#it would require a lot of adaptation since the characters are all very different

[mrgaretcarter]

I also super want a Ted Lasso The Nanny AU. Who do you think the character match ups would be? I've been able to decide on everyone but Yetta.

ted as fran, rebecca as max, higgins as niles and keeley as val is as far as i can get!

[imagining-in-the-margins]

I feel like so many people have a different interpretation of how Spencer Reid would handle sex. There’s the classic nerdy spencer who keeps stuttering and doesn’t know how to do *it* but knows everything technical, and there’s the mega dom spencer who knows exactly what he’s doing, and everything in between. I’m curious to know what you think is most accurate to how he would be? This can also change from first season to last, etc. I’m just curious what u think!

S.R. Sexual Headcanons (NSFW, 18+)

Early Seasons

Shy and slightly insecure, but eager to please

Would spend a lot of time on foreplay because it is the best way to ensure his partner’s pleasure (and it’s a fun kind of science)

Prefers an emotionally attached partner since sex requires vulnerability he is loath to give

Has a lot of things he wants to try, but he is too embarrassed to bring them up, so he’ll wait for his partner to suggest it (very nonjudgmental)

As he gets older, he becomes more confident and lighthearted in bed

Understands the importance of aftercare and insists it’s his responsibility to hold you (he is actually just a cuddlebug with a really good excuse)

Interested in the power dynamics of kink culture but averse to it because he lacks the self-confidence

Preferences/Priorities: Perfecting oral sex techniques, kissing erogenous zones, sensory seeking activities (experimenting with light/hard touches, but not pain).

Middle Seasons

Brat and Switch Era

More willing to have fleeting sexual relationships

Beginning to feel confident in his sexual identity, more willing to ask for what he wants

Enjoys roleplay, more intense power dynamics, and sensory-heavy foreplay (although still loath to grant true vulnerability)

Confident in his ability to please his partner

Seeks out relationships where he can feel challenged in some way (intellectually, physically, emotionally)

Views sex as one of many ways to establish and express intimacy, would easily forego sex for an intellectually stimulating activity (and loves them as foreplay)

Preferences/Priorities: Ensuring his partner is open/comfortable, advocating for his own pleasure, having fun while having sex, exploring deeper rooted sexual proclivities

Late Seasons

Just wants to feel desired for who he is (he is so tired)

Seeking companionship but unwilling to have long term sexual relationships without emotional vulnerability on part of all parties

Struggles with the darker parts of himself and requires reassurance from his partner (both that he is gentle and strong/“a good man”)

Less likely to engage in heavy roleplay, established “scenes” are rare

A more intuitive lover that adapts to emotional and physical shifts, but very cautious to escalate

Craves physical and emotional intimacy before and after sex (he requires aftercare and is so, so touchstarved)

Occasionally uses sex as an outlet for his frustrations, but usually would prefer to ground himself through sentimentality

Preferences/Priorities: Feeling close to his partner, maintaining boundaries, ensuring the overall experience is enjoyable and everyone involved feels safe

What do you think? Sound off in the comments/reblogs and let me know!

*These lists are just for fun and based purely on my perception of his character. Outside of the variety of my fanfiction portrayals, this is what I consider my “truest” perception of his character. No one characterization is “correct” because there is no knowledge of his sexual personality in canon. Heavy submissive/dominant portrayals are, in my view, valid and arguable for any stage of his character. Do not read anything I’ve said as a condemnation of another headcanon. This is all in good fun!

[cripplecharacters]

Hello! I hope you having a good day, I just had a question that I hope is ok.

Is there any condition that would make it difficult to walk long distances (sometimes using a wheel chair, sometimes crutches) but doesn't affect the hands/arms at all? I'm working on a concept for a character and was wondering about making him an ambulatory wheelchair user since it's not something I see often in stories, but he's also a musician mainly playing stringed instruments and I don't want that to become painful for him.

But I wasn't sure if that was something that could exist and I wouldn't want to write it that way if it's not

Hello lovely asker!

So here is a list of conditions that don't (or sometimes don't) affect the upper body and can be ambulatory conditions.

Conditions that physically effect the lower back/legs:

Lower extremity amputation

Congenital lower body differences - Foot, ankle, knee etc. (Club Foot, Miserable malalignment syndrome etc.)

Sacral Agenesis

Monoplegia

Leg injuries

Cartilage Damage/Injuries

Spina Bifida

Arthritis

Incomplete Paraplegia

Leg length difference

Ankylosing Spondylitis

Multiple Sclerosis

Hypermobility

Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia

Posterior tibial tendon dysfunction

Complex regional pain syndrome

Conversion disorder

Brain Based Disorders:

Epilepsy (drop epilepsy, myoclonic epilepsy etc)

Diplegic Cerebral Palsy

Narcolepsy (often with cataplexy)

Chiari malformation

FND

PANDAS

Tourettes/tic disorders

Autoimmune Encephalitis

Heart/Respiratory/other etc.:

Vertigo/POTS/other conditions that cause syncope/dizziness

Respiratory Conditions (COPD, etc)

Heart Conditions

Conditions that affect balance/increase fall risk

Post polio (and other diseases)

Psychosomatic Paralysis/Pain/other ailments

This is just a rough list of what we could all come up with, there are many others that have gone forgotten, but that's for you the writer to do more research on too. One thing is a few of these conditions can affect the hands or eventually progress to effecting the hands, arms, and/or even the upper or lower back.

Depending on what type of instrument they play will also factor in. Playing posture is different with every instrument, as well as the weight. And some instruments like the Viola Da gamba does require leg strength. If the character is classically trained also, it makes a difference in etiquette. I am (was technically) classically trained and if you have pain of any kind you're told it doesn't matter, you're told to play through the pain and keep going. To suffer for your art is still the prevalence in the classical world. Excruciating pain? Keep going. Cut open your finger on something? Keep going. It's not good, but it is the reality of it, unfortunately.

Also I will mention that don't be afraid to choose another condition that does affect the character's upper body. A lot of disabled musicians have a variety of conditions and simply exist and play music. But also even though the character might have a condition that mainly affects the legs, if pain is common with the condition you choose, this still will affect the character playing. Being in pain even if it's not in your arms or back can be very distracting and will throw you off.

And one last thing! Please don't write this character "Overcoming" their disability to play music. I would research disabled musicians (Itzhak Perlman is the first one that comes to mind for me) and even—if called for—adaptive technology for instruments or how people have adapted their instruments/music to them for more accessibility.

Alrighty! Happy writing! I hope this helps some!

~ Mod Virus 🌸 (and a very thank you to Mods Sasza, Rot, Bert, & Patch for helping me with the research on this)

[joyce-stick]

The Beef Stroganoff Song! (arbitrary subtitle discourse edition)

So, you may have noticed here that the subtitles in this clip (from Symphogear GX episode 3) are fairly different from what you're used to seeing when people post this video, and the phrasing in the subtitles is fairly different from what the associated memes often say

For those who don't know, Symphogear got itself released on blu-ray by Discotek, and with that came with a new translation authored by Noelle (@ulsairi on twitter ) who is notable for being the only trans lesbian anime translator I know of off the top of my head.

Her translation appears, in my opinion, really rather polished and very good, and I strongly appreciate the way it's written and how much character it adds to the dialogue by giving everyone distinct voices and adapting things into more natural English. It's also a fair bit gayer. I haven't encountered many people who've seen these subs, but I think most fans of the series would consider these a net positive change. There are some people who are mad about these subtitles, and they can die mad.

Anyway, let's talk about the different phrasing of the beef stroganoff song. I'm mostly going to compare to Crunchyroll's subtitles for reference since that seems to be what most others go off of. Here's a link to that version.

So right off the bat we can see here that while CR's translation appears to be a lot more, for lack of a better word, functional, Noelle's translation tries to apply more dialectal force "it's beef stroganoff/Yes! It's THAT beef stroganoff!" And generally communicate through the tone how excited the girls are to get started. Additionally you'll see throughout that the latter is a fair bit more lyrical, there's a lot more punctuation and verbal tics and filler phrases written into the dialogue to express that they are singing, which makes sense since Japanese tends to omit a lot of the sorts of prepositions that Noelle threw in here,

Like, Yumi (yes I went and looked up her name on the wiki) just says "beef stroganoffu" because it's obvious from context that it is beef stroganoff, she doesn't need to spell it out, at least, not in Japanese

(We know like maybe ten hiragana and 1 kanji do not trust us on Japanese this is all just basic shit we learned from online guides)

So this probably leads to a rushed translator from Crunchyroll (they are notoriously crunched for time) who's just trying to Get It Done probably not really bothering to throw in extra additional connecting letters to express the tone of the character, only doing so when it's required to make basic grammatical sense in the target language. So they likely didn't think to make the subtitles have flourishes like this that aren't explicitly in the original Japanese. Noelle meanwhile had the time to consider things like this and take such liberties in order to attempt to convey the same tone that was arguably implied by the Japanese, even if not explicitly put forth

And that's about all the things I should not repeat I guess, TL;DR, these subtitles are more fun to read because the translator had more time to think about the best way to make them more fun while still being accurate to the spirit of the original dialogue, who'd have thought!

(In case you're wondering, the Commie subtitles say kind of the same thing here, and y'know, it doesn't seem like a wrong translation, but also I really dislike this subtitle styling, orange on pink with that font and that drop shadow is just kinda bad. I appreciate the effort but like. Come on. Please fansubbers, please think about if the font and colors you chose actually work with the image you're putting them on)

Moving on!

horizontal and middle rhyme with each other so you can almost actually sing this, actually let me take a moment to try it right now- never mind, I can't sing. Hahaha. I don't actually think it lines up that well with the melody But I thought it did! Didn't I? That's significant, that this actually reads like plausible lyrics to a silly song someone made up instead of a literal translation of a Japanese song

Anyway, here comes the first major difference!

So in the Crunchyroll subtitles, Yumi says "it doesn't have to be beef" which in English (in my estimation) sounds a tad scatterbrained, like, "oh yeah sure beef but whatever really it doesn't actually matter," while Noelle's subtitles rather say "Got no beef? Don't you worry!" Which implies something different.

"It is recommended to use beef, but you may substitute something else if you are sorely lacking in beef" as opposed to "Oh the beef doesn't actually matter, zoinks lol!" CR's translation is kind of a bit funnier in how it sorta comes from nowhere without this qualification, which probably lead to this phrase's memeticness, but Noelle's translation seems more reasonable to me so yeah again, tada, yay for sensicalness.

Now here's another interesting change:

Again, the flat manner in which the CR subtitles say "finish with salt" with rendezvous only being included because that's literally what they said, is sort of absent any stronger emotional implication,

Noelle's translation meanwhile going with "don't forget them, they need it" imparts personhood upon the salt and pepper. The implication being that the girls are saying, "the salt and pepper are in love, please reunite them, they must be in gay love together." Or maybe you think the salt and pepper cannot be forgotten and must be reunited because they are Only Friends.

Whether you choose to believe that this is the salt and pepper getting married, or merely subtext, or an interpretation, or salt and pepper shipping bait, this is a deeply important tonal indicator because it reminds you that these girls are ultimately playing with their food!

"And there, now you're in for a treat!" I don't think I need to explain this one.

Now, here's an interesting one!

In the Crunchyroll subtitles, it just says the memetic "boys don't know this." With no context, no elaboration, no clarity, no qualifiers. Boys don't know. Did the boys magically get their brains wiped? Are the boys biologically incapable? Who knows. Nothing is said but that.

Noelle's subtitles, on the other hand, qualify this statement by saying "Boys aren't taught to cook, so they may not know" (And note again how, it says "kno-ow" to emphasize, once more, that they're singing, and also this lines up with the long "ooooo" sound they make at the end of this lyric, so cool)

There is now context! Boys aren't taught to cook! Anime and Japan's culture in general still pigeonholes people into gender roles! And an anime translator just wrote you a hidden translation note about it! You might be a boy, you might know how to cook, but certain boys in another part of the world aren't traditionally taught cooking, so they may not know

They may not, but they could!

