#its inherently cool i dont make the rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[the-bundroid]

So a few days ago I was thinking about ‘what if the time twins had a little bit more motive besides them wanting to rule ninjago or something’, then I had two caffeine drinks and an hour later this was on my screen, its a big text blurb so its under the cut but yeah, might call it ‘Sins of the Father’ au

-Krux and Acronix’s Father, who I’m calling Kronos, started gaining a superiority complex about his elemental power. At some point he crashes out and goes after the FSM and one way or another is banished to the Cursed Realm, all before the twins are born

-The FSM finds their mother and warns her to not tell the kid about their time powers so that they dont follow in their fathers footsteps. And since she genuinely doesnt know what else to do in this situation she agrees and never tells the twins.

-Since two twins sharing the same elemental power hadnt been heard of before, both her and the FSM never realized Acronix had half of the time powers, so she mainly kept her eye on Krux. He accidently learns about his powers after reversing the mold on some bread, and told his mom. She told him to try and not ise them again. She has to repeat this multiple times and Krux starts to think that she thinks he’s INHERENTLY dangerous. So far Acronix is the only other person who knows

-But someone discovered Krux’s powers because he’s stubborn and still used them for practicality sometimes. Word got out and he started using his powers to help. It started small with just reverse mold on certain things. Some people though kept away from him due to fear of his powers

-Eventually, Acronix hears about Chen and his training thing and, after making sure his brother will be fine without him, goes off to learn to fight. He meats Garmadon there which plays into how the twins get into the alliance

-While acronix was away, demands got bigger and more people made assumptions about how his powers worked. Some people speculated he could see into the past if he tried hard enough. They ALSO assumed that he could also speed up and slow down time, and also see into the near future. His mom tried to help by finding ways for him to actually train, but he still felt a little resentment due to everything from earlier <-(this hit discord text limit)

-Eventually Acronix discovers his own time powers while training and immediatly begs Chen to let go home for a few days, and surprisingly is allowed. He rushed home and told his brother first, Krux felt both relieved and dread because while he wont be blamed by townspeople for not telling them omens, now his brother will be. Krux warns him about it and urges him not to to everyone else, but Acronix goes and tells other townsfolk anyways because he doesnt want his brother to be blamed for not giving people omens when he literally cant

-After a few days Acronix has to leave but urges Krux to actually come visit because the townspeople lowkey suck, Krux eventually does go visit from time to time, meeting Garmadon as well.

-Some time passes and Garmadon invites both to join the Elemental Alliance, they immediatly join because their mom passed away so now they really dont have much to stay for. Shits all cool for a bit

-But the FSM left behind notes about different events and people Wu and Garmadon should watch out for, including Kronos. Upon meeting the twins Wu, panicked because the FSM didnt actually know Kronos had kids, hid all the stuff about Kronos because he was worried that it would cause the twins to crashout (Wu feels a lot of guilt how he handle it).

-Acronix is actually the one who found it after snooping around and immediatly tells Krux. The writings were unfortunatly vague about their dad’s motive, and the twins had already had a few disagreements with Wu, and it was in a place that was very obvisouly supposed to keep it hidden, so it wasnt hard for both of them to get into the mindset of ‘what if dad was right to crashout?’

-a lot of the same stuff happens, timeblades are created and the time portal stuff

[what I got for the next bits so far, I might change this around later]

-Kronos somehow funds a way to temporarily escape the cursed realm and finds Krux pretty soon after the timeblade event occurs and lets Krux talk about his life first and then after that Kronos comes up with a made up reason to why the FSM killed him in the first place based on what Krux says to try and make their backstories similar. Krux is still in a pretty vulnerable state after not only losing his powers but also his brother so he doesnt question it too much and clings onto whatever he can

-Ray and Maya are still kidnapped and put into a weird cave system (also assume any weird timeline stuff is just fixed in the au so timing makes sense) which is when Krux first starts to question his dad. He tries to let them ‘escape’ but the cave is like cursed or something idk

-the second major thing was Kronos trying to get Krux to kill a baby Lloyd [Im getting into EPIC: the mysical rn so oops, might end up removing this altogether] because Kronos has a major grudge against FSM for obvious reasons, which he did not do whatsoever. They fight and Kronos is like ‘Brooo its just a joke man. I wanted to see what you were capable of. Anyways dont abandon our plan you want to see your brother right? My dad did this with me too btw im just trying to be a good dad, dont be ungrateful’ But in a more manipulative way than that and Krux feels guilty and to himself is like ‘I guess I can just, wait for Acronix then see what he wants to do about it’

-In the season4 era Krux is surprisingly invited to the tournoment of elemements. He doesnt particpate but instead secretly watches because he’s heard of the ninja and wants to asses the invevitable threat they’ll pose to him. He notices the cursed realm stuff and is like ‘oh! If I figure out a permenant way to free my dad he will be proud!’ Despite all the issues he has with him

-Season5 ending changes, there’s like a domino effect where when Krux goes into the cursed realm it gives someone else idk who the oppurtunity to get garmadon out because I miss him and its my au, also Morro is actually saved so yay!

[Im probably changing a lot of this soon but yeah thats what me with double the usual amount of caffeine and an hour can make]

[yuri-for-businesswomen]

the thing is - pro prostitution activists (and people who agree with idea) usually never suggest their 'perfect system'. On average, they just scream 'it needs to be legalised and then everything will be great', sometimes you get few ideas on how to protect "sex workers". But you know what? Whenever I do see such discussions and their suggestions, I can easily come up with 3 different scenarios where their rules and laws won't work or just would/can be ignored and women would still be harmed. EVERY TIME. People did and do all kinds of shady stuff, even in highly regulated industries + cool phenomenon called 'corruption'. Do they really think men give a shit about law, especially those who don't see women as human beings (and its all of them)?

The pro 'sex work' discourse is just people using fancy words to state that they don't believe misogyny exists, women are exploited, but most importantly they believe that men's pleasure and need to masturbate (with woman body) are more important than women's feeling and right to be save.

i recently had a very frustrating and saddening exchange with a woman on here who is in prostitution and kept saying the same thing (it should be legal) over and over again and when i told her it is legal in germany and it has not made things better just shifted problems and increased demand she said well but its legal that is definitely better. and you know i myself dont advocate for prostituting oneself to be illegal at all, i think its crazy that 30 % of women incarcerated in the usa where its fully criminalised are prostitutes, but it seems like usual people are only able to grasp the two extremes: full legalisation or full criminalisation. when in reality, abolishing the sex industry is a lengthy and complex process, but you have to start somewhere.

they say, „you wont stop prostitution by criminalising/outlawing it“ but think they can somehow stop the harm of prostitution through legal means, lmao (which also ignores the inherent harm of bought consent compared to freely given consent and knowingly making someone endure sexual acts for money). there has to be a cultural and legal and economic shift and thats a lot. we have to alleviate poverty from women systematically affected by it (single mothers, immigrated women, mentally ill, disabled, addicted women, and so on); this means pulling out the roots of misogyny and we all know this is not in the works. the difference between them and us is, we think a different future is possible if the effort is put in, but they dont. which is so fucking bleak and tells you a lot about how women see their own position in society, and the chances of it getting better.

even if you dont criminalise buying sex, you could still make it more difficult to buy sex. „but then it will move back to the black market“ honey its already there, even here in germany where its legal. so much prostitution is happening invisible, in apartment buildings and deserted areas. we should work towards ways how to reach women in these situations without legalising their abuse. if there was a perfect solution that immediately solved all the issues, we would advocate for it, dont you think? but there is no perfect solution and just accepting men will always use their money to coerce sex is just not something im okay with and we, as a society claiming to want gender equality should be okay with.

why not reverse what we have in germany right now? instead of prostitutes needing to register, its sex buyers who have to register. they need to do regular health checkups. they need to carry their sex buyer id with them or they will get fined. the registry is public because wives, daughters, partners and even your employer should be able to make decisions based on the knowledge that that man is coercing women into sex with his money. most sex buyers are partnered you know. „the government will never do that“ well they sure as hell wont if nobody advocates for it and instead opts for the lazy, superficial „fix“ of legalisation? and also, they say an issue under criminalisation is that prostitutes and other „sex workers“ are hassled by cops. well do tell who will enforce those sacred regulations you want? if it was for them, everybody would just „mind their own business“ and the state does not interfere with the sex industry at all and they somehow think this will protect vulnerable groups?! it doesnt make any fucking sense.

it is really frustrating to me. at the end of the day you have to ask, what is your feminism, if you want to accept, regulate, institutionalise, normalise, legitimise and legalise this form of systemic sexual abuse (because using your money to coerce sexual acts IS abuse of power) at the hands of men instead of working towards a future where we are equal? there is no equality as long as the sex industry exists and profits off and reinforces social inequality, specifically misogyny and racism.

[justsomerandomplanet]

[ jjk 261 spoilers ]

just rambling thoughts about the chapter now that ive Actually read it (thank u tcb and also i wish ppl who post about leaks without tags a very can you Stop and tag thanks)

tldr; i dont hate the chapter, its an interesting one! feel free to discuss with me if u would like

I don't actually hate the chapter conceptually

Ideologically, Uraume has brought up the topic of being human and the fact to be strong/to defeat sukuna you must disregard that obsession of loneliness/humanity. I also think at the end of the day, it speaks a lot about how jujutsu society functions (in that it uses people regardless of respecting them as people, i.e. the star plasma vessels, children as sorcerers facing death constantly, etcetc).

Nevertheless, I do wonder why Yuta had to do it. At the end of the day I still believe Yuji will be the one to defeat Sukuna, you cannot tell me all that build up to him is for Nothing, but what point is there in bringing Yuta in that case? If he just does more damage and then dies (lol), like. What is there to it. Like in the perspective of the characters i get it, they don't know if they'll win or lose and they're gonna have to use every option they have, but simply on a readers perspective, it feels a bit redundant. I just feel there should be a way to incorporate this idea without it feeling like we'll get gojo v sukuna 2.0. Idk i just want yuji to beat sukuna like that first page was so cool :(!!!!

Anyway, the idea of bringing back Gojo similar to how "Toji" was revived in shibuya is also unbelievable bc Gojo himself is shown to still want to protect the kids. His ideology derives from making sure They Are Alive And Changing The System. Yes, I get it he is battle obsessed too (see the shinjuku battle) but it doesn't change he went out of his way to tell them not to look/follow him for what he's about to do with the higher ups. Theory wise, gojo being brought back like this is dull (but plausible i suppose) (also thinking about it would that Really be gojo? We saw that toji still didnt come back normal, and wasnt it stated that the toji that did come back was more of just the memories of the body rather than the person himself? Idk. Anyway)

Additionally, Yuta, altho caring for Gojo, is still falling back to the mentality that made Gojo alone (the "Strongest" vs Gojo Satoru). Yuta himself wanting to sacrifice his humanity so everything Gojo did wouldn't be moot while still using his body, which inherently disrespects him as a person, is a hyprocritical and flawed way of thinking that makes him interesting for me now lmao. He cares for him a lot, but he has to resort to it as a means to an end. Also I don't care if he dies, in fact the idea of him living while still in gojo is just weird tbh so i really dont see a way put of that? Im kinda just interested to see what happens tbh

I'll be real; I can see both points in how ppl think this is a cool chapter vs ppl thinking it sucks. It is surprising how very Neutral I am on this bc I personally feel like the explanations given made sense to me in the chapter.

I don't think this took away from Yuta's character, nor did it take away from what we've seen before; Yuta is not Yuuji. Yuta has shown that he can kill people. He only sparred Uro and Ryu bc of the rule to be able to transfer points. He admits that he "cheated" in the past month. Yuta is very aware of what decisions are wrong but still does them bc its for the best outcome, even if it means losing his own humanity. Yuta wants the best for Gojo but still looks at it in a flawed way. Yuta is unknowingly falling into Sukuna's/Uraume's ideology.

Yuuji is the only one so far in the series that continues to be filled with regret from killing and still wants to do better. He is forced to dissociate his self-identity to cope with his actions. He has said he would eat anything to defeat Sukuna, effectively throwing his humanity, but does not do so at the expense of other ppl (see Yuji's conversation with Higuruma before shinjuku). Yuji looked past Gojo's infinity so he could give encouragement, even tho everyone else was afraid. Yuji is the antithesis to Sukuna's view of the world

Yuta is not Yuji, and I think that's the point.

I don't think one is better than the other, I simply find this contrast to be interesting when u look at it in the grander theme of change and tradition within jujutsu society.

[unhingedkinfessions]

"we have full rights to make fun of you or judge you for whatever it is you submit"

yeah this is the reason fictionkinfessions is the only good kinfession blog. that's just super mean spirited to add for no good reason. like you're the mods, it's your job to curate a space for posts to be judged, commented on and talked about, not to decide which kinfessions you want to bully? if you MUST make fun of or judge something why not respond from your personal blog or send an anon replying to it instead of literally adding it onto the post itself? like yeesh why would anyone want to risk posting anything ACTUALLY unhinged in this environment?

it's your blog, do what you want forever, but like to me, a random tumblr user? ew.

>goes on the "we might be mean to you" blog

>gets upset we might be mean

if you dont like us then just block and move on dude lol. that's the whole gimmick of this blog. other kinblogs might not accept certain sources or kinfessions relating to certain subjects but the point is that we do but if you're genuinely a fucking weirdo we call it out. literally a guy the other day earnestly saying they kin a real life alleged n/zi drug addict with several criminal charges and was like "but he's awesome so maybe it's fine" like sorry that's deranged. not even feeling guilty about it. anons are on so you're not "risking" anything. you can't go into the peanut store and get mad they're selling peanuts because someone might be allergic. be for real lol. —mod bender

it’s not like people coming to this blog don’t know that’s what’s gonna happen to them if they send a kinfession, unless they didn’t read any of the rules/about/etc etc in which case that’s on them anyway? we state pretty clearly that if you send in kinfessions you’re acknowledging that we may make fun of you if you said something fucked up. this is like going to dick’s restaurant and getting mad when they’re dicks to you. like thats what we do here sir —mod pikmin

anon do you have something you wanna confess. are you just scared. you dont have to make up all this stuff if youre just scared were gonna be mean. you can tell me anything anon i could be your best friend i could be the best thing thats ever happened to you maybe we wont be mean come closer —mod joker

yeah its opt in man. we arent going onto random posts and judging strangers. this is like a confession booth where the priest is like "yeah it IS fucked up you did that though. like for real". our intentions are clear. and we really arent mean like a good 72% of the time anyways, theres plenty of positivity -dave dave

WHAT RISK WHAT RISK ANONS ARE ON FOR A REASON LITERALLY WHAT RISK‼️ the whole POINT is that we’re the ones responding and not random tumblr user #45 . literally this started on the idea of how funny it’d be to have a kinfession blog that actually Responds directly bc the other ones are booooooring. if you like those better you have agency you are a person you can make your own choices. lots of kin blogs are extremely limited in what they allow which leaves more “problematic” kintypes with little places to go, the disclaimer is there to say that although we may let you speak, we don’t inherently agree w you. like we make these terms so so clear this ask is so fucking funny lol - mod navi

ruling:

woah among us sex thats so cool...

[blamemma]

what you said about maxiel fanfics with endgame lest4ppen, yes, I agree. someone mentioned this before, but maxiel is slowly dying on ao3 while it seems to be thriving more and more on tumblr.

for me it's 50/50 because I don't mind where I'm reading, but here we have more one-shots and pieces of WIPs (which is good because it means authors don't feel the pressure to turn everything into a 50k story, so they can just post their ideas even if it's incomplete), but I personally LOVE longer stories, so I would love to read more and more about every single one of them.

and personally I just don't like lest4ppen at all. I understand the need to tag maxiel because daniel is the bad guy and the "shitty boyfriend" or whatever, but I just don't like seeing those stories 😬

will always preface asks like this by saying people can like what they like and find joy in whatever, i ain't gunna turn my nose up at anyone or anything, lestappen just doesn't make sense to meeee personally, but honestly whatever butters ur bread!!!

as someone who has dabbled here and there in this writing lark, for me there is a distinct difference in ao3 posting and tumblr posting....ao3 to me is formal, ur presenting something perfect, a fully-fledged story, a beginning a middle and an end (not in all cases but i just mean in general). most stuff i read on ao3 is fully-fledged nuanced ideas that the author has obviously spent hours of time crafting and experimenting with.

tumblr fic is inherently fun and blase and easier to throw out there into the ether and forget about really. tumblr fic doesn't need to follow grammatical rules or structure etc etc....it can just be a fun prompt game response or a quick lil fic that you had fun writing and wanna share with ur people?? both have purposes and both are enjoyable to write imo, just depends on what ur feeling and how much u want to expand on said idea??

when it comes to the maxiel of it all....idk how rude or pointed i can get here without getting into shit....so i'll try and word this gently....you have to keep the eco-system alive....i think comments and kudos are GREAT but honestly, if someone reblogs my fic with a fun few tags, i love that more, because in a selfish way, i might get 1 or 2 more readers from that because its going out to an even wider audience?? but its more than that!! engage with ur writers, message them on here and shout at them about their ideas, send them prompts, recommend their fic to ur friends...but i will stand by i think one of the best things you can do, if they make a fun lil post or graphic for their fic...reblog it...ur not only spreading the maxiel gospel, but ur also supporting that writer?? too many times on here i see people's fic graphics flop yet big blogs are leaving them comments on ao3 and look, EACH TO THEIR OWN and also i can sometimes be a bad reblogger dont get me wrong, but LIKE, there are some wildly talented authors on here who just need to be pushed into the limelight a little bit more??? idk if im wording this correctly, but sometimes there are fics that fall through the cracks because no one engages with them, and if ur an author who has put blood sweat and tears into that fic, ur not exactly going to be motivated to post another maxiel fic if u dont think ur going to get engagement from it (again, fic writing isn't necessarily about engagement or response, but let me tell u when i get a fun little comment or someone messages me about a fic i published, it inspires me to write more????)

maxiel is definitely alive and kicking, i follow some stunningly good maxiel authors, but at the same time, its about pushing forward those smaller writers as well and not thinking ur too cool for them???????????????

and so with that, this flufftober, kinktober, spooktober or whatever tober u are a part of, reblog the fic, talk about the fic and enjoy the fic

[mo0l]

i kinda have a lot of problems with autism as a framework,, i mean its cute dont get me wrong and i know zoomers on social media like to use it like they do trans as an idpol signifier for finding other "cool weirdos", but i hate how restrictive people can be about what it is to be autistic (ironic i know).

Like for starters, autism is basically co-opted as some like being inherently anxious and socially awkward disease, i get naturally why these are stereotypes of it but its annoying when people make statements like "omg autistic people cant naturally infer unspoken social rules!!" like bro stfu no one can, neurotypicals had to learn that too they were just faster about it and probably intuited it at an earlier age due to more consistent socializing, theres a reason the more consistently socialized from a young age autistic people dont struggle with these things as much in a generalized sense either!

secondly i hate the term of "masking". I get that its useful for some people, but I feel like really internalizing this framework of socializing is shooting yourself in the foot. You're setting yourself up for socializing being a hard, unnatural thing when you frame it as something you have to perform that "doesnt come naturally to you". I don't mean to be an ass, no form of socializing comes naturally to anyone. What this really means is you prefer socializing with people who arent as formal and youre comfortable with. While neurotypicals may not express this as plainly as neurodivergents, neurotypical people generally prefer these things as well! Theres a reason they keep friends! They just generally arent as opposed to meeting new people as neurodivergent people generally are. Again, this is likely a case of being more socialized. Most of these trait between autistic and allistic can be summed up as being unsocialized vs socialized. And youre capable of learning social norms! And it doesnt have to be exhausting unnatural horrible masking that rips your true soul out of your heart and severs your personality into two! it genuinely gets easier the more you do it, you might still be someone who needs more alone time than others but goddamn i dont think most people are anywhere close to understanding where they truly fit on that scale because they dont try,,, all of this is also to say you dont need to value socializing as much as others either,, if youre happy being insular and autistic, like genuinely, then no reason to change it unless you want! but i feel like a lot of people just accept themselves as being this glorified faux pop-self help idea of autistic and hate having to live as an autistic person and dont really realize how much they limit themselves and just seek to externalize all their issues,,, which isnt to victim blame obviously, being autistic is hard but idk we're in a weird time with online self diagnosing n shit,, this is a lot I've written out I'm really ranting. I hate restricting myself to frameworks! idpol is retarded!!! the bad kind

[this-should-do]

i cant keep my mouth shut about this publically, it is crazy how badly they fumbled halo 4,

like i just got done playing all of halo mcc in less than a wekk, and after going thru everything where at worst the plot felt like a surprise when i got to the end of the game becjz it was so short in the mainlines, or a really cliche divorced man and woman plot, they were always really fun and coherant

but halo 4 jesus christ, the plot felt really bad on so many levels, cortanas arc just felt like it was doing a "ooo scary multiole personalities" ableism, the whole chief is the worlds specialist boy prophecy plot without it even being plot relevant outside one instance becuz of how fast the game goes since they didnt tie it in with the actual climax of the game, and also how badly they keep retconning cortana after the many different directions and strings the ither games left for her, and what the fuck was even up with humans being space faring over a millenia ago, and the way the flood tied in directly co tradicts what the lrevious games set up, and the villain was just so oit of place in the schema of what the halo games are like wow one guy instead of the main antagonist being the ever churning cogs of war and how zealotry forces people to fight eachother rather than those that act as a ruling class (tho ofc theres lits of american militarism exceptionalism inherant to the series so it cant go super hard on that but i can pick up a few pieces) so the villain ehose there for like 5 minutes total in the 8 hour runtime (beat the game in one sitting) and just the everything and the ending just being wack, and theres also issues with how humans vs covenant tie in with the forru ners it just muddies everything really

and god not to mention how ass the ending fight was, completely ofrcing you to fo stuff against the instinct that comes from years of syandard end gight training from even the past halo games, u Have to piddle your way like a pussy killing every enemy you see or you die, and the weapons you have in that section are way worse than other weapons you would normally have access to and the enemies Need headshots or they just dont go down plus the everything of how the prometheans function as enemies that just make them a slog to fight, like halo 4 had some highlights but the games writing really just bogs it down, like it couldve been good cuz it showed eveidence that they really wanted to lean into how being groomed as a child fucked uo spartans and how they viee themselves as people and what theure allowed to feel and bond with others, but there are like one or two total lines about it across the game and then they lay it on way too heavy at the end of the game in a cutscene that it just feels out of place and the callback to the one line about it in an internal "monologue" of chiefs just felt cringe more than anything like, somehow halo3 with its cortana visions felt more effective as a exploration inobtrusively to plot progression of the game of how chief places the worth of others over his life even at the cost of his own if it comes to that and just shows more effectively how fucked his past is as delivered in a expositional way yhan what halo 4 had becuz it was integrated and paralleled the gameplay and was a consequence of the continuous plot of 2 and 3 rather than being 2 whole moments of woag emotions dump that didnt tie in with the story, plus while it was cool having the cool opening cut scene at the beginning of 4 with the whole look child grooming and indoctrination, that plot with the stuff going on with halsey and whatever was going on there just didnt have any closure on her end and the execution of the idras abouy spartans humanity just falls flat, like argh,, 4 sucked ass overall

[turtlemagnum]

ok so, yugioh is essentially a fantasy story, right? perhaps an urban fantasy of sorts, but given how the final parts take place in a magical recreation of ancient egypt where the pharoah is transported back into it forced to relive those events, with said events including having a team of literal mages who use actual magic, all without even having to use trading cards!! like yeah that's fantasy, just one that centers ancient egypt as opposed to an ancient europe/vaguely europe knockoff setting. what i'm getting at here is, you know how in fantasy stories that involve a king in some form in a positive manner, you've just gotta sorta suspend your disbelief that monarchy is on some level legitimate and that the monarch isn't inherently a massive piece of shit just for being in an innately authoritarian position. and that's fine, you can do that, and you just gotta hope that your audience can discern for themselves that while monarchy sucks irl, you don't gotta worry about that here because it's, y'know, fiction. imo it's just something best left unaddressed if that's the kinda story you're going for, though personally that's not the kind of story i intend on telling, but that's besides the point. what really sucks, and often does the opposite of the intended effect for me, is when the story tries to justify the monarchy, or at least the specific monarch. like no no no you dont understand bro, the pharoah's actually a really cool guy, it's just his scheming advisor that did all that evil stuff that made the bad guy, he didn't even know that he did that dude. if you've read yugioh, you know what i'm alluding here assuming you have a decent recollection of the ending arc. the pharoah (and his father before him) were honest to god genuinely good guys, and the reason the thief king's village got murdelized was because of a scheming advisor, and of course this happened before the pharoah even came to the throne, and of course his father didn't even know that this happened, much less giving the kill order himself. and we're expected to just accept this, when the series starts up with the pharoah finding basically any excuse to do some fucked up shit to someone. and like, within the narrative they deserve it, and it's satisfying, but to be blunt i dont think setting two hoodlums on fire was a proportionate response to them beating up a kid and taking his money. like yeah, that's a fucked up thing to do to a kid, but it's a relatively normal teenage boy kinda fucked up, setting them on fire is serial killer fucked up. like, i've been on fire. that shit hurts. so while i don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that a monarch in fiction is a decent guy, i feel like it doesn't mesh well with how yami comes out of the box a fucked up gremlin freak, and even setting aside that, i think it would've been more interesting if, in life, the pharoah was kind of a piece of shit. hear me out here: as the series goes on, the pharoah definitely mellows out and slowly becomes a better, kinder person. i'm not sure it would've even been intended as a redemption arc, but i like the idea that being around yugi just slowly made him into a decent goddamn human being. if memory serves, it felt like a very natural transition. i think i'm comfortable saying that yami was a good person by the time we get to the last arc. so, imagine if it really did turn out that in life, he was a piece of shit, and now he has to reconcile his fucked up past with how he's grown and changed in the intervening millenia. you could even take it from the perspective that for the most part, it wasn't even a matter of active cartoonish villainy, just how he ruled his kingdom, enforced its law and order, and he's bad just due to the inherent violence in such an act. personally i think it'd make the most sense as a bit of a column a column b thing, but both result in what i'd consider to be a much more compelling character arc; one that we wouldn't even be fully aware of until the very end

[sillywolfboy]

MY OPINION ON DOKTOR HAZE'S TAKE ON PHYSICAL ALTERHUMANS AND TRANS-SPECIES FOLKS

Even tho im not a part of the "Drama" and i do not like drama myself i would like to have my own opinion on your take on physical alterhumans and transspecies folks, your take on physical alterhumans and transspecies is quite... bad

your first "excuse" for not allowing physical alterhumans/trans species is because they're "very controversial" , now lets think about that... alterhumanity itself is a controversial topic around internet spaces and will most likely always be, due too misinformation, but just because a label is more controversial then the other does not give you the right to exclude people ( people as in a species neutral term ) from their own community, but im also confused by what you mean by "legit cannot happen" what do you mean by that?

also your and im pretty sure your friend's fleeting foxes second take on physical alterhumans and trans-species happens in the comments so lets check that out shall we?

Its fairly interesting how you exclude half of your own community isn't it? "Its never healthy to view yourself as entirely nonhuman"

lets pull up our dictionary definition of unhealthy and harmful shall we?

"Causing damage or injury to somebody/something

Definition of harmful adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary causing damage or injury to somebody/something, especially to a person’s health or to the environment Many household products are potentially harmful." - google definition

"1. not in a state of good or normal health; unsound or abnormal; diseased: unhealthy tissue. 2. symptomatic of or resulting from bad health: an unhealthy pallor. 3. unhealthful: unhealthy weather. 4. morally harmful; corrupt; debased: unhealthy examples for the young. 5. dangerous; risky." - google definition

That doesnt sound anything like viewing yourself as a nonhuman critter, viewing yourself as fully nonhuman has never been inherently unhealthy, actually viewing myself as non human has helped my species dysphoria and confidence, for my fellow critters viewing themselfs as non human has helped they're mental health, species dysphoria and happiness

Also lets mention in your discord server it says "we may change the rule overtime of mentioning physical alterhumanity after we learn about it" in my opinion i think your not even trying to learn about it

your just saying that to keep peoples hopes up since you havent even probably looked into physical alterhumanity, i may be wrong but honestly it may be the truth

and in my opinion your excluding critters from their own community

Physical alterhumans and trans-species are allowed to be in this community, they are valid

these days physical alterhumans/trans-species dont have many safe spaces left for them in the alterhuman community besides tumblr and a few discord servers, you excluding them is hurting the community more then helping the community, its breaking the community apart, people ( as in a species neutral term ) feel invalid due to being a physical alterhuman or trans-species which is sadly whats happening in the alterhuman community right now

also that tag you placed in your tags doesn't make you cool or edgy it makes you look kinda stupid

Anyways thats my opinion on doktor haze's opinion on physical alterhumans and trans-species , is there anything i need to edit or fix? Hope you enjoy my opinion!

Hi hello!

I know this is a sys account, but i wanna talk about some backlash that my discord server has received on this platform! TW//CW GOING AHEAD! Hi, my name Doktor Haze, and i run the Therian Forest Server! WE have been called out a few times on here about our opinions on paraphelias! We do not allow any person who is part of z0ph1l1@ or P£d0ph1l1& at all of course, under this rule also mentions objectums and how theyre not allowed to be discussed. One user on here claimed we were discriminating against them for not allowing them to openly talk about the topic. SO HERE I AM TO CLEAR THINGS UP Firstly, we repeated many times that you can exist within the serevr while being objectum, but you are not allowed to discuss it in anyway, as it is a medically claimed paraphelia (See : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341661772_Objectum_sexuality_or_objectophilia#:~:text=Objectophilia%20(also%20known%20as%20objectum,bridges%2C%20cars%2C%20or%20words. ) therefore, we wont allow it to be mentioned due to the discourse, and the medical meanings behind it NO MATTER WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT IT. I couldnt care less if you id with this term, i just dont wanna talk about it nor allow it to be discussed within this server. Our server is revolved around alterhuman identities, including therians, otherkins etc. so why should it matter if you cant discuss it here, its not the point of our server in any shape or form? Posts weve seen have cut out some vital parts of the convocation, had. We will never allow discussion of paraphelias within our server. EVER. Also, we dont allow physical therians nor transpecies people, as this legit cannot happen and/or is still very controversial, no matter what you think about it. Please understand our wishes within the server and understand why we dont want this things mentioned. Our server is for friendship, not discorse. Thank you all. I know this is a sys account, but i wanna talk about some backlash that my discord server has received on this platform! TW//CW GOING AHEAD! Hi, my name Doktor Haze, and i run the Therian Forest Server! WE have been called out a few times on here about our opinions on paraphelias! We do not allow any person who is part of z0ph1l1@ or P£d0ph1l1& at all of course, under this rule also mentions objectums and how theyre not allowed to be discussed. One user on here claimed we were discriminating against them for not allowing them to openly talk about the topic. SO HERE I AM TO CLEAR THINGS UP Firstly, we repeated many times that you can exist within the serevr while being objectum, but you are not allowed to discuss it in anyway, as it is a medically claimed paraphelia (See : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341661772_Objectum_sexuality_or_objectophilia#:~:text=Objectophilia%20(also%20known%20as%20objectum,bridges%2C%20cars%2C%20or%20words. ) therefore, we wont allow it to be mentioned due to the discourse, and the medical meanings behind it NO MATTER WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT IT. I couldnt care less if you id with this term, i just dont wanna talk about it nor allow it to be discussed within this server. Our server is revolved around alterhuman identities, including therians, otherkins etc. so why should it matter if you cant discuss it here, its not the point of our server in any shape or form? Posts weve seen have cut out some vital parts of the convocation, had. We will never allow discussion of paraphelias within our server. EVER. Also, we dont allow physical therians nor transpecies people, as this legit cannot happen and/or is still very controversial, no matter what you think about it. Please understand our wishes within the server and understand why we dont want this things mentioned. Our server is for friendship, not discorse. Thank you all.

[hvmanbeing]

i wanna be clear i came to bat for kikos, i feel that spiritually they are among the most neopets of all time.

but we took into consideration the average neopian's opinion of them, and we felt like a normie neopian just can't appreciate the raw power of Ball

[luxeberries]

dustin is genuinely such a good, sweet person and i feel like its often overshadowed by his bitchy nature (which i love sm) and i just...i think about him and dart so much because of what he says to mike in defense of himself: 'we have a bond because he trusts me' and he even goes as far as to say 'just because hes from the upside down doesn't mean hes evil' which is like. the only time anyone has ever voiced that thought in 4 seasons - that the upside down and the creatures that live there might not be innately evil. (and i could make an entire other post about how dart proves that the upside down isnt inherently evil but thats for another time- ) and its because dart is his friend, which the show established in s3--

dustin has certain issues with his own friends drifting from him and theres that bike scene with mike in season 1 where he's just okay with the fact that lucas and mike are best friends and dustin is, like, lesser because he was the last to join and lives further away (which, as mike says, he isnt lesser). but hes just okay with that. until s3 where they all blow him off after hes been away for months and he feels neglected! hes upset! he complains about it to steve!

so dart is, like, this little helpless, harmless, mysterious critter he found eating junk in his trash. and i might be going off base but id argue that not only does dustin consider dart a friend, but also he sees himself in dart. they both like nougat, for one, and dustin is established to be a food-lover (which i fucking adore), and dart is toothless, like him.

not only does being toothless make dart (appear) harmless (and so very cute, so adorable), but it makes him like dustin. in s1 dustin was missing his front teeth (i dont actually know the deal with gaten's teeth in s2+3 but anyway) and was mocked for it, even named 'toothless' by his bullies.

i think its definitely arguable that dustin defended dart even when the evidence pointed towards something sinister because he was a kid and he thought dart was his friend and he felt betrayed and was in denial that he was wrong about his new friend, but i also think dustin just. sees the best in people. he saw the good in dart and even when dart is full demodog, dustin still trusts dart enough that he allows his friends to walk past him while he distracts dart with nougat. he knows that bond is still there, he knows that dart still trusts him.

dustin sees the best in people, he sees the best in dart, he sees the best in eddie and yeah im gonna compare his bond with dart to his bond with eddie now. both were said to be evil, both were cared for deeply by dustin, who hid them away from those who said they were evil. dustin is adamant to both max and steve that eddie isnt bad, eddie is a good person, his first reaction to 'eddie is suspect number one' is 'thats crazy. there is no way' and his first reaction to 'dart is from the upside down' is 'that doesnt mean he's bad', i jsut. fuck.

he saw the good in steve too. like yeah sure at first he just needs steve's protection, but he is the first of the kids to cheer steve on and call him awesome and when he needs help in s3 he goes to steve again over his own friends, and in s4 he 'insisted' that steve was a badass to eddie, who has only ever known steve as king of hawkins high, because he wanted eddie to know how cool and good steve is now and was probably even offended when eddie inevitably laughed in his face about it.

dustin wears his heart on his sleeve and just. in general is such a good kid. all he wants is for his friends to be safe and happy, he doesn't like to argue with his friends - when lucas and him get in a spat about dart and max, dustin tries to stop the argument by saying 'we both broke the rule of law, we're even' - hes the first to apologise to max when mike excludes her from the party meeting, he's so gentle with eddie in the boathouse, realising eddie cant handle touch and keeping his voice calm and quiet as he delicately explained the truth of hawkins.

UGH i just. i fucking love dustin so much.

bonus s1 dustin (and lucas, mostly lucas what a sweet kid) being sweet with el.

[meruz]

once again i am answering asks in a big compilation post. included is... gotham, patrick stump, tips about drawing backgrounds, tips about drawing in general, links to my faq, and infinity train

like.... the tv series? No... I’ve drawn dc comics fanart before, though. But it’s been years since I’ve been really into it. I like jumped ship like 10 years ago when the New 52 happened LOL.

AFJHDSLKGH I’m sorry I (probably) won’t do it again??

Actually full disclosure I have a truly cringe amount of p stump drawings/photo studies in my sketchbook right now LOL. He’s just fun to draw... hats, glasses, guitar, a good shape... but I don’t think I’ll rly post those until I can hide them in another big sketchbook pdf.. probably Jan 2022. Stay tuned........ (ominous) 

(ominous preview)

These are all sort of related to backgrounds/painting so I grouped them together even though they’re pretty much entirely separate questions.... ANYWAYS

a) How is it working as a BG artist? Is it hard? What show are you drawing for?

I think you’re the first person to ever ask me about my job! Being a background artist is great. It’s definitely labor intensive but I think that could describe pretty much any art job (If something were rote or easy to automate, you wouldn’t hire an artist to do it) and I hesitate to say whether its harder or easier than any other role in the animation pipeline. Plus, so much of what truly makes a job difficult varies from one production to the next, schedule, working environment, co-workers etc. But I will say that I think while BGs are generally a lot of work on the upfront, I think they’re subject to less scrutiny/revisions than something like character/props/effects design and you don’t have to pitch them to a room like boards. So I guess it’s good if you don’t like to talk to people? LOL

A lot of my previous projects + the show I’ve worked on the longest aren’t public yet so I can’t talk about em (but I assure you if/when the news does break I won’t shut up about it). But I’m currently working on Archer Season 12 LOL. I’m like 90% sure I’m allowed to say that.

b) ~~~THANK YOU!! ~~~

c) What exactly do you like to draw most [in a background]?

@kaitomiury​ Lots of stuff! I really like to draw clutter! Because it’s a great opportunity for environmental storytelling and also you can be kind of messy with it because the sheer mass will supersede any details LOL. 

I like to draw clouds... I like to draw grass but not trees lol,,, I like to draw anything that sells perspective really easily like tiled floors and ceilings, shelves, lamp posts on a street etc.

d) Do you have any tips on how to paint (observational)?

god there’s so much to say. painting is really a whole ass discipline like someone can paint their whole life and still discover new things about it. I guess if you’re really just starting out my best advice is that habit is more important than product. especially with traditional plein air painting, I find that the procedure of going outside and setting up your paints is almost harder than the actual painting. There’s a lot of artists who say “I want to do plein air sometime!!” and then never actually get around to doing it. A lot of people just end up working from google streetview or photos on their computer.

But going outside to paint is a really good challenge because it forces you to make and commit to lighting and composition decisions really quickly. And to work through your mistakes instead of against them via undo button.

My last tip is to check out James Gurney’s youtube channel because hes probably the best and most consistent resource on observational painting out there rn. There’s lots other artists doing the same thing (off the top of my head I know a lot of the Warrior Painters group has people regularly posting plein air stuff and lightbox expo had a Jesse Schmidt lecture abt it last year) but Gurney’s probably the most prolific poster and one of the best at explaining the more technical stuff - his books are great too.

e) Do you have tips for drawing cleanly on heavypaint?

@marigoldfool​ UMM LOL I LIKE ONLY USE THE FILL TOOL so maybe use the fill tool? Fill and rectangle are good for edge control as opposed to the rest of the heavy paint tools which can get sort of muddles. And also I use a stylus so maybe if you’re using your finger, find a stylus that works with your device instead. That’s all I’ve got, frankly I don’t think my drawings are particularly clean lol.

f) Tips on improving backgrounds/scenes making them more dynamic practicing etc?

Ive given some tips about backgrounds/scenes before so I’m not gonna re-tread those but here’s another thing that might be helpful...

I think a good way to approach backgrounds is to think of the specific story or even mood you want to convey with the background first. Thinking “I just need to put something behind this character” is going to lead you to drawing like... a green screen tourist photo backdrop. But if you think “I need this bg to make the characters feel small” or “I need this bg to make the world feel colorful” then it gives you requirements and cues to work off of.

If I know a character needs to feel overwhelmed and small, then I know I need to create environment elements that will cage them in and corner them. If a character needs to feel triumphant/on top of the world then I know I need to let the environment open up around them. etc. If I know my focal point/ where I want to draw attention, I can build the background around that.

Also, backgrounds like figure compositions will have focal points of their own and you can draw attention to it/ the relationship the characters have with the bg element via scale or directionality or color, any number of cues. I think of it almost as a second/third character in a scene.

Not every composition is gonna have something so obvious like this but it helps me to think about these because then the characters feel connected and integrated with the environment.

Some more general art questions

a) Do you have any process/tips to start drawing character/bodies/heads?

I tried to kind of draw something to answer this but honestly this is difficult for me to answer because I don’t think I’m that great at drawing characters LOL. Ok, I think I have two tips.

1) flip your canvas often. A lot about what makes human bodies look correct and believable is symmetry and balance. Even if someone has asymmetrical features, the body will often pull and push in a way to counterbalance it. we often have inherent biases to one side or another like dominant hands dominant eyes etc. you know how right-handed artists will often favor drawing characters facing 45 degrees facing (the artist’s) left? that’s part of it. so viewing your drawing flipped even just to evaluate it helps compensate for that bias and makes you more aware of balance.

2) draw the whole figure often. I feel like a lot of beginner artists (myself included for a long time) defer to just drawing headshots or busts because it’s easier, you dont have to think about posing limbs etc. But drawing a full body allows you to better gauge proportion, perspective, body language, everything that makes a character look believable and grounded.

Like if you (me) have that issue where you draw the head too big and then have to resize it to fit the proportions of the rest of the body, it’s probably because you (I) drew the head first and are treating the body as an afterthought/attachment. Sketching out the whole figure first or even just quick drawing guides for it will help you think of it more holistically. I learned this figure drawing in charcoal at art school LOL.

oh. third mini tip - try to draw people from life often! its the best study. if you can get into a figure drawing/nude drawing class EVEN BETTER and if you have a local college/art space/museum that hosts those for free TREASURE IT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, that’s a huge boon that a lot of artists (me again) wish they had. though if youre not so lucky and youre sitting in a park trying to creeper draw people and they keep moving.. don’t let that stop you! that’s good practice because it’s forcing you to work fast to get the important stuff down LOL. its a challenge!

b) I’ve been pretty out of energy and have had no inspiration to draw but I have the desire to. Any advice?

Dude, take a walk or something.... Or a nap? Low energy is going to effect everything else so you gotta hit that problem at its source.

If you’re looking for inspiration though, I’d recommend stuff like watching a movie, reading a book, playing video games etc. Fill up your idea bank with content and then give yourself time/space to gestate it into new concepts. Sometimes looking at other art works but sometimes it can work against you because it’s too close. 

Also something that helps me is remembering that art doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking... like it’s okay to make something shitty and stupid that you don’t post online and only show to your friend. That’s all part of the process imo. If you want to hit a home run you gotta warm up first, right? Sports.

