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benjaminmoorepaint · 3 years ago

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red: the color of...grantaire?

Figured I might do another meta post like the one I did for Marius to address the myths and misconceptions surrounding certain characters, so it's Grantaire's turn!

I'm sure we all know Grantaire quite well...a sensitive starving artist, with his Apollo as his muse, and a cynic who pragmatically points out the flaws in Enjolras's idealism, which they quarrel over.

Let's unpack that!

Grantaire is most likely middle class if not wealthy, he is certainly not poor. We don't know what he's studying (if he's studying at all) but he is nevertheless a quintessentially Parisian bourgeoise "student", much like Bahorel. "A rover, a gambler, a libertine..." As the foil of "severe in his enjoyments" Enjolras, Grantaire is a pleasure-seeker, indulging in the excesses that Enjolras disdains.

Again, though we don't know what Grantaire is studying (and I suspect he's just Bahorel-ing it) he's clearly an educated man, judging by the references he throws into his speeches, and he mentions that he once was a student of Gros.

So is he really an artist? He might have been an apprentice at some point, but it's clear he was not particularly enthused by it. After all, discipline is something that Grantaire…lacks. And because it's Grantaire, you can't completely discount the idea that he made it up just for a pun (though I do find that unlikely.) But it's a triple (quadruple?) play--it's important not to take this quote too far out of context because he's actually saying several things here.

It is a shame that I am ignorant, otherwise I would quote to you a mass of things; but I know nothing. For instance, I have always been witty; when I was a pupil of Gros, instead of daubing wretched little pictures, I passed my time in pilfering apples; rapin is the masculine of rapine. So much for myself; as for the rest of you, you are worth no more than I am. I scoff at your perfections, excellencies, and qualities. Every good quality tends towards a defect [...] there are just as many vices in virtue as there are holes in Diogenes’ cloak.

Gros was a well-known neoclassical painter of the time, and I believe Hugo's inclusion of him here is a jab at the neoclassicists, as Grantaire doesn't seem to care for him.

There's a pun! "Rapin"--term for a painter's assistant--is the masculine of "rapine"--to steal.

So he likely means he stole the apples intended to be painted for a still life, which fits his careless attitude... but he's ironically putting himself down for it too, and at the same time

putting his companions down, saying they're no better than him even if they do have more "good" qualities because each good quality has a corresponding downside, so what's the point, really?

You can see that even in this small sample of his speech that Grantaire often has layers upon layers of meaning in what he says. He's a smart guy! But that means you can't always take what he says at face value, as Hugo says, he's constantly "reasoning and contradicting" himself. So let me invite you further down into what I think his real meaning is here (though now firmly into the depths of my own conjecture, so others may have different interpretations.)

I would speculate that "the rest of you" who he professes to mock refers mostly to a specific person, you can probably guess who. After all, Enjolras is surely the paragon of virtue among them, and you could certainly argue that his good qualities edge on being flaws. I think Grantaire is right about that, and it's a sort of theme we see pop up again and again--the Bishop's generosity does hurt the women he lives with, Valjean's self-sacrifice hurts Cosette, and Javert is someone who's tipped all the way over to his virtues being vices.

But like, man, come on. Seriously. "I scoff at your perfections, excellencies, and qualities." Dude. We all know that you're obsessed with this man.

And you might notice that this is just a whole lot of Grantaire talking and talking over people, never letting anyone else get a word in. It's not a debate, Grantaire never actually debates anyone, let alone Enjolras. The idea of Grantaire debating Enjolras and making him see the flaws in his idealistic revolution is wholly a fandom invention.

The closest we get, really, is Grantaire trying to convince Enjolras to send him to the Barriere du Maine...and Grantaire doesn't come out of that looking so good.

“Do you know anything of those comrades who meet at Richefeu’s?”

“Not much. We only address each other as tu.”

“What will you say to them?”

“I will speak to them of Robespierre, pardi! Of Danton. Of principles.”

“You?”

“I. But I don’t receive justice. When I set about it, I am terrible. I have read Prudhomme, I know the Social Contract, I know my constitution of the year Two by heart. ‘The liberty of one citizen ends where the liberty of another citizen begins.’ Do you take me for a brute? I have an old bank-bill of the Republic in my drawer. The Rights of Man, the sovereignty of the people, sapristi! I am even a bit of a Hébertist. I can talk the most superb twaddle for six hours by the clock, watch in hand.”

I won't bother going too in-depth here since you're probably familiar with all this--Grantaire talks a big game and then fails to follow through. And we see one of two red waistcoats mentioned, neither of which are worn by Enjolras.

Grantaire lived in furnished lodgings very near the Café Musain. He went out, and five minutes later he returned. He had gone home to put on a Robespierre waistcoat.

“Red,” said he as he entered, and he looked intently at Enjolras. Then, with the palm of his energetic hand, he laid the two scarlet points of the waistcoat across his breast.

So yeah, it's actually Grantaire who wears red, at least canonically! I know their popular red/green color scheme comes from the musical, but it might be fun to reverse it sometimes...I think Enjolras would look great in a nice emerald green, and he'd be more likely to wear that, actually.

Why? A red waistcoat like would be a very obvious, in-your-face political statement--perfect for Bahorel, the other red waistcoat wearer, but Enjolras is actually a lot more reserved and less reckless than fandom sometimes makes him out to be. Wearing something that blatant isn't really his style.

The real question is, why does Grantaire, of all people, own one? Why has he read Prudhomme and the Social Contract and the Rights of Man?

Grantaire is not a super sympathetic character. He's a man of means, talent, intelligence...and he wastes those gifts and privileges on doing nothing, he has no aims in life, he does not aspire to do better or make the world better. He may be Enjolras's foil but I would also contrast him with Feuilly, who has spent his life dedicated to improving himself and the world despite the challenges he's faced. He's obnoxious to women, denigrates his friends for their beliefs, and is generally useless. He's given the opportunity to change and he squanders it. He's not so much cynical (because that's a belief) as he is indifferent, which is arguably worse. His indifference can certainly be read as symbolic within the group, their belief versus the apathy of the world.

But, layers upon layers...Grantaire does have a good heart hiding underneath all that. What I've been getting at all along here is that he does care; he may say he doesn't, he may even believe he doesn't, but he does, clearly, care. He says he hates mankind; he loves people. He says he scoffs at his companions; he admires them. He declares himself indifferent, yet he can't help but talk about the sufferings of the world.

Which isn't to say that simply caring absolves him of anything. Up to this point, he's still just been a useless layabout. What does absolve him (narratively speaking) is the first time, possibly the first time in his life, that he chooses to act. He chooses to take a stand. And this transfigures him, as Hugo says.

Grantaire had risen. The immense gleam of the whole combat which he had missed, and in which he had had no part, appeared in the brilliant glance of the transfigured drunken man.

At the last moment, he chooses to believe, and Enjolras finally accepts him.

One last thing: Grantaire never calls Enjolras "Apollo". Furthermore, he's actually the only one who couldn't have called him "Apollo". The only line where this nickname is mentioned is as follows:

It was of him, possibly, that a witness spoke afterwards, before the council of war: “There was an insurgent whom I heard called Apollo.”

Who could have called him that? Not Grantaire, he was fast asleep during the whole thing. So I choose to believe it was Prouvaire…he would.

#grantaire #meta

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vickyvicarious · 3 years ago

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Yo!

If you are fine with us asking if you know any metas or if you have metas on someone

Then do you mind if I ask if you know any good Trucy Wright ones?

Thanks if you do. Have a nice day/night

TRUCY MY DARLING, I would love to!

...Actually, I typically see a lot more "trucy my darling" type posts than actual meta written about her. But there's still some good ones I can link for you!

this talks about a lot of people, but her sprites show she used to pose like Zak but now poses like Phoenix

she is very perceptive/aware of what's going on

thoughts on her dynamic with Apollo

Gramayre/Fey sibling parallels

Trucy and legacies

this little meta about this scene and how in-sync Trucy and Phoenix are (the two posts differ a bit on how dramatic the Wrights are being but either way they're picking up on one another's cues and going with it no hesitation)

Trucy is a performer (and what letting down the mask means)

not exactly a meta but a really cool "what if". I also just love the idea of a case where the defendant is guilty in some way or the victim isn't dead. In this case of course you'd get 'innocent' for self-defense not murder but. brutal.

again, not quite meta but Trucy thoughts. Some of these get into stuff from other metas too so I'm including it.

how the Gramayre "lie-detecting" works. There are a lot of interesting possibilities there; in Trucy meta specifically, mostly dealing with how aware she is of what Phoenix is up to vs. what he actually tells her (this including the siblings thing). How often does she know he's hiding things? vs. does he maybe just almost always tense up at those topics so it doesn't stick out?

symbolism to 'Trucy Wright'

Trucy overview/abandonment issues and insecurity

this headcanon about the two week gap before Phoenix takes Trucy in. I don't personally agree with it necessarily but it is interesting and I do think there is a lot to think about for Trucy during those two weeks. Waiting for her dad to come back for her. Alone in some kind of CPS or something? She seems to have been able to show up at the Wright office when Phoenix called her and I could also easily buy her just hiding away from any cops who tried to pick her up and waiting alone at home. She must have been so scared. Where was Valant, was he still in custody, or was he free but felt too guilty to approach her, or did she stay with him at first? There's... a lot to play with there.

Trucy's outfit isn't styled after Phoenix. (if you want to see her first outfit, the link above this has screenshots of it.)

Honestly, I expected to find a lot more built off Phoenix's line about being "the only one who knows how she really feels". Is she depressed? Is that a reference to anxiety, guilt, to psyche-locks? There's also a lot that can be talked about with this continuing chain of smile-till-it's-over pushing down your own sadness from Mia to Phoenix and Maya, and from Magnifi (and possibly Phoenix?) to Trucy. There's also not much meta about how much/whether she was the true financial support during those seven years or whether it was just Phoenix supporting Trucy's desire to perform, and what about how she and he felt about her involvement in the poker games? They're obviously a tight team but how did this come about, was it her idea? Or what about her feeling of guilt for what happened in her dad's trial as a result of her just giving the card without thinking much about it, or someone as observant as her not remembering who gave her the forged card. How few friends not connected to Phoenix she has despite being super kind and friendly; is that a sign of her cheery front being tiring to keep up/her not wanting to let other people close, or just of her being super busy with her magic to an exclusion of her social life? Hell, just a meta talking about how smart and emotionally strong she is, I would love to read that. There's.... so much to talk about with Trucy.

(In general I probably don't have any AA meta already written for a given topic, but I am happy to do so if anyone asks! That's referring to any of the stuff I ramble about here, or anything else too, really. I kinda get into some character analysis meta in my AA daemons posts, but other than that I haven't written much.)

#ace attorney #aa meta #trucy wright #anonymous #replies

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masterthespianduchovny · 4 years ago

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Part of the reason I’m so passionate about Mulder being understood as a character is because his existence literally influenced future fictional male characters.

I won’t call Mulder a flat out anomaly, but back then, he was a stark contrast to how men were usually portrayed: hyper masculine, rational (science), and logic based.

Mulder was masculine, but he also had what was seen as feminine attributes: compassion, sensitivity, his supernatural beliefs (yes, this too), etc. also, he wasn’t aggressive or posturing.

Because of this, directly and indirectly, Mulder influenced how male characters were written in many series.

And what makes this super important was that Mulder wasn’t seen as less than a man because of this. It was just accepted.

Now, as some of you have read previous post about how Mulder isn’t an anti masker, this is a continuation of that post. No, I’m not hung up on the assertion, but I do believe that topic opens up the discussion about the brilliance of Mulder’s character and why I believe some do not understand his character.

The series does several subtle things to ground itself and Mulder when it premiered.

1. Scully as the scientist and skeptic. Although she is there for Mulder in the universe, in real life, she’s there to serve as a mouthpiece for the viewer’s skepticism. Her existence is an important key to buying into the premise of the show.

2. Mulder’s credentials. Before we meet Mulder, we know he’s Oxford educated, graduated top of his class, majored in psychology, and was a brilliant profiler. He was so great as a profiler, people even talk about him at the academy. And then we find out he’s called “spooky.”

This establishes that Mulder isn’t out of his mind. He was/is a respected agent who is clearly intelligent and good at his job. When we meet Mulder this is further cemented when it’s revealed that he read Scully’s college thesis and could counter her arguments. Even the fact that he knows Scully was sent down there to spy on him underscores Mulder’s intelligence. The first scene literally is about this, so he wasn’t paranoid.

3. Mulder grounds himself. Often, Mulder says variations of “I know this sounds crazy.” It shows that Mulder isn’t off of the deep end and knows how his views are not only received, but how to level with people. If Mulder was just some guy who believe in wild shit and expected others to believe in it, the show wouldn’t have worked. It works because a. He knows how others see him and is willing to explain his beliefs b. he can prove how and why a conspiracy is going on.

Also, in addition to him not assuming people should just believe him, when he does expect people to be on his side (really in Scully), he points to their mutual experiences. Mulder constantly justifies his beliefs to Scully when she has no reference point to a phenomenon, but when she does, he references the shit ton of other cases they’ve worked.

Mulder is self aware and because of this, we are comfortable investing in Mulder’s crazy beliefs and theories. Mulder can be pulled back and rationed with.

4. He isn’t only intelligent, he’s well read. Mulder isn’t just book smart, he’s culturally knowledgeable. Mulder literally reads up on everything and has a reference for almost anything. Inadvertently, he validates other cultures and their beliefs. But, the fact that most of his knowledge can be traced back to a culture or cultures IS important. Mulder will explain the history of a thing and the various occurrences of it. You don’t find this in official, well respected books. He reads books, diaries, newspapers, etc. Mulder even listens to folklore.

He’s not pulling this shit out of his ass.

5. At the same time, Mulder can also be a skeptic. It’s not as pronounced as Scully or even just religion based. In “Clyde bruckman’s final response”, Mulder is skeptical of the psychic called to the scene and, as a result, kicked out of the room. This plays into the long running theme of Mulder’s instincts being right. Also, it’s a callback to “beyond the sea.” Mulder believes in psychics, but he is skeptical of them at times, such as murders or well known psychics.

He places truth and finding justice over indulging his beliefs and blind belief. Mulder even explains why he doesn’t believe certain psychics, which is another way the show grounds him. He explained it in a perfectly logical way.

There are other instances of Mulder being skeptical with information he’s given regardless of believing a case to be supernatural.

6. This is why the anti mask argument frustrates me: Mulder not only believes in science, he uses it to legitimize his work. Most of his cases are solved with science. He constantly points out how Scully’s science saved him and the x files. And the sign Idance of this point when it comes to anti maskers is that most of the people who are anti mask are also anti vaxxers and anti science.

For Mulder, if Scully’s science proves him wrong a. Either he reformulates his theory b. Realizes something is missing c. Goes back to square one (looked for bigger picture). Mulder almost never discards science, he just doesn’t want science to limit, but rather, expand understanding. Their cases are just things that science hasn’t come across.

I must explicitly state this: Mulder’s cases are solved with science.

Mulder regularly reads up on science shit, which is how he’s able to follow most of Scully’s rebuttals and even provide his own counterpoints.

He sees science as a tool that can be fine tuned.

And circling back to how anti mask is usually anti vax and anti science, these people usually believe the most bat shit things, which some of the time includes anti Semitism. Think of the most popular bat shit insane conspiracy theories and genuinely ask yourself if you think Mulder would believe them. He would think those people are kooks.

7. He wants to believe. Although Mulder 100% believes in aliens, he knows he needs proof. Mulder sees all of this wild shit and knows it isn’t enough to say he’s seen it. He almost never takes anything as a given and understands that he needs to bring something to the table if he wants to be believed.

8. His talent as an agent was still respected. Something I love about the series, it’s a low key great way to develop the character. Skinner comments on Mulder’s talent as an agent, kersh labels him a lost cause implying that he was great at one point, Mulder’s former partner used his profile for cool points, Tom Colton uses Scully to get Mulder on his case, bill Patterson finds an indirect way to get Mulder on his case and used to drunkly praise him.

9. His sense of justice and compassion for victims overrides his beliefs. At the end of the day, Mulder wants victims to be heard and helped. Whether or not his beliefs have anything to do with the case in the end, he cares more about giving the victims answers. Maybe this is the thing that grounds him the most, or humanizes him and shows that Mulder is more than his zany beliefs.

This is why more Mulder meta is needed. There are so many topics prime for discussion and yet some overlook that for a quick joke. Like, dig into this man, people. There are so many gems and fascinating topics. 😩

#the x-files #mulder #x-files #fox mulder

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tiny-stack-of-knights · 4 years ago

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HOOH BOY

i’ve been working tirelessly on this design and getting the ref out..holy shit. and, as per usual I have notes...its still a bit of a wip since i just came up with this idea a few nights ago but here’s what i got (:

here’s my regular meta’s ref for some context 😳

OH WHILE YOU’RE HERE CHECK OUT THIS FUCKING AWESOME PIECE OF THE LITTLE SHIT...ABSOLUTELY STUNNING 💙

so you may be wondering..what the hell happened here?

well

let me explain

you know how absurdly quick meta got rid of all his robot shit to go help kirby? well he had to have missed something..yeah? in this au of mine, instead of just the control mask, susie had some sort of implant that he didn’t have time to dig out so he could go help kirby in time and..as star dream died, it attached itself to the only other piece of haltmann tech that it could still inhabit..and it just so happened to be the the implant meta didn’t have time to dig out..........chaos ensues (:

so for some more general notes!

-clockwork isn’t star dream or meta...its more of like a fusion of the two. it has meta’s desire for power and his “secret wild streak” (thanks star allies) fused with star dream’s agenda to wipe out/robotise all organic life...a pretty fucking deadly combination if you ask me

-the result is a scarily smart and charming, slimy motherfucker who has way too much power and intelligence for its own good.

-dont make jokes about its height or face. will not hesitate to kill

-you do NOT want to mess with clockwork considering it possesses a good chunk of star dream’s god like powers and meta’s knack for combat.

-the wings and arms are summomable..you know like how star dream summons stuff and warps away?? my point here basically is that it doesn’t always have its wings and drill arms out

-half business man, half warrior. clockwork runs what’s left of haltmann works but isn’t afraid to get its hands dirty

-cool, collected, and charming when it needs to be, but generally a short, angry, power hungry gremlin

-since star dream is pretty fucking beefy, meta’s implant sometimes overloads, letting him take control again, however briefly. star dream soon started working on measures to prevent this from happening, but even still meta still has brief moments of lucidity and clarity where he feels almost like himself again.

-its really not fun for him since he doesnt have enough time to really understand what’s going on or do anything about it ):

-however, there’s a part of meta that delights in being so untouchable and so fucking powerful. at this point in my little story for him, he’s had a pretty bad history of feeling inferior and like he just. isnt enough. so when he gets all this power, part of him just goes fucking crazy and relishes in how powerful and confident he finally feels.

-once he’s back to normal, he’s terrified of this part of him, especially since he acted scarily similar to his mirror world counterpart, as well as the fabled pink clad knight who destroyed halcandra and served as a cautionary tale for any knight.

-i’m still not sure how the story portion of this au will work, but my vague idea is that after the star dream fight clockwork fucks off into space and starts rebuilding haltmann’s empire..it still keeps the haltmann name because of susie’s implant, in it which was programmed absolute loyalty to the company

sorry if this is super unorganised but this au is very much still a wip, so i may go back and update some of these notes occasionally or just make more posts about it later..but yeah! havin a lot of fun making evil (:

i have way more notes about the design and all its attacks and shit..but i feel like that may be a bit excessive for now. definitely gonna be working on this more so feel free to ask me questions (((:::

#kirby #meta knight #gijinka #meta knight gijinka #mecha knight #clockwork knight #kirby planet robobot #my art #hohoho #hohOHOHOH #yeah ive been working on this like crazy since i came up with the idea #expect a lot of this au for a little bit and feel free to ask me about it (:#still a bit of a wip but! i am schemeing #real proud of the design and ref..i usually i dont really do complicated designs so ((::#also uh anyone notice how metas scar here is the opposite of dametas 😳#yeah the whole dmk think really fucked with him so uh..when he recovers from this...yeah.......#usualLY I DONT DO ANGST BUT IM FEELIN EVIL OKAY

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luvdetroit · 4 years ago

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Hey! I 've just read the first chapter of the dbh series you wanted to start, and I really like the plot 🥺 Do you plan on continuing it? 👉🏻👈🏻

hey, sorry for the late reply! i actually do have it planned out a bit differently than i originally wrote it in the first chapter. i think this planned version is better than the one i posted. there are many other ideas that i have in my drafts, i just haven’t released them yet.

thank you for reading it! i'm happy you enjoyed it and i'm sorry for saying this but i think i'll just scrap this idea and go with my new one (VOW). it will be somewhat similar, just more complex? and hopefully interesting!

not sure if you are even interested in hearing about them but i’ll drop them here! maybe if you or anyone is interested, i will follow through with posting them (have been feeling very bad about my writing recently).

for anyone who does read my ideas, please do not steal! i really worked hard on thinking about these and would be really hurt if anyone took them. they aren’t super original or anything, but i still created them 😩

these are really roughly written so please don’t judge 🚶🏼‍♀️🚶🏼‍♀️

please do comment or send me a message in my inbox about which idea you like more, if i should do a specific one or all of them even! 💞💞💞

1. TITLE: VOW

pairings: various! x fem!reader

genre: meta (?), angst, fluff, etc

plot: metafiction. mc surfs the web to buy d:bh and finds a seller who is willing to sell the game for cheap (suspiciously). mc contacts the user and a deal has been made.

we will flesh out the seller later, he ain’t all that important rn. so mc gets the game after maybe two days? and in the packaging the seller wrote a letter to her, it is pretty cryptic. we can get into detail on the letter and stuff later.

so mc starts the game up right away because she is excited to play it. on her first play though everything is pretty normal. there are a few differences/odd occurrences but mc doesn’t bat an eye because it’s her first time playing so she wouldn’t know.

gradually as she plays, the characters (connor and markus) are more aware of them being in a game. (sense they are in the same series and are prototypes it only makes sense for them to be able to sync themselves/go beyond their coding).

connor and markus have broken the fourth wall/have become aware with other players. they grow a deep hatred for the player. sense they can’t throw their anger at the creators of the game, they can do so with the player.

at first, connor and markus only did minor things that didn’t really stand out to the player. when connor/markus breaks the fourth wall and directly talks about the player, the player thinks it’s apart of the game.

but when connor/markus mentions the player’s name that is when they freak out a bit, but assumes the characters got their names from their playstation.

it’s only when connor/markus states some personal stuff about them do they feel fear. (connor/markus can sync with the smart tv that also contains all their info).

connor/markus have tried to sync with the game/tv enough to transport the player in the game so the player can experience first hand what it’s like to live in their world. but their connection weakens each time the player resets. their memories are also wiped out.

over time connor/markus are able to retain their memories a lot faster but forget the previous players of the game. even if they don’t remember the previous players they still think of one goal. transport the player into their world, let them suffer, seeing first hand how THEY feel.

connor/markus will be slightly oc. they will have somewhat of a dark side.

i didn’t explain this in the summary bcus i’m dumb but the game can’t be destroyed (it’s like a possessed object). even if you throw it out or something it will still go back to you bcus you own it. the only way to get rid of it is selling it.

ik some wack logic but sjakwkw

sam is the seller of the game. (his username is GAMER BOY 69). the game is sold for $10 with free shipping and no tax.

mc: does this really only cost $10? why is this so cheap?

sam: i’m just being generous

sam: are you willing to buy it?

mc: can you show proof that you actually have it and it isn’t broken?

sam: sure, hold on a second

[sam sends a video of him filming the game packaging and saying his username (in a bit of embarrassment) and mc’s. he reassured her that it isn’t broken and works perfectly fine. he tells her he didn’t like the game so that’s why he’s selling it.]

sam’s letter is in a white envelope, his writing is slightly messy, almost jittery (from nerves). he feared he was being watched by, ‘them’ so he wrote cryptically.

sam’s note: i’m sorry i did this to you. i really am. i just didn’t have any other choice. don’t play the game, please.

