#my man gets straight to the point while having his fun. for a villain that’s pretty scary man

[sirazaroff]

It’s me again!

Of the RWBY villains, which one(s) is/are your favorite(s)?

I love when you show up :D

So I’ve been thinking about this for a bit, and this is based off my current knowledge with where I’m at in the series. Honestly, the villains I tend to like are the ones that eventually change their ways, like Hazel and to my surprise Emerald, cause she annoyed me for a bit.

However.

I thought about it some more and I was like. You know. Out of everyone so far. The only guy that’s ever been like a serious threat from start to end is Tyrian. Like he’s just full psychotic and cruel, kills for pleasure. He’s like a rabid lapdog. I see him more a threat than even Cinder.

Pretty scary guy, gotta say.

[jimmytimmyjames]

a post i saw likening joel and scar in their "villainy" in the life series has prompted me to finally express in writing how much mr. goodtimeswithscar terrifies me.

you see. joel and scar have both played the role of the "villain" in the life series (last life, secret life) and, outside of the instances in which they played those roles, are still liable to cause destruction and kill people. imo, despite this similarity, they give off very different vibes.

joel is straight-forward. he enjoys chaos and is liable to stab someone in the back for fun, and everyone knows this. if you aren't engaged in an unusually strong allyship (the bad boys, the mounders) with him, don't trust him. he will murder his own wife for the hell of it. this simplicity makes him entertaining to me, even though i sometimes don't vibe with the way he acts in these series. i expect this behaviour. the expectedness makes him less scary. also making him less scary is the fact that, while he can do serious damage, he has a tendency to make stupid and rash decisions and to kill himself with his own traps. he is a double-edged sword. for every bit of damage he deals to someone else, he deals damage to himself also. a cringefail little guy whom i can only take entirely seriously on certain occasions. not exactly, but quite like a chihuahua - aggressive, evil for no reason, with a lethal bite if it manages to get its teeth in you, but, at the end of the day, a chihuahua. (sorry for the stereotypes. not all chihuahuas, i'm sure.)

mr. goodtimes, on the otherhand, is volatile. i do not know what is going on in his head at any given time. i cannot tell when he is going to act perfectly cordially or decide to burn someone's house down or take a shot at them just to see if he can do some damage. that man is simultaneously perfectly innocent of any crime and completely guilty of all of them, and this quantum state in which he somehow manages to exist makes my hairs stand on end. it is exacerbated by his persona. i do believe that scar gets himself into Situations by accident and isn't putting on a front with regards to his cringefailness. however, he is - at the same time - as sharp as they come. like, scarily calculating. he is the goof character who turns out to be jaded and merciless inside. he will laugh with you, which turns to laughing at you, which turns to shooting you in the head, all the while keeping up this sense of goofiness and half-fake friendliness. bro. it has gotten to the point that seeing his skin evokes within me a deep-seated sense of unease. his eyes, man. his eyes. grian is the same. there is nothing behind those eyes. however, grian lacks scar's redeeming little meow meow factor which endears him to me. grian's just straight-up evil. i don't even trust grian when he's teamed with the person who's perspective i'm watching. (yes, btw, i watch jimmy's pov)

this is why desert duo gives me nightmares btw.

[mgarmagedon]

Okay my Transformers Earthspark season 2B review!!!

There will be spoilers, skip it if you don't want any spoilers

I won't repeat myself about topics I already talked about like Hashtag, plot holes, graphics that give me nightmares, etc.

So... you can be surprised but most of the episodes weren't making me instantly mad! Ik, ik, it's shocking, but yeah, main cause of it is Prowl! Like every episode that he was in was entertaining enough to foucs me on what was happening and not make me think about all the fucking filler and waste of potential is happening in background XDD

But before we go to this part, let's start from the beginning! 3 first ep of this part of a season were just straight up fucking filler. Like those eps were so boring and unimportant that while i was writing a review of it on my instagram yesterday I needed to rewatch first episode, because I forgot what was happening there XDDD like omg every ep before Prowl showed up was so useless and waste of time!!! Like they could use it for like idk STARSCREAM DEVELOPMENT WHICH THEY STARTED IN SEASON 1, RUINED IN THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND AND DID NOTHING LATER WITH IT

But lets go to the fun part uwu which is ep where Prowl shows up, like he and Megatron are holding this fucking shit show on their shoulders every scene they are in XD

Like Prowl is such a funny racist bitch, I'm kinda sad that they forgot that Tarantulus exist and never do something with him and Prowl, like that would be so cool if Prowl was anti hero, not a villain... but him being funny racist learning that he should respect other ppl is ig cool???

I still fucking can't believe that his figure is repainted cyberverse Roddi

And second is Megan, which is serving (not in design way), every scene that she shows up in is just melting my heart, because he is such a cute grandpa for Twitch (he is not her fucking father figure, he is elder man which is taking care of youngling, which means he is grandpa for hair >:(((()

I can only put one video in the post so I only show you this, but like OMG he is stealing the fucking show, every fucking scene he calls her 'little bird' one child rids off the daddy issue

But let's come back to rest of the stuff, which means: too many fucking characters.

Like there is so much characters that they have almost 0 time do develop or even talk, like yet Grimlock showed up only in zombie ep for longer than 10 seconds in season overall, and doesn't even talk XDD

Or Starscream situation, like for sure focusing on terrans having troubles with Robby's alien date was more important than Screamer reliving the trauma of being left by everyone and getting crazy to the point he is talking to corpses... IT'S NOT IMPORTANT AT ALL

And I don't even wanna know what they will do with this giant bitch which they woke up in the end...

ANYWAY Season 2B is getting 5/10 score, which is the highest for Earthspark yet!

It's like buying from the Shein, you think it looks cute and cool, but turns to dust while you put it on your ass.

Ah and this one pic I made a while ago is still really valid

Ah and Izzy is bad villain like bad not in evil way just bad

[necrotic-nephilim]

JayHelenaTim JayHelenaTim JayHelenaTim !!!!

i feel like you slammed into my home like the Kool-Aid man and told me you had a new religion and i'm DELIGHTED bc sign me up-

this ship has SO much potential oh my god. i always prefer JayHelena with a third just bc i think it balances them (and keeps them from literally eating each other alive) well and provides the a third person to direct their intensity toward. and Tim is just. so good. bc Tim would try to separate them at first. he *likes* Helena and she's basically his older sister and she wants Jason nowhere *near* her. so when he realizes slowly that Jason is around Helena and they're sleeping together, Tim is losing it. he straight up tries to fight Jason about it i think. and Jason is wildly amused bc he's always delighted when something he does gets under Tim's skin and this time, he didn't even have to do it on purpose.

love the idea of like. Helena having to hold Tim back from going off on Jason and just mauling him. while Tim is trying to get between Helena and Jason when they start to argue. and Jason is just here for the carnage. he likes Helena, but he likes her even *more* when she's holding Tim back and being kind and protective of him. bc Helena and Jason have very different ideas of how to take care of Tim. so when Helena is kind and trying to calm Tim down, Jason wants to be the one riling him up.

and Helena is caught between knowing Jason has eyes for Tim while she's convinced her feelings for Tim are entirely familial. but the more Jason looks like he wants to devour Tim the more she realizes Jason *might* have a point. something something corruption kink. and that's not even getting into the morality of Tim surrounded by two ppl who are very steadfast on being pro-murder and how they'd slowly break him down. he's surrounded by the rhetoric so much he can't help but see the points to it. maybe he never wants to kill someone, but when Helena and Jason race to kill someone first, Tim feels stuck in place just watching it happen bc he's so entranced by the sight.

honestly i'd give anything to write that fic- Jason and Helena fighting over who gets to kill some generic villain. maybe they matter or maybe its just the principle of the argument. and Tim just watches knowing he should stop them but he can't. he has ample time to get the villain to safety as Jason and Helena brawl but Tim if anything, is holding the villain down to make sure they *don't* run bc he's sort of curious who's going to win this. and when whoever wins finally gets the kill, the tell Tim he was being so good for holding down the villain and he gets a bloody kiss on the cheek. and then they probably all fuck nasty about it idk.

anyway- i think this ship is neat. Jason and Helena both have a love for Tim that comes in *very* different shades and they could be absolutely unhinged about each other if you put them in the same room alone for even two seconds. there would be blood. whose blood? that's the fun of it. you never know.

[yamst3rdamctrl]

🎄Merry Smutty Christmas🎄

Requested by: @bhjszsdxc

Summary: YN, her best friend Ashley, and Michael spend Christmas Eve together so they can celebrate it as friends. YN has feelings for Michael, but he has no clue. Ashley is the only one who knows YN secret; however, Ashley acts like she likes Michael even though she has a boyfriend. Little does either know Michael is madly head over hills for YN.

 

As the holidays approached, YN, Ashley, and Michael prepped for their Christmas Friend Day, which they planned to eat and bake cookies, drink hot chocolate, and watch movies. Michael and YN started gathering everything that was needed while they waited for Ashley to come. “I hope she don’t bring her crazy ass boyfriend. He be sickening asf.” Michael said, and YN agreed. Michael and YN then reached for the same cookie batter, and YN blushed while Michael looked in her eyes. Michael looked up at the ceiling, pointed, and said, “Mistletoe”. Michael leaned into YN and before he could kiss YN a door opened and in came the loud Ashley screaming, “What’s up bitches! Did I interrupt something?” YN blushed and said, “Oh no girl” and continued to get everything ready.

As YN, Ashley, and Michael sat watching TV, and a love scene came on Michael watched YN shift in her seat. He knew she had not properly been fucked in awhile since her last boyfriend. Michael knew she was feening and he knew that, and he wanted to be the one to break her in. Ashley noticed that Michael was looking at YN in a sexual way, so she decided to expose everybody. Ashley cut the TV off and said, “Since we are friends, I have a confession, Michael, I like you so what’s up?” YN looked shocked and lost for words and felt bad. “Well...” Michael started and then said, “I like YN, and I want her. Ashley, you got a whole man. Girl bye.” YN thought to herself and said oh my God… he likes me. Ashley was upset and decided to put a spin on it, “Well, I want to fuck so let’s go.” Ashley tried to walk up because she wanted Michael. Michael got up and YN felt horrible because she never thought he would try her best friend. Michael then moved straight to YN and tongue kissed her. Ashley acted shocked and then walked away and left the house. Little did Michael and YN know this what apart of Ashley’s plan. She knew that Michael and YN liked each other and the only way that it would work if she played a villain.

