#the issue is i neither care about the story nor the characters and i don't care about any other idea that i have

[alexanderwales]

I finished the rest of Save the Cat almost in a single sitting, not because it was particularly riveting, but because I had time to kill, so this pseudo-liveblog is at an end.

Chapter 6 and 7 are basically the same, collections of small tricks and tips. Neither of them are terribly helpful, and all the tricks have terrible shorthand names like "Pope in a Pool". There's very little in the way of any thematic cohesion to these bits of advice, and no grand theory of the Laws of Storytelling emerges, in spite of the laws being invoked a number of times.

The advice itself is, I think, generally good:

give the reader something to root for early on to kickstart investment

spice up exposition with something entertaining

only one kind of magic per plot

don't tell a story that requires too much setup

don't tell a story with too many moving parts

include a ticking clock

have character arcs

keep the scope limited to the characters we care about

make the hero proactive

show, don't tell

make the bad guy very bad

the plot should go faster the further in it goes

use the whole spectrum of emotion

make sure each character has a distinct voice

make sure desires are "primal"

give characters something that makes them stand out

I don't endorse this whole list, and I especially don't endorse the way that Blake Snyder talks about them or the examples that he gives. And if I endorsed the list, then I would include a lot of caveats, and some general principles of storytelling that should be followed, rather than these specific pieces of advice, which are all conditional. Like ... okay, here's an example:

Exposition is a broccoli that the audience doesn't want to eat. There are very different ways of dealing with this, but we can start with "minimize exposition" as the first "law" of storytelling, and from there, we have different strategies:

Spruce up the exposition, making it into a mini-story, delivered in an entertaining way, so that people aren't bored.

Run something alongside the exposition so that people aren't bored, like sight gags in a comedy or an action scene in a thriller.

Have the exposition delivered through implication and clues, rather than stated outright, like having a character limp rather than explaining to the audience that they were wounded in the war. This is show, don't tell, and it's harder than it seems.

But while Snyder lays out some of this advice, it's all in different sections even though it's dealing with the same fundamental problem, and I'm not sure that he really understands that. If he does understand it, then he's not making that clear for the reader.

My thesis is that to understand storytelling, you want to understand root issues and classes of solutions. I have not written a book on writing, nor do I think there's a market for that, nor do I think I'm qualified, but it's the kind of thing that I would strive to deliver. There are a lot of writing problems that are parallel to each other, and there are a lot of structural elements that are mirrors of each other, so why not try to put it all together that way?

But Snyder makes basically no attempt to put even very related problems together, it's just little bits of advice to gnaw at the most common problems, and ... maybe that's fine, but it felt lazy to me.

Chapter 8 was the final chapter, and was mostly about trying to sell screenplays. This was irrelevant to me, but kind of interesting, and also made me feel like Blake Snyder is a better marketer and salesman than a screenwriter, and also maybe just got lucky to be working at a time when scripts were getting huge bidding wars for no good reason. The efficient market hypothesis gets clowned on again, I guess.

I'll probably write up some overall thoughts, a short review: I think I am unsuited to liveblogging because I go long. But the even shorter version is that I think I picked up a few things that were interesting to think about, and while Blake Snyder is a hack, he's an entertaining writer.

[javier-pena]

not to be annoying or anything but i think i might have to realize that i simply can’t write a book, i lack the skills to do what i wanna do both linguistically and from a storytelling pov, i could write a somewhat basic story that’s been done a million times but it’s not what i wanna do and i’d consider it a waste of time, maybe it’s easier to just stick to fic writing (which i’m actually good at) but also not being able to write a book makes me resent writing fics too because i’d like to make money from writing books but i can’t if i just write fics and argh!!!!!!!!

[paulyenvol6]

Byka Atroksia (Masterlist)

This is the masterlist/moodboard/summary for my new series called "Byka Atroksia". It's a story between Daemon Targaryen x reader (Vhaela Targaryen)

First of all: This story is based on the HBO/Max TV show House of the Dragon and the works of George R R Martin. I don't own any of the characters.

This story should only be read by people over 18 years as it contains adult content.

You can find the following themes in this story: HIGHLY detailed smut, fingering, oral (f & m receiving), kissing, dirty talk, losing of virginity, gagging, p in v, unprotected sex, period sex, praising, degrading, edging, overstimulating, blindfolding, some non-con choking, possessiveness, body image issues, angst, mentions of period and pregnancy, incest, inappropriate relationship between uncle and niece, power imbalance, dom!Daemon, inexperienced reader, arranged marriage, toxic relationship, morally questionable behaviour, abusive behaviour, sexual abuse (not performed by Daemon!)

Disclaimer: I am aware that the dynamic of this relationship is problematic as Vhaela's inferiority complexes cause her to search for Daemon's attention. So please be careful while reading this and have in mind that this kind of relationship is neither healthy nor desirable. Daemon is a bad person. His actions are irresponsible and unethical and he manipulates Vhaela. Don't try at home please.

Disclaimer 2.0: The G Spot: In this story I mention the g spot (even though the characters obviously don't know this term for it and what exactly it is) as a way for women to receive pleasure. I know that the existance of it is controversial and it's not scientifically proven that something similar exists. However, I still decided to include it in my story so my main character is able to receive pleasure by vaginal sex, but be aware that a lot of women don't get pleasure plainly by vaginal sex. I just don't want to portray a false image of what sex is supposed to be like so I felt the need to write a short paragraph about it.

Summary: Vhaela Targaryen is the younger sister to Rhaenyra Targaryen and has all her life felt like she was competing with her sister for their interesting and dangerous uncle's attention. In Vhaela's mind her beautiful and confident sister has already won this fight but when Daemon Targaryen returns from a battle at the Stepstones things seem to be a little different and she explores a whole new world of emotions.

Smut is marked with *

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 * (very light smut) Chapter 3 * Chapter 4 Chapter 5 * Chapter 6 * Chapter 7 Chapter 8 * Chapter 9 Chapter 10 * Chapter 11 * Chapter 12 Chapter 13 * Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 * Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 * Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 * Chapter 26 (Final chapter)

[romanceclub-confessionss]

Confession:

"I really hate the racist hysteria in the fandom caused by the POC characters in the Haze story (and the way RC caved in to their demands)

Nobody in the Russian racist fandom gave a damn when an entire Sumerian (which, yk, is in the Middle East, with, yk, Brown people) pantheon got whitewashed in the Tiamat book

Nobody opposed the fact that they used white people (Manu Rios and Timur Simakov) for character inspiration while designing both of the KCD Indian LIs (which is why neither Amrit nor Ratan look like actual Indian men)

Nobody had any issues with the entire population of Egypt in SOTCN being light-skinned and Eurocentric

Nobody asked where are all the Brown people in the Heaven's Secret series. Which is weird considering it's using the biblical lore and the Bible describes the events happening in the Middle East and North Africa. So wtf is everybody so damn white?

