#rebelling against the evil BECAUSE shes so gay

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

danny talking about how resentful she became when nobody who she self-sacrificed for cared when she died and then leaving kirsch with laura and carmilla bc "if he stays with me i might lose control again and kill him" kinda confirms my thoughts abt both newly-turnedness and anger making vampires more vampiry

but also makes me think that in more usual circumstances, when the dean turned vampires like carmilla and mattie, that shes really nice at the start to temper any of that unruly anger

[theflikchic]

Probably one of the worst oversights of the HP narrative is that JKR - and the Wizarding World - simply does not care about the half-bloods. We hear of half-blood wizards being ashamed or shamed for their parentage but we never actually see it. The worst we get is them being accused of being Muggle-Borns which, in my opinion, doesn't count because the bigotry focus of the story is still "Pure-Bloods versus Muggle-Borns".

We don't really see how half-bloods are treated at ALL by larger society, only how they feel inwards. And when you look at real life, often internalized hatred like ableism and racism comes FROM the systemic bigotry in our society. But JKR doesn't get into this at all, not with Seamus, not with Voldemort, and ESPECIALLY not with Snape (I theorize she ignores a lot of great worldbuilding chances just to manipulate the reader into hating Snape for the "big reveal" but that's another post).

Because the narrative ignores half-bloods, you get the sense that the world ignores them too. Bellatrix calls Harry a "filthy half-blood" but he's...not. Both of his parents are wizards. It's just that she doesn't consider Lily a wizard which means she's really just slurring Muggle-Borns again.

Really, in the wizarding world AND the narrative, I feel the half-bloods are like asexuals. It always has to be gay vs straight. The asexuals aren't gay enough and they aren't straight enough, so neither side really gets or accepts them fully. And I don't think JKR saw much differently in regards to the half-bloods which leads to...well...bad writing.

When Hagrid talks about the Chamber, who is it about? Pure-bloods vs Muggle-borns. It's not even CONSIDERED in the narrative how the half-blood children could be perceived. And even as a KID, I was like "So Slytherin only thought "pure" kids should learn at Hogwarts? What's gonna happen to Seamus then? Is he in danger too?" This is never answered.

And when we ALMOST get a taste of half-blood bigotry in Order, it's ALL about people who are half-"beast" (in quotations, ofc). "Half-breed" is a slur. And it made me go, even as a KID, "this would be the PERFECT time to get down and dirty with how half-bloods are treated". But it doesn't. Bc JKR, at this point, a) wants no sympathy for Seamus b) wants no sympathy for Voldemort c) wants no sympathy for Snape and d) doesn't want to reveal Snape's blood heritage - even though he would be a prime target for Umbridge (she targets him for other reasons, another post and a good scene). JKR forsakes good character work in favour of manipulating the reader and it results in bad worldbuilding.

All of the half-blood struggles come from inside and for comedy. The narrative keeps SUGGESTING that they MIGHT be oppressed but just does not go any deeper (ignoring people's identity for yourself is a form of oppression, I think). When Mrs Cattermole begs that she's half-blood, it's because she knows this will save her. But how? Is she still not part less-than-human to wizards? And since Muggles are really referred to and seen AS such, why would the "half-breed" bigotry not extend to half-bloods?

When Snape is revealed to be the Prince, the narrative - at the time because of the Big Reveal - frames it as Snape being bigoted and proud of wizardry because "blood purity" rather than EVER raising the scenario - even AFTER the Big Reveal - that he is rebelling against oppression in his own blood-purity crazy house. It's implied but never gone into. And she could have dove into it! She could have had Snape and Seamus experience microaggressions but Snape's could have been concealed as classist or bitter aggressions from his Death Eater days (like what Umbridge does). Seamus could have been genuinely worried about the Chamber. We could have had Voldemort - in memories - experience blood bigotry and used it to critique how the world created him rather than simply "he born evil" (I suspect bc JKR is not actually interested in critiquing HER world but things since past, again another post).

It's inferred but never dived into The half-bloods seem to belong everywhere and nowhere. And it's all based on how JKR wants us to feel, not based on what will make sense for the characters or the worldbuilding. And the characters, who are genuinely enjoyable and engaging except for...maybe Voldemort, could have been even better and instead - they suffer for it.

Who cares for the half-bloods? I do.

[sepublic]

Jokes aside, I’d argue Belos isn't openly homophobic because there's no point to it; There's no point in trying to 'redeem' witches and demons by changing their lifestyles if he's convinced himself they're all going to Hell anyway, so the only thing he needs to do is kill them. "Why bother teaching them anything if you can just wipe them out?"

Belos only changes aspects of witches' lives that are directly necessary to his plans; In this case, applying sigils by justifying the lack of them as 'wild magic', and then keeping magic divided with different covens so they can't easily rebel against the system that's applying sigils, thereby allowing it to keep doing that and marking as many targets as possible for the draining spell. It's really quite simple. That's why he'll refuse to replenish the Palistrom forests but then promote women like Hettie and Terra to coven heads; Because Hettie and Terra will be killed by the draining spell anyway, but Palismen won't be.

And let's be real... He's a Puritan white guy. He absolutely believes that queerness is inherently a threat to society not just on a spiritual level but a biological one, because it discourages people from making babies because they're more focused on partners of the same sex they can't reproduce with. He probably thought Boiling Isles queerness was contributing to an inevitable decline that he merely hastened and that's why he allowed it. And Belos can't be openly bigoted because people wouldn't listen to him that way.

He's also definitely racist. Belos making an 'exception' for Luz is totally meaningless because white racists make exceptions for brown and gay folk all the time, while still clinging to their beliefs. Luz just happened to be the only human around since centuries, and that's better than no humans because the lowliest one is still above the greatest demon. And he still tried to murder Luz when she didn't flatter his white savior complex, and didn't adhere to his idea of what a proper human should be.

Even if Belos didn't try to kill Luz... Genocide isn't just murdering people. It's also erasing a culture, such as when white people assimilated Native American children, forcing them to convert to Christianity and dress like white people and speak only English, under the claim that they were 'civilizing' them. So even if they were alive, it was still genocide and it was still racism in the form of the White Man's Burden.

He was a white boy raised in a colony, everyone would've taught him that the indigenous people were 'savages' and Philip not only devoted his life to exterminating an entire culture he deemed evil and demonic, but actively enjoyed it too. Why would he stop at brown humans, unlike Caleb who already unlearned one major prejudice of his. If he never learned of the Boiling Isles, he'd have gone after women in Gravesfield (which would've been misogynistic in practice regardless of Philip's intentions), and probably Native Americans too because his witch hunting games are no different than Cowboys VS Indians.

Like I dunno man these white racists do have fellow white people they care about, and are willing to make exceptions and humor brown women too. But they're still racist and will refuse to listen to those people when called out over their bigotry, and ultimately choose that. Any argument that Belos wouldn't be guilty of other human prejudices is purely wishful thinking, and fairly contradictory to his characterization and whole narrative.

And we can wax poetic about why Belos doesn't openly disparage Luz for being brown, queer, and/or a girl, but we know the real reason why; It's because Disney censors would throw a conniption over portrayals of bigotry, and the show was already shortened for 'not fitting the brand'. Look at how Texas banned critical race theory. They think discussing racism is inherently racist, kinda like Twitter users. But with the added difference that they know it's a callout of the people running corporations and the government and investors (AKA themselves) and they hate that.

This kinda gets me back to an earlier point I made; I think the fundamental disconnect fans have with the show over Belos is that Belos stans (not necessarily fans) recognize their character's backstory and motives are something gross that can't be romanticized, and that's why they work so hard to reframe the focus towards Philip's dynamic with his brother Caleb, emphasizing codependency, and religious suppression and guilt. Because they can romanticize that, but not the intentionally pathetic core of Belos' character (itself a satire of certain subgroups).

They're seething over the reminder that their sexy aesthetic will always be second-banana to a 4channer complex, and salty that the crew chose to discuss something topical instead of making a sexyman villain, because their complaints can be boiled down to tastes and preferences, not actual objective critique. That's also why they claim the finale 'retconned' Belos and stripped him of nuance, because all the show really did was just frame and acknowledge his desire to be right as cowardly and selfish, instead of flattering him with tortured abandonment angst over a brother he never cared enough for. As if we didn’t have the ghosts in the previous episode for that purpose.

[wewebaggit]

"El never had romantic feelings for Mike"ers 🤝 "Mike had romantic feelings for El"ers

Y'all think y'all are arm wrestling bt it's actually called a handshake in most parts of the world.

Both come from some weird desire for romantic miIeven to have meant nothing/something for both.

Cuz everything has to be just right and fair and neatly tied in a bow. God forbid the gay boy have struggles with his sexuality or the straight girl get her heart broken in the process. Evil evil things. To have your feelings unrequited. Unless it's Will. Cuz he's single and has to stay single and pure and loyal and what not, and it's only temporary. Soon in a few years after the time skip at the end of the series he'll be rewarded for being reduced to a pathetic little sap with no social life beyond Jonathan, Mike and the horrors of having spidey sense for 2 seasons.

And yeah there will be cirque du soleil levels of acrobatics being performed to show why this story and narrative makes sense. And I'm not opposed to it for being that but just that on show that prides itself for show don't tell it neither shows nor tells and then there's outside the show telling by cast cuz inside the show showing was less subtle and more in the realm of not there at all.

MiIeven is NOT a "plot device" for Byler any more than Mike being revealed gay is a plot device for independent El. They're both self contained arcs for the respective characters. MiIeven thoroughly exploited the BSY dynamic with how their interactions were framed and played and okayed and filmed. It's incredibly condescending to fault the GA for buying into the self insert fantasy of nerdy boy gets supergirl when the show didn't shy away from profiting off of it. Regardless of Mike's impending sexuality. Especially because of the super ambiguity of Mike's sexuality it cannot be classified as anything but trope exploitation. Subversion where? Leaving some visuals here.

El initiating the kiss in S1E6

And I'd love it if anyone explains them to me that's not the tired af "El's idea of romantic love comes from her watching soap operas" cuz she was shown watching it once. She was stuck in a cabin with a TV so she watched TV most of the time and daytime is soaps. You know what she (also) watched regularly? Westerns. Miami Vice.

