#if people are still interested in my blog and my david yeah ?

[a-student-out-of-time]

Talking about the Eden Killer Theory (Again)

//Hey there, so...it kinda seems like my blog has officially just become a DT theory blog at this point, so here's some more of my thoughts on a particular one I've touched on before.

//This is something of a response to this defense of the Eden Killer Theory, written by @venus-is-thinking, who is a proponent of the theory along with many others. And having read it, I can't help but feel that a lot of the points raised here are in response to many of my own criticisms, from the motivation issues to how it would play a role in the narrative.

//Now, as I've said my previous posts about this, even if I don't agree with this theory, this isn't meant to belittle anyone who does. I also have to admit that there are a lot of good points raised here. What I'd like to do is, instead of just trying to debunk them, I'd like to offer some counterpoints and alternatives, as well as address the points that make this theory not work for me.

//I'm also not going to push my own theory here, just stick to what I feel are some equally plausible explanations.

//So Venus, if you read this, know that I'm impressed by the time and effort you put into this, and I just want to offer some feedback:

I'll start by saying, thank you for not perpetuating this idea that Eden is somehow secretly some evil genius mastermind, because a lot of Eden Killer Theory posts really have that vibe to them and it bothers me to no end.

My first big question is why Eden would kill Arei and not Arturo, the guy who has actively threatened her. Nobody but Arei knew about that and thus would never suspect her of doing it. Arei herself really seems like she'd have Eden's back in that regard.

I will say, just because we have multiple LGBTQ+ characters, it doesn't equate to "sapphic girl betrays everyone to be with her GF" not being problematic. The quantity doesn't matter, the presentation does.

I do appreciate the focus on her motivation as having more to do with her family and people she wants to reunite with. My issue is that the same argument could be applied to others who we know have friends and family, like Rose, Veronika, Hu, even Ace. What makes Eden the exception here?

The hidden quote is definitely interesting, and it could apply to this case, but it could also apply at a later date. I've also looked thoroughly into the hidden quotes and wondered about their meanings, so I'll admit there's an argument to be made in your favor here.

Eden being the primary force trying to end the killing game does feel to me like it's meant to be more of a long-term thing. Maybe the idea isn't that she's running out of time, but the longer she spends in this game, the more it wears away at her attempts? That doesn't necessarily mean she'll be a killer, now or later, but maybe it takes a toll on her motivation?

"Every single second killer commits their crime due to previous attachments that go beyond the killing game." Now, this is something I've had people who disagree with my theories argue with me about, how we can't predict where the story will go, yet they'll still use the same formulaic tropes and archetypes in defense of their own points. We can't have it both ways, and it sounds to me like you do believe this will follow a fairly similar route to the previous games. Fair enough. As a counterpoint, I want to address that, while this is largely true, one could also make the same argument about my primary candidate for the Killer (though not necessarily the Blackened): Hu. After all, we've had some insights on Hu's past, how proud she is of her name and how she didn't want to go with her old one just because it was something English-speakers made fun of. Combined with her very motherly attitude, her dialogue with David after his reveal, her own secret quote and the like, it also makes her seem like a pretty good candidate in my eyes.

"Wouldn’t it only be proving Teruko right if Eden were to become a killer? Yeah. It would. And that’s the point at the story we’re at." I have to completely disagree with you there, but we'll get to that shortly.

"I don’t think it would make any sense for Teruko’s beliefs to be strongly challenged in Chapter 2." Counterpoint: Teruko's beliefs should challenged here, at least in a way that makes her reconsider them. Not necessarily throw them out completely, as even I don't think she would, but maybe open up a little to the idea of trust. Namely that trusting nobody at all means that she also can't trust people who claim they're innocent but have no proof. Maybe going with enlightened self-interest as a starting point. I don't like this idea that Teruko is going to double down this chapter, because it would otherwise feel largely pointless. We already covered this perspective in chapter 1, we had her be betrayed by two people she was close to, we've had her explain this and beat the point in throughout the entire thing, from her life before the game to the many scars across her body. If we end on "Well, looks like I was right not to trust any of you," what changes? What's there to be gained? How has this done anything for her character if she hasn't learned anything or changed at all? I'm not saying she's going to join the friendship club, but just that I think the story is better served by her being willing to trust somebody and having it not blow up in her face for once, despite her experiences and expectations. That feels like actual setup and payoff, you know?

The Monocredits thing feels like pure speculation to me, so I don't really see that as evidence of anything.

"Chapter 2 is typically a chapter in the canon Danganronpa games where things get worse, not better." I've gone through the entire canon series and a few fangans that have reached Chapter 3, and I have to say, this is untrue. Chapter 2 is where the seriousness of the Killing Game sets in further, but you still get moments of character development, revelation, and new developments in their favor. Chapter 3 is typically the low point where things hit their zenith of severity, since that's also where two people die and the killer is really fucked up, and the group also often learns just how bad things really are. Yes, it's still a rough time, but it's also where we get things like Toko, Fuyuhiko and Maki starting their gradual rises to prominence and development, the reveal of Alter Ego, and it was SDRA2 Chapter 2 that made Hibiki Otonokoji into one of my favorites in that game because she grew so much in such a short amount of time. Chapter 2 is really not where tragedy overwhelms growth and development...that's Chapter 3's job ^^;

"Eden is one of the most heavily featured characters, and to me, it feels more like one being set up for immediate payoff rather than long-term." What makes you so sure? Kyoko, Nagito, Shuichi, Himiko, Toko, Chiaki, Kaito, Akane Taira, Yuki Maeda, all of them were prominent early on but they didn't really play big roles until much later in their story lines.

"If she’s already spent two chapters being nice, happy and supportive, where does she go from there that’s narratively interesting and different? The only answer I can really come up with is “becoming less nice, happy, and/or supportive.” I gotta be honest here and say this does a major disservice to Eden as a character, and feels you're saying nice characters are boring or static. I won't put words in your mouth, that's just how it sounds here. For some alternative ideas, Eden could be more proactive in trying to help others, and maybe if Teruko starts to come out of her shell, she could be there to try and help her forward. If we go back to your point about her secret quote, maybe the two of them end up switching roles so that Eden starts to feel lost and Teruko is the one to try and support her. Eden's point that she's not naive or stupid, that she knows that the world can be a cruel place and chooses to be kind regardless, is a powerful moment that strikes a chord with Teruko, even if she doesn't want to admit it. That's already proof that there's more to her than just "nice and friendly support girl," as maybe someone who's seen how harsh life can be and might be able to relate to Teruko even more than she's letting on. For me personally, this is actually why I see David as the Blackened of this chapter. After that reveal, where he's admitted he's a manipulative nihilistic shitlord, what else can you do with his character? Nobody's going to trust him, he doesn't really contrast Teruko's perspective so he's not really a rival, and he's got a very doomerist mindset about everything so I don't see him being a chaos gremlin. I think he instead works as a warning for Teruko. He is what she could be if she sticks on this path of self-serving fatalism, and as the Blackened, his death would be a wake-up call for her to change.

Once again, credit where it's due, I had no idea this was there and that's a pretty good point. My counterpoint here is that it's such a broad statement that you could just as easily apply it to anyone: it works just as well for David, for instance. It could also apply to Hu, Levi and even Arei in this chapter. It also doesn't really scream "Eden is the killer" to me, just the idea that being a good person isn't easy or glamorous.

"Hu is someone who hasn’t gotten that much character arc focus, so I think she’ll probably be a bit more of a spotlighted character in the next daily life." Counterpoint: Hu is the killer and this is what "A Good Person" is referring to. Think about how much Hu has tried to be the Team Mom, stand up for Nico, work with David, be a nice person and everything, even if she did fight frequently with Ace in this chapter. While she didn't share her secret, David actually called her out and suggested she's not as upstanding as she claims to be. Her secret quote- "I want to pay for what I’ve done. But even then, I still want to live."- would also fit very well there if it turned out she was the killer. It could even be both of our ideas; having followed David's orders to kill, she has to grapple with that fact and regain everyone's trust, especially Eden's.

"This is pretty much the entirety of Arei’s character arc." And it's very unsatisfying if we just leave it off there, so I don't buy that's all there is to it.

"Chapter 2 frequently deals with the concept of bullying." Having seen the canon games and fangans that have passed Chapter 2, I can say that this is only sometimes true. DR1, SDR2, and DRA did, but V3, SDRA2, Antebellum and Blowback were tangentially related or completely distinct. As you point out, even sticking to canon, this is true just 66.6% of the time.

"Ace bullied Nico, and eventually they snapped and tried to kill him in revenge." Counterpoint: Nico didn't snap, it was David's fault. Keep in mind, the last time we saw Nico before that scene, they were with Hu and David in the Relaxation Room. Now that we know David manipulated the hell out of Hu, is it really a stretch to suggest that, after all their fights, David also might've pushed Nico into trying to kill Ace? It would guarantee someone would die and David's secret would be preserved.

"Eden simply didn’t believe her relationship with Arei actually changed." Counterpoint: Eden is friendly but she's not blindly trusting. She had no idea why Arei saved her from Arturo, so maybe she thought that this was Arei trying to mess with her? It isn't until she has proper context that she sees it as a potential friendship. Personally, I think the statement that "you don't know how much this means to me" lends credence to the idea that Eden has had some hard knocks in her life as well, much like Teruko, but she's chosen to be kind instead of recoiling into cynicism. And again, even if we wanted to say she didn't actually buy that they were friends, why would she kill the person who was trying to be friendly with her and promised to protect her instead of the guy who was actively threatening her just minutes earlier? Bullying is one thing, but someone pulling a knife on you over a secret is quite another. As we see in Episode 7, she's still skittish that he's following her. Why Arei and not him?

I believe that moment with Charles and Whit has less to do with their feelings on Eden and more to do with the idea that something more is going on with Arei than we've been assuming.

"They did pair up Xander and Min though, so it’s not like it’s impossible that they paired a victim with their killer." Maybe, but we've only had one full chapter so far. Seems a little preemptive to decide that this is all foreshadowing.

"However, it’s possible that the message the creator wants to send us is that the cast isn’t currently capable of being entirely positive and friendly." I agree that's a possibility, but it's just as possible that they're saying they can, but the cast needs to address the issues plaguing them. If Chapter 1 is about the breaking of trust, Chapter 2 could be about rebuilding it and Chapter 3 about forging it or seeing it break again while trying.

"I believe the motive of getting back to her previous life, in combination with the constant fighting, Arturo's threats against her and her apparent inability to actually make a meaningful change in those around her, would be enough to get her to break and kill in this Chapter 2 position." Okay, fair. Again though, what sense is there in killing Arei to achieve these goals? Like you say here, Arturo actively threatened her, and that seems much more pressing than a girl who bullied her but who since apologized. Why kill Arei and not him? I don't see the logic behind any of it. If it's because Arei is an easier target, that really just makes Eden look selfish and opportunistic, especially when Arei promised to protect her.

You don't get genuine breakdown scenes like this in the first half of the chapter, when there's still so much to learn about the ins and outs of the murder. Not unless there's going to be some kind of reveal, and that reveal isn't necessarily going to be that she's the killer.

While DRDT is full of hidden meanings and foreshadowing, sometimes I feel like the fandom takes things too literally. Like, if Whit said "Dead at 6," would people assume he or Charles is the mastermind?

David is saying a lot of cruel, guilt-trippy, misanthropic things by design, and Eden is grieving. It doesn't seem strange that she's going to start blaming herself. My counterpoint here is that he's trying to shift blame onto her because this is HIS fault.

"I think it makes more sense if it’s her coping with the fact that Arei did want to be her friend, and she killed her." Counterpoint: Eden is grieving someone who she did want to consider a friend who she believes is dead, and which she personally blames herself for because she wanted to include Arei in her activities earlier. She wanted them to be friends, and now she thinks her efforts lead to Arei's death. I don't really get why this needs to be anything more insidious or emotionally loaded.

Why it doesn't work for me:

While it's clear that you've put a lot of thought into Eden's motivations, what kills this theory for me is HOW Eden could be the killer. Any effort to reconcile the events of Chapter 2 with her presence, character, motivations and the time elapsed either require her to be insanely fast or genuinely malicious, manipulative and evil. Especially considering Eden would've had to set up a trap or something to break Arei's neck and then set her body up to look like she hanged herself.

Charles' statement that they fucked up, which I'm sure is in reference to the time and alibis, is also not really evidence because he's yet to elaborate on it. We don't know what he's going to say or who was where at any time. We can't make any snap judgements about it and will just have to wait for part 2 to see what it's about.

None of this explains the purpose of Teruko's prosopagnosia. If we're going to accept that small bits of dialogue and sprites are foreshadowing, then we also need to accept that a minute-long conversation and name-dropping of Teurko's condition is even more important. Nothing about this theory explains why that's there other than ignoring it or saying it's for later, and those are very weak arguments to me.

Why did Arei appear in the cafeteria after Ace's attack but say nothing? What purpose did that serve in the story? I've seen some people suggest that, to explain the prosopagnosia, it's actually meant to be Eden in disguise, but that makes no sense on multiple levels. Even if we wanted to say that she's an evil mastermind, why would she disguise herself as Arei and not just let everyone think she's still locked in her room? I know that's not part of your defense, but I just wanted to bring it up.