Trust a trans person to express gender facts with subtle nuances like this in anime translations.

And with that lovely bit of good translation and good writing and good localization of a thing to make it make sense to people

Mew!

[traineecryptid]

NPSS Weibo Q&A (20240831) Part 2

This is a Q&A session held on Weibo. People will tag their questions with the hashtag #南派三叔藏海花在线答疑# (#NPSS Zang Hai Hua Online Q&A#) and NPSS will look through the tag to pick some to answer. The event started at 1500 hours on 2024 August 31st.

Folder with screenshots and big compilation google doc is here. Part 1 is here.

1536

Q: Shu, why was the patriarch's item changed from the bronze bell to the Heavenly Staff ? Is it to match Tianshou? (T/N: Tianshou could be translated as Heavenly Orders)

A: I’ll explain it like this. If Wu Xie wanted to tell this story to someone else and this story was then retold by that someone else, it would certainly differ in certain details from the truth in his notebook. Perhaps it is to keep people from knowing the full story or perhaps it is so that others could better understand it, or perhaps [he] didn’t want to explain too much.

1539

Q: How do you manage to have both actors that fit the roles very well and actors who don’t in every show?

A: Problem with availability. 

1540

Q: Which is the most tragic character in ZHH aside from Xiaoge?

A: Wah, this is a good question. You have to keep watching yourself because this is a very hard-to answer question.

1541

Q: The dramas suck doesn’t mean that your books suck. Don’t worry at all. A: If the dramas really suck, could I have kept making one after another?

1544

Q: Sanshu, is there any way to make Wu Xie and Pangzi immortal? I can’t bear to see Wu Xie die. It would be hard for Zhang Qiling to adapt, right? A: When I was little, I also hoped to have this kind of medicine to give to my grandmothers.

1545

Q: Sanshu, Xiaoge had already inserted the Heavenly Staff and cured everyone from the Tianshou sickness. So why Xiaoge wasn’t cured?

A: Not only wasn’t he cured, all the Tianshou was borne by him alone, fragmenting his memories.  

1546

Q: Sanshu, Wu Xie’s dream house is a courtyard with a moss pond. What kind of living environment would Xiaoge and Pangzi like? A: Tianzhen still breathing when they wake up is considered heaven (ptsd) for them.

1547

Q: Sanshu, what do you think is Wu Xie’s greatest specialty? Is it his long eyelashes like Xiazi said?

A: His little boss spirit. (T/N: according to this article I skimmed, little boss refers to the kind of boss who is very lowkey, keeps themselves on the same level as everyone else and focuses on their business without prioritizing growth.)

1547

Q: In the most recent episode of ZHH, why does Zhang Jiuri and the others hate Zhang Qiling so much?

A: It will be explained right after this.

1548

Q: The universe’s man crush, I would like to ask: When Xiaoge saw Wu Xie treating him all friendly in the beginning, did he not dare to believe that there was someone who solely cherished him and wanted to protect him without any ulterior motives?

A: Zhang Qiling could see through a person’s heart with just one look. Not because he’s smart, but because he has seen a lot. People are a very simple thing for Zhang Qiling.

1550

Q: The universe’s man crush, the world’s man crush, can you tell me what Zhang Qiling would think if he knew that Wu Xie had called him “Menyouping-needing-a-thousand-cuts” before? (T/N: “needing a thousand cuts” is similar to “damned�� as in “that damned troublemaker” and is apparently very rude… since i guess you’re cursing on someone to be tortured?) A: A thousand cuts? Are you a candle? You think I’ve only taken a thousand cuts on your behalf? I took your 60 million but I’ve never ever asked you for a single cent more!

1552

Q: Are there any fixed requirements when casting actors? For example, the Iron Triangle.

A: No. As long as the platform approves, the actors approves, the director approves and the original author approves, then it’ll be OK.  It’s not that difficult. 

1552

Q: I feel like ZHH is a very close reproduction of the novel and it even elaborated on some scenes. I feel like I know the characters better and understand them more now.

A: Thank you. It took very long to write.

1553

Q: Actually, Shu, I watched ZHH and I feel that it’s a close reproduction of the novel. Of course, I read the novel a few years ago and some parts have gotten blurry. But when I was watching the drama, I would suddenly remember the scene. Undeniably, some parts have changed but the majority isn’t that different. It’s really, really the best when an adaptation follows the original closely because Shu, your novels are the foundation and the novels are very well written! Although I don’t know why [people] won’t let go of the question of actors, neither were there praises for the scenes. The requirements aren’t high, it’s enough that I can recall the scenes in the novel while watching the drama. Sanshu, remember, no matter which drama it is, it has to follow your novels. The novels are really, really the best! I’ve always felt like actors were a type of feeling, they won’t be able to convince people no matter who plays the part. But the scenes would always resonate with people! A: Everyone has the right to express their own opinions. I also have the right to work hard at promoting. It’s a difficult world. It’s enough that we be ourselves and not leave regrets.

1553

Q: Sanshu, there are already changes to Wu Xie’s blood and he could deter bugs like Xiaoge and all that. Would Wu Xie live forever without aging with Xiaoge?

A: Wu Xie’s only works now and then. Maybe it has something to do with what he eats.

Here's another 15, this section seems to have a lot of longer questions. Can you believe that we're only an hour into the questions? There's like... an amount more. Thankfully NPSS has slowed down.

[etaindelaserna]

Hello, hello...What do you think are KakaSaku and DraMione’s each greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic each?

(Hope you don't mind, that I copy the same questions from that same ask of that anon about SukuIta).

P.s Also can I ask your top 5 fav fics of those 2 ships? Please and thank you.....

Greetings!✨ Minding? Are you kidding me? I get to talk about my favourite characters and ships soooo let’s get down to it, shall we?

Kakashi is a genius in all ways that matter to become the perfect shinobi: he’s intelligent, capable of cold logic, perceptive, talented and has the will to perfect his skills. To me his greatest quality is to think fast and outside of the box. Not only does he analyse situations quickly but he also knows how to adapt his plans according to the changing variables.

Greatest weakness? Hmm…younger Kakashi certainly had more than one but older Kakashi? Probably still his tendency to judge people too quickly. I think, since Naruto and Sasuke were the troublemakers with the greatest potential he focused — naturally — too much on them and neglected Sakura’s training. He knew she had the best chakra control among them and still abandoned her. Maybe he thought she would be fine without too much guidance but I think he underestimated her potential because she acted like a typical teenage girl.

Sakura is intelligent. She might not be a tactical genius like Kakashi but she definitely matches his analytical talent. It takes her till Shippuden to not only be good at analysing situations but to also come up with good plans. That and her chakra control make her formidable.

Her greatest weakness? I have to go with simping for Sasuke. On the one hand focusing on getting Sasuke back and not wanting to stand in his or Naruto’s shadow helped with her training, on the other hand it limited her options of what she wanted to do/achieve in life. We never find out. She had the obligation to do something with her talent apart from “stopping” and “loving” Sasuke and it was waaaaaasted.

KakaSaku

To me it made sense that in another universe or time or under different circumstances those two characters could have been close friends or more. They are both intelligent and nerds in their respective fields, which are traits Sakura — even when she was a Sasuke fangirl — appreciated. They are both kind, empathic but also prejudiced characters with similiar values. I always had the impression that Sakura definitely would go for a partner, who matches her intellect and competence. Canon-wise Kakashi never invalidated Sakura’s feelings or made her feel bad about herself for not being or acting like the perfect shinobi. He looked out for her, saved her or comforted her. I think the moment Shippuden rolled around he also respected her as a fully fledged shinobi. He acknowledged her skills but never stopped looking out for her in dangerous situations. Kakashi showed her the level of care and kindness her love interest should have given her. But since Sasuke couldn’t allow himself to have such bonds, the contrast between his behaviour towards Sakura and Kakashi’s was even more apparent. Not even Naruto was so soft with her:

The softness of that gesture... During the Kaguya fight we get more than one scene where they are both so soft with each other. Not to mention every time Sasuke acts like a dickhead we get a reaction shot like this from Kakashi:

Kakashi was always good a reading her. It looked like as if they had some sort of understanding of one another that didn't require a lot of words, probably because they are both very perceptive. Apart from that I think the difference in their temperament is the best combination for a power couple. They remind me of Minato and Kushina in that regard. He, the quiet, logical and kind one. She, the explosive emotional and intelligent one with too much doofus energy. Take that and their shared history and you have so many interessting arcs and story building elements you can explore.

Favourite Fanfictions:

I Found You Missing by Wolfy Tales

Unbroken by princezsupastar

Duty Before Honor by SilverShine

Will of Fire by Cynchick

Christmas Confessions by Cynchick

Draco always had a lot of potential. His intelligence and creativity as well as his love and commitment to his family are his greatest strength. I think during his attempt to kill Dumbledore all of these attributes are combined and show what Draco is able to accomplish if he sets his mind to it. He is a problem solver and is able to make connections that aren't obvious to other people.

His insecurity and need for recognition is what is holding him back. It's also what fosters his cowardness. For some reason he is the Malfoy heir and still feels the need to compensate for not living up to his father’s (?) expectations. He is also more tilted towards the easy way instead of working hard or taking responsibility.

Hermione is brilliant and very persistent. A deadly combination. When she has a clear goal in mind she is working rentlessly towards it. Sometimes even with no regard towards others. Her ambition, studies and her talent to think logical saved Harry and Ron more than once.

Greatest weakness has to be her disregard of other opinions. She can be close-minded and has a hard time accepting other views about the world, especially about topics she has already thought through. Everything she doesn't understand or isn't able to dissect with logic, is dismissed or questioned by her.

Dramione is an intriguing idea because on the one hand they are opposites of each other: the Malfoy heir and the girl next door, the pureblood and the muggle born, Slytherin and Gryffindor, Death Eater and Golden Girl. And yet they also mirror each other in various aspects: Draco makes fun of her blood status showing he his set in his view of the world but so is Hermione. Accepting other views is hard for her. Draco can be analytical and hellbent on achieving his goal. Similar to Hermione. He can be cruel but so is she. He knows exactly what to say to trigger people but so does she. They are both impulsive. He is insecure ablout himself as is she. He wants to be recognized as does she. You can ask so many story building questions with these setups alone — even when you don't count in both the canon and headcanon moments and the shared history of those two. The clashes of their personalities and ideals makes for pure entertainment and drama, but their similiarities and the conflict of them being on different sides of the war is what great love stories are made of. They play well off each other in every situation you throw them in. I always thought that Hermione needed someone who is as smart and ambitious as her, but who is also able to question her world views and who isn't afraid to push her limits. Also he would charm her with his ingenuity. As for Draco (and that's purly speculation on my part), I think he would've reacted well towards somebody, who values something other than the Malfoy name in him.

Favourite Fanfictions:

Inverse by Elesrea

Osculum Annuum by MyDelphi

The Green Girl by Colubrina

The Right Thing To Do by LovesBitca8

Dragon’s Heartstrings by pinkinku

[qcomicsy]

I have loved reading your comic live blogs and your opinions on characters. Do you have any comic runs that you would recommend for DC or Marvel?

Aw that's so sweet thank you! ♡

And yes I do have! Let's Dive.

Disclaimer: This list doesn't have a particular timeline nor is character driven. It's general runs I had a good time reading it or I find it particularly interesting.

DC

Batman and Associates

Serious Runs.

Prodigal

An old run I cannot recommend enough.

Prodigal is one of the runs entangled with Knightfall¹. It follows Bruce, after being seriously hurt by Bane, Dick and Tim trying to adapt to a new dynamic where Dick fills in as Batman for the first time and Tim works with him as his Robin.

It is interesting because it flips their dynamics for the first time in a long while and has a realistic take on how this affects their psychs but without getting much edgy or losing more light aspects comics used to have. Like the villain of the week and the back and forth where Batman characters thrive when written well.

