#obviously they're not exactly alike but no two characters are or even meant to be...their comparisons are still very valid

[bewitched-hours]

Hi, I saw your posts and blogs! Congrats, they are great, so i was wondering if you can make a request out of my most fav character in forsaken that i mained them.

Modern Au (where the spectre and forsaken never happened, everyone just living out their lives)

A Two Time x Detective! Faithless! Reader? Angst and Fluff in the end

Where the reader is stressed finding evidence and leads about the cult since their were missing people nowadays, but in one of their walks, they encounter Two Time in a abandoned church and confronts while they offered a chance to join their cult but refuses and retreats after their defeat.

but the reader gets kidnapped by the cult and is forced to join and erase all evidences discovered by the police or government.

and therefore, you have it they joined and sacrifice someone and gets comforted by two time?

Ty

OOOO I love it! Drama, romance AND angst with fluff? My friend, you have excellent tastes and I'll be happy to provide you with a delicious little story (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) Tbf, I got a little confused what you meant with "refuses and retreats after their defeat" so I hope I got the right idea...

The reader's pronouns will be She/They this time around!

If someone told you to join their cult, what would you tell them?

Obviously that they're crazy...

But what about when you no longer have an option?

You've been on the case of a special cult now for months. You just couldn't figure them out like most of your cases and apparently you were the last detective open for the job. Most either quit or backed out of it after a while and some even disappeared during their investigations.

To say it had you on edge was an understatement.

Sometimes you caught yourself having nightmares of what the others before you could've encountered. What the ones who quit or backed out possibly saw to make them leave the case for the next and what could've happened to those that disappeared.

All in the name of an entity they worshipped whose name you spoke with slight fear ever since you learned about it.

The Spawn.

You knew little about it in depth but you knew the cult was most likely sacrificing people and the alike in its name.

Maybe even sacrificing each other... You didn't dare imagine how crazed they might be...

You weren't exactly religious, finding it ridiculous to belief in a higher being controlling the world or whatever. But you still took the concept of them serious. Especially when you had to deal with cults and religions that believed in them so strongly.

Your boss already told you that you had to be careful as to not get too close on your own, fearing you would be another victim to join the pile of missing people reports. But you were determined to stop whatever madness was going on to make sure the countless families waiting out there could find clarity in what happened to their loved ones and you were prepared to attend all the funerals in respect of the victims that certainly died. It wasn't easy but knowing first-hand how lonely a funeral could make someone no matter the circumstances, you wanted to offer young and old alike support in coming to terms with their loved ones succumbing to the apparent will of a higher being.

It even sickened you a bit, thinking about an entity supposedly higher than mortality itself who apparently would command its followers to take innocent lives including their own. It made a pit form in your stomach.

Both from the mental image of seeing blood and your desire to bring justice to the foreground. You still needed to get ahold of your brain not being able to handle the sight of blood but luckily you already worked through it enough that you didn't have to faint at the sight anymore, you were just left extremely nauseas afterwards.

Stupidly enough, tonight you had fallen asleep at your work desk while trying to get a lead on this mysterious cult and had to be woken up by a co-worker who was worried.

You weren't panicked or rushing, you had no one really waiting for you at home. You weren't even in the mental state to keep a pet alive so most you did was pet-sit for your friends. Most of your family already cut contact with you after you began going to therapy.

You know now it was likely because they were treating you like a doormat until that point and likely bailed to avoid being confronted.

But you didn't bother chasing them. Having them out of your life was enough no matter how much your inner child was screaming to know why you had to suffer mentally from them.

So, you just packed up and began making your way home. You rarely drove, considering there was a small sandwich job you liked to visit on your route to and from home and you really didn't mind walking for it. It was closed by now though so you sighed, knowing this meant you had to cook for once.

You weren't that good at it, considering how much of a workaholic you tended to be so you usually just ordered something or made something quick at most to avoid taking too many breaks.

You wanted to live healthy, you really tried-

Your train of thought was suddenly interrupted. In the distance you could see that old abandoned church with its lights on.

Were some kids trying to start their own cult again to be 'cool'? Oh well, best you at least try to reason with them so you can go home telling yourself you tried.

Sighing, you soon opened the church doors to a rather surprising display. There was just a hooded individual, praying in the middle of the church. But the closer you got, the quicker you realized your situation. Although it was too late now.

You recognized them as a member of that 'Spawn' cult you were investigating and they already heard you entering. Not a shock with the fact the church doors don't get any oil anymore since it wasn't being maintained anyways.

"Greetings, detective." They spoke calmly, getting up after they had finished praying and giving you an eerie smile. You could feel a shiver run up your spine but you couldn't pass up a potential opportunity like this.

You hesitated with your words, aware that the cultist would likely be aware of what you were planning. You had to act strategically and keep on the lookout in case this was some sort of ambush. "Good... Good evening..."

You honestly weren't entirely sure how to go about this, and they could tell.

"You seem much too tense, have you eaten yet?" It was a little weird that they asked that but it was reasonable to question someone's saturation when you were probably coming off as paranoid.

You just shook your head, figuring there was no point lying about such meaningless matters and not seeing why this even mattered.

"Then maybe you'd like something quick? The Spawn told us you would be next." There was that shiver again and your gut practically screamed for you to run from this mad individual. "Th-there's no need... All I wanted to ask something and be on my way." You tried to calm yourself, having to decide between risking your livelihood for this insanity or simply going home and hope the cultist was alone.

Either way, not a good situation for you to be in.

"Yes, the Spawn warned me you would try to ask about our cause. But worry not, the Spawn is willing to offer that information... For a price." You hesitated, grabbing the bookbag you were using to carry the documents from this case as you weighed your options.

Eventually though, you stupidly chose the case over your own livelihood. "Very well, what would that price be?" You stared them down with distrust, something they obviously expected as they let out a satisfied hum. "You won't need to worry about that for now. How about we begin while the Spawn is still watching over us so kindly?" Their voice was as gentle as a flower, luring you in like you were a bee.

And again, you made a stupid decision under the pressure of time. Like they would disappear if you hesitated for too long.

Clicking open your bookbag to grab a notebook and pen, you began your questioning and writing up their answers. You could bring this information back to work tomorrow and tell your boss you finally had a lead.

This was the opportunity of a lifetime!

... If it wasn't for the price you were told...

