#obviously not a lot compared to male characters but something

[ghoulodont]

the ghoulette phenomenon: my hypotheses

1: more people as a whole are drawn to m/m content. men who are attracted to men are drawn to content that is relatable to them, women who are attracted to men generally are drawn to m/m content because it removes women from the equation which can be very freeing by creating a dynamic that pushes against patriarchal norms. there probably are not a lot of exclusively straight men in the fandom. lesbians are (running away so i dont have to talk about it). these are all just rules of thumb and anyone can like any content but the point is its unlikely to naturally "even out" somehow between different demographics within the fandom

2: all characters who are not at the front of the stage and free to move around are less developed. swiss is sort of the exception because he manages to have so much personality while trapped on his little stage. mountain lovers can attest to this. all of the ghoulettes are confined to the back part of the stage

3: there is very little content about the ghoulettes, and this is self-perpetuating. when im scrolling through ao3 i dont want to read every fic necessarily. for fics at least, people pick content based on the tags/tropes/kinks it contains. when theres less choice, its less likely to find something you want to read. i think people sort of give up on finding content theyre interested in. then authors get no feedback and dont write anything

i think overall it makes most sense when you consider that fandom is sort of a self-propelling machine, and the energy in and out parallel each other. things that are popular grow, things that are less popular shrink.

regarding the feeling that its performative, i think its easy and logical to assume that interest or requests for ghoulette content will result in disappointment. but i do think jump-starting the system will result in not only more content but more interest, and more feedback. i think some of these reasons that ghoulettes are less popular are inherent to fandom in general, but they can be countered with effort

[joseigamer]

Patalliro! is fascinating to me because of stuff like this. It's unapologetically gay - even within its anime which aired during primetime hours in 1982 - in a way that many later BL manga would never be, like the ones from the early 2000s which would never dare to call their characters actual homosexuals. Patalliro has actually aged quite well in this regard, there's something comforting about how campy it is.

[punkishtoxtricity]

a comprehensive list of problems with lily orchards pokemon video

there is a point to where my criticisms just repeats so they’ll get different down the post

generation 1

-she claims that blue is a friendly rival when the whole point of him is that he’s a dumb kid. he’s a cocky 11 year old who thinks he’s better than you and grows to realize it’s not all about strong pokemon

-complains about length of dungeons such as lavender tower and silph co but for some reason likes rock tunnel??

-complains about other youtubers strategies for gyms that are usually meant for nuzlockes and challenge runs when she’s playing casual

-acts like she is so much better than everyone else for her strategy when it’s been done to a more extreme degree before

-acts like having butterfree on her team is some feat of strength

generation 2

-thinks silver is the worse character ever and all around a jerk

-complains about the ai of the game beating her when in reality her team just kinda. sucks

-complains about having bad pokemon and then doesn’t catch the good ones that the game literally hands to you

-straight up does not do kanto. has me thinking she just didn’t wanna fight red

generation 3

-this is the start of her being very weird about gardevoir. she calls ralts her child and then throughout the video has art of her being romantic with it which is. eugh. apparently she has incest accusations so i’m not that suprised

-calling magma and aqua the best teams of the series because “they don’t impede on the story”

-complains about the legendaries

-complains about the water routes and proceeds to throw out ideas that don’t make sense for an ocean

generation 4

-this is the start of her hacking in ralts as her starter. it’s very funny because it’s legitimately obtainable in every game she plays besides gen 5

-complains about parts of the game being too hard when she’s using ralts. which dies if it gets touched by a slight breeze

-whines about there being too much dialogue and then genuinely does not understand the story. common theme around all the story driven pokemon games

-she’s VERY annoying about the rivals. like they’re there for a reason

-the start of her acting like her calm mind strategy is the best thing ever. calls other youtubers stupid once again for their cynthia strategies. she can’t choose between gardevoir being the most broken pokemon and blaming ralts sucking on the game(the whole video is a big contrarian fest)

gen 5

oh boy. there’s a lot

-complains about there being too much story in the game and calls the game a peta reply. which is funny because peta is an american company and pokemon is japanese. (also the peta criticism of pokemon didn’t come around until AFTER black and white)

-compares a character who is a victim of abuse and has been indoctrinated by what is basically a cult to a podcast alpha male incel. looking at the allegations against her this also makes sense as to why she doesn’t like him

-whines more about there being too much reading. at this point i started believing she was straight up illiterate

-whines about the amount of rival fights and how it’s “impeding exploration” i don’t think she wants to play an actual video game she just want a pet sim

-misunderstands the whole moral of the game, being that not everything is black and white

generation 6

-complains about not being able to get gardevoirs megastone before the post game, so obviously she hacks it in.

-goes on a tangent about shiny pokemon and how their community is stupid, misunderstanding that people just do it FOR FUN

-also complains about something she calls “damage inflation” with the opponents being able to 1 shot ralts. this is all actually because ralts has god awful defenses, which she ignores.

-loses to what is one of the easiest gyms in the entire series. not really anything wrong with this i just honestly think she sucks at the game(skill issue)

-says x and y are the best games because there’s not much dialogue

gen 7

-once again spends the whole hour complaining about the amount of talking and then doesn’t analyze what the characters are actually saying. still believe she can’t read

-compares gladion to a hitler youth which is??? he’s hawaiian and light skinned but he’s still just an abused kid trying to find his way in lofe(doubt she actually read his dialogue)

-complains about team skill being “an unfunny joke” when the whole point of the team is that guzma was an abused kid who took in those in need and just formed a group of thugs

-still complains about “damage inflation” instead of actually changing her strategy or stepping out of her comfort zone pokemon wise because ralts sucks against the water trial

-goes on a tangent about how lillie should have been the main character while still choosing to mash through her dialogue

generation 8

-whines about dexit and calls dynamax the worst mechanic when it is in fact loved by vgc players

-calls milo a twunk (she doesn’t know what that means)

-a lot of the same problems of the previous gens, can’t read and doesn’t understand the story

-she’s also weird about gardevoir in this one. i think she just REALLY wants to fuck it

generation 9

-whines about dialogue some more

-literally all of the complaints at this point are the same. she can’t form an actual opinion of it bc she can’t FUCKING PAY ATTENTION TO WHAG THEYRE SAYING

overall

-she’s a racist creep to japanese folk outside of the video so hmmm

-has apparently assaulted someone so i see why she has no sympathy for the characters that are victims of abuse

-the weirdest about the pokemon and the characters. compares them to nazis a bunch

-is unfunny

anyway thanks for reading all the way through. the vid made me loose 200 brain cells and i will never stop hating

[captainsparklefingers]

One of the things I'm taking away from the second go round of Dracula Daily (and particularly from David Ault's excellent performance in Re: Dracula) is how much I like Lord Arthur Godalming.

Like. On the surface and the first time round he stands out the least of Lucy's suitors, and given how much time we hear from Jack, he can come off the most developed. Quincy, of course, gives us a heck of a lot of personality with relatively little (again, compared to how much we get from Jack). Arthur, though, doesn't have the same volume of words to develop, nor the instantly clear personality. He's just Lucy's fiancee, Jack and Quincy's friend, the heroes of light's wealthy benefactor.

But God, this poor man. He's suffered several immense losses in a very short period, been forced to see the woman he loved as a monster, and then had to put her down so she could rest in peace. Beyond the emotional burdens of such losses, he has to deal with the legal matters and the settling of affairs for three different people, probably doing whatever one needs to do to take his father's place in the House of Lords (something I know absolutely nothing about but I assume there's things to do there), AND the earth shattering revelation the supernatural is real, monsters do exist, and the one who killed Lucy is still out there.

And all of that while having to abide by the Victorian standards of manhood. Stalwart, strong, showing no emotions that could make him seem weak.

I think the scene in September 30th, where Mina comforts him and finally he has the chance to let go of all of these burdens he's felt he must carry alone, all of the grief and sorrow he's been forced to carry, he can for at least a moment put aside the mask of manliness society insist he wear and just let himself be a man who has lost his father and his fiancee within days of each other, who is dealing with situations beyond belief.

Obviously we've seen him cry and grieve before but it always felt like he was stifling it to a degree because, well. He only has his male friends to lean on now and the stupid proprieties of society mean he can only lean so much. But now he's had a chance to finally let go, made a connection with Lucy's dearest friend and a new sister of choice. He has his friends, he's finally been allowed to mourn in the way he's truly feeling...and now he's ready to help in whatever way possible to avenge Lucy.

Arthur comes off to me as a very strong character, a man driven by great love, who's emotions, as constrained as they may be, are one of his greatest strengths (and, of course, every good monster hunting group needs a financial benefactor). He's not a flat character at all, he's not forgettable character. Lucy loved him for a reason and, I think, in the moment his grief finally breaks, we get a glimpse at that.

I think that one of the good things of Dracula Daily has been making people realize how good of a character Jonathan Harker is, how pop culture has done damage to the true character of Lucy and Mina…I think we should add that its done a good job of making one care for a character as Arthur, who at first glance seems flat and boring.

Or at least it's made me appreciate him more. And I still want to know how he and Jack and Quincy became friends and what sort of shenanigans they got up to before the events of the book.

[seventeenlovesthree]

Koushirou Izumi's clothing style - a meta analysis

When it comes to Digimon and fashion, you can tell that certain characters have - mostly consistent - preferences. Most obviously, every character has colours they are usually (but not exclusively) wearing, certain motives and symbols keep returning... And for some characters, their choice of clothes is - more or less - arc-defining.

While looking for references for some art pieces on Pinterest, I stumbled over one of my favourite Digimon Adventure 02 concept artworks:

We never see Taichi, Sora and Yamato wear their Summer uniform in the series and Koushirou literally only wears it in one episode - but looking at the ensemble here, there was something that caught my eye specifically. And this observation took me down a little rabbit hole in terms of what exactly Koushirou's style is, how it changes through the series - and what it may mean for his character as a whole in my humble opinion.

It simply felt like the perfect opportunity to post all these ideas as a contribution to @izumikoushiroweek 2024 and the prompt "Dressing Koushirou".

Adventure (+ Our War Game), age 10-11:

Analyzing Adventure won't take too long, because we don't have a lot of variety at this point - however, it still gives us the baseline for what we will have to expect for the entirety of the series.

Koushirou wears very "boyish" clothes that can be, more or less, considered to be common for a "computer nerd" in the 90s and early 2000s; wide, if not oversized button-down shirt (big emphasis here!), t-shirt, wide shorts, (colourful) sneakers. It's all "comfort over function" at this point, because, as pointed out, he seems to prefer wide clothes. While his signature (crest) colour is purple, his favourite colour appears to be orange, and there are usually lots of earth/nature tones too.

Honorable mention goes to his trademark Japanese school boy undercut hair with a middle parting, barely able to tame the spikyness.

So let's see what elements he will keep and what will change:

02 (+ Diablomon Strikes Back), age 13-14:

As mentioned, the concept art above was what inspired to make this post in the first place - because I couldn't help but notice his pants there. If you compare the way he wears the Summer school uniform to the way Taichi and Yamato wear it, three things come to mind:

The older boys wear the shirt very casually, whereas Koushirou has tugged it in - which is definitely a change to how loosely he wore his button-downs before.

Taichi and Yamato also don't wear ties in comparison to Koushirou. So far so good, these are the most obvious aspects...

And then there are the pants - which are particularly less "form fitting" than it is the case for Taichi and Yamato. Considering how he used to wear wide shorts in Adventure before, one may think that this is related to "comfort over form" again, but it collides a little with how "correctly" he wears the rest of the uniform. So my assumption here is: In one of the dramas he mentions "one of the female 5th graders in computer club who is taller than me" and we can definitely assume that he was referring to Miyako there. He says that he is "working very hard" to catch up... Which leads me to believe that he wears wide pants in anticipation of getting a growth spurt. Which is not only practical in general - but would also spare him/his mom the stress of constantly buying new uniforms.

In sum, we learned that he is the only male character in the entire season who wears his uniform correctly - with the spunky shoes being the only glimpse of "individualism" there. This is an interesting contrast - and will actually turn out to be quite a pattern for him: When it comes to important duties and business, he will make sure to wear his clothes appropriately and neatly (which, at this point, is important if you consider him taking so much responsibility for the 02 kids as their team mom dad). Outside of that, we still see the habit of wearing more comfortable clothes:

Koushirou definitely likes to wear layers (similarly to but not in the same way as Taichi btw), the good old button-downs or hoodies over shirts in particular, it's all very cozy and simple - and while he hasn't completely abandoned his associated colour orange, he seems to have adopted a second favourite colour to his wardrobe as an addition to the earth tones: Green. We later learn that his mother used to buy the clothes for him, so based on her excited expression in the first shot, watching him put on his green school uniform blazer for the first time, they may have realized how well the colour complements his red hair. The wide shorts and pants are also still there and he also seems to prefer basic long-sleeves (and stripes) at this point (which may or may not have been inspired by his own Digimon partner's colour schemes, very sneaky).

Last but not least we have the hairstyle - he's been growing out the undercut to even everything out and starts the season off with a VERY short cut and a side-parting. Very neat and, at first glance, very easy to tame, since the spikes are a lot shorter at this point. The side parting did not last for long though, so the middle-parting returns through the course of the season and he also grows it out a little.

Overall, the dichotomy of "business serious-casual" and "comfy-cozy" is already coming through, but we haven't come to the heavy lifting yet:

Tri (+ the Stageplay), age 16:

As I have briefly pointed out in the intro, for some characters, fashion is an arc-defining factor. For teenage!Koushirou, his interest in fashion is basically a B- or C-plot that - in my opinion - could have been handled in better ways, but I will get to that.

First of all, let's start with the "easy stuff": Hair and uniforms.

His way of wearing his uniform hasn't changed much from 02; he is still wearing blazer, shirt and tie "correctly" - but his pants are not as wide as they used to anymore, as can be seen on the promo art I have used above. (Since he has surpassed Mimi in height and is basically as tall as Sora, he may not expect to grow much further, so he probably chose more fitted pants at this point.)

The hair, especially the spikes and middle parting, are still pretty much the same and thus - probably - still very difficult to tame. It's notable that he has grown it out more in comparison to 02 though.

Now onto his private wardrobe: We see him confiding in Takeru, telling him that now that he goes to high school, he intends to pick clothes for himself, but... Shopping has proven to be quite difficult for... Various reasons. So instead, he created a software to generate outfits for him, with... Varying degrees of success. So through the course of the first few movies, it's heavily implied that he's making use of that software and also Takeru's advice - who appears to be a little bit of a mix between a "k-pop-fanboy / hobby-novelist with a Starbucks order in hand" and "an absolute fashion disaster" himself, but he seems to enjoy being Koushirou's wingman and assumes that his sudden interest in fashion stems from him wanting to impress Mimi.

And this is where things get a little more complicated. I will not go into too much detail about why I think that this was the wrong approach for his arc, because I have already talked about it in full length here. To summarize it very shortly: Koushirou's arc had ALWAYS been about him learning to be himself. That him being the way he is is perfectly fine and that he doesn't have to hide his true self - being adopted, smart, into computers, with all his flaws and quirks, whatever it may be. Him trying to bend over backwards to impress somebody else contradicts his arc and the only reason to include it at this point is for him to come to the same conclusion again. Of course there are underlying insecurities all over the place - especially since he actively seeks Mimi's approval. The school festival should have culminated in a scene in which he and Mimi - dressed up in a costume that was heavily criticized before, thus criticizing Mimi's way of being as well - should have had a talk that went along the lines of: "You know what? It doesn't matter what you wear, as long as you are comfortable." (Which... In itself leaves room for a lot of subtext as well, but I will get to that by the end of the post.)

So long story short, what we see through the course of the first three movies is him being quite experimental: Overalls, wild patterns like koi karps, lots of layers and a peculiar interest in bowties... He also adds several new colours to his arsenal, reds, blues, even his signature colour purple makes a prominent appearance. All for the sake of appearing "less plain", and to have more variation in his style.

While he has abandoned shorts from his wardrobe at this point, he - just like Taichi - likes to wear 3/4 length pants. One style of clothing he hasn't abandoned is his button-down shirts and (open) collared shirts in general. This has been a constant so far and I doubt that we will ever see it change, since they basically feel like "comfort clothes" for him. The interesting part here is, like we discovered before, the consistent contrast between "private" and "important occasions/business settings":

Once he's out with his parents for their anniversary, once he shows up at the school festival in a whole suit, once he wears his school uniform: He WILL wear the (bow-)tie correctly, the collar will be tight, the shirt will be tugged in, no funky shoes either.

Once he's in a private, less "official" setting, the collar will be more loose (!), the shirt will (most likely) be pulled out of his pants, the style will be more comfy, the shoes will be more "funky."

We've seen that since 02 already and it's nicely represented in Tri as well - the stageplay even dared to merge two of his outfits from the first Tri movie, a casual and a serious one, to create the perfectly "nerdy" mix for him: (Shortened) Shirt and vest from the anniversary (with an open collar and without the bowtie), 3/4 pants and yellow sneakers from the "let's look for distortions" scene. So we can tell - he DOES have preferences and may not even need a software to tell him what he naturally gravitates towards!

So let's fast forward a few years to see how it'll all develop...

Kizuna (+ The Beginning), age 21-23:

Unfortunately, we don't really get a glimpse of his private wardrobe as a young adult - but we can still be pretty sure that the patterns we spotted before are still going strong:

First of all, it can be assumed that he stopped experimenting for the most part: The hairstyle went back to the roots, for whatever reason he returned to his elementary school undercut, the middle parting and spikes are still there, but less wild. The associated colour orange also returns - and even makes its way into his business wardrobe, as he is back to wearing neckties instead of bowties.

That aside, we mainly see him in his work attire as the boss of his own tech company: White shirt with the orange tie and a closed collar (short-sleeved in Summer, long-sleeved in Autumn), black pants + brown belt, black business shoes.

And once again: Depending on his surroundings, the difference in how he presents himself is still intact to some degree: The outfit is still the same, but once he's just with his friends, shirt and pants appear to be wider again, whereas they seem to be more tailored once he is in "business mode" - this can be seen in particular in The Beginning, where he function as PR Digimon expert and gives interviews to the media.

Long story short: He kept his dichotomy alive for the majority of the series.

The epilogue, age 38:

Even the epilogue shows us that he could never give up the wide, collared shirts (wide collar, no tie, pulled out of the pants!) in nature tones after all. The most notable part here is probably the hair - not only did he grow it out to the point that the spikes vanished almost completely (aside from the long, pointy bangs), but he apparently managed to FINALLY get the side-parting going after all.

Final thoughts (and a few headcanons):

I've once conducted a whole post on how I felt like Koushirou broke a few gender stereotypes in interesting ways for a series that was created in the 1990s and early 2000s (and not only because he was the only male character who basically never had a male voice actor or because 02 basically turned him into "the mom" of the group). I feel like it's no coincidence that his arc and the way it is portrayed actually speaks to a lot of people who consider themselves as neurodivergent, non-binary or trans. It's a story of self-acceptance, about someone who used to question his whereabouts, who didn't know where he came from, who he was. He didn't consider himself to have much "worth" aside from being a human extension of his laptop and also tended to mask his insecurities (at least in front of his parents) with a polite and very correct demeanour.

The way fashion is interwoven into it all may not have been conducted perfectly, but the fact that it is tied to self-discovery still leaves room for interpretations and headcanons. While his personal clothing style has always been rather "boyish" (and not feminine in the slightest), him gravitating towards oversized clothing in private settings while conforming (!) to a very correct and neat dressing style for important occasions still is a curious contrast in this regard. Hiding behind his computer, hiding behind a software to tell him how to dress (and being uncomfortable going shopping physically), hiding his generally slender body behind (mostly) wide clothing because he may - or may not - experience something along the lines of gender-dysphoria is a headcanon that a lot of people can relate to. Especially if you take Tri overall as a metaphor for him figuring out "his preferences" (in both sexuality and gender and thus the scene in which he looks at a kimono - presumably made by Sora - will forever live rent-free in my head, especially because it is a more feminine piece this time).

In the end, it can all be just a matter of perspective - the most likely explanation is that he simply prefers comfort in private settings, but can easily adjust towards a "serious business mode" whenever the situation requires it. Through the course of the series, you may argue that the characters that had the most influence on his casual style were Taichi (layers), Mimi and Takeru (being a little more experimental). On the other hand, you may also take Tri as your average "the nerd cannot talk to women and doesn't know how to dress, so he makes disastrous choices" trope and call it a day. But personally, I feel like, since Koushirou does have obvious preferences that are mostly consistent, it really is more a period of self-exploration. And like I said before: I wish the outspoken conclusion for him had been: "As long as you feel comfortable, you can wear whatever you want."

[theyanderespecialist]

Base Yandere Lord Dimitrescu Headcanons (Genderbent Lady Dimitrescu) (Resident Evil Village)

[Hello, My Sexy Muffins! Welcome back to another chapter! In this chapter it is Lord Daddy Dimitrescu as a yandere, he is the genderbent of Lady Dimitrescu. The Artwork I have for this is on Tumblr, wattpad, youtube, etc. I own it as I commissioned it. I hope you all enjoy this chapter here!]

(Disclaimer: Lord Daddy Dimitrescu is the genderbent version of Lady Dimitrescu, and he is not yandere in canon as her. This is just for fun and not to be taken seriously at all. Simping for fictional characters is fine, just do not be gross or illegal about it. Also, rule 63 is if there is a female character on the internet it has a male version and vice versa. Also, Also, remember to separate fiction from reality and headcanon from canon! Yanderes are not ideal partners to have in real life. NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY ARE MOMMIES AND DADDIES AND OR HOT LOL)

But let's be honest if Daddy D was yandere for me I would DROP EVERYTHING For this man!

Still, yanderes are not ideal… poo…

(Once Again, Enjoy this!)

-Base Yandere Lord Dimitrescu Headcanons-

.Lord Daddy D (yes that is what I am going to call him in this and you cannot stop me XD) is one of the four lords.

.You are the child of the local tavern owner in the village.

.You were to take Lord Dimitrescu's wine from him to transport out of town, this is how you met the lord.

.Instantly he wanted you, and he would have you.

.You would be a good partner and parent to his daughters.

.He wanted to keep you and he will.

.He now would come down to the tavern very often. Where he would see you working as a waiter at your father's tavern.

.You were a dutiful child and he could not wait to have you. To taste you in more than one way~

.He obviously has an excitement for how large he is compared to you.

.His sheer size, he could use you like a toy on his manhood.

.The idea alone excites him.

.Also he could make love to you standing up lifting you up and down on him.

.Almost wrapping a hand around half of your waist.

. Your size to him is something he likes very much.

.It makes him the more dominant one and is able to make you his easily.

.As a yandere he is very possessive and controlling and demanding.

.You belong to him and you should do as he says when he says it.

.You will be his nice little spouse for him.

.He has a daddy kink

.So he would be fatherly to you and guide you as a caretaker a lot of the time.

.He is also the type of yandere that will love to worship your body over and over making love to you until you pass out.

.To make you feel like you might shatter upon him.

.He is also very rough with you in the bedroom.

.able to make you cry out in delight and come undone upon him.

.He can be also a bit of a jealous yandere.

.He wants to be your one and only.

.If any other man or woman defiled you then they will be killed.

.If you were with anyone else besides him he would punish you.

.You should have none better and been a good future spouse and waited for him. Even though you did not know he would want you.

.Once he does punish you and kills all that have been with you.

.He will claim you, marking you as his and his alone, so no one will ever be able to have a claim on you again.

.He will most likely brand you with his house crest and carve his name into your collarbone.

.So everyone knows that you are his and belong to him and him alone.

.You will be moved to the castle to be his bed warmer and future spouse.

.Only his daughters and him could speak to you.

.If you tried to run the villagers are more than willing to capture you again and to bring you back to him.

.Where you would be punished by him for daring to leave then he will make love with you for days on end until you know your place with your future husband.

.He deals with rivals by torturing them and throwing them into the dungeon.

.You will be a good partner for him, he will make sure of it.

.He confesses to you by having a candlelit dinner.

.It is beyond romantic, if you say yes, you will be expected to marry him in post haste.

.If you say no, well he will threaten your family.

.He was a lord, what would your father do if he tavern was closed.

.If you still say no he will just have your father give him your hand that way you cannot say no.

.In the end you will marry him, it is just better for you if you are willing.

.He will hold your family over your head and you will be forced to marry him.

.To become his spouse and to warm his bed. If possible to carry his seed and give him more children.

.He will not stop until you are his mark his words.

.You belong to house Dimitrescu, you belong to Lord Daddy D.

(Now should there a mini-series of Vampire lord Daddy D >:3

[YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS I hope that you all enjoyed this and stay sexy all of my sexy muffins!]

[writingquestionsanswered]

i'm currently trying to write a story with second chance trope. the story is about a friend group since childhood of 2 girls and 4 boys. the female mc and the male mc were developing feelings for each other, then the male mc left the country without telling anyone. after 3 years of no contact, he comes back. naturally, the female mc has a lot of pent up resentment towards him but she still has romantic feelings for him.

so, any tips on writing a second chance romance?

Second Chance Romance

There are five really important keys to writing a good second chance romance:

1 - Create a Sense of What Was - Even if the story starts after that first relationship (or almost relationship) ended, it's important to give the reader a sense of what that relationship was like. What drew them to one another initially? What were their interactions like? What strengthened their bond? You can paint this picture using a combination of flashbacks, memories recalled in exposition, memories recalled in dialogue, having the character look at photos or video, comparing present experiences with past ones, or even through snippets in dreams.

2 - Be Clear About What Went Wrong - The reader can't root for a second chance if they don't understand what went wrong the first time around. Specific to your story, you'll need to address not only why this character suddenly left the country without telling anyone and without contact, but how they rationalized the negative impact it would have on this person they were beginning to develop a relationship with.

3 - Be Clear About What Went Right - Sometimes relationships fail, even if their foundations are good, but that second go round isn't plausible unless there was something worth going back to. So, not only is it important to be clear about what was good about the relationship when you illustrate it in retrospect, you'll also have to show us those things are still there--or have the potential to be.

4 - Illustrate What Changed - The relationship failed for a reason. Whether there was hurt involved, poor timing, wanting different things, or some other obstacle to progress. So, you can't give this couple a plausible shot at a second chance unless you show us how the obstacles were removed or overcome. In the case of your story specifically, not only will you need to address why the character left in the first place, but why they chose to come home, and how they make amends for disappearing without notice or contact.

5 - Rebuild Relationship Upon Old and New - I like to think of it like this: imagine the concrete slab foundation of a house. This is what the couple built together in round one. But when they parted, the foundation was damaged in places (the amount of damage obviously depends on what caused the split.) When they meet up again, the foundation is still there, it's just got the old damaged parts and a lot of erosion from time and weathering. But it's there. So as they work through what went wrong and patch up their friendship, they patch up the damage from their split. Then, as they get to know each other again and the friendship reestablishes itself, the foundation gets cleaned back up and brought back up to pristine. And from there, they can build the walls of their healthy relationship.

Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[hotdaemondtargaryen]

GAYLE RANKIN TALKING ABOUT ALYS RIVERS IN EPISODE 4 OF ‘HOUSE OF THE DRAGON’ S2.

DID YOU READ THE ALYS RIVERS PORTIONS OF FIRE AND BLOOD?

"The first audition, I did not know who I was auditioning to play."

"I was auditioning to play 'AR.' And then I was kind of told who it was, and I was able to go into the book and read the portions, which are really fascinating."

"There’s so much hearsay and back and forth about Alys from so many different perspectives — mostly male perspectives, too — about who she is, what she is, where she comes from, what she’s going to do, and what she’s not going to do."

"It made me so excited."

BEYOND THE TEXT, DID YOU FIND INSPIRATION FROM ANYWHERE TO HELP CREATE YOUR VERSION OF ALYS?

"Absolutely. I’m from Scotland originally, so I really felt strongly that I wanted her to be Celtic, like Scottish, where I’m from generally."

"I found that to be really interesting because it was like this pagan aspect with that."

"The other option would be for her to be English, and there’s not that many Scottish characters."

"Beesbury was Scottish, but no one in the House Strong is Scottish, so what are we saying about her relationship to Harrenhal and being a member of the Strong household?"

"I enjoyed adding that part of my own heritage to the character because I thought it really helped with specificity in terms of the pagan aspect of her craft and also grounding her."

"It also made her more mysterious because it’s like, wait, where’s she from? It was like a jumping-off point, and Ryan [Condal] and everybody at HBO were really excited about me using my own accent."

"I think it gives her this unique power in some ways because she is untouchable and doesn’t have a familial lineage."

"It also makes her vulnerable, too, because she’s out there in Harrenhal on her own for years."

"What’s she been doing? Where did she come from? — I have a backstory as an actor."

"That’s kind of my process, and that huge part of it for me to really ground her and make her a real woman."

HOW WOULD YOU RANK HER POWER COMPARED TO THE DRAGONS AND WHAT SHE MIGHT BE HOLDING IN?

"I think what’s interesting, and if you’ve read the books, where Alys ends up is in a pretty powerful position."

"Prophecy is like the missing piece to take over the throne."

"Prophecy and magic and witchcraft and that kind of power have amazing brute force."

"Dragons are magical in their own way, but there’s something about being able to manipulate and understand and know things about the world."

"It’s kind of speaking to a bigger theme inside the story, which is that it’s an extremely female-centric power story."

"The fact that these women know things and know how to do things, and they aren’t being helped or respected, like Mysaria and Alicent and obviously Rhaenyra."

"These women know what they’re doing."

"They know, and Alys definitely has another kind of knowing."

"I think it’s cool to add that to the pot."

ALYS HAS ONLY INTERACTED WITH DAEMON SO FAR. WHAT DOES SHE WANT FROM HIM?

"I think as much as Alys is in charge, there’s also something bigger that’s at play."

"I think she knows that, and it kind of allows her, weirdly, to be with Daemon in this experience."

"I think we’re going to start to, hopefully, get to see them actually interact."

"As much as Alys has all this power, there are things about her that she wants and desires and has her eye toward."

"There’s a long game, I think, for this character."

"My interpretation and hope to get through is that she also has a human yearning and yearns for human connection."

"I think someone with a lot of power like that, who’s been alone for a long time, how is that going to play out when they get to spend time with a human being?"

SHE TOLD DAEMON THAT SHE'S ‘NO SO BAD’ ONCE YOU GET TO KNOW HER. THAT WAS A REALLY HUMAN MOMENT IN THE MIDST OF THIS OTHERWORDLY EXPERIENCE AT HARRENHAL.

"She desires to be known, I think, and that’s really interesting that she desires to be known by the scariest motherfucker around."

"She’s kind of here for it."

"There’s something really progressive about that because the thing about Alys is she’s able to see something in Daemon that’s important to be seen."

"She’s fearless."

"I think when you wait around for 400 years, when you get an opportunity to get involved in your life for your purpose, which I think Daemon is a part of her life and her purpose, like, go for it."

"She’s going for it."

IN EPISODE 3, SHE TOLD DAEMON THAT HE'D ‘DIE’ AT HARRENHAL. DID SHE SAY IT AS A WARNING OR JUST A FACT?

"I think it’s good that we’re asking that question because I think that exposes a lot about her."

"I don’t think she knows really how Daemon is going to play out in her life."

"As much as she knows everything, I don’t know if Alys knows everything, you know? I think there’s a learning happening with her, too."

"I think there’s warning, there’s fact, there’s empathy, there’s power dynamic playing out."

DO YOU THINK ALL OF HER POWER IS CONTAINED AT HARRENHAL? IS THAT SOMETHING YOU'VE THOUGHT ABOUT?

