#im so in love with the characterisation!!! it feels so fleshed out and REAL and I am so awful at articulating words at night

[itadore-you]

ARE YOU, LIKE ME, ALSO VERY MUCH SLEEP DEPRIVED?

here are the main mistakes that YOU probably make DAILY and should AVOID at all costs:

"I'll just read the first chapter! who knows if ill even like this story! how interesting could (insert AU) really be?"

[sukunasun]

I finished the "Say It's Here" sequel and gosh, I'm bowled over! I feel like your understanding of each character's psychology has been heightened since the original was published and It's so impressive! I particularly enjoyed how economical you were with the descriptions according to each character's personality, motivation and dynamic with the protagonist

Also, my god, not higuruma hiromi being the highest quality rebound ever???? Currently obsessed with him and it's kinda funny/sad how many parallels people draw between him and Nanami, understandably, but I LOVE that you flesh out their distinctions here too. Not quite a cameo but he feels more fully realised and real(?) in his short scene than in some entire pics revolving around him that I've read! I quiver to consider what you'd unleash upon the world with a full fledged fic for him (with a different reader character ofc)

But Srsly how does she keep hooking such hotties

Higuruma's "ruthless" rationale and observations is rather kind in its own way, and I thoroughly enjoyed how accurate it felt and also that the reader doesn't mistake it for anything affectionate or coddling. I find that clarity extremely appealing about him, plus it must feel so ridiculously refreshing to the reader character after all the guesswork and her ordeal with nanami

I also think that's one of the more satisfying distinctions you make with their portrayals; nanami (initially) employs logic as a coping mechanism, whereas it's hiromi's basis for functioning, a bit like a bug versus a feature?

At least in accordance with canon events, I think that mindset translates well, nanami's response to traumatic incidences in his formative years whereas hiromi had this rationality inform his life's work?

Especially when ambiguity is often the fulcrum for romantic tension (will they/won't they), my mind short-circuits and a little shiver goes down my spine at the thought of Hiromi instead bluntly telling someone: Us? Sure, Why not?

And then calmly proceeds to decimate every excuse one tries to tank their own dating prospects. You can't filibuster flirting with this man, he's so fucking direct (and vice versa 🤭, sometimes a gal just wants a classic Dom yknow. God, i need help)

A N Y

W A Y

Nanami feels more than he lets on in this story, Hiromi is exactly what you expect - which is such an interesting lesson or refraction for the reader character in managing her expectations and self-doubt

Nanami's grovelling feels mostly earned, maybe because it's been a while since I read Say It's Here his interiority is a tad more obscured, or cause the sequel more heavily focuses on reader's POV, which is really well assisted by suguru's commentary/probing/ribbing. Special shoutout to satoru's point blank shit stirring (he and hiromi would be fabulous frenemies)

Also love the open ending because ironically it feels better than emotional closure??? Or probably the finality of her rejecting nanmi again, oof. It's such a satisfying coda oddly i (almost) don't want this story to continue. What a magic trick!

There's such finesse in all the characterisations here, even without my massive bias for higuruma I'd be rereading this a dozen times!

;__; im so sorry this response is so late but thank you so much for sending this in. i'm so glad you got to read the piece!

i care more for the opinions of nanami stans for being able to write/understand him and his appeal in a way i can't. still, i try my best to offer something worthwhile. the open ending was more because i couldn't decide the best outcome for the reader and nanami. there were moments i thought about writing an epilogue to hint at the possibility of them getting back together but i've decided it's best to leave it up for interpretation. after all, nanami comes off to me as someone who wouldn't need a 'yes' right away.

also re: higuruma— gahh i was so uncertain if i did him justice, so thank you for noticing that distinction. often i'll write and delete and write again because i worry if it wasn't clear enough. to me, he's very different to nanami. not even the same sides of a coin. still, i get the comparison. both have been strung into the dilf narrative so often i forget that nanami is literally three years older than me.

[hostilemuppet]

okay so I’ve never seen HTF but I want to know who all the characters are cuz they seem cool and also I wanna know which ones you’re talking about. and I think it’d be fun to ask you that. so like, feel free to ignore this if you don’t want to, but here is an excuse to infodump about every HTF character and who they are and what they do

you dont know how much this ask means to me. i will be dumping all my thoughts about the characters (not all of them just the ones i think about the most) under the cut so im not ruining everyones day. some of the things might not necessarily be """"true"""" but are extrapolated from what IS true and there hasnt been an episode since 2016 so it basically belongs to the fans now sorry graff if only you accepted flakys gender

cuddles! semi-official mascot of the show. star of a fall out boy music video. hes rowdy and reckless and likes to pull pranks and be a general nuisance, but is still really cute so its hard to stay mad at him. usually either seen with toothy (best friend) or giggles (sometimes girlfriend sometimes friend).

giggles! referred to in out-of-show texts as "shy and sweet" but is one of the more sociable characters, being the go to girl for when the writers need to write a romance. has been romantically involved with cuddles, russell, flippy, the mole and cro marmot. she also swoons over splendid a few times. bc of this shes typically characterised as being boy crazy, if not slutshaming her which is an INSANE thing to do to a pastel pink chipmunk. she also cares a lot about protecting the environment and loves animals! shes a sweetie. when not treated as "token female character for a romance plot" shes usually with cuddles or petunia (her best friend)

toothy! imma be real with you. he does NOT have a personality. the tv series was mostly dedicated to fleshing characters out and giving them a personality (since thats hard to do in 2 minute shorts) and he is the ONLY character that didnt get a starring role. bc of this he tends to be mostly ignored by the fandom (he can be drawn next to cuddles and thats it) and i personally like to take his "lack of personality" to mean hes just. a normal guy. hes got a 401k he doesnt have time for all this death and dismemberment. hes also canonically had plastic surgery on his tail. is usually seen with cuddles or sniffles.

flaky! technically one of the most popular characters but is insanely mischaracterised to the point its basically a different character. was originally designed to be a male character but is generally accepted as a female one, the creators still have mixed opinions on it so id say their gender is ????????. is sporty, collects baseball cards, doesnt take care of their personal hygiene as well as they should, is allergic to peanuts. is a COWARD, theyre the only one who acknowledges how dangerous the world they live in is. they are one of the few characters to kill flippy bc they are terrified of him and their fight or flight instinct is unusually strong. typically seen with cuddles bc cuddles is brave and flaky is a coward.

nutty! you can tell from his design but this fellas obsessed with candy and all things sugar! seeking out sweets and treats is usually his downfall. in the episode false alarm its actually treated as an addiction he gets help for, and then immediately replaces with an addiction to video games. hes a gamer! but he goes back to normal by the end of the episode bc its a cartoon. in sucker for love he gets so into his obsession with sweets he fantasises about falling in love with various confectioneries. he gets a box of chocolates pregnant. yes i have to live with this every single day of my life. is usually seen with sniffles.

handy! as you can probably tell he is one of my ultra faves. hes a handyman / carpenter / architect / whatever the episode calls for that has had both arms amputated, either by the wrist or elbow depending on the episode but i go by elbow. hes a dude with a 'tude, except the 'tude is justified bc everyone in town is an asshole towards him and his disability. is probably THE most unlucky character in the show bc even when he doesnt die (or his death isnt the focus and happens briefly off screen) bad things still happen to him (in double whammy flippy offers him a foam finger, in see ya later elevator he asks them to hold the door of the lift for him but they let it close on him, in a change of heart he dies off screen before the episode even starts so they can have a heart donor and he is the ONLY PERSON TO DIE in the whole episode 😭 do you know how rare that is???). dislikes basically everyone around him bc they are, as i mentioned, assholes, and rarely cares when others get hurt or die (he even laughs when cuddles loses both of his arms in the wrong side of the tracks) but the two people he likes are petunia (his girlfriend) and the mole (his best friend, was his roommate in one episode). is usually seen with mole or lumpy.

