#it’s like copy paste characterization regardless of if it makes sense

[nerdy-hyperfixations]

Sorry to be a hater but this is how I’ve been feeling recently

[lemonlyman-dotcom]

Okay, I will send it again with my name attached. You're right, if I want to stand up for what I believe in and people I care about, I shouldn't hide behind an anonymous message for the sake of not causing drama.

I think you are missing the very important point that tweet is making about racism by hyper-focusing on the use of the word 'normal'. Yes, you're right, there is no such thing as 'normal English' and yes the person who tweeted it should have used a different phrase. I agree with that. But the tweet is not saying that Spanglish doesn't exist. It is critiquing a larger problem of English speakers fetishizing the Spanish language and Latinx characters.

The second part of that tweet clearly has this fanfic character speaking a version of Spanish that is supposed to not make sense for comedic effect to demonstrate how ridiculous it can sound for someone to just use Google translate with no effort put into understanding a language. For many years and in many fandoms, monolingual people have been rightly criticized for writing multilingual characters in a way that just throws in random words with no understanding of how multilingual people actually speak, and it's especially a problem when white writers are doing it to characters of color. That is the criticism that the tweet is addressing. Focusing on the use of the word 'normal' instead is missing the incredibly important point about racism that's being made. And that matters to me.

The use of the phrase “normal English” is highly offensive to me, and many others, and I think it’s fair to call that out. Pidgin English is normal. Spanglish is normal. Speaking with an accent is normal. I do think there is a point to be made about just pulling something from Google translate and calling it Spanish, which I believe was the intention of that tweet. But, unfortunately, the tweeter lost me with their offensive, whitewashed phrasing. And, again, as you say it is important to stand up for what we believe in. Otherising people based on if they speak with an accent is something I strongly stand against.

It’s true that Latino folks are fetishized in our culture, I’ve seen it plenty. I, personally, did not read that tweet as speaking about sexual fetishization but regardless I do agree.

There’s more nuance to it, and saying there’s a normal and a not normal English is not the way to go about it.

Now, I also do agree that if people don’t feel comfortable writing Spanish speakers speaking Spanish, because they don’t speak the language and don’t have anyone to help them, that is more than fine. I can always tell when someone has just plugged an English phrase into Google translate and copy+pasted lmao. Please, friends, do not do this!

I do think it would be lovely if more writers felt comfortable to reach out to someone who does speak Spanish, so that they can give Carlos, Mateo, Tommy, the Reyes family etc a more authentic characterization, since we have seen them speak Spanish and Spanglish on screen repeatedly.

One final point I would like to make is this, I think a lot of people don’t realize that Spanish isn’t a monolith, and it’s gonna vary from region to region and country to country. So just because someone from, say, Guadalajara wouldn’t say something doesn���t mean a Tejano person wouldn’t. That nuance in the dialect is very important, and we should be thinking about that as we’re thinking about how these characters would speak.

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

Moriarty (TNG) as good AI Art

I got to Star Trek The Next Generation season 2's Elementary, Dear Data in my rewatch and I couldn't help but notice how the holodeck actually nicely represents the current state of AI art in its process to create Moriarty.

At first, Data and Geordi ask for a "Sherlock Holmes mystery", so the holodeck simply provides one, verbatim -- Data has obviously already read it, and so he immediately solves it. Geordi is furious and leaves immediately, because Geordi doesn't have great characterization in the show proper, and lives in our heads as a better character.

But the point Geordi tries to make eventually is that this isn't a "real" mystery if Data already knows it, and it goes kind of unspoken that the Holodeck didn't create anything new, it just regurgitated what it has without any remixing or any real reason to go through it again.

Then Pulaski gets involved and tries to prove Data can't really do anything novel -- they ask the Holodeck for an original mystery "in the Holmesian style", and what does it do? It just copies and pastes different portions of Sherlock Holmes novels into the same document, and makes it a "new mystery", while still clearly being just a hackjob made in a hurry with no sense of aesthetics or direction.

While it might have been enough for Geordi or Pulaski, Data is a machine that can recognize patterns much better, and he immediately understands that this is just a combination of patterns he already knows, and once again he immediately solves it because he knows the original mysteries. But this time, Pulaski points out: this is a fraud! This is not what a real story is like! Holmes would never do this, he would actually think about the novel stimuli reaching his brain!

And I think it's really interesting how Data, a fellow machine, cannot immediately tell what Pulaski is saying. Because for Data, aesthetic don't actually make that much sense, at least not in season 2. He can't tell a good story from a bad one made out of different pages of different stories, because for him, it's all about patterns. Just like the Holodeck, Data does think this is good enough, and confronts her about it. I mean, what else is the Holodeck supposed to do other than recombine what already exists?

It's not until Geordi stops asking the computer to make a story and instead asks for the computer to make a character that the plot actually moves forward, because at that point they're dealing with emerging narratives that arise from the fact that Moriarty is now a hyper-intelligent AI that is free to do its own plans, regardless of what Sherlock Holmes story he's from. While Moriarty may be a repetitive character, his new reactions are not, and that's good enough that it becomes a massive problem that threatens the safety of the ship.

Before, when it was being asked to make derivative art, the Holodeck performed exactly to task -- but the result only really worked on people who either 1) did not understand art at a deeper level than the superficial, and 2) did not know the original art that well. The art that it spat out was valid, it was working, it was logically sound and fit together more or less well enough.

Pulaski, however, immediately understood that this result was inferior to the sum of its parts. She respects the character of Sherlock Holmes; she goes on a little explanation about the character's relationship to the human soul and how that's the actual point of the books, as opposed to just the simple puzzle boxes that Data (and, to some extent, the Holodeck) seems to believe they are.

And I just think that's just a poignant take that easily translates to the current state of art and artificial intelligence -- there is actually no value in derivative AI art that simply copies and pastes parts of other pieces of art into one straight line, regardless if it's an image or a story or anything like that. Yes, you can get some praise from people who either don't care or aren't familiar with the originals, but people who are actually into the art form -- the ones who have proven they are invested and are ostensibly the ones you're trying to catch as a steady audience -- will recognize and be bored by the result. There's no rhyme or reason to how a machine adapts a story into another, there's no aesthetic sense that makes it interesting to the human psyche. It's just a fast food version of art that doesn't really do anything for you, and you'll forget it in five minutes. Pulaski is not offended by the attempt, she's positively amused that an AI tried its hardest to make a Sherlock Holmes story, one of the most by-the-books and predictable mystery formats known to British literature, and the best it could do was just copy what's already there.

But when it's just a collection of ideas and vague directions that then go forward on their own, that's different. Moriarty is not an AI creation of the Holodeck -- he was given a push and then allowed to go wherever he wanted. He was not even a proper villain by the end of it; the combination of things Moriarty was resulted in a curious, driven, machiavelic yet ultimately sympathetic man, who just wanted to continue living and creating his own, original story, not based on anyone else's. The Holodeck's greatest achievement wasn't making an original story, it was making someone capable of doing that on their own, without having to refer to anything else.

There are entire Youtube channels right now that make a lot of bank by using these emerging language models to help them tell a story -- DougDoug has dozens of videos of him and his chat going on wild adventures aided by text AI that doesn't actually write a story for them, but instead simply provides direction for them to make their own decisions and their own stories. It's a genuine way to improvise and give the onus of planning to something else, especially when the story isn't the point, but the experience is -- just like the Holodeck!

I'm not saying AI art is eventually going to reach that point by itself, but I do think there's something to be said about just hitting random on a trope generator that gives you, the author, different ideas so you can write a story yourself; or even just rolling the die to see what happens to your characters as opposed to painstakingly arranging your story like a hand-made garden.

Star Trek constantly showcases characters like Data, Moriarty, The Doctor or Zora as more than the sum of their parts, and it's always because they are able to be more than simple reorganization of previously experienced stimuli. They are able to make choices that don't have to happen, but that they want to happen.

Don't get me wrong -- AI Art, as an institution, is corrosive acid and will kill entire industries. But the fact we skipped straight into the hellish capitalist version of that means we never got to fucking play with it. We never got to just use it as a stepping stone or something to unclog the sink when you have writer's block. Instead of going in random adventures with a Moriarty who can actually react and develop something akin to a character, we're getting a thousand offers to buy books that are just combinations of different novels on Amazon, with no way to really filter them out other than our own eyes.

I just wanted to hang out with Moriarty.

[redlerred7]

I'm like a hundred words into the next chapter of Sincerity is Rock, Actually and I'm reminded if some comments I received and conversations I had back in April about the way I write Ryo. Specifically, about how strong my characterization of her is.

It confused me.

Don't get me wrong, I was happy everyone liked the way I wrote her, but I didn't understand why the people I talked to insisted my Ryo was different.

At the time, I wasn't familiar with the fanfic scene for Bocchi the Rock. Even now, I'd say I'm still not very familiar with it—but at least I've read a dozen or so fics since that time. I think I kinda understand the difference now?

The biggest thing I've seen is how a lot of Ryo's unleasant traits are toned down. She's less of an asshole; she's more emotive; she's more talkative; and most importantly, she thinks about how her actions affect other people and seems to adjusts her behavior accordingly.

No, stop that! She's a judgemental elitist with a permanent bitch face who borrows money from people without paying them back. Writing Ryo like she's a decent human being with a working concept of action and consequence removes the most interesting point of tension to her characterization: the fact that she can be so unpleasant while still being Ride or Die for her friends. You lose so much by sanding down those rough edges.

This sanding down of Ryo is also the reason I find myself not feeling as strongly for many of the shippy fics involving her. Ryo being such an asshole that you question why people are friends with her informs a lot of the friendships she does have.

Bocchi is a doormat who Ryo takes advantage of, but they also have An Understanding™ because of their mutual respect for the other's musicianship and a shared experience with being alone and unable/unwilling express their feelings to other people. Bocchi is willing to accept Ryo's worse qualities because… well, frankly, it's because she's desperate for friends. However! The other reason is because Ryo understands her, and will engage with her loneliness and negative feelings in a way that basically no one else in the cast is willing or able to engage.

Kita is infatuated with Ryo's coolness and uncompromising commitment to the bit—which, again, Ryo takes advantage of. From the other direction, Ryo respects Kita Go-Getter attitude and willingness to actually put in the work to get better at guitar—it's just that she's completely unable or unwilling to express that respect. Despite that, I get the sense that Kita still feels Ryo's respect on some level, and it makes her feel valued enough that her infatuation with Ryo never really goes away.

And finally, there's Nijika, who I went on a whole spiel about in chapter 2 of Sincerity is Rock, Actually, which I'll copy-paste here.

Honestly, Nijika's acceptance of Ryo's worst qualities is so fascinating for their dynamic. She's not trying to "fix" Ryo—and the fact that she isn't seems to be something Ryo is aware of. And even more fascinating is that, despite knowing that Nijika does very little to stop her, I don't really think Ryo tries to take advantage of Nijika the same way she would try with others. I'm not sure whether this is because Ryo rationalized a reason Nijika would be off limits or because Nijika gave her reasons. Regardless, it leaves them with a strange sense of equal footing that I find appealing.

All of these relationships lose a quality to them when Ryo isn't constantly trying to take advantage of people.

Though, I suppose I'm focusing too much on the Ryo-being-an-asshole part, since it's not like those tendencies would be relevant in every story. What is relevant is Ryo's lack of emotional intelligence.

I mentioned earlier that Ryo's flat affect is one of those things that are toned down often in fics. It's not nearly as toned down as the asshole aspects, but it's still different enough that I noticed it.

The difference, I've found, is that people seem to write Ryo's stoicism as either:

A. Ryo deliberately holding back her emotions,

B. Ryo simply not feeling her emotions that strongly,

or lastly, C. some combination of the above two.

C feels the most correct of the options I listed, and is also relatively common in the fics I've read, but I also feel like it's incomplete. It misses an important aspect in that I don't think Ryo actually understands emotions in general. Like, at all.

Think about it: Ryo doesn't feel most of her emotions very strongly. Whatever emotions she does feel stongly, she doesn't understand, so she pushes them out of her mind and doesn't express them—at least not outside of music. In doing so, she creates the outward appearance of stoicism, which her peers find her cool, thus reinforcing the behavior.

