#she didn't go Through All That just to be ignored by the fanbase

[postcardsfromheapside]

This game has been out since Halloween.

In that time, there have been numerous Veilguard positive posts in which patient, loving, wonderful, insightful and intelligent individuals attempt to impart lore onto a fanbase which doesn't deserve their time and attention.

I can't believe I'm running across posts made within the past five days which express disgust and frustration towards the devs over things which have been explained in great detail multiple times on this site, BUT IN THE DAMN GAME.

AND Y'ALL KEEP COMPLAINING THE GAME TELLS BUT DOESN'T SHOW. AND YOU DON'T EVEN LISTEN OR WATCH.

"the crows are presented as wholesome" - they are not. this site has a crow fanbase which has run off and lionized Viago as Daddy, conveniently ignored all the in-game details which either hint or baldly state things Definitely Aren't Cool, and generally fetishized what it means to be a Crow because of Zevran and Lucanis. Then the same people, or others who weren't paying proper attention, whined when the headcanon crowded out the actual in-game material, and they said "Antiva is whitewashed." There have been multiple posts about this.

"slaves are meant to be everywhere in Tevinter and we don't see that" - we aren't everywhere, we're specifically in Docktown which is poor and people generally can't afford slaves there, but we do see evidence of slavery, and we run around with abolitionists and help save people from fascist slavers and free people who will either be slaves or victims of blood magic so IDK what to tell you, there have been multiple posts explaining this too, maybe leave your slave or savior fetish somewhere else.

"Racism is supposed to be rampant" - fuck off. I actually will not be explaining this because for once it was nice not to be called a slur. If you need this to feel "immersed" or to feel there are actual problems, I need you to check yourself fucking hard. If you want to masquerade what it feels like to experience bigotry, go play one of the prior games. This has also been discussed in multiple posts.

"Handling pure lyrium is fine now" no handling the dagger is fine Solas cleansed it, the dagger woke something up in Harding specifically she talks about how some dwarves are connected to the stone, she previously had not been one of them and maybe the dagger woke something up in her, or did you need a pop up explaining this? Were you paying attention during cut scenes and dialogue?

"Adult Dalish without vallaslin" - in the 10 years since Inquisition/Trespasser, doubtless some dalish have come to adulthood and found out what assholes their gods were and made the decision not to go through that specific cultural rites. Or maybe city elves joined the Dalish. Who knows who made up the elf population at that ritual site. Elves are not a monolith. We've made multiple, multiple posts about elves not being monoliths.

"Solas' opinion on blood magic went from neutral to negative" SOLAS FUCKING LIES. We've made multiple posts about Solas lying, if you need this explained further I suggest you play the game all over again, he lies to you throughout the entire game.

"Re-write of the after credits scene in Inquisition to recontextualise the Flemeth and Solas interaction" it's recontextualized because now we know who and what they were to each other. Learning new information does that. This is literally what happens all the time in science and history. You recontextualize what you thought you knew with new information. You're supposed to change your position, not whine about how the new information makes everything different.

These are just some of the things I pulled from a list on a post in which someone was really just upset about everything. Everything. Varric, Morrigan, Solas, everything. But I can't take their criticisms seriously, because they're upset that "too much was told" and "not enough shown" and yet didn't even pay attention to DA lore or in-game dialogue or context clues around the world of Northern Thedas to answer their own questions.

Everything in this game makes complete sense if you use lore from prior games and a single iota of imagination to see how it fits. We've had many delightful posts discussing this, seeing how things could be explained, when approaching the game from a place of curiosity rather than being upset because personal headcanons weren't satisfied or long-held expectations weren't met.

[smoochiemee]

Jealous Talk

"I'm just confused why you keep letting all your fans think that-"

"Y/N why does it fucking matter? I'm with you!"

The heated argument had been going on for the past 30 minutes. Hamzah who just came home from filming with Martin didn't expect to find you huddled in the corner of your shared living room on the verge of tears.

You didn't want it to get like this; you just wanted him to understand how you felt. How much you hated seeing his fans ship him with Claire when you were his girlfriend.

You remembered the moment you all met, 2020 during quarantine. You never knew if Claire liked Hamzah, but you always noticed their closeness. During FreakShow4 you weren't a member, but you helped a lot behind the scenes. You had been the one to introduce the four to each other.

Somewhere down the line, you and Hamzah got together, and you've been like that for the pat 4 years, going on 5. You never made much of an appearance on slushynoobz but you had your own lifestyle channel that did really well. You were a medical student, and it was hard you for to balance it all at once, but Hamzah supported you through everything and never forced the camera on you.

You guys were inseparable, and you even moved to Canada when Hamah got deported to start your life with him. However recently you couldn't help but feel a massive feeling of jealously because Claire was always around now.

Hamzah and you had lent her the guest room, and she would constantly book a trip to Canada after you all rekindled the relationship between the group.

At first it was fun really until Clarie started to make an appearance in the videos, thanks to Hamzah. She wore matching clothes, thanks to Hamzah. She was always next to Hamzah when it was time to take a picture, thanks to Hamzah.

You couldn't handle it anymore. This all wouldn't be happening if Hamzah had told his fans he was already in a relationship with someone else, you. So now here you in a screaming match with your boyfriend begging him to clear the air

"I know that but your fanbase doesn't. I don't like to see ship after ship or edits of you guys acting like you're the only one's in the room. I hardly make an appearance on your channel and it's hard for me." Your braids still in the messy bun you threw it into after your 8-hour shift at the hospital. You were beyond tired, but your emotions had got the best of you. Your face was now red with angry, and it didn't make it better that Hamzah was staring at you without a single expression on his sorry face.

"... I'm not like you, I don't know how to ignores comments or the fan edits." Now tears were streaming down your face. "When I see those edits, it convinces me that something is really going on between you two." You clutched your scrubs in hopes you could get him to really understand you. But all you were met with was complete silence.

Your boyfriend was looking at you like you were an idiot, like you were making everything up.

"Y/n, I never thought you'd be so insecure. I don't control the thoughts of my fans, and you know how crazy my fan base is."

Your face had fallen at that point. You didn't know how Hamzah would react, but this was not what you were expecting at all. It was like someone you had never met was speaking to you. What happened to your sweet, caring boyfriend.

"You honestly need to be real, don't you think if I wanted Claire, I'd be with her. For crying out loud, you leave for hours at a time and it's just Claire and I, if we were fucking you would have no idea."

"That's exactly my point! you don't clear things up instead you both act like you don't see it. And why on earth was she wearing your sweatpants in her latest TikTok."

"Y/n get the fuck out of my face, I've been filming all night, and I can't do this jealous talk." It was like your legs at given out and your body had moved on its own. Head in hand you cried again, in the very spot he had found you.

"What about our promise?" You lifted your head back up only to be faced with Hamzah's back. "... we're supposed to never go to sleep angry."

He kept walking, you heard the bedroom door creak and then close. Leaving you in living room. How pathetic of you, you were never supposed to feel this defeated but yet-

You felt your body leaving floor and into the hands of Hamzah. "I don't want to fight, Y/n." He continued to carry you into the bedroom, closing the door behind you with the swing of his foot. Setting you down on the edge of the bed. He lowered his body onto the carpet, completely kneeling down to you.

"Y/n, you actually think I'm at cheater. You think after all these years, I'd leave you for someone I see as a sister."

"I don't love anyone other than you. I can't believe you've bottled all your emotions up until this point." His hand left his side and reached out for you. For you to accept his affection. You closed the distance between the two of you by settling yourself into his lap.

"I didn't want to make things awkward-"

"That would never happen baby, everyone in our real life knows we're dating and if I even for a second felt like Claire was flirting with me. It'd be over, I'd never speak to her again if it meant losing you."

For the second time that night you both stared into each other eyes. Nothing but silence and the heavy tension in air. He pulled your hand making your body collapse onto his. Wrapping your hands aound his body his hit his head into his corner of your next. You both fit into each other perfectly.

"I love you," you both declared at the same time. All your worries flew out the window. You had nothing to worry about.

You felt tears stream from your eyes once again but not for a different reason that night. You let your insecurities get the best of you and let yourself create a narrative or someone that would never purposely hurt you.

"Why'd you walk away? I thought for a second you really didn't care about me... about us." You felt his arms hold you closer.

"I- I couldn't bare seeing you cry." You felt a tear hit your shoulder and that told you he was crying. "I also didn't want to say more things I regret." You nodded because that's all you needed to hear.

"Now that this is settled, let's get you out of these scrubs."

[maryaandmorevna]

N.1 Pro hero!Touya who takes an interest in a civilian!you after seeing your anonymous comments on the popular hero forum.

You think he's only gotten so far because his father was Endeavor. You think everything was handed to him on a silver platter. You think he doesn't deserve such admiration from the part of the male fanbase when he's a supposed misogynist. (He was not! The fuck! Fuckin haters!)

You have such a stupid, ignorant opinion of him (who the hell do you think you are?) and you're not afraid to share it around.

So fucking what if he's not winning popularity contests and he's rude to the press? His crime-solving rate rivals his father at the height of the old man's career and he IS the strongest man around. Who are you to criticize him!? Some jobless lard pasted on a couch, most likely.

He decides to track your IP address and find you.

He makes an account and feels just a tad ridiculous for defending himself on a forum. "If you didn't know, hero Touya has the highest efficiency rate when it comes to saving multiple civilians from villain attacks! If you didn't know, hero Touya has trained harder than anyone else to hone his quirks!"

Yes, quirks, because some ignoramus clearly wouldn't know about him almost DYING when he was 13 to get his father to pay attention. It took him nearly perishing in unimaginable pain for his ice quirk to activate.

Through suffering, he had reached what his spoilt, little masterpiece of a brother was born with.

And Shouto was only n.4 now.

Touya goddamn Todoroki was n.1.

But the only response he gets is: " Go suck his privileged dick if you like him so much!"

You deserve to be put in your place for that alone!

So, Touya waits until his agents find you - the stupid anonymous hater.

He imagines you must be some microdicked fan of his brother, or one of those simps who would love for a female hero to overtake his n.1. Spot. Ha. As if.

A spot he bled and cried and burned for.

So what if he fucked a different chick every month, refusing to take his clothes off, and sending them packing the moment he was done?

None of them deserved to parade around with n.1 hero on their arm when they lived in a different world. They wouldn't understand the burn scars on his thighs and belly and what it fucking took to be here.

Touya didn't know what he expected when they informed him his hater had been found but he certainly didn't anticipate you would be so...cute.

You were a woman.

How could he not have realized that?

Touya scoffed.

You were jealous of him. He positively feels gleeful when he logs onto his account, "Fire123", to type away.

"Bet you'd love to do that, you irrelevant wanna-be."

He gets an answer that same night.

"I feel sorry for the poor woman whom he pays to get his nepo baby dick wet. Bet she wishes she could fuck Shouto instead."

The foulness of his glower scares all the sidekicks next morning.

Sorry? Oh, you'll be sorry when he shows up at your doorstep! When he has you fired! When he buys the apartment from your landlord! You'll be groveling little bitch then, he's sure!

[08melancholie]

Just gone into chapter 6 on my third play through. Really wanna beat the shit out of Dutch.

He didn’t “fumble the prettiest girl at camp” he ruined Molly’s life.

People always hate on her for being lazy and useless, but what was she supposed to do?? she doesn’t have any experience in theft or hunt in like other members of camp. She never someone teach her any of it, she was just ‘dutches girl’. She was put on a pedestal by Dutch and by doing that, cut her off from the rest of the girls at camp. Which is what I think made her go even more crazy because she only had one person. Dutch. And when Dutch was tired of her, she had no one.

Sorry for the mini rant and I know your mostly a Micah page, but I see you do like Molly a bit so I wanna hear any analysis you have of her :)

I have a LOT to say about how some people—which is primarily the male part of the fandom—view Molly and Dutch's relationship. I'll sum it up into something short today, but I have a lot more I could say about them.

I constantly feel like their relationship is just way too over-simplified. People jump around actually saying it, but the truth is that Dutch abused Molly. He often used manipulation to make her out to be at fault for every minor or major thing, especially when it was his own doing that led to their fights. I also hate it when people act like Dutch just suddenly lost feelings by chapter 6, as if he wasn't already ignoring and belittling her, flirting with and checking out the other, younger girls in the gang and so much more, all already by chapter 3. He'd be cheating on her in broad daylight, in front of the others, with no repercussions. Molly was warned only by the other girls (Karen and Abigail) in two chapters before the sixth one, but the men do nothing. However, there's more to it—more which shows just how much influence Dutch had on the gang, to the point of being quite sad.

In one camp interaction, where you'll find Dutch talking with Mary-Beth, he'll make a comment about her to Charles and John as they're fixing a wagon, telling them that she's becoming 'quite a lady'. Charles and John will turn their heads and look at him for a moment, but thats it. Nobody will ever say anything about Dutch's odd, almost predatory behaviour—which is where power and title come into play. Dutch is never criticised openly because he's the leader, obviously. But, this makes it easy to get away with doing those types of things, because nobody dares say anything to him. Dutch has a power trip on not just Molly as his girlfriend, but on every other gang member as their leader. I don't blame Charles or John for not saying something about that odd comment, exactly because of that.

Molly is very much another unfortunate female character that's fell victim to misogyny, not just in the game but in the fandom—looking at the male fanbase, as I said. It's a very simple 50/50; they either blame her for everything, calling her annoying and saying she was the rat all along even when Milton confirms she didn't say a word and that her saying so was just some drunken blabbering. Or, they say exactly what you quoted, that Dutch 'fumbled' her. I've said that before, mostly as a joke, but it's genuinely concerning and upsetting to see people make that the only trait of hers. She is another very interesting character that's just swept under the rug by the fandom, and used for the same few misogynistic jokes over and over again. It is tiring to see, and I wish that more people appreciated how strong Molly was for putting up with such a manipulative relationship in silence for so long.

[dollypopup]

T'is the end of Colin Week. I cry, but I have loved so much having an excuse to yap about my absolute favorite character, and I want to thank the mods for giving me said opportunity! He is my darling angel boy, my crumbly croissant, my buttery biscuit, my scrumptious crumpet. I will always love him

Day 8 focuses on Colin and Penelope's friendship, and I'm grateful for that fact, because sometimes I think their friendship can be considered secondary in the fanbase or storyline, overshadowed by the romantic hopes and outcome of their relationship. But their friendship is so important to me, and the reason why I got so invested in them in the first place. I've found that, very often, there's almost a feeling of. . .resentment, or disappointment that the friendship was built up first. All those 'how could he not see what's right in front of him!?' miss the point. The friendship is the HEART of it all!!! The friendship is, arguably, the best part. The 'I like you' head to their 'I love you' tails (tales. Haha. Get it? Ba dum tiss)

Colin has always appreciated Penelope as a person first and foremost. In an era when men are expected to see women in only one of three categories: irrelevant, familial, or potential partners, Colin breaks the mold. He admires and cares for Penelope as a human being and a peer, an equal. She is not irrelevant wall dressing, as she has felt other men have seen her as, to the point where they ignore what she's saying even when she's speaking directly to them (such as in season 2), or a familial connection- despite what Marina said, Colin never saw Penelope the way he did Hyacinth or Eloise or Daphne. And no, in Seasons 1 and 2, Colin did not see Penelope as a suitor would.

Instead, Colin saw Penelope for who she was with no labels attached and no expectation or pressure: a witty, intelligent, dreamer, like he was. He listened to Penelope, laughed at her jokes. He found her in corners and ballrooms, he specifically asks her what she's thinking. He shows Penelope he values her, and he tells Penelope he values her.

And, in no particular order, some of my favorite friendship scenes between them are-

1: First Dance, Vauxhall, Season 1

Colin approaches Penelope, surprising her by doing so, and when she nervously says she didn't know he'd be there, he disarms her with a joke 'Sorry to disappoint'. He listens and is charmed by the fact that she's pleased with her dress, it's clear he agrees with her that it's pretty, and then when Cressida shows up and spills water on said dress, Colin, knowing how much Penelope loved it and was feeling good, refuses to let negativity cloud her night. He gives Cressida the cut direct, an outward snub, and offers Pen his hand to go dance. He chooses Penelope not just over Cressida- but over propriety itself.

They have FUN. They laugh and spin and he really hams it up for her. A night that could have ended horribly instead ends with Penelope feeling cared for and seen. Colin was a good friend to her, and that's what turned her night around.

2: Season 1, the Marina conversation.

When Penelope comes to Colin to tell him that Marina loves someone else, when you look at it through a lens of friendship, this is actually a really wonderful scene. This is Penelope coming to Colin to put agency in his hands, and Colin listening to Penelope explicitly. I know a lot of people treat this as a 'he doesn't listen to her' but come on, he DOES. He completely does. When she tells him that Marina loved someone else, Colin's response is directly to what she told him. He doesn't dismiss her, he doesn't scoff it off. He tells her it's okay because he has no room to judge someone who's loved someone else. That's a super healthy response from him!! Colin Bridgerton, my green flag man. Come on, Colin's a virgin in this season. He compares his experiences to Marina because he thinks they're on even ground. He says he's flirted with women before, so why should he hold the same against Marina? Colin's not purposefully misconstruing what Penelope is telling him. He's listening to her. He doesn't KNOW she means that Marina is pregnant. He thinks she's a virgin who can't drive just like he and Penelope are!

(Also, I think with Colin read as an ND character, it makes complete sense that he doesn't 'read between the lines' like people so badly want him to. She told him something, he listened to the something, he responded directly to the something.) More importantly, he validates the fact that she came to him. He takes her hand, he tells her she's very good. He APPRECIATES that she came to speak with him. A lesser man might find it irritating that she wanted to get in his business or even get angry. Not Colin. Colin has such deep admiration for Penelope, and values their connection. He even says so later on, that she was just trying to protect his heart. He recognizes this moment as Penelope being a good friend to him, as being in his corner even at the expense of her friendship to her cousin, and he wants her to know he is grateful for that. It's a beautiful moment of friendship for the two of them.

3: "You are special to me" Season 2

I'll say it. That scene had me in a CHOKEHOLD. It grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go. I know it's taken as a very romantic line, and it is, okay, it IS, but also from a platonic standpoint, god, what a validation. Friendships CAN be romantic, and love is more than just kisses between spouses. She thanks him for looking out for her family and he makes it CLEAR that he didn't do it for her family. He did it for HER. This is him affirming that he'll always be in her corner. That he's there for her. That he'll stand up for her and defend her and stick his neck out for her. Not because he wants anything back. Not because he's trying to woo her. Not because he wants sex, or a marriage. Not because she's Eloise's friend. But because she is HIS. His friend, his loved one, a piece of his heart. That he appreciates and cares about her as a human being, and that their connection is deep and unyielding. I'm gnawing on my own floorboards

4: "You've given up women?" "For the time being." "I. . .am a woman." "You are. . .Pen. You are my friend. You do not count." Season 2

This scene is used SO. OFTEN. to bash on Colin, but that's because we as the audience see it from a perspective of dashed romance instead of for the beautiful declaration of caring it really is.

Colin is HEARTBROKEN in Season 2. He's depressed. He's been tripping balls in Cyprus and getting high under a full moon to contemplate a blade of grass to try to distract himself from how utterly sad he is. His first engagement in Season 1 ended up in a public humiliation for him, and the woman he thought he could have a future with had been lying to him the whole time. It's his first taste of heartache. It's bitter. So he distances himself from any further possibility of such.

But he can't distance himself from Penelope. Penelope is MORE than a potential partner, mind you. She is his friend. She is his confidant. She is smart, and she is warm, and she is kind. He *wants* to be around her, and he trusts her!!! He trusts her more than he trusts anyone else. He trusts her with the truth, he trusts her with his vulnerability, he trusts her with his perspective, his jokes, his insecurities. This is not him dismissing Penelope. This is him AFFIRMING Penelope. Affirming her permanent place in his life and in his heart. This is him saying 'no matter what happens, no matter WHO happens, you will always rise above it for me. I could never give you up.'

And I know Penelope was hurt because she got her hopes up about being Mrs. Colin Bridgerton, but I just wanna grab her hands and go 'Penelope, please. Take the W.'

5: Colin's apology, Season 3

Colin Bridgerton is the only mofo on this whole show who ACTUALLY knows how to apologize, I stand on that TEN! TOES! DOWN!!!!!

Everything about his apology is perfect. I need him to teach masterclasses. I need him to do a TED!Talk. I need him to publish self help books on this topic entirely. A lot of people say that his apology sounds like a love declaration and they're right! It is! It just isn't a romantic one. But that doesn't make it any less of a love declaration?

"It pains me to see you upset" "I am not the man I was last year when I spoke such callous words about you" "Thank you for seeing me" "I am not ashamed of you: The opposite is true, in fact. I seek you out at every social assembly because I know you will lift my spirits and help me see the world in new ways" "If a husband is what you seek, let me help you" "I am PROUD to call you my very good friend."

I want to kiss him clean on the mouth. Is there ANYTHING sexier than a man who appreciates a woman just for being herself? He acknowledges how he hurt her, he compliments her, he offers to repair the harm he caused and rebuild their connection through spending time together. I'm wailing. I'm sobbing. I'm howling at the moon.

6: "I'm certain you'll find your purpose one day. Everyone must, eventually." Season 2

This is a scene that focuses more on Penelope's friendship with Colin and how she shows that than how Colin does. Now, I'll be honest here and say that I notice Colin is actually the one who reaches out to her and shows his hands to Penelope more than she does to him, which is to say: in their friendship, Colin is the one who affirms Penelope, and Penelope is rarely the one to affirm him. Nonetheless, this scene is a glimpse into Penelope pouring into their relationship by being honest and vulnerable. It is one of the few moments where she isn't just deflecting back to him, (I mean, he has to ask her how she is when they meet at the races, presumably because whilst she responded to most of his letters, she didn't really open up to him) but is letting him in. She's letting him see her. She's letting him see how much she trusts him.

Colin is downtrodden, he's feeling low on himself. He's standing by himself, drinking from a flask. It's important to note that Penelope finds HIM this time, instead of Colin finding her. She checks in with him, asking if he's having a celebratory drink because he's found what he's looking for, and he responds "Only if what I'm looking for can be found at the bottom of this flask", she shifts gears, tells him that eventually, he WILL find his purpose. But Colin, always hungry to know Penelope's perspective, asks if she's found hers. She relates to him, and tells him of course she hasn't.

She then goes on and explains how grand her purpose will be, how it will encourage her to be brave and witty, take her away from the watchful eyes of her Mama, how it will set her free. (Sidenote, connecting this to Season 3, as much as I wish we didn't get Colin's whole 'my purpose is Penelope' thing as his speech and that the book declaration is SO. MUCH. BETTER, rewatching THIS scene, I realize, okay, maybe Colin has said that his purpose is Penelope. . .but Penelope is also saying HER purpose is Colin. HE encourages her to be brave and witty. HE takes her away from the watchful eyes of her mama. HE sets her free. I really needed to rewatch that scene to have a better sense of the reciprocity the two of them have in that aspect, so thank you Colin Week!)

But I digress. When he asks her what could possibly measure up to all that (YOU!!! Colin, YOU measure up to all that!!!), she affirms him by saying that they need their fantasies to face the realities of the world. And he recognizes that she's a dreamer like he is. That she doesn't scoff off his follies, like his family can, like Marina did, like he's been trying to do to himself, but that she sees them, and that she appreciates them about him.

No wonder he twists the words Marina said to him into "You care for me. That you'll never forsake me." That isn't what MARINA said it him. It's what Penelope did.

7: Running after Penelope when Cressida rips her dress, Season 3.

