#it takes a literal insane person to fall in love with a killer

[axelsthoughtss]

When is Fadel gonna realize that he never really stood a chance the moment Style laid his eyes on him?

[bwat5-blog]

Caitlyn Kiramman: The Perfect Scapegoat

*Spoilers For Arcane*

Good morning all! So continuing my slow descent into insanity let us discuss Arcane once more. Last night trying to fall asleep I was scrolling Archive and came across another of what I think I have seen being called "aftermath" works, just meaning it is the particular author's spin on Cait and Vi's life fairly immediately following the end of season two.

I am not going to name the work or the author because fan-fiction is literally creative art for the author to do with as they please, and I certainly don't have to read anything I don't want to, so I have no desire to call this person out. But I have seen this sort of thing a lot and wanted to discuss it.

"Caitlyn has to face the consequences for her crimes"

Now I have read some truly abhorrent concepts of "justice" people have put Caitlyn through for her actions, and won't be going there. Some are downright inhuman and others just display a hilarious lack of understanding. But the reason this one stuck with me and really had me thinking is that even though it was not the author's intent based on their notes, I actually think they actually did a fantastic job sharing another side of how Caitlyn was utterly failed by almost everyone around her.

In this particular work, the surviving councilors and the prominent people of Piltover have Caitlyn arrested and conduct a tribunal. Including Mel and Shoola. She is called to answer for a host of charges such as allying with a foreign power against her own people, wrongful imprisonment and so on. You get the idea.

So why does this particular idea stick out to me? Because the audacity of the same people who practically fed Caitlyn to Ambessa, as well as surrendered Piltover while pounding their chests and cheering blaming Caitlyn is so nauseatingly realistic it hurts.

QUICK THING ON MEL:

Now let me clear. Mel would never. And had she been there she would have put a stop to that shit or at the very least nodded along while her mother called Caitlyn up then went to Caitlyn afterward in private and started fixing things. But, it is worth noting that Mel knew full and completely what her mother was planning in terms of starting a war to weaponize hex-tech. And as far as we are aware (I think we can assume she told Alora but we don't know for sure) didn't tell anyone. She was trying to stop her behind the scenes through her shadow games. And there are reasons and justifications for that certainly. In fact I think it's safe to assume Mel may have been afraid her mother would just outright attack if Mel was too aggressive in opposing her. Mel was a politician only at this time, and solved problems through more cerebral methods. Even when her magic manifests it is one primarily of protection and deflection, not head on aggression. Not to mention Mel's unavoidable conflicting emotions opposing her at all. But we will never how things could have been different if the rest of the council were aware of Ambessa's plan to begin with.

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:

This is primarily about her actual time as commander but I wanted to touch on the task force. I recently was discussing the task force/use of The Grey with another user and they stated Caitlyn staged a coup to lead the task force. This of course is in no way true, but as my wife put it:

"She didn't stage a coup but not a single one of those spineless adults thought to look at the emotionally sandblasted college kid and say -No. You haven't even taken a beat since you were abducted and terrorized by your mother's killer and you have just survived another fight. We will figure this out but you don't need this right now. Go hug your incredibly hot girlfriend and take like a fifteen hour nap- instead they let themselves take the easy way out and pinned it all on Caitlyn."

The Commander:

I am not gonna do a whole recap or a break-down of how Ambessa plays these people like a fiddle again. If you are interested I'd love to hear your thoughts on the documents where I have covered those topics!

In Summary: Caitlyn has returned from her mission with the strike team ending in heartbreak and failure in terms of Jinx at least. Totally isolated and alone, not having healed from any of the trauma she has suffered since the beginning of S1 A2, she stands with the other Enforcers while Ambessa expertly manipulates the prominent families of Piltover, the two surviving councilors, and a large amount of Enforcers you would have to assume included leadership (given their presence here and that there clearly many more than this total) into not only agreeing to Martial Law, but to Caitlyn as their commander.

"Caitlyn could have said no"- This is certainly true. I don't think anyone is arguing that myself included. Bu it is extraordinarily important to factor in Caitlyn's mental state at this point which includes a completely mind-boggling amount of trauma. As well as the fact that her people are angry and afraid, and as a Kiramman even at her young age she is someone they look to. Now sprinkle in a healthy amount of mob mentality and manipulation by Ambessa, as she is standing in a crowd of people thumping their chests while the only speaking member of her team stands by her side smiling and encouraging her to go up and accept. And then just to seal the deal Ambessa promises what Caitlyn wants most "your mother will have justice". She absolutely had the choice to say no. I am not negating that. But I do think unless you are intentionally disregarding all of the other factors involved in order to demonize her it is quite clear that things were not so simple. She ultimately made the choice, but ignoring the context doesn't make you righteous. Only ignorant, unfeeling, or both.

And for all those who love rolling out the old "Caitlyn jumped at the first chance to take power and punish all of Zaun just because her mom died" speech, lets take a look at how Caitlyn is actually feeling:

I can only speak for me, but let me tell you what I see playing out in these images point by point:

Shock

Fear

Conflict

Reassurance

Nervousness

Stoic sadness

Acceptance of responsibility

A FUCKING FIFTY SOMETHING YEAR OLD CONQUERING WAR-MONGER SEEING HER DREAM COME TRUE

But! Stepping away from Caitlyn for a moment back to more of my original point. Caitlyn and Ambessa were not alone during this moment. Ambessa had instructed Salo to summon all people of prominence and power or something to that effect. Basically the people who had a say in how things go. These are the people she puppets into agreeing to Martial Law and Caitlyn as their commander. Let's take a look at these heroes:

*Salo was there but I couldn't get a great still of him and I will give him a pass at least in the moment because Rictus was threatening him*

There were more people than this but these were the ones that I could grab in decent quality. And these were the people to make the decision. Otherwise Ambessa would not have needed them all there and gone through her whole song and dance. And I understand the argument that some of them were probably afraid due to the Noxian's doing their stomp dance, but guess what? If the adult politicians and people in power get that grace so does the college kid who recently got emotionally and mentally nuked back to the stone age.

Every single one of them let this happen. They could have stepped during it, they could have taken action after. Salo and Shoola were on the council with Cassandra. They both watch her daughter get served up on a plate to Ambessa so everyone can go about their lives feeling safer and pretending its all handled. There were enforcers there more than twice Caitlyn's age. Someone there was a position of leadership at some level. Not a single damn one made a move? Questioned? An assembly of probably between 30-50 people made up of Piltover's elite all bury their heads in the sand and let the grieving, inexperienced, young, recently returned from violent conflict college kid take the heat so they can go back to easy street and blame someone else if things go wrong.

AWARD FOR SPECTACULAR FAILURE:

We of course cannot touch on the prominent people of Piltover who might as well have spartan kicked Caitlyn into Ambessa's open maw without talking about Tobias. Listen, Anyone who has been following me for any length of time has seen my relentless attempts to get people to recognize the importance of understanding how grief and loss hits people. This man lost his wife. His entire world got turned upside down. And I don't deny that at a point even if he had stepped in Caitlyn may have shut him down as she became the leader of house Kiramman anyway. But he does.... nothing... Part of this probably just comes down to the decision by the writers for him to kind of vanish but we see him defending her efforts to help early on and then when she has so clearly lost her way we get nothing from him.

Martial Law:

So as I said, I have been through all of this in detail. Not doing it again. But since we are talking about it what did Caitlyn actually do?

Establish Checkpoints and take martial control of Zaun.

Arrest people who violated the law.

.............

Piltover elite willingly agree to Martial Law

Piltover elite agree to Caitlyn being made leader

Zaun falls under Piltover jurisdiction regardless of Martial Law or not

Somewhere in Zaun is a dangerous terrorist guilty of multiple political assassinations, the deaths of several enforcers, tremendous destruction of property, multiple attempts to murder Caitlyn herself, and violent abduction of Caitlyn who at the time was a councilor's daughter from her own home.

Zaunite fighters conduct devastating attack on memorial service in what is supposed to be a secure location. Jinx would almost certainly be suspected of involvement but even if not once again the threat comes from Zaun.

The leader they chose, who is the leader because of the martial law they agreed to, places Zaun under occupation until this clear and unquestionable threat to public safety is located. She challenges unlawful arrests, unnecessary violence, bans the use of the worst cells in Stillwater she found Vi in, and has no part in Ambessa's secret experiments and brutality in the bowels of the prison.

None of this is to say that Caitlyn did not make mistakes, did not lose herself to her rage and hate, or does not share in the blame to a degree for the suffering Ambessa caused. I think it is fair to say that Caitlyn, much like those who failed her so spectacularly, looked away from the truth because it was easier to do so at first. And that is not even factoring the massive manipulation of Ambessa upon Caitlyn during this time to keep the occupation going while she continues to try and crack hex-tech, and attempting to control Caitlyn and bend her to her will.

But the idea of the people who all turned away while Caitlyn was made Ambessa's scapegoat so they could sleep peacefully at night condemning her from on high is both disgusting, and sadly all too believable. They have already proved their cowardice and stupidity. And it would be the final betrayal of someone who wanted above all else to protect her people to subject her to some sort of tribunal/punishment in the wake of surviving her cities complete abandonment of her. Especially considering her massive life-changing injuries sustained in the defense of humanity itself while setting things right.

Regarding Zaun:

The people of Zaun are for obvious reasons another matter. There is the larger picture ongoing oppression of Zaun by Piltover to consider, and even considering all the above factors the people of Zaun:

A- Would not have any way to know how much of part Ambessa played behind the scenes until someone made it all public

B- Were the ones who actually suffered during the occupation that Caitlyn did authorize regardless of reasoning.

