#i would also like to point out that i had other character ideas whose names would make rut less of an outlier

[opal-owl-flight]

can I ask about the poster "agent 3" kids story?

Yes you can and here it all is!! Presenting…

tldr: She comes from a family of big name actors in the industry, and shes been raised from hatching to continue their legacy. Its…a lot of pressure to put on a kid, especially one who just wants to make her (impossible to satisfy) family proud. Despite being surrounded by impossible standards, the fakest friends chosen for her, being given everything she can ever want (except what she really needs), and putting on a hundred masks for everyone in her life for survival’s sake in a cutthroat industry, she chooses to be kind.

more details under the cut!!

Her name is Sariwa, which means “fresh” . Named for her spring green tentacles and as a blessing from her parents that shed stay youthful, beautiful. a hope that she would be seen and be adored (as freshness implies coolness/popularity in sploonworld).

Shes hatched into the acting industry, with both parents being big in the industry. From hatching she was expected, trained to be an actor like her mother is. The media adores them, this “sweet little family”, but no one knows how nefarious everything is when the cameras are off.

The dad is neglectful, disappearing into meetings most of the time. The mom is a helicopter parent to make up for it. Pointing out every flaw that Sariwa apparently has in either performance or appearance. Never giving praise. Except when she performs “well enough” on stage. This instills in the child this need to make them proud. to…to make everyone happy. She becomes someone whose dependent on other peoples’ praise to function.

Shes given everything else, dont get me wrong. Every material thing she’ll ever need. all the big popular “friends” chosen for her. But…shes not allowed to turf. yknow. biggest event in an inkling’s life here in Inkopolis. and shes not allowed to go to school either. shes too busy memorizing lines for adverts or-

The second she turned 14, she was chosen as the lead role for Cuttlegear’s brand new show abt Agent 3. She looked exactly like the legendary hero, according to the sources. All her time went into this project. Thankfully, unlike at home…her co-actors were very kind. Her parents didnt choose for her this time. She was meeting actual people who dont put on masks beyond their job. the actor they got for Cuttlefish, in particular, is a very kind soul, defending her when the directors get too pissy with her performance. (Those are the only people she fears, tbh shes fearful of most authority figures.)

*Cuttlefish is also depicted as kind and supportive in the show. and in most games. Unlike the real Cuttlefish, which is kind of a loony old man who pushes ideas on young inklings. He still gives more support and kindness that 3s dad ever gave, but thats only RELATIVE to how little he gave in the first place. One can only imagine the longing this inspires in the real 3.

Sariwa…since shes hatched shes had to put on an act. Be the perfect little doll for her parents. For the world. But her friends here, they inspired her to…have fun with what shes doing again. To take off the mask (mostly beyond the clock). Breathe life in the character when she can. (But lets be real…shes getting 3 spot on with how many parallels they have with each others lives.)

But what is she beyond the mask, her role? She wasnt allowed to do anything beyond this. She was forced to depend on her abusive parents and their associates. She cant live alone beyond them. Not allowed to turf bc shes “a prim and proper young lady; above such violent drivel that only delinquents participate in”. They gesture to 3, whos one of the faces Squidforce uses in their promotions, and say (ironically.) that she must not become that. Face ripped to shreds and eye mangled.

No one knows they got that from the real war that Sariwa is pretending to show.

The show does its best to be an accurate telling. Child friendly, to a point. Horrifying things still get kept in somewhat. Things that will horrify a child on stage.

If Sariwa is terrified of the props, can you imagine how it was for 3?

————————

And once she realizes all of this. Once she gets out of this situation thanks to Callie, Marie, and 3 themself. Does she feel guilt? Guilt for depicting the horrors in a way that glorifies it instead? A part of a project that aims to make people complacent to the real horrors that churned below?

There is one thing Sariwa feels about 3, that I am aware of rn.

“Im glad, that out of every story I couldve told, Im glad it was yours.”

Just like 8, she sung this tale in her hearts. Just like 8, she used this to break out of this terrible situation, answering the call of the ones who promised her safety. A better life. Like the way she stage broke through that prop in the choreographed Octavio fight, she broke through the influence of those around her.

*She actually went off-script a bit in that scene. After she beat down Octavio, she held out her hand. Mostly to help the actor up. But then, without realizing, she spoke, she spoke of making things better between the nations. That maybe he doesnt have to steal the zapfish anymore.

Her time with the octoling actors, and hearing the stories from the ex-octarians, made her aware and know the fact that theyre people too. The directors kept it in. They knew that if they released this as they have planned it, there will be fuckign riots from the ex-octarians or the Inkling “sympathizers”.

She saw the value this story held, despite the subliminal messaging that she wished wasnt implemented. That she wished she wasnt a part of. She saw that its a tale of hope. A tale that inspires one to become the hero of their own life. A tale that inspires one to make the world a better place.

————————

So she was hatched and raised to make people smile, singing her songs and dancing their dances. Much like the clan singer that was 4, except the tradition is much more healthy compared to industry standard. And she didnt become as mean as the people around her, at least not internally. She put on a mean mask but she felt the void within. When she was given kindness for a long enough time, she put her walls down.

And just like the real 3, she underwent through the horrors of expectations she had to hold up, and trying to make uninterested parents proud. They dont see her as their daughter, shes just a means to an end. She had to wear a hundred masks to survive and it made her lose her sense of identity. She had to be mature, she had to take the shitty behavior of adults who expect her to be like one too. It made her lose grip of who she is beyond this role. Hell, they made her so dependent on their handouts that shes not sure she can exist beyond this hell. Much like how 3 struggles to know a life beyond their duty.

And much like 8, she used the story she was telling to break out and get herself in a better situation. She met with the real Agents 1 and 2 (without her knowledge) and asked. Begged. for help, after her show ended. (3 also kind of pointed the two in her direction. Bc cod knows how horrifying this industry is. Shes lucky she didnt get any of the grosser horrors ~~its bc I didnt feel comfortable writing such topics~~)

And then shes faced with the same problem all the real legends faced. What comes after the end? When the dust clears, what happens next? She wasnt given a damn choice, she wasnt allowed to try to learn things beyond this role. to be beyond an imagined agent 3. a soldier for the screen. who is she now, that shes out of that battlefield?

little does she realize that the real 3s asking the same question for themself.

[maxdibert]

“Sirius killed people-“ so did Snape, supposedly loved Lily but betrayed her location to Voldemort because he was jealous of James actually winning her heart, not to mention convincing Harry the abuse was his fault, nearly giving Neville PTSD to the point where his boggart was Severus Snape himself, being a racist pos to anyone born of muggle parents, and becoming a high ranking member of the death eaters so what? He could protect Harry?

“It’s easier to cry in a Ferrari-“

it’s easier to defend a terrible character and play the racism and eat the rich card when you can’t understand context and inference clues that JK Rowling laid out.

What’s easy is inventing canon. What a load of made-up nonsense, mate.

1. Learn to read. I didn’t say Sirius killed anyone, but he did attempt murder. And he did it because he thought it was funny to torture Severus.

2. There’s no evidence that Severus killed anyone before Dumbledore asked him for euthanasia. This is made quite clear when Dumbledore talks about his concern for Draco’s soul, and Severus immediately questions him about his own soul. If Severus is so worried about it, it’s implied he hadn’t killed anyone before—or at least not in cold blood.

3. Have you even read the books? The only person who knew the Potters’ location was Peter. He’s the one who betrayed them.

4. There’s no evidence he was a racist. First off, equating racism with the concept of blood purity not only trivializes a serious social issue but also makes it clear that some of you have no idea what racism is or its history. The discriminatory dynamics and their foundations are completely different. But anyway, putting that aside, there’s no evidence whatsoever that Severus discriminated against Muggle-borns. The only time he makes a comment is during the incident with Lily—which, conveniently, happens when James and Sirius are sexually assaulting him, and Lily seems to smile at James. I don’t think you can judge someone’s ideology based on a comment made in an extremely tense moment. Canonically, Severus doesn’t treat Muggle-born students worse in class or make comments about their heritage. Nor does he badmouth Muggles. At most, he makes condescending remarks—which, let’s be real, all the characters do, even the “good ones,” because they’re ridiculously patronizing toward Muggles.

5. Severus was literally a double agent and reached the highest ranks of the Death Eaters to, yes, protect Harry. That’s literally why. He’s following Dumbledore’s orders. Like, have you read the books, or are you just pulling this stuff from fanfics? 99% of what you’ve said so far is pure fantasy, mate.

6. Yes, love, it’s actually pretty easy for me to defend people whose actions are a direct consequence of their life circumstances, and whose poor decisions were directly influenced by a lack of opportunities, security, and the violence of their environment. In fact, that’s literally my job. That’s what I do for a living.

Look, I don’t give a damn if you’re a Sirius fangirl. You can love a character while admitting he was a massive piece of crap. I love The Penguin, and there’s no way to justify him at all. Like, it’s fine, you know? You also have every right to feel sorry for him—I’m not going to judge you for that or anything. I’m not invalidating other people’s feelings if they think Sirius’s life was super tragic and feel a lot of compassion for him. Everyone has their own feelings and points of empathy. But that’s not the case for me. I don’t feel sorry for him. There’s no excuse for being an abusive bully with sociopathic tendencies toward someone who was canonically in a position of social and economic disadvantage. If Severus had come from a good family, with money and power—or if Sirius had been someone without a name, wealth, or status—then I’d view the situation differently because they would have been on equal footing. But just like the Black family chose Muggle-borns to torture because they knew they could, Sirius chose Severus because he knew he could. He’s a hypocrite and a piece of garbage. At least Bellatrix admitted her tendencies.