Sounds about right for Ryo, right? Wanna know how that reads to me?

Ryo is a teenaged boy—or at least she acts like one.

Like, it's so obvious to me! The commitment to the bit; the emotional constipation; even the general assholery! From the moment I first watched the show, Ryo always felt so "teenaged boy"-coded. She reminded me of a bunch of friends I had back when I was studying at an all-boys highschool.

Which also explains why, of all the fics I've read, the ones where Ryo is a trans girl were the ones most similar to how I would write her. Because of course they would be! Trans!Ryo writers obviously understand the teenaged boy-like aspects of Ryo. The difference seems to be that trans!Ryo writers want to distance Ryo from those aspects while I lean harder into them.

So, to conclude this post, let me answer the question that confounded me at the start: what makes the way I write Ryo different from others?

My Ryo is an asshole

My Ryo doesn't feel most emotions strongly. When she does feel them strongly, she doesn't understand them. To avoid confusion, she shoved those emotions aside and doesn't think about or express them.

My Ryo is basically a teenaged boy who is a girl.

Does that make sense?

[kradogsrats]

Since we already saw past!viren when he resolves his dark magic nightmare in book 5, do you think Soren’s blonde hair could be from a skipped generation from one of his parents’ ancestry

LMAO GOD okay so I'm personally a blond Viren truther and I will die on that hill, so you have opened a real can of worms

A lot of people seem to cite Soren's hair as the reason Lissa "must" be blond, but hair color is determined by a huge amount of very complex genetic factors. Like literally hundreds of genes. It's genetically possible for two people to have a child with pretty much any hair color, regardless of the parents' coloration.

Additionally, what actually creates the color of hair that we perceive is the ratio of two different types of melanin, one that affects the "darkness" of the color, and one that affects the "warmth" (redness, basically). Blond hair can have any ratio of these melanins in very low amounts, because what creates blond hair is just lack of melanin. From there, you also have the fact that melanin production overall tends to increase with age, at least up to maturity—babies' eye color frequently appears to "change" because they start producing more melanin, for example. Blond, particularly very light platinum or golden blond, is considered a "youthful" or desirably rare color on adults (at least in the US/European-influenced West), because it's less common than it is in children. Many kids that start out blond have significantly darker hair by the time they're 18-20, whether it's just a much darker blond or a color that would be characterized as brown, instead. As a kid with hair so blond it was practically white when I was very young, my hair was about the shade known extremely attractively as "dirty" or "dishwater" blond when I hit my 20s, and by the time I was in my 30s... yeah, it's brown. (Meanwhile Spouse is still blond, and in fact is the lone blond from an otherwise brown-haired family.)

Past Viren looks to me to be around?? 20???? or so????? but it's a cartoon so who knows, really. You could probably crank that up 5-8 years or down maybe two. Either way, "Viren was blond into his early teens" is a reasonable stance to take. It's definitely also possible that one or both of his parents was blond. (I imagine his mother as blond, personally.)

Also like... idk man, but Claudia and Viren just have almost nothing in common features-wise besides "not blond," while Soren has an extremely similar facial structure to Viren's throughout. I just think it makes more sense that Claudia is practically a copy of Lissa and Soren takes after Viren.

but hurrrr fantasy nordic people are always blond and del bar is literally just skyrim logic i guess

[phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing]

A little explanation of Metaphor

Link to the fic (nsfw)

A copy of this explanation is pasted as the second chapter of the fic, if you find this easier to digest.

I decided to detail the double meanings I had in mind for this fic. Please read it first, so you can experience it on your own; and rest assured that if your interpretation is different it's not necessarily WRONG, as fiction exists in the eye of the beholder...

Note: The first few explanations are very long but the rest are easier to understand and much shorter.

I was inspired by Neil Gaiman's A Study In Emerald to write a fanfic about Elysia being an eldritch being.

There are three layers I intentionally inserted into the conversation between Elysia and Mei.

The literal layer

The "Elysia is aware of and talking about the narrative" layer

The “I am talking about what happened to Mei and Elysia’s characterization in the main story” layer

I will quote and then explain the text step by step.

“What is nature? The original intent of you, or what is made of you? Does it even matter when it’s all in the eye of the beholder? Nature isn’t meaningful for people like us.”

Literal level

As a non-human being who is trying to be a human woman (much like her canon counterpart), Elysia identifies with Mei's transness: they both choose to be what they feel is deeply right for them, regardless of what seemed to be "intended" by their original identity/form.

Meta-awareness level

What is the nature of a fictional character? What makes them "in character" or not? Is it real? Does it matter, if you consider that the reader is the judge of whether a character is "themself" or not, that they exist solely for the purpose of the beholder?

Elysia argues that there isn't "one fundamental truth", but a truth that is constructed with interpretation. In other words, the author is dead, and what you make of what you read is the "true" character, regardless of intent.

Admittedly this probably shouldn't apply when you're straight up misreading something, balance is important, but I'd say it remains a solid belief to have so long as you're doing your analysis honestly and rigorously.

Commentary on canon level

This line is also commentary of whether the “true” Elysia or Mei are what they were originally intended to be written as, or what they were eventually badly (my opinion, but one I know is shared by quite a few others around these parts) written as, and the answer is neither because the reader is as much a part of their character as the writing.

A fanfiction writer is both a reader and a writer, as well, which means that I am writing the “true” Mei and Elysia just as much as the main story or ER did, because they are fictional characters, their nature is what I see of it.

To briefly go back to the meta-awareness level, they are not real, objective quantities. Therefore, to ask who a fictional character truly is, is not a meaningful question, because there is no objective truth and reinterpretations by authors paid for it, authors who are not paid for it, and readers, are valid (so long as they are honest and rigorous, at least).

“Humans live and die all alone in the world, only able to connect with the world indirectly, through their senses. Because perception is the everything of humans, the changes you choose to make express your nature, so nature can only be what is made of you— and because you are alone, your nature only exists in the eye of a beholder, whether that beholder is you or me.”

Literal level

First, Elysia points out that, unlike herself as an Eldritch being who is capable of perceiving the world in a more objective way (in a sense, she's reading the story too), humans are bound to their senses to experience the world. Therefore, she believes only the "exterior" matters between humans, as it's all they can communicate, including self-perception (which she sees as "beholding yourself").

Following that logic, changing as a person is simply refining and expressing your nature better.

This further uses the fact that Mei is trans in the story as a step-stool to make the point that “nature” does not mean “original state”.

For example, a baby is probably the closest you can get to your "original state", prior to any influence from the world. However, a baby is quite literally an unfinished human, and it has no sense of identity, yes? You grow, change, start having your own tastes and personality, preferring some of your toys, picking your favorite colors, dressing in your own style...

The changes you make to reflect your identity express your nature better than what you used to be. This applies to gender, which is one of the most obvious ways this manifests, but other things, too.

Elysia's thesis statement is that what you become expresses your nature, and it is therefore not a "secret truth to be found at the origin", but the result of your changes that best represent who you are. She's a girl because she chooses to be one, just like Mei.

Meta-awareness level

Because people and especially characters live in the eye of the beholder, their perceived nature is the only nature that will ever be accessible.

Of course it would be a mistake to fall into relativism with this reasoning— there’s always things that people decidedly are not even if “who are you at your core?” is a meaningless question. For example, I'm currently not a deep-sea crab, and you'd have to be lacking in a lot of either honesty or diligence to claim otherwise.

It is not true that a "core" doesn’t exist, but because as humans we only have access to subjective perception, it cannot be grasped as an objective truth, that’s all.

You and I are definitely something, but to be seen a light must be shed on us and that always paints shadows: We will never be perceived accurately in our entirety.

(And that’s okay! That’s the beautiful way humans live in motion, a dance with the shifting lights)

Commentary on canon level

Characters don't have the agency people do— Elysia can't choose to do anything in the writing sense because she is a construct of writers and artists. She cannot express her own nature, and it only exists because we choose to create it.

Therefore, the Elysia that is written and read only exists in the eye of the beholder.

“You relate to me.”

Literal level

Trans women are women, as an act of self-realization and not one of genetics. Simple.

Meta-awareness level

Elysia relates to Mei as an audience relating to a character! She's talking to you!

Commentary on canon level

Mei is pointing out that fans may relate to herself (Mei) as a character in general. I know I do on a number of topics!

“You’re such a smart girl, Mei. Ah… this is why I like you so much already. You’re right. Don’t you think we’re exactly the same?”

Literal level

Trans in this specific story, in their own way (Eldritch -> Human girl counts here).

Meta-awareness level

Both characters in a story, puppets of the same strings.

Commentary on canon level

Tongue in cheek reference to canon getting accused of making Mei a pseudo Elysia lately!

“You could be anything, and you want to be a girl?”

Literal level

Trans narrative. You can be anything you want, but you choose to be a human girl? (Why not an astronaut?) Inviting the question of why people choose to be the gender they are, why it's important (or not).

Meta-awareness level

Mei pointing out you can read to be anything, and you choose to read about the lesbians game!

Commentary on canon level

References the canon narrative of Elysia being a Herrscher who wants to be a human girl, of course. As clumsy as I found it in canon, it's not without interest.

“Aiya, I simply like cute girls too much!”(…) “We are twisted mirror images, flat yet aggrandized, complex yet warped to shadows with the same problems. Despite this, beheld in just the right light, puppet and human, we are one!”

Literal level

Elysia is a trans lesbian eldritch monster in this story, and she relates to the human Mei.

Meta-awareness level

One way of describing fictional characters: mirrors of humans, but flattened and exaggerated, yet simultaneously complex and imperfect systems. Despite this, they are read as humans when written well enough.

Commentary on canon level

The canon’s writing problems: flattening Elysia while making her sound perfect, and Mei being a huge mess because the writers have a complex character they don’t know what to do with. Despite this, they are still perceived as people by players, who may even get mad at THEM for the way they’re being written (Elysia especially) although that's absurd since, again, they have no agency.

Elysia isn't responsible for anything because she is a fictional character, and yet, we project onto her, get mad at her as if she were a person. In this way, she did succeed in becoming human?

This also calls back to the earlier point about nature and what you see of it: there is no difference between a character and a person in the "right light", such as within a story.

“Mmm, Mei, Mei, do you think I’m doing a good job being human?” “Not always. Not never.”

Literal level

The, well, literal meaning of the exchange. Elysia's human act is flawed, but she is perceived as a person regardless within the framing of the story.

Meta-awareness level & Commentary on canon level

Characters, Elysia in particular, aren't always written well enough to seem like believable human beings. (but they are not "never" perceived as such, either).

Here are blinking stars and emptiness and yearning and pages and eyes and branches and sleep and teeth and pixels and love, the all-consuming amour of all things—

All levels

Mei realizes (and the narrative points out that) her reality is made of love and words being written and then read on a screen. Literally. I'm doing it again right now, and you're reading it right now. Amour is french for love, it feels more real to me in my mother tongue.

Mei was also created by Mihoyo out of the same ingredients.

Elysia was still there, but the outlines of her body looked faint, superposed with shifting light and darkness that passed through the furniture and Mei’s body like words.

Literal level

Mei starts seeing the world like she’s reading the story instead of living inside of it.

Meta-awareness level

You may be mentally picturing the scene, but you're really just reading words on a screen. This paragraph explicitly points this out.

She could only babble a simple name that could persist in a human mind collapsing on itself, dictated by circumstances— Elysia, Elysia, Elysia…

Literal level

Eldritch influence is literally fucking with her, and Elysia is all she can hold onto.

Meta-awareness level

The circumstances is that it’s an elymei fic! So she really only has Elysia to rely on- there are no other characters that directly appear.

Commentary on canon level

The way the canon handles Mei has her always with Elysia’s name on her lips in Elysium Everlasting and a bit later too. Tongue-in-cheek again, maybe.

The two of them came together, because they had become inextricably tied by a narrative, and the curtain dropped.

Literal level & Meta-awareness level

The story drops any pretense of not being told in a meta way as Mei's perception stops being merely human.

Commentary on canon level

This is a pun— they showed up in the game together a lot, and became tied together in the canon plot, to the extent that one without the other feels more shallow. (Yes, even if you didn't like the arc.)

“...it’s alright. I’ll always be next to you like this. It’s as I always say— I’ll stay by your side no matter how long the road is.” The world and the future had faded into static, blank like an undescribed scene, but hearing Elysia’s gentle words, the prostrated girl felt herself gain substance. Elysia sat down next to her, and the bed she had been sitting on all along materialized.

Literal level

Mei was shaken from having realized she is in a story and the story is ending soon. However, interacting with Elysia brings her back to her senses a little.

Meta-awareness level

Surroundings in a story only exist when described, so the featureless dialogue of this scene did not manifest a room for them to be in, not until it started being described. Mei's perception is the same as the reader's here. No description? She only sees an empty void. Spooky.

Commentary on canon level

At the time, part 1 of Hi3 was not over yet, and the reader may have felt anxious about how it would end. Remember, people used to claim Kiana was going to die (pretty sure that was even the original plan, but they clearly have other ideas now). Elysia's words were also meant as reassurance in that sense, using the same conclusion that she did in the canon, that the story would stay with the reader even with a sad ending.

“Are you scared of our sendoff? I am, too. That’s alright.” Elysia leaned forward until they were forehead to forehead, so gentle that Mei almost believed she was a real human being. “Please don’t be too afraid. There will always be more stories.”

Literal level

Mei is still trapped by the knowledge she’s in a story, but Elysia leads the narrative into a physical description instead of simply speaking her dialogue lines, giving their world and the scene substance.

This way, Mei can feel more real in their last moments.

Meta-awareness level

The story is ending but there will always be more stories for them to exist in, and you can even reread this one! Also pointing out stories humanize the concept of characters via inducing such a perception of them, which is a throwback to the earlier points.

Commentary on canon level

This line was meant to reassure the reader (and myself) about the end of part 1, and writing decisions of the canon in general, because no matter how it turns out, there WILL always be more stories to read or tell. If it sucks, or if it's good, ultimately, life goes on, and that's okay.

Final words

If you've made it this far, I'm thankful! I was planning to post this in JANUARY, but you can tell that didn't happen because it's the first of July for me now.

It was important to me to complete this, though, so albeit late, here it is. This will be cross-posted between tumblr and ao3 for better accessibility.

[horizon-verizon]

https://horizon-verizon.tumblr.com/post/712266197972959233/httpswwwtumblrcomhorizon-verizon712224861642

It is silly however those two merely looking at each other once and him saying he would marry her could mean more than him just being the dutiful son (what Daeron would have been as anon says) IF the writers decide so in order to make the ship canon in some shape and form (for fanservice or simply because they intended the ship to be their version/copy paste of Aemon/Naerys from the very beginning). I'm obviously playing devil's advocate here, but I think most see where I'm coming from.

It's also very, very unlikely we will be seeing a more book!accurate Aemond. He will progressively commit even more crimes, sure, but his actions will be whitewashed just like Luke's murder. For example, does anyone truly believe the show will stay true to the book and have Aemond claim Alys as his war prize which essentially makes him a rapist? I think this question is important because all of the shipping debate surrounding Aemond will entirely move onto Alys when he leaves King's Landing and Helaemond will no longer be a thing, with people using once again the book against the ship involving her, arguing she's his victim (and not the other way around) or that there's no way the ship is going to be a tragic love story with them getting married like Greens are and will be claiming.

Anyway, the answer to that question is definitely not. She won't be his war prize for sure and Aemond will not be her rapist and abuser. Not when they already confirmed Aegon to be one. They're not going to add another rapist to the Green side after whitewashing most of them so much in the first season. They will, most certainly, make Alys the seductress and manipulator with poor Aemond being her victim OR, alternatively, they could make her fall in love with him because she was abused by her family for being a bastard and, well, she will be grateful to him for killing her abusers. Either way, gross, but Aemond won't look like the monster he is in the book and people who used it as an argument will be disappointed once again. Sure, Greens will be as well if they don't get a love story and Alys will be the evil witch but they will eventually settle for anything that makes their guy look good.

Moving on. The Strong massacre? They could very well make up some BS and have Simon Strong collaborate with Daemon. Even more, make it a misunderstanding. Greens will use whatever reason to claim Aemond was in the right, regardless. We could go on and on and list Aemond's every single crime from the book…and an explanation that whitewashes him could be made almost instantly. When the time comes Condal and Hess will justify whatever they're planning to do by claiming there's a lot missing from F&B or the sources were unreliable. I may also add that Aemond turned out to be and is, even if for all the wrong reasons, a popular character and there's no way they won't cater to that part of the fandom by doing the some of the things mentioned above, if not all. Also, may I ask, has there been any kind of confirmation that they were indeed planning to exclude Daeron permanently from the show? Or is it just fan speculation? Yes, he has not been mentioned by name so far, but frankly a lot of the things we saw in the show don't make a lot of sense. I just don't think the claim that they gave Daeron's characterization to Aemond because they wanted to exclude his character is true. I truly think they did what they did with Aemond because he's the main threat on the Green side thanks to Vhagar and they wanted to give him more of a background and settled on the version of the character we've seen so far.

The post you linked says that the writers "didn't want" Daeron to be in, but not that they actually planned to exclude him. But even that, it's probably fan speculation. It has to be until solid evidence comes up, which I tried finding and couldn't see for myself.

You bring up good reasons for why they won't insert actual canon!Aemond when you bring up how he will eventually move away from Helaena.

Don't worry about the Devil's advocate, I also did a bit of it HERE, so I don't have much to complain about AND I find it still useful.

[kob131]

I no longer forgive Type-Moon on Tumblr

You wanna talk shit about me, I will respond. Regardless of being blocked or not.

A character being more than initial appearances and having more to them than just being an asshole is not “bad writing.” Merlin *is* a sleazy douchebag that people barely tolerate, but he also has a heart underneath it all. That’s called showing and not just telling.

Except that no one ever acknowledges that heart, instead they just treat him as a dick. They keep showing one thing but say another, that's my fucking problem here.

But here’s the thing: The fact that Merlin feels guilty about his past actions does not automatically make him a good person, and so by extension Proto Merlin not showing guilt does not make her a bad person. They are both trickster type characters who cannot always be trusted, who’ve both caused their share of good and bad in Camelot and both are handling it differently. But a lot of fans seemed to jump to conclusions that because Protolin isn’t secretly stricken with Catholic Guilt she must be “evil,” which I think is pretty unfair.

But it...kind of does. It shows that he understands that what he did was bad and even the OP admits that his motivation for being trapped in Avalon is in part because he's punishing himself for interferring in Arturia's life. And even then, considering that the World literally could not afford any other outcome besides the one Merlin helped cause- I actually have to question if it was even amoral in the first place.

And while this would normally lead me to say Proto Merlin is the one who is badly written- She's actually the one where people's treatment of her makes the most sense. She's actually the nominal hero that the writing keeps trying to say Merlin is. So...The original kind of has to be badly written. As paradoxical as it sounds.

I admit though that I don’t know a lot about Protolin and haven’t read Fragments, so I’m trying my best to hold off judgement. I don’t expect or want her to be an exact clone of Merlin, because that would be kind of boring and superfluous. FGO kind of dropped the ball on her by making her a Pretender and then not giving a good reason beyond “Oh she’s pretending to be Merlin’s sister!” but they do set up hints that there’s more to it than that. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of her there.

And yet you're about to do said judgements in the tags. So much for that eh?

At no point did I say that I wanted her to be a copy of mainline Merlin. If anything, it would make more sense to infer that I would want the original to be more like Proto. That's stupid but it at least follows some kind of logic from what I said.

#merlin: *is given more characterization than just being a shady asshole everyone hates*#kob: this is bad writing!#''i like mainline merlin'' you sure don't sound likeit

Really? What part of what I said indicates this? In fact, the point of my reblog is that Merlin DOESN'T have that characterization of being a shady asshole despite the writing repeatedly claiming that it does. That Merlin's negative qualities are either so downplayed they barely exist or that they straight up aren't shown. He's not a shady asshole- he's just a goofball. No matter how much the writing tries to scream that at me.

But that's probably too many words for you so let me simplify it in a way I know you understand-

Just because Merlin is likeable doesn't make him well written.

Just because Proto Merlin is unlikeable doesn't make her badly written.

Not like my opinion on a character in FGO has changed *cough* Morgan *cough*.

P.S. And-...

.....Wait.

...Oh. It's you.

Hi Celtic, still salty that I called out your bullshit eh?

[spider-xan]

I remember being uncomfortable in a fandom with how people acted so weirdly about a central POC character. What always confused me was that members in this fandom seemed to avoid acting this way when talking about or making fanart of POC character from other series. Yet when it came to the POC character in this fandom, all of a sudden they almost exclusively use the same tropes and stereotypes they claim to hate or criticize to depict or write about this character.

I obviously can't really comment on specifics since I don't know what the fandoms in question are, but what I have noticed is that white fandom is less likely to characterize a character of colour solely via racial and racist tropes if they can project their own identities (usually queerness and/or neurodivergence) onto the character by latching onto certain traits that can be read that way, even if the actual explanation has nothing to do with either of those things and/or are explained by culture; however, this often creates a different problem of stripping the character of their race, ethnicity, and culture by basically perceiving the character of colour as their white selves with melanin, if even, while ignoring that while queer/LGBT and neurodivergent POC obviously exist, their experiences will be different from that of white people bc of the intersection of culture and racialization with those other marginalizations.

Meanwhile, the less white fandom can see themselves in a character of colour, the more it will rely on racial and racist tropes instead, which is also, I think, part of the problem where fandom loves to copy and paste tropes across media regardless if it makes sense or not; this also gets exacerbated if the character is seen as attractive, as we have seen with Miguel in ATSV recently.

[undertale-data]

[Image Description: an Undertale chat box with the name "PAPYRUS", in all caps and Papyrus font, in its center. On its left is a talksprite of Papyrus sweating anxiously, and on its right is a talksprite of Papyrus wearing sunglasses. End I.D.]

The Great Papyrus is the most popular Undertale character among the fans surveyed here. 19.6% of responders chose him as their favorite. That’s a total of 519 fans! (Wowie!!)

Not all Papyrus fans are unified on his characterization, however. The most obvious divide was between fans who call him a “cinnamon roll” or “precious baby,” and those who find these takes infantilizing. A lot of people like the friendliness and optimism of this character, while others recognize this but highlight his maturity too. Fans who worry about his infantilization seem most concerned with how he can be portrayed as naive or dumb by the fandom. A portion of fans specifically mentioned this naivety as a point in his favor, though the marginally more popular take seems to be that he is not naive, regardless of how he first appears. This fandom divide seems to relate to Papyrus’s autistic or ADHD coding. Many fans relate to him as ADHD and autistic themselves.

Fans also related to him in his desire for friends. Many responders think of him as a friend and a comfort character, so at least in one way his wish has been fulfilled.

The phone calls were a major reason that fans said they felt connected to Papyrus. Thanks to these calls, he has the most dialogue of any character in the game. His humor and dialogue were often highlighted as favorite qualities.

While fans may disagree on some aspects of Papyrus’s personality, it is clear that his fans all value his optimism and kindness. His fans do not see his kindness as weakness. Many talked about the complexity of his character and the strength it took for him to show mercy to the player character, even when the player doesn’t show it in return. He believes in himself, and he believes in you! This kindness and trust has inspired his fans to be kinder themselves.

Papyrus fans were also drawn to his mysteriousness. Several responses pointed out that he is a more mysterious character than Sans, who is also often loved for his mystery. As shown in the phone calls, Papyrus will put on fronts depending on who he is around, making it even more difficult for fans to uncover his secrets. Some people in other sections of the survey found this frustrating, but Papyrus fans tend to see it as another point in his favor.

Among the greatest proportion of responses were from fans who couldn’t choose a favorite trait, or who just love everything about Papyrus. While these responses may be less lengthy, they are still as full of love as the essay-length answers. These responses tended to say phrases like “cool dude” or “Papyrus my beloved” or “THE GREAT PAPYRUS.”

(You were overcome by writing about such a handsome skeleton. He understands.)

Highlights: (under the cut)

Honestly Papyrus just feels like joy. Funny, incredibly kind, with a few mysteries/weird quirks about him that are fun to ponder over. I especially love how he often acts proud and self aggrandizing without putting others down, and in fact sometimes uses that to lift his friends up alongside him. You don't see this take on proud characters often.

