#if theyre fake characters that people can interpret how they want that means *I* can also interpret them how i like

[the-gayest-sky-kid]

please get off the internet for a minute and realize they are fake characters who can be interpreted however go outside for a minute

mutuals kill them

[somethingshifted]

as i wrote, this became longer and longer, so i'm sticking it under a readmore to save your dash, i'm just waffling about the plot

as someone who feels like the band taking their own plot too seriously with plastic beach pushed the writing into a box ever since then, i still find myself wanting to connect each phase to each other. like surely there was an underlying point to be made between murdoc painting the plastic beach pink and the last cult's main color being pink. why is russel struggling again after they've set up shop in LA, his birth country but the other corner, in what i consider tumultuous times that in the end has Del return (even if unacknowledged). but then i kind of shrug my shoulders as canon is still a hodgepodge of 100 things marching in a circle. it's still easily entertainable in my head and i can't help but pick out tidbits i thought have meaning, and re-arrange them in my head like a dollhouse. i may actually dislike it if they did try to connect the two album phases officially and go down a serious route again but PB existing just makes those connections in my head. a fan interpretation is always fine but i think it's best left to the fans. that sounds haughty to say but, for the band to stay a band, i prefer it that way.

so whats the point of this post. the thing is, i'd genuinely be satisfied if gorillaz continued not taking their own plot so seriously, with the disclaimer that i do wish they'd be steadfast with characterization. like it'd be nice if any of them actually held commentary on cults practices considering theyre usually open about their view on world events, but i think enough griping about CI promo material is out there i have nothing new to say other than falling back to CI being a spur of the moment album with a release schedule out of the creators control plus the shitty fact that russel & noodle have been kind of nothing for almost 10 yrs OOPS. they could explore more avenues if they were freed from having to address past events as if they're characters in a storybook and not symbols that change with the times. and maybe if they remembered they can give characters new traits as russel's done things like pick up taxidermy and cooking but only one is referenced for several albums as his sole trait and *zips my lips*

i really feel like a bitch for wanting to harp on the lost chord as it's a beautiful, beautiful song outside of the characters, and additionally i'm a sucker for moments murdoc is faced with how he used to act, but i don't think i'd ever take it as part of a linear plot? which is why i can't fully feel like he's gone back on his word being a cunt to 2D again and falling back into the grandeur lifestyle and all that with the cult stuff.. like, let me wear my pretentious hat for a second but the lockdowns leading people to reminisce about so many things so openly and retreading memories in lieu of making new ones due to being cooped up, resonates more with my feels on the last chord, rather than uh blowing the island up and such and using portals. see, Song Machine can be written around easier bc you can say they're filming the MVs and they're metaphors, even the art reflects this (i didnt listen to the podcasts yet). but then it references the events of PB so openly that you can't just go "well thats the fake MV they shot" and that, incongruence, is hard for me. so was it refreshing to have CI not walk in circles of Murdoc is trying to say sorry guys? yes? i don't know what redemption would do for his character, as the topic of abuse and trauma (when explored with tact) is pretty important to me story wise honestly, but it's kind of... getting repetitive at some points. or maybe too much focus on murdoc 'redeeming' himself at the cost of 2D having traits stripped away and noodle & russ being silent. i don't want the events of plastic beach to be erased from both his and the band's history. having him be the villain of the plot du album is also meh, which is why i can appreciate the less serious canon on him where recent writing is concerned. 2018 is like yesterday to me and they (writers) were still poking fun at murdoc being not only assaulted in prison but also being in the psychiatric ward of prison. like what was that all about, i really really prefer peepaw livestreaming for attention to them taking harrowing events and making them the butt of a joke. i feel like it was handled better in pirate radio even if that itself wasn't meant to be all doom and gloom. it just made more sense. and theresssss my problemmmmm

all that being said i will always adore plastic beach. some of the plot heavy things contain my favorite moments and i'm easily baited with nostalgia so this isn't a bashing post at all... just looking back and wondering if the written material is best when they're dropping tidbits and leave it for fans to imagine up scenarios, rather than adhere to a canon timeline all the time. it's so hard to sum up my feelings on this and stay in perspective of the band because my genuine feeling is that i actually love a lot of the murdoc storylines and i can't reconcile that with feeling put off that it requires believing some MVs and story beats are "real". because i'm shaking the gorillaz dollhouse regardless. and writing angst in my head revolving around how recovery isn't a straight line. and how tbh russel's journey is a direct foil to murdoc's. because all the ingredients are there

like read that and call me a hypocrite, i am! i just have a lot of thoughts. i think if i knew how to write fanfic i'd just shut up and do that but my dialogue writing skills make me uncomfortable due to not being BRITISH.

TL;DR, i'd be satisfied if plot being canonically recognized wasn't a drawback on the band because they honestly suffer when they do fall back on addressing the timeline and treating the characters as Vessels who Had Someting Happen To Them rather than whatever symbol for the current topic of the album. i do think the current writing gets repetitive and sanded down. at the same time i will always encourage fan interpretations regardless because i find those very fun. in being non linear it opens their world up to diff. perspectives. and i #support peepaw listening to weyes blood

[walnutcookie]

please write a ramble abt how fucked up roguefort is /nf

Ong . On it boss. Salutes

i love playing around with the concept that they have two faces: phantom bleu and their secret identity (who i just call roquefort). we know that phantom bleu is all an act because 1) i mean it makes sense nobody can just Live like that 24/7 but MRE IMPROTTNTLU 2) we see little bits and pieces of them through their little Urk! s and the time where waljut is like HEY REVEAL YOUR TRUE IDENTITY like Girl. tthe little hints to their lore and. Oua

none of this is confirmed its more just my fanon interpretation of them but Girl they are so fucked up . I have a whole timeline built for them of like how phantom bleu came to be and stuff but i dont wanna talk about it here because i wanna turn it into a comic/animation and let people theorize before i talk abt it HZBZKSB BUT LIKE. Girl. Theyve always had shit self confidence (probably their shitty parents are to blame for that) but after phantom bleu came along it got so much worse. probably the only reason why theyre Actually in a decent state of physical health is because they need to be able to do their heists . cause otherwise theyd probably neglect themself (either because they dont want to care for themself or they forget to do things). theyve put phantom bleu on such a pedestal, the only way that people will actually love them, that they think their own life is Meaningless

like. god. This fake character theyve created, this one big play theyve put on, people actually love them for it. and girl theyre dying to have that attention. as time passes they love roguefort cookie more and more, at the same time despising themself. what good are they? theyre useless. they take up space in their cousin cheesecakes mansion. they dont even pay rent (well not through actual money) they just take up space. they dont have an actual job. they dont have friends, cheesecake is their only real family (their other family being a grumpy cat and a sentient cape L)

they hate themself soo much its insane . they avoid getting too close to people for the pure reason that if someone finds out what theyre really like then everything is over. the mystery is all gone, theyre revealed to be a lazy good for nothing waste of space whos only good at playing pretend and watching lala land. thats what scares them the most, out of everything else. thats what keeps them up at night. so they close themself off ! avoid giving out personal information, hide every emotion with a mischievous smirk.

during phantom raven theyre at their highest (and at the same time close to their lowest.) they love roguefort cookie because everyone else loves them, and hating roquefort because nobody loves them. and then eventually realize . this is not love! nobody really loves them. theyre getting attention for the character they play, and that will never change. theyll forever be a nobody, recognized only for their talent, never for who they are.

