#like obvi having good characters is important

[lovevalley45]

i feel like the real test of mettle for an actual play show is how engaging the combat is

[lemongogo]

[dullahandyke]

thinking about akudrive and feminism which is a thinly-veiled way of saying im thikning about doctor

[o-wild-west-wind]

While I’m still a bit bummed that they didn’t go with a more book-aligned POC Fiyero for the Wicked movie, I’ve been thinking (heheh) about how his being white highlights the really interesting foil relationship between him and Glinda (and, in many ways, the audience yourself).

At its core, Wicked is a cautionary tale about propaganda, (literal) scapegoating, and what it means to uphold the status quo. The audience is watching through Glinda’s eyes—it is through her, arguably the most beautifully tragic character of the show, that we learn how lonely life becomes when you forfeit your values in favor of systemic power and likability (“No One Mourns the Wicked” is, in many ways, about HER).

Now, this is where Fiyero’s whiteness can get interesting—if you consider him and Glinda to share roughly equal footing at the beginning in terms of privilege/how much they have to lose (applying our real-world lens of race and power here, where whiteness is the apex), his storyline essentially represents what could have happened if Glinda had made the brave (and arguably wise and loving, if you’re picking up what I’m putting down 👀) choice to go with Elphaba and fight the good fight (this is also why I feel like a queer reading of G&E’s relationship is almost implicit to the story, but I digress).

As the POC/marginalized allegory, Elphaba has much less of a real choice in her curtain-pulled-back turning point. But Fiyero and Glinda—both representing privilege—get to choose. So in Act II, we see the consequences of both the choice to stay (Glinda) and to go (Fiyero). In Fiyero’s case, his ultimate rejection of his own power, privilege, and even beauty leads to immense physical loss—including his own body—but that is then compared to the loss of love, community, and identity that we see Glinda left with by the end. And this brings us to the question that the audience is left grappling with: in an unjust system where loss is inevitable (a.k.a. our own world, as the Wizard himself represents), which of these things are YOU more willing to give up?

It’s important that Glinda is an empathetic character because, in reality, most people are going to be Glindas (obvi this is nuanced among us Elphabas of marginalized identities, but I’d still argue that there’s some level of Glinda in us all)—and it’s important to be rattled by the end of the show when you realize that she is the one who has the sad ending. But it’s also so important that Fiyero is empathetic (which I’m SO glad this movie leaned into)—because he’s ultimately who Glinda—and thus we, as the audience—should have been.

And especially given the state of US politics right now…this is just all more relevant than ever.

[imbecominggayer]

Writing Advice: Noticing Bigotry In Your Writing

Tw for mentions of bigotry and discrimination, obvi

Look Up Common Stereotypes For Your Characters

Seriously, this is the best thing you can do in order to incorperate these stereotypes into a full-formed identity. I'm not saying that you can't write a "sassy black girl" or a "happy disabled person".

It's just that if you have any hope of writing these stereotypes into actual 3-dimensional characters, you need to know what you are working with. Look up "Common {Minority} Stereotypes" or "{Minority} Myths"

It's genuinely not that hard to see whether or not your character is a stereotype! Send an ask to @cripplecharacters if you are having trouble with your disablity representation.

Send a submittion to the thousands of Tumblr accounts whose entire schtick is giving you advice!

Let me tell you:

" The Worst Decision You Can Make Is A Subconscious One"

If you go into writing a minority character the way you do with all your characters aka fantasizing and just going straight for it, there is a chance you might undercut your story with bigotry!

Because everyone has bias. That's not a moral failing on your part but it is something you need to consciously fight against in order to write characters who can stand on their own and not be supported by internalized bigotry.

Which leads me to my second and last question.

2. Why Is Your Character Like This?

Investigate why you made the decisions you have made. To help with that, here is a little questionaire!

When I imagine a cruel person what assumptions do I make about their appearance and psyche?

Based on my previous characters, do I have a tendency to lean into a particular archetype when writing my minority characters?

Is there any narrative reason such as plot, themes, and other important devices that would justify my character's personality?

Why did I decide this character would be this particular minority?

How do I view this character in terms of their minority status? Is it condescending? Is it hateful?

What associations do I naturally have between a minority status and social status, personality, and importance?

Would I have treated and viewed this character the same way if their minority status was completely washed away?

Are my minority characters generally relegated to the side lines and only exist to help non-minority characters in their lives?

Is the level of detail, psychological complexity, story, likeability, relatability, and compellingness of minority characters on the same level as non-minority characters?

Do my stories contain symbolism which portrays cruel bigotry-motivated practices as positive or useful?

Do my stories sympathize with bigotry-infused individuals while not extending that sympathy to those who are oppressed by that bigotry?

Have I ever critically looked at my writing and what it says about my worldview on others?

If you are now considering that you have biased belief systems, that's good! Again, it's much better to be aware and fixing your problems instead of not being aware of them.

I hope my little questionaire made you think about your writing in a new way! ;)

Feel free to add your own important "check yourself" questions!

[noosayog]

[how a loser dates] ft. kuroo

warnings/content: fem! reader x kuroo, office setting, timeskip characters obvi, fluff and kuroo being a loser

wc: 1.2k

"Morning, princess," your coworker, Kuroo, calls out teasingly from his desk in reference to the dress you're wearing today that replaces your usual slacks. 

"Morning, rooster head."

He chuckles a bit and returns his attention to his computer. 

Throughout the morning, Kuroo looks up every now and then, just staring at you but saying nothing. It's only later in the afternoon when you're settled down from the rush of the morning that Kuroo asks. "What's the occasion?"

"What?" you ask distractedly.

"The occasion," he repeats. His voice comes from right over your head and you look up to see his desk empty. Instead, he's standing behind you, leaning an elbow against the wall of your cubicle.

"What?" you parrot.

His eyes drift deliberately down your silhouette, then back up to meet your gaze, punctuating his silent question with a raise of his brow.

"Oh," you laugh. "The dress? I have a date tonight."

Kuroo's other brow raises. "A date?"

"Yeah."

“With who?” 

You swivel your chair to face him with your whole body. “You wouldn’t know them. They’re not from work.” 

He hums in acknowledgment then walks away with a pensive expression. 

–

It’s almost the end of the work day when you hear your boss’s reprimanding voice. You look up from your computer to see your boss angrily saying something to Kuroo about losing the data for an important client call tomorrow. 

After your boss stomps away, you hear Kuroo sigh. His eyes meet yours. 

“You okay?” you ask. “What happened?” 

“I was supposed to store the presentation for tomorrow’s client call but for some reason, I can’t find it anywhere on my drive.” 

“Did you check your trash?” 

“Empty.” 

“Yikes.” 

“Yeah.” 

You stare back at him, lips pursed.

“Well…” he says awkwardly. “I better get to it if I’m going to redo the presentation by tomorrow.” 

You swallow guiltily, throat itching to offer help. No, you can't. You have plans tonight. 

“Okay, good luck,” you say instead. 

He deflates. “Thanks.” 

Concentration broken, you return to your work. You shift uncomfortably when you hear him sigh. 

Five minutes later, another deep exhale. 

You can’t stop yourself when you finally ask, “do you want me to help?” 

Kuroo perks up, head poking out from the walls of the cubicle. “I mean I would love help, but you have plans and all tonight…” he trails off. 

“The reservation isn’t until 7, so I’ll help until then.” 

“Great, thanks!” he smiles. 

–

Kuroo is an efficient worker. It’s almost as if he had the entire thing memorized as he effortlessly lists off the slides that need to be redone, easily navigating to the resources that have the perfect data for each topic. 

“It’s like you don’t even need my help for this,” you joke. 

“No!” he interrupts loudly. 

You give him a weird look.

“Sorry” he mutters. “Can you summarize the data from these sites?” 

He passes you a sticky note with 2 websites on them. When you navigate to them, they’re long, tedious pages. You settle into your chair and get focused. If you’re going to leave here by 6:30, you better get working. 

When you finally pass the data to Kuroo, the two of you begin to compile the data you’ve respectively gathered into the proper slide deck format. When 6:30 rolls around, the to-do’s left still make up a massive mountain. 

“Um,” you say. 

Kuroo takes an exaggerated look at the watch on his wrist. “Oh, your date.” 

“Yeah.” 

He looks at the progress on the presentation just stares at the screen.

“Kuroo?” 

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, don’t worry about me. You’ve already helped so much. Go ahead and have fun on your date.” 

“Okay…” you say hesitantly, packing up your bag. Before you leave, you look back to see Kuroo, alone in the office, leaning heavily against the back of his chair with his arms draped over his eyes. You hear him sigh again before guiltily leaving him behind. 

You make it all the way to the lobby before you can’t stand it anymore. You text your date that you won’t be able to make it rush back up to the office. 

Kuroo looks surprised when you drop your things off at your desk and return to his side. 

“What happened? Don’t you need to leave?” 

“I can’t just leave you here by yourself with all this, you’ll never finish.” 

“Are you sure…” he trails off. 

“Shut up and get working.” 

“Yes, ma’’am,” he salutes. 

– 

Late in the night, even after security has left the building, Kuroo gets up. 

“We need a break,” he says. “Want some coffee?” 

“Sure,” you say, equally exhausted. 

He gets up to head to the break room as you continue to fiddle around with the slide deck. As you look through his computer, your eyes slide to the little trash can on the screen and see that it’s not empty. Curiously, you click into it and the first thing you see is the very client presentation that the two of you have been slaving away at to reproduce. 

“Oh my god, Kuroo!” you say excitedly. You repeat his name, but he must not hear you, because there’s no response. 

Then, you notice the time of deletion. 3:52PM. You remember Kuroo getting chewed around 4PM. If he deleted it, there’s no way he would forget that quickly. And he said he had checked his trash. 

“Hey, what’s up?” Kuroo comes back, holding two steaming cups of coffee and tie thrown over a shoulder. “I heard you calling.” 

“Kuroo,” you say, pointing at the screen. 

When Kuroo sees what you’re pointing at, his smile freezes in place. 

“What’s this?” 

You press when he doesn’t respond. “Why did you purposely get yourself into trouble?” 

He stares at the screen, avoiding your eyes. 

“Kuroo!” 

“Okay!” he breathes. He mumbles something unintelligible. 

“... go on your date,” you hear. 

“What? Speak up,” you say irritatedly. 

“I didn’t want you to go on your date. Okay? I know it’s immature of me to resort to such tactics, but I’ve been dropping hints for awhile and I dunno, I guess I just got impatient.” 

You sigh.

“Well, I’m just glad that you aren’t going to be yelled at because there’s no way we were going to finish by tomorrow.” 

“You’re not mad?” 

“I am. Why couldn’t you have just asked me out on a date like a normal person?” 

“I’ve asked you to go on coffee runs with me?” 

You pinch at the bridge of your nose. “Being our boss’s errand boy does not count as a date, Kuroo.” 

He just chuckles, abashed. His cheeks are turning pink and you sigh, feeling almost affectionate at how your snarky, quick-witted coworker is reduced to the romantic maturity of a high-schooler in front of you. 

“Okay, well, since I didn’t get to eat tonight, you owe me dinner,” you say, throwing him a bone. 

He blinks. “Like a date?” he asks dumbly. 

You sigh exasperatedly for what feels like the millionth time that night. “Yes, Kuroo. A date.” you emphasize heavily on date, worried that he still won’t get the picture. 

“It’s late, so there’s probably only ramen shops around if that’s okay? But I promise to take you out to a nicer diner. Like a real date.” he promises solemnly. 

“You’re already assuming I’m going to want to go on a second date with you?” 

His signature grin returns in full force. “Oh, princess. You’re gonna want that second date. Trust me.” 

“Only ‘cuz I want to see how you tame your hair for a real date.” 

“Told ‘ya you’d want a second date.”

[canned-pears]

Aerith redesign! I took inspiration from ifalna's bell sleeves and I had this idea of aerith dressing more similarly to her as she became more acquainted with her cetra abilities. I also have this headcannon that aerith kept part of her mothers dress (the portion that's wrapped around her waist) and uses it as symbolic shield of protection as the stakes get higher. Memories are a really important thing in this game so I figure why not place emphasis on memorabilia!

My take on aerith is that she's very magical girl & disney princess-coded (not in the traditional princess sense obvi). I have issues with her portrayl sometimes, mostly just in rebirth and how she jokes abt romance all the time-but in my interpretación she's still the same just makes those jokes just more selectively. I also imagine she has more layers to her character where she is way more highly ambitious about her journey (I.e. eagerly learning about her heritage, studying to unlock new abilities, etc.)

Here is her og look & an alternative design for advent children as she goes about her time in the lifestream!

For the og look, I like to think she does in fact wear this for a good amount of time until there is a turning point (probably the visit to cosmo canyon) that influences her to change herself to the very first design in the post

[clockys-soul]

Here’s my human ocs of my Souls of War story (the dragonrider story) as Wof dragons.

Metis Ardor and Ymir are the parents of Hel, in my story Ymir is part of the ice dragonrider family and Metis is part of the fire one, they had Hel accidentally when they were still teenagers.

Metis is a Sky (obvi) and nightwing cuz she has black hair and her Wyvern has black scales. She has a fiery temperament, but loves her family.

Ymir is an icewing which is also self-explanatory. He is kind and loving, a very good father.

Hel Ardor-Duratus, daughter of Ymir and Metis, she’s a skilled fighter, likes to sketch and eat. Shes obviously a Sky/Ice/night. Shes one of the 2 Main characters of Souls of War.

Themis and Chronos Ardor are twins, They are Sky/nightswings, Ardor are the fire dragonrider family, hence Sky, night because Chronos has black hair and their dragons have both black scales here and there. Themis is the younger twin and she is much more introverted than her brother. They are Hels cousins.

Pyrrha is special, in my story both her and her dragon are flameborns which translates best into firescales, so Skywing. She’s related to Hel, Metis and the twins.

Gwendolyn Duratus is related to Ymir but just calls him uncle, she is very short so she’s a small icewing. I love lil Gwenny.

Styx Ardor is also related to the twins, Hel, Metis and Pyrrha. When she was young she had her throat slit which never healed correctly so now speaking more than a few words is uncomfortable for her and her voice sounds off, like a persistent whisper. She has black hair hence the nightwing blood, the sky is obvious.

Dione Duratus is Ymir’s mother. Once again, obviously she is an Icewing. She is kind and thoughtful.

Hades Ardor, is Metis' father, he is very loving towards his daughter and was very worried for her during her pregnancy (in the Ardor family exists a genetic condition which causes a deformity of the womb, usually resulting in either the death of the child or mother or both during birth if a miscarriage hasn’t occurred) but was delighted to have a grandchild. He is a Skywing for obvious reasons.

Aquilo and his elder sister Skadi, their father is a Duratus (he’s this century’s Frostborn) and their mother rides a night/Bloodreaper hybrid (Bloodreapers have frills) so Ice/night/Rainwing hybrids, their mother being the night/Rainwing hybrid. Their parents are loving and Skadi adores her lil brother and he likes nothing more than spending time with his sister.

If you take any significant inspiration from these designs for your own please credit me, these are important to me even if this isn’t their original design as they are human.

[terukotime]

You say you don’t like the killer reveal, why? I actually think dev made some great choices and I’d love to talk to you about your perspective.

i don't want to get too deep into it because, like i mentioned in my previous post, i don't want my criticism to come off as negativity towards the series or discourage anyone involved in the production of the show because it's honestly not a huge deal. like, it in no way ruins the show or makes it less enjoyable for me. and i don't think the choice of who the culprit is is a bad one at all, i'm mostly unsatisfied with the way the chapter handles it.

[spoilers beneath the cut, obvi lol. and please remember this is just my opinion. me having and expressing my opinion is not hate towards the series. i'm nervous enough as it is posting just this and not a bigger essay on all my thoughts because i really don't want to have this be misconstrued, nor do i want any criticism i have to give, regardless of how innocent and respectful my intentions, to make drdtdev or anyone who works on the series feel bad.]

i think Ace being the killer DOES make sense. i have no qualms with him being the blackened, in theory. do i think he could've made for a great survivor, or have really interesting growth throughout the coming chapters? yeah! i would have loved for Ace to be kept around for much longer. but him being the killer this chapter isn’t inherently bad. it's now clear that there's a specific direction Ace's character was meant to go in this story and i think that's fine.

my problem is with what *didn't* happen with Ace's character up to this point.

the chapter hasn't concluded yet so there's still a chance for my thoughts to change, though i don't think it'll make much of a difference. but i'm still waiting to see if it can stick the landing. and even if it doesn't, that's okay. i've already accepted it, i'm just still disappointed by it all the same.