And just like above, I am not saying Caitlyn does not share in the blame for what occurred. While everything she did was within her scope of authority, an authority lawfully granted to her, and in response to a very legitimate threat to Piltover's safety, it does not change the fact that people imprisoned during the occupation were potentially subjected to Ambessa's brutality. Never mind the day-to-day brutality enacted by Rictus and his men.

But again there are other factors that need to be considered before constructing the gallows:

Piltover's oppression of Zaun is unquestionable. But neither is Piltover's current legal jurisdiction over Zaun. Every action Caitlyn took and was knowledgeable of was completely legal, no matter how wrong you find the law.

The Grey- I am absolutely not doing my whole breakdown again. But through the use of the grey they helped take down Shimmer and the Chem-Barons, which were both enormous threats to the under city. And while it uncomfortable and clearly dangerous when exposed over long periods of time, there is absolutely no evidence of it being dangerous from short term exposure how Caitlyn used it.

And of course, the biggest factor: JINX.

I'll make all of you a deal. Caitlyn gets a noose if Jinx hops up next to her. I love Jinx but it serves no purpose to pretend she's an angel. Jinx is the one who kicks all of this off to begin with. It is because of her that Piltover retaliation is guaranteed, because of her Caitlyn's entire life so violently and radically changes course. And let's be clear here, before you start with all that Jinx was striking out against the oppressors who had ruined her peoples lives in the name of justice and blah blah blah. Nope. Know how I know that? She hid during the entire occupation until Isha got taken. She wasn't speaking truth to power in the name of her people. She was a mentally ill child lashing out at a symbol of her rage in a moment of extraordinary grief and pain. And regarding her hiding by the way, I applauded her for it. Getting away from all of that shit is how she started to get better. As far as I'm concerned I would have cheered to see she and Isha leave that temple fight, board an airship, and head off for adventures far away from Piltover and Zaun forever (Same for Caitlyn and Vi but that's a different document).

So all that said, while Caitlyn certainly has a debt to the people of Zaun, we need to take care not to wrap that up with the debt Piltover owes to Zaun.

Caitlyn is not to blame for the entire history of the two cities. She only played a part in this series of events. And it would be dishonest not to admit that it was a Zaunite that started in the first place, the same Zaunite who changed Caitlyn's life forever through her violence and terrorism. And that the same woman who manipulated Zaunite warriors into attacking Piltover to help kick the war off manipulated Caitlyn herself.

If Silco's mad daughter can become their symbol of hope, and his most trusted lieutenant can become their first councilor, perhaps the people of Zaun can find mercy in their heart for a young woman who recently almost gave her life to make things right. Not to mention her families seat on the council.

Anyway. You have all heard most of this from me before in some form or fashion. So I apologize for that. And again I really am not coming for fan-fiction. I would be the ULTIMATE hypocrite given my recent small efforts. The particular story that got my attention just made me think about it, and then realize it would be sickeningly true to form for the Piltover elite to try and turn on Caitlyn when it was all said and done when they abandoned her the first time. And spawned into this. Thank you for reading.

Have a great day!

[sombredancer]

Asian dramas and my favorite types of characters

There are my favorite types of characters as a list. A villain with a fatal weakness

Drama: The Scholar Who Walks the Night /밤을 걷는 선비 Character: Gwi Screentime: Secondary Gwi is an ancient vampire and a master of puppets (and Joseon's king is the main of them). He is merciless, invincible and scheming all the drama long, until he accidentally kills a girl, who was his hostage and recalcitrant puppet from her childhood on and was the only one who could scold him and deny him. Nothing about it is said directly in the drama, but after her death he goes insane, kills all of his puppets and this way causes his own death. So, I suppose, she was his only weakness, and I like this type of a personal drama for a villain. Punch-Clock Villain / the Dragon

Drama: 100 Days My Prince /백일의 낭군님 Character: Moo-yeon Screentime: Secondary Moo-yeon works as an assassin for the killer of his father, who is constantly threatening him with the life of his sister. Moo-yeon is a man of a very ill fate: his family was accused of a treason and executed, his sister became a fugitive, he was forced to sell his conscience for his and sister's lives and, as a cherry on the top of this cake, fell in love with the daughter of his captor. And died trying to save her... His story is sooooo sad, but it makes me feel for this character fully. Also, he is the king of whump because the half of the drama he is injured and suffers from his wounds. The whole sad story of this guy is analyzed by me here, here and here.

Drama: The King Loves /왕은 사랑한다 Character: Moo-suk Screentime: Minor Koreans, obviously, like this type of characters, too, so there is another Dragon of the main villain, Moo-suk. In his free from dirty deeds time he h̶e̶l̶p̶s̶ ̶o̶l̶d̶ ̶l̶a̶d̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶c̶r̶o̶s̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶o̶a̶d̶ literally saves cute children and restores self-confidence of young ladies. And then he falls in love, rethinks his life and dies from the hand of his master. Predictable and sad. Still a memorable guy, though. 50 shades of a Byronic Hero

Drama: The Wolf / 狼殿下 Character: Chu Youwen Screentime: Main A Mowgli boy was adopted by a wicked emperor, brought up like a cruel beast and was forced to do some dirty stuff for the emperor. He is mysterious, severe and you never know what's on his mind. As a true Byronic hero. He is some kind of Dragon, too, but it's a Chinese drama and he is a main hero in it, that's why he doesn't really do anything bad during the series. His soul is kind and his heart is pure, but he hides it from his love and deals with all of his problems on his own. It's the reason why all of this drama is a masochistic tango between him and his love. Whump lovers will be happy, too, because he is constantly in chains, pierced by arrows like a hedgehog or works as a slave in mines. As any other Dragon, he has a BE.

Drama: Lost You Forever /长相思 第一季 Character: Xiang Liu Screentime: Secondary A mysterious demon general, whose name makes everyone shake in fear. A former demon slave, who is true to his word enough to fight for his benefactor even if he knows crystal clearly that it's hopeless and he and his army will die in the end. A man who has huge problems with expression of his emotions in a socially approved way. Edward Cullen of Chinese dramaland. He is enigmatic, with thick vibes of a bad guy, yet very loyal to his benefactor as well as his love and very selfless. Because of this loyalty he will die and the love of his life will never-ever find out about anything he has done for her during the story.

Drama: My Journey to You /云之羽 Character: Gong Shangjue Screentime: Secondary A guy was through trauma in his childhood and it made him look intimidating and unfeeling. A tsundere is born! He coped with his trauma by taking extra responsibilities for everything and everyone and turned to be a walking killing machine instead of a man. But an enemy assassin comes to his life and teaches him how to be a human once more. It's a painful experience, but it`s necessary in order to grow up as a character and is beautifully fulfilled. It was a great joy to know that he survives at the end of the story, it's a rare thing for this type of characters, so even if there is season 2 someday, I will not watch it in order not to spoil my impression of the first one. I wrote about him detailed here, here, here and here.

Drama: Princess Agents / 特工皇妃楚乔传 Character: Yan Xun Screentime: Secondary It's the transformation story, too, like a previous one, but this time it's transformation from an ordinary man to a villain. Prince Yan Xun is a hostage colony prince in a metropolis empire, but he enjoys a noble life along with other nobility youth. The society around him is awful, each of these noble youths is a psycho who appreciate human hunt and so on, but cheerful and easy-going Yan Xun doesn't think their bloodthirstiness could turn against him. When relationship between the metropolis and the colony become tense, though, Yan Xun's friends of yesterday are happy to drink his blood. He loses his whole family and, insanely longing for revenge, slowly turns to one of those monsters himself.

Drama: Fangs of Fortune / 大梦归离 Characters: Li Lun Screentime: Secondary The Great Demon was dumped by his boyfriend because of his aggressive ways of protecting people of his own species and still can't get over their break-up. He goes through all five stages of acceptance of their break-up while being a villain of the story. In the end his obsession brings him to his doom, because he loves his ex-friend too much. He is morally grey yet a versatile and interesting character. I wrote about him here: 1 , 2, 3 and 4.

Drama: A Journey to Love / 一念关山 Character: Li Tongguang Screentime: Minor This guy has got a very realistic personality and background: he is a bastard who was deprived of mother's love since he was a child. The first circumstance made him power-hungry, scheming and outwardly emotionless, the second one made him longing for mother's love on insanely level. So he is invincible outwardly, but turns into a teary mess when it's about his female tutor, who is a mother figure for him. The contrast between these two personalities is enormous and makes this character very alive and interesting. During the drama he will not cope with his Oedipus complex but circumstances will solve this problem for him.

A pure-hearted hero

Drama: Creation of the Gods Ⅰ / 封神三部曲 Character: Ji Fa Screentime: Main It's maybe strange to find this type of characters in the list of my favorite types, but morality and selflessness of a character is very important for me, too. This story is some kind of King Arthur's legend, but in a Chinese way. The emperor is bewitched by a demon and is bringing the kingdom to it's downfall, the Gods are here to find the savior with the help of a magic scroll that can be opened only by a true king. Ji Fa, a hero of this story, doesn't care about scrolls, but his heart is loyal to his kingdom and to his family (in this very order). He genuinely wants to help his friend-prince to be a king his kingdom deserves and, despite awful things that were done to him and his family, doesn`t harden his soul and betray his ideals. And, I suppose, although he isn't aware of this, he IS the future King Arthur of China. Interesting character decisions

Drama: The Legends/招摇 Characters: Jiang Wu Screentime: Minor This character is something like a rival of the male lead. He is a xinmo - an inner demon of some other character and represents the darkest features of a human's soul. He is a ruthless killer, a dark sorcerer without conscience, but what was very unique, being literary the worst part of a human personality, he values his assistants a lot and genuinely cares for them. A villain is usually a lone wolf. He doesn't trust anyone and doesn't value anyone, his loneliness is usually his weakness and a key to his downfall. So I was pleasantly surprised that sometimes a villain is capable of building healthy relationships with his subordinates.

