#like they are supposed to be kinda equal as the main characters

[princesscallyie]

Here's Kingsley's redesign. The unexpected glow up!

Kingsley's whole arc is that his desire for justice and to protect everyone, awakens a rage within him. He also develops a kinda twisted sense of morality as time goes by. As he starts to believe the end justifies the means, and the only way to get the upper hand is to play the same game their enemies are playing. Whatever the costs. As mentioned in the plot synopsis, Kingsley is angry, mostly at himself for being so weak. He feels like he's not meant to lead if he doesn't have the strength to protect everyone. He must become stronger to defeat the YBA and all evil. This leads to him finding and injecting himself with Jojo's Chemical X serum.

This serum is unstable as it's been sitting dormant for so long, and would have killed him if Hank and the rest of the Technology Department didn't band together to save him. Though his case is way more complicated than they can handle, so Kingsley is under the care of Blossom and the VL's generous benefactor, Dexter. Kingsley wears Dexter's invention, the Vita-Pack, to track his vitals and forces him into a "Cool-Down Cycle" if he happens to approach his limit, as limit breaking could be catastrophic for him. He can reach Limit Break by overexerting himself or by being consume with an intense rage, which he is prone to under the serum. Being called weak is a big trigger for him.

He uses a bo staff he designed himself after being trained by Taiyang and Xiang. His super enhanced muscle memory allowed him to learn to fight quicker than normal, though he still prefers to use his mind to gain the upper hand.

[sheepwavehdg]

It is a common statement that HDG is a submissive wish fulfillment setting, but I think this is a very incomplete picture. The setting exists because of Abscisson, which is a split POV. My thoughts on this as someone who is NOT primarily a sub are this;

HDG became a collaborative project because of a story that equally centers a dominant perspective, about a depressed sadist top and the redirected maternal instincts that permeate the affini are every bit as important to understanding what makes it work as submissive yearning.

Those who are dominant are often forced into the position of capitalism limiting us in what we can do. You cannot realistically have the energy to work a job and then also come home to the sub you so badly want to be a sole provider for and then spend all day doting on her. Even if you're someone like me who is deeply energized by this power, the limits of the physical body intrude.

Hdg presents a world where a race of allegorically infertile maternal figures still get to see the world through the eyes of their children, so to speak. This kind of goes both ways: generally speaking HDG stories are caregiver/little above all other things even if they use the word pet to do it. It is one where my kinky urge to love someone so hard I need to own them is not only accepted but celebrated.

Cat and Mouse is the story I've explored this the deepest in(despite being entirely from a sub's POV), which is fundamentally about how the trauma of having to grow up too fast to have a real childhood while being robbed of the things adults are supposed to have warps a person, and how both the human and affini main characters experience this, and how the context presented by HDG is a space to heal even when it's hard

So yeah. The wish fulfilment kinda goes both ways, as long as you're willing to project yourself onto the affini (the human dominant rep in HDG rounds to zero, and that's fine, that's just how it is lol)

[hearts-are-connected]

Dang it, I love this ship and I love the enemies to lovers trope. I get that a lot of people see them as a surrogate father and daughter relationship, but it feels like a been there/done that kinda thing.

As much as I love that trope, I'm also a little tired of it. There's only so much Last of Us style found family I take after seeing it for so many years.

The thing I love about VaultGhoul or Ghoulcy is the idea of Lucy breaking down of Cooper's walls while he helps build hers up.

Is he incredibly cruel to her and those around him in the first season? Yes, extremely

Does he need to chill out and find some of his humanity that's been buried under 200+ years of wasteland survival and bitterness? Yes

Who can bring that needed direction to his life while learning the ways of the new world she finds herself in? Lucy MacLean

I know that the canon ship of the show at this moment is Lucy and Maximus, and as much as I love him, I find the pairing obvious and kind of boring from a story telling perspective. I loved it on my first viewing, but upon re-watching the series, I wasn't as behind it as before. I see their relationship, kiss and all, as a kind of first fling for the both of them.

While it doesn't diminish the care they show one another, there's not a lot behind them as a couple. Now I know that some people might turn around to say how she and Cooper spent less time together than her and Max, but I guess the thing I look forward to is seeing what their relationship brings with the second season.

I feel like Max and Lucy will have a great friendship and I'm interested to see where the Brotherhood fits into their dynamic as well.

With Cooper though, I find his story so tragic, as it's supposed to be. He's your standard hardened survivor who only looks out for himself that's now stuck with the happy-go-lucky main character, however, she's not that character anymore by the end. She's still going to be the Lucy we love, but she's changed by the end. While not losing her compassion and some optimism, I think Cooper is going to bring out a harsher side to her as we saw when she bit off his finger.

I want to see her building up her walls and learning when to let them down. How to truly survive while still bringing her own energy to the wasteland and people around her. I want to see Cooper regaining some lost humanity while learning to truly care for another person again. To see the two of them as eventual equals in one another's eyes as they continue on their journey as reluctant allies.

I also want to say that I'm personally kind of tired of the 'age gap' argument. We have stories of teenagers falling in love with hundred year old vampires. So can we just drop the age gap thing?

As long as they're both consenting adults who understand what they're getting themselves into, who cares about an age gap.

Does it truly matter in the scheme of things when we're talking about a world with cryo-stasis and super mutants?

I personally don't think so.

I don't know if anyone will even bother reading this entire thing, and I know I went on a little long, but I wanted to write down my thoughts on the whole shipping situation with the Fallout TV show fandom at this moment.

I'm a VaultGhoul shipper and I can't wait to see where the second season takes our main trio of characters.

[evilkitten3]

#i think mdr also doesnt rlly care abt younger ppl's opinions sdffggfds#he's like. old man shakes his fist at a cloud#he is so OLD and i think he believes that its part of why he must be right#like ... he has all this experience. he has lived an extensive life#tried and failed to make 'teamwork' (cooperation) work#so for him it is. it seems naive probably of naruto to believe that this would work#(it is notable tho that he SEES that the shinobi villages are cooperating. he mentions this Twice actually the other time is#right after his edo tensei resurrection. its the very first thing he remarks upon being faced w the alliance#that theyre all wearing the same headbands but they seem to be coming from different villages#this kind of .. does blow his mind. but its too late for him to take on a new ideology Now ^_^#he has to go thru with it. he's so smart and so sexy after all <3 he has to be right. and they must be wrong#bc he has lived and seen that any alliance will just fall apart at the end and so thats why theyre 'pathetic' at the end of the day anyway)#it is very funny tho i think asfgdfdgd#bc obt is like out there screaming and arguing with everyone. and mdr is like ummm who the fuck cares. LMAO#lets beat the shit out of each other and whomstever wins. that one's the one that has rights. and IS right w their ideology#i also do think its notable that team 7's 'teamwork' doesnt actually manage to bring him down BUT#their teamwork does lead to the defeat of kaguya. so. i feel like at the end of the day#u can still say that the teamwork/cooperation ideology is the winner here#bc they get to have a future and konoha continues to exist. whereas mdr fucking explodes and then dies. lmao#so the narrative does. still prove him wrong albeit indirectly