What's the significance of Arei having the secret "You're a murderer and you hold no remorse" if Eden is the one who killed her? We know Eden's secret and she's not a murderer.

How does David figure into the Eden Killer Theory at all? It seems like his role was mostly skimmed over.

What's the significance of Teruko's momentary flashback right after Arei's breakdown, where her crying reminds Teruko of someone? We never got follow-up on that, but the screen went black and time was devoted to her internal dialogue, which leads me to believe it's meant to be important.

//Again, these are just my thoughts on this theory and why they don't work for me. Even taking the narrative and thematic relevance out, the actual mechanics and character motivations just don't really work for me to see Eden as the one behind this.

//As I've made clear, my thinking is that David is the true blackened of this case, but Hu is the one who carried it out for him. He got her to kill for him, trying and failing with Nico at first, only to learn that the Blackened and the Killer can be different people in this game. His mindset and attitude, made pretty clear by the MV and Tally5, are that he's a fatalist who represents the logical extreme of Teruko's thinking, and what she could end up as if she continues or doubles down.

//His death would do a lot to serve the narrative and develop Teruko's character, while Hu's survival but status as a murderer could be the focus of her arc in Chapter 3, and Eden would then have to contend with all of this while trying to mend the group. I have my own theory as to why all this is the case, but that's a story for another time.

//Once again, while I disagreed a lot with this theory, I appreciate the thinking put into examining everything and trying to analyze every potential scenario behind who the killer may be.

//Credit to Venus and all the other writers for also getting me to think more critically about small details I either didn't see before or didn't think much about at first. I hope my points here can do the same.

[soleminisanction]

There are very few ""headcanons"" out there that get a bigger side-eye from me than people who try to make Stephanie Brown into a Black girl.

Firstly because that is not a headcanon. That's just a whole-ass retcon created out of thin air. A headcanon would be saying she's a natural redhead like how Morgan Kohan played her on Batwoman, or that she's mixed-race because of the curly way some artist draw her hair. There's definitely flexibility in race interpretations for comics but looking at the blue-eyed blonde-hair white girl and declaring her "actually Black" is not one of them.

Secondly, because I have seen (and sometimes gotten) a lot of harassment from Steph fans aimed specifically at Tim's actual, canon Black love interests and teammates. I still seethe at the memory of this one CBR interview I read back when YJ2019 was running, where Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker were clearly there to talk up Naomi and Teen Lantern, and in the middle of their heart-felt conversation about the importance of representation for young Black girls, the interviewer butted in to interject, "But you know who I want to see more of?? Stephanie!!!" This going on while Steph fans on Twitter were going on racist tirades because the book dared to highlight the history of Teen Lantern, a character who was actually advertised to be a part of the book and a new member of the team, instead of giving them more of their white-blonde fav who had never been affiliated with YJ and was never part of the advertising.

Thirdly, she was created and so often written by Chuck Dixon, a blatant racist, and as a result there are so many little scenes of her that have uncomfortable racial elements to them. Like the one where he created a pair of Black girls just so Stephanie could call them "raging morons" to their faces and then later talk about how stupid and immature they are compared to her. (Which I am still convinced was Dixon directly criticizing the much better teen pregnancy subplot from Icon & Rocket). Or the borderline-blackface white savior ""demon"" where she wears a dead gnu and maybe accidentally calls herself a bitch in Swahili. (Disclaimer: I do not speak Swahili, and thus do not know how a sentence structure that should read "I am thorn" turns into "I'm a bitch" or "I'm crazy," but I checked that translation with three different robo-translators and got the same results so, shrug.)

And finally -- god, Steph is just, such a walking avatar of white women's privilege. Her entire thing is demanding that she get her way, never letting anyone tell her no, and still being treated by the narrative as a pure-hearted ""beacon of hope"" that everybody needs to protect and nurture at all times.

The inciting incident of War Games can be boiled down to, "A white girl got told no, and made it everybody else's problem." The first attempted Black member of the Batfamly fucking died during that event and got almost entirely forgotten because people only went to bat for the white girl who caused the whole mess and the white woman who got character assassinated to kill her off.

If Stephanie were Black, she wouldn't exist anymore. Fuck, if she were a brunette or just as butch as Carrie Kelly, she probably wouldn't exist anymore. She certainly wouldn't be Batgirl, I can't imagine Dan Didio replacing Cass with another woman of color.

And it's not even just her? Her father is also a very white character. It is incredibly easy to summarize Arthur Brown as a mediocre white man lashing out at the world for not handing him the success he felt entitled to. Take that petulant entitlement away from him and you lose his entire character.

I'm ranting about it on my own blog instead of picking a fight because everybody's entitled to their own fandom experience and blah blah, but this is just. Yeah. Ugh.

[halfpricedpages]

intro post (finally)

ive debated making an intro post because first off ive been on tumblr for two years and I never got around to it and secondly I am really really horrible at talking about myself because what is to much info and what it to little info and the cycle continues but im giving it a shot because I feel like my mutuals have no idea who I am lmao

HAI my name is Charlie im 15 (18+ I dont mind if you follow me but please dont dm me thank you :]) I use jasper as an online name kind of (at this point its just reserved for my best friend ace but I dont mind if other people call me jasper since I still love the name)

my pronouns are he/him but im also perfectly comfortable with common neopronouns (it/its xey/xem) if you wanna get funky with it.

im a self diagnosed autistic and ARFID (if you dont know what that is its an eating disorder where certain factors make you avoidant and restrictive of the food you eat and it has nothing to do with physical appearance. for me its linked to my autistic sensory issues(ALSO OCD NOW?!!? WHAT THE FUCK?!!?)) I have depression and anxiety and the only reason I mention this is because I relate my mental health to my fav characters in tv shows and books and stuff so if you see me posting about them like everything is connected lol

(my a03 is ghostwithfeet if you want to see me be silly and project my weird life onto fictional characters (I am the most inconsistent updater in the world please expect nothing from me if you even ask about a project it will scare me and like I turtle I will crawl into my shell never to see the light of day again))

my interests really vary about current hyperfixations but heres the master list

current hyperfixs

stranger things specifically Byler but mostly mike wheeler (this has turned into a special interest(I DO NOT support Noah schnapp or another of the other cast members who are in support of the inhumane actions the Israel government are doing. I am pro saving innocent civilians. I know that this can be controversial to be such a big fan of this show and honestly I have a lot of complex feelings on the matter but im autistic as previously mentioned and its my special interest and It won't leave my brain even if im not directly interacting with the media so im gonna yap about it on my blog thank you.))

also just Finn wolf hard for some reason (check out his band the Aubreys its awesome. also check out a recent movie he was in called when you finished Saving the world. it means a lot to me)

donna tarts the goldfinch book

old special interests/hyperfixs

the percy Jackson universe specifically nico di Angelo

the IT universe specifically reddie and Beverly marsh but more leaning towards richie tozier (see what I mean with the Finn wolf hard thing)

dead boy detectives !!

doctor who (I haven't even finished David tenants doctor yet so please no spoilers)

Alice oseman content (never read loveless or iwbft but ive read all of her other stuff)

paper girls graphic novel

other interests

the good place tv show

Kathleen Glasgows book girl in pieces

the walking dead comics including the clementine spin off graphic novels

um yeah thats all I can think of for now

my fav musicians/bands

florence and the machine

indigo de Souza

Kevin Atwater

searows

the Aubreys

sadurn

the cranberries

soccer mommy

runo plum

nep

lala lala

the smiths

hospital bracelet

Chappell roan

AURORA

Madilyn Mei!

Elliot smith

(my music taste is all over the place and is also very seasonal and I have a bunch of underground artists I dont listen to but I am here to give good recs I promise my playlists are fire)

we've gotten to the part of the intro post where im wondering if this is way to much information so sorry if I overshared idk but hope we can be silly mutuals or friends if you want (never be scared to shoot the friendship shot I would love to yap with y'all)

also since this is taking over my other pinned post I just want to put this as an honorary spot and let everyone know that my old pinned post was a quote from radio silence and that Aled last is me and I am him and the February Friday plot line is actually me and it makes me sick how much I resonate with that book

[istherewifiinhell]

okayyyy also. tagged by @joelletwo for 5 topics i could talk about for an hour with no prep.

now. two things. 1. i have infernal podcast dude energy and could say a lot about nothing. weird trait to have if u dont like talking to people? hard to say. 2. GESTURES AT BLOG. im ALREADY. talking at length abt my beloved shit. so im just ruling out turtles, alien robots, trek, etcetcetc all the shit thats been a main blog topic for the last past. 4 years?

I'm gonna say.... western voice actors? not that i could really. Give a lecture so much as. I'm way more familiar with them that than I am live action actors. And I'm kinda just CONSTANTLY like. Oh you know so and so from every cartoon youve ever fucking seen? And FEEL a real. gap. with people when they dont have a same reference point. probably like how ppl feel with me when i dont know their acting guys jhadbgjfga. Like u can name 5 VAs from ur childhood cartoons/animated movies right? And personal interest like, hey btw u know like the entire cast of tng was in disneys gargoyles? U know keith david can SING? And diego luna? Hey you know about Canadian actors who are in all the dubs and video games and yeah cheap shit? You know Scott McNeil right? You know Ian James Corlett? You know. THE IAN. of being Ian. Hello. is this thing still on?

I really like and care about the topics of education, children's rights and pedagogy? Not academically so much as, personal interest. What seeing very clearly that there was a lot of arbitrary rules that involved things like. The Government. and Systems. as a child does to a motherfucker I guess? I'm always INTERESTED in a discussion about it, is how i mean I guess. Like focuses of multiple intelligence and "applied knowledge" (and short comings there of). I mean long and short of it. Kids are full human beings and until u can grapple with that their feelings and opinions um. Actually matter. I hate you? jdhbgjhdb. And Naturally the world being good for kids has the prerequisite of it not sucking ass for adults too....

UHhhh guh. User design/civil engineering? You'll hear it from me until the day I die, crushed under the tires of a ford f1 giga truck with the LED 20million watt bulbs. PROTECTED BIKE LANES. for the love of god. I just know a lot of designers I guess and like engineering, conceptually. But like, u know that famous bridge everyone crashes into. If theres 80million warning signs and people are still crashing... maybe theres. other factors. Or you know ofc like, traffic planning, vehicle accidents, structural disasters. A lot of them are not just. Things happening. Tragedies. There's politics there. Usually a lot of Money stuff. and structural racism. The real reason your fridge is full is that there's a bunch of half empty condiment jars hiding all your forgotten left overs. And widening the roads isnt gonna do shit for traffic.

Jackass entry: Themes and motifs of anyyytthing ive watched with another person or saw, and like they also know it. I realllly like, visual theming and narrative shorthands. Anything that breaks like, maybe people in this setting dont have the same customs, but their gonna do something so you the audience can recognize it. Non literal/accurate use of colour and lighting, for mood and clarity. Breaking the physical shape and scale of things so they can appear and be readable on screen. COSTUMING COSTUMING COSTUMING. A well styled character can do soooo much for your understanding of a work, especially with large casts, and a poorly styled one can take me right out. Well. anyway. yes i love animation u all knew that.

uhhhhh Thatgamecompany/giantsquids studio. im giving myself a free space. lol technically I DO. blog about this. the music. at least. BUT beloved. games. Me and everyone else I guess. Hey speaking of u know its laura bailey and troy baker as the voices in the pathless? And you know how a lot of the games have themes of coming into being/growing/rebirth. And LOTS of environmentalism. And implied cultural world building, and wordless stories. and beautiful metaphor rich otherworldly visuals. and gameplay styles that really connect with the emotional story their going for. and ofc, the music. oh the leit motifs. well. there u go. sword of the sea when?

tagginggg. uh did anyone get @deadgrantaires or @army-of-bee-assassins yet? anyone elseeee who wants to regale me with things they knowww about. id love to know.

[marisoft-paint-adventures]

Pgs. 309 - 384

so there’s this guy.

he has an intro.

and

he’s pretty cool.

he’s so cool he has a shitty galaxy reflection in his shades.

his name is David and his room looks like this.

Dave’s room is the most kind of guy room ever, I can just feel his entire personality here, and I can also feel the “this dude has no parental guidance outside of an equally unorganized brother” energy.

Dave is just a hyperspecific Guy, a real type of Guy, he’s even described as liking obscure bands and shit, Hussie was airing something out when making him.

Anyway, these are your copies of the beta you received in the mail recently. You've labeled them with your name in BOLD RED PRINT to distinguish them from your BRO's copies, who labeled his in kind. Neither of you really gives a shit about this game or has any intention of playing it, but you'll be damned if you'll let that get in the way of your campaign of one-upmanship.

the Lalondes and Striders have a lot of parallels going on between each other with their dynamics and situations. 1 thing that sets them apart is that the perception of an insane mindgame rivalry seems to be more truthful on Dave’s end compared to Rose. Rose thinks that even a fucking fancy pillow is some kind of symbol of scorn and spite in the waterfall of irony and insincerity. while there’s not much seen out of Dave and Bro’s relationship on a normal day, the stupid ass stealth moves that Bro pulls out in order to get Dave’s goat really implies that there is a genuine absurd rivalry going.

also they’re just brothers. when there’s brothers in fiction, they either hate each other or like each other but still fuck with each other just for the sake of Being Brothers.