This one's short, but in that ball, even though everyone was looking at her, there is one person and one person only who actually SAW her. And that person is Colin. Penelope shows up, looking like the belle of the ball, and she feels beautiful. When she's talking to Debling (ugh, Debling. all my homies hate Debling) and Cressida comes to step on her dress and rip it, all he does is say it was a mistake and then fuck off into the distance

But what does Colin do?

He sees Penelope running, clearly distraught, and he goes after her. He cuts his conversations short, he peaces out, and he immediately goes to find her. I swear this guy has Spidey Sense but for Penelope. Pen Perception. She's upset at him, sharp like she's never been before, but he's still gentle with her. He tries to compliment her (that's a charming dress), he affirms her (you are not a spinster), he checks in with her (is something wrong, Pen? Between us, I mean), and he says he misses her. Actually, he says "I miss you". Which is a very important distinction. "I miss you" is ACTIVE. "I've missed you" is past, is passive. I miss you implies still, always, not just before.

Sure, she cuts him down. Sure, she projects onto him all her own insecurities and that she embarrasses him (untrue) and that she's a laughing stock (not how he sees her), and she leaves, but the fact that he follows her out in the first place, what he says to her, and then that he comes to her the NEXT DAY to apologize, that's all showing her how important she is to him, and the importance their connection has. He doesn't get angry, he doesn't get mean. He treats her with the same respect and tenderness and understanding he always has. I will forever love him.

And I want to give one last, final moment of shine to Luke Newton for how he delivers these scenes. In all these scenes of genuine friendship, Luke also builds in kernels beyond the surface and beyond the lines themselves to really make these scenes as tender and feeling as they can be. The 'you are Pen, you do not count' scene could have been done so dismissively, but instead he delivers the lines in such a warm and tender way. The 'I miss you', spoken more softly. The expression on his face when he looks between Cressida and Penelope at Vauxhall, how he laughs and spins her around, how affectionately he says 'Pen', his tone of voice, his body language. Flowers to Luke, and flowers to friendship.

[kakarotcake]

Had a giant early morning realization on why I enjoy Gochi as much as I do. (I wrote a lot in this; there's a TLDR at the end but please read through my hopefully-coherent rambling to get full context.)

It's specifically because of how non-conventional they are. They didn't date / go through a courting phase before they got married. They barely knew each other at all in fact. Yet, Goku felt unbothered enough to honor a promise he made as a child, and agreed to go forward with the marriage anyway. Chi Chi stayed committed to Goku's promise, despite how she didn't know him, and literally got his consent as an adult first before they went on.

And they made it work.

I so wish we got to see the 5 years of Goku and Chi Chi living together + the early years of Gohan's youth, but specifically because I would like to see just how they each adapted to their new living situation. But regardless, the fact remains that they STAYED together. Chi Chi for sure would've left Goku if she was that unhappy with how Goku just isn't a conventional guy when it comes to relationships. Going home to her dad and resuming being Fire / Frypan Mountain's Princess was always right there as an option. Hell Chi Chi's been identified as an attractive lady in-universe, so she could probably meet someone new before long! But she didn't take it. IIRC, she never has.

I also feel like Goku would also get up and leave if he was unhappy. He's never had to force himself to sacrifice his own happiness for someone else as he lived on Paozu by himself for years, then spent the rest of his teenhood traveling around & training, so if presented with that kind of scenario he wouldn't think twice before being like "ok whatever, see ya" and just peacing out. He wouldn't see the point in staying, since why would he make himself stay somewhere he isn't welcomed or doesn't feel welcome? Grandpa Gohan's old home was always there for him.

My personal biggest gripes with their relationship have honestly never been because of how they had little chemistry before they got together. For me it's always been about how Chi Chi is just treated like a joke by the writer(s); she follows an angry housewife stereotype. Sure, it's supposed to be a joke and she's supposed to come off as comedic, but it only ends up doing damage because it encourages you as a viewer to not take Chi Chi or her relationship with Goku seriously. (I'm ignoring Goku here, but his writing in DBS *anime wise at least* is atrocious and further fed into this btw.)

Yet, from what I've seen over the years in the western fanbase, people's biggest issues with Gochi (aside from general Chi Chi hatred) is because it isn't a conventional relationship. It had hardly any chemistry going into it. I understand that logic, don't get me wrong, but I only understand it when I factor in society's amatonormative & allonormative lens. And I hate both of those things. Gochi not complying with them is what I find charming about the ship.

They didn't date or establish a super deep bond or whatever, yet they lived together in peace for 5 years. They continued to bounce off of one another throughout Z. Chi Chi NEVER remarried or even dated someone while Goku was dead for 7 years. She was crying happy tears when he finally returned at the end of the Buu saga. Goku was more than happy to go home with her and their kids (and tbh I'm 99.99% sure he wouldn't have minded if Chi Chi chose to get with someone else - he chose to stay dead after all). OBVIOUSLY they care for one another a lot, despite how they married each other as strangers. They themselves are narrative (if that's the right word) proof that conventional love & romance & whatever don't guarantee successful marriages. I adore that.

And it's funny because Vegebul is a pairing that also had little to no chemistry going into it, but unlike with Gochi, the no chemistry actually does hurt it for a couple of reasons (all of them revolving around how Vegeta was/is a terrible person) that I won't get into here because it'll derail this post and it's long enough already. I just wanted to point that out in text myself first, before other people came at me trying to argue it.

Anyway. TLDR Gochi as a ship defies amatonormative & allonormative concepts regarding intimate relationships. "You have to date / court someone first, fall in love with them, then marry them because marriage will make sense & be healthy then." They didn't do the first two parts, but after getting married, they're happy together. They spat in the face of societal norms & expectations.

[ennn]

Re: "I can't believe Agatha gave up her quest for power due to Kingo's speech"

Okay but like, she really didn't? If you listen to what he says, Kingo appeals to her to focus on a different kind of power.

"The movies are magic Agatha. Hell, they're better than magic. Because they change the world by changing people. By making them feel something real. And with that kind of power, you don't have to be feared. Because you can be adored."

Prior to this, Agatha was demanding that the people of Earth kneel before her given her newly acquired cosmic might. Subservience. She's absorbed the power of two gods, she's gotten what she's wanted right?

Agatha, you're the only one you ever seem to lose to.

Now I've no idea whether Nicky or Rio are in the picture in this universe so I'm going to just focus on the bones of Agatha's character. And the whole tragic thing about Agatha is that deep deep down—behind all her schemes and lies and performance—Agatha desperately wants to be loved, to be part of a family and community.

Agatha doesn't really want to rule a damn planet. She wants love and respect and appreciation—and mind-controlling billions of people isn't really the same thing.

And the way I see it, Kingo gets Agatha enough to basically tell her to chill out and focus on what makes her more happy: Agatha can make the world adore her through the movies. It's just a different softer kind of power and influence. It's an option where Agatha gets to feel less alone.

Ignoring the whole "you're just like me" schtick, the whole appeal here also works coming from Kingo because he:

isn't judging or condemning Agatha for all the stuff she's done so far (I'm pretty sure if the Eternals weren't space robots they'd be dead from the siphoning already)

understands that Agatha's probably been mistreated in the past ("at some point somewhere in our lives, the world made us feel small")

has lived like 7,000 years and is willing to stick with her in mlm/wlm solidarity

Besides, Agatha still has her crazy Celestial powers and if their last conversation is any indicator, Agatha's all too eager to siphon a few more of them. In the meantime, she's simply building an incredible reputation and fanbase on Earth. This universe should still be very nervous about this now-cosmic entity.

[demonqueenart]

hi! first of all, i'm so sorry you're feeling the way that you are. you've helped open my eyes to things i admittedly didn't know (dan's comment at wad, for example) or didn't notice. i'm glad you're receiving at least some support from other phans! i don't know if this helps at all (and it's not me trying to excuse dan), but i wanted to add some context to his "third-world country" reference. as an american, i can tell you that we grew up learning "this"third world" as the proper term. most of my colleagues, friends, family members, etc. STILL use it casually to refer to developing nations/the global south - we were literally taught to use it in school. of course it has since become obsolete, as the wording is incredibly offensive. i know about this because of my time in academia, but this awareness hasn't at all spread to the general population (especially in dan's/my generation of millennials and older). as smart as i do think dan is, i wonder if that's also the case in england. he has the responsibility to educate and inform himself and he needs to acknowledge that he's hurt and alienated a large proportion of his fanbase, so i still hope he'll do that soon.

as for the tour, one of my my best friends is mexican (and lives in mexico) and she was really disappointed during ii when they had to cancel the announced mexico dates. they had assumed the dates would work out, but - if i remember correctly - were presented with a lot of visa/permissions issues. they tried to make it work but it didn't, and they waited much too long to tell anyone. my guess is that they wanted to avoid a similar disappointment this time and not give anyone false hope, nor accidentally say anything negative about those countries as they explain their reasoning (which, of course, just comes off worse - ignoring is never the issue).

other artists have had similar issues with asian and middle eastern countries as well, as there is increased censorship and visa requirements. i've spent four years of my life in asian countries (and a few months in south america) and know that there are phans there who'd love to see them, but it might not be feasible.

ultimately, however, dan and phil owe everyone transparency and need to acknowledge if they're having difficulties with bookings in other countries and why. they usually go back and add dates later, so fingers crossed that they're trying to work out some dates in latam and may yet still add them.

It’s the lack of transparency that is the issue here. How am I supposed to trust them when they won’t tell me anything in the first place? And if they expect me to assume for the best, I don’t think I can do that. Not with all the time they tried to bury their mistakes when people have been hurt as if it’s nothing. I’m sorry but if they’re choosing to look good in the public eye before choosing us, then I don’t think I can trust them anymore. And it’s not that they’ll look bad when they’re talking about this stuff, but the fact they have never once talked about it ever really makes it feel like they want to keep this shut. And that hurts a lot.

Thank you for your perspective tho. I think it helps seeing where they can possibly come from.

Auto-message: This ask’s purpose is to acknowledge dnp’s past/present exclusivity, not to cancel them! But to embrace mistakes that they’ve made so that 1. we won’t exclude people in need in this community, and 2. we can normalize bringing up exclusivity so that improvement can happen. Hopefully this will one day help dnp realize that this is a safe space for them to talk about their mistakes, so that this space can become safe for people of all kinds too <3

*If you don’t understand what is happening, scroll through my blog for context. And I’ll be taking time to answer my asks, so don’t think I’m ignoring youuu*

[virtuouswhitehatorganization]

Heroes And Villains Who Totally Would Have A Big LGBT Fanbase (Even If They Are Not LGBT Themselves)

Heroes

Goldheart

Given he has a big fanbase I wouldn't be surprised and many speculate about his sexuality to the point it ranges from thinking he's gay to pansexual. Also the tons of shipping people have had between him and Flug despite being archnemeses. And again I totally see him getting into LGBT activism for both clout and because he secretly is a member.

2. Miss Heed

Given how popular she is through social media, I like to think she would be open about her status of about what canon sexuality she has (which I think is bisexual). She probably uses her status to get clout when it's pride month and proclaims how active she is in being a good LGBT activist. Also she loves to pander to anyone who can give her love and attention from any source.

3. Omega Nuclear

He's just straight ally incarnate he just would be the best supportive person he can be from my oc sidekick of his, Green Rod to his fellow former partner, Miss Heed, before he brainwashed him. He totally has a LGBT fanbase who again probably are bara fans and he doesn't mind them unless they are pairing him with Coyote.

4. Airlock

Probably isn't in tuned with her fanbase, but I do think some would find her an icon due to her butch look. She probably would be apathetic and ignore it and would probably do something mean to them like she did with that PEACE agent forcing them to give them their belongings to her.

5. Sunblast

Like Omega Nuclear, he's total bara bait for many people. I like to think before his capture by Penumbra he really loved to pander for the LGBT fanbase for clout and didn't really think much about being an ally except it can boost his image.

Villains

Flug

Why the bagged top scientist of Black Hat because seriously he was Goldheart's arch nemesis and again you know people were shipping them? Also people wonder what is under that bag and like to think there is a cute face. Also we all totally think he's into guys in addition to girls. He probably gets flustered he gets this kind of attention.

2. Miss Valdoom

Given she's called the "Evil Queen" I think she would love attention from any source. I like to think she would love to be admired by her beauty by both men and women. Also this line here they mention how it's laughable she would fall for Heed, so it indicates that Miss Valdoom is attracted to women. And again Illuminarrow was going all starry eyed at her so totally has a LGBT fanbase.

3. Coyote

I see this guy as straight, but I totally see him having a fanbase of LGBT people who are into the bara scene and he fits the image. Also again you can't go wrong with a guy who does leather. I do think he would find it an ego boost he's got some sort of notoriety with a specific crowd it gives more villain cred. However, like his archnemesis, Omega, he probably doesn't like being paired with him. I also think he would be a straight ally and encourage the "Be Gay, Do Crime" rebellious thing.

4. Demencia

Even though she's obsessed with Black Hat, I don't think that would stop her from having admirers in the villainous community. I totally see her as bi with a target on Black Hat (who she totally would love regardless if he was presenting himself male or female). She's probably indifferent since they aren't Black Hat, but probably calls them perverts who get off her kicking ass and taking names.

5. Metauro

Straight ally with a huge LGBT fanbase which comes with the same reason as his fellow villain Coyote which is he's bara bait. I like to think he's very interactive with his fanbase and also makes jokes about himself and why they would find him attractive. He also tries to use his fanbase to spread awareness about cruelty to bulls and how to prevent it.

[atalossofwords]

YOU TASTE THE SILVER - IvanTill WIP (PART 1)

Hi y'all. The brainrot took me with no warning, and I've written 5k for these two just the last two days. I've no idea how much I'll write, but I'm going to squeeze the serotonin for as long as I can lmao

Anyhow, this is a streamer/actor AU that somehow evolved into a sugar daddy AU. Till is a streamer, and Ivan is a famous actor who found him when he was a small streamer and fell in love; he's been sending donations for a good while now, but they've never communicated outside of it.

Until Till opens his PO box and Ivan's need to spoil Till is too much, at least. Then all bets are off, and Till finally starts thinking more about the stranger who keeps sending him gifts. I have a basic outline for it all, but I'm going with vibes first, since I mostly just want to write them and torture Ivan.

I'm going to be posts little snippets of what I've writer so far over the next few days, so please don't be afraid to come to my inbox to ask about them!

This was inspired by this fic! Check it out!

Till wasn't the most famous streamer there was. Not anything near that, actually, though he thinks he does well enough.

He has an established fanbase, almost 500k of them, he's sold some merchandise and collabed with some pretty nice people. He likes streaming, varying between his songwriting and recording processes and any new video game that catches his fancy.

When he started, he didn't think he'd do this for a living. He probably wouldn't be able to afford it, being a struggling musician as he was, for once.

He couldn't blame his comfortable living situation solely on one person, no, since that would be incredibly inconsiderate of the rest of his fans, but this one Navi person definitely funded Till's move from his old apartment mostly by themselves.

Case in point.

NAVI (TILL'S ATM) DONATED $100: Hyung, how's the new house?

Till reads the donation out loud, ignoring his chat going a little crazy over Navi's donation. By now, Till is used to Navi only ever sending messages through donations. He'd be so flustered, in the beginning, and worried enough he almost disabled them. Luckily Hyuna talked him out of it.

"It's going well. As everyone can see, my studio isn't done yet," he says, gesturing behind himself into the empty expanse of freshly painted wall. At least he'd painted it black already. "but the rest is going okay. I'm really sorry for the week I had to take off, everyone."

He quickly scams the chat, his heart feeling warm as all the people watching rush to reassure him that it's not a problem, he should take care of himself, and how glad they are he managed to move from his shitty rented apartment.

"Actually, I have some news for you all." He scratches his neck, a nervous habit, and looks to the side. Hyuna convinced him to do this, so he knows it's something streamers do, but he can't help being anxious about it. "Since I moved, and this place needs some decorations, I was thinking of opening a PO box and doing an... what's it called? Unboxing?"

The chat is going crazy, he can barely keep up, oh god. He feels his cheeks heat.

"An unboxing live and then decorate my stream setup with some stuff I get. Would you guys like that?"

His chat is a mess of "yeses" and incoherent screams, and Till can't help but smile a little. He's got to say, he's looking forward to this.

The following weeks are a bit of a mess. He streams less than normal, still setting up his new apartment; he goes with Hyuna to buy electronics she swears will make his streaming better.

Dewey, his brother, goes with him to buy a new shelving unit and help him set up all his new furniture. Isaac is strangely fixated on saying Till needs rugs and other things, otherwise his apartment is "just a place, not a home, bro", apparently.

He checks in with his PO box frequently, each day more excited by all the packages he got. After two weeks he announces on twitter he'll be closing the PO box in a week since he wants to be able to open all the gifts on stream and he's already got a good amount of them.

The day after his announcement, he goes to pick up any new packages to store in his living room since he doesn't want to burden the office workers and finds a package that makes his stomach twist in itself.

It's a large box, clearly packed by hand instead of the usual post-service stamps. And it has a large sticker reading "FROM: NAVI" on it.

Till doubts anyone would use the name to get his attention, since he does treat all his viewers equally, so this really is from Navi. He wonders what is in it, since Navi clearly has money to spare and intends to spend it on Till.

"It's probably a maid dress." Hyua says, helping him lug it all to his apartment.

"It's not!" He splutters, mortified. Hyuna raises an incredulous eyebrow. "It's probably snacks, or something like that. Navi's said they travel a lot." That, somehow, just makes the eyebrow twitch higher.

"You remember what your viewers say?" She asks, hip-checking his door open. He follows, frowning a little. He always remembers what his viewers say.

Navi, obviously, since they only talk in donations, but also a few other regulars. Kirby has an older sister they're sharing the computer with; Siren started learning the guitar because of Till, and is doing well for himself; Jaewoon – with the username Till's Merch Overlord – draws and is currently suffering through art university, BonBon who has a one-year-old and listens to Till while doing his household chores.

"Yeah? I mean, there's only so many people who regularly chat. And out of those, a good part are my mods." He says, shrugging. He knows Hyuna pays someone to mod for her, but Till didn't think he'd need a mod, since he never expected to get so many views. He kept going without mods for so long that the most active members of the community ended up auto-modding the rest, at which point Till just reached out and asked if they wanted to mod, and now he pays them for it because he felt bad otherwise.

(Of course, Navi isn't a mod. They'd fit Till's criteria, but they never chatted normally, so it was kind of hard to ask.)

"Aaah, you're just too wholesome, heartbreaker." Hyuna says, sighing, the old nickname that still makes Till confused coming out with a teasing lilt. She waves him off before he can say anything, though, plopping the box on the couch and grinning at Dewey. "Hey, this one you'll definitely want to check!"

Till rolls his eyes as his brother 'oohs' and 'aahs' over the package, Isaac peering over with a pocket knife ready to pry it open. When Till mentioned opening a PO box, he insisted on checking the gifts beforehand, just to make sure they were all stream-appropriate and, most importantly, not dangerous for Till.

He was grateful his brother cared, but he was less amused by the teasing and hint-dropping they'd been doing over the content of the packages. He leaves them to it, moving to the kitchen to get some much-needed coffee.

Looks like Isaac bought bungeo-ppang, so Till fills a mug and picks one, nibbling at it and looking into his fridge. He should go buy more food, but there's a seven-eleven right across his street, so he almost never bothers stocking up. He does need to get more tea, though, since he dislikes drinking water, and for reasons unknown, his chat enjoys it when he drinks on-stream.

He finishes updating his list and walks back to the living room, where Dewey has already closed the package back up, but is holding a small parcel in his hand, frowning. Hyuna looks over as he approaches, a complicated expression on her face.

"The rest of the package is fine to open on-stream, but I think this one might be best off-stream." She says, and the lack of any teasing or barb makes him worried. She must've read that in his expression, because she grins. "Do you happen to know why this Navi person likes you so much? I wouldn't mind getting some of these myself."

Till can't help but scowl, snatching the parcel from Dewey's hands. He doesn't know Navi, not really, but they're still one of his first viewers, and they do kind of give Till a lot of money.

"Keep your hands away from my viewers, hag." He has to move fast to escape her grab, which soon develops into a little keep-away with the parcel, soon ending up with Dewey on the ground howling with laughter as Isaac tries to haul Hyuna off him, curled on himself on the ground to keep the parcel to himself.

"Ugh, you brat! Just open it!!" She exclaims, sitting down on Dewey's lap, making the older man yelp. Till huffs, but sits up to analyse the gift.

It seems to be an envelope, like many of the letters he got, but there was something inside of it, making it weirdly bulky. Till folds it open, tipping the envelope so whatever it is can fall on his open hand, and stares.

There is a pair of... earrings, on his hand.

Diamond earrings, to be precise.

That the fuck.

Till stares at it, then peers inside the envelope. Nothing weird falls out, like a damned credit card or pure gold, but a little recipe with the return address of a high-class jewellery store makes itself known. The rest of the envelope contains a certification for the damned diamonds.

Till curls up back again, head in his hands, groaning. His face is so hot you could cook an egg in it.

Navi got him diamond piercings because Till complained once, months ago, that he wanted to switch out his piercings but didn't have the money for it.

"C'mon Till! You didn't tell me you had a sugar daddy!" Hyuna jeers, and from the hiss and yelp, Dewey just dropped her. The sound of them bickering – Hyuna insisting this Navi person has to be after Till's virtue, and Dewey being insulted by the thought of someone going after his little brother like that, plus Isaac googling the store to throw fuel on the fire – is enough to distract Till form his own freakout.

He sits back up, his face still red, to study the piercings better. There are six items in total. One is a simple diamond stud, a tiny and delicate stone, probably for his second hole. A pair of bigger stones, with four elongated asymmetrical spikes, making it look like a shining star, probably for his first hole. One's a series of round stones inlaid together in a belt, forming a hoop, for his helix piercing. The final ones are two silver loops, delicate and silver, for his double auricle piercing.

He thinks if he puts any of those on, he's going to spontaneously combust.

(Later that night, after Hyuna and Isaac went home and Dewey crashed on his couch, Till locks his bedroom door and tries them on. The pair of star-shaped earrings go on both ears, the tiny stud on his left, alongside the helix, which he takes a while to get on since it is so finicky, he pierced it himself with a safety pin in high school. The hoops go on his right, looking a little lonely with just the earring, remembering Till that he really wishes he had money to get a constellation on that ear.

He's wearing a simple white shirt, ready for bed, that slips off his shoulder to show off the simple moon covered by clouds on his clavicle, clashing with the TILL tattoo he has over his neck. He turns this way and that, watching the diamonds shine, and feels almost bad for using them.

Why did Navi send this to him? What did Till do, to deserve something as delicate as this? He's not the kindest of people, he's kind of an asshole actually, all shouting and side eyes. He's not the kind of guy that can properly appreciate such nice jewellery, not the kind of person that should be appreciated like this.

Still. The diamond shines against his skin, the silver compliments his white hair. He takes most of them off, only keeping the simple snake bites. He doesn't want to somehow dirty up the diamonds.)

part two

[destinygoldenstar]

☀️This Gabby Stan Supports Everything She Does☀️ - Total Drama Viewer Reacts to Disventure Camp Season 1 Episode 6 “The Most Tranquilous Game”

I'm aware of Season 3 airing. I put the poll on whether or not I should watch this while it was. By the time this comes out, this may or may not be before or after the finale of that season is released.

Quite obviously I'm not caught up so I'm not watching that right now. The only thing I know is that the finale is around the corner, and I heard a lot of people online saying they hate the Finalists for some reason.

I also saw awhile back a little meme image (that I won't show cause it's not mine) that "Jake is a garbage human being and he should die" or something.

(Became a Jake stan) ...huh, well ain't that a bit extreme.

That totally gives me hope that things will be civilized.

I didn't plan to get caught up by then, as I'd rather watch at my own pace and actually sink in what's happening so I understand it. I did the same thing with Total Drama. Because whatever show, you have to actually take any and all moments and dialogue into account, otherwise stuff gets misinterpreted.