Michael took his lips of YN and said, “YN, I really like you and I love being your friend, but I want to be more, and I need to fuck you.” YN looked in shock but then Michael moved further towards YN and kissed her lips before slipping his tongue in her mouth. Michael then grabbed YN by the waist and picked her up while she wrapped her legs around him. Michael was ready to have fun with YN since he knew she could take his 10 inches. Michael then dropped YN on the bed and climbed on top of her and started to kiss all over her. Michael laid on the side of YN and kissed her all on her neck and put his hand in her pants and began to rub on her pearl. YN started to moan and grind on his hand and Michael grew inpatient and ripped her pants of and immediately attached his mouth to YN pussy. He began to suck, lick, and tongue fuck her pussy as much as he could. He had no problem with taking his finger and playing with her pussy with no problem. YN was a moan mess under Michael while he ate her pussy like it was the last meal. Michael was wanting YN for the longest and he finally got her.

YN started to grind on his mouth, and she started shaking. “Nutt all in my mouth baby.” Soon as Michael finished his sentence YN came undone right in his mouth. Michael did his best to drink her water to quench his thirst. “Okay Michael, I’m done cumming move.” YN said to Michael but didn’t care he kept sucking and eating her pussy. Michael then locked YN down by her legs and had her losing it. “Oh my god, Michael I’m cumming again.” Michael allowed YN to cum from another nutt. She did not expect that she would cum that much from head alone. Michael got up and wiped his mouth and looked like a demon had awoken in his eyes. Michael grabbed YN by her ankles and pulled her to the edge of the bed. Michael stripped naked and began to stroke his dick coming closer to YN. That is when Michael plunged his dick inside of Yns tight, wet pussy. YN then yelled out in pleasure from feeling him inside of her. Michael moaned as soon as he felt her insides, and he was determined to make her feel it in her guts.

Michael then started to fuck YN harder and harder in missionary. YN could just sit there and take it, and she loved every second of it. YN then felt the knot forming in her stomach and that is when Michael said, “Give me that shit baby.” YN came without a second thought and gave him all her juices. Michael then flipped YN over on her stomach and entered her from the back. He started off so but then gradually started to go faster. Michael then kept going and had YN a moaning mess. He saw how wet YN was and decided to take it up and a bit and took his dick out of her pussy and put it in her asshole. He squeezed his dick inside of her tight asshole and made her moan hard as hell. Michael then started to fuck her ass slow to loosen her up, once he felt she was loosening up he started to fuck her harder. YN started to run from how hard he was fucking her. Michael popped her right ass cheek and said, “Take that dick” in his husky voice. The dick was so powerful she ran so fast his dick came out. YN knew she couldn’t take that much in her ass and had to get him out. Michael then put his dick back in her pussy and fucked her into submission. YN was a moaning mess when he reached around to grab her neck with both hands while getting a good angle and rhythm. Her eyes started to roll in the back of her head and that knot started to form one again. That is when Michael said, “I’m about to cum all inside your pussy.” Before she knew it, she came, and not too long after Michael thrusted so hard and nutted in her pussy while moaning and then he pulled out and collapsed next to YN. He looked at the clock and saw that it was past midnight. “Merry Christmas Baby” Michael said and he and YN cuddled and fell asleep.

[im-ovulating]

Okokok

Ok

This bitch on tiktok was arguing with me about creepypasta (dont ask. idk why it's on my fyp either, I left that fandom when I was 16).

It was about people mixing CRPs and Marble Hornets and changing Brian and Tim into Slenderman's (The Operator's) proxies rather than his enemies as they are in Marble Hornets.

He was tryna tell me that if you mix them together and change it like that, you are "media illiterate" and are "uneducated in fandom culture." Let's get one thing straight - Marble Hornets did not create The Operator. The Operator is literally just Slenderman renamed. Sorry, not sorry to break it to anyone who didn't know; you've had over a decade to watch it. Slenderman was one of the OG creepypastas that blew up. It's not even a different version of him in the series. It's just exactly him with a different name.

So (and correct me if I'm wrong) (I'm not), that makes Tim (Masky) and Brian (Hoodie) a creepypasta's enemies.

WHICH MEANS THEY ARE TECHNICALLY CREEPYPASTA OCS AND THEREFORE YOU CAN HAVE A SILLY LIL HEADCANON THAT THEY ARE HIS PROXIES.

It's technically not even mixing fandoms, bc, again, Slenderman is a CRP, and Marble Hornets uses Slenderman as the main villain, meaning Marble Hornets is basically a CRP web series.

Now...

I grew up watching Marble Hornets while simultaneously loving creepypasta stories. But even though I knew they were different veins of a similar subject, I still enjoyed the silly little stories people made with them mixed like that.

Do I mix them now that I'm an adult? No. But I'm not going to lie and say I never did. And I'm also not going to shit on people who still enjoy that dynamic.

It's not "mischaracterization" and it's not "media illiteracy". It's quite simply just having fun with different medias.

Mixing fandoms is, like, a large aspect of the fandom world.

An example based on the first fandom I started writing for: MHA. A pretty popular au for it is Spiderman despite them being vastly different medias.

It's just a small, fun thing that people do.

I know I'm rambling, and that this is out of left field. I just don't get why this man at his big age of 34 had to get so up in a tizzy about two fandoms (that I would argue are technically one fandom) being mixed together by a bunch of 10 year olds to the point of cursing people out and writing whole ass thesis papers in the comments on why he disagrees and that he's right and you're wrong because "how dare you have fun with the content you consume😡😤".

But that's just me.

[tragicbeauty1991]

So I know I’m extremely late to the party, but I FINALLY got around to watching Wish now that it’s up on Disney+ and…I genuinely don’t understand why it got so much hate?? Sure, maybe it wasn’t on par with things like The Lion King or Frozen in terms of the lasting effect it’ll have on pop culture but it was still a good, fun film with original characters and plot and catchy songs. While I can see where some of the complaints are coming from, I feel like ultimately most of them blow the issues out of proportion. As for my personal thoughts on the film…

- The songs were good overall. Maybe not as memorable as some of my favorite ‘90s Disney jams, but topping Phil Collins and Elton John is admittedly hard to do. Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine were great, though. I honestly had no idea Chris Pine could sing so well. “At All Costs” was by far my favorite song of the entire film. I would have loved to see it as a love duet rather than singing to the wishes but regardless, it’s beautiful. “This is the Thanks I Get” got a lot of flak, but honestly, I thought it was catchy and fun—rather reminiscent of Gaston’s pub song about himself.

- Speaking of Magnifico… More backstory, please! I would love for a sequel to do what they did with Frozen and explain all the things that were not fully developed in the first film. I want to know details on what happened to Magnifico’s family… But man, oh man… Was I EVER happy to get a “real villain” again with more of a classic Disney feel—dramatic, over the top, a little unhinged…and just FUN. I think the reason so many people seem to be having a problem with him is that they don’t quite know how to categorize him, though, before his ultimate downward spiral after being possessed by the book. (I think after that point, no one would argue about him being a villain.) But before…while he’s definitely narcissistic and has a temper…he’s not straight-up evil. There’s a big difference in being a bit of a jerk and being someone who makes you legitimately fear for your life. In fact, we have several heroic characters in the Disney canon who at least start out their story in a similar vein. Prince Naveen, Peter Pan, and Emperor Kuzco, for example, are all full of themselves and entitled…but they ultimately choose to do the right thing when it comes down to people they care about. That is to say, Magnifico’s less than ideal character traits we see early on in the film shouldn’t automatically qualify him as a villain. He could frankly go either way. And then when he does “go dark” it’s ONE stupid decision on his part (going for the book) that ruins any chance he had of being like the aforementioned characters. Personally, I like the complexity…and the tragedy of what it means for Queen Amaya. Which reminds me…

- Yes, a villain power couple would have been fun. But honestly, I think I like this better. Partly because of the angst potential here. For all his faults, Amaya DOES genuinely love him, and watching him slowly lose his mind and himself to the power-hungry monster he becomes has to be absolutely heartbreaking for her. Also…maybe it’s just because I identify with Amaya here. I have been in a bad relationship where I did truly love the other person and thought they loved me…but ultimately, they seemed to love themselves more. And I made excuse after excuse for his behavior for a long time because I couldn’t see what he was doing to me…didn’t want to see it…because I loved him. People say Amaya had to have known sooner that something rotten was going on but I don’t know that she ever allowed herself to think anything other than the best of him. Amaya has a good heart…and sometimes those people see the best in others even when it isn’t there. What I really would have loved is to have Amaya and Magnifico sing a short reprise of “At All Costs” in which Amaya is asking, “Really? You’ll hoard all these wishes for your own selfish reasons even at the cost of losing your people’s love? Of losing me?” And Magnifico is just…stoically resolute. That would have hurt but it would have been so good!

- Similarly, I don’t get the complaint about Star. I wouldn’t mind seeing Star Boy like he was in the concept art and having a romance with Asha. But also…Star is ADORABLE, okay?? He may not speak but he has so much personality. Makes me think of like…Pascal in Tangled or even Tinkerbell.

- I know a lot of people complained about there being too many references to other Disney films but this just seems like a silly argument to me. Disney has always liked to leave little Easter eggs in their films and have some fun with crossovers. I am thinking of the Genie imitating Pinocchio and pulling Sebastian out of nowhere in Aladdin. Hidden characters in the background of other films like Flynn and Rapunzel showing up in Arendelle. Hidden Mickeys. And of course shows that were all about a Disney multi-verse that sort of pokes fun at itself like Once Upon a Time, House of Mouse, and even Ralph Breaks the Internet. With this being a special anniversary film, of course we ought to expect more nods to other films and Disney animation history. I thought it was cute. Especially Magnifico’s jab at Asha’s little moving drawing. (“Is that a talent?”) Made me literally laugh out loud.

- I think the one complaint I do agree with at least in part is the, “But Magnifico was right, though??” Some dreams shouldn’t come true. Especially if it’s a wish you’re making when you’re 18. There are definitely things I wished for at 18 that I am glad I did not get in hindsight. Sometimes what we wish for isn’t what’s best for us or others. And while Asha’s wishes are selfless and for others…she seems to assume that everyone else will also have equally harmless, selfless wishes. It’s sweet but perhaps a bit naive. Also…Asha has good intentions but it is rather funny and frustrating as the adult to watch this teenager come in and try to upset the whole system thinking she knows better than the person who has been running the kingdom for years. That said… Asha isn’t totally wrong either. The wishes do ultimately belong to the people who made them and it’s better even if it’s painful to have a dream in your heart than to be lacking purpose. It may be easier to forget the wishes entirely but certainly not healthier. Ironically, if only these two could have worked together, they actually would have made a great team.