I should probably compile everytime i give tips on stuff like this but that’s getting dangerously close to being a social media artist who makes stupid boiled down art tutorials for clout which is the last thing i want to be... the thing I want to stress is that art is a whole visual language and there are widely agreed upon rules and customs but they exist in large part to be broken. Like there's an infinite number of ways to reach an infinite number of solutions and that’s actually what makes it really cool and personal for both the artist and the viewer. So when you make work you like or you find someone else’s work you like, take a step back and ask yourself what about it speaks for you, what about it works for you, what makes it effective, how to recreate that effect and how to break that effect completely, etc. And have a good time with it or else what’s the point.

for the first 2, I direct you to my FAQ

For the last one, I don’t actually believe I’ve ever addressed artwork as insp for stories/rp but I’ll say here and now yeah go ahead! As long as you’re not making profit or taking credit for my work then I’m normally ok with it. Especially anything thats private and purely recreational, that’s generally 100% green light go. I only ask that if you post it anywhere public that you please credit me.

(and I reserve the right to ask you to take it down if I see it and don’t approve of it’s use but I think that case is pretty rare.)

a) @lemuelzero101 Thank you!!! I haven’t played Life is Strange but actually  that series’ vis dev artist Edouard Caplain is one of my bigger art inspirations lately so that’s a really high compliment lol. And yeah I hope we get 5-8 too...!

b) Thank you for sticking around! I’ve been thinking about Digimon and Infinity Train in tandem lately, actually. They’re a little similar? Enter a dangerous alternate world and have wacky adventures with monsters/inanimate objects that have weird powers... there’s like weird engineers and mechanisms behind the scenes... also frontier literally starts with them getting on a train. Anyways if anyone else followed me for digimon... maybe you’d like Infinity Train? LOL

c) @king-wens-king I’M GLAD MY ART JUST HAS PINOY VIBES LOL I hope you are having a good day too :^)

a, b, c, d) yessss my Watch Infinity Train agenda is working....

e) aw thank you!! i think you should watch infinity train :)

[barondraxum]

to elaborate:

i dont have an issue with the pacing even if i find alot of the content uninteresting

i found the beginning grating even if that seems to be the point of the circus master character. its simply too much and is detrimental to enjoyment rather than adding to the setting

i like inherent horror/unsettlingness thats inherently baked into this sort of setting, like the glitches, having to adapt to this world and new rules, not even being able to remember your own name, everything very blatantly being simulated rather than real, etc

i remembered that the creator did not consider this a horror which may just be due to how different ppl define it [think she said something about intent in her def] so im iffy about anything going forward if they dont lean into the unsettlingness of it all juxtaposed by the loony toons tomfoolery

that said, much of the humor just is not hitting and just makes me wanna go back to pomni's pov all of the time. like ifs going to be more humor-focused moving forward im not gonna continue like its just not good and is outright boring

really like the expressiveness of everything and the acknowledgment that this is a 3D project in how things move, look, and some of the physical comedy

that said. im very meh about how it overall looks just because i have a big bias against 3D. like its purposefully stylized to be very garish and reminiscent of like kid's cartoons which i can appreciate, and i do like alot of things in isolation. its just like not hitting for me when its all together

clearly has a lot of potential and introduced some cool ideas in the pilot, i just dont care for anything thats like. Not those ideas aka pretty much everything in the B plot about the critters going around, which is what i meant by the humor just not hitting

so overall it just evens out to being extremely nothing for me

watched the amazing digital circus finally

its extremely nothing to me 👍🏼

[bridgyrose]

Alright, time for the post that no one asked for! Which ship had more development between Bmblby and Blacksun!

Gonna preface a few things first: I dont particularly ship either ship, so I'm going to do this with as little bias as possible.

This is only over the first 3 volumes, so anything after the fall of Beacon isnt taken into consideration right now.

And the rules are as follows:

First, winking will not be considered. Since people keep saying a wink isnt inherently confirming of a relationship, I'll ignore any winks and judge the scenes based on the content.

Second, scenes will be judged by whether or not you could replace any character and still get the same effect. (the more you can replace, the better in my opinion)

And lastly, since I keep seeing this coming up as well, the only evidence I will consider for absolute confirmation is of any sort of kiss in the first 3 volumes. Although, its going to feel a bit rushed and out of nowhere since the first 3 volumes takes place over 4-6 months at best.

Without further ado... everything will be under the cut.

Starting with Vol 1, after re-watching, there really wasn't any build up to either ship. Which, doesnt surprise me considering that Sun doesnt show up until the end of Vol 1 and the entirety of that volume is centered around introducing the characters, the world in which they live, and just general ideas on what it's like being a huntsman academy. But there are still a few scenes to note in vol 1:

Initiation: Its a quick blur, but you can see Blake rush across the screen once we see Yang walking through the forest. At that point, its safe to assume that Blake had already made her choice on who she wanted, which is further implemented with Blake helping Yang out with an Ursa.

Its safe to assume that between talking with Ruby the night before and seeing hearing how what she thought of Yang didn't quite match her thoughts.

Our next scene comes to Sun and his infamous "slow-mo wink introduction." As per the rules, I'm ignoring the wink and going straight off the content of the scene itself. Which, doesnt leave much. We know he pinpoints Blake as a faunus very quickly and he has some sort of infatuation with her, but the scene alone doesnt give us much.

However, that one does lead into the end of the Vol: Blake runs off from her friends and takes her bow off to finally show us her ears. At which point, Sun comments that he knew she'd look better without it. So that already shows that 1) Sun definitely pinpointed Blake being a faunus early on, and 2) he wanted to talk to her and this provided the right opportunity. Or... so he thought. Especially since the next scene opens up with him half complaining that they've spent 2 days together and all she's done is make small talk.

Which is all pretty on par for Blake. She then spends the next bit talking about her past, how she was pretty much born into the White Fang, stayed with it after it went from peaceful protests to more anger filled, until leaving Adam just a few months ago. After all of this, Sun asks if she's told her friends, to which we can assume she answers no to, you know, since she ran. Overall, it ends up leading Sun into going a bit gung-ho about helping Blake with the White fang.

Overall, Vol 1 did well to start putting together dynamics between Blake and her friends. Sun and Yang both make different impressions on Blake, both of which she ends up seeing as friends... for now.

Vol 2, is a bit of a strange one. Our first introduction to Beacon is Sun basically telling Neptune how cool team RWBY is, emphasizing a bit on Blake. Which does end up bringing us to the meat of the first half of vol 2: Blake worrying over the White Fang. Now, because of this, we dont see any build up between Blake and Sun or Blake and Yang while they go around town to figure out what the White Fang and Torchwick are up to. Sun makes a good point that Blake shouldnt go to the rally alone, and the two pair off while Yang goes to the club with Neptune.

Once the dance arc comes along, that's where things take an interesting turn. Sun immediately asks a sleep deprived Blake to the dance, in probably the most awkward way since he's trying to say the dance is lame, but would be less lame if the two of them went together.

Sun definitely cares about Blake and actively tried to help her calm down a bit. Which, ultimately, she never says no, just that she doesnt have time for a dance. So, I give this one a +1 in points for build up.

Then, we get to the burning the candle speech. Which, a lot of people seem to write off as either pointless or not build up. Personally, it gets a +1 in points on build up for me on this. First, Yang is absolutely worried about her partner, seeing her go down the same path she did when she was much younger. She immediately starts by telling Blake that she doesnt want her to stop, just to slow down and take a breather. And she ultimately makes a strong point: slowing down isnt a luxury, its a necessity.

This also end s up being the first time we see Yang open up and drop the party girl demeanor that she's had. She talks about her mother, someone that she doesnt talk to many people about, and just how much it hurt her to find out that Raven left shortly after she was born.

After an emotionally charged discussion, we finally see the point that Yang had been trying to get Blake to see:

And it finally does work. Blake slows down, takes a rest, and ultimately enjoys herself at the dance. Which, in her own words, she technically goes with Sun.

Overall, the dance arc in general gives great build up to both ships. Which ultimately is the end for the Black Sun build up.

Bmblby doesnt get much more build up in vol 2, the only other notable scene being the campfire where Yang, Blake, and Weiss start opening up a bit more to each other to figure out why each of them are becoming huntresses. Which absolutely gives a bit more foundation to the friendships they have.

Vol 3 ends up having most of the build up between Blake and Yang. The first major scene being after Yang was disqualified for breaking Mercury's leg. When Yang finally asked her team if they trust her, Blake is the only one who doesnt immediately say yes, instead, saying she wants to. Leading us to this face from Yang:

(yes, I know, captions are a bit off, deal with it.)

But Yang ends up being distressed by her own partner saying that she wants to trust, but doesnt yet. Blake ultimately ends up opening up about Adam, telling us how she used to trust him... until accidents started piling up. Eventually, she looks at Yang and asks her to look her in the eye and tell her she didnt do anything wrong. When Yang does, Blake allows herself to trust Yang.

Which then brings us to the biggest piece of buildup between the two: Adam. When Adam shows up, he starts using words like "my darling", hammering in that at one point, the two had something going on. He decides immediately he wants to hurt Blake just like she hurt him by leaving. But what really hammers in Blake's feelings for Yang, is the fear she had on her face when she heard Yang's voice not so far away... and right where Adam can hear her. It doesnt take long for Adam to look down at Blake, notice the fear, and then look in the direction of Yang, ultimately stating that he'll destroy everything Blake loves, starting with her.

Now, I know a lot of people will dismiss that as "it could've been anyone. If Sun had shown up, it would've been the same." And honestly, yes, it would've. This moment here is what solidifies who Blake ultimately cares about. Had it been Sun to come around, no doubt she'd show the same fear. But it wasnt him. Instead, it was Yang, who immediately found Weiss and asked where Blake had gone. And we further see her feelings for Yang cemented by the way she blames herself that Yang got hurt. The way she stays close, gently reaches for Yang's hand, the emotion of the entire scene after they get to safety.

Sun does ultimately care about Blake, and helps out where he can, but at least in vol 3, he had his own priorities of making sure everyone could make it to safety.

TL;DR: Both ships had a bit of build up in vol 2 and 3, although, the build up that Bmblby had outweighs the buildup that Blacksun has. Blake definitely had feelings for both, but ultimately, it took until Adam was a threat for her to realize the feelings that she had for Yang, and even then, she still wasnt entirely sure what they were until later in the series. At this point, the only reason anyone can say that Bmblby has little build up is due to either a higher bar for f/f ships (because, lets face it, everyone takes the wink from vol 1 as absolute confirmation for blacksun because its m/f) or they continue to deny that sometimes, there are multiple ways to show buildup between two people for a relationship and the slowburn route usually takes an emotional route over a physical route. And look, Blake has two hands. Take that as you will.

[semi-imaginary-place]

bnha manga thoughts

historically speaking, american foreign involvement is.. iffy. if the cia are involved things are probably going to get worse im looking at like a good chunk of latin america and the banana wars. arguably some of the more publicized stuff helped like taiwan, south korea, germany, and japan are doing pretty well for themselves, and the financial/logistics backing for europe and now ukraine (well the ww2 stuff was pure war profiteering). and then there's inherent abuses of the us industrial military complex, tax payer money to line the pockets of weapons manufacturers and defense contractors, preying on the poor with funding from tax dollars, the rampant abuse and all the crimes that get covered, the lack of regulation in general so you have human rights abuses environmental damage military bases usually poison the surrounding areas.

332: hmm we're too early in this fight. i think some of the pilots will die.

335: holy shit if those hagakure is the spy than the conspiracy theorists got it right. i remember there was this old fan theory circa 2017? 2018? which posited hagakure was the spy because how else did someone so weak get into ua like she can turn invisible and that's it. and how narratively she hadn't done anything while everyone else how a few pages at least. at the time i thought it was a cool idea for an otherwise boring character but the lack of evidence stopped me from going all in on it. in the early arc its said? implied? that there's a spy in UA and people were able to logic and reason it down to probably being a student (i dont remember how they ruled teachers out). hagakure was suspect number 1 but there were a couple other 1 A put up.

336: oh yeah the secret forest training camp. and yeah aoyama was the other one speculated to be a spy. the other conspiracy theoriests got it right!

348: i still say mirko should have put knives on her feet.

353: did shouto magically heal dabi's chest area????

362: oh so this is what everyone was screaming about. i wonder if horikoshi would actually kill off such a popular character. hmm we shall see. on one hand we had that final coming to terms with deku and choosing to fight as well as the rain. but this also feels rather stupid for bakugou (dynamight. ah i remember people headcanoning that too). like bakugou through out has shown excellent battle sense and judgement, he makes clever plays, and he's good at taking care of himself to foil midoriya who destroys himself during battles, so to misjudge shigaraki so much is odd.

363: heart ripped to shreds, chapter title. yeah that sounds pretty dead. though i would never discount the power of anime.

364: the power of anime. though i dont get why edgeshot has to die besides for the drama. like if you think about conservation of matter a heart is only a few pounds while an adults is over 100 pounds, like he should only have to give up an arm or something (and then he can join the growing amputee club).

365: ah question answered. i love mirko. even if the shrinking number of limbs is concerning.

366: this is the story of how mirio saved the world with his fat cheeks.

370: oh shouji. he kept his mouth covered because he didn't want to freak people out. m

[t0omanyeyes]

so uh, i wrote a thing! and i’m kind of,,, really proud of it? its based on this prompt by @write-it-motherfuckers (seriously ya’ll if you dont already follow them you should fix that!)

and the characters and world and everything else are from a book i’m writing. This scene wont be in the book (and probably there wont be any scenes too similar either) in part cause im not sure on the rules fur using one of their prompts in a work you intend to publish, but also largely because it would absolutely butcher the timeline for the whole book.

also this is my first time posting any of my writing here it think? so ye thats cool

anyway uh, here it is!

The moment Norrix stepped away from the door of Angel’s Home Tree, they found themself pulled behind a nearby Great Oak by Darren.

The man wore an unusually subtle form; very clearly an Elf, with brown tree-bark skin that seemed almost to shimmer in the dappled sunlight, and leaf-green hair worn in a simple yet well-maintained tangle of braids. He even wore jewelry in his long and pointed ears, and the flowing star-silk drapery of Elven common-folk, pinned in all the right places to make him look elegant yet average – by Elven standards, anyways. All together, he looked very unlike himself – in fact, the only reason Norrix knew it was him is because of the hummingbird charm hanging from his neck.

“I can’t believe you let him speak with you alone like that!” Darren’s eyes flashed an alarmed orange as they darted from Norrix’s face to the direction of Angel’s home and back again. “Are you out of your mind!? He’s dangerous!”

Norrix raised a brow at the man. “Dangerous? Angel? … You’re joking, right? He’s an absolute sweetheart.”

Darren threw his hands up and a hint of his usual fire appeared in his now brilliant pink eyes. “I’m serious! Everyone in Alonia knows to stay away from him, and you should too! He’s really bad news!”

“Honestly Darren, I’m certain you’re all over reacting.” Norrix leaned casually against the Great Tree, loving, as always, the performance inherent in any interaction, “but either way it’s a bit too late for that, we’ve been partners for months.”

Darren’s reaction was a delight, and Norrix couldn’t keep a fanged grin from their face as they watched him. His hair shortened to nothing before exploding in a tangled mane of orange, and his eyes widened as they frantically filtered through every color Norrix had ever seen – and some they hadn’t. His mouth dropped open, and Norrix watched as fangs appeared and disappeared, lengthened, sharpened, and then vanished. Darren’s skin changed, also, from snow white to ebony black and eventually a pale grey, and it’s texture turned unnaturally smooth. His ears shed their jewelry as they became smaller, though still sharply pointed, and his stature shrunk a bit before returning to what it was.

(Norrix assumed the only reason for that last thing was the clothing – Darren had, on multiple occasions, complained to Norrix about the restrictions of common wear. Apparently there was nothing more irritating for a being whose shape was always in flux then surroundings that weren’t. If he shrunk, his attire swamped him, and if he grew fabric tore, and metal… Well. Norrix had once witnessed the man grow in size while wearing armor, and they hoped never to see it again – even with Darren’s magnificent healing, it took an entire day and night to fix.)

“Wha- you-” Darren’s shocked voice pulled Norrix back to the present, and they couldn’t help but smile fondly at the simply flabbergasted look on that ever-changing face. “PARTNERS?!”

“Yes, Darren” affectionate laughter tinged Norrix’s usually smooth voice, “Partners.”

“You don’t mean – romantically?”

“I do, actually.”

“You are in a romantic relationship,”

“Indeed.”

“With Angel Virralei,”

“I am.”

“The most powerful Necromancer that the world has seen in centuries.”

“Yes! I’m very proud of him.”

“Norrix, what are you thinking?”

“Hmm?” Norrix’s smile turned somewhat wistful, “Well, mostly I’m thinking that I’m extremely lucky to have him.”

“You are lucky!” Darren threw his head back in exasperation – apparently past the point where an eye roll was sufficient. “Lucky not to be dead yet!”

“Oh calm down, dear, Angel wouldn’t kill me – hell, he wouldn’t hurt a fly or spider or anything else without very good reason!”

“Are you serious?”

“Very. just this morning I had to remove about ten spiders from inside the Tree for him,” they found themself reminisced fondly, “we probably would have left them – they’re very polite and neither of us have ever been bit – but Angel accidentally rolled over one with his chair and it about broke his heart.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s a Necromancer, Norrix! He surrounds himself in death! The idea that he even cared about the death of a spider is laughable!” Darren’s eyes where a deep black and they shined with a swirling concoction of irritation and fear and – something else. Multiple somethings? Things secret and shielded, things soft and things mean, things almost like – Darren blinked, and his eyes were a sickly yellow, and all that was left now was fear and anger. “Have you not seen his dead servants walking about? Has he hid the zombies, the skeletons? I’d wager a bet that he has literal skeletons in his closet! That man is a monster, Norrix, and he could kill you with a snap of his fingers!”

Norrix almost wanted to kick him – not hard, just enough to knock some sense into him – but he still wore an Elf’s height, which is to say; in order to reach anywhere notable they’d need a step-stool. Or stilts. As it was, they settled for rolling their eyes and twirling a knife in between their fingers. They had no intention of using it, and Darren most certainly knew it (they may be arguing now, but Darren was their first friend, and he knew them better than almost anyone) – but it was a comforting weight in their hands, and it helped them control and reign in their emotions.

“There are a plethora of things wrong with the words that just left your pretty mouth, Darren, but lets start with this: Angel is not a man.”

“Oh,” Darren blinked, “Is he a woman then?”

“Indeed he is not,” Angel smiled, “Angel is neither a man nor a woman. If you wish to know more, you’d have to ask him yourself.”

“Ah, my apologies then. Norrix, that person is a monster, and he could kill you with a snap of his fingers!”

Norrix shrugged, “Yes, most probably.”

“Wh- and you don’t care?!”

“Not especially; In all honesty, you could kill me just as quickly, were you so inclined, and I could kill either of you with a twitch of my fingers.” to prove that point, Norrix did just that – twitched their fingers – and in an instant their silver throwing knife had pinned a falling leaf in the crack between two rocks.

Darren didn’t flinch. “well of course, but that’s different! If you or I tried to kill someone, they could still fight back! But with magic it’s so much harder! And besides. neither you or I would turn our victims body into a mindless, rotting servant.”

Norrix rolled their eyes again and produced a second knife to toy with. “That’s the second time you’ve said that, Darren – that he turns the dead into servants. Where did you get that idea, I wonder? Have you ever seen him interact with them?”

Darren blinked. “Well, no, I haven't, but – but he’s a Necromancer, isn’t that kind of in the job description?”

“Aw,” they brushed a lock of fiery hair from his forehead, “it’s cute how ignorant you are. No, Darren, enslaving the dead is not an essential part of Necromancy. Angel has a hard enough time asking me to sweep the floor, do you really think such a person could swear someone to servitude? Besides, if you really want to know, you ought to ask them yourself.”

“Who?”

“Angel’s Sustained, of course.”

“Wait – they can TALK?!”

“Some of them can, yes. Ralph speaks sign language, Trevor has been learning to read and write, and Adeline can communicate through images and simple thoughts telepathically. Ayla doesn’t speak, but she is still rather expressive.”

“I… I didn't even know that that was possible.”

“Well,” Norrix shrugged, “You said it yourself – He’s the most powerful necromancer in recent history.”

“That’s incredi- wait no! No no no NO!” and the fearful yellow eyes returned. Norrix sighed, but let the man continue. “Norrix how can you possibly trust someone that powerful?!”

“It’s simple enough, really. He saved my life when we first met, he’s protected my identity when the Guards have come looking for The Spider, he’s protected Arlin’s identity – and you know how much the Crown would pay to have her back. I’ve trusted him with my life a few times now, and each time he holds it in gentle and steady hands, sheltered from anything that could risk it.”

Darren sighed, and he seemed to deflate. “I… I suppose I know I can’t convince you to leave him. But please, please be careful Norrix. I just…” He glanced at the ground, hair turning a soft lavender, “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

Norrix’s eyes turned soft as they pressed a hand to Darren’s cheek, gently guiding him to look back at them, “Come now, Darren, when have you ever known me to be anything but careful?”

The man in question scoffed lightly, a small grin touching his lips. (As much as Norrix delighted in any emotion to cross Darren’s ever-changing face, they had missed that smile. Whenever it was a true smile, like now, it twisted his lips – no matter which ones he was wearing – into something charming, but a bit crooked, a bit awkward. Norrix loved that smile with all of their heart.) “How about every time you piss of your dear old dad?”

It was Norrix’s turn to scoff. “As if I don’t carefully calculate what exactly I need to do to get tossed in the dungeons for a night”

“Careful, huh? What about that time you painted his throne hot pink?”

“I’ll have you know that I make my own paints, and getting a pink that bright is not easy! In fact, one might say it has to be done… carefully.”

Darren let out a long and exaggerated groan. “I hate you so much.”

“I love you too!” Norrix giggled – and immediately slapped a hand over their mouth. Sure, they were almost alone in the Great Forrest, no one around for a mile but for the two people he trusted most (and a few skeletons, but Angel’s Sustained where polite), but, well. No one needed to know that Norrix Rhydian, fourth in line for the Throne of [[country]] (or The Spider, informant, secret keeper, and criminal) was a giggler.

To Norrix’s demise, though, Darren apparently found their reaction to their own laughter hysterical, as he dissolved into giggles of his own. This of course pulled them back into giggles themself, and the battle against humor was lost as the two continued to laugh. It wasn’t even that funny, but the two had found long ago that they could bring the other to laughter even when no one else could.

Some time later found the two collapsed into eachother, heaving on the ground as they finally got control of their giggles.

Darren turned to face Norrix not long after the last bout of laughter passed. His eyes were a perfect mirror of their own, though Norrix thought he must wear them better – left eye a silver that outshone even the moon and stars, and right eye gold such that it made the sun look dull. They where full to the brim with emotions. There was fear still, yes, and exasperation, but mostly there was affection and care and a slow-burning, steady fire that Norrix chose not to name.

(Because naming it would have Implications, it would mean reevaluation long buried feelings in themself, it would mean a long talk with Angel about relationship boundaries, it would mean a long talk with Darren about relationship boundaries, but what was much worse? Norrix had seen that emotion glinting in Darren’s eyes for years, and that – well. That wasn’t something Norrix was quite ready to face.)

“Norrix, are you-” Darren let out a deep breath, “Are you sure that you’re safe with him? Are you really certain that he won’t do anything to you – well,” he winked, “anything you don’t want him to do anyway?”

“I- you know what, I’m not even going to dignify that last bit with a response. Back to your original question: Yes, Darren, I really do believe myself to be safe with him. There's only one other person on this planet or beyond that I trust so much as I do him.”

“Ah,” Darren nodded, “Fen?”

“No, actually. Don’t misunderstand, I love Fen with all that I am, and I trust him far more than I do the rest of my family, but he’s a child. I can’t trust him to support me or to save me – and I don’t want to! He’s only fifty years old! And I know a Shifter that old would be just into adulthood, but for a Born Vampire that's barely the equivalent of… ten years in humans, I believe? Whatever, that’s beside the point. No, Darren, the only other person that I trust as much as Angel is you.”

It was at this moment that Norrix had the – somewhat concerned – delight of watching Darren choke on nothing and fall into a coughing fit. Now, if you’ve never seen a Shape-Shifter cough, then you probably don’t understand quite why this is a delight. You see, with each cough Darren’s entire body was traded out for a new one – red hair, tan skin, blue eyes and pointed ears; green skin, black hair, red eyes and fangs; bright orange eyes, tusks, purple hair and deep blue skin – before, as his coughing stopped, he settled on a face familiar to Norrix.

It wasn’t his True Face – according to Darren, the tales of Shifters having such a thing where complete myths – but it was one of his current favorites. His hair was a short cloud of bright pink curls, his skin a dark brown, and his eyes where… oh they where magnificent! A deep umber that reminded Norrix somehow of a log cabin high in the mountains – so warm, heated from within by a fire that combats the biting cold of the outside effortlessly, casting light and shadow on the walls, turning something once thought simple into something new and captivating.

“Wh-What?!” Darren sputtered as soon as his coughing fit ended, “Me? Even after-”

“Yes, Darren, you. Sure, you’ve made some mistakes, and if you ever fake your death and disappear without telling me again I might just have to stab you a bit – but you’ve regained my trust.”

“O-Oh. Well, um. Thank you?” Darren rubbed the back of his neck, a bit bashful.

“Of course. You know, it might be easier for you to trust Angel if you actually met him – the stories you’ve heard are almost certainly exaggerated, if not completely dishonest.”

“You may have a point, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

Norrix cocked his head to the side like a confused dog. “Why not? I would have to ask him before confirming it, but I’m sure you’d be welcome to dinner tonight.”

“I – what? Do you really think that’s a good idea? So soon?”

“Eh,” Norrix shrugged, “I don’t think it’ll be a problem as long as you don’t try to attack anyone or insult the Sustained. But ultimately it’s your choice,” they picked a leaf out of Darren’s hair, “and logically, objectively, it’d probably be smarter to leave me out of the making of said choice; you know how foolish love can make someone.”

“Yeah,” Darren whispered as his hair softened to a pale pink, “Yeah I do.”