the mole! or just mole in later episodes (they dropped the "the" fsr). hes a blind mole with a mole on his face who used (currently is? i usually see it as a past thing but theres no way to really know tbh) to be a spy, so. triple mole! you love to see it. is also blind, bc yk hes a mole, and is frequently given hobbies or activities that require. vision. usually has very little problem unless the episode calls for something funny to happen. is responsible for a lot of peoples deaths and while its generally accepted he cant tell whats going around him, in wipe out he knows his actions caused handy pain and he does his best to fix it, so he DOES know when hes hurting people but just doesnt care unless its someone he cares about. sadistic king what a legend we LOVE a lack of empathy this is why hes handys bestie. is usually seen with handy or lumpy.

petunia! shes a skunk with very VERRRRRRY bad ocd, hence the air freshener around her neck and the flower on her head; she wants to be clean and smell sweet or she freaks out! her starring ep of the tv series wishy washy was all about her ocd being triggered and her having a real bad time about it and as someone with ocd it is GREAT. idc if "ocd haver freaking out about germs" is """"problematic"""" she is just like me fr. shes also the only character on the show to commit suicide and bc of that the latter half of wishy washy is the only episode mondo do not have on their yt channel! she does it like no other. but she is very nice, and she was the first to reach out to lammy when she moved in (even tho it didnt end well for anyone involved). is usually seen with giggles bc as much as it pains me to say it sometimes the show sees her as nothing more than "girl #2" so shes paired with girl #1, but other than giggles she is seen with a lot of different characters a couple times each so when you think about it shes got a wide social circle you go girl

[steelycunt]

hi ridi! 💗 all this lyall talk made me wonder whats your take on hope (howell) lupin 😌 i know fanon has a pretty solid idea of her (cool, sweet, best friend type of mom) but i often feel like people do it to make lyall look even worse in comparison lmao idk i feel like not many people care to make her deep and i feel like there’s so much room for it !!! i also think her relationship with lyall would be a cool thing to explore considering hope is non-magical and im sure theres a power imbalance there (even more after The Bite). also what aspects do you think remus got from her? ANYWAY im sorry this got really long u can ignore it if you want

hello! i've got to start keeping my answers short im so sorry x

admittedly i am probably guilty of the simplistic 'she was an angel' type of characterisation with hope, which is probably a result of me having a much more fleshed-out view of lyall and needing hope to fill the spaces he fails to occupy as a parent--i generally imagine remus getting his better traits from hope, because he sure as hell isn't getting that sort of gentleness or kindness or morality from his father. which is absolutely doing the potential complexity of her character a disservice! i don't honestly see her having those same prejudices as lyall regarding werewolves--obviously, she isn't growing up in a world in which they're real--so that doesn't drive a wedge between her and remus the way it does for lyall, and they're able to have a much closer relationship. i think she just has a totally different perception of remus' condition, and after the bite she's the one who's got to tell lyall to get his arse in gear and quit indulging in his own guilt and self-loathing, because he's still got a son who needs him. she doesn't hold what happened against lyall but she also doesn't like how hard he is on remus.

remus isnt the type to share with his parents, but his father is not the type he feels he could turn to talk about emotional issues, so i think thats a role hope usually ends up fulfilling. honestly, i just think the poor boy needs one good parent :,-) and i have such a clear image of hope being that sweet supportive mum that its unshakeable for me now :/ the power imbalance between her and lyall is very interesting though!! i think the bite would mark a major shift in that--lyall may not subscribe to that sort of wizard superiority ideology but he does still think he's right about anything pertaining to the magical world, he's right in his prejudice aginst werewolves. and then the bite happens. and not only has he ruined remus' life, he believes he's ruined hope's, too--he becomes a bit of a mess and is endlessly guilty about being so wrong, and making such a mistake, that the balance shifts more towards hope (though she doesn't really see it that way) because he feels he constantly needs to earn forgiveness from her. as i said--im definitely guilty of simplifying hope's role down to being that perfect-ish parent, which probably doesn't make my interpretation particularly insightful...would absolutely love to hear ur thoughts on her though!

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

you’ve talked a little bit about this wrt dan, but i’m curious: what are your favorite seasons/arcs for the main gg characters? (serena, blair, dan, nate, jenny, vanessa) cause everyone’s personalities tended to uh, shift a bit from season to season and storyline to storyline, and i’m wondering which eras of those characters were your favorite?

oh, so i sat on this question for a very long time, and spent a ton of time thinking over it. here we go! 

i loved the way serena was written in s1 and s2. she was so full of joy despite all the difficult things she’d endured, so bubbly and warm and... lively is ALWAYS the adjective that comes to mind for serena, despite how it’s a terrible pun. but yeah! she had an energy to her that was very childlike & genuine, and i loved that about her - despite the things she’d endured, she was so full of light (?? how do i describe this.) i know that serena’s arc gets notably more tragic s3 onwards, but i feel like the way she was written lost a bit of depth s3 onwards as well. she had a sharp wit, and a good sense of humour, she was playful and... most notably, she had this little giggle? that she literally NEVER does in the later seasons, which makes me sad?? she stopped laughing like a child at the age of, what, 19?? idk. in s1 & s2 serena had so many layers, and i feel like as the seasons went on they tried to, uh. keep only the surface layers? they didn’t really do justice to the character they started out with.

my answer for vanessa is actually the exact same, with slight modifications. vanessa’s energy in s1 and s2 was unparalleled. literally the best. i loved her and the way she was critical of everything and YET so ready to learn. compared to all these rich, privileged, white people... her presence was just SO good and so important to me, because the way she was so critical of the uber rich was something nobody else really was, and i think that perspective WAS valuable and should’ve remained, haha. idk what it was about s3, but i feel like they didn’t keep the crux of who vanessa was? it wasn’t a BAD vanessa season as much as an incomplete one. i felt they could’ve done so much more with a character like vanessa.... she’s so vibrant and full of life! and the way s3 was for her was very surface. and then in s4 they just demolished her character entirely. i’ve said it before, i’ll say it again: what jenny, juliet and vanessa did in 4x09 was TOTALLY out of character for vanessa. she would never, ever do that. and by the time s4 came around... someone else said this, i don’t remember who. but they said that vanessa was basically being used as a plot device more than as a character. notice how she’s always in the right place at the right time to overhear the right thing? it’s a travesty, because vanessa was just..... so significant to me. like her being there added so much value & even changed the tone of the show imo.

my blair feelings are very complicated. i think she’s fascinating, and i love leighton & her performance. i love book blair so much more than show blair, and idk why or how to explain it. i mentioned this in that post where i ranked the characters, but while watching blair in high school specifically i can’t EVER forget that she would probably hatecrime me, and even when she’s out of school she is still supremely racist at times. i actually liked blair best in s5 - and i know she was going thru ~tragic~ stuff (i think they dialled the tragedy too high actually, like, blair had TOO MUCH on her plate and from a storytelling point of view it was... ambitious, to say the least, to hope to bring all out of that out on tv) but like, keeping her tragedy aside. her capacity for kindness and care really shone thru while she was with dan, and i liked how the d/b relationship took her out of her comfort zone and her “but im a Waldorf!” bubble and let her, idk, be a person. i liked her in s4, too. i feel like blair is a really good, nuanced, fleshed out character as blair, and the way she clung to being a waldorf combined with her rich-white-girl privilege got kind of boring after a while because like. she’s not like louis? her character has so much depth. her character doesn’t need to be reduced to a title, because she’s SO much more than that.