I know half the time with these reactions I'm cracking jokes, but that's only my way of showing my investment. If I was bored and/or frustrated I wouldn't be doing that.

I hope that's understandable. I'd much rather enjoy this show and form my own opinions and takes from my own viewing experience. Obviously if I have major gripes with a plot element going forward, I'll say it, but for the most part I actually want to hear it out.

Indie Animation such as this get a lot of creative freedom to make whatever story and narrative they want. So instead of whining about corporate interference that isn't there, I'd rather say "I'll hear you out, and here's how I feel personally. Whether I think it was handled well or not with what you were trying to do."

So... I apologize if I show an opinion on something that isn't majority. Like if I like someone you hate or if I don't care for something you love. But also, I'm not gonna apologize for having them.

I'm an analyzer. My username is AnalyzGolden. I analyze stuff in the way I see it. It's in the name!

I'm like this with Digital Circus as well. I don't interact with much internet discourse surrounding it and I just want to do my own thing and see things through my lens and not others. Cause most indie animation fanbases have a reputation for being… shall we say, extreme.

So... I hope this is understandable.

I'm also thinking about doing a post on the tier list on the characters in this season once I'm done with this season. I think that'll be a fun way to properly explain my takes on all of them.

So with this out of the way, let's begin:

"It had some cool stuff that we can apply to the game!"

"It mentioned this 'Heather' person, who betrayed her alliances, abused her alliance members, and sabotaged a relationship!"

"Then there's 'Alejandro', who flirted with everybody and betrayed everybody, and also sabotaged relationships!"

"...I'm seeing a pattern."

"...but only if we ignore the section on teamwork."

XD

You guys are slaves to the demon child. I hope you're proud.

Btw I'm only hating on Fiore because she's the villain character and therefore she's supposed to be hated. I don't actually hate her as a character. She's quite interesting.

"Do you recall what I told you about my wife?"

Are we FINALLY getting info on this?

He's broke or something, right?

"That you don't get along?"

"We do get along. It's common for marriages to get testy, I'll have you know. I'm just hoping things will get better."

Aaaahhhh... okay.

I thought for a second it would be that, but I leaned more towards my theory of them being broke.

"If I win, I'll take my family somewhere to start a new life."

Add that to the list,

'Alec: Fix Family Bond'

Okay, who do we not have for a motive that's still here?

I don't think Miriam or Gabby mentioned theirs. Or Dan. Or... I think that's it.

"Wow, look at Romeo over here, I'm sure money will solve your marital problems."

That is sarcasm caught in 4k

Not the six year old roasting the life of a grown married man!

Ooh, Grett actually looks really good in pink. I'm just noticing her wearing that.

"Jake, how are you? Do you feel better?"

He might still be mourning. Idk what his mental state is after that.

AWWWWWWWWW💗

Now I'm actually giddy. What is wrong with me?! Why are they so great?

Going in, I was expecting Toxic Yaoi just cause of Tom's spy shit, but they're actually so sweet and wholesome and good for each other.

"I'm here if you need anything."

I can't imagine how it's like for Tom. I don't think he was imagining getting close with someone just cause of the spy profession.

"I like this boy, I want to be around him and help him out."

"Now don't worry about getting us breakfast today, I will get us the usual."

Idk how I like the sound of that tbh. XD

I just imagine Tom coming back and calling everyone to the meal. "BREAKFAST IS READY!!!"

...and it's just char XD

That also implies they work together to prepare meals for the group EVERY DAY. I love that.

No not Grett changing her facial expression from that!

"I smell gay! I didn't ask for that in my coffee this morning!"

"Jake and I really bonded in the last challenge, it sort of opened my eyes. It's gotten me to open up more to these kids."

Yeah, I actually like Miriam now. Before I was just kinda forgetting she was there, but I like her now.

"Do you like him?"

*Covers mouth to hold back the giddy noise from my mouth*

*Failing*

Oh my god she's actually going there! I did not expect that.

"Uh... maybe. He's just really good as a person towards me and I feel like we're really opening up to each other, you know? It's not that deep... maybe we'd go out for Chinese sometime. Maybe we'd catch a movie together."

"Tom, do you like him?"

"Uh, no?"

Huh?

You're lying. You gotta be lying.

"You always smile when you're talking to him."

"It's just... I like him, but not in that way."

Liar. Your scenes together say otherwise.

"I'm not ready to be in a relationship."

Oh...

Oh is that what it's about... yeah I would understand that.

"Recently... I was in a somewhat toxic relationship and things didn't end well."

OH.

Oh now that makes a lot of sense.

Was it SOMEWHAT toxic, or...?

I'm probably thinking too angsty about it.

"He cheated on me. And... I couldn't get over it."

OH MY GOD HONEY.

Well no shit you wouldn't get over that. That's awful!

Why did he do that?! Why would he want to hurt you like that?!

"Well you're young, unlike me, you still have a lot of time ahead of you."

Yeah... you can find someone better.

Oh shit, Grett...

OH WAIT CAUSE SHE KNOWS TOM IS A SPY, SHE SAW THE NOTES. OH MY GOD I KNOW WHAT SHE'S GONNA DO.

And because of Jake's past experience, he is NOT gonna take it well!

OH NO...

"Hey um... how's everything?"

"All good... I'm still here."

That sounds so sad.

"Yeah I'm still alive. A tornado hasn't slammed into us yet, you know?"

"Everyone tries to vote me out! Only Grett stayed by my side even though you said I shouldn't listen to her!"

EXACTLY.

This Gabby Stan supports everything she does.

"I'm sorry, I thought I could trust the guys, but I was wrong."

YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD TRUST THEM TO VOTE HER OUT AND YOU'RE SAYING THAT TO HER FACE?!

Dan. You're being a dick.

"I hope our team wins todays challenge because I'm not too confident about my position."

And I hope they don't so you get voted out!

...actually is that worth that risk? They could vote the others.

Dan, really, you're the only one on that team I wouldn't mind losing.

THIS IS SO UNEVEN, THEY'VE GOTTA MOVE SOMEONE

Like this is not fair!

"Today the challenge will be for individual immunities."

"Why?"

"Tonight, BOTH teams will go to elimination and vote a person off each of their teams."

WHAT?!

WE JUST HAD A DOUBLE ELIMINATION.

WHAT?!

"Double elimination AGAIN?!"

THANK YOU. THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING.

"Well guess what? Life isn't fair."

...he do be spitting facts though.

OH GEEZ AND FLIP

Yeah uh, that doesn't look like a tranquilizer gun! THAT LOOKS LIKE A MACHINE GUN

HE LOOKS LIKE HE'S ABOUT TO KILL EM

"It'll only put you asleep for a few minutes... hopefully."

Cut to everyone waking up from a ten year coma.

"If there's no way to avoid elimination tonight, I have to start preparing..."

*Gets a fashion ad*

I guess she's going to slay with her fashion sense 💅

"Gabby what were you doing talking to Dan this morning?"

"I was reading him for filth."

"You shouldn't talk to him!"

On the one hand, Dan is on your team. You kinda want to be on good terms.

On the other hand, it's Dan, so it's fine by me.

"But it's only a matter of time before her little cry-baby bonding session turns into an alliance."

"Oh boo hoo, my loves ones died! Who gives a shit?! UGH, people who mourn the dead are SO ANNOYING!!"

THIS MAN IS FIRING A SHOWER OF DARTS

He's also a bad aim apparently cause HOW DO NOT HIT ANYONE?!

He really is not subtle, is he?

"I don't want to be in a relationship or push it further, but I didn't say I can't crush!"

Tom's like "Why you pressing your hands like that?"

"I'm a wittle scawed of the bullets..."

"I think I saw Jensen."

"This way, come over here."

I thought you were trying to AVOID him. Why'd you want go towards him?

Oh shit here we go...

"Golden told be awhile back to tell you something very important!"

"Hey Grett. Maybe you should tell Jake something. Just a thought.

...

WAIT I SAID THAT AS A JOKE, HOLD ON-

"For some reason I have the urge to tell Jake something. Huh, wonder who this Golden Voice is.""

DAMMIT ME, I TOLD HER TO SLAY. I DIDN'T SPECIFY WHO TO SLAY.

SLAY PASS MISFIRE

"Tom was lying to you. It was Tom who voted for Drew."

Ooooooohhhh god...

I'm like preparing myself for the blowout.

"Because Drew found out his little secret."

"What secret?"

"The whole sun sensitivity story is fake. He lied to you because he's a spy."

*DREAD*

"What are you talking about? Is this a joke?"

*DREAD*

"He's here for work. You mean nothing to him other than a way to blend in more."

*DREAD*

"Come on Jake, Grett has clearly lost it."

IT HURTS BECAUSE SHE'S TELLING THE TRUTH

I'm CONFLICTED. Not my best girls HURTING my best boy!!

What do I do? Do I support her...? I don't know...

OH NO HE'S BACK.... UGH...

At least it's earlier in the season so they have a chance to bounce back... I don't... I don't know...

This is gonna be so ugly. Jake is gonna be HURT.

"I get hurt and traumatized by my ex! I lose my grandma! AND NOW THIS SHIT. I CAN'T CATCH A BREAK!"

"Tom! You're not gonna believe this!"

"Believe what?"

"Grett was saying the strangest things about you!"

"Wh-what did she say?"

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHHHHH *mouth covered*

"She said you were the one who voted Drew because, get this, he found out you were a spy?!"

NO TOM YOU CAN'T ACT?!?!

I mean I don't think he should lie any further, but...

"I can explain!! It's not what you think!!!"

"Wait what? It's true?!"

"It's not that simple!"

Just hear him out! I can explain EVERYTHING! I know you're upset, but please hear me out!

"Oh my god... it really is! So you're just here for your job!"

"And our friendship, was that just to blend in too?! Did you ever care about me at all?! Was any of it real, HUH?!"

JAKE, HONEY, I'M SO SORRY.

I know you being upset is understandable! It still hurts!

I can imagine what's going through his head though. His loved ones have a habit of either dying or lying to him and hurting him, and now turns out his new crush is a spy?

"Jake, calm down-"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!"

OH GOD

"I don't owe you anything! It's my life! Step off, Jake!"

DON'T BE LIKE THAT, YOU'RE ALREADY OUTTED!

"Oh EXCUSE ME if I don't want to be part of your 'super cool' spy plan!"

"Can you stop telling the whole goddamn neighborhood?!"

OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH GOOOOOOOOOODDDDD!!!!

And they got shot...

Oh my god, I need a minute to CALM DOWN.

Was that... I mean I know that was a Tom liar reveal, but was that a Jake true personality reveal?!

Is he an asshole?!

Goddammit, he IS an asshole, isn't he? I WAS ROUTING FOR YOU.

I'm calming down, I'm calming down...

Tom and Jake are gonna drive me FUCKING. CRAZY.

I don't think that's how those pans work, I think the darts would stick to the pan, not bounce off of it.

GO FIORE!!!

She pulled a Rapunzel.

And this man shot a child.

Why are you wasting time digging a hole?!

There's a man with a machine gun!

"What revenge?"

"Against Dan."

Go ahead Gabby. I support whatever you do.

"Why don't we just focus on getting to the lake?"

EXACTLY.

"No! We eliminate the competition first, and search for the lake after."

So anyway, I feel like someone's getting immunity right now...

*thinks about it*

OH WAIT NO CAUSE THEY GOT THE TRIO SHOT.

Okay NOW I get it.

"How come you're helping me? You know only one of us can win, right?"

No I think he's gonna betray you.

Should've kept Lilly and Ashley around Ellie. This is your karma.

"You would do the same for me."

"Uh... yeah. Sure..."

*cuts to confessional*

"I definitely wouldn't."

XD

I can't blame her though.

"And then Jake said 'I need you to tell me what's going on' and Tom said 'I don't owe you anything' and then Jensen popped out and BAM!"

XD

NOT GABBY SLANDERING THE BOYS, I'M DEAD

She do be right though...

