#i love how invested he is in storytelling and his character

[ghostatas]

I need someone to make a words document or something of all the fuckin BANGERS of lines bbh has dropped cuz HOLY SHIT

"You need to break him, like the battlefield broke him""You'll spend so much time worrying about how to catch him, and in that time he will fall, and he will break"

Like excuse me????!?!?!?!?!?!? HELLO?!?!??!??!

Please send me ur favourite analysis of him I need it

[zombie-eats-world]

Crocodad Theory: The not-so-Crack-pot Theory.

Making this post in order to replace my old Crocodad thesis since I think I can do better now. Plus I was still using the old theory name then and I dislike seeing it pinned on my tumblr now. You can find that older post HERE if you desire to!

Crocodad theory, chances are you have heard about this theory if you are even slightly invested in the One Piece fandom. But despite its infamy, and outside its stanch believers like myself, it's mostly considered a crack theory and used for a laugh.

Now let's be clear, Crocodad theory is not a crack theory. A crack or crack-pot theory is more of a headcanon built on vibes, it's a fun idea made up out of thin air and isn't really serious. If the Crocodad theory was a crack theory it would have evaporated into the nether by now. It's over a decade old, after all, and yet it persists to this day! That is because the Crocodad theory has real evidence from the canon, the One Piece offshoots, and maybe even Oda himself.

If you weren't aware of the Crocodad theory, sometimes lovingly called Dadodile, let me summarize it very succinctly. The theory is that Crocodile is a transgender man and gave birth to Luffy. Crocodile is Luffy's other father and his birthing parent. If you think that sounds ridiculous or even hilarious, let me walk you through it because I assure you- that is intentional.

Let us begin where the theory began... Impel Down.

The possibility for this theory was born in 2009 with these panels:

The simple fact that Ivankov exists and that he knows Crocodile, from "when he was just starting out" mind you, makes this not only possible but probable.

What other "secret" could Ivakov be speaking of here? It's definitely not his weakness to water, that would just be bad storytelling. It could be that Crocodile is the child of Rocks which is possible considering we now know Ivankov was at the Gods Valley incident. But if I could speak as a writer for a moment, it would really be a waste for an author to introduce a character that can change genders and then bring back one of the first big villains like Crocodile, AND THEN connect the two with the mention of weakness but not make that secret that Crocodile had once been a woman. Or even at least a part of the reason.

But if that reasoning falls through for you, here is some in-canon evidence for the idea that Crocodile is transgender:

First of all, the agents' code names are so gendered: Every single digit agent is Mr with a Mrs, or Ms partner.

Crocodile’s name. His moniker is different from almost every other powerful pirate the story introduces to us. He isn’t just Desert King Crocodile, he is Desert King Sir Crocodile. Again it is oddly pronoun-centered. As if he is trying to remind people that he’s a guy.

The introduction of Bon Clay. Bon Clay is our first canon queer character in One Piece. He makes mention of being a girl many times and feels like a joke character when we first meet him. But as we know in One Piece, a pirate crew is a reflection of the Captain. Crocodile isn’t prejudiced to queer people like Bon Clay alludes to others being a few times. Crocodile even allowed Bon Clay to be both the male and female of his team!

Next up was the reveal of Baby Crocodile and how it’s deliberating ambiguous what gender Crocodile is. In every other Warlord's childhood look reveal, their gender is obvious, so why was Crocodile left out of that?

Then of course we have Gold Roger's execution, and how almost everyone got a reaction panel. But not Crocodile. No, we only see the back of his head. Oda has shown that he loves to get every single character's reaction to major events, sometimes to a fault. So why is he trying so hard to hide Crocodile from us? It just isn’t Oda’s style to leave someone out unless there is some kind of secret he wants to build up too. Now be sure to keep this in mind for later.

Last but certainly not least is just how much of an absolute troll Oda is. This will not be the last time I bring this up, Oda is a HUGE troll. He loves to play to his favorite fan theories and he decides most everything on how funny it is. And wouldn't it be funny if the first antagonist in the Grandline was secretly the birth parent of Luffy?

I mean just look at this! Oda, you absolute troll.

Bottom line: Trans Crocodile is more likely than not.

But this is where a lot of people decide the rest of this theory is crack, they take Trans!Crocodile and leave Crocodad out for reasons I honestly can't understand. Despite that, Cracodad has just as much if not more evidence than the Transgender part of this theory.

Before I begin I would like everyone reading to keep a few things in mind. All throughout the Impel down arc and the journey to Marineford, and even the first few chapters into Marineford, Crocodile could not have given a shit about Luffy, Ace, or the war at all. He did not care who won the war or if everyone involved died. He came to the battlefield for the sole purpose of killing Whitebeard. PERIOD. He was never once shown reacting with any concern when Luffy began facing down anyone strong. Not even Magellan. Crocodile had been around Luffy, seeing him do inspiring things for a massive amount of chapters by the time we get to Marineford, and yet Crocodile literally didn't care if Luffy lived or died, he just wanted to fight Whitebeard.

With that clear let's move on to what happened after Luffy's father was revealed to the world in Marineford. This moment is where the most obvious evidence first came about:

When Sengoku announces Luffy's father to the world we get many reaction shots, but once again Crocodile is conveniently missing from the lineup. He even disappears for a whole chapter! The young man who took down his decade-long plan to take over Alabasta just got announced to be the most wanted man in the world son, and we get no reaction from Crocodile... its suspicious.

Crocodile stopped Ace’s execution: Now Crocodile explains this by saying he ‘didn’t want to let Sengoku have the pleasure of victory’ but seriously? What kind of petty ass BS reasoning is that?! Crocodile has dreams and ambitions, and yet he gives up trying to be the one to take down Whitebeard to randomly save someone he canonly mocks in Impel Down? Someone he doesn’t care about. Some people will tell you it’s because Luffy inspired him like Luffy does many others, but what exactly is Luffy doing in Marineford that he didn’t in Impel Down or even Alabasta? Nothing. That means Crocodile has an entire about-face for no believable reason while completely off-screen. Which we've already said isn't Oda's style.

Daz and Crocodile face Mihawk to help Luffy: When Daz blocks Mihawk’s strike, Luffy questions it. Daz answers: It’s an order from above! That means Crocodile ordered Daz to specifically protect Luffy. Again, why? What reason did he have to do that? If this was some latent Crocodile has been inspired™️ moment, why wouldn’t Oda show it? Oda loves to hype up those moments, and loves to detail it all to the smallest piece. But Crocodile just randomly decided to have his main man Daz look out for this person that he COULDN’T HAVE GIVEN A CRAP ABOUT JUST TEN EPISODES BEFORE does not fit within the story. Then, right after Daz blocks Mihawk, Crocodile appears out of the woodwork to block another attack.

When Mihawk questions why he’d protect Luffy, Crocodile’s only response is “I’m not in the best mood now, Mihawk, you better watch yourself.” It’s interesting that he has no reason, none, he just comments that he’s in a shit mood. Maybe because he just found out he once stabbed his own child in the gut and left him to die?!

Crocodile vs Akainu: The brother killing Lava Man™️ is probably the most dangerous person in the war. He has no mercy, no morals, no restraint. So the fact that as Luffy is lying comatose and weak, with Jimbe slumped over him, Akainu about to deliver the final blow, Crocodile coming out of nowhere once again is so telling.

The fact is: Crocodile went above and beyond to save Luffy. That final stand against Akainu is so powerful. Crocodile doesn’t just save Luffy, he rushes to Luffy's aid, slicing through Akainu and reassembles to stand protectively between them. He did not need to do this at all. Oda didn’t need to have him do this either!

There were plenty of other characters that could have essentially done the same exact thing, but Oda chose to have Crocodile, someone who shouldn’t have been on Luffy’s side at all, save his life in the final moment.

Lastly, without a word, Crocodile uses Sables to get Luffy to Law’s ship. He risked his life, faced down the one person who could kill him without a second thought, and sweeps Luffy away to safety without any stated reason at all. In fact, everything he says is deliberately vague. Crocodile doesn’t believe in loyalty, he dumps people if they are weak (see; Alabasta Crocodile vs Luffy desert fight) so his line of “you gotta protect the one you wanna protect! Don’t let them have their way!” Feels so out of character. Crocodile has to have a reason for this odd behavior. And no, it doesn’t end there! In the defense of Luffy, Crocodile has an awesome and powerful moment where he stands in unity with all the Whitebeard commanders. HIS ENEMIES. Crocodile stands in unity with the people, he himself stated he hated more than anything, for Luffy!

These are the moments that alerted people to what would soon be called the Crocomom theory, now called Crocodad. But just because it began there doesn't mean there wasn't foreshadowing from before Marineford.

Let's go over all of that now:

First to talk about is once again Crocodile's crew. Miss Father's Day debuted in episode 124 of the anime and chapter 205 of the manga. She has a green amphibian theme to her, which is interesting because she is a woman with the moniker Father's Day while also having a theme of an animal that is famous for being able to change its gender. Her debut episode even has her introduced along with the reveal that Luffy's using his blood to fight Crocodile.

The next point is something Oda has never explained. Crocodile has strange relationships with children. From hiring a sixteen-year-old Miss Goldenweek, leaving her out of the Mr. 3 assassination order, and her history of actually sinking Crocodile's ships before getting hired, all the way to how Crocodile lectured Luffy in their fight. It just had the cadence of a parent. Not even Luffy's parent, just a parent. He lectures like someone who has experience with children.

Next, Luffy does not look like Dragon. That is a direct quote from Luffy in the manga. But you know who he does look like?

That's right! Luffy looks a lot like Crocodile. If you need more convincing on this, there is a great post by Dashevacotton that puts together many of the best canon pictures of Luffy dressed up like Crocodile. That post is here!

Crocodile and Luffy are incredibly similar. Not just in looks, but in personality, and in their general life.

These two have so much in common. From having a way with animals, to the amount of unadulterated loyalty they've inspired in their crews, all the way to the cadence of their speech.

Crocodile and Luffy even have a similarly goofy reaction to seeing the underground passage to the Alabasta Poneglyph.

Episode 123, episode time 13:16 Crocodile spots the entrance and laughs, "Ha, now I see secret stairs." Also in episode 123, episode time 20:47 Luffy looks around and spots the secret stairs. "That hole... it looks gator-ish."

Even what we know of Crocodile's backstory is that he had a rapid rise to fame just like Luffy by being a rookie who came in and beat down non-canon characters like Douglas Bullet to the shock of the world.

Next, let's bring up an earlier point: Oda-sensei is a mega troll.

This isn't exactly new information, Oda once deflected to bringing up a dick fight instead of answering if Zoro or Sanji was stronger. He is a Troll. He loves wordplay, and he likes to hint hint nudge nudge us all day long. Just look at Oda having Sanji call himself a prince in Alabasta as a joke, only to realize years later that he actually was a prince.

It's because of Oda's tendency to play around and make knowing jokes we've gotten some pretty compelling evidence for the Crocodad theory.

First would be the wordplay!

-Crocodile is closely linked to a Bananawani-> Monkeys like Banana -> Monkey D. Dragon is a reptilian Monkey attracted to Banana reptile. Fight me - A 'crocodile smile' is a term most often used to mean a fake or ingenuine smile. Crocodile's scar has been liked to look like a 'crocodile smile', which would mean Crocodile is the only character that always has a smile on his face. What a fun bit of wordplay to foreshadow the birth parent of Joyboy!

Then there is this SBS alongside the One Piece School spin-off manga by Sohei Koj.

What a great way to get out of revealing Luffy's parentage without actually revealing it!

And of course, we have the One Piece Mafia Theatre episode of the anime.

Oda would certainly make this canon just because of his troll tendencies. This is a hilarious theory because the story supports it yet only a fringe group believes in it. It's hilarious and therefore it's probably true.

Lastly, the symbolism makes this theory truly great.

I've already mentioned how Crocodile's scar being a 'crocodile smile' and thus giving him a permanent smile on his face would make him the most meaningful candidate for Luffy's birth parent. Joyboy, our Sun God Nika, was born from a man with a permanent fake smile; who is also named after an animal with the world's biggest smile.

It's just such a perfect setup, it makes my writer's heart swell.

Since Oda has stated a mother in One Piece would stop the adventure, it would fit that the first major villain in the Grandline to try and stop Luffy's adventure ended up being the man who gave birth to Luffy.

If we are going to speak of symbolism, I'd be remiss not to mention what a crocodile spiritually symbolizes. I really don't think I need to explain why adaptability, creation, ambiguity, and duality mean so much to this theory.

This theory could die or be confirmed any day now that we've entered a God's Valley flashback. I will love it either way but truly, honestly, I believe this. I hope I convinced a few of you to. If you are interested in the succinct list of Crocodad evidence that post is Here!

So in conclusion...

Crocodad is canon!

[daniigh0ul]

simblr story recommendations pt 1/?

hi i have been reading a ton of stories in this community for the past several months and i thought it'd be fun to recommend some of them to you all! these are sorted by genre with a small blurb for each! i also included if the story is still being updated or if it's a finished story! :) i didn't include content warnings because most, if not all, have warnings listed on their pages, ty! this post is long but i didnt want to put anything under a read more cut so !!

fantasy/supernatural

@madebysimblr the princess and me status: complete

cordy steele is in college and not taking it very seriously when raina comes into her life. while they may not get along at first, it is a pleasure and a joy to watch their friendship form and grow with them. this story made cordy my favorite from coffee's SIMnematic universe, and i hope she will become yours, too. :D

crime/mafia

@earthmoonz wifey status: ongoing do you want to read about a queer relationship forming while both deal with their grief with the backdrop of crime in london??? then read this!! it is so cinematic and well-done!!! i am rooting for max and lena til the end

royalty, baby

@nexility-sims 1992 status: ongoing

follow leonor as she navigates grief in the public eye--this is a prequel/spin-off of n's main story, which is also very good, and reading both gives you extra context and i fully believe 1992 is worth the read for the cinematic nature of it as well as the wonderful prose. if you support women's wrongs, i highly recommend you read this.

@armoricaroyalty the house of st. fleur status: ongoing

do you want to watch a family push each other's buttons while navigating royal life? do you want to support women's wrongs and become apart of the Worst Man's hate club? then this story is for you!

@bridgeportbritt simdonia status: ongoing

follow along as bria wu marries into royalty life and all of the ins-and-outs of that new life as she navigates her family life, her relationship with her new husband, and as her kids grow up and navigate their own relationships and lives. the drama is so good and it's such a blast to read!

slice of life/legacy

@lynzishell star sign legacy status: ongoing the story starts with phoenix as a teenager, and follows him into his adulthood--we follow along as he navigates love, loss, anger issues, and a little bit of trauma go a long way, but what i really love is how the relationships form over time, whether they be romantic or platonic and now i am too invested in phoenix and the people in his life!! and i hope you will be, too! @elderwisp tessellate status: ongoing this ensemble cast are navigating their twenties and their relationships, but secrets and tensions lie underneath--will anyone get what they want? girl i don't know but it's fun to watch everything unfold and it's beautifully edited so 10/10 do recommend @honeyjars-sims safe harbor status: ongoing do you want to follow along as three siblings navigate their young adult years while dealing with trauma and the complicated experience that is navigating your early adulthood? then read this !! there are drag queens, a nightmare, and love--romantic and familial and platonic--and i guarantee you will become invested in these's characters' lives. @hannahssimblr lucky girl status: complete

evie is probably the most relatable girl you'll ever read about. she's insecure, she's in love with a boy, some of her friends suck, others don't. as we follow her through her young adult years, we watch her navigate her love of a boy, her naivety and later, her wisdom, as she grows up. and will she get the boy in the end?? you'll have to read it to find out !! @sirianasims the duchelli legacy status: ongoing i think my favorite part of siri's storytelling is reading about her sims navigate their family relationships--usually in the form of a parent getting their act together for their kid(s)!! but there's also space travel, romance, friendships, and general chaos and it's such a fun read so i highly recommend it!!

[heyclickadee]

I understand that people are going to cope how they are going to cope, and trying to find meaning in the handling of Tech in season three is part of that, but it’s also okay to criticize the show.

I like a good character death. Tech’s departure was not that. My issue is not that he’s presumed dead, my issue is that it and the handling of it is nonsense. So (I once again get very negative about my favorite show under the cut):

1. When you kill off a main character, you really have to kill them off. How you do so can vary from story to story, but you really have to do four things:

One, you need a good reason to kill them off in the first place. (“Stakes” is not a good reason. A secondary character, sure, but not a main one. More on that in a minute.)

Two, you need to make it perfectly clear that the character is, in fact, dead.

Three, you need to show the other characters processing and accepting that death. This is important because doing so will allow the audience to do the same and let the character go. This is especially important if you’re writing for a young audience.

Four, you need to make it explicitly clear that the character cannot come back. This is especially true in sci fi or fantasy. Especially if you’re the Character Resurrection franchise.

And guess what the show didn’t do?

Any of that. Any of it. What it did instead was ambiguously remove Tech from the story (uniquely in a show that loves making us watch characters die on screen; last time we saw Tech for sure he was alive), never gave a good reason for doing so in or out of the show, never showed us any character working through the impact of his loss (even though there was ample opportunity for Omega, especially, to do so), and ripped the “could he come back?” box wide open by parading CX-2 in front of our faces. It is never, at any point, handled like an actual main character death. It’s handled as a plot point from which the narrative moves fairly quickly, and treated by all parties as an absence. By all the rules of storytelling, Tech isn’t dead. He’s just ambiguously gone. And that means the writing team did a terrible job if what they wanted to do was kill him off. We should not be debating this after the show has ended if he’s actually dead.

2. I understand why some fans are trying to find meaning in losing Tech. I am not, because that meaning is not offered by the text itself. And, if the plan was to never bring him back, it should have been.

We are not, for example, offered a lesson about how not everyone comes home from the war. In order for that to have been the case, we would have needed to see someone, probably Omega, working through that. We would have needed to see her refusing to accept that Tech is gone—like we do in Plan 99, by the way—and slowly coming to terms with the idea that her brother isn’t coming home. But we don’t get that, not even as subtext.

Something else we could have gotten that would have worked with all the little visual reminders of Tech, empty chairs, name-drops, and even the CX-2 leading? The batch being so haunted by losing Tech and not really knowing what happened to him for sure that they start seeing him everywhere. But for that to work we would have needed, again, to see that as an explicit subplot where someone, probably Omega, again, gets really invested in the signs that Tech is coming back and even starts assuming that CX-2 is him, only to realize that she’s seeing what she wants to see and having to accept that Tech isn’t coming back, but that she can still keep Tech’s memory alive by following in his footsteps. That’s something you can kind of project onto what we’re given in the epilogue, but you do have to project it, because it’s entirely absent from the rest of the show.