Also El did make the first move in s1e7 to kiss Mike. Before Mike ever kissed her in s1e8. And before the soap operas n all other things. Point being. The BSY has always been BSYing.

Poor babies being forced by Lucas, Nancy and daytime TV into making out and enjoying it. Tsk tsk. (S3E1)

A forced to be flustered and blushing El after talking to her boyfriend.

Time to make out some more. It hits different at 4:20. - Mike & El probably. Dunno it's on mute.

Naive but powerful fawn rebelling against father for nerdy boyfriend. Ya. White American thing cuz Mike would be pissing his pants if he were anywhere else or maybe anyone else. (Can you imagine Lumax this way?)

For God's sake your platonic soulmate and so called lesbian awakening's brother is dying there.

Don't even understand the point of this shot. Since Mike never looked Billy's way. Or comforted Max. A glance at El that, idk what it meant, no mike crow expressions to guide me.

Scenes from a Marriage (1973) dir. Ingmar Bergman

Scenes from a Marriage (2021) dir. Hagai Levi

There's an intentional way in which the MiIeven scenes (not just the kisses 🤮) are filmed in a more "adult" way as opposed to the "cute teenaged romance" way that some people purport it is in contrast to Lumax and Duzie. (I guess they didn't go through puberty.🤷‍♀️) Heck even Jancy, Stancy never looked this weird even though sex was shown/ implied. (Because they were played by actors born in the 20th century and even then they weren't 13 🤷‍♀️.)

MiIeven is not a plot device for Byler. It is fan service. The adults shipping them and comparing them to various other adult couples isn't outta nowhere. Please compute. Which is why it was stretched for 4 seasons.

As of NOW Mike's sexuality is still plausible deniability and the breakup too is neither here nor there. It's NOT straightbaiting. Lmao. Not at all. It's fan service. Leaving the OBVIOUS BSY aside, the point neither party were forced into anything nor were they doing it to keep appearances cuz canonically NOBODY cared. Not Dustin, not Lucas, definitely not Will and I'm sure neither did Max.

El was a willing participant and initiator and Mike was also not opposed to it until puberty monster/feelings caught up with him. El has shown her attraction to guys and it is okay. There's no need to take that away from her cuz that is also an experience of girlhood. She barely has any experiences anyway. Let her have that.

It's the same for Mike. He's not some evil monster for being gay. Not anymore than Joyce was for being with Bob out of convenience and the fact that she liked him n didn't hate him. Mike does love El and cares about her deeply as all of S4 shows.

So to sum it up. Yes I smooshed 2 posts cuz I couldn't be arsed talking about these 2 AGAIN. But Mike and El were independent agents when they decided to embark on their disastrous romantic journey and Born Sexy Yesterday is REAL.

P.S. If you find this shit cute and y'all roll your eyes over byler kissing n what not (even in fics goddamnit). Hit your head against a spiked wall till you can't no more. Piss and love. 💙💛

P.P.S. Mike's the clingy one. NOT Will.

[ronqueesha]

4, 6, 18 for the pride asks!

Thanks for the ask!

Ask me some pride themed OC asks!

Since you didn't specify the oc, I'll pick the ones that I think have the most interesting answers:

4. Is your oc’s environment supportive about their identity? How does this impact them?

Kallian Tabris grew up in an environment that 100% DID NOT support her bisexuality. As an elf from the Denerim alienage, she was expected to marry a man her father and the community elders chose for her and have his children regardless of how she felt about it. A man she didn't even meet until hours before their appointed wedding.

Kallian spent much of her youth rebelling against this custom, but none of it worked. Needless to say, it was quite the shock when Kallian returned home with a human on her arm, much less a human woman.

If you look up Warhammer 40k lore on the subject, you might find people online who insist that the Imperium of Mankind is intensely homophobic and bigoted against minority identities. It kind of makes sense, given how oppressive and evil it is. But the truth is, from Games Workshop themselves, is that the Imperium fully recognizes people for who they are. So long as they're human and serve the God Emperor, they can love whoever they wish and be whoever they wish.

That being said, Nasosi Von Valancius has lived all of her life immersed in the culture of the Ecclisiarchy and the Astra Militarum. While the laws fully support the fact she is asexual and has no interest in "downtime" with her fellow soldiers/officers/dignitaries, the individuals who have propositioned her have had decidedly negative reactions to her declining their propositions. Nasosi's career as a commissar has taken several blows because she did not let a superior officer or Imperial official take her to bed.

6. How does your oc feel about labels? Theirs, or in general?

It's kind of a boring answer, but most of my OCs live in scifi or fantasy worlds where labels like we use them don't really apply. They just love who they love, and other people can either accept it or move on with their lives. I label them for convenience and shorthand in tumblr tags, but they don't really come up in their actual lives very much.

The closest that it affects them is like the example I mentioned for Nasosi above, or my lesbian characters like Jane Shepard and Saoirse. When people who do not match their preferences, either out of ignorance or malice, try to pressure them into things they don't want to do. And then they will explain their labels.

18. Do you prefer to give your ocs specific labels, or keep it unspecified? Why? If applicable, do you change their labels depending on circumstance?

I generally start with a very vague idea for an OC, and their details slowly emerge over time as I develop them. I've never specifically set out to create a "gay oc" or "trans oc", the characters themselves reveal these things over time. Sexuality and identity label headcanons are sometime the very last things that come to me.

Sarit Ramesh was not officially a trans woman when I debuted her, even though I had vague notions of it from the moment I created the character. Instead, I let my internal muse slowly crystallize who she was over time, and that nagging voice never went away, always keeping that detail in the back of my mind. So I eventually realized that it was who she really is, and fully embraced the idea.

Also to mention Nasosi one more time, she was originally an OC I created for the game Tyranny. And in that game, I was super interested in romancing Barik. So while I never said it in a tumblr post, I've always had it in my mind that the original Nasosi is straight.

However, when remaking the character in Warhammer 40k, that idea did not follow. The asexual label slowly came over time, largely influenced by my accidental choice to romance Yrliet. It felt like a natural pairing with the aeldari, and a way to deepen their connection beyond physical intimacy.

[vinxwatches]

the bad batch season 2

really liked season one, trough probably too much because i headcanon Omega as trans.

Omega is badass now? cool.

Cid is damn manipulative... by having a valid point.

the call for adventure of the season: help people. they are good people, helping when the opportunity arises, seems like they'll be making the step to looking for places to help.

i just realized something i really like in this over clone wars: people can't die. don't get me wrong, it was neat, but it also meant you wouldn't get to know the cast. in this the cast is an actual cast.

oh, that's one fucking cliffhanger, strong opening.

stop being stupid, you can't run on a broken leg... i mean you can, but you shouldn't.

they were hunted by Wilco... the name sound familiar, but my memory for names is ass. also he's dead now, so not that it really matters. i literally caught it on his death grunt.

i do like the message, but i wonder where they'll be going with it.

Crosshair episode? also cody again, probably about to die too.

there's always something neat about a sniper just sniping overly well.

maybe not, maybe cody is able to leave and live. more likely not. the only reasonable way to achieve that is by linking up with Rex or task force 99. and i don't recall him being with Rex in rebels.

well damn, he went awol. hope we'll see him again.

i love a good race, especially layed out well, and it was. good episode

ok i'll admit it my gay hart is losing it over phee, worried she'll turn out to be the villain, or at least not trustworthy.

pre jedi stuff. how will not force users make it trough here. also they're going big with the music.

i was sure it would be a kibar cristal (lightsabre core). oh, it's big.

so i really did recognise him... HOW?!

the message of the show seems to me "people need their people". now this isn't a bad message, but is easily malformed.

ah, so wookies are argonians.

"don't stand where i'm flamethrowing"

i really like where she moved. how she seems to have grown... it's probably going to get her killed isn't it? ep 7 btw.

i love the leitmotifs.

damnit two parter? i need to prepare, not need to watch part two... oh well.

Echo's role is always the most questionable to me, but here they really found a role for him.

fuck he's such a politician. (yes that is obviously an insult)

feels fitting for Echo, the old squad reuniting... yet also we know this isn't where he ends up. after all i watched rebels.

hello purple hair, should i know you already?

and it's given proper weight, nice.

tech is autistic isn't he? because my god can he be almost stereotypically oblivious. damn growth for tech. also yea you'll always lose against water.

oh, this really just is the neurodivergent episode... and i think it's handled pretty well. episode 9. Techs and Omega's conversation around 22 minutes is very good.

nope purple hair is not someone we know, and definitely doesn't have cool feather hair.

ugly and disabled means evil... not a fan.

the workers suffer while and to increase the profit of the company? what a new story, good thing such things never happen in the real world /s. if only the solutions were ever more realistic. revealing the truth never changed anything. but obviously disney doesn't want to tell that.

a broken space dropping out of hyperdrive?

oh shit, they're continuing with what i thought was a dropped plotpoint. but why though? what do they plan to do with this plot now?

Rex? doesn't look like him, but certain talks like him. and i don't just mean same voice. i mean how and what he says. ep 12

oh, is this the deserting episode? they have been building it up.

in case it wasn't obvious enough the empire was evil and a bunch of dicks.

welcome to cold, the cruellest, slowest killer. the cruellest part may be the hope. there's nothing you'll survive better then cold, because while it kills you it also preserves you. you can hope to make it, until the moment you die. and the people who find your body will feel that same hope until your corpse is warmed up. it's a blessing too, for you'll survive it more often then drowning, but the hope is cruel.

damn that ending though.

are they planning to split to group up further? i mean probably the right decision, but not healthy for the series i think. they are making this play too idyllic, like 80% sure it'll either be destroyed or secretly evil. the only reason i'd say maybe not is because they seemed to have put too much afford into the assets to throw it all away. of all the enemies to throw at the it, this is one of the most mundane and with that cool. especially in it's accuracy.

also did they hint at this ship before? i didn't notice it but i'm notoriously bind to this type of ship. or did they introduce it in this episode.

that ship sure looks like the ghost.

"i suggest i you proceed before i come to my senses"

two things i still really like: Wrecker is allowed to be afraid of heights and it's not a flaw. a hinderance and a weakness, sure. but everyone has those. it's not something that's wrong with him that must be changed. Omega is trusted with important tasks and is competent. she's not just a tag along kid, she's an actual member of the team with useful skills like any of them.

there's going to be more then one team working here, that'll be a problem. called it, and called it... fuck. this season won't end in a successful rescue. they better be getting a season 3.

on no. i see the solution, Tech does too. please don't. yet you must. fuck. come on, it's too early in the episode for a mayor character death. right? unless the rest of the episode it to come to terms with the loss. i'm wrong... right? i mean... the start of the episode did set it up, but, like.. no?

this feels like an episode where they all die... but that can't be. they have an unresolved plot. whatsit fuck face needs omege, she needs to be captured and then rescued. that's how those plots go. everyone can't die, not yet at least, the plot demands it... right?

ok... they "salvaged" him. that has to mean he's alive... right? fuck i already know a friend of mine would call out my hopium.

another female clone? the fuck? also how can you be here? do what you do? that just doesn't make sense? trying to improve the system from the inside? that won't work with the empire, and if you were a mole you'd be a shit one. they're really hoping they'll get another season.

[melanielocke]

Book recommendations: can't wait for the next book

A while back I did a post with complete series. This time I figured I'd do a post with a couple of series that have another book coming in 2023 instead. Or, well, presumably 2023, since for some of them I'm not 100% sure about when the next book is coming out, but if I do know I'll list it. I also considered putting Legendborn in here, but I don't own Legendborn, my sister does and at the time of taking this picture I didn't have access to her books, that series would fit this category too. Let me know if there are any other sequels you're waiting for! This certainly isn't all of mine, but I picked a couple of books that I hadn't covered yet (and one I am repeating, but bear with me)

First up is the Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman. The Ivory Key is the first book in a duology and is set in a world inspired by India. This country depends on magic to protect itself from foreign invaders, but they keep magic in a vault underneath the palace and it is running out. Vira is the Queen of Ashoka and is desperate for solution. She discovers that there are more vaults with magic, locked by the ivory key that she'll have to find. Desperate, she asks her siblings for help. They agree, but each have their own motivation for wanting to find the key. While Vira wants to save her country, Ronak wants to sell the key to the highest bidder to escape a political marriage and their younger sister Riya wants to give the key to the rebels to prove her loyalty to them. Their oldest half brother Kaleb was falsely imprisoned for murdering the former queen, and needs it to prove his innocence. The book has a quest to find this key and four siblings who are all working together but also against each other for their own goals and splits its POVs between the four siblings.

The book shown on the picture is the UK edition and the US edition has a different cover. Book 2, the Crimson Fortress, comes out 1 August 2023.

Next I have the Hollow Star Saga by Ashley Shuttleworth. There are currently two books out in this series which are a Dark and Hollow Star and a Cruel and Fated Light.

This series is set in modern day Toronto and features a world with fae courts that hide themselves from humans. It follows four main characters who end up tangled up in te same mystery.

Arlo is an ironborn, a half fae whose mother is a princess in the most important royal family of fae, but because she's half human she is an outcast in her family.

Nausicaa is an ex fury who was cast out of the immortals for killing a bunch of people, known as the dark star.

Vehan is the prince of the Seelie Summer Court, which is a different royal family than Arlo's from. He is dutiful, but naive and has no idea that his mother is evil.

Aurelian is Vehan's best friend and body guard, whose relationship with Vehan is strained because of a secret he has to keep.

The first book follows these characters as they investigate a series of ironborn murders no one else seems to care about. Vehan especially is passionate about finding the culprit, whereas Nausicaa is only really helping out because people are “—runnin’ around accusing perfectly innocent assholes of assholery they’ve been actively trying to avoid.” as said by Nausicaa in the book. Seriously, she's hilarious. Things get a lot more intense in book two, which I won't give too much away about. Book 2 also adds Celadon to the main cast (he was already important in book 1 but gets a POV in book 2)

All the major characters in this book are queer, with Arlo being questioning, Nausicaa's a lesbian, Vehan's bisexual and Aurelian's gay.

The next book is a Grim and Sunken Vow and is scheduled for fall 2023, but the exact date is as of yet unknown. After that there will be one more book.

I know I've already talked about the Sunbearer Trials but this book is so great it bears repeating.

I already summarized the story, a group of semidioses doing a competition where the loser dies, so I figured I'd talk a little more abot my favorite character Aurelio. Aurelio is the son of Lumbre, diosa of fire, and has a twin sister Auristela. Most people don't really like Auristela since she is not very nice and needs to be the best at everything, but Aurelio is really close with his sister. As a child he was really shy and awkward and he ended up befriending Teo but at some point he kind of stopped talking to Teo so now they're awkward ex friends. Aurelio is very dutiful and literal and sometimes I feel like he might be autistic. He is also Teo's love interest though that is something that develops slowly.

If you haven't read this book yet, I'd seriously recommend it. Book 2, which should be the last one, is as of yet untitled and has no release date. It currently says 2023 but I can't guarantee it'll be published that year. I sure hope so though, with how the last one ended.

A Blade so Black is a little older than the other books here, but for some reason it took a while for the third book to come out, I'm not completely sure what happened here. There are currently two books out, a Blade so Black and a Dream so Dark. I have the UK editions but I'm honestly not sure if there will be a UK edition of book 3 since there was so much time between the last release and this one, so if you're very passionate about having a matching set I'd recommend getting the US hardcovers as the third book will release in that edition.

This trilogy is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland in which Alice is a modern day bi Black girl living in Atlanta, juggling her strict and protective mother and a high maintenance best friend with her secret job of killing nightmares, which are monsters born from wonderland that slip into our world. When her mentor Hatta (who I'm pretty sure is supposed to be the Mad Hatter) gets poisoned, Alice has to go deeper into wonderland than she's ever been to find a cure. In the olden days, a lot of YA contemporary fantasy books were very vague about the role of parents. Lots of parents who had no clue what there kids were up to also didn't really pay attention and just let them do whatever? To be fair, that could have been my parents. But for a lot of people and that was not very realistic. Alice' mom is very protective, and for good reason, but does not know what's going on in Alice' life and Alice regularly has to make excuses for her absences or have her best friend Courtney cover for her and the books balance the adventures in Wonderland quite well with Alice having to keep up her normal teenage life.

The third book, a Crown so Cursed will 11 April 2023

Last but not least is the Gilded Ones trilogy, with currently two books out, the Gilded Ones and the Merciless Ones.

Deka lives in a small village in a very misogynistic world where at her sixteenth birthday, she will be checked for the color of her blood to see if she is pure or not. When her blood runs gold, she knows she will be killed. Only Deka doesn't die. In fact, the villagers kill her many different ways and every time Deka wakes up, until a woman travels to her village and offers her the choice to come with her and fight in an army of alaki, girls like her who are near immortal.

But nothing is quite as it seems, not even what Deka believes is the greatest threat to her country.

This book is an interesting fantasy that focused primarily on misogynie from the POV of a Black woman (although racism as we know it isn't really a thing in this world). In the second book, there is also some exploration of rad fem/terf ideology and how simply hating and turning against all men/amab people is not a good way of dealing with oppression, and one of the older alaki is revealed to be a trans woman.

@alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer @life-through-the-eyes-of @astriefer @justanormaldemon @ipromiseiwillwrite @a-dream-dirty-and-bruised @amchara @all-for-the-fanfiction @imsoftforthomastair @ddepressedbookworm @queenlilith43 @wagner-fell @cant-think-of-anything @laylax13s @tessherongraystairs @boredfangirl16 @artist-in-soul @bottomdelioncourt @ikissedsmithparker

[thylacid]

I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW HAPPY I AM TO FIND YOUR ACCOUNT....... bristlefrost has been in my top five for EVER she is so very very dear to me. autism cat. kind of expanding on the other ask, what are your (most extensive) thoughts on bristle and root's relationship and the ways in which you'd change it (especially based on the lesbian gay man break-up post) and how would you go about giving her and implementing mummy issues w ivypool (definitely not mother of the year already.)?

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS hang on

starting off with bristleroot, my idea of their relationship is really messy. it starts out a bit similar to canon with how rootspring has a crush and whatever while bristlefrost is sorta just dealing with her own stuff (i'll get into this with the ivypool part of this post) but she does think fondly of rootspring since he was nice. its platonic though

it kinda gets a little crazy when shit starts going down in tbc though. rootspring joins the rebels and bristlefrost is more of an actual spy because she is under pressure by every major figure in her life to help stop the codebreakers . she is a teenager

bristlefrost needs something to get the rebels to trust her. she's a big deal in thunderclan at this point and recognized by most as one of bramblestars supporters, which makes it hard for her to suddenly show up at bramblestar hate club. so she uses rootspring's crush on her against him and pretends she feels the same way

things go "well". bristlefrost is, of course, lying to rootspring. but she does actually start to get along with him and its become a chance to bond. she just wished that rootspring wasn't her enemy

eventually word gets out about bristlefrost and rootspring. bramblestar is not happy and threatens exile, but bristlefrost assures him that she doesnt care about rootspring at all obviously!!! but bramblestar wants her to prove it. so bristlefrost betrays rootspring and they fight (DIVORCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

bristlefrost thinks its for the best. that she has to do these things. because otherwise shes nothing. she has a lot of very.. complicated feelings for her clan and the code

which leads into ivypool. ivypool is one of bramblestars biggest supporters. ivypool shares his beliefs that the codebreakers should be punished because shes still mad about dovewing leaving even though its been years

ivypool sort of just is??? shes not really a good mom but shes not a horrible awful evil mom shes just... there? its more that shes not a good person more than anything which is why she has made a negative impact on her daughter as she got older. she's.. fine? a bit distant, but both of bristlefrosts parents become a bit distant from her eventually (or more she becomes distant from them. and everyone)

ivypool is one of the people in bristlefrost's life pushing her to be more loyal to the clan. she's proud of bristlefrost for how dedicated she is to the clan when she becomes a warrior early. she's even more happy when shes promoted to deputy. idk

i havent really thought things through with ivypool i cant write sorryyyyyy. i like to think brisltefrost somehow befriends shadowsight and so the two of them kinda get involved in ivypool & dovewings whole . deal

[amoebab22]

I completely agree with this. I feel like this is one of the worst parts about Veilguard. My Inky is in the South, and while I firmly believe Orlais is the devil, it's very weird that Tevinter is just super chill about my elf Rook when my elf Inky had constant micro-aggressions as well as just out and out slurs hurled at her. Also I'm going on a rant about Mythal.