1000% true he only cares about opinions of the youth (hehe) when said youth can shatter his ribcage. and even then he's still more interested in getting kicked again

alternatively i think he might find it somewhat amusing that the way to get everyone to cooperate turned out to be. having them all be really really really about-to-shit-themselves scared of him (obito but that's that same thing as far as he's concerned). moreover, if the only time they can work together is when they have a common opponent, then as soon as that opponent is defeated (entirely hypothetical ofc bc he's perfect and about to become the second sage and can't be stopped ever) then they'll just. go back to fighting each other. which just proves his original point (it in fact does not, but since he never tells anyone anything there's no one who can point out the itty bitty teeny weeny gaping massive gloryhole flaws in his logic such as that. while they can't prove that that's not true. he also can't prove that it is.)

your logic concerning the narrative is technically correct but unfortunately madara operates on his own crazy caveman logic, and while team seven can do. basically jackshit to stop him, as soon as kaguya takes over, they manage to beat her, which i think madara could easily interpret as black zetsu sacrificing madara to bring back someone weaker than him (did kaguya survive maito gai? no. did she survive a living full-power hashirama? no (neither did madara but pointing that out will just make him hard again). as far as he cares, all kaguya did was show up, steal his body via black zetsu hax, and then get pummeled by three teenagers, some corpses, and obito's ex. all of whom tried and failed miserably to stop madara).

now, technically, madara is crazy so his own potential thoughts on All That should be irrelevant.... if that had been the final battle. but the final fight of the series is naruto vs sasuke, and whoever is stronger is the most correctest, ultimately just. proving madara's power-over-all stance to be the correct one (i guess you could argue that naruto worked with kurama? but. idk kurama still doesn't really have the ability to just. leave. so i would at the very least have an asterisk there, personally)

wait so, as the holders if the most and 2nd most insane naruto characters, what did madara and obito have to say about team 7 dynamics ??

As a past memeber of team 7 Obito's opinion doesn't count cause he thinks kakashi's gremlins are the only normal people in the world. I don't remember Madara saying anything on the dynamics of team 7 but I'm not an authority on the matter so I turn it over to my resident Madara Scholars @evilkitten3 and @narutoenjoyer5000

[bibibbon]

You know? It's kinda of funny how LOV fans treat the whole "I want to be a hero for villains" of Shigaraki as something groundbreaking, when the same concept was already introduced in the series (and was done better) with Nine.

Unlike Shigaraki, Nine literally meet his team members when he saved their lives. In Chimera's case it was when a bunch of racists were about to execute him just for being a mutant.

Nine also was a hero for them in a more thematic level, as he not only save their lives but actually give his team mates a reason for live and fight. He offered them the chance to fight for create a better world. For me it's quite remarkable how Nine despite being a homeless and chronically ill person, go for save people he view as equally oppressed by the world.

He was selfless enough to sacrifice his own health using his quirk to save Chimera despite it was destroying his body, and without expecting nothing in exchange for share a dream Nine a hand to people at their lowest point.

That's much more of an "All Might for the villains" or whatever Horikoshi tried to make Shigaraki in the final moments. Or hell Nine even acts better as a foil to Deku in the sense both are selfless individuals who fight despite their bodies are crumbling, just for the save of the persons who are important to them.

How ironic is that Nine, the original movie villain that was supposed to be just a prototype for the "final villain" of MHA, ended executing the same themes way better than Shigaraki.

Hi @nyc3 👋

A main reason as to why people treat shigaraki's I want to be a hero for the villains ideology better than nine's is simply because I assume a lot of people forgot the plot of the 2nd movie or haven't read the one shot manga chapter mha leauge of villains undercover. All of this is a shame because I heavily agree that nine's version of I want to be a hero and hope for the villains is executed and built up 10000x times better than shigarakis and nine had a fraction of the screentime that shigaraki got which is saying a lot.

Actually rewatching the film and rereading the manga one-shot has showed me that nine and shigarakis arcs are pretty similar with nine's having a better execution and shigaraki having more wasted potential.

The movie sets it clear that nine and shigaraki are supposed to be foils for one another so it makes sense that they would share parallels. However, you would expect that by the time nine is defeated that shigaraki would naraatively prove to us that he is ultimately the better character but in truth he doesn't and nine's downfall by shigaraki ends up being quite disappointing to me.

Another problem within the narrative is also the lack of interactions that nine and shigaraki have. I think that nine is essential to helping shigaraki and start to infulence him to realise that he is just a puppet and should develop a goal outside of just destruction. If shigarakis goal stays as destruction then the destruction of what? Everything? And how would that benefit anyone including him?

Nine like you said meets his teammates and saves them. He sees his teammates suffer like him and chooses to help them and they choose to help him. There is a clear relationship being developed and all the characters come together for the same goal, with similar backgrounds and varying styles yet they work.

When nines team see him in distress they run to help him and vice versa. The team has trust and overall everything that a lot of the leauges dynamics and development lacks.

Nine seeks destruction but his path is clear. He seeks to liberate and let nature flow its course with the strong overtaking the weak and finally being leaders instead of feared and abused because they don't fit into the small little box that is the mha's status quo. Nine plans to get stronger while being fully conscious and knowing the consequences. He makes a logical and heroic decision where we see him realise that he is trading his own autonomy and agency in becoming a lab rat all in exchange for power and a slim chance at achieving his goal.

This is all contrasted with shigaraki and his actions. We don't see his goal of destruction develop into a much more consistent and precise idea like destroying the giver and status quo. We don't see shigaraki fully conscious to come to the conclusion that yes the doctor is evil but he needs power. We lack everything from shigaraki and the information of chapter 419 just makes his character worse as shigaraki was a lab rat through and through.

Horikoshi tries to make shigaraki the better character but nine outclassed him in every way possible from the traumatic beginnings, to the developed flawed goal and to the final bitter end where we see nine crumble due to various factors 1)shigarakis decay and 2) his illness whereas shigaraki dies due to afo still being a lab rat that fulfills his purpose.

All of this reminds me of the ask that said mha's manga ending is a sloppy edited 2nd movie ending (except I was only looking at it from a hero perspective but it even applies to the villains)

Nine deserved better!

[shadamyheadcanons]

Submission: Amy’s Crushes (and her imminent denial)

(Submitted by @junebalaya​ case tumblr removes credit.)

I’ve always headcanoned that Amy had a crush on both Sonic and Sally.

I don’t know its ever specified what Amy’s reading was that led her to Christmas Island, but from what I read it’s something like a “great hero”, right? There are some fan media that tack on “a great hero with a name that starts with an ‘S’” which would be incredibly funny since it could go so many ways.

Anyway, Post-Genesis Archie did Amy dirty, but I’ve always liked Amy and Sally’s friendship and evolution in that era. Would it be so out of the ballpark that Amy’s admiration might lead her to glance Sally’s way once or twice? I imagine the feeling is so confusing and kind of hard to digest because she’s technically supposed to be her rival.

I’m not saying that’s the only reason that she treats Sally warmly, but I love the idea one day she sees the regular SonSal antics and feels jealousy towards Sonic rather than for him.

And then Shadow comes along, and she’s completely thrown in the loop.

She’s already struggling with juggling her affection between two different people and now this alien thing who’s kinda like Sonic but not really, shows up and makes her feel seen and shares her sentiment of protection and authenticity. She’s so confused because this isn’t supposed to happen, she has one love and she’ll only ever have one love.

–

((I haven’t read nearly enough Archie to judge that, sadly. I do love Sally and I ship her with Sonic, but that’s because I watched SatAM as a kid. All I know is that I like it when she and Amy are good friends, so I always write them that way :)

The Japanese Sonic CD manual said her cards predicted a “destined encounter.” I like to point out that “destiny” doesn’t necessarily equal “marriage,” and it could just as easily mean their meeting was destined because it led to her helping to save the world so many times, though I suppose that’s beside the point. Sonic Origins has a cutscene that showed the exact reading:

The cards shown are these, all drawn in Hero orientation:

These appear in Amy Rose’s official fortune card deck, where they’re given the following descriptions:

Time: Change is on the horizon. Be prepared for it, whether you saw the change coming or not.

