#there's gotta be some revenge aspect too

[appleroach]

Gideon took Din alive because he wanted to find the child right?

He takes the helmet off because Din can't control his facial expressions. But like imagine if it worked and Din unwillingly betrayed his child

[dragonlands]

There's so much negativity around Izzy's death so I wanted to address some of the points I keep seeing thrown around.

"Izzy's death was pointless"

No, he just had his big speech about how basically they can kill him but they cannot kill the movement. That is a clear paraller to a lot of real life protestors of unjustice. He died protecting the community, he died so the community could go on.

"Izzy's death made his healing pointless"

No it didn't. Healing is always good, feeling happiness and belonging are ALWAYS worth it. We never know how long we've got, doesn't mean we gotta stop trying to be better or happier. His healing was still real. It still mattered.

"Izzy's character arc was left unfinished, it's bad writing"

Oh my god. If you open any writing guide about how to write impactful deaths, and the first thing that comes up is to leave some part of their arc unfinished. And his arc did go through quite a beautiful line, sure there could've been more but his story didn't end like, mid arc. As a writer, of course you want to make the audience sad when a character dies. It's good storytelling. Good stories are supposed to make us feel.

"Izzy died on the arms of his abuser"

Where the hell did this idea come from? Ed and Izzy have been in a toxic codependent relationship way before this show started. You could argue that Izzy was Ed's abuser, but that is not the argument I want to make here. Yes, we saw Ed driven to madness shoot Izzy on screen, but we know Izzy's the one that forced him to be Blackbeart when he didn't want it anymore. There's turmoil all around them. But the final moment is them finally meeting as people, not as components of Blackbeard.

"Izzy's death was unnecessarily awful"

His death was sad, yes, but it was quite beautiful as far as deaths go. He was surrounded by family who cared for him. He was loved, and accepted as he is. He knew his legacy will be carried on.

"They killed off the only character that showed us healing is never too late"

Did we watch the same show? That begins with then unhappy 40+ year old Stede deciding it's finally time to reach for his dreams? Where we see Blackbeard slowly gaining back his humanity? Where Black Pete starts off as toxically masculine dude but ends up in a soft gay marriage? Where most of the crew wanted to mutiny but then they realized being soft is good, actually. Jim's whole purpose in life being revenge but them learning to let that go and instead concentrate on love and fun and family. And so on. Izzy's arc is beautiful, but he's not the only person healing who thought it was too late already.

"Izzy's death was bury your gays trope"

No, what, no. In a pirate show where everyobody is queer some queer people will die. Bury your gays is about only having one or few queer characters and killing them off while the straights get their happily ever afters. This is so far from that.

Also, I want people to be aware of the phenomenon, where creators of diverse shows are subjected to more critism than those of non diverse shows. If this intrests you, Sarah Z on Youtube made a great video on it called Double standards and diverse media. Our flag means death has given us so much, queer love story with a happily ever after, finding community, nonbinary character. And the creators have always been so kind to fans, so let's show them tht kindness back. Because critizicing this one aspect can easily turn to seeming like the whole story is just unwanted. That stories like Ed and Stede's aren't worth telling. And I'm so aftraid that will happen, when just now for the first time in years we are finally getting queer stories.

Also, I understand people are sad. I am sad too - Izzy was an amazing character and his death was sad but that's just. Good writing. You can grieve, but trying to turn it into a moral or dramaturgy issue is just not a good look. And attacking the creators of this wonderful show is just horrible.

Remember - this fandom is a safe space ship 🏴‍☠️🏳️‍🌈

[gamequoteshowdown]

WARNING THIS POLL CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING GAMES: Inscryption, Ghost Trick

Quote 1: "But what did I expect? You're a stupid stupid idiot gamer like the rest. And I easily outwitted you! I outwitted them all!" - P03, Inscryption

Quote 2: "What’s it like to feel pain? Does it make you feel alive?" - Yomiel, Ghost Trick

Propaganda under cut

Quote 1: P03 has many good quotes but I consider this his best for many reasons. It displays his cockiness by having him gloat about his victory prematurely, it displays his ego by having him brag about "outwitting everyone" (he really didn't, he just got lucky in a lot of aspects; the only person he technically "outwitted" was the player), and most importantly he calls the main character a "stupid stupid idiot gamer".

Quote 2:

ITS SO COOL. OUR MAN IS TORMENTING A GUY HE WANTS REVENGE ON. THIS IS RIGHT AFTER HE FORCED THE GUY TO WALK UP THE STAIRS ON BROKEN LEGS. HES SO FULL OF HATRED. he gets shot, his body ragdolls back and then is dragged back up like a puppet. He slams his hand on a burning stovetop. He’s so mad. I’m saying things out of order I know but like chapter 15 is so so good I just play through it for fun sometimes. God. I had seen an out of context screenshot of this specific line and was looking forward to it the whole game. Imagine you’re a guy who hasn’t been able to feel anything for 10 years. You’re face to face with one of the people who’s actions led to your death, your fate of puppeting everything around you but never experiencing any of it in a tangible way. He’s collapsed in pain because of what you’ve done. You’re taunting him because you want him to suffer, but even in his suffering, he has something that he stole from you. You can’t help but let out a jeer. “What’s it like to feel pain? Does it make you feel alive~?” Sure, it probably makes him feel like he wishes he wasn’t alive. But that’s part of living too, isn’t it? And isn’t that ironic? That even as you’re clawing him apart as some desperate misplaced revenge, he gets what you’ll never have again? Mind you, Yomiel at this point is like. Really fucked up. I’m writing this assuming anyone reading this propaganda either doesn’t care about spoilers or already Knows, but the fandom has trained me well so I gotta give one last warning lol. This is Yomiel after his only friend, a cat who’s life he shared when he was a new ghost and hadn’t remembered himself yet, is dead. The one thing he cared about, and it was his fault. He missed the shot and killed his only friend. So like. He was always planning on taking revenge, but now he’s even more angry, and hurt, and he blames the people involved in the incident. I’m pretty sure he’s already figured out that Jowd had escaped but he had still killed Jowd’s wife and ruined his life. Cabanela is the other most responsible person for what happened in Yomiel’s mind, and oh is he going to make it slow, make it hurt. And that. That weight, behind the banger line, is what makes me feral.

Mod Note: I LOVE GT (thats it)

@sleepywabbit09 @stormcloudsandshadows @kirexa @ghost-trick-heritage-posts

[motelsnleatherseats]

Sam's a crier, always has been. He cried every time John left them alone for the first few months, soothed by his big brother who had to quell his own emotions for the sake of little Sammy. Gotta have a strong, fearless figure to look up to in the absence of a father fueled by rage and revenge. It never got easier, seeing Sam's hazel, doe-eyes fill with tears regardless of the situation. Scraped knees, nightmares, some kid picking on him for his outdated hand-me down clothes, hunger pangs.

Even as a teen, it was difficult for him to turn off the water works. Every time his emotions got the best of him in any aspect, his eyes would burn with unshed tears as he tried to process his highs and lows. It's worse when he argues with John.

Dean can hear his brother crying in the bathroom, trying to drown out the sounds by running the faucet. Sam and his father had a huge blow out where Dean had to actually step between them when it looked like John was about to put hands on his little brother. He knew his role -- look out for Sammy, even if that meant protecting him from their own father. Sam stormed off and slammed the door to the bathroom, and John had mumbled something along the lines of 'you handle him' before he walked out of the motel, leaving Dean to collect the broken pieces of Sam's spirit.

His chest is tight. It pains Dean in a way where it's down to the bone, to hear Sam trying to stifle his sobs, but he's so angry and overwhelmed, it's hard for him to even start the calming down process. Dean wishes he could shoulder that pain for Sam, to take the hurt and resentment he knows he feels towards his father, because hell, he feels it too a lot of the time and it's not fair to either of them, but he's gotta be the one to do damage control.

"Sammy," Dean spoke, needing to clear his throat after to shake his own swallowed emotions as he gave the doorknob a squeeze to see if his brother locked it. He heard Sam sniffle and take a calming breath, but he didn't move to open the door just yet. "C'mon kiddo, let me in," he requested in the softest tone he could muster, promising to give comfort.

The faucet was turned off and there was a shuffle of heavy feet, defeated even behind the barrier of the door before he turned the knob and unlocked it with the pop of the button. Dean ached. Sam's eyes were stung red and puffy, and the moment he locked gazes with Dean, the tears threatened to resurface. It took a second and a half before Sam had buried himself in his brother's chest, wet face pressed to his shirt and Dean could feel the heat coming off of him. The kid was always so warm-bodied, especially when he was emotional. It was almost as if his blood actually boiled sometimes, and there'd be nights when Sam would be pressed close in bed with him and he'd suffer through the discomfort so long as it meant that his little brother would get a decent night's rest.

"I hate him," Sam professed, and Dean's expression grew solemn. He didn't mean that, he couldn't mean it. He wrapped his arms around the kid and laid his palm against the back of Sam's neck, tilting his own down to press his lips to the crown of his head. They'd talk about that later. For now, Sam needed his big brother.

"He left, Sammy. It's just you and me now, yeah? Like always."

[king-paimon]

I've read up on your blog through a lot of Houseki no Kuni's manga. I liked your analysis though I gotta say come the last chapters, specifically since chapter 95, I didn't always agree with them.

I didn't need the end to be happy sunshine and rainbows, or the opposite, for Phos to go all revenge monster on the gems either. But at the end there, I felt like we all just accepted everything Ichikawa threw at us with no criticism, all that torture flattening the narrative's nuance, and if I didn't like it, I was seeing it through the wrong angle.

I know you don't act like that, which I appreciate. Throught all your reviews, you expressed understanding on why so many people disliked the story. Thank you for that, thank you for not being judgemental. And I'm glad you enjoyed the ride.

I just couldn't help but feel like so many story threads were left lose, and so many complete 180°s were thrown that didn't match the story or it's characters. Some people described it as a self-sabotaged narrative, and I see it. It wasn't enough to give me catharsis - especially with the character set up as the villain getting everything he wanted.

I guess I just had higher standards, which the story didn't meet. That is not a bad thing, after all.