Overall, I liked the film. And I think if I was still a child myself, I would have enjoyed it even more.

[goodluckclove]

In Defense of Self-Inserts

This is written in response to an ask sent from the Always Delightful @fukurouonthesea, who asked for my thoughts on creating unique characters in regards to a tabletop game character they're building. My first thought on getting this question is that Fukuro likely assumes unique characters are a subject I know things about - good to hear! Good that people assume I know things! That works out well for me.

So I can speak more on the perspective of writing characters for prose and scripts rather than TTRPGs. I recently finished my first campaign, but I was sort of tricked into playing by my wife who was DM-ing and ended up going the whole time with a joke character I really couldn't find any actual dramatic pathos in*. My next attempt will hopefully be more intentionally-crafted. But also still probably chaotic. I tend to lean that way, apparently.

But characters! How do you do them? Or, more accurately, how do I do them? There's a ton of paths to get to the same goal of Cool Guy That's Fun To Read About, but I'd love to take this opportunity to put off actually working on Migration Patterns for a while longer and instead ramble about something I've been wanting to dive into for a while.

Self-inserts are actually super useful! They're great! All of my characters are self-inserts and virtually no one has ever commented on that! I genuinely don't think they've noticed!

(this is a long one)

What is a self-insert, really? The definition I'm the most familiar with in writing is a character drawing (maybe even heavily drawing) from yourself as the author. I saw people back in the day get very mean about self-inserts, considering them an overlap with the Original Sin of Mary Sue-dom. It's 2024, though, and these days Mary Sue is primarily a term used to describe female characters that a critic personally doesn't like. Still, I've had a TON of writers come to me worrying about writing self-inserts, and I'm consistently confused.

Maybe it's because I've been doing this for long enough that I've built up an immunity to the dumb nonsense people say online posing as "Objective Writing Advice". Maybe it's because I'm a huge fan of Kurt Vonnegut, a man who straight up wrote himself as a side character in a few of his most notable books. I've never gone that far, but I absolutely pull from my own life and identity for all of my characters and it consistently works.

I think when a reader points out a character as a self-insert, it's a reflex of seeing someone with notably less nuance than the rest of the cast. This character - let's name them Goobis - is written with the near-explicit intent to be just super cool. It's an instant turn-off for me in a written work if there's one person I can just look at and immediately know they're crafted to be the fandom darling. Goobis might have faults, but if they do, they're pretty cool faults. They're things that could definitely be bad if pushed to a thematic height (Caring too much, over-protective, self-sacrificing, a level of snark that's guaranteed to make impressionable fans slightly insufferable for a few years), but they aren't.

Goobis, typically, gets kid gloves in terms of the treatment of the story. Plot Armor, maybe. Or they might be a Plot Martyr that has every bad thing ever happen to them and everyone around them is either an old-timey villain or a kind cardboard cutout that weeps oh no poor Goobis!! Both are fine. There's an audience for both, clearly. But from what I've seen those are the types of characters that typically get readers - myself included - to think they're a form of wish-fulfillment.

You can do wish-fulfillment in writing. You should do that at least one, it's nice and good for bone health. But man, there are a lot of writers (Including adult ones that I've known in my real life) who can benefit from - like - distance, man. Draw from yourself and your life, but unless you're ready for a conversation maybe don't be one-to-one accurate.

I have a relative who got a masters in creative writing. I found his novella online and aimed to read it and send him my thoughts as a show of support, only to find that it was actually unbelievably pretentious and I honestly couldn't get through it. What drew my attention, though, was that the main character was dealing with the grief of his father, who died literally the exact same way my relative's actual father died.

I caught it immediately and I think I whispered "oh no" out loud. Like, what are you doing dude? Your mom read that shit, and she had to see you describe an entirely accurate depiction of how her fucking husband died that is such a weird move. Processing grief through writing is great - but change some fucking specifics, you weirdo. Make it a mom instead of a dad, or maybe an uncle or grandpa if you're keeping the patriarch thing. Change the reason why he needed surgery, or the medical complication that caused his death. Maybe don't name the exact hospital where your Dad died in this non-autobiographical work. Fucking hell.

Shifting some surface-level details from events in your life is, often times, enough to make it so people directly involved in these events can read them and not even realize what you're referencing. You can also tweak a certain event slightly to fictionalize it even further, while still having the honesty of your real life experience. I dropped out of school while starting the same creative writing program my relative graduated from. What if I stayed? What would my life look like? What would my writing look like? Would I still even enjoy writing? The concept of sliding door moments is a fascinating one to me and it's something I think about a lot.

On a more internal level in terms of character, you know more of yourself than anyone else in your life. You know your fears and your faults. You know what makes you lovable - or what people say they love you for, or what you'd like them to love about you. You probably know things about yourself that are so painful and trembling that you assume that if anyone else finds out about them they'd immediately realize you're worthless as a human being. If you don't know any of that, maybe you should. Internal contemplation - or external though something like therapy - is absolutely beneficial in a ton of ways, including for your art.

People are complicated. Everyone is complicated, and the average person as the most experience with their own network of identity. And in my own work (The only craft I can really speak for), putting at least a touch of myself in the characters I create has really caused people to engage and relate to them.

And it's weird, because I can't really think of any major faults that any of my characters have. At least, not in the way a lot of newer writers describe character faults - like some rubber stamp easily marked in the center of a person's forehead. There are things about the cast of my series Songbird Elegies that I see as struggles that either have to be processed or managed. Someone might be self-loathing, or struggle with emotional intimacy, or have a temper that will absolutely steer them wrong. They might be impulsive to a degree that is no longer Quirky Cute. That's not great.

But growing writers will sometimes make a fault out to be a thing that you can see very clearly in a person above anything else. As if you can point at a guy on the street and say BAM - SEXIST! Which - yeah, you can do that. I can have brief interactions with people I don't actually know and come away thinking that someone is stupid or lazy or irresponsible or any number of bad qualities. It's only if I got to actually know them - either though a relationship or just somehow following their lives as an outside observer - that I'd learn they slipped through the cracks in school so deeply that they just stopped caring, or they went through a loss that resulted in them choosing to survive instead of actually live.

Your worst qualities weren't predestined from birth. The Meyers-Brigg is absolute nonsense mainly utilized by the military and most major corporations. There are things you might hate about yourself that once served to protect you. This is true for everyone you see, but when you're just starting out in art it might be hard to see that. That's why it's so helpful to first draw from yourself.

So draw from yourself to whatever degree you want. Give Goobis your sense of humor, but maybe use it as an opportunity to explore why you're so quick to joke and what doing that might be avoiding. Have Goobis experience the same childhood birthday that irrevocably changed the course of your life, but maybe change what year it happened and make it a close-up magician you found instead of a Spiderman Impersonator. In fact, consider seeing what would change if it was Goobis' innocent little brother who stumbled across Spiderman's dead body instead of Goobis themself. If you're willing to be honest - not excessively self-deprecating or praising, just honest - you'll probably be surprised how many people see themselves in the people you write.

God that was long. I hope that helped maybe? Helped someone?

*It was an eldritch horror wearing a cowboy Hat of Disguise to look like a bulldog. His name was Socks. He ended the campaign traveling to early 2000s Philadelphia and kidnapping an NPC with him. This was after Socks paid for the NPCs Wizard school education, then paid for the NPC to become a potter after crossing paths again, and then sacrificed the NPC to be an immortal slave to a Time Spider. In the climax of this campaign Socks used the Teleport cantrip from Wizards101 to banish the final enemy to the Tomb of the Beguiler. Things went off the rails real quick.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Oh no was the spin-off bad or just mediocre? Is there anything you particularly liked or disliked about it?

god okay let's get into the good, the bad, and the ???? of it all. hiding it entirely under a cut because spoilers ahoy.

the :)

I have reservations about the Riddler as a full protagonist that I'll articulate below, but I can't really fault any of the writing re: Eddie's dialogue at all. the characterization of the Riddler as an insufferably cocky and nosy motormouth works really well, and Hasan Minhaj seems like he's having a blast with the expanded role.

I also like ESCAPE ARTIST PICKPOCKET RIDDLER recognition!!!

also hey even though they didn't follow up on some of the very promising tidbits re: Eddie's potentially deteriorating mental state dropped in Unburied, I like that it was made clear that there are physical components to his riddle compulsion, namely mentioning that his chest was getting tighter. it adds an interesting dimension to his whole schtick!

having listed all these fun traits that I enjoy, I also respect that the story doesn't feel the need to like... soften Eddie in order to make him a more likeable protagonist. oh haha the funny little asshole man? yeah he killed people. he kills a guy literally in the course of the story after proclaiming in the very first episode that he's mostly non-violent. and he's 100% chill about it because fuck that guy! he doesn't matter, he's in the way of the riddle! and the whole ending with Nadira is... oofah doofah, that's crazy. that's crazy crazy. and it's pretty tasty!

I LOOOOOVE appearances from minor villains!!! bro we got THE FUCKING TALLY MAN in this!!! also hey when I wrote that absurdly long post-Unburied fic I CORRECTLY predicted Croc, Sportsmaster, and the fucking Condiment King someone. I don't know. pay me or kiss me on the mouth for that or something.

I wish there was more Barbara, of course, but I really like what we did get of her! I like that we've kind of skipped over any need for her to have a Batgirl era and just got straight to the good stuff of being almost Oracle. I love to see her exactly where she belongs: flagrantly committing cybercrime to save lives because she can.

also the sound design is still good, and I really like the new music for the opening and Azrael's motif

also speaking of Azrael I'm going to say ONE nice thing about how he was written which is that I DO think it's interesting that they directly pointed out that the concept of Azrael as an angel of death is actually much more prominent in Islam than Christianity while also making in unambiguous that the Nygmas are a Muslim family. it adds a little bit of intrigue to the connection between Nadira and JP, not nearly enough to actually redeem Nadira as a big bad in my eyes (see below) but it is interesting!

also lastly Eddie is flirting so hard with Bruce AND Barbara I love you problematic awful bisexual representation. AND Killer Croc wants to fuck him? madness.

the :/

I alluded to this earlier, but I don't know if I love Eddie promoted to the POV protagonist! it's a big departure from Unburied, not just in terms of who's the main character but also in terms of limiting the scope of the story. giving Bruce and Barbara's alternating perspectives in Unburied was brilliant for building up the mystery and creating suspense in the story, and when the story came together to focus fully on Bruce as Batman it felt organically earned.

and also on a more Eddie-centric note I just! think he works better as a supporting character for other people to bounce off of, rather than being a lead in his own right!

