#like change the whole plot and the trauma themes and do something else i dont care

[hauntingblue]

Robin lives batman saying he wanted to make the kids strong... worst word to use there I think lmao

[camelely]

Good Trouble Finale...

Okay I liked that episode. It had all the elements to make a good finale, it fit the tone of the show, and it got us ready for the next season. It wasn't the best but I did really appreciate it. Anyone else think they did multiple cliffhangers so they could gage how the audience would want to see these plots end before actually writing an end lol?

First things first the Callie plot

Judge Wilson!!!! I'm so glad they brought him back to call out Callie in the dream sequence in the courtroom. It was so good. His speech. Roger Bart's delivery. The emotional impact and Maia's performance. It was a great scene and the perfect scene for both characters.

On to her actual plot. Why didn't they tell us the verdict? This whole season has been building on this case. If one thing needed to be resolved by the finale it should have been this. Also they brought up Jerrod but once again provided us with no updates!

It's interesting how all of Jamie's character development has been off screen. Like is it too much to ask for some of it to happen in front of us? It doesn't even need to be in front of Callie? Like we can just see him doing something or learning something outside the courtroom.

If all this is building to Jamie and Callie starting a firm together I would be here for it. But only if Callie takes in the message of actually listening to other people sometimes. It is important to fight but if you dont hear what others are saying how can you fight?

Callie needs to learn not every case is some big fight to change the system case. The justice system works best when both sides have decent legal representation and yes we live in a world where that rarely happens. And juries are rarely actually impartial. But Callie is a lawyer. She's not a politician and she's not a judge. She thinks she is morally superior to everyone around her and I'm so tired of it. I really hope the dream sequence finally pushes her into some character growth.

As for her and Gael I've always disliked them as a couple. In every season before this she has treated him like a second choice and never given him the support he deserved. Everytime she went to him it was because of a fight she had with Jamie or Mariana. It kinda felt like he was finally just returning the favor this season lol. Also like I said before I actually kinda like Isabella and I'm excited to see where Gael goes when he isn't attached to a bad love triangle plot.

TBH at this point I'd rather see Jamie and Gael be happy then actually try to work things out with Callie lol. They both seem to be in better places without her and she needs sometime without a guy.

The Mariana plot

Okay I hate it here. I know the message is friendships come first but like wtf the girls were really horrible to Mariana. It's really shitty that lady... jackie? stole the app idea and idk what I wanted from this plot but the fight club girls deciding to be friends with Mariana again just wasnt it. They treated her like shit all season. Also there were more of them at the start of the season lol. Also Jackie and Evan working together like wtf. Evan was a decent guy nothing in his character makes me think he would be the type of person to be vindictive after a break-up... this feels all sorts of weird and unnecessary. Even if they end it with him choosing to help Mariana I can't see this plot actually doing anything exciting tbh. Mariana is my favorite character and this plot is already exhausting, I have a feeling it's only going to get worse from here. Overall this was the worst plot of the season and I'm not happy to continue it into next season. I just want Mariana to be happy lol.

The Dennis plot

I love it. The truck connecting back to his past trauma and healing process is 10/10. The way he is finding a passion is 10/10. Overall 10/10 lol.

The Davia plot

Also mostly good. Again they chose a cliffhanger when in reality they didn't need to? I think if you dedicate an entire season of a show to a question and have the character (or a jury lol) come to decision in the finale and then choose to not tell the audience it cheapens the whole experience and drags a plot passed its expiration date. If you want a plot to end in a cliffhanger thats fine but this isn't a cliffhanger... this is just cutting out audio that should naturally be there... for the sake of creating fake tension. Doing it once is bad enough but twice in the same episode felt personal lol.

The Malika plot

Ah Malika and the only cliffhanger that actually works. Isaac. I love Isaac. Like he's amazing and I love him so much. I really liked how their plot was focused on Malika exploring how a Poly relationship could be/is right for her. The whole plot is really well done. If she decides she wants to be monogamous with Isaac I'd be okay with that as long as it is a well written thing focusing on her choices and not his. I also wouldnt mind if Isaac and her get closure and he moves on. I think him deciding to be poly could work but I also think he made it clear that isn't really what he is looking for. Maybe an open relationship or something like that could work for them? Idk exactly but I'm very excited to see where this all goes and I'm confident the writers will do right by these characters.

More exciting is her work/activism plot. It's clearly going to cause problems with her and Dyonte but honestly Dyonte and his personality is my least favorite part of the Malika plot lol. He reminds me of Speech from the band Arrested Development. That probably isn't a fair comparison and probably makes no sense but it's the vibe I get. I like Angelica and I hope her ex/friend is a good person. I have high hopes for this plot and I really hope GT doesn't let me down. Lol watch this be the worst plot next season and Mariana be the best just because I predicted the opposite.

The Alice plot

This was the one with the most consistent writing IMO. It wasn't perfect. They had some weird character choices/build with Alice's comedy group And honestly they could have cut the program down to like four finalists. All of them started to blend together anyway. I think bringing a few into the spotlight a little more would have helped balance the character choices and if one of them was to betray Alice it would have been more emotional if we actually knew them. I liked the choice to quit but it was a lot of money and a great opportunity too. It was a truly wild way to end the plot lol. As for her and Sumi... Okay so Sumi was my least favorite Alice LI, but over this last season she really grew on me and I'd be okay if they eventually found their way back to each other. For now I'm glad they are making the more responsible choice and staying friends.

Overall this finale was very much in keeping with the themes and choices the show tends to make. But it was 90 minutes long and didn't answer any of the big season long questions. It was a really well made episode though and I liked watching it.

[inessencedevided]

The Untamed, episode 46 - watching notes

Full disclosure: I'm not in a particularly good mood today. Have you seen that "no productivity. Only guild." Meme flying around? That's me today :|

Hopefully this will distract me (though distraction was the problem in the first place 🙈)

I apologise for any typos you'll finde in this post 😅

To recap, the last thing I learned was that apparently, Jiggy married his own sister because Jin Guangshan was a scumbag who raped more women than he could possibly remember

I was told by several people that this episode is their favourite. No pressures or anything :D

The way someone is dragging up Jiggy's secrets has a lot of poetic justice to it. Everyone is outraged and gossiping. Consensus is reached quickly. Kinda makes me feel that that someone (who probably also wrote the letter to jgy) knows exactly how to use the sect world's worst qualities as a weapon

Yao what's-his-name, resident gossip queen, at it again

Don't look at me my memory is as bad as wwx when it comes to names :D

I was about to write who is Lianfang Zum again and then I remembered that it's jiggy's honorary title. See what I mean? ^^

What does it say about me that my heart makes a leap when I simply see wwx leaning close to lwj to whisper to him? 😅 I'll probably die reading the novel, that's what that says

Oh so it was the maid who sent the letter

Come on Wei Wuxian! That was cruel

Yeah Yao what's-his-name, why would you need to know the identity of who ever is behind this? It's not like you've ever been deceived before!

What's... with that bracelet?

I love it how everyone looks positively startled when Lan Wangji says something unprompted :D

Wait ... Zwei Jun is in his hands? Shit, i don't remeber what happened there. Where did Xichen go again? 😬

I'm so confused right now 🙈 I can't watch and read the subtitles and type

Okay, watched the whole conversation again, now I'm following

I reiterate my earlier statement that whoever is pulling the strings here knows exactly what strings to pull to get the clans to act

Great, another mob 🙄

Loooool

NOW you want his help? 😂

Sure, as soon as he can serve YOU with his "evil tricks", that's okay!

You can see how much wwx changed because he does not hold their hypocrisy to their faces. He mostly seemed tired of it

And Jiang Cheng just realised that wwx might indeed not be responsible for Jiang Yanli's death, didn't he? He's almost stunned 🥺

Or is BEAUTIFUL to see Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji move in such unity! 😭

Oh ... those are the graves of his foster parents, right? :(

And Yanli ... oh God I forgot about Yanli 🥺

I'm crying again. Nothing on this show will ever hit as hard to me as the Yunmeng siblings' fate

I couldn't help myself, I legitimately just stroked my laptop screen where Yanli's plate was 🥺

So many conflicting emotions

Thanks to a friendly anon, I know that these three bows together are marriage thing! 😭😭😭

So yeah, they're married now. I dont make the rules :')

Somehow, this feels like them asking wwx's foster family's blessing

And now I'm imagining Shijie smiling back at them gently and I'm crying 🥺

And by God, I love lwj's gentle teasing :')

This whole scene, he's so soft! 😭

And it think that Wei Wuxian probably thought that he'd never get to step into Lotus Pier again. But here, he can finally say his goodbyes to his Shijie properly. He can heal! 🖤

And again, I cannot stress enough how wonderful that is! And how rare and precious in a show like this. So often character's get put through unimaginable trauma, but they either brush it off no problem or the show/movie ends immediately after the main action and you are left to imagine the number it did on the character's psyche. There are so rarely fantasy shows that really dive into the emotional fallout the plot has on their characters and then give them time to heal. Thus show does both and I'm so goddamn overjoyed my it!

Come to think of it, it reminds me of a very good hurt/comfort fic 🤷‍♀️

Jiang Cheng pleae, fir once, try not to be angry immediately when you're hurting :(

He still takes special offence that lwj is there. Makes me wonder if he still feels like wwx chooses lwj over the Jiang sect and is still hurt by it 😔 (note that at the same time, he reminds wwx that he's very much not a member of the Jiang clan anymore. God, the man has not worked through his own feelings ...)

For once, as much as I love it when lwj defends wwx (especially when it's not against any physical harm, but because he doesn't want wwx to be hurt emotionally) I think him interfering with this particular conflict does not help

Okay sorry, but no! lotus pier was not destroyed because wwx saved lwj in that cave. That was just an excuse for the Wen sect. They would have come eventually anyway

Ohhh

So there's my answer

He's still hurt because he feels wwx chooses anyone else over his family, which is to say him

And he probably can't understand because their positions are so different. The (future) sect leader and the son of a (dead) servant and a rogue cultivator who never felt quite like he belonged 😔

It's so goddamn tragic how much between these two was destroyed simply because they have such a different status in society and could never quite understand each other's perspective

And again, wwx just takes it 💔

Until, that is, lwj's honour gets besmirched

Don't fight in front of Shijie 🥺

Jiang Cheng's every action screams that he still loves his brother and that amidst all that pain for his lost family, is also deep betrayal and grieve for the brother he thought he could always count on 🥺💔

Can we appreciate for a second how much this shot tells us? From Jiang Cheng's angry desperation, to Wei Wuxian's quite acceptance of his rage (which must be so confusing to Jiang Cheng and probably hurt him even more. Because fighting is always how these two resolved their issues!) to Lan Wangji who is in full on protective mode (which I find more than heartwarming,but still think probably isn't helpful rn)

He ... what?

I still don't quite understand when exactly wwx's lack of golden core shows. Why does he have a nosebleed here?

What?

Oh!

Wen Ning 😱

I get what he wants to do!

Have we ever seen him this calm and determined before?

Abd they understand 😱😱😱

The look on all of their faces! Shiiiiit

I'm crying again

Oh wangii is crying 🥺

Wen Quing 💔💔💔 I'm crying even harder just looking at her. I've MISSED her 🥺

Lan Zhan your FACE!! 😭

The way he's looking at wwx in his arms, as if he's seeing him fir the first time

And by god, I can only imagine what he must be thinking

He must be reevaluation every single interaction they had since wwx started down the path of demonic cultivation 😭

I'm a bit in awe of Wen Ning here and how much he must have been holding in. That's the steadiest and most confident he's ever been

Oh Jiang cheng 💔

That looks like a man whose entire world has just been shaken to its core

And Lan Wangji is crying so much 🥺

God I hope he doesn't blame himself even more 🥺

Aaaaaaahhhh, so that is why he wouldn't just carry the sword for appearance sake and why he just had a nosebleed!

Jiang Cheng probably needs about a month to process all that :/

And therapy ...

Aaaaaaahhhh! The boat scene! I've seen gifs! 😍😍😍

A penny for Lan Wangji's thoughts ...

Oh I'm so so so so glad that Wen Ning gets to say thank you to the man who raised his ... cousin (?) :')

Oh god we get to see!!!!

Oh little a Yuan 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I wonder now, did Lan Qiren know who the child was that his nephew suddenly brought back to cloud recess?

I'm glad that we all learned from this that keeping secrets from the people we love, especially secrets that concern them personally, will eventually come back to bide us in the ass. Than you for delivering that important lesson, wen Ning!

Which reminds me that I hope they eventually tell wwx that they know 😬

I swear to god, one of these days I will melt from the gentleness in lan Wangji's gaze :')

Shit. He had to be awake? 😳

You can pinpoint the moment Lan Wangji's heart breaks for all the suffering wwx endured and how close he came to loosing him even then 🥺

Waking like that in you lovers arms in the middle of a lotus pond - that's the dream *sighs* (minus the passing out bit)

It's weirdly cute that wwx thinks that it's Jiang Cheng's insults that have lwj so upset 😅

Oh GOOOOD ...

I can't

The moment Yanli's themes started to play and she appeared I started to bawl 😭😭😭

And he's sharing the lotus pods with them ... oh please, lwj, please understand what he's saying. That's his pove language! His sister's food was how he received love and right now he passes it on to you! Please, please understand it! 🥺

Oh lwj, don't 🙈

Awwwwww ....

He's breaking the rules for you!!! Just to make you smile!!! 😭😭

And holy shit look at their expressions 😭

By now you should know that he's willing to break the rules for you :')

And poor third wheel Wen Ning 😂

Now there are glittering butterflies???

Do they have some kind of romantic aesthetic bingo going on in this episode???

Oh okay, messenger butterflies

Please appreciate wwx almost climbing into lan Wangji's lab in excitement :D

Thay scene transition was pretty af!

Hey! Why do they bully wen Ning? 😤

*shakes wwx by the shoulders* DO YOU GET THAT HE LOVES YOU NOW???

Huh, this episode was a roller coaster. you guys did NOT exaggerate! I loved it to pieces. I'm floored once more by all the actor's performances. Wen Ning revealed a lot about his character, Jiang Cheng broke my heart, Lan Wangji made it melt and Shijie is still able to make me bawl in an instant. But ... I'm not left with a bitter feeling. Sure, jiang Cheng and wei Wuxian havebt reconciled, but the truth is the first step to even have that possibility. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are both healing and whatever happens in the last 4 (4!!!😭) episodes, I'm not dreading it that much right now. I feel like we're climbing upwards :)

@sweetlittlevampire @fandom-glazed @elenirlachlagos @allhailthedramallama @luckymoony @kyrrahbird @i-love-him-on-purpose thank you guys for staying with me for this crazy ride 💙🖤💙

Also one last thing: please don't tell me what happens differently in the novel in any given scene. I am still reading it (about half way through rn) and I'd like to still be surprised by stuff like first kisses and love confessions 💙🖤

I should have put something like this at the end before, but I always forgot. That's on me 😅 so don't feel bad, if you've shared something before :)

[homestucky]

Davekat fic recs?

hrrmm wow i will have to think. ill probs just check my bookmarks which means i probably wont be able to think of many one chapter fics off the top of my head since i dont tend to bookmark them. also some that havent been updated in yrs i wont put here bcaus thats just frustrating unless theyre rlly notable and may come back i may not link them

also disclaimer that while im not super into smut so its unlikely im gonna recommend just porn fics, some may have some sexy times incidentally i suppose. also a lot of them are dave centric/dave POV bcaus hes my BOY

M.C. Escher that’s my favourite MC by Unda (COMPLETE)  is a wild ride and long but i recommend for sure, very well written n thought out. also check out the other fics in the series bcaus if i recall correctly there are some other shorter fics that unda wrote to give some background or develop characters. but theyre also really great even stand-alone! its finished now and i followed it the whole time :0. cw for child abuse and death 

Within, Without by reinkist (COMPLETE)  i actually read a long time ago so i dont remember it so well. i do remember thinking it was pretty great tho, so i do recommend it. i should probably go back for a reread some time. its just a really good meteor fic that explores everything you’d want it to, and does that well, u kno? its like the fic that u wanted to exist but couldnt find. but here it is!

Doc Scratch’s School for Supernaturally Gifted Adolescents by medical  (UNFINISHED AND RECENTLY UPDATED)is great, its like a multichapter magic/superhero au thing. its fun and characters in it are rlly well developed, like, i do enjoy a davekat fic which has a good and significant rose characterisation in there too. but theres some serious plot goin in in here too…. very exciting. 

To Be Taken Care Of by shitstuck  (COMPLETE)is good, its god some deep convos about troll v human culture and stuff, some rosemary too. bit of body horror but if i can handle it its not too bad. i just reread it lol. the epilogue changes the tone of things a bit n id be interested to know other peoples thoughts on that ;_;

Don’t Forget the Sun by Weevilo707 is rlly good but sadly NOT COMPLETE AND HASNT BEEN UPDATED IN AGES :@!! hope the authors doin ok  (EDIT: APPARENTLY the author is not planning on updating this one again, but i still think its a good read :^) )

Book Covers by turntechGeneticist717  (COMPLETE) is rlly great also!! big recommend. dave is lookin after a babby dirk as his big brother in college. i havent read it in a while but i remember when it was updating being like !!!!!!!!!!!Aaa!! also there are others in the series so take a look :)

The Truth is in the Eyes by AcrylicMist  (COMPLETE)is like a rlly mythological/fantasy interpretation of canon post game which is very cool????? like the world is sort of medieval or something but w the gods n magicky stuff. rlly interesting. , very dope again havent read it in a while and am running out of steam for ranting about fics but!! yea its sweet w an intriguing plot

The Eurydice Suite by callmearcturus  (COMPLETE) !!!!!!!!!!! i love this fic so much like its bonkers n i just. its like an inception sort of inspired au and i have NEVER watched inception but im just super into the concept. its just. a rlly amazing well written fic w perfect pacing and characterisation like the plot is like a beautiful spider web where time flicks back and forth yet makes perfect sense. theres such a sense of atmosphere. ive reread it so many times. also!!1111111 i love the dave in it, and i love the strilondes family relationsy stuff!! i also feel like it ties everything up rlly nicely despite having like all the main characters in it p much. hell yeaaaa. its my fav by this author whos an AMAZING writer like they just DROP U IN to the world with so much confidence and drop context and background in at a perfect pace so ur never confused but always intrigued. but often i find the atmosphere in their fics almost TOO intense u know?? like i feel like i wake up in a ditch after reading one like wh,,h who am i?? i hate using this word but the writing is weirdly like… “sensual” which i think means the writing is great, rlly strong atmosphere but im not  always 100% able to handle it. this one does not make me feel so dazed and its just.. yess

The Lucky Ones by daniomalley (COMPLETE) is another one i followed as it came out. a cool spacey au. sorry i cant think of anything else to say aaaa

Off Court by levvan (ON HIATUS?) is great tho strong themes of abuse from the start. not that none of the above have that if i havent said so uhhhh yea be wary of the tags i guess. but yes. 

three rounds and a sound by skitpost (UNFINISHED AND RECENTLY UPDATED) is rlly great, like a magic school au. very excited to see whats gonna happen next :0

We’re All Friends & Family Here (And Frankly, We’re Sick Of Your Shit) byLandOfMistAndSecrets (COMPLETE) is TECHNICALLY a dirkjake fic but it has very cute little pastiches of other characters and the DK ones are very cute and well characterised

An Alien and a DJ Walk into a Bar (and Accidentally Start a Relationship) by Kadaaver (APPEARS TO BE ON HIATUS) i was p into when it was still updating. theres not actually MUCH relationship stuff yet if i recall correctly but still. good. and i enjoy the characterisation of dave being p socially anxious.

turntechGodhead is offline by forestknifefight (UNFINISHED AND RECENTLY UPDATED) well relatively recently. i like this one a lot! theres some good beta kid friendship and some good karkat.

Astronomy in Reverse by PunkZucchini, sicklekind (ON HIATUS>??????) cute + features BIGKAT is i recall correctly

Bring You Down by acedavestrider (COMPLETE) idk what to say about this but thats not a criticism. its just a legit cute fic that is good for the heart. human au, earth n whatever. karkat is a student nurse!! yeaa! thats kind of incidental but i like it

Survival of the Richest by ireallyloveicecream (HIATUS???) theres not a lot of it but im so intrigued. some kind of a fae/magic fairy folk kinda thing

Californian Son by LivTC (COMPLETE BUT THERES MORE IN THE SERIES WHICH I HOPE WILL CONTINUE TO BE UPDATED ETC ETC) !! ok this one is kind of sexy n angsty and daves a REAL DICK in it but it rlly well written and i rlly wanna know more jijhihihu

First Contact by yesfir (UNFINISHED AND RECENTLY UPDATED) !! its au but like idk scifi, humans having to make a deal with/coexist with trolls. space colonies!! this one is great… good character development and plot… does that great thing of pacing the revelations of the plot rlly gradually so ur like ! somethings happening here and i must know more!!!

Feathered by AlloftheFandom  (UNFINISHED, RECENTLY UPDATED) this ones exciting :3 karkat has only just been introduced to it. its like a magicky world w a bit of mild body horror so far. some good strilondes also… has anyone noticed that i need strilonde family relations in a fic i love….

Soulmates by egossweetheart  (UNFINISHED (fairly..?) RECENTLY UPDATED) this is a souleater au which i dont know a lot about??? but its cool, i am suitably intrigued. bit of body horror. idk as always check the tags. idek why im bothering to specify that. anyways,

 Vladimir and Estragon Cope with Their Trauma by Volo (UNFINISHED RECENTLY UPDATED ETC) afterlife au. so yea TW death. im into it tho

The Importance of Being Karkat by choicescarfsylveon (UNFINISHED RECENTLY UPDATED ETC) karkat has a radioshow, dave is kind of a dick. some parts of that change. i wont spoil which. theres something deeper goin on too…….. mysterios….

anyways here are some fics that i think are cool. sorry it took ages i just wanted to give it a good effort ukno?? its not an exhaustive list but its what i found. thanks to all these authors and hey, while we’re at it, all fanfic authors!! good work and i hope u all know how appreciated it is. anyways i have a headache so i guess ill finish this up. peace!

[labyrinthus-magici]

🔥!!!

Was looking at my muse list to think of something that stood out but since I couldn’t pick one I’ll just go w something that affects a lot of them but anyway like 

As an autistic person I personally thing the large majority of the magi/snb cast is autistic coded! The fandom as a whole (although it’s not just the magi fandom tbf it’s kind of all of them I’ve been in) ignores that a lot! 

I have seen autistic Judar before which is VALID but it’s really frustrating when Judar and Morgiana are the only two you see (and Mor as an afterthought) bc they’re the ones with the more “stereotypical” traits (i.e Judar being antisocial/struggling with empathy which is probably due to trauma and not even his autism considering that. studies show that it’s allistic people who lack empathy for autistic people usually and not the other way around but I digress!) and I’ve been told that other characters who are autistic coded can’t be bc they’re like idk??? competant lmfao??? I don’t get when allistic people say a character can’t be autistic bc im like lmao good to know you know every autistic experience and trait! Maybe you can educate me on my own disorder that you don’t have bc you clearly know so much about it that you couldn’t possibly be overlooking something! 

Anyway my muses that I intentionally play as autistic and some of their main traits are bellow the cut bc it’s lengthy (The others I’m probably going to accidentally autistic code bc I. am autistic and it affects my writing but ahiodfhg)

Morgiana: Mor is a pretty obvious one, although I do love her autistic coding! So like most of these characters but with Mor esp you have to keep in mind that she canonly has c-ptsd (post traumatic stress disorder but when it’s not a single traumatic event but living long term in a traumatic environment such as an abusive home or any other variation) so that affects how many of her autistic traits present themselves. I do think that she’s become very good at masking (i.e hiding autistic traits) due to them being punished and because of that she is exhausted because masking is very taxing. I think that she started to unlearn this considerably once she joined the caravan with Leila’s encouragement but it was subtle bc while she did become close with Leila and Sahsa she didn’t open up entirely. 

Once she gets to Sindria though and starts opening up I think that she’ll relax a lot because she can see others with the same traits who don’t have to hide them. Masrur especially points out that it’s important for her to stim and because she’s not the only one who deos this, everyone is understanding and accommodating at times when she’s non verbal/not able to speak.  

One thing that really stood out to me about Mor is her hyperempathy. Because she doesn’t talk much, it’s hard for some people to pick up on, but Morgiana often has strong feelings of empathy for others. At first this is something that she struggles with, because it’s something that others have taken advantage of and used to hurt her, and because she’s afraid of her emotions as a whole. Later though, she learns that this can be her strength. Morgiana’s most powerful moments (in my opinion) like when she rescued Nadja, when she confronts Alibaba about the consequences of what the fog troupe is doing, and many other instances, are very emotionally charged. She’s also the first to empathize with the pirates that Madaura has brainwashed, and is able to get the others to empathize with them too. 

Morgiana was my first favorite magi character (the reason I even got into magi in the first place tbh) bc it was so empowering to see someone with many of my traits in an empowering role of a hero because of those traits and not just with them as an afterthought! 

Masrur: I’m going to focus on snb just because that’s what I’m more familiar with as I haven’t read the parts of magi that Masrur is spotlighted in in a long time although honestly all of this stuff applies to Masrur later but it presents itself differently because whilst autistic people never grow out of their traits, just like anything in a person, it changes and becomes more nuanced as a person gets older and gets more experience. 

But Masrur is another autistic coded character! A lot of his traits can technically be explained away by canon/plot details however in this house we don’t  think that because there’s technically an argument against autistic headcanons that it’s at all valid so ANYWAY 

To start we have the way he sees himself as different from others, the way he goes to sit by himself because he feels like he can’t fit in with everyone, how he’s not like them, how he’s just a monster with a single purpose that’s already been fulfilled. Normally, I wouldn’t count this exactly as an autistic trait however Hinahoho is the one that comes to talk to him because he can relate to this experience which is autistic coded so! One thing that’s a common experience in autistic people is feeling quite literally inhuman, usually in the form of an alien, fairy, or fictional character (as it was in my case). This is becuase of the isolation that we normally face in childhood. For Masrur, he feels different from the others, like who he is isn’t someone that would be wanted and that’s something that I can relate to quite strongly. It’s not until he comes to the Sindria trading company, a place full of Neurodivergent coded characters (the ones that aren’t autistic coded are coded as other disorders as well such as ADHD and BPD among others I don’t think there’s actually one person  there who’s neurotypical considering that. The entire theme of the Sindria trading company is that they take in people who are outcasts and in need of help and usually those people tend to be ND.) that he comes to realize that he does belong and that he is valued. 

In addition to that we do see him stimming or doing stim like behaviors at times, he sometimes is talkative and others seems mostly or entirely non verbal, he tends to misunderstand social queues, struggles with subjects that he’s not interested in, etc. 

I think it’s super important to take into account Masrur’s autistic coding because Masrur gets to be HAPPY. Like, yes, he does experience a lot of traumatizing things, but by the end of Magi he still has his family, he’s happilly married and a good father. These are things that people think autistic people can’t have or don’t deserve, and we never get to experience this things in character’s that are canonly autistic. So for me seeing an autistic coded character with such a positive development was something really positive, it’s the same way for a lot of these characters, seeing so many autistic coded characters getting the development that the deserved was what drew me to magi inittially if I’m perfectly honest. I didn’t know it at the time bc I had no idea I was autistic until last year (coincidentally from autistic friends also from this fandom!) but it really was what drew me in. 

Hinahoho: Oh God where do I even START with autistic icon Hinahoho? I think, out of any snb characters Hinahoho is the most heavily autistic coded. Like there is literally no other explanation for his character I can think of whenever I see him I get so happy bc I’m like!!! Yes!!!! Autistic dad!!! I love him!!!  

His backstory first and foremost focuses on his separation from the rest of the people in his tribe because he has unconventional interests (art!!) and that he isn’t able to pass the test and become and adult at the proper time. To start, being a “late bloomer” in things (or alternatively doing things too soon in some cases) is a common autistic experience. A lot of us due to many reasons (mostly due to ableism and lack of accommodations) we aren’t able to do the things that our peers do at the same times like drive, attend college, or move out of the house etc. This isn’t a lack of competence just that we aren’t able to go about things in a way that we are able to thrive in, and this is exactly what Hinahoho’s development highlights! He never does pass the warrior’s test in the way that is most traditional, instead Sinbad (whose an Adhd ND icon if you ask me but I haven’t added him to my muse list yet so aidofhg more on him and the other adhd icons in this series later ahidofhg) mentions how there’s multiple ways to be strong, how he doesn’t have to do things the same way as everyone else to be worth something. 

There’s also the ableism that he faces from others in his tribe. In addition to judging him for not having become a warrior yet, he is bullied by others and treated like a child when he shouldn’t be. The others are so unkind to him for being “different” and “weird” and having “a personality like a fish left to dry” (WHATEVER THAT’S EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN LMAO I STILL DONT GET IT) that in his introduction he starts sobbing bc Sinbad said thank you to him like. Like God can I relate to this, honestly his experiences though not exactly the same as my own deeply resemble how I was before I found out that I’m autistic. 

Then, after he learns to love and accept himself and marries Rurumu (Oh!! That’s another thing, people acted like he was unlovable but Rurumu always loved him. He never had to change who he was or mask his autistic traits and that’s SO important because honestly I can’t even imagine someone who isn’t also autistic wanting me romantically especially when I see shit about people taking autistic people to homecoming and calling it “inspiring” and “selfless” and a “learning experience”) he then turns around and teaches others to do the same. I noticed that he becomes very close to both Drakon and Masrur who are both autistic coded and he helps teach them to love themselves like??? LIKE???? and with Masrur he literally points out that he can empathize so points for hyperempathy again. I’m loving how many magi characters have hyperempathy that is ultimately good. Bc it’s usually a weakness in character’s that have it. 

Drakon: Honestly once again idek where to start when his entire development is deeply autistic coded but we’ll start with his backstory. So to start there’s the power imbalance between him and his (neurotypical) siblings. Whilst he is the youngest, I think that the reason that he’s unfavored in the family and is the one always catching shit is because he’s autistic. This is something that happens so often is that when an autistic child has allistic siblings the allistic one is favored or if not favored they definetely get treated better because autistic children are particularly vulnerable and easy to manipulate. With Drakon’s childhood, although again the circumstances in my case aren’t exactly the same, I really am seeing my past self. 

He was from a young age branded as a prodigy, told he was already basically an adult even though he was still a child, and this is so common with autistic children who show a semblance of talent in something. However, he isn’t praised for this in a healthy encouraging way, instead he’s given the responsibilities and expectations of an adult already. In addition to that, he is conditioned to mask his autistic traits, in addition to being taught to devote his entire self to his cause. The fact that he internalized everything so deeply that he had a breakdown when he realized that he wasn’t wanting to die for his cause, that he thought he had to follow everything to the letter all the way down to his deepest feelings, is in my opinion an autistic trait as I showed exactly the same traits for other matters, internalizing things at the same intensity. He social scripts quite a bit, meaning that he has a strong sense of “this is how things SHOULD be so if they AREN’T this way then everything is in RUINS and we have to fix it IMMEDIATELY” he has the roles he’s been given and he strongly believes that everyone else has a role. This does become far more healthy once he’s unlearned the toxic things that he was taught but he still does it, but in a healthy way. Everyone has a role to fulfill, and he’s strict about this, when people aren’t doing what they’re supposed to be becomes irritable and struggles to keep functioning as normal. 

Then there’s the fact that his entire development is learning as a teenager that he’s become a monster, literally in this case, learning that he is hated so much that he resolves to leave his humanity behind, only to gain love and acceptance and learn to love himself in the form that he takes. While I don’t think every monster is autistic coded (as that would be problematic for obvious reasons) developments like this resemble our experiences so well? It’s a perfect metaphor for what it’s like, honestly. 

One reason I think that it’s important for me personally to acknowledge Drakon’s autistic coding is because he’s a strong leader and people think that autistic people cannot be leaders, that we’re incompetent. So to see a character with my traits be someone noble, to become king even, and to thrive is something super positive for me because again it’s something that people think we cannot do that we cannot have but we really can. 

Leila, Sahsa, & Nadja: With these three it’s mostly projecting just because we don’t see enough of them for them to really be that autistic coded HOWEVER tis my blog and you get to hear all my hcs asdfgh. I like to hc these three as autistic 1. bc Leila and Sahsa’s relationship is beautiful, and to contextualize that as a romance between two autistic women is really nice for me who as I mentioned before struggles to ever see myself having a love like that. 2. Leila and Sahsa take to Morgiana and encourage growth in her and I like the idea of them helping her to relax a little on hiding her autistic traits. 3. Because as an autistic person it’s difficult for me to interpret characters as not autistic (where not autistic is other’s defaults for me autistic is the default, so it would be more accurate for me to say I have some allistic headcanons rather than autistic ones lmao) I actually started headcanoning Leila as autistic by accident because I wrote a fic where she had a shutdown (which is when there’s too much stimulants i.e sound or sights etc. and we have to go lay down and rest and shut out the stimulants that are bothering giving us sensory overload.) and was like oh!! Time to make both her and Sahsa autistic bc who’s gonna stop me lmao. 

Also one headcanon I have for Nadja (in addition to her joining Leila and Sahsa’s caravan with her family) is that after Morgiana rescued her she developed a special interest in adventure and heroism which is really cute on one hand bc she always wants to learn stories of heroes from the locals of the places they visit and her parents are like aw she’s talkative sometimes! She’s making friends!!! But on the other hand she tags along on Leila and Sahsa’s “oops lmao just fought an entire band of thieves again” adventures and is that “Let me see what you have!” “A KNIFE!!” “NO!!!” vine so ahidfohg be careful u fuckin superb lil baby. 

Myron: Hers is a bit shorter since we don’t have a whole lot of her in canon, but her strict following of perceived social standards and social scripting makes me headcanon her as autistic. I also like the idea of her being autistic because so often people think that we can’t be proper or socially conscious but more often than not we overcompensate, the deal is that we struggle to understand neurotypical social cues not that we hate socializing. 

Titus: Oh man I shouldn’t have put him so far down on my muse list bc this one is going to be lengthy. There’s a reason whenever I info dump about my son to people that I always call him Autistic Gay Icon Titus Alexius.  

I’ll start with the fact that he struggles in social settings, i.e Sphintus thinking he’s so fuckin awkward at first. (Even tho I hc Sphintus as autistic too but like I said autistic is the default for me ahidfg) He has a special interest in magic, evidently, and is very info dumpy about it as times (though not as much as notable autistic icons Yamuraiha and Ugo). Also his best friends are Sphintus and autistic adhd icon Aladdin so like. Convenient. that the three most autistic coded kids at school becomes besties. asdfgh. Also none of the 4 magi are allistic tbh. 

ANYWAY that aside and glossing over the whole separation he feels from the others (which I could go into length but it’s similar to Drakon and Masrur’s and Hinahoho’s deal and this is getting so long already oof) can we just talk about how fucking POSITIVE his Hyper-Empathy is for his character and the story? 

Okay so like. Let’s start with the 5th district, how after just a little while there he immediately jumped into action with LMAO TIME TO BLOW A HOLE IN THE SKY IM BUSTING EVERYONE OUT LADS. Like. Was it dumb? Yes. Was it noble and valid? YES! And he STILL SHOWED UP TO CLASS READY TO FIGHT THE NEXT DAY. He also tried to call out Mogamett how many times? And still stood his ground with the 5th district, even when Mogamett tried to manipulate him by saying he only cared out of his selfish desire to befriend Marga, he immediately analyzed himself critically and came to the conclusion that no, he really just wanted everyone there to be safe and happy. 

Then, when he goes to Reim and Just. Hhhhhh HE’S SO GOOD. AND HE HAS SO MUCH EMPATHY. The fact that he immediately begins changing things, is firm in that, but his main motivation is that he so desperately wants everyone to be safe and to live happily, the fact that his people’s problems are by extension his own because he feels real pain when others feel it. That’s hyper empathy and though it’s something that can be manipulated he doesn’t let that happen, he uses it for good! 

When he gives his speech about why they need to abolish slavery in Reim asap, he begins to cry and exclaims that any one of them could die tomorrow, that they need to priooritize the people that are in the now who are suffering that they have the power to help their people and to liberate their country and appeals to everyone’s emotions that way and breaks through. Also the other changes he makes?? Like making the Colosseum into a LARPing spot? That’s so fucking good? What a nerd? I love him???? 

I can go into more detail with Titus but for time reasons I won’t but. We stan Autistic Gay Icon Titus Alexius here. 

If you read all of this I love you sm thank you for reading this rambly mess. ahdiogfg 

[aquagenesis]

anyway this is my list because i have played many final fantasies many times if i dont go past 9 don’t worry about it i dont know much about them and by that point the characters are all pretty complex enough where it comes down to which personalities you like and which ones you dont.  also the supporting casts usually have your faves, you don’t consider past final fantasy 10 in the realm where it matters.

warrior/hero of light (ff1): i already said this but if you like this dude you have no taste and you’re doing it because you don’t want to own there being anything wrong with you personally.  you don’t stand up for anything you believe in  but feel you do because you Know You’re Right and always justified in whatever you do.  you probably have issues interacting with people with different opinions than yours and get hella aggressive when someone criticizes you of “playing the fence”.

firion (ff2): nobody likes firion because nobody remembers who he is.  you’re not as bad as WoL fans because you at least decided to go for the character from the game nobody remembers.  you probably pride yourself in your “niche interests” and think you’re a “real fan” because you finished the one final fantasy game nobody played.  i cant lie firion’s design is delicious though so congratulations on the taste.  enough to prove you know final fantasy but not enough to give any indication to your morals or personality.

luneth (ff3): if you’re reading this i’m kissing you on the lips because you ARE  a real final fantasy fan for either buying the DS version of the game or subjecting yourself to the famicon version somehow (provided you didn’t live in japan when it was released).  you’re not a fan of video games where the protagonist has zero personality unless you were gonna act like them anyway.  you’re the only type of final fantasy fan who doesn’t jump over fences to prove they like the series because you played final fantasy 3 and i’m so sorry Men tried to tell you you ���weren’t special” because they’re stupid and think you mean the SNES version of final fantasy 6.  you are special.  i love you.

cecil (ff4): this one is hit or miss.  you’re either someone with a massive victim complex who kins cecil for all the wrong reasons or you think it’s delicious a final fantasy protagonist had a redemption arc in canon.  you’re not cecil.  you’ll never be cecil.  cecil hated who he was when the game loaded up he did NOT commit treason against his adoptive father for you to kin him because you used to be an aggressive dickhead.  you would never forgive kain because “i changed why can’t anyone else” which completely overlooks the entire theme of redemption despite all odds because sometimes you get brainwashed into things but your heart knows what’s right.  you’ll never be him.  if you think you’re cecil you’re actually kain.  cecil spent the whole game grieving what he’d once done and still thinking he didn’t deserve to be a paladin.  you would never if you kin cecil. you also probably like bethesda games because you can be evil or good even though it has no fundamental bearing on the plot.

bartz (ff5): you think it’s funny his name is actually butz.  you don’t actually like him you just like his name.  it’s okay.  i almost forgot he was the protagonist because the only characters in that game are gilgamesh and faris.

terra (ff6): you probably have some form of trust issues stemming from childhood trauma nobody knows the real source of.  you worry all the time about what other people think of you and probably have issues managing your respective mental illness because you think it’s the only thing people remember about you.  you try so hard to have hope but you feel like an outsider.

cloud (ff7): you have raging imposter syndrome and no matter what you try to do it never goes away.  like with terra, you probably have issues managing yourself and your emotions due to fear of forgetting who you are, but while terra fans feel like an outsider you feel altogether unworthy of anything.

squall (ff8): like with cecil this one is hit or miss.  if you like squall because “he’s a dick” it is because you are also a dick.  if you like squall for any other reason you probably grapple with being stuck in your head too much and being frustrated about things you can’t control.  you probably have problems making decisions because you’re afraid of ridicule but then turn around and if you’re not having a good time blame it on the fact someone else chose to do something you didn’t like. 

zidane (ff9): you’re the friend that always tries to make sure everyone has a good time by distracting them but you come off as immature and thoughtless.  you probably have issues with imposter syndrome but it’s because someone told you that you were annoying in elementary school and now it’s all you can think about.  you feel like you need to deal with everything on your own because you’re always the one who helps your friends, but you don’t want them to have to worry about you.  when you fall you fall hard but once you feel assured you’re probably fine again.  if you have an irritating gag you fall back on it definitely makes your imposter syndrome worse but it’s, like, all you have to identify with.

[aragakisan]

Sacrifice.

send me a topic to write meta on || accepting (but slow i need my meta zone)

[ oh man, sacrifice is definitely a consistent theme throughout shinjiro’s story actually, not just the whole october 4 thing but various situations (both big and a little bit smaller but never insignificant) pretty much ever since the stuff with miki went down. 

since i’ve talked about all of these topics before separately i may come across a little bit repetitive if you’ve read about them, but bear with me here as i try to somehow cohesively summarize the most relevant ones in this one ask.

the sacrifice he made after miki’s death is definitely the one that has affected him the longest and modified his personality the most. i think he’s always been very selfless and probably quite responsible (for his age anyway) even before that tragic event, but it’s essentially what shaped him into the serious and mature person we know him as (well at least as long as he isn’t bickering or competing with akihiko over something stupid ahah) … still, you can’t deny that he can be somewhat of an “overly serious” killjoy in some situations, especially if said situation involves either any form of danger or something that requires emotional openness from shinjiro. former is just his instinctive response as a natural worrier with a huge tendency for protectiveness and latter is directly related to his first true sacrifice; sacrificing his own well-being in order to provide security and support for akihiko.

so he basically forced himself to suppress any grief he might have wanted or NEEDED to process, just so he could appear strong and reliable enough - a pillar of sorts - for akihiko’s sake as he saw akihiko as someone too sensitive and kind to handle miki’s death by himself. that’s practically what he goes on about on his sl rank 10 when he says all that stuff about akihiko being kind and a crybaby and needing someone to be there for him. and because he views akihiko this way he matured overnight to be able to be that person, letting akihiko think this seemingly cold and distant attitude toward what happened with miki was because he didn’t care as much, never protesting whenever such (huge) misunderstanding came up even if in reality he was just as heartbroken and traumatized. because his feelings don’t matter as long as others stay happy. he’s way too self-sacrificial for his own good. and akihiko isn’t the only person he does this to later on.. he’ll pretty much always put others’ happiness ahead of his own. which is part of the reason you never hear him talk about or complain about his own problems for example; as not to drag others down with him. and because he wants to be that reliable pillar to others and feels he can’t be that if he shows weakness. and so sacrificing his own well-being and not letting himself process or show emotions properly takes a huge toll on him of course. when you bottle it all up and try to push it to the side (like miki’s death that he literally never got to process) makes those feelings its own kind of a heavy burden. just because he doesn’t openly show his feelings doesn’t mean he isn’t feeling them and suffering because of them. he’s just trying to act tough to seal this fact away when in reality he’s way too soft and kind himself to be able to healthily handle all this.

and so his second sacrifice comes into play (perhaps unsurprisingly) after the accident with ken’s mother. though his decision to leave sees and (a little later on) was so he could somehow survive as he couldn’t handle the guilt and trauma he felt and went through for taking another person’s life, some of it was also to protect his friends. the fact that castor was capable of something like this and that he was unstable would have made shinjiro fear something like this would happen again - that he was a danger or a threat to not only random civilians but to his friends, making it another reason he quit and ran away. and while, again, a lot of the reason he did this and started later taking suppressants was because he couldn’t bear the feelings of guilt and self-loathing and wanted to forget, surely a huge part of it was also as to not endanger to others. he felt defective – surely there must be something wrong with me to have lost control like that? and he goes to such extremes just to keep others safe. i’ll die slowly if i start taking this? that’s fine as long as i won’t hurt anyone else anymore. basically. and thinking it might serve as some sort of atonement for what he did even and thus being ok with it (though he later realizes the right way to do that is to let ken kill him)… and just the fact that he completely isolated himself from his friends as to not drag them down with him says enough. like, sure he’s an introvert but i don’t think he’s enjoyed his new lifestyle and the loneliness that comes with it the least bit. and sure he sees akihiko every once in a while but he has no permanent shelter, he’s ruining his whole future and even with akihiko there’s this rift between them - this distance that’s keeping them from really being as close during this time.

third thing on this list that i myself consider somewhat of a sacrifice is how he - as soon as he hears ken has joined SEES - basically throws away his current (though shitty) way of life just so ken can have his revenge. by joining SEES he knows full well that he’s getting himself on strega’s bad side, so if he were to (though he thinks its unlikely) not get killed after all, he would have no going back to this lifestyle either. he wouldn’t get suppressants anymore, and without suppressants (because castor has grown dependent on them) castor gets out of control and tries to kill him. so he’s basically playing lottery with his fate here; either i die by this revenge plot or castor kills me, basically. it’s not like he has a lifelong stash of suppressants somewhere and strega got them from ikutsuki if im not mistaken ?? so yeah, he’d eventually run out. sure, he could try to go through some rehabilitation program but i dont know how easy that would be in reality, i’m guessing it would be quite the tedious and painful progress either way - which is why i tend to think his coma route makes this much more plausible or bearable as my theory is that being in such state would keep his persona more dormant and more easily controllable and thus making that process just a tiny bit easier. but i’m getting off track here now–

and the last thing here is of course him willing to give up his life in order to fill ken’s wish and to atone for what he’d done. akihiko keeps trying to tell him he needs to “get over it” since “it was an accident” but shinjiro just doesn’t see things quite this way. what matters to him is what ended up happening; the end result -- and not so much the intention. he may not have meant to do it but it doesn’t change the fact that he completely ruined this poor boy’s life. so in exchange he feels that his life is (barely) only worth serving as compensation for the lives he’d taken and is ready to give it up for the good of someone else. even when ken is giving up on his revenge when takaya is about to shoot ken, as we all know he interferes – because he feels ken’s life is worth more and yet again his own does not matter as long as ken gets his wish, others stay safe and keep going on. it’s the same theme repeating all over again, though this time in quite the extreme manner as he literally gives up his own life. but he’d prepared himself for this for a while now and was ready to face death head on, for the greater good. ]