Drama: Sh**ting Stars / 별똥별 Characters: Do Soo-hyuk Screentime: Minor

This guy truly surprised me. Firstly, he is supposed to be something like a third wheel in relationships of the main couple, but he just calmly got a refusal from the female lead, said "OK" and, absolutely relaxed, proceeded to live his life further. It's something unbelievable for me, because I used to see the insanity caused by an unrequited love to be the plot engine of a lot of dramas. Secondly, he is well-written as a character, straightforward, principled and has tsundere-ish or Byronic vibes - all the character features that I like =) Part 3 will be about other interesting types of relationship, mostly between men.

Also you can see: Asian dramas and relationship dynamics (Pt. 1) Asian dramas and relationship dynamics (Pt. 2) Asian dramas and Love tropes Enemies to Rivals/Lovers recipe

[scrumptiousstuffs]

yknow what i want for fk? more shows. PUT THEM IN INSANE HET SHOWS I BEG 😭 no more one bl a year i need them in a show in every part gmmtv announces shows in. i would literally pay for home school 2 for insane khao. i would pay gmmtv for insane first in a show. LET THEM PLAY INSANE CHARACTERS. FOR MY MENTAL HEALTH.

gmmtv's het shows are so underrated because those things are way more unabashedly queer even compared to a lot of bl's they produce <- preaching like im from the missionary of 'gmmtv het show are gay af' alliance

(i just love the het shows and will take any moment to talk about it. like yea ofc theres stupid ones but some of them are just so fucking good and made with so much love and passion and its so visible and it makes me so soft 🥺)

- burnsuncomet (they should really let me ask stuff from my sideblog smh 😔)

Go on. Tell me more about what het shows you like from GMMTV (and why you like them). And tell me what ideas do you want for your het shows for FK?

I personally enjoyed Home School (so I am definitely on board with Khaotung versus Gun for season 2!) , Midnight Museum, Enigma (for a horror show, this pack a lot more than just good special effects) and the currently airing Peaceful Property (which we are still debating whether it’s BL or not 😂).

And I cannot stress enough how much 55:15 Never Too Late is such an underrated gem (yes it has a side BL featuring our own Khaotung who nailed his role as SongPol/Paul) but my other fav storyline in that show was View’s character and the friendship between Paul and Piploy’s character.

I didn’t mind Summer nights but I got terribly bored by Phuwin (and whoever his love interest was) - and really just perked up when Dunk’s character White and Lookjun interacted.

And if you are asking me what het shows I’m looking forward from GMMTV - Hide & Sis (it has Jan, Piploy and Lookjun plus Chimon playing a sleaze ball? - sign me up!)

But I’m digressing - we are talking about FK hehe. I admit I was disappointed when they only have one project for 2024, which has yet to air 🥲 (especially after getting spoilt with 3 shows from them in 2023 😩).

I think FK is under utilised by GMMTV (but then again, don’t we all say the same when talking about our own bias CPs?) - I want them to be in reality show, talk shows, V-log ANYTHING really beyond just one BL cause they have so much potential (we are definitely in agreement with this. Although it’s of course not feasible to have everything for the boys cause they will burnout otherwise 🙂‍↕️). But we can all dream yeah?

Anyway, I thought this user from Twitter has the cutest idea ever for their YT content 👇🏽 (credit on the screenshot)

(Or I take the boys going camping together with us watching them cook and playing guitar and toasting marshmallows by the campsite)

In my alternate reality where FK gets to act more than one BL per year, these are my pick for hetero show/concept with FK in it:

The currently aired “The Judge from Hell”, k-drama starring Park Shin Hye and Kim Jae Young. I want a Thai remake - with Piploy as the devil in the judge’s body (she plays beautiful evil/anti-hero well! - her performance in Enigma was a good example of this) and First as our dutiful cop who joined force (literally selling his soul) to the devil after his mother figure got killed by a serial killer who also killed his birth parents. We know First can play tortured and devastation well, but truly seeing him fight to keep his morality? - 🤌 (also First already looks like a Korean movie star, so he will fit in well! Plus not going to lie - a tall First having to lean down on tiny Piploy while they bicker and fall in love 🤭 (these 2 have quite the chemistry in The Shipper)

As for Khaotung (we already mentioned Home School), but if I want to see him in a hetero couple - it will be with Ciize. These 2 were wholesome together in Tonhon Chonlatee (the show has flaws, but I still enjoyed it and Khaotung/Ciize being besties in that show was one of the highlights for me!)

And again, I’m borrowing this from one of my favourite k-drama, Happiness (2021) featuring Park Hyung-Sik and Han Hyo-Joo. Beyond just a zombie flick, it’s a commentary on social class but also the desperation and the length people go to when trapped with no where to go. Also, I won’t lie, I just want to see Khaotung (now that he is so buff!) and Ciize (despite her tiny frame) being badass with guns- it also has a sweet romance line between the main characters 😂

And bonus - if I can make my own FK-centric drama:

I want them to play cross-lovers in the past but one of them was a woman.

They both reincarnated - the woman’s soul now in one of the boys (I haven’t quite figure out who I want to play this role between them 🤣). This soul remembers his previous life and lover but avoids trying to look for him (cause you know, she is now a he and thought his previous lover is straight)

While the other person - knows he is missing someone, he has a deep yearning for this one person. However, he can’t remember the face or really anything beyond vague flashbacks except he knows it is a she. So he keeps looking at girls of course not finding the one. Meanwhile, fate (of course) made them meet and they keep avoiding trying to not fall in love but fail 🤷🏽‍♀️. I have even thought of what jobs these boys could have, the side characters 🤣…but alas, this will stay in delulu land (and yes, if you think the plot sounds vaguely familiar, it likely is! Cause I just pick all the plots/tropes I like and meshed it up!)

[shsl-analyzer-guy]

31 days of dangan- day 7 & 8: fav deuterag & protag

Considering how interconnected these two are, and how horrible work has made my sleep schedule in these days and made it difficult to type these out(don't work at the on-campus coffee shop during finals season. Don't do it), I elected to lump these two into a single post.

Fav deuterag- Genocider Syo

Genocider Syo is, by a long while, my absolute favorite deuteragonist. Even when it comes to deuteragonists I may like more as characters, when looking at them as a deuteragonist, they fall completely flat in comparison to the SHSL Murderer by a wide fucking margin, to the point I'm honestly surprised I talk about her as little as I do, now that I think about it.

First of all, having the serial killer be a playable character, literally physically indestructible, and slaughter Monokumas with multiple special attacks? Objectively correct choice; Genocider was by far the best survivor you could possibly pull for a fighting game, and only barely tied with Peko, Sakura, and Mukuro on an overall for dr1 & 2, because not only is she an insanely capable murderer, she's a passionate murderer, and as such, makes for a much more enjoyable 3rd-person experience in combat than I think any of the others could be in a secondary role.

She also experiences fantastic character growth in her own right over the course of the game while remaining one of the most consistent and enjoyable characters. Her relationship with 'dekomaru' is genuinely heartwarming, with their heart-to-heart in chapter 4 being considered one of the most impactful moments of the series if that one funishment-time post is anything to go by, and really demonstrates all the strongest parts of her character beautifully. I adore seeing her get to have the rush of passion from her talent in combat, seeing her get attached to Komaru, and her being the one to accept Komaru's help and look back at her? Immaculate. 10/10. They should've kissed in the epilogue.

I think what really makes her stand out as a deuteragonist, though, is the fact that she fills exactly the right amount of space in the game, remaining a constant and becoming a reliable fallback for the player in a way that just isn't possible in the other games because they're all first-person. Kyoko, Chiaki, and Kaito are all good characters, but because they don't have their own mechanics and are separate characters in a large cast, you end up with them either disappearing and blending into the rest of the cast too much or being harped on and pointed out even when it's not necessary to remind you, the player, how important they are. It makes an overall balance, but can be frustrating in the moment. But with Syo, there is no such problem, because she's right there with you at any time, with the moments in which she does take unswappable control from Komaru being brief and impactful enough to feel like a joy to see and not a copout. Switching to her to break into the bus in chapter 3 is genuinely one of my favorite parts in that game, and not just because it signals the end of that godforsaken "motivation minigame". She's reliable and fun, and the deuteragonist also being playable is a really good and strong choice that they didn't have to make.

Overall, she's just a really great and fun character that was perfectly cast in her role. I really really like her, and she's awesome, and it's hard to put into words besides just "omg murder girl is doing murder!!! Love when murder girl murders"

Fav protag- Komaru Naegi

Good Lord, WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT KOMARU??? I mean, I know she was in a "side game" but she's leagues better than the other protagonists imo, having the best character arc, strongest emotional core, and best drama and interactions with the other cast members. It feels the most like she's a person in the cast with her own dynamics and struggles and not just 'the reliable one everyone looks to'. I love Komaru Naegi so, so fucking much.

Komaru is the 3rd protagonist in the series, and it's incredibly apparent how the writers learned from creating Makoto and Hajime, as the strongest parts of both characters were pretty clearly put into a blender together to make Komaru and her story and evolve the world and lore. Like Makoto, Komaru is a more simplistic character who feels relatively normal but has distinctive oddness that she's unaware of. Unlike Makoto, that simplemindedness goes into the territory of full-on airheadedness, but has a much stronger emotional intelligence and intuition as a result. Where Makoto became hope embodied to save his people, Komaru recognizes nuance and chooses to save everyone, to understand everyone. Like Hajime, Komaru has no talent, and greatly admires those around her who are 'chosen', even having that insistence that she's not like everyone else and just wants to leave that Hajime insisted on halfwa through his final trial. Unlike Hajime, Komaru has a deep passion- just not one she's 'shsl' at. She loves manga, and wants to make her own manga, and her normalcy being a literal weakness instead of a metaphorical one gives her the opportunity to actually build her skill instead of being coerced into erasing herself for one, distinctly showing what Hajime could've had if he'd had support the way Komaru had Toko and Syo.

Komaru's character arc is also the best because it's non-linear, with her struggling to understand how much more capable she's becoming and struggling to understand her connections with Syo and Toko. The more gradual progression from fighting to survive, to fighting to save, is much more visible with her than it is with the other protagonists, as she has to learn to fight for herself first, whereas every other protagonist hits the ground prioritizing the people around them- Sayaka, Nagito, Kaede. And this becomes all the more elevated when Komaru actually receives the choice to leave of her own free will. A choice no other protagonist is given, and her rejecting it and choosing to stay for Syo, so that she doesn't have to go back on her vow to no longer kill, because caring for herself means caring for her loved ones, too.

Komaru also holds a ton of symbolism as a cycle-breaker when it comes to the Hope's Peak era. Like Junko and Monaca, Komaru is a younger sister put through torment and pushed by the game she's in to turn into a new symbol- a Hope like her brother, a Despair Sister. But she rejects this ending, because she valued the people around her without condition, doing what Monaca and Junko didn't and chooses to save both. She isn't Hope or Despair. She's both, distinctly both. It's also why she's matched up with Toko and Syo, who were designed to convey how the world is full of nuance and reverse imagery, and it makes for a fantastic match-up that Komaru ends up as the character to not only accept Toko and Syo as separate, but loves and protects both of them.

I also just adore the way Komaru isn't given princess treatment by the cast. Whenever a character argued with the other protagonists, it meant they were pissy and mean and the majority of the cast Did Not Like them. It was always very clear that the protagonist's social problems weren't going to affect their standing within the group overall, and had themselves established as the hero to everyone else by the end of their first trials. Komaru, on the other hand, has to fight and struggle for people to listen to her, experiencing a ton of pushback from the adult resistance and constantly being toyed with by the Monokuma Kids. She was the hero character for the player, but whereas the other protagonists spent time between the chapter finales getting gifts out of a slot machine and braiding your favorite character's hair, Komaru is fighting for her fucking life and pissing herself at every save point. Haiji doesn't like her, and hates Toko. She has to save them from an invasion twice before they'll so much as give her the time of day. And the Kids spend most of the game actively trying to murder her! Komaru is in constant conflict, and yet, she has the most compassion in the end, as a survivor of actual genocide.

[jade-len]

okaaaayy, so, i saw a post that i think was sort of targeted towards one of my posts talking about how "lbh was better than me bc i too would've gone bat shit insane"

"I've seen a post saying that that they understand LBH going bat-shit crazy because one guy (Shen Jiu) rejected him, and that they would've done the same."

and i would just like to say that i am in no way justifying bingge or bingmei's actions, and i think i made it pretty clear that i knew how fucked and unhinged lbh was ahaha..? though it's not just because one guy rejected him, but because of the terrible side dishes, nasty after taste, and tragedy galore!

all i was rlly doing was putting myself in lbh's shoes. in my post, i was saying how if i was thoroughly bullied and alone throughout my whole life and then was randomly taken cared of by someone and proceeded to fall completely in love with them, and then out of nowhere they turned a complete 180 and pretty much told me to fuck myself bc of my race and pushed me down into literal hell, i think i would've gone crazy! absolutely bonkers. then that person kept running away from me when i'm just trying to talk to them? i don't know how my mental health would be able to take that! the post was more placed in a joke-y manner, but i do think that i would've done the same if that was my situation. is that okay? hell to the fucking no, i'd be horrified of myself if i were to see me doing that no matter the reason. the same goes for the og, the pidw binghe's situation

and really, the same goes for sj as well. if throughout my whole life i was on the streets and then a slave and beaten etc... shit, i probably would've turned out just like him. it doesn't make it right, and i'm not justifying it, but i'm placing myself in the characters' shoes and understanding how they came to be such a way

so, i was pretty much saying that i understood luo binghe, though in no way did i mean to excuse his actions. but i understand that it sounded like i was justifying it, so i can 100% see that now looking back which i am completely at fault for. and, i for one also dislike it when people try to downplay luo binghe's actions or justify what he did

"by your logic, can we excuse serial killers going on a rampage because the person they liked refused them?" no, absolutely not. and no, i wouldn't be okay with a crazy bastard taking it out on someone i cherish for a stupid reason. i wouldn't be okay with someone taking it out on anyone for any reason. there is a line between reality and fiction that i do not cross, and even in fiction i can very thoroughly recognize the fucked up side of my favorite characters

lbh's fucked and definitely a little more than unhinged, and i don't truly think that he's a completely good or even bad person, but i do appreciate that (at least, to me) he seems to try to become a better one after all of that at the end of the series and recognizes that he can't own sqq

and, hey, sj is one of my favorite characters! i enjoy how mxtx made the svsss characters be fucked in some degree. like how lqg thinks just beating up his disciples is a valid teaching method. i enjoy stories with characters who aren't necessarily "good" or "bad" only. moral ambiguity with characters is so interesting!

i really don't think that we should be putting lbh stans and sj stans against each other because, well, there will always be people on both sides who justify the characters' actions. it's not just one side is doing this and the other side isn't doing that, ykwim? and this isn't even just about lbh and sj when we think about it, it's how some people perceive characters who are morally questionable and don't truly look at all sides of the character! the bad, the good, and the ugly

i love sj and lbh, i love my characters with ambiguous morals, and i love that i can put myself in their shoes and see where they're coming from/why they're the way they are no matter how delightfully screwed it is. especially bingge, he's a deliciously tragic and horrible person

so, if i were to believe that lbh's (or tbh any svsss's characters') actions were okay and justified, and also proceeded to believe so if it took place in real life, then there "might" just be something wrong with me

[anonymous-dentist]

Do you have any fics for qsmp you enjoy reading? Like your personal favs? Or ones you think have potential?

YES OKAY!

1. Along Came a Spider

If you aren't reading this one, you're wrong because it's super good? Basically, Roier gets bit by a radioactive spider, Quackity is I think Norman Osborn, and Cellbit is a Very Normal Person who definitely isn't a literal cat burglar. It's super well written, all the characters are fun, there's a lot of intrigue going on, and the fandom needs more superhero aus, and what better character to use than the literal Spider-Man?

2. Divided Soul

I think everyone's been keeping up with this one, but I still recommend it!! It's some cool high fantasy shit starring Vegetta as a prince being haunted by his ex boyfriend (/pos) and Foolish as the Literal Most Traumatized Man On Earth. If you like angst and hurt/comfort, this is the one for you.

3. eternally, forever.

Another Fooligetta fic, this one's another popular one, but for good reason! It's heartbreaking in the amount of love you can feel coming off of Foolish the entire time, and then? Yeah. Read it, it's definitely worth it.

4. The Reason (English version linked here, but definitely check out the Portuguese or Spanish ones if that language works better for you!!

Where do I even begin. F!Cell never escaped from prison, and he is making it everybody's problem, including the new guy on the (cell) block, Roier, who is definitely supposed to be there. Definitely. This one's darker so only check it out if you're into like. Dark shit. But also it's super good, so yeah!!

5. partners (in crime)

This one is an Ordem Paranormal au and it's only one chapter rn but I think there will be more? Unsure! But, as it is, it's cute! I don't know a ton about OP, but Cellbit gets teased, and everyone is cute, and I hope there's more because I'm already invested. It is in Portuguese, but translating it is so worth it.

6. Red Gunpowder

This one's a newer one, only one chapter so far, but I'm super into it already I think? Basically, Cellbit is a Traumatized Cop and Roier is... not in the fic yet, but he sounds fun just from the description. The first chapter was pretty cool, and I can't wait to see where it goes!

7. Icarus is Flying Too Close to the Sun & This is How It Feels to Take a Fall (series linked)

Two fics in one bullet point because they're both just that good! All three of Bobby's parents try and get Bobby back, and it's super heartfelt and I felt Emotions and it's sweet :( Definitely read it!

8. your palms; a home for my soul

This one is so SWEET!! Basically, Roier's heart is broken, and he goes to a heart fixer to... fix it. (It's magic, don't question it.) It's a twoshot, but it's sooooo cute, the metaphor is INSANE and I went AAAA

9. Breaking Dawn

So this one's pretty popular as well, but it's for good reason! Basically, Cellbit is a wannabe paranormal investigator and Roier is a werewolf. I think it was supposed to just be a romcom from the author's description, but there's so much more? There's this whole sideplot with Felps being kidnapped and Roier being real shady about everything and Cellbit being the densest man on the planet, and it's super worth a read if you've got a couple hours to spare!

10. The Red Means I Love You!!

Okay so you know me by now, you know I love fucked up little guys finding love, and this one sure does have a fucked up little guy! Basically, q!Cellbit accidentally summons c!Roier to possess his husband when he was trying to summon Romero Richas to interrogate it, and things sure do happen. The characterization is killer, and so is c!Roier, who is so desperate for love that he'd kill for it. (Unfortunately for him, he's kinda met his match in the form of someone who'd kill to get his love back.)

11. Bad Romance

This is the direct sequel to the last fic, and normally I'm not too into that? But this one's worth it imo. Picking up after the end of the last fic, c!Roier breaks f!Cell out of prison and f!Cell definitely doesn't manipulate Roier into agreeing to help him murder Pac e Mike over them leaving him behind in prison. I'm not too into toxic relationships, but I have hope for these two tbh, who else could love them but each other?

And that's my fic rec list! It's just off the top of my head tbh, so sorry about that!

[charmwasjess]

25 for Sifo, please 😁

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Oh Ingata, you've unknowingly asked me to present my thesis on my favorite topic and I love you for it. (Okay, this could have been a two sentence answer, but it's me.) So I wrote you an essay on Sifo-Dyas, but I'm putting it below a cut to save everyone from my rambles on Sifo in the old EU and the greater meaning of his doom-ass storyline.

Apparently, I once casually mused to readalong back in the day (exactly how long ago? No need to worry about that!) that Sifo-Dyas must have been a pretty nice guy, what with him putting up with Dooku all those years. Oh sweet summer child. If only I knew then how long I would spend thinking about this idiot and their dynamic.

Back then, he was on my mind simply because of Dooku. In Luceno’s Labyrinth of Evil, Yoda takes some time to describe in length Dooku and Sifo-Dyas’s close friendship, “bound by the unifying Force,” and speculates what Sifo-Dyas knew about the lead-up to Dooku’s fall. That he was desperately worried about Dooku, that he thought Qui-Gon’s death was a breaking point for him, that Dooku might have been actively hunting down his killer's Master to fuck shit up, and this was about to be A Big Problem for Everyone. 

All of this was very interesting, especially back then, when Dooku was not a popular character and depictions of him having meaningful, positive connections in the Jedi Order were few and far between. I want to be careful here, because I’m not calling the EU/Legends bad - Dark Rendezvous has some of the most beautiful Dooku character work I’ve ever read. But compare, say, Jude Watson’s Qui-Gon in Legends Legacy of the Jedi outright calling Dooku “too cold to love,” as a Master, versus examples from new canon, where Dooku repeatedly and effusively praises his Padawans, casts their relationship as mutually loving, and even offers to get drunk and cry it out over Rael’s dead Padawan. Those present really different pictures. So Sifo-Dyas stood out to me right off the bat as unusual for being close with Dooku: a meaningful connection for a character who, at that point, didn't have meaningful connections. 

As for my impressions now, I think I have a soft spot in general for characters who seem to exist simply to die in a tragic, unescapable way, sacrificed to the narrative or for other character’s growth. In a way, Sifo-Dyas’s story is still certainly both of those.

But he’s so much more. He walks into Dooku: Jedi Lost as this vivid, funny, weird, fearless, chaotic good goofball of a character. Sith Dooku is breathlessly, affectionately describing him to Asajj Ventress (of all people) within the first few seconds of his own life story. That's crazy?! "I was born, I went to the Temple, oh, I MET THIS INCREDIBLE PERSON." Sifo-Dyas's first scene in the damn book is to make a silly little song about Dooku’s name and then telling him to "tell it to your face"?! And we’re not supposed to love him?!

I could go on. But here’s the heart of it for me with the character. The penultimate scene in Dooku: Jedi Lost, comes when he and Dooku are estranged, having been for years over what seems implied as a breakdown over an escalating series of visions that cast Dooku at the center of a world-shattering conflict. Yet, when Dooku comes to Sifo-Dyas for help, one last desperate get-the-gang-back-together, he won’t deny him. When Dooku suggests what Sifo-Dyas literally describes as “insane, the worst plan I’ve ever heard” (I’m quoting directly here), his answer is, again, directly quoting: “I’m in.” He never stopped saying that to Dooku. For all their ultimate ruin, it's sort of beautiful.

That’s the impression that stands out the most strongly - not tragic doom or narrative foil - but the aspects of bravery and loyalty to the character. Someone who would have spent his whole life having visions about someone ending the world, and still show up for that person, and later, still come to them with their own problems. It seems very, very likely - he outright says it during a vision in the cursed book – that he knows Dooku is the person who will make all the futures converge into the one terrible timeline. But EVEN THEN, Sifo-Dyas would rather bring hundreds of thousands of lives into existence than take out Dooku. And whether you read that as friendship or something more, at the end of the day, it’s love.

[the-eldritch-it-gay]

I want the tragic childhood best friend lore 👀👀👀

Okay okay okay. So. First of content warning of some transphobia, because that is present and plays into the tragedy.

SO. Patlani is recruited by the Crows as a child, as many are. And there's another recruit in the same batch about their age, Esmeralda. And while Crow Training is not condusive to friendship, somehow the two found each other during training and became friends. Not just regular childhood friends, but "The only thing getting me through the literal torture I'm enduring is I know I have a friend here with me and someone I can find comfort with afterward".

Like, the Crows trained both of them to be heartless, emotionless killers, and each one managed to keep one small soft spot in their heart for each other, despite everything. They both knew there was nobody in the world who cared about them but each other.

And they survive training! Unlike some recruits. They both are sent off to be assassins, both belong to the same house. They both know there's one person they can always count on. And so over the years, that childhood friendship slowly starts to bloom into something more. They're both heartless, both don't let anyone in, but each is the other's only exception.

But things exist in this weird grey area. For ages neither puts any sort of label on what they are, and even when they do it's not a label used often. But there's something there, they're close, they love each other, hell in quiet moments they would sometimes entertain the thought of running away and getting married. Patlani even buys her a promise ring.

As the years go on, though, things change. Mainly, work. Work keeps coming between them, they both work separately, they barely get to see each other between contracts, and most crushingly of all for Patlani, Esmeralda likes being a Crow now, she's bought in, whereas Patlani feels like they're a prisoner as a Crow. So things are starting to fall apart, which is already a tragedy.

And then Patlani realizes they're not cis. And they don't know how to tell Esmeralda. It just eats at them, it's like a wound that festers. Esmeralda doesn't realize anything's wrong and goes about their relationship like usual, meanwhile Patlani is secretly misreble, they still love her but just can't find a way to come out and tell her the truth of who they are.

But eventually, they do. They tell her because she is the only person in the world who's ever been there for them, and she's the only person they've ever let into their heart. And Esmeralda... doesn't take it well. Which is already just earth shattering betrayal to Patlani. But like, it's almost made worse by the fact that Esmeralda still wants to have a relationship with them, but she wants to have a relationship with the old Patlani, she even says she'd be willing to marry them, but not them, she's only willing to marry the man Patlani used to be.

It's just. Terrible and I'm insane about it.

I have two things I've written about their relationship thus far, here and here

I like that with Davrin's romance Patlani can straight up ask if he accepts them for who they are (gender-wise) because god Patlani really needs to hear that.

[asharkapologist]

My Personal Ranking of the Rochesters

Okay, so I absolutely love, love, LOVE the Rochester family. I think they are all tragically underrated characters who deserve more content, so I decided to add some by ranking the members of the Rochester family from my least favorite to my favorite. Spoiler warning for the entirety of Mysteries of the Past, as well as trigger warnings for abuse. So without further ado, let's begin!

10. Malcolm

I hate this man so much. Like yeah he’s manipulative and gaslight-y and a threat, BUT he honestly other than that he is just boring. He’s a stereotypical corrupt politician, as well as a terrible, disloyal husband and an even worse, abusive father. While nothing can excuse Archie’s horrible actions in Elysium Fields, I partially blame this mf for how Archie turned out. He’s also SEVERELY underhated, like when people talk about the worst parents in CC this ugly man is somehow left out. Also, he mourns the loss of his job longer than his only child. 

9. Rockley

Okay so note there is a HUGE jump in quality between him and Malcolm first of all. Like I think Rockley is fine. He’s like a B tier character for me, mid or lower B but still (Malcolm’s like an F). But unfortunately, Rockley doesn’t really affect the plot that much. Sure, it’s slightly funny to imagine him just running his chocolate factory, minding his own business, as his family kills a bunch of people and does other shady things, but yeah he doesn’t impact the story that much. You could remove him from the game/make him not a Rochester and nothing much would change. 

8. Patricia

I really wish she was higher up on the list, but sadly, she just doesn’t have that much of a presence because she’s contained to just one district and we just don’t know too much about her life before she married into the Rochester family. It’s worth noting that her fate is HORRIFIC. She was canonically physically abused by Horatio just for the “crime” of standing up to him and calling out his evil behavior, and THEN as if that weren’t enough, she was, while perfectly sane, LOCKED AWAY IN A 19TH CENTURY INSANE ASYLUM WHERE SHE SLOWLY ACTUALLY LOST HER MIND. like goodness gracious. That is a fate worse than death imo. And then while she had the least awful death of any of the Rochesters, she still died. She’s such a tragic character. 

7. Clarissa

Okay, I know she literally only appeared once as a murder victim, but she still is interesting, even from the little that can be extrapolated from the one case she “appears” in. It seems to me at least that she was in a place of power and comfortable with this and her family's plan to take over the city, but also wanted to help people, such as shown by her wanting to adopt a street kid and her writing a book about financial advice and help. I can honestly see her being a good leader in Concordia, even if yeah, she did benefit from her rivals and critics "disappearing" or having other unfortunate fates.

6. Larry

Okay, I KNOW THAT HE WAS A BAD PERSON, and yes, I have not forgotten what he did to Francine. She was a killer, but she did not deserve that. Obviously, he was selfish and greedy, considering he and Joseph took advantage of hundreds if not thousands of financially desperate people, let his father take the fall for that, and brutally murdered a woman for saying she wasn’t going to let Leopold rot in jail (I’m genuinely surprised that Lawson didn’t give him life). However, he is a good villain. He’s a much better district antagonist than the two before him (I love Giulietta, but Franca and Vittorio are boring characters, sorry). Wolf Street’s my least favorite district in MotP, but Larry is an entertaining villain, a good re-introduction into the Rochester family’s evilness, and it felt good to arrest him. Plus, he has a good design. Classic example of a good character/villain but terrible person. 

5. Veronica

Honestly, Veronica is one of the most wasted Rochesters, and also the only one who we never get closure for. Which is kinda disappointing because I feel like she had a lot of potential, and she does have a lot of hidden tragedy, what with her having Archie when she was only 19 and being in a loveless marriage. But she just mostly seems to be occupied with running her businesses and doing typical things you’d expect a senator’s wife in the 1890s to be doing throughout the game. We don’t get a great glimpse of her relationships with her family, including her son and father, but I certainly have my headcanons about her. She could have been interesting, but she just disappears from the game after the start of Ivory Hill and is never seen or heard from again, even after her son was murdered and her husband arrested.  You could take her out of the story and very little would change, too. But I might make a post about some of my headcanons for her, because I want to give her an interesting character the game did not lol

4. Horatio

THIS MF. Horatio is the most evil character in MotP. There is not a shred of genuine compassion for anyone in his body. Yeah, he doesn’t immediately forget about Clarissa after she dies and he’s satisfied with her work, but if she had tried to defy him like his wife and brother, she’d be dead or in the asylum. Horatio was literally connected to half of the game’s problems, even though I do think he gives himself a bit too much credit for stoking the gang war. But the railroad scheme? He collaborated with Vittorio to do that. Every way the Rochesters held power in the game? Him. Making deals with “the devil” in Grim Chapel to dispose of the family rivals? Him. Turning on his own family in an instant if they defied him? He’d do it without hesitation. And the fact that he probably has many, many illegitimate children, too. Point being, Horatio is utterly vile, far more evil than Lawson, the actual main antagonist. But he is a GOOD villain. His motives are clear, he’s ruthless, it feels AWESOME arresting him, and he’s smart. Also, side note, but I’ve got a headcanon that he and Malcolm planned to kill each other once they properly took over Concordia to have the city to themselves. Food for thought.

3. Leopold

Poor Leopold. :( the only beef I got with him is that I think he is a LITTLE too naive. While Bernadine knew very much about her family’s crimes and just tried to ignore them to the best of her ability/didn’t do anything, Leopold genuinely didn’t seem to know, somehow. But he’s a good man through and through, very likable from the start to the end of the game. Therefore, he is a bit of a static character, but that doesn’t change the fact that seriously, he’s such a very kind man. I wish his relationship with his sons was a bit more developed, but even then, there’s a lot to work with in terms of his relationship with his sons. The quote that he has when Larry is arrested and he’s freed, where he talks about how heartbroken he was that Larry was hell-bent on heading to prison really broke my heart. And his unnaturally controlling move of forcing Rockley to be the head of the Bank of Concordia can be seen as a reaction to Larry going to prison and a fear that Rockley could perhaps end up doing the same, hence him dropping a responsibility Rockley didn’t want on him. It’s not a nice move, but it goes to show that while Leopold was a kind man, he was not perfect. 

2. Bernadine

Now we start getting into some of the best characters in MotP! Bernadine’s my fourth fav character in the game, and within my top ten characters in the franchise. Bernadine only is a suspect twice and a quasi-suspect once, but she has a CLEAR character arc. She goes from being a rather haughty, self-important person who I didn’t trust on my first playthrough of the game to an extremely sympathetic character who had to deal with the aftermath of her family self-destructing, and then needing to run for her life from Lawson’s men. A quote I really love of hers is how she says that most of her loved ones dying or being imprisoned is the result of “this family’s mad ambition” and beforehand, said that she always knew the family’s desires to control Concordia would be their downfall. That drives home one of the messages that comes with the Rochesters and their fates--how dangerous unchecked ambition is and how it can destroy the people with it--and A Family Affair really gives some context to her previous behavior. She knew what Malcolm and Horatio were doing, and yet never said anything until asked to spy on Arthur. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling her a coward, because the police shouldn’t have had to rely on tip-offs from family members to seriously investigate the Rochesters when their rivals kept disappearing. In fact, she’s brave for standing up to Horatio. She hid behind her mask and watched her family in quiet dread, waiting for the inevitable to happen when they made moves to control the city. And her fears were confirmed. She lost almost everyone she loved, and then immediately had to worry about a dictator wanting to kill her. At least she got a happy ending, and while it would be nice if she appeared more, the game managed to do a lot with just three appearances. 

1. Archie

There is genuinely SO MUCH to say about Archie. He deserves a full-blown analysis honestly, he’s my second favorite character in the entire franchise, only after Giulietta (ironic, I am aware). Where to start? He’s an amazing villain, my favorite in MotP. The reasons he became Mr. Alastor are quite sympathetic, considering he was Alastor years before the events of Elysium Fields and became Alastor because he felt out of place and friendless within the elite, saying he was “always poor, sickly, Archie Rochester, no social graces, no friends!” And then he got a power trip from manipulating the very people who he felt rejected him, to the point where he was deluded enough to think that Giulietta would be impressed if her “enemies” died at his parties, leading him to create a (very convoluted, unlikely to work in real life) plan to win her affections. He probably never even had a proper conversation with Giulietta, he just became obsessed with her due to projecting onto her due to them both being outsiders among the elite (and I hc that perhaps he was even projecting his problems with his father onto her due to her own desires to be separate from her father’s reputation). I also love smart villains, and Archie was certainly that, and it makes sense why he thinks that the group of people who rejected him would jump at the chance to commit murder if they and someone they hated were at the same party. And he was right.

And then there’s how he acts when he comes back to Concordia. It’s interesting, because he is not taken seriously by either the game or the police when he returns, despite being treated seriously in Elysium Fields, which communicates that Archie is barely a threat compared to people like Horatio and Malcolm, especially the former. Something else that’s interesting is that Archie thinks he’s able to manipulate people to the point where he puts “gain allies and manipulate people” as an item on his to-do list you find in his desk drawer in Tipping the Scales, and yet he is clearly very easily manipulated, as Diego proves in the AI of Get Off Your High Horse, where he easily manages to get Archie to talk to him and the player literally just by complimenting Archie and saying how smart he is. And there’s how he’s treated by his family, too--ultimately used as a tool to further their political ambitions.

Which brings me to his death, which serves so many purposes. The game says multiple times that he did not to deserve to die, least of all so horrifically, while at the same time making it clear that he was not a good person and had done a LOT of screwed up things in his life (a view that some Criminal Case fans cannot seem to hold in their heads at the same time…), and I’m always a fan of  NUANCE like that, being able to acknowledge someone’s brutal death as undeserved while also pointing out the awful things they did in the CC games. Added onto the fact that Tipping the Scales reveals that it’s literally canon that Malcolm is physically abusive to his son, which adds a whole new layer and context to Archie’s very evident issues. And finally, Archie’s death shows just how violent and damaging ambition can be, because in the end, he was one of the final victims of  his corrupt family.

I’m sorry if that was a huge infodump about his character, I really love him and need to write a whole analysis of him.

Thanks for reading all of that! Feel free to share your thoughts, too!

[kiseiakhun]

Halkyle serial killer au thoughts

(being forced by @wajjs to post this at gunpoint) (they literally have a gun to my head) (help)

Kyle kills for a reason. He's insane but he's a more controlled, methodical insane vs Hal who seems more in control of himself normally (because of emotional repression) but he becomes UNHINGED when he kills. Kyle does things with a purpose but Hal just goes hog wild

Hal has saved Kyle. The first time was a fluke. The second time was personal. Every time after that? Well. Hal keeps asking himself the same question.

Kyle's probably gotten away with it for so long BECAUSE of Hal. Because Kyle is messy and he doesn't really care that much about not getting caught. Hal is like his anchor to safety

Kyle is Hal's anchor, period, because it's the first time in his life he could really connect with someone on this level

it's the first time in BOTH their lives. They immediately fell in love.

Kyle made the first move. He tried to kill Hal first. It just makes SENSE that he has to make the last move too

Hal does more things for Kyle but Kyle is the more active one in the relationship. Hal mostly reacts to Kyle. It's Kyle making Hal save him, Kyle pushing Hal past his limits, Kyle who admits he loves him first. Hal revolves around Kyle

Kyle wants Hal to kill him because he romanticizes that expression of Ultimate Passion. Kyle is passionate. He flips between extremes of emotion. He's addicted to experiences with strong emotional impact. (Hal is an experience with strong emotional impact)

Hal is also something beautiful

Hal is in love with Kyle but he doesn't know it

death = intimacy to kyle, more than even sex. What's an act more intimate than taking the life of the person you love the most, with your bare hands? Their last moments in life will be filled with you. You get to touch them, literally and metaphorically, their outside and the very thing that makes them tick. It's a gift you're giving them and also a sacrifice you're making yourself. Your beloved will die thinking of you. You'll lose them forever. They'll never fall out of love with you while you're forced to continue on living without them

Kyle is addicted to self sacrifice. He knows what he's doing is wrong, but he's also too addicted to stop. That's why he's not careful. That's why he keeps goading Hal into pushing further and further. That's why he WANTS Hal to kill him, because he's self sacrificial but also selfish

the ultimate act of selflessness for him would be to give that up and give it to Hal instead. Because Hal feels the same way.

Kyle's using Hal. Probably not on purpose, but he's definitely the one getting more out of this partnership. Hal has connections. Hal has experience. Hal will hurt himself and Kyle in order to keep Kyle safe. Kyle's a wildcard and Hal is the only thing capable of keeping him under control, and just barely at that. He's the only one who pushes Kyle far enough - at detriment to himself.

Hal looks at Kyle and he sees Carol. He sees her dark hair and her drive and her fragility, taken in one moment of passion. He'll drag Kyle from a crime scene and look down at him covered in blood and his hands will instinctively go to his neck, and it's Kyle's unresistance that makes him stop, that takes him back to reality. Carol struggled to the end. Carol never looked at him with so much love while he squeezed the life out of her.

their tale will always end in tragedy, because, you know, murder, but if Kyle kills Hal... Kyle takes control of that tragedy. He's the only one who'll have to live with himself, after.

it has to be Kyle. Kyle's the only one who can do it. Kyle's in control of the relationship. Kyle wants Hal to give him that gift, but if he does, Hal will be left with nothing. He would've given Kyle everything he has.

for once, Kyle has to be selfless

Hal loves Kyle. He'll never admit it to himself. He'll never admit it to kyle. But Kyle doesn't need him to say it in order to know. Kyle kills because Alex was taken from him, because he had no choice. None of the other killings felt right because he didn't have that personal connection to them. Art comes from the heart - you need that emotional connection, that intimacy with the subject, especially when it comes to sculpture. You're making something with your bare hands, touching it, molding it, bringing it to life in a very literal way. None of the other killings felt right because losing Alex was about having a very literal part of himself ripped away, and to this day he's still trying to make sense of the feeling. But killing random strangers doesn't have the same impact. It has to hurt in the same way. Losing Hal would destroy him. It's the only thing worthy enough to be compared to Alex's memory

Kyle is searching for beauty. Beauty isn't just about appearances - it's about the emotions associated with it. You hear it over and over again - the piece that the artist is most proud of is not the most well known, or technically proficient, it's one that has personal meaning

Kyle has to kill Hal. He has to sacrifice Hal for the memory of Alex. It's the only thing that can compare to her. Kyle needs to give Hal up.

Hal is selfish too. He's so afraid of taking, of glutting himself and then having to contend with the wreckage, after. He doesn't want to take responsibility. He'll never take the first step. He can never admit to loving Kyle because admitting it means he'll have to lose Kyle, and it'll be his own fault

Kyle is the only one who can do it

[liliallowed]

Weird how even though I love Dust sans, I don't like his Canon and hate the fanon versions of him. I try to ignore it most of the time because I know I won't be able to enjoy anything, but I feel so conflicted. I have see Dust sans so differently from everyone else it makes it so hard to enjoy any type of fan creation ;-;

(I feel bad most of the interpretations you share I mostly disagree- but I can't do anything because it's the majority)

Not sure why I'm ranting about this, I guess it's been on my mind too much-

lol it's fine!

I personally related to certain aspects of dusts mentality. a bit... too much. as a kid I wasn't in a best head space.

I clinged onto dust for a sense of understanding. a sense of comfort. something in me felt understood. aknowledged.

not sure if it was the self sabotage or the irony of yourself becoming your own worst self fulfilling prophecy with your doubts clouding your judgment...

or if it was his choice to take fate by the neck and say FUCK YOU I QUIT to the script, turning the timeline on it's head to what's got to be the coolest uno reverse moment.

something clicked with that. I don't know why dust specifically. I'm not like that with killer or horror or insanity. it was just DUST that I felt a small kinship towards.

I knew how he hated himself. that he purposefully sabotaged his own life just to be right about the shitty person he is and that irony would only feed itself.

he is stuck in a cycle. I to this day still feel like I'm stuck in my own cycle of improvement then I fall back to my worst then back up then worse goes on and on and onnnn it's never going to stop.

I'm not GOING to wait for it to stop I'm grabbing life by the neck and DEMANDING it to shit the hell up while I pull myself together.

like... I basically grew up with this au.

I was there when ask dusttales ask box was open. I read the entire thing like a deranged fan hoping to unravel secrets of the universe or stuff like that...

if we're comparing personal feelings and obsessions with dusttale... I've had A LOT of it.

but I've learnt that this projection onto fictional characters while therapeutic and helpful can actually harm others or make you sound like an egotistical jackass who thinks they know said character better than anyone.

it's parasocial... and I don't want to be mean to anyone I disagree with. when I don't enjoy others interpretations I try to focus on their positive side.

like, the fic I was ranting about?

that one legit had good grammar and the pacing was great. I liked the world building and the side characters! it wasn't bad! and I don't hate them. just a bit annoyed.

pick certain aspects you enjoy and put it into your own work! if you hate what others do? explain why and reason it IN YOUR STORY/ART/AU.

one of my fics was literally made out of spite to a dust x y/n soulmate au! (Thornbound souls)

just do what you like bud.

I like both canon AND fanon dust. but the plot has to make sense and he has to act in character accordingly in both situations.

my inmate au has a canon and fanon side! fanon side is for shipping shenanigans while canon inmate dust sans doesn't even MEET other humans or monsters.

I think you're allowed to enjoy both. in the end everything is just inspration for more things.

checking canon dusttale lore can be quite bland, mix it up with a bunch of head canons like... having dust occasionally spend time reading when he waits for resets.

as for fanon? do whatever you like just make sure you don't stray too far from dust being... well you know. dust.

classic ship of Theseus dilemma. though I won't ramble much further. just look for things you like!

and if it's under appreciated? CREATE IT YOURSELF!

I'm sure there are others who will gravitate to your head canons!

[balladofmyramblings]

Lucy Gray Baird - an innocent victim or a manipulator?

What's your first impression of Lucy Gray?

Do you think she loved Coriolanus in tbosas?

What do you think might have happened to Lucy Gray in the end?

What's your opinion about theories :

1. Greasy Sae as Lucy Gray.

2. Coin as a daughter or relative of Lucy Gray.

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

I’d say a victim who HAD to be a manipulator, but overall was innocent and just knew what was up.

The first example we see is from when we are first introduced to her- the dress! She’s wearing that to the reaping to make a statement, to stand out, to let everyone know she does NOT conform and is already manipulating their view of her into what she wants.

However, later on, we also see that wearing the dress is the only thing keeping her together. So, we can infer that while it may have started out as something not super soft or sweet, suddenly the dress isn’t that anymore. There’s also the fact that she lets the little girl with the juice thing touch her dress- she’s trying to decide if the public and her manipulation of them is more important than keeping things close to her.

Then again, there’s the possibility here that we’re severely over or underestimating her (thanks, Coriolanus’ POV). Maybe every single part of her was orchestrated and carefully chosen by Lucy Gray, or maybe none of it was, and that’s part of the amazing mystery about her- we don’t KNOW if she was or not.

Were those tears fake? Did she ever actually love him? We’ll never actually know, and that’s part of why her character is so great.

My first impression though is she knows what’s up. It’s crazy how, even before manipulating the games was a thing…she manipulated the games. She might not have done it knowingly (it was probably more for the benefit against Billy Taupe & Mayfair), but she did, and it was incredible. I can’t say I ever thought she was crazy, but maybe a little unhinged.

I was also VERY against Coriolanus and Lucy Gray’s relationship in the beginning (like for my first 4 rereads), but overall came to like it, and how it shows different parts of their characters and how it REALLY showed Coriolanus’s character development into a tirant.

For if she loved him, I’d say that we honestly have no clue. It’s why she’s so interesting to explore. I mean, throughout the series, these characters stay pretty much the same as when they are introduced. Sejanus, the district 2 rebel sympathizer who can be a little goofy occasionally. Tigris, the girl who takes care of people, and protects them. Dr. Gaul, the maniac who’s powerful.

But with Lucy Gray? We’re first introduced to her as some slightly deranged district girl, and she also has that little bit of being district automatically added to how we perceive her (thanks, Coriolanus’ POV) so we automatically view her as less than, crazy, etc.

But this changes. We later view her as someone ABOVE the districts, and a performer, rather than a crazy person, and someone to take pity on. We (reader and Coriolanus) might even unconsciously underestimate her during this stage BECAUSE of this.

What’s super interesting about Lucy Gray is just how versatile the arguments about her can be. You can go around and around in circles, debating if she was a cold blooded killer or not. Like for example, her kills in the arena. The way she taunted Reaper with the flag, and literally ran him to death? Absolutely insane, but later on, she felt bad about it. Or did she? We have no clue.

Back to if she loved Coriolanus, though- I think she convinced herself she did, just like how Coriolanus convinced himself he did, and neither of them wanted to see how far they’d take that so we got the ending we got. Lucy Gray realized she couldn’t gaslight herself into falling in love with him because she couldn’t ever really love him because she couldn’t ever really trust him. I’ve talked about them before somewhere else, I think in a post about the endings, so if you’re interested in that I can link it but still. It’s fascinating, the way her character is written so well.

Dialogue is such an important part of character, and rereading Lucy Gray’s dialogue is especially confusing for me because every time I do, my mind changes. A lot of people would remember her differently if Coriolanus (and therefore us) spent less time thinking about her and more time interacting with her, but eh.

Personally, that’s why I think her most authentic showing would be around 2/3 into the book, while they have that little honeymoon period when Coriolanus is a peacekeeper and she’s just singing before stuff goes down. I know that wasn’t a question, but I want to expand on it.

There’s less pressure there to constantly preform and become this person she wants herself to be. Lucy Gray was one of (if not the) first to use capitol people’s views of the tributes to her advantage. She figured out the game and she played it, and now she has to realize how to stop playing it. She also has to make sure she can trust Coriolanus.

So really, it can be argued that all of her personality is a test or a performance. It can also be argued that none of it was.

I’m going to move on before I start going in circles again lol, but yall get the point.

I think in the end Lucy Gray realized she couldn’t trust ANYONE (and as she’s said before, trust is super important) (except for maybe the Covey, but she didn’t want to endanger them or herself by staying with them), so she just went off into the woods.

I know she said something about being too lonely without Coriolanus, but again, this calls the question; was she trying to manipulate him and play up his ego or was she really just sensitive?

Again, part of her character is her mystery. There’s a reason she’s named after the Lucy Gray from the story. She just…flew off.

I could see Greasy Sae as Lucy Gray. I think it’d make sense for her to come back in like 10 years once the mayor’s dead, pay off her good peacekeeper friends, and then watch the Covey and her/Katniss’ family from a difference (because I definitely believe she and Katniss are related).

Does that mean I think it’s true? Nope! I think Lucy Gray truly has left district 12 forever.

However, I will say for sure, she’s definitely not in district 13. Not as a citizen or Coin. It goes against everything she believes in and enjoys, and I think the citizens of such a recently broken home wouldn’t LET her become one of them. Plus the ages are off. Are we forgetting Coin didn’t want music at Finnick and Annie’s wedding? It’s honestly one of my least favorite theories because to truly believe it, you’d have to misinterpret Lucy Gray’s character (one of the hardest to misinterpret, given my reasons above) AND Coin’s character.

Ok. Sort of misread that question, but I’ll answer it too.

I don’t think Coin is related to Lucy Gray at all. Any child of Lucy Gray’s would be Covey, and I think it’d hurt her too much to raise a child so colorless and unempathetic. While I do admire this theory more than the other, I just don’t see it happening at all. Maybe if Lucy Gray was pregnant, dropped the kid in 13, and then fled, and then Coin had to be raised in that environment and see the destruction and devastation and stuff…or maybe seeing her mom after the games, and the impact they can have on people…still, it’s an eh for me.

This was really fun to answer, and sorry if I rambled too much or went in circles a lot lol. Thanks for the question, @curiousnonny! As always, feel free to debate but not argue in the replies/reblogs!

[ojacksonscohen]

HELLO im the same person who asked ur opinion on james surface but i have another question :)

if you have seen emerald city (2017), how do u feel about ojc's character in it??

this is my last ask i swear im sorry im just really curious 😭

hi! no worries, i always enjoy dissecting his characters like little bugs.

i enjoyed emerald city for what it was, and as a big fan of tarsem singh i would devour anything he puts out. i will always have insane respect for a man who puts aesthetics first in everything 🫡

i think lucas as a character is fine, he’s a blank canvas for dorothy to project all her feelings onto, and he goes along with everything she wants because he literally doesn’t have a mind of his own. and really, that’s why dorothy falls in love with him, she’s molding him into exactly thing that she wants. but that's still not good enough for her, and she makes it clear she’d trade him and sylvie for a corn chip if it got her out of oz.

roan on the other hand is…. complicated. he’s a liar, a killer, and crucially, he’s married to the person dorothy has sworn to take down. he’s the exact opposite of everything lucas is and stands for. he forces dorothy to look past what the wizard has been telling her, and does believe he’s doing the right thing for the baby witches. he’s also basically turned into play dough thats being passed back and forth between dorothy and glinda.

like he has his memories back but still doesn’t have a mind of his own, and is still relying on his partners to make decisions for him (although i'll be honest…. seeing him with glinda was insanely hot and i immediately stopped caring about dorothy. like when she told him “the man i loved would have gutted her, would have torn her open to protect me” that was hot.)

all of that should have been a set up for what an incredible blowup between the two but instead we just get two episodes of them moping around about each other. and then their story ends with a 5 minutes stab fight that ends with roan back on the cross where he began.

i’m sure s2 would have expanded their story line more, but i was still disappointed with his devolution the last 2 episodes

[confessions-official]

tw: stalking, abuse, suicide mention, mental health

it’s such an absolute shame that my former friend group is too stupid to realize that the viscerally insane man that’s been harassing them for four years now and the watch-making man they trust most above all are quite literally the same person. it’s also a shame that i’ll never get to hear their reactions when they finally realize it.

why?

because the other person they value most is a pathetic, manipulative psychopath who scapegoated me once she realized her chokehold on the group hinged on getting me out of the picture.

she’s the kind of woman that takes pride in how well she can and does manipulate people, brags about not just getting people to like her enough to lie for her but actively having them do it, actively boasts about doing things that actually border on serial killer level shit that is just…. disturbingly calculated and horrific when you sit down and think about it.

this woman actively isolated me from almost all of my closest friends, and the second she ostracized me from the friend group that i personally curated, she was suddenly best buddies with every single person she isolated me from. she systemically ruined my life and traumatized me after gaining my trust, getting me to fall in love with her, pretending to be in love with me too, and then once she had my full trust and saw me at my most vulnerable - deliberately twisted everything i ever told her in confidence out of context to paint me as some horrible monster.

she broke me to the point that it induced psychosis. it’s been almost two years and i still have suicidal thoughts tied to what she did to me specifically.

and because she and the man i mentioned before are the best of friends, and are equally as psychotic, nothing i can ever say or do will regain the friends i lost.

but i take pride in knowing that the mask will slip eventually and they will implode once they start to piece things together.

i just hope the woman on the other end of the shitstorm gets the mental help she needs. she’s not a bad person at all, actually. and she was actually really fun to talk to. i liked her a lot, and i considered her a good friend. she’s just deeply traumatized from all of this, and she deserves better than the things that man is doing to her head. she deserves peace and happiness.

sorry this confession has a lot of exposition. it’s been weighing on me, and i wanted to include specifics in the hopes that if any of them read this blog they’d be able to understand that people willing to openly manipulate their family in a discord call in front of all their friends and willing to ask people to lie for them is absolutely the kind of person who is willing to and capable of lying to and manipulating their closest friends

 

[mysticstarlightduck]

hi! for the rainy day ask game:

🌦️ Overcast: Which character do you think readers would love the most? Which character do you think they would dislike?

Thank you for the ask, @kitkins13! Let's go with the cast of What Lurks In The Hollow

ASK GAME HERE

🌦️ Overcast:

Which character do you think readers would love the most?

I think that vote would be stuck between Dylan, Zach or Christine. In all honesty, the whole cast of this WIP has a lot of different personalities that I did my best to make unique, so every MC character in this WIP would probably be someone's favorite once the book's out lol. But I think those three would absolutely be the at the Top 3:

Dylan Millihan:

Overall Description/Vibes: 23M, a reserved, emotionally unavailable mess of an young man who is trying his best and is probably more overworked than it would be healthy but pretends he's fine by using a social mask of bad mood and distance from strangers. Cares about his little sister immensely but generally doesn't know how to show it verbally so just shows it through quiet actions and hopes for the best.

Appearance: Tall, handsome, has medium to long hazel hair vaguely styled in a 80s-90s way, usually wears black button up shirts not buttoned up all the way and jeans. Prefers boots over sneakers.

Zach Taylors:

Overall Description/Vibes: 16M, an incredibly charismatically charming goth kid who likes freedom above everything and who has some serious self-esteem issues that he hides behind a facade of confidence. He's Amy Millihan's best friend and love interest as the story progresses. Zach loves music, skateboarding and reading books from his vast collection he stole from the library.

Appearance: Average height, skinny, usually wears improvised goth style clothes including a shirt with the logo from his favorite yet obscure band, dark grey jacket with DIY spikes and small chains, black fingerless gloves with ripped fishnetting, spike studded black converse sneakers + dark nail polish and eyeliner. Has short, yet messy dark brown hair.

Christine Nespor:

Overall Description/Vibes: 22F, a laid-back wanderer with a love for all things funny, from jokes to pranks to hilariously bad movies, but who is also really wise when it comes to life and gives top tier advice. Loves a good amount of harmless chaos and probably knows more than a few really strange unsolved cases that really contrast with her wholesome personality. She's also Dylan's first friend and later love interest in Vinethorn Grove.

Appearance: Average height, has wavy blonde hair cut into a simple yet stylish bob, wears cutesy yet simple makeup preferring to add a small splash of color to her styles. Loves woven sweaters, twill pants and patchwork shirts, especially DIY ones, and wears vintage sneakers. Has a playful smile.

Which character do you think they would dislike?

Probably the villains, yeah lmao.

Take your pick 😭

Mayor Samuel Whitaker: Literal serial killer whose family is involved with bloody rituals with fey demons. Most of his victims are teens or kids because he "likes his souls young" (essentially the younger and more 'pure'/innocent the souls the more effective the sacrifices are)

Mrs. Adelaide Draycott: A 50 year old cougar/Karen who has nothing better to do in her life than to stalk Dylan (who is young enough to be her son at the very least) around to try to get him to 'fall in love with her'. When her attempts fail she fully becomes a Karen and decides to sabotage his entire life.

Sheriff Isaac Clarke: A corrupt, racist cop who thrives on nepotism and blackmail, often using underhanded tactics to get what he wants. Aids criminals if it means getting more power and literally 'calls the shots' in town. Also covers up the Mayor's string of murders and makes sure no investigations suceed.

Branden Heddam: Insanely threatening - probably drunk - biker gang leader who terrorizes innocent people and specially likes making his stepson's (Zach) life a living hell. The most abusive """"""parent"""""" figure known to mankind and has committed murders before due to his sheer brutality.

Cathleen "Cath" Edwards: The most annoying debt collector known to mankind who literally shows up unnanounced at the worst times and is so smug she could make Regina George cringe.