It's good read if you:

Want to understand Dick Grayson's as character better.

Want to understand Dick's relationship with Bruce/Batman and Tim better.

Want to dive in on the relationship Dick has with the Batman mantle and how evolved over the years.

Like the more easy going aspects of the batfamily with getting too fannon.

Knightfall¹

Another old comic. I don't think you have to read Knightfell to understand prodigal. But I think it helps.

Knightfell is more an event than a comic run, but damn right is worth it.

All you need to know is that Bane hurts Bruce in a way he has to step back from being Batman for a long while, to a point that Bruce considers seriously stepping away from being the Batman all together, and passing the mantle down for other people. It explores how this affects Gotham City, Bruce's personal life and mental health, his loved one's lives and mental health and it has long term consequences in his comic book history.

It's a comic run that can be very overwhelming to read. There's a lot of comics related to it in different places so I'd recommend using a guide.

You don't have to read all of these comics to have the general idea of it. I didn't. Take your time.

It's a good read because:

In my personal opinion shows the exact moment where Bruce actually starts to break down to the character we have today. And this time without going back.

Shows how heroes work can take a tool not only on an emotional and mental aspect but also psychical.

Has a good balance between tragedy and hope that really ties in together. A rare thing in comics these days, respect the characters in their core. Even the ones you aren't supposed to like. Very. Very well written.

Jason's Robin Run.

A controversial comic run and comic era.

Jason's Robin Run is an interesting run, either loved or hated by people since 1983. And if you're a Jason fan I cannot recommend you enough.

The interesting aspect of Jason's Robin run is that the writing of it transcends time and even writers'intent. Where some of them didn't even like the idea of Robin. And yet wrote one of the best poetic ironies that DC Batman's could ever have.

At its worst the writing is classicists and pessimistic. And at it's best turning of your critical thinking is cozy and heart wrecking. It follows Jason's early days from the roots of his character until his downfall.

And I have an unpopular opinion of it.

Personally I think it's a good case study of how DC treats characters who come from lower class and abusive families. It also opens a discussion about how characters that aren't the perfect victim archetype are treated and written, Bruce's different attempts at raising his children and the influence of Mafia Movies from the 80's in western comics. I argue it's absolutely required reading to understand Jason Todd's character and how he works as a person even before the major trauma that changed his life forever.

It's good read if you:

Want to understand Jason's Robin better.

Want to understand Jason's character better.

Want to write Jason Todd, especially as a Robin.

Like Mafia centered stories and not much of large big bad villains.

Likes Bruce as a Good Dad. Or generally Likeable.

Robin War.

Good political commentary. Great Characters. Duke's introduction. Batfamily Shenanigans.

I will always recommend Robin War. It was recommended to me waaay back when I was starting to write the Batkids Podcast (bless you Gotham War anon!). And it's been an all time favorite to me since then.

Robin war is one of the few comics that approaches how Heroes could work as an icon that inspires change not only to individuals but also to social movements and how the youth tend to be on the front lines of change.

It's Duke's major introduction to Batman comics and the kid absolutely nails it. His relationship with Damian is adorable and interesting, so much they deserve more comics together. There are also good moments between the batfamily (Tim, Duke, Damian and Jason) and it tips their toes on how the Government tends to react to political movements from the people in an insightful way I was missing in the comics for a while.

It's a good read if you:

Like political commentary.

Want to understand Duke's character better.

Likes the Batfamily being silly and insufferable.

Want to Write Duke and Damian better.

Red Robin

So good everyone still misses more than ten years from now.

To be honest I don't recommend Red Robin if you're starting to read Tim character. I feel like a lot of people start with Red Robin gets frustrated with his character believe this is how Tim behaves in all times.

And this happens because... Tim is not like that. At least not normally. Red Robin exists after a major trauma that surrounds all the members of the batfamily and even more traumas that surround Tim's life. He had broken up with Steph, His best friend was Dead, Everyone thought Bruce was dead too.

Almost every role of the Batfamily changed at the time, Dick was Batman (not from his volution this time), Damian was Robin, Bruce wasn't there. So it's good to be aware that every character action in this comic will happen in reaction to that.

If you want to understand Tim or learn more about him as a character I recommend you Young Justice early runs or Robin (1993) mind you I am not well read on Tim's cannon.

Disclaimer off? Good because Red Robin is one of the funniest tragedies I ever read. And it's fucking amazing. It has everything. Action, Romantic Drama with Steph (a bit of bitter exes-kind-of-back-and-off-again-thing, Tim being a little shit that bullshits his way out of the most crazy situations he was putting in my himself or other enviroments, Drama, Angst. It's just... genuinely so good. Well written. Oh how we miss well written comics.

Also Tim's narration is so unabashedly funny I kind of wished he had an animated series of this comic except almost like fleabag style.

Fun and Easy reads.

📕 Harley Quinn 52. - One of the few good things to get off from 52. Also one of the first comics that explores Harley as a full fledged character with wants and dreams and aspirations. And the first comics to explore her bisexuality and friendship with Harley into the way we have today. Not all jokes land and honestly most of them aged pretty poorly so I'd read with a grain of salt.

📕 RHATO Rebirth¹. - It's an okay comic, good for a good time, but very hard if you like Bruce or rather him being a better father for Jason. It's a bit ooc, also Jason works too much with luck and plot armor. If you just want to read things without strings and like a more gentle Jason it might be the read for you.

Yet.

¹I don't recommend Red Hood and The Outlaws if you like Roy. Don't recommend if you want to understand Roy. Hell, Don't recommend it if you want to understand Jason.

If you want to understand Jason, write Jason and start to read (In a more serious way) his comics I recommend: Under the Red Hood + Red Hood: The Lost days.

📕 Harley Quinn Road Trip Special - Good if you like the Gotham sirens. Very easy read, unfortunately it's also written by a guy who has no idea how gal pal trips works but really really wants to and his reference was the kind of fantasy you find on AO3 at 3 am. Not much explicit though and I am pretty sure it doesn't pass the Bechdel test. But if you ignore the lack of understanding on how women and women friendships work you can have a good time.

Superman.

I love Superman he and I go way back, though I take easy reading his comics, my love for him comes from many places, and a couple of comics are there too.

Superman All Stars.

Beautiful. Beautiful comic. Changed the way I looked to life. Changed the way I used to see him. Changed the way I saw myself too.

I believe this is the kind of comic the less you know about it the more impact you. So it has no explanation here. Nothing other than it's like falling in love with him and meeting an old friend. Like late conversations on a sleep over. Like looking at Clark and Superman as a character with much deeper sight than people believe. Like seeing a side of him that you only get it if you're open to it.

"Like everything he ever represented and resonate with people. Like getting why he's so beloved. Like never coming back."

Marvel

Deadpool.

I'm going to talk about my wife.

This one is going to be divided by The Good (Comic Runs where I believe understand his character the most and have the best story arcs as well as interpretations and background cast) The nasty (Chaotic, so Chaotic) The dirty (No idea what the hell is happening, will make you laugh tough).

The Good

Comics that took his characterization more seriously and have a slightly more linear written stories.

Deadpool (1997)

Deadpool (2008)

Cable & Deadpool (A favorite by far by far) (2004).

Unfortunately recommended reading with a grain of salt it really really is a product of its time.

Deadpool vs Old Man Logan

This Wade tends to be more heartfelt and compelling, he's also ruthless. And way less likeable. The gags and jokes are more plot devices and aspects of his personality rather than his whole stick.

It also explores more heavy topics and if you're not in a good mental state I don't recommend Deadpool (2008). And works with his character from neutral point of view with a look into his morals and actions with way more depth and thought how that impacts himself and others.

The Nasty.

Comics generally after the movie where the joke matters more than the character, it's written by people who want to make him more likeable because his game flopped or had Ryan Reynolds voice in their head while writing it.

Deadpool vs. Hawkeye

Deadpool / Spider-Man.

The rise of living Deadpool.

He's kind of cute in some of this. It's nice for a good laugh. But background characters, characterization? All over the place. Sometimes I can't even look at it.

The Dirty.

Have no fucking idea why the hell would someone write this. This is not my blorbo much less my baby. I still care about him though. Flandarization from Flandarization. Will make you laugh though. Or at least, it's compelling.

Deadpool vs Carnage.

[tigreblvnc]

BLUE LOCK MATCHUP — @lxcalmenace

Your match is...

— Itoshi Rin

✦ Hey…

✦ Rarely has a bio screamed at me so much, "CHOOSE RIN."

✦ "CHOOSE HIM!!!!!"

✦ Usually, when someone asks me for a matchup, I refuse to visit their blog until the matchup is done. It’s a way to avoid being influenced.

✦ But here, just by reading your info, I could feel that Rin was your favorite character. Even without the profile picture, I mean.

✦ I keep repeating this: we tend to have as our favorite character the one who resembles us the most.

✦ :)

✦ You probably expected it a bit.

✦ And I don’t like choosing the easy option…

✦ …but that was the most obvious choice.

✦ It would have been a shame to go through the month of his birthday without seeing a single matchup with him.

✦ (It also makes me think that this matchup is the best conclusion to my September event.)

✦ ERM.

✦ There are also so many little uncommon similarities between you two that it would have been a shame to choose someone else.

✦ At least for this matchup.

✦ (Next time, I’ll put on my devil horns.)

✦ Alright, here we go!

✦ "People often tell me that I look 'intimidating' or 'unreachable' at first impression" This is also what people think and say about Rin. And it’s what they continue to think and say even afterward. I simply believe he refuses to let people get close, first because he looks down on everyone who isn’t his brother, and second because he doesn’t have time: he’s too busy aiming for the #1 spot in the world.

✦ So, when it comes to relationships… let’s just say it's not Rin’s strong point.

✦ The big paradox is that he reads his opponents' game very well, and that requires a great ability to analyze human behavior.

✦ But as I often say: you can enjoy understanding others without necessarily liking to be with them.

✦ Rin falls into this category.

✦ For this reason, I prefer not to pair Rin with someone too similar to him, without that little extra thing to break the ice.

✦ I think you have it, thanks to this: "like if I'm with an introverted black cat friend then I can be pretty extroverted and vice versa" That’s adaptability, and that’s what Rin needs. He’s someone very rigid who doesn’t like stepping outside of his habits and what he believes to be optimal. I believe we thrive most with people who are different from us. So someone who can switch up the dynamic can teach him less intolerance and more adaptability and improvisation. Conversely, Rin can pass on discipline, technique, and mastery.

✦ "People who know what they want to do in their life and hard working are the people I admire a lot" This makes me think that you must have been quickly captivated by Rin from his first appearance—since the first time we see him shoot two balls into each other. This unorthodox introduction highlights two important things about him: he’s a man who knows what he wants and who has trained very hard to reach his goal. His demonstration in front of everyone isn’t just showing off: he’s also showing the other players that they are not on his level.

✦ "I don't like people who are mean to others for no reason" This made me reflect on Rin’s motivations. He isn’t mean at all; we never see him go after someone without reason. His resentment exists because the person he trusted the most betrayed him; now, Rin seeks to restore his honor by winning against the one who abandoned him. A deeper, less obvious part of him also seeks to understand the truth behind this abandonment. Why did Sae leave him? What happened to him? But the anger and pain inside Rin are so strong that hatred has completely overshadowed everything else. It overwhelms the bitterness that eats at him and the admission that, deep down, he still loves his big brother and would like to keep playing with him.

✦ He’s someone with a heavy burden on his shoulders, who probably isn’t even fully aware of the knot formed by his own feelings. I think he’s been so focused on improving and excelling in soccer these past years that he’s pushed aside his feelings of attachment toward Sae to maintain the resentment he nurtures. Without a sense of vengeance, Rin would have nothing left. He would become even less important in Sae’s eyes.

✦ Another thing that consciously makes Rin arrogant: when people try to rival him and fail. Even worse: when they try to rival him and succeed. That’s what Isagi proves when he manages to catch up to Rin during the last match of the second selection. This causes a huge upheaval for Rin, as his certainties gradually crumble. If he couldn’t beat Isagi, then he has no chance against Sae.

