#it was just being a contrarian he was just disagreeing

[the-acid-pear]

I love moist cr1tikal but I cannot get over him acting like "debate brained" is in any way shape or form and insult or a negative trait to have on its own. Like what, are we crying and pissing people people disagree with you? Be for real now.

[starstrike]

Being an Hobie fan has made me block more casually than anything in my life lmao

[dcmcboxers]

My shout-out to queer youtubers

Hbombs list was great but obviously not comprehensive. I watch a lot of video essayists and wanted to give a little love to the smaller channels that fall under the radar. Please feel free to add to this list!

let's talk about stuff/Sarah Zedig

If you've seen Jesse Gender's videos on the Matrix movies you may already be familiar with Sarah. She does excellent film and culture analysis with a lot of great conversations on paratext and outside influence in engaging with text. Her video on Tunic is one of my favorites.

Pamphleteer

No one makes videos like hers, which has the side effect making them a bit hard to describe. I will link one of my favorites which describes the disconnected temporality of being older when you discover you're queer.

Turbo Queer

Really really under watched channel. Skylar covers a lot of topics from video games, to anarchist history and modern events, to autistic life, to current politics. For a fun one check out her video on the SpongeBob strike episode.

Kaz Rowe

Kaz does a fantastic job examining modern myths and manufactured history primarily pertaining to western Europe, Victorian & Edwardian England, and 1800-1900s US. And of course, talking about historical queerness in all its ambiguities and evolutions. I highly recommend their video on Weimar Germany.

drapetomania

drapetomania interrogates the politics of low class and high class art and entertainment from a queer and Black perspective. Their art history videos alone cover many angles of white supremacist history I haven't seen anyone else discuss and I'm very excited to see more from them. They are also a very under viewed channel that more people should see!

I am error

Evelynn's channel primarily discusses video games in a presentation style and voice most similar to Action Button reviews. There's something just a bit more personal here though. I hesitate to say cozy since that word has a bit of an infantilizing connotation, maybe comforting is closer. She puts an immense amount of thought and empathy into the experience of playing video games and the personal narratives we build with them.

Swolesome

For more transmasc perspectives there's Swolesome. He has a lot of interesting insights into the more traditionally masculine and "broish" communities like fitness as well as commentary on recent trans issues.

Shonalika

Music, disability, and aggressively non-binary. Their video on gender presentation in heavy metal was really insightful. I would also check out the video "Why I Wear Gloves" for more insight on invisible disabilities.

Vivian Strange

Vivian delights in being a bit of a contrarian- something I really appreciate. She's probably going to challenge you and you're probably going to disagree at times, which is what makes her channel so important. Her video on Marquis De Sade is powerful and a must watch (if you can stomach the subject material, although I would encourage you to try). I haven't seen her most recent video on Saw yet but I am extremely excited to.

[jeonscatalyst]

https://www.tumblr.com/jeonscatalyst/760242773222883328/this-all-of-this-and-every-single-bit-of-this?source=share

I do agree with this person's analysis of Jimin and Jungkook personalities, and I also agree that to some extent Jungkook's affection being rarer than Jimin's does make it more special to some fans, but where I disagree is that I don't think that's the main reason why fans seem to put more weight in what Jungkook does than what Jimin does.

Because while some fans will put this much thought on the differences in jikook's personalities, I don't think it's the majority that does. It's kinda of a problem we have actually. If people realised that Jimin and Jungkook are two different people with different ways of showing affection, then we wouldn't have to keep seeing the same stupid takes on their relationship over and over again. It's people expecting jikook to always do to the other the exact same thing the other did to them that causes so much annoying discourse.

But you know what a lot of shipper do love doing? Competing with one another. Competition is one of the main things in every k-pop fandom and sub-fandom, shippers are no exception. And when it comes to jikookers we all know the competition is with taekookers. We're always at each other's throats, let's be honest. And some spend just as much time taking about the rival ship as they do talking about their own ship.

Which leads me to what I believe is the real main reason why both sides (not just jikookers) view Jungkook's actions as more important. It's because he's the in-common person to both ships. He's like the main character in a love triangle. He's the one that ultimately decides who gets together in the end, not the two love interests, so their actions don't matter as much.

The point of contention with shippers has never really been whether or not Jimin or Taehyung like Jungkook, that's already assumed to be the case. With solos it's definitely an argument, but jikookers and taekookers focus more on each other than in solos. No, the real question has always been who does Jungkook like more: Jimin or Taehyung?

If Jimin declares his love for Jungkook jikookers will of course love that, but if Jungkook is the one who does it it'll matter more because it can be used against taekookers. Taekookers don't care if Jimin loves Jungkook or not, what he feels doesn't matter to them. Nothing Jimin says can prove anything to them. The confirmation has to come from Jungkook, that's the only way they'll care about it. And jikookers do care about one-upping taekookers. If we didn't we wouldn't spend so much time trying to prove to them that we're right.

There's been plenty of times when I've seen something that used to not matter suddenly become important the moment people realize it could be used in the shipping competition. It's a sort of 'I didn't care that much about that thing I have until I realized it could make the other side jealous'. Or 'I didn't want that thing until the other side got it and now I want it too'.

Things naturally hold more importance to people when those things have not only their own inherent value but also when they have the added bonus of pissing off someone you don't like. Jimin's love for Jungkook is important by itself but Jungkook's love for Jimin is seen as more important because it will also piss off taekookers.

I'm pretty sure that if the two biggest ships were jikook and vmin instead, then the most important thing suddenly would be Jimin's affection, regardless of how affectionate he is with everyone.

Again, I do agree some fans do consider jikook's differences and that that does influence how they value their actions, it's just that I think there's a bigger reason here.

I hope this didn't come across as me being a contrarian for the sake of it, I just wanted to add a separate perspective on the subject because I've had this opinion for a while and it seemed relevant to the topic. I also hope I was not to harsh on my opinions of other jikookers, but no fandom is without it's flaws and I think it's important to acknowledge them.

Anon, I owe you a cold beer right now because it seems like you read my mind.

This is exactly what I think too. It’s just mostly about the competition, the shipwars, the fights and the need to “win”. That’s really why people think Jungkook’s actions hold more meaning that Vmins. It’s like Jungkook is the prize that Vmin are desperately trying to win and every action or word of his is used as an affirmation or debunking. “Jungkook did this with Tae but didn’t do that with Jimin so Tae is his boyfriend”….just an endless cycle of bullshit.

Anyone who is mature and experienced enough understands that Jimin and Jungkook don’t have to express themselves exactly the same for things to be mutual. Jimin could say “I love you” to Jungkook and Jungkook wouldn’t say it back but would prefer to make a video of Jimin. So many people would say Jungkook didn’t reciprocate just because he didn’t do things exactly the way Jimin did when the truth is that he did, just in his own way.

When I see people coming up with useless takes or comparisons about their bond it pisses me off to no end because it’s the little things that Jungkook does. People would get pissed at Jungkook and say that he doesn’t show love to Jimin as much as Jimin does just because Jimin would constantly touch him, ask him to eat alot and is very vocal about his affection but Jungkook remembering that Jimin likes his food spicy and trying to make it just how Jimin likes it apparently means nothing because Jungkook wasn’t shouting on a roof top or Jungkook thinking of what to cook in Jeju and knowing that Jimin would love it doesn’t matter because he didn’t stand on a podium and announce it or Jungkook quietly getting water for Jimin and giving him to drink without him asking doesn’t mean a thing because he didn’t carry Jimin on his head. Sometimes I don’t even have the energy to argue because if only people understood Jungkook they would know that Jungkook doesn’t treat anyone the same way he does Jimin.