Papyrus is strong. Strong in body, but also morally strong. He knows what is right, what it means to be merciful and kind, even in the face of danger or death. Some think him naive. And yet, even facing death and seeing the dust of those he knew, he did not falter or turn from his ideals of mercy and change for the better.

BECAUSE HE IS THE GREAT PAPYRUS

His optimism and his overall personality is endearing! You're always having fun with him :D

He's meeting all of my standards.

Papyrus is very under appreciated, and overlooked, and it's very frustrating to me—he's a complex character but people treat him like he's a baby!!! I like him because he's kind of goofy with how he talks and he's just very charming and kind.

He's weirder than Sans, and it wasn't acknowledged for years because he acts oblivious and dumb, even when he's clearly not. Quite frankly, I find it iconic. Also, his entire personality helps a lot.

I'm ND, trans, and projecting!

OK SO he's just a friendly guy!! A dude who likes cooking for his friends!! We love a hype man!! Also smart as hell and I feel like fanon majorly overlooks this. Making good, fun puzzles is HARD and setting up a flamethrower to go off wirelessly is complicated. Like even if that bridge puzzle didn't go off the components were complicated. Love that cool dude!!!!

I heavily relate to Papyrus as a character and consider him my favorite fictional character of all time. He is a very well-written and thought out character with several quirks and layers in his personality. It is headcanoned by some (myself included) that Papyrus may possibly be on the Autism Spectrum due to his nature, his interactions with others, and overall how he displays himself to the world we see.

I could talk about Papyrus forever, and you have made a grave mistake in allowing me to do so. He is a charming, strong spirited, well intentioned, complex character that is often wildly misinterpreted, and I think originally this is why I was drawn to him. He is presented as one thing and in fact acts as one thing (though not the same way as presented by fandom), and in reality when you look closer than you are meant to he is not, in fact, any of these things. It was intriguing to me. Secondly, and rather contradictorily, another thing that drew me to him is that he is very true to himself, when it comes to idiosyncrasies and moral values. It's true that he does not offer much in the way of personal backstory and feelings, but he offers very much indeed in the way of personality. What a guy! He wears silly crop tops and bright colors, he speaks in a manner specific to him that sometimes doesn't make sense, he cares about something or someone and goes whole hog with it -- he's passionate, damn it! I love him and his weirdo, goofy self with all my heart. He cares about other people to a fault, too. He would sacrifice everything to help someone, and his belief in the potential of both others and himself is indomitable. When faced with the responsibility of a kingdom, his friends gone, his brother lying to him, and himself all alone without a reliable support system, he recognized what he was facing and still bucked up and became determined to get through it. When faced with a murderous, over powerful enemy, someone who had killed many of his friends and fellow monsters, someone who had repeatedly been rude and borderline aggressive and showed no signs of stopping, he saw that they were having difficulty and offered to help and to care for them, and didn't regret his decision or change his opinion on what they needed and their potential for change, even when quite literally killed by them a moment after. Even in death, even directly after a betrayal like that, he never stops believing that they can get better, that anyone can be a good person if they want to be. That's important, I think; that concept of giving people the chances they need to grow and to change. I have a tattoo of that moment on my thigh, it's that important to me. I guess I really like Papyrus because even though he is fictional, watching him out there makes it easy to believe in people, in our inherent goodness and desire to love each other. He makes it easy to see that we can change, that no matter what you've done in the past or who you currently are, no one is inherently a bad person, and no one is incapable of learning how to be a good one. It is just a step by step process that we have to take day by day.

[Image Description: A wordcloud shaped like Papyrus. His gloves, boots, and cape are red; his Battle Body is blue, yellow, and white; and his bones are white. Some of the most visible words are: Kind, Love, Good, Cool, Relate, Funny, Friend, Mystery, and Papyrus. These are the words that responders mentioned most in their essays about him. End I.D.]

Read the full list of responses shared with permission by clicking this link! (The document is 25 pages long, so you may want to make a copy to prevent lagging.)

[raifenlf]

Why Loki’s Sylvie Is A Mary Sue

So I am firmly in the camp that Sylvie on the Loki series was/is a Mary Sue.  The last episode made me feel better and like maybe the show was doing a thing where they were faking you out that she was a Mary Sue only to show she was actually sort of a bad guy and I liked that.  But all the recent interviews make me think the show wants to go back to her being a Mary Sue.

But I feel like when I call her out for being a Mary Sue people tell me what are you talking about, she’s not a Mary Sue, bad things happen to her, etc.  But that doesn’t actually make her not a Mary Sue.  

Also, before we start, I know some people find Mary Sue sexist.  But I personally use the term for guys and girls. I don’t use the term to belittle women.  I use the term to criticize a poorly written character.

And I know Mary Sue is often used to describe fanfic characters.  But to me, this series is kind of like a fanfic because the writers took a character who had been in canon MCU material for ten years and then created characters around that character.  So, I kind of review it like I would a fanfic.  It’s very different than if the writers had created a brand new show with all of their own new characters.

Anyway, if you are not totally familiar with the Mary Sue term, then check this out:

I know the term Mary Sue probably means different things to different people.  But I have always used these guidelines when I write my own fanfic to make sure my characters never come off as a Mary Sue.

This article really gives you a full scale of what a Mary Sue is.  If you start reading it, you’ll immediately see why Sylvie is.  But I’m going to take out the parts that most fit Sylvie just to highlight why I believe she is a Mary Sue.  I apologize for this being so long.

Mary Sue Character Traits

Personality

Erm... what personality? The typical Mary Sue doesn't have one per se, because she isn't meant to be a character; rather, she's an entity by which the author makes cool stuff happen.

I feel like that is Sylvie in a nutshell.  She doesn’t have a personality.  I feel like even though she ate screentime, I still don’t really know her at all.  The writers love to say she’s badass.  That’s not a personality.  

Sometimes when I am writing stories for fun and creating new characters, I like to take surveys as my fictional characters.  Like the kind of surveys you’d see in a magazine, like personality types, what’s your dating style, etc.  I figure if I don’t know what my character would do in any of those situations, then I need to keep working on my character.  And if I was trying to fill out a survey pretending I was Sylvie I would have no idea what to answer because she doesn’t have a personality.  She’s just “cool”.

What little personality a Mary Sue has isn't as important as how other characters react to it. No matter how shy or socially awkward Mary Sue is supposed to be, other characters will be inexplicably drawn to her

This is so Sylvie.  Loki falls in love with her...why, exactly?  He falls in love with her in the big Nexus event moment...why?  Because she had a tough childhood?  Mobius spends like two seconds with her in a car and goes from hating her to saying she’s his favorite Loki.  For. No. Particular. Reason.

She's extremely persuasive; everyone finds her opinions to be better than their own

She enchants Hunter B-15 and then immediately Hunter B-15 makes it her whole entire life mission to back Sylvie up.  

And occasionally she'll be a complete asshole...This can manifest itself in several ways...The author wants to write a badass but doesn't know how. This leads to a character who mistreats everyone around her and is never called out on her abrasive, casually abusive behavior.

Sylvie talked down to Loki and treated him like garbage for all of episode three, but it was never portrayed as a bad thing and we never got any impression Sylvie later felt bad for the way she treated Loki

The author doesn't know how to hold back the character, meaning that she will succeed at practically everything. This means that when she encounters rules or authority figures who would otherwise prevent her from doing what she wants to do, she rolls right through them (and they praise her for her "boldness" in defying regulations). If a bad guy is violent and aggressive, she can beat him by being more violent and aggressive (with all that entails). It's impossible for her to go overboard because she's protected by Protagonist-Centered Morality.

Sylvie is shown as a kid to immediately be able to grab a Tempad and run away.  And she can kick ass way better than Loki, for no known reason.  She is always able to fight back against the TVA when they attack her.  And she can kill lots of innocent TVA agents but it’s okay because TVA bad, Sylvie good.

Skills

She will always be superior to the canon characters, regardless of what canon has established they can do or whether it makes any sense.

Whose skill was needed to defeat Alioth?  Sylvie’s.  Of course.  Sylvie needed to teach Loki her skills in order for him to succeed (!).  And again, she is literally called the superior Loki.

Relatedly, there's no effort to her skills. She never actually trains or learns anything to become more powerful; she just wins the Super Power Lottery, or is a freakish natural learner, or is just Inexplicably Awesome

We’re told Sylvie literally taught herself magic.  She literally taught herself to enchant people.  That. Makes. No. Sense.  Like, I have so many questions.  Like, why would it even occur to her to teach herself that?  And how????????????  This is really lazy writing.

Canon Character Relationships

Mary Sue is often designed to hook up with another character, often as a form of Wish Fulfillment. This isn't that bad in and of itself (okay, it is kinda weird), but Mary Sue accomplishes this without any sense of realism. She just grabs her lover's attention straight away, and their relationship will never face any obstacles or tension; it's true love from the start and nothing else. The biggest giveaway is if the love interest is explicitly the author's favorite character, and she essentially "cures" him of all the angst that ails him (at the expense of his characterization).

Yeah, so...this one should be pretty obvious to anyone who watched the show.  Loki literally falls in love with Sylvie immediately, and then he suddenly turns from “villain” to “hero” just because of loving her.  And this was definitely at the expense of his characterization.  And Loki just knows he falls in love with her.  There’s not even any moments of hmm what do I feel for this person?  It’s just true love, immediately.

She will be related to a canon character in some way. This (marginally) helps explain such phenomena as her being a Copy Cat Sue and other characters accepting her so easily.

Sylvie is a Loki variant.  They use this to help explain why Loki is drawn to her and why their falling in love immediately “makes sense”.

Most characters give her more heed than they normally would. The good guys never stop praising her

Seriously, it was so over the top and OOC for Loki to gush over her.  He literally tells her she’s amazing.  They don’t even make it subtle.

Characters' previously established personalities change in reaction to her. Proud, arrogant gimps suddenly acknowledge her superiority in everything. Reckless youths will listen to all her advice. Responsible leaders will defer to her instead. Villains will obsess with her to the detriment of all else. Extremely competent characters will become stumbling buffoons who require her help to do anything. Sweet, mild-mannered characters whom the author doesn't like turn evil and insult her. They all become unnaturally focused on her in some way.

Again, Loki’s whole personality changed in reaction to her.  He became a buffoon who needed her help to enchant the Alioth because of course he couldn’t do anything without her!  Hunter B-15 goes from doing whatever the TVA said to fighting the TVA just because of Sylvie.

Story Elements

Mary Sue is without exception a single-person Spotlight-Stealing Squad. The entire story hinges on her existence; if you removed her, there would be no story. 

Sylvie undoubtedly drove the whole story this season.  It all became about HER meeting the TVA heads because of HER trauma.  Loki’s life was only saved at the beginning because the TVA was trying to capture HER.  And SHE was the one who started the whole multiverse (!).

Mary Sue is The Chosen One, even if the setting already has one. There are many ways she can accomplish this: she can be a Sailor Earth type who "shares" the position with the canon hero; she may be vaguely "destined to help the destined one fulfill their destiny" (i.e. do all the work except the final blow so that the prophecy is still technically correct); or the canon hero may be revealed to be a Fake Ultimate Hero all along. Being the Chosen One doesn't necessarily involve her being a God-Mode Sue, especially as authors become aware of the phenomenon and try to avoid it, but it does make her critically important to the world and allows her to continue stealing the spotlight without the "god mode" label.

HWR wanted Sylvie to come with Loki in the end, like she was chosen all along right alongside Loki.  Like one of the most important characters in the entire MCU is now this character who we only met a few episodes ago.

Most Sues have an unusually Dark and Troubled Past. It's often used to create a Sympathetic Sue, but any type of Sue can have one

They tell us, over and over, how hard Sylvie’s life was because she was kidnapped by the TVA in order to create sympathy for her.

She almost never does anything wrong. In the rare instance that she does, it's usually; (a) a way for the author to disclaim her being a Mary Sue by introducing a single imperfection (that has no bearing on anything anyway), and (b) designed to show her smarts by making her feel instant remorse, and she'll be Easily Forgiven anyway:

So this one hopefully will not come true, as a lot can change between now and when the show is taped. But if the show goes on the way the behind the scenes team is talking, Sylvie immediately felt remorse for betraying Loki, and Loki has already forgiven her and is desperately looking for her.  Ugh.

