#if i can make even one more person care about her beyond 'a boss from act 1' i will consider that a victory

[jamethinks]

I can't help but wonder jealous loid when?

Everyone thinks Loid would be jealous over Yor, but I think not; his relationship with her is a bit more tricky. Even though he loves Yor, a part of him still feels like he doesn't have her. Seeing her around other guys would evoke a sense of insecurity and make him distance himself from Yor. In his heart, he still doubts whether or not he is worthy of her loyalty and affection. He also just finds the possessive partner bit too tacky and cliché. Yor isn't going to cheat on him with the mailman; she might leave him for the mailman because at least the mailman didn't lie to her and pretend to be a made-up person while actively putting their entire family in danger.

But anybody else fuck yeah. Namely, his surrogate sister, adoptive daughter, his best friend, who is not really his friend because spies don't have friends, his brother in law who hates his guts - hell, even his boss. He hates to admit it, but he is very insecure and prone to fits of jealousy and possessiveness. How Yor alone managed to escape his madness is unknown (maybe he just knows if he pushes her too hard, she will kick him in the ribs).

Nightfall is like a baby sister to him. He is always flattered by the way she looks up to him. He's subconsciously very possessive of her. She's the only spy that can compare to him, so why would he let her go even for a second? Whenever Nightfall does a mission with someone else he gets all bent out of shape. When he sees her having a good productive conversation with someone at the hospital he goes into his office to sulk. He'll never just say it's because he cares about her and wants to spend time with her. He'll never just admit she's the second best spy in all of wise and it's an honour to work with her. No. Instead He'll pout like a baby.

Franky can never talk about his other clients with Loid. Once, he said he couldn't babysit because he had to work on something for another client, and Twilight was like "oh I see... so this other guy he's more important to you- no it's fine I just- nothing." He knows that Franky has other clients and jobs, but he always thought he was special and different, not like the other spies. He's Twilight for crying out loud, who would pick some low level nobody spy over thee Twilight. It's not because he thinks of Franky as his oldest friend and one of the few people who know his so intimately. It's not that he hates being reminded of the transactional aspect of their relationship and is too afraid to ask for more. It's just Franky not appreciating knowing thee greatest spy in all of westalis. Yeah- he's the problem, not Twilight.

Handler has already accepted that Twilight is a closed off man afraid of being honest and intimate, but he is also an ego maniac who needs to be praised every day or his will die. Will he ever admit that he does idolize Handler and think of her as a mentor and dear friend? Will he be honest about his worries for her health? Has having a daughter shifted the way he conceptualized her trauma and made him even more sympathetic to the woman? Does he hate being reminded that he's just another spy on her endless roster and that outside of his exceptional abilities she doesn't care about him even though she regularly shows interest in him beyond his espionage duties? No. Instead, he will fake gag whenever she mentions another agent like a brat.

But the worst of all, Anya.

And it's not like some creepy, possessive girl dad nonsense. Anya is his baby. She sees him at his most innocent and pure (well in his mind). Her love for him is raw and unaffected by his abilities. She loves him for him. She doesn't see the scared little beggar boy or the vengeful army man or the elusive spy; she just sees her papa and all the wonderful things he does for her. If Twilight had a saviour complex before now, it is in full drive. When he comes home and she hops out of the chair, toddling over to the front door to greet him with the brightest smile, it melts him completely. Not only does he love Anya, he loves being loved by her.

So when someone else is on the receiving end, her innocent yet boundless affection, it drives him insane. When she cuddles with Yor on the couch instead of him. When she runs and hugs Franky's leg. When she passes out on Bond. When she talks about how smart and cool Mr. Henderson is. When she shows off a gift she got from Becky. Damian. And let's not forget his life long beef with that bitch Bondman. Stealing all his swag.

Anya, of course, ignores the bastard. Before she would worry, he was going to take her back, but then she realized he was just afraid of losing her, so ain't no way she's going back to the orphanage.

So yes, Twilight is prone to fits of jealousy. But not for his wife- just everybody else.

[thebearemoji]

Me talk about minthara now? Nnyes

Hhhhhhhhh I revert to a whiny little baby whenever I think about the fact that some portion of the bg3 player base will simply never encounter minthara in any capacity hhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I am aware minthara is believed to be "rushed content", and that accounts for many of her bugs. But I don't really care about why she's a mess, im more interested in talking about the result of that reality.

So I've finished 2 runs of bg3 so far, one in which I played a generally very good character and one in which I played a generally pretty evil character. After completing the latter run, I'm left with several qualms about what felt like a simply inferior experience to my first play through. The most frustrating being that Minthara, who became one of my favorite companions, is completely chained to the much less satisfying "evil content" with no way to see her story otherwise.

For context, minthara can only be recruited if the player helps the goblins attack the Grove in act 1. This alone is enough to stop plenty of players from ever seeing minthara beyond that single misleading conversation in the goblin camp. Some players don't enjoy role-playing being mean/evil, and attacking the Grove is unfortunately about as despicable as a game can get. For some reason, you can't tell the tieflings to leave despite the fact that they're only collateral damage in the attack on the druids. You gotta kill every druid, and every innocent refugee, or no minthara.

But the deck stacked against my beloved drow doesn't stop there, not only do you have to kill the tieflings along with all their associated content and side quests, in order to recruit minthara you have to forgo recruiting Wyll, Karlach, and Halsin because all 3 object to the attacking the Grove.

3 companions for 1, a frankly unpleasant task of slaughtering tieflings even for someone who enjoys role-playing evil characters, not to mention she's been plagued with bugs that cause her content to fail to trigger. All those things considered, why would anyone go out of their way to recruit minthara...?

Well... i just think she's neat.

After the first encounter with minthara in the goblin camp I was not necessarily looking forward to recruiting her. I assumed she was a murder hobo and nothing more based on first impressions, but at the very least I was looking forward to getting a third companion who wouldn't nag at me for every choice I was making. At the very least, she would be another character in my corner.

However, much to my shock, she turned out to be far more nuanced then she seemed at a glance. Because the person the player meets in the goblin camp isn't minthara, but rather a puppet of the absolute wearing her skin. She has little to no control over her actions, including the roll she plays in the attack on the grove.

I really struggle to wrap my head around this choice to tie her completely to the grove. Especially considering she's being mind controlled, but there's no way to know that. Minthara is a bait and switch, someone who (despite still being evil) is nowhere near as bad as the game inclines you to believe. But you can only discover this if you help her do something truly despicable. So there's a companion who's a better person then she seems, but you can only find out about her better side if you're evil. Why? Why can't a good tav save her? Why doesn't she get the same opportunity at redemption that laezhel, astarion and shadowheart get? I know the reason is probably time constraints, but I'm mad about it.

I really think she's worthy of a closer look, i love me some good lawful evil energy. Minthara is a good example, I believe. She takes no pleasure in killing or violence, but she will also eliminate anyone who remotely impedes her without hesitation. And she weaponizes grudges like her will is sharp enough to kill on its own. She's fierce, eloquent and cunning, and also managed to make me laugh out loud with how dead pan she can be (see her response to dribbles: "Say the word and I will kill the clown. We will be heralded as heroes." with a look of pure distress on her face).

She's a lolthsworn drow who is now exiled after falling under the influence of the absolute. The place she comes from is harsh and punishing, and yet she was a noble. She describes the beauty and majesty of menzobarenzan (sp) in the same breath that she discusses battle. I wish she would've gotten a flash back cutscene like shadowheart. Either her home or Ketheric betraying her.

Honestly I wish every character had gotten a flashback cutscene like shadowheart. It's a win/win of exploring the social aspect of the tadpoles by sharing memories and also adding a visual to the events the characters describe. But I digress.

Minthara's character trope may not appeal to everyone, she is still not a good person. But neither is astarion, and he's fandom favorite. Surely people wouldn't hold minthara's morality against her while also praising Astarion for some weird reason i cant put my finger on???? HaHA-

I wouldn't blame anyone who doesnt do an evil play through. The game didn't let me have fun with it, and playing games is about having fun. Why try to be evil and get nagged at by the game for 70 hours of gameplay when I can instead save everyone and enjoy myself?

So the reality is, Minthara may remain a cryptid for many players, riddled with bugs and cursed by the narrative to lose so that many other characters can win. But at the very least, I want to draw attention to one snippet of her dialogue. This is from a conversation after Orin is defeated.

I can't shake the idea that the minthara I know and love is trapped within the person you meet at the goblin camp. In a similar vein to gortash's mother in baldurs gate, trapped behind eyes she no longer controls. At the mercy of the tadpole and the whims of the brain and the 3. A helpless victim desperate to get her chance at vengeance at those who wronged her.

And that knowledge will haunt me every time I play a "good" character. I will know that even though my goal may be to save them all, there is one that I quite literally cannot save. Because the game won't let me. And God damn it, she's too interesting for that to be her legacy in this game. Minthara worries that no one will remember her, but I will think of this dialogue every time my journal flatly instructs me to "kill the goblin bosses".

