#it’s a super popular explanation for why Link doesn’t talk & I do love it-

[werewolfsister]

”Return to Sender“ (1)

Start from the beginning?

Submit your OC?

Welcome back, to Part 2!

Next

[tickle-bugs]

I have an idea for a Glinda and Elphaba story based on Jennafer Newberry and Lissa DeGuzman’s portrayals of Glinda and Elphaba. I included a link for reference. In popular during toss toss, glinda does this adorable giggle and then tries to have Elphaba recreate it, but it comes across as super forced and fake when Elphaba does it. I don’t know if this is too similar to the other Glinda and Elphaba story you posted the other day, but I thought it would be cute if Glinda tickles Elphaba to help her find her natural giggle. Of course Elphaba doesn’t let Glinda do that without her revenge so she tickles Glinda after. https://youtu.be/VQxRXpDtIf8 the toss toss giggle part starts at around 4:10, but at around 3:05 Glinda does really adorable deep gutteral laughter that is worth watching.

From Your Heart

Summary: Elphaba stops laughing at Fiyero’s jokes because she’s embarrassed of her laugh. Fiyero laments. Glinda takes this personally.

Take this as either a Glinda-Fiyero-Elphaba polycule AU or just supportive best friend Glinda who’s not into Fiyero but wants to help her hopeless bestie lock him down. I wrote it with the polycule in mind though because I love them. 

Glinda stopped being surprised at finding Fiyero face down on her bed by probably the third week of term. His dramatics harmonize well with hers, she specifically chose that mattress for the healing level of bounce it has--everything tracks. What doesn’t track, however, is Fiyero being face down on her bed and not at the date that she’d set up for him and Elphaba. 

“Why are you not wooifying Elphie? I specifically requested it.” Glinda sets down her purse and slips off her heels. Fiyero groans pathetically from the bed.

“Up, scoot, c’mon.” Glinda pats him until he moves over. She sits beside him and rubs his back.

“We went picnicking in the quad. Everything was perfect, Galinda. I even wore my good pants. But halfway through she just…ran away. I don’t understand. What if she doesn’t like me?” Fiyero’s lip wobbles. Glinda ignores the way that sentiment chews at the wall of her heart.

“Don’t be silly, Fiyero. Everyone likes you.” 

“What if she isn’t into me, I mean?” He sighs. She brushes his hair away from his temple. 

“I’ll talk to her, alright? I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. Go mope in your room and I’ll send word.” She pats his cheek. He sighs and sits up. 

….

The door lock starts to click and Glinda’s on her feet in a moment. As soon as the door opens:

“Elphie!” Glinda throws her arms up with a joyful squeal. Elphaba freezes in the doorway. 

“Why are you so perky?” Elphaba eyes her suspiciously. Glinda frowns. 

“I’m always perky.”

“More than usual. Something’s up.” Elphaba sets her stuff down roughly. She sits on her bed. Glinda slides into the space beside her and tangles their ankles together. 

“Well, a depressed little birdie told me that your date with Fiyero didn’t go so well.” Glinda grimaces. 

“He told you?” Elphaba whispers in horror. Glinda shrugs weakly. Elphaba groans and drops her head into her hands. Glinda primly pats her back and murmurs a halfhearted ‘there there’.

“He’s just…he’s so funny, Galinda.” Elphaba picks her face up a bit, then drops it back down. She groans louder. 

“Normally that’s a desirable trait in a beau.” Glinda busies herself with unbraiding Elphaba’s hair--a habit for them. Elphaba visibly unwinds beneath the touch. It does Glinda’s soul well to see it. 

“Yeah, but…he’s funny and I can’t laugh at his jokes.”

“Are they terrible? Or perhaps risqué?” Glinda runs her fingers through Elphaba’s hair. The silky locks are soft to the touch. 

“No!” Elphaba’s face flushes a dark green. “Well, maybe, yes. Sometimes. But that’s not it. I…my laugh is ugly. I’ve been scared to let him hear it, so I’ve been hiding it. He tried to make me laugh earlier, so…I ran.”

This impacts Glinda like a chariot at speed. Her eyes rove over her best friend’s face, this beautiful once-in-a-lifetime wonder that just happened to bless Shiz University at the same time as she. A miracle in every way, and she’s blaming herself for something out of her control. Unconscionable. 

“It’s so stupid--”

“No. Don’t you dare do that. It’s not stupid at all.” Glinda squishes Elphaba’s cheeks between her hands. Elphaba softens, her gaze dropping to the floor. Glinda kisses her forehead. 

“I think Fiyero likes you because you’re you, Elphie. And that includes your laugh.” Glinda quickly wipes away the lipstick smudge left behind. 

“But what if he thinks it’s ugly?” Elphaba murmurs through her squished face. 

“That’s exactly what you asked me about your skin, and then I had to listen to him wax poetic about the color of emeralds for a week. He will like every part of you. Sorcerer’s swear.” Glinda holds her hand out. She and Elphaba exchange a complicated multi-step handshake in quick succession, ending in sparks and glitter puffing into the air between them.

“Would it be easier to let me hear it first?” Glinda bumps their shoulders together. 

“You’d have to really get to me. I’m not sure if you can.” Elphaba huffs. 

“Hey! I’m hilarious.” Glinda swats her lightly. 

“That’s not it, I mean…you have to catch me off-guard. I spent so long practicing hiding it that I don’t know if I can laugh anymore.” Elphaba tucks her hair behind her ear. 

“I have an idea.” Glinda turns fast enough to bounce both of them on the mattress. Elphaba scoots against the headboard to give her space, and does a sweeping gesture to indicate she’s listening. Even with the nonchalance, her eyes are sharp and painfully earnest.

“Well, it’s easier to start laughing than it is to stop. So what if I help you? I can teach you how to do the accepted Upper-Uplands giggle. When next you see Fiyero, try it! If he keeps making you laugh, your real one should come into the light.”

“You want me to fake it?” Elphaba furrows her brow. 

“Most magicians fake their power. Why should this be any different?” Glinda shrugs. Elphaba nods slowly as the idea takes shape in her head. 

“It’s…not a bad idea.”

“That’s the spirit. Now repeat after me.” Glinda shuffles and preens, clearing her throat. She releases something between a melody and a laugh—a trilly, pompous little thing that her mother had grilled into her during her formative years. 

Elphaba makes a noise like a dying goose. Silence falls over the room. 

“This is hopeless!” She wails. Glinda does not laugh, she does not, but she does puff her cheeks out ridiculously.

It just tickles her, the ways her two favorite people are made for each other.

Wait a minute.

“Elphaba Thropp.” 

“Am I in trouble?” Elphaba immediately leans back, eyes wide. Glinda spins around the bed, backing Elphaba up against the headboard. She gets close, close enough to see the faint glitter still smudged on Elphaba’s forehead. 

“Only if you’re ticklish.” Glinda grins, her hands finding Elphaba’s waist. Elphaba’s eyes widen past the size of the moon. 

“I am going to turn you into the slimiest, wartiest toad imaginable.” A wobbly smile overtakes Elphaba’s face. 

“You’re a very talented witch, but that sounds awfully hard to accomplish while laughing.” Glinda tuts and sets loose her fingers, tracing the asymmetrical seams of Elphie’s frock with unpredictable fingers. Elphaba’s face puffs up like the aforementioned frog. She hides behind her hands. Her shoulders shake with the effort of restraint. 

“Let me hear it, love. It’s just us.” Glinda nods encouragingly, even though Elphaba can’t see it. Elphaba peeks open one eye between her fingers, then shuts it again. Glinda frowns. She pries Elphaba’s hands away from her face, instead placing them around her wrists.

“Stop me if you hate it.” Glinda says very seriously. Elphaba blinks. 

“I can’t…it’s not…Idon’tmindit,” Elphaba says quickly, her face radiating heat. Glinda bites her lip on a smile.

“Good.” Glinda descends like a cyclone onto Elphaba’s ribs and it startles her laugh right out of her. 

An endearing mess of shrieks and cackles blesses Glinda’s ears. Elphaba slides down the headboard and into a fit of snorts, holding onto Glinda’s wrists but never pulling away. Her nose scrunches as she tries to fistfight a tidal wave—poorly, but adorably. 

Glinda fits her fingers into the curve of Elphaba’s waist and she tosses her head back, making a mess of her newly-freed hair. Hiccups filter into her laughter as it rocks her. 

“Is this so bad?” Glinda has to shout over Elphaba to be heard. Nonsensical syllables tumble from her lips as she waves her hands around. Her laughter finds wheezy silence. Glinda relents then, taking a long, proud look at her handiwork. 

Elphaba glows with her smile. It brightens her from the inside out. Little lines dance along the corners of her happily squinted eyes. Glinda pats her stomach. She jumps with an anticipatory giggle. 

“What if I still can’t let Fiyero hear it?” Elphaba fiddles with her fingers.

“Tell him. He’ll understand.” Glinda rests her hand on Elphaba’s thigh. “And when you inevitably choose to be stubborn instead of admitting to yourself that you’re ready and he loves you, perhaps a little birdie will tell him what I’ve learned.”

Glinda wiggles her fingers and giggles evilly. Elphaba narrows her eyes.  

When Glinda’s tackled face first onto her bed, screeching like her life depends on it, she knows immediately that the pursuit of Elphie’s smile is worth a few frizzy curls and smudged mascara. 

[tzipporahssong]

So you’re interested in Judaism

That’s great! I’m glad you’re on this journey. But before you start making side blogs and before you contact a rabbi, here’s some books which I think should really be the bare minimum to get you started researching. Yes I recommend them in this order.

What I Wish My Christian Friends Knew About Judaism  by Robert Schoen: This is a super great resource for learning the early stuff about Judaism. Basic overview of customs and holidays, etc. I highly recommend it if you have any background in xianity whatsoever.

Settings of Silver by Stephen Wylen: This is a bit more of an academic text, but is super easy to understand and is incredibly thorough. It’s broken up into sections on Basic Beliefs, Practices and Customs, Jewish History, and Modern Judaism/Israel. I’ve included a link but it should be commonplace in most academic libraries.

To Life! by Harold Kushner. I’ve talked on this blog a few times before about how essential I see this book to be for new converts, Patrilineals, parents of Jews by Choice, and anyone who’s lost touch with their Jewish heritage and wants to discover more. It’s broken up into super easy to read sections, with introductions on every topic and a Q&A section at the end for any potential questions you may have.

Essential Judaism by George Robinson: This is a resource text with incredibly in depth answers to any Judaic question you can think of, with answers in line with that of every denomination. It’s quite weighty, clocking in at 704 pages, but I see it as a must-have in any Jewish home. (Plus you can totally find pdfs online if that’s your thing)

By this point, it should be pretty clear to you whether or not you want to convert. Your next step is not to make a blog (I don’t see why so many people make side blogs so early in their process, it’s okay to reblog pomegranates and yidquotes to your main lmao) but to start reaching out to local Jewish congregations in your area. If you don’t have a local congregation, then I suggest either finding one relatively close by that you can commute to or work with remotely, or waiting until you’re at a place in your life where you do have one. 

I highly suggest A) attending services for a while (a month minimum) before talking to your local clergy about conversion and B) emailing the shul ahead of your attending so that they know you are a safe person to let in.

In the meantime, the books I suggest are:

The Jewish Home by Rabbi Daniel Syme: This book is a guide for creating–you guessed it–a Jewish home. It has super simple and in-depth explanations of rituals, holidays, how to celebrate said holidays, life events, and appropriate prayers (transliterated!) for each.

Choosing a Jewish Life by Anita Diamant: This one is quite popular with converts. It is a guide for navigating the conversion process, with suggestions for readings, prayers, your familial connections, and what the actual conversion moment looks like.

Your People, My People by Lena Romanoff: very similar to Diamant’s book, this is a resource for conversion by someone who has been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and worked with converts for decades. It does take a lot of the view of people converting for marriage, unfortunately, but it is not solely dedicated to that POV. It’s incredibly helpful on the front of navigating the issue with your family: both your own and that of your future partner’s. I found it incredibly lovely this year as I spent Chanukah with my partner and a good chunk of it was celebrated on FT with their parents.

The Way of Man by Martin Buber: My partner would roll their eyes at my including this book, but despite the fact that it’s a pretty sexist Hasidic text, I think it’s an important message for converts: there is no one right or wrong way to find Hashem. The important thing is that you try your best every day to do good and be in His image. It’s a very short book, but take your time with it. Don’t read it all in one sitting.

You may be sitting there looking at this list going “whoa whoa whoa wait! That’s a lot of books! How much will that cost me??” And you’re right to. It’s not a pretty list to look at. Converting costs money, there’s just no way around it. You may or may not have to pay for whatever classes you take, and you may or may not have to become a member of your shul. But the price of these books is just encouragement to find them at a library, order them from used book websites, and most importantly: to space them out.

Becoming a Jew isn’t a race. It’s not about “saving your soul as quick as you can” because that’s ridiculous. It’s a lifelong commitment with no un-do button, so you better make damn sure this is what you want. Take your time with it. Study, interact with your community, study more, and did I mention study? You’ll never be finished learning what there is to know about Judaism, but this is a great place to start. The actual conversion process will take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years depending on what you and your rabbi think is best for you (also, life hack: the more studying you do on your own ahead of time, the shorter your process may end up being). And they’ll have their own book recommendations! In fact, three books on this list were ones my rabbi required of me!

You’ll notice I didn’t include any siddurim or even scripture on this list. Your siddur is a very important and special text, and I don’t think it should be purchased without rabbinic oversight. Likewise, I don’t suggest attempting to study Torah until you have someone knowledgeable in it who can help you study and interpret it.

Don’t rush this. It’s a beautiful thing that will take time, effort, prayer, sweat, and tears. But it’s something that will also rush past, and before you know it you’ll be a bona fide Jew. So enjoy the process of getting there, and know that your commitment to studying doesn’t stop at the mikveh.

[astaroth1357]

Ok but like, what if MC's fandom starts to make ships with MC and the guys. Just think about the ship wars, the fancams, the fanarts, the absolute CHAOS when the brothers find out. It would be even worse if they start shipping MC with the undatables, one day everything is normal and the next day there are ship wars fighting over MC x Barbatos vs MC x Solomon (who are both very smug about it)

The MC's Fanclub are… Shippers?!

Perhaps… The italics blurb has been fulfilling its greater purpose all along…? Perhaps in its state of existential angst, it has in fact developed a plot of its own… An arc of introspection and self-discovery in which its own longing for purpose has forged a meaningful identity… It now has… a story…

Lucifer

As if they couldn't get any MORE frustrating…

He's not an otaku. He's not a part of ship culture. He's not even sure why anyone would care about who dates who around this school, but apparently it's a big deal to some people...

He only became aware of their interest in him and the MC's relationship through some very… subtle clues…

Like the groups that would follow them around in the hallways with their phones out.

Or the multitude of fan rumors about their relationship that Satan spams him with from time to time just to irritate him.

"MC refused hug from Luci in halls today!! Are they bout breakup??? 🥺"

"Tots got pic of kiss today!! Relationship upgrade??"

"IS ARE MC+LUCIFER SECET LVRS?!? PLEASE RESPOND"

It only got worse after he found out the MC gets shipped out a loooooot….

If he had to pick his least favorite ship, it'd be MC x Mammon. He can kind of see it with any of his other brothers (admittedly, Levi is also a little mystifying) but the idea of them ending up with Mammon makes his skin crawl...

He once found a drawing of the MC and Mammon in an… explicit position in one of the classrooms and he was so disgusted that he wouldn’t even touch it. He just set fire to the paper outright. Disgusting...

Mammon

Shipping, eh…? More money making opportunities!

Has some passing idea of what shipping is from Levi and, from what he knows of it, shippers eat cutesy couples stuff right up!! If all he's got to do to make bank is to look all couple-y around the MC then sounds like a win-win to him!

He'll happily pose for a photo or two (paid in advance) of him throwing his arm around the MC or something. Want him to hold their hand? Sure thing!

But since this is still Mammon we're talking about, the second MC actually starts getting into any of it he'll still turn into a blushy, stuttery mess...

For WEEKS the headline picture on so many of their fans' blogs was an image of him turning beet red while the MC kissed him on the cheek. (A fan really got their money's worth there... 😏)

Though he doesn’t exactly like the MC getting shipped with other people, he'll still totally sell pictures of any of them together. He almost paid off an entire credit card with the money he got from the t-shirt sales of the MC and Satan!

If he had to point to one ship he doesn't like it's either MC x Asmo or MC x Levi. His opinion, but Asmo won't treat them right and they could do waaay better than a shut-in. Like him. Ship the MC with just the Great Mammon, got it?

Leviathan

… Lowkey super active in the MC shipping community but is a self-shipper to the extreme.

Like, he never uses his real name on anything (and would probably die from embarrassment if anyone ever found out) but a lot of their fans probably know a couple of his aliases.

He does everything from mod forums, runs a couple blogs, even anonymously posts his own work of him and MC that are totally not his secret fantasy dates or AU versions of themselves, shaddup.

It’s a lot easier for him to keep his involvement secret because he’s hardly at RAD, but the few times he does show up he tries to keep an eye out for anybody prowling for pictures so he can get in a good pose and save the image later.

Mind you, his version of a “good pose” rarely gets more spicy than linking pinkies, but even then he’s still lit up a Christmas Tree throughout.

Naturally, he’s also not a big fan of any ships that aren’t just him and MC and he can find a reason to be jealous at almost anything. But he keeps a special corner of hate for MC x Mammon and MC x Diavolo. Like, the first one doesn’t even need an explanation but MC x Diavolo?? Really??? Do those two even talk?? (please, please, please make sure they never actually talk because a guy like him versus literal royalty? He’d lose MC for sure….!! 😫)

Satan

He hates to actually agree with Lucifer on something, but their fans are starting to get out of hand...

Knows what shipping is in concept, he may have done it once or twice to characters in his books, but he was kind of surprised how it could evolve into such a… group activity?

He was pretty quick to pick up that the MC’s fans had a bit more interest in them together than they did when they both were apart…

I mean, those hideous shirts that Mammon was pedaling were kind of a dead giveaway…

Considering he finds their fanclub all rather annoying, even without their bizarre interest in his love life, when they started actively meddling with him and the MC he was ready to smash some heads.

No. He will not stop for pictures. No. What things they do together is none of your business. No. He has zero interest in seeing your explicit fanart and if you don’t start running that will be the last question you ever ask.

He DOES, however, appreciate the cringy “annoy Lucifer” ammo. They could keep that up for a lifetime... 😏

He doesn’t have a least favorite ship because he doesn’t care about any of this, leave him alone. (That’s a lie, it’s MC x Lucifer. He pokes fun at Lucifer, but he can’t stand it either. Big shock, I know 🙄).

Asmodeus 

Oh he is shamelessly a part of the community, are you kidding?? 

He could practically call “Shipping the MC” one of his favorite pastimes. He’ll openly gossip with their fanclub about who they’ve been with, who they’re seeing, who’s got a chance, etc… He lives for this shit!

He’s the only person who knows that Levi is also in the community and what his aliases are (not because he told him, but because Levi’s not as subtle as he thinks he is… Who else would call themselves “SupremeRuri666” and speak mostly in outdated chat lingo?) but he doesn’t out him because he thinks his very obvious crush is kind of cute. 

Plus, Levi needs the outlet waaaay more than him…

Doesn’t stop him from constantly trolling him and getting into arguments over who the MC would be better with though (the two are “virtual nemeses” as far as Levi is concerned).

Appreciates all forms of expression that comes out of the community (especially the saucy kind 😏) and will happily feed into his own shippers without a care in the world.

Truthfully, Asmo will say that there isn’t a ship he doesn’t like but if someone mentions one that he thinks is kind of “eh,” he’ll just add himself into the mix. “Oh, you like MC x Barbatos? Well how about Asmo x MC x Barbatos? That sounds loads more interesting doesn’t it??”

Beelzebub 

Oh, Beel… Sweet, sweet Beel… Beel doesn’t even know what their club is doing…

Because Beel has a reputation of being pretty protective of MC - and against the fanclub in general - the club keeps a healthy distance… but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to sneak in some picture or make a SHITLOAD of fanwork about them.

Between classes and practice Beel is a busy guy, so sometimes he just doesn’t notice that there’s people hiding behind trees when he’s out with MC. 

Honestly, his complete ignorance of it all makes it even cuter because when he acts sweet, it’s not just for the camera. That’s the real deal.

Mammon was the one who eventually let it slip that there was even shipping happening and Beel was… kind of creeped out because isn’t this stalking? But also kind of weirdly happy(?) that MC x Beel was so popular… Very conflicted boy here.

He never actually acknowledges the community, though, and just keeps on being Beel (which still gave the fans more than enough material so all’s well that ends well?)

Beel genuinely doesn’t have a least favorite ship (because he believes the best ship is whoever makes the MC happy) but his second favorite under himself is probably MC x Belphie. They look very cute together...  😊

Belphegor 

Ride or die, Beel x MC x Belphie. 

Just kidding (kind of), Belphie isn’t into the shipping but if asked he’d be pretty okay with that one.

His campaign against the MC’s fanclub and their attention stealing ways means that he found out about their shipping thing only slightly ahead of Beel when Mammon was trying to get pictures of them napping together…

Honestly, he couldn’t care less if a bunch of weirdos were weirdly invested in their relationship, but he’s not about to let Mammon just make a quick Grimm off of it. Belphie makes sure that he gives him NOTHING to work with. 

Since Mammon is the main dealer, the shippers in both the MC fanclub and Belphie fanclub aren’t nearly as well fed and pretty desperate for anything... You best believe he plays that to his advantage (because it’s okay if he does. He’s not Mammon).

Really helps that MC x Belphie is legitimately a very cute looking couple, carried by Belphie’s cuteness alone if nothing else. Add an adorable MC and you reach levels so cute it could actually melt people into puddles of goo... They could be a registered weapon.

Least favorite MC ships are any that don’t involve him or Beel. Any others may as well just not exist, he won’t even acknowledge them. MC x Who? Yeah, that’s what he thought.

[mimzy-writing-online]

Writing Toph Beifong, Advice from a Blind Writer

I’m Mimzy, an actual visually impaired writer and blogger who talks a lot about writing blind characters accurately and sensitively. A while back someone sent me an anon asking how to write Toph more accurately and sensitively.

Anonymous asked: Hi there! Your blog has been super-helpful already - I thought I knew a bit about writing with blind characters, but it turns out there was a lot to learn - but this is more specific. I'm writing a The Last Airbender fanfiction, and one of the characters is Toph. I think the fandom has done a fairly good job of respecting her blindness, but what are some things you'd like to see when people write her? I want to represent the character as best as possible; thanks in advance!

It’s taken a while for me to answer because I have a lot of thoughts about it as both a blind writer and someone who has read a lot of atla fanfiction. So here we go:

Before we get started, I want to mention some things: 

One: I have an entire series for writing blind characters that continues to grow with time and the most up-to-date version can be found pinned as the top post on my blog. There will be a time-stamp for when the post was last edited and a long series of links to all relevant posts on the subject.