Ace, honestly, hasn't played much of an active role in the story. he's been a source of conflict and comedic relief, and that's okay, not every character has to be as important as Xander or David...but he hasn't really gotten to *do* anything. this series is very character-driven, and thus is very focused on the relationships between other characters. Ace has only had one notable relationship (outside of his feud with Nico, but i'm not really including that as a "relationship" for obvious reasons), and that was with Levi. and that didn't even stay positive for very long. and we also know now that Levi didn't even care about him to begin with because he doesn't care about people in general.

not only did Ace never really get to establish any other relationships, no one ever LIKED him. of course a good portion of the fandom likes him, but in the actual story, no one cares about him. no one will miss him. his death is honestly kind of meaningless character-wise. does it serve as a lesson to some of the other characters? sure. but he's going to be dying here with no one ever liking or caring about him.

Min's story wasn't just a cautionary tale. people did like her, people did care about her. she was friends with a lot of characters, she got to have an impact in the daily lives of others. we got to know her better, the things she liked, her deeper thoughts and opinions on things. she got to do stuff, and we got to learn about her. her death meant more to the characters beyond just being the first culprit. she died as a person, not just as a character.

most of the stuff we know about Ace is surface level or things confirmed in Q&As. he doesn't get to contribute much aside from the aforementioned conflict/comedic relief. i understand where the show is going with that idea, and why him not being liked by anyone is a specific part of what led him to murder, but that's not really what irks me. it's that Ace never got to really be a *person.* he's essentially a plot device, serving the greater "good person" theme going on this chapter, and filling in the smaller roles in the story when needed, like an antagonist in a scene or delivering a gag. yes, his admittance to killing Arei and eventual post-trial trauma dump will give him a bit more humanity and character...but that's not really enough.

we only get to see Ace how the other members of the cast see Ace: his loud, combative, aggressive side. the side that makes people think he's nothing more than an angry meathead who can't do anything right. we never got to see much of his other sides, of a much more somber, melancholic Ace. receiving even a hint of the Ace we see in his confession of guilt beforehand would have given him the depth we needed before this point.

to explain what i mean: imagine how unsatisfying it would have been if we never got to actually see Arei's breakdown in the playground. if Teruko had left before it happened, and we only get to learn what happened from a flashback from David's perspective. we already feel the weight and tragedy of Arei's death when her body is discovered because we knew beforehand why she behaved the way she did, how she never even liked being the way she is, and wishing she could be a good person like Eden. if we didn't get to see that happen beforehand, Arei's death would feel very flat and detached. her character growth would've happened entirely retroactively.

that's how i feel with Ace. it's not like he didn’t get enough spotlight this chapter, he certainly did. but every scene he was in really didn't really add anything new to him. the only thing that "progressed" with him was his hatred and paranoia. we just see him descend with no uplifting moments, no emotional hook to make us feel anything for him. the closest we get is the scene where he's arguing with Nico and Veronika at lunch, ranting about how poorly everyone thinks of him and that they all assume that he's for some reason happy to be the way he is. but it's really the barest of scrapes towards the deeper layers of his character.

a big problem is that there were a lot of chances for his character to actively be *explored*, but instead, the narrative perspective of him stays completely stagnant. the time we get with him this chapter doesn't give him any greater focus. and sure, you could say that that might be a big giveaway to him being the culprit, but i think if the time between character spotlight is distributed evenly, that would be easily circumvented. there was a lot more time that could've been spent building Ace's character beyond his animosity and self-loathing tendencies. we could have had someone actually attempting to bond with him, even if it doesn't turn out well. even if all the characters distrust each other to varying degrees, there's still a lot of characters that like each other or have unique bonds with each other that make them stand out and feel worth remembering, because those bonds contribute something to their characters. but with Ace? he truly gets the short end of the stick, because this isn't just the characters neglecting him, it's the story itself. if Ace got to have a moment like Arei, maybe someone to confide in, even if he wasn't really friends with them or liked them at all, him being vulnerable just once and having a moment with someone else would have rooted him in more as a person who fell victim to what the killing game wanted from him and not just a fictional character fulfilling the purpose required of them in the story.

honestly, it's a bit of a slap in the face, the way the show goes about it. because in hindsight, Ace's whole character is *meant* to be wasted potential. after all, his related phrase on Mai's bio page is "a girl who had a bright future".

he was set up to have the potential to change, the potential to add more to the story, the potential to show us more than what we were given. and i think the show kind of knows that and specifically perpetuates that. the scene where Teruko tells Levi to give up on trying to apologize to Ace almost reads as the show itself telling you to give up on Ace. that, why should we care about him? he's not going to amount to what we want from him. there's no use in investing our feelings in him.

whether or not any of that actually was intentionally doesn't matter, unfortunately, because rewatching so many scenes having this new context really makes it all seem like Despair Time doesn't want you to care about Ace. that Ace is meant to be a waste, that that's the core of his character. him being the epitome of wasted potential could have been great, actually, if they chose to use even a slight bit of that potential to build him up more before his inevitable demise. instead we watch him eat shit throughout the entire show thus far only for him to get royally fucked at the very end in the worst way possible. Ace's theme of wasted potential is only wasted potential because nothing is ever done with him. not actively, anyways. whatever his post-trial confessional is like won't really give us what we needed from the start. Ace didn't just deserve better in his life. he deserves better as a fictional character. he deserved to be a person and not *just* a character. he deserved to have deeper, emotional character moments outside of the trial, long before his murder confession and rapidly approaching demise. he deserved to be 3-dimensional.

again, this is all just my personal opinion, and there's still a chance the show can stick the landing and make Ace as the culprit feel a lot more natural and deserved. i'm not really confident in that happening, but drdt is full of surprises as well as a lot of great writing. that being said, even though i believe they kinda fumbled the bag with Ace here, i don't hate this turn of events. although he's a big favorite of mine, i still wanted Eden to be innocent over him, because she's also a great character and her killing Arei would not only be pretty huge character assassination, but would also make Arei's death meaningless. and i also think there were other characters who could have been better candidates as the chapter 2 killer (not just Hu, i think Levi, Arturo, and maybe even J also could've made for compelling culprits with the right reasons).

i'm content with this. i'm heartbroken he's going so early and i wish the execution of his guilt had been a lot better, but overall it's not terrible. he just deserved so much more in many different ways.

[thelesbianthespianposts]

Rachel Berenson is on the Villains Wiki and I’m mad

so I’m gonna go through this bullshit page and show how bullshit it is

Starting off, they call her an anti-heroine.

first off, I think that definition isn’t great, but also, Rachel has a LOT of heroic attributes. She’s brave, she’s strong, she clearly loves her friends, she’s determined, she’s loyal and she shows regret for her less heroic actions. Plus, in the more literal definition of anti-hero, (a character who works against the protagonist but isn’t the antagonist), she IS a protagonist. She never works against the animorphs except when she was cut in half and one half was all of her strength with none of her inhibition.

They call her a monster??? She’s a child. And while it’s true the war affected her psychologically, it did that to everyone else too. If you want a character that turned into a cruel irrational monster, look no further than her first cousin, Jake.

Like this is much worse than what Rachel has going on. (Not saying Jake is a villain btw I’m just calling out the hypocrisy).

The entry tries to characterize Rachel as some remorseless killing machine when it’s just not true. She constantly thinks about her actions. Honestly this page reads like she wrote it about herself because it lists all her insecurities as fact.

This is when she gets put back together, she has to come to terms with the fact that she is not pure killing machine, but not completely innocent either. And she’s scared!

This is my favorite Rachel introspection. The idea that she finds comfort in her hubris because it means she’s not alone is so important. She clearly hates herself for enjoying the fighting, but seeing that people throughout history also dealt with that makes her feel more human.

(Wrong use of whom, left out a was, terrible run on sentence)

(Before she dying?? Girl) But anyway, this blatant misrepresentation of Rachel’s conversation with the Ellimist is wild. It frames the conversation as if Rachel was mauled and the Ellimist came in to call her a mistake. That’s not what happens. He does say he never intended Rachel to be an animorph, but she had proven herself invaluable to the team. Then, he tells her something that invalidates this whole page, I’m guessing why they didn’t mention it.

“You were brave. You were strong. You were good.” It serves as a moment of relief, making Rachel know that her insecurities were wrong and that she was a good person, despite her actions. She dies with that knowledge, providing her with a sense of closure that’s really good narratively, and brought tears to my eyes.

Marco, albeit reluctant originally, enjoyed the war. Jake towards the end of the series definitely enjoyed escalating the war. Ax, with his authoritarian propaganda against yeerks ingrained in his mind enjoyed the war and even suggested using harsher tactics on yeerks several times. Rachel did enjoy fighting, yes, but it was always a topic for her self reflection. Her love for fighting was her big flaw she had to work through narratively. It makes no sense to use that as justification to call her a villain.

Anyway- have some of my favorite Rachel moments I didn’t already include

Her awesome shopping logic- she would never call it “girl math”

Love her aside about Cassie and Jake bc we know Cassie was insecure and thought Jake wouldn’t like her bc she’s Black, so it’s nice to see her defending it even to Tobias.

On that topic, I love this interaction. (Obvi the kind of dated “colorblind” thing isn’t great now but it’s the 90s so it’s how they would talk about it) but Rachel is so quick to assure Cassie that her fears are unfounded, but in a nice and comforting way that doesn’t invalidate Cassie’s feelings.

Just some funnies

[lunchtimebedamned1997]

Arcane S2 thoughts

(spoilers, obviously)

Most of this was sent to my friend Penn @pennedinblood in discord first, but I wanted to share it + some more on here too.

Okay, I now that its been a couple days and I've had time to think properly, have some thoughts about Arcane. This isn't going to be as specific and nuanced as I'd like, but I'll need more time for something like that.

Here's the thing... What we did get was good and I liked it a lot - for the most part anyway - but like - it wasn't a very good finale imo...

Like -

In season one they had this just fucking masterful foundation for such a nuanced discussion of class and oppression, of the cycle of violence, of how desperate acts may seem evil to some but are not always as simple as they seem and that one person's actions may influence the narrative but that it is the systems in place - and the willingness to follow systems that harm a disproportionate amount of the population for personal gain - that are the real issue. There were no real villains in s1 imo. It was just people making good, bad, or neutral choices, and they all interconnected and effected not only the plot, but the audiences' understanding of the corrupt system in place.

It forced you (if you're paying attention) to understand with visceral understanding both those of the oppressed and the oppressors; and in the midst of all of that we had magic and science interplaying beautifully against the good and greed of mankind.

AND just vast, resonant, deep interpersonal connections and development that you could feel in your bones.

and then in season two... we just kind of went - 'fuck that here's jesus and a witch ~~~ Magic war tiiime' Like?????

It touched on a few themes for sure, and what Jayce had to say to Viktor about disability and the purpose of people, or the value in imperfection and the point of life - as someone who's struggled with their health and other personal things I don't want to get into on the internet, that hit so hard. I hated Jayce in S1, and he won me over in act one of this season and just - didn't let me down. His arc was beautiful and I really really appreciate it. His connection with Viktor means so much to me. screeches into the void

But lets be so fucking real - they kind of (majorly) chickened out of their mass commentary on the opposing classes and working towards a better system that doesn't harm its people. and instead like - Vi's arc got completely fucked?

Like - oh okay so you ditched everything you were going to say and just made her a strong war pawn who can hit good and is gay coolcoolcool (sobs). Like, act one was so promising it really felt like it was following up on everything they had been working towards, and i loved seeing Vi having to make hard choices; watching her become an enforcer as the only way she could think of to deal with two disparate parts of herself - one that needed to put an end to the monster she feels like she created (Jinx, obvi), and one that desperately needed to hold onto the only person she had left (Caitlyn).

And Cait's devolvement into fascism was so intriguing and dark and I hated it in a good way, yk? Like I was like "oh fuck they made Cupcake unrecognizable in a fucking believable way wtf that's rad bro"

And then in act two they were just like 'HAHA lets not show you anything but the highlights of Vi's inner tumoil, then - wow look Jinx is here to tell her about Vander! - let's just never actually take a hard look into Vi's issues or personal arc ever again teehee - oh! And Cait's on our side again yay!' Like EXCUSE ME???

Vi had stood as one of the most important characters in the entire show. She is the linchpin between Piltover and Zaun - one of only two hinges that connects the two cites (the other being Viktor to a far lesser degree bc his roots are never explored, Singed is the only undercity person we see him go back to interact with, etc etc leaving Vi to be the only 'real one') And they completely sidestepped that - especially how she's also so connected to Ekko and the Firelights - which was just - never touched again - Ekko didn't even get to fix his tree! I get it, bigger fish but ffs - it's not a blaming character thing, it's a writing issue. I understand why Ekko had to focus on smth besides his tree lmao - it's that the writers just dropped this thing that stood so strongly for Ekko's fucking roots man (pun intended). Like - He's representing what Vander wanted to do. What Zuan could be. He is literally making a part of Zaun beautiful and supportive, and standing resolute against the system and saying "both of you are wrong, back tf up and lets talk" and they just got rid of that. I think it says a lot that that in particular was punted into the void.

I'm just not over that we never got to see him and Vi interact again dude wth - and I feel like that really speaks to how much they removed Vi from her point and purpose in S1. It would make sense if she needed more time to reconnect -esp after how Cait betrayed her - but to never actually talk again? Just glimpsing each other in the finale?

Don't get me wrong, I loved some of the time-suckers this season. Mel for one (who I also wasn't a huge fan of in S1 (I didn't trust her lol)). Everything with Mel, Vik, and Jayce was sooo interesting, and Ambessa was a great villain. She was imposing and horrible and yet there were very small parts of her that you could understand - but there wasn't enough time. Not with everything else we were also touching. Not without loosing so much of what we had been working towards. And even with the large focus, The Black Rose was this jumbled mess of ideas that didn't really amount to much besides giving Mel a powerup and probably leading us into the spinoff :(

I've been having trouble processing all of this because I'm shocked and upset because narratively, I didn't like it.

And I HATE that I didn't like it. I liked the individual scenes. I liked the concepts at play. But none of it was fleshed out!

That impeccable no-crumbs-left writing was suddenly nothing but crumbs. A whole feast of them. Nothing was really held together and it left each arc feeling like a separate vaguely-connected vignette rather than a whole story - let alone a satisfying conclusion to the previous season.

I'm genuinely angry because I wanted so badly to love this season but I just don't; not as a whole, not as an ending. Again, the individual moments were largely great, but good moments don't make a good story.

I just feel like they were trying too hard to serve LoL lore. Originally Arcane wasn't cannon-compliant with the messy lore of the game, and then a few months ago they came out and said that it was now considered canon - and I was excited bc I thought that meant that whatever they did would influence League - but I was wrong. I think it's very clear that Canonizing Arcane had the opposite effect. I think it's why they chickened out of their societal commentary - I think it's why the Champion deaths were so 'no body, no proof'. I think that it undercut all the stakes for the writers and made them forced to bend to the will of a lot more oversight from the higher-ups at Riot.

I don't know guys, how are you feeling? I'm really glad we got CaitVi cannonized (but I have things I wanna say about that too, esp. how their sex scene played into the sidestepping of Vi's arc (not that it happened, but the way it did - I can talk more about this another time lmao)) and I loved getting a timebomb kiss (again more Vi arc things I wanna say *sobbing and gnawing on my cage bars*) but yeah - anyway I gotta stop typing before I get too into-the-weeds of my thoughts. I'll probably make a big post about the specifics of how I feel they fucked up Vi's story in another post bc I clearly can't let it go XD

But fr tell me ur thoughts too pls I want to know what you thing even if - maybe even especially if - you disagree with me :3

Idk I've got to rewatch it.

It wasn't bad TV, it's still better than most things coming out right now... I hate that I can't just love it entirely rn raaaaaaahhh auhfalwoiha (help D':)

[projectcrimson]

WHB Characters

Now, I know that WHB is still an underrated game, but, there is a reason why OM is better. The reasons are; the world building, the flaws of the characters, the NPCS, and the lore.

What I'm going to focus on this post are; their flaws.

Because they are Demons, they should be flawed and treated as such. Before the brothers discovered that we were Lilith's Descendant, they had shown the flaws of their sin they represented beforehand, once they did, they would try and work on their flaws but not the title of their sin. Because it adds on to their character personality and, character wise, they are born with it.

Exs;

Mammon is Greed, before and after he met MC, he's in debt and poor because of that and is possessive towards MC cuz he's greedy.

Lucifer is Pride, I'm not good at explaining but, he isn't good at communicating his feelings towards his brothers other than annoyance, anger or any other emotion that would seem like he isn't concerned about them. That's why MC is there.

Satan is Wrath, he knocked us onto a bookshelf, disagrees with Lucifer on the daily to either piss him off or doesn't want to be proved wrong, anger issues (obvi). He acted worse before he met MC and is working on to keep his temper in check.

Beelzebub wanted to eat us, Asmodeus didn't care about us, Belphegor hated us for being human and killed us. Diavolo saw us as nothing but insignificant because we are only human and not a sorcerer like Solomon is.

All of them are interesting because of their flaws.

we have different character dynamics depending on which demon, human or angel we interact with. In my opinion, that is the reason why the Otome game is unique compared to other games.

What makes us important to them other than being Solomon's Descendant?

How does our relationship work?

What is our role in their life?

What makes our dynamic unique? Ask this type of questions when creating an Otome game before creating the lore.

Because why care about the story if we do not care about the characters?

Now, do the main Demons have any flaws? The most flawed character I've seen is Leviathan, which makes him interesting in my eyes, probably Lucifer as well. Fan service is great 'n all but, it can only get you so far until your audience dwindles because you only focus on how hot the demons are.

I can't say too much about the Lore and the world building since I'm only on Chapter 2, so you can go ahead and tell me I'm wrong so that I can learn more about WHB! I still love the game regardless. ^-^

(The company needs to hire a better English translator though :') )

[inact-ice]

Yes, Batman DOES help people get jobs and help them with rent and etc, at least in the early comics. Just as Bruce Wayne. A big part of Batmans’ character was that he realized that he could do more good as Batman than as Bruce Wayne, but that doesn’t mean he ever stopped working to use his money to do stuff like fund schools, and hospitals and rehabs and tons of other charitable actions. He even canonically has job training centers right? Part of the point of Batman was that for a city like Gotham, that just isn’t enough. I’m curious as to how you view this character if you think that he doesn’t help out individuals in that way?

Like again, he is first and foremost a hero. Always has been.

Anyways, my point is really that Jason killing criminals and becoming the ultimate crime lord as an attempt to fight and mitigate crime, is a bad plan. Again, what really makes him that different from Marvels’ Kingpin? And DC was fully aware of this at first because they brought Jason back to be a straight up villain, and they did have people lying to his face because an important part of being a hero is having the trust of those you work with and that you’re trying to protect. The people of Gotham trust Batman, and he relies on them (especially in earlier works) as much as they rely on him! He’s worked hard to create bonds with people, both as Bruce Wayne and as Batman. His ability to connect with people is part of the reason he’s such a good detective.

I’ll get off my soapbox and get to the point of the point, Jason wouldn’t have that connection to the people, which is part of what made him becoming the Red Hood so sad. He grew up in Gotham more that Bruce did to an extent, he used to have that connection with people. But by becoming the Red Hood, he turned his back on the kid he used to be and on his old morals and priorities. He still cares about people of course, but he’s never going to have that same relationship with them which means he’s never going to really *know* them again. When Jason died, he lost his connection to his family, who he used to be, and his home.

But a lot of modern DC has just ignored all that subtext in an effort to make Jason an antihero, which I do think could work really well if anyone knew how to write him. He was really deliciously complex and morally grey, but he’s become very muddled which is just :/

DC is so dumb about the whole Jason Todd becoming the gang leader final boss because they never really give a reason why he’s wrong.

I’ve always thought that the easiest way to make it clear that the answer to crime is not ‘kill all the bad guys and become a drug lord’, would be by making the people of Gotham really scared of him. Nobody reports crimes to the red hood, kids will lie to his face about drug deals they see, mothers will brandish weapons made from umbrellas and pans at the sight of him.

But they do trust Batman, with their lives and the lives of the people they care about. In a confrontation between Batman and the Red Hood, citizens run towards Batman.

[writersblocksucksbutisuckmore]

woah, check out that banner. pretty sick I know, too bad the gifs come to a sudden stop. come in come in, check out my stuff, real intro is down there anyways

(be warned I intentionally made the pics and decor dogshit)↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

woah bro, you made it, whatta a travel you had to thru from that gamzee image border thing, alr done fucking around, welcome to the blog.

quick summary, I'm a fanfic writer who had hardcore writers block and have now accepted my fate to quit being such a perfectionist. now I'm just gonna kinda chill and lay back, I've been wanting to write fics but life has been getting in the way. this account is just relaxing. plus I get to write and feel good abt it, just pop in and out.

listen this part is gonna be important, I have a thing for character accuracy. I don't like writing a well known wimpy character to suddenly be a dominant sex god. If you're into more out of character things then I'm not for you. love you bro but I'm not gonna do it, </3.

im gonna be lazy when it comes to this account, so know I'll write your fic and do it with the reminder of character accuracy at hand. I'm also thinking of doing other things too, but once I've got a hang of this I'll get to those plans.

RULES

Not Allowed.

nsfw on minors is a nono.

no aging up minors for nsfw

nothing illegal bro

Allowed!

fluff

nsfw

angst

headcanons (dating types, character hcs whatever hcs)

ill do whatever

So-So Zone

canon x canon, Ive never been a fan of it I'm mostly been an x reader type of person. however I'll give some canon x canons a try.

character match ups, basically tell me about yourself and I'll give you a character you match with. tell me the fandoms you want your characters from.

some yanderes I can let slide, the stalker types I'm fine with but those murder gore types is a nonooo.

x reader (nsfw/sfw) : OPEN

be specific, just know it will be like a oneshot

hcs (nsfw/sfw/whatever) : OPEN

nothing of note

be specific if u want it to be gn reader or not or if you want hcs or a oneshot ectect. I had this issue where ppl just said "reader x wibsisbw fluff" and I didnt know what they wanted so I just did both. if you want a oneshot or hcs say it, if you want both please lmk (and obvi if u want anything else lmk)

everything is open right now, I will update this post whenever something is closed.

this post will hold all the requests that have been accepted for those who wanna know.

gravity falls

cookie run

creepypasta

madness combat

mha

spooky month

homestuck (won't do homestuck for long tho)

MCU

small fandom list for now, just to keep a steady start.

watch me forget I made this account in like a couple hours, y did I even make this gamzee themed

ALSO, i wont be making any promises that ill finish ur request in like the following day or next day, maybe I will depends on the request and my mood. In other words lower ur hopes n stuff, ill feel like an ass knowing sum1 out there is eagerly waiting to see a new post from me when I'm secretly dying from being sick or smth.