Alternatively, she is more than capable of doing something wrong, be it in general moral terms or something that goes against whatever code she abides by, and she maybe even frequently does so, but don't expect the other characters or the narrative to ever acknowledge or comment on it in any real capacity. If the other characters do call her out, expect them to be treated like they're the problem for daring to criticize her at all.

Mobius calls her out for killing people, but Sylvie immediately says he’s a bad person and then Mobius agrees, because, of course.

She will often suffer from Special Snowflake Syndrome; i.e., she has a trait or backstory that sets her apart from her group or race.

She is the only female Loki, thus making her the special one among all the Lokis in episode five.

Presentation

In visual media, the camera just can't stop staring at her.

The camera would follow her in fight scenes rather than Loki.

Mary Sue Tropes

Okay, so there are specific Mary Sue tropes that Sylvie is.  One of those is Copy Cat Sue, which I think was referenced before.

Copy Cat Sue

A lot of fanfic writers...start to write something because of their passion for this character, but they find something about the character that doesn't mesh well. Maybe they're the wrong gender or are otherwise not close enough to the author's expectations...In any case, rather than put them through the Possession Sue process, they just get a Clone-O-Matic™ and out pops a Copy Cat Sue...the character might be intended as a replacement for the canon character, but without whatever icky traits the author hates. They'll then rob the spotlight, prove the canon character to be unworthy of his/her position, and either relegate the character to obsolescence or, perhaps, even remove them entirely.

Sylvie is basically a clone of Loki, she is a variant.  But she absolutely robbed the spotlight of Loki’s, and they literally call her the superior Loki.  I mean, they are literally not even being subtle about this.  And there was a feeling by myself (and a lot of other viewers) that Sylvie might ultimately replace Loki in the MCU. 

Black Hole Sue

Much like a black hole, this is a Mary Sue who "sucks in" the plot and characters to her. Characters will behave outside their personalities, logic will be defied, and rules will be broken for her sake.

Sylvie really does suck up all the plot and Loki definitely behaves outside of his personality just to fit the Sylvie show.

Jerk Sue

A Mary Sue who is mean or maybe even cruel, but are still treated as an ideal person.

Once again, Sylvie is basically a jerk all of episode three, but you’ve got Loki falling over himself to call her amazing in just the next episode.

Relationship Sue

A Mary Sue who exists to be the perfect mate for a specific character...this character has everything in the plot conspiring to enforce this One True Pairing...in Fanfiction, they are the perfect beloved of a canon character.

They literally have Mobius speculate that Loki falling in love with Sylvie is so extraordinary that it causes an entire Nexus event, that’s how huge this One True Pairing is (!).  And Sylvie is the love interest of Loki, the only character who had been around before the beginning of the series

TLDR: Sylvie has all the tropes of a classic Mary Sue character.  So calling Sylvie a Mary Sue isn’t being sexist or just randomly hating on the character.  If you use common Mary Sue characteristics to examine the character, she just has too many of these characteristics to ignore.

[myherowritings]

PART 6. FUCK THE RICH, STEAL THEIR CANDY

SUMMARY. Todoroki Shouto was a wealthy, young CEO who inherited his father’s enterprise. You were a barista at a local cafe who wouldn’t mind some extra cash. One day, Shouto came in during an early morning shift and tipped you such a large sum of money, you were certain it had to have been an accident. To your surprise and complete pleasure: It was not.

PAIRING. ceo!todoroki shouto x barista!reader

WORD COUNT. 3.7k

GENRE. ceo/barista au, fluff, eventual smut

WARNINGS. enji...ew, some judgmental rich people, just a little bit of sexual tension and suggestive content to prep for the next part ;3

A/N. gala time omg let’s gooooo writing this made me 100% ready to fight rich ppl fjhjkgf and want to give shouto all the kisses ;p i hope you enjoy and tysm for reading!! xx sof 

SERIES MASTERLIST

© myherowritings — all rights reserved. reposting, modifying, copying, or translating of any kind is not allowed. do not read my writing as asmr. do not plagiarize.

The only thing you hoped for this past week was for Shouto not to regret the events that happened in the dressing room. (Or, more precisely, the events that didn’t happen because of an interruption but you both had very much wanted to happen at the time.) 

(Or so you hoped he did. It seemed like he did…) 

You groaned, burrowing your face in your pillows after flopping back onto your bed after a shower. Why was this so confusing? 

It wasn’t like Shouto was ignoring you or pretending nothing happened, but he’s just been so busy with work neither of you had time to sit down and really talk. You briefly got to see him for his daily morning coffee runs but you didn’t want to accidentally ruin what little time throughout the work week the two of you had by bringing it up. And now it was the weekend, which would have been the perfect time to talk about it, if not for the fact Shouto was picking you up to get ready at his place and then head to a super fancy gala in less than an hour! 

With a charity ball full of strangers you had to prepare for, you supposed your potential romance could take the back seat for a little while longer. 

At least the fruity little candies would be there waiting for you. 

Snapping you out of your thoughts, your phone buzzed with a message from Shouto telling you he was less than 20 minutes away from your place. Within the last few minutes, you double checked you had the necessities, like your makeup and clothes and hair supplies and shoes and possibly every ‘getting ready’ product you could think of under the sun, all ready to go. Your dress was already hanging in Shouto’s house, ready for you to change into.

Apparently, there wasn’t a moment left to spare since you soon got a call with him telling you he had just arrived. Taking deep breaths, you walked out your door, lugging your bag of belongings in tow.

“Good afternoon, Y/N,” Shouto greeted as you settled into his car. He smiled as you reached over to give him a quick side hug. He squeezed your shoulder gently. “Nervous about tonight?” 

You tried to calm the tapping your fingers were doing against the inside of the car door. “Is it obvious?” 

“Not really,” he assured. “Regardless, you shouldn’t worry. You’ll be an amazing date and we don’t even need to stay the whole time if you would rather not.” 

Amazing date date? Or amazing fake date? 

Would it be too forward of you to ask? (Not that anything could’ve been more forward than Shouto pinning you against a wall and almost kissing you just a few days ago.) 

“You’re right, it’ll be fine!” you said, trying to sound more confident than you felt. “After all, you’ll be there.” 

A smile. “Hm.”

It didn’t take very long for you to get from your place to his seeing as he lived relatively close to his work and therefore yours. He parked in front of a luxury high-rise apartment that was characterized by glass windows and angled architecture. It looked like something straight out of Portfolio Magazine. 

“All those ‘Japan’s Youngest CEO Bachelor’ tabloids are starting to make sense now,” you said with a teasing whistle, following Shouto into the building after being greeted by the security guards and receptionist. 

He held his hand out to you and you placed yours in his palm as he led you to the VIP elevator that brought you all the way up to the top floor. His hand gave yours a soft squeeze when he noticed your gaze darting around the area nervously. 

When the elevator doors opened, your eyes widened as you took in the ceramic floor tiles, the spotless walls, floor-to-ceiling mirror columns, and the natural light pouring in through the bare, glass windows. “Whoa— This looks like a wealthy bachelor pad if I’ve ever seen one.”

Letting go of your hand, Shouto offered to take your bag of belongings and brought it to a room for you to get ready in. “Do you...not like it?” 

“Oh, that’s not it at all!” You shook your head earnestly. “This place is so beautiful! And a little cold.” 

Both literally and metaphorically. 

His penthouse was elegant and sleek, with tasteful decor that probably cost more than a month’s salary for you. But it seemed a little...empty. Not like a home. 

Apparently, Shouto agreed. 

“I live here because it’s close to work. But it’s a little unwelcoming,” he admitted wryly. “Not something I ever really settled into. Though my mother and sister did try to help decorate.” 

You looked at the finely chosen contemporary paintings displayed on some of the walls. “They have good eyes.”

Shouto nodded but appeared to be in pensive thought. “If I were to ever settle down with a family, it wouldn’t be here. But this is what’s most suitable for now.” 

Running your fingers against the cold glass windows, you peered down into the city in an attempt to calm your fluttering heart having just learned Shouto valued having a family in the future. Something in you just liked hearing he one day wanted to settle down with someone. You bit your lower lip to stop a hopeful smile from spreading. 

“I’m sure you’ll be a great husband and father when the day comes,” you said quietly, still gazing out the window to avoid looking into his eyes. “But, um, anyway— I should start getting ready now! Don’t want us to be late for tonight.” 

His hand that was reaching out to hold you suddenly dropped to his side as he stepped away at your words. “Of course.”

You silently cursed yourself under your breath, wishing you had waited a few moments to talk so you could’ve seen what he was going to do. Would he have tried to kiss you again? You hoped that was the case, but it was too late to know for sure now.

“You can get ready in here,” said Shouto, opening the door to what looked like a guest bedroom, your dress hanging on an armoire inside. “There’s your dress. And the bathroom is right there if you need it.”

“Thank you, Shouto.” You resisted the urge to plop right on the huge bed and jump on it while he was in the room. “I’ll try to be quick!” 

“No need to rush; we have time.” He checked the watch on his wrist before turning to you. “I’ll be in the shower for a bit but if you need anything just let me know.” 

In the shower? While you were under the same roof? Your stomach did funny flips at the thought. 

“I’ll keep your offer in mind,” you said playfully, glancing over at the dress. You’d need his assistance sooner or later buttoning the dress up, but there was sadly no time for funny business if you wanted to make it to the gala in a timely manner. 

When Shouto left the room to take a shower, you began getting ready yourself. You did your hair and makeup in a way that made you feel confident and happy, and by the time you were done about two hours had passed. All you had left was to change into the dress and throw on some fancy shoes and you’d be set with time to spare. 

You were just wondering if Shouto was almost ready when you heard a knock on the door.

Speak of the devil. Or angel. He was much too sweet to be the devil, after all. 

“Everything okay in there?” he asked, voice muffled from the outside of the wall. 

You nodded before realizing he couldn’t see you. “Yeah! Just putting on the dress now.” 

There was a shuffle outside then a pause. Then, “Did you want any help?” 

“Yes, please.” You slipped into your outfit and pulled the front over your chest. The fabric was light against your body, making it feel almost ethereal. 

After a while, Shouto cautiously opened the door to the room and you turned to catch sight of him. He was dressed up in a fitted black suit with silky red trimmings and a tie that matched the color of your dress. His hair was combed back and to the side, pulled out of his face and giving you a clear view of his forehead. That was one pretty forehead. 

All in all, he looked as handsome as ever, but with some extra pizzazz. 

“You look great,” you both said at the same time. 

There was a beat of silence, then you both laughed.

“I’m only half in my dress and I’m sure I look a bit unruly, but thank you,” you giggled as Shouto walked over to grasp at the fastens on the back of your gown. 

He shook his head. “You look beautiful like you always do. The dress just helps compliment it even more.” 

His words brought warmth to your cheeks and you were glad you were faced away from him so he couldn’t see your all too pleased expression. “Smooth talker much?” 

“Not flattery. Just the truth.” 

Your smile grew even wider. “Hm.” 

Shouto nimbly fastened the buttons on your back, cold fingertips lightly grazing your skin in ways that sent shivers down your spine. You closed your eyes and hoped that was only a phrase and that he couldn’t actually tell how much your body was affected from such a simple touch by sensing shivers in your spine. 

You held your breath as he travelled up your back, skin sparking against skin. Time seemed to slow down as he closed the last few buttons. 

“Finished,” he said quietly, though his hands didn’t move from their position on you. 

Turning around, you caught his palms in yours, lightly stroking his knuckles with your thumb. Shouto looked down at your hands joined together then back at you.

You murmured, “Thanks for your assistance.” 

The tips of your noses were almost brushing together as you stared up at him. If either one of you were to lean forward a few centimeters more, your lips would be touching. Just like in the fitting room last weekend.

And just like in the fitting room, Shouto’s hands encircled your waist and toyed with the buttons on your dress while you tugged at his color. 

But just like in the fitting room, there was an interruption mere seconds before the kiss. It’s just that, this time, the interruption was from you.