I personally can see how someone might naturally value Jungkook’s actions more because Jimin is a natural caring, nurturing and loving person to everyone so sometimes it is hard to tell if his actions mean more or it is just him being himself but with Jungkook, he tries as much as possible to be impartial but he just cannot help it when it comes to Jimin. He is pretty kind and caring towards everyone he loves too but not the same way Jimin does it plus Jungkook tends to go big when he expresses his affection for Jimin. So with Jimin we get little bits of love and affection more frequently than we get from Jungkook but once we get one from Jungkook, it is usually news worthy and kinda exclusive to Jimin so it hits harder.

I dunno. I might have gone off topic but like I said, I 100% agree with you.

[coraniaid]

reverse unpopular opinion meme: xander?

[Reverse unpopular opinion meme]

I like to consider my opinion of Xander Harris as being particularly complicated and nuanced, but – engaging in some critical self-reflection for just a moment – I think the objective truth is probably more that I’m just instinctively and aggressively contrarian about it.  I find that I tend to strongly disagree with most of the online takes about Xander I see, almost regardless of whether they’re pro or anti.  

I mean, on the one hand I do think it’s more than a bit silly to pretend, as many people seem to do, that Xander Harris is [somehow?] uniquely and only a Joss Whedon self insert [despite being written by multiple people] in a way that none of the other characters [that Whedon also created and that appear in the show Whedon created] apparently are. Or to ignore the fact that very often the audience is clearly meant to think that Xander is in the wrong and disapprove of his actions.  (You obviously aren’t supposed to be cheering for him when he lies to Buffy about Willow’s message about Angel in Becoming, for an easy example; or to be clapping and applauding him when he cheats on Cordelia or leaves Anya at the altar either.) And I think it would be wrong to dismiss the fact that Xander starts the show as a dumb but (mostly) harmless teenager and that, not only does he gradually mature and improve as a person as he grows up, he also [perhaps uniquely for this show?] manages to do so without killing even one person.    

But equally I would be lying if I didn’t admit that many of my least favorite episodes of the show are either Xander-centric episodes (Teacher’s Pet, The Pack, Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered for example) or episodes in which Xander plays a non-trivial role in exactly the parts of the episodes I most dislike (his treatment of Buffy in Dead Man’s Party, say, or his speech in support of Riley in Into The Woods).  The haters are right to say that Xander does often treat his female friends and partners abysmally, often in ways that the show doesn’t seem to acknowledge or which it briefly acknowledges only to brush them off with no consequences.  There certainly are times when the writers expect the audience to cheer for Xander a lot more than I personally want to, or when he says something gross and sexist which is just meant to be funny and that the writers simply didn’t think critically about at all.  And the flipside of Xander being written by a range of different writers is that his character growth is often slow, halting or inconsistent (which, while arguably realistic, is not particularly fun to experience).  And unlike some of the fandom I don’t really believe anything Xander does can be handwaved away by him being deeply affected by what happened to his “best friend” Jesse in Season 1’s The Harvest: in fact I would put money on a majority of the show’s writers having no idea who Jesse was.

Anyway, none of that preamble is really in the spirit of the ask game, is it?

Um.  Five things I like about Xander, then.  No hedging or clarification except for what I heavily imply above (oh, and also the comics aren’t canon and don’t mean anything and actually don’t even exist … I mean, uh, what comics are we even talking about?).

I think the show resolves the initial Season 1 “love triangle” (in which Xander is really into Buffy and she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings or even seem to notice them, while similarly Willow is really into Xander and he doesn’t reciprocate her feelings or even seem to notice them) in about the best way it possibly could have done.  Buffy and Xander don’t ever get together and there’s never really any suggestion that they might – one or two odd moments in Season 2 aside, I guess? – and Willow musters the self-respect required to firmly reject Xander when he tries to ask her to the dance that Buffy had just turned him down for in Prophecy Girl.  Not only that, but Willow goes on to have a serious relationship with a guy who isn’t Xander and then comes out as a lesbian and continues to have serious relationships with woman who aren’t Xander, right up to the end of the final season.  And this happens all while the three of them stay very close friends; in fact Buffy and Xander at least are clearly better friends in the second half of the season than they were at the beginning of the show [when, after all, Xander had only just met her].  Whether or not that was planned from the beginning – and to be honest, I think the Buffy fandom as a whole wildly overestimates how much of the show was planned from the beginning – I think that’s a pretty unambiguously great way for that particular subplot to have be handled.   (Although the funniest and most geometrically pleasing resolution of the Season 1 love triangle would, of course, have been for Buffy and Willow to end up together.)

Speaking of Buffy and Willow, for all his faults Xander is consistently written as somebody who cares about his friends and wants them to be safe and happy.  As well as the obvious big moments – helping to save Buffy’s life in Prophecy Girl; his speech assuring Buffy that she’s his hero in The Freshman; repeatedly assuring Willow in Grave that he’ll always love her, even if she ends up killing him or destroying the world; that moment in Season 7 where Buffy sends him away to look after Dawn because she “needs somebody [she] can count on” – I think it’s fun when we get to see the three of them just hang out, in those quiet little moments they get to just all be kids together.  I am very firmly in the camp that thinks Buffy should have friends and be allowed to not be treated for an idiot for liking said friends or wanting to spend time with them.  Whatever else you can say about it, I think it’s obvious that this is how the show’s writers expect you to engage with the show.   That’s part of why I’m more forgiving than some people of episodes like I Robot, You Jane or Bad Eggs or Amends: these are all episodes in which I can believe that Xander is fundamentally a good kid who Buffy would want to be friends with, and that he’d grow up to be somebody she’d still want to be friends with as an adult.    

Some people online – mostly not on Tumblr – talk a lot of rot about Xander getting self-defense training or somehow reconnecting with the military persona he had in Halloween or otherwise Learning How To Fight, and I can’t overstate how glad I am that the show didn’t go in this direction.  Xander makes sense as a character precisely because he isn’t a fighter.  Because he doesn’t occupy that more stereotypically masculine role: because he is the one who gets rescued and brings in baked goods and that the other, more powerful but emotionally repressed characters can go to to talk about their feelings.  Because he is the person who, by the end of the show, can best reassure Dawn that she doesn’t need to be a Potential Slayer or have superpowers to be special.  This idea that Xander complains too much during the show about not having special powers and that the “solution” to “fix” this is to have him go out and get some (as opposed to this being a deliberate character arc in which Xander learns to accept that he’s never going to be that sort of person) is not one I have a lot of sympathy for.  The show already has a human male character who is trained as a fighter so he can go on patrol with Buffy: he’s called Riley Finn and he’s insufferable. 

Although the fandom as a whole loves to massively oversell how “abusive” the Scoobies respective parents are, I do think that Xander’s home life is a key part of understanding who Xander specifically is as a person.  And – again, however deliberately planned from the beginning or not it was – there’s something nicely disturbing about how we never get a big dramatic reveal about how awful Xander’s parents are: it’s just something that the writers just slowly build up to – from the idea in Season 1 that Xander doesn’t regularly eat cooked meals at home (“do your parents even own a stove?”), to Xander joking about his dad trying to “send [him] to some Armenians once” early in Season 2, or calling home to say he’s going to be out all night and having his mother clearly not recognize his voice, through to Cordelia revealing in Season 3 that he admitted to her that sleeps outside during Christmas to avoid his parents drunken fights  – until by Restless we can see Xander having nightmares about being trapped in his parents basement and having his father come down the stairs and we don’t need to have anything more than that explained to us.  I think that’s all really effectively done, and while I don’t think it excuses te way Xander behaves I do think it does a lot to make sense of it.