[grisen06]

finally finished season 4 and apart from the obvious Ew im gonna make a list of All Major Things I Thought Was Wrong Because People Keep On Only Mentioning Two (that being five and the ending)

1. 'The Jeennifer incident' No because it was so important to them as a family to have this incident that showed how never properly learning to be a team and growing up in an abusive situation made them dysfunctional but now that's all overglossed with "actually our dad just wiped our minds

2. Their dad's (im not gonna try to remember how his name is spelled) last moments??? Why did it feel like the story (not the characters) tried to forgive him? "Oh hey you waited 2 more minutes to assasinate your child father of the year award you do actually care" like that whole seen felt so icky

3. The amount of shit that could've been solved with telling Ben (and the rest) "Hey btw never touch Jennifer just so yk" BEFORE everything

4. "We have to erase all marigold" Doesn't elaborate on the rest of the children that got borned outside of them

5. They come to this timeline 2019 and iirc s4e1 says 6 years has passed so that's 2025 but the ending acts as if it's 2024 and in the scene where Claire sees Ben on the news they mention him going to jail in 2019 which that + 4 years is 2023???

6. Season 1-3 all act as if there's one main timeline that keeps on being altered, not that there are multiple timelines existing at once

7. If Five started the commision how cane *No one*, not even the higher ups, reacognised him / mentioned it to him? Can't they contact which ever Five started them to stop s2 Five from ending them?

8. This could be explained by the small village being created by their father but their population is smaller than where i live yet the way the city is built w so many shops and stuff it seems like they are way bigger than where i live as if the creators didnt think at all but j slapped a number on the population sign (which as someone who has studied props and set design irritates me deeply)

9. their powers going weird. at first i liked what they did with five because his new powers seemed like a new/stronger version of his old but for the rest it just felt like they all just became powerfull for the sake of being good in a fight. esp since we saw what their powers upped to the max could be in s2 but instead of allison being able to i heard a rumor guys brains out she j has...telekenisis? kind off?

10. j what r the logistics of anything the keepers does/were capable of doing

thats all for now might add more later im just arghhh annoyed (+ obvi the horrible ending and everything abt five esp lila)

[pojofi96]

Finally 😈 a chance to talk about my mans

Short answer is yes obvi but like his character, my thoughts on this are a bit more complicated.

In the flashbacks we see showing his life “before”, he was shown to be an exemplary dad - but of course, this would inevitably change somewhat with being traumatized. Hanzo at his core is a flawed person and the very essence of his story lies in his humanity - most notably, his mistakes and circumstances - and how he copes with his own earned consequences + just straight up awful luck. This is inevitably going to reflect on how he tutors/raises children and MKX Blood Ties illustrates this well with his treatment of Takeda.

Throughout most of Takeda’s shown upbringing, Hanzo is shown to be in a tetchy mental state and it makes him prone to being overly harsh when scolding him for a minor mistake. You get the feeling Hanzo is purposely trying to keep him at a careful emotional distance as strictly “teacher and student”, even though it’s evident that their relationship is more through their own shared needs of familial bonds. It’s not abuse by any stretch of the imagination but the distinction between a “tutor” and a “father” is important to remember when examining their relationship. There’s a plentitude of potential reasons that Hanzo could have for acting like this given his past and what he lost, so you can’t truly blame this aspect of his character for being any fault of his own. Again, he is only a man making sense of the circumstances that were thrust upon him. But this inevitably would affect how he “raises” people.

The comic goes deeper into Hanzo’s mental state and how his hellfire works in the first place - and it’s here that we see something crucial. At it’s core, his utilization of it (i.e. how he has to relive the most traumatic event of his life every time he uses it to put himself in a bad headspace) is counterintuitive by design to his own growth and recovery. His strength, his most defining battle trait, is also what’s dragging him down. Objectively, Hanzo would have to let down his own personal guards (not use his hellfire) to keep from falling back into bad habits. But the current state of his life - strife with combat and the constant threat of sudden gorey death - doesn’t allow room for his emotional growth. On top of that he’s responsible for the well being of a kid, so he doesn’t have room to think about himself - he has to put Takeda first. But that also begs the question of if he had the chance to escape that life - would he? Does he have the capability to let down his hellfire when it’s because of his hellfire that he’s still even alive?

He’s not truly doomed but Hanzo believes to his core that he is and this is one of his biggest obstacles to his self recovery - this belief makes him lash out and self-sabotage - and it keeps him from really making any remarkable progress in getting better.

That being said, I was genuinely surprised to see the reactions for this tweet mostly being unconditionally positive on Hanzo’s side. What I’m trying to say is that Hanzo is far from perfect, he’s far from a perfect mentor and a perfect father. He’s still a good person at heart though - he does his best and Hanzo’s biggest flaw at the end of the day is the result of being human in hellish circumstances. It’s worth noting that Takeda in the end grew up to be an upstanding young man who feels very positively about his father-figure-mentor… so Hanzo did remarkably well overall, a lot better than most people could do in those same conditions. But all the replies being like “Anyone who says no deserves to be executed” feels like they’re missing something crucial about him. Him being attractive doesn’t absolve him of accountability!

In canon, he’s more accurate to the relative that we know has had a rough life that we all have complicated feelings about.