster that needs to hide her sullied body beneath a table cloth.

and there's also something in there where this interacts so beautifully with her being gay. like it doesn't even occur to the boy that priyet might not even be into boys in general and now everything has gotten so much more complicated for her at a time in her life where everything is already complicated enough as it is, only because a guy decided he likes her and gave her no real choice about it - and all of that because society thought it was a good idea to demand eternal romance bonding at 14 because without that the boy wouldn't feel the pressure to establish a relationship in the first place (there it is, we took the long way back around to the theme of societal rule enforcement)

(side note: i fully understand if some people like this less than queer werewolves especially since it's a really sensitive topic. i personally think it's fine - since all of this game is about the fact that we learn/"reincarnate with" bad things from our predecessors i read priyet's story as that, a situation where all of these terrible values come together to utterly fuck her up - but if it's a no from you i think that's perfectly valid as well.)

also the absolute gall of reinkane to introduce a magic school and make one of the two protags meaningfully gay right when jk pops off

marie & yurie

these two are special because it's just one and zero all over again and i will take any dod3 reference i can get... their chapters are literally called "One Vow" and "Proof of Zero" - and yes that's also a binary code reference but yurie literally doesn't have a right eye how much more overt can it get... well maybe like this:

marie being the "heroic ruler" who wants to save everybody and do right by her people, who sings to spread her magic (of hope), but fails not only because it's not meant to be since the world doesn't allow for happy endings but also at the hands of her ruthless sister... why yes, I also approvingly nod my head at war crimes because they're drakengard references.

the only minus marie gets from me is that all of her concept designs are so much better. but this one looks so similar to hina. i get that her hairstyle looks more like one now but you could at least have given her black hair or something idk

they fit into the general theme that noelle and dimos (and F66) also partially explore, that robots are created with a purpose that benefits us humans - but if these robots are genuinely thinking beings, do we rob them of their agency by pushing our needs onto them? And Yurie only wants Marie's eye because humanity tells her that she "lacks it" - so even when she decides to take it because she knows she lacks something, is that really her agency? Fascinating stuff to think about.

(also the fact that humanity created a robot and took the robot's agency about taking humanities agency)

yudil

he is the bestest boy, he speaks to me as a ffxiv samurai main. i haven't read most his non main stories yet, but i have a feeling it's the one nier story that is at least in part about capitalism??

also it's nice to see that this game at least tries to not only have pale skinned characters. it's probably not a particularly noteworthy depiction of an arabian nights sort of setting, but i guess we have to set the bar low since a certain other insanely lucrative gacha game is planning to introduce a literal prison wasteland as the country all black people come from and a certain other recently released game that adds 2 more lore units to 14 can somehow literally be about the discrimination of minorities and slavery and still decide that the progressive option was to delete all black people from existence (honestly the writers/whoever else is to blame for that should be ashamed. can't call that anything but ludicrously tone-deaf and embarrassing.)

F66x

I'll be real. I appreciate F66x being here. I think it's really cool they commit to her bald head in all of her costumes (despite me loving her dark story 4 hairstyle...) And you can just tell she has it going on. Like Super Mario RPG levels of "I never really played this but I just know this is special and deserves all the praise it gets." But I just. Don't really care that much for some reason??

The thing is I really should!! She has the flowers, she has weird religious shit going on, all of the signs of some relation to the groteskerie queen - but I guess when her and 063y's chapters first came out the connection to dod3 was too obvious, which made it unappealing to me? idk it felt like a red herring (and it honestly still does) so i never really connected to it all that much

argo, 063y and gayle

the dads + gayle are interesting because they actually reverse our viewpoint on reincarnation. most of the other stories are from the reincarnated person's view, but these stories are about the characters that were reincarnated from and how that fucks them over too.

well, okay, argo not really, argo's story isn't about him it's about his daughter, which means technically it is exactly like the other ones, but i include him because the first part still applies (which is btw why he scores relatively high on my list, once you realize his story isn't about him i think that makes it more interesting. does it replicate the heightened value fathers get ascribed to in family dynamics or does it comment on it...?)