Here’s a quick link to that post, but again, all you have to do is click my blog url and you’ll find it immediately.

Two: I’ve noticed something amazing about the atla fandom and I would like to thank you for it. I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers have taken to writing image descriptions for both the fanart and memes you post in the fandom, whether it’s OP including the description or another blogger adding it themselves. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a fandom so consistently doing this and that’s incredible. Realizing how many different blogs were picking up this habit has warmed my heart.

I’d like to see writers use her other senses. There’s soooo so much more to her O&M (Orientation and Mobility) than earth sense. 

Beyond sight and earth bending, there’s hearing, touch, smell, taste, sense of direction, hot vs cold, sense of pain, sense of where your body parts are in relation to the rest of you, sense of internal well-being, etc. Before Toph had mastery of her earth bending, she had to have mastery of those too.

Toph also must have very strong opinions about certain smells, sounds, tastes, and textures. Toph is opinionated about everything, and when so much of your understanding of the world depends on senses that most people are ignoring in favor of some other sense you don’t have, it gets frustrating. I’m sure that tree looks pretty but the smell is terrible. Who cares if this fabric looks pretty, it’s scratchy, do. not. like. at. all.

But also in positive ways too. Oh, that flower arrangement looks bland and monochromatic? Who cares, it smells sweet and honey-like. Weird dark cavern with high ceiling and no light? The harmonics are awesome.

Every character probably has a certain sight or image they’re particularly fond of: Katara watching snow fall, or Aang enjoying how small the world looks from up on Appa, or Zuko enjoying the sunrise every morning during meditation. In that line, Toph must have some things personal to her that she enjoys.

I imagine she likes the taste of foods familiar to her childhood, the smell of whatever flowers grew around her home, and the texture of certain kinds of dirt Example: loose dirt probably isn’t the best for seeing, but I think she would enjoy how it feels to run her fingers through it or maybe enjoy the way it softens her perception of the world the same way sighted people like to see colorful, bright lights reflecting off puddles in the middle of rain.

If you struggle with this, that’s okay. I recommend taking some time to think about it for yourself, to find what tastes and smells and textures and sounds you enjoy the most, what makes you feel safe and at home, what brings you comfort, and relate that back to Toph.

In a Modern AU, I want to see Toph have a cane. Even in a Modern AU with bending included in the world building, I think Toph would benefit from having a cane.

The cane has a lot more function than bumping into things. A big part is that it signals to others that you are very obviously blind. Which is a big deal because sighted people are really, really bad at spotting the blind person.

(psst, please stop saying ‘the blank look in her eyes’ because I swear to god it’s been killing me inside for years.)

Also, even in an AU with bending, I think Toph would like the advantage of tapping her cane to create a stronger, more distinct vibration than a small shifting of her weight on her feet. It would have more control.

You could give Toph a guide animal, buuuuuuut, um, Toph is not a guide dog person. Like, there are some people who definitely prefer a guide dog, and some people who definitely prefer a cane, and some who definitely prefer no mobility device at all. Toph does not have the vibes of someone who wants to be both responsible and reliant on an animal when she’s so insistent that she can take care of herself on her own. Toph likes animals, but not that much.

Although, yeah, only 10% of the blind community use mobility devices, so cane and guide dog users are the minority of the blind community, but I stand by the vibe that Toph would love the independence of a cane. Also, it’s almost never ever done. Modern AUs never seem to touch much on Toph’s O&M skills with canes or guide dogs.

I wrote a whole post on everything you need to know about canes, what orientation and mobility is, how you learn O&M, what kind of canes exist, how to use them, how to describe the sensory input a cane gives you, and everything I know about guide dogs from past research.

Honestly, you could give Toph (or any blind character) a cane in any AU, because I fully stand by the theory that canes are a piece of technology that has been invented, lost, and reinvented again and again.

I wrote “I found a piece of lost blindness history” a few months ago after a visit to see my grandparents. My grandmother told me how her blind aunt found a way to write letters by hand to send to my grandmother when she was a child. I speculated on how the long cane has probably been invented and then lost and then reinvented over and over again in history, as well as giving a little history on the growing popularity of guide dogs in the 20th century following World War 1.

About the “blank look in her eyes,” I have a theory to the exact cause and nature of Toph’s blindness.

I know it’s common to think that the milky green color of her eyes is why she’s blind, though I’m not sure how many realize that milky green color is caused by severe cataracts. At least, cataracts is what I assume to be the reason for the color of her eyes. However, people with cataracts still have some remaining sense of light and shadow perception.

Only 9% of the blind community is completely blind, seeing absolutely nothing. The rest have some remaining vision, even if that’s only light and shadow perception or the perception of vague movement.

The percentage of people born completely blind is even smaller.

Toph says that she’s never been able to see, which would lead me to guess that the initial cause of her blindness was a defect with the visual processing part of her brain. I also theorize that the cataracts developed slowly over her very formative years and that she likely wasn’t born with them. For that reason, I think it would have taken a few weeks or months for her parents to realize there was something wrong with her eyes.

Here is a post about the developmental years of blind children and how their life would differ from both sighted children and from someone who went blind as an adult.

What is it like to see nothing?

It’s a concept that sighted people struggle with and I completely understand. I myself didn’t understand the concept of “nothing” until someone explained it as this:

“Imagine trying to see out the back of your head.”

Which, genuinely, imagine that. Try that. Because here’s what I found. There’s no part of my body that can help perceive that. I don’t have eyes there, nor do I have a part of my brain that can process that. Because of this, there is no sense of light or dark, no shape or shadow or movement or depth that I can perceive. There is nothing.

And honestly, it gives me a headache trying to think too much about it.

Toph doesn’t see black, doesn’t have a mental image of it. When people talk about light and dark, Toph has nothing to base the concept on. The closest relation she has to that is silence versus sound, or her earth sense when she’s in the air on Appa versus when she’s on solid ground. But it’s not the same.

I would like to examine the way the show tried to describe Toph’s earth sense, that black void with ripples of white stretching from her feet and outwards. Television is a visual medium so of course their explanation of Toph’s earth sense would be visual, but that’s not what it’s actually like in her head. More accurately, it’s like touching the back of your head to something and feeling what’s solid behind it and what has more give. A wall versus a pillow for example. Slamming your hand on a flimsy table and feeling it rattle under your palm. And for someone so adept at using that sense, she feels not just the table surface under her palm, but the individual rattles down the four legs, how uneven those rattles are because the legs are carved decoratively instead of solid planks, and how the foot of each leg bumps against the ground, and how the floor vibrates in response to the impact, which she feels in both her feet and hand. 

About Toph’s Relationship with Her Parents

It’s not something I see touched on much. There’s been a lot of focus on Zuko and Azula’s relationship with their parents and the abuse, as well as exploration of Sokka and Katara’s trauma with losing their mother, and Sokka looking up to his warrior father while Katara struggles with her abandonment issues.

Please don’t take this as a critique, because there are a few valid reasons for this and I would like to give you some insight on how to explore Toph’s relationship with her parents.

For starters, the show had a lot more reason to focus on Zuko and Azula’s parents, with Fire Lord Ozai being the primary villain and Zuko’s greatest abuser, and Azula’s dependent worship of her father in response to Ursa’s neglect and favoritism of Zuko, which was likely Ursa’s response to Ozai’s favoritism of Azula. Their parents are huge driving motivators for why Zuko and Azula make the decisions and mistakes they do, why they are at one point in the show the villains themselves. (And why I think Azula should get a redemption arc and some healing.)

Katara’s trauma of losing her mother and blaming herself is a huge factor in both her response to the war, her relationship with her bending, and her motherly nature with her friends. The show has to explore that. Just as it has to explore Sokka’s problems with toxic masculinity in response to being the man of his village, and his desire to be a great warrior and leader like the father he idolizes. 

The show needs to explore that to make the plot move forward, and it benefits from these being two sibling sets with different responses to their upbringing and different sibling dynamics, setting them up as foils for each other.

The show also wouldn’t benefit by giving Lao and Poppy Beifong more screen time. Their established character were two nobles who kept as far out of the war as possible and prospered monetarily for it. Poppy was polite and demure and Lao liked to lead the conversation. Unless the gAang decided to return to Toph’s home, those characters had no reason to pop up anywhere in the show. And if they did, they would be a hinder to Toph and her part in the plot as both Aang’s earth bending teacher and as the greatest earth bender in the world, tossing Fire Nation soldiers eight ways to Sunday. 

So truly, I understand that there’s not a whole lot of canon material (comparatively) to go off of when developing this, but I will offer some insight on what is there in canon.

Toph’s relationship with her parents is explored in that it maps out why Toph doesn’t want to be mothered by Katara, why she wants to prove how independent she is, but there’s very little on screen interaction between Toph and her parents.

Toph deeply loves her parents. I think that plays into why she doesn’t want Katara mothering her, because she has a wonderful mother at home who she loves and wants to better understand her, but she had no friends growing up and no older sister, which are the roles she needs and wants Katara to fill. If Toph wanted a mother figure, she would have latched onto Katara. Look at how Zuko never sought out another mother figure but did find a father figure in Iroh as he began to heal from his childhood trauma and separate his self image from his father’s acceptance.

Toph is in a complicated situation, she loves her parents but the way they’re raising her is hurting her in the long run. But Toph can see that their actions are because of their immense love for her. She can see how they would do anything for her. While she never had any examples of how other noble children were treated by their parents, who might have been distant or disinterested or always away for their social and work lives, she was remarkably loved by her parents. Her father put careful thought into her tutors and checked in on her progress. Her mother feared for Toph’s emotional state when she was kidnapped (even if she was incorrect about how Toph would respond), showing genuine empathy for her daughter.

I think their over protective nature became the love language Toph best understood them by, and part of her reasoning for not revealing how capable she was, was because she wanted to keep experiencing that love and care for as long as she could. But it’s not a love language she would put up with from anyone else.

I would like to point out Toph’s genuine excitement to see her mom again in the season finale of Book Two, how badly Toph wants her mom to understand and accept her for who she is.

My thoughts on what Toph can’t do: read, swim, see in the sand, fight things mid-air.

For how incredibly powerful the show makes Toph with her earth bending and the O&M she taught herself through it, they do touch on some of her weaknesses when they come up and find a useful way to showcase them.

The Serpent’s Pass was an excellent example of Toph’s vulnerability in water. From her fear of not being able to see on Katara’s ice bridge to not being able to swim and needing Suki to save her, Toph’s weaknesses putting her in danger added to the excitement and “sitting on the edge of your seat” feeling while watching the episode without turning her into someone who was helpless. She was just in a position where her normal defenses were useless.

Just like the earth benders in the metal prison in the ocean, or Katara having little water in the middle of a desert where her friends needed that water to survive more than she needed it to fight, making her vulnerable later in the show when the insect-wasp things attacked. Just like fire benders being weaker at night, or powerless during a solar eclipse, or a sighted person being lost in the dark. Those were just situations in which the tools you were accustomed to relying on could no longer help you or were taken away.

The show was clever in that it didn’t make her inability to read a direct threat to her safety, but rather as a clever plot device for her to be alone when the sand banders attacked and have to choose between fighting them to save Appa, or holding back an entire fricking building by the tiniest spire on its very top from falling into a void leading to the spirit world. It also showed her weakness to not being able to see or fight as well in sand. Which the show later made an effort to show how she’d improved on that problem in Book Three when she was surrounded by nothing but sand at Ember Island.

Like improving her ability to see in the sand, I would like to see a character teach Toph to swim, or at least float, so that she never feels helpless again. If she took the initiative to improve her sand bending so much, I’m sure she would have learn to swim eventually.

And on the note of reading, I’ve seen some speculation on how Toph could learn to read, whether it’s through using ink that has some percentage of earth mixed in, or developing the sensitivity to feel out the different weight, consistency, and texture of ink on paper. 

I would like to bring your attention to Louis Braille, the blind Frenchman who invented Braille while studying at  the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, the world’s very first school for the blind in Paris France (established 1785). Previously Louis was learning to read through a method in which each letter was pressed into the paper to leave an imprint that someone could feel out with just their fingers.

Louis Braille concluded that raised lettering was impractical because-

1.       It is difficult to read, the letters had to be printed in huge font to be fully felt out and printed on thick paper.

2.       Thick paper means higher quality, more expensive. Larger font means more paper is needed for a single text.

3.       This made it inaccessible due to expense and the sheer volume of a text.

4.       If today’s Braille books are hard to access and giant compared to traditional books, I can’t imagine how inaccessible those raised letter books really were.

The subject of Braille, the start and controversial near downfall to  Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles were discussed in a post about writing a blind character during the Victorian Era.

I’ve heard others complain in the past about fantasy universes in which a sighted person invents a solution to allow the blind to read, when the most effective and longest lived method was invented by a blindman over two hundred years ago and is the standard taught in schools today.

And while I couldn’t easily explain it or how it works because I can neither read Braille nor speak Chinese, I can tell you that Chinese Braille exists and works only slightly differently from the Braille western languages use. So, again, modern AUs especially would benefit from enabling Toph to read Braille and use a computer and phone with screen reader.

But just as easily you could choose not to have her learn to read but rather have sighted people read things aloud to her. Whether it’s in a professional setting as an adult having an assistant who reads and writes for her, or as a cute, fluffy little moment between Toph and another character. Both are just as genuine to the blindness experience.

Blind Jokes

If you ever get around to reading my post about blind jokes, I’d like you to remember that it’s primarily written for people writing original characters and that Toph canonically makes blind jokes, so to take away from that would not be true to her character.

Does Toph’s Earth Sense Negate her Blindness?

It’s a question I’ve seen raised before and discussed by both abled, disabled, and blind people. There are multiple perspectives on it, but my own take on it is that Toph’s earth bending does not negate her blindness, but rather functions very much like the process of learning to use a cane.

She had a tool, a teacher, and she learned to use that tool. Instead of a cane, it was seismic perception and her teacher were blind badger-moles. She spent years learning to earth bend as they do and then continued to take it to new heights as she explored fighting with it on her terms against sighted fighters.

Come to think about it, I would love to see Toph teach another visually impaired or blind earth bender who to see and bend as she does.

Is Toph Good Blindness Representation?

This question was posed to me in the comments of my master post, and my answer was something like this: “Toph is good representation, but she can't be the only type of representation we get. She's the best we had 15 years ago, but there are a million ways to nuance the blindness experiences. Toph's experience being born blind, having very over protective parents, being a small girl in a patriarical and wealth influenced society, having no friends growing up. Those are all great aspects of blindness to show, but there is so much more to explore. As for her blindness and whether or not that's negated, that's also nuanced. She has limits, she's not all-powerful, but she is the best earth bender hands down. More or less, I love Toph, she's a great character, give me like a million more blind characters who are completely different from her.”

I want to see accurate and well-written blind characters become much more common in modern media, and that’s why I started this blog. So if you decide you want to write your own blind character from scratch, feel free to come back and look at some of my other stuff.

End Notes:

I want to thank the anon who sent the original question because it never occurred to me how much the atla fandom would benefit from a post like this. 

You should follow my blog. Along with advice about writing blind characters, I write general writing advice and answer questions about writing, college, plot development, character analysis, and living with blindness. I curate writing advice from fellow writeblrs, write my own image descriptions for writing memes, post about mental health and working/living with ADHD, disabilities outside of blindness, and LGBTQA+ topics. 

[missnight0wl]

So, about Victor…

All right, here’s my two cents.

First of all, I don’t like the guy. Sorry not sorry. I mean, his design is dope, but the rest? Eh… But that being said, I’m pretty sure I figured out what’s Jam City’s plan for him, and it actually has a lot to do with his design – or rather its change. It might make him a bit more likeable as well, in my opinion.

Also, @carewyncromwell​ made a super informative post on how vampires are viewed in the wizarding world, so I recommend checking it out. 

But without further ado, let’s discuss Victor Ketsueki.

So, first things first: what the hell, Jam City? You can’t put two names in the game files – Kitsueki and Ketsueki – and then simply choose the second one, when I already have a tag for the first one. That’s just rude! Seriously, smh…

Poor jokes aside though. Ever since Victor reappeared in datamine, I keep wondering about one thing. Namely, why Jam City decided to change his design? If you don’t know, Victor was actually found in the game files even before Y5 was released. This is a comparison of his old and new models:

Interestingly, his facial features are exactly the same, for example. Mind you, this is the model which was already in the game – it’s not simply the case of the creators exploring various possibilities. To me, it also means that they had to have already the story connected to him. Otherwise, why would they bother with the whole model already?

So, why did they change it? Because you can’t tell me that the guy on the left could have the same personality as Victor we’ve seen in the game so far. I’m not gonna insist that he’d be a shy nerd and whatnot… but I just can’t see him being as self-assured as the right version. But the more I thought about it, the more confident I feel with saying that Jam City didn’t simply scratch Victor’s old version – at least not entirely. Especially when we take into account what Corey said about Victor before his change:

Also, can I just say that it’s a bit annoying how this chapter apparently forgot that Corey themselves is allegedly quite popular, too? I know that they’re probably not as popular as Victor, but still. They suddenly presented it as Corey is some outcast barely anyone cares about…

Back to the main topic, though. If you ask me, Victor before his change sounds kind of like his old model looks. I mean, he was quite literally invisible – by not being present in the game. And to be honest, I can totally accept a headcanon that he was present yet invisible: reading a book somewhere in the corner, maybe playing chess with Talbott. So… where I’m going with this?

I believe that Victor before his change WAS his old model. Perhaps, Jam City even had some story for him in that form, and he was supposed to change later. Perhaps he wasn’t supposed to change at all, and it’s a totally new addition. Either way, I can see two explanations as to why becoming a vampire changed him in the way we’ve seen:

Victor decided that if he’s ever gonna stop being shy and insecure, it’s NOW. He just saw becoming a vampire as an opportunity, or rather a motivation. You know, something like: “New life form, new me”.

Victor thought that he HAS TO become that edgy overconfident boy to avoid rejection from society.

Personally, I like the second option more, and I believe it also makes more sense. Because as it was pointed out in the post I linked at the beginning, being a vampire isn’t exactly something you’d want to brag about, even in the wizarding world.

HOWEVER…

If you look closely at that short scene from Y7Ch16, Victor didn’t become popular because he became a vampire. He became popular because he literally became a cool guy.

Penny was gushing over his amazing time in Paris. Andre was in awe about how damn handsome Victor is. Victor himself talked about adventures, parties, dancing with Veelas the whole night… The only person who mentioned being a vampire was Ismelda, and let’s be real… it’s Ismelda. Of course she’d think being a vampire is cool.

You see, the thing is that confidence can sell a lot. And Victor apparently figured it out. Imagine that his old self was a vampire. It’s possible that as a shy kid he was already bullied, and now, let’s put vampirism on top of that. Imagine those gossips. Why is he so shy, why is he so quiet? What is he hiding? We know he’s a vampire, so what else is he hiding? Did he hurt anyone? Did he kill anyone? Victor anticipated all those speculations by simply distracting everyone with his coolness. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he made up the stories about his summer adventures for that reason.

That being said, I suspect that Victor doesn’t really feel comfortable in this new situation. Not only his life changed drastically by becoming literally a different being, but also he has to pretend to be someone he’s not. And I guess that’s where MC will play a role. You know, helping him adjust to everything.

I mean, there’s definitely gonna be something behind his sudden confidence. It’s also both interesting and a bit weird that Corey said that Victor can be “mean” because from what we’ve seen… he didn’t seem particularly mean. Arrogant, yes, but that’s not exactly the same as mean. Anyway, we know how Jam City loves the story of “being mean as a way to hide own insecurities”. Sometimes they execute it pretty well (see: Ismelda), sometimes very poorly (see: Merula). Hopefully, Victor will belong to the first category.

So yeah, that’s it! Thank you for coming to my TED talk! I honestly doubt that we’ll see Victor’s old model in the game, but I’d love to see more of his old personality.

[shinonometrash]

💕🍄The 12 Days of Ayumu 🍄💕

July 16th, Day 11 of Ayumu’s Birthday Celebration Countdown!!

On the 11th day of Ayumu my mushroom gave to me~🎶 One ruby ring~🎶 (no I totally didn’t choose the title of this celebration to make that joke why would I do that 😅) Ahhhhhhhh, okay this is one of the things I’ve been most excited to post!! I started working on this weeks ago, it’s what gave me the idea of doing the countdown for his birthday. I was rereading it after it’d been A While since I last read it and I was like “omg now I can actually understand what it’s sayi-AHHHH ITS SO CUTE!!!” so I had planned on just releasing this on his birthday, but then I decided to do way way more work for some reason by translating wayyy more than just this story...😓 But please enjoy this super super cute special story!!!

Ayumu Shinonome: Necklace Story

“Giving this kind of gift...it’s cause you’re the first person I’ve ever done this for.” You can preorder Ayumu Shinonome’s, the first place winner in the 2019 100Koi+ election, original ring necklace in the shop (until 11/22/2020)! Read Shinonome’s special story about him selecting the necklace for free♡ Check out the necklace in the Voltage shop!

TV announcer: Buy a ring for your lovely girlfriend! Today’s feature is on popular rings for women~!!

Ayumu: …

I hear the bright cheery voice of the female announcer coming from the TV.

(…so dumb.)

(Ahh, but that does seem like something my girl would like, though)

(Not that I have any plans of getting her a gift right now.)

TV Announcer: Yes, I’m talking to you, the one over there who can’t be honest about their feelings!

Ayumu: ?!?!

TV announcer: If you don’t express your love for her once in a while, she might just run right into the arms of another man~! There’s a lot of people out there, especially men, who automatically assume that they’ll have their girlfriend’s unconditional love forever, no matter what! But that’s just not true, haha!

Ayumu: …

(I’m offended.)

The person on the TV managed to hit me right where it hurts.

Despite my usual confidence, I feel a little bit of uncertainty starting to creep in.

(Ugh, this sucks.)

The old me never would’ve even considered doing something like this.

Getting caught up in something like that? Totally not like me.

And yet…for some reason, I find myself actually considering it.

If I gave her a present, I wonder what kind of expressions she would make?

Would she laugh? Cry? Either way, it’d definitely be a face she only shows me.

…Seeing her face like that? Well, it doesn’t sound too bad.

Ayumu: Haa…

After doing way too much worrying, doubt, and questioning, I find myself at a jewelry shop.

Honestly, it’s a little uncomfortable. This place is full of women.

(They didn’t mention this part in the special feature.)

(But I just thought it’d be a little nice to surprise my over excitable girl and make her speechless, that’s all.)

Convincing myself that’s really all it is, I make my way up to the counter where all the rings are displayed.

Ayumu: …

Rows of rings with sophisticated, elegant designs sparkle under the display lighting, as if to say “pick me!”

(There’s so many…this…might take longer than I expected.)

The aesthetic sense within me won’t allow me to compromise on this decision.