"The Spawn only allows such details to be known by its followers, so you will need to join us and be amongst the lucky ones to stand in the Spawn's glorious vision." Those words made a pit form in your stomach and you quickly stepped away from them, ignoring their gentle warnings as you turned on your heel and practically dashed out of the church, clutching your notebook like it held the secrets of the universe.

You really thought you were smart when you first stopped at a local park to check for anyone following you before heading home. But even that was stupid on your part.

You sighed, slumped against your door as the lock clicked behind you. You were glad to have an actually nice landlord who kept everything in working condition.

You shortly hid the bookbag under your bed, opening the window just a little because the air felt stuffy in your room. But- You made sure to stack some books in front of it so you'd wake up if anyone tried to sneak in.

Turns out, you were right. More cultists came to take you but you failed to account for the fact they'd have a weapon on them.

So, everything went faster than you could've thought ahead for. The books fell, you woke up, screamed to alert your neighbours and grabbing the bookbag so they couldn't get their hands on your evidence and before you could even open the door of your bedroom to rush to the kitchen, you got knocked out cold.

When you awoke again, you were met with hell.

You were now inside of the cult's... Base?

It certainly wasn't a church or anything but you had no idea how to describe it with that throbbing headache they left you with.

"Good morning, detective." A familiar voice came into the sleeping corners you were placed in. It made you finally open your eyes and notice you were clothed in the same robes as the cultists. It obviously startled you but Two Time was quick to shush you, although gentle.

"You have taken from the Spawn, the price was not optional." Was all they said before sitting on the edge of the bed to seemingly comfort you.

Assuming there were other cultists nearby, you figured you should keep quiet. "Where are we...?" You practically hissed, earning no reaction aside from a slight frown which honestly creeped you out more.

"The holy grounds blessed by the Spawn." Was the only answer you were given and you just groaned, assuming you were probably trapped. And you stupidly walked right into it like a moth to a flame.

You could already tell you'd have no way out. If there was nothing you could've found on the cult's location in the first place, you sure as hell wouldn't be finding your way back home. You could be in a completely different country for all you knew by now...

"The Spawn demands you join us for your introduction." They took your hand. Not forcibly, you knew you could easily slip out. But you figured you could at least play pretend until you figured out where you were and how to get home...

Then again, no one before you ever made it back so why would you?

Maybe there really was no hope. But you would hold onto that little sliver of it anyhow, letting Two Time lead you to a small sacrificial area. You could already guess what was expected of you as another cultist was strapped down and gagged. Your face paled at the realization of what was happening as you were handed a dagger and told to announce your name to the Spawn as you sacrificed another cultist.

You were obviously hesitant, not wanting blood on your hands. But Two Time even offered that you two could go away right after it was over, seeming to remember when you told them you couldn't handle the sight of blood well.

Looking back, you had mentioned it on accident but now you were kinda glad that they told you this.

You made sure to be quick, screaming out your name as you plunged the dagger into the cultist's heart a couple times to make sure they got a swift death. It was the least you could do as Two Time shortly brought you back out and began praising you for putting in some extra work.

But you couldn't bear listening to them, your stomach twisting and turning whenever you looked at your blood-stained hands or remembered the cultist after what you did. You wanted to throw up and Two Time practically hurried you to the toilets to let you do exactly that.

It was oddly comforting, feeling as though you had a form of comfort and care even in this hellhole. Even if you were distrustful of it at first.

You just wanted to go home or better yet, wake up and find out it was all just a nightmare. At least the latter would allow you to have a better consciousness about it all.

"Sadly, there is one more thing we will need to return for." Their voice sounded slightly sharp, and you knew what they meant.

Back at the sacrificial grounds, another cultist was holding your bookbag above the corpse, demanding you burn both to prove you know your place.

You wanted to protest, almost snapping at them.

But Two Time held you back, reminding you silently that you had no other options. You took a deal you weren't prepared for and were now carrying out the consequences.

You were given a lighter and Two Time generously helped you over to the body as your legs almost turned to jelly the closer you got.

And... You set fire to it all.

The other cultists were surprisingly cheerful all of a sudden, walking around like they were celebrating while Two Time took your current state to know you needed a break.

Strangely though, they held you close, whispering praises and sweet nothings to you as they took you back to the sleeping quarters.

"You're lucky we're bunk-mates." They spoke lightly to cheer you up. "You'll learn to love and trust the Spawn, don't worry. You're safe here. And I'll make sure of that."

Were they using your weakened state against you as they held your curled up body in their arms? Were you being manipulated? It was hard to think on an empty stomach but you were sure your heart was confused too.

Warm with affection but cold with hatred... What a conflicting mess you found yourself in.

You were probably being reduced to nothing more than a good little follower... And part of you didn't even mind that...

No... Not with Two Time around.

You would be find with them by your side...

And you were taken out of your train of thought by a gentle kiss on your forehead as you felt your face flush and almost instinctively pushed yourself further into Two Time as a result.

They only let out a hum of contentment, going through your hair gently as your mind would get fuzzy.

"The Spawn has truly blessed me with your presence..." Was the last thing you heard before you fell asleep...

This was honestly amazing to type up-

Anything you'd like to request/ask? Check out my pinned post first and I'll be happy to write up whatever you want!

[blackstarchanx3new]

Creations AU, But I obnoxiously over explain it PT 12

Pages 331-360

Art continues to deteriorate my art style looks goofy as hell but we're on the final stretch I CAN FEEL IT IN MAH BONES AII AAIII AAAHHH-

*Wrote this forever ago btw. lmfao

Funtime Foxy makes his grand appearance.

I continued to find it hilarious I had zero ideas for Foxy considering he's such a fan favorite but Funtime Foxy I had ideas for.

Foxy that's harassment.

Under usual circumstances I think they're pretty friendly but obviously Freddy's harboring a person in his stomach rn so...Not good. XD

Shinji toilet pose aside, Funtime Freddy being relatable is what I ended up going with for this "Rewrite" in the script. People liked Funtime Freddy's relatability so I ended up choosing that in this segment over him being a threatening antagonist.

Was that a good choice? idk.

If you're wondering:

The original concept was that due to Funtime Freddy's stubbornness and general anxiety, he was the ONE robot Mike couldn't logic talk his way around.

Ended up going with this route of Mike's usual adaptability to switching to soothing Freddy to get him to do what he wants.

Because Creation's Mike's biggest character trait is being a manipulator X'D

Which I can't remember if I've touched on this before buuuut:

Thematically Mike and William having the character traits of "manipulator" is intentional.