Again, while I think it’s possible to drastically overstate the Mind/Spirit/Heart metaphorical reading – I don’t think this is something the writers were consciously thinking about most of the time and I don’t think the reading of the show in which everyone is reduced to a part of Buffy’s own psyche is even particularly interesting except perhaps as an intellectual exercise – I do think it’s a reading that works pretty well for Xander. (Actually of the three elements, that’s surely the one that’s easiest to see: I’ve never been completely sure why Willow is the Spirit rather than the Mind.)  Yeah, Xander can often be petty and jealous and selfish and hypocritical and refuse to analyze his own feelings: that doesn’t rule him out from being Buffy’s metaphorical heart, it’s evidence that he is.  Buffy can be all of those things too!  (I think I am rather more fond of Buffy herself than you are – she is my favorite character on the show, after all – but I don’t like Buffy because she’s flawless and perfect; I like her because she’s interesting and realistically flawed, and very often flawed in the same ways as her friends.)

[justlarkin]

Yoritomo really was the only one to see through MC/exiles smooth moves and see them for the menace the are. That's why he got cursed with weak sauce.

Quetzalcoatl throws a tantrum destroying his home and wiping out humanity.

Tezcatlipoca: "God he's so hot."

Owuo being an instant cannibal with major bloodlust.

Oyankopon: "I can fix him."

Jamukha boiling people alive in front of everyone.

Temujin: "I want to have their babies."

Ahriman being the literal incarnation of all evil in the world.

Ahura: "You give me purpose and I can't live without you."

Heyoka doesn't count because I still firmly believe they're the only exile that did nothing wrong except be too silly and get canceled. But wakan wants to bang the clown now so I guess it works out that they have most stable relationship.

Yoritomo is like that one character in a horror movie who dies early on because he figured out the killer's identity while everyone else are the horny one-note characters who get slaughtered.

Heyoka did nothing wrong, but he also has the potential to be that guy™ or the worse person you've ever met because he has to be a contrarian and side with the minority. Imagine going out to eat with friends and you think you finally all agreed on a place after an hour of going back and forth and then this guy decides to pipe up and disagree because his 6th sense could tell someone wanted Italian instead of Chinese, so you're back at square one. I'd have to slam my head through a window. Wakan Tanka can just silence him by smothering Heyoka's face with his giant rack, so it really doesn't matter though.

[sneckoil]

ok so i haven't watched housemd since i was a kid and just finished s1 and i am just. why is cameron written like that. genuinely her thing with house had me so completely lost this season. feels like a waste of a great actress but?? maybe I'm wrong?? she just feels so. empty as a character to me. regardless i would love to know what your opinion is on the character bc from what i remember it doesn't get better from here

I dont blame you ban-joey and I really appreciate your courage to send this off anon. We probably have the same experience. I watched house as a kid too (when I was 14, like 10 yrs ago) and hated her for being contrarian and inconsistent and in the way. But since then i’ve looked inward and found i was imposing double standards wrought by internalized misogyny. Anyway.

My opinions on cameron:

Number 1, if i were her i would shoot my shot with house too. excuse me. as if most of us on here are not just twenny… thirty somethings pining after old men. happily going on a monster truck date? getting a date in return for the old man to have me back on my team? Yeah. I respect the hustle. fuck that old man or whatever. marry him when he’s sick. phantom thread him

Number 2, liking Cameron is easy once you accept. That she is really really really not normal. I know this may be something you already know. But internalize it. She says something righteous but it doesnt mean that that is her defining trait. There is something so deeply wrong with her. I know you’re still on season 1 and Yes she Gets Worse but if you are working with the same lens as i am (that there’s something WRONG with her) then everything that happens makes sense. [spoilers] Of course youre only attracted to people when they’re sick and dying. Of course your reaction to being told youre boring is getting high on your patient’s drugs a few weeks away from your HIV test results. Of course you wanted to cheat on your dying husband with his best friend who comforted you while your husband was dying but you didn’t and you still haven’t after the fact he died. Of course you kept your dead husband’s sperm. Of course you wanted to kill a dictator but didnt, and then got pissed at your husband who Did kill him, a husband you actually felt nothing for and was hesitant to even let propose to you [/end spoilers] she’s so funny. If she were a guy they’d call her a messy bitch and love her for it. she has uncategorizable mental illnesses masking as a savior complex.

Number 3, you’re right about the emptiness on some level though. They wanted to write her out of the show and they did her so bad. And I’d say yeah she’s inconsistent as a character, but that goes for Everyone in this show. House isn’t consistent. Wilson isn’t consistent. None of them are consistent. Cameron is only as well-written as the writer who knows how to write her. I’ve suspected the only reason i hated her when I was 14 was she got in the way of hilson. But nowadays that stuff is so unserious to me. All i care about now is messy people being messy about other people

Number 4, she compels me. I like that she’s interesting. I don’t like most of her decisions, I disagree with her the most, but it’s interesting. She’s fun to Watch. She’s no Foreman (that guy is a case study in layers of character depth but that’s for another ramble) but that’s more than i can say for her than someone like, say, Chase LMAO

That being said if you dont like cameron then that’s fine 👍 we live in a society etc etc

I end with this (thank you jackie for putting this image on my feed)

[justabeewithapen]

Who’s Narrator most comfortable with? Are TLQ and Princess dating or are they friends? Has TLQ hugged Hero?

The Narrator is most comfortable around TLQ as while they disagree a lot they do actually understand each other and TLQ is willing to advocate for the Narrator when push comes to shove. He also doesn't mind hanging around Opportunist, even though he is aware the lootbug is full of BS it's nice to have someone fully on your side (even if they will jump ships to the other side the moment anyone else speaks up). Despite how much Contrarian messes with him the Narrator doesn't go out of his way to avoid Contrarian. He feels fairly comfortable around Hero but the feeling is only sorta mutual, Hero really doesn't know how to talk to him. They're def in a relationship, though I don't think I'd call it dating. It is something between dating and marriage, like being engaged I suppose? They love each other and are committed to each other exclusively, but I don't think they would identify with marriage if it was explained to them. They just sorta are, and what they are is very hand holdy and cuddly. Speaking of which, yes!! Many many times! TLQ is very physically affectionate and Hero and Princess get the brunt of that. Since TLQ is also the most visually intimidating of the group (even if Princess is probably the actual strongest) he often is holding onto Hero in some shape or form to discourage other monsters from trying their luck. Hero was very afraid of this at first because, well, Bracken, but he has since gotten used to it!

[zenkindoflove]

ACOTAR tag game 💕

Answer the questions below & tag whoever you want, or make it an open tag!!

Thank you @the-darkestminds!!! Your answers were so fun to read!

Who's your favourite ACOTAR character?

Lucien. He's always going to be #1. 🦊

Who's your least favourite character?

Azriel. I fluctuate between I can't be bothered and actively being a hater. Also the fandom's obsession with him has soured me further because I'm contrarian like that. I can't be helped. I got the ick early on and I'm afraid I'm likely not to come back from it.

Say something nice about your least favourite character.

God damn it. Um, he's pretty.

Who's your favourite High Lord? (If you picked one for your fav character, then who's your second fav!)

I love me some Tarquin. I love that he wants to tear down power structures and that he doesn't trust Rhys and Feyre (as he shouldn't).

Favourite MINOR character?

How minor is minor? Does Eris count? He's not minor in my heart. He feels more major than minor. If Eris doesn't count then I would say Jurian. I need more of that chaotic hottie.

Favourite ship? (Crackships included!)

Elucien is my OTP forever. ☀️🌷

Favourite court and why?

I think it's a mix between Day and Autumn since I think about those two the most. Day because there is so much mysterious magic going on there, with their powers, the libraries, and the Pegasuses. And Autumn because they have all the interesting intrigue, story, and the aesthetics and atmosphere is my FAVORITE. Sooooo.... I'm gonna go Autumn.

Make up a brand new court RIGHT NOW, NO PREP JUST VIBES.

Since there are the seasonal courts and the solar courts already, maybe there could be courts that can be different ecosystems (like desert, tundra, rainforest, etc). And I would do the Ocean Court so there can be mermaids, mermen, and mertheys. For no ulterior motives whatsoever.

What relationship would you have wanted to see more of in the books?

I need more with Lucien and Eris like I need air to breathe. Please oh please, SJM, give us that brotherly angst and love.

What's your unpopular opinion?

Let's be real. It's probably many of my opinions on Azriel. But since I already gave him a hard time. I would say probably that I'm firmly in camp Elain's book is next and that I disagree a lot with people who say "we just don't know enough about Elain" or "Elain has no development". I've made several posts about this, so I won't rehash it. But I think Elain is very well developed for her book and we've been through several life changing moments with her already. We might not "know" Elain in that she is more reserved and we haven't had her POV, but we know a lot about Elain, her history, her narrative conflicts, how other characters perceive her, and the direction that her story is generally going to take is pretty easy to visualize. Basically, I care about Elain. I pay attention to her. I see what Sarah has been doing and I'm ready and here for it. We know just as much if not more about her than most of the other side characters in this series.

What's your favourite headcanon/fan canon?

That Eris is GAY (or bisexual).

If you were swept away to Prythian, what's ONE thing you would want to do?

Fuck Lucien and if he won't have me the next available redheaded Vanserra. Preferably Eris. Oh, I'd also want to eat some food cause wtf does this faerie food taste like that makes human food taste like ass?

If you could have ONE faerie ability seen in the books, which would it be?

Healing I think would be the most useful.

No pressure tagging: @crazy-ache, @olenvasynyt, @ataraxiasflame, @teddyhoneybear, @lucienarcheron, @animezinglife , @starsreminisce

[moonshynecybin]

here’s the thing with cele and marc (according to Me…) i don’t think cele would willingly interact with anyone that’s not an academy member not out of hatred or whatever but he’s just . a little introvert …. like did u see him during the moto2 group picture moment his ass was ALONE almost the whole time

hes not so much an introvert though!!! i mean hes weird (<3) but i also think hes just bad at pr (in the sense of presenting a publicly consumable affable personality) and a little self deprecating and not the most dedicated to learning other languages... every time the academy gets interviewed and they get asked about cele theyre like if anything's happing he's there!! hes texting to hang!!! hes at the club!! he wants to be with his buddies!!! like hes less of a bold personality than someone like bezz who has an ability to be really charismatic and affable, but being a little shy doesnt mean ya cant make friends... ESPECIALLY when hes a lil more comfy bc his other academy buddies are vibing in the corner doin intricate rituals. he is ALSO. and this is crucial. the resident contrarian of the academy. won a race in moto2 by disagreeing with everybody on his team and also the entire grid on tire selection. and bc of this think he least likely to go along with the vale miasma. as evidenced by him canonically annoying vale the most. and i ask what would annoy vale more. than him earnestly asking marc about like. literally anything.

please also consider these posts they are so dear 2 me..

[50shadesofoctarine]

Looking For A Beta (Aziraphale/Crowley Academic!AU)

Dm me if interested, 889 word excerpt below:

The ethics board didn’t know what to do with him; Neither did the medical board or the astrological association. Dr. A.J. Crowley was an academic rockstar—for all that the term “rockstar” meant in an environment where the ratio of knitted sweaters to human beings was an astounding 3.3 sweaters for every researcher in too many layers—his name plastered somewhere on most of the papers produced by Tadfield University, as well as a hefty chunk of papers produced outside of TadU (his groundbreaking statistical analysis popping up in all sorts of odd places, although, most notably, in Aziraphale’s pub arguments). A born contrarian, the sciences had called to him. And of course they had! Science was the occupation of mule-headed pricks (see: Nicolaus Copernicus), curious entrepreneurial spirits (see: Nikola Tesla), and madmen (see: Freud). And Crowley just so happened to be all three. There wasn’t a major field of study that he didn’t have a thumb in. If there was a scientific consensus to be had on the matter, then there was also a Crowley to unrepentantly flip the bird at it.

These were the foreboding thoughts overshadowing the mind of one young (although only young by the standards of post-PhD graduates, which is to say, not young at all) Dr. Fell as he glanced, awestruck, to the other side of the University cafeteria, where Dr. A.J. Crowley sat, eating a bowl of store-bought salad. Aziraphale had been crushing—academically, of course—on Crowley ever since he had read the man’s first paper on multidimensional approaches to quantum entanglement. That Crowley was wrong in his conclusions about relativity and its subsequent angles of observation was no impediment in Aziraphale’s appreciation of his intelligence. They might have disagreed on the finer points, but Crowley’s writing was a wonder to behold. Aziraphale had nearly vibrated out of his seat upon spotting him. Nevermind that he logically understood that Crowley published papers under TadU, the same university that Aziraphale himself wrote for, and therefore bumping into him was not outside the realm of possibility. It was the principle of the matter. Aziraphale knew Crowley as a photo above a well-read author’s note; It was something else entirely to witness him, breathing, flesh and blood, as he gazed into his salad, wine coloured locks flowing down his back. Odd to know that he had poor posture, or that he forked his food around more than he actually ate. Intimate, in a strange way; That Aziraphale could quote the innermost musings of a man mere meters away from him.

Unfortunately, Aziraphale’s single player staring contest was quite suddenly put into co-op mode, as Crowley—almost like he could sense the attention goring into his back—looked up from his salad and into Aziraphale’s, now bashful, gaze. A tense moment of delicate liminality followed, Aziraphale waiting (much like a man at the gallows) for Crowley’s reaction to his impropriety. He was then surprised when Crowley's expression morphed into one of recognition, rather than one of disgust or awkwardness.

“Dr. Fell!” Crowley called, a grin overtaking the once thoughtful lines of his face. He waved one of his arms haphazardly in a ‘come-over-here’ kind of gesture, using the other to pull out a chair beside him. Aziraphale had the grace to be momentarily astonished before hurrying over to meet his academic hero.

“Dr. Crowley, It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance! I’ll be honest, I-I never expected you to know who I was… Let alone…” He let his words trail off into pitiful nothings, stuttering and red in the face.

“Just ‘Crowley’ if you will, or ‘Anthony’ if you must. And the pleasure’s all mine! I first read your work, oh… It’d have to be at least five or six years ago now. Your master’s thesis, I believe. On Paul’s doctrines.” With a leering grin, Crowley leaned forward.

“I will admit, Dr. Fell, your writing had me positively hooked.” He said it as though it were a secret, the kind you wouldn’t dare repeat to your mother. However, from what Aziraphale could tell, he just sort of spoke like that. Like someone who was constantly sharing the intricacies of some deviant sexual act for all the innocence of the actual words themselves. Every sentence that fell out of his mouth reeked of an implied “you saucy minx” like the ghost of Fran Drescher past.