I peer at the different rings and scrutinize each design as carefully as if I was looking at code on my computer.

(My girl would probably be happy no matter what I give her, though.)

(Surely she doesn’t know the difference between the different rings.)

Salesperson: Welcome! Are you perhaps looking for a gift for your girlfriend?

Ayumu: …!

Ayumu: Uh, something like that

Salesperson: Ahh, that’s wonderful~!

Salesperson: If you’d like, I can help you pick something out~!

This person is a professional. It’s always important to take a professional’s opinion into consideration.

Ayumu: Yes, please.

Salesperson: You got it, leave it up to me!

Salesperson: Your girlfriend, what kind of person is she?

Ayumu: Ah, yes…

Ayumu: She’s a stubborn snapping turtle, stupid, noisy

Salesperson: Hm, I see

Ayumu: Stupidly honest and straightforward, obstinate…

Ayumu: Oh, and stupid

Salesperson: Hehe, you said “stupid” three times already~

Salesperson: Sounds like somebody’s completely smitten~

(Not really…I wouldn’t go that far…)

Salesperson: Well then, how about choosing based on gemstone symbolism?

Ayumu: Gemstone symbolism…?

Salesperson: Yes! You see, each ring here is decorated with different gemstones

Salesperson: And, just like how flowers symbolize different meanings, so do gemstones!

Ayumu: …interesting.

Salesperson: For example, the ever-so-famous diamond represents a vow or commitment

Salesperson: Sapphires represent trust and faithfulness 

Pointing at various rings in the display cabinet, the salesperson lists off the meanings for each and every gemstone.

(Hmm…symbolic meaning, huh)

Honestly, I’m sure my girl has no idea about the meanings between different gemstones.

I would feel dumb explaining it to her.

(But…it might be good, choosing based on symbolism rather than choosing based solely on design.)

I scan over the different options while listening to the salesperson’s explanations.

A simple ring with a sparkling red jewel catches my eye.

(Ah, isn’t this…?)

(It’s my birthstone.)

I remember, my girl told me about it once.

Ayumu: A ruby…

Salesperson: Ahh, yes, I think that’d be perfect, haha~

Ayumu: Huh?

Salesperson: Yes, you see, so a ruby symbolizes …..

Salesperson: Thank you for your purchase!

Salesperson: I hope it makes your girlfriend very happy!

Ayumu: Yeah…

Ayumu: Thank you.

After making my purchase I walk out of the store.

The ring I ended up choosing was the ruby ring that had caught my eye.

Since she wouldn’t be able to wear it openly at work, I also bought her a necklace chain to go with it.

(I had hoped the ring would work as a pest repellant, but…)

(Ah, I suppose it can’t be helped with the office dating ban and all)

The image of how all the others act around her comes to mind.

If she came in wearing a ring, they definitely wouldn’t be able to stay silent.

(…Ah, well, shall I head home now?)

She had contacted me today to say that she was coming over.

By now, she’s probably waiting eagerly for me.

“Gross” and “annoying” are the only things that ever come out of my mouth.

It can’t be helped if things actually are annoying, though.

But...maybe it’d be good to try and be more honest sometimes.

(I still plan on giving her the ring first, though…)

Imagining how she’ll react when I give her the ring, I head home to my beloved with an extra spring in my step.

Oh yeah. The sparking red ruby.

It symbolizes “passion”, “life”, and “love”.

Why does this suit her so perfectly?

“Passion” represents all the passion she has for, more than anything else, her job.

“Life” represents how she works to protect the life of all the citizens in this country.

And then…”Love” represents all the love she has for me.

-The End-

I’m honestly literally so sad I couldn’t buy that necklace ring TT it was really good quality and cost $120, but they only shipped to Japan, boooo...at the time though I think I would’ve hesitated regardless because it was $120, but now...uh...yeah. I think the Japanese fandom has been a bad influence on me 😓 They’ll drop a hundred or hundreds of dollars on otome stuff without even blinking...

But we’re almost at the end!!! How is everyone feeling so far? I hope you’ve been enjoying everything!! Tomorrow is the big day!!!!!!!! This was originally supposed to be the content I was going to post on his birthday, but I was able to get something even better for tomorrow. So excited for everyone to see!!!

Stay tuned for more Ayumu content in the upcoming days! You’ll find links to all the posted content here!

[kaypeace21]

i'm losing hope of byler being an endgame :( milevens say that we are invalidating mileven, besides having several scenes that they show "passion/love". they make fun of us, besides always giving reasons why mileven is an endgame, and disrespecting other people's ship, and maybe actually Will will be with another boy right?? idk but I really hope I'm not being deluded

lol  lets not focus on byler for a sec and mostly discuss mileven. what scenes show mileven’s  ‘passion/love’? Because the show invalidates mileven constantly-why they’re so aggressive/afraid of us.THEY KNOW IT’S DOOMED (they live in head canons and nothing else).  I’m going to try keeping this short by doing bullet points.

-The writers in s3 threw in a telemarketing joke just for Mike to say “El. no. sorry not interested” and hang up the phone. 

- Flo  in s1: “only love makes you that crazy and that damn stupid.”

Mike: “if we’re both going crazy. we’ll go crazy together right?”will: “yeah, crazy together “ *smile and stare longingly at eachother *————————————————————-Mike: “they do say it makes you crazy”El: “what makes you crazy?”(the exact opposite of crazy together as she continues to be confused over every explanation he gives of love 😂)————————————————————-During the byler fight  Mike says “el’s not stupid!” After this, Will calls himself “ so stupid “ 4x .  rips up photo where they said they’d go crazy together and cries . But, El after fighting with mike happily says: “there’s more to life than STUPID boys .”  El’s catchphrase being “not stupid” which she says in s2 before going to see Mike at the school. And Nancy before Mike says he loves El / Mikeduring the byler fight (about mileven) say “El’s not stupid!”

original gifs  sources

-the s3 stobin confession parallels mileven’s s3 shop confession (full analysis in link). Both El/Robin have bandages on their legs and both pairings sit together (on the floor) during their confessions- and are interrupted by Dustin. And in both straight baits- the guys use the terms “stupid/crazy” but subvert the expectation of it being romantic-as both girls say they’re not “crazy” or “stupid” for the guy. El saying “what makes you crazy?” in response to Mike. And Robin saying she was not into Steve’s “stupid hair” (similar to El saying there’s more to life than ‘stupid boys’/other saying she’s not stupid.”Also the song ‘the first i love you’ only plays twice in s3. During Steve’s romantic confession and robin rejecting him because she’s gay & El’s romantic confession and awkward kiss with mike (where Mike doesn’t reciprocate). Cause Robin/Mike are both gay and will reject the romantic confession.

- Erica making he-man and barbie kiss: “Hey , They’re in love!”Lucas (livid- and standing right next to a rainbow forcing them apart): “No, actually,  they’re not. they’re not even from the same planet.”  El even watches he-man in s1! Mileven is not in love!

Cue El and mike being compared to ET and Eliot -WHO AREN’T FROM THE SAME PLANET (by the Duffers in multiple interviews and in the pilot script ) .   And then there’s the  old euphemism of “girls come from Venus, and boys come from Mars”.  The Duffers saying mileven isn’t in love cause they’re not from the same planet (aka the same gender) -is just them telling us Mike is gay so he can’t fall for El-who is a girl/diff species. They literally have Will say to Mike “welcome to my world” as a contrast. So El telling mike he should ‘stick with his own species’ (aka boys) is another gay hint.

In s2 they even had El wear the same shirt as a 1986 movie character (staring Winona Ryder). The movie is called coincidentally “lucas”- and he’s in an unrequited romantic relationship with a gal named maggie. And he later says him and Maggie are  from “different worlds.” El being movie-Lucas in a unrequited romance, in this scenario. And the other easteregg is the Duffers have st-Lucas  say the “planet/worlds” similar to movie-Lucas.

some milevens also attribute romeo/juliet to mileven cause Dustin mentioned it while mileven was out of shot. But romeo & juliet weren’t actually in love-it was just kids in infatuation. And also used to describe the unrequited infatuation of Lucas/Maggie.

-Also when dustin in s1 says el is “like a wizard” (like Will.) Mike corrects dustin and says “more like yoda”. Really hammering down the alien references- which the Duffers reference to el in interviews all the time-by comparing her to et . In the pilot they even said mike and el are like “Eliot and et.” They said they made el dress like a ghost cause et did so- and then for the extra burn they made mike a ghost hunter/buster. And they also said that EL’s makeover in s1 was like et’s in the movie. And sorry ... who compares the girl they “crush on” with a green gross alien (yoda)- kind of shows how he sees her more as this foreign superpowered entity rather than a girl/crush. And on what planet is et /Eliot romantic??Answer is -it’s not. 

- In contrast, They have Mike and Will parallel  Diane and Venkman. In ghost Busters, Mike -is Venkman- and Will -is Dana Barret- who Venkman flirts with shamelessly until she is possessed. Dana finds a demon-dog in her fridge, and hires the ghost busters. And right before Venkman goes on a date with her she is possessed by the big-bad, Zuul, and is transformed into the gate-keeper (who controls demo(n)-dogs). Venkman proceeded to try to talk to the real Dana , ignoring her possessed form and eventually realizes how serious her condition is, is forced to sedate her. Eventually with the help of his team, Venkman closes the gate to Zuul’s dimension, rescuing Dana in the process. And Venkman plants one on Dana before riding away in triumph. While, El is a ghost and Mike is a ghost hunter XD

Notice in the same season lucas says mileven is ‘not in love’ and compares mileven to he-man and barbie .  Dustin has a  he-man & Et next to each other (along with a ghost buster sign above them, and the ghostbusters-trap next to et). This just reinforces the mileven eastereggs I’ve already talked about -  and how they want you to make the connections  about mileven not being in love. They showed et/barbie next to he-man, had El watch he-man, compared El to Et (who had a barbie-like makeover/ghost costume), so the next he-man ref of ‘not being in love’  cause rhey’re from different planets would connect in a more obvious way to mileven.  Same with Et next to the ghost trap and ghost busters sign (and El dressing as a ghost and Mike as a ghost buster-as an extra burn).

- Mike dehumanizing El is hammered down again when they compare s1 mileven to s2 dart /dustin (a demo dog) , to further show how un-romantic it is. Fin even said the duffers told him Mike saw el (OFFENSIVELY) as a “puppy’ (right after s1).  And of course millie accurately said “what a horrible way to describe me!”But the parallels are there: Dustin/Mike sharing sweets ( nougat vs eggos) for breakfast and saying they’ll have to wait for them to come home from school. And having mike annoyed, say  “a bond? cause you shared nougat?!” is dissing milevens who think the ego thing is cute/romantic. Dustin/Mike saying they ‘promised’ to take care of them and that they ‘trust’ dustin & mike. Dart killing a cat and El almost killing a cat. Dustin/Mike trying to convince Lucas- Dart & El aren’t bad. The boys thinking both El & Dart were bad guys causing both to end up running away because of that. Mike even admits in s1 he doesn’t like eggos and told El she doesn’t have to eat “like a dog” anymore.  it’s ironic when Mike says to Dustin “she’s not a dog” cause he treated her as such. Why El says in s3 angrily , “am I your pet?” It’s because he did/does unfortunately treat her this way to some degree. 

-They Parallel Mileven to Hopper & El (since mileven isn’t actually romantic)!

*teaching the meaning of promise vs com-promise. And making “promises” to eachother is not some super romantic thing- for just mileven.

* Telling her to eat “real food” vs eggos

* saying her new look is “cool”and saying it’s “bitchin” after El says the look is.

* Saying others are “corrupting her” and in response gals say neither respect her ability to make “decisions” in regards to romance. Hopper not accepting Mileven together (want them to break up)  and Mike not accepting she dumped him.

* Max saying to not let Hopper/Mike control her

*El saying “you lie” to both of them

ok , back to listing other points

- they dance to ‘every breath you take’ a break up song about a stalker ex who can’t accept he is now with her friend. The writer of the song also has said many times “it’s NOT a love song.” The duffers obviously knew that. Lumax also danced to it and Lucas was called a ‘stalker’ . El also stalked Mike in s2 (all that stuff milevens found romantic- El watching him without him knowing. Mike says he was not ok with it in s3). And in s3 he said not to do that and she just says ‘i make my own rules’.Plus, sting (the singer) mentions it’s supposed to sound romantic but the lyrics are sinister. And that the ambiguity/deceptive happy -romantic tone was intentional. Kind of like how people think mileven is healthy and in love when the show (ambiguosly says ) that it’s not -and the “opposite”.Just like the song being misinterpreted as romantic because of its deceptive packaging -mileven is the same . Mileven got popular cause everyone missed all the warning signs it wasn’t healthy (cause it was packaged as ‘cute’ and ‘ in love’) when behind the surface it was shown to be the opposite and not healthy.

 Not to mention Nancy teaching Dustin how to dance is a direct parallel to Mike teaching El. 

Mike also tries to act like Dustin, and  forces Will to dance with a girl (who’s wearing a rainbow hair clip). Trying to be a good sport like Dustin is about lumax. And right after this we see Dustin look sad about Max/Lucas dancing and Mike (next to Dustin) look sadly at Will/girl dancing in the same exact frame as Max/Lucas. As they switch between these 2 shots to emphasize their sadness/jealousy.Then they both sit down (mirroring each other) on the verge of tears before Nancy and El show up to comfort them and distract them.  As El once again (presumably) wears Nancy’s dress. Mike after El asks “will you be my brother?” “you cant go  (to the snowball) with your sister... i mean you can but it’d be really weird.” 

- before their first kiss in s1 she asked if he would be like her brother (after being compared to a cousin, and being compared to Holly, and wearing Nancy’s dress.) In s2 they even make a direct parallel to Luke &Leia (who were siblings who had a weird romantic relationship/kissed before realizing they were related). Mike (as Leia) saying “it’s a trap” to El (Luke). 

- Mike in s1 writes a d&d story for Will inspired by star wars.  in ep one Will tells Mike “it was a 7, the demogorgan it got me.”At the end of the season Mike writes a whole story of him and his friends killing a 7 headed monster, and showing the decapitated head of the monster to king Tristan (Will). Similar to how at the hospital he tells Will to not worry cause “it’s dead now”. This is right after Will rolls a 14 (cause Mike and Will are 7s together). And Mike who is a fan of starwars has King Tristan give them medals after killing the monster. Cause he wants Will/king tristan (instead of Leia -a girl) to present him with medals and be his romantic love interest (and praise him for being a hero).

- They had Dustin call mileven “bullshit” just like stancy (who were never in love). And in s3 for almost every single character in the show to dislike mileven . if that isn’t a cry for help from the writers idk what is XD

other stancy parallels: Making out on a bed to cheesy music. stancy wasn’t in love but they kissed the most in the series and nancy and steve (similar to mileven exchanged ‘i love yous’) but weren’t endgame and it was never love. Mike and Steve sing to their gfs and neither girls are fans and cut them off.In s1, both Nancy/Mike slap Steve and El and then both yell “ What is wrong with you?!”  Stancy/mileven are compared to Karen/ted who according to Nancy “never loved each other”. El is a fan of ted’s lazy boy. (Karen in s3 looks at Ted in the chair when the lyric “I should have walked away “ plays). And Steve and ted continuing to eat chicken as their gf /wife storm off from the table upset , and they do nothing. After the mileven and Karen/Ted fight- Steve says while eating “what did I do?what did i do?” And mike while eating says about el after their fight “what did i do wrong? what did i do wrong?!Steve and Ted both tell Mike to “stay on the bench/you’re on the bench.” Karen/ ted that they “never loved each other” (just like mileven and stancy which are “bullshit.”) All 3 wheelers were with people cause it seemed like the rational choice ( rich guy/ popular guy/ girl). Not to mention mike said “ I don’t remember” ( in reference to saying he loved el ) . And doesn’t say it back when el says “I love you”. Which mimics Nancy in s2 saying “I don’t remember ” (saying the stancy relationship is bs) . And she is also unable to say she loves Steve when he says“say you love me.” And Steve and el walking away as both wheelers stand there in silence. Unable to say “I love you” back.  Also, when stancy officially breakup it also pans to mileven on the porch as another parallel.And 11byers mentioned (at Christmas)  jancy has a moment but despite stancy’s issues she goes back to Steve where she looks sad over the decision .  Similar to how Byler have a moment , but then after , mileven talks about christmas  and they have that awkward kiss. In s3, steve when talking about stancy and trying to be popular even says “dustin’s right it’s all a bunch of bullshit.” (meaning Dustin’s right about mileven). Steve even says “everything people tell you is important that you’re supposed to care about- it’s bullshit.” (same season Mike mimics Lucas’ words from s1 about El being the “most important thing”.

-They also had Mike tell Max “i don’t hate you. I don’t even know you.”  Aka he can’t hate Max or love el cause he knew both for a week-and doesn’t know them. The amount of mileven burns that were in s2 -were insane XD.

other direct contrasts between Mileven & byler 

besides the ones already mentioned. 1) ‘crazy together/so stupid’ vs ‘what makes you crazy?/el’s not stupid/more to life than stupid boys & 2) ‘they’re not in love they’re not even from the same planet’ vs byler’s ‘welcome to my world’

3) Mike has drastically different expressions after the byler/mileven fights and the difference in weather and music selection ,convey how Mike is feeling. He looks regretful with Will, and almost annoyed with El dumping him.  Mileven breaks up to upbeat music on a sunny day (the break up being in front a crowd and a joke) vs the morose music and the storm shown (with just Mike and Will fighting ). We are supposed to take the byler fight seriously and the mileven one as a joke.They had Mike apologize to Will immediately. But with El he says “what did i do wrong?’ (Kind of like how ted, after pissing off karen says “what did I do?”)And then had Mike wait by the phone for her to apologize- says sexist stuff about her. Then have mike laugh/burp and talk about cheese and El to laugh about the break up/high five max and immediately oggle a pic of another boy/male celeb (unlike Will who looks sadly at the pic of Mike after their fight). And then after staring at the  teen-male celeb,  El says she’s not sure if  Mike’s a good kisser cause he’s just her “first boyfriend” and she has no other boys to compare him to (implying she’s thinking of other boys in the future).  Contrasted to Will who said he thought him & Mike would never get gfs but just spend the rest of their lives together. El after all these events, then happily reads comics  as Max says she shouldn’t hang out with Mike all the time. VS Will having him sadly read his comic to distract himself  only to throw his comic on the ground right before he looks at the pic of mike from Halloween (where they said they would go ‘crazy together’), calls himself stupid (unlike El saying there’s more to life than stupid boys/mike saying El is not stupid-aka in love ). And then destroys castle byers /crIES after the their fight. These events were perfect opposites.

4) When Mike says in the pool shed she’s the “most important thing in the world” to him. she cuts him off and says Hopper is right about them spending too much time together. But when Mike in the shed says asking Will to be his friend was the “best thing he’s ever done” (it was practically the cliche of true love breaking the curse) XD.

When Mike says to El  “you’re most important thing to me” in the pool shed. El doesn’t even acknowledge the comment (and neither should the audience- cause the words were empty). The framing of this mileven scene was not cinematic or heartfelt, and neither was the delivery from Mike. He’s not crying, trying to reach her with proclamations of his genuine feelings. There’s no dramatic music, framing, lighting or shot composition (and the scene was incredibly short).And El just responds and cuts his supposed ‘true feelings’ off- only to agree with Hopper and says “ what if he’s right”  . I didn’t speed this up FYI.

Juxtaposed to the MUCH longer byler shed scene. A literal single tear falling down his cheek as Mike , recounts the first day they met. This whole monologue is only of tight shots of just their faces (their bodies aren’t shown like in the pool shed scene). With contrasting colors of light and shadow.This is a personal moment between them and them alone- and the fact we zoom in on their faces (expresses this to be important emotionally) . And when we see Will’s reaction to Mike saying “it was the best thing I’ve ever done”. We just see Will’s face only- no music is playing and all we hear is  Will’s whimpers and Mike crying in the background.*

5) Max in s2 at Will’s house questions how Mike can still trust Will now that he’s a spy for the mf . Max (in s3) at El’s house: says that Mike doesn’t trust El- and Mike mentions that her spying is why he doesn’t trust her.  in s2, Mike: “if anyone could stop them it’s Will“. Max: “ I thought we couldn’t trust him that he’s a spy for the mf now?” Max in s3 calling Mike out  : “El has saved the world twice. And Mike still doesn’t trust her.” Mike: you want to talk about trust really?! after... Eleven spied on us! I guess girlfriends don’t lie they SPY!”

Not to mention - the fact is... El has “saved the world twice but Mike still doesn’t trust her” to fight the mf. Yet he 100% believed Will could defeat the mf -despite Will being possessed/a spy for the mf . And despite the fact Mike  thinks Will has no powers - unlike El ( but we all know he does , though :P). And, Mike even says Billy is dangerous cause  the “mf is in him ...Billy’s mind is sick, diseased” (but with Will possession -Mike still trusted him).  Max rolls her eyes and stares challengingly at Mike cause she remembers what Mike said about Will in s2- and the hypocrisy . And she finds it annoying how little faith he has in her compared to his almost unmoving-trust in Will (who at the time was possessed) . Mike has 100% trust and faith in Will-but simply doesn’t trust El.  And MAX KNOWS IT! Cause she’s paying attention. Like her facial expression/raised brow, at the end, is a challenge- you think non-superpowered Will could defeat the mf but not El with a history of fighting monsters? You say Billy possessed by the mf is dangerous- but still have more faith in Will possessed by the mf- than your own gf?! tbh El couldn’t defeat the mf (so technically him trusting Will over  El was proven to be correct). He wasn’t right about the El ‘giving up’ bs and he was still wrong for not respecting El as her “own person” with her “own free will” : not believing in El’s ability to make decisions like breaking up with him/ not believing El made the idea to spy on him, etc . But, Team work has always been what saved the day in s1-2, so over-relying on El to do it all and acting like she was the messiah ( like most of the st fanbase) was a poor plan . It’s not the El-show (it’s an ensemble cast with several mains). When they relied on her only ,to be the chosen one- she lost her powers, 30+ people d*ed, and they had to save her.

6) ) El and Will both calling for “Mike” alone in the upside down . And Mike “never giving up” on them.In the exact same ep (s2 e2) , both call for Mike from the upside down. El saves herself without Mike’s help. But Mike rushes to save Will crouching to comfort Will (whose body language mirrors El’s but who was alone in the forest after she sees mike and he did nothing). 

in s2 ep 1, both call for Mike ,but Mike only comes for Will -not el. It was like how Nancy in s1 called for Jon, and jonathan pulled her out of the upsidedown.  And as Jonathan and Mike both pull Nancy and Will back from the upside down , Jonathan says “I got you”. And Mike says “I got him “ twice. But mileven is like how barb while in the upsidedown called for Nancy (but nancy didn’t hear her screaming her name-cause it shows symbolically Nancy does not return Barb’s romantic feelings). Just like mileven.

Mike even saw Will’s dead body but the second he heard his voice he convinced everyone he was alive. Mike deep down assumed El was dead he brushed off seeing El as seeing things (like how Hopper described seeing Sarah). He even tells Max “ they took her just like they took bob” who was dead. Then a few minutes later lies and says he “never gave up” on her when she appears alive (which was a lie cause he just said she was dead). When El goes to his house Mike doesn’t ever go the forest to find her (unlike how Mike went into the forest in the pouring rain twice for Will). The truth is the only person he ‘never gave up on’ was Will.

7) They have El & Will have pics of Mike on Halloween (same night of the ‘crazy together’ speech). El only has a pic of Mike being miserable  and Will has pics of Mike staring at Will, and smiling next to him- despite the joke Mike never smiles in photos , this isn’t the case when mike is next to Will (he always smiles with Will). Cause being crazy with Will makes him happy - unlike his relationship with El who he fakes being ‘crazy’ about .

zoom in of Will & El’s pics of Mike: Will’s pic on left vs El’s on right . XD

8) Millie said El is “obsessed with Mike” so she has Mike-themed stuff all over  her room. She has a drawing with a heart that says mike on it/random heart pics, mike pic, dice that spell out mike, mikes’ stuff. So, It’s funny that mike has nothing relating to El at his place. In contrast to this, he still has 5 d&d drawings from Will on his wall (that he’s kept on his wall for 3 years despite removing an old poster from that same wall-which he gave to El). Mike even put up a 6th Will-drawing in s3- next to his new poster. And he never put a single 1 of her many drawings on his wall-just Will’s).

back to other points...

- They compared mileven to karen/billy. El in s2 , mimics Erica Kane who m(in the ep she is watching) rushes into a relationship with a writer named Mike Roy. (That relationship is not endgame-and  literally ends with one of them stalking and sabotaging their next relationship, but eventually accepting it’s over). This, also parallels Karen/ Billy. Before she meets him in s2, Karen is reading a romance book that has a guy that resembles Billy on the cover. The Duffers even mentioned they changed the cover to show the resemblance between Billy and the fictional book character. And we see Karen reading the sequel in s3 before Billy appears. Both El and Karen don’t/didn’t love Mike or Billy- they just projected onto them fictional characters they were infatuated with. El being into Mike roy- but projecting her crush on to Mike wheeler.

-They had El’s whole s2 arc be destroyed to show mileven is bad for her. “friends don’t lie” to let me lie to my friends so I can kiss mike and ditch them. lucas even said “they’re lying (about her curfew).”And lie to Mike about hearing his confession. Then in s2 trying to leave the cabin to experience the world and see my friends and fam again. To literally ignoring them all for 6 months and never leaving the cabin-despite Hopper letting me leave the house in s3.

- El in s3 says Mike treats her “like a pet” and “garbage”.

-In s1 Mike referred to her as a ‘weapon’  to help get Will back. smacked her when he thought she lied about Will being alive and said Lucas was right about her all along when he thought Will was dead and he couldn’t use her anymore. 

- They had El never apologize for spying/stalking . And  Mike never apologize for lying -despite it being the cause of the breakup . And had mike not reciprocate the kiss/ or say ‘i love you ‘ back  and had his eyes open while the same exact song plays that robin came out to: called ‘the first i love you’). These are the only 2 times the song plays in s3. The ‘first i love you’ also sounds like ‘the first lie’ - that song played when jancy said they were just friends. it sounds the same cause jancy lied about it not being romantic while mileven lied by saying it was.  He never apologized for lying cause the love is the lie- like Max said “boyfriends lie ALL THE TIME”. And it’s why the camera panned to Will when Lucas asked why Mike lied to her. And he never answers El’s question of ‘why do you lie?!’ (he just looks up silent and guilt ridden).This awkward kiss all happens in Will’s room too while Mike is in front of an open closet (while El is holding Will’s old bear).  

Plus he also fought with Hopper in s2 (’about El’) in Will’s room too. He wasn’t actually calling Hopper the liar he was calling himself “a stupid disgusting liar”out of self hate .  That scene was foreshadowing his lying to El in s3 (about his feelings for her). He blamed Hopper for his feelings for Will cause he told himself it wouldn’t have escalated if El had been around to ‘fix him’ . “I BLAME YOU! NOTHING ABOUT THIS IS OK! NOTHING ABOUT THIS IS OK. YOU STUPID DISGUSTING liar, liar, liar, liar”.starts crying.

- Mike says “i never gave up on you (to El). “ When moments earlier he says “it took her just like it took Bob.” HE’S LYING AGAIN. He always thought she was dead -he was just hoping she was alive so he didn’t have to blame himself. He felt bad for treating her like a “weapon”. Mike saw El and didn’t even bother looking for her in the woods cause he assumed she was dead and was hallucinating. Mike saw Will’s dead body- but heard his voice and got him from another dimension (for El he couldn’t even bother to walk into the woods). Despite going into the woods in the pouring rain 2x for Will in s1& 3. El and Mike both call for Mike in the upside down (Mike in the same ep only comes for Will).

- They barely spoke to each other and all they did was makeout for 1 ep (while Mike put a drawing of ‘Will (the fire wielding) wise’ on the wall to help him kiss her/ with rainbows pic everywhere in the room to signify he’s gay and lying).  All while listening to a mixtape Will gave him as he kisses El.As Mike moves her hands off him (and sings a song from ‘boy in the box’) and El says to Max later she doesn’t know if mike’s a good kisser . And Mike rushes to one of his many established double-dates with Will and lumax  (x). And Mike in s3 when dating el, removes the sign of the heart being propelled by a rainbow (which he had before meeting El in his basement) .BUT it follows him symbolically ,as a drawing of a heart being propelled by a rainbow (in el’s room- cause no matter how much he kisses el there, he can’t escape his rainbow/being gay.)

-as mileven kiss in s3 e1. We zoom in on the drawing of Will the wise (the lyrics over the pic are “a little more time can open closing doors”). And then Mike continues to sing this song from ‘boy in the box’ (cough closet).Will in s3e1 says he won’t fall in love and the song then a diff song plays “love that was new to you , you open up the door.” mileven at the end of s3 kissing in front of Will’s open closet door with Mike’s eyes open not kissing back , and saying he doesn’t “ remember “ the love you and just says it was “in the heat of the moment”. The mike song being from “boy in the box” (closet). And they make out to “I can’t fight this feeling” which the singer says is about wanting to admit your feelings to your friend of many years and being afraid it’ll ruin the relationship. Aka even when kissing El he’s thinking of Will and admitting his feelings and not being able to fight his feelings

- Mike saying about Max “awesome? you don’t even know her.” Dustin says “ i don’t have to i mean look at her.” El was said in s1 multiple times to look like a boy (specifically Will). So Dustin and Lucas had no interest in her -only Mike did. BUT when max (a girl who looked like a girl) arrived- they as straight boys  were smitten. And Mike was not interested at all (cause he’s gay). The fact people don’t realize Mike was rude to her because he thought Will liked her too makes me laugh - he even was 1/2 honest in s3 saying he was jealous of her  XD 

why in s3 (when she looks like a girl) the compliment to her look is almost the same as Hopper’s comment to her makeover in s2. Paralleling Mike to her dad is the opposite of romantic!

-people say in s3 Will saying “a day free of girls” is gay coded but everyone ignores Mike in s3 saying “BOYS ONLY”. Same energy.

-MiKE has more rainbows than Will: Mike’s rainbow bedroom blinds, the rainbow-heart wooden sign in the basement in s1, the rainbow heart drawing that says Mike in s3, a rainbow sticker in his room, byler standing behind a rainbow poster in s2. And Will with the rainbow ship and the girl he danced with having a rainbow hearts-hairclip.

- People mention Mike saving El in s3 was romantic ( when he hit Billy). But when Billy slapped max he charged in to save her too and tried punching him (despite their beef). that moment wasn’t romantic (unless you think madweheeler is- which no). Mike is just a good person- he also risked his life for dustin. He’s brave and will defend HIS FRIENDS. 

- we’re almost to the end for those not keeping tract mileven is compared to stancy, ted/karen,  karen/billy, stobin, Dart/Dustin, max &mike, barb/nancy, nancy & dustin, siblings & cousins & a parent/kid dynamic. And contrasted to byler.

- Finn, after s1, said the duffers told him,   Mike thinks of her as a “puppy/ “et” , and that Mileven was a  “first summer love thing”- foreshadowing what was mileven’s downfall during the Summer (aka s3). He repeats this “first summer love” phrase 2x.  Millie when he mentioned what the duffers said, rightfully thought the puppy thing was “awful”, but Finn was clearly told mileven doesn’t last -very early on.Summer love” by definition fails-as it only lasts during the summer.  

-It wasn’t a break it was a breakup. Like Max and Will said in response to Mike  “ she said she dumped your ass! That doesn’t sound like a break?!/ it wasn’t!’ Or El knocking all the candy out of the machine, except the kit kat Mike wanted. Slogan of kit-kat “ having a break , have a kit kat.” In other words, it was NOT a break. It was a breakup. Difference is - in s4 it’ll be El who can’t accept this fact , not Mike. Max having to correct El that Mike is her “ex boyfriend” after the breakup (in s3) foreshadows this.The other couples in s3 who fought -were always still paired together in framed shots (jancy/ lumax) were on a break (but got back together- by the end of s3,  not confident about their futures together, but they still have a distinction from mileven-based on such framing). That mileven didn’t get back together. El in s3 was always on her own and Mike was paired with Will (while the other couples were in frame). 

this could go on and on honestly. there’s so much other stuff proving mileven is not going to be endgame. Not to mention all of Mike’s queer coding (x) XD   

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Okay I was gonna do another SG:WoT post anyway because we’ve got a new King interview but THEN, he released the cover to issue four so you KNOW I gotta geek out about this.

(Sorry that this blog is all SG:WoT, all the time now, but I am just. Insanely excited that Evely is drawing Supergirl. Feel free to block/mute these posts as needed. XD)

Okay, so!

First! The interview!

It’s on (ugh) screenrant so I’m not gonna link, I’m just gonna nab the interesting bits:

On the different direction of the book, and if he wanted to go back to the original Adventure Comics vibes: “So, the idea of this thing was to strip her story down, because Supergirl has a majorly weird history in terms of continuity. At least 13 writers have rewritten her origin over the years. Her dad has 13 origin stories; sometimes he's evil, sometimes he's a robot, sometimes alive, sometimes he's dead. She's changed dramatically in the last 10 years, between coming back to life to the New 52 to Rebirth. She's gone through so much that it's hard to get a hold of her. Not to mention in the '90s, when I was coming up, she was like an ectoplasmic space angel. There's so much there, and I just wanted to take all that stuff off and get to the core of the character; get her out of her normal environments and her normal conflicts. It seems like all our stories are about her dad or her relationship to Superman. Instead, let's see the purity of that character.”

On starting the book the way he did: “...I wanted to start out with a very human moment of a person turning 21 and getting drunk. And a person who is getting drunk because they want to be alone, and they just want to forget about the shit that's happened in their past. That's such a human moment. And the fact that she's Supergirl, so she waits till it's legal - because these super people, they follow the rules. She waited, and now it's legal and she can have this moment. She goes off by herself, with her dog that always follows her, and she has a moment where she can be free. For a lot of people in the US, whether you've been drinking since you were 14 or started that day, your 21st birthday and the day after are days you remember for the rest of your life. It's a day of freedom and consequence, and I wanted to show Supergirl going through that.”

On rising to the challenge of helping Supergirl perform better, sales/popularity-wise: “ When I first got on this book, I called Steve Orlando, who had just written a Supergirl run. And he was the one who opened my eyes to how good the character is. He had such insight into her. He was like, ‘There is a difference between Clark and her, and what she's gone through.’ He just laid it for me.”

On starting the book off with Ruthye’s journey, and gradually building to Kara’s: “ I was like, "Okay, this is going to be from the point of view of someone under Supergirl." And so I switched the point of view to this new brand new character, whose name is Ruthye. And we went from there: we start with Ruthye's story, we see her discover Supergirl, and she's our audience. She's our way in, the way Robin has always been the way into Batman.”

On whether or not other characters will show up, outside of Supergirl and Ruthye: “It's like my Superman: Up in the Sky, where it's a distillation of the character. You'll see other characters, but the focus of every issue will be on Supergirl. And it's something where at the very end, you can be like, "Why is Supergirl great? Why is she important to the DC Universe? What is her future in the DC Universe? Here, read this one trade that can answer all three of those questions at once."So, there will be other characters in the Super universe. But the focus will always be on her; on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. It's her finding out about herself and her own strength.”

On Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow vs. his other titles: “Supergirl is my first 2021 book, or my first book of the 20s. That wrapped up my books of the teens, and now we're in a new generation. God willing, from the moment I started this book, I was like, ‘I'm gonna take a risk, and I'm gonna write books that are a little brighter.’ I know that's coming from me, and it's not to say we're going to avoid conflict or we're not going to explore the depths of the human soul. All that stuff will be in there. But these books are made from a place of joy, not from a place of anger; from a place of hope, not from a place of despair. It very much contrasts to those other books, in my mind.”

On how he thinks folks will react to the Krypto cliffhanger: “I mean, they're gonna think it's a good cliffhanger. That's how I think they're going to react. They're going to say, ‘I want the next issue.’ That's literally my job as written in my contract. Something where at the end of an issue, someone says, ‘I want more.’ So, that's how I hope they react.”

As mentioned, this is not the full interview; the whole thing can be found on screenrant, and I think Tom King shared a link on his twitter. 

And now, as always, SOME THOUGHTS:

I love that he brings up the fact that so many Supergirl stories focus on Zor-El and Clark, and how he was like, ‘let’s not do that.’

That’s my big gripe with modern Supergirl comics; they are trying so hard to make a statement on why we need both a Supergirl AND a Superman, that they end up spending ALL THEIR TIME talking about Clark, instead of, you know. Telling a fun Supergirl story.

Same thing with Zor-El! I know folks love Rebirth--I like it quite a bit myself--but I think the nostalgia goggles prevent folks from remembering that the whole first arc of that book was re-doing the ‘Cyborg Superman’ garbage from the Nu52. 

Speaking of Rebirth, really like that of all the recent SG writers he coulda talked to, he talked to Steve Orlando.

Like, if ya can’t get Gates on the phone, get Orlando.

(I get the sense that Gates doesn’t like this book, actually, based on a vague tweet. But don’t quote me on that.) 

Looks like Ruthye is gonna be our POV/audience insert character for the whole run. I’m...mmmm. I don’t love it, but I understand the logic here. Especially since he compared it to Batman and Robin--how you use Robin as your entry point for a bat book. 

And you know what? Kara’s supporting cast needs some help, so. Welcome to the Superfam, Ruthye.

I also love the explanation behind the drinking thing, as well as the fact that Kara waited until it was 100% legal for her to drink because OF COURSE SHE WOULD.

I am so worried that Krypto is gonna die b/c of what we saw in Future State. I’m over here with my Pepe Silva board like, ‘Well, what if Kara agrees to help Ruthye because Krem MURDERED HER DOG?!?! WHAT IF THIS IS JOHN WICK IN SPACE?!?!?!’

So I am DISMAYED that King does not reassure us AT ALL.

Thus I am forced to cling to this tidbit here: “ But these books are made from a place of joy, not from a place of anger; from a place of hope, not from a place of despair. It very much contrasts to those other books, in my mind.”

Killing the dog would not be joyful. XD So, like. I’m REALLY HOPIN’ HE’LL BE OKAY.

AND LASTLY, (Except not really)

I have some additional, miscellaneous thoughts unrelated to the interview b/c I’m me and I’m loving having a Supergirl comic back on the shelves, however polarizing it may be.

Something I realized, when details started to come out regarding the book, and that other folks have now noted as well: Kara was 16 when Rebirth launched in 2016; she’s just turned 21 in 2021, making her one of the extremely few comic characters to age in real time.

I don’t think that was planned, but it is cool.

It occurred to me on a re-read that Ruthye never calls Kara Kara in her narration, only Supergirl. And I was a little sad! But then I remembered that Kara wouldn’t necessarily reveal her identity to people she’s helping, she would just be ‘Supergirl’ to them. 

I really do love how, so far, there has been NARY A MENTION of Kara angst-ing over being in Clark’s shadow, or being Superman’s cousin.

It appears that her drinking alone on a remote planet is more related to trying to forget her trauma/grief related to Krypton. MAYBE. We don’t know yet.

The Clark thing could still come up. I hope it doesn’t. 

(Interesting to note! Kara recently appeared in Action Comics, helping Clark and Jon investigate some Kryptonian refugees; IDK how closely these books will necessarily ‘work together’ in terms of continuity, but! It’s possible that the discovery of those mysterious refugees was triggering, thus sending her on her way to her own solo title.)

(Well. That’s gonna be my headcanon, anyway. XD)

AND LASTLY, (for real this time)

ISSUE FOUR COVER!!!!

Okay, some immediate thoughts:

GOOD LORD IT’S STUNNING.

I loooooove the fire motif, reminds me of a part from the Rebirth run, where Kara met the Super-Man of China, and they visually referenced All-Star Superman, having the Kryptonians kind of...become the sun.

Also STAR CHART?!?! PIRATE MAP!?!?!?! 

The VIBES I tell you, the VIIIIIIIBES.

Also I love that it’s just Kara.

Don’t get me wrong! I like Ruthye just fine so far! But yeah, yeah, give me some more solo-Kara focus, even if it’s just in the art.

Just realized that once this thing gets collected as a TBP, we might get some Evely art backmatter. OhHhhHHhhH YESSSS. 

Anyways, the long wait for issue 2 begins! 

[frillshark-fr]

How do you get people to always buy your dragons? Genuine question

i was gonna say something like “haha i have no fucking clue” but that would be a lie i think about this a lot actually so i might have some insights i’ve been breeding dragons as my primary activity on FR since i started playing FR (in 2014...) and people have only started actually buying dragons from me consistently like, 5-6 months ago, despite 2-3 attempts at running a genuine hatchery onsite that always died due to lack of interest & not really being worth the effort. 

so ive thought a lot about what the hell is happening now and why my dragons are suddenly consistently selling and I think ive come down to these being the main points of advice i can give: 1. make friends! be friendly! don’t be weird! be a cool and fun person to interact with! 2. post consistently. post your dragons consistently. post about other stuff consistently. just be an active member of the community 3. POST YOUR SHIT IN THE “#FLIGHT RISING” TAG. THIS IS PROBABLY THE ONLY TRUELY HELPFUL THING I SAY IN THIS POST 4. make pairs that are sexy as hell and be openly proud of them. make dragons and pairs that you like, not what you think will necessarily sell. people can tell when you like stuff and being genuinely passionate about something, whatever the fuck it is, will get other people passionate as well longer versions/explanations under the cut because man this got a mile long. i wasn’t kidding when i said i think about this a lot and i am so sorry if you wanted something concise and useful

1. to be a little glib. i am mutuals/friends with more clout in the FR community than I do kjdshfdsfdhjhkfdf shoutout to everyone who draws their dragons really good on a regular basis because i am riding on your coattails to sell my dragons. i love you this was never my intent, obviously! DO NOT BEFRIEND PEOPLE BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU WILL GET STUFF FROM THEM IT’S JUST A REALLY BAD THING TO DO TO PEOPLE!!! i wouldn’t be friends w/ people if i didn’t genuinely like and get along with them! no amount of pixel cash is worth putting up with people you dont like or abusing people you admire!  but i’d also somehow feel wrong to just... neglect mentioning this factor. idk it’s probably a self-esteem thing sjdkgfhdsf i just Don’t feel like my #success has been totally out of my own effort because its not like im #hustling or whatever i just posted dragons and stuff happened

-----

2. being consistent! just. posting consistently! posting Every Hatchling I Have and Talking About Them On Tumblr!  Once I had a couple nests just sell super fast likely due to aforementioned clout, i was emboldened to just post more of my nests more often and I swear this has more effect than anything else. i just needed the self-esteem boost to Start Doing That posting consistently makes ppl follow u for ur content which gets even more people to look at your dragons which gets more people to buy your dragons.

-

2a. Also just post a lot in general, even if you aren’t necessarily posting about your dragons for sale. it definitely helps! just be friendly and active and people will come

-----

3. post your shit in the tag. not in “#dragon-sales” or “#fr-dragon-sales” or anything weird like that because I don’t know if anyone actually looks at those, but people definitely browse “#flight rising”. no matter how many followers you have, more people will see your content if you post it in #flight rising than if you just chuck it into the void. 

-

3a. however! do not put links into the post if you want it to actually show up in the tag. tumblr is cool in that it doesn’t actually matter that much when you post something, the same way it really matters on twitter bc twitter has algorithms that decide for you what it thinks you want to be seeing whereas tumblr just shows you everything in chronological order. if you post something into the tag at 1am... it will still be there at 2pm when people log on and start scrolling.

the only thing tumblr seems to consistently hide from a tag (and possibly a dashboard, but idk) are posts with links in them, as a half-assed attempt to limit spam. instead of linking to your sales tab/to the dragons directly in the post, reblog it with the links instead. to reduce latency between a post going up and the links being available, i type out the links in the initial post, cut them, post the thing into the tag, then very quickly reblog, paste the links, and post the reblog jdhfsdf. i don’t know if that benefits anything really? but it can sometimes take me a while to type links, so if i posted, pressed reblog, typed up all the links, then posted, it’d be like ~15 minutes where someone may see the post, think “oh i would like to buy those dragons”, then can’t find the link, think “oh well, i will just find it later”, scroll on, and just... completely forget about it. so uh. go quick?

-

3b. the armchair sociologist in me also thinks self-reblogging has the added benefit of like... you know how people are more likely to tip a barista when a dollar is already in the tip jar? or how people are more likely to take one of those little tabs on a flyer if one of them is already missing? i think that works with notes, too. i don’t know why i think that or why it happens i just swear once a post gets 1 note, suddenly it gets Even More Notes, and if it doesn’t get any notes for a while it will sit at 0 notes until the end of time. so giving yourself 1 obligatory note makes people more likely to interact. i think

-----

4. all of these are hard to quantify but this one is especially so: have cool and unique dragons. make your pairs sexy as hell. don’t put all your eggs (hah) into the one basket of selling dragons that are technically “popular”. we have all seen triple white/triple obsidian/triple orca/triple any other popular colors and cherub/pere/stained or wasp/bee/glim pthahlos or whatever. they’re pretty! we get it! but everyone has had one and everyone has had those pairs and market for dragons like that can be super oversaturated. try to break free from that and sell dragons that people can only get from you. I can’t tell you what to do though bc that rly depends on you. make pairs that you find exciting or interesting and people will feel that. i have a very specific theme and aesthetic that i don’t feel like is especially common on FR and i am genuinely very enthusiastic about it. marine shit is my Thing:tm: both on and off FR and dragons are one of my many ways of expressing that   if you have a Thing:tm:, either some fr-centric aesthetic (like being super into plague or earth or light or something) or something more general (such as any of the -punks or -cores)... just fuckin roll with it honestly. if you’re goth? make got h dragons. like scene stuff that looks straight out of a middle school in 2010? rock that hot-topic lair. outdoorsey type? make dragons that look like you’d meet them on a hike in the woods. it really works with anything!  people can tell when you really love something and i know that seeing someone really love something, even if it’s not necessarily MY thing, makes me really excited too!! 

