#the writers aren't playing games and I respect that

[lets-try-some-writing]

Finally got around to reading and catching up on the Skybound 2023 comic.

I was not prepared.

[seffyriath]

okay here is my weird take about what emet-selch might have done regarding zenos and whatever "experiment" was going on

Joke answer: he's a dragon stuffed into a human body

serious answer: it's the same as the joke answer but longer and explained in an incoherent way.

i think we've been given hints about what the fuck was going on with Varis's Large Adult Son even after endwalker, but i need to reference other things to do that, so let's break it down:

-We have been given more insight into how Memories and Souls work and interact in this setting, especially after Dawntrail. We know that it's possible to implant memories onto a soul that didn't originally have them, and it works fine if you have the technology to do this

-Emet-Selch's whole job involved souls and the lifestream

-We've seen Athena also bring back ancients, in a temporary way, by reconstituting soul stuff and grabbing the memories for those ancients, since souls and memories are essentially different kinds of aether. if you've played FFVII at all, you already know this. one would assume that Emet-Selch would manage reconstituting souls a lot better

-there are some memories that are so powerful that they are blasted or etched into your soul, which is why some faded memories can stick around from past lives

-We know that Emet-Selch was seriously thinking of a way to bring the ancients back without rejoinings, and this was probably attempted via his literal large adult sons and their descendants.

-dragon's souls, as far as we know, are unsundered.

-fitting with the Sephiroth and Jenvoa parallel, they are also canonically aliens

about Zenos:

-the devs have said that he was "born wrong" and that's why he's like that. this seems different than "born evil" because Lyse assumes that this wasn't the case, and that's not the normal philosophy for the game. characters have been wrong before, but if he was experimented on, this is likely referencing Sephiroth, who was also born wrong on purpose, as a joke, via tampering in the womb

-people in the world still have vague, ephemeral memories of the ancients, but Zenos is different. Zenos has upsettingly visceral memories of the final days but he also views the world like the ancients do, particularly regarding accomplishing your life's purpose and then dying right after as a positive thing. this is why his actions at the end of stormblood do not read as suicidal to not just me, but the characters. they're really confused about why he does this! Zenos acting the way he does seems to be the answer to why the ancients tried to emphasize a more communal existence, because what happens when the most powerful motherfucker on earth is also a prince in an extremely hierarchical society? you get Zenos

-However, Zenos also follows the rule of beasts and is much more beastlike, similar to dragons. Dragons aren't evil, but they have extremely different cultures and views than humans, because they're functionally immortal and don't need to reproduce. they are power manifest, and can easily take over an ecosystem. Midgardsomr's covenant with Hydaelyn most likely prevents this, but the point is that dragons are pure power, and that's what they respect the most. like Zenos, although being raised as he was probably made this even worse

-Zenos seems pretty dysphoric, but it doesn't seem to be directed at any gender. he's stated that he doesn't care about his name one way or the other, and that he only wants his body back from Elidibus because of how powerful it is. he otherwise doesn't seem to care about normal human experiences, like human food or sex, or just companionship in general with other humans. as far as food goes, he's the only villain to do this, as the writers tend to get into what foods the characters like in the lore books, even the villains. you can't really say that this is just the product of being a royal or someone in power. even Thordan has a favorite food, and even Varis had a childhood friend, who we've actually met.

-both in The Hunt Begins and in general, Zenos actively wants to be able to use and manipulate aether. this is odd, since Garleans are constantly told that magic is evil and bad, but Zenos goes out of his way to try to do this, including piercing himself with a crystal where the aether exchange could kill him. this could be because his great grandfather is a sorcerer of eld. it could be because dragons not being able to use magic would feel extremely unnatural to him. why not both?

-He seems. REALLY excited when he transforms into Shinryu. like, weirdly excited. i get it, it would probably own being a dragon, and you could say that he was just really excited about fighting the wol the first time, but this has happened twice now, and every time he almost sounds like Susano with how excited he is. it's a total fucking mood shift. also in his last fight he still keeps the Shinryu attacks. since it's in a place that's ruled by emotions, one has to assume that he's attached to them

-He literally has a horde (of weapons)? i know we don't see a lot of FFXIV dragons do this, but Vrtra has a horde that he uses as a bank. what's up with that.

-He doesn't really have a coda yet, and while i don't think he's going to be brought back, or that he NEEDS to be brought back, the wol seems like they're just starting to be comfortable with thinking about what Zenos's deal is with enough time and distance

-how d. how did he know that dragons can just lay eggs like that. yeah he could have READ about it but like. how did he figure out how to do that in the fight. and why. why did he just doooo thaaaat.

IN CONCLUSION i think that in a bid to try to bring ancients back into the world through unnatural means, Emet-Selch took the closest recently dead unsundered soul he could find at the time (a dragon's), imprinted some of his memories onto it (as one would do when making the convocation crystals) and put that shit in a baby. thanks.

[gartenofbanny]

Morally, gray characters are those with complex motivations or goals that aren't simply right or wrong. One of my favorite morally gray characters in fiction is Jason Todd from DC. The second Robin that Batman failed to save, who ended up dying at the hands of the Joker and resurrected by Ra's Al Ghul.

Given a second chance at life, he comes to a revelation that villains should NOT be left alive. Villains, especially the Joker, have caused the suffering of thousands of people, as said by Jason Todd in Under The Red Hood.

Leaving villains alive will risk more innocent lives and graveyards to be filled when it easily could have been prevented.

But there is an opposite argument that does have merit to it. In DC, there is a crook turned superhero named Plastic Man who, after multiple chances, turned his life around for the better.

At the end of the day, Jason is ending a human life. A life with the potential to convert and change for the better. They're capable of changing, but it's a risky game to play. This is what makes Jason Todd a morally gray character. You understand his motivations, and depending on who you are, you agree or disagree with his actions. There is no easy answer for a topic like this.

So, what about Alastor? Well, he's just not a good person at all. Does he do some good things? Yeah, but he mostly does them in exchange, which will benefit him. He doesn't do anything out of the kindness of his heart (if he even has one), nor does he do stuff, which he believes is right.

So, as always, this blog will be separated into two sections listing the reasons why I don't believe Alastor is morally gray, starting off with status.

Alastor is an Overlord who makes contracts with other demons to get them to submit their souls. Alastor has many souls in his possession, including Husk, and he holds all of them in for power. Immediately, this is not what a morally gray character is. I have yet to see a morally gray character who enslaves other people just to further their goals because that's just what an evil person would do.

And it's not like Alastor had no choice or did it for the greater good or did it to simply defend himself. He ambushed Overlords, took their souls, and broadcasted their fucking screams across Hell to show the denizens of Hell that he means business. He wants people to be afraid of him or respect him for his power.

Secondly, there's just him as a person. He genuinely sucks. Everything he does, he usually does it for himself or because he's told to by a higher power. He helps Charlie just so he could watch the Sinners fail for laughs. He helps Vaggie with the commercial so he wouldn't have to make one ever again. He makes a deal with Charlie in exchange for a favor he'll likely use to his advantage in the future. All of these "kind" actions are usually in exchange for something else, he doesn't do anything out of the kindness of his heart just to further his own agenda.

And if you really think about it, Alastor contributed very little to the hotel despite making a deal with Charlie that he would help her. They only got one new patron, which was Sir Pentious, and it stayed that way for 6 months. Apparently, Charlie, Vaggie, and Alastor suck at their job if they can't bring any new members lmao. And no, just because a villain did something nice for once doesn't make them morally gray.

Thanos helped an old lady cross the street just so he could ruin some woman's life, that definitely doesn't make him morally gray.

Morally, gray characters are complicated, and that's what makes them interesting. Alastor isn't complicated. He's just a power-hungry psycho who eats people and wants to have fun. He's the perfect example of simplicity.