BYE HAVE A GOOD TIME!!

"You can play guilty while putting together a raft. I don't want to get wet."

"We're on National TV! I'll get my hair wet!" - SAME ENERGY

"Sometimes I just like to do what I want and not be bossed around."

STAND UP FOR YOURSELF.

As a Grett Stan, GET HER ASS GIRLIE

Like, I'm defending ZERO of Grett's actions. She's a bad person. But it's just because how she goes about being a bad person that interests me so much.

Oh so NOW they stick!

SLAAAAAYYYY GABBBYYYYYYYY!!!!!

OH NO ELLIE.

WHOOPS. SLAY PASS MISFIRE

(Twice in a row, Gabby...)

"It's my plan. I did all the hard work. I deserve it."

...I mean she DID do shit, but also...

"I know you weren't helpful today! We all know that without me, you couldn't have made it this far."

"All day I've been doing what you say, AND YOU NEVER EVER SAY THANK YOU!!!"

GET HER GIRL!!!

"YOU WERE SITTING ON YOUR FAT ASS THIS WHOLE TIME!!! I'M DONE WITH YOU GRETT!! JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE PROJECTING YOUR ISSUES WITH YOUR BROTHER AND PARENTS DOESN'T MEAN I SHOULD FEEL BAD FOR YOU!!! WE ALL HAVE PROBLEMS, BUT YOU CAN'T TREAT PEOPLE LIKE THIS!!"

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSS

QUEEN

QUEEN

QUEEN

QUEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNN!!!!!!

I mean, I love Grett too... BUT.

LET'S BE HONEST. GABBY DESERVES THIS.

🎉YEEEAAAHHH!!! GABBY FOR THE WIN!! LET'S GOOOO!!!!🎉

WE STAN GABBY IN THIS HOUSEHOLD

I SUPPORT HER

And Alec gets it too.

Cool. I guess.

I mean he's fine, I just like others more.

"Yeah... just one of the rafts broke my bamboo."

"And also hit me in the face. I was lucky not to drown."

"Do I need you to give me my totem?"

OH YEAH I FORGOT SHE HAD AN IDOL

Sorry, TOTEM, I keep saying idol.

Honestly, yeah, you gotta play it. Cause I guarantee you you're gone if you don't.

"No I'm fine. I think tonight's decision will be an easy one."

ELLIE YOU'RE GONE.

"Golden put me in the heading! That MUST mean I'm safe!"

NO. SWEETIE NO. IT'S A BAD LUCK CHARM. DON'T TRUST ME!

God I think I jinxed Ellie...

They're STILL pissed.

Miriam is gonna come to me like, "Golden, you're having Toxic Yaoi for dinner tonight."

"Grett, I'm sorry, I don't regret taking the immunity."

As you shouldn't.

"If you don't vote for Dan tonight, you're out next."

...okay.

Is Miriam gonna convince them to vote Grett out?!

"I don't know if I can trust Tom after betraying the guys alliance..."

FUCK YOUR GUYS ALLIANCE.

THAT'S ALL YOU TALK ABOUT.

And besides, it's screwed.

Tom and Jake divorced.

"I'M STILL ANGRY AT YOU! WHY DO I KEEP LIKING PEOPLE WHO HURT ME?!"

"There's no way you can win the next challenge with her here."

Especially since she's a kid who has limitations. It is the smarter move.

"I would've preferred the three of us to make it to the merge, but there's no other option."

Honestly I would've preferred that too and that's what I thought would happen. Guess not.

"I like Fiore, but Ellie is more useful in challenges..."

It's up to Alec.

Alright... let's see what we've got this time. This should be interesting.

XD

DEAR GOD JAKE.

"THIS IS MY DIVORCE PAPER!"

Dammit, why'd he have to be an asshole, huh?

Of course Miriam writes in cursive.

"You can fool these Gen Z'ers..."

XD

Miriam's climbing up my tier list.

YES, SLANDER GEN Z

Alright, Teal's up first.

'DAN'

I mean, I prefer it be Dan just cause I like Grett, but also...

I don't think I'm gonna be mad.

'GRETT'

I like how Trevor says her name.

'JAKE'

XD

NO SHOT THEY BOTH THREW JUST CAUSE THEY WERE SO PISSED WITH EACH OTHER

XD

"AND NOW YOU VOTE FOR ME?! WHAT'D YOU SAY TO ME?!"

'TOM'

'GRETT'

And then the last vote is Grett.

Damn.

A fav is gone.

RIP.

"Sorry. We won't tolerate you any longer."

YES GABBY

"You think I care?! Because I don't!"

I think she does care though.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH

I DID NOT EXPECT THAT.

HOLY GOD, THEY ARE A THING.

'ELLIE'

'FIORE'

Ellie's gone, isn't she?

I KNEW IT.

I SHOULDN'T HAVE PUT HER IN THE HEADING.

I thought she was gonna make it further, tbh.

"Good luck winning challenges with a six year old."

Wah wah waaaahhh...

AWWWWWWWWW NOT GRETT CRYING

I WAS READY FOR YOU TO GO, BUT NOW YOU'RE MAKING IT HARD

"I've already won a lot in my life..."

The shakiness of her voice. OUCH.

OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH

THEY'RE NOT GOING, ARE THEY?!

*I got a safelife repair ad*

XD

"SAFELIFE REPAIR, SAVE YOUR BUTTS WITH THIS SECOND CHANCE!"

OH NO HE POSTED IT?!?!?!

OH THAT'S BAD...

Oh god, that's gonna be bad for Tom's mission, isn't it? Whatever it is he's doing.

I mean lets be honest though... that post isn't Jake's fault. How's he supposed to know that would happen?

NOT ME DEFENDING JAKE AFTER THAT-

Ugh... I had a gut feeling though, cause I saw people HATING Jake's character and calling him the worst.

HE'S AN ASSHOLE, NOOOOOOO...

Okay, BUT, I don't hate him. Surprisingly enough.

I'm actually intrigued by his character a lot more now.

I thought he was gonna be the precious bean. The sweetest character. But no, he's petty and impulsive.

I HAVE to give credit though, this is NOT something that came out of nowhere for me. He did snap at Nick in Episode 4 for stubbing his toe, and they established this episode more of Jake's past to add more context to his POV.

So he was in a toxic relationship before and got betrayed by it. That makes perfect sense to me. I understand why he'd be pissed. Tom lied to him.

But he DEFINATELY overreacted towards it. It's one thing to yell at the heat of the moment, it's another to vote for him just because you're pissed.

So, yeah, I'm not excusing his behavior, I'm just understanding WHY.

"OH NO! A character is revealed to have FLAWS. And said flaws made things worse for other people! Well clearly I hate them now!!"

I'm not doing that.

I'm just not that kinda person in how I view media. I don't hate characters just because they have flaws. When you're watching Total Drama, you gotta have that mindset too. Cause in that show, there's A LOT of characters that do screwed up things and it's wrong. So I'm used to it.

If anything, I guess Jake being revealed to have negative traits makes him a lot more interesting now. Cause yeah, I've been there. It sucks. Well, I wasn't in a toxic romantic relationship, but a toxic friendship when I was younger. It lasted for years so it left me pretty distasteful to the people around me and everyone hated me for... acting like Jake did here, honestly. How bout that?

Him and Tom are gonna BREAK ME, I can tell.

At least the lie is outed earlier in the season, so it's not as bad as it could've been...?

Like, it would've been a lot uglier later and it resulted in one of them getting voted off.

But at least they can work this out, right? Cool off, come clean, and repair the damage. Then go out for Chinese Food and hang out by the lake. Everything will be fine. They'll get their Chinese date. IT'LL ALL BE FINE.

...god, looks like I'm having Toxic Yaoi for dinner tonight.

I love Gabby's development SO MUCH HERE. SHE'S TAKING CHARGE. WE LOVE HER. WE SUPPORT EVERYTHING SHE DOES.

Really, of my favs, Gabby is the ONLY one who ACTUALLY did nothing wrong. It looks to be that way.

I didn't expect her to kiss Ellie though. That was cute.

I was expecting that to be just a friendship, but I definitely don't hate this.

Too bad Ellie's 'gone'.

Should've used that idol.

And I shouldn't have put her in the heading. I jinxed an elimination yet again.

I'm a Grett stan. I definitely want to analyze her in the character tier list I'm gonna do after this. That way I can properly explain WHY I like her so much. As a villain, obviously. I think she has a lot more depth to her than shallow "I'm a mean girl".

But I'm also not mad that she got voted off. It is deserved. And let's face it, Grett was never winning anyway.

Anyway, idk if this will get any attention because of the Season 3 finale, but hey, I can continue these if you guys seem interested and entertained by them.

[crushedgraham]

D.va x Insecure gf please? Maybe im not doing well 💀

D.va x Insecure Gf

i didn't save it on accident and it got deleted so this is my second time writing this :,) also i didnt know if you wanted hc's or a fic so i did a little of both

being with one of the most adored celebrities in korea can be hard.

even the idea of Hana having a partner sent her fanbase into a craze

so much pressure is on you to look and act like the perfect partner

and when people catch you two on a date and you don't look like how they'd imagined?

suddenly her streams are being flooded with hate comments about your relationship

"D.va could do so much better than that"

"how did they pull her..."

"she's not worthy of Hana"

you tried so hard not to give into their words but you could only take so much

eventually you were cancelling weekly dates and refusing to go out with her to replenish her snacks

you just didnt want anymore comments that validated all of your insecurities

and slowly you found yourself slipping, spiraling into a pool of self-hatred and insecurity

hana noticed, of course she did

she noticed your heavy gaze whenever you looked into the mirror

the dark circles around your eyes

how your skin was paler

how you started skipping meals

it broke her heart.

The dim light from your phone illuminated the dark room. Hana cracked open the door, letting the hallway light stream in. Her brows furrow as she looks at your form underneath the thick duvet. You've been rotting in that bed for weeks, only ever coming out to use the bathroom or shower every few days.

"Jagi? I brought dinner..."

Hana holds a tray of some food that she ordered from a random Chinese restaurant as she enters the dim room. She kicks the door closed with her foot and places the tray on the nightstand. The small click of your phone and the darkness that encompasses are the only response she gets from you.

She walks a practiced path to the bed and sits on the edge.

"I'm worried about you, Y/N....Just..Talk to me, please. I'm always here for you."

Her voice sounds so...Heartbroken. Guilt floods your body and it feels cruel to just ignore her. You roll over and you reach out your hand to the shadow of her body - you come in contact with her wrist and you stroke it softly with her thumb. Hana's pulse soothes your nerves and you scooch a little closer to her.

"Can I turn the light on?"

Your head nods against her knee and she reaches over to flick on the warm light of the lamp. Hana's eyes soften as she looks at your poor state.

"Oh Jagi...Let me take care of you"

Hana leads you to the attached bathroom, she turns the faucet of the bath on to let the water warm up and - filling it with scented oils and soap. She helps you undress from the old pajamas and you take your place in the warm bath. Hana strips out of her own and settles onto your lap, cupping her hands, she pours some water onto your hair to get it ready for the shampoo. She dribbles the shampoo into her hands and works it through your hair, making sure to gently massage your scalp.

Little kisses are pressed against your cheek and jaw - usually it's you praising Hana but it feels nice to be the one being pampered.

Once she washes the shampoo out, she rubs some more of that scented oil into her hands and starts massaging your tense shoulders. You can feel the tension melting away and you lean your head back with a groan.

"I don't deserve you, bunny"

"Hey don't say that"

She stops and when you open your eyes, you're met with a pouting Hana. Her small hands cup your face as she stares into your eyes. This is the most serious you've seen her.

"You deserve all of me. Don't listen to those incels on social media, they're just jealous that you have me all to yourself."

You chuckle at her choice of words and her heart flutters seeing you smile for the first time in a while.

"You're my player two. And no one will ever beat me at mario kart like you do. You're irreplaceable"

You roll your eyes with a big grin at her unromantic words. Impulse takes over Hana and she lunges at you, smothering your face with kisses as she wraps her arms around your neck.

