#ill probably post art at some point its just the matter of time

[reader-from-another-dimension]

i have doomed myself the moment i went into the cinema to watch transformers one

my fleshy mortal form begs me for mercy, but my soul, my mind whispers: "Draw r o b o t s."

[summonhouse]

kwbk casts gender/sexuality journeys over the courses of their lives ok? including the dead kne

Yknow what i oeep thinking about getting this ask when kwbk is known and thinking about the massive disclaimer ill put above and below every post asking for my personal readings of the characters.

Their sexualities and genders are not really crucial to the story, except the vague impression of ezra and max specifically being outcast from society and likely emilys crucial feelings for sarah. Ultimately too, i prefer to leave the art up to interpretation, reading, and rewriting by the viewer. Especially given my lack of scope or personal investment (???); i cant speak on the experiences implied nor explicit for any female based sexuality or gender

SO with the forethought that its not very important and that viewers can have much more meaningful readings of the text than i can as the creator who does not intend to focus much on it;

EZRA: likes women. Unsure of her tolerance for men nor how she perceives her own attraction to women; she has had no crushes on anyone before the story because she does not have any female friends. KWBKs focuses on her homoerotic tension with Some girl (deciding. Possibly emily) but she probably doesnt recognize it as romantic, she finds the whole thing very very scary given the scenario. IN THE FUTURE, if i do commit to a post story epilogue; ezra is a sex repulsed (and likely male repulsed) nonbinary lesbian (her memories of the events of KWBK leaves her frightened of men and relinquishing control to anybody with anything vulnerable). Her nonbinary..ness.. stems from her gender encompassing more than, and straying away from, femininity.

MAX: considers himself a straight male for the entirety of KWBK. In the far future and blooming within him throughout is transfemininity he simply cannot face given the scenario. IN POST STORY: he sheds his former identity and takes on a new one, likely experimenting with his gender for the purpose of hiding and causing feelings about it. His exploration of his own sense is explosive and desperate; he is unable to analyze ANYTHING about himself in a reasonable linear manner. Especially not with his confusing identity which-- hey, dont point discourse at me, but the best categorization is probably lesboy

SARAH: probably a lesbian but shes too busy being a popular girl to accept that so she doesnt gaf. It doesnt matter to her, shes happy as she is milling about and shes letting it wash over her in time. And then she died!

EMILY: likes women, unsure of her tolerance towards men. Maybe not explicitly romantic, more like strange, parasocial, dependent (to the cadence of codependent but only on her end) on sarah in a way thatd make for a wholly dysfunctional failure of a relationship if it ever came to anything, which it wouldnt; she just doesnt think about it, mostly. Might be involved with ezra but im unsure yet, she might be replaced with Anyone else idk

ZOE: im genuinely unsure how to code her in a respectful manner because i dont know the meta about implicit identities. Like i genuinely dont know if its offensive to make the hulking hyena character intersex or trans or appear as a mean lesbian so im just. Im not going to touch her its anything, shes Definitely not cishet though and likely one of those "if we like each other im making you queer one way or another" types.

[koraichalcum]

some funky previews for shenanigans - ooo mystery raid (its obvious). Already started approaching peeps to participate in some key stuff but it'll open for all to come throw hands and participate in the coming arcs...once I figure out the mechanics. Almost there, trying to make it less mathy and more fun. This is part of that turtle thing I talked about months back-been plotting in the bg, bidding time hah!

It's gonna take a long while, this is still a slow burn event. An important note for my various muses and stuff ahead beneath!

Again, slow burn event - it wont be constant cause of life, dont want stress and for story beats. Most will be fun raid events for muses to catch some neato paradox pokemon leading to funny turtle shenanigans and crater dives. It's not entirely plotted out. Like...here's my scratchy notes lol:

Anyone can join in on open parts - super hope you do! I kinda wanted this as a sort of final ruckus to Scarlet/Violet as gamefreak on record is going to announce a new venture for the year. Hopefully this ends before whenever that comes out!

While this long event is for anyone to participate (Im planning sign ups or something of that matter later down the line for crux parts-Ive already approached some of you, hello there ; > ), it also means the end of my many muse's arcs and stories they've been slowly building to in the bg. This is going to be my fun and final goodbye to my time in the rpc completely.

It's been weighed for a long long time now and I feel it's just about right. Life's been very very busy in a good way! Going to therapy, narrowing down what I want to do with myself, developing habits and schedules to ensure I stick to it including getting properly medicated, challenging my social anxiety and reaching out to others, and even deciding to quit my current dayjob in the near future. RP has been holding me up for years now with just fantastic character and plot ideas I couldn't come up including meeting so many mutuals and friends who've stuck with me for just as long as I've been here. But at some point it's turning more and more into an investment and distraction. I spend too much time here then realize Ive been behind on actual work including the amount of energy and creativity.

In no way am I leaving because of drama, trouble, etc. Figured it'd be nice to bid goodbye with an event then to just peace out quietly one day. Im not even entirely leaving rp per say. I would love to join some of the rp servers here now that Im getting better at participating in group chats. That way Id still stay connected to friends! Probably going to join with new muses entirely but besides the point--

Thanks so much for being interested in my plots, crack posts, ic things, art, etc. Again in no way is this anytime soon hah! I figured with the long while until this is happening Ill have time to start and wrap up other important plots going on with mutuals. But Im looking forward to making this the best last year ever in the rpc before the new title drops <3

Also lizard shenanigans-hes been having a time throwing ya'll around like chew toys.

[saskiavalentineapologist]

SO

saskia and belialah. the empress and her shadow.

...im breaking my own rule of not posting any more original creations here but idgaf---i'll post some sketches and if there's interest i can throw this fic i'm working on up on ao3 for the monsterfuckers in the audience

so, backstory on THESE TWO:

i'm gonna go in real life order of events and talk about some of the inspos that went into some of these moments and where they were in our real life timeline of Experiencing these two

under the cut bc i must remain polite in the face of my hyperfixations

HELLO I MAY BE POLITE BUT IM RABID LETS GOOOOOOOOO

ok so, canonical order of events: saskia (matriarch) and belialah (demon lord) meet, they establish an alliance, belialah does stuff for saskia. at some point, saskia starts amassing her generals (we'll get there) and chooses belialah. somewhere in here as well, saskia splits from the empire and starts doing her Evil Deeds for her Evil Plans. I'm not sure which of the last two came first. in either case, lost later meets belialah, we haven't seen her (physically) since (but that's not a good thing i don't think)

irl order of events:

Saskia throws a Fit, kills her nephew, and withdraws from the empire at large. we make fun of her because though she's the big bad, she's also weirdly wet and pathetic. we hate her. she's so sucks. and also so sexy. its bad

time goes by, things happen, eventually there's a big party with all the matriarchs!!! yaaaaay

lost and gilt go because ofc we do, and there's a big dance where everyone keeps changing partners. at the end of the dance, lost gets belialah

...elven ish woman. obviously weird. too pale skin. black hair. disheveled appearance. ill-fitting dress. holds herself weird. talks with a tremble and a breathiness to her voice that immediately makes us uncomfortable (my mans can do some fuckin VOICES and don't get me started on the sound effects). belialah says she's a huge fan---of lost's father. the being from before creation whose whole thing is "immortal life but not in the good way" instead of "you won't die" it's "you can't die" there is no death to escape from life, no matter the suffering.

so--red flags.

she tells lost that she's one of saskia's generals, and that saskia sent her to give lost a message: saskia is so excited for her to come home, and that lost should bring her brothers (6 beings of various otherworldly heritage like lost--saskia has a type and it is monsters) when she comes home. Lost tells her to tell saskia, from her and gilt, to fuck off.

belialah goes...monstrous. red eyes start popping open all over her skin and she gets quiet and threatening about how lost is disrespectful and how--yeah, she will tell saskia that. and she leaves in a cloud of black vapor

i turn to chase. i say "oh they're fucking"

and he hits me with "...belialah would probably like to!"

and i hit the ground running. sprinting. i was off into the distance without another fucking word. little roselyn-shaped dust cloud left behind.

fic. art. works. stuff. so much. headcanons. throwing everything at the wall. attempts at first time. attempts at canon. saskia bitchiness. belialah wanting to smash despite the great danger to her personal health. weird fetish fic. modern!au. headcanons about modern!au. deep dives. analysis. narrative foils. sex. so much sex.

it's everything. they're everything

i want them to be terrible together. that's all i want. that's all i've ever wanted.

i set about creating for them in a frenzy--it's been love and war time for...since early may of last year?? some coming up on a year, now (again---150k words written in this time, with april's word count unknown but already above 10k. jan ALONE was 32k). love and war time means that it's always love and war--it's just different people inside the campaign. oh it's saskia oh it's freya it's gilt and lost let's bop over to adele what about gilt's parents-

FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR

it's been great.

Chase messaged summer and i a few weeks ago like "hey. i got a belialah meeting saskia inspo video, but i need to show you in person bc i need to get your reaction live."

he showed me this

we had a moment of "...oh my god its from a gacha game?" and then i made him play it three times in a row just Absorbing the vibes

chase: it's saskia and belialah when they first meet, with belialah thinking she has the upper hand and saskia proving that she is very, very wrong. but i don't know what a ball in the abyss looks like...

me: say no more

and i hit upon them meeting at an event where it's basically like---demons from all over gather, have a civil time---when bloodshed eventually happens (which it always does bc they're literal actual demons) it's a free for all and it's expected to be a bloodbath, that's part of the appeal

belialah's there, as you do, and saskia's there to talent scout from the pool of winners for her big evil plans. belialah's like "wtf is a stupid little mortal doing here why are you unaccosted where is your collar" kinda behavior and goes over there, they talk, they dance (also a ploy for power among demons, it's a sizing up thing instead of a fun thing), saskia reveals that she's got 1/8th of the power of a god in her soul and belialah's like "cool im fanatically devoted to you now i've never wanted to smash a mortal before can we make out"

and that's how they start their history

with me writing books about this campaign (again--pipe dream) i've been deciding on when and where i want these two to get highlighted, bc, again---we've never met saskia in person, she's spoken to lost and gilt directly once, and we've seen belialah once outside of saskia's bitchy announcement to the empire at large where she reveals she's got 12 generals and you better not try shit bc we're at WAR now (she's stupid i love her dearly)

and recently i've been working on their...first time? an epilogue for one of the books. the actual thing won't have sex in it if it gets to be part of the book for realsies, but im not stopping there bc IM ME

and i've been tinkering with like...ok how do we show in isolated little epilogues and snippet scenes that saskia and belialah have INSANE sexual tension so that when they do get together, its weird but satisfying bc again---belialah is a demon. she's got a human form. that is not her true form. i've drawn it, it's sexy to saskia, i'll post it soon.

but i need these two to snark at each other with saskia resisting belialah's advances bc "im trying to take over the world stop distracting me" while belialah's like "SASKIA LEMME SMASH. PLEASE" until eventually it happens because they're terrible and i love them and it needs to happen, frankly. im overruling my boyfriend. at the point we are at, they are fucking already. he does not have a choice. im overruling him.

chase, if you're reading this--the goal with this first time fic is to make it plausible enough that you accept it as canon. thank you.

bc like--they're terrible. they're perfect. they've both got bratty younger sibling/cocky hotshot who thinks they're invincible kinda energy and belialah has no doubt in her mind that saskia can achieve her goals and saskia is getting someone who will stroke her ego and is having the thought of "im being recognized for how amazing i am it's about time"

the generals have made deals with saskia---saskia is planning on following through with 0% of these deals. belialah is the only one who didn't--she's here by saskia's side of her own free will.

they're fucking. at this point, they are fucking. decades of sexual tension kept alive by distance and "hello old friend" energy is suddenly coming to head with Belialah Always Being Around and saskia having to plan out her evil deeds with her being nutso devoted 24/7 and listen, man. this woman has an ego the size of the planet. she's gonna smash someone who inflates her ego, it's just how she works

ok lore dump over. sketch time now.