then after their watch is auctioned off, they snap. they cant crawl out of this hole theyve dug, but maybe if they dig deeper theyll reach the other side? their only goal is to turn back time, back to before their family died, so maybe they can please them this time and theyll have someone to love them (Their parents are assholes btw theyll nevr be satisfied with roque)

roquefort is a puppet. theyve created a monster thats come to life, and its taken over their body. they could stop at any time, of course, but that means theyd be losing their only source of attention. so they keep doing it, even if it feels more like a chore at this point because They just dont know what else to do theyve lost control and phantom bleu is too big of a name to stop now

but i give them a happy ending in my fanon becquse i would Cry every time i think about them otherwise HZVZKHWF

[horrorknife]

why do you like jake so much?

because i love it when characters are difficult and complicated and their characterization escapes the vast majority of a fanbase. there is SO MUCH to jakes character and a lot of it gets misconstrued/misunderstood or straight up just blown past. also jake has a lot of "required reading" as i like to call it irt movies, many of the movies and medias he enjoys can be looped back around into the reader's understanding of him; big examples here are princess bride (which i actually havent seen yet but i Understand how it impacts him), avatar, and i would say even his interest in comics! Everything is Something with jake.

if were gonna use avatar for example. You might think Oh jonah. This is just his silly joke interest! which yeah thats true but it absolutely can be both and i choose to interpret it as such. but if youve seen avatar then youve seen the way neytiri and jakes relationship operates. Its literally dirkjake in a different font you guys. an important sentiment i always come back to with avatar is "i see you". jake wants to be Seen and Understood and Known but he is also very scared of being Seen and Understood and Known because he is, more than anything, a Faker. he hides the truth and even squirrels it away from himself and this is the thing that causes a lot of his internal strife and etc. in avatar jake sully at the end of the movie makes the choice to become a na'vi and be with neytiri. he literally changes himself to be with her (and ironically turns himself into a Blue Guy to be with the Blue Girl) and i think this is probably a really easy and quick way to explain the Jake Camouflage. jake Pretends and Fakes because he wants people to like him. he is desperate for validation and approval from other people to the point where it wears heavily on his wellbeing. this is one of my favorite things to play around with.

jakes relationship with gender and sexuality is also a really heavy hitter for me, i love gender and exploring gender and talking about gender because it is the Core of me as a Person. i <3 being nonbinary i will never shut up about it. Anyway. the way jake haphazardly traipses through all of his interactions with women he is "supposed to" be attracted to just screams closeted gay guy to me. like. Check this out.

here jake is having an argument with 'himself' (bgd) about his attraction to aranea and how hes having intrusive sexual thoughts about her but "theyre just thoughts they dont mean anything im not trying to have them!" comes off to me like "Please Someone Fucking Save Me From Forcing Myself To Like Girls To Fill The Part Of A Macho Man Which I Know I Am Not". jakes relationship with jane is a fucking disaster because theyre both trying to appeal to a cishetnormative read of themselves (and for jane she pastes that onto both of them) and play the part of their agabs (tmasc nonbinary butch lesbian jane and tfem nonbinary gay jake household sorry if you came here for something different) while failing spectacularly.

when it comes to gender jake really enjoys his extremes--he loves peak masculinity and he loves peak femininity but he HATES the idea of being a man (his own words!) cue: the excerpt everyone sources.

i have a Lot that i could say about this exchange but this is already a really long post so im gonna try and wrap shit up here.

i could honestly talk about this All Day and write several thousand words about jake alone (notice how i didnt touch on dirkjake at all here. Yeah thats because it would be the worlds longest post ever if i did. We can save that for a rainy day LOL) but for your own sanity anon i will abstain. Um yeah but this is just a quick snippet of my Thoughts. i have a lot more and i definitely left a lot of things out here but im always happy to infodump like this if i get prompted :-)

[kuromichad]

the main thing that bugs me about ao3 discourse is i just. i never see anyone lay out what they actually Want from ao3 besides 'delete everything i think is bad' like theres no. sense of practicality? what exactly do you want added to the tos. what is the exact expected process for reporting fics and evaluating those reports. disclaimer before anyones like 'Oh so youre unilaterally defending them' i do extremely think they should at the least not allow rpf of irl minors. but when it comes to enforcing policies that aren't related to like, laws, i just wonder how you expect it to work... should they just delete anything/anyone who gets reported a lot, like plenty of sites do? then people are gonna exploit that system and get people mass reported over petty shit, just like on twitter. should there be a moderation team instead? who picks that team? who's on that team? what if the team makes decisions you don't like?

especially when you're talking about creating some kind of policy for 'eliminating racist content,' like-- what counts? i'm guessing that like, troll works that are just a wall of slurs already get deleted (if they don't then they should be because that's pretty simple) but like. who decides what's 'bad enough' to merit outright deletion? if it's done by volume of reports, wouldn't that essentially be arbitrary moderation because it depends on a random group of people who potentially all have different problems with a fic and those problems can vary wildly in severity? like, what about when it comes down to nuances of how a character is treated? dramas like we had with finnpoe discourse, where either character topping might invoke different racist tropes, so how does one walk the line and how do you cope with how not everyone who attempts to walk it will be successful?

i saw one post giving the example of a fic that just like, rewrote the events of last year's protests to be set in the transformers universe, and yeah that's tasteless, there's been offensive 'current events' fic happening for a long time and it sucks. but should there be an explicit ban on that genre? how would that clause be worded? does Everyone agree that it's something that's impossible to do tastefully? if a black person does want to work through their feelings on current events through fanfiction, is that still banned because it's presumably impossible to do well, or should it be allowed because they have the right perspective? do they have to meet a certain standard of 'doing it right', and who evaluates that? and how are ao3 moderators supposed to know or believe they have that perspective? (we've already seen people racefaking to get 'permission' to write tacky racist fic just due to social pressures. imagine the lengths people will go to if their work or account is on the line.)

like-- sorry if this is a gauche comparison but since it's something i'm familiar with and able to speak on. what if the next wave of criticism is 'ao3 needs to crack down on transphobic content'? how will you define that, beyond 'delete fake fics that are just slurs'? would entire tags like omegaverse, or 'boypussy' and 'girl!penis', or even 'genderbend' get deleted? what about trans authors using those tags? do we become the only ones allowed because we can do it 'correctly'? how do we deal with the fact that not all trans people agree on what's 'correct'. like i don't think genderbending is inherently transphobic, it's down to individual choices and portrayals. same with omegaverse, same even with 'boypussy/girl!penis', since like. people might take issue with the entire premise of 'characters have this type of body and it just doesn't like, mean anything' as being fetishizing of trans bodies/erasure of trans experience and i sympathize with that. i'm not certain where i fall on the matter either, it's very much a case by case thing.

so then, how do you moderate that? do we get rid of those tags because someone decided nobody can use them responsibly or should like the premise at all? again, do we appoint moderators to decide when an idea is handled 'correctly' and again, who are the moderators? what happens when they make a decision you don't like? how do you distinguish between fic with a 'wrong' premise and fic with an 'okay' premise that is executed imperfectly and leads to interpretations or implications that upset people, especially when many fic writers are young and amateurs? should someone who made mistakes be punished with deletion just as much as someone who, like, intentionally wrote character-bashing/abuse fic for racist/transphobic/etc reasons?