but 063y and Gayle also lose their agency because something happens to the person that reincarnated from them. Every version of 063y fights the flowers to protect his son - because that's what fathers do. But is that really agency? Is there really a choice in that? Same thing with Gayle even if it's about her sister instead.

of course that's also where the war theme comes in since it made this lack of choice even happen in the first place - but it's easy to imagine that without a sibling/child (/parent in the case of lars, who is very similar in that regard but from the other side of reincarnation) all of these people could have more easily chosen different and try and get away for example.

kaine's grandma

and this is where i announce that we have a special guest tonight, it's the one and only Kali from NieR Replicant and she's joining the ring with a steel chair!!!

no really though

when i first saw that scene at the end of sun/moon in the trailer for the final episode (the one where hina/yuzuki are trapped in the lunar tear meadow with kaine's shack) i sighed. is this necessary? literal reference for references sake. where does this come from. you just took that one scene people know and stuffed it in here. could you not come up with anything else that you could have referenced? like come on we're all only waiting for accord here.

turns out i was wrong, it's not just a random reference. it perfectly fits the theme :) with good-enough dreaming energy you too can explain away any plot inconsistencies

it took me until i did the scene again to get to the secret ending, but i realized that kaine's relationship to her grandma is one of those "reincarnations" that actually works. and while she does fall into a "revenge for dead relative" thing similar to gayle and lars, the things she learned from kali are the things that end up protecting her. without kali kaine wouldn't have become the person that would end up helping nier and emil.

it's a reincarnation story that never put kaine into a place where simply because she was kali's grand-daughter she was in a worse place than before - and unlike lars or gayle she can decide to go after hook on her own terms because hook isn't a literal war that she doesn't have any meaningful impact on. (i'm losing the thread here i think but i hope you get what i'm talking about)

(and yes i do think that was the point of including that scene since you find the key to the door next to where kali's picture is and also the replicant event quest is about kaine and kali too so it was probably already on their mind)

the rest (sorry season 1)

honorable mention to rikachimalu(fio's jp seiyuu) bc i love her, she's precious and i think it's kind of funny that she's voicing a nier protagonist and as such is one of the most frequent guests on reincarnation livestreams despite being kind of out of place lol (don't have much to say about fio though except that she's also firmly in "reincarnation through royalty" territory while also getting some "enforced societal rules" through the oppressive caste system she finds herself in)

kind of pains me that i don't have a seperate section for noelle bc i do think she's interesting, but i already said everything i wanted to say about her in the sections above

akeha is super straightforward family baggage, i think you can figure her out on your own

levania and his whole thing with his mom (hidden stories) tells me that they probably also fall into the entire theme of agency loss through reincarnation much more than i first thought, but i haven't looked into it enough to make any statement on it

i included mama since we finally get to know more about her in season 3 - which does look like it follows the established theme too btw! for speculations sake i do think it would be very in theme for mama to basically add her own story into the cage to help the fight and now this character mama - as a seperate version of the 'real' mama - has to deal with existing as a reincarnation bound to wander and defend the cage by her real version's choice

you couldn't pay me to care about rion and dimos, it's not happening and trust me i tried. it's an aesthetic thing, i liked rion's original design so much that i assumed he would lean into a different aesthetic and now all of his other outfits were disappointments and i don't like him. yes i do judge books by their cover too

finale

i know reinkane gets a bad rep bc it's a gacha game that god forbid expects you to play it and while i do think the gameplay is a dumb reason to hate it since some people - especially japanese players apparently - just love this style of game, i also won't be the person to tell you to play a gacha game.