I think my biggest gripe is with how Cairngorm's character was handled, and I'd like to include this here. The ambiguity of their predatory relationship was in poor taste, and remained unaddressed. I can see why so many of my friends left the series when that plot point happened. They deserved better.

Hi @intoxtinction! Thank you for sending me this message and sorry that it took me so long to finally respond. Real life has been kicking my butt and free time to do anything on here is a rarity. But I still wanted to write a response to you because I really loved your response! And yes, I saw the comment you left on my last HnK meta post. You're good; don't worry about it!

Thank you again for your kind words. I'm glad that you like my posts, even if they sometimes become long, nonsensical rambles and especially if you don't agree with some of my points! I love that. Whenever I wrote my posts, I always try to keep an open mind and take into account that all fans are different and would have different views when it comes to works works like HnK. As far as I can see, HnK is one of those works that is supposed to draw up conversations because it's not a simple, straight forward story with clear distinction between black/white moral characters. Everyone who reads it is going to view the events in the story differently based on their own beliefs and even if everyone's views conflict with one another, I think it's fascinating and even wonderful. So even if I may not agree with some fans when it comes to certain aspects of HnK, I never hold it against them. I don't want to demonize anyone for how they interpret the story, at least not too harshly anyways. I know when I'm biased, but I don't let that stop me from at least trying to understand where other fans are coming from. HnK was such a fascinatingly complex and unconventional story, and the fact that it can spur many views and feelings from people is one of the reasons whyI liked the series.

With that being said, however, I also think it's important to be open to properly critique our favorite works. HnK is not immune from these critiques, because for as much as I enjoyed following the story over the past couple of years, there are many aspects in the overall story that were far from satisfying. So many loose ends, incomplete character arches, and questionable story decisions... After being away from the story for some time now, it's become more apparent that there were many aspects to the HnK that has me question Haruko Ichikawa's story telling abilities. Don't get me wrong, she's shown to be a very fascinating storyteller and I overall liked what she created. But when it comes to the incomplete story threads for all of the other characters besides Phos, I can't tell if some of Ms. Ichikawa's decisions were intentionally left up for interpretation or if their stories were just not important to complete since at the end of the day, HnK is about Phos's story. One of these decisions I question the most about is Cairngorm's story arch, so I couldn't agree more with you, @intoxtinction. Cairngorm was done dirty in so many ways and they deserved a more satisfying ending to their story.

I was planning on writing two last posts that would be focusing on these topics. But because life has been kicking my butt too much lately, I don't know when they will be out, if at all at this point. But if I'm able to complete them, I hope you'll get the chance to read them and share your own thought. And again, it's totally fine if you don't agree with my points; I'd still love to read them!

[haphazardlyannotated]

Prompt: Consider a vindictive Pearl who guilt trips and trolls the diamonds at every opportunity. She goes on long rants, saying all the things she wishes she could have said in Era 1. She may not be able to stab the diamonds like she wants, but she's gotta avenge Pink (and herself) somehow.

Pearl had spent the first three thousand years of her existence hearing the other Diamonds berate Pink.

The way she ran her colony, how she talked to "lesser" gems, even when she dared to talk- it seemed like there was no aspect of Pink her fellow Diamonds couldn't strenuously disapprove of.

Pearl remembered countless times Pink's shoulders had slumped, her bright eyes dimmed with just a few sharp words, until Rose stood in front of Pearl, telling her that Blue and Yellow had never cared about her with a conviction that wasn't even resigned anymore.

The memories had been burned into Pearl's mind with helpless fury for millenia.

So honestly, when Blue and Yellow Diamond showed up on Earth, nearly killed Steven AGAIN, and then had the audacity to talk about Pink like they hadn't made her life a living hell for as long as Pearl had known her, and when Blue Diamond then grimaced at the moss Rose had once painstakingly tended to and loudly wondered what Pink could have possibly seen in this planet- well, Pearl couldn't be blamed for indulging in just the tiniest crumb of revenge.

"Well, she liked food, for one thing," Pearl said with the perfect, bland smile of a good, subservient pearl. She caught Amethyst's eye and was met with such complete understanding that by all rights they should have formed Opal on the spot. "I'm sure Amethyst will be happy to prepare some for you," Pearl continued, watching Amethyst struggle to contain a giant grin. "She's an expert in human nourishments."

Amethyst's creation was a precarious tower of everything in their fridge, some of it still in the packaging, liberally seasoned with engine oil.

Blue and Yellow Diamond, regretably, ended up deciding they didn't want to connect with Pink's past that badly, but the sheer vindictive delight Pearl felt at their expressions when Amethyst presented her masterwork to them (and then proceeded to swallow it whole when it became clear the Diamonds weren't going to) lasted her the whole day.

_

Pearl had intended for it to be a one off.

It should have been a one off, especially considering how badly they all needed the Diamond's goodwill to have any hope of healing their corrupted friends.

Unfortunately, Pearl had not anticipated how much being a pearl on Homeworld again would grate.

She hadn't been prepared for how angry it would make her to be once again looked at like a mindless possession, a trinket to adorn an owner.