Travel: You’re about to start something new and exciting; be prepared for anything!

Doom: A major event is going to happen! It may not be comfortable but needs to happen. Make the most of the situation.

…and then she cheats and tosses Doom aside to draws the Hero card instead, whose description reads: “The strength you need is inside you! Be brave, and forge ahead with your decisions and goals.”

Her actual reading of disaster was correct, as she was immediately kidnapped by Metal. Even if you count the card she cheated to get, I’d argue that due to how the reading works, the Hero would refer to herself. She’s the one who forged ahead, right?

Anyway, Amy’s gaze does occasionally fall on women. On October 7th, 2016, Sonic Channel released a mini comic in a series for Sonic’s 25th anniversary where Blaze helps out their friends. I don’t know all the details, but I do know Amy looks at her like this:

And my limited Archie knowledge includes issue 268 where she fawns over Honey the cat:

This also supports my headcanon that Amy’s pansexual; I’d argue it’s just canon that she’s bi or pan. It makes sense thematically that The Love Character doesn’t have entire genders locked off to her. That said, I don’t see her mini-crushes rivaling her main one, regardless of who the main target is. This goes for her little feelings for Shadow, too. I can’t see Amy being properly polyamorous. She doesn’t share, even as recently as 2023…

[Sonic Chronicles, Sonic Chronicles again, Archie Sonic Universe Issue 21, Sonic Rush, IDW issue #59, and the Sonic Frontiers DLC]

…and her romantic feelings are too all-encompassing for her to look elsewhere for too long. I do have a headcanon about the awkward transition in between the Sonic crush and the Shadow crush, though.

I think it’s a little amusing that Amy’s the most jealous character in the franchise (imo) while Sonic is the least. From that same exact issue where Amy’s fawning over Honey:

By the way, I’ve been loving your ongoing comic! It’s absolutely hilarious, and I adore the way you draw and characterize Cream in particular. For those who haven’t read it, it’s called Cream the Firestarter. Highly, highly recommended.))

[jess-the-vampire]

For any of your ocs, we're there any What Could Have Beens? Like some stuff that changed over time or an idea you had for them but you changed it because you didn't like it or something?

Sorry, I just like going Behind the Scenes with some things!

Oh there's a lot of that! When you have as many characters as I do and have worked on them for many years, there's bound to be changes and evolutions as you continue to develop them and work on your creation skills.

I guess a good starting point is romantic relationships? Sometimes when I make characters I do design them with the mindset that certain characters will get together with a planned romance arc, and other times I don't plan for it at all and two characters of mine just have such fun chemistry they just kinda....become love interests now??!!

There's a few examples of that, though a notable one is Ashton and Luna, who are kinda beloved by people who enjoy my sky au. When I made Ashton and Cole I didn't even know where to put them (They weren't made with a au in mind, they were put into this au), much less make them into love interests, but everyone loved their chemistry with luna (especially ash) so they have fanart???!! People love them??!!!

I also equally have examples of planned romances that I end up ditching entirely for something else, like another better couple or plotlines outside of romance. A good recent example is currently Dusk has evolved into a bit of a love interest for Archie, giving them a friends to lovers kinda vibe.

But during the process of figuring out these new characters, I first had considered Dusk and Grady to be romantic interests actually. This changed because boy did it not take long before people became endeared with dusk and archie's relationship. (Although really you could still ship them anyway)

Now I also have design evolutions, where I'm not satisfied with a design and they get a nearly complete makeover (edith, melaine) or i add new details to their design over time (once tom was revealed to have a tail in star vs, a lot of his fan kids got them added/ angel was originally created without the spider legs, they were added later)

Though story stuff happens too, like chloe (main character of my original project), was originally a character i made for my video game class in college, and in that game she fought these little slime creatures I called ghouls.

This has.....very little relevance to her story in the project and while I had it in there originally I've basically ditched it because it conflicts with new info I added later. I did kinda evolve it into her fighting escaping creatures on earth before she is returned to the underground tho.

There's also like, stefan, whose plot lines around finding out he's a prince and going to his kingdom to reclaim his crown after his mom kept him traveling with her his entire life and never telling him about his dad. Like he's supposed to just show up and suddenly take a bunch of responsibilities he's not prepared for because he only reclaimed the crown to live a more lavished life. With the royal family having no idea he existed.

And that's all interesting in itself, but I had the concept of him coming home to find out his dad had ANOTHER kid, and stefan showing up means he basically took her place as next in line.

Obviously I've never made any art of this concept, so yeah.

There's a lot of others I could get into but let's get into archie, because his story was ENTIRELY redone rather then partially like those examples.

So all my earlier archie art and content was VERY different and anyone who was there knows it. Originally, hunter created him due to some unfortunate still lingering attachment to belos, seeing archie as a way to almost "give him a second chance at life" kinda way. Hunter was also a single dad still pining over willow, and had a very different job.

However, this is mostly because this early stuff was made during s2, so you kinda had no timeskip ending to build upon.

Archie also wasn't cursed and in fact he had almost an admiration for the golden guards, kinda wanting to be a fighter like them, a symbol of good.

Obviously this is pretty much all gone when I rebooted him after the show ended, archie is now the product of cultists looking to revive belos and was taken in by Hunter, he has both willow and hunter as parents, he's dealing with the effects of his ortets curse, and all stuff relating to hunter's past is...conflicting to say the least.

Though archie is a bit unhealthily obsessed with researching the brothers, obsessed with knowing about them to separate himself. He doesn't want to be compared to belos and yet can't stop looking into them.

There was interesting aspects of his original concept, but i do think this new draft is a lot more interesting for multiple reasons so I'm happy with the change.

So those are just some of the changes and developments of some of my characters! There's certainly more i could discuss but we'd be here awhile, so I hope you enjoyed this insight!

[littlevices]

Ayakashi and Mononoke

Within the past week (give or take), I have finished watching not only Ayakashi, but also Mononoke and it's recent movie The Phantom in the Rain.

This is mostly about Mononoke, but I do wanna touch on Ayakashi, seeing as Mononoke came from the last three episodes of Ayakashi. All that to say, I'm about to gush and ramble so hold on to your hats, lol.

Disclaimer: Spoilers for Ayakashi and Mononoke, for those of you that wanna avoid that. I'll only be talking about those, the movie will be in a separate post later. And rambling and gushing, lots of that too. (And a long post)

Ayakashi

I'm gonna be blunt and get it out of the way, I did not like Ayakashi that much, as a whole. Sure the Bakeneko story was the highlight, but the rest was just kinda alright. Maybe it's just cause I don't fully understand the stories they are telling, and I'm fully willing to admit to that, but they just did not get me to care much. I will say I did like how the opening changed it's visuals depending on the story arc it was in. They could have just took visuals and scenes from all three stories to make it easier but instead went the extra mile and I appreciate that. However, the song fit much better with the style of Bakeneko than the other three, but the effort is still appreciated and noted.