i feel like i need to do a lot more rewatching when it comes to dan because i CANNOT be objective about him. he reminds me far too much of myself!!! down to his flaws and his mistakes and his issues –  i was a precocious little shit in high school at times in very similar ways to dan, i like to think i’ve grown out of that (& am perpetually making an effort TO grow out of falling into those patterns) & that’s what i want for dan, too. dan’s arc feels real to me, because a lot of it is my arc, too. feeling lonely, out of place & unaccepted in high school --> being a popular kid in college… that hits really close to home. s1 & s2 are important seasons to me because i’m extremely protective of awkward, trying-his-best high school dan (he can be awful at times, but he can be earnest and sincere, too!) i feel like s4 is actually the best dan season – took me a while to get here, but halfway thru my s2 rewatch that’s how i’m leaning. but dan’s arc was very interesting to me, and i wish they’d kept his heart. trying to retcon him as evil fell absolutely flat to me, like. who are you convincing! one of my friends and i were joking about how georgie blackmailed dan into pretending to be gossip girl (she obviously has dirt on him that nobody else does.) anyway. dan’s arc felt pretty true until the end of s4. i wasn’t a big fan of how he was written in s5, i felt like something had been taken away from his character, but i don’t know how to say it better. you’re right though, i have gone over this a lot! so i’m not going to break my head over it, ‘cause we’re already a thousand words in and i still have nate and jenny to go.

speaking of jenny, though: i think dan’s storylines REALLY needed more of a big brother arc. the way he was characterised, especially in s1, was very “i would kill a man for my baby sister” and i have NO idea where that went or why they got rid of it. (actually, i do have some idea. fucking chip wiskers apologism & elevation of chair over literally anything else. sigh)

okay, now speaking of jenny in terms of jenny. i liked her s1 arc, like, her trying to make friends with these people & trying to keep her morals and realising she can’t do both was interesting. i think that should’ve been that with her clashes with girls in constance, though. and afterwards, either nothing happens, or she transfers out of constance, etc. jenny’s s2 arc makes me sad – she was exploited and treated like dirt in so many ways :( the jenny/agnes was interesting in s2, though, and there’s no way to interpret it that ISN’T lesbian. i’ve always felt like jenny’s feelings for nate in s2 are very comphet. jenny’s s3 arc made me even sadder than her s2 arc- she was alienating all her friends one by one, making everyone hate her, and just…… spiralling. she really needed a better support system. her s4 arc made no sense. like. why did she come back in the city to fuck with serena like that? it didn’t feel right.

yeah, all that said… i feel like there are many super intriguing elements of jenny’s storylines and arcs, like, even within canon events if things had been executed differently, it could’ve been actually good/empowering. but the writers hated jenny. and this show was never a feminist show.

ah, so… nate. he started out as a flake in s1 & s2. that’s his whole thing. he doesn’t know who he wants to be / how to get what he wants / how to get where he wants. he takes people for granted. he isn’t dependable or reliable, he lets people down (most notably, blair & vanessa.) and he means well, sure! but his life is like amber and he’s trapped in it. he doesn’t follow his heart, he’s too busy trying to please the wrong people, etc etc. in s3 he’s suddenly so ready for commitment, which always breaks my heart because vanessa!!! but anyway. s3 has a shift in his character, possibly him getting dumped at prom and realising that high school is over and one thing that tethered him to his family (being a kid, being a high schooler, being a minor, whatever) –  one big thing that held him there is gone. so it makes sense that he starts trying to be his own person. i like s3 nate, and s4 nate. we see nate sort of gradually try and be a moral compass, and it’s interesting to me. when i write d/n fic something i really focus on is dan finding nate dependable, and i think that’s a value that builds in nate over time. nate of season 1 is not dependable, nope, no way. but nate of s4 seems like a decent friend to have. in s5 and s6 they more or less threw his entire arc to the wind and gave him so many shitty storylines (sage spence, wtf? nate would not do this. he’s been on the opposite end of this before, he would not carry the pattern forward, ffs.)

idk. this almost hit 1.7k, LMAO. i hope it made some amount of sense!

[ddarker-dreams]

I could see Scarlet Ribbons’ stand cry being something like “BOWBOWBOWBOWBOW” cuz like.. ribbons... make bows and stuff.... sorry I’m bad at this 🤪

OKAY THIS IS ACTUALLY REALLY CUTE THOUGH... i’m going to make a list of possible stand cries, and this is gonna be added on it!! 

anonymous asked: Is scarlet ribbons willing for a smooch 🥺🥺

but of course!! i’ve pictured scarlet ribbons as being a very affectionate and playful stand, since that adds even more Possibilities of the stand acting up around everyone. scarlet ribbons definitely wants to give ppl hugs and stuff, showcasing how affectionate and :D!!! the user is. 

anonymous said: lmaooo imagine the entire bucci gang's reaction when scarlet ribbon's user/reader end up with someone from la squadra XDD in the au where everyone lives of course

it’d be a battlefield... i guess if they weren’t fighting against one another like they were in the anime, it might be slightly better? but i can’t imagine it going over real well, since everyone would be v wary of la squadra. if reader is happy that’s one thing, but there’s going to be a lot of investigation going into it. they need to make sure she’s safe and sound qwq

anon said: Okay so if i got it right Scarlet Ribbon's attack can be a good way to escape out of GioGio's estate after his kidnapping, you know, like Spider man but in stead of spider web/beam it's cutesy pinky rope of ribbon 😂as for the ocean surrounding the island reader can coagulate their ribbons into a small boat and row themselve back to civilazation 👏😂👏 im thriving for independent reader pls don't mind me 🥺 again, much love + appreciation for you to came out with this awesome concept💓💘💓❤💓💕

ohh so like a yandere version of the SR verse? i’ve definitely given it some thought, since i write 99% yandere content (or smth close to that at least, math was never my best subject). anyways i think that it’d be chaotic for any yanderes to deal with scarlet ribbon darling, seeing as having a stand that versatile gives plenty of opportunities to escape! giorno has the added benefit of being able to track darling down using his own ability, but it’d be a game of cat and mouse for a while. i’ll definitely write a yan version of it one day...

anon said: hi lock!! I just wanted to pop by and say that I love your Scarlet Ribbons series so far ♡ such good food.... u spoil us.... :') that being said, what was your motivation behind it? why did you want to take a fluffy route as opposed to your usual yan content? ty and have a nice day!!

hello anon <3 i’m happy to know that you’ve been enjoying it!! trust me i’ve been having way too much fun fleshing everything out too, it’s been a Mega Muse . i still love writing yandere content the most, but i guess picturing a normal universe felt interesting in its own right. more possibilities open up. i had thought about it being everyone going yan, but i scrapped it when i realized that’d just lead to bucciarati’s team killing one another. i’ve given some thought to individual yandere’s in the universe though! 

i think that exploring different types of content is what helps prevent burnout!! so that’s why i’ve channeled some energy into a more normal universe, just so that when i want to write fluff/more humor based stuff i have an outlet for it. u vu...

anon asked: :eyes: what was rooming in with bruno like? how did he feel when reader went to room with fugo? what is rooming in with fugo like? WHAT RIVALRY DID THESE DORKS DEVELOP OVER THE ISSUE??hdknld i can imagine fugo preening when reader's with him and bruno is lowkey .__.)