“Er.” Aziraphale replied intelligently, taking a seat. Crowley seemed unperturbed by the sudden verbal ineptitude. When working with academics, you get used to an assorted array of oddball characters. It’s terribly presumptuous, and even more so unproductive, to expect them all to conform to the typical back and forth of neurotypical communication. You don’t get to become Dr. A.J. Crowley, pain in the arse to astrophysicists everywhere, by being over-particular about the oratory of one’s downtime.

“You’re wrong, of course.” He continued with an impish grin, forking his salad cheekily. Aziraphale hadn’t known someone could fork a salad cheekily, but nonetheless, here Crowley was, attempting to prove him incorrect on two fronts.

“Wrong? Dear boy, that was my master's thesis. Should you choose to debate this, I fear I’ll have the home field advantage.” His response was deliberately unaffected, a haughty tune laced with the playfulness that Crowley was absolutely drenched in.

“Unfortunately for you, I’ve read it. And, as such, I fear nothing.”

[chvoswxtch]

No clue if you're still taking requests for your 2k celebration but I was wondering if I could get a Margarita (maybe on the rocks if you'd like) for Matt Murdock with the lyric "at dinner parties I'll call you out on your contrarian shit" and or "what must it be like to grow up that beautiful?". Tbh, Gold Rush is so Matthew Murdock coded that I could pick any lyrics from the song and apply them to him

hi nonnie!

you're so right. it is matty coded. I went with the first lyric bc it's one of my person faves.

enjoy, my darling! 🥂

blurb below the cut

gold rush

at dinner parties, I call you out on your contrarian shit

“Respectfully, I disagree. I think the cops and politicians lining their pockets instead of fulfilling their sworn duty to the city is a bigger problem than vigilantes, but to each their own.”

There was a bite to Matt’s voice that voice that made it apparent his words that made it apparent he wasn’t being respectful at all, and the charming, tight lipped smile on his full lips almost resembled more of a grimace. You gently nudged his knee under the table to get him to back off, quickly changing the subject. 

“This wine is delicious! Where did you find it?” 

After dinner when everyone was gathered in the living room, you pulled him aside into the kitchen and gave him a pointed look with your hands on your hips. His brows lifted several inches above his crimson lenses, his face morphed into incredulous innocence as he scrunched his shoulders up in exasperation with his palms facing upwards.

“What?”

“This is a dinner party, Matthew. Not a debate.”

“You heard what he said-“

“Who cares what he said? He’s an asshole.”

Matt let out a deep sigh, angling his head downwards as he shifted on his feet, settling his hands on his waist in a stance of disappointment. A muscle feathered beneath his jaw when he clenched it, and you wanted to laugh at how adorable he looked; like a child that had just been told they had to share their favorite toy.

“Matty.”

You took a step forward, gently cupping his jaw in your hands as you shook your head slowly, unable to hide your grin as you stared up at your beloved stubborn man.

“You are making a big difference in the city. I know that. You know that. And everyone that Daredevil has ever saved knows that. Who cares what this trust fund dipshit says? He probably paid for his degree, unlike you.” 

Matt grumbled quietly under his breath, and you couldn’t help but laugh at the look on his face.

“Why did we even have to come tonight?”

“Free dinner and booze.”

Matt made a hum of acknowledgement in the back of his throat, letting out another deep exhale through his nose.

“Now, if you’re done pouting, can you please focus your attention on where it belongs? You’re really killing my confidence here. I got all dolled up, wore this pretty dress, just for you to give all your attention to someone else.” 

Letting out a quiet sigh of defeat, Matt nodded as his hands sought out their home on your waist, pulling you in close against his chest. 

“I know. I’m sorry, sweetheart. It’s just-“

“You care. You care a lot, and you’re always worried you’re not doing enough, even though you do more than enough. That’s what I love about you. You’ve got the biggest heart out of anyone I’ve ever met.” 

Matt’s lips pulled gently into a warm smile, leaning in to press his forehead against yours as he wrapped his arms tightly around your waist.

“How’d I get so lucky, huh?”

“You don’t start showering me with all your attention, you’re not getting lucky at all, Murdock.”

[mommyashtoreth]

not aboit cro&azi but: opinion on the shallowness and frankly odd pacing of nina and maggies relationship? like one day theyre having stilted conversation, the next maggie is crying over how in love she is.

Hmm. Strokes my wizard's beard. Good question. Good Omens fans have caught on to how much I love the sound of my own voice but not on to the other facet of my deeply annoying yet hilarious and charming personality, which is that I love being contrarian. So, in that fashion, I must disagree with this assessment. As we discovered last night it's been a while since I've watched goomer (I may rewatch it soon, I may not, who knows) but I still think it's abundantly clear that Maggie has a huge crush on Nina from afar, and uh. this is gonna sound crazy but when you have huge unrequited crushes on people it can make you nervous and awkward when you talk to them. Idk I come from an Az-and-Crowley school of relationships myself, where you hang out with someone for eight kajillion years as Totally Platonic Girl Best Friends until one day you just fucking snap you NEED to fuck them so badly, but lots of people experience relationships the way Maggie does, it's a suuuuper common romance trope, and that doesn't make it bad writing! I think we're just so used to seeing this kind of trope be applied to straight relationships and the "platonic gal pals for eight kajillion years until one day you just fucking snap" thing be applied to gay relationships that people aren't ready for this "awkward stuttering and blushing because he looked at me! He let me borrow his pencil!" sort of trope being applied to a wlw relationship. I don't really think their relationship is oddly paced at all, it feels "awkward" because it IS awkward. Nina is someone who, like, barely knows Maggie exists, was in a presumably-monogamous relationship up until very recently, and got a bunch of water dumped on her and then had a trade meeting turned into a Regency ball because these two freaks who are her and Maggie's narrative foils can't just talk to each other normal. And she reacts normally to that I think! I don't think their relationship is badly written (it's probably paced better than, like, Newt and Anathema's, for instance, but I understand the difference in tone between s1 and s2 making those feel like two different cases), it's just yknow, under weird circumstances. Idk I just think it's funny how many goomenheads are completely convinced that Crowley is somehow in total unrequited gay love with Aziraphale (who literally wants him back so badly it makes me sick), and yet I'm here talking about how Maggie is kind of in semi-unrequited gay love with Nina and that's Fine. It's a good character thing. They parallel Az and Crowley in a lot of ways (a romantic obsessed with something near-obsolete who Doesn't Drink and a fast-living cynic who deals with bad shit by instantly initiating Wine Drunk With No Man To Feel Up Wednesday; they're even cast to kind of Look similar which I think is funny), but the structure and context of their relationship is not the same and thus cannot be compared. It's not a Writing Flaw or a Plot Hole or anything to me, it's just the simple difference between "crush before friends" and "friends before crush"

[urproblematicfav-arsonk]

(Different anon, CW for discussion of rape)

Stella raped Stolas, willingly and on purpose. While I have zero disagreements that she is also a victim of the arranged marriage and all the culture surrounding all that, some of your points (which were mostly good points, I feel the need to preface this with the fact that you and I are very much in agreement about what Stolas has done wrong) seemed to suggest, at least to me, that she causes less harm to Stolas that she does to her. Like when you bring up how Stolas yells at her and how that's not okay, I think it's really important to acknowledge that she is his abuser, and he is reacting to her active abuse of him. She throws and breaks things, she constantly berates him in front of their daughter, she plotted his literal murder in front of her too, she bragged about raping him at the "still not divorced" party, she physically assaults him, she downplays his emotions and his trauma, and so on. That's just what we see on-screen. I don't think it's abusive for Stolas to have a strong reaction to that.

All of your other points, totally agree with. And it's very possible that I've misinterpreted your thoughts/words regarding Stella (I am basing this ask off a single post of yours, while sleep deprived, so I acknowledge that I may have missed or misinterpreted something). As a victim of domestic abuse, I just felt the need to share my thoughts about their dynamic. And if we disagree that's okay too!

Either way, thank you for your points regarding Stolas and Octavia. You're the only other person I've seen who even touches on that, and it was oddly refreshing. I had similar thoughts but always felt brushed aside when I said something in a discord server about it. 100+ people there and not one seemed to agree about it

I love that you need to preface ranting about Stella with me being right about Stolas lmao.

Anyway, put this off because I was already really tired and worked up over the previous anon I got about this at 5am, and then life stuff was STRESSING ME THE FUCK OUT, and then I went on a collectively 40 hour bus trip to Ohio. Got busy, and didn't care enough about this lmao.

But I'm back now. And eating cheesecake so I'm in a mood to rant without being agitated.

I'm not a Stella "apologist" in the sense that I think she did nothing wrong. But I do think she was robbed as a character (and subsequently Georgina Leahy, who was completely fucking wasted as an actor)

I'm not saying what Stella does isn't abuse or rape. But Stella being a rapist, doesn't make Stolas NOT a rapist lmao. And also, the sentiment that Stella is this evil, awful bad bad WOMAN who causes all the problems, unlike pure baby Stolas is both basically canon and also what 90% of the fandom believes in.

And I'm a fucking contrarian and also unlike Viv, actually believe in Inside Of Every Demon Is A Rainbow, and that everyone deserves empathy and the chance to be better.

One of the big problems with Hazbin/Helluva as a concept, is that it doesn't believe in that.

Characters like Stella, or Valentino, or any character that does something worse than a misdemeanor are immediately, both by the text and fandom, completely written off as Broken and Unredeemable.

Genuinely, what does this scene say? What am I, the audience supposed to take away from this, what bit of valuable character development am I learning from this view of Stella?

It's that she's been like this from the start. She was always bad. There's no point helping her, or wanting her to get better. You see, she was like.......that, even when she was a kid! So really its her fault she's like this.

Stella and Stolas are both products of a patriarchal, sexist society where rape and abuse is expected. They were both set up to fail. That were both groomed to think behaving like this is normal and fine.

There's a way to make Stella a villian and an antagonist without it just reeking of misogyny. She doesn't feel like a well rounded character, with goals and thoughts. She's just a Horrible Woman who makes Man sad. And with the added problem of Stolas participating in sex trafficking, abusing his daughter, and just his all around classisim and racisim, it makes it seem like Stella is only bad because she's mean and not because those things are bad.

HH/HB has a SERIOUS problem with framing abuse(usually sexual??) as Fine and Okay as long as the person doing it is One Of The Good Ones. Val isn't sad or sympathetic, he's scary, so when he's sexually violent it's not only expected, but the most groundbreakingly evil thing he could do and we should kill him and remove him from the story immediately. Angel is sad, and we like him, so his sexual violence is okay because he didn't mean it like that, he's just making a mistake, it's a story about growing after all.

Same goes for Stella and Stolas.

As for Stella being the "abuser", I don't necessarily disagree. But abuse is complicated and especially when dealing with something like marriage or close relationships in general, it can get messy on strict titles like that. People rarely ever stay in one neat box of The Bad One, and The Good One. They can be terrible to each other at the same time, and both suck for it.

We don't really know a whole lot about their past together, however its a patriarchy, and Stolas is the patriarch. No matter what, he has automatic superiorly over her. He's educated, he's a prince, he has the grimoire. Stella was more or less given to him. At the very least, at the start it was probably closer to a mutual abuse/rape situation where neither of them wanted it but Stolas had a duty and Stella was required to participate.

I don't think Stolas' outbursts against her put him in the wrong because he isn't being nice enough about being traumatized. But with everything else happening, it feels hollow and like poor writing. The narrative is just hyper focusing on how much Stolas is suffering because of this society, and then immediately writing Stella off as evil because she evil with no awareness. It's boring. It's dumb. It's disappointing.

Stella exists as a character to make Stolas seem more pathetic and relatable, she's barely even a person. You see his shitty behavior and go "well, look at his wife and everything, of course he's kinda weird sometimes. it's not his fault."

And I think Stolas yelling at Stella is less about their abuse to each other, and how doing that in front of Octavia is bad for her. This divorce is already hard on her, and having to deal with that kind of household sucks. They could keep the fighting under wraps more.

I'm like, a harcore Valangel redemption arc believer, where they can move on from the abuse and mess of their relationship and find a way to reconcile and be civil. And I think Stella and Stolas could've had that too.

They could realize how its less about how much they hate each other, and more the expectations and trauma forced onto them since they were babies. They could bond over how much they don't want Octavia to be another cycle of that. Stella's murder attempt could be about her trying to secure her station in life, keep her image in public, make sure she has the power to give her daughter a slightly better life. Stella could face how fucking awful she is, and find a way to show that she wants to change but she feels trapped. Stolas doesn't want to be there, Stella doesn't want to be there, let them bitches work together. Fuck it, make the public divorce a scam to make one of them look better so it goes faster.

I'm not even actually anti Stolas, I actually liked him for most of the show until shit started really falling apart recently. I just want a timeline where the writing in this show isn't awful and all the characters have real, nuanced arcs. It's just so boring and stupid.

[raayllum]

Since there's a new sock playbook happening and it's slightly different than the old one, thought I'd nip this one in the bud. In the past week three (3) different blogs have been made to rebuttal my and other's posts about the theory that Callum will free Aaravos. Which, fair enough - people can disagree and if I don't like what someone is adding to my posts, I can block 'em on both my side AND my main.

But, granted, that only works if the person respects the blocking boundary.

So here are some of the new signs:

Blog has left the old 'three words mashed together' schtick and is implementing a usually 2 word TDP themed mashup

Blogs are all mostly TDP with another fandom worked in

Blog is randomly made, reblogs posts in the other fandom, and then makes their foray onto one of my or other's posts to rebuttal

Known potential socks (in order of apparent appearance):

Virenhunter. Seemingly made on August 17th, reblogged my posts and others. Lied about wanting to not clog up my notifications since I was OP of the post they were arguing on and I had blocked them (simply because, so they had to make a new post - which is fair - but then offered up a false excuse.) Dragonrecap. The similar naming structure, quick appearance, and reblogging one of my posts to be contrarian in such close order is what initially made me suspicious this was a sock / burgeoning harassment situation.

Moonabovemoon. Same previous tells, also recently made, reblogged one of my clearly theorizing but also very much joking posts (note my own tags of "tone gets increasingly unhinged" and hordika asking a question of how I have also answered many many times re: Callum doing it to save a loved one).

As always, I don't really care if people disagree, but it's obtuse to 1) shove it onto multiple posts, 2) ignore blocking boundaries by making socks to get around it, and 3) specifically, repeatedly target things I've made or posted (mocking my "predictions achieved" tag when it's existed since 2019 and has had nothing to do with these theories until they started happening, mocking a post I made where I mentioned s5 being like a victory lap for my characterization of Callum not really caring about being Lied To when 5x01 proved that too, etc). when I tag everything accordingly in multiple ways for tag blocking purposes, I encourage people to block me, and you can use tumblr saviour to ensure you don't see any of my posts unfiltered on your dash.

Either way: PSA for the fandom, the usual old tells of "isn't Rayla so cute and small and Callum is so strong and principled," has a new front. He cannot / refuses to be reasoned with, cannot manage to have a respectful disagreement without either losing his cool or playing the victim when he's called out for it, and has a habit of targeting marginalized creators in particular (which given the sexism towards Rayla makes perfect sense). Best thing to do is just block and not engage as much as you can, and keep on enjoying the various theories and interpretations you like in peace. 👍

[shortjohnred]

Slay the Hollow: Voices as MCs

WARRING: This blog might contains spoilers for both Scarlet Hollow and Slay the Princess. You have been warned.

I'm a huge fan of Black Tabby Games' Slay the Princess. A lot of people have talked about this game in detail but not nearly enough have discussed it's equally excellent sister game Scarlet Hollow. So, to show my appreciation for both games, I came up with a fun little idea: what if the voices of Slay the Princess were main characters in Scarlet Hollow!

For those who don't know, in StP, you acquire different voices based on your choices through out the game. And in SH, you can choose two out of seven traits that unlock new dialogue options and give you abilities that can help out in certain situations, and depending on what trait you have you can completely circumvent certain choices.

In this blog, I will combine both games by making the voices the main characters they were always destined to be by giving them what traits I think they'd have.

Some rules first:

1: I will not be including the Hero nor the Narrator. The Hero because honestly, I feel like this personality isn't super consistent between routes. As for the Narrator, he's kinda hard to pin down. Besides, the game makes it pretty clear that he's different from the other voices so I don't really see any reason to include him.

Just so we're clear, our voices are the Stubborn, Broken, Cold, Paranoid, Cheated, Hunted, Opportunist, Contrarian, Skeptic, and the Smitten.

2: Each voice ONLY gets two traits, just like the game (and NO, hardcore mode does NOT count)

Here's a list of the traits and what they do:

Powerful Build: Makes you buff and athletic, gives you a greater appetite, and makes you more intimidating.

Mystical: Gives you a sixth sense when it comes to the supernatural, and makes you kinda weird.

Talk to Animals: This one is self-explanatory.

Street Smart: Makes you good at lying while being able to spot liars, you can better read people, and you can pick locks.

Keen Eye: Makes you more observant and pick up on small details that most would overlook.

Book Smart: Gives you an encyclopedic knowledge on various topics and you can read faster.

Hot: Makes you physically attractive, an adept flirt, and gives you an aura of charm that makes people like you by default.

3: I can't give two or more voices the same two traits. This one is here just to make things more interesting and to avoid repetition.

With that out of the way, let's get to the list!

Stubborn: Powerful Build + Talk to Animals

I'll be honest, I couldn't really think of a good build for the Stubborn. I definitely feel like Powerful Build alone fits him best due to his single desire to fight, but none of the other traits really fit him as well. Mystical: never gave me that impression. Street Smart: some have suggested this one, however I disagree, a key word they overlook in Street Smart is "Smart", and frankly, the Stubborn is an idiot. Keen Eye: he doesn't seem very observant (doesn't help that there's only one thing on his mind). Book Smart: same logic as Street Smart. Hot: I mean, I guess he's kinda of a flirt in the Razor but he doesn't come across as charming.

I chose Talk to Animals because it technically effects gameplay the least. Even if you try to ignore them the other traits will pop up and effect gameplay whether or not you want them too, while you can completely ignore Talk to Animals (just because you can hear what they doesn't mean you have to acknowledge them). If anything, Stubborn would probably consider this trait to be more of a distraction than anything else, but at least it's a manageable one, where the others are not.

I imagine that Stubborn would be a hardass that's impossible to get along with as he's the type who solves all his problems by either punching or yelling at them (sometimes both) and always gets straight to the point, never wasting time on questions. He'd probably develop an obsession with Wayne due to his confrontational nature, taking every opportunity to fight him. And much like the Adversary or the Razor, he might even grow attached to Wayne, even going as far as to attack Reese because Wayne is HIS rival and no one else can take that from him. Whether or not this obsession would turn into romance, I'm honestly not sure, let me know what you think about that.

Broken: Mystical + Talk to Animals

I gave the Broken these two traits because I believe both together would make him miserable. Being able to see and hear things that no one else can sounds absolutely maddening. I think Mystical fits him due to his connection to the Tower, while the Cage shows us a more empathic side to him so I figured with Talk to Animals he's give the creatures of Scarlet Hollow a voice (basically, he'd be more open about this power than the others).

I imagine that he was bullied a lot as kid for his strangeness and his only friends were animals. He's very subservient to beings he sees as being above him and lacks any agency, so he'd blindly listen to people like Tabitha and Sybil without question while being viewed as a weak willed coward by others. He'd also feel tremendous guilt for the major choices of episodes 1 and 2 so he'd try make the ultimate sacrifice in episode 3 (whether or not Tabitha lets him do that depends on their relationship).

Cold: Mystical + Keen Eye

The Cold is the embodiment of apathy. To me, he definitely gives off a Mystical sort of vibe as he was able to keep Quiet sane during the Moment of Clarity, and because he doesn't waste time on concepts like emotions he's a bit more observant than some of the other voices.

Like in StP, the only thing he cares about is seeing something new. So he'd probably just go where ever the wind takes him and follows others lead. Others would have a hard time getting along with him due to his apathetic (and sometimes downright rude) nature. Though he might develop a sort of kinship with Sybil, but unlike the Broken, instead of seeing her as someone above him, he sees her as someone who's kinda like him, someone who sees the world for what he believes it truly is rather than what others perceive it to be. And kinda like Stubborn he'd rather get to the point than waste time with questions.

Paranoid: Mystical + Book Smart

I gave him Mystical because it is sorta like a less cool version of Spidey Sense, and the Paranoid is always looking out for danger, hell, it might even be the reason he's so "Paranoid". As for Book Smart, I didn't originally come up with this one, that was the idea of @salty-an-disco, so I wanna thank them for inspiring me. And thinking about it, it makes sense as Paranoid actually seems pretty intuitive, he's the only reason why Quiet was able to survive being near the Nightmare by manually operating his autonomic nervous system, there's only one other voice who can do something like that and I also gave him the Book Smart trait (but you'll have to get though the rest of this to learn who).

As for how I imagine him being in SH, he's someone who is ruled by fear. He doesn't trust anyone, yet alone someone he just met, and even less of a long-lost cousin who only NOW decided to get in contact with him only to invite him to funeral of a woman who has it out for his recently deceased mother. He's untrusting of everyone he comes across in Scarlet Hollow (even if he has no reason to be so suspicious of them) and questions everything he's told.

Cheated: Mystical + Street Smart

I swear, this is the LAST voice with the Mystical trait! As for the reason I gave it to the Cheated is the same as the Paranoid. But unlike Paranoid, instead of fear, he's ruled by spite, so instead of logic, he tries to understand how people work, hence the Street Smart trait (another idea of @salty-an-disco).

I imagine either him or his mom is/was a gambler, but one bad gamble ruined their lives (or just his) and combined with Vivian's hospital bills put him in massive dept. He probably feels a strong envy towards Tabitha because she inherited the family coal mine and lives in a big house while he recently lost his job and got evicted from his apartment (and he assumes she didn't give the estate proper maintenance just to insult him, and if that sounds like a leap in logic to you that's because it is). He keeps his cards close to his chest, doesn't let his guard down around anyone, and tries to see all the possible angles.

Hunted: Talk to Animals + Keen Eye

The Hunted tries to think like an animal, so why not give him the ability to Talk to Animals? And while I wouldn't say he's really "smart" he does seem pretty observant like how he was able to tell the Narrator was afraid and in the Den he figured out that the mirror was just an illustration based on the wind.

To the Hunted, survival is all that matters, and he's not going save anyone unless it's convenient for him (though he's gladly save Gretchen over Duke), so if someone's in danger it's their fault for putting themselves in it instead of running away way when they had the chance or trust the warnings they've been given. But while he won't go rescue anyone himself he'll at least try to warn them of the danger, whether or not they'll listen to him is not his problem.

Opportunist: Street Smart + Hot

Some of these were pretty hard to figure out, but this one was surprisingly easy. The Opportunist is a manipulative being with only one goal: being on top. For some of these it's not really a matter of them actually having these traits, but rather which would they choose for themselves. Opportunist will gladly to lie and charm his way though any problem and doesn't show his true colors unless he thinks he's on top, like how in the Princess and the Dragon he was more than willing to kill the Princess knowing Quiet was inside of her, but when Quiet returned to his body he suddenly tried act like he was always on his side, but truthfully the only side he's on is his own.

That would also be the case in SH, always trying to butter up everyone just to stab them in the back the moment it's convenient for him. He would regularly lie to and flirt with people just to get them to trust him and would always invite Tabitha to events and take her side because she's the one with the most sway in Scarlet Hollow (but he's gladly stab her in the back the moment he gets the chance). I wonder how long he'd be able to keep this up before the others catch on.

Contrarian: Powerful Build + Street Smart

Remember how I said the Opportunist was easy to figure out? Well, the Contrarian is the opposite, as it was really hard to come up with something that made sense, and even now I'm unsure if this build really works for him. I'm fairly certain Street Smart is a good fit for him because it's useful for causing mischief, but I'm not confident in the other one.

I considered swapping Powerful Build for Talk to Animals since it's unexpected and Contrarian is all about doing the opposite of what you expect, plus, it would allow him to meet the goat. But I didn't because 1: outside of those two things there's really no reason to give him that trait, and 2: that would mean four out of the ten voices would have Talk to Animals, and that's already a problem with the Mystical trait and I want to have at least some variety.

The evidence for giving him Powerful Build are, 1: a running joke with the Contrarian is that he wants Quiet to throw the blade out the window and while I don't think an action like that requires much effort successfully throwing and object out a window does require at least some strength, 2: in the Fury he convinced Stubborn that they don't need the blade to Slay the Princess and depending on your choices he was right, 3: in the Apotheosis he helped Quiet throw the blade right into her eye, 4: in No Way Out, he made Quiet throw the blade out the window without the player's input and it's my belief that if a voice can successfully take control of Quiet's body despite resistance and without the help of the other voices must have some level of strength which is a logic I will use for another voice, and 5: during the end of the Razor he seem confident that Quiet could throw her out the window despite how big she's become. The only thing I don't like about this is the idea of Contrarian being buff (at the same time it's also not something you'd expect)

I imagine his relationship with Tabitha would be similar to the Narrator as he would like getting on her nerves, but not for any malicious reason but rather because it's fun for him. He'd have an appreciation for Tabitha (even if she doesn't feel the same way about him) and would have the best relationship with Stella as the two have a few things in common, she'd be the only one he wouldn't mess with.

Skeptic: Keen Eye + Book Smart

The Skeptic was another easy one for me. Like the Paranoid he's a very analytical mind, but while Paranoid is ruled by fear, Skeptic is ruled by logic, plus, he's the only other voice that seems to have some measure of control over Quiet's body, the difference being that while Paranoid manipulated his ANS to keep him alive, Skeptic was able to shut off his heart when he refused to slay himself. It's no wonder why they worked together so well in the Cage, and speaking of the Cage, he was kinda obsessed with data points in that route. Along with a more logical mind he's also observant as in the Prisoner he pointed out the empty chain and after slaying her was the only one who noticed that something had happened to the outside world before Quite even opened the door.

Like in StP he would be very logical wouldn't trust what's he's told unless it made sense to him or could be proven true. He would greatly distrust Tabitha, Sybil, Wayne, and Dr. Kelly as their the kind of people who would "talk in circles" which he absolutely hates. He also wouldn't trust Stella or Reese, but not because he dislikes them. In the case of Stella, it's because she's proven to be capable of lying, is incredibly reckless, and chooses to believe in cryptids over a more plausible answer like mountain lions. And as for Reese, it's because there's something about him that puts him off but can't say what exactly (a fear that would be justified in episode 4). Kaneeka would be one of the only people in Scarlet Hollow he would trust as in his mind she's one of the few in town with her head screwed on right and because she's also a skeptic, and not only that, she might be the one to help him get over some of his old biases (or maybe I'm the biased one because Kaneeka's my favorite, who can say?)

Smitten: Powerful Build + Hot

The Hot trait is perfect for SH players who want a little romance on their journey, and while it's not necessary for romance it does makes things a little easier, and I know the Smitten would capitalize on this if given the chance. Sure, he's not subtle about it, but he's the only voice that explicitly shows romantic interest in the Princess. And he can be pretty smooth at times like how he knew how to gain the Thorn's trust and kiss her. As for Powerful Build, there are a few reasons, 1: he seems like the type who would sweep someone off their feet (and people can be pretty heavy), 2: when combined with the Hot trait it gives you himbo dialogue which I think works for Smitten since the Princess is the only thing on his mind, and 3: he has the ability to completely control Quiet's body.

What I mean by that last one is that he's probably the only voice who can completely take over Quiet's body without help and despite Quiet's protests. He's made Quiet self-destruct in both of the Damsel's chapter 3s (making him stab himself in the Grey and ripping his chest open in Happily Ever After) even when the Narrator, Hero and Quiet himself told him no, the only other voice who could probably do something like this is the Contrarian, but he only does it briefly. The only other voice who kills Quiet is Skeptic but he can only use the blade if Quiet let's him, otherwise he'll shut off his heart instead. As for other voices who tried to take control of Quiet, when the Narrator tried to take control Quiet was able to fight back, when Broken tried taking control the Hero was able to rest control away from him, and Opportunist was only able to take control when Quiet was outside of his body, and when he returned Opportinist was helpless to whatever Quiet decided. And I'm pretty sure most of the other voices like the Stubborn, Paranoid, Cheated, and Hunted would take control if they could but they don't (I don't think Cold would care to do this even if he could).

I'm fairly confident about my trait choices, however, I'm struggling to figure out who Smitten would fall for. Obviously he's going to have a romance arc in this game, the question is "with who"? None of the existing romance options are similar enough to the Princess to say definitively who he would romance. If you have a guess of your own there are eight romance options, five the game's page will tell you about: Stella, Kaneeka, Oscar, Reese, and Avery, and three they won't tell you about: Wayne, Dr. Kelly, and Sybil. Please share your answers with me, I'd love to hear them! As for my guess, I'd say Reese because in a way he's the closest to the Princess, he has a similar disposition to the Thorn, like the Princess he's also trapped in a basement (kinda), he appears fragile, seems like a genuinely nice person like the Damsel, and much like the Princess as a whole he has the power of transformation (minus the thing about perception) being able to turn into a monster as well as control the environment around him, and I know Smitten isn't turned off by sharp teeth or any other freaky features as he still loves the Princess even as the Fury and Razor. But that's all just a guess and I'm not 100% sure of this. Again, if you have your own answer, do let me know.

And that's all ten voices! Like I said at the beginning I won't be doing the Narrator nor the Hero, and for the Princess and her multitudes, NOPE, that is a very daunting task and this list was hard enough as is. Finally, most of this is just my opinion, if you have a different list in mind feel free to share it. And thank you for taking the time to read this, that means a lot. bye!