The Dark Tower (Tenshu Monogatari) was the one I liked the least. It was horrible, but I also could not bring myself to care for the characters of this story much. The two main characters were just, mostly, bland to me and didn't really strike much of a cord. Oshizu going to the tower to see Zushonoskue cheat on her with Tomihime felt unnecessary and was shock value to be shock value. Her actions could still make sense even up till the end even without that, Tomihime was clearly being favored over her even though she'd been dating him longer, of course she'd be mad. Same thing with Zushonoskue turning into a monster, and it didn't even play that big of a role in things either, it happened way too late to. Tomihime crying about Uba dying didn't move me because Uba had been kind of unpleasant the entire time, somewhat same for her attendants whom I saw no personality even though their deaths were supposed to be tragic. Even the ending didn't do much despite trying to be bittersweet. It came off as more of a tragedy than horror, really.

Yostuya Kaidan was better, in the fact that it had a lot more horror in there mixed with tragedy. It felt like a one of those ghost stories you tell around a campfire or at sleepovers and I can vibe with that. However, like some of the first story, some of the story elements felt thrown in just for the sake of shock value. The incest plot twist involving Oiwa's sister and her fake husband felt thrown in, why was it even there? So they had a reason to die? So the fake husband would take his own life and make her fiance's revenge for them both seem more noble? The fact the narrator wasn't even alive anymore while narrating the story not only felt the same way, but also felt cliche. 'But wait, if I'm dead who is telling this story~' kind of deal. I will admit I did like the twist that Iemon did not intentionally poison Oiwa and disfigure her face and was just as surprised by it, but also the history of the story itself, told through the narrator was pretty cool and I did enjoy the history lesson.

Obviosuly, Bakeneko was the highlight, I can see why this birthed a spin-off and more. The animation and visualy style is stunning, if a little nauseating at first, but I got used to it quickly. Especially since I became so invested in both the mystery and the Medicine Seller himself. Bakeneko had both horror and tragedy in equal measure and did a great job with it. It's visual style really emphasized the Mononoke's creepy movements and facial expressions. Unlike the first two stories, I actually teared up a little at the end of Bakeneko seeing Tamaki and her little kitten finally walk free into the afterlife together. I felt something with her story, especially given it horrific nature and how the cat was her only friend and solace. The fact it turned into a Bakeneko along with her vengeful spirit hurt, poor things. The Medicine Seller himself is an intriguing figure, and also a little shit sometimes. He was a fun character, and also left me with a lot of questions. Who is he? What is he? Is he working for a higher power, is this something he does of his own volition? What's with the sword? Why does it need "Form", "Truth", and "Reasoning" to slay a Mononoke? Why are the scales so cute?

Of course, this leads me into the spin-off itself.

Mononoke (2007)

I am glad to see they kept the visual style from Bakeneko. It give the series a sense of identity. I didn't mention it before, but I love not only the vibrant colors, but also the subtle paper texture. From what I understand it's supposed to evoke Ukiyo-e woodblock prints (I had to look this up because I could not for the life of me remember what this was called but I did recognize the style.) It works well given the time period it's supposed to be in. The backgrounds sometimes look like they are being pulled along on a scroll. At least they do to me.

Something else that works well with the horror that I saw mentioned, and agree with, is the sound. Not just the background music, however it also does a good job, but the small subtle ones. The nails scrapping against the hollow ship, the growls of the cats, the strumming of the biwa (I believe that's what they called the instrument), the laughter of the children. The sound effects play a great role in amping up the eeriness of the horror, my personal favorite being the bells on the scales and the slight jingle they make as they tilt towards the mononoke builds anticipation. Even something as subtle as the drawers on the Medicine Seller's trunk, geta clacking, water dripping, or shoji sliding add to the atmosphere.

As for the episode content themselves, I found I liked pretty much all of it for different reasons depending on the arc. If Kayo is there, it's a bonus because I love her dynamic with the Medicine Seller and he's clearly fond of her. Enough so that her look alike (reincarnation? descendant?) gets a small fond smile out of him (it's blink and you you'll miss it, but it's there). The horror elements work well, and the stories told are very interesting in how they handle the human psyche. The Noppera-Bo arc confused me at first, but I find I like its story of how trying to please others, at the detriment of yourself, only leads to resentment and horrible thoughts. It leaves you feeling trapped. I'm hoping Cho did just leave, which is what's implied at the end, but it also shows just how devious the Medicine Seller can be when it comes to fighting mononoke. I think the Nue arc was my favorite, as I loved the twist that those spirits were already dead, hinted by the grayscale color palette, and were forced into a an endless loop. It was also one of the more freaky looking mononoke, besides the Bakeneko and Biwa player (though I don't know if he was a mononoke or not).

Now, the thing that made me want to watch Mononoke, the Medicine Seller himself.

This man, this glorious man, intrigues me. Yes, there are all my questions above, but just his general attitude it interesting. While he's usually a reserved individual, his small moments of snark are just too funny. It was more prominent in Ayakashi, but there are still moments in Mononoke. Particularly with Kayo, but also in the Nue arc when he says he mixed up oleander with the other scents, especially when he plays it up when there's only one man left. His excuse for why he's dressed the way he is Bakeneko (Mononoke Ver.) is especially amusing. He makes it sound like a marketing gimmick. Plus, playing the part of the masked man in the Noppera-Bo arc, which is what's implied, does have its (darkly) humorous element given how the masked man behaves compared to the Medicine Seller himself.

Also, the Medicine Seller here, who I believe is often nicknamed Ri, just has this whole 'I'm done with this shit' vibe, and, honestly, that is a mood.

Clearly, I am very heavily biased towards Mononoke compared to Ayakashi. However, there were still some elements to Ayakashi I did like, but overall the entire package just didn't captivate me the same way. Especially the Tenshu Monogatari story. Which just left me feeling 'meh'. Apologies to those who enjoyed Ayakashi as a whole, but besides Bakeneko and some parts of Yostuya Kaidan, it just didn't do it for me. I am glad it exists, though, both for telling what I am sure are classic japanese stories, but also for bringing forth Mononoke as a series.

[eclairehope]

WWDITS ENDING

English is not my first language. Sorry for any mistake. It is a bit difficult translate my emotions… ( Hello from Italy)

My thoughts about WWDITS ENDING

It was perfect? Not really but I'm kinda happy with this "ending". I suppose. I'm still processing.

Nadja : This is not the end of anything. We will keep doing what we alway do. It's just these, um, camera microphone people will no longer be filming it.

This is meta and I like it. To us is an goodbye to them the characters we love, is not.

( This is comforting for me because I will miss everyone so much, especially Nadja) I admit that I was as sad as Gizmo in this episode.Nadja was so nice to try to cheer us up.

I see a lot of negativity here on Tumblr. ( I survived Game of Thrones season 8 and The umbrella Academy season 4, those are horrible endings not this one )

I think I'm one of the few satisfied people here... (but I admit that this season is not really among my favorites) Maybe because even if I love LADJA (since the beginning) and (just recently) NANDERMO I never watched the series only just for the couples. But for all the characters and their dynamics. (I loved Laszlo/Nandor and Nadja/Guillermo or Nandor/Nadja scenes)

I started watching WWDITS because I loved the original movie. The hook for me was Nadja. I fell in love with her at first and then after season one to all the others characters. ( Especially Laszlo)

WHAT WAS I HOPEFUL FOR? ( In Nadermo canon lol )

The thing that mattered most to me was that Guillermo didn't leave for good his "Vamily". And I think I'm happy with what I got.

In fact, I was already happy with the ending of episode ten.

