#there are so many characters that this applies to

[officeobject]

Sorry if I didn't take enough platonic hormones off, but that came across as "whatever YOU'D like to call me, homie 😍🥰😏😉😇🤩😀😃🙃😁😄👍", you know?

Anyways, I actually just finished putting MORE links and labels upon my poor new "about me", and was searching for more neopronouns (I want MORE labels too though), and that's a very funny coincidence when you're so chill and don't know every detail about yourself, and you don't even seem worried, and you let people say what they wanna say, meanwhile, I wanna have MORE stuff, you know?

Anyways, so if you ever need help with pronouns, gender, or stuff that I don't even have/can relate to, then you can ask me - also, maybe some of my labels will apply to YOU, and I recommend doing research and getting some blogs about this and that, as long as they're related to what you're looking for, you know?

Do also consider making your own stuff.

And yeah, I KNOW you're young, and some labels change, and it's okay to temporarily have ones or question, etc, but like, I'm TOTALLY willing to make an entire pronoun list for you, full internet name with multiple middle-names, a fursona, a Picrew image, AND to choose gender labels for you, if you want me to! I mean I actually did it for Colby, basically, back when he was ambiguously "my character" then turns out he IS real 😐 ... but it's okay, because I didn't put TOO many labels upon him, and the ones I DID, were correct or accepted (as in, the name for example, was accepted)!

Oh and also, COLBY IS TRANS TOO?! How does that make you feel?! Like, isn't it cool?! He's a binary boy though.

ao3 turns 15 today

reblog if youre older than ao3

(there's a lot of people asking about this, but the legal age to use social media is 13, except in few countries. so yes, there are people here under 15)

[saras-almanac]

So I’ve been sitting on my feelings about the BuckTommy breakup and handling of it for a while, trying to get my thoughts in order. And after a while of thinking on it—and the recent Lou interview dropping making me feel like my feelings are valid—kind of made me want to just blurt them all out and hope for the best. So this is that.

Ultimately the entire handling of the BuckTommy breakup feels cruel. And not just cruel in an intentional way, but cruel in a casually, not even given any thought cruelty, which is worse sometimes. And to be honest, I think that’s part of why I’ve been struggling with it so much. (That and the echoes of Magicians season 4, which if you know you know).

What I mean by cruelty is just the lack of any real effort or care put into this storyline, one that they had previously been handled with so much care and concern and were praised (rightly so) for at the time. It’s the way they introduce this Tommy as Abby’s ex thing, which makes hardly any sense at all, but also feels cruel in the intention of laughing at the invisible string of fate theory between them. It’s they way that they’re 6 months anniversary and not only have they not talked about this, but Buck (Evan Buckley) didn’t get him a gift that feels cruel because that feels so wildly out of character for him. It’s the way they had the break up play into some bisexual stereotypes at best and inherently biphobic at worst by having Maddie suggest Abby turned him gay or that Buck needs to “explore” things to figure out what he wants or that Buck “Doesn’t know what pond to jump back into” of it all. (Not to mention the comments from OS about wanting Buck to fuck—which I’m not getting into because I didn’t read it and as a bisexual woman, don’t feel the need to go and try to find something that might upset me more.)

All those reasons are why the breakup itself is cruel to the characters, but it’s also cruel to those of us watching, and especially to anyone and everyone who loved and/or related to the character of Tommy, who we see walk away much much worse off than when we found him. It’s the way the story (intentionally or not) is framing it like a romcom break up – make up – pining storyline which they apparently are not doing according to interviews. It’s the way they didn’t give any sort of closure to Tommy for the character or for the audience.

There’s a reason that people lose themselves in stories—it’s because they follow certain rules and contracts. It’s expected that stories do not match up to real life because while things don’t have bigger meanings in life or they don’t work out according to plan, in stories, everything happens for a reason. Because that’s the whole point of what you’re consuming. And along with that, emotional moments are meant to feel cathartic in a way, at least eventually, because you were able to see the bigger picture, to feel the finality to things, and to really understand what’s being said and what’s happening. This breakup does none of that and actually seems to have been included and rushed for shock value and that to me, is just shitty, lazy writing.

If you were going to break them up and have no desire for any sort of reunion or closure, why not make it intentional? Tommy could be the one who wants marriage and kids and settling down and Buck internally freaks out because theoretically he wants that but maybe it’s too soon and as much as Tommy loves Buck, he’s not going to wait around and hope that Buck feels the same for him because he’s been hurt too many times like that. Or Tommy could be leaving for another state because he’s no longer going to be a firefighter or needs to go for family reasons or gets a job at a different station that he applied for ages ago and he has everything all set up and isn’t going to ask Buck to leave his entire life for Tommy, so they decide to breakup even if it hurts both of them. In either of those cases, it’s sad and devastating, but at least there would be some closure to it and understanding of it for both the characters and the audience and some peace knowing that at least these two are going to be moving toward happiness in whatever way that means for them.

Instead, what we have, is a hail-mary last-second breakup that comes out of nowhere and feels abrupt and crappy in the way we leave Tommy specifically because we might never see him again. And that is the crux of the issue. Because the way this was written, the understanding is that they are going to get back together or reunion or at least have that final closure conversation—because that’s what happens in stories. We see this type of surprise breakups, breakups where they issue is they love each other too much and are afraid to go further (Athena/Bobby and Maddie/Chimney to name two examples we saw in universe) only to eventually fight to be together and realize that if they don’t take a chance they might never know how amazing it is. So the fact that it’s set up to follow this same path while nearly every interview is telling the opposite, again demonstrates that casual cruelty as well as an inherent failure on the writing. If you have to go in interview and explain what it is you wrote or are telling, then you have failed as a writer. It’s really as simple as that.

This breakup doesn’t feel set up or foreshadowed, it just feels like they added it on because they didn’t want to do anything more with it? And that feels incredibly crappy as a decision to so many people who related to Buck and Tommy and them coming out later in life and all those other things. I’m rambling and on my phone and feeling a lot of things that I can’t fully express right now, but the long and short of it: If this was always intended to be the final time we see Tommy, this breakup is even crueler than intended.