Dave: Bleat like a goat and piss on your turntable.

You would never consider allowing any fluid even remotely resembling urine to touch your beloved TURNTABLES. That would risk breaking them, and a world without the gift of your godly science just doesn't sound like a place you want any part of. While you're at it, you might as well wipe out human civilization with a meteor or something ridiculous like that which will probably never happen. That sort of thing only happens in stupid idiot movies for stupid idiots.

You will however contemplate bleating like a goat for IRONICALLY HUMOROUS purposes at a later date.

Dave is so lame.

FUCKING APPLE JUICE BABY. YEAH LOVE THAT SHIT. TOP 3 FRUIT JUICES ON THE TIERLIST WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

he’s gonna say it, he’s gonna say the thing.

yeah this is the OS design I’m attached to the most, I grew up with Windows 7 which basically did everything Vista did but a bit more glassy, so this is up my fucking ally. look at those GRADIENTS, look at all that GLOSS, it’s so fucking good.

HE SAID IT.

I love Hussie’s fake UI I love it.

I also love Dave Strider’s blog, he said the n-word on it

not joking you can check for yourself.

FUCKING SWEET BRO AND HELLA JEFF YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

SBAHJ is so damn interesting because it’s the Homestuck thing that has the furthest reach out of the entire comic but at the same time people don’t even know it’s Homestuck.

true story: my 1st ever exposure to Homestuck without even knowing it was when I was like 12 years old and watched a fucking VanossGaming GMod video in which they played that masterpiece SBAHJ map.

seeing a giant shittily compressed texture that just said AIDS which spun around in a circle and fucking instantly killed anything it touched was literally formative for my sense of humor.

the backstory is also absolutely beautiful, imagine dropping your armature Gamer Webcomic™ on the Penny Arcade forums only for Future Homestuck Artist Andrew Hussie to come in and completely shit on your comic by turning it into the worst form of art you have ever seen which would then turn into its own popular comic.

I really like the utility of SBAHJ as an in-universe source of memes and in-jokes for all the kids to reference rather than forcing relevance by shoving in memes that were popular at the time. it really helps make Homestuck feel... not exactly timeless per say, but more relatable in way that supersedes generations.

I say this because I fucking know for a fact real ass memes come in later on in the comic and they get really fuckin annoying.

I would kill someone for a Midnight Crew adventure, you would not believe how far I would go for this to be real.

TT: In some cultures the persistent refusal of a lady's invitation to play a game with her would be a sign wanton disrespect. TT: Either that, or flagrant homosexuality.

STOP JOKING ABOUT DAVE LIKING MEN YOU DO NOT KNOW OF THE FUTURE CONSEQUENCES IT HAS.

it is here where Dave and Rose immediately become the best fucking character dynamic ever.

TT: Sometimes I wonder how you are ever allowed to pay for meals in restaurants. TT: It must be hard to keep a low profile when you're always overhearing awed voices whisper, "It's that guy who has a blog." TG: seriously TG: dudes be worshipping me left and right TG: i cant hardly walk down the street without stepping over torsos of the prostrate TT: Navigating the urban landscape I'm sure is difficult enough without an obstacle course of deferential flesh and skyward asses. TT: Perhaps adapting the art of parkour to your unique environment would help? TG: yeah! TG: i mean damn TG: like theres this scruffy little shit at my feet TG: an orphan or something i dont know TG: face flush on the pavement TG: im like dude you listening for a stampede of buffalo or something? TG: he braves a look at me then gives my shoe a little kiss and scurries the fuck off TT: Heavy is the crown. TG: yeah TG: not kicking oliver twist in the fucking face every day is my gift to the world i guess

also the little "yeah!" he does in excitement of parkour before he corrects himself back to serious coolguy mode is fucking perfect.

aw what the fuck put that shit away.

Dave’s Phat Beat Machine may be a silly joke about shitty fucking DJ machines that have weird pre-made beats and sound effects but some of this shit slaps when you play them at the same time ngl. 11 and 12 together is really fuckin good.

also Captain Planet is in this flash.

maybe Dave is cool, no one else could catch and open that apple juice with such finesse.

this is a really great series of expressions, he is so mad. he can’t stop thinking about PISS.

HE’S SO MAD.

oh god.

oh god they’re here.

You glance at one of the many RADICAL PUPPETS in your BRO'S collection and nod in approval. Is there anything not awesome about your BRO? No, you think not.

this is not cool this is very not cool.

why is the little man in the SHOWER, bro does not BATHE, he is made of WOOD.

he is simply having a terrible, terrible day.

why did he do this.

HOLY SHIT IT’S DAVE’S IRONIC SELF PORTRAIT.

this is why Dave’s sylladex shit is the best sylladex shit, sheer frustrating mathematics leading to renaming items into weird synonyms and yelling out shit to fucking send out swords.

LOOK AT HIM.

he changed his tune so fast, he went from imposing and about throw down to just...

:o

now how will he play the funny Sburb??? what will he do to get out of this situation- WIZARD.

GIANT, STONE, WIZARD.

girl is not having it.

it is here we get the entire downlow of this maddening mother-daughter relationship through the totally not biased eyes of Rose. I mean look at this shit:

Your mother clearly has no real affinity for these damnable things. She only collects them to spite you. If anything, she finds them even more repellent than you do. She's just a committed woman.

A while ago you gave this as an ironic gift to your MOM for mother's day. You even customized it with a drink holder to support one of her ubiquitous ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES. She "liked" the gift so much, she had it bronzed and put on this pedestal. She even left it plugged in so it can still be turned on now and then. But never to do any cleaning. It never leaves this display.

The PRETTY PRINCESS DOLL has been sitting there for months, ever since your mother got this abomination for your birthday as a totally PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE gesture. You decided to make it much less abominable by knitting Her Majesty a new head and new arms. Now it brings a mischievous smile to your face whenever you walk by. Your mother hasn't removed the doll yet, and probably never will. She would never be the one to blink first.

This was a drawing you did of your cat JASPERS when you were younger, along with a poem about him. Your mother bought this ostentatious $15,000 frame for it, and had it welded to the door.

Using the colorful MAGNET LETTERS, you recently left a succinct message, which may or may not have been directed toward anyone in particular. But you couldn't find the letter W, so you just stuck two V's together.

Your mother then purchased a fresh pack of W's and left them there for your convenience. Appreciative of the thoughtful gesture, you left her a sincere THANK YOU NOTE, which you had legally notarized, and then marked with a drop of blood.

But part of it was touching the floor, so your mother was kind enough to lift the lower portion of the document with a VELVET PILLOW.

this entire cavalcade of fucking overly professional stupidity really just symbolizes the daily Lalonde struggle. again, way more of an actual thing compared to the baking menace in Washington, Rose does not feel loved enough, she projects contempt onto every action of her mother, even if they’re completely genuine, who’s also literally an alcoholic. but at the same time, this is ridiculous. I can bet that the mere thought of any of this coming off as mean-spirited to Rose is just flying over Mom’s head because she’s too busy cleaning shit or getting drunk. she’s so sincerely nice but also too damn ignorant, while at the same time going completely overboard in every sense just because she can. “oh look at this!! my daughter’s very own drawing!!! it’s so nice!!! let me put it in an expensive frame and then weld it straight onto the fridge!!! :)))))” and then Rose sees this and just goes “SHREW!!! DAMNED SHREW!!!” meanwhile Mom’s just taking this as “oh she’s spelling words on the fridge!!! :))))) but she has no Ws..... :((((( I’ll buy some for her!!! that will satisfy her needs!!! :)))))” and I guess Rose takes a break from the absolute scorn she’s building up in her system to make the most polite ass note all like “Dearest Mother Lalonde, I thank thee for this humble present.” and notarizing it with BLOOD. of course this has to end with Mom walking in, seeing this note and going “how thoughtful!!!” and then sliding a god damn pillow just for the presentation.

it is my firm belief that the Lalondes are just kind of off the fucking wall inherently, literally all of them just do wacky shit like this without question.

fandom mischaracterizations are so frequent that they’re not even a surprise, but this concept of Rose being this completely serious and levelheaded girl who’s always moody and brooding and never puts up with stupid shit is something I cannot understand how anyone picked up from her. she has a sense of humor, a really damn good one, a lot of the comedy can be attributed to her dialogue. she’s not dead serious, she literally knits Lovecraft monsters in purple for goofs and does something like the above while no one is around. and in no possible way is she running on full logic and reasoning because she plays weird mind games with her mom and later on just goes insane and destroys shit for the hell of it. there really is more to Rose than just “goth = serious smart.”

a lot of this extends to Kanaya as well because I guess people just write the 2 of them as the same person, as we all know, couples can’t be together unless they completely overlap on the Venn diagram of their personalities, hobbies, and interests, but that’s for later.

AND THEN SHE PAYS FOR THE FUCKIN MAGNET. WHO DOES THIS.

MOTHER JUMPSCARE.

And of all things to be doing during a power outage. She's up to her IRONIC HOUSEWIFE routine again. That mop bucket doesn't even have any water in it! What an absolute madwoman.

I like how Rose calls this some kind of weird irony chore that no sane individual would do without a hint of joking, she really expects too much out of Mom. a real core part of this relationship is how Rose assumes that her mother is operating on the same high level thinking as her, when in reality she’s just doing actual housewife stuff genuinely. the bucket being empty is even part of Rose overthinking all of this, Mom’s using a Swiffer, she doesn’t need water, she just brought the bucket because it completes the housewife look.

I don’t know if that latter part was intentional or if Hussie just didn’t know how Swiffers worked.

NYOOM.

SICK TRICKS.

ah fuck.

the Strider household is such a very specific home aesthetic of “complete fucking disaster, the likes of which you have never seen, owned by 2 dudebros who like Eminem.” this visual style is so poignant that the best way Dave fixes a window is with straight black tape, how classy.

big fan of how everyone talking to Jade starts to smile, she just has that energy. I mean look at Dave, you see that single raised pixel? that’s him smiling! he’s got joy! and he’s so much more genuine when he’s talking to her too, she’s literally the one person in the friend group where he can drop the whole image of “I am so fucking Cool and Real and Awesome and Swag.” they play off of each other really damn well, no wonder DaveJade is a really big ship.

TG: say hi to your grand dad for me too ok GG: ._. GG: yes i guess an encounter with him is almost certain GG: it is usually........ GG: intense!!! TG: well yeah isnt it always with family

this is the non-embarrassing parallel to John talking about Dad with Rose. Dave’s probably thinking to himself, “ah yes, she too knows of the struggle of high octane anime fights in the middle of the house.” meanwhile Jade’s talking about yelling at a corpse.

also JADE KNOWS THE FUTURE??? HUHHHH???? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE???????????

[asgardian--angels]

I love your blog title. I love that when DJenks made his announcement this month, I went into the tags all morose and accepting defeat, and I saw you there still ready to fight, not giving up, ready for a marathon. Truly, that means SO much to me. A little bit of hope is a powerful thing to have, and we need people who are determined to keep that flame burning bright. So happy to have you in this fandom. You really do make a difference. 💕

Aw, thank you! I really appreciate it. And yeah, I'd almost forgotten about my blog title, which I've had for over a decade, and how hope really does embody me and everything I do.

The streaming landscape is in upheaval, things are changing by the week - even since our turbo-cancellation was announced, two other shows (cancelled for much longer) were saved. Like others have been saying, we were all mentally prepared for a marathon and realistically I don't think anyone can just call everything off after just two months when so many shows have to fight for years before getting a movie deal. I respect David - he told us that news so that we'd know that there's nothing more we can accomplish right now by shouting at streamers, and that we did make a difference. There WERE interested parties, we proved we were lucrative. But that does not mean the fight is over, it just means we need to change tactics and pivot to keeping the fandom active and vocal in the long-term, and bide our time until shifts in the industry open new doors for revisiting OFMD (like David Zaslav leaving, or Max going under, or another merger). That might be six months, or it might be six years. What I am certain of is that there's so much love and passion for this show from the cast and crew that everyone would be down to get the gang back together for a season 3 years down the road.