-

4a. never show fear. people can smell fear. never be like “well this one isn’t that good” because suddenly now you’ve planted the idea that it’s ugly in other people’s heads when they may have really liked it had you not accidentally suggested to them that it’s an ugly dragon. people are EXTREMELY suggestible to even VERY minor cues so be always a little bit bolder than you think you should be you’d be surprised at how many times ive been like “eh, this one’s kind of a dud, i’ll probably have to exalt this one when the auction expires” and then that hatchling is the first to sell. never ever ever ever decide what other people like for them. always act like your dragons are the hottest shit in all the land and Believe It. this is what people mean when they say “fake it till you make it”

- 4b. also, idk if it’s true of everyone but it’s really off-putting to see someone having serious pity-parties for themselves, on sales posts or otherwise. ive had bad experiences with people who are uncomfortably quick to self-depreciate (because they were using their genuine self-hatred to manipulate me or my friends), so i might be a little more trigger-happy about avoiding this behavior than others, but don’t weaponize your sadness to guilt people into doing what you want. it’s really not cool.

-----

okay i think that’s my entire manifesto on how i do dragon selling. anon i am so sorry im sure you were expecting like “believe in yourself :)” and here i am dissecting dragon selling like it’s a frog in a science class

edit: AFTER ALL THAT I STILL THOUGHT OF ONE MORE THING. It’s not really a Point, just a Reminder:

i don’t post about all the times i have to exalt dragons that don’t sell. you are seeing me being very selective about what i post. you dont sit and stare at my lair or click through offspring lists or check old sales posts. there are a lot of times where someone just doesn’t sell. even now when i’m selling stuff pretty consistently i will still sometimes have dragons that don’t sell for seemingly no reason. even dragons I think are sure to sell will sometimes just... not. and that’s ok! you gotta just be.. ok with that. it’s par for the course. i typically list dragons for 7 days on the AH, give them a couple more days after their auction expires (partially because i forget, partially to give them a grace period for people to pm/ask me about them), and then exalt them after that point. w/ some dragons that i don’t think got a fair shake for one reason or another (such as the sales post not showing up in the tag or something) i do a little clearance (like the halloween dragons i recently posted) but for the most part if they don’t sell, i just exalt them. 90% of the time i don’t even bother to level them up i just press the exalt button and call it a day. it’s fine

[princeescaluswords]

Evil Deaton Rant #35

Sometimes, I subconsciously bristle when I see emotional reactions of oppressed minorities to white supremacy on this site.  In the end, I keep my mouth shut because while I don’t agree with all the policies they want, I recognize the validity of their experiences.  Arguing with them is the least productive thing I can do.

Especially when I can see that white supremacy infiltrates and corrupts even the most innocuous and trivial things, including -- and it seems, especially -- fandom.  Since I’ve chosen to focus my experience on this site on a particular fandom, I’m going to keep talking about it.  Here’s today’s experience: a blatant and disgusting white power fantasy in fanfiction.

There’s a story that got past my filters, labeled with ‘fix-it’ and promising to heal what is broken with Teen Wolf.  It promised to correct what Jeff Davis screwed up.   And the way to do that seems to be a White Power Fantasy. I won’t provide a direct link in this post, but I’ll provide it to anyone who wants to contact me privately.

The first thing you have to realize when reading this story is that Deaton is Evil, because of course he is.  He’s jealous of Stiles’s power, criminally negligent, and he was an accomplice to Kate and Gerard when burning down the Hale House.  Why did he do this?  Because cutting down the tree would hurt Talia enough so that she couldn’t protect his family.  You mean his motivation?   Oh, well apparently he wanted magical power for himself.   Though eight years later -- the story picks up after Strange Frequencies (5x07) -- he still hasn’t gained any magical power.   It seems an ill-thought out plan.

So, having murdered the Hales out of animosity and intending to stifle Stiles’s superlative magical abilities -- as you do -- he decided to run an animal clinic for most of a decade. He didn’t bother to eliminate Peter in the hospital ward when he was helpless and in a coma for six years, he didn’t silence Derek when he had him at his mercy in Fury (2x10).   Why he risked his life to save Derek in Season 4 or Stiles in Season 3 is ... well ... not explained. He waited around to be discovered by the Druid’s Council (which is going to punish him for being cryptic and not doing enough) or by the Other Hale Branches.  (We’ll get to the Hales Are the Most Powerful Thing Ever in a bit, just remember that the Hale control of the Nemeton is important to the world.)   

He’s the most incompetent yet successful villain in history -- he knew that Stiles’s power would manifest but didn’t follow the correct rules and let other people know.  Stiles wouldn’t even know about his power if Deaton hadn’t told him in canon, but he must have had a reason for revealing it to him so he could stop it, however that works.  His complicity with the Argents could be sniffed out in days by a super Hale, yet he didn’t have any plans to counter it.  He was just a Sinister Black Man, who hated his benevolent white overlords, and desires their power, but he can’t actually take it ‘cause he’s bad.

Now, of course, there could be his side of the story, if he ever got to tell his side, but no, the Powerful Hale Alpha from White Europe is able to figure everything out without any investigation or interrogation. Deaton says two words in 35k of story.  They Just Know That The Black Man is Evil.   

And if you are wondering whether this animus extends to other black characters, it doesn’t!  You see, Braeden doesn’t exist.  Mason doesn’t exist.  They’re not important.   Boyd is only mentioned as a source of Derek’s manpain.  Isaac and Jackson and any number of Pearly White OCs do matter, because they all love and support Derek and Stiles and the Hale Supremacy.  

But don’t worry, it’s not just black people who are evil.  It’s Asians, too.   Noshiko is only referred to as “Kira’s Mother” and she is scolded for not training her daughter and getting her act together -- even though you might think that as a 900 year kitsune she perhaps might have more experience in kitsune, no, it’s Stiles and the Hale UberAlpha who know better how to take care of Kira.  Not that we get Kira or Noshiko’s point of view as they never even show up on the page, they’re dispatched off screen so as to not get in the way of the white people.  

You know what’s really interesting?  Even with -- as a dying Theo confesses after trying to take on the All-Powerful Hale Pack by himself -- “the Hale Territory is the ultimate power,” except we’re not sure why that is or why they haven’t driven Satomi Ito and her pack away, but she’s Asian so who cares?

And Scott, well Scott is a stupid, lazy, short-tempered, ignorant Latino who doesn’t know his place.   He should have only listened to Stiles, and not Theo or that Super Mysterious Evil Black Man.   Malia leaves (she’s not a Hale, of course, because she defiled Stiles’s pure virginal flesh and that’s for Derek) and Kira is sent packing, and Scott is a fool for caring for them instead of focusing on Stiles the Great.  He doesn’t train his betas (unless you count the physical training of lacrosse, which doesn’t seem to occur to the author ‘cause it’s not a Hale thing) and the Hale family are all happy and well-adjusted and Isaac and Jackson love each other and love Derek and love Stiles.  I mean, the first thing that Jackson says to Stiles is how handsome he is.   The first thing Isaac says to Scott is to scold him for not holding regular training sessions.  No explanation is given as to why neither Isaac nor Jackson informed the Hale Super Wolves about what was going on in Beacon Hills -- but it’s Deaton who is evil.

You get the point.  You see, the Hales are the most powerful werewolf pack in the world, and they are unstoppable -- even though it took eight years for them to figure out that the North American Hale Pack was destroyed.   They’re also capitalists, controlling industries all over the world.    Dalia Hale -- Talia’s cousin, get it? -- is going to fix everything, though no one bothers to ask her why Derek didn’t call her in 2011 or 2012.  There’s no mention of the Dead Pool and Scott being worth $25 million dollars, which might draw the attention of the Hale Corporation.   Only Deaton is the culprit here for not doing what a good house servant should.

And this story is super popular.   Really, really popular.   Scott and those ignorant teenagers are going to get taught by this woman who walks in and takes command even though she’s never been in Beacon Hills for any of the other shit, because well, you know Rich and White.   

I seethed at this story, and I can’t imagine what it is like to be a minority fan of this show and see everyone who looks like me treated like garbage, but Stiles is, to quote the story “like Gandalf” and Jackson is wonderful and Derek is a poor sad woobie, and that’s WHAT THIS PERSON SEES AS FIXING TEEN WOLF.  Latinos are stupid and unworthy; Asians (and I’m using the generic word on purpose) belong elsewhere; and Black People?  Well, evil.  Evil. Evil. Evil.  Or Dead.  Or gone.    

Which is why sometimes I know I need to keep my mouth shut.

[gyakutengagotoku]

GS4 vs AJ:AA - Episode 2, Part 4

I don’t want to start every one of these posts with an apology about being late again, so I’m just going to apologize to my eyes for keeping open this long. They burn, still do. I was tempted to count this day as another “unannounced sick leave” day, but I persevered for you all. You’re welcome.

And, uh, I’m just gonna leave a joke here that no one will get until they click the Read More link.

“What do you call a distressed lawyer who’d forgotten his badge in his house?” “Oh, darn, ok... house key.”

10/19/20 edit: Oh, nooo! I can’t believe I forgot to revisit the Detention Center! I’ve corrected this grave error. Now it’s complete. Also, since this case is a bit free-form in how it progresses, I’m just going the order I went the first time I played, or close enough to it.

--

> Wright Anything Agency

> Examine: piano

<Apollo> ピアノの上に、奇妙な 道具が並べられている。 There are all sorts of strange paraphernalia sitting on top of the piano.

<Apollo> これだけ道具があるんだから、 何かマジックやってみせてよ。 It seems a shame to have all these props and not do a trick or two.

<Trucy> いいですよー！ You asked for it!

<Mr. Hat> また会いましたね。 ビックリくん、でしたか。 Heeeey, Mr. Righteous, was it? Wakka wakka!

<Trucy> ちがうよ。オドロキくんだよ。 “王泥喜　法介”！ Justice, Mr. Hat! Apollo Justice.

<Mr. Hat> ああ。“汚泥鬼　呆助” Just is? Apollo just is what? That's what I want to know!

<Trucy> “ドロ”しか合ってないよ！ Oh, you're hopeless!

<Apollo> ‥‥そいつはもういいよ。 ...Please, make it stop.

"It seems we meet again. Bikkuri-kun, was it?" [also means shock] "No, no. It's Odoroki-kun. 'Odoroki Housuke'!" "Ah, I see. 'Ohdorokie Housekey'." "You only got the 'doro' part right!"

...Anyway, if you look at the JP script above, you can see Boushi-kun got all the kanji wrong, though it's still pronounced the same way. Also, it's funnier when you realize Minuki just called him 'mud' because that's actually part of his name.

> Examine: silk hat

<Apollo> みぬきちゃんと同じ、 ブルーのシルクハットだ。 A blue silk top hat, just like the one Trucy's wearing.

<Trucy> それは、みぬきのイメージカラー 《ミヌキー・ブルー》です！ It's my trademark color! Trucy Blue!

<Apollo> ‥‥勝手に“色”を 自分のものにするなよ。 I don't think you can trademark the color blue.

<Trucy> やっぱり、ステージに立つ人間は、 目立たないとアレですから。 Standing out is everything when you're up on stage!

ほら。オドロキさんだって、 キメてるじゃないですか。 Bet you didn't know you've got your own color, too, Apollo!

全身《オドロー・レッド》で！ Crimson Justice!

<Apollo> ‥‥おどり出したくなるような、 おどろおどろしいような。 You make me sound like some second-rate superhero.

<Trucy> でしょー？ At least it's better than being a first-rate super zero!

"Look, it's obvious what yours is too. A full-body 'Odoro Red'!" "...I'm guessing you'd want me to dance or be super flashy." "Right?"

Fyi, "おどり出す" (odoridasu) means "to break into dance" and "おどろおどろしい" (odoro'odoroshii) means "eerie" or "exaggerated"; basically not being subtle at all.

> Examine: plate of spaghetti

<Apollo> 喫茶店のショーウインドウで おなじみ、ロウ細工のスパゲティだ。 A dish of plastic spaghetti like some restaurants put on display.

そういえば、こんなの どこから持ってきたの？ Where did you get this, anyway?

<Trucy> パパからの誕生日プレゼントです！ It was a birthday present from Daddy!

うれしかったなあ‥‥ ずーっと欲しかったから。 I was so happy... You don't know how long I wanted one of these!

その夜は、抱いたまま寝ちゃって、 ヘシ折っちゃいました。スパゲティ。 I fell asleep with it, cradled in my arms, and the spaghetti bent!

<Apollo> （意外に女の子のウケがいいのかな。 　こういうの‥‥） (Mental note: What she really wants for her next birthday: A bowl of plastic food...)

"(I guess this kind of thing is really popular with girls...)"

If anything, it's really popular with girls who work with attorneys at this firm... usually they ask for some sorts of noodles, or some saucy meat in buns if you count the EN versions.

> Examine: table

<Apollo> 手品用のテーブルの上に、 ポットが置いてある。 A hot water pot sits on a magic table.

このテーブル、 どうしてこんなに脚が細いのかな。 Why is the stand for this table so flimsy looking?

<Trucy> ‥‥うーん。 カッコイイから、かなあ。 ...Hmm. Maybe it looks better that way?

<Apollo> ‥‥もっと、おもしろい コタエを期待してたのに。 ...I was hoping for a more professional explanation.

<Trucy> ‥‥うーん。 Well...

シカケがないコトを 見せるため、とか？ Maybe to show that there's no tricks involved?

<Apollo> ‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥ マトモだね。 ... Not bad.

<Trucy> ‥‥アタリマエのコト 言っちゃ、ダメなのかなあ。 I still think it's just that it looks better that way.

The last two lines were: "......Well, that was pretty honest." "...I think giving the obvious answer would be against the rules, though."

Btw, I can see why they translated Apollo's line as "Not bad", since 'matomo' can be used in contexts where someone is giving something a "decent" rating. I just think Minuki's next line makes it more clear about what he means, though with the changed context, it's only fair Trucy's last line here is changed too.

> Examine: Charley

<Apollo> 観葉植物のチャーリーくんだ。 It's Charley, the houseplant.

ずっと前から、この事務所で 育てられているらしい。 They've had it for years, apparently.

<Trucy> “くん”なんて、シツレイです！ “先輩”って呼ぶの。 That's "Mr. Charley" to you! He's been here longer, after all.

<Apollo> ‥‥は、はあ。 ...Right, sorry.

<Trucy> チャーリー先輩、すみません。 レイギを知らない新人でして。 I'm sorry, Mr. Charley. He was raised by a tribe of heathens.

<Apollo> （水をやりながら、 　なんか言ってるぞ‥‥） (She's saying something to the plant as she waters it...)

<Trucy> あ。それから。アイサツは “おはようございます”ですから。 Mr. Charley forgives you. This time.

<Apollo> ‥‥そういえばココ、 芸能事務所だったっけ。 ...Is there anything else I might do to please His High Leafiness?

Huh, I've spotted a legitimate mistake in translation for once: Apollo's line in (). For reference: "It's Charley-kun, the houseplant. They've been raising it for a long time in this office." "'Kun'!? That's so rude! Call him 'senpai'!" "...Right, sorry." "I'm sorry, Charley-senpai. He's just a newbie who doesn't know his manners." "(She says to it, as she waters it...)" "Oh. From here on, you'll greet him with a 'Good Morning, senpai', okay?" "...Oh yeah, this is a talent agency, isn't it?"

10/10/20 edit: Thanks, Ash. Tweaked Odoroki’s last line here to make it clearer what he means. It’s customary in talent/entertainment agencies to uphold a stricter code of seniority, especially one with a reputation. It seems it’s also customary for staff to say “Good morning” as a general greeting regardless of what time of day it is. The only reason Odoroki forgot his place is because he’s still used to thinking this place is a law firm.

> Talk: Wocky's Father

<Alita> なんかね。今の組長さん、 極道から足を洗おうとしてるの。 Did you know that the boss is trying to get out of the business?

<Apollo> え。そうなんですか！ （極道を‥‥やめる？） R-Really? (Mr. Kitaki wants to quit being a gangster!?)

<Alita> フツウの企業に生まれ変わろうと しているみたい。 He's trying to transfer his assets into a normal company.

滝太クンのお父さんがね。 最近、急に言い出して‥‥ He only announced it recently, out of the blue...

組員のヒトたちも、ずいぶん とまどってるみたい。 I hear there's quite a lot of confusion in the ranks.

<Apollo> （そういえば‥‥似合わない 　エプロンをつけてたな‥‥） (Hmm. I wonder if this explains that apron?)

‥‥でも、それ。 滝太さんは反対しそうですね。 ...I can't imagine Wocky going along with that.

<Alita> ふふ。あのヒト、 やんちゃなトコロがあるから。 Hee hee. He's highly motivated, isn't he?

<Apollo> “やんちゃ”って 感じじゃないですけど。 Um, that's not the word I would have used.

<Alita> 『オレが組長になって、 　ゼッタイ極道をつづける！』って。 He said, "I'll be the next Big Boss, and keep the Family alive."

ちょっぴり、背伸びしたい オトシゴロなんですよね。 I think he's at that age when boys want to make a mark on the world.

<Apollo> （ややこしそうだもんな。 　あの親子） (That's not the way I would have put it...)

Fyi, she uses "yancha", or "naughty kid", to describe him.

The last line here: "(What a complicated father-son relationship.)"

>

<Alita> 最近、すごーく 儲けてるの。キタキツネ一家。 His father moves in a lot of circles... He's really focused on profits.

滝太クンのお父さん、 いろんな世界にカオがきくから。 The Kitaki Family's been making a killing recently!

<Apollo> （たいした人物らしいな。 　滝太クンのお父さん‥‥） (Again, not the way I would have put it...)

<Alita> 滝太クン。『極道がカネ儲けに 走ったらオシマイだ』って。 But Wocky says it's not about the money. They have the gangster tradition to uphold.

<Trucy> それって、アレですね！ Ooh, a generation gap!

“ぜねれーしょん・ぎゃっぷ” ‥‥ってヤツ。 They've even got the ever classic "what about the family business" thing going...

<Apollo> ふつう、父と子の主張は 逆だけどね。 Usually, it's the father worried about tradition...

The first three lines here: "Lately, they've been making soo much, the Kitakitsune Family. Takita-kun's father holds a lot of influence in lots of places, after all." "(His father sure seems like a big deal, alright...)"

> Present anything to Alita

<Alita> ごめんなさい‥‥わたし。 事件のこと、詳しくはわからないの。 I'm sorry, I don't know much about the case.

わたしにできることは少ないし、 あなただけが頼りなの。 I... I feel so helpless. You're my only hope.

滝太クンのこと助けてあげてね‥‥ Please, help my Wocky-Pocky...

Hahaha, she said "Pocky". I just imagined Wocky-style Pocky sticks and I want some. I bet they'd have some foxy designs on that choco...

Ahem, sorry. I just wanted to share. She doesn't call him anything different here in the JP either.

> Move: Detention Center

<Apollo> よし。河津さんの話を聞いてみよう。 ‥‥ちょっと疲れそうだけど。 Alright. Let's have a little chat with Mr. Stickler. (I hope I don't regret this.)

<Trucy> 貴重な“目撃者”ですからね！ He is a valuable witness!

<Apollo> （まあ‥‥ある種“貴重な” 　目撃者だよな、アレは‥‥） (He is a bit "precious", I'll give him that.)

<Stickler> なんなのですか‥‥ ワタクシはこれで、忙しいのですよ。 Please, keep this brief, if you would. I'm quite busy.

今日中に、論文の構成をまとめ‥‥ ムムッ！　アナタがたはッ！ I need to finish this paper... Nyurk! I-It's you!!!

<Apollo> ‥‥河津さん。 お話をうかがいに来ました。 ...Mr. Stickler. We'd like to have a few words with you.

<Stickler> ‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥ ......

‥‥まあ、いいでしょう。 手短にお願いしますよ。 ...Very well. As long as they're few.

<Apollo> （立ち直りが早いな‥‥） (Nothing would make me happier, believe me.)

“(He sure was fast to return to form...)”

> Examine: guard

<Apollo> 面会のようすを監視する看守だ。 A security guard. He stands here, watching this room.

オレたちの話を聞いているのか いないのか‥‥‥。 I have no idea if he's listening to us talk.

まったく、表情が変わらない。 I'm not even sure he's breathing.

That’s a bit harsh there... It was just “His expression doesn’t change at all.”

> Talk: Panty Theft

<Trucy> みぬきのパンツのシカケを 知りたかっただけですもんね。 You wanted to know the trick to my panties, right?

<Stickler> あ、あなたはッ！ Y-You're here, too!?

<Trucy> ‥‥？ ...?

<Stickler> どうか、あなたを “先生”と呼ばせてくださいッ！ Oh, Great Trucy! Teach me!

<Trucy> ええっ！ Eh!?

<Stickler> なんとかして 教えていただけないか！ I must know the secret of your panties!

ワタクシの人生を狂わせた、 あのパンツのナゾをッ！ My very existence hangs in the balance!

なんなら、このワタクシを あなたサマの“弟子”にッ！ Please, make me your apprentice!

<Trucy> オドロキさん！ なんとかしてください！ Apollo! Help!

<Apollo> いいんじゃない？ カッコウもマジシャンぽいし。 I dunno, I think he'd make a great "lovely assistant".

<Trucy> そんなムセキニンな‥‥ Don't say that, Apollo...

Hahaha! He straight up called her “Sensei”. That’s kinda cute if I’m being honest.

Odoroki’s last line here: “Why not? His uniform kinda looks like a magician’s outfit too.”

> Present: anything

<Apollo> ‥‥‥‥‥‥‥ ...

（‥‥証拠品、見てくれない） (...Fine, ignore my evidence. See if I care.)

（おおかた、パンツのナゾの 　コタエを考えているのだろう） (I wonder what he's thinki... On second thought, let's not go there.)

Actually, Odoroki has a pretty good idea: “(He’s probably still thinking about solving the mystery of those panties.)”

> (optional at any time) Return to W.A.A. to talk to Trucy

> Present Magic Panties

<Trucy> スゴイでしょ、みぬきのパンツ！ 法廷でも大カツヤクでしたよね！ Aren't my panties amazing? They were a big hit in court.

<Apollo> （たしかに。今日の裁判の 　決め手になったもんな‥‥） (They were the star player of the day, that's true.)

<Trucy> 明日の法廷も、 みぬきにおまかせです！ What should I show them in court tomorrow!?

<Apollo> （毎回、パンツにたよる弁護士には 　なりたくないな‥‥） (If only I could count on panties to save the day every day...)