[mydetheturk]

What order should I watch/read trigun? Like anime first before maximum? Or does it matter or not? I really do want to get into maximum because I heard nothing but good things about it!

oh! um. Hi? I don't think i'm an expert or anything but i can do my best?

you. You probably don't wanna do what i did, which was: only just get into trigun when stampede came out, watch the first three episodes, think to yourself "damn this is cool. three episode rule really kicked in hard. this is a compliment," watch weekly until episode 6, find out hulu has the original anime dubbed and proceed to watch that in about 3 days, continue watching tristamp for another couple weeks, find the overhaul project of the manga, read a volume or two a night until you've started volume 8, at which point you read the rest of volumes 8-14 in a blur (pausing for a cry at volume 10), at which point the last two episodes of season one of tristamp have yet to come out; your roommate makes you watch badlands rumble with them the same night you watch the season finale, JUST so they can watch you watch wolfwood say the gayest sentence you've ever heard with your own two ears.

follow all of this up with the trigun book club (started by @trigunbookclub) to actually figure out what the fuck you were reading in the first place.

um.

if you want to start with one of the anime, you can either start with tristamp or trigun 98 first - tristamp season one is 12 episodes and its set up as a prequel series. trigun 98 is mostly vibes, but its really fun - in its defense, the only thing out of trigun the manga at the time was the two volumes of trigun and maybe the first volume or two of trimax? tristamp is working with the whole of trimax, and if you read trimax before watching tristamp you'll catch stuff! there's also stuff in trimax that reference the 98 anime! its a very self-referential series. (complimentary)

or you can jump right into trimax! i recommend the translation done by @trigun-manga-overhaul - they've done a really good job of translating it and keeping things consistent. dark horse has the official release, and i can't say anything for or against it atm because i am still working my way through it. i don't have all the volumes and i haven't just gotten the digital version yet. i keep forgetting

it's fairly heavy in tone though - themes such as bodily autonomy come up, assault of various kinds, body horrors, mental illnesses, just a whole host of things. Nightow does a really good job handling them, imo. plus the art is insane! in a genuinely good way! i love how nightow lets us sit with things sometimes!

Nightow also has really lovely pieces of perspective art and there are so many times while reading (and rereading) the manga I've just left the image open if I've got the overhaul translation up or sat my physical dark horse copy (the single volumes are hard to get (prohibitively expensive in the used manga market, even for someone with a 50% discount thanks to work) but dark horse is putting out a deluxe edition starting this fall (oct '23)) down and just. soaked it in. i know I've got posts in my book club tag talking about how nightow's art Works Thematically

(despite the "goofy" part in my title, there aren't a ton of goofs in trimax or tristamp, but the ones that are there genuinely make it hurt more. this is a compliment. it's a little Pratchett-esque in this way.)

(trigun is a fucked up scifi western, and it changed my brain chemistry. this is important for you to know. it will change your brain chemistry. are you prepared for the consequences?)

(i did pose this to some peeps & they suggest 98/trimax/tristamp, just because 98 prepares you for the art style in trimax where tristamp has so many references to trimax. they did concede that i while i might have had the weirdest way of getting into trigun, it might have actually been the most well rounded. jury's out getting peer-reviewed)

Genuinely sorry about the wall of text, and I hope it makes sense! Enjoy Trigun! have fun getting your brain rewired!

[ghostreviewsstuff]

Dr Stone (manga)

dr stone is.... a mixed bag. but the parts of it that are good are FAR more interesting that the parts that are bad. dr stone is "bad" in the more boring, predictable, and expected ways typical adventure shonens tends to be bad. you can probably guess what most of those issues are just from the genre.

but dr stone is good in ways ill probs be searching for a way to articulate for years to come.

i do consider it to be the greatest deconstruction of both the lone super genius archetype, and the nihilistic asshole super genius archetype. and i think it succeeds where others fail in part bc Senku is presented in a way easily mistaken for that Type Of guy, but he isnt. it doesnt matter how smart he is, he needs the power of friendship if he wants to get literally anything done. he isnt a nilihistic asshole, he's just immature and rude, and he's actually very optimistic and has an upbeat attitude. he's a great protag i have a lot of love for.

but while i can wax poetic circles about my fascination with how intellect is handled in dr stone, thats an essay for another day. lets talk about the story as a whole.

dr stone's setting is set by a mysterious light turning all of humanity to stone for 3700 years, sending everyone back to the stone age. however its less a time travel isekai so much as it is a lord of the flies caveman arms race. it primarily functions under the typical shonen formula with the notable factor that it's magic system is... real life science. altho a bit elevated for dramatic effect.

the true zeitgeist of dr stone is the back and forth problem solving to build various contraptions to achieve various goals. every character has their own skill sets and personalities that allows them to bounce off of each other and play a role in reaching goals. the cast also has pretty great chemistry making exchanges and banter very entertaining 99% of the time.

while i think the characters are very well written, i have that opinion within the context of dr stone being a plot driven story, not character driven. character arcs are subtle and take a backseat to the wider plot goal posts. i dont consider the low level of character development to be a bad thing, the story just isnt about that and the cast is charismatic and enjoyable for the roles they play.

the setting of dr stone is very well realized in its simplicity. the artist, boichi is capable of drawing some beautiful scenery. the art overall i think is much more good then bad, and the character designs are fun and distinct if you can tolerate the girls looking kinda busted (boichi.... can not draw women i fear) ironically i found the moe eyes growing on me. but ill be real, the fan service isnt that bad. annoying, yes, but not nearly as bad as it could be. you wont ever see a guy fall on top of a girl and accidentally grope her boobs, so much as the occasional jarring ass shot and weird angles around badly drawn women. that said the young girl and mascot character, Suika, is never sexualized in this way, even though she is grown up by the end of the story

i wont claim the girls in the cast dont suffer from some of the typical shonen misogyny, but Kohaku and Suika at least are very well realized characters and solid female leads i like a lot.

i always feel like i should be harsher in my criticism towards this series, i do genuinely consider it enough of a mixed bag of quality ill hesitate to recommend it to people (tho lets be real, the fan service is always the biggest barrier recommending any animanga regardless of quality despite that) but i really do struggle to make a nuanced critique. even things that are more controversial among its fans, like the way the story progresses in its final arcs, i struggle to complain about. structurally the story delivers on its foreshadowing and progresses in ways that make sense and i do think was planned out by at least the half way point of the story.

the biggest most glaring issues are... extremely basic. very typical levels of shonen misogyny and weird politics. it gets kinda weird in the middle in a way i dont really feel equipped address in detail but am grateful a lot of that.. mess doesn't carry over into the rest of story. it gets tied up in bad, but also very common and unquestioned, colonialist mindsets and tropes just as much as it SUBVERTS and DECONSTRUCTS those same bad ideas. which honestly drives a lil nuts if i think about for to long. the narrative loves to kneecap its own themes and progressive philosophies to a frustrating degree, but i do genuinely think the end product is far more good then bad.

i have a lot to say about this manga, but know are to actually articulate maybe a fraction of it. after watching enough youtubers attempt to review it, im clearly not alone in that. lots of people seem to share my struggles in expressing why they also think dr stone is so good. and i think that complexity of how it grabs people in ways that arent easy to understand, are in itself is an aspect of what makes it what it is.

its a very good adventure shonen series that i think deserves a bit of staying power

[davestriderascend]

the mspa reread, pt 7

after finishing homestuck, ive been working my way progressively through the other content available on the unofficial collection. at this point, all thats left to reconsume is problem sleuth, so ill just recap my feelings about everything else in one singular post here to keep the flow going.

if youre new here, dont even worry about it. the previous parts dont matter, unless you want to read my homestuck recaps.

so heres the recap of the unofficial collection bonus material, ig

Skaianet

i was one of the few people who was there when this came out and managed to read the whole thing before it was shut down. i reread it. no further comments.

Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff, + Team Special Olympics

i am not reading either of these. ive glimpsed more than enough in passing.

The Vigil Prince

i read this but i genuinely have no idea what the fuck its supposed to be???

Ryanquest

probably the shortest thing on the site outside of the vigil prince. its pretty funny ig

Namco High

ive played a decent number of dating sims in my life, and this is my least favorite. i played through davesprites route and then resolutely decided i wouldnt bother playing any more. there are too many fucking characters, there arent really any choices, and the whole thing is just a drag. i tried looking up walkthroughs or playthroughs for the purpose of this recap, but i found nothing bc of how unpopular/how little time this game was available for. i was unfamiliar with all characters except the cousin, teh ship thing i GUESS? nad obviously the hs characters. this did not help anything. i think davesprites route was probably the most interesting one anyway.

Paradox Space

i owned this book, i think. i know when i first read the comic i read the physical version. its in storage now, so i just reread it thru the collection. its still really good. i didnt realize hussie had actually written some of the comics. its funny, and parts of it are really great bonus material or commentary on hs.

summerteen romance surprisingly enough holds up for me as both comedic genius and a surprisingly sincere commentary on hivebent and karkats feelings about it on the meteor trip. mister seven remains my favorite comic, but the last one with vriska and equius was particularly powerful, leaning into a chaotic art style that really emphasized vriskas desperation and incoherence as she lost more and more blood. it made me think of what arkham asylum by grant morrison wanted to be. in general though, there are a lot of genuinely really sweet and funny moments in the comic as a whole. i think i loved it more on my reread than i did on my first read.

Jailbreak

jailbreak is a short comic with one splitting track (with no real consequence) wherein a guy tries to escape from jail with some other guys. if i recall, this one is entirely based off of reader suggestions, so its really random and all over the place. its also very characteristic of hussies earlier era humor.

i remember loving it the first time i read it, but honestly? a lot of the jokes were just kind of distressing on my reread. the dark humor just really isnt my thing anymore i guess. its just kind of... gross now.

still, it has a lot of influence on jokes in homestuck. lord jack's entire jail sequence is like, a direct riff off of this comic. this is also where the what pumpkin joke comes from, and the porno sword. the elf saw a penis and began to cry meme is from this comic.

Bard Quest

hussies incomplete short comic. this is where she really experimented with splitting tracks. however, unlike in homestuck and jailbreak, none of them are resolved, which can result in a clunky narrative where you just have too many damn tabs open.

this is very obviously where the codpiece thing started.

Albums

once youve finished homestuck, hiveswap acts 1 and 2 ost unlock, as well as the friendsim ost, a "grubbles" album based off of the fictional hiveswap band, and the final "beyond canon" album.

Hiveswap OST

im a sucker for the hiveswap soundtrack, absolutely. act one especially is fantastic. but the real highlight of this album is toby and james's track commentary. they bicker back and forth and joke around in the notes, and honestly, its fucking hysterical. act 2 is also good, but it doesnt have any of the commentary.

The Grubbles

its good! it has a nice, consistent sound, and the tracks are pretty solid. its very short, though, and i dont have a ton to say about it.

Friendsim OST

the reality is that everything james roach makes is pretty fire. some of the commentary on this albums really interesting, also. i really like M O I S T and >tfw another james roach song, i think theyre some of the most powerful tracks in terms of atmosphere. however, service car is definitely my favorite. its just so funky.