2. TITLE: PARESTHESIA

pairings: various! x fem! reader

genre: dark au, cult au, angst, fluff, etc

plot: in this au kamski doesn’t publicly make androids n stuff

so amanda stern is still kamski’s mentor in this au

she, ‘disappears’ at some point and is listed as a missing person

kamski knows she isn’t gone though bcus she told him her plan

basically amanda is very manipulative and warped kamski’s young mind into thinking humans being lesser beings and that kamski can really create something even more superior, androids.

kamski and amanda are humans but they are excused because of them being intelligent and having that sort of mindset- humans being filth on this planet

instead of kamski making cyberlife public

he instead also disappears after a few years later (once he’s done w college)

it’s a gap between amanda and his disappearance to not completely draw suspicion

cyberlife is created in secret, hidden from the public

belief: humans are disgusting and should be replaced by something far superior, androids.

rules: only those who have the same mindset as kamski and amanda can join the cause and contribute. (so human co workers of amanda and such help gather material and thirium (blue blood) to create more androids in secret).

practices: a member has to willingly be able to sacrifice any body part kamski chooses to replace for an android part or partake in any experiment kamski may have. if not, they aren’t fully in the cause and should be ridden of.

kamski wants to take a oblivious civilian in for a secret test of his

he wants to test out how human his androids can be and if it can blend in with humans in normal day to day life.

so he releases one of his androids, connor (rk800) out into the world. his mission is to find a human he can initiate a relationship with. once he finds that human, he slowly grows a relationship with them over time- kamski is studying all of this through connor’s eyes.

kamski is amazed by this new discovery- his androids do blend in with humans well.

the last secret test for mc is connor telling her his true nature. (telling her he isn’t human, he’s an android). connor breaks this to mc at his, ‘house’ which is connected to their secret compound/underground base.

kamski wants to know how mc will react to this news because her actions depends on whether she’s just another piece of human scum or not. this will validate whether she can join their, ‘organization’ or not.

mc will be confused by connor’s sudden news at first. she won’t believe him until he pulls back his skin to show his porcelain interior.

she’ll be surprised then and question whether their relationship was all real or not.

connor reassures her that he does share her feelings. he admits that at first this was a mission but he truly does feel for her. he asks her if she still has feelings for him even after knowing he isn’t human and mc (after a bit of thinking) says that she does.

this makes connor happy as well as kamski bcus mc got through the test. this is the first android-human relationship too.

a few days pass just to really make sure mc doesn’t act any different and really is telling the truth about having feelings for connor still- when connor informs mc that his creator wants to meet her in person one day.

connor and mc go to his place and he leads her downstairs to his normal looking basement- and there is this really intricate hidden puzzle/door that opens to their underground compound.

connor leads mc to a room and meets kamski. kamski comments on mc- on how he was surprised that mc quickly took a liking to connor and how she still has feelings for connor even after finding out the truth. he’s impressed and approves of the relationship.

he tells her he hopes she keeps her word about this organization being a secret because he wouldn’t want anything bad happening to her so soon.

after that connor and mc go about their relationship like normal. although, connor has been experiencing these odd feelings lately. he’s also been oddly wanting to act out violently towards the most smallest things. like mc talking to someone else, smiling at someone else, touching someone else, even if it was platonic.

it didn’t sit right with him. he never voiced these new feelings to kamski though. he was too afraid kamski might tell him he has something wrong with his software. he doesn’t want kamski to call him defective and replace him for another connor. he doesn’t want to be seen as not good enough for mc.

connor doesn’t act on any of his thoughts. he doesn’t let his emotions control him.

after about two weeks kamski calls connor and tells him he wants him to meet someone (rk900) and that he should bring mc.

so connor visits the compound and meets kamski in a lounge area with mc. they both enter the room with kamski casually laying on a lush couch. a small smile is brought on his face when he noticed connor and mc’s presence. he greets them both and tells them that he’s happy they could make it.

connor opens his mouth, about to ask who the person kamski wants him to meet when rk900 walks in with two cups of tea + thirium in his hands.

rk900 places a tea down in front of kamski, the other tea and thirium on the opposite side of kamski’s before returning his attention to connor and mc. his eyes scrutinizing connor and mc.

kamski’s smile widens at connor’s reaction and stands up, clasping rk900’s shoulder with one hand. he prompts rk900 to introduce himself.

rk900 introduces himself somewhat stiffly in a monotone voice.

rk900: my name is conan.

it was short and to the point. he offers an open hand for a handshake.

connor looks over conan, completely ignoring the hand offered to him, then at kamski with all sorts of emotions. the main ones being confusion and fear. at this point connor is wondering if conan is going to replace him for a reason connor does not know.

kamski breaks the awkward silence/tension in the room.

kamski: “well, connor? aren’t you going to greet your brother?”

connor takes a few moments to process this information and absentmindedly inquires, “brother?” in a small voice. his brows furrow slightly and his gaze draws towards his look alike. from up close, conan looks exactly like connor with a few differences. he was slightly taller than connor and had cool greyish blue eyes. why would kamski decide to make me a brother? i didn’t ask for one.

kamski: “yes, brother. i just thought it might be lonely to live alone in that big house of yours so i have gifted you with your own brother.”

at this point connor is having a mental breakdown. kamski doesn’t do things without a logical reason. he’s not telling me the full truth.

connor finally breaks out of his thoughts, his eyes darting back to kamski and he nods shortly, ignoring conan’s still outstretched hand and his presence altogether.

connor: [in a stony voice] okay, is that all?

conan drops his hand.

the corners of kamski’s lips twitch, threatening to split into a menacing smirk at connor’s cold reaction. kamski clicks his tongue mockingly and sits back down, grabbing his tea.

kamski: “that’s not how you should treat your brother. [sighs] that will be all, but you have to teach conan how things work around here. that’s what a big brother should do, after all.”

connor bites back a disgruntled sigh of his own and settles for a slight frown.

connor: “why wasn’t he informed before meeting me? didn’t he go through the same test runs as me?”

it took everything in connor to not let his irritation show through his tone.

kamski pins connor with an annoyed glare, a small bit of amusement shining through.

kamski: “why are you testing my patience connor? are you not happy with my gift?”

kamski’s words were light mockery, with a dark undertone to them. connor knew better than to irritate his creator further. he bows his head slightly to him.

connor: “i apologize for causing you further inconvenience. i..am just surprised by the new addition, that’s all.”

kamski simply nods lazily. waving a hand, he tells them they are dismissed.

connor turns away from his creator and him to the exit with you following right beside him silently. he places his hand on the small of your back and presses you close to him possessively. the slight tapping of a pair of shoes follow behind connor and you. connor ignores it.

connor walks through the maze of hallways without pause, part of him hoping his, ‘brother’ would get lost and never return.

he knew better though. without even looking, he knew conan wasn’t even a step behind and it irritated connor to no end.

once the three enter the, ‘main area’ which was basically the center of the compound, connor turns around to face conan.

connor: [monotonously] “give me your hand, i’ll transfer the data so this all can be over with.”

connor outstretches his hand. part of him wants to pull it back because he doesn’t want to touch him.

conan looks at connor’s outstretched hand to connor’s face.

conan: “no, i can’t do that. kamski specifically told me to get the information from you the, ‘human’ way. he wishes for us to talk to each other like brothers.”

connor looks even more bewildered at that bit of information..why would kamski do this without his consent? this..has to be some sort of test. maybe conan is just playing the role as his brother to spy on him and catch him doing something that may incriminate him? does kamski know about his odd..’glitches’? did he make rk900 just to dispose of him and replace him?

no, he couldn’t have known..the cameras in his opticals were shut off weeks ago. so why was rk900 here? what is kamski getting at?

connor also took notice of how..machine like conan is. conan walks stiffly and has a rigid stance. in that sentence he brings up what kamski wants rather than his. he follows kamski’s orders as if they were law without question.

connor still has his hand in front of him and ignores what conan says

he’s like, “it would be easier if we just did this.” (he’s irritated and is insistent)

and conan refuses, again repeating, “we have to follow kamski’s orders.”

and connor taunts conan

he’s like, “can you not think for yourself? i thought you were supposed to be alive.”

at that, mc finally speaks, telling connor off, “that’s enough, connor. i think you should just follow what kamski says. conan is just as alive as you and needs some of your guidance.”

connor’s eyes slightly widen as well as conan’s. connor’s frown deepens at your words. you’re defending him. why? you should be on his side, not him.

conan still has a blank face but his eyes are now trained on mc, curiosity being one of the emotions flickering in his eyes.

connor notices conan looking at mc and narrows his eyes in disgust.

connor: fine..we can discuss everything at my place.

connor turns and places his hand back on mc’s lower back, pressing her as close to him and far from conan as possible.

conan follows on without question.

3. TITLE: DARK EXTERIOR

pairings: various! x fem! reader

genre: dark au, angst, fluff, etc

plot: the main plot is androids taking over and humans as pets

so mc is obviously gonna be a human, she is like in one of those sort of adoption places but it’s more like a buy your pet thing

and mc is gonna be 18 y/o because yes

- mc and her parents live in a house that is located in a rather secluded area in the woods

- when word gets out about androids dominating humans and turning them into slaves- mc’s parents decide to live underground. mc is 3 y/o during this time. (the father is an artist/architect, this was originally just a project for himself). years pass with them being undetected. (it was 2038 when androids dominated humans)

- 15 years passed without them being detected and mc is 18 y/o (year is 2053)

- mc’s father scavenges for food and such once a month

- underground they still have a tv, tablet, and phones to keep up with how everything is going in detroit

- mc feels trapped after living underground for basically her entire life and learning second hand about androids, the revolution, etc

- mc starts doubting her parents and their reasons. she questions whether if there are bad androids out there who will snatch her up.

- mc asks her father if she can help him scavenge one day but he along with her mother are against that (this is on her birthday when she turns 18 y/o bcus she thinks she’s mature enough to)

- this causes a big argument between her parents and her and she voices her doubts to them- this ends with mc locking herself in her room. after awhile when it’s night time, her father visits her and apologizes for yelling but tells her she still can’t go up there because it’s too dangerous.

- mc hides her anger and lies to her father about her understanding. when it’s about midnight mc decides to sneak out and go above ground.

- mc is wandering in the woods mindlessly basking in everything- she kind of becomes careless (she doesn’t act cautious when wandering around). she maybe follows a bird she sees (owl) out of curiosity and nears markus and his crew (simon, north, and josh). they were having a picnic or just stargazing.

- simon hears rustling and light footsteps coming towards them so he alerts the others, he’s like, ‘do you guys hear that?’

- the others listen and do hear the footsteps and rustling coming rather close and quickly. all of them are tense (because they have experienced a lot of..attacks in the past so obviously they got their bars raised)

- so mc bumps into markus and everyone is surprised by mc’s sudden appearance

- mc stops in her tracks and looks at markus, it takes her a minute to really look at him bcus it’s dark and her human eyes are very poor at catching details

- she recognizes markus and is frozen. she also faintly recognizes his friends because they are also a big part of the android revolution (or so she’s been told by her parents).

- after a beat of silence north says, ‘a human?’ in a rather disgusted tone.

- josh observes you and asks out loud, ‘how can a human be this far out of the city?’

- north: ‘maybe it escaped from it’s owner or something.’

- after observing you, markus reaches out to you (you are still frozen and too scared to move) and places his hand on the nape of your neck. he realizes you don’t have a chip installed there to tell him who your owner is. (let’s say every human at birth has a chip installed to their nape to identify them and their owner)

- markus informs the others that mc doesn’t have a chip which startles them.

- north: ‘wait..it’s a fucking wild?’

- josh: ‘how could it live this long on it’s own if it is a wild?’

- (markus had his eyes on you the whole time) he asks you if there are more of you in the forest and you slowly shake your head no. they all know you are lying though.

- north: ‘there are more like it in the forest..how come we didn��t know about this?’

- josh: ‘this is pretty bad..if there are more wilds out here hiding this could damage the trust we built with the others. everyone will be outraged if they find out we let wilds slip under our noses.’

- simon approaches you slowly and asks again if there are more people like you out there

- when you shake your head again markus holds your chin between his thumb and index finger, tilting your head up so that you can look at him in the eyes.

- with a dark look in his eyes markus says, ‘don’t lie to us again kitten because i’m not in the mood to play nice. now, tell us the truth. are there more of you out there?’

- you are scared now and regret ever leaving the hideout. knowing it would be futile to lie again, you nod. (you are unable to say anything because your throat feels constricted).

- north: ‘where are they?’

- you don’t say anything because you don’t want to give your parents away. you continue to berate yourself for your stupid decisions.

- north sighs (clearly irritated by you not answering their questions immediately), ‘well? aren’t you going to speak? or can you not speak?’

- josh tries to calm north down, ‘intimidating it isn’t going to make it talk’

- north: why are you defending it? have you gone soft now?

- josh: [sighs] are we really going to do this? i’m just trying to tell you that yelling at it won’t get us anywhere-

- north: babying it isn’t getting us anywhere and i don’t see /you/ doing anything.

- simon steps in before the argument could get even more heated and pushes the two away from each other, “that’s enough. can you both not argue for once? now is not the time.”

- a little bit of pressure on your chin directs your attention from the two arguing to markus.

- markus: show us and i promise we won’t hurt you.

- mc thinks about this, ‘deal’ and realizes at that moment she doesn’t know what the hideout even looks like from the outside bcus she was so caught up on other things.

- mc makes a half baked plan to pretend to know where her hide out is, lead them, then find an opening to escape

- mc responds after a bit of pondering, (in a feeble voice), “okay.”

- north: [annoyed and slightly surprised] that’s it? that’s all it took?

- markus lets go of mc’s chin and gives mc a slight nod, telling her to show them the way

- before mc could take any step north butts in

- north: shouldn’t we restrain it first? tie it’s hands so it doesn’t do anything stupid?

- mc really dislikes north and is pretty scared of north out of all of them.

- markus notices your discomfort and shakes his head at north, “no. we don’t need to."

- north: [irritated] but she is a fucking wild- she’s dangerous-

- markus: [interrupts north + raises one of his hands up] i said, we don’t need to.

- north huffs in annoyance but doesn’t say anything else. part of you is satisfied by seeing north being put in her place.

- markus returns his attention to you and silently tells you w his eyes to lead the way.

- you turn your back towards markus and observe the vast amount of trees before you and walk in the direction you remember vaguely running from.

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e-vasong · 4 years ago

Note

Can I ask about your writing process?

Huge fan of your TUA fics here - the way you just GET the characters is incredible - its almost like reading a novel written by the actual show writers!

How do you go about your characterisation and your drafting process? Any tips on nailing the complexities of the characters (specifically five)?

Thanks!!!

:') This is literally so nice I don't know how to respond, oh my goodness. I wish I had, like, life-altering writing wisdom for you here, but I honestly feel like my entire process is kind of a mess. I'll share it with you anyways, though, just in case you can glean anything helpful from it. I’ll tuck it below a cut, but here it is (ft. some of my specific characterization notes on Five, since you asked :D).

Pre-draft: Concept stage! This can be a variety of things -- sometimes it's a specific scene. For me it's usually a challenge of some sort. I like to take things that I think are unlikely for a character (under what circumstances would [x] character ever become a bad guy? How would [x] character’s secrets get revealed if they never talk willingly about their emotions?) Then I build out from there. I outline sometimes now, but I’ve been winging all my pieces for so long that it’s pretty tough for me.

Draft one: Throw things at the wall. If I let myself, I will spend way too long agonizing on making every word perfect on the first go around, and I’ll never write anything. So draft one has permission to be as bad as it needs to be: sentence fragments, OOC dialogue/actions, clunky word choice, the whole nine yards. The most important thing is getting the words/scenes on the page.

Draft two: What sticks? Everyone is different -- I find it easier to edit than to write in the first place. So here’s where I look over my work from draft one. Is my sentence structure variable enough? How are their voices? Their actions? Does the narration work with the POV I’m using for the scene?

Like, okay. I’m working on chapter two of the end of the war right now. Currently, it includes this line:

“How did you even—” Five starts, then shakes himself. Absolutely not. He isn’t entertaining this. “Luther.”

In retrospect, I’m not wild about it. It doesn’t sound in character to me. I’m not pulling out receipts right now or anything, but the more I think about it, the more that I feel certain that Five rarely expresses surprise unless really shocked. Part of this is likely the contrast between him in his siblings (all the stuff about the Apocalypse and time travel is familiar to him and new to them, so the show has a lot of “Five explains [x] to his siblings while they look flabbergasted by him.”)

Anyways, it doesn’t sit right. So maybe, instead:

Five frowns, taken off guard. He could ask, but--quite frankly--he’s starting to think that he doesn’t want to know. He does, however, know what this is a preface to -- Luther is going to meddle.

“Luther,” Five says it like a warning. Luther either doesn’t hear it or doesn’t care.

Anyways, rinse and repeat step two as much as necessary, and you basically have my entire drafting process.

Characterization, though, I have a more thorough process for!

Fanon and meta is super, super helpful, but I definitely prefer to look at canon first and foremost. I find it easiest to build characterization by asking myself questions about the character! I mean, don’t get me wrong. The first step is just to...get your own read on their personality? And there’s no trick to that. Everyone comes away from watching a show/reading a book with a slightly different interpretation of a character’s personality. But when building off of that to write them, I find questions helpful. They vary from fandom to fandom, but, like, here are some of the questions I’ve asked myself while writing Five.

What motivates them? For Five, this is a super easy one. He literally says it at multiple points throughout the show. He’s motivated by his family. To the point of wanting to save the world because they’re a part of it. Five troops through injury and pain and discomfort, but one reference from Handler about a deal to save his family is enough to coerce Five into 1 - working with her when he doesn’t want to and 2 - taking a job that he doesn’t seem like he wants to take.

How far are they willing to go to get it? For Five, he’s willing to do pretty much anything.

Are there any contradictions in their characterization? This is a weirdly specific question, but! People are inherently contradictory. Sometimes in TV or movies or books, it’s just bad writing. But sometimes it’s because people are complicated. So, in TUA, Five is consistently a big-picture thinker throughout the series. He seems to view his job at the Commission with apathy because he knows that it’s part of maintaining the timeline and necessary for him to get back home and stop the Apocalypse. He plans to kill an innocent person because he believes the butterfly effect of their death could stop the end of the world. He is, in many ways, a utilitarian -- the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. The greater good sometimes requires a lesser evil. Pull the lever in the trolley problem, and kill the one to save the five. Unless that one is one of Five’s siblings.

For instance, his dialogue with the Handler in season one seems to imply that he is willing to give up fighting the Apocalypse if and only if she can guarantee his siblings’ safety (though this admittedly turns on how honest you think he was being with her -- I think he was honest, but smart enough to know she’d never follow through, but a fair argument can be made either way.) There are a million ways to read this, and the fun of playing with characterization is that you get to experiment with them! I read it as proof that Five is so driven by his desire to save his siblings that he actually places their wellbeing above his own moral compass (whether his moral compass is right or wrong is a whole other debate.)

What are they like at their best vs. at their worst? At his best, Five is strategic, driven, independent, determined, loyal, and protective. At his worst, he’s controlling, suspicious, bloodthirsty, temperamental, and obsessive. Of course, most people don’t just switch between these two extremes, and these traits frequently coexist, interact, and manifest in milder ways. Five being suspicious usually manifests as him being cautious until he’s confronted with a character (in season two, Lila) that strikes him the wrong way. Him being obsessive is often just a side product of the fact that he is determined, loyal, and protective. The fact that he can be controlling is connected to how independent he can be -- the same reason that Five tries to keep Diego in the mental hospital, never tells people that he’s injured, and hides things from them is the same reason he’s so quick and effective at getting things done. This is just a handy way of compiling a flaws/virtues list, and I like to look at it in terms of the potential extremes because I think it makes it easier to see how they interact to create the middle ground where the character actually exists.

How do they talk? Arguably the most important question for actually getting their voice, and the easiest way to nail this down is to just...look at the canon dialogue. Does the character use really big words? Do they talk in long gusts or in short, clipped sentences? Do they use contractions more or do they not shorten things? This is the hardest part of writing Five for me, because my first impulse is to make him talk like an Intellectual (tm) and Very Erudite Adult. Like, I default to that when writing him, and it’s a horrible habit (in my opinion) because...while he does speak that way sometimes (usually when explaining things to his siblings) that’s not actually how he talks most of the time. (Like, for instance, I tend to default away from Five using contractions in my first drafts of things. He actually uses contractions a lot, and frequently shortens words--”got to” is “gotta” for Five, “because” becomes “‘cause”, etc.)

Other examples:

Five: Billions of people are about to die tonight. You can change that.

The Handler: Tonight, tomorrow. So little difference in the scheme of things. Don't you remember the Commission's raison d'etre? What's meant to be is meant to be, or, as I like to say, que será, será.

Five: It's bullshit in any language.

I love this exchange so much :D. And it establishes some great things about the way Five talks! He doesn’t dance around the issue or debate her or try and prove her wrong. He just tells her he thinks that that opinion is dumb, obviously. He’s blunt, straightforward, and honest. (This seems to tie into the thing I was saying about Five and contractions -- he picks the most straightforward way of saying things unless he’s giving a technical explanation.)

Five: Okay, Luther, but be careful. I mean, I've... I've lived a long life, but you're still a young man. You got your whole life ahead of you. Don't waste it.

Five talks like an old man. Not all the time (though there’s a wonderful gif set out there somewhere of Five using old timer slang -- wait, I found it here.) He doesn’t use the old-timey slang all the time -- and I personally like the idea of mixing up Five’s slang habits and including slang from all sorts of eras because he’s a time traveler whose primary source of interaction after four decades alone was other time traveling assassins. But! He also talks in a way where he shows his age.

Regardless of where you think Five’s psychological age falls (I have my own Opinions on this), he seems to unilaterally view himself as the Big Sibling, and by a very large margin at that. That’s reflected in how he talks. Not always, since not every line of dialogue is relevant to his age. But stuff like this, or related to it, crops up a fair amount. He counsels his siblings on their problems (as when he comforted Diego post-Eudora’s death), and there are little moments like the quote above, where the point is that Five has indeed seen many more years than his siblings and has the perspective to reflect that.

Well, this is way too long now, and it’s really late where I’m at. I feel like the comprehensibility of this post has been steadily declining the whole time, but if other writers have tips that they want to add onto this, please go ahead!

#asks #writing #writing advice #which im not super qualified to give haha so! again #if anyone else has tips and tricks they want to add #esp if you're familiar with five like anon is asking!#feel free to chime in

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tamamatango · 4 years ago

Text

Let’s talk about Kururu, again

Apparently the fandom is growing all of a sudden so I feel like talking about Kururu again cuz that’s all I know how to do and it’s been a while

First off disclaimer that fandom is fandom and anybody can interpret any character any way they want and if you like to portray a character a certain way for whatever reason go for it, more power to you (unless you put them in pedo/incest relationships that are displayed as good in which case fuck you). But in my personal Kirbpinion(TM) the Funimation dub was a fucking mistake because so many fan content creators write a way different Kururu than what he is in canon cuz the dub never got to his best episodes and also upped the sadism to ridiculous levels. Listen I know it’s funny to joke that he’s the kind of guy that has 3 medieval torture chambers but hear me out. Kururu is by no means a perfect person, he’s genuinely pretty rude/blunt (though sometimes his straightforwardness is justified :P), has an ego, sometimes acts pretty gross around others and likes extreme and elaborate pranks way way way too much BUT.

Assuming you’ve watched far enough into the series (like 100+ eps) I do not really understand the interpretation that he doesn’t care about anyone and that friendship and love are things he is totally incapable of. He says that yes but if you pay enough attention to his dialogue it becomes pretty apparent that he displays this attitude for multiple reasons. One is that he does genuinely have a hard time expressing the emotions he feels and often has awkward/guarded ways of doing so. But also he says many times over the course of the series that he has a “reputation” to keep up and wants people to call him a jerk; he wants to look cool and rebellious all the time and he thinks a nasty apathetic attitude is what earns him that status (not claiming that’s a healthy mindset, mind you). He wants to have full control over the way people see him and he gets super frustrated and humiliated when he can’t. This is probably why he gets so upset when people talk about how unpopular he is, because he’s spent so much time honing his image to a T and is like why the fuck isn’t this working?! In other words even though sometimes he is just an actual pain in the neck a lot of his asshole antics are part of a carefully manufactured persona, and he will do anything down to labeling his own memories to prevent other people from seeing through his facade and discovering the parts of him that are vulnerable.

And God forbid anyone does figure out that he does care quite a bit for the people around him, or at least if he didn’t at first he does now. Early on in the series he was commonly referred to as “depressing” and while the meta reason is probably just the anime writers just didn’t know how to adapt the character yet (he started out a little differently in the manga), in canon I believe he was just even more inclined to push everybody away from him, and as he began to get used to working in a group he gradually opened up. He commentates on how “soft” he’s gotten since he came to Earth a couple times, and the fact that he’s surprisingly one of the most loyal to Keroro out of the whole team (in many episodes where everyone abandons Keroro for being dumb he leaves last) and goes out of his way to help when he thinks it’s warranted (he asks for money when things aren’t dire yeah but hey labor deserves compensation :V) shows that he is dedicated to his team. There’s even episodes where he doles out some kind of moral lesson to the squad in his own Kururu-y way, especially to Keroro and Tamama. Even the Hinatas he’ll pitch in to protect when he has to, and we all know he’ll pretty much drop everything if Saburo needs him.

Speaking of which. I think the unspoken reason why he’s best friends with Saburo (besides the surface-level stuff like they’re smart and nerdy and seen as enigmas by everybody else) is because Saburo is the only other person in the cast who understands Kururu’s particular struggle of putting on airs as a means of self-defense all the time. He basically has a carefully managed celebrity life (that he has to constantly work to hide in anime canon), a somewhat formal/reserved public life, and the more quirky enthusiastic side of himself he only shows when alone and to the few people he’s close to and god damn that just sounds like the most exhausting juggling act ever. He has an outlet to free himself through his art but he still has to live with nobody quite knowing what he goes through on a daily basis, which is probably why we see him off on his own for most of the series (until he gets to warm up to everybody better...wonder who that sounds like) and occasionally have his bouts of frustration and insecurity like in 229 where he says “fuck it I’m gonna fight the apocalypse alone because I need something to do,” 354(? I think that’s the number) where he talks about just dropping everything and starting over, and I think one of the Christmas eps where Giroro has to like beg him to go to the Hinatas’ party cuz he says he’s “busy” even though he’s just sitting around pretty much (UPDATE: it’s 294 the implication is probably that he has his show or something but cmon that’s only like an hour lol). I am going off on a tangent now but anyway the point is he and Kururu are the most complicated communicators of the cast and they share feelings only they understand which is why they can more or less read each other’s minds and know exactly what to do when the other is in trouble.

Back to Kururu. Keroro, from what I can tell, is the closest to him out of the Platoon; Keroro gets freaked out by Kururu’s pranks sometimes yeah but they have a lot of common interests as the fun-lovers of the group and Kururu’s also kinda been interested in Keroro enough time follow him around for almost his entire life up to this point so there’s that. He also gets along with the other people he‘s around; we know he and Aki get along from the beginning because of how dynamic their personalities are but later on he gets close to Fuyuki to the point where they just hang out for the heck of it sometimes, and even though Natsumi is very justified in generally disliking him (many of Kururu’s more Eugh moments tend to involve her) even she seems to rely on him often, and in the cursed puppy episode she knows all his favorite foods by heart so she must care in some fashion lol. Dororo and he aren’t evidently super close but I think they get each other on some level as the (in-universe) least popular of the platoon and Dororo at least respects his abilities, and has clearly come to figure out his subtleties based on 229. Giroro and Mois...things get complicated. Just putting on record that I’m not a fan of either ship between Kururu and them. I’ve said this before but I think Giroro and Kururu are in a turbulent sibling-adjacent relationship in that they have completely opposing attitudes but they have a begrudging sense of respect for each other and, ultimately, they’re teammates, so they’ll defend each other when someone they don’t know tries to mess with them. I really don’t think the flirty stuff on Kururu’s end goes beyond teasing and I got kinda sick of that running gag if I’m being honest. (You can probably tell which frog I ship Kururu with by now :P) Mois went from something of a rival to Kururu to his lab partner, which is probably why he goes easier on her than he used to and even strikes up something of a friendship because the only other person he knows that might be capable of handling his technology is an Earthling who’s still against the invasion despite his lax attitude so. She helps :V

Now the question is why Kururu acts like he does if his relationships really aren’t all that bad and I think there’s two components to this. I’ve made it clear by now I think he’s autistic but your mileage may vary there. I think personally his childhood did something to the way he processes things as well. In Secret of the Kero Ball, he’s got a bandage on his head which may imply he got hurt somewhere and then he almost drowned which canonically definitely did something to him lol, was mostly seen alone so who knows if he has a family he still talks to, and then he got drafted into the army and placed into a high-ranking position of great responsibility at a very young age; it’s kind of a no-brainer why he rebeled and got demoted eventually. I’ve got plenty of headcanons about what his early days in the Military did to him but that’s for another day because good God this post went on too long.

In short: Kururu is possibly the most complicated character in the show and the F in Flanderization stands for “Funimation.” That’s it I’m never writing another essay about pee-color frog again I will make real content again at some point I promise

#keroro gunso #sgt frog #kururu #kululu #long post #i sure spent 2 hours on this #imo kururu is a more compelling tsundere than giroro there I said it

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codenamesazanka · 6 years ago

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I know this is a really vague thing to ask, but do you have any tips for writing Shigaraki? I know Echodrops made a whole meta about fanon Shigaraki vs canon Shigaraki but do you personally have anything in particular you'd want to mention yourself about the portrayal of Shigaraki in fanfics?

(Here’s the link to @echodrops‘s post! It’s really, really good, and helped me figure out Shigaraki a lot in the first place. thank you!)

oooh! Not at all a vague thing, this is a great question. I started all this meta because I wanted to figure out how to write Shigaraki as well. A word of caution tho, because this would be my personal interpretation of Shigaraki, though I’ll try to use as much manga examples as I can. As always, super long post.

Note: images are edited to fit exact quotes to relevant and reasonable sized images, instead of a whole manga page

Here’s some hand man characteristics/traits that I think are overlooked:

Shigaraki Tomura, in his beliefs/values, has a tendency for all-or-nothing thinking, to be extreme in his actions. In all three of his incarnations - the oneshot Tenko, the draft Sazanka, and this current one - a core of the character is 1) finding something flawed/bad/had hurt him somehow 2) completely loathing it 3) vowing to destroy it.

Tenko despised samurai and their warring, and wishes to rid the world of swords. Sazanka is on a quest to kill quirk-users with quirks he deems too dangerous for society. And Shigaraki has decided that the Heroes and justice system is a farce, and is out to destroy it.

Kinda fitting for a guy with his quirk - he either doesn’t destroy something, or destroys it completely. The moment he makes his decision, it’s fast and permanent.

For Shigaraki, murder is murder, destruction is destruction, violence is violence, no matter how you dress it up. That’s why he couldn’t see the difference between him and Stain. That’s why he can’t see that Bakugou, as aggressive and vicious as he is, still wants to be a good guy.

Now this is my take, but I think his mindset is: Because All Might can’t save everyone, he’s a fake, he’s trash; because everyone will say they condemn murder yet go about their lives carefree even though they know logically someone is out there getting killed, morality and justice is an illusion; because justice is so fragile and flimsy, I will expose it and destroy it.

Not in any goodwill or for a better society, mind you. He just hates it.

He also has no illusions about himself or his actions, he knows he’s evil.

Shigaraki is a lot more sarcastic and sardonic than usually portrayed in fanon. He’s very rude and can be foul mouthed, but the real insult comes from his tone and behavior. He condescendingly calls Eraserhead cool. He calls Stain the ‘Great Senpai of scoundrels’. He points out to Overhaul how a wakagashira/underboss like him should be more polite. Just about half of everything he says is dripping with mockery, and he’s very breezy and irreverent. So a bit less ‘I hate you, fuck off’, and more cheek.

Adding to that, if I’m reading my Japanese right, Shigaraki can change how he addresses people depending on the person and situation. His default speech is rude, but he’ll talk somewhat (barely) politely-ish if needed; it’s just it’s very obvious he’s not taking it seriously.

Related, I feel like Shigaraki says a lot of things he doesn’t really believe. He tries out concepts, half-heartedly, on a whim. There’s that infamous speech at USJ about Heroes and Villains both using violence - which does seem to have some semblance to the actual ‘two sides of the same coin’ that even Best Jeanist talks about.

And here’s him considering Stain’s effects on heroes, with gusto, before ditching it.

I know it’s Smash!, but here’s him reciting some sort of pseudo education philosophy he picked up somewhere??? to Kurogiri to get out of exercise.

He’s a total smartass

Of course, this brings up the question, is he genuine in his speech to Bakugou, or to Toga and Twice?

Like Echodrop notes, he can be in a good mood. He can be (seem?) happy, he can smile, he will acknowledge when someone does a good job of something.

Sure, it’s got a manic edge to it, it’s probably not coming from a place of good, fluffy, innocent feelings, but he can laugh, enjoy the moment, be psyched about something.

I really like this scene because he actually giggles a bit. He squeezes Midoriya, and he really does seem excited for a chat.

He’s quick to go back to being default cranky tho. Quick to enjoy, quick to get irked.

Shigaraki is a weirdo and I love him.

My boy is smart. Really, Shigaraki is smarter than he looks. In the Ultra Archive, his profile lists his intelligence as ‘A’, ranking him above most characters, including Midoriya. I get that Deku’s whole thing is being the strategizing main character, but Shigaraki’s just as analytical. Even the Smash! Comic points this out.

His room is filled with books, so either he reads a lot or he hoards them to look smart. I think it’s the former. Well, it’s not mutually exclusive, I should know.

He thinks and reflects and questions. He was super pissed about Stain, but he realized Stain was right and tried to figure out why. He went on a walk to calm down and just ruminate. He sought out Midoriya just to get second opinion. Afterwards, he quickly sees the bigger picture and realizes the issue is systemic and he’s gotta attack the structure. Of course, kinda shaky on the specific details and it’s not endgame long term, but still impressive.

There’s a lot of Villain!Deku fanfics - and I like them a lot! - that turns Deku into the criminal mastermind or makes him the brains behind Shigaraki’s operations. Which is fair, Deku could totally be one! And also a lot of fics where Shigaraki is dismissed, with everything he does being AFO’s machinations. Again, fair. But Canon Shigaraki is AFO’s successor and leads the League for a reason.

This also means, I think, that Shigaraki isn’t as clueless to the fact that All For One is manipulating him. This point is entirely debatable, though. All I have to back this is how Shigaraki wondered if he was lied to in the USJ.

Even tho he’s facepalm crusty boi neet, Shigaraki is still a very dangerous S-ranked villain. I feel like sometimes people forget this.

He’s not that childish. He can be immature, he’s still learning the ropes of being a supervillain, he’s got an irritable and sullen disposition, but he’s not a five-year-old. He’s also not completely unhinged.

When things don’t go his way, his first response usually isn’t to shriek or whine or immediately snap. He’s got a clear head and a good sense of what he can and can’t do. Kurogiri is down, All Might escaped their grasp, but Nomu’s still active? Cool, we got this. It’s only when Nomu gets team-rocket-ed that he panics. Stain stabs him? Doesn’t start a fight right there and then, asks Master for some Nomu, is patient enough to wait until he decides he really can’t stand Stain, then finally gives the go ahead for a rampage.

Shigaraki knew from the start he can’t handle All Might. That’s Nomu’s job. As much as he hates All Might, he doesn’t jump at the chance to kill the hero personally. He’s not ruled by impulse or easy distractions, not really. And he will back down if Kurogiri reasons with him - see accepting Stain as a party member, see letting Toga and Dabi live. And after he got his motivation, he’s been very restraint since.

He doesn’t immediately destroy his things in anger - we only see him destroy only few items pre-mall talk. He decays binoculars, a photo of Deku, maybe a newspaper, all quiet and deliberate. Kurogiri’s bar is intact and clean, despite being the long-time hang out spot of the destructive Shigaraki Tomura. Would he decay a controller after losing a game? Maybe, but also just as likely maybe not.

Shigaraki will complain and bitch and sulk and hold a grudge, tho, yeah. He will lose it after a series of stressors/things gone wrong. He can be moody, cruel and sadistic, bloodthirsty and mayhem-loving. But he’s got himself under control more often than not.

Finally, video games: My biggest pet peeve about portrayal of Shigaraki in fanfics: He’s super obsessed with video games, to the point that he plays them all day long, and he can’t stop using video game slang for everything - or so a lot of the fandom believes.

I’ve pointed out before that we’re more likely to see him reading the newspaper and we’ve never actually seen him use a console ever in manga or anime. True, he likens scenarios to games frequently, but not all the time - the USJ fight was when he did that the most, then in his other appearances only once or twice during the whole scene (Doesn’t want Stain as a ‘party member’, none at all when meeting Dabi or Toga and then at the mall, camp arc has him seeing himself playing a Sim instead of an RPG, calls All Might ‘last boss’ during the raid, then nothing for his next appearances). At least not out loud. As fun as it is to imagine him as a geeky gamer, and he is, but he does more than just that.

I think Shigaraki uses video games and media to create mental scripts for himself to understand/interact with the world, but it serves as a skeleton. He fleshes it out, always adding to that mental model to create a more complex one. He calls his change of strategy as playing a Sim game, but it’s a good analogy that works for him, and we see how layered his plan is - dealing a blow to UA that works whether the Vanguard succeed or not, kidnapping Bakugou and Ragdoll, in order to bring about the media and public criticism of UA/heroes, and had it not been for the raid, something would’ve happen to Bakugou that would’ve demoralized everyone.

He def is grounded in reality enough to know what he’s doing is more than just a game.

And that’s all I got for now! There might be a part two. idk, but I hope this was helpful!

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luimnigh · 6 years ago

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Common Misconceptions In The RWBY Fandom

Because this kinda needs to be made. There’s a lot of lines in this show that have been interpreted in strange and weird ways that I feel we need to clear up the misconceptions about. So instead of scattering them through various meta-posts, let’s clear them all up at the same time. So, if you’re willing to come along, let’s begin:

“Bad Father Taiyang” Part 1: Yang raised Ruby

The Misconception:

Now, this is probably the top one I see around the place. And I’m not trying to take anything away from Yang here, she definitely took on a Mothering role in Ruby’s life, a lot of people take this to an extreme. I’ve seen people thinking that Yang would “obviously be good at cooking, having to cook for herself and Ruby” and various statements to that effect.

To put it simply, when Yang says that Taiyang “shut down” in Burning The Candle, they think it meant a full-on, Apathy-like cessation of willpower. That Yang had to take on primary caregiver role.

The Proof Against It:

But that’s disproven only a few lines later. When Yang left the house with Ruby to find her mother, she explicitly says that she “waited for Dad [Taiyang] to leave the house”. Taiyang was still clearly taking care of them, physically at very least.

And even beyond that, Yang and Ruby hold no ill-will against Taiyang. Their relationship is clearly a loving one, with Taiyang falling asleep at Ruby’s beside in Volume 3. And before anyone says that this is a Retcon, in the latter half of Volume 2, we’re shown this good relationship when the girls speak of him after he sends them Zwei in the mail. A package from him is considered something to “cheer her [Ruby] up”.

Do you really think they’d have such a relationship if he was emotionally or caregiving-ly absent? No, because that would be an abusive relationship, which is kind’ve RWBY’s speciality in recognizing.

Even on a meta-level, they cast Burnie Burns, a man who epitomizes a “good father” to the RT community and to the company itself as Taiyang. That doesn’t seem like the casting they’d do for a bad father.

What The Line Really Meant:

For a period of time, Taiyang shut down emotionally. He became depressed. While he cared for his children’s physical needs, he neglected their emotional needs. This is something that clearly has affected Yang, putting the burden of Ruby’s emotional needs on her (a burden she has still helped shoulder since then, though is clearly learning to let go of recently), but not really affected the two girls’ relationship with their father. Taiyang recovered from his depression, and has been an admirable father since then. Like every parent in RWBY, he’s a person, and he’s made mistakes in his parenting, but that doesn’t make him a bad parent.

Yang was Retconned!

The Misconception:

This, technically, can also fall under “Bad Father Taiyang”, but is usually mostly addressed at Miles and Kerry.

I’ve seen people saying that Yang’s fighting ability was retconned into “uses her semblance too much” and “dumb fighter who relies on her power”. People dissecting the pre-Volume 4 fight scenes for evidence of Yang being a smart fighter. Calling this a “retcon” (Retroactive Continuity: when a previous established fact is altered by the writer later in the story).

This all stems from a conversation Yang had with Taiyang, in which he says “Do you realize that you used your semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers?”

The Proof Against It:

Holy crap is this taking Taiyang out context.

Straight up, the lines directly before this were:

Yang: “Let me guess: ‘I was sloppy.’”

Taiyang: “-laughs- No. You were predictable. And stubborn. And maybe a little boneheaded.”

It’s pretty clear from the preceding lines that Taiyang isn’t talking about her fighting style. After some talk about her semblance, and how it won’t always save her, the conversation shifts into one about Raven, her stubbornness, and her similarities with Yang.

During which, Taiyang says that “You both act like the easiest way to tackle an obstacle is through it. That strength is all that matters in a fight.”

Which leads us to:

What The Line Really Meant:

I plan on making a post about this, but Strength is at the core of Yang’s character arc. Not just physical strength at that, but the word that most people would use here is Power.

Yang is person who was born strong. Not just physically, even. Her core character trait, beyond anything else, is that Yang Xiao Long might get knocked down, but she’ll rise stronger than before. It’s her semblance; her connection to fire is evocative of phoenix motifs; hell the song “I Burn” calls her a Super Saiyan, who have “get stronger from being beaten down” as actual trait of their species.

But Strength, Power isn’t everything. We hear this in one of the first lines of the show, from Salem herself: There Will Be No Victory In Strength.

And that’s the point of the conversation with Taiyang. He explicitly compares her to Raven, who thinks Strength, not just physical and magical but also strength in skill and intelligence, is everything. And Yang has kinda been following that philosophy. She’s been using her strength to try and brute-force situations. We see this in the Yellow Trailer, as she grabs Junior by the balls in order to try extract information from him. We see this in the fight with Neo, when she switches up her fighting style multiple times, but can’t actually beat her. We see this in the fight with Mercury, where Cinder predicted she’d counter Mercury’s fake attack rather than dodge or block.

But this is where Taiyang hammers home the point that Yang’s strength isn’t everything. There are times to use strength, and times to find alternate solutions. And Yang has taken that to heart. The point of the Bandit fight is that while she predicts it, she doesn’t start it, giving her opponents the option to walk away. When Mercury grabs her arm, rather than attack him and get caught up fighting, she lets it go. When she arrives down in the Vauilt, she deconstructs Raven’s motivations so completely that by the time she shoulder-checks her mom on the way past, Raven’s already been defeated.

And when she goes up against Adam, someone who believes in strength just as much as Raven, she ultimately beats him by not using her strength until she’s taken away his.

“Bad Father Taiyang” Part 2: Moping

The Misconception:

Taiyang tells Yang to “stop moping”. This means he isn’t taking her PTSD seriously/he doesn’t understand her true problem/he’s a bad father/Miles and Kerry think PTSD is just moping.

The Proof Against It: See my first point on why Taiyang isn’t a bad father and why he wouldn’t be given such a harsh line unless there was some truth to it.

But on the Miles and Kerry interpretation, they have honestly been doing a fantastic job at portraying what PTSD is actually like. Some credit goes to Barbara as well, but PTSD in RWBY is portrayed as something you have to learn to live with, not overcome or “get better” from. Sure, you can mitigate it, but it’ll unfortunately always be with you.

Yang didn’t “get over” her PTSD by being told to stop moping. Because Taiyang was not referring to her PTSD.

What The Line Actually Meant:

Yang was moping.

See, Yang’s not just suffering from PTSD in Volume 4. She’s also suffering from heartbreak.

Her best friend, the person she was closest to outside of her family, the person she may even have realized that she was in love with, had just left her like Yang feared she would.

Like we’ve established, Yang is all about getting up when she gets knocked down. That’s at the core of her character. I honestly don’t think the missing arm and the PTSD would have kept her back home as long as it did on it’s own. Because we all know how a Xiao Long reacts to heartbreak (See: Taiyang “shutting down”).

But also because Adam straight-up told us that Blake leaving hurt more than losing an arm did.

What do I mean by that?

See, the whole point of the Adam fight is to explain to Blake what Yang wants to say but knows she can’t. The person Adam pretended to be is Yang, even if he doesn’t know it. Every line he says after he takes off the mask is something that actually applies to Yang’s feelings towards Blake.

“People hurt me long before we met” = Raven’s abandonment, Summer’s death

“But no-one hurt me quite like you. You didn’t leave scars, you just left me alone” = Blake left Yang after someone else had left her a scar (the arm)

“She made a promise to me once” = Literally paralleling the promises Blake has made to both people

Blake knows Yang and Pretend!Adam are alike. In semblance, in personality, it’s why she fears Yang going bad at the Vytal Tournament. And it’s why Adam saying that “no-one hurt me quite like you” triggers Blake’s realisation of why Yang doesn’t want Blake to protect her. Because it would leave her alone.

Yang can handle anything life throws at her besides Blake leaving. So when Yang was left moping after being left behind by the woman she loves, who better to point out she was moping than the person who’s been through the same thing twice?

The Birds

The Misconception:

And finally, the subject that began this rant of mine. The revelation to our heroes that Raven and Qrow can turn into birds.

People, quite confusing, take this to mean that our heroes are rendered suspicious of Ozpin because… he gave Qrow and Raven magical powers? They decry it as not really making sense, a false way to create tension between our heroes and Ozpin.

But maybe there’s a reason why it doesn’t make sense?

What The Line Really Meant:

Just look at the wording people. "What you did to Qrow and my mother", "What Oz did to my brother and me".

Raven implied that Ozpin gave them magic, placed this burden on them, without their consent. And Yang was rightfully pissed at the idea of such a thing. The rest of the group are taken aback at such an idea, because if it can happen to Ozpin’s previous generation of followers, it could happen to them.

You see Yang only reacts when Qrow firmly states that "We made a choice, we wanted this". It’s a look of shock. Raven lied to her.

And that’s why she tells Ozpin “No more lies, no more half-truths”. Raven has placed doubt in her mind, but both sides have lied to her at this stage. The only way to make sure she’s on the right side is if one of them isn’t lying to her, feeding her half-truths and lies of omission.

Which is why she takes it so hard when he omits the truth again. Down in the Vault, Yang made her choice. She chose Ozpin over her mother, permanently. There’s no going back from what Yang said to her. And then Ozpin omits the truth again, about the Relic, and this not only makes Yang question if she made the right choice, but reminds her that if she’s made the wrong one, she can’t go back on it. That’s she’s sacrificed any hope of a relationship with her mother for Ozpin, a man who can’t stop lying to her.

Conclusion:

I hope I’ve helped clear up some misconceptions for you guys, and made your RWBY-watching experience less confusing and misinformed. If you liked this, please reblog and share these corrections, so that the fandom no longer gets caught up on these moments.

These are just the misconceptions that I’ve been to dredge up from my memory on a Sunday night, so if I spot any more I’ll add them in later reblogs.

#rwby #to quote kkglinka #fandom I'm judging you #seriously though guys invest in some reading comprehension please #i swear that Yang post has been in the works for a while

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buckskinblues · 5 years ago

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There’s a thread about LGBT Western fans and entitlement that gave me a few things to think about but I wanted to make a separate post because what I wanted to comment on I didn’t really want to bother people in that thread with because it’s related to the topic but also sort of takes away from the point they were trying to make. I just feel it’d be rude to intrude on that conversation with the thoughts that I have.

If you’re scratching your head and wondering what the absolute hell the context for any of this is...it’s related to the anti-fujoshi people and their ilk and how touchy they are about representation and anything concerning LGBT content or depictions. If you’re still scratching your head then stay a sweet summer child.

Someone on that post mentioned something about how Western fans have a different cultural background and perspective (obviously, all cultures/places generally do) but how they thought that manifested I found...interesting. Because they made it seem like it was a dominate viewpoint rather than one of a loud minority. And how they said Westerners viewed LGBT content contradicted my own. It was, generally, that Western media often fetishizes LGBT people and the audience does as well so that most Western audiences when interacting with LGBT content will bring that baggage with them and assume content from other places/cultures does as well...which. There’s a lot to unpack there.

For starters? When I first discovered F/F and M/M content in manga form I didn’t immediately assume that it was just a spectacle for a straight audience. In fact I made no assumptions at all. It was just two girls or two guys and I just took it at face value. Talking to a lot of other people who discovered such content for the first time around the same age I did the attitude seemed generally more of “wow, this exists” and also “wow, gay people exist and have stories”. And I and many others treated it pretty much how we’d treat any other sort of romantic content (give or take hiding it from homophobic family members...and maybe also hiding that you’re into it because some of it was erotic in nature and you were too young to legally view porn).

I think people get the idea that commentor had from 1. the false idea that there’s this incredibly common trend of straight dudes who fetishize F/F, when...that isn’t true. It’s a demonization of men in the same way it would be (and is in this particular arena of discourse) a demonization of women who like M/M content. If you’re attracted to girls or boys then two of them together is even better and that’s not fetishization...especially if they’re fictional characters. We treat M/F romances on screen in much the same way but no one treats that as fetishization. The idea that a guy in a theater seeing girl on girl and fetishizing it is super common was a direct example from said commentor. But I’m in danger of going off on a tangent with this (I just think it’s a big double standard that’s never pointed out that often). 2. Most people don’t think foreign LGBT content is fetishizing anything. I would bet a lot it’s only a loud minority (antis and their ilk) that do. If I showed any number of people I know in real life a few panels from a BL manga then their response I’m willing to put money on would be “huh, this is two boys kissing” and then they’d wonder why I’m bothering them. The thing is most people don’t give enough of a shit to discuss it at length or write meta about it. You’re missing out on what a lot of the actual public think and how they view things because they aren’t part of the conversation in this instance and you can’t just act like their silence means they agree.

I don’t know it’s not like this is a planned out essay or anything but I hope I got my point across.

Anyway, I’m fucking tired of antis twisting the way people think Westerners (c’mon though I know you guys actually just meant Americans) view media or other cultures. In all these cases it’s usually other loud minorities basing their perspectives on things based off what another loud minority is doing. Antis screaming and Anitweeter being basement dwellers isn’t reflective of anything but themselves. You all should be smart enough by now to know that.

#thoughts off the seat of my pants

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overplannedbutunnamednpc · 4 years ago

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Jaded, Magic, Offspring, Vice for the alphabet one ... any characters you think are tasty but I would like to request that at least one be for Zephyr for development reasons (bonus if u want to make that be magic and talk abt her feelings on dunemancy as a controlled magic)

i’ll do all four for zephyr and also roll for others bc hehehe.........

Jaded: Do they buy into the “happily ever after” ideal? What’s their standard? Zephyr: not really??? I think growing up as an urchin kind of fucked that up even if she otherwise would. like, I’m sure the ideal in the kryn dynasty is what like. tbq and her wife have, with multiple lives and loving them through every one of them. but like. A) zephyr ain’t consecuted even if she says she is and B) she loves gent but that’s honestly probably her first real relationship and she kind of already knows that won’t end with a happily ever after because. she’s gonna still be in her elf twenties when gent dies. like, zephyrs actually kinda practical about this. she’s not gonna get a happily ever after with gent! she’s kinda accepted that even if she really doesn’t Like it. (and I’m very sad about it but that’s another post, elf lifetime meta included, if you want it). that said! she doesn’t think she won’t be happy! just that she’s smart enough to know that her relationships, such as they are, Will likely end in some pain for her, especially considering all the shit that comes along with a society with consecution. PC: Legacy - like. no? it feels ... cheap to her, I think. maybe it’s just me morgan not really believing in that stuff, but like. she grew up with nice parents who like. nothing was wrong with them of course! but like. she knows better, seeing them be in love with each other and fight and etc., she knows better than to think that anything could be happily ever after. she knows you gotta work at that shit, and I think she’s still figuring out how hard she’d want to work, if that makes sense. she does have a standard, though! she does want to fall in love or at least be infatuated/have someone be infatuated with her! it’s just an experience she wants. but considering her grandmother and her abilities... she kind of doubts she’ll ever be the prince OR princess in the fairytale, you know? NPC: Kiya - hh. Kiya knows better than to think happily ever after is in the cards. she’s got a pretty good thing going with MFU, she loves her employees, and I like the thot of her having a thing for one of them? but like. I’ve said it before: kiya isn’t really a ‘gets nice things for herself’ kind of person. so her standard is ‘it doesn’t happen in the first place.’ which is a little depressing, but hey! maybe she’ll be surprised.

Magic: In a magic series or not, are they accepting, or is each instance a shock? Zephyr: zephyr is a weird one because I like the idea of her being a little disbelieving that magic like. works for her, even though she’s a level 14 wizard with very specific knowledge of the arcane. I’m thinking about sir gentry and how he’s like, 50 years old by now or something. she didn’t look up the normal lifespan of a pet mouse until he was at least like. 10/15 because she just didn’t want to find out that he was about to die, and then she was kinda like ‘huh maybe... maybe he’s a magic mouse?’ (the in game explanation is that her dunamancy (time magic) is just. extending his life bc he hangs out with her and I think it’s cute and my dm loves me). but beyond that. I think it’s really fun if like. zephyr was NOT expecting to actually get into the academy? she made this whole plan expecting to at some point be found out but at least she’d have the knowledge, and then. She Wasn’t’? and she was obviously very happy that it worked!!! and I think she’s gotten more and more respect for her craft but it at least started as her going Wow alright this shit actually works? dope. now though I think she’s come to terms with it. she’s a level 14 wizard, she’s incredibly powerful really. magic for her is an extension of herself, to the point where she does it unconsciously (at least on sir gentry). she’s so skilled with dunamancy that she can just. choose to stop someone in time, five times a day. it’s exhausting, but she can just force a timeline on someone and have them be none the wiser. she’s Powerful, yo. and a lot of that power comes from sheer comfort with the subject, I think! I like that idea. PC: Zier - zier i think is very funny for this question because he like. JUST became a sorcerer and then levelled up super quickly in the span of like three or four months. but like. fundamentally, what happened was: 1. he ran away and got kidnapped and experimented on 2. he got away Somehow 3. he did magic at a giant spider 4. he ended up in another continent. so I think for him, it was surprising at first and he very much doesn’t know shit fuck all about magic, but he’s a noble boy through and through, and thus very quickly went “yeah i’m magical that fucks majorly because I fuck majorly.” it was basically him coming to terms with this new thing very quickly because he’s a bitch who likes the power. NPC: Coriander - coriander is the epitome of “is incredibly comfortable with magic.” for her, magic is essentially an assistive technology! she has darling who is basically a second pair of arms, legs, and an extra 8 feet of height so she can keep up with their partner and children who are much taller than she is. but I think a lot of the tech she develops is assistive or transportive in some way. coriander likes exploding things, but that’s more of a hobby. her actual magic works more like tech, and she treats it like a science.

Offspring: What kind of parent would they be? Would they prefer one, or multiple? Zephyr: much to think about.............. if she had kids I think she’d like multiple! she grew up completely alone so I think she’d want any kids to have siblings. as a parent I think she’d be good! i’ve been thinking about zephyr having very much Her People, who she likes, respects, and cares about to the point of fighting for and with them, and then Not Her People, who she kind of could give less of a shit about. her kids would def be Her People. she wouldn’t know exactly how to deal with them? I think for a bit there’d be a problem because she’d be stiff. she’d like her babies/kids very much! but she doesn’t know how to hold them. she doesn’t have experience talking to them. a baby cries and she tells it that theres nothing to cry over and logic at an infant doesn’t work and she goes bug eyed sasuke. but I think she’d figure it out eventually, and she’d be especially good at kids once they get to the “express their desires and disappointments in an understandable way.” perhaps she’d raise, on her own, very expressive kids because thats the only way they would be able to tell her what’s going on. PC: Sarril - :). he doesn’t know. but I think he would have been a good dad! his wife wanted multiple and so he would have had multiple, though he would have been very happy with only one. sarril was actively learning about Contact, so lots of hugs and holding for the babies and toddlers, especially with his wife and her family next to him. he’s always been a kind of calm and quiet man, and his way of showing love isn’t very Talkative, (i’ll talk about how he loves in another ask) so he’s more the dad who is At everything and is very quietly proud of everything his kid does, but unless there’s like, a crisis, he’s not likely to make it abundantly clear that he’s an adoring father. but you’d know from just like. he’s there, he’s tucking you in every night, he helps you with your homework, etc. NPC: Iris - iris wants kids SO BAD. she’d love one, she’d love multiple. part of being a part of a really terrible population crisis that may or may not be due to demonic influence, maybe, but she also just really wants kids. and she looked at cylthia and went “yeah alright we doing this?” I think iris with kids would be adoring almost to a fault. she’d LOVE those little bitches. she might spoil them rotten, but also they’d be super loved and have friends in all of glade and lent’s kids, and I think they’d eventually be cool.

Vice: What bad habits do they have? Is there something they would be ashamed of? Zephyr: shopaholic. i think a lot of her dresses come, if not free, at least steeply discounted because maybe she’s someone’s muse or maybe she did a huge favor for a dressmaker? haven’t decided yet. but definitely a lot of her paycheck (which I imagine she does get, from freelance jobs offering her wizarding services or maybe the dynasty pays her for the small wizard jobs like lighting the streets, bringing down and putting up and keeping up the night sky over rosohna, things like that) goes to dresses and accessories. she really likes spending money, and doesn’t mind so much about having it. I don’t think she’s ashamed of it, exactly? it’s her money, she’s spending it on things she likes. but it is probably indicative of Something. PC: Kenny - has a bad habit of being beholden to a god of fire who wants him to betray his friends. nah i think he’s got a bad habit of like now, scratching/rubbing soot off of himself. shit like that, where it’s a stimmy way of trying to get the ashen wolf’s influence off of him. he’s probably ashamed of it a little? because it’s the ashen wolf? but idk if it’s even really noticeable to others so that takes away a lot of the shame of it. NPC: Ecstasy - bad habits. of. not sharing her fucking feelings! she says thats STINKY but it kind of just fucks her over. like tbf with raini it kind of works because if she ever said she was in l*ve with raini the wizard might hightail it out of there but like. i think after two years she might have gotten away with it and didn’t even try. and now she’s kind of paying the price because not only does raini not remember her but it also doesn’t like, matter, maybe, because the feelings were ALWAYS unarticulated? so? she’s now just ????????

#syn-odics #zephyr #legacy #human kiya #zier #coriander #sarril #iris #kenny #ecstasy #this ones a beefy boy.......#enjoy...............#as i neglect to make any coherent sentences in my rambling about my ocs..............

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three--rings · 6 years ago

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Heroic Sacrifices that Work (and why The Magicians’ doesn’t)

(This post contains spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Hannibal, as well as The Magicians)

You know, I’m not against the idea of heroic self-sacrifice. It can be a very powerful trope. Off hand there are two examples that really work for me. So how do those Main Character Self-Sacrifices work when the Magicians’ doesn’t? Time for lengthy meta.

The first example, which I have mentioned before and a couple other people have discussed in comparison to Quentin Coldwater’s death in the finale of the most recent season of The Magicians, is Buffy Summers’ death at the end of S5 of BTVS.

(Putting the rest under a cut for length and for triggery content and old spoilers.)

Buffy kills herself, throws herself into a vortex and to her death, in order to stop the literal end of the world, stop the season-long villain who is a literal god, and to save her sister. So first of all, the stakes are REALLY HIGH. The world is literally on the brink of being destroyed, at least the world as we know it. And the entity doing this is Glory, a literal god who has spent 20-some-odd episodes absolutely ravaging the protagonists. She’s unstoppable, super strong, super smart, very scary. She has put the hurt on Our Heroes a LOT. And finally, she’s using the human sacrifice of Buffy’s sister Dawn to accomplish her goals. Dawn, who has been the center of the story for the entire season (who didn’t exist before this season because reasons.) The relationship between Dawn and Buffy has been central throughout, with the question raised of whether Dawn even counts as a person and if she’s worthy of Buffy’s love and whether they really are family. Dawn is, in fact, the only family Buffy really has after her mother’s traumatizing death. So when Buffy sees that she can save her sister, and the world, and end the villain and all it costs is her death? She does it, and it’s very narratively satisfying if still tragic. When they wrote the episode, they didn’t know if they’d have another season, so this also functioned as a series ender. Buffy dies to save the world and fulfills her purpose. But as soon as it aired, they knew they’d have a S6 and assured fans Buffy would be back in that season.

Also Buffy isn’t suffering depression or suicidal impulses at the time. She doesn’t want to die. But she still does. It’s not till she is brought back to life that the show gives her a depression arc, where she doesn’t care if she lives or dies. (And also remind me to talk about how Buffy used their musical episode to reveal this deep truth in Buffy’s soul while The Magicians, much as I love 4x10, didn’t do anything to reveal Quentin’s pain to his friends given the same opportunity.) Her death is the cumination of a season-long arc in both plot and personal stories. Not to mention her death is hinted at via prophecy and dreams at least as far back as the S4 finale.

The second example of a heroic self-sacrifice that works is the finale of Hannibal, in which protagonist Will Graham throws both himself and Hannibal off a cliff to their presumed deaths rather than join Hannibal in a serial killing spree. The whole series, and especially S3 was a seduction by Hannibal of Will to the dark side, trying to bring out Will’s killing instincts, his darkest desires. (And umm, yeah also it’s really gay.) And Will reaches a point in the finale where he basically surrenders and see’s Hannibal’s point, where he revels in killing, and in that moment of triumph for Hannibal, when they’re both covered in blood, when they embrace in a very near kiss as a consummation of 3 years of longing and innuendo...Will grabs him and pulls him over the edge to their deaths.

And in that act, Will Graham wins. His basic human decency, in the face of his own darkness, faced with the future of becoming Hannibal’s partner in crime, rebels and takes them both out in a murder-suicide that is definitely a benefit to mankind. I absolutely ADORE this moment. It’s so incredibly satisfying for me as an end to the story of Hannibal and Will, having Will win in this way, in the only way left to him.

Now, there’s a caveat to this, in that the Hannibal finale gave us a post-credits scene that <i>implies</i> but does not show that Hannibal and Will survived. According to the showrunner, the two of them are alive and off killing together. At the time they made this episode they didn’t know if they would get another season, but this ended up being the finale. It’s significant that Bryan Fuller found a way to give the show closure, the characters’ arcs closure, and still leave the door open to another season while at the same time encouraging fans to continue to create a story where the main characters of the show lived.

Again, it’s the fact that Will Graham is clearly acting against his own desires when he makes his sacrificial move that makes it powerful. He is doing it to stop both Hannibal and himself from future evil acts. But he’s very tempted to completely give in to Hannibal’s vision and desires, made clear in the acting by Hugh Dancy. It’s painful to destroy both himself AND the man he both loves and hates, but he does it because it’s right. (I recognize not all of Hannibal fandom agrees completely with me that this is a great end to this story, and prefers the “murder husbands” hinted future, but for me the story really ends with that plunge off the cliff.)

So finally, how are these earned heroic sacrifices different from the Magicians finale? First, there’s very little build up in plot that leads to it. The driving narrative force of S4 is getting Eliot back. It’s practically all Quentin ever talks about. It’s something he makes clear he will sacrifice his body and safety and pretty much anything for, including the safety of the world. So you’d think, if he were going to sacrifice himself, it would be in order to save Eliot or get him back. Yeah, no. That happens earlier. Eliot is safe by the confrontation between Quentin and Everett. If Quentin doesn’t do what he did, the worst that will happen is Everett gets the monsters power and becomes a god. We barely know anything about Everett because he was a last minute introduction/reveal as the villain. Quentin and he have NEVER EVEN MET BEFORE. There’s no narrative weight there. No imperative that says he absolutely must be stopped. God power isn’t the big deal here that it is in the Buffyverse. We’ve seen 4 gods killed in S4. Quentin has literally murdered a god with his own hand in S2.

There’s nothing personal in his sacrifice either. The only thing that has built all season is his depression, despair, and suicidal inclinations. He didn’t die to save his friends, he didn’t die to save the world. I know the showrunners and the ep tried to paint it that way, as in, “the world his friends are living in is better now than it would have been if he hadn’t sacrificed himself” which, again, as a comment on suicide is...less than good. But like, how can you not see that ending your life just in the name of a slightly better world...MAYBE...isn’t fucking heroic. It’s stupid. It’s pointless. It’s not a good lesson. It’s not satisfying. It’s a shitty end for a character. Okay, I could keep going, but you all know.

