#the parts of 'they fucked over canon characters' that bother me the most were also basically forgone conclusions from OG series

[mixelation]

What's wrong with Boruto? (plz ignore if you don't want to talk about it)

reference post

it was a joke! i don't have a burning hatred for boruto (here i'm talking about the series). however i know a lot of fans don't like boruto (which is why i made the joke), and most of the complaints i've seen have to do with decisions made with canon characters. i think the main one is that naruto himself is shown ignoring his family in favor of work, even though you'd think the guy with seven thousand flashbacks about how hard it was growing up without a family wouldn't do that to his wife and kids, and then on top of that as Hokage he doesn't appear to have solved any of the problems the OG series brought up...? Some other complaints include: why is Team Taka still with Orochimaru if they were shown being abused under him previously; the Sakura-Sasuke marriage is uuuuh flawed; why is Hinata apparently a housewife instead of fixing her clan; why can little children beat up Shino?

I've only seen/read the beginning of Boruto, so it's possible these things get addressed or explained at some point; I'm just reiterating common talking points I've seen. (Also they're not my personal complaints, so I'm not interested in being "corrected" or told Boruto lore.) A lot of people do like Boruto, which is why they're still making it. Personally, I did really like the mini series about Sarada, but the quality of storytelling in Boruto itself seems on par with some of the less stupid anime filler arcs, so I stopped following it. If I ever get through my reread of the original manga I might try it again.

[starhvney]

𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐉𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝟑 | 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟏: 𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐒

𝐂𝐖: story is beginning to diverge from canon, teenage girls being mean asf, corny teenage drama, lucinda insults someone for having a crooked nose hahahahhdha(i also have a crooked nose, do not take offense my crooked nosed sisters!!!)

𝐀/𝐍: I wrote in some unimportant characters that very much fit the “mean popular cheerleader girl” stereotype, cause… plot. if you happen to be a cheerleader: ily, you’re awesome, and i do not think you’re a bitch! i just cannot resist the 2000s stereotype undertones that are littered in PDH, and had to do it to em. ok cool enjoy the reading guys!

𝐖𝐂: 5,900+

𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐑: @arienic

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 ☆ 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 | 𝐀𝐎𝟑 | 𝐅𝐈𝐂 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 | 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒

the tension you felt for the next few weeks was truly nerve-wracking. as the days grew colder, aphmau raved to you every morning in her warm coat and scarf about how she couldn’t wait for the snow—and while you were excited too, a little buzzing noise in the back of your head bothered you like a mosquito trapped in your bedroom.

when was her next move?

it’s not like you were scared, per se. you have a good strong network of people now, who you were pretty sure would defend you 'til their last breath if anything were to happen. no, you weren’t scared of ivy anymore. but damn, would she not let go of the spot she’s earned in your brain.

was she plotting something that would be harder to refute than just some measly rumors? was she smart enough to do something like that? or was she taking so long for her next move just to reopen your scab just as soon as you thought it had healed over?

honestly, you haven’t seen much of her if at all since the sports festival. which was shocking, because all of your friends—including garroth—had been glued to your side for most of the day, and you’d think maybe she’d at least try to talk to the boy in some of your classes. but now she merely was in and out of the classrooms like a ghost, her two little ducklings following after her.

maybe you scared her off when you threatened her in the bathroom, and she decided to back down for good! that would be the best-case scenario, right? she thought long and hard about her actions, realized her immaturity, and decided to make a change for the better.

“can i talk to you?”

…

how is it that every single time you decide to venture out in the hallways alone, this guy manages to find you?

“what do you want, gene?”

there’s no mocking laughter, or offended scoff, or a wrinkle of his nose. honestly, you hadn’t seen much of him, either. his little trio have continued on in their ways without much care for you or aphmau, and honestly, you kind of respect it. kind of.

once you told him to—more or less—fuck off, he did. unlike ivy, there wasn’t any shit-talking or catty comments or disgusted glares. he truly did leave you alone, as did sasha and zenix. while you still weren’t their biggest fan, it definitely put them on a higher pedestal than ivy in your eyes. they were not the greatest, for sure, but they were at least open about it. and the amount of fucks they didn’t give was honestly a bit entertaining—as long as you weren’t on the receiving end of their antics.

this was the first time you’d talked to gene or even made eye contact with him in what was way over a month by now. so while a part of you was saying to just ignore him, the unsettling calmness in the way he approached you had you curious… and honestly a bit concerned.

“i don’t want anything.” he rolls his eyes with a sigh, looking around. “i just have something to tell you.”

“really?” your disbelief is evident in your tone, arms crossed and eyebrow raised. “don’t want to threaten me with those pictures again?”

“i don’t have the pictures anymore.” he pulls out what looked like a burner phone, a stark downgrade from what he had before. “don’t even have your number anymore, my old phone shattered and i haven’t been able to buy a new one yet.”

“wow.” you deadpan. “all that blackmailing and evidence down the drain, huh?”

he wrinkles his nose in distaste. “yeah, well. i wasn’t the one who broke it.”

“oh? finally pissed the wrong person off, huh?”

he rolls his eyes. “how it broke doesn’t matter. i’m actually trying to help you out here, so can you just shut up?”

you open your mouth to shoot something else his way, but honestly, you find yourself at a loss for words and snap your mouth closed again.

there’s a pause like he was expecting a different reaction, before his eyebrows lift in surprise.

“ivy is up to something, but i’m letting you know that i don’t have shit to do with it. i'm not entirely clear on what since she doesn’t have those pictures anymore, but she’s plotting on your downfall.”

“what, you two aren’t buddy-buddy anymore? i thought you would be on the same side.”

he scoffs, genuine offense wrinkling his features. “that is insulting as fuck. of course we’re not “buddies”. i fucking hate preps, the little pricks.”

amusement threatens to quirk at your lips, but you bite down the urge. gene was a prick too, but at least he was funny.

“look,” he sighs. “i know we didn’t have the best end to our friendship—”

“that’s putting it lightly.”

“—but,” he shoots you a look of annoyance, “ivy annoys me more than you, and i hate her style.”

“pink hair not your thing?”

“oh my fucking—” he groans into one of his hands. “i mean i don’t like the way she goes about being an asshole. at least i’m open about it, and it’s funny bad. she’s just… bad in an annoying-bitchy-backstabbing-way. i’m not a fan.”

“so… why are you telling me this?” you shrug. “i definitely haven’t given you any reason to help me out.”

he presses his lips together, straightening his back. “honestly, you’ve earned my respect. i still kinda like you. plus, you’re friends with my little brother, so. you get extra little brownie points from me. don’t you feel honored?”

“not particularly.”

gene opens his mouth to quip something back, though instead flicks his eyes up to something behind you, suddenly looking annoyed. following his line of sight, you look back to see two girls lingering by a turn into another hallway, standing close together and whispering like journalists who had just heard the juiciest gossip. when they notice you both looking their way they scurry off down the hall, whispering excitedly and giggling.

the hell?

“…i’m not trying to get involved in this one, as shocking as that sounds. just thought i’d warn you that you’re not in the clear. and… i’m not the reason for it this time.” he starts stepping back, hands shoved in his disheveled blazer pockets and lazily turning away from you with a wave. “bye.”

…that’s it?

“…thanks?” you call out, lip curled in confusion.

“you’re welcome, kitty.”

…

“i take it back.”

☆

gene’s warning floated in your head for the next few weeks, and you couldn’t let it go. if he of all people reached out, then your paranoia about the situation surely wasn’t for nothing

and it. sure. wasn’t.

it started with a few nasty looks in the hall, mainly from the cheerleaders. it made sense, since ivy was on the team surely they would go with what she said over some rando new girl.

on top of it, ivy was still… unnervingly quiet about it all. and as the days went on, she seemed to behave more and more… depressed. whether she was faking it or truly felt that way, honestly you couldn’t tell.

more weeks go by with more and more weird looks. more people leaning to whisper to their friends as you walked by. honestly, you’d been tempted to stop one of them and ask what the problem was. after all, if a rumor had started, how is it that none of your friends or you have heard?

it progressed to a few cryptic notes left in your locker, from scribbles of random insults to things like ‘everyone knows what you are’ and ‘we know what you did’. honestly, it was more irritating than nerve-wracking like you’re sure the senders intended for it to be, and all you did was scoff and throw the scraps of paper when you saw them. every once in a while someone would “accidentally” knock into your shoulder with theirs in the halls. at first, you didn’t pay it much mind, but once your binder had clattered to the floor for the fourth time, you’d be stupid not to catch on.

it wasn’t until nearly winter break that you finally got your answer. 

everything about the day felt off. from waking up to icy sidewalks and walking to school alone (aphmau went to school early for tutoring), to—for once in the past month—finding yourself alone as you walked through the halls to class. it wasn’t bad, but you felt a strange sense of nervousness.

when you open. the bathroom door to see not one, not two, but five girls from the cheerleading team by the mirrors, you almost consider spinning around and waiting until after homeroom.

instead, you walk into one of the stalls with (metaphorical) balls of steel, not sparing a glance at their pointed stares as you pass by. you take your time, too, hoping they’d be gone by the time you came back out.

silly, shouldn’t you know your luck by now?

once again, you consider just leaving when the girls are still crowded around the sinks taking their sweet time giggling under their breath and typing on their phones. you squeeze your way to the open sink by the furthest wall from the door, stuck between them and your nearest escape.

spider-lashed eyes darted up and down your figure—quite obviously—and a few beats passed like this of you washing your hands while they stared like you were in their way.

your name falling from one of their lips genuinely startles you, however, and you nearly jump in your skin as the sound. you’d expected them to simply stare and whisper like they had for the past few months, so the fact someone was finally speaking up both drove a cold spoke of anxiety into your veins and made you a little eager at the same time.

“…yeah?”

the girl who said your name was one of the seniors, and was model tall. a lot of the cheerleaders were either around your height or taller, but she made you feel short in comparison. it was—truthfully—really intimidating to be specifically called out by her, especially knowing ivy definitely twisted the truth to get all of these girls on her side. she could be really kind for all you knew, but that didn’t matter if ivy had the first say.

she steps forward, a perfectly manicured hand tosses her hair over her shoulder before getting placed on her hip. looking down at you from her tall nose, she fixes her lips in a way that said maybe she wasn’t all that nice.

you should stop giving people at this school the benefit of the doubt.

“that’s your name, right?”

“…yeah.”

“well, i was just wondering about something. you must think you’re pretty sneaky, huh?”

“i don’t.” you raise your eyebrow. “i can’t say i’m following.”

she scoffs, the other girls rolling their eyes and giving each other looks, like they were all in on an inside joke that you weren’t a part of.

“dating both laurance and garroth at the same time? acting like just an innocent friend but playing them behind their backs? we heard everything.” she lets out a short, mockingly dry laugh. “how you’re just trying to add them to your already long body count?”

so she went ahead with that narrative, did she?

“that’s what you heard, huh?”

another girl steps forward, and you vaguely register hearing the late bell to homeroom ring.

“you seem pretty shameless about it. especially now that you’re dating gene. trying to get the best of both worlds, huh?”

“huh?” you respond dumbly, face wrinkling in confusion.

“still trying to play dumb?” she pulls out her phone, tapping on the screen and turning it towards you. “we have the evidence.”

there’s a picture of you and gene leaving the school, and by the looks of his outfit it was the day you went to go meet his mom. she slides her finger on the screen to show another picture, this one your recent conversation with him just a few weeks ago.

damn. no one in this school knows how to mind their business, huh?

it makes you wonder though. did gene purposely stop you in the hall so those girls could get that picture? was he lying to you after all?

no. gene would have no reason to be a part of this. while you didn’t trust him, you believe he meant it when he said he had nothing to do with this.

“okay? those are two pictures of us talking. are you and i going to be dating the next time you talk to me?”

“ew.”

you throw up your hands with a deadpan expression, looking back over to the first girl. “my point proven. so, now that we’ve established you’re stupid enough to fall for amateur level gossip, what else would you like to accuse me of?”

“excuse me?” she scoffs.