She'd fought for her freedom in the war for hundreds of years, and thousands more in her own mind. She refused to be pushed back into the mold of what Homeworld thought a pearl should be.

She knew better than to make a grand gesture. Not now. Not when the fate of countless gems depended on it.

But she could keep her posture loose where she was expected to stand like a statue, could speak up unprompted, walk in front of ‚her owner‘ rather than behind him.

Most gems probably wouldn’t even notice, let alone know what a rebellion these little gestures were. But they mattered to Pearl, and when Blue and Yellow Pearl’s eyes flickered to her when they shouldn’t (because stars forbid a pearl showed curiosity for anything other than her owner’s amusement!) Pearl knew they at least had noticed.

Watch me, Pearl told them with every time she raised her voice like that, moved her feet just so. I am a pearl and they hold no power over me. They tried to destroy us, but we’re still here and free. You can be, too. They can’t stop us.

Homeworld would never own Pearl again, and if she had anything to say about it, it wouldn’t keep owning anyone else for long either.

_

When it was all over, the Diamonds approached Pearl on the beach in front of the temple.

They tried to seem casual. They failed utterly.

„Hello… Pearl,“ White Diamond greeted her, with an expression like treating Pearl like a person was the most perplexing task she’d ever put her mind to.

Pearl tilted her head a fraction to indicate she was listening. She had no inclination to play the accomodating servant. If White Diamond wanted something from her, she would have to figure out how to ask herself.

In the end it was Blue Diamond who spoke up.

„We know that we failed Pink,“ she began, an admission so utterly unexpected it briefly gave Pearl the sensation of being in the wrong form. „We would like to do better with Steven.“

That too was unexpected. The Diamonds Rose and Pearl had run away from would never have considered even the possibility that they could be flawed, let alone need to do better.

Rose, Pearl thought. Look at this. We changed them. Your son changed them.

Out loud she only said

„That’s nice.“

Yellow Diamond cleared her throat impatiently.

„We were hoping you would have some insights,“ she said.

Once again, Pearl felt like the ground had been pulled away beneath her feet.

If someone, even Garnet, had told her a year ago that the Diamonds would stand in front of her, admitting that what they’d done to Rose had been wrong, asking Pearl for advice - she would have thought it absurd.

The Diamonds she’d known would have sooner shattered their entire courts than admit their own faults. The fact that they were willing to put all of this, everything they had spent millenia trying to embody away for the sake of Rose’s memory and Steven’s future…

Rose had been wrong, too, Pearl realised. The other Diamonds had loved her. They’d done it badly, without ever truly seeing her, but they’d loved her all the same.

And now they wanted to learn to do it right.

Maybe Pearl could forgive them one day. Maybe.

Not today though.

„Well, for one thing,“ Pearl said, „I think Steven enjoys not being locked in an empty room for years on end.“

[kidnap-the-series]

EP 3 - Secret Deal (Part 3)

I see people saying Leng's acting was stiff here. It's not the best but I think it was in sync with the character. Q literally has a gun on his head. He has a trauma for gunshots and probably is fucking scared for his life. Do ya'll expect him to talk like he talks to his friends or something? I'm all in for constructive criticism but sometimes I feel like people complain for the sake of complaining and not for improvement.

You can tell Q is trying to keep a brave facade on but is also clearly scared coz the dad might take any impulsive decisions.

Again. Makes a little more sense as to why the kidnapping to murder change happened. The dad isn't like an experienced criminal or anything. He is a desperate dad who didn't see any other option to save his son.

He is threatening to kill but I don't think he has it in him to pull the trigger.

Q is pretty good at negotiating ngl. He pretty much saved the day. Idk what Min and James would have ended up doing if Q didn't come.

He's kinda guilt-tripping (??) him. Is that the right word? Idk.

Told ya.

The dad's situation is pretty sad too. His son was framed for a crime he didn't commit. He does not have any evidence to prove that his son is innocent. He probably feels helpless and unworthy to be his father since he isn't able to protect him. Due to all of this, he has gone to take impulsive decisions which only worsen the situation.

It's the way Min immediately goes on to fully engulf Q like that. Feels like a ' I'll protect you' stance to me.

Holds his hand too. 🥺

True. His dad might not be a good father, but he sure seems to be a good cop. So, I don't think he would just let someone be framed like that.

Sit him down. Give him some water or something. He does not look okay.

Oh!

He really said super basic. What more complex shit did you experience dude?

Stop stop! Not the time for this conversation.

One thing this show does well is the trauma aspect.

Thinking about how Min is probably the first one to comfort him during his panic attacks.

Seeing Q suffer like that, he probably realises this is something very serious and not some petty revenge against his dad.

Q doesn't hug Min back immediately. Probably had to take some time to trust him.

Overall, this is one of their weaker episodes so far. Despite my crazy love for this show, I've gotta agree that the crime aspect is pretty unserious and not that well done. The whole Yada thing didn't make sense to me. Like what is that whole 50k per punch thing going on like why? Also offering Min a bodyguard job just like that without any background check, qualifications or anything. Like I said in my introduction post, I'm not here for the crime part of the story. I'm here for the rom-com part of it so I'm just ignoring the unseriousness in the crime part.

