#idk whether to post this on main or not it's not really original and i didnt even change the background

[luckycaricature]

I just stopped liking posts altogether tbh

this is assuming its on art you normally wouldn't jump to reblog. i myself only rb stuff i really really like so .

The 'rude/demanding' tone would be stuff along the lines of "if you like but don't reblog I'll [threat]" which i see surprisingly often, both serious and more silly

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Now don't throw tomatoes at me but I'm actually really excited to finally see malleus again— I've always loved malleus since we met him in the story, but I'm also sooo curious about what's gonna happen next,, I'm wondering the obvious thing, about whether or not we might get a parralel scenario like what happened with the KoD and silver will have to "slay" malleus or at least be the one to land a killing blow, but I also saw a really interesting post focusing on how magic is a manifestation of dreams and deep desires and imagination,,,, in that case, I may (VERY delusionally) hope that Yuu finally gets to be a major part of the story for once??? Even reading the novels, there HAS to be something bigger for yuu— while the idea of crowley simply being an incompetent airhead is fun and more comfortable, haven't you thought that meybe he pulled them into this world deliberately??

All to say, what if at some point, Yuu somehow manifests magic in a very dire moment ?? You know lol?? Agh idk. I just want yuu to finally make impactful choices but that IS too much to ask, as far as we can see for now,,, (but hey, that part leading up to ace getting is UM, and the convo between him and yuu,,, it *does* give one a sliver of hope, doesn't it? :') )

Don't worry, no tomato throwing here! 😅 I may not care for certain characters, but I’m not going to shame anyone that does. You’re free to think however you want about Malleus!

dbjsvsJcwhj My personal feelings about him aside, I am actually glad he’s finally relevant to the main story again. He’s missed out on so much of his own book OTL In the time he’s been gone, the fandom has been left to speculate about both his and Lilia’s potential death flags. I really doubt Twst will have the balls to kill off one of them, but it would be cool to at least see Silver delivering the final blow to knock some sense into (not necessarily kill) OB Malleus.

Yes, it’s true that Silver states in the recent update that magic was originally considered “a miracle borne of strong desires from the heart.” But 💦 I don’t think that means Yuu would randomly manifest magic in the final fight?? It feels more like a “let’s save the day with the power of friendship” to me, but I could of course be wrong.

I understand being frustrated that Yuu’s participation in the main story seems to fluctuate a lot, with most of their activity being books 3, 4, and segments of 1, 6, and 7. That’s not much, especially considering how long books 6 and 7 are. Sometimes (even in events) it feels like Yuu is barely there, as most dialogue options don’t involve different reactions from the characters. Even Yuu's quest to find a way home is barely addressed or taken seriously until early in book 7. Yuu hasn't gotten "real" development unless you count them realizing their Disney dreams are prophetic in book 5, taking the initiative to save Grim in book 6, and that dialogue option about them being worried they're not contributing + the related convo with Ace in book 7. All very short moments in the grand scheme of things. And honestly, I think that makes sense for the kind of character Yuu is. A blank slate, a self-insert, an outsider that's easy to exposit information to, someone with which to view the story, characters, and world through. Yuu is primarily there to be the POV character, the lenses, the camera that we see Twst through. They're not really meant to be a traditional "main character". It's possible that Twst gives them a slightly bigger role at the very end (especially with what went down in the dream in book 7), but I doubt it will be a huge triumphant moment where they and they alone save the day or deal the final blow in a crazy act of self-sacrifice. Twst has always been a story that puts the NRC boys first, while Yuu is the observer.

I've noticed that the complaint of Yuu not doing a lot in the story comes mainly from English speaking fans?? And I guess that makes sense, given how western culture tends to emphasize independence and standing out. They want Yuu to reflect that. They want to be the ones to make a difference. I don't even remember ever seeing these same comments from the Japanese speaking fans; it's definitely a less common sentiment for them. The Japanese fans seem pretty content with Yuu being an observer and taking on more of a minor or supporting role. Again, this fits in with what I understand of many eastern cultures. They're demurer, not wanting to stand out too much from the crowd and instead prioritizing group harmony. Very interesting cultural difference to note!

It's a common theory (with many variants) that Crowley intentionally summoned Yuu to Twisted Wonderland for his own nefarious motives. People found him pretty sus right away due to how he seems to not put in any real time or effort into investigating a way to send Yuu home. Plus, there's that ominous opening monologue of his to consider. However, I don't think he summoned Yuu because of their (potential) great magical capabilities. The Mirror of Darkness tells us that it doesn't sense a shred of magic in Yuu, and Leona smells zero magic on them (though that could be because it hasn't technically manifested yet, as some fans claim).

The idea is that Yuu is supposed to be plain. They are supposed to be magicless. Why? To humble the NRC students and to show them that asserting yourself violently or with great magical power ISN'T the way to go. To show them value in strategizing (which Yuu does in the prologue by helping Grim aim at the ghosts), of camaraderie. What does it say about the story's themes if Yuu, the person who is supposed to be showing them the worth of mundane things, is suddenly... "secretly ultra-strong, actually”/“just like you guys” (even if it's only a temporary hope-fueled magic)? It might contradict what has already been set up. It also breaks the self-insert appeal of Yuu, since developing magic would also mean Yuu would later have to further develop things like proficiency in magic, best/worst subjects, and an unique magic/signature spell... meaning Yuu HAS to become better "defined", thus losing their blank slate nature. This would surely upset some fans who deeply project onto Yuu, have a Yuusona, etc.

Yuu can still make an impact on the characters and the world--and they have, judging by how much closer the boys are with each other--without having to be The Most Special One or like everyone else. I think it undermines what Yuu has already managed to achieve to say that they haven't made an impactful choice at ANY point in the main story when I believe they definitely have. Yuu made the choice to sign the contract with Azul. Yuu made the choice to approach Malleus. Yuu made the choice to go against Crowley's orders and go retrieve Grim from S.T.Y.X. Yuu made the choice to get Leona’s help with the contracts. Yuu made the choice to stand with Adeuce against Riddle in book 1. Yuu made the choice to let the VDC/SDC tribe train at Ramshackle. Yuu has done a lot, and all without needing to seize the spotlight or to do anything big and flashy. I don't think Yuu needs to be big and flashy. There is pride to be had in simplicity and being humble too. There is pride in representing the 90% of humans in Twisted Wonderland that are ordinary and without magic.

(An aside: so if Yuu wasn’t able to manifest magic in many other extreme instances, does that mean their desire to save Grim in book 6 wasn’t “enough”? That their desire to save Ramshackle, their one and only home in this world, wasn’t “enough”? It implies that Yuu didn’t wish hard enough for these other things they clearly care about and want.)

I think a good way to give Yuu a decent role while staying true to their design as a blank slate would be for Twst to really lean into the whole "beast tamer" aspect that was introduced all the way back in the prologue. This would work well with their deep connection to Grim as well. Assuming that Grim ends up being the final OB... We could easily have the NRC students and staff on the ropes, Malleus at his wit's end after exhausting himself with his own OB, a rampaging Grim about to end it all. And then... one lone figure shakily rises from the rubble and confronts Grim. One human. Magicless, defenseless. A human lost in an unfamiliar world, a human who believes they're useless and don't contribute much. A human who is always in need of being protected by others. But not anymore. This time, it's Yuu's turn to protect what they love--their friends, this world they've come to love, Grim. Ace and Deuce yelling at Yuu to not be stupid, to get back--but Yuu just advances, calling out to Grim and begging him to stop. And maybe it's Yuu's wish that rallies everyone and/or gets OB Grim to hesitate. That's when they can strike. Is that corny? Yeah. Does it sound like the ending to a Disney film? Sure. But it still grants Yuu, a magicless human that is supposed to be there to teach everyone about friendship, cooperation, and humility, their big moment to shine. The best of both worlds, I'd say.