As is, Tech’s sacrifice isn’t given any weight. From a narrative perspective, it was an incredibly contrived set of circumstances that accomplished nothing except punting Tech off a train, and gave Tech no choice but to remove himself from the story—exit, stage down. Losing Tech doesn’t, even sub-textually, serve as anyone’s motivation. It does nothing to move the plot or anyone’s character development forward. The primary motivators of season three were Omega’s kidnapping, Crosshair’s PTSD, and Hemlock needing to get Omega back.

Tech’s absence does nothing to move anything forward and only really serves to slow the plot down and make the others struggle to do anything because he’s not there to carry the team like he did in the first two seasons—and nothing about that would have played out any differently if Tech spent the season in a coma in a bacta tank. The only part of Tech’s sacrifice that has meaning is that he loved his family enough to offer it. And that is profound, but that’s not something that would be negated by a return because the love and the offer remain. As for his presumed death? His return couldn’t have taken meaning away from that, because the show never gave it any meaning in the first place.

And no, Tech “dying” isn’t something I have to accept. Tech isn’t a real person, he’s an idea, and an idea that didn’t come to fruition. I can point out the ways the handling of his departure didn’t work all day if I want.

3. CX-Tech was not an overly online theory. I need people to understand this. It was an assumption made by most of the casual audience. My sister, who has no contact with the fandom and doesn’t like me discussing the show at all until she’s seen it, assumed he was Tech. My brother-in-law, who was a die-hard Tech-has-to-be-dead-shut-up guy for the entire hiatus and the first half of season three, was convinced he was Tech. Every kid I’ve spoken to who watched the show thought he was Tech and is deeply confused that he got speared like that. My brother, who doesn’t even watch the show but who does walk by when I’m watching it sometimes, thought he was Tech. You can’t get more casual and away from the fandom than that.

The thing is, the answer we get isn’t that he’s not Tech. It’s, “We’re not telling.” Which means that as it currently stands, a season-and-a-half of CX buildup amounted to a five minute boss fight and a non-answer. That’s…not something that works! That’s atrocious writing if that was the whole sum of their intent all along.

And you can say, well, that was a clever misdirect! Plot twist! Except, one, misdirects and twists only work if the real answer is more satisfying than the false one, otherwise it just falls flat. Two, if it was a misdirect, it’s not one the creative team is willing to own. No one will touch the Tech-CX-2 parallels with a twenty-foot pole, except the Kiners, who have incredibly meaningful explanations for every musical choice but then say shit like, “that chord just sounds good in brass” about Battle of the Snipers (…before going on to say that the four note lose motif from “Plan 99” is Tech’s leitmotif…which is also all over Battle of the Snipers…and is only there according because the batch is divided in that scene, a scene in which Crosshair’s leitmotif is entirely absent even though he’s just supposed to be fighting his own dark side represented by a guy who’s totally not Tech. Sure. I’m going to go eat drywall.) Because acknowledging that and saying that was supposed to be Tech will just make the audience angrier, and they may not even be allowed to do so, and saying that it is Tech—you can understand why they can’t do that, right? The implications are horrific. But that horrific implication is probably what at least some of the casual audience who will never interact with the fandom or a single interview is going to walk away with.

4. The thing that bothers me most about all of this is the combined toxicity of the fandom and the leading from the marketing and social media. Part of the fandom saying that there were never any signs Tech could have survived (in Star Wars, no less) is starting to feel like gaslighting; and while I don’t think there was any malice in the leading in the marketing and social media—I’m even willing to give a tiny bit of leeway for the creative team maybe knowing something we don’t yet—it was handled badly, expectations for this season should have been set early and clearly, and as of right now it all feels like an incredibly cruel prank at autistic fans expense, whatever the intent may have been or may still be.

5. And finally, here’s the thing: I’m willing to give the writers a bit of leeway on this. I’m willing to grant that some choices may have been out of their hands for unknown reasons. I’m even willing to say that maybe they’re not really done with this story yet, that The Bad Batch could just be the first chapter of a longer show that was split up for stupid business reasons, and that the finale is the way it is because they had to have an ending of sorts without actually resolving anything. I’m willing to grant a lot of grace there. In fact, I actually think there’s a very good chance we’ll still get Tech back alive in canon, and sooner than later, if only because no one (not even the voice actors) seems happy about this, most fans are coping but disappointed at best, the creative team got asked about Tech non-stop for a solid year and a half, and the writers don’t seem at all committed. We know from the rest of the show that they know how to definitively kill a guy, and, frankly, Tech in the first two seasons comes across as something of a writer favorite. They like using him!

But whatever I’m hoping or suspecting, and whatever leeway I’m willing to grant the creative team here, the final product is all we have right now. And I am going to criticize that final product for badly handling a (presumed) character death and straight up breaking the central conceit of the show in doing so.

[cfr749]

So in the interest of engaging in a respectful way, I wanted to put my thoughts into words about why this situation with the picture is far bigger than the picture for me personally. I also don't think the picture is that serious. I do think the pattern I talk about below is problematic.

If you love everything about the show and how Tim and Lucy got together, I think that’s wonderful. 

But before getting annoyed that people are voicing their opinions and concerns, I hope that people at least try and consider these are layered issues. 

Lucy is a woman of color in the LAPD who ended up in a relationship with her former boss, despite knowing it could come at a price for her professionally. 

For me, it is important to see a story where Tim and Lucy choose each other, respect each other, and support each other. Equally. 

And, for me, that is not at all the story we got in seasons 4 and 5 (and the end of season 3). These are my issues, and why I think it’s important the show be more balanced in its storytelling going forward: 

What we got for Lucy: Multiple instances of Lucy being petty, jealous, immature and unprofessional at work (and mind you this is a character that is hyperaware of how hard it is to be a woman in the LAPD, and specifically the optics of romantic relationships between officers, and I think it's shitty that the writers chose to portray her like this not once, but multiple times)

The Katie Barnes storyline

Webb and the cat personality test + vocally reacting in roll call in front of her fellow officers when Tim chose Smitty over her to be his aide

Being clearly invested and heavily focused on bets and competition with Tim

What we got for Tim:

a retcon of his bad behavior in S1 being because he needed to show Lucy the world could be a scary place. Because, as a woman who was literally threatened with sexual assault and a car jacking in the pilot, she was too naive and inexperienced and "empathetic" to know that.

Tim putting Lucy in her place and reminding her about the seriousness of their work by calling off the bet

***

What we got for Lucy:

Obvious jealousy over Ashley (you're in a relationship? you're dating a lifeguard? break up with her! the reaction to the proposal, etc.)

What we got for Tim:

Setting Lucy up with another man without a second of hesitation.

Encouraging her to end things with Chris (a WHOLE other issue I won't get into), after Ashley had dumped him

***

What we got for Lucy:

Being seemingly more invested in and concerned about Tim's relationship than her own (Tim's planning a vacation with Ashley, while Lucy doesn't want to meet Chris' parents and is very concerned about whether Tim is going to propose)

Dumping Chris, not of her own accord, but because Tim was able to “open her eyes”

Specifically dumping that guy FOR Tim, in a way that made her look like an asshole 

What we got for Tim:

being in a relationship with a woman he was absolutely into, despite their clear incompatibility (we heard from Eric himself that Tim was genuinely interested in Ashley, happy and invested in his relationship with her; we heard Tim say he could see himself marrying her)

Choosing not to break up with Ashley despite all of the indications they weren’t right for each other and being willing to cheat on her

Not being willing to retire for her, but still not ending the relationship

Being made into the victim when Ashley dumped him in a way that made her look like an asshole

Only pursuing a relationship with Lucy after he'd been dumped, while she was still in a relationship

If you don’t feel the story was lopsided and unfair to Lucy, or have a completely different perspective (I'd genuinely love to hear it!!), just don’t care, or find it that serious, that’s great for you, but it’s completely valid that people feel this way.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to see a woman in a relationship be valued and treated well. That has nothing to do with insecurity or jealousy. That has to do with respect and representation. We all come from different perspectives and have different backgrounds that reflect in our perception of how women of color are portrayed on TV.

[growingnerves]

There’s no ambiguity to what Zabel said in those quotes. He called our ship a cheap gimmick. He said Caryl as a romantic pair would be too obvious and “easy.” As a Caryl shipper since 2011, NO IT HAS NOT BEEN FUCKING EASY. IT HAS BEEN HARD EARNED. How did this fool ever get hired to work on pre-established/existing character stories when he has no interest in them and has only ever wanted to tell *his* original story. His agenda goes against everything that has been built up over the years (Carylers are the built in audience!). He’s taking everything that makes Caryl exciting to watch (and profitable) away. He’s severing the fans. WTF AMC? Is this what the future of TWDU is going to look like?? No interest in investing in proper storytelling or keeping anybody around who might actually want to watch this amazing duo?? I refuse to watch Zabel’s version of these characters. Melissa deserves better. The fans deserve better.

Presenting Carol and Daryl as only friends/best buds is never going to be as compelling as romantic canon. Their bond is significant and distinct. They’ve been established as soulmates with an uncanny connection. Their relationship is built on deeply identifying, understanding and knowing each other- in a way that’s intimate and goes beyond what anyone else on the planet can see in them. TWD has always been an ensemble of chosen family and strong friendship bonds, but Caryl has long stood out as having an intrinsic love & attraction that is something much more than friend or family. Stop retconning their history!

Replace Zabel already. Time’s a ticking AMC! Start listening to the voices of your audience instead of the ones bts who are self serving. What’s the point in producing a show that only Nicotero wants to watch?

[punsbulletsandpointythings]

So I've been watching My Hero Academia and like

GOD ALL THE TODOROKI FAMILY BAGGAGE HURTS SO GOOD.

Like damn. What a complicated situation. I love that all the kids are handling things differently. I've already figured out the (obvious) Touya twist and BOY do I hope we get a reverse Darth Vader moment with that.

But also like. Fuck Endeavor with a rusty spork. He's a terrible terrible person. But gosh what a good character. That contrast between being a Great Hero and a Terrible, Abusive Father is a deeply compelling story, is definitely a part of how the show interrogates the idea of heros and the complexities around a society and culture of heros and villains.

We already see that complexity with All Might, and how by becoming a Symbol of Peace he's made it so he can't do anything but destroy his own body and still try to put on the smiling face for the public, and when he forcibly can't do that that anymore, for a few moments, the public turns on him, until he shows he's /still/given all of himself for the "Greater Good". Which is heartbreaking, and fascinating, I hope between him and Deku we get to examine that dynamic a bit more.

But that's like.....the needs of an individual being put aside for the expectations of society and how by being There for Everyone All The Time, All Might unintentionally became part of a system that can't really survive without him, so he can never leave, until he's forced to, and the plot becomes how society deals with that sudden lose of security.

With Endeavor, it's like. How do you come to terms with the duality of this person. He's saved so many lives, and in doing so, in his status rising because of his heroics, he turns around and commits atrocities. But it's not so much society forcing him into a corner like I think All Might is. Yeah societal expectations of heros probably played some part, but I think the larger part is the narrative pointing out how Endeavor's own drive, while I think coming from an initially good place, is corrupted by his own way of viewing the world.

We know he cares for people, he clearly can manage that on wider, impersonal scale. But he can't, or doesn't, apply that to his own family, because his own drive and desire to Be Better Than All Might outweighs everything else when he's not out in hero mode, thus: a Good Hero and at the same time, an Abusive Asshole Father.

And I like that, at least so far, the characters and the narrative won't let him forget that! Even as he tries to "fix things", I like how, as far as his family is concerned, he can't! He can try, but Natsuo and Shota, and even Fuyami, have no reason to trust him, and even less to forgive him, and I like that they say that! Like, good! I'm glad he's trying to be better, but fuck him!

AND I like that we see Shota seeing that juxtaposition of Good Hero v Terrible Father. I love that scene where he straight up says, "Don't pretend to be a good parent in front of my friends. I'm here for Endeavor, not Enji ((that's his name right?)) Todoroki, and I'm only here because it will benefit me and my training."

I don't entirely know where I'm going with this but it's all just! Such a good story! And there are so many other bits I could ramble on about (Fucking!!!! Bakugo???? Listen, as someone who was bullied for uhhhhh most of my pre-uni school life, if this were real I'd have OPINION. But it's NOT it's FICTION and GOD Bakugo and Izuku and their fucked up co-dependant situationship delights me, what delicious storytelling!!!) but I'm currently watching the Todoroki Backstories episodes of season 5 and ANNOYED (Read: delighted, again this narrative is WORKING SO WELL) that I'm so invested in Endeavor and his painfully slow realization of just how badly he fucked up!

Anyway, I'm gonna need so Todoroki Family Time Travel Fix-It aus please, because I want Rei and All Her Children to not get Backstory Trauma, so if anyone has recs (or like. MHA recs in general) HMU!

[ominousvibez]

thoughts on bnha ending

i had no idea that the manga was over until it popped up on my fyp on tiktok and i got spoiled for it and i have a few thoughts

losing one for all

i don't particularly care about izuku losing OFA? i mean, don't get me wrong, it's a cool quirk, but i've always wanted to see what izuku could have done without a quirk!

i think having the powerless character be the MC in a shounen manga would have been a really cool thing to explore! like, he's not anything unique. he's completely ordinary (beside the green hair). how would he adapt, how would he rise to the challenges around him? what sort of tech would he need to invest in, build for himself, so he can keep up with his peers?

i think that would've been cooler than OFA. kinda cool to see that bakugou ended up helping to design a suit for izuku to be a hero without a quirk. i'm kinda surprised that it isn't something izuku immediately jumped into after he lost OFA, but we all need a break from our passions, i guess

2. losing contact with 1-A

as upsetting as it is that izuku ended up losing contact with class 1-a after graduation, it's understandable. all his friends are pro-heroes now, but he's back in the shadows because of his Quirkless status. they're busy with their own lives, and he's busy with his.

it's sad, but it's just a fact of life. i haven't kept up contact with any of my high school friends since i graduated. i'm sure i'll end up seeing them again, of course-- if my school ever does class reunions, maybe we'll meet again there!-- and friendships for me don't immediately dissolve when we stop talking. i still see my hs friends as my friends!

3. teacher izuku

VERY ICONIC I LOVE IT IZUKU BEING A TEACHER AT UA WHILE NOT QUITE HIS DREAM STILL GETS HIM CLOSE TO THE HERO SOCIETY HE LOVED AND ADMIRED SO MUCH AS A KID AND HE GETS TO BE AIZAWA'S CO-WORKER. hilarious.

it's even funnier that he doesn't look a day over 16/17 in the final chapter. like aizawa looks like this gruff old man and here's the baby-faced savior of the world who looks like he should be one of his students. hilarious.

overall, i do think that BNHA missed some cool points in storytelling that would have been interesting/fun to explore in a shounen manga, but it's not that Bad of an ending as compared to........ other....... things

also btw i stopped watching/reading after the arc with Eri so i have no idea what happens in-between that and the ending

[crooked-wasteland]

How I Came to Love the Bomb: Mammon's Musical Special and the Spectacle of Mediocrity

A little more than halfway through the second season, Helluva Boss has finally found its place where it performs best: embracing its own mediocrity with an emphasis on shallow storytelling and a narrative death spiral that only serves to strip the world and characters of depth every time they are engaged with. It’s almost disappointing to see how highly rated this episode is by fellow critics solely because of the superficial aspects that add nothing to the plot, nor do these scenes affect change in the characters. It is far from the worst episode, but it has every major narrative flaw from every previous episode inside of it, that seems to get a pass because it's a “Special” and not necessarily expected to progress the main series in any way. My counterpoint is that an episode that is self-contained should then be able to narratively progress a character, if not the plot, which Medrano and her team continues to fail to accomplish.

To make my points concise, I will alternatively deconstruct the episode as is while including a general rewrite of how Medrano could have accomplished the same story with any shred of competence.

The narrative needs to skip around a bit, so, starting from the present, FizzaRolli is in a frenzied state of distress while looking for his foundation to hide his imperfections. It is far from a subtle metaphor of Fizz requiring the image of perfection while being “broken” underneath. It isn’t in any way revolutionary from the setup to the execution, though that isn’t to insinuate it is bad because it is unoriginal. Arguably, nothing is. But this scene establishes the major conflict throughout the episode, that being FizzaRolli's self-esteem. The issue is, this scene is a contradiction from the actual cold opening.

FizzaRolli and Blitz going to the Mammon show sets up the entire backstory premise of FizzaRolli’s climb to fame, but presents a confusing representation of what Fizz’s self-esteem issues are. There are generally a ton of problems with this opening on a systemic scale. Why is the circus so run down if FizzaRolli’s shows are so popular that he has a fanclub as a teenager? Why is it the audience is supposed to be invested in FizzaRolli’s self-esteem about being good enough when every external indicator in the episode shows Fizz as already being at the top of his game. The star of the circus, his own obsessive fanclub, winning Mammon’s clown pageant and being the “Host with the Most” for Ozzie’s shows a character who has maintained a very consistent rise to fame. Shoehorning in a singular and random nobody claiming Fizz is overrated after fawning all over him doesn’t warrant the tearful meltdown he has associated with his abilities, nor would it warrant the shaky sense of esteem he apparently keeps with him the entire rest of his life. Even in Oops, it's Blit’s insinuation of FizzaRolli being a sugar baby pet of Ozzie’s that upsets him, not any jab at Fizz’s abilities.

The alternative version that would have made all of this make sense would have been not questioning FizzaRolli’s ability to do, but the crushing weight of expectation to continue to succeed. The fear of having “peaked”. It’s why he can both be at the top and severely anxious. The knowledge that once you’re at the top, there is an awfully long way to fall would have made far more sense than Fizz questioning his actual ability to get to where he is. The reason Fizz can’t be obtuse to his popularity and fame is because of every other episode we have actively seen him revel in it. Just the episode prior he is so confident in his status that he shows off ostentatiously with a limo decked out in phallic shaped sparklers and even says that it's nice not to be a recognized celebrity after that display. It’s clear that being “good enough” is not a long-standing fear for Fizz’s character, but that it should have been the pressure to keep being “good enough”. This misinterpretation of what their own character’s weaknesses are, and said weakness being the plot, is the root of the obnoxious weed that has strangled the show from the beginning.

Once again, I also can’t help but point out the lack of information on Tilla is still a huge problem with this storyline. For a character whose existence is the inciting incident for the entire series:

1) Blitzo meets Stolas to “help” his mom, being the inciting incident for the entire series to this point.

2) Tilla’s implied death in the fire is why Blitzo lost his family as a whole

3) Tilla’s implied illness is why it makes implied sense that money was never used to make the circus better/safer so the fire never happened despite FizzaRolli being so popular that he has a rabid fanbase so he must be making the circus substantial money, which Cash even claims when he is a child.

As I said, this episode is merely the accumulation of every other episode’s main problems put front and center. It’s almost an exercise in self denial to limit the number of tangents that my arguments could go down.

Regardless, the insecurity in the flashback sequence of FizzaRolli and Blitz is fundamentally not the same insecurity as seen in the rest of the episode. Not only does it not make sense for the character, it makes no sense for the storyline up to this point.

Then there is the confusion that supersedes the plot: the timeline. It is nothing new for Medrano to lack a clear definition of her own narrative; linking The Circus with Loo Loo Land was one of the most egregious misunderstandings of her own story that generally derailed the escalation of the relationship between Stolas and Blitz and required the assassination plot to be unwritten. So this episode puts us back in that exact same position by having it be that somewhere between this episode’s flashback and the accident from Oops, FizzaRolli went through puberty, won the pageant, got prosthetics, went through rehab and instantaneously exploded in fame. It is a miserably scrambled mess of events that just necessitates the practice the writers obviously utilized to get to this point: Don’t think about it.

Fizz had to have won the Clown Pageant before he got his prosthetics because he has his prosthetics. It's clear they were designed and built by Asmodeus so he would have needed connections with a Sin before that. Fizz linking his romantic relationship to Ozzie with his business relationship with Mammon specifies how that connection was made. As such he needed to win the pageant BEFORE the accident, so regardless of Fizz entering the first ever pageant or a subsequent one, it doesn’t change the complications of the timeline.

Back to the story issues at hand, Asmodeus is very clear that he would prefer if FizzaRolli would not attend the Clown Pageant that year. The fact that he has Fizz’s foundation in hand to give insinuates that Ozzie was actively hiding the makeup from his partner to keep him from going in the first place. Regardless of how much one would prefer to read character into these actions, it makes it very clear that Ozzie is not impressed by Fizz’s participation and he tries everything imaginable to talk the jester out of it, just short of forcibly locking him in their home. FizzaRolli makes the claim in this scene that being in the pageant is for himself and not Ozzie’s opinion of him, only for that to not be the case come the emotional turn of the narrative. When the reason Fizz breaks away from Mammon isn’t because he has any confidence in himself, but because Ozzie would love him anyway contradicts the entire setup. It additionally weakens Fizz’s resolve and the meaning behind his rejection of Mammon by making it not at all about him and all about the relationship. It isn’t FizzaRolli overcoming a codependency, but merely reassigning the target of it from Mammon to Asmodeus. Which, in terms of the beginning, is his brokenness. He never fixes that metaphors, just that it is okay now which is never the case with codependency.

Then there is the pointless addition of Blitz’s to the story. Unlike the Theft subplot in The Circus where it felt like some kind of repercussion should have come from the event due to its inciting nature, Blitz’s presence in this episode is purely unnecessary. Which falls back into how Medrano and Spindlehorse fail to optimize time and animation (and thus funds) in the show.

There was absolutely a way to have this episode work with only the most minor of changes that would have overwhelmingly shifted the plot and made all these elements cohesive. This is why I state this is one of the worst episodes, but that this is probably the best Helluva Boss will ever be able to achieve moving forward. It isn’t a means of insulting Medrano and the team by calling this episode incompetent, it is merely stating a fact. The issue with this episode is that it is incompetent and this is why:

As previously stated, the episode needed to keep a clear focus on the nature of Fizzarolli’s self esteem issues. They put their money on the wrong horse in practice, but just a slight contextual shift would have rectified those problems. Still have the episode play out generally the same

I personally do not like how one dimensional the antagonists are in this episode. The clown competitors deserve to have some dignity and be defined as something other than “bitch”. I am pained every time a female character in this show gets boiled down to that one word. There is a major difference between a character being “bitchy” and a character just being a “bitch”. It's demeaning to women, makes them one dimensional, devalues feminine competitiveness and ambition to being a personality flaw. It is agonizing to witness it happening over and over again.

Have Fizzarolli become progressively overwhelmed by his need to be the best and seeing younger and fresh new talent threatening his status. Not necessarily because Mammon or Ozzie would replace him, but because of his fear of losing value in himself due to equating it with his professional popularity. Have Blitz be a voice of concern about FizzaRolli’s declining mental health. Play into that relationship they started building in Oops by having Blitz say something along the lines of “This isn’t you.” Go back to the line in Oops about how he demands to know if the sex thing is all Fizz is about anymore and show that, actually, no, it isn’t.

Stepping back a bit, it feels highly inappropriate to include a child in this episode when placed in context with the show. Especially a disabled child where this merely feels like a manipulation ploy by the creators that shocks the moment out of being a true emotional connection.

For one, the pageant and Fizzarolli’s performance prior to this scene has been rather sexual, additionally the sexualization of the entire performance starts with the designs for the girls in the competition and merely becomes more overt from there. It is obvious this isn’t a show for a child as young as the one depicted, maybe a teenager, but not a child. The argument can be made that it is Hell and whatever, the show’s sense of values oscillate based on what reaction the creators are seeking to elicit from the audience. The choice of having the character be deaf is simply the cherry on top of what the purpose of this character was: Brownie points. This entire sequence is solely to garner praise for representation and animation instead of playing any narrative role or being impactful to the characters. It isn't even a deep representation, but one that disappears once they feel they did enough to earn that adulation, utilizing a real disability real people live with as a means of creating attention and praise for themselves.

Instead, this scene should have focused on the poor kid who was thrown out. It could have been a group of kids who shouldn’t be there in the first place due to their age and lack of money, allowing the deaf child to remain in the story and have a more meaningful impact. Start the scene with FizzaRolli being obviously uncomfortable with his older fans and how this life he has been working to achieve and maintain actually isn’t what he wants. Having this scene after a moment where Blitzo tells Fizz, “You haven’t changed that much. I know you, and this isn’t you.” could really show how stressful Fizz’s job is because he doesn’t belong there.

Use the kids being tossed out or shooed away as the inciting factor for why Fizz gains his confidence.

The biggest problem with the deaf child scene is that the interaction lacks any depth. FizzaRolli doesn’t break through his own insecurities by engaging with the child, instead it is cut short and the scene is immediately forgotten with the comedic villain from the beginning interrupting the moment and the kid proceeds to vanish, no longer useful to the creators.

This should have been the moment when FizzaRolli had his emotional turn.

Remove the Ozzie scene in the back room entirely and have Fizz engage with the kids. Ask them their names and what their interests are. Treat them like people and not just props. Having Fizz be poor growing up himself, have them connect on that. Growing up in an adult world with nothing and being unwanted unless they are useful for some greedy or selfish adult. Have Fizz rekindle his genuine love for performing through the kids and wanting to give them the best performance, because he sees how he inspires them. Added with the (admittedly inconsistent) world building that Imps are socially regarded very lowly, it brings power to Fizz’s position and resolve to be the performer who would have inspired himself when he was a kid.

Following that scene, have Fizzarolli cut the Meet and Greet short and run back to his dressing room where Blitz is and have Fizz ask Blitz to perform with him like when they were younger, incorporating Blitz’s presence in the story more fully and allowing their relationship to progress from the previous episode. This allows Fizz’s song to feel empowering because it is coming from him and inside himself, not because his buff boyfriend is just behind the curtain to protect him. It would legitimately be Fizz risking something in the process of rediscovering himself and reclaiming his identity as well as reconcile Fizz’s past with his present to merge a new future.

This isn't even touching on the super public reveal of the one secret Ozzie and Fizz are supposed to be living under that has been proven not to matter seeing as how many demon nobility are dating the "lowest" of commoners in this universe. Additionally, people have already known about the Ozzie and Fizz relationship based on the newspaper, so, again, having the resolution being "true love" and the reason everything is okay at the end being about a romantic relationship just further reaffirms the implied belief that the creators think codependency is romance and relationships can replace a personality.

The point being that these changes don’t fundamentally alter anything from the episode while creating a stronger character for FizzaRolli and progressing the larger story. It would have also been a moment for Blitz to grow as well and set up the starting point of a turn for his character too. It could have rehabilitated the worst parts of Seeing Stars and additionally worked on Blitz’s self esteem issues vicariously, showing how bettering yourself can also improve those around you. It also wouldn't have taken much to make these changes in the writing and editing process because these problems are so glaringly obvious and simply required a couple more eyes on the script to make it something good.

So the only reason it failed to identify any of these weaknesses can only be chalked up to pure incompetence. And excuse me if I guild the lily for a moment, but if these slight changes were missed for how they would have benefitted the characters and elevated the story, then there is no reason to believe or hope the writing will ever get better.

Helluva Boss has peaked.

[unexpectedly-haunted]

fic rec list!

assorted hermitcraft + life series fic recommendations!

attempt thirty-three by bee_4: Joe Hills centric time loop fic. Also features Cleo, Scar, and Cub, and I love everyone's characterisation! Haunting and open ended, but still points of hope. Words: 13,617 Chapters: 1/1

To Sit in Hell with You by enemyofrome: Last Life treebark fic from Ren's POV. Focus on these two in the Shadow Alliance because man, those guys were really something else. Obsessed with the characterisation, have reread a reasonable amount. Words: 2,664 Chapters: 1/1

monsters nearby series by enemyofrome: Treebark series where the games are over but the Watchers aren't leaving Martyn alone- really fun exploration of supernatural impersonations and how that might impact your relationship with the real person. I'm not normal about these ones. Second work has a hopeful ending. Words: 13,856 Works: 2

Lifeline AU by SlashMagpie: Scifi/Fantasy AU about body-snatching aliens, also including the emptiness of space, magical worldbuilding, unreality and time travel. Main POV characters are Tango, Impulse + Pearl, but also includes much of the Hermitcraft ensemble + Skizz. Read the entire AU in one night and haven't been the same since, cannot recommend highly enough. Words: 299,349 Works: 6

Blood & Snow by SlashMagpie: Tango gets eaten by the dungeon, or close enough. Unsettling, visceral, and features possession! Has Scar, Bdubs, Cub, Etho, and Hypno POV. Words: 12,425 Chapters: 7/7

the sanctity of the mundane by crabbunch: Double Life SMP series with a fic exploring the relationships between each soul bounded pair. Found each work really fun and compelling, great variety in tone. Shoutout especially to this Cleo + Martyn! Words: 24,712 Works: 7

sculk blossom by crabbunch: Cub centric fic that works as both a character study and a look at his sculk corruption on Empires. Delighted by the horror and characterisation here! Words: 4,065 Chapters: 5/5

Deus Ex Machine by crabbunch: Bdubs POV, an existential/magical horror piece about the power of belief, storytelling, and godhood. Also some great Clethubs! Words: 13,449 Chapters: 8/16

Tangotek Evil Incorporated: Supervillain Tango and superhero Jimmy as arch nemeses. Comedy with a happy ending, and SO much fun to read. Words: 22,445 Chapters: 2/2

there are many downsides to being a marine biologist by donnerstag: Doc's marine biology gets complicated when the latest specimen turns out more human than expected: the siren he names Martyn. Really engaging and well-characterised fic, impossible to read and not end up invested in docmartyn. Trust me. Words: 74,006 Chapters: 27/27

a falling axe, a sharpened knife by sesquidpedalian: Double Life Cleo + Martyn relationship study, where soulmates also have a telepathic bond. Just really enjoyed this one! Words: 2,081 Chapters: 1/1

ectype by sesquidpedalian: Third Life AU where Martyn is there when Grian visits for enchantments. Really neat character study of two guys who aren't anything alike at all, definitely not. Words: 1,603 Chapters: 1/1

never our blood on this sand again by cosmicretribution: Scarian and treebark timeloop AU. Includes angst, the Timeloop Horrors, developing relationships, and great prose + characterisation! Words: 8,905 Works: 2

A Romance Route for the Doomed Villain?! by skelew: Treebark isekai AU where Martyn gets hit by a 2007 nissan micra and transported to a dating sim featuring the villainous Red King. Crack treated seriously, and a great parody fic that also happens to be genuinely compelling. Words: 5,012 Chapters: 1/1

feel free to add on recs in reblogs/comments! :D

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Autistic Anime Boys Prelims - Propaganda Division - Group 8

Propaganda:

Itsuki -

"Does things in ways the protagonist sees as strange and talks in a very formal and roundabout way. He also talks with his hands a lot. He has admitted to faking his personality to be more to Haruhi Suzumiya's liking in both the main timeline and the timeline where he's an ordinary human."

Akira -

"Akira cares deeply for animals maybe even more than other people, he’s completely oblivious to the fact both his best friends are in love with him and when he fuses with a demon to become a demon hunter he calls himself Devilman because he’s a demon and a man at the same time."

Yukiteru -

"Yuki is incredibly socially awkward but also has a knack for befriending odd people, he writes everything he sees in his diary and is super dedicated to keeping the format exactly the same every time oh and did I mention his ‘imaginary friend’ is a science themed god?"

Haru -

"He's really into the patterns of storytelling, and his goal in life is to be a "protagonist". Once he becomes an Appli Driver, he places a lot of his self-worth in being a protagonist and the role he fulfills (which, in my opinion, is a type of script-following) and he winds up in a bad place when he realizes him being a protagonist was built on a lie. He spends all of his free time reading & sometimes gets so invested in reading that he skips out on social activities (and lets his 2ft monster (Gatchmon) go trick-or-treating in broad daylight all on their own). He always has the same pair of goggles on his head but wears them maybe once. His buddy Appmon (digimon partners are often reflections of their human partners) is basically the personification of a search engine and will go on tangents about whatever they've looked up."

Mio -

"Has special interests in ancient medicines and photography. Abstract thoughts and oblivious to social norms. Resists change (example: reacted negatively to the schools curry being unavailable since that is his possible safe food). Other characters notes him as being strange. Poor reasoning (example: Thinks it more efficient to just take supplements instead of eating). Ignores other in pursuit of his interests."

Akira Agarkar -

"A 25 year old man who works for a government agency named D.U.C.K., where flamboyant/eccentric people investigate aliens, and goes undercover as a highschooler to gain information about Haru; doing a poor job of trying to blend in. He is a quirky silly man and his best friend is a duck named Tapioca who he talks to. He also has a special interest in fishing and gets so excited by it that he sometimes yells "FIIIIIIISHH" in English when he reels them in. Bad puns upset him so much that he is physically incapacitated and lies on the floor. What else can I say, I love him."

Kaiji -

"Can't tell when he's being tricked by other characters, and sees human connection as pointless because of how isolated he feels. Says that other see him as weird and that 'being difficult' is easier for him than acting like someone he isn't."

Shou -

"His special interest is math. He uses math terms in regular conversations and calls people yoctograms/zeptograms which earned him monikers such as "math man" and "pi-face". Speaking of Pi, he once shouted 155 consecutive digits of it through a megaphone just because he could. He's so normal."

Saguru -

"high school detective who shows up to crime scenes in full sherlock holmes cosplay because this is totally a normal thing one does, right?"

Souji -

"this lonely genius used to be a computer-like man, now he's a (tragic) villain. the bisexual who swings both ways and misses both times, he's associated with insects/butterflies, flowers/black roses, anachronism, beautiful memories, elevators, and coffins- but who in SKU isn't, really? oh, and fire. he's also voiced by Midorikawa Hikaru at his raspy best."

[mage-ical-character-person]

hm.

ever since I learned of Mr Puzzles and unlocked forbidden childhood memories of watching the old stuff from the whole SMG4 thing. (Like I recall a thing where the main Mario recolor was reading a book and then there was the immma firing my laser thing. In space I think?) Thinking… mostly making connections to other medias like Ratboy Genius and going “well I liked a similar thing there so I SHOULD like this as well”

Basically I am intrigued! But when I watch it it feels like. I would rather be watching um.

Other web series(es? Do you count the whole Ratboy channel as one series? Cause all this stuff was fairly separate series-es before Starship Genius brought it all together) that also has a guy who is a purple recolor of the main character who shares a name with the channel. And it has musical numbers. And also sort of does that thing where you can laugh at it or you can get invested and then the weird stuff you were laughing at becomes atmospheric.

God I love Ratboy Genius. I don’t post about it much because I have trouble being even vaguely coherent about it most of the time and it suits a very specific undefined mood that I’m not often it. But. All I can think about when I watch this other thing is how much I LOVE Ratboy Genius.

scratches the same surreal storytelling itch without the… ytp nature.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that it’s just kind of… hard to balance tone when mixing that with stuff I’m supposed to take seriously, I guess?? It’s hard to for me personally to get as invested as I feel like I should be in Mario shoots the autism creature with a gun being followed up by Splatoon OC psychological horror in that same episode. Like I can’t place it but the way it plays with tonal whiplash isn’t as smooth as something like Centaurworld or even just… Kirby?

don’t get me wrong, I still like it. It’s just not quite…. grabbing me? Something is holding it back from entering fixation territory for me and I feel weird about it.

And I’m not vibing with the “YTP but with OCs” thing as much as I did with say, Khonjin House. And like Gay Spaghetti Chef was my favorite part of Khonjin house I feel like I should love this. Maybe it’ll grow on me?

Also like?? These guys are affiliated with digital circus? The digital circus guys? Somehow? I think? Which also is a thing that’s making me think there’s gotta be like. Something other than just the TV man that should be grabbing me here. But I am literally just here for the freak that’s desperate for attention and yanks people into worlds of his own creation against their will to get it and Oh. THAAAT’s why I like Puzzles TV Man he’s like best friend

best friend. vvvvvvvv

best friend ^^^^^^^^^

Creature similar to best friend vvvvvvv

[eisforeidolon]

Hellers are twisting Jensen's words around because they don't like what he said,

"He doesn't think Cas's confession is something that needs to be solved. Cas said what he needed to say. It was a long time coming, it was heartfelt and beautiful. But there's nothing to solve. Dean took it in and then lost one of his closest allie and friend. The acceptance of that happened when Dean sat on the floor. He lost one of his brothers in arms and one of his closest people. When they come back, it just understood."

First, a sampling of posts with screenshots and links of some of the creative reinterpretations they're already self-soothing with, for context: [X][X][X]

It's bad enough now, because we already knew they were obsessed with cherry-picking things completely out of context and twisting themselves in knots to insist D/C, a totally real most epic romance ever was obviously happening off-screen the whole time. Because that's totally how storytelling works!🙄 So why wouldn't they insist Jensen saying Castiel's dying blather doesn't need a resolution means Dean already turned into the YA romance protagonist from their fanfic realized he was totes in lurve with the angel and reciprocated offscreen! See, no resolution needed! The thing is, though, I believe Purcon is one that has a stricter video policy so I expect this to end up even more broken-telephoned in a couple of months when there's no video to dispute whatever they're making up by that point, which I expect to be pretty wild.

What Jensen reportedly said fits exactly into what Castiel actually said in Misha & Beren's tapdancing on the line of legit queerbaiting the audience Castiel's goodbye speech. The whole climactic reason the Empty could come take the angel away was because he realized that just ~*feeling feelings*~, without having anything come of it, was enough. Regardless of whether you interpret those feelings as romantic love or the kind of all-encompassing self-sacrificing love the Winchesters have, feeling that way about somebody is happiness in itself (even if they don't feel that way about you). So yeah, whatever kind of love you read that to mean? There's nothing to inherently resolve there. Castiel put his feelings out in the universe, and Dean listened and moved on with his life. The thing that was "a long time coming" was Castiel's resolving his struggles as an angel living among humans trying to understand emotions and friendship. It's "clear text" that Castiel said I love you (whatever kind of love you interpret that to be).

Hellers are the only ones who desperately need there to have to be a resolution to that scene, because the only interpretation in which a followup would be necessary? Would be if Castiel's speech was romantic AND Dean also had romantic feelings. They can pretend they suddenly don't understand what a resolution is or that one magically (like the entire rest of their supposedly canon ship) happened off-screen so it'll be already happening in the revival as much as they want. It doesn't change what the scene actually was or what Jensen actually said, any more than the rest of their waffle ever has. They're just happily lying to themselves and each other all over again, setting themselves back up for more eternal disappointment. It's like a Peanuts comic strip, except they are both Charlie and Lucy with the show and creators as the football.

They want to crow about Jensen not explicitly saying the scene wasn't about romantic love somehow being him changing his mind (again), but that's absurd. He knows some people interpret Castiel's feelings as romantic and are very invested in the angel being a queer character. Putting aside whether what's in the text deserves that, going out of his way to tell them they're wrong about someone else's character? Would be a really bad look given the sensitivity of the topic. And he doesn't need to do it anyway, because whatever Castiel's ~*feelings*~ are, it says nothing about what Dean does or doesn't feel. Which he directly says is that Dean lost "one of his closest allies" "one of his best friends" "a brother in arms" "one of the closest people to him". It's pretty clear - if you don't tie yourself in knots pretending he's sending you secret signals about what he REALLY means if you only listen to half the words he said.

[physalian]

What No One Tells You About Writing 8— “Anyone can write a book”

Yes. But actually no. I say “writing is easy” in that it doesn’t take a degree and textbook learning to understand. You can get an English or lit degree if you want, but writing is incredibly subjective. It’s not even like an art degree that has you study different mediums and historical styles. “Writing is easy” in that it’s about feeling, and instinct, and a little bit of common sense. Anyone can do it in that it doesn’t take financial investment to start. Steal a tchotchke pen and paper from a hotel room—you’ve got all the tools you need. I have a communications degree and 9 years of experience, and I'm about to publish my first supernatural fantasy novel.

Writing is not easy, however, if any of the following applies to you:

You want to make enough money to do this full time

You want to appeal to mass audiences

You want to be a NYT bestseller**** or get an adaptation

You want to be regarded as the best of your generation and fill bookstore shelves

1. It takes a healthy dose of self-awareness and a reality check

 I beta’d for an author who thought that he was comparable to GRRM, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire, because both have adult themes in their book and if GRRM can do it, why can’t he? The sheer vastness of the divide between ASOIAF and this awful, awful manuscript wasn’t worth putting into words for the amount I was being paid, though I tried.

Yes, you can write whatever you want. Yes, you can write to please yourself and stroke your ego. You can write the hammiest wish-fulfillment author insert that you desire. But you can’t expect anyone else to want to read or pay money for it. It’s great to have confidence as an author and envision your success, but starting right off the bat with “everyone will love this book because I’m really smart and I love this book” is only going to leave you bitter and penniless.

2. You might be an expert in your given field, doesn’t automatically make you an expert at storycrafting

I really, truly want the above godawful toe wart of a human (who tried to justify pedophilia in his book with the Israel-Palestine conflict) to stop featuring in my writing advice, but I know he���s not the only person out there who thinks like this. You might have a doctorate in engineering, medicine, political science, chemistry, physics, history, paleontology—any field you want. That does not mean you can successfully translate your expertise into a well-crafted and compelling narrative. It means you can write a college textbook lecturing your readers for 300 pages. Heck, if you can't explain what you do like I'm 5 years old, then you're not an expert in your field.

Elements of good storytelling include well-rounded characters, solid pacing, compelling themes and motifs, an engaging main conflict and character arcs and edge-of-your-seat action, romance, debates, and arguments. It’s so much more than “I’m going to write a textbook, but have my character tell it to you, and everyone will love it”.

They won’t.

3. “I’m gonna be a millionaire like JKR”

The frustrating thing about making money writing is that at the end of the day, you are still selling a product. Which means that it doesn’t matter how amazing you think it is, if it’s not what sells. The Fifty Shades series is hardly a poetic epic with deep, meaningful characters and themes, but it sold. It got adaptations. Why? Because it was a product people wanted and its writing style appeals to mass audiences who aren’t entertained by fluffy, antiquated prose. I hated the Divergent books. They soullessly and shamelessly fed off the success of Hunger Games. But they sold because “teen dystopia HP houses” was what audiences craved and what Hollywood was pushing to make movies out of.

Personally I don’t have any nostalgia for Harry Potter and I both wish I did so I could have one more beloved series and fandom to participate in, but also am glad I don’t because of JKR. HP is chock full of plot holes and “fuck it we’ll do it live” worldbuilding and so many concepts that look cool on paper until you really start thinking about it.

JKR didn’t make a million dollars because she wrote the greatest fantasy series. JKR made a million dollars because she wrote a book that sells every goddamn piece of lore for $15.99 or more and collects on all those sweet, sweet royalties. She understood that she’s selling a product, not just a story, selling everything from Slytherin ties and wizarding robes to golden snitches, sorting hats, wands, chocolate frogs, and every other prop seen in the movies.

You sure can chase trends and I’m sure Divergent is somebody’s favorite book and you can hock chocolate frogs. Everyone’s writing goals are different.

4. “But GRRM did it” (or, adhering to genre expectations)

Circling back to this one. Once again, you can write whatever you want, no one is stopping you. However, books are products and if what’s in the summary and on the cover isn’t what’s on the pages, you’re going to upset and annoy your readers. For example, if I slap a chiseled six-pack of man meat on my book cover with flowy calligraphy for the title that reads something like Sex and Pink Champagne and my summary is all about how protagonist girl gets the adonis of her dreams, you’re not going to be happy if, 200 pages in, the plot detours and Mr. Sexy fucks off to sell NFTs.

It doesn’t meet genre expectations.

GoT kicks off with incest and child defenestration. It tells you *exactly* what you’re getting into immediately. You can subvert plot expectations all you want. You can subvert tropes and archetypes and throw in all kinds of twists and turns. But if you’re writing a YA novel and 100 pages in after campfire songs and the power of friendship, Protagonist gets assaulted in a 7-11 parking lot because you wanted to be ~edgy~ you’re going to piss off your readers.

Take Mulan for example. It has a dramatic tonal shift so powerful, the musical stops being a musical because it’s traumatized. Mulan doesn’t drop in the grizzled and horrifying wasteland of a battlefield with thousands of dead soldiers in an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It’s already a war movie, the possibility is already there.

If you want to write adult content, then write a book for audiences who are prepared for and want to read adult content. Otherwise you’re setting yourself up for failure.

5. “Okay but it’s not entertaining”

Your first job as an author is to entertain (your second is to do it responsibly imo). There’s millions of books out there—why should someone read yours? Whether that’s entertainment through a feel-good romance or a gut-wrenching tragedy, you need to keep convincing your readers to stay invested in the story, otherwise they can and will put it down to read something else. No one is obligated to read your book to the end.

So, yeah your protagonist might have all the elements of your own personal tragedies and it sure is meaningful to you, but the way you wrote it is incredibly boring and no one will care. It might be the most brilliant heist plot ever conceived, but you focused on all the wrong elements, the pacing is whack, and your protagonist is annoying, so no one will read it.

Very few individual elements can be good enough to carry the entire manuscript and the likelihood of an author being really good at one thing and awful at the rest is slim. Readers can quit a book over the most arbitrary reasons. Do you want to die on a hill of “I’m not changing my annoying protagonist, I’m right and they will see”? They won’t. The arguments authors get into with me over how I hated their protagonist or I told them which parts were boring and dragged because I “didn’t understand the story” are pointless. If it’s boring or confusing or annoying, no one will read it.

6. First Drafts are drafts for a reason

Actually writing is less than half the time and effort spent on getting a book to publication. Probably less than a quarter. The rest of that time is spent editing and rewriting. Some first drafts will be better than others, not arguing that, but your first run through your story has a non-zero chance of needing revisions, even for something as small as typos and punctuation.

You have to edit for pacing and tonal shifts, erroneous details and entire scenes, character inconsistencies and goals. You have to make sure your conversations flow believably, that you hit every talking point that scene requires. You have to make sure your character’s motivations don’t create plot holes and that they’re always on track like a real person and not a creation of your imagination. You have to make sure your action scenes and sex scenes are legible and as thrilling for a reader as they are for you. You have to make sure your worldbuilding is consistent and logical and easy to understand.

Some people outline heavily before starting page one. Some people have a sticky note of “beginning middle end” and run off that. Some have whole folders of different documents to keep track of all their elements. Everyone’s writing process is different, but it is a process, not a one-and-done. It requires revisions, seeking feedback, implementing that feedback, and more revisions until it’s as good as it can be.