I'm putting this in :/ instead of :( because it's more of a matter of personal taste than anything but godddddd I wanted more Barbara :/ I love her :/ where is she :/ I'm mostly mad because I wanted a spinoff of her and Eddie solving crimes while he crashes in her couch and does petty crime but godddddd god god god I want her back so bad I love her more than Eddie and Bruce combined

while I like the emotional beats of the resolution with Nadira I don't... like her as a character or a storytelling device. like I'm sorry but I don't really care about the Riddler's family drama! especially not when it's as heavy-handed as "my sister told me riddles to distract me from our parents fighting." very reminiscent of the backstory where Leonard and Lisa Snart would hide out in an ice cream truck or whatever, please stop trying to make psychology this painfully clear cut.

I also didn't really need an origin story but I do like that it's kind of an updated version of his first BTAS episode!

I can't decide if Jean Paul unceremoniously killing off Flass is really funny or sucks shit. kind of both but it does veer towards the latter, I was really hoping that if they're going to keep making more of this podcast we would at least get to see Babs get an arc where she investigates Flass and gets justice for her dad on her own terms. but then again. it is pretty funny.

also god this isn't REALLY about the show but I have to say this. the Riddler a.) getting #calledout by Azrael for bearing false witness and b.) ESPECIALLY him trying to dunk on his sister by implying she should marry a white guy are SO FUNNY given the timing of the minor scandal re: Hasan Minhaj maybe just straight up making things up entirely in his comedy and SPECIFICALLY getting that poor woman doxxed by claiming she dumped him for racist reasons. I'M JUST SAYING. (editor's note: since absolved of all wrongdoing and the woman who wrote that piece is genuinely unhinged, but the timing was still BANANAS.)

the :(

I'm just gonna say it, man: I'm not into Colman Domingo's Bruce/Batman performance at all. I don't know what happened behind the scenes to precipitate Winston Duke leaving the role, but god fuck I'm in mourning. Duke is genuinely one of my favorite portrayals of Bruce ever for his distinctive Batman voice and how much expressiveness, vulnerability, and warmth he brings to the character, and while I wouldn't want his replacement to try and mimic that performance exactly (impossible!) it seems like Domingo just... wasn't even given the memo? this is a much flatter Bruce, and I simply cannot love him.

re: my complaints about Nadira above, her character is just handled in a really underwhelming way. having Eddie repeatedly call her "sis" is stumbling straight into the one of the worst of all lazy exposition techniques, especially since Bruce works his way to that exact revelation, like would it have killed anyone to just... let us wonder about the connection a *little* longer? also, again, those flashbacks are ARTLESS. in Unburied there's framing and context for all of the ways the past blends into the present, whether it's Strange's recordings or the story taking place inside Bruce's own meddled memories. it really feels like they're just hurling backstory at us with a catapult in this one.

the ultimate big bad reveal is... ugh. UGH. Unburied was a really cool nesting doll of a minor Batman villain being manipulated by a more well-known villain being manipulated by an A-list villain with a cool and unique spin on her backstory... Secrets in the Dark has an absolutely WASTED member of the Batfamily used as a killer of the week, controlled by a minor dirty cop and a complete OC who doesn't get much screentime at all. cool!

also hey listen. as soon as they start going "hmm... I don't know this is just too big for Flass... SOMEONE else must be helping him..." it's like. I don't know, man. do you think it's possibly the only new character introduced in the series who we know was just elected to a government position? do you think maybe that's who it could be?

also hey man speaking of which they just fucking. they just used Jean Paul as a random deranged serial killer and then the fucking Riddler managed to convince him to off himself. fucking. disrespectful. this feels like that episode of Arrow (sorry to cite Arrow in 2023, I know) when Helena's just like. an antagonist of the week for Oliver to fight. disrespectful!!!!

"Makenzie I thought you didn't even like Jean Paul why does it matter" I'M COMING AROUND ON HIM

overall the plot just feels way more hectic and unpolished than Unburied and it's Unfortunate!

also hey do you remember at the end of Unburied where Bruce just casually blows the lid open on Eddie being afraid that he's like. devolving and actively losing his grip on his own brain and it's like extra bad and scary because he has no idea whether it really means anything when he passes psych evals, etc? really cool how we never really brought that up again

where was Ace :( :( :( my good boy :( :( :(

[inawearyworld]

little things in the wonka score/soundtrack that get me every time: a post made by a music major with severe brainrot (seriously it’s getting bad)

• even though i’m not sure how to feel abt what they did orchestrally to pure imagination when it was sung in full, i loved the way it was interwoven until then-the opening credits, the clock tower chiming its intro, etc

• when the intro to hatful of dreams ends and the instrumental HITS. that was the moment i was sitting in the theater like “…oh i’m going to be so charmed by this movie huh”

• something abt the way timmy sings “i’ve put everything i’ve got into my choc’late”. see above bullet point

• welcome to scrubbit’s has no right to be that much of a banger

• the low brass in scrub scrub HELLOOOOO?!?!? the chromatic slides. the muted trumpets. abacus’ bass moments (go off king). the song is literally about laundry and yet IT GOES SO HARD

• walk into the club on a friday night like FIRST YOU PICK UP THE APPAREL AND YOU

• the instrumental of ynhclt that plays while everyone’s flying is so cheesy and so golden-age-of-hollywood-children’s-musical and i cannot help but smile

• the cuh-lassic “one instrument at a time” opening of sweet tooth

• mathew baynton’s voice. that’s it that’s the bullet point.

• #GiveTheCartelMoreTight3PartHarmonies2k24

• well we’ve got lots and lots and lots and loTS AND LOTS AND LOWHY AM I SINGINGGGGGGG

• somethin about how the “noodle noodle” countermelody is a sort of arpeggiated outline of each chord, like a vocal warmup, like he’s letting her take the melody bc he knows she will in time. i’m gonna sob they’re literally family

• the orchestration of for a moment, esp while they’re dancing on the rooftop, just SOARS. idk if anyone here has seen mr magorium’s wonder emporium but that movie shaped my childhood, it’s probably my favorite film score ever, and this instrumental bit is SOOOO reminiscent of it

• clock tower. a fifty-second masterpiece

• CHOCOPOCALYPSE. (for those of us who were on the theatre kid side of the internet in 2018, i think chocopocalypse should be the new calculust. hear me out)

• mat’s voice gets a second bullet point bc what the hell man. literally the sonic embodiment of dark mint chocolate. h e l p m e

• …#fickelgruberisathinmint2k24

• noodle’s portion of ynhclt, while she’s teaching willy to read, has a few instrumental nods to mozart’s famous sonata in c, a typical piece for piano beginners-kids-to learn. in the 1971 film mrs teavee incorrectly identifies mozart as rachmaninoff. this MOVIE

• i wish there could have been more, and more involved/complex, ensemble vocal moments

• charlotte ritchie <3 (okay i’m biased sue me)

• the new orchestration for the oompa loompa song is straight fire

• the LEITMOTIFS the fucking LEITMOTIFS!!!!!!!! the opening fanfare that became the basis of hatful of dreams popping up here and there. the melody to a world of your own playing whenever he thinks of his mom. every time we think willy’s safe from the cartel, ope there’s that descending major sixth again.

• (now that i think about it. sweet tooth is in g major of all keys, rather atypical of a villain song. most of the intervals are major too. it’s the trembling strings that give it that “evil” sound. and it fits so well-like, “we’re not completely immoral! time for a fun little tango! there’s colorful lights! killthisguyplsOH LOOK CONFETTI!” they’re so sinister i love it)

• the way that the intro to a world of your own echoes the intro to pure imagination

• THE ORCHESTRATION DURING “chocolate bushes, chocolate trees” etc AND THE WAY IT BUILDS OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOD. MY HEART JUST BURSTS. EVERY TIME. I AM NOT IMMUNE TO CHEESY MUSICALS.

• the!! chromatic!! basslines!! in!! that!! song!!!!!!!!

• the fact that the bridge comes before the second verse-name any other songs where that happens i dare you. just another example of willy changing the narrative in every way

• the fact that sorry noodle is AN ENTIRE *OTHER* COUNTERMELODY that then falls back into the for a moment melody at the end what the FUUUUUUUUUUUCK

• the monks chanting “giraffe. a massive giraffe”. so fucking funny

• stripping down pure imagination to its essence while willy sings it to noodle was a thousand percent the right decision. and the lyric changes for the situation are sooooooo clever

• as someone who grew up with the 71 movie and has been utterly enamored with its music her whole life, i’m not the world’s hugest fan of this version’s pure imagination orchestration; i get they felt they had to do something different, it just feels slightly too modern/disneyesque, but it had the vibe that they intended for the end of the movie

• anyway god i love this score

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time. monday we watched ds9's "in purgatory's shadow" (ohio edition), "by inferno's light" (ohio edition), and "doctor bashir, i presume" (ohio edition), which did blow my tits clean off, and then last night we watched voy's "unity" and "darkling" (south carolina editions, sadly).

in purgatory's shadow (ds9) (ohio edition):

kira and odo's little moment at the beginning of this episode 🥺 he was soooo embarrassed to be caught attempting to try and learn how to snag a spouse but she didn't judge even a little. girl, break up with your stupid ass boyfriend. odo is right here

i really loved bashir pointing the phaser at garak when he figured garak was lying. i was like oh damn he knows him so well and i love when this twink has had enough and becomes a little evil BUT THEN IT LITERALLY WASN'T HIM! what an incredible plot twist. we literally had to pause the episode and work out the timelines to see how long we had been living with changeling bashir. it was sooo good and i wasn't expecting it at all. mwah

jadzia and worf are so good. her personality being settled into like, comic relief makes for such a good match to his whole straight man aura. obviously she taunts him with his klingon operas. please.

also lol "at the first sign of betrayal i will kill him" <3

i do NOT like whatever they are doing with garak and ziyal. first of all, he's gay. secondly, she is like at LEAST 20 years younger than him. i want to trust them but after jake dating all those older women i am so suspicious

the backpedaling they're doing on fun and friendly former facist dukat is insane. not to say i'm not enjoying it. also, i like when he threatened kira and she was like "pffft whatever" like what a blow to his fucking ego. get his ass