Basically, I have no doubts the fandom will persist - this fandom is composed of very enthusiastic and artistically talented people who have an unending well of inspiration to draw from. What I do think needs to be done though, that I'm seeing wane a bit on Twitter, is to ensure we direct that noise; most people have stopped using OFMD hashtags, which means our posts won't get noticed. Something that has been great is just how vehemently the fandom has gone after Max on pretty much every single promotional post they've made in the past few weeks - check any of them out, and you'll see 95-100% of the comments are OFMD fans using #DontStreamonMax and #FireDavidZaslav , plus the great new tagline 'Sell The Show, Let Us Go'. That is something that I feel is critical we keep up, as I think one of the most powerful means of influence we have right now is to hold this industry responsible for the cancellation of queer content and just quality content overall. That's one direction we can really put our might towards - toppling the WBD empire faster. Other things we can shout for are a physical release, 'The Jenkins Cut' of s2ep8, deleted scenes/bloopers, merchandise, etc. Max is being absolutely idiotic right now in a way that shoots themselves in the foot, because they're holding onto this IP that could have been their lifeline for keeping subscribers and stock prices up, and not only did they cancel it but they're not even maximizing on the rights they refuse to sell by promoting it or making merch of it, anything that could continue to bring in revenue for what they KNOW without a doubt is one of the best performing shows they've ever had on their platform. Them trying to forget OFMD exists is the nail in their own coffin, because it's the only reason a whole lot of people ever did business with Max in the first place.

So, the long and short of it is, I'll never stop having hope for the return of our show! David said we got the attention of this industry, and we've proven our worth. It's just a really unstable landscape right now, so we need to be patient. It's annoying to see these streamers invest in less successful and more expensive shows, but I think they're all panicking to stay afloat even though they're not making decisions that could help them there. The dust needs to settle. If we can show that there's still a loud and passionate fanbase in a year, in three years, then they will revisit us. We need to keep calling out WBD and Max, we need to keep using hashtags to be heard, and just try to settle into a rhythm that we can maintain long-term. We still have a bunch of BTS to see from Samba, and we will have WJW with David at some point. I think it's important that we DON'T request any season 3 info from him, because that's what jeopardizes the possibility of that storyline then ever getting made. I'm seeing some people on Twitter start to burn out or fall into a state of sad acceptance and if you need to do that for your health, that's fine. But I don't want that mindset to spread throughout the fandom. Our outlook, our words, do have the power to become reality - if we sit back and wave the white flag, then that seriously hurts our chances of ever getting the show back. But if we can carry on like it's just a season hiatus, continuing to demand the question 'ok so WHEN *taps watch*' then our insistence can help make season 3 a reality.

[bleachbleachbleach]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you to @recurring-polynya my beloved for the tag!

I tag everyone who writes fanfic who hasn't done it yet! because I love reading these kinds of things

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

203, 11 under bleachbleachbleach.

2) What's your total AO3 word count?

827,868

3) What fandoms do you write for?

I currently write for Bleach!

4) Top 5 fics by kudos?

I use a site skin that hides kudos/comment count/bookmark/hit data on all of the fics on AO3, because they make me feel bad about myself.

5) Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I post my fanfic on the Internet because I want to talk to people about these characters and these stories. Of course I’m going to take the opportunity. If someone comments on a fic of mine, chances are I’ve probably re-read the whole fic before replying, because, again, I’m going to TAKE that opportunity.

6) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

All my fics are fairly dour the entire time, but I don’t think they tend to end badly. I’m most interested in the afterwards of something having ended badly (and/or something that is probably going to end badly, but hasn’t yet and maybe it won’t).

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All my fics are fairly dour the entire time (she says, again), but happiest overall and happiest ending is probably Some Things, because nothing hard is obviously about to happen right after it ends (e.g. Aizen, the Winter War, the rest of TYBW, etc.).

8) Do you get hate on fics?

Hate, not usually. Passive-aggressive dismissiveness or unsolicited critique, yes.

9) Do you write smut?

I’ve written sexual content, but idk if it’s technically smut? In that the point of it is often not arousal. Like, I’m not expecting anyone to want to read it because it promises to be sexually satisfying and scorching hot. Usually the characters are Going Through It and either the sex is incidental or it makes everything worse. I love either an inconsequential bathroom fuck or sex that exists somewhere on the spectrum of Weird. All of which can be kink in itself, yes! But I’ve never written anything and thought, "yeah, THIS, this is gonna make someone nut."

10) Do you write crossovers?

No, but if I did it would be about Iba being great friends with King from Run with the Wind. This is THE crossover canon of all time, mark me.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know. 

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

I’m not sure? I’ve had people offer, usually never to be heard from again, but I think it may have happened once, a long time ago.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, but I didn’t really enjoy the process. Or didn’t *get* it? I guess I don’t really understand how it works? I barely understand how RP could work, lol. 

Obviously we run this blog in tandem, and have co-written posts. I regularly hop into docs with multiple authors for things like abstracts, copy, organizational statements, etc. But fanfic is, to me, a completely different creature. That’s between you and the characters.

14) What's your all-time favorite ship?

I don’t think I’ve ever thought about a ship in this way. This is not about fandom or fanfic, but I will say I’ve reliably cried about David/Patrick’s wedding (and entire courtship) EVERY time I’ve watched Schitt’s Creek. S-tier.

15) What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

I used to be someone of many fics and many WIPs, but in Bleach I am someone with one WIP and a selection of other posted fics, all of which have been pinched off of my one WIP, like little spider plants.

16) What are your writing strengths?

My strength is that I enjoy the process of writing fanfic. Like, obviously it’s frustrating when something isn’t coming together, or is just bad (though sometimes it’s still enjoyable even when I know the product itself is bad). Sure, it’s often DISTINCTLY UN-FUN if this is happening while the fic is on deadline, but overall I like writing fanfic, and I find I don’t relate to most "writers avoiding writing" memes I see. (Well, with work writing, I find them highly relatable. I’ve heard there are people in my profession who enjoy work writing. COULDN’T BE ME.) By god, I did not wrest away this time to write fanfic, only to NOT enjoy it!!

Product-wise, my strength is that I know my taste, at least, so I usually like the things I post, even if I don’t think they did everything well. Craft-wise, my personal favorite trait of my own writing is the rhythm and repetition, and the layering of metaphor that results.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

How badly I want to hear from people after I have shared something. My father once told me (not about fanfic lol) that "not everything requires a response" but man, if I’m going to put my heart on the line, my heart requires one, regardless of whether the greater balance of the universe does. 

Craft-wise, I think my weakness is sometimes leaving too much to implication (and the opposite, overwriting or overmechanizing, executed out of fear of leaving too much to implication).

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

For Bleach, I consider all dialogue as already in-translation, even though the only language these fics exist in is English. Depending no how important I think the dialogue is or how well-versed I am in how the character speaks in Japanese, I will sometimes spend a lot of time thinking about how the scene would go in Japanese, and what the best translation would be for that in English. I’m nowhere near fluent in Japanese; I just really like translation theory. In practice, the way this works is like, I’ll have a certain grammatical construction in mind, or an order of phrases in mind, and then I spend a lot of time deciding if what I want for the scene is a "Nabokov does Onegin" translation (literal, "pure," estranging), or a "Pushkin does Shakespeare" translation (in the artistic idiom of the target language). This kind of playground is one of the things I love most about Bleach, and one of the reasons I started writing for Bleach in the first place. I really enjoy it!

I am not fluent enough in any language other than English to want to write dialogue in it. I think all of you who write fanfic outside of your primary language(s) are phenomenal.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

Online and disseminated to others? Inuyasha, back when you had to also build the website to host it. (We discovered FFN later, lol.)

20) Favorite fic you've ever written?

I really like most of the fic I’ve written, to be honest. I think that’s probably less true of things pre-2009, but probably some of that stuff, too. Some are more take or leave, but of everything I’ve written in the last five years, there’s only one where I looked at the title just now and thought 'ehhhh.'

On this blog, I try to avoid talking in the specific about things I’ve made that aren’t for Bleach, but How Many Thousands is my top favorite. It was written for one of my best friends in the world, before we were actually friends. I consider it my love letter to her.

For Bleach, it’s probably my East Rukongai Soul Train fanfic, which I have  read more times than the entire rest of the planet combined. I have read it many times. Thank you to those of you who also read to the end, because you are one of the highlights of my entire 2023!

[nobodysdaydreams]

I WAITED ALL THIS TIME FOR CUTTER’S TRAGIC BACKSTORY AND IT’S THAT HE GOT HIS TELESCOPE STOLEN AS A TEENAGER AND DECLARED REVENGE?

Oh, well then, forget Hilbert’s family dying of radiation, Jacobi’s guilt over his failures, and Maxwell’s alienation from her family, THIS was the sad villain backstory the show was building up to. And Cutter is so serious about it too, y’all I can’t. 🤣

(Or my reaction to Wolf359’s Special Episode: Volte Face)

Hi Dear Readers. Gonna be doing some work during this one, but I hope you like the reaction regardless because I've put off enough, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Here we go!

Tagging the mutuals who got me invested in this, and if you want to be tagged or untagged from these posts, lmk, or you can follow my blog or simply follow the tag "#bods wolf359 reactions". Anyone who has followed me for a while knows my updates are inconsistent, so I apologize in advance for that and for any spelling/grammar mistakes in my posts.

@sophieswundergarten @oflightningandstars @acollectionofcuriousreblogs @herawell @commsroom @lovelyladylavie

Special Episode: Volte Face

Huh. A few years before the start of the show. This should be interesting.

Oh ew Rachel.

Wait is this her origin story?

Enlil (yes I looked up the spelling this time, yes I was careful, and yes I did this after the reaction) is so cheery. Like Cutter if he was actually nice.

Wait. Why are they calling her “Miss. Nash”?

Oh. They tried to kill her at the hotel. And she seems to know they’d try to do this, is totally okay with it, and willingly getting on a plan with them? Okay?

Don’t like this David Clark fellow.

Nash is not nice Enlil. She’s not nice at all.

Does Cutter kill or hire all the reporters that come to his door? If so, I hope Minkowski’s husband is okay.

The safety video is on mute? That’s symbolic.

The AI is the only character I like.

Andrea Nash? Am I hearing this wrong, I swear that’s Rachel Young.

So Enlil got the job Hera wanted. Flying a fancy jet all day. Hera did say that’s what happens when you’re happy and do as you’re told.

Huh. Did not expect Cutter to be a Harry Potter fan.

Ew not Cutter doing the “welcome to Wolf359” I hate it.

Was Goddard the OG Marcus? Wright-Goddard? Interesting… let’s see… 40s, 50s, 60s… AI.

Renamed in 1974… so that’s significant. Also when Cutter says “things no monkey could do” why do I think he means humans?

1976. So that’s when he took control.

People? I don’t like the sound of that.

Change the world for the better? …no. I respectfully disagree.

Oh she’s not asking about certain things. Restraining bolt?

“where were we” “how you were gonna change the world for the better” 🤣 yeah. Right after he removes everyone’s free will, sure.

Are all these people that are being listed Cutter? That’s a lot of new people.

Right they all disappeared.

Do the names of the stars have a similar pattern that the fake names have?

What does she mean by “I have EVERYTHING”? What is everything? Like… everything everything?

Oh they got that restraining bolt.

David. I think Cutter might decide to give you the restraining bolt instead.

“The same reason you don’t hold this job for more than a decade” DANG!

Matthew Newman?

Oh that’s him isn’t it? The real him?

IS THAT A GUN?

This escalated so quick.

Oh she got him. And Cutter took this so personally.

Come on Cutter. Drop the backstory. Oh Andrea Nash isn’t her name either.

Yep. Matthew Newman. Here he is.

Ah. A little high school student poking his nose where it didn’t belong. Oh so Cutter has been infatuated with aliens since he was a boy.

Wait. That’s it? The government took his telescope when he was 15 and he declared revenge? That’s his sad backstory? That’s the best he could do?

Oh and then he got fired when someone had to take the fall at the company. That too. But he still said he declared revenge when he was in high school? This is ridiculous. And further proof that science nerds who are also over dramatic theater kids cannot be trusted (expect for me because I’m special 🥰).

Oh so when Matthew left he gave the restructure order. I see… but then how did he get the new bodies?

He found Miranda Pryce. But how did she have the tech?

Maybe he used plastic surgery the first time around.

Oh. He was Miranda’s first test subject. And she wanted to manipulate the human body probably because of her blindness.

“Revenge is fun” “you can just steal one” “space exploration is only part of the bigger picture: progress. I want a better future” put those three statements together and tell me if you sound like a good guy, Cutter.

I see. So rather than stop him, Nash wants in so that she can have a hand in it. She’s just as gross as he is.

“No” *cuts to Andrea as Rachel head of special projects*

Cutter has seen Monsters Inc?

“More productive use” “Volte Face” okay this is the part where you should have brought a gun… oh the wave radiation. Good thing she’s knows that. I guess that’s enough to give Cutter the job. Rough day for you David.

Oh she has to reinvent herself. Rachel. Yep. So this is how she got here. I don’t like her. She knows what Cutter’s about, and her response is she wants in? Absolute worst.

“Goodbye Miss. Nash”

Well that was sort of a dark ending. You either willingly give up your humanity to join Pryce and Cutter or they take it. One way or another.