Make no mistake, these people don't care about accuracy or respecting cultures or whatever bullshit they're trying to sell us. They just want to make everyone as white as possible even it's against the lore of the story"

[quirkwizard]

The Villains Aren't Alright

Recently, I got an ask talking about certain misconceptions that people have about the series. As I was thinking about it, I was starting to realize that a lot of what I was listing off talked about the villains. Specifically, how many people say they are in the right. Obviously, this isn't about characters like Muscular, Overhaul, or All For One. They are meant to be more overtly villainous. I'm talking more about the more "Societal Rebels" of the manga. Characters like Stain, the MLA, and especially the League of Villains.

The MLA wants the freedom to use Quirks. That the usage of a Quirk is a basic human right. It's a nice sentiment on paper and gets close to the right idea. That people need to be more active and try and help in ways they can't. The issue comes in how far they want to go. They want unrestricted usage of all Quirks. As if that wouldn't result in everything collapsing within seconds. You need those restrictions to keep any kind of normal and societal cohesion. Even if it's just fighting villains, using your Quirks without any proper training is dangerous and stupid. You need people like the heroes, those who are trained to actually use their powers and handle villains to help out. Not only that, but it's an ideology that is breeding ground for more dangerous ideas. Stuff like Geten's ideas of people with strong Quirks standing at the top or Re-Destro's ideas about how your Quirk determines who you are as a person. That's the kind of thing you get when you define everything by Quirks.

Stain is another example. Again, you can understand where he's coming from. That some people shouldn't be pro-heroes and that the system is corrupt. This is still a flawed mindset, though. And it's not just because he's killing and mutilating people to do it. It's the Stain's ideology is so dogmatic to the point only two people can be heroes. Not only is that woefully impractical, but it ignores so much of the nuance of people. Like how people need money to support and incentivize people to be heroes. That doing that hero work still helps people regardless of the motivation. It ignores good and talented heroes, such as the original Ingeiunm being one of the nicest and most competent heroes we've seen, or people's ability to change, like how Mount Lady grew out of her shallow mindset into a proper hero. So I don't think the story says Stain is right in what he does. If anything, it's meant to show the darker aspects of All Might's mythologizing. To set such impossible standards that no one could meet them.

Then there are the League of Villains. Look, these villains have suffered, and they have a right to be upset. There's no denying that. But that doesn't necessarily make them right. It's not just about action, of which there are plenty you could point to that cements them as villains, but motivation. Let's start with some of the easy ones. Namely, Mr. Compress, Twice, and Spinner. Mr. Compress says he wants to fight against the corrupt system like his ancestor, but neither his actions nor his words reflect that. His joining the league seems more of an excuse to show off his skill and power. Twice is only motivated to help the League out of a sense of acceptance, but that's it. It's hard to say he's motivated by any kind lofty goal as much as he is a guy who is in a constant state of being screwed over or taken advantage of by everyone. Spinner wants to follow Stain's ideology, but that falls to the side in favor of following Tomura. Even in the face of something like the mutant crisis, he couldn't care less about any of it. He's less a rebel and more radicalized bandwagoner who lost sight of what he was fighting for.

The real big ones that people talk about are Tomura, Toga, and Dabi. Tomura wants to dismantle the society that neglected him, but his core motivation and goal is to just destroy everything. He hates everything, ergo, he is going to destroy it. There is no other goal or plan than that. Toga wants to be able to be herself, but that involves killing and drinking whomever she wishes. She could not care less about the people she hurts as long as she gets her fix. Dabi wants to expose Endeavor because of the neglect he endured, but only wants to do it to make Enji suffer. He's not looking for any real justice and will hurt anyone to get his satisfaction, including people who were just as many victims as him, like Shoto. The point I'm trying to make is that the villains aren't rebels trying to fight against an unjust world. The most you can say about the League is that they're lashing out at whatever hurts them and will not stop until they get some satisfaction. They are right in the sense society has an issue, but that doesn't make them justified because what they do doesn't solve anything.

Because at the end of the day, what is there to be gained from hurting these random people? Nothing. It doesn't help anything, not even the League itself, at least with how the League is doing it. Tearing everything down helped in the long run, but that was never the goal. Which I feel like is a bit of a trend with the villains: people who have understandable ideas, but their extremism and warped perspective of it ends up not doing more harm. What I'm saying is that it's important to separate the motivation from the action. While the villains can and should be understood and empathized with, their actions still cement them as in the wrong. It was tragic what happened to them, it shouldn't happen again, and society should change to help people like them before things go wrong. But that responsibility lies with the heroes, who need to reach out and try to change things, and that doesn't make the villains right or justify their actions. Because that isn't what the villains are after. They are people out here for their own goals and motivations. Understandable yet destructive goals that do not improve anything. That's what makes them villains.

[olderthannetfic]

Until I read the comments on that one post I had no idea the Bechdel Test was a joke and wasn't supposed to be a serious measuring stick by which you gauged if something was feminist or not. Everywhere I'd ever heard it brought up, it was brought up as a very serious thing, and it was a failure of media if it didn't pass it. I remember the debate about Mako Mori from Pacific Rim and if she was a character you were "allowed" to like as a progressive person despite the fact that Pacific Rim doesn't pass the Bechdel Test, the discourse, the discussion of if the director was sexist for not writing in another woman for her to chat with about non-men related stuff, the camp of people trying to insist that having a fully realized character arc and being as developed as any of the male leads = good writing even if she doesn't talk to another girl...

And I've also had the remark about my writing not passing the test, just not to my face. I searched my fanfic's name once, curious to see if anyone was discussing it outside of tumblr and AO3, and found a Tiktok complaining about it not passing the Bechdel Test. The top comment was "motherfucker YOU don't pass the test but we still watch your ass". I cackled and moved on, but neither the commenter, poster, nor I had any awareness this wasn't Feminist Media Critique 101 theory and was, in fact, a goof.

Right now there's a segment of fandom debating if Blue Eye Samurai is feminist since when Mizu and Akemi talk, they do bring up men, since, y'know. Women aren't considered people with rights in their era in Japan and thus it's something they mention instead of only talking about being cool girlboss badasses who never bring up gender. If something doesn't pass the Bechdel Test, a smug segment of the internet high-fives itself and congratulates one another on being More Feminist Than Thou.

They then get really angry if you disagree, even though by this metric, Sleeping Beauty (the original animated one, where Aurora has only 16 lines of dialogue) is more feminist than Blue Eye Samurai.

--

*DYING*

Okay, so, nonnie....