THE INITIAL ROOMMATE ... boy bruno was pretty excited! i picture reader waking up early some mornings to make him breakfast/coffee, as a way of saying thank you. reader would be very grateful and feel indebted to bruno for all the kindness he’s shown, especially since he’s not even charging rent for staying at his place! it all has a nice, domestic feeling that bruno never realized he longed for. i’m sure he knows it won’t last forever, as nice as that sounds. 

even with all the times he reassured reader that money isn’t a problem, the thought of imposing on someone who has already given reader a lot is hard to get past. bruno had a bit of a stone face when reader mentioned becoming roommates with fugo, but ultimately wouldn’t want to monopolize her time or anything. he still gets to see her everyday! though he’s going to miss the special talks, and breakfasts ... :(( 

bruno probably picks up on fugo’s treatment towards reader before fugo even realizes how he feels lmao. he’s just hoping that no Funny business goes down, semi hypocritical as that may be. acting as a team leader means making scarifies for the well being of the group, and having to put his wants on the back burner. this is definitely one of those instances. 

anon said: Hey thank you for posting about scarlet ribbons, I’ve been having a very rough time mentally ( Rn I’m confined to a 3 mile radius of the house for medical reasons) and this brought me so much joy, I want to share my goth makeup tips with Leone and tend to my collection with GioGio, your characterisation of fugo has also totally changed my mind on him I didn’t even think he was cute before your writing! I hope you are doing well

aaaa i’m sorry to hear that you’re going through a difficult time. this is definitely a comfy type of series, so it makes me happy to know that it’s brought you some happiness!! i’ll be posting about it plenty, since i have loooots of ideas for it!! leone would love talking about makeup with you, since everyone else before trish is clueless on the subject. he’d likely surprise you with eye shadow palettes or lipstick that you’ve been wanting! in a very lowkey fashion, just kinda shoving it towards you and saying he saw it on sale and it’s whatever. on the inside he’s screaming though lmaoo

giorno is another person who, when isn’t focused on his dream and such, would be Dying for some reader one on one time. it’s cute, he tries to make his interest seem as organic as possible. he manages to pull it off well! 

I LOOOVE FUGO... once i got a more solid characterization for him down, i wanted to write for him a lot. i really wish we got to see more of him in the anime, but purple haze feedback gave lots of good insights to him as well! i think that while he’s more of a serious character, he’s been shown to have some snark as well.

[heyitsme-tc]

SPOILERS FOR ULTRA MOON - My thoughts and opinion on the game, theres also a non-spoilery TLDR at the end for anyone interested. Ive tried to put it under a Read More but it may not work, do i apologise of it doesnt.

Hooly hell this game is fantastic, i really enjoyed it! The difficulty is great, if a little too hard at some points and way too easy at others. The pokemon available are great, the different Totems were exciting to see and battle too, and i used some great Pokemon for my team (Decidueye, Salazzle, Mudsdale, Dusk Lycanroc, Vaporeon, and Gardevoir). The characters are a lot more charming and have much more depth this time around. Guzma is so goofy and lovable, Hau was genuinely endearing and heartwarming, Lillie is as cute as ever (and badass too), Gladion is Gladion, but i love him anyway, and the trial captains all felt more real and fleshed out. Every character has a much heavier presence in the story and game overall.

There are some things that i didnt like, or that didnt make sense though. For example, in Moon, Lusamine is the antagonist, as shes obsessed with ultra beasts/Nihilego. Nihilgo has its introductory cutscene in ultra moon, however, its basically irrelevant because Lusamine ends up obsessed with stopping/catching Necrozma instead. Now i love the fact that Lusamine got more characterisation through this, and that actually she was kind of redeemed (Shes still an abusive piece of shit tho) but it makes the Necrozma storyline feel very shoehorned in. It felt that way throughout the game, e.g. the Ultra Recon squad just show up sometimes and battle you then it goes back to normal.I feel that they should have put more effort into making the story more connected and naturally flowing, because it really does feel a little fast and slightly anti-climatic. Some story elements from Sun and Moon were removed too, but its nothing major, just some of the characterisation for Lillie (which she kind of gets later on anyway, considering she sticks around instead of going to Kanto)

However, fighting Dawn-Wings Necrozma and Ultra Necrozma is so fucking awesome, the music was so well done and fitting, and the Ultra Necrozma battle was insane, i beat it by the skin of my teeth (after whiting out 2 or 3 times) The intro for Ultra Necrozma was one of the coolest things in any pokemon game to date imo. On the contrary, catching Nebby/Lunala and Necrozma later on was kind of anti-climatic, tho i suppose the final battle had already been waged..The Ultra wormhole is a great feature and its super fun both flying through it and seeing what youll get too!

The Rainbow Rocket episode diid drag on a bit fighting the grunts, but the battles with each leaders and getting insights from them of each of their conquered worlds and their thoughts was really fun and interesting (and the interactions between Maxie and Archie and Colress and Ghetsis were great to see too) and Giovanni was 100% badass, and the foreshadow at the end is incredibly exciting.

TLDR: I still have more to do, like the totem stickers, catching all the ultra beasts and legendaries, and getting special pokemon, but now that ive done the meat of the game, i can say that in my opinion, it was worth the money for me. Definitely a step up from sun and moon in terms of content, details, story, and pokemon in general. Theres so many little things to do and see, and theres many little details that make you feel more connected to the world (like everyone referring to you as champ or champion once you beat the league) I felt more attached to my pokemon, to the characters, hell to the story too. I would have given Moon proobably a 7.5/10, and im giving Ultra Moon an 8.5-9/10. if you enjoyed Sun and Moon, or even feel they could have had more, id definitely recommend getting Ultra Sun/Moon, theyre certainly the superior games in many aspects.

[tainbocuailnge]

seems I’m physically incapable of thinking about fate extella without getting really mad about its wasted potential so here’s my Official Non Exhaustive List Of Ways To Fix The Damn Game

ok so story-wise first of all make each story route at LEAST two stages longer, and maybe throw a few more scenes between stages too. it might throw off the story-gameplay balance a bit but like, it’s a type-moon game and the sequel to extra who the hell would go in NOT expecting a shitton of words. in nero route put those extra stages at the start of the route to make the “conquering the moon” part longer and feel more like a legitimate hard effort before altera comes in and undoes it all in a day so that altera actually feels like a threat of incomprehensible scale. that extra time should then be used to establish team dynamics and basic worldbuilding more, and also make archimedes feel more like a legitimate ally by like, actually having him there as an ally for a significant amount of time and also maybe making him a bit less suspicious bc I was on to him like 5 minutes from his introduction. nero route doesn’t actually have to pay a lot of attention to nero yet because you get to spend a lot of time with her again in secret route so that time should be spent on showing how the rest of the team interacts instead. it’s also important that altera at this point is presented mostly as a mindless killing machine with nero making a few cracks in that facade that get explored later, I feel like they made her too soft too early.