SPOILERS BELOW

Bellara also seems to just...kind of ignore that I'm an elf? Davrin makes more sense. He left his clan and joined the Wardens because he just didn't really vibe with the Dalish. He'd think of himself as a Warden first, I think. Wardens don't seem to give much of a shit about your race or religion or sexuality or whatever. In The Calling, they canonically don't give a fuck about the gay couple in their little group, or that Fiona is a mage and an elf. Absolutely irrelevant. So Davrin could start to fall into that mindset because frankly, it's a nice way to live. It's just not real outside the Wardens.

So when Bellara is like oh my god our gods are evil and Davrin is like eh, fuck 'em, that's actually about the most realistic reaction we've got re: elves. Davrin is just out here like yo I'm a little busy saving the world fuck them gods. Love Davrin.

Also, in Inquisition, there's concern that knowing Corypheus's artifact is Elvhen will cause violence against elves. So knowing it's the Elvhen gods causing all of this? The consequences of that, even if an elf Rook saves the world, should be looming for a Shadow Dragon in particular. Clearly Inquisitor Ameridan's race did nothing for the elves of Orlais. It was covered up over time. His sacrifice meant nothing to the humans. This should make Solas's plans to restore the elves much, much more tempting.

The way the Crows were presented REALLY bothered me as well as someone who romanced Zev. The Crows *tortured* him, sexually assaulted him, made him feel worthless, because it was seen as necessary. Sure, Lucanis being blood family might give him a very different perspective and experience, but Jacobus is just allowed to be a Crow and start his own house when he wouldn't kill? I mean, I totally agree that prolonged, public shaming and imprisonment is worse for this individual, but like.... That's not how the Crows work. They kill stuff for money. Sure, they run Antiva and would be pretty pissed off about the Antaam taking their territory I'm sure, and they might work with Rook since Rook helped Lucanis and he's a big deal to the First Talon. But like... It should be a hard choice to work with them for Shadow Dragon Rook, because SLAVERY.

I feel like the pullback on slavery is to make Solas's actions seem more ambiguous, and to make it seem like there was some equal power between him and Mythal. But I have a very hard time believing he was never Mythal's slave. Also, a spirit of BENEVOLENCE? Get ABSOLUTELY fucked. She was fine with SLAVERY. Thought she could just slowly phase it out, maybe. Yeah, no .

Because here's the thing: slavery is evil. Whatever you have to do to stop slavery, short of participating or killing slaves, is pretty easy to justify. Maybe I'm just John Brown-pilled from living in Kansas a good chunk of my life, but killing slavers and slave owners and freeing slaves is MORALLY CORRECT. FULL STOP. A "kind" master is still a master. Sure, you can give them a chance to free their slaves and make reparations first, but waiting to vote slavery out didn't work. The US had to go to war. Haiti had to rebel (and give basically all its GDP to France for like two hundred years. Fuck Orlais AND France).

The only reason my Inky was able to befriend Dorian, at first, was their shared trauma in going to the future. That changes people (that whole quest fucked me up the first time I did it) and I think my elf Inky was looking for reasons to trust Dorian and ignore the system he participated in. She didn't have to see it so it seemed less real. He's an altus so he doesn't own the estate. He seems open to other opinions! And some part of him knows it's wrong, or he wouldn't be so awkward upon talking to Inky the first time.

But Solas's inherent and never fully overcome distrust of Dorian isn't wrong. Solas needs to see action; words aren't enough. I don't blame him.

This is the same softening we saw of the Templars in DA2 and Inquisition, but if you read The Stolen Throne and The Calling and play DAO, it's very clear that mages are oppressed by the Chantry and live in horrible conditions. The ones in Lake Calenhad are described as pale and kinda sickly looking (or something like that) because they don't get any fucking sunlight. Fiona is happy to go to the circle at first because she was a SLAVE in Orlais (Honestly Loghain's hatred of Orlais is justified even though his actions aren't). If you decide to allow the right of annulment or whatever in DAO, Zevran calls it genocide. Zevran isn't one to mince words. He doesn't pretend he isn't a killer or that he wasn't tortured.

My Inky and my Rook are both 'no gods no masters' types, which is why I think clan Lavellan sent their First on a risky mission supposedly by herself (got real sick of her shit lol). As a result, she heavily sympathizes with Solas's cause, and would have happily joined him in bringing down the Veil if he'd just agreed to spend time making sure as few people died as possible, particularly after she meets the Avvar and sees how spirits really are. She knows Solas better than anyone, and even without a full explanation, she'd know that his reasons for doing this were morally right. He freed her people. He never meant to hurt them. He can't live with his guilt. Inky (who in my game was more like 30 because I don't think she could have made decisions or led on her own at 20, nor would she have been a studied enough mage) wants freedom for everyone. She's chaotic good.

Rook is a Shadow Dragon who killed slavers a little too hard for an organization dedicated to killing slavers (based Rook). They're also chaotic good, and a bit of an idiot, bless them, who kinda sees everything as a nail because they have a hammer. They see slavery, they fight it. Fuck the consequences. Solas did the same.

So why is Rook not bringing up slavery a lot? Why is Rook only finding out that Solas freed slaves on the regular at the beginning of the game? Did Varric just decide that wasn't worth bringing up to a person whose entire life revolves around ending slavery? Why is Rook not having an existential crisis after talking to Solas and finding out the truth of his past in his memories?

Look, all I'm saying is that I don't understand why more people aren't angry with Mythal and why no one is talking about slavery and racism. The whole point of fantasy and sci-fi, and the point of Dragon Age, is to critique modern society through thinly veiled references. That's why people get so passionate about Star Trek. And yeah, yes, it's necessarily going to make a piece of media more niche, or people are going to bitch about it (especially gamer bros my dude calm down, sorry something is very briefly not about you), but it makes a game *good* and lasting

BG3 did a good job of exploring the themes of trauma and power imbalance, and while some characters I think needed more fleshing out (Wyll my beloved, I owe you a lengthy fanfic for the injustice done to you), it was particularly powerful in Astarion. The people are ready for real exploration of real issues. We always have been. Backing off was a mistake.

ANYWAY I have feelings and none of my friends share my special interest. Here you go.

Why Fenris could Never Cameo in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

In the run up to Dragon age: The Veilguard, I was almost certain that Fenris would be our main legacy character from previous games. Not only has he been central in the comics released between DAI and DATV, he is an escaped Tevinter slave who's plot revolved around magisters, magic and the structural prejudices surrounding elves in Thedas. Not only that, but he's canonically in Tevinter killing slavers currently so he's geographically in the right place for us to meet him.

About halfway through the game though, it was clear to me: Fenris could never cameo in The Veilguard. Because he'd break it.

How the Veilguard treats Thedas is...odd to me, to say the least. I will be writing another post about how much I adored the expanded big lore in this game (the titans, ancient elves were spirits, where the blight came from etc.) and yet while these large lore expansions worked for me, the actual culture of modern Thedas is entirely softened, its sharp edges filed down until it's a sanitised fantasy world devoid of what made the franchise so vibrant and compelling in the first place.

So let's start with Fenris and slavery. In all three games, the reality of slavery is pushing at the corners of the world. In DAO Loghain allows Tevinter Magisters to enslave elves in order to raise money for his war effort. In DA2 Fenris is fighting to be free from slavers who will not leave him be, let alone the reminders that the city was built by slaves which are everywhere. In DAI one of the two possible mini-bosses is Calpurnia who was a slave, and characters such as Gatt and Dorian both show us how much slavery is tied into Tevinters culture and success.

But DATV the first game actually set in Tevinter where we get to see the famed Minrathous...it's like the game purposefully wants to avoid the issue. I can feel it tilting the camera away to not allow me to see. Slavery is mentioned, but never talked about in depth or as a specifically ELVEN problem in Tevinter. This might have been done to be less problematic, it feels ignored.

We are in DOCK TOWN. We are at the DOCKS. You would think that slaves from all over Thedas who are being smuggled and bought by various groups would be everywhere. You would think that the injustice in dock town would be partly built on the back of ships we've seen in the comics crammed with elves in chains. This is the world Dragon age set up for us. And yet...nothing. zilch. A tiny easily skippable side quest where we free a couple of venatori slaves, but only one of whom is an elf.

None of our Tevinter characters seem to have been influenced by their culture even a little bit when it comes to how they view elves; there is no moment when Neve fucks up and says something prejudiced, no moment when Bellara or Davrin are distrustful of her for being a Tevinter mage.

The same goes for Zevran; a character who epitomised the issues with the crows. The crows have consistently been characterised as very morally dubious assassins who kill for the highest bidder and who buy children on the slave market and torture them as they grow in order to assure that they reach maturity able to withstand torture without giving away a client's name. Zevran is very explicit about the fact that if you fail a contract your life is forefit.

Nobody responds particularly to you if you're an elf. Nobody trusts rook less for it in Tevinter. Nobody treats Rook any differently. Even DAI had better mechanics for this; with nobles in Orlais less likely to trust you as an elf.

Considering one of the main plot points of this game and what makes Solas sympathetic is the fact that he was fighting against the slavery of ancient elves...you'd think the game might want to mirror that in modern Thedas. It might want to show us how characters fighting to end slavery in Tevinter are similar to Solas and how the society Solas fought against was similar to the one that characters we love such as Fenris have fought against in modern Thedas. Maybe we'd want to explore how in a world of slavery like this, how could the answer NOT be to tear it all down? Maybe we should have that option at the end of the game so it really can chose whether we agree with Solas and his plans or not.

Adding Fenris to this game would entirely break the game because Fenris refuses to allow you to look away from this horror. He is a sympathetic character who had to learn to trust mages again because of course he didn't trust them. Of course he didn't. Fenris wouldn't allow the camera to shift focus because he's literally covered in the lyrium scars that show how slaves are used as experiments in Tevinter. Fenris WOULD question Neve on how she feels about elves and slaves. Fenris WOULD have things to say about Lucanis and the crows (let alone the fact Lucanis is an abomonation). So he could never be in this game; he'd drop a bomb on it's carefully constructed blinders to the very society its supposed to be set in.

And yet, in DATV, the crows are presented as...a found family of misfits and orphans? The politician who opposes the crows having absolute power in Antiva is framed as a comically evil idiot who doesn't understand that the crows are ontologically good. Yet...they're NOT. Crows in this game act more like a secret rebel group than an assassin organisation. We see no crow taking contracts with the VERY RICH venatori magisters despite being hired killers. We see crows just refuse to kill people despite having a contract because 'its crueler to leave them alive'. The crows don't feel like the crows here, they feel like a softened version of a cool assassin group who are cool because they wear black and purple.

Our pirate group are also sanitised; the Lords of Fortune are good pirates who only steal treasure that's not culturally significant. Theyve clearly read the modern critiques of the British Museum and have decided to explicitly stop anyone levelling similar critiques at them. There is no faction of the Lords of Fortune who aren't like this, no internal arguments about it. Everyone just. Agrees. And is able to accurately tell what a cultural artifact is vs. what treasure that you can have yourself is. Rather than showing us why a pirate stealing cultural artifacts might be bad (like in da2 where such a situation literally causes a coup and a war) it just tells us it's bad. But also pirates are cool so we still want them in our world.

This issue seaps into Thedas and drains it of any of the interesting complexity and ability to SAY anything that this franchise had before this game. It becomes a game about telling and not showing rather than the other way around. The games have ALWAYS asked questions about oppressive structural systems and their interplay with society, religion and culture and how these things can affect even the most well meaning character. Dragon age at its best IS a game about society and how society functions both for and against it's characters and what happens to societies built on cruelty and indifference. The best bad guys dragon age has given us are those who are bad because they embody these systems or have been shaped by them. Our main characters have had to wrestle with questions surrounding how to exist in these systems, fight against them, learn and grow.

Yet every group you come across in DATV is sanitised and cleaned up to the point of being as non problematic as humanly possible. None of our cast of characters have to wrestle with where they came from or the world that shaped them. None of them have to confront their own biases. They start the game perfectly non-problematic and end it that way too.

And this just...isn't what Dragon Age has been in the past. It isn't why I love the franchise. The whole game just felt, in a way, hollow. And this was a CHOICE and it is why the legacy characters are few and far between. Too many dragon age characters are just too...angry and complex for this game. You can feel them pulling their punches on this one. I have to imagine they did this because they didn't want to be criticised or have too much controversy? But I think it honestly goes far too much in the other direction and just makes it bland.

I can't imagine what I say here will be unique, but it is the basis for a LOT of my other thoughts on this game so I wanted to get it out of the way first. The softened Thedas and characters make this game by far the weakest in the franchise.

[zorilleerrant]

Fansplaining's latest episode is saying how there's a generational difference in woobification, and while I would agree, I don't think it's in the generation of the fan, it's in the generation of the media. because it happens to older people, even who don't usually do this, getting into very new media that isn't part of an established world, but you don't see it as much in very young fans who are getting into decades old fandoms for the first time.

I've had a theory about this for a while, and I think it's that there's a lot of woobification going on in the original texts for newer texts - including franchise texts, it's just easier to backfill stuff from earlier installments so it's not always as obvious - where all the characters are built like that or built to be looked at like that.

main characters tend to be a lot more flat and engage in a lot more black and white thinking, and then endings of novels and movies tend to be very unambiguous that either the good guy won and all is right with the world, or the bad guy won and everything is just as bad as it ever was. like even in Star Wars there was a huge fight to manage to include one line that indicated that the massively militarized government of The Rebel Empire was also engaged in trafficking and atrocities, despite the fact that like. they're America. the Rebels have always been America. but they have to be unquestionably perfect to be The Heroes.

then there's this weird trend with lady villains. like you see it with other marginalized people sometimes, the whole, oh he wasn't evil all along he was just black so he had no choice but to be aggressive, or the, oh, it's just a poor repressed gay guy and now he isn't violent anymore now that he came out. (people say this about people in real life and it's super creepy, but that's another conversation.) I can't tell whether this is just people blatantly having prejudices and not bothering to question them, or people attempting to be less prejudiced, not by making the characters heroes, but by saying their marginalization pushed them into villainy. (which is the same reason so many fans get attached to and excuse villains, except like... without bothering to think it through I guess.)

but the Lady Villain thing is that so many things seem to just go, oh she's a woman, she's not in charge of her own actions, she's not agentive in that way. a man forced her into it. she was traumatized from her body being assaulted. she just wanted to be a wife. she just wanted to be a mother. she can't hurt men really so it's okay if she hurts them. and it's not like this is a new phenomenon, but I feel like I see it more and more under the guise of feminism, in the original work and not just in fandom.

the big example I keep coming back to is Poison Ivy, where the current run - don't get me wrong, I love it, it's so well written - is entirely preoccupied by how she would never be what she is if she hadn't been assaulted by her professor, and her powers weren't her choice, and her ideas about what was ethical were just his brainwashed thoughts, and everything she is is actually his victory, not her own. and I get why that's a theme an author might want to explore, but at the same time, this is a character who in so many incarnations has absolutely nothing to do with a man. she invented her own magic powers, or they were an accident from her own research, and she had her ideas herself without anyone telling them to her, and she decided to be evil for fun. she weaponized their sexualization of her against them and used it to advance her evil plots. and now it's all put back in the frame of 'she's just a man's evil experiment there was nothing else she could've done'.

this combined with the weird woobification of Harley Quinn as someone who was simply kidnapped, tortured, and abused by the Joker with absolutely no choices of her own, and he taught her how to fight, and he forced her to be a villain, etc. ignoring the part where she was already a trained acrobat and a practicing doctor who engaged in inappropriate conduct with her patient. (which, of course, they declare the Joker only wanted Harley for her body, despite the fact that she was always pushing sex on him when he didn't want it, as far as they could get away with in a kids' show.) and then Harley and Ivy bond over asshole men deserving all the credit for everything cool about them???

and for people who have engaged with a lot more media this is clearly just a current trend in stories and it'll die down after a while, and you can make things more or less that in fanworks. but for people who are just getting into media through these extremely popular properties, it's shaping the way they think media should be - and since these are not only the most popular but also the most homogenized properties, they're trying to make other stories fit what they think the Regular Mold is. which probably means this tendency will become less both as the people doing it engage with more texts and as this black and white morality trend goes away again, but it'll still be a formative thing they think of as a Normal Story and that idea probably won't become less internalized.

[terry-bradstreet]

If Disney / Hollywood were in charge of Nintendo’s future ‘Metroid’ movie

Based on observations regarding Lightyear, Strange World, Wanda-Vision, Captain Marvel, The Last Jedi, the third season of The Mandalorian, and other Disney properties...

1) Samus’ white father, Rodney Aran, would be replaced with a black woman, because heterosexual reproduction is so old-fashioned and therefore bad, whereas cloning is new and untested and therefore Progressive.

2) Samus would be Ambiguously Ethnic; either Hispanic or Asian. Not so dark-complexioned that shallow white women can’t project themselves onto her, but not so pale-complexioned that shallow white people would feel guilty about rooting for her to success. If Samus is allowed to keep her blonde hair, it usually be kept cut short.

3) Samus’ adoptive Chozo parents, Grey Voice and Old Bird, would be married to each other, because two men cannot live together -- let alone raise a child together -- unless they’re gay. Nevermind that they’re the last surviving members of their particular tribe of their dying species.

4) Grey Voice and Old Bird would probably also be gender-bent, because Disney couldn’t let Carol Danvers inherit her mantle from the MALE Captain Mar-Vel, nor allow Dr. Strange to appear on Wanda-Vision to explain anything to Wanda as per the writer’s original plan, nor accept the idea that Jennifer Walters would need to learn anything about being a Hulk from Bruce Banner. So Disney wouldn’t permit Samus Aran to learn or inherit anything from two men.

5) Grey Voice and Old Bird would be the only good Chozo left (because they’re women), and all other Chozo would be evil because you can’t be the oldest, wealthiest, and most powerful species in the galaxy unless you were totally evil... but mostly because all of the other remaining Chozo are male.

6) The true villains would be Adam (conspicuously left as a white man rather than gender-bent or race-swapped) and the Federation (conspicuously cast mostly with white men).

7) The Space Pirates and Mother Brain would be exactly as ruthless or cruel as in the source material, but everything they do is completely justified because Mother Brain was made as a tool by the Patriarchal Chozo and the Space Pirates are cool rebels against the Federation’s tyrannical, oppressive laws against murder, genocide, and theft.

8) The Space Pirates would only be voiced by non-white actors, and use accents and dialects associated with real world American minorities.

9) Mother Brain would get her Other M human clone body and then become Samus’ gay lover.

10) Samus will never have a moment of fear or doubt. She’s never allowed to be mistaken unless operating on false information given to her by men, and she never regrets or apologizes for any harm she caused while basing her decisions on that false information. The only thing she’s allowed to doubt is whether or not she’s strong enough to do whatever she wants, and the answer is always “Yes, she is.”

[head-thots]

Melissa and Yuri absolutely should’ve been the endgame pairing and I swear, this is not because I hate Nine or want everyone to be gay. I just believe it would make for the best story and make the most sense narratively, hear me out (MAJOR spoilers for the manhwa up to the ending).

The main conflict of the story of Beware of the Villainess is Melissa vs. fate (i.e. the plot/author). She wants to change the course of the story, from the very first chapters where she rebels against her marriage with the prince to the very culmination where she literally faces against the author and tells them to suck dick (I’m paraphrasing). Yuri, on the other hand, is the fate’s biggest victim. She is the heroine of the novel, this entire plot that Melissa wants to change so desperately revolves around her, exists because of her. So having her as Melissa’s main love interest would align the romance and the plot of the story. The culmination of Melissa facing off against the author would also be the culmination of the romantic subplot etc. It would also add some much needed conflict to the romance, because now there would be something big preventing the lovers from getting together. Compare it to romance with Nine, where there’s barely anything keeping him and Melissa from getting together (even him being a werewolf and a commoner is never really brought up as a legit obstacle they have to overcome). So as sweet as it is, it ends up feeling like a side thing.

Melissa deserved to tell her secret, and Yuri deserved to know. I’m not saying that, for example, Nine wouldn’t accept Melissa if he found out she was from another world, I’m just saying that Yuri finding out about Melissa’s secret would be the most narratively meaningful and impactful. One, she knew the original Melissa from her past ‘lives’, so finding out that there’s someone else in her body now would carry some weight. Two, Yuri finding out why she had to suffer as much as she did is important for resolving her character arc, unpacking her trauma and pushing her character evolution. Three, both of them sharing these unique experiences remembering their past lives would connect them on a level which no other characters could connect on.