"I’m sure it’s something that she’s thought about."

"I think it’s something that she’s probably worried about and excited about and challenged by."

"I think that’s an exciting question for the show because, ultimately, it doesn’t seem like it is, but I don’t know if she knows that."

"I don’t know how that would change her."

WHAT CAN YOU TEASE ABOUT WHAT'S NEXT FOR ALYS REGARDING HER DYNAMIC WITH DAEMON? IT FEELS LIKE WE'RE AT A TIPPING POINT AFTER THE HALLUCINATIONS AND VISIONS.

"I think that’s what’s interesting is that there is a tipping point."

"What happens? How do power dynamics start to shift? — Hopefully, the audience will be hungry to see how we are going to start finding out more about Alys and there might be potential for that."

I WANTED TO POINT OUT THAT DAEMON JUST ACCEPTED THAT CUP OF WHATEVER ALYS WAS BREWING IN EPISODE 4, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. HE DIDN'T SEEM SCARED BY IT, AS IF THERE WAS A CERTAIN TRUST THERE.

"There’s something quite comforting about their dynamic."

"I think no one has ever challenged Daemon, and it’s interesting how Alys kind of flip flops between maternal energy and friend energy and kind of a little sexual tension, and any different kind of tools she has but also things that she wants to experiment with."

AEMOND AND ALYS HAVE A VERY PROMINENT RELATIONSHIP IN FIRE & BLOOD. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN SAY ABOUT THEM POSSIBLY MEETING THIS SEASON?

"I can’t."

"I think my whole thing with talking about Alys and talking about the journey is I think patience is going to be a really… I think it’s going to pay off because I think all of these things are so informative of one another."

[sharks-sharks-sharks]

Why are people on the arcane subreddit being low-key hated on for shipping Jayvik?

"They see eachother as brothers!" neither of them have ever said that they see the other one as a brother. (edit: Jayce did once, but comparatively to the other close male friendships that is not a lot.)

"We need more representation of men friendships that display intimacy without making it gay" okay that's extremely true, but like, no offence, the writers and animators made it queer, Jay displays more intimacy with Viktor in the last episode than he did with Mel the entire show tbh, without them even kissing/having sex, and I see that as something that implies more that friendship.

"Caitlyn and Vi are already queer so if they wanted to make Jay and Viktor canon they could but they didn't" it doesn't really what the show creators think/do with the story, that's the point of shipping, it's fun to explore the characters in a different context to the original source or to interpret them relationships differently within the sour or even place two characters who don't even interact together for funsies.

Obviously I'm not saying that people need to ship Jayvik, and the first two points, without the rude context, are valid in the same way reasons shipping them are. What I'm saying is that it's kinda shitty to hate on people for shipping something that isn't weird or gross in some way. Anyways, sorry I felt like complaining and this was too complicated for me to format for my usual complaining site.

[buzzybee26]

Chainsaw Man is to shounen manga fans what The Boys (the show) is to Western superhero fans

It's pretty easy to miss the point of both due to the culture surrounding them and as a result they both get a lot praise and hate from people who don't really understand what's going on.

Chainsaw Man gets this in its depiction of Denji's hypersexuality and how it is used to manipulate and abuse him, with a lot of people taking it as a fantasy and either writing the series off because of it or taking a "god I wish that were me" kind of approach to it. Denji is very much a victim of various forms of sexual abuse and the manga expects the reader to be able to figure this out because it is incredibly obvious, but due to general perception around male victims of sexual assault as well as tropes within shounen manga surrounding perverted male characters, this is often overlooked. The result of this is people glorifying abusers like Makima and Himeno whilst others look down on Denji as a figure similar to Mineta from my Hero or Kazuya from Rent a Girlfriend. I remember before I watched and read Chainsaw Man that someone told it's just about a guy who wants to touch boobs and I stayed away from it for a while, but having now read it, that is very incorrect.

Meanwhile, The Boys gets this misunderstanding in its politics. The show is pretty obviously a big satire of right wing politics (and a lot of other things as well, but I don't have energy for that), and yet it has a pretty big right wing audience who firmly believe that it upholds their beliefs. People genuinely watch this show and think Homelander is the protagonist. I've even seen people who haven't watched The Boys actively avoiding it due to its far right audience, dismissing it as something that must glorify those beliefs in order to have that audience. If you actually watch the show, it's pretty easy to see that this is not the case, and yet this audience still exists because the show trusts you to figure out who they're making fun of.

I'm comparing the two for two reasons. The first is that I believe these misunderstandings come from a similar place in the culture surrounding their respective mediums and genres (shounen manga and western superheros). The second is that both pieces of media actually do a very good job depicting this misunderstanding within their contents.

Denji is consistently abused by older women around him and the story acknowledges this, but the characters kind of don't in a lot of cases. The best example I can think of is when the gang just lets a drunk Himeno carry him back to her apartment and then Power being surprised that they didn't have sex. Bear in mind that Himeno is in her mid twenties and Denji is sixteen. The only person who mentions how strange this is is Himeno herself and even then she brushes it off as her being relieved that she isn't going to jail. This being a potential case of abuse towards Denji gets very little mention and the consequences of that abuse for Denji are written off by the characters. There's also early dialogue between Aki and Makima where Aki focuses on Denji's sexual tendencies to insult him, missing how Makima is using those tendencies to manipulate him. This is mirrored by the real life people reading this manga that I talked about earlier.

The Boys is a much simpler case here (also I'm tired and want to finish writing this). Homelander, despite being a massive cunt, is still gaining a large following within the the world of the Boys. It mirrors how figures like Trump gain their followings, obviously, but it's also reflective of real life fans of The Boys who back Homelander and think he is the protagonist.

In truth, I just wanted to rant about some seemingly controversial pieces of media that I love, but I do think the specific ways that people misunderstand these series is very interesting. The contents of these misunderstandings is very different, but the ways they come about and their depictions within their respective pieces of media ring very similar to me.

[beifong-brainrot]

https://www.tumblr.com/ben-talks-art/768764373186625536/motivations?source=share

What is your opinion? (it's a bit long if you don't want to read I would understand)

But it talks about the motivations in the legends of Korra and the characters

Well, on one hand I find myself partially agreeing with some of OP's points on the other hand, I disagree in some points too. It's true that atla is much more character driven than tlok. They are still bound by the main plot, but the multitude of side episodes allow us to focus more on developing the characters.

Tlok doesn't have this, with averagely 13 episodes per season to atla's average of 20 per season. This, obviously does not give us as much time to focus on the characters and develop a plot at the same time. Tlok will hint towards backstories and things going on under the surface, but rarely go deeper. I may think that's why so much of the additional materials

So let's revise the character 'motivations' OP outlines in their post

Actually, Korra wants to be the Avatar because she has never known anything else. Remember, she was scooped up as a wee lil kiddo by the White Lotus and raised to be the Avatar. This is told and shown to us multiple times in the show. And it's something that causes a lot of her difficulties socially and emotionally.

Mako's main motivation at the beginning of the show is to keep himself and Bolin afloat, while also keeping their slates clean. Over the show we see Mako struggle to build his life out further than caring for his life and that of Bolin's.

Bolin wants to help because he bases his self worth on the opinion of those around him due to his childhood coping mechanisms. He struggles to find his place in the world, after so many years of slipping through the cracks.

Asami's motivations vary from trying to do the right thing in opposition to her father and trying to keep her family's company afloat in the first two seasons. Seasons 3 and 4 clearly play into Asami's crush on Korra and if you think that being a pining sapphic isn't enough to drive a character through the plot, you don't know sapphics.

The lack of overaching plot for all the seasons is what causes the character motivations to vary from season to season and I think the charcters suffer from the disjointed nature of the show.

But I think there's something so compelling in the characters of tlok. Korra, Asami, Mako and Bolin are all young people finding their place in the world, struggling to establish themselves. Rather than the Gaang, who have cleraly established goals and motives, the Krew are messy, lost. They feel, maybe not more relatable or real than the Gaang, but the speak to me more as a young adult struggling with many similar issues.