Not too many thoughts for this episode honestly. So I'll end it here.

[grennseyelashes]

COMPLAINING ONCE AGAIN. look away if you are not a complaining once again fan.

i get that it's a series that you gotta chew over a bit to pick up on some of the nuance of the stories, but if i see another person gushing about what a cutie sweetie pie Jaime is for ordering Ilyn to kill one (1) of Pia's rapists then i might scream. he also brings all of the rest of them into his service without qualm and, after she's found a modicum of distance from them (by befriending and riding in the midst of Jaime's young squires instead) he then decides she's just being too sexy, insisting on having a body underneath her completely normal clothing, and so without consulting her at all just "gives" her to one of them to A) take his own mind off it all, B) as a reward for his squire, and C) to symbolically cuckold Lancel in his own bed as revenge. And all of these things are written very carefully! There is imho absolutely NO way that grrm didn't put all that in there to demonstrate that Jaime publicly "saving" Pia from one (1!) of her rapists was more about his own quest to feel like a hero as he'd hoped to as a child, before he was sent away from the Harrenhal* tourney and decided it was all a con, rather than out of genuine compassion, or him actually divesting whatsoever from his exceptionally vitriolic misogyny. Grrm even goes out of his way to let us know that this aspect of Jaime bullshitting himself does link back to his story with Brienne as well too! We later learn that some of the other Mountain's men who Jaime brought into his service, i.e. other rapists of Pia, later end up at Maidenpool because Jaime ordered them to go there without a care for what happened after that, and at least one of them was executed for rape by Randall Tarly, a man (and situation) that features very prominently in Brienne's own storyline. He coulda had them end up anywhere, or just simply never mention them again. But he doesnt! He links them up with Brienne's story.

It is so frustrating and SUCH a shame that this stuff apparently barely registers to most people (?) because the enormous divergence between what Jaime thinks he's doing and what he's actually doing are what make him such a great character. He genuinely does have semi-decent intentions, in a way (or at least somewhat improved ones), and he's given HUGE opportunity in the story to change his life and be a better man, he could not possibly be in a better position to get his shit together, and we watch him fuck it up over and over again because his little pseudo-medieval misogynist brain is too drenched in the ideology and structures of his society that he has willingly eaten up his entire life, and due to his position within it (yes, even sans hand!) too surrounded by "easy" answers (that he always takes) to ever actually escape his path. It's really good tragedy! And it's also, genuinely, not that diffiult to grasp? So... what the hell, man. Is the power of show-only Braime really that strong that the central differences in the actual books just dont exist, somehow? Cos if so, well, that sucks.

*Harrenhal <- Pia's home btw. and she was actually there for that tourney that Jaime's so sore about missing (and is so intriguing for other plot reasons!), but he's never asked her about it even once lol, even though she told him outright. Which makes sense seeing as, according to him, she's prettier with her mouth closed**

** What an interesting thing to have Jaime think, right after we're told the Mountain smashed her teeth in for "talking when he wanted quiet". Almost as if it were some kind of... intentional... parallel........... 🤯

[desires-of-chain]

hey hey hey hun hun hun

what if

what if reader sexually frustrated the merboys on purpose knowingly. like being a complete tease, pretending to be innocent or oblivious. They'd be confused about why they haven't been jumped until they learn about the whole process of courtship...and they turn even more evil and amp up the teasing further. So by the time the courtship is properly happening at that stage they're allowed to mate, reader runs away before the boys do the sexy times just to mess with them more, which excited the predator aspect of the mers and they get hunted down and properly ravaged once they're caught~

in short: predator and prey play :D It would be adorable, I imagine. like reader would get caught, pinned down, and fuck their brains out wherever they were caught because reader made the boys chase them and now they're impatient and just want to devour them. or they'd get carried back to their den or something, with reader still struggling which just excites them more, and then when they reach the den they get thoroughly bred~

(This is all fully consensual, btw.)

Well. That^^ would be fun, but some part of me had me cheering something like "make them break the tradition or courtship stuff because the teasing got too much >:D " and none of the boys would ever live it down while reader is smug and flattered that they were more than enough to break them like: >:3c (<-reader's face while they're covered in bites, scratches, bruises, and not able to walk or swim, they gotta be carried and the boys are fond, exasperated, and maybe a bit annoyed that reader's still so smug. Perhaps they're going to fuck that smugness out of this tease of a brat as revenge later~)

-🎀

BIG BRAIN

Reader being a "bully" to their mer boys is just *chef kiss.*

Now the predator vs prey is my jam. They either just 'yoink' you away to a private area if they caught you or take you right then and there in public on the beach to "teach you a lesson."

Only for it to backfire on them in a way they're burning red on their faces. They want to cover you up, but at the same time, the instincts preen in pride at the sight of the marks covering your body.

"You're not supposed t-!"

"Ey, you put these suckers on me."

"It was to teach you a lesson," he weakly defends.

"Well, that obviously backfired."

"...keep it up and you'll find out..."

"Oh, I'm scared."

