#they took every bad trait a person can have. crammed it into one character. then said ‘you have to like him.’

[eruthiawenluin]

I forget how awful D*an is until I go onto someone’s Spn blog

[heroictoonz]

So, I finished Red vs Blue. Just now like not even a few seconds ago as of writing this post. It was, well to say it bluntly it wasn’t great. I didn’t agree with pretty much most of the endings for these characters and I wish the final season had been longer than less than an hour an a half. Most movies are longer than that these days. But, I will say, that I cried. I cried and sobbed and am still crying writing this because even if I didn’t like how it ended it didn’t end horribly and I can tell it ended in love. All the characters, the ones they had in the season at least, got their emotional 15 minutes of fame. Maybe Tucker didn’t get much at all but, I dunno. As the guy whose only personality trait is liking Tucker RvB I weirdly didn’t mind all too much. Donut wasn’t in it either but he did great in season 17 so I also don’t mind that too terribly.

I will say, I don’t think there was any hope of RvB having an ending that I, personally, would think was ‘good’ or ‘satisfying’. Not perfectly at least. And I don’t say this to be mean. But, this was clearly the kind of show that was meant to run on till it was forced to die. They probably weren’t planning on ending it when they did and it took the company getting taken to pasture for it to be over. With as much random bullshit that they crammed into this show I never much expected for it all to be focused on or tied up in the finale. And this show didn’t start as something that took itself very seriously, but the ending was clearly taken with so much heart and care in mind and that’s all I can ask for from this show, I think.

They ended the show where it began. In a box canyon. They ended the story with Allison and Leonard. The people who unknowingly started all of this in the first place. They did what they could to tie in other loose ends and bring in some really cool ideas to make the ending interesting and still it’s own fun story. It made me sad to watch, honestly. Most the characters I have spent so many years loving just didn’t get the best endings. And I was always afraid of that but, hey maybe I’ll write a fic to give them a better one. Maybe it’s the endings that the RT team thought was most fitting for all of them, and I can understand why. I just, personally, enjoy happy endings. This one wasn’t as happy. But, it had hope in it. Especially Carolina and Wash’s last part. I hate the idea of some of these characters being dead and never coming back. I hate the idea of Grif leaving and never seeing any of the others again. But I get it, I understand the ending and I’m content with it. As weird as that might seem, honestly.

Whenever I finish something I’m always reminded of this Doctor Who episode I watched as a kid where he talks about how much he hates endings. How he will tear the last page from books he reads so they never have to end. It’s funny that without fail I think of that episode, that scene. Because in that episode the Doctor is forced to face an ending. One he doesn’t want but accepts anyways. This is me rambling but, I think every time I finish something I love this much and have loved for this long, whether the ending it good or bad, I think I understand that random Doctor Who episode more and more each time.

Did I like the ending season of Red vs Blue? Not fully. The ideas were cool but as with most of this show the execution wasn’t the best in my opinion. But, maybe I’m just a hard ass lol. But the ending did make me laugh, it made me cry, it made me smile and stim and feel. The ending made me feel. And it was a pretty good send off to a pretty great show. And hell, they got an ending. That’s harder to come by these days. Maybe that’s all I can ask for from it. Maybe that’s why even in my tears I’m content more than any other emotion.

But, it’s also weird. Like a really long chapter of my life is closing. I think this is also where I have to officially accept what happened to RT. As someone who’s followed RWBY, RvB, and Camp Camp for a really long time not to mention the lives and their gaming channel and all of that, it feels weird? Kinda bad, honestly, to see it end. I’ve, admittedly, been avoiding it. Avoiding talking or thinking about it. And I doubt the guys told all the stories they had for this show, but I’m glad they got to end it. I’m glad they got at least that much.

It’s 2am and I have work in about 14 hours. I think I’m gonna go read fanfiction.

[misdre]

misi's beyblade AUs masterpost

i like making AUs, i have many of them, here's a post of them from oldest to newest. (at least approximately) (the ones that got no art of them have photos from unsplash. i just enjoy setting the mood)

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Magical boy AU takao is an ordinary middle schooler who one day gets dragoon the magical spinning top from a cute little azure dragon, seiryuu, and transforms into a magical boy to protect the world from evil for some cosmic reasons that i haven't come up with yet. the rest of the characters have similar powers from their holy beasts and takao needs to gather up his team to fight the evil and. you get the drill is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 is there a fic of it? no note: i originally created this just because i like designing the outfits so i haven't planned the story much (this used to be my main focus but then 4kingdoms happened GJSDHGHSDG) i'd want to though, i'll get back to it eventually...at some point...... one of the charm points of this AU is that the holy beasts are these digimon-like animals that hang out with the characters and each have their own personalities.

Fairy tale monster AU takao and gramps live in a cabin in the middle of a forest full of monsters and takao decides one day to venture out to look for a silver-haired boy he once saw, he meets up with the other BBA characters one by one in the grim woods. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: my oldest halloween fic. the characters are all these different cute spooky creatures and it's intended to sound like a fairy tale.

One day, he determined that the time was ripe: Takao decided to leave for an adventure. