#its kind of an inconsistent mess

[bloodpen-to-paper]

I've made a list of names to call the CCs in your tags cause I see a lot of people putting "qsmp" on their tag name when they exist outside of the Qsmp, especially when making content of unrelated stuff (among us event, irl meetups, non-qsmp games, etc)

* <;- means there's different variations of the name either having a space between the two words or being shown as one word (ex. "tina kitten" vs "tinakitten"), but I tried putting the most common ones below

English speakers

philza | badboyhalo | fitmc | foolish gamers* | jaiden animations | tinakitten* | wilbur soot | dantdm | slimecicle | ironmouse | nihachu | tubbo | lenay/lenay_xo (minecraft)

Spanish speakers

maximus (youtube)/agentemaxo* (twitch) | quackity (also english speaker) | elmariana* | vegetta777 | spreen/spreendmc (youtube)/elspreen* (twitch) | luzu/luzugames* (youtube) | rubius (twitch)/rubiusz (youtube) | missasinfonia | roier | riversgg | willyrex | polispol1/polispol (QSMP intro page) | germán garmendia/holasoygerman (former youtube) | carrerra

Brazilians

forever player* | cellbit | felps | tazercraft (pactw and mikethelink) | bagi | Lore/Mine/etc (to my knowledge friends/family of the streamers like Mine and Lore don't have CC names, but I've seen "goddess/deusa mine/lore" for their qsmp cameos; you could also maybe use their twitter/insta names if they're ok with that)

French speakers

etoiles | baghera jones | aypierre | antoine daniel | kameto

Most of the CCs have names that are identifiable on their own, but when they don't you usually take some aspect of their streamer name/gamertag (ex. Mariana = El Mariana, Jaiden = Jaiden Animations) so they have a distinct name within the tagging system. For the eggs/NPC characters, since they exist because of the Qsmp and never outside of it, I usually just put their name if its distinct enough (Cucurucho) or "qsmp __", like "qsmp pomme". Anyway hope this helps, and here's to a more consistent tagging system maybe lmao

[cogentranting]

"Fire + Water " is such a sad, frustrating episode because it's all about this pattern in Charlie's life of 1. Charlie tries to help the people he cares about 2. it doesn't work out for some reason or other 3. Charlie does something he shouldn't and ends up in trouble 4. No one is there to help Charlie and they all just kind of shake their heads at him and shame him for messing up

And it's very similar to the 1st season episode "The Moth" but in that one the pattern is disrupted, both in flashbacks and in the present. Liam gets his act together and offers to help Charlie (though kinda too little, too late), and in the present both Locke and Jack step up and give Charlie what he needs-- support, sympathy and belief.

And then in THIS episode it's the opposite. Charlie is clearly and desperately in need of help and no one is giving it to him. And Claire and Aaron take priority and that's fine and right. Charlie did mess up bad. He did lie to Claire and then he does take Aaron in the middle of the night and so the need to protect them is justified. But things would not have escalated the way they did if someone had been there for Charlie. If when the first incident happened someone had listened to him about his dreams and believed him when he said he was sleepwalking and that he wasn't on drugs.

But instead Charlie is in distress and all Locke does is call him a liar and say he can't be trusted and shut him out. And then AND THEN. When Locke has pushed Charlie to the edge, heard his fears and told him that he's not worth listening to, and Charlie has fallen off that edge, Locke responds by beating him up! For no reason! Not to stop him. Just to punish him.

[vrystalius]

I know i just requested with weird nicknames for squid game characters.

But I want to see their reaction to your wallpaper being them or being another person. Literally obsessed with what you write its so cute. Take my heart ❤️

Squid Game men’s reaction for putting them as your phone’s wallpaper.

They randomly check your phone one day and find a picture of themselves staring back. How will they react? What kind of wallpaper do they have?

Pairing: Recruiter, Thanos, Nam-gyu x gn!reader

Summary: You putting them as your phone wallpaper, them putting you as their phone wallpaper

Genre: Fluff, maybe a little angst in Nam-gyu’s part (mention of drug use)

Words: 800 per character

Note: I wrote this during my medicine and head concussion induced haze, forgive me for any inconsistencies or mistakes 😭🙏 Also, the middle pictures are a suggestion as what said wallpaper could be.

Gong Yoo // The Recruiter // Salesman

— Choosing you as your wallpaper. —

Mostly surprise and confusion spread swirled in his mind the first time he stared back at himself in the form of your phone wallpaper. He never thought you’d screenshot this picture let alone use it as your wallpaper because c’mon— let’s be honest, you could’ve chosen any other picture of him and yet you decided on this.

It’s weird. Gong Yoo feels a little watched as he tries to find the food delivery app on your phone while having his own eyes stare back at him.

Although he had grown more and more fond of it every time he opened your phone anew. He sees how you grin a little when turning on your screen, how you sometimes giggle when you stare at it for too long. Sometimes you show it off to him and complain about he barely ever wears any skincare masks anymore.

“So you can have a new wallpaper? I don’t think so. My skin is fine for now, thank you darling.”

To be really honest, he finds it incredibly endearing that you chose him as your wallpaper, especially a picture like this. He thinks of himself as a sophisticated, charming, handsome salesman that lures desperate people into a death game and messes with homeless people in his free time, but you seemingly just see him as your soulmate, the love of your life, your husband.

— Choosing you as his wallpaper. —

Two months into the relationship and after a couple of dates, Gong Yoo already set you as his phone wallpaper. It was nice to have a reminder looking back at him to text you, check in on you, give you a call or even come by for dinner. A reminder that he has a special someone to care and love for.

He switches his wallpaper up every few weeks or months, wanting to keep it updated to your appearance. His chosen pictures are mostly intimate ones, snaps he takes while you are being unaware of how cute, attractive or adorable you look.

Pictures like when you are asleep on the couch in his arms after watching a movie, you after waking up and sleepily brushing your teeth in the mirror, you showing your back to him while waiting for the microwave to finish heating up the cheap convenience food, maybe even you stuffing your face with ice cream after a long day.

Whatever picture he may choose (much to your dismay), it always makes him smile to himself no matter the situation. Even if another homeless person asks him for spare change or those two random mobsters tried to jump him in an alleyway and now he was forced to “get rid of them”, a quick glance on his phone and seeing a cute picture of you immediately forces a smile to break out on his face.

The sight of their kidnapper smiling at his phone so lovingly while they were tied up and playing rock-paper-scissors for their lives probably made the two men shit their pants more than feeling the barrel of a revolver being pressed against the side of their head.

Thanos // Su-bong // Player 230

— Choosing him as your wallpaper. —

At first, Thanos reeeaaaallly disliked the picture you chose as your wallpaper. It was just a random reaction picture he send you one day about something he doesn’t even remember, and you went ahead and chose this as your phone wallpaper? Seriously?! Can’t you choose something more handsome, flattering?

He even offered to pose properly for you so you have a better pic to use, but after Thanos obviously started mewing and tried his absolute best to look as attractive as possible (which he already is but shhh), your boyfriend got extremely offended when you started laughing at his posing.

Your boyfriend gave up after a few attempts of secretly changing your wallpaper and seeing you pout every time he did, changing it right back to the one before.

If you really like it that much, fine. Just don’t let anyone see that you have that as your phone wallpaper, or else his rapper persona will never be able to recover from being exposed like that.

You don’t even understand why he is being so dramatic about your wallpaper anyway.

“I look hella ugly there, c’mon baby! Work with me here!! Here, lemme pose for you real quick so you can change that thing.”

Although it does flashbang you in the middle of the night when you turn on your phone, the brightness of the picture vaporising your eyes in an instant. It’s not the most pleasant thing to look at first thing in the morning but you still think he looks kinda cute in the pic.

— Choosing you as his wallpaper. —

He was careful to choose the prettiest picture of you he can find and the proceed to show it off to everyone he meets. Thanos even showed you off to Nam-gyu multiple times, forgetting that he already showed his friend the same picture four times now. Nam-gyu is already totally looking forward to next week when Thanos shows you off again.

Your boyfriend grins like a child whenever he glances at his phone for too long, falling in love with your picture all over again.

He changes his wallpaper every week so he always has something cute to look at after performing at another underground club or while doing whatever, sometimes getting distracted from searching for a certain app and instead ending up scrolling through either your social media account or his photo library to search for more pics of you.

Whenever you catch Thanos grin at his phone again, your first instinct is to glance over his shoulder to check what exactly he is looking at, but he immediately closes his phone when you do. At first you thought he might be looking at some random girl’s profile or whatever, but when you open it up and find yourself staring back, you’re kind of surprised to be honest.

Although, he always denies that he really cares about his wallpaper. Your boyfriend is totally choosing it at random and totally does not match his lock screen with his homescreen and mostly chooses pictures of you two together, you kissing his cheek or him holding you. Not at all!

Nam-gyu // Player 124

— Choosing you as your wallpaper. —

You choose a rather cute picture as your wallpaper. You took it during one of your first dates where you dragged him to a festival that was being held near your home, dragging Nam-gyu there against his will. Back then he had shorter hair, wore his glasses more frequently. Back then he was a little shy believe it or not, at least when it came to romance.

He used more before he met you, being around alcohol and drugs at all times due to his occupation. It kind of came with his job and the circle of friends he was around, so before meeting you, there was barely any day he wasn’t high or having a hangover from some random drug.

Nam-gyu never noticed you had this picture as your phone wallpaper until he accidentally grabbed your phone, thinking it was his. Seeing this picture in particular gave him a brief jumpscare.

You took this picture after he managed to scrap out the star shape out of the sugar cookie he bought from a random stand during the festival. His hair was shorter back then and he wore his glasses more frequently, the mask a reminder of how times were 5 years ago. He struggled staying clean during that time and always felt like shit wich is why he didn’t want to go to the festival in the first place.

He didn’t even know you took this picture of him despite him fully looking at the camera. A small smile spread on his face at the thought of you really choosing a picture like this as your phone wallpaper.

Quickly putting your phone down, Nam-gyu quickly played off his reaction as he hard you come into the room.

“I’m smiling about nothing, shaddup. Go back to wherever you came from.”

With a dismissive hand wave, he tried to shoo you away. His attempts were futile as you instead pull him into a clingy hug, instead demanding cuddles instead. Who was he to deny your wish?

— Choosing you as his wallpaper. —

Nam-gyu likes taking 0.5x zoom pictures of you from above and choosing them as his phone wallpaper, pushing you away as you try to protest and stop him from putting them as his wallpaper because seriously, he can literally choose any other pic!

You can hear quiet, evil “hehe”s from the corner of the room whenever you two are together and he turns on his phone, briefly turning it around so you can see what he was giggling so stupidly at, only for him to giggle harder at the sight of your unamused face.

Even if he mainly chooses those pictures as his phone wallpaper to annoy you, he likes having a stupid picture of you always available to him.

Some shitty guy searching for a fight at the club? Quick glance at your face at a 0.5x zoom makes him crack a smile right after. Thanos called him Nam-su, Gyu-nam or literally anything else but his name again? Turning his phone on lightens his mood immediately.

Sure, a flattering or cute picture of you would have the same effect on him, but this is much funnier in his opinion.

💠

Author’s note. Thank you for reading!

HAPPY LATE VALETINES DAYYYYYYY!!!! Since tumblr limits your tags to 30 tags per post I always have trouble tagging all of the Squid Game men, so I decided to split this one prompt into two posts. If this gets enough attention / love, I’ll post a part 2 with Dae-ho, Gi-hun and In-ho! Also, thank you for requesting, I needed a break from writing my smut draft 😭

Anyways, make sure to EAT, SLEEP and DRINK enough!!

Take care of yourselves <33

[erosiism]

GAP MOE | YANDERE DUKE X M!READER

prompt: in which the reader is isekai’d to a novel where he’s supposed to be cannon fodder, but his supposed murderous husband is sweet, doting, and loving. the worst case of gap moe.

character(s): duke (altair), you

warnings(s): none [except the chance that i might have used the term wrongly lol still an enjoyable read, i promise]

note(s): male reader, second person, present tense, not beta read, will probably have a part two

other(s): alternative title: help, i got transmigrated as cannon fodder and now i am the murderous duke’s husband | meaning of gap moe: affection born of inconsistency between different aspects of the character

So, you’ve been isekai’d to a novel. A novel where the Grand Duke is supposed to kill you. He hits every cliche: Altair Ornaria is red eyed, black haired, and he has the smoldering, sharp kind of beauty that you only see in Dukes. The Northern Duke, to be exact.

The situation isn’t looking good. As far as you know, you’ve been isekai’d into a novel called The Villianess’s Revenge, where you are a plot point. Canon fodder. Where you’re the background character who happens to die in an event that the main character will shine. And specifically: you’ll die by your husband’s hands.

You like to think that you could’ve avoided your fate, but it’s bad, because you woke up to wedding preparations—the first time you open your eyes in a foreign world, there’s a burst of chatter and activity in a luxurious room, and you see white everywhere. Memories of your past life whizz past you in a frantic blur and your head is still muddled: oh, right. You got hit by a truck. Memories of the novel follows, and you can only blink as you realize the stupid coincidence that you share the same name as the character you had possessed.

Your fate remains: you’re  getting married.

To the Grand Duke of…the Northern Kingdom.

Admittedly, you don��t know how to feel. There’s the obvious fear that you’ll be walking right to death’s door, but again, you don’t exactly die during the wedding. You only die months after that. So you don’t really need to worry about anything yet right? The Duke will be cold towards you, but it doesn’t matter: he’s a stranger to you, too, and you plan on kissing him for as little as you can.

 And, you think, it certainly didn’t help it that the Grand Duke is devastatingly handsome. You can see his looks working its spell on you—you can see yourself simpering, your eyes going wide eyed. You’re trying to steel yourself. You’re trying to make yourself immune to Altair’s beauty. 

Fast forward: you’re walking down the aisle, aghast at the sight of your weeping mother and your crying father who just look so proud of you. They seem like decent parents, which is…strange. So—

—Oh. The [Name] in the original story did have three lines of description. One, that he was a spoiled brat, pampered by his parents, and two, he has a fucking crush on the Grand Duke. Hence a strategic alliance placed confidently for [Name] to get his wish.

…Asshole, you think. The veil is covering your face and you’re dressed in a white suit adorned with flowers. You can feel your throat dry up, all the moistness leaving your lips and instead churning down your throat. You wrinkle your nose, before you try to swallow down profanities. The music behind you almost seems taunting.

You stop in front of the groom.

Standing there in all his resplendent glory is none other than your soon to be husband, whose face is unreadable. You can’t see him, only smudges and smears. After all, the veil is covering his face—but gloom settles in you.

He’s going to be disappointed, you think glumly. His face seems vaguely familiar, probably because you do know how he looks, tangentially, but your thoughts are a hot mess right now. You can’t find the power within you to place a finger on it: so instead of bothering over it, you stand in front of the Duke in trepidation.

The Duke slowly lifts up the veil — gently and slowly, and you can swear emotion flits across his face as he gazes at you. You blink owlishly at him, at a loss of words. This is their first time meeting, and you two are about to lock lips. Or perhaps lock lips is an exaggeration—it will be nothing but a useless peck. But thankfully, though indiscernible, his face not one of disappointment.

Almost..fond? You think, then there is belated horror: wait, what? 

You ignore that. And then when your thoughts subside, you realize how ridiculously hot he is. 

“[Name],” he whispers, Altair, the cold, heartless, murderer of a Duke whispers, and your breath catches in your throat. It’s not even the expression on his face that knocks the wind out of your chest: it’s the way he calls out your name. Carefully, like he’s savoring the taste of the name on his tongue, like deja vu. But then again, perhaps it helps that you have read this scene. And the scene, though very—different—is unfolding in front of your very eyes.

This is your murderer, you think, don’t look at his face, [Name]!

You start to lower your head meekly, but Altair tips your head back up.

“How,” there is a teasing tone to his voice—teasing, like this is so funny to him—“how, do you expect me to kiss you?”

Your jaw drops. Then it closes. You are well aware of the blush around your cheeks that has betrayed you. 

.

.

What?

.

.

Seriously, is he programmed wrong? Why is Altair OOC? You coined enough fanfiction terms to label everything wrong with this. There’s a proper term for this, but you can’t seem to remember it. You do notice the way that Altair glowers at everyone else, before his expression smoothens when he faces you.

You close your eyes to give out a sigh. You forget this is a marriage. So you forget what happens when you get married.

A kiss.

You startle when you feel lips—firm but soft at the same time, pressing against your own. It’s tender, sweet, loving, and you practically melt against it. When you break away, the taste of Altair’s—your husband’s lips still linger on your own.

This defies all the rumors about the Duke, who supposedly was a cold hearted bastard who killed his advisors for speaking out of turn. No, this man is tender and gentle, and his delicate touch is nothing short of sweet. 

Before you can retort, or before your lagging brain can even comprehend this—the guests burst into cheers. You just feel numb as Altair guides you slowly down the aisle, ready to board the carriage into the manor. Mansion. Whatever. Your new home.

Your…

Altair presses a kiss to your forehead before he whispers in your ear. “I cannot wait for our wedding night, Y/n.”

You freeze.

The term starts to arise in your head.

Gap Moe, you think, this is fucking gap moe.

likes/reblogs would be so appreciated! and so will comments :) don’t mind me haha im tryna figure tumblr’s algorithm out which might explain my varied content || this oneshot will probably have a part two or three because there’s actually a reason behind everything. I’ll see how this does first

[zelenbug]

rayamn art pile part four !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

theyre all the same type of guy im right

saw a plague doctor mask photo and was struck with inspiration

still kind of struggling to draw that weird cat

more of the mermaid people. i put the arena alt i main in here

raymesis writing a callout post

more origins replications in flash but i didnt bother with layers of any kind this time. in a beautiful reality i would have actually put this in orignis instead of those pesky nymphs but im making another replacement so whatever

random bimbette event

janky but whateva

drew them as dragons for funsies

i was looking at the plague doctor hoodlum pic and was struck with inspiration again

griskin non ghost form redesign cuz canonicalyl they seemed to literally just be standard minimuses and thats boring

my reference images for this mostly were non specific fancy gowns and also those photos of birds that look divorced

im running out of caption ideas for these

mark my words i will make this rea`l in origins eventually. hopefully. oktette and zikox arent here because theyre shaped weird

teensy queen but with pants

more oc drawings mostly an excuse to draw the fish for mermay again + redesigning pirate teensy AGAIN. by which i mean jamie or jaimy or jaimie or jaymee or jemmy or whatever else (and i think even they spell their own name very inconsistently so nobody even in universe knows what its supposed to be) also this features inability to be consistent with drawing teensy nose shapes. the differences you see here are NOT intentional

i was thinkling about rayman arena & messed up the sizing a bit but whatever

some girlies with screwed proportions

hybrids

so you know this

glutes babys. i think itd also be really funny if they were altricial instead of precocial and thus looked like some chewed gum in the approximate shape of a bird

also concepted a dark globox skin, again, now that i can make him work this time

i also made xowar in spore. this is my post and i get to decide what counts as art here. really proud of the result though., also bonus video of it being completely static when it shouldnt

joe again

varying takes on rabbids

there IS some kind of nerdy relation between these people (teensy wizard was edited from goth teensy who was edited from ninja teensy)

highlights from a whiteboard i did with a bunch of people (stuck into one image so i could have even a few more images in this post) (LARGER, once you open the link right click and open it in a new tab again to just get the image to zoom into)

and gartic highlights

[extremely-judgemental]

Long Post (From the Drafts)

I hate Feysand. But it’s just me hating on Feyre, really.

I struggled for so long to put this into words as I couldn’t pinpoint the exact the reason to hate this ship until recently. It isn’t because Rhysand is manipulative or Feyre turned into his trophy wife. Aside from the reenactment of the SA as the stepping stone in their relationship, my problem is solely with Feyre.

To preface this, I don’t care about romances, only the character growth resulting from it. So I don’t care whether Feyre ends up with Rhysand or Tamlin or alone, as long as she evolves.

Warnings. This is completely based on my memory of how the two relationships progressed. Because otherwise I’d have to go through the books to cite and I really, really don’t want to. As it’s hard to explain this objectively without talking about the author’s influence in the narrative, this could be also taken as more of a writing critique on how to NOT write characters falling in and out of love. Basically, it’s a jumbled mess and it took turns on its own and there will be lots of psychology talk. Also, THIS IS NOT AN INVITATION FOR SHIP WARS. Don’t bring that shit here.

The common assumption is that Feyre and Tamlin weren’t good for each other from the start, which is only partly true. The first book had just a spark of potential since more were lined up in the series exploring their relationship. Feylin falling apart was not inevitable. They definitely had strong bones to build upon.

Their relationship starts out almost whimsical, a necessary reprieve from their lives for both Tamlin and Feyre. The two come together under the worst of circumstances and grow to understand each other.

Feyre is a mortal who sees Tamlin with fresh eyes, without the stain of his reputation. And Tamlin gets to see a side of her in return, one even her family didn’t or wouldn’t acknowledge. He experiences her as a person instead of her burdens or responsibilities.

Feyre finds a kindness that she was never offered with a beast. Tamlin learns that a huntress can have a heart after all.

Their relationship was built on shared values and beliefs like compassion for other lives, intolerance towards injustices, the youngest sibling forced to take on mantles they didn’t choose for themselves. They accepted each other despite their flaws and cruel choices. They fought for each other. They endured so much for each other.

Despite all this, the romantic notes were quite lacking and physical attraction was thrown in too soon to compensate for it. This undermined the bond the two had which is often considered the proof that their relationship wasn’t real or ideal. Whereas there clearly was a beautiful connection between them, one that neither had in their lives until they found each other. Even Lucien’s friendship doesn’t compare to this as Tamlin is still his saviour which forged an unwavering trust and loyalty.

To have developed such deep bond with someone for the first time in her life, Feyre is quick to move on. She states that she fell in love with the first person who offered her kindness and presents herself as a misguided being preyed upon by someone. But in truth, none of Tamlin’s love or kindness was fake.

Feyre wasn’t safe with Tamlin, I agree. It isn’t her choice of leaving that bothers me as much as her responses. The kind of resentment Feyre harbours towards Tamlin usually comes from prolonged trauma which completely replaces every good memory in the mind. Or if the relationship was built under false pretences and the victim is forced to accept their reality. Neither is the case here.

At best, all of this—leaving UtM, the almost wedding, leaving Spring for good—happens in less than a year. And given the list of trials Feyre lived through until then, what happened in Spring was only a blip. Trauma is unpredictable and so is the response. None of Feyre’s reactions are impossible given her circumstances, but they are so inconsistent that it feels forced.

Victims tend to have some sort of attachment with their abusers and fond memories even when they understand the gravity of their situation. Feyre had core moments that made her fall in love with her time in Spring—trapping Tamlin in the forest, swimming in the stardust lake, dancing for him and with him, her bond with Alis, the teasing with Lucien who was her first ever friend. All of it is instead treated as an illusion that Feyre wakes up from when her initial feelings were clear. She was finally, truly free and experienced genuine happiness with them but she remembers none of it again. She readily demonises everyone and hates them without hesitation. Not once does she reminisce her past, or mourn the life she left behind.

Feyre forces herself to relive the traumatic moments over and over again until the image of Tamlin as her villain is cemented in her mind. While she feels no need to do the same around Rhysand when she knows he can’t be trusted. Granted she doesn’t remember the SA itself, she however remembers the head mounted on a spike, her mind being violated, her arm being broken, being tricked and coerced, being stripped naked and paraded, being forced upon twice, and yet, she has no reaction towards him.

There are two other key moments which stand out. Feyre tried to escape Tamlin’s mansion after agreeing to go with him, but she doesn’t attempt anything similar in Night during the initial stays in Moonstone Palace. Of course, later she is homeless and alone in a strange world, but she has always been an advocate for freedom and she should have at least resisted the idea of living in a secret city no one knows about (basically a high class prison), which she doesn’t. Though this could very well be exhaustion from living in survival for long, it is also an attempt to drive the idea that Feyre feels safer with her supposed tormentor than the partner she chose.

The other is her hatred for Spring when she returns from Hybern. She despises everything, she can’t stand the mansion, the gardens, the people. But she had none of this anger or loathing for CoN, which mirrors UtM, when she plays Rhysand’s whore again.

Besides Feyre has a lot of issues on her end which is completely ignored. She is very controlling and she loses a part of it when she is expected to play her role in Spring. For someone as reckless as her, she couldn’t speak the way she wanted. She couldn’t act the way she wanted. And she definitely couldn’t lord her importance over Tamlin to have her way, like she is used to with her family in the past.

Despite being so perceptive, she doesn’t grasp the idea that she can’t and won’t be everyone’s priority. Feyre wants to be doted on. As a result of childhood neglect, she convinces herself that she is above it. The narrative wouldn’t let Feyre acknowledge this either since she is a feminist hero and she can’t have girly needs like love. She can’t be like other women.

But it is obvious with how her relationship with Tamlin cracks. During her first stay in Spring, Feyre had the undivided attention of Tamlin and Lucien alike. She wasn’t exposed to the court matters as most of his subjects were cloaked.

After UtM, Feyre sees Tamlin, the High Lord of Spring. She resents everything about him when he tends to his court—rehabilitating his subjects through the social events, entertaining priestesses in his court, even a basic tax collection.

Tamlin’s attention is now shared between Feyre and his duty. When she feared his devotion for her was slipping away, she began resenting him. She turned Tamlin into the scapegoat for every pain she was ever dealt. This is contrasted with Rhysand who is overly zealous about her (and literally doesn’t do anything court related ever). Feyre doesn’t have to want attention with him, she just gets it in abundance.

The more we look into these contrasts, it feels like Feyre forced herself into falling out of love rather than it being a direct consequence of Tamlin’s actions. Ignoring the bond and its influence, the switch from one man to another so lightly, to me, it doesn’t even feel like she fell out of love. Instead, what she had for Tamlin was trust. She had learnt to rely on someone for the first time in her life and she felt abandoned again.

And most of her feelings after leaving him is guilt that revolved around pursuing a new romance too soon. The first instance I remember clearly is right before she goes into the Weaver’s cottage. That happens weeks within of leaving Spring permanently. That’s how long it took to move on from a man she died for only months ago to flirting with the man who sexually abused. (I am a liar, I remember the others too. Rubbing the tattooed hand on herself comment, teasing Rhysand after stealing from Summer. Yeah, they are despicable and I hate the pair.)

Feyre essentially cheated on Tamlin emotionally long before she ended the relationship or decided to do so. This is not a judgement given the complicated situation but combining it with everything else, her guilt is again just a forced narrative so she can retain the saintly status.

The note she sent to Tamlin is a character armour as none of her actions so far imply Feyre believes her old relationship deserves a proper closure. It comes off like an afterthought that Feyre is only acting out of societal customs. But you can also tell it is the author trying so hard for the readers to not blame Feyre for enjoying the sexual act in CoN. Even without the note, Lucien could’ve come looking for her in Night and it wouldn’t affect the plot differently. The only purpose of the note is to protect Feyre from scrutiny and eliminate any grace for Tamlin.

Instead of disrespecting the sacrifices the two made for each other and ridiculing their struggles for a dramatic yet effortless partner swap, I’d have preferred if they had come to realise they weren’t right for each other, that the three months broke something in them, that Amarantha succeeded in tearing them apart, and moving on amicably.

But now, as a result, her relationship with Rhysand comes off as coping—to some extent, denial even—instead of genuine. The biggest flaw in this narrative is again not Feyre’s choice but the lack of emotional substance in her.

Her intense monologues and outbursts at times are often mistaken for emotional depth. But since moving to Night, Feyre becomes a mouthpiece for Rhysand’s state of mind and a device to endlessly justify him rather than processing her own feelings about him or her new life. There is no organic growth in their relationship as she is quick to agree with what’s fed to her without questioning anything.

While it’s a common notion that Rhysand manipulated Feyre, it is true only to a degree. In order to turn someone as stubborn as her, Rhysand will have to hit every one of her vulnerabilities and make her doubt every belief she ever had. But he doesn’t have to try so hard. At best, he gives her a slight explanation and Feyre takes it as gospel.

The only time she truly hesitates is when she learns of Velaris. It’s because she is supposed to. Because she is a strong female lead who can’t be gullible and believe her tormentor. Although phrased as such, she doesn’t really question it out of curiosity or because of her morals. She doesn’t pause to wonder if these ideals are something she agrees with, if it goes against her values. If the latter were the case, she’d question if the Illyrians, a race she knows nothing about, are really all brutes. She’d question if the people of Hewn City, again a bunch she’s never met, are all evil especially if Rhysand and Morrigan turned out alright.

Feyre always had a skewed sense of morality but it takes a much clearer form after she moves to Night. Her disdain towards her sisters and opinion about the townspeople represent her narcissism and shallowness. She also has a superiority complex, in my opinion, which actually drives her to oppose Tamlin during the tithe and offer charity to the water sprites.

Her kindness and compassion is very selective and circumstantial, and this is easily directed towards the people of Velaris. Not to mention the community that affected her the most was the artisans’. Because Feyre saw herself in them, saw them as vulnerable and the ones deserving of protection. And this belief is extended to the rest of the city.

I digress. Rhysand strokes this side of her. He feeds her ego by making her believe she has power through a sex show. In Illyria, he goads her into believing she is a match to the Generals (who knows how old they are) who have been trained to war all their lives.

The longer this dynamic is explored, there is one conclusion for me. Feyre doesn’t love Rhysand either as much as she loves the sense of power and importance she has with him. Feyre is basically a parasite and will latch onto anyone who benefits her. At the moment, Rhysand does, by validating her in ways no one else does. As long as he offers her a modicum of control over her life or others, and reveres as someone who can do no wrong, she will be by his side.

[hesztia16]

Bruce Wayne is beautiful.

He’s not just handsome. He’s not just pretty.

He has a kind of ethereal beauty that would make ever the straightest men and gayest lesbians weak in the knee.

He makes people blush with a single look, his eyes a deep blue so rich it would give his wealth a run for its money. He can turn anybody into a stuttering mess every time his lips so much as twitch upwards.

In some realities the Wayne family are descendants of the fae and Bruce Wayne makes everyone believe that without hesitation.

But his appearance isn’t the only thing that makes him beautiful.

He is kind. He is impossibly generous not just with his money. And he loves so infinitely he bleeds for his city without asking anything in return. He bleeds for his people, even for those who probably don’t deserve it.

Bruce Wayne, at his very core, is beautiful.

I don’t want an oh so macho alpha male toxic masculinity guy. I don’t want an abusive emotional masochist who is so caught up in his pride and rules that makes no sense he hurts those he loves the most. I don’t want all that inconsistent stupid shit some writers come up with.

I want a man who is flawed, who makes mistakes, who hurts people unintentionally, yet in the end of the day he still loves. Who still has good intentions, who learns from those mistakes and fights to be better because that’s just who he is.

I want Bruce Wayne to be allowed to be beautiful.

[maxispixels]

HANDPICKED

PART FIVE.

Hobie Brown x GN!Reader

1.4k words

You work at a flower shop in late 70s London and Hobie's being a menace. Slowburn? Probably will be around 10 parts. Strangers to reluctant acquaintances to friends to something more. Maybe a lil' messy?

Part one. Part two. Part three. Part four. Part five. Part six. Part seven. Part eight. Part nine. Part ten. Part eleven. Part twelve.

You forgot to ask his name. Again. You let him leave the shop and you didn't ask his name.

You rolled in your bed, holding your pillow on your chest, feeling all foolish. When did he start getting to you so much? Probably the beginning. This idiot’s mysterious act got you good, you thought.

Finding sleep had become a difficult task. Your mind was plagued with warm thoughts of him, while your body was desperately cold from the lack of functioning heating. Especially as the weather reporters announced this winter as one of the coldest in the decade.

The news was pretty depressing, with one sordid headline after another. You stopped reading the articles in detail. It was killing your spirits, and frankly you didn't need that. People were out on the streets, demonstrations increasingly frequent and violent. The whole atmosphere of the city had changed for the worst.

Your teeth chattered a little as you turned in your heavy blanket, a bottle filled with hot water resting to your feet.

Your eyelids finally grew heavy as a familiar silhouette filled your mind. That had become a regular thing as you fell asleep, his face haunting you. You didn't even fight it anymore, letting the memory of his voice echo in your mind and lull you to sleep. 

The night had been restless, filled with honking, police sirens, the distant screams and chants of protesters. You wondered if he went to that kind of event. Probably. The thought twisted your stomach—not just because it was dangerous, but because you didn’t want to imagine him as part of the chaos you tried so hard to shut out.

When morning light seeped through your curtains, you were reluctantly pulled out of Morpheus’ arms. You had to face a new day, and you really didn't want to, feeling the exhaustion adding up. It was a bit early — not early enough that you’d have time to fall asleep, but enough that you had extra time. After getting your breakfast of choice, you reached for your sketchbook.

At first, you didn’t notice anything unusual—just your own messy sketches of his face. Then you saw it: unfamiliar handwriting scrawled next to the portraits, on yellow sticky notes, careful not to ruin any of your pages. Your breath caught as you read the first line. ‘Basically forgot me, huh?’ Your eyes widened as you stared at the sloppy ink.

‘looks like the only thing you forgot is the shape of my nose’ You could hear the smugness in his voice just reading this. 

This handwriting was messy but legible, he mixed uppercase and lowercase letters inconsistently. 

Next to the pressed flowers, another note, reading ‘you kept them’,  and at the end of the couple of pages filled with his portraits, he added, ‘flattered to be your muse.’

You felt the embarrassment grow in your stomach, bearing its ugly head. You didn’t know what scared you more—that he’d never show up again, or that he would.

It was signed with his name. You swallowed as you read it. Hobie. You repeated it to the walls of your home, tasting his name on your tongue, letting it twirl in your mouth like a wine connoisseur. 

You couldn't figure out the taste. And before you knew it, you had to leave and go to work. 

There was quite a mess in the street leading to the flower shop. Ashes from stuff burning during the night, trash all over, bins laying on the ground, glass scattered from broken front windows and the smell of sulfur in the air. 

It filled you with growing unease, your guts twisting as you reached the shop. It seemed that this stretch of street had been spared the wrath of the protestors. You sighed as you unlocked the door, the sound of your keys melting into that of the bell above the door.

You did the bare minimum, only switching the water before going to sit behind the counter, not feeling like doing anything of substance.

Soon, Hobie came in. Much earlier than any other time, which was weird. You didn’t expect him. He gave you a familiar wave and none of you mentioned the sketchbook book. 

He looked like he had gone through a war or something, his eye bags somehow even deeper, the hollow of his cheeks more defined. He gave you a smile, making your stomach do the familiar flip of… intimidation, yeah, that’s the word. Definitely intimidated by that gentle smile and mug.

You wondered if he’d been out there last night, caught in the chaos. Maybe that’s where the exhaustion came from.

He sat down on the floor, his back against the wall. He had curled up in the corner beside you, hidden from view. You looked down at him from the height of your stool. It gave you a new point of you, you never saw him from this angle. 

“Comfortable?” You finally broke the silence.

“Very much.”

You had no idea what he was doing, but you didn’t ask. You think that’s why he kept coming back. Ever since the funeral incident, you learned not to be too curious. He’d talk if he wanted to.

At this point, you assumed this had become his resting place, warm and cosy. You wondered if he had that comfort elsewhere.

“Want some tea?” You offered.

“...Yeah, I'll have a cuppa.”

You stood up and headed for the back of the store, turning on the light. You almost sneezed at the amount of dust. Yep, this needed cleaning too. 

You plugged the kettle in and let the tea infuse. You grabbed two porcelain cups from Rose, the delicate gold lining and flower paintings fitting the shop’s atmosphere. All of it was such an old lady thing.

You came and handed him one. He nodded and you two drank in silence.

The tea was comforting, for sure, its aroma spilling in the air and meddling with the sweet scent of flowers. It was hot on your tongue and warm against the palms of your hands, which was always welcomed in that climate.

You glanced at his form on the ground. He looked quite funny, all punk and scary, holding the small, delicate porcelain. It looked like a little girl’s toy in his large, scarred hands.

You weren’t sure whether it was the cuppa or his presence that gave you energy, but you eventually started to take care of some potted plants, tending to the soil.

You heard him follow behind at some point, watching you do some work as if it was a common form of entertainment. 

“You’ve got a bit of dirt on your cheek.”

“Oh. Thanks.” You wiped it off with the back of your hand.

“Wait, no! Don't take it off. Adds character.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “What?..”

“You look like you've been in a flower fight. It’s very avant-garde.” He grinned down at you.

“...” You glared up. “I’m going to ignore that because you look like you’ve been in an actual fight.”

He just laughed at that.

Soon though, you were both back behind the counter, as he took that warm spot in the corner. He looked quite relaxed, like he could doze off anytime.

You took care of the occasional customer, and Hobie kept it quiet this time. You were still a little mad at how good his last suggestion was, and a little more afraid of just how good he was at slipping into your life.

As the evening crept in, the cloudy sky darkened a little. You watched the last customer leave, happy as can be, holding a big bouquet of roses. You were a little envious of those people with places to be and company waiting for them.

You looked at the clock. Time to close. You expected him to stand and stretch like he had somewhere to be, but he didn’t move. You stood and turned around the ‘open’ sign to ‘closed’. You also turned off the warm lights, letting the last bits of sunlight peak through the cloud to shine yellow rectangles on the old waxed floor. 

“You’re still here,” you said softly, barely a question.

He tilted his head, the corner of his lip lifting up in that familiar smirk. “Guess I am.” 

There was something in his tone, neither apologetic or teasing, instead weirdly honest. He didn’t seem in a rush to go, and for once, you didn’t feel the urge to make him.

You dragged yourself back across the shop and eyed him in his cosy corner. You plopped down next to him, tucking your knees under your chin. He didn’t say anything, nor did he tease you for your choice of seating. You didn’t notice he moved until you felt the comfortably heavy weight of his arms around your shoulders. He smelled of old leather, sweat and pine. 

Without thinking, you leaned into him. Wordless, the moment stretched. You didn't feel the need to question anything.

You could get used to this.

Part six.

[genericpuff]

Rachel's art regression actually makes me so sad because yeah she always had problems with anatomy but at least her style used to have personality back then

It's actually so fascinating to look at her older art because on the one hand, to her credit, she was INCREDIBLY prolific, she made SO MUCH STUFF to the point that we're STILL finding new stuff all the time, it's actually really impressive; but on the other hand, she also clearly didn't really have a focused direction, she was kind of just trying different things waiting to see what would stick, and eventually LO was what won the lotto. But unlike previous works where she could pick them up and drop them at her own time, she was contractually obligated to LO and it forced her to meet crazy strict deadlines, so I think in a way (at least in my opinion from what I've been able to glean looking at her work from the past several years) she almost lost a lot of what she was capable of doing back then because she proceeded to spend all of her time for YEARS working on LO.

I do think she'd be fully capable of returning to that older art style, but the reality is that that style also, like LO, existed through inconsistency. She was always trying and doing different things and you can tell a lot of it was rooted in both trial and error + indecisiveness. As much as she's talked about "streamlining" the production process of LO in previous interviews, it's also very clear in its inconsistencies - as well as her older work which was also inconsistent, for better and for worse - that she never actually learned how to streamline. Unlike artists who you can at least look at and understand they have a "process" that they follow every single time, she just does not seem to have that.

And that's not necessarily a bad thing, I think it worked well for her when she was doing freelance and standalone illustrations / conceptual art. The "personality" in her work back then was her just messing around with things and doing whatever looked good, and it often paid off through beautiful illustrations and concept designs.

But that sort of approach doesn't work so well when you're trying to do a long-form comic with unique characters and a distinctive art style which is being worked on by multiple different people. Something like LO demands workflow consistency and a production pipeline with steps to follow and standards to practice, and that's not something that Rachel has ever really been good at, even before she started LO.

[taeaura]

The Hewitts are Hypocritical Religious Cowards - Minor Character Study :)

{Literally just these three but y'know - Monty's sleeping as usual with his lazy ass}

I think Luda Mae fears God; Hoyt doesn't..at least not as much. They were both raised the same, by the same people, in the same environment, of the same religion. But Hoyt was - is, a product of sin, in my interpretation. Hoyt was born of sin and will die of sin; Born to commit the sins of his father. Because of his "predestined" behavior, I think Hoyt views what he's doing as either a form of redemption {for himself and his mother} as well as a final 'fuck you' to God. {Inconsistent ahh religious relationship}

its seems almost as if Charlie views himself as someone who's predisposed to hell. "I was born of sin, I'll die of sin - Might as well have some fun." His experiences in the world most likely drove him away from religion and weakened his faith in God overall - Further fueling this mindset.

In some individuals, religion can develop into a form of psychosis.  I don't think Hoyt has that {on the surface}, but Luda definitely does. I doubt God is going to make you burn for fucking up, Jesus didn't care as long as it was genuine mistake. If he did, everyone would be in hell right now. The only reason Eve was punished is because she prioritized herself and her pleasure over the boundaries of God. That's not the same as messing up, people forget that. But in the case of the Hewitts - They chose the same path as Eve - Just more viciously.

The Hewitts {Hoyt more specifically} prioritized family pride over the lives of other people. They'd rather stay on their land than move away. They'd rather be forgotten by society - Kill and consume outsiders, instead of adapting to another town.

Remember the dinner scene in TCM: The Beginning? Just before Bailey dies, as Chrissie's insulting the family. That right there is the perfect example of the family's philosophy.

C: "I have a question for you, it involves the family tree - the lineage, if you will; So I guess this one's for the table: You guys fuck all your cousins or just the ones you find attractive?"

H: "You blasphemous bitch! This is redemption, lady, that's what this is! Oh, you're all gonna pay for your sins, that's right! And especially you."

Hoyt knows what they're doing is wrong - they all do. Yet they reframe it as "cleansing the world of sin." The mindset "we do what we have to in order to survive."

H: "You starve to death, or survive."

Hoyt views what they're doing as means of survival. They were starving to death - which he explicitly says in the 'first supper' scene

H: "Thanks to the good sheriff here, we ain't gonna go hungry tonight. Matter of fact, we ain't never gonna starve again."

____

Dean deserved to die because he failed his country. His fellow soldiers. Morgan, Kemper, Pepper, Andy, Erin, they all deserved to die for their possession of weed and their disrespect towards the family. Chrissie and Eric deserved it for the same reason. Bailey was with those 'disrespectful draft dodgers.' She was a whore, too - Just as sinful in the eyes of the lord.

stfu Hoyt as if you haven't done worse

Erin and Bailey disrespected Thomas - This would set Luda Mae off so bad. SHE LITERALLY SAID "Get her out of my sight" to Thomas in reference to Erin. She's disgusted by them - Disgusted by anyone who insults her, Thomas, {anyone in the family really}, or God.

L: "I know your kind - Nothing but cruelty and ridicule for my boy, all the time he was growing up. Does anybody care about me and my boy? Huh?"

--

E: "What's wrong with you fucking people?"

H: "Nothing wrong with us..?"

L: "Tommy; Thomas Brown Hewitt, you get in here right now! Get her out of my sight."

--

None of them deserved a second chance. As soon as they stepped onto the property, they solidified their fate. The Hewitts view themselves almost as a necessary evil - Angels of Death, if you will. They kill who they do based on how 'sinful' they are. That includes how they treat the family. {Which I doubt is based on 'respect' being one of God's values - I think it's because of how prideful these people are.}

____

Luda fears God. She fears The Rapture. When Jesus walks the Earth to gather his sheep. The day he waltzes into the Hewitt household taking the form of a 'helpless draft-dodger.' When the molded wallpaper and dusty lace tablecloth aren't enough to hide the rotting carnage, seething beneath the decaying floorboards. As he takes his place at the table, looking down at the family -

"This is redemption, lady, that's what this is! Oh, you're all gonna pay for your sins, that's right! And especially you."

You.

The wailing. The begging. The prayers falsely spoken by your forked tongue.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, honey."

Liar.

A shepherd? No, - Vicious wolves clothed in the skin and cloak of the fallen guardian. Harboring the sheep to their intemperate slaughter - You selfishly feast upon.

Did you feel it?

Do you feel it now?

Whilst the blood spilt from between her legs; Staining your sheets - The same ones Mama's washed over and over for the same selfish reasons.

Rewarding, was it not?

Did the screeches of pain exhort you? - Ravish you. It feels good to take what you deserve.

Except you didn't deserve it; Did you, Charlie.

Not by my teachings - and certainly not by your mother's.

"You poor thing; Sweet mourning lamb. There's nothing you can do - It's already been done."

But she deserved it.

She sinned - Did she not?

And sinners don't deserve patience - Nor do they deserve mercy.

They're vessels possessed by the Devil - You were only doing what's best.

Clearing them out.

And the cowardly - I didn't teach my children to be cowardly, did I? No, I did not. You're not a coward, are you, Charlie? Most certainly not - Not with what you've done to serve your country. No; You're a hero.

Heroes don't rape

Our Hero.

Heroes won't yield

My Hero.

Coward.

And cowards heroes like you deserve a special place in hell Heaven.

____

this is so ass 🙏 #yapville

[rikomoriyama01]

while we're talking about noras writing. I think parts of the way riko is written in the original is bad too. I think she makes him dumb when it's needed for the story. killing seth to me made no sense. if riko has the power to kill members of the foxes... kill Andrew!! riko is obviously very talented, surely he could have also analysed that seth was messing up the team, and killing him (ironically) only helps the foxes.

so. kill Andrew. Kevin comes running back. not only have the foxes lost one of their best strikers and their best goalkeeper. they can't even play anymore!! they've lost one too many players to meet the requirement. it's over. done.

and ik some Andrew stan is gonna say he couldn't be killed but bfr. Andrew is strong and a good fighter, yes, but riko could easily hire a well seasoned hit man or even a damn team of them if needed. make it look like a suicide, an accident, or even a murder! doesn't matter. the press thinks Andrew is insane and he's hated. Kevin comes running back and the ravens spin it as Kevin needing support in his grief from his team & family blah blah blah.

obviously riko doesn't do this cuz then the plot is fucked. but then don't establish that he can kill members of the foxes. have him do something else idk.

Apreciate that you managed to come up with something i had not heard so far in the fandom, tho i see the sentiment a bit differently. i think assuming that riko could deduce this much about foxes bond is bit of stretch, on top of it riko specifically wanted to kill a striker to put more pressure on kevin and neil with kevins damaged hand. so this leaves seth and matt and seth is clearly much lower profile death case considering matt has rich surgeon dad you could think that killing andrew would be too hot to pull off for that reason too considering andrew was somewhat involwed with the policeman investigatign his case in the past (excuse me i rember almost nothing of that plot by now the guy he called piggy or whatever) We also can``t assume that Riko could get just ... everything. he is second fmaily branch and tetsujis lil pet project i think if anythign i'm bothered by how inconsistent his range of power and infulence is That said Riko i smart and poses danger, he ha sskills and is not stupid. But its very easy to forget that if you spend too mcuh time readign tumblr tags or fanfics because the fandom makes sure to present him as biggest clown ever simply because nboody likes him . I gues good character writing is not smh ppl bother with when they hate someone lol Riko is good villian with a lot of flavs and his ego getting in his way, i think in very fitting way riko biggest enemy is riko himself and the way tetsujis upbirnging shaped him The fact that our mc is nobody but neil fuckgin josten and his side is damned andrew minyard do not help rikos case. you have 2 people who went throguh hell facign off again one motherfucker still stuck in it. if our mc's were different people riko would seem like different kind of threat . as it is he is just nuisance. but this is not fault of authors writtign this is issue of reader simplifying his role in the story and ignoring it simply because .. he's the villian ? and forced need to put all spotlight on other characters. people forget those books would not be as good if riko was the pathetic loser they write him as in fan content

[guiltycorp]

Damn i really want to know tf happened in the writing room of arcane s2. Some of the downgrades were inevitable due to the show's corporate limitations (not being able to progress the class war story in a meaningful way, having to tie things back to league of legends in terms of making playable characters more appealing to well, play... rip Mel and Viktor in particular), sure. But i still feel like it's even worse than that? There are so many bad decisions that i couldn't even start listing them all... the characters, plot, pacing, themes, it's just such a mess? Even the dialogue writing, it feels much more mm Marvel at its worst i suppose. What i am most bothered by is probably just the straight up harmful messaging so um... Cycles of violence and abuse can be broken by individual decisions to become a better person! Got nothing to do with systemic oppression, living conditions, mental health issues, you can just conveniently ignore aaall the social context, live laugh love and then things get better automatically yep, oppressors famously stop oppressing you when you show them that you're harmless and won't put up a fight anymore. Literally three out of three suicidal characters dying to redeem themselves? Not even in a tragic/cathartic way but in a bittersweet 'they finally atoned for their mistakes' way? Groundbreaking lmao. Romantic relationship between Vi and Caitlyn including no communication about their biggest fight, just conveniently skipping to sex and getting back together - would have loved that if it was framed as the unhealthy fucked up thing that it is, skipping over Vi's hurt and her background to once again become a cop, her girlfriend's direct underling at that (!) due to her not having any other support systems... But nope that was our cute lesbian romance wrapped up, a good thing all around, not concerning at all. Jayce telling Viktor that what he 'always admired about him' was his disability and his deadly disease (??? from a character who spent the whole s1 and first act of s2 desperately trying to help Viktor find a cure? sure) and that those imperfections don't need fixing, just wtf truly. Magic bullshit was also weird, some implications of 'natural magic is ok, but achieving that power through other means corrupts you into a crazy robot bitch or just wilts your trees i guess', but tbh it was written in such a weird and inconsistent way that we can skip this one... Yeah actually a lot of things were just such a mess that I feel silly pointing to specific moments or lines I didn't like, I mean duh, it barely makes sense as a story at all... I am happy we have s1 which comparatively was a masterpiece, and i also really enjoyed s2 act1, i truly believed it would lead somewhere good at the time, my mind still kind of cuts off the story at that point when i think about it, that WAS the open ending of the show to me (is it possible that there were rewrites? targeting act 2 and 3? idk, wishful thinking perhaps). Despite my extremely negative feelings about this season's conclusion i remain glad that so many people appreciate the show regardless, it is clear that there was STILL a lot of love in the process of its creation (although i'd argue that even some of the visual aspects of the show suffered in quality, once again i have to wonder about behind the scenes mood of it all) and i get very upset when i see creatives online despairing over reception of their projects even when i'm absolutely in the disgruntled crowd hahaha... ...however yeah, this wasn't great In a world that increasingly grows more and more right-wing politically... we really needed something different i think.

[mellebabbles]

Out of the many issues DC has with its own writing, how they use dialogue and convenient narration to manipulate audience perspective is the one that makes me question why I keep reading these comics. Obviously, this isn't limited to DC, but it is one of the worst cases I've seen.

Let's take Batman and Red Hood, for example. Comics from Jason's perspective often portray the Dark Knight as being a distant, controlling, emotionally neglectful and even physically abusive as a Father/mentor-- And before any Batman stans come for me, he isn't the only one writers do this with. Bear with me and you'll see why this is a problem.

DC almost always purposely uses this as drama at the cost of inconsistent character writing. Most have agreed that the way Bruce gets written when any of his kids are in the picture is messed up. Read enough of them and you'll notice a pattern: He does something borderline abusive, the plot progresses, and you can practically feel the writers realize this might make their cash cow Bat look bad (God Forbid.) But instead of the comics calling him out or changing his behavior, they shift dialogue to try and manipulate the narrative as if Batman was correct the whole time, and anyone not doing things his way is just wrong.

This doesn't just happen to Red Hood, but staying on him as an example, there will be a turning point in the plot where every other character involved is suddenly adamant that Jason is being immature, stupid, reckless, etc, and whatever trouble he's in was his fault to begin with, even when he's been doing things Batman's way. Heroes, neutral parties, and even villains start mocking and condescending to him, sometimes for doing the exact same thing that Bruce gets praised for. However reversibly, Batman does something just as bad (or even worse) and the narrative is that it was completely justified or the outcome is retconned/changed in his favor. Yet when this hypocrisy does get called out in comic, Bruce gives his usual edgy "Exactly, I don't want you to be like me." As if the writers are trying to look directly at the audience and say "See? He's just a flawed character! He's relatable!"

This leads to people hyper-defending every action of Batman instead of criticizing the writing behind it. "Bruce respects his kids! He says so in issue #467889999--" Just because the writers put the words in Batman's mouth doesn't mean anything when his actions don't back it up.

There's a reason why Show, don't tell is such a crucial writing rule. Portraying Batman as controlling and abusive, only to twist the narrative that he was "right all along," by

- changing the rules last minute

-having everyone verbally discredit his opponent

- emphasize how "badass and right Batman was" in every goddamn exchange

is lazy and poor writing. "I respect Nightwing," means nothing when Batman undermines him, insults him, criticizes his choices or punches him for the sake of ✨️the drama.✨️

It would be like telling the story of Snow White, where everything is exactly the same except she regularly kicks small animals, and bullies the dwarves. But the magic mirror, the Hunter and the dwarves still all emphasize what "kind and gentle Princess" she is without ever addressing her actions. Inconsistent character writing means the drama loses its effect. If your character can just sidestep their convictions for the sake of the plot, especially in a character driven story, then there is no character. A game with no rules, roles or directive isn't a game. That's why DC fanon is usually more popular, because somehow an entire fandom has managed to create more consistency than a team of writers.

[darkmatilda]

Does diva teach some kind of classes because GOD DAMN i wanted to wipe her lipstick off myself!!!!

Also, do they not realise they have indeed spent a night together?? Helloo! Repeat that, see THEN what tension remains!!!

Im obsessed with them

yes diva!reader gives chemistry tutoring and lessons on how to make cute nerds dizzy in her free time (im her honorary client but i think im underpaying because its not really working for me 🫠)

ayway guys i hope you dont take this as any kind of inconsistency on my part cuz im absolutely aware that theyve slept together i just find it absolutely hilarious that they literally went to bed together and are now acting like idiots because of a kiss 😭😭 i often joke that their relationship is unfolding in the most messed up order ever lol

im planning a fic with the one bed trope where they actually talk about it but not just yet because that ones my original idea and im focusing on requests rn + need to push their relationship a bit further first sorry if i rambled xx

[iamnmbr3]

Cursed Child rant? as a treat? 👉👈

Oh god. Where to even start. Listen, I know some people enjoy CC and I say more power to you. I'm not here to be the fun police and say what people can and can't like or write fic about or derive meaning from or whatever. But for me, personally, Cursed Child is an absolute mess of the worst kind that irritates me on a profound level.

First off, it's completely inconsistent with the canon characterizations and established rules of world building (and JKR didn't even do that much world building so there wasn't that much to keep track of and yet, they couldn't even bother to do that). I mean, Cedric, who tried to give the Triwizard Cup to Harry doesn't win and that somehow causes him to become a Death Eater??? Huh? It's not just ooc. It's bad storytelling. I mean, even if he was a hugely sore loser why would losing a tournament cause him to join an extremist blood purist paramilitary group? That has nothing to do with him losing. It's stupid and childish and nonsensical and SO bad.

And really? That's the best you can come up with? If the point of that whole thing was the tired trope of 'time travel goes wrong and makes things worse' they could've just had the gang expose Crouch earlier but instead of Voldemort not returning he just ends up returning but not using Harry's blood which allows him to do his original plan of growing his power in secret. And idk. Maybe then he takes over and he kills Harry and Harry doesn't come back. I didn't even put any effort into that. It's a bit dumb and inelegant but it gets the job done without wild character assassination and a lack of logic so profound it would insult the reasoning abilities of a fungus.

But ok, let's judge it as its own vaguely Harry Potter inspired thing rather than as an actual sequel to the canon series. You know what the result is? IT'S STILL BAD. It's just. SO BAD. I don't understand how it's a real thing.

It's like a parody of a bad play. It can't possibly be real. Harry suddenly has a phobia of pigeons? Why??? It's so...stupid. And I'm supposed to take that seriously? What? And the dialogue. The dialogue. "Bad" doesn't even cover it. The fact that "Wow. Squeak. My geekness is a-quivering" is a real actual line in the actual play causes me physical pain. WHO WRITES THAT?! AND THEN LEAVES IT IN THE FINAL DRAFT?!?!?

And Delphi. WHAT EVEN?! She's literally like a parody of a bad fanfic Mary Sue. Down to the blue streak in her hair. But we're supposed to take her seriously? As a villain? Tf? She's like a bad Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way knockoff. The whole play is like an unfunny parody of bad writing. But it's not supposed to be. It actually pretends to be a genuine drama. Which is so much worse. I truly think My Immortal is better. And way funnier.

No effort at all went into the story construction. Characters act incredibly childishly and unrealistically and simplistically. The story doesn't feel like it was written by adults. There's no feeling or depth or emotion. It's all plot contrivances and nauseatingly simplistic writing. It isn't a story. It's just some stuff that happens. Because the writers were just like 'eh it's Harry Potter it'll sell.' And that's not art. That's just churned out content. And it bothers me on such a profound level that they did it and got away with it.

I would be embarrassed to write that for myself, let alone to turn that in as a professional writer. It's so inconsistent with the original story that I legitimately think the 2 guys who wrote it didn't even read the books. They just glanced at the wiki and decided they were good to go. Despite being PAID to do this. How sloppy is that? Not to mention Harry Potter meant so much to so many people who were ecstatic to get more content yet the two clowns who wrote this just skimmed the wiki and then vomited out some of the worst lines ever penned in history and called it a day.

[spacemonkeysalsa]

For context, I’m putting together some training materials for my office, and something like this is going to make it into those documents. Though I will have to change the example to something that doesn’t reference BG3 or sex, since it’s like not appropriate or whatever.

I’m barred in Nevada but then I moved (dummy) and now I am studying to take the bar exam again in a different state because I moved somewhere that doesn’t have any sort of reciprocity (double dummy) and its fine, I’m not worried. It’s just a pain, but as I’ve been studying and remembering what the bar is like, I also have friends who are studying for the EA exam or the CPA exam. It's forced me to think a lot about this kind of test and here's my main takeaway from studying for it:

Say you have a question on the exam like: “Which of these statements is most correct?” and then the statements are:

A) Astarion tops his partner in all his romance scenes in BG3

B) Astarion doesn’t top his partner in every one of his romance scenes in BG3

C) Astarion bottoms his partner in all his romance scenes in BG3

D) Astarion may top or bottom his romance partner in every scene in BG3

And you think to yourself, “hang on, I am overly familiar with the 2023 Larian video game Baldur’s Gate 3 and I love Astarion, I’ve romanced him 30+ times, surely this question ought to be easy, except none of these are quite correct?”

Answer A bothers you because you know it’s possible for him to bottom with larger body types, and this answer seems to exclude that possibility in how it’s phrased. Or does it? We’ll get back to that.

Answer B bothers you because even if you can get a version of the scene when he doesn’t top, there still exists a version when he does, and this applies to all ‘his’ scenes. Circling back to A real quick, you might be able to save yourself some time if at this point you just recognize that with A&B they are trying to get you to fall into the trap of assuming mutual exclusivity where none exists, but let’s say you’re an overthinker like me and your brain needs to keep processing all your options…

Answer C is obviously wrong, but you might hesitate to dismiss it, because what if you missed something? It’s a huge game and if we are thinking about variations, are these options you haven’t considered?

Answer D makes your stomach drop because you realize that three of these questions specify ‘his’ scenes, but the last one says ‘every scene’ and if it just removed the phrase ‘in every scene’ it would be correct, but the fact that it’s the one that’s different makes you fixate on it, even though you know it can’t be right, because it says ‘every scene’ not ‘every romance scene’ and therefore on its face implies every scene in BG3 is a sex scene, which isn’t true.

And you really wish there was an option that read “Astarion can top or bottom depending on player choices” but that’s not there. You have to pick from what’s there.

And, maybe you get distracted for a moment, wondering if by ‘his scenes’ they really mean just the scenes written for his character---that’s what you assumed, at first, but now that you’ve kept thinking about it you wonder if they may just mean a scene that he can participate in, as a player character, in which case B is true, because it implies that there’s at least one scene where he’s always a bottom and you can think of some that would count Also, they purposefully used the similar phrases “all” and “every one of” for A & B because they are hoping you will waste time considering whether these two phrases have the same meaning or not, and if there was any purpose in writing it in a way that was inconsistent. To be clear, the only point in switch up the wording is to mess with you.

Finally, you decide that the phrase “his romance scenes” has to refer to the scenes written for his character. Because anything else would be too unclear for the purposes of this question, since those other scenes ‘belong’ to other characters.

A is the correct answer because even if it’s not the best way to summarize this topic, it’s the only answer that isn’t technically wrong. All his romance scenes show him as a top, even if variations exist where he’s also a bottom. That just means “Astarion is a top in all his romance scenes, and a bottom in some romance scenes,” which would also be another example of the kind of ‘more correct’ answer you might wish was on the page, but it’s not there, and you can’t write in your own answer. Saying ‘all’ doesn’t exclude other possibilities. He tops in all the scenes, and he also bottoms in one of the scenes, and both of these things can be true at the same time. There’s no mutual exclusivity.

They purposefully write these options like this because they want to trick you. They don’t care that you are knowledgeable on the subject, they are barely interested in testing your knowledge, what they really want to test is whether or not they can trick you into making a mistake.

And, on the one hand, I don’t think this is a great way to test people on a subject. Especially a subject that is dense all on its own. You’re not showing that you’re unfamiliar with BG3 if you get this one wrong, you’re just showing that purposefully unclear communication and pedantry can trip you up. That’s nearly totally meaningless.

On the other hand, the meaning that is there has to do with being careful when you read, and understanding common logical fallacies like false equivalence or fallacy of division. You know, the kind of thing lawyers are supposed to be good at.

It isn't so bad if you can stand how tedious these kinds of exercises can be, or if you’re a weirdo who kind of likes tedium, like me. It will make it more likely that you take psychic damage while interacting with normal people, though. And people will think you're a pedant, because in fairness, you are a pedant.