Beyond Canon

something i think is interesting about beyond canon is that its largely new artists. in all of the previous hs albums, you got the sense that a lot of the musicians knew each other and worked together or listened to each others work, and as a result, you really see them build off of each other. there are so many repeating sounds and motifs, with people constantly remixing each others works, or sticking to similar themes in instruments or sounds- ie; favoring piano in songs about john, whatever. theres a distinct sound to those early albums where you listen and youre like, oh yeah, this is a homestuck album.

i dont get that with beyond canon. it doesnt reference any older stuff. these arent recognizable artists whove influenced homestuck for ages. its all new.

robert j, one of like four returning artists, says this in the track commentary:

about five months ago i was contacted to be a part of the homestuck 2 music team and was told the lowdown: it was a clean slate, and a chance to establish the musical rockbed for homestuck 2 going forward. no quotes of hs1 songs whatsoever, but we'd be making new songs TO quote

which pretty much backs up everything i said. and i get the purpose of something like this, but it does present a challenge for new musicians because theyre working without the same base for nostalgia. the fact that there isnt a ton of really distinct musical diversity in this album, with a lot of it relying on a very electronic sound to the point where i originally thought the album was themed, rather than a supposed new start for this new era of homestuck, also may be challenging when moving forward with new albums.

idk. its a fine album, the songs are fine, but nothing about it really sticks out to me.

Final Thoughts

anyway, all thats left now is to reread problem sleuth, and then i can uninstall this massive fucking thing. i might replay the games, or reread the post canon stuff eventually, but the light is shining at the end of the tunnel at last

[system-of-a-feather]

hey! ill take any opportunity to gush about my favorite band sabaton. they have so many songs that i like, but i think their song “night witches” is one of my favorites. ill give a general content warning that sabaton sings mostly about real history and war and i know that can be a sensitive topic to many.

here is a link to night witches. guitar solo is around 1:40. i hope the link works and that you like the song! ^_^

*VIOLENTLY SLAMS DESK IN EXCITEMENT*

I FUCKING LOVE SABATON. DUDE WE SAW THEM FUCKING LIVE BACK IN LIKE 2012 OR SOME SHIT. LIKE THEY WERE THE PRE-SHOW TO A NIGHTWISH CONCERT WE GOT INVITED TO AND TBH THEY STOLE THE SHOW, NIGHTWISH WAS KINDA BORING IN COMPARISON NGL. THEYRE ONE OF MY LONGEST TERM FAVORITES SO

10/10 GOOD TASTE.

Like they stand out in my playlist since I tend to go for darker / more aggressive / "harder" sorts of metal but like, Sabatons been with me since I've been around as a part so its fucking nostalgic as shit they're fucking GOOD

The guitar itself falls into the category similar to Dragonforce where the technique is impressive and energizing that to fall into the genre / corner of guitar metal and it's really good with that sheer speed. It's not my favorite sound, but god damn do I respect it and nor does that take away from the actual fucking VIBE of Sabaton.

Sabaton is honestly one of the bands I actually do listen to for the stories and lyrics. Like I was actually just internally rambling to myself about it after posting this but like usually listening to music is 90% not-the-lyrics and I tend to process human voices like just another instrument so the lyrics themselves usually don't matter and sometimes I don't even register it until someone points it out or asks me

But Sabaton is just great viking vibes.

Honestly I'm also just generally a simp for fucking Sun Tzu's Art of War and when we found them that was the album they had JUST come out from and-

...... I just realized that album is fucking 11 years old what the fuck.

But ANYWAYS

I haven't listened to their newer stuff much lately, but I'll trade you my personal favorites from but Panzerkampft I fucking love the opening "call" rift and obviously Art of War (the solo also has a lot of emotive-ness to it) in specific holds a special place in my heart.

In terms of guitar stuff though, circling back to the genre, the thing about this corner of heavy metal is a lot of the time the back and forth between the lyrics and guitar is a lot more centered on the power of the vocals with the guitar and other instruments framing the vocalist which Good GOD Joakim has a GOOD voice. A lot of the guitar flashes are in traditional solo styles and instrumentally are framed to specifically highlight and them as explicit solos which I do like - but often that style is not so much my taste

And while I do love Sabaton, I do think their music can become a bit "same-y" feeling, which is probably why I don't listen to them as much as I used to, but REGARDLESS, a solid classic. 10/10 good taste good hat, love to hear it.

-XIV

[fizzbot]

I L O V E U (For the ask game :3333)

AWWW thats cute :33333 but of caurse!!!!! <333 love u too!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fandom ask game og post here!

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why? uhh. a couple, probably?? but i cant think of any off the top of my head :PP most of the ones that i can think of ALSO come from things like. me growing up. like, south park?? i grew out of that one HARD, but also seeing all the incredibly weird/bad takes on tumblr really sped up the process LOL. other ones i have never been into but their fandom just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. like, welcome home?? yikes

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.) uhhhhhh......okay.........ill say charlie. as much as i dont really like her character, i will say. she makes up for it by how well her energy bounces off others. even though im basically never interested in her by itself, its almost HARD to come up with a dynamic with her that ISNT interesting in some way!!! one of my favorite little pasttimes is looking up rarepair edits/art, and even if none of them are ROMANTICALLY compelling to me, its really fun to imagine what charlie would be like with basically anyone!!!!!

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of? LOVE this question!!!!! LMAO one of them immediately jumped to mind, but i decided that wasnt "random" enough so i hit shuffle on my music playlist and. it landed on that song, anyway. so this isnt hellaverse related, but my (current) favorite song of all time is 'sin eater' by penelope scott!!! i associate it with basically the entire smith family from rick and morty, esp rick prime :PPP thats not hellaverse related though sooooooo skdfhsjkfd 'twist the knife' by that handsome devil is THE MOST vox/radiosilence coded song ever. like come on

V - Which character do you relate to most? like. ever? out of all characters ever made? not that is matters because the answer is (unfortunately) blitz.

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what? LOL we basically dont do anything else <33333333333 the stupid bit of lore we came up with of "the deadly sins went on a roadtrip and mammon let (baby) charlie wander into the woods of wrath where she got lost for 3 hours" gets me literally every single time. also just. madam. they are insane

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites. OH FUCK YES. umm. im gonna combine all of the hellaverse here to say "striker" as my number 1 over all. hes my favorite because he is the only one in his show that has ANY SENSE. plus his character design is good, his voice acting is great (i miss you norman reedus) i cant imagine not liking him the most. thats my snake boy. extra points for being so hot. umm.......rick and morty came to mind next, again, bc thats what we were into last. birddaughter is my fave character in that one :) she has.....what, 20 seconds of screentime?? and yet she is perfect. shes emo, shes got the CUTEST voice, i am so goddamn obesessed with herr!!!!!! i need to see her more NOWWWWWW SEASON 8 OF RNM PLEASSSEEE. annddd the last character, a classic, im sure you know who im gonna say, is papierwaite from sam and max!!!!! before the hellaverse i wouldve said he was the guy i related to the most, he takes easy second place. i love him to death, he FASCINATES me. skunkape release the remaster for devils playhouse PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU

[fellpyrean]

Advent Statement 5 - Open the Door

Continuing the trend of going further off the rails as I went along in the challenge comes this chapter, wherein I barely contain my burning desire to give the Distortion ill-advised kissies. This version is actually very slightly different from the last version that was posted to ao3 to make it a touch more canon compliant, as when it was written I was less knowledgeable about how the Spiral works but extremely very enthusiastic. It is probably still not perfect, but I figure it is more toeing the line now than before. 

CWs: Canon Typical Violence, Suicidal Ideation, Self Harm

___________________________________________________________

Hah, w-wow. This is where you do this? Really? No shade or anything, just. They really don’t give you guys a budget, do they? This looks like a. Repurposed supply closet. My old office was better than this.

Y-Yeah, no, sorry. I don’t mean anything by it, just trying to make light of things. 

Could we keep the door open? I’d like to be able to keep an eye on it. I’ve had. Issues with doors, lately. Thanks. 

Hoo. Okay. 

From the beginning then? 

So, my first real job was security. Sort of. I’d had other jobs, but it’d been a while. I was 23 and coming out of a bad time, so I took the first job that gave me stable hours and, well, employment. I actually kind of lucked into my actual job? I was like, the third pick or something for this position, and the first two had dropped out for some reason, so I got promoted from misc camera jockey to head honcho. 

In other words, I worked at some store that took itself too seriously and wanted me to sit in the back and watch cameras. Technically, they wanted me to watch out for ‘time theft’ and other bullshit; I was in no way qualified for this, but it’s all bullshit, so I figured qualifications didn’t matter that much either. Time theft isn’t real. They don’t fire managers for time theft, and I don’t think I could count all the times I’ve seen the guys upstairs on their phone playing fucking Candy Crush. But if a cashier so much as stares up at the lights too long, or leans on something, that’s an Offense. God forbid they look at their phone; may as well be a felony for how worked up the big boys get. 

Right. Anyway. I didn’t last too long there. I mean, I was there for what, a year and a half? So like, long enough, but they decided I wasn’t catching enough employees committing terrible crimes so out the door I went. 

Kind of a shame. I liked that office. I mean, it did suck, objectively. It was only as big as a shoebox and had about a dozen camera screens, all on monitors about ten years out of date when they bought the things. It had its own air conditioner to keep the video recorders and storage computers cool, and man. It got brisk in there. But I mostly sat there, door closed, hoodie on in a cheap old computer chair and watched Netflix. So really, a great time to get paid for. 

I wasn’t an idiot though, and by the time I’d had the third pointed email about internal investigations, I knew they probably weren’t going to let me coast by much longer, so I began looking around. 

I did like the idea of watching cameras. I mean, as long as it was for something actually important, I could get behind it. I didn’t have to make nice for customers and I could spend a lot of time alone. Both A+ benefits honestly. Plus, I mean. It’s kind of funny, seeing what people do when they don’t think anyone is watching. So I put some feelers out looking for something sort of similar. 

That’s how I found my… my current job.

I won’t say the name, but it’s a museum. It used to be someone’s house around the turn of the century I think; some old millionaire who donated the estate on his death, along with all of his collection. That should narrow it down enough. I honestly was pretty excited when I got the offer? I mean. I thought there’d actually be qualifications and back and forth involved to be a security/camera guy at an art museum, but they just seemed weirdly happy to have me. 

I never found out what happened to the guy before me. Considering my uh. My run- ins, hah, with doors, it makes the explanation ‘he just walked out’ a little. Concerning. 

So, no surprise, but they hired me. We had one phone interview, they called me in to talk, and the guy pretty much gave me the job on sight. He was… I mean, he’s my boss so when I call him ‘greasy,’ I’m being polite. I had no idea how a guy like that was in charge of an art museum, but nobody said otherwise, so, boss he was. Is. Whatever. 

I honestly had a real good time touring the place that first day. It’s just objectively a really nice house. Sprawling, expanded at least a couple times from the original plans, with those high ceilings and carved and lacquered wooden beams and columns holding it up, extravagant tile floors, and every free wall covered in paintings. The rose garden out back - because of course it had one - had several marble works and old fountains, and there were grand staircases around just about every corner. It was disorienting, a real maze of a place, but I did my best to memorize what shit was where during our walk. I wanted to do a good job, after all. 

My boss just told me not to worry too much. There’d be other guys there to patrol the grounds in person, and I would really just be on camera to tell them if I saw something particularly weird, or like, some guy with a cartoonishly large bag shoving paintings into it. 

It was pretty normal for a bit. I’d say like, the first… two weeks maybe. Maybe a month. 

That was when things got… Well, that’s when he turned up. 

This camera room was pretty nice. It was big enough I could scoot around pretty well in my chair. It had an entire wall filled with, like, nice monitors, all with access to multiple feeds, and it would cycle through automatically every 15 seconds or so unless I paused it or manually changed it. And I didn’t need a hoodie and a blanket and a cup of tea just to feel warm. 