[wild-walking]

Despite detesting love is blind, I’ve been thinking of a steddie au set within the show with a lot of extra pairings:

Steve and Robin are platonic soulmates who both decide to apply despite Robin being a lesbian. They mainly just want a vacation and figure why not get lavender married at the end of it. Though, of course, if Steve does fall in love with someone he should follow his heart.

They are both chosen for an Indianapolis season (or maybe Chicago, I don’t necessarily want to force them to stay in Indiana) along with Eddie, Jonathan, Argyle, Dustin, Lucas, Tommy, Jason, Dan on the men’s side and Nancy, Barb, Chrissy, Vickie, Suzie, Max, El, Tammy, Carol on the women’s side. Plus whichever unimportant extra characters to just fill however many pods they start out with.

Steve immediately thinks Nancy is the one. He’s still seeing Robin regularly but they do a lot of talking about how hard his decision is between the two of them and the producers think they’re really strange.

Steve is also often chatting with Dustin and Lucas who he has taken under his wing and Eddie who the other boys really like but Steve just doesn’t understand.

Robin is struggling quite a bit with her decision to enter this. Sure, any of these ladies could be bi or secretly a lesbian, like her, but she can’t outright ask them when they’re supposed to be here to find their male soulmate. She’s often in groups chatting with Vickie, Barb, Nancy, and Chrissy, pining as Vickie starts to fall for Dan.

The producers expect Nancy and Robin to be really catty, but Robin just keeps talking about what an amazing guys Steve is to Nancy and how any girl would be lucky to have him.

Nancy is struggling between Steve and Jonathan. Steve is definitely a solid choice, but would he challenge her, would he excite her? She isn’t sure. Jonathan feels different. Like he gets the parts of her she has to hide.

When Steve proposes to Nancy, she ends up saying maybe a tad more of what’s on her mind than she would’ve said if she could actually see Steve’s face, basically coming to the conclusion that she’s rather be with Jonathan directly in front of him.

Steve comes back to the men’s living area and Dustin and Lucas are both on dates. Eddie is sitting there and can clearly tell something has gone wrong. He makes Steve sit with him and tell him everything and is very supportive of Steve, making it clear that he shouldn’t let what Nancy say get to his head. Something in this just clicks for Steve and he gets why Dustin and Lucas both like hanging around with Eddie.

Eddie meanwhile has been dating Chrissy, who has also been dating Jason. Jason is an ass though which is slowly revealed and Chrissy decides she wants to go for the guy who makes her laugh but maybe isn’t who her parents pictured her with based on everything she’s learned about Eddie.

Eddie also hangs out quite often with Jonathan and Argyle and he thinks Steve got screwed over by the show’s premise. Who in their right mind would pick Jonathan over Steve? Like Jonathan is a good guy, but Steve is so nice and a complete smoke show.

The couples who end up moving to the next stage are Steve & Robin, Eddie & Chrissy, Jonathan & Nancy, Dan & Vickie, Dustin & Suzie, Lucas & Max, and Tommy & Carol.

When Steve and Robin are revealed to each other, Robin puts on her most theater club energy performance to give Steve a huge stage kiss. Steve can’t help but laugh through it, glad to be reunited with Robin in person.

Okay there’s more to this, but I didn’t realize how long this would get. Part 2 coming soon!

[olderthannetfic]

I'm asking you and your followers because this is something I've been contemplating lately, and you guys always provide useful insight.

How can (masculine) men meet their need for social identity in ways that do not compromise the needs of women? There are so many types of feminine ideals that don't harm society or marginalised people, but a lot of masculine ideals are outdated and unnecessary. Women can have identities based on womanhood and femininity without harming people, but a lot of ideas of masculinity rely on the idea of being capable or necessary in ways that women are not (e.g. alpha male, sigma male). Having an in-group may require an out-group, but it shouldn't belittle or objectify the out-group (like bro/lad subcultures do).

In my personal life, I find that men that want a masculine identity tend to have worse mental health and struggle more with relationships, and that men who don't really care about masculinity and instead build their identity on a passion (like birdwatching) tend to be happier.

I'm really uneducated on this topic, so I was hoping you or someone else might have some book or essay recommendations.

--

The whole ~Sigma Male~ thing is so recent, anon. It's manosphere garbage that is unsaveable.

Much ink has been spilled about this, but I don't have specific recs. I suppose men could start by focusing on being good fathers or looking at butchness and how it intersects with masculinity or something.

Honestly, a lot of the idea of an ideal man is tied up in the ability to have a salary that can support a gajillion people at once. This isn't realistic in the 2020s economy of most places. This problem isn't solveable except by giving up on that particular concept of masculinity.

"Provider" and "protector" can be positive identities, but the way they're usually applied to masculinity, at least by these kinds of insecure guys, are fundamentally toxic. It turns into "protect the in-group women's sexual purity" crap.

It's plenty possible to find male role models who are worth having. But a lot of dudes just cannot unstick themselves from the kinds of characters being mocked in this vid.

[legendary-lunatic]

I absolutely love that insight because you’re so right. Magnus is really interesting in that it’s a blend of first person accounts from a largely outsider perspective through statements, and it really does require that the source of the information does have the chance to get away at least long enough to tell the story- which gives us a sense of security but also is rather disturbing when it comes to finding that MANY of them fail to ultimately escape anyways and disappear after the fact.

I think that’s one of the things that makes Jonathan’s role as the Archivist and the Eye so terrifying; Because even after these people get away there is something feeding off of their experience, lingering in the corner of their mind and drawing them back to some of the most disturbing moments of their lives so they can’t move on from it. Jon could have easily been the scariest Avatar of them all had he not fought to maintain his humanity to the degree he did, and the moments where he slipped and we find out what an eldritch horror he is to those living who talked to him personally are creepy as hell.