✦ All this to say that Rin isn’t inherently bad. He’s not without reason either. And if he’s ever harmful to someone, it’s only to himself.

✦ ("I love German shepherds, huskies, and Dobermans like pls they're so cute.") (It’s the first time I’ve seen someone mention Dobermans in their info, and it’s one of my favorite dog breeds too.)

✦ Without even looking at your love languages, I think the ones Rin likes to receive are words of affirmation and quality time. Probably a good amount of physical touch too. As for what he gives, I’d bet on exactly the same languages. I’d even say: he’s capable of offering all five at once and in large doses. In fact, I’m going to take the risk of headcanoning him as someone much more emotionally invested in a romantic relationship than one might think.

✦ It’s probably the result of years of emotional constipation, but for me, Rin has cut off his most vulnerable parts—those related to affection—to focus only on what he thinks gives him strength to become the best. That is, determination, rage, and anger.

✦ So, from the moment you open his emotional floodgates… God, no wonder his Wiki says he never cries: the guy has been wrecked for so long, of course, he’s crying his soul out non-stop, day after day.

✦ Let’s move on to your love languages :)

"My love language (receiving) is probably physical touch and words of affirmation and well when giving, probably words of affirmation and gift-giving."

✦ :D

✦ Well, it matches!

✦ Also, another risky headcanon: I think Rin, when truly in love, becomes the complete opposite of what we see in the manga up to chapter 275. It’s simply that everything he suppresses, everything he doesn’t think is useful in his quest for self-fulfillment, comes rushing out and makes him seem like a different person. But I think that’s actually the person Rin would normally be if Sae hadn’t destroyed him emotionally.

✦ I’m not sure I’ll fully commit to the idea that Rin might be a bit of a hopeless romantic in a relationship, but to me, his pursuit of Sae is the ultimate proof that once he loves someone—whether platonically or romantically—he never lets them go. He will keep fighting until he’s won… or gotten an explanation.

✦ It’s a very twisted and extreme form of loyalty.

✦ But it is loyalty.

✦ And in the hypothetical scenario where he truly falls in love with someone… Well, yes. For me, he’s totally the type to wait in front of your door with a bouquet of flowers. He does it with great class, dressed well under his long black coat, scarf tied around his neck. He’s also the one who holds the door, waits for you to go first, the one who thinks about buying the ingredients for a dish you love to prepare it for you in secret. The one who runs you a hot bath in winter without you even asking. I truly think he’s the kind of guy who, without being overly demonstrative at first, is very active in showing his affection.

✦ To me, he’s really someone who doesn’t know how to lie. When we saw who he was before Sae broke him: we know it.

✦ I also think that, expression-wise, he’s not very expansive, at least not at the start. It’s… new for him. I know he won’t feel comfortable right away because he’s already loved someone once, who abandoned him overnight as if nothing had happened, and that kind of thing leaves some trauma.

✦ So yes, he’ll likely be unsure of himself and go back and forth. Like, he’ll open up a bit, then suddenly shut down and push you away. And then realize, oh wait, that wasn’t so bad after all.

✦ But overall, he’s a wounded little animal that needs to be allowed to come out of his shell at his own pace. Athletically, he’s exceptional. But it’s at the cost of sacrificing his psychological well-being, which has everything to rebuild.

✦ So how to tell him he’s done enough, that he can rest, that it’s enough for today? Well, that’s part of the words of affirmation he desperately needs. The ones his brother never gave him, among others, and especially: the ones Rin doesn’t give himself.

✦ So, by opening the way for him toward positive and healthy self-esteem, he can gradually bloom. It’s something you can do, something you can teach him. And it’s going to be long; it will take time. Patience. But above all, a lot of trust.

✦ And it’s worth every bit of the effort. Because once the boy is won over… Nothing will make him let go. The smiling Rin still exists and wants someone to take his hand and say, "You’ve done enough."

✦ Conclusion: He needs someone light-hearted, but not superficial. Someone intelligent and well-intentioned, who can argue with him and persuade him. I think these are traits you possess, and they could lead to some great situations that I’d love to see in a TV series.

✦ On a lighter note, I’m circling back to the comments at the end of your info: 'I have 4 of these such accents and it's lowkey embarrassing when I'm talking to new people and one of those accents kicks in and then I have to explain it to them.' It reminded me of the scene where Rin faces the World 5 and speaks in English…

✦ 'Nah, I'm a bird person. I had 4 cockatiels (2 of them flew away recently (that was very traumatic for me)) so I only have 2 of them left now. I had 2 green cheek conures too; they were such cuties.' That, among other things, made me think of Rin. Not just that, but the overall vibe of your text. Speaking of birds, I find that the swan is a very fitting symbol for Rin. Elegant and mysterious, ruling his domain but willing to die for the one he loves.

✦ Speaking of a dark vibe, let's dive into headcanons!

✦ "I LOVE horror movies. Like, during weekends, I take naps in the afternoon just so I can stay up at night watching horror movies." Weekend marathon watching Kubrick's entire filmography and the biggest horror movie titles. Basically, neither of you are scared, you easily anticipate the protagonists' actions and all the jump scares planned by the director, but these are kind of your comfort movies.

✦ Rin prefers listening to you talk about your passions rather than talking about his own. It's a bit like with his older brother when they were younger; he listens attentively, his cheeks softly tinged as he feels the passion that fills you every time you talk about your interests. Without saying he'll take them up himself, it always gives him more vibrant and authentic aspects of your personality, and he likes that. I’d even say it flatters him that you share all of this with him.

✦ When you’re on public transportation, in a crowd, or just in a busy place, he's that shy hand quietly seeking yours with the utmost discretion. It’s a way to keep calm amidst the noise and bustle, and over time, it’s become a reflex to seek your touch. He doesn’t even realize it anymore and blushes with embarrassment when you point it out.

✦ Between a dog and a cat, Rin is definitely more cat. Watching you take care of the strays you find on the street strangely reminds him of how he is with you.

✦ He helps you rescue and care for birds that have fallen from their nests or are injured. He knows the proper steps to take, what number to call, and what to do to ensure the bird is taken to a safe place. The first time, you were impressed by the gentle way he held the dove in his hands; he handled it with such care and patience to avoid harming or scaring the bird too much. The fact that he already had birdseed in a cupboard made you realize this wasn’t his first rescue.

✦ I canon Rin as a guy who loves taking baths and sometimes even falls asleep in the hot water. It’s one of the rare times he truly allows himself to relax, where all his muscles unwind. For you, he’ll run the bath ten minutes before and set up the whole scene with candles, rose petals, and a dim ambiance. With Halloween and the colder season approaching, these moments are becoming more frequent, much to your delight.

✦ Face to face in the bathtub. Sometimes, neither of you say anything. You just enjoy the quiet, the sound of the water around you. The warm steam floating. Simply being together.

✦ Eventually, Rin closes his eyes, his neck resting on the edge of the tub. He looks like he’s sleeping, but you know he’s listening intently to whatever you have to say. Whether it’s about your day, your latest passion, or something that struck you recently. Sometimes, a small smile forms at the corner of his lips.

✦ His guilty pleasure? Visiting the park to watch the animals, especially the birds taking flight. He particularly enjoys going at night to listen to the rustling in the trees, guessing which bird each hoot belongs to.

✦ I honestly think camping is an activity that could really suit you both, mainly because it strengthens your bond as you navigate a hostile environment together, and also because being in the middle of the forest is the perfect setting for Rin, who loves meditating and enjoying nature without human interference.

✦ At first glance, Rin doesn’t seem interested in amusement parks. But I’m certain that for Halloween, we could convince him to go with you into the haunted house, the hall of mirrors, and even the fastest roller coasters. Honestly, I think he’s the one between you two who never screams or shows any fear, but it triggers a kind of adrenaline in him, and after a while, I believe he’d be the one grabbing your hand to pull you toward the next attraction.

✦ The evening continues back at home, where you both lock yourselves in the room to replay all your favorite horror games.

✦ He probably would have preferred ordering food for dinner because his cooking skills aren’t the best. Nothing too risky, but as long as the meal is good, that’s what matters.

✦ No horror podcast tonight; Rin will be the one to lull you to sleep with his voice. Once you’re in bed, he joins you, one affectionate hand in your hair as he talks. He talks like he rarely does with others; he takes the time to craft his words, building suspense like in your favorite horror movies. In the end, you get so wrapped up in it that you force yourself to stay awake to hear the conclusion. You ask him questions, he answers, and the conversation repeats. Eventually, the discussion lasts all night, and neither of you end up sleeping.

It's late afternoon, but the festivities are just beginning at the fairground. The whole setup is there, with bats hanging up high, stretched-out spiderwebs, and pumpkins scattered around. There’s a bit of a Tim Burton-esque touch and a few other nods to classic horror films, with Voorhees, Myers, and Freddy masks dangling from strings.

Nothing that makes you panic.

You’re standing in line for the "Werewolf" roller coaster, and what's most impressive about this ride is that it's entirely made of wood. The feeling of unease is at its peak.

The line moves slowly, and soon it’s almost your turn to board.

You wonder aloud:

"Hey… Do you think it'll break while we're on it?"

"It’s possible."

"Really? Aren’t these kinds of structures supposed to be unbreakable? They must have tested it a million times to make sure it's super safe."

"Zero risk doesn’t exist."

"Good thing we’re only doing this once then!"

"Are you scared?"

Rin turned his gaze toward you, and you can't tell if his serious expression is hiding an upcoming tease or not.

"Hmm… A little… And you?" You admit.

"Yes. Extremely."

"Oh. Well, it doesn’t show."

"You don’t have to show everything."

"Yeah, but still. We wouldn’t like horror stuff if we didn’t like being scared."

"Fear is adrenaline. It’s what gives you the strength to survive. To overcome everything. Fear is necessary."

You listen without commenting, feeling… flattered? That Rin would admit such a thing to you. He who hates to admit his weaknesses. No, it's not a weakness: he’s turned it into a strength.

And when you climb into the cart, securely strapped in, you place your hands on the safety bar, your heart already pounding wildly.

"Ooh… I'm not feeling good about this, Rin…"

"Hold my hand."

Which you eagerly do. There’s a small space to slide your fingers through and intertwine them. But the most impressive thing isn’t the height of the roller coaster anymore. It’s the warmth pulsing between Rin's fingers, enveloping your hand and traveling up your arm, giving a new rhythm to your heartbeat.

The ride starts, and you slowly ascend the rails. In front and behind you, people are scared, and you can feel it. But when you glance to your left to catch Rin’s eye, all you see is an impassive face, measuring the distance between you and the summit.

The slope begins to steepen, and your hair starts flying back, a sign that gravity is shifting. Your breathing quickens, and you grip Rin's hand even tighter.

"Rin, I'm scared."

"Breathe. Let it come."

"I'm scared, I'm scared! It’s going up too high!"

"I'm here."

Rin is here. Soon, you reach the back of the werewolf, and finally, the front of the cart dips down at a breakneck speed, pulling out the scream of your life. You scream your lungs out, the air smacking against your eyes as the pressure in your stomach pushes your guts upward. Tears of terror well up in the corners of your eyes. In panic, in instinct, you're not sure; you're still searching for Rin.

He’s there, his black hair tousled by the wind and the twists the machine takes.

But he isn’t screaming.

On the contrary, despite the speed you're going and all the jolts, you recognize a smile and then hear the wild laugh that follows.

He’s laughing.

He's laughing!

How can he be laughing at a moment like this?

You don’t know; you can't ask now. You’ll have to wait until the end of this mixture of torture, joy, and terror.

The rounds continue, and your grip almost crushed Rin's hand, but when you exit the ride, still groggy from the thrill, you step aside from the crowd to catch your breath.

You recover from the excitement and scrutinize Rin’s expression.