“Wait! I have makeup on!” you cried, pulling away in despite the dissatisfaction you knew the both of you were feeling. “If we kiss it might get messed up and I’ll have to redo it and then we’ll be late to the gala.”

He made deep a sound of frustration. “Fuck the gala.” 

You wanted to. In this very moment, you would much rather ditch the gala and fuck something else, but you had to remain somewhat rational. “But we made a commitment to show up, didn’t we?” 

Shouto looked down like he had just been chided. “We did.” 

“Plus… The candy!” 

He blinked before a grin took over his face. He chuckled, “Of course. Can’t forget the greatest candy heist of the year.” 

“Exactly!”

His smile was amused but his hands rested intimately on your hips. “Besides, you put in effort to get ready for tonight, it’d be a disservice to keep you from showing it off.” 

Your cheeks warmed at his compliment as you let out a laugh. “Flatterer,” you accused, though your tone had no bite to it. Instead, it was teasing as you brought your palm up to cup his jaw. “We should probably get going if we don’t want to be late, hmm?”

“Mm.”

“But first—” You planted a kiss on his cheek, giving him just a small hint of what could come later that night. When you pulled away, there was a lipstick mark in the shape of your lips where his jawline met his cheek an you smiled, satisfied with your work. 

His grip on you tightened as his gaze turned hooded. “If I’m a flatterer, you’re being a tease.” 

“Sounds like a good combination to me.”

— ✩ —

Oddly enough, the Naruhata Charity Gala was going quite well. 

The food was yummy, there were cute places for you and Shouto to sneak off and take obnoxious selfies, and—most importantly—there were bowls of free candies scattered throughout the entire premise. 

A whole building was rented out for the charity ball to be held and the venue even had an outdoor pool and with complimentary champagne (not that anyone was exactly prepared to take a dip in the middle of the night, but the only thing that mattered to the guests was that you could). 

Both of you were having fun.

You met some of Shouto’s friends, got complimented by the DJ for your...enthusiastic dance skills on the dance floor, and, for most of the night, Shouto was successful in avoiding making conversation with his father. 

Things were going well. Until they weren’t. 

You and Shouto were standing in a hallway just outside the main ballroom, exchanging jokes and talking about how many crabcakes a person could fit in their mouth. Totally business as usual, until you heard a group of people whispering only mere feet away from you. 

“Are you sure that’s them?” a woman in a red dress whispered—and you used that term rather subjectively since the whisper could be heard by practically half the room—as she glanced at you.

Seeing their gazes, you froze in your spot. Shouto must have heard them to since his brows furrowed as he held you closer to him, protectively. 

“And you really heard them, right? Mr. Todoroki has a… You know…”  

Another girl who you recognized as another customer from the dress store the other day nodded her head. “Yes, I overheard it with my own two ears when I was getting my outfit. That’s Mr. Todoroki and his sugar baby!”

You almost choked on your crabcake. 

Shouto rubbed circles into your back. “You okay?”

“Peachy,” you said sheepishly, trying not to draw even more attention to yourself than there already was. On the plus side, at least more people would notice how hot you look in this dress with your hair and makeup done. (Though it might be for the wrong reasons…) 

You vaguely recalled teasing Shouto about looking like a sugar daddy, and he joked back. But you didn’t think anyone would want to gossip enough to overhear a joke and spread it around as a rumor! 

The group began chattering some more and seemed to gain a crowd. You even saw a large figure you recognized as Todoroki Enji walking towards you.

“I’m going to have to clear things up, aren’t I?” 

Shouto shook his head, a frown present on his face. But you knew his displeasure wasn’t directed at you. “You don’t need to pay attention to this nonsense. People can think what they want.” 

“It’s okay! I don’t want to ruin your reputation with the media when I was initially here to help it get better. Besides, they don’t seem to be doing it maliciously. They’re just curious.” 

He looked at you, but before he could think of the words to say, you walked over to the group of gossiping partygoers. 

You tapped on the shoulder of the one you saw at the store. “Hi! Excuse me…” All eyes turned to you and you tried not to shrink down. “I, ah, I know what you overheard that day at the dress retailers, but I just wanted to clear it up and say it was a joke! Funny right? Well, maybe not so funny to you guys, but it was just an inside joke between me and Shouto.” You laughed, growing nervous at the lack of response. “You see, I’m not actually his sugar—” 

Just then, a booming voice interrupted, “Shouto! What are you thinking, son?”

You almost jumped at the sound and turned towards the direction of your date. As you whirled around, you made eye contact with him. Shouto had a furious expression on his face, but when his gaze met yours he tried giving you a comforting smile. Seeing his distress, you immediately made your way back to him.

“A nice woman to boost your media image,” Enji whispered, trying to lead his son to a less crowded area, probably so no one else would overhear or spread more rumors. “That’s all I asked for. Not a…a…you know!”

Was it a criterion that rich people must not know how to whisper? you asked yourself. Either, one, no one was actually trying to whisper, or two, they could not control their volume very well. 

“Actually,” you spoke up from behind him. When Enji turned to look at you, you gave him a wave before walking over to Shouto’s side. “I’m not his sugar baby. But even if I were, what’s it to you?” 

There was a hush of silence that settled around the room and you almost had to laugh at how comical it was. 

“As long as it’s an agreement between two consenting adults, there’s nothing wrong with it,” you said, hoping it didn’t just go in one of his ears and out the other. “You could think of it as like a business deal, but...with more of a relationship aspect.” 

Enji’s face turned a shade of red. “That’s not the sort of people someone with Shouto’s upbringing should hang around with. I don’t know how you were raised, but—” 

“Stop it, father.” Shouto’s voice was angry as he clenched his jaw. But his arm was wrapped around your waist. You gently squeezed his hand with yours. “You don’t get to make assumptions about Y/N without ever even talking to them.”

“Shouto,” he said in a warning tone when he noticed more and more people were paying attention to them. This didn’t exactly seem like the attention he wanted. “We can talk about this later.”

Shouto frowned. “There’s nothing to talk about. All you have to do is say sorry to Y/N and then we can leave.” He turned around to the crowd trying to pretend they weren’t listening in. “And everyone else, you can stop eavesdropping.” 

They look startled at the forward confrontation and you stifled a giggle, leaning into your date with a smile. 

He gave you a chaste kiss on your forehead before murmuring under his breath, “Everyone attending a charity gala just to brag about how generous they are but then turning around to judge everyone who might not be in the same circle as them? How shameless.”

Although it seemed like he was whispering it, your hypothesis that rich people really didn’t know how to whisper was right, since it was loud enough for the whole room to hear. Not that you or Shouto seemed to mind. 

“You know, if you’re not going to apologize to Y/N, there’s no reason we should stay any longer,” he told his dad as a stiff goodbye. 

You nodded in agreement before taking a handful of candy from a nearby bowl. “Well, now there’s no reason to stay.” 

Spinning on your heel, the two of you headed for the exit, somehow not caring but all too aware of the eyes on you at the same time. Before reaching the door, Shouto grabbed two bowls of candy in the reception area and walked out the door with it, everyone too stunned to say anything about it. You walked into the parking lot smothering fits of laughter the whole way, still in disbelief about the events that had just occurred.

“For you,” said Shouto as the two of you reached his car, still carrying the candy in his arms. 

You choked out a laugh at the audacity of it all. He even took the bowls? The candies were free for the guests, but you weren’t so sure the bowls were. “I… Thanks, Shouto. I’m never going to run out of these candies now!” 

“Hm,” was the approving noise he made. 

When you both got into his car, he looked at you before turning the engine on. Now that the adrenaline had passed, he had a much more solemn expression on his face. 

“Y/N,” he said, sounding apologetic, “I’m really sorry about my dad. And about the gossip. You didn’t deserve any of that.”

“It’s okay. It wasn’t too bad, and none of it was your fault! Besides,” you said, giving his hand on the gear shift a squeeze. After pulling out of the parking spot, he let go of the stick and interlocked his fingers with yours. “I had the best date ever to make up for it.”

“I have to disagree with that because I think I was the one with the best date.” Shouto smiled playfully, squeezing your hand in his. 

“Agree to disagree, then.” 

He chuckled and you grinned. Tonight was going great until the last hour’s mishap, and while it was uncomfortable and disheartening to hear gossip about you from people who were supposed to be sophisticated, grown adults, you weren’t lying when you told Shouto he was enough to make up for all that bullshit. You were grateful for him standing up for you and basically saying fuck rich people and charity galas in front of them all. 

Oh, and for getting you enough candy to last you at least a few months, of course.

He really was the best date ever.

As Shouto signaled to get out of the structure, he asked, “Now, should I take you back to your home or…?”

You shook your head, already knowing where he was going with this (and very much liking it). “Hmm,” you drawled, pretending to think about it. “How about we go back to your place to finally finish what we started?” 

“I thought you’d never ask.”

In all honesty, you were quite surprised yourself that you asked. But, damn, would you be glad you did.

a/n: woOO EAT THE RICH STEAL THEIR CANDY STEAL THEIR BOWLS HGFJKS, i’m already so in love with shouto but i have fallen in love with one (1) rich boy even more :3 

what to expect in the next part:

yes. it’s time for u know what ;)

y/n and shouto finally……high five <3

jkjk

THE NEXT PART IS THE FINAL PART AND YOU WILL SEE WHY THIS SERIES OVERALL HAD TO BE 18+ KSKKFG

[hellyeahheroes]

Robin(2021) #1 Review

Opening this comic with an assessment of a character that I have no choice but to agree with is a cheap way to score points with me.

Anyways, we caught heat for being unfair to this story since it was announced because all of us wanted it to be a Cass story since forever. And it became yet another thing Damian absorbs. I mostly ignored it because I’ve always been open about my disdain for the character and his fandom for nearly a decade. I never liked Damian because put these characteristics on a non-white passing character, they’d be dead inside of year. Then again I hate almost all of Grant Morrison monstrosities.

Regardless, new story who dis is in full effect here. We open this bad boy up with Damian gone missing and the Batfamily searching for him. Nightwing tried asking Damian’s old Teen Titans team and they obviously don’t know and probably hope Damian is dead. Tim checked Arkham Ruins(???) and Damian wasn’t there. I honestly don’t think Tim was trying to find Damian. Steph and Cass checked Damian’s farm and Steph concluded Damian has been there at least because while Damian may be a little shit, he loves his dog and pet bat dragon. Barbara checked facial recognition pings and his transactions and dude is an IRS nightmare.

Damian is missing. Bruce is worried that maybe making a violent murderous preteen Robin raised in a cabal of killers to be chief murderer was a bad idea and is worried. Barbara ensures him that they will find his son and we cut to Damian fighting Snake guy in some musty ass fight put somewhere. Because of course it’s a musty ass fight pit because while the story is well drawn, it never claimed to be not cliche.

Damian hands the scrub his ass and it turns out Damian is trying to earn a marker to participate in some tournament. I liked this panel.

Not because of the artist flex of changing the art style, but it establishes Damian with a relatable hobby, reading manga. And not just a Shounen as you expect him to read but a slice of life manga which kind of puts his life in perspective. Also the lesson in the manga is reflective of what happens in the comic. Damian’s mastery is reflective of how he sees Hana. Hana decides to go beyond what her masters taught her. She decides to innovate and make her art her own. And that’s indicative of another flaw of Damian: Damian leans of the prestige of his teachers. He is the student that replicates the style 1:1. He wants to inherit Batman’s mantle, but doesn’t want to shed his teachings that he is proud of. And it comes down to this idea that Damian refuses to innovate and adapt because he is hiding behind his masters.

This panel saved the story so good job.

And after a talk with dead Alfred, it’s revealed that Damian is on this journey as a way to mirror Bruce’s journey into becoming Batman. It’s his way to iron his resolve without a catalyst to find a need to. It highlights his naïveté. He thinks that he can just simply copy the steps and get the same results.

Regardless what happens next simultaneously undermines the story or the impact of it.

Okay, when you think of Martial artists in DC, you immediately think Batman, Shiva, Deathstroke, Black Canary, Bronze Tiger, Richard Dragon, and Shiva. Why I said Shiva twice? Because Shiva is the pinnacle.