it is some level of commitment to successfully free-to-play it and especially if you're prone to spending money on gachas please just stay away from it and check out videos or the stories on nierrein.guide. while they are still giving out lots of stuff every so often they also have in recent times added more and more stuff to push you to spend money (before awakening stones there was no reason to re-pull characters since you could upgrade the re-pull stuff with event items and before the character elements you also didn't need that many characters)

and while i can wish all i want that it wasn't a gacha game, at least with yoko taro i know that this thing i love wouldn't exist if it wasn't a gacha game. (no really the people who 'wish it wasn't a gacha game' need to realize that he wouldn't have made anything remotely resembling this if he wasn't told to make a gacha game. you can still wish it! but him being forced to make games and making the best of it is yoko taros whole thing)

also i know we attribute all of the nier stuff to just yoko taro as short hand - and he definitely deserves punishment for what he has done - but this is once more an invitation to also cuRSE YUKI WADA'S NAME!!! HE DID SUN MOON STORY AND VoC FORSAKEN MAIDEN TO ME!!! ALSO GIVE ME ANOGG YORHA DARK APOCALYPSE AS A REINKANE CHARACTER SHE FOLLOWS THE THEME PERFEC-----

[mental-health-advice]

i'm a teenager, and i have no actual irl friends. sure, i hang out with some people at my school, but i never feel like i fit in, be it bc im queer or bc they just seem to not care about me. i'm also like, not exactly the weird kid, but to give you an idea i stumble over my words a lot and am very Very socially awkward. i have 2 very good online friends and i love them a lot, but they just don't help with how lonely i feel all the time (and theres also two other people from my school that i'd love to befriend but they both have their own best friends and dont really interact with me). only feeling comfortable around my homophobic mom feels humiliating–i cant be myself or feel safe around my classmates, because im worried they'll somehow think i'm annoying. this shit was like, the root of a major depressive episode i had last year, and even though ive completely recovered now, im still scared i'll end up knee deep in shit again. girl help

Hey there,

It can be really difficult when we want to be friends with another but then for one reason or another it just doesn’t work out or we feel we are on the outside of the relationship with them due to them having other good friends. Have you mentioned that you wanted to be friends with them though even if it’s more someone to hang out with. Even though one person may have a best friend/s, it doesn’t mean they can’t have other friends too.

You mentioned that you don’t really feel safe with your classmates as you fear they will view you as being annoying or something like that. Whilst this is a completely valid concern to have, if you don’t try to interact with others then you will never know how it may go, you may even make a friend or two out of it! Start slow though, get to know them, likes/ dislikes, if you have anything in common. If you have to do a project with other class mates then try to take an interest in what they say, try to start a conversation with them – it can be a lot easier to focus on becoming friends with just one person as opposed to a handful of people all at once!

I know it can be so hard when you feel like you are socially awkward, and you stumbling over your own words wouldn’t help your self-esteem either, but it doesn’t mean that these things cannot be helped over time and worked through. For example, have you ever thought about looking at yourself through a mirror and practice having conversations and focusing on your words and speech in general. Sometimes when we stumble over words (I use to be the same and especially when I was feeling incredibly anxious) it can be due to anxiety like I just mentioned and a good way to work on that is to try to slow your talking down and especially if you are a fast talker. So when in a conversation don’t forget to breathe and focus on where full stops or commas should be put in just like as if you were writing something down on paper.

I really hope that this has helped a bit and please do let us know if we can help to support you in any other way!

I’m thinking of you and hope that you are going well!

Take care,

Lauren

[just-some-random-blogger]

meow meow, angel!! hope you're not annoyed by this greeting, bc it lets you immediately know who's your anon and i like it. so i've just finished watching hotd. the show in general and the characters seemed indeed more charming before i've watched it. i'm not disappointed but ig it's not what i expected it to be. still good, beautiful and all. don't get me wrong, i knew exactly what i'd been going to see. i knew all the plot points and all this shit. maybe this very fact spoiled everything. and i've never read the book. maybe they differ greatly but i'm talking only about the show. first of all, the plot seemed rather plain to me?.. it's linear and so predictable, too logical and obvious. i know they've cut some (dk how many) scenes but ig it's not the point? maybe it's the problem of the original, maybe the problem is the will to say to much. maybe it's just me being bitchy. second of all, characters?? the whole internet is arguing about daemon having no or grey moral while being blind on the others? wtf?? name me the one (out of the main characters) who's done NOTHING wrong and is absolutely saint?? who brings the love and the thruth only? viserys? a childish and selfish old man who's done so many wrong things and didn't want to face the consequences. rhaenyra? the young one annoyed me but the old one made me angry at times. the second one who's childish and selfish with no sense of duty. alicent? a naive woman whose resentment overgrown herself and made her blind with the desire of revenge. daemon? another selfish and arrogant man. besides, even if he had a sympathy for non-heir rhaenyra, i, personally, saw no love between them in the driftmark. a strong bond? desire? ambitions? targaryen's pride? yes. but not love. don't get me wrong, i understand all the motives, all the backgrounds, the characters. they all need a therapy and are deeply mentally wounded. but in general they're still a bunch of twats who do stupid and selfish things trying to overplay the faith just to be it's only favourite. a bunch of stupid just people doing stupid things. every moment of this show i was like "what if". what if rhaenys had become the queen? what if aemma hadn't died? what if daemon had someone of his liking for a first wife? the amount of their stupid decisions that are just leading them to the tomb... this hyperfixation made me realise i have that pride? strong feeling to the ancestry? that corlys possessed (as he said but we know). i feel SO sorry about this all. it's really scary how such a strong house, a great cultural inheritance is ruined by a bunch of morons. personally, i see it as an enormous tragedy. i can't empathise with mere people beside to the great history. but i did. i cried more times than one. still the mark of a good work. it made me empathise with the people that are TT annoying TT i was crying like a bitch over both scenes when daemon put the crown on his brother's/rhaenyra's head. i felt so sorry about all these relationships of the brothers. i cried over aegon's whole story. he's a twat. but boys with glossy eyes... the way young aemond said 'do not mourn me, mother'??? boy wtf?? i wanted to say who's my fav but tumblr is mad at me for sending long asks. a reason to send a love letter. and! *imagine the furious emoji* yesterday i was literally watching it till 8 am to finish it in time and to not pay for the full subscription bc hotd is literally the one show i've watched in a year but?? they just took the money earlier?? i'm furious but i'm gonna cry if they don't answer my messages TT take care! kiss you good morning or good night or good day! luv u<з

meow meow baby

i have no idea what this is but its cat related and also i want to eat it i hope its not slime. you know what time it is 😎😎

hope you're not annoyed by this greeting, bc it lets you immediately know who's your anon and i like it.

im not annoyed but this greeting. you can greet me however you want

so i've just finished watching hotd. the show in general and the characters seemed indeed more charming before i've watched it.

💀💀💀💀 HAHAHAHAHA BUT NO SO TRUE because now your disillusioned by them this is why the book is always better than the adaptation because there is always space in your head to tweak the character to your liking lol

i'm not disappointed but ig it's not what i expected it to be. still good, beautiful and all. don't get me wrong, i knew exactly what i'd been going to see. i knew all the plot points and all this shit. maybe this very fact spoiled everything.

nah i dont think its the spoilers. but since idk what it is lets agree its the spoilers AHAHAH

and i've never read the book. maybe they differ greatly but i'm talking only about the show.

i never read it too but apparently they changed a lot ?? or rather took a lot of artistic liberties ?? idk dont quote me on that. but knowing how adaptations are im willing to bet they did change a lot

first of all, the plot seemed rather plain to me?.. it's linear and so predictable, too logical and obvious. i know they've cut some (dk how many) scenes but ig it's not the point? maybe it's the problem of the original, maybe the problem is the will to say to much. maybe it's just me being bitchy.

HAHAHAHAHAHAH nah but its i think pretty common for a series to start off strong then dwindle along the way. isn't that what happened to GoT? i never watched it but my mom did and she said 👎 lol HAHAHH its hard to sustain good plotlines if youre not sure what ur doing lol (not that i can say i know what IM doing when i write either AHHHAHAHA). also i dont think its you being bitchy. not liking something or disagreeing with something does not equate to being a bitch. ???? its giving internalized misogyny? its ok you can have against the grain opinions

