#i just think theres comedic potential there

[unfortunatepoems]

God now that Glenn is alive again I think it'd be really funny if Jodie tried to make him a better person so that he can get into heaven and Jodie doesn't have to deal with him anymore. Like imagine Jodie trying to convince Glenn to get baptized and like donate to charities or some shit just so he no longer has to see Glenn.

[wewerebornsextuplets]

more kiru-related foolishness based on @awittlebabbyboy and @brofightiscancelled's postgrad plan au. this may be a bit ooc but i think ichi would start acting more like his housewife friends when faced with someone a little younger than him

[sonknuxadow]

[gudakko]

my absolute favorite thing about resident evil games is that the goofy architectural contraption puzzles are just a universal constant no matter the time or location

[dracolizardlars]

I'm finally doing FE3H Crimson Flower route a second time because I did it the first time so early in the game's history that Jeritza hadn't been added as a recruitable yet, and I gotta say it is really throwing me that he's just... there... On-screen at least literally no one explained to Byleth what the deal with him is or even acknowledged his prescence as an ally. Also, I recruited Mercedes of course but I haven't got their C support yet so I just look at them next to each other on the battlefield like. Uh. I know you guys are long-separated siblings, and I know that by this point both of YOU must know that as well, but I don't know if you've even had a conversation about it yet and this has gotta be real awkward right? It's so fucking funny Jeritza just doesn't fit in with anyone AT ALL there's just this goddamn tall blank faced dude with the most laconic voice I've ever heard hanging around and occasionally talking about how much he wants to murder everyone. Truly fantastic

[ancientgoddessofegypt]

All About The Trines. Pt. 2 The Moon's Delight

So heres pt.2 , all about the moon and the placements it forms a trine with. Enjoy !

Moon trine Saturn

Expressive authority traits. Can be open and transparent if they like you. But not so good with closed off people. The thing is, a moon/saturn placement can usually be the closed off person, but the trine makes them open up easily. This is because they're able to open up with themselves more often than others. The trine makes this individual easy going on the eyes, but they can be a bit more distant close by. It's a protective thing. There really good at letting you know how they're feeling without saying too much. Their witty if you pay close attention.

Another thing about this moon placement is that, there really good with people and taking on leadership roles. There especially good with children, and helping the emotional maturity thrive. They are excellent teachers and watchers of the environment. And there good at telling you about yourself especially if you're up to know good. The mother archetype is associated with moon/saturn peeps.

Moon trine Mars

Raw personas. They have a sexual nature to them that doesn't go unnoticed. Its like eros (asteroid) trine mars so to speak. They don't mean it all the time, it's just the way their vibe is. There vibe is very powerful as far as how they move. They can start an uproar just by their presence alone. It is there emotional upbringing that makes them form a confident aura. Most people with this placement had to prove their worth a lot, so as time went on they became confident in who they are and could boast about it a little. Not to much tho. Very organic when it comes to who they are and what they want. If they desire it, they'll find a way to get it.

Could be closed off to people they first meet, they'll open up if they can sense you're one of them. If not, they'll keep you close by but at a far enough distance so you don't know who they really are. Very interesting placement.

Moon trine Jupiter

Strong appetite with getting along with the unfamiliar. Loves knowledge and can potential seek out new information when the time is right. They have alot of information stored in them and they love to share it willingly and unwillingly. This trine is a natural force when it comes to the expression of their emotions. They use it to belt out what needs to be and this potential energy can push itself forward onto others giving people the healing that they need to get through the day. A very special aura connected to this placement holder.

Moon trine Mercury

Smooth talkers. An ability to belt out information and absorb others think pieces and milking it in a way that can become their own true thoughts. They're silly, sweet, and full of loving energy. Very child like when it comes to their inner nature, and very fun to have around too.Special personas with a knack for comedic thinking. There very food at easing the mind with their words, and can make you think of something you didn't have in mind at all. Could be very good at writing stories especially children's novels.

What they should do with this power is to make a difference with their words and be more comfortable with their speech. They should be more open with the people they meet because their sweet words can be a blessing. <3

Moon trine Venus

Wow. This placement is amazing to have and I call it a lucky placement. It has its ways with others that typically a sun/venus person couldn't do simply because the moon has a mystery in its aura that added with venus makes it move without missing a beat. The moon trine venus person has a gift in charisma that is connected to a part of their soul that can't be mimicked. Why do people like them so much? It's simply within them. Theres nothing they have to do to get people to like them, they just have to will their magic and boom, people are drown to them. Theres a magnetism with this placement that's unmatched with other venusians.

Moon trine Pluto

So this placement has a lot of potential at changing the way people feel. For better or worse, their gifted in the crafting of alchemy that their minds can shift into whatever it is they partake in. There emotional state is transfixed in whatever environment they are in, and how they move through those worlds they take something, or someone right along with them. Transformative auras, as they move through life, something changes them. And with each experiences, they can thrive to be better than the next. Opening doors for the next big thing, so they can heal themselves.. and others as well.

Moon trine Neptune

Beautiful spirits, they have a natural gift at letting go. The empathic qualities shows up here like no other. They are gifted in the arts so authentically that people think they just got it over night. Sweet babies that are filled with joy, the right people makes their souls spark. Giving them a chance to be more, to be higher than ever before. They are sensitive to noise, their ears are capable of receiving codes and information from the stars, guidance from the spiritual realm etc. It's a gift and a 'curse' if you will. But they got it going with the spiritual gifts, they know just what to do with them even if they don't.

Moon trine Uranus

Captivating in a way that shocks people and makes them feel deeper. They intrigue people with the way their emotions brings others to their knees. Most don't see a moon/uranus person coming and until they do, its like watching an alien. While everyone is stuck in the 2000s, their in 3008. They picked up on the cosmos long before they got here. They're just ready to make it back on home. Anywho, the person who has this trine placement is usually unique, has a gift in electrifying the world around them, and just knows things out of 'thin air' per-say. Just knowing one, you can feel the vibration they carry is totally newer than the average human. I'm joking. Their truly unique and something about you just stands out in a way that people can't figure out, but its truly internal and comes from the inner world.

Moon trine Rahu (North node)

Power meets dungeon. Dungeon meets power. The dragon wants its way out, but will you let it? With rahu, the emotions have a tempting fire, ready to burst through the cages and run as free is it can. You have a knack in vibrating high on a cloud and bringing us to the sanctuary we see for our own divinity. Mystical in nature, you're talents are embedded in the soul and must be tamed to prime perfection.

Moon trine Ketu (South node)

Gifted ability in the community and working with others. Has a knack for playfulness and a childlike aura already adapted in them. They naturally are equipped at making people wonder. Moon trine the south node shows a need for spirituality and can probably be a detached person already. They don't need much to feel good, they're already here.

(If you're looking for sun trine moon, thats on part 1, decided not to add this one on here).

Enjoy!

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

totally forgot what you think of shippy stuff but im gonna ask you anyway !!! do u think sabo n law would be friends ??! more than that ?! cause they have like . . . one arc together plus stampede and they dont seem to hate each other so !! im curious of your thoughts 🎤

Their dynamic for me is kinda just like “this guy is my little brother’s friend” kind of feel and thats really it for me. Like ifykyk what that dynamic is but for me they just,,,, theyre too similar to eachother to be much more than that in my opinion. I feel like Sabo naturally drifts to people who are very different than him, if that makes sense.

I think all the ship art I’ve seen of them is really funny though. Like they have a lot of comedic potential, I love people putting Law in Situations and that man is just doomed to be the StraightMan for the rest of his unintentionally sexy life.

And also like, to get into law’s world you really have to push and shove and claw your way in there, and Sabo is way too busy trying to get tf outta wherever he is to do that for law.

Now that im thinking about it though, i wish we knew how sabo and ace met. Cuz like luffy really had to push and shove and claw his way into Ace’s life, so i wonder if sabo had to do the same. Thats really besides the point though because i wouldnt really compare Sabo being completely alone and friendless when he was 5 and trying to find even a single friend in Ace, to Sabo in his adult years who grew up without a single memory of being alone and being constantly surrounded by people who love him.

Sabo isnt like Luffy is with making friends. Luffy has had multiple points in his life where hes had to really force people into friendship to have someone, anyone, in his life. This naturally is because he hates being alone, mostly stemming from just truly no one being there for him to connect with. He’s been woefully devoid of peers in his life. So for Luffy, having to brute force his way into people’s lives is just par for the course for him, which of course is how he became Law’s friend (self proclaimed)

But Sabo, with how he was raised post amnesia, he was never lonely. So in my opinion he wouldnt really have that drive to force his way into people’s lives like his little brother does. He wouldnt have that insecurity that Luffy has/had to make him like that.

And Law….. he’s had everyone he’s ever loved ripped away from him time and time again. To say being Law’s friend is extremely fucking hard is an understatement to say the extreme least. Sabo is also not the kind of guy to do things for people. Like for example Bartolomeo drowning in the colosseum as sabo destroyed the arena and just telling him “youre a man, do it yourself.” And then two seconds later to his woman friend he’s like “since when can you not take care of things yourself?” Like he’s very You Gotta Meet Him Halfway If Youre Gonna Meet Him At All. (‘Woman friend’ being koala, of course, but i just wanna emphasize those two points because truly it doesnt matter what your gender is or even if youre a close friend, that ‘do it yourself’ is rated E for Everybody)

Law needs to be broken in with a semi truck to be his friend, not even mentioning trying to be his lover and i really dont think sabo would put in the effort to do either of those things. I honestly think law shouldn’t be in any romantic relationship for a very long time because of how unbelievably traumatized and broken and ruined he is especially with certain recent events. So i really have a hard time shipping him with anyone even though theres lots of characters ripe for the picking.

TDLR: in my eyes, neither of them would put in the effort of trying to be anything with eachother and are kinda just on good terms because of a mutual friend.

By Every Means Necessary though, please keep shipping them and drawing ship art of them, i feel like the stuff i see with them is so creative and i encourage you to keep drawing those tragic men making out.

If you have any other thoughts or any ship/friendship propaganda for me though lmk please. This is kinda one of those ships where i really dont much understand it beyond The Bit. I’m just not the kind of person to really like ships without seeing a direct and canon dynamic between them I can pull from. Like even if its a negative dynamic i can still get into it but like these two truly have Nothing. So by all means, help me understand.

Thank you for coming my ted talk and thank you for the question, i really had to think hard about this and it was a lot of fun coming to the conclusion i came to.

[mcytblrconfessions]

I thought it was funny and comedic when we all started using the words yaoi and yuri ironically but lately I've seen a couple people talking abt fujoshis/being fujoshis and I am just a bit concerned that we have forgotten a little bit why people stopped using those words.

I think potentially there needs to be some discussion within the fandom about fetishising gay people especially with the amount of woobification and infantilisation that happens, especially with some of the people in the bigger ships (e.g. jimmy, scar, grian, etc.), though I will acknowledge it does sometimes extend beyond just the shipping side of things for some of those people. I think it also shows up a bit in the anti straight ship undertones of the fandom as well, though ship whoever you want.

I know there are a lot of queer people in the fandom but being queer doesn't necessarily make you immune to fetishising other queer identities. In fandom this is most frequently seen in queer women fetishising mlm relationships (though that's not to say no one can ship gay ships and anyone who does is fetishising, it's a complex topic and theres a lot more nuance than fetishising is good vs everyone who ships gay ships is evil).

This is definitely a discussion that has been hashed out many many times within fandom as a whole but mcyt fandoms do tend to skew younger so there will likely be a decent portion of people who haven't been through it before, especially because I can't recall the conversation ever happening for dsmp or the mcyt fandoms I've been in since and I know that dsmp was a lot of young people's first intro to fandom.

I do still think saying yaoi and yuri is funny and a fun reclaiming thing but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can we keep it ironic and just in general check in on how you're portraying and engaging with gay relationships to make sure you're only being a freak about them in a good way. <3

[iamnmbr3]

Do you have any interesting headcanons or thoughts on Auror Partners drarry? Genuinely curious, I love the idea of them being forced into an unlikely partnership and having to trust each other in potentially life-threatening situations.

Yeah! I don't usually hc Draco as becoming an Auror but also..I love the concept of drarry being Auror partners.

Everyone expects a ton of drama during training but actually they get on surprisingly well. Oh things are awkward at first, of course. But Draco is one of the few people who knew Harry before and sees him as somewhat human and doesn't idolize him for killing Voldemort. I mean, he's kinda weird and uncomfortable around Harry but that's because of the guilt and their whole history. Not the Chosen One thing. And similarly Harry knows Draco as more than the infamous Death Eater who was once in Voldemort's inner circle (not that he was ever Voldemort's favorite or even close, but that's how it gets told in the Prophet).

Plus they both have a lot of shared experiences and can understand each other. They're the only two people in the room who have actually been around Voldemort for any length of time or really know anything about him as more than an abstract, terrifying concept. So there's a bond there too.

The first time they duel everyone expects something dramatic but instead they both just don't want to strike first to the point that it's comedic and that breaks the tension. By the end of training they are almost friendly.

And on missions they work together extremely well. Their skills compliment each other perfectly. At some point inevitably they end up in a tight situation with some neo Death Eater type cultists and Draco gets them out of it (and gets the cultists to spill all their plans) by pretending to be a true ideologue (aka doing his best imitation of his Aunt Bellatrix). Harry, who canonically was impressed/attracted by Ginny's ability to lie well in book 5, thinks this is probably not the moment to suddenly be filled with thoughts of how fit Draco is...but what can he do?

It works. Theres a big fight. Reinforcements arrive. Harry gets knocked out somehow - probably while doing his go-to action hero stunt of just physically throwing his whole self at people. He wakes up to find that they caught the cultists but unfortunately the Ministry bought Draco's lie a bit too much and threw him in a holding cell till Harry could wake up and verify what actually happened. Harry is NOT pleased. On the one hand, Draco isn't that pleased either. On the other hand the fallout leads to Harry kissing him in front of 20 traumatized Ministry employees so all in all it seems worth it.

[chaifootsteps]

maybe this is an exaggeration, but glitz and glam feel like stella on crack to me, because its not one, but two women, who have to not only sexualize themselves for the sake of a job they probably wouldnt be doing if they had a choice for a better paying career, (because they fucking hate each other obviously, they dont want to work together at all, even if theyre good at it,) they also have to sexualize their other sibling.

imagine if you had to sexualize yourself and the twin sister youve grown up with your entire life, because you dont have any other monetary option. why else would they be doing it at all if they fucking despise the other, if not for income? viv making them hate each other so much and trying so goddamn hard to make them unjustified assholes, accidentally did the opposite, because just like stella, the anger they feel towards someone else they're forced to be with is justified, no matter how the narrative wants you to think theyre not.

especially when family doing sex work together, especially women, parallels the real world scenario in which it happens as well, making money off of peoples (mostly mens) incest fetish, by giving them the real deal. that's what glitz and glam are supposed to be, except it's supposed to be bad that they're making bank off of people in hell wanting to see sisters flashing their tits, and actually, theyre the bad guys for exploiting a nasty kink people have, and for working with mammon exclusively for money instead of out of passion like fizz did- money that they probably need to live far more then mr. immortal-bride-to-be-of-fucking-asmodeus-himself needs!

and y'know what the worst part is? it literally didn't have to be this way. squidderdoodles concept art only showed the glitz and glam sisters serving cunt with their outfits/designs and serving actually clowning on the stage, not sexualized fan service, but viv threw that away and was like, "nah, actually, i think they should be siblings! that rub their asses and flash their tits together :)" just because she wanted fizz to look better in comparison, and understood she needed a comedically bad villain in comparison, because she must think her audience is too stupid to understand that youre supposed to root for fizz in this ep, unless theres a newly made and conveniently placed character to make that obvious to the viewer. i mean, why else does oliver exist? i genuinely think thats the only reason theyre written like caricatures of bitches, despite the fact they unintentionally have just as much of a potentially sympathetic backstory/episode to me as stella does.

An entire, Viv-free series based off of Salem's vastly superior concept is what Glitz and Glam deserve, what Salem deserves, and what we all deserve.

[pmkn2-0]

prespectives

idk bout you guys but its so funny to me how similar ben and rex are and yet they live different lives. their dyanmic has so much potential in being the best comedic duo. like just imagine if they where both sent to a rescue mission where a guy swears there are monsters outside, so he refuses to leave. but clearly theres no one there but the two heros. so ben, from a children's show immediately thinks "it must be invisible aliens!!" while rex just goes "oh i thought he was schizophrenic."

[gratuiciel]

okay this is too adorable i think i'm gonna have to write about this at some point. hantake as parents is a recipe for disaster and i can't wait to see what shenanigans they'll get up to :3c hanma being the cool irresponsible dad vs takemichi being the more authoritative one (at least he tries) but also the one who's actually helpful in an emergency (not that he's very good at first aid/caring for sick kids or anything but hanma is so bad at it that takemichi has no choice but to step up dhskjk (hanma: kids like booze right? takemichi: nO!!!) <- hanma has some inner child healing to do. takemichi too but he's more well-adjusted about it)

brooo u were sick for a week it's alright not to write at times like these!! the roleplaying server sounds rly fun omg, and i'm pretty sure that counts as writing too! ah yes prison whump... we really went from giving kisaki a nice, wholesome childhood to giving him the worst possible trauma/karmic retribution skjfh i love that :3 him going on a murderous rampage at the end though, very curious as to how that could go (thinking about sanzu and his murder train for some reason, i could see kisaki harnessing something way bigger than himself to do the job for him... a huge fire maybe, or a thunderstorm? dude making the fight happen on a large football or baseball field, giving away metal bats to the guys "to help kill your enemies" but really they're just miniature lightning rods... hopefully the weather forecast isn't off though sjfhk imagine it just being a light drizzle in the end and kisaki's standing there like what the hell. where's my thunderstorm. probably safer (heh.) to go with a good old fire tbh. get these guys in a closed space and barricade the exits and there you go (what a horrific way to die though. there was a night club irl that caught fire and became a mass grave in 1970 due to not enough exits and too many people. l'incendie du 5-7 en isère <- wikipedia article in case ur interested, obviously cw for irl deaths (some were still minors), fire, and just terrible safety policies... u don't have to read it though that was just me going on a tangent)) another thing kisaki could harness to kill for him is mikey's dark impulse!! since he was supposed to be in charge of it and all. make mikey do the slaughtering in his place, maybe by drugging him?? (but just like the fire and thunder, there's always the possibility of that force turning against him and harming him too)

hanma stopping kisaki/being the reasonable one/catching feelings in both stories???? 💯💯 eventually thinking he can tell kisaki the truth only for kisaki to turn around and leave??? the angst is delicious, hanma getting his hopes and dreams crushed after finally daring to dream again for the first time in who knows how long... my boy u need to stop being so tragic :') i hope u get inspired to write for these soon 💖

yesss takemichi taking kisaki's defense against tenjiku, probably because he feels bad for shooting him :3c kisaki is appalled and disgusted hehehe

cRYING at dadchibana thinking hanma is a bad influence on kisaki, maybe even arresting him and telling him off at some point but hanma's like "oh no. you misunderstand, sir. i'm actually a pretty nice guy... compared to him" *cue kisaki hitting the dad in the head with a metal pipe while he's distracted*

omg takemichi and his savior complex walk into a detention centre full of troubled kids... what happens next will make you smile (he def gets beaten up again lol, but still manages not to give up and makes friends somehow. not sure he'll be able to do anything about south though)

i feel u about the tokrev girls... >_> hina has her moments but so many of them are about takemichi (and oh boy is she pining for that dude. "i don't mind if i die as long as u propose to me." sis. neither her nor kisaki are normal about him) so yeah. senju/hina ftw! takemichi's not invited (he's in juvie anyway lmao)

@gratuiciel ur tags hurt me (and I love that) I'm fascinated with depressed era hanma, the fact that he relaxed thinking that Kisaki got away! Only to find his corpse on the road. Keeps thinking about what he could've done, if he had hold on to the bike better, if he had spent less time fighting with draken, and yeah always looking back at these six (6!) months of his life where everything was so colorful and he took it for granted. Maybe the first time in his life where he actually (somewhat) cared about another human being, only to have it ripped out from him.

I always wondered how he came to be in bonten, especially as he wasn't that useful anyway. We joke about Hanma being just some guy at the end of the manga but there was something to be done with him that just didn't happen and it makes me sad. So many fanart of him going back into the past and meeting little Kisaki... I want to develop that idea cuz I feel like he would try to shape into the boy he remembers but at the same time he would be scared to death of something happening to Kisaki. Plus, with the kid not being lonely to death I doubt he would develop that same passion for Hinata. But even if Hanmas not a time traveller, just the idea of him taking revenge on Takemichi and Mikey in Bonten is just, chef's kiss. Wanna write something about that (girl who has 1384949 wips)

[saingirl101]

Okay had some time and shitposts to really think about the finale of FHJY

I literally have rewritten this post several times thats how complex it feels.

Spoilers under the cut

First off I love that potential threads are hanging in the air particularly for adaine and kristen.

Character wise kristen ironically could have been the most complete storyline after FHSophY however with how Ally played her this season i think narratively she is the bad kid who absolutely needs a continuation for her story - tracker, bucky, her messy enemiess beebees ship, her parents, the whole buddy/bobby dawn thing, FUCKING KALINA, like the way brennan ended the season its like he's T-ing up another narratively perfect season for kristen.

Fabian, our darling boy makes several strides in improving himself and several steps back in other ways. I for one would die from laughter while he deals with having a GF, his mom, step father and grandpapa all living in the same house with a new elf baby (and also potentially stepsibling Fig).

Adaine - godamn what a fantastic narrative season as well, her confidence this season was so hot and siobhan continues to just be a dream TTRPG player. Like she's been killing it with her character decisions, impeccable comedic timing, and knowledge of the game out of the park for literally the past year and half.

Riz, like my god, such a perfect season for him and getting to see his character growth as well. He's also literally the hottest he's ever been and while I am sad he is aroace so i cannot make an OC to smooch him, he's just so fucking ool it doesn't even matter. ALSO RIZ YOU HAVE MULTIPLE QUEER PEOPLE ON YOUR TEAM YOU CAN DEFINITELY TELL THEM YOU ARE AROACE KING.

Gorgug, wow what a fucking season. Zac always kills it with his characters but besides the bit in freshman year I don't know that I ever clicked with gorgug as much as I did this season. He also had an amazing arc all those nat 20s in the last stand, the nat 20s to get them the academic help while he took on four years of school in one year, using his aertificer stuff to help take down his literal nemesis and the person whose put him down for years.

And now we come to fig and my controversial opinion. I still feel like despite them trying to T-up this possibly being emily's fairwell from playing fig I don't feel like narratively it makes sense. theres just still so much in the air and I would love to see her relationship with ankarna grow and blossom. Also despite the talk theres just so much left unresolved between her and sandra lynn. That said I'll be sad but understand if emily plays another character if they do ever make FHseniorY. THAT SAID, BRENNAN YOU OWE ME A SEASON OF GILEAR SHENNANIGANS. FIG DID SAY SHE MIGHT MOVE INTO SEACASTER MANOR, LET HER PULL LOONEY TOONS SHENNAIGANS TO PREVENT FABIAN FROM MURDER THEIR NEW SIBLING.