The last two lines: "You can leave it to me to make a show in tomorrow's trial too!" "(I've had enough of being known as the 'panties attorney' these days, thanks...)"

I know nothing about that, I swear.

> Move: Eldoon's House

<Guy> 屋台が“現場”って どーいうコトよ！ How can a noodle stand be a crime scene, that's what I don't get, Trucy-doll!

あのヤロウ、死んでまでもヒトの 商売のジャマをしやがって‥‥ Even in death he's after my neck, I tell ya! Bah!

ワシが、そんなに しょっぱいってか！ Can't even cook an honest noodle...

<Apollo> “あのヤロウ”‥‥ですか？ "He"...?

<Trucy> “死んでまで”というコトは‥‥ 被害者の宇狩院長さん、かなあ。 "Even in death"... You mean the victim, Dr. Meraktis?

<Guy> まあ、そんなワケでな。 I tell ya.

ワシのカオも《極みそ》並みに しょっぱくなっちまうワケよ。 It's enough to drive a man to make his soup even saltier.

<Apollo> （‥‥やれやれ。 　キゲンが悪いみたいだな‥‥） (Remind me never to eat his noodles when he's in a bad mood...)

"What do they mean, the noodle stand is the 'crime scene'!? That jerk, even in death he's in my way of a good sale... Not even I'm that salty!" "'That jerk'...?" "'Even in death'... You mean the victim, Dr. Ugari?" "Yeah, that's him. Makes me so salty that I could even rival my 'Extre-Miso'."

By the way, "Kiwami" means "Extreme"! ...But seriously, it shocked me how well I could fit "extreme" with "miso".

> Talk: Noodle Stand

<Guy> あの屋台はな。 矢田吹家の男児が代々、 That stand... For generations, it's served up the very best noodles us Eldoons could make.

ちぢれ麺と秘伝の“みそ”と ともに伝えてきたのだ。 A tradition of noodles and salty broth.

ある種、このあたりの歴史そのもの と言ってもいいシロモノなのだ。 It's more than a stand, it's history, I tell you.

<Apollo> （それは言いすぎだろう） (Watch what you say or it might become true...)

Originally, he said "(That might be pushing it a bit.)" Though, I gotta admit I like the way the loc team did it.

>

<Apollo> あの‥‥ムギツラさん。 Mr. Eldoon, I don't mean to pry...

あなたの、ムカシのお仕事って、 なんだったんですか？ ...but what exactly did you do before you became a chef?

<Guy> フン！　クチに出すのもイヤな、 ニガくてしょっぱい思い出だよ！ Bah! Let old noodles lie, that's what I say.

<Apollo> （なんとなく‥‥ 　ハナシが見えてきたぞ） (I'm starting to get an idea of what he did, anyway.)

<Guy> とにかく！　トナリのオヤジは、 ワシから夢を奪って死んだのさ！ He stole my dreams and left me with nothin' but noodles.

《営業停止》という、 ドえらいメーワクを残してな！ And now I don't even have that!

Originally, he answered: "Hmph! Even saying it aloud brings back horribly bitter, salty memories!" "(I'm starting to get an idea of what he did, anyway.)" "Anyway! That geezer next door stole my dreams dead, he did! And I was left with a big, fat 'Business Suspension'!"

> Talk: Meraktis Clinic

<Guy> 個人の医院にしちゃ、 リッパなモンだろ？ He's the only doctor at that clinic, you know. Pretty impressive, eh?

ヤツは、成功するために ヤクザたちと手を組んだのだ！ I'll tell you the secret to his success... The mob!

<Apollo> やくざ‥‥��いうと、 《キタキツネ一家》ですか？ You mean... the Kitaki Family?

<Guy> 連中、“抗争”とか言って ケンカが多くてな。 They're always having one of them "turf wars" or whatnot.

ケガ人が絶えなかったのさ。 そこに目をつけたのが、あの宇狩だ。 Always an injury or two that needs fixing. Meraktis saw a chance for some business.

《キタキツネ割引》という サービスを始めた。 So he started giving the Kitaki Family a good deal...

<Apollo> わりびき‥‥ A deal...?

<Guy> きっと、先代の知恵の結晶‥‥ Every fifth operation for free!

《やたぶき屋スタンプ割引》の アイデアをパクったんだよ！ He stole the idea from my pops! One free bowl of noodles a week, he used to say.

To clarify, it seems the noodle stand tradition was to provide customers a stamp discount. I'm not sure if it's standard or not, but most shops I know that have stamp discounts count by fives or tens, so on the 5th or 10th purchase, there's a discount or some special deal that comes with it.

> Talk: Former Profession

<Apollo> オヤジさん。もしかして、 “ムカシの職業”って‥‥ Mr. Eldoon... or should I say "Dr. Eldoon"...

<Guy> ‥‥バレちまったみたいだな。 Figured it out, did ya?

そう、ワシは外科医だった。 おととしまでな。 That's right, I was a doctor. A surgeon... until the year before last.

<Trucy> じゃあ。宇狩さんは、アレですね？ “しゅくめいのらいばる”ってヤツ。 So Mr. Meraktis was your rival?

<Guy> ‥‥アンタ。 ラーメンのネギは好きかい？ ...You like those onions they put in the soup broth?

<Apollo> え。はあ。ワリと。 Um, yeah, kind of.

<Guy> ちりれんげでスープを飲むと、 かならずネギがまじっている。 You take a spoon, you drink some broth... Those onions will find their way in there.

ネギ好きにはたまらないが、 ネギ嫌いにもたまらない。 For people who like 'em, why that's just fine. For people who hate 'em...

‥‥ワシは、 ネギが大ッキライなんだッ！ ...I hate onions. Hate 'em!

いちいち、よけいなところで 味わいのジャマをしてくさる！ Always sneaking in from the side, gettin' in the way of a good tastin' spoonful.

アイツがそうだった！ 宇狩のネギボウズがッ！ Well, that's what he was. An onion! Onion-boy, that's what I called 'im.

And to clarify here, it's usually green onion, or scallion as some chefs prefer to call it, that you'd find in soup broths. Personally, I love that stuff and grew up with soups where my mom would add it all the time, no matter what soup she was making.

Fun fact: "たまらない" (tamaranai) can change its meaning to the opposite side depending on the context. If you mean it positively, it's "irresistible"; if negatively, it's "unbearable". Basically, there's a strong response of some kind.

> Move: People Park

<Apollo> あれ。なんか、 ちょっと印象がちがうような‥‥ Huh? Does something about this scene look different to you?

<Trucy> きのうは、地面に青いシートが 敷いてありましたから。 The blue tarps are gone! Maybe that's it?

<Apollo> ああ、そうだっけ。 あ。あそこ。 Yeah, I think you're right. Look over there.

<Trucy> きのうの、白い刑事さんですね。 The white-frocked detective from yesterday.

ゴミ箱に向かって土下座して、 必死にあやまってます。 She seems to be apologizing reverently... to the trash can.

<Apollo> ‥‥カワイソウに。 きっと、捜査が進まなくて‥‥ She's... under a lot of stress.

すこし、アタマがおかしく なっちゃったんだな。 The investigation's probably not going so well.

By "apologizing reverently", they mean she's prostrate before the trash can. More likely, she was just head-down focused on tracing those footprints, but to be honest, I get that feeling a lot, especially lately. Straining your eyes on little things or bright screens for such a long time...

>

<Ema> ちょっと！　アンタたち！ Hey, you there!

ナイショ話なら、聞こえないように やってくれないかなあ。 If you're going to talk about someone behind their back, do it more quietly, please!

<Apollo> あ。刑事さん、どうも。 Oh, Detective Skye. Hello.

<Trucy> なんか、今日も ゴキゲンななめみたいですね。 You seem as gloomy as ever.

<Ema> ホント、最低ね。 新しい道具はうまくいかないし。 This is miserable! Miserable! I just got a new kit, and I can't get the stuff to work.

じゃらじゃらした おニイさんには、やさしくされるし。 And everyone's all smiles for that glimmerous fop.

<Trucy> じゃらじゃら‥‥？ 牙琉検事さんのコト、かな。 Glimmerous...? Does she mean Prosecutor Gavin?

<Apollo> ふつう“ちゃらちゃらした” って言うんじゃあ‥‥ More to the point, doesn't she mean "glamorous"?

<Ema> あのヒトが歩くと、クサリが じゃらじゃら鳴って、気になるの。 When he walks his shiny chains catch the sun and glimmer in my eyes! It's distracting.

さくさくさくさくさくさくさくさく さくさくさくさくさくさくさくさく。 MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH

<Apollo> （この刑事さんが歩くと、 　さくさく言って、気になるな） (Speaking of distracting...)

It pains me to admit that "glimmerous" is not a real word, but in my heart it is.

Anyway, originally the word Akane used was "jarajara", which is onomatopoeia for a jingle-jangle sound. Odoroki tries to correct her with "charachara", which also can mean the same thing, but also can refer to "flirty" or "flashy" types. She specifies she means "jarajara" because his chain necklace keeps jingle-jangling around her.

> Talk: Prosecutor Gavin

<Ema> ちょっと、合わないんだよね。 I won't lie, I'm not fond of the man.

ああいう、 じゃらじゃらしたタイプは。 Those glimmerous types always rub me the wrong way.

<Apollo> “ちゃらちゃら”‥‥ね。 "Glamorous"... right.

<Ema> やっぱり検事さんはこう、クールで ちょっとミケンにシワ寄せて‥‥ A prosecutor should be cool of wit and furrowed of brow.

“じゃらじゃら”より “ひらひら”した感じが理想よね！ Less "glimmerous" and more "simmerous"... you know?

<Apollo> ‥‥まったく イメージがわかないなあ。 ...No, actually, I don't.

She wants less "jarajara" and more "hirahira" from her prosecutors. I'm sure you all know that "fluttery" sound by now.

> Talk: Ema, reject her offer

<Apollo> ‥‥今は、やめておきます。 失敗したら、悪いし。 I think I'll pass. Wouldn't want to waste a kit if I messed up.

<Ema> うーん、困ったなー‥‥ 手を借りたかったのに。 Really? That's too bad... I really could use the help.

<Trucy> えー！　やりたいな、みぬき。 トクイなのに。手打ちうどんとか。 Aww, I want to try! It'll be just like making pancakes in the dirt!

<Apollo> （あとで気が変わったら、 　やらせてもらおうかな‥‥） (I guess I can always talk to her again if I change my mind...)

Aw, Minuki mentioned it'd be like pounding up udon dough. (Who knew that udon dough would become a lot more relevant down the line in a future game...)

> Accept it, examine any set of prints

<Ema> あ。そのカオ。 I know that face.

なんか“見つけた” みたいなカオしてるね。 That's the face of someone who's made... a discovery!

<Trucy> あれ。 やっぱり、わかっちゃいます？ Hey, how did you know?

<Ema> ふふん。 科学捜査官の目をナメちゃダメね。 You can't fool someone trained in the ways of science!

<Apollo> （そこは“カガク”は 　関係ないと思うけど） (Next she'll have us analyzing face prints...)

<Trucy> とにかく。宝月刑事さんに おねがいしちゃいましょうよ！ Let's ask Detective Skye to help us, Apollo!

Originally: "(I doubt her eyes had much 'scientific' procedure to do.)"

> Examine smooth footprint, present wrongly

<Ema> ‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥ あたしがナニ食べてるか、わかる？ ... Know what I'm eating?

<Apollo> まあ‥‥ カリントウ、ですよね？ Um... Snacks?

<Ema> あたしね。フキゲンなときは、 カリントウ食べるの。知ってた？ Snacks. More precisely, whenever I'm in a bad mood, I eat chocolate Snackoos.

<Apollo> ‥‥それは、知りませんでした。 ...I had no idea.

<Trucy> たぶん、オドロキさんのコタエが ちがった、ってコトでしょうね。 I think she means you picked the wrong evidence, Apollo.

<Apollo> （まわりくどいな） (...I had no idea.)

Ah, here it is, the origin of Snackoos. They were "karintou" before, which are a kind of crispy, bite-sized, brown-sugary cookie sticks. On the occasion, you can find a few bags at your local Asian supermarket.

> Present: slippers, get Ema's permission to investigate

> Move: Detention Center

<Wocky> はーい、お待たせ！ ボクのかわいいペテン師ちゃん！ Yo, 'sup, my little imposter!

<Trucy> きゃあッ！ な。な。なんですかッ！ Eeek! Wh-What did you call me?

<Wocky> うお！　な。なんだ。アンタかよ。 美波ちゃんだと思ったぜ！ Dizzam! It's you!? Sorry, G, thought you were Alita.

<Trucy> コイビトを“ペテン師” 呼ばわりしてるんですか？ "My little imposter" sure is a strange nickname.

<Wocky> あれ？　そんな感じで言うだろ、 シャバのヤツらは。 It's a clink thang. You wouldn't understand.

ええと‥‥ あ。“堕天使ちゃん”か？ D-Did I say "imposter"? I meant "poster"... like "poster girl", 'aight?

<Trucy> “ペ”や“だ”は いらないと思いますけど。 If you're going to drop part of that, why not drop "poster" and just call her "girl"?

<Wocky> とにかくよォ！　オレにとっちゃ 弁天サマなワケよ、ある種。 Cause she's so much more than that, G. She's like... She's like an angel. A fallen angel.

The localizers got lucky here that the word “imposter” is close enough to “poster” to make that joke. The joke had to be changed from Japanese, since it was more wordplay. Takita actually made a mistake; he meant to call her “ 堕天使ちゃん” (datenshi-chan), like a “fallen angel”, but called her “ペテン師ちゃん” (petenshi-chan), “imposter”/”swindler”, at first.

Then, Minuki says: “I don’t think you need to add the ‘pe’ or the ‘da’, though.” “Anyway! She’s like Benten-sama to me, in a way.”

Benten, or more formally Benzaiten, is the Japanese name of the Buddhist Goddess of Wisdom (and sometimes as Shinto Kami) who often is seen holding a biwa, a Japanese lute. She was originally based off of the Hindu Goddess of Wisdom Sarasvati, whose name was honored in ancient Chinese Buddhist texts as the religion carried over and later to Japan.

>

<Wocky> ば、バカ言うなよ！ オトコってヤツはなァ。 M-Man... I ain't trying to hear that!

タイセツなものを守るために戦って、 それで死ねるなら本望なんだ！ A man fights to protect what's valuable to him, you know what I'm saying?

<Wocky> ミナミちゃんに会いてえよォ。 つれてきてくれよォ！ ...I miss my fallen angel!

アンタ、オレの ベンゴシなんだろォ？ Hey, you go get Alita for me. You're my lawyer, aren't you?

<Apollo> （やれやれ‥‥ 　世話の焼ける依頼人だな） (Lawyer, not gopher...)

“(*sigh*... What a troublesome client.)”

> Talk: Alita Tiala

<Apollo> 来月、ケッコンされるそうですね。 So, I hear you're to be married next month?

<Wocky> そうさ！　 もう、サカヅキはかわしてるんだ。 Straight up! We poured the nuptial 40 out on the stoop!

ミナミちゃんも、来月からは ウチの一家さ。サイコーだよな！ Alita! Oh, snapplecakes! She soooo foine!

<Apollo> （ヤレヤレ‥‥ 　そうとうホレてるみたいだな） (I think he's smitten with her in his own weird way.)

Man, how could I have left out most of Wocky’s wonderful swag-talk...

By the way, Takita mentions how they even exchanged sake cups. This practice is a pretty big deal in Japan and one that most people wouldn’t do lightly. There’s usually a solemn oath to be made with such an exchange. It doesn’t have to be between lovers getting married; just between two (or more) people who swear to abide by some social contract.

And guess what, it’s the very same practice that Yakuza are renowned for doing when they swear brotherhood among their ranks. One does not simply become “kyoudai” without some serious exchange of... Wait. I can clearly remember someone in a Yakuza game who was kinda “ok” about things and it happened. Okay, it’s usually the case anyway.

> Talk: Kitaki Family

<Wocky> 極道ってのは“ワル”の道だ。 “ワル”にこそオトコの美学がある。 Life in the Family is a G thang. It's about being a man.

‥‥わかるだろ？ ...You know what I'm saying?

<Trucy> みぬき、女の子だから。 わかんないなあ。 Sorry, I'm not up on my G things. I'm not even sure what a G thing is...

“I’m a girl so, no, I don’t get it.”

>

<Wocky> オヤジのヤツ。ここ最近、 急に弱気になっちまってさ。 But my old man, he's gone soft.

《切った張ったの時代は 　もうオシマイだ》なんて言ってよ。 He says the old rival gang days are over. He just wants to make money!

<Trucy> いいじゃないですか。 Isn't that a good thing?

<Wocky> バカ言え！　カネもうけに、 なんの美学があるんだよ！ Man, there ain't no soul in making money!

ワルってのはな。スカッと生きて、 アッサリ死ぬもんさ。 Better to live fast and die young. Fo'shizzle!

<Apollo> （やれやれ‥‥） (*sigh*...)

There’s actually an important point his dad makes here, about how the gang war days are over. While he certainly is referring to the way that the Kitaki Family is going legal again, it’s also true to modern Japanese history.

While the 80s had a huge economic boom and Yakuza were likely all up in that biz, it led to a huge bubble that collapsed and a depression that lasted through the 90s. Though Japan was still relatively quick to recover, through the 2000s and on, Japan entered into a period of changing politics and much more governmental intervention. For the once very profitable and romantically dramatized Yakuza, renowned as the “necessary evil” to keep petty crimes off the street, future prospects weren’t nearly so hot for them anymore, and their MO had to change. Some formerly Yakuza-run Big Zaibutsu Biz went completely legal and stand to this day. Even as a concept, the Yakuza gradually fizzled out in popularity in public opinion. Only traces of their former glory remain in crime drama series and games like this.

And then there’s the Yakuza series and their memes.

>

<Wocky> 見てな。 オレが組長になったら。 Wait till I run the yard. Then everyone'll know what time it is.

《ワルい奴ら》のカッコイイ世界を 作ってやるぜ！ That's right! O.G. time all the time. Represent!

<Trucy> “ワル”はどうかと思うけど。 夢があるって、イイですよね。 Apollo, why does he keep talking about "Old Guys"?

<Apollo> （平和な子だよな‥‥） I don't think that's what "O.G." means, Trucy.

The last two lines: “I don’t know much about being ‘bad’, but it’s nice that he has a dream to follow.” “(Such a peaceful kid...)”

> Talk: Pal Meraktis

<Wocky> 公園で、ヤツと出くわした。 なぜか‥‥屋台を引いていた。 When I run into him in the park... and he's dragging this noodle stand behind him!

<Trucy> あの。滝太さんが “要求”したんじゃないですか？ Wait, you didn't put him up to that?

ほら、アレ。 “みのしろきん”感覚で。 Like, you know, in the movies?

『イノチがおしければ、 　屋台を引いてこい』みたいな！ "If you value your life, you'll bring the stand..."

<Wocky> ‥‥ムジャキなカオで くだらねえコトを聞くな。 ...Shorty, you're more wacked than I am. And that's saying something.

<Trucy> ううう‥‥みぬき、 シンケンだったのに。 ...But I was serious!

Wacked, indeed. Or as it was originally: “...Don’t gimme that stupid crap while lookin’ so innocent-like.”

> Present: anything

<Wocky> ‥‥‥‥‥‥ふーん。 いいんじゃねえの。 ... Yeah, whatever.

<Apollo> （何か別のコトを考えてるな。 　ちゃんと見てないぞ） (He seems preoccupied... I'm not sure he even looked at my evidence...)

<Wocky> ‥‥ミナミちゃん。 会いてえなあ。 Alita, man. Alita.

“...Minami-chan, I wanna see you again, babe.”

> Move: Meraktis Clinic

> Examine: reception desk

<Apollo> 病院の受付だ。 当然だけど、ダレもいない。 The clinic reception desk. No one's here, of course.

カウンターに、標語のような ものが張り出されている。 There's a small sign on the counter...

《ココロとカラダに 　やさしい、明朗会計を》 "Please pay your bill: Remember, we're the ones holding the scalpel."

‥‥深いな。意外に。 Brutal... but effective.

Originally, the sign read: "Treat your heart and body well with a honest bill." So it has a similar message, but isn't as directly threatening.

> Move: People Park, ask about print analysis, present slippers & sandals

> Move: Meraktis Clinic, then its Office

> Examine: cabinets

<Apollo> うわ！　なんだコレ！ Whoa! What are those?

カベ一面、ビーカーで 埋めつくされてるぞ‥‥ The wall is covered with beakers...

<Trucy> きゃあああッ！ 中で何かが動いてますッ！ Eeeeek! Something's moving inside that one!

‥‥オドロキさん！　みぬきの かわりに、見てくださいッ！ ...You look, Apollo!

<Apollo> そ。そういうのは、自分の 目でたしかめなよ！　‥‥あれ。 H-Hey, look yourself! You can't... Oh.

‥‥なんだ。金魚じゃないか。 ...It's a goldfish.

<Trucy> わあ！　他にも、 いろいろなお魚がいます！ Wow, they're all fish! So many kinds!

<Apollo> （まったく‥‥ヒト騒がせな 　���ンテリアだな‥‥） (Whoever designed this had a sick sense of humor...)

That "sick sense of humor" must be from someone who likes to cause trouble or raise false alarms... Basically, a troll.

Oh wait, Meraktis definitely was a troll. He trolled Eldoon since they were kids and kept doing it even in death. Man was a master troll to the end... Normally, I don't respect trolls, but I can make an exception for someone who dedicated his whole life (and death) to the trade.

> Examine: safe, present fingerprint set, enter code

> Examine: papers

<Trucy> これは‥‥ カルテ、ですね。たぶん。 This looks like... a medical chart.

レントゲン写真といっしょに、 １組だけ入ってます。 There's an X-ray in here with it.

<Apollo> レントゲン写真‥‥か。 見てもイミがわからないな。 An X-ray...? Hmm, can't make heads or tails of it.

‥‥カルテも読めないし。 ドイツ語だから。 And I can't read the chart either, it's all in medical- speak.

Interestingly, this medical chart is written in German. I know historically, Japan had quite a long-term relationship with Germany even before the advent of WWII, and German engineering influenced quite a bit of Japan's growth in industry before the US came along, so the Japanese still have a few words borrowed from German and other European languages, especially in regards to scientific terms.

Case in point: "karute" from Karte, which is German for "map". The transition isn't perfect, of course.

10/10/20 edit: I blame Google Translate for this. So it can mean “map”, but it also can be used for “charts” in general, including medical ones. Though, “karute” in JP is used exclusively to refer to medical charts.

>

<Trucy> でも、名前のトコは日本語です。 患者さんの名前‥‥《北木　滝太》 But, the names are easy enough to read. Look, by "Patient" it says... "Wocky Kitaki"!