"I missed you so much Jagi!"

The water sloshes from both your squirming and you two burst out into a flurry of kisses and giggles.

"Hey Hana?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you"

"I love you too Y/N"

[ligbi]

I have not been on the right part of tumblr these last few years if I only just learned about MILGRAM last night

Multimedia criminal judgement using music videos and online voting for 10 prisoners whose stories and crimes are relayed through the song and visuals?

Bonus audio dramas and animations with translations from a dedicated fanbase?

NB viewer insert and jackalope guards?

You people loved danganronpa and I Know people out there are still into zero escape et all.

There were already two rounds of trials for the cast, and the third is just starting up.

I'm going to post character details and my thoughts under the cut for me, but maybe you'll want to poke around the wiki too?

001 Haruka how the fuck did you get an innocent vote on your first trial? Sorry your learning disability was the excuse your parents gave to stop loving you but that's not a good reason to kill animals or people. Damn right you were guilty in round two.

002 Yuno has never done anything wrong in her life and that's why she's been innocent TWICE. 'Oh but sex work' fuck off get that bag girl

003 Fuuta Fuuta Fuuta... the line between calling out say a predatory teacher and cyberbullying a middle school student is not that thin. No wonder you were found guilty, but you did seem pretty fucked up about that afterwards. So congrats on the innocent vote.

004 Muu I'm not saying the other girl ignoring your bullying was in the right, I'm saying you should have killed your bullies instead. So I get the innocent vote. But damn you turned into a bitch no matter how hot your butterfly form is. Guilty indeed.

005 Shidou Dr Flowers was voted innocent? Pretty sure that man is Frankensteining. Ughhh fineeeee tortured man who regrets not being able to save his wife and kids can be innocent I guess.

006 Mahiru what the fuck do you mean she was found guilty then innocent. I just started dipping my toe in and have only seen the MVs but girl was feeding her kidnapped 'boyfriend' rats. Is it because she's the face for being 'delulu' that y'all voted her innocent by reason of insanity? What about that guilty vote though? That was a girl going on some dates. Corpse Reviver is a real drink and not a nod at her...well, very real wrongs.

007 Kazui If you aren't divorced already I hope you get to be. No offense Mr Innocent but I just didn't like your song and you seem. Boring. Ohhh okay what the fuck who voted innocent after this guy's second trial this magician is making his wife disappear so he can fuck whoever. Shit old man (5 years older than me)

008 Amane Small child! How many crimes can she commit? ...I really need to check out not just the music videos because she was voted guilty in the first trial? If anything she seemed abused? Oh she was in a cult! Yeah she is innocent even if she deffo killed her mom. God damn poor kid.

009 Mikoto That is a great tarot deck and yeah guilty seems right? Oh he has DID? Fine, They're guilty. I don't understand the round two innocent vote but okay.

010 Kotoko Damn right my girl Yuzuriha Nekoi is innocent of everything but plagiarizing her look. Kill your local rapist indeed. ....Guilty....I know she attacked other prisoners...but did she do something else? Anyway let her bite

[puricodraws]

Here's a long post no one asked for, but I gotta get off my chest. Lots of infodumping about Kingdom Hearts and in particular the casting of it's voice talent, so strap in y'all. So something I find very interesting is the way Square/Disney has treated the character of Kairi throughout the years. She started out as a damsel character, and was hated by very vocal group in the fanbase. I myself didn't really care about Kairi any which way, I didn't find her particularly interesting and I could understand the hate for the character like... a little bit? But what's funny to me is how that perception has changed over the years. Maybe there is still a very vocal group of people hating on Kairi on some forum I'm not aware of but I feel like the general consensus on her these days is: That's our girl. We can recognize that she is a victim of bad writing and the damsel trope. She's become a bit of un underdog in my mind. Like, treat her better Square! Come on!

The issue with Kairi is that she's just a... nothing sandwich. Kairi is a sweet girl, she likes Sora, she likes to write and makes good luck charms. She's also secretly a princess and therefore has a pure heart and can do nothing wrong. She is a little bit sassy sometimes, but not too much, she cares about her friends and will jump into danger to protect them, but most of the times she is the one who needs to be protected. She's strong, but not too strong, she's sweet and easygoing, and she's boring as hell. In the games at least... She rules in the manga.

In the game she softly lowers a bottled letter to Sora in the ocean, while in the manga she tosses it in there with all her might.

In the game she sort of runs away when Axel tries to kidnap her but in the manga she THROWS HANDS at one of the nobodies who tries to capture her.

Also later in the story when she is kidnapped by Organization XIII, she actually manages to escape for a bit by wiggling through the bars of her prison cell, and then throws hands at Demyx, who is actually trying to help her out. (the manga takes some liberties with the story, it's great you should really read it if you get the chance)

Shiro Amano actually lets her put up a fight and let her actually try to escape by herself when she's captured. Watching this girl be strong and throw hands without hesitation is so so great. Shiro Amano said: Girls should be allowed to go feral once in a while, as a treat. Also I would be amiss if I didn't mention this moment with Olette:

(In the game, Olette awkwardly and weakly puts up a hand to protect Kairi when Axel shows up in Twilight Town to kidnap her, but is just ignored in the most disrespectful way.)

Anyways, back to Kairi. It's sad to say, but her original characterization is just boring. She doesn't really want anything for herself and she doesn't really have a function in the story except to wait around for the boys to pay attention to her or get kidnapped and need to be rescued. And while in recent years the writers are finally exploring her being a keyblade weilder and having her actively participate in the story, they still just can't resist damseling the poor girl, fridging her, and putting her on the sidelines while Sora and Riku take center stage. It's great to see how the fandom's perception of her has changed over the years, people are seeing how Square has been dropping the ball and are actively rooting for Kairi to get more stuff to do. Fans are creating mods of the games to make Kairi playable, are writing fanfiction exploring role reversals where Kairi is the hero and there are several notible fan comics comics that explore her character in a really interesting way.

Anyways, now to get to the actual thing I wanted to talk about: How she's casted in the English version of the games, and how the inconsistent approach to the casting feels... a little disrespectful. Having a consistent voice for a character is something I, and many others really appreciate. It shows a level of care from the creators to bring a consistent group of actors together to bring life to the world. Now, VA's being replaced in the Kingdom Hearts series is not uncommon. The series is known for casting well known actors, and actor availability and budget are problems for which recasting is the solution. For example: Billy Zane got recast as Ansem by Richard Epcar, Brittany Snow by Meaghan Martin as Namine. And then of course there are Christopher Lee, Wayne Allwine, Leonard Nimoy and Rutger Hauer, who had to be recast because they sadly passed away. (RIP, Kings)

Like, all of that makes sense. So here's the confusing situation with Kairi:

Xion and Kairi share a VA in the JP version. This is an intentional creative decision that ties into the lore of Kingdom Hearts. Risa Uchida has consistently voiced these characters in Japanese for years and does a fabulous job.

Sadly this was not the case in the English version. Hayden Panettiere originated the role of Kairi in English, but they got Alyson Stoner to voice Xion when the character debuted in 358/2 days in 2009, which was originally a DS title. Before this they also got Alyson to voice Kairi in the re:Chain of Memories dub in 2008.

These titles were likely smaller budget, which becomes pretty obvious when you look at the overall quality and presentation of the cutscenes. In Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 the dialogue was recorded in English and the japanese lipsynch animation were redone to match the English dialogue. This was not the case in 358/2 days. The dialogue was recorded to match the japanese lip flaps, and the animation was not altered at all to marry the two together. So availability and budget could have been an issue in getting Hayden Panettiere to record for these games. At the time I also considered the possibility that Hayden simply didn't want to do it anymore. It wouldn't have suprised me, because these things happen. Take Brittany Snow for example, after KH2 she got her big break in the Pitch Perfect films, and probably became too busy to come back as Namine. From 2006-2010 Hayden starred in the popular TV series Heroes, which could have impacted her availability and desire to do KH. And with the lower budget for these projects, and where Hayden was at in her carreer at the time, it could stand to reason that she was simply not interested. I should also mention that in this time period Kairi barely got anything to do. When she did show up it would be for a couple of lines of dialogue. As for Xion, 358/2 days on the DS had around 10 or so voiced cutscenes. So the amount of voice work needed for the character was notably smaller compared to one of the numbered games. So the amount of voice work needed, budget, and availability could all have been factors to why Alyson took over for Hayden during this time.

Now don't get me wrong: Alyson is amazing and is, as far as I'm concerned, the definitive voice for Xion. She originated the role and brought so much to the table. She has a wonderful voice, is a talented actress and we have no choice but to stan.

Before long it became apparent that Alyson replacing Hayden permanently was not on the table. In 2010 Hayden reprised her role as Kairi and took over the role of Xion in the secret ending of Birth By Sleep!

So at this point it seemed that the original creative intention for these characters would be honored. Kairi and Xion should have the same voice actress, for lore reasons, and that actress should be Hayden Panetiere, who originated the role.

And wouldn't you know it, in 2012 Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance comes out for the 3DS. It's another hand held title, but the budget is lit. There is lipsynch animation for voiced cutscenes, and the amount of voiced cutscenes is comparable to KH1, KH2 and BBS. Kairi has a few appearances, but has only one line of dialogue. Same goes for Xion, while she does get a line of dialogue near the end of the game. Hayden came in to record for Kairi and Xion and it really seemed like she would be taking over the roles from Alyson.

So obviously, at this point in time it's all but confirmed that Hayden wants to work on KH, and the creative team were making an effort to consistently bring her back as Kairi and Xion. That would be a tough deal for Alyson though, was she gonna get replaced permanently as Xion? Well wait a second and I'll tell you!

So in 2013 Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix was released. It was the first in a series of HD remasters of the Kingdom Hearts series, and the collection included KH1, KH re:Chain of Memories and around 3 hours of newly made cutscenes retelling the story of the DS game 358/2 days. Days originally featured mostly textbox cutscenes. These scenes were remade from scratch and would feature newly recorded voice acting in Japanese and English. Now I don't need to get into it but... The 358/2 days cutscene "movie" is.. not very good. It's boring to watch through, which I think is to blame entirely for the way they approached it. They remade all the cutscenes true to their original appearance, but forgot that there's no action gameplay to break up hours of dialogue scenes. The pacing is bad, the action is non existent, and what's worse is that it doesn't have adjusted lipsynch animation at all. This means the English voice acting was done to match the japanese lip flaps, resulting in awkward pauses and weird deliveries of lines.

The saving grace was that Alyson Stoner was reprising her role as Xion, recording new dialogue for the cutscenes. They also reused her previously recorded dialogue for the DS cutscenes as well. So... I guess Hayden isn't taking over Xion after all? Or perhaps it was easier to get Alyson to come back, so that they could reuse some of the original voice lines from the DS version? I can't imagine that THAT would've been the deciding factor though, because there weren't that many cutscenes from the DS version that would have to be redubbed should they get Hayden back on board. It's hard to say what the reason for this was.

But I was happy to hear Alyson as Xion in the "definitive" version of the 358/2 days story. She has a pleasant voice, and she portrays Xion beautifully in my opinion.

So then KH HD 2.5 Remix comes out in 2014 and features no new Kairi/Xion content. It does feature the Final Mix version of KH2, originally released exclusively in Japan in 2007. This version had new cutscenes, which were now finally dubbed in English for the HD remaster. What's more is they they also reanimated the lip animation to match the new English voice acting! An interesting thing to mention is that at this time, Meaghan Martin had completely taken over the role of Namine, fully replacing Brittany Snow. They luckily didn't choose to redub Brittany's original lines with Meaghan. But it does result in this funny moment where following Roxas' prologue Namine's voice is suddenly different for a single scene.

Anyways, flash forward to 2017, and the release of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Remix, which included a brand new title by the name of, and hold on to your wigs for this one....

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-

This was the first look at what a next gen Kingdom Hearts title would be like. You got to play as Aqua and it was wonderful and heartbreaking and cool as hell. At the end of this game a cutscene plays where after a decade Kairi finally gets to be involved in the plot again. She is summoned by Master Yen Sid to begin her training as a keyblade weilder. And she is voiced by.... Alyson Stoner??

A few years later KH3 came out, and Alyson Stoner voices both Kairi and Xion in it. She does a great job. But it's all so confusing.

It seemed so clear that the studio's intent was to get Hayden back as Kairi, and potentially Xion as well. And KH3 was the next big budget numbered title in the franchise. The casting for this game was insane, they got the full cast of Frozen to reprise their roles. Idina Mcfreaking Menzel showed up for Kingdom Hearts! What happened to getting Hayden back? I don't get it at all. This is not to shit on Alyson at all, her Kairi is adorable, and I honestly can't imagine anybody but Alyson Stoner playing Xion. Whenever Hayden picked up the role of Xion I was excited to hear her, but it never felt quite right.

But yeah, this whole situation unfolded in the weirdest of ways. For years it seemed they were absulutely set on getting Hayden to voice these characters. Was she not available to come in for KH3? Well, to answer that question:

Apparently, Hayden wasn't even ASKED to reprise Kairi.

This could of course be a situation of her representatives getting the offer from Square/Disney and choosing not to give it to her. Which happens in Hollywood, and sucks. But there's also a very real chance that Square/Disney didn't even bother reaching out and offering it to her.

Seeing how they decided to recast Hayner, Pence and Olette in KH3, even though their actors are still working as VA's and would have likely loved reprise the roles, I'm leaning to the possibility that they simply didn't bother to reach out to Hayden.

Hell, that's what she said herself.

All in all it's an interesting series of events. It's confusing, and a bit saddening as well. I can speculate why it all happened, but who can really be sure what their reason for replacing Hayden were. Perhaps they decided to do it because they found Alyson to be a better fit for the character? I may be reading into things but there's this interview Hayden did for the release of KH2 were she talks about the recording process and how the voice directors would keep telling her to "raise her voice an octave higher and make it sound more princess like." I gotta say the way she said that irks me..... I love the way Kairi's voice sounds in KH2! Hayden has a beautiful voice, it's a bit lower and more mature sounding than your average cutie girl voice. I would have loved to hear that quality in the character moving forward. Alyson ended up doing a lighter, cuter version of Kairi in KH3. And I do enjoy how Kairi sounds in KH3. Like, it's fine, she sounds very adorable, and it's fine.

But idk man... it feels... weird. I can't help but feel as though they replaced her voice with a younger sounding one, taking away the strength and maturity of the voice that I loved so much. Effectively infantelizing her. And then of course they proceed to damsel her, fridge her, bring her back to life and put her on the sidelines for the foreseeable future.

I feel like it all ties together with how the writers see her. She's not really a main character after all, she's not a priority. After years of showing a dedication to keep her voice consistent, it was all just thrown out of the window in the end. It makes me feel like they just didn't care in the end, people would be more upset if Sora or Riku got recast, but they just assumed no one would really care about Kairi. I can't help but care though.

I just wish for a future where Kairi can become a main player in the story, and where she is allowed to grow and mature. Where she isn't used as a carrot to dangle in front of the male lead. Where she isn't kidnapped or killed off as motivation for someone else. Where she can be a girl who is not just pretty and adorable and easy going and sweet, but a girl who is strong, silly, determined and is willing to fight like hell for the things she cares about.

Where she is allowed to interact with the world around her, and discover what her place in it is. Where she can discover what she wants for herself, instead of constantly having to be something for someone else!

IDK, maybe that's too much to ask from a Kingdom Hearts game though, haha.

[ba-mi-soro-orisha]

Here's the non-spoiler review I just wrote for retail sites:

This is the series that got me back into reading, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. But the five year gap between book 2 and book 3…I felt it.

Bottom line: I did enjoy reading the book. However, it doesn't get full stars because the trilogy finale just doesn't hold up to the first two, and I think there's a lot of things that could have been done for a better read. The book reads a bit like Tomi lost enthusiasm during COVID and like she was just kinda finishing from an outline without the heart of the other books.

The deep emotions of the first two books just aren't there. There's a whole lot of telling rather than showing. You can tell by the smaller size of book 3 that we just don't get as much detail or exploration or action as we did in the previous books. I sobbed through entire portions of book 1 and book 2. In book 3, I had some perfunctory tears at the end of the story. But it absolutely wasn't the same emotional ride as before.

Characters from the last books are just shoved aside in favor of introducing the new characters and new worlds. The worldbuilding and new magic systems are amazing…but I would gladly lose them to be able to complete the story that it felt like the Orisha trilogy was originally telling. I would gladly lose them to be able to get answers to questions I had after book 2 that did not get addressed at all in book 3. Some characters were also just straight up lost and ignored and their fate's left open as plot bunnies.

I think we all knew that the cliffhanger in book 2 was going to drastically change the direction of the story, but I didn't expect that it would mean the story we spent getting built up in two books would just be completely abandoned and wrapped up in what was, quite frankly, an extremely unrealistic and unbelievable answer. The ending of book 3 and the entire series was just so abrupt. For as much work as Tomi does teaching writing, I really would have expected a fully played out climax with a suspenseful build and some sort of closure/ending. But it felt rushed. The ending was quick and then all of a sudden we're at the epilogue. It was not a well paced climax. After all the build up, the ending just fell flat. The final action was basically 0 compared to the buildup, and there absolutely was no taking us down from the climax. AND, I was left with a pretty big question at the end, plot-wise, which just doesn't get addressed whatsoever.

I've spent a lot of time on the things that I wish had been done differently, but since I did overall enjoy the read, I want to also point out what I enjoyed.

The writing was good, even if the storytelling wasn't the best. I finished the book in two days, and I did so because I did want to know what happened.

The worldbuilding and new magic systems we see are very interesting, though they might have been better explored in their own books and their own stories.

I don't know if it was always Tomi's plan or if she was responding to the fanbase, but I heavily appreciate how she handled Amari's character in particular.

I honestly thought the pacing in book 3 was much better than book 2. Book 2 was so heavy and hard to get through emotionally. I felt book 3 found its footing a lot better in giving me a lot of action but also not overwhelming me.

That said, I think the book definitely just suffered a mismatch of my expectations developed from the first two books and the final product, especially after so much time in between releases. It's been five years. A pandemic happened. A lot was going on in general, and I know Tomi must have grown so much in this time. Perhaps Tomi just outgrew the story she was telling for the age group she was writing for in the time it took for this series to get fully published and will blossom even further in her future projects.

I would like to go back and re-read all three books together and see how I feel about the finale after that. I did not re-read the series before book 3 (so the tons of flashback and reminder scenes were helpful for me, but might feel like too much on a re-read), and I would like to do that for a better overall picture of book 3.

[drugstore-love]

The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

so many people, including those who say they are fans dislike TTPD and refer to it as lazy but I find it to be some of Taylor's best work. I appreciate the metaphors and how vulnerable she is with the narrative. She's not hiding; it's poetry. It's about emotion and the musicality really does come second.

Here's my song by song break down of things that I enjoy (and don't like) about the album for my own future reference so that I do not cave into peer pressure and start to hate the album on principle. Here are my personal interpretations and what the songs mean for me.

In no particular order The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived:

I think people keep calling this album lazy because it's really about the ending of relationships and the changes that you go through personally when a relationship end. They may be different relationships but I think people wanted a narrative change and that's not really what most albums are about?? Like unless they are complete capitalist ploys (which.......I digress) and Taylor now has the fanbase and the freedom to write whatever she wants, so this album, to me, was therapy.

Anyway, this song is when you see a completely different perspective of a person and your relationship once said relationship is over. I hate the production on this song and I'm usually an Aaron girly but the drums and strings feel forced and while I appreciate them for production value within the Eras tour they felt jarring and misplaced during the album listen. I think that they were went to convey emotion and raise the listeners blood pressure so they also felt agitated with the subject but the way they fade out with the song leaves a lot to be desired and kind of feels like the author is fizzling out during what, lyrically, can be argued as the most empowering part of the song. They succeed in capturing the audience's attention after the lullaby nature of the rest of the song but honestly are a distraction from the lyrics. However, I love the piano, especially at the beginning where it's almost a staccato, until the notes are played rhythmically together, it truly feels like poetry set to music. Lyrically, I find this song to be one of the most honest and telling. It feels like a letter one would write to their former partner with no intention of ever actually giving to them.

Was any of it true?

Gazing at me starry-eyed

In your Jehovah's Witness suit

Who the fuck was that guy?

You tried to buy some pills

From a friend of friends of mine

They just ghosted you

Now you know what it feels like

It feels like you were playing me this whole time. All the shit you said, the way you looked at me, fuck even the way you dressed. I thought that I got to see the real you, I trusted you, I believed you and the way you left reinforced what everyone else told me about you that I wrote off as untrue. (Insert vampire by Olivia Rodrigo)

Also appreciate the dig about this person being addicted to drugs because I interpret that line as "Oh you got ignored when it came to something important that you love? Karma, because I loved you and you ignored me"

And I don't even want you back, I just want to know

If rusting my sparkling summer was the goal

And I don't miss what we had, but could someone give

A message to the smallest man who ever lived?

All the effort that was put into wooing the author and winning them over and learning them and "loving" them. It feels like everything was a game, a joke, a plot in a rom-com that the protagonist was too dumb to figure out at the time.

I could never go back to what we were and if I thought you'd listen openly and respond honestly I'd ask questions, but mostly I'd ask why

You hung me on your wall

Stabbed me with your push pins

In public, showed me off

Then sank in stoned oblivion

'Cause once your queen had come

You treat her like an also-ran

You didn't measure up

In any measure of a man

You made me feel like the prize but once you had me you treated me like shit behind closed doors. You made me feel like your insecurities were my fault but it was your choice to stop considering me once you had me. You promised me better than my ex and then didn't fulfill that promise and made it my fault.

And I don't even want you back, I just want to know

If rusting my sparkling summer was the goal

And I don't miss what we had, but could someone give

A message to the smallest man who ever lived?

This bridge is pure poetry.

Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead?

Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed?

What was real? Were you just waiting for me to let my guard down?

Were you writing a book? Were you a sleeper cell spy?

What were your motivations? This is almost begging for clarification

In fifty years, will all this be declassified?

And you'll confess why you did it

And I'll say, "Good riddance"

'Cause it wasn't sexy once it wasn't forbidden

The only rationale I can think of is you got bored and I know I'll be better off without this but even 50 years from now, even when I don't care anymore I'll still read your reasons. Once again reiterating that I only wanted what you promised before we were actually together and once I was yours, it wasn't worth it to you

I would've died for your sins

Instead, I just died inside

I would've done anything for you, and you're the one who stabbed me

And you deserve prison, but you won't get time

You'll slide into inboxes and slip through the bars

The way you made me feel should be illegal but instead you'll continue on as you did before

(really driving in the feeling of inadequacy one can make you feel, especially when you're a person who people idolize and then are disappointed in when they meet the real you. this is exactly what happened here, taking out speculation what's discussed in the song is: before we got together you praised and complimented and lusted after me and once I gave my actual self to you and opened up it wasn't what you wanted and that is detrimental to one's self esteem)

You crashed my party and your rental car

Never having to take accountability for your actions, you ruined good things for both of us

You said normal girls were boring

But you were gone by the morning

You said I was what you wanted, that I was different and as soon as I gave in, you left (giving into the discord:this is exactly how H describes Matty so..)

You kicked out the stage lights

But you're still performing

You ended this, you wrecked us and yet you're still lying you're still placating and manipulating me trying to save your own skin

And in plain sight you hid

But you are what you did

You never disagreed with the rumors but you really had me fooled about who you were. However, at the end of the day actions speak louder and when a person shows you who they are you should believe them. I always should have known who you are

And I'll forget you, but I'll never forgive

The smallest man who ever lived

I'm gonna move on, I'm gonna grow, I'm going to be happy but it's for me and I'll never forget the way you treated me.