"Man, that was insane!! WOW!! What kind of ride is that?? And Rin, why were you laughing??? How can you laugh in a moment like that?"

"It's because…"

The ghost of his euphoria lingers on his face.

"… it makes me feel alive."

A word about your match: As I said, I’m thrilled to conclude this session of matchups with the character spotlighted by my September theme. I'm even more convinced knowing who my next matchup post will be about… There was no other choice in my mind than Rin for you.

© TIGREBLVNC 2024 | SEPTEMBER ‘24 MATCHUPS EDITION.

[robin-the-enby]

Hiya! I would like to request Abe Sapien x my oc it would be the continuation of the first fic and it would include her going on her first mission and how the others react to Abe and my oc getting closer. Hope you have a good day/night ^^

Someone like me p.2

Pairing: Abe Sapien x fem!reader

Warnings: mentions of killing and hypothetical bloodthirst :)

A/N: To all the lovely readers besides riya: I do not write for other people's OCs! This is an exception, since I've already written part one in the past :) With that out of the way, I am happy to come back to this, Abe was the first fictional character I ever published a fanfiction about (Confusing feelings on my masterlist, feel free to check it out ;D), so I have a special place in my heart for this man <3). Also, I would like to point out that you have no idea how much research went into this fanfic XD (but some things are completely made up, so don't come at me when some things can't be fact-checked).

Time passed...as it does. Life at the BPRD was nothing like your calm, quiet and mostly uneventful life in the outside world. The facility was buzzing with life most hours of the day, every day of the week. Luckilly, you weren't completely shut off from the world, like some of your more unfortunate colleagues. You could go outside, thanks to your human appearance. It did take some paperwork and time before your trip got approved, but it was certainly better than being stuck inside. You also had access to the internet and your old social circle, because, well, it would be very strange if you suddenly disappeared.

But you quit your old job and told everyone you're moving somewhere far away, which wasn't a complete lie...And now only few people kept in contact with you. And when they did, you either texted or called. But it was still nice.

And it's not like you minded much. You had a whole new set of friends and a world of possibilities open in front of you. Training with Liz and having some girl time every now and then, because both you and her really needed it from time to time, movie nights with Hellboy- or Red, usually everyone called him red, which Liz almost always joined, and sometimes Abe as well.

Speaking of Abe...

After the accidental confession in the BPRD's exercise pool, the two of you were like two peas in a pod. With your passion for learning about all the different creatures that secretely roam this Earth and your aquatic abilities, you were a perfect partner not only during research, but also on missions that required agents to go underwater. So it's no surprise that the two of you spent a lot of time together while working.

But you never had to worry about being sick of each other. Your personalities mended so beautifully together that you rarely needed to be apart. When you weren't working, you both usually did your own thing, just...together. Of course, you loved to talk and learn about one another, but it was nice to be able to just be...close to someone, with no words needed. Not to mention Abe was a very adaptable person, sometimes you worried he has people pleasing tendencies, but when you needed time alone, he always understood and never pushed past your boundaries. That being said, it's only natural for partner's to argue sometimes. And while that was true and there were instances where you disagreed on one thing or another, you both were smart enough to give each other some time to cool down, when things really escalated, and then talk it through. With Abe's telepathic abbilities, communicating feelings that were hard to put into words was also fairly easy.

Finally, you felt content with the way your life was going. And honestly? Everybody was on board. They were all supportive in their own special ways. Liz was glad that Abe found someone who understood him and wasn't put off by his appearance or his abbilities. Knowing him basically her whole life, it warmed her heart that Abe was happy. Red was proud of Abe. Seeing him always as the more introverted and nerdy friend, he thought Abe would be alone for a much longer time, if not forever. Not that he wouldn't wish a happy romance for the guy, hell, he sure knew about Abe's desire to love and be loved, but the in their line of work, meeting new people is hard and doesn't happen often, and meeting people who stay long enough for romance, or any deeper relationship to bloom is even harder. And he knew that. That was why Red was seriously proud of Abe for shooting his shot. Although when his blue friend revealed to him how exactly the confession went down, Red laughed so hard he couldn't quite catch his breath for a while.

The other agents and staff of the BPRD were happy as well. With the special agents happilly taken, the bureau was just a tad calmer. There was still drama, but nothing serious, like when Hellboy used to escape just to see Liz in the mental hospital, who didn't even want to talk to him at that time. Even Manning seemed calmer, to everyone's relief.

As much as you enjoyed your time at the BPRD, it wasn't always easy. You could still remember the first mission you went on. From your first day at the bureau, you worked hard on yourself to be a good agent. You wanted to go out there and face whatever the world had in store for you. And a few months of intense training and working mostly as a researcher, the day finally came.

Manning had called you, Abe, Liz and Hellboy into the library, for Abe's comfort. And because it was spaceous enough that it easily provided privacy. There, you could go over the details of the mission ahead of you, construct a plan and immediately grab some books to help you learn what you were dealing with at once.

So here you were, sitting around a larger table, listening to Manning tell you about a mysterious creature who, according to secret sources, are responsible for the unsolved disappearings and drownings of multiple people at Wilson lake, Kansas. Based on the evidence and statements from witnesses, every person disappeared at night while going swimming. First outside of swimming zones, but then also right from the designated swimming beaches. First, the victims would swim out into the deep water, where they couldn't feel or see under they're feet. Once they got comfortable, they got pulled under, not to be seen until the next morning. The time the victims spent in water was always different. For some it was ten minutes, for others thirty minutes and for a few even an hour or so.

From what Manning implied, there were some sort of agents scouting the area even before this mission has been ordered, since some of the sources saw a snake like creature, covered in scales, with the head of a cat, or somthng similar. It seems to be able to breathe underwater and above water, and it seems to not have any hind legs.

"First, we need to at least have an idea hat we're dealing with." said Manning with a huff and everyone present turned to look at you and Abe. You tried with all your might, but couldn't remember any creature that would meet the description in a closer way than vaguely. With a slight shake of your head you pushed away from the table and disappeared into the rows of bookshelves in search of amphibian cryptids, monsters, demons and the like. After a few moments, Abe joined you in your search, not knowing sure what it could be either. Luckilly, the two of you knew the library like the back of your hand, so it didn't take long before you came back with what you were searching for.

Each holding a few books, you gave everyone a book or two and you started flipping through them. It couldn't be merfolk, because only a few species live alone and not in groups...it could be a mutant, but most things can be mutants when you think about it...You wondered as you flipped through the pages, sometimes stopping to read the description, most times skipping entire chapters. This went on for roughly half an hour, before Liz suddenly spoke up "And what if it's a Tatzelwurm?"

You all looked towards your raven-haired friend. "The what now?" Red grumbled. "Tatzelwurm, a creature commonly found in Alpine lakes. It's venomous and agressive towards humans. How could it end up in Kansas?" Abe tilted his head to the side. "Look, I'm not saying I'm right, I was just trying to point out that it matches the description almost perfectly." Liz shrugged with a huff and you nodded along her words.

"Well, it seems to be the best we've got so far." Manning said, clasping his hands together. "Are there any weaknesses mentioned in that book? Or something we might use?" you asked. Liz picked up the book and flipped through a few pages, before quickly scanning over the text of one. After a moment, she sighed "No, not really. It just warns to be careful, because a single bite can kill an adult human and supposedly it's able to let out poisonous fumes and has acidic blood." "Well, that's helpful." Hellboy grumbles, not mad at Liz, more annoyed that this case was going to be a tough one.

"Abe, is there a possibility it could be something else?" Manning asked. The amphibian thought for a few seconds about the answer "Well, that depends...Are there any creatures with a similar way of living? Yes, many. Are there any that would match the description given to us that closely? No. Or at least, I can't think of any." he shrugged at last. Manning clapped his hands together and stood up "Alright. We'll assume it's a Tatzelwurm for now. I will have a plan created tonight. Pack your things. Tomorrow at seven o'clock sharp" he looked at Hellboy with that instruction "we'll meet here and you will be given the details of the mission. Then, you'll be leaving for Kansas." he turned on his heel and walked out of the library, dismissing you all in the process.

The next morning, you all met in the library exactly as Manning said. Even Red came on time, although you suspected Liz was to thank for that. Along with Manning came two other agents, the ones who made an elaborate plan for you through the night. It was actually pretty simple, you and Abe would search the water and after you manage to find the creature- there is no "if" as you were told by Manning, you will try to lure it out of the water, where Hellboy and Liz will be waiting to dispose of the creature properly. You and Abe will also be equipped with weapons meant for close combat, which you are strictly advised against, but for safety measures, you'll still have them.

After that, you loaded the super secret garbage truck look-alike and then it was a roughly seven hour journey, spent mostly in silence, as everyone prepared themselves for the mission. You pondered taking a nap, but even if you wanted to sleep, you couldn't. It would be a lie to say you weren't nervous. But you had trained for so long to get to this point. You had done so much in life just to be able to do this. You couldn't, and wouldn't, give up now. But the thought of facing a monster that could kill you with a single bite was terrifying, especially when not that long ago, you were a simple civilian.

As if he could sense your nervousness, Abe softly reached for your hand, encompassing it in his own. As soon as your hands made contact, you knew he could read you like an open book, so you just relaxed and let him feel what you were feeling, hear what you were thinking. In return, Abe reassured you that you had nothing to worry about, that he would do his best not only to accomplish the mission, but to protect you as well. His soothing energy calmed you down significantly and you actually managed to catch some shut eye for the rest of the journey.

After arriving to Wilson lake, you and the rest of the agents set up camp near the lake, away from prying eyes. Since the lake was enormous, and the Tatzelwurm could be literally anywhere, a few technicians came along with underwater drones, which would be placed into the water in several places at the lake, scouting for the creature. After that, you and your friends will be transported as quickly as possible to the place the creature was captured at, where the plan you already were familiar with would be set into motion.

And so you waited. And while waiting, you got you gear set up, Hellboy had his guns loaded and checked, Liz had her gun loaded and checked, as well as her knife and her fire proof jumpsuit. Abe was finally able to get rid of his breathing apparatus and you simply had to put on a tight swimming top, since your legs would turn into a fin.

Abe and you immediately got in the water to warm up for the chase. After such long time of training, you had a better grip on your transformation, so now you were able to get through it more quickly and with less discomfort. Of course, you made sure not to venture too deep into the water, in case the Tatzelwurm was nearby.

After several hours, when the sun was already setting, one of the cameras in a more rocky area of the lake captured something big. A big creature. The technician controlling the drone made sure not to disturb it, and it seemed to have worked, but sadly, the drone caught just a slight glimpse of it, so nobody could be sure if it was realy the creature, or perhaps just a big catfish. But the drones nearby were informed to be on high alert, while the rest were instructed to slowly move towards the one who captured it first. That way, it was nearly impossible to miss it.

While this was all happening, your friends got notified of this progress and you promptly loaded a jeep and were driven to the place where the Tatzelwurm was supposed to be right now. On the way there, your driver got confirmation that another drone got a clear visual of the creature and it's heading towards onbe of the beaches slowly. Putting their foot down on the gas, the driver quickly told you about everything and you and Abe mentally prepared yourself. You needed to be fast, because there were lives in immediate danger.

After finding a good clearing, both you and your blue partner wasted no time and jumped in the water, taking off in the direction you were instructed, while Hellboy and Liz were driven to the location you were supposed to lure the creature to. The bottom of the lake was half muddy, half rocky. It almost seemed like a ghost town, with no creature in immediate sight. They were all probably hidden, but that didn't help the already spooky feeling that was creepin into your heart while looking around for the Tatzelwurm.

You kept close to Abe as you made your way through the dark water. He kept updating you from time to time from where he could sense the creature and if you're getting close. So far, everything was going well. After you made it about a kilometer into the water, where it was more than 8 meters deep, you finally spotted a sillhouette moving almost hypnotically in the water. You both swam faster and each on different side, hoping to be able to get in front of the creature and redirect it away from the beach.

As you got closer, you could clearly see that Manning's informators were right, as well as Liz. It was a Tatzelwurm. It was around two meters long, its scales a rich black colour that reflected the sunrays in small shimmers. Its head was that of a feline, except it had no fur. Its eyes were wide, yellow and wild, hungry for flesh of anything that would cross its path. Its front legs were pretty short, compared to the rest of its body, but they were adorned with long, sharp claws. After a few minutes, you managed get ahead of the creature and you started closing in on it. When you were roughly at the edge of its visual range, you quickly crossed in front of it and darted behind immediately, trying to throw it off guard. At which you succeeded, because the Tatzelwurm stopped dead in its tracks and looked around confusedly, before turning around to finally see what dared cross it.

You simply floated there, not moving for a few seconds, before you flicked your tail swiftly, as if to beckon it, challenge it. The creature's pupils slanted, turning into small slits as it opened its maw, displaying rows of sharp teeth, ready to tear meat from bone. Abe swam slightly closer towards it, seemingly not afraid of the killer cryptid in front of him, although you doubt that if you could see into his thoughts right now, you would see a myriad of emotions going through that brilliant mind of his.

This seemed to rile up he creature even more as it hunched its back threateningly and swam closer to you. You darted a few meters in one direction away from it, but as it turned to look at you, Abe moved exactly in the opposite direction. This was the final straw. The creature, frustrated and angry, let out what would've been a roar on the surface, but here it was just a stream of bubbles coming out of its maw, although that did nothing to make it less imposing. You and Abe started swimming away in the direction where Liz and Red should already be by now, the Tatzelwurm following quickly behind you.

It was a if death itself was chasing after you, the sloshing of water completely ignored by you as the only thing that you could hear was your blood pumping through your ears. The amount of adrenaline coursing through you made your skin prickle and you had to concentrate on keeping the motions of your tail as quick, but also as smooth as possible. From time to time you managed to spare a glance at Abe, who seemed just slightly faster than you, and could afford to look out for you and behind you, to see if the creature was sill following you.

And quite surprisingly, it was. Instead of getting tired of not being able to catch you, your speed, that was putting you just slightly ahead of it, was frustrating it to no end. If you saw any signs of exhaustion or that the Tatzelwurm wasn't interested in chasing you anymore, you'd have to stop and tease it again. However, if you stopped now, it would be certain death.

Slowly, you were reaching the shore. It was just a few hundred meters ahead of you. You could feel the cold water rushing against your sking as you pushed forward, caressing you as if to encourage you to keep going. You could also feel the Tatzelwurm right behind you and you imagine that if there was a way for it to snarl at you, it would, its desire to dig its sharp teeth into your tail so strong you could almost feel it.

Suddenly, you are met with the edge of the lake, the water slightly more shallow. Abe shoots up from the water and before you can stop and ponder how you are going to get out yourself, his hand is reaching for yours. You grasp onto it as if it was the last thing to keep you alive, which in this scenario might as well be true.

Abe pulled you out of the water and away from the shore, behind Hellboy and Liz, who were now dealing with the Tatzelwurm, and continued, until you were safe behind the agents who served as backup for your two friends. You were slightly dazed from the quick change of environment and from the physical strain your body and mind just went through. But feeling Abe's hands on you brought you an unexplainable feeling of safety, though later you started o suspect that was just Abe trying to keep you calm. Nonetheless, under the wave of tranquility and love you were surrounded by thanks to your wonderful partner, you allowed yourself to close your eyes and rest.

You didn't come to until you were in the car again, Abe's arms secured tightly around you with you snuggling into his chest. You closed your eyes as soon as you opened them, relishing in the weight of Abe's head on top of yours, occassionally pressing soft kisses into your hair. Back at the BPRD you learned that the mission was a succsess, the Tatzelwurm having been killed by Red and Liz and even Manning told you that for a first mission, you did a great job.

[joandfriedrich]

Hope you don’t mind me ranting a little, I was looking for fanfics of Amy and Laurie and I’m kinda sad that a lot of them have him cheating physically or emotionally cheating on Amy with Jo. It’s like people just can’t accept that Laurie grew up (with a little help from Amy) and fell in love with someone else. Jo herself says she isn’t in love with him. And she found a beautiful love with Friedrich, I wish people could let it go. And maybe I’m wrong but with how Laurie was written in the book, I don’t ever see him cheating on Amy whatsoever with anyone. And Jo wouldn’t cheat on Friedrich with Laurie because she was never in love with Laurie!!! It feels so incredibly out of character for the both of them.

There is a way in Archive of Our Own to look for main ship tags. That is what I always do when looking out for Little Women fics. It filters out all the unwanted ones.

For your question, it is what I have been saying in the LW podcast since the beginning, I think the biggest problem is the lack of Laurie's characterization in Little Women adaptations and romanticizing his and Laurie's relationship.

Long loving looks

1949

1994 the non-required kiss

2019 Jo wanting Laurie back out of nowhere, and people even saying that "Gerwig" fixed Jo, for wanting Laurie back. Also Timothee Chalamet and Gerwig both saying the promotional tour that Jo and Laurie should be together.

Those are of course just a few examples, but then there is the actual story in the book. No I don't think Laurie would ever cheat on Amy and Jo would certainly not cheat on Fritz.

I personally believe that LMA planned both marriages years before she wrote the novel. There is a book from Goethe called "Wilhelm Meister's apprenticeship" one of Alcott's favorite books. Wilhelm is very much a Laurie type of character. During the novel he grows as a person. We see, this in the terms of character. He moves on from unhealthy relationship to Marianne to one with Natalia. In LMA's notes, she calls the relationship with Natalia "beautiful". This is both mental and spiritual transformation, it also happens when Jo moves on from Laurie to Fritz.

I think that is one of those things that people miss on Louisa May Alcott's writings. Person "transcends" in this next relationship, and becomes a better person.

In general I think, most of Laurie's characterization is missing from the adaptations. i know I sometimes critizise him, the way he behaves as a young man, but I think that is the point because he grows out of that behavior when he is with Amy. Had she stayed with Jo he would have remained as a man-child, and they would have both been unhappy.

-Niina/Little Women Podcast

-----------------------------------------

I totally understand your pain, because a few years ago I read a fanfic where Jo gave birth to her son Teddy, and pretty much everyone knows that Jo and Laurie had affair that resulted Teddy, and Friedrich was just fine with it even if a little sad. It is one of the worst fanfictions I have ever read, and I wish I never seen it.

I just have a hard time believing that either Jo or Laurie would cheat on their respective partners, or be the lover to someone married, it is just not in their personalities. Laurie had a crisis when he realized that he wasn't in love with Jo anymore, do people really think he'd just be ok with having affair with someone? The guy would be so racked with guilt that he'd confess to it immediately, he'd even tell Amy about how another woman hit on him and he'd apologize.

Jo clearly had no interest in any man until Friedrich (Jo, and even Friedrich, can be read heavily as being demisexuals), and she has made it incredibly clear that she has no romantic or even sexual feelings for Laurie, constantly calling him her "brother", even trying to set him up with her sisters at different points.

It's crazy how desperate the Jo and Laurie shippers are to try and make them work when Alcott is rolling in her grave to think that people didn't get the obvious that Jo and Laurie do not belong together! Thankfully, there is more than enough good fanfics out there to wash the awful taste in your mouth.

-Christina

[elftwink]

been learning to play ironsworn (gritty fantasy ttrpg which you can play with a gm but is mostly suited for solo or small group co-op gmless play) after having the rulebook pdf for several years (stars finally aligned to remove invisible thing blocking me from reading it idk) because i'm on another solo ttrpg kick & i don't know what took me so long to get around to this game because it genuinely is exactly what i was looking for. years ago when i was playing through solo 5e modules i should have just been playing ironsworn (believe it or not, 5e isn't very suited to solo play and is extremely clunky when you try lol).

also though i have dabbled in some other solo ttrpgs, a considerable amount of them are journaling games which is fun but imo considerably more work (usually by the time i'm a quarter of the way through the journal entry, i know how to entire scene played out and i want to move on to the next gameplay thing, so i get frustrated and bored quickly. it feels like when you solve a level in a video game but don't have the coordination to pull off the necessary move so you have to spend 20 extra minutes doing something you already figured out), so i really appreciate like not needing to write something for the game to progress (ive been taking notes for my own record since im playing solo and thus am not really out loud roleplaying the way you do in a group, but i definitely could do that instead and not take notes and the game would still function perfectly)

& ive been playing by myself but also in the past ive played a lot of ttrpgs in very small groups which has been other games but is mostly dnd and like. we also should have been playing ironsworn so that having a gm was not necessary. have definitely played games where we had to adapt the rules soooo much to do something that is just base game included in ironsworn. plus it's rules-light enough to do pretty complex moves that pose difficulties in bulkier games (ever introduced someone to dnd and they tell you they want to do a sick backflip and catch something and then attack and you have to tell them that will require several different consecutive rolls and some creative liberties with how the rules are 'supposed' to let you move? you can just Do That in ironsworn. use the strike move and describe it. done!)

the one thing is that although it's rules-light enough to theoretically play any setting or genre (some with more difficulty than others), ive found so far that like... the grittiness and sense of threat is very built into the mechanics so that would be sort of difficult to work around or change (but i think it's great from a game design perspective). what i mean is like, okay: you start with 5 max hp. there isn't really a way to raise this max hp, you just slowly gain abilities (assets) that make you less likely to have to lose the hp in the first place, or that make it easier to recover. when you encounter foes, you rank them on a scale of 1 -5, and enemies on the lowest side of this scale do one harm to you, while enemies on the highest side do five harm to you. so even though encountering an epic enemy won't always be deadly due to the assets you have, they are ALWAYS capable of taking you down to 0 hp with one good hit. so the feeling of threat is much more present compared to games where your character starts to be able to just tank and push through a failure or huge threat.

admittedly also i'm playing solo, im still learning how to balance combat, and also i built a character who has NO combat talents and iron (the close quarters fighting stat) is one of my lowest stats so i personally am under much more threat than if you built a character who knew how to fight or who could do deadly harm. but also the other thing about combat is it's extremely difficult to maintain control of the fight; you have to score a strong hit to do it on basically all moves, and there's a really limited pool of moves available when you don't have the initiative, and obviously none of them really favour you. i don't know that this makes combat genuinely more difficult, but it does make you feel like the fight is always about to spiral out of your control. every second you let it drag without decisive action feels like it brings you closer to dying. like i said, this is a feature of the game design and not a problem in any way. just thinking about it because when i was initially learning i was going to try to supplant it into a homebrew fantasy world of my own but the tone just wouldn't be right. and that it is somewhat difficult to replicate the kind of worlds that i typically play or run for dnd, which tend to lean somewhat sillier and definitely much higher fantasy

but i like to try new things and tbh especially in dnd i find that i very rarely feel that sense of threat and when i do feel it, it has nothing at all to do with the actual mechanics and reality of the combat and everything to do with how well the dm sells it to me and makes it sound and feel scary and dangerous. which is a testament to what a good gm can do for you but i do appreciate the threat feeling more built-in and also being actually real.

[444lpblue]

The Witch and the Beast Anime's Outlook

I've finally awakened from my anime slump and have been catching up on a lot of anime. I learned my lesson about trying to do too much and watch too many shows. Therefore, I'm going to limit the number of anime I watch going forward so that I actually have time to write about them. I was barely finding time to watch the shows I've decided to begin, let alone write about them. I'm feeling a bit more comfortable now after grinding a ton, and I would like to talk about one of my anxiety-inducing and highly anticipated anime, The Witch and the Beast.

If you didn't know, The Witch and the Beast is possibly one of my favorite mangas of all time, if not my absolute favorite. It's very under the radar, and I think if you love the world of Ancient Magus Bride or enjoy The Case Study of Vanitas and want a darker twist with a highly aesthetically pleasing art style, I think you should give it a try. But back to the anime, like most people when their manga get adapted, when I first heard it was announced, I was extremely excited—after all, who wouldn't be? Getting an anime adaptation is probably one of the things you wish for your favorite series. After months of confirmation, we finally got the first teaser PV, which looked fine (I did have some complaints about it, but it was mostly fine). We learned that the studio working on it is Yokohama Animation Lab.