( S6E10) Nandor: Face it, Guillermo. You're never gonna be just a normal human guy. You don't belong with them. You belong with us.

And about the topic that things never change...

Guillermo: So did the documentary ever come out?

Nandor: No. They filmed us for ten years, but then they decided that they didn't have enough good material.

Colin: Yeah, said it's just a bunch of boring people doing the same old shit day after day, nothing changes, no one ever grows, its' pointless, yada, yada.

The old TV crew says this about them, but we viewers know that things, although similar, have actually changed since then.

All the characters have changed in some way since the first season, they all changed thanks to Guillermo. They really love him.

The dynamics between Guillermo and the vampires is one of the main reasons why I love this series.

About NANDERMO

I was hoping for a hug or a (romantic) kiss, ( I'm delulu) but I like that in the end he and Nandor are finally friends. They have a more equal relationship. They don't have to work together, they can just be friends and hang out as such.

Guillermo and Nandor in the coffin together was a nice ending.

I can see why some people are upset but I knew It would be very strange if we got a proper romantic Nandermo canon kiss in front of cameras. lol

I think that eventually Nandor and Guillermo can develop a romantic relationship outside the cameras. (They leaved some hints about that) It's fine to me. The ending is open.

The FAKE ENDINGS I saw two of the three alternative endings. I first saw the "Newhart ending" with Nandermo. (Cute kiss but it was all fake T-T)

And in a reaction on YouTube I saw the "usual suspects" ending with the Guide and Colin (very funny!)

I don’t know where to watch the Nadja ending for free. Help plz

[starlightshadowsworld]

Do you think Rick showed too much favoritism when Percy might be able to beat Jason? He's been training since before talking and not even talking about powers.

I think Rick's favoritism with Percy goes well beyond that. But to answer your question, yes I absolutely think so.

And it's something Rick seems to encourage.

No other character is pitted against Percy like Jason has been both in and outside of universe.

No one has ever questioned in universe if Nico could beat Percy, if Hazel or Clarisse could beat Percy.

And than Jason makes a throw away line about beating him while they were possessed and suddenly it's like a call to war.

The thing about Percy is that Rick wants him to be untouchable. For all the jokes about Jason being superman, Percy is superman.

He's supposed to be the strongest, he was even invincible for a while. And it's something we're not supposed to question.

And that was fine in the original series.

But once you put Percy in a team of people who are supposed to be just as strong as him... That kinda falls apart.

I'm not gonna get into whether or not Jason should be stronger than Percy or not.

But at the very least they should be on the same level.

Jason has been trained since 2 years old and was raised by the Leigion. He has fought Krios, a titan single handedly at 15.

But Jason is constantly nerfed and his skills and powers don't match with what we're told about him.

We're not supposed to question it Jason could beat or even be Percy's equal.

Because no ones supposed to be Percy's equal (unless it's Annabeth), he's supposed to be untouchable and the most powerful.

Everything Jason does is supposed to be overshadowed by Percy.

Jason survived the Wolf House as a toddler. No one cares because Percy survived it now.

Jason doesn't belong in either camp, Percy fits in both.

Jason was Praetor. Percy became Praetor and replaced him.

Jason's 16th birthday, the first time he's ever celebrated surrounded by friends and feeling like he belongs.

No one cares, because that's the day Annabeth and Percy fell into Tartarus.

In theory there's many characters who could possibly beat Percy, but the one everyone wants to focus on is Jason.

Jason was supposed to be a main character, and stand out by himself but Rick made it so he can never escape Percy's shadow.

If Percy's Mario than Jason's his Luigi. And Rick wants to make sure he knows his place.

[alea-says]

H50 Meta - Why Het Explanations Don't Work in the Absence of Women

OR, is it any wonder the H50 fandom rallied around McDanno when canonically, the more important a female relationship was to a main character, the less screen-time the female received.

OR, H50's inverse relation between the supposed 'romantic importance' of female characters and their screen-time.

I feel like I could write a whole series of essays on this, and it's linked not just to why fandom persists in 'shipping' McDanno, but also to the way the show doesn't represent women properly. Which isn't just a fault of H50, by the way, but I'm focusing on H50 because it's what I'm currently watching and there are some really clear examples.

Full Disclaimer: I am a McDanno shipper, so may carry some bias into this, however, I am also female and critical of the way women are presented, or rather not-presented, in television. I'm also one of those people who will happily ship a couple while also enjoying whatever ship is presented on-screen. In other words, while I love McDanno, if H50 could present me with a believable het ship for either of them, I would enjoy it. Finally, I have not yet finished H50, having just started s9, so this is written from that perspective.

Screen-time equals importance, so where's the female screen-time?

We all know that, the more important a character or scene is, the more time it is given on screen. That's why the main characters are on our screens far more than the side characters or extras.

One of the narrative ways television tells us something is important is by dedicating screen time to it.

If the camera zooms in a piece of paper wedged behind a bookshelf - you know it's going to be an important clue later. Because screen-time = importance.

However, on H50, I have seen it repeatedly shown that, the more 'important' a female character becomes to a main male character, the *less* screen-time they get.

So it is any wonder the audience is left questioning their actual importance or relevance?

Steve and Catherine

As one of the first het relationships presented to the audience in a positive light, I'll start with Steve and Catherine.

S1 Catherine is always there to fill a plot-hole and give Steve the intel he needs. They're shown as a rather relaxed 'couple', or 'friends with benefits'/'friends with favours'.

We continue on, and Cath becomes more of a main character, even joining five-0 in s4. For a while, at least, it appears that they're increasing her importance to Steve, and increasing her screen-time.

But then, in s5, suddenly - no Catherine. She's off elsewhere. It's like, somehow, she became so important they had to remove her completely.

Of course, she returns at the end of s5, and beginning of s6, just long enough for them to tell us Steve loves her so much he wants to propose.

Only - what happens when Steve considers proposing? Catherine leaves. And lies to him.

It's kinda hard to believe this is the het relationship they're selling, when she's not even on screen as much as she was in s1.

And there are any number of reasons for why they did it this way, but it starts a pattern that is seen throughout H50, of the increasing importance placed on a het relationship equaling decreased screentime for the female half of that relationship.

Danny and Rachel

The other main het relationship presented from the beginning, of course, is Danny and Rachel. Now, they start out divorced, but by the end of s1 Danny is having an affair with his ex-wife.

And what happens directly after that? Rachel actually leaves Hawai'i for a bit. There's the whole question of Grace's custody and Danny fighting to keep Grace in Hawai'i.

Now yes, Rachel ends up back with Stan (for a bit, anyway). But I find it fascinating that ex-wife Rachel who Danny is angry at gets far, far more screen-time than Rachel when Danny is pursuing her once more. Basically, as soon as she becomes an 'important romantic interest' for Danny - not more screen-time.

Want some stats? She's in 5 episodes of s1, and then not seen again until s5 (thanks to the Hawaii five-0 wiki for making those easy to grab).

Danny and Amber/Melissa

In terms of length of a relationship, Danny's relationship with Amber/Melissa runs through quite a few seasons. However, when we look at her actual screen-time, it's interesting to note that the more time it's been since she and Danny started dating - the less we see of her.

And also, the less she's mentioned. So not only do we not see her on-screen, but she's also not referred to on-screen very much. It got to the point where I would honestly go 'oh, I forgot about her' when she was mentioned. At which point it felt like they were mentioning her just for the sake of 'confirming' Danny's heterosexuality.

Steve and Lynn

The same can be said of Steve and Lynn.