Dykes to Watch Out For (1983-2008) was a long-running comic and major piece of lesbian media. I grew up buying compiled volumes at the bookstore. To be honest, that kind of 90s-ish lesbian culture isn't really my scene despite me being bi, but it was very nice to have this slice of life-y somewhat realistic, occasionally somewhat parody, look at the queer communities around me. It's up there with Tales of the City for me in terms of being a window into a particular culture and time and place.

If anybody is interested in queer history, in addition to looking up factual info, I think a read of the complete Dykes would give a really good overview of how people were thinking about things and what issues came up a lot. You'll see things like Barnes & Noble increasingly putting feminist bookstores out of business in the 90s, attitudes towards porn in lesbian circles—all kinds of cultural issues of the day.

I drifted away as I got later in my teens and found more genre fiction I cared about, but at one point, this comic was a very welcome antidote to the glurgey coming out stories that made up a lot of the more realistic media.

Anyway, here's the comic itself, reproduced in its entirety because I think it's important to actually understand the context.

This is from 1985, so the era of Rambo, Conan, and Death Wish, each of which you can see being made fun of here. It's based on Bechdel's friend Liz Wallace's actual rule for seeing movies.

That's it. That's the origin of this whole stupid test.

"LOL, fuck 80s action movies". That's it. That's the joke.

The fact that blockbusters still routinely fail to pass in the 2020s is shameful, but that was never the point of the strip.

[shiroganejpg]

There's sooo so much to say about kabumisu and the parallels between Kabru and Mithrun in their individual characters and how both their similarities and their fundamental differences make them absolutely perfect for one another, both in the sense that they work together romantically and that they both helped one another grow as individuals to such an immense degree. They were each exactly what they needed, even when they have different values or alignments.

But something that just Gets Me is that. Both Kabru and Mithrun exist with one specific goal in each of their mind's. Kabru might seem less single-minded that Mithrun, but you have to consider how he goes about pursuing his goal: getting people to like him. He uses his charm and likeability, flexes his relationships, and gathers information - but it all comes back to the goal he has: preventing a second Utaya. We're told from the start that that is Kabru's goal and we see it reinforced multiple times on the way through the manga.

I feel like a lot of people in fandom overlook the impact Utaya had on Kabru and how it impacted his psyche and his motivations. But here's the thing: I think to some degree, this was what Ryoko Kui was intending. Kabru's overall intentions are well stated, I think, but we then see a lot of his actions and words that don't always seem directly related to this one-track mission, and it allows us this room to kind of question it and wonder if there's something else at play here.

Mithrun, on the other hand, seems relentlessly and directly devoted to his goal. He doesn't act on things that aren't directly related to his cause -- that is all we see in him. We don't have the same room to wonder about his intentions or motivations because we can plainly see that everything is directly related.

It's incredibly interesting to see how these two overlap: They both have their own one-track goals, but go about them in completely separate ways. Kabru uses his likeability and his charm to get what he needs to fulfil said goal, and sometimes that involves "detours"; Mithrun doesn't have the capacity for that, and he just runs straight at the issue. Neither Kabru nor Mithrun's story is fully revealed to the reader - we hear of Utaya, we hear the story told, but the flashes we see are only that: Flashes. A lot of Kabru's backstory is not revealed to the reader. Mithrun's story, on the other hand, is revealed through an unreliable narrator who we know cut out significant portions. Kabru is the one to tell Mithrun that he deserves to have his privacy, and that the world doesn't need to know everything, because Mithrun overshares to a point that could be self-detrimental.

They both have a goal, and a one-track mind for said goal. But they have so much they can learn from one another - and do learn from one another. They are both underhanded, they disregard themselves and don't take care of themselves the way they should, they're relentless in the pursuit of their goals... but they're also polar opposites in some things.

And all of this, when put together, forms them into two perfect puzzle pieces. These characters could have been made for one another in terms of helping each of them grow as individuals: each one is exactly what the other needed to aid their growth. They're insane. I love them.

[asharaks]

okay so a large part of my issue with halsin is that his character feels inconsistent, right. like larian wanted him to be a wise older man mentor character but then they wanted him to be fuckable, and they wanted him to be a nontraditional/nonmonogamous romance, so they made him sexually experienced and confident and casual, but he's also a romance option, so he talks about having Feelings for the player character. and then he needed to be a quest-giver, so he needed to ask for help. and what we ended up with is "guy who up and abandoned his responsibilities at the first chance of adventure, got captured and needed rescuing, makes all sorts of comments about his sexual experience but loses all self control and wildshapes at the first glimpse of ass, tells you he has feelings for you to get you in bed then leaves at the end of the game, and makes inappropriately sexual comments abt the sexual abuse victim if you're romancing him" - all of which reads as an uncomfortable, unlikeable mess of a guy.

halsin suffers from a lack of focus - he's neither a full romance on the level of the origin companions, nor is he a fling or sub-romance; he got more care and attention than wyll, in some ways, but the writing is flaky and weak and makes him look, frankly, like an incompetent, immature manchild. the bear scene is grossly pubescent (it should've been player choice to initiate that, not have it dropped on you that if he gets too horny there's a risk he'll CAST A SPELL and turn into a literal animal. by mistake. and if that's his reaction to seeing tits what's gonna happen when he cums) and the way he pushes for astarion to join you if you tell him you're in a relationship feels wildly inappropriate.

I know halsin has a history of sexual abuse himself (and I've seen good analyses/critiques of the way that's handled) but again I find it weird that finding out about that is locked behind not just a sex scene but a threesome+ scene - the writers really wanted to drive home that This Guy Fucks to the point where he comes across as pushy, and his trauma is reduced to background noise in a scene where he is essentially a sex object. he is simultaneously objectified by the writers, and in-universe by himself and those around him, but instead of exploring that we're just supposed to go with it; likewise, his lack of commitment and emotional immaturity aren't problems in and of themselves, but it feels like the writers aren't aware that that's the character they've written, and so these things are never appropriately addressed, and his arc and romance don't match up with the other characters' stories about growth and development.

not rly sure where I'm going with this, but it bothers me!! I think it's a nasty mix of the writers' intentions at a cross purpose with the push for fanservice, and the whole thing leaves a sour taste in my mouth t b h.

[mydearneteyam]

Hii could you maybe write something for human! M!reader who comes out as trans to neteyam?

IDENTITY ;; NETEYAM

summary ;; just a few heacanons about reactions, tips, comments and validation from neteyam!

pairing ;; neteyam x human!trans-male!reader (platonic + romantic)

warnings ;; i think there's none ??

word count ;; 0.8k (with bonus)

a/n ;; you didn't specify what type you wanted this (neither hc or os nor platonic or romantic), so I'll do headcanons with these last two because i liked the idea, if there's something you didn't like, please go ahead and tell me!