In a way it’s the Fear to feed off all other fears, and I think it’s fun that that parallel also applies to the listener- we ourselves are voyeurs to all of the bizarre happenings and deriving amusement from their suffering.

But there is certainly a whole toss up regarding choice and inevitability in the Magnus Archives as well. Sometimes we get people who recognize the situation for what it is and have either the opportunity or the character circumstances to survive out of either mental fortitude or luck, but by and large the majority were seemingly picked and doomed to fail for no other reason than they were unlucky. And thats the scary part, as much as I love to champion those that managed to resist. Sometimes you see a spider when you’re a toddler and it comes back to kill you as an adult because F*ck You, that’s why.

The ones like this are thought provoking though, because we wonder if you can just not care enough if it’s possible to avoid the horrors….. But then there’s also the Homophobic Vase-

‘Do Not Open’ is still one of my favorite episodes because of this absolute legend. He’s at the top of my list of badass people who survived encounters because they just ain’t with that shit.

An icon.

[teapetal44]

TW: ABUSE, CHILD ABUSE

“He wants to air this dirty laundry to the world does he…? Dabi, you fiend…you’ve been waiting for this moment…when they couldn’t prevent mass destruction…and faith in heroes is wavering.” - chapter 292

I truly, wholeheartedly, believe that MHA as a story upholds the myth of the perfect victim. I do not want to discuss if Horikoshi did that on purpose, or subconsciously because of inner bias – I find no meaning in doing so. For me the execution of an idea, in the grand scheme of the narrative, holds more value than the intention of the author. I’ve also had my fair share of people infantilizing Asian authors in the anime community for their poor writing decisions for one lifetime. It’s patronizing to both the author and the people reading it. Whether or not Horikoshi intended for his themes of abuse to paint the picture they did does not matter, because that’s how it reads as.

MHA puts victims of abuse in narrow boxes and softly dictates what’s an acceptable reaction to said abuse. Victims are continuously walking a tightrope between being deserving of compassion and sympathy and being unredeemable monsters who are too far gone and are only good for martyrdom after being put down.  

Eri fits the clean cut depiction of abuse victims that media usually gears towards. She is untouched by the cruelty around her - she preserves her innocence and kindness. She isn't assertive, but rather meek and passive. She doesn't fight back with force. And when offered help, she is receptive to it. That is not to say that Eri's depiction doesn't have a place in fiction, or that her portrayal can't be representative of the experiences of some - as we all deal with trauma and the inhumanity people throw at us differently. We see the same thing in the portrayal of Fuyumi, who shares many of the qualities discussed above. The same thing applies to her - i personally love the idea of all the siblings having different reaction to their childhood trauma and abuse. It shows that victims are not some type of monolith.

But the narrative treats the "forgiving" or "receptive to help/support" victims of abuse with more grace and with much more kindness. if you are willing to forgive, or the very least be quietly tolerant, the story grants you a happy ending. Forgiveness isn't a bad thing, it is an individual choice - but an abuse victim shouldn't have to do it for them to have a happy ending.

In a vacuum Eri and Fuyumi's character arcs and depictions of abuse are good but it becomes a problem when that's the only experience and type of victim we ever hold in high value or recognize as valid and deserving of compassion. Which the story reinforces.

Touya and Tenko's backstories aren't pretty nor comfortable or easy to sit through. Their responses to abuse aren't either. Reactive abuse is very much real.

[phoenixfire7894]

Okay, this might be controversial but Hua Cheng is inherently not cool! And I don’t mean i don’t like him or anything, it’s just, the whole series is told via the perspective of Xie Lian and you know, Xie Lian thinks Hua Cheng is the most incredible person ever! He’s super biased!!

Like, mans made over ten thousand status to his crush he’s had since he was ten. Lowkey pathetic. Made an entire ghost town and named it “Flower City” because Xie Lian was a flower god. That is simp behavior. I’m a hundred percent certain that if we heard the internal monologue of Hua Cheng when talking to Xie Lian it would be him panicking cause he doesn’t wanna fuck up.

Now, the main reason I bring this up is that too many people don’t acknowledge that out of the two of them, Xie Lian is the cool one! Sure Xie Lian’s luck is garbage (hah pun cause he’s the trash god lmao) but he is inherently the coolest of the two.

Like, do you wanna know what is the most badass thing? It’s when the traditionally polite character loses their shit. Sure Hua Cheng burned the temples of 33 gods but that will never be as awesome as Xie Lian slapping Qi Rong across the face because he is typically level-headed and a lot needs to be done to make him react with such a way. There is nothing more badass than being calm and collected when the world goes to shit when you have the strength to resort to violence (excluding ur cousin being an asshole, this rule doesn’t apply then, beat the shit out of them).

Tldr: Xie Lian is cooler than Hua Cheng; Hua Cheng would probably agree with me so I’m probs right

Edit: So there has been some discussion about my post lol and I want to clear up some stuff. First of all, I don’t think I worded this very well which is my bad lmao (I kept the post above the same so that people know what others are talking about). I do think Hua Cheng is cool, I just also acknowledge that a lot of the book is told via Xie Lian’s perspective so his good traits are gonna shine through a lot more. I was thinking more through a lens of other onlookers watching the Tgcf events go down (which I didn’t clarify so obviously my bad). I stand by my opinion that out of the two of them, I think Xie Lian is cooler than Hua Cheng but that’s an obviously subjective opinion that is grounded by Xie Lian being my favorite character in the series. Also some people have said “pathetic” is not the right word to use. I was using “pathetic” in a more charming way here like the “I love pathetic men” type way. I thought that people would get that. I was wrong. (Super sorry, *strums ukulele*)

I’m very sorry to the ones I have offended with this post lmao.

Tldr (but for the edit): I made probably not the best worded post (my bad babes) but I feel bad and would like to say I also think Hua Cheng is cool, I just wanted to go through and highlight how Xie Lian is also badass.

[thereweredragonshere]

Any tips for getting better at drawing?

Oooooh that is a very broad topic.

If I’m being honest I find it hard to put my art journey (that I am still pretty young in) into words. It all depends on so many things- experience, medium, your ability to understand anatomy, objects in a 3D space, colour theory, how joints work, lineart, comprehensive understanding of form etc etc. There is a lot of stuff involved with art and it would be hard to just compile it all into one topic. But I’m gonna assume you mean drawing as in pencil, paper (or the digital equivalent) and an idea.

My main tip, which you’ve probably seen over and over and over again is just practice. It’s disheartening to hear the same thing repeated until your ears are bleeding but from personal experience, it’s how I improved my understanding of form/linework. But don’t just practice the same thing. Go on Google or Pinterest, find reference photos of real people, trace over the human skeleton, divide complicated structures into easy to understand shapes. There is no wrong way to study art, do whatever works for you!

Another one is to look at other people’s art, see what about it you like and you dislike, and how you can apply that to your own work. Someone use a particular brush for outlines that you like? Try it out! Do you like the fluidity/connectedness of colours within a particular piece? Have a go at it!

And not everything you draw will be amazing, or even good. I’ve been sat feeling frustrated with myself because I couldn’t get a face right, or the way I was drawing a hand looked weird a squiggly, and that’s completely normal! No one posts the fucked up looking pieces of warmup art that they abandoned because they couldn’t find the right angle to draw a character’s cheek bones at (Cough cough). Trust me, everyone that draws has art they will never post.

Finally, progress takes time. It’s a long, frustrating, gruelling process that has massive highs and lows where you feel like the worst artist in the world or the fucking reincarnation of Picasso. It depends on the weather.

For example, my art at the start of 2023 looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

It took my two years to get that far, and fuck knows what my art will look like at the end of 2025.

Your art journey never stops, it only becomes less confusing and frustrating as time goes by. To everyone that feels like they’re in the art trenches right now, you got this, I believe in you and I promise that one day you will crawl out from the mud and filth with a clear understanding of the colour wheel (because fuck me I do hope I get out of that trench soon)

[fallen--starlight]

hi tumblr user if-you-soul i need to preface this by saying i was actually discussing the god awful mischaracterization this fandom inflicts on HMS with my besties & opened tumblr to look for your reblog of that soul fanart saying "YOU fell for the character's facade that was meant to be dismantled by the viewer!" & got hit w this & it MADE MY DAY. i fucking love this album to death & im a soul fictionkin so these things drive me up a fucking wall

cccc is pretty straightforward while also being purposefully vague & left up to interpretation in many areas but soooo many people take interpretation to twisting the narrative until its no longer what it was & it makes me ask myself did we listen to same tracks here?? where are yall getting these things from???? this got rly fucking long so im adding a cut here voilá

when people talk abt the mischaracterization in the fandom its usually focused on heart & mind so im INSANELY glad to see someone talk abt the soul shit. cause what kinda crack are people on?? he never threatens to harm h&m except for at the end of TSE where he is... having a mental breakdown? have people forgotten what it's like to have a breakdown??? you say shit you dont mean bc you're splitting at the seams & falling apart. there is no point in the entire album where soul is portrayed as manipulative/entitled/evil/violent/abusive/erratic, which are descriptions a surprisingly large amt of ppl seem to subscribe to? HE'S A VICTIM !!!! & im so glad you said it! i too have been in a kind of middleman position to parties fighting with each other & its insanely detrimental to one's mental health & had me at an incredibly low point so yeah TSE feels deeply personal to me & soul's character in general (waves in soul kin again LMAO), drives me bonkers how ppl describe him.

mind WISHES he was unfeeling. heart calling him an automaton freak doesnt mean he doesnt feel! it means that he just PUSHES AWAY & REPRESSES EMOTION, or at least tries to. like one has to really emphasize that everything between the heart acoustic & the soul eclectic has mind clearly displaying rage & bitterness & all kinds of emotions. even the end of TME says "maybe my existence might be by design, a simple fact that he'll refuse to see" like bro says its a maybe & then immediately claims its a fact yall are falling for his facade so hardcore its not even funny atp. the way people treat heart is borderline gross, he is NOT an uwu baby innocent boy that doesnt know anything & ppl infantilize him so much idek why. heart represents emotion- ALL emotions. & you're right! emotions are so fucking draining & exhausting at times, especially if you're mentally ill! all this weird portrayal of evil mind & innocent heart is so ?? can i quote TSE with neither is wrong yet neither is right. all 3 of them are neither good nor evil. they're people. they're human. the album really emphasizes this a lot.

the juno incident & RoE in general is made to be a much bigger deal by the fandom that it really is. applies to more than one thing in cccc but RoE takes the cake tbh. & yeah! whole is an entirely fanon thing lololol like im pretty fucking sure even chonny jash has said this someway or another. what we call whole is literally just...chonny. i think ppl took dream's "when harmonia shines, atlas beholds her" & RAN. & honestly i like whole hcs but this brings me to another thing: i really feel like cccc fans come up with so many hcs & interpretations for the album that they forget what the canon is in favor of their fanon. there's so much shock gore & gore in general for lowkey no reason in here </3 its so much & for what. fanon is awesome like everyone should be free to do whatever but i do wish ppl would Remember Canon a bit more & separate their hcs from it more. along with the gore. where are yall getting all this insane amount of gore & violence from. i feel like any violence alluded to in the album is more metaphorical than it is physical bc emotions can be felt violently. internal violence. the album is abt the never ending cycle of mental illness getting better & then getting bad again & so forth as a natural part of life & accepting yourself in those moments.

tl;dr u r so correct & i couldnt agree more & you've voiced the way i've felt abt this fandom for ages we lost the fucking plot & kept running anyways lets pause & find it again thank you so much for sharing ur yapsesh with us

Mischaracterization in the CCCC fandom: a yapsesh (alternative title: Erm... What the Gore is Going On?)

Hi. Woaw. I'm actually making that post I talked about.