Anyway, now we know more about Rachel and Cutter. Gotta say, his sad backstory is funnier and lamer than I could have ever imagined. I was, bear minimum, expecting something like the board members who pushed him out of the company were close personal friends, or maybe his parents yelled at him and forced him to give up his space dreams or even a line about the kids at school laughing at him for being a high schooler who believed in aliens. But nope. He stumbled upon something, got his telescope stolen by the government and was like “you know what? I’m gonna spend the rest of my life and several more lifetimes getting revenge for this specifically.” The people who took the dang telescope aren’t even alive anymore! Look, I get they also ransacked his house and yelled at him, which is a lot for a teenager, but to respond by declaring revenge then and there and plotting world domination, I just…

I mean, I guess the moral of the story is don’t inconvenience a young science genius if they’re also a dramatic theater kid. Because they will immediately jump to world domination and change their name as part of that process and befriend(?) an evil woman who gives them next level tech. It’s happened too many times in too many of my fandoms (well two so far, show Curtain and Cutter. At least show Curtain’s sad thing was that his family left him. Still not an excuse considering his brother was also a kid at the time, but it’s better than a telescope).

I can see why you all hyped this up. It’s hilarious, but also shows how being affiliated with Cutter makes people slowly lose their humanity (again, one way or another) despite Cutter calling himself a “people person”.

Also if Rachel knows about the modified bodies, does that mean she has one? Or maybe she’s not old enough yet.

On a more serious note: Rachel’s character makes me sad. She could use her powers for good and expose so many bad people. And it sounds like she did for a while. But then she decided to sell out. Disappointing. What a waste. And since Rachel and Andrea were both fake names… we might never learn who she really is. Or maybe that doesn’t matter, since that person, who ever she was, no longer exists. Again, Cutter and Pryce do specialize in taking away other people’s humanity.

Well. Only 2 hours left. Not tonight, but later. When I have time to really sit and give a good listen. We’re in the endgame now dear readers. I hope y’all are ready!

[vro0m]

You were there during the aftermath of 2021. From what I get from the veterans it was hell.

Me I'm kinda new to the fandom. See,I knew about Lewis in about 2017-2018 because I was following Jourdan Dunn and Olivier Rousteing (Balmain) on Insta , and there was this Balmain campaign. So I saw him and let me be real, he looked like that typical lightskin man who is a fuckboy, party like Neymar, is toxic and will live you wahala back, front, left, right, up down and center. So it was a pass.

Then comes I think the time around may 2022 i got interested in knowing who is Lewis Hamilton. Prior to that some aesthetic blog non F1 related blog that were my mutuals and could not name one F1 driver beside him, so in my head this was already a fine fine boy.

I am going to be honest with you I'm not a Lewis fan because of F1 but because of his influence outside of F1 (things like his Tommy gig, Balmain, his appearances in celebrity events like the Met Gala). The main reason I became a fan is because he is handsome and dress well and is an A-list celebrity, so even if you think Formula 1 is a brand of baby food, you know who that man is. Plus as a Black woman I gotta support the only Black man in the sport, so.

But again I joined F1blr in 2022. And let me tell you: it was a mess. Drama everywhere, fandoms war everywhere, racism everywhere and on top of that I do not even understand how a car works! It made me feel like I was Beyoncé and Jay Z had just cheated on me: the fandom was giving me chest pain because I had to defend a 37 years old man's legacy to strangers who had babies with their fave driver in delululand.

Fortunately for me, I remembered that blocking people and filtering tags is something. So now my experience is enjoyable. Also, when and why did you become a Lewis fan (si tu en es une, parce que je viens de me rappeler que tu parles français et que j'aurais juste pu écrire en français dès le début 😩)

Sorry pour le long pavé là

Yeah but comme ça tout le monde comprend c'est plus convivial mdr

Okay so here's how it came to be for me. I was watching My next guest needs no introduction with David Letterman on Netflix in 2019. Loving it. Season 2 episode 3 was Tiffany Haddish. I was getting close to the end of the episode, so I took a peek at who's next. "Lewis Hamilton". 🤔 sounds vaguely familiar, I'm like who's that. Read the summary : "World champion Formula One driver..." I go : "aww no fuck that who cares about Formula One". But I'm nothing if not curious. I didn't know who Tiffany Haddish was either. I still watched. I still learnt. I still enjoyed. I think "whatever, if it's boring I'll skip it". It wasn't boring.

First of all same as you he got my attention because he's hot. No way around it. Second of all he got my attention because he explains F1 isn't just sitting in a car, that it's super hard, that it's an actual sport. Third of all he got my attention because he was endearing af. He talks excitedly and knows his shit. He takes David Letterman for a ride and they break a car. He makes his dad stand up from his seat in the audience so everyone can applaud him for everything he did for his son. (Gifs : 1 - 2 - 3) I'm like seriously : WHO'S THAT.

And, I repeat, I'm nothing if not curious so I think "eh, I guess I don't know shit about F1 and it's not what I thought. Maybe I should watch a race." Pour mourir moins con, comme on dit. So I look it up. When's the next race. Oh this sunday. I'm not very busy on sundays. Where can I watch it. Oh they broadcast it on national tv for free. How convenient.

I watch the race. Here I am almost 4 years later. I came for Lewis, I stayed, extremely weirdly, for the sport.

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

Good luck on the Davi-- wait shit, wrong blog- All jokes aside, now that you've gotten into Milgram I NEED to know your thoughts on either Kotoko or Muu, I don't mind which one honestly can you tell I support women's wrongs

Thanks for the- I mean David who?

I see you have… certainly a taste, in characters. Yeah, I’ll talk about those, though as a warning I still haven’t obsessed over them as much as I have over some of the others, so opinions are subject to change.

CW: Murder, mentions of suicide.

>Muu: Inordinate amounts of silly, I kinda love her and want to see where she goes in Trial 3. I need to know what made her so fucked up. What makes her want to be a “queen bee” so badly, and what That One Girl did to “knock her off her throne.” And I just have to know what she meant in After Pain when she said “I love YOU”, like what’s the deal with that? That’s not even getting into “counterattack as a suicide note”, which seems to imply she knew attacking That One Girl would imply social suicide? At least that’s how I see it. But what made her decide to do it anyways, then? Clearly it wasn’t to regain status if it was “suicide.” Am I just reading the lines wrong?

Like all the other characters, she’s really interesting, especially because she doesn’t even seem to realize how fucked up she really is. It’s wild to see her talk about Haruka, like being idolized to that extent is just normal for her. But it’s also weird, because she lies to Es about not throwing buckets of water on anyone (well, technically she may have just thrown water in bottles or something, but the idea stands), so she clearly knows some of what she’s doing is wrong.

The fact she’s usually paired with Fuuta is also really interesting, but if I start talking about parallels and stuff I am going to end up destroying my brain way more than I can afford to lol.

Anyways, I love her a lot, she’s really intriguing :D

I would have voted her ass guilty every day of trial 2 :D

>Kotoko: One of these days I’m going to have to sit down, really look at Harrow and figure out what the hell is actually going on in her murder(s). How many hoodies can one woman wear? I swear to God, the only character with a more complicated storyline so far is Mikoto “How many people did you guys even kill” Kayano.

Anyways, Kotoko. I feel like I’m repeating myself, but she really is super interesting. Righteous and clearly well-intentioned, but she’s somewhat hypocritical and too prideful to notice. I’m really interested in seeing how she’s going to take getting guiltied this trial, because let’s be honest here, unless her video is the most heartbreaking, sympathetic piece of media ever produced, her ass is not getting forgiven by the fandom after what she pulled post-trial 1. Do you think she can get a worse ratio than Muu did this trial? I could honestly see it if her video doesn’t help her.

I also just really wanna see how her second Voice Drama goes, I want Es to go fucking feral. You know they are fucking pissed at this woman.

I am so excited for Deep Cover, I can tell it’s gonna be real fun.

Anyways, she may not be one of my favorites, but Kotoko is still a really good character and I really wanna see where she goes.

Thanks for the ask, and I hope you’re satisfied with the answer! Take care!

[indieninja92]

Hello again! This is the anon that was asking about all-caps. Buckle in because it is a TALE. (One that ended up being about 800 words. You have been warned)

So. It’s four years ago. I just picked up Good Omens in a bookstore, since the authors sounded vaguely familiar and I needed something to read. I binge it in about two to three days.

YOINK we’re fast forwarding and it is now TWENTY-TWENTY-THREE and FATHERS DAY oh boy this sure is gonna be interesting (said while putting on a very stylish hazmat suit) WAIT! Lo! Behold! Lo and behold! On thee website of Tumblr, what doth mine eyes see, reblogged by one of the people I follow? A message! (Spoiler: it’s the father’s day post you did over at monstrous agonies/monstrous productions) And now! I am having ~feelings~ NEW BLOG TO CHECK OUT WAHOOOOOOOO

“Ah, this blog seems themed,” I contemplate, looking upon the tastefully spooky art that’s been reblogged. “Oh, a new episode? This is most mysterious. OHHHHH it’s a PODCAST BLOG okay yeah that makes a lot more sense now” (puts down the salt and garlic) “whoop-de-doo time to listen to this cool little podcast! Yippee!” SIKE it’s FEELINGS time BUCKAROO (still not over “there is no amount of normal you can become that will wash the river from your skin. You're soaked the bone, my dear.” By the way) Oh no it’s almost over! Oh yay I’m not all the way through yet so there’s still more to listen to! (Insert fiber crafting while listening to Monstrous Agonies montage here)

(In the opposite corner of the circle I lurk in on Tumblr) wow, those sure are some really pretty gifs! It’s from the TV adaptation of that book I read? That’s nice, good for them :) oh wait there are. More. Pretty gifs. That’s intriguing. (This continues on and on and on until okay, fine, guess I’m watching the gay demon/angel show. If I must.)

DAVID TENNANT AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

*rereads books. It’s really quite good*

Oh wow I guess I’m in a new fandom now :)

(back in MA land) Aww, I just finished the last episode :( LOOKS LIKE IT’S Q&A TIME :DDDDDDD oh hey, Hero posted something on the Tumblr blog! It’s a reblogged poll about if vampire!prev would kill you or not? And it mentions the creator of Monstrous Agonies? I was wondering if they had a main account! (A moderate amount of clicking through links later) “Queer, quaker, chronic daydreamer” that’s nice, good for them :)

Now. This, my dear reader, is where it gets interesting. You see, I’d started following Good Omens blogs, or at least, blogs that posted a good deal about Good Omens. One of them (fellshish) frequently and enthusiastically shares fic recommendations (they are also an avid reblogger of fanart. In some ways, their blog functions like a community space. It’s quite lovely.) Furthermore, their fic suggestions are typically of a very high quality, and I greatly enjoyed one of their previous recommendations (Slow Show by Mia_Ugly on ao3), so when they. Continuously. Posted about the glory of The Good Omens Grindr Fic (tm), I, of course, had to check it out.

At this point, the question may be raised of who the author of The Good Omens Grindr Fic (tm) is. This would be a very reasonable inquiry. It would not, however, be an inquiry made by me, for once I started reading I was ENRAPTURED. Enthralled. En-another thing that’s really really intense (I’m running out of appropriately accurate adjectives). The only breaks I took from reading it were to bounce around my room and do flappy hands because the banter oh my god the banter “angelic tummy” aaaaaaaaaaa (or sometimes the smut oh my god the smut holy SHIT guess I have a new thing now. I can’t even be mad about it because it’s so good).

Alas, I do need to occasionally sleep, and so one night I knew that I really didn’t have time for another chapter, but wanted to see what the author was up to. So I licked on the “come hang out on Tumblr! :)” link. Wait. Wait. Hold up. I recognize this. “Queer, quaker, chronic daydreamer.” WAIT. WAIT A GOSH DARN DING-DANG DAGNABBIT MINUTE. YOU. YOU. YOU ARE TELLING ME THAT ONE OF MY FAVORITE FICS OF ALL TIME. IS WRITTEN BY. NONE OTHER THAN THE CREATOR OF MY FAVORITE PODCAST WHO IS ALSO THE INTERNET DAD???????? ON TUMBLR DOT COM??????????? (Q&A flashbacks, paraphrased) “What Hero doesn’t want to say is that they’re a very good writer” MY GOOD FRIEND SOHPIE B. THAT IS PUTTING IT LIGHTLY. HELLO????????????????

So that’s the story of how I found out that author of one of my favorite fics is the same person as the creator of my favorite podcast and the internet dad. I am thoroughly delighted and not at all normal about this :))))))))) so, thank you!!! You’re very very cool and a marvelous writer :D

(p.s. I'm so excited for Travelling Light!!!!!!!)

asdkjfhslkdjf this is such a wild ride haha my favourite part is you looking in the author notes to follow the link to get to my tumblr... despite me having the same name here and ao3 😅

anyway, thank you for sharing your excitement, its very sweet! i dont usually make much fanfare on the podcast side of things about my fic writing - not that its a secret or anything, but i feel like if you come to me for cosy affirming monster agony aunt stuff then you might not be in the market for explicit gay pornography 😂 but theres definitely some overlap between the two audiences and im glad you're enjoying being in both camps!

[ingravinoveritas]

Saw a twitter meme that's like '"straight actors shouldn't play gay characters" do you want [x] to be unemployed?' And I can't help but think Michael Sheen fits that. I don't have much else to add to this I just thought it'd be funny to send. I don't really follow either of them too closely to ever add much to the conversation so ya know.