Then, this one night, I noticed malfunctions. Down in one of the galleries, the cameras were just… completely fucked. Staticy and warped, flickering, whole nine yards, you know? I thought it might be the connections, but I was pretty concerned. Was this something big? Like, I don’t know, the guys with the cartoonishly large bags had some… device to interrupt the cameras while they loaded up? So I called one of the patrol guys, Mike. He said he’d go check it out. 

So there I was, tracking him through the halls on the cameras that did work and just like, praying that nothing was going on that I’d have to call the cops for, when he gets to the static area. I could still sort of see him, mostly just his silhouette as he turned on the flashlight and started checking around. His radio sounded like absolute garbage, but he couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, so that was kind of a relief. 

And uh. Then he moved into the next room and. Well. 

I saw two people on the monitor. Just silhouettes still of course; the feed was still just fucked beyond belief, but there were two people. The first one, Mike, with his flashlight making half the screen just a mess of artifacted white, and the second one. Right behind him. Just kind of following him as he walked. But it wasn’t him. This wasn’t the screen doubling him in its glitching, because it moved differently. 

Whatever was walking behind him moved wrong. Like its limbs and joints were just kind of suggestions on how to move rather than a pretty important part of the entire thing? And it didn’t have an arm up with a flashlight. I’d have noticed, because the hands I could see on the thing were. Nightmarish. Huge and gnarled and twisted, like someone melted together a mess of. I don’t know. Knives? Scrap metal? Trying to look at it, to figure it out made my head ache. The point was, that was not my coworker.

My coworker had very normal hands and positively boring knees; his flashlight was still going strong, and this thing just kept following right behind him as he walked. 

I stared at it for a while, trying to decide if I was losing my mind. I swapped through every camera I could until I had maybe a dozen pointed at the spot my coworker would walk through next to get to the gallery. I figured, if I was losing my mind, then I couldn’t hallucinate twelve angles at once. 

No, I didn’t say anything to Mike. ‘Yeah uh, hey Mike? Is there some real fucked up guy like, right behind you? No horrible hands or anything? No? Haha, yeah, just playing! Gotcha!’ 

Look, I’d only been there a month at best, and maybe I’d. Maybe I’d mucked up something with the camera settings. I wasn’t about to start in on the crazy stuff.  

So I waited. Watched. I stared into the static until I felt it in my eyes and I did not blink. 

I knew the exact moment Mike and his freaky tag-a-long entered the frame, because I heard this. Godawful screeching noise. Like. Have you heard an electrical thing malfunction? That cartoonish electric zapping buzz noise. I heard that. A dozen times over, from each of the monitors. Buzzing and overlapping into a sound that made my ears ache, my head pound, as every screen twisted - and then all the cameras fixed themselves. 

Just like that. 

And there stood Mike, all alone, his flashlight pointed into one of the side galleries. 

There was nobody there. Nobody behind him, nothing. Just an empty wall with a random door made of oddly light wood. 

But, well. I didn’t think much of it at the time. 

It was still just a door to me, then. 

That night, I only cared about radioing him to say that the cameras were working again, and to quickly move everything back to look at what they were supposed to point at. Annnd, well, everything was just fine. Not a single rug or bauble out of place. 

Mike was a real champ about it, though. He helped check the camera connections while he was in there. He even, heh. I mean, he flirted a little bit while he did it? Might have just been guy talk since it wasn’t a private radio connection or anything and our other coworkers definitely heard it - there was a bit of hooting involved, alright? - but it kind of felt like he knew I was freaked out and was trying to calm me down. It helped that Mike’s cute. His hair has this stupid little curly flick it does, and I could see him playing with it as he went around and fiddled with the wires for me. 

Pretty stupid, but it did work. He made me smile. 

I didn’t think about the weird shit too much until I was leaving in the morning, and decided to swing through that gallery just to, you know. See it myself. Not that I thought I was more familiar with the wiring than Mike, but it just helps get your eyes on these things in person sometimes. And, well. 

In the spot where I’d turned the cameras all on him. That bend in the halls, right where he’d rounded that corner? Where I’d seen that door that didn’t match the lacquer? 

There was no door there. Not even a painting I could have mistaken for one. 

The wall was completely bare. 

I won’t say it messed me up, but it definitely unnerved me. I knew I was in the right spot; it was pretty distinctive, even in that labyrinth of a building. There’s only so many peeing angels in a place, you know? But it was only a door that had gone for a walk or something. I didn’t see it anywhere else on my way out, so mainly I just chalked it up to one more thing I’d hallucinated the night before. 

Too much caffeine probably, I told myself. 

It wasn’t the caffeine. 

That door was there, but it didn’t only have to be there. It can be anywhere it wants to. It can hide and it can wait and it can last so, so much longer than you can. 

And it belongs to that. That weird fuck. 

I saw him again. It? I don’t know. 

It took just long enough that I’d gotten reasonably calm again - you know, I’d gone and done the ‘oh it wasn’t that bad, you probably just imagined it’ bit on myself - for him to turn up, and what do you know. I was flicking through cameras, settled in for the evening with my microwaved cup of mediocre work tea and there he was. 

The camera wasn’t as warped this time. It was still bad, but I could see him. He had long, long hair. Blonde, and it moved in twisting, impossible coils; constantly shifting and swirling even as it stayed perfectly still and filled with patterns that bled onto his clothes. Like he was a coloring book page and he didn’t really care if he went outside the lines; like insisting on something like lines with him would just tickle him pink. And there he sat; his long, long legs crossed nice and leisurely, and he looked up into the camera and waved. 

Those hands like a fucking nightmare and he just. Waved like he was a neighbor and we’d both gone out to sit on the porch in the morning. And oh. Oh did he smile. It might have been nice. If it hadn’t gone far, far too wide. Too long. Too sharp and twisted. 

And then he said, Hello, little watcher. 

And I screamed, because I heard it, right in my ear. Like he’d leant over and whispered it, soft and tender and buzzing, echoing into my bones and bouncing, bouncing inside my skull as every, single screen flared, buzzed and shut off. I heard him laugh. Like I was the funniest goddamn thing he’d ever seen. He laughed and laughed as the lights in my office flickered and popped, as the computers whined and screamed, as I scrabbled backwards out of my chair until my back hit the wall, tea pouring off my desk onto the floor as I jammed my hands over my ears and tried to block out the awful, awful rebounding glee. 

And then to top it off, the wall behind me fucking opened because it was a door that shouldn’t have been there. 

I almost fell in. Right into him, and his horrid smile and fizzing laughter and hands that reached to drag me in when I jerked away. 

That was apparently my limit. Knife hands sinking into my shoulder like soft butter. A single, razor-sharp, warped finger tilting up my chin as another dragged, slowly, deliberately across my cheek, through the delicate skin to rest right beneath my eye. All it would have taken was a single twitch. And looking at him up close, unable to look away, my vision filled with those ever-shifting patterns and colors and my eyes burning in agony, pain blossoming from my shredded flesh and through my body, my brain decided: shut down. That’ll fix this right up. 

I woke up apparently two hours later to Mike shaking me and worry coming through the radio. There’d been a power surge and they’d not realized anything was wrong with me until they’d gone ribbing me for a bit and realized I’d not responded for an unusually long time. I… was a bit hysterical when I came to. Also, bleeding. A lot of that. I have no idea how they explained away the shreds that had become my hoodie and a significant part of my shoulder or the slash ending right below my eye that left blood streaming down my face, but I didn’t bleed out and I guess that. Thing. Had decided I was less fun to play with if I was unconscious. So, victory for my brain I guess? And Mike was a godsend. 

He patted my back while they waited for an ambulance to show up. 

He whispered so sweetly, so soft and tender against my ear. He ran his fingers through my blood-stained hair and smiled at me. Told me I’d be alright. 

I think he told them I had a stroke. I wasn’t in any shape to argue, honestly, and I figured this may as well fucking happen. My brain was still buzzing, and I couldn’t string a thought together if I’d tried. It was better to let Mike lie than saying an impossible bastard had decided to tenderize my shoulders and spook me so bad I passed out.

I was very glad to be given time off. Three months to heal; earlier if I felt up to it, since my job wasn’t really high on the physical exertion. It felt safe, going home. It wasn’t fancy, but it didn’t have that goddamn thing and its goddamn door or patterns that blinked behind my eyelids when they closed. 

I was an idiot. 

If a door can slide out of nowhere onto a wall where it shouldn’t be, if it can come and go at its whimsy, why should it matter what building it happens in? 

It gave me enough time for the painkillers to wear off and the stitches to start to itch and my first homestay pizza to get there when I opened my front door and, instead of apartment C-13 across the hall, was a blank, yellow door. 

Do you know, that almost. Almost broke me? I didn’t even grab my pizza. 

Seeing that door there, I just. The first thing I thought was Did it actually let me go? Or did I fall in and this entire thing is something my brain has come up with to cope? 

It told me, hadn’t the hall behind that thing looked a lot like the halls of my apartment? 

I don’t. I don’t think it did. I mean, I hope that I’m sitting here, talking to you. That you’re real. But I’ve seen that door so many times. It's been two months. I’ve dreamed that it pulled me into that door, limp and ragged, and has just. Been toying with me since then. Enjoying watching me doubt and panic and writhe in fear and indecision. I’ve considered just opening the damn door to get it over with, you know? Because I can’t go a day without it stalking me. 

I’ve. I’ve gone pretty far to convince myself that this is real. Pain helps. 

I stare at that door, my arm bleeding, and tell it, tell him, that I know this is real, even if I can’t tell anyone else what’s happening. I keep every door in my apartment open and curse that I didn’t get that stupid pretentious studio because I have to double check every time I want to piss that I’m not walking into a hallway that shouldn’t be there. 

Every time I open the door to the hallway, every time I get up in the middle of the night, I have to pinch myself and check. It’s showed up on the floor. I opened my fridge to hands reaching out to grab me. My fucking cabinets. My groceries live in bags on my living room floor for fuck’s sake and I twitch when I see the color yellow. Half of these bandages are from close calls. From fingers as sharp and keen as new blades catching and cutting my flesh in awful, spiraling lines that hurt to see. That make my pain into a mockery as it tells me that he is just as real as I am, and he is so Hungry. 

I’m honestly amazed I made it here to talk to you today. It’s been relentless these last few days and I. Do you know how many doors you walk through on an average day? It’s more than you think. 

Mike keeps texting to check on me, but I’ve not replied. Every time I try, the text twists. The screen glitches and blurs and warps, until what I’ve typed out doesn’t answer his question; it just says, Hello, little watcher. You’re being quite rude. 

Don’t ignore me. 

Come. Open my door.  

I don’t know why this is happening. I’m so tired. 

Is it because I saw something I shouldn’t have? Is it because I… because I watched too much? Because I enjoyed it? 

I… I think next time. Next time I see it. I’ll just open the door. It’ll be better than this. I’ll open the door and walk right into those hands and let them fold around me and I’ll feel that horrible, wonderful pain one last time. 

I can already tell; you can’t do anything to help me. You’re just listening to be nice. You probably don’t even believe me, do you? As soon as I said what I’ve had to do to ground myself, I saw what you thought. 

I’m just crazy, right? Another ‘witness’ coming off a bad trip. 

Don’t bother trying to argue. I’m. I’m not crazy. The door’s real. It’s all real. 

I Know it is. 

Don’t worry. I’ll show myself out.  

[maaaxx]

6, 7, 16 for the New Years writing ask game <3

6: Which yet to be started fic is first on your list?

Idk if this means fics on my reading list that i havent read yet or fics on the list on the stuff i want to write so ill answer both of them.

Reading list:

Ozymandias, King of Kings

This has been in the back of my mind to read for a while but I had a friend recommend it to me recently so now its like at the top of my reading priority list.

Writing list:

That one fic i've been talking about. I've been debating how much detail I should give about it, like if I should drop the title or like a general summary or not.