[yuurei20]

I have been stalking your tumblr for a while now bc I'm fairly new to the fandom and you've been really helpful lol (thank you!!!)

I don't know if you've answered this before but I have been wondering who was the youngest of the first years? I thought it was jack and ace, but apparently they're the oldest but aren't all of them 16 and then jack and ace's birthdays come later in year? This might be really stupid but idk lol

Hello hello! Thank you very much!! ^^ ♡ You are so kind!

--

25/3/14 Edit: We have received confirmation from Yana that the characters age throughout the year, and the age listed in their profiles was how old they were when the prefect appeared in the world. More here!

--

And yes yes, we have received hints sometimes about which characters are older than the rest, with Vil being younger than Cater and Jade being older than Riddle.

We know that the beginning of the school year is in September, and Jamil's birthday is the first one in September, so Jamil is assumed to be the oldest of the 2nd-year students (confirmed in a tweet by Yana!).

Adding to this is the fact that Jamil's birthday was the first to be released in the original game! :> Every new birthday series starts with Jamil and ends with Riddle, as they would be the oldest- and youngest-2nd-year students, if we are following a September-to-August school year.

(Cater is the first birthday on EN! I am not sure why this was changed. The original game was launched in March of 2020, so there were no birthday banners for the first six months after the game's release until we reached Jamil's birthday of September 12th. EN was able to get birthday banners immediately, shifting the balance of when new series start and who seems to be older than who.)

If we wanted to list the human characters (and Sebek) oldest-to-youngest according to this system (minus the special case that is Leona), it might look like this!

Ace is the oldest first-year, while Deuce is the youngest.

(Ortho's actual age is difficult to place, as he was "born" pre-programmed with a memory that is older than his physical self.)

Jamil is the oldest second-year, while Riddle is the youngest.

As Riddle was born on August 24th, he is technically only a month older than Ace (who was born September 23rd).

Trey is the oldest non-fae, non-Leona third-year, while Vil is the youngest.

At 700 years old Lilia is the oldest third-year.

January 1st also does not seem to be his actual birthday: he does not remember the date of his birth and possibly never knew it in the first place, having been adopted by Malleus' grandmother.

Malleus is the second-oldest character on the main student cast at 178 years old, while Leona is 20 (due to starting NRC a year late (under duress) and then being held back an additional year for poor attendance (which was possibly on purpose, as he does not seem to want to go home. Ref: Leona's Age and NRC).)

We know that time is passing in-game as we will receive occasional cues like the school year starting in September, the interdorm Spelldrive tournament being in October, the new semester starting in January, and the VDC being held in February.

There has never been any main-story acknowledgement of the characters getting older, but we can track their ages for ourselves based on the timeline of the main story!

If the ages in character profiles represent how old they were at the beginning of the school year, then we can surmise the following (none of which has been officially acknowledged anywhere as of this post, it is all conjecture):

Book 1: Jamil turns 18, Ace turns 17 Book 2: Jack turns 17, Trey turns 19. Books 3 and 4: Jade/Floyd turn 18, Rook/Idia turn 19 Books 5 and 6: Cater turns 19, Azul turns 18

After Book 6 things get a little vague!

Lilia says that Book 7 is "half a year" since school began, and it is presumably before May's Spelldrive tournament, so possibly March? Whether or not Sebek, Vil and Ruggie have had their birthdays yet might be unconfirmed!

To answer the initial question: it is not officially stated outright in the game that "Deuce is the youngest first-year," but there are fans who believe that this is what is being implied by the school year starting in September!

This is where "Ace and Jack are the oldest first years even though their birthdays are later in the year" comes from ^^ The school year does not start until autumn, meaning that Sebek, Epel and Deuce all have birthdays in the second semester, whereas Ace and Jack's birthdays are first semester, thus making them older than the other three ^^

[rationalnerd62]

I'm feeling weirdly about C3 ending next week (I guess there's some sadness mixed with other stuff, but me, putting feelings into words? Not in my autism), so instead of thinking too much about those feelings, I want to list random things about Bell's Hells I'd like to get resolved or developed, either in that 8.5h finale or in future BH one-shots (cause they've got to have some one day, right? Right?).

It's in no particular order whatsoever, I'm just putting random thoughts out there (and hoping to see other people's random thoughts too).

Titans' shenanigans! Both Ashton and Fearne absorbed a shard, and got some nice abilities out of it, but is there more to explore here? What does this mean for the elemental life of Exandria? Is this a path to some resurgence of the Titans? Are there other shards elsewhere? Will Ashton ever meet some remains of the cult their parents were in? Is that something they're still interested in knowing more about?

Ludinus! I am hoping this won't get resolved in the finale, because this would give big Trent M9 finale vibes and feel rushed, but that damn elf is still somewhere out there! What are his goals now that Predathos is out / the BH finale deals with the Gods in a way or another? Will he ever come back to haunt our characters?

Laudna! The Matron hinted that there was a possible path to her getting back what got stolen from her (aka her mortality). While I never would want for her to become a "normal human mortal" (she should still be able to get a form of dread and play with shadow and have fun with some of her "monstrous" powers!), I honestly will hate it if my favourite CR couple is *another one* of those couples with wildly different aging speed and one of the member of the couple has to outline the other for decades or centuries. Let Imogen and Laudna grow old together in their little cottage! They deserve it! I could see that being resolved as a "gift" from the Gods (if there's a good outcome with them), but I also wouldn't say no to a post-canon story (one shot, novel, comics, who knows) centered on this. I could see both Imogen and Laudna having made their peace with this, and then maybe in a few years they're starting to talk about kids, and there's this realization that Laudna will also outlive those, and that's when she decides that she needs to do *something*. I don't know whether that's possible, but Matthew! More impossible things have been done in your world!

The Shade Mother! Is she still under Jrusar? It's kinda funny that BH's first main arc ended up with them running away and never finishing there ahaha.

Similarly, will they ever go down to find FCG's coin that Orym had thrown under Jrusar? I know at least some of the cast mentioned being curious about that.

Hey, talking about FCC, will BH Talk with Frida? What about D? Our group really didn't have much time to mourn him, so maybe finding the answers FCG was looking for regarding who he is would be a way for them to process their grief.

(I just had a thought about Ashton going back to Jrusar and Milo without FCG and this broke my heart)

Dorian and his family! He has mentioned them before, and we've met his father, but seeing where he grew up and having him introduce Orym would be nice. And vice versa with Orym introducing Dorian to his family (as his partner instead of his friend). But I'm hopeful this'll get brought up in the finale.

Imodna wedding! Because Laura Bailey deserves to have three weddings one-shot.

More Unseelie stuff! Idk, I feel like there was still more to do wrt Fearne & the Feys.

I'm hoping for a moment with Imogen and her parents in the finale. It's really the end of a big journey for Liliana, but there's another journey to start, about rebuilding (or trying to rebuild) those relationships that got affected by her search for answers. There's a "back from the war" vibe here, and I want to see it.

VM got some pre-campaign comics, M9 got some individual character origins comics, BH also deserves some comics! But what type? I'm not sure how I'd feel if it was exactly as what M9 got, so I'm hoping they'll get some original ideas within the CR crew!