Just because Alastor will potentially be a morally gray character or complicated character in the future doesn't mean he is one now. And I say potentially because the writers of Hazbin and Helluva like to set things up with underwhelming payoffs. But that's a future blog for a different day.

In conclusion, Alastor is not a good person. He's a bad guy, and just because he's the protagonist doesn't make him any less evil or any more good. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a good one. ❤️‍🔥

[lillybearrie]

Hello I would like to remind everyone that the first (technically second if you wanna get really technical but who cares) thing we heard from fable was

"Release Me,

You are free of Enderian, now focus on purpose"

Directed at Icarus

"Now focus on your purpose"????? WHAT HAPPENED TO "HI" "HELLO" "HOW ARE YOU MY SON"

BECAUSE NEWSFLASH SIR THAT'S NOT HOW YOU TALK TO YOUR FUCKING CHILD

THEY AREN'T A FUCKING ROBOT TO TAKE AND CARRY OUT YOUR ORDERS THAT'S YOUR GODDAMN KID!

PEOPLE TREATED SEVEN WITH MORE FAMIARITY AND RESPECT

no offense to seven great guy rip man BUT STILL

Anyway on to actual analysis

After reading this note, several deductions can be made about our antagonist's character right off the bat, which in season 3 we see to be accurate assumptions

First of all the sending of the note "release me" constantly at the beginning of every reset presumably for the past several ones gives us a base line of a few things A) whoever wrote it is trapped B) they really want out C) whomever was to recive the note presumably can help with this D) this person is either very angry and resorting to formal wording as a form of passive aggression or they are simply a very formal person Had this not been the case they would have written "let me out" or "get me out" or even "help me"

Now for the post-corruption portion

"You are free of Enderian"

1) this person knows Enderian 2) This person knows at least of Icarus 3) They intentionally have been sending these to Icarus 4) despite being trapped they have some way to know what is going on 5) their particular view of Enderian is not favorable it's not overtly antagonistic however this is the one part of the not that can be read as at least partially sympathetic to Icarus

Finally "Now focus on your purpose"

1) they don't see Icarus as anything but a means to an end 2) tone wise it feels like both the chastisement of a child and an order to an unthinking being 3) "your purpose" seemingly refers to the prior statement of "release me" either implying that the writer believes Icarus is only here to get them out of wherever they are or that Icarus's sole purpose in life is to aid and assist them and 4) the use of "now" after the previous statement implies they view the corruption arc as simply something that was inhibiting the progression of them being let out

First off once again SIR THAT IS YOUR CHILD YOU MOTHERFUCKER-

In conclusion deductions that can be made from this note with the knowledge that i now hold are as follows: Fable wanted out of purgatory, they issued Icarus with the fulfillment of this task and saw the corruption arc as merely a speed bump on the road of getting his ass outta there. Fable is a pretentious douchebag. Like everyone else in his life Fable is constantly using his own son as a means to achieving his end goal.

Other notes:

Had Fable's motivations not been his underlying obsession with keeping what he believes is "his" even when it disrupts and disregards the rules of the universe and the sanctity of life he likely wouldn't have given 2 shits about Icarus.

If we view Fable's interactions with others through the lense of him thinking of those of the overworld as "his" his people his creations his world then it starts to become clearer that he only sees individuals as tools and for their potential usefulness to him. And if we want to take this view even further we could even say that he at least on some level viewed Alerion giving a place for his deceased mortals to restate something akin to how a child views their sibling stealing a toy from their room, which then implies that the war of the gods is just a big temper tantrum where Fable hurt his brother then his other siblings stepped in and went "hey woah man not cool you can hit Al dude he is literally just playing the game" to which Fable's response was to hurt them as well and now he's just got out of timeout and basically started blaming his parents for everything wrong in his life which is so silly goofy of him until you remember that these were people he was upset about his brother "stealing" from him and it becomes less silly goofy.

"But Lilly!" I hear you say because you've totally read this far, mhm definitely "If he doesn't actually care about the dead people, then why does he act nice? Why is his charisma stat so high?" Well to that I say is it easier to keep someone in one spot when you make them believe this is where they wanna be or when they know the whole truth?

[total-drama-brainrot]

Assistant Noah AU, since Noah isn't a contestant, Ezekiel takes Noah's place as a member of Team Chris...

Ezekiel doesn't lose the stick, so there's no eliminations in the Egyptian Episode...

Ezekiel had become Lindsay's and Beth's platonic BFF, and now has a new better respect for women...

Ezekiel is also a bit smarter, and somehow sees through Alejandro's tricks...

How would Alejandro honestly feel about Ezekiel? 😉

I'll take any oppertunity to "save" Ezekiel from his canon treatment, and having him substitute onto Team Chris in Noah's place is a great idea.

But I don't think Alejandro would like him at all.

You've got to understand; Ezekiel is the equivalent of a very misguided, very lost puppy. He's not exactly sure what's going on at the best of times, and after Island his response to the culture shock between his homelife and his life on reality TV is to adopt a fake "cool" personality from whatever pop culture he's managed to consume... which only serves to make him more insufferable to the people around him than his clueless farmboy demeanour ever did.

Had he retained his pre-Total Drama personality and naivety, then Alejandro would tolerate him, if only as an exploitable pawn (much like Tyler). But it's repeatedly shown in canon that Ezekiel is unpleasent to be around by design. He's talkative and outspoken at the worst times, oftentimes with opinions that aren't exactly palatable, he doesn't understand the concept of personal space and acceptable social behaviour, he smells bad, ect ect. Pair this with him mimicking the stereotypical "rapper" demeanour, and you have the perfect foil for Alejandro's nice guy act.

Because Alejandro is very many things, but patient isn't one of them. At least, not in the context of being around people who annoy him. Just look at his canon relationship with Owen; if he couldn't stand to be around Owen of all people, then he'd really hate Ezekiel.

That's not to say that I think Ezekiel is a hateable character. Quite the opposite, really. He's so interesting to think about from a writer's standpoint, since he has a surprising amount of characterisation for a character who spends the majority of his screentime feral and non-verbal. Just enough to base characterisation on, and just little enough to expand upon in whatever way you'd like and not have it feel out of character.

In the given scenario, I'd have him form a friendship with Owen and and Izzy (by this point in the series he's been educated on how his father's mindset is very outdated and toxic, so he's more than happy to befriend a girl). The two of them aren't concerned with things like "coolness" and social acceptability, which would be a huge part of Zeke's character arc in this season - learning how to accept himself for himself, instead of trying to conform to his skewered perspective of what the media deems "hip".

Pairing this with the somewhat limited but amicable relationship he shares with Lindsay on Team Victory, and the intangiable but nonetheless just as impactful influence of Beth who's stuck on the Aftermath, and suddenly Ezekiel has a whole support system of genuinely kind people who can and will help him learn the ropes of modern society. (Give Ezekiel Friends 2k24‼️)

A direct contrast to Alejandro, who's whole deal is presenting himself as a perfect, infalliable person who doesn't really form any friendships. (Unless you count Heather and maybe Courtney?)

See here's where the two of them play the role of "contrasting narritive foil" for each other. Alejandro and Ezekiel are both fueled by their need to prove themselves by winning, but their methodology is entirely different; Alejandro's game plan is to be as fake and perfect as possible whilst sabotaging the competition and inadvertantly isolating himself, and Ezekiel is just doing his best to play fair whilst learning how to be the most authentic version of himself in the proccess with the help of his friends. (Something something the power of friendship...)

Something to note here: Both of them are trying to prove themselves to their families. Alejandro's trying to prove he can be more than second place (to José, or just in general), and Ezekiel is trying to prove that he can withstand the challenges of the world outside of his family's farm (which he never got the chance to, given he was the first boot of the previous two seasons).

As for Ezekiel being "smarter" and seeing through Alejandro's tricks; I'd like to veto that idea and offer you this instead.

Ezekiel has gullibility and naivety practically woven into the threads of his character, so of course he'd be in the same boat as Owen and Tyler. That is to say, he'd initially be one of Alejandro's most staunch defenders, since he doesn't have the intelligence or the instincts to see past his fake exterior, as Ezekiel isn't worldly enough to know how to spot a fake.

And that's exactly what causes Alejandro's downfall.

As stated before, Ezekiel is annoying by design. Pair his enthusiasm with an idolisation towards Alejandro (for being an objectively strong competitor, or whatever reason you want) and you've got the perfect recipe for Alejandro to blow up at Ezekiel once his already negligable patience snaps. Probably in a scene similar to the confrontation he has with Owen in the Amazon.

All of a sudden, Ezekiel has seen Alejandro's true colours and the rose-tinted glasses he's been blinded by come shattering to the ground - and the knowledge that's been painstakingly imparted onto him by Lindsay and Beth comes into play. Alejandro is a bad guy, just like Zeke's dad.

From then on, Ezekiel is hesitant around Alejandro. Quiet, uncharacteristically so. The sight of unapologetically loud and obtuse Ezekiel being subdued (scared?) of Alejandro has the other contestants beginning to question his performative geniality. If Zeke of all people doesn't trust him, it must be a bad sign.

[ririya-translates]

Kokuto Neji's Story

Translation of Neji's concept art short story (original) for his birthday on March 22nd. Story by Shin Towada (JJ lead writer and Ishida's sister). Art by Lownine. Much like the others, there aren't really any spoilers as it's at the very beginning of the game before the first play.

The stage is a gigantic machine. Jacks and Jeannes are the gears and I'm the mechanic who assembles them all.

The darkened room is lit solely by a clattering computer with light strong enough to rival the midday sun. The bookshelves along the walls are crammed tight beyond usual capacity. The remaining books that couldn't fit have been turned into a fort on the floor. "Hmmm." Out of that pile, he easily picks out a book while holding a cup of coffee in his other hand. The one craning his neck towards the computer screen is the owner of this room. He's a third-year at Univeil Drama School. Working under somewhat special circumstances, he's the leader of Quartz: Kokuto Neji. His classmates include the Quartz Al Jeanne, Sarafumi Takashina, and Jack Ace, Kai Mutsumi. Taking liberal advantage of Univeil's culture of respect for personal autonomy, Neji doesn't just write and perform. He's able to act as both a Jack and a Jeanne, using his many talents to bring the performance together. Even now, he's in the middle of making preparations for the newcomers' performance. His eyes dart around as he scrolls through the screen. He's fidgety inside his head. For this reason, a knock at the door rings out unusually strongly.

"Yes, yes, come iiiin!" As Neji snaps back to reality, he opens the door with a feeling of anticipation. "Thanks." Behind the door stands a person with pale skin and soft hair. So soft it's as if the colour has faded and dissolved. This utterly adorable person raises his eyes towards Neji. "Why on earth would you call me over here then ignore me? I have things to do too you know." The edge of criticism in his voice gives a very different impression from his outside appearance. "Sorry about that, Shirota!" Mitsuki Shirota. He's a second-year, one year below Neji. As one would expect from his looks, he's been assigned to female roles as a Jeanne. "Honestly, I didn't think you'd actually show up." Shirota's eyes grow sharper as he speaks without hesitation. "Using a first-year as your carrier pigeon, what kind of excuse is that?" Neji had casually requested one of the brand new Quartz students to send Shirota to his office. "Well weren't you the one who told me to stop asking Kai to do things?" "Obviously. You shouldn't be using our Jack Ace for your trivial errands." "Right, so instead I asked this new person to be a pinch hitter." "I said to stop doing that too. Ugh, what do you want?" "How did that kid get you to come here? What kinda trap did he use?" "…You called me here for no reason didn't you. I'm leaving." "Hey, wait!" As Shirota turns to leave, Neji holds out both of his hands as if to say 'I'm sorry, I'm screwed up!' Shirota's expression darkens, recognizing that Neji hasn't reflected on his actions one bit. "So? What do you want?" Neji prefaces his words with, "I guess I messed up a bit," before finally cutting to the chase. "What is your impression of the first-years?" Shirota furrows his brow. "You asked Fumi and Kai this too, didn't you?" "You're right, I did!" He had asked both Fumi and Kai the same question. "If you have answers from both the Al Jeanne and Jack Ace, that should be enough. Why do you need to ask me too?" "What are you talking about?! You're our Tresor. You're our flower too!" Tresor is the name for Univeil Jeannes with strong singing abilities. The title suits Shirota perfectly. His outstanding vocal talents add vibrant colour to their performances. It's popular with audiences too. "I am glad you're with Quartz still though. I know you're pretty in-demand with Rhodonite." Shirota stays silent at the mention of that name. Univeil is divided into four separate classes with their own special traits. As the "transparent" Quartz class, they are primarily made up of inexperienced performers who have yet to find their true colours. This could put the class at a disadvantage, but really there are quite a few who enrol brimming with hidden talents. Quartz gives them the space to let those talents free. The content of their performances are tailored specifically for the current state of the class. The songs, dances, acting, all of it.

In contrast, classes like Onyx and Rhodonite have clearly defined colours. Powerful Jack dancers are the main selling point of Onyx, whereas Rhodonite pushes the dazzling singing talents of their Jeannes front and centre. Considering Shirota's abilities, it wouldn't be strange at all for him to have been sorted into Rhodonite. Actually, Rhodonite's class leader is pretty taken with him. But whatever class you look at, all of them are desperately aiming for that top spot -- now more than ever.

"So? What do you think of this year's new students?" Neji's tone of voice drops for the first time in this conversation,"You know it won't be good if things stay as they are, right? What with Amber and all…" That's the name of the fourth Univeil class. But it's hard to act as if the others are on equal ground with them. Shirota seems to grasp the weight of these words. He grips the sky blue tie around his neck as he appears deep in thought. He finally opens his mouth. "…There are three people I noticed," he says bluntly. Starting with Person 1. "Orimaki. I don't know how he got into Univeil with his singing skills so low, but his voice is strong and direct." Onto Person 2. "Yonaga. Him being as he is, he's a late bloomer who's constantly nervous about how he even got into Univeil. But he also thinks twice as much about the meaning of each song. That being said…"

Shirota's immediate answer suddenly hits a pause. "It's possible both of them just got my attention because they aren't very good." "In that case, they should consider themselves lucky you graced your eyes on them." Neji jokes then stares at him intently. "And the third person?" Mitsuki sighs at being asked for his final answer. "It's the one you made into your little carrier pigeon." A voice deep in Neji's heart whispers 'I knew it.' "So then, does our carrier pigeon also have a glimmer of sparkle out of a mountain of problems like Orimaki and Yonaga do?" "No, that guy is…" Shirota hesitates a moment as he chooses his words carefully. "I still don't know yet." "You don't know, which means…?" "Exactly what I said." He speaks as if to say he will give no further comment on the matter. "Is that enough for you now? I'm leaving." Having finished what he was asked, Shirota heads for the door. "Ah, one last thing! How did this pigeon get you to come over here?" Shirota is the type who prefers not to group up with others in class. He keeps a distance between himself and other people. He's not the type someone could easily convince by just asking outright. Even moreso if it comes from a student younger than him. "……" Shirota responds to Neji's hastily thrown words with silence. He opens the door to leave. That's as far as we're getting today, is it? "…It wasn't anything special." Neji's mood suddenly shifts at the sound of a reply he didn't expect to ever hear. "I was just taking a short break during practice and he came up to me and said 'Neji was asking for you'." A surprised 'ohh?' slips out of Neji's mouth. "So in other words, he chose when to make the request based on timing that would work for you?" There are times when Shirota is busy singing of course; however, there are also a lot of times when he appears to be doing nothing, but is actually busy arranging music in his mind. Figuring out the timing of when he's truly taking a break is no easy task. Even aside from the music, there are times when he doesn't want to be hassled with having to talk to someone. Using this understanding of his quirks, that carrier pigeon was able to start up a conversation. "Isn't that actually quite special after all?!" Neji says with a nod of admiration.