So to reveal that three premier martial artists in the universe are not only not participating but they were paid off to not participate, cheated out, or were subbed in as an entry replacement, it undermines the promotion. It’s like going to a Beyonce Concert only to find out that between the words in small print Beyonce and Concert was ‘s Sister’s and now you are watching Grammy award winning Solange. Sure, it’s an unique experience but it ain’t Beyonce.

And also, there is no amount in the world that would keep Shiva away from this tournament if it’s as prestigious as it’s led to be. Let’s be real. If anything, it’s far more likely that she saw the roster of scrubs and decided to make some scratch.

There are two characters that I recognize: Connor Hawke and Rose Wilson. I am not familiar with Connor so I am not sure if he is out of place. Rose is fine but y’know, scrub. I’m sorry Rose Wilson got her ass handed to her by Cass in the previous universe. There is no universe where I take her seriously in a fighting tournament to crown greatest fighter because the ass stomp was so thorough that Cass was beating Slade’s ego by proxy.

Back to the comic, Damian interrupts the host and basically is the fighting tournament trope of overly confident disrespectful guy with too many accolades which he will proudly tell you about them. What I like about this is the nice nod to the previous manga panel. Damian is not a great fighter. There I said it. Damian’s ability hinges on the idea that he was trained by the greatest killers and Batman but the issue is that name prestige doesn’t make great fighters. Too many times, comic books overly rely on this idea of fighting being a what you know and not being a game of not getting hit and getting hits in. It does not matter if Damian is trained by the League and Batman and it’s questionable as to how much Batman taught him in the first place. Hence why we see Damian with a sword or staff to compliment his lack of range. Damian can’t read muscle twitches like a Cass or Shiva so he has a normal reactive response and comics never highlighted his ability. The most impressive thing I’ve seen Damian do is catch a Batarang which is something I’ve seen Tim do. Damian overly relies on the idea that his teachers taught him to be the best when they simply taught him to survive in a fight.

“But why does Cass get away with it?,” you ask. Cass has this broken hax that is reading muscle twitch and immediately knowing the instant of what you are going to do before you do it or decide to do. Cass doesn’t need range because to her, you are screaming your intentions. She doesn’t need to block an attack when she can just parry. She doesn’t need to step back when she can just step forward while slipping all attacks. She is an autistic savant at fighting with an absolute defense. Damian is just another badass teen in a world of badass adults.

And the humbling of Damian begins...again.

Pros:

-Damian’s new costume. I like that he is branching out and starting to own his own colors. It’s nice.

-Using a character flaw to make it a theme. I like Chekhov’s gun via teachable moment. In tournament arcs, what separates the good ones and the bad ones is the idea that the hero simply must overcome their opponents and not their own self. This is why Yuyu Hakusho is awesome.

- Great art and nice continuity. It’s nice that Damian’s past wasn’t ignored for once and they didn’t just throw his Teen Titans characterization down the tubes. Say what you want, but it was arguably Damian’s longest run in spite of his fans hating it. And contrary to what they believe, it was very much in character for him. My fear going into this that Damian would not face any fallout and lo and behold he ran away.

- it’s a good start for a Damian story. Say what you want, but it’s unique in that the little shit gets his comeuppance immediately. And not that just by losing, but by dying. Damian has killed before and readily justifies it because he never realizes the weight of taking someone’s life. He’s been killed before but those were painted in a way that he is valiant. Here, this is death caused by his own arrogance. He mocks a fighter for talking shit and gets murked while talking shit. He spouts names of his own teachers and expects people to care or be weary as if Rose Wilson and Connor aren’t there. It’s a tournament sponsored by the League of Assassins, Damian. They have been taught by the league too.

Cons:

-Look I get promotion. No promoter is going to undermine their product but the fact that this tournament reeks like ABA is killing my interest to give a shit. It’s a convenient caveat to say that, “Well, a character won this so they can have the title but the title doesn’t mean anything.” I know of regardless of whom wins this, they aren’t the best. Go ham or don’t at all.

-not enough emphasis of the importance of this arc. Why even have this tournament? What’s the prize? What’s even the point?

-While the art is nice, the action is framed poorly. I like physical action like this to be nearly choreographed in a way I can see and piece movement in my head. The two fight scenes we get are somewhat disjointed in that it’s just poses. For example, Flatline’s first kick makes no sense at all and I don’t get her follow up. Trying to picture the movement hurts my head and in an action concept like this, it’s best to frame action scenes as more than doing poses. Here is a good example:

This only emphasizes the action and gets the reader to acknowledge that this a tournament of great fighters or at least a great fighting story.

All in all, do I think this story is off to a good start? Yes. Is it going to change my opinion on Damian? Hell no. My reaction to Damian getting his ass handed to him was this.

The issue is that it never sticks. Damian can learn and be a better person but the development never sticks. It becomes a cyclical series of events because whoever writes him next will just keep writing him as this shitty entitled murder rich kid who never learns anything and gets validated somehow. It’s been over a decade and I’m tired of the same excuses of his shitty behavior. I am tired of writers validating it or excusing it.

Damian losing isn’t an outcome I care for because it’s wasted on him. Honestly I am more interested in Connor and Rose being there. I have no faith that it will stick nor does it undo the shitty idea of the character. I have never wanted to see Damian fight. It’s never been fun to read about nor has the impetus of his character emphasized the ability or style. Placing Damian in an Enter the Dragon style tournament lacks the pizzazz of Cass doing the same thing. For example, let’s try Marvel.

Let’s say someone pitches an idea of a tournament arc styled after Game of Death. Immediately you think Martial Artists non-powered. Danny Rand, Daredevil, Elektra, Shang-Chi, Pei and Colleen Wing. Okay, instead of giving those characters the honor, you give the story to Black Cat. Honestly, I’d read it because Felicia could sell me a documentary on grass and I’d buy it but the point stands, why does Damian have this Bruce Lee inspired Martial Arts story versus the actual Chinese or East Asian Martial Arts focused member of the Batfamily, Cassandra Cain?

But this has nothing to do with what could have been. It’s a fun beginning of a possibly fun arc. In that regard, it delivers but what’s the point?

Like I said, fun story.

@ubernegro

[maxwell-grant]

May I please ask where you set the boundaries when constructing a crossover? (i.e. How far are you willing to bend characterisation of the setting a character's adventures take place in and of the individual characters themselves to make this crossover work? How many settings are you actually prepared to smush together before you feel you're losing more than you gain in this mix? and so forth).

I could be off the mark here, but this question sounds like you yourself got a very big idea planned but you are unsure of how far you can, or want to, push the concept. Two words of advice upfront: 1: Stop overthinking it, and 2: Run your ideas by people whose judgment you know and trust. I run some of my biggest and stupidest ideas by friends of mine and they help me make them less stupid or at least stupider but in a better way.

I mentioned in my post about potential Shadow crossovers that "boundaries" are not the priority to fret over so much as having a good working knowledge of the characters. And part of that is because a crossover, by design, already constitutes the breaking of boundaries. That's by default what a crossover does. You don't wanna test or break boundaries, then you picked the wrong kind of story.

A crossover is still a story like any other. Two characters meeting is not a story, it's a premise. You don't start a story by defining where it can't go, before you've even decided where you want to take it. Some boundaries are important, others aren't. Some boundaries are hard-coded and unbreakable, and others HAVE to be broken for the story to work, and the process of deciding which is which is easier when you have a clearer idea of what are the characters and what is the story you want to tell, and what you can and can't do with either. You gotta understand the properties you're working with, or at least, understand WHY you want to work with them and make this crossover happen in the first place.

For example, you could, very easily, write a crossover between The Shadow and The Spider, just by going through the motions. They are urban vigilantes with fairly similar designs who live in the same time period and fight crime with their supporting casts. I'm sure most writers offered the job wouldn't think twice of putting them together. But as someone who's read their stories quite extensively and who likes and obsesses over both characters, I would not cross over the two, because their stories and characters are fundamentally incompatible with each other in a more "serious" narrative, and you could not merge the two without seriously fraying one or the other.

It's a story that doesn't work, with characters that are not supposed to function together or in each other's narrative real estate, even with a character as malleable as The Shadow. This doesn't mean that it's impossible to write a good Shadow and Spider crossover, but to me, personally, these two are hard-line incompatible. That is, if it's a crossover based specifically on these two, because that changes if said crossover expands to more characters, as I'll get into.

Regarding the question:

How far are you willing to bend characterisation of the setting a character's adventures take place in and of the individual characters themselves to make this crossover work?

By default, any crossover is already going to have to create new settings from scratch based on relevant bits and pieces from the properties in question, so you do get more leeway for bending it.

But regarding characters, it's a question that cannot have a unified answer, because it's even more so dependant on a case-by-case basis. You could argue "only as much as necessary for the story to work", sure, but that's not really a good answer, because a story can do anything it's author wants to, and sometimes the story is not good to begin with, or the characters are just not made for being in the same narrative or even partaking in a crossover to begin with.

No amount of justifications for a story or characterization can excuse an unsatisfying result. Joe Yabuki and Guts are two of my favorite manga protagonists, but there would be no point to even attempting to put them together in the same story, because you'd have to twist either their narratives or their characters past the point of recognizability, which defeats the purpose of making a crossover to begin with.

Like, yeah, we've all heard the argument that Zack Snyder's Superman makes sense in the context of his movies, doing his own thing. Sure. But there's a reason any discussion of that character in the context of Superman in general comes prefaced with "Zack Snyder's" first, and why mainstream audiences who earnestly looked forward to Batman V Superman walked away feeling cheated, because, to borrow RLM terms here, they got "MurderMan vs Captain Hypocrite", and you can't even tell which is which in that description. You gotta give audiences at least a bit of what you promised them.

How many settings are you actually prepared to smush together before you feel you're losing more than you gain in this mix?

This one actually DOES depend on the story, because most stories that aren't just short narratives require multiple settings for it's scenes. Chances are your narrative will already be combining multiple settings, because setting is a word that can refer to "Korea during the Joseon dynasty", "spaceship traveling through lost nebulas" and "the McDonalds parking lot", as if they are the same thing. And in a way, when you look at a narrative's bones, they basically are.

To an extent, I think opening yourself up for a massive crossover of multiple properties of different characters and settings can, indeed, be a better choice than just going off purely by X meets Y. You start off by making it very clear to the audience that the boundaries are thin and you will be breaking them, and you use said framework to instead tell a myriad of stories, big and small. Stories that you couldn't really tell if you stuck to an existing framework or defined strongly the boundaries you can't cross. I'm gonna use Smash Bros as an example:

Smash Bros is arguably the biggest "official" crossover of all time, and it doesn't really have a "story" other than the basic framework that the series was built on, that these were representations of Nintendo icons dueling it out, and the few details that used to define this in the older days (like the characters being trophies and copies, and not the real deal) have been basically pushed aside. The most story you get in Smash nowadays is in the form of what the trailers showThe "point" of Smash was never really to tell a big, dramatic story with these characters. And maybe you really can't tell this kind of story, or a good story, with this many characters to juggle.

But they tried it once.

I'm sure most of you who do remember Brawl, as anything other than the blistering shame of the franchise that it's treated as these days, remember it mainly because of Subspace Emissary, which was this big, dramatic storyline where the end of the world was at stake and all the characters had to pull their weight to fight it. Subspace didn't have dialogue, it didn't have much story other than characters going from scene to scene while fighting, several of the characters either got nothing to do or were written poorly (mostly Wario), and none of this mattered at all, because Subspace, I'd argue, was the one and only time Smash Bros ever really recaptured that childhood feeling of smashing toys together that the franchise was built on.

Because if you remember being a kid smashing toys together, you remember not just doing it because you wanted Max Steel to kick Cobra Commander's butt. No, you did it because you wanted to tell a story where Max Steel got trapped in a rapidly filling water tank along with He-Man's Battle Cat while Cobra Commander kidnapped Max's girlfriend April O'Neil and bombed the city, and Max Steel had to talk Battle Cat into not eating him so they could together save the city and April from evil, and so they reconciled their differences and saved the day. Those things mattered to you. They were the stories you could tell with the resources you had in hand, sagas you did for the sheer fun of it, regardless of whether they were "good", you probably didn't even think of that. Why would you? You had bigger things to do.