like, none of what i'm asking here is supposed to be applied to general discussion of these subjects, it's not like i think offensive content should never be taken down, i'm not pulling some kind of 'everything Could be offensive so actually nothing is' or 'if they didn't mean to then it doesn't count' or anything like that. but we aren't talking about interpersonal discussions, or the handling of mass media, or anything like that. we're specifically talking about the concept of 'just delete everything that's offensive and exploitative' and how that would potentially be implemented. because ao3 is not a person who said something tasteless on twitch and can be reasoned with and led to make an apology. ao3 is a website hosting all sorts of ideas from millions of users, specifically in the form of fiction, and the way fiction conveys biases and shapes people's thinking is itself a really fucking complicated subject, and people are trying to demand that they try to tame that massive volume of content from different people in very specific ways, with no suggestion of how to actually go about doing that.

i know you think 'delete the stuff thats obviously bad' is a simple principle but it's literally not because no two people will ever 100% agree on what's 'obviously bad', particularly in this case because people don't consistently agree on whether depiction always equals endorsement AND it's so difficult to reliably tell whether depiction that seems to be endorsed was intended to be endorsed. so again, the primary, most practical options for 'delete things that are bad' are to either delete everything that anyone reports for any reason or to have moderators that make flawed human choices. i just want to feel like any of the people making 'ao3 bad' posts have actually like, considered that, and have some sort of opinion on which one it should be, if theyre gonna fight about this.

and, yknow, if they did have to hire a massive team of additional moderators to actually read every fic and take the time to make subjective decisions about whether it's offensive... they would need to pay those people... and they would still need donations. so lmao.

im not saying like 'youre not allowed to want things to change' like there's definitely room for improvement but. please god. start explaining what you want those changes to be because 'delete everything i personally think is bad' is not a moral imperative or a coherent category or a helpful suggestion in the least, if you think with your brain and not your gut instinct of disgust.

[rigginsstreet]

u know that riverparents as mythical beings post that u made? could you elaborate on it? like what would parentdale be like as a supernatural drama

oh fun! (this post for anyone who missed out)

hals the only one missing from that post (well, i guess clifford too but i never count him cuz he died in season 1 lmao) so we’re either working in the timeline that he died or we gotta come up with something for him but i cant think of anything right now so... dead he is

supernatural!parentdale would be like midnight texas, i think. just riverdale being this small town thats a portal (or whatever the explanation was on mt i dont remember) where all these different mythical beings congregate and shit goes down that they gotta stop

alice being a vampire and gladys being a werewolf... sworn enemies... forbidden love.... sexy, is all im saying.

oh hal could be one of the 4 horsemen? since tom is death. hal could be famine. (marty could be war, miles could be pestilence. boom. there we go)

hirams going around as a chaotic trickster god fucking everyones shit up cuz hes bored and loves drama lmao literally no different than regular human!hiram honestly

JUST GOT AN IMAGE OF FP AND PENELOPE HAVING THESE FIRE POWERS LINKED TO THEIR EMOTIONS SO WHENEVER THEYRE IN A HIGH EMOTIONAL STATE SHIT JUST STARTS BURNING AND I THINK THERES A LOT WE CAN SAY THERE ABOUT THEIR CHILDHOOD TRAUMAS AND HOW THEY CANT CONTROL THEIR POWERS AND THEY INADVERTENTLY CAUSE A LOT OF DESTRUCTION (although i think penelope got control of her powers long before fp did i see her like... setting small shit on fire or causing small explosions when someone pisses her off while she walks away calmly... fp, however. whew. he destroys everything but its never on purpose. also... idk who else here is a fan of australian kids television but if yall saw h2o - that scene where rikki and zane are kissing but rikki doesnt have control of her heat powers yet so shes like.... fucking boiling zane alive while theyre kissing and she has no idea until he like passes out and is all red and theres fire everywhere.... yeah)

fred as a ghost is some sad shit and im only here to make it sadder but LISTEN. there is something to be said for the fact that he’s the only person fp cant hurt because he has no body lmao and like... leave it to fp to fall in love with a fucking dead guy but ya know, thats his life. so then they have this whole arc of fred helping fp work through his shit and get control of his powers (listen idk how dragons work like i know dragon aus exist but ive never read them so... this is my own interpretation) while simultaneously fp is helping fred figure out how to cross over because thats what all ghosts are trying to do. and it ultimately has this bittersweet ending where theyve both helped each other but fred has to go and its real sad and im honestly about to start crying so we’re moving on

oh i just got an idea for fred and fp but this is the only gif of it i can find but:

FP TRYING TO TOUCH FRED BUT HE CANT! WHEW! my life to whomever wants to write this fic im just saying...

hermione as a witch is real funny to me cuz usually in these supernatural dramas the witch characters are always sacrificing themselves for everyone else and theyre the ones everyone goes to for help and they always have to save the day but hermione is just not that bitch lmao like, dont get me wrong, she does end up helping everyone and saving the day.... but she’s not happy about it. she does love to put hexes on people tho and she’s a savvy business woman who sells a bunch of fake shit to hipster “witches” cuz its trendy but she would never give away her real magic (her and hiram together... powerful)

mary is very much the protector of everybody (i mean, a lot of them have protector qualities but mary, as an angel, is the leader). like yeah shes sweet and loving and caring but shes also very much a biblical angel and will fuck some shit up. she is powerful. do not mess with her

sierras like a true blood fairy. minus the orgies maybe. or maybe she likes the orgies i dont know her life, thats up to her. but sierra shooting light balls out of her hands is a 10/10 concept i can see is so clearly in my minds eye.

please feel free, anybody, to ask more questions about this au cuz im sure i have more to say. supernatural dramas were my shit from like... honestly my entire life but admittedly i havent been as into them in a while (probably cuz there arent any good ones anymore... middle school-high school was like the peak years of that media tbh)

[anneapocalypse]

RWBY 7.03 - 7.04

I had every intention of making an episode post every week and boy let me tell you time just gets away sometimes. So I'm going to do my best to catch up this week! I've seen up to episode 6, but four episodes is a lot to cover all at once, so I'm going to try and cover two at a time.

I’m trying to keep all spoilers under a cut as a courtesy. If you reblog with added commentary, please use a readmore so I can reblog it back without spoiling my followers.

Big disclaimer, I kinda drifted from RWBY for a few years before getting back into it in volume 6, and I do not know the lore for this universe nearly as well as I know RvB. This is a reaction post, not hard meta, and I will probably get something wrong. Feel free to correct me, but bear all that in mind. 

Anyway, let’s get into it!

I've come to really enjoy how much aerial combat is a thing in this universe. In hindsight, Ozpin's landing strategy test for the first years makes a lot more sense when you realize that this is just a common thing in aura-based combat and everyone's probably been studying it for years already by the time they arrive at Beacon. (All except poor cheater Jaune, and I have a new theory about him but that will be another post.)

Yang and Blake's awkward flirting is very adorable and I love them a lot.

Weiss mentions that aura can protect you from the cold and is pretty vital for being outdoors in this region, which really makes me wonder what happens if someone gets their aura drained while fighting in the cold.

In Episode 3 we get to spend some more time with Ironwood's Ace Ops. It's immediately curious to me that there are five of them, not four, yet they're shown off in the intro in the same stylized silhouette as as the other teams.