tamamo route could use another stage of conquering the moon before altera drops in too but since you already know of altera’s existence at that point the early section can be shorter than in nero route. again the team dynamics should be more fleshed out and this is also a good time to contrast nero’s team of passionate people who mesh pretty well and genuinely like nero with tamamo’s team of far more reserved, calculating, and straight up evil people who hate each other’s guts and are almost all planning to backstab her. since you as player already know altera is A Thing at this point this should be played as “will altera even show up on time to fuck their shit up before they self destruct?” in tamamo route the part where altera is There should be longer than in nero route so that you get a better sense of who she is and that she’s Not What She Seems because that’s tamamo’s thing too, nero is there to contrast altera while tamamo parallels her. tamamo and altera are similar existences in how they’re natural enemies of humanity and tamamo’s desperate wish to keep living a happy life with hakuno despite that should be the setup for altera’s same wish in the route after it. tamamo’s team has a lot of “I don’t like you because we’re too similar” going on so that should be played up more especially in relation to altera too to really drive it in that there’s more to altera than initially seemed.

then altera route even more so than the previous two should really ramp the team dynamics the fuck up because everyone’s motives for siding with altera are so fucking vague and they interact maybe ONE time, which I guess is to give the idea that they’re hardly a team at all but that can be shown through them being incredibly hostile to each other too especially since they all want to help altera somehow but have very different ideas of how to go about that. it also wouldn't hurt to have nero and tamamo team up to fight altera in this route already (but not until nearly all their generals are already dead and they still can’t win) to set up for the secret route by showing it’s not impossible for them to team up they just did it way too late this time

then the SECRET route, again, fucking again, should have done SO much more with team dynamics. you can’t just throw the whole cast of a game advertised largely as a team thing together and not show us the fucking team dynamics, eggplant man. this is the route where you actually spend some quality time with nero again to make up for not really doing that in her route and there should be a few more tamamo scenes to balance it out too imo bc shit boi i love nero too but the favouritism is blatant and painful. then for the endgame make the velber core an actual fucking threat instead of whatever weak shit it was now that we are TOLD is very dangerous so that the saber venus transformation feels justified, and after that have archimedes pull some shit and fuse with it or whatever so that you can take control of titan altera and beat him to death with her bare fists because “determinism versus free will” is an ICONIC fate/series fistfight and it needs to be had. also for the ending have the freed from her ties to the umbral star altera be a fucking adult??? what the fuck was up with the child thing?????????? it seems cute at first but the longer I think about it the weirder it is and I get that the idea is that altera is “reborn” & now has the chance of a complete new life to live as a person instead of a tool of destruction but why the fuck couldn’t ADULT altera, the altera that we actually know and love and who deserves it far more than a child with her face, get that chance. we married her. we literally married altera the fucking bridal symbolism around her is insane why would you make her a child!! why!!!!!

overall the game should flesh out archimedes’ motives more because as it is now most of the details of his character are explained in extella material instead of the game proper (not even in his side story rip) so he comes across as pretty one-dimensional. above all it should be clear that he’s always hated humans for their irrationality and that his corruption by the umbral star isn’t a reason so much as an excuse for his actions

everyone’s side stories should be at least one stage longer too because 3 stages is basically fucking nothing especially in light of how little attention the side characters actually get in the main storyline. I really wouldn’t have minded that as much if they would just get proper side stories but they don’t. side stories would be THE place to go into team dynamics too but it just doesn’t fucking happen!! i know you’re good at writing lots of words nasu why didn’t you do it!!!! there should also be short myroom scenes with the side characters or at LEAST changing myroom lines with your bond level for them or something, you have a bond level that goes up to 30 and it just doesn’t fucking get used for anything except install skills and some scenes for the main girls.

the regalia was a very blatant bullshit button throughout the story, which you kind of NEED when you’re facing the literal embodiment of destruction, but its powers should’ve been explained more clearly and also used more subtly instead of having characters do crazy shit and then handwaving it with a “we used the regalia of course”

then for the GAMEPLAY hoboy. first of all there should’ve been way more maps. as it is now there’s what, five locations? not including bossfights. the game keeps telling me about how much the moon cell is expanding and how there’s whole new worlds being generated every day but it doesn’t show me that, it just shows me the same remixed 5 locations. there should’ve been more variation in stage objectives too because now every time it just comes down to “complete the regime matrix and then fight the boss” and it gets stale really fast, even with gimmicks like time limits or bloodfort andromeda it still all comes down to “conquer sectors then fight boss”. something like “defeat x number of servants” or even just “survive” in between those would’ve spiced things up. 

speaking of the expanding world the game really would’ve benefitted from some kind of central hub area where you can walk around and talk to your teammates and maybe some npcs so that you actually get the feeling of the moon cell being inhabited by more than just the cast of servants and hakuno, because the game keeps telling you that but never fucking shows it. it also would’ve made it really easy to make the story feel longer without even making it all that much longer just because you can spend some time walking around talking with people instead of being sent right into the next battle, as well as creating opportunities to give side characters some attention/characterisation/anything without causing them to distract from the main story.

the bossfights are underwhelming as hell. the white titan doesn’t feel like much of an unstoppable threat at all which could’ve very easily been solved with her just like. moving forward during your fight with her and part of the fight being that you actually have to get her attention in order to fight her because you’re just so insignificant to her. don’t even get me STARTED on the fight with velber because that shit was pathetic, the only way a weak ass final boss like that would be justified is if it wasn’t the actual final boss and was MEANT to give a feeling of “wait was that all?” but honestly even then it’d be bad because why would you waste saber venus on something like that. ideally you first have the fight as it is now, then there’s a second phase where archimedes pulls some shit and you have a REAL fight as saber venus, then archimedes goes super saiyan and titan altera comes in to punch him in the dick

god im so mad I’m honestly so fucking mad because i LOVE this game. I really love it. but it’s so bad and rushed when it COULD have been so great

[kkukkung]

Your tag on the wonho pic with the cushions was bad even for you and you tagged 'soft' after that I can't believe it

im a soft stan.. uwu

HUge ask compilation under the cut yikes omg

twitter*com / arya940115 / status / 850724933906735104 WATCH THIS BUNNY!

[link] i can’t believe i have anons that call me “bunny” jkfsdghg this is?? matty’s impact. and I KNOW hyungwon rly died? it’s so interesting how wonho is so soft but he can also… kill a man… this is so h*t

sncksndnxinsjdcjcdknckksnsnxnkzndidh ive been on ur blog for an hr and a half now just reajdng ur tags and i jsut jdjdnkdjsjdk wrow what a long ass ride n also i cant believe u have a mh furry tag i thogit i was the only ome kskdnndksd

do u ever see someone and u can just… picture them in a fursuit…. that’s lmh…. anyway im sorry u wasted….. so much of ur precious time on my blog omg but thank u…….. also…. what’s ur minhyuk furry tag 👀👀👀 gotta flesh out my collection

u kno blogs that are marked nsfw dont show up in tags 👀 (hdhdfh thats probably not why ur posts dont show up but lol)

hgfjkfjfsh bye…. i know other blogs have this problem too and i think it might have smth to do w spam and whatnot, like not every post the fy blogs post show up either so it’s just… some tumblr thing i reckon? honestly i don’t think i’m that……….. nsfw am i………… 

I aspired to b as funny as your tags are

my tags……. aren’t funny dghjkdf……………. my gf left me over how unfunny i am? i have a rly shitty sense of humour i laughed sm when minhyuk said wonho used to be a human faced fish like that was so fucking funny to me but ??? no1 else…. but thank u rly

twitter(.)com(/)OfficialMonstaX(/)status(/)849589491182338049 an ot7 photo where minhyuk isnt clinging to anyone!!!!!!

incredible…. i rmbr this….. i feel a bit like… empty inside this isn’t Right u kno jfksgdh…

You @ any pic: oh cool…wonder how lmh ties into this…..

ur not wrong… but i feel attacked rn fjhsgj idk lmh is just so fascinating to me!!!

you know abt vocal analysis?? i know a tumblr mx blog who did a few and was wondering if you could read them?

i haven’t heard abt this before but i just googled it and i think i get the Gist Of It… i’m interested! link me :3c i can’t promise i will be that insightful though!