[leidensygdom]

Okay, we all know about the usual warlock-patron dynamics. Creature with god-like powers tries to do their bidding or further their plans through a mortal, who is often going to be troubled by the pact. But, I'm here to propose some alternatives, specially for warlock deals that aren't inherently very harmful to the warlock themself:

This one is pretty typical, but the patron is a family member. If sorcerers can get cool powers from having a dragon grandpa, your fire genasi can have an auntie who is a big fire elemental who is trying VERY hard to connect with her family now, so she gives her nephew an allowance in the form of a Genie Pact

Your patron is undead (and your pact is Undying), but this person is not some power-hungry lich. This is someone you knew in life: A friend, or perhaps a partner. You had fought for a common cause, and they met their death trying to see the end of it, but they refused to leave you alone. Now, within you, their stubbornness has kept them from moving on, and they lend their newfound powers to help you in your common cause.

It's an eldritch entity, a creature beyond your comprehension. Your pact is that of a Great Old One. However, this creature doesn't quite have very concise plans to bring the end of the world- You're actually pretty sure it isn't even from your world. As time goes on, and as you realize their whims seem erratic, you realize that this thing you get powers from is... Probably the cosmic equivalent of a child. Maybe it's still cocooning in the depths of a distant dying planet. And it's incredibly bored. Someday, maybe, they'll terrorize the universe, but right now, they just really want you to be their eyes on another world. Call it enrichment.

Okay, this one is a fiend. Unequivocally so. But truthfully, they couldn't care less about your world, and you're not particularly concerned about what is going down in theirs. They kinda need few things done in your plane, few resources gathered, some people talked to, and between the lines, you realize that your newfound... ally is actually trying to oppose their boss or whatever. This one is a deeply legal-minded fiend, as far as you know: The hellish equivalent to a bureaucrat, after really digging around. Your party is convinced they will turn on you sometime, but eventually you realize you're just helping something that, for a lack of a better word, has to be an infernal-equivalent of an union effort.

That sword you picked was definitely cursed, and the voice within it has been calling to you. Eventually, you lend them your ear, and now you have an Hexblade pact. But this creature isn't bloodthirsty, nor talking to you about soaking their blade with your foes' guts. Truthfully, they hate being a sword. Trapped there as part of a vengeance, perhaps, this thing longs for freedom. And it has been used for evil in the past- Maybe the overabundance of skull motifs in their physical vessel didn't help. But this creature just wants to be able to experience a life that has been robbed from them. Your party may raise an eyebrow at you getting friendly with the possibly-malignant sword, but y'all are just making plans to get them to your favourite restaurant once they're freed.

This Archfey is the descendant of a powerful entity in Feywild side of things. The heir of some great lineage, or whatever is going on within their realm. You frankly don't know, because they're a bit of a... brat. One that kinda longs to escape their situation and get to live something more normal. You only find out this over time, when you realize you're kinda that friend their parents frown about. This entity, powerful beyond comprehension, just really wants to hang out with you and have a board game night with you. They'd love to meet your besties-- I mean, your world-saving allies. And you'd love to give them the opportunity someday, truth be told, but pissing off a fey court seems to be a high price.

You got stranded far into the ocean as a kid, and the rest of the people involved in the shipwreck did not make it out. But you attracted the attention of a group of merfolk, who had barely ever had the chance to meet someone like you. People had told you tales of how they'd drown and eat anyone coming into their territory, but these creatures were instead cooing about you. You're now grown up, and you can call them for power. Your party frowns at the idea of "I kinda got adopted by a sea polycule and I got a cantrip and few other boons about it", but you know they'll have to eat their words when you bring them for dinner- If you can find a way to table them in the middle of the ocean, that is.

the celestial patron is still a dick tho

Feel free to add onto these if you'd like, I'd love to hear concepts >:3

[kittenface40]

I.M.P is irrelevant to Helluva Boss

When Helluva Boss Pilot came out,I was really excited, to know more about these characters, their personalities, their relationships to each other and how they would develop. Additionally, I was also wondering on why each of these characters joined I.M.P and why did Blitz start his own business.

However, as the series went on, the show went on to become the Stolitz show along with dedicating episodes to fan-favourite characters that have nothing to do with I.M.P (Ozzie, Fizz and Stolas).

This is one of the (many) reasons why I'm disappointed with the current state of Helluva Boss, I.M.P's irrelevance to the main story, while I do enjoy the new episodes. There are a lot of story issues that I have with it, the fact that IMP is basically irrelevant to the Helluva Boss.

NO IMPACT ON THE OVER ARCHING STORY:

So far we only had five out of fifteen episodes (excluding the times where it's offscreen), of IMP doing it's job is the main plot of the episode, while five episode may seem fine for some it becomes a problem when their actions are basically inconsequential to the main story.

The only times where they are important is for one-off adventures like in Murder Family, Spring Broken, CHERUBS & Unhappy Campers. The problem is that their existence doesn't impact Stolas' story in anyway (aside from Blitz), like why are we focusing so much screentime on Stolas (a secondary character) who isn't even employed at IMP. And instead focus on Blitz, the titular character, protagonist and him being the boss of IMP. Understanding his goals and reasoning as to why he wanted to start IMP.

HELLUVA BOSS? WHAT BOSS:

Another problem I have with IMP, is the fact that we don't know why Blitz wanted to start a business on killing people, was it because of his tragic past and to distance himself from it, is it that he discovered he's really skilled at killing people and decided to make it big , is it because he wants love and new connections from his employees, is it to prove the higher class or his father that he can make it big and break class traditions. What is it? We only now why he wants love and respect from his employees due to his tragic past. But we don't know why he started his business.

Also we never get to see him develop into a caring boss that genuinely cares about his employees, with the show only showing the ending of the development in the same episode but none of the development.

In addition, we also never get the chance to see him as a leader of IMP, you think Blitz would be the leader and he needs to grow into being one for his employees. But the show never has Blitz develop into becoming a Helluva Boss.

NON EXISTENT SURFACE-LEVEL RELATIONSHIPS:

Another thing I really hate is that the relationships between employees at IMP, are never explored beyond the surface level. The only one I can say this doesn't apply to is Moxxie and Blitz.

We don't get to see the M&Ms relationship grow outside of loving each other, and when they do explore it, it's written poorly (Unhappy Campers).

We don't get to see Millie and Luna, relationship grow, they don't even talk to each other that much in the show. What is Blitz & Millie relationship, why do they get along with each other, why is she fine with Blitz behaviour. Luna and Moxxie relationship, why is Luna so mean to him, how does Moxxie feel about Luna bullying him, has she ever went too far, would Millie get angry at Luna for bullying.

(Side tangent; but why is Millie not standing up for her husband when Blitz and Luna bully Moxxie, they do it right in front of her. Wouldn't she get angry at them, edit: I checked and she did get angry at Luna for calling Moxxie fat, but not at Blitz for joking about this. But she needs to say something, put her foot down, not just make an angry expression)

EMPLOYEES LACK OF REASONING:

We don't know what the employees motivation was to join IMP. Why did Moxxie and Millie join IMP, was it to prove their parents wrong, to make it big, or is it for similar reasonings to Blitzo.

Why did Luna join IMP? Was it out of gratitude for Blitz saving her, was it because she couldn't get a job as a hell hound, was it to be with her father more.

-----

Anyway, that's my thought for a day, on Helluva Boss, let me know what you think about IMP. Do you agree? Disagree? Why? Let me know!

[lemony-and-zesty]

Your au has hit me with the hyper-fixation stick. If I became annoying, I’m sorry.

How does everyone react/feel about JD being a hitman and him being so different from the brother they knew

And how does JD feel about himself being so different

I am sorry for taking a while to get to this but man I am so devastated by this question - especially the last part. And I wanna do right by it so I’ve been thinkin about it really hard.

I’m putting it under the read more, not just cause it got long, but it also got kinda,,, sad haha.

I’m thinkin they all have that initial reaction of “You’re a WHAT” ofc but it’s what comes directly before and after that that i really wanna nail down right.

Honestly I don’t even know which brother to start with 😭,,

I guess Floyd.

He’s shocked, of course, when he sees JD for the first time. Why’s he covered in so many scars? What could’ve possibly happened to him?

Why does Floyd feel like he’s seen him like this before

The main thing is trying to speak with him beyond just hellos. JD always seems to find some excuse to run off when Floyd’s involved.

It’s almost like he has to treat his oldest brother like a scared animal that’ll flee if he moves too quickly.

Floyd doesn’t know how he feels about that.

Once he finds out about it, he’s horrified. Both of and for John Dory. They’ve all been through so much, but this feels like something else entirely. He can see how affected he is and he’s devastated.

—

Next up is Clay.

He’d be the most,, angry,, about it all I think.

When he first sees John he’s quick to brush him off (like in canon) and that’s about the extent of it for a while. He honestly barely notices cause he’s too focused on his other brothers - especially Floyd.