Upon hearing this, Shirota restrains himself from turning around and calling him a bald-faced liar. "This was all part of your plan, wasn't it?" His eyes sharply say, 'You haven't fooled me.' "Turning him into your carrier pigeon worked out just as you planned. Getting me to show up here and to name him as one of the students I noticed. You already knew all these things. It was just a ploy to confirm them." Shirota states his assertions strongly. Neji grins. He keeps up the act that there's no hidden motive behind his actions, but it smells like a lie. Shirota's face fills with disgust. He passes through the door, speaking as if he cannot bear to be around Neji any longer. "Please don't use me as a ruler for measuring other people." He shuts the door immediately to not let the conversation linger. "My my, Shirota is quite clever isn't he." Listening to the footsteps fade into the distance, Neji stifles his smile. "But regardless, the fact that pigeon was able to navigate this sense of distance with Shirota shows he might have quite a number of uses." This could be precisely reflected on-stage too. Neji's mind overflows with so many different ideas at an intensity that could give birth to a whole other world. "However, the 'I still don't know' part is there too. Fumi and Kai said the same thing." It seems difficult to learn the true nature of this bird. Even for Neji, there's many things about this younger student he's still unable to grasp. "The stage is a gigantic machine. Jacks and Jeannes are the gears…and I'm the mechanic who assembles them all. What shape will these talents take? Just watch and see." Neji takes a sip from the coffee he's been holding all this time. It went cold ages ago, but in this moment it's just what his body needs.

[randomfoggytiger]

My thoughts on the Chris Carter discourse.

I think I sit on the fence regarding the gendered violence issue in The X-Files. Yet, I also recognize CC's shortcomings-- pouring his energy into being a provocateur rather than a coherent show writer.

**Note**: Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. This is mine.

The show's violence against women isn't skewered in a sexist, one-way direction to me: gendered violence is perpetrated against both sexes equally; and the male cast and crew even joked about Mulder constantly getting beat up or tortured during CC's mytharc episodes. Not only that, but children and men as well as women are kidnapped or abducted and raped (or mind raped) and tortured and killed in equal measure.

The problem begins and ends, I believe, with Chris's ego. He views his show as a SHOW, not a beloved series cherished by fans. To him, Mulder and Scully and their children are literal paper dolls he created and played (plays) with like the Sims-- lighting them on fire, putting them through insane or ridiculous scenarios, and always resetting them back to normal at the end.

The "problem" is, the fans do not see Mulder and Scully as Sims models (pardon the references, got into the game lately) but as living, breathing characters with blood, sweat, and tears poured into their portrayals. Gillian took the role seriously and wanted it to make sense; and fans felt her passion and dedication, and honored the years she put in at her own inconvenience (over and over.)

David doesn't mind following CC's creative vision-- he views art differently than GA, and that's just fine, too. The difference is (I believe): Chris Carter honors David's viewpoint because it aligns with his own; but sloughs off, ignores, or discredits Gillian's because it opposes his.

Chris Carter has an ego (he does, it is what it is); and that rubs audiences the wrong way when they contrast his actions towards DD (letting him read scripts earlier than Gillian, likely knowing David'll give a "wow, interesting" rather than outright critical remark) and GA (who sacrificed a lot to come back and was pretty much ignored every step of the way, even now.) David shrugs off what Chris writes for his character-- which is fine, that's his prerogative-- while Gillian does not-- which is also fine, that's her prerogative. Chris, however, does not treat them equally.

I say this not to hate on Chris. I dislike him, but I respect the characters, show, and world of The X-Files. All things being fair, it was his brainchild.

However: every person that will ever exist has their own perspective, feelings, and emotions regarding what they do or don't love. Fans and Gillian wanted The X-Files to make sense, to honor its characters, to craft an unforgettable journey between two unforgettable characters. Chris Carter did not-- which, again, is fine. But where he continues to fail is by throwing jabs at perspectives other than his own.

Because when you create a timeline that makes no logical sense (powered by plot twists that also make no logical sense) and expect your lead actress and fans who have spent time and energy and money on your franchise not to give you criticism or express their disappointment (and even anger)-- and, further, imply they "don't get it" or aren't "real fans" because of said criticisms-- then...

That's where you (Chris Carter) have a problem.

[bloggingboutburgers]

Going anon because my icon is an In Stars and Time spoiler:

Not gonna go into detail since you said you're playing the game but I still wanted to lay your worries to rest. Aromanticism and asexuality aren't explicitly named, true, but the scene is crystal clear about it. The dev said they took extra care to get it right.

(also theres an optional follow up conversation to the scene which puts no uncertain terms to it.)

I understand the "is this legit" stomachache deeply. I have the same experience with any show or game hinting at possible aro or ace rep, constantly expecting the writers to pull out the rug, no matter how on point and respectful they had been up to that point. But don't worry, ISAT's rep is as legit as BoJack Horseman or Koisenu Futari.

Welp that's putting it up to a high bar.

Thanks for the reassurance, I honestly hope that... Yeah I'll like it TwT

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

https://www.tumblr.com/irresistible-revolution/633688280720916480/fanon-ships-and-the-alpha-male-x-cinderella

thoughts?

I personally would not go that far, at least on most cases. I'd say that the trend of women insisting the Bad Boy type is actually far kinder and more respectful towards the Main Girl than the Good Guy is a combination of two things:

1 - The sexist belief that women who like the "wrong" kind of romance are too stupid to know that some things should be fantasy only and not a model for real life relationships.

2 - The annoying trend of the past decades of people having to pretend nothing about the things they personally like can be kinky, or even genuinely problematic, otherwise they'd be admiting to being bad people.

It's purity culture. It's the assumption of "I am capable of crytical thinking, you are not." Plain and simple.

Some people just get horny for villains/morally dubious characters, are aware that they will be judged for it - and instead of just going "Fuck you, you don't have the right to judge me because of a goddamn fantasy" they try to argue "Actually, YOUR fantasy is the one that is actually problematic, sexist, racist, elitist, heteronormative and panders to the EVIL Male Gaze, while MY fantasy is secretly empowering and subversive and designed to be enjoyed by enlightened girlbosses because it is made with the Wholesome Female Gaze in mind."

Zutarians, for all their talk of wanting a complicated, mature, adult romance for their ship, are actually fucking terrified of the more messy aspects of their own fantasies, and instead of getting over that complex (or removing them through AUs) and having their fun, they defend themselves from bad faith criticism by attacking people first.

That's why they deem Aang a rapist for the Ember Island kiss and call Kataang fans abuse apologists for it, but constantly sexualize the scene of Zuko tying Katara to a tree. That's why they complain that Katara was reduced to "Aang's trophy-wife and airbender breeder" but write AUs where Katara is literally Zuko's sex slave. Why they complain about the supposed "power imbalance" due to Kataang's two year age gap, but don't say a word about Zutara's two year age gap. Why they insist that Kataang fans are all males projecting onto Aang (because projecting onto a guy is inherently bad) while Zutara fans are all women "connecting" with Katara (because projecting onto a girl is inherently good). Why they label Aang as intolerant of Katara's culture for not liking the food, but will throw a fit if people point out that Zuko, and his entire family and nation, legit wanted wanted Katara dead, or at least subjugated, because of her race.