This divergence from the conventions of the universe is kind of a big deal. Everything in RWBY comes in fours. Teams of heroes. Teams of villains. Kingdoms. Schools. Relics. Maidens. A team of five is weird. Also, I don't think their names make an acronym. At least I haven't been able come up with anything from CHEMV.

So I do think it means something that the Ace Ops don't fit the in-universe rules of a team. Because they're also... kind of patronizing and obnoxious, honestly. I don't mind most of the individual characters, in fact I pretty much like all of them on their own (with the possible exception of Clover who I'm less fond of), but collectively they're really patronizing to RWBY and JNR. Even Ironwood recognizes how much they've done, and formally!

But the Ace Ops... well, honestly, they seem really good at making other people feel bad. Especially Qrow. You could interpret Qrow's reaction to Clover's semblance effectively cancelling his out in multiple ways, it's true, but he doesn't exactly strike me as... happy.

We're told that the Ace Ops are handpicked to complement one another. But Harriet also goes out of her way to tell Team RWBY—and by extension the audience—that this is a job, not friendship to them. Ruby seems deflated by this; Yang looks startled, then annoyed; Blake looks angry; Weiss just looks stoic, like she disapproves but knows better than to say so.

And this, I think, is why the Ace Ops are here. They're here to fail. Theyre the test bed for Ironwood telling the world about Salem. They have no stake in the fight but the job—it's not personal for them the way it is for Teams RWBY and JNR, for Qrow. They're a squad, but not friends—not quite even a team.

And that's why they're going to fail, and possibly die. Not saying I want the characters to die, but everything about them seems set up for a fall to me, from their cocky attitudes to their contrast with Team RWBY to them being the first Ironwood has entrusted with Ozpin's secrets.

I physically recoiled when Jacques Schnee appeared onscreen. I don't know how to feel about the fact that Ironwood is leveraging martial law against Jacques and I'm rooting for Ironwood. I mean, it's Jacques Schnee, so I'd root for just about anyone against him, but still. Jimmy. Please. I don't like being on the side of martial law! It's not a good look!

Weiss confronting her father honestly gave me chills. It's such a powerful scene. Not just Weiss staring down her abuser but her friends at her back, and Blake especially taking her hand—that felt like a big deal, like a gesture of solidarity from one survivor to another. And Weiss calling them her "family." All the body language is so well-animated, including when Jacques finally walks away and Weiss's shoulders drop, letting down her defenses, knowing she's safe again. You can feel what it took for her to face him. The whole scene is so good.

And once again, it hammers home that difference between the Ace Ops and Team RWBY. Not just teammates, not even just friends, but family.

I would also like to point out Oscar's presence in the JNR team silhouette in the intro, further supporting my theory that Oscar will eventually be joining Team JNR as their fourth member, becoming Team ORNJ. :)

The graduation, humble as it is, is another gesture of good faith from Ironwood. He believes they deserve it—and aso that they can help Atlas. He got them a cake. Ironwood is, I think, making a lot of mistakes and some that threaten to come back to bite him hard. But I agree with Blake that his heart is in the right place. I just hope something convinces him to listen to reason before it's too late.

Ren seems to be getting annoyed with Nora. Twice is a pattern. At the time of watching I wasn't really sure what was going on there, but something sure was. (More on that in the next post.)

I really enjoyed the Qrow and Ruby talk; it was sweet, and very fatherly. Qrow has always felt like another parent to Ruby to me. I know there are some theories about Qrow being her biological father; to me, that part doesn't matter at all. And I do ship STRQ as a complicated poly situation, big time, but the important thing here is how much Qrow loves her.

We learn a little something about Summer here. It's been established that she left on a mission and never returned, and is presumed dead. Now we know that mission might have been something not even Oz knew about. Qrow himself doesn't know. "She was always the best of us," he says, with such fondness.

It is sweet seeing the characters relax for a little bit and have fun. Yang pranking Penny with her arm was a delight.

And we learn that Watts knows Jacques, because of course he does. Sounds like he faked his death when he turned from Atlas security and joined Salem.

A big thing I'm noticing with this volume is what feels like Rooster Teeth trying to show us that they understand systemic oppression better than they did in like, volume 2. And I do think they've come a long way. There is definitely still some of that cartoon racism against Faunus that we saw in early episodes, but we're definitely seeing more acknowledgment that anti-Faunus racism isn't simply a few isolated mean people being mean.

This volume is also really pushing the class divide between Mantle and the city of Atlas... which will come up more in the next two episodes.

[thisisasupergoodidea]

just watched The Guy Who Didnt Like Musicals a second time. i didnt really process the songs properly the first time and didnt like them but now i can actually hear the tunes as intended and i love this whole thing so much. so im gonna ramble about this musical for a bit. spoilers ahead if u havent watched yet (its on youtube)

ive seen a few of the theories ppl have about the delivery of the musical, and about what happens at the end especially. i think i wanna try my hand at it too because sometimes i enjoy interpreting details. and im a gigantic sucker for reprises that stitch together all the songs we just heard into its own frankenstein song that completely changes in meaning or tone based on all the info we absorbed over the course of the program. and boi the last song of the show sure fuckin delivers

ok well i need to start at the beginning though. some ppl are confused by what the opening lil song and dance is within the context of the musical, because it introduces the main character, but at that point no one is infected yet so it just seems like standard musical stuff in the viewpoint of the audience, who expects this. but the entire plot of this musical is that the characters’ world slowly BECOMES a musical due to alien spores from a meteor infecting everyone to act as a harmonious hive mind. so in this sense its two musicals at the same time: the musical that starkid productions wrote, and the looser ‘musical’ that the alien entity is orchestrating during its antagonism of the main character. i believe that the opener takes place after at least a partially successful domination of the populace, mostly because of the fact that the characters who participate in that song are referring to ‘themselves’ in the third person and are dancing all hunched and menacingly, exactly how the alien spore compels people to dance later on in the plot. that plus a line that i might be recalling correctly about how the main character is their final story to tell, makes me certain that this is the alien telling that story

as for the main character paul’s absence from that song, i really think thats something intended in the musical to introduce what paul is like in the most succinct way possible. the guy just did not like musicals. throughout the plot he is constantly defining himself by his lack of participation, so of course the cheekiest way to set that up is to have him not participate in the opener. i think the confusing part here is when the story actually begins, because if the opener was performed by the future infected characters, when is the line drawn to differentiate between the two musicals that are happening (starkid musical vs alien musical)? or is the whole thing a performance by the alien entity? in which case, everyone on that stage is simply acting out the story as determined by the hive mind. but to whom, if everyone’s infected? i’ll get back to that later

another thing i love about this musical is how gradually tired of paul’s shit the alien entity becomes over the course of the plot, as evidenced by the tone of the songs. it just gets worse and worse. the alien’s songs turn from sickeningly cheerful to enticing, to threatening, to evoking hopelessness, then finally to pressuring paul past his breaking point. some of the songs arent even directed at paul but the change still happens, which goes to show the alien entity’s frustration. and at the end when the infected find emma, the song is happy again. they sing that awesome reprise, a really energetic mashup in which its hard not to feel like the alien plague is unstoppable. inevitable, one might say.