But I have it mostly figured out and a large part of it outlined and I just need to start writing it.

I'm really excited about this fic but because of the fact that it has two different story lines with equal importance, It's going to be hard to write. But it's going to be a lot less messy than ihiap and it'll probably be out some time in January or February.

I want to get going with ihiap again before i start on this one.

I stared at this question for like ten minutes trying to figure out what it means.

7: Will you change anything about the way you interact with other writers?

A few things with this one.

So, other writers terrify me. (Everyone in fandom terrifies me, including my own readers but thats not the point).

I do this thing where I find a reason to think every other writer is more 'successful' than me in fandom. Which is a weird thought to have because a) it's not like my fic doesnt have a lot of like kudos and comments and stuff. and b) what even is 'success' in fandom? and c) it doesnt matter at all.

But like in doing this I tend to think that if someone has like two more comments than me or even if I just like their writing style better than I like mine I shouldn't interact with them or reach out to them or comment because they wont notice or care.

Something that I noticed that helps with this mindset is putting yourself in their position. Like every time someone sends me an ask or messages me or comments or leaves kudos i notice and get so excited and happy, so like why wouldn't that apply to other people about me?

So that's one thing that I intend to do more, is interact with other creators more. Like comment on their stuff and send asks and all that fun stuff.

Like I've had people that get surprised that I message them back or answer their asks or follow them back. And I've had people make comments about like 'omg i cant believe you know i actually exist <3' And something that I think people tend to not realize is that most people who do fan works aren't stalking your blogs or your ao3 accounts thinking to themselves 'well i have 5 million followers/kudos or whatever and this person only has thirty followers, why the hell should I give them the time of day'. Nobody thinks that I promise.

Even if you're not a creator and your just kind of spectating and consuming fics/art/etc, reaching out to your favorite creators make their day, and they do not think anything bad of you. And doing this and like involving yourself in fandom (no matter how intimidating it is) is a great way to make friends in your fandom and like build community and stuff.

I got off track.

The other thing.

There is this specific fic author who has like 3 or 4 completely different reasons to not like me. Like I just have bad luck with this author and interacting with them and they're not even one I interact with a lot, but the few times I have just ended badly lol.

"Will you change anything about the way you interact with other writers?"

Yes, in 2023 I am going to try my best to not irritate this specific writer anymore. We'll see if I succeed.

16. Do you have that one fanfic that you wrote a ton for, ages ago, but never posted? Will this be the year, come hell or high water, that it WILL get finished and posted?

Theres this fucking fic thing that I want to post so bad and I know exactly what I want to happen and it's not an issue of ideas it's an issue of prioritization. Like every time I sit down to write this I'm like 'oh you have this one fic that you havent updated in 2 months and you have the audacity to write another one?" 😐🙄

Then I'm like 'well damn you're right' and work on ihiap.

But ihiap is doing really well right now and i have the next like two chapters written already and im like half way through the third and so ill have time to write my other stuff.

This specific wip isn't like a plot thing, but it's like a series of one shots revolving around one specific subject (if that makes sense)

but it's really sweet and its centered around the fire hazards and im so excited to write it.

I have like two chapters written but i want more before i commit to it but if i dont post that this year i'll be damned-

[nabrizoya]

RoW Theories and Things I Want to See

with RoW literally a few weeks away, here’s some theories your way. 

this is Really long. like, really very long; mind you. 

Nikolai might become a disabled character.

It’s just the vibes. If we can take reference from the Too Clever Fox story, there’s a line that says “...and his [Koja’s] fur never quite sat right the same...”, which might hint at it (mostly bc i don’t want him to die). Also if this is indeed possible, it can be used to address ableism if it exists in this universe, especially since Nikolai is someone in the highest position of power. 

Zoya will experiment the shit out of powers. 

Idk why the synopsis says that using her powers might be a great deal, which tbf will be because she is truly the most most powerful atm; but Zoya wouldn’t mind taking the step outside of the old norms and bend the orders until they serve their purpose. That’s the entire goal rly.

But all along, she will consciously keep herself mindful to not hunger or discharge her power in a way that may cause harm. She knows the tyranny of the Darkling and the ways he employed. She knows better. 

More character depth to Zoya. 

Given the excerpts, the book does seem to explore Zoya’s infinite grief. And of course her Suli heritage, which a great part of the fandom consistently wants to shadow what with the talk “white features/ part Ravkan” bs. 

But there’s more. I hope RoW will show Zoya’s dilemma (that was alr hinted in KoS) she has with the power she holds, the responsibility she has with having that power + using it in the way that will not be detrimental to her and the country. It will be a great way to portray her self-awareness and doubt and insecurity. She is a good leader, that much is told in text but not shown. There’s character development from the end of R&R until KoS that makes her evolve from a what she was then to the capable and mature 22 year old she is in KoS. 

Of course all of their capabilities will come to light in RoW but I think Zoya and the agency to her as a character will play an integral part. More so because Zoya is to be the conduit to reversing the current Grisha orders, which runs in parallel with the fact that she needs to go back, go back to the roots of her Grisha knowledge and roots of her i.e. her unending grief and trauma. 

She will need to forgive herself while also dealing with the guilt and anger she may have caused due to her position and power. All of this while dealing with her own complex and contrasting emotions due to her own trauma.

Nikolai is held for treason. 

The word of allying with The Darkling may be out and that is enough reason for the entire country to turn against him. The secret about the monster causes issues more than enough already, and this will plunge the country into deep political turmoil and threats to security. So RoW will be more politically driven. That said...

There’s no overt war. 

By this I mean that there will not be war on the battlefield, both armies or more charging at each others’ enemies and such. Ravka cannot afford one either. The excerpts have already proved that. There will be skirmishes akin to a war scenario, but a complete battle like the last battle in R&R? Like a final battle? That’s not going to be there, I think… What I’m assuming might happen is that the Fjerda and Ravka will take a possible Cold War route, if it isn’t already the case they’re already dealing with atm. 

Ravka’s monarchy will collapse. 

It may become a democracy or any other form of public or majority vote. But the monarchy (as well a possible dictatorship, esp with the Darkling returned) will be eliminated. ...Or so I hope, since it has been alluded to in KoS. 

But that poses many problems. With no one line for the throne, let alone with a crime so dark like a blot on Nikolai’s skill (of taking the Darkling’s help), it is possible that Ravka will shun it, right alongside being torn about it because Nikolai has been, for the best of his ability, a good King. All of this in line with the Resistance rising in West Ravka. 

This ties in with the court matters, especially if I want to hold the further points I make true. The resolution to acquit Nikolai of his charges requires a testification forth a jury which will then make a decision about his motives and future. 

Zoya as the Interim Head. 

After all of this, Zoya’s point about Ravka not accepting a Grisha Queen will be true after all, because there will be no monarchy to welcome such an arrangement. 

But Ravka will need a good and trustworthy leader despite Grisha powers and Zoya is the best person to take care of that. The comment “...becoming a steady leader...” and the “Welcome home, Commander,” were there in KoS for a reason (and this is what I think it will link to). 

That being said, there’s more nuance to this than my summary. Zoya is a character of colour. That—in addition to the already existing threats, objections and possible question of capability in the position—ill play into how she will be able to discharge her responsibility. It’s not going to be convenient.

EDIT: taken from a reblog/addition to the og post:

A smoother/more structured transition

Once after the monarchy collapses and a leader must be chosen, it will not be Nikolai. Nor will it be Zoya, though she might serve as an interim head. What I assume might be possible is that someone older is chosen, someone older and loyal and with the proof of knowledge and service to the country. Possibly by majority vote or elected by a council.

Instead of the sudden change, this can be a smoother (if that can even be said about such a major political scenario change) or more structured. I also say this because a. if Nikolai is indeed charged (and later acquitted), firstly his political career will already hold a blot if the word about using the Darkling as a resource is out and secondly, he’s way too young to serve as the leader (by modern standards, sure, but like, the required age will be set while drafting the constitution? currently its 35+).

Instead, the current cast can become representatives (which Zoya would already be, (mostly the head of the) international committee that safeguards the Grisha all over the world) and the Triumvirate will be dissolved. (it should be, tbh)

And hey, b. after all of this, they can and kind of need to take a step back. Nikolai and Zoya will be able to truly explore their relationship, given how Nikolai mentions how he wouldn’t marry unless he’d have had the chance to court someone and marry someone he barely knows nor knows him. For Zoya’s part, she does know Nikolai but surely probably not the extent of openness that a healthy relationship has, and on Nikolai’s part, he admits he barely knows her beyond as a General except for just little things about her.

They could be able to realize and work on their feelings while alongside being involved with the workings of the country and the constitution.

“One day you will overstep and I will not be so forgiving.” 

Need I say more? Something that Zoya does will cost her Nikolai’s goodwill and we know Zoya knows her practicality and the extent to which she will unapologetically move if there is threat to the country and its King. She will do what was right and required. 

A major part of that line ties in with Magnus Opjer and I think with the confidence in the versatility of her powers, Zoya might as well move w/o any word to the Triumvirate to eliminate the most direct threat to the throne. This will bring splits in Nikolai and Zoya’s relationship. 

How this tension between them will be resolved without compromising either of their values, without playing into fandom stereotypes and others must be carefully handled. All of this while showing the best of their dynamicity, practicality and priority as they carefully pull out just those weak sticks of the jenga without putting the whole country into trouble. And with a war in plain sight, they’d know better than pointlessly argue and would rather see how the two of them are wrong. This ordeal will bring out just how condensed power is in the current scenario, imo. 

Importance on the way women have shaped history. 

Something that KoS has already set precedence for. Zoya being a PoC, Nina taking into account of the sufferings of women she comes across and the consistent ‘Who will remember them?’ will be elaborated on further. As for how it is done and how well it is done, that remains to be seen. 

Baghra is alive but maybe not thriving bc she’s stuck in the Ice Court. 

They entered a chamber where an old woman sat with her hands chained, flanked by guards. Her eyes were vacant. As each prisoner approached, the woman gripped his or her wrist.

A human amplifier. [...] But the Fjerdans used them for a different purpose – to make sure no Grisha breached their walls without being identified.

Kaz watched Nina approach. He could see her trembling as she held out her arm. The woman clamped her fingers around Nina’s wrist. Her eyelids stuttered briefly. Then she dropped Nina’s hand and waved her along.

Had she known and not cared? Or had the paraffin they’d used to encase Nina’s forearms worked?

- Chapter 22. Kaz; Part 4: Trick to Falling, Six of Crows.

Nina will be the one to free her and together they might wage a war from Djerholm together.

This gets even more interesting because we know the anguish and scorn that Baghra feels for her son at the same time; she understands the wrongness that he used to seek and will continue to. Zoya does take Baghra’s name at the Fold when she mourns and rages over how people forget the destruction and most importantly, forget the women. Baghra could be the symbol of the stag as the art piece depicts, or will be shown with relation to the Darkling’s powers.

As for how she will play into the story, perhaps she will be the one to help reverse and find the roots of the orders, in the sense that changes the perception of the Grisha powers for the Grisha as well as the common folk of Ravka. She is the only other person other than Juris and the Darkling to have the age of eras together, knowing Ilya Morozova, and she will be instrumental in giving Ravka an advantage over Fjerda. Either that or she will help in scrubbing the prejudices of Fjerda slowly away with whatever powers she has left. Or both. 

Alina will reappear, but will not contribute to the plot significantly.

Zoya understands that the truth she knows about the Darkling is very minimal not enough to end him for once and for all. It makes sense that she will probably consult Alina for it. So, Malina appearance, possibly at the orphanage. Alina will not directly contribute to this war, but she will play a critical role in defeating the Darkling.