PLATONIC

✦ Neteyam knew you since probably before the return of the humans. Your parents were scientists in favor of the na'vi and decided to raise you in Pandora in the company of some na'vi children where Neteyam was.

✦ Now, we must make something clear, and that is that in Pandora there are several words that are of human term. And for example, "trans" would be one of these.

✦ Neteyam could tell that you were starting to dress differently, talk differently, but he didn't question anything because he simply respected your space, but when you commented to him how you felt- no, how you identified, he cocked his head to one side.

✦ "That… What does that mean?" but his confused smile only made you imply that he would support you independent of its meaning.

✦ When you explained the term to him, how it was seen on earth and according to what your parents had explained to you (which in a good way they also accepted you the first time you talked to them), he seemed to understand a bit more.

✦ So he began to give you some ideas of clothing to make you feel more attached to the Na'vi culture (if you would like that idea) or simply, helping you to stylize you more, even sometimes trying to accompany you to train to define your body a little more if you wished so.

✦ If I'm not wrong, the culture's clothes are always supposed to be made by friends or family, since they come with a symbolic load and Neteyam as, for now, he is the one who is more informed, has decided to give you from time to time clothes that he thinks would fit you.

✦ In case you wanted to clarify this with others of your friends Neteyam would be the first to correct the feminine terms to masculine.

✦ "He, Loa'k. Reader is he".

✦ In a platonic way, you can expect a lot of support from Neteyam and truth be told, identity is not an issue in his culture and he will do his best to understand you, even asking others how to help you a bit more.

ROMANTIC

✦ Now, in a romantic way, Neteyam takes it a step further.

✦ Yes, the story is the same and when you gave him the comment he questioned what it meant, but quickly and not to worry you, he gave you a hug and put both your foreheads together.

✦ "I don't understand much… but I want to help you feel good in your own skin."

✦ So he looks for answers from some scientists, from his father, from some of your human friends and all to find out how to get you to feel comfortable.

✦ If you want to cut your hair, he will style it. If it was already short, he'll try to decorate it a bit like some of the guys have (BONUS: but Spider and Lo'ak will be there too).

✦ If you want to change your appearance, he'll do his best to cover your chest area and in case you've already done so, he'll remind you to be careful not to hurt yourself.

✦ Interesting fact, but in Frontiers of Pandora, Okul is possibly a non-binary character (Tsu'kiri too) that despite having a female model, has a male voice and I have the hc that there must be some way to alter the testosterone for the na'vis so Neteyam would travel by sea and land looking to know if you could get an avatar (that already has the biological change) or simply, know if there is something to help you in your human form.

✦ His family is quite respectful of you and have stopped treating you with feminine pronouns as soon as you and Neteyam confirmed them (Sometimes Lo'ak gets confused, but apologizes as if he shot you in the stomach) and although in the village there may always be someone who questions you, Neteyam will jump to defend you as a human and as a man.

✦ Finally, as a partner Neteyam is not much different from his platonic version, but I can tell you that he will love you unconditionally and will do his best to make sure that the way you see yourself is not a hindrance in your daily life.

BONUS ;;

"Wow, what about this handsome guy, is he busy?" you heard Neteyam's voice entering the lab. You turned around with an amused look and raised your head, looking him in the eyes.

"Just busy trying to convince Norm to get Spider and me Avatars" you admitted, giving a sigh as you folded your arms. He noticed that despite the smile you gave him, you didn't seem to look so good and he knelt down, kissing your cheek.

"Do you want to talk about it?" you wanted to, but your throat wouldn't give words, so he hugged you. His body hid yours lovingly, as if you were a crystal about to break, as if you were the last precious stone in all of Pandora.

"Maybe they can't get an avatar yet. But we all know who you are. Your personality, your essence, your identity… none of that is based on your body. I see you, my love."

a/n² ;; i THINK i understood what you meant, so i tried to do the best i could. although i am from the trans umbrella as a gender fluid person, i personally am very oblivious to certain behaviors that i know other people may have, but I hope you liked it, if there's something you didn't like, please tell me, love ¡!

[sapphorror]

The Nightmare Begins in general excels at establishing long-running precedents, the chase scene being one of the best and most obvious examples even if I think that in a vacuum it was by far the weakest part of the episode—I mean, I've already made it VERY clear how passionate I am about the pursuer/pursued dynamic at play here. But while I don't necessarily think this was the writers' conscious intent, the sleep cuffs themselves being the centerpiece in Zim and Dib's first conflict can actually ALSO be interpreted as a kind of brilliant bit of symbolism

Because there's an underlying joke here that the shady 'alien sleep cuffs' ordered by a twelve year old out of some random magazine almost CERTAINLY do not work as intended—I mean, they're notably not even one of Membrane's experimental creations, which is the device generally used to supply Dib with inexplicable anti-Zim tech. This renders the whole chase meaningless, since even if Dib HAD caught Zim and cuffed him, it wouldn't have mattered—just being restrained isn't an issue for Zim. This is NOT a strange or difficult conclusion to come to for anyone paying the slightest bit of attention, but Zim and Dib both buy into it (actually, even Zim seemed a bit suspicious of their validity, but it was like his second day on an unknown planet and he was not taking any chances). It's only through their mutual belief that the stakes become real, and then only between the two of them.

And that's... that's the whole show. While it's very rarely right up and explicitly stated, every viewer watches with an implicit awareness that no matter what is happening on screen and how much the characters care, none of it will ever actually amount to anything. Partially because cartoon law states that neither Zim nor Dib can ever truly win, lest it destroy the status quo, but more importantly because even if they DID succeed in their stated goals, it wouldn't matter. Zim's mission is, of course, fake, that's key to the story's entire premise, and it's made increasingly clear as the show goes on (+ explicitly confirmed through Zib in the comics) that no amount of proof will ever sway humanity to Dib's side. Everyone besides them can recognize these fool's errands for what they are (even if they don't necessarily understand the full truth as to why), but within this self-contained bubble, the unerring conviction shared solely between two opponents gives the conflict weight. It's pointless, and you know it's pointless, but you get caught up in it anyway.

And y'know. Intentional or not, I just find little thematic microcosms like that really neat.

[glassofgretel]

My honest opinion on Evillious Chronicles...I believe the series is truly deep and beautifully written, but there are some personal issues I have with it.

I don't really care about the point and message of the Evillious Chronicle series nor the concept of "morally gray", I only believe in good, evil and the consequences of our own actions. MOTHY has made an amazing story that we all still enjoy ~16 years later, but I have to disagree with his philosophy and outlook on the world, ours differ greatly– Though he has some valid points, it's rather naïve IMO... and while it's compelling storywise and from an emotional perspective, it isn't as much realistically or from a political/social standpoint of right and wrong.