“you’re just saying that to get out of the fact that you’ve been caught.” another girl starts. “we’ve seen how ivy’s been acting lately. you’ve been bullying her because of her crush on garroth, cause you want him all to yourself. like you didn’t already have enough attention.”

you narrow your eyes. it is a little over eight in the morning. you’d barely woken up an hour ago, and there’s currently not enough fucks in your head for you to give.

when you fought ivy towards the beginning of school, you told mrs. hwit you wouldn’t get into one again. you’d hate to see the disappointment on her face, but a quick crack to the nose would honestly be less trouble than trying to understand the scattered reasoning they were giving you.

very suddenly you find yourself… at a loss for words. they wouldn’t listen to you anyways even if you did give a solid argument. they just wanted more fuel for their gossip, and whatever energy you had to defend yourself dissipates at the thought.

just as you’re about to try and shimmy away from the group, the bathroom door squeaks on its hinges as it swings open. it reveals a familiar face, the daughter of the very teacher you’d just been thinking about mere seconds prior. she’s boredly looking down at her phone while walking in, half humming half sighing as she twirls a finger curl around her finger…

you expect her to maybe stutter in her steps or seem surprised when she looks up, but as soon as her red irises flick up to the scene in front of her, she saunters right around the group and up to your side without even a flicker of a change in her expression.

“oh, there you are. what’s going on?” she says, leaning between you and the cheerleading group to reapply her lip gloss in the mirror.

“we’re just talking to her,” the senior says, suddenly sounding much more casual than she had been before.

lucinda very softly scoffs under her breath, standing to her full height and spinning on her heeled mary janes to fully face the group and—whether meaningful or not—cuts you off from the girls.

“oh, really? what about? i love a little gossip in the bathroom.”

the girls look at each other with very minuscule grimaces on their faces, like a pest has just run over the tiles in front of them. it was quite obvious they were doing it in a way to single her out—which honestly would’ve worked on a shy or quieter kid—but lucinda’s complete nonchalance and total patience for a reply just made them appear… humorously awkward.

“about how she’s been bullying one of our cheerleaders. she even beat her up!” one finally speaks up.

“oh, did she? that sounds very unlike her.”

“yeah, she did—!”

“can i see the proof?”

they collectively stare at lucinda dumbly for a second.

“uh, well ivy has the pictures and screenshots, so.”

“but none of you do…?” lucinda crosses her arms and curls her lips judgingly, like they had all just told her two plus two was three.

the senior scoffs. “no—”

“so you don’t have proof. have you seen any of this proof?”

“no, not yet.” the girls suddenly look defensive and a bit embarrassed. “ivy was going to report it to a teacher before she showed it to everyone else.”

“so, you haven’t even seen this “proof”? i’ve heard girls whispering about this for a month, and you’re still believing her with no proof? are you serious?” lucinda deadpans, the sultry valley girl rasp in her voice the cherry on top to her total 1 v 5 take down.

“well, obviously we believe ivy over a slut who hangs out with delinquents and dates guys like gene!” the one who had the pictures of you on her phone argues, her face red.

“well i’ve heard the football boys whisper some real interesting things about you.” lucinda reaches back to grab onto your hand, pulling you into her side. “you’re quite the one to be making slut allegations, slut.”

the girl gasps, and lucinda pulls you with her to walk around the group. you think that’s the end, but she seems to have a few more snide remarks up her sleeve as she slows down again, red eyes judgingly piercing into the group.

“all of you are fucking pathetic. pull your heads out of each other’s asses for once, and you may be able to breathe some fresh air instead of regurgitating ivy’s shit you swallowed.”

she turns to the tallest girl—the senior who had confronted you first.

“oh, and by the way, i heard you complaining in class the other day about that crooked ass nose of yours,” she says, hand squeezing around yours as she stares the girl down. “say anything about her again and i’ll break it. then you can get a nose job for free! on me, bitch.”

there’s a few offended protests that echo through the group, though they seem to be grasping for straws as no more insults come from their mouth other than reworded shouts of the same allegations from before. lucinda doesn’t bat an eye, walking right out the door and dragging you along with her into the hall without looking back.

“unbelievable.” she scoffs, ginger curls bouncing as she hastily walks with you down the hallway.

you stare at the tiles, listening to the clicking of her heels on the floor. it’s a while and a few more turns before she stops, and you snap out of your zoned out daze only to realize she hadn’t led you back to your homeroom door. 

“why are you crying?”

where are you now…? mrs. hwit’s room?

you open your mouth to refute lucinda’s strange claim, though shock yourself into silence at the shaky uneven breath you draw in.

oh.

you were crying. 

you guess that’s why the lines of the tiles were a blurred mess under your feet.

“i…don’t know,” you mutter, bringing your blazer’s sleeve to your face with a sniffle. “i don’t know.”

lucinda sighs softly, pulling you into a hug. she smells like a rich feminine perfume, her charm bracelet tinkling by your ear as she pats your hair.

“overwhelmed?”

nodding and gulping down the lump in your throat, you feel a bit embarrassed as you try to gather yourself. crying in the middle of your school’s hallway was not necessarily on your bucket list.

“you’ve had to put up with a lot this year—this semester. it’s okay.”

you’re not sure what it is about lucinda that makes your tears flow so freely in front of her. she wasn’t necessarily scary or heartless, but you definitely never expected to be breaking in front of her out of all your friends. maybe it was her calming voice, or the pure confidence she exuded—but either way, her casualness about it all helped you gather yourself within a few minutes.

“better?” she asks as you pull away, pulling up her sleeves to pat your cheeks dry.

“yeah,” you whisper.

“good. while we wait for your face to… not look like you’ve been crying,” she pulls your arm, walking into mrs. hwit’s empty classroom. “we’re telling my mom.”

“right now?”

“yep.” she pops the ‘p’ as she says it, marching you right up to her mother’s desk.

the gray-haired woman quirks a brow, slowly raising her eyes to the two of you with an almost knowing look on her face.

“can i help you, ladies?”

lucinda unpockets her phone, opening her camera roll and clicking play on a video. the screen is black and for a moment there’s nothing but rustling noise and faint voices.

“…you’ve been bullying… as if… attention…”

there’s a moment of quiet before the familiar squeak of the bathroom door clarifies the scene.

“oh, there you are. what’s going on?”

your eyes dart over to a very smug lucinda.

holy shit, she was recording?

the rest of the video plays as you stand in awe, barely registering hyria’s stern look as lucinda’s threats are replayed at the end. she spares you a wary glance, and after a few mutterings of explanations later, she finally looks over to you with full attention.

“i’m proud of you.”

“…what?”

“i am proud of you. for opening yourself up and confiding in your friends. i can see how close you’ve allowed yourself to get to, not just lucinda, but to quite a few friends. and good ones at that. compared to how… tense you were at the beginning of this year, i’m proud to see how far you’ve come.”

you swallow down the lump in your throat.

“thank you.”

she leans forward, narrowing her eyes. “and we can add on the fact that you didn’t rip any hair or clobber anyone’s faces this time… yes?”

sheepishly, you recall her stern warning from your first fight with ivy, shifting on your feet. “…yes ma’am…”

she taps her hands on her desk. “good. we will talk about this more later, but for now you both need to get to class. i have some reports to fill.”

once again, you find yourself being led in a daze back to homeroom, lucinda scoffing under her breath every few seconds and shaking her head while tapping on her phone. you don’t snap back until you walk through the doors and everyone’s eyes—including ivy’s flick up to you in 

“well, there you are. i hope you have a good excuse for being twenty minutes late—”

“it’s excused. mrs. hwit sent you an email,” lucinda speaks up, just barely slowing in her steps as you both walk to your seats.

“…alright. thank you, miss hwit. these teacher’s kids…”

lucinda barely pays any mind to the last remark, her eyes held on ivy’s with a malignant smile curved up on her lips. you don’t even bother to check ivy’s face, watching the cracks in the tiles before sliding in your spot next to kate. you can hear lucinda take her seat in front of you, 

there’s a very gentle pull on your hair, trying to get your attention.

“what happened?” katelyn whispers, and when you don’t immediately respond she whips her head to the ginger in front. “why are her eyes red?”

slowly the girl twists in her seat, tapping an acrylic nail with a wry look on her face. she offers no context to the concerned teens next to you, instead intentionally flicking her eyes to ivy before leaning closer. “oh, it’s on, bitches.”

☆

every class you went to after homeroom you were accompanied by at least two friends on either side of you, even ones you didn’t think knew of the situation from this morning. you had giggled about your formation of bodyguards and insisted you were fine, but whether they continued to ham up their protective act out of genuine concern or because you found it so amusing you weren’t sure.

while it was definitely entertaining, you had to draw the line when laurance nearly skipped one of his classes to sit with you in yours and travis tried to follow you in the bathroom when none of your girl friends were around.

now you practically had a circle formation around you, and both you and aphmau find yourself squished together between your friends while you all walked to lunch

“i don’t know what to do!” aphmau whines under her breath, tucked by your side. “i mean, why would anyone even spread a rumor that i’m dating aaron? and what does ivy gain from saying you’re dating gene?”

you lift a finger. “one, from what you said, it sounds like whatever… mark or scent or whatever that aaron left on you must be a part of werewolf dating culture. plus there’s the whole thing of everyone calling you the female alpha. you should talk to him about it—”

“i told you, i tried, but i didn’t even get to bring that part up! he was upset when i told him how lily was trying to use him and had the nerve to say he was disappointed in me! like i don’t even like you and i’m looking out for you! i mean… we both haven’t been very nice to each other, but—”

you hold up your other hand, groaning under your breath. “—everything leads back to those three girls. this is such a mess.”

her shoulders slump. “i know… i’m getting sick of it.”

you hold up a second finger.

“to answer the second question, ivy is doing this because she’s shallow and can’t comprehend why a boy would want to hang out with a girl unless it’s out of romantic interest. so she’s “sabotaging” our relationship with garroth so we’re not “competition”—in her eyes at least.”

“…that’s kind of sad.”

you let your hands fall while your mosh pit of a group makes it to a table, sighing as you take your seat.

“yeah, it is.”

“hi!” someone whispers excitedly next to you, and the higher pitch could mean nothing other than…

“oh! hey, nana.” you smile at the beaming meif’wa, who was holding something behind her back.

“oh, and hello, aph!” she says sheepishly, taking the seat next to you and giving a small wave to aph. “i just thought… i would make something for you since you helped me with making friends and i really look up to you. so… i wanted to give you this!”

she pulls out a small pink box with a clear top that had some winter themed cookies inside, and a bracelet with pink beads and a few bows decorated throughout.

“…this is for me?”

she nods, her fanged teeth poking out from her lips as she smiles. “i made some cookies for all of our friends, but i made a friendship bracelet for you and aphmau. i have the matching one, see?”

she lifts her wrist, showing off a bracelet with much more vivid pink hues than your muted one—a show of her consideration to preference despite the still super cutesie design. the amber doe eyed girl next to you leans forward, gasping excitedly when she’s handed a bracelet with purplish-pink tones.

“so… if you guys want them you can keep them.”

“of course i want it! thank you, nana!” aphmau squeals, leaning over to hug her and rounding you up in the embrace in the process.

“yeah, thank you. this is adorable, honestly it made my day.” you smile.

nana’s eyes light up, sparkles shining in the girl's eyes. “you do…? i’m so glad!”

aphmau looks like she’s going to say something else before the attention of the group is taken by lucinda, who rushes to sit at the table while giggling under her breath.

“what did you do?” teony deadpans.

there’s a sudden screech from a girl on the other end of the cafeteria, and after your heart jolts from the startle you quickly turn to look around, lucinda’s snickering growing a bit louder and obvious. a few of the cheerleaders are wiping away at their uniforms and backing away from a familiar head of carmine hair, who was standing in utter disgust and shock while staring down at her hands.

it takes you adjusting yourself in your seat, but you can see the food on her tray was no longer… food. instead it had melted into a pretty disgusting looking goo, almost like snail slime as it seemed to splatter all over ivy’s face and uniform. the girls who had previously been standing next to her were unfortunately subjected to being in the splash zone, the booger substance also smeared on their neat uniforms.

your eyes widen, jaw going slack as you turn back around to look at lucinda. “you… can do that?”

she quirks a brow, shrugging and looking smugly at the scene behind you as it unfolds.

“remind me never to piss you off,” laurance huffs, staring at the scene with a bit of a satisfied smirk tugging at his lips.

katelyn grits her teeth. “don’t tell her who you like either or she’ll turn them into a frog.”

“that was one time.”

“like, five months ago!”

“oh, whatever.”

garroth, who has been staring at the scene with equal shock to yours leans over, a bit of a grimaced smile on his face. “well, as much as this karma bit seems nice on the surface, i hope it doesn’t cause you more trouble.”

you blink, before slowly shaking your head and laughing under your breath. “honestly, i don’t even care if it does at this point.”

there’s a beat of him looking at you in surprise, before he also begins to laugh. “you know what? fair enough.”

☆

another week passed, and snow had begun to coat the ground. you had begun to wonder if taking the bus would be worth it to avoid the frigid air blowing in from the distant mountainside, a thought aphmau had also pondered with you after one too many slips on the sidewalk just in the past few days alone.

thankfully, pondering on the issue wasn’t something you had to do for long after you’d both mentioned it next to the one and only laurance zvahl.

“thank you so much again for driving us, cadenza!” aphmau beams, tapping her shoes on the floor of the blue volkswagen you both had eagerly scrambled into.

“yeah, of course! i couldn’t live with myself if i left two cute girls to freeze on the streets!” she dramatically declares, grabbing at her heart and clenching her fist.

laughter bubbles from both yours and aphmau’s lips.

“i see where laurance gets it from.” you raise your eyebrows.

“hey! i’m this charming on my own, thank you very much.” he scoffs, turning to face you two. “by the way, did you two hear?”

“hear what?”

he leans towards the backseat, elbows on the middle console. “ivy, lily, alex, and a few of the cheerleaders got busted for everything. they’re in iss until winter break.”

aphmau’s jaw drops. “they got suspended? for real?!”

cadenza nods her head, lips pursed at the juicy gossip. “even the seniors had started to hear all those rumors, but honestly most of us took your side over ivy’s. but the fact that everyone started to know about it means the school had to do something. i think it’s deserved.”

since the beginning of this week, you did notice the girls weren’t really around, constantly getting called out by administration with a gloomy look on their faces. you got called out once, just to give a rundown of everything that happened, but since then everything went… quiet.

turns out while you had been in the counselor’s office, the whole school had an assembly and was given a big talking-to about bullying and how if any teacher heard or got a report of a student spreading rumors, they’d get severe punishment.

that threat probably wouldn’t be taken too seriously, and would likely be ignored by next semester. but at least it worked as a public shaming that would hopefully deter ivy from messing with you again. not surprisingly, gene and his “gang” flew completely under the radar once again, fading into the background while everything else went to shit.

a part of you wanted to say the whole thing seemed like overkill, that it wasn’t that big of a deal. but honestly, the peace you’ve felt this week for the first time in months overrides your embarrassment that this all started over you—and aphmau too.

while cadenza turns up her music and laurance turns to stare out at the snow, you turn to aphmau with a small bit of curiosity in your eye. while one side of the issue had been resolved pretty outright… you’d noticed something really strange about the way aphmau very suddenly quit complaining about her issue with aaron. in fact, you’d noticed them walking very calmly together and even laughing–seeming to get along quite well considering their fiery past.

“so…” you start, narrowing your eyes and lowering your voice.

aphmau looks back, a bit unsettled at your sudden change in mood.

“yes…?”

“about that aaron guy.”

her face shifts to a strangely flustered expression, amber irises flicking away as she slowly shrugs. “what about him…?”

weird…

“you two seem to be getting along now. what happened?”

“uh, well!” she shifts in her seat. “it’s kind of a crazy story.”

you nod expectantly.

she deflates, eyes darting up to the front seat before back at you. “now..?”

you nod, eyebrows impatiently raising on your forehead.

“okay!” she groans under her breath. “so… you know that online friend i told you about? like, the one i’ve been friends with for years now? fc?”

you nod, face wrinkling in confusion.

“well, it turns out that fc… is aaron.”

…

…

“what?”

“yeah. it turns out we’ve actually been friends all this time… and enemies? without knowing it. so, we decided to give each other a try at being friends in real life and start over. turns out he’s pretty nice.”

“he’s pretty nice?”

she shrinks into her seat, looking a bit frightened by your demeanor. “yeah…? i mean, i was pretty mean to him too, so…”

“so… huh?! he’s pretty nice? he was a dick to you for the past five months, and now you’re friends in one week?”

she grins awkwardly, shrugging. “yes?”

cadenza whips her car into her spot, making laurance dramatically gasp and place his hands on the dash–saving aphmau from any further of your scrutiny. with two fingers, you motion from your eyes to hers, before slinging on your backpack and leaning in with a hissed whisper.

“you’re not off the hook, young lady.”

“okay, mom,” she sarcastically responds with an eye roll, slipping out from her side of the car with a dramatic huff. this conversation definitely wasn’t over, but at the very least you could be happy that the situation was… resolved. for now.

©starhvney, 2024. please do not steal or repost my works as your own.

tag list: @orinlin @pain-in-the-ashe @youmake1mistake @arienic @wasting-away-on-the-internet @angelhyperfixates @remiechu @valentique @kalegrinch

[onesidedradiostatic]

I'd like to know your full opinion on shipping Alastor, despite him being AroAce. I've seen conflicting opinions on it from AroAce People. I've seen some AroAce people say that shipping is taking away rep(and point out that people would be pissed if this was done to, say, Angel Dust), but I've seen other AroAce people saying it's fine and it's a spectrum. (A friend of mine who I believe is aroace takes it into consideration and makes it part of the shipping and story) Personally I'm on the spectrum(gray-ace and demiromantic), but I'm not AroAce in the way people usually think so I'm not sure I have a right to comment on it. I can also see both sides of the conversation.

(I had this in my drafts for a bit now so this ask is old)

I've mentioned time and time again, I personally do not like reciprocated romantic alastor ships. and as someone who possibly falls more under greyro (idfk man), I do not believe alastor falls under that either CANONICALLY, it's just pretty clear to me from the rosie dialogue that alastor is specifically an aroace who is not into dating

but I will not police people for what they ship and I do not think harassment is okay, there's definitely better things to spend your energy on anyways. if it were up to me, the only thing that would exist are one-sided and qpr alastor ships, but it's not up to me, so it is what it is.

it's whatever really, what I care most about is that people don't try to insist he's not aroace in canon to try to give themselves hope that their ship will happen. I care more about our canonical rep (*cough* just fucking solidly confirm it vivzie *cough*) than what people do in fanon even if I don't like it. ultimately, I stay in my own space and don't bother those people as long as they don't bother me.

the main issue with like all of this, why these constant arguments over what type of aroace alastor is exist, is that alastor is our ONLY aspec rep. the aspec community is so varied, favourable, neutral, repulsed, aroallo, alloace, aroace, demi, grey. one singular character cannot possibly singlehandedly encompass ALL our different experiences. he is only ever going to represent one type of aroace, one type of aspec. because he is a singular character. I genuinely think the worst thing to come out of alastor shipping discourse is the amount of aspec infighting I've seen. at the end of the day, we're all starving and we're all fighting over a character who will only ever represent one specific type of aroace.

it's like if every mlm/wlw person only got ONE mlm/wlw character, you may see gay people/lesbians and mspecs fighting over that character because they want the character to represent them, arguing over how mspecs should be allowed to use that character to represent their mspec attraction or gay people/lesbians arguing that the character should firmly remain exclusively attracted to men/women to represent them.

it's a case of people desperately wanting to be represented and aspecs are so underrepresented we never get to see everyone fully represented in a single piece of media.

[squipedmew]

well, since the Dream SMP has officially come to a close, I thought I’d share what I’ve been up to for the past 2 years - making character designs for every single one of the characters!

 I really wanted every character to look distinct, with really distinct color pallets, unique weapons for each and every character - basically like each one of them could be the protagonist of a wildly different story from one another. Feel free to steal them (with credit) if you want!

I kinda dropped off working on it in late 2022, so I think I missed a few characters, as well as going back and re-doing some of the oldest ones (that’s why some of them are more detailed - those are the 2023 versions)

As strange as it is for me to say this, DSMP had such a big impact on me, especially over COVID. I haven’t had a piece of media fill me with such a passion to create art and improve probably since Undertale all the way back in 2015, if you can believe it. I owe a lot of my art improvement to this silly little Minecraft series, and though I may have lost touch with it near the end, it will always hold a special place in my heart. 

o7 you crazy, wacky, depressing, stupid, unsatisfying, joyful, hilarious, and amazing series. I wish everyone involved in it the best!

(A few extra designs under the cut!)

This is a 2020 Pogtopia Wilbur I made, and if I were to draw it now, I probably wouldn’t change a thing. This design fucking slaps imo, I’m still super proud of it. 

Exile Era Tommy. Wilbur’s old Pogtopia coat has been passed around so many times between so many different interpretations of characters, so I thought it made more sense for Tommy to take the L’Manberg era coat from Wilbur, since that was the version of him he idolized (This is an old version of Wilbur’s coat btw)

Post Dream-Getting-Sent-To-Prison Tommy! I wanted to emphasize how Tommy was trying to move past his trauma, so he shaved off the grey streak he got from the Withers in the L’Manberg explosions (I gave him the grey streaks before Revival canonized it - don’t ask me why)

Las Nevadas Quackity. It’s basically a 1 to 1 for his skin, save for the really ugly blue patches and hoodie I gave him. If I were to do it again, I would def change that. 

Snowchester Tubbo. Also still holds up, though I’m not 100% on the pants. This was kinda before goat Tubbo got super canonized, so I just decided to have the eyes. The scars are from the execution. 

Revivbur. He looks pretty good for a dead bitch - though I messed up the L’Manberg flag colors on the bandanna on his ankle. Guess he’s french now. 

Team Rocket era Niki! She took custody of Wilbur’s Pogtopia coat, albiet cutting off the parts that were covered in blood and soot (which was most of it) I also made her a fire-born like Sapnap, though you can’t see from his design - her hair is on fire when she feels strong emotions, and she’s basically going through it 24/7 during this part. 

Syndicate Niki! She’s calmed down and is no longer on fire, but her hair is still pink from all those weeks of constant rage and sadness. Also dressed more appropriately for the snow. 

Dream Post Prison. Mask no longer has invisibility enchantments, so he doesn’t bother hiding his face. Gotta wonder how it’s staying on though. Get this man some moisturizer. 

[shadowqnights]

May I ask what are your favorite MCD or Mystreet Ships or just Platonic Relationships? I love seeing people’s opinions on different characters relationships. I’ll occasionally see one that I never saw before and I think it’s so neat.

hello welcome to bee's fav ship masterlist

I’m sorry this ask took so long, this is the one that had all my progress deleted before I could save it anywhere during a blackout. So I didn’t try again to write it for a little while. I know you mentioned MyStreet but I want to make a Separate post for that so I might reblog this later with additions but for now I’m just gonna focus on the MCD side because I know my thoughts better on that and already have plenty to say about it.

Here’s like a little masterlist of my favourite ships + platonic relationships in MCD plus some itty bitty summaries with my thoughts on them. As always I’m down to elaborate on any of these if anyone has questions! I can always make more posts specifically about any of these pairings to fully like. Flesh out and brainstorm rewrite stuff. Some characters might overlap cause multiship win. Also these might sound non-canon because this is how I write them, a lot of this is in beeland not canonical jessland. And I've probably forgotten a shitton but fuck it we ball.