Melissa is the best love only interest for Yuri because all of the original characters of the novel were literally written to be in love with Yuri. In contrast, Yuri and Melissa’s relationship would be something they come to because of their own free will. You could say that Yuri falling in love with, for example, Nine would be the same, because Nine was not one of Yuri’s love interests, and it’s true, but Melissa x Yuri is just bringing this idea to the max.

Finally, this is kind of a more emotional argument, but Melissa and Yuri should’ve fought in the final battle together. Yuri was always the damsel in distress, unable to do anything but wait until the male leads would come and save her. Similarly, she was trapped in the plot, again, unable to do anything but relive the same events over and over. So having her sit out the final battle while Melissa did all the work felt extremely wrong. Yuri fighting in that battle would be a big symbol of her finally taking her fate into her own hands and a logical conclusion to her character arc. I’d even go to say that she should’ve been the one to deliver the final blow to Big Bad Evil Guy. It would subvert the readers expectation that Melissa is the one who will save the day and serve as a final demonstration that the author no longer has the power over her, or this world.

[aemiron-main]

I mean, I don’t agree that he’s shown as a villain 100% in the show either. Maybe on the surface, but even then, he’s still presented as a kid who wasnt Born Evil at first. So, while i agree that he’s presented as a “villain,�� on the surface, he’s also stuff very much presented as somebody who started out as a child + ST has always bene very firm re: people (and creatures) not being born evil, like with Dart’s arc! And yeah, I know that they marketed TFS re: a Hentty romance (but they also did the same with Mileven), but I’m talking a.) about people who have seen the play or b.) people who have read my posts/watched the clips i’ve posted of the play.

While it’s true that Will never got into a close relationship with a girl, there’s TONS of gay men out there who do (and hell, I’d argue that mike is one of those guys/I have a ton of posts re: gay mike, but thats another topic), and while it’s “implied” that Henry has a crush on Patty, any implications in that regard are pretty crushed when you analyze the play- not to go too deep into it here because I know i’ve already made a ton of posts on the topic, but so much of henry’s “crush” on patty comes down to a.) wanting to be seen as normal, b.) rebelling against Virginia after Virginia says she doesnt want him around patty and c.) Henry actually being treated kindly/making a friend/having someone treat him with actual love for the first time in a long time & the way that would make it very easy to conflate friendship vs romantic love.

Henry is literally like a mixture of Will and Mike in the gayest possible way!

And also, a.) he doesn’t have to be grossed out by a relationship with her to be gay, especially with him trying so hard to seem “normal,” and therefore would be repressing that “grossed out” reaction and b.) he literally does physically recoil away from Patty when she kisses him & doesn’t reciprocate at all and she has to not only tell him to kiss her but then also physically hold him in place to kiss him because he STILL didn’t initiate it even after she told him to.

So, I do think there’s definitely instances of him being “upset” by the idea of a relationship, but I also agree that it’s not super obvious to people watching it on the surface (besides scenes like the kiss scene), because so much of it is ALSO henry trying to act like he isn’t upset by it/act “normal” and do what he thinks he’s supposed to be doing and rebelling against virginia etc.

And yeah, I’m not talking at all about people just having superficial fun!!! I think those people should do whatever they want, i don’t have any thoughts on that at all, and I totlaly understand why people who are just watching it for superficial fun wouldn’t really notice all of henry’s gay coding. This post is definitely aimed at analysts on here who mock the GA for not realizing that Will was gay, but then turn around and ignore all of Henry’s gay coding and insist that he’s not gay- meanwhile, Will doesn’t have a line that’s nearly as on the nose as “i like the gay Ones” best. My point is that if they took Henry and simply replaced him with Will, people would be SCREAMING that he’s gay, but there’s this weird double standard that exists for Henry.

I totally agree that he’s not straight, but I think his gay coding is pretty intense and frankly on the nose. Like, to me, it’s almost a stretch that people see him as anything other than gay (outside of fanon, im talking like, analysis-wise), because the gay coding really is so strong. Like. He literally recoils away from Patty when she kisses him and doesn’t reciprocate at all- and that’s when he was in front of a ton of people and expected to do it. Meanwhile, Will, also in front of a ton of people, acts more “normal” about dancing with a girl. If anything, WILL had the straighter reaction to having to be affectionate with a girl in public.

Anyway! None of this is meant to sound annoyed with You, I just really find it odd sometimes that so many analysts would IMMEDIATELY be calling SO many of henry’s scenes gay if they happened with Will, but suddenly there’s this weird double standard with Henry. Like, subtext-wise/double-meaning wise, “i like the gay Ones best” is a CRAZY line LMAO, like they may as well have just called him gay atp.

Like, there’s gay (not bi, but GAY) dudes who marry women and have children due to social expectations and their own repression and trying to be normal, and so, I’m hard-pressed to see the guy who has a line where patty looks at him and talks about how shes like “the gay ones” best, and who literally runs away and recoils from being kissed, and who has to be TOLD to say “i love you,” in a life or death scenario, and whose supposed female love interest/supposed crush has direct parallels with his emotionally incestuous mother and a guy who desperately wants to be normal and who’s finally getting ANY sort of affection from somebody and who, even when desperately wanting to be normal and wanting that affection, STILL recoils away from the kiss, and think he’s anything other than gay.

Like, imagine if Will had recoiled away from the snowball girl??? And if she said “come dance with me” and he STILL just stood there and didn’t go dance and then she had to come and grab his hand and physically pull him away to dance??? That’s literally what happened with the Patty and Henry kiss, and yet somehow analysts on here can pick up on Will’s gay coding but conveniently ignore Henry’s?? (Which, again, like i said, my annoyance isnt with you, a key part of why i made this post is because i KNOW that a large portion of the people on here that are vocally insistent that henry isnt gay are people who’ve had issues with me/hate my analysis etc & are now not wanting to admit that i was Right about gay henry & who choose to ignore all of the gay henry evidence because it would mean admitting that i wasn’t totally off base.)

And like, even with the “kiss” at melvald’s, a.) they don’t actually kiss, they get interrupted right before it, and b.) there’s the subtext of the whole “this is a family establishment!!” line that interrupts them & all of the familial parallels between Henry and Patty (indicating a lack of attraction on Henry’s part at the very least).

Anyway, sorry for the rambling, like I said, NONE of this is directed at people who are just having fun- it’s directed at analysts who have a double standard when it comes to Will’s gay coding vs Henry’s gay coding & who look down on the GA for not noticing/ignoring certain things re: Will’s gay coding, but then ignore even MORE OBVIOUS things re: Henry’s gay coding.

no bc it really is insane to me that people on here will be like “HAH how did the GA not know that will was gay????? its SO obvious” and then turn around and look at TFS henry, who literally has a scene where patty looks at him and talks about “the gay Ones” & who is standing there stiff as a board while patty grabs him to kiss him and go “SEE?? THATS A STRAIGHT BOY”

like atp you guys mocking the GA re: not seeing will’s gayness is friendly fire

[simpingfortheages]

//YOU WANT SOMEWHERE TO SIT?//

Ms Venable x Fem Reader

(SMUT PACKED! CANING, DEGRADING,THIGH RIDING, EDGING, MANIPULATION, PRAISE)