Like Mike and William in general are written to have a LOT of parallels.

Both are ill as fuck mentally, Mike just copes with it better.

Mike has support systems to keep him from becoming anything like William.

Mike has the ability to confront things WAAAY better than William.

Mike and William both have shitty relationships with their parents.

They even kinda LOOK similar. (In a VERY early draft I vaguely remember considering Mike to be one of William's kids but this was dropped so early in development but Mike having a shitty father was smth that stayed as a concept through to the final.)

Point is: They're alike. And that's fun to see how exactly our protagonist Mikey boy is compared to William as more scenes with William happen. He's not nearly focused on as much in the FNAF 1 arc but I plan to show him more in other comics eventually. Like Spring Bonnie's friends.

Oh hey color is back.

Mike contemplates what to do moving forward considering Funtime Freddy can't move forward.

Mike NOOOOO.

Flaaaaaashback.

Pep talk from Mike.

Funtime Freddy wanting to avoid Michael.

For some reason.

Michael being sus.

Well, he got dunked on.

IT WAS A LONG TIME COMING. THE REVEAL BABYYYYYY.

Alright let's talk quickly about the reveal shit and all of it leading to this: Michael's design was a huge give away. He's had the face plate design on his face since his first appearance. He's been very obviously a Sister Location inspired robot. Robots made by William Afton.

He and Sammy are the only two people with unrealistic eye colors.

Michael's eyes were often drawn glowing.

Michael's backstory just didn't make any sense if you looked at it hard enough. (This is because he's not a real person)

His "Death" at the hands of mangle show he could get impaled in the stomach and live. Because he's a robot.

And why?

Why did the story take this narrative route: I just wanted to make a robot character that seemed human better than Charlie from the trilogy.

Logic wise she makes no sense and I wanted to write a robot that pretends to be human with more logic behind it. (...Yes fnaf is insane but I do like a level of logic to the stories...otherwise it's just gets silly and outlandish and not in a fun way. ESPECIALLY if you have a twist/reveal...Like those are only impactful in a satisfying way if there's LOGIC behind it)

FSR, out of EVERY bullshit thing in FNAF. Charlie being a robot pisses me off the most. X'D

Originally: Michael was meant to run around in a female Spring Bonnie suit and a reveal was that HE WAS this Spring Bonnie character. (I would still like to do this somewhere down the line possibly without the reveal. X"D) His name was also "Dave" at one point. He was a red haring for the killer back when I first started writing the plot of this comic.

This character evolved into William's weird robot son in a lowkey call back to the stupid af "Mikebot" theory. X'D

SO Michael's entire existence in this comic is "Shit I hated the fandom's/the book's take on, done in a way I enjoy"

Yeah Mike, Michael's your friend.

All of Michael's actions do speak to a level of him caring about Mike's safety and friendship.

I'll let Michael monologue but man I just. Love MIchael so much in this comic. X'D

He's not a good person by any stretch. He's sat idly by while his father MURDERED PEOPLE for his creation.

Also: This comic's name "Creations".

Michael is the creation.

*Dabs* This is so stupid. XD

But yeah Michael: That sweet persona he slaps on is a mask. He's a jaded, kind of evil person. HE IS Afton's children. None of them were good people either.

Like cody: he's too much of a coward to face his father.

Like Josh: He's an asshole

and Like how Elizabeth became: he's a manipulator.

Michael's awful and I love him.

He's also very tragic for the reason he is an entity in perpetual agony and emotionally (And honestly physically due to how he describes the process of Afton creating him) abused by his father.

He feels powerless to change things but wants too, exerts control over characters he KNOWS he can like the funtime animatronics and does so due to being powerless in other fields of his life.

He slaps on a mask of this friendly ignorant facade of the owner's sheltered son so people will like, trust and want to be friends because he's a lonely person who can only make friends with his father's OTHER victims who are trapped inside the suits/animatronics. (Since as I stated Michael IS a victim in this too)

Bonnie even seems to KNOW he's a victim considering Michael's talk with Bonnie way earlier in the comic.

But this mask cracks around Mike because Mike is in a lot of ways JUST like Michael.

Abused by their family, powerless, putting on facades and masks and at the end of the day just want others to connect with them and to change horrible circumstances.

We reached the image limit but I love these characters so much. 💙💜

*And talking form 10/11/2024 now: I have a desire to finish this ARC of the story! So stay tuned and hopefully i stay motivated!

[madisoncounty]

Can you share the paragraphs about The Diplomat?

i genuinely was going to leave this in the drafts forever because it is borderline incoherent, but here you go <3

the main takeaway from all of this rambling, if you don't want to read it (i don't blame you), is that the premise of the show is inherently limited, but unlike other political dramas, shaking up the premise of the show comes with difficulties that make it hard for me to imagine what they can do with a fourth season

so. i love a political drama. i especially love a political drama about a woman. it just scratches a very specific itch in my brain. and as such, i've thought about them a lot and watched a lot of them.

my overall takeaway from seasons 1 and 2 of the diplomat was "i would rather be watching the americans." it's not a bad show, but as soon as i started rewatching the americans, i quite literally forgot that it inspired me to rewatch the americans in the first place, so much so that i actively told someone i was rewatching because someone reblogged elizabeth jennings content (this was not true. it was because i watched the diplomat).

okay. anyways. moving on from that, because that's not the point here.

as soon as i started the diplomat, my immediate thought was "oh, they're remaking madam secretary." lots of shows with this format are similar, but these two are strikingly similar. they're both shows about a woman with a career in diplomacy and intelligence, who has never worked in the political system, being suddenly uprooted by an appointment to a high-level political position. obvious parallels. both end up being considered for vice president. i even think their husbands look alike, though henry and elizabeth (mccord, not jennings. ew.) are obviously a much more functional couple than kate and hal wyler.

here's the difference: elizabeth mccord is the us secretary of state. kate wyler is the us ambassador to the uk. these two positions are not equivalent. the diplomat even admits this: kate wyler says, in the first episode, that this position is intended for photo ops and ceremonies, not for real work. it's part of the reason she struggles with the job, and it's one of the central conflicts of the show.

what this means is that the political drama in the diplomat is much more limited in options than something like madam secretary (and by the way, i also think msec ran out of ideas). there must always be a reason, however contrived, that the relationship between the american government and the british government is critical to whatever global crisis comes up. madam secretary could go anywhere in the world. the diplomat, in its current format, cannot.

so what happens, now that they have at least 4 seasons to play with? there are obviously big changes coming at home. the obvious thing to do is shake up the premise of the show. veep did it successfully (i know, i know, it's a comedy and it's not the same) when they promoted selina to president. season 4 of veep is one of the greatest seasons of television ever produced.

madam secretary did the same thing by making elizabeth president. i would argue that this was less successful, but that was in part due to the already declining quality of the show and other external factors around casting, season length, etc. — not just the change in position.

there are two potential 'promotions' for kate wyler/two directions for the show to take. one is already well-established and discussed within the universe of the show: vice president. but (a) that was meant to be the vice president to the original president, not to allison janney's character. they no longer need kate wyler for that position. plus, you know, she and allison janney aren't exactly on great terms. so that option no longer makes sense to me.

i think the obvious play here is that kate somehow gets offered secretary of state. she's still a diplomat, so they don't even have to change the name. for a show that's already a little too similar to madam secretary, it's not... ideal, but it's the best option they have available to change things up and allow for further storytelling, in my opinion.

however, there's a caveat there: this is a london-based show. both veep and madam secretary were already washington d.c. based shows (well, at least within in-universe). the core characters moved from their previous positions to the white house with these promotions, and the key relationship dynamics stayed the same.

if kate wyler becomes secretary of state, everything resets. we lose the physical settings (buildings, houses, the city itself), which is a little sad because the grandeur of the locations definitely plays a role in the show, but they can come back from that. what's an even bigger problem is that the cast they've established is highly tied to london. she can maybe bring a few people with her: hal and some of her staff. but quite literally every other side character is british. the house staff. roylin. etc. they've spent so much time and effort building up the nuances and dynamics of the british political machine (the fictional version, that is).

and of course, austin dennison; his relationship with kate is one of the most important in the show, and arguably the most compelling. how often can they realistically have him on the show if she's based in d.c. instead of london, and if she's given the responsibility of dealing with every country on the planet instead of just one?

so that's hard! i don't know what they'll do. given the confirmed cast for season 3, it kind of looks like they're going to keep manufacturing british drama for the time being, but we see. i still think a promotion is in kate's future, especially given the season 4 confirmation.

[bonearenaofmyskull]

Hi

I am new to the Hannibal fandom and stumbled upon Ur metas . I have read Ur very old metas too from like 2013 .

But I just wanna ask please don't consider it rude but when did u start shipping hannigram or believing in hannigram. It seems tho reading some of Ur 2015 post u didn't necessarily want Will and Hannibal together.

Just a little confused that's it . U don't have to answer if u don't want to.

Have a good day 😊

Sorry this is old, but I'm trying to clean out my inbox. IDK what posts you're talking about from 2015, but my general attitude would have been that after a season where they spent most of their time apart, there ought to be at least one season where they spend most of their time together. Past that it becomes a matter of where the writing would have taken the show. And I don't do shipping outside of the context of canon, by and large.

I think there might be a lot of people out there who would be benefitted to remember that people don't all ship the same ways and for the same ends, regardless what's in canon. Some people are going to ship Hannigram and "want Will and Hannibal together," as you say here, and some of them are going to put them in a light-hearted coffee shop au where even the coffee isn't people, and some others are going to want to rewrite them meeting each other and going through betrayal arcs over and over and over again, and some others are going to want murder husbands all day everyday.

Personally, I like their fraught relationship as it appears on the show. All of my fics focus on that fraught quality. That's always where my investment was since the day I picked up Red Dragon back in 1992 and read their meeting where Hannibal told Will, "The reason you caught me is that we're just alike." And those words obviously hit Bryan Fuller in exactly the same way as they hit me, and he took them and ran with them. The show had to earn my belief that it was invested in this concept from both perspectives (from what it suggests about Will Graham individually and what it suggests about their singular connection to each other), but once it had done this thoroughly, I bought in.

I'm not someone who was born and raised in m/m shipping fandom, and I haven't developed tastes that match. By this I mean that when I start a new show, I don't cast about looking for two men that I can find a reason to put together purely for the sake of sighing and blushing about them. I didn't even know what the term "shipping" meant in this context before Hannibal.

So if by asking when I started shipping them, you mean, when was I invested in their fraught relationship, then it was 1992. If you mean when did the show convince me their relationship would fully play out that fraught dynamic and present the characters in ways that I'd fully approve of...maybe about "Buffet Froid"? Ish? But then I still didn't have any concept of shipping or was fully convinced that the show was invested in the ship and on board myself until maybe..."Shiizakana"?

Like I said, a show has to do the heavy lifting or I don't ship it: I don't grab characters willy-nilly for fill-in-the-blank shipping. There are character relationships I like better than others because there are characters I like better than others, but if there isn't at least canon yearning, I ain't in. And that's because I'm into fraught relationships and yearning. If they're gonna earn me, they gotta yearn me.

So yeah...I wanted more show. That means I'm not invested in them ending up together after the end of the show. I don't care about after the end of the show at all, except insofar as it reflects what the ending would have been. It's what's on the show that matters to me, and for that, I just need the two of them to be culty and weird about each other. I had reasonable faith in the show's ability to maintain that, so yeah, I shipped it. Even if I didn't do it the way others did.

[darkhugprince]

you know, it's really weird that people, collectively, as a fandom, said that ralsei looks exactly like asriel. this sort of sentiment is carried on throughout the fandom without it really going examined, at all.

so, i mean, i guess you could guesstimate their appearances are the same. but there's one problem with stating this definitively:

we don't actually know what asriel looks like in deltarune.

we haven't seen him a single time. not an image of him, not even someone describing his appearance; we've only gotten descriptions of his personality, and all of them have come secondhand.

i think some people are working backwards from their names to make this conclusion. ralsei's name is very obviously an anagram of asriel... or, more accurately, asriel's is an anagram of ralsei's, as ralsei (or "ralse") was the first name that toby came up with. as a result, people know this to be true, along with some surface-level parts of the way they talk (ralsei says some words that are similar to what flowey says to us, is a cute goat boy, etc.). as a result, people make the assumption the two look alike.

but we don't actually know that, and the two appearances we do get of asriel... are not at all identical to ralsei. one doesn't have horns, and the other has longer horns, longer ears, a more jagged chin, and the eyes are probably not worth pointing out the difference. this is compared to ralsei's much softer features.

in addition to that, no one has directly compared ralsei to asriel in-text as of yet. (no, noelle did not say "he looks kind of like", she said "it looks kind of like", and that could, contextually, be "it looks kind of like they're [susie and ralsei] on a date".) the one time ralsei is compared appearance-wise to someone in deltarune, it's to toriel, who we can definitely say does not look "identical" to ralsei in any way. that's because they are both goats, and therefore do have some similarities.

do ralsei and asriel potentially have a connection? certainly, and right now we don't know what it is, so i understand people speculating. but we actually have no idea how many similarities asriel and ralsei have... and actually, so far, they have a lot of differences. for example:

asriel is friends with and seems to know everybody. ralsei is often overlooked, and passed over, and doesn't seem particularly close to anyone but kris and susie.

asriel is popular and has a position of high status among his peers. up until chapter 2, ralsei was a lonely prince in charge of a completely empty kingdom.

a big, and most notable one: asriel takes responsibility for kris's actions when they negatively affect people, to the point of even "confessing" to a church for their "sins". ralsei, on the other hand, trusts kris is always making the right decision for them, even if it personally hurts his feelings.

i think the contrast between the two of them is intentional. ralsei is a lot of things that asriel is not -- despite both being goat boys, and the endearing goat boys that we like, the similarities are meant to drive home how different the two actually are. and that's my theory behind the meaning of the anagram names: to purposely contrast the two characters with each other.

(i should also say that i feel like noelle would have a far stronger impression of ralsei if she sincerely thought that he looked identical to asriel. firstly, she wouldn't have questioned who was with susie. secondly, she would've been more interested in understanding how the hell asriel is here. asriel was noelle's friend too, something that people ignore.)

[velvetmirrors]

#notice how these takes never come with actual evidence from the books to make direct comparisons from the text?#/ned is a gentle quiet poitican/ and he physically attacks someone + constantly shows his frustration and voicing his opinions#our first introduction to him is him executing a man and we know he's done so several times that year#he says that his toddler son needs to grow up and stop being afraid of a giant wolf cause /winter is coming/ and Northern life is hard 😭#/Cat is a feral wild woman/ and her chapters are full of her holding her tongue and trying to mediate situations#people literally switch their characterizations cause the second a woman shows emotion she's /feral/#and a man can be the most wild unhinged character ever and still be /kind/ and /gentle/#like yeah fanon sansa is fanon ned 2.0 and fanon arya is fanon cat 2.0 but their actual characters are more complex then that#the only valid /2.0/ comparison is between Lyanna and Arya but somehow she gets split between Arya and Sansa 🥴#my hourly frustration at this fandom not caring about the story and only being here for /the vibes~/#like Ned hates Tourneys and protests one as a waste of resources while Sansa is planning a Tourney and using resources while winter#is arriving and smallfolk are going hungry...but she's Ned 2.0? Where? How? Huh?#And yeah Ned deals with politics in KL but that's relatively a small aspect of his character#and even him constantly speaking his mind and challenging Robert directly is the exact opposite of Sansa's approach 😭#/courtesy is a Lady's armor/ vs. /I'm gonna tell Robert he's an idiot right to his face/ oh yeah totes the same#Arya is the character following his advice and guidance for a reason just saying#like if Sansa was doing the same I could see it but she..isn't? Her approach is much closer to Catelyn's than Ned's#I don't understand why people have all of the sudden decided that the Sansa/Cat parallels are shallow when they're#very similar characters and Sansa's current plot actually revolves around that fact#obviously they're not exactly alike but no two characters are or even meant to be...their comparisons are still very valid#tired of being expected to accept an idea just because enough people repeat it

"Sansa = Ned 2.0 and Arya = Catelyn 2.0" is one of those takes where you can just tell people are more attached to the aesthetic than anything. "The Stark girls are most like the parent they look least like" sounds good on paper and people run with the idea, regardless of how it actually fits into the story. A majority of the justification relies on misinterpreting all of their characters + a healthy dose of fanon. What gets me is that this is the same fandom that insists that Lyanna, only compared to Arya in the text, is equal parts Arya and Sansa but Ned and Catelyn, two fully fleshed-out and complex characters, have to be more like one girl or the other? There's just nothing in the story to justify being so adamant about these comparisons. Arya and Sansa have parallels with both of their parents but at the end of the day, they are unique characters with their own stories. I'll never understand why people want to flatten these complex characters down to their most basic tropes and fit them into restrictive boxes just for a "poetical~" comparison.

[thejustmaiden]

So out of nowhere I was tagged and quoted by a SR shipper for a blog of mine posted in August of last year. Talk about throwback but, hey, gotta appreciate that level of snooping. 😉

Back in the day I actually used to encourage discourse amongst Inuyasha fans- both shippers and antis alike- but I've since realized that it's a lost cause. But for you, @feministmetalgreymon , I'll grant this exception. Just 'cause it's been a while so why the hell not. haha

I want to assure you, however, that nothing you say will ever convince me that Sesshomaru and Rin are meant to be together romantically or that the story intended it so. Nor will you find any validation here. You can ship them for all I care, but please for all that is good and holy while I have your attention try- I mean really try- to understand why it is so many of us Inuyasha fans are so against this pairing in the first place (newsflash: it's not about ship wars), and why we believe a romance between the two of them is completely and utterly out of character.

For those of you interested in reading this, the blog of mine in question that the above shipper mentions in their counter-argument is here for reference. It's titled "Jaken = Rin's Dad?" I'm going to try and keep this short, but I'm also making no such promises. After all, I'm not exactly known for my brevity. haha Now let's get crackin'!

Like you, feministmetalgreymon, did for your recent blog here where you took screenshots of mine to address certain parts, I will be doing the same and dissecting yours accordingly.

[Snippet 1]

I worked with kids for many years as a teacher, and many people in my family have too or still do. Two of them happen to be just over 5 feet which is quite short for the average adult woman living here. I've also worked alongside many a women of short stature, and never did I hear any of them complaining of issues with their students having difficulty differentiating them from their own peers just because they were short as well. I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous. Kids are quite smart and pick up on a lot more than you seem to give them credit for. Height is not the only characteristic they look at to determine who's an adult and who's not, and it's foolish to suggest otherwise. So unless you're a babysitter who's still in their teens and/or who has very childlike features or behavior then I'm afraid what you're getting at is total hogwash. This is just another example of how you shippers offer nothing of real substance to your reasoning, it's only ever cherry-picking or strawmanning from you guys. Stop deflecting from the real issues please, because this certainly isn't one and only winds up being a complete waste of time for all parties involved.

[Snippet 2]

Okay, calm down now. I wasn't insinuating that relationships between parents and children can't change over time in terms of how they get along. Of course that's possible, as all families experience their fair share of estrangement and abuse. What I was speaking about was in reference to the overall dynamic between the two. Because a bad mother or father can still be viewed as a parental figure to their child even if say they're not in said child's life anymore. Since Sesshomaru and Rin share a healthy bond- and just a friendly reminder that in my blog I even said that he doesn't have to necessarily be labeled her father but that a romantic relationship later would still be inappropriate- I didn't deem it necessary to address what you brought up. Plus, it kinda, umm, misses the point?? Please, let's stay on topic. And it's not captured in the screenshot, but stop acting like there isn't a small part of them that idolizes their parents at some point during childhood. Just like you mention later on how it's normal for kids to have innocent crushes on adults that they eventually grow out of? Well, guess what, the same concept applies here. Kids eventually learn that their parents are far from perfect and make mistakes too. Rin is so damn young in the OG series though that we never even get to see her reach that maturity level.

[Snippet 3]

LOL! Alright, okay, so the "unbreakable bond" bit you're mentioning was actually me quoting you sessrinners. Did you not catch that? I literally spelled it out. *sigh* The whole point I was making is that shippers like yourself make hypocritical and contradictory statements all.the.goddamn.time. One moment you guys claim that Sesshomaru and Rin were essentially strangers and meant very little to each other, only to say in the same breath a few seconds later that they were destined to be together and their bond is like no other. I agree, their bond is special, but why must that mean they're going to fall in love?

That is the root of the matter here. Too many animes/mangas have romanticized this older adult man & young girl growing up falling in love trope that it's become way too normalized and widely accepted across the world- and yes, in some cultures more than others. Sadly, you lack the awareness to recognize how this all works. You know how we know that? When we see that you shippers are so desensitized to sexualized images of girls in the media that you share posts like this one below which *subtly* imply a future romance although one half of that pairing is still just a child in the pic and then try and pass it off as cute. That's like super fucking problematic and it scares me that you can't see that (or deny you do). 🤢

After all that's said and done, Sesshomaru leaving Rin in the village with Kaede is to me the strongest indicator more than pretty much anything else he's done for Rin that proves he is her adoptive father. It's so funny to me how you somehow see the exact opposite though. 🤔 What I think is happening is that you got yourself on some squeaky clean ass shipper goggles fresh out of your little echo chamber. Because I hate to tell you, but what you're fantasizing is what you want to see and not what's actually there on screen or was written into the story. I'm strictly talking about Inuyasha and the manga of course. [For the TL; DR version skip to the last paragraph.]

Parents looking after their kids is what parents are supposed to do. A good parent will do anything to keep their child safe and ensure they are cared for, so what he did for her by leaving her there was in her best interests clearly. Besides, as a babysitter, you more than most people should understand that parents aren't always able to be there for their kids so sometimes others gotta step in to help. Haven't you heard of the saying, "it takes a village to raise a child?" Which in Rin's case is literally true! 😂 Sometimes kids are even sent off to stay with grandparents and that's who raises them instead. Or maybe they have to temporarily live with an aunt or uncle because their single parent's job requires they work out of town 4-5 days of the week so they're hardly home. But that doesn't mean that the parents care or love their kids any less, and it's foolish to assume that Sesshomaru must have thought very little of Rin simply due to the fact that he made the decision to leave her in the village. Come on, y'all are acting like he abandoned her there!!

It's just given the circumstances Sesshomaru finally came to learn that Rin traveling with him was no longer safe. I also like to think it's because he wished for her to live a more normal life and to learn how to fully trust humans again. Plus, continuing to travel with him as young as she was would have proven dangerous and unwise. Now for you to know all this and still manage to turn his past actions towards her while she was just a child into a romantic gesture is what boggles my mind. Regardless of how you look at it, from my perspective or your own, Sesshomaru is in the wrong. Either he's a father figure who impregnates his daughter at the young age of approximately 14. OR he's this man she used to travel with who maybe isn't a father to her but who nonetheless basically rapes her since kids her age can't consent to sex with an adult. Idk about you but it sounds to me like nobody here wins with either scenario we're given. In other words, you should be just as mad as we are. If only one side didn't choose to forsake their morals they know we both have in common for the sake of a ship. Welp. 🤷‍♀️

I agree, incest is disgusting but that's not the only problem we have with this pairing. A romantic bond forming between Sesshomaru and Rin would also constitute as grooming.

You realize that over the years he visited her in the village that he brought her gifts too and essentially watched her grow up right before his very eyes, right? I mean, I know you do, but I really shouldn't have to explain further why pursuing a romantic/sexual relationship with each other is plain and simple wrong. And before you say it's not because he didn't have any malintent, please understand that considering their history and power dynamic up to then that yes this is still considered grooming even if Rin supposedly "wanted it" or "made the first move." Whether you consider him her father or not, as the adult who took on a role resembling that of a caretaker in her early life- a critical developmental time for a child- Sesshomaru is obligated to turn down any advances by Rin and most definitely should not initiate any himself. As the first close adult figure she's had in her life since her parents died, it's unfathomable to imagine how Sesshomaru could go through with taking advantage of this young girl who was under his care and supervision since they met. To think he could be capable of betraying that trust sickens me to the core.

This. Now THIS is how a parent/guardian or a similar adult caretaker (babysitter, teacher, etc.) talks to a child. And, in turn, this is how some young children talk to adults. You'd be insane and delusional to deny it! We see it in our everyday lives, do we not? From where else do you think our stories draw most of their inspiration? Yes, obviously these fictional universes have aspects of fantasy that don't exist in the real world, but so how then do you suppose we're able to relate to them? The reason for that being is because these stories are written by people for people, so naturally there are going to be real life aspects embedded throughout. Sure, a little escapism doesn't hurt as we don't need to take everything so seriously, but ultimately we all need to recognize that the messages in the stories we tell matter. Most stories possess a combination of both light and dark themes, but when it specifically comes to the latter we gotta be careful with how we tackle this in children's media since kids are far more impressionable.

So if at the center of a story we have two of the main protagonists whose mom is basically their same age and to top it off she knew their dad when she was just a girl and who just so happened to help raise her, wouldn't you say that's beyond fucked up or at the very least so fucking weird? Like why would we think it's even remotely okay for our children to watch this garbage?? Really think about it. Try and be objective for once and think about how it would sound explaining this storyline to an outsider who's never watched IY or HNY. Well, antis have tried this before many times and we always get the same reaction: Ewww!

Like I said earlier, if you wanna ship it then fine, but 1) please stop seeking our approval or trying to change our minds - your ship wish came true didn't it, so why do you need us to validate it? 2) even though it's not canon, respect that we don't support this sequel portraying pedophilia in a positive light. It's harmful af to not only allow but glorify the continuation of sexualized images of young girls everywhere. And I shouldn't have to say this, but just because this trope is popular as you say does not make it right. Lolicon themes in the media have been an issue forever and it needs to stop. Yes, even some people in Japan or "the East" would agree. Shocker!

We're pissed off and rightfully so because Yashahime's TV rating is 14, not to mention it airs at the prime time kids in Japan watch TV after getting home from school. That's Towa and Setsuna's age, true, but if Rin being the mom when she's like only a year older than them (please don't argue w/ me about the math- antis have so far been right every time with it) is straight-up disgusting and not something we should be supporting or endorsing. Rin's a whole ass child!! Please don't start with the "but times were different then so her having kids at 15 is acceptable" argument either, because we've already debunked that and every other single excuse you guys throw at us. Besides, how or why would you expect young viewers to know these historical "facts" anyway, especially if as you suggest fiction doesn't affect reality so what does it matter? Yet here we are, arguing over a fictional show in real life almost a year and a half into the "Sesshomaru fucks?" sequel being announced. My ass, your ass, hell all our asses fiction doesn't affect reality!

Look, I do apologize if the tone of this blog came off as snippy or condescending at times. I do not wish you any ill will, it's just I'm not really sure what you expected to get out of all this besides maybe getting on my nerves perhaps. haha A lot of you shippers have been desperately scrambling to interact with us, lurking in our tags, jumping onto our posts screaming canon and getting so defensive even though you sought us out first. We've been sticking to our tags, so how about you stay in your lane too. By the way since we're on the topic, have you seen Twitter or Reddit?! SR shippers there are the actual worst and many Inuyasha fans (not just antis) have complained of not feeling welcomed to engage in fandom spaces anymore. Shippers swarm them and scare them off simply because fans don't like your ship and refuse to accept it. It's pathetic, really. No one should ever be bullied or harassed just because they don't like something you might. We're all fans of Inuyasha, aren't we? So let's act like it. Yashahime on the other hand, you guys are welcome to that pungent heap of trash. Fans have a right to criticize it too, but if you like it then good for you, so keep on liking it and don't mind us.

I'm almost done, but real quick back to Jaken! Let's not forget about how the official Yashahime website- which came out after my blog, mind you- described Jaken. This translation isn't the best one available but it's the only version a fellow anti friend could track down. They do recall a better one done by a native Japanese speaker who was also an anti, and that member confirmed that Jaken is indeed called Rin's babysitter. So you see, I was right in my interpretation. In the original post I did compare Jaken to a brother, but after talking to others (some comments can be found under said post) I did acknowledge that he's more of a reluctant babysitter who's not related. And if he's not at least a brother to Rin, then he's definitely not her father.

At the end of the day, the creator Rumiko Takahashi has the final word. Which is guess what? Hogosha. 💖 Probably should've just started out with that and saved us all the trouble, huh? Good day/night to you.

Papamaru bids you adieu now. 🤞

[m0th-punk]

This is something that's been on my mind for a long time. Long ramble under the cut

TL;DR: Grazer-razor has some of the worst black and white mentality I've ever seen and I can tell he has never critically examined his biases a day in his life.

Because I'm a terrible little gremlin who can't leave well enough alone, I've been reading these posts

Ignoring the absolute stupidity of these statements (I'm pretty sure the lack of rainbow logos is because in many middle eastern countries, homosexuality is a crime and these companies just want to make money. But I'mnot going into the nuances and implications of rainbow capitalism today.), something stood out to me.

Does Grazer... genuinely think nobody has ever criticized the Muslim faith? That we all ignore the homophobia present within the religion just because they're a minority? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've seen even some of the most staunch leftists criticize things like their horrible treatment of homosexuality or the rampant sexism often sanctioned by radicals. Even other Muslims, especially women and lgbt+ Muslims, have been critical of these things.

It wouldn't shock me if Grazer believedthat anyone who supports Muslims believes they can do no wrong. After all, he thinks any criticism of Christianity is hatred, and dismisses any harmful things Christians do as not being "real" Christianity in a classic case of the "No True Scotsman" fallacy.

Note how he didn't even respond to the first asks comments, just accused them of being me (because obviously any time someone sees his blog it's all my fault /s)

So it seems like in Grazer's mind, there are only two options when it comes to religion: Uncritically praise and defend everything a religion does no matter how heinous it is and justify it because it's done in a God's name, or condemn anyone who practices it as hateful terrorists. Because he doesn't see people doing the former for Christians, he automatically assumes that they're doing the latter, and vice versa for Muslims.

Also note how he gets mad when muslim faith is "respected" (again, homosexuality is criminalized in many of these areas) but then demands a secular children's show cater to his religion for the sake of his precious childhood.

(Also, can we just talk about the absolute fucking cruelty in this answer? There are people out there that had their childhoods ruined by abuse, illness, losing loved ones, homelessness, poverty, bullying, near-death experiences, having their countries torn apart by war, a shitty foster care system, teen pregnancies, and so many other things that can absolutely destroy a life.  Grazer's was ruined by…  *checks notes* a cartoon character supporting gay rights and a drag queen singing a cutesy children's song.  So yeah, if that's the worst part of his childhood he's pretty damn lucky, and the fact that he has the gall to still complain absolutely makes him selfish and ignorant. It's disrespectful, plain and simple, and if he were truly a good Christian he'd have some compassion.)

Okay, so Grazer has some weird "rules for me but not for thee" shit when it comes to religion. This isn't news. Where am I going with this?

Well, turns out he has this opinion about more than just religion. Know how I know this? His response to ESRB ratings and trigger warnings.

So it seems like Grazer sees the ESRB as some sort of moral compass, in a way. Something being rated E or E10 means it's pure and good and wholly unproblematic, while anything higher means it's evil and disgusting and he can't even look at it.

This is further confirmed by this post, where he flat-out states he sees the ESRB as deeming what things are and are not morally acceptable.

Now Grazer, I'm gonna explain this as best as I can, because it seems like you don't quite understand this. Read very carefully.

This is not the purpose of the ESRB rating system.

I repeat, this is NOT the purpose of the ESRB rating system.

The ESRB does not decide on what is and is not morally correct. It simply says "This game contains these topics, and as such is most suitable for people in this age group.". That's it. It's a guideline, not a rule.

Let's take cartoon violence, for instance. It's a very common warning the ESRB puts on games. Almost every game from Mario to Sonic to Crash Bandicoot and even Monster Tale has this warning. These games are all rated E for everyone. Does this mean those games are promoting violence to children, or claiming things like Bowser kidnapping Peach or Pinstripe trying to gun down Crash are perfectly okay and morally correct? Of course not. It's simply saying that these games contain mild, non-graphic violence, but most children should be able to handle seeing it.

On the other side of the coin, let's take a look at the warnings for nudity and sexual themes. Most games that contain these topics are rated T at the lowest and AO at the highest. This obviously isn't saying that nudity and sex are inherently bad or evil. All it's saying is that these topics are best handled by adults (And, regardless of morality, it is illegal to distribute sexual content to minors unless it's meant to be educational, like a health class textbook).

A few extra points:

. Games can be rated different things in different countries. Different countries have different regulations. Do you know why the blood in Danganronpa is pink? It's because in Japan, games with excessive amounts of blood and gore are given a Z rating (Japan's equivalent to an AO rating). They got around this by making the blood pink, securing the game its desired M rating. Meanwhile here in America, Mortal Kombat is allowed to show as many graphic, brutal deaths as it wants and still receive an M rating.

. ESRB ratings are not legally enforceable. I was so convinced as a 16 year old that the employees at gamestop would try to card me or something when I was picking up a copy of Bayonetta, and I was surprised when they simply rang me up in two seconds, no questions asked. It doesn't happen. For fuck's sake, one of the first games I ever played, at the tender age of four, was Soul Edge. A T rated game. The only instance ESRB ratings are legally enforced is in the case of AO ratings, as these games often contain incredibly graphic violenceor sexual content. If this outrage is coming from the idea that certain ratings will keep younger people from playing these games from a legal standpoint, don't worry. A nine year old is not gonna get arrested for playing Among Us. Just don't buy them GTA San Andreas or Leisure Suit Larry and everything will be fine.

. No two consumers are exactly alike. While one 13 year old may be perfectly fine with the jumpscares in Amnesia, another may be too scared to even go near the piano in Super Mario 64. That doesn't mean either of these games is rated incorrectly. The ESRB is there, once again, as a recommendation for the average consumer, and doesn't take individual experience into account. An individual experience is not their responsibility. It's also on parents (or you yourself!) To decide what the consumer can or can't handle.

"But Haley," I hear you say, "What if this piece of media DOES contain something morally bad?"

Well it's simple. You are allowed to like things AND still criticize the bad parts of it.

Hold on now, I'm not telling you that it's perfectly alright to enjoy things like Birth of a Nation or anything like that! Contrary to popular belief, there are some pieces of media that are truly too steeped in hatred and morally reprehensible things to be supported, even through a critical lense. The only merit things like that have is to serve as a warning: This is a terrible thing made for terrible reasons, and we should not allow it to happen again.

But outside of those rare circumstances, it's not so cut and dry.

Let's take a piece of media i actually enjoy, for instance, so you know I'm not a hypocrite: Persona 5.

Persona 5 is easily one of my favorite games in the Persona series. It does a lot of interesting stuff, the artstyle and soundtrack are (in my opinion) the best in the series, and overall it's very enjoyable for me.

But, like anything, it's not perfect. I'm incredibly uncomfortable with the hypocrisy the game has in regards to the sexualization of teenagers. While Kamoshida is rightfully condemned for his sexualization of teenage girls and Ann's persona awakening comes from rejecting this objectification, the game and story undermine it by not only putting Ann in a sexually revealing outfit, but also making light of Ryuji's sexual harassment by adult men (Allegedly Persona 5 Royal tries to fix this by making the men drag enthusiasts who think Ryuji would look good in drag and giving them more sympathetic personalities, but it's still really weird and hypocritical of the game to do this.). The teenage protagonist is also allowed the option to date adult women, including his teacher, and the game rarely if ever touches on the problems with this.

The game's homophobia also left a bad taste in my mouth. Aside from the aforementioned men who sexually harass Ryuji, the only other canon LGBT+ character is a bar owner who is either a drag queen or a trans woman (or both?). Sure, she's portrayed as being kind and protective of the protagonist, but there isn't much room to interact with her or learn more about her. On top of that, not only can the protagonist not romantically pursue his male friends (A feature that even the SECOND persona game had), he's not even allowed to give them gifts or platonically show affection towards them without the dialogue mocking him. The game that allows a teenage boy to date his teacher won't allow him to simply give his male friends a present.

And yet, despite those criticisms, I do still enjoy the game. I don't consider the game irredeemable garbage based on those poorly handled topics alone. And I also understand that for some people, those topics make them so uncomfortable that they don't want to play the game at all, and I completely respect that.

Criticizing the things you enjoy is not only normal, it's oftentimes healthy. Being able to step back and say "I like this thing, but I don't like the bad things it's done. This thing would be better if these issues were fixed." Sure, sometimes some people tend to complain a bit too much about the media they supposedly enjoy, but for the most part being able to acknowledge the bad with the good is a good skill to have.

Oh, wait, all of this means nothing because Grazer thinks that critically enjoying things is nothing more than an excuse to consume media he doesn't personally agree with. Okay then.

So if he can't even realize something as simple as "it's okay to criticize some parts of media that you otherwise enjoy", how can he be expected to look critically at a religion that he's been raised in and around all his life?

Soooo yeah, Grazer has some serious problems with black and white thinking that he refuses to acknowledge, further worsened by the fact that he's practically been brainwashed into believing that Christianity is the ultimate moral compass that everyone should follow. I understand that this tends to be an issue for neurodivergent people, but it's not an excuse for the actions he does that are related to these things (sending death threats to the ESRB, antagonizing others, etc.