So. One thing I've noticed in the CCCC fandom is this weird fixation on gore, torture, violence, etc. Usually a level of graphic content that makes your average horror flick look... pretty tame!

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy horror! I even think a horror story based around psychological conflict similar to CCCC could work well!

But is it just me, or has this fandom COMPLETELY lost track of what the characters are like in the source material?

Like. Let's be real. Nowhere in the album does Soul do gruesome surgeries on Mind, nowhere does Mind go ripping people to shreds like Doomguy, et cetera. The closest thing we have to an implication of violence is what most of us call the "Juno incident"- as even "tines stabbed through eyes" is clearly a metaphor with the next line: "that the sides have condemned."

Im gonna talk ab the characters themselves under the cut

I feel the biggest victim of this mischaracterization is Soul. In the album he's... kind of a victim, really. He toughs out being dismissed and fought over and pushed aside and outright dehumanized for so, so long. Are we seriously just... going to characterize him based solely on his lowest point in TSE? Spring and a Storm and Mucka Blucka are also songs where he's present- along with his presence in Just Apathy that the fandom seems to outright deny to keep their characterization of him as some violent, abusive monster. (Which, again, is quite literally never alluded to! He's honestly kind of a victim, if anything!)

Ohhkay. Next topic. Mind. Oh boy I have thoughts on how people characterize Mind.

He's not emotionless. If you believe this, you've fallen for his stoic facade. All of his songs are just. So full of so much rage. Maybe even a little bit of grief and sadness and fear, masked by said rage. He isn't some emotionless robot- (Heart calls him an automaton as an insult, but that's another rant.) and honestly it feels like such a disservice to such an interesting character with so much unexplored depth to portray him as such.

Heart. Oh boy. Where do I start. Heart what did they do to you.

Heart is the emotional side, yes, but that isn't just some... smol innocent uwu baby who cries all the time. Emotions aren't small and cute and timid. They're INTENSE and PASSIONATE and EXHAUSTING. Strong emotions leave you so, so drained, good OR bad. This is so much more interesting than portraying him as some "uwu hai dere!!" type of character. Which is nowhere in the album.

Whole is hardly even a character. Soul worshipping and praying to whole is fanon.

This fandom's weird obsession with creating shock gore and one-upping each other in a violence competition has spiraled pretty far out of control, and it's honestly crazy. How do you go from an album about internal conflict to violence that would make even the cast of Resident Evil cringe? Brah.

Final notes uhhh. Soul is a victim who got pushed to his limit, not an evil heartless abuser. Mind is angry and unstable and hurt, not some emotionless robot. Heart is the entire emotional spectrum, not some innocent baby. Ok i . I think that's all. Have a good one

[lesfir]

Astarion and Vampire Supremacy. In general and in romance.

In DnD, vampires are huge supremacists. They consider themselves superior to any undead and certainly superior to mortals. All mortals are cattle to vampires.

In Baldur's Gate 3, this trait is also present in vampire culture.

In Astarion there seems to be almost no such things… Or they are not emphasised - as I think they are. In my opinion we should have explored his different traits.

Vampire Supremacy is one of them.

Astarion was an Upper City noble and the chances that he wasn't arrogant towards the "lower classes" are very low. Zero for me. So he was already familiar with supremacism very well. Add to that the loss of his status and the hierarchy of the coven in which he became a slave. That's something.

We barely have conversations with Astarion about vampire culture: what does it mean to be in "vampire coven"? How vampires relate to the mortal world? And what does he like about the vampire world? It's more shadowy moments.

Here I found a few.

Part 1. Details in the story.

EA 9 patch, Act 1 - the grove, after killing Nettie. It's one of those cut out scenes with little companion comments and reduced to a one line or remade. Shadowheart had it too :< Now:

Act 2 - after killing the strange ox. Act 3 - Astarion as Lord says his stuff :D

This word: "spook" cattle/sheep... It's same edge of his character.

In Act 1, you'd think he thinks all "weak" people are sheep. That's true, too. Nettie has lost, she's dead and she's a sheep, but somewhere around here in the grove there will be a hunter for him and Tav - they have to go.

In Act 3, the path of evil, Astarion demonstrates this line deeper and more vividly. In Act 2, it still sounds like something funny, comical. Yes, yes chickens, oxen and people. But these are food animals - and that's not such a joke to Astarion.

To put it in perspective in Act 1 all his companions is a snack. He discusses with Tav what they would taste like. Here's the synopsis for that scene:

Synopsis: Astarion is staring at the other companions around the campfire. He's friendly and affable, but his mind is on his hunger. He starts to wonder what the others taste like, although he's MOSTLY joking. In the end he decides to remove himself, before the conversation gets too real. Mostly a joke that could become something serious.

Vampiric arrogance, predatory nature.

Vampires are clever hunters - their arrogance towards mortals comes in many forms, from food to merry carnage to lust. Basically, they use whatever gives them profit and pleasure.

He might not eat Laezel, but watching Lae and Shadowheart fight is entertainment for him.

Looks fun, but the nature of it is dark. It can be taken ironically, but he really enjoys watching brutal fighting and generally killing. It's a trait. Deserves its own post.

WYR_SmugglersCave_PAD_Suggestions He do hope. It's also relevant to mortals. Corrupt people with power are as parasitic creatures as vampires. Instead of blood, it's gold, work, and entertainment in an wicked way that damages people.

In this I notice the metaphorical nature of vampirism in Astarion's character. As an example of corruption I recall Astarion's little remark when we kill the two ogre-lovers of the barn.

The insignificance (who cares about two ogres) and again the comicality of the situation, the way Astarion smiles as he opens the barn is legendary. Kind of hides it a little bit and takes it away from the thought…

Somewhere in Baldur's Gate someone is paying gold to watch fights, and it's unlikely these fights have civilized rules. And it's doubtful that such a entertainment would only apply to ogres. The fighting pits at Baldur's Gate. Who knows if Astarion was interested in that when he was mortal. I headcanon that he was. He was extremely corrupted and it's deep in his personality.