[dokidokitsuna]

im really endeared by your concepts for re_rise, i was unsatisfied by return of the mammilians and you’ve put together a really sound story! about to say what i’ve taken from it, so sorry if there’s some innacuracy…

my favorite part off the bat is switching the splatoon for deep cut. imo they’ve been the unquestionable good guys for way too long. plus accidentally working against an oblivious/aimless squidbeak splatoon who’s goal is just to get their gramps back, when youve been investigating grizzco and alterna all game is just a refreshing and well contrasting take on a story. it feels like acknowledgment for the previous campaigns story flaws (being it’s in-general non seriousness!!!)

i always felt deep cut always had the potential to be a bunch of very cool and laid back mentors. they just seemed experienced in what they do, and working alongside them sounds VERY cool for a 14 or so year old cephalokid. (additionally, thered be a break in formula by not making the new kid an agent, rather a personal member of deep cuts heist squad. WAY cooler!!!) always felt their dialogue and personalities are pretty exaggerated when they’re on-air, so seeing what they’re like without an audience sounds more than interesting. if that’s the route you go, itd be another way to set them apart from the previous idol bands, who are always their authentic entertainer-type selves when cameras are on. in that case, what would they be like? what things would they feel like talking about? how different would they really act? all things you can answer if you want. but that was my love letter! thanks for writing up such cool concepts, and making such amazing designs. i even made little analyses on them for the color choice… this is long enough already though. tldr thank you!!! 🩷

Okay so first: thanks so much for this; I love it when people analyze my work (you gotta explain the color choice thing to me sometime, because that has me really curious) ^^

So I totally agree with you about the idea of the player character not being an agent for once…even though I still technically call them Neo/New Agent 3. ^^; I just couldn’t think of my own thing to call them; I feel like such a huge break away from the series’ convention is something that should be determined by the canon…and probably will be soon if my predictions about Splatoon 4 turn out to be correct. ;)

I guess it would be cute if Deep Cut gave them a funky nickname instead, like ‘Shark-bait’ or something. Although that would work better if they all had nicknames for each other; like true alter-egos for their bandit work…I would like that~.

Anyway, as for the main question: tbh I didn’t really put much thought into how Deep Cut’s personalities might change…but that’s mostly because I felt a ton of added depth would be inevitable, by the simple act of elevating them from roadblocks to actual characters you can interact with. ^^; So this is basically what I would do:

-Shiver kinda has a ‘2 Cool 4 Skool’ girlboss thing going on (I think?? Tbh for a series as campy as Splatoon, her characterization is really weak…) so I think her alter-ego should have a more grounded, ‘wise mentor’ persona. Like, she can still trash-talk you and keep that ruthless attitude that she has, but here we’d supplement that with real teaching moments and positive affirmation to show why people should really be drawn to her.

-Meanwhile, Frye has this hyper-cute yet ‘rough-and-tumble’ personality, so I think her alter-ego should be more laid-back and relaxed. This way she can keep her positive demeanor; she’ll just express it in a different way, maybe showing the audience more of her mature and sensitive side. 

-Last but not least, Big Man is characterized as a typical airhead, with hints of a responsible ‘parent friend’ (eugh) underneath…so I would let him be more serious as a bandit, maybe even a little edgy. Of course, seeing as he’s a giant manta ray with an (owo) face, ‘edgy’ is probably still gonna come off as comedic for him, but I think that’s fine as long as he has actual moments of gravity to ground them. I want him to feel like a real ‘senpai’ for the player character, not just a funny mascot…y’know, occasionally commanding the respect that you’d think a ‘parent friend’ would have.

[dot-https]

Saiki K and Death note crossover where, for reasons beyond understanding, the café Saiki frequents becomes a break in space.

Saiki has, of course, zero interest in this. Of course he knows, but, really, who cares? Sure, these people are a little bit strange, and the art style shift is jarring, but really, there's nothing to it.

There's nothing to the strange man in the back who orders an entire stock of cake every day (really, he's lucky their worlds logic is based on convenience. if not, they would have ran cakes eons ago,) and thinks to fast for Saiki to read. It's nothing. It is so incredibly, absolutely nothing.

It's a little less nothing, however, when he runs into another space time anomaly thinking incrimentally less fast, and of casual things, like notebooks and murder.

So, naturally, Saiki goes invisible, steals a few strands of the mans hair, and puts it on a pencap.