second of all, characters?? the whole internet is arguing about daemon having no or grey moral while being blind on the others? wtf?? name me the one (out of the main characters) who's done NOTHING wrong and is absolutely saint?? who brings the love and the thruth only? viserys? a childish and selfish old man who's done so many wrong things and didn't want to face the consequences. rhaenyra? the young one annoyed me but the old one made me angry at times. the second one who's childish and selfish with no sense of duty. alicent? a naive woman whose resentment overgrown herself and made her blind with the desire of revenge. daemon? another selfish and arrogant man. besides, even if he had a sympathy for non-heir rhaenyra, i, personally, saw no love between them in the driftmark. a strong bond? desire? ambitions? targaryen's pride? yes. but not love. don't get me wrong, i understand all the motives, all the backgrounds, the characters. they all need a therapy and are deeply mentally wounded. but in general they're still a bunch of twats who do stupid and selfish things trying to overplay the faith just to be it's only favourite. a bunch of stupid just people doing stupid things.

this this entire thing. i agree. they're all damaged and have their own wants and motives and most of all theyre all human. aint nobody perfect and even the best of us get swayed. i think its important to deconstruct works of fiction as they are a mirror to reality, but the moment someone tries to argue with me over an opinion i have over fiction im gonna say 'nah ur right bye' cos that aint worth it

every moment of this show i was like "what if". what if rhaenys had become the queen? what if aemma hadn't died? what if daemon had someone of his liking for a first wife? the amount of their stupid decisions that are just leading them to the tomb...

SO TRUE, even in the first parts of the show, there was already so much conflict so its all just a mountain of genetic/era specific stupidity AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

this hyperfixation made me realise i have that pride? strong feeling to the ancestry? that corlys possessed (as he said but we know).

ah you mean the illigitimate thing. nah fr he kinda messed up with that too but he's not wrong about the names thing. i understand what you mean, there is discomfort in the idea of knowingly letting someone who is clearly not your heir be heir. but at the same time, the kids became his heir by choice. blood is not the only determination of family.

i feel SO sorry about this all. it's really scary how such a strong house, a great cultural inheritance is ruined by a bunch of morons. personally, i see it as an enormous tragedy.

literally the story of humanity

i can't empathise with mere people beside to the great history. but i did. i cried more times than one. still the mark of a good work. it made me empathise with the people that are TT annoying TT

DAMN IF IT MADE YOU EMPATHIZE WITH ANNOYING PEOPLE IT FR GOOD AHHAHAAHH

i was crying like a bitch over both scenes when daemon put the crown on his brother's/rhaenyra's head. i felt so sorry about all these relationships of the brothers.

so true those scenes showed how daemon albeit greedy and despicable, still cared for things in his life, as most evil people do. the best example i have is hitler (not that im saying daemon is like hitler rip rip T_T just listen) lashflkahsfash i remember seeing a post with a pic of hitler carrying this child; people were saying it was chilling because well it was hitler with a child, why would someone who wants to kill people and wage war look so friendly with a child??? someone responded by saying something like people forget that at his core, hitler was just a dude that REALLY REALLY wanted to do have his way and he just genuinely believed in what he was doing. smth like that. again its unfair to liken a fictional criminal with AN ACTUAL WAR CRIMINAL DICTATOR so lets leave it at that.

i cried over aegon's whole story. he's a twat. but boys with glossy eyes...

so true actually. when he asked his mom if she loves her T_T i felt that. T_T he like me fr T_T i felt the helplessness of him. he's just a kid who happened to be born an heir lol and just wants a hug

the way young aemond said 'do not mourn me, mother'??? boy wtf??

SO TRUE T_T aemond was so emotionally responsible for that it breaks my heart that a child knew how to be like that T_T

i wanted to say who's my fav but tumblr is mad at me for sending long asks. a reason to send a love letter. and! *imagine the furious emoji* yesterday i was literally watching it till 8 am to finish it in time and to not pay for the full subscription bc hotd is literally the one show i've watched in a year but?? they just took the money earlier??

not to be a bad influence but you can always you know what it the noncorrect way wink wink HAHAHAHAHAH

i'm furious but i'm gonna cry if they don't answer my messages TT take care! kiss you good morning or good night or good day! luv u<з

i send you a hug, you can cry on my shoulder. im luv u

xxx