Here is this telling facet, Astarion's interest in such burtal things, which are as much in the shadows as gremlin remarks, yet there is exactly "evil" in this one. This part of that aspect: The arrogance of the Noble and the Vampire. More points about treating people like cattle. There is a moment in Act 2 - and I have absolutely no idea where it is. SHA_Mausoleum_PAD_MakeshiftVessel Players find a vessel with a half-formed humanoid shape gestating inside and reacts accordingly. The being is just inert flesh and cannot speak. How to trigger: Interact with S_SHA_Mausoleum_MakeshiftVessel.

Where is that thing? I can't find.

In good companions, this is a cause for concern. In general the place where they found it contributes to very unpleasant thoughts. A mausoleum in the shadow lands of Sharr, where a necromancer and the chosen of Myrkul struts around. Well, Astarion too, as you can see... finds a downside. Hunting people is fun and keeps you in the spirit.

It's a good idea to check all the phrases in Astarion's Original throughout the acts. Maybe there's more.

I watched the epilogue of Lord Astarion Original and in a conversation with Minthara (hah, who else?)

And it's wild. It's literally all about the people. :D

We have a few to choose from for rpg's. And given the line about sports… I really don't think Astarion will be buying "food" very often. Or that pale arse is lazy after all and his hunt is a park in the city. And when he should be setting up his power web in the city, he's too busy for hunting.

Can you imagine him wanting to hunt and get some air, but he's got some lordish business in the halls until late in the evening.

Part 2. In Romamce.

This part departs from such direct things as blood and the predator's attitude towards people. It becomes more sensual.

I would say this trait of supremacism is slightly visible, but not over people, over mortality in a greater sense, when Astarion turns Tav: he emphasises the strength, sharpness. Better.

The morning after the turn.

He has a point. The last time he was mortal, he was killed.

Astarion as Lord does the same with God Gale Original mentioning immortality as - strength, lack of illness and youthfulness. love this one

His vampiric arrogance over Tav perhaps visible only in the first act. He didn't really care. Tav became his fun, his lust, and his way to survive. Then Tav is the first person to care about him in dozens and dozens of years of slavery. "Blood bags" and such are a bit of dark humour, so it might have been true in another life, but he and Tav are far from it, they're the first person he's cared for in decades of loneliness. His perception of mortality as something that makes a person more vulnerable is his trigger (among others) for turning Tav into a his kind. But since he's not in such a hurry in the end of mortal Tav, I'm guessing: it's his euphoric state after the ritual, where his spire for the castle of vampire happiness is to be with Tav forever. He chillin' about it, afterward. Tav's immortality is a nice thing he'd like, but okay it can wait. So. Tav... they're special. The two of them are special. Astarion elevates Tav and himself above the others. We are Better.

Camp. Vampire ambush.

When the camp is ambushed by spawns. If Tav proposes the idea that the world is actually a wonderful place that can accept him - he argues with them. But approves of all three different reactions. Also then Astarion says the word "forever" in regards to their relationship, to Tav.

This "forever" part is deep in Astarion. According to the artbook (The artbook is EA era, which is still sold with the game though, and the story doesn't contradict anything) So according to the artbook Astarion was obsessed with eternal life, forever youth, forever being. It extends to his feelings - it's needed forever. It's very sensual, but also very greedy and… painfully understandable - it's such a simple feeling to make something nice continue for as long as possible.

If Tav is on the same page as Astarion and tends towards the "only loved ones matter, we're special" mindset. You'd think it was his trick-manipulation to perform a ritual, praise Tav for supporting his idea of supremacism and get what he so reasonably needs. He's certainly glad that Tav has similar ideas to him, and he'll definitely support that. It doesn't depend on his goals still - his "we are better" is very direct and deep in his personality.

Italicized. Here we are. That's one of the key thoughts in his character. That's the focus. This trait is further seen in Astarion as Lord - he says "We", "Ours". The man even says it in Latin. Aeterna amantes.

New in patch 7, takeover of the Absolute:

This part is already moving away from vampirism. This one is very layered. We are because he finally found someone he can trust. We are because we are parts fated to complete each other. We are because he's not alone in the world anymore.

Along with vampirism, his Noble Lord status plays a role here again. We are the mighty, above and we rule.

It's an easy and very simple fit to vampirism - we are better and we are forever.

He's also incredibly proud of himself, that he can give something to Tav, can protect them. He's been under Tav's protection the whole journey. Undead outcaster in Faerun, they regard mortals as cattle, and mortals regard them as monsters. That's why there are monster hunters. Vampire spawn he was allowed to stay in the group and he was dependent, he couldn't be a leader. In the romance he felt he had nothing to give, he was getting Tav into trouble with a powerful true vampire. He was counting the seconds until they finally decided to leave him…

In the romance, vampirism plays into the fact that Astarion is very much immersed in thoughts of eternity together. This emotionally intense and fragile moment: "I don't want to lose anything", comes from the very moment he lost: his status, the sun, his life. Not gonna happen again. Vampirism in the romance have fun one too: -- wealth - these two literally wear the most expensive clothes on the Sword Coast. -- shared powers - he is going to be in charge -- fights and challenge is for Tav- warrior, Astarion likes to spill some blood -- pleasure - of various kinds, from bed to blood.

The end result is an amalgamation of his: -- his personality with, well, a pretty intense dark triad. I would say character image instead of personality. Because the personality is itself. But the character will always submit to the idea - recall that his core is a balance of evil and fun. And evil in DnD is eogism, immorality, narcissism, harming others for fun and personal goals and all that. These dark parts in irl personality can spoil the balance. That's why psychology is for people. Not for characters who will eventually never go against their core. (even if all psychology reference books say otherwise). -- vampirism - the desire for blood and a predatory attitude -- desire for status and power as noble -- force as magic -- forever -- and share it all with love A little bonus at the end. Animation 3 patch. Subtle process.