The logic is simple: this is a comedy. That being the case, murder can happen only if it's comedic, and reversible. Nothing about this inspires humor, so it's only natural Saiki has to save the integrity of his genre. He takes the pencap, wanders around until he finds a crime scene (far too easily, might I add) and drops it off. Then, he un-invisibles, wanders back to that crime scene, and as such a good, upstanding citizen, simply has to turn it into the police as potential evidence (under the promise of anonymity, of course, so he isn't targeted, of course) (he'd disguise himself, but he's already exhausted his transformative powers for the day. so sue him.)

It's all well and good until about a day later, when the guy from the café shows up at his house.

The issue is simple: apparently, none of these crime scenes have physical evidence. Not a single one. In fact, the crime scene Saiki had dropped the pencap at had been so thoroughly searched a layer of the dirt and concrete around the area had been carefully shaved away for testing. Essentially, L knows that Saiki knows, and L doesn't believe the whole 'average, gee-wilikers' thing for a second. He just doesn't know how.

Naturally, he sees through all of Saiki's attempts at getting him to leave, and correctly pegs him as someone who likes to be left alone because he's hiding something, and now Saiki is double fucked. He's interrogated for a while, gives nothing up, but makes a grave, fatal mistake:

Nearly falls over himself when he sees the rare, one of a kind coffee jelly L is eating when he arrives for another interrogation.

Now, he's being followed around by an insomniac detective who believes they simply must solve this case together, and also maybe eat some rare sweets Saiki will never be rich enough (not fairly, at least) to get himself, and did I forget to mention god's favorite angel having convinced herself that theres competition to be found in an otherworldly (ha.) model, and is also deadset on going with him, wherever it is?

Good grief.

[syrupspinner]

i completed the demo for metaware high school

shoutout to beloved mutual autistic nari for selling me on this, and sorry for forgetting to make this post until now lol. thisll be a long one so strap in!

so i think its safe to say that ddlc really shook up indie gaming from a cultural standpoint. first is that it helped people figure out that visual novels have value as a medium, inexplicably. theres been this weird holdover in western gaming culture at large from like, the 2010s xbox era, where visual novels dont count or something. if people engage with them at all, its dismissively, and people come away with the idea that everything is a sound novel and therefore boring. but like... not only are sound novels good, but ryukishi07's work is the only example of a vn not having an interactive component. dating sims are basically stat managers, detective games require attentive puzzle-solving, and a lot of vns outside that have interesting gameplay hooks like va11hallas drink mixing

all this is to say that i feel like ddlc was designed in a lab to be a 'hiding medicine in the balogna' situation, where people can say that it may be a visual novel, but its totally worth it for the funny viral scares. well, im glad it did, because now it feels like people are very very slightly more receptive to visual novels

but, more importantly, it brought more attention to the postmodern potential of video games as a medium. this isnt the first time that gaming has borrowed aspects of postmodern literature (characterized by interacting with itself and intentionally subverting audience expectation) such as stanley parable's famous use of a unreliable narrator within the context of a controllable story. but ddlc makes it feel ludonarrative. games like oneshot and imscared already paved the way for games that interact with the player as computer files and use this context to create puzzles and simulate a haunted computer, but ddlc was one of the first games to make a character aware of the fourth wall and interact with their negative feelings on the matter. traditionally, 4th wall breaks are treated as comedic, seen best with characters like gwenpool. but... wouldnt knowing that not only is everything in the world fake, but there is only a single person who actually matters? a player that has agency that you are designed to lack, a sole audience member that you are asked to perform for. thatd fuck anyone up.

hence, metaware high school. fun fact, because of how much i associate VNs with high school settings with japanese culture, i keep wanting to pronounce it metawarAY, but that ruins the pun of the portmanteau of meta and aware. i played fucking めたわれ bro.

so its pretty clear that this game is iterating on ddlc, only in the context of being in a demo. in addition, it takes more of a character studying approach to how individuals understand their world. nari gives into despair and helplessness knowing that she is helpless to fight her scripted actions. hope takes a very relaxed and lackadaisical "its just a demo, bro" outlook, izzy is obsessed with fulfilling her role but anxious because she doesnt know what the full game is. the idea that they dont know the full game is interesting, because it brings to mind religious undertones. christians, as children of god, are 'supposed' to live godly lives, and seek fulfillment from something that they can only trust is invisibly real. the difference is that the player is different from the creator. i didnt make izzy, but its still her purpose to demonstrate the game. what is the punishment for failure? what does failure even look like? is it worth the risk to find out?

going back to nari and hope, i find their dynamic really interesting. the game presents nari as a mysterious character to begin with, hardly talking except for the end of routes. personally, i think it makes sense for her to have such a connection to hope. i should capitalize her name so you dont get confused, huh. its funny because nari has a pretty hopeless disposition, resigned to her fate and disillusioned from her surroundings. i dont think she has completely dehumanized the other characters in the same way monika saw the other club members as meaningless code. my view is that nari is just as real as her friends, and any disregard of them is just from post-realization depression. the player isnt more real or more important, at least outside of the demo's machinations that nari is forced to work within, but instead a lovecraftian intruder from outside their schema of reality. Hope sees them as more of, like, some fella. weird glowy thing. i wonder if they like mochi. this isnt out of stupidity or callous disregard, we are shown scenes of Hope being emotionally considerate and using the structure of reality in creative ways (the "what word am i thinking of" gate), so we as the audience know that Hope is making the personal choice to acknowledge the world in a more positively nihilistic way. yeah, its a demo. thats what the world is. wanna get mochi? i like mochi

i think if Hope werent so roxy lalonde flavoured, Aspen would be my fave. nari reacts with despair, Hope reacts with a casual smile and a shrug, izzy reacts with concern and anxiety, then aspen reacts by thinking about how they can directly benefit from the situation. the second they find out the player knows about the future, they sequester you into a very long series of questions. like, im convinced if the the apocalypse was happening, aspen would cheer and go full mad max. i think this extends to why they want the game to be a dating sim so much, because that would be the genre that directly benefits them the most. like, if its a detective or mystery game, theyd have to solve a mystery or die or whatever, but if its a dating sim they get a cool ephemeral entity to date!

and then theres chris. shes something of a mascot for the game demo, so i expect her reaction to reality (read: her personal philosophy) to be pretty important. from her route, we learn that she loves visual novels, and from that she wants to make the player enjoy her visual novel (demo) too. i think this is interesting on its own: if you learned that the world was a game, wouldnt you want that game to be good? especially in the context of the player messing around and taking the piss, where she gets upset that youre not taking her effort seriously. if izzy is the stage director, chris is the lead actor, at least that's how she's appointed herself. actually, her contrast with izzy is interesting, because theyre both the only characters who feel dedicated to performing their roles appropriately. with izzy, it feels more negative, but chris feels more like a sincere and intrinsic dedication. she wants to make the world better, just because shes enjoyed so many other great worlds and wants to spread that feeling to others.

so yeah, this feels like a more exploratory expansion of ddlc's concept. but upon reflection, i dont think theres anyone who copes with their circumstances the same way monika does. monika goes through a sort of philosophical derealization where the player becomes the only thing thats real, but nobody in metaware feels the same level of disconnection in my opinion. nari gets the closest of course, because she has the most intimate awareness of the games code and script, but shes uniquely powerless and is forced to recognize that, in addition to the aforementioned realness of her friends. so she CANT be a yandere, she hates the player for essentially being spoiled by having the whole world live and die by their convenience. ddlc's player is the most important person (positive) while mwhs's player is the most important person (negative, in naris perspective). it reminds me of how everhood positions itself as a response to undertale, building on its interaction with games as an artistic medium by building on its themes without presenting itself as a correction. i also just love the fact that since the world being a demo is a known truth, no characters perspective is presented as definitive, which does a better job of inviting the player to engage with the world and come to your own conclusion on what reaction would be the most justified

oh, and the ending... its like every character is confronted with the ultimate culmination of the world, as a direct challenge to their personal outlook. Hope's playfulness dissolves into panic, because she never seriously contended with this and used her casual playfulness as a coping mechanism that doesnt work anymore. nari meanwhile is totally nonreactive, this has been a forgone conclusion for her for a long time, such an innate inevitability it may as well already have happened... which doesnt make the moment any more enjoyable, shes panicking as much as Hope. izzy's biggest concern is her friends, the ones shes been panicking at the whole game until that point, the ones shes been relaying her concerns to and desperate to force into line to try and Play Their Role as theyre supposed to, just in case. but shes alone anyway. aspen reflects on their efforts to extract meaning and benefit from their circumstances and lements never having real control. chris romanticizes their memories and just expresses thanks for everything, ever positive. its an interesting analysis of their culmination of all their philosophies. like, hope and nari were pretty opposed, but they feel pretty similar in the end. chris's optimism cant hold up in the face of oblivion and fades into the same mournfulness and regret as her friends. end the end, regardless of outlook, its hard to change the basic human reaction to inevitability and tragedy

metaware is immaculately crafted, its a wonderfully made exploration into human reactions to fundamentally inhuman circumstances. the characters all feel unique and reasonable, memorable yet realistic, but still with a thematically relevant twinge of scripted performance. anyone who doesnt like visual novels can kiss my ass, youre gonna play this and youre gonna like it.

so yeah, excited for the full game! i hope its a roguelike deckbuilder