And that's what Subspace did. It was big and dramatic and the world was at stake and all these heroes were coming together. Ness sacrificing himself to Wario so Lucas could have a chance to run away. Diddy Kong dragging along seasoned Star Fox pilots to rescue his buddy. Samus and Pikachu forming a bond. Peach stopping a deadly battle just by offering tea. ROB's story arc culminating in actual genocide, hell, ROB having a story arc to begin with. To a lot of people who played Brawl as one of their first games, this would have been their "introduction" to a lot of these characters in any sort of narrative, and to characters like ROB or Ice Climbers, this would have been the only chance they would ever get to be part of a great big dramatic narrative. Hell, Pit sure looked like he was on the same boat at the time, until Smash brought the Kid Icarus franchise back from death, and now Smash is where characters or properties get to stay relevant or at least on life support (Captain Falcon), or make glorious comebacks (King K.Rool). Brawl was what destroyed the idea of there being boundaries as to who could get in Smash or what kind of story could be told within it.

And people don't seem to recall this nowadays, but Brawl was when Smash exploded in fan content, specifically inspired by Subspace. This was the period of the Machinima craze and the fan mods galore and fan remixes and fan art and fan headcanons and fan films, and suddenly it hit people that, just because the games couldn't accomodate the stories they could tell with the premise, didn't mean that they couldn't start telling them on their own. We even got the formerly longest piece of English fiction off of it. The devotion Melee inspired in competitive players, Brawl did for artists and creators who got their start off in Smash fan content.

And because of it, suddenly a lot more people started writing stories with ROB and Ice Climbers and Pit and Captain Falcon and so on than there would have ever been if it wasn't for Brawl and Subspace. Smash gave ROB a story the character likely would have never gotten otherwise. And if you don't grasp what I'm getting at because you still think that fan content is a long way from being "official" or at least respectable, I don't know what you're doing following someone who rants about pulp fiction all day.

The point I want to get across is, boundaries in a crossover are important, yes, they exist for a good reason, but the boundaries should be defined by the story and characters and whatnot, not the other way around. Boundaries in fiction exist to be crossed or tested, they exist to tell you where you can't go so you can try to do so anyway and either fly high or crash.

Sometimes, bending or twisting characters and settings can be both a grave sin, as well as the thing that allows them to survive. Sometimes there are rules that seem unbreakable until someone breaks them without trying. And sometimes, going big and stupid and carefree over-the-top is either the worst, or the best outcome. It's fiction, taking risks and having fun is part of it.

So I'm afraid I thankfully cannot give your question a universal answer.

[itsclydebitches]

Honestly a lot of what you said about Yang applies to like, most of the cast. The main problem is that, honestly, the writers don't respect their characters, or at least don't respect their legacies and histories. They view their characters as tools, devices to augment to their will to keep a story going.

Yang just got this particularly bad in Volumes 6-8, only managing to course-correct somewhat in the later parts of Volume 8 before getting tossed off a cliff for cheap drama. I'm a major Yang fan as you can likely tell, and it's been nothing short of exasperating watching the writers blatantly ignore all the strong aspects of her character established in Volumes 1-5 for the sake of pushing the plot they want instead.

As one example, that Yang/Ren argument? It was apparently originally supposed to be an argument in Volume 7, between Ren and someone else (likely Nora). And I'll bet you anything they just copy-pasted most of it while just swapping Yang and Nora's names.

Of course there's more (like Yang going from strong arguments in Ironwood's favor to "alright let's go behind his back now" in the same scene just because Blake got sad), but that just speaks to me about how they don't really care about keeping their characters consistent.

Yeah, no one is really exempt from this treatment, with Yang perhaps standing out only because she's one of the main four and has one of the most vibrant personalities. As a comparatively prominent protagonist who - as the show itself says - shines brightly, she stands out in a way that the others often don't. Weiss, for example, has the same contradictory writing in regards to a lifelong struggle with abuse suddenly becoming something to joke about, but because it's one, humorous line and not, say, a full scene involving yelling and intense accusations, it doesn't sit with us quite as much, once the initial criticism has died down. Same with Blake, who despite being a part of the Robyn debacle is not the one to admit that to Ironwood, or later try to put blame on Ruby, or later still get mad at Ren - Yang gets all those emotional scenes. Ruby, meanwhile, is her own kind of mess, but a mess that, as we've seen lately, is expressed by sipping tea and quietly crying on staircases. Outside of giving angry speeches, Ruby's problems are quieter. And the others, despite being involved in the main conflict for years now, are still considered minor characters in comparison to Team RWBY, by both the writing and the fandom (Jaune's unique troubles aside). Yang, by virtue of being one of the show's stars with lots of screen time and bearing a deliberately bright, loud, in-your-face personality is in a unique position where the audience more easily remembers the problems with her writing. We can forget Nora quietly being contradictory in the background of one episode, less so Yang being loudly contradictory in the foreground of a whole arc.

But yeah, all of this is very interconnected. As your example attests: taking a scene meant for Volume 7, meant for another character, and then giving it to Yang in Volume 8 hurts her and Ren, and Jaune, and (presumably) Nora who goes from potentially having a legit disagreement with her boyfriend to... being mad he was upset about all this trauma and that her kiss didn't magically cure things? Honestly, I'm still not even clear on what Nora's deal was the last two volumes. The writers really don't care about consistency anymore, which by default means that they don't care to follow up on the new characteristics getting introduced. That's why Yang's growth was dropped so she could charge at Ruby again. Why Nora wants to be more than the bubbly girl who hits things, but immediately hits something to knock herself out. Why Blake must be devastated over everything with Adam, killing him, theoretically admitting feelings for Yang (to herself), and briefly losing her weapon, yet none of this is addressed. Why Penny is thrilled about being human despite never expressing an interest in changing - only being accepted - and then is killed off again before she can learn to live like this. Why Weiss is flip-flopping about her family every few episodes. She's terrified of her father. She's glibly arresting her father. She cares enough to try and evacuate her father. She adores her sister. She doesn't care anymore. She's back to caring the second Winter calls. She hates her brother. Wait, she loves him. Wait, she loves her mom too. When did that change?

Everyone's character is all over the place, with Ironwood himself being the most extreme turn imo, regardless of what some say about the setup always being there. The only characters who remain consistent lately are those who, frankly, the show isn't interested in developing, like Ozpin who seems to forever be the dubious, apologetic mentor who may or may not be merging with Oscar. But Oscar himself? He bounces from seeing first-hand how dangerous Salem's people are, to trusting them completely, from preaching about the importance of honesty, to keeping more secrets from the team, from being the weakest member to suddenly having a nuke in his cane... "development" has come to mean doing something new every few episodes, regardless of whether it makes any sense. I used to laugh at the fandom's "The only canon is the most recent volume" claims, just an exaggerated joke about RWBY's struggles, but now? It's honestly true. Whether we're talking about major plot holes, or the foundation of these characterizations, things not only change randomly from volume to volume, but episode to episode. Yang, sadly, has been hit by that particularly hard, but she's by no means alone.

[agent-cupcake]

Hi, love! I absolutely enjoy your Fire Emblem prompts, especially your personal opinions on the game/characters. I was curious what your opinion on Hubert is? I think he's a fantastic character and would love to know what you think. Thanks!

The best part about this ask is that my friend who I bullied into playing Three Houses really likes Hubert as well. The second best is that I told myself I wouldn’t let myself love someone with no eyebrows. But here we are.

Oh yeah, also, POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD -  Read at your own risk~

SO, one of the most interesting facets of Hubert’s personality is the conflict of who he sees himself as and the person he actually is. 

Hubert has an obviously negative view of himself, even going so far that he believes he lacks value outside of his duty to Edelgard. Aside from being trained from an early age to see to the needs of the Hresvelg heir, Hubert defined his childhood by failures. He doesn’t remember meeting Edelgard, but he remembers an event that happened sometime between ages 6-10 where he was unable to save her from being hurt and the subsequent punishment at the hands of his father. Hubert doesn’t mention happy memories, but recalls running away when she was taken to the Kingdom after the Insurrection of the Seven and spending days in the forest in a fruitless attempt to bring her back. I’m a bit confused as I can’t remember or find anywhere that Hubert mentions it, but I imagine there was a strong sense of failure in what events took place after her return even though he was unaware of what truly took place. Then there’s the secondary failure and guilt he seems to feel for his father’s actions against Ionius IX, although I would argue there’s also a strong sense of betrayal in that regard. After all, the traitorous Marquis Vestra was the one who molded Hubert into a person with the sole ambition of dedicating his life to the service of the Imperial throne. Interestingly, in a support with Hanneman, it’s implied that Marquis possibly took a role in the Insurrection of the Seven in order to protect something he cared for. It’s doubtful that the idea of Hubert’s father choosing the life of his son over the life of Edelgard was any consolation, however. So, given identity only in relation to the Hresvelg line and bearing the weight of all of these perceived failures, it makes sense why Hubert would disregard his own self entirely in favor of singular dedication to Edelgard. He makes it completely clear that he doesn’t value his own life or his own self. He doesn’t see himself as worthy of that. 

This perceived lack of worth is illustrated even more clearly in the way Hubert readily accepts the burden of doing terrible things to achieve Edelgard’s goals, all with the intention to spare her the weight of such sins. I am not trying to say he’s a good person, as Hubert does show glee in carrying out these grisly duties, acting as if it doesn’t matter to him. In some ways, Hubert probably does enjoy it, as it’s an extension of his duties to Edelgard that he knows only he can carry out. At the same time, his behavior feels like a portrayal of the person he presents to the world. Hubert doesn’t want to care about scaring people off from him, he doesn’t want to feel as if he needs others or can be swayed by petty morality, so he behaves as if he doesn’t. Yes, he’s happy to do what must be done for Edelgard’s sake, but not necessarily with the actions himself. All of this because Hubert accepts his place, he wholeheartedly accepts the belief that Edelgard should remain clean of the truly vile actions he must take. He accepts that his hands are already dripping red, that his claim to things like innocence is forfeit. He accepts that he deserves nothing more. 

Furthermore, I would argue that his disregard for himself goes farther than Hubert’s skewed concept of his own failings. There are many instances of Hubert mentioning his appearance, demeanor, and the overall impression he leaves in a negative way. He’s very aware of what people think of him in a way that indications a life spent enduring rude looks and cruel remarks, his flaws pointed out in the especially biting way of backhanded comments from smooth-talking nobility. It doesn’t help that he’s weird, either. Awkward, anti-social, odd interests... If he were attractive perhaps the strange personality could work, but from the very first time he’s introduced in-game, the point is drawn that Hubert looks unsettling. Not to mention that, considering how easily Duke Aegir was able to rally up the main Adrestian nobility against Ionius IX, I doubt that someone who was completely loyal to the Imperial Princess was well-liked. Hubert’s disdain for the nobility makes sense even without this context, but rejecting those who reject you is an instinctual aspect of human socialization, so I think it’s worth considering in his case. 

The person he portrays himself as - the person he sees himself as - is this weird and unsettling man who holds no value outside of what he can do in the service of Edelgard and the Imperial Throne. Hubert even projects contentment with being seen in this way, acting as if he doesn’t care about the reputation or the way people see him. If he’ll be seen as a villain regardless, he’s perfectly fine to use that role for his own benefit. 

Then there’s the other side of Hubert von Vestra. Insecure, uncertain of how to form bonds with people, uncomfortable with the idea of showing weakness or letting his guard down... In every support, the way he confesses is awkward in some way, stilted. In S-Rank with Byleth, he says something similar to the confession posing one of the greatest difficulties for him. But this is not a case of he’s damaged or too evil to love, Hubert just doesn’t know how. His only love has been in servitude (perhaps familial, once, when he was very young) and when this inexperience is combined with his insecurities, lack of belief that he deserves anything more than his accepted lot, and discomfort in the face of rejection or being scorned after letting his guard down, I definitely don’t see a copy-paste villain. Hubert feels human in this interesting contradictory inner and outer self. Unpleasant, rude, inconsiderate, but also shockingly soft, bashful, and caring. Honestly, I feel a little bad for writing him off so easily my first few playthroughs. 

Also, just a closing thought: Sexy voice. Hot laugh. I called it a Soulsborne laugh a while ago and I stick to it, but it’s a compliment. What Hubert von Vestra lacks in eyebrows, he makes up for in fascinating and endearing characterization.