It's a CLASSIC cope and pure proejction. I like tons of Villain X Hero ships, and I see that bullshit all the time. People feel some kind of guilt or shame over being into a character that is a "bad person", even though that is a morally neutral thing, so they twist the narrative until it fits into a pseudo-feminist idea of an "empowering" fantasy for women.

Zutarians claiming that their ship, that only exists because of rape fics, is actually NOT based on highly kinky shit (namely Male Domination/Female Submission with bonus of dubcon/noncon and race play) but rather just on the vague/nonsensical concept of the "Female Gaze" is no different than a bunch of Game of Thrones/HOTD fans, and even the excutives and writers, pretending that 50% the rapes and 90% of the age-inappropriate and/or incestuous relationships aren't just George R.R. Martin (and themselves) having fetishes.

Both are morally neutral and should just be honest about when they are genuinely exploring a dark topic and when they're just getting off on a kinky fantasy. But being honest about it doesn't give zutarians an excuse to act morally superior, so they just stick to their double-standard and purity policing.

[useless19]

You my dear have made the mistake of reigniting my love for megatron x knockout so now you must suffer my mad ravings. I'm sorry in advance. Megaknock is a FASCINATING ship because they are so alike and so different that its downright poetic in a way i know the writers didn't intend. They are both cunning and dangerous, both ruled by pride and explosive emotions. Both dramatic and boisterous. Neither are particularly patient and both relish in the pain of others.

However megatron enjoys a challenge, he's disciplined and unconcerned with his image as long as he can strike fear in his enemies, hes hardly afraid of getting dirty if it means getting his way. As for Knockout well in his own words games are only fun if your winning. he's indulgent and famously vain taking immeasurable pride in his appearance to the point where he will kill over getting his paint scratched. Megatron is composed and stern, with his harsh edges, towering size and unnatched strength he commands respect strength and radiates danger, an apex predator.

Meanwhile knockout is flamboyant and downright playful. With his small frame, his curved edges, his shiny paint he hides in plain sight making others think he's just a pretty preening thing, making them forget about the buzzsaws and knowledge from his profession that ensures he knows where the soft spots are. A scavenger through and through.

They would be a nightmare for absolutely everyone else as a couple, feeding off of and into eachothers worst nature. You just know knockout would revel in being a pampered trophy wife. As long as he gets to keep enjoying his hobbies he's perfectly happy to play the role of pretty accessory hanging off his masters arm or lounging in his lap and making him look all the more fearsome by comparison. Megatron would enjoy it just as much. Not only does he get to have a treasure the nobles of old would covet shamelessly fawn over him he also gets the entertainment of them not realizing the danger right in front of them. Atleast until they wind up on the dissection table. What can he say, megatron can't resist the sight of knockout in his element with his true predatory nature on full display, besides the colors of death suit him well. He always did find blue and red a lovely combination.

Pulling people back into rarepair hell is never a mistake ;)

One of the key things for me about their dynamic is that Knock Out is possibly the only person who is happy being a Decepticon while also genuinely seeming to like Megatron (for the most part). Watch the look on Knock Out's face in Stronger, Faster when Megatron injures Ratchet and presents his leaking frame to Knock Out with a "There's your laboratory sample, doctor." or the way Megatron accepts the Predacon talon at the end of Plus One.

They enjoy each other's competence and cruelty and their goals are often aligned, meaning that, while methods and success rates may vary, they generally aren't costing each other their key values/at key moments (compare to the worst of their conflicts with Starscream).

I think it helps that Megatron is usually smart about dealing with Knock Out on a (somewhat) professional level. Take the times Knock Out presents himself as mission-ready in Tunnel Vision and Hard Knocks, Megatron questions his capabilities both times. Knock Out doesn't appreciate the questioning, but Megatron's concern is assuaged by giving Knock Out an Insecticon guard and Knock Out borrowing equipment respectively, there's almost an edge of care to it. Later on, "Haven't I proven myself?" is followed up with "I need your scientific skills." which both soothes the unintended insult and shows how much Megatron appreciates Knock Out's non-combat skills - ie, the whole package.

Knock Out doesn't have some big grand plan, he's going with whatever flow works best for him. Whereas, Megatron does have a vision of the future (defeat the Autobots and rule the planet) and it's one that Knock Out fits in perfectly well. There isn't a need for Knock Out to question the status quo because it serves him just fine.

Megatron and Knock Out are also fascinating to me for being the two highest charisma characters in the show, just focused at opposite ends of the spectrum.

As much as I love the many ways in which they can make each other worse, I also really like how they have the potential to fit together and give each other the space to be needlessly sadistic while also being able to get comfort (even if it is wrapped in layers of denial). Megatron praises people when they succeed (competence kink, anyone?), while Knock Out, despite being designed sexy, never gets anyone commenting on how pretty he is, not even in a derogatory way. It's so close to Megatron dropping a half-compliment on Knock Out's looks and Knock Out taking it entirely too seriously.

And size difference. Can't forget the size difference!

[fooloftheunknownworld]

Okay, I got done watching Hazbin's fourth episode and holy shit fuck it with every cell in my body!! Jesus Christ this is not how you handle the topic of rape and exploitation! The visuals in Poisons are less tragic and more fetishy, "Loser Baby" or whatever the second song's name is made me want to strangle Husk for basically saying Angel's a loser and his gambling addition was as bad as him being a sex slave.

I unironically think Ultra Despair Girl's Kotoko Utsugi is a better representation of a rape victim. Sure, the game gives her panty shots, has her make pervy jokes and is the one responsible for the infamous Komaru rape minigame that is played for comedy while expects you to take her trauma seriously, but at least nobody called her a loser for having trauma.

Seriously, just fuck this episode, fuck Husk, fuck everything about this cartoon fuck it all!

Congrats writers, your cartoon makes any attempt at touching the subject of rape by Kodaka look like the most tasteful and respectful attempt by a writer in the history in fiction in comparison.

But, as shit as this episode was, there is one good thing about it;

I really like the designs for the minor characters here, as always, they look much better then the main ones, especially since their designs aren't the definition of visual clutter. And yes, I do think the character of the first two pics are hot, I like both hunks and femboys, I'm not picky. Plus I wish we get to see more of the octopus guy.

[loveephia]

*immediately bolted here as soon as i saw my favourite hq writer open these prompts again >:D*

"i cant get over how a few months ago i wanted to learn your name and now youre having breakfast with me in my sweater" + goshiki 🥹🥹🥹 (stay safe and stay hydrated phia love u <333)

#8'S LOVE STORY | goshiki tsutomu

prompt: "i can't get over how a few months ago, i wanted to learn your name, and now you're having breakfast with me in my sweater."

content: (🦷) tooth-rotting fluff, goshiki gushing over you and perhaps getting distracted during practice while thinking about you, you're his upperclassmen (second year), tendō is a wingman and brownie enthusiast, you like baking, quite long.

⚠ warning/s: none.

note: gosh this was so fun to write that it became a one-shot instead of a drabble. i've never gotten a goshiki request so this was a good challenge for me. i really hope that i got him and the rest of shiratorizawa's personalities right! TYSM AND ILY HIKARIII ENJOY READING GIRL!!! :D

"her name.. what's her name?!" goshiki tsutomu mentally groaned with furrowed brows, peeking out from his classroom door to look at you, his beautiful upperclassmen. you were a responsible girl who did everything at your own pace, hence the clipboard in your hands to check your schedule for the day. if the student council of shiratorizawa accepted second years, you definitely would've at least been the secretary.

goshiki heard your name once from a few of your friends, but he.. just can't remember!

so here he is, irritatedly sipping on his juice box while staring you down. although not on purpose, of course.