Romantic/Sexual Pairings

Garroth x Laurance. No surprises here, I’m predictable, not much to say other than what I say every other time. Enemies to friends to lovers dynamic, they’re toxic and bloody and they are obsessed with each other. They are codependent. They need each other. There is something so insane about enemies to lovers when they literally have seen the worst of each other and fall in love anyway, providing a foundation for such an intimate trust because they spent so long memorising each other for the sake of hatred. Now they would die for each other, now they are black holes for each other - I never really ship Garroth with anyone else in MCD specifically because they are completely absorbed in each other, and Laur only in like alternate timelines where Garrance aren’t quite as insane for each other and are capable of being normal exes. A delicious religious corruption sun x moon guard4guard freak4freak meal for me. Rich with hungry dog metaphors and plenty of blood. I will defend them to the death. In beeland general rewrite (not Loverman, sorry), they get to live on a farm in the middle of nowhere having an honest but peaceful life. They have a couple of kids, including Malachi<3 and once they’re old they are NOT fucking bothered by plot shit again. They go through many hells and then they finally get to rest. They are so fucking in love with each other that it makes me sickened how Jess accidentally gave me source material for the most insane yaoi that would take over my life for a multitude of years. I don’t know what to even summarise here because like. I’ve written a 500k fanfiction about them that is still ongoing like I don’t know what else to say about them that I haven’t already yapped on about. There’s probably more to talk about because I never stfu about them. No one is surprised.

Katelyn x Aphiah. More enemies to lovers but also in a more guard4princess dynamic, and if you squint also worshipper4god if you consider Katelyn devout. Katelyn enters as her assassin and does literally come close to killing her multiple times only to become her target’s most dutiful loyal guard. Their magicks call to each other. Katelyn teaches her how to fight and forces Aph to confront parts of herself that were unacknowledged before their meeting. Confident that with the amount of devotion, desire and pure angry emotion that I give Katelyn, if Laurance hadn’t been at the werewolf wedding in Season 2, she easily could have had a similar outburst and take his place there to save Aph. Katelyn is obsessed with her from the start, no matter whether considering Aph a symbol, then an enemy, then finally a friend, lord and lover. And Aph is utterly captivated by Katelyn, not just her beauty, but her power. Plus, majority of the things you like about Garmau and Laurmau can be translated to Katemau but better if you try.

Dante x Nicole. No enemies here, just lovers, oh god I love these two. They are both runaways haunted by their ‘past lives’, trying to create new names for themselves and heal. I associate them both with animals - Nicole quite literally as a fox, and Dante more metaphorically as a dog or coyote. They are best friends for YEARS before anything even happens between them, and I understand why Jess saw their vibe as an innocent young love/fling but also nooo………………….. I see the visions………………. They heal together… they understand each other’s vulnerabilities and insecurities so well….. they rescue each other…. they are adoring and energetic pure t4t love formed off years of friendship and mutual respect and like. They loved each other as friends and then they loved each other More and just very naturally became partners. They’re both very playful and adventurous when they open up, and even at their most different they’re this lovely dynamic of Nicole unable to stop yapping while Dante stares quiet and adoringly at her. And they fight together side by side!!!! (Hypnosis eyes for you to think more about mcd dancole)

Those are my big three holy trinity right nowwww but. Here are some more smaller-scale MCD ship dynamics that I also looove.

(Jeffory and Katelyn are also on this list but I talked about them yesterday in that other essay so I don't feel like repeating myself. Just know that they're included.)

Vylad x Laurance, errrr it’s complicated you already know what’s going on here. soul bonded or whatever, went through hell together. don’t know each other yet understand each other better than anyone, which isn’t saying much in vylad’s case, since no one comes close to ever really understanding him but if anyone’s going to pretend to, it’ll be laur. they are each other’s hopeful fantasy, like sitting in a dark cell and saying ‘do you think that, in another life-’. in this life, you will always have some kind of self-inflicted divide (you don’t know what the divide is blocking, because it’s not exactly friendship or romance but some third secret scary thing), but the thought will never die. you’re not even friends. in another life, maybe you could have gotten along somehow, but in this life you make stupid, foolish promises about freedom. you leave each other behind eventually, as is natural. vylad had far more clarity and knowledge of shadow knights that garroth never fully grasped, that made laurance feel seen. they make him feel seen in different ways. those damn ro’meaves.

Katelyn x Travis, nooo ha ha wow it’d be so funny if we were both burdened by years of pain and sacrifice thinking that we will never receive love only to find it in an unexpected place. it’d be so funny if you managed to save each other after years of being hurt. to the point that one of you feels that she wasted her only chance at love and the other is afraid that after years of isolation he will never know what it feels like. what if you realise that what you thought was frustrating and annoying is actually exactly what you need right now. maybe he was waiting for you his whole life. maybe he feels like letting go of a breath you didn’t know you were holding for so long. oomf if you keep on cracking the stupidest flirty jokes i might have to let down my tough exterior to actually smile a tiny bit if only in wry amusement but still, he gets her smiling. let’s go swimming and heal together oomfie!!!

Cadenza x Sasha, tragic sun x moon lovers forcefully separated. like your entire friend group was definitely all in love with both of these zvahl siblings at some point but like. instead of both of you being the fascination of this nerd freak one after the other, you two were meant to be together but could never voice it. you were such close friends that everyone already thought you were a package deal. not to be separated. only for everything to go wrong just as you are about to bring those feelings to light and now you will never get the chance because the girl you love just came back Wrong. and worse, she is so convinced that its Your fault that maybe it is, because if she believes it so forcefully it has to be true. without even knowing about gene altering her memories, you just let go because its the easiest thing to do. doesn’t make it hurt any less.

Laurance x Travis, but only in like a certain AU where Garroth is his ex but they’re not fucked up enough to be entirely obsessed with each other still. I don’t really indulge in Laurance or Garroth ships often because I am so ride or die for Garrance but I think in some world Laurance and Travis fit so nicely together, the same way that Laurance has that complicated relationship with Vylad but only in the circumstance that he’s not with Garroth. You have to hear me out here as I tell you that I understand Laurance on a deep insane level and you need to trust me when I say that he’s interested in science. He spends years ruling by emotion and temper. He’s searching for something logical, something with a straightforward answer that doesn’t depend on keeping his heart in check. He’s tired of being told to meditate or do yoga or whatever, thanks Vylad, he wants something tangible. Everyone is so busy worrying about him being this dangerous, volatile ticking time bomb that needs to calm down or leave when he’s already been through an emotional washing machine’s worth of hell that season alone. He’s tired and he wants a solution to a problem that is very much emotional, something that can’t just be fixed. Shadow Knights are made out of emotion, and ugly emotions at that, and now more than ever Laurance is so exhausted by the constant of it.

(Interesting to talk about later that Garroth and Laurance essentially swap, despite their respective emotional reputations, that Garroth’s leaving is emotionally driven and while Laurance’s is triggered by emotion, as per the Shadow Knight overreaction, his actual leaving is far more logical and straightforward, making it less emotionally destructive. Despite the notion that he is more emotional and Garroth is far more repressed, their breakdowns kind of reverse. It’s a little funny. Truly made for each other. Ok sorry no more garrance.)

And oh look who it is its Travis fist deep in the dirt hunting for worms with books and maps strapped to his back conducting the most fucked up science experiment known to man, someone who is very used to putting up a kind of faux performance to survive while having an incredible amount of burdens and sacrifices hidden beneath that carefully curated persona. They’re both incredibly clever, and despite those personas being playful and flirty, they know when to lock in to get the job done. And Travis is that perfect intruiging mix of heart and logic, because he’s blunt and straightforward especially when it comes to reciting things he knows from books, but when he gets passionate he can yap for hours. He is incredibly brave and sweet but also very studious and not very emotionally intelligent. He sees that Laurance has a problem and works himself to the bone to try and fix it for him, even when Laurance is trying to explain that its something unfixable. They’re kind of rivals at first that turn into besties who study each other sometimes. They are considering dissecting each other to figure out wtf is going on in the other’s brain. In a time period where literally everyone’s waiting for Laurance to snap, and he really does snap on Travis, it’s kind of comforting for someone to be fascinated by the Shadow Knight rather than afraid of it, and wants to approach it with science and reason rather than with emotion, fear or merely just projecting their own shames onto him. Their demon sides like each other or something.

Kiki x Cadenza, they’re pretty simple and cute. Sweet little background couple both passionate about nature - obviously Kiki loves animals, and Caddie is more interested in plants and gardening. They both have these almost-dormant magicks that emerge in very beautiful, caring ways. They are soft and tender with each other and also the idea of them meeting via Cadenza being a literal hen is kind of funny. They should throw rocks at Zane together.

Lucinda x KC, except I haven’t fuuuully thought about their endgame, just that they are so cute. Rivals to friends to rivals again, then friends AGAIN, then business partners/besties for many many years. And then when they’re older, lovers. They are stronger together, their magicks respond well to each other, and their individual business ventures actually work best when combined rather than competing. They don’t get together until they’re older ladies and, while Lucinda would still be working through some teacher-related conflicts, she’d be more willing to settle after years of wandering and long after being the White Witch, she might feel more comfortable sticking to one place. But even so they’re the kind of yuri that never has an explicit conversation about it and never tell anyone, it just happens so naturally, they’re old women who live together and have a dual witchcraft store + bakery and finally get to live in a place where they don’t have to feel ashamed of themselves or be in constant competition, even playfully, they can just Live. And also owl x cat dynamic is so cute.

Platonic/Familial Pairings

I feel like a couple of these I have talked about in more detail before so these will be kiiind of brief. Here are some of my favourite platonic dynamics and I am CERTAIN I've forgotten a lot of nice little underrated friendships but fuck it here's a top three.

These AREN’T ROMANTIC !!!

Dante, Aphiah & Aaron, their dumb dog-core little found family - Aaron becoming this old, gruff older brother figure for the both of them. After being alone for so long and bearing so much suffering, he finds solace and the beginning of a healing journey in both of them. None of them are replacing what has been lost per say, but fill the gaps of pieces missing in certain ways. Aphiah the amnesiac who, if she ever had a family at all, has literally no one now, getting to have a sibling dynamic with Dante, who waits so dutifully for his sister to come home. She looks to Aaron as a mentor figure, someone who can understand her feeling of otherworldliness and how she often feels alienated from the rest of the cast while also empathising with her as a Lord and a parent. She and Dante follow him and learn from him very attentively - and for Dante, to have an older brother figure that isn’t Gene. They take care of each other. An old wolf and the cubs that started following him around one day and while gruff and stubborn as to ignoring them at first, slowly learning to open up to them, thus earning their trust.

Vylad & Katelyn, give it up for EMOTIONALLY REPRESSED BESTIESSSSS. Every time I’ve brainstormed and thought about them with oomf I’ve been so genuinely pleased at the idea of locking them in a room together where they literally would just sit in silence and not be able to start a conversation. Such a painfully stubborn, awkward silence. Every scene they have together is so fucking funny do NOT put these guys on a boat together. They’re both gods of obsessing over their stony unfeeling tough exteriors to spare themselves of feeling. Kings of having tragic ass pasts and significant people in said pasts that haunt their respective narratives in a way that they feel no one will ever understand. So they can sit Close to each other sort of and continue to not understand each other but yet be the exact fucking same. GO TO THERAPY LOSERS.

Lucinda & Dante, go get therapy pt. 2, Dante you have to stop latching onto all of these caring figures that are a little older than you and provide some sort of semblance to a sibling, Dante stop it. She picks up on his subtle fear of witchcraft really quickly and decides to teach him more about what she does. He’s able to divulge parts of his past to her that he could never tell anyone about and she’s able to offer some comfort. I do appreciate that it’s not entirely one-sided - like yeah Dante is seeking comfort and understanding which he hasn’t really been able to take before, but he’s also there as a supportive shoulder for her, too, the way that his friendship with Aaron also starts out as mutual transaction. He notices that Lucinda has been feeling a little bit outcast by the town, even though she thinks thats what she has to be yet longs to be involved in the community, so he makes an effort to include her and spend time with her. He’s not really her apprentice, but he’s definitely willing to help out when he’s around, picking herbs and such. It’s a little funny that Dante is so insecure that he thinks of himself as undesirable and unloveable but a vast majority of town is literally a Dante fanclub willing to die for him and take him under their wing. Like oh baby. Your awkward charm is undeniable.

Stayed up late writing another ask answer yet again yippee. As always inbox is open for more asks if you feel brave enough to receive an answer of this average length and insanity :3 Stick your hand in my cage. I don't bite :).

[lesbian-in-leather]

Gone back to reading SGE (I'm part way through book 4) and look,,, I know this is a controversial topic in the fandom and I am mayhaps going to be swinging at a hornets nest, but this is literally the only fandom where I (and please hear me out) understand the incest shippers

Because like, Soman does queer-code the fuck out of Sophie and Agatha. And yes, canonically they are sisters! However, he doesn't write them as sisters. They didn't grow up as sisters, hell, they didn't even know until the end of book three. And even after that point, he still writes them with most queer-baity shit!

He is constantly having other characters make jokes or comments about how they're girlfriends, or they were "just off kissing somewhere" (Hort legit says this in book four). That's not how people talk about sisters! At all! And Sophie and Agatha never even bother to address it. Like, sorry, but if someone made a joke about me and my sister dating or, god forbid, having snuck off to make out? You best believe I would be gagging, like wtf?? Who says that??

And it's not like the others don't know, because ~everyone's read the Tale of Sophie and Agatha~! So why does he write them like this! Right from the first book, they've been in this weird in-between of "they're fighting over a boy" but they also have this... weirdly fruity tension. Sophie's dance with Agatha at the No Ball, saying Agatha is "hers" or some shit ("to get at Tedros" but like... weird flex Soph), Agatha saving Sophie with True Love's Kiss... right on the mouth. I do not kiss my sister on the mouth. And yeah, they didn't know at the time, but like, Soman (theoretically) should have known, and it's a weird Luke-and-Leia-esque vibe to put in there. Throughout every book, there are a thousand little moments—I mean the whole three-way true love thing! Because yes, you can make the argument that true love doesn't have to be romantic..... except everyone else keeps treating it like it's only a romance thing. Also, if it doesn't have to be romantic, then why can there only be one???

So yeah, idk, I just feel like there are so many other plot points in this series that make less than no sense and it constantly contradicts itself anyway so... if people wanna say "fuck that" to the sister reveal and ignore it in favour of so much canon queer-coding then... yeah. Not opposed

[dailyfatefigures]

Do you mind explaining what evillous is? It looks like miku, rin and len to me? is it just a vocaloid song that they were given unique identities in?

evillious (or the evillious chronicles but that's too much for me to be bothered to type out again and again) is a massive multimedia franchise made by the vocaloid producer mothy!

the vocaloids basically serve as actors in it which is why most characters look a lot like their corresponding voicebanks.... but also the close resemblance the characters can be 50/50 like on one hand you have michaela who looks JUST like miku but on the other hand you have ma who's a luka but looks.. nothing like a luka (tbf that is bc of bodyswapping but also like . come on . the girl she bodyswapped with was also a luka) and then there's characters like bruno who, despite being p fucking important, doesn't have a vocaloid at all

^^ michaela, ma, and bruno

but also i think the reason riliane, allen and michaela look so much like their vocaloids in those figures is bc they're meant as 'rin in this one song', 'len in this one song' and 'miku in this one song' and not 'riliane lucifen d'autriche, a character who has 5 light novels, a bunch of manga volumes, and too many songs to count that are all primarily about her' etc etc (i'm not calculating allen and michaela's appearances or the amount of manga volumes riliane is in you could not pay me to (actually you could and i know the exact price but no one's going to)). also the evillious characters all have p defined facial features that get ironed out when they get converted into generic anime figure style.

^^ maybe my perception is warped as an evillious fan but i do not ever see ichika's illustrations of riliane and think 'that's kagamine rin'

in regards to what evillious actually is though, it's also known as story of evil and the seven deadly sins series, and if you're into vocaloid (esp if you've been into vocaloid for any decent amount of time) whether you know it or not, you are very, very familiar with at least a little bit of evillious. and by that i mean you've heard daughter of evil at least once, and also probably servant of evil, the tailor of enbizaka, the lunacy of duke venomania and judgement of corruption. the story basically follows this world known as the third period from its creation to its destruction (and a bit before and after). the seven deadly sins series makes up the bulk of evillious and follows seven people at different times and locations throughout this world's history and those around them as they get possessed by the seven deadly sins and uhm . well it should be p obvious that nothing good comes of that. story of evil is a colloqiual name given to the pride arc bc daughter of evil, servant of evil and regret message were the first songs mothy released that were explicitly meant to be tied together upon release (he likes to drop a song and then be like 'teehee this was part of the evillious canon all along' years later) and the evillious name wouldn't come around til much later.

if you want to actually get into evillious, you really have to go by release order or you will get very confused very quickly (gasp! the guy who likes fate enough to run a daily blog based around it for over a year has strong opinions on that age old issue of watch order (not the right phrase bc i am a fate anime adaptation hater til the day i die and the evillious anime never actually got made but. you know what i mean)!) mainly bc of the sheer amount of body swapping and reincarnation that goes on and the scifi fantasy concepts that get explained when they first appear and then never again. the songs all have translated pvs up on youtube (a lot of pvs are fanmade and may have aged poorly w noncanon visuals so don't fully let your guard down) and most if not all written materials have tls by @/pricechecktranslations here on tumblr. obligatory warning for a lot of incest and also everyone fucking dying goes here, there are more cws that should be attached to it but we'd be here literally for fucking ever if i were to list all of them bc it's huge and every bad thing happens at least once but those are the two big ones that happen in most if not all arcs.

[anxiously-sidequesting]

[Ambrose (derogatory)] anon here (rofl I'm glad you liked that)

I think it's also up to interpretation a bit how old YW is. I mean it's assumed (because of the target demographic) they're like elementary/middle school age ofc. But at Merle's age anything under 50 could be 'young' imo (and they have to call them something, so 🤷).

Do I think YW is in their mid-40s? Probably not lol but they could at least be a young adult (unless there's some canon confirmation I'm forgetting. Which I totally could be XD)

Are there some more capable adults he could get to help? Probably. But that actually leads me to another Thought which is the book of secrets. Clearly it says something about YW being destined to save the spiral yada yada so maybe by default Ambrose trusts and relies on them even when they're not the best equipped - but maybe that's literally WHY the book of secrets says that, because it knows he's gonna put all his eggs in one basket and not bother to get support from anyone else. So it ends up that. Yeah. YW is the one who goes through all this. Thanks for the trauma bro /j

Anyway I do like the idea of the protagonist jumping in and wanting to be the hero (and also being ready to throw down with anybody) because I feel like it fits with the generally helpful but also somewhat chaotic and morally dubious image they've cultivated over their journey. If Ambrose seemed less like he didn't give a fuck (not just about YW but all death students, etc) it'd be a much better dynamic

but we were robbed

(here's hoping some fic writer revamps his character to the wise and supportive headmaster the students deserve)

FIRST OFF YAY IM GLAD I DIDNT SCARE YOU OFF

And that's definitely a good point with how the Wizard's age comes into play! I think the most heinous thing that stands out about canon is that the Wizard is assumed to be a child - probably because the game is geared towards younger kids and most of the fandom by that time WERE young kids, AND the Wizard was essentially supposed to be YOU or an insert that represented you. Also even canon, up until arc 2 or 3, even comments on how young the Wizard is constantly. So it's the fact that an adult person is taking advantage of and using a CHILD and putting them in dangerous situations. For the greater good? Yeah!!! But that's still a little kid. That's the part that kinda stands out when it comes to Ambrose's treatment of the Wizard. A child has no autonomy in a situation when pitted against an adult, a child doesn't know any better to realize what's happening, the child isn't mature enough to have the words or know the actions to stand up for themselves. Combined with the fact that the child is in an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar stranger telling them to do things, the child is the completely vulnerable party in this scenario.

If the Wizard was a young adult by the time they were recruited by Ambrose, most of that would be gone. There would still be a power imbalance (Ambrose being the Headmaster and unofficial mentor of the Wizard, who has power and influence over the City guard vs. the Wizard who is just an apprentice with no societal standing or knowledge of the aspiral yet) but AT LEAST an adult would (hopefully) be better equipped to handle themselves. An adult would most likely recognize what's really going on, what the situation is, and is able to rationalize and plan accordingly.

AND YEAH GOOD QUESTION ABOUT THE OTHER CAPABLE ADULTS because yes. Yes there are. There are infinite other choices Ambrose could have chosen before the Young Wizard. At least, for a lot of other issues that don't include saving the Spiral. Like you said Ambrose likes putting all his eggs in a basket and if he can kill multiple birds with one stone, he will. Since the Wizard is already here and the BOS said they were the chosen savior, there's no need to worry about the Other Guys!

Although imo the only way this eager Wizard AU could work in Ambrose's favor if he was like, actually shown to care about the Young Wizard's wellbeing despite his inability to help. It wouldn't be enough for Ambrose to just sit back and do nothing even in his old age when The Wizard is still essentially in danger (despite being eager to put themselves in that position in the first place), I would actually have to see Ambrose take whatever action he could in order for this dynamic to feel more equal and wholesome. Does Ambrose send other companions to help the Wizard out? Does Ambrose sit the Wizard down and gently explain although he appreciates the help, he expects the Wizard to be careful? Does Ambrose use his position of power to help take the load off the Wizard's shoulders every now and then? Does Ambrose take time out of his day to simply have tea with the Wizard and check in on them outside of any Spiral business?

Even if Ambrose was too old to do things himself, he still could do other things to make sure the Wizard was safe, especially if the Wizard was exhibiting some self-destructive behavior. It isn't enough that he's just too old; taking actions to ensure the Wizard's safety and little acts of service that ensures the Wizard KNOWS that they are cared for and loved - THAT'S my ideal Ambrose and Wizard relationship. A bond that feels true and a relationship that's equal where it's less "old man uses child" and "two partners who are in this together". The last part of your ask PERFECTLY captures this that Ambrose needs to SHOW his love and care and protection for the Wizard, not just to say it every once in a while. This is a genius ask and a genius AU you've come up with anon

[after-witch]

Oddly enough Pearl played by Mia Goth reminds me a whole lot of the Smiling Man. The similarities aren't all there, but being quick to anger is the big one. Pearl being insane, impulsive, and violent creates a more 'mentally disturbed' image compared to The Smiling Man. He's tricky, manipulative, and seemingly 'nonchalant'. That's until a literal tween outsmarts him, not once, not twice, but thrice (excluding Dark Waters). It's then we can start to see him losing his cool, I can imagine him tightening his grip ever-so-slightly every time Ollie would shut him down in Empty Smiles. However, it's clear as day Pearl is a psychopath, but I guess that's all a part of being human. The Smiling Man, on the other hand is not. Something about him, an otherworldly being that takes the form of a young, notably human, man, showing normal human emotion is so attractive. Imagine him raising his voice at something slightly bothering him, something you'd think no one, let alone the Smiling Man, would get upset over. Getting emotional. And then, bam, the next second he's fine. Perhaps giving you a certain look, making you feel like you're the one in the wrong, a faraway look in his eyes. God knows what he could be thinking, if anything at all. That's just how the Smiling Man is. Sighhh, life isn't fair. Is asking for the Smiling Man to fool me (and all his devoted fans) over and over again, and trap me in the mist so he'll be the only thing I see for the rest of time too much to ask for? Either way, it's been far too long since my last ask and I NEED to have your take on this. Also good luck with job interviews <33

Oh, what a wonderful message to wake up to!

Imagine him raising his voice at something slightly bothering him, something you'd think no one, let alone the Smiling Man, would get upset over. Getting emotional. And then, bam, the next second he's fine.

I think it would take him a lot to raise his voice! He does so like to appear calm and collected. But then yes! Any seemingly stronger emotion is immediately smoothed over.

Spoilers for the book series behind the read-more!