Besides, Alina —and Baghra— are the only ones who know that there has only ever been two Darklings. Zoya did sense, multiple times during KoS, that the Darkling is damn old. Yuri mentions it. And while it is not outright specified, the fact that Zoya thinks that she realizes just how ancient Lizabetha is in context of meeting the Darkling is enough proof for her to seek more information about the age and the older skill of the Darkling. 

And I think it goes without saying that I want to hope that the Darkling and Alina will not meet. Pls, she’s had enough. 

Lada is the lost, other friend that Zoya refuses to bury. 

“She saw her mentor die and her worst enemy resurrected, and she refuses to bury another friend.”

Liliyana is dead, we know. But there’s no other mention of Lada except for the “wondering what happened to the pug faced girl.” Lada is possibly a part of the group of women and a Grisha returning to Ravka from Fjerda, exploited by the parem. She might die being unable to withhold the sheer torment of the parem induction, which will devastate Zoya because Lada was also the closest she’s had to a family with Liliyana. 

Either that or Lada is already dead or dies some other way, and Zoya cannot bring herself bear the grief of losing her. 

Cameos: Inej and Jesper. 

The most likely of the crows to appear in RoW are Inej and Jesper and they’ll play equally important roles in the plotline. Here’s a breakdown of why:

Inej

Inej has taken the responsibility of becoming a slave hunter, and it makes sense for Inej to make an appearance in the book, given that there’s going to be a ship taking the Grisha from Fjerda to Ravka. 

The women aboard are vulnerable and require immediate attention, which Inej will immediately zero in on. She will have enough reason to suspect both Leoni and Adrik on the ship, especially when the jurda parem is still a secret. Leoni and Adrik cannot give that information away because they don’t trust Inej (and have no reason to either). Inej won’t trust them either, not until she understands that the reason why the women are being taken to Ravka and for what reasons. 

Which gives her excellent reason to step in, try to analyze the situation and help the women accordingly.

Here’s an exciting thought though. Once after the entire misunderstanding is overcome and Inej understands (esp. if Nina is brought into the conversation and security and secrecy of the conversation is ensured), there may be discussion about how the Grisha might find a safer space in Ravka.

Inej’s appearance might also extend to playing a pivotal role in giving Zoya the confidence to seek her heritage and where she hails from, to embrace the part of her past and forgive herself and others for her mistakes. 

ALSO, 

Grisha finding a safer space in Ravka will mean that Inej can pitch Jesper’s case for him to Zoya. Being the highest authority who takes cares of the responsibilities of the Grisha, Zoya will be the best person to talk about this with. 

And so, here comes Jesper. 

Jesper

For one, I wish Jesper and Leoni interact, talk and just bond like the iconic siblings they would be. <3 But more than that, Jesper plays very integral to the plot for more reasons.

Jesper’s arc will parallel Zoya’s. Both of them are new to their powers in their own individual sense; Zoya is trying to use her new powers in a way that hasn’t been done before, thereby breaking the Grisha orders of powers and Jesper (assuming he has decided that he might want to learn and embrace his Grisha powers) is learning them afresh. 

This journey of them trying to embrace, learn and relearn and reject older norms and experiment really work in tandem.

That will lead us to a further (plot) theories. 

Ties with Novyi Zem 

As of the KoS end, Ravka has no support from anyone atm. Sure the Kerch will provide funds but Ravka has no real allies. Here’s where Novyi Zem and Jesper come in. 

We know Novyi Zem is a new country and also that it is the second safest country for the Grisha in the universe. As of KoS, their agreements are not renewed and they would be since between Kerch and Novyi Zem, Ravka was forced to pick Kerch. Yet Ravka needs their help in acquiring jurda for the antidote. 

So here’s the deal: Ravka will get their jurda but at many conditions that the Novyi Zem will impose on Ravka to not let exploitation get in the way. 

The conditions imposed could be (these are just some at the top of my head but I hope there are more to ensure the safety and security of the Zemeni, in Novyi Zem and in Ravka too) : 

Naval support from Ravka

We know of the Zemeni ships and ofc Nikolai has been hard at work trying to develop plans to use the sea to its fullest advantage. While the news of the izmars’ya isn’t public, Zemeni can place a condition for technical aid from Ravka since Ravka does have the technical knowledge it can dispatch as a condition.

A Grisha School in Novyi Zem

Think about it. Ravka, despite being the safest place for the Grisha, still isn’t entirely safe. Not all Grisha become soldiers in Ravka, they have a choice to abstain but those who are training are still recruited a honed for purpose alike preparing for war, especially the teens and preteens from the time of the Civil War. The training does take a lot of time. Ravka intends to make a home first and then service, but at the moment, while the Grisha are provided safety, it’s not assured in the best sense. Both the facts about a home and service are in precarious positions atm.

TL;DR: Ravka isn’t entirely safe for Grisha therefore the Grisha themselves too are not + Ravka is war torn. 

So what happens? 

One of the conditions as the next best country that serves as home to the Grisha, Novyi Zem may put forth the prospect of building a Little Palace like institution for the Grisha in Novyi Zem. It sounds morally wrong in the sense that the Grisha there will also be trained for war, but the war will end and soon, the Grisha will not be subject to serve for something but engage in economic activities as anybody else with the progression of time.

All of this won’t happen immediately either; learning their powers, honing it in the way that is unocnventional from what it had been pre-RoW and that transition + the building of the establishment in Novyi Zem and laying foundation for the  transnational panel or committee for Grisha that Zoya talks about will all take so much time. 

A few Grisha representatives from Novyi Zem can learn at the Little Palace and by the time the construction of the institution is done in Novyi Zem, these Grisha, along with other willing Grisha who either want to return to the country they were born in (like Leoni) or are offered to teach in a different country can do so too. 

There will be stricter terms so as to not ensure exploitation and possible colonization in these nations. 

Zoya mentions in one of her chapters that eventually there will be a need for the a  transnational panel or committee for Grisha. Jesper can Zoya can make it possible, adding in other countries to the panel slowly as the war recedes. 

Kaz and Wylan? 

Least likely to make an appearance, in my opinion. I think they’ll be mentioned plenty of times or brought up once and given great importance for how they can help in the side plot. 

Shu Support: 

This is more a hope than an actually theory dfbkdhjadfh but Makhi might have to step down from the throne because Ehri will take the place; either as a Queen (no...) or she might oversee the process of strengthening Shu Han and finding a leader (if she doesn’t want to become one herself). 

Ehri is capable, more than capable despite the little we know of her from the last chapter in KoS. All I hope is for an understanding and friendship between Nikolai and Ehri (and the subsequent cancelling of the marriage duH) for this to happen. She has little interest in statecraft but with the time she might spend with Nikolai, she might change her views. Even if not then she still gets the happy ending she deserves with Mayu (which is canon at this point rly).

Emotional Development or Breakdowns

Okay but I really, really, really hope we get to see all the three protagonists lose their shit and deal with their trauma, seek help or trying to stop isolating themselves or anything else they do to cope? Nina, Zoya and Nikolai, all of them cry, all of them get to completely lose it, let themselves be human and healthily cope and learn to rely on the people they trust the most. Like the sheer power and potential to show the myriad of ways to deal with grief, sadness, stress and more and make use of the trio’s backgrounds to show healthy and diverse ways of helping themselves, by letting themselves and others help them is just *combusts* Incredible! 

That being said, can I also ask for moments of fear and desolation from the side characters too? Impending war isn’t small business, it will take its toll on people, and all these reactions just cement their fears and what they value the most so. pls. Humanizing them rly. 

The Saving Each Other 

As much as I mostly kinda hate this trope, there are traces in the KoS that Zoya might be the one to end Nikolai’s affliction. On the other hand, there is talk of Nikolai helping Zoya control her powers which seems counterintuitive when you consider that Zoya knows that there is a line that she must never cross and that she is very, very careful about it and will continue to be. 

They can instead be the ones who motivate each other in times of distress as they always do (as shown with how Nikolai tries to gain control over his monster during the burning thorn ritual in KoS, allowing himself the vulnerability but also knowing that giving up will be unforgivable to both himself and Zoya as well) but I seriously do not wish for each other to be the ones directly ending one another's misery. Or perhaps this is just a fear imo that Leigh wouldn’t even take the route of (in which case, thank fuck).

Stab Stab Stab 

Zoya gets the chance to kill the Darkling with the rest of her friends. After all, Darkling does call them all his old friends. Just Julius Caeser him all the way and put a bow tie on the book. *chef’s kiss* Everybody deserves a second chance... at ending a tyrant when it fails the first time. 

+

So far, this is it. Rule of Wolves is in less than a few weeks and im- asdfghjkl. not Ready. i’m more Worried than Ready.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

adventure time wizard city liveblog

 well here we go

my last adventure time liveblog, i havent actually done one of these in MANY years... probably not since 2014

this takes place at the same time as obsidian?

DID-- DID CHOOSE GOOSE JUST DIE

DID BUFO JUST KILL CHOOSE GOOSE

yeah i know that’s bufo, they only made it enormously obvious, tsk tsk

@spaceacepearl​ joked about us seeing choose goose get sent to hell but i diDNT EXPECT IT TO HAPPEN

This music is i assume by one of the many musical artists Adam Muto listed on twitter, it rocks. It’s not as hardcore as Obsidian’s intro, but it’s suitably chill for the scene. 

“get offa my bus kid”

Those wizards in the left and far right groups appear to be new! 

OH MY GOD--

HELP?????? NEW PROFILE PIC TIME

HAHAHAHAH

THE MUSICAL CON DID ME GOOD, I DID REALLY LOUD AUDIBLE LAUGHTER

i bet hanna and co had fun making these signs

my favourite is the cat with “FAMILIARS HAVE RIGHTS”

cadorka..... wow

We’re not even four minutes into the ep and peppermint butler has already killed someone in front of a large group of witnesses

“this smells of DARK MAGIC” “yall kids know thats illegal right” peps watches the other kids nod before later joining in, LOL

i cant believe pep started the great gum wars and got killed by golb

SOMEONE has been playing Overwatch... 

i-- i still cant believe choose goose is fucking dead

how long was he stuck in hell for, or was that recent to together again after new death showed up 

i have to admit im not a big fan of spader, too perfect, and not in that funny way either. i hope they give him some characteristics that make him stand out. 

im getting flashbacks to OK KO and Owl House here...

Cadebra using music is a reference to Abracadaniel’s love of interpretetive dance in Play Date. 

“they only laugh because youre different” “i know” “SO STOP BEING DIFFERENT” oh my god it’s like talking to my own parents cadebra is actually... a LOT like me, less in her hyperactivity but more in her nonchalant enthusiasm and almost acceptance of the inevitable bullying because it means more time in people’s consciousness

ahhh - it’s quietly revealed here that she is responsible and a skilled magician, she is just bored of magic! i like that she parents abracadaniel instead of being downtrodden by his ramblings. 

PEP NO--- oh i see the problem, he hasn’t got his Bug Milk... sorry Martin Olsen fans, no Hunson today. At least we get one more Phil Face for the road! 

candy people in their natural habitat

Ahhh that’s Doctor Calidoneus! The voice actor was at the recent Distant Lands panel alongside Pep and Blaine’s actors. 

“pretty sure hes just trashcandy” - i like you, sassy antler lady

the mystery of how he gets clothes

and once again spader is proving to be the most irritating distant lands character of the lot, there is no subversion here. where is the subversion?  

NANI

what is going on here? are pep and peppermint the same person or not? im sure they must be, but there is something going on here with peppermint butler’s soul being trapped in the body of his child self who hasn’t got the same memories. 

OH, HYNDEN WALCH DID A NEW LINE yes this is what im here for, special over 

peppermint butler cursed himself... of course he did - Shado was correct!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHAT THE FUCK

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

ROCK STUDENT, BLESSED ROCK STUDENT, WAS THAT POOR GUY WHO LOOKS LIKE A JAWBREAKER

love the reference to astral plane, of course pep cant astrally project because cursed pep is still inside of him 

wow, blaine, wow

they have a crush

LITTLE DUDE! COLE SANCHEZ!

i love the dynamic between cadebra and abracadaniel, imo so far it’s the heart of the special. im not really gripped by peppermint butler’s school troubles. i imagine someone else probably will be but i want to run past that shit as far as possible. 

TRDGFYGHJH

WE

WE MADE  A PREDICTION THAT WAS JUST LIKE THIS

PEPPERMINT BUTLER GETTING TURNED INTO THE FOUR COMPONENTS OF PEPPER MINT BUTT LURE WAS IN THE WIZARD CITY PREDICTIONS ART DRAW THAT HASNT BEEN POSTED YET

ILL SHOW YOU WHEN NICK POSTS THE VIDEO and then ill tell you who made the prediction because i... think it was nick himself, insanity 

who plagiarized finn’s signature???

turns out pep really DID take over wizard city!!!!

i love this band

i understand your pain peps

you probably have a bit too much in common with your mother, and i imagine it isn’t easy being turned into a kid and not being able to do stuff that came so easy. you’re disappointing yourself! (he’s literally disappointing himself)

I’m less than halfway through the special, what the fuck. I wasn’t wrong when I said Wizard City had a lot on its plate. It’s noit that I’ve been particularly gripped up to this point, though to be fair I didn’t pause at all during the other specials barring Obsidian. 

that... that poor kid is still a rock

and then the preview happened and bufo casually revealed to the audience that, yes, he killed choose goose

i dont know whats happening with pep but it seems he needs to be exorcised of... pep. which is a shame. i hope they learn to coexist. 

i have to say the background work in this special is really good! like, really damn good. 

WH

WHAT

DID SPADER JUST DIE

IS THIS WHY PEOPLE THINK PEPBUT KILLED HIM 

oh thats right - abracadaniel is cadebra’s uncle! this must be abracadniels sister. sorry, folks, he doesn’t fuck. 

Where are they? Is this anywhere near Wizard City? It’s an unpopulated prewar wasteland. 

THESE ARE JUST HUMANS

OF COURSE SHE WANTS TO PERFORM TO MILQUETOAST HUMANS

my child

is this an art style choice or did they get the people from that one studio to make this

HANNA FINALLY GETS TO FULFIL HER DREAM OF INSERTING KANEDA INTO ADVENTURE TIME

the red jacket he wears and his head pill shape is a big kaneda reference actually, which i suppose makes sense considering he’s a rival to our protagonist, but it’s a bit on the nose

bufo killed one of his own students? but why????

“MY UNCLE’S A COP”

“no one likes a rat”

i actually really like blaine, though im confused. did their VA change halfway through the special?

HOW NATURAL, NO WASTE, IT IS AN ENDLESS CHAIN

did doctor caledonius steal the trophy,,,? 

EVIL SNAIL EVIL SNAIL

MONMSTER HUNJTER DISCOVERY NOISE, this time it’s a tetsucabra

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I HAVE QUESTIONS

god i wish this is what this special was about, i miss adventure time

these remind me of the comics with their art style :) i wonder who designed them? the one on the right with pb and pep, in particular, very comics-y. 

fdgfhgf because he’s like 500

“pep can be kind of a jerk but he wouldn’t kill anyone”

sorry, cadebra, i have news for you

is doctor calednoius the true villain? if bufo’s out of the picture, she MUST be, 

ANTS

oh no, he might gbe stuck in wizard city :( 

HELP

the writing on the wall...

SPADER LITERALLY FUCKING DIED OH YM JESUS CHRIST

PEPPERMINT BUTLER’S OWN CULT????

THIS IS JUST OK KO NOW

okay im not surprised all the teachers at wizard city are cultists in worship of peps, maybe they killed spader and bufo because they bullied peps T_T

wait no, they thought spader had the potential, but sadly not

HE FUCKING KILLED HIMSELF

sorry, i was distracted by the pretty dope fight sequence and now the special is over????

fucking jesse, hes probably at least partly responsible for the cult nonsense

This credits art is by Maya Petersen!!!! Holy shit it’s adorable!

LRETGFDRGTFGMHGFHFG

LEAF MAN

DO YOU THINK THEY PUT HIM IN RETROSPECTIVELY

DO YOU THINK MAYA PETERSEN DREW THIS AND ADAM PUT IT IN THE EP RETROSPECTIVELY

HE LIVES

MAYBE THIS IS WHY CHOOSE GOOSE WENT TO HELL

okay, it’s over :) 

first thoughts out of the way: not a big fan of this special. it’s like watching a completely different show. it’s not got the PZSHAHH of the normal wizard city stuff and there weren’t a lot of funny jokes or even hearty moments in the thing. 

it suffers from a lack of invested character interactions, much like BMO did. there was not a single main cast member in the whole thing! and like i said before, much of peppermint butler’s character in the show is based on his very sweet relationship to his mother, princess bubblegum, so when they showed a single (hilarious) photo of them together it made me sad we didn’t get any scenes with them together. it would have STOLEN this episode. and they teased the hunson golf photo, and death!!! and jake appeared in a photo T_T last jake appearance. 

it also suffers because Peppermint Butler is clearly not himself, imo he was way more entertaining in the Together Again special, where we seem him back to his “normal” self. 

i dont think peps being a dark wizard was something to “kill off” exactly. i wonder what was going on there? was that actually peps, or was that a spirit he cursed himself with based on himself? we at least know in the future he does become a dark wizard again, and even princess :) this special didn’t answer those questions but lol. 

THE GOOD STUFF, because yes, there was a lot of good stuff! 

God, I’m with Aracle and Maya on this - I LOVE Cadebra and her relationship to Pep. I wish she was even in more of this - I would love to watch the adventures of Cadebra and Pepbut in their first year of school, like in the end credits.

That, imo, is where the heart of the special lay - Peppermint Butler’s attempts to impress himself, versus Cadebra’s self acceptance and desire to follow her dreams of being a goofy goober, no matter what other people thought of her. 

It turned out that Cadebra is a responsible student and family member. I really liked that. Her scenes with Abracadaniel were, somehow, my favourite in the entire special! 

I like that theres a lot of cool magic towards the end of this special, and a lot of HORRIFYING DEATH. It wouldn’t be adventure time if you didn’t randomly kill off child characters. Poor Spader, I hated you but damn, what a grim fate. 

I like that Bufo and Caledonius had this crush/hatred thing going on, but they were part of the same cult in the end. 

I didn’t like the giant peps scene at the end, the monster was extremely milquetoast compared to the madness we usually get in AT. Obsidian, for example, had the awesome Larvo design. Nemesis had some INSANE dark magic!!!!  I wish they drew more from that episode. 

Considering how much Steve Little appears in this special, I do feel bad for Mace (little Peps). He said he would have really benefitted from coaching, but recieved none. He had to re-record his lines 3 times! Judging from his description of events, Wizard City was a hard time for him. 

The wizard school did remind me, heavily, of both The Owl House and OK KO. Personally I was hoping AT would offer me something more insane, but I do love both of those shows, and I know Wizard City was on a really tight schedule. 

I think they should have spent less time on the school bullying plot, and skipped straight to MURDER. 

We did have a cold opening, not on par with Together Again’s at all, but damn!

I am wondering where I would put this in the watch list? I do think it should sit after Obsidian as the third special. The intro scene makes it clear this takes place at the same time as Obsidian!!!

Well, that was it, the last ep of AT for the next few years at least T_T

i think together again was the better finale, definitely. but wizard city feels pretty detached from AT for me, despite the familiar characters it tonally isn’t like the show other than the awesome brutal death scenes. I thought the last 11 minutes was easily the best in the special! Which, honestly, is how it should be, though I do wish it gripped me more. Maybe I’m just not the target audience for Wizard City? It feels like something I would find very compelling if I was a bit younger! 

[agent-cupcake]

Can I ask your opinion? So, I feel like everyone into 3H is in love with Dimitri, but I can't connect with him. I don't dislike him, but I feel like there isn't much to his personality without all his various mental health issues. It's hard to get a feel on what he's really like, so I end up just seeing him as a walking ball of trauma and not a three-dimensional character. Do you have any thoughts on Dimitri himself and how to separate him as a person from his psychological issues? Thanks!

Hmm, I guess my first thought is that everyone resonates with characters differently and so if you don’t particularly feel connected to him, that’s not wrong. Fictional parasocial relationships are very similar to real-life relationships, so it follows that nobody is going to like every character. I can’t say that a portion of my love for his character doesn’t come from his mental issues because that’s something I personally relate to and feel drawn to in others. That’s just who I am and how I build relationships. There is also something to be said for the unavoidable way mental illness informs a person’s behavior and character, it’s as much an aspect of them as being born with blond hair or losing an eye.

That said, I will do my best to explain why I think Dimitri is wonderful. Not in spite of his mental illness, but because I don’t think that’s all he is.

So, Dimitri is, as he says, a very clumsy person. This unfortunately extends to his social skills. He has a lot of very socially awkward tendencies and a general lack of self-awareness. This contrasts with his innate desire to please people, or at least avoid upsetting anyone. The thing is, Dimitri doesn’t always completely understand what upsets people or how exactly they might feel. His childhood isolation left him rather emotionally unaware and desperate for the acceptance and approval of others. That’s not to say he doesn’t try to understand other people’s feelings, but it’s not an intuitive process. He has a habit of saying kind of dumb or uncomfortable things out of nowhere, which is most likely his real feelings coming out in rather inept ways. He means well, but he’s just so dang clumsy.

The desperation to be included and validated I mentioned, I think, can be seen in the way he tries so hard to make the other Blue Lions see him as a peer and equal all the while keeping himself rather closed off from them. Dimitri approaches conversations as a means of focusing on the other person, trying to make an appeal to them rather than as an interaction where both parties could be seen as vulnerable. Of course, just like most other socially awkward introverts, he opens up when he feels closer to the person, but that takes a while. Gotta unlock the supports, you know? Although it’s not necessarily obvious, his incredibly stiff behavior (especially pre-timeskip) and the way he switches between overly formal and awkwardly friendly in his interactions with people as he tries to figure out how to socially and emotionally navigate relationships really gives me the impression of someone trying desperately to fit in without even the faintest clue of how to actually manage that. He also does his best to avoid social situations, which, mood. Basically, Dimitri’s a big dumb massive introvert trying to act like he’s not.

FURTHERMORE, he is a dork. An absolute goof of a person. Dimitri canonically thinks so-bad-its-good puns and jokes are hilarious. His own style of telling jokes is saying things that may or may not have contextual humor in a normal voice and then claiming after the fact that he intended it as such. Now, his supports with Alois are absolute factual proof of the so-bad-its-good humor, but might I also direct your attention to the scene before the battle against Miklan in Conand Tower (the event name is “Tower in a Storm (Blue Lions)”). Basically, Gilbert is explaining the history behind Conand Tower and Dimitri says, in an incredibly earnest voice, “You’re very well informed, Gilbert. Please, tell us more.” This is a joke. Supposed to be, at least. The delivery is somewhat emphasized, but not in a recognizably sarcastic way. Gilbert, who knew Dimitri very well when he was young, realizes it’s a joke after a second. But there are other things Dimitri says that I believe are his bad “jokes” and since nobody knows him well enough to tell, they don’t call him on it. There’s no proof, but his line in the Lord’s intro where he says, “And here I thought you were acting as a decoy for the sake of us all.” to Claude has to be an attempt at sarcasm. Dimitri is oblivious, but not stupid. In his Goddess Tower conversation with Byleth, when discussing the topic of wishes, he says, “Perhaps it would make more sense for me to wish that we’ll be together forever. What do you think?” In a completely normal voice. Following are two speech bubbles of “...” before he laughs and proclaims that it’s just a joke and that he’s getting better at telling them. Now, this is a two-parter because I see this as both his horribly awkward tendency to say things he feels without thinking too hard beforehand as well as his silly deadpan style of “jokes”. Granted, he does apologize. Dimitri’s got socially awkward zoomer humor. It’s endearing.

Here is a video of Dimitri hitting on Byleth pre-timeskip. I’m not sure how far it goes to endear someone to him, but the mostly awkward and occasionally smooth attempts of Dimitri’s flirtations are absolutely a highlight of his character. 

Now, this isn’t quite as cute as all that, but I think character arc and change do a lot for making a character feel more three-dimensional. Dimitri is hypocritically selfish. Although those are both negative terms, I don’t necessarily mean them as such, at least not in their totality. Both are things to overcome, which he does. And that’s why I feel like they’re a valid point of discussion when trying to explain the allure of his character.

The hypocritical part comes from the way he easily allows and forgives the flaws of others while constantly castigating himself for the same reasons. He says things that show an absurd amount of a lack of self-awareness. For example, he tells Edelgard, “Hm. You will prove a lacking ruler yourself if you look for deceit behind every word and fail to trust those whom you rely on.” All the while straight-up lying to and emotionally avoiding his friends. Dimitri also tells Marianne, when she is punishing herself for putting other people at risk, “What matters is that they came back safely in the end. You shouldn’t blame yourself for that.” Really, his C and B with Marianne is an exercise in hypocrisy. The standards Dimitri has for himself are incredibly, unattainably high. He’s setting himself up for failure in that way and, to an extent, knows what he’s doing because he knows that those same standards are too much for his friends and allies to meet. He wishes to take on everything himself. But, what I find so beautiful about this, is that Dimitri eventually realizes that he can’t do that. He is not strong enough to take on the weight of the world on himself, he comes to understand that it’s something he must allow himself to share with the people who care about him. He comes to realize that, as difficult as it is to accept, he is a weak person. Despite all of his introversion and inability to emotionally open up, he figures out that having a support system and allowing yourself to rely on people who love you is a necessity. Personally, I think this message is incredibly important in real life. Watching Dimitri come to that conclusion and argue it’s importance really rounded out his arc and journey as a person. Now, the relatability of this conclusion will differ, but I don’t think it has to do with his mental illness as much as it is a fundamental aspect of growth.

The selfishness is basically outlined above. Dimitri is selfish about his pain and secrets, purposefully and selfishly driving people away because he wants to keep the burden to himself. His vice is guilt and he indulges in the pain of it like an addiction. Hatred, too, is a drug. He thinks he needs it to keep going, even though all it does is bring agony to himself and others around him. Learning to accept and let go of these feelings is, again, something I think is important and a character arc that I really love, especially when you see him suffer as much as he does. Now, the execution of this is lacking, I admit. But that’s an issue for another time I think.

I am not quite sure if I did much to change your opinion, but this is all I can think of for now. There is probably a lot more than I’ve left out because I think about Dimitri far too much to be healthy. So, I’ll leave you off with some honorable mention aspects of his character that I think are super fun:

Pre-timeskip Dimitri has his hair tucked behind his ear. He can lift a wagon by himself. In the DLC, when faced with an impossible-to-open gate, it was not muscle man Balthus who said he couldn’t open it, but twinkish teen Dimitri. He’s not really smooth with one-liners. Like, at all. Notably, when attacking Manuela post-timeskip, he says, “Perhaps I should have appeared before you holding a bouquet of flowers, rather than the weapon that will end your life.” Adding to this, at one point, Dimitri fucked up a pick-up line so badly the girl came after him. Areadbhar has a mitten on it in the Azure Moon final picture. He breaks everything. His Crest activation ability even supports this, using twice the durability of any given Combat Art. One of his post-timeskip counselor messages is, “I lived in the slums for a long time, and I saw how the people there suffered from poverty and the ravages of war. There must be something I can do to save them." His room in the academy is right next to Sylvain’s, meaning that for almost an entire year Dimitri was a single wall away from hearing whatever nonsense Sylvain was getting up to. Dimitri is the only Lord that takes the throne and doesn’t abandon his people in some form or another.

And, finally, he is pretty sexy. And that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?

[m-feys]

OK NEURODIVERGENT GAANG TIME BC I WANNA

these hcs are kinda halfway set in a modern au bc thats my context for this ! (gonna split it up so its not as long bc i drafted the original and it was LONG) water tribe siblings first !!!

Sokka

adhd/autism king 😌

[ID: a screenshot of Sokka standing on a raised stone platform with a map of the Fire nation hanging behind him. He’s holding his arms stiffly by his side with a wide-eyed look on his face, brows raised as he has his mouth open, saying something. End ID.]

- schedules to survive, he likes to know what hes getting into and if you try to change plans on him without warning he’ll be very resistant

- smart kid who doesnt study, oh he tries, oh boy does he try, he ends up reading the same sentence over and over until he gets distracted by drawing something, working on the blueprint for his latest invention, or with researching something completely unrelated to what he’s mean to be studying. then he tosses and turns all night because he’s stressed by not having studied, but when he actually takes the test he makes a 105, despite there not even being a bonus question, he just answered the essay question so well the teacher gave him an extra 5 points

- special interests?? we got em!!! classic weaponry (think swords, boomerangs, but also, like canons and catapults and shit) engineering/physics, art/drawing, strategy games. he tends to hyperfocus within his special interests, so like for a week he was hellbent on building his own full sized trebuchet, much to the dismay of Gran Gran who just wanted to grow her tomatoes without them being crushed by said full size trebuchet

- (also he plays all types of games probably, but he def plays those ones where you take over the world, like the ones online and azula also plays them too and they end up being rivals, while not actually knowing who the other is outside of their usernames)

- he also talks a lot in his classes/is like the ‘class clown’ and ppl think this is him not focusing but engaging this way actually helps him focus way more than sitting silently, a lot of teachers dont understand it but the ones who do are actually paying attention and realize that he’s generally talking/joking about their current topic

- some observations (this shit is all canon babey!!!) - sokka is great at being a leader and communicating in groups he’s in but he really really struggles in front of crowds, one-on-one and sokka can talk well, joke and stuff but as soon as he’s separate from other people and everyone is just listening he clams up (solar eclipse pt 1). he also loves to joke and make people laugh, and a lot of the time he misinterprets stuff because he’s autistic but he also will realize this and do it anyway because he thinks it’s funny and he likes laughing with his friends (idk if this happens in canon but i do this and sokka does too bc i said so :^). He also takes up the protector/comforting role but despite his best intentions he can sometimes say insensitive stuff and not even realize what he’s done to upset people (when he happily told aang ‘the whole world thinks your dead!’) works best when he feels needed, if he feels unnecessary or like something doesnt matter he struggles to complete it (i feel like the beginning of sokka’s master rlly demonstrates what i mean here), and this goes both ways, he will put too much value into certain things that he cares about and can get his priorities mixed if he’s focused too much on what he believes matters more than what might be most pressing (zuko destroyed his suki sculpture, oh right bc he was attacking aang)

Katara

she also has adhd/autism, (so do both Hakoda and Kya 💙)

[ID: a screenshot of Katara, Hakoda, Sokka, and Bato. Hakoda has his hand on Katara’s shoulder as they both look at Bato who is saying something, she has curious look on her face with her brows raised, while Hakoda looks exasperated. Sokka beside him his also looking curiously up at Bato, with one brow raised and the other furrowed. Bato has a neutral expression on his face as he speaks. End ID.]

- palms sweaty thoughts spaghetti, she tries to be practical bc she thinks someone needs to be but really her brain is like a runaway train, she sees something that needs doing and is like, guess ill do that now! and drops whatever she was doing first. she can get very anxious because of this because all the thing that need doing start to pile up because theyre all in her brain at once. that and as much as she tries to be practical she’s very impulsive, getting help from other people really helps alleviate this stuff

- interacting w ppl, when she was only part of her own smaller community she had a lot less toll on her, bc she knew everyone and was used to them, as she meets more people she gets really frustrated with how many people seem to refuse to say what they really mean. Katara is very straightforward herself and she says what she means, so even tho she gets more and more perceptive when interacting with new people, she resents how much she has to work just to decipher what people really mean half the time.

- caring for ppl, with people she cares about communicating is much easier bc she knows them, so she’s very open about her feelings around these people, and she can be hyper empathetic at times, but then sometimes she will say SUPER insensitive stuff off the cuff because she’s just very impulsive and she might regret it after the fact but she really struggles with apologizing because being wrong makes her feel like ppl are going to reject her

- perceptions, she knows what’s expected of her by the world, but she really rejects the idea that she has to stay in her role. still, she has internalized a lot of these expectations and tries to perform them, even when she sometimes struggles. beyond herself, she’s very certain about what she knows is wrong and has a strong moral code, she sees something wrong and she wants to fix it.

- she’s awful in school, not because she’s not smart, but she’s smart in ways that society does not appreciate. she doesnt care at all about all the worksheets and math she’s never gonna use, and all the history that got distorted, she’s much better at learning stuff on her own and she will go on deep dives of subjects she cares about and is super knowledgeable abt them.

also:

[ID: A cropped screenshot of Sokka with his arms extended outwards, palms flat as he gestures. He has a slight grin on his face with his mouth open to speak, eyebrows raised and looking at the viewer calmly. He’s wearing his usual blue tunic with the Earth Rumble XI belt along with his earth kingdom bag hanging across his chest. The text on the image says, “This post made by ADHD Sokka gang. End ID.]

[ID: a cropped screenshot of Hakoda, he has a serious expression on his face as he looks ahead. The text on the post reads, “This post made by ADHD Hakoda gang.” End ID.]

from this post (part of what inspired me to write these out) @meteor-sword​ now just katara needs one 😄

adhd aang next, i will finally live up to my url (will edit with a link when i post)

[tema-makes-art-sometimes]

who are some of your favorite hetalia creators?

Like favorite to enjoy content from or people I'm inspired by? Well uh-

@cereal-miilk @ashafox and @great-isolationist are three of my biggest art style and color inspirations. They have a lot of the vibes I really want to have in my work art wise and I never cease to enjoy what they make no matter what it is.

cereal i just really enjoy their color work in general it just feels so real and warm and they way they draw hair is so nice and their little actor au Ive seen is so cool.

Ashas posing always seems incredible to me, the lighting in their works like the mermay posts and their expressions always feel on point.

Kay oh my god kay- Ill try to stay on task because otherwise Ill ramble but their art is goregeous. color, lineart, posing its always so fun and they are honestly they feel like the style I kind of wish I had. like it has the fun vibes in the show but also just their fun style and its just really cool.

My friend @lemon-whiskey does a lot of amazing art both for hetalia and RWBY, and I wish I could write as well as she can sometimes. Along with my friend Lupo. He doesn't write for Hetalia anymore but from what I've read of his DBH fanworks he's only gotten better and better.

my friend @kyokyo866 makes a lot of fun content, and although not all of it is up my alley, it's always a good time to see her works and bounce ideas with her. Seeing her work on hetagames makes me wanna work on my projects and games.

Also full stop envy of @thriftlita's ability to draw people and muscles in general like no matter what characters always look their age and that's something I struggle a lot with so seeing it always just hits right it's good shit. Shes got such a distinct style

@tudiodeen and @sackdrawer are both so cool I think anyone who can copy the hima style is impressive

and I think thats it-- there are other people probably as well but these were the first to come to mind and its both early in the morning and i dont wanna go on for too long. But if you dont know people on this list go check them out