[fordtato]

I gotta ask! What's your thoughts on Same Coin Theory? Kinda branching off on that, what's your theories/thoughts on Bill's "different form, different time?" I'm obsessed with your video essays and would love to see your insight :3

Sorry, I don't think I have too much insight on this. I've actually answered this before, and while I think Same Coin is a rad theory, I don't think it's canon, at least in my interpretation of the series events. The fanfiction that is based on it is typically pretty awesome, though, and I can't think of a Same Coin Theory fanfic I read and didnt like.

I personally think the Stan and Bill similarities are there as shorthand, and for the audience to compare the two, especially since they're both "conman" archetypes. From a writer's standpoint, it's interesting to have one conman, Bill, purely after power and destruction and making the world his playground, and to make the other, Stan, someone who acts out of a place of great pain and struggle (at least in my own interpretation of their motivations, though I have seen some interesting theories on Bill's motivations.) Narratively, Ford (in his early 30s) trusts one of these characters and not the other, and by having them be similar in a bunch of superficial ways, it really drives home what those differences are and gives us insight into Stan, Bill AND Ford's personas in the process.

I don't know what Bill's "different form, different time" is, but I think it's some kind of reincarnation, and the axolotl poem does specify that going through this process is the only way to "absolve his crime." Seeing as Bill is trillions of years old, "another time" would probably be very far removed from the Pines' lifetimes. I assume this process means he would have a chance to either do better, and perhaps gain some kind of form or power back, or try to exact his revenge on our world and try again, fooling some other idiot in the future into summoning him.

Not gonna lie, Bill Cipher and his lore and backstory was never the part of Gravity Falls that I personally fixated on, so while I've always found fandom speculation on those aspects of the lore interesting and neat, it just wasn't the part of the series that I personally have theorized on or hoped for answers on.

[loadednachosao3]

I keep forgetting I can just make unhinged rambling tumblr posts on my ideas instead of necessarily immediately writing them all so here is What If Nacho Was a Salamanca and Lalo Was a Varga: The Lacho AU in text post form

first we gotta think about what changes there'd be to their personalities based on their upbringings. then what's the same? nature vs. nurture. both are important aspects of people's identities.

Nacho Salamanca

Ignacio Salamanca is born in the 70s, the first new Salamanca after a long dry spell. because of this, his birth is a celebratory event, and he's summarily spoiled as the first baby of the generation by Hector and the others.

(Tuco is born a few months later, and still has a bug up his ass about getting the middle child treatment. stupid doe-eyed cousin.)

being brought up in that environment, I feel, would foster a lot of nastiness in Nacho. in canon, we see that his father is basically his "morality pet," the one who makes him regret joining the cartel, but what about without that? think of s1 Nacho. scary, ruthless, threatening violence easily. can you imagine that sort of personality raised as a Salamanca?

of course, he wouldn't be a Tuco. in fact, he'd still be the only person capable of calming Tuco down (they've got a great relationship apart from Tuco's jealousy). Nacho isn't the type to fly off the handle at the slightest provocation.

he is, however, the type who will methodically stalk you until he knows your routines, then kidnap you and skin you inch by inch in front of your lover if you cross him.

Nacho is a calm kind of insane. personable, affable, smug and sarcastic in equal measures. he won't always get his revenge right away, but he'll remember what you did and make sure you pay for it.

and he's, like the rest, fiercely loyal to his family. you cross them? you're dead in the most painful way possible. he'll do it with a smirk, too.

Lalo Varga

Eduardo Varga is born to a simple family a little over a decade before the Salamancas welcome Nacho into their lives. his mother passes early on in his life, but he has her eyes and her laugh and her cooking skills that Manuel could never quite master.

being raised by Manuel would not fix Lalo entirely, I think, but it would make him markedly better. a friendly, jocular, caring man who loves his single father more than the world. you know how he looks at Hector in canon, like the sun shines out of his ass? that's how he looks at Manuel now.

for years, he works happily with his father at the shop. until one day when he's re-upholstering some seats and finds a big brick of drugs... and, well, money has been tight for so long.

it isn't long before the Salamancas find out someone they don't know is peddling their drugs -- in THEIR territory, no less (Lalo's not stupid, but he's definitely not wise to the ways of the game at first). not kicking up any money to the supplier, not respecting the Salamancas enough to meet them properly.

The Meet-Cute

rather than living in Mexico like Lalo, I think it'd be interesting if Nacho lived in ABQ with Tuco. he's smart, so he's the one they task with finding the stray little dealer.

Lalo doesn't cover his tracks nearly well enough, so Nacho does. has some burly men throw a bag over Lalo's head and bring him to the Salamancas.

then he's on trial in a kangaroo court, fighting for his life. he doesn't beg or plead or cry. he's charismatic, charming, a talker. apologizes and pays respects and explains his situation, but never weeps for mercy like some wretched, pathetic little thing.

Nacho likes that.

so it's Nacho who talks down his less forgiving primo and tio. death sentence to probation: Lalo sells for them, properly, for a while, and they get to decide if he stays in the business or if he and his father get capped.

and what can Lalo do but obey?

The Conclusion

I just think it'd be hot okay. imagine Nacho as the lowkey unhinged one and Lalo as the peppy, cute daddy's boy. making each other worse slowly in different ways as Lalo gives Nacho the dokis and Nacho gives Lalo a newfound appreciation for hurting people who cross you and your family.

thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[evansbby]

https://www.tumblr.com/wyseink/164167799585/10-questions-every-fic-writer-secretly-wants-to-be

Is it okay to ask you questions from this ask game? 🥹🖤

If so, I choose 4 & 7 for Wicked Games :)

of course this is more than okay!!

in fact, I’m super happy you sent these in! i always love answering any questions about my fic writing process and behind the scenes of my stories!

4. If you could change anything in [wicked games], what would it be?

Hmm, I think I’d make both Ari and Steve a little less dark? At the beginning of the fic, they both have moments where they do some super questionable stuff. I think if I had a chance to rewrite, I’d tone down some of the non-con stuff tbh — with both Steve and Ari. Just bc it would be easier to justify them as endgame for reader (either one of them, whoever she ends up choosing) if the noncon stuff didn’t happen. What I mean is… maybe if I rewrote it, I wouldn’t make the fic dark, I guess? IDK tho, bc I really like some of the dark aspects of the fic — it reminds me of the gothic sagas I used to read when I was young with all the drama and men being awful etc. but yeah I guess if I HAD to change something, maybe I’d change that.

7. Who was your favorite character to write in [wicked games]?

It’s gotta be Stevie 🥺🥹 His scenes are the most fun to write — his whole tortured, damaged, needy personality felt rewarding to develop slowly. I feel like he’s one of the most complex characters I’ve written — from his backstory (which y’all don’t yet know all about!) to how much he changed from the confident, smooth-talking guy we saw in part 2, to the anger-filled, revenge-driven man in part 3, to the suicidal, tortured and broken man in part 4. And his arc is nowhere near over! There’s still so much left for him, and it makes me so excited to write him! I’m very proud of the drunk window scene of him in part 4 — it was the first scene I wrote in the whole chapter… and the whole chapter kind of fell into place around that scene! So yeah, I’d say Steve is my fav to write! Ari is a close second — I LOVE writing his bickering scenes with reader and also writing about his development as we navigate all the secrets he’s been hiding (a lot yall don’t know about Ari too!) But if I had to pick right now, I’d say Steve!

[lovely13me]

New bot! V from DMC5!

¡N3W B0T! ➡ ~《Vitale》~

I had this idea stewing for a while since I heard this song and it felt like it flowed the most with V

I get a lot of my bot inspo from random songs and fanart I see just because they have a vibe that I want to capture and make a story with.

V is a personal favorite too just because I personally relate to a lot of his characters turmoil (looks fine but needs a cane and therapy)

I also had just woken up to a terrible migraine but in my dream aside from the usual incoherent nonsense there was V and so I awoke with pain and inspiration

I like diving into the other aspects of V's character specifically his fear of death, yet he fights onward anyway, and his desire to be his own being. It makes an interesting character from what could've been just a copy and paste of Vergil. A lot of other shows would've just made Vergil but chill and in some ways they did but they also expanded on that to make a whole ass dude and I just think it's interesting to think about aspects of a single person growing I to its own being and like humanity and stuff.

That's the gist of my thought process, gotta go customize and script now,,,

DISCLAIMER! I didn't make any of the cool edit and border stuff I just found it on here and thought it was neat -_-

[crimeronan]

there's this girl on tiktok/youtube shorts who talks about being a 'diagnosed sociopath' (which afaik isn't a thing anymore and she's too young to have been alive when it was a diagnostic thing -- i assume she just means ASPD and is using buzzword language, but it doesn't really matter either way because...... psychiatric classifications are a farce) & she'll discuss what makes her angry, how she gets revenge and/or protects people, how she forms attachments, n how she prioritizes different aspects of her life, and i keep watching some of these shorts like "this.... isn't sociopathy??? everyone with sense does this???" and then i look in the comments and everyone's going "GOD this is such good advice i wish i could do this so easily but i feel sooo bad about it 🥺🥺🥺🥺" and i'm like. huh. girl you either gotta stop being so relatable or i'll have to acknowledge a very obvious thing that i've known about myself for ages,

[mental-mario]

Over the Borderline and Over the Rainbow Road

Salutations! I hope this post finds you well. (One of my pet peeves is the hope this email finds you well thing. Not sure why, but probably just a dumb quirk of mine! Let me know in comments or message some of your worst pet peeves!)

I want to thank our new friend thepokecutie for coming aboard! You're early; not wrong! So grab a controller and your antidepressant of choice, and get ready for this thing to take off!

I have seen some other "likes" over the days, and while I want to say thank you for those, I also encourage you to click the Follow button and become a "follower" (another pet peeve term I hate; I prefer to think of us as friends...with benefits, depending on what cocktail - pun intended - of meds we're on!)

So today, I feel like talking about an aspect or two of BPD, and I'm playing Mario Kart 64 while pondering over this. I have a shameful confession to make: I have not yet played Mario Kart 8, even though I do have it now, thanks to your generous tips. I love all your tips, big and small, though I gotta admit I prefer them big! Anyway, I plan to play MK8 soon, and I invite you to friend me on Switch as well so perhaps we can run some races together! Maybe we can even race the old rainbow road course from N64!

SW - 4419 - 5159 - 3401 is my friend code.

I haven't played any Mario Kart since Wii because that game was just boring and formulaic. Too many blue shells made each race rather predictable and felt more like a demo than an actual game, if that makes sense.

So a major reason why living BPD sucks is because of the fall-out from impulsive behavior and compulsive lying. Many such behaviors got me fired from lots of jobs, including professional ones, and almost cost me my marriage and access to my kids (I often can't believe it hasn't!) as well as almost getting me arrested on several occasions (again, I can't believe it didn't). I have lied, cheated, stole, and lived overall passive aggressive, especially loving covert revenge against people I PERCEIVE are against me. Cost myself many potential good friendships and relationships. Very typical to push others away and self sabotage before I could be rejected by others.

I can get into more specifics down the road, but I would love to hear from you and some of your struggles with mental health in general and BPD if you have it as well. Or maybe you think you just got it all together?? I want to be friends with you too! Especially if you're rich! So friend me, and I'll see you on the track!

...Also, I just binged a half a bottle of expired fiber gummies.

[jinnxd]

Not only was I just thinking about you and your fic just as you updated it, you also wrote Mizuki in a way that absolutely made me disgusted, it was too perfect. Like spot on with some of the guys that have hit on me and one I ended up dating. Absolutely gross, I loved it! Even though it made my skin crawl. Like fuck Mizuki, Orochimaru can have his body if you ask me. And I can't wait to absolutely melt when you get to the point of actually making Kiya and Kakashi date. Is fanfiction off of fanfiction a thing? Because I can imagine it now: they get together and everything around the same time as team 7 is formed, and then Naruto and Sasuke get assigned to team 7, and they gotta warm up to Kakashi one way or another, and he to them, and it all ends up in the most adorable family picnic. Or family vacation. Where Kakashi and Kiya are trying to have a romantic moment or two that the kids keep ruining because they're trying to have a dumb contest, the kind Kakashi and Guy regularly have. Meanwhile Kiya and Kakashi are working on a way to take down Danzo. And both of the boys end up overhearing that goal but never know the reason why they wanna do that. And also I headcanon sasunaru so Sasuke leaves after the exams anyway, and along the way realizes his feelings for Naruto run deeper and so he returns to his family. And Naruto realizes his feelings after training with Jiraya. Kakashi and Kiya are kinda weirded out but they've seen weirder things so it's fine. And as a family, they take down Danzo. But during the fight Danzo reveals what he wanted to do with Kiya which makes both kids rage so hard they don't even leave a single atom of him remain once he's dead. Is there a plot to this? Absolutely, it's called revenge and happiness because fuck Danzo and I want everyone else to be happy. Anyway sorry for rambling, THANK YOU FOR THE UPDATE, and I love you baiii <3

omg… you were thinking about me?! hehe I’m blushingggg (*´ ˘ `*).｡oO ( ♡ )

I felt horrible writing Mizuki and Kiya’s interactions, but they’re really just all based on past experiences of mine :3 that and I just took every single revolting aspect I could think of and threw them all at him hehehe—self-proclaimed “alpha male”? Check. Constantly interrupts Kiya and refuses to take no for an answer? Check! Negs her at every possible turn? Check, check, check!!!

(AU headcanon: Mizuki is a die-hard Andrew Tate fan)

I feel like we’ve all had shitty experiences with shitty men before (like wtf why are they EVERYWHERE) so this chapter/Mizuki’s WHOLE character is a tribute to all the victims of shitty men (≧o≦) I sincerely hope that the guy you ended up dating did not last long at all, and I hope he got what was coming to him! No one deserves to be treated that way >:(

(but I admit I’m having fun with this—it’s like Mizuki is being put in a public stockade and we all get to throw rotten tomatoes at him :) in a way, it’s nice to see that he’s so widely hated, because WE ALL DESERVE BETTER!!!)

I can’t wait for Kakashi and Kiya to get together, either🤭 there’s been a tiny hint of progress, but there’s still a long way to go until they both stop being idiots and just KISS already 👺

The fanfic of a fanfic is ADORABLE, I love that so much :’) I just want them all to be happy, they deserve so much love <3

And as for the Danzo takedown, there are a million different ideas in my head that are floating around!!! It sort of drives me crazy because everything else has an outline, but Danzo’s demise is just one big question mark🙈 the goal is to have it be a team effort, give everyone a chance to get their revenge, y’know? But then in the meantime Danzo just gets to LIVE until Sasuke’s old enough to beat him up… AHHHH idk idk idk all I know is I want everyone to jump his old mummy-looking ass 😌

RAMBLING IS MY FAV, I LOVE RAMBLING!!! (as we can all tell, I physically cannot shut up… we’re barely halfway through the story and at almost 300k words… oopsie) DONT APOLOGIZE FOR RAMBLING!!!!! Thank *you* for this lovely lovely comment, it was a pleasure to read 🫶🫶🫶

SENDING YOU SO MUCH LOVE!!!! ( •ॢ◡-ॢ)-♡