In some of my vague-daydreams-to-turn-into-fics where the self-insert character ends up being his servant, and they have this longstanding relationship where he finds that he'd like to keep this servant around for reasons he doesn't really understand, there's usually a moment where he does wind up raising his voice a bit--but just once, and it's so uncharacteristic for his normal demeanor that it's truly shocking.

For me, I wouldn't view him as yelling or shouting or screaming in any sort of wildly uncontrolled manner. But even him raising his voice a little when he's gotten all heated--like "You dare to..." or "You really think you could..."--is a rather horrifying prospect. Because when that gentlemanly facade he puts on cracks even a little? You know you've fucked up. Majorly.

And sure, he'll smooth it over quick, and you'll wonder if you ever heard him raise his voice at all. But it doesn't change the goosebumps that ran up your arm, or the shiver that went through your body. He is older than you, and stronger than you, and has seen things your human mind couldn't fathom--and do you really think you could best him in any way?

I think the most we see him losing control in canon is in the first book, when Ollie not only rejects his offer, but reveals how she's gotten the info she needs to escape and starts releasing the scarecrows' souls with water. And he's standing there with his mouth all big and creepy, looming over her, threatening her, looking afraid, but he can't do anything to stop her. Because he's desperate, he's lost, this is unexpected and a dire situation.

"Seth looked less human now. His grin still took up half his face, but the eyes above were malevolent. “Little fool,” he said. “I am older than you. I am stronger than you . . .”

But then he snaps back once she says she'd bet her life on being right on how to escape, and his eyes had "almost a look of wonder," and he bows and is all 'courtly' again.

But in Empty Smiles, we also see him getting so frustrated with the repeated denials, to the point that he's irritated ("Save me from stubborn girls") and gives up a chess game without a word, and actually frowns when Ollie goes into the funhouse. (But! We know the frown is perhaps because he doesn't want her to go in for reasons that aren't just preventing her from getting the key…)

In terms of his stronger emotions, I think it's a bit scarier for him to remain calm and collected but for a little tell, like how Ollie started to feel like she could tell when his smiles were happy or not, when he was pleased or displeased, etc. His little sighs, or irritated expressions.

In a human, these expressions, little things, mean nothing at all. But in him? Who is normally so unnervingly polite, so relaxed, in control... it's unnerving.

(On a not-really-related note, sometimes I think about the imagery towards the end of Empty Smiles, of Coco and Brian getting to the carnival and seeing him, but not really seeing him properly at first, because his face is all hidden by shadows and there's nothing but the wild carnival lights behind him. Siiigh.)

Is asking for the Smiling Man to fool me (and all his devoted fans) over and over again, and trap me in the mist so he'll be the only thing I see for the rest of time too much to ask for

It is NOT. Although I often debate on whether I'd rather be trapped in the mist so he's the only thing I can ever interact with forever, or whether I'd rather he use up my soul until it's dry and crunchy and feed it to his dog Hound. Both sound appealing...

Thank you for sending in a smiling man ask, 'non!! They make me happy. And thank you for the well wishes re: job search!

[nosolaceofastraightanswer]

happy pride month!!!! anyway tua pride headcanons cus i want to lol :P *note- i do not identity with all of these labels. i cannot give you a personal experience or defense for these. if i include any harmful stereotypes, lmk. it’s pride month and queer people are valid*

quick overview, analysis below the readmore

luther- he/him cishet

diego- he/him cis and bicurious

allison- she/her cishet

klaus- he/she (they sometimes) genderqueer/enby, pansexual

five- they/he gay and ace. agender.

ben- he/him cishet

viktor- he/they transmasc lesbian

for some i used the canonical pronouns as to not confuse before i get the explanation. <33333

luther- to me he’s like a cishet guy honestly. i still love the pride hc’s other people have, bc most of the time they’re really good. i just prefer this reading, espec. with sloane (QUEEN!!!!). i also don’t like the s1 era fics where everyone hated luther (almost entirely unjustified) so they would make him be a dick to klaus and stuff. like did he drink reggie’s kool aid? yes. but is he homophobic? no. i think a better example in a canonical kid fic of him saying mean things to klaus for plot would be like,, making fun of him for being a druggie or lazy, because that’s stuff that reginald would actually encourage him to say. rant over lmao that just has always bothered me.

diego- honestly this one is back and forth for me, between bisexual and straight. like him and lila being bi4bi is just too fucking amazing, but he does give off straight guy energy sometimes so i’ll put it at a bi-curious. he’s def an ally though, and i can imagine he would do his best to get over his fear of needles to help v with his t shots, or defend klaus from homophobic assholes. although i personally hc him as cis, the transmasc diego people have their fucking shit together because that HITS DIFFERENT. i think done right, it adds so much to his character in AU’s and stuff and it’s just rly cute!! but bisexual diego is a very fanon thing that i like to see.

allison- i think probably straight and cis once again. she seems very comfy and happy in her femininity and gender, and her with ray??? (sidenote almond as a ship name makes me lose it ITS SO CUTE). i think she’s always been a big ally to klaus. i can also see her as pan or bi, but pressured to appear as straight by the constant eyes on her since she was like ten. i mean not only was she the only girl, but also a black girl? she was 100% so insecure during her childhood because people were constantly critiquing her. so honestly i don’t think it would be too out of the ordinary to hc her as queer.

klaus- i mean, we all know this one. as far as i know he has been canonically (though not mentioned in show, more like an interview or something) pansexual and non-binary. if not then it’s VERY FANON. directly through the show, we see his attraction to men through dave and also his enjoyment of more feminine clothes and makeup and things like that. i hc him as genderqueer and just generally chilling out and not really caring too much about labels. like a “i’ll fuck you if you’re hot” kind of attitude.

five- now this one might get me some weirdness, but i don’t see five as a cishet man for my hc’ing purposes. a common fanon opinion is that he’s asexual, which i totally like. i also think he’s gay. i guess that would be homoromantic? and also agender. he said no. no. MEN. i think that any romantic hc that does not acknowledge delores is not doing it right, bc holy shit delores is so fucking important to the understanding of his character!!!!! i believe in the interpretation that delores is himself, but a separated part that he forced himself to view as a separate entity to survive the apocalypse. he kind of fucking tricked himself into loving himself, though unfortunately as many people have pointed out, he doesn’t see himself as capable of good. he doesn’t see that delores is him- he can’t. he was down bad though for his mannequin apocalypse wife okay??? they were in love fuck you???? idk sexuality is fluid. let this old man live his life. he’s so tired. also agender, i think they don’t like being called a boy (possibly childhood trauma, possibly gender) but still is okay with “old man”.

ben- he is the token cishet of the upper numbers trio ( 567 icons real and true ). the jennifer incident was heavily implied if not directly and canonically stated to be a romantic issue, and also him and jill!!!! yes it was weird but it was so cute. bring back umbrella ben istg idc about the themes you messed them up in s3 anyway. i would talk more about him BUT HE NEVER GOT ENOUGH FUCKING SCREENTIME EVER AND THE THEMES THE THEMES HIS CHARACTER THEY DIDN- gets shot

viktor- canonically transmasc, canonically a woman enjoyer, ten out of ten character. i love looking at s1 era fics where people would be like. there is no way this guy doesn’t like women. *lesbian headcanons*. and elliot page just slaying with the queer rep season after season. i think he/they pronouns for viktor is really good and i like it :)). also some people hc them as bi because of harold (or for weird reasons but we don’t talk about that-) but i think it’s more of a lesbian thing personally. now. don’t come after me i’m not looking for he/him lesbian discourse on my pride month fandom post. AND FURTHERMORE elliot page is a king and he doesn’t deserve in any way the crazy hate he gets for being trans. trans men are men, trans ppl are valid etc. that being said, i hc him as a he/they lesbian. RESPECTFULLY. i imagine there were a lot of complicated factors while he was coming out and realizing things about themself. i think the harold thing was wanting to be wanted and loved more that actually wanting or loving, and you know we all gotta have that spicy *heteronormativity* woohoo.

bonus LILA (queen)- bisexual!! also she/they hc’s are valid asf for that. we love a queen who can do both. not sure if this is partial or full canon, or just heavy fandom but idc.

okay byyeeee happy pride month and also have a good juneteenth. black lives matter!!!!!

[gren-aade]

It’s 3 fucking am in the morning last night and I wondered about songs of war plot in my head about how why there are no fucking civil war in ardonia when Rendor stepped down as a supreme king of ardonia. Like that shit happened every time in a normal political gap when absent of absolute ruler create power vacuumed. And also how other species reacted to this especially the ardoni. Do they always under ender knight controlled? They seem to have rule over themselves but what about their interactions with other species? Also the nether should attacked after enderknight disappeard right? Then how other kingdoms govern themselves. Do they have a group of senate? Or there are king of their owns. Why tf can’t we have the first Great War as a main story it’s 10x more interesting than the entire canon ender arc god damn it-

also long time no see gren. I love you

-old songs of war fan, currently rookie writer.

Hey there! Sorry for replying so late! School's been bothering me lately. I'll try my best to answer your questions, apologies in advance for any lore-related errors :D

"why there are no fucking civil war in ardonia when Rendor stepped down as a supreme king of ardonia"

Yeah, I do agree with your first question. How did the kingdoms not fall into civil war when their people rebelled against the End Monarchy? Wouldn't the power vacuum presented be literally ripe for the taking???

Btw If there was a Civil War then the Nether would've exploited this instability and attacked the Overworld sooner hgdsfgdshjs. A civil war that ended right before the Nether invasion could also explain the kingdoms' ill-preparedness

"how other species reacted to this especially the ardoni"

I don't know much about SoW lore except Ardoni lore so I'll answer the Ardoni part.

The Ardoni probably remained more or less the same due to the End's loose grip on them. I'd like to imagine that the End Monarchy probably let the Ardoni do their own thing so the Ardoni aren't displeased with their dictators. With the Ardoni being one of the oldest and most important inhabitants of Ardonia (given that the entire continent was named after them), losing the Ardoni's favour would mean losing the political legitimacy of ruling over Ardonia, given that the Ender Monarchs are humans iirc.

Moreover, as the Ardoni do possess Songs, which are extremely dangerous and versatile magic powers, an Ardoni rebellion would be extremely hard to quell. That's why I think the End Monarchs would be more lax to the Ardoni compared to the humans.

It seems like the people rebelled, in the end, so I guess the Ardoni were unhappy with their Ender dictator.

Are they always under Enderknight Control?

In the production files, a rough timeline of the plot is found, which puts the event of End vs Nether before the beginning of Ardoni civilization. I don't know if that's related to the Overworld? The question of when did the End began to rule over the Overworld remains unanswered.

The rest of the questions require a lot of brainpower to answer so I'll just answer the final one since it's the least demanding XD Maybe another day I'll take on those political questions you raised :')

Why tf can't we have the first great war as a main story it's 10x more interesting than the entire canon Ender Arc god damn it-

Soooo trueee!!! The First Great War had vibrant, legendary characters like Achillean, Ingressus, Galleous, Thalleous, Vulcannus, Pythus, Chronos, Rendor etc.... While our MC Senn's just... Here? (No offense he still has his struggles and an arc). Heck even Abbigail's more interesting! I wish we got to see more pre- and during First Great War content TwT

My final comment on SoW:

That's it for tonight! Hope we can get to chat again Anon! (Hopefully I can get to know who you are so I can reciprocate your feelings XDD) I wish you good luck with your writing endeavours ;)

[shinji-hibiki]

passes microphone to u tell us ur shinji ships

Oh boy. oh bouyyyyyyyy.

Ok anyone super familiar with me knows that my #1 shinji romance is shinji/hakupo tsukishiro. i had seen both of them used separately in an ancient utau medley video. neither of their voicebanks were used very well. but i was obsessed with their designs. they were my favourites out of the bunch and contrasted so well w each other so i made them duet suki kirai . they don’t have super concrete personalities so it’s really fun to imagine them as a silly ‘opposite-type’ romance where they endearingly bother each other and act as each other’s grounding force. Even more fun if you consider a UTAUniversity or similar setting where shinji is a rowdy and delinquent band club member and hakupo is a carefree, slacker-type guy :*]

I’m surprised I’m not more into shinji/nitarou otodamaya because that’s definitely the most ‘canon’ character duo. It’s fun to imagine them as childhood friends who are really close and not afraid to be affectionate w each other… and since im a gay guy with a bad habit of crushing on friends i know that theres definitely some kind of deep-seated longing in one or both parties. Maybe they had something once but continued on as friends. Maybe they fooled around one night and never spoke of it again. Maybe nothing has happened yet but it inches closer. But I definitely enjoy their dynamic of ‘reckless guy being an enabler to his voice of reason’ lolol

A pair I’ve been considering a LOT recently is shinji/piggy!!!! Piggy’s VP (buuta) is in the vkeiloid circle and thus she counts as part of their entourage. to me. I’m really bad at distinguishing whether a character pairing is platonic or romantic and dont really care at this point. Shinji and piggy in my brain go on shopping trips and dinner dates and out to karaoke. it’s interesting 2 imagine them bonding with each other over living in the city and being part of subculture scenes. I imagine they have a really compatible dynamic where they can talk really easily to each other and are just really loose and comfortable being weird together.

Shinji/soho is another really funny one I consider being similar in nature to him and piggy. Soho to me is kind of a free agent where he’s noncommittal but affectionate towards anyone he’s friends with. Shinji is probably one of soho’s closest friends where he feels comfortable being totally real to him. they’ve seen everything and love each other dearly. But like at the same time soho is also in a fucked up love triangle with nitarou and kotaro because they’re all friends and in a band and theyre all kind of gay about it

^and of course on that tangent i am also dedicated to the idea that Yes Everyone In Shinji’s Band Is Kind Of In Love With Each Other. or at display a lot of affection and are just generally really close. I like to think that they all live in a cramped apartment together with a really big bed that they all cuddle together in. I have a lot of feelings about the individual relationships between band members but i need more time to think about that before i write it down lolol. but in the meantime here’s an awesome chart showing some of it. i bet i even forgot some of it but oh well

well i hope u enjoyed reading all of that :*] its a lot but im actually really glad someone prompted me to get all my thoughts out about shinji romance. love you

[ms-all-sunday]

Hi!! <3 I'm @beanghostprincess (this is just my main acc) and I think you're one of the few people I've seen who don't like OPLA and honestly? Props to you for saying it out loud because I think people are just so protective over the live-action I never feel like I can talk freely and honestly about my real opinion on the show. So, if you don't mind, I'm just gonna drop here the biggest fucking text ever about it. You don't need to reply if you don't feel like it, but I'm so glad to have found people who probably feel the same way as me about OPLA.

I liked the live-action as in a "the cast is amazing and it was enjoyable to watch" way, but aside from that? The whole thing is just weird to me. I hate the direction, first and foremost. Most of the scenes lack emotion and proper stage indications and the shots are just... Not it. They use too many close-ups (for some reason I do not understand yet when the backgrounds they use are stunning and they could've used that to their advantage a lot) and insisted on referencing the "comic/manga style" the anime does when putting different shots of people on the screen when it doesn't look that good in a live-action if you don't do it properly (it could've been nice if the shots weren't always fucking close-ups. I'm a hater. I'm sorry). Besides, what's with the fisheye lens shots with blurry edges? It bothers me so much. And if I keep complaining about the direction and producing I might probably never finish, but I think a lot of scenes needed way more emotion and it's not only about the actors. They're great and they did a good job, but you can't expect them to carry everything on their backs and I think OPLA needed more indications in some scenes.

Leaving that behind, a lot of people keep saying that the changes they made in the plot are good because an adaptation doesn't have to be exactly like in the anime, because then it would be the same and the cool thing about adaptations is choosing the best parts to make people interested in the story and make them watch the original. And even though I sort of agree with this statement, the changes they made were utterly stupid even for a stand-alone show. I have different complaints about the characters (not Buggy, though, OPLA Buggy my beloved. And also Sanji, because I think they did it great with Taz and Zeff. Nothing to say there) but to summarize:

They ruined Nami's story and character. And it's not even because of the differences between OPLA and the manga, it's because it doesn't make any sense within the show itself. She grows too attached to the crew way too fast despite her personality and resilience to make friends. For some reason, she has a ton of scenes with Zoro that could've been used for a lot of character development and friendship within the crew as a whole or just between Nami and Luffy (which are the main focus in Arlong Park). Her decisions are rushed and don't make any sense with her character most of the time. The fact that she was the one to approach Arlong first but then she's seen as a prisoner instead of an ally is just stupid as a whole. The fact that Nojiko hates her only to make more drama happen seems irrational and unnecessary to me, honestly. And the fact that Luffy hears her story? When the whole point is that he doesn't want to hear it? It drives me insane in the worst way.

That being said, now that I mention Luffy: He's wayyyy too vocal here, I think. Like, I'm glad we can see more of his POV but I think the fun about Luffy's character is that you can read between the lines of his character and just get what he wants to say with actions instead of just words. I get that he's very direct and blunt most of the time in canon too, but when it comes to Nami? They don't need words. So the whole "Nami getting mad at him for letting Zoro be hurt and saying verbally that not everyone gets to achieve their dreams" (which, again, doesn't make sense for her character and it's unnecessary) and "Luffy telling her explicitly to rely on them" (when, for Luffy's empathetic personality that adapts to what other people need, doesn't make sense because he'd choose a subtler and active approach instead of a verbal one). And in general, I think Luffy (even though I love Iñaki. Iñaki my beloved- This is a script thing and has nothing to do with him) needed more action and less talking. More physical communication. Less close-up shots for God's sake-

Usopp is only used as a comedy relief character and literally does nothing in his own fucking arc. So. Yeah. Whatever. I keep saying I'm not mad but as an Usopp fan I am indeed very mad.

Sanji is perfect. Mwah, mwah. My only complaint is that they could have used better takes when he talks about the All Blue to Luffy and do it in a place where he can look at the sea instead of being in the kitchen. But well, perhaps you can use it as a metaphor about him feeling trapped or whatever. I honestly think it would've looked better with more beautiful shots but meh, it's just a lil thing and I don't mind.

Then Zoro. A lot of people have complained about Mackenyu not giving the same silly energy Zoro has pre-time skip. And even though I agree wholeheartedly, I think he has the capacity to be like that and the main issue here is the lack of indications. I think that, if they had worked on his scenes a bit more, it would have been more in character. I have a lot of issues about the staging in the scene where he promises Luffy to never lose again, but perhaps that's just me and my silly little complaints.

I know they used the marines to make the show more interesting and have a main villain but it literally led them NOWHERE in the end. Not complaining about Kobymeppo because I enjoyed their scenes an insane amount and they're definitely a highlight of the live-action, however, most of the scenes they use for the marines could've been used to make the crew grow closer and make their personalities more accurate.

And etc, etc, etc. I have more things to say but damn this is long af and I don't want you to spend an hour reading my opinion on OPLA. I'm just glad to see I'm not the only one who didn't like the show much. It's good for the vibes and the actors but the show itself has a weird pacing and the characters are portrayed in a very rushed and artificial way, if you know what I mean. Idk.

Sorry for the long text </3

No I want this I want to spend an hour reading your opla opinions. I MADE this blog specifically for people to infodump back and forth with me. this is my intent.

you articulated almost exactly why i dont like opla too, i pride myself in being a pleasant person to interact with even if youre an opla fan but you know as an opla hater you're seen as That Guy and want to avoid being That Guy? Despite my smoke and mirrors, I am that guy.

if you mention to me that you enjoy any aspect of namis writing in opla i... try to be understanding? its really hard for me because namis writing in opla sends me into a rage filled fugue state. i also never ever just personally would ever want to interact with someone who thought that legitimately, it sounds like a nightmare.

i also have similar feelings on usopp (i think the way they treated him was weirdly racially charged? im white so i cant speak on this fully but the way he was adapted was certainly imo to the same level of bad as nami)

nami is just also a character who i hold really fucking close to my heart for a lot of reasons because i share a lot of experiences with her i feel i can articulate fully why her treatment in OPLA is so bad.

i say this all with the sentiment that i love all of the actors because i feel like they were playing deliberately to make up for the bad writing

(minus emily rudd who i will not sugarcoat this has the worst performance out of all of them which i dont think is her fault- inaki doesnt do as well at luffy as id like him to but when the luffy writing is in character in episode 6 only he does actually do very well. i just think the script is never ever on her side ever.)

So zoro and nami scenes. a friend of mine had a similar question to yours and i responded with "they didnt have the suicide-attempt flirting scene in this version and they felt they had to make up for it" but ill elaborate a little more here. in arlong park, that scene (and also scenes in previous arcs with zoro and nami bickering) and also sanjis scenes with nami in the baratie set up both zoro and sanji as people who like and respect nami.

ideologically, within the context of op itself the way they treat nami post her lashing out is affected by this, zoro respects her enough to see her as a threat (its more complicated than that but to simplify) and sanji views her as a complicated human being because of his own experiences and assumes the best of her. we all know this why am i repeating it? well OPLA fucks it up. it sets up zoro and namis relationship fine, which ultimately doesnt pay off in the end with this conflict because its essentially nonexistent within opla and is seen as "nami was OUR friend first" which is ... the fact matt owens thinks this is how this should go tells you a lot.

deep breathe in

speaking of which.

so i didnt notice this first time around to the degree i notice it now so i dont blame you but the sanji writing in opla is . quite bad (it just looks very pretty coming out of taz' mouth and also next to the absolute dogshit way the other characters were treated in comparison). the worst of it i think is his relationship with other characters specifically nami oh god christ they butchered that relationship so much.

i dont need to tell you why OPLAs sexual harassment joke played for feminism is bad. you know why its bad. but i think the way i previously thought of it as "namis writing being bad" is somewhat incorrect.

if you write sanji as unambiguously part of a sexual harassment joke thats bad sanji writing. (if you think the original jokes in op proper were sexual harassment jokes you can at least admit to them mostly being ambiguous and if they were it was never directed at nami, who fully was in control of sanji)

but it was confirmed in an interview that one of the showrunners of opla itself did an interview pre release to say that quote "sanji is going to be less of a simp" (simp has an entire history of sexist usage i do not think he was just using it because its popular slang now) which means at least one of the directors thought the issue with sanji is that he was being emasculated by nami.

and because he didn't want sanji to be emasculated, within the context of opla sanji does not treat nami preferably due to his views on women but because he explicitly has romantic feelings for her, which then does two things: 1. ruins his entire conflict with zoro and why its interesting in the first place. 2. makes him more of a creep.

it also spoils sanjis character, sanji is not a masculine person who is trying to fit into masculinity, and because of how the show views him as inherently all of these things he claims to be, the struggle with him and gender is not articulated on enough because the again. at least one of the directors thought that was emasculating and appearently that's all he gleaned from sanji and namis interactions.

i will say taz skylar is an amazing actor and can fucking act the living shit out of sanji to the degree where i do not blame literally anybody for thinking the sanji writing is good. its not good. its just comparably a bit less evil all of the time than everybody else is. (which makes him the best written OPLA character. but that's not a feat.)

before i get into my big point which ties into basically all of my criticisms with opla. inaki godoy is good at luffy when hes given a script that actually is in character for luffy and writes him fully as autistic. OPLA luffy is allistic but still adhd to me. also i will literally never forgive them for the comment zoro makes towards the beginning of the baratie it really felt like they were avoiding saying the r slur. okay. that out of the way

...

so i bring a "OPLA was politically censored" vibe to the party that nobody likes, like to me its just obvious and i cant believe more people dont talk about the fact a lot of changes made within the story that were bad were to accommodate political censorship?

like nobodys mentioned directly any political censorship from netflix publicly, but i dont know how to else to describe the changes within OPLA

luffy literally says "be a good cop" in this version of the story and koby is no longer treated like a guy who is annoying and ultimately wrong but well intentioned and is instead The Neoliberal Mouthpiece who luffy (despite in canon literally forgetting he exists) loves for some reason? also buggy is done well i agree but i cannot not factor in the fact they made him way worse in this version.

it wouldnt be a bad decision on its own but that compounded with like... garp getting all the credit for restructuring the marine base and the everything with him in syrup village (i literally have not finished opla syrup village because of the beginning. my fucking god) like it just reads to me open as a book that netflix did NOT like that cops were getting punched. its the little things, too?

like bellamere actually scolding nami in front of genzo for stealing the book and making her pay it back instead of letting her keep it? nobody would change that if they weren't going at it from a "i need to change this because politics"

this brings me back to sanji again and also what i feel ultimately factors into a lack of acknowledgement of the queer themes in op. i feel that even at its best points, the baratie (OPLA), refuses to fully engage with the material its given in a well intentioned manner? (this is a sidenote but the fact fullbody in OPLA is made to fight with a pirate instead of just. be fullbody)

I do not think sanjis struggle with masculinity was conveyed enough. its less that his shit is actively bad like the rest of them (except in scenes with nami) and more just. passively bad? which is frustrating. which then brings me into um so every single acknowledgement of any kind of bigotry that one piece does is not mentioned within OPLA at all or is really toned down. like khaladore. DO not get me started.

summarization on the thoughts on khaladore (because this post is already too long): they made him "not bigoted" and also not an abusive paternal figure towards kaya and yet somehow at the same time refused to handle any of the sensitive subject matter he tackles with any kind of tact whatsoever? speaking as a khaladore fan who enjoys his protrayal of abuse within op itself and its one of the reasons i was first endeared towards one piece...

maybe OPLAs showrunners shouldnt be adapting a story with a lot of sensitive subjects if going by how theyve historically handled them theyre dogshit at it. just a thought. acting cannot save everything.

EDIT: source for oplas showrunner calling sanji a simp

[yourleftpinkytoe-blog]

The Bi Andrew controversy and my opinion on some people’s reactions

-Okay so ik this is a dead topic but it’s been on my mind since this all went down and i feel like i have the words to describe my feelings on it. But first i want to preface that im not trying to start a fight with this i just have some thoughts i really want to get off my chest.-

I made a post when the whole thing was going down and honestly I really didn’t get what I ment across. It was a mess of angry ranting that people couldn’t understand without me explaining in the comments. Sorry for that btw.

When I’m being honest the whole reaction to Nora revealing that in most drafts Andrew was bisexual made me kinda sick to my stomach as a gay man. It was just legions of people celebrating the fact that “thank god he wasn’t actually gay” or “now I don’t feel bad for wanting to fuck him as a woman cause he was bi the whole time!!”. And idk sometimes about that reaction just really bothered me (I wonder why)

I would have no problem with bi Andrew if he was canon. (I’d love him just as much as I love canon Andrew) it just doesn’t make sense to me that so many people were so happy when Nora told about his different orientation in the drafts. I dead ass saw people claiming Andrew was now bi in canon because of this. There was a brief uptake in andrewxrenee shipping (idc what u ship I’m using this as a point) so many people just acting like he was not gay in the text because it was different in the drafts.

A characters sexuality is an important aspect of them. Like let’s take Neil for example, he is demisexual/demiromantic. That is an important part of his character as a whole. Hell it’s pretty inseparable from him, it is a part of what makes Neil, Neil. The same can be said about Andrew. His homosexuality is a large part of what built him as a person. If he was bi then that would have been an integral part of his character. And to see people practically giddy over the fact that in the drafts he was bi and then using that to diminish his canon sexuality was icky.

-I do want to quick say that when I say that Andrew’s being gay was an important factor in shaping him as a person I’m referring to that being a thing he needed to cope with after what happened to him in his childhood not that what happened in his childhood was because he was gay. I don’t want to get the wrong idea across lol. Also if he was bi that would have also been a thing he would have needed to cope with because no matter what he is still into men.-

Ik it’s a classic talking point but let’s switch the situation around. Say Andrew was bi in canon and Nora confirmed that he was gay in most drafts. Then with that info people started celebrating the fact that “HES NOT ACTUALLY BI!!”. That is a really uncomfortable thing to read, right.

It was not ok just cause it was gay->bi and it would not be ok if it was bi->gay.

-Just another thing if Andrew was bi there would be no problem. People resorting to biphobia over this whole situation were wrong and deserve to called tf out for their shit. A character being bi in drafts is absolutely no excuse to resorting to real world bigotry. If u did that ur gross and wrong-

I can understand a small bit about how if you are bi seeing a character you love also be bi probably feels great. But hey I and other gay men see the stuff ur saying and it kinda (really) hurts.

(Quick tw: brief mention of irl csa. Plz don’t read if that is a trigger for u)

-sorry for so many side notes. I just want to be open for a sec. I am a gay guy with a decent amount of sexual trauma. Andrew is the best example of a character in media who I see myself in. And idk there is something about how fast some people were to jump on the bandwagon of this was really uncomfortable for me to see. It’s probably stupid that this situation upset me as much as it did and I’m sorry for bringing this back up.-

[crypticbeliever123]

Someone who's watched the 2003 TMNT series recently as an adult please tell me, am I really the only one who thinks it's overrated?

Like it has to be nostalgia right?

Utrom Shredder stopped feeling like a real threat in season 2 partly because he stopped having as menacing a presence as season 1 and mostly because he lets Hun and Stockman get away with far too much. Like it's hard to take him seriously when he makes more threats than he carries out.

Karai was barely the Shredder at all even though she got the title sequence for a season and a half even as season 5 was hyping up the tengu Shredder who because he looked, acted, and sounded basically just like the old Shredder but give him mystic powers had the same danger feeling as Ch'rell, to me at least.

Plus I know I've read something about how the Justice Force existing in TMNT is justified by "if the audience can accept talking ninja turtles why not superheroes" but that just brings up the question of WHY THE FUCK DO THE TURTLES EVEN HIDE?! Like Dr. Dome has a see through skull and nobody bats an eye, but the humanoid turtles who interact with homeless folks on the regular who assume they're just REALLY into cosplay, would freak everyone out????

Plus it seems like the first few seasons really liked to save the animation budget with flashback recaps of previous events or felt the need to over explain things that have happened even when every character in the room ALREADY KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED. Casey and April's romance is bland and boring but at times I'd almost rather watch an entire series of them instead of hearing the turtles remind us of what we and the other characters in the room already know.

Season 2 also had the annoying habit of having multi-part episodes which is fine if you do one or two 2-parters per season but season 2 had if I recall the 5-part Fugitoid arc and then two separate 2-part arcs for the Triceraton invasion. I had this same issue with the og Justice League series where all but one episode was a multi-parter and just makes the story feel dragged out.

Then there's Stockman who keeps being revived and kept as a brain in a jar for evil science even though HE'S LITERALLY INCOMPETENT AND UNTRUSTWORTHY!!! Why tf do Ch'rell and Bishop keep him around, especially after he backstabbed Ch'rell in the climax of season 1 and caused an entire mutation outbreak in season 4? Just let the megalomaniacal moron rest in fucking peace already!

Also can we just talk about how Hun was the original simp? Like that man was so fucking devoted to Utrom Shredder that even in a dystopian realm where Ch'rell had fused him to Stockman and was literally going to execute him this purple dragon bitch still begged for his master to take him back! Like we get it, Hun, you want to ride the Shredder's alien dick. Good God that man was loyal not to a fault but beyond fault. Never seen a bigger simp in animation before or since I swear.

The turtles don't feel like teenagers except Mikey and it's mostly because of their voices. They all sound like adults.

The garbage man did not need to exist. Most disgusting fatphobic and ableist caricature of villainy I've ever laid eyes on and his episodes are just gross.

Master Splinter calling Yoshi his father in the season 3 finale felt like it came out of nowhere. And I don't recall him calling Yoshi that afterward either.

Splinter knowing Shredder was an Utrom was a stupid retcon and just causes problems like my guy you couldn't have bothered to tell your sons that cutting off the Shredder's head would be pointless? And the Guardians were already canonically in the know in season 1 and didn't think anything of it when Shredder's head came off like "well done Leonardo you definitely killed the Shredder and we have no reason to inspect the body or be concerned whatsoever". The foreshadowing for the Utroms is great in some aspects but it makes retcons and general writing like this feel so stupid.

And lastly and this might just be me but the humor just doesn't hit home for me. It's funny in a way but not always. And the dialogue feels forced or stilted at times. I just don't get the hype and I want to.

This isn't to hate on any fans. I'm just genuinely curious what y'all see in this show that I just don't. Like what you like but please tell me why so I can maybe see the merits of it myself.

Like the main good point I can see is Leo's trauma arc but that's so late in the series it's just...

[lestatslefttit]

Please stop beautifying mutilated characters

TW: major spoilers for the Shadow and Bone trilogy (post Siege & Storm/book 2) and minor spoilers for Sally Face

Very random rant about smth that’s been bothering me for a while.

Why can’t people just let “disfigured” (I looked for a different word that explains what exactly I mean and couldn’t find it, but I’m aware that it’s not okay to say that about someone, I’m just trying to express what I mean as specifically as possible) be “disfigured”???!!

I’m so tired of seeing people draw characters like Sal Fisher and Genya Safin as just pretty faces with a couple scars. Can we be for real for 2 fucking seconds? I don’t wanna put any of the fanart I’m talking about in this post because I don’t wanna call out any artist in particular, I’m sure most, if not all, mean well doing this, I just think it’s a little fucked.

Sal’s face was messed up when he was a kid. Canonically a whole piece of his jaw is missing. The cartilage of his nose is at least partially missing. He is not a pretty anime boy with a few lines on his face. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. That’s doesn’t make him a better or a worse person, it’s just a fact about his appearance. It says absolutely nothing about who he is but it is an important part of his character and definitely impacts his actions and personality.

When Alina first sees Genya after what happened to her, this is how she’s described (literally copied and pasted from the fucking book)

“It was not Baghra. I didn’t know what it was. The bites were everywhere, raised black ridges of flesh, twisting lumps of tissue that could never be healed, not by Grisha hand or by any other, the unmistakable marks of the nichevo’ya. Then I saw the faded flame of her hair, the lovely amber hue of her one remaining eye.”

She looks so different that Alina doesn’t recognize her. At first she describes her as a “what”, because that’s how affected her appearance was by that happened to her. So you’re gonna sit here and tell me that it’s perfectly sensible to draw her (post nichevo’ya) exactly the same as before but with a cute little eyepatch and a few lines over her face? Stop trying to beautify characters that have had accidents like this. They’re not conventionally pretty and that’s not a fucking character flaw.

I absolutely hate policing people’s art. Draw thin characters fat, give able bodied character disabilities if you want, make characters black or Asian or whatever you want, I’m all for representation, but please don’t erase this important part of who they are. Because it is an important part of who they are. It impacts so much of their lives in canon. And we can still love them exactly how they look. We should still love them exactly how they look, without trying to erase these horrible things that happened to them.

I chose to focus on these two characters in particular because they’re the ones I’ve seen this being done to the most, but this is true for any characters who have suffered through horrible things that heavily changed their appearance.

And before someone comments on this saying that it’s just fictional characters and all that bullshit, I’m well aware. I’m also well aware that this post is not gonna change jack shit and people are still gonna draw Genya and Sal and any other characters who don’t look “normal” as pretty, conventional faces and there’s nothing I can do about that. I have no intention of fighting with any artist that chooses to do this. I’m just asking that if you are one of the people who choose to erase these kind of physical characteristics about these characters, that you ask yourself why you feel the need to do it. If you like the character enough to want to draw them, why can’t you actually like them how they are? If you read all this and still don’t give a shit, good for you, that’s not my business. I just thought it was worth bringing this up.

Anyways, if anyone wants to actually have a discussion about this I’ll be happy to, this has just been bothering me for a long time and I felt like ranting about it. Hopefully at least one person actually stops to thinks because of this post. Maybe no one will. That’s okay.

If you have had an accident that left your appearance similar to one of these characters, I hope you can still see representation in them, no matter how their appearance is treated by the fandom, and I hope you know that you are worthy of love no matter what you look like.