#its especially funny because i thought it was actually way too obvious about that point

[tskumoyuuma]

it is kinda funny tho that so many people missed the very blatant message of the movie about how easy it is for people to turn on each other when they dont have all the answers .... and they missed this because they wer too angry about not having all the answers

[illuminiscentboba]

will iwaizumi get the memo? (he will, finally omfg)

plot: where you so obviously like him to the point that even oikawa is well aware of this crush but iwaizumi misinterprets your relationship with oikawa and is proven otherwise

its another rough day of studying, forcing yourself to read just another page before you give in but your mind already drifted elsewhere, the words your reading not actually flowing comprehensively in your head.

you had plans after this, plans to see iwaizumis childhood pictures with oikawa. you had helped the unserious volleyball freak run errands among other favors and he had offered you favors you could cash in whenever you wanted.

and today was the day, you were hoping to see a stunning, tan skin buff guy cooking at oikawas apartment but if he didn't come at least you would be able to look at the pictures.

packing up your bag with haste, you rushed to catch the train, already mentally preparing yourself for all the teasing you would get from the brunette as you melted at their childhood pictures.

you can already hear his coos and "you want him so bad," "simp" especially with how smug he looked whenever you guys were in the room together, god forbid how obvious and irritating he was when you guys would talk and do activities together.

Thankfully, his place wasn't far, you knocked and a long duration of time passed, before you knocked again, maybe they didn't hear you? you continued to wait, still nothing.

finally just as you were about to spam call your friend, the door swung open, apologies flowing out of the mans mouth, but not your friends mouth. a different mans mouth, his damp hair drooping, his lips curling into a half smile. "hey, y/n. shittykawa told me you were coming."

"hey." you greeted back, beating oikawa up in your head. "sorry if I made you rush out of the shower, he told me he'd be here by now."

"no problem, I looked kind of crazy earlier so I'm glad he told me so that I could freshen up." he freshened up because he heard you were coming? you tried not to let the delusions go to your head as he, picked your heavy bag swiftly off your shoulder, headed down the hall. he picked up a towel propped on the counter to continue drying his hair.

you made yourself comfortable on the sofa, trying to spot where your enemy, you mean oikawa, put the photoalbum.

iwaizumi watched your curious glances around the room. he had been wanting to hang out with you one on one and if this was the chance he'd be dumb not to take it. he reached into the drawer, pulling out the thick albums.

"looking for this?" he headed over with two albums, one with a baby plastered over it, the other with volleyballs on it.

"yeah, did he tell you to give me this too?" that sneaky man. "yeah, but he didn't tell me which one." that was a lie, oikawa had insisted he bring out the album he had with the two of them but why would you want to see that when there was already an album with just oikawa you could see.

he slumped into the sofa next to you the album with him and oikawa on his lap as he handed you the other one.

you flipped it open, trying not to think about how close you guys were and the way he leaned closer to see. you flipped through one page, then another then a few more, your pace quickening. did oikawa get confused? and thought you wanted to see him and not the sexy man beside you that you talk about eveyr week?

"wait slow down,"

"oh sorry, let me go back."

"no thats not what I meant...wait didn't you want to see these pictures? aren't you going too quickly to see them?"

he turns to look you in the eyes as you force away a conflicted look, not sure how to go about this.

"here look, thats oikawa this is when he lost his first tooth and finished crying about it." he points to the page, reaching over to flip to the next one for you. and here is when he caught his first ever fish, I caught an even bigger one but I don't know where the picture of that went.

he pointed out a few more with funny stories attatched to them, enjouying your giggles, and the questions about where he was during these pictures and what other memories does he remember with them.

he found himself talking much more than usual and more about himself than oikawa. he tried to get back to the topic, but you effortlessly returned the topic back to him, who you were more curious about.

In fact the photo album was brought back to his lap, and you were hardly focused on it, watching him as he recalled the stories.

"actually...there are some photos of me and him if you want to see."

he gestured to the book under the open album on his lap and you couldn't hide your enthusiasm as he handed you the album. "oh my god." you shrieked, stretching out the letters. oikawa had told you that iwaizumi was a roundfaced, skinny little kid that expressed himself well with his eyes, his sharp tongue, never failing him over the years but god was he adorable.

"oh my gosh you guys look soooo cute!" iwaizumi is complebely flabbergasted by your reaction. you looked at oikawas childhood pictures with barely much enthusiasm, the occasional giggle or oh my god coming from your mouth as you quickly flipped though it.

but here you were closely examining the pictures with you two together. you flip through a few more at a slower pace, stealing glances at him and baby iwaizumi, the sharp, angular jawline nothing like the circular face with plumb cheeks holding objects greater than his size.

"do you think I don't look cute anymore?" he jokes, catching onto your comparison. "well, growing has done you justice." he chuckles, telling you in detail his stories of bravery in the wilderness, and the mundane, shifting closer as he explains.

"please...why do you look so happy holding up these creatures?" you say through a fit of laughter. his obsession with bugs was hard to explain, you laugh at the embarassed scratch of his neck and flush, calling him one of those bug catcher pokemon trainers you fight against your will at the start of most games.

"bugs are terrifying, now I know who to call when I see a spider."

"they aren't that bad." "yeah they are" "your missing out." he insists, a soft smile growing on his face.

you point out another of those picture of iwaizumis chest swelling with pride as he displayed other strange objects to the camera and oikawa, and he lifts his shirt, pointing to the nicks and old scars on his body from those adventures.

you run a careful hand over the scars on his arm, his voice still laced with warmth startling you. "you should bring your baby pictures next time. I want to see them."

"do you?" you lift your head from his arm, looking directly up into his eyes. "and do you want the storylines behind my pictures?"

"I sure do." he hums, shifting your hair from your face. "though they're probably not that different from your face right now."

he can't dodge your swipe with how close you guys are, catching your arms with a laugh. "are you saying im the epitome of youth?"

"no im saying you could still do some growing." now maybe you won't be showing him your baby pictures.

the door suddenly slams open, a frazzled oikawa carrying an armful of groceries, the stack of it covering his face.

"y/n?? are you here?! did you find the iwa-chan album?" iwaizumis already straightening you up and untangling your limbs, the what have I told you about bringing everything up at once by yourself coming out of his mouth before he processes oikawas words.

"wait, you came here to see my baby pictures? and not his?" oikawa barely make it to the counter with the cluster of stuff. already stepping away after he places it onto the counter, sensing he's messed up.

"well...I can explain...."

yall shld read this:

studying with a sleepy akaashi and him pulling moves on you (they're working)

[another-goblin]

Doc and Gambler: An essay A disjointed musing

I've been thinking about the words they use to address or refer to each other. Gambler and Doctor are rather special nicknames. I can't think of other characters who talk to each other a lot but avoid calling each other by actual names so deliberately.

First of all, of course I can see it as a sign of their relationship. They are old friends, so it makes sense that they have cute special names for each other.

Can there be other explanations?

1. We never see them use each other's actual first names.

It's understandable with Aventurine. If he's ever comfortable being called Kakavasha, it's definitely not now. And I can understand if he'd prefer Kakavasha to just remain a happy, innocent child in his memories forever.

It's more interesting with Ratio. Nobody calls him just "Veritas" (I think?..) He's referred to as Veritas Ratio in some official situations in his character stories. Even his elderly professor, who talks about teaching Ratio when he was a child, only calls him "Ratio."

Actually, I remember a theory that "Veritas" isn't a personal name but a kind of honorific. Maybe a title that Veritas University gives to its most distinguished members. But if Veritas is his actual first name, then I think it's quite significant that nobody seems to call him that. Especially while all of the other characters who have identifiable western-style first and second names are mostly referred to by their first name. (I'm sorry, I don't know how the Xianzhou characters' names work.)

A little off topic, but is Ratio even his real name? According to the wiki, his full name means "truth of the matter," and his Chinese name means "doctor truth." What a coincidence that a person with such a name became a famous scientist. Although there can be other explanations too.

2. They do use each other's more commonly used names sometimes (I think Ratio called him Aventurine once in the game when discussing him with us, and Aventurine addressed Ratio by name a couple of times). But it's mostly nicknames. Mostly Doc(tor) and Gambler, but also "learned professor," "knowledgeable friend," and a hundred of silly ways Ratio refers to Aventurine. I made a whole post about it long ago.

3. Can it be because all of their direct interaction happened in Penacony, in the middle of a murder mystery somewhat reminiscent of the board game Clue, with our little "Mrs. Peacock" and "Professor Plum" here just imitating the naming conventions of such a game? Like archetypes from a classical detective story, where most characters can be described with one word like that. But it's a bit of a crack theory.

4. The only situation we saw them talking to each other was when they had to play their roles for Sunday.

It's interesting that Sunday later proceeds to call Ratio just "doctor" or "learned doctor" too, the way Aventurine did. I mean, strictly speaking, there isn't anything unusual in calling a doctor "doctor", but it's funny in an awkward way. Imagine two close friends having special names for each other. And then a complete stranger who's been eavesdropping starts using these names too. Umm, that's "Dr. Ratio", Mr. Sunday, thank you very much.

Btw, that's another point to the theory that Sunday only knows (and tries to use against them) the things they deliberately fed him through their conversations.

So it might be that they did it deliberately for Sunday to hear. Like, see? we are so not friends that we don't even call each other by name. But then we see them using similar words when mentioning each other while talking to other people, and in Aventurine's thoughts too (in mission descriptions during Double Indemnity).

5. Although it might still be the way for them to try and distance themselves from each other, at least verbally, trying to deny the obvious special connection between them.

6. Or maybe it's about their "masks". They both have public personas to hide their real selves behind. (Ratio directly tells us about it and wears a literal mask to hide behind, and Aventurine's whole Harmony ordeal was basically to show his inner self, so unlike the confident and cocky Aventurine other people know.)

But they know each other better and see deeper than just their public personas of "Aventurine" and "Dr. Ratio". And it's still too early in their relationship to prod deeper ("Kakavasha" and "Veritas"). So a secret third thing it is.

[candlecordyceps]

Ok I’m taking the time to Yap now WARNING FOR ANIME SPOILERS IF YOU HAVENT WATCHED IT!!!

This is just my raw emotional reactions, opinions, and just general interpretations of the last few scenes in the episode.

Starting off, I’m beginning with Shuro confronting Laois for what he did. Shuro seems to be a very high-standing fellow from what I’ve been given so far (as an anime only currently- I will start reading the manga once it finishes releasing I promise). He has guards that are close to him, and I assume he’s rich, and knowing that he will DEFINITELY care a lot more about black magic and laws, because they effect him more due to his (assumed) status. He’s understandably terrified of what this means for Falin. And he confronts Laois by asking him,

“Do you know what you’ve done?” He tells him all the hell that he can go through for it, what FALIN will go through for it, Marcille will go through- but Laois knows.

He’s well aware of the consequences and he was willing to do it anyways. For Falin. For his sister. Because she was willing to risk her life for him and for everyone, everyone followed suit, and the desperation to do so was so powerful they were willing to do what it took. And Laois ALSO knows, that despite what Shuro is doing right now,

He would’ve done the same. Shuro won’t kill him, because he knows he would’ve done anything too. Laois doesn’t GET people. He thought he could trust Shuro to be quiet. At this point it’s pretty obvious to me, especially in the episode with him being clingy and friendly with Shuro, calling him the one of the “only ones to call him a friend”, despite Shuro’s very obvious uncomfortable-disturbed-annoyed attitude toward Laois and general unwellness being unnoticed (until told specifically of it, to which Laois immediately got onto Shuro about his health). Yet, he knows Shuro would’ve done anything too.

Shuro stays his sword, Laois wishes for understanding, Kabru gets a drama boner (I find it funny how into it he is), and the scene changes. And FUCK man.

Laois loves Falin so much, and he knows how much Shuro cares. He cared enough to return. He told him everything because he needs the help, and he’s banking on the care for Falin to be enough to work with him to return her to safety. I’m SOOOO hoping he does help. That he breaks down and the sword falls from Laois’s neck. That even though it goes against a law so potent it could get everyone involved into extremely deep trouble, the bonds he’s made are enough. I don’t know Shuro well enough at all. Lord knows if he’ll even keep it to himself if they get out of the dungeon. But GOD am I not thrilled to figure out more. AND NOW, to the scene that made me scream from my seat multiple times,

Faliiiiiinnnnnnnnn GHHHHHOOOODDDD. When I tell you I GASPED. Watching the hands that we had witnessed painstakingly put together. The hands That two people took the care into fixing and making sure each was in the perfect place- scraping against the floor. Bloody around the sleeves, clawing forward- on a mission for someone she doesn’t actually know. Her mind is warped by the mission of the mage. Put back together just to bleed and be reshaped and melded to something scary and unknown and new-

AND ITS TERRIFYING. LOOK AT HER. JESUS CHRRRIIIIIIIST. Someone so loved and someone they all want to protect is RIGHT THERE, but she’s almost unrecognizable beyond her face, and mentally she’s so incredibly far away.

I can’t imagine the distress in everyone as they realize that they have to fight the exact person they’ve been fighting for. Because there’s no way she is peaceful and there is no way she’ll just “be Falin” without some extreme inbetweens. There’s no way that the mage doesn’t return if/when they succeed. I’m SOO excited to witness them figure it out and try to save her once more.

IF YOU MADE IT HERE THANKS FOR READING ME YAPPING!! This is mainly a little storage for me later when I wanna revisit and figure out what I thought before I knew what happened. Have a nice day/night readers!

[yurisorcerer]

Two immediate thoughts here. 1. A good chunk of this episode is the gayest thing I've seen in an anime that's not technically about wlw romance in years. 2. It's so, so funny that the obvious solution to the Aqua/Akane/Kana "love triangle" is polyamory but all 3 of them have way too many issues to make that ever work. (Also mainstream fiction just Doesn't Ever Do That because life is pain. Also they're all in showbiz so that's another obstacle there.)

ANYWAY.

I love that this episode, in a fundamentally similar way to the last one, is less about the play itself and more about the psychology of the characters of Akane and Kana. To an extent, "it's about the psychology of these characters, not their performances themselves" is the whole show and at least most good examples of anime about the arts in general, but it's *really* pronounced here. Almost the entire episode is from Akane's perspective from the point that she shows up, and this is especially obvious with her flashbacks to her childhood meeting with Kana.

In a lesser series, something like this would come off as really contrived. You mean to tell me that Akane was taken with the quality of Kana's acting at such a young age? That she just happened to meet her while doing auditions? That when the real Kana inevitably doesn't live up to Akane's idealized image of her (boy that whole relationship is a WHOLE thing on its own), there just happens to be a honkin huge billboard of Kana outside staring her down?

The unreliable narrator card is obvious, but this is so clearly a depiction of how Akane remembers all of this rather than what actually happened per se. I love it, I love how it leads Akane to delve deeper into the psychological side of acting, and I love her speech about how the Kana she loved was an overpowering, selfish actress.

Let's dive into that little monologue actually, because I think it's really telling not just about Akane but about Oshi no Ko in general. The specific phrasing she uses to convey what she wants out of Kana---or at least how it's translated---is "acting that devours everyone around you."

This is something Oshi no Ko is kind of obsessed with. Charisma, talent, star power, as this almost supernatural force that bends the world around it. This is something it shares in common with like, a very small handful of other anime I've ever seen, most prominently Revue Starlight which I think is more similar to Oshi no Ko than fans of either would ever care to admit, but it's such a perfect conveyance of the feeling of being swept up by someone who is just that talented. That's what Akane wants out of Kana, and she is so frustrated that she's not getting it, and she kind of has a breakdown near the end of the episode because she fears she might be in the wrong for wanting it. She worries that she's just coming off as a showboat.

But the funny thing is, she isn't! Kana's general reticence to really stand out is hurting her! This is a fact that Kana herself doesn't even seem entirely cognizant of despite how obvious it is to everyone else. (Including Aqua, who only joins the proceedings at the very end here. There's a grim irony in how good he is at spotting everyone else's issues but how bad he is at understanding his own.) Akane frames it as Kana having been "squashed down by the adults around her" which is a real thing that happens to kids who excel in ways that aren't necessarily expedient to the adults around them. It has a resonance beyond the world of show business that Oshi no Ko takes place in, and I think that's part of what makes this whole ongoing arc so effective. We will presumably get more into Kana's head next episode (and Aqua's, since he's part of this too and there's still the whole "deliberately triggering himself as acting trick" thing to deal with), i can't wait.

Also! I must say I love how dreamlike the back half of this episode feels. There are huge swathes of it where it's not really clear if what we're seeing is the actual play, something backstage, or some kind of idealized thought-space that combines the two. I hope they keep leaning into that, it's fantastic.

[nevarroes]

Dearesr Daddy Blake,

May we have some smoft Gortcas? Tell us about all the soft cute things they do. Do they hold hands? Bathe together?

Pls feed me 🥺

My father left for milk and never came back. I've been starved for 89 years.

Xoxo

Merry holiday etc

- Me

i started typing this out yday then accidentally closed the page and got so mad I went to bed I'm so sorry . its ok i gotchu nw nw.....

so Gortash and Cas aren't exactly the erm... public pda types, mostly. honestly you see them in public you probably see them trying to trip each other into the river 🔥 they lowkey very much avoid holding hands but they DO end up standing a bit too close everywhere they go, arms and bodies brushing again each others "accidentally"... they always have seats next to each other whereever they go, Cas playing with his gauntlet and rings under the table, Gortash running his hand over Cas' thigh and then just plays it off with some "you're so muscular. no wonder no one gets to me" and a coy grin, tell me you see my vision...

aside from that I mentioned at some point that Cas he like... serial naps. he just falls asleep for a bit when he's bored or waiting for someone😭 anyways this is often next to to Gortash, while they're waiting for someone, while Gortash is doing some bureaucratic paperwork or etc etc. Cas just does this by himself too but whenever he doesn't already lean onto Gortash or literally straight up lies down on his lap or body Gortash tends to like... nudge him onto his shoulder whenever he thinks he's asleep enough to not notice the gesture (he very much does btw he's a light sleeper. not the "someone could kill him rn" sleeper)💖 ever since Cas asked him to unbraid his hair once while he was half asleep Gortash has also been running his hands through his hair sometimes when hes asleep tbh... I like to think he loves knowing that he's the only one that can do that without straight up getting his head ripped off, knowing hes the only one w the priviledge to touch Cas' hair or him in general when Cas treats his own body like his most valued possession, so he's just been liking to stroke his hair ever since. Not like Cas hates it . quite the opposite actually but this is very.... unspoken because Gortash only does it when he thinks Cas doesn't notice and Cas just kinda doesn't mention it because he enjoys it

ok let me tell u abt some more random small things that are on my mind actually 😼 whenever they appear in public events Gortash actually tends to hold onto Cas' waist quite often instinctively which just gets worse if he starts getting a bit tipsy (not possessive like cas btw. the thought of Cas leaving him all alone never tortures him at all. trust me.... real) Gortash kinda starts like... holding him in a show-offish manner almost w him around Cas' waist and Cas just having his arms around his shoulders while Gortash is slurring smth about how beautiful Cas is . to me he thinks this quite often tbh but barely ever tells it to Cas unprompted

another small thing that I think about sometimes is how Cas, especially during intimate moments and such tends to kiss Gortash's fingers nowadays, brush his lips over them whenever Gortash puts his hands on his face etcetc. same thing as the playing with his fingers and jewelry when they're out Cas has a bit of a... fixation on Gortash's hands in a way where it's kinda like an unspoken request for Gortash to touch and appreciate him physically to me (also funny to think about when I tell you that Gortash made Cas kiss his fingers in public at the beginning to keep up their little act and Cas would constantly tell him how he'll bite them off if he doesn't think of something else)

they're not like the most obvious soft people clealy bt i hope this fills the hole in ur heart a little .... its the little things🙏

[ladyinbooks]

also I'm really sorry if it's too personal a question but what did you study in college? you're amazing at writing diplomacy and the world building seems like a gift of reading many history books. any particular research you think would be extremely interesting for your readers?

No, not too personal a question, and I'm very happy to ramble about this! 😊

The short answer is: I studied Classics at university. The longer answer (related to how it impacts on my writing) I have popped behind the cut, because honestly your question really got me thinking, and this ended up being very long!

So as I said, I studied Classics. I was lucky enough to be accepted to an absolutely brilliant university, with a phenomenal Classics department and amazing professors. They encouraged you to pursue the subject areas that interested you, and the degree was a fantastic way to narrow down a specialism from a broad area, to your dedicated topics, with a view to you becoming a potential expert in that area.

In short: I started off with Greeks, Romans and Persians, and by my third year I was specialising in ancient Greece, with a specific focus on the Classical and Hellenistic periods (with a particular interest in Alexander the Great). (I was also having a love affair with the Bronze Age on the side, because you can pry Homer from my ravenous, sticky fingers.)

When I read your question, I must admit I had a lightbulb moment, where I went 'Oh yeah! That's where all the politicking comes from!', because I honestly hadn't stopped to actually think about the influences my studies may - or may not - have had on my fiction. And then I realised that, well, they most definitely have. 😂

I think the easiest example of this is in IB, with Lenian culture. I am very conscious that I took an idea (I thought it would be funny to have Sirens - traditionally depicted as scantily-clad temptresses - and make them the most buttoned-up, repressed, hell-bent-on-social-etiquette species), and then I ran with it. It's where a lot of Lenian culture comes from: it doesn't depict Ancient Greece, but it does borrow from its language (mostly made up to sound like Greek, with some notable exceptions), and also, I think some of the mindset. Lenians are culturally Not That Bothered About Killing, especially when it comes to politics, and this is, well, a pretty obvious theme that happens in politics (in Athens, Sparta, Macedonia and beyond) in the 5th, 4th and 3rd centuries BCE, along with all the backstabbing, swapping sides and power grabs.

More widely, I think the galactic politics in my writing may come a little bit from the fact that this period of history deals with a lot of states politicking and warring with one another (things like the Delian League definitely sit at the back of my mind most of the time), so I do definitely enjoy thinking about how smaller, personal things can start to become major political problems (and of course the impact that has on the delicate balance of peace and power).

Upon reflection, I also think Samiel is... unconsciously a little bit of a play on Homeric standards for heroes. He's clever, he's brutal, but he feels very, very deeply. This was entirely unintentional, but the more I think about it, the more I'm going to have to go back at some point and try and pick him apart a bit more.

Jumping back to my studies, my specialism got narrowed down further when I hit my undergrad dissertation, focused on the library of Alexandria, then got kind of overtaken by representations of Alexander the Great in literature. My Master's dissertation ended up exploring a discussion on sources that spoke of Alexander as a representation of Zeus-Ammon. (I'll pause here to point out that this is another one of those moments where the beginnings of P2P entered my head - because we have some tenuous links to Alexander as a potential representation of forces of chaos/the Antichrist, and my brain clearly went 'Hmm...' and filed this away for safekeeping. 😅)

And then finally the start of my PhD was on Alexander the Great versus his mythical representations in the 'original' (I say 'original' but I mean 'the only ones we have left - i.e. Roman') sources. This was a deep-dive look at Alexander as an Homeric hero (he's constantly linked/compared to Achilles, but how much of that came from Alexander himself, and how much of it came from later comparisons?), and as Heracles and Dionysus. All of which is a long-winded way of saying: I also get very excited about public mythical representations of political figures, versus what they're actually like.

In terms of things that might interest you, I think it depends on what you're after. However, some fun places to start may be translated sources, or some accessible works about the time period.

So a quick (and not at all comprehensive) couple of suggestions:

Plutarch's The Age of Alexander

Alexander the Great (Robin Lane Fox) - by no means a perfect biography, but it is very readable

Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great (Waldemar Heckel) - a reference book, but such a good one - thoroughly comprehensive work covering pretty much anyone mentioned in relation to Alexander and his successors, and where they appear in the sources

The Iliad (Homer) - find an enjoyable translation because this is just... I adore it, it is such a perfect, wonderful microcosm of war and the Homeric world and it's delicious

The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World (John Boardman) - a great overview of the time period, a little old now but such an interesting read

Professor Jeanne Reames has written and compiled brilliant work on Macedonia over the years (and specifically to my interests, on Hephaistion) - she's got some great articles online for free and some amazing resources

Professor Mary Beard writes wonderful, very accessible books on the Romans, so if your interests swerve more in that direction, she is a wonderful starting point

This was such an interesting question, thank you!

[purble-turble]

Au where brotherhood wins the first war, azure becomes emperor and makes wukong his co emperor. He is sure that marrying wukong will have him win the silent century long battle hes been having with macaque for wukong's heart.

Macaque is a monkey, he does not actually understand the human and celestial concept of marriage, and doesnt understand why he cant make out with a married man. Its just paperwork to him, why is everyone expecting him to be heartbroken?

Wukong doesnt even realize hes married even after the fancy wedding (thought it was just part of the coronation). And really, its getting annoying at how people are acting when he holds hands with macaque, or tells him how pretty he is, or spends the night in macaque's room rather than the shared one with azure

Oh man I absolutely adore AUs where Sun Wukong is completely fucking oblivious to the romantic relationships he is in! It's especially funny to look at Azure's point of view, because he's got to be thinking "YES! Finally I've won, I'm literally the emperor and my beloved Sun Wukong is literally married to me! This couldn't BE a more clear indication that I'm Wukong's favorite" And then Wukong just runs off and spends all his time with Macaque anyway :U

This is a huge disappointment, obviously, and Azure isn't even sure how to bring it up with Wukong.. I mean, this is how things were before too, so he shouldn't be that surprised, but he had really hoped that ruling Heaven together and being actually married would change things. He finds it hard to even focus on his heavenly duties at times because his Wukong is off somewhere with that other monkey and it drives him mad!

Obviously, everyone in the heavenly court is able to see the distress of their new emperor and the obvious cause of it, so all of Heaven starts gossiping about the Six-Eared Macaque being a homewrecker and sabotaging the reign of their new emperors by stealing one of them away. Meanwhile Macaque is just like, what's wrong with all you people?? Wukong and I are in love and a little marriage never got in the way of that before, did it?

Sun Wukong himself doesn't think that anything has changed. He had his sworn brotherhood and a great 'friends with benefits' thing going on with all of them, so he's not about to stop that now just because he's the Emperor of Heaven.

[starryjkoo]

some random chronically online fandom and shipping thoughts #1

I just feel like ARMYs who are very obviously Y/N’s have NO reason to be judging shippers. I think it’s funny how some of them are so genuinely defensive and put off by shipping in a way I can tell is personal lol (it’s giving jealousy!). I totally understand people not liking shipping/shippers but I’ll never accept judgement from a Y/N, sorry! If you’re posting about only ONE member in a really thirsty manner after every AYS trailer and then turning around and saying “ugh, jkkrs are so annoying and delusional, jikook are brothers!” I know what you are! 🫵

slurping up all these AYS teasers like a starving animal but I’m starting to feel like they’re showing us too much now 😩 don’t spoil all the cute parts please BH!

only extremely sad and chronically online losers think that mass liking hate tweets actually means anything in the real world. a lot of these people need to get a life and go touch grass because the obsession with jm is truly weird and sad.

not everyone who wants th to appear in AYS is a tkkr, because it’s normal for ARMYs to want to see as many members as possible, but it’s kind of obvious with the ones who bring it up every chance they get lol, or the first thing they look for in a new AYS teaser, or just the specific way they talk about it. and my god are there a lot of tkkr ARMYs

I’m self aware that I’m pretty heavily biased, but there’s nothing worse than the ARMYs who hide under the OT7 visage but are CLEARLY heavily biased themselves. I simply do not like hypocrites, maybe some of them are in denial about it, idk. ofc there’s nothing worse than the ones who cosplay and try to create havoc in ARMY spaces, but that’s an entirely different thing. with that said, i’m convinced that at least 90% of active ARMYs are heavily biased at this point and we’d all be better off if they could simply just admit it.

perhaps this is my own bias so feel free to disagree, but imo ARMYs very clearly have a different sort of energy for jm antis and I think its partially because his hate has been so damn normalized in this fandom after years of tkkrs, but also because clearly a vast majority of the ARMY sh*oter accounts are diet solos and tkkrs and they always put an extra amount of scrutiny on things related to jm. they're also the first to bring shipper/solo drama into ARMY spaces (but only when it impacts their ship/bias) and they’re very clearly obviously lurking in solo/shipper territory to find it the way they do. the silence right now from certain accounts really does speak volumes.

sort of related, but the best way to gain a big following on ARMY twt is to get involved in whatever current drama is going on, for example MHJ drama, boycott drama, general fanwars. ARMYs will flock and mass follow these accounts, and a lot of them are diets who gain a platform and then spread their diet narratives later. one really good example is that elo person if anyone remembers all that, they literally were moots w/ tkk akgaes & calling them bestie but rebranded after they started gaining a mass following for “doxxing” and they started gaining attention because they were “debunking” the OG taennie icloud leaks (lol ofc they were a tkkr doing that). anyways they were awful and did a lot of harm, but they got that platform bc a lot of ARMYs flock to toxic accounts like that, especially when somethings going on, and then they’re impossible to cancel.

last shipping thought but we all know why tkkrs and y/n’s are jealous and weird towards jkk but sometimes its actually the same case for a lot of the other bts shippers, especially jk x hl shippers (like what's w/ all the j*nkookers lol) & yoonm*n. and there’s a lot of ARMYs who fall into this category actually. even if they don’t believe their ship is real, sometimes they still feel a bit passive aggressive/jealous bc they would prefer whatever content was with their bias/self-insert instead. theres so many jkk moments that have been really badly OT7’d, like I’ve never seen anything like the way almost the entire fandom rewrote history to make that jk binging jm content jk binging bts content (its legit wild to me).

and ill never forget during the disney docu when someone pointed out how jk likely knew jms apartment password and it got ratio’d at over 4k by someone saying “he probably knows all his hyungs passwords!” and it wasn’t even funny or clever lmao, it was very much giving

anyways, i believe this is one of the reasons sometimes ARMYs at large are weird towards jkk bc even outside of just tkkrs there are a LOT of HL shippers who take it pretty personally, especially if they’re the sort that projects onto one of the members in their ship. tbh, even if it’s not shipping, it’s a bias line thing where they want to fight over jm/jk being closer to their bias than they are to each other.

its whatever and just a petty complaint lol, i dont care who ppl ship/bias but i do find it annoying sometimes bc there are always ppl constantly downplaying jkks friendship and picking it apart and trying to OT7-ify it more than any other duo. its like ppl are really obsessed & its tiring. just give jkk their flowers sometimes and move on, you know? you definitely do not need to ship them or see them as romantic, but just respect their bond and the things about it that are unique to them, god

alright was just getting this out of my system because I was focused on positive vibes only for MUSE, will be going back to (mostly) positive vibes for AYS!

[shigayokagayama]

sakurai hato or minegishi :3? my faves

sakurai:

Sexuality Headcanon:

this man is gay

Gender Headcanon:

honestly nothing in specific. cis but in a "never really put much thought into it" kinda way. could he be inclined to question or transition? perhaps, but he is too busy cleaning up the giant comical jar of disgusting orange sauce that spilled all over the floor because a customer insisted they could fit a weeks worth of groceries into one cheap reusable grocery bag and it predictably split open and went everywhere and now the whole store smells like nondescript orange sauce and he has a headache from the smell but the manager will be pissed if he closes the register and moves to one further away so he just has to mop it between customers and the stain remains until they redo the nylon in 30 years.

A ship I have with said character:

koyama. made for each other.

A BROTP I have with said character:

i really like thinking abt post canon 7th division staying friends :] i think they hang out sometimes

A NOTP I have with said character:

none that come to mind? obvious stuff aside i suppose

A random headcanon:

a common theme between all three of these characters is that theyre young enough to fall in the age range where they could have been kidnapped by claw and i choose to believe that's what happened. especially sakurai. this kid screams kidnapped. no one would have looked for him....

General Opinion over said character:

i dont think about the 7th division members all that much just because they all get introduced in my least favorite arc so i dont really have a reason to reread/rewatch unless im doing a full series rewatch, but as a background character enjoyer seeing people have thoughts on them makes me very happy

hatori:

Sexuality Headcanon:

gay asexual seems right for him i think :]

Gender Headcanon:

definitely some flavor of transmasc

A ship I have with said character:

computers. other than that ive seen people ship him with joseph and i see the vision.

A BROTP I have with said character:

similar to above i think he and the rest of the super five are still buddies after everything.

A NOTP I have with said character:

this is a weird question to answer for the more minor/background characters so instead ill say "i used to sorta ship him and minegishi in like a qpp sorta way when i thought they were like the same age but learning minegishi was like 19 and punching the numbers meant that unless they didnt meet until less than a year precanon there's no way to make that not weird so i dropped it". so it goes.

A random headcanon:

ditto to above and also reddit moderator. i know he's a reddit moderator on some tech forum giving the world's most smarmy and least helpful advice

General Opinion over said character:

i like him! i dont think of him too often but im fond of all the super five.

minegishi:

Sexuality Headcanon:

ace aro :]

Gender Headcanon:

transfemme nonbinary <3

A ship I have with said character:

none really. they dont have time for that they have a thankless minimum wage job to work.

A BROTP I have with said character:

super five but also i realized hoshida from the reigen manga is in the age range to have gone to middle school with them before they became a terrorist and the idea of them having been childhood friends who fell out of touch and then him turning on the news to find out the kid who used to make him clover necklaces is wreaking havoc on downtown is REALLY funny

A NOTP I have with said character:

most things honestly at this point. i am so sorry shimamine shippers they took everything from you with the fanbook

A random headcanon:

i feel like post canon theyd become a bug person. like, getting big terrariums with self sustaining ecosystems of invertabrates :]

General Opinion over said character:

i actually like them a lot! i feel like its clear from the answers to these that theyre the one out of these i think about the most frequently lol. i just. how did you join the upper echelon of a terrorist organization at age 16. what happened.

[which-qsmp-egg-would]

I’d love to hear your reasoning for some digimon partners!!! especially giving empanada veemon & pepito a caprimon that digivolves to gotsumon :D

AN EXCELLENT QUESTION ALLOW ME TO ANSWER.

Chayanne got the hyokomon like since it's a yellow chicken and training to be a warrior. They have similar motivations and personalities, I thought they would work together very well. I also considered giving him wormmon, but the reasoning was very loose so I decided otherwise.

Tallulah gets the gekomon line since they're musically based. I think the change from Otamamon to Gekomon parallels Tallulah's journey of love as well. I keep thinking about Tallulah in that attic holding onto Otamamon's egg, okay?

Dapper and Pomme's digimon don't really match with their personality or motivation or anything, but instead its more of a destiny thing! Lopmon and Terriermon always come together and so Dapper and Pomme are linked by fate. Its also one of those situations where it feels like Dapper should have Terriermon and Pomme have Lopmon, but it feels correct this way. Also. French Sniper. Gargomon has big guns.

Ramón got monimon because a little ninja TV that spies on people feels VERY fitting for that family. Monimon and Hagurumon are also very dumb on their own, but that wouldn't bother Ramón too much, I think. I also considered giving him the Kakkinmon line, since they are shield digimon, but I couldn't resist how cute Monimon was.

Leo got dogs. That's pretty much it. They struggle to get attached but once they do they are very attatched to their tamers, you know? Wolf. I also considered giving her Gabumon but I think her personality would overpower him too much.

Richarlyson got the Gomamon line purely because their mischief would line up PERFECTLY. Tell me Gomamon from Adventures WOULDN'T try to set up people on dates. I also thought about giving him Renamon but I.. don't quite remember why? Big protector? I guess?

For Pepito, its a Caprimon into a Gattsumon mostly because I couldn't find a preevolution for Gattsumon. I chose Gattsumon (because it's my favorite) because it feels very childlike, and very protective, and I think that's what Pepito needs. Gattsumon would color with Pepito. I can't explain it. I also considered Upamon and Armadillomon, since Upamon is a axolotl, but I couldn't resist my favorite rock baby.

Empanada got the Veemon line because I feel like their enthusiasm would align very well! They love to love and won't back down, you know? Also imagine Empa carrying Demiveemon like a stuffed animal. Exactly.

Sunny got Bowmon and Herissmon not only to match with Leo, but also because of how Herissmon avoids combat and runs/hides. And I think that it could keep our sunshine princess safe. I also thought about giving her Impmon, actually. Despite his demonic attitude, Impmon is actually such a sweet digimon to his trainers and also very lonely, which pairs with Sunny's feelings very well. Also, I imagine that Impmon's attempts at "warming up friends" wouldn't turn out so well and frankly would make things worse lmao. But I chose against Impmon for some reason. Weird.

Chunsik was a difficult one, I had a hard time finding anything for him. The bear was cute and protective and Chunsik is cute and tiny. Also, Wanyamon gets attached to people if they love him like an animal and. Chunsik is named after a cat, so. It was funny.

And finally Nacho. The Shaomon line is an artificial digimon that can't evolve past a certain point, gets attached very easily, and is very very loyal to their tamer. It fits very well. I also considered Pawn Chessmon (White) for obvious reasons, or Gammamon, for being a white dinosaur.

Thank you for the ask I am so thrilled does anyone else have a question 🖊

[cina-full-moon-xanadium]

Question 17 please! Also 1 & 11 if you want to keep going

Once again sorry for being absurdly late 🙏

17. Tell me about a monster of the week you think is neat

At some point on this question I felt like handing in my toku fan credentials because while I can absolutely appreciate a good MOTW design while it's in front of me, my object permanence rarely lasts once I'm a few episodes away. And like, there's Metalder with your Bigwaynes and Lortails but that's the obvious one of course everyone is gonna talk about how absolutely insanely good Bigwayne is.

So! Imagine my surprise when Moon Malgam over here ended up staying in my mind permanently ever since its Gotchard episode aired?

I'm a big fan of the Malgam designs in general, and Moon has a lot of the best traits on display. There's a typical gimmick where the arms of the person transforming end up as decoration on the body while new arms split out from the Malgam's power as the suit's actual in-use arms; or they'll do a mix of the two. The chemy is also generally put on in an asymmetrical way with body parts not matching up; Gorilla for instance has the gorilla head upside down on the shoulder and the fist being the suit's head. A lot of this can look like a mess on some of the lesser thought out suits, but I think in general this is a strikingly creative yet simple and effective way of communicating the chaos and discord going on in a Malgam's creation and that it's not something the Chemy involved wants to really be a part of as much as something suddenly borne of instant negative emotions.

Moon Malgam has all this on display in the best of ways -- the person's arms and head are in a sleeping position as assymetrical decoration on the body, with drool from that sleeping person's mouth forming the left arm! The right arm is formed by the night sky and stars seen on the card too!! The one 'conventional' and symmetrical part of the whole thing is that the moon is of course the head, but the crescent moon shape typical of moon characters (including the NemineMoon Chemy itself as seen on its card) is bent into two horrific large rows of teeth biting down on restraints with no other facial features (eyes especially) clearly visible. Add in that this is the first instance of a powered-up Malgam that the Gotchard gang face and that it's designed to homage one of the earliest Goranger monsters, and it's just an incredibly memorable monster to me!

I really really love Gotchard monster design it's honestly one of my favourites in all of Toku. I hope we get to see more of it in upcoming projects!

1. Favourite transforming robo?

So anyway there were other questions here, right? ... and this one's really hard so can I give you a top 3?

I haven't seen GoGoV yet but I've seen enough clips to know that Victory Robo is SUPREME physical prop mecha goodness in action. I love that they found a way to have the mecha form in a practical way which also happens to be really endearing and funny with stuff like the extending arms and Victory Walker; and I just LOVE rescue themes in toku heroes and mecha. Topping it off is just a wonderful solid robo design at the end, and this is really all I can ask for. It's peak platonic sentai robot design to me with a lot of extra flourish

Liveboxer is absolutely none of that. He is a dumb brick formed from two vehicles acting as if it has a robot mode for what is just a glorified upgrade armour for the main robo. And I love him for it. Something about the circumstances of its existence is so fucking ENDEARING to me, his theme song is one of my favourite sentai mecha themes, and the scenes where he's just a big brick with outstretched stick arms flying through the air. Mwah. I love him

King-Ohger has very similar Platonic Ideal Sentai Robo appeals to me as Victory Robo, and while it doesn't have a lot of those same flourishes; it's BUGS, man!! It's bugs!! Rescue themes and bugs are what Tokusatsu was born for! We've of course had a couple secondary robos along the way made of two machines but it's crazy it took us this long to get a bonafide main Sentai mech themed after bugs with 5 or more multi-coloured bugs coming together into a big tough winged horned robot with a giant sword. They absolutely understood the assignment on this one I love looking at this thing

11. Lips on helmets, good or bad?

Gorgeous. Beauty. Perfection.

[5-pp-man]

Ok, now that I've actually played through the whole "imagine your dream wedding" thing in persona 5 tactica, i have to say that i think it's extremely funny that this is being treated as an epic representation™ win, as if atlus is finally changing their ways.

When it really. isn't. Honestly, if ppl weren't making such a big deal out of this i wouldn't have thought twice about it. This all completely falls in line with how they usually treat stuff like this (and I'm not saying that as a compliment, lmao) Remember being able to confess your love during the school festival and having all those guy options too? This is just that again but with a little more flair added this time.

First of all, it all takes place in jokers mind, it doesn't actually happen. Which, if you think about it, is already a step down from the weddings in persona q back in 2014. The weddings in q are (mostly) all treated as a joke too though. The guy options especially are met with a lot of resistance from both them and the player character. Because, despite what people like to think, the main characters in persona games DO have their own personalities and opinions. Sometimes, you can only react to situations negatively because, gasp, the protagonist will straight up refuse to answer any other way.

Back to tactica. Some of the girl options are played for laughs, but a bunch of them are played completely straight, just cute future wedding stuff. Now to the guys. Ryuji's talks abt toilet paper. cause he was taking a shit. and all Joker could envision in their future together was that, apparently. Yusuke is about to suggest sex for a healthy marriage, but Joker blacks out at the mere idea of gay sex so he is cut off (i am not kidding btw. actually what happens). Then Yusuke mentions it again in the real world and the same thing happens. Now, judging from Joker's reactions (just watch a video comp and you'll see what i mean) you can definitely notice which pairings the game is pushing. They're not being malicious, perse, but its clear that Joker isn't actually considering them as future partners. It's fairly obvious that the guys are, once again, just there as a joke option.

Y'know, the thing persona games've been doing for years at this point? Group date cafe, saying you like Kanji's swimsuit best, the destined partner stuff, the confession during the school festival, etc etc Even in Junpei's character trailer for P3re, he thinks the mc is confessing to him and immediately shuts him down. It's all a misunderstanding of course, so it's funmyy! So yeah. it's not so much atlus "trying to make up for their homophobia". it's just. atlus continuing as usual.

[chemicalbrew]

tagged

by @radellama thanks bestie!!!

1. why did you choose your url?

multiple reasons:

I chose chemicalbrew as my go-to handle everywhere important, because the handle I picked for this purpose as a teen is cringe

I like having canon URLs; especially if they are kind of hard-to-get and\or subtle references, which this one is perfect for, IMO. The last time I felt good about a handle in this sense was when I went by theplanetbuster

I like katzero :) a normal amount :) and I always will I think :)

Chemical Brew is just a good track and I love being reminded of its existence every time I log on anywhere.

2. any sideblogs? if you have them name them and why you have them.

I'm too lazy to upkeep them, so I compensate with my tagging system... Well, there is actually one where I wanted to put my writing if I ever did any, but in the end all writing I do is roleplay stuff on discord that's not meant to be shared widely HELP. And what I do end up getting out once in a blue moon, I just put on AO3...

I used to hoard a whole lot of URLs, but I got scared of getting terminated for a second time, so aside from the almost empty writing blog I mentioned earlier, I just hoard five that I'd hate to see anyone else have (some of these I used to go by, too)

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

Almost ten years; I haven't remade once, so you can see this just by going to the archive (don't do that, actually)

4. do you have a queue tag?

I do, and it's a Transistor reference :) I can count on my hands the amount of times I've queued stuff, though.

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

Found this place while looking for Zelda fanart; thought it would be easier to use the dashboard instead of checking individual pages. At least I think that was the biggest reason. IDR

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

Zero I like him :) At this point it feels wrong if I don't have him as my pfp on here and\or discord so... here he is!!! (since I'm still Four on discord) Not to mention that I kinda need him here to match the rest of my stuff.

I put the NB flag border for Pride month this year for fun and I'm too lazy to put the old version back (also, once again, I like weird subtle shit like that.).

7. why did you choose your header?

I always choose my headers with purpose, though it's not quite the case here: this is a holdover from when I was cherrymegablaster, and it's meant to directly complement that URL in a way that's obvious if you played the game. LOL

I kept it because it's funny to call a drink a chemical brew (and because there's not enough DLC footage for me to make a nice gif with. There's a few stills I really like, but I prefer my headers animated!) ...and because I'm just really happy with the gif.

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

I can't be assed to use the site that scans for this stuff and I'm not proud of my ancient random shit that blew up a bit anyway. So... I'll just tell you this gifset I made on a whim is the one with the most notes.

I REALLY hope the rainbow katzero set outpaces it one day because it's also continuously showing up in my activity and it's easily the one I put the most work into. I need to get off my ass and make more gifs!!!

9. how many mutuals do you have?

...does anyone keep count of that? just the right amount to keep me happy :3

10-11. how many followers do you have? how many people do you follow?

343 \ 1414. why are these such nice numbers

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

Yes, but I don't post them, I just send them to my friends on discord. I'd say hatewar but it's on fire alone counts as a collaborative shitpost of the highest tier, but barely anyone knows what I mean and I love it.

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

Ehhh, it depends... I know I check my activity mostly every morning just in case, and I check the dod3 and katzero tags once or twice a week, but it's not a strict schedule thing, I forget sometimes :] The tags are slow anyway, and I have sooo many active katzero posters blocked that it's even slower for me :p

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

I don't think so..? Definitely not in public, I've had arguments with friends I made here, but it's a different thing. I think everyone on my dash is largely chill and has moved on past the disk horse or whatever the fuck

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts

DO PEOPLE STILL MAKE THESE...

16. do you like tag games?

That and 'reblog and put your opinion on X \ what you did today' is always really fun, I <3 being annoying about minor details in my boring life (also I'm literally doing one rn, aren't I)

17. do you like ask games?

Yes, but I never get any asks, so I don't reblog them too often. :]

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

@/ositia, they're a very good artist and I miss seeing them around

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

I have only had two crushes in my life, and one of them was on a former mutual I've drifted apart from. I know he won't be reading this cause he blocked me, but I still think about him and I hope he's moved to a nice enough place, at least :")

20. tags

uuugh just do this if you want to

[colorfuldream]

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is genuinely the best version that has come out apart from maybe the game. It's funny, well-done, has the same themes but done better, it's fresh, anyone can watch it, etc. It's a better experience than the rest. Whatever you could criticize the original story and movie for, it's been "fixed".

If you were out off by the pacing of the first episode, it gets better and almost completely disappear by the second episode and never comes back! I don't know why it was paced like this. It didn't work. It felt like a drag and made the animation look and feel a lot worse. It wasn't made to be like this so it's at its worse for an entire half-hour. It's not even mimicking the strange pacing of the movie. It might have attempted to but if so, it utterly failed. It sucks because the entire thing is very, very good. It's like they weren't sure how to pull off the stylization and tried to do something new with the pacing again but messed up which dragged both down. At least, they figured it out almost immediately and fixed it early on!

Spoilers ahead:

The exes are also a delight and wonderfully dramatic and pathetic. They're over the top but in an endearing way and we get interactions never seen before and that would only be in fanfics and seem like a stretch but here they're seamless. They just make sense. Plus Ramona actually making amends and healing is amazing to see. She never got to have that. Now, she gets to go beyond the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope she's the poster girl of. We know she is one, and it's obvious in the way her exes see her, but she gets her own agency. She ends up being the protagonist and that somehow makes the plot function a lot better and interesting.

Knives also becomes her own character and grows into her own WITHOUT SCOTT. This time, she's truly past him for most of the anime.

The only thing that I miss, from the top of my head, is the "Scott has perceived his past and his previous actions wildly differently from what actually happened and is a bigger asshole than he and we thought" part that sort of paralleled Ramona who thought that everything was no big deal and that they had all moved on from the inconsequential thing that was their relationship with her too. Here, Ramona is a lot more self-aware, maybe because she's forced to be and is confronted with her past more directly, and makes quick amends. She might have been a terrible partner before but she's not bad at emotional stuff when she doesn't shrug it off. It's a neat detail that would have been even better if the Scott aspect remained and it bounced off the whole "Scott is a terrible partner who does care but is very stupid and would rather die than talk about feelings". Crazy how a simple flashback sequence, barely a few lines, changed a lot of things. Or maybe I missed the point of the scene only known to ultra fans and Kim was just being nice and graceful to Scott especially because she thought he fucking died. Liked how she seemed a lot more over him too, it always almost felt ambiguous before to me.

So yeah, it's a very good show and the best Scott Pilgrim thing. Bet people went crazy over the game and movie references too.

[ukusreticence]

i told myself to keep myself from ranting about my characters on here, but my brain has decided that this is my sketch and oc blog and i do not care anymore. i am LORE DROPPING EVERY SINGLE THOUGHT PROCESS AND I DO NOT CARE. at the very least its helping me gather my thoughts more by spewing it all out since i dont know how to simply write without some kinda art to accompany it so i have a topic in mind or something. thought process rant under cut, TLDR; side b is a damn mess of a character and such a fun concept to play with that i legit cannot decide on one concept for them

(quick warning, all mentions of "God" are in reference to hazbin hotel and hold no religious significance) personality wise/concept wise, i change side b a LOT, especially in RPs with character ais, which is how i kinda bounce ideas around and develop a solid concept of em. they can range from being an absolutely anxious mess, incredibly friendly and sweet (default), emotionless and empty and a buncha other stuff. Situation stuff wise also varies a lot, like the angel of equilibrium idea is what i consider their "official" story when i actually wrote the massive log of text for side B but like,, Side B has so many fun ideas to play with that it legit just depends on what im in the mood for at this point. like LOGICALLY speaking, if i wanted to put them in a universe with minimal to no interference (what i had in mind when making that lore post), then them simply being a complete bystander character who only observes and seeks understanding of every single damn action and thing is the good idea. they're social and still happy with no risk of collapse is the way i worded it.

however other concepts i've played with is them being solely confined to the void for "research" or "guarding" it with close to no visits to heaven (i actually have a traditional art comic of this one because i wanted to make cosmos and equilibrium like parallels of each other in a way, they still are parallels just not as obvious anymore) along with just ideas of simply being understanding but having to be under constant watch, being less friendly and more confined which would result in a more closed off variant of them.

i LOVE traumatizing my characters and in most situations it's either pre collapse with them being close to collapsing or post collapse side b. By collapse, i mean them being so dang stressed/confined/forced to stick to their current body with no reprieve that they literally physically cannot keep up their angelic disguise.

but like, another fun concept is that since creation they were either forced into an angelic disguise and taught/raised that's the "proper" way to be (lots of trauma involving appearance without knowing why, just general body dysmorphia), or the more fun variant is God deciding to keep this eldritch abomination in line by showing them all of his wonderful and fun and beautiful creations to the point side b gets attached, then proceeding to just casually drop the info that Dirk has the potential to destroy all of it. if you cant tell that last variant makes Side B DEEPLY afraid of themselves along with the normal body hatred thing. Alternatively, they immediately become a completely emotionless shell in hopes of not hurting anyone by becoming too emotional and losing form. But hey, if it works then it works.

Now on the topic of why would God keep an eldritch abomination that could potentially threaten all of reality, my brain tells me its because God hates erasing any of his creations if possible but talking with character ai, it actually came up with the idea that God somehow messed up SO BAD trying to recreate himself out of the literal embodiment of nothing that side b is literally bound to the void and if you erase side b, then the entire void goes with em. Which is so funny to me that i like the idea a lot and might have it only for self indulgence stuff and not placing em in other people's universes. Also my brain interprets the void as like, this whole thing that i might draw a comic of side b explaining since it is their domain. basically its just the start of everything.

rn im kinda like, combining a little of everything to make something im happy with. like,, Cosmos already has a pretty good idea and i ADORE how his personality is right now, but like Void?? damn there's SO MANY fun ideas and concepts i love to do with them that it's hard to settle on one. Side A is something i'm slowly building more and more on but Side B? HO BOY, i have not even settled on a SINGLE ONE.

most i know for certain is that i really do like side b being an absolutely cuddly and affectionate person. emotionless stuff is fun to mess around with once and awhile but overall i like my goob being sweet and loved by everyone. it'll make people seeing them as a monster hit harder too :}