<Trucy> あの滝太さん、ですよね。 ‥‥依頼人の。 So this is Wocky... our client's chart, huh.

<Apollo> どうして、このカルテが １組だけ、金庫に‥‥？ Why would this one chart be here in this safe...?

医師のサインは、ええと。 《担当医：宇狩　輝夫》か。 Let's see, the physician's signature says "Pal Meraktis".

え‥‥‥‥‥‥‥‥ Eh...

<Trucy> どうしたんですか？ オドロキさん。 What is it, Apollo?

<Apollo> こ。ここ‥‥ “カルテ処理”の担当者の欄‥‥ Look here where it says who filed the chart...

<Trucy> ええと。 担当看護師‥‥《並奈　美波》 Let's see... "Nurse Alita Tiala"...!

<Apollo> 滝太クンの婚約者、だよな。 なみなみなみなさん‥‥ Alita Tialita is Wocky's fiancée!

<Trucy> “な”が１コ多いです、 オドロキさん！ That's one "ita" too many, Apololo!

Ha. Alita's name in JP is "Namina Minami", last-first, and Odoroki added one too many na's to her name. Look at Trucy wrecking his name, though.

>

<Apollo> なんで、ここに彼女の名前が！ Never mind that, what's her name doing here!?

<Trucy> し。知りませんよ！ でも。名前があるってコトは‥‥ How should I know?

どうやら、この病院のスタッフ みたいですね。みなみさん。 Though... I guess it means she's on staff at this clinic?

<Apollo> ‥‥どうして、今まで 教えてくれなかったんだろう‥‥ Odd that she neglected to mention this before now...

<Trucy> それは‥‥ヤッパリ。 何かの理由があったんでしょうね。 I'm sure she had her reasons.

<Apollo> （‥‥なみなみなみさんは、 　宇狩外科医院のスタッフだった） (So Alita Tiala worked at the Meraktis Clinic...)

（しかも‥‥きたきたきたきの 　カルテを処理している‥‥） (And she had access to Wocki Kitaky's medical chart!)

<Trucy> “き”が１コ多いです、 オドロキさん！ You got the "I" and "Y" wrong, Appolo!

And Wocky's name is "Takita Kitaki", last-first, and Odoroki added one too many ki's this time. Look at Trucy still wrecking his name. Now I can't unsee "Apollo" as looking weird.

> (optional) Move: People Park

> Present: lamp

<Apollo> そうだ。 このスタンド、見てもらえますか？ Say, could you take a look at this lamp?

<Ema> あれ。電球が割れてるね。 Hmm. The bulb's broken.

<Apollo> そうなんです。 ちょっとオカシイですよね。 Right. Strange, isn't it?

<Ema> うーん。そう？　あたし、 よく割れるけどな。電球。 Really? I break bulbs all the time.

デスクが散らかってるからね。 すぐ落ちるの。スタンド。 My desk is a mess and my lamp is always falling over. ...Not too bright, huh?

<Apollo> （問題外だな、それは‥‥） (Ouch...)

<Trucy> ちょっと、気になりますよねー‥‥ I still think it's kind of odd...

I swear this bit about the lamp falling over is a direct reference to Turnabout Sisters. Emphasis on the word "stand" too. Odoroki even said: "(That's practically unthinkable...)"

> Move: Eldoon's House

> Present: medical chart

<Trucy> あの。どうしたんですか？ ダマりこんで‥‥ Why the sudden silence, Mr. Eldoon?

<Guy> なんだ、こりゃ‥‥ どういうコトだよ、コレは！ What...? What's going on here!?

<Apollo> いやいや！ こっちが聞きたいですよ！ That's what we want to know!

その、カルテ‥‥ オレの依頼人のものなんですけど。 That chart belongs to my client.

<Trucy> 今、サツジンの容疑を かけられて、裁判を‥‥ He's on trial... On suspicion of murder.

<Guy> バカ言ってんじゃねェよ！ On trial! That's crazy!

そんなネムたいコト言ってたら‥‥ 死ぬぜ、このクランケ。 You can't put him on trial! He's ABD!

<Trucy> ‥‥くらんけ？ ...ABD?

<Guy> 患者だよ、カンジャ。 こいつは‥‥一刻を争う事態だ。 All but dead. He's knocking on the Pearly Gates, and someone's about to answer.

Originally, he refers to him as "kuranke", which is from the German word "Kranke", which means "sick".

For the record, no, I don't know German. Ironically, I have Google Translate to thank.

10/10/20 edit: Thanks have been revoked. The word actually means “patient”, not simply “sick” as an adjective.

> Move: Detention Center

<Wocky> はーい、お待たせ！ ボクのかわいい堕天使ちゃん！ Don't cry angel, Daddy's back and Daddy's...

‥‥って。 またオマエらかよ！ ...Oh. You again.

<Apollo> あの。 毎回、その登場をするんですか？ Do you always have to announce your entrances like that?

Hey, he got it right this time, good for him.

<Wocky> まあな。さっきは オヤジにやっちまってさァ。 Man, my old man, he... Man!

かなり気まずいムードに なっちまったぜ！ Now I'm all in a funk, and it's his fault.

<Apollo> （‥‥そのケイケンから 　何か学んでほしいな‥‥） (One can only assume that his father tried to teach him a lesson. And failed, clearly.)

<Wocky> それにしても。 アンタらも、ゴクロウだよな。 You two got your work cut out for you, straight up.

オレはもう、 カクゴはできてるってのにさ！ Course I don't care if they lock me up. I'm ready to go!

<Apollo> （やれやれ‥‥有罪になる気 　マンマンだな） (Some days, I wonder why I do what I do.)

“(Oh, boy... He’s sure pumped up about being convicted.)”

> Present: medical chart, then talk about Alita again

<Trucy> ‥‥《宇狩外科医院》ですね？ ...The Meraktis Clinic?

<Wocky> そこでさ。出会っちまったワケよ。 オレだけの堕天使ちゃんに。 That's where I met her. My fallen angel...

<Apollo> 並奈　美波さん‥‥ですか。 You mean Alita Tiala?

<Wocky> 最初は、オレのコト、 コワがってたみたいなんだけどさ。 She was scared of me at first, turns out.

ひかれちまったんだろうなァ。 オレの“悪”のミリョクに！ But you know what they say -- the bad guy always gets the ladies.

<Apollo> はあ‥‥ Right...

I try not to waste entry space, but I was just reminded of a certain song about “Why good girls always like bad boys?”, but mixed with “How baa-a-a-ad can I be?” and I hate it, thanks.

> Present: anything else

<Wocky> ‥‥‥‥‥‥ふーん。 ダッセェの。 ... Man... that is so far off the hook, it's off the chain, G!

<Apollo> （何か別のコトを考えてるな。 　ちゃんと見てないぞ） (He seems preoccupied with something else...)

<Wocky> ‥‥ミナミちゃん。 何してんのかなあ。 ...Wonder how my Alita's doing. Man, I miss her.

Man, I suck at ending these posts. Here, have more Wocky free-stylin’.

Fyi, his first line here, he’s calling something “lame” and I dunno if he really did see but didn’t care or didn’t notice it at all.

[millennialzadr]

WHY I LOVE ZADR!!!

HEY GUYS WHASSUP? LMAO

So this is a whole ass giant long post of me absolutely spewing my feelings of love for ZADR, it was the very first thing I wrote when I made this blog and I think it’s a nice, positive thing for my fellow shippers to inhale and enjoy 👌👌

it was originally a reply to mitarashiart’s post about why HE loves ZADR (link in replies) but I decided to delete that and make my own post since MY WHOLE ENTIRE TEXT WALL WAS SHOWN IN THE REPLIES and drowned out anyone else who was trying to talk (thanks tumblr mobile u fuckin idiot)

I had also posted a summary of an AU that I’m working on in the original post, but decided to remove it since it just about doubled the length (I’m thinking about posting it separately along with the wips I’ve been putting together, we’ll see 👀)

But ANYWAY, here is about a million reasons why I think ZADR is the fucking best, so if you like reading gushy gay ship feelings, please enjoy ❤️❤️❤️

[Posted June 2019][WARNING, LONG ASS THOUGHT BARF]

SOOO, holy hell y’all my journey back into this fandom has been a wild and unique experience for me, i went from adding invader zim to my bookmarks on kisscartoon, rewatching the series, finding out theres a movie coming out, finding out there was a shitload of content i’d never seen before (commentaries, lost episode scripts and audios, panels, the COMIC, episodes i’d never seen because the dvd i used to watch was scratched!! and a FUCKLOAD of quality modern fan art like oh my GOD) and finally curiously googling ‘zadr’ (which i was way into when i was maybeee 13/14) to see if there was any interesting new art, and holy hell, mita (the artist above) singlehandedly THREW me down the hole into modern zadr hell, first with his absolutely stunning IZ art (all his art is dope tho check him out yo), then reading the above explanation put the final nail in the coffin like, 100%

so i wanted to add onto his post here on why this ship got me so fucked up, both for anyone who might be wondering why on earth i’m shipping two characters from a kid’s show (i’m very aware how weird that is at first glance trust me) and also so i can get some ideas down for possible future reference (will i ever draw them? maybe)

(first of all, a disclaimer, and this is not pleasant to write but it’s important to address for clarity’s sake: I have no interest in romantic or sexual relationships between minors, and do not ship zim and dib as they are presented canonically in the show (as children). what i’m interested in is the conceptualized relationship they may have as modern adults, and i view zadr more as taking the concepts of existing characters and experimenting with them with different interpretations, which i personally think is a constructive and fun creative outlet, especially if these characters hold personal significance for you (childhood faves of course). growing up together is an important facet of their relationship, and certainly they were important to each other even as children (see: mopiness of doom) but as an adult i’m personally curious about what kind of adults they might’ve become, and that’s the focus of my interest. i’ll still be reblogging regular IZ art because it’s dope but if you see shippy looking art of them as tiny lil beans its either friendship or chibis (and i personally headcanon zim as getting taller with dib but some people stick with his canonical height when drawing them as adults, which is super short. it still doesn’t mean he’s a kid). aaand i wish i didnt have to write this and it would just be obvious but we live in a sick sad world and it is sourced from a children’s cartoon so i feel its necessary. end of disclaimer)

NOW THAT THAT’S OUT OF THE WAY

- ok, first reason’s a bit obvious - the nostalgia. holy hell, the feeling of rediscovering a ship that was popular when i was a preteen during the mid 2000s and discovering a totally new perspective on it as an adult comes with an almost totally overwhelming sense of nostalgia and comfort, as well as inspiration!! the kind of art that seems so common for zadr, these sketch pages of scenes and expressions and visual gags where artists would just scribble every idea they had and LOVE doing it, this was exactly the kind of art that made me so passionate about drawing as a kid, and it still sparks such a powerful feeling of love and admiration for me to this day. fan content of iz and zadr is simultaneously achingly familiar and totally new and fascinating, and it just makes me SO damn happy to consume, it is most definitely my new comfort content. and just, GOD. THE ART!! SO GOOD. FUCK

- now for the characters themselves: for some reason i just really love the thought of a mid twenties, modern Dib?? lanky goth dork, disaster bi, depressed as shit, uses bad sweaters and memes to cope?? when i was a kid i didn’t even LIKE Dib, but now i totally sympathize with him! he’s just a hyper obsessive nerd wishing there was more to life than the situation he got stuck with, how wildly relatable. he was a pretty big asshole as a kid (even to people besides zim) but he was also totally isolated and constantly bullied, so there’s a lot of room for growth. i feel there’s a lot of juicy character development potential for that boy, and there’s always been a special place in my heart for characters who are totally sad and screwed and hopeless, but there’s one thing, or person, that means the world to them and could possibly save them…

- aliens. Zim. i love nonhuman characters, i love monsters, i love aliens, i love characters that don’t understand human shit (and thus have much less room for shame or fear bc theyre just totally oblivious the negatives of modern society) and need guidance (bonding!!) from their human. i also love morally grey characters and characters with skewed logic, they’re always really interesting, and Zim himself just has such a unique personality and set of mannerisms, he contradicts himself a lot and you can never quite expect how he’ll behave, and i love that in a character, it makes them super versatile and fun, especially since there’s so many different possibilities for their development. Also, Zim is a gremlin, a little shit, and a disaster. I also love those traits in a character. And don’t even get me started on his character design?? big sparkly eyes? expressive antennae? monster teeth? complimenting colors? he’s adorable.

- mutual obsession. for someone like Dib, who seems almost repulsed by how boring and slow the people around him are, Zim quite literally personifies Dib’s  escapist fantasies, both as an inhuman entity from beyond the stars, and as a person who’s knowledge, charisma and mystery far exceeds that of anyone Dib has met in his entire life. (so basically what i’m saying is that for a shunned, jaded misanthropist, an actual alien is terribly alluring, even if said alien is dangerous, stupid, and possibly insane). not to mention Zim vindicates Dib’s entire life passion, the supernatural! Even when their relationship is totally negative, there is not a single inch of room for Dib to get tired of Zim. as mita explained, they validate each other. for Zim, WHO AGAIN, IS TOTALLY SHUNNED, ISOLATED, AND HATED BY EVERYONE HE KNOWS, Dib is the only person in the universe who gives a single shit about him!! he gives Zim credit as a threat, a capable invader, which if you ask me is the sole thing Zim is after (he’s hellbent on his mission because it would win him the approval of the tallest, all he’s ever wanted is recognition from the people he thinks so highly of). He literally gets depressed when Dib isn’t around to pay attention to him, not even the tallest were enough to motivate him before Dib came back. these two have no one and nothing without each other, and while lifelong nemeses is fine and dandy, i personally prefer friendship, affection and love, cause i’m a softie like that. how could they possibly get there after years of actively trying to kill each other?? well, i think under just the right circumstances it could become a possibility after a long, long time.

- growth. i. love. me. some. good. character growth. especially for characters with trauma/mental illness, bc again, relatable. these boys have issues, and as mita mentioned, their canon stories are actually INCREDIBLY sad! but the happy thought is, they could recover! they could help each other recover, for little reason other than the two are the only source of happiness for each other. now of course this also opens the gate for angst lovers, but at the same time offers potential for comforting, uplifting content of the boys supporting and inspiring each other, maybe even to the point of becoming happy and healthy enough to create the lives they want for themselves (as in appreciating life and doing things that make them actually happy instead of the delusions of grandeur they both sought when they were younger). gimme that positive shit and let the poor beans be happy  щ(ಠ益ಠщ)

- LITTLE THINGS. LITTLE THINGS THAT ONLY COME WITH CHILDHOOD FRIENDS. WITH HUMAN/NONHUMAN. WITH THE SHOW’S WEIRD LOGIC. Zim being the person Dib knows best and vice versa. Zim having an involuntary respect/admiration for Dib because he’s tall. Learning each other’s needs, limits, and communication methods, both emotionally and biologically. Sensitive antennae. Affectionate bickering. Being less insecure bc your partner literally has no idea why you see your flaws as flaws. Laughing at the flaws they do notice because they make no sense. Zim only wanting to eat waffles and chow mein. Dib being forced to overcome his depression lethargy and stay hygienic/keep the apartment clean because Zim has a sharper sense of smell and is afraid of germs. Endless conversation about anything and everything because they’re from literally different worlds, and endless intrigue. TOUCHING. TALKING. DOING EVERYTHING LIKE ITS THE VERY FIRST TIME AND ALWAYS NEEDING THE OTHER TO GUIDE THEM. HOLY HELL THERE IS SO MUCH POSSIBILITY FOR TINY LITTLE MOMENTS THAT MEAN THE WORLD. FUCK. GOT ME FUCKED UP.

so that wraps up the why. fuck man. its just such a good ship. if you read this big ass text post, thank you for indulging me, i hope you enjoyed it! because i enjoy it very much 👀 so stick around if you’d like to for a shit load of IZ and zadr content on this blog, possibly (MAYBE) even from me!! come roll around in alien hell with me why dontcha ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ its a fun time! thanks for reading!!!

-

SO THAT’S MY MANIFESTO Y’ALL, FEEL FREE TO REPLY WITH YOUR OWN REASONS!! I WOULD LOVE FOR THIS POST TO JUST BECOME A BIG GIANT PILE OF LOVE AND YELLING!! GO NUTS! SCREAM ABOUT IT! INFODUMP! DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! I’LL READ EVERY LAST REPLY! Y’ALL DESERVE TO ENJOY YOUR SHIP BC IT’S LITERALLY THE FUCKING BEST!!! LOVE Y’ALL!!!!!!

[idio-cies]

Tine and Anxiety

How are people feeling? Knowing that tomorrow is the last episode of this beautiful series? Sad? Excited? Don’t want it to be over? Same

Welp, this may or may not hurt when reading and probably won’t be my last meta/analysis on this series. Anyways... This is a long post folks, so make sure you are sitting comfortably.

I am almost certain that Tine accentuates some kind of anxiety.

I don’t like diagnosing people, but this is just something that I deeply relate Tine with. As a person who has CFS/ME with depression and anxiety, who also has a best friend with severe anxiety, my mum and sister also having depression as well as having many other friends with mental health issues revolving around anxiety and/or depression and doing a lot research both on anxiety and depression. I know the ins and outs of these mental illnesses. I will not go into further detail because as I am trying by hardest to not sound like an obnoxious twat whilst writing this.

I came across this article so I could check that I was right about relationship anxiety which Tine does express. This is pretty self-explanatory so you can read at your own leisure if you wish, but as a brief summary relationship anxiety most likely comes out of previous bad relationships, low self-esteem an attachemnt style one has grown up with in childhood (honestly this is another thing entirely, I talk a little bit about this here), but also relies on knowing oneself, having good communication etc.It just screams out here.

I need to clear things up as well before I really start getting in deep. It is correct that every human being has self-doubt, it is intrinsic to the human psyche, there is no doubt about it, unless you are self-righteous or have learnt that you are loved and you can love yourself a healthy amount, then good for you! This video is a good summary of how disliking oneself is natural human response

Now, where anxiety related to Tine comes in is the fact that he ruminates, he worries excessively and his automatic response to things going wrong he places on himself, and just in general has such a deep lack of self-worth and self-love that all you wanna do is cuddle him all day. This takes it further than what a normal human beings response is. 

Tine obsesses, and as a result makes him spiral and becomes unwell. Rumination is both a feature of Anxiety and depression. This is where things get tricky because Depression and Anxiety work hand in hand, with some traits crossing over (such as rumination), you can also have panic attacks with depression as well. The reason why I think it is anxiety is because of how things morphed with Tine, how he worried himself to be literally sick on more than one occasion

and it looks like he does the same this week. You can see the IV and how he is laying 

and he doesn’t to eat

This is not “normal human behaviour”. Worrying so much it makes you ill is one thing (see article here), but actively avoiding food is another thing. It’s another response people have when they are under extreme stress, though people can also over eat.

My analysis of “Escape” supports rumination.

There is no category that I will place him. I will leave this article here for people to go through if they are interested (I’m sorry, I know this is a lot of links, I just want to prove what I’m saying). 

so, when we meet Tine he seems like this ball of energy, he comes across as self-righteous with his Mr Chic facade

But that’s the thing: it’s a facade, it’s a coping mechanism, which shields him. I wouldn’t say that this is a classic example of anxiety as anyone can put up a front to hide all sorts of things. I know that I used to have facades or personalities I use in front of people.

Anyway, this Mr. Chic persona was all that, a persona, he took refuge in it. Which is why we see the comeback of it in ep 9 as he was experiencing some stage fright mixed with a heck of a lot of self-doubt and stress, which Green had identified was a coping mechanism!!!!

This front was used in order to block himself from being hurt, from rejection and from life in general, as well as of course criticism. His friends aren’t the brightest bunch, though evidently Fong (bless his heart) is very emotionally intelligent and let us know that they were aware of Tine and how he self-imposes on himself, has to prove his worth etc

This explains why he was so fatalistic in ep 11

Because he is still putting himself on trial and their relationship

It was legit after the tree got trodden on it all went wrong 

Poor Nuisance Tree... RIP

Anyway, but as friends do, they tease each other, which is ultimately something that Tine is afraid of. He doesn’t like the teasing. Based on my perspective of teasing, I bite back with teasing, but it may be because it’s because I am sensitive about it. Tine by no means has my temper, so it doesn’t surprise me if he is effected and is scared to be teased because in all actuality, he is sensitive about those topics. 

Next, he gets obsessed. People noticed about not moving on from Sarawat, there are a few explanations. 1. they needed it for Sarawat’s popularity to broadcast it 2. I bet you Tine got intrigued 3. potentially, he got obsessed with the idea. Tine was adamant to “get rid of Green” this in of itself was an obsession and no fucking wonder it backfired. Some, “normal, healthy” people I’m sure would’ve moved on, but oh no, not this dumbass quartet

Which is another thing. He is heavily influenced by his friends. Naturally, a person listen and adapt their thinking to their peers, but some don’t and are adamant in their thoughts. What gets me here is that Tine practically doesn’t allow himself to think for himself very much. I mean, it’s natural to go to friends for advice, but he was always very quick to go “yeah you’re right”. He is too easily swayed by what his friends tell him or their philosophies. Go look at episode 8 1/4 6:50 onwards. He concludes so quickly... Though I guess in this round, he felt it was right.

As soon as he sees one “fit” per se, that is it, which is apt as he is always been on the search for “the one”

(It will not surprise me if this series does full circle, and has Tine going to Sarawat once more as Sarawat did all of the chasing after this... kinda)

Tine can make up his mind very quickly once he sees fit. The only time he has really made sense and not listened to his friends fully was when he realised he loved Sarawat, and he went hell for leather on proving himself in episode 9. 

Tine had to prove himself in order to be worthy of Sarawat to love him, he thought he had failed, but Sarawat showed him a different perspective. Sarawat is very good at comforting Tine and showing him a new perspective... 

Sarawat is so good in this scene, because he tells Tine (in their little hypothetical language) that it is up to Tine is in control (which he felt he wasn���t), that Sarawat won’t pressure him, and that he is enough just as he is. That he doesn’t need to prove himself.

To a degree he helps every time, but as I have said before, if Tine is anything like me, those affirmations are useless after a couple hours max.

This post and also this one are really good at explaining Sarawat, and my perception of the last episode, so please also give those a read because I don’t want to repeat and make this even longer than it is! I do not blame Sarawat, and understand that it is human to make mistakes, which is also why I am making this post, because Tine is also wrong and is not helping their relationship or himself!!!