VERY cool to see martok again - totally unexpected

our last wonderful surprise of this ep was tain being garak's DAD- it makes so much sense and puts so much into perspective, and, hi, JULIAN WAS IN THE ROOM DURING THIS. garak could have asked him to leave and he would have. garak could have told tain he was there. but he didn't, because he wanted the moral support, and because he wanted julian to know something true about him. AUUUGHGHGH

like, we haven't had NEARLY enough garashir since s2, but this was SUCH a good moment, even though it feels like they're trying to backpedal on that too. what a series of plot twists for this ep 10/10

by inferno's light (ds9) (ohio edition):

dukat's betrayal here i like vaguely saw coming, but jesus christ lol. he is back to FULL villain status...such a change from his little fireworks show for sisko and jake

garak's claustrophobia <3 absolutely loooved this especially since julian had to go in and get him. bangs tankard on table MORE GARASHIR! there literally has NOT been enough. i would love to know more about tzenketh but i know they will never ever tell us but wow <3

i am SO tired of seeing worf lose fights this episode was fucking great. not only did he not lose any fights except under an extremely unfair circumstances he totally kicked ass even while injured. FINALLY. even that jem'hadar guy was like i can kill him but i can't defeat him so i give up. SOOOO true finally let's respect my boy worf. why don't you bitches call him a pussy NOW

anyway, the little moment worf and garak had at the end of this episode...mwah. put them on the fuck chart

extremely excited to see gowran in this episode. he and his freaky eyes are so special to me

"this station was built by cardassia" "that's funny i thought it was built by bajoran slave labor" I LOVE WHEN SISKO IS FUN AND FERAL.

also i know the circumstances were extenuating but i cannot BELIEVE julian just fucking murdered that jem'hadar <3

watching little fake julian run around was so distressing...i kept yelling when he came on screen because nobody KNEWWWW he even fooled US! what a cool twist, again

overall these two episodes were incredibly good even though the strong action-y episodes are usually not ds9's forte. absolutely baller content for everyone except ziyal. i will at least take comfort in the fact that garak looked very uncomfortable to be hugged

doctor bashir, i presume (ds9) (ohio edition):

AGAIN. THIS ONE BLEW MY TITS CLEAN OFF

i'm mad garak wasn't in it. AUGHGHGH

okay, my main beef with this one was pacing...i thought they resolved the problem extremely quickly after the cat was out of the bag, and it's because they spent so much time on the doctor and leeta and rom. which would have been a GREAT b-plot for any other episode, i LOVE leeta and rom and i was cheering for him the whole time, but even though the EMH (sorta) cameo was very welcome, i do not welcome it at the expense of time taken from one of the most pivotal episodes for julian bashir probably in this whole series, especially when i have the sneaking suspicion that it won't be brought up again

and i did LIKE the resolution of this episode, his parents paying for what they'd done, but it didn't feel like he got to sit with it for long enough, and it certainly felt like we skipped over a few pivotal moments - the scene where he found out his best friend knows could have been EXTREMELY meaty. is he afraid of judgement? is he angry? is he worried miles will be angry? etc. but we just kind of breezed right on by it. like, i loved the way miles sat and let him get it out of his system in a fun inverse of julian talking him down from suicide but we could have had SOOO much more

anyway side from that i love. I LOVE. holy shit

like, i can't even talk about the episode itself, just this entire concept. like, they did essentially kill their kid. they made him the way he is, a new kid, and then hated him for the way he is. SPOCK CORE. and then to find that out as a teenager...

like, you know he had to google "does being genetically enhanced make me a bad person" and then of course what google spits out is "did you know about khan noonien singh and would you like to?" and he was like Oh No

like, he went into MEDICINE. and i know he had other reasons and all but he went into MEDICINE because that's the most harmless you can possibly be. he's using all his ill-gotten brainpower to HEAL PEOPLE because his first reaction was to not want to be khan...2! you can enhance genetics but just like o'brien said that can't grow compassion, which is what makes julian who he is

I WISH GARAK HAD BEEN THERE.

anyway, i will continue to think about dr bashir for a very long time and he definitely just rose a couple of notches in my character ranking

unity (voy):

i actually liked this one a lot. i love borg eps and i'm fascinated by a post-borg life lived by these people

that said, this lady gave off SUCH evil vibes that even after the truth was revealed and she and chakotay fucked i kept waiting for her to stab him in the back. which only kind of happened i guess

also, :( that chakotay is out here running around on janeway. SAD

i did love the borg meld scene though. it was incredibly scary. and i was TWIRLING MY HAIR when he got possessed or whatever the fuck

it was also so fun that he spent half of this episode dazed and stumbling around because of his little head injury. excellent material overall

oh yeah and i KNEW that corpse was gonna wake back up. i think it's so terrifying that when you're borg, even if you die, you aren't done. you can be revived because nothing kills you, not even the vacuum of space. that is easily the most horrifying part of it all

i also really liked chakotay and janeway's moment at the end. like, she was distrustful the entire time and he was too trusting, as he tends to sometimes be, and then at the end she was like aw but they weren't so bad and he was like [thousand yard stare of guy who has fucked 2! women who later betrayed him and has now been radicalized against the borg]

like i'm not saying it wasn't 99% consensual with riley or seska but i AM saying that he was hopped up on the borg meld when he fucked riley and later riley was willing to use chakotay's body for her own means when push came to shove and i'm saying that seska knew full well the whole time it was happening that it was under completely false pretenses and she stole his dna without his consent to make a baby he also didn't consent to, even if it turned out she fucked up and got that kaxon baby instead. like, chakotay better be careful or he's gonna start fitting into captain kirk's niche

darkling (voy):

this one fucking sucked so bad

like, sure, yes, emh evil now. does he have to keep creepy-touching all the women

also, WHAT? we get ONE LINE about kes and neelix breaking up and he's not even IN this episode? why did they even break them up??? just because they wrre planning on having her leave soon????? absolutely baffling

i don't think evil emh was very compelling...i am glad he got to act or whatever, but i didn't even get the usual "battle of the selves" that we often wind up with when we do these kind of tropes. it was just...a malfunction, and eventually it was corrected

also, what a BAFFLING b-plot. if you measure each of kes's years (except the first, i suppose) as a decade in human beings, we can assume she's in her thirties now, so she just...breaks up with her boyfriend to smooch the hot alien guy she met a few days ago and then maybe wants to run off with him? in her THIRTIES?

i DID like the EMH quoting the oath at the end, but without any sort of battle of the selves or real emotional investment in what he did when he was evil, it feels kind of wasted on this episode. it's a fine concept, but the execution falls soooo flat

NEXT TIME: voy's "rise" and "favorite son."

[izunias-meme-hole]

My Definitive Top 10 Favorite Characters 

Number 1. Doctor Doom (Marvel) - I've always respected this man, but I've never been super crazy about him. His animated and game adaptations are good but not perfect, and the movies so far have failed to get his character across in a great way, so that might've been a part of why I wasn't a Doom Superfan. Though after getting back into the absurdity and impactfulslness of superhero comics, it soon hit me... Doctor Doom is a villain made for comics. He's overdramatic, grandiose, terrifying, bombastic, egotistical, pragmatic, powerful, absurd, nuanced, insecure, lonely, the whole package placed within a suit of armor and a green cloak. He's an arrogant, tyrannical, cold hearted technological and magical genius who embodies every inch of supervillainy you could imagine, while remaining a genuinely sophisticated, and honorable figure even with his history of pettiness. Overall Doom is just one big magnificent bastard.

Number 2. Sayo Yasuda/Beatrice (When They Cry) - Sayo Yasuda, a.k.a The Golden Witch Beatrice, is a fun, terrifying, smart, kinda relatable, and overall tragic young witch who serves the scapegoat of a much bigger horror within Umineko's narrative, and is the heart of the story alongside Battler Ushiromiya, love of her life, turned rival, turned love of her life again. I can't get too much into her story about spoiling Umineko as a whole, but just know that the Golden Witch the best.

Number 3. DIO Brando (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) - I feel like I'm always going have a soft spot for this piece of shit, because his development and influence is something else. In Phantom Blood, he’s still one of the greatest evils the series has ever seen, but we also saw a human element to him in a very negative way. He was bitter, envious, and straight up angry at the world for making him the bottom of the barrel, but after becoming a vampire he’s becomes sick, scary, and pitiable due to his lack of humanity. In Stardust Crusaders, the re-emerged DIO is out to get the Joestars, not just for revenge for Jonathan humiliating him, but because he knows they’ll be a threat in the long run. He’s fully embraced the Dracula vibes, and he’s matured by a lot. He's still full of himself, but he's less angry and erratic, and more power-hungry, paranoid, and controlled. Like DIO was not really sane, but he did a damn good job of holding himself together, until he experienced near-death and another power high yet again. This isn't even mentioning the Stone Ocean flashbacks where we get to see more of this controlled DIO interacting with the man who would carry on his work, showing that around that point in his life that he became aware of his limitations and is willing to leave unfinished business a genuine loyalist. Overall, DIO is a complete monster who is willing to do whatever he can to be at the top because he understands what being at the bottom is like.

Number 4. Sephiroth (Final Fantasy) - Sephiroth is one of the most frightening bosses in gaming and a genuine horror villain. He is a tragic monster born from science, and a loyal “son” fo his alien mother, Jenova, but he’s still scary as hell thanks to his god complex, unlimited strength, ethereal vibes, years of experience, his ability to live off of pure spite just so he can make the lives of his enemies (and Cloud) complete hell. His appearance in of itself is creepy due to how beautiful, yet unsettling it is, thanks to his silver hair, green snake-like eyes, and perfect physique which is complimented by a black coat. However the most dangerous things about him are that he’s completely delusional, his strength is unmatched, and just how far he’s willing to go to distort other peoples sense reality, specifically Cloud’s sense of reality. Sephiroth a tragic character and a phenomenal villain.

Number 5. The Joker (Batman) - The Joker is a crook who fell into a vat of chemicals and got a clownish makeover and ended up becoming the nemesis of Batman. While the other rouges have their particular danger levels, they all have some type of cause they're fighting for or they're purely out to benefit themselves. Joker just causes chaos, death, and suffering, for the sake of his twisted sense of humor. He is willing to kill and ruin lives in the most creative way possible, so long as he finds it funny. Yet despite how twisted he is, this evil ass clown actually can be funny. Not only that, but he's the most effective contrast to Batman, even more than the other rouges. Batman is a frightening figure with a semi-demonic visage who suffered one bad day in his youth, yet he is a hero dedicated to the cause of justice and protecting the innocent citizens of Gotham City. Joker is a colorful figure with a big 'ol grin on his face and a jovial demeanor, yet he is perfectly okay with causing as much unwarranted harm to others for the sake of artistic chaos. Ultimately, the Clown Prince of Crime is a villain that's managed to last for decades, despite the ever marching clock, for these exact reasons.

Number 6. Ganon (Legend of Zelda: Era of Wilds) - It's honestly surprising how this duology managed to crank out one of the greatest incarnations of Ganon in the series. In the first game, we see Ganon's power in the form of a demonic beast known as Calamity Ganon, and while this thing was basically an animal, it is the primary reason why the world of BoTW is as barren as it is, and this monster does have both a large presence, and decent amount of activity though the Guardians, Blights, Divine Beasts, and blood moons, creating a fear factor for a good chunk of the game. That is until said fear vanishes when you see that this things final form is just a flaming pig. However, in ToTK we meet the source of Calamity Ganon, the original Demon King Ganondorf from the era of Hyrule's founding and man does he deliver. He stays underground for a majority of the game after shattering the Master Sword and almost killing Link, but he never stops feeling like an active threat because of his Phantom Ganon's, Puppet Zelda, and the most dangerous thing in his arsenal, gloom. Not only that, but ToTK goes out of it's way to still present Ganondorf as a darwinistic asshole who worships power and actually thinks that his actions are justified, however unlike his other incarnations he has a terminal case of insanity from the get-go, which rears its head at every chance. These games made Ganon into a legitimate demon on all fronts, first introducing his pure demonic power without his dangerous mind and then introducing the true mad Demon King himself later on.

Number 7. Sauron (Lord of The Rings) - The Original Dark Lord. A fallen being of great power, obsessed with order. The enemy army is his army, Mordor is his kingdom, the Nazgul are his servants, the One Ring is his power source fueled by a fragment of his own soul that tempts and corrupts all who bear it, his eye shines its malevolent gaze upon the world with the intent of ravaging and conquering all that it can see, and the entire story is caused by his machinations. Whenever I look back at Sauron as a villain and character, I end up remembering why he is as infamous as he is. A great villain sometimes can just be a genuinely terrifying presence, especially in cinema and literature.

Number 8. Bowser (Super Mario Bros) -  Bowser is a genuinely great villain and fun as hell. Sure, there are a crapton of underrated villains in the Mario series, but no matter what you cannot really hate this guy. He’s a giant fire breathing turtle-dragon who’s a evil king, but he’s also a meathead, arrogant as hell, has very cool boss fights, is a surprisingly good father to his kids, and he’s an amazing protagonist and ally. He's also a VERY huge asshole in Mario Party. Though at the end of the day, Bowser is just an entertaining villain and a great character.

Number 9. Count Dracula (Dracula 1897) - Count Dracula, the original Count Dracula is such a well written monster. He's a refined and sophisticated older nobleman with snow white hair, who's easily able to pass as a gentleman. Though underneath that sophistication is a truly predatory creature, fueled by a hunger for blood and a love for cruelty. He barely appears within the pages of his own book, yet his presence is absolutely everywhere because of his constant activity as this inhuman entity is always shown. And the cherry on top is that he truly is that he truly does feel like an otherworldly beast mixed with an elegant yet predatory and violent man, and it's just splendid.

Number 10. Messmer The Impaler (Elden Ring) - Messmer was certainly a welcome surprise. He was the firstborn son of Queen Marika, ultimately the one who personally oversaw the genocide of the hornsent in the Land of Shadow, and event so horrific and cruel that its impact could still be felt within the present day. He was afflicted with a curse at his birth, in which a dark and malevolent snake threatened to eat him from the inside, which resulted in Marika plucking out his eye and replacing it with a seal of grace. Sounds like quite the monster, right? Well here's the thing. Messmer's a surprisingly good boss, like he literally preserved his enemies culture inside a storeroom just because one of his knights requested it, and has at least some level of compassion. Sure some of his men defected after finding out about the true nature of his existence, but there were some that even stuck around because they know who he is as a person. So why did this great guy commit literal one of the most horrific events in history? Well you see, Marika basically told him to eliminate the hornsent, and it wasn't just a standard order... it was a secret banishment for him, and Marika's vengeance on the hornsent. That's right, Messmer was exiled so he could be a scapegoat for his mother in the Land of Shadow. While this doesn't absolve him of his crimes, it ultimately makes him extremely pitiable.

[died-but-not-dead-propaganda]

Kim Dokja Propaganda

he canonically dies seven times <3 he's tried and avoided dying even more than that. multiple characters in text have asked him to stop dying.

He literally plans his own death out and then gets surprised when it happens and people react to him dying he's so stupid I love him

he does it 12 times i'm not joking

i lost count but he's died and come back at least 4 times. mf won't stay dead (affectionate) but he's also so damn smug everytime like he didn't just give all his friends lasting trauma for the 3rd time that week

He is like, the perfect person for this tournament. He dies, and dies, and dies like every 5 seconds. And the majority of them are emotional. I think. Like, we know he's not actually dead but his friends don't (in most of them).

So here's some of my hightlights (Contains spoilers):

-His first death was by being incinerated by a dragon's breath (not really interesting, but it's his first death).

-There was an scenario(missions? kinda?) where they had to kill the strongest in the dome and nobody knew who it was so there were two really strong guys having a duel and while everyone else was busy watching it he killed himself behind a building and just waited for everyone to notice (he was the strongest in there).

    +People called him ugly at his funeral

-Idk if it counts as a death but he sacrificed himself and got expelled from the system and I don't remember if his body was destroyed but I think yes. So this would normally mean you will die for real so everyone thought he was dead but he kept his soul alive by talking to himself and eating garbage and went to a doctor and leaded a coup d'etat and gave birth(? kinda?) all while pretending to be someone else.

-He was asleep while using a skill to watch his friends have a serious discussion about his kinks and dies.

this man. keeps. dying. everytime he dies it traumatises his kids and friends and then he does it again! eventually they just straight up locked him up in gay baby jail in an attempt to get him to stop dying. it didnt work. hes a disaster and i love him

That man CANNOT stop dying istg (via sacrificing his life) i don't even know how many times he's died,,, (it's the suicidal tendencies and the feeling he doesn't deserve a happy ending lbr)

(warning for spoilers in the next paragraph)

he has 1)died by throwing himself at a giant dragon 2)died by throwing himself in front of his blorbo/reason for living (who has threatened to kill him multiple times) at the hand of the woman who later on become his daughter    (he came back from those 2 in a few minutes with a power that allowed him to resurrect if he saves 100 people) (he then lost this power and gained another that allowed him 7 resurrections but with a longer delay)

3)died by asking his internet bully/best friend to kill him to save the city  4)there was a prophecy he was going to be killed by the person he loves most. his mum killed him knowing about his resurrection power and hoping it would complete the prophecy. it did not. (fun fact he was passed out when that happened and his previously mentioned best friend was defending him, and she allowed the shot to hit his heart to avoid it hitting his crotch #priorities)  5)sacrificed himself by turning into the villain and making all his friends kill him to stop his blorbo from doing the same. fun fact he was the one to deliver the final blow and it did satisfy the prophecy. also for reasons his resurrection power didn't work here (he still found a way to come back though! but it was much more difficult and complicated

also, it's irrelevant to all this but he literally gets adopted by hades and persephone at some point and becomes the heir to the underworld

anyway this is very long and does not include all his deaths i don't think but you get the idea! orv is very good i promise don't get fooled by my shitty description lmao

This ridiculous man has an addiction to dying istg. He makes a point of obtaining every ability he can that allows him to return from death and chooses to throw himself in harms way constantly. His companions has to sedate him just to get him to take a break because he just will not stop dying on them. Hes a hamster of a man. Hes also just so pathetically average and abnormal at the same time and its great. Throughout the whole story, people try to convince him to stop sacrificing himself for them, but he just keeps doing it because he doesnt really know how else to show how much he cares because he is incredibly emotionally stunted (its the trauma!). Orv is legitimately such a good webnovel, it changed my brain chemistry permanently. Its a really great read because it contains a little bit of everything, so you get to enjoy a bunch of different genres. Its also pretty fast paced but not rushed, so the plot is always moving forward but not feeling forced. There arent really any plotholes either, because it accomplishes what it set out to do as a story. Only issue some people have getting into it is that the first chunk of chapters are kinda slow, but it really starts to pick up after the disasters and keeps getting better from there. Also that it has 551 chapters, but these chapters are all necessary, trust me. The ending is so good. Just try to avoid spoilers some if you do check it out; they dont necessarily ruin the experience but some major plot moments are revealed. Also, I really reccommend reading the actual webnovel instead of the manhwa(which is the webtoon) because the manhwa edits a lot of things out and is much plainer than the actual story. Anyway, sorry that this turned into me telling you to read the novel instead of campaigning for kdj. But! Its what he would have wanted, seeing as he once read a webnovel as the sole reader of it for over 10 years.

Okay so. This man has died over 10 times (I'm not counting the exact number I'm sorry). He got burned to death fighting a super dangerous dragon, he died IN FRONT OF HIS FOUND FAMILY. then he pushed another member of his found family away from a fatal attack and took it on himself, causing him to get a huge hole right through his stomach and said member of his found family to go beserk over his death cause he didn't know he'd come back to life. He then asked a different member of his found family to KILL HIM. because he needed to die for everyone else to survive or whatever so he convinced her to kill him even though she didn't want to. And then HE GOT KILLED BY HIS FOUND FAMILY AGAIN. because once again he had to 'die' for everyone to survive but specifically he had to be killed by his found family, so he got stabbed through the heart by one of his found family members and then crumbled to dust in said family member's arms. He 'died' and disappeared for 3+ YEARS , and came back just as his ff were finally moving on from him. (Also he came back in a giant squid form that couldn't communicate with the FF at all and almost got killed my the ff AGAIN...) there's... A lot. More but it's been a while since I've read the novel so I don't remember every single death unfortunately but yeah 👍

He died like 12 times and traumatized all his companions with that

Over the course of 100 chapters, this man managed to die and get revived FIVE GODDAMN TIMES. And he keeps doing it. Nobody's doing it like him fr fr

i’m still read orv but as far as i’ve heard that’s his whole thing other than being gay for the protagonist of his favourite web comic who is real now

hoooo boy. i think he dies around 8 times in total? and somehow each time is worse than the last..... the first 3-4 times he has a skill that lets him regenerate, so its mostly fine (there is some good angst about his companions worrying he died for real, though, and at least one funeral scene).

then theres a prophecy about how he will be killed by "the person he loves most" and, without spoiling it too much, hes killed by the person he loves most. sword through the heart and touching last words and everything. its fucking DEVASTATING. he survives with a bunch of cheat code bullshit and then next time they see him is weeks or months later in the fucking demon realm with a body thats falling apart.

then a while later he almost dies AGAIN but when they go to save him he gets kidnapped and sent to another world and they dont see him for FOUR YEARS. hes obviously presumed dead while hes off in another worldline trying to get back

uh. there might be more than that. this novel is VERY long. anyway it gets to a point where any problem thats too big gets solved by him sacrificing himself while his companions scream and cry and beg him not to. and then he shows up later like "see! i survived :)" and they get so upset because why does he keep DOING this??? and he doesnt see the issue because he did it to save them! its a happy ending as long as no one dies (but not me though. its fine if i die as long as no one else does)

anyway, all this to say. basically his defining trait is that he dies and comes back. hes infamous for it and his companions start to hate it about him. one of them literally tries to pay a HEAVY price to ensure that he cant die anymore. hes GOTTA be on this bracket

Self-sacrifice is the only way he knows how to express love because it's the only form of love he was shown as a child. He keeps dying for his companions even while knowing that he is traumatizing them and thinking that they will hate him for it eventually (just like he hated his mom) because he thinks he deserves to be hated. The entire novel is about saving him. My god.

