#just found out webtoon exists again

[cosmo-craftin]

Don’t you just love it when your brain slingshots you through fandoms like a pinball machine 😭

[genericpuff]

say sike right now, she's actually going back to The Doctor Pepper Show-

Like, this is just "What if The Doctor Pepper Show and LO had a baby?" Because at this point it's very clear Rachel only knows how to write from inside her own head, which is full of unresolved salt towards her childhood and medical fetish shit. The imagery in the first panel is very LO, and the imagery in the second is literally The Doctor Foxglove Show-

Evidently she's been reskinning the same shit for years-

Listen, I've been, for the most part, keeping my lips sealed on a lot of Rachel's old projects and what I've dug up on her previous works, for a few reasons:

1.) We were all cringe on the Internet at some point in time and a lot of these older works, such as Freak Scene Surgery and The Doctor Pepper Show, would have been from when she was in her late teens / early 20's. I'm not here to judge Rachel's personal preferences or whatever kind of fetishes she's into. It's totally normal, expected even, for a lot of creators to have older works they're trying to bury or disconnect themselves from because it's simply not them anymore.

2.) Ultimately I've been focused on discussion around Lore Olympus and Rachel as she currently operates as a creator, so I don't want to go digging up her old skeletons as any sort of "gotcha" towards LO today. Ultimately a lot of these works don't have anything to really 'do' with LO as it exists today.

That said, the reason I'm bringing it up now is because these new series... are bridging that gap that I've been avoiding for ages now. The gap that's filled with skeletons of Rachel's past that she's trying to both disconnect herself from but now fall back on with LO come and gone. It almost goes to show that her being a one-note pony goes back since far before LO - these are literally the only ideas she's able to come up with at this point, and it's painfully obvious in how both these new "graphic novel pitches" are pretty much the exact same and could apply to the same character, and that character may as well just be Persephone, i.e. Rachel, all over again.

Like, I'm calling it now, Patients in the Dark is just gonna be more "moms are bad" rhetoric, and Eleanor's Deathbed is gonna be Hades and Persephone, but replace Hades with some death god and Persephone with a training mortician, which is basically also still just Foxglove training to be a doctor, and Icy Shaw bragging about fondling corpses.

If anything, now that Webtoons is no longer carrying her around on their shoulders, this is gonna be Rachel's moment of "put up or shut up". She can either actually put in an active effort to write something that's decent, or she can flounder under the weight of her own tired mediocrity that's been knocking at her door for years now. As much as she's using her labels that were bought for her to sell these books which aren't even in real development yet-

-Webtoons isn't gonna be there to buy her Eisners forever. This is entirely on her and the imprint that Webtoons shoved her into. Her process is still the same, she's learned nothing from the experience of making LO, she's just got the money and awards now and is trying to run with it, but all she has are the same tired pitch lines that she's been using for decades now and just so happened to work with LO because LO had both Webtoons and the appeal of it being a Greek myth "retelling" to carry it into fame.

I'm gonna go into a bit of a tangent here, but it's been weighing on my mind since I found out this news and have been discussing it with pals within the ULO circle. Rachel once said in an interview that she wanted to use her platform to raise awareness of issues regarding sexual assault, mental health, and "the patriarchy":

"Who do you know that hasn’t been sexually assaulted? The number is depressingly low, right? Why is that? There is no short answer or an easy fix. I have a platform. I can tell a story that will hopefully educate and help others feel acknowledged and vindicated." - Rachel Smythe, Interview with Gossamer Rainbow

"...obviously I'm very feminist, and that sort of stuff really matters to me, um, the best way to approach this question is… I began, the pilot was written in sort of mid-2017, and I think what I wanted, what I wanted to achieve, and I don't even know… probably in 5 years time I don't know how I'm going to feel about this but I'm taking the risk, I really wanted to write a story where, uh…this female character goes through these things and I think what I wanted to do, what I wanted to achieve, was like a really common, I can't speak for like, men, but I can definitely speak for like, you know, if you're sitting in a group of your female friends and you're like "Hey! Who's been sexually assaulted?" … The response is going to be really depressing… Most female people that you know have probably experienced sexual assault to, on one level or another, and I'm like, for me I'm like "Why is that? Why?" And is it because there is a lack of information, lack of education, like what is it? And I'm lucky enough to have a platform and I'm like, if I could just provide some information in story format, would that help? Is this what I can contribute? So I feel like, especially, when writing sexual assault in media often it's… it's a way for the main male character to be, like, uplifted to hero-ness by, usually like, violence is the way to fix the problem, and that's not the approach that I want to take… um, I think [sighs], oh god, sorry I've lost my train of thought, [sighs], yeah, I think a lot of the time in movies when they, like, show rapists or something it's generally someone who's jumped out from behind the tree at a lady in a park and it's not really how it is like 90% of the time [laughs], so I just wanted to make something realistic where people could at it and be, like, "hey, nagging someone into sex isn't cool" or like removing all of their opportunities to say no isn't cool, or for someone to look at it, and just like feel validation, this is me trying, trying my best to make a difference with the platform that I have, and yeah, this is my roundabout answer for it" - Rachel Smythe, Interview with The Comic Source

And yet not once has Rachel actually used her platform for good outside of herself. She just asks the question, "Sexual assault?" and then writes off the answer "yes, it's bad!" and it especially shows in LO where the resolution to the one plotline she kept around to draw in readers was "assaulters are sent to the timeout corner!" Sure, it works for the readers who are simply seeking validation that their experiences aren't unique to themselves, but is it actually doing any real work to talk about the systems in place that leads to people like Apollo being created? Is it doing anything to address purity culture as it exists and the double standards that exist for women who are navigating sexual relationships? Is it doing anything to take the discussion outside of the narrative and put it into action through support of women's shelters, charities, mental health support for men, etc.? Not really. Like many of Rachel's ideas throughout LO, she simply goes, "Men, amirite?" and the answer is "yeah men suck!" and nothing more. The answer to the entire SA plotline is "rape is bad, don't do it" when anyone who could even relate to that conclusion in the first place already knows that.

Ultimately the activism she claims she's trying to do doesn't actually service the issue at hand - it just services herself and her own insecurities, her own unresolved trauma, her own need for validation through Eisners and merch sales. She asks the question, "Who hasn't been assaulted?" so that when she responds to the women who come forward and relate to Persephone, it's with the intent of getting them to read LO and buy her merchandise. She winds up making herself the center of other people's experiences, even ones that she cannot relate to. At BEST her attempts to "use her platform" as a means of starting discussion around ongoing societal issues like the patriarchy and sexual assault towards women is about as effective as Bell #LetsTalk, it's purely performative, self-profiting, and offers nothing of real tangibility.

If she just wants to write her own self-empowering personal works, that would be fine. Plenty of creators do it. Art is, at its core, self-expression. But it's extremely telling that she's built a platform off her self-expression, and twisted it into what she believes to be "activism" and "feminism", so that she can continue to profit off it in her future works such as this, which, again, are just reskins of her previous projects which were largely centered around the fetishizing of abuse towards women.

I don't want to claim that this is what it is, but... how much of the "feminism" in LO is done purely through the lens of victimizing women? Why is there more effort put into torturing female characters like Hera, and Demeter, and Minthe, and even Persephone to a certain degree, than there is into actually addressing the larger issue that she's claiming she wants to shed light on and resolving her questions with actionable answers?

That is the only question I will leave you all with. I am absolutely 100% not planning on touching these works with a ten foot pole, even if they should come to fruition. With the recent realization that she was into artists like Trevor Brown, alongside the fact that we've known for a long time she's into Lolita and there are very clear parallels to draw between it and LO, I think it's safe to say at this point that Rachel's work is not something I want to continue to support even when it's "hate reading". Again, I'm not going to outright accuse her of anything, but I feel like the writing is clearly on the wall here and I'm taking that writing as my warning to steer clear.

I didn't want to discuss the elephant in the room - her older works as they exist in the distant past of the early 2000's - but she's now riding the elephant.

[casscainmainly]

An Analysis of Duke Thomas in Wayne Family Adventures

I've been seeing a lot of posts and comments recently concerning Duke Thomas in WFA. I know WFA discourse has been done to death, but these comments were about how they'd only read WFA, felt Duke lacked a personality, his powers weren't distinctive, etc. Out of the main WFA characters, I think Duke has the least-read comics and the least understood canon history. This post is going to dissect WFA!Duke, compare it with canon!Duke, and address whether WFA is a fair representation of Duke or not.

This is not a WFA hate post. A lot of comics readers love WFA and vice versa, and I'm not going to dictate what people should like or dislike. Check out this post I made yesterday about the origins of WFA, which really aren't ill-intentioned. However, judging by the comments/posts I've seen, a lot of people don't know the difference between WFA!Duke and canon!Duke. This post exists to clarify those discrepancies and hopefully encourage more people to read Duke's comics.

The Positives

Let's cover the pros of WFA!Duke first! The sheer fact that he's one of the main characters and present throughout is amazing, allowing more people to learn and get interested in Duke. Since he doesn't have his own ongoing, WFA is about the only place to get consistent Duke content.

Plus look at how cute he is:

His presence also means we get fun interactions with other characters that Duke doesn't get to interact with in canon, such as Steph and Dick. As a diehard Duke-is-Dick's-successor believer, I appreciate any page-time they get together, even if it's not substantial.

Also, WFA season 3 confirmed that Duke can turn invisible without his suit, which is just fun!

Framing

Duke is introduced in the very first episode, and in some ways is the framing device for the entire webtoon. He is "Gotham's Newest Vigilante," learning about the family and the manor.

Many episodes of WFA have Duke asking a question that the others respond to. You can see this in Episode 2 ("The Last Cookie," he asks about their tradition), Episode 7 ("Vigilante Bingo"), Episode 30 ("Driving Lessons"), Episode 39 ("Secret Identity"), all the way to one of the latest minisodes (Mini Episode 3 - Super Friends).

This framing is not completely incorrect, since Duke is the newest addition to the family. The problem with this framing, though, is that Duke's personality and problems are never the focus - in these episodes we learn a lot about the other Batfam, and nothing about Duke.

Take "Vigilante Bingo". We learn so much canon stuff about Dick, Jay, Tim, and Cass, including who's died/come back (Cass and Tim chime in here, which is not very well known in fanon). However, because Duke is the one asking the question, he doesn't get to participate in the answers. This framing makes WFA-only readers learn shockingly little about Duke's prior activities, and they only cover his backstory in episode 76.

Personality

Because of his perpetual outsider status, WFA!Duke's most prominent traits are confusion, timidity, and insecurity.

(I found all these by literally clicking on any thumbnail with Duke in it. He exhibits confusion/timidity/insecurity all the time).

The first two traits - confusion and timidity - is completely antithetical to Duke in canon. Just compare these panels from We Are Robin #6 to a panel from WFA:

Canon!Duke gets shot and thinks to himself: "how baller is that?!". WFA!Duke hears about a booby-trapped lawn and makes that face. This reaction is basically the opposite of the way WAR!Duke would react. I have legitimately no clue how anyone could read We Are Robin or The Cursed Wheel and come away with Duke being timid.

More examples of how canon!Duke acts when confronted with dangerous situations, just for fun:

From We Are Robin #2, we have Duke mouthing off to people he's just met; from Robin War, we have the iconic jumping-out-of-cop-car scene; from Robin War again, we have Duke standing up for one more battle against Damian with absolutely no hesitation.

Duke in canon is headstrong, stubborn to a fault, outspoken, and brave. These qualities just don't come through in WFA.

Insecurity

The third component of WFA!Duke's personality, insecurity, is the only one with some canon basis. Check out this panel from Batman & The Signal #1:

Here, he's struggling with his place in the family, something WFA!Duke also deals with in Episode 75 + 76 ("Worthy"). But I think WFA misconstrued where this insecurity comes from.

Duke's problem is not that he's a meta, it's that he's a meta with "powers no one understands yet". A "walking detective case," so to speak. His insecurity stems from his lack of understanding around his powers, because at this point he doesn't know about Gnomon. WFA somehow turns this into a problem with the powers itself:

This is simply not supported in canon. Duke has no problems using his powers; even in Batman & The Signal, the peak of his canon insecurities, he literally says "go, go ghost vision" (god I love him). Moreover, his powers come from his mom. Saying that Duke feels he needs to prove he's worthy "in spite of" his powers is a complete misreading of Duke's canon feelings. Which leads to my next point:

Family

"Worthy" positions Duke's powers in opposition to Bruce's approval, and though the episode ends with Duke accepting himself, it's clear throughout WFA that his biggest parental figure/source of approval is Bruce.

WFA!Duke talks and thinks about Bruce more than he does his mom and dad, which is genuinely mind-boggling. Canon!Duke talks about his parents basically every single page. It's one of the most consistent aspects of his character!

From We Are Robin #2, Batman & The Signal #1, The Cursed Wheel Part 1, and Batman: Urban Legends #19. Duke's parents are only mentioned in "Worthy" as part of his traumatic backstory, but Duke's parents aren't backstory - they're alive. By neglecting the importance of Duke's parents, WFA is ignoring a fundamental aspect of Duke's character and making him seem like just another orphan.

This panel from Episode 118 is hilarious in the context of canon!Duke waffling on about his parents 24/7. But the erasure of Duke's parents is symptomatic of another problem with WFA.

Supporting Cast

Duke's first multi-parter is Episodes 8/9/10, "Crush". In this episode, Duke asks a girl out, and then she breaks up with him.

First of all, compared to other two-parters (all of Cass', Dick's "Big Brother", Steph's "Belonging", hell even Tim's "Better and Brighter"), this two-parter is incredibly detached from Duke's character. All you learn is that he gets crushes and doesn't like break-ups, which isn't character-specific at all.

Secondly, using an OC as Duke's girlfriend is so bizarre given Duke has 1 canon love interest. Here, I googled it:

Imagine the story we could've gotten with Izzy instead; with them having canon history, this two-parter would've been a lot more impactful, and introduce We Are Robin characters to a WFA audience. I'd also like to point out the difference in how these relationships begin:

Another example of WFA introducing timidity into a scenario where canonically, Duke played it extremely cool (from We Are Robin #9).

WFA uses none of Duke's supporting cast. To be fair, Duke's supporting cast isn't well known, but isn't WFA a perfect low-stakes place to spotlight unknown characters? Harper gets appearances, and she's been neglected by canon for ages. Tim gets to have Bernard, Jason gets literally all of his Outlaws, and there's even a KonCass cameo!

There's a reason why the top comment on every single one of the Crushed eps doesn't even mention Duke.

Shouldn't Duke-centric episodes have comments about Duke? The story is so vague and widely applicable that there's nothing about Duke to comment on, so the spotlight is shifted onto the other Batfam members. If the story had included Duke's supporting cast, think about how much more we could've learned about Duke himself.

Side note: why on Earth is Luke Fox Duke's go-to mentor? They have next to no canon interactions, and while having a Black mentor is something Duke probably needs, he already has one. Batman and The Outsiders sets up the Duke and Black Lightning relationship really nicely. Not to mention in "Worthy," Duke's problem is about having powers, which makes Luke Fox's inclusion (as a non-meta) baffling. Black Lightning would've been perfect!

Conclusion + Wishlist

This is the top comment on Episode 76. I think I've demonstrated how untrue this is, because WFA!Duke doesn't even touch the worst of canon!Duke. WFA!Duke has next to no defining characteristics, which contributes to him being the 'boring' or 'sane' one. To any WFA-only readers, please don't think this is representative of Duke as a whole; reading even just the first issue of We Are Robin shows how interesting and full of personality he really is.

It's disappointing because WFA is a lot of people's only exposure to the Batfam, and portraying Duke like this has only caused them to misinterpret his character. However, there has been improvement - they're beginning to mention his backstory a lot more, which means they've read some of his comics. I still believe they can turn it around!

Here's some improvements they could make, along with some things I want expanded upon:

Stop using Duke as the outsider/newbie character. It's been over 100 eps, he doesn't need that anymore!

Mention his supporting cast, or at the very least mention his parents more

Expand on his canon relationships with Damian, Cass, and Jason, they deserve to be close!

Use his detective abilities/affinity for puzzles

Mention his dislike of heights

Involve him in more shenanigans

I don't have FastPass but please bring Duke back into the fold of S3!!

[misscoolisback123]

Things I Find Wrong With Lore Olympus

1. Minthe

I'm just gonna address the elephant in the room when it comes to the webtoon with this one, so don't come bitching at me. When I first started reading LO, I was puzzled that Hades and Minthe were dating in the beginning, but since this was a retelling of Hades and Persephone and Greek mythology all together, I didn't think much of it. When I researched stories and articles about Hades and Persephone, she's not that big of a deal. Yes, she seduced Hades and was turned into a mint plant by Persephone, but that's just it. She's a minor nymph in Greek mythology. Someone on the unpopularloreolympus subreddit said that Rachel Smythe got offended by the Hercules cartoon series in which Hades and Persephone are father and daughter. It's most likely that she got offended by Hades and his affair with Minthe, and so she created a punching bag of a character. Not only that, but her skin tone is red because red is evil to her, yet Hermes is red. I'm not saying she has to be any shade of green but make it make sense!

2. Leuce

Like Minthe, she was created to be a punching bag character for the fandom. Not only is she not canon to Greek mythology, but she didn't exist until the 1500s by an Italian poet. Rachel probably got offended by this as well and did the same thing with her.

3. Misuse of Allusions

What is an allusion? The simplest answer is that it's a figure of speech that makes a reference to literature, people, places, characters, etc. An example of this is from the ABC show Once Upon a Time. Zelena The Wicked Witch of West basically became Persephone she and Hades fell in love. A couple of other examples of allusions of mythology are Naruto and Attack on Titan. Naruto uses Japanese mythology for their power ups and other things. Attack on Titan uses Norse mythology to explain the founding Titan Ymir. Lore Olympus, however, does this very poorly. It might just be a minor detail, but the biggest offense of this is Hera.

I was shocked when I saw that Hades and Hera had once been a thing and were madly in love. Then Echo came along, and Narcissus was nowhere in sight. Basically, Hera replaced Leuce and Narcissus. Leuce replaced Minthe. Morpheus was depicted as a woman or a poor depiction of transgenderism. The founding titan Ymir Fritz was an allusion of Ymir from Norse mythology. Ymir from Norse mythology was the creation God. Ymir Fritz was a little girl who died as a woman. Her three daughters are based on Odin and his two brothers. Ymir from Norse mythology was male. Morpheus from Greek mythology was male. If you're going to make a comic on mythology, then you should get the details of gods and goddess right.

4. Erasure of Sexuality

Lore Olympus was first posted onto Webtoon in 2018. This was during a time when writers of movies, TV shows, series, cartoons, and anime were turning canonically straight and asexual characters gay and lesbian. There was also a very biphobic and transphobic edge to it as well. This was done in order for the creator to appear progressive. This was done to Athena, Hestia, Hera, Echo, and Morpheus. Athena and Hestia are both asexual in Greek mythology, and Hera is straight. Again, Morpheus was male. Echo is also straight as she was madly in love with a man who was madly in love with himself. Athena and Morpheus are both poor representations of transgenderism. Especially Morpheus. They're not trans but the fact that their genders were changed is saying something.

5. Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss

Lore Olympus claims to be feminist but it's not. Others have explained this in great detail. Persephone before she was married to Hades was actually a much different person. She had her own goals and aspirations. She didn't want to be known as a nepo baby. She was trying to find her own identity. She even begged Hades not to gouge out Alex's eye, but Hades went through with it. But then she started dating Hades, and things went downhill for both of them. Yes, they are the healthiest couple in Greek mythology, but Lore Olympus doesn't depict it as such.

Hades basically became an abusive slave owner, and Persephone became an immature girlboss. When she ran into Alex at the mall and intimated him, she looked as if she would wait until his shift was over to stalk him, corner him, and beat him up. The same with Leuce.

6. Rooting for the wrong characters

From the beginning, readers are led to believe that Minthe is the antagonist. At least one of them. But then Persephone changed drastically for the worst, and soon, people found themselves rooting for her.

7. No other retellings of Greek mythology

Lore Olympus was advertised as being about Hades and Persephone. But the title alone sounded as if it was going to be about others' myths as well. The only retelling of mythology was Eros and Psyche. This is due to Hades and Persephone being a part of their myth. But both myths were dragged for far too long. Psyche revealing that she was turned into a nymph by Aphrodite didn't feel exciting. The same goes for Gaia telling Hades and Persephone that Persephone has to spend six months out of the year with her mother for spring and summer and with Hades during fall and winter. Both of these plots could've been easily wrapped up in season, and seasons 2 and 3 could have been about other myths.

[seleneprince]

Hear me out

With the growing popularity of transmigration webtoons, I assume we've all read those ones about a random girl or fan reincarnating in the villainess' body and changing the original plot completely, and often finding out the villainess wasn't so bad and the MC was the real enemy all along.

I'm obsessed with that trope and I don't care how repetitive or predictable it gets sometimes, it fuels me. It gives me life. And since I recently started to re-read The Remarried Empress on webtoon (i'm following I Abdicate my Title as Empress now and the nostalgia hit me), I had an idea I can't stop thinking about. Well, two ideas:

A fierce fan of The Remarried Empress dying in an accident or falling into a coma, I don't care, and reincarnating in Rasha's body, right when's she found by Emperor Sovieshu on the trap. She's a BIG supporter of Navier and hates Sovieshu with passion, blaming him for everything. Her opinion on Rasha is the same as the average fans...until she experiences the girl's trauma and hardships herself, and realizes that there's more depth in the unfamous webtoon villainess than she thought. Despite her new identity and knowing most of the plot, she cannot bring herself to stay away from Navier and show her adoration for the Empress, acting like a fangirl whenever she sees her or hears about her. She helps push all the strings to guarantee Navier and Heinrey's love story to shail, because even though she wants her close, she wants Navier to have the happy life she deserves.

Or the original Rashta going back to the past after her death and, feeling terrible for what she did, vows to not commit the same mistakes again and decides to do her best to help Navier from the distance whenever the Emperor fucks up. She doesn't want to be empress, just have a cozy and secure life away from slavery, so she's resolved to make Navier stay and if she has to act as a marital therapist for them so be it. She knows her position is secured with her baby, so it's not like she needs the Emperor's affection on her, just his promise to look after her (plus she resents him a lot now, so the less she interacts with him, the better).

These ideas were born out of my new found realization that Rashta, while she works amazing as a pitiful villain, her character was deeply misunderstood and forever condemned to be mocked and attacked by everyone, both in the story and the fandom. She wasn't a saint, sure. She did bad things out of selfishness and purposedly went against Navier to steal her place, and I was satisfied with the ending she got. But most of the flaws that made her so annoying for the fans are actually reasonable within her character's past. Rashta was sold as a slave by her own father when she was a child, placed in a house with masters that abused her and treated her like trash simply for existing (Lotteshu even gave her a dead baby to let her believe it was the one she lost, how the fuck no one talks more about it?). Then, she escapes and the Emperor saves her, showering her in affection and riches and promising her a fairytale love story. She think she's safe, that she can finally be happy, but Lotteshu re appears and begins to blackmail her, and then turns out the Emperor doesn't love her but wants to the heir she can give him. Ergi is her only friend in court apparently, but he's manipulating her from the beginning and eventually betrays her. And Rashta wasn't purposedly rude to Navier at first, the girl was illiterate and knew nothing about etiquette, but she admired Navier and wanted to be close to her, but Navier assumed she was mocking her instead. And Sovieshy obviously never helped this situation.

I want to see a story where Rashta's traumatic past is properly explored instead of showing it as side information, and she gets the development she should have had. And what better way than with a reincarnation story? At least in my opinion

Anyway, thanks for coming to my ted talk lmao

[murasaki-cha]

I've recently gotten into web comics but I don't like most of the male characters in romance comics, they do some really creepy things that seem to just get swept under the rug. Do you have any recommendations for some good romance comics?

*cracks neck* I've trained for this day for years

This is going to be a combination of manhwa, manhua, webtoons and probably some manga too, of all kinds of genres, most are my favorites and I'll explain why so pick whatever catches your interest.

Post is going to be super long so:

I Stan The Prince -> starting of with a strong one, the fl writes a fanfiction about the notorious ex crown prince and raises his popularity. Now she has to work with him and write another book all while dealing with political drama and dark royal secrets. This manhwa rescently just came back from an incredibly long hiatus, it has no novel it's an original manhwa and the main couple are literally the cutest most in love mutual pining idiots ever they're married they just don't know it yet

Hidden Love -> Warning this has a 7 age gap! The story starts when the fl is 13 and meets her brothers dormmate and falls in love with him but keeps it a secret and they lose contact. Years later when she's in college she reunites with the brother's friend and old feelings start to resurface and he slowly falls for her now that she is an adult. I am going to repeat this only once, no grooming, no weird underage romance, ml never liked her like that when she was a child her romance was one sided back then, both are consenting adults now. The fl helps ml with his struggling past and makes him realize he is worthy of love. The fl is strong and confident and she's the one saving the ml multiple times. The ml is literally such a green flag even if he's a big flirt when "courting" her. It's an incredibly touching story and it even has a drama

Eternal Love/First Froat -> set in the same universe as the story above, this is about the love story of the prev fl brother and the mc, his high school classmate. Both had a crush on each other back then but the fl pushed him away coldly and they seperated. Years later they met by chance and by chance yet again ended up as roommates. Slowly they realize the feelings never went away and they keep getting drawn to each other but the horribly tragic past of the fl and the reason she pushed the ml away slowly uncoveres too. This is a beautiful story of a love that never stopped. The mcs are literally meant to be and the fl is so strong after everything she's been through. And the ml is the most patient, caring mam ever everyone deserves a man like him. Literally the standard. Both these books can be read as stand alones but there are some hilarious moments that can only be completely understood if you read them both

Savinvg My Sweetheart -> You will cry so hard while reading this. Fl is the saintess' daughter and after the death of her husband who she was politically married to, she goes back in time a few months before their marriage and only has one goal, to save her kind husbad from her mother even if it causes her death. Both the fl and ml love each other so incredibly much but both think the other hates them because of the forced marriage yet that misunderstanding doesn't stop them from being the literal greatest cople ever! The are such a healthy couple and both are incredibly fleshed out and not just making romance their entire point of existance. Fl slowly gathers powers in order to stop her biological mother who is evil incarnate and save everyone. Ml works together with fl and on his own in order to strengthen his kingdom. And the link that connects them will literally have you crying for the next 20 years. The story is more of a found family/romance and it's one of the most well written stories ever, you will almost never find one loophone everything is planned to the T

Caught By The Villain -> the ml might start bad here but I'm telling you his character development is simply 👌 ✨️. Fl gets transported into the world of this novel she read as the twin sister of a minor villain. Later she has to join knighthood disgusted as her brother and somehow gets chosen as the personal guard of the crown prince, aka main villain, but also with the og!ml which is somewhat different from the story. Ok I'm going to start by saying the title is literally the greatest clickbait ever because almost everyone but the villain catch her and discovered she's a girl. The story has great representation and discusses about a lot of topics like gender and sexuality which you almost never find talked in manhwas. The ml starts bad but slowly by spending time with fl he realizes his mistakes, sincerely apologises tho does not expect forgiveness, promises to change and does keep his word, genuenly loves and cherishes her and is an all round little meow meow and I love him. He's a bi disaster too. Fl is strong and under lots of stress. She slowly gets closer with ml and realizes he's not just the big bad evil villain from the novel and the closer they get and the more genuine their friendship becomes, the more she feels guilty for hiding her true identity from ml. And the og!ml is a special case that I don't even wanna touch with a 10 foot pole so theres that. The development all these characters go through is slow and so perfectly written you don't even realize how much they changed until you go back and realise they're not the same as the beginong

Even If You Split My Mouth -> manga with japanese urban legends which means it has some gore and body horror. The story follows a Kuchisake-Onna and her contract fiancé, a 17 yo boy who has the power to strengthen her legend with his words so she won't disappear. She doesn't want this engagement while he is in love with her so they form a pact, if she can scare him within a year the engagement is off, if not than they get married. This is one of those stories that start all silly goofy but end up having some of the deepest lore ever. The fl is super cute for a yokai and she blushes a lot every time ml flirts. Ml is completly unphased by her scare attempts and loves her to bits. They're such a dumb cute couple and their love story is so fun and sad sometimes. All the side characters are entertaining and lovable. Really there's not one bad thing I can say about this manga, it deserves more love

You Are My Desire -> high school sweethearts and later uni sweethearts. Fl moves to a new city and school after her parents messy divorce and her father's remarriage. While looking around she stumbles upon a tatoo shop and amazingly embarrasses herself in front of the tattooist. On the first day of school she happens to end up as deskmates with that same tattooist who's coincidentally the school tyrant but slowly it becomes visible this tyrant doesn't act like a tyrant at all and so a weird relationship is born out of the two of them. The two mcs are one of the best couples I've ever read. They slowly heal heach others wounds and teach each other that they love them even with their scars. I don't wanna say a lot since the manhua only has aroumd 20 chapters and there's so much story from the novel that hasn't been told yet. There's slso a drama that was rescently released

Daytime Star -> modern manhwa. An actress who has been cast as nothing but an extra for almost 10 years lands a small role where she gets to play along one of the best male actors in the industry. After that they both can't stop thinking about each other and that's how their love story begins. One of the healthiest modern manhwa couples ever! They're literally so cute they will call you single in all languages pf the world and more. I also loved that the fl slowly rose to fame almost all on her own using her own strength and talent with very few minor moments where others helped. It's a great story and it talks about the struggles of working on the korean entertainment industry too

Villains Are Destined to Die -> oh where do I begin with this masterpiece! Fl gets transmigrated into a dating sim she was playing as the villaines and she's currently in the hard mode which makes it super dificult for her to clear the game. She has to increase the affection percentage of the capture targets so she can go back to her old life and avoid the bad ending which always results in her death. This is literally one of those stories that gets you hooked on the very first chapters alone. Fl goes through so much and she's such a tragic character. All she wants is a peaceful life and she works damn hard for it. Her family is just exhausting but they slowly develop besides SOME who shall not be named. The ml, which you'll probably figure out who it is lile halfway through because he's just that iconic, is literally THE BEST, THE STANDARD! I love him so much and it might not show it in the begining chapters but he's is just perfect. The romance is more secondary tho and the story focuses more on the fl's struggles to survive and the discovery of the secrets that can change the fate of the entire kingdom.

See You In My 19th Life -> this rescently got a drama and I recommend watching that too. Fl is a reincarnator who remembers all her lives besides the first one. In her 19th life she resolves to find a boy form her 18th life who made her enjoy life again after so many reincarnations and made her wish she was reincarnated once again. She manages to get a job in the hotel he manages and immediately asks him to date. Thus begins the story of her following and flirting with her love from the prevous life without him knowing it's her and slowly healing his scars and traumas while also solving the mystery of her reincarnation. The story us full of mystery and absurdly cute couples. The ml is traumatized by fl's death since she died quite literally right in front of his eyes when he was really young and he also has a crap ton of family drama to deal with. The fl loves the him so much and tries her best to help him not just physically but emotionally too. She's like a breath of fresh air for the ml and their love is just so selfless. He loves her even when he doesn't know she's his first love reincarnated. The side couple is literally amazinv too and I would need an entire paragraph to talk about them too. The mystery of the webtoon always keeps you on the edge. Overall amazing webtoon and has an amazing kdrama!

(I'm getting tired and I have to wake up early tomorrow so I'm just gonna drop some titles with no explenation now. There might be some shounen ai in there fyi)

A Stepmother's Marchen

How To Win My Husband Over

Death To Lady White Ferret

Positively Yours

Business Propsal (Also has a great kdrama)

Sasaki to Miyano

A Good Day To Be A Dog (kdrama rescently started)

Till Debt Do Us Apart

Shoujinkou Nikki

Hirano to Kagiura

Given

The Reason Why Raekiana Ended Up At The Duke's Mansion (also has an anime)

Once More

Love Like Cherry Blossoms

Tsuiraku JK to Haijin Kyoushi (it's a student x teacher but honestly it's more of a dark comedy manga and it's hilarious so I recommend it)

I Raised Cinderella Preciously

The Perks of Being A Villainess

Ajatsuki no Yona

My Secretly Hot Husband

Ok that's all I can squeeze out of my brain for now. Hope you enjoyed the recs

[gigigazelleloves]

Warning: Heartstopper Rant

As much as I love Heartstopper I will say that it is hard for me to get into the fandom. I love the concept of the heartstopper but I feel afraid to comment on the execution because I know fans here can be brutal but you know what? Here is my FAIR criticism of heartstopper (the show, not so much the webtoon).

I HATE how Tara's character is written. She seems like the woman of color side kick who is just there to validate white characters (Nick and Darcy specifically). It's like she's only there to push the plot forward and I was hoping she'd become more of her own character like Isaac in season 3 but I was wrong. You know what, I wasn't the biggest fan of the panic attack/perfectionist plot (I would've personally preferred if it had taken different route) but I was happy she was getting a storyline. Turns out the storyline was just supposed to be a yes-man to the fact that Charlie (a white character) was doing better in his mental health struggle. I also feel like Alice also doesn't understand Black British culture because what black immigrant mother is letting her daughter's girlfriend stay in her bedroom for more than a month? I'll tell you, no one from that culture is doing that, and if they are, you must be a fuckin unicorn. And again that storyline was just to push Darcy's story forward plot wise.

I feel the same way about Sahar, like she's just there to push Imogen or even sometimes Nick's story forward. Like yeah, the girl of middle eastern ethnicity just found out she likes women, why are we throwing a good story to the side? I get Imogen was in season 1, but Sahar was an original character from the comic and I personally think she deserves a better story because she in general is a better character than Imogen (no offense Imogen).

Now I know people will bring up Elle and say that she gets a lot of screen time but I would like to remind everyone that Elle has a white mother and is stated to have her father not interact with his side of the family due to their transphobia. She has a completely different experience also because she is with another person of colour (who also is mixed). But that's a whole different rant.

Bottom line I feel like Sahar and Tara are there to check off boxes, not to be full fledged characters which is disappointing as they have so much potential that gets thrown out the window . I would also like to state that I can see Alice and whatever fellow writers are trying. I will also say entertainment media has gotten better for minorities. However, Heartstopper still does have room for improvement when it comes to characters of colour. I would just like to finish this rant by stating that this situation proves how much white privilege still exists in the LGBTQ community and how that just because your queer doesn't mean you are exempt from being privileged.

Edit: I was not aware that Alice went by she/they pronouns so my grammer that needs to be fixed it will be done. Just let me know down in the comment area of this post.

[twomanyfandomshelp]

I’m rewatching Heartstopper because I literally cannot wait until October 3rd and I need more of this show pumped directly into my veins. It comes out two days after my seventeenth birthday, which is kinda exciting. But I digress.

I literally watched the whole first season today, which is quite impressive considering I actually did a lot of other things and didn’t start watching it until about two in the afternoon. And I finished it at like 10 pm, so it’s not like I stayed up super late to finish it either.

Rewatching this show I was giggling and kicking my feet and also yelling at the screen because sometimes the characters make kinda dumb choices and even though I already know how everything ends I still get way too invested. I just love this show so much, it’s such a comfort show for me.

My friend got me into the graphic novels right after season one released on Netflix, and after reading the whole series in two days (at the time there were four books, and soon after I found the WEBTOON and sped through that as well), I binged the entire show that day.

Heartstopper is such a pure show, and it just shows that representation is so important. I’ve heard so many stories of people realizing their sexuality (ME!) or finding the courage to come out to their parents or their friends or at school, and I think there’s just something so magical about this show.

Minor spoiler here, but Issac’s arc in season two was one of the things that kinda helped me realize that I was aroace because when I was watching the show and watching how he interacted with James and romance it made me think “huh, that’s kinda how I feel” and then I did some research (mostly comprised of scrolling the aromantic and asexual tags on tumblr, but a bit of googling as well) and realized that I’m aroace. So this show, that I already absolutely adored, suddenly became the catalyst for realizing my sexuality, and it just has such a special place in my heart. Whenever I’m sad I always rewatch the show or reread parts of the WEBTOON because it never fails to make me smile. To give me hope that there are others out there who are like me, even though all of my friends are straight and cis. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, I love my friends, and they were all very supportive when I came out to them, but they just don’t understand sometimes. They don’t really understand what it’s like to be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. To be different. It’s not like I’m out publicly, only a few of my close friends know, but it’s still hard sometimes not having anyone to talk to about all this (besides all my wonderful aspec moots of course). My irl friends just don’t understand that sometimes I feel broken, or like there’s something wrong with me. Because, even though I’m very comfortable with my sexuality, I’m in high school, and romance and sex are such a big thing, and it can sometimes be a little overwhelming or isolating when you don’t feel those forms of attraction. Especially when two of your best friends have boyfriends. And I’m very happy for them, but sometimes it stings a little knowing that I can never have that. Obviously queer platonic relationships exist, and that’s definitely something that I want for myself in the future, but it’s just different.

My mom watched the first season with me after I wouldn’t shut up about it, and then again when season two came out we watched it together (it was like my third watch through both times lol). Once season three comes out, and we see more of Issac’s arc of self discovery and figuring out his sexuality, I might end up using it as a bit of a starting point to come out to her, but I don’t know. I know that she and my dad are very supportive of the LGBTQIA+ community, but it’s just so different and scary. Any advice?

P. S. I did not mean to write this much, if you read this whole post, thank you. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read about my ramblings.

[cryptidsmagick]

About Soulbonds...

Intro

So, I thought I might talk about this as it's not really a big part of my practice per se, but it is part of my experience and sometimes pokes into the WitchShit™️.

Most people, when talking about soulbonds, are talking about an intentional connection to, most popularized, a fictional character's soul.

Well, that is not my experience.

People often forget that soulbonding started with... walk-ins. Before it was even called soulbonding and developed its own community, it was predominantly, if not completely, walk-ins.

Okay, I'm going to ask you all not to click away yet. I have absolutely no issue with the modern practice of soulbonds, I just want to explain the origins and my personal experience.

Let me introduce you to something called a Lost Soul.

Lost Souls

A Lost Soul is a soul that, after their original body dies, quite literally becomes lost. They may be incarnated (not reincarnated) into another body, coexisting with the Host Soul and sometimes controlling the body (soul shifting). However, there are cases where they don't coexist and completely replace the Host Soul (soul swapping).

A Lost Soul...is quite frankly a Soulbond.

Some Lost Souls simply wander the realm of the undead, sometimes body-hopping (like a particular pesky soulbond named Astra I had to deal with).

The concept of Lost Souls show up in various things (webtoons, animes, fanfiction, witch communities, plural communities, etc) and it's...hard to pin down the origin. However, doing some research, I did dig up that the terms "soul shift" and "soul swap" (and "walk-ins"!) are used by those who incorporate the Akashic Records into their practice.

The Akashic Records were first coined in the 1800s, but individuals claimed that the records existed in BC. It was officially known as part of Theospy later on in the 1900s.

Here's an article I found on the different types of walk-ins. (I found more but I would...not recommend wasting your time.)

In Shamanism, they were sometimes mentioned as "Free Souls." However, Free Souls may be interpreted slightly differently depending on the tribe and people.

In my research, however, I could not find anything about the origin of the term, "lost soul." Just the occasional usage of it.

We personally, frankly, can barely remember the first time we heard the phrase, but we have run into people with residing souls that resonate with Lost Soul more than Soul Bond which... I found interesting, frankly.

The Differences

Now, here's the thing. So far, while reading this, you might thing, "oh, the difference between modern and historical soulbonding is intention!"

...no.

There's a reason I said most people earlier. Many people start soul-bonding by accident. However, note that the linked resource is an example for fictional characters, which once again are in the majority for soulbonding.

In addition, I can't really call Lost Souls and whatnot "historical" soulbond because of how it apparently still happens in modern day, but I can't call it "traditional" soulbonding either. They're both under the same umbrella though, that's for sure.

Paradoxical, however, the main difference is the intention, just in a different way than you expect. Mainly:

Intentionally creating a character and developing a bond as you do so.

Actively wishing to be/be like a character.

Acting in the writing practice of letting the character "take over" and write their "own story."

Plus similar situations. Meanwhile, with Lost Souls, it's more of:

Not a choice made while you're alive. Those who believe in the Akashic Records might believe that walk-ins/walk-outs might be planned before birth, but not during life. They might also believe a soul swap might occur when you lose with will to live, but that's more of dying spiritually rather than choosing to.

Some other differences from Soulbonding include:

Can be a fictional character, but more often, people and things you have absolutely no connection to. Sometimes you might have a connection with them in a past life, but it's uncommon.

Has a higher chance of being malicious (or becoming malicious) than soulbonds.

A Lost Soul may sometimes struggle to leave, unlike a Soulbond. But this is not always the case.

Although the Lost Souls may be a predecessor, it's different enough to be its own thing and/or an umbrella. Kind of like how otherkin is the older term and umbrella for therianthropy, but they're considered distinct things (as they have differences).

My Own Experience

As of currently, our residing soulbonds:

Apostasia (not the fictional character)

The Arbiter/Noren/Gale (not the fictional character[s])

Autumn Fae (he refuses to say his name)

Neuvillette (the fictional character)

"The God" (also refuses to say his name)

Soulbonds who frequently hop in:

Astra

Stardust Cookie (the fictional character; humanoid)

Bennette (the fictional character)

Fierce Deity Link (the fictional character)

All of these soulbonds align more accurately with Lost Souls. Apostasia and the Arbiter are both incarnated deities, for example.

The Autumn Fae showed up randomly one day and still hasn't left. He's distinctly his own soul.

Neuvillette comes and goes (which the Arbiter also does), but mostly resides here. We can distinctly sense his sovereign.

All four of those weren't intentional summonings, and the only one we had any connection to was Neuvillette as we were playing the game at the time. Even the Arbiter, who looks similar to a character from childhood, was here before we were even introduced to the character.

Sartdust Cookie visited before he was 1) released to the game and 2) before we were introduced to the game. Same goes for Bennette and Link (and we did not know about Fierce Deity Link until much later). Astra's just a normal guy.

Even if Neuvillette was a normal soulbond, all of the others above didn't have the preexisting connection to be Soulbonds.

Where Are You Getting With This?

Because of the evolution of terms over time, many lost souls are considered to be soulbonds. I personally use the term soulbond because it's easier for people to understand. But there is a history to this all and I wanted to share it. As mentioned at start, I don't have a problem with modern practice. The point of this isn't to bash on modern soulbonding or claim it's "appropriated" or anything similar—previous practices aren't superior, and both are valid.

The point of this is to share information and my own experience for others to learn from them.

[sodapunked]

🌟💙ELECTRIC ANGEL💙🌟

It appears I'm working on another drawing, which is currently being sketched at the moment as we speak. (Pinterest's collage feature is pretty useful for gathering a lot of references at once so you don't have to download the images you need one at a time if I do say so myself! :>)

This is one of the many drawings that I've done of Galveston, specifically what he looked like in the past before he was killed, if you have forgotten, Galveston used to be mayor of LPTT (little people tiny town).

There is so much that I can say about him, but right now, I'm going to give off some lore, about how he got banished from Thayas so let's get into it.

- SodaPunked

THE BANNING OF 2004⬇️

In 2004, emperor Kong-Rey has found out about the existence of this guy, he didn't like Galveston and thought of him as slightly annoying. Something about him bothered him. But he didn't hate him, he just found him obnoxious.

One day the mayor came for a visit to the palace, to have a word with him, to tell him the truth that "Kongphobia" isn't real and that not everyone is going to like him.

When he told him, the emperor lost his mind and went ballistic, he decided that Galveston will officially be public enemy number 1, on the emperor's blacklist, and banned from visiting Thayas. It went as far as ordering all the guards to go door to door, finding every merchandise of Galveston and mass burn it. Kong-Rey of course told everyone that Galveston was not what people think he is, essentially turning most of the citizens against mayor Galveston.

5 days later, Galveston, his brother, and his wife started getting death threats. From writing on his house, to outright telling all three that they're going to kill them. Literally anything to threaten the lives of Galveston and his family.

After this, Galveston reported this horrific behavior to Kong-Rey and that if he doesn't take action against this, he'll take him to court. Of course Kong-Rey thought this wouldn't happen, so he was shocked. He then made a statement to every citizen, hopefully to stop the threats against Galveston. However most people listen while a very few didn't.

Overtime, Galveston began to receive less and less threats after that. To the point where he doesn't get them anymore, even after this, Kong-Rey still dislikes him for his supposed kongphobia and for being annoying.

The End... for now.

For now on, whenever I discuss some character lore, I'm going to highlight it, for... reasons. Again, if you have any questions, I'll be answering them, so... yeah.

INSTAGRAM / WEBTOON

[coconut530]

ok I'm rambling again so yeah. Hello veteran worshippers I'm new :)

I mean, like I knew about Sleep Token, heard The Summoning first in one of my Trigun artist’s Tiktoks, then heard Take Me Back To Eden in a video by the creator of Covenant Webtoon. Listened to those songs for fun sometimes, but then TMBTE got ✨stuck✨ in my head. Then I was like “Live video of TMBTE??? Does it exist?”

And like. Why didn’t I get into this band sooner.

First off here’s The Summoning and TMBTE so you can see my pipeline:

And then THIS RITUAL introduced me to the band, which was FREAKING AMAZING IT’S SUCH A GOOD RECORDING!!

I love their aesthetic, secondly. You don’t see many mysterious bands these days, and these guys deliver so well. Every single member has a distinct and interesting look that's all so cool. I love how the Vesselettes/Espera exist, like that's amazing and I love seeing them. Vessel looks so fun to draw I wanna do it at some point. This is the first band I’ve found that just speaks to my OCs more than other fictional characters. Probably gonna see me animate Dark Signs with one of them soon enough.

Third, like… their lyrics are some of the most creative and evocative things I’ve heard in so long. It kinda sucks they don’t do many interviews bc I’m dying to know what goes through their heads when they write this amazing music. Some of my favorite lyrics are in a list below so you don’t read a gigantic paragraph, and will also show you my favorite songs I’ve found:

Chokehold: Still getting into this one, but "So show me that which I cannot see / Even if it hurts me / Even if I can’t sleep / Oh, and though we act out of our holy duty to be constantly awake / You’ve got me in a chokehold" is a build that always gets me so hyped up

Granite: just found this one, it's so BADASS!! "When you sit there acting like you know me... So keep an eye on the road, or we'll both be here forever" is so freaking awesome. I need like an animated music video that just illustrate the lyrics bc that'd be so cool

Like That: "Fall into your eyes like a grave (all that is inside, all your anger) / Bury me to the sound of your name, no (all your disgust, all your resentment) / Fall into your eyes like a grave (all your difference, all your pain) / Bury me to the sound of your name (all your pain)." There's so much resentment in this song and it's dripping off of these lyrics specifically, it's awesome

Missing Limbs: just found this one also but OMG it made me tear up the first time watching it in the Red Rocks Ritual! It's so sweet and tender, by the time you get to the title at the end you just get punched in the feels. "I'd give anything / To balance your conviction with certainty / To fall asleep without you lying next to me / To sever my connection with everything ... And I'll live like I've got missing limbs for you" IS SO GOOD HURTS MEEEEEEEE

The Summoning: -insert the rest of the song after 5:00- Obviously this is the part everyone uses in their social media posts, and I am not immune to its allure. It’s amazing!

Take Me Back To Eden: -insert the entire second chorus- and "And I don't know what's got its teeth in me / but I'm about to bite back in anger / And no amount of self-sought fury / will bring back the glory of innocence." The way Vessel sings this is so desperate and like enhances the lyrics so much more augh

Aqua Regia: honestly like all of it. The rap-ish style with the creative lyrics is so cool and the imagery of it all is so vivid. I love how the second chorus builds with the verse. It has such a steady, pungent rhythm that's so fun to sing

Rain: "I know, I know, I am what I am / The mouth of the wolf, the eyes of the lamb / So darling, will you saturate? / -second chorus-." I love the opposites in this verse, so interesting. The chorus has that yearning (tm) and I'm all here for ittttttt

The Night Does Not Belong To God: "When you live by daylight / With angels at your side." It's literally two lines but after the beautiful build that intros the song and his angelic voice, it does something to you

Dark Signs: I melt into a puddle every time I hear "I might break and bend to my basic need to be loved and close to somebody." The line is evocative enough just hearing it once, but making it a backing vocal that’s always playing just makes it punch you over and over. All the beat drops in this song are amazing

Atlantic: EVERY FREAKING WORD AND NOTE IN THIS SONG

I need y'all to like... hear Atlantic at Red Rocks specifically (cw: flashing):

This is the main reason I made this post bc... LIKE EVERYONE NEEDS TO HEAR THIS HELLO?!?!?!?!?!?!?!! This version is so amazing I barely listen to the studio version. "Sobbing as they turn to statues at the bedside / I'm trying not to crush into sand." I can't tell you what exactly but this makes me feel things. "Call me when they bury bodies underwater / It's blue light over murder for me / Crumble like a temple built from future daughters / To wastelands when the oceans recede" is a phenomenal verse and I've never felt more connected to the ocean when I hear it. The piano, the vocals, the instruments, the venue, II singing at the end, the vesselettes, the lights. Oh my god. The outro. Soothing and angelic omggggg. That beat drop?!?!?! ✨ w h a t ✨ . They've put an addictive substance into every one of their songs but this one is like an overdose. Can't get anything done all I'm thinking about is this -flails hands at video-. Vessel is literally a vessel in this song bc whatever entities the band made a deal with to have music this good are singing through him here.

And like the fourth thing. By now listening to all these songs may have made you realize:

what can’t they do?!?! Their music just goes into so many different genres sometimes and it’s amazing. Never heard a band this versatile.

Uh, yeah. That's been my experience with Sleep Token so far, and I am so normal about them, as you can see :D !!!!! Excited to be into them and this community. Any of my followers reading this who don't know who they are, go check them out, they're freaking amazing. They will change you.

[kikker-oma]

Ok, Even As Shadows has been stareing at me forever so I just want to ask, will we ever see anything? Ooo wait are you going to be a professional author and your just advertising your book now until you can get it published? Sorry I'm a book worm and it seems so interesting!

Have a good day!

Hehehe nobody has asked about that before!!!!! Not that I talk about it, but still hehehe

Even As Shadows is a personal comic that I’ve had for about 10 years. It’s gone through 3 different iterations and many on and off years of development, but the characters are very near and dear to my heart❤️

I actually published 2 versions on Webtoons years ago. It started out as “Southwest” then “Compass”, then a third unnamed project, and now it’s “Even as Shadows”!

It’s very much a story about found family dealing with a major loss of a loved one, and how each of their individual problems affect each other and how leaving their emotions unaddressed has serious consequences. The Twist is that it’s a bit of a supernatural-esque story. It’s treated more as a superstition, but there have been cases where severe negative emotions give birth to what’s called a Hazeling. Creatures of superstition considered bad omens leading people to insanity - feeding off their already deteriorating mental states.

In this story, Hazelings exist, but they seem more like children than creatures that lead you to your demise. The story revolves around 3 men and 3 young Hazelings, trying to live life together and deal with their respective traumas and problems while keeping each other safe.

The story has changed soooo much that it’s a bit of a mess haha. I actually started redrawing in 2021, but then my computer died and I couldn’t save anything from my hard drive so I lost years of work. It was quite depressing lol. I stopped drawing for about a year.

I actually originally started drawing LU fanart as a motivator to get me drawing again!

I want to get back into it. Maybe just starting off with small sketches and comic panels to get a feel for it again and see who’s interested.

I lost most all of my drawings, but here’s one photo that was stored on my google drive! It’s 4 years old, so it’s NOT a current drawing, but it’s an idea of what they look like 🥰

[genericpuff]

Webtoons Is Making Moves - So Should You.

We all saw it coming ages ago and now it's finally here. There's no more beating around the bush or doubting if anyone is "reading into it too much", Webtoons' use of AI in its more recent webtoons is not an accident, not an oversight, but by design, it always has been. And I guaran-fucking-tee you that the work that already exists on the platform won't be safe from Webtoons' upcoming AI integration through scraping and data mining. Sure, they can say they're not gonna replace human creators, but that doesn't change the fact that AI tools, in their current form, can't feasibly exist without stealing from pre-existing content.

Plus, as someone who's tested their AI coloring tools specifically... they're a long, LONG way away from actually being useful. Like, good luck using them for any comic style that isn't Korean manwha featuring predominantly white characters with small heads and comically long legs. And if they do manage to get their AI tools to incorporate more art styles and wider ranges of character identities... again, what do you think it's been trained on?

Also, as an added bit that I found very funny:

Um, I'm sorry, what fucking year is it? Because platforms like WT and Tapas have both been saying this for years but we're obviously seeing them backpedal on that now with the implementation of in-house publishing programs like Unscrolled which have reinvented the wheel of taking digital webtoons and going gasp physical! It's almost like the platform has learned that there's no sustainable profit to be had in digital comics alone without the help of supplementary streams of income and is now trying to act like they've invented physical book publishing!

"The future of comic publishing, including manga, will be digital"??? My brother in christ, Shonen Jump has been exclusively digital since 2012! What rock have the WT's staff been living under that they're trying to sell digital comics as the "future" to North Americans as if we haven't already been living in that future for over ten years now?? We've had an entire generation of children raised on that same digital media since then! This isn't the selling point you think it is LMAO If anything, the digital media market here in NA is dying thanks to the enshittification of digital content platorms like Netflix, Disney+, and mainstream social media platforms! That "future" is not only already both the past and present, but is swiftly on its way out! Pack it up and go home, you missed the bus!

Literally so much of WT's IPO pitch is just a deadass grift full of corporate buzzwords and empty promises. They're trying so hard to convince people that their business model is infinitely profitable... but if it were, why do they need the public's money? And where are all those profits for the creators who are being exploited day after day to fill their platform with content? Why are so many creators still struggling to pay their bills if the company has this much potential for profit?

Ultimately even their promised AI tools don't ensure profit, they ensure cutting expenses. The extra money they hope to make isn't gonna come from their content generating income, it's gonna come from normal people forking over their money in the hopes that it'll be turned around, and from Webtoons cheapening the medium even further until it's nothing but conveyer belt gruel. Sure, "making more than you spend" is the base definition of "profit", but can we really call it that when it's through the means of gutting features, retiring support programs, letting go editing staff, and limiting resources for their own hired freelancers who are the only reason they even have content to begin with? That's not sustainable profit or growth, that's fighting the tide which can and will carry them away at any moment.

I'm low key calling it now, a year or two from today we're gonna be seeing massive lawsuits and calls to action from the people who invested their money into WT and subsequently lost it into the black hole that is WT's "business model". This is a company that's been operating in the red for years, what about becoming an IPO is gonna make them "profitable"? Let alone profitable enough to pay back their investors in the spades they're expecting? The platform and its app are already shit and they're about to become even worse, we are literally watching this company circle the drain in the modern day's ever-ongoing race to the bottom, enshittification in motion, but they're trying to convince us all the same that they're "innovating".

Webtoons doesn't want to invest in its creators. We as creators need to stop investing in them.

[microwaving-tesilid-argente]

Honestly thank you so much for always creating S-rank heroine (and Tesilid) content! I just stumbled into your blog today after searching for S-Rank Heroine content in Tumblr and I can already see myself looking forward to any of your future posts.

Everytime I read any of your posts I lose my mind a little bit more (especially Thesilid's "you've always sided with the world",,, I didn't realize the meaning of why he said that until I read your post after [SPOILER] happens and I'm wrecked because,,, Thesilid,,, *shakes his shoulders* he has been through so much and he deserves a vacation)

I am also curious about your pfp, did you draw it yourself or was it a panel from the manhwa? I don't think I've seen it before, but then again I might've missed or misremembered it (I really need to reread it soon...)

WAAAH THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK!!!

did a little dance when i saw the follower notif and now im wiping happy tears!! when i first checked the s-class heroine tag on tumblr i was so devastated to find NOTHING apart from just novel covers orz. im so glad to hear that i helped make your experience different! tysm for telling me so i can have this moment <3

(cut for length)

and thank you for following me on my adventure of losing my mind about tesilid argente, the moment i connected the dots for "you're on the side of this world" was legit so bad. like realising [spoiler] felt like a horror reveal, and rereading every tesilid moment after was a growing sense of fascinated horror and when i read that line, for a second of blissful ignorance that line was the same but then i connected the dots and i had to legit pause during my reread and press my hand to my eyes and choke out a little sob. i want to wrap him up in a blanket so bad. i rly understand why ailette is so overprotective of him now, but the fact that ailette is also a source of stress for him.... ughhhh.

anw for my pfp, it's from ch 31 of the webtoon! it's when ailette is told by the TM gods that she only exists in tesilid's 17th timeline and she imagines what it must be like for him

i love this moment bc whenever i read it pre-spoiler i was like hahaha so cute and funny and tesilid looks sooo cute as a doll and ill also not think abt the implications of this and hope for the best.

and then post spoiler it's just. the most devastating thing ever. it's so cruel that it's presented so cutely. i love it. it makes me want to scream and howl.

and in the parts of the novel that i've read, i haven't even seen how tesilid actually feels about this and dealt with it. i bet it's gg to be like when ailette finally found him again and he was in way worse shape than i could have ever imagined.

[winns-stuff]

are there... actually any good webtoons on webtoon? i used to be a big fan back when i was 17/18 and i started reading them again (i'm 22 now and a bit more critical of what i read lol) and i'm just... appalled... i agree with all the criticism of lore olympus, true beauty was a mess, snailords apparently abuses his fans, and in his recent story he had a lesbian woc be a victim of sa who was eventually graphically murdered. he used the fact that she was a lesbian as advertisement. unordinary used to be a favorite of mine but as i was getting caught up i was so triggered by one character's abuse of another (idk if you've read it or plan to read it so i won't specify) that i felt physically ill and could not read anymore. i skipped ahead a few chapter to see if they end up together or if the victim cuts off her abuser but she doesn't and now it seems like she's in a trauma bond. it paralleled my own abusive relationship so strongly i was horrified to see so many people shipping them and defending the abusive character. i only found one post on reddit pointing the abuse out and it was downvoted. i used to like let's play too but i tried rereading it and just couldn't take it seriously, the workplace harassment that happens in the first few eps is just ridiculous. i've also heard that mongie is also very bad at taking criticism. i love yoo has a romance between a 17 year old and a man in his i believe mid 20s. is there a single healthy relationship on this app? or a quality story? i feel like i should just delete the app at this point.

sorry for ranting in your inbox lol, i'm too anxious to make an actual post and i really appreciate your lo criticisms though i am genuinely curious if there are any stories worth reading on webtoons at this point.

you’re more than fine to rant in my inbox you don’t have to apologize, I encourage people to rant and such! I appreciate that you like my criticisms they’re mainly all over the place. But I can say that there are some good webtoons out there! Me personally I enjoy a lot of the canvas ones since I feel like their stories are very promising and interesting. But I can tell you some of my favorites just in case you might want to check it out.

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures — I really liked this one honestly, it’s just a slice of life and the plot surrounds itself with the family and fighting crime and such in Gotham. It’s pretty funny too and wholesome.

Roach — I stopped reading around episode 6 but not because I didn’t like it, I just got caught up with other things and forgot to check in with it. But it’s a horror one so beware of the blood and such, I’m not sure if they have any triggering themes but I’ll double check in the comments for that one.

Midnight Furies (Canvas) — Very interesting and fun, it’s about magical basketball basically and whenever you go to the court you gain these superpowers. It’s got drama and such and it also has a woman of color as the main character. I think it’s really neat and it could be good for you if you enjoy action.

The Human Spirit (Canvas) — I haven’t exactly checked in with this one either in a bit but it starts in a fantasy world where powers exist. There’s a lead singer for I believe an alt band (could be metal but genuinely I don’t remember, I’ll edit this once I check back in) that plays live music for this female fighter (also a woman of color) and they instantly like each other and go out on a date until during their time together the inner city gets their individual powers taken from them. Like superpower wise, which lead these two to go on this journey. Although there is a falling out between the two main characters after this, still interesting though.

Emmy The Robot (Canvas?) — This one is my all time favorite. It uses a trope that I love a little too much which is when a robot nanny accidentally starts wiring out of control (not in a violent way) but she’s in need of answers. It’s like this cool dystopian world where androids take care of your children and they all have personalities and such, it’s a very cute and light hearted story.

The Reincarnation Of Countess Diabolique (Canvas) — This one is one of those tropes where a person dies and they’re sucked into a book that they got but unlike the other ones I actually really like this one. The main character was this political figure who I believe either got assassinated or something but after death she got teleported into the book that her husband or boyfriend gave her. I enjoy that she’s really rational and less cheerful about it, she’s mainly trying to rebuild the economy in her kingdom even though the character before created numerous amounts of terrible things using dark magic. I think the characters and art is really nice, there’s some things I have to say about it but I think it’s just a personal nitpick. It’s one of my favorites as well though.

Pyramid Game — Okay this one isn’t as light hearted as the other webtoons I discussed, it’s definitely in need of a trigger warning since there’s creepy behavior between a student and teacher and I believe some other heavy topics. But it’s all about the main character transferring to this prestigious school that has like a sort of popularity system where if you are voted around the D ranks you’re in the spot for being bullied pretty badly. I think it’s interesting but it might not be for everyone which is completely fine, but it does have an engaging plot. It’s a drama though.

Of Swamp & Sea — This is also a lighthearted webtoon, it’s set in a world where wild monsters run free and monster hunters have to round them up and capture them. The main characters father was eaten by one of them and she called a monster hunter in order to protect the rest of her land but after she accidentally got possessed by the very creature who ate him. Feeling guilty the monster hunter takes her along with him in order to free her from the monster and such. There’s romance going on between them but also a lot of action, drama, and a bit of lore. It’s set in like western times (I think?) and it’s a nice read.

Blue Love (Canvas) — Okay this one is filled with a few tropes which includes standoffish x friendly, perfectionist x laid back, closed off x open, and mix it in with an office romance. Luckily though, it’s without the power imbalances (at least I believe so) and their friendship isn’t at all toxic or anything. It’s basically about the main character being contaminated with blue blood (literally she bleeds blue) because of drinking a blue drink over the years while the main interest finds out about it, he swears not to tell anyone about it and helps her keep her secret from the other workers. Although she doesn’t have much of a good reputation since she is a perfectionist and a little more guarded than the average person. I like the dynamic and I have a few nitpicks with it but nothing too big, I enjoy it though.

Hippo Meets Piggi — It’s an adorable story about like animals but make them walk on two legs and work in a little office. It kinda reminds me of sanrio and it’s adorable, it’s a slice of life and the main character Hippo has a huge crush on Piggi which is her coworker, yeah it’s another office romance. It’s super duper lighthearted and adorable I recommend reading it if you enjoy stuff like that.

Super Cutie Sundae Force (Canvas) — I discovered it today and it’s also adorable, it’s a magical girl group and it follows a lot of it’s tropes. It’s got a lot of jokes and fun comedy though and the style is so cute since they’re all so little and pastel.

Get Schooled — I really enjoy this webtoon honestly, it does go into heavy topics of abuse in parents and adults and such so it might not be very suitable for you possibly, but luckily the victims always get a much better ending than the ones who inflicted pain upon them. Not only that but I enjoy how the webtoon highlights minors and advocates for them in times where adults would probably side with each other, it’s nice seeing a comic highlight something like that and although I have a few gripes with it I think the story is very entertaining and very emotionally engaging. But again, there’s a bunch of triggers so be warned if you are willing to read it, if not I understand completely.

Blue Star Rebellion (Canvas) — Now this also handles a very dark topic of human trafficking and trade although it is set in outer space with aliens and mages. The characters are very cool and I enjoy their designs, there’s also a lot of lore and such which I always enjoy in stories and the interactions between them are really good. I’m sure the heavy topic at the source will still be prevalent within the story so also be warned for that, but for now it’s pretty lighthearted and such.

My Superhero (Canvas) — I enjoy the art style and the world that the creator and I really enjoy the dynamic of the main characters. It’s sort of a slice of light showcasing a villain trying to find an arch-nemesis and wanting for a specific superhero to be that although he’s very busy trying to defeat the arch-nemesis he already has. I think it’s pretty fun and entertaining honestly and I’ve had fun reading it.

She Makes Hungry (Canvas) — This is a story set in like a dystopian future where there’s monsters and such with I believe like a hunter or scientist hunting them and defending the people? I’m not sure it’s been a while since I’ve revisited it but the scientist ends up falling in love with the monster even though she knows that it’s against the laws. But she tries to hide her and keep her safe and such. I think they’re banter is really cute and I really like the story, I believe it’s starting to pick up but I could be wrong.

Lemon Soda & Coffee (Canvas) — This one handles a toxic relationship from a man’s point of view since he’s the victim of it. So there’s a trigger there, but I believe that that’s the only heavy topic that it dives into. It’s mainly about this office working man falling in love with a teacher who has a kid. It’s a really cute romance and they’re neighbors so they become friends before anything and then build their relationship overtime which is cute to me. But again, beware of it if you are interested please tread lightly.

Blood Stain (Canvas) — This is by the same creator who created Punderworld and actually I’ve been reading this one before it came out really. It’s about a woman down on her luck and in need of a job decides to take up a sketchy job offer from a location of a mad scientist and his assistant basically. It’s actually really lighthearted and entertaining, I really like the dynamic of the two characters and I think it’s a nice story for what it is.

Planetarium (Canvas) — Okay umm.. so this is another workplace romance (I know, crazy right) but it does have a power imbalance between the two characters but around this time of the story they’re more like enemies than anything so there’s still a bunch of development that needs to be done. I think it’s pretty lighthearted and cool to see personified planets all working in a huge building in the middle of space. There’s drama of course but it’s actually very enjoyable and not suffering so yeah, take that as you will.

The Croaking — It’s a really complicated story and it’s one I just cannot explain with words honestly, there’s a lot of twists and turns and at times you’ll get confused but there’s never a dull moment with them. I really like the world building and such, also since the people in the story have bird wings you get so many patterns and animals facts. Some people even carrying animalistic traits with them which I think is really cool. But there are some tense moments around 68 so if you are interested be aware of that.

Suitor Armor — I really like this one too, although it does have some moments where it’s really heavy so beware of that if you aren’t already. I do enjoy the fantasy and drama elements and I’m really excited to see where it goes.

Downtrotten (Canvas) — I really like this story, it’s a cute story about unicorns and I think it’s neat I also started reading it today and I enjoy how cute it is.

Night Owls & Summer Skies — This one is pretty cool too, it’s about a romance between two girls who are at this summer camp. I have a few nitpicks with it but all in all I think it’s pretty interesting. It does showcase divorce and it’s affects though so beware of that, but otherwise it’s just pretty fun to read and really funny.

After School Lessons For Unripe Apples — I really like this one it’s a slice of life but it’s a constant plot revolving around two teens who knew each other from childhood forming a friendship and working their way through adolescents. I really enjoy it although at times I do get a little confused but that’s just me and I really love the way the characters are written and such.

Nevermore — I haven’t read all of it but from the feedback from other people it’s pretty good and it’s got really nice art. I believe the story is kinda putting a supernatural twists to sapphics or at least I think that’s what the ads sorta say about it. I think it’s really cool though.

Rotten — This one is a finished webtoon but it’s really cool. It’s a horror drama thriller though and it does handle topics of abuse, murder, and etc. So beware of that if you’re interested in it but it’s one of my favorites.

Anyways, that’s the end and I hope that this gave you a good selection or helped you in any way! If none of these are for you I understand completely and I hope you find a story that suits you well! Good luck!

[the-commune-comic-fan-things]

Eli Bellerose 299, the local mechanic of a cult found family! 🥰

OC for a comic called The Commune by smokesalty; can be read on Webtoon, Tapas, or Instagram.

Overly Extensive Lore I Made For Him:

Name:

Eli Bellerose (ee-lie bell-uh-rose)

Number:

299

Height:

5’5

Main Cult Activities:

He’s the sort of unofficial main guy to fix things around the cult; it’s technically an ‘everyone does it’ kind of thing, but since Eli’s so good and quick about it, he just ends up doing it most of the time. He does the typical cult chores like everyone else, but if there’s something that needs fixing or a long standing project of something he’s been tasked to make, then that takes priority over him doing the regular chores. Rarely goes on missions, as he’s not very good at them, and gets too easily distracted and fascinated by what he sees while on the outside.

How He Got Into The Cult Life: TW: Child Abuse, Domestic Abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture

Eli’s mother was a wannabe actress, and his father was someone that believed in on the outskirts of society, living out in a cabin in the woods. They’d met one night when the mother had gotten lost in the woods, and he’d allowed her to spend the night. They’d gotten drunk and one thing had led to another, and they’d had sex. The next morning he’d led her out of the woods and that was that. However, weeks after his mother realized she was pregnant. At this point, Eli’s mother was only 19, and she was idyllic. She thought she could somehow have Eli, raise him on her own, and pursue her acting career. However, after having Eli, she quickly realized how difficult that would be, spiraling her into a depression. She tried to make it work, but after three years of having to work three minimum wage jobs, begging and paying and owing money to people to look after Eli, having no time to go to auditions; she just couldn’t do it. It didn’t help that whenever she got frustrated at her situation and at Eli’s existence she immediately fell into a spiral of self hatred for holding resentment towards her child. She thought that Eli and herself would be better off if she gave him away. So, she managed to once again get to the cabin in the woods, and leave three year old Eli there with a note in hand explaining everything. Eli’s father, from that night she remembered, seemed like a nice man. He was also older than her, by then 38, and in her mind he would know how to be more of a parent then her. She fully trusted that this was for the best as she left Eli in that empty cabin, not having it in her to wait for Eli’s father to come back to explain herself. And Eli’s father did come back, later that night, to see his three year old son who he didn’t know about. But what Eli’s mother didn’t know was just how terrible of a man she’d left her son with.

Eli’s father was a highly sadistic man, occasionally kidnapping people to torture them to death. He also really hates people, hence why he’s living in a cabin in the middle of the woods. The only reason he let Eli’s mom leave alive and unharmed was she had lied about being a famous actress, and he wouldn’t know since he lives out in the middle of nowhere, and he didn’t want to risk killing someone that would attract that much attention to her disappearance. So he wasn’t entirely pleased at the prospect of having a child around. But after thinking on it, he thought it might not be too bad to have someone around to torture without having to go through the trouble of kidnapping someone, so unfortunately, this would become Eli’s home. As Eli grows up, the only person he’s ever known is his serial killer father, as his dad didn’t bother with enrolling him in school or even taking him along on the few occasions his dad goes into the nearest town. And from his dad, he only knows two forms of behavior. The first, is being completely ignored, and the second, is his dad hurting him. When he’s being ignored, it’s as if he doesn't exist to his dad. He doesn't engage with him, nor does he respond if Eli tries to engage. His dad just kind of has food preserved along with a water supply, and Eli takes some whenever he gets hungry or thirsty. In the periods he would be ignored, Eli sort of just ran wild. He’d go all about the woods, and found a love of making things. He’d make small huts out of sticks, he’d make wooden stairs that circle around impossibly large trees, allowing him to reach the top. He’d make little trinkets out of the leaves and small plants he’d find.

But when his dad is in the mood to hurt him, it’s always horrific. His dad was aiming for whatever would make Eli feel the most pain, so he wouldn’t just hurt Eli; he’d torture him, usually for days on end, tying him down. And it was during these periods that he would talk to Eli, and it was very clear to Eli that this was happening because his dad wanted him to be in pain, that he derived pleasure from it. Eli also often bares witness to when his dad kidnaps individuals to torture to death. When he does this his dad would always tie Eli up to force him to watch, watching how his dad would get near manically happy as the people he kidnaps gutturally scream out. All of this leaves Eli with the impression that when people hurt others, he doesn't really consider options like it was out of rage or that they were lashing out or anything like that. He just considers it something people like doing.

And that was Eli’s existence for a long time, never knowing what the rest of the world was like. He wanted to ask his dad a few times, or get him to take him along whenever he went to town, but was too scared of eliciting another tortuous episode, so he didn't. However, when Eli was a teenager, during another instance of Eli being tied up and watching his dad torture someone to death, his dad had just finished the job when he had a sudden heart attack and died. Eli had long since stopped trying to escape when his dad would tie him down, it more so aimed to be painful then keep him captive, so he managed to unbind himself. He had no idea how his dad had died; he’d seen many people die before, but it was always after being injured, so he has no reference for his dad just seemingly dropping dead. He grieved, despite everything, for his father, the only person he’d ever truly known. He dragged the latest victim and his dad to the place he knew where his dad disposed of his dead victims and buried them there, not knowing what else to do. However, instead of burning their belongings like his dad did, he decided to keep the bag the latest victim came with. He was enraptured with all the things he found in there, fiddling with them and taking them apart to try and figure them out. But what he kept intact, was a phone, and a flier of Anopheles’ camp. Eli didn’t know how to read or what numbers were, nor did he know what a phone was and the concept of calling someone. But he is enchanted with everything the phone is doing, so he keeps it intact to mess with it some more. The internet wasn’t working, so he only really had access to the apps, but he still had a field day with it.

Weeks go by, and he’s processing. He didn’t miss the pain that came with his dad being around, and aside from that there was never much interaction between them. Slowly, he adapted to his dad not being around, and it wasn’t as if he was lonely, it was more so he was shaking off the routine. He’d always been in some form of pain throughout the entirety of his memory, so having his more recent injuries healing and not being replaced with new ones, to be truly healing, was such an alien feeling for him. He coped with it by looking at it as a sort of experiment, feeding into his curiosity rather than break down. He wants to find a way to get to town, having always wondered about it, and has sort of been trying to make his way there. So far he hasn’t had much luck, and the food he’d brought with him is dwindling. His dad never taught him how to hunt or gather, though he’s made some efforts in doing so with varying success. Then one day, he’s sort of fiddling with the phone, and he looks at the flier, and notices that he could recreate the pattern (phone number) into the phone. So he typed it in just to see what would happen. And somehow, with a lot of luck, an unlimited data plan, and probably some sort of urban magic within the phone, the call didn’t drop, and Anopheles picked up. Eli, having no idea what a phone call is, is absolutely enthralled, and is much more interested in what’s happening rather than answering anything Anopheles was asking him. It didn’t help that Eli wasn’t exactly well practiced in conversation; the only time he had anything resembling a conversation was during one of his dad’s torture session and he’s asked to repeat phrases meant to humiliate him, so he’s not exactly well versed in the “when someone talks to you, you’re expected to answer” kind of thing.

So Anopheles, expecting someone who was going to talk to him about going to his “camp”, and just hears on the other line some kid who’s not answering him half the time, sounds very fatigued, isn’t saying where he is, and basically is already planning this kid’s initiation on this phone call. He asks Eli to take a photo and send it to him, a function Eli had only recently figured out and is more than happy at another chance to take another one of these mysterious still pieces of time (photos). After painstakingly figuring out how to send the image, Anopheles has 01 get a portal to there, and appears in front of Eli, a malnourished, dirty, heavily scarred teenager all alone in the woods. Internally he’s basically like “perfect” and manages to gently coax Eli into the portal with him.

Once there, he takes Eli’s things to “look after them”, quickly assessing that the bag and what it contained didn’t originally belong to Eli, and Eli is being taken care of. He learns how showers work which was exciting for him, his remaining injuries get taken care of, and is given food. This amount of care is baffling to Eli, being completely unfamiliar with it, and he’s wary as to why Anopheles was doing this. He kinda looks around and tentatively asks if they were in town. Anopheles, who had been yapping at Eli with no response back, is excited to get some sort of ground work in and tells him they were in his community. There’s a sort of confusing back and forth and Eli gathers that there isn’t just one town in the whole world, which intrigues him, and Anopheles is just trying so hard to get a read on this kid. He’d been trying to prompt about where this kid came from and if he had any sort of parents, but had been getting less than stellar responses, which he takes for being a touchy subject. Then Eli starts talking about other towns and going to them, and he tries to shut that down fast, as he has already mentally taken Eli in as his newest child. He convinces Eli to stick around, and Eli just kinda figures this town would be as good as any other, resolving to move on after exploring around, not yet knowing the situation he was in.

Relationship With The Others And How They Affect Him:

Anopheles: TW: Abusive Dynamics, Cult, Infantilizing Someone Because Of Their Trauma

In the beginning, there was a misunderstanding between the two of them. Eli’s understanding of things was that when people hurt people, it was because they wanted to. So when he sees how Anopheles gives out his punishments, he thinks it’s just because Anopheles wanted to, that he was in the mood to humiliate or hurt someone. Eli didn’t understand the concept of “punishment”, not thinking that his own behavior could in any way make a difference in whether or not he would be hurt. He also considered Anopheles' forms of being physical towards his cult members to be so mild to what he’s used to, which was what gave him the incentive to want to stay, thinking of what an improvement this was, and how swell of a guy Anopheles is for his tastes of harming others to be so tame. Meanwhile, as for Anopheles, he was a bit baffled by Eli’s behavior. Because Eli is completely unfamiliar with the whole concept of “rules” and “punishment” and “consequence” thing, he’s breaking rules and protocol left and right. Anopheles doesn’t know what to makes of this, because he gets the impression that Eli isn’t trying to rebel or anything, and whenever Anopheles has to talk or punish Eli for his behavior, Eli just stares blankly, like he was just waiting for the whole thing to pass by, and then go about his day like nothing happened. Anopheles still, at that point, didn’t know anything about Eli’s past, as Eli has remained uncommunicative. He also wasn’t sure of Eli's level of attachment to Anopheles and the cult in general, other than he made no moves to try and leave.

Eventually, this boils over when Eli decides it’s high time to move on, as he really wasn’t picking up on the whole “you’re stuck here” vibes, and easily gets caught as he wasn’t exactly trying to hide the fact that he was leaving. It was a big mess, Anopheles was really going into him in front of the whole cult, leading up to some big punishment, Eli is just kinda standing there thinking this is just par for the course, not thinking it was because he was trying to leave. Eventually, Anopheles mentions some theoretical thing about “Why do you think I do this” about his punishments, and Eli looks him dead in the eyes and sincerely answers, “Because you want to.” He mistakes the baffled silence for Anopheles feelings being hurt, and wonders if Anopheles doesn’t like what he does pointed out. So he also tackles on, “Oh, don’t worry; your tastes are extremely mild.” Now, this shifts things. Anopheles took Eli to his office, and tried to get more clear answers out of him. It’s from this that Anopheles learns that Eli has no concept of there being an actual reason why Anopheles punishes his members, and that the only reason one would want to hurt someone was simply derived from a desire to. Anopheles connected the dots and managed to pry out of Eli more about his life. It wasn't as if Eli was trying to keep it a secret exactly, it was just that he doesn’t have a reference of what a “normal” life and childhood is supposed to be like, so he doesn’t offer up any information when Anopheles goes digging around.

However, now that Anopheles has a definite thread in his questioning, he’s able to get clearer answers of what Eli’s life had been like up till then, and his skewed perspective. With a much better view on what Eli’s life and mind is like, he went into full manipulative mode, now knowing how to snag Eli into staying. He basically tells Eli that the world is full of people like his father, that they enjoy giving pain to others, and that’s why he keeps so many people away from those that would want to cause harm. It’s basically the same pitch he gives everyone, but while implying that a large portion of the population are sadistic monsters, and Eli, who doesn’t have a good idea of what the world and general society is like, completely believed him. They also get into the concept of rules and punishments, and how Anopheles “doesn't like hurting his children, it’s just something he needs to do to enforce a sense of order”; that whole song and dance. This concept baffles Eli quite a lot, the fact that Anopheles doesn’t like causing pain but does it anyway for, so he claims, their benefit. They spend hours in that office, and at that point Anopheles managed to get Eli comfortable with the idea that he could ask for any clarification to what Anopheles is saying, and Anopheles wouldn’t get upset. Anopheles knows that whatever Eli asks isn’t out of impotence; it’s out of genuine confusion. By the end, Eli, who isn’t afraid of pain or torture but at that point had discovered it was kind of nice to live without it, wasn’t eager to go live in a society that, according to Anopheles, was full of that. So he resolves to stick around, and now has a better idea of how this general community is structured.

As time goes on, Eli still sort of forgets about following the rules to the letter, mostly because a lot of the time there’s a nuance to the rules that he just forgets. He’d grown up without the concept of rules, and any time he wasn’t moving completely on his own accord was when he was being physically stopped and abused by his dad, so having to remember to abide by a certain expectation of living is still hard for him to grasp, though he tries. And Anopheles knows this, so whenever Eli messes up, he knows it was out of genuine forgetfulness then out of any sort of small rebellion. He also knows it would be hard for him to punish Eli physically without him just shutting down and taking it as “just another day” than remembering it’s a cause and effect to his actions. Anopheles finds it much more effective to find a line of logic for Eli to follow, so as a result whenever Eli does something he doesn’t like they end up just sort of talking so he can manipulate Eli’s perception on how things are, or if it’s bad enough to elicit a punishment then it’s never physical in nature. The thing is Anopheles sees, treats, and talks to Eli as someone much younger than he actually is. Anopheles already thinks of himself as the authority on everything that is correct, and his kids, who are mostly young adults or teenagers, need his guidance. But then Eli came along with his whole “why would a person’s actions have any reflection on how they’re treated” thing, and let’s just say that really left an impression on him, ignited that feeling times ten of “I’m right and need to guide these children” to young adults. And this was helpful in the beginning, as his simple explanations of bigger concepts helped Eli, who had no reference for such things; he even taught Eli how to read and count. However, all of his explanations of things had the skewed perspective that Anopheles had. So as years go by, and Eli is sort of finding his grounding on what it’s like to live in a society and how things work and how people should treat each other and general philosophies and such, he still has more questions. Eli was always very smart, just uneducated, and he now felt confident in being inquisitive in front of Anopheles. His questions always sort of stress tested what Anopheles was telling him; not because he was trying to have an “oh gotcha” moment, but because he genuinely wanted clarification. Now that he has a more clear ground work, the questions just put more and more holes into certain philosophies that Anopheles spouts out. Now, Anopheles, when what he says gets asked these legitimate questions by Eli, tends to think of it more as a kid asking why the sky is blue after you’ve explained it like five times already, sort of putting it in the same category of Eli forgetting to follow the certain nuances of rules.

Most of the time, if Eli keeps on going, he’ll just offer some sort of physical comfort, like a hug or a face caress or honestly even being picked up and held, and it’ll usually quiet Eli down. Eli was baffled the day Anopheles explained to him that touching someone doesn’t automatically mean the intent to hurt someone, and that physical affection existed. Ever since first experiencing it Eli is starved for gentle physical affection and it just relaxes him instantly into compliance, something Anopheles absolutely uses to his advantage, honestly playing into the way he views Eli as a young child. In any case, Anopheles may see him as a young child, but he also knows he’s a young child that’s really good at making things. He’d give Eli mechanical and crafting projects around the cult, knowing it’s not only useful but Eli really likes doing it. It also keeps Eli in one place for a while, as he has wandering tendencies. He’ll also give Eli random trinkets or parts from the outside world that aren’t involved in his assigned projects for Eli to play around with, which Eli is always ecstatic about. It’s part of the reason why Eli doesn't go on missions very often; he always ends up picking something up off the ground, like some scrap of metal or whatever, and bringing it back out of sole fascination, which is always stressful for Anopheles to deal with. It also doesn’t help that everytime Eli goes into the outside world, he gets more and more fascinated with it; he never thought it would be so big, with so many places. So Anopheles always has to shut that down real fast. Low key Eli is going stir crazy, as he at his core is a wanderer, used to going wherever in the forest, but he manages, fixating on his projects instead.

Anyway, this all leads to a strange sort of relationship with Anopheles infantilizing Eli, and Eli not paying any sort of particular attention to it because he has no real standard on how he should be treated as a person. If anything, it probably stunts his possible emotional growth. Anopheles probably not only infantilizes him, but says things to try and get Eli to doubt himself and his ability to reason things out on his own. Eli will ask a legitimate question and Anophlese will just be like “oh, it’s okay that you don’t understand something I’ve already explained let me do it again” and just repeat something that doesn’t fully answer his question, but Eli will just feel like he’s misunderstood something once again rather than Anopheles leaving something out, feeling bad about not being able to understand.