speaking of the end... paul’s confrontation with the meteor (my absolute favorite scene that i would rewatch a hundred times except i dont want to get tired of it too fast) contains good information to understanding what happens afterward. paul tries to blow it up, gets distracted by the appearance of his infected acquaintances, and the longer he stays there the more infected he himself becomes, breathing in such a heavy concentration of those alien spores at the epicenter of its activity. until now, he has rejected actively being the ‘star of the show’ like the alien seems to... want him to be? idk, the point is that his character defies musical protagonist tropes despite how the plot follows him. the story is ABOUT the alien, but paul is the audience’s anchor. until he goes to blow up the meteor. at that point, the alien has him. he can barely fight back against his own body synchronizing with the other infected as they goad him into giving in, but he puts up a damn good struggle considering those impossible circumstances. still, for the first time, he participates. he sings. he hates it, but it brings out some interesting thoughts: does he hate it? did he ever? or is this just the spores talking?

but what part, exactly, does he hate? in a musical, the singing and dancing act is usually the method of delivery for whatever the character is truly feeling. it is an opportunity for the audience to connect emotionally with the person who is singing. but we dont have that with paul for almost the entire show. he doesnt participate. and he’s established in the beginning as selfish, kind of a dick, and not available to anyone (except emma who is the only person he even slightly opens up to. he tries to be more friendly somewhat with bill, i think, but even then that couldve just been to get him to snap out of it and escape the school). he said himself that people singing and dancing makes him uncomfortable. so all this is to say that, on a deeper level, i think the aspect of the singing and dancing that he hates, that he fights to resist, is the vulnerability. you can witness the madness and shame for yourself as he sings more and more, letting out his worries, unsure if his feelings are his anymore. but hey, he ends that scene with a statement reaffirming the self he walked in with (which is to say, a guy who hates musicals) and finally pulls his grenade. so its cool that he was able to resist that but. guys. if the spores didnt get him. that grenade absolutely did. he didnt even bother to throw it away from himself, he flung it down right in front of him. theres no way he didnt get blown to bloody chunks, fully intending for that to be his final act of defiance

but i think it was too late by then. he’d already breathed in so many spores, and we were shown earlier on that death is not an impediment to becoming infected. i think after he exploded, he was still absorbed into the collective and reformed as a new addition to the hive mind. his explosives might not have been enough to fully destroy the meteor. and thats why, at the very end, i believe that - despite his admittedly suspicious face journey during the song - he isnt faking it. because if he was, wouldnt the hive mind know that it doesnt contain him within it? not only that, but in the opening song emma is clearly part of the group. given that she is the only one who is undoubtedly not infected in the last song, we have to assume that she will be sometime after the finale of the musical.

and now im left with my unexplored questions: is this a musical played straight, or a ‘musical’ put on by the alien entity after it wins? and who is the ‘musical’ intended for? its fun to speculate but im not sure these are questions that can be answered by watching it a bunch of times. theyre aimed too much outside of the zone of operation, if that makes sense. its like, you cant ever look at your own eyeballs normally. you need a mirror or for someone to describe them to you. these questions exist outside of the limitations of the musical format, so we wouldnt direct them at the video, we would ask them of the creators. or not. its cool to not have all the questions answered too

ah i wrote a flippin essay, huh? i guess i wanted to prove to myself that my brain still works

[unproduciblesmackdown]

i keep forgetting to complain abt this so we’re doing this live...

i watched lady bird right, overall uh it was that rare movie that i think is good but didnt like, personally enjoy that much, & i suspect it wasnt helped by a couple of factors

while this didnt ruin it for me or anything i did really sour on a certain point ive complained abt before re media tropes.....i need cis ppl to find another device to symbolize “character accepts some aspect(s) of their identity thru accepting their given name”

its like unignorable to be watching this element throughout a movie & not have it feel vastly unpleasant... like its not like you can overlook it or just forget it or it just casually occurs to you that oh, lol, a trans teen might have this sort of experience, like...you have to be cis as hell & i guess have no non cis ppl within 50 miles of you to not have that occur to you even once

like, the awkwardness of trying to get people to use a name thats not on official forms & having to explain it on repeated occasions in non private settings & having people pause or raise eyebrows or roll eyes or question it or imply they find it ridiculous or whatever...thats like, some kind of dry humor if its applied to a cis person using a nickname i guess? but thats an experience for a lot of real people where it means a lot more than a preference and it can be received a lot worse & is gonna be a lot more high stakes for a lot of reasons

like i didnt mind it that much until retrospectively b/c i actually thought that for once they WEREN’T gonna do the thing where the character is like actually lol my birth name is fine, and spoilers, they do. like i was rooting for even a cis character trying to simply get people to use the name she liked best for herself. and now of course i resent that they put it in repeatedly throughout the movie. like it just annoys me at this point. the lack of respect for or existence of trans characters, yet theres all these subplots where cis characters press some Self-Determined Identity that they then let go of b/c its all denial of ur true self or whatever like. can you just stop

and anyways its like ive also said...even cis characters (and cis ppl irl) shouldnt be called by their birth name if they insist they dont like to be called that. even in those cases, to refuse to use the name they want to be called is a lack of basic respect, some rejection of their fundamental right & ability to define themselves & a dumbassed power move too. and its Really Not That Difficult.

its not like i think this plot device is inherently bad but its kind of evolved into some bs. like, the fact that almost exclusively especially in movies, a cis character having a Chosen Name will keep being pointed out as an awkward hassle & see how its different from their Real Name & most of all it keeps being revealed as Misguided in the end. meanwhile where are the trans people, in the movies as characters or behind the scenes as someone to be like, hey, this is annoying to see an ounce of something thats often a constant part of our lives & people are always trying to imply that we’re using Fake Names or lying about our identities by having “real” legal names and also in all ways

and also i can just testify that as someone who isnt cis and watched this movie it really stands out even trying to look back on the entirety of the film b/c im v bitter on this point & its not just a minor nitpick and sure doesnt feel like one either

also most scenes with her mom read really differently as someone w an abusive parent. not because i think the character was or was meant to be abusive, if nothing else in the way lady bird reacts to things as not at all the way someone who was abused would, but that kind of like “ooh rough patch in a parent-child relationship, friction so constant its expected at all times, overcritical behavior” is like, the normal interaction on a good day for abuse. i didnt read it as abuse in the movie and know that its not an actual factor but again, theres just no way for me to ignore it, thats just another way i couldnt really say i enjoyed it or would watch it again. thats how it be personally watching movies sometimes you know. you get scenes like that a bunch of times where it automatically evokes a different reaction than it would for most people & you’re aware of that & you can still interpret the interaction the way you know you’re Supposed to, but it doesnt stop you from feeling the way it makes you feel. it just altered the feel of this movie in particular coz it was like 2/3 of the movie. u also dont much get realistic invocation of Abuse / an abused character in movies or shows or books either so....(or when you sort of do in really subtle ways everyone interprets the character as a wimp or a jerk or whatever unless its some unrealistic, one dimensional, conveniently appealing and easy to deal with version of a character where they’re just kind of momentarily shy or sad but they warm up easily, or somewhat cold or cocky but really they just need to finally have a dramatic confession & then theyre all back to being a Regular Person left w no particular hindrances due to trauma that other ppl might find inconvenient or unsympathetic)

anyways

[dent-de-leon]

to that other anon. speaking from a media producing point of view, if they were going to make shiro/keith a thing, they wouldnt have given them a brotherly relationship. with same sex couples especially. showrunners are v cautious and make it at least somewhat clear that theyre going to end up together. dropping hints that they have some kind of romantic connection etc. they wouldnt encourage the anti-gay remarks made about gay people being perverts, by making a brotherly relationship romantic.