This man has died (and revived) about thirteen different times (I think? Very easy to lose count), and that’s only including successful attempts, he tries to sacrifice himself many more times. His companions are literally begging him to stop killing himself to save the world. They come very close to just tying him up so he can’t go running off again.

In terms of his general character he is just a guy who hyperfixates on a bad webnovel for 13 years straight, I’m talking about 3000+ chapters that he was the sole reader of because no one else made it past ch100. Then when the webnovel gets its final update the events of the novel start happening in the real world, as the only person who has read to the end he has vital information to save the world. He pisses off the protagonist within a minute of meeting and then proceeds to have a high-key homoerotic relationship with him, with both of them becoming so intertwined that neither would exist without the other and creating a timeloop that sets the entire plot into motion (I can’t go into more details without spoilers). If you’d like more details then I highly recommend the YouTube video “badly explaining all of omniscient reader in 6 minutes” by ferd because it’s hilarious and leaves out just enough context that you don’t even feel like you’re getting spoiled because it’s so batshit

[return-to-twisted-wonderland]

🔆anon

Thought of this and couldn’t unthink of this. But hey it getting me back into writing for Ruse.

(I’ve been wanting to write for Ruse, but don’t want to write for the High Priest and their reaction to what is pretty much everything he does.)

— —

(The beginning of February, about half a month after book 6.)

Ruse, Cater, Kalim, and Lilia were all hanging out in the music room for club time. Ruse was finishing some homework while the other three talk. That was until Cater found a song while scrolling on his phone, one that might be good for Ruse.

Cater: Hey, Ruse!

Ruse: *not looking up from his work* Yes?

Cater: I found a song that I wanted to know if you would sing with us.

Kalim: Ooo! You found a song for that?! What is it?! I bet it would be super fun to finally be all together for a song!

Ruse: *looks up at Cater with an annoyed expression* You’d ask me to sing a song? Not to mention you said “us” before even asking the other two their opinions.

Kalim: I’d be happy to play any song together!

Lilia: *gives a small chuckle* As would I. It would be nice to finally have our quartet actually work as four and not as a trio.

Ruse: Not my point. But even if you still agree, you have to be aware who you’re asking. Why would I sing so freely? I said before I’m only here because I have to be in a club per school rules.

Cater: C’mon, Ruse. I ask because you’re a great singer-

Ruse: Of course I am.

Cater: Because you’re a great singer and singing with use would allow you some spotlight because it ends on a solo. I just thought our group would be amazing with you in it because of how amazing you are.

Ruse: I am amazing, but the hymns is sing are sung for a reason, for reverence. What even is your song about?

Cater: Oh! Hold on, I can text you the lyrics.

Ruse: *glares at Cater*

Cater: *instantly remembers and gets up* Right. I’ll show you. *scrolls through the lyrics while Ruse watches*

Ruse: Diamond, this is a song about disobedience. That is literally the title of the song.

Kalim: Oh! That song? That one’s great!

Ruse: Why would your world even have a single like that? Obedience to those higher is what keeps society running. A single person out of line can harm so many others because they don’t have the knowledge the higher ups are able to carry the burden of.

Cater: Uh… *thinking* It’s because it belongs to a villain.

Kalim: No it-

Lilia: *cover’s Kalim’s mouth while whispering to him* We can’t tell him exactly where it’s from yet. If he believes this it might help him. I can explain later, but you can’t tell him, okay?

Kalim: *nods*

Ruse: Why would I sing a villain’s song. Especially all about disobedience.

Cater: Well, a villain needs a song and that song needs to be sung. If there’s never any villain to show the wrong thing, there can never a hero to show the right thing. So you could use it to know the way the mislead are thinking.

Ruse: But do I have to sing it?

Cater: That gets the emotion they’re feeling across the best. Plus this might be your best moment because you don’t know when the next one will be.

Ruse: … Fine.

—

The Pop Music Club are finally their first full run through of the song after about two weeks straight of practicing it. Cater is on guitar, Lilia is on bass, Kalim is on drums, and Ruse is singing.

Ruse: Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you for gracing me with your presence.

Good afternoon, sir. What can I do, sir? Just say the word, sir. Anything for you sir.

Your friends all say, sir. You don’t deserve her. I disagree, sir. I live to serve, sir.

Ruse, Cater, Kalim, and Lilia: I think about all the wasted time I spent. I wanna be disobedient!

I shoot wake wondering where my summers went. I wanna be disobedient!

Disobedient!

Disobedient!

Ruse: I’ve been good, sir. So very, very good, for what? And I’ve given you every single thing I’ve got!

It’s feeling strange, man. This whole arrangement. Is gonna end with me

Ruse, Cater, Kalim, and Lilia: With me totally deranged!

When I think about all the wasted time I spent. I wanna be disobedient!

I shoot awake wondering where my summers went. I wanna be disobedient!

Disobedient!

Disobedient!

Cater, Kalim, and Lilia: *instruments only for about 30 seconds*

Ruse: I. Want to be. Disobedient.

*a feeling starts to creep in* I. Want to be. Disobedient.

Disobedient.

*the feeling gets bigger* Disobedient.

Disobedient.

Ruse, Cater, Kalim, and Lilia: *strike the final cord as Ruse’s feeling reaches its maximum*

—

Kalim: Woo! That was a great run! Sounded like we were pros!

Cater: Yeah! 100% #beastbandever! *turns to Ruse* By the way, Ruse. You good? Your voice started wobbling at the end.

Ruse: *snaps back to his aloof and prideful expression* Of course I’m alright. I always am. *starts collecting his things* I just need to take what I’ve learned of the emotions, as you said was the point of this exercise. Goodbye. *leaves*

Kalim: But we still have club time left… Is he sure he’s okay? He didn’t sound good. Maybe we should check on him.

Lilia: While that’s a nice sentiment, I think he needs some alone time. We can go back to practicing other songs in the meantime, since everything is already out.

—

Roth: He fell for that excuse?! And finished the whole song!

Marr: We did raise him to be trusting.

Roth: To us! He is supposed to be a skeptic about everyone else’s words, especially nonbelievers! Does he know how much time went into making sure he didn’t believe them while keeping our word as fact?!

Domar: He’s been getting progressively more and more corrupted the longer he spends there. The “wobble in his voice” and those “emotions” were a seed of doubt. Marr, you claimed you could find a way to get him back.

Marr: And I’m working on it. I’ve made progress, but I can’t make miracles happen.

Roth: Tell that to the people who ask us to practically change their lives hoping we can give it to our deity.

Domar: Now’s not the time for your whining, Roth. And Marr, we need him back now. The long we leave him, the more strings will snap.

Marr: Don’t be ridiculous. We have temple guards with the power to drag him back kicking and screaming if he doesn’t come willingly. And plus, with how young we got to him and how he’s still holding onto everything, it’s doubtful he’ll ever be able to let go of everything, it’s practically a part of him. We just need to get to that part of him and it will give us back our puppet. Amy fight can easily be quashed the same way any dissenters are.

— —

That got long. Oops.

And the song is Disobedient from Steven Universe the Movie: https://youtu.be/Mpi0wyVRP0I?si=h6UGYOKYlY8JXOvf

By the way, yes, Ruse is incredibly naive. He can be skeptical and stubborn, but if you hit a weak spot, he can believe about anything.

I love SU~

And Ruse singing "Disobedient" works so well~

[brucethegirl]

Fave season of ouat. And y. Go. (Mine is 3 bc that’s when you see hooks softer/ but still flirtier side and the relationship growing). Although 5-6 come very close bc they are stronger and the proposal and wedding. Ahhhh. But omg when he asked for David’s blessing. That ep had me. But all the kissing in season 3. Oh wait, there’s other people other than hook and Emma in ouat? Nah.

Oh gosh.... (edit: i wrote like two paragraphs of this before realizing you just asked general favorite season, not favorite CS season, but I still turned this into a CS post.)

Season 2 is not bad. There's so much there for background to understand where emma was coming from, versus season 1 which was mostly us as viewers learning who everyone was in the enchanted forest and how the story we know was being reinterpreted. Now it was learning where Emma was coming from, where Killian comes into the picture and some of his background, where Cora comes from which lays the groundwork for how she raised Regina and where she is coming from. How they became the people they became today, the steps of their recent history. The continuous choices and situations that led them to where they were when they all came together. I love straight up evil Killian. It's fun. Him trusting her immediately, him being sassy flirty, him saying "just a I'm done with you" (pssh, okay my guy). but at the end, despite it being good writing, I'm just okay about it. I mean yea its got Tallahassee.... but I also am not a fan of how they handled the neal/emma relationship when they were young. Michael Raymond-James is NOTICEABLY an older man well into his 30s, and I could buy him being a rough 20 something, but Emma is VERY MUCH meant to be late teens and that entire casting situation and its implications followed by the pushing in later seasons for her to be with Neal by her family just makes me so very uncomfortable.