[anticanonsposts]

heyyyyy

can you do sum with the task force 141 going out to train in a BIG ASS field but Yn used to be a cheerleader so she starts busting out handspring’s and the 141 is just flabbergasted

also I LUV YOUR HEAD CANNONS SM

mwaaa !!

ok yes ofc babe, i did make it slightly könig centric, but still included a few of the other guys 

Cw: none?? sfw allusion to sexual behaviors at the end a little bit so a little nsfw

Sooooo

141 gets to the newest training facility and there happens to be a very large open several acre sized field that you can only imagine is going to be used for some horrific suicide runs or drills of some sort

after everyone gets settled, and trained on what they will be doing when recruits arrive the next day you all go out to the field for lunches

you ofc sit with your affectionately named ‘bunk buddy’ König, who you weren’t officially dating because of fear it might negatively affect your jobs but you guys banged like bunnies and he was completely enamored with you

anyways

you’re minding your own business, eating your sandwich, listening to König ramble on about some new obstacle drill he wants to try out when you hear maybe the cockiest out of the 141, Soap, get a little too noisy

‘Mate there is no way you could do backflips on this terrain….My arse soap!!!’ 

clearly the men a few feet away were having a heated debate on each other’s skill sets

getting a wicked idea, you continue eating your lunch, listening to König, tell yourself that you won’t go there, its not worth it

that is until Ghost gets a little too boisterous saying ‘oh you really think anyone here can do that? That would take years of training dumbass’ he was directing his speech towards Soap and Price but he did say ‘anyone here’ 

calmly you ask König if you can show him something cool, and of course he says yes

So you get up and try to remember a combination that you often did when you were younger during cheer practice 

Taking one last deep breath you perform a mix of front flips, back handsprings, twists, turns, you name it before landing dozens of feet away from where you started

when i say it was silent

it was deafening 

peripherally you could see nearly everyone’s mouth completely agape, other than Ghoast whose jaw is clenched out of what you can only imagine is pure jealousy

it felt good, you won’t lie, to be envied, for your skills to be on display

you felt like you were still having to prove yourself, your worth, your skills for the group 

then with a shit eating grin, not looking at anyone else you sauntered back up to König who had stood up at this point, grabbed his hand and started making your way back to the facility

all you could hear behind you were explanations of ‘bloody hell, oh my god, I can’t believe it, eat shit ghost’

‘You truly are a marvel’ könig says looking down at you, shyly grinning

‘Why don’t i show you other ways I can be that flexible’ you reply which makes this man audibly gulp as you skip with him to your room 

hehe i hope this was at least kind of what you wanted (i truly don’t know shit about the other characters lol) 

that being said, my requests are still open <3333

[not-wholly-unheroic]

A Comparative Analysis of Hook’s Ship and Cabin in Popular Media Portrayals

Part 4: Peter Pan (2003)

P.J. Hogan’s 2003 film is full of life and color, and Isaacs’ Hook is likewise a colorful character who, though grounded in reality, most definitely has a flair for the dramatic and a taste for the finer things in life.

Like the other Hooks we have seen thus far, Isaacs’ Jolly Roger appears to be the large stereotypical pirate ship that all children think of, despite the impracticality of a slower vessel in actual piracy. (By this point, I think we should just assume that all Hooks go for form over function when it comes to their choice of ship.) It’s a gorgeous ship, and I do wish we got more close-ups of the outside of this particular Roger so we could see more of what’s going on with all the decorative work on the outside of the cabin and the figurehead, etc. One thing, though, that stands out about this ship is that the mainsail itself has a giant skull and crossed swords on it. This would be completely impractical for any actual ship, as the enemy would see them coming and know they were pirates right off the bat…lending credence to the idea that this ship (and this Hook) may be deeply shaped by the children’s imagination. Then again…what else should we expect of a pirate ship whose name itself is the Jolly Roger?

The shots we get of the inside of Isaacs Hook’s cabin reveal the living space of a man who is accustomed to a decadent lifestyle but not so over-the-top as to be entirely unrealistic. While his beautifully decorated harpsichord is the centerpiece of the room, we also notice that he has several tables, a couch, and a globe.

This is about all we can tell from the in-film shots of the cabin, but some promotional material and a pirate-themed hotel that purchased a few set pieces from the film and set up their own room to mimic Hook’s can give us a few ideas about what the rest of the cabin might look like. (Big shout-out to @annabellioncourt for providing several of these bonus material images!)

In the one promotional photo, there is what looks like a lute, perhaps, in the background. I also love the little detail of the skull and crossbones on the candle stand…and his li’l stripey socks.

Here we can see the full-sized bed with a gun and what looks like it might be an Eton crest over it. (Note that if you pay close attention in Hook’s intro scene in the film, you will actually see that the tattoo on his left arm is an Eton crest as well.)

Isaacs Hook also has a self-portrait in his cabin, it seems…which interestingly has a date on the frame of 1742. This is about the most specific we get with ANY Hook as far as time period goes. This is after the Golden Age of Piracy had really already come to an end, though it’s technically possible he might still have been “Blackbeard’s bosun” depending on his age, as Blackbeard’s career ended in 1718 in a battle off Ocracoke Island, NC. Isaacs himself was around 40 years old when the filming was done, so if we want to assume Hook was around the same age when he came to Neverland and the portrait was done shortly before then, he would have been around 16 at the time of Blackbeard’s downfall. A bit young but…it’s possible if he started his career at sea early. Cabin boys usually started out around age 12 but could be as young as 8-ish on occasion. However…this wouldn’t really track with Hook being an Eton student. Assuming he actually graduated, he would have been at the school until he turned 18. So while Isaacs Hook may have very well been a sailor or even more specially a pirate prior to Neverland…he likely wasn’t a peer of Blackbeard or the other more well-known pirates of the early 1700s.

One last thing that is interesting to me is that in addition to the more standard weapons/tools like chains, guns, and boarding axes that we see in some shots, this version of Hook keeps what looks like an entire small cabinet of various tinctures and powders. At least the one of them which he removes is poison, but one wonders….are they all different kinds of poison? Or are some, perhaps, medicinal in nature or for recreational use?

As a whole, Isaacs’ Hook is, I think, perhaps one of the most realistic portrayals of the character. While there are some highly fanciful aspects to his ship—like the giant skull on the mainsail—much of his personal space has the lavish furnishings one might expect of someone with an aristocratic background without feeling too entirely impractical. Add to that a concrete date on the portrait, and I’d say this Hook is more grounded in reality than nearly any of the others we’ve encountered so far.

[jess-the-vampire]

I love how Philip and Biscuit's dynamic amounts to something along the lines of...

Philip: I live a life of solitude, and my misery and self-loathing know no bounds.

Biscuit: Hi Philip! Biscuit get flower for Philip! Philip happy now?

Phillip: ... Yes, Philip happy now.

biscuit's development is super funny in retrospect, because i created him as a response to this staff we're shown in philip's journal:

and at the time, my assumption was that this was his own palisman, and the fandom and wittebane community wondered if he had one at some point and uh....ate it, which is where the palisman eating idea evolved from (This is given no answer in the show itself).

other creators have some other ideas, like the lovely @captainmera have interpreted it as evelyn's palisman, but the show itself kinda never gave us an answer which i still find kinda strange to this day.

i mean, why show us a palisman at all in this book if we never get to know who it belongs to and why philip was studying it? And it was post-cut too (Since this appeared in KKKOHD and we were told they were informed back in ER), so it can't be entirely waved off as a cut concept either.

I get the impression now the crew didn't think we would care and just thought of adding a random palisman to the journal (Especially given it seems unlikely philip ever had a palisman at this point) , but i prefer it to be more relevant then that if they were going to show us it.

but at the time, since that was where my head was at, i made biscuit as a result, expecting to eventually update him design and name wise, only for that to never happen since the spider staff never got answers.

so i basically made an original character out of what i thought would be an established character?

and because i prefer giving the palisman a lot more personality, and because spiders are typically seen as scary, i figured making the spider actually very cute would be a perfect way of going about it.

Which i guess worked because people tend to love biscuit, i have had people happily draw him, some try and make plushies of him, he's gotten nods even in the wittebane collab, and i think that's cute.

i think deer, horses, ect also do fit philip's character, especially aesthetically, but i do think spiders also quite fit his personality with the weaving of the web, the trickery, and consumption and draining of smaller creatures.

also the duology of Philip in this au being reclused and miserable paried with a creature whose ungodly supportive and a ball of sunshine makes for funny and interesting comics around them. It also allows for philip to have a character that helps him develop in this au and progress as a person, especially in periods where caleb and hunter aren't there. The palisman eater, growing a bond with his palisman.

sorry for the tangent, it's always just funny how we ended up in this position regarding them in the au, cause boy is it quite the evolution

[fan-goddess]

MY ANALYSIS OF THAT AEMOND SCENE IN EP 2

A/N: This is not fully proofread but I hope everything makes sense and that credit has been rightfully given when needed. If links are missing let me know so i can correct any mistakes at all.

DISCLAIMER: Now I would like to start this by saying I will be talking about THE CHARACTER mainly but will mention Ewan and Michelle Bonnard who plays the brothel madam purely most likely in regard to their amazing performances in the scene. Though you bet I will be mentioning the horrifying action some people have been committing at the end of this post. Okay? Now let’s begin!

When looking back at when I made the post speculating who the person holding Aemond in that small scene we witnessed in the trailer it’s now come to light that the woman is the brothel Madame whose name I found out is actually Sylvi.

But still, with that realisation looking back at the earlier points I had made through help of other people on this app in the original analysis of the clip of this scene shown in the HOTD season 2 trailer which I shall link here if anyone wished to go read my first thoughts on this as I will be making plenty references from that post mainly in this paragraph/section. First and foremost, I will say while the lady in the scene being the brothel madame was the most likely given scenario given the evidence shown through the various posts theories and leaks, it is still a sad one. No one should feel the need to go back to their abuser, so to witness Aemond be forced to do that is horrible and frankly uncomfortable to watch even for a short time.

But back to the original post, me and @/anjelicawrites discussed how in that scene it seemed that Aemond was finally directly suffering for his actions in the war, AKA killing Luke even if it was on accident which would lead to the murder of Jaehaerys his nephew. As previously mentioned it looks as though he is becoming something that even he said he would never become as he says to Criston when on the search for Aegon so he could be crowned as the king, as Anjelica mentioned to me, that the two of them were people with morals. So by having Aemond go back to the brothel madam and effectively throw away those morals he insisted he possessed, it shows that even he is not safe and that no one is truly immune to the grief of war and that sacrifices must be made by all to 'get through their hardships.' This idea could also be seen in Alicent and Criston Cole as both are sacrificing once key morals they held about themselves to be with each other. (The showing of that definitely surprised a bunch of people myself included...)

When looking back mentioning the limited shown background of the scene in the trailer clip it appears I was correct when assuming it was a brothel. The room is new to us but when thinking about how Aemond went to far as to go back to the place of his abuser and user her for comfort, is it too a farfetched idea to think that maybe that room he is in is the same one he was in at ten and three when he had his first sexual encounter with the madame? Originally the idea when looking back at season 1 Aemond was that he could've gone to the brothel in order to psychologically hurt himself, as when looking at the damage he has caused to his family physical pain especially with the massive amount of physical pain he's been through already, he may have thought that wasn't a worthy punishment. But in actuality now that we know the scenes context we are aware that the reason he went to the brothel and into the arms of the madame was actually for comfort rather than punishment. Plus, with the reveal that that wasn't the first time there, it further cements this idea that Aemond is slowly morphing into another version of Aegon. Though when thinking of the scenes that'll progress in the future he'll slowly morph into his own person with hints of Aegon imbued into him.

That was all the references to the previous post analysing the scene clip shown in the trailer, so now these next sections shall be analysing the scene from only Episode 2 of this season as I am aware there'll be further references to Aemond being in the brothels later on.

One point which I mentioned earlier but would like to bring up again to talk about is the fact that it is revealed by both Aemond and the brothel madame but mainly by her, that Aemond has visited the brothel and by extension the madame more than that time shown on screen. Now when looking back in season 1 where Aemond and Cole go to the brothel in an attempt to find Aegon, we can see that Aemong is uncomfortable being in the presence of the madame. He does not speak to her, nor does he even manage to keep eye contact with her, instead only being able to really look at the floor as she comments about, "How hes grown..." The reference of that comment she even makes in the scene as she speaks while attempting to kiss him, saying "How the boy has grown into a man." With those words in mind we can deduce that Aemond started going back to the madame after that moment and not before. In my opinion, given what service the madame is providing him with, I believe Aemond began seeing her after Alicents reaction to him revealing that he killed lucerys. In the series they chose to not show team Green's reaction to Aemond killing Lucerys, so for the sake of this argument i will imagine that the same reaction was made off-screen. It is said that hearing the news of what Aemond had done, Alicent paled and cried out for mercy from the mother, while Otto told Aemond directly, "You only lost one eye, how could you be so blind?" This kind of reaction that Aemond receives after killing Luke by accident is not what he wanted to hear. After experiencing that type of rejection when he so desperately would want comfort is probably what led him into the arms of the only other woman he knows who has seen him at his most vulnerable. AKA the brothel madame.

But thanks to the shows decisions to suddenly spring the scene on us we will have no direct idea on why Aemond actually chose to go back to his abuser or when it all started which is annoying but is just something we will need to deal with unfortunately whether we like it or not. I saw a post by @/aemondsbabe where they responded to an ask talking about how sad it is that Aemond was self soothing and finding a form of comfort with the madame, and they made an interest point where they mentioned how 'him going back to his abuser for comfort does draw interesting parallels with rhaenyra and daemon though!' which is actually a really interesting take. As yes, Rhaenyra did go back to Daemon for comfort during the time when her inheritance and her sons legitimacy where called into question especially since Laenor except publicly claiming the boys as his sons did not do much to dispel the rumours. So when facing that challenge Rhaenyra goes to who she knows best, who just so happens to be her abuser. The parallels in this season are genuinely insane and I can't wait to see what other stuff they'll add later on.

Now onto the actual scene itself! One thing that was brought to my attention as I had actually missed it the first time I watched it, is the pouring of the milk the director used to bring us to the brothel scene. At first i had assumed it was just another alcohol, but when it was pointed out to me by another tumblr (The user i cannot remember given that since then there's been a lot of people discussing this aspect of the scene) I cannot help but think even when it is a small thing it adds so much more depth to the scene when you think about it. It adds that extra layer as it brings more to the light Aemonds needs in that scene. Aemond from what it looks like in the scene age regressing himself to a younger point in his life and the use of the hot milk emphasises that. It does not mean Aemond necessarily is attempting to make himself into the age of that of an infant but from parallels i've seen from multiple gif creators, it looks as though Aemond is attempting to go back to the time of season 1 episodes 6 and 7 when he is around 10 years old with both his eyes and without the trauma given to him by Aegon and the brothel. The milk may just be used as a method to get his mind to revert to that younger state. Though I must confess that in some certain fanfics I have read here (I shall not name specifics but they were all delicious) where the milk was used to stimulate the idea of a lactating women, by having the milk be pored onto the breasts and having Aemond drink it up. Though since we did not get a sexual variation of the scene, the only reasoning that Aemonds brothel visits may turn sexual being that when the brothel madame goes to kiss Aemond on the lips he moves away with a noise saying "not here" suggesting either for another time or it could mean he keeps putting off any suggestions for his meetings with the madame to turn into anything sexual. Aemond wants to stay in this childlike mindset for the whole time he's there as that is how he is dealing with his grief and his emotions since he cannot find a way to deal with it in any other way. If he turns the whole thing sexual he looses his outlet which defeats the purpose of it all.

Another aspect of the scene that i want to explicitly talk about which I did actually mention in my original analysis of the clip in the trailer is the positioning that Aemond is in. The position Aemond first was in with his head by the madames curve of her neck actually is a direct parallel to how Alicent holds him after Aegon Jace and Luke presented him with the pink dread and in retaliation to that attempted to visit Dreamfyre and see if she had laid any eggs for him to get his own dragon for himself. I cannot take direct credit for seeing this given that it was by @/emmaziadarcy and their post showing the parallels more clearly than anything I had originally thought about further cementing this parallel for me. This also supports the idea that Aemond in the brothel is age regressing as he's trying to appear himself as being younger while using the madame as a surrogate for Alicent. Just as he does at Driftmark soon as he looses his eye with Alicent, he places his head in the curve of the madames neck therefre showing that its a motherly affection and love he is craving and not something that is primarily sexual as far as i am aware since we have not really been seen anything that directly shows it. As far as i could tell the only real sexual thing I have seen/have seen talked about between these two characters is some boob touching/sucking and some naked hugs/cuddling.

One other position Aemond gets in with the madame is the one that we saw in the HOTD season 2 trailer, which involves Aemond after refusing to allow her to kiss him moving so his head is now on the madams lap and his body is curled into a fetal position close to her. This position is what I discussed in my original analysis post, where i talked about how given with how he was sitting it suggested intimacy bordering even on motherly, which is exactly what Aemond was attempting to achieve by having himself in such a vulnerable state before this woman posing as a motherly figure for him. The rest of that section was me discussing about Alicents reaction to the news of Lukes death and how after killing him, Aemond would no doubt want a comfort for the guilt he no doubt would be facing after being forced to realise that he is the definite reason for the dance of the dragons to kick start. So naturally after not being able to find that comfort with the person who had been most likely to give it to you, you find a worthy enough surrogate. Which in Aemonds case became the brothel madame, the reasoning for as i previously stated earlier, the reasoning for which is unknown.

The fact that even when Aemond has been shown to be Alicents favoured child between her four he is still feels like their are certain things he cannot say or actions he cannot show with his mother, who through season 1 was shown to provide him with affection and favouritism given that he was the only child of hers who felt like hers, is sad and honestly heartbreaking to watch unveil onscreen. Plus as well after reading @/humanpurposes post talking about their thoughts of Aemond in episode two, (the link found here if you want to go read)they spoke about how they found it interesting how Aemond doesn't have many moments with his family even after the death of Jaehaerys, making them think that Aemond fundamentally sees himself as an outsider. This makes sense as Aemond even says that he saw himself as an outsider on the lap of the brothel madame. Ewan says in an interview somewhere that Aemond saw himself as an outsider as a child being the only one at the time with no dragon and finding and connecting with Vhagar who was a dragon all alone. Ewan also says how 'he never really felt that unconditional love from anyone really, maybe finding it in Vhagar who is an older she-dragon or maybe he found it in the madame. In a way he’s just a broken boy needing to be fixed and someone’s going to help him'.

The things Aemond talks about are even similar to that of a child as well, as he attempts to brag about Daemon seeing him as a worthy opponent. Let me remind you he is in the lap of a whore who he has almost definitely needed to pay for to get the service of, and yet he still feels the need to brag and try and impress this woman, similarly to how you would brag and get attention from your mother. He says these before admitting to regret killing Luke and opening up about his sad childhood involving the bullying and how his younger nephew used to tease him. He puts these harsh walls up immediately almost in a strange attempt to remind the madame who she has in her lap. But literally as soon as she reaffirms his beliefs by saying Daemon has a right to fear him, Aemond moves into the second position where he does not need to look at her like he did in the starting position and he himself knocks those walls down by admitting to the things above. He checks he's safe in the environment and then lets it all out to his surrogate. It's these details that do keep me impressed though I am probably just easily swayed when brought face to face with Aemond.

An aspect I noticed from the scene and have yet to notice anyone else talk about this, is that the Madame almost doesn't seem to know how to handle this side of Aemond. In brothels the kind of men who most likely visit are the ones who just want a quick fuck or just any sort of sexual encounter, so that is what the ladies are trained for/expect for. But Aemonds thing doesn't really involves sexual encounters as far as we know. His thing is just wanted the comfort that comes with sex without the sex part. When watching the scene I noticed her facial expressions as soon as Aemond began to divulge in his personal stuff, which to me said that while she knew what she needed to do exactly in the physical side of Aemonds delusion she needed to think on the spot for how she needed to say things for the speaking side. As most of the time the speaking side involved saying what the customer needed to hear which usually involved sexual undertones, but as I press Aemond isn't looking for pure sexual comments he is looking for comforting words that would mimic that of a mother speaking to her beloved child. When he talks of Daemon sending the assassins she is in thought about her words speaking simply so she can get on with the convo, she doesn't look at him when he speaks on that even thought that probably is what she should be doing but as soon as he says something she can focus on talking about such as Daemon being afraid of him she can look at him and say the things she knows he'll want to hear. Which in that case was confirming how he's a worthy foe and how Daemon should be afraid of him. Only this is when she makes the mistake of going with the teachings of turning the conversation sexual as she repeats the similar words she spoke in season 1 episode 9 about how 'the boy has turned into a man', which is just another way of puffing up his ego and making him feel good about himself. Though Aemond deflects this tactic as he wants to stay in the headspace of a different time and changes positions so he cannot see her, yet she immediately moves how he wants her to be and touches him in ways he'll let her. As soon as he mentions Luke she looks shocked and barely moves in an attempt to think of how this'll play out and how she'll need to adapt to this situation. She does not speak out of turn until he speaks so she knows the rules in which she needs to follow and when doing so she'll know what to say to make him a happy customer who will return with more money. Soon as he says his regrets she moves into a more nurturing position and says words that'll make him more happy, saying she's glad to hear he's sorry for his actions which humanises him to himself which Aemond will no doubt have been glad to hear rather than be called all sorts of names from his other family members who still believe Aemond killed Luke on purpose. She pauses again hearing about Aemonds bullying but this is what intrigues me. She says, "I would remind you only that when princes lose their temper, it is often others who suffer." I had to think about this for a minute as to me she's saying how Princes do not get punishments for loosing their tempers but others, which in this case Luke is the one who suffered and even his whole family suffered as Aemond was not their while Jaehaerys was slain in his bed. She pauses before continuing in her words, as she needed to gauge his interest to see if she was permitted to still speak about this topic. But in her next words she just says "The smallfolk... like me" This seems to be the worst wording she could use at that time as she has officially at that moment to me broke the daydream Aemond had about what he was doing by reminding him where he was and who she was. He was in a smallfolk brothel laying on the lap of a brothel madame who was just a smallfolk whore. Not in his chambers being comforted by his mother. I don't even know why she said those extra words as was she trying to day the smallfolk like her suffer? Were there extra words to the sentence the scene just didn't show us? Either way those extra words confuse me.

An article I think will be quite informative to read is linked here, and it details about how sex within the world of House Of the Dragon mainly in this season is used as a form of power. One of the examples they talked about is Aemond which is why I desire to mention it in a special reserved section. The article talks about how we see Aemond using sex as a means of control by going back to the woman who took his virginity as a child after being paid to do so by Aegon. And while we don't see them actually having sex, only the aftermath, it's only then does Aemond admit to his guilt showing it's only after sex that he feels vulnerable enough to utter this. Further more in the post they write, 'He clearly thinks he cannot show this side of himself to his family, so he seeks out someone with no connection to the Targaryens or Hightowers, and seemingly very little influence.' and it makes a lot of sense for this to be the case, especially as she reminds him at the very end of the scene that she is just a smallfolk with no importance who will not allow his secret to be revealed as he could just have her simply killed and not be directly forced to pay the consequences. Another quote from the article that just makes just so much sense for me is this. 'By sleeping with his first sexual partner again, Aemond is also reclaiming a sense of control that was initially taken away from him. His first encounter with Sylvie was nonconsensual (certainly by today’s standards), but by going back to her on his own terms, he ensures that neither Aegon nor Sylvie wields any power over him. Aemond drives the transformation of their relationship, which gives him space to be more than just someone's protector.' THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THEIR RELATIONSHIP!!! HE IS MAKING SURE NO ONE HAS AN UPPER HAND ON HIM AND WITH THE MADAM THAT IS BY USING SEX AS A POWER TOOL!!! I will leave this section with yet another direct quote from the article (please read it it's so informative it really opened my eyes.) 'None of these characters stare hungrily at the people they’re having sex with. Instead, they look at their lovers with a sense of despair, as if the act and who they’re doing it with brings them pain. Yet when they’re over, Alicent, Criston, and Aemond leave these encounters with their backs held a bit straighter, as if, in these hidden encounters, they have regained a sense of control in their lives that continue to unravel under the weight of a war.'

All this next information was provided to me from a post written by @/thephantomphonecase who was answering an ask about how the writers for this season seem to have lost Aemond. I shall link the post here for you to read in full. According to them the possible reasoning as to why Aemond to you may not be acting as his season 1 self is because during production Condal and Hess were replaced by a showrunner from the crown as they missed script deadlines season 2 production from months due to the fact they couldn't finish the scripts in a timely manner. 'The things you are seeing on screen are a jumble of Condal and Hess's ideas patch worked by someone who knows absolutely dick about ASoIaF or the characters beyond what he read in the show bible.' He was also brought in as a sort of fixer to get production back on track and to script doctor Condal and Hess's work on the scripts, so if the characters don't seem to act the way you are expecting them to act or the way they acted in season 1 then it is due to the fact they were rewritten and doctored by a person who the studio paid to take over for incompetent producers and who doesn't know much the characters or the books lore. The reason the ghost showrunner was brought in was because of his experience writing royal family drama and the team green family were based on them British Royal Family dynamics of the Royal House of Windsor, with politically and public relations minded patriarchs and cold detached matriarchs that don't know how to show love included. So while certain scene acting is really great the lore and the characters are off because he doesn't know anything about the characters beyond from what he's seen in Season 1, and read from Condal and Hess's rejected scripts and their show bible.

The performances from them both were phenomenal though overall as it's with these small extra details the actors make that keep me intrigued and watching eagerly for more. The body language the two made when shooting this was detailed and wonderful and was successful in making this scene what it was intended to be. This was not some lovey dovey romantic meet up between lovers this was intended to be disturbing for viewers as they watched Aemond repulse away as soon as the moment became even inherently sexual moving and speaking like that of an exhausted child as that is what he is! Aemond is technically meant to be 17 years old which in this modern day is a child, who has never been taught how to safely navigate through his emotions while also piloting a fucking humongous war dragon bigger than anything ever. He is a child craving his mothers love and Ewan captured that brilliantly. Michelle Bonnard playing Sylvi the brothel madam was brilliant too in her own performance as she nailed the looks the hesitations the way she spoke all of it seemed natural and like how a woman who has been constantly fighting against men bigger than her who say! She is wonderful in being able to hate the character like many other amazing actors who managed to achieve that same task! We know jack all about her yet she has told us so much in such little time it's astonishing! I could not commemorate these two enough!

Now. The bodyshaming. It's disgusting to say the least that those who oohed and awed at his body in season 1 now that his body has been shown nude on camera have decided to do a 180 declaring his body words and phrases I shall not say on here. Ewan choosing to show his body was his choice and from seeing 'High life', another movie Ewan did in 2018 we saw he doesn't mind showing a little skin in front of the camera (a lot more skin in episode 3 i'll tell you that!) Still, by him showing himself off means he is comfortable enough to do that. So by calling him awful names, comparing him to awful things and just being awful cunts means we are betraying that trust Ewan has given us. Ewan could go back into the dark as his mental health could be affected by this attack on his body. Not Aemonds body but his, as funnily enough EWANS BODY IS AEMONDS BODY. I've seen some people saying excuses and that his body is due to CGI work. But since Ewan is a method actor and we've heard nothing of any CGI, I'm gonna say it's probably not been used. It was a deliberate choice on Ewans parts as the idea was brought to my attention by @/feralsaarebas that the choice to go that thin for the role/scene was, '100% a deliberate choice to highlight the sheer fragility of him beneath at all. How he was never able to grow or flourish in his environment and is in a way stunted and malnourished.' and I agree! (Their post linked here as they had other things to say I just didn't add) It is another layer of Aemond Ewan has added which honestly is such an interesting detail people may have missed as they chose to ignore it and instead focus on taking the piss out of him. It's overall disgusting behaviour and it's a horrid thing to have to witness mutuals and those I follow who i thought also adored Ewan make posts denouncing the character and make fun of him. Just because Aemond didn't turn out like how you thought he would, like some sort of daddy dominating bdsm king, doesn't mean you get to shame how he and the script people have decided to go with the characters future breaking your dream about him. It's stuff like this that makes me think about why this fandom has turned so sour so quickly.

I hope people found this post informative and have a lovely day/night. Thank you to all those whose posts I have managed to compile to make this post and to all those who encouraged me to write this. There were so many more I could've probably added but didn't get around to adding/fitting in.

[coffincestuous]

december devlog!!!

the devlog can be found here!!

look at themmm!!! cutie pies!! this has instantly made its way to be one of my favorite pictures of them!! 🥺

the background here is so so pretty!! if it weren’t for the red leaves on the ground and the broken path, i would’ve thought they were in the real world!! idk, maybe they are… maybe it��s like minecraft? lol. i believe this is the tower we saw in the previous devlogs/progress reports, maybe the one with the unreachable stairs, but definitely the one with the handsome fellow:

no andrew to be seen in these pictures, but he’s around somehwere. doing… stuff?

next, nemlei describes the process of creating tcoaal!! copied and pasted:

For a few years before The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, I had been dabbling in making visual novels as a hobby by entering visual novel jams. These were month long jams with no specific goals other than to create a visual novel from start to finish. I entered maybe once a year for... uhhh?? four years? I don't remember, and you don't care. My point here is that it was enough so that I noticed a pattern...

If a jam allowed additional gameplay in the visual novel, the entries utilizing it were often among the most played ones. "Huh." thought little ol' me, and schemed a wicked scheme. The next jam that came around (and I had time to enter) was Nanoreno, and time had come to test my hypothesis.

I only had a month, so I knew from the start the story had to be a "bottle episode", as in the whole story must be contained within one location to save time, and limit how much art I needed to make.

So who were the characters, why were they there, and why wouldn't they switch locations? The easiest answer was the classic "they're locked in and must escape" which is a story everyone and their dog has written at some point. Whatever, it's just a game jam I thought, and carried on.

Then came the characters, at first Ashley was going to be a silent protagonist named Player (yeah, you read that right). I wanted to toy with the idea that players tend to do the most unhinged things when allowed. So there'd be the Player, and one support character whose sole purpose was to spout exposition, and react to the player doing player things. Oh, the humor that would ensue.

There is one small remnant of this idea still in the game. It's at the very beginning when the player wakes Andrew up. He explains something, and "Player" responds with an emoji bubble thing, and Andrew then says "Quit your complaining!" despite the fact that Ashley hadn't really complained out loud. Now, imagine if the entire game was like this........... It would've sucked so bad. I dropped the concept pretty much right away.

This original concept is also why the narrator addresses "you" (the Player), instead of being in pure third person or first person point of view. I did enjoy this game master type format though, so even after making Ashley an actual character, I kept it.

Since Ashley was now a character, she needed to have a story. Cue the whole childhood incident (again, generic, but whatever it's a game jam). This also elevated Andrew to a character status, rather than a mere exposition spouter. Great! Now I knew who they were, and had a story to tell other than "unhinged room escape". (Which is a game I'd still want to play, as long as it isn't made by me.)

This is the first ever sketch I made of the two. Almost final design straight out the bag lol.

This was me still figuring out the UI. I don't remember what was the idea behind having the names off to the side, but thankfully I decided against it.

I drafted rather lengthy character sheets for the duo, as the more I wrote, the more they revealed themselves to be curious little jerks, with a lot going on between them. The story formed almost on its own after that. I knew I couldn't go too in-depth though, as the game jam imposed a hard time limit. So I shelved most of it thinking "well maybe I'll tell this story later on my own time", and left a sequel bait at the end of the story, to give myself an opening to get back to it "one day" that I assumed would never come. And also to give myself time to see if there really even was an interesting story to tell, or if this was one of those "really cool idea!!!"s that emerge out of the blue, but rot away as soon as you sit down to write them. If you're a fellow storyteller, you know what I'm talking about.

Leaving an "in" to continue later is something I've done plenty before. I might very well get back to my other game jam novels one day, which is part of the reason I took them down. For now though, there is no room for such endeavors, as The Coffin of Andy and Leyley must be completed, and will remain the sole priority until then.

Back to my "visual novels with gameplay perform better than pure visual novels" -hypothesis! I entered the game jam with my corny-ass bottle episode organ harvesting edgelord romp, and lo' and behold!!

It did gain more attraction than my other (gameplay-less) visual novels! In fact, it gains enough momentum to leave the visual novel scene. The new influx of people turns my data useless, and the hypothesis goes out the window. So in the end, was it the gameplay that attracted people? Or was it purely the oh, so scandalously unhealthy relationship the duo has? You tell me.

Somehow the game got caught in a shitflinging contest between the self-appointed morality police, and the people sick and tired of being told what kind of fiction they're allowed to read.

Suddenly, life gave me two choices, much like a visual novel would.

Do I take the game down to appease the people telling me to kill myself?

Or do I create the story I already wanted to create and get paid for it?

Boy oh boy, what a dilemma. I contemplated it for all of two nano seconds!

I dug out all the stuff I had shelved, and soon had the draft of the full story all ready to go. I went over it a few times, deemed it to be a lot of fun, and begun production of the full game. Episode 2 released on Steam in October 2023, and The Coffin of Andy and Leyley wrecked havoc across social media! And I thought there was a shitstorm before? HAHAHHAHAHA!!!!

And here we are now.

I want to thank you, my dear audience, for all your support. And I also want to thank the people who tirelessly pissed and moaned about some crappy indie game for months and months and months, helping it gain popularity beyond my comprehension. I would've never, ever gotten this far if it wasn't for you! The kinder thanks goes to the audience though, obviously. Thank you for weathering the storm with me, I hope you'll like the terrible little story you've helped to subsist.

The development continues, unchanged. I can't wait to show you the next episode. It's just awful, I really like it! Hope you will too.

Have a wonderful end of the year,

- The Author of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, Your Least Favorite Person.

[lemon-natalia]

The Locked Tomb Reaction - The Unwanted Guest

it’s taken a while, but finally I’ve been able to get around to liveblogging this! my understanding is that The Unwanted Guest takes place in that period of time where Palamedes is ousting Ianthe from Naberius’s body? so i’m intrigued to see what actually happens, as well as how Muir writes in a new theatre-play format

‘kissing or feeding; we can’t be sure’ haha what the fuck. we’re really going in right off the bat with the surrealist horror here. i had a feeling that Ianthe’s mindscape might be a disturbing place, and apparently i was right

ok so i’m willing to suspend my disbelief that this is just a description for the reader to understand the concept but … does either Palamedes or Ianthe’s subconscious know what a 20th century English butler is?

ohhh my god Ianthe’s in a French maid costume, is this because Palamedes considers it sexy. this is so cursed. once again suspension of disbelief, but do either of these characters know what France is?

i am very much enjoying the dynamic between the two of them here, especially how unimpressed Palamedes is with, well, everything Ianthe 

oooh okay thats intriguing, there’s another person’s voice here. my first instinct is that it’s Camilla, given Palamedes is currently in her body

wow Palamedes’ immediate response to a game of essentially 20 questions is to immediately get philosophical and start a debate about whether the soul can be changed. he sounds like the kind of person who would be absolute hell to play Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit against 

what they’re talking about here is very interesting though. i like the little glimpses we get, primarily through the Sixth and the Fifth, about what academia and science looks like in a world with necromancy. whether the soul can be changed is kind of a big hypothetical in the real world, but in TLT where you can literally summon or ‘consume’ a person’s soul it would be much more directly relevant 

also a very interesting point (at least what I think he’s saying?) from Palamedes here that just because the Lyctors lived for 10,000 years doesn’t necessarily mean that the thanergy powering them is perpetual, it could just be declining very very slowly

okay so the Voice just started talking about ‘Camilla’s idea’, so presumably not her unless she’s talking about herself in third person? it could theoretically just be Palamedes debating with himself? 

Palamedes briefly trying to play bad cop/Ace Attorney and intimidate Ianthe is hilarious 

Ianthe’s insistence that she didn’t murder Naberius because it was his job to die for her anyway is an … interesting perspective

‘she and I both understand that the goal is always worth the cost’ ngl i think Harrow herself would have something to say about that, given she literally gave herself a Claire’s lobotomy in the hope of saving Gideon. it wasn’t so much Harrow who decided that Lyctorhood was worth defeating Cytherea, but Gideon deciding for her 

once again i feel horribly bad for Naberius Tern, whose worst crime was pretty much just being an asshole

hah has Palamedes picked up a cigarette habit from Pyrrha. i’m enjoying the insight into his thought process here given that he generally comes off as knowing more than other people all the time, so it’s nice to see him actually in the process of figuring stuff out 

‘She wandered around like she was the protagonist’ HAH Ianthe i have bad news for you 

aww it’s sweet to get Pal’s view on Gideon here, namely that he thinks she’s smarter than even she gives herself credit for and that he was initially jealous of her dynamic with ‘Dulcinea’ but came to like her anyways

‘My problem was reminding myself you were a child’ ohhh my god the mysterious voice is Dulcinea! i can’t believe this is literally the only time we’ve seen Pal and Dulcinea actually interact. and isn't this possibly the first time that they've had an 'in person' (so to speak) interaction since most of their relationship was sending letters to each other?? oh i am not okay

okayy i’m interested in what Dulcinea’s saying here about how she seems to have died again and ‘something awful’ happened to her soul … it doesn’t seem to totally line up with what happened at the end of HtN, especially with her mention that there are two shores on the River. again everything seems to point to the nature of the River playing a big part in AtN 

woooh Magnus Quinn reference, my beloved 

oooh i love the contrast between Ianthe’s descriptions of her relationships with Corona and Babs - despite Babs being the one who was actually the cavalier, the kind of co-dependent relationship she has with Corona is much closer to the relationship between the other cavaliers and their necromancers. which is why the fact that she’s apparently the only Lyctor to outright murder their cavalier vs her admission that she wouldn’t have used Corona is very interesting to me

‘Coronabeth herself is part of your goal’ i’m very interested in the long-term goal of Ianthe in general. obviously one part was becoming a Lyctor, but i do wonder if she has something else planned, i doubt she’s content to just sort of do what John wants her to do forever

‘Jeannemary Chatur regaled me with the story at breakfast’ woooh Jeannemary reference. also this is such a cute detail

ooooh Palamedes's newfound cigarette habit is from Ianthe not Pyrrha, that's very fun

and Palamedes’ final point here that the soul is permeable is not just very satisfying against Ianthe’s general smugness, but has very interesting implications for all of the Lyctor characters, especially the fact that their titles are named after their cavaliers. for example, how much of Mercy’s devotion originally came from her versus the fact that Christabel pre-Res was a literal nun. and what does it mean for John and Alecto exactly - how much of the same person, or even human, is he after literally eating the soul of a planet

ok this isn’t to do with the Unwanted Guest exactly but i am very concerned by the notice at the very end that ‘Hell Will Break Loose’ in AtN. it already sounds ominous enough without considering that the previous notice, ‘Gideon will return’ at the end of HtN was done in the most painful way possible 

overall i really enjoyed this! what i really like about the additional short stories Muir writes for TLT is that you get to see little character moments and explore bits of the lore that would have dragged the main story down a bit, so it was very fun to see Palamedes and Ianthe interact one-on-one and debate a bit

and now i really have run out of stuff to liveblog about these books rip my sanity

[boneyspades]

GUYS I CANNOT HOLD IT IN ANYMORE I MUST TISM. I MUST RANT. I MUST EXPRESS MYSELF. I MUST GNAW MYSELF OUT OF MY ENCLOSURE

here are some of my Orange side ideas or predictions or whatever. now let me cook chat. (also I'm kinda just making this before the season finale cus Thomas said he was working on it

imma put a cw here for mentions of religion, so if you don't wanna see that then U don't have to read this lmao

ok so imma kinda categorise this in different categories I guess and I'll try my best to be short and sweet about it whilst also kinda just like... explain my reasoning? (edit: I failed. DW I highlighted the main points just in case U don't wanna read all that)

what I think the side represents

what he looks like(aesthetic?)

powers???

personality? what he's gon be like?

what's his intentions??

and idk just other things I think of on the way

What does this fuck head represent in Thomas?

I think this just goes without saying but like imma say Rage or Wrath. I remember these mfs on yt (can't remember the name) saying they predict it was gonna be rage and honestly it would be so fitting.

like fr, Logan literally SNAPPING at Remus cus he wasn't being listened to and his eyes TURNING ORANGE?

Thomas being MAD at Niko to the point where he was gonna UNALIVE THE FAKE NIKO that Remus conjured up to fuck with Thomas?!

THOMAS'S JUST BEING MAD AT NIKO IN GENERAL FOR NOT ANSWERING HIM?!?!

ROMAN AT THE END OF SVS REDUX?!?!?!? BITCH WE KNOW WHATS COMING!!!!!

its just UUUUUGH I WANT THEM TO BE HAPPY BUT I LOVE THEIR INNER TURMOIL

how many stars am I gonna give him in dress to impress (aesthetics??? traits??? idk)

ok so I kinda was not quite sure about this one for a bit but then I remembered the dark sides, Remus and Janus's specifically (and I guess Patton too but like he's a "light" side but just hear me out) have had religion tied into them in some way; Janus kinda being inspired by the snake at the tree of life and even said himself "what am I doing here, am I the SNAKE COME TO TRICK YOU INTO SINNING?".(was gonna get video reference but apparently I can't have more than one video. sucks)

Remus is I guess religiously tied, using alot of religious language to mess with Thomas... like... alot...

Patton kinda just looks like a religious dad whose marriage is crumbling apart. but I think someone said that he also represents his Catholic guilt??? tho I could be wrong, I don't remember, but it fits considering he's literally the opposite of janus.

BUT ANYWAYS..... i think, clothing wise, orange could potentially dress as a priest??? or like a leader of a cult?? think robes and stuff. I mostly think of The One Who Waits from cult of the lamb or even the lamb itself since like... a the leader of the cult-... speaking of lambs. i think everyone's well aware that all the sides have a physical trait of some kind, something they take the form of I guess;

Logan= teacher

Roman= prince

Patton= dad

Virgil= (emo) spider? cat?? idk???

Janus= snake obvi

Remus= a duke and Cthulhu for some reason?

and now hear me out:

Orange= LAMB OR GOAT???!!!

correct me if I'm wrong but lambs and goats have been tied to religion alot (also I saw someone say lamb or goat as well and I think it would be so fucking cool), but if not, I have two other ideas... hear me out...

AN ANGEL?!?!

A BIBLICALLY ACCURATE ANGEL?!?!

NO CUS LIKE THEY LOOK SPOOKY ALREADY, IMAGINE IF LIKE HE WAS JUST OFF PUTTING PHYSICALLY AND PERSONALITY WISE. and also tying with with religion too

and the third, and this one is just cus I like robot characters BUT HEAR ME OUT! a specific genre of robot like GLaDOS from portal, AM from I have no mouth and I must scream (idk I haven't played the game), Cyn from murder drones, deviants in general from detroit become human. what do they have in common? (probably Ive only indulged in 3/4 medias mentioned)

FILLED. WITH. RAGE. OR. JUST. ABSOLUTELY. POWER. HUNGRY!!!!!

I feel like orange would be the mf to try and control all the sides. and just idk the fact that alot of these SciFi robot media have something to do with robots and are just filled with so much anger and hate for someone or people. idk just a silly thing I thought of.

what powers can this little bitch do

ok so I think everyone already knows that the sides have inhuman abilities (cus they aren't human but like anyways) like for example:

they can all shapeshift

they can mimic other peoples voices which I think is THE COOLEST THING EVER

they can I guess teleport??? does sinking down and rising up count as teleporting???

and I guess make Thomas see things that I guess aren't there? bitch idk

but I also do think that the sides all have INDIVIDUAL abilities only they can do:

janus can sense any lies coming from the sides (at least I think so)

Patton can turn into a frog for some reason? is there an explanation for that tho cus like?- (it's cool af tho)

I think Roman and Remus are the only ones that can conjure things up outside the MindPalace correct me if I'm wrong

Remus can give Thomas and the sides hallucinations or intrusive thoughts (cus... yk... that's what he is)

virgil can control SHADOWS?!? WHAT A FUCKING BADASS

Logan can speak through Thomas (like during Moving On part 2)

but what about orange you may ask. lets go over the obvious one first:

the ability to make a side let out any repressed anger I guess?

or I guess make a side get like... REALLY pissed off or something idk

I won't really go in depth with that one cus I think everyone knows that, but this next one I STRONGLY feel for. HERE ME OUT.

POSSESION.

now I think this will be different from how orange used his other power on Logan. BUT. the way I see it, I think that the orange side would have the ability to take FULL control of a side based on how much anger or negative feelings they're feeling, ykwim? and, now here me out, in return, kind of nullifies the effects that side has on Thomas. like for example, say Patton is all angy. bro is mayor of Angyvile. U went into an angy competition and you see Patton? you lost, bitch. anyways, the orange side, would have the ability to just be like possess him like a fucking demon. because of this, Thomas would feel less empathy, emotions, etc, because Patton is basically that. but I feel it'd look alot different than what we saw in WTIT, cus Logan was still in control of himself. but like I want it to look CREEPY AF. MAKE THEM DO SPOOKY THINGS, THOMAS. MAKE THEM LOOK POSSESSED, NOT THAT FUCKING "heh, finally. feels so good to be free 🐺😈💪💔⛓️" NO. MAKE THEM LOOK LIKE THEY'VE GOT SATAN CONTROLLING THAT BITCH. I WANT MORE SPOOKY. I also think he'd use this ability on Logan the most for obvious reasons

personality or something idk

alright so I feel like this one will be alot shorter than my other points, but personality wise... I WANT HIM TO BE A FUCKING ASSHOLE. I WANT HIM TO BE MEAN. I WANT HIM TO BE TERRIFYING, PSYCHOLOGICALLY.

I want him to be SO FUCKING MANIPULATIVE DAWG. i literally think that wrath could be the leader of the dark sides and be the one that makes Virgil (pre AA), Remus and even Janus fall for a fake sense of security whilst also using them for his personal gain and his personal gain ALONE. I want him to be a terrifying side, cus yeah, the dark sides are scary but they've been proven to not be as scary as they seem:

virgil (pre AA) was always seen as scary but even in the episode with Superwoman (aka his first appearance) it's shown that he is easy to manage. and even during and after AA, all he wanted was to protect Thomas and help him. he was just basically misunderstood

Janus is a kinda harder one to explain, but I guess its similar to virgil. all he wanted was Thomas to do something for himself (go to the callback) and practice self care, but because he is the embodiment of Deceit, he kinda just is seen as a purely bad thing. Thomas says it say better at the end of SVS redux.

Remus I feel is alot different. he's a fucking asshole cus he wants to be, he's not all "I want Thomas to just be happy and I want to do what's best for him" NO. he wants to make Thomas's life HELL, or just turn him into a professional people opener. BUT, in DWIT, Logan has proven that Intrusive thoughts can be dealt with and that they're not as scary as Thomas thinks.

I want orange to be so terrifying as a concept that not even Logan can make an argument where Thomas can deal with him. I want him to be so fucking bad that not even Patton wants to be his friend. but like make him a silly guy :) (also I feel like the orange side and Remus would be besties)

what does this bitch WAAAANT

ok so this one will be quite short. but I feel like the orange side would want Thomas to live a life where he takes revenge on the people who have wronged him. maybe try to make Thomas into a professional people opener. that's why I think orange and Remus would get along so well. if rage blinds morality and logic, then Intrusive thoughts can become reality. thats what I think at least. I feel like the orange side would try and trap the other sides and repress them somehow, except Remus and Janus.

ok that's it

[inbarfink]

In regards to Silias Mann, I'm not comprehensively versed in tf2 lore. But in this comic, zephaniah tells Elizabeth to care for his son, which she asks "don't you mean sons?". He clarifies only one brother will be the champion and the other one basically forgotten in a grave outside. So if he considers himself an only son, that tracks with the Mann family's fratricide tradition. Silas might be his brother, who lost.

I mean, I've heard a few variants of the "Silas Mann is Zepheniah's brother who he 'disposed' of already and therefore refuses to acknowledge his existence' theory but they don't click right with me for two reasons:

Silas' only canonical not-Horsemann appearance is at the rightmost portion in the Mann Family Photograph

A photograph which is apparently a Real Physical Canonical Object as of "The Days Have Worn Away"

(We know/assume this is Silas because that rightmost part of the picture was first revealed during the Scream Fortress Horsemann update, when you press on Silas' name on the gravestone)

This picture depicts Silas as a living aged man (or Mann, as the case may be) during Zepheniah's twilight years (with the Administrator already in his service and the twins already adults). So Silas having been killed before the First Administrator Flashback Scene really doesn't make any sense as, like, a basic timeline thing.

(And if we're to assume that this is a ghostly apparition rather than a confirmation Silas was still alive during the mid 1800's... why would he appear so old? If he was Zepheniah's brother that he killed before even meeting the Administrator, he should be a young man?)

2. But more importantly....Sure, Zepheniah will only acknowledge the Mann who will dispose of his brother as his true son but... he does also acknowledge the existence of the 'unworthy' siblings his father and grandfather got rid of on their way to the top. They are not totally forgotten, at least as achievements of the 'True Heirs'

Zepheniah clearly sees the concept of killing your own sibling to farther yourself in life as an inherently noble one, something to brag about and remember. After all, that's why he says it's 'sad' that he was an only son. He wishes he had a sibling to kill as a way to prove himself.

So the idea that he did have a brother and that he had already 'disposed' of him by the time of this scene, and instead of bragging about it in legally non-incriminating terms he decided to outright wipe all traces of this event from living memory.... Well, to me that just feels flat-out Out of Character with the way Zepheniah is characterized in "The Days Have Worn Away"

And, well, something being OOC is a lot more damning to a theory than just lore/timeline inconsistencies in a story whose whole point is "The Lore and Overarching Plot were ultimately meaningless, what truly matters are the characters"

I thought about it for a bit, I think the only explanation that makes sense to me right now is that Silas Mann was not Zepheniah's brother, but instead a distant cousin. The surviving son or grandson of the one of the siblings of Ebenezer or Ezekiel (or maybe even related from someone farther up the family tree?). Since he's more distantly related, he had much less claim over the Mann fortune and Zepheniah might have not been initially aware of him and/or acknowledged him as a threat.... well, at least at first.

(Since he did get buried in the Traditional 'Loser' Mann style according to the Halloween Update and he is the Horseless Headless Horsemann I assume he did not die of natural causes and Zepheniah was probably to blame. It just happened later.)

[ruinofchimera]

Lily’s quick retort wasn’t a ‘hurtful, isolated reaction’ that was otherwise free of systemic prejudice and not indicative of anything deeper, it was emblematic of her classism. She threw his otherness in society right back at him after he did the same to her. You can argue this is no real issue, because Lily’s prejudices aren’t going to get anyone killed, but classism is part of their dynamic from the start. It’s why she’s comfortable scapegoating him for stealing Petunia’s letter, and why she doesn’t consider that he hasn’t got the luxury of antagonising people like Mulciber. Petunia didn’t emerge from the womb looking down on Spinner’s End, she learned it from the same parents who raised Lily. She’s never more Tuney’s sister than in that moment mocking his poverty.

* it’s also relevant I think to point out that JKR has said that many purebloods would also consider halfbloods like Snape a mudblood. Bellatrix certainly doesn’t consider him as one of her kind. He can’t pass as anything other than what he is - he has a muggle name and looks like his muggle father and he’s stuck sleeping in the house of pureblood supremacy. He’s, to use a very clumsy analogy, a mixed race kid who’s been abused by his POC father and has internalised self-hatred. It’s a bit more complicated than saying Snape has political privilege and Lily is the oppressed.

In my defense, I’m a paragon of laziness, which is what kept me from spoon-feeding why exactly Lily’s so-called knee-jerk reaction constitutes participation in systematic class pressure, much like Severus’s slur does. Actually, if I had decided to explain it, I couldn’t have put it better than you did. You nailed it. So while it’s not entirely necessary, I can’t help but offer a few more examples to back up your point.

Sugar-coating Lily’s behavior certainly shows that fans overlook the complexity of classism in the series. Discrimination in the wizarding world isn’t one-dimensional—it operates on multiple levels, with poverty acting as a form of ‘otherness’ that cuts across even pure-blood lines. Rowling actually depicts how deeply ingrained class prejudice is through Ron Weasley. Ron’s pure-blood status didn’t shield him from the bullying he faced due to his family’s poverty. Despite being part of one of the oldest wizarding families, Ron is belittled and looked down upon by wealthier pure-bloods, particularly Draco Malfoy. Classism in the wizarding world operates on a nuanced level, where even pure-blood characters like the Weasleys are subject to scorn from wealthier families. We see Ron systematically oppressed by this for seven books, yet some still believe blood status is the sole axis of discrimination in Wizarding society. Isn’t that curious?

Now, I want to expand on the concept of pure-blood supremacy, which is often simplified in this fandom. As I mentioned in my previous posts, Severus Snape is, in fact, a mudblood in the eyes of the pure-blood elite. The term ‘mudblood’ doesn’t just apply to Muggle-borns; it refers to anyone whose bloodline isn’t considered ‘pure,’ especially those with close Muggle relatives. Severus’s Muggle surname only highlights his deviation from pure magical lineage in the eyes of blood purists, even if he had wanted to hide it. His ‘tainted’ blood status made him just as much a target for discrimination among pure-blood elitists, complicating the idea that Snape had political privilege.

You’ve already covered this topic perfectly, so as promised, I’ve just thrown in some extra fuel to highlight your point.

[codenamethebird]

Okay if we are going to develop the Circe/Odysseus dynamic in Hades 2, they have to go all in. Give me all the drama and murder haha. So Cassiphone is the daughter of Circe and Odysseus, whose name literally means "brother killer". There's a lot of nonsense in her myth, she marries her half-brother Telemachus at one point, but I think they can just ignore that part and keep the murder. Sorry Tele I do this cause I love u!

Random extended thoughts below cut (also trigger warning for some discussions of dubious consent):

Okay I think a lot of Hades fans are hoping that Odysseus is lying about how happily he was with Circe, which I won't pretend I'm not one of them. While I do enjoy a reimagining where Circe and similar characters escape the kind of gross tropes of woman being either the dutiful wife or the vile seductress, I do think Circe being shitty works within the larger themes of the game. How the gods trivialize and are just generally the worst to mortals (and u know, Circe is a god, she's the daughter of a titan).

So while it does pain me a bit for female characters everywhere, for the grander narrative, Odysseus being coersed into having sex with her is interesting. And that producing a child after he left the island is just ripe for drama. While also a bit cartoonish, Circe naming her kid "brother killer" as a sort of curse, dooming poor Cassiphone to her fate is witchy and on theme.

I imagine Cassi showing up in Ithaca after Odysseus dies, so Telemachus is king. And well it doesn't go well as I drew above. I haven't entirely decided what happens after that, but I do know she's wreaked by grief and regret. And while she always had a complicated relationship with her mother, it goes absolutely sour after this, realizing her whole life was to be a weapon.

I go back and forth whether she dies or not, but either way, when Chronos rises, she sides with him against her mom and the gods. And who else sides with Chronos: Penelope and, more importantly, Telemachus. Incredibly awkward family reunions ensue.

But in more serious, I like the idea of Telemachus being incredibly emotionally mature about the whole thing, understanding how Cassi didn't really have any choice in the matter, and trying to reach out and bond with his sister. But Cassi is guilt ridden and constantly avoids him.

I don't think they'd do this, but I think it would be really cool if Cassiphone and Telemachus were the final surface area's mini bosses (like Asterius). And through Meli interacting with them, it allows them to finally get over the awkward murder between them and bond as siblings. And maybe after u fix their relationship, they fight u together as a boss fight, so Meli accidentally made things harder on herself pfft. (And fun angst potential for Mel as she's missing her older brother).

But yeah, other bonus thoughts about my version of Cassiphone:

She's a vegetarian because of the trauma of her mom turning sailors into pigs.

She has pig ears for the same reason, and because it's cute haha.

I didn't really do enough to show this on her design, but I like her having owl feathers, kind of replacing her mom's pelts. I imagine she has a very weird relationship with Athena. So it can both be a sign of respect for her or insult (you don't need to kill an owl to have its feathers, but that's one way of getting a bunch of them).

There's also a lot of interesting ideas to explore with her and Penelope. Penelope being forced to look at an embodiment of her husband's 'betrayal'. But she could also be the one who tells Penelope actually what happened, finally revealing why her husband was so weird about it all and paving the way for reconciliation.

But yes, I've talked about this before, but Hades 2 lacks witch related antagonists for Melinoe. Give me more witches!

[kindaasrikal]

“This, is a soul stone.”

“A…soul stone?”

“Yes. Once a soul leaves its physical form they create a soul stone to keep their…ghost-like form intact. This soul stone is surrounded by the actual projection of ourselves, similar to how a heart is encased inside the body. It cannot be taken out easily. In fact, the only ones who can remove anyones soul stone from their physical projection is the First spinjitzu master, Sensei Wu, Sensei Garmadon, and the consciousnesses of the two realms of the dead. Other then them, not even the person whose soul stone it is can remove it from it’s home, and its no easy task for the ones who can either.”

“…If all of that is true, then how are we both looking at your soul stone?”

“….Unfortunately, my soul stone had faced extreme abuse years ago, leaving it fractured and….weak.”

“Is that why it has pieces floating around it? It looks almost like a planet, surrounded by its moons…”

“An interesting comparison.”

“Ahm…that’s besides the point. Why are you showing me this? If its so delicate that it can almost never be removed from its home, then why would it help us in our mission?”

“…the merge, has shown to create unique consequences over the years. One of such, being the slow return of the Preeminent.”

“What.”

“I can’t explain in too much depth to what had happened, we don’t nearly have that much time and I need to use it sparingly.”

“What are you talking about?!-”

“A soul stone is indeed delicate, Lloyd. So delicate, so precious, that the very existence of a soul relies on it.”

“The..what?..”

“If my soul stone gets into the wrong hands, if it faces too much harm, I will no longer be able to keep it connected and in ‘one piece’ as I have so far. I will be erased from existence, and so will all the knowledge I have so painstakingly collected.”

“…Where are you planning to go, Morro?”

“…A place I should’ve visited years ago.”

——————

Will there be a fanfic of this? Probably not, since i can’t stick to finishing stories.

Anyways, take Morro from an AU i created in my head, theres no other content of it other then half completed stories in my notes/word documents and this post.

If anyone rlly wants me to, i can go more into depth of this AU and give it a name. But for now, all you need to know is that its mainly canon compliant, just with a few changes to the story of Morro and then the actual canon divergence starts during the merge. Some things before that will also be changed to fit ideas i have and things i like, such as the issue with Lloyds age.

Oh, alsooo! Morro in this drawing is still a ghost, but in this AU to differentiate departed ghosts from cursed, cursed ghosts look like how they did in the show and Morro’s og design, but departed ghosts tend to look more like how they did when they were alive (with some differences and yknow, being see- through)

So Morro in this looks like how his Departed ghost form would in this AU

I also realised that the gi itself looks a lot like Cole’s because of the black and orange. Pretend the orange is grey/green/yellow, pls and thank you.

AND MY FAVOURITE LITTLE DETAIL. Look at Morro’s gi and how its folded, see what i did there??

I had fun drawing this with another newly acquired art style, this is also one of my first few times drawing Morro and being happy with it. Turns out i am very picky when drawing characters i like over literally anything else.

[erisweekofficial]

Tonight we're SO excited to celebrate @littlest-w01f! 👀

🔥 Are you a fan of OCs? Want to read about multiple OCs? Anna's got you covered! Her Eris masterlist has several fics you can check out, but we recommend checking out Flames and Darkness, a mulit-chapter story that has us sitting at the edge of our seats.

We dare you to read her Eris Omegaverse week fic ft. Eris getting pegged 🤭

Read more to learn about @littlest-w01f 's thoughts on Eris and what she's getting him for secret santa!

What inspired you to start writing for Eris? And especially for Eris x OC instead of any other ship? I feel like there is so much to Eris that we don't know yet, we've barely begun to scratch the surface of his character. And honestly, from everything we do know about him, he has the makings of an amazing character if he's done justice (And I really hope I do). I feel like Eris is the kind of a character that if you try hard enough, you can ship him with anyone, and it will always make perfect sense. While I was reading Acowar I already was in love with what he could be so I built onto that and started getting fic ideas, some might think that he's lightly OOC in my fics, but he's perfect to me. I ship him with multiple of my OCs, I look at his character and decide what type of person would suit him best and build my character off of that till they are their own person whose sole purpose isn't being shipped with Eris, and sometimes the original reason I shipped them changes and I can see for myself that these OCs I have created always end up being more intimately attached to the character I pair them with as time goes by. I love my pairings cause they are special to me. I put him with many different types of characters and I love writing how he reacts differently to them, he's more cold to some he's a puddle of fluff with some.

What are some of Eris's most misunderstood qualities?

 I feel like we don't really know the real canon Eris at all, because we're seeing things from the pov of the Night Court so there is no reason for him to be his true self with them and it's easy for him to be lumped with "people who don't like/care for the IC" and some people hate him for that while the others love it when there is so much more to him. Obviously many people have pointed out the similarities between Eris and Rhys, but the main difference between them is that we see Rhys from the eyes of someone he loves and cares for that's why we see him giving reasons to his actions, while with Eris we haven't got that yet. Even still, it is clear to see that Eris has a close relationship with his guards and was genuinely worried for them when they were taken. Just because he doesn't care enough for one set of characters, doesn't mean he doesn't care at all. I doubt anyone knows the complete true Eris as of now but I hope we get to.

Can you give me a name for one of Eris's brothers? And also for one of his dogs?

Omg thank you for asking me this, I love names and their meanings, Eris is the damn lady of strife and I think it's all pretty cool. I named the second Vanserra son "Arlin" in one of my fics and will carry it forward for the rest of the fics which means "Warrior", which makes sense to me as after the Heir comes the Warrior. For the puppies, well smoke hounds, the youngest is "Ivy" in my eyes cause she always loves getting tangled up in vines and Eris has to free her every two seconds before she rushes off again to tackle vegetation, and that image in my head is too cute.

You have to get Eris a gift for secret santa - What are you getting him?

A. New. Father! With a ribbon and everything. Talking seriously, I feel like he's never had something cute before so a soft little fox stuffie or something along those lines I HC that Beron threw away any toys Eris had when he deemed Eris too old to play/have fun... That b*tch 😒

[fayevalcntine]

Don't really feel like the whole "Madeleine fucked a Nazi but she was hungry and lonely during the war :(" stuck its landing in the slightest on the show if the writers were trying to point out that she's indifferent to moral dilemmas that plague human existence and would do anything just to survive. For one thing, French women who were deemed collaborators did not all just have consensual sex with German officers, so I fail to see why the writers thought they needed her to have had an encounter like this in order to be ostracized from her community. She also had to survive WW2, so I fail to see why they couldn't have had her agree to tailor for Nazis in exchange for food, or even kill someone out of desperation in order to survive somehow during the war. People did a lot of things they would later regret or in normal circumstances never do in order to survive, so I really don't understand why the writers had Madeleine refer to this 19 year-old Nazi as "a dangerous love" she clung to to survive.

My other main issue with it is namely the fact that Madeleine is, for all intents and purposes, someone Claudia chooses as a companion and hopes that she will one day become romantic with. Claudia in season 1 referred to Lestat as a slaver and likened him to a Nazi when he made his little tailoring joke in episode 7: "Well-dressed tyrants. Where have I heard that before?". The show is so often very overt in its racial commentary and what the Black characters say. So I find it a bit weird that Claudia, who spent the later half of season 1 pointing out Lestat's racist positioning in their household, would now simply disregard the fact that the woman she intends to live with (and hopes to become romantically entangled with) fucked a man whose position in the war was aiming for upholding a literal genocide and white supremacist ideals, and doesn't even seem to care much about the implications of that. It would've been one thing if the show highlights Madeleine's strange interest in Claudia as a negative thing, and had Claudia instead feel resigned to choosing her when there's no one else that would take her as any sort of companion, should they be turned, but it never does that. Instead, Claudia is elated over the thought of being with her and notes on wanting to choose her for herself.

I feel like even the idea of the writing pointing out Claudia's hypocrisy on such topics through this is in overly poor taste because regardless of whether or not her Lestat comparisons are supposed to be taken as gospel for who he is in general, those were still a reflection of her feelings towards her father who abused her and wanted to keep her locked in with him and Louis. It's also very weird that Madeleine's own words even indirectly parallel her encounter with the Nazi soldier to her encounter with Claudia, by naming both "a love" that she will use to survive. Overall the implications regarding the racial commentary on this is a complete misfire to me and a glaring problem for a show that the writers and in return fandom marketed as very socially aware.

[lacerta123]

The way I look at filler is so different because of Gintama, I think. Right now I’m watching One Piece and I’m seeing people recommend skipping all the filler and that’s just so strange to me. I watched Gintama when I was still somewhat new to anime. I learned what filler was from Gintama- when the cast explained the purpose of filler in their own filler episode. So my reaction wasn’t to feel cheated that what I was watching wasn’t the canon story. I felt empathy. Yeah, the anime’s gotta give the manga time to get ahead. It helps that Gintama’s filler was so charming. It’ll be like, “The animators don’t want to animate so here’s the outside of the Odd Jobs place for five minutes while the characters do commentary.” Perfectly acceptable. Amusingly self aware. “The seasons ratings were low so now the whole cast is gonna make recommendations for how to revitalize it in self serving ways.” Brilliant. Couldn’t have asked for more. Gintama filler was always up front about what it was and why. It took advantage of the anime medium to tell jokes the original manga couldn’t tell. Those episodes were charming and eclectic, and were part of the gintama experience for me. And outside of whole filler episodes, what about anime original jokes? One episode Gintoki demands the opening should play midway through the episode because he’s worried the Shinsengumi will become the stars of the show, and he needs to remind people whose names on the title screen. Should I disregard that joke because it couldn’t have been told in the manga? It was funny, and good, and in character for Gintoki. But somebody else wrote it so I should just ignore it? For me, somebody wrote those filler episodes, with a love for the main series. And those episodes are a part of the show- they changed the experience. The Gintama I fell in love with wasn’t just Hideaki Sorachi’s work, but the work of a lot of people, trying to bring the original Gintama to life.

In one piece, there’s filler where Nami and Franky get frozen in a sub together, and Franky offers to breathe fire to get them out. Nami freaks out that he’s gonna melt the ship. It’s a good character interaction and I really enjoyed it. I’m glad I didn’t skip this filler. I think you would lose something if you skipped it. Sure, sometimes filler makes mistakes. A filler arc shows Zoro cutting steel before he’s actually able to in Alabasta. But that filler arc also had a really cool naval battle when up till that point most battles had been on islands rather than between ships. Watching that naval battle made the world feel bigger to me. Maybe I’ll disregard Zoro cutting steel, but maybe there are things I want to incorporate into my own personal one piece.

I’m also a big fan of Marvel comics. These stories really make you throw out the idea that the story you’re reading can only come from one author. Writers and artists change. Different people take turns writing for a character, and all bring different things to the table. But they all strive to write with the spirit of the character. And it’s up to me to decide what the spirit of the character is for myself. If one author adds two things, one I like and the other I don’t, then I take the first thing and disregard the second. I don’t throw the whole thing in the past. And maybe you might think filler is different, because it exists to pad time. It’s not a purely creative endeavor. But it was still made by artists. Maybe it will be bad, but maybe it will have a gem in there that only you could have found. An idea you liked. And I think, that’s enough to give filler a chance.