Hi anon! Personally, I have to say I disagree.

All of Team Voltron has been referred to as family. Fake Shiro outright says Keith views them all as family with his “We’re all a family” line, Hunk refers to all the paladins as “brothers” and Allura also refers to the paladins as her “new family.” By eliminating any ships related to found family, you eliminate all the ships between the paladins (and Allura).

I also do think there are lots of hints that their relationship is more so romantic, as I’ve gone over in lots of my meta before. In fact, out of every ship, I’d argue that sheith has the most basis in canon (at least, that’s how I see it). Things like “your friend desperately wants to see you,” sappily repeating each other’s lines upon reuniting, their intro, Keith’s insistence that Shiro really changed his life, Keith’s insecurities about losing Shiro and this notion that he would be all alone without him–these things strike me as distinctly romantic. I have two brothers, but nothing about Shiro and Keith’s relationship really feels brotherly to me.

And I think the fact that Keith and Shiro’s past is purposely hidden is very strange. It’s entirely possible that the way they met and their time together prekerberos will give people an entirely different impression about their dynamic. I also think it’s possible that Keith’s views of Shiro prekerberos–as well as his reaction to Shiro’s disappearance–may very well change a lot of people’s views on the nature of their relationship, which is why I think it was something that’s been obscured by the writers.

Had their relationship really been brotherly, I see no reason why they wouldn’t show Keith and Pidge bonding over losing a brother at Kerberos, and paralleling their story arc. The fact that the writers didn’t do that tells me Shiro and Keith’s dynamic was distinctly different–which is also why I think the staff supports sheith so much, because you can view their dynamic in more ways than just a brotherly context.

And I really do try to consider how people will react to representation, which is why I would want it to be sheith–I’ve talked a lot about how making Shiro lgbt would be groundbreaking in how it tackles stereotypes. But also, sheith is all about mutual love, understanding, implicit trust–they care for each other so much, ground one another, are always willing to throw away everything for each other. The fact that they’re willing to support each other no matter what really gets me; I think their relationship would be the most healthy.

And I mean, I’m bi. I could definitely relate to Keith seeing someone he used to think of as a close friend as something more–and being scared to outright admit that. For me, someone falling for a friend they’ve had a while doesn’t sound wrong at all, and seems more like a natural progression of character development. I would certainly like to see Keith and Shiro with someone we already know cares about them. 

And the age debate thing is something I don’t do, and there are lots of different interpretations and no exact numbers. But me personally, going by official printed sources like the Dreamwork’ official summary and the summary in the vld comics listing them as “five teenagers” as well as the lion toy boxes’ summary of “five young heroes” and the writers saying that HKL are all “late teens,” while Shiro is “slightly older” and “wise beyond his years”–add to that Hunk’s VA saying Hunk was 17 at the start of the series (which I read as he isn’t now)–and I headcanon Keith as 17 at the start with Shiro at 19. This accounts for Shiro being a teenager like the other paladins. 

I also headcanon them as 18 and 20 by around season 3 respectively, so I imagine Keith falling for an “older” brother who isn’t actually that much older. After all, staff supports sheith. I don’t think Dreamworks would really allow them to do so openly if anything about their ages made the ship abusive–which the staff has already assured us that it’s not. They also read as more like brothers in arms (equals) than a younger and older brother. 

So honestly anon, from a writing perspective, I personally view sheith as the most viable option for representation. I hear what you’re saying, and I understand your concerns. But for me, this is just where I stand, and I hope you understand. Speaking as someone who would love to see myself in lgbt representation, sheith being canon would just mean so much to me.

[kokeggy]

my brain is filled with ouma and i cant stop it

i totally forgot the time man, its almost been 2 months since i played the game and it totally didnt feel like that at all

i still can recall a ton of things fluidly and as for now i dont see a particular reason to replay the game (other than wanting to get to know ouma better) 

but oumas character is just.. so tragic. i cant even begin to explain the depth of his character, it would be pages long and im way too lazy for that. ill always just write mental drafts and let myself feel when it comes to ouma

ill a cut here since its already a bit long rn lmao

and i think ouma is a character who is deeply troubled by his insecurities/possible mental illnesses (such as bpd or servere depression) in a way that these insecurities are his most memorable characteristics. that is absolutely sad and tragic

furthermore since the moment i started to play this game i always thought it was suspicious that ouma claimed he hated liars even tho he was one himself. sure that couldve been one of his lies, but my intention rlly didnt like this idea so i thought he was actually speaking the truth. i realized today that ouma was hinting at shuichi that he hated this persona that he had to create for the sake of this game

but i do agree that i sometimes tend to overthink ouma lmao while is incredibly intelligent, he couldnt have figured everything out, plus his trust issues and paranoia were in the way of looking into every possible situation. yet i somehow believed that he did a lot of stuff while being completely aware of their consequences - but thats not possible. ouma is not a superhuman who can figure out what happens to the world in [insert year]. hes a character with deep flaws which balances his cunning behavior 

to his actual personality, i might seem like the most biased person in the world but i truly believe that ouma didnt want to harm anyone. its just that the killing game... happened lol

as far as i can self-insert, i do believe if i happen to be in a killing game i would be quite similar about it. minus the creating a fake persona thing for me its absolutely impossible to trust 15 people whom i just met that they wouldnt kill me under stress. you know, if you activate the right buttons on someone, they can work how you want them to. and this is what feared ouma (rightly so)

anyways i take the anthologies as canon material since theyre approved and licensed by spike chunsoft, and we obviously see that ouma is nowhere near as antagonistic as he was in the game. although, i only have read the first anthology (also while we are at it, i cant wait to buy the thjree v3 anthologies even without knowing japanese, lulz)

but we also see his character actually getting darker and darker with each chapter, with chapter 4 probably taking the point. esp on when it ended. at first i was kind of conflicted about his oversentimal reaction towards gonta being executed, because that felt just as fake as his overly evil presentation afterwards. altho after some time thinking abt this, i came to the conclusion that he just leaked a little bit of his juicy true self(tm), realized that what he meant was actually genuine and then proceed to vent his emotions in making him seem like the most villainous person u ever met. because i think one of the reasons ouma acted out like is because he believed he was at fault for gontas death. so instead of trying to sweet talk yourself, he just took the oppurtunity to make him the least likeable person. cuz who would ever want to like someone who jokes about genuinely being concered about someone dying? yeah no one dude

also i think ouma is ironically a bit well-mannered (yeah guis im not joking here). ..  .if we ignore all his stupid pranks.. so you see, whenever i got rejected after dates with ouma in salmon mode.. it went like this for example “eeh, wow you are going to the libary with me and now you want to leave? that hella rude man, why am i wasting my time like this” or “wow you really must think highly of yourself if you think you are worth changing for, how arrogant”  which looks like he knows what is appropriate and what not

i remember what he said that and i suddenly went like “shit i cant believe im hearing this from you man” which was kinda funny as a side note btw

anyways, to his motive video. oh shit, his motive video . . . even without having known how messed up the translation was, that damaged me.-.. i mean i always thought that ouma exaggerated the size of his organization, at some poiint i just thought that his entire organization was a lie and his tru talent was the ultimate liar. which obsly wasnt the case lmao 