"what's up, goshiki! what are we lookin' at?" tendō appears out of nowhere, accidentally spooking the poor wing spiker. goshiki turns his head to look over his shoulder, "huh?! tendō, what are you doing here?! aren't the third year's classrooms all the way on the third floor?"

"what a smart little cookie you are!" tendō ruffled goshiki's hair. "well, y'know how shiratorizawa's annual bake sale is coming up? i'm trying to find y/n because i heard that she's handling the preparations this year. i wanna see if i can get some of her famous two-bite brownies in advance before they sell out again!" tendō hisses at the bitter memory.

tendō can still recall the stinging feeling of how he wasn't able to purchase last year's batch because a volleyball game overlapped on the same day as the sale, so by the time the team got back to shiratorizawa, all of the brownies were gone.

and, hold on..

"y/n!" goshiki rejoices as he was finally able to recollect your name, all thanks to tendō. "yes?" you ask, looking at goshiki with a confused look.

goshiki turns red. "n- nothing!" i forgot that she was in the same hallway!

something in tendō sparks, and he suddenly has the urge to help his underclassmen's love life. he can bring up the brownie topic with you later..

"hey, n/n! what do you think of our up-and-coming ace here? ain't he a real firecracker?" tendō suddenly compliments goshiki, even wrapping his long arm around the young boy's shoulder. goshiki widens his eyes, already wanting to hear more. "hm? oh, i haven't seen him play yet," and just like that, goshiki's ego has been cracked and bruised.

"but i'd love to be invited to the next game if that's okay with you, goshiki." you smile a pearly one at him, and goshiki's mood is turned right back around. "yes! please come, y/n! i won't disappoint you!" he exclaims.

you giggled it off and soon excuse yourself from the two.

"what a cute boy!" you thought with a faint blush on your cheeks.

goshiki looks at tendō, utterly speechless to the core, while the middle blocker only dusts his hands off as if he's just finished some heavy labor. "what can i say! i may not be the first to get married from our team, but i can be a good matchmaker!"

goshiki has never had more respect for tendō than he has right now.

time skip.

"oi! stop standing around like that, number eight! you look like a lost kid at the mall!" coach washijo scolded goshiki, who flinched. i was spacing out again! "s- sorry, coach!"

reon comes up to tendō and shirabu, "what's up with him?" he asks. shirabu sighs, "i don't know. but if he continues to do this, then he'll just drag the whole team down."

"oh, poor little shirabu! i can tell you what's going on in goshiki's head," tendō says, "our future ace has a crush on the sweet and classy y/n!"

"that doesn't matter. can't he just leave his personal feelings out of practice? prelims are around the corner, after all." shirabu stated factually. "it's not like you're capable enough to have crushes anyway, so the least you could do is cut goshiki some slack." semi poked fun at shirabu, as the older setter just so happened to overhear the conversation from a few feet away.

"what did you say?" a visible vein forms on shirabu's forehead.

tendō turns to reon while shirabu and semi bicker, "anyway, the kid is all worried about the upcoming game because y/n is coming to see him play for the first time." tendō whispers. "you think he'll be alright?"

reon looks at goshiki, who's physically trembling. there's even a gloomy aura around him practically screaming, "don't screw this up, don't screw this up, don't screw this up."

just in good timing, ushijima places his palm on goshiki's shoulder. "rest, goshiki. you need to be in good shape to practice." he states. "yeah, exactly! aren't you gonna be ushiwaka's successor? what'll y/n think when she sees you all shaken up on the court!" tendō exclaims.

ushiwaka's.. successor.. y/n..

goshiki's aura quickly shifts into one of fiery determination, ready to take on anything and everything. "you're right, tendō! i'll do my best!"

"it's really easy to get this kid going, huh.." the team thought simultaneously, sweat dropping in the process.

time skip.

it's the day of the prelims, and shiratorizawa was up against ohgiminami high. they're not a powerhouse that goshiki was familiar of, but then again, they're not be underestimated.

the starting line-ups are on court, and there goshiki was standing, being the only first year. that was something you noticed from the stands.

"he must be really talented to have been able to get that far.. i heard that coach washijo is tough on the volleyball club too." you thought.

the coin is flipped and shiratorizawa ends up serving first. ushijima hits the ball and there we go, a service ace. you're impressed to have seen the ball fly by that fast, but then again, it's ushijima. "if i tried receiving that, my arms would fall right off.."

goshiki sees your amused face from the stands, and he huffs. "wait until you see me score a point, y/n!"

a few rounds later, and the rotation is in goshiki's favor. he's up front. he can do a line shot, a move that he specializes in.

"make it a good one, goshiki!" tendō encourages the boy as shirabu sets the ball cleanly toward goshiki. even though he has two blockers against him, he was still able to make a beautiful line shot that granted shiratorizawa another point.

"what was that?!" you were shocked, to say the least. "tendō wasn't kidding when he said he'd be the up-and-coming ace.." you quietly mutter, referring to goshiki.

you watched the way that goshiki shortly celebrated on the court with each of his teammates giving him some heavy pats on the back. the moment was adorable.

goshiki looked up to see you smiling fondly at him. you send him a wave, and he shoots back a smile full of pride; a smile that says, "look at me, y/n! aren't i amazing?"

and only if you knew what it conveyed, you would've replied with a, "yes, goshiki. very."

time skip.

you yawn, clearly drowsy from the lack of sleep. on the table in front of you, was a nice breakfast whipped up by shiratorizawa's patient cooks; one omurice, a small bowl of grapes, and a cup of milk. but besides what was on the table, was what was across from you; goshiki tsutomu, your boyfriend.

it was a cold morning in japan, for spring had finally started. so here you are, all bundled up in goshiki's volleyball jersey.

he's seen smiling at you, and you tilt your head. "what's on your mind, tomu?"

"nothing, it's just.. i can't really get over how a few months ago, i wanted to learn your name, and now you're having breakfast with me in my jersey." goshiki says, "honestly, if it weren't for tendō, i probably wouldn't even be with you right now."

you perk a brow. goshiki panics, "d- don't tell him i said that though!"

"i wouldn't give tendō all the credit, really," you started, "i actually had already taken an interest in you when you were looking at me in the first year's hallway. it was only a matter of time until i'd have mustered enough courage to talk to you myself." you admitted.

is this what a heart attack feels like, because goshiki can feel his chest swelling in both love and pride.

this was a happy ending not only for the two of you, but for tendō too, since he was able to buy all of the two-bite brownies he needed.

© lowercase intended | loveephia

[tamayakii]

Simonrileyscockring aka Maxim is a liar and claims frogchiro stole their ideas. Here's proof he lied.

@simonrileyscockring Now since you dont wanna acknowledge me or my post calling you out, i decided to make it its own post so more people can see it. I don't like liars. i don't like virtue signalers "dni proshippers" we interacted tons of times, i sent you asks, my own art, we talked in dms, i even checked on you when i worried about you and now you're worried about "proshippers" and realize the term i identify with, which means "anti-harassment, respecting peoples fictional preferences" and not whatever tiktok-brained bullshit you think it is? So convenient you say that AFTER i send you an ask asking if you were gonna acknowledge what the hell you did. edits: the only edits i did was "@/" Konigsblog cause they said they apologized and acknowledged what they did, whether or not the apology is accepted is not up to me.

original call out below: you absolute dunce. i LOVED your writing before but the drama on your page, responding to hate anons rather than just deleting their asks drove me off. I have so many words for you

EVERYONE can see your personal posts, they just don't LIKE them cause who the fuck wants to like a post that's a vent post? it feels wrong, people see it and choose not to react, people see you vagueing about someone stealing "your" concepts (which theyve written BEFORE cod fandom erupted on tumblr and aka before YOUR popularity) they'll want to know  cause stealing writing is very serious!! but oh wait!!! they didn't steal shit!!! They never wrote about a teenager, which btw when you say all this shit and show no proof it fucking sucks!! cause people are so tiktok-brained that they will believe anything!