Did you get my message about changkyun’s coughing? [i did sorry answering it now!!! jsghgf]

I’m kind of worried. Since like 3 months ago, Changkyun’s been coughing. And at first I thought it was nothing but it’s persistent and doesn’t seem to be getting better or going away. Coughing usually means something with the lungs or heart and I’m worried all the coughing effects his breathin. He’s my precious Lil baby and I may worry too much. But i hope he’s had it looked at cause coughing like that all the time can mess up the lungs pretty bad if untreated

yes me too :((( i’ve noticed this too and like…. in fact half of mx has been sick for this comeback and it just… makes me feel v :(((( u know. i do think changkyun’s the type to not let something get in the way of his ambitions and he would…. try to take care of himself? i hope he’s gotten it checked out too… it’s strange bc it’s not exactly a Persistent thing, like it’s just like he needs to clear his throat sometimes and it sounds v dry? :/// idk what that means but yeah hopefully it’ll… clear up soon… :

I think it’s because I’m too soft of a stan but I really started crying when wonho cried in that video what the fuck why would the hurt me like this. Also can we agree the rapping was a lil :/ hilarious but cute. PS. WHY WAS IT SO FUVKINH WHITE WASHED WHt

i just…. couldn’t take the crying seriously sjkfdhgf i felt embarrassed bc of how cheesy it was but ummmmm im still slowly unclenching my butt from that feeling minhyuk’s falsetto gave me. and yeah lmao the rap. lmao. also anon u sound v cute n sof;;

In one of your posts about wonho you said you “weep for you child who was bullied at school and grew up broken”, what do you mean, what happened? I didn’t know about this and I’m TT

omg anon sdfjkghfskj i wrote that tag complaining abt….. my flopping gifset kjsfdhg im sorry u misinterpreted dw i’m sure wonho never went through smth like that!

Jackson and minhyuk together in that gifset is 2 much who decided to put two extremely loud needy bisexuals together

“two extremely loud needy bisexuals” GBYE…. u ever see  characterisation so accurate ur soul leaves ur body momentarily bc

What’s your opinion on the collar/neck tie not attached to the shirt thing that Wonho wore for their KBS Music Bank performance? I’m not sure how to feel about it.

personally i think it’s sexi? u could dress wonho in some bubble wrap and that would b sexi? tbh i rly like the…. sleazy rich dude costuming for this era;;;

nation’s demon child lee minhyuk… won’t somebody save our pure, productive youths from his clutches?

im dissociating fjgkjg

what are your favorite mx ships (or just like two-person dynamics/relationships) with minhyuk in them :>

showhyuk… wonhyuk… kihyuk…. hyunghyuk… joohyuk… and recently changhyuk wait fuck that’s all of th-

seriously tho… tell me if u want me to speak abt smth specific i think ive written extensively on like all of these before… just feel like minhyuk rly…. has v v v intimate relationships in general

Hey ^^“ new monbebe here~ and what exactly is no mercy? is before debut, right? And you know where we can download/watch it? tysm

jsdfhjgh u probably won’t see this anon but yes no mercy is the survival show that mx debuted from… you can watch it on 1thek’s channel. here’s the first ep and it should be pretty easy to find from there!

did you see on the radio that wonho said that he feels awkward around shownu and then the members were like that’s why they go to the gym cause they don’t talk.. shownu when he’s around wonho: :D wonho when he’s around shownu: :S

[diff anon] Recently on the radio wonho said he’s most awkward with shownu 😭💔😭 what are your thoughts? Also hyungnu talk before sleeping what do you think they talk about 👀👀👀

on showho… wonho has said b4 that shownu still feels kinda ?? apologetic towards him bc of the leader business so i feel like that is the potential strain in their relationship :/ but i doubt they’re genuinely awkward w each other like…. when ur constantly around someone for like 3+ years… i doubt any mx coupling is awkward now? but yeah it’s likely that shownu… kind-hearted son hyunwoo… feels residual weirdness abt being the leader when it was originally wonho’s role. re hyungnu PLEASE gjkfhds they’re so close they rly…………. they’ve been close since the beginning of time like hyungwon has a lil fanboy crush on shownu and shownu thinks hyungwon is beautiful and funny and they just……………… idk they must vibe together so well bc they’re both quiet + kind and they just………… seem to chill together a lot these days e.g. playing billiards !!!! aaa and um i feel like they would talk abt everything i can’t narrow it down?? probably like… discuss funny things that happened during the day and shownu tells a joke and hyungwon laughs for 5 minutes straight bc once he starts he doesn’t stop sgfhj

thsi is so stupid but u kno kihyun’s pose from beautiful where hes like,, turned away from the camera n a lil hunched over w/ his arms out i just,, just fuckin think of those grainy pics of bigfoot like i see kihyun n its like C R Y P T I D S P O T T E D

i hate this fgdjhfjk i feel like changkyun is a real cryptid btw (the part where he’s like…. sliding across???)?? anyway when will kihyun pop me via telepathy

Wonho gripping the straw of his coffee drink with his entire fist fkrkgkk why is he such a babie

feel like wonho was a lil bit spoilt/rolling in love as a kid and grew into this… manchild (not the annoying kind tho bc he’s also… v mature…) i love him sm….

Wow do u think minhyuk and kihyun are such good frens because they both love to act fake cute…..These Scorpio antics

YES!!!!! i think they’re v different kinds of fake-cute tho like, w kihyun it’s kind of…. nauseating when he does it on purpose like the way he plops down into chairs omg (gjhkfsdgk im sry) but w minhyuk it’s like he’s mastered how to b cute without being too much so that it leaks into his natural expression? but anyway when kihyun isn’t cute on purpose but is….. CUTE nonetheless… that’s when it Gets me u kno.

You aren’t the only one to notice how PD-nim cuts Wonho’s answers, and exploits his reactions. It’s not that I don’t love his precious self being exposed and tbh I gain life everytime Kiho laughs but the parts that sticks are the ones when he tries to pacify the situation. I think he steps back on variety but can show his true colors/raise his voice in NON-FORMAT programs(?) as RIGHT NOT/DEOKSPATCH/X-RAY. Plus it seems like he’s an audience type than the jokester one…

“show his true colors” jfskdhg yes on kinda.. external programs they don’t show much of him :(( and i think he’s just generally less comfortable speaking in those situations (even on radio shows he’s vvvv quiet…. and this era especially i feel like he’s been sort of Even More Quiet? but where there’s a production + filming team he’s working with that he starts to get familiar with mb he opens up more… anyway yes i agree he’s definitely someone who likes to observe what’s going on rather than directly contribute to the action in external variety/talk programs!

full offence but your tags give me life thank u

thank u?? thank U

my mom likes shownu because she thinks hes a: traditional, manly, well fit, and "expensive” looking man sunshwwjhsbe what but she looked at changkyun was like “who is this hunk” and said “he looks like the type to pay for 500$ meal” jsHWNHSJWYSHWH

(this is for when i asked who everyone’s mum’s fave member was fjkdhg) THAT’S RLY CUTE but im screaming changkyun is the furthest thing from a hunk (quote wonho: his life will b in danger if he doesn’t exercise) and he’d probably take u to his dim studio and feed u cup ramen on a date??? jkdfhgkj

I can’t believe Hyungwon gave us a hacker version of the Iconic Math lady meme on Amigo TV. I guess you could say he’s [hacker voice] ‘All In’.