I always hated the general consensus that the point of Korra was to be humbled, and I don't think that was really something expected of her until Book 3. But this once again goes back to OP sorta completely missing the fact that Korra was raised in a compound with no social life, no alternative to being the Avatar, no social skills.

If you were to compare Aang and Korra's backstories, I'd phrase it as: Aang is a person first, Avatar second. While Korra is the Avatar first and a person second.

Korra makes mistakes, she's cocky and rash, but this really isn't a criminal offence, it's what peopke love from Toph and man male characters. And so up to season 3, Korra's arc mainly surrounds her struggling with balancing her life and feelings as a teen with being the Avatar, and the expectations placed upon her.

And then season 3 happens and this strange trend of Korra getting completely beaten down and humiliated, until she 'realises she's not all that' as OP put it, and comes out 'changed for better'.

For a while, I had many questions about this change. Why this sudden switch? And what made Korra more worthy of being 'humbled' than Toph, or male characters lime Zuko and Sokka?

Well, if you allow me to theorise, Korra was an outspoken, confident, if not a bit socially stunted, teen girl of colour (who wasn't east asian), arguably one of the most relentlessly put down demographics. Look back to how people treated Katara!

Season 3 is just about the time the opinion about Korra solidified in the fandom. A lot of people saw her as a bitch, overly cocky, a mary sue, and many other things. And I wouldn't be surprised if the creators took notice of this and decided to please the fans by essentially beating Korra into a smaller, more tepid version of herself. Which is somehow better. Don't get me wrong, it was a relatively nicely done arc... but I just can't not see the implications of beating the shit out of a teen brown girl until she loses confidence and spirit and for a largely white audience to celebrate that as a good arc.

This won't be the first time I theorised something was done purely to placate the fans. This is especially jarring. People complained about the Gaang being sidelined in the show that isn't about them, so B3 and B4 feature shoehorned in guest appearances from Toph and Zuko. A lot of people felt bad for Bolin having shitty luck with women so B3 gave him a contrived, milquetoast heterosexual romance (and Opal is like my fave female character of the show. She was wasted as Bo's love interest).

But Korra's motivation throughout the show stays the same, despite what OP thinks.

I'm surprised that this is OP's conclusion, since just a few paragraphs earlier, the seemed to easily grasp that Tenzin's motivation was to 'live up to the hype of his dad and fulfill his job as the only air master in the world'. Because this is extremely similar to what Korra's motivation is. She also, like Tenzin, wants to fulfil the duty that was instilled in her since she was a child, and she wants to live up to Aang's legacy, and continue his goals.

Korra: See, I'm still in training, but, look, all I know is Avatar Aang meant for this city to be the center of peace and balance in the world, and I believe we can make his dream a reality. I look forward to serving you!

It's literally in the fucking intro, Korra mirroring the pose of the towering starue of Aang as she tries to measure up to his legacy.

I'll agree with OP that the characters have less agency than the characters of atla and that does often leave a sour taste in my mouth, since it deprives them of important moments of character development. Though the example OP gives is odd, because I think they misremembered the plot of "the Revelation".

And I know this may come off as nitpicky, but I think it's important to clarify that Bolin wasn't trying to spy on Amon. He was trying to make enough money for the Krew to pay the entrance fee for the Probending Championship, you know, the thing thar could get the brothers out of poverty. Bolin was hired to act as muscle for the Triple Threat Triad.

This is an interesting character moment for Bolin, because, while it is presented in his typical goofy fashion, it shows that Bolin is willing to return to a very dark period of his and Mako's lives. With the added bonus context that Republic City hustle gives us of Bolin being the one to initiate the brothers leaving crime behind them to be probenders, it really shows how much Bolin is teying to return the favour Mako did to him by sheltering him from the worst parts of their life on the streets.

[People will talk up and down about Mako sacrificing himself to destroy the mech but I don't see enough credit for Bo throwing himself between his brother and friends and flowing lava.]

That episode is also one of the only times Mako and Bolin's background is treated with any seriousness. Mako gives us a very compelling and interesting backstory of them being orphans forced to live on the streets and mingle with criminals. Tragically this thread is rarely elavorated on, as Mako and Bolin's trayic childhood is often only alluded to, if not reduced to outright jokes.

It's sad to see such an interesting dynamic be placed on the backburner, though perhaps it was a blessing in disguise for them, looking at how people treated Katara even daring to mention her dead mother every few episodes.

This is once again a passage I partially agree with and don't. The Krew do have meaningful backstories, they just didn't really often get moments like the atla characters to sit down and tell you about them. We often have to work off context clues and throwaway lines to form an idea. I personally enjoy this format because it makes me feel like that one meme of the guy with the corkboard and red thread, but I can understand why peopke wouldn't like that, especially if they're coming from atla, which is a show that, while having it's subtler arcs, often explains outright what is going on, how people are feeling, what their past was.

I do agree that the characters being made to bend to the plot makes them feel less enjoyable, but I also understand that it was a necessity with the much shorter runtime of the seasons. I wish we'd gotten more of the characters getting to exist as people, like atla, since I find the Krew genuinely compelling and loveable, despite the low opinion a lot of people have of them.

Tlok is a show that isn't able to give you filler episodes like "The beach", or character motivated ones like "Sokka's Master", or even side quest esque ones like "The Blue Spirit". This does deal a huge blow to the characters, and it leaves us with having to scrape up crumbs, when we previously were handed big ole bread loaves of character development.

I still love picking up on the small nods and clues given to us by the creators, but I understand that for most viewers, especially the young teens who first watched the show, wouldn't really 'get it'.

I think, as OPs grievances of minimal agency of the characters and the show being more plot driven are valid. But the characters did have solid and compelling backstories and motivations to be explored, they were just too restrained by the show's runtime, studio meddling and possibly attempting to please the fans to be focused on as much as atla did.

And it's a crying shame really, beacause now you have to be an overanalytical and weirdly motivated freak to find the really good parts of the show that should've been centrestage or elaborated on.

[tocomplainfriend]

Funny thing (not really) I’ve noticed is that Viv has always fetishized m/m relationships. There’s obviously Stolitz, but it goes back way further. There’s Addison from Zoophobia being shipped with a guy who works at his high school, but to mention that Viv has drawn NSFW of them despite Addison canonically being a minor. There’s also Autumn and Rusty, the former whom gets bullied by Rusty cause Rusty is secretly in the closet. Ten years later and she’s still weird about m/m relationships.

TW: fetishizing Queerness

I tried to search a little for Addison's age. In the wiki, that I know Viv did not write it says he is 18, other post say 17- there are people saying the age got changed too? I know almost nothing to zoophobia- if anyone knows about this claim, share your knowledge and importantly evidence of the age thing in specific? I do know about those snake drawings. And also was Viv 19? Have no clue-so I'm not gonna super talk about it without knowledge.

About the Rusty thing, I don't think Viv is a good enough writer (of relationships especially, cause Stolitz mainly) to pull that relationship or story. I don't think she can pull the idea of the closeted bully, purely by the fact that she doesn't understand or acknowledge the problems Stolitz has. If she needs to put down characters to make Stolas seems better and try to justify the power imbalance. I don't think she could write this if she wanted to. This closeted gay bully is such an old trope, too. I think the worst you can do (also as a non-amazing writer) is actually tried to make a romance out of it? Cause a lot of these tropes are more like "HAHA THE BULLY IS GAY HAHAHA", rather than "aww the bully was just sad and gay all along". I don't like it. (also this includes when the bully doesn't bully his romantic interest)

A lot of problems in mlm stuff Vivziepop does is similar to those Yaoi fetishization shit. Where there are also power imbalance. Also, this treatment of the characters like Moxxie? Like he is bi, and with Millie- and his treatment is so shitty. The hole thing of MILLIE PEGS MOXXIE, and that funny cause is less manly of him? Or where the succubus sexually assault them and that is funny??? (that one is not even Blitz being an asshole to him, it's made to act funny). As soon there is something viewed as feminine from him, the show makes fun of him. His feminine appearance in Unhappy campers also leads to make fun of him. Where he is the most vulnerable and insecure is that episode. He is more objectified in a feminine appearance.