It takes a long while for him to warm up to JD, and it doesn’t help that a lot of that bossiness JD had is still there. But he can tell he’s trying. Hell, they’re both trying. But Clay can’t help this feeling of unease that he gets around JD.

When he finds out,, god I can’t imagine anything but him getting furious and screaming at him. I feel like he’d storm off before even hearing JD out. He’d probably only be able to be calmed by one of his other brothers or Viva.

—

Bruce is mostly shocked at how quiet his older brother is. JD was a lot of things, but quiet was never one of them.

Honestly, much like Clay, a lot of things fly over Bruce’s head cause JD tends to just,, fade into the background when they’re all together.

And, y’know, it’s not easy to talk it out when he deflects and runs away from anything that gets anywhere close to what he got up to the past 20 years.

Bruce doesn’t want to pry, but he’s worried. The man before him is so unlike his older brother and it makes him nervous.

Once he finds out he’s devastated for his brother. Especially once JD explains the situation with the boss. And though it sounds kind of awful, Bruce can’t help but feel happy when JD finally cracks and explains it all to them, cause that’s the most like himself he’s seemed in a long time.

—

Branch is a bit of a tough one. Especially since she finds out well before the others,, what with JD being hired to target Poppy and all.

She’s furious when he first shows up, and even more so when she finds out who he is. Cause how could he do this? How could he leave her for twenty years only to come back and threaten to take away the one person she cared for most?

But, she needs him to help save Floyd, so she buries it and moves on. Still never letting herself be comfortable around him.

During the journey she finds herself noticing little things about John Dory. The way he carries himself, the way he tends to get lost in his thoughts. How he always seemed to be on guard.

She can’t help but feel a twinge of,, something.

He seems so much like she did back before she got her colors back.

She really doesn’t know how to feel about that.

When the truth comes out she’s horrified, but she can’t find it in her to blame JD too much. Not with how he describes the boss.

—

Overall, they’re just,, worried about him.

As for the target of all their worries? How does he feel about it all? Honestly, it’s pretty simple.

John Dory hates himself.

He hates every single thing about himself.

He tore his family apart, and almost like that wasn’t enough he just had to tear everyone else’s families apart too.

That’s the worst part, he thinks.

Every target, every hit, every kill. They had families. And all because of John’s mistakes, those families are ripped to shreds.

He can’t even stand to look at his own reflection cause every part of him just serves to remind him of everything he’s done.

Sometimes, especially after fleeing his boss and saving Floyd, he considers running again.

He considers just,, leaving and going back to the Neverglades and just letting the beasts tear him to pieces. At least like that he couldn’t hurt anyone else.

—

But yeah. That’s the gist of it :]

It’s a rough situation but I like to think they manage to navigate it.

Eventually,,

[julieverne]

When Maura wakes from surgery, Jane is usually there. Holding her hand or offering her water. Sleeping, sometimes, then waking and giving Maura a gentle smile.

But sometimes she's down the hall. A familiar laugh. Cailin. Jane keeping Cailin company while Maura suffers alone.

Maura tries not to let herself seep in bitterness; it doesn't look good on any of the three Martin women. Cailin, distraught in Maura's home. Hope, telling Maura, who is the most honest person who's ever lived, that she's a liar. Maura, hearing Jane make Cailin laugh.

Jane picks up on it somehow anyway. She's learned to read Maura's moods. She's gentle with Maura in a way she probably isn't with Cailin. Maura knows part of it was Maura's willingness to enter a collapsing building to save Jane's brother, nephew and partner. Maura knows part of it is because Jane is like an unsocialised puppy, always looking for approval, slinking around with her tail down after jumping up and licking Maura's face.

Metaphorically, of course. Jane would never lick Maura's face.

Jane helps Maura up in the bed and arranges her pillows, then looks towards the door.

"You can go," Maura says, her voice ice-cold. Jane looks hurt and confused, and Maura feels a flash of pleasure from sharing her own hurt around. "If you like her so much, why don't you marry her?"

Jane shrugs and leaves Maura to her mood. Hearing Jane's laughter coupled with Cailin's cuts like a knife.

+++

Months later, Maura's wounds have healed and she's back to normal. Jane isn't. She's distant. She spends nights somewhere else - neither Maura's home nor her own. She sleeps somewhere else, with someone else and Maura has a sneaking suspicion she knows who Jane spends her time with.

It makes Maura burn. Why wasn't she good enough? Why wasn't she enough for Jane? Why did Jane go hunt down the younger model? She's cold when Jane deigns to speak to her. Their lives, once entwined, have segregated and Maura is more alone than before because for the first time in her life she knew what it was like to not be alone.

She dates Tommy. He's... He's not Jane. He's not even that interesting. Maura had thought she was drawn to the dark side but Tommy isn't dark; he's barely beige. Maura breaks up with him, then considers the rest of the Rizzolis. Frankie is even blander than Tommy. Frank is just mean without any of Jane's charm. And Angela is attractive, but Angela has been mothering her long enough that it feels wrong to think about dating her.

And then there's Jane. Jane's, who's never dull. Jane, who abandoned her in a hospital bed for her sister. Jane, who is dating her sister.

Maura knows as surely as she knows that Paddy is the only parent that's ever cared about her.

Jane would never have come out for Maura. Jane didn't even want anyone to think there was anything between them. Jane was always so bristly when it came to even the idea of them dating each other. But Cailin is good enough. Cailin is young enough, hot enough, undamaged enough. Her father is just a deadbeat, not a mob boss, and she grew up with biological parents. Cailin is secure in affection and Maura is so needy.

There's a knock at the door. It's Jane, her hands stuffed in her pockets and her hair tied up like she's serious.

"I love Cailin," Jane says, and Maura's heart descends beyond the centre of the earth. Maura's breath catches and she starts to cry. "Because she reminds me of you, and you're the one person I love more than anyone. She's been so alone, so lonely. Like you were when I met you."

"So the wedding?" Maura says bitterly, not able to listen past Jane's initial confession. She's been dreading this moment.

"I haven't asked you to marry me yet," Jane says so seriously that Maura has to believe her. She sighs. "I'm sorry. I had to weigh up how hard it would be to be gay. Cailin's been taking me to the pride events. It turns out it won't be that hard. I've done harder things, all the harder because they weren't things I was doing with you."

"My sister turned you gay?"

Jane chuckles. She's still on the threshold but Maura isn't sure she wants Jane inside. She still feels lost and betrayed and alone.

"She's not judgemental," Jane says. "She called it from the start, actually. Said the way I look at you was smouldering. Like from a romance novel."

It doesn't make sense. Jane's saying all these things, all the things Maura's longed to hear, but it's tangled up with Cailin and kidneys.

"I like you so much, I might as well marry you," Jane says. She pulls her hand from her pocket; it's a jewelry box. It's an antique ring. "Hope said this was yours, really, and that I should give it to you."

Jane's eyes are so hopeful, her expression so soft and pleading that Maura takes the ring and tries it on.

Jane crosses the threshold and closes the door behind her. She looks at the ring on Maura's finger and her lips curl up into a smile.

"Mine," she says possessively, and Maura supposes she is.

[skullmoss]

helluva boss really pisses me off, because every day it is more proof that vivziepop has no idea how to write female characters with their own lives and goals without having the anchor of a male character holding them down into the narrative.

the one female character with any actual nuance and care given in helluva boss is probably octavia, and she mostly serves as a plot device for her father. we don't know anything about her beyond what she represents to stolas. all conversations with her and about her revolve around stolas.

when a male character is present in a female character's life in helluva boss, the male character overshadows them and becomes the Main Person. stella is an antagonist, but once her brother is introduced he immediately takes over as an antagonist, leaving stella to be a lackey as opposed to an active villain with her own agenda and goals.

and millie has always been a problematic sticking point with the main cast of helluva boss, because she is so underdeveloped & underutilized compared to blitz & moxxie. she cannot exist separate from moxxie. the writing team for helluva boss clearly struggles to figure out what to do with millie outside of Wife. and it's at a point where it is entirely too late to reconcile and fix her role in the story without feeling like it's forced. knowing full well the prioritizing of male characters over female characters has cornered the helluva boss team into trying to acknowledge the 'millie problem' in a way where most people can tell they just...can't fix anymore.

so they give her an unplanned pregnancy/motherhood angst plot. and she is so underdeveloped and underutilized as a character, and the fandom is so hyperfocused on the male characters where they don't stop to think for five seconds about the female characters outside their relationship with their fave males, that some people think/theorize millie is upset because she cheated on moxxie, because the helluva boss fandom is so primed and groomed into simply not taking five seconds to try to understand why a female character feels a certain way unless they did wrong to their man.

there is a way to explore a lack of individual personhood and the anxiety of being pregnant and becoming a mother making that even more apparent for a character like millie, but the helluva boss writing team just does not function that way. i do not trust them with a pregnancy subplot just given the overall way they write and handle their female characters, shoving them into a corner where only the male characters can dig them out into relevancy before they get shoved aside once again. there is no agency.

[outlanderskin]

Why are you so fucking calm????

Are you asking this in relation to the last paparazzi walk or in general😅🤣? I think that time in this fandom may give me another perspective because the only feeling I have is "I've seen this movie before." I think Sam (and Cait's) actions have no impact beyond the Outlander bubble. The fans who care about them are Outlander fans, to the general public they are unknown, at most "that actor/actress who played that character x in that filme Y". None of the people outside that bubble care if he's seen with anyone. A person outside the bubble who looks at that photo, even knowing the girl's profession, won't see anything unusual, because for that person, Sam is just a single guy who is an actor and doesn't have to live according to anyone beliefs. Mind you, he was not seen on the street beating a woman, an animal, or a child. He was not photographed or filmed committing any crime. Coldly analyzing (from outside the bubble) what you see in these articles is a single guy (that's what you find about him on social media) walking hand in hand down the street with a woman. The woman's profession would be no one's business. Those outside the bubble won't even bother to research, and even if critics, directors, and bosses in general do research or know that she works as an escort, this won't be considered a scandal. Firstly because (publicly) he is single and being single if he wants to have a serious relationship with her (regardless of her profession) is not a crime and it would be considered prejudice and puritanism to boycott someone for that. And secondly, because we are talking about the world of entertainment and let's be realistic: it is a sexist world, dominated by men and where married men involved in cheating scandals, continue to work and earn loads of money and the excuse they use is "that's his private life, not his professional life." I know the impact of these things on the fandom is huge, but it's always just here. Remember Hawaiigate? Even something so serious that it had to be handled with him making public statements (and her distracting the fandom) didn't have a big impact on his business or his career. The only impact it made was some fans who stopped following and supporting him, but those numbers were replaced in the following months by new fans and look at the numbers today.

I've said many times that I don't idolize them both and I don't expect them to make choices based on what I believe. I've also said a thousand times that I think their choices regarding this circus are terrible. But it doesn't impact me emotionally like it impacts some people in the fandom in general (on all sides). My advice is always the same: if it's causing you pain, if it's too much for you to bear, if it affects your real life, walk away. This is just a fandom. It's not your job, your family. Even the circles of friends you make in a fandom (the real friendships) can be maintained if you decide to leave. Just remember to respect the friends that remain, not to think of yourself as superior because you "found the light" and decided to leave, and friendships can continue beautifully.

As for me, so far, all their bad choices only contribute more and more to what I believe. That's why I'm here with my popcorn in hand, always waiting for the next show and remembering that the only actions and reactions I can control are my own. And, that's OK.

[spopsalt]

How to show abusers Helluva Boss vs Hazbin Hotel vs Rick and Morty

So, I've been meaning to make this post for a while, but an anon said they'd like to see the post, so I was finally motivated to make it!

Ok first up, let's do Helluva Boss, I was wondering wheter to use Stolas or Stella for this one, since both of them are horrible portrayals of abusers, but there is a similar portrayal on how Stolas is portrated with Hazbin Hotel, so I chose to use Stella.

Yep. This is an actual line from the show. Depth? What's that!? Stella is just made to be a Saturday one-dimensional cereal box villain. Who only exists so people can feel bad for poor Stolas. The thing is she had potential to be an interesting and complex character but nope! She just exists to make you feel bad for the poor baby Stolas ohhhh noooo she's mean. They acts like this isn't hell and even is supposed to be nice.

Hazbin Hotel

So Lucifer is Charlie's dad, and this image is the best way I can describe his portrayal. He was emotionally neglectful of Charlie's (Fuck you to anyone who says neglecting isn't abuse it's a form of abuse) and he does not get held accountable. He doesn't even apologize for neglecting his daughter for years on end. He also makes it very clear that he does not support her dream in the slightest and allows angels to kill his own people because he considers then beyond saving, and he does this despite knowing that his daughter hates it. All he does is say "Oh wait I support your dream now" then he gets portrayed as some amazing person. He clearly still sees Charlie as a child he literally says "I'll shelter and adore you more than anything" while hugging her. And he only called her when he was bored. He didnt even improve after his shitty half-assed rushed "redemption" being dismissive after she was feeling extremely upset about the amount of casualties in a war instead of trying to understand her. What an amazing father.

Rick and Morty

Rick Sanchez is a really amazing portrayal in my opinion. The gif I'm showing above shows his trauma with someone named Rick Prime. Showing that abusers are normally the way they are due to something horrible happening to them in their past, and while it makes a lot of what he did make sense, he's still held accountable because he's still a VERY horrible person. He constantly emotionally abused his grandson (Morty) there were even times where the abuse got physically (4 times if I'm correct) and has done awful things to keep him codependent. He's very codependent on Morty and relies on him for various things, like keeping him emotionally stable when thats a ridiculous and unfair thing to depend on someone for, especially your 14 year old grandson. But Rick isnt shown as being in the right for this and is called out mainly by Morty and some of the other family members when he's being a piece of shit. But he's shown to feel guilt for the shitty things he done at times and hates himself because of it. He's also shown mutiple times that he does truly lover and care about Morty mutiple times throughout the series, being very protective over him and even willing to die for him on one occasion. It still shows him as being human without glorifying him or demonizing him. Like it or not, abusers are still people. They aren't good people, but they are people nonetheless. And I love how Rick and Morty shows that. They have 2 neglectful parents here but I'm only covering one abuser per show so maybe I'll cover them in another post.

[citrus-writing]

Hi!! I’ve got some thoughts about yandere!Neon x nen-user + bodyguard!Y/N that I wanna share with you

It all started with something like: "She’s pretty, I want her to be my bodyguard!" Yeah, she liked Y/N just as a "decoration" that’d look good next to her.

Later, she wanted Y/N to be her friend. Moreover, it was important for her that it was Y/N who first suggested that she go beyond the relationship of “bodyguard and boss”.

Neon is spoiled by her father. She gets everything she wants, so maybe she’d think that Y/N's favor can be bought with expensive gifts. Her first gift was new clothes, because according to her, Y/N's old clothes didn't fit her at all! One of Neon’s last gifts was a ring with beautiful pink gemstone (Neon’s got the same, but with gemstone of Y/N’s eye color).

After some time, her sympathy grew into an obsession and a desire to be the only one who owns Y/N's heart and mind. Neon's father burdened Y/N with more and more responsibilities, which led to Y/N starting to feel like a maid(wife) rather than a bodyguard.

At this point, it's too late to try to get rid of Neon. Now she will never let go of her beloved Y/N!

If Y/N already have got a lover, Neon’ll ask her father to kill them.

Also, I think Neon is romantic. I'm 100% sure that if she falls in love, she'll be like Illumi in some way—it'll be important to Neon that Y/N acts according to her vanilla fantasies. However, the punishments for long-term "disobedience" will be her tantrums and scandals. (Also Neon's wishes are much more obvious than Illumi's XD).

I’m sorry for mistakes, eng isn’t my first language and I was a little nervous while writing this

Thank you so much for sending this in, it was a joy to read! I was so inspired I had to sit down and write something out immediately before my thoughts got away. Please don't be nervous to send me things! 

You’re 100% right about neon, her spoiled and bratty nature makes her a doting and controlling yandere who needs constant attention from her beloved darling.

 I may actually write some more stuff for yandere neon, because I think she’s perfect for it. 

------------------ 

I’ve always loved the idea of neon falling for someone who works for her, either as a bodyguard or a maid, it feels natural that someone like neon- who is always surrounded by people she could be considered above- would fall for someone who works for her and who is paid to put up with her. Because she has so few friends, or even people who care about her, I can imagine her getting attached fairly easily. 

Afterall, you’re a breath of fresh air to her, as you're likely not involved in crime or the mafia, and you're brand new to her life. She sees you as somewhat innocent, not unlike herself, and she wants to protect you, no matter how strong or capable you are. To neon, you're a kind person, and people like that need to be protected and looked after. 

I imagine working for neon would be draining; she totes you around like your her newest handbag, showing you off to anyone who will listen, eagerly dressing you up in outfits to match hers, eagerly buying you gifts, even when you say you don't want them. She insists you be with her constantly, throwing tantrums if you try to take days off. 

Her presence is suffocating- but some part of you still feels bad for her. Neon is a girl who is treated like an object by everyone around her, and because of that, you feel sympathy for her. Sure, she’s spoiled and bratty, but deep down she’s a nice girl with a big heart- you’ve seen firsthand how loving she can be towards those she cares about-- even though you haven't seen the half of it yet. 

Despite neon being your boss, it’s possible you may actually start to see her as a friend- even with her obsessive tendencies, neon can be very sweet and endearing, and it’s possible she may win you over by being friendly with you. She buys you gifts, expensive things she knows will impress you, but you're more impressed with how she always seems to know what sort of thing you’d like- it’s like she knows you better than you know yourself. It’d be creepy if the gesture wasn't so kind. 

The ring neon gets for you is beautiful- pink gemstones that glitter in the light, but you feel you can't accept it, afterall, this must have been expensive, and it was more so the kind of thing you would buy a lover than a friend. But neon insists it’s fine, that she bought it just for you and she wants you to have it. How can you say no? It takes a couple days before you notice she wears a matching ring on her hand as well. 

Neon is a lot like illumi, in several ways. 

First, they’re home lives are a little bit similar- both coming from families involved in crime, both possessing nen abilities, and both being rather wealthy. 

Another way they’re similar is the desire to make you a part of their family- both neon and illumi would desperately want you to like and get along with their families. They both share a fixation on the idea of marriage, neon’s gifts of matching rings is the first hint that she desires to be your wife. 

Neon craves a domestic life with you, one where you can truly love her as she’s come to love you, one where your days are filled with nothing but each other, as are your nights. She wants to spoil you and dote on you, and any refusal of her wishes is met with tantrums and fits. 

So just play along with her, it’s easier that way, and deep down, you know that. 

[woozapooza]

Of all the opinions I’ve seen on The Sopranos since I started watching it last year, one of the ones I hate the most is the idea that Richard and Elliot are ultimately proven “right” about Tony. Richard and Elliot do not know Tony! They have never talked to him! And they are literally, factually, not right about him, especially Richard. In “Tennessee Moltisanti,” Richard—who knows nothing about Tony except that you shouldn’t use anti-Italian slurs around him—tells Melfi that eventually she’ll get past “moral relativism” and reach “good and evil. And he’s evil.” Later in that episode, in the family therapy scene, he says that Melfi acknowledged that, in her last encounter with Tony, she saw his “subhuman” side, a word I am 100% sure Melfi herself did not use because come on. Elliot at least doesn’t use these words, but he doesn’t see any good in Tony and consistently acts like Melfi is deluding herself by holding out hope for him. (I’m not going to get into The Blue Comet in this post for the sake of keeping it concise.) But Melfi has seen that Tony has compassion and a conscience, and so have we in the audience. We know more than Richard and Elliot, and so does she!

Now, Tony is obviously not a good person by any means. I think even Melfi would agree with that. But he is a person who, despite his harsh upbringing, despite the machismo and brutality his position demands, still has a tiny spark of tenderness and compassion inside him. That's what makes him so compelling! Of course he was never going to change for the better, because that’s not the kind of show this is. But that is a statement about The Sopranos, a fictional show made by writers who have a certain artistic vision in mind. It does not mean that Tony as a person—i.e., viewed from in-universe—had no choices, that he could never have changed for the better at all, that he was a destined to be a waste of Melfi's time. It's fair to disagree with Melfi's approach to treating Tony, but the idea that both she and the audience are fools for thinking that a human being who has been shaped into a villain by forces beyond his control is still a human being, with all the value and responsibilities that entails, is so fucking r/im14andthisisdeep it makes my skin crawl.

I realize this post is kind of dramatic, and partly that’s because, well, I’ve just always been the sort of person who gets really dramatic about her blorbos, but it’s also because I hate the brutally cynical, weirdly black-and-white worldview that’s implicit in this reading of the show. I hate it so much!!! The Sopranos is very realistic about the limits of what willpower can do, but it’s also very realistic about portraying its protagonist as someone deeply human: someone with a capacity for both evil and good, who does bad things and justifies them by pretending he didn’t have a choice, but I never bought it, and neither did Melfi. Tony cannot simply stop being a mob boss and start being a saint any more than he can simply stop being depressed, but he does have good in him, and he does have the capacity to make better choices, otherwise the story is utterly pointless!!! 

This has been on my mind because I read Emily Nussbaum’s article about the finale, in which she describes Richard and Elliot as “hard to listen to but essentially correct,” and sorry Emily, I think you’re very smart and a good writer, but my god, I hate this article. To me, it boils down to “the finale was Chase scolding us for empathizing with and caring about Tony” which is not at all how I see the show, and thank goodness, because I think it would be pretty ridiculous to spend eight years telling the story of a deeply human, deeply relatable character and then be like “lol wait, you guys related to him? Cringe! Hashtag society” or whatever. She says that in the final half season, Tony “was becoming his real self: the empty golem.” Seriously? The version of Tony who’s had most of his humanity sapped from him is his “real self”? SERIOUSLY? Okay. I’m gonna go calm down now. I promise. (I actually have one other point I want to make related to the Richard-and-Elliot thing, but I’ll save that for another post because this one is looooong.) I'd just like to close this post with this comment that I've posted here before and will probably post again because I love it so much and it makes me tear up whenever I think of it:

[shoechoe]

Trish and the Past

(This is part of a series of posts about Diavolo’s character, though they can be read in any order. The links to the rest are here.)

Trish is the major story aspect that ties Diavolo to the main cast in a personal way. In this post, I’m going to go into their dynamic, Trish’s similarities and differences with Diavolo, and how she connects to Diavolo’s theme of the past.

Word Count: ~3100

Trish

To recap what I’ve said in previous analysis, Trish is the first thing that hints to the Boss’s identity; his attempted murder of her is the major personal betrayal that leads to the main cast turning against him. She is vital to understanding his personhood and how he tries to erase it. And as she is the major ally character and he is the antagonist, I believe it’s better to frame her as the center of the dynamic.

When Trish is introduced, she is severely underestimated as a soft teenage girl who puts up a persona of snootiness and coldness to the main characters. It is assumed here that beyond basic self-defense skills, she is unable to protect herself and must be constantly hidden.

Throughout the La Squadra half of Vento Aureo, more layers are progressively suggested with Trish. The other characters begin to wonder about her feelings as she remains largely quiet throughout the journey. Her initial rudeness subsides to a more morose silence.

Logically, this makes sense; it’s easy to imagine any teenage girl being suddenly forced to travel with gangsters after the revelation of her father being a mafia boss, her future and her relationship with him entirely uncertain, wouldn’t be in a good mood nor very willing to talk. At the King Crimson arc, this is finally brought up herself.

Trish’s main hope throughout this entire part of the story was the possibility of finally reaching safety when she got to her father. Bruno takes time to assure her that he will do everything in his power to keep her safe- however, this was nothing but an assumption. Nobody knew anything about his true motives, but they all expected him to automatically care for and protect her because she was his daughter.

---

Diavolo and Parenthood

Note Bruno's line "That's not something any family worries about" when Trish expresses worries about if she'll be able to like her father. This could be viewed as foreshadowing for the twist that's just about to happen; even before the reveal that he was planning on killing her, Diavolo could not really be described as a "father" in any way but a purely technical one.

Diavolo was completely unaware of Trish's existence while she grew up, and even now, they don't know anything about each other. To Trish, Diavolo was nothing but a possibility of someone who could potentially protect her or she may be able to connect to. But to Diavolo, in his perception, Trish is only a living danger. In his mind, she is nothing but a problem that must be eliminated.

Diavolo is as impersonal as possible when Trish is brought to him. He knocks her unconscious before she gets to see his face and attempts to murder her before she even realizes it. He doesn't really acknowledge her as someone with feelings at all; just an obstacle to get through, or as he puts it, just a "blood relation".

Diavolo and Trish exchange very little dialogue, the most notable of which being Diavolo's statement "If only you had never been born". While obviously hurtful, he does not seem to be really talking to her directly when he says it, following it up with a repeat of his usual statements about his own past regrets: "Fear truly does come from the past". Her fighting back against him seems to make him ponder his own fears and past regrets instead of who she is as her own individual.

I don't think that Diavolo sees Trish as a person. It seems like to him, she's more of a spectre of his past, an ultimate test to overcome brought to him by fate. He does not feel any apparent remorse attempting to kill her because he has detached her from personhood, let alone any familial sentiment.

While I have complained about the handling of the final fight, Diavolo's exclamation of "Now you've really made me mad!" as he guts Trish is, in my opinion, his scariest moment. Diavolo is not really comparable to most real-life abusive father situations, but I'd say this is where he comes closest to it. Here, he's taking out his own rage and regret onto his child that he never wanted to have, a "punishment" for her fighting back.

(Note that his treatment of Trish is also comparable with his tendency to hurt children and the vulnerable for his own gain, like the first thing we learn about his leadership being that he's willing to sell drugs to children.)

---

“Erasing His Past”

As Bruno points out, every human possesses an identity, a connection to other people, that traces back to their very roots as a person. No matter what you do or how alone you might seem, the influence of your existence will stretch outward to affect others, even if you aren't aware of it.

In Diavolo’s intense fear and desire to overcome his past, this is what he is running from. With his attempts to erase all records of his identity and connection to others, he is fighting against the inevitable. Every past action of his that connects him to others has a chance of coming back to haunt him, even ones that he himself overlooked; ironically, they become more dangerous the more he tries to erase them.

He sees Trish's existence as a living marker of his past and thus why he is so afraid of her, but it was never impossible for her to coexist with him. Maybe a healthy relationship would’ve been impossible, but Trish, an innocent teenage girl with no motive to usurp or threaten Diavolo, did not have to be murdered. If he sent her away and kept her safe without trying to kill her, the main cast aside from Giorno wouldn’t have turned on him so easily, and he could’ve likely stayed in power.

Diavolo’s inability to accept his past is what leads to his defeat, not exactly the past itself- something emphasized in how the explicit events of his past are never actually shown or discovered. His teenage daughter becomes the focal point of this fear, and despite her being the only character with nothing to gain from usurping him, she becomes perceived as the biggest danger.

---

How is Trish Like (and Unlike) Diavolo?

Family ties are an extremely prevalent theme in Jojo, and it's especially strong with Trish and Diavolo. Part of why Diavolo wants to dispose of his daughter so badly is because of her immutable connection to him, both familial and spiritual. As such, Trish shares a lot of traits with her father, but also divulges from them to become better than him.

Trish has the initial tendency to hide her true self from the other characters, a protective layer to shield herself from gangsters she's never met before- in a sense, similar to Diavolo. This is why she at first appears on the surface as cold and occasionally snippy, and the others viewed her as weak and incapable of fighting or handling the emotional heaviness of her situation.

However, it becomes apparent throughout the story that she has hidden strength. A bit like Diavolo's twist in character revealing him as crueler than he let on, Trish reveals herself to have a fiercer nature, allowing her to win her first Stand fight. She has confidence and conviction similar to her father's, which she ends up using against him as she refuses to cower or give up when face-to-face with him.

But, unlike Diavolo, she does not become cold and closed off from the world. While she has a layer of distrust towards the strangers she was forced to be with, she ultimately ends up protecting and fighting alongside them.

The others often encourage her to hide away from Stand threats while they protect her, and at first, she can't understand the compassion it would take to risk your own life to protect others.

This is similar to Diavolo's expressed inability to understand compassion- such as his confusion that Bruno is willing to betray him and risk his life to save Trish. (It’s almost like Trish herself has internalized the idea that someone trying to save her isn’t a rational choice.)

But when the other team members become jeopardized and Trish is pushed into action, she realizes that she has the same instinct to protect, and this is when she unlocks her Stand ability.

---

Spice Girl and King Crimson

Both being close-range power types and resembling each other in appearance, Spice Girl and King Crimson’s similarities are clearly intentional, representing the familial bond between Trish and Diavolo.

Many things about Spice Girl’s introduction are directly comparable to Diavolo and King Crimson. It shares Diavolo’s poses and speaking mannerisms, it has bursts of rage comparable to King Crimson’s constant expression of seething anger, and it speaks to Trish as her inner identity like how Diavolo speaks and represents himself through King Crimson.

These similarities also make their strong differences contrast even greater. Spice Girl is firm but kind and its expression is serene instead of twisted. Instead of introducing itself by brutally tearing things apart, it makes objects unbreakable, and when it attacks, it does so slowly and carefully.

It presents itself as a kind guiding figure to Trish, representing the inner self unknown to her- when Trish fully realizes this inner self, Spice Girl becomes silent. (There is probably a comparison here between this and Diavolo’s theme of split identity, but the poor handling of Dissociative Identity Disorder in Vento Aureo makes me reluctant to bring it up uncritically.) There’s also a likely connection in its very upbeat, friendship-based music reference of Spice Girl and the song Wannabe compared to the desolate tone of In the Court of the Crimson King.

The matter of Trish’s stand ability is something brought up by La Squadra early on, with Formaggio asserting that her Stand is why the Boss wants to hide her so badly. This doesn’t end up being the case, but I can’t really tell if this was simply an incorrect assertion on Formaggio’s part or some early plan that was dropped along the way. However, I would wager a guess that there were more ideas for Spice Girl and King Crimson to intertwine throughout the plot that were not implemented.

Spice Girl shows that while Trish does possess strength like her father, she does not share his cruelty, and that allows her to develop from constantly waiting to be saved to becoming capable of fighting back and saving others.

---

Vento Aureo’s Flawed Handling of Trish

One of my major criticisms for Vento Aureo is its tendency to push Trish into acting as an object for the other characters instead of her own person. She is often pushed to the sidelines when she shouldn't be and gets used to reflect the motivations of other characters instead of proper focus being given on her own feelings.

For example, the moment with the Boss trying to murder Trish is used more as a character moment for Bruno and Narancia rather than for her. Even when she becomes conscious again, her reaction is a short "I already knew" with little to no real probing into her inner feelings- hardly even a scene to think by herself.

And while the Spice Girl arc is fantastic, it leads you to expect more of an active story role for Trish that just does not come. Trish is forced right back into being of no use in the Cioccolata arc, and Spice Girl’s ability is used just once in the final fight.

It's frustrating that Vento Aureo does this because Trish is arguably in one of the most interesting and emotionally taxing situations out of the cast. Her mother just died, and now she's flung into a gangster world to be brought to a father that she's never met, only to realize that his goal the whole time was to murder her. She has the strongest dynamic and connection to the main antagonist and, in my opinion, the strongest character development out of the whole cast.

I do wish that we had more insight into her life and Trish actually interacted with Diavolo more, even if it was just more exchange of dialogue in the final fight. Their dynamic is mostly relegated to her unseen inner thoughts and symbolism when it could've been a lot stronger.

Though I complain about Diavolo’s potential depth not being capitalized on, since Trish is a major ally character, I would argue that her development and giving her narrative spotlight is actually more important than his. Since the major role antagonists play is to reflect the heroes, Trish having character focus would also make Diavolo feel more like a tangible threat.

---

Donatella Una

Being Trish’s mother and the woman Diavolo had a fling with in his past, Donatella as a character naturally brings up a lot of questions despite being given no focus.

The first question that seems natural to ask would be how Diavolo, someone who’s given no reason to be interested in casual sex, would have a random fling in his youth. Donatella and Diavolo’s past relationship goes utterly unexplained throughout the whole story- in the manga, Donatella does not receive so much as a speaking line. (The anime does attempt to give her dialogue, but I have complained before that the anime’s alteration of Diavolo’s backstory is nonsensical, so I’m going to ignore it.)

Bruno suggests that there was a time where Diavolo was once an ordinary man, but this conflicts with the strong implication in his backstory that he also buried his mother alive at around the same time he had the fling with Donatella- likely to display that he was willing to kill off blood ties even then. If this is truly what happened, the idea that Diavolo was once an ordinary man who spiraled into the life of a mob boss doesn’t work. So how on Earth did he have a fling?

This is not actually a unique instance in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. It is fairly common for male characters to have off-screen relationships that are never explained purely for the plot’s sake of them having children (see Jotaro and DIO). Essentially, she’s written as less of a character and more a vector for the story, so her relationship to Diavolo and Trish goes as unmentioned and unwritten as possible.

I also actually find the way Diavolo barely talks about her very interesting. When he does hint to or discuss his memories of her, he seems very cold. He even expresses disbelief that Donatella seemed to hold any sentimental feelings about their relationship, having a burst of anger upon discovering she kept a photo that he took of her.

Donatella being hardly remembered as a person makes sense on Diavolo’s front. He has become so detached from people that he now simply views her as another fragment of his past coming back to haunt him. Similar to his inability to emotionally attach to others, he cannot understand that others may remain emotionally attached to him; in fact, he probably interprets it more like an attack sent by fate.

I’ve seen it argued that it’s a plot hole how Diavolo didn’t kill Donatella before or during the establishment of his mafia, but I actually don’t think it is one. It seems like he was in a rush to set his village on fire and vanish, so he decided it was better to simply abandon her without leaving any information to find him. Seeking Donatella out to kill her after he erased himself was likely too dangerous and would only point more eyes at his past.

You might argue that it was odd for him to not suspect she may go looking for him at some point, but I think it’s just as reasonable that he didn’t expect her to remain emotionally attached after all that time, since it’s established that sentimental attachment is a motive he cannot understand. (The biggest thing I would call a plot gap here is the way Donatella only apparently tries to look for Diavolo when she’s dying as we’re given no reason she couldn’t have done so any time, but that’s a relatively smaller problem because her motivations narratively matter less.)

---

Diavolo and Donatella’s pseudo-dynamic is awkwardly put together and certainly built for plot convenience above any real character insight, but I would argue that it’s shakily sensical in some way. However, the disregardance of Donatella’s memory ceases to make sense on Trish’s front. Being her child, you would think Trish having her mother suddenly die while she’s in middle school just a short time before the story would be more central to her character.

You could argue Trish simply doesn’t want to talk about her dead mother to strangers, but it’s never brought up at all- not when we see Trish by herself, when she’s having a moment of opening up emotionally, or when we see her inner thoughts. Donatella is only mentioned once, and it’s a pure information dump about the Boss. It’s more likely that Donatella was simply not considered as someone who would be a massive part of Trish’s struggles because she is treated only as a plot object instead of being thought of as a deceased loved one.

I imagine it would’ve been easy to fill in the gap here; have a scene with Trish talking or thinking about her mother with some kind of familial sentiment. She could give a brief explanation of her personality or what she meant to her. I would’ve also added a flashback scene where Trish asks about her father to Donatella and she gives some tidbit of what he was like when she met and dated him.

Donatella is a minor character who is dead before the story starts, so it’s unrealistic to ask for exceeding character depth. Her narrative importance begins and ends with how she pushes the plot forward and how she impacts Diavolo and Trish. However, her treatment makes this point of the story feel bare and mechanical; she very easily could’ve been treated as more than a pure story cog in a way that would’ve enhanced the two major characters who knew her.

---

Vento Aureo suffers from the common tendencies Jojo has with writing female characters. There’s some attempt to evolve Trish into a character with more agency, but the story never fully manages to break away from treating her more as an object than as a person. Donatella could’ve been a fascinating look into Trish’s life and the remnants of who Diavolo used to be, but instead, she’s hardly what you could even call a real character.

Regardless, I would argue that Trish is the most important ally character in relation to Diavolo- which is interesting, as she is not the intended protagonist. This relates to the topic in my next analysis, where I will discuss the trouble Vento Aureo has with tying Giorno to Diavolo in a satisfying way.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Hello!! I'm back for: more whining about TotK Quest Design Philosophy

I can't reblog a really great post I just saw for some reason (tumblrrrr *shakes my fist*), but hmmmm yeah not only do I completely agree, but I think I might expand on why I feel so much annoyance towards TotK's quest design philosophy at some point, because it does extend past the fundamentally broken setup of trying to punch a pseudo-mystery game on top of BotW's bones, where the core objective was always explicit and centered and stapled the entire world together; or the convoluted and inefficient way it tells its story through the Tears, the somehow single linear exploration-driven quest in the entire game.

Basically: I'm talking about the pointless back-and-forths. There were a lot of them, a lot that acted against the open world philosophy, and almost none of them ever recontextualized the environment through neither gameplay abilities nor worldbuilding nor character work.

I'll take two examples: the initial run to Hyrule Castle (before you get your paraglider), and then the billion back-and-forths in the Zora questline.

I think?? the goal of that initial quest to Hyrule Castle is to familiarize you with the landmark, introduce the notion that weapons rot, tell you about the gloom pits, and also tell you that Zelda sightings are a thing? But to force any of these ideas on you before giving you a paraglider is, in my opinion, pretty unnecessary. I think the reason it happens in that order is to prevent Link from simply pummeling down to the gloom pit under Hyrule Castle and fight Ganondorf immediately while still introducing ideas surrounding the location; but genuinely, the Zelda sighting makes the next events even more confusing? Why wouldn't you focus all your priorities in reaching the castle if you just saw her there? Why lose time investigating anything else? Genuinely: what is stopping you from getting your paraglider and immediately getting yourself back there, plunging into the depths to try and get to the literal bottom of this? (beyond player literacy assuming this is where the final boss would be, and so not to immediately spoil yourself --which, in an open world game, you should never be able to spoil yourself by engaging with the mechanics normally, and if you can that's a genuine failure of design)

I think, personally, that you should not have been pointed to go there at all. That anything it brings to the table, you could have learned more organically by investigating yourself, or by exploring in that direction on your own accord --or, maybe you think Zelda is up there in the castle, and then the region objectives become explicitely about helping you reaching that castle (maybe by building up troops to help you in a big assault, or through the Sages granting you abilities to move past level-design oriented hurdles in your way, etc). Either way: no need to actually make you walk the distance and back, because the tediousness doesn't teach you anything you haven't already learned about traversal in the (extremely long, btw, needlessly so I would say) tutorial area.

But to take another example, I'll nitpick at a very specific moment in the Zora Questline, that is honestly full of these back-and-forth paddings that recontextualize absolutely nothing and teach you nothing you didn't already know. The most egregious example, in my opinion, is the moment where you are trying to find the king, and you have to learn by listening in to the zora children who do not let you listening in.

So okay. I think Zelda is great when it does whimsy, and children doing children things guiding you is a staple of the series, and a great one at that. But here? It does not work for me on any level. Any tension that could arise from the situation flattens because nobody seems to care enough about their king disappearing in the middle of a major ecological crisis, except for children who are conveniently dumb enough not to graps the severity of the situation, but not stressed out enough that it could be construed as a way for them to cope about it and make anything feel more serious or pressing. It feels like a completely arbitrary blocker that isn't informed by the state of the world, doesn't do anything interesting gameplay-wise with this idea, doesn't build up the mood, and genuinely feels like busywork for its own sake.

This is especially tragic when the inherent concept of "the zora king has been wounded by what most zoras would believe to be Zelda and is hiding from his own people so the two factions do not go to war over it" has such tension and interest and spark that the game absolutely refuse to explore --instead having you collect carved stones who do not tell you anything new, splatter water in a floating island, thrud through mud who feel more like an inconvenience than a threat or, hey, listen to children playing about their missing king less than a couple of years after being freed from Calamity Ganon's menace. It feels like level designers/system designers having vague technical systems that are hard-coded in the game now, and we need to put them to use even if it's not that interesting, not that fun or not that compelling. It's the sort of attitude that a lot of western RPGs get eviscerated for; but here, for some reason, it's just a case of "gameplay before story", instead of, quite simply, a case of poorly thought-out gameplay.

Not every quest in the game is like this! I think the tone worked much better in the sidequests overall, that are self-contained and disconnected from the extremely messy main storyline, and so can tell a compelling little tale from start to finish without the budget to make you waddle in a puddle of nothing for hours at a time. It's the only place where you actually get character arcs that are allowed to feel anything that isn't a variation on "very determined" or "curious about the zonai/ruins", and where you get to feel life as it tries to blossom back into a new tomorrow for Hyrule.

But if I'm this harsh about the main storyline, it really is because I find it hard to accept that we do not criticize a structure that is at times so half-assed that you can almost taste employees' burnout seeping through the cracks --the lack of thematic ambition and self-reflection and ingeniosity outside of system design and, arguably at times, level design-- simply because it's Hyrule and we're happy to be there.

There's something in the industry that is called the "wow effect", which is their way to say "cool" without saying "cool". It's basically the money shots, but for games: it's what makes you go "ohhhh" when you play. And it's great! The ascension to the top of the Ark was one of them --breathtaking, just an absolute high point of systems working together to weave an epic tale. You plummeting from the skies to the absolute depths of hell is another one; most of the dungeons rely on that factor to keep your attention; the entire Zelda is a dragon storyline is nothing but "wow effect" (and yeah, the moment where you do remove the Master Sword did give me shivers, I'll admit to this willingly) and so is Ganondorf's presence and presentation in the game --he's here to be cool, non-specifically mean, hateable in a non-threatening way and to give us a good sexy time, do not think about it too hard. What bothers me is that TotK's world has basically nothing to offer but "wow effect"; that if you bother to dig at anything it presents you for more than a second, everything crumbles into incoherence --not only in story, but in mood, in themes, in identity. This is a wonderfully fun game with absolutely nothing to say, relying on the cultural osmosis and aura of excellency surrounding Zelda to pass itself off as meatier than it really is. This is what I say when I criticize it as self-referential to a fault; half of the story makes no sense if this is your first Zelda game, and what little of that world there is tends to be deeply unconcerned and uncurious about itself.

And no, Breath of the Wild wasn't like this. Breath of the Wild was deeply curious about itself; the entire game was built off curiosity and discovery, experimentation and challenge (and I say this while fully admitting I had more fun with the loop of TotK, which I found more forgiving overall). The traversal in Tears of the Kingdom is centered around: how do I skip those large expanses of land in the most efficient and fun way possible. How do I automate these fights. How do I find resources to automate both traversal and fights better. It's a game that asks questions (who are the zonais, who is Rauru and what is his deal, what is the Imprisoning War about, where is Zelda), and then kind of doesn't really care about the answers (yeah the zonais are like... guys, they did a cool kingdom, Rauru used to run it, the Imprisoning War is literally whatever all you have to care about is who to feel sad for and who to kill about it and you don't get a choice and certainly cannot feel any ambiguous feelings about any of that, and Zelda is a dragon but we will never expand on how it felt for her to make such a drastic and violent choice and also nobody cares that's a plot point you could *remove* from the game without changing the golden path at all).

I'm so aggravated by the argument "in Zelda, it's gameplay before story" because gameplay is story. That's the literal point of my work as a narrative designer: trying to breach the impossibly large gap between what the game designers want to do, and what the writers are thinking the game will be about (it's never the same game). And in TotK, the game systems are all about automation and fusion. It's about practicality and efficiency. It's also about disconnecting stuff from their original purpose as you optimize yourself out of danger, fear, or curiosity --except for the way you can become even more efficient. And sure, BotW was about this too; but you were rewarded because you had explored the world in the first place, experimented enough, put yourself in danger, went to find out the story of who you used to be and why you should care about Hyrule. I'm not here to argue BotW was a well-written game; I think it was pretty tropey at large to be honest, safe for a couple of moments of brilliance, but it had a coherent design vision that rewarded your curiosity while never getting in the way of the clarity of your objective. There is a convolutedness to TotK that, to me, reveals some extremely deep-seated issues with the direction the series is heading towards; one that, at its core, cares more about looking the part of a Zelda game than having any deeper conversation about what a Zelda game should be.

[sugarplumfairy888]

Blitzø VS. Bojack: “Two Sides of the Same Coin” said No one ever!!!!

I have just started watching the Netflix show Bojack Horseman, and I heard that Vivziepop really loved that show and that is where she got her inspiration to create Helluva Boss, and I have been online hearing people say that Blitzø is just like Bojack Horsemen and the series will probably be like the Netflix show, where main character fails to redeem himself and will have sad ending.

WELL, THEY ARE F🤬🤬KING WRONG!!!

Blitzø and Bojack have a lot a similarities:

- Both have narcissistic and greedy parents who treated them like shit as children.

- Both have self-hatred and trauma because of their past.

- Both have self-destructive impulses that destroy anything good or any relationship they have.

- Both can be shitty and mean towards their friends and anybody around them.

- Both had been promiscuous and had a lot of sexual partners.

Despite these similarities, those two have very different qualities. And more importantly, Blitzø would not do half of things that Bojack did in the series:

- Blitzø would not wait 17 minutes to save his daughter, Loona or anyone else he cares about, even if that would cost him his reputation or life.

- He would not use his tragic past or personal issues as an excuse for all the shitty things he has done.

- He admits his faults and apologizes without making excuses for himself (watch episode OOPS, the scene where he apologizes to Fizz. There he admits although it was an accident, it was still his fault).

- He doesn’t exploit or manipulate his friends or anyone he cares about.

- When apologizing to someone, he does not seek their validation, forgiveness, nor closure from them, just like he did with Verosika or Fizz.

- He does not have any power over anyone in his previous romantic relationships. Whether I believe it was his exes who had power over him (e.g. Stolas or Verosika).

And importantly, Blitzø, unlike Bojack, actually wants to be better for everyone he loves.

- “…. I can always do better.” - Blitzø to Stolas in Full Moon.

- “I don’t want to be this way. Not forever.”- Blitzø to Verosika in Apology Tour.

Blitzø is pretty much a reverse mirror for Bojack:

- One wears a mask of good guy but is bad, the other wears a mask of badass but is caring and sensitive.

- One cares but will not take action, the other cares and will take action.

- One has people aware of his issues and people want to help him, the other will not tell anyone about his issues and chooses to deal with them alone without help from others.

- One wants people to believe he can be better, the other actually wants to be better.

In conclusion, this shows that Blitzø is a better man than Bojack, because unlike Bojack, Blitzø goes beyond and above for his love ones and he is capable of change. Therefore, I believe that adorable lizard deserves a happy ending, unlike Bojackass who deserves nothing but a shitty ending. 👿👿👿

[the-guilty-writer]

Criminal Minds x BAU!autistic!reader Headcanons

I got this request in and I want to do so much more with this than just headcanons but here are some to get us started! These are rather vuage since autism presents differently in everyone.

Hotch and Rossi knew from the hiring process that you were autistic because it was listed in your file, but no one else on the team knew.

The first day when Hotch is talking you, he tells you that if you need anything you can always come to him and that what you tell the team about your personal life is always up to you.

He's the first boss that's ever told that to you.

But you insisted that you were okay.

You're super nervous when meeting the rest of the team and spend a lot of time trying to analyze their microexpressions while controlling your own.

For the first while you spend a lot of time masking, but that's really hard to do around a bunch of profilers.

After a really hard case on the jet everything starts to become too much- you lock yourself in the bathroom to try to calm yourself down.

Most of the team was asleep, but Reid noticed your absence and went to check on you.

He had always suspected that you were autistic but he never said anything, so he was super careful when knocking on the bathroom door, approaching you, and helping make your meltdown not so intense.

"Accommodations exist for a reason. Hotch is really good at making sure the paperwork goes through smoothly and the rest of the team is very understanding."

The next day you talked to Hotch about what work accommodations would help you.

You slowly began to open up to the team about your needs.

All of them were beyond suppotive.

Garcia makes sure to have your safe foods for you when you get home from a hard case. She made a box of sensory toys for your desk and your go bag. Even though she's a very affection person, she makes sure to ask you before initating any sort of physical contact.

Morgan is protective of you when away on cases- always making sure that the locals treat you with respect. If the precinct/station doesn't have the ability to provide you with accomodations he gets creative to make sure you have what you need.

Prentiss is also a protector, but she isn't quite as loud. It's in the way that she always asks to sit in the quiet corner of resturant when the team is out for dinner, or sits outside the station with you in silence so you can have a break but not have to be alone.

JJ knows a meltdown is coming before it even happens and she's so good at helping you through it. She also has a few sensory tools in her bag just for good measure.

Rossi making sure you drink your water, eat food, and explaining sarcasm or jokes in a way you can understand.

Hotch always makes sure your voice is heard in your job and reassures you about how valuble you are to the team. If you need an accommodation and HR doesn't aprove it he finds a way to make sure you get it anyway.

Spencer Reid is the special interest king. He gladly listens to you talk, learns about your special interest so you can discuss it together, if there is an event that has to do with your special interest he goes with you, etc.

All of them make sure you know how much you mean to them and that you never have to hide who you are <3

[yuseirra]

Onk spoilers*****

I had people contact me about 159 and GUYS...you have to trust this guy who Ai's loved with all her heart. Think about the songs...he doesn't regard his own life very high. He'd do ANYTHING, he'd lie with all his might, he's a liar... If that means he can bring her back. That's what he's trying to do and Aqua is there trying to prevent him from doing so.

Hehe more in the read more: I will have to see the actual chapter in full but here's what I think from what I picked up:

And it really DOES seem like.. Kamiki didn't play a part in Ai's murder. It REALLY was nino and ryosuke and they were the ones who collaborated. This means, Kamiki really could have just had the address slip out by pure mistake and that had a butterfly effect, making him feel guilty about everything. I honestly wouldn't take it any other way if I were to ship Ai and him together and I'd been drawing things all along with that as the basis. He's just like Aqua who's trapped in guilt for things he isn't so responsible for.

Yesterday I wrote a soft, tender and melancholic post as an analysis and what I picked up today (I honestly still have no clear idea of what the heck is going on lol, I could vaguely make out the words people tell me-I may be missing out BIG chunks and I NEED to see the facial expressions and stuff) made me burst out laughing, it's ridiculous and hilarious, even.. But it does make sense if it's this way.

The fact that Ai wants to HELP him and how Aqua mentions he has to HELP him now all connects so nicely together. I think there IS a reason why there were scenes where Kamiki called himself a liar as a child. He's still lying, but this time, as the bad guy who deserves to die because he doesn't want anyone to worry or care about him at all. He's really good at it in a meta sense, I bet people are going wild anticipating him as the true villian and the final boss but think about it, what is there for him to even lie about?? The lie, I think, is the fact that he told Aqua he's a psychopathic murderer who tried to scare Ai for having dumped him, leading to her death. He didn't do any of it, and only said those because he wanted to be avenged.. He can't forgive himself for having caused Ai to be attacked even if it's not really his fault. He doesn't want his children to feel bad about getting back at him for it. Aqua's saying he's insane for lying about stuff like this for this reason to his OWN SON.

Aqua should not approach Kamiki like this if he's the guy that's hurt Ai. He's weirdly lenient with him. And he says he's going to help him. You can't "help" a terrible murderer, especially the one that's killed your lovely mother.

As someone who's been drawing the hikaai ship w passion, I have a responsibility to grab kamiki by the collar and kick his butt really strong if he turns out to be a maniac 😊 no worries. But I don't think it's going to be that way, actually. He's lying in desperation because he's found Ai really loved him back; he can really cross lines now if it means she'll live. He wants to die in her place, that's what I'm guessing. He's really similar to aqua in some aspects. He's okay about being regarded as a terrible person as long as he can protect the ones he loves.

This is perfect in my opinion. If it goes in the direction I anticipate, it makes full sense. There must be some way to exchange a life for another. Kamiki wants to go through with it for Ai but Ai stops him with the help of her children even beyond death.

And you know what? I was beginning to think wait.. Did nino and ryosuke date? After the latest chapter but I didn' t write that because there was no solid basis but like, that turned out to be true,

I'm... Starting to get really confident about character analyses when it comes to this comic, everything escalates SO FAST and I can't predict what actions they take, but I feel like I can sense what kind of emotions they have when they do something.

So if this isn't it, I'll be. Then I'll actually feel more relaxed since I'll be able to watch without getting so attached to what they will be feeling, it'd be unpredictable for me and I'll just watch it for pure entertainment, there won't be any more analysis I make that will...be right.

I'll still be glad I've read this even if it ends up like that, though, it's made me think about a lot of things. I really come to love Ai so much as a character, and from what I see, everything will be as she wishes in the story of onk in the very end. I'd like to see it happen and I will root for it!