The time when he did believe in them was during episode 10 with Type in the house... it was extraordinary

Sorry I love Sarawat’s reaction to this

It’s like “Okay, you got it, why you gotta be so cute tho” 

Then the next week it goes downhill again and he believes that he is the one causing everything to go wrong (ahem, look at the first article)

He puts all the blame on himself... But Sarawat was always there to tell him that it was okay, that he was there with him, never got angry, just gave him smiles and headpats galore while looking at him with all the love in the world

I had to add in the “lets go to bed” bit here 

because I feel like it’s under appreciated. Sarawat was continuously telling Tine “we can look for it later, lets focus on this for now” and did a little nod. He was trying to help Tine not feel so bad, he recognised it and tried to give him comfort. He tried setting an agenda, so that Tine didn’t need to be overwhelmed with processing too many things if that makes any sense? He cares a lot and knew it was bothering him. It didn’t work as Tine was riddled with guilt, so he wasn’t satiated by it unfortunately, but this trip really did churn everything up :/ 

It’s just super hard to get Tine to feel alright in himself, but Sarawat is so lovely about it all. He loves Tine so much, so this week is going to hurt so bad when Tine tries to break things off as it is just going to be so difficult to make sure Tine is secure in himself and the relationship... I better stop

The fact that this is the state Tine puts himself in, again and again screams anxiety to me. The facade kept things up for a while, but I would not be surprised if this is how he went through life for quite some time. Plus the fact that Type also shows this need for a facade by trying to be a perfectionist is very interesting as well. 

Of course, I can be wrong in all of this. Please don’t hold me to it, but as a person who profoundly resonates with Tine, and would consider myself to be well versed in anxiety, I think that Tine most likely does have a form of anxiety. He just takes “self-doubt” to the next level. 

As always I am welcome to discussion! Credits to those blogs with the posts I linked to! 

Thank you for reading, I hope you guys are all staying safe, and I look forward to tomorrows episode ^-^ 

I am so not ready to let it go 😭😭

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 6x22 Grave

aka doesn’t matter i still love you

Welcome to this dailyish (weekly? bi-weekly?) text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and go on an impromptu rant about it for an hour. Is it about one hyperspecific thing or twenty observations? 10 or 3k words? You don’t know! I don’t know!!! In this house we don’t know things.

And today’s episode is easily the most unconventional season finale of the show (excluding Restless, which is more of a bonus episode). Buffy doesn’t defeat the Big Bad. Or... does she?

Fun fact, Grave is the only season finale that wasn’t written by Joss Whedon. Well, depending on whether you count Primeval or Restless as the finale of season 4, since the former was also penned by David Fury instead of Whedon.

But this episode has many other distinctions as well. It comes at the heels of an already subversive season, that was meant to deconstruct the very structure of the show, as well as its characters.

Deconstruction however is tough. If you don’t do it well, your audience will rightfully call you out on needlessly pulling your story in an often darker direction to seem fake deep or interesting.

And I feel like season 6 has plenty of criticisms on that front. This certainly wasn’t one of my favorite seasons on my first, or even second go at it. It’s hard seeing characters you love hurting and acting against their own self interests. It’s even harder to see them hurt each other.

This time around however, I wanted to not only look past those previous misgivings I had, but appreciate them and what they mean to the story. Because truth be told, I’m not sure season 6 is actually more flawed than any other season of Buffy.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t issues – Willow’s drug addiction metaphor was pushed way too hard and took away from the themes of power and control surrounding her narrative for one –, but every season has its hurdles and strengths. Season 2 had an excellent arc, but a lot of confusing fillers. Season 4 meanwhile had great standalones, but a weak overall Big Bad. Every season had its missteps, and a lot of those are subjective to begin with. One girl’s Go Fish is anothers Beer Bad.

There are no wrong answers on this quiz.

So yeah, I went into season 6 not only knowing what to expect, but expecting to gain a new, more favorable perspective on it. And that’s more or less what I got.

Sure, there are things to criticize. But what I’ve been enjoying about this Buffy rewatch in particular, is the opportunity to write long paragraphs of nonsense rather than just saying “Thing Bad”.

Look at Tara’s death. I am perpetually ready to fight Joss Whedon over that in a parking lot, but it also gave us one of the most memorable examples of a hero going dark. And people’s been coming up fixes to that storyline for years (Xander being the one to die is a popular alternative among some fans, but also time travel if you go by fanfics), but it only goes to show that that story itself still worked.

…it’s just that it works in a horrible cultural context that’s rightfully criticized for perpetuating harmful notions, especially for some of the most vulnerable of our population, and the role of media in our society as both a reflection and a model can’t be ignored and should be discussed in order to call attention to these patterns.

Anywho. Grave.

As mentioned before, this is a rather unconventional season finale. Buffy doesn’t even get to fight the Big Bad, aka Willow in this one. Instead the initial showdown happens between Giles and Willow, at least up until the moment Willow breaks free.

That doesn’t mean that Buffy doesn’t fight though. She runs to save Dawn and Xander (and also Jonathan and Andrew I guess), and then when she gets stuck underground with Dawn, she fights to get out. And then she fights some magic zombie skeletons.

More importantly though, Buffy fights her own depression. She’s fighting to see that beauty and meaning in life that she failed to convince Willow of in the last episode.

She even talks to Giles about this. She tells him that she doesn’t understand why she’s here, why she’s alive, and Giles’s response of how she has a calling feels unsatisfying.

Others would’ve taken her place. She was done.

Then why is she here now?

And Giles doesn’t have an answer to that. Because they both know that there isn’t one. There isn’t a purpose to life, no all-encompassing explanation. We all have to find our own answers to get us through the day.

And by the end, Buffy finds hers in Dawn. Seeing life through her eyes, her future, the many things that’s yet to come. It’s arguably a bit clumsy, and I wish we built more on this theme between Buffy and Dawn this season, but it does tie into another aspect of the episode.

While season 6 in itself is a deconstruction of the show, this finale, and Buffy’s arc in particular, is clearly a subversion of the end of season 5. And in true Buffy fashion, a very unsubtle one at that.

In The Gift, the sun coming up marked the turning point for Buffy, the realization that she can save Dawn by sacrificing herself.

In Grave, the sun comes up right after Giles confirms that Willow’s going to end the world.

In the season 5 finale, Buffy jumps to her death. At the end of season 6, she crawls out of the ground to live.

I could go on, but you get my point.

This is also just a great moment for Dawn, as she interrogates Buffy on why she didn’t tell her what Spike did, and reminds Buffy how she can’t protect her from the world. Tragedy happens either way.

BUFFY:  “Dawn, I'm trying to protect you.” DAWN:  “Well, you can't! Look around, Buffy. We're trapped in here! Willow's killing and people I love keep dying! And you cannot protect me from that.”

At the center of it all though is Willow. I’ve already been through the broad strokes here; basically, Willow’s rampage is about avoiding feeling her pain and grief.

And Giles understands that. I absolutely love Anthony Stewart Head’s performance in this one; Giles is focused and cautious, but there’s also genuine pain and concern in his expression as he’s talking to Willow. I also love this exchange around the end of their fight:

GILES:  “Your powers may be undeniably greater. But I can still hurt you if I have to.” WILLOW:  “Boy, you just don't get it, do you? Nothing can hurt me now. This? *heals a cut on her face* Is nothing. It's all... nothing.” GILES:  “I see. If you lose someone you love, the other people in your life who care about you become meaningless. I wonder what Tara would say about that.”

Yup. Giles definitely knows how to hurt Willow. Willow’s line of “it’s all… nothing” is also a lot, especially that little melancholic tint that Alyson Hannigan delivers it with.

But apparently this was all part of Giles’ plan to get Willow to take his magic away, so it would open up her to feel again. However, his line to her afterwards about how “she can make it stop” naturally backfires.

Willow’s been doing all this in order to stop the pain. Giles wants her to feel it to get through it, but Willow predictably would rather see the whole world burn than feel it anymore.

I’m not a super big fan of the narrative choice to have Giles comment upon what’s happening through his link to Willow after that, especially by the end as Xander shows up with her. But I do like those initial lines when he first feels what Willow does, and you can see the pain through him.

Giles later says that the magic she took from him tapped into Willow’s remaining humanity, but I’m not sure I would use that wording. Willow tried to avoid and shut off her pain through her murder trip, but that was still her. Her humanity, her pain was there underneath all along – Giles’ plan just made it harder for her to repress those emotions.

So, hence why she decided to go full apocalypse in order to stop feeling them anymore.

It definitely made it easier for Xander to get through to her in that moment too. But maybe he didn’t even need the extra supernatural help for that.

Willow spent the last three episodes trying to get away from herself. She didn’t want to come back, and she made sure to burn all her bridges in the process. Knowing that what she’s done would cost her friends only strengthened her resolve.

And here comes Xander, out of nowhere. Xander with his familiar, signature jokes, the ones that he cracks in order to cope with life.

More importantly, Xander doesn’t blink. He doesn’t fight or argues with Willow. Doesn’t try to convince her to stop. And that, paired with the familiarity momentarily disarms Willow. So she counters that by lashing out, hurting Xander.

But Xander, once again, doesn’t blink. Because he’s not bluffing. When he says that he’s okay with the world ending as long as he gets to be with his best friend, it’s because he means it.

This is a difference that I’ve been alluding with Buffy for a while now. Buffy can’t do what Xander does here. She can’t put the whole world aside to be with her best friend. That’s not who she is.

It’s definitely who Xander is though. Right or wrong, he always goes with his heart.

So, that’s what he does. He does exactly what Willow mocks him for, and tells her that he loves her.

Even if she kills him, he’ll still love her.

The fear of being unlovable is ingrained into us all on some level. It creeps in when we least expect it. Fear that we’re not good enough. Fear that we can never live up to others expectations of us. Fear that we won’t be accepted. Fear that we can’t be forgiven.

That’s why there’s so much power in unconditional love. Being told that we’ll be loved, no matter what.

We often don’t even realize the anxiety and fears we have about it and how deep they go; so the sheer relief upon hearing those words can be unexpected and overwhelming. And Willow’s no exception.

Again, she tries lashing out, telling Xander to stop, hurting him, but it’s of no use. All he does is repeat those words, even while suffering through the pain that was inflicted on him. By her. “I love you. I love you.”

And when Willow breaks, she breaks hard. Letting herself go in her best friend’s arms, feeling all of her grief at once.

Platonic love saves the day, as the show once again invokes Sarah McLachlan in its final moments. It’s a less memorable song choice than Full of Grace was at the end of season 2, but it’s a nice callback to that.

Oh, and Spike’s got his soul back, after the last few episodes aggressively tried red-herring that he went to remove his chip.

Overall, as I said, I enjoyed this season. As with all seasons, there were things that worked less so, but I generally liked the deconstruction that we’ve got around to. Instead of a Big Bad representing a metaphor for Buffy to overcome, we’ve made those struggles real. The Big Bad of season 6 was Buffy’s depression, Willow’s addiction and need for control, Xander’s baggage, and so on.

We also didn’t need to turn the characters inside out to have these turns and conflicts. The season built on well-established character flaws, and guided us through a journey full of ups and downs, culminating in an emotionally cathartic finale.

I think I’m ready for the finish line.

[allisondraste]

Writing Deliciously Evil Characters: A Meta Post

Recently in a discord conversation, I was discussing some feedback that I have gotten on my longfic, regarding my portrayal of the odious Rendon Howe.  Arl Howe is a classic, stereotypical “mwahaha” type of villain, which is not the standard in Dragon Age where the Wardens are Grey and the villains are Greyer, in that most of the bad folks aren’t doing bad things for the sake of doing bad things (e.g. Loghain, Meredith, Solas), but rather because they believe what they are doing is “right.”  Howe, on the other hand is a man who betrays his closest allies in the first of what would be a series of awful vies for power during the Fifth Blight that would eventually lead to his death and the destruction of his family.  He’s not the only character who does evil for pleasure/power/personal gain (think Livius Erimond, the Grand Duchess, Corypheus, Danarius blah blah blah).  However, the feedback was about Howe, so I’m going to reference him throughout this post.

Essentially, I have received a number of comments in which people have remarked something to the effect of “The way you write Howe makes me hate him even more.” I love this feedback because that was the plan all along and it’s the equivalent of someone saying “The way you write [insert widely beloved popular hero character here] makes me love them even more!”  I love love love villains, and as much as I am in the camp with everybody else wanting to stab the man in his slimy, weasley guts, I also love writing him.  In my personal opinion he is actually a very good villain, and I’ll go into why in a bit.

For those of you who haven’t encountered my meta posts before, I’m not a writer by trade.  I am a mental health professional, and my background is in psychology.  So when I make posts about “writing” some type of thing, I typically focus on the psychological components of why certain things work for characters, why others don’t, and how to make a character’s actions realistic and true to who they are as a person. That being said: I do speak about sensitive things in my posts, and this one is no different, so I will be putting the rest of this post behind a Read More.  If you are triggered by the mention of trauma and abuse, violence, and mental illness then I would caution you to take care of yourself if you choose continue on!

What is Evil?

If I were to ask you to give me the name of someone who is “evil,” I would bet money that the people everyone lists would be what society likes to coin “psychopaths” or “sociopaths,” and these are individuals who are callous, cruel, and lack consciences, anxiety, and empathy.  They are your serial killers and super villains.  Your unarguably bad, awful, evil people. They were always evil.  Born evil. Raised evil.  They eat, sleep, and breathe evil.  Concentrated evil flows through their veins. They probably also hate puppies and babies.  You all get the picture.

First of all, this is not only an inaccurate understanding of what standard human evil is, but it is also an inaccurate and romanticized view of psychopathy/sociopathy (the words are actually interchangeable, people just like to pretend they are different).  The media loves itself a juicy slice of psychopath.  It’s why we have movies about Ted Bundy and why Discovery ID is a thing. However something that is so incredibly important to note is that regardless of how an evil person presents, “evil” as a thing, a behavior.  It is  not a personality trait, but a societally motivated response. People are not evil; they do evil.  Someone  may be born with a diathesis, or predisposition to do evil things, and then be influenced by environmental factors to enact those evil things, but nobody in the world is born evil. Not. A. Single. Person. In fact, as the Stanford Prison Experiment, conducted by Philip Zimbardo (who also has a wonderful TED Talk  on the Psychology of Evil), shows ANYONE under the right circumstances can do evil.  The Stanford Prison Experiment is actually an excellent example of why the Templar Order is the way it is!  When people of equal standing are placed in a position where one group has perceived power and authority over the other, and when the guilt is diffused across a “group” rather than placed on a single person, horrible things can happen. In fact, more evil is done by groups of people than individuals for this very reason.

I originally had a much longer explanation about how society causes evil, but the post ended up being long anyway and this was unnecessary (but, if you want a post about that in the future, feel free to hit up my inbox or otherwise just check out that Zimbardo talk linked here).  

My point is that in order to write compelling villains it is important to understand what drove them to reach the point of atrocity they have reached, why they do as they do.  A villain who you cannot answer those questions for is going to fall flat.  Disclaimer: I am not suggesting that you excuse a villain’s actions or make apologies for what they do.  Evil is evil regardless of intention, however, knowing the explanation for the behavior can help you capture it in a story.

Why Villains Fall Flat

If my readers are anything like me, then there have been times in the consumption of media that they encounter a really awful bad person who you just kind of feel “blah” about.  They are supposed to be your protagonists’ mortal enemy, but their defeat falls flat and feels empty and anticlimactic.  Sometimes in the horror genre, authors take the “telling less” approach regarding their villains because that increases the “oooh” creepy feeling that they want to have.  This is actually really really effective for a horror film.  It is not so effective when writing action/adventure, romance, etcetera.  Why? I think that it can be pretty well summed up by the following quote by existential psychologist Rollo May:

“Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is.”

Essentially, in order to truly hate a villain and to be both disgusted by their actions and thrilled by their defeat, you have to care about them in some way shape or form.  You have to be invested in their “origin story” and/or care about someone who is closely tied to them or affected by them.  It’s why Rendon Howe is such a good villain, and why playing the Cousland origin and meeting his children makes you hate him even that much more.  When you play the Cousland origin, you get to see the Arl through the eyes of someone who doesn’t know that he is bad.  Rendon is aloof, but ultimately respectful and he seems to have the implicit approval dear old dad (they were war buddies after all! Fought in the rebellion together!!).  Then, he has the family murdered in their sleep in a premeditated act of sheer ambition.  We get to see the death of a young woman and her son, and watch as Warden Cousland leaves her parents behind to die.  It’s tragic, it’s all Howe’s fault, and it’s effective.  Then you have this opportunity to meet Howe’s eldest son Nathaniel who is so bitter and full of rage that *you* the “hero” destroyed his family.  He can’t fathom his father doing something evil enough to warrant what happened to the Howes.  He was never that bad!  He just got caught up in politics!  He picked the wrong side in a war!  He tortured prisoners because the country was at war!.  His bedroom was  next to the torture dungeons because politics and war! I’m not saying that Nate has the most accurate view of his dad -- the man certainly wasn’t winning any father of the year awards, after all, a fact which Nathaniel eventually comes to realize (“maybe I shouldn’t defend the man who found the screams of prisoners to be soothing bedtime ambient noise” -- okay I’m exaggerating so sue me).  What I am saying is that in  listening to Nathaniel speak about his father and his family, we learn more about Howe, his life and his motivations.  We realize there is nothing more than a man behind all that evil, a man who has a family (and a family in which the other members are actually good and decent at that) and we are able to see that maybe he could have been good had things gone differently for him.  Again, it’s effective.

What Causes People to Do Evil?

As I mentioned before, just as with greatness, people are not born evil.  Evil is something that people have thrust upon them, and it is honestly really tragic if you look back and see all of the individual steps that led to a person becoming the villainous bastard you know and love to hate.  There are many different reasons a person might do evil things, but it typically falls into the theory we psychology nerds call the “diathesis-stress model,” which posits that certain people are born with a “diathesis” or a predisposition for a certain type of behavior.  In the case of an evil person it might be that the person has an irritable temperament or ambitious, selfish, narcissistic, aggressive, deviant, manipulative, etcetera tendencies.  When these people are placed under a stressor (such as, but not limited to: abuse, trauma, modeling of crime or deviant behavior, desperation, loss, etc.), the darker sides of those qualities comes out.  

NOTE: This is not to say that everyone who has these qualities and undergoes a stressor is going to become evil.  This is not to say that abuse/trauma/etc. causes evil.  In fact, most people who are traumatized do not go on to traumatize others; however, if you look at everyone who has done evil, almost all of them have done so because they grew up in an environment where such evil was the norm, and they learned nothing better.  They are people who were pushed by desperation.  They are people who ultimately have a story that is not “Oh, they’re just bad.”

Evil is the perfect storm of nature and nurture that, unfortunately, some people are not able to escape.  

Sometimes, it’s easy to care about villains because their intentions and motivations are very overtly stated.  For example:

Loghain is motivated by a very rational fear of the Orlesians and Cailan’s closeness to them.  We learn all that Loghain’s family went through during the Orlesian occupation, what happened to his mother.  We also can toy around with the possibility that his decision to quit the field at Ostagar was less obvious treason and more obviously pragmatic.  This of course doesn’t justify anything he does (you know, like striking a deal with the magisters to sell the Alienage elves into slavery or allowing Howe to, uh, torture people, what have you).

Meredith - See my above discussion of the Stanford Prison Experiment, but also consider her temperament and the trauma she was exposed to as a child with her sister who had magic and caused the death of 70 people including her family.  Is it okay that she abuses her power and abuses mages? Hell no… but we have motivation.

Solas - *sigh* Don’t make me do this one.  We get it. He has to RIGHT the WRONG. It’s his DUTY.  Cool story, still evil. (disclaimer: I love Solas. Ma vhenan. But I look at him with a critical eye when I choose to love him.  That’s important.)

Sometimes the motivations are not so clear.  I’m not particularly inclined to care about Corypheus other than I’d kinda like for him to get away from me with that demon army.  I don’t really give a flying duck about Erimond other than he is, as Cole so succinctly puts: an asshole.  There are lots of characters like that, and honestly it’s good to have a few of them sprinkled about a bit.  They’re not particularly fun to write or compelling to read (in my personal opinion), but hey! Your mileage may vary.

And now we’re back to Howe (Maker help me I never thought I’d be doing a  meta post about this awful man, but here we are).  He, and actually most if not all the minor villains in DAO, is actually really good despite his motivations not being so blatantly obvious as Loghain’s or Ulfric’s or any of the others you face in that game.  When he says, “I deserved more!” at the end, without further thought about the topic, it’s easy to say “God what a power grubbing weasley little snake of a man,” or a “cold codfish arse,” as one of my friends aptly described him.  However when you look at his background… it’s not so simple as all that. Just a few notes:

According to the lore Rendon has two fathers: Padric, who disappeared with the Wardens never to be seen again and who Rendon never forgave, and Tarleton who had no sense for loyalty and sided with the Orlesians in the rebellion and was ultimately hanged.

Young Rendon, despite his parentage chose to join the Rebellion with his besties: Bryce Cousland and Leonas Bryland.  At some point, he becomes injured and is no longer able to fight.  He is cared for by Leonas’ sister Eliane, who would later become Lady Howe.

There seems to be a lot of strife between Howe and his wife’s family, so much so that Eliane’s parents were even cold and critical of the Howe kids, Nathaniel in particular (maybe because he looks the most like Rendon, who knows?).  He expected to receive some of the Bryland wealth, but that did not happen (likely because he did not actually love his wife and Eliane’s family had no great love for him.  As far as marrying a Howe in Thedas, it would be much like marrying a Greyjoy or a Frey or a Bolton in Game of Thrones.  It’s not a family anyone particularly wanted to be associated with)

It is likely that Howe became very insecure and upset by the success of his friends, even resentful of them.  Handsome Bryce, his promotion to Teyrn,  and his Pirate Wife.  Leonas and his lovely [wealthy] family.  It made him miserable, and accompanied with all of the things that had been modeled for him by his family… it was not much of a stretch for him to go darkside.

So…What Was The Point of this Allison? Why Have You Written This Hellishly Long Post?

1.) I wanted to.  It was fun for me. This is how I spend my free time apparently.

2.) I wanted to provide some basic pointers for writing believable, but undoubtedly bad villains, and I felt like it needed context.

The Tips...Get On With Them Already. Please. We’re Begging You.  TL;DR!

1.) “Evil” is not a personality trait, it is a behavior.  People are not born evil.  They are led to do evil.

2.) Romanticized psychopaths/sociopaths are boring.

3.) In order to develop hatred for a character, you have to make the audience care about them, and the ways to do so are endless.

4.) Evil is the combination of a predisposition to do bad things plus some catalyst that causes someone to go darkside.  Nature and Nurture working together to make a twisted thing.

5.) Grey villains are abundant and very cool. Their motivations cloud their morality.

6.) Not-so-grey villains are also abundant, and can also have the potential to be very cool or the potential to be glorified Scooby-Doo villains (“And I would have gotten away with it too if it hadn’t been for you meddling WARDENS”)

7.) The line between a compelling “mwahaha” and a bleh “mwahaha” lies in the character’s backstory and motivations.  It lies in the audience caring in some way, shape, or form about that person.

8.) Rendon Howe is a character who, in my honest opinion was done right.  People loathe him.  He’s absolutely detested. Why? Because he’s a “cold codfish arse”? Maybe.  I posit that it’s because we have enough information to care about him.

Thank you for coming to this TED Talk, you all have been wonderful.