I actually felt that, after burning the Steve and Catherine relationship, the start of Steve and Lynn's relationship was the most promising het one he'd had so far.

I mean, their first date involves getting shot at, which we know is basically like a hobby for Steve.

But then - suddenly - as their relationship continues on, and supposedly, based on length, becomes more 'important', the less of her we see.

She starts out as this interesting, dynamic character, and the longer she and Steve are the together the more she is shown as nothing more than a prop for his heterosexuality.

She isn't there for the 'intervention' about Steve's health that Danny stages (neither is Melissa, although Dog is - what does it say when it's more important to have your random poker buddy at your intervention than your long-term girlfriend?)

Again, not only does Lynn lose screen-time as their relationship progresses, but also mentions of her drop off, until, like Melissa, she'd be mentioned suddenly after a long time of not being mentioned, and I'd go, huh, I forgot about her.

Girlfriends as opposed to Characters

It's like, once they become established girlfriends, the show can no longer treat them as proper characters.

Which makes the het relationships are really hard to believe - because relationships happen between characters.

We indicate who is important to us by how much we talk about and to them. So the fact that, the longer these relationships go on, the less they are even talked about by their supposed boyfriends, well - is it any wonder we find their relationship hard to believe?

And I could probably do a whole 'nother essay about the issues with how this perpetuates a narrative of women as only there for the men's desire, not standing as separate characters on their own, and simply a 'prop' to help show off their 'masculinity' and 'heterosexuality'.

It's incredibly two-dimensional, because to have a 3-dimensional relationship, you'd have to actually give them screen-time, either by putting them on the screen or at least by having other characters talk about them.

So why McDanno?

On the other hand, you've got Steve and Danny continually on screen, continually talking about and to each other, and showing through actions (and words) how much they care about each other.

Yes, they are main characters. But this is why fandoms like to ship main characters together. Because they *are* characters. Because the screen-time given to them tells us that they're important and we care about them.

It's a little hard to take their het relationships seriously when the people they're engaging in all the 'couple' behaviour on-screen with is each other (such as discussing their future plans, staging interventions, visiting each other in hospital, helping do up the house, etc). (and yes, also hugging, arms around shoulders, sitting next to each other while on 'dates' with their girlfriends, etc)

Now, I'm not saying you have to ship McDanno, or that I'd want a whole bunch of screen-time taken up by the next random woman chosen to prove the main's heterosexuality. But I am saying it's kinda hard to value those heterosexual relationships when both the characters, and show, aren't shown to value them.

[genericpuff]

Hope you don't mind my asking but do you mind elaborating on why you don't like Mongie too much? I know all about why everyone dislikes Let's Play itself. There are various videos and post upon post online tearing it to shreds with criticism but I've not heard much about the creator herself like I do Rachel Smythe. Does she also run into the same issues that Rachel does or is her behavior different but equally questionable/annoying?

It's kinda equally questionable, kinda different. They both have the same issues of like, fetishizing youthfulness and creating unhealthy power dynamics. They also haven't done a great job at depicting POC in their comics, you can tell they're written by white women who don't understand other cultures but are trying to make their series more "progressive" by including stand-ins for representation.

That said, considering Let's Play is set in a real world setting, the POC characters (and the casually racist issues in their writing) are a lot more obvious than in LO (where you have to know the context that the neon-colored nymphs are based on POC to really realize that they're lower class POC people who are getting the shit end of the stick from the rich upper class main protagonists).

And I don't even mean in the usual "there aren't any POC in this comic" or "the POC in this comic are stereotypical/poorly written", I mean in the sort of white-victim-complex "I added in other ethnicities and people got mad at me anyways so what more do you want!" kind of way (paired with the "they're poorly written and stereotypical" aspect).

Dean is a good example of the stereotypical designing and writing, IIRC he's a Hispanic man but he's written like some Spanish soap opera character who flirts with every woman he sees and always has rose petals falling around him.

Even in that sentence he says "part Asian" which is weird because he's looking for Marshall who's supposed to be his best friend and it's been established in the comic that Marshall is half-Japanese, but that brings us to the other instance of mongie being casually (if not directly) racist and even more so than with Dean...

Apparently mongie thought it was a good move to say that it was "more inclusive" to make Vikki only vaguely Asian. Which is just... so not true LOL Asia is an entire continent made up of MANY different cultures and ethnicities and so generalizing all of them to just "Asian" is not a great take from someone who's trying to seem "more inclusive".

But of course, when her community called her out on this and asked her to elaborate, she and her mod team basically dug their heels in and made up excuses that made mongie out to be a victim instead of just acknowledging she made an error that didn't connect well with members of her audience.

And theeen in comes mongie ready to torch the place. Note that up until this point, it's basically been her mod team speaking up on her behalf and giving her benefit of the doubt, so when mongie DID get her chance to speak, she jumped right to:

"FINE, SHE'S HALF CHINESE HALF KOREAN THEN, STFU AND STOP ANALYZING ME WHEN I INCLUDE CHARACTERS FROM RACES THAT DON'T ALIGN WITH MY OWN !!!" (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻ is very much the vibe people got from this, understandably so. It's also odd (and extremely privileged) for her to say that she'd "rather focus on a character's personality and not their race" because it's very "I don't see color" which has been proven to be counterintuitive to understanding and celebrating different races.

And then we get a lot of self-victimizing "well I can't win no matter what so you people are ungrateful and actually it's MY feelings that are hurt" excuses:

Again it's weird because she had NO problem specifying that Marshall was half-Japanese and she didn't make him into any sort of weird stereotype like she did with Vikki. So I don't know why she's having such a hard time grasping that being vaguely Asian for Vikki isn't inclusive.

Although, let's be real here, the only reason Marshall is half-Japanese at all is because he's a self-insert of Markiplier, a half-Korean Youtuber who mongie apparently worked for on payroll as a graphic designer prior to Let's Play. Which is just a whole layer of ick that I think surpasses even Rachel Smythe and Mads Mikkelson. Like the Rachel and Mads thing is definitely creepy and weird because she's literally drawn herself - an adult woman nearing her 40's - being swept off her feet by a smoochy-faced Mads. But at least she didn't work for the guy or ever interact with him directly like mongie did with Markiplier. That's a whole separate level of "ew".

That said, mongie continues:

Which is just such a half-assed non-apology. Not "I'm sorry for misrepresenting a culture" or "I'm sorry I didn't do proper research", but "I'm sorry people think I'm being insensitive or that they need specific representation in my work that I'm claiming to be representation to be good". Completely shifting the blame from herself onto her audience for not being happy with the bare minimum that she gave them.

There's more though. Probably one of the worst parts and it's not even her, but one of her mods:

The fact that this is one of mongie's mods telling mongie's audience that her feelings - as a white woman who's just legitimately patronized her audience - are more valid than the people whose feelings were hurt by mongie being so insensitive... it's a real gross move and I can't believe they even pulled that.

Oh, and of course, as people like this tend to do, she goes on about "cancel culture" and how "terrifying" it is to her and then comes up with some imaginary scenario where a kid pays a hitman to kill her ?? as a defense for herself that really just further victimizes herself over her own misled actions ??

And this is something mongie does a lot, at least in this instance - she comes up with justifications for her decisions based on completely imaginary scenarios that she came up with and assumed, rather than just, idk, doing her research and being open to learning new things about cultures she's clearly not educated on. Shit like "well if I do xyz you'll be mad at me anyways so fuck you!"