Gallant and the reader seem too close to each other for Me Venable's liking. Something ignites in Ms Venable and she doesn't like it . Not. One. Bit.

~~~~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~

Outpost 3 was a prison. It was the same damn routine everyday- wake up, get dressed,go to lunch and then join everyone in the common room. It's sickening but bareable. It's bareable only because of Gallant. Over the past 2 years we have become quite close to each other, if someone didn't know that Gallant was gay and I was a full blown lesbian . One would swear we were a couple.

Everyone was all currently gathering in the common room, either ready to read a book or simply gossip about the secret affair that has been taking place being the back of Ms Venable between the two greys. What did you expect? There's not much to do in this hellhole anyway . As I made my way towards the common room, I spotted Gallant, who was currently sitting on the couch talking to Coco about the next style he would like to try on her hair. I sauntered my way over and took a sat right in his lap, his hands automatically wrapping around my waist,not bothering to stop his conversation with Coco as my arm nestled upon the back of his shoulders. I unknowingly brought my hand up and played with Gallant's hair while I daydreamed about the leader of Outpost 3. Ms Venable. The intimidating, prestine,squared shoulders leader. She really is a sight for sore eyes, the way she carries herself is quite attractive. From her perfectly painted dark lips to the shape of her sharp eyebrows. The click of her cane the against the concrete floor doesn't fail to have a cold tingle run up my spine. Yes she scares me,I gay panic around her all the time that's why you would never catch me breaking her rules. Lost in my dazed state I failed to hear the click of her cane as she entered the dimly lit common room. "Ms Y/L/N, do you not know where the seats are located?" She seethed between her teeth. Out of shock I snapped out of my daydream and quirked an eyebrow in her direction, " I'm sorry What?" I asked. " I am sorry what Ms Venable" she corrected me with annoyance dripping in her voice. "Why are you sitting on Mr Gallant' s lap? Can't a daft moron such as yourself see that there are multiple areas elsewhere?" Ms Venable snapped. Her response stirred something inside if me. I didn't realise but I scoffed outloud at her question. " Ms Venable I don't see why it's such a problem I'm not breaking your rules. I am in the outpost, I referred to you as Ms Venable and Gallant's dick isn't inside me for us to make a baby." I snarled,not before mumbling silently ," not that I would want that anyway..."

Me Venable's hand tighten the grip she had atop her cane. I am pretty sure they were digging into her the skin of her palm ,leaving indents. Her chest rose with anger and the slight flare of her nostrils didn't go missed as well. Without hesitation she said 2 words, " bring her". I went without a fight as the Iron fist dragged me from Gallant's lap. Everyone was arguing and yelling, but no one dared to pull me from the Iron Fist's hands. That was a no no. It would result to them getting the same punishment as me. I couldn't help but whince at the thought of getting whipped I've seen the aftermath from Gallant's back. It was gruesome ,they took aleast 2 months to fully heal, but of course he still had the scars. I wasn't going to cry and give her the satisfaction of knowing how much she scared me. She was a sadist. An evil yet hot sadist,either way what she was doing is wrong. While being dragged, Ms Venable stopped and whispered some thing in the Iron Fist's ears to which the fist only grunted in reply. There was confusion painted on my face as we began to pass the Outpost's turn to head into the basement. Where was she taking me? Am I getting thrown out, all for sitting on Gallant's lap?? Fuck! Fuck! I closed my eyes tight in hopes that I passed out before they could do my anything . The only thing I felt was me and my dress being dragged across the dingy floor of the outpost. After a few minutes of being pulled by the Iron fist. I heard the opening of a wooden door,before I could register what was going on. I was roughly thrown against the ground. The adrenaline that was coarsing through my veins , numbed my fall. The door was slammed closed and locked???, she locked the door? Why'd she do that ?...momentarily I was lulled into a false sense of safety and lonliness, that was until I heard the click of her cane again. I struggled to get onto my feet since the wind was also knocked out of me. Ms Venable was making her way to sit behind her large oak wooden desk. I paid attention to my surroundings as i stood up...the realisation dawned on me . I was in her chamber, which was the furthest room for the common room. She could shoot me and the thick stones and great distance will also cover the sound. I was so fucked. There I was standing, infront Ms Venable,trying to dust off the dirt that accummulated on my dress.

The sound of my dress crinkling bounced off the concrete walls. Too intimidated to even look at her, when I was done. I just twiddle with my thumbs. Ms Venable peirced the silence in the air, " Come here." She snapped coldly. I swallowed thickly and moved turtle pace towards here. "Hurry up Ms Y/L/N" her voice now filled with impatience. I hastened my steps and stood on the opposite side of her desk. As I looked at her face, there was a scowl that made its way to her plump lips. "Not there. I meant here" she stated. Her sentence was accompanied with the movements of her gloved hands. She was gestering to the floor. I maneuvered my way around her desk and stood before her as she swivels her chair to face me. The distance was miniscule. My ruffled dress was now brushing against the material her clean dress. Ms Venable's growl was low and guteral. "On your knees." She commanded. I was shocked at her words "Excuse me?" I commented. "You heard me" she replied quickly. A nervous chuckle escaped my lips. Out of fear, I submitted I looked away from her gaze and proceeded to get on my knees. As I did so, Ms Venable parted her legs. I couldn't help but blush at the act, this however didn't go unnoticed by her. All for sudden Ms Venable grabbed hold of my wrist, digging her sharp manicured nails into my skin. She managed to rip small whimpered from me. "I know the truth Ms y/l/n . I see the way you react when I enter a room. How hot and bothered you are right now kneeling for me like the filthy slut you are." She stated in raspy voice . Not listening to her words I was consumed with embarrassment. She knows, she knows, she fucking knows! I tried to yank my wrist away from her grasp but her hold was stronger. She sunk her nails further into my skin. "Ahh please Ms Venable." I begged in a pathetic manner. "Hmmm this is new? Where has the big bad attitude gone." Ms Venable said with a smirk tattooed on her face. I stayed silent. "Strip." Was all she said. My eyes opened wide with at her words. Out of reflex I stumbled back murmuring the words no repeatedly. What the hell is happening? I needed to get out. She is insane. What was I thinking? Having a liking to this woman. I made quick notions to shift away from her, only for my actions to be stopped . She was stepping down on the back of my dress with her black boots. "And where do you think you are going?" She questioned in a condescending manner. I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. My throat was parched. " your punishment didn't even start." My eyebrows knitted together in fear of what she has planned. I grabbed the back of my dress and yanked on it, freeing it from the soles of her boots. I bolted making my way to the door to escape I don't know where but I wanted to be anywhere. Just anywhere but here. The atmosphere was stifling and heavy, which made the air hard to breathe. " Oh my Ms y/l/n I won't just do that... we wouldn't want to have Mr Gallant's scars renewed. I am sure you remember how long to took for him to recover." My movements were halted,my back was facing her . I slowly released out a very audible shakey breathe. I turned around to look at Ms Venable,only to see her motioning me to come to her with her finger in a beckoning gesture. Unwillingly I made my way back to her,tears pickled in the corner of my eyes. " now strip" she recited once again. I faced the floor as I slowly began to unbutton the top buttons of my dress. "No i want you to look at me while you do it" she demanded. I summoned all the courage I had to meet her piercing brown eyes. She was taking my dignity and she knew it. She enjoyed seeing me crumble .When i was done, I stood in nothing but my underwear. I quickly covered my breast with hands,which Ms Venable didn't like. She yanked my hands away and shamelessly roamed her eyes all over my body.

"Hmmm" was all she said while biting her bottom lip. This felt like forever, like all of time stopped,dragging out this moment. " bend over my desk" Ms Venable said. I didn't even bother to rebel against her anymore. Just get it over with Y/N and I can lock this memory away. I slowly bent myself at the waist and pressed my breast against the cold desk. My hands rested beside my head against the bare desk . I squeezed my eyes closed once more trying to control my breathing. " you will get ten and for each one you will said please again Ms Venable." She said. Ten What??? I thought. Without thinking I nodded my head against the desk in confirmation to whatever she meant, she didn't like my lack of words so she grabbed the sides of my hips ,digging her nails once more into my skin. " Yes yes okay Ms Venable please I will" I cried out. She laughed lowly at my reaction. From the corner of my eyes I saw her grab her cane. "Wha- Ms Venable please that will hurt me, please not that"i pleaded. My cries fell on deaf ears. She didn't care. She flashed a smiled lipped smile at me.

*WHACK* the pain I felt on my rear was immense,my knees almost gave out at the sharp and lasting pain . Yet i managed to spit out the words " again-...ple-se Ms Venable". After 15 minutes of prolonged torture the tenth lash was bestowed upon me. My voice raspy and almost gone from pleading ..." thank you *sniffle*Ms *sniffle* Venable". Suddenly I felt a pair of hands groping my ass, massaging it in a pleasant way. I couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of both the pleasure and pain. My legs twitched at the feeling. " I know you liked it Y/N" she whispered. My breathe hitched at the fact that she used my first name. Ms Venable stood even closer behind me and pressed her entire clothed front fully on my ass. Ms Venable was grinding against me. A mewl escaped my lips at the feeling. " didn't you like it y/n?" She asked. To embarrassed by the truth, I shook my head no. Ms Venable yanked me by my hair causing my back to arch and my neck to tilt backwards. She then leaned over and pressed herself against my back. I could have felt how erect her nipples were through the fabric. She was getting off on this. "Don't you dare lie to me now my little one" she whispered into my ear,as she did so Ms Venable licked a strip up the cartilage of my ear. I shivered at the action. " The slick dripping from between your legs says otherwise."I could hear the smile in her tone. She roughly pushed my head forward causing my head to jerk forward . She returned to her chair and waited until I turned around to face her. "Come here little one" she said again. I began to kneel once more,only for her to say "No I meant here this time" . This time she was referring to her lap. The colour of pink covered my ears and my chest. I was flushed. With maintained intense eye contact Ms Venable rolled up her dress revealing her smooth shaved and toned legs. I could have seen her purple lace underwater peaking right at me, where she stopped her dress. "You want somewhere to sit ? You want to sit on someone's lap little one? Sit on mine." She scowled. With shaking legs I gently straddled her thighs. I hovered over her thighs with my knees holding me up in either side on her lap. Ms Venable found her hands on my hips and pulled my down onto her left thigh. I jumped at the contact. My clit was swollen and throbbing. I was heavily aroused. Out of reflex I tried to move, but Ms Venable didn't allow it. "No no little one" she cooed at me " you're gonna take it." She finished her sentence with a smile. I whimpered and nodded in reply.

The outpost leader began moving my hips against her thighs encouraging me to move. Out of desperation I started to grind against her thighs faster,ready to relieve the ache that she created. "Slow down my little one..." she tightened her hold on my hips making me slow my movements. " Hmmm that's it, ride me baby" my breathing got heavier as did hers. The smell of Ms.Venable' s perfume and my arousal that was currently coating her leg was the only scent that invaded my senses. It was intoxicating. A foreign feeling began to build in my lower stomach,my eyes were struggling to keep open as they were going to roll to the back of my head any moment. My hands held on to her shoulders to stable myself. "Mmm Ms Ven-ohh Ms Venable can hmm I cum?" I struggled to get out . "No" was all she said. " hold on a little longer. I enjoy seeing you like this" . My face twisted in pain and pleasure. The knots in my stomach was tightening, ready to burst at any second. Oh but Ms Venable knew that. She fed off of that. After 3 minutes I begged again,"please please oh fuck Ms Venable please can I??? can I cum for you?". "No you don't have my permission,but you are oh so close aren't you?" She mocked me. I sob in sexual frustration at her mockery. Ms Venable leaned her face closer to my ears and began nibbling at the tip. While her other hand was removed from my hip and found it's place on my erected nipple. She twisted and pulled until I watched against her." Break my rule you little slut. Break this one rule. Cum without My permission"she teased. I shook my head side to side . I was going to be good and show her. Ms Venable admired me for such an act. But she wanted to see me crumble. She removed her hand from my nipple and slowly made her hand reach my clit. Her talent slender finger, slid in between my folds with ease,applying pressure and rubbing me. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I came without her permission. She wanted that. She wanted me to break her rule. I soaked her thigh with my fluids. As i looked down I saw her remove her hand from my clit. I whimpered at the loss of contact. Her hand and my clit were still connected by a string of my arousal. Ms Venable locked eyes with me as she took her 2 fingers and sucked off my cum. I moaned at the sight. She then removed her fingers with a loud pop. After she did so, she took her same wet fingers that were now covered with some of my cum and some of her spit and held them up to my mouth. I parted my lips and I accepted her slender fingers. All the while keeping eye contact.

This was a distraction that she did. While I took her fingers into my mouth. Ms Venable lifted her thigh,pressing my clit directly to her thighs that were covered with my slick. I squealed at the sudden pressure on my already sensitive overestimulated clit. I tried to move away but she tore her fingers away from my mouth and returned her grip on my hips,"that's it baby take it,take your punishment like my good filthy slut" she praised. I nodded in response and proceed to grind against her thighs . It's didn't take me long to get worked up again. She could have seen that i was holding back. Feeling sorry for me this time," Cum all over me baby. I am here" she cooed softly. My back arched against her chest, my sensitive nipples rubbing against the front of her fabric. As i threw my head back, Ms Venables's lips found my neck. She sucked and bit my pulse point. I released and whimpered as i came the second time . She kept marking me as I came down from my high. I then rested my head in the crook of her neck as i tried to regulate my breathing. I almost dozed off if it wasn't for Ms Venable grabbing my face by my jaw. I looked at her with hooded eyes, her face milimeteres away. My lips were slightly parted as the warmth of each of our breathe were felt on our faces. Ms Venable then stuck her long tongue out and slowly licked my lips. I shuddered at the action. As I go to close the gap, the slim finger that was once coated with my arousal was press against my lips.. With confusion etched on my face, Ms Venable opened her lips and spoke," now will you sit on anyone else's lap?" She asked. "No Ms Venable "I replied . She smiled," who you belong too now?" She questioned. "I belong to You Ms Venable" I said with a voice thick with lust and tiredness. " that's my good girl." She praised me once more. Ms Venable then slowly removed her finger and leaned into kiss me. As we both did so, I couldn't help but repeat her words "....your good girl."

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

yknow what. here it is. my full borderlands rewrite/fix-it/theory??? notes. enjoy.

the 6 siren powers are phasegrasp, phaselock, phasewalk, phaseshift, phasesight and some other power that im not sure about. there's also phaseleech, the 7th siren created as a failsafe. said powers are rebelled guardian souls (unbound by fate) that, upon "possessing" a being, can only be banished on death OR near death. and yes, siren vessels can survive near-death if they give up their powers

phasesight grants one psychometry, the power to read the "memory" of a place, as well as clairvoyance, the power to see remotely

all vault monsters (except the ones that were said to be constructed by the eridians or look artificial, like the traveller or graveward) are actually a part of one race of abominations called the primordials. the eridians discovered them and the amount of influence they have on the universe and tried to seal them away

vincent was capable of possessing vessels because primordials can influence, possess or even merge with sentient beings. sirens can detect their influence

it is possible to shield against the power of the primordials using what can only be described as occult means. sigils, crystals and other flashy things all work provided you believe they work. this is why vaults that contain the primordials are so ornamental and grand - their intricate shape is part of the ward keeping the primordials in (and it's also why the machine looks so magical. that's because it is)

typhon deleon is mostly replaced by leda calypso, as in she's the one who leaves logs everywhere. leda is also a phasesight siren - phasesight is an unusual non-combat ability to read the "memories" of objects or places (as if they were imprinted on by a siren). she dies in childbirth and Sight is inherited by commandant steele who uses it to find a vault and quickly ascend the ranks of the crimson lance

angel lives through bl2 (Shift fucks off and possesses tannis) and is subsequently kind of adopted by wainwright ("angel's mom was a jakobs" is basically kind of canon so.... yeah. also, asshole absentee father gang) plays a minor role in the eden 6 arc, can be found on sanctuary afterwards. tries to hide the fact she used to be a siren but fails because of, well, we know how tannis is. this they/she demigirl is in love with gaige and in this essay i will

nisha fakes her death to get away from jack and manages to find aurelia. the two become a cool  "be gay do crimes" duo of girlbosses. sometimes they vaulthunt together sometimes separately but they always keep in touch

aurelia lives because she isn't really the arc villain. she's a rival, she's a vh opposed to the crimson raiders but she's not evil. also she's at first completely unaware her unfunny brother's on the same planet, so there's for lots of weird funnies and Hammerlock Bickering (tm)

the vault of the traveller contains 2 primordials, the tricuspid star and the rotation of fortune. the star merges with rhys and the rotation merges with fiona. rhys just kinda doesn't figure out how to use his powers ever. fiona uses hers to become a legendary vault hunter.

tyreen betrays troy. she leeches him almost completely (enough so that he loses his siren powers) and he's forced to either work with the raiders or die. ofc he accepts to help the vhs stop his sister as he has nothing else to live for anyways. he befriends angel :). also tannis forces him to wear an actual shirt lmao. also also he becomes a video game streamer

after that happens, tyreen slowly gives into the destroyer's influence over her. it calls on to her, even kinda possesses her (like in that scrapped "Evil" echo portrait) technically nothing special happens here except the final boss is more climactic and there's more foreshadowing to it

maya lives... well, at least through the vault part. she still dies but her death is ACTUALLY MEANINGFUL. basically: lilith lives and doesn't fly into elpis, maya does. i mean come on it makes sense with phaselock and all. ava inherits phaseleech (ah yes tyreen and jack, the two people who continue to fuck shit up even after death).

after gythian dies, wainwright inherits its power. basically he merges with what remains of the monster and gradually becomes a primordial himself (just very underpowered and in the general shape of a human)

also wainwright eventually adopts troy.

[lucky-sevens]

so, you’ve heard about the mechanisms, but have no idea what they are or how to get into them?

the mechanisms are a steampunk folk concept band! if you’re familiar with the decemberists, some of the stuff david bowie has done, or steam powered giraffe, it’s a bit like that- each album tells a story! (the albums are all tragic space operas, with the added bonus of being very queer!)

the bit where it starts to get complicated is the band itself. they’re all playing characters, and they do their shows in character! so, basically, the narration on the albums isn’t omniscient- it’s being narrated by the mechanisms, who have opinions about the story and tend to get involved in it at some point. to differentiate them from the actual band, i’m going to refer to them as ‘the crew of the aurora’!

further details under the cut! (edit: added some links!)

the albums

they have 4 main albums, which you can listen to on spotify, bandcamp and youtube! just look them up, there's a youtube account called TheVoidSings that does lyric videos + album playlists, as well as the mechanisms official account! in addition, they are all linked at the end of this post.

(note: the albums are all tragedies, and there’s some pretty intense stuff that can happen- i wouldn’t let that steer you away from it as they are very good and well done, but if you tend to like lighter or happier stories, be a bit careful going in? a lot of queer characters tend to die- because 1. everyone dies and 2. everyone is queer- which, while it’s not bury your gays, i know some people like to avoid.)

album descriptions

-once upon a time (in space)- based on european fairy tales! stars snow white and her attempt to rebel against the evil king cole and his intergalactic empire and rescue her sister, rose red! also has a lesbian romance at the center! 

-ulysses dies at dawn- based on greek mythology! stars four 'suitors'- orpheus, oedipus, ariadne, and hercules- trying to break into ulysses/odysseus' secret vault on a job for the olympians, an elite mob family with a stranglehold over the planet it takes place on 

-high noon over camelot- a steampunk western based on arthurian legend! features poly arthur, guinevere, and lancelot on a quest for the G.R.A.I.L, the control center of the abandoned space station they're trapped on 

-the bifrost incident- based on norse mythology! a locked room mystery around what happened to the ratatosk express, a train that disappeared eighty years ago with all of the asgardian ruling class on board. this album is also rock, versus the earlier ones which were folkpunk. 

you can listen to them in any order (i've summarized them in order of release), but you should listen to the album of your choice in order/all the way through! (my personal favorite is high noon over camelot!)

the crew

the crew of the aurora is a group of nine queer space pirates! they’re all immortal, mostly because of dr carmilla, a morally ambiguous, very lonely lesbian vampire who has a slight problem with experimenting on dying children. they all have a mechanical part of some kind- for example, ashes o’reilly has mechanical lungs, because they originally died from smoke inhalation. that part is called their mechanism, and it’s what’s keeping them immortal! (also, their immortality works by having them come back from death, rather than being unable to be harmed. this can result in them doing really stupid shit, dying, and then just coming back. they murder each other a lot to bond) there’s a lot of found family vibes, which is quite nice! in general, despite being tragic figures themself, they add an air of humor to the albums with their banter and the like!

each of the crew has their own backstory, mostly from quite different genres! if you’d like a fairly comprehensive version of all their backstory songs, i’d recommend this recorded show and if you’d like just an assessment of their general vibes/a good intro to everything, i’d suggest looking up ‘the ignomious demise of dr plitchard’ (one of their stand-alone songs)

bonus content

recorded gigs- there are quite a few out there, and i’d highly recommend listening to them, because the shows were the original way the media was supposed to be! there’s a ton of in character banter, they’re all in costume, all that! 

death to the mechanisms- the mechanisms’ last show! it has a very bittersweet vibe, but there’s also incredible lighting, as well as proper recordings of tales to be told and drunk space pirate (the songs they play at the beginning and end of each show!) there’s also a lot of lore there that’s nice to know, including what it says on the tin: how they all, eventually, die. note- there’s a stream and an audio version. the stream is choppy and cuts out a lot, and the audio version is nice and clean, but the stream is still nice to watch because of the lighting and the visual jokes.

tales to be told volumes one and two- compilations of all their standalone songs! some of them fit with albums, and some of them are their own retellings that work on their own! this is also where all the backstory songs are compiled, though i’d recommend watching the recorded show i linked instead as that has the relevant exposition. 

frankenstein- a standalone, 10 minute album on youtube about the story of victoria frankenstein and the rogue ai she created.

dr. carmilla albums (exhumed and [un]plugged + ageha prototype edition, available on bandcamp)- songs telling the backstory of doctor carmilla, the mechanisms’ creator! they’re in a different style than the rest- think girl in red. lots of yearning lesbian music vibes. 

mechanisms fiction- this is on their website! has a lot of very interesting lore and character things, and i’d highly recommend reading all of it! it’s also very well written. personally, i’d recommend ulysses and narcissus go to the seaside, the quickest draw, archive footage, and bedtime story for the writing, and ever after, the story of the toy soldier, who killed dr carmilla, and ghost in the machine for lore!

resources

links to almost all the mechanisms content out there!

album links

once upon a time in space- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

ulysses dies at dawn- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

high noon over camelot- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

the bifrost incident- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

bonus content

tales to be told, volume 1- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

tales to be told, volume 2- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

frankenstein- spotify/bandcamp/youtube

mechanisms ‘supplementals’ (songs not in the albums, alternative versions, etc)- youtube

exhumed and (un)plugged- bandcamp/youtube

ageha (prototype edition)- bandcamp/youtube

mechanisms fiction

additional short story

tumblr (mostly an inactive blog for the band to post about shows they were doing, but features some in-character posts)

twitter (ditto)

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gig compilation post

fiction compilation post

blog compilation post

deep lore post

fanfiction recommendations list