Because you decided to pull a fuckin mean girl move with @/konigsblog you ruined someone's love for writing and this fandom. "no one got harmed" my fucking ass. You as a writer should know that motivation comes and goes, and that hyperfixtations can be the closest thing to people. So rather than acting like a fucking man, you vague and claim they wrote about a minor as well, btw heres the teenager you claim is well, a teenager

Scaramouche is a puppet made by Raiden Ei, over 500 years ago to the current time in genshin impact. When Raiden Ei's sister had passed and she wanted to make a puppet to be the archon but she left him in a slumbering state, free from her own control cause he came to life crying which puppets aren't supposed to do. He woke up and thought she abandoned him, then OVER 5 HUNDRED YEARS AND THREE BETRYALS LATER. The fandom baby-fies him admittedly, but he's not obsessed with his mother nor does he have a teenager mentality. He's a bitter and aloof character, only getting mad when his creation or betrayals are brought up,



"a teenager physqiue" Okay lets challenge that, In the game this model is called Short_Male, it been used for Cyno, Tighnari, Kazuha, Xiao, Albedo, Mika, Chongyun, Bennet, Xingqiu, Heizou, Gorou, Venti, Razor, and even the male traveller.(I'm gonna use basic terms since you obviously never played the game if you think he's child like) Cyno is basically an officer in the game for the Akademiya, aka an adult. Tighnari is basically like a forest ranger, an adult. Kazuha sails around the sea while being a poet AND a sword expert because of his family line, becoming an expert swordsman takes YEARS even in real life, he's an adult. Xiao is over 5,000 years old and a "deputy" for an Archon. Albedo is a synthetic experiment human made 500 years ago from the current timeline in the game. Heizou is also a cop, an adult. Gorou is a fucking ADMIRAL, an adult. VENTI is literally over 2k years old. an adult. The traveller is AT LEAST over a thousand years old, cause the traveller that you choose slumbers for 500 years.

The rest are hinted to be late teenagers or early twenties depending on who you ask.

I even took pictures of these models in-game compared to a Tall_Male model!

Here's scaramouche, compared to Diluc and Tighnari! who aren't children! Now let's see an actual model of CONFIRMED children, why don't we?

here we have klee, who despite being something like 50 or 75 years old, is still mentally a child!! So she has the child model since she is still physically growing up, unlike Scaramouche AND Albedo.

Scaramouche isn't a child. he doesn't have child-like features. He's not obsessed with his mother, cause he does not have one cause motherfucker is a 500-year-old puppet, he's mentally an adult, physically an adult that was prepared for archon duties.

Sorry, i droned on about this for so long but i just fuckkking hate it when people are wrong. So blindly like you are,

here's proof that you said that, incase you go on a deleting frenzy.

Now let's talk about the point system, point systems are so widespread in real life and in fiction, even i used a point system once before. So to see it, in a COMPETITION(cause they are in the pervy AU) between men isn't weird to see. If you genuinely had a problem with this, Kin would've LOVED to talk it out with you as they're lovely and understanding human being.

the stray cat au? i even remember reading about it on both of your blogs but heres the thing.... the last time they wrote about it was in October.. of last year.

i had to search your blog just in case i was wrong in thinking they wrote it before you did.

as you can see, this is march of this YEAR. checking your archive, you made your blog back in February of this year. To claim they stole your concept of stray cat is beyond fucking insane, as well as bringing up the post with scaramouche in it cause.. that was over at least 10 months ago, cause Kin had went on a hiatus when December came around and came back with a COD hyperfixtation.

Onto the stealing the hubull concept! Searching their blog I can't find any evidence of them even writing a bull-like idea, at all. So you seemed to pull that one straight out of your ass.

So let's go over this real quick! one more time for the people in the back!!!

@simonrileyscockring made a post vagueing that someone stole their concepts and ideas, @/konigsblog replies below asking, hey who is it? maxim responds saying its @frogchiro and claiming that they wrote about a teenager and stole their point system for an au. Publicly. Instead of going to Frogchiro and trying to work it out, like a 23-year-old should. You keep drilling on about it, claiming that people trying to defend them are being your entertainment now

sure some people shouldn't have come in attacking you, i won't defend people who throw cruel words at you. You can claim this to be an attack but all i'm doing is calling you out, cause as you claim "it doesn't affect the way you live your life" you let it go and ruin someone else's way of life, destroying their love for fandom and writing. As a writer yourself that ive SEEN struggle with motivation AND hate anons, you of ALL people should fucking understand that getting your love for writing ruined is a terrible thing to happen especially when its an outlet for stress.

"i wanna talk shit in peace, not have my shit gossiped about." .. that is noooot how the internet works OR how shit-talking works, as the biggest shit-talker in MY family, i understand that when i talk shit, there's another person behind me talking shit. When YOU post vagueing about someone, and then continue talking about them, people will gossip about you. End of story. You should've blocked them in the first place, you also should've messaged Kongisblog PRIVATELY if you really wanted to avoid all of them. The only screenshots that i know that kin was sent, were you confirming that they "stole" your ideas and that they wrote about a teenager. How can they refute your claims without knowing what your claims are. They had to defend themselves from people in their inbox.

So, really in the end here, you fucked up. As a previous fan of your im highly disappointed in you but seeing how you act i doubt that will affect you, i make this post-DEFENDING frogchiro from pointless claims, AND in hopes that anyone who wants to follow you. Will find this post cause you are a fucking asshole to the core. Step back and realize that while it may not affect you, your actions affect others.

[skaruresonic]

Being a Cream fan is suffering. The writers aren't hiding that they don't like her. Hello Advanced 2 anyone???

I can imagine.

She's milked for both humor and angst. In most cases, the fact that it's Cream specifically who is suffering/the butt of the joke is the intended takeaway behind the humor or angst.

People try to rationalize such moments as "she's just a child," forgetting that Cream is also her own person and has a personality beyond the expected behavior of children her age. Shunting her into the box of Child(tm) and leaving it at that is like reducing Amy to Girl(tm). Or Shadow to his Black Arms blood. You're not wrong to say those elements factor in, per se, but you are being overreductive by focusing only on those isolated elements of their characters when they're not overall terribly important.

Apologies for the self-indulgence here, but before we proceed to talk about IDW 66 and 67's B-side story, I'd like to bring up Cream's chapter in my visual novel as a counterexample:

In a nutshell: OaS is a slice-of-life where Sonic goes about a normal Sunday, visiting his friends and helping them through their problems, alongside some funny shenanigans. He spends about half the game spending time with Knuckles, Amy, and Cream, respectively.

Chapter three sees his relationship with Cream evolve from friends to Big Bro-Lil Sis(tm) as he endeavors to look out for her the best he can and listen to her little kid problems. Math is hard. :<

You'll notice in the conversation Sonic and Cream have after they sit down to eat their carnival food - about halfway through the video - that "lol Cream's just a dumb kid" is the exact attitude I was trying to avoid.

On the contrary: I wanted to respect her agency while also emphasizing that her status as a child is something worth respect on its own. Just because her problems may seem trivial from an adult perspective don't mean they aren't real to her, and I hope I've portrayed it so that Sonic gives her the respect she deserves.

The gist behind the chapter's more humorous moments isn't to point and laugh at Cream, but rather make light of the awkwardness of Sonic navigating being a big brother figure.

That's why stuff like Cream spouting waterfalls really rubs me the wrong way. Folks will argue "she's a child" while neglecting the important nuance that it's not typical of Cream to wail like a toddler in the games... As well as the other important nuance that if it had been Games!Cream in IDW!Cream's place, Rough and Tumble would be ground into paste before the roast finished.

The only punchline here is "Isn't it funny how Cream tried so hard to do right by her mother and some bully destroyed her work in an instant? LOL and then Vanilla went mama bear on them." When you drill down to the core of the underlying idea, you'll find it's just... meanspirited. The book is making fun of the fact that Cream is suffering what is, in her eyes, a humiliating failure.

It's not humor generated by Cream's personality, or the mood whiplash incurred by beating up bad guys one moment and tending to the roast the next, or inviting the bad guys to dinner after giving them a thorough ass-whooping, or anything like that.

How much better would it have been if, instead, following the food fight, we cut to Vanilla returning home to find an immaculate dinner table and two very twitchy skunk boys playing maid in fear of the goddess of destruction's wrath? Cream cheerily greets her mother while Rough and Tumble trip over themselves putting Vanilla's groceries away. Meanwhile Cheese and Chocola give them the evil eye. Vanilla is confused as G-merl pulls out her chair for her, but in no position to protest.

Imagine how amusing that could have been! Nope. The book has to point and laugh at Cream in a "ha ha bitch you thought" kind of way. Can't join in on the laugh track if we have any love for Cream ourselves.

To borrow the stans' logic, it's actually pretty fucked-up that you're meant to laugh at a child for crying in such a situation. At best, you're made to feel sorry for her, but given how the scene is framed to be absurd, it's probably a safer bet to say you're intended to laugh.

That's before we remember Cream doesn't sob buckets in the games. It took being kidnapped, taken to Eggman's creepy robot depot and watching Emerl gleefully tear Phi robots apart for her to sniffle quietly.

Sniffle. Not wail like a toddler. Because the games have this thing called "a sense of decorum," you see. xP

People contend that Cream's a pacifist based on her refusal to engage in Battle until Emerl gets hurt (and then they conveniently ignore how she stepped up and kicked some ass; rip), which overlooks the context that she was probably sick of fighting after having been forced to spar against Emerl and Amy to the point of exhaustion.

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P.S. IDW!Vanilla wishes she was half as scary as OaS!Vanilla. Yeah, I said it xP

[edenprime]

if u haven't read it a lot of liara's more action-oriented shift was told in the comics. the shadow broker DLC didn't quite capture how much effort she went thru to secure shep's body and how big feron's role. i personally welcome the change and while i like archeologist liara i think her ME1 characterization is so superficial. she's mostly just a fan girl. the shift is abrupt but it's nice that in ME2 she has her own thing going on outside shepard cos i believe the writers wrote her as the canon love interest in mind so her character often suffers from the fangirl disease. i think a lot of people in the fandom dislike how the game shove her to us so much. which is funny since another famous shepard ship is garrus, who's equally as pushed as liara and is just as much of a shep fan. it's just that he's a guy so he doesn't suffer sexist hate.

I haven't read/seen anything outside the games, no! I've been thinking of getting into that, but first I'd like to sort out all of my feelings wrt the main event - the games. I feel like if I got into the "peripheric" media, it could maybe influence how I view the games and i want to analyze those by themselves (i'm thinking i'll finish this playthrough + another one in which i might or might not play as mshep) and then see about everything else. Thank you for the rec, though! I knew there was extra stuff about tali and garrus but this is the first i'm hearing about liara <3

And well... let's be real, most of the squad is part of the Shepard fan club, even those that can't be romanced, like Grunt and Wrex. The fact that Shepard gets a breeding request in Tuchanka after completing grunt's loyalty mission is like the most Mary Sue thing ever (and I don't necessarily mean this in a bad way). The asari, sex symbols of the galaxy, are throwing themselves at them left and right (Liara, Shiala, arguably Sha'ira, Morinth...). Shepard is the main character, everyone wants a piece of them. It's one of the entertaining parts of the games (or at least I have a lot of fun with it, if maybe a little bit ironically).

I suppose people might single out Liara because she's the one whose actions are the most extreme, and thus it crosses the line from "cute" to "creepy", but she's not the only one. Legion literally wears the armor off their dead body. As I said in my post, maybe her actions and/or attitude aren't 100% justifiable, but they are understandable.

I'm not sure about the game pushing Garrus as a love interest (I think the game itself is skeptical of the player making this choice, like when Shepard says she "can't believe she finds comfort in the arms of a turian" or something like that), but I do think he's definitely meant to be one of the characters that's most influenced by Shepard, regardless of gender.

Personally, I think him being so popular a choice (at least on Tumblr, which has a mostly female userbase compared to other social media) is due to him being a man, yes, but not necessarily because of sexism (or not always), but because het ships are farrrr more popular than femslash. Also, it's very clear how much he respects Shepard in basically every aspect, and it's incredibly fucking rare to see a het relationship in such equal ground, especially with a """bad guy""" lmao. (though ME in general does quite good in that regard I think, the romances in general are not toxic™️ or unequal) (mostly... ignoring that Shepard is basically everyone's boss... lol).

I completely agree that there's a double standard in how female characters are expected to behave vs male ones, and from what i've seen Liara is 100% a victim of this (I had the very bad idea of reading some threads on reddit...yikes). I don't know the fandom enough to know how it compares in relation to Garrus in particular, though, or if there's a correlation between Shakarian fans and Liara haters.

[comicaurora]

You've mentioned your disinterest in zombie apocalypse scenarios (which is very fair, it's a very bleak scenario), but how do you consider zombie post-apocalypses, where people thrive again, but with the wandering undead as just another fact of life? And have you seen the "blooming undead" concept that's been passed around Tumblr a couple times, with flowers and sweet scents being able to keep hoards of zombies docile, and thus people planting blooms of sweet-smelling flowers in the zombies? I'm curious what you think of these, as they're structurally different from the zombie apocalypse, but still contain the trappings of "zombies"

It's a nice concept, but there's a reason you wouldn't see it as the sequel to a standard zombie movie. The biggest issue with a zombie apocalypse is that people get immersed in the world logic and then lose sight of the fact that it's very explicitly a horror genre, and horror genres are very frequently written as no-win scenarios.

If a zombie apocalypse setting claims to have a cure, no it doesn't. If it claims to have a safe haven, not for long. If it's got someone helpful and kind, just kidding they're either too good for this sinful plot or they're secretly a cannibal murderer. If someone thinks there's a way to successfully treat a bite, enjoy your new friend zombifying at the most inconvenient possible moment. The best the heroes can hope for is getting the Final Girl treatment and successfully escaping to moderate, temporary safety at the cost of everything they love.

If you see this enough times, you start to realize that all these things aren't following from the setting or even the headspace of the specific cast of characters, but are arbitrary Hand Of The Author decisions built to reinforce the bleakness of the setting. The heroes cannot win, not because it makes sense that it would be impossible, but because the writer will not let them.

One of the reasons World War Z is the only pure zombie story I respect is that the author eschewed that approach, because he felt exactly the same way about zombie apocalypses as I do - they're absolutely terrifying and bone-crushingly sad. So he played it out like a game with himself; start with the standard Romero apocalypse, then see if humanity can still win. No cheats, no miracle cures, no isolating it early. It's a fun read precisely because it traces the entire logic puzzle out and it internally makes sense. Even the diabolus ex machinas feel reasonable, like people zombifying from transplants before anyone realized what was going on, or shock-and-awe military tactics absolutely failing against mindless undead. When humanity loses, it feels earned. When humanity wins, it feels doubly earned.

Zombie post-apocalypses are an interesting premise that you could do a lot with. They feel topologically similar to most low-fantasy settings - low-tech pockets of feudal civilization with hordes of cannon-fodder monsters in between. My beef with zombie apocalypses is not that they have zombies in them, it's that they so often cheat to maximize misery. You can't win because the writers won't let you.