This scene is much improved in colours in patch 7. But I still like the original faces. He looks so much like a fox >:3

[my-rewrite-academia]

How excatly are to going to handle spinners quirk in your rewrite, canon only gave him the ability to wall crawl when geckos can do so much more than that, I made a post regarding all the cool gecko abilities he would have had ( many of which fit in perfectly sith his ninja style) and was wondering how you would handle his quirk, because it had the most potential out of all the leagues quirk in my opinion. (Sorry if I getting too ahead here)

Hello!

-

I can answer this, as it's less related to plot and more of a character-based idea, which can be explored without spoiling anything. So, coming up first, we have:

1. Acrobatics

Geckos are known to be very acrobatic - something Spinner is sort of in canon, but it's a lot more than a bit in this rewrite. The setae in his feet, (the microscopic hair that allows him to stick onto surfaces), can absorb energy and repel it, which can be used for a variety of moves, whether it be escaping a situation or launching himself at an enemy.

2. Sticky Feet

This one is canon compliant, as the ask makes clear. However, to note, this only works in environments where the air is humid enough for the satae on his feet to soften and deform. It can work in drier environments but not to the same effect.

3. Tail

Geckos are actually able to regrow their tail! They fall off very easily, due to the way they grow onto the body - as something only tagged on, not directly attached. If it's been caught or something, geckos are able to remove that tail and regrow it at a later time.

But speaking of detaching the tail, the tail is actually able to move on its own for about 20-30 minutes after being detached, which can make for a surprise weapon or ally or even just a distraction.

Then there's also the fact that tail help the gecko with balance and reconfiguring their bodies when they fall. You know the whole, 'cats always land on their feet'? Yeah, that applies to geckos, and thus Spinner, too.

4. Water Repellant

Geckos are able to repel water, to an extent. While this is done to help clean their bodies, there are other uses Spinner could use this for, other than general cleanliness.

-

That's mostly what I have at the moment. Nothing too impressive, but not as lackluster as canon-Spinner. I was mostly focusing on the tail aspect, if that wasn't obvious enough. A gecko's tail has a lot of aspects and stuff, and it was really cool to find out about.

I hope this isn't disappointing, but a proper quirk analysis for him will be posted when we get there. :)

-

Thanks for the ask!

[a-dragons-journal]

hey, i know you’re na’vi link so i wanted to ask something. i’m questioning na’vi kin right now but can’t talk about it on my main blog because one of my friends follows me. they know about my alterhumanity and i post about it on that blog. however, i am white. very white. i’ve seen some people say that na’vi kin is cultural appropriation? i’m worried my alterhuman friends will try to accuse me of cultural appropriation if i confirm this kintype. any advice?

Okay, well, first off, I'm also white, so let's get that out of the way. However I have had this conversation with and have heard the opinions of Native American people with both opinions, so I can pass on my conclusions from that conversation, and if other people have opinions they want to add I welcome them to, especially Indigenous folks of course.

Thing number one: if it's not a choice, it can't be morally wrong. End of. You can't apply morality to things that aren't choices. You can engage with it in moral vs immoral ways, but simply having an identity that you didn't choose cannot be immoral.

Now obviously that doesn't apply to me, and it may or may not apply to you, so here's the rest of it:

Someone who's Na'vikin/link isn't claiming to be Indigenous here and now. We're not claiming to have direct experience with those struggles or the same amount of voice as Indigenous people do with regards to them. Na'vi are similar to and based on Indigenous people, but they aren't actually Indigenous people.

The Na'vi aren't based on any one Indigenous culture - although the Metkayina are much more heavily based on the Maori than anything else, the other clans we've seen aren't as specific, and are intentionally a mish-mash of dozens of Indigenous cultures. So... who is allowed to be Na'vikin/link, exactly? If the answer is "only people from the culture they're based on," then the real answer is no one. And about that:

This is really just a variant on the old "is kinning outside your race problematic" argument, and we came to a community-agreed-upon conclusion on that years ago: no. For a lot of reasons, including the above, and also the fact that if you're saying it's okay to identify as a wolf but not as a character of a different ethnicity than you... does that not imply that it's easier for a white person to connect that deeply with an animal than with a person of color? Is that not pretty damn problematic itself?

As a bonus round, if your answer then becomes "well, I guess you can be Na'vikin/link, but you shouldn't talk about it/engage with it in public": we know that suppressing kintypes is bad for you. We have learned this the hard way - how many stories are out there about how incredibly unhealthy that is for most people? You're now advocating for a known harm in order to avoid a hypothetical one. I don't think that's fair to anyone.

For what it's worth, I do think there are probably ways to engage with being a Na'vi that are appropriative, racist, and weird toward Indigenous people - just like there are plenty of ways to be a fan of the Na'vi that are appropriative, racist, and weird toward Indigenous people. But I don't think being a Na'vi is inherently that way. I don't think it's that hard to be Na'vi and be respectful of real-world Indigenous cultures that the Na'vi have parallels to. As long as you're not claiming to be Indigenous here and now, or have some ~special connection~ to Indigenous cultures because of your Na'vi 'type, or appropriating Indigenous things because they have Na'vi vibes, then I think you're fine.

But, as I said, I'm more than willing to hear other opinions if people have them! Please, add on in the notes. (I also feel like I'm forgetting a major point in my argument as to why it's fine for some reason, but can't get my hands around it, so hopefully I'm wrong and if not you might see an update to this post in the future when I remember. I've got a bit of a headache right now, so I'm a little bleary.)

[terrific-togekiss]

I'm far from the first person to say this, but it's interesting how many writers and stories these days prop themselves up as being good because they're subverting tropes they claim aren't usually subverted.

Here's the thing: plenty of "strong" male characters in fiction have female love interests they care about, adore and look out for, said love interest feeling the same. Finding strength in said relationship with them and turning to them in need, and finding comfort in said relationship.

On the opposite end, not a lot of strong female characters have male love interests and plenty of fandoms are content in assuming it should stay that way, viewing them as above a romance with a male character (or general). Lest they be demoted to not being seen as strong or even good characters if they're worries are confirmed and they fall for one in canon.

