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13eyond13 · 9 months ago

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Who are your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from Berserk? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Thanks.....

I think I kinda only have 4 main faves, really? And that's probably a pretty obvious bunch (Guts, Casca, Griffith, and Puck). I got attached to them all in the first arcs and then stuck out the rest of the stuff mainly just for them without getting extremely attached to anybody else (though I do think the rest of the story is definitely worth reading, and there are many amazing things that come later on as well).

(Warning for spoilers below):

I love Guts because I just cared about him and what happens to him way more than I initially expected I would. I think he's very relatable to me personality-wise and just not your typical macho protagonist guy in some pretty interesting and unusual ways. I also like that he's both kind of simple and complicated all at once and not just a corny noble typical hero type guy, but not completely boring and edgy and nihilistic either. It's a fun blend. I felt a ton for Casca as well and just thought she was very sympathetic and tough yet vulnerable too. I think Griffith's idealism and ambition makes much of the intriguing drama and plot happen that I actually care about in the story, and that he's definitely a complex character that's maybe the most fun one to analyze in a fandom sense. And Puck is just that cute little voice of reason / comic relief sort of character who keeps you going when Guts is being particularly grim and surly and difficult to connect to and when the story is verging on way too dark and bleak, and since he's with you from the very start it's hard not to get attached!

Some Top Favourite Moments (I couldn't narrow it down to five):

-Guts's interactions with Theresia, the Count's daughter / that entire scene in the Black Swordsman Arc: Maybe a bit of an oddball choice, but I distinctly remember that this part of the story was surprising and interesting to me in a good way because it just showed some sides of Guts's character that I didn't expect, and made him seem a bit more unusual and interesting of a character to follow in my eyes. I felt like his weirdass/awkward dark advice to her to just kill herself if she really didn't want to live anymore was obviously because he himself had gone through something like that as a kid and then come to that conclusion based on his own survival instincts as well, and just spoke a lot about how strange and rough his own life and upbringing and worldview probably was, to see that as sincerely good advice to give to a kid at that time? It was different than what you'd expect a typical hero to say or do, and the fact that Puck comments on it like "dang, he's not even trying to be an asshole or mean, he legit thinks that's a good thing to say to her" made me laugh as well, because that was the impression I got from it too. It was also surprising to see him like tearing up afterwards? Idk it just marked a moment to me where my interest in the story and in Guts as a character deepened and changed a bit, so I like it for that!

- Guts and Griffith's first swordfight:

So good and iconic and also perhaps one of the most homoerotic things ever to be put on a page

-Guts holding his sword up to the moon and deciding he was gonna fight for Griffith's sake

- Guts and Casca's first kiss: I kinda get the feeling from most Griffguts fans that it's not super popular to have and share positive or warm feelings about this pair, but I thought the moments between them like their first kiss were actually so cute. I thought it made sense for them and their relationship at the time, and was nice to see them both having a soft and warm and consensual moment with someone else that they trusted that way

- Guts explaining how Griffith is the only person he can't stand looking down on him to the rest of Band of the Hawk:

Another moment where Guts pleasantly surprised me as a character, this time with how self-aware and forthcoming he was about his thoughts and feelings on this front. He's a pretty close-lipped character about such things and also pretty private and secretive most times, so whenever he does share those kinds of feelings I'm just like !!! and very invested in what he has to say. I also didn't expect the story to take this direction so explicitly, and thought that his prioritizing of his relationship with Griffith over everything else would remain background and buried in his subconscious at best, so I was pretty intrigued that this part actually happened at all

- Guts and Griffith's second sword fight in the snow:

So many interesting things going on between the main three characters here, and I feel like this was one of the most suspenseful parts of the story to me, I was having actual like heart racing physical reactions to it. I also love how it teases the audience a bit with certain clever fake-outs and whatnot, like making you think this is probably going to be how Guts will lose his arm...

-Griffith's visions of his childhood self / guilt about his dream:

Anytime we got a glimpse right inside Griffith's head was a fascinating treat for me, and I think the scene of him being guilted by the God Hand over his childhood dream was a fantastic bit of writing and artwork, and so important to the story as a whole.

-The Eclipse (up until that one scene):

You love to hate it and hate to love it, basically? It's an awful and traumatic time, but also just so effective at doing what it's supposed to do and such a great buildup of dread for this extremely climactic scene, and the horror of it all is super well done to me (though once it gets to the Casca and Femto part it lost me a bit, because I did not like how tastelessly that was depicted at all)

-Griffith's frozen heart starting to beat again:

There's no way that's just because he's fused with the Moonlight Boy or whatever, right? Love the idea that there's still a kernel of his old vulnerable self in there that he couldn't completely kill

-Casca's healing: this was such a LONG TIME COMING and I was so glad it actually happened and that Miura got to depicting that part of the story before he passed, I felt like it actually took 1000 years, and it was one of the major things keeping me reading due to wanting to see it resolved

#berserk spoilers #ask #anon #p #berserk

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bastionbibi · 8 months ago

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Question if it’s okay to ask: what is it that made Akai one of your favourites? Or at least someone that’s cool in your book

Man.... This is like asking why I love soup. Ok, I'm not sure if I can stay coherent but I'll try,

Ive been reading detco on and off since I was a was a wee child and even back then he was already one of my favorites because I like mystery, and he was the definition of that.

And this way before the revelation that he was a good guy too. There was this moment of 'yeah, okay, this is it, he's the one (that im not gonna be normal about)'. Specifically, I fell in love in that one scene where he met ran on a snowy night, something about that scene was just so striking, especially something about him that, despite how intimidating he sounded or looked, didn't set off any alarms in Ran, that was the point where I knew there's more to this character, and that I love him.

On another lighter note. I like his shinigami aesthetic, his one liner and lack of facial expression, I like his lonewolf tendency, how weirdly dependable he is and yet, he's not, in any way shape or form, charming.

Like that time where he confronted Gin for the first time, he could've told Jodie and Conan that he had a plan to elude the BO but he didn't, he acted alone, he's extremely slow to trust but when he does, he pledge to them his true loyalty. I mean, Conan was just a child in his eyes (even though now he knows him as Shinichi), and yet since he decided to trust him, he never dismissed his words or treat him like a liability despite his 'age'.

When he trust people, he cherished them in his own ways, and that's what I find commendable.

He's ANNOYING. An asshole 75% of the time, we never got more backstory about him and Akemi because I refuse to believe this man with the personality as hard to love as the taste of blue cheese could land not 1 but 2 amazing ladies like cmon now. I hate how he treated Jodie but I have no doubt he would take a bullet for her if need be, I guess that’s why Jodie still likes him too to a degree but he didnt deserve her tbh (<- says the girl who will still reblog redstarling fanart whenever it crosses my dash).

The same can be applied to his ‘rivalry’ with Rei, it doesn't matter what his true reason was, he decided that night, when he was holding the bleeding gun of a man he failed to save, he would keep the truth away from Rei and he stick by that decision till now, Rei did everything in his power to literally hunt him down over a misunderstanding and he didn't care, come hell and high waters and he will still keep Rei away from the truth because that's what he decided to do and he keeps his promises, especially ones made to himself.

I suppose I like him because outside of 'work', while he keeps people on a distance, you don't have to second guess on where you stand, there's a sort of ease in that.

As the story progresses, we get to see reasons as to why he ended up this way and that was pretty entertaining, seeing how affectionate he can be to his siblings and what happened in his past to make him go the extreme lengths of being an agent to another country and infiltrating a deadly organization etc, it fleshes him out, it makes me excited to see where he'll end up next.

Also, he looks kinda handsome ngl

ON ANOTHER NOTE!! He's also just- Really weird??

Like ok, sure, he faked his death like one would do but he came back from the grave as a guy 5 years younger with pink hair that's taking his masters?? Hello???? Has he even been to college before like I legit wonder if he knows how hellish a masters program is AND, I know this is based on a situation that's out of his control, out of all the personalities he can embody, he chose to be a milfy malewife who's always ready to babysit others?? Dedication to the bit is unmatched.

(Also bc i hc him as conans dad and made a whole series about it, thats fun!)

(Anyway if youre in the gc dont u dare call me a simp i am not . )

#asks #dont u dare call me the s word...

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hoperays-song · 2 years ago

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Some of My Favourite Random Sing Canon Things

Johnny is small for both his family and for other gorillas around his age.

The mob/mafia does exist and Mike legit thought cheating them was a good idea.

Buster is left-handed (or ambidextrous).

When Ash's guitar gets unplugged, she stomps her foot, which is based off the real life occurrence of porcupines stomping their feet as a warning if they are scared.

Buster went to the Modern Drama Institute based on his diploma.

Marcus’s truck is a 1953–1956 Ford F-Series pickup truck, though he seems to have made some modifications.

Gunter literally put Johnny’s home address in his commercial for his dance studio. Why? Who knows!

Eddie apparently models?? Or does something that puts him on magazine covers (as seen in Sing 2). Leaning towards model just because I feel like he would be most ok with that.

Mike legit mugged someone in his first scene... so there’s that.

Gunter, while being an agent of chaos, is able to not cause any problems for himself personally in both movies (other characters handle it) which in this franchinse is just impressive.

Johnny reacts dramatically to things a lot and tends to be/come across as sarcastic.

It’s implied that Darius was going to be the center performer in the short “Come Home”... for some reason.

The first friend that Johnny makes outside of the theatre is, drumroll please, Nooshy, a British criminal. Because of fucking course he found one in a huge multicultural city. (This annoys me to no end.)

Mrs. Crawly’s glass eye was apparently made in China.

Adding up the totals (in terms of violent crimes) from both movies (that I remember clearly), there are five threats on a character’s life, one mugging, one hostage-ish situation, one hit-and-run, and one aggravated assault. This is a kid’s series right? Am I understanding that right? A kid’s series???

Nana Noodleman likes to play checkers with Hobbs to pass the time.

Buster Moon has committed more onscreen felonies than the actual criminal gang (two for Stan and Barry, three for Marcus).

#sing #sing 2 #sing johnny #sing buster #sing nana noodleman #sing hobbs (only mentioned)#sing mike #sing gunter #sing darius #sing nooshy #sing ash #sing marcus #sing mrs crawly #the more and more i look into it this franchise becomes more and more unhinged #there's a surprising amount of assault/attempted murder #like a really surprising amount #this series is chaos #mike is absolutely an idiot

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number-1-kuaidul-fanboy · 2 years ago

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Not quite sure how I feel about season 0 yet

I’ve definitely enjoyed the first three episodes. Retrospectively, parts of it work really well as a prequel to the original Yugioh series. Like Joey/Jonouchi (might go back and forth on their names since I watched DM in dub) going from a bully to a friend to Yugi and Yugi completing the puzzle, two things that were only ever mentioned in DM. It was neat actually seeing those events onscreen. I know they weren’t in DM because they didn’t want to be too derivative of this series and that’s totally fair but it still made DM feel incomplete in some places.

Apart from the “prequel-y” bits though, this has a very different feel from the rest of Yugioh. So far at least, it’s very episodic. The pilot gives some set ups and the next two episodes (and seemingly the next one based on its preview) are really loosely connected filler stories following these characters, with the occasional horror vibe when Yami Yugi shows up. Every episode so far has followed the same “some guy beats up weak Yugi so Yami Yugi appears in the last few minutes to punish them with a shadow game” narrative. Which is fine, it’s just entertaining enough to keep my attention for a couple episodes at a time while I eat. Season 0 feels different from every other Yugioh series but as a result, it lacks the charm of the other Yugioh series, at least for me.

It has its own merits though. Like its characters, some of which are superior to their depictions in DM.

Okay not all of them. I still don’t really like Honda (never have) and Miho comes off as kind of manipulative but the others are all pretty good. I like Jonouchi’s more gruff yet still loyal persona in this show, that could just be a sub vs dub thing to be fair but I quite liked it. He’s about on par with his DM self. Yugi Muto meanwhile gets a lot more screentime in this series than he does in DM and as a result, I actually like him right off the bat, unlike DM where it took me much longer to care about either of the Yugis. Yami Yugi...

...is not as twisted in this as I was lead to believe he was, at least at the point I’ve seen. His voice and design are honestly more weird than creepy which I will admit does disappoint me a bit. I do like how he feels much more like a legit alter ego to Yugi in this than he did in DM, where he was definitely his own person. That worked in its own right but I really like the whole “Jekyll and Hyde” vibe Yugi and Yami have in season 0, as though he’s actually a darker personality originating from within Yugi. Not sure if that’s what they’re going for yet but I enjoy it.

And my favourite season 0 character so far is Anzu.

No you ain’t trippin, season 0 Anzu is the best interpretation of this character I’ve seen. Dark Side of Dimensions is a distant second place in this regard since it showed her achieving her dream by leaving to study dancing in America (the only bit of character she had that wasn’t related to her relationships in DM) and in episode 2 of season 0, she’s willing to break school rules and get a part time job to raise money for that dream. You go girl. She’s also just generally more enjoyable. I don’t know, the writing here makes her come off as more sassy and no nonsense rather than DM where she just felt... for lack of a better term, like a stereotypical nag. Also, she and Yugi are actually kind of cute in season 0. I like the scene where she sticks up for Yugi when he’s being bullied and Yugi just looks so incredibly happy to see her:

And this one where he excitedly talks to her about the puzzle:

They actually seem like genuine friends in this series, a fact that never really came through in DM for me because of how little screentime Yugi got compared to Atem. Anzu’s character revolved around him way too much in DM and while that could still become a problem in season 0 (in fact it almost definitely will considering the pattern of DM-VRAINS) but I’m glad that for the first few episodes at least, Anzu was allowed to have more of a personality. And she and Yugi have much easier chemistry.

It’s a decent show so far I’d say. If it had been my introduction to Yugioh, I almost definitely wouldn’t have gotten as into it as I have but looking back on it as a “prequel” or the series’ roots in general makes it kind of interesting.

#yugioh #ygo #yugioh season 0 #ygo season 0 #season 0 #yugi muto #yami yugi #anzu mazaki #tea gardner #you can tell I like her cuz I'm calling her Anzu #rather than hot leaf juice

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r3v0lver-0c3lot · 6 months ago

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17 and 25 for ask game let's go

mgs ahh answers💀💀💀

anyway

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

Boss and tiny ocelot!!!!! And in general just boss and ocelot and sorrow family hangouts (not just where ocelot is small, it'll be cool if they spent time together in snake eater). i've seen some of these and they really remind me of my childhood and because ocelot and boss are russian it'll be cool if there was some fic or art about ocelot's (non-existent) childhood (but this is an au so it doesn't matter that it contradicts the canon idgaf) like how he went to school (bc i love memes about slavic school some funny shit is bound to happen there) and how during summer he went to the countryside w/ his family and they lived in a small cottage house (dacha, if you will) and they cooked pirozhki and borsch and whatever. i do love my country's culture (NOT THE POLITICS OBV AND ALL THAT CONSERVATIVE SHIT HELL NAW) and i LOVE the boss and ocelot's dynamic (also the boss reminds me of my mom) so seeing them in this kind of familial childhood settimg really resonates with me. i also HATE HATE HATE LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I HATE when russian aus are being reduced to adidas vodka drugs smoking depression gopnik internal homophobia type shit like stop making every character act like a drug addict alochoholic swine with no manners and or morals. so i think those type of aus where its russian summer and swimming in the river and playing in the field outside of the big cities or going to school and doing some whacky shit are much better to me at least. not just because they kick me in the ribs and bash my bones with nostalgia and bitter happiness of the time i never am going to come back to, but also because it doesn't transform my favourite characters into some carricature pieces of shit and actually shows a good side of my culture. ALSO. more ocelot speaking russian. i've seen fanart where he's a kid and he walks round with the boss and they see a cat and he point at it and says "Кошка!" (wich means cat!) and i legit cried bro not even joking give me stuff like this again

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

i am going to jeff the kill anyone who says oH rIsInG iSnT cAnOn It RuInEd RaIdEnS cHaRaCtEr WOMP WOMP YOU FUCKING CUNT🖕🖕🖕 oh really? why? because in mgs4 he decided to say with rose and LiTtLe JoHn?? do you fucking hear yourself? did you play the game with your eyes AND ears closed? did you turn off your console like you were told to in mgs 2? fission mailed. fucking listen. in mgs4 rose left raiden because he had ptsd flashbacls and was drinking and fighting in the streets and couldn't control himself. i mean she left him to trick the patriots but this doesn't undo all the problems with his mental state wich obviously will cause a problem in a relationship one way or the other. and then by the end of the game he's like nah id win and decides to say with rose and also he now has a child. fucking great. you're not a monster jack. well except for the fact that his ptsd and trauma and desire for violence (eben if its to protect someone, wich is exactly what he does in rising) does not magically disappear just because yall say it did. he decided to say with his family but nobody including raiden himself didn't do anything for him to heal so if it didn't work before why would it work now when nothing changed. wich is why rising exists in wich i think he was standing here and realised that it won't work and continued going along with his violent urges wich is sad but makes more sense for his character and also this time he uses his desire and power to protect children from being made into child soldiers like he once was. so yeah mgs4 raiden arc can fuck off and Rising is based as hell for shoving 4's ending in the ass and making a better arc for him

#osyan post #osyan ask and answer #mgs #faksyan my dear buddy #mgs 4 raiden arc hatemail

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itgirlgyu · 1 year ago

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fav authors?

surprise to literally no one i actually don't have one because i don't read much in real life, (like the ones I ever bought in real life were horror stories compilations) but i really like sarah hogle's humor, and rick riordan oh and!! diana wynne jones!!!

i also like humayun ahmed's short stories and anuja chauhan's novels ( funfact i read all of them) are my guilty pleasures tbh.

never forgiving red chillies for ruining the zoya factor by casting sonam WHEN THEY CASTED MY BABES DULQUER?!? (ik im going off tangent lols)

now now COMING ONTO THE REAL DEAL!!!

my favourite author is my inspiration, my muse, my mentor, my lover, my best friend—my rahrah!! no like fr tho i don't think i would have taken up writing seriously if it hadn't been for her. i got into writing as a means to like extend my overactive imagination onto somehwere so i didn't care about making it sound coherent or like organised until i met my favourite author. i read her stuff and it made me realise ah well fuck i gotta pull my shit together and took a hiatus from writing while trying different genres ( i had never wrote a drop of angst before that) and tried to replicate her writing by reading dozens of romantic era poetries because when i tell you her writing is literally flowing poetry while heavily based on action. like. you're behind the camera with her as she effortlessly narrates what is happening ad though youre experiencing it herself. it's safe to say ill never be able to reach her level but i geneuienly feel so blessed that i can call her my best friend and send my stuff to her bc like i dont think world recognition would as much her word does to me.

now onto TUMBLR,

who else other than @wildernessuntothemselves i had stopped reading on tumblr becase everything I was reading was getting boring and so many people were deactivating, UNTIL I stumbled across like this one drabble of yeonjun from them and oh my GOD WHEN I SAY SOME EMOTIONS WERE UNLOCKED IN ME it's like i had opened this whole new fucking chest of wonderful things—this is when i realised how much into dark stuff i am. and I feel like I really clicked with their writing because their dark writing, the obsessions and themes stems from the things like love which is like the best kind of motivation ever lmao ( it sounds so weird trust me im not a coherent person) and SO I READ ALL DO THEIR WORK, and again and again so i finished the loser lover series, the enhypen series they had and it was during yaqmn when i realised im into this shit for like i was SO FREAKING INTO IT like beomgyu is my favourite character ever from them ( close second to taehyun in hogwarts au sshhhhh) but yeah yaqmn made me realise that i wanna stay on tumblr but like also interact with them and be active in my own writing endeavours. also the author gave legit introduced me to so many cool authors with similar writing tropes and I am so so so thankful that I have found this side.

@hyewka gotta thank mort for introducing me to THE WONDERFUL WORKS OF rana like fr tho, like from the first story it was a hit on the nail on me. i love love love the way rana writes so so so much like they way they articulate their works, the whole situation and the emotions and their TROPES AGH CHEFS KISS. i love that their works are so long because it leaves room for me to see the development between the two characters making it feel so much worthwhile when they fuck in the end lmao like even their toxic works ( BRO HOW DO THEY ARTICULATE THEIR TOXIC CHARACTERS SO WELL) LIKE I'm literally always in awe bc it doesn't ever come off surface level? it's always so so detailed in the plain sight like whatever fucked up shit they do it notion they have it comes off genuine like this person isn't a caricature which is so hard to pull off. i can only ever wish to ever plot a detailed one shot like rana.

@itz-yerin the angst queen fr she is. okay but i know yerin is quite literally famous for her angsts( I'll come back this later) but what drew me to her stories were the fluffs. as someone who doesn't write fluffs because i feel i come off phony ( wow go off edgelord) but dude i read works and the way it's crafted with so much simplicity and love that you genuinely feel the love the characters have for each other and its done in the most mundane situations of life and i love that so much!!!

and her angst too omg, like i think ive never seen anyone tumblr yet use the trope she does in her angst and it's such a wonderful touch that makes me wanna keep reading ans ik most of her works don't really have a happy ending but it creates such a bittersweet ending that leaves this biting feeling in your heart. yerin truly the queen of hurt-hurt genre.

@channoticedmeuwu i know i haven't read much of kai's works YET BUT BRO listen the drabbles that ive read from like the flow of them genuinly makes me believe it's like those pretty lores and fairy tales that you are meant to narrate out out. the vocabulary choices and the way she structures her sentences gives me so so much joy like a number of time. ive literally sat there in awe rereading her sentences again and again. ALSO PACING!! the pacing makes me feeling like I'm walking the character, sometimes they way it indulges you into storyline is literally so magical. i swear to god i wish i could write like that man it's so so so soooo pretty!!

@ox1-lovesick was legit gobsmacked by sav's writing the first time i read them. it's so beautiful, and it's like so soft that makes you feel like. you have something swirling on the pit of the stomache—the fluff is so genuine and it doesn't come off performative at all WHICH IS LIKE SO FUCKING HARD TO DO?! bc you're reading stuff so you feel like ah yes I need to make them look like they are in love BUT NOT SAV even if it's the shortest passage the way they write genuinely makes you see the love the characters share and im out here shoving a pillow in my mouth or SHOVING IT IN THERE TO STOP laughing like THEY ARE SO FUNNY?!? SO FUCKIN FUNNY LIKE THEIR ONE LINERS GET ME SM OR SOME SHIT THEY WRITE LIKE got me giggling and cackling like a witch.

i actually don't read much but I'm trying to change that so when that happens this list will get WAY MORE LONGER!!!

#damn this got too long

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comfort-in-space · 1 year ago

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Okay!! Mass Effect first play-through final thoughts!

I had so much fun. Seriously I’m so glad I stuck through these games.

If I had to pick a favourite, I think I choose me2. Though me3’s Citadel DLC kinda made my life and seeing everyone’s interactions who didn’t previously get to know each other was great.

But overall especially comparing the final action sequences.

I loved the Collector base raid so much more than Priority: Earth. The Collector raid felt so much more satisfying like everything I did had wait and contributed to the how well the mission went.

And i know that the me3 military score mattered but I never felt the same level of payoff. The collector base raid was tense stressful and just plain hard. I knew people could maybe die so each choice was terrifying.

Though me3’s best quality was I think better character moments the game had a lot of heart and it all felt so bittersweet cause everyone was saying goodbye. The losses while painful were a beautiful end to those characters stories.

The final choice of mass effect 3. I was so confused at first. I legit spent 20 mins in the pause screen weighing my choices • Destroy (fuck that option holy shit nooo) Knew I wasn’t choosing that one. • Control; was my first gut choice, I was just scared it would lead to Shepard being corrupted by the Ai and the reapers still being a threat. • Synthesis; sounds fucked up. Forcibly integrating organics with synthetics sounds like a terrible Idea. But for some reason that option seems to have the least amount of consequences, so I thought maybe that one would be better.

I ultimately chose control and that felt right for my Paragon Shepard. I think a heroes sacrifice was the right ending even though it broke my heart. Cause shepard deserves to live. I didn’t like the choices but It was a good yet heart wrenching end.

Cant wait to replay it immediately with the exact same shepard because she’s fine and happy and okay :) or i might try out male shep

Also thanks for putting up with my in real time rants as I played lol

#mass effect #mass effect 2 #me2 #Mass effect 3 #me3 #commander shepard #my shepard

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ryttu3k · 1 year ago

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Stealing this from another fandom, but my talented friend! Let's play Fic authors self rec! Reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to other writers if you like. Let’s spread the self-love ❤

I've also been tagged in this, like, three times, so I guess I should do this, haha.

and every skyline was like a kiss upon the lips (Vampire the Masquerade, Sascha-centric). Yes okay it's a series and super cheating but whatever, I loved writing it and I still want to write more. I think it's some of the better writing I've done, I've tried new things, it just. I like it, haha. If I was to just pick one, it'd be empty room, the 'I'm going to punch myself in the heart now' one.

Memory of Younger Days (Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild, Link-centric). I enjoyed writing this so much. Solidified Link so much in my mind that it legit felt a little jarring when I got TotK and things didn't match MoYD at all, haha. Wonderful feral child ilu bbygirl.

Deviance (Pokemon XY et al). Honestly? I've written better stuff. I've written better stuff in this fandom with these characters, even. But this was just pure fun to write - melodramatic dystopia with powers and time shenanigans and gijinka. Pure idfic, and it's based on a) a dream and b) a Eurovision song. C'mon, that's fun.

The Ninth Coffee House (Locked Tomb, Griddlehark). This fic makes people yell at me 😎 (Favourite comment: "it was so cute and then you hit me with [redacted]!!! jail for ryttu3k!! jail for ryttu3k for a thousand years!! ow!") And it has a podfic!

Controlled Descent (Subnautica). Super fun to write, getting into the heads of characters I wasn't all that familiar with at first, especially how little canon there actually was for some of them, but just... enjoyable getting to create these people out of a few little voice clips. Also known as the fic where Ozzy decided he was the main character, and made me ship Ryley/Ozzy/Danby which does not exist. I did this to myself!! Why!!

Honourable mention: I know I was only going to do one per fandom, and if I was going to do five overall I would replace Ninth Coffee House or Controlled Descent with this one, but I feel I gotta mention Chrysalis. Ocarina of Time with a genderqueer Zelda, I think it was the first time I had ever written a nonbinary character (it's from like 2010), helped me start shedding a lot of gender essentialist views I had (specifically re: Zelda and Sheik but also in general), and just. The writing is dated, yeah, it's thirteen years old, but it also feels goddamn pivotal to my own life.

Don't know who's done this or nah and if you want to or nah, take if you wish!

#ry writes stuff

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marukissnack · 1 year ago

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Turtle ask 2, 5, 23, 24 GO!

WOMP

[List of questions here!]

2. Favorite iteration?

RISE! It was my first, and the one that gives my brain the most serotonin of all of them. You can call it bias, but after experiencing the other iterations it just made me appreciate Rise all the more. You can really see the care and love for the source material they put into Rise, which just makes all the "changes" they made fit perfectly.

5. If you were a ninja turtle, what color would your mask be?

Ok well...based on the question I assume I've been mutated into a turtle, correct? So I wouldn't have my original looks, skin tone, haircolour, etc. so.....PINK!! Pink doesn't always look good on me but I love it, it's my second favourite only after blue. And I don't wanna take blue from Leo, and the only other Pink turtle was never officially released so PINK IS FREE GAME BABYYYY!!

23. If you could have a tmnt crossover with ANY other series, which would it be?

Ooo ok so default reaction is Sonic the Hedgehog because it's my other major fixation. Plus, if it were live action Sonic X Rise we'd get Double Ben Schwartz and I need the reactions of "you two sound so alike" "What? No we don't, we sound NOTHING alike!" I'd also accept a Randy Cunningham OR Ducktales 2017 crossover for this same reason. But, In short, Any TMNT iterations crossing with Sonic would be poggers ngl.

24. Roast your favorite character (affectionate)

I-- I already did this one do I have to do it again?

Ummm uhhhh errr uhhhh b-bald

( I’m sorry I tried to think of a legit roast all day and came up with nothing I cannot roast on command ;-; )

#brieambling #Tmnt

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roccinan · 2 years ago

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2022 Fic Review

(Tagged by @natures-marvel thanks for tagging!)

End of the Year Fic Review 2022

1. What is your AO3 account?

Rocinan

2. How many words did you write total in 2022?

131,168

3. How many fics did you publish in 2022? How many multichapters vs oneshots?

6 fics total (1 of which was an art piece)

1 oneshot and 3 multichaptered (2 still unfinished)

4. What was your longest fic? Your shortest fic?

Longest : Birdcage at 45,596 words

Shortest : Café for Your Trouble with 0 words LOL, or Over the Hills and Far Away at 1279 words

5. What was your most popular fic? Your least popular fic?

Most popular: Grand Hotel, A Tale of Love and Intrigue

Least popular: Over the Hills and Far Away

6. What fic didn’t perform as well as you thought it would?

Hmm. They all sort of performed how I expected, as in I was pleasantly surprised to get more than 10 kudos for anything XD Maybe chapter 2 of The Contract? Not sure if people like it less than ch. 1. But in terms of the fics themselves, Over the Hills and Far Away already received more hits than I ever imagined lol but I guess I thought it’d earn at least 10 kudos.

7. What fic performed way better than you thought it would?

Grand Hotel, hands down.

8. What was your favorite fic you wrote from 2022?

This is a hard one, but probably Birdcage! Because I actually managed to finish it in 2022 asdfasdf Also it gave me the chance to write some extreme Andres whump, so there’s that!

9. What was your favourite fic that somebody else wrote in 2022?

I can’t settle for any one fic, so here’s some that I personally enjoyed the most and had the time to read in 2022! Most of them lean dark, so with the exception of “Upon paper wings” and “The way to a man’s heart,” do mind the warnings and tags!

Did I ever leave the lights on (could you ever find your way back home?) by @nharidy A crack concept (berlermo switch souls out of the blue) on the surface, but a story that’s so much more than that. Legit one of the most selfless, genuine depictions of Martin’s love (and that shred of nobility under all the asshole in his blood) I’ve ever read, and I still get emotional thinking about this story.

something borrowed, something -- by anonymous; I swear I’m not biased but I must say, I was insanely lucky to have such a talented writer take a post of a scenario I made and publish a full story based on it. Like WHEN will that ever happen again?? It’s like I threw a coin down a wishing well and it happened! This is a fantastically written (but Very dark!) character study, and even though there’s no upfront gore or violence, the story pulls no punches with the premise: injured, amnesiac Andres thinks Gandia is Martin and suffers all sorts of sexual, domestic, and psychological abuse as a result.

Those Violent Delights by @aceraphaelsantiagos Ongoing but well worth the wait! It’s an ongoing berlermo thriller told out of chronological order and watching the puzzle unfold is like climbing deeper into the spider web. AU but amazing characterization, and with my favorite dynamic: Dom/Dom!

{ Upon paper wings. } by @moneyheist-fam Their first berlermo fic! And a truly wonderful one at that. One of the rare completed AUgust fics LOL. There’s a warm fairy tale like quality to this, and it’s just a very sweet and beautifully written tale about soulmates.

A Lamb for Our Love by @the--sound--of--rain Ongoing, but definitely a story that stuck with me since the first time I read it! Another “Gandia abducts Andres and-” story, but the fic is about what happens after Andres comes back to Martin. A rocky, angsty piece with heartbreaking characterization and a look at what would happen if these two made the worst possible choices thinking that’s what’s best. The first chapter is definitely worth the read, and I’m sure the second will be equally good, if not better!

The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach by @alfredo-kesmann Why yes, this is my gift haha, but alfredo-kesmann went above and beyond a very simple prompt and gave us a story that’s insanely funny and endearing all at the same time. Truly one of my favorite fics of 2022 and I rec it to everyone, especially everyone whoever thought “hmm what if Andres being a good cook is just headcanon and he really sucks at it?? would Martin lie and pretend he’s good?” Answer: yes Martin would

Vinum Stygis by @signorin-anarchia Another ongoing fic! But very underrated and promising. A period gothic romance with all the creepy and dark elements you’d want from the genre. It’s a creative spin on Crimson Peak that somehow manages to make the premise work for berlermo, and definitely deserves more attention. Wonderful atmosphere and toxic assholes all around~

Last but not least, The Fatal Drive by NaturesMarvel! Kal’s longest fic yet, and my favorite 2022 hit from her. It’s filled with lots of twists and turns (and a plot that’s blockbuster material for sure!), including a few that actually fooled me haha Also features badass Martin, a satisfying amount of hurt!Andres (thank you for your service Kal), and cameos from just about everyone. This is an AU where everything starts with Andres receiving a pen drive (saying anything else would be a spoiler!)

#natures-marvel #berlermo fics #realized nharidy and I recced a lot of the same stuff haha but what can I say? we have similar tastes asdfasdf

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theultimatenonbinarynerd · 8 months ago

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Ranking All 4 Fazbear Frights Books I Read

Introduction

Hello everyone, since I got into the FNAF fandom after the film I told my friend as a bookworm that I wanted to checkout some of the novels so I did. My friend first introduced me to Fazbear Frights and I was very curious. Fazbear Frights has been very bizzare but I for the most part have really enjoyed it.

Listen I know people love Scott Cawthorn but his writing has sometimes been questionable in these stories. Sorry it's just my opinion and I hope people can respect that. What he's created is super spooky and interesting but some of the stories made me want to cry at how bad they were.

However some of these stories are some of the best short stories I have ever read and hit me part of these stories. Room For One More left me gagging and generally wanting to throw up. The horror was perfectly done as perfect as the core routes of the franchise. I feel so bad for the kids and the horror of what they went through. Some of the stories felt dull some did actually keep me up at night.

There are 12 books in the Fazbear Frights series and I would have loved to read all of them but I just don't have the attention span or sanity to cope with it especially after reading some of the stories in these volumes they felt physically draining.

With that out of the way let's get onto the ranking...

4: 1:35 AM

Room for one more was one of my favourite stories from this collection it was so disturbingly spooky that it put me off my lunch. 1:35 was repetive but intresting as that's the definition of insanity but the New Kid came and crashed the whole collection to the crowd, I feel so sorry for the people that had to put their energy into reading it as I had no idea what the f*** was going on... If you asked me to recount the plot I wouldn't be able too.

Whilst the stories were just genuine repetive The New Kid physically made my blood boil. There's a way better version of that story called Happs. I like it when a collection is consistent in quality and this one just wasn't it especially after how enjoyable Room For One More. I also just think it was very repetive for no reason at all.

Room For One More truly is the only thing holding up this collection. Stanley goes through it for no reason and its really graphic and gross. I got the concept of 1:35 am but it didn't suit the prose format. It's truly one of my favourite short stories I have ever read and I would recommend this collection soley based on that. It's also the perfect companion to Sister Collection.

Apart from that though 1:35 is definitely the weakest in my opinion and I can only imagine what it would have been like if I read past book 4.

Not as bad as 1:35 Am but taking the number 3 spot is...

3: Fetch

After a fairly decent start with Into The Pit let's say Fetch was rather disappointing for me. The stories felt way too slow burn and I felt like some stories like Lonley Freddy better suited a longer prose novel form to flesh out the characters better as Alec was an a hole for no legit reason, reminded me of my own siblings. Fetch was definitely the best out of the stories due to it's crazy Chucky/Megan/ Black Mirror esc feels. Lonley Freddy was a hundred percent the weakest of the bunch due to it's horrible unsympathetic main character and the horror being only in the last third of the story.

That being said though I think these stories stay more consistent in quality so that's why if I were to read again it'd be much easier to come back to Fetch. Some repetive beats were still there but it's much easy to digest and read. I also know mostly what's going on through the entire three short stories. I also like the fact is has the theme of think before you act/actions have consequences.

The horror is way better in some of the other Frights and Tales books but it's still a well worth it collection to give a go, if it wasn't it'd take the number 4 spot. Fetch has made me even more uncomfortable about AI, Lonley Freddy has made me scared to go to a party and Out Of Stock has made me stick to my vow of never stealing. So despite being for a ya/middle grade audience it can be scary for adults too.

Overall a pretty decent and enjoyable collection. This next one really sucked me into the world of Five Nights At Freddy's...

2: Into The Pit

A very very decent first start. It was very engaging and from start to finish had me engaged in the story of five nights at freddys. It's not here to solve all of the lore but to be honest I don't mind I'm mainly here for the fnaf inspired short story collection and it for the most part very much delivered. All three stories were very creepy and sinister as it had again that theme of be careful of what you wish for. I also actually understood what was going on in every story. The best out of the collection was definitely To Be Beautiful it was a really grotesque and haunting, actions have consequences with it not ending well for Sarah. Worst of the collection was a hundred percent Count The Ways, Millie was really unsympathetic and unlikeable until the end of the story.

I think these stories are really good at balancing horror and set up unlike some of the other stories later on in the collection. They are all for the most part consistent in quality and atmosphere. Even when we get to the mundane stuff it doesn't really throw you out of the story. I also love how all of the stories actually connect to Freddys animatronics whilst being their own unique thing. Eleanor for example is more than a knock off circus baby. The villians in these stories will give you chills.

The stories cross the line between fantastical and super natural but it's still a very entertaining read. I found myself hooked and engaged throughout. I was most sucked in during Into The Pit the Dad trap seemed really funny but dark at the same time. I'm a whovian so I did not bat an eye at the time travelling ball pit. I've also seen Black Mirror so I wasn't afraid of the dark endings in To Be Beautiful and Count The Ways. I also believe that Into The Pits more hopeful ending leads you into a false sense of security throughout the novel.

Very good but not my favourite out of the four I read in the collection. My favourite has to go to...

1: Step Closer

This was fantastic and im so glad I left Fazbear Frights on a good note after the travertsy that was the third collection. The stories all perfectly connected with all being about grief and guilt and it was actually engaging to read. Man my heart couldn't take it, I actually almost cried. It still managed to keep the fnaf aesthetic whilst also trying as a reader to make me feel something. It hit me hard, it wasn't a five star worthy collection definitely not but it was still really well written and way better than other 3 collections. My favourite for the collection was a hundred percent Coming Home, it gave Lovely Bones vibes and hit me hard, it perfectly shows Grief And how Aftons actions might affect other families whilst also at the same time perfectly paying tribute to the first game. Least favourit Count The Ways, I'm tired of unlikeable teenage protagonist, Scott and Co for the most part don't know how to write children and its a massive problem.

The horror was still plentiful and they all did not hold back. Pete went through literal hell more than I've been through as an accident prone person. I also loved that even though Dance With Me and Coming Home had more supernatural horror it was still eiree and uncomfortable especially once you realise that heartbreaking twist in Coming Home. I love complex ghost stories as when I go into horror I'm not here for the blood, guts and gore I'm here for the emotional impact as in my controversial opinion you don't need horror to have blood spilled death for it to be impactful.

When I say Step Closer has cementated it's place as best out of the four I mean it. Step Closer is truly haunting and eiree. It's a collection that can leave you frightened for the protagonist one moment and then emotional to the next. It's a really deep and heartbreaking collection. Susie's story just punches you in the gut even more when you realise what's really going on and Casey is a character who does bad stuff but is actually really sympathetic. Pete as annoying he was, you felt really bad when the curse kept escalating.

Out of all of the four I recommend this one as its the best in terms of quality and consistency. If you done care about the Epilogues this is one to go for.

Conclusion

Overall a very surprisingly interesting but sometimes mid set off books. It might not be everyone's cup of tea as it's mainly for younger teen fans in my opinion but there's still stuff to enjoy. All 12 short stories were very bold in terms of story telling and creativity.

We'll see how some of the Tales Books suffice and then I'll rank those separately and then together. Reading Tales its already interesting to read the contrasting difference. As a casual fan I'm very interested and appreciate all the bold ideas of story telling.

Unfortunately as someone who's going to study creative writing, my brain can't switch off when it comes to my critics.

This has been really interesting to explore.

-Melody-

They/Them

#bookish #bookworm #booklover #book tumblr #bookblr #five night at freddy's #fnaf books #fnaf #fazbear frights #book ranking

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velvet-vox · 3 months ago

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I chose all of the pictures in this post based on what I thought was the most fitting source for each antagonist.

I don't exactly remember where I got the picture for Number 10, but I think it was either Delusional Poet or Flying Walrus analysis of the character, I can't tell which one, but it was definitely an analysis video on him, because the show's characters are prime essay material, therefore it made sense to have the picture be taken by an analysis.

Picture of Number 9 was gained by Adam F. Charles animatic of a "Good Song Never Dies", and the frame that I chose for the picture is rather unclear and confusing because the character in question is an enigma.

I legit forgot where I've extracted the picture for Number 8, I wanted to take it from his soundtrack on GfB's channel, but the game's logo was annoying, so instead I took it by stopping the level's loading screen right before the words popped up on any video ever. Needless to say, I chose it because it's his most iconic pose.

Number 7 is taken from the video I've linked in that entry. I chose an up close pose of him looking weak, guilty and fearful, because that's what he is.

Number 6 is taken from azc0na Suite of his themes. I chose this picture because it was the best package of generic, funny, unthreatening, yet oh so slightly unnerving, which I thought was perfect for the character in question. Oh, and I listen to the entirety of this video very often.

Number 5 is taken from an up close shot of Kāru's Medley of some of the trilogy's greatest themes, he did such an outstanding job with his covers, and I consider artistry to be one of the movie's greatest strengths, along with the music, so this picture was chosen for both. (Sorry if this explanation felt weird, the character in question does this to me)

Number 4 is one that I might actually change in the future, I've unfortunately stolen from a Tumblr post that I don't remember and need to find without asking the original artist if he agreed, I guess I chose it because it was uncanny, completely different from the others, and the act of using it felt a scam, but regardless, I now realise the importance of not doing this type of stuff, and I'll seek the source as soon as I can.

EDIT: Sorry, I couldn't find the original post. If anyone can recognize where the picture is from and tell me, I'll be very glad.

Number 3 comes from Arkham Asylum's most watched Tribute video on their YouTube channel, with the song "It's Not Over" in the background.

I just... can't explain why I chose this one, go and watch the linked video, and if you are a fan, you'll understand.

Number 2 comes from the intro of Chicken Pie's fantastic AMV of the various Finales, I love this video dearly, and I consider it a must watch for any true fans of the show (no, not really, but it's amazing, and the section in which the final villain is shown are my favourites, especially that last shot with the music in which he charges up a laser).

Number 1 changed with time.

At first, I used this picture, to avoid spoilers:

But then, not only I thought it was ugly, unfitting and rather useless, but I also believed that I had to rewrite the entirety of this final entry because I was very tired when I was finishing writing and preferred to release the post that same night, leading to a less than stellar conclusion for the readers who first saw this post back then.

Now I definitely feel like I gave this villain the sense of finality that I wanted to give him when I first started writing this post.

The new picture is also WAAAAAYYYYYYYY better than what I had originally, as it not only is much clearer than the first, but it's also one of the character's most iconic screenshots in the entire series.

As for where the new picture is from, it comes from this DesmondWakfu AMV that uses the song Psycho, because......

He is one :)

My Top 10 Favourite Male Villains of all time.

"How arrogant of you to think that any of us are anything but irrelevant". -John Greer, Person of Interest (2011-2016).

There comes a moment in a blog's life where some things are just long overdue, and while the argument could be made that this happened way too early, I'd say that as long as this helps me to find my groove, I am free to experiment as much as I want.

So..... Villains.

Gotta love them. As long as I do not meet them in real life. This post is in particular about male villains since I have one dedicated to their female counterparts in the pipeline so expect that to come soon enough and for this part to be rewritten. By the way, "villain" is a generalisation, I can totally put antivillains, antagonists or more general antiheroes in this list; your definition of "Bad Guy" can vary greatly and so can mine, someone like Walter White from Breaking Bad could have made it in here. My taste is very unusual, so prepare yourself for some unexpected picks.

Also, since these are meant to be some big celebratory posts, for the occasion I'll reveal my Italian heritage and translate every line of dialogue in Italian and publish it separately with a link, so that English readers who are learning Italian can exercise.

Here's also a follow up to this post, the first part of my top 30 favourite female antagonists of all time. Check it out, if you are curious to see more.

The bad girls

But first, some honourable mentions:

Oropo (Wakfu): Once you see the number 2 spot for both this list and the female villains list you might notice that I tend to gravitate towards characters with wasted potential more often than not, but while we're just talking about this guy, I cannot stress enough the amount of unceremonious mishandling that lies within his concepts and execution. Really needed two seasons of 25 episodes each to explore it to their maximum.

Tai Lung (Kung Fu Panda): I love him, but not as much as others, it's a matter of personal preference. He's an amazing antagonist, so even if he is just an honourable mention, I wouldn't call him a lesser villain by any stretch of the imagination; I once felt like he was too sympathetic for his movie's sake, but looking back at it again, he's actually moderately evil for a lot of reasons, even if Shifu is the main one.

Bill Chyper (Gravity Falls): It's been way too long since I watched Gravity Falls, I really can't give you an accurate opinion on this guy anymore.

Flintheart Glomgold (DuckTales 2017): That season 2 episode. If you know what I'm talking about, you KNOW. Also the music for that whole sequence was a banger, really driving home the deranged nature of that twist reveal.

Big Jack Horner (Puss in Boots The Last Wish): I feel like when people praise Jack for being a breath of fresh air in a stale environment, they often forget just how good of a villain he was in his own right without the larger industry wide void of truly devious antagonists that act out of pure malice.

The Wolf (Puss in Boots The Last Wish): Two villain entries from one movie? Of course it was gonna be The Last Wish, what else could it be? Honestly I don't even wanna talk about this guy, you need to experience the movie for yourself.

Rob (The Amazing World of Gumball): Everything I have to say about this guy gets talked about much better by the number 6 Spot on this list, but as it stands Rob was my first villain OTP and the guy who opened the box of Pandora for me on what an antagonist could and should be, since then my perception of villainy only widened and now I enjoy their role in a story in much different way.

And now, with that out of the way, let's finally start with the ranking of my personal favourite male villains of all time.

Major spoilers down below:

Number 10: Silco (Arcane)

This guy is the reason that brought me to specify who or what counted for this list as trying to simplify Silco into one specific group of characters is a challenge that can only end in a misunderstanding of what makes Silco such a complex and fascinating character with an amazing character arc, that ends with him not being redeemed, mind you, but allows the audience to grieve in such a way that would make a side character death jealous.

When writing an antagonistic character, Silco is my goal and high standard, and just for that he deserves all of my respect and endless praise.

Now, admittedly, Silco's arc takes a while to kick in, but it works out to his advantage by the end of it since you don't realise just how much you've grown to care for him until he's dead and you're left with the surprise.

10 out 10, the nation of Zaun would have been much better (worse) with him than with Vander.

Number 9: The Riddler (DC)

The Riddler is literally my ride or die villain, when I'm in the mood for him, he's literally my favourite antagonist ever; when I am not in the mood for him, I completely forget about his existence.

When compared to many other entries on this list, Riddler is definitely more on the pop culture side of antagonism, and when you've been around for almost a century, you tend to have many different versions of the same character written by different writers, so I wanted to highlight here my favourite versions of him:

Arkham Games: He's hilarious. He's not my ideal Riddler, but whenever he comes on screen, his whiny rat's ass voice stimulates my pheromones.

Batman The Animated Series: I've heard somewhere that this version of him is disappointing, and to that I'll say... yeah, but only when he wasn't on screen, because otherwise, he kind of slayed.

Matt Reeves The Batman: This is the version that rekindled my love for him after so long. Out of every interpretation of The Riddler throughout the years, this is the one version that treated Edward more as a character rather than an obstacle for Batman to overcome, and for that I'll be eternally grateful.

LEGO Batman The Videogame: My very first introduction to The Riddler and the Batman universe as a whole, this version has a permanent place in my heart , I love how much information and emotion you can get out of him by just looking at his mannerisms and quirks alone; unironically, being silent helps him reach that quote on quote idealised version of Riddler that I was talking about earlier.

Number 8: The Snatcher (A Hat In Time)

There are many things that can carry on a villain in a story, their evolution, stage presence, complexity, thematic contrast to their counterpart, and so on and so forth. While an antagonist can check off many of these boxes simultaneously (like the one pictured), there's one box that is almost impossible to truly nail perfectly: comedy.

You see, comedy is subjective, and when your main antagonist is also the funniest part of a given story, it becomes hard to also match a sense of gravity and menace that allows them to also be an imposing threat, even harder is to give said antagonist depth and a tragic backstory.

But somehow, out of nowhere, The Snatcher from A Hat In Time manages to simultaneously be the funniest character in his section of the game, carrie said energy throughout the whole experience even down to the DLC, simultaneously strikes the balance between being scary, wholesome, sympathetic and tragic, exude an insane amount of charisma, all while having a deeply disturbing backstory that touches on some heavy themes and re contextualises his actions into something more complicated and out of a broken man, everything I just said + he's the biggest bastard in his videogame and never repents nor does he have his actions called out.

Snatcher really has all the right cards that make a stationary character work and uses them to his maximum potential, and it works because his character arc throughout the game is more about becoming affectionate to Hat Kid than it is about redeeming himself.

Lastly, his voice actor, Luke Sizemore, aka Yungtown, really sells the performance of this devious soul eating worm and burns his catchphrases into your brain for the rest of eternity, much like his boss theme,

Your Contract Has Expired

A song that switches around being scary, epic, energetic and desperate in a short, yet perfectly paced amount of time. You need to listen to it regardless of if you've played the game or not.

Fool.

Number 7: Judge Claude Frollo (Hunchback of Notre Dame)

You can never say no to a classic.

There's nothing that I could say that hasn't already been said by thousands of videos on YouTube, but I'll try anyway: you see, Frollo is the reason why we need a new term to identify certain villains that aren't "sympathetic" but still make you feel some sort of human emotion and a form of "I wish someone could give you the care you need to fix your life", I guess the term empathetic exists, but when do you really see it used?

Now, don't get me wrong, Frollo is absolutely not sympathetic in the slightest, he wants to r##e a Romani woman that's way younger than him, but you can still feel that he's very troubled about it in the Hellfire scene and has definitely a lot of unidentified issues and internalised bigotry that could be worked through, even if it's too late to work through them right now.

In general, I feel like people forget that the main reason why past Disney villains worked had to do more with their human traits juxtaposed to their malice rather than just their plain wickedness, otherwise the Horned King from the Black Cauldron would be top of the Disney villains league and that couldn't be further from the truth.

We should really strive towards writing more villains like Frollo, less omnipotent beings that end up falling flat because they don't have much thematic relevance aside from being a threat (Bill Chyper works because he represents Ego and he's used sparingly) and more average vicious individuals who use their power and influence to get what they want.

All in all, if you've seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame, then you know why this guy is here, but just to cite a couple of repeated points, the Hellfire scene is perfect. It's immaculate. It's unreproducible; there will never be another scene like this coming out of the House of Mouse or animation ever again, the excessive amount of stars and elements that came together to create this gothic classic is so vast that it's literally a miracle.

Frollo is truly the personification of the dark, twisted side of humanity peaking through the door and into your mind, from which he shall never escape as his performance still remains perfect to this very day.

Number 6: The Spot (Spider-man across the Spiderverse)

"You've hit me with a bagel!" It's still the greatest villain origin story of all time. There's truly something maniacal about this reveal, like the entire universe was shattered and reality was shocked at the mere realization that while Miles was having his coming of age moment back in the first film, this guy was having his normal life completely and utterly shattered by a combination of both our heroes stepping up to do the right thing and our doofus lack of foresight and self reflection; all of this stuff is hilarious and completely made up for the film but good god they did such an amazing job tying all the elements together in an unexpected way that makes sense and parallels the journey that our protagonist faced in the first movie.

Like with Rob from The Amazing World of Gumball, and a little bit like number 2 on this list, I just really enjoy the concept of turning background characters who had no relevance whatsoever into the big bad of the story who's been there all along and the heroes (and the audience) just couldn't notice.

With The Spot in particular, there's that sense of satisfaction of turning the wasted potential of a villain who has been underestimated for literal decades and treated as a "villain of the week" (God do I love the meta narrative of this movie) into an actual competent, well written antagonist that is aware of his reputation and strives towards bettering himself and his powers.

He's also the funniest character of his movie too and the voice acting of Jason Schwartzman only accentuates his mannerisms and pettyness.

He also has the coolest usage of portals I have ever seen and his whole "There's a hole inside all of us" metaphor is simultaneously hilarious and very deep personal information that can only be understood if you put yourself into his shoes.

I can't wait for Beyond the Spiderverse to come out and see how his arc resolves, more importantly, I wonder if he's going to rank higher in the future.

Number 5: Lord Shen (Kung Fu Panda)

"Happiness must be taken. And I'll take mine"

.....

What a character.

What a movie.

You cause so much pain and suffering, because you don't understand the people around you, and then those people banish you, and you can't understand why, so you start to believe that they hated you.

They never loved you, so you keep causing pain and suffering but it's not that easy anymore; the guilt starts to resurface, all those bodies keep piling up, but you can't stop because then it would have all been for nothing; so you keep chasing those dreams of grandeur because that's all you have left; the emptiness in your heart can no longer be filled by love, so you try to fill it with something else.

You try to fill it with power. You try to fill it with glory. You try to take everything else for yourself so that you can fill that cup, but it doesn't work, because that cup has no bottom.

And so you're left... with yourself.

And the damage you've done. But now it's different; you've failed. You are left with nothing. Nothing.

And so you outrage, for the last time... And then it all ends. Forever. And you've finally come to accept this, after all....... Who could ever love you?

Number 4: Spamton G Spamton (Deltarune)

You know, in retrospect, it's kind of insane what Toby Fox managed to achieve when creating Spamton.

Not only because Spamton feels like the most insane combination of ideas ever conceived, but also because Toby Fox created such a complex character with such a complicated language and personality and then not only shafted it all aside for the players to go out of their way to interact, but also made all of this in what are officially 2 or 3 cutscenes at most (4 if you consider his shop encounter as one) and only one of them being truly mandatory.

You spend so little time with Spamton, and most of that time is spent fighting him, and yet by the end of it you've become enlightened by the knowledge of him, that after a while... you forget how scary it all was.

All the memes comparing Spamton with Turbo are 100% correct and justified, Spamton truly is Turbo but better; you go through an insane rollercoaster of emotions with this character that you are left absolutely dumbfounded when it all comes to a stop and you go back to play the rest of chapter 2 normally.

His insane mannerisms and mood swings are pretty funny at first, but once you peel back the layers a bit they reveal a pretty realistic and sad portrayal of mental illness, mania and hysteria coupled with an unhealthy amount of social distancing, loneliness, and abandonment issues, that reinforce into your brain the idea of someone lacking proper healthcare and needing to be locked away from society for their (society) own good, simulating the vicious cycle that Spamton lives by: nobody wants to help him but he's still expected to act like a regular individual despite the amount of hardships he's facing and the lack of a support system keeping him from falling back into his bad habits.

I'll admit, I've considered putting Spamton in place of the Number 3 spot on this list; but then I've realised that on an objective level, the next entry totally deserves to be ranked above Spamton; plus, with at least 5 more chapters of Deltarune on our way, whose to say that one of the next gremlins won't be able to dethrone even the number 1 spot?

Drumroll for our top 3:

Nox, the Watchmaker (Wakfu)

There will never be another experience in my life as cathartic as watching the first season of Wakfu for the first time ever again.

On a later rewatch, the initial problems that you've noticed throughout the first half of the season and a little bit in the second half become too apparent to ignore, but the first time everything that goes from the ball tournament to the finale is one of the best paced arcs of television, and everything that happens when the team reaches the Sadida kingdom is just peak Wakfu.

And the king, the culprit, the crown jewel of properly paced stories and arcs is no other than the sad clockwork dilf himself: Noximilliem Coxen the Watchmaker.

Arguably, the greatest sympathetic villain of all time. There has never been another case of a character who has committed such vile, unspeakable crimes, and yet still managed to make me root for them while simultaneously not putting down the heroes.

And let's not be mistaken here, Nox is pretty evil:

Aside from the generic murder, Nox also defiled and stitched together the corpses of multiple victims and turned them into his obedient puppets in order to commit even more murder and genocide in order to achieve his goals.

Also, this is one of the funniest crimes Nox has committed: he abused his dog. It's really not that hilarious nor is it that important in the context of the show, but if you look back at it from an outside perspective then it's really like: Oh yeah. That happened too. Lol.

One of the best parts of his entire arc is his defeat. The "20 minutes" scene deserves a "One Villainous Scene" coverage video to forever immortalise it amongst the greatest. Everything from the music, the subversiveness, the cinematography, the voice acting and just the general art direction of it is worthy of an Eminem award at the Oscars, there's genuinely nothing wrong with this scene, it's truly immaculate.

Words alone cannot do justice to the treacherous, gut wrenching emotional rollercoaster that is experiencing his story for the first time. An hour long video essay would only serve to cover the basics and fundamentals, while for the real deal you need to watch the first season of Wakfu for yourself.

Number 2:

Bradford Buzzard (DuckTales 2017)

And now it's the perfect time to pull out my final wild card, the hole of the sink of my autism, the masterpiece of wasted potential that is Bradford Buzzard from the DuckTales remake of 2017.

When you'll also see the number 2 spot on my villainesses list, you'll come to realise that this spot is more of the "I really wish I could put this at number one but I can't because objectively he doesn't deserve it and the majority of things I love about him in canon were probably an afterthought and in fanon were never plausible to begin with."

And that's how I feel about Bradford Buzzard, an antagonist I spent more time thinking about than probably anybody else on the Earth.

The show runners were so genius for this: we are going to create an original character that will probably struggle to maintain a foot print on the franchise due to the way the Duck verse works, we'll give him an insanely cool backstory and motivation, all coupled with interesting character traits and ideology, we'll make him the ultimate foil to Scrooge McDuck that has been working with him for literal decades, we'll make him the one who has got the closest to isolating Scrooge and destroying his family, and THEN we'll turn him into a generic anime villain that shoots lasers and fumbles his own plan and loses because of insane plot armour and contrivance. Good job writers.

Anyway, I should probably make the case for why this guy ranks so highly in my mind to the point of almost taking the podium for my most liked villain of all time, especially when compared to the stiff competition that we just went through.

Now, part of it is just because this is a personal top 10 and so I can put whoever I want in whatever order I want. But also, with Bradford in particular, there's a personal aspect of relatability, various interests, and passions all coming together to make him stand out in my brain.

The thing is, I've had a pretty strong connection to Disney's Duck's comic books my entire life, even if my love for them came dwindling over time, so when I finally started watching the Reboot and it was amazing, all of that buried passion and love finally re emerged back to the surface, turning me into an annoying super fan. But while season 1 and 2 were great, season 3 actually gave me something to latch on for the rest of time even after the show had ended: the character of Bradford Buzzard.

You see, DuckTales, both in the shows and comics, always had a plethora of villains; from the crazy, megalomaniacal millionaires, to witches, demons, and other mythological creatures, to power hungry aliens, to straight up super-villains. But while all of that is true, there has never been another villain, aside from Magica, Glomgold and Rockerduck at traits, that was built specifically as the anti Scrooge McDuck, and even further, there has never been another antagonist who challenged the very core ideas and concepts of the entire franchise.

Bradford is like the Frank Grimes of DuckTales: just a regular, average, real world guy who's fed up with the nonsensical constant state at which their fictional universe operates and seeks to correct it in the most logical way possible. And while Frank was ultimately a victim of a world in which he couldn't conform, Bradford's outrageous and extreme plans and methods put him on everybody's hit list until he was left all alone, but not before indirectly causing every major disaster throughout the reboot's runtime.

A cold, calculating, machiavellian mastermind whose impact and presence secretly permeates the show, right till the very end.

Shame he wasn't written better.

And now, for the one and only,

Number 1:

Qilby (Wakfu)

Qilby is the biggest example of an anomaly that you could ever observe in a work of fiction. The first time experiencing a story is the most important and impactful moment of that story, as every future rewatch won't be as good as the first. In particular, this is an important aspect of twist villains, as they can only surprise you the first time, since at future rewatches the twist becomes predictable.

Furthermore, if the twist ends up ruining the character that was established up to this point, or it doesn't make any sense, then the story is kind of ruined and it only gets worse on future rewatches, since now you know that everything that you are seeing right now is ultimately worthless and doesn't provide any value.

So why do we love twist villains and keep churning them out? Well, you see, it's a matter of execution. A bad guy introduced in an unconventional manner is much more memorable than one introduced in a straightforward way; the twist can also serve to showcase different aspects of the character before becoming an obvious obstacle, be it quirks, interests, personality in casual settings, or cunning.

Let's not beat around the bush.

If Nox is the single greatest sympathetic villain of all time, then Qilby is by far the greatest twist villain of all time, and the crazy thing is, that he surprises you two times in a row, at first by revealing himself as more evil than you could ever imagine, and then, by outing himself as more complex than you could have ever anticipated.

Let me paint you the picture: you just finished the first season of Wakfu, and you are still pretty fresh of the hype surrounding Nox, so you think to yourself "Oh, now every future antagonist is ruined because nothing could ever top the emotional gut punch that I just went through. Whatever, I'm going to stick around just to see if the story gets worse" and you start the second season.

So far, everything is normal, even better of the first season in terms of engagement value, but you can't help but feel the lack of a Nox like figure inside of the story, but at this point, you just accept it.

Then the final six episodes roll around and OH MY GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING, HAS THE WHOLE SHOW JUST GONE INSANE?

Somehow, in some mystical, french, magical way, the season 2 finale is arguably even better than the ending of season 1 despite the fight having less buildup and introducing a lot of brand new characters and an entirely irrelevant faction into his conflict.

The entirety of the scene in Emrumb is some of the best writing I have ever experienced in any work of fiction, and the music accompanying it only accentuates the repressed dopamine being released after various episodes of filler, all of them important for this moment to be as impactful as it is.

Qilby is also just a great, tragic character, that is simultaneously an unforgivable bastard that tried to kill his family and doomed his entire race for a family trip, and a sad, nihilistic man still trying to reconcile his love for his family and his need for knowledge and discovery; his curse never truly allows him to move on or relate to others but his ego and need for his forgetful brothers attention just pushes him even further into resentment, ending up damaging himself and those around him, until he's finally isolated again by the vary people he harmed and showed his love towards.

He's as good as the evil secret sibling trope can get and I never get tired of watching him on screen. His reveal scene to Adamai still gives me the chills to this very day and demonstrated me just how good the surprise villain concept can get when it's executed correctly.

Just an all around great show.

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