Just the entirety of Stolitz is literally a lot of yaoi-sh problems. Also, I do see a lot of red flags in how they wrote Fizz and Asmo'. Because Fizz was insecure af, that he needed the approval of Mammon as an imp. Mammon was using the power that he had over Fizz to use him to get money. He got his approval from Asmo another sin in a higher position of power. (The power imbalance is not the problem vibes). Plus, The Big dominant protector and the sub small uwu cure relationship. Fizz, compared to the first time he appeared, he is so vulnerable and acts so cutesy. Like, the confidence he had during the S1, disappeared so bad. Acting so nice to Glitz and Glam, felt like cutting out all attitude to "uke-fing" him into needing a savior. They make him so powerless

Fizz, a quad amputee, was put in a vulnerable situation related to his trauma and where he lost all his limbs and horns. All to make Blitz "redeem" himself and make them friends again... THAT SUCKS.

Also, there was the fact of how over-sexual all the male mlm characters are, too. Like, Chaz was so much more sexual than Verosika as a succubus.

IT JUST SUCKS.

[netscapenavigator-official]

Honestly, I feel like the team at IO Interactive has to be a little gayer than average.

Because I feel like most games of HITMAN’s premise and demographic have a very… Family Guy attitude towards jokes about minorities. Like, you can tell when a game has been catered to cishet men by cishet men.

But not the HITMAN: WOA trilogy, for some reason. Like there’s a lot of dialogue that hints at 47 having outwardly gay vibes, to the point characters comment on it. Also, most of the unsolicited compliments for 47’s body and clothes come from the male NPCs. That kinda tongue-in-cheek joking that even remotely infers that their main male lead might be anything but 100% a macho straight man isn’t something every game studio is willing to do, and I appreciate that IOI isn’t afraid to joke about 47 maybe being a little fruity.

And to me, 47 is such a blank character, that even his neutrality feels like a +1 queer in a sea of games where the main male leads are very obviously straight-coded in a way that will appease the woke-panic, angry straight men who play the games and always assume the worse in everything.

Idk. Like, the HITMAN: WOA trilogy isn’t a Gaymer’s dream, but the way it deals with “dark” humor for minorities feels… more sincere compared to something like the GTA franchise which often likes to take the edgier route.

The HITMAN: WOA trilogy definitely has “dark” humor targeted at minorities… but it feels like it comes from a place of love, which is how you make “dark” humor really land for everybody, so it’s something I kinda appreciate. It’s not something you see in all games of HITMAN’s caliber.

[unreadpoppy]

bg3, infographics, misogyny and you

Preface: this is a long ass post that I wrote some many weeks ago, and that because of some stuff I've seen, I'm compelled to finally post it. It's very like a spurn of the moment thing, not extremely well thoght out but I still think it's relevant.

.

Recently, a few people have posted some, in my opinion, really insightful infographics showing the difference in content to how many works (in AO3) there are to the female characters vs the male characters of BG3 and I've been thinking about how it relates to fandom in general, but also...everything.

As a quick rundown, what happens is: almost all of the female characters have a lot less content when compared to their male counterparts (at least writing wise). And I think this is a great moment to stop and think on why is that.

There's a lot of point to begin with but I want to begin with something larger and that is the society most of us are raised in. Obviously, I can't speak for everyone, but I think it's fair to say that most people grew up in places that had its fair share of sexism and give it or take, that does shape how we view the world.

I'll speak from my own experience. Even thought I had a mostly liberal upbriging, I went to a very conservative school and when I was growing up, I saw a lot of videos on youtube that anaylized media in what i can only describe as "god forbid women do anything". Video after video, I saw people commenting on how x female character was a mary sue, how she made no sense and ruined the plot, so many video essays on the """strong female character trope"""" that would end up just enforcing gender roles again. And I'll be honest, this DID affect how viewed female characters.

The best example I can give of this is with bg3 itself. There was one day that I stopped and realized that Minthara was the first time I ever obsessed over a fem character as much as any male character. And the second thought I had after this was 'oh my god why???'

Why did I always cater more to the male characters than I did to the female ones, when most of the times, I liked a lot as well?

I'd like to point out that I've seen the topic of "Most fic authors are cis straight women" being brought up a lot and frankly, I'm not the biggest fan of it. First, because I think it's overall a very...heteronormative way of seeing stuff and it's assuming a lot of stuff that puts a sour taste on my mouth (as a queer woman myself, I really don't like that implication but that's on me). Second, because saying that 'obviously women are going to write more about men' feels very...weird. Third, I just think that this argument fails to really question the why of it all and gives too simple an answer to something is anything but.

One can make the argument that these female characters are written differently than the men, and yes that is true and it's even historical (I wrote a whole project on the invisibility of women in theater through the ages and a lot of it has to do with how women were written, but that's a story for another time).

But I don't think that's true for all cases. It's easy to blame an imaginary writer's room than question that you might have internal biases.

Because at least it's what happened to me. I grew up hearing how female characters were inferior to the male characters and it affected how I viewed them. It's something I had to stop and reevalute and it led me to appreciate characters I once loathed.

And it sucks to realize that. It sucks to realize that even as a woman myself, I was not immune to commiting sexism, that I hadn't fully outgrown the shit I saw as a kid. Does that make me a bad person? No. You're not to blame for being raised in a way that leads you to have certain prejudices.

But it doesn't mean you can't do anything about it.

And no, the solution is not to suddenly go write a bunch of femslash. Because no one is saying that you should feel ashamed for writing more for men, or forcing you to like female characters. But, I ask you to do something much simpler.

Think on the why. Why, even when we love female characters, we don't show them as much love as we do to the male ones. Why we might feel more compelled to write for the men than for the women. Because sometimes it's questioning ourselves that we can find something about us we didn't know and change how we engage with media.

And you can brush this off as just fandom stuff, but I think it does, in some ways, also reflect a bit on how we act as whole as a society. Hell, writing this whole thing made me think of how the way I was raised still interferes with my own sexuality (which is a very personal topic for me to get on here but it was worth mentioning). What I'm trying to say is that sometimes something small is an easier way for us to understand the bigger, systemic issues around us.

I know that it sounds like there's nothing to be done cause fandoms have always been like this. But, personally, this sort of conformity to the norm causes more harm then good. Things won't change unless you decide to do something about it. And the good thing about fandom is that it's small enough that doing literally anything can create some impact than, I don't know, trying to solve big, real life societal issues.

This is getting long so I'm gonna try to wrap this up quickly. No one is shaming you if you write or obsesses more or even care more about male characters than you do female ones. I just ask you to think about it and be honest with yourself. Because then maybe, just maybe, next time you engage with another media, you might end up enjoying a female character much more and obsessing over them just as much.

[cassiebones]

Character Analysis: Jennifer Kale

Jen Kale has such a tragic history, just like the rest of them.

I, at first, had thought that she was pretty young compared to the rest of them, but she was already an established midwife by the 1850's (when the Obstetrics thing came about; yes, I googled) and so I believe she probably already had about a century's worth of experience before that. She probably watched the babies she helped birth grow up before her eyes. She watched their whole lives. I wonder how many of them knew who she was and used her as their own midwife.

I had a thought that she might have been Agatha's midwife, which explains how she was the only one who knew about Agatha's son, but she probably would have remembered who Rio is (though it may have been by design that nobody knew about Rio). I'm not sure, but it would explain the history between her and Agatha.

Regardless, I think she and Agatha have some kind of contentious past. Maybe Agatha was trying to build another coven, but Jen caught wind of what happened to previous covens of Agatha and dipped out.

Then she started to hear more rumors about Agatha's escapades and believed them. Because Agatha was known to be a witch-killer. So she wouldn't put it past this witch to trade her own child for a book of dark magic.

And obviously part of her trust issues come from that invitation to impart her knowledge on a society of male obstetrics who she thought recognized her intelligence and respected her. It's probably really hard to trust after going through something like that; it's probably equally as easy to believe all the bad things you hear about somebody universally acknowledged to be a bad person in general. And then to actually witness Agatha's callousness for herself?