Hi, Anon! Yeah, I’ve been seeing that meme going around lately (see my most recent reblog for a version involving David), and I’d have to say the same thing here that I did there. I don’t think the meme quite works with Michael because while the presumption is that he’s straight, the reality is rather different.

(I know you said you don’t follow either he or David too closely, so I invite you to check out my #david is lowkey bi and michael is highkey bi tag to read the many posts that I have written on the subject.)

What I will say here, however, is that where with David, he has not actually played a great number of explicitly queer roles and it’s more his own queer energy that we are seeing on screen, with Michael, he has played numerous overtly queer roles AND his own queer energy informs those roles (and vice-versa).

I’ve written previously on my blog about how the queer roles Michael has played all seem to represent different parts of himself, perhaps even at different places in his own journey with sexuality. In particular, Aziraphale has seemed to me to be the middle-aged version of Miles Maitland--the realization of who Miles wanted to be when he was young, and who (perhaps like Michael) he felt he couldn’t be because of society and the hateful intolerance around him. It’s taken Aziraphale a lifetime (or a millennia) to find himself, but Aziraphale knows who he is, even if he doesn’t specifically label it or announce it to the world. So I can’t help but feel like there are certainly some parallels there with Michael’s own life.

Which is then why I am not sure how to feel about memes like the “straight actors” one on Twitter. People assume Michael and David are straight because they’re currently in relationships with women, which ignores everything Michael has ever said about his attractions to men, and perpetuates the longstanding tradition of erasing bisexuality. But it also ignores/dismisses the idea that some actors use the roles they play to explore their sexuality and become more comfortable with it because they have had so few opportunities to do so in real life.

Imagine putting that piece of yourself into every role (which is something Michael has said, that he plays himself in every role) and having people still not see who you really are because of their preconceived ideas about sexuality. Michael is a lot more obvious about it than David (who I do think has felt like he has to hide in particular because of being in Doctor Who, which is a whole other conversation), but as obvious as Michael is, people are still calling him straight, and I think that’s really interesting, as well as a bit sad.

So yes, those are my thoughts on the Twitter meme. Not trying to rain on anyone’s parade, of course, but wanted to do my best to put my complicated feelings about it into words. Thanks for writing in, Anon! x

[starmanbyler]

Forget about what David said why are people more concerned about a silly ship then Noah being a racist piece of scum Zionist? Don’t get me wrong I love byler but Noah has tainted it we need a recast!

why is this something you needed to say to me?? i’ve BEEN hating noah these past few days and i still don’t like him bro. i just don’t think i have any obligation to keep talking about noah when it’s not gonna make any difference??? all it does is make me sad to think about what a piece of shit he is. id much rather be doing things i enjoy than thinking or talking about noah, he can fuck off for all i care.

atp i don’t even care abt byler that much. i’m not that excited to come on here anymore because one i’m not really hyperfixated on byler or stranger things rn, and two it’s just tons of negative shit that doesn’t exactly help my anxiety or make this a fun place to be. anyway me choosing to talk about byler on my literal byler fandom blog is pretty understandable in my opinion.

as for a recast i don’t particularly care. i think it’s highly unlikely that it’ll happen and there’s not much we can do to change that. if you want to try then go ahead but it’s not my job to protest the fact noah is in stranger things, him having this job may suck because he’s horrible but it’s not actually gonna do much good for anyone else.

so yeah am i not allowed to make one post about something i’m interested in without being berated for it?? i can literally post what i want and it wasn’t even anything bad. please just let people have lives besides just talking about how awful noah schnapp is all the time, because where i’m at rn, im sick of hearing about him, and it’s not my responsibility to talk about him. i’m a teenager on a fandom blog trying to have a nice time, im not stopping anyone from talking about this, im just sticking to my own life and what i want to do.

what’s weird is how y’all keep insisting we should talk about noah instead of doing something to actually help the people in palestine (such as donating, protesting or boycotting etc). feel free to talk about him if that’s what you care about, but don’t start having a go at me for not wanting to put any more focus on noah schnapp. i’m done with him. thanks.

[cutepastelstarsalior]

Clone high season 2 live blogging

Episode 6

:( the dinner is going to be sold

Yeah I can see why some people don’t like the dinner because of the racial segregation….

Did some guy just buy to eat the dead wife????

👀 disabled Joan!??? Let’s goooooo!!!!! Detective Joan!!!! Awe cute Joan had a cat <3

“Psylly legs is build up nostalgia the legs get psylly”

….So Joan is just stimming???? (I thought she’d had restless leg syndrome)

If people bullied Joan because of her medical stuff, why didn’t Joan help Ghandi when people hated on him for his adhd? Also man does this town have an ableist history…..

Blood pack!!!!! Same big mood with the doctor not handling blood 😩

Yay Joan’s weird French films!!!! DAVID FUCKING TENNANT???!!!!!! <3 ohmgggg I love him as 10

Heyyy trash Mandy Moore lady is back!! :0

Did I meant I love the colors in this show? I do…

Noooooo jfk cheating on Joan? Wait…or not? Hmmm I feel like kissing another girl is bad…..FUCK is this is Total Drama and the Bridgette and Geoff scene >:( damn it!!! (Yes I know that they are 2 different shows but listen……hyperfixation™️ also my mom thought CH was TD lol)

Yay jfk and Harriet told Joan the truth….oh no Joan is going through so many emotions and drinking :0 hmmm 👀 (idk why but the little montage of Joan going rapid through different emotions feels like something bpd???)

Episode 7

Confucius parents took his sister to Bali but not him :( awwww his family didn’t care if he got lost in the dessert. Man Confucius family sucks, no wonder he tried to hard to be popular online, he just wanted attention :(

:( Abe and Joan army friends anymore noooo. Damn. Abe lost Joan and Ghandi, this dude is going through it….

My favorite background clone is Cathrine the Great, I think her design is so cute <3

The bus crash and now JFK brain is bigger….i think you have internal bleeding there bud…

“As a woke straight male ally let me put my lips on this unconscious black women to show how woke and straight I am” ……..topher bud….

Why is George Washtion Clever peanut man getting bigger??

Mr b using a short to cover his head <3

Ew why is jfk vice like that….

“Lo-fi haunted ghost screams” 👀

Smart jfk…Joan taking the lead. I feel like something bad will happen OR this is a dream.

:0 DJ Mr b!!!!!!

Cannibal dessert zombies….. scary!!

JFK calling people darling is cute :) <3

If jfk brain is smarter while in hot weather/if he’s overheating why didn’t this happen when he’s in the gym or doing sports? 👀

Smart jfk face : ☺️🫤

The husbands trying to snort each other 😏👀

Arroyo are gully in southwestern us….meaning the clone home is somewhere between Texas and California….

Joan wants someone who is emotionally intelligent and emotionally available….she and Abe become friends again……I’m guess they’ll end up together?

Episode 8

Oh snap they actually broke up! Also they co-own a tortoise? Cute

..,,,making the whole school sexual……😬 interesting…

“Where do you want the seaman to drop their load”

“For starters in my mouth” HA….🫵🤨 I know what you are doc

Frida having a crush on Cleo! Was not expecting that…Cleo doing her weird flirting again…was DEFINITELY not expecting that….

Harriet x Confucius is a cute ship….their such nerds <3

😬😬😬 the teacher flirting with Abe…:ma’am that not ok

“Virginity is a social construct” asexual Abe real!!!!!!!

I was going to say seaman I love you but I realize that sounds absolutely horrible out of context….

Singing pirates I love you and you talking about lgbt identity..

Topher the pirates thing you’re into Abe….. 👀

JOAN DONT PUT THE TOURTISE IN THE WATER JOAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!! Oh thank goodness Abe rescued the pet

“It’s ok if a minor and a teacher are together” not the fuck it’s not lady!!! Topher why are you filming this???? Call the police????? Topher please 😬😬

Oh thank god she dead. But ahhhhhhhh still hella uncomfortable!!!!!!!!!

The “statutory-rape-death-by-orgasm situation is very troubling” MR B WITH THE FACTS!!!!!!

“So we’re not telling the police?” You can Mr b! Please call the police. Mr b I love you so much for looking out for the students.

Topjer blackmailing Abe because he (topher) is into Joan…..🤨🤨 are you topher?? Are you really??

One one hand, I’m like this is a stupid subplot, Abe just tell Joan how you feel who care about topher and his blackmail. But on the other hand, this situation kind of feels realistic? Like a weird way to talk about victim blaming?

Oh thank god something positive in this shit show….yippie Cleo and Frida got together!!!

Joan underwater with the emotional music…her screaming underwater…..cinema™️ :) Joan and jfk having a nice talk :)…:noooo rip Shelly the tortoise

Background gay couple yay :)

Episode 9

Noooo the husbands are fighting AGAIN….oh yay Joan and Mr b time!!!

Omg Mr b lore!!!!

He has a human twin brother??? HES RELIGIOUS????? Oh snap biracial Mr b 👀

Wait nevermind…. Awww Mr b didn’t know he was a robot :( and nether did his twin

:( noooooooo!!!!!!!! He left his brother 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

OH MY FUCKING GOD Mr b was a sex worker

Noooo Mr b please contact your brother!!!!!

Awew yay Mr b life getting better!!! :0 he got married!!!

Noooo his wife cheated on his and his son wasn’t biological his!!! :(

YES!!!! The twins reunited!!! :0 awew he’s an uncle now!!! Wow 2 nices and 2 nephews!!

NOOOOOOOOOOO HES BROTHER DIED!!!!!!

👀 Mr b was an actor!!!!

🥺 awww he thinks of Joan as his daughter!!!!!!

NO MR B DONT DO IT!!!!!!!!

Oh thank god doc saved him!!!!!!! 🥺

Oh my goddd…..the cliff!!! The choices!!!!!!!

THETE FAMILY AND HE CRIED!!!!

Favorite episode!!!!!!!!

Episode 10

Oh thank god, it’s the last one!!!!

Ponce’s dad is back!!! :)

It’s the last day of the school year…the teens are 16, so there sophomores???

Clone high college :0 oh!!! I was wonder what would happen to the senior class!!

West Dakota?????

Since the sisters didn’t make it into the death maze, do they life? Get immediate killed? I forgot that the government is trying to groom the most successful clones. So I guess this is a survival of the fittest….and since the OG clones were from the first project, this is a very new things. (Trying to make a mental timeline thing.)

The four amgias….

NOOOOO VINCENT DIED (maybe not?)

4 boys who are friends-ish

4 girls who are friends

Battle of the sexist 👀

Also both groups are the main cast….ok not topher he’s more of a side character…but still..

Yay Abe and jfk friendship :)

Ok so this is my 2 favorite episode.

This gives me minor hunger games vibes. The whole government watching kids fight to the death part; not the trying to stop the government and corrupt dystopia part…

Oh hey! That weird one type flute thing, forgot about that! :)

Frida has 2 different shoelaces :)

Joan leaving the group because Frida chose her girlfriend over Joan. I mean, that understanding to be angry, but I don’t think she should leave the group….

Yessss jfk breaking topher phone!! :) now Abe won’t be blackmail anymore!!!

Gay energy jfk x Abe

Lone wolf Joan….hmm maybe she is the most powerful/sussefual clone they made? 👀

Joan setting traps to capture her friends!!!! She IS the most dangerous clone!!!

Ok Joan keeps putting people into holes, either she doing that so she the only one to hit the button and go to college OR she doing that to save everyone from the death maze?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHJHH Joan foster mom standing by Joan, using her daughter and grooming her to be the next leader!!! AHHHHHH I love it!!!!!!! Sidhaisn

!!!!!!!!! Them using the clones as backups!!!! Me think how it was weird that the government would let a clone die so easily!!! They won’t!!!!! The government controlling them to be successful puppets!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! The angst, and tension!!! The betrayal!!!!! Love it!!!!!

👀🥺 doc think of the clones as his children!!!!!!

They lost their memories!!! But Joan giving it back!! Her caring about her friends!!!!

Oh my god the stupid little hands gesture!!!!!! <3

….

That’s it??? THATS the ending? The mother showing everyone what Joan did during the death maze? And everyone being anger at her?

Ok, I feel like the twist to that, if there a season 3 is that her friends will forgive her.

Ok! Thought time!!!!

Ok, the fist half of this so is ROUGH! Like it has an idea (government wanting to groom the kids to be a successful leader) but the comedy and drama got a bit out of hand for the plot. I think want to say around 7-8 is when the show gets more, lore like? Or as close to plot as possible.

This season is VERY Joan centric. It gave her SO much character development. At first I thought it wouldn’t work, it made Joan feel like one of those not like other girls, and loser girl gets popular troupe. The whole love triangle with jfk and Abe was a bit rough. It was weird that Joan decided to be with jfk, after sleeping with him on prom night. But I guess since Abe was with Cleo and Abe only paying attention to Joan after she change herself, it make a TINY bit of scene.

The writing try to make it seems like Joan still loves Abe with that sexual dream she had, but I feel like after that episode, it wasn’t brought up again until episode 7. When Joan wanted jfk to be more emotionally invested in her. Also the whole Abe being in love with Joan? Also the random Abe getting mistreated it felt…..odd?