The point isn’t that all heroic sacrifices are bad or it’s impossible to do a heroic sacrifice that isn’t actually suicide. It very much is. But you can’t half-ass this shit. You can’t show up 10 minutes late with Starbucks, force your plot into a self-sacrifice arc in the last episode and then call it justified. You can’t make it meaningful after the fact if you didn’t do the honest work to make it so, no matter how hard you try or how many times you say it in interviews.

Notice both my other examples also include the people in charge of the show immediately reaching out to fans to provide assurance. These characters will be back. They still exist. You can still make fan content that is valid. It’s a bit of having your cake and eating it too, but it’s important to avoid alienating your audience. Instead of that, we’ve gotten nothing but snark and condescension from Sera Gamble and John McNamara.

As a writer, this shit just OFFENDS me. Above and beyond my feelings as a fan of the show, of Quentin, of Queliot. Above and beyond the pain I’ve seen it cause people who struggle with depression and suicidal ideation and how irresponsible I think it was. Just...on a base level it’s shitty writing.

#the magicians #the magicians meta #the magicians finale #buffy the vampire slayer #hannibal #my meta #fuck the magicians for being so fucking disappointing #tw: suicide

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thornewoodhospitalblog · 5 years ago

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Writers:

New Year, New(ish) Thornewood!

Please read! Necessary policy changes below!

With it being the start of the new year, we thought it’d be useful to post about a reminder about some of the rules and also instate some new ones to help Thornewood A) run more smoothly, but B) have more fun!

Here’s our newest rule:

1. All messages regarding mod duties (approving plots, questions about policies, etc.) must be posed in a group chat with the Bee Sisters.

Lauren and Casey talk every day, so they know what policies were discussed, but it’s easier to have it in a group chat so both sisters can weigh in. Also just helps the sisters streamline their conversations. If you don’t know how to make a group message, don’t worry! We’ll make it for you if we don’t already have one!

Along those same lines:

2. Please discuss your activity privately with us before messaging the discord.

This applies more to sudden absences or hiatuses, not “hey I won’t be on today!” kind of stuff. If you’re on a hiatus, please message us first before coming back. There are things we need to discuss (ie: new rules, new policies, when are you coming back? Is it in the middle of an event because then we’re gonna have to tell you to wait, etc.) before you fully integrate into the Discord once more.

3. Meta-knowledge and God-modding (rule 10)

Your character shouldn’t know anything unless they’re explicitly told. Let’s talk about meta-knowledge first:

Referencing former threads is very tricky. Unless a character from that thread told you what transpired between themselves and that character, you’re using meta-knowledge. Meta-knowledge sucks all the fun out of roleplaying because if your character just “guesses” about everything that’s actually happened because you’re using what you know as a writer to give your character all the info about Thornewood, there’s no secrets, no news to share, no nothing. Super not fun, you cannot do this. Warnings will be given if we see this behavior starting January 5.

Here’s an aside about god-modding: You, as a writer, cannot control what another character does/did unless you write them. No ifs, ands, or buts. If Mod Case doesn’t describe her character, Lexus, as “brown haired” please don’t say she is. That’s god-modding.

Here’s an example of intense god-modding from a past incident with a former member (remember that former member we go off about sometimes? They did this).

If Case didn’t write that Lex was screaming/shrieking/etc., please don’t say she did. Or, message Case and ask “hey, how would Lex respond to [character] (for instance) pushing her?” It says in our rules that god-modding is unacceptable and you’ll be kicked out if you’re caught doing it (more than once). Don’t risk it!

Honorable mention: don’t meta-disrespect.

THIS IS WAY DIFFERENT THAN META-KNOWLEDGE!

This is by far the rudest thing to do to another writer, and while this hasn’t happened for awhile (remember that evil member who was mean to Hanna? That one, they did this, ya’ll haven’t), it’s always good to reiterate. Don’t ignore a character’s bio. If Keegan is supposed to be smart, he’s smart. If Lexus is supposed to be small, she’s small. Etc., etc. If you don’t feel they’re written that way, it’s not for you to say. You can say someone is being friendly, when they’re typically an intimidating character…but you can’t straight up go, for example, “Cameron wasn’t all that intimidating.” (IE: What the old member did.) If you’re looking to say that, you’d have a better chance wording it like, “Ellie seemed really strong.” Even though Ellie is meant to be a shyer character, you’re not stating she isn’t, you’re just saying your character is perceiving her in another way — which isn’t rude, it’s just how your character is taking her in the moment. It is, however, rude when you straight up go, “nope, they’re dumb/not intimidating/etc.” To reiterate: ya’ll have never done meta-disrespect, ever. You’d get a message immediately. We’d also cry.

4. If you’re writing “tw: [anything]” in the tags, you need to be putting your photo/text/whatever under a read more. (rule 8)

The whole purpose of a read more is to give a member the option to not see this material. Without a read more, the person still has to experience this triggering content, which really isn’t acceptable or fair.

To help this: Starting January 5, please don’t put a million tags when creating a read more. We need to allow people who are triggered by the content to see the trigger warning in the tags. IE: So when Mod Case (#exposed) puts AHHH AHH AHH before the trigger warning...Not that helpful. Just keep it simple: thread/chat: [name], tw: [topic]. Or, if there isn’t a trigger warning but you put a read more because you wrote a lot (like four lengthy paragraphs or more) tag it: read more: length. That’s all you need. Feel free to be silly with tags for non-triggering replies.

5. Mandatory therapy threads (rule 9)

For awhile, many of you didn’t have a therapist so it’s totally fine if you haven’t had a therapy thread. Ever, if that’s the case. However, starting January 5, the mods are going to start encouraging you to have bi-monthly or tri-monthly therapy threads. Obviously, your character will be going to therapy much, much, more often so we don’t feel it’s fair to force you to thread every therapy session. However, to keep with the theme of a mental hospital, therapy threads must occur.

& Don’t forget to maintain a journal! (rule 9)

All patients and staff must maintain a journal. This can either be in the form of a true “dear diary...” entry, or just a tag on your blog.

6. Reading the announcements

Unspoken rule, obviously, but please read these announcements fully! The temptation to skim is intense, we know, but these announcements are really important for world-building, policy changes/updates and protecting our OOC community. Therefore, so we know you’ve seen them, please like the announcements upon reading them. If you forget, we won’t ask you to, so please just take this as a suggestion.

We really hope this reminder of old policies (and the announcement of some new policies!) will help maintain this super awesome atmosphere of amazing writers! If you have any questions, please message Casey and Lauren on discord or send us a message on the main blog!

#thornewood.update #thornewood.message

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brooke-schafer3 · 5 years ago

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Top SEO Practices For 2020 | Search Recon

Why SEO Is Important For 2020?

The hardest part about managing your SEO is the new developments that come with advancing technology. Social media, Google updates, website tool development, user platforms all change and develop over time. This requires all website development teams to keep a sharp eye on their SERPs and what they need to do to stay relevant, reliable, trusted, and popular.

It isn’t just about keyword density or meta tags anymore. Yes, all of the prior tools are still relevant. However, you need to look beyond your current practices and adopt new skills. Going from page one to the sand box or from the sand box to page one can mean all the difference in the world. If you are serious about how your potential clients find you via a search engine then you must be serious about your SEO every year and after every major development.

What Is On-Page SEO?

On-page or on-site SEO has become much easier to optimize, particularly with the number of tools on the web available. This article won’t dive into them too much as the assumption is that you have them under control. However, there is movement in the use of websites as a whole. Current on-page SEO isn’t just focused on tags and meta data. Google ranks based on what it perceives as a high-quality site as a whole.

This means you need to take a holistic approach to web development for maximum on-page SEO potential. Low click through rates and high bounce rates will kill your rankings. No matter how easy a key word is to rank, how you utilize your information is key. Classic on-page SEO practices will unlock the door but a high quality experience and adaptive structure will get your site through the door.

What Is Off-Page SEO?

Similarly, off-page or off-site SEO is built on a solid foundational idea that back

linking can raise your trust factor and worthiness to rank higher in Google. But what does that mean when how people use digital platforms change? It means that you need to evolve with the times and change your strategies as society changes how it interacts with the digital world.

The most significant example is social media. Profile links are trash in 2020. Some social media sites are worthless for as the sites themselves are no longer popular to draw an audience or click through rates. Google knows this and knows where people get their information. Thinking about Facebook? Start a Facebook Group on your niche. Thinking about Instagram? Get influencers to grow your traffic. Thinking about TikTok? Again, it is all about the influencers.

What SEO Practices Should I Be Focusing On?

There are probably 10s if not 100s of things that you could be doing to maximize your SEO potential. But that doesn’t really mean anything if you don’t have content and authority to back it up. If you are ready to SEO optimize your website the best thing you can do is plan, plan, and plan again.

Write out your strategy from large groupings to individual actions. Make multiple checklists and an accounting of all of the costs for those actions. Make sure that each of your actions is either: 1) common and basic SEO necessity like meta tags and meta data; or 2) industry specific to your nice like influencer marketing for fashion dropshippers. Below are the items you will need to think about.

BERT And Optimized Experience

Is there a running tally for the number of Google updates? There have been too many to count. The BERT update was a major update. It knocked the breath out of a lot of people that use spun articles. Why? BERT affected most spun articles because BERT uses natural language algorithms to score the quality of your articles.

Regardless of the keyword density or the keyword stuffing or the quality of the spun article, BERT can weed out the ruffians based on the context of the conversation. So, you don’t have to use the same keyword over and over. You can talk natural, and must talk naturally. Instead of using “car accident attorney in Chicago” 10 times in a 1000 word article you can use any type of synonym for attorney and talk about accidents in general. BERT can recognize this.

Google made this change because it recognized that the reader wants engaging text. The reader doesn’t want a list of facts in sentence form repeated 50 times. The reader wants a narrative that supplies useful and diverse information from word 1 to word 1000.

High Quality Content

Content is king. Content will always be king. If you want to dominate your niche, you need to dominate your content. This isn’t particularly new. However, the trend for Google is to continually focus on the ability of your site to deliver content that is useful and authoritative to the world. Wikipedia ranks because it is useful and authoritative. Make your site the Wikipedia of your niche. Give the reader something unique and important. Google will reward your effort.

Google EAT Criteria

For Google, your web reputation comes down to 3 things, E-A-T. You can E-A-T the bear, or the bear can E-A-T you. (Hint: Google is the bear) E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. If you can promote these three qualities on your website then you will be light-years ahead of your competition. Start to increase the length of your articles. Start to use proper English and subdivisions.

Start to answer questions in your articles. For example say you are writing on widgets. The article body could be divided up into subcategories that all started with a question: 1) What type of widget should I use for X application? 2) What size widget yields the best results? 3) Where can I get the best and cheapest widgets? It is completely industry and niche dependent. However, the point is to show Google that your articles answer important questions and provide the expertise and authoritativeness to be very trustworthy (E-A-T).

Mobile First Development

How many people still use there desktop at home? A lot, sure. But how many people use their phone to brose? Literally everyone! Google is quickly moving to a mobile first indexing pattern. This means you need to develop your site as if the mobile experience is the only worthwhile experience. Soon it might be, at least as far as Google thinks.

Desktop or laptop browser optimization is secondary to the experience of the mobile user. This means that you need to focus on the utility of a smaller screen, no mouse, and near instantaneous load times. Super easy, right? Don’t worry, everyone is in the same boat.

Secured Websites

If your website isn’t protected by a SSL then you don’t need to worry about much else, you won’t be ranked soon anyway. SSL is the standard of the industry. Accept it, own it, and use it. Not only has Google started to enforce this standard but the users are becoming more aware of their own privacy concerns and navigating away from sites that aren’t secure.

Diversified Knowledge Portfolio

This is a fancy word for the fact that your off-site SEO needs to focus on your social media profiles. This includes YouTube. Your digital content is no longer just articles. Google will start to rank videos as the first listing for certain searches. Why? First, it does because it owns YouTube. Second, people use YouTube as a search engine. They don’t necessarily want to read something. Sometimes they want to be told something and shown it in motion. Think about all of the platforms your service or product could be on, not as an advertisement, but as useful content.

Keyword Search Importance

Website Voice Search

As mentioned earlier, your content needs to answer questions. This is growing in importance due to smart home devices. Sure, people still physically type into Google things like: “how do I hot wire my car.” However, if they can just get Siri, Alexa, or Google’s Assistant to tell them how to do something, they will just verbally ask. “Hey, Siri, what is the weather out today?”

Start optimizing your content to make it friendly for voice searches. Start to answer the Who, What, When, Where, and Why questions related to your niche. For example, for SEO you could ask: Who provides the best SEO help? What is SEO? Where on my website is on-page SEO? When was the last Google update? Why is SEO important?

Final Takeaway

SEO may seem daunting. There are countless ways to either screw up or forget and miss something important. However, don’t forget that each item you do to maximize your SEO the better you are making your website. SEO is all about the long game, not the short game. Go into it with a plan, execute that plan, and then add or modify as the digital world evolves and changes.

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