Three is honestly such a fair choice. I love season 3 with Hook starting to realize he needs to change and wants to change. But also still actively having to purge his villain tendencies. Rolling his eyes while volunteering to help Belle research. His snarky comments constantly that no one laughs at cause they're a little on the meaner side. But also the way he and Emma so automatically can read each other. She just has to tilt her head or nod and he knows what she wants him to do. The longing looks, the declarations. Nothing beats "when I win your heart, and I will win it. It will be because you want me" NOTHING. "I'm in this for the long haul" after saying he'll back off to give Henry the chance at a family, and won't inject himself into that. But also knows Neal will mess it up, knows he'll be on the sidelines for the second of an oppertunity. Knows that he DOES stand a valid chance if he wanted to fight. Like, just fuck me up. The shift in Regina's character and how she learns to become good, how that is different from Hook's journey but they both recognize it being the same journey. Her teaming up with Rumple to fnd Henry and it markedly NOT being villains teaming up, but her willing to do anything to save her son and the second she realizes its no good, she's gone. Learning more about the emotional backstory and early character moments in their lives, Hook, Emma, and Regina especially. Learning the complicate pasts, and seeing the steps they took to get here. I feel like actual writing wise- its the strongest season for them. Its also go the best lines. Like Regina and Robin also is SO GOOD in the flashbacks and I forever regret not getting more of them in that weird flirty hate each other stage but what we did get was SO GOOD. "Where you come from, they bath in the river and use pine cones for money" Lana... ma'am.... that is THE BEST LINE in the entire show for me. This season had all the potential, and for that it gets a lot of points. A lot of what was built didn't get delivered on as well as it should have, but that's not the foundations fault. And this season was the foundation.

Season 4 is prime them in love. I love the relationship part of most shows when they handle it well, and I think THAT aspect was handled well. Him obviously in love, her coming to terms with what that means. So much angst in a good way of him being the reason for some of the problems she has. Of him not having his heart. Of him realizing he can't keep making the same villain mistakes if he's going to be with her, if he's going to change. If he's going to be a better man. This is a great season just like... FOR him. You see the realizations that he's made these mistakes and he can't even blame his past self. His current self did this to himself. You see the beginnings of his self-loathing and how that builds the reasoning for the choices he makes. He's had his hook for centuries, he's learned how to work with it and around it. But for the date, the internalized ableism got the better of him, and he thought in order to be a better man, and the man she deserved, he needed to be 'whole.' Which is IMMeDIATELY disproved when she doesn't even realize he had his hand until its pointed out, and also doesn't notice its a hook again later because she loves HIM she sees HIM. Those outward shifts and changes are not important. She notices his clothing change because it represents so much more about him embracing this weird strange land and showing he's sticking around. But his hook? Well thats just part of him that she accepts because its part of him so when he changes it its not something she notices. (sorry, i have a LOT of feelings about this episode) And then the whole darkness inside him and the hand and him being a villain and being afraid of losing his happy ending. 4b is weak we all know that, but the emotions of it are so strong. "Don't you know Emma? It's you." MY GUYYYYYY. The kisses we got this season, the emotional leaps and bounds. Him admitting having her in his life is what keeps him on the side of the heroes. Him saying he hopes its his job to protect her heart even when no one is actively trying to steal it. Her discovering more about her past and really starting to share her history with someone, showing her past and being vulnerable with someone and allowing them to scale the fortress she's put up to protect herself. Learning that someone is there begging to be let in, and isn't going away, and even when she ignores him he says basically that he's not deterred so easily, she's worth it, he recognizes that, and he'll just wait patiently for her to be ready. He will always put her first. Will put her family first. Often at the expense of himself.

Now season 5. Look. Do I think its strong? No. It's some of the saddest writing (season 6 is the worst in my opinion) in that it had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. But it Never delivers it. Season 4 was their love story, so there's no need to focus so heavily on them in season 5, sometimes having them not even interact in scenes that make NO SENSE for them to not interact. Despite the fact that she's just told him she loved him before being taken over by the darkness and saying she trusts him to be able to reach her and save her. Despite the entire ARC being ABOUT THEM for BOTH HALVES, the actual day to day episode to episode is not about them at all. So little focused on them, on them interacting, on their story. It was such a mess. So much promise with so little delivery. Nothing was allowed to breath, nothing was allowed to sit, no one was allowed to have a single thought to work through what they were going through. He's evil for what? a single episode? and in the middle of it there's this entire hour about a character we don't know, with no one we care about, about something never mentioned again that holds zero bering on ANYTHING that happens or has happened. So much wasted time. I LOVE what 5 could have been. I LOVE the implications, and the shifts in narrative and expectation. I LOVE the discovery and acceptance of their relationship and the confirmations we get. I HATE nothing is ever discussed on screen. Everything is implied to happen off screen "like I told you" Did you tell her when the cameras were off? We're given nothing we should have. Everyone else is just set dressing, and yet have all the focus. Its disjointed and just lazy, and its only saving grace is whoever had the initial idea on the brain storm board and then the acting itself. But damn if this season doesn't give me inspiration.

Finally, season 6.... I'll leave at saying when its good, its great. All three singular scenes that are good. There's no follow through from whats already happened to these characters. There's no acknowledgment of their past selves, their past experiences. Hook is GENUINELY shocked that Emma understands why he didn't toss the shears knowing she'd hate him for doing 'the one thing that could save her' WHEN THAT WAS THE ENTIRE CLIMAX OF 5A!

All of this to say, I guess 3?

[hello-there-world]

hey, thought about William's backstory in the Rewrite...and Boy is it sad, but it Does explain a lot about why he's...Like That.

like...i have a few categories that my favorite villains go into. two of those are:

Sympathetic, But In The "You Understand How They Got To This Point, But It Doesn't Excuse Their Actions" Sense.

Sadistic Fuckers Who Are Doing Evil Shit 'Cause It's Fun To Them.

Rewrite!William technically fits in both of these categories, but the latter one is much more prominent post-Springlock.

like. his backstory is tragic, but that doesn't change the fact that he, y'know, 1) Killed A Bunch Of Children, Including His Own Son, and 2) After He Was Springlocked, He Straight Up Killed MULTIPLE Fazbear Employees, Maimed Several Others, And Attempted To Kill Both His Former Business Partner's OTHER Kid, As Well As One Of His Last Living Children.

with all that out of the way, let's get started with this man's horrible start to life:

so like. he was born to this really wealthy family in England on Feb. 14, 1941. had three older brothers and an older sister. off to a great start, right?

uh...wrong. parents? Sucked Ass. they're physically and verbally abusive, and care about Perfection above all else.

and William, the incredibly autistic child he was...well, he wasn't having a good time.

one of his few joys at home was the fact the property they lived on had a lot of rabbits and hares. Will would just go out there and play and chase the animals around. the fact that rabbits and hares became one of his special interests isn't surprising.

his other forms of escapism included drawing and reading in his room, especially picture books that had animals as the protagonists. drew a lot of furries cartoon/anthropomorphic animals

this guy's only real friends were his teachers, his older brother Joshua, and his younger sister Mary Anne. his other siblings were rather distant, We've Already Gone Over His Parents, and other kids his age think he's annoying/a Teacher's Pet. like. This Dude Was Lonely As A Kid. I'm Sure This Isn't Gonna Give Him Attachment Problems Where He Practically Clings To Anyone Else Who's Nice To Him!! Surely Not!! (see: Henry, Henry's kids, Claire, and the Afton Children)

but...William did have one other friend.

you see, for William's sixth birthday, his parents got him a pet rabbit (mostly so he'd quit fucking asking them), and William fucking adored that rabbit. loved it like it was his baby. i cannot overstate how much losing this rabbit would fuck him up.

for three years, William cared for that rabbit, treated it like it was a part of the family, and gave it the best life he could (William's parents told him that the rabbit was his responsibility). everything was going well.

...until some of Josh's friends came over one night.

it was an accident, ultimately. they came into William's room while he was in the middle of drawing and talking to his bunny. they made fun of him, about how much he seemed to care for this "stupid rabbit," and they picked up the rabbit and started messing around with it, despite Will's constant warnings to put it down and to be careful with it.

well, they weren't careful enough.

by the time Josh got into the room, William was screaming and crying, practically inconsolable, and the rabbit was laying on the floor, limp and lifeless. he pretty much told his friends "get the fuck out, what the hell is wrong with you?" as he tried to comfort his brother.

William never fully recovered. his parents were never much help, and his siblings just...didn't really know how to help. neither did his teachers.

but...he had his ways of coping. mostly, through drawing. William eventually came up with a concept of a children's book of his own, complete with a character: O'Hare, a lovely golden hare that lived in the countryside. they was silly, goofy, gave facts about hares and rabbits, and...they were loved by the creatures around them. it was William's own escapism fantasy, whether he realized it or not. it was his way of coping with everything, really.

but his father, upon finding William's many assorted pages of this hypothetical storybook, didn't see it that way. he saw it as a sign that there was something genuinely wrong with William.

the way his parents saw it, they had two options: send William off to an asylum or something to get him Mental Help (probably would've made things Much Worse, let's be real. considering shit's already pretty bad nowadays, i can't imagine it would've been ANY better in the 50s-60s. if anything, it was probably SO MUCH WORSE), but it would risk their reputation being ruined if news got out about it (because to my knowledge, if the family members of any well-known people were sent to asylums/had any major mental health problems, they kinda just tried to cover it up and make sure the public never knew), which, considering how close Josh and Will were, Josh would've made sure people knew. and their other option...send William off to Boarding School and just claim he was an "unruly child" if anyone asked.

they picked the latter (neither Josh nor Will were happy about it)

okay since it's getting late, quick summary of rest of the timeline:

William Has A Bad Time In Boarding School (starts fights, has a lot of breakdowns at night, staff is concerned)

William turned 15 and the Boarding School went "yeah, we aren't dealing with this kid on the Adolescent Hormones" and sent him back to his parents.

William's got more volatile emotions now (can get VERY sad and VERY angry quickly)

parents move the family to America because they think it'll help (it didn't, but now William can have a fresh start since no one knows him over here).

William turns 18, and his parents just kinda got him a car, threw a lot of money at him, and went "go to college or don't, we don't care, just gtfo of our house" and then he did that. kinda wanted to leave anyway.

drove to Utah and went to college there because it was pretty far from his parents (and family, but mostly his parents, who lived over in maybe NY), and then he just took some classes to see what he was interested in.

he learns he has a dormmate. Enter Henry Emily.

alright, there's the short version of the timeline. anyway it's late. have this.

Ooh! I really love this. I'd imagine all that kinda messed him up. I also bet he absolutely loved the pizzarias when he was working there, since he was more allowed to just be a kinda weird guy who loves rabbits and hares.

Until he started killing, of course.