As for the other characters; out of the OG cast (Abe, ghandi, Joan, Cleo, jfk) only jfk had some character development. At first he was sexual with some emotional intelligence (when he comforts Joan at prom, him and Abe talking in the thinking dock, the whole ponce situation)….in season 2 he was more sexual with some minor emotional scene. I feel like episode 7-10 is were jfk is the most emotionally here.

Cleo….she basically only has 2 episodes for her character development. Episode 4, and Episode 7-8. In episode 4, she gets the crown and gets power hungry, after Joan apologizes to Cleo, she and Joan become friends-ish. In season 1 Cleo and Joan spend a lot of time together, because their parents were dating. They mostly argue but were friends-enemy? So Season 2 feel both a continuation of their season 1 relationship AND just a way to re-write Joan and Cleo relationship.

As for the other episodes? It basically her and Frida because friends to lovers. To be honest while the ship is cute, I wish it was more slow burn?

As for the new clones Harriet and Confusious. I’m mixed. Togher they make a cute couple. But separately I like them more as individuals. Harriet is the most developed out of the 3 new clones. She was awkward and a bit anxious (I think?) around episode 1, then as the show progressed she only hang around Frida, then she became closer friends with Joan. In episode 5 it’s really were Harriet feels the most….developing? She gets angry and worried over feeling Joan about how she feeling about the play! But she expresses herself and that cool!! She also has a weird little friendship with Frida, the 2 of them make a weird little group.

Confusions. At first I didn’t like, he was just a random guy who I hate his outfit. By episode 5, he gets some personal! He wants to have people pay attention to him! And by episode 6- 7, that when you know I bit more about him! He has a rich family who ignores him! His family likes his sister more and seem to emotionally neglect him. He’s a bit lazy and like to go with the flow and not have to work.But besides that…..I can’t think of anything else to say?

Frida. She’s…..there. She hangs out with Abe and Joan and Cleo sometimes. She paints, skateboards, and is the most popular girl in school. Besides that? There not a lot of info about her. It seems like this season had a few too many characters so they made Frida fade into the background…

At first I hate the new Joan new mom. (Candid? I can’t remember her name) I felt like she was a random character that didn’t need to be there. I felt like she was just there to replace the doc and just be annoying? But as the show progressed she was more of a background character that was silly. As for the final; I feel that were she shines the most!! Her wanting her foster daughter to rule the world, that idea is so cool!!!!! I love how she talk to Joan, how proud she was, and how she was going to use the clones as backup or to try to make them more perfect!!! She’s a character a feel like could work If she wasn’t stuck in a comedy.

My b my beloved <3

Topher is a dick. Hate how he blackmails Abe and try to push him and the gross teacher thing. Hate hate the show decided to do that. Like man!! If topper was really into Joan and wanted to blackmail Abe he could have done it a different way!!!!

The humor in this show….don’t feel there? I had like, a few chuckles but that was mostly because from the Doc. Or like from physical gags like the slow float or the couch catching on fire. The animation is fluid and I could see it like, a few times. The colors are a bit brights but I love the background!!! As for the voice acting….its a hit or miss.

5/10

Very Rough start but love the final 3 episodes.

[davidmariottecomics]

Ask Me (Almost) Anything 2023, Part 2!

Hey all! Welcome back! 

Two weeks ago, I solicited a bunch of questions for an ask me (almost) anything feature on the blog and folks really delivered! I had so many questions that I had to break it up over two weeks! You can read the first half here and let's get into the second! 

@ultimanggo asks: "Hallu David! Ty for the opportunity! Say that there are artists who are fresh grad artists or first timers seeking to apply in IDW as a comic artist, do you look into their works or pitches and consider of hiring them?"

Sure! I have worked with folks who were still doing their undergrad and making comics in their spare time. A lot of comics places are not terribly particular about formal education. They are more concerned with execution--can the artist tell the story clearly and to the standards set by editorial, including meeting deadlines, making requested revisions, not deviating from model, etc. I, and other editors, also sometimes work with colleges to do events and do portfolio reviews for students and recent graduates, and sometimes people get work from that. 

I am often very happy to work with new talent. I like seeing people at the start of their careers and watching them grow and being a part of that. 

@lurkingsupport asks: "Thank you for the opportunity! For someone's first indie comic, what's the best strategy for publishing? Should an artist consider keeping the comic online at first?"

The best strategy for publishing is going to depend heavily on your comic and there isn't a clean one-size-fits-all answer, I'm afraid. If it's a 4 page pastiche of another popular comic, yeah, you're probably fine having it mostly exist digitally. Or printing it as like a little zine that you can take around. If it's a standard 20-24 page one-shot, or series of 20-24 page issues, maybe look into getting it printed. I've heard good things about both RA Comics Direct and Comix Well Spring for indie comics, particularly if you're looking for a smaller print run. All the comics I've made have either gone through larger printers we work with at IDW or are things that I've printed at home (we have a nice printer for stuff my fiance Becca makes), so I can't speak to their services firsthand, but I've heard good things. The biggest factor is ultimately what do you want out of publishing? If it's supposed to be a portfolio piece that you'd want to give out at conventions, or you're interested in having a comic to table events with, I'd say get it printed! If you just want to have a comic done and out in the world, maybe it is better for it to just exist digitally and save the expense of printing for down the line. 

There are other variations--this is not getting into the differences between posting a comic on socials vs. posting it on a subscription site vs. posting it on a webcomic service vs. hosting your website for it or seeking a publisher vs. self-publishing or looking into crowdfunding. And a lot of that comes down to the quality of the work, your comfort with exploring these avenues, your time and finances, and what your starting support base looks like. 

@CalamityCons asks: "How does an editor usually keep track of things like timelines and character rules? Do you have a spreadsheet? I would make a spreadsheet." It only just clicked for me that you're probably asking about "timelines" in a continuity sense, more than a deadlines sense. But I'm going to answer for both! 

In the deadlines sense, I have a whole suite of programs that I'm using to keep track of things. I do use spreadsheets. I have multiple business software sites that I use--from project tracking sites to file transfer sites to internal product databases to external product databases to collaborative sites for art and reference sharing. I mark stuff on my digital calendar and keep track of my daily projects in a notebook (see next question). I have licensor submission sites that help keep track of things. I work with a team of very talented people who help build and watch schedules and readjust when needed. All sorts of stuff! 

In the continuity sense, it varies by editor and property. I tend to work more with documents and decks. So, sometimes I'll be adding new rules to a Google Doc that I share with anyone else working the property including other editors, proofreaders, sometimes talent, etc. Or I'll be reviewing a PDF or Powerpoint from a licensor outlining certain guidelines for us to adhere by. A lot of it is repetition and practice and learning as you go. When I was working on Transformers, I always kinda had a loose timeline written down in a doc for how stories fit together and what happened when, but it was also loose enough that we could make adjustments if a new story needed it. 

@rileysauruss asks: "How do you keep track of everything in that one notebook that seems to have no system? (respectfully) What’s it like working with me? Do you like doing balloon guides?"

The notebook has a system. It's organized chronologically. Every day, I go in, write down my to-do list for the day and as I accomplish things, I cross them out. Generally it's high level information, but I will drill down into something if I know I have multiple tasks to do with it. If I have a meeting that day, my meeting notes go under the day's to-do list. Most things are kept track of by the daily to-do. It's easy to track "finish this issue because it isn't printed yet and it was on the list yesterday." New items are added as I go, so they get incorporated too. Bigger notes that don't fit the "to-do" style--say licensor update type stuff--often has some level of follow-up sent via email or is otherwise added to one of our other tracking mechanisms so it isn't lost in the shuffle. And sure, sometimes I'll be like... figuring out page turns on a Best of and making sure it all works or whatever and will want to eventually go back to that, but then I just sorta flip through and look for it because I usually give those things their own page rather than squeezing them between the daily stuff. 

Pretty great. I like working with you, Riley. You remember stuff because you don't just write it like a mad man in a chaos notebook. You give good feedback. You tell good jokes. It's a really great experience and other people are also lucky to work with you. 

Yeah, actually, kinda? I am very glad that I don't have to do them all the time because they can be kind of a timesuck, but I do like having the extra chance to go through the script and look for typos and adjustments as I'm reviewing the art and I like thinking about balloon placement. It can be almost relaxing. But don't think this means you're getting out of balloon guides. 

@GigiDutreix asks: "Can Luna be a comic?" 

Ask Riley. Luna's her cat. I would say yes, but in this case, it is Riley's decision. 

(This weirdly is a very basic example of how licensing works. Swap "Luna" for "Sonic" and "Riley" for "SEGA".) 

@KWalthersArt asks: "How does one go about working for companies like IDW and what difficulties that might entail especially for people with chronic health issues and/or introverted and anxious?"

Let me begin by saying comic companies employ people in two ways. You have people like me who are staff and you have freelancers who work on contract for certain projects. The necessary requirements of each are pretty different and so the difficulties can be very different too. 

As a staff person, comic companies are ultimately creative office jobs. You start by applying when there's a job posting and take it from there. Most companies have at least one in-person office still and may ask you to regularly show up. Some have gotten a lot better about working remotely over the last couple of years, which I know is a boon to a lot of folks who do have chronic health issues. It is also a job where, besides if there is an in person expectation, a lot of business can be conducted via email. There are often calls--both on the phone and on Zoom and other video calling platforms, but I usually have at least a day a week where I am allowed to work from home and the only people I speak to are my fiance and my cats. Again, that is not necessarily uniform, but sometimes a possibility.

And, like many office jobs, there are also other major drawbacks to all of that. I know a little about how office jobs can be very unfriendly to people on disability and to disabled folks who may not be on disability specifically because of the limitations the American disability program forces upon them. 

From a freelance perspective, a lot of getting work early on is some level of networking, which is tougher when you're introverted or anxious (though TBH, I think a lot of comics people are, which sometimes makes it easier). The whole of the con circuit is different now in many ways, but like... I don't think "bar con" is as much of a thing, which is probably a relief to a lot of folks. I don't drink very much either and do a lot of my social time at shows with people I know, so that pressure is very different. But when it comes to doing the work, I think you just have to be as upfront as you are comfortable with. Like, you don't have to explain everything, but know your limitations and be willing to take on work that matches. Comics often moves quickly and has hard deadlines and needs you to make them, so figure out what is reasonable within your life and schedule and keep to it so that you don't burn out or make yourself sick.  

@Rechi_C asks: "Very important question, do your cats like to read the comics you work on or do they prefer to sleep on them?" My cats can't read. They too dumb. Real cute though. Honestly, more or less sleep? Credit where it is due, they largely leave my comics and books alone. They don't claw at them or chew them or lay on them very much. Sometimes they'll sit on a few, but fairly space-dependent. They are however monsters in basically every other way. 

@RikDraws asks: "Where did you bury the diamonds?"  This is not the real Rik Mack, this is obviously Rouge the Bat posing as Rik and you're never going to find out! 

@spacecolonie asks: "I'd love to hear your thoughts on specific things an editor may look for for when hiring cover artists! any big green flags in portfolios, ways of networking etc. thank you so much for the opportunity to ask! 😄♥"  Yay! It's fun to talk green flags and things I like! 

This may sound a little strange, but I don't look for cover artists very often. A lot of the artists I work with--not all, but a lot of the artists I work with on covers--also are interested in sequentials. I think that practicing staging moments in panels and taking the time to consider what information is key to communicate what you want in a smaller space, as well as how that moment connects to the next in a flow of action, often strengthens people's cover compositions.

Like think about a movie. When you're watching it, all the film is running at a pace that creates consistent moving images and carries you through the story. But if you were to break it into the film strip (or the storyboards), you'll see only key frames are really needed to convey the information when it is still. And one of those key frames might be stronger than the rest and make for a compelling single image. That's kinda what making a cover often is--figuring out what your one compelling image is from all the images that could create the story and that may encompass a story unto itself as a microcosm. And being able to sort through those with a stronger eye makes your work better. 

Rarely are the covers to books I work on character portraits. There are some amazing cover artists who do primarily do portraits, but I often gravitate toward covers with strong action, backgrounds, and/or contrast. Solicits went live this week and we announced a new Godzilla book with some killer covers! And while only one of them is mid-battle, all of them convey really strong action and story, right? Even if they are non-literal to the story inside (which I also kinda like for covers a lot of the time and find compelling), they convey a sense of what the book is about from first glance. And, of course, being able to draw licensed characters on-model while still maintaining your unique style is really important, too!

I'll also say, huge green flag in portfolios: knowing what you want to do and who you are presenting your portfolio to! This is probably the thing I harp on the most, but there are a lot of jobs in comics. Some people feel really comfortable doing a lot of them, some people feel comfortable with just one or two. Don't try to force yourself to do/present things you don't feel comfortable doing professionally. Obviously, feel free to work on things and grow your skills, but a portfolio should be the best representation of who you are as an artist at that moment. The other part of that, knowing who you're presenting to, is not to say you should always (or will always be able to) tailor your portfolio to the hiring person you're showing it to, but it is to say it helps to know who you are showing it to and to have a reason to have them review it. Like... I love superhero comics! No doubt! But I don't edit a lot of superhero comics, so I'm not always the best at providing feedback to superhero heavy portfolios, nor do I necessarily have a lot of openings that fit with the work I'm being presented. And someone who edits horror comics primarily might not have a lot of good feedback for a Disney heavy portfolio. Or a person who excels in character design like for animation might not always work with a comics person because we don't hire a lot of folks just for character design, and most of the ones we do are people who are already in our wheelhouse. 