but his motive video.. just wanting to prank ppl for laughs and entertainment. its so light hearted compared to what he claimed it to be that it hurts another thing that i think is worth noting is that DICE was his motive video, not his family. DICE, who is like family. but not his actual family. what does that mean? does that mean that his actual family wasnt like family to ouma? i sure as hell thought so and i still do 

a different thing is that ouma said that nobody would care about him dying and that his organization would be better off without him, plus that it seems that monokuma said that ouma knows what happened to DICE in the motive video which leads me to.. uhh.. what if ouma did something he absolutely regretted doing (since it caused DICE trouble?) - but im not entire set on that theory

its also sad that he constantly had to hint about hiimself instead of just talking abt it to shuichi. like, he wanted shuichi to help him or actually even hinder him at carrying out his plan, he low key hoped for it because shuichi is a detective which showed to be shrewd enough to be able to make proper deductoins in class trials, furthermore he isnt a dick towards ouma and actually respects him in a way. something that ouma most likely didnt calculate

which mades the statement that shuichi said in the end of chapter 4 even more painful. shuichi was the only person that ouma kind of trusted and relied on. and prob the only one he wanted to show his true self to, that very person told him hes 5 ever alone with no friends at all. that hes a pathetic little brat who should start to view the world differently (def not what shuichi said 1:1 but.. yeah idk my own interpretation) 

im pretty sure that hurt ouma a lot 

hnnng, i truly wished for ouma to be one of the survivors. altho i figured that hes gonna plot something absolutely mind blowing in chapter 5, i seriously couldnt believe that he was actually dead... well, not until the closing argument. as soon as there were the words “closing argument” all over my screen i began to cry like an idiot. i couldnt even read properly man, thats just how blurry my vision was from all the tears

in other hand: i was (and still am lol) extremely attached to ouma and his death was very unsatisfying, since he died quite heroic but nobody considered him so. also he never made up with these ppl. also fuck kodaka

[divorcedfiddleford]

i know this is random, but do you have any tips on writing ford and fiddleford? you do a really good job on their characterizations and even though i'm very familiar with their characters i always write people out of character when i'm writing, lol! thanks !!!!

ghhhgg i Kid but anyway im like super distracted so i just made a list of a bunch of common mistakes i see when people r writing themedit: i was so wrong i made such a long fucking post im sorry this was a Mistake (rip mobile users)

first things first everything in the journal was Fake

fiddleford:

“fiddleford is a poor precious cinnamon roll who is helpless and did nothing wrong uwu” fuck off he built all those robots and probably killed a bunch of people in the process he isnt some innocent sunflower he’s more like a rowdy dandelion

yes this applies even if you’re writing young fiddleford he was just more patient and less open with his life of crime because he didnt want to go to jail

his eyes are blue. theyre fucking blue. theyre fucking b

“he doesnt like swears/he’s soft-spoken” wrong he’s literally the only character to have sworn on-screen

“he started the society because he was traumatized by what he’d seen” no, where did you get that idea. he literally says he invented the gun because he was “haunted by the thoughts of what I’d done” >literally stating that it was guilt not fear that was bothering him. eventually yes he used it for erasing scary memories but that was not his initial intent

he’s not bald anymore

really any idea that fiddleford is pathetic is grossly ooc i can think of one situation in the show that he wasn’t able to get himself out of and thats because he was turned into a fucking arras

what is this southern belle bullshit… he chews tobacco and wrestles pigs please stop woobifying this force of nature

a banjo is not the same as a guitar. a banjo is not the same as a guitar. a banjo is not the same as a guitar.

if youre going to write accents don’t be obnoxious about it

EX: “How are y’all doin’ this fine evening?”NOT: “Hower y’all doien’ this fain evenin’?”you don’t have to use the mannerisms in every sentence and you don’t have to drop the g in every -ingphonetic spelling is a pain to read like at the most you should be using apostrophes not respelling words (“Stanferd” more like kill me now)

also make sure your mannerisms are geographically accurate he’s not from texas i never want to see him say “sugah” again

his accent isnt even that strong in the show …what……….

tip: fiddleford is salty as FUCK he has NO MERCY and holds onto grudges like a lifesaver in a storm

tip: he loves being around people and will talk to them about fucking anything such as his multiple cases of manslaughter but doesn’t usually open up about his insecurities unless prompted

further reading: 1 2 3 4

stanford:

“everything that happened to fiddleford is ford’s fault” did ?? you even watch the show??? fiddleford did all that shit himself ford had nothing to do with it

“ford was manipulating dipper and con-” im gonna stop you right there. ford loves his niece and nephew. he agreed to leave the kids alone because stan thought he was too dangerous to be around them. stan only let dipper hang out with ford after dd&md. ford loves dipper and mabel equally and never wanted them to split up or anything. bill fucking knew this hence why he threatened ford with killing them. he made the proposal to dipper about the apprenticeship because he genuinely thought that was the best thing for dipper. he was wrong but he didnt know that

in fact while we’re at it - ford literally always does stuff with the best of intentions he’s just dumb and unlucky as shit

deal with the devil? he thought the devil was his nerdy buddy not the devil. he just was so happy to have a friend who appreciated him he didnt realize he was the fucking devil

abandon your brother? he thought his brother had sabotaged his dreams and that the only person he’d ever trusted had betrayed him. he was wrong but it’s not like stan apologized or denied it. also what was he supposed to do? challenge his dad? in case you didn’t notice filbrick was a fucking terrible dad

building a doomsday device? too bad you’re literally being manipulated and abused by Lucifer The Triangle

“ford didn’t want to make amends with stan” um, no, like obviously he’s still mad and stuff but in dd&md he stops himself from getting super mad and asks stan if he wants to play with him and dipper

“ford wanted to kick stan out” ?? when did he say that??? the closest thing he said to that was that he wanted his house back and while i GUESS you could interpret that as he wanted it back to himself he follows it up directly with “this mystery shack junk is over forever” so its pretty obvious he means he wants the tourist trap that makes a mockery of his entire life’s purpose out of his house

“fords a grumpy guy” he is the opposite . he is overflowing with love and pride for those he holds dear. he might be a little gruff but who wouldnt be after living in hell for 30 years

remember that one asshole whose kink is “ciphord abuse”. dont be that guy. dont write kink shit

just. don’t make ford the villain. dont do it.

this may come as a surprise to you..but….he DOESNT have to bring up his intellect all the time! a shock i know

tip: ford is very excitable he loves getting up and doing things and going on adventures!! he loves interacting with the creatures around gravity falls like the gnomes and steve (see: every gotdamn episode)

he’s also very sympathetic; if someone he knows/cares about is struggling he does whatever he can to help them and comfort them (see: the last mabelcorn, damvtf)

he tends to think more big picture as opposed to worrying about individual details. the priority is always solving the larger problem unless a loved one’s life is ostensibly in danger in which case that takes priority (see: damvtf, wmg1, wmg3)

tip: ford is gay

tip: he’s also anti-social and wouldn’t be very forward with romantic notions like it would take him months before he even THINKS about kissing someone and even then its like a 10 hour loop of beach boys’ wouldn’t it be nice

tip: he is the king of infodumping and explains everything in excruciating detail

tip: he likes to have a good time! don’t be afraid to let him have fun!!

further reading: 1 2 3

for both:

enough of the angst. enough. enough

if you’re going to make them trans don’t milk the dysphoria

tip from my pal rudy @blue-dipper​ (im not trans)

same kinda goes for if youre doing romance dont overplay the internal/external homophobia i made that mistake so many times its just clunky and gets in the way of the characters

the whole idea of “the innocent one” vs “the sinful one” is garbage. abandon it. you will feel a weight lifted from your shoulders

realistically if it’s a reunion thing don’t make them hook up automatically this shit takes time

in general avoid stereotypes. some examples being “the hippie” or “the nerd” just write them like they act on the show its easier and more enjoyable for everyone involved

ALEX HIRSCH ≠ WORD OF GOD only the stuff in the show needs to be considered 100% canon you can pick and choose all the other stuff or ignore it entirely

in conclusion all fiction is subjective and writing someone “in character” all depends on how you perceive the character. these are my perceptions of the character and yeah i get really frustrated when people don’t agree because i believe mine are those that make the most sense and that good representation of neurodivergent and lgbta+ people is important also im petty and annoying. the most important thing is that you be consistent with your portrayals (unless your perception of the character is inconsistency in which case good luck)

[megashadowdragon]

ussop represents a tengu and his allusions to pinnochio

in this pic ussop is in between pinoccchio and tengu 

ussop and pinochhio are both notorious liars with long pointy noses, are orphans and have the same dream... Usopp wants to become a "brave warrior of the sea" which can easily be interpreted as "become a real man". And we all know Pinocchio wants "to be a real boy". Also he has been eaten by a whale.

about Tengu Legend in Japan. Tengu is expressed as a shooting star/comet. The shooting star came from East. there are some ranks of Tengu. White Wolf Tengu is the lowest. when wolf spends many years, it will get a god power and become a white wolf tengu. the white wolf tengu’s job is carrying people to climb a mountain.

represents the white wolf

god power etc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengu

 whileThe early tengu are the troublesome opponents of Buddhism. They misguided priests and tricked people. Tengus were also established as the ghosts of angry, vain, or heretical priests who were cursed

later the Tengus started to be seen as protectors of places such as forest and are nowaday worshiped as a beneficial kami ( God).

tengu is a  type shinto god that  long nose and crow like features the tengu is known for playing tricks and deceiving people they also only help those they find worthy and hate people who use knowledge or authority to gain status or fame they are  spirits of the mountains and forests 

The term tengu and the characters used to write it are borrowed from the name of a fierce demon from Chinese folklore called tiāngoǔ. Chinese literature assigns this creature a variety of descriptions, but most often it is a fierce and anthropophagous canine monster that resembles a shooting star or comet. It makes a noise like thunder and brings war wherever it falls. One account from the Shù Yì Jì (述異記, "A Collection of Bizarre Stories"), written in 1791, describes a dog-like tiāngoǔ with a sharp beak and an upright posture, but usually tiāngoǔbear little resemblance to their Japanese counterparts.[8]

The 23rd chapter of the Nihon Shoki, written in 720, is generally held to contain the first recorded mention of tengu in Japan. In this account a large shooting star appears and is identified by a Buddhist priest as a "heavenly dog", and much like the tiāngoǔ of China, the star precedes a military uprising. Although the Chinese characters for tengu are used in the text, accompanying phonetic furigana characters give the reading as amatsukitsune (heavenly fox). M. W. de Visser speculated that the early Japanese tengu may represent a conglomeration of two Chinese spirits: the tiāngoǔ and the fox spirits called huli jing.[9]

the chinese tengus are said to ride shooting stars  and ussop has alot of atacks named after stars

 . tengus are at their strongest when theyre mad whenver ussop gets angry in a fight he has shown to have amazing strength they also use magic associated with trickery (good at tricking people  (like the fake 4ton hammer) and the forest just like ussop I mean after ussops time on that island during the timeskip ussop got alot of of plants to use in his attacks. and ussop is good at trickery like the trick he did on mr.4 in baroqu works and miss merry chirstmas during their fight or him

star attacks by ussop  along with attacks that relate to celestial objects which shooting stars are

Ketchup Boshi (ケチャップ星 Kechappu Boshi?, literally meaning “Ketchup Star”)

Hokaku Boshi (捕獲星 Hokaku Boshi?, literally meaning “Capture Star”):,

Zombie Shoten Salt Ball (ゾンビ昇天塩玉（ソルトボール） Zonbi Shōten Soruto Bōru?, literally meaning “Zombie-Purifying Salt Ball”):

Namari Boshi (鉛星 Namari Boshi?, literally meaning “Lead Star”):

Kayaku Boshi (火薬星 Kayaku Boshi?, literally meaning “Gunpowder Star”)

Sanren Kayaku Boshi (三連火薬星 Sanren Kyaku Boshi?, literally meaning “Triple Gunpowder Star”):

Kayaku Hoshi Boshi (火薬星星 Kyaku Hoshi Boshi?, literally meaning “Gunpowder Star Star”)

Rolling Kayaku Boshi (回転（ローリング）火薬星 Rōringu Kyaku Boshi?, literally meaning “Rolling Gunpowder Star”)

Tamago Boshi (卵星 Tamago Boshi?, literally meaning “Egg Star)

Kemuri Boshi (煙星 Kemuri Boshi?, literally meaning “Smoke Star”)

Kaen Boshi (火炎星 Kaen Boshi?, literally meaning “Flame Star”)

Shinsen Tamago Boshi (新鮮卵星 Shinsen Tamago Boshi?, literally meaning “Fresh Egg Star”) Tokusei Tabasco Boshi (特製タバスコ星 Tokusei Tobasuko Boshi?, literally meaning “Deluxe Tabasco Star”)  

Akahebi Boshi (赤蛇星 Akahebi Boshi?, literally meaning “Red Snake Star”)

Sakuretsu Saboten Boshi (炸裂サボテン星 Sakuretsu Saboten Boshi?, literally meaning “Exploding Cactus Star”):

Hi no Tori Boshi/Fire Bird Star ,  Himawari Boshi (向日葵星 Himawari Boshi?, literally meaning “Sunflower Star”)  , Cho Kemuri Boshi (超煙星 Chō Kemuri Boshi?, literally meaning “Super Smoke Star”):   Kamakiri Ryūsei (カマキリ流星 Kamakiri Ryūsei?, literally meaning “Praying Mantis Meteor”)Atlas Suisei (アトラス彗星 Atlas Suisei?, literally meaning “Atlas Comet”)    (post time skip Totsugeki Ryuseigun (突撃流星群 Totsugeki Ryūseigun?, literally meaning “Charging Meteor Shower”) ,   Bagworm (蓑虫星（バグワーム） Baguwāmu?, literally meaning “Bagworm Star”) Midori Boshi: Sargasso (緑星・サルガッソ Midori Boshi: Sarugasso?, literally meaning “Green Star: Sargasso”) )

http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Usopp%27s_Arsenal/Kabuto check out the list of all sections and you will see how many star based/celestial based  attacks he has

Kinemon once called Usopp “ a Tengu”

so as we know that ussops associated with the tengu (which goes down to the names of alot of his attacks being associated with stars/celestial objects and him using plants) tengu means heavenly dog and heaven/stars are associated with yellow which is his color theme

so the pic would represent how ussop is in ( currently)  between a simple liar  and a god

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