Last (for now) but not least, when is Chetney finally going to die?

[hollowed-theory-hall]

yeah i definitely think the animagus form is supposed to symbolize what you are inside. sirius is a powerful and dangerous dog - for loyalty and protection. im really curious to hear more about your thoughts about him actually turning into a Grim specifically because I LOVE that.

Thank you, yeah, anon is referring to this post. I just always kinda thought everyone was right to mistake him for a grim, and really, his description in dog form just makes it seem very likely actually:

But Harry continued to stare at the front cover of the book; it showed a black dog large as a bear, with gleaming eyes. It looked oddly familiar. . . .

(PoA, 54)

Harry outright says the grim on the cover of Unfoging the Future looks like Sirius' Animagus form.

Harry saw something that distracted him completely — the silhouette of an enormous shaggy black dog, clearly imprinted against the sky, motionless in the topmost, empty row of seats.

(PoA, 178)

Sirius when he comes to watch Harry's quidditch match, again he isn't described like any regular stray dog. and all the descriptions of Sirius I looked from PoA I looked up have him described as incredibly large and off looking for a dog:

And just then, it emerged — a gigantic, shaggy black dog, moving stealthily across the lawn, Crookshanks trotting at its side.

(PoA, 304)

Something was bounding toward them, quiet as a shadow — an enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog. Harry reached for his wand, but too late — the dog had made an enormous leap and the front paws hit him on the chest; he keeled over backward in a whirl of hair; he felt its hot breath, saw inch-long teeth —

(PoA, 334)

“Lumos,” Harry muttered, and a light appeared at the end of his wand, almost dazzling him. He held it high over his head, and the pebble-dashed walls of number two suddenly sparkled; the garage door gleamed, and between them Harry saw, quite distinctly, the hulking outline of something very big, with wide, gleaming eyes. [...] “There was a big black thing,” said Harry, pointing uncertainly into the gap. “Like a dog . . . but massive . . .”

(PoA, 33-34)

Harry tells Stan, "Like a dog but massive" Why would he say that about a regular-sized, semi-normal dog?

That being said, there are some very large dog breeds out there that Harry probably isn't the most aware of that Sirius could be. But, Sirius being a grim just makes sense to me, idk.

Like, he grew up in Grimmauld Place so it connects him to his family in a way another dog breed wouldn't. Sirius is a Black and proud enough to have a rare magical creature as an Animagus form. I also think it's kind of amusing for all that he likes to disregard his family and their ways, he still has a magical Animagus form ("Always pure" whether he wants it or not). The grim connects him with death and therefore with some of what a stag represents as I mentioned here. This connection with death connects him to the Potters in general (the Peverells) and with James, Lily, and Harry, which I like a lot since the main target of his dog-like loyalty are the Potters. James at first and later on, Harry.

And the Grim is an omen of death, when you see it, death follows soon after. And if the stag symbolizes death and a passage to the afterlife, it sorta marks Sirius and James as inseparable, just like they are described as being, "never saw one without the other".

Also, Sirius is a character that has always accepted death. I believe the original plan with the Secret Keeper was for everyone to think Sirius was the Secret Keeper while Pettigrew was the real one. He was the decoy and ready to die at such a young age for the safety of the Potters. And when we meet him later in life he is just as willing to face death. Then add the fact that he died by literally falling into the vail of death, how he was the last Black by name, and all his family died, like, idk, I feel like Sirius has some connection to death (not like Harry, more like a shadow of death following him) and I like the idea of him being the grim, being that shadow that after you see it, death will follow as a symbol of his personal tragedy as well.

(Hope my yapping makes sense...)

[mikayuumouse]

I saw in a recent post of yours that you think sskk was supposed to happen or will happen (I don't remember exactly). I was really curious about this, could you elaborate? Seeing sskk happen would be a dream!!!

I don't remember everything fully (as I found this information out like two years ago) but Asagiri once said in an interview with Harukawa (the interview was with fans, I believe?) that in the original drafts of Bsd, and not just "character design" drafts but drafts of the plot and character personalities, Atsushi was supposed to be female

Some people try to debunk this with "but Atsushi's beta design wasn't female" but who said Harukawa had *drawn* female Atsushi in the drafts? Who said Atsushi didn't have multiple beta designs and they released the one closest to the final one? I really think just because we have Atsushi's beta design doesn't mean we've seen every single aspect of Asagiri and Harukawa creating Atsushi. Plus, once again, what if female Atsushi never existed in the drafts long enough to be illustrated? Character designs aren't just "one quick draft, one final character," like look at Spy x Family's manga, in the manga bonuses the author shares his drafts of his characters and I remember for his character Fiona he had like 10+ designs before deciding on her final look

Anyways, back to the subject of sskk, in the interview Asagiri said that Atsushi was supposed to be a female and that Akutagawa was going to fall in love with Atsushi (I'm pretty sure. And even if he didn't say that, if Atsushi and Akutagawa were a girl and a boy *everyone* would be interpreting it as romantic). Atsushi and Akutagawa are supposed to represent the yin and yang, a "perfect balance", so I think if Atsushi was a girl it would be a better balance bc they'd be opposite genders

Akutagawa falling in love with Atsushi, whether male Atsushi or female Atsushi, is and was entirely plausible. Enemies to lovers isn't just a trope in fanfictions, it's in all types of media. I think it was in the original drafts that Akutagawa was supposed to fall in love with Atsushi and that would start conflict within himself (being in love with an Agency member, being in love with his rival, etc) and he'd have character growth surrounding his emotional development. I do believe Asagiri said or at least implied that sskk (with female Atsushi) was going to be canon, and just said that Akutagawa would definitely fall first

Bungou Stray Dogs isn't a romance manga or anime, just check the genres, but there is *some* romance in it (such as Margaret and Nathaniel, Higuchi having a crush on Akutagawa [Akuhigu should burn tbh], and Francis has a wife, Zelda, but irl Fitzgerald's wife was named Zelda so idk if it really counts). Basically, romance isn't the main focus of Bsd, but it can definitely have romance in it, including something involving Atsushi and Akutagawa

Now, if you pretended Bsd was a romance manga, and then looked at sskk, there would definitely be some romantic undertones poking out. Even if it's not "romantic", there are still plenty of romantic manga or other media that use similar tropes to what sskk has done. Take self-sacrifice for example, that's been used a lot to take two character's romantic relationship to a new level (with the utter devotion to one another and all that). Sskk has all the means to become canon, it's just Asagiri who decides if it does or not

I personally really hope sskk ends up canon, it would not only make sense but also be good for Atsushi and Akutagawa because Atsushi (somewhat, bc he's slightly moved on from the orphanage headmaster but not necessarily the orphanage itself) has the mentality "I don't deserve to be loved", and Akutagawa has the mentality "I don't deserve to love". So if they started dating they would just be a very good couple and it would be definitely non-toxic. Name the last time Akutagawa *voluntarily of his own will* hurt Atsushi? They have an insane amount of character development, chalking their relationship up to what they were like when they first met is just kinda ridiculous

So, in regards to your anon ask, Asagiri did say sskk was originally supposed to be canon (and for all we know he still ships it, which I could see), and I genuinely think sskk has the possibility to be canon one day

And talking about the female Atsushi aspect of the original Bsd drafts, it makes sense because look at Atsushi now. He's not necessarily feminine but he acts much more in touch with his emotions and acts a lot less "macho" than many other male main characters. I'm not saying guys can't act like Atsushi, but I'm just saying Atsushi is written very not-stereotypically and if you changed him to female he would act the same. Plus Atsushi's tiger, Byakko, is female, maybe Asagiri never changed Byakko's gender but he changed Atsushi's

Hope this clears things up! (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

[leverage-ot3]

Is leverage redemption worth watching? I love Leverage but idk if i could enjoy the show if hardison isn't in most episodes or if the reboot sells out in some way.

okay so I showed up to this ask like four months late with a smoothie so I'm sorry about that BUT

does redemption have it's flaws? yes, I will be the first to admit that!

however, as someone who deeply loves leverage, the characters and what the show stands for, I still can find myself enjoying redemption.

there's one post that's in my drafts talking about the differences between the og and redemption and the so-called universe physics (how logic works in both shows and how they are the same/differ) and there are definitely some differences. there are some really good posts comparing them in the tags and I'll try to tag them as watch redemption when they come up!

I'm going to be really honest right now and say that (no shade) I feel like redemption s1-2 were lacking because john rogers was not a main writer for them. devlin and the others are great and know their stuff, but redemption was missing some of the grit (balanced with everything else) that the original run had. redemption is more fun and lighthearted (where the og was still fun and had comedic elements but also had a more jaded perspective). I think part of that change is the absence of nate as a character and what he brought to the table, but the other part of that is very much the way the show is written overall

I have seen some criticism about parker being a caricature of what she was in the original run (ex: how she goes to a child's psychologist and uses puppets sometimes, is overtly weird, more loud about stuff, etc) BUT I will say that I think there's some nuance to that

I don't think the child psychiatrist thing is infantalizing- some methods of therapy work for people more than others and that is me speaking as someone who works in mental health. if play therapy and stuff like that work for you as an adult, good for you! whatever works for you is more than enough the overtly and loudly being weird thing I really do think can be taken either way. in the original run part of parker's character progression was that she was learning how to interact with people normally (or at least more efficiently), but her being more out about that now can be taken as she is more comfortable in her skin and acting like she wants because she is surrounded by people who love and support her. maybe she doesn't want to (or have to!) mask all the time and I don't see a problem with that

HOWEVER! there are certain criticisms that are related to her characterizations and overlaps with her autism and I don't want to speak over the autism community about those aspects and how they have manifested in her character in redemption so I'm leaving it there

as for the hardison being absent aspect- I was REALLY afraid of that at first BUT the loss isn't so deeply impactful when you have characters like breanna and harry added to the mix. I went in ambivalent about harry and excited to have breanna (a canon queer) joining the team, but I have come to love and cherish both of them dearly and wouldn't want to replace them or lose them as characters in this found family ensemble. I think the writers handled aldis' packed schedule really well and even though he isn't there in most episodes, his presence is still very much around. parker and eliot talk about him and reference him when he's gone. so do sophie and breanna, even harry. he isn't on the screen but the relationships he's formed with the other characters and the impact he's had on them is very evident.

there are some takes from users about whether or not the ot3 was queerbait, un-canoned, etc in redemption. I have a lot of thoughts about it and a lot of them are incomprehensible but what I can say is that I have renewed hopes for the progression and canon development of their relationship now that john rogers is back as the main writer for s3

[twunkbirthzey]

snokoplasm ramble

(i had this part in my amazingphil marathon document and this is the most basic thing that everyone probably thought about but i wanted to share bc why not)

Ever since the first time I watched this years ago I could not stop thinking about snokoplasm. First of all, it’s just so creative and whimsical and beautiful and PEAK arthouse amazingphil. But also I cannot help but do a queer reading of it. (I think Phil has so much indirect commentary about societal gender roles in his 2000’s videos. I don’t and can’t know whether that’s intentional or just subconscious of course but they ARE there and especially visible with snokoplasm and Phillippa) A lot of people did this like 10 years before me so this is NOT original at all but I wanted to yap about it.

I remember seeing tumblr posts about this back in the day of people arguing whether this is lube or not lmao, but it COULD be!!! (Could be a good addition to the pina colada gate T-T.) It could be lube bc of my thoughts on the object/element as a whole. This could be an overanalysis and I could be making shit up but hear me out.

First of all realizing you’ve run out of snokoplasm is a bit odd bc a lot of other people say it’s shower gel etc (which could be and we’ll probably never know) but when you run out of this you usually know and don’t “realize” bc you use it often. You know. And if I read the whole thing as a queer allegory it being lube just makes sense??? (but this is the silly side i think it doesn't really matter what it is at the end)

He goes into the store and the shopkeeper immediately assumes he’s getting the blue one. Phil then gets offended and laughs, saying “You actually think I’d use blue?” and this alludes to the fact that he’s been stereotyped by the shop helper. We do know that he was “emo” and not very “stereotypically male” in his self presentation at the time and this kind of feels like people immediately assuming that he’s gay. The helper even says “It's so obvious that you use blue snokoplasm,” furthering this idea of Phil looking a certain way. Phil’s reply to this makes me truly believe that this a queer allegory because he shows off his muscles and says “Yellow all the way,” which isn’t really the way he usually talks, and ties to his problems with masculinity during this era. Then they have an argument over whether it’s yellow or green, which I don’t think it’s a direct metaphor but feels like bisexuality and heterosexuality. Phil pushes for the “hetero” one while the shopkeep tries to push the “bisexual” one on him, sure that he is queer? Also the discussion of language over queer identities still being more relevant than ever is funny lol. Phil finally accepts the “green” one, which is a kind of mirroring of a lot of gay people using the bisexual label before they are ready to come out as gay, to hang onto the idea of straight relationships. (which I have my own thoughts on but this is not the place for it). To make the queer reading more compelling, the shopkeep then says he will definitely secretly order the blue one online, almost as if that is a shameful thing. SO IDK it does feel like an either deliberate or subconsciously presented work of struggles with queer identity and a story of being “clocked” as a closeted person to me.

FOLLOW UP SNOKOPLASM MENTIONS IN OLD AMAZINGPHIL VIDS

ChristmasPhil- Him thanking people for thinking the one from the previous video IS yellow… interesting… 

“You can get blue as well obviously but… you know I wouldn’t buy that ever” in a shy persona is the main nail in the coffin for me. It’s like a if you know you know thing.

Philorida- I think him having blue snokoplasm and saying he bought it for a friend furthers the whole argument further. Even if Phil didn't intend this to be an allegory at first when he made it, it definitely did gain a meaning through these extra mentions.

Life without the internet!?- He briefly mentions snokoplasm and uses the red one. Red is never clearly defined, so I think it’s kind of an extra in terms of themes, but I need to watch more to be sure. Kind of supports snokoplasm not being an intentional metaphor but a successful accidental one.

TUMBLR STUFF ABOUT SNOKOPLASM

Right after writing this I did go on tumblr to see some older posts and this green/yellow argument also made sense to me and it strengthens the argument. 

This video response of a girl from the time also does make me think that we are right and this is a direct metaphor of sexuality. ("Phil, if you feel ashemed that you like blue snokoplasm you don't have to feel bad about it" “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, just come out and say it”, “I know it would be hard to say at first," "It's your choice") And Phil replying to this saying "Best video reponse EVER" makes me feel very emotional because it just reads as solidarity to me!!!

ALLLSO this!