Finally, networking green flags! Honestly, the big ones there are just being like... a cool person. Pleasant professional interactions go a long way. In this day and age, it's really easy to build a parasocial relationship with someone via social media or whatever and remembering when you're communicating with someone that for as fun as comics are, it is a job is really important. Business cards are good. Respect people's time and learn to recognize when the interaction is over. And if someone says something along the lines of now is not the time to shoot your shot, respect that and wait. 

@DaveScheidt asks: "What was the most unconventional way you have found an artist/writer to work with?" Unconventional? Uhh... I brought a stack of comics to a zine making night for the feminist group I interned for in college and a person really lit up when they saw them and was like "who brought the comics" and then we flirted and went on a date later that week and now we're engaged and also make comics together sometimes, so I guess falling in love. (Hi Becca!)

@tintinpantoja asks: "What's the best way to learn story structure for graphic novels? Do you rely on a certain system, similar to screenwriting?" I find the best way to learn most things about comics storytelling is reading other comics and experimentation. I don't know that every graphic novel has to follow your traditional three or five act structure. And I find a lot of ones I love actively defy it! Not to be a total cop-out, but I think that the structure is highly dependent on the outline. Answers to questions like to what extent is each "chapter" (regardless of whether your book is formally separated in to chapters or not) it's own smaller narrative or what is the intended narrative density of each spread are going to really change things. 

Story structure for a periodical is different, right? Like... you want every 20-ish pages to end in a cliffhanger or some sort of resolution (even if it remains somewhat open-ended). You want your story structure to work across however many issues you're telling the story in, while leaving each hunk as satisfying. But with a GN, sometimes the rhythm of those peaks is going to be different. 

All of which is to say, I think it's something beyond just winging it, but I find it so unique to the work that I don't personally have a systemic version of what I'm looking for/writing to. 

@AndrewCramer78 asks: "How does one get more editors eyes on a colourist portfolio if one is unable to attend US based conventions? Are there preferred online platforms that editors browse for new/undiscovered talent? Thanks!!"

That's a good one! I tend to browse Twitter the most, TBH. The real advantage to Twitter over everything else still at this point is the sharing ability. I'm now on Instagram and some of the other sites, and I check in, but I find the discoverability can really wildly vary there and when it comes to coloring (and lettering) other sites tend to drown out their portfolios. I am curious about Cara and InkBlot, but they are not yet regular haunts for me. 

My other recommendations are collaborate with folks, of course, and have people who can advocate for you to color their work. Check to see if publishers have submission pages or emails because if they do, they do check those, though they might not always be able to quickly reply or be able to use you at that time. Depending on where you are set up, look for bigger international shows you can attend because those do often bring in US based editors. My last big recommendation is getting an agent/manager. I get emails daily or weekly from agents who want to put their people forward for projects and, yeah, have hired folks from those. 

@genderdestroyer asks: "What are the best parts about your job as an Editor? What kind of challenges do you come across in that position, especially with overseeing more than one IP/series? I’d also love to know more about your editorial process and how you work with the artists on these comics! ✍🏻✨" Not to sound too sappy, but I like seeing people succeed. It's really satisfying knowing that like, Riley has become such a strong editor in her own right. Or seeing folks who I gave their first jobs pop up on other books/sometimes be too busy to do stuff for me. I also like getting to reach out to people whose work I admire and get to collaborate with them in my way. Also, I dunno. I like getting to talk to people about comics--including sometimes doing stuff like this. I like helping people figure out what ideas will work best--both on a creator side and a licensor/company side. And sometimes my job pays for stuff. That's nice. 

To the point of collaborating, my editorial style is, I think, guiding more than defining most of the time. I want to hand my artists the reference they need--scripts, other art, whatever--and give them the space to infuse themselves into a project and sort of pull on the reins when needed, give notes when needed, but let them figure it out because that makes a lot of great work. And then in-between that, I play middleman with licensors and approvals type people and work with them and the artist to make sure everyone's expectations and needs are being met. I put a lot of faith into the people I work with and am often rewarded by that. 

In terms of challenges, there are more than a few. Because things are happening so quickly, often the things that are prioritized are the most urgent/the most behind and sometimes having to make the call to fix that means the next thing is going to have less time and that will continue to happen. A huge reason why you see consistent creators--or a consistent pool of creators--on a book is because like I said earlier, I put a lot of faith into the people I work with, and sometimes that is a matter of necessity. I need people I know I can leave be and who will meet the expectation so I can fix the things that need it--especially because not every book gets the same amount of time. Scheduling is always tough too, and tougher when you're working with people who do crossover from one series to another. And problems always seem to come in sets, so if something is going wrong on one property's book, you can almost be assured something's going to go wrong on another. It is a stressful job and I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't love the parts of it that I do absolutely love. 

@Astramyths asks: "Would absolutely love to know what you might look for in cover/concept artists outside of a person's portfolio? Like through their social media, etc. Do you mind if artists have side accounts for fandom stuff? Since I already saw a lot of questions Abt portfolios proper :)"

This is really interesting. Because I do find a lot of artists on social, yes, I do often check people's socials. It often is kind of a vibe check, for lack of a better term. I want my interactions to be pleasant ones and professional ones for both our sake, and sometimes you can tell you would not work well with a person for one reason. I'm not like... searching for a gotcha reason not to work with someone or only interested in working with people with certain follower counts or whatever, but when I do look, I am often interested in whether I think we'll be a good collaborative fit. 

I don't mind fandom side accounts or (as long as the artist in question is an adult and is depicting adults) NSFW side accounts or whatever. I think it's nice to be engaged with the community in different ways. However, to that end, it can be complicated to interact with a fandom once you've worked on it professionally, or it can be complicated to just be in a fandom because communities are complicated, and so that can also sometimes be part of the vibe check too. 

@JustOwenE asks: "Hi, if someone is ever thinking of writing but has had no prior experience, what is the best approach; would you just go at it & hope for the best?"

Kind of? To the earlier question about story structure, I think it's worth it to read other works and get a feel for how they are written. I think outlining can be really helpful to develop a narrative skeleton for yourself to follow. And there are a TONNNNNN of good books about writing because--and I say this as a writer as well as an editor--if there's one thing writers like more than actually writing, it's writing about writing. But, yeah, at some point, it's good to just go for it and hope for the best. Start small and build. Not every work needs to be published or widely read and you can harness your craft slowly and build toward bigger projects. But really, yeah, the only way to start is to do it and to do it for yourself, get a feel of how you write, and then keep really doing it for yourself, but being willing to share it and see if it resonates with other people more and more. 

What I enjoyed this week: Blank Check (Podcast), Honkai Impact (Video game), Mass Effect (Video game), Rise of the TMNT (Cartoon), Craig of the Creek (Cartoon), Devil House by John Darnielle (Book), Trainspotting (Movie), Genshin Impact (Video game), Nadja's birthday, finishing this AMA! 

New Releases this week (4/19/2023): Sonic the Hedgehog #59 (Editor)

New Releases next week (4/26/2023): Off week! 

Announcements:

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! Reminder that Becca and I are going to be at Geoffrey's Comics (4068 Redondo Beach Blvd, Torrance, CA) for Free Comic Book Day this year. As always, it's the first Saturday in May (the 6th). I'll have whatever stock I have left of all my comics after all our other recent shows, so still a pretty decent amount of TF/Terminator, some Hanazuki singles, and some Wreckers, plus a selection of titles I've edited like Sonic, Godzilla, and more! 

Fangaea! I will be there as Becca's booth babe next Saturday, 4/29! Which also means next week's blog might be Sunday or we might be very short the next couple of weeks! This also means Becca's only doing Wednesday streams on Twitch the next two weeks, but you should definitely subscribe! They just hit their 50 follower goal and are on their way to affiliate, which is cool! Also they have a lot of rad art streams and game streams and stuff! 

I was on this week's episode of The Comic Chronicle Podcast! Talking comics, conventions, good advice from Paul Levitz, and more! Give it a listen if you haven't somehow gotten enough of me talking about comics after this! 

Pic of the Week: Podcast promo and another good Nadja pic for her birthday! 

[despairing-disaster]

Hi! First of all, I just found your blog, and I LOVE it! The theories are honestly so well though out! I really need to ask your opinion on something that I've been yo-yoing myself

I've seen some people say that David going to be the antagonist. Yeah, he was acting pretty antagonistic in the first trial (granted everyone was pointing fingers at Teruko), but something about him still trying to mask his suspicions with a 'nice facade' was lowkey irritating to see. Plus, Teruko is a protagonist, but isolated herself from the rest of the group, being pessimistic and cynical. David (at least his facade) is a direct foil to that, being optimistic and wanting the best for everyone. It also raises lots of suspicion that David was the one that wrote the note to Xander to kill Teruko, since Xander trusted him off the bat. I feel like it will come back at a later point in the story, and for that, David would (most likely) need to live for the shock of the reveal

Along with all these factors, my own theory is that David is also the mastermind. It just.......seem obvious. He's already established to be two-faced, he was grilling Teruko during the trial, even when other people were swayed that she was innocent, and his alibi for the first trial just seems......off to me? Like......he was in the laundry room for a really long time. And, if that was true, Min should've saw him. Of course, she didn't outright say "Oh, he was there/not there" but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth

David seems way too interesting of a character to die so early. And even if he does, there is still a possibility that isn't the full end of learning more about him. I also seen theories of a 'protag switch' with him and Teruko (he does have an ahoge), but I'm still not sure what will happen with his character at this point. They carved out so many direction David's character can go, but there really is no 'set in stone' theory I can make of it

Hmmm... I have a lot of thoughts on this and I'm trying to articulate them, but I'm not sure how I should do it and I also keep getting distracted by some new feature tumblr added that is unhelpful and distracting as per company standard. I also revised this draft like 5 times (and by revised I mean completely deleted and rewrote)

First and foremost, a lot of what I'm gonna say is probably gonna come across as harsh or dismissive and this not in any way related to you OP, but I'm honestly just kinda tired of hearing about David from the rest of the fandom. I actually do like him as a character, I just think he's mischaracterized by a majority of the fandom as a worse person than he likely is. Maybe I'm gonna eat my words in the future, but those are my thoughts for now.

That being said, he's not gonna be the rival. Full stop. I keep my mind open on a lot of things but I'm honestly pretty insistent on this one. I personally think David's behavior in the first trial has everything to do with his relationship with Xander as well and nothing to do with anything else. I feel like the thing people miss with both of them-- especially with one being regarded by fandom as noble and heroic but tragically forced to kill and the other as a shady, bullshitting master manipulator-- is that they both idolized each other for an ideal they each betrayed. Xander saw David as someone worth admiring for his ability to inspire and rouse others into action as a result of his talent and David saw Xander as someone worth admiring for his authenticity and compassion for others. However, David doesn't seem like he can practice what he preaches and Xander obviously went against his morals, but David didn't want to believe it. He wanted to think Xander wasn't someone like him who couldn't live up to the standards he preached, but he ultimately didn't die a hero, he died a murderer (and a failed one at that). That's why he defended him so hard in the trial. He's not so much fake and two faced in my mind as he is someone who wants to believe that things will turn out for the better with just a good attitude and some elbow grease but is struggling against a world where that's not always the case. He was staunchly in denial about who Xander was as much as Xander was willing to ignore anything anybody else had to say on David. Even before it was revealed he had a family history of depression, a lot of the ways he was described as well as his generally low, exhausted energy when he's not putting on a front stood out to me and I definitely factored a possible mental health condition into a lot of my thoughts on him right from the get go.

That being said, I did find the laundry room thing suspicious. Idk. It just seems weird to me that something like that would get brought up and then just dropped when the rest of the trial was pretty thorough. It could be a nod to a certain events in one of the canon games, but beyond that, I don't suspect David as the mastermind any more than anyone else. There just isn't enough for me to go off of as of now and when it comes to big judgements like these, I tend to just stick to waiting and seeing.

Honestly, at the end of the day, David just isn't a character I have a lot of thoughts on. I feel like fandom has really picked up a specific idea of what David is and most of my thoughts are in disagreement. Is he a two-faced liar? I guess, but I would be too if my job was selling people lies motivational speaking. Was he unjust in hounding Teruko in the first trial? A little, but if he really believed Xander was as good of a person as he thought he was, why wouldn't he? What motive would Xander have to kill in his mind? I think the only thing here I really agree on is that he's going to live for a bit (imo, at least up to chapter 3 if not longer) to better explore the depths of his character. I do have some other thoughts, but nothing I can expand upon or really cohesively tie together with what I've said so far, so I think I'm gonna just leave it at this.