The Cult Members In General:

When Eli first arrived at the cult, he certainly left an impression. Those that saw him initially saw him at his most raw state. He moved in a sort of hunched way, his eyes scanning around; they likened him to a wild animal. He also, what with living in the woods his whole life, just kinda climbs things whenever and not think it's that weird. The man will just walk over furniture rather than go around it, or just climb onto the celling and drop down, accidently scaring people. His communication skills were at their worst, so for a while they just thought he couldn't or didn't talk, only to be shocked when he did. They all got the impression that his life must have been bad, but they didn’t know what; there were theories of him being kidnapped and confined, or being raised by wolves or something like that. Then he started just breaking the rules all the time, and that made everyone really nervous to be around him, not wanting to be associated with that. Meanwhile, at the time, Eli just thought everyone was super nice, not really picking up that he was being low key ostracized for his rule breaking. He was mostly focused on the fact that not a single person seemed to have any violent intentions towards him, and to him, this was the epitome of kindness. He also liked standing near people as they had conversations, not interacting even when prompted, just watching. While they all thought this was creepy and off putting, Eli was having an amazing time; he’d never really witnessed conversations before, as his dad always had control over what was being said, so they fascinated him.

Now, the rest of the cult definitely had the impression that his life must’ve been terrible before coming there, but after that whole stunt of him admitting he didn’t understand the concept of rules and punishments, that really put things into perspective for them. They stopped seeing him as off putting, explaining to him that he could join conversations if he wanted. He was ecstatic at this; he’d been watching, but he’d been wanting to try. He was not very good at it, still isn’t, his ability to communicate all over the place. He got better over the years, but it’s still imperfect. He also has the habit of being completely silent, sometimes for weeks at a time, and then suddenly, when something has piqued his interest, he’ll relentlessly talk and question about it.

Because of his poor social skills, as well as spending less time with the others in general as he had to go off to do his projects, it left him unable to really connect with the other cult members, neither of them really understanding the other. Eli was okay with this, simply happy to be around comfortable presences. New people that join the cult, who didn’t see Eli when he first arrived, are more skeptical of him and his behaviors, not sure what to make of him just slinking in and out, of his staring problem, nervous every time he accidentally breaks the rules, thinking it was on purpose. He also still never feels the need to announce his presence or when he’s skipping out on chores to do a project, so people will just not see him for hours and hours, and then suddenly he’s right in front of him. He also managed the habit of walking atop furniture (unless he's excited or not thinking about it), but he still climbs upon the walls or the ceiling, people not realizing he's that at all, and then dropping down and accidently scaring someone. But the older members of the cult assure the newer members that he’s alright.

With his reputation of fixing things, whenever something breaks that would take a while to fix, the other cult members tend to just go to Eli to take care of it. He’s happy to do each request, even something as mundane as a sink breaking, which helps warm his reputation with the other cult members. It also helps that during interactions that require physical touch, like passing something to him or shaking someone’s hand or something, Eli is incredibly gentle, to the point where it’s noticeable. He knows pain very well, and he knows what a terrible thing it is, so he just automatically makes all of his touches gentle, not ever wanting to cause pain. He's also memorized every single person's birthday, and for each one he'll leave a little trinket he made for them, which really helped with people's overall impression of him. (He makes birthday presents for Anopheles too, which is probably the only reason Anopheles doesn't crack down on him for "wasting resources") Overall, the others don’t understand him most of the time, but they think he’s really sweet and well meaning.

The Always Masked Cult Members:

They think he’s not a real, dedicated member with the way he’d skip off of tasks to go do his mechanic projects. If he was a real follower of Sir then he’d find time to do both fr smh. Eli kind of views the regular cult members and the always masked ones as the same, thinking that some of them just really like their masks, not really picking up on the very clear differences in disposition. He makes them presents too, but Eli is actually surprisingly intuitive when it comes to what people would want for a present, so he usually makes them some sort of "you can improve your duties to the cult with this" gift or something along those lines, so they actually don't dislike him during these gift giving moments. (bro's love language really is gift giving/acts of service - mostly gift giving - and the love language he personally most responds to is physical touch. Now that I think about it, it has a lot to do with how he originally grew to understand hunan connection through his dad; his dad liked physically harming him, and because he liked it it's sort of like a "gift". Eli definitely internalized that, but is slowly turning into into something softer and more healthy. He learns touch can be gentle, and he learns how to make things people would like.)

01/Sasha:

Sasha was the first, aside from Anopheles, to see him, and had the same opinion as the other cult members; he must have had a really bad life, but don’t know the specifics. However, unlike that other cult members, they think Eli’s constant rule breaking is admirable, although it made them nervous for him. Once they even went as far as to pull them aside and give them very brash advice to be careful, only to be met with Eil’s wide eyed staring. Sasha probably got fed up with a lack of response and walked off, though still worried about him. Eli, meanwhile, was probably just wondering why Sasha was having a conversation with no one else around, having at this point no consideration that someone could start a conversation with him.

After the big interactions with Eli and Anopheles, Sasha also realized his rule breaking wasn’t intentional. Even so, they like it when they see Eli break the rules, even if Anopheles puts a stop to it immediately; it brings them a sort of secret satisfaction. Again, because of Eli’s projects, they don’t interact much. But they like it when Eli makes them their birthday gift, almost viewing it as another act of rebellion against Anopheles, to having something that wasn't approved by him first. Eli’s actually very curious about Sasha, due to them and Anopheles having such an outwardly tense relationship. Once he outright asked both Sasha and Anopheles why they have such an outwardly antagonistic relationship, as it’s so different to how the rest of the cult members interact with Anopheles. Anopheles just told him that “they’re lashing out and he’s just trying to help them realize they need help” and Sasha just says “he’s a bitchass do I need more of a reason”. With these vague answers, Eli remains curious, every now and then bringing it up only to be met with the same answers. Sasha thinks Eli’s smart enough to realize that Anopheles is bad, and gets frustrated when Eli doesn’t seem to think so, watching as he easily falls under the manipulation. Also gets frustrated when Eli treats what’s happening around him as a curiosity rather than grasping the horror of the situation.

Sasha is also definitely Eli’s introduction to sarcasm; Eli was absolutely enraptured by the idea of sarcasm, seeing Sasha as the “sarcasm expert”, always deferring to them when he wonders about it, which Sasha is amused by.

267/Jeong-Hui:

Same deal as everyone else when Eli first arrived. I think something in Jeong-Hui’s natural “big brother senses” gave him the impression that Eli breaking the rules was similar to when a young child broke the rules. Eli’s general demeanor, to him, wasn’t one of intention, just doing it with a lack of understanding towards the consequences, which very much reminded him of a young child. He wanted to go talk to Eli about it, but Sasha persuaded him out of it, saying Eli didn’t seem to understand when Sasha confronted him on the dangers of breaking the rules. His thoughts were confirmed after the whole confrontation with Anopheles.

Over the years, they also didn’t interact much, but Jeong-Hui was particularly nice to him, which Eli noticed and made him feel particularly happy when he saw Jeong-Hui. Jeong-Hui also appreciates when he receives birthday gifts, but they probably make him sad in a way, as it's a reminder of how much time has past since being stuck in this cult. Jeong-Hui doesn't view Eli as a young child like Anopheles does; he views him as someone with the ability to learn and grow if given the chance, and he sees how few chances Anopheles is giving him, and it unsettles him. The few times they do interact, Jeong-Hui answers all of Eli’s questions fully, particularly the ones about the outside world, which Eli is absolutely thrilled about. Although, Eli does notice how Jeong-Hui’s answers differ from Anopheles, which he doesn't know what to make of for a while. He spends a long time trying to piece all the information together, as he considers them both to be facts, and that the lack of understanding is a failure on his part.

Something that bothers Jeong-Hui is that he notices that not only Eli has no standard for how he should be treated, he also doesn’t have a standard on how others around him are treated or just generally act. He’ll see things like Anopheles being terrible or 24 and his posse being terrible and not even blink an eye, no sense of thinking that it shouldn’t have happened. Jeong-Hui tries to subtly get Eli to see that people should treat each other nicely, and finds that it’s most successful to get this point across when he compares how Eli treats others, pointing out how gentle he is. Jeong-Hui points out to him that when he sees something like 24 getting others in trouble on purpose, and asks Eli if he would do the same, which he wouldn’t. This concept baffles Eli for a while, as sometimes he just considers people’s actions to be actions, nothing much to really analyze, often forgetting that there might be reasons being him. And he also considers himself sort of separate from people in general, forgetting he falls under the “human” category. So he loves interacting with Jeong-Hui in particular, as it always gives him a lot to think about.

24:

At the start, when 24 first saw Eli, he was a bit taken aback; a lot of kids come into the cult looking and acting kind of messed up, but Eli felt like he was on a whole other level. This irritated 24, as he knew this would result in more attention from Anopheles to try and get Eli comfortable within the cult, and he did not want to see that level of attention directed at Eli. So he was actually relieved when Eli would be breaking rules left and right; he didn’t even have to do anything, just watch as Eli sabotaged himself.

But then that big confrontation happened, and Eli began getting special treatment, which 24 was not happy about. He tried fabricating situations where it seemed like Eli broke the rules, but each time it didn’t result in what he wanted; Eli would just be confused, and Anopheles would just think Eli misunderstood something again. Anopheles would just spend hours explaining something to Eli and Eli would just think he messed up somehow and didn’t know it. So making it seem like Eli broke the rules would just result in Eli and Anopheles spending even mor time together, so that method went out the window. This frustrated 24 so much, that he and his group began constantly harassing Eli, but even this didn’t go as expected. Eli is someone so familiar with violence, that anything they do is essentially background noise to him. He just kind of rolls with the punches, and the group doesn’t really know what to do with that. 24 is used to people getting angry or scared when he and his friends harass them, and isn’t sure how to respond to apathy. So Eli continues to not get the message, and it’s really getting to 24. It doesn't help that it's hard to corner Eli since he's sort of all over the place schedule wise.

But the thing is, Eli, ironically enough, kind of understands 24 better than the others in this cult. His particular brand of abusive personality, just the blatant sadism, reminds him of his father, giving him a sense of familiarity in a way. With this familiarity, he's sort of able to sus out 24's motivations, as he notices he targets his sadism towards very specific targets, not just mindlessly like his father. He also, again, has absolutely no standard how he should be treated nor how his fellow people should treat each other. Because of this, he doesn't feel any true negative emotions towards 24 nor his friend group. He also considers what they do to just be a tamer version of his dad's urges; it just makes sense to him that even within this promised safe environment, violent elements would be incorporated; he literally can't imagine a life without some instances of violence or just general mistreatment. He considers 24 and his group more of just "how things are", but even so, he does try avoid pain and mistreatment when he can, so he does avoid the group. Even when he gets that point where he knows to reflect upon a person'a actions and judge them based on how they treat other people, he goes about it in an almost experimentally, thoughtful way. Like "oh wow that was a bad thing to do" but not having the negative feeling that would come along with that; he's just not there emotionally yet. (I think he's going to get to a point where he makes an actual, genuine connection, and when something bad happens to them that's when he feels the negative emotion) But it's this sort of apathetic yet avoidant attitude that's really getting to 24. Though, like everyone else, he gives 24 and his group birthday presents without fail, which makes things a bit awkward when he does. (Not for him; for them) They do keep the gifts, but they just don't talk about it. Over the years the mistreatment probably has cooled; what with all the gifts and the continued apathy to their actions. It helped that he's no longer the main target when 407 arrived.

407:

When 407 first arrived, he didn’t quite know what to make of Eli. If anything, he was a little intimidated by him, watching as he slinked in and out at inconsistent times and didn’t seem to engage much with the others, but Jeong-Hui assured him that Eli was okay. However, after Eli gives 407 some trinket he made for his birthday, 407 definitely warmed up to him. Also, 407 probably broke something at some point and thought he was going to get in trouble, but then Eli showed up and saw how he was freaking out, so tried to reassure him in his own way. Since then 407 saw Eli as this sort of trusted, gentle figure.

I don’t think they interact much, but I think it’s 407’s general presence that serves as a sort of catalyst for Eli. He compares how Anopheles acts towards 407 and the rest of the cult members, and realizes he himself gets treated much closer to 407 then the rest of the cult. He’d been told before that typically young children get treated differently because they’re so young, but had never really had a reference to this. Now that he did, it left him with questions; Eli was closer in age with the rest of the cult members, so why was he being treated the same as someone as young as 407? At first it just puzzles him, and he didn't really have the language to inquire about it, so he sits and thinks on it for a while. But then as time wore on, and he and Anopheles had other conversations, something builds within Eli, an almost resentment, which was new to him. Unlike all his other concerns, he keeps this close to his chest. He watches Anopheles' behavior more closely, remembering what Jeong-Hui told him under more careful consideration. Eli is going through a change, and who knows where it’ll land him.