THIS IS AWFUL jgsfhdjk……… i feel like hyungwon is rly transparent with his expressions like everything shows on his face?? like u can see the cogs whirring in his head when he’s thinking he’s rly so so s o pure :( lov him

damn, i.m

delete this?

“annals of time" 

i forgot when i tagged this and in relation to what but jkfdsghjksdfjkkjdfhdskjhfkghkjsfjksgh

annie ….. what hav you done to me :// i’ve began talking like .. this ?? i call my bias raw fish now :(

i hate this fjkgdshsdnjkggf ???? ? i don’t want this either !!!!!!!!!! but my internet persona? ??  cant u see im tryign,,, so hardf.,,, ,all the goddamned time…,,,,,, who is ur bias who is raw fish gfjkdhg (also i only called wonho raw chicken ONCE let me livevnsjkfdhj)

i feel like out of all the weird shit one could possibly be into .. elbow slurping isnt rly too wild like theres so Much out there tht im not mad at it. jus. just go ahead. take a fucking slorp babes

gkjdfsnbvdsjkfghksjfdghfsjkdhgkkjfahskdskjfhksjhkfsjhfkjsfhkjsfdhsjkdfjksfhdjkshfjkshfnjksvjdfnvdfjkgsdfjkndfjgndfjkgndsjkgnskdljngdjkgjkdsgkjsnd

hyungwon is my grandpa who rants @ me for 2 hours abt how his grandchildren never visit and are too loud when they do and how kids these days are always talking about wigs and their dads and then handing me a pile of Werther’s Original™ hard candies before hobbling off to take a nap

why is this so…… detailed and…. accurate…..

Hey sorry to bother you, but do you know whens it’s going to be the first MX’s award show, and where can i watch it? I’m always lost when it’s about this kind of thing e.e Anyway , have a nice day :3

IM RLY SORRY JSFGHKJSFG i hope u found it….. im sry im…. i never answer things in time but;;;;;;;; yes it was on m countdown and u can watch it on the mwave website as well as the mnet youtube channel!

I jus screamed at the phrase "made from the same fursuit” I wanna die

i literally get half my gross terminology from katie?? she made me this way

what are your thoughts on all of the different wonho ships? 👀

i want to…. nest myself in all the warm bonds wonho has formed w every member but especially wonhyuk and wonkyun i think?

the new yang nam show pix made me start thinking what do u think mx wear as jammies fr?? 🤔 besides wonho who just. Lets it free. I feel like ck would b one of those ppl who wears full jammie sets tbqh

why does this sound like matty…. they talk abt their pj preference in that one fancam i can’t find rn sjfdhg but tbh all i took from it was…… wonho……. but yes definitely i think ck would like that…. wants 2 feel Complete and Covered and Neat…

hey!! about the choreo thing, i feel that tbh. i think because so much of fandom is focused on being mad positive all the time, it feels like you can’t notice anything that isn’t 'just so’, but honestly, i do wish their choreo came out better on screen :/ another thing, and i don’t blame them for it, but it helps to keep the lines themselves clean so that no matter what it’s all good angle wise? got7 has trouble w/ that too (everyone dances their own way instead of together, yfm)

yes…………………………. i agree and i just… feel like their choreo is so much Effort but it’s not exactly flashy for all that energy they exhaust as well??? nd yeah what i said abt camera angles… this time the selling point w the jacket choreo was a good touch tho imo but it still………….. isn’t………………. what it Could Be idk i just feel like everything could be flashier and that might help them trend more dance-wise bc rn like tbh i don’t rly know what monsta x is known for? alsoooo what u said abt fandom being mad positive all the time i feel that sm like especially in this fandom… ppl rly pedestal the boys sm and sometimes… idk… overpraise their music when tbqh…. there isn’t….. that much Unique abt it…..? :0

wonhontology (.) tumblr (.) com / post / 158743886921 What a coincidence?!, seems like your scorpio boy has a vore kink and a nipple fixation… #AnWonHyuk

wonhontology tumblr com /post/158743886921 In the second one, isn’t Minhyuk trying to bite Wonho’s nipple? 0.0

[link] i can’t believe i didn’t see this gsjfdhg i love my vore kink nipple biter boy??? ***** *** *** **** ** **** ***** ***???????????????

lostinmonstax (.) tumblr (.) com / post / 158736187961/ tummy-flash did you see that?

[link] um fuck he’s so toned gjskhdfjksdhfk

Hi I love you

i love u 17 days late??? fdskgkjg

somtimes i have a strong urge to call minhyuk my lizard man in my tags this is ur impact annie

i can’t believe ppl r finally beginning to see lmh for who he rly is….. my lizard brethren

the beautiful mv is already to 2 million views and i am weeping… also i am really digginghoseok’s new grey/silver/no-longer-blonde hair.

u can jus.t…. tel lhow old this ask is by its contents jkgfhdsjkgs im the worst im sry but aa… thinking abt… all the hope we had…. 3 weeks ago… makes me :’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’———-))))))))))

cant believe that thigh wrestling gif cut out the part where minhyuk almost reveals his lizard self after wonho smacks his ass hard enough to make him jump a little and break thru his human disguise but tries to stay casual. wongo resistant ass

the. ass slap changed my life btw…. a lil bit of Inner Lee Minhyuk leaked out hfjkgfsdjkhg also this ask is so…………………… im scremaing at every part of it like it rly gets better w every word

hey,,,,,I love this blog,,,,, thank u

i lov u???????????/ this is a terrible lbogblglbo?

ppl have been pointing out how ur url says wonho but ur avatar says minhyuk but i cant beleaf no one has pointed out that the lil moon on ur desktop blog theme says 'rly a changkyun stan but don’t tell any1’ i’m on2 ur secrets 👀

👀👀👀👀👀

STAN SHIN HOSOCK, since he allowed Wonho’s freedom!

??? im sorry what does this mean jkfgkj

[travelworldnetwork]

By Jessica Jones

17 December 2018

A pessebre, a Catalan nativity scene, contains all the usual suspects. There’s Mary and Joseph gazing down lovingly at baby Jesus, sleeping in his manger. There are the oxen, gently lowing, and perhaps some shepherds. But look closer, and hidden among the traditional characters is a little figure, trousers down, doing his business right in the middle of the holy scene.

The caganer – literally ‘defecator’ – is a staple of Christmas in Catalonia in north-east Spain. The traditional figure depicts a peasant wearing black trousers, a white shirt and the classic red Catalan cap – the barretina. He may also be smoking a pipe and reading a newspaper.

It’s like the funny part of something that is supposed to be very serious

“It’s like the funny part of something that is supposed to be very serious – the nativity,” laughed caganer collector Marc-Ignasi Corral, 53, from Barcelona. Yes, the figure is so popular it even has its very own society, the Friends of the Caganer Association (L’associació Amics del Caganer), of which Corral is a proud member. Founded in 1990, the society has around 70 members – some from as far afield as Mexico – who meet twice a year.

Traditional caganers are made from clay, fired in a kiln of more than 1,000C, then hand-painted. As the industry has grown, the caganer has evolved; now there are many different kinds, both in design and material.

“I’ve got ones made of soap, I’ve got chocolate ones, but those are meant to be eaten of course,” said Corral, whose bookshelves are dotted with his collection of more than 200 caganers. “I’ve got glass ones… I’ve seen them made from Nespresso capsules.”