But, at the same time, Agatha praised her knowledge during the first trial. She acknowledged that Jen is a smart person. That, while her power was taken from her, Jen still knows a lot of shit. And she uses that intelligence to her advantage (and, unfortunately, to her detriment at times.) Jen is also the person that Agatha looks to when Teen gets hurt, knowing that if anybody could save him, it would be Jen. She trusts Jen in that moment, and it makes Jen trust in herself, despite her bindings.

I think we're all in agreement that all the witches are some flavor of queer, right? I actually just googled and Jen is canonically bisexual, so a win for the lgbtq+! I feel like maybe she had romantic interest in Agatha in the past, but realized that Agatha was so emotionally unavailable as to be a non-starter.

And then there's the killing witches thing.

Like Agatha, I think Jen tries to come off as more confident than she really is. She acts a bit catty to combat the self-doubt, lashes out at those around her. She is definitely suspicious of everybody when she first meets them, though she tries to act "nice" or polite.

I hope that she makes it through the road (despite last night's episode ending) and that she is able to unbind herself. And I hope the man that bound her is buried somewhere awful and that he's being tortured a lot.

Speaking of the man who bound her; do you think he might have had some kind of infatuation or did he hear about this incredibly talented black woman and immediately go "that's a witch; gotta stop her" and then found out she was a midwife (somebody who ferries new lives into this world and does a Very Important Job) and was like, we cannot allow this to continue?

Remember that Jennifer was likely living in the North during slavery. She was working a job that was well-respected and was invited to Boston, where she still would have been free and probably well-respected in her career. She also came from a long line of root workers, which are essentially healers.

And god forbid a woman have interests and talents. Especially in those times.

Jennifer came off as a bully in last night's episode, but I don't believe that to be the whole story. Maybe she was influenced by something. Maybe it was all Agatha's horrifying hallucination. Maybe Jen was just acting out of fear.

Regardless, she is just as multi-faceted and three-dimensional as the rest of them and I have trust that Jac will show that in future episodes.

Only four more to go!

[prince-liest]

love the way you explore Alastor's friendships but especially with his gal pals, which I feel like might get overlooked by a lot of people! thank you so much for the radiodiva fic. it hit me in all of my aroace feels and of course it's great to read more of Mimzy. you even threw in some Niffty (and a Rosie shoutout) that was sooo cute. truly the Al GalPal fic.

it's also super fun to compare Al's behavior with his female friends (and how much of that is informed by time period and those ideals) and how he behaves when boundaries are crossed with Vox in the 666 series. how much would you say is due to differences in power (overlord vs normal sinner) and gender perceptions? or was that something you were taking into consideration when writing?

Thank you so much! It's a really fun topic for me to explore because, as you said, those are definitely all things that I think about when I write about how Alastor relates to other people, especially people with the potential to become friends! I think it's power and gender.

This turned into a pretty long post, so: the rest is under the cut!

We definitely see in canon that Alastor has a different relationship with his female friends than he does with pretty much any male character, period. I think that his behavior in that sense is very much informed by the time period that he's from. Obviously he hasn't strictly retained '20s sensibilities (except maybe with regards to radio, haha), but I think he clearly puts some effort into presenting himself as a gentleman when women are involved in a way that he simply doesn't bother with when men are. He offers a certain amount of leeway and respect to characters like Niffty, Mimzy, Rosie, and even Charlie, who I personally think that he would claim as a friend but doesn't realize he may or may not be beginning to genuinely see as one. Honestly, the female character to get the least amount of leeway from him is Vaggie, and she's outright hostile to him on many occasions.

But... even with Vaggie, he's much nicer to her outright antagonism than he is to, say, Husk. He's still unkind when he prods her about Charlie's expectations in episode one, and I think he knows he has to maintain a veneer of decency with her that he doesn't with Husk, but I think from the way he expresses himself it's still telling that he seems more amused than irritated with her even when he's being a petty bitch about it.

He does have female friends across different power levels, and I think in each case there's a clear consideration to that aspect of the dynamic as well. He most likely owns Niffty's soul, and he gives Niffty an incredibly amount of leeway with his person and outright says that he admires her in a way. Mimzy is a sinner who runs to him for help, and he enables her behavior and attitude with fondness and, I think we can extrapolate, consistently comes through for her requests - he's also incredibly polite to her when he asks her not to, y'know, destroy the project he's currently investing so much time into. Rosie, on the other hand, is an overlord - and he still shows her a great deal of fondness, but I think it's also telling that their dialogue seems to imply that their relationship is very well-balanced by mutual favors.

And on that note, it's also not a coincidence that I tend to reach for Angel Dust, a very genderqueer character who does not personally perform traditional masculinity (and in fact puts quite a bit of effort into his feminine persona) as a member of the hotel crew that Alastor would be the most able to become friends of sorts with. Angel is, of course, also a sinner of a pretty low power level, and I think that underneath the external wildly different presentations, he and Alastor have a lot in common (namely on the topic of masking), but he's not the only character who masks around Alastor and compared to Vox or Lucifer, who are both powerful people and not particularly feminine, he's a lot higher on the "ease of friend potential" meter for Alastor.

The friendliest we see Alastor being with a male character in canon is with Zestial, whose general persona is very gentlemanly... but even then, I would call their attitude toward each other one of friendly posturing as coworkers who have an eye on each other, rather than genuinely friendly.

When I write Alastor dealing with Vox in 666: Live on Air! it's definitely with consideration to "How the hell would Alastor be more genuine, non-performative friends with an actual guy?" because, like... Vox isn't wrong when he says that he's the first dude that's earned the sheer amount of leeway that Alastor offers him, both physically and emotionally.

(Disclaimer I feel compelled to make: No, it's not because Vox is trans. Alastor straight up does not initially realize that, and even despite knowing it at the current point of the story, nothing about Vox's presentation actually reads as feminine to Alastor in any way. He's a softer touch with Angel Dust than Vox for a reason!)

What ends up happening is that Alastor... wants, even if it's largely subconscious, to behave with Vox as comfortably as he does with Rosie, Mimzy, and Niffty. But unfortunately, he runs into the issue of 1) his paranoid hindbrain is still regularly registering Vox as a power-hungry threat, at least in part due to Vox's actual previous behavior, and 2) he is honestly closer to Vox in some aspects than he is to his other friends because of the sheer amount of weird self-discovery they've gotten up to, which means that opening up the same way would be showing more vulnerability, and to a person that, frankly, Alastor doesn't feel like he has a veneer of gender role-dictated propriety to protect himself with. Especially since Vox is an overlord, and especially since a lot of the actual kinky shit that they get up to is predicated on Vox having abilities that the average sinner doesn't.

So when Mimzy crosses a boundary, Alastor accomodates her in whatever way is genuinely important to her, then gently corrects her and sets her on her way. This is just how Mimzy is, this is how their dynamic has been for a long time, and he does not register her as a threat. When Vox crosses a boundary... it's an attack, and if it's a serious enough one, then Alastor subscribes to the school of responses of nuclear proportions to dissuade any motherfucker from ever even thinking about trying again. See: the trail of dead overlord bodies left in his wake after his original descent into hell.

The turning point that leads him to make a deal to his slight but very actual disadvantage in Network 0666: No Signal is that Vox shows him some genuine upset and vulnerability. Vox has been vulnerable before this point, but he's generally been loud, obnoxious, pathetic, and over-the-top about it, and honestly often also just absolutely turned it into a sex thing. This is the first time that Vox managed, though entirely unintentionally, to find one of the heartstrings that is so much more accessible to characters like Mimzy, and accidentally tug on it. Alastor finds safety in the vulnerability of his friends, but he also likes being the powerful figure that provides those friends with help and protection, even in ways that might look like they're to his own detriment.

(Until, of course, they end up actually being to his detriment - see: Adam - at which point he loses his shit about it. But, uh, his ego makes it hard for him to see when that might actually happen!)

Anyway, this ended up a long post that could probably have been less rambling, but I hope it answered your question!