When in reality? No one would have been mad at her if she didn't have any non-white characters in her comic. Would readers be disappointed? Probably. But - and I can't speak for everybody out there obviously so this is just my opinion - I know I'd much rather representation from someone who wanted to represent my respective groups and identities and put love and effort into it, than get it from someone who was just doing it because they made up a scenario in their head that they would be cancelled for not doing it. No one really has any tangible ground to stand on if they get mad at you for writing a cast of all-white characters you wanted to write, there are plenty of webtoons like that on the platform. We do need more stories that uplift and represent POC voices, but it shouldn't be from white victim complex people who only do it to virtue signal and ensure they don't get "cancelled". You know what WILL get you cancelled? Attempting to write other ethnicities and racial groups purely based on stereotypes for the sake of "representation" and then getting mad when people ask you to be a little more specific than "Asian".

Oh yeah, and then have your mods censor/delete any mentioning of educational resources regarding Asian cultures, and then essentially dox one of your community members by revealing their Twitter to the entire Discord group to boot!

oh boy mongie, if you think THAT'S drama, wait until you see the shit I do here LMAO

[brehaaorgana]

I think dragon age: veilguard is a fun game but honestly I feel like the choices and stakes so far have....fallen a little flat for me. The first big one is supposed to be between saving trevisio and saving tevinter but idk. Being blamed for one or the other being "abandoned" just hadn't landed for me. Like you get to split your forces when you make the decision, and it's not like Rook has any particular superpowers that would impact the outcome significantly where you would KNOW being in one place over the other is a game changer. There's zero reason to believe sending three people to one city and three people to the other is going to forsake one of the two cities because everyone is supposed to be really good at their jobs and no one is clearly more of a powerhouse than the others.

I think if I hadn't already played Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous I might feel like these choices had more weight? But in WOTR, you literally have to make decisions like this frequently and you have awakened mythic power abilities which absolutely can and do mean making one choice vs another choice can change the playing field. Idk I'm just kinda like "okay but there is no guarantee I would've saved the other city because I'm just some random person." 🤷🏻‍♀️

It could be a total coin toss and there's no real reason for a whole city to know who I am (unlike in WOTR, where you're named commander of the army and therefore VERY well known) and to blame me for the outcome, but I'm being told that's the case? Like...why? I sent equal forces to two different places.

Idk it just doesn't make sense to me. I saved Tevinter, not Treviso and whatshisface is bitter about it and saying the whole city is blaming me, but that doesn't feel meaningful when there were people trying to save both places. How do those people even know me? Why do they think "oh, rook sent HALF HER TEAM TO US" is being abandoned or whatever? "It's your fault" dude maybe it's your fault for not utilizing my people correctly.

Actually no I figured out what bothers me. It's this external reliance on "being the video game main character," creating the sole stakes in this choice. The game KNOWS wherever I go is "going to be saved" and the other one "won't be." Just automatically that's how the game is written. So the characters in game are reacting as if they ALSO know this is a binary choice of save vs not save, because that is how the game is written because I am playing the main character of the video game. But it just feels...lazy. all the stakes and emotional backlash are built upon basically being aware that the game is written to make a binary choice here. And given that's the case you could flip a coin and the choice doesn't much matter.

[sp-high-au]

OOC Info Yapping😔

Hey! Welcome to my little shitstorm of an au! Obviously I’m gonna talk about it for a little bit because I never learn when to stfu and I feel like there’s a couple of things that I need to bring up to tie the whole thing together.

So this layout is kinda new to me. Technically is a roleplay but also at the same time there’s not gonna be any interaction with other rp blogs. Y’all are more than welcome to rb for your own roleplays though. There’ll be plenty of random shitposts that can be taken out of context.

This blog is being made to mimic an old school website. Y’know the ones where there’s an interactive wall for the students to post on? Yeah that. The post on this blog are going to be a mix of three things (technically four but I don’t think my ooc/admin posts really count).

ANNOUNCEMENT POSTS: Announcement posts are going to be used in place of actual posts for a site admin. Most of the time they’re going to be for lore drops that aren’t really relevant but are kinda fun to put into the storyline. For example: a background character or a character who isn’t that relevant to the story arcs birthday.

WALL POSTS: These wall posts are supposed to be posted “by students.” Once again they’re going to be used to drop more lore crumbs because high schoolers gossip a ridiculous amount and I think it’s funny.

FIC POSTS: The final type of posts are going to be fic posts! These will be link drops to my ao3. The fics will contain the main lore/arcs. They’ll also be reblogged to my main.

This story has odd publishing schedule to say the least. There are twenty-two story arcs. The storyline itself starts September 2nd 2024 and ends June 18th 2026. Each story is also planned to be posted on an accurate date, like in real time.

One arc is equal to one month. For example Arc 1: Intro to The Losers Club, takes place throughout September. The first official fic is going to be labeled like this on any master list: 1.1: (INSERT TITLE HERE). These works will either be oneshots or multi chapters. Any multi chapter will be split into “parts” like if a multi chapter is four chapters in total and there’s only two chapter total it’ll be labeled simply like this: 2/4.

Also there are some darker themes in these stories! Firstly, it’s high school. What high schooler doesn’t have issues? Secondly, it’s South Park and that itself is pretty self explanatory. And finally, I’m fucking delusional and think it’s funny.

Speaking of me though, HI!!! If you’re a mutual on my main who’s stumbled upon this mess, yes it’s Clouded. If you don’t know know who I am you can find me at my main: @justyourtypicalwriter where I am much more active and my posts are very much unplanned, unlike this blog. It’s become a favorite project of mine in the short time I’ve been working on it though and I hope you grow to enjoy it as much as I do!

Here’s one of my many, many picrews of myself that I normally use as pfps because I have a problem and that was a lot of writing💀

BUT I’M STILL YAPPING BECAUSE YOU MAY BE ASKING:

“Oh Clouded what are the ships in this au?”

And to my rare pair lovers I say:

“You’re eatin’ good tonight bbg😘”

Because as much as a Style girlie I am, there are SO MANY absolutely amazing rare pairs that get such little recognition. I know how excited I get when I see a rare pair in a popular fic or comic so there’s some food for my fellow rare pair lovers.

SHIPS:

K2

Staig

Weidi

Tyde

Dip

Rebstella

Gregstophe

Jimmy/Nichole (what’s their ship name y’all)

There’s probably more but I can’t think of any lmao-

HAPPY READING!!!

[toastsrambles]

Hi, can I ask from both ask game :

https://www.tumblr.com/threecheersforinking/677824836625694720/anime-ask-game?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/rafael-silva/90297624190/send-me-a-fandom?source=share

For anime/manga : Moriarty the Patriot

Ooh, ask games! I've never participated in these, so this'll be fun!

First one:

Favorite Character: Like I already said, Louis. Really, just look at my other answer for the explanation, but I will add that I love him and his little fish.

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: So, confession time: I didn't finish the anime. I read all of the manga, but fell off the anime relatively soon. I'll pick it up soon again, but... yeah. For this, my favourite arc has gotta be Noahtic. It's part of the Rise of the Lord of Crime arc, technically, but I just love everything about it! It's a good insight into William's actions and motivations, and I love Sherlock's introduction.

Character I Think is Underrated: Ugh, I really don't know. I think Moriarty the Patriot is the first fandom I've seen where no main character is really shoved to the side, per se. But I'd have to say James Bonde. I haven't seen a lot of deep metas or fics centered around him (but shoot those my way if you have one you like).

