#i want exploration of his family dynamic and his friends and how he's kinda just. a run of the mill contract killer

[necrotic-nephilim]

Before reading the comics, thanks to sladixk fics, i genuinely thought that dick always lost to slade, now I know that most times when he's and adult he beats slade no problem but it got me wondering how you feel about this canon-fanon difference

OHH this is a good question!!

i think sometimes fanon makes Slade a little... too badass. i think something some fanon fans don't understand about Slade in the 80s/90s is that he was like... kind of a loser? like don't get me wrong he was a main villain of the Titans for a while and he was certainly meant to be a formidable villain but this reputation he has in fanon almost supersedes him. (for example with specific plots: the fandom interpretation of the Judas Contract is Slade as the mastermind, but the writers have said that Terra was supposed to be the big villain manipulating everything. which is a ridiculous thing to put on a teenage girl getting groomed but, it does depict the intention of who was supposed to be "at fault" in that story) and don't get me wrong, i definitely love playing up the reputation and aura Slade has, but he really is a general contract killer on the level of like, Deadshot. personally, i wouldn't even put him on Lady Shiva's level, i think she far outranks him.

and to be fair to some fanon, recent comics have... tried to badass-ify Slade. some of his more recent Deathstroke runs are really trying to put him as this guy with legions of men underneath him who's this *deadly* killer who can take on Batman and Superman and all the like. and i just find that... boring? like, do i enjoy him being a smarter-than-average villain with a lot of connections? yes. but i don't think anything in his backstory really lends him to being as formidable as he appears in some fanfiction that puts him on this untouchable level. i would personally go as far to say i think *most* of the Batfamily could beat him in a fight under the right circumstances. bc Slade really is just Some Guy who got a serum from the military and went AWOL. (there's certainly more to his backstory than that, but at a glance, he's really not a trained fighter from birth like other characters are) and whilst i do enjoy Slade being formidable i have to admit, it was sort of fun when he was a loser? and i've gotten a kick out of certain comics that point out he's only a terrifying villain when he's up against teenagers. (Ghost-Maker calling him out on that is one of the funniest things, to me) like could Slade give Batman a serious fight? sure, but i don't see him ever winning unless you *really* nerf Bruce. and i really don't see him ever winning against most of the Batkids once they've got some years under their belt. Slade's scare factor was always tapered by who he was against, and he was a *Teen Titans* villain. so he's a little ridiculous and sometimes just sort of a weird loser. and i say that affectionately.

furthermore, on the flipside, i think... sometimes, we woobify Dick a bit too much to my tastes. or, really any Robin who gets shipped with Slade but of course Dick is the standout in popularity and i find it's more prominent with him. it's really a general slash problem, in which one man must be the Strong Top and then other must be the Weak Bottom. and that manifests in Slade being physically larger than Dick (which in canon, ehhh i think the size difference would be largely negligible) and him being able to beat Dick. bc it makes for more fanfic scenarios where you can put Dick at Slade's mercy for porn, for angst, for whatever you'd like. Slade is a good pick if you want to really put Dick on the weaker side, bc you can play with healing factors and strength enhancements. so on a physical level, Slade will be stronger than Dick. does that mean Slade can beat Dick in a fight? historically, no. i mean, Slade trusted Dick to train his own daughter in the Renegade storyline, so i think this is a fact even Slade is aware of.

i don't think it's a bad thing fanfiction likes its big top/small bottom tropes. if you want to make Dick a submissive, pliant bottom who is going to lose in a fight to Slade for your dead dove porn, get it. i've probably written or will write the same. it's appealing and it's a very common trope for Dick. but it becoming the fandom norm does sort of nerf Dick, occasionally. i think some fans don't fully comprehend the actual level Dick is on, where he's very close to being an equal to Bruce, if not already Bruce's equal. in fandom Dick is sort of trapped in this "post-adolescence but not full adulthood" state that does not acknowledge he has been an adult running superhero teams for years. he was filling in for Bruce in the Batman mantle all the way back in the 90s. he can defeat villains like Slade, and usually without a lot of difficulty. to me the only time you can realistically make Dick lose and it be "in character" is either 1, to have Dick *very* early on in his Robin years (i think if he's past 16, he can beat Slade) or 2, very deeply wound Dick/have him in a psychologically altered state via drugs or something. otherwise yeah, i think Dick wins 99% of the time.

but fanfiction is fanfiction, and it doesn't *have* to be canon. esp if Dick losing to Slade is just a sexy prerequisite to porn. do i wish more fanon explored Slade as kind of a loser? absolutely. do i think Slade is *too* cool in most fanon? also absolutely. but those are my tastes and i don't begrudge anyone who just wants a strong, mean man to whump the shit out of their blorbos, which usually, is the purpose of Slade. i find most fanfic with Slade tends not to be exploring Slade's character. they're simply using him as an easy stand-in for a metahuman who's morally grey and very mean but has a nuanced history with Dick, or whoever else. which, very valid. not all fanfic needs to be a character study, but i do think it'd be cool to see more Slade-centric fics that *do* want to be character studies.

[danikamariewrites]

If you're willing to do a more platonic/familial request, could you do some headcanons on being Rhysand's youngest sister?? And then I had an additional idea of being his sister + Azris' mate... but I'll let you decide which aspects you'd like to write about :) (if you want to write about it at all, of course!)

Princess of the Night Court

IC x reader (platonic)

Notes: I went with reader just being the sister I hope you don’t mind, I wanted to explore this dynamic before hopping outside the night court

Warnings: some angst

Being the second born of the former NC High Lord meant you had the freedoms to do some things your brother couldn’t

However much you pushed your brother’s buttons when he became High Lord you still loved each other. And you really stepped up to help him with his royal duties

You were a bit nervous and relieved when your father died. You knew what he expected of you but you were unsure how the power and position would change Rhys

The biggest blessing Rhys gave you was the freedom to marry whoever and whenever. There was no pressure and he would not dare use you as a bargaining tool, ever

Being princess came with the never ending princess treatment

Your people adored you and you them

You frequented shops in Velaris and always made sure to talk with everyone and hear their troubles

It also meant that Azriel and Cassian were your forever body guards

And how fun is it to ditch them?! It’s even more fun when they finally track you down. Their faces all scrunched in anger and that vein popping in Cassian’s forehead that you just want to poke

The two were your brothers, there was no denying Az and Cass treated you like the sister they never had

They were just as protective (maybe more at times) than Rhys is of you and you loved them for it

When you had your first heartbreak one of the first people you went to for comfort was Azriel. He was always your shoulder to cry on and he’s a good listener

The three of them would be up anyone that hurt you

To try and have some semblance of a normal life while Rhys was gone you tried to date. It did not go well. The male you went to dinner with had said some nasty things about your family and came home bawling your eyes out. When you told Cass, Az, and Mor, Cassian was the most angry. He left and came home with bloody knuckles. That night he sat next to your bed reading you stories like when you were little

After Rhys came home from under the mountain you gave him his space and were more serious than usual

Something you hadn’t had in a long time with your brother was a sleepover. You used to crawl into his bed at night when you had nightmares and Rhys would reassure you that everything would be ok

Just as you were planning to go to Rhys for a sleepover to make him feel normal a knock sounded at your door. Opening it you found your brother looking disheveled and on the verge of tears. You pulled him in and you got into your bed. You laid there in silence for a very long time, both wide awake. “I know you can’t and don’t want to talk about everything yet. But we’re all here for you Rhys. I’m here for you big brother. And I won’t think any differently of you for any of it.” Rhys just pulled you into a bone crushing hug and cried and cried until he fell asleep. You hadn’t seen him cry like that since your mother died

Out of everyone of the Inner Circle you were the most overjoyed to have Rhys home

You did everything in your power to make sure he was comfortable and welcome

The sacrifices he made for the court were ones you would never forget

Watching Rhys fall in love with Feyre made your heart swell. You saw a light burn in him that hadn’t been there since he was younger

Becoming friends with Feyre was a journey

She didn’t like you at first since she only knew the stories that Tamlin and Lucien had told her

Fun lil bit of history Tamlin left out was that you and him hooked up but he was kinda mad it was only ever that and not more

But when you and Mor broke through and Feyre trusted you enough her friendship was a beautiful thing

And you had a new buddy to pick on Cassian with

Learning Feyre was pregnant after the war you were so excited to be an aunt! You were going to spoil the shit out of this baby boy

[ye4gerism]

hiii😊 I kinda have a few questions about curly’s mom Ngl and maybe his dad. I think my first question for his mom though is….is she racist or just a toxic boy mom or both. I also kinda wonder like what makes her like jimmy so much. Then about his dad. Ik we don’t really know much about him but I just wanted to know like does he likes us at all or more than the mom. I also kinda want to understand curly and his mom’s dynamic. Like when it comes to the toxic boy mom is she trying to see the husband she wants in curly. Because it kinda just came to point where is like these weird boy moms are kinda grooming or being weird with their son. Or is it more of just she’s jealous like jimmy but they aren’t jealous in the same way. I guys my class question is just why did curly’s mom and dad and how did curly take it. Also sorry if this is a lot😭 happy holidays 🎄

author’s note hi! thank you for your ask. this is a long post and i don’t want to clog up the feed. so click ‘keep reading’ to keep reading lol.

content good luck captain

ok so, here’s the long answer to your first question 😭 as you’ve probably noticed i am a black writer and make it my purpose to write for readers who look like me. the mouthwashing fandom is still so new and i haven’t really seen any black reader stories for curly (or really anyone) except for @grimmsbride who i’ve seen writing for curly and daisuke (check them out!).

because i still want an audience to cater to (and i don’t know what demographic i’m actually pulling from my fics), i would say yes and yes to your question about curly’s mom in good luck, captain. i could definitely see her being prejudice to reader if they’re poc and is most definitely a toxic boy mom. whatever the case is for you, she’ll never really see you as the best fit for her son.

as for jimmy, i’ve mentioned he grew up with curly in happy birthday, jolene. she just sees him as another son just based on shared history and proximity. he’s family.

i haven’t thought much about curly’s dad and just now realized i probably should have included him and his reaction to the tuplar crash in best wishes, curly. i feel that curly really favors his father and i hinted in dream of fish that his mom doesn’t really like that. as it’s been previously mentioned, he lives in australia and had most of the custody over curly. i imagine him as a really chill dude who’s really really funny and charming and likes to explore. he’d probably get remarried to someone who shares his humor and sense of adventure. when reader and curly are dating, she’s only spoken to mr. curly a few times over facetime or skype. but he likes you and accepts you as his son loves you tons. he let curly propose to you in his home.

i would say that during the events of best wishes, curly, he didn’t come visit you in person as it was hard for him to handle the loss of his son but he did call from time to time. even when curly came back, it was still tough for him to see his son but he still maintains a relationship with him.

curly respects his mom but there is a limit to their relationship. he did go to school in australia and came to stay with her on breaks - he didn’t get to see her all the time and as he grew, he tries to maintain a healthy and balanced relationship with her. he got closer to her when he decided to go to college in the united states and she really takes advantage of their proximity. i wouldn’t say she’s grooming him. she left a marriage that she felt wasn’t perfect and would lonve to be involved in curly’s decisions when it comes to who he’s in love with. sometimes she’ll suggest the daughters of her friends from work or church bc she thinks they’ll fit in her idea of what curly’s family and future should look like.

over time, i feel that she would be jealous of reader bc she got the family that mrs. former curly wanted.

mr. curly and mrs. former curly just fell out of their rhythm. they were high school sweethearts and had the perfect white picket fence life and it just didn’t work out one day. after countless arguments, curly’s dad decided to file for divorce and mrs. former curly signed them in a heartbeat. obvs curly was confused and heart broken as his parents did a good job hiding their issues and he couldn’t fathom why they would separate. having to go back and forth between continents was stressful at first but it became a routine for him.

and no worries about the length of your ask. i appreciate your interest in good luck, captain! happy holidays to you too!

[hopefullyyoursmcg]

Hii!! 🤖 Anon here (sorry I’ve not been active😭)

I‘ve been thinking about which Batboy would make the most sense to be the Baby daddy and to be honest I have no clue.

I think in a way it could all fit and make sense really.

For instance:

Dick has always tried to have some sort of connection with Routine!Reader, an perhaps it was never really in a sibling way because of the distance between them both.

Jason and Routine!Reader weren’t even raised at the same time within the manor, and by the time they met properly she was already past the age of wanting any connections.

Tim already had pre-existing obsessive tendencies surrounding her, from what I can tell, and probably has had the most interactions with her due to their similarities.

But I’d love to know what you think! I really loved your response to my previous ask about these three being romantic yanderes in this fic because I think there’s so much potential that should be explored by writers because, to a point, some of these platonic fics just seem so repetitive. Let’s change up the dynamics a bit y’know?

Ok good news, I put up a poll and it looks like you will still get some Romantic batboys.

Now let's get into the romantic potential of the batboys.

Now first of all, as Rountine! reader did not grow up anywhere near the three boys(because one was busy, one was dead and the other was doing his own thing until the actual moment they meet) or she was just at the time where she couldn't give a damn.

Dick, as you said, couldn't really grow close to the reader due to not spending time with her when they were younger. However, when he was trying to be better and be close to the growing family, routine!reader just didn't want to be near him. She did not look annoyed, nor did she look angry, she just looked at him like he was nothing. In the past when Routine Reader was at a family dinner(which she didn't want to be there) Dick would try to talk to her, but she gave him nothing. Now thinking about how dick actually realizes it is a whole new battle. I like to believe that he would realize what his feeling is while he's trying to sleep and all he can think of is Routine! reader's cold face staring at him.

Now as I said many times before, Jason was dead when she was brought in. But they meet after his vengeance arc, at the manor library. Now reader and Jason were neutral with each other at first because Reader at that point had the mindset of "if they don't care about me, I don't care about them" and Jason just wanted the new books that Alfred told him about, but that didn't mean he didn't stop and stare. Now after feeding Jason some extra pork chops you had cooked, that's when the feelings started to show. Jason, to put it lightly, is a fucked up guy. Who wouldn't be after what he went through? And fucked up guys, do fucked up things. For example, he wouldn't leave you alone unless you cooked him something, and even if you still didn't cook for him, he would stare at you, no matter what you were doing. Jason's feelings for Rountine! reader aren't normal romantic, but I like to think that one of the main components in his feelings towards reader is how reader cooks. On the very rare occasion when Jason gets reader to cook for him, as he watches them cook, it kinda heals him? Does that make sense? Like he's just sitting there waiting to be fed, and it just feels normal and quiet.

Tim's obsession with the reader came from wanting to research reader and how she thinks. Basically like a lab rat. And you are right when you said she had more of an interaction with him. As both of them during their early teen years, grew up together in the manor. But it wouldn't be until maybe a year after he became Robin that he met Rountine!reader in the kitchen. As time passes on, the more private research Tim has done about the reader. Which is a very small folder of nearly nothing. Besides her full name, date of birth, a list of friends, and other small things, that was pretty much it. Every so often if he has the time, he tries to find something new about Routine! reader, which is nearly impossible she doesn't even have any social media accounts. Tim sees Rontine!reader as a perfect puzzle, and he want figure out how she ticks.

(hope ya like it 🤖)

[monstrousorchids]

what the fuck kinda ending was that???

a filler season with no true plots that tie everything together. barely see nadja and laszlo being kinky spouses. no colin subplots between the main plots of each episode. nandor and guillermo are "just friends" and nandor supposedly has a crush on the guide. we barely see the guide and she never really gets the validation and acceptance she's been craving from the group for so long. we don't see guillermo and nadja interact apart from that weird finance bro side quest. laszlo's dad appears in one episode but does nothing. we don't see the baron, the sire and the rest of their little family. there's that nowhere subplot of another vampire that existed among them decades ago but only appears in this season and has nothing to do besides forget that he and colin were friends, be a sort of rival to nandor in the affection of the guide, and try to take over the world, then die? laszlo makes his own frankenstein monster and despite being there in the house he almost has nothing to do besides two episodes. there was that weird episode where a cop tv show was filming in their street.

we don't see them run around town in their usual locations getting into hijinks with humans. no night market, no clubs, no vampire council. we don't see much of sean and charmaine. nandor and guillermo didn't admit their feelings for one another and have gay sex in nandor's coffin. like what is going on? none of these characters felt like themselves and their dynamics were so off, especially with the additional characters. no laszlo and nadja moments, laszlo and colin moments, colin and guillermo moments, nandor and nadja moments, nadja and the guide moments, the guide and colin moments. we don't see nadja's doll self at all except in the background, and she doesn't interact with guillermo, colin or the guide.

i'm so sad. i hardly laughed once this season and this was supposed to be the finale. and instead it just feels like a half-baked filler season between 3 and 4. none of these beloved characters get a proper send-off nor are their arcs concluded in any meaningful way. i don't understand how the show was able to end on its own terms and yet drop the ball with the stories it had been building for years.

i understand if they wrote the season that way because they didn't want it to feel like the end, keeping in line with the documentary aspect and how their lives will continue off-camera. but it felt so forced and rushed. it felt like a cop out. all of that build-up into the relationships of the characters and their growth as individuals and the questions of what they'll do next just thrown out the window. granted, season 4 and 5 weren't the best and showed signs of decline in focus on what the show was about, but they were still funny and they still focused on the characters and tried new things to explore the lore of the vampires.

now i know how game of thrones fans felt.

[heartbreakprincewille]

Masculinity In Young Royals

So, in honour of Ke Huy Quan and the team of Everything Everywhere All At Once sweeping the Oscars(been crying about it since morning), I was watching this BRILLIANT video essay(check it out it's so well thought out!) about Waymond(Ke's character) and this gave me thoughts about Young Royals as well, because hyperfixations go hand-in-hand, right? :)

Masculinity, and especially different portrayals and aspects of its prevalent notions is a theme brilliantly explored in the two seasons of Young Royals. I wanted to talk about some characters, and this list will progress from worse to better(not using the word perfect because nuance > perfection).

Note: The traits I will discuss further are not restricted to just a cis or male perspective, anyone can exhibit these traits, but since assertion of masculinity is a constant spectacle in Young Royals, I will associate some traits with it.

1. Vincent

Vincent, especially in S2, embodies the worst traits on the masculinity spectrum, and since his character is understandably not offered the privilege of nuance, he comes off as this typical, toxic, sort of "alpha-male" character, especially after he's elected as the prefect and Rowing Captain. He constantly bullies others, especially Simon, tries to enforce the hierarchy of privilege and class firstly through August and then by himself. As soon as he sees an opportunity shown by Wilhelm to take control in his hands, he doesn't take much time to betray his "friend", August(although August of all people getting betrayed is certainly irony at its best). He kinda reminds me of the Royal Court in some ways- their presence furthering the divide of tradition and social systems in their respective environments.

2. August

The only reason August is not placed higher than Vincent in this list is the privilege of nuance August is provided with throughout the story. This nuance is what sets him apart in the narrative, but is also the thing which dooms him as a character.

August is misogynistic, sexist, classist, obsessed with power and privilege and feels entitled to both of them, set to further the class divide just like Vincent. He stokes his ego like fire, and if someone tries to cross him, he does not hesitate to burn them with the flames, like Wilhelm exposing his money issues and August violating Wilhelm and Simon's privacy in return. He's manipulative, he's calculative, he knows how to scheme things in his favour(failed attempts, though) and he's just a walking red flag of a person. He also falls around the worse side of the spectrum of masculinity.

But, he is offered nuance by the narrative. In S1, it's in the form of familial and personal issues: his dad killing himself, financial problems, addiction issues and possible issues of body dysmorphia. In S2, through his relationship with Sara, we are shown a different side of him- a side that is capable of being vulnerable, capable of being soft, and this almost sparks this hope within the audience that maybe August can change a little, for the better.

But then he's offered a chance of power and his hamartia is revealed to the audience: his inability to change. The greatest tragedy (which is also its brilliance) with August's character is he cannot change for the better. Even if he tries to. He can have opprtunities to grow, but it will be a Herculean labour for him to take advantage of those opportunities and actually change. He is so deeply entrenched in his perceptions of toxic masculinity and power and lost in his conceited, privileged worldview that it's quite hard for him to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And it's what sets him apart in the narrative- despite all his nuance, he is still a terrible person at his core. The nuance is just what separates him from all his shallow and one-dimensional preceding antagonists of the past.

3. Nils

Nils brings a neutral perspective to the extreme hyper-masculine and cishet dynamics upheld by August and Vincent. He's revealed to be queer in S2, but chooses to be discreet about it- which gives him a chance to build solidarity with both his cishet peers(Vincent and August) as well as a fellow queer person (Wille). He's not dismissive of Wilhelm's queerness, but he believes it to be something "better behind close doors". He's one of the few people who actually acknowledges Wilhelm and Simon's relationship, but is also dismissive of it, mainly because of the difference in their social standings. He's devoid of the typical "heteronormative" traits associated with masculinity, especially in S2, but he still uphelds the toxic class hierarchy and privilege.

4. Simon

Simon is a quite interesting character to me on this list because he subverts these traits in a very unique way.

Usually canonically gay characters in media are often stereotyped to possess "feminine" traits, which is NOT a bad thing at all, BUT mostly the portrayal of such characters usually leans more towards the mockery of the "feminine" traits, rather than something which strengthens the queerness of that character.

Simon is actually very different from this famous rendition of gay characters- he's actually very masculine in his behaviour. He exhibits two typical masculine behaviours in general:

1. "Man Of The House", or taking the mantle of emotional(and sometimes financial) stability in a house in one's own hands. He often takes matters in his own hand, especially when Sara says or does something that disrupts the peace of their little family. It's interesting because despite being the youngest person in the family, Linda subconsciously lets him take the mantle on his shoulders, without realizing how heavy it can be. And consequenty, it brings us down to the second trait:

2. "Suppressing emotions", or avoiding being vulnerable in public spaces or with people one loves and trusts. Simon constantly shoves what he's feeling deep in his heart, he refuses to break open in front of people, in front of Wille(S2 E6 gun scene) and would go to lengths to maintain a facade of "everything's fine!" even if he's breaking inside. It makes sense because his backstory alludes to hesitation to open up to people and it can be possibly related to his familial trauma, but it's still interesting nevertheless because he shows incredible emotional maturity throughout the story, much more than his predecessors on this list. He's devoid of both the toxic traits of heteronormativity and elitist behaviour associated with "masculinity" in Young Royals, but he still possesses a different set of problems associated with orthodox masculinity.

5. Wilhelm

Wilhelm is, in my opinion, the closest example to what is emerging as the new definition of "masculinity" in the current media. Wilhelm, through his immense emotional journey and growth in the two seasons, subverts all the traits of masculinity displayed by his predecessors in the list with grace and humility.

He's not obsessed with upholding traditions and asserting heteronormativity like Vincent and August, he is quite indifferent to it in S1, the only "compulsion" he feels to do so is immediately after Erik's death in S1, which he quickly overcomes as well. His "revenge" attempts on August by pulling rank and exercising his privilege stems from a feeling of injustice and anger rather than something he enjoys or feels the need to practice at all.

August's hamartia is Wilhelm's strength. Wilhelm, unlike August, displays great capacity to change for the better, which he constantly does throughout the story. Love knocks on both of their doors as an opportunity to grow, to change for the better, and while Wilhelm embraces it, August slaps the door shut on its face.

Unlike Nils, neither Wilhelm's queerness was never given a chance to be discreet in the first place, nor he ever felt the need to do so. The idea of keeping his and Simon's relationship a secret was more of an idea subconsciously conceived by Kristina in Wilhelm's head rather than his own desire to be secretive.

Wilhelm even subverts the traits displayed by Simon in this regard- the position of the "Man Of The House" falls on him in the form of "Crown Prince of Sweden", and although he understandably struggles with the role initially, by the end of S2, he consciously embraces the role with grace and humility. Compared to Simon, Wilhelm wears his heart on his sleeve, he is not afraid to express his true emotions to the people he love and trusts, and even to strangers.

[prying-pandora666]

“The Search” Rewrites, Book 4: Air, Leaks, and A Call for Help from the Fandom

I’ve talked a little about the Book 4: Air restoration project @book4air. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out! Three full episodes are already out and episode 4 is going to cover Zuko’s early days right after his banishment, exploring his relationship with Iroh and the world as Zuko understands it as a lost boy rapidly coming into manhood.

Wait until you hear the VA’s performance with music and everything! It’ll break your heart.

But I want to talk a little bit about what comes after these next few episodes: our adaptation of “The Search”.

If you’ve seen our adaptation of “The Promise”, you’ll know it was quite faithful. This won’t be the case for “The Search”. For the purposes of the overarching story we are telling, this story is getting overhauled. (Please still support the original release if you’d like to see the canon version).

The biggest change that’s been announced is the addition of Toph. The team felt that a story about family, identity, and faces could benefit from including Toph’s perspective as she comes from a unique but toxic family situation, has a strong conflict between the performance expected of her versus who she really is, and is completely blind and so faces don’t even register for her.

Here is the sample scene we released:

But I want to talk a little bit about what we are changing about Zuko and Azula’s roles in the story. While the set up is virtually unchanged, there is one small alteration that makes a big difference.

(Sorry for the poor quality, this is technically unreleased content and I’m being kinda risky leaking it.)

Ursa’s letters are now a diary. This means that rather than get random flashbacks, the narrative framing now becomes Zuko and Azula reading these entries together. As a result, they get to discuss their discoveries about their family, and even share each other’s perspectives.

What that means is that when things like Zuko dangling Azula over the cliff happen, now we actually are forced to address it. The characters have to talk about how they treat each other and the reasons why. They have to confront the toxic family dynamic they’ve been forced and groomed into since childhood. Zuko has to realize his mentally ill little sister isn’t the monster here and in fact he’s the one with all the power now, and Azula has to realize that Zuko can be trusted if she can let go of her fear long enough to talk to him about her vulnerabilities.

We also address issues like this:

Many people criticize this for being OOC, but I think there’s a way this could easily not be. Sokka has been known to be juvenile and reactionary as a first response, the difference is that he always eventually apologizes and learns from his mistakes. Without even needing to be asked.

Threatening a mentally ill person who has just been removed from an asylum—even as a joke—is not okay. It would be questionable even if they’d been friends before this, but considering their prior relationship it really does seem like an boneheaded lack of awareness or compassion for how triggering this could be.

So rather than remove this interaction, we addressed it. And I am really taking a risk posting this here, but here is a brand new script page:

Sokka isn’t just comic relief. Sokka is smart, Sokka is compassionate, Sokka is brave, and Sokka knows when it’s time to apologize and reach out versus when it’s time to fight.

Safe to say, there are several things that stay the same and we tried to keep faithful to the spirit of the story, but there’s a lot we wanted to do for the Gaang and for the Fire Sibs, and I hope you’ll join us on this adventure, whether you’re a diehard fan of the comics and just looking for a fun AU, or you hate the comics and would like a rewrite, or even if you’ve never read them and would just love to return to the world of ATLA.

The only trouble is, we can’t do it alone. The project is very expensive and time consuming to produce. Our team pays for everything out of pocket and some of us don’t even have reliable housing, so it’s been a hard time.

If you can help in any way, even only by spreading the word so YouTube will stop burying us in the algorithm, that would be huge!

If you can afford to help, we have a Patreon where you can get all sorts of early goodies.

Reblogs and comments greatly appreciated! As the head writer and voice of Azula, this project is very near and dear to me. Avatar was my first pro-writing gig when I was just a homeless 19 year old, and it’s here for me again as I struggle to rebuild my life and health that COVID destroyed.

I love this series and the community that has helped me through the hardest times in my life. I can’t wait to make something beautiful with you all!

[sillysymbol]

who's your favorite criminal clownery character to draw? favorite to write/think about? favorite dynamic? and can i get a fun fact or something you havent shared yet about them :]

YES YESSS SICKOS HAHA YESSS

my favs to draw are pirplexa and shirley for some reason. pirplexa because she's like a weird son to me (i'm very attached to her! shes like my favorite oc ever! i went off when i designed her!) + shirley because ever since i changed her hair style shes been a lot easier+more fun to draw. i think also carni i love drawing her w different hair styles and clothing.

my favorites to write for are pirplexa/carni/prince. that makes sense cuz theyre like. the Main protagonists+villain, but its really fun to explore their different personalities/backstories. Dude writing backstories especially for pirplexa and prince is so fun for me. also recently writing xio has been really fun n interesting to me. in general i think its fun to explore Why A Character is like That, why do they behave like that!

i got a lot of dynamics i like exploring but my favs are carni/pirplexa, carni/trill, prince/shirley, prince/xio and babs/miles. for carni dynamics its fun because she's one of the more happy/chipper characters, contrasted with pirplexa being more cold/untrusting and trill being more calm and collected. i plan for carni and trill to really dislike eachother at first, but eventually start to understand and fall for eachother <3 while with carni and pirplexa its more about pirplexa learning to trust and make friends again.

prince and shirley are siblings with extremely different world views and thought processes, they really dislike eachother. they grew up in the same enviroment yet reacted to it completely differently.

prince and xio is fun to me, ive been trying to give xio more of involved in the story+cast&crew while prince just thinks of her as his cute secretary. he sucks real bad! she doesnt like him she barely tolerates the others but he pays her to kill people so shes like whatever i can deal with this. and then she finds out he wants a consensual workplace relationship and shes like YAY HOW CAN I MANIPULATE THIS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!

babs/miles are dating at the beginning of cc, but their relationship gets a bit complicated due to babs being a little crazy about him and miles struggling with his sense of masculinity, its really not a relationship thats meant to last for long, its a bit tragic. (also why they are in love by david byrne is in both of their playlists LOL)

a few fun facts:

i dont think ive shared here is that prince and shirleys parents were movie stars! they met on the set of a film and had multiple movies with eachother. prince and shirley both had an odd childhood under a lot of surveillance from the public, plus their parents weren't very great parents. they both react to their trauma very differently, prince being "grateful" for it, giving him media training and feeling like his parents crafted him (even when he knows his parents didn't have much faith in him and bet a lot on shirley), while shirley absolutely despises the rest of her family. of course she'll go to the annual family dinner with prince, but that doesnt mean that she won't loathe every second of it.

pirplexa is a dog person! he loves dogs! he doesn't own one because he doesnt think hes in the right headspace to have one yet, but he will pet every random dog on the street. i like to think a few years after the events of cc when he's mentally better, he does adopt a dog.

miles and shirley don't get along very well, shirleys kinda like a bully older sister, she puts him in headlocks and stuff.

if you get the color symbolism (heh) in cc i will give you a badge. idk

shirley likes to write, babs likes to sing, miles likes to draw and design.

trill originally got a degree in botany, but realized she wanted to pursue comedy/acting instead. she can still correctly identify plants!!! yay!!!

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Can we please get more of canonish Killer & Nightmare in fanfics? Fanon is okay but it’s so overdone and kinda boring now.

Fanon Killermare rarely has anything interesting done about it. The dynamic is just “tsundere Boss Nightmare” and “simp Killer.” Killer never feels like his own character, just there to simp (and I suspect Nightmare simps just use him as a sorta self insert so they can simp for Nightmare through him or something).

Only Nightmare’s trauma is actually acknowledged and never Killer’s. Nor how Nightmare plays a role in it.

The power dynamics inherently baked into their relationship is ignored. And if not ignored, it’s romanticized.

Like, no it is not a good thing that Nightmare falls “in love” with a man who’s soul he can use to physically, mentally, and emotionally control whenever and however he pleases. No Killer will not appreciate that.

No Killer does not like being under Nightmare especially after he worked so hard to get out from under Chara. Nightmare Is Not His King.

Like, can we please acknowledge in fanfics how Nightmare literally took away Killer’s choice to live or not? Can we acknowledge in fanfics how Killer, up until meeting Color, is only alive because Nightmare is forcing him to be?

Can we acknowledge how hopeless he feels under Nightmare? And how Nightmare knows this and doesn’t care?

Can we acknowledge how a part of Killer—stage 1—does not want to be with Nightmare, let alone want to be alive?

I don’t want Killer being in love with Nightmare first. I want Nightmare falling in love with Killer, and Killer not being able to trust that at all.

I want Stage 1 fearing that he’s trying to manipulate him. I want Stage 1 spending this whole “courtship” in disbelief because he legitimately can’t tell if it’s real or not.

I want it to be acknowledged that Nightmare forcing Killer into Stage 2 & staying in it isn’t gonna give him what he wants and will only subconsciously push him further away.

I want Nightmare working to fix himself and his mistakes and actually make it up to Killer. Even if that includes letting Killer go.

Killer deserves to be the one treated with love and care in the Killermare ship for once. He shouldn’t have to be the one who always puts in the work.

Nightmare needs to earn Killer’s loyalty. Not just take it and force it however and whenever he wants.

—-

I’m aware that my version is still toxic, but it doesn’t even have to be something like this. I just want Killer to be his own complex character in fanon Killermare the way Nightmare is allowed to be.

Not only is fanon Killermare boring and repetitive, it never acknowledges Killer as his own person. It never acknowledges his backstory or how he was created, nor his emotionlessness.

Nightmare is allowed to not know what a healthy romantic relationship is, but Killer is somehow expected to know these things even though he spent years being tortured until he broke and was created into something new—and that new something was used to kill people—his friends and family—for years and years?

Stop pretending Nightmare is Killer’s King. He isn’t nor would Killer ever accept him as that. He worked so hard to gain some autonomy over his existence and y’all want to shove him under Nightmare and pretend like he’ll willingly accept it? Why is Killer never allowed to explore his existence and found out who he is as a person?

It’s just simp, simp, simp, loyal, loyal, flirt, flirt, with y’all.

No hate on those who ship this, but fanon Killermare can be a lot more than what it is now and I hate that it isn’t.

[shoyastars]

Villain Mistin au

Where Mistin was ‘convinced’ to stay as a villain by their ex girlfriend, somehow making it to the point they’re both Fiancé’s. However Ray seeing them on the street after years of searching, he decided to make his move.

His plan was simple, they can fall for him or Binary Star… but one problem… they’re fiancé didn’t seemed to like this, and not in a, “don’t steal my future partner” for example… it seemed more predatory, as if they were going to try everything they can to convince and control Mistin, not to get with him.

It clicked, she wasn’t just using them… they were also trying to get into Mistin’s older brothers good graces. He was known to have a healing ability… but as much as they’re brother can heal…. He can also hurt…. And kill…. They’re brothers ability was unclear in how it works to Ray, the NAHA is still pondering whether it’s a good idea to find and capture alive or kill on site.

However Ray’s problems were not connected with the NAHA, it was with Mistin’s ‘fiancé’ and how they’re practically brainwashed into thinking they love her. So the new plan was to get them out as soon as possible… out of the relationship, out of the soon to be ‘special day’ even if it seems wrong, he won’t stand by while they see Mistin look miserable without knowing they’re miserable.

Getting to know them is easy, growing closer to… however, taking off the red tinted glasses? Not so much.

Will Mistin be able to take off those glasses and see the signs in front of them? Or will they simply cut Ray off for they’re future ‘Partner’?

We’ll probably never know….

And that’s all the details I think I’ve shared for this lol! Anyway I’m kinda interested in others oc’s villain au’s I wanted mine to be kinda slow burn, yet like super reasonable as to why Mistin doesn’t just get up and leave. Because I did mention before they’re ex girlfriend was very manipulative and controlling, she even resorts to violence if she sees she’s not going to get her way… in this au, they’re more ‘convincing’ than ever, she still resorts to some kind of violence if not given her way, however I believe that is enough you want to hear about her.

——————————————————————————

Possible questions

——————————————————————————

Why isn’t Mistin with double?

Mistin always saw him as a friend, they never really saw him as dating material when growing up. More like a third brother to them type way. The way they look out for him and help him out when being messed with by the older kids. They didn’t know he thought of them in such a different way, until he eventually told them.

Does the toxic fiancé/Girlfriend have a brain wash ability?

Hm, I’m not too sure… that would seem too easy, so I’m going to say no, I haven’t really thought of the ability because they’re in the main story was someone of the past who changed they’re personal take on a relationship, the person who only saw their relationship as beneficial than actual love. Mistin feelings were never returned because it was never real. Mistin wanted to be loved… not used…

How come they aren’t so aware in this au?

They didn’t think they’d be able to find someone better, also… they’re self worth was beaten down many time in their times being a villain. Meanwhile with Ray they’re slowly regaining they’re self confidence again.

How did Ray become aware of Mistin’s family?

Oh come on, I’m sure Ray took background checks on us.

Will we get a fanfic of the au?

Depends if when i finally get the Ao3 writing done, I might consider making it. It might go more in depth with my characters and possibly mention more upon what relationship Mistin and their ex have from then to now. It will include a toxic relationship, an unhealthy dynamic between her and them. Maybe even exploring more family lore behind Mistin.

That’s all! Have a lovely day, afternoon, or night wherever you are!

The next chapter of The Star Hero & The Misty Crook will come soon.

Next chapter is called…

Is It Really You?

[starrylayle]

dead boy detectives season 2 (and possibly season 3..) predictions

ok i know that dbda has not even confirmed a season 2,,,, but a girl can dream. So here's all the things i want to see in this hypothetical season 2:

Finding Niko!! there are a lot of speculations that she didnt actually die and was saved by sprites (due to that lucky charm the walrus man gave her). And i hope this is true!! And if it is, i'd like to see they boys, crystal and possibly jenny getting wind that shes not alive and go on a rescue mission,, meanwhile niko is experiencing supernatural shenagians of her own.

Speaking of Jenny,,, more of her please. Love our goth butcher lesbian father figure and i want to see more of her. Also i want her and the night nurse to fuck. it would be so good. i literally ship them so much and they've barely interacted lmaoo.

I want charles and the cat king to have a one night stand. I dont care how it happens i just want it to happen. And i want charles to find out and get jealous :)))

Justice for monty!! I kinda hc that he tries and to break free from Esther's control and finds his own place. Maybe he calls on the cat king for help. Maybe the cat king is annoyed at first but slowly warms up to this crow boy. maybe he teaches him how to shift from creature to human. and one thing leads to another.....

I want Charles to have a sexuality crisis.

Edwin going on little gay ghost dates. possibly a new secondary love interest for him and jealous charles???

More of Edwin and Charles' times at school!! I wanna see flasbacks, how they were like when they were alive, their friends (or lack ther of..) and family dynamics. And for charles, i want to see how his cultural background and mixed heritage played into his life.

More slowburn of charles and edwin please.

Charles and edwin accidental and drunken kiss scene. Escaalates charles sexuality cris and edwin's gay pining.

I realised I havent mentioned Crystal yet, but i want lots of exploration on her too!! Her dealing with the effects of having her memory back, trying to right her wrongs, interacting with her parents, etc.

Oooh also idk if anyone else wants this, but i like the idea of crystal meeting the boy whose body David possessed and getting to know him better. Maybe they could even become an item!! It would be jarring but pretty interesting.

New characters (+possible secondary love interests??)

Pretty much it for now... but this show is slowly consuming my life so there will probably be a part 2 lol.

[kijosakka]

TD Alenoah AU, where Noah came from a messed up family like Alejandro did... When Noah was a kid, Noah's parents became divorced and Noah's mother took the sisters, while leaving Noah with his ambitious father (because the mother grew to resent anything male)... Noah's father wanted to take advantage of the fact that Noah was a genius to make Noah a scientist or something and get rich off of him... Noah's father pressured Noah to study hard all the time, to go to a great college and earn the love of his father... The father would sometimes even make Noah stay up late at night studying until Noah knows everything perfectly (which is why present teen Noah gets tired so easily)...

When Noah was finished with elementary school, his Aunt (from his mother's side) and Uncle came to visit Noah and they were horrified at how his father was treating him... Noah's father got thrown in jail and Noah's mother refuses to take care of him, so Noah was taken in by his aunt and uncle; they became Noah's true family... The aunt and uncle were very loving and kind and patient with Noah, which Noah is very grateful for... Noah's little cousins look up to Noah and idolize him, while in return Noah cares about them deeply... His cousins are currently 10 and 12 years old girls; they're chaotic, love sports and love having adventures in nature; Izzy and Eva remind Noah of his dear cousins...

Noah had NEVER told anyone this before, not even Owen, because Noah is ashamed of his past... But Noah eventually decides to tell Alejandro (who he was friends with for a super long time at that point), when Alejandro first told Noah about how horrible his family was... When Alejandro heard what Noah went though, he gave Noah a hug! 💔❤️💖

i do think exploring how noah would not only interact with alejandro in this scenario but how it shapes him outside of his canon characterization could be really interesting here.

because, and please take this with a grain of salt i’ve been patiently waiting to take my ap psych class for months and still haven’t been able to, in-universe at least, noahs general Behaviors are kinda just. there?

granted this is narratively because he’s a comic relief character but my point here is that he’s just kinda an asshole. that’s just how he Is. but here it would make more sense for that to be more of a defense mechanism than a facet of personality — leading into how this hypothetical noah would socialize.

^ sticking in a parallel here to alejandro’s family dynamic (the made-up one. in my head.), there might be a general. lack. of it.

i can imagine what with such a heavy push to focus only on academics, noah ended up missing out on having friends and further than that, potentially believing it as normal for a good while; and while he’d come to learn (pre-td) that wasn’t the case, i’d imagine TD would be the first time that notion is ever confronted head-on.

head-on beyond family, of course, imagining that when everything is said and done and he’s under custody of other family he’s rightfully touchy about the subject and prefers to not confront the issue at all — and of course the potential here for noah to lean hard into academics as a kind of escapism since he really didn’t grow up with much else.

not to say he doesn’t have any growth at all, because i can definitely see burnout hitting noah like a semi around his highschool years (not to mention chronic sleep deprivation and years of ignoring bodily cues).

so say his grades slip, and despite being in a better environment he is still terrified of punishment; he’s, for lack of a better term, really fucking stressed out. and through that, some well meaning family member brings up the idea of total drama (seeing as in-universe it’s implied it was more in-line with a talent show and all the contestants believed it would take place on a 5-star resort), and,, to be honest i can see it as possible that noah would read into it as 'we don't want you here' and accept out of reprimand.

circling back around -- total drama is the first proper thing to confront his lack of socialization; while i am a tragic fan of the 'noah got himself eliminated on purpose' theory, i do think it would make more sense here for him to have genuinely not known. Zero Social Skills.

(^ and is furthermore an example of how his childhood shaped him -- he doesn't think he needs to be good at socializing because he's academically smart and that should be enough. that's always been what he's pushed towards, and the standards are logically lower here -- he'd been taught that's all that mattered and while he's learned since then that is objectively false, this is the first time he's being forced to face it.)

anyway i'd imagine he finds eva, izzy, and owen all easiest to socialize himself with because of all their specific personality traits and how there really are no faux pas he's in fear of making (and ofc the parallels he sees with certain cousins and his friends).

post-tdi but especially post-action i think would be when noah also moves on to confronting those issues with his family specifically (bringing up things like his major stresses with academics), leading to him being pulled out of school entirely and doing self-paced online coursework,,, and of course now giving him time to Get A Job.

world tour,, ngl going full au here i do think it would work better if alejandro and noah left off WT as genuinely just friends -- what with the familial traumas and potentially rather heavy themes, i think it'd work better overall for their dynamic to literally just be friends for a while and have it develop into something more later.

also just as a concept i think it would be funny for alejandro and noah, once learning about each others terrible families and being deeper into the healing process themselves to just make the worst fucking jokes ever. most inopportune. izzy laughs along while eva and owen are quite concerned (sticking alejandro into team escope + owen here btw. put that Guy in That Group)

[starcraftt]

Not sure if you'll already have this in your ask box. But please do Ponyboy Curtis please. I know he's your favorite. (He's one of mine as well haha) and I would love to hear you write about him and why he's favorite.

the way i SCREAMED??? YES PLS OMFG OML OML OML TYSM TYSM TYSM YOU'RE NOW MY FAVORITE PERSON DSFH YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYYYYYY

how i feel about him

well im sure most of you all know how i feel about pony ( :3 ) BUT INCASE YOU DIDN'T.

i loooooooooooooooove ponyboy. he's ACTUALLY the love of my life i kid you not. he's jst so . . . URGH. he's so sweet nd childish but somehow has a massive understanding of the world and what it is whilst still proving that he is a child and has the mind of one? he's so idiotically smart.

i love the way he also holds such an admiration for his gang, the older ones, like how he likes two-bit's humor, nd how he's scared of dally because he's 'so real', i love how much he loves sodapop, nd how he doesn't understand darry until he finally looks at his older brother, i love him and johnny's relationship—two quiet children connecting through silence.

he just perfectly portrays someone who is absolutely and obviously smart whilst still being able to live a childhood.

i also love how he's unafraid to be different from his family, not thinking much about how much he likes books when the others don't, how he thinks he isn't able to talk about softer things with the gang mostly because they wouldn't understand it—rather then him being scared they'll make fun of him for it.

i love how he's able to deep dive into the works and strings of the world and his friends—like understanding what dally loved, understanding that two-bit doesn't often face serious things without humor—but isn't able to understand things when it comes to himself.

all the people i ship romantically with him.

johnny cade; golden hour my loves. 🫶🫶 i lOVE them. they totally lowkey kissed in the church but pony didn't wanna write that bc everyone was homophobic in the 60s. 😭😭

i think that's the only one right now, lmfao, but let's just wait until i read that was then . . . this was now, nd we'll talk more.

non-romantic otp

HIM ND TWO-BIT HIM AND TWO-BIT I cANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH I GENUINELY LOVE THESE TWO ( lol ).

i hate how it doesn't explore their relationship much URGH, but i looove what the book does explain. like when two-bit says he'll babysit ( when obviously he's the one who needs to be taken care of :D ) nd they get into that small wrestling tussle, and then the way pony snarks at two-bit about 'bumming around' the curtis house. 🤩🤩

i just love the idea of a dynamic between a teenager who acts more like an eighteen year old then the eighteen year old does.

plus it's fun to watch the difference between a serious person and a person who doesn't take anything seriously. :3

unpopular opinion about him ?!

whoa ! okay okay okay,, hUM.

i have,, whoa,, no ideas. like legit none WAIT lemmie think about this. wait wait wait,, wait. hMMMM. i fr cannot think of the most basic opinion i have that i don't hear a bunch??

lmfao i'm so sorry.

one thing i wish would / had happened in canon

it's kinda weird, but i wish it had extended more on after the events of the outsiders—because i know in the end it shows him being more comfortable with johnny and dally's death, but grief shows up randomly on days? like? there's no way that he wrote the outsiders and then just moved on, having to portray how johnny and dally died with his own words.

having to understand that at a point, johnny did want to die, having to understand that when johnny left, dally had to join him.

he had to write that out, and i just really would love to know how he handled that, if he struggled writing those parts out, if he had to stop writing one day because it was too much, if maybe there was a time he didn't want to continue it—to choose a different topic for the assignment.

author ponyboy is also just so precious to me <3 🫶🫶

last note

TYSM FOR ASKING THIS WAS SO FUN URGH

PONYBOY HAS MY ENTIRE HEART MAN.

[phlurrii]

Sudden, random thought: What’s Meau’s relationship with their parent? I know she’s fond of her brothers (particularly wormy boi), but do they regard Arceus as just a creator/genetic parent or truly as their loving, caring parent?

Been waiting for this one, I actually have a entire comic planned for it after we finish Noe’s arc to really explore it… but for now I get to yap away ;D

Meau in the early days had a great relationship with Arceus, who they vaguely consider a father/mother, but rarely refer to them as such. Arceus kept them back for a good while before releasing them into the world as shown in the timeline. As they needed Meau to be a bit different form her brothers, specifically:

* She needed to understand how raising a life was.

* She needed to have much more complex emotions than her brothers. They can feel, but not to the extent she can. She feels like any of us, with a nuanced, complicated, and deep sense of self. Unlike her brothers and Arceus who are much more limited.

* Social skills, she needed social skills so she was kept behind to socialize with Arceus and develop that ability as well.

So, TLDR, she was the spoiled golden child, Arceus’s favourite creation. Being released into the world and absolutely flaunting it to her brothers she was daddy’s favourite. Creating life and creatures. She was has the most time out into her, she knew it, and she was a total brat about it. However, as she began to live, with all these complex emotions… she began to feel lonely. Talking with her brothers who could only understand so much, and only Giratina really made the effort to understand her and develop his own…But in her own dimension she was by herself, no companion, no one to speak to, no friends.

She couldn’t simply create herself a friend, given they would be aware she created them solely to be her friend and that skewed the dynamic immediately. And if they ever wanted to be on their own or explore elsewhere, Meau would be alone again. Also she was just… a lot older now and creating brand new life and expecting them to just stick with you… not realistic. And she didn’t want to create an artificially perfect friend that would stay with her, it wasn’t genuine. And she needed that authentic connection.

She was all alone, given these emotions and feelings of a normal pokemon that had a much shorter life expectancy, except she was effectively immortal. She began to realize her father kinda… screwed her over on this one. He didn’t know what he was doing in truth as he was inexperienced in the end. She suffered those consequences. She began to sincerely resent Arcues since then and with him very rarely answering her calls for help or just to talk, it just grew more and more bitter till some stuff eventually went down. Which finally caught Arceus attention, but instead of talking with her he just… did something else. Without telling her.

Currently their relationship is still strained, she doesn’t hate him… but she certainly resents him for what he did to her and then didn’t bother to fix the problem. This grew ten fold when she gave birth to Bucket and Arceus never once came to see them, to her knowledge, Arcues never meant his own grand kit and she doesn’t bother with him at all. Family time is mostly just Giratina and, sometimes on a good day, Dialga. She’s… never actually spoken to their newest younger brother. Not on purpose, just never feels like a good time.

But that’s the gist of their relationship! We’ll get some more visuals in Noe’s arc where this’ll all be explained better X3

[chipsncookies]

Have you ever thought of making an Explorer oc or explorersona?

Ok so this is not really my oc or sona, he exists in the show (but I'm sure he's actually different than what i designed so i think this counts as oc..?) recently i made a fan design for gibeon!!

Yes you can tell based on his hair i headcanon he's amethio's father lol.*

I think as a leader, Gibeon is, well he always seem cold and calculating, and he and Amethio are related to Lucius' friends** so he wants his son to continue whatever his/Explorers goal is (assert his right as descendants of Lucius' friends? Money? Power?) meanwhile as a father maybe he cares for Amethio but he's too caught up in his own ambitions that he forgets/doesn't realise his expectations for Amethio is putting pressure on him.

I headcanon he distances himself from Amethio in an effort to not coddle him, because he wants Amethio to grow on his own + not want to show favoritism among the Explorers members***, but he makes sure Hamber reports to him about the boy (we see Amethio communicates with him a lot). Even though Gibeon is not harsh with Amethio - removing him from the mission but did not scold or berate him like i expect a villain team leader would do - Amethio still feels the need to measure up to him. Which is made worse because he's in his emo teenage years (just look at him in the new op)

He doesn't have a good role model, he doesn't have people to confide to (well actually he has Zir and Conia but he doesn't talk to them about his feelings) and the rest of the Explorers are not really friendly with him either so he's kinda stuck, he feels he had no choice but to do things on his own.

I like to think that their family ties will be tested one day, with Amethio questioning if he's really worth to be a successor for Gibeon. Since episode 1 fans have noticed the different dynamics between amethio-explorers and liko-rvt, the former is cold and formal(?) meanwhile the latter is more organic and found-family like, therefore many people speculated amethio will join rvt and find that they treat him better (im in this camp and i want him to sing the pokerap)

*This is mainly based on my interpretation of Amethio's behaviour, how he really wants to get the pendant no matter what, it could be caused by him wanting to gain approval from his father. And during the first Explorers meeting, Amethio was physically present, suggesting he was near their headquarters compared to the others who joined virtually - suggesting closer ties? He's also not afraid of breaking rules by continuing to pursue the pendant even when gibeon officially removes him from the mission and he's not punished for it, compared to how Hamber (the butler) is more strict with Sango and Onyx.

***Also Amethio has his own personal grunts and a submarine meanwhile other members don't really have those (spinel only has a van lol).

**Hamber pretty much confirmed that Explorers have ties with Lucius (they were his friend), and Terapagos had a strong reaction to Amethio specifically??

This turned out really long im so sorry anon I'm obsessed about Explorers especially Amethio but thanks for asking!! 💖💖 I'm pretty sure a lot of these will turn out wrong but it's fun to speculate lolol

[batsplat]

hi bat<3 i feel like you’re definitely not a die-hard fan of the big 3, but for someone like me who’s been watching men’s tennis since the early 2010s, they’re like everything.

so i wanted to ask: out of the big 3 (or big 4?) pairings, which duo do you think is more interesting? like which one feels more worth exploring in your opinion?

i just watched roger’s docu recently, and omg he gave novak a solo moment. not like a story about them, just a montage of novak yelling and screaming on court. then roger went, “this might not reflect well on novak.” it lowkey gave me vale/jorge vibes, not a perfect parallel, but within the big3/big4, they’re the duo that feels the least… connected. and yet, when it comes to tactical and technical richness, they’re at the top. roger’s obviously way more arrogant than vale, like he just doesn’t see novak as special or even interesting. meanwhile, novak used to be that guy who wanted everyone to like him, but now he’s completely over it. over the years, there’s just been this constant low-key, non-vibe-y energy between them. but their matches? they somehow deliver these insane moments at the most unexpected times. at the laver cup, roger said something to novak, and then novak cried.

i’m less into roger/rafa, partly because i’m not a rafa fan, but also because they suddenly turned into this ideal rivalry narrative, and honestly, that kinda freaked me out. i’m slowly starting to understand the feelings between them, though. like, i still don’t buy into the whole “greatest rival” thing because, let’s be real, on both the competitive and career-defining levels, it’s just not that mutual. but yeah, their pairing definitely had its advantages—sorry for saying this, but it’s true. the 2008 wimb F is obviously historic, but if you actually watch it all the way through, it’s not that great. it’s the unpredictable weather that gave it that epic feel.

and then there’s andy/novak, who’ve always been my fave because of their history and the emotional layers in their rivalry. like, when viktor troicki recently said novak was looking for a “big name” coach, my friends and i joked about it being roger, but none of us thought of andy. and then it happened. i still can’t believe it. from my very limited tennis perspective, andy’s kinda feels like a subset of novak’s. i don’t really know what qualities do coaches even need in tennis, and how do they maximize a player’s potential? so i’m really curious to see what they come up with together. their dynamic peaked in 2016, which was also the only time the big4 rivalries genuinely made me sad. so yeah, they totally deserve this heartwarming closure.

okay so first off, I have to confess I get a failing grade as a hater because I read this ask reading ?? eating breakfast with this on

I dozed off to the 2019 wimbledon final last night so idk. this isn't nadal retirement-prompted nostalgia, I actually failed as a hater there too and completely missed his last match happening so like. arrived to dance on the grave a day late. BUT the djokovic/murray coaching news DID awaken something suppressed in me. I'll probably watch the 2012 uso final next just to feel something

anyway, what this does go to show is that for all that I am obviously extremely not a fan of the big three, as a tennis fan it's also not like I can pretend to be completely immune. I grew up watching them!! I remember watching so many of their matches! often with my family! I would argue about them all the time as a fan, whether with my family or people at the tennis club or indeed my maths teacher. I was always rooting for SOMEONE, like I did have an order of preference. and... uh, it should be mentioned that I am also not a complete neutral who just intellectually hated the big three because I thought they were shitty sources of narrative tension. I was a massive murray fan as a kid so I did also just get my heart repeatedly broken by them. we're talking 'cried during murray's speech at wimbledon 2012'... I actually watched the wimbledon 2013 final at the tennis club where I trained and was EXTREMELY smug (and delighted) when murray won because EVERYONE including my coach thought djokovic would win and had been extremely annoying in my direction throughout the experience. but also I have never enjoyed a men's australian open final in my life, except 2012 I suppose. that venue holds nothing but pain and misery for me

so with my biases stated up front, where the big 3/4 rivalries are concerned, I'm basically in the 'anybody but fedal' camp. that one I feel nothing for and its popularity continues to absolutely baffle me. no hate to anyone who enjoys it but I do treat its continued dominance basically like a psyop. idk who's responsible for this or why they're doing it, but SOMEBODY is pursuing some kind of nefarious agenda. call me casey stoner because I've cracked the code. I understand they're both individually rather popular and I suppose in a detached unemotional way I do get how that could happen, but as a unit? idk man. also, EYE am a rivalry enjoyer, but I get very suspicious when too many fans are an enjoyer of a particular rivalry... (or y'know, sometimes you've got rivalries that have a lot of 'theoretical fans' but you can kinda tell they do basically hate one of the competitors involved and will immediately throw them overboard if they have to take a side, which also passes the test.) just shows to me that there's zero edge there. most partisan fans of an athlete hate anyone who is a threat to their athlete, that's just how people are. if there's this little hate then that tells me that there's too little threat which tells me the stakes aren't quite there competitively or emotionally... which tells me that there's no real reason to care. I'm well aware that federer fans used to be more likely to be nadal haters back in the noughties (david foster wallace coming through for me again on that front) and that nadal fans are more into that rivalry than federer fans and that they're both retired now... but still!! if it was a proper fun rivalry, more partisan fans would still be bitter. fundamentally the rivalry is good for both of them in terms of legacy and pr and all that shit and they both clearly agree so it's just... empty

which yeah, so full agree on the stuff you say lol. I HAVE watched the wimbledon 2008 final (and I... think?? must have watched it at the time, I was still pretty young and clearly it wasn't a defining enough experience it stuck in my mind lol) but it's been years by now. so I can't actually reallyyyy speak to its quality and I'm probably not going to rewatch it any time soon. I do also just think it's the most boring match-up tennis-wise... partly this is because my favourite big three playstyle is djokovic's - I love how he moves around the court, I love the compact backhand and the emphasis on counterpunching... the nadal/federer match-up was mostly defined by federer attempting to figure out ways to prevent nadal from bullying his backhand. which I do know is oversimplifying things lol but it's. kinda true. djokovic/federer is the best match-up tennis-wise even if it's a bit one-sided in the biggest moments (which, whatever, that was narratively engaging too)... federer's full artistry against djokovic's precision was just more exciting to watch. then comes djokovic/nadal which is a bit of a counterpuncher-off, like they are quite tactically similar in a lot of ways, extremely optimised baseliners... but that means they were always going to push each other the furthest - they were already half a step ahead of federer in the evolution of tennis and everyone now is obviously basing their tennis primarily on how they changed the game. and, y'know, nadal's biggest rival is djokovic!! I get why if you're a nadal fan, you'd want it to be federer, but well! tough!

and YES yes I ABSOLUTELY agree that federer/djokovic is the most interesting interpersonally because federer was SO arrogant towards djokovic. the worst thing that happened to federer is that he became a pr merchant, like at least being a cunt was INTERESTING. he used to be absolutely dreadful about murray too!! aggressively unpleasant!! but that one was also frustrating because... murray didn't end up surpassing him... (I genuinely have like. traumatic flashbacks to watching their atp finals 2014 match. I don't think my soul ever quite recovered from that day.) but with djokovic!! people used to be so unpleasant about him - and okay, by now unfortunately he's given everyone plenty of cause, but BACK THEN it was a completely different story. it was so much fun rooting for him when the crowds were being horrid to him and he stuck it in their faces... before he did all the boob throwing business - staring icily at them when he beat their hero? hot

and federer was so so snide about the guy... pepperidge farm remembers when he accused teenage djokovic of faking his injuries in 2006

The 19-year-old Djokovic called his trainer multiple times. He had hamstring issues, but Federer thought he was faking his injuries to disrupt Wawrinka’s rhythm. “I don’t trust his injuries. I’m serious. I think he’s a joke, you know, when it comes down to his injuries,” Federer said.

OR in 2009

Djokovic, the No. 3 seed, threw in the towel midway through the fourth set of his quarterfinal with Andy Roddick, trailing 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 2-1. But in pointed comments, Federer, the No. 2 seed, noted that it wasn't the first time Djokovic has withdrawn midway through a match in a Grand Slam. "He's not a guy who's never given up before ... it's disappointing," said Federer, who will face Roddick in the semifinals. "I've only done it once in my career ... Andy totally deserved to win that match." "I'm almost in favor of saying, you know what, if you're not fit enough, just get out of here," Federer added. "If Novak were up two sets to love I don't think he would have retired 4-0 down in the fourth. Thanks to Andy that he retired in the end. Andy pushed him to the limits. Hats off to Andy."

'if novak were up two sets to love I don't think he would have retired 4-0 down in the fourth' ...? what are you even saying

and like, on a moral level I do actually think this is pretty gross and have a massive bone to pick with federer on his whole 'look at me aren't I amazing for never retiring from a match' schtick, which continues to have lasting harmful consequences in this sport. this kind of record isn't heroic, it's just fucking stupid. but also, it's hardly the first time or the last time tennis players accused each other of playing up their injuries - it's very much part of the sport, we've all done it or at least thought it. I am also on the record as being pro beefing with children. and it's very strong set-up for that rivalry, especially given how bloody often djokovic went on to crush federer's spirit! it's better set-up than the payoff, quite frankly

that being said, perhaps my favourite match they played is us open 2011 semis - y'know, the match where djokovic saves two matchpoints in the fifth set en route to beating federer... oh, I suppose that doesn't completely narrow it down!!

ah well!

back to 2011, that match did lead to just some really strong snarking in the press:

Djokovic was honest enough to admit the shot was a gamble – but Federer was reluctant to give him credit even for that courage in a crisis, preferring to regard it as desperate. "Confidence? Are you kidding me?" he said when it was put to him the cross-court forehand off his first serve – described by John McEnroe as "one of the all-time great shots" – was either a function of luck or confidence. "I mean, please. Some players grow up and play like that – being down 5-2 in the third, and they all just start slapping shots. I never played that way. I believe hard work's going to pay off, because early on maybe I didn't always work at my hardest. For me, this is very hard to understand. How can you play a shot like that on match point? Maybe he's been doing it for 20 years, so for him it was very normal. You've got to ask him." Djokovic was in a more relaxed mood. "Yeah, I tend to do that on match points," he said, reminded that it was exactly what he did to Federer last year. "It kinda works."

IT KINDA WORKS jhgjhgjhgkf get him again from me

here's the matchpoint save in question ofc

"someday the little twins will grow up to hear about matches like this" well -

which, I mean, federer's being extremely annoying in press! 'oh I'm above taking risks when I'm down on the scoreboard' says the man who ended up with one hell of a reputation for choking. it's also silly!! sometimes it's worth taking a swing at it!! also psychologically, because you're making things less complicated for yourself!! in individual matches, you won't necessarily be rewarded for your diligence and hard work, just not how anything works you moron. but y'know, this was the REAL federer. by the following year he'd already completely clamped down on this kind of thing and it felt like really djokovic could have also been WAY more bitter about this stuff than he publicly was... but yeah, this I did enjoy

and yeah, I do kinda see the vale/jorge comparison! like you say, federer is kinda... more arrogant, more contemptuous towards his younger rivals, also just more of a sore loser until pr got to him? tennis is infamous for its frosty handshakes, but you compare some of those with how warm valentino generally was when he lost... federer's problem was that he lacked self-awareness and was just so committed to this image of the gentleman's sport, which is why he ended up shying away from all this stuff. the unpleasantness with djokovic was actually like... still fairly late in the game, all things considered, it wasn't even really like 2011!federer to say stuff like that. which does show djokovic was capable of really really getting under his skin! and on djokovic's end, where the jorge comparison very much applies is how much he wanted the people to love him (ik his fans hate this narrative but like,, obviously he did). and how they had all already decided he was the enemy for beating their beloved federer and nadal. I do find it a bit easier to stomach with valentino because he deliberately plays with this stuff, weaponising the crowd and all that, whereas federer and nadal just pretend like it's not happening. (also morally it might be worse to boo at a motogp event because of the danger they're putting themselves in, but practically booing at a tennis match is far far worse - you can actually influence the competitors in a way you obviously cannot in motogp.) but that WAS one of the most interesting storylines in the big three era... djokovic slowly catching these two greats who were always so far ahead of them, however much people didn't want him to, even though he didn't have the love of the people on his side, and eventually managing to surpass them altogether. I do think there's plenty of interesting stuff there!! good groundwork! it's just... nowhere near enough, given how bloody long these guys ended up dominating

on djokovic/murray - MY favourite combination of guys as well, just in terms of how much I actually like both of them. it's an interesting relationship where it's like... they knew each other quite well when they were young, then inevitably grew apart a bit when they were competing for big titles? obviously they were also born exactly a week apart from each other, which is narratively fun. I suppose it's the equivalent to jorge/dani which... actually wait, no, I realise that would assign nadal to casey and certainly not my god. it's a rivalry that's a bit tough to stomach from a murray fan perspective because... I mean, it's not quite 'this is not a rivalry, they always kick our ass' territory... but when I started following tennis as a kid, it felt completely plausible that murray and djokovic would have similarly successful careers. which obviously. did not happen. still remember that kind of controversial 2015 australian open final -

- and, y'know, it's a bit frustrating!! this was the tone of a lot of that era, where you kinda just wanted to take them all aside and tell them. my god. maybe a little bit of feuding is okay, no? but well, it is what it is, mostly they had a good relationship. 2016 was kinda the best of times and worst of times because murray was pouring his heart and soul into scraping all of his potential out of himself, got another slam, year end #1 etc... but it also probably did end up fucking up his body permanently, in the quest to fight djokovic. and there IS something compelling and sad about that, but yeah. still a bit of an old wound as an actual sports fan lol

and yeah, they're two closely related playstyles!! counterpunchers with particularly excellent backhands - and if a wing falters, then it's the forehand. it was lendl coaching murray and getting him to properly go after his forehand, be aggressive enough off that wing, that got him his biggest successes. djokovic's weaknesses are less pronounced and especially these last few years, he's often been lethal as a serve + 1 forehand merchant. roland garros 2023 is a good example of that... murray was the tactician, generally thought a lot on court and had a lot in his arsenal - ofc most famously his excellent lob. djokovic does also have more to his game than just baseline pushing, even if sometimes that involves just spamming dropshots when he feels uneasy. obviously, as can be seen from the slam count, his game ended up being just a bit better... but, well, these are very fine margins. murray's slam count is deceptive, he really was the one guy who could consistently hang with those three year-in year-out. whatever revisionism people try to do now, it really was a big four era

as for the coaching relationship, I'm very curious!! coaching can take a lot of different forms and sometimes there's a bit of a distinction between the... bread and butter coaching, the people who are working with you day to day, and these more high profile gigs where sometimes it really is just localised to specific tournaments. it's all very individualised, depends on the specific demands of the player - obviously, given where djokovic is at in his career, you won't be seeing particularly major adjustments, like murray isn't going to come in and suddenly suggest djokovic revamps his serve, right. (though sometimes players still tinker with this stuff late into careers, especially if they're managing injuries.) given the particular stresses of playing in a match, what an odd experience that is in its own right, sometimes you do just need someone to be observing you, give your game a critical once-over from a little bit of distance. now, admittedly from what I've seen of djokovic's coaching relationships, I do feel like one of the coach's roles in THAT particular camp is also just 'being yelled at continuously during matches'. which...? a little curious if djokovic has that same tone when murray's standing there lmao. also one of the reasons for the yelling is when djokovic feels like he's not getting enough enthusiasm from his box. which... ... uh. I mean. murray wouldn't have been top on MY list for that particular metric. but he can get passionate at davis cup from what I've seen!! so maybe it'll work out

anyway yeah I'll cut it off there lol. obviously I spent half my childhood thinking about tennis and inevitably that involved a lot of thinking about the big four and that means I have a lot of thoughts on them so. basically it's fedole > rafole > fedal as far as I'm concerned. good luck to djokovic/murray in their endeavours, I will be there no matter what