Morality never mattered in the first place, because evil always succeeds if it has enough power or deems its deeds necessary for a "greater benefit"... Good and evil are both necessary forces that exist to maintain the balance of this universe, just as our fate dictates.

Personally, I'm starting to see far more evil and corruption than light and hope in today's politics and throughout our society's history, so I only get pissed the fuck off whenever I see a political debate between self-righteous snowflakes on Twitter or Reddit (Especially the Character rant mfs), with each side claiming that they're right and the other is evil.

Even though morality is literally IRRELEVANT in politics, it has always been about interests and agendas in the end. If anything, there are only two lesser and greater evils. 💀

I'm no Altright-winger either, as some idiots on Discord might say... I'm more of a Pan-Arab nationalist but I just hate politics in general. Because if anything, we humans deserve all the shit that's coming to us. And trust me, I HATE Hitler with every fiber of my being... but if I were in his shoes, I would've done far worse with all the scum and idiocy in this world.

As for Riliane Lucifen, despite her awful deeds, she was still somewhat good at heart. Unlike the two-faced hypocrites over at the USA, Russia, China and Israeli governments, and especially those scumbags Adolf/Stalin... But it still doesn't excuse her actions despite her lack of moral agency, neither does her being possessed and manipulated by the demons.

So let's stop painting her as some sort of saint, she was a broken kid who deserved her redemption and a second chance- but that's all there is...

Because we know damn well that would NEVER fly in our reality, even if she was truly genuine about making amends.And I don't want to be like her or Nemesis lol, I prefer the likes of Frieza, Judge Holden, King Piccolo etc. as role models, because at least they're purely evil and honest about their philosophy, they embrace it to reach their own goals. Unlike most of our world's society...

I would say I am Near Pure evil though, since I have clear moral standards and my own personal law, I can discern right from wrong- But I'm not really much better than Hitler myself, and I am wrong more often than I'm right. I just despise everything wrong with the world, but I don't intend to change it for the better either. I don't even care about ending the cycle of violence and hate, infact I want to keep it going for my own benefit. That is the path I've chosen for myself and I embrace it fully with no guilt or regrets, even if it might be the wrong one.

I'm not just being pretentious or edgy either, I am simply disappointed and frustrated with this reality- I've had enough of this world and want to watch it burn. I enjoy treating evil with even worse evil, fighting fire with fire- Because it turns me on, gives me a greater purpose and sense of fulfilment too.

I'm sorry I really don't know how to answer this, it's the most concerning message I've ever received in my entire life

[diamondcitydarlin]

i think probably the worst part of the whole thing is that I just don't really care anymore, the investment I had at the end of season 1 just straight up no longer exists. no, it's not just bc a blorbo got killed off (and there's a lot of reasons to be angry about that), it's mainly bc most of the characters at this point feel like hollow shells of who they were a season ago, including the stede x ed pairing as a whole (which I really just don't care about anymore at all, sorry). and no it's not bc 'Izzy got all the development and there was no time for anyone else' like of course there was time for everyone else, provided that they hadn't opened the season on all those characters making 180 character changes with no real explanation, provided they hadn't overloaded the damn season with nonsense that goes nowhere. JimxOlu was my OTP after StedexEd in season one, both of them were some of my faves, and not only did neither of them even really resemble who they were in s1, their relationship which was of such great importance in the former just suddenly...is something else now. Not people in love, but 'friends who have fucked once lol' and are wingmen for each other now because...??? Oh but Jim's dating Archie who...*checks notes* was in a Snake Cult? I think? That's about all we get on her, apart from the fact that she likes making out with Jim I guess. And I guess Zheng can't just be a powerful woman character that exists in this narrative without a romance of her own, so let's just toss her together with Olu and never explore or explain that with any kind of depth. Jim has neither trust issues anymore nor do they have ANY interest or investment in their revenge scheme or the Siete Gallos (REMEMBER THAT PLOTLINE?? REMEMBER?? APPARENTLY THE WRITERS DON'T) they're just kind of goofy all the time now for no reason. Olu's leadership arc? His being a confidant to Stede? Where the fuck did any of that go? Are they all a polycule or are they all just separate couple friends? IDK WHO CARES THIS IS HOW IT IS NOW I GUESS. Like, why am I supposed to care about any of that? It doesn't even feel like the characters I watched before.

And StedexEd. Jfc there's so much to say that other people have said better but the constant bringing up of conflicts, breakups, and then immediately resolving those issues with heartfelt reunions/kissing as if that's supposed to be sufficient got really old for me after awhile. The lack of explaining how their 'whim-prone' romance to this point was bad, the lack of explaining how they reconcile their different goals was also bad, but oh they can just go RUN AN INN NOW! Yay happily ever after! ????? "Ed, you've got family" which he immediately leaves to go try another life path he's probably going to suck at and hate WOW so romance. Like either figure it out or break up for good, it just makes them an obnoxious toxic couple who never seem to communicate or bother to try but are supposed to be the one we love the most and are rooting for. And that sucks, because I loved them once! GARBAGE!

There's only so much blame one can put on external factors for this. I worked in production once, I edited scripts and was a go-between for notes and writers, and this is the exact kind of thing I would've felt compelled to point out; we only have x amount of time and x amount of episodes to properly tell these stories, we know this, so maybe lets be realistic about what we can fit in here and do justice and what we can't. Maybe let's not just throw every fucking thing we think of at the wall to see what sticks while completely ignoring/retconning character traits and stories we set up in season 1. But nah, that's what happened!

Like, what is there to watch for at this point if s3 gets greenlit? I fail to find anything that I'd care about seeing continued, even the peripheral characters like Frenchie and Wee John and Roach, whom I also loved before and still do but barely did anything, so I guess I can tune in to watch them do more of nothing? Idk man it sucks when it's not just 'wow that was bad I hope next season is better' but instead 'wow that was so boring and incohesive I have no more interest or emotional investment in this to continue'

[synnthamonsugar]

My issue with D2 isn't that it's bad.

Bad media can be, and frequently is, fun, strange, shocking, thought-provoking, entertaining. Bad media often has things to say (even if not said clearly), it's often heartfelt in ways that bigger and more-polished productions cannot be since it's more likely to be the brainchild of an individual or small team instead of a committee of writers working under tight managerial control.

Even through its better-crafted plot beats, I think Destiny (counting both games together here) has often felt bad to me. I say this with utmost love and respect. There are limits to its model of storytelling, and there have always been plot holes, strange bits of characterization, setups without payoffs, weird dialog, gameplay-narrative dissonance, etc. and I think it's easy to focus so much on the high points in its history that we forget that being bad isn't atypical for Destiny, and that this is fine!

The issue is, it used to be that even when it was bad it was genuine, meticulously detailed, oozing with character and heart in every line and lore tab, had bits of world-building and background that made me desperate to know more. It was a rambling story from a friend, who might not have a point but they're so into telling it that it becomes the most interesting thing in the world to listen to. I think, for much of Destiny's history, you could feel Bungie was putting their whole back into it, that the creators made it with love and care. It was impossible not to get invested in return, even when it was a little corny.

The issue is, it doesn't feel like that anymore. It feels like something that's being made because it's contractually obligated. It feels like something neither Bungie nor the creative team wants to put effort into, and I frankly cannot blame the creative team given what we know is going on behind the scenes. That doesn't make it less disappointing or frustrating - in fact it might make it worse because I can't help but see it as something being made under a level of duress. (More than the typical level, for anything made in capitalism.) But it certainly explains why.

And of course, given we know they're trying to make the bottom line there's always the question of how much executive meddling is affecting the story. I definitely have qualms with some of the narrative team, but I do wonder what Destiny would look like today without the stress of meeting sales goals and deadlines.

I think you can sort bad media into roughly two buckets. There's the good-bad media, the kind I talked about, the passion projects bristling with heart and character and vision if nothing else. Then there's the bad-bad ones, the ones that were produced to make a paycheck, be consumed and forgotten ...

My (rhetorical) question is: why should I care about something whose creators don't care about it? If something is a cynical cash grab, how can I feel anything but cynicism toward it?

[missfreija]

You have to love the hypocrisy of the show acting as though being a pimp is so much better than being a slave owner; like it isn't still human trafficking, and as though in that time and place, black women wouldn't have suffered the most from it. It's a seriously disgusting thing to pretend that it's this cutesy, morally fine thing to do: if they're fine with Louis being a sex trader, than they should have been fine with portraying the actual story of the books - he's meant to be a passively bad person. The story is about evil deserving empathy. It would be different if they used the fact that he's a pimp to explore the fact that he's always profited off of human lives and was passively evil in life, that would have been different (though that's exactly what the books do, so it still would have worked with the original story and then the show might have been good), but it was used as a way to make Louis a morally fine uwu baby. I fucking hate it. It's disgusting for the show runners to pretend sex trading is okay and doesn't harm people, it's dishonest to pretend the show is a discussion about the legacy of race in America without actually discussing the way in which black women suffered as a result of misogynoir and how they were sexualised and their sexual exploitation was ignored (but we all know how the show feels about black women given what they did to Claudia), and it's ridiculous to pretend that it's a gothic story when it veers away from the moral complexities inherent to the gothic genre. It's a poorly written, malicious, badly developed show with subpar actors, and I hate how popular it's become. It feel as though it's defiling the legacy of the books. And apparently Marius is a pimp now too. I hate even engaging with it, but I had to vent. I hope it gets cancelled as soon as possible and the fan base dies down, in the meantime, I'll try to enjoy the books and the circle of book fabs that remain here. Of which your blog is a wonderful example. Love to you, hate to AMC.

I absolutely agree with every single word lol. As a woman and as a iwtv fan i am disgusted by the treatment of women in this show, but apparently the show writers and the majority of audience don't care about women representation, neither black nor white. Also the fact that they portrayed the sex workers (in the few scenes where they appear) as 'relaxed' women that seem to have a friendly attitude towards Louis (who in this show possesses a strong ambition for business) is weird and gives to the viewer a distorted view of reality. The narrative focused a lot on the issue of racism, so why not showing briefly the suffering of black prostitutes? Because the male gaze doesn't want to recognize it? I don't know. And don't get me started on the other female characters.

What happened to Claudia was completely avoidable and unnecessary and still rj opted for this version and said that the r4pe was 'a horrible thing that happened to her, but it has toughened her up'. I guess it is a self-explanatory sentence. I can't even imagine how SA victims felt while hearing him say it. It completely downplays the trauma of SA and implies that women get something positive out of it. I felt that episode and the scene in one of the first episodes where Louis burns the tapes of the '70 interview (the book….) were disgustingly disrespectful towards Anne Rice and her fans.

Last year I got into a heated argument with some show fans on twitter because they kept reiterating that 'at least prostitution gives more freedom to women/people than slavery', 'louis is a good pimp, he treats his girls with respect', 'he defends the prostitutes from cruel men' , 'at least he didn't enslave my ancestors unlike book louis', it was annoying and i was astonished of reading all their statements, very misogynistic.

Regarding pimp Louis: not only this is a way to avoid probing into the character's psyche/moral (and not include one of the most important themes of the novel), but it is a way of de responsabilize (and deny) the past. Louis is a man of his time and, with an accurate work of writing, it would have made sense to contestualize his privileged position and explain what it meant for him to be in charge of a plantation, it would have been interesting to show what it meant to be a landowner and slave owner at the time and the consequences of his actions reflected on his slaves, maybe introducing some of them into the narrative in a more concrete way (or do the same with the pimp/brothel storyline in the show, because it's equally evil), since it is a topic basically not explored in the book. But the showrunner decided that nowadays one should not represent these issues on tv and you have to disregard the past. It is extremely hypocritical.

And it's awful that for this reason they chose another historical setting, changing century and not addressing the fact that there were just as many issues in 1910/20 as well; apparently for the writers the XX century was a historical period with minor social problems where no difficulties existed (aside from racism, it was pretty much the most prominent theme in s1). And I doubt that the reconstruction of the New Orleans society of the time is faithful lol (and where is the voodoo?). All this imo denotes great laziness in the writing.

And clearly this series does not belong to the gothic genre, it's more a teen drama. Beyond the surface level thrills, the gothic literature holds a profound mirror to the complexities of human psychology that here are totally absent. I also doubt that the show writers did extensive research on the figure of the vampire in literature.

We were all eagerly waiting for the cancellation of this garbage that is NOT iwtv/tvc and the immediate disappearance of the show fandom ahahah but unfortunately it has been renewed for s3 😔

Thank you for the compliments mwah! hugs!

[ffviidirtyconfessions]

genuine question!! why do you care about sefikura so much when they are not real people? i get not liking a ship for whatever reason but your strong feelings on the ship seem unwarranted when you're literally running a dirty confessions blog. liking sefikura =/= condoning abuse nor invalidating real peoples trauma. cloud is not real. neither is sephiroth. thats why you can sexualise them silly style on a tumblr blog! i do not mean this maliciously, i am genuinely wondering

To start, above all of the other concerns, I don't like nor allow anything related to sefikura on this blog because it conflicts with the pedophilia rule. In game canon, Cloud and Sephiroth first met when Cloud was a young teenager, and Sephiroth was very much an adult.

That alone is enough to make it not the kind of content I want to promote to an audience. Though I do run a dirty confessions blog, I aim to make it as safe as a space as possible for everyone. Dirty, sexy, or NSFW spaces do not automatically have to be an anything goes, "you shouldn't have a problem with anything if you go here" place. In that light, I tag kinks that may be upsetting just as I don't allow underage, abusive, and other dynamics of relationships that can not only be triggering, but a bad, dangerous example for teens and other young people.

I am fully aware that fiction is not a direct equivalent to reality. However, I think it is very much true that it has a real effect on reality, especially in how individuals see themselves in it and relate to it. I've had a conversation on this same topic before with a veteran of the FF7 fandom who witnessed a Vincent/Yuffie roleplay couple online turn out to be a real pedophilic situation. Obviously, this is far from the case for every instance, but it happens. Just as I cannot allow confessions about underage characters to protect potential teenagers looking at this blog, I also cannot allow the romanticization of a relationship that could hurt or remind traumatized people of their own pain.

I do not believe that every person who ships sefikura "condones abuse" or "invalidates trauma". Likely, most don't even think about that aspect and simply like seeing the characters do whatever they want to together. I understand that. But speaking from the perspective of a traumatized person who has related deeply to Cloud Strife's story, I do believe that there is something to the dynamic that just isn't being understood if it's being ignored to play dolls. This is not to say that Cloud and Sephiroth being together is a 1:1 mirror that will remind anyone who's ever been in a bad relationship of their pain. Rather, it's what Sephiroth represents to Cloud, and how the games portray his feelings towards him. In some readings, you might even argue that Sephiroth is a metaphor for trauma: something unbeatable, always in the back of your mind, waiting to seduce you back to the patterns of self destructive behavior that the traumatic event might have created in you. I think that Cloud's struggle with this and his efforts to move past it are a large core of FF7's story, and to me it rings hollow to ignore that because neither character is, as you said, "real".

I don't expect to change anyone's mind, and my stance on this has already been clear on the front page of the blog for over a year now. I am sure that tens of dozens of sefikura fans who otherwise liked the blog have blocked me over this. And that's fine! Nobody has to agree with me, and there clearly will always be another space to go to for those that want to see that stuff. But it matters to me both on a personal level and as the mod of a public blog to talk about this stuff in a different light. Because if fiction can help people in a real way, it can also hurt them in a real way. I think that a level-headed perspective on all these issues can be reached. It's not all or nothing.

Thanks for asking.

[iggyguyy]

if you ever wanna lore dump about your ocs I’m here I GRHRHRHEHKRHEJ I NEED TO MORE ABOUT THEM

You are now one of my favorite people ever I hope you know that <3

INSANELY LONG LORE DUMP UNDER READ ⚠️❌️

The over-all story of the silly guys:

It's about this 5 person band filled with weirdos in the very real Texas town named Round Top Senior (better version of round top). They live together in a small apartment and have a lot of playing gigs at the local all inclusive bar. Their main problem is money. Money for a new apartment. Their non human drummer is still growing, and is slowly outgrowing the current apartment. They are desperately looking for money to buy one that can actually house their huge drummer. One day this all changes when a 6th person gets sort of kidnapped by the banjo player and has to stay there for a while. No one really likes him and he has no idea how to act around neither queer people nor non humans. Chaos ensues when he finds himself slowly falling in love with the weirdo who got him in that situation in the first place...

THE 6 MAIN CHARACTERS:

Mama 🌞🪕: No one knows who or what he is, but he is sure there! His warm pink skin, his bright green hair and his huge chest make him very loved around the town; you'd recognise him anywhere! His species, age, gender, past and motives are all unknown, even to him. All he knows is that he likes stringed instruments (He plays the banjo, guitar, bass, electric guitar and harmonica) and that he loves befriending humans and learning more about them. There's something about him that really drives people to love him. His huge list of past lovers really shows this!

While most people (including him) don't know, he's actually an impressive 2723 years old. He's the last stander of a species that went extinct around year 700 B.C. I could do a post just about this species but good lord it's so much

He / him used on him mostly, he couldn't care less. He has a vagina and seems to be able to reproduce, no one has really tried. He has a very deep voice and a strong Cuban accent. 200 cm / 6'6 ft. Doesn't have body hair below the face, 0 fingernails and never wears underwear. He also REFUSES to wear shirts / cover his titties. His "titties" are actually holding a very sweet and intoxicating liquid, and the "lines" under his chest are shallow slits that excrete the smell of this liquid.

No Canon gender or sexuality but he will be with anyone who wants him. His favorite band is Buffalo Springfield. Old ass drawing but its still one of my favs!

Richard Kelly / Dickhead 🕶🎸: He thinks that he's the coolest guy ever but oh god he is STUPID! He tries so hard to be likeable that most people just end up hating him instead. From his neglectful parents and bullies in school, he's ended up being a very pretentious and dismissive person. He doesn't really "get" queer people, he thinks most people are beneath him and he doesn't even slightly respect non human people. Why is he even here? Good question! After getting mad at Mama for "stealing his girl" (His gf Jill broke up with him because he was yelling at her in front of Mama), he got so mad in his drunk state that he fainted mid-punch and woke up on Mama's couch the next day. The rest is history! He tries to pretend that he hates the band but oh god he's starting to love them so much. He also canonically loves goth girls.

He / him, cis male. 175 cm / 5'7 ft. Has a HUGE ass. Stubby beard paired with sad mustache. Cis straight man in the beginning of the show, cis BI man at the end! 25 years old, birthday is the 15th of August. His favorite band is Gorillaz. Haven't drawn him in ages whoopsies!

Julius Amadeus Usoro 🍎🥁: Big guy! This huge monstrosity is the head honcho of the band, their drummer and the one who owns the apartment! He has a huge fear of birds and insane abandonment issues. He tackles having 3 jobs at once, drummer for the band, ASL teacher for their deaf neighbour and he also teaches the drums! His other hobbies includes competitive eating, cooking, anything that has to do with apples, going on runs and walks, cooking even more, napping and cooking again. He is a mix between a sewerian and a Häll-horn, hence his purple skin! Most people just know him as "the demon" though. His brain is very small and he's not that bright, but he has a big heart and he is very loved by the band. He is illegal in many places and the band literally have to say that he's a guide dog to get out of some situations. The people of texas really don't like "demons". He legally adopted Marv in high school. Won't say his whole long ass backstory either but he was raised by a Russian lesbian couple who owned a big apple farm. He is also mute! He communicates through ASL or messy writing!

He / him, cis grayromantic bisexual male. 255 cm / 8'4 ft. 21 years old, birthday is the 10th of October. Huge titties on this guy. Gets winter fur but is pretty hairy all year round anyway! Paw-like hands. His favorite band is The Beatles.

His current design has him wearing headphones more times than not, but these old drawings still work to shoe his design :3

Marvin Juhani Usoro / Marv 🎺💣: The youngest in the band, but also the smartest by far! With 150 IQ and a concerning love for violence and explosives, this little pyromaniac is the main singer in this already weird band. He is completely blind, literally not having eyes at all under his opaque glasses, two of his limbs are amputated and his scarring is painful, so he uses his trusty crutch-cane wherever he goes. He's in and out of asylums and switches back and forth between psychologists, which is awful for him due to strong noscomephobia [fear of hospitals or care facilities]. He's diagnosed with bipolar disorder, autism and borderline personality disorder. His mother got killed by a faulty bomb he made, and his dad disowned him afterwards; making Julius and the band his only family. He was born in Borås, Sweden, to two Jewish finns, so he speaks english/finnish/swedish/jiddisch.

He / him, cis aroace sex+romance repulsed male. 177 cm / 5'9 ft. Big part of his nose gone due to explosion. 16 years old, birthday is the 3rd of March. His favorite band is either Insane Clown Posse or Children of bodom. Ignore that his foot is only missing on one drawing it's a pretty recent change !

[Dead name] Hernandez / Buddy 🎹🤙: They are the backbone and most street smart one in the band, without them the rest of them would be completely lost! They love messing with the others amd pulling small pranks. They're diagnosed with Adhd. As a side gig they like to play piano and sing during nights at the club without the band, usually with a bar specific backup crew. They are a recovering alcoholic and struggle with smoking. They used to be very ablelist and cruel to people, but they decided to leave that life and they're trying to become the bigger person. They write pretty much half of their songs [other half being by Julius], and being in this band is the best thing that ever happened to them. They've completely cut off the ties to their family who still lives back in Spain. They pride themself in their big amount of friends, always making sure to check in on them and hype them up. They don't use their dead name ever, except for legal instances, but it doesn't make them that uncomfortable so they can't be assed to legally change it.

Any pronouns, mostly they / them. AFAB genderfluid lesbian. They still view gender for them as fluid, but still primarily fem! They are 28 years old and their birthday is the 1st of April. 167 cm / 5'6. Their favorite band is Queen, but fav artist is Cass Elliot.

Dominic Smith / Dom 🎷🖼: The half raccoon half human who ran away from home and just happened to meet Julius! This sax playing maniac is so obsessed with Julius that he clings to him 24/7. He has autism, adhd, strong maladaptive daydreaming disorder and even stronger schizophrenia. He basically lives in his own little world and sees things as a jumbled mess of bland colours, and that's why he loves Julius and the band so much; they're a break from the same old same old! He grew up on a corn farm for most of his life, living with his mother and 2 older brothers. His dad was nowhere to be found, and Dom cant remember meeting him ever. He loves sporting his beautiful knockoff slipknot merch and jeans. He has a very hard time remembering things. His special interest is spongebob! [Although he calls him "monty spumbop" for whatever reason ?]

He/they/xe, amab but pretty much completely unlabeled. No one has ever explained the concept of gender to him in a way he understands, but if someone managed to do it he would most likely use xenogenders. He's silly like that. 155 cm / 5'1 ft tall. 19 years old, birthday is the 17th of January. His favorite band is slipknot.

SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT SIDECHARACTERS;

Barbra Scarlette Wilson / Barb 💄🎀: A 32 year old 190 cm tall texan dragqueen millionaire! He has the biggest, pinkest house in town, and he is PROUD of that! He uses he/him and is a cis gay man. His drag name is Scarlette Darling. He is absolute besties with Buddy and even gave them a specific pink flip phone that only has his number, so it's easier to contact him! He has a crush on Julius that pretty much everyone except Julius himself has noticed.

Kino 🟦💢: 29 year old unlabeled Häll-horn whos Ukrainian and Russian, very traditional one too. He has embraced the "demon" culture and is completely against all humans. He absolutely hates Julius because he thinks that he's a disappointment and embarrassment to the whole species, with how human influenced he is. He is very aggressive and mean.

Kaleb 🟥❔️: 20 year old trans ftm pansexual Sewerian whos Ukrainian, not very traditional one. He doesn't care too much about traditions or hating humans, he just wants to relax and live as he likes. The only reason he hangs around Kino is because they can relate over both being non human and "demons". He had to pretend to hate Julius just to make Kino happy, secretly he thinks Julius is extremely attractive so whoops that's not what Kino wants!

Oscar Pérez 🍊🍺: A 37 year old cis male gay human from Mexico. He used to date Mama and planned on getting married to him while Mama was in Mexico, after getting left alone completely randomly by him, Oscar swore to find him and get revenge on him. Now he's found him again, but he still loves him too much to go through with it. So now he's just in an abusive relationship with him instead! Oscar gets a lot of pent up anger he usually takes out on Mama, since he thinks he deserves it. Mama doesn't even remember who he is or that they're even together, but he still keeps letting Oscar treat him as if they're an item.

Jill Dimitry 🖤💫: Richards ex gf. She loves rock and is trying to learn the guitar. She is cis female and bisexual. She can get fed up very easily, so it's a surprise she didn't break up with Dickhead earlier! She doesn't talk to Richard anymore but she's talking to Buddy and Mama every now and then.

Rita Salvador ✏️💛: Julius' old high school roommate and girlfriend. She was a huge beatles fan and collected spongebob merchandise! She was a transfem autistic girlie who always wore her socks over her baggy sweatpants. She died when Marv was working on a bomb and accidentally knocked it to the floor, the explosion happening close enough to Rita to kill her, but only knock out Marv. Julius just lied to Marv and explained that she died of a heart attack, not wanting Marv to feel guilty. Rita named herself after the beatles song "Lovely Rita" !!

Alia 🌼🫒: The local florist shop owner! She sells handmade and homegrown bouquets and all kinds of flowers! She was very close friends with Rita. She loves meeting Julius during the week, even if she can't understand his ASL! She's a transfem Muslim who always sports her cool handmade skirts! ALSO SHE WAS CREATED BY THE LOVELY @animatronicthing [art in the photo below was made by schyr!!!!!!!!] GO CHECK THEM OUT

There are a few more characters worth mentioning who don't have a decided design or aren't that relevant but still!!!!!!!!:

The Abdullahi family. They are the band's neighbours whi recently moved here from Nigeria. Mrs. and Mr. Abdullahi don't know a lot of English, and their daughter Sani is deaf and autistic. Julius spends his free time teaching ASL to Sani!

War veteran neighbour: old man in wheelchair who lives across the street to the sillies and often goes out on his balcony at the same time as mama, making them greet each other every now and then.

Freddie: he's the local pizzeria owner and he absolutely loves getting visited by Dom and Julius, it really makes his day!!

That's pretty much all characters who are somewhat developed, but oh god there's more! TY sososososoosososoosososoososososoososo much for this ask i am literally going insane !!!!!!!!!

That's my sillies, bye ! ✌️