So many claim they want to subvert a lot of tropes, but this is one example of that not always being the case.

As this post said, love is not a weakness and if you can perceive it as a strength in a male character, this should apply as well.

Fandom Problem #6393:

You know, a long, long time ago, I would've understood the praise behind not having a female character fall in love, either remaining friends with another character or casual acquaintances. It depends on the characters themselves and the interactions and "relationship" the story gave them.

Nowadays, part of me dreads hearing a female character is suuuuch a well written character for not falling in love because too many audiences in the last few years think a female character must be revoked of her status as a well written character, all because she falls for a (usually) male character.

And before anyone says anything, I mean on the basis of catching feelings and ending up with that character.

Audiences no longer critique if a female character ended up with a character with no build-up and bad writing being present.

They're all content in ignoring the actual writing quality of the story and it's characters.

A female character is not a lesser person for falling in love and love is not a weakness.

[tdvotes]

Welcome to Total! Drama! Tumblr!!!!!!

Now that we've wrapped up our analysis on every vote in the canon Total Drama series, it's time to mix it up a little.

This will be something of a crossbreed between Total Drama, The Ridonculous Race, and the Tumblr tournaments that have been so popular recently. Here are the rules:

All 100 contestants from Total Drama and the Ridonculous Race will compete.

Because of this, there will be no submission phase. Instead, there will be a "team building" phase. Click on the form below to submit two to ten characters who you think should be on the same team. You can also submit a team name if you like. Once we've received enough submissions, I will put together the teams based on the information received. Please submit as many teams as you want.

The characters will initially be split into 10 teams with 10 players on each team.

I will call each player by their in game name. That means, for example, Mildred Stacey Andrews O'Halloran will be called Blaineley, and Valentina Escobar will be called MacArthur. While this rule applies to me, you can call the characters any name you want.

We will probably put each pair of Ridonculous Race partners on the same team, as well as Katie and Sadie, Amy and Samey, and Wayne and Raj.

A typical episode will be split into 3 polls, each of which will last a day:

On day 1, a challenge poll will pit all the teams against each other. Vote for the team you want to WIN the challenge.

On day 2, a campfire poll will pit the members of the LOSING team against each other. Vote for the player you want to ELIMINATE.

And on day 3, a final poll will pit the two players with the MOST votes against each other. Vote for the player you want to receive the FINAL MARSHMALLOW.

The player who loses that poll will be eliminated and have their total stats revealed, both for the canon series and for our game. The stats will include how many votes they received vs how many votes they mathematically could have received, how many elimination ceremonies they went to, how many times they won invincibility, and more.

Teams that won the challenge may or may not receive an extra vote or two in the next challenge.

(Obviously, since the polls last 24 hours each, and I need time in between polls to tally the results, and my schedule will not always align with the time the poll expires, each episode will last slightly longer than 3 days.)

Feel free to submit roleplay, propaganda for or against a certain player or team, or virtually anything else you wish.

Language: if it's allowed on the Canadian version of Total Drama, it's allowed here. (For those unfamiliar, they do allow words like crap, frickin, testicles, and suck, but they bleep out other swear words. For example, Lindsay's rant against Heather is entirely bleeped out in the Canadian version, whereas in the American version it is replaced with a load of PG insults.)

I may introduce game elements that happened or were mentioned in the real show, including but not limited to non-elimination / double elimination rounds, tiebreaker polls, returning players, immunity idols, team swaps, merging teams or eliminating an entire team if a certain team becomes too small, etc. Depends on how the game goes.

While I reserve the right to run the tournament however I want, here are the rules on tied polls:

If a challenge poll is tied for last, the tied teams will either battle it out in a tiebreaker poll, or have an elimination ceremony for each, or have a combined elimination ceremony, depending how I'm feeling that day and how many players are left on each team.

If a campfire poll is tied for first or second, the tied campers will all compete for the final marshmallows.

If a final marshmallow poll is tied, it is at my discretion whether to make it a double elimination, non-elimination, or tiebreaker.

With all that out of the way, the team building form is linked below:

Again, please submit as many teams as you want!

Signal boosting all the tournament blogs I know below the cut!

@tournament-announcer @mysterycharacterbracket @sea-creature-tournaments @freaky-fellers-tourney @guess-that-ship @doofenshmirtzjingletourney @yall-hate-kids-tourney @mystery-classic-lit-bracket @halloweensongbracket @badlysummedupmoviestournament @trioswag-competition @ferbracket @whosthatcharacter-bracket @cartoon-character-competition @blueboybracket @girlgeniusbracket @tmblrsfavshow @autisticgirliesbracket @weird-al-song-tourney @super-shapeshifter-showdown @died-but-not-dead-tournament @siblingshowdown @disneyvillainbracket @dwampyverse-tournaments @best-green-character @orangecharactersmackdown @battle-of-the-dads

[opalharkness]

I hate when people use the fiction someone writes as a measure of their character. If that was a reliable method than we wouldn't have so many authors of wholesome shit be revealed to be predators. The way I see it is writing about horrible shit is like drawing a picture of the void. You are not actually looking into it thus it cannot stare back and hurt you. It's like a rollercoaster all the rush of adrenaline that comes with being in danger without ever actually being in danger. An escape room where you are trapped but not really and if you wish to back down or give up you can without consequences.

Fiction cannot hurt you. It can scare you or make you uncomfortable, but it cannot hurt you. The characters on the screen also can't be hurt because they are objects. No different from the dolls you used to play with or the chair in your bedroom or dining room or kitchen. They do not have feelings or thoughts. They are not alive and therefore anything that is done to them is fine because they cannot be hurt.

This applies to all types of violence and not just the ones you personally think are gross. Because all violence is equal as it all causes untold harm and trauma for the victims of it. A murder victim's trauma still matters even if they are dead because they are still people.

[introverted-reads]

jack alston, lord hawthorn: