#idk exactly what the 'Main Person' responsibilities are yet

[damnprecious]

me: is a reliable worker me: has like a decade of experience of different tasks at the workplace me: usually knows how to help less experienced coworkers with things they aren't familiar with or knows who to ask if I don't know me: generally knows what the shit I'm doing at work boss people: hey you're gonna be in charge of your little team of two in this one event me: oh my god no I'm not qualified for this

[chevvy-yates]

Sending out kudos to everyone who has shown their love towards Ryder for the past two years.

I love u all very much and every engagement, be it even just a like, means a lot to me.

I've intended to sorta make a cool post of some older vp of him as of today, September 17th, exactly 2 years ago I have created Ryder,— back then as a supposed supportive character for Vijay, very unsure if I would like him as Ry didn't visually turn out as I wanted him to be in the first place and he never went that way either afterwards — yet I find myself writing those lines instead.

I've accepted his look and his imperfection started to grow on me with each picture I took of him. Unlike my other ocs he went his own way leading me along to discover his personality. That's what makes him so different compared to my other blorbos and has me so attached to him.

I did not plan to make him a raver (he was supposed to become an 80s goth punk, a total different style than he's got now) neither that he would end up with a rogue AI controlling him. Only his name, basic info and the toxic family story was planned right from the beginning but that's pretty much it – Ryder showed me the rest of it.

Within the year 2023 I noticed more and more that Ryder has slowly but surly turned out to be my main character.

He turned out to be the most expressive and photogenic one of them all. I don't see him as the prettiest looking either yet he's my most precious and I love every pixel about him.

He's the one thing in my life I am actually truly 100% proud of.

Almost all my ocs exist because of him. They are his support characters. Without him half of them would not even exist. There would be no Thyjs. Even Garnet exists so Ry can live out his passion (that was not really put into the game but exists as lore: Technoise).

I am beyond happy to have created him.

He helps me in a lot of rather personal ways too I do not need to address here.

I got so much to tell about him (also about my other ocs) yet idk if I should continue or not as I find myself stuck with overthinking about it bc of lack of public response literally everywhere (this excludes private chat talks with close friends). Maybe Ryder's too intimidating (not the first time I would read that), his lore gets overlooked easily, or it's to much (confusing) text.

I cannot make anyone force-like him. Tastes are different. Minority is into others oc lore. Less time to read it all. The list is long. I'm aware of it all.

But I cannot underline it enough: do never hesitate to ask me questions about him. He's on my mind 24/7 and my biggest wish is to get this story out and done some day (whenever it will be) and receive some actual feedback on it what was liked.

Just a tiny detail is enough. <3

Another wish I have ever since I joined the CP77 fandom: that people would go back to comment each other more. We all do have little time for it, we all think "oh no so much text to read", we all are in our own bubbles rarley coming out to explore another bubble within this universe. It takes a lot of effort to do. people do seem scared on top to write anything at all for numerous reasons. I have all those problems as well. But I try to sit down and read the one or other lore chunk others wrote down and give a tiny comment as best as I can to make the creator have a smile on their lips. I truly wish we all would do this at least once a week to one person. once a month would be also fine. But if we don't this fandom will be dead soon enough and all thats left is just liking vp with characters on it we know almost nothing about. And maybe even those characters won't have lore anymore bc people stop creating it.

[storm-and-starlight]

Rodimus and ADHD

I'm gonna start this out by saying that Rodimus having ADHD is something that's been pretty fundamental to my understanding of the character since I first read MTMTE/Lost Light (seriously, I can point you to the exact panel when I went "oh okay this is Canon to me now") but also that I've almost never seen a portrayal that really vibes with how I interpret it? A lot of the fics and fanon I've come across tend to take a fairly... typical view on and portrayal of ADHD where the things that are focused on are hyperactivity and task/responsibility/boredom avoidance, and to me that's not... it's not the, like, the fundamentals of how I read Rodimus and ADHD? It's not the main issues that affect who he is and how he interacts with the world -- those would instead be the impulsivity and the... idk how to phrase it, the "ADHD trauma"? It's really distinct and I'll get to it later.

The impulsivity is fairly easy to get to, and fairly obvious -- the best representation of how it manifests in Rodimus specifically is in the initial description of the Rodpod, where someone (I can't quite tell who from the panel) says "you know what he's like: he obsesses over something, then gets bored" and then it's revealed that Rodimus presumably commissioned an entire ship built in the shape of his own head. That's really what I see as the main ADHD symptom -- the mix of obsession and impulsivity. We see it when he gets everyone to go on the quest, we see it when he tries to chop off his own arm because he thinks it might stop the future from happening, we see it in his plan to stop the sparkeater -- it's basically how he responds to every problem he's presented with, and often significantly more than that, and that kind of impulsivity is very much a noted feature of ADHD. (Being briefly but intensely obsessed with something before losing interest and dropping it is also a really big ADHD thing -- just look at the cycle of hyperfixations that's so common in fandom).

(Also, when combined with his ego, recklessness, and carelessness, you get basically the entire negative side of his personality out of this, which is why I consider it so fundamental to his character -- significantly more so than, say, task avoidance.) (though recklessness, and carelessness are also fairly common with ADHD -- it's related to impulsivity in general.)

The "ADHD trauma" thing is a little trickier to explain: it's basically how I describe the constant awareness that you have screwed the hell up in the past when it's important and you are going to screw the hell up in the future when it's important and hating the fact that it happens and yet also being completely and fundamentally aware that it's something you can never, ever change about yourself no matter how hard you try (because you have tried, in the past, and it has never worked even a little bit). Like, hello, that basically describes my entire childhood and also the lives of most of my friends who also have ADHD. The panel that convinced me that he does have ADHD is the one that basically explicitly describes this, in Lost Light where he and Drift are talking after they return from the Functionist Universe and Rodimus says "Oh, I know what I'm like. That's the trouble. I know exactly what I'm like -- I just can't stop myself," because, like. that's it. that's the experience in a nutshell.

And like, I'm not saying that this is super severe -- he definitely has more self-confidence than is often warranted, but he also does have a lot of self-esteem issues, and I think this is really the root of them: failing, over and over, until you reach the point where you start thinking that it's bound to happen someday and that everyone will hate you for it forever. That's a super common experience with the kind of disability that ADHD is, especially if you don't know you have it in the first place, and that combined with all the smaller traits (the impulsivity, the hyperfixation, and yes even the task/responsibility/boredom avoidance) is what really convinced me that he is an ADHD character.

[liaa--qb]

This might sound overly dramatic, but I'm so sad and disappointed right now because of all those horrible leaks. I know they still might be false, but honestly I believe that save for some details, they are mostly true. There are few things that sadden me the most :

1. Helaemond not being canon. I know that this ship has been controversial, especially among TG, but it really had a lot of potential and was one of my favourite (still is). And I don't care what antis say, there were a lot of hints and undertones in s1 about helaemond, more than for Alicole and look, Alicole apparently becomes canon in the worst possible way. Which brings me to the second point -

2) Alicole being canon. Don't get me wrong. I like this pairing, but it would be much better and more in character if they never acted on their feelings. Not to mention that two sex scenes in ep 1 (if the leak is true) will seem too much and out of nowhere. And to include it in B&C scene with helaena walking in on them having sex right after Jaehaerys is brutally murdered is an atrocious writing decision. F*ck you Condal and whoever is responsible for this.

3) B&C made into a joke. According to the leaks, Helaena won't be given a choice, there will be some upsetting details about getting naked the children and so on..and to have her walk in on her mom having sex with a member of a kingsguard.. Again, f*ck you Condal.

4) Aemond and the brothel madame. Why would he go to the same woman who SAed him when he was 13? And he obviously felt uncomfortable around her in ep 9. And to make him cry while naked in fetal position...I also read on reddit that they will include a mommy kink with breast sucking and whatnot... but this seems way too much and is probably someone's shitty headcanon. At least I hope it is, because if true I'll vomit.

And this is only the first episode. Idk, if this turns out to be true, I'll probably stop watching and it sucks since I really like this universe and was excited about s2. Two years of waiting and for what.. Not only the shortened season but also all this garbage. We'll see in few days, I guess, but I'm not hopeful. Anyway, thanks for reading my rant. I would love to hear your opinion on this.

Ya the way heard about leaks is sooo😂😂😂😂😂😂😭😭😭☠️ wtf they have done 😬☠️☠️

IT'S MY ANSWER FOR ALL QUES LIKE THIS FILLED IN MY INBOX CZ I GOT SAME QUES FOUR TIMES in different ways😅, so I am answering for them all but it's but long

See it's a kind suggestion from me very sweetly that it's better if you are not expecting something high from makers n watching it without any expectations because if we are hating just because they did some ships wrong then acc to that alot of changes were already done since s1, like Rhaenicent , Larys alot of things but we never had problems.

Listen I am kinda sad also but you know what..... be happy because you know Ewan and Phia are shipping helaemond🥰. They acknowledging it , loving it and adding some own elements to this ship is really amazing of them moreover just for a fan service.

Like "do it for helaemond" 😭 they are so adorable. See I knew very well that it's not gonna happen, I had a very less surity and that's how exactly it turned out.

But you know what not a single ship is going to have any good romantic future 😂 either all of them even Daemyra main centre couple is not being done well by the makers. What can you expect for others ?

because I knew helaemond had lit ceslu potential but it has to be done correctly and Ik hotd makers would ruin it or make it bad even if it was shown canon look at Alicole now. So being non canon yet addressed by makers and actors who specially said they would act on it for fan service is a kind of little serve.

To me it's like I won ( but at what cost 😭😅) but also winning well wasn't there on cards ever. Every ship is going to be destroyed by makers. see what they did with Helaegon(ik it wasn't any good already) but like I am crying on leaks ( I thought atleast this s2 helaegon would be done but better for Aegon's sake but no😭)

All ships barely are going to have small amount of time without any romantic bullshit, just in one or two scene then seperating apart n dying 😂☠️ as I said earlier so to me Ewan phia trying their own things for helaemond in background in genuinely a small cake😂. ( Atleast we have some scenes with them, idk if there would be😑😬 not expecting much)

One thing I really hate that you know they gave Juan and Cesare arcs to Aegon n Aemond making their pair up way intresting to watch. I really wish that Helaena was given the same authority or bit of freedom of exploring herself like Alicent. Sorry if someone as strictly religious like Alicent can do it then it was way easy for Heleana. And whole Borgias recreate would have been so interesting to watch.

I wish I could see Helaena scolding, shouting at Aemond for starting all this shit n hating Aegon for being a useless father after b&c. There should be a sense of of cheating or fraud when she sees her mother who claims to be a religious person but doing everything against it while she had to suffer her whole life with bad marriage.

Not seeing her any active is what which annoys me so much.

they gave her dreamer arc for Nothing just being ignored by her important family members.Phia should be awarded for her acting n carrying heleana despite of their dirty writing.

The thing is Helaemond would have been a shock and surprise more fitting for audience, making Helaena active with this part instead of doing Alicent dirty an don't even ask how I am feeling about Helaena catching Alicent and Cole . It was sooo😭🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️😑

And most ironically funny thing is that same thing happened with Borgias, Cesare and lucrezia were not canon initially and never meant for canon, both actors said we will just play into into it but when I rumours started later runners had no choice to make it canon for later season 😂

So never loose hope or stop loving or hyping any of your ship or helaemond I would say because Ryan can pull any stunt any time. The way he is going I don't think he gives much f about book canon, he is doing anything he wants😂😂

So who knows... if he ever liked Helaemond he can pull it anytime 😂(I m not kidding) bcz Alicole fucking specially between b&c since s1 is so ooc I could not even describe. I am not even hardcore FNB fan but they quite messed up Alicole angst and guilt arc which could have been so beautiful. It's so inconsistent with their parts from S1 like what ?🤦🏻‍♀️

And I hate that blood & cheese should have been how Helaena is suffering instead I am afraid whole light will be thrown on Criston/Alicent fucking reveal.

no couple is gonna have any beautiful story so it's kind of better if they are just playing with helaemond behind back.

Atleast there is so much for Helaemond content and on other hand my other ship Rhaemond is literally carried by lil warriors Leo and Eva 😭 on their shoulder with that one scene for all seasons. I never gonna see them interact again😿.

And yes I also hate how Aemond is sent to back his abuser. Like they could have used any other female if they have to show his milf attraction or some kind of guilt kink something but not his groomer. It sucks he is finding comfort in her arms. Like these show runners forgot how all these characters were exactly in season1 bc such changes r so😭

Overall I would say don't leave the show just in terms for ships to be endgame as not a single ship is going to have any happy ending or any romantic drive in HOTD main focus will be on Rhaenyra, Alicent getting depressed and Daemon will be haunted 😭 but still it's your choice in the end😅 I am no one to say anything.

Now I am mainly watching for Aegon & Aemond n how other new entries like Alys, Alyn, Cregan or Addam are gonna introduced ( well who knows if Daeron is also gets his Cameo in the end )

if I am being honest just like the way I started this show after reading book without having any great expectations. It works better that way and may be for Ewanphia Crumbs for few secs if they don't cut their scenes of which I have very much doubt.

( while how I wanna see Ewan phia/Phiwan crumbs on screens in delulu mind😭😭 :

Like this is how I wanted Helaena to jump n beat the shit out of Aemond after b&c n that's how it should be bc that's his brother not any stranger, she had full right to , but there... it's complete opposite :

[passthroughtime]

a kuwagami-related thought i've been mulling over since the start of june, which needs a little preface, so, bear with me a little

it's not that kuwana's and yagami's traumas have affected them the same way, or are even of the one kind. the point kuwana is making, there was a bad thing in their past, and it has changed them irreversibly into the men they are now. (idk, i have seen way too many times how his "we're the same, you and i" line gets interpreted into kuwana being completely delusional about yagami, and if i remember correctly, i've made that same assumption myself, so, no blaming here, been there done that)

kuwana's just trying to appeal to yagami's own experience there, because the latter kinda. treats him like a scumbag he was before, not the person he is now. so, he tells him: there, i'm not the same person, because, as you, i learned from my mistakes. that callout calms yagami's bitchy nature for long enough for kuwana to share his story until the end.

but that's not what i was thinking over, or, not quite that. as they've each had tragedies of their own, where they have played different roles and have had different impact on what eventually happened, their traumas are only the same in the regard of consequences (= putting an innocent person into the most life-threatening situation possible, and how they'll always feel guilty about it though it wasn't their fault exclusively). but that's the main problem when comparing their means of redemption.

yagami's approach to life/investigations/etc is now reactionary. the "i will act if no one else will" kind. some may argue that he tries to prevent things and that's why he gets involved, but... bear with me here.

as emi's fate was something he could have never anticipated, and he did exactly what was expected of him at the moment, his regret is about not delving further until the truth is uncovered. that means, something must happen before for him to get involved (something like waku's death), and so, he gets involved now in the things that doesn't concern him, and stays there till the end, never stopping before all questions are answered and all truths are found out. that's what i mean by saying he reacts rather than prevents.

his fault in emi's death is of not doing enough, or anything, though he didn't have to do more than he did. he was a lawyer. he did his job. that's all he was supposed to be.

while kuwana's approach now is preventive in a sense that he won't do anything that will put anyone in danger. his main goal in all his killings, is to say "hey, there are consequences to your shitty actions, don't do it, at all" though he's been stupid about his means (how would anyone know about his "lesson" if the bodies and his motives have been a secret to others? idk), but whatever. yet, his main focus is to not endanger someone on his own volition. again, let me explain myself here.

mitsuru's suicide attempt is more of kuwana's fault than emi's death of yagami's. that's obvious. but you know the main difference here? he knew about the bullying. he COULD do something about it. that's what made him directly responsible while not being an actual perpetrator. more than yagami in his case, at least.

kuwana's fault is also, as yagami's, in not doing enough/anything, but, unlike yagami, he had the means to stop the tragedy before it had happened. he knew of the risks. so now, knowing there are consequences of each action and inaction he takes, he makes sure whatever he does won't put anyone in danger. (that's a funny take from me, because for the most of the game, yagami argues that kuwana doesn't care about that, but we all know he realises he was wrong about him, eventually.)

yagami and his friends? stop investigating mikoshiba's case (and later sawa's murder), you'll only put yourselves in danger. his former students? no, you don't have to kill anyone, you can even state that i made you help me under duress (nah, i'll still stand with that their cowardice and kuwana acting as a psychopath with them were the only reasons why they haven't gone to the police, though they totally could and had the chance to get away with everything much earlier. kuwana played into their weaknesses if anything). sawa? yeah, the entire thing at plage is a message for her to stay away, how kuwana admits himself.

he feels guilty about RK attacking liumang's hideout because of him. he makes up for leaving yagami alone before, near sawa's apartment, and doesn't do the same mistake when soma finds them, against all odds (he and yagami did everything to not be discovered, kuwana made sure of that), on the boat. he runs as soon as possible when sawa calls him, though it kinda does sound like a trap even at that point; he just doesn't think about anything when he hears her crying (that one is a stretch a bit but. let me have this.). he agrees to meeting yagami in kamurocho when he kidnaps mamiya so he'd let her go (though, leaving his students as a distraction to get away from yagami is a dick move, no arguing here).

the point is, he doesn't want to cause any more harm. that's why kusumoto surrendering herself to the police is so tragic for him and breaks him so bad: he did the thing again. if not for him and his feeling of utter loneliness in his pain, she would've lived a happy life with her child. he doesn't want to admit it, doesn't want her to answer for his mistake, so he says it wasn't a mistake at all. again, kind of shitty, but, the whole thing he has going on is shitty, so here's that.

it's "i will act if no one else will" vs "i make sure i never create a situation endangering other people". the first one is self-destructive, the second one is self-deluding. perfect.

and i've been thinking that it's kind of interesting how they collide here, yagami getting involved even at the cost of his life vs kuwana who doesn't really want someone else to get hurt. that's all their running and chasing, and the reasons behind it, summarised. they both are stubborn, because they don't want to do the same mistake they did in the past, and they clash over it badly, convinced they are the one who does the right thing. it sucks because they are both right here, lol, in the end. or, rather, there isn't really a right answer of what one should do here. or something.

and the other unrelated funny thing that my friend who played JE and LJ for the first time pointed out is that kitakata did the same thing that yagami does at the start of the game: recording the bullying before he decides how to act appropriately. the difference is, yagami is someone from the outside and isn't really accustomised seeing this behaviour on the daily basis, and seeing how sawa acts (or, rather, doesn't) about the bullying (quoting her words: "i knew something was off but i didn't expect this", so, yeah), teachers stop seeing all the little signs as a threat big enough to act immediately. a part of the job, ignoring little signs is a means against burnout, or something like that.

kitakata has a concerned student nudging him to look closer (and he does). sawa has a help from outside, never intending to act before she saw the recording (and she is instantly involved into helping here). yagami does his job, the only task he was instructed to do here, and at a perfect moment (he is a complete outsider and doesn't see high school drama happening daily).

kitakata isn't that lucky, when sawa and yagami do the same job that kitakata does on his own. so, all three situations are completely different, and no one here is the biggest asshole, though all three of them can paint kitakata as one.

[bereft-of-frogs]

Ok yes, I did a rewatch of the back half last night while waiting for the neighboring nightclub to close (they were really loud last night for some reason, I think they might have partially been outside? it was a nice night. Idk but I wasn’t going to sleep until at least closing time, so I watched a star war. or. 3 star war.)

this got SO long (did you guys know there are character limits on text blocks? WHO KNEW) so I'm cutting it

it’s so funny how immune I am to shipping. Totally cold. The High Republic has got me a couple times: Xiri and Phan-Tu's arranged political marriage that turns to genuine love and shockingly Xylan/Cair. (Why does Xylan drive me so crazy and yet this ship gets me EVERY time it comes up. He's the WORST but I love him and his cute husband and their dog. Argh.) Elzar/Avar is like...background radiation, you can't not but it's not like...I'm that gripped by it if you know what I mean? But yeah, I'm sorry, I tried to watch this latest episode through a more romance focused lens and was just left with....no.

There's arguments about whether or not he was being manipulative or genuinely vulnerable, if you really want to read it as genuine that's cool for you, I'm a bit more on team manipulation, because I was really appreciating on the rewatch just how good he is at being the exact kind of person needed to 'collect people.' Kudos Manny Jacinto, his range and the number of characters he's playing in one is so good. With Mae, he's a kind of bumbling smuggler she can feel like she's bossing around and an ally against their distant master (like she was kind of bossy of Osha when they were kids, and in the way might have felt she and Osha were allied against their moms/the coven/the galaxy). With the Jedi he intends to kill, he relishes in being their boogeyman. (I think that's closest to his true face, tbh, because he doesn't need anything else from them but their deaths.) He pushes the exact right buttons with Sol to hit at his emotional weak points (the raw grief from Jecki's death, what he's been hiding about Brendok), and now with Osha he's giving her what she wanted. Someone on reddit actually really nailed exactly what he was going to offer her: belonging, transparency, a way to connect with powers she's always struggled with that neither the coven nor the Jedi seem to have been able to draw out.

(A Sol 'Night' aside before I get back to the latest episode: there really is a good chunk of time after Osha wakes up where we don't know where both he and Jecki are, and I'm more solid that ever in my headcanon that he was getting her out of the main fight, probably instructing her to apprehend Mae, which yeah is dangerous but not 'Sith' level dangerous, and sit tight or head back to the ship, especially because then the first thing he does when he's back in the fight is order Osha and Yord back to the ship. Checkmate, Qimir, you ass.)

Okay, so, I want to note the exchange where Osha lists off that he's killed Yord and Jecki and he deflects because ow. Two things: 1) he's not even objectively right in what he's saying, 2) huge red flag that he...really doesn't see them as people, and only focuses on what they can *do* for Osha.

1) His response to her bringing up Yord is something like 'yeah and he totally would have turned you in' which is outdated information, my guy. Yes, he did think Osha had killed Indara but...it wasn't an unreasonable conclusion to draw. Osha had motive (if she was bitter Indara advocated for her training to stop), means (training), and opportunity (she had a day off and apparently no alibi, it's a bit clunky writing because she says that to a coworker and not Yord but...we have to go with it), and a witness identified her. Literally, once they figure out she's innocent Yord immediately stands up for her (when he follows her in the Temple), and all of their other interactions have been like...sibling-bickering level disagreements, him saying some pretty insightful stuff about facing her past, and trying to protect her in the forest. Justice for Yord, he was totally reasonable in suspecting Osha and was loyal to the end.

As for Jecki....yeah there's NO way of knowing how that would have gone, Qimir, because you killed her! Literally who knows! This was a teenager with a crush on the cool older girl, it could have fizzled naturally, Jecki could have decided that being a Jedi was more important than her feelings for Osha (what Qimir suggests as an inevitability), or it's totally possible that it DOES grow into something deeper and Jecki decides to leave the Order and they go get married or whatever. We'll literally never know, because he murdered her.

2) Which leads to point two: He literally only points out what they can *do* for Osha which I think glosses over the point that...they were people. It doesn't matter what they could have done to or for Osha, he shouldn't have killed them because they were people. He was the clear aggressor in the attack, they were defending themselves. (And you KNOW he had a lot of fun doing it, him being like 'oh I had to' yeah right bro.) They deserved to live just because...they were people. That's it. The response to all of this is 'that doesn't matter...you still killed them.' And I think that encapsulates the exact difference between Sith and Jedi ideas of love. The Jedi ideal of love is allowing these people to exist and grow outside of your ideas of them and what they can 'do' for you. And the Sith love is about usefulness and possession, not loving them as full people who have deep internal lives and can make their own choices. Idk. I've already seen the inevitable 'he has a point though, the Jedi suck because they don't allow people to feel as deeply as Osha, wow', but...what the Sith offer is not real love. Real love would not dismiss these relationships and the weight of their deaths just because they didn't have 'use' to Osha...

Anyway, I don't know how articulate that was, but no, Qimir did not 'have a point' with that scene any more than he had a point about...pretty much anything else. Boooo

Sol and Mae's back and forth on the ship is so interesting, especially trying to pinpoint the moment Sol figures out it's Mae. I think it is when they are talking in the dark. Basically everything after a certain point in that conversation can be interpreted as him poking at her to see if she'll slip up, or could be interpreted as being also addressed to Mae.

I also saw people saying Sol seemed to be taking a dark turn, and I definitely think the episode was meant to get us to think that (get more into Mae's headspace), but at least with the scene where he takes a minute downstairs to lash out and regain composure is pretty classic emotional regulation, I don't see that as particularly out of line. That fight was a huge emotional blow, it makes sense that he needs to go have a moment to feel those big feelings and he does seem to come back more focused. Where he's starting to make mistakes, is letting his feelings of guilt about Mae and Brendok guide his actions. I think he wants the chance to explain himself to her without the Order getting involved but...it's also not a great move to ignore a command to stay put and then disappear.

Another Problem: Bazil is seeing a lot of this without context. My 'Sol gets framed and that's how the Sith goes unnoticed and that's the solve to the how to kill a Jedi without a weapon' going stronger than ever. I think Bazil is going to be a problem if he survives (and they can find someone else who can talk to him without Yord.)

Also speaking of perfectly reasonable accusations, people are being So Mean about Vernestra and her apprentice but...as much as it's going to be a huge tragedy if/when Sol gets framed, it IS a reasonable accusation. Sol is the only survivor of the massacre and has done a couple of pretty shady things. I agree that Vernestra doesn't seem to fully buy it (and may have additional information), but I think in that scene, she's trying to talk herself out of it and running up against the evidence. I kind of liked the Socratic teaching vibes of that scene. Like she could have just said it herself, she clearly knew, and people are interpreting THAT as manipulation (leading her apprentice into making the accusation so she doesn't have to), but...it seemed like a teaching thing.

I also 'get' all the accusations that Vernestra was Qimir's master (his Jedi master at least, there is NO way they'd make Vernestra Sith, and if they did they'd immediately lose a bunch of the book readers, given the state of the subreddit after the episode aired and the theories started rolling out. Including me, if they make Vernestra a Sith I would immediately stop watching.) but: 1) lol that's my girl, if she was, she was probably right to kick him out of the Order, 2) I hope they leave that for a potential second season. Headland said there's 4-5ish mysteries that remain to be potentially explored later, and it's definitely centered around Qimir, so I'm hoping they just don't address it and I can later choose how invested I get in a second season (too late for this one, I'm already invested).

I am still holding out hope that it's a red herring though. That seems like it would have been the perfect time to drop a heavy accusation to Osha and continue driving a wedge between her and the Jedi, but he really lets that hang. I'm holding out hope that in fact he was 'thrown away' by a Sith master. Like he washed out of the Sith like Osha washed out of the Jedi, which would be a nice parallel for them. Apparently we're still missing a cast member? Someone has been confirmed in the cast and hasn't shown up yet, I'm betting they're the real Sith and they're going to come in like, right at the end as a lead-in to a second season focused more on the Sith side.

these are partially just hopes and dreams so I can dodge them trying to do something #Bad with Vernestra, but I also just think there's too much to wrap up in one final episode (not counting the next since it's probably all flashback) to also get into a whole Qimir backstory. I don't think people are going to...love that.....but it makes sense to me to set up a bridge to the second season, while wrapping up Sol, Osha, and Mae's storyline primarily.

I love immediately going back on everything I say 'I'm not going to post theories' *immediately posts theories*, 'I'm going totally offline' *writes essay-length posts on both reddit and tumblr*. What can I say, I was bored and had a lot of thoughts.

tldr: more power to the shippers, hope this doesn't come off as being an anti but I am not feeling it, Qimir is Not Correct, and I'm really holding out hope the lightwhip was just a Vernestra book easter egg like the hyperspace visions reference (which, btw, people are also misinterpreting rip)

[hyperfixingfr]

big fan of your peacock design for Hoagie because idk maybe I’m reading too into it but the show making him a walrus (I think?? Been a while since I’ve seen the episode) just felt like a cheap and lazy “haha fat character” joke

It was actually worse than a walrus, it was a hippo! And yes, you're right. That was exactly the point of him being made a hippo. Big, fat, and hungry.

CW// a bit of some serious criticism of KNDs writing.

Hoagie was a comedic relief character who was supposed to be viewed as mock worthy material, no matter how much it extended to real life bigotry. One of the biggest flaws of the show is the mediocre at best writing. It had good jokes, but that all goes to shit the minute they use other people's harmless traits as a gag. Plus, they were horribly inconsistent. The treatment of Hoagie was horrible and I don't mean that in a, "ohhh no my favorite character is being bullied!" kind of way. That's not how you pick on a character unless you're also intending to give the character severe mental issues and self image problems, which never happened in canon beyond slight hints that he was merely anxious. Hoagie was always portrayed to be this completely oblivious and lacking of response character who you could freely pick on because he never felt bad about the way he was talked about. Not only is that completely unrealistic and taking away his character, but it's also implying that you can just... Say those things to people. And they won't feel a thing.

If Hoagie being mocked in those ways happened to be some sort of emotional arc, I would understand that. But the problem is that, it wasn't. Hardly anything came of it. He didn't even seem to flinch despite him being young and susceptible to a more difficult time handling emotions. A kid his age would be ruined with that kind of treatment. People who were treated like him at his age end up in places I shouldn't even mention right now. And they show clear signs of it. I know they do, because I was one of those kids. Yet, Hoagie really never budged beyond maybe a frown in the aftermath he'll hold for like... 5 seconds. Max. Suddenly, he's over it. Like he's a mature adult capable of handling feelings and understanding that they're wrong and why they're wrong. I wouldn't expect them to go ham on anything, but shit. At least a more accurate response, like keeping his head down and holding a frown the rest of the episode. No kid would hear the kind of bullshit he hears and experiences and does nothing. Children would cry, become sad, get angry. And he's not one to get angry, so it's kind of obvious what he'd do otherwise. Probably more likely to sit in silence than cry, but my point stands.

Absolutely horrible to have done what they did with their writing. Not only did they feed the flirty Asian girl stereotype and the chill motherly black girl stereotype, but they also enforced the idea that healthy but fat people are flawed for their completely normal body. The fat jokes weren't even funny. They could've made fat jokes without bringing down fat people.

And I don't even wanna hear the whole "but it was made in the 2000s" bullshit because I can name five shows that aired before KND with fat main characters that never, EVER made a harmful fat joke. There's a reason why Ed, Edd n Eddy was considered peak comedy and KND wasn't. Because Ed, Edd n Eddy never made derogatory and degrading jokes about completely harmless things like a person's body. And that's with Ed and Eddy being fat! It's pretty simple - the show just... Wasn't well written. The time period has little excuse considering how easily other shows had been funny without their weird mockery. And I'm telling you right now, KND definitely had at least a minor impact on how children viewed fat people. If they didn't provoke the thought in the children who watched, they enforced it with their jokes. Not exactly a great thing to have done.

If you need to put someone down to be funny, you aren't funny. Simple as that. Hoagie could have gotten so much more development if they were being more realistic. This is Sci-Fi, of course he'd still be a human with human reactions. And they could have done so much with it, too. It would have been nice for there to have been a plot relating to his struggle with bullying. I would've loved to see him develop his character... Hoagie and Kuki hardly developed like the others. And I'm reaching to say Abby did because it's far less than the other two.

And really, it sucks. I love seeing fandom interpretations of him because they try to take into account his true character. He's a sweet, nerdy boy who loves to use comedy to cheer himself and others up. He's the pinnacle of empathy development in children (excluding the, uh... Weird misogynistic stuff...). He's such a loveable character but the show really did their best to try and ruin him and his reputation.

Sorry for the long rant but it gave me an excuse to dish out this information. I don't think everyone realizes just how intentional the mockery of Hoagie was.

[mostlyinconvenient]

I've thought way too much about what idw sonic would be like chronologically ten years later, and I fully believe that as the Restoration with Jewel and the new Diamond Cutters becomes more comfortable, both Amy and Sonic probably wouldn't stick around. Like, I think both of them have had to deal with a lot of responsibility (especially Amy), and as they become less needed they'll both want to travel and find more adventures.

It makes sense to me because they feel both developed and restless. Like, they've already grown immensely within their roles to the point where it's more restricting to be a main character at the center of it all than it is to explore the world outside of the main story.

They've grown as their own people and alongside each other, and I just think of all the original people they're the most likely to stick together and want the same things: freedom and adventure.

not necessarily as a romantic couple. I personally really identify with Sonic's aromantic vibe, especially with how he seems fine with close friendly gestures but not romantic ones. Relatable as hell.

(Also, related note: sonic already raised a kid so I think any orphans they meet will probably end up with the Restoration, where they can try to find family and build more of a stable life.)

This also means characters who have yet to have focus in main roles get a center stage. There's a sadness to it as well, with characters like Knuckles and Shadow never really changing positively past where they are. The fact that they're surrounded by people changing and doing what they want would only increase this melancholy. It's like going to a school reunion, and seeing how many people have changed and how many are exactly the same.

Idk. Maybe it's the fact I'm in my own transitional stage right now, but I just have a lot of thoughts about the dynamics of change and how time molds people.

[ca-suffit]

same anon… thank you for your response, i take your point and don’t rly disagree with what you’re saying… the nuclear family analogy is definitely there and i think bc of the time period they were somewhat boxed into this heteronormative dynamic but i still see shades of like a mother/daughter dynamic with lestat and claudia (he “made” her for example, baby traps louis in the book which is seen as a more feminine thing, kind of gives strict helicopter mom to louis’ more “chill dad” vibe) and i don’t see why those interpretations can’t coexist and why that reading automatically “masculinises” louis. there is definitely an issue w this fandom hypermasculinising louis/black men and i would definitely never consider louis to be “the man” in the relationship or whatever. it’s the same with top/bottom discourse when in reality i don’t think it’s that binary. but tbh what i mostly don’t like is when people get into the territory of “lestat weaponises femininity” or arguments that his feminine traits are inauthentic/a facade to conceal his real self being a patriarchal abuser. it feels very terfy and icky considering his misogyny/toxic masculinity is learned but his queerness/femininity is genuine

(context)

I'm glad I didn't scare u off! so much of this fandom (and prbly in general) ppl leave if there's any disagreement in opinions. they only want an echo chamber. it's pointless. idgi. anyway tho.

I kind of got lost whether ur talking about the show or book at a point. between them all tho, I do agree there's multiple interpretations in ways, especially if ur going across *all* of the versions. if it wasn't so antiblack here, we could prbly more easily talk about a lot of things more openly. when ppl shut down one discussion then it puts everyone on edge and we can't talk about much of *anything* else bcuz we aren't even addressing the main thing yet. a lot of this show's fandom issues are that white gays takeover every conversation and aren't interested in hearing about any racial aspects at all, even tho the main character of the show is a BLACK gay man. all ppl want to talk about is lestat and how louis should just listen to him and stop being so "mean" and on and on. it's prbly gonna be insufferable for S3 but I'm trying to avoid thinking about that lol.

"what i mostly don’t like is when people get into the territory of “lestat weaponises femininity” or arguments that his feminine traits are inauthentic/a facade to conceal his real self being a patriarchal abuser. it feels very terfy and icky considering his misogyny/toxic masculinity is learned but his queerness/femininity is genuine"

what the fuck?? well, I do know this fandom has sides to it that are v "phobic" to all of the LGBT community. tbh anne rice's writing about gay men isn't as progressive as ppl think either, so it's rly not surprising some of her fans are fucked up about it. I forget a lot that she wasn't a huge conservative bcuz her writing makes her sound like one sometimes.

but anyway. ppl need to learn all the ways that literally everyone can be a shitty person and for what reasons too. there's rampant abuse and racism in the LGBT community too, from any identity. there's no way to spot an abuser and say "these are the traits of an abuser and these are traits of a victim." lestat is never shown using any of this stuff to avoid accountability for his harmful shit...or weaponizing it?? I haven't seen these posts so idk what exactly they're saying, but based on what u wrote. tbh, as u said, it sounds like ppl just wanted a way to be homophobic and/or transphobic in a dog whistle way. this fandom *loves* doing that shit.

[tea-cat-arts]

(Disclaimer incase some of y’all don’t have the “Honkai spoilers” and “Genshin spoilers” tags blocked: This post will contain some pretty major spoilers from both games. Also this post is more of a repeat shower thought of mine than a proper analysis)

Something I find… disappointing about Mihoyo’s writing is that it only ever seems to be people who are already in positions of power and authority who get redemption arcs, where as characters who were genuinely just forced into these terrible situations will get villainized and killed off.

Examples:

Ei, leader of a nation and a god, hunted down poor and middle class vision holders (technically a minority group) and stripped them of their will or killed them if they resisted, but the story goes out of its way to show us her grief and hardships, which are supposed to make her worthy of redemption

Dr. MEI, main leader of her era, committed way too many war crimes to list here (main one being experimenting on soldiers and sending them to their death without their consent) and defunded or distracted at least two of the leading scientists working on alternatives, but the story frames her actions as noble and a necessary sacrifice

Otto, part of a ruling lineage and leader of a government party, also committed too many war crimes to list here but we’re gonna focus on the part where he kidnapped and tortured children for science, was given a story the centered around showing us his humanity, motivations, and good intentions/ outcomes

Sirin/HoV one of said children Otto kidnapped and tortured, lashes out and attacks the ones responsible for her pain and those who defend them. Killed off

Kevin, literally just some guy pulled off the street who stepped up when nobody else would, took on a task that was way too big for him to handle, watched almost all his friends die, watched as he was powerless to stop the world from being destroyed, and went along with a desperate and incredibly dangerous plan that he hated, but thought was the only way to prevent what he already lived through from happening again. Deemed a monster that has to be killed

La Signora, a young village woman who’s lover died in a pointless war between gods, had her home destroyed, turned her body into liquid fire, and joined the side that was looking to take down the people who caused her all this pain. Presumably killed off probably not gonna stay that way though so we can come back to this one in a couple years

Some potential exceptions to this trend/ less straightforward examples:

Fu Hua and Kujou Sara (arcs handled similarly, so I’m lumping them together). Though they are both technically leaders, they aren’t by any means the one in charge. Their motivations, reasoning, and potential for redemption is established incredibly early on and the story is quick to show us that even though they’re on the bad guy team at first, they have noble intentions. They also spend the majority of their time in the story actually doing the leg work to prove they’re a good guy

Scaramouche. Though he is technically the child of a god, he’s still a parental abuse victim and the story repeatedly puts him in positions of powerlessness and servitude. He also spent the majority of his life living in poverty. Though he hasn’t exactly been redeemed for his war crimes yet, the story is giving him a chance to work for it

The grand sage. Example of a corrupt person in power we actually did get to take down. Though it should be noted that the story frames it as though that power was never rightfully his in the first place

Idk, it’s not enough for me to go and try and accuse Mihoyo of anything, nor am I trying to say that all these stories were handled poorly (and yes, I’m fully aware that a lot of my descriptions were oversimplifications of the canon). It’s just a pattern that I’m side-eying Mihoyo for. A trend that does make me straight up go “hey, Mihoyo, what the fuck-“

Why is every scientist tampering with human biology and evolution depicted as some puppy-kicking lunatic? Why does the story focus so heavily on demonizing their areas of research and acting like those are the problem, not the fact that they’re committing several OSHA violations? I know I’ve ranted about this point before, but I just find it incredibly strange

[catusbeanius]

GUESS WHAT I GOT!!! STITCH LILIA!!!

I had saved up 160 pulls this year just for that card!! (20 single keys, 8 tenfold keys and 1900 gems that i never used) He came home in 80 pulls BD

I also got Ace's Dorm Uniform at 30 pulls and Rook's Dorm Uniform at 100 (I wanted to see if I'd get Lilia's Stitch/Dorm Uniform) So, I'm only missing Cater, Epel, and Ruggie to complete those dorms!! Fun fact, I'm not Rook's biggest fan. BUT WAIT!! I still appreciate his character, dwdw. Time to yap about Rook rq

One interesting thing about him is that he doesn't really fit the NRC vibes, imo. Everyone else is kinda believable to meet. You don't exactly meet stalkers every day. Tbf, you don't meet prince dragon-fae guys every day either, but you'll meet loners with a non-typical family. Ig, by that logic, you could say Rook's hunter/stalker-ness is his unrealistic part, but I feel like it's too major to just brush off.

Same kinda goes with Floyd, but I don't dislike him. Weirdly enough, I probably should hate him because I've been chased around like Riddle is and I hated it.

Hmmmmm....

Oh, also, they (Idr who in particular, I think it was Ridde or Ace) called Lilia horrible to be in an emergency with and I both agree and disagree.

On one hand, I've been in semi-emergencies and hated it when people weren't taking it seriously (mostly bc ik I'd be the one responsible and it feels like they're not respecting my panic smh) but, also, Lilia is a trained warrior. Ofc, they don't know that. Also, I think Lilia has a tendency to overestimate humans. At the same time, I think he's learned enough to estimate them better. I say them like I'm not a person too, smh /j

Completely off topic, but I almost died last night watching the mv for Risky Venus. At the end, they were all facing the right, but Niki was facing the left and it killed me. I wheezed and then I couldn't breathe so I had to cough. Risky Penis almost killed me :'( (I'm pretty sure there's something weird with my lungs, but it hasn't killed me yet soooooooooo)

Anyway, that's all my twst yapping for today. I almost forgot, HAPPY PRIDE!!!!

I will say, though, the main reason I haven't made posts is because I don't have any comments on enstars (I almost got a perfect combo on enthralling theater though!! I also read hot limit and that was crazy) and I've been doing more oc stuff!! Do you wanna hear about it?? Too late, I'll yap rq

Not going too far into detail, but I've been calling it my oc gladiator battles (very misleading name, there's no gladiator battles in sight) and it started bc i watched someone bitch about high guardian spice (in 2024??? crazy) and was mildly inspired to make a shitpost. It has pretty much nothing to do with hgs, but I take a bit of inspiration!! As well as inspo from pretty much everything else I've consumed. I just wanted a highstakes comedy (which negates the highstakes, but it'll still be compelling. idk why I'm pitching this, I'm not doing anything fancy with it) with convoluted stories like enstars (if you don't know enstars, one group is literally a dude in disguise, an assassin, a king, and a chef who might be a cannibal. It's crazy. Another is a dude who lives in the walls, a fanboy, the king's little brother, and a priest. I love them all <3) I've also given them all nicknames which is really funny. So far, I have catboy (Cálictos), organ boy (Corgandry), blueberry headmaster/principal (Prof. Shrub), and goldfishie (has nothing to do with riddle, i just found a bunch of stock photos of fish. also, he has no name. I made him last night) and a couple other conceptual characters like a shady business guy that gives you discounts if you do sidequests.

lmk if you want more yapping about them!! Once again, happy pride!!

[ruiineedsfood]

Ruii's twts OC dump (will be updated)

So in order from top left

Yona Stone

Note : ignore how badly drawn the wheelchair is because i haven't made an updated rendered version hshsh

She's inspired by medusa in greek mythology, I know she appeared like 5 seconds in the disney movie, but like how can i not put such an iconic character??? also, medusa is quite villainy in the mythos, so i feel like it fits the twst theme yknow.

Nickname : Yona , Yonyon

Grade/class : 2-B

Club : Honestly, idk maybe board game or magift

Birthday : she's giving leo vibes idk what exactly but leo 100%

Homeland : Shaftlands in the big city area

Favorite subjects : Alchemy and Defense magic

Hobby : darts, swimming(used to be)

Talent : Good eye in fashion

Favorite food : seafood

Least favorite : beef

Bellaire Witcher

So her inspiration is basically a mix of the cheshire cat and mad hatter. she's a tortured artist, so not exactly based on a disney character i just find it fun to make a very wild and artistic character. now i don't know if i should keep her clover design maybe I'll change it because i gave her a clover bcs i thought it looked cute lmao.

Ruth Burn

I just wanted a fox oc lmao. I thought omg twst doesn't have foxes, and then fellow popped up, and I'm like, welp. So personality wise, Ruth is a very responsible person, but she has a cheeky side that is kinda like ruggie in a way. Her motivations are more social rather than self-preservation like ruggie. i didn't really base her on any character from disney i just knew i didn't want her to be text book cheeky fox character, wanted her to be more of like a normal teen with bits of fox like slyness in her.

Mielin Schoerin and Mimi Schoerin

They're kinda inspired by the twin cats in lady and the tramp. The first two that i designed, actually.

Mielin (dark hair) is the oldest between the two, and she's the most developed character in the cast because i just fell in love with her LMAO. Mielin's name came from a part of a cell in the nerve system cmiiw, so its main job is to protect, and i was like, hell yeah, that name sounds cool. So she's the more mellow twin takes things more seriously than her sister. She's usually seen to be very uptight and awkward by the other students but that's mostly because she's just quite dense with her surroundings. funfact but i like to imagine she's the girl crush of campus bcs i want to give her so much love shhshsb

Mimi (blondie) is the younger one, and i like to think she's the more energetic of the two, but she is more analytical than mielin. Mimi has this aura of being more laid back of the two, but she has the sense of being all knowing of things. kinda like floyd but not as wacky as floyd.

Naima / Zahra (can't decide but im leaning towards Naima)

Honestly, she's my fav design, but i have no clue on her background yet. I'm leaning towards her being a passionate dancer whose roots are from traditional dances from her culture, or i could go the other route of her being an ex athlete or ex idol. since the story i want to tell through her is to be her own self and come to terms with her choices because, like, what if our choices are just not right for us? Im trying to make her into a character that isn't similar to the existing cast in twst, idk im finding myself making her into a jamil 2.0 and im putting more thought into her to not be like that. the disney movie doesn't really have a character that i want to adopt to be her so im still thinking about it.

Melissa (Mel)

so diasomnia's book is still ongoing, i dont have any fixed plans for her involvement with the existing cast yet. but my plan is to make her a race of beings opposite to faes in a sense, since her magic doesn't come from her but the magic of others around her. so, like sucking the life out of them and repurposing it to be her own type of thing. Malleus finds her abandoned in the forest as a young kid with all the magic in the surrounding area gone. She gets adopted, but lilia refuses because she can be dangerous with her inate powers that can weaken malleus and endanger silver since in my head, they found her after lilia took in silver. so they came to an agreement to take care of mel with the condition she stays away from silver and malleus before learning to control her powers. Now, what makes mel okay with this treatment in her head is because she remembers everything from her birth and how her mother abandoned her and stuff so she feels like its normal and devotes herself to Malleus as a guard as a sense of gratitude for letting a monster like her in. Her arc is realizing that she's not a monster that she was made to believe. Instead, she was a neglected kid who wasn't taught properly. Honestly, i just feel really sad about her, and initially, i want her to explore lilia's character since he's one of my favorites but after concocting this i just want to give mel a hug.

Also, her OB-ing would be cool

[boonalina]

My review of ATLA Live Action episode one:

(Keep in mind, at this point I have only seen episode 1 and so this is just my first impression)

Remember, there are spoilers ahead and I seriously think you should watch it yourself before reading any review. Trust me, having your own impression first before anyone else's is way better... Okay here we go:

-----

Review of episode one, first impressions:

I really loved how we got to see what the air temple genocide looked like. It really shows that they're fully aware that the main audience has grown up. I watched it with my sister, her hubby, and my 5-yr niece and we didn't know that it would literally show people getting burned alive, so we had to cover her eyes a lot lol. I loved how we got to see firelord Sozin when he was first declaring war.

I really liked how we got to see monk Gyatsu (having that name in 2024 is sure rough buddy..) actually want Aang to have a childhood before they told him he's the avatar. The bending looks really cool, not slow and cringey like in the first live action movie haha. I thought the way that one air-bender died, the woman doing the air tornado, was fricken BRUTAL. And it's great to see just how far they're going with the onscreen death.

My brother-in-law (sister's hubby) felt really iffy on the fact that Aang can just sort of fly on his own now, without his glider thing. I honestly don't mind it, I don't think it really affects the story all that much. And it also just.. makes sense, for an air-bender to be able to fly on their own. I love how they got the grandma to say the original intro from the cartoon in a natural way as an explanation to Aang.

I liked how they kept the original motifs. The fire tribe still has that classic "BUM bum bUm baaaaam" idk how else to describe it haha

Aang: I thought his acting was pretty good for a kid. The crying parts were decent at best... but obviously I don't expect a kid to be great at faking tears. I thought his acting was great when he learned that he was the avatar, just that silent panic, the breathing getting faster and darting the eyes. The scene where he closed himself in the ice ball thing looked really cool. (My brother-in-law was fanboying the whole time, so much so that my niece started imitating him by saying "O M G the acting is SO good!" which made us all laugh, she didn't have ill-intent, she was just learning by example)

Katara: Her acting was a little iffy to me, I have hope that it'll improve later on. She had good lines but her face just didn't make me believe those lines. During emotional moments she was just kinda '_' But I know how tough it is to be a child actor so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. (And to be fair, it is hard to convey emotion as good as a cartoon can) Her water bending looked really pretty, and I love that they kept her hair loopies. And I love that she still has her motherly personality like when she was comforting Aang near the end.

Sokka: Again, I thought his acting was pretty decent, child actors and whatnot. I really love how they didn't just reuse the same jokes from the cartoon and got original. My favorite two jokes were when it cut to him screaming on Appa, and when Aang said that he had to save the world and Sokka's response was like "Gee, is that all?" sarcastically, got a good laugh outta me. I love how his weapon looked exactly like the one in the cartoon. And I love how he got to have a one-on-one stand off with Zuko.

Haven't seen Momo yet, gonna be a bit disappointed if we don't but I mean.... Now that I think about it, Momo didn't really add anything. He was just kinda there in the cartoon for comedic affect...

Anyway, just in case someone is reading this before watching it, I'm not gonna spoil/talk about anything else (like Zuko and Iroh). So please go get your own impressions of it, even if you have to watch it on a pirated site.

Thanks for reading :)

(Side note, I do wish they chose tanner actors for the water tribe but eh, what the hell do I know? Could just be the lighting that's making them look pale)

Edit: So I just found out that Sokka and Katara's actors are not children lol (well, Karata's is 17 but that's almost an adult) so it is now a little less excusable.... But whatever, it's okay.

[zuko-always-lies]

Hello! I’m not sure if you’ve addressed this perspective on your blog yet, but some of your recent posts about Azula and redemption caught me at the right time and the thoughts just wouldn’t stop. Seemed as good of a time as any to submit my first ask.

Anyway, I can’t really attest to being an expert on religion or anything, but the idea that Azula needs to be put through all kinds of hell to ‘justify’ a redemption seems to draw a lot from what I’ve generally seen to be Christian views on suffering. Like, suffering being a tool of sanctification/purification so that individuals can emerge from their experience as better people very much seems like a product of the culture of Christianity underpinning Western society (whether you’re religiously Christian or not, this is about general cultural views not theology). In reality though, suffering (especially prolonged/intense/etc) is a pretty direct path to trauma, and trauma by no means ensures that you’re a better person. I mean it can, I guess, but ‘ensures’ is kinda the key word. Case in point: the masses of villains who literally became villains bc of a tragic backstory i.e. trauma. Having the narrative, or if you’re framing it through the characters, the main cast (disregarding canonical characterisation), punish Azula so brutally sounds like a pretty surefire recipe for broken!Azula or an actual villain on your hands (as opposed to the role of an antagonist which she plays canonically). All in all, kind of an ironic point of view, considering ATLA has an asiatic setting.

I’ve also seen the karma argument bandied around, like whatever brutalities people want to see inflicted upon Azula are inevitable and need to happen before redemption can even be put on the table. That’s not really how karma works though? If anything, the ‘inevitable punishment’ is only inevitable because of bad karma that she accumulated from past lives, not her canonical one. Even if this desired punishment is a ‘direct consequence’ of her actions in this life, and therefore something she also experiences in this life (which may or may not be a thing in Buddhist views on karma, idk for sure), people still don’t need to experience the effects of their karma, either good or bad, before they can be redeemed bc only sense of inevitable fate in the karmic cycle refers to the circumstances you find yourself in, your actions are entirely your own. A side note: redemption being to reflect on the immorality of your past actions and to strive to be a better person, and forgiveness, by characters or audience, being entirely irrelevant in the matter. There’s also the fact that karma is heavily intent-based; you generate karma mostly by your response to a situation, minimally by the effect of the action. So doing something morally correct with a avalanche of a snowball effect of bad consequences is probably going to generate less bad karma than doing something morally incorrect and having that impact nothing and nobody. Given the fact that Azula is 14, a victim of abuse and imperialist propaganda, and the narrative positions the audience against her literally all the time, idk, the bad karma she’s generated from canon is probably less than a lot of people seem to think.

Anyway, can’t exactly remember where I was going with this rambling sort-of-rant, so I guess I’ll just conclude with a thank you for your Iroh-critical takes; honestly felt like I was kinda crazy for being not so fond of him before I found your blog :)

Thanks for the ask.

Yes, I agree, it seems to be a very Christian take which glorifies suffering as "cleansing." The reality is that pain and suffering don't improve people, they just hurt them.

[bytchysylvy]

Oasis: 1, Latikam: 7, Casarin: 10, Hydrel: 18

(oasis) What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

Approximately 10 minutes. This assumes "nothing" does not include keeping a watch out, navigation, watching to make sure casarin is paying attention, making snide comments and flipping off other pilots while on the ship. If he's being responsible she likes to go harass alex in the back. On land she's always wandering off on her own away from casarin either picking up essentials he's forgotten again or non essentials lol. She can also be found playing "lets throw bricks at susarikas" (he loves it) to pass the time.

If there's NOTHING to do, she's trapped just waiting, she'll usually pull something she uh found in the street (finders keepers) and carve into it with her knife. No this is mine, see its got my name on it and a little pony too, oh and on this side its got a snake eating a watermelon.

(latikam) What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

The thing with living for centuries is that at a certain point, everything and nothing causes nostalgic, its the experience of every vazuvyr. BUT latikam has lived through the occupation AND does not live in his homeland anymore, in a way he is a child who remembers past lives but cannot apply any of it to this one. The biggest trigger is that mokubat learned how to cook from vokutlvek, and while they have their different styles every now and then something lines up, he can taste his brothers work in his sons. Its... a lot. Thats the taste he's known through centuries of heartache and love and pain and joy and healing, yet for once he's not here for it. The person who's always been there to run to, lay his head on, and protected him isn't there this time. Somehow disorientating and grounding at the same time.

Seeing casarin and hydrel also remind him A LOT of vokutlvek and azrem. Their stupid little dramas, playing footsies at the table, shoving food into his mouth. Latikam said "I know what you are".

(casarin) What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

God why did you have pick THIS one for him how did you hone in on this choice. My man keeps repeatedly telling a very specific lie about how okay he is. "haunted" probably isnt the word Id pick exactly. During sf its less of the burden of knowing he lied and more of the fear of someone finding out the truth. And in act 2 when someone confronts him about it he doubles down on "everything is fine" until he's dragged kicking and screaming to the warm saucer of milk. At the end of his life he looks at those years and realizes how stupid he was for putting himself through it and not asking for help, especially now recognizing fjinmars and adaen saw the problem and wanted to help him but he never gave them the chance, but at this point he's too preoccupied by the good run they had and how thats going to be gone.

A specific instance he told this lie to his mother, who he never lies to because she is telepathic, clocked him immediately and he broke down about the whole thing. The thing that hurts him is that he doesnt know why he lied, mama never made him feel bad about this before, he just... felt guilty and embarrassed about all this. idk.

(hydrel) What embarrasses them?

The austisms. He's had people "just tease" him for his expressions and taking things literally and when he's last to the joke. Doesnt like to ask what people mean by things because that usually makes it worse. It's not obvious in the main script but its worth noticing how much differently he acts with his family vs with casarin. Weird. Sure its nothing. Also bringing up past incidents is the fastest way to get 🧑‍🤝‍🧑-- points with him, VERY embarrassed when he realized after the fact he overreacted or was rude when he didnt mean to be. Just let him learn and move on.

Also extremely embarrassed if you catch him farting lmao. How dare you accuse him of having a bodily function. I want a bestie divorce.

[eievuiisms]

ok so im finally just gonna infodump about that dhmis au i just randomly started posting like a week ago almost, which ive just referred to as the dollhouse au. anyway infodumping under the cut lmao

so as i mentioned in the og comic for it, it was kinda inspired by ‘inside a mind’s theory abt the dhmis webseries but likeeee mostly for the aspect of red guy being the main focus + having some level of responsibility irt the situation, but anyway i mention this since its the basis of this au more or less

so the trio were all humans once, & were all connected in some sort of way. i havent determined the extent of their relationships but they def knew each other, and werent like borderline strangers. in my mind, red & duck were coworkers + friends (and potentially working on getting to be more than that, but never got there) and red & yellow had a familial, brotherly type of relationship (ive tossed around the possibility of them being maybe step-brothers or smth like that, idk like i said i havent determined the extent so take that w/ a grain of salt)

(also fyi yellow’s an adult & is younger than both red & duck by a somewhat significant amount, but he’s def just a neurodivergent adult man. theres not any plot significance, i just figured i’d say lol)

now these 3 definitely all have struggles in their lives, some of which have been reflected in the show (red’s inability to connect with others ‘like him,’ duck not actually liking being alone, yellow having a poor relationship w/ his dad, etc etc). their lives arent exactly horrible but its far from sunshine & daisies

(ive kinna debated the idea that maybe a significant event happened that negatively affected red in particular but idk i dont think i wanna make it melodramatic so lets just leave it as ‘their lives arent Perfect’ for now lol)

so at some point, red comes across an antique shop that’s never been there before, one that holds all of the puppet props as well as the dollhouse from the TV series, which red is given with the claim that it ‘belongs to him’ (& yes, the person that gives it to him is lesley). so red is just kinda like ‘ok ig’ & takes this totally normal dollhouse that won’t cause him problems in the future home w/ him. what could possibly go wrong

anyway i figure some time passes after he obtains the dollhouse but basically to make a short story shorter, he - & the other 2 - wind up getting trapped inside the dollhouse as puppets, so theyre stuck in there & then in the normal world theyre obvs labelled as missing. while they’re trapped in this dollhouse, they dont remember anything from their prev life - they do not remember being human, and they do not remember knowing each other as closely as they once did.

so before proceeding, i will say that in this au, both the webseries & the TV series occur in the timeline, & they do indeed occur one after the other, so the webseries is ‘season 1′ & the TV series is ‘season 2′ (& i think i will be referring to them as such throughout the rest of this dump bc its easier than specifying ‘webseries’ & ‘TV series’ each time lol)

so during s1, red guy is in ‘control’ - in the absolute loosest terms, bc obviously these puppets cant control SHIT, but all i mean by 'control’ is that their surroundings are reflective of a certain individual. in the case of s1, it is red. because of this, the trio is a little more self-aware (as red particularly was in s1), and they remember each incident that happens between episodes. obviously, things go downhill reaallllyyyy badly because red doesnt have a grip on anything, so we get some pretty nasty incidents. additionally, the world all around looks more realistic & uncanny while red has the reins

eventually, red accidentally leaves following dhmis 4, and this leads to him going into a version of the real world (obvs not the actual real world. whatever forces that have put him & his friends there aint done with him yet), which, as we all know, eventually leads to him pulling the plug on the world. now, he did this with the expectation that he & the other 2 would finally be free. but no, all it did was take the control out of his hands and put it into the hands of someone else

enter s2, i’m actually going to go ahead & say that ‘transport’ is the first thing that happens chronologically. so here we have red coming freshly out of s1′s events which were clearly traumatizing, and who also expected to be free of this hell puppet world only to find himself right back in the thick of it, so yeah, he’s a little on edge and stir crazy and wants to be free. but here’s the real kicker: none of them fully remember the events of s1. yellow & duck certainly dont, & red only has hints of feelings remaining from it, enough to make him frustrated, but not enough to remember the gory details. this is meant to be the hint that the ‘control’ has switched hands, since as i mentioned previously, they could remember what happened between incidents under red’s control. by the end of ‘transport’ whenever yellow reacts to hearing lesley’s voice, that’s the reveal in this au that yellow’s the next person to be ‘in control’

ways in s2 that show that yellow’s now control: things are definitely a lot softer, while still having their darker moments (compare this to yellow’s brain friends & how cute they were, then how that eventually went downhill) + the trio only have vague recollections of previous events (yellow evidently has some memory problems according to ‘friendship’), among other things. but basically, just judging on how the show treats yellow in s2, its reasonable enough to say in this au that he’s the next one in control of the dollhouse after red, who was evidently seen as an inappropriate fit

anyway thats about all i got atm lol, ive just been rotating this au in my brain for a while so i figured its abt time i like. actually write out most of the details gkjfhgjk. especially bc ppl seemed to like the lil drawings ive done for it, so < 3