View image of The caganer, or ‘defecator’, is a staple of Christmas in Spain’s Catalonia region (Credit: Credit: Campillo Rafael/Alamy)

You may also be interested in: • Is this where Santa is really from? • Europe’s terrifying Christmas tradition • The Guatemalan deity of vice

Firmly planted in folk tradition, the roots of the caganer are vague, but generally agreed to date from around the late 17th or early 18th Century when the prevailing Baroque tradition, both in Catalonia and beyond, focused on realism in art, sculpture and literature. In their book El Caganer, authors Jordi Arruga and Josep Mañà write: “This was a time characterised by extreme realism… all of which relied heavily on descriptions of local life and customs. Here, working conditions and homelife were used as artistic themes.”

One real-life depiction was the caganer.

The reason it has been passed down the generations, however, is clear: the idea of defecating has long been linked to everything from good luck to prosperity to good health.

“Excrement equals fertilisation equals money equals luck and prosperity. Or so say the anthropologists,” said historian Enric Ucelay-Da Cal, emeritus professor at Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University.

“It is said that to not put a caganer in the crib will bring bad luck,” added caganer maker Marc Alos Pla, whose family runs caganer.com, the world’s biggest caganer producer. This year he predicts sales will surpass 30,000.

View image of The caganer is believed to date back to the late 17th or early 18th Century, when realism was the focus of art (Credit: Credit: Miquel Benitez/Getty Images)

And far from seeing the caganer as uncouth or even graphic, Catalans have a relaxed view of them as merely depicting a natural act.

“We don’t see it as rude. I mean as rude as when you go to the toilet,” Corral laughed. “We hide things – we’re in a society where we’re hiding everything. We hide death for instance.”

Furthermore, Catalans do not stop at one Christmas tradition.

Caga Tió, literally the ‘Defecating Log’ (also called the Tió de Nadal, the ‘Christmas Log’) is also a staple in many Catalan homes in the run-up to Christmas.

It has a pleasantly subversive quality, naughty but nice

On the feast of the Immaculate Conception, on 8 December, families start ‘feeding’ Caga Tió scraps of food. He is covered with a blanket to keep him warm until, on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, when he has had enough to ‘eat’, the children hit him with sticks while singing a song that encourages him to defecate:

Caga tió / poo log Caga torró, avellanes i mató / poo nougat, hazelnuts and mató (cheese) Si no cagues bé / if you don’t poo well, et daré un cop de bastó / I’ll hit you with a stick Caga tió / poo log!

For the log doesn’t produce any old excrement… he defecates Christmas presents.

Before hitting the Tió, children go to another part of the house to pray for him to bring them gifts, while their parents take the opportunity to stash small treats like Christmas sweets under the blanket.

“The Tió seems to be a pretty old Christmas idea… in medieval times it was found all over Europe, from Scandinavia down to the Western Mediterranean: the idea of a ‘Yule Log’, which lasted until about World War Two,” Ucelay-Da Cal said.

View image of Another Catalan Christmas tradition, the Caga Tió defecates presents after children hit him with a stick (Credit: Credit: Emilio Ereza/Alamy)

What is it about these traditions, which in other parts of the world might be seen as explicit or rude, that attracts so many Catalans?

“I love the transgression of norms, the tradition they represent and the artwork in itself,” Corral explained, while Ucelay-Da Cal said the caganer “has a pleasantly subversive quality, naughty but nice, as it were.”

In fact, the themes of defecation are reserved not only for Christmas, but run like a common thread through Catalan culture, from idioms to art.

“This fits in with a Catalan (and Spanish) taste for egalitarianism: everybody [poos], however important they may be,” said Ucelay-Da Cal.

View image of Catalans have a relaxed view of the caganer, seeing them as merely depicting a natural act as opposed to being uncouth (Credit: Credit: Miquel Benitez/Getty Images)

When it comes to language, Catalan is filled with stool-related sayings and idioms. Where in English we might say two extremely close people are ‘as thick as thieves’ and in Spanish that phrase would be ‘como uña y carne’ (like [finger] nail and flesh), Catalans say two are people are like ‘cul i mierda’ – backside and excrement.

“There is a cliché that Germanic languages are [full of] faecal metaphors, while Romance languages stress virility. Certainly the Spanish tradition – and very specifically Catalan scatological custom – would deny this affirmation,” Ucelay-Da Cal said.

Defecation has also appeared in Catalan art and literature going back hundreds of years.

Everybody poos, however important they may be

In his book, Barcelona, which looks at Catalan history, art and culture, art critic Robert Hughes writes that the figure of the caganer “makes an unmistakable entrance into 20th-Century art” in the work of Joan Miró.

Look closely at Miró’s 1921-22 painting The Farm, and you will see what looks like a small child squatting close to his mother while she does the washing.

This boy, Hughes writes, “is none other than the caganer of Miró’s childhood Christmases. It may also be Miró himself, the future painter of Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement (1935).”

View image of The theme of defecation fits in with a Catalan (and Spanish) taste for egalitarianism (Credit: Credit: Campillo Rafael/Alamy)

Catalan writers, too, have long depicted the scatological, with Hughes arguing that it is firmly entrenched in Catalan folk tradition. “…There has always been a vigorous strain of scatological humour in [Catalan] folk songs, folk poetry and educated verse,” he writes.

He cites one verse in particular, in the 13th-Century Versos Bruts (Coarse Poems), which recounts a discussion between two nobles in which they describe “One hundred noble ladies who went to sea in a boat and, becalmed, got back to shore by farting in chorus into its sails.”

One area of Catalan culture you might assume stays firmly away from the scatological is food – but, inevitably, you would be wrong. Feeling peckish, you might wander into a Catalan bakery and be confronted with a popular baked good known – rather unappetisingly – as a ‘pet de monja’, or ‘nun’s fart’.

View image of A caganer of a yellow ribbon, a symbol of solidarity with Catalonia’s jailed independence leaders, should be a bestseller (Credit: Credit: LLUIS GENE/Getty Images)

And even Catalan politics has taken a toilet-humour turn, with the region’s strong independence movement reflected in recent caganer bestsellers. Exiled former regional president Carles Puigdemont is a favourite, and in 2017, a Tweety Pie caganer sold out (when the Spanish government sent in extra police to control the 2017 independence referendum, they slept on a ship whose exterior featured a gigantic Tweety Pie).

In 2018, a caganer of a yellow ribbon sporting a pair of big eyes and a mouth depicting the symbol used in solidarity with Catalonia’s jailed independence leaders – is expected to be a bestseller.

The caganer is now turning into a way of keeping a memory of living history

“It’s a reflection of what is happening,” said Corral. “The caganer is now turning into a way of keeping a memory of living history. It’s a reality. We have political prisoners.”

While caganers have not reached the worldwide ubiquity of the Christmas tree, they are becoming increasingly well known outside Catalonia. The figures have long been a tradition in areas of Portugal and Naples, Italy, and are also gaining fans further afield.

“In the caganer society we have members from Italy, Germany, Japan, the United States, so it’s an international society,” Corral said.

In fact, around 50% of caganer.com’s foreign sales are shipped to the US, according to Alos Pla, with popular figures including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Alos Pla predicts that Donald Trump and David Bowie will sell in large numbers this year.

View image of Today, many celebrities, politicians and even popular fictional characters have their own caganer (Credit: Credit: Toni Vilches/Alamy)

Whether you give someone a caganer of someone they love or loathe is up to you – but many people take it as a compliment:

“For many famous people it has become an honour to have their own caganer,” said Alos Pla.

Corral is more blunt. “I mean if you don’t have a caganer, you are nobody nowadays.”

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