Yes, you need to edit. No, you’re not the writing god who penned perfection on your first try. Maybe a piece of your story is perfect on the first draft, but not the whole thing from start to finish. It’s okay that your story isn’t what you thought it would be when you started, and it’s no failing of you as a writer to need edits or even massive changes. It happens to everyone.

7. “Writing is easy, thus it’s not a real job”

Really the notion that creatives are lesser than corporate business people solving problems that their business created. But specifically for writing, the idea that it’s just putting words on a page, thus it’s easy and anyone can do it, so it’s not impressive or deserving of praise and you really need a real job (you probably will because writing doesn’t make much money for most people, but that’s just how it shakes out).

I know ENNS won’t appeal to everyone. I know there will be people who hate my characters, who don’t understand them or don’t agree with their philosophies or find my writing trite and too lean and not ~immersive~. I know there’ll be homophobes out there who won’t even read it but hear about it and make assumptions and will leave me crap reviews. I know it’s not the greatest supernatural fantasy novel ever written.

I’m not in it to make money or get a movie deal and see my merch all over the shelves and get my own theme park. I write so that even one reader might see themselves in my characters and know they’re not alone. So that even one reader has one of my characters as their favorite and that character motivates them to do the Thing or keep moving forward or be brave enough to finally do whatever they’ve been too afraid to attempt before. I want to help people, even if at the end of the day, my writing only helps myself.

Yes I need supplemental income (who doesn’t these days). It’s the way of the world. But I’m doing what I love in my free time and it is a real job because it takes work, and it might not have monetary value but its value to me is priceless.

[aqg-arts]

Anyone wanna my 2 cents on Jade Shadows?

Spoilers bellow frens ;3

So, right off the bat (before I put my personal personal thoughts out there), we need to acknowledge the criticism and outright discomfort this quest had.

Some of the criticism this quest got is something I can agree with. Specifically; Jade Shadow's needed more time. 100%. Let them cook, or more importantly, let the story cook and maybe even burn a bit to give us some crispy, smokin hot parts.

The little footnote at the end of the quest saying we have 'more questions than answers'? We get it, you're self-conscious, but that doesn't give you an excuse for not giving me Stalker. PERIOD, BITCH.

Jest aside, srsly, we needed to know more about Jade, Stalker, what happened to them, baby Orion (Halo possessed me in that moment, iykyk), etc. People needed to get invested in the characters, especially because this is a quest so close to being like Sacrifice on its level of storytelling...

Had it been able to have just 30+ minutes longer.

Onto the 2nd part of the criticism, birthing sim:

I'll be honest, as someone who was thinking of even going into being a midwifery/allied health, it didn't freak me out as much as it did others. But that's just one side of it. The other is how people say Jade's agency was ignored.

I'll be honest, this is just wrong. It's not media illiteracy by any means, but rather pure ignorance. Why?

Because her agency is declared.

When?

"... you're going to be a father." OH, and the fact she literally wanted the baby. There are plenty of people who can explain it better than that, and whilst I acknowledge people may feel this way, this was, in fact, not what happened.

Also, this quest is not pro-life, nor is it anything related to that. If it was, I assure you, you would have a majority of the fan base up and walk. Take a chill pill. If you want to attack something for being pro-life, go help out at an abortion clinic with crowd control or smth. Because once you see that, you'll understand just how wrong you are.

It's not subtle.

It's not in between the lines.

It doesn't exist.

The end. Period. Fullstop.

The criticism is fair, but going so far as to say those are the undertones is just not on. Not only are you lying about something, but you are also disrespecting the very real women whom have had their agency denied in one way or another.

Now, that's not the only criticism about it, but those are just a few things you may see floating on tumblr. Again, both are ok and fair. But when you start to spread lies or ignore what actually happened, you're part of the problem, not the solution.

Now, onto the fun stuff!

Imo, aside from what was stated before, the quest was actually pretty fun and interesting. The pair make an interesting concept, especially now with the lil fugly bean, which has stolen a place in my cold, brainrotted heart. I think I like the Corpus Cap the most- pls marry me, pls. Oh, an Hunhow? Let me hug him. Let me give him a home on my ships. Let me tell him he can be my bestie!!!

Back to Stalker, though, I really hope we see more of him, especially now he's git a VA.

Speaking of, homie didn't get to speak often, but God did it hit home when he did. You can feel how desperate he is, then when he gets his answers, how lost he is. Finally, resolution and love ehen he names his lil kid at the end.

Music was on point, too. I can't listen to it tho bc Ik ima be sobbing lol. It was so beautiful!!!!!!!

Lorewise, however, I have so many fucking questions, but in the funny haha/good way.

Was jade pregnant b4 being a wf? If not, Stalker...

Why was their relationship shamed upon? Was Jade a Dax and him, well, him? Or was it because they weren't married? What was it that made the Orokin make em into Warframes? Also, Ballas, man, we know your hypocritical ass is in this shit too.

Also, Umbra and Helminth are confirmed to roam around the Orbiter, and vc Umbra is my main, this is a personal achievement. Now let us see it happen, and I'll be DE's 4 life.

But seriously, TL;DR:

Jade Shadow's was a good quest, it just needed to cook slightly longer. And, until we get more Umbra x Stalker from DE (bros b4 all), I'll be on AO3 in 3 (maybe 4) tags.

See in the next Stalker stan post :)

[empire-of-the-words]

I'm 10 and a half episodes into Young Justice (the TV show), and I feel like I should record my feelings for posterity's sake, so here we go (under the cut because it got too long 😅)

(Also I will be using superhero names for the most part since I don't want to look up how to spell Miss Martian or Aqualad's name)

Spoilers: I already know the Red Arrow thing. I'm also pretty confident I know Artemis's backstory. This doesn't bug me, because I love storytelling. A lot. So I keep looking at it from the writers' POV and it's honestly very fun. I also know a piece of Miss Martian's backstop, and the same as above applies

Investment in the characters: Honestly the show is doing a great job at this. So far it's had an episode focusing mainly on every character except Robin (who I'll talk about in a sec). The show is doing a lot of one episode character arcs (which is a great way to get you invested in the characters). Superboy and Superman both have obvious season character arcs going on, but the others have enough stuff that I'm confident they can do stuff with them

Robin: He is so competent in this, and I love it. Him being too competent to lead the team is both funny and adds another layer to both him and Aqualad. He actually hasn't had an episode really focused on him yet, just side plots. But this kind of works, since everyone knows Robin and there's less of a need to make sure people like him. (And this works. I didn't need to get as invested in Dick and Roy (and Bruce and Clark) since I'm already invested in their comic versions)

I also love that he hasn't revealed his identity yet. The little things about it (like in that episode the League of Shadows was trying to hack Wayne Enterprises). Especially with Artemis heading to Gotham Academy, I'm really hoping she has some fun interactions with Dick

Ships: Miss Martian/Superboy is pretty cute. I passively ship it. Just hoping they have real relationships with other members of the team. Kid Flash/Artemis (does she have a hero name?) is a bit more interesting. The amnesia episode did a good job selling it to me, as it shows they don’t necessarily hate each other at a basic level. Also I hate Kid Flash's crush on Miss Martian (or at least how he acts because of it), and rooting for another ship is the same as rooting for it to die. No real love triangle stuff for now, and hoping it stays that way. There's also the ship getting its own category:

JadeRoy: Starting very different from the comics (where they basically started as Enemy Lovers), but, uh, I Don't Care. I love this ship, both in comics and here. They're entirely enemies right now, but they've started to attach extra emotions to each other (not good ones, don't get me wrong, but they're singling each other out). And I know Lian will exist in this universe (thanks dc wiki), so I'm happily excited for Slow Burn (with the back of my mind preparing for disappointment, just in case). Not sure if this is going Enemies to Enemy Lovers or just straight up Enemies to Lovers (since it's a kids show they might give them a happy ending) but either way I'm down for it

(I'm actually horrible at watching shows in their entirety (instead of dropping them after a few episodes) , and the way I actually got myself to push forward and get invested was the knowledge that Cheshire appears in episode 6, and I really wanted to see her)

I'm super invested in the Superman/Superboy plotline. Also, Martian Manhunter giving Connor the last name Kent was just hilarious. The whole League is just like, "you will parent this kid, clark" and I love it. It's also got me thinking about how comic writers indirectly said Bruce wouldn't be great in this situation despite this version of him pushing for it, but that's an essay for another time (possibly never since it might involve reading Morrison!Talia which I desperately do not want to do 😭)

Speaking of Talia. I am dreading it. I know Damian’s just a cameo and it's a kids show, so it can't get as bad as the DCAU (knock on wood), but this is 2011. This is peak Morrison!Talia, and I do not want to see my favorite character's characterization get spit on

Moving on the nicer things, Batman is Peak Batman. He is a dad, and he’s trying his best, and they better not ruin him

The Light: I guess it makes sense that all these secret organizations are secretly all 1 secret organization, but I'm not quite invested yet. Also finding it hard to believe Ra's al Ghul would join an organization where he's not in charge

Also! I have figured out the usual formula. They start the episode with both a mission usually, and give one character a personal conflict. Things get to their worst at about the 16 minute mark, resolve at about 20/21 minutes, have a final scene with the team and a final final scene reveal the bad guys were actually part of the Light conspiracy thing. Honestly it's kind of comforting having a formula

Overall, pretty good. Can't say how quickly I'll watch it, or how often I'll post about it, but I'm going to keep watching it, which is pretty good, particularly for a kids show

Also if someone's reading this and really curious about what I think about something specific, feel free to send an ask, it'll be fun :)