If you've been watching anime recently, you might have come across some of Yokohama Animation Lab's works, as they have been quite active since 2017. They have produced visually appealing shows such as Miru Tights and Lapis Re:LiGHTs. However, more recently, they've released shows with less-than-stellar visuals, like Kingdoms of Ruin, The Great Cleric, and Rail Romanesque 2. Even their highest-rated show at the moment, The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt, doesn't exactly have amazing animation quality; it's more of a passable-looking show. Which made the studio choice a huge large concern for me, as The Witch and the Beast is a series that relies a lot on its visuals. It's an integral part to the enjoyment of the series, it's a series that relies on its aesthetically pleasing artwork for the sake of showing off the characters and the worldbuilding.

However, studios aren't people, and I didn't want to adopt an incredibly negative outlook because the people working on it will change over time, and anime relies heavily on freelancers. The quality of the anime you see from individual studios will differ greatly. But there is a difference in that aspect to an extent in Yokohama Animation Lab, much like in this interview said. They are looking to become more of an in-house studio rather than freelance due to the costs of subscription programs. Oogami Yuuma emphasizes that while digitalization in anime is often viewed as a cost-cutting measure, setting up the required digital environment can be initially expensive. So they are seeking a cost-effective solution. His statement, to this day, still rings pretty true. If you look at the staff for Yokohama's series episode by episode, you might be surprised that a majority of the episodes do seem to involve in-house staff more than the average anime. However, that doesn't seem great when their recent quality, especially in shows like Kingdoms of Ruin, has been rather atrocious. In all visual aspects, animation (incredibly lacking), storyboarding (low quality and not engaging, scene flow to eachother like a slideshow), compositing (incredibly jarring). The only thing I can praise about it is its art direction.

I mentioned Kingdoms of Ruin specifically as it does share several key staff with The Witch and the Beast and I think it's just worth mentioning. Now with all that being said you can see how my worry for the adaptation was incredibly large at the time (in the fact it still is), but I've lessen my worry of it when I tried to look at the individual staffs working on this show and the stafflist of the recent Yokohama shows.

Unfortunately, I did sit through some episodes of Kingdoms of Ruin (do not recommend), and I found it interesting that the staff list for the show was rather small at times— a lot of animation directors, but not many actual animators. For example, one of the action-heavy episodes only had a singular key animator. It's as if they didn't have enough staff. I would say that Kingdoms of Ruin is of lower quality than even the average Yokohama series.

This got me thinking, where are the staff going? Well, there are several options. Yokohama has some upcoming releases, but unquestionably, their biggest series coming out is Whisper Me a Love Song (which I also love), followed by The Witch and the Beast. The other two upcoming series are not nearly gaining as much traction.

This is all just a guess that likely won't amount to anything, but just the type of series that The Witch and the Beast is and the fact that it's the series coming right after Kingdoms of Ruin, I think it's possible that it will end up benefiting from the staff that was missing from that series. I feel like Yokohama will try to put more effort into this series, considering they didn't opt for their usual newbies and completely in-house directors; rather, they got a veteran director in Takayuki Hamana.

Hamana has been in the industry for an incredibly long time, but chances are you haven't heard of him. Recently, he directed Power of Hope Precure Full Bloom, which had a lot of great cuts from what I've seen. He has also recently finished working on the Sorcerous Stabber Orphen series, which didn't receive the best reception (more so for its rushed nature rather than visuals). Additionally, he worked on the Rakudai Majo movie recently, which unfortunately doesn't have an English release yet.

While it's not like these recent shows have the best ratings on MAL or other sites, it tends not to be because of the visuals but rather the story, over which he likely didn't have much control, especially in the case of Precure. He's very much capable of delivering a good product if the source material and the script are solid. Beast Player Erin is his highest-rated work, but he also has shows like Library Wars or Arte, which I know many people like.

In studios like Yokohama, I always tend to favor veteran directors, as they have been in more situations and will likely be able to find a way to maintain quality better than newbie directors; their industry connections should allow them to get external staff to help out. Hamana has shown evidence of this many times, even in the rushed release of Sorcerous Stabber Orphen and the hazardous release pace of each season. They all still managed to have well-animated cuts here and there, and that has been a trend for a majority of his series.

If you just put some of his randomly directed series on Sakugabooru, for example, you'll find that every one of his series tends to have cuts listed there. I think this is a testament that Hamana, while he won't always make the best shows, knows who to bring in and how to manage them for the more important parts of a show. He's a very consistent director, and I think he's someone who could and likely will benefit The Witch and the Beast's studio situation a lot in terms of its production quality. Whether you'll like his directing style (which tends to remind most of 2008s anime) is an entirely different matter, but he is a source of hope in terms of its production quality.

And you know with all this talk of Yokohama and the many people, like me worried for The Witch and the Beast's quality, while I may not be a fan of the many visual direction choice that has been shown in the PV, we haven't gotten any real evidence that the production quality or animation quality will be bad. From the most recent PV and likely final PV, the character designs look fairly well-maintained for the most part. Close-ups are impressive. I also like the expressions for them, strong eye work. Overall CAD work seems good.

Though, essentially, there isn't a lot of animation shown, so that aspect of it can't really be touched on at the moment. So, conclusion? It's a really lazy thing to say since I made you read through this long spew of mine, but I don't really know either. It really is a wait-and-see situation; however, I do encourage you not to write it off just because of the studio choice. A good pick in a director like Hamana, and some other staff I haven't even touched on, like the character design by Hiroya Ijima, and the external studio situation in terms of releases, provide hope for the series, and I genuinely believe that, at the very worst possible version of the series, it probably will be about the Genius Prince's visual quality, which isn't great but won't be a complete disaster. However, with Hamana at the helm, I do expect a better quality show than that.

I'll see you guys next time on January 11th when the show comes out, because, trust me, I will be there.

[fzzr]

Twenty Years

I don't have an exact date, as that's not how such things work, but right now is a pretty good estimate for twenty years since I became a furry, and accordingly how long Fzzr has been my fursona. The story isn't quite straightforward. I was in high school at the time, and in Biology we had received an assignment to create a hypothetical species and describe its habitat, evolution and so on. I forget if it was required or extra credit, but for whatever reason I spent the time to create an image in Microsoft Paint.

I started with a few ovals for body parts, filled in pixels so it was joined up, and then realized I hadn't left myself enough space for detail. so I doubled the size of the canvas in both axes, turning each one pixel into four, smoothed out the edges, realized I still didn't like how little detail I was able to apply, so I blew up up that much again and added more smoothing and small details. The result? A humanoid being with features of a tiger and black stripes on green fur. During the course of the pattern adding I decided not to make the stripes symmetrical, I think because being made in MS Paint with very basic techniques already made it look stiff so the bit of texture helped. I was very proud of putting two large stripes on the left cheek and one on the right.

When it came time to name this individual, I tried to come up with how a feline mouth adapted for more complex speech would sound, and decided it would depend less on vocal cords and thus not need vowels all the time. So I combined three sounds I figured would be available: A breath through teeth and lips, a buzz of teeth, and a growl from the throat. Fzzr.

Around this time I learned about furry culture and found myself relating to it very much, and it was very natural for me to snap into relating to Fzzr as myself. I soon started using it in many different contexts, most commonly screen names but also video game character names and so on. I got into (E)RP and met my first girlfriend and though she trilled the 'r' instead of growling it (something I refer to as the catgirl accent, because that happens so often) it was very special to be addressed like that.

Earlier this year on tumblr I ran across @kolaepup's auction for the design I would later name "Vala" (a name previously from my character from a long running tabletop campaign). Scrolling past it hit me like a brick because though the color and gender were wrong, the stripes were so close to Fzzr that it was uncanny. So I bought that, and commissioned the Fzzr counterpart sheet. Lots of the details of the Fzzr you all know, particularly the calico pattern and the multicolored hair, come from the coincidence of the Vala design catching my eye, but I don't find that to be a problem. Fzzr has one stripe on his right cheek, and two on his left. And I'm pretty proud of that.

(Art by Windoli on FurAffinity.)

[greatwyrmgold]

Comparing Animorphs to Worm

The first comparison is my relation to the series. (Serieses? How do you pluralize that word?) I was obsessed with Animorphs in grade school, starting younger than my parents probably would have allowed if they were familiar with the books. (I knew the name "Scholastic" from these books before my first Scholastic book fair, which should tell you a lot, if kids these days still have Scholastic book fairs.) I was obsessed with Worm immediately before and during college, shaping the way I engage with fiction and fandom to this day.

That's one of the reasons I'm comparing the two series, but there are plenty of other comparisons. Their teenaged protagonists, their heavy subject matter, the stories framed in an almost YA format that slowly peels away like old paint over rusty metal, the planetary threats from outer space...

And of course, the characters.

The Heart

This might sound weird if you're used to the fanon versions of Cassie and Taylor—the former being a weak-willed hypocrite who's constantly whinging about whether they're doing the right thing, the latter being Chuck Norris if he was a war criminal and controlled bugs. But they're very similar characters.

Superficial stuff out of the way: They're both unpopular introverts with unusually strong connections to animals, and end up in a messy interracial relationship with their team leader.

Now onto their shared core. They both have a powerful moral compass, which slowly warps under the pressures of the violent plotlines they're involved in without completely vanishing—even when they commit acts of shocking brutality.

Cassie's character arc is relatively simple. She's reluctant to hurt anyone, even Yeerk soldiers and especially their Controllers. She's so reluctant that she leaves the team in the first third of the series. But she also comes up with a lot of really concerning ideas for the group, including David's fate (I'll come back to this).

As for Taylor? She starts out joining a villain team to help the local superheroes, and becomes the voice of caution and moderation pretty much immediately. She also comes up with some pretty brutal ideas for the Undersiders, albeit mostly ones she implements herself.

As far as this aspect of their characterization goes, the big differences is where their moral compasses go in the end. Cassie becomes more comfortable with the moral compromises required by war, but not completely comfortable. She's always at least a devil's advocate, but she doesn't start arguments every time the animorphs need to premeditate their violence.

On the other hand, Taylor falls face-first into moral decay, whittling away at her moral beliefs until she finds the unbending core that she refuses to compromise. And a big part of that is critiquing inaction as strongly as action. People who could have stopped something but chose not to are as culpable as people who actively choose to cause it. That's part of why Taylor is as ruthless as she is, in the "seeing the bright clear line that goes from motive to means" sense.

Both of them also have strong self-sacrificial tendencies. Taylor's are front and center (our girl is practically jumping at martyrdom from her first night in costume) but Cassie is also willing to sacrifice herself for her beliefs. She traps herself in caterpillar morph to prove her conviction to a Yeerk, which is a pretty serious sacrifice since she didn't know she could demorph after metamorphosis. (...yeah, for all its darkness, Animorphs is still a YA series.)

Oh, and they also have a strong friendship with the team's pretty blonde extrovert and its violent butch bitch. But for Cassie, they're the same person.

The Big Guy

Rachel and Rachel are both the most violent members of their teams, but their arcs go in different directions.

Rachel Berenson started as the pretty popular mall-loving cheerleader gymnast type, but started sliding into blood knight territory as she adapted to the war.

Rachel Lindt, on the other hand, starts out antisocial and violent, and she only starts getting friends and finding a more comfortable, less violent life after meeting Taylor (and, to an extent, the other Undersiders). Rachel climbed out of the pit that swallowed Rachel whole.

This comparison is a pretty obvious one...probably the only obvious one.

The Leader

We're getting to the part where it's hard to compare Animorphs to Undersiders; I don't think I have any substantive comparisons to make between the other halves of their team. (You could make comparisons between Marco and Lisa, or maybe Alec or Aisha or Taylor; Tobias turning into a bird is kinda like Taylor's cape escapism but they go different directions; and Ax is too literally alien to have a clean parallel with the earthly Undersiders, except maybe Alec.)

But I think there's something between Jake and Brian, beyond their shared status. For starters, neither one wants to be a leader. Jake chafes at the title of Prince, and Brian stubbornly refuses to take sole responsibility for the Undersiders. In both cases, this flattens their team's hierarchy. Jake and Brian help set the agenda and direct discussions, but they don't force their will on the group if they can avoid it.

They also care strongly about their family, especially their siblings, Tom and Aisha. They're putting their lives in danger in large part for those siblings—rather more directly for Jake, whose brother has a Yeerk in his brain, but Brian explicitly says he became a supervillain to provide for his kid sister. (Which is a lot funnier from an outside perspective, since both of their parents are alive.)

The big differences are age (Jake is 13-16; Brian is 17-18 pre-timeskip) and the scope of what they care about. Brian is very clear; he cares about his family, he cares about his friends, but the rest of the world can sort itself out. Jake, on the other hand, knows he's on a mission to save the world and acts accordingly.

But if Brian was a few years less jaded, and given the nearly sole mandate to defeat a threat to the entire human race...I think he could end up a lot like Jake. War crimes and all.

The Traitor

David and Cherish were both trapped just offshore by the team they betrayed, and their screams can sometimes be heard by people on the shore.

David's fate is a bit less nightmarish (he's a rat on an island instead of a brain in a box) and his screams are less deadly, but the fact that I'm comparing something the Animorphs did to something the Slaughterhouse Nine did should indicate how dark the books can get when they aren't engaging in instant maple-ginger oatmeal shenanigans.

If I reread the series, I could probably come up with more comparisons. But for one Tumblr post, I think this is enough.

[greenbirdtrash]

Decided to post some of my clothing analysis of the musical Once-ler. Most of my takes here are outdated (since i didn't had a chance to get acquainted with the script back then, but now i've got a better understanding of some things and the exact timeline, so lots of updated info and the contexts will be added when needed), but some of the listed speculations here are still pretty interesting to think about. It's actually kinda crazy how i came to that, building my own imaginary character profile and the timeline without the chance to watch the entire show, but just from analysing the available photos and the reviews. And the fun thing is..some of my speculations actually fit the story quite well. So..

Part one: Introduction.

[July, 23]

"Again, my conclusions may be wrong because of the fact that I only saw the fragments and photos from this musical, I cannot be completely sure that the slight difference in some of details and elements is present due to a certain story arc or the fact that the "test show" was performed in a different place and with slightly different props, but it's hard not to notice that during the course of events, the clothes of our beloved problematic capitalist change, maybe not as drastically as in the 2012 movie, for example, but this undoubtedly plays an important role in his development as a character (especially considering that we are looking at a stage adaptation with its own nuances, but more on that later) and reflects a certain kind of changes that he goes through in the process. Why is this so important? I'll try to explain.

Working with perception through colors and shapes is one of the most basic things in design that always works, and even being in some cases comically exaggerated, it remains effective because a person somehow always builds a certain association based on the things they saw. Like, we look at the warm green color, and it immediately reminds us of leaves, etc, etc.. Long story short, the aspect of different clothing, colors and patterns on a character who's going through different phases will be very important here. I saw someone else pointing the same thing out in one of the reviews, can't remember which one tho. Anyway, my huge thanks to Rob Howell for giving us all these amazing designs.

What I always loved in stage performances of all kinds and the theater as a whole concept, is the fact that you won't find there such thing as "narrow cinematic frame" in which you can just remove or cut out everything that simply "does not fit" into it, oh no.

In stage performances and musicals, the whole color extravaganza of the stage and the carefully carved environment will talk to you (yes, talk!), and actors are required to do much more than just show a certain face at a certain moment. Nope, it's completely different here, and most of the theatre actors are just built different as well. Spent some of my best years near them, that was an amazing experience. Anyway-

Being able to play simply with with your voice and face is not enough to be a good actor here, especially considering that even if you're lucky to have the most magnificent facial expressions......they are not particularly visible even from the middle rows. Even though most projects and plays are recorded with professional equipment from the close range (mostly for archive purposes), and for some plays you can even get the binoculars with no problem, it is impossible to rely solely on facial expressions.

And here's where costumes and choreography come into play.

So, the costumes...

From what I saw and read, I would say, we are introduced to this Onceler in a pretty interesting way.

At the time of his departure from home in search of a better fate, we are looking at a very ambitious young dreamer who just.. let's say, he doesn't fit into his original environment, neither by his character traits, nor by his ideas about inventions, nor visually. The visual clearly emphasizes this, and I got the impression that among all the green riot of chaotic colorful prints that prevail in his family's clothes, in his tailcoat he kinda looks like a "black sheep" among them, even despite the fact that he shares the same green aesthetic, but his design is not "too much" or hard to look at. In fact, we are still able to spot him even when he's surrounded by his family. According to this adaptation's background, their family is VERY poor, and all they own is an old mill(?) on which they all work tirelessly. Not a particularly wide space for revelry and elements symbolizing prosperity or luxury (yk, tailcoats are quite expensive), so to speak. Things were not going great for them, so perhaps such an expensive thing as a tailcoat in their conditions is some kind of a reference to the guitar of the 2012 version (for which, according to some information available on the web, the 2012 Onceler has been saving up for a long time). Perhaps (and most likely this guess will be more correct) our hero slept and saw himself in a completely different society - with a much higher and richer status [UPD: This guess was partially confirmed after i saw the script, so I will take this as canon. After all, in the stageplay, the young Onceler literally devotes an entire scene to the song about his dream of getting rich on his great idea], and perhaps he also believed that "clothes make the man" and planned searching for glory in the same outfit, I can't tell you for sure, but the fact is that visually he does not fit into his environment at all, he's "an oddball" with his head hovering somewhere in the clouds, and his clothes, among other things, help us draw a imaginary line which separates him from his surroundings and giving us a subconscious signal that he is just different. Not like them. We all faced rejection in one way or another, and we know what not being able to fit feels like, and it also kinda helps us to put ourselves in his shoes, feel his ambitions, and to start sympathizing with him as a character. [UPD: It works really well within the canons of this adaptation, I couldn't remain indifferent to it, and David Greig turned him into exactly that kind of beautifully written tragic deep character that I wanted to see, and at the end of his story, it broke my heart..in a good way, of course.]

Also, there's something really silly about how he looks at the start, he spots the funky striped fingerless gloves (Not the canon long ones, but still..That's a nice touch, every Onceler needs his gloves, and also it looks like he also has a watch on his left arm? Interesting..), some kind of a vintage green fedora, very fluffy green hair, green shirt and green pants with a slightly different "cold" color, brown suspenders and even a bright green neckerchief for some reason, so his green aesthetic is pretty much complete. Idk, his whole look during this phase kinda gives me the countryside vibes, maybe it was actualy intended? Especially considering what his family does for life?[UPD: It kinda was.]

Actually, he leaves the house just because his room and his bed is suddenly rented out for some pennies [UPD: Everything turned out to be much worse and funnier at the same time, he was literally kicked out by his family (You can literally feel their low expectations for him) just for them to take in a random person with "more reasonable ideas", but despite this, all his interactions with the "Bed-stealer" during the first act made me smile and giggle a lot, Small Ed is a great character addition and a pure comedic relief], and this probably becomes his last reason in favor of collecting all of his not very vast possessions and go seek his fate in the hopes that somewhere in this world there will be a better place for him.."

[the-nysh]

Would it be ok to start my path to the trigun hell hole with trigun stampede? I just KNOW that this show would consume and hurt me in many ways so any advice would help. Thank you.

👀👀!! Oh yes, absolutely you can - because for many newcomers who never got the chance 20+ yrs ago, Stampede was their first introduction to the series! So you wouldn't be alone there. :3 (I grew up with the 98 anime however, so that one was my first.) Stampede's also likely the shortest time-investment too, at a speedier 12eps for the current season vs the 98 anime's longer 26eps. So you're very welcome to try that when braving your first Trigun plunge~

Just note that every iteration available (old anime, new anime, manga) is different, with regards to their own plotlines and modified characterizations, so you'll gain something new out of all of them on each watch or (re)read.

For example, Stampede draws its lore/inspiration from the completed Trimax manga (but does not follow the exact same plotline; Stampede is its own separate retelling, not a 1:1 adaptation), which was not possible when the 98 anime was made, as the manga had not been completed yet. So the 98 anime adapts the first few manga vols (along with inserting many fun/silly slower character building eps, before switching to darker/heavier content in the later half) and has its own unique anime-original lore & ending (kinda like how the first fma did it), but the themes it presents are still quite solid and universal, so it's very worth a watch too! Even though yes, some parts are noticeably dated with 90s tropes (which you can 100% safely ignore, as both Stampede & Trimax Vash are not like that), just so you're aware.

I recommend at least watching the 98 anime before tackling the harder manga though, as the manga greatly expands into territory the 98 anime could never do or show at the time, so if you go say, from the manga to 98 in reverse order, there's a chance you may not enjoy the older anime as much? (Your mileage may vary.) In my experience, I went 98 -> Trimax manga -> Stampede (basically in release order), and since Stampede is very much a love letter + passion project for both new/older fans alike to enjoy, it's full of references to spot if you're already familiar with the series. I had lots of fun catching those (ep12 alone is like AAAA!!! *____* with so many Trimax elements thrown in) So you can start with it AND rewatch Stampede a 2nd time after completing the manga too, to get the most out of it! :D (Plus, the Stampede story isn't even over yet; it was more like a deliberately planned prelude, with plenty more endgame Trimax material to possibly explore in future seasons. You'll see when you get there~)

As for the manga, it begins with 2 volumes titled Trigun, before switching genres/publications to a darker/heavier seinen retitled Trigun Maximum (abbreviated as Trimax), which continues the same story right where the other vols left off, and for many fans, is considered to be the definitive Trigun ~experience~ (that'll change your life~)

It can be a difficult read, with regards to the serious subject matter presented and even for comprehending the vaguer 'up to reader interpretation' scenes (bc you can't speed-read this; there are times you may have to pace yourself with breaks to process if needed, and bc the expressive artwork itself does much of the talking through strong vibes and impression, which requires your full attention to grasp what's happening.) And since Nightow, the author, rarely draws speech bubbles with directional tails to indicate who's talking - cues which instead are understood thru context and the characters' unique accents/speech patterns, which while obvious in Japanese, is a much harder challenge when translated into english. So if you ever feel lost/confused by what's happening with the need for clarification, there's many bookclub fans here, including the main fan translator, who'll gladly help you out!

Be prepared for much mental trauma, emotional damage, character death(s), morality/reality checks and pain and suffering abound....but it's done in a very cathartic, soulful, healing way...where you suffer and heal in the same boat along with Vash instead of leaving you permanently hurt, it may leave you coming out of it feeling quite changed and enlightened refreshed and comforted by its messages instead. :')) (I've seen plenty who consider it their comfort manga bc of this, as well.) The enduring good faith Vash has in humanity, pursuing kindness as a choice for a better future (where things are not doomed when there's always a second chance to continue), and the ability to survive and recover from almost impossible, terribly hopeless (to downright suicidal) odds are what resonate strongly with me. :'3 Again, it's an ~experience~ you just have to feel to decide for yourself how it impacts you. But for some extra reassurance, the ending is not a tragic one, but something more bittersweet leaving off on a positive note, which is most importantly, hopeful. I hope you enjoy it!

And just fyi, after personally reading and comparing both the official Darkhorse and the Overhaul fan translations, I highly recommend the Overhaul manga over the official one for a much better time (since the official tl unfortunately has many mistakes, missed line callbacks, and misplaced speech bubbles, etc leading to more confusion, so yeah!) You can find the nicely accessible Overhaul manga translation (plus it seems there's plans for an improved ver2.0 fan translation in the works), along with their online reader too, right over here~