Character I Think is Overrated: Again, this is really hard. There isn't a character I would say is overrated.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: I'll give my rare pair for the other ask game, so I'll give a canon-ish one here: Sherliam. It's a classic, and maybe a bit overrated in the sense that the manga is bigger than Sherliam, but I just love it. The mind games, the banter, the doomed soulmate-ism... every so often I'll remember a canon thing they did and just go feral. For example, the wedding vow scene. I was not immune to going insane over that.

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: The relationships between all the characters. Pretty much every major character in the series has a relationship with each other, at least when it comes to Team Moriarty and Sherlock. I really like that, it makes all the characters feel much more real.

Now, the second one!

The first character I first fell in love with: Probably William. His little endearing expressions and psychotic mannerisms captivated me.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Moran. I was interested in what Moran would be like, given his hit-or-miss portrayals in other adaptations - his non-appearance in Sherlock vs his starring role in A Study in Emerald - but honestly? The first couple chapters, I kinda just didn't connect with him. But then I read Golden Army and... oh yeah. He isn't quite my favourite, by any means, but he is quite intriguing to me.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: I don’t think I have one? I mean, I love pretty much all characters equally, and I haven’t seen an overwhelming amount of support for a character I’m not into. I suppose Milverton could count; I see a lot of fics and theories, and while he’s a good villain, I don’t love him. Still, I do like him, so I’m not sure I have a character that fits this.

The character I love that everyone else hates: Again, I don’t think there is one. Maybe it’s just that I’m not overly involved in the fandom, but I haven’t seen hate for any characters. I do love John, and he doesn’t seem to get much focused stuff, but again, that’s not hate. So yeah, I guess there isn’t one.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: I’ve stayed pretty consistent, I think! But maybe Fred. I still like him, but he’s no longer a favourite.

The character I would totally smooch: My asexuality is showing! But, uh, probably Moniepeny. She deserved to be in the anime and the musical! She deserved a solo song at the very least!

The character I’d want to be like: James Bonde. The vibe, the energy, the gender euphoria. He truly has it all.

The character I’d slap: Milverton. Hands down. He's a good villain, but yeah. I'd smack those glasses off his face.

A pairing that I love: Loubonde 🥺. I don’t know when exactly the rarepair demons found me but they did. I have a ton of oneshots and stories in my drafts (including but not limited to a Picture of Dorian Gray inspired mystery, a Dead Boy Detectives AU, and a modern university AU). I know it’s a rarepair - believe me, I know - but they’re still my favourite. If anyone sees this and is inspired to write fics or something, please please send them my way! ;-;

A pairing that I despise: I don’t know if there is one. I’m very much of the ‘ship what you like’ mindset. So even if there are ships I don’t like to read content about, I just… don’t. So yeah, no answer here, too.

Sorry I’m late with this!

[box-dwelling]

OK so as someone who just genuinely loved Dual destinies and is keeping my theis length DD apologia in the drafts at least for now. I genuinely want to know why people don't like it.

I have seen this take from so many AA fans who I completely agree about everything else with. I need to understand why it sounds like we played completely different games.

I will put some I've seen but feel differently about under the cut

Critisms I find unfair:

-it doesn't tie up the loose ends AA4 left hanging. We don't hold any of the other games up to this standard because they all properly finish up the characters arcs. Aa5 cannot be blamed for the problems we want to overlook in AA4. I do also love AA4 but it does leave a lot of dangling plot threads that the others don't and that would be a fucking nightmare to tie up *staring directly at sibling reveal*

- Clay comes out if no where. He's very well established through the game. He just isn't mentioned in AA4 just like Fran isn't mentioned in AA1 and Dahlia isn't mentioned before AA3.

Critism I acknowledge is a reasonable opinion people can have but strongly disagree with

-Spilting the game between the protagonists stops them having proper arcs. Athena is our weird girl for this game. She is our maya. We get to play as her for 1.5 cases. For the majority of the game she's taking up the weird girl screen time and she's honestly still doing that in the ones you play as her. She's just a weird girl who happens to be a lawyer. In the main game Apollo and Phoenix have a roughly equal amount of screen time by chapter. They cut the bloated filler not the arcs (yes I will argue that 5-2 is needed for Apollos arc. Its there to set up his relationship with Athena that us a catalyst later on)

-Phoenix and Apollo are OOC. No. Phoenix is still a cryptic little bitch when you don't play as him and in AA4 he was so very clearly missing being a lawyer. It makes sense. Apollo very clearly in the last case of AA4 regains a lot of his respect for Phoenix. No, he doesn't do this on screen but again that is AA4s fault not dual destinies. That's how he acts the last time we see him so that's how he's acting now.

-The Phantom comes out of nowhere. Plot wise, maybe. But so do a lot of AA villians. Thematically, he's the perfect fit. DD is a game about trust. Very, very explicitly. A spy is someone who can't trust anyone. The phantom is a man who's shut himself off so much from emotions that he no longer recognises why trust is needed. And also has an ability that directly preys on people by making them think hes a trustworthy figure. He's not an incredible villian but he is thematically cohesive.

-almost a part 2 to the last point. The Fulbright reveal comes out of nowhere. First of all 5-2 has some very very choice sprite framing lol. But beyond that it also is a thematically smart choice. We as players are conditioned in AA games to trust the recurring detective. The villain should be someone that we trust. The guy was likeable but also fundamentally always kinda hollow and did in fact pull a shit ton of strings in 5-4 that we all ignored because we trusted him. The clues are there. You're just not ment to pick up on them because of the formula of these games.

-Edgeworth doesn't need to be there. Again game with a theme of trust. He doesn't necessarily need to be there but his dynamic with Phoenix does. They spent 3 fucking games setting up how important it is that those two trust each other and in a game about trust his absence would be felt.

-I don't see this a lot but I did see it a few times. Blackquill is a bad prosecutor. Honestly this is a taste thing and I love him. He is my little bastard man. Also thematically he embodies the two people you aren't supposed to trust in these games, a convict and a prosecutor but is actually a cool guy.

-I've never seen this but I can guess it's happened. Pearl comes out of nowhere. Again theme of trust. Phoenix has just lost the two people he's been relying on to trust the most and needed to be reminded that there were other people he loved and trusted so letter from Maya and visit from Pearl.

-mood matrix. I like the mini game I think it's fun. My brain likes to sit and logically think about what emotions it would make sense for someone to feel in situations.

Criticism I agree with but really don't bother me

-Trucy is side lined. Yeah. I love her to pieces and will never complain about getting more of her but it doesn't make sense for her to not be there plot wise and they clearly just didn't have room for her. I am happy with my Trucy scraps. I would visit her and present every piece of evidence to her to get as much dialogue as I could.

-Klavier is sidelined. Also yeah. But he did genuinely need to be there for 5-3 thematically for that case. (It is literally a showdown between his school of thought and the one he thought phoenix had) but they couldn't make him procecutor because he'd be too much on their side. It had to be someone who at that point seems at least a little morally dubious. I wish there was more but I will also happily take my Klavier scraps.

-the anime cutscenes. I don't love them but I do have a little switch in my brain marked "watching anime" that I can flip and enjoy them for what they are.

-the switch of the voiced sound effects. Yes they are worse but like, I can live with it.

Stuff I don't like and won't defend

-turnabout reclaimed racism and fatphobia (also blatant animal welfare ignorance). I'm not defending it or overlooking it but it's not the only game in this franchise to be problematic.