[cream-and-tea]

author ask tag!

i was tagged in this a while ago by @writinglittlebeasts and @theskeletonprior and WOW this was so much fun when i l got around to doing it! filled it out for Lay Me Down of course bc everything is temporary but self indulgent horror/fantasy you’ve been drafting since 2020 is FOREVER

What is the main lesson of your story? Why did you choose it?

i don’t really think of what i write having lessons in the sense that im trying to “teach” the reader something but the gravespeaker trilogy as a whole does have a pretty major “living in and for the past whether its out of guilt or nostalgia will rot you from the inside change (for better or for worse) is inevitable no one is really the same person at the end” thing going on that probably counts in that direction lol. it’s something that basically all of the characters have to grapple with in different ways and the more cut-and-dry villains (the director, issac belmont, pallas in the first book) i’ve got are all the people who cling most violently/obsessively to a past they can’t ever return to. but of course this all just a distraction from the real central message which is that being 17 temporarily makes you evil <3

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding?

*cracks knuckles* okay so settingwise the Hello From the Hallowoods podcast, the Wildwood books, and Over the Garden Wall have informed much of the vibes (post-post apocalypses and freakyweird magic forests that operate on their own internal logic) but i’ve also spent so much time in the woods (my favourite biome) that i’ve always wanted to write a story set primarily in some + that combined with my love of buildings that are malicious and don’t make any sense informed the rest of it. i also have had the idea for a kinda dual magic system (different people using two different types of magic drawn from the same source) bouncing around my head for a while and the life/death dichotomy is an easy one to reach for and build out when it comes to that (i was also reading tlt for the first time very early into the drafting process which i think inspired me to make the magic a lot grosser and more horror adjacent then it was originally). in general i think post apocalypses based in magic are woefully underwritten for how creative you can get with them and i wanted to make something that has room for truly fantastical crazy stuff while still feeling a least a little familiar. familiar but also Wrong, you know?

this may be tangential but i also wanted to incorporate some shades of like. fairytale logic? into the world especially in the interludes between each part. idk if ive been very successful with doing that in the way i want to yet but it’s definitely informed a lot of the way the story is written and put together

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, or help the reader grow as a person?

keeping this to just lmd pallas’s goal is broadly to help the director achieve HER goal of saving the world no matter the cost and on a more personal level to never examine their own thoughts or feelings or the gaping wound of loss and self hatred and bubbling suicidal ideation in the middle of their chest ever at all ever. when agnes enters their life they also gain the goals of first just teaching her bc they’ve been told to as punishment and then keeping her with them (they’re good at this part) and keeping her safe always (they’re pretty bad at this part) ❤️ i guess in this first book im trying to really put myself + the reader in their head and kind of set a baseline of Just How Bad Things Can Get. bookone really is rock bottom for pallas and they spend the entire rest of the trilogy working very very hard to never be that person again so i want people to understand why that is

agnes’s bookone goal is to stay ALIIIIIVE oh my gosh she literally just wants so badly not to die and that informs every single one of her decisions. obviously she also wants to do other stuff (learn more about her magic, find her dad, help nina figure out how she died) but all of that kinda depends, very critically, on her Not Dying for it to happen! unfortunately her method of staying alive involves attaching herself to someone who is the human equivalent of a bird slamming itself into a window over and over and over and over again so now things are all Complicated and she has to worry about keeping pallas safe and happy as well as herself. what i’m trying to Do with her character is a like. hadestown “go ahead and lay the blame/ talk of virtue/ talk of sin/ wouldn’t you have done the same?/ in her shoes?/ in her skin?” black sails “i did what anybody else would have done when confronted with the same impossible circumstances” kind of beat ��

How many chapters is your story going to have?

as of now it’s currently outlined at 33 plus an epilogue but i have to admit that it’ll probably end up being more bc every chapter ive finished so far has been SO LONG godbless ❤️

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

original! and tbh right now i have no idea what im going to do in terms of publishing. everything ive heard about traditional publishing lately sounds Pretty Bad but also i love this thing im making and want it to exist in the world sososo much. maybe i’ll try self publishing or maybe i’ll just get it edited and post it on a website for people to read but i really do have to finish the book for any of that to happen lol. gonna try to focus on that part for now!

Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr? What other writers do you follow?

i wish i had more solid stuff re: craft to say here but im still learning and don’t feel very comfortable with the implication that what works for me will automatically work for another person. so in kind of that same vein: embrace all the ambiguity you can. i know especially, ESPECIALLY, if you’ve just started out doing writing it can be really tempting to explain every aspect of your story to make sure your audience will Get It the same way you Get It. but it’s honestly never really going to work bc no two readers will engage with the text the same way and none of them will engage w it the same way as you. i really wish someone had told me sooner that the urge to completely dissect and explore every worldbuilding detail or character motivation or moral question brought up will do your art a lot more harm than good. you’re never going to be able to appeal to everyone and that’s a good thing! sometimes things are more interesting if you just let them live entirely in the background or never say them out loud and trust the readers to put the pieces together (sometimes the pieces they put together are really not correct but at least it shows a willingness to think about the writing). ofc this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be critical of your own work or listen to feedback but stories don’t actually need to follow a certain structure or specific rules or impart any specific morals or messages. they just need to be interesting and for better (and worse i can admit lol) lots of people have lots of interesting things to say.

i follow so many incredibly talented people it blows my mind but some of ones i want to interview by proxy are @saltwaterbells @encrucijada @carnivalls @catchingbigfish @tragicheirs @izzy246girl and @kudzucataclysm (no pressure obviously!)

[canmom]

reading Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfitt. it's interesting. clearly part of the post-Topside wave of trans lit, with the same 'plugged in to twitter' energy, but way more British about it. which means most of the allusions are very transparent to me. it's a combo of... hardcore kink driven romance as the main arc, in a near-future setting in which TERFism goes further to the point of outright bombings, and a scifi element with alien brain parasites that it's gradually building towards.

compellingly written, I'll give it that for sure - I lay down to read for a bit and before I knew it I'd read like a third of the book. the main character's disaffected, traumatised air is well observed, and the kink doesn't hold back.

I think my reservation with it so far is that it feels a little too much like a polemic blog post about the way things are going. the MC Frankie is a trans woman with a pregnancy kink who survived a bombing at a GIC and now works in social media moderation - it's all stuff that is blatantly Relevant To The Argument, as it were. it's tricky to criticise it for that because it's like, what you're saying is that it's tightly constructed and thematically consistent and that's bad somehow? but I think I've come to feel that I like fiction to bring me something a little new and unfamiliar.

the chapter I most enjoyed so far was actually a more metaphorical, abstract interlude, in which resistance to fascism is cast as becoming 'one mass of queer flesh, which now grabbed and clawed...'; 'faces locked in kisses until they became one face. the cops would try to pull at this mass, but to no avail'. very 'faggots and their friends between revolutions' stuff.

the chapters which are presented directly as social media posts and articles are also sharply observed. i think a lot of fiction in which the internet features heavily suffers from not understanding the internet very well (Hosoda's Belle for example), but for example the chapter 'Curious Cat' where an anonymous person (blatantly Vanya) is sending messages asking for help with a parasite, and getting rebuffed or misunderstood, and the chapter where Frankie relates a murder of an instagram model by a stalker who posts about it to a reddit community devoted to her, read as very real.

a lot of the story is about responding to a terrifying political situation in sexual terms - a flashback chapter depicting Frankie having sex with some terf's pretentious brother ("with each thrust from him, she thought to herself, I am a traitor, I am a traitor to the cause"), or the preface which jokes about how in another world the author would be writing 'cool horror stories about vampires raping werewolves, ones with no subtext at all'. I prevaricate a little on whether this is a compelling examination of a theme that I do find interesting (the mysterious origins of sexual desire) or just edgy for its own sake.

this is an odd novel for me in some ways because while on one level, this is about people who I could very easily be a single degree of separation from were they real, it's also about a facet of life that is still quite alien to me and in many ways I only know about second hand. I've never been to a kink club (that wasn't in an MMO anyway lol), I'm way too much of a nerdy autist shut-in to know what it's like to be someone who would feel put out if she hadn't had sex in a week. so even before the parasite stuff, it's hard to know how much of Frankie and Vanya's stuff is real, and how much is fantasy. is this really how things go between people? it sounds kinda fun, but unlocking the door this far has already taken years.

when I've read books about the crazy lives that American trans girls supposedly live and interesting sex they're apparently having, they've been at a certain remove, the other side of the Atlantic. and this book feels sort of similar, even though I know it's set right on my doorstep. idk, I've never been good at this.

anyway I don't think I want to write fantasy novels so directly about The Discourse of the day, but it's probably good that someone is. that said, it's hard to parse like... ok, it's titled brainwyrms, and 'brain worms' is a common way of describing an obsessive, cultish idea you receive from the internet.

and like if you look at the newspapers, or twitter trans discourse, you certainly could believe that this country is on a rapid slide to putting us in camps. however, my day to day life has been... it's not without hostility, but the average street harasser isn't doing it because of a Guardian or even Mail article. this country has a subculture of deranged weirdos who hate our guts, and a political class who will happily stoke culture war shit to score points, but most normies I've met don't care one way or another that I'm trans - they might mention a family member or friend they know who's also trans. the day to day conflicts are over way more prosaic shit, the landlord vs tenant forever war, or how the kitchen should be cleaned. which of these windows is more informative of the 'overall' state of affairs? not that a more violent terf cult is a bad premise to write a novel around, but a sense of impending doom is a pretty powerful mechanism to keep you scrolling, right?

like in 20, 40 years - will the terfs really be bombing the Tavistock and banning transness, as Rumfitt imagines in her near-future setting preface? or will they go the way of those newspapers in Thatcher's time who smeared the gay movement, just as they smear us today? of passing political obsessions like 'new atheism'? I don't know the half-life of cult shit.

anyway, time to read the rest of the novel, and see how it handles this brew that it's concocted.

[platonically-loving-alastor]

Aroace Alastor

Hoo boy here we go- This one might make some people mad at me, so I'll preface by saying I do not want to start a fight and as long as you respect my business, I'll respect yours. But let's get this over with-

First off, I genuinely don't understand how some people can see the Ace-In-The-Hole quote and still believe that Alastor is only intended to be asexual and not also aromantic. Yes, the term Rosie used for purpose of the pun was 'ace', but can we look at the context of that moment before jumping to conclusions?

Rosie, motioning to Charlie: "Oh, who's this you brought with you? Come now, Alastor, she's much too young for you! Oh, I'm just kidding. I know you're an ace in the hole!"

Her original statement implies nothing sexual, only that he's involved in a relationship with Charlie, and she follows it up with why she knows that couldn't be because he's an 'ace in the hole'. I don't think you have to read too far between the lines to see that.

I would also like to say that when Vivienne has spoken about his orientation before, I recall her saying that she didn't want to confirm him being aromantic so that she wouldn't 'ruin anyone's fun', which I just feel like is an odd thing to say if she wasn't already explicitly picturing him as aroace. If she thought he had romantic attraction, why wouldn't she just say that? What fun would that ruin? I also feel like keeping things like this ambiguous just to appease the shippers is a little weird, but I digress-

And to those of you who I know are saying "But aromantic people can be in relationships too!!" *deep inhale* yeah I know. I'm not gonna pretend you're not right about that, but there are also aroace people who have exactly 0 interest in romance or sex at all. This is the part of the post that really is based on how I interpret certain moments, but to me he is absolutely one of those people. I don't really know where people get any vibes of him being interested in that stuff. I have never once looked at him and thought "Yeah I could see him in a romantic relationship with *insert character here*". Even aside from attraction in general, since that's what we'd be talking about at this point anyway, he just seems like the kind of guy who'd rather work and live independently instead of relying on anyone, whether practically or emotionally (which is also probably part of the reason he never joined the Vees, but that's another topic entirely). Hell, I'm pretty sure he's in heavy denial about even developing any kind of care or friendship with the people at the hotel (ie. the episode 8 scene with him and Niffty).

The only ships I see him involved in with people he doesn't hate (so ignoring RadioApple, RadioHusk, and StaticRadio. But to be real, maybe the fact all his main ships are enemies to lovers coded says something about the whole situation, but that's just me-) are Charlastor - which I will not even try to discuss here, people aren't gonna like this post as it is - and RadioRose. Rosie and him would at least be fair, if it weren't for one thing (which is also personal opinion on my end), and I don't know exactly how to word it. I'm tempted to say she has wingwoman vibes? But she knows he's aro, so that's not the right word, but there's vibes of like, she probably did act as a wingwoman before she realized that about him or something.. There's also something about her joking around like "Oh this is the girl? You have a girlfriend and I'm only now meeting her?" is almost giving motherly behavior. Idk man they're just besties to me, I could see them in a QPR though (not that they'd probably label it that way, considering the word queerplatonic is likely just complete gibberish to Alastor lmao).

So to summarize: It feels incredibly likely, if not practically canon, that Alastor was written with aromanticism in mind, even if Vivienne refuses to explicitly state it. Subtext and not-that-subtle implications can say just as much about a character as word of God, especially when that God has explicitly told us why she won't confirm or deny this information. Do I think any of this will stop people from shipping him romantically with literally any other character? No ofc it won't, and that's okay, that's just what fandoms do. I do think there's something to say for the fact the one aroace (or even at the very least asexual) character gets constantly shipped with everyone else in the cast, but this post is long enough I think. The only point of posting this is that I wanted to get information out there in one post to say "Hey, let's look a little bit past the surface for a second before saying there's no proof of him being aromantic"

Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you at least took something away from this

[madametrashbin]

Brainrot? Brainrot... or Drabble. Idk

I’m alive! Sort of? Honkai: Star Rail has viciously grabbed my brain the second I saw it and now I have thoughts... and this is also because I got yanked in by the throat from both the silly content and beautiful artwork.

And if it wasn’t enough to nail a coffin to my grave, Tumblr dropped a post from @channelinglament (which is this post right here) and now my brain’s keeping me up with thoughts.

Not sure if I’ll have enough energy to spare for actual posts, but maybe with enough food for thought, I might actually make a piece or two... might. Due to HSR’s brand of silliness, it might just be Shenanigans the Fic.

The thing that gets to me the most is the highest of Aeons part, like... the Aeon of Aeons and you know, while I still know almost nothing about how Aeons come to be, what if there’s that one Entity that just exists and gives power that basically ascends whatever is sentient.

Of course the term “Aeon” would not be applied until numerous of the ascended beings are present and people are suddenly aware that there are these powerful beings in the universe now that can literally affect everything and bring about a permanent change to their livelihood. One moment the universe is all calm and normal and then here comes the Aeons. People do not know how to feel about them at first.

Naturally, there will always be the curious type of people who would try to search for the cause of it.

Pop in lil old You, just trying to help everyone you come across who look to be in desperate need power to be able to change their unfortunate circumstances. Too pure of heart, harmless mischief maker, just overall the sweetest entity with the power to turn anything into gods... yes, this is how beings like Qlipoth and Nous are born.

Now this gets me thinking that the Paths existed as one big, singular Path with you as the origin point and the ending point. When you gift a part of your power to someone/something, a piece of the path branches out of the main path but still remains connected to you... whether out of devotion or because it cannot exist without you is up in the air (your choice tbh).

The people/Aeons would just feel so grateful to be chosen, to be given so much power to do what they wished to change/do most... this was before they discovered there were others like them, doing things different from them that may clash with their ideals and suddenly there’s an all out war because each of the Aeons believed that the others were sullying your name by abusing your gifts.

(While the Dusk Wars are happening, you remain in ignorance to the wars because there are mortals that are calling for help and you just can’t look away from them.)

Eventually most of the Aeons are either killed off by each other (i.e, Tayzzyronth the Propagation) or assimilated into another Aeon (i.e Ena the Order), leaving a great many Paths masterless and fraying in shards, which suddenly starts to affect you badly and the poor Aeons who were just trying to do your name justice are panicking.

No one knows what happened, or what was happening to you, and when Akivili disappears/died, you disappear as well. Everyone is grieving, and there are no more new Aeons appearing anymore.

Thus you are assumed dead by the universe  (this part came from another post that I can’t quite find ;-;) and later become forgotten just because... idk. Haven’t thought much past this.

Plot twist for the universe (not really a plot twist because there would be no story without the star of the show), you are not. You just got a bit (super) sleepy because the Paths that are masterless are without an ending point and therefore drains you because there is no one there to receive the power from the separated Path. You spent a lot of your energy mending the masterless Paths back to you which made you fall asleep by the time you were done.

When you wake back up is when the game starts, and being so out of touch with the timeline of the universe, you’re just one curious bean trying to figure out what’s going on.

No one can see you now though, which is just sad for you, but you realized they can sense you so you’re just doing your best to help them now. Kafka and Silver Wolf do not understand what’s going on except the strange warm and homely feeling that makes them feel invincible is suddenly there.

Also a mischief maker if the randomly destroyed property by the subtle urging is anything to go by... yeah, there’s something there.

Kafka and Silver Wolf feel oddly disappointed when the sensation leaves, but returns to Elio and mentions it to him. He then tells them that he may or may not have withheld information from them that an Aeon (the OG of Aeons) was going to be helping them. However they react is up to your thoughts... I haven’t thought of something for that part yet.

When MC (could be either) wakes up, the first thing they actually see is You... which makes you delighted because Yay, a friend to communicate with!. Neither March 7th nor Dan Heng could understand why the MC is talking to nothing, until they felt the warm and fuzzy presence nestled into them that they are suddenly aware that MC might be interacting with a higher existence that might be an Aeon.

They are naturally wary of you at first, but upon seeing the way MC interacts with you, doing some silly stuff by your apparent urging... they realized you’re pretty harmless and also very nice (in what way, also up in the air).

[Going back to the subject of other Aeons who are essentially your Emanators by all but name, they do not know you are alive until Nanook catches sight of you/felt your very real presence with the MC when the Doomsday Beast battle happens. They are very happy you’re back, but they’re very upset because why didn’t you tell them you were back? For what reason, you guys can think about it. 

Anyways, you’ve got an Aeon stalking you and MC now, keeping a close eye on you especially because they nearly lost you once and would like it if you didn’t actually die this time. When MC starts getting acknowledged by more of the Aeons, more of them are also going to notice you too and then join Nanook with the stalking thing.

Eventually if they do find you in reality... well, that’s up to your imagination. It can also be a race between them and the mortals who start to see you physically too since you’re the sweetest existence to ever come into the universe and it’s a must to protect that innocence of yours (or for some other reason).

Also highly debating if Aeon!You would be either Aeon of Origin (the beginning of the Paths/the Origin of the Paths if going by this type of story) or Aeon of Guidance because of the in-game thing that we all do.]

Uhh... that’s all my brain can come up with here... so I shall see myself out now! ;D

[cyclogenesis]

your sweater post got me thinking, how does Blake deal with a million leading men trying to take her husband?

Oh my god, anon, here's a variety of options to which I have each given great consideration, you pick your favorite:

She lends him out like a library book. I think so often about this ridiculous fucking blind item from last November about a "recently unpopular half-canadian couple who decided to rejig their marriage and have started swinging" which was phrased SO obviously that everyone immediately clocked it as Blake and Ryan. Conclusion was mainly that it was bullshit sent in by their PR to make them sound cool, which is actually so fucking funny on ten thousand different levels. Swinging?! Is this the 1970s. Should I be wearing something with a dagger collar and smoking cigarettes like I'll never ever die. Can someone give me the address to the next key party. Swinging. SWINGING. I really don't have an opinion on where it came from or whether it's true or not, but I do think hot people should be sluttier as a community service, because I want a piece of that as well, so I hope it's true. Also if the point really was to make them sound cool it should have been about them both being bisexual. Swinging. SMH. But, fine. (Best comment on that post: Deadpool AND Wolverine? See option 3 for more thoughts on that.) Sidenote re: "recently unpopular", because I think I've only quietly stewed about it so far: I hope they take Justin Baldoni to the fucking cleaners and then he gets mysteriously lit on fire and dies. Man, fuck that guy, and fuck every amoral weasel who accepted money to make the world worse with that shitty campaign against them.

She gives such great dick that he knows nobody else could ever compare, so she's just tolerantly amused and secure in her strap collection.

If anyone would like to help me find that actual post so I don't have to share a fucking PINTEREST SCREENSHOT, CHRIST, that would be great. [EDIT: Anon found it!! Glory Hallelujah!!] The original poster deleted their blog, god only knows what else was lost in that fucking Library of Alexandria!!! Canon pegging enjoyer Ryan Reynolds, what am I supposed to do, NOT be obsessed with him?! Genuinely!! fuck

There's nothing to worry about because she slangs that strap like she grew it, but also they've just been in a pretty serious throuple with Hugh Jackman for at least a couple of years, which is why they do things like fun little morning walks with each other on Hugh's birthday in 2023:

And why Hugh Jackman, 56-year-old man who certainly has houses of his own and in fact lives in the exact same city that they do, casually talks about the many sleepovers he's had with them where they all sit around in their jammies being a domestic little family:

And--listen, I have enough of this shit to make an only semi-insane sounding compilation post of all the things I've come across that have made me be like wait...are they, like...is this...because cumulatively, man...I just...like I don't know man...

So if that's the case then Blake has already shared her husband with his main leading man, and I think we can go ahead and assume Ryan gets enough dick (probably? I mean, what do I know) and that no one else has a chance.

IDK. Choose your own adventure!

[velnna]

Since you probably use more social media than most people, I was curious on what you think of the ones u use, especially now that blue sky is open to the public

Eh, I'm not super well versed on them these days because I mostly use them to respond to notifications, post and disappear, plus I have notifications filtered everywhere so I don't keep track of engagement. ESPECIALLY with bluesky, I've never even opened the general timeline there 😅

Twitter is still my favourite social media and the one I use more seamlessly. I think I see value in it because it's not primarily meant for visual posts and there's people from a bunch of different fields and industries engaging with whatever all at once, plus the line between commenting on a post and making a post yourself is blurred which gives for some funny interactions. It used to intimidate me but now I'm just chilling.

Bluesky I guess is supposed to be the same thing? But I can't bring myself to engage with it idk. Back when it started I could see that the most active people there were the ones actively hating twitter, while.. doing the exact same things on bluesky they did on twitter 🤷‍♂️ so I think Elon Musk aside it's basically the same thing with less users.

I used to be big on instagram but basically stopped using it when they introduced reels, now I just post and disappear. I hate that they couldn't just leave it simple and uncluttered and the fact that reels became so popular pissed me off lmao.

Tiktok is a tricky one for me because I go "viral" easily there and it's my biggest platform BUT it's very addicting and you sorta have to scroll through the main page to find content to make + a lot of the time you need to make content specifically for it. Which is a time sink for me in a lot of ways :') I tend to open it every other month to maybe post something then ghost again

Tumblr is... fine? Idk tumblr definitely feels like both the most useless and the easiest social media to use. Useless in the sense that I never expect anything that happens on tumblr to materialise into anything outside of it. Easiest in the sense that it's just chill for me to post and engage with what people send me without needing to think about it too hard. Trying to get original content to take off here was in vain but fanart does particularly well as expected.. which means it only started being fun for me when I got into BG3 as I'd never been in a fandom before lmao. I like that, just like twitter, it's not only for visual posts, but get overwhelmed at the idea of blogs and formatting and sorting posts, so I only use it barebones and tend to not engage with the main page/timeline either

Engagement-wise, I honestly couldn't tell ya. I think that comes down to you paying attention to each social media's trends and how people interact with it. Personally I'm (very luckily) at a stage where 99% of the time I don't care about whether a post makes numbers or flops, and my platforms are big enough that if I REALLY needed something to do well I could probably find a way to make it loud enough so yknow

Hope this answers your question :'D

[flowers-of-tenebrae]

[ More FFXV x FFXIV thoughts ]

Excerpts from my drafts (Mild FFXIV spoilers ahead):

^I actually did consider DRK for Noctis 😄. Didn't finish writing Ignis' part lol

See my earlier post about SQEX's preferred jobs for the bros - keeping in mind the collab was released in Dec 2018 for FFXV before FFXIV: Shadowbringer's 2019 release. Read this earlier post re: why I feel RDM doesn't fit Noctis plus other users' thoughts on the matter.

Anyway, FFXIV jobs I'd assign the other FFXV characters:

Aranea - DRG

Iris - PCT

Luna - WHM / LNC (still early lvls, no DRG job stone) / BTN

Cor - SAM

Ardyn - WHM then DRK/RPR -> Ardyn & Luna parallels w/ both initially as WHM

Ravus - ?? DRK (idk Ravus fans help me out here)

Other jobs I think could fit:

Gladio - GNB

Hear me out. Gunbreaker (GNB) is all about being a protector or a guardian (FFVIII) and more importantly having someone - or some important cause like one's country or freedom - to protect. I think Gladio could relate to FFXIV's Dalmascans what with the loss of their liege and country due to imperial invasion. Also FFXIV's GNB was an art passed down from generation to generation and originated from royal guards.

BUT I think Gladio would prefer more traditional forms of weaponry and combat, which is why I picked WAR and DRK for him! WAR is self-explanatory (unga bunga) and who doesn't love Fell Cleave? SAM comes after he's completed Episode Gladio.

Noctis - FSH max lvl / SMN

The kind of guy who spends weeks chasing after ruby dragons or cinder surprises or whatever the fuck FSH enthusiasts get up to these days. I think he'd be amused by the name carbuncleplushy (iykyk).

My old rambly notes on VPR and SMN Noctis (viper and summoner):

@noctswife brings up a good point against RPR for Noctis + some thoughts on DRK and RDM Noct:

Ignis - CUL / SGE / VPR / DRG

I'll expand on my choices for Ignis since I didn't explain them earlier. Our FFXV light party desperately needs a healer, so Ignis steps up. Like Alphinaud, he originally was a strategist healer (SCH - scholar) but decided he didn't vibe with Eos/Selene or the angel aesthetic and switched to sage (SGE) /jk

I think healing via DPS fits Ignis and he can swap Kardia between Gladio (MT - the main tank), Noctis, Prompto or even himself. Plus lasers.

About DPS jobs for Ignis - NIN has the traditional Japanese aesthetic while I see Ignis as more of a modern kind of guy. VPR's ability to switch between dual blades <--> one longarm represents Ignis' gameplay really well imo, and it also suits Noctis who has the armiger at his disposal. DRG bc Ignis obv has the hops n jumps, esp in Episode Ignis.

Bonus: I think Ignis would make a fetching RDM! Plus it incorporates his ability to use magic and heal.

Luna - SCH?

@noctswife suggested SCH for Luna, which was great to read:

I think Luna and Noctis both having arcanist (ACN) - the prerequisite class to SCH and SMN in FFXIV - in common works narratively wrt to FFXV's story, i.e. Luna and Noctis are the only ones able to really communicate with the Astrals (excl. Ardyn). Whether it's WHM or SCH, I think we can all agree Noctis and Luna have that tank/healer dynamic going on!

Anyway ty to everyone who shared their thoughts on the other posts about job classes for Noctis. Feel free to agree / disagree here, it's all for fun! Or correct me if I missed sth or incl any inaccuracies.

[driftingballoons]

@heinousactszx my clumsy fingers accidentally deleted your ask about potential changes I’d make to an explorers remake, so tagging you and making a new post! Sorry about that 🙈

Plot-wise, I think my biggest gripe with the original is how they handled Darkrai. I think with some foreshadowing throughout the game, both in the main plot and the initial parts of the post-game, could really have added to his reveal later on. As a villain, his motivations were….well. After having a villain like Dusknoir, he kind of fell flat imo. I feel exploring a little more of why he was doing all that could really help build his character. Finally, I would want to change how they deal with him after everything. Ending it with “it’s ok, he’s got amnesia :)” felt like something of a non-ending. Maybe having one more post-game arc or special episode where you find him, he slowly regains his memories, but maybe through exploring with you he learns to appreciate the world as it is and finds his place in it—an ending where he’s rehabilitated and the threat to the planet is well and truly dealt with—could have made the game feel properly finished. 

Another thing I would LOVE to see is more world building of the dark future. It’s such an interesting idea, having you and partner run around in the future, and I feel like it could have been used to give more characterization to dusknoir/celebi/grovyle. Like, instead of just running back to the past and having dusknoir confirm that we’re in fact grovyle’s partner, what if we got a side plot where he takes us to the planetary investigation team’s base, hear them talk about grovyle and his “partner,” and maybe even have a dimensional scream or sudden memory showing that you actually belong there? Might have been an interesting way to interact with the future a little more and give the player a sense of the weight of erasing an entire reality when dusknoir gives the reveal later on. Plus, it would make it a more interesting setting than just a series of mystery dungeons and boss fights. 

A final thing I think could be a valuable addition to the plot is some conflict between hero/partner. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the soulmate style relationship (whether platonic, romantic, etc) they seem to have, but feel like overcoming some kind of conflict between each other could help strengthen that. Imo, the best way to do that could be using dusknoir—what if hero was suspicious of him as a bit of foreshadowing? What if they had a dimensional scream about him, confided in partner, and partner, being completely enamored with him, refuses to believe it? Could be a conflict that starts small, eventually building up and boiling over when they’re in the future, partner being a combo of angry that hero was right, and feeling guilty that they didn’t believe them. Maybe they’d even lash out after escaping the stockade, run off by themself, and need rescuing by hero/grovyle. Idk, I just feel like there’s a lot of ways you could work something like that into the plot, and it would show that even though they don’t always necessarily see eye to eye, they can overcome it and come out stronger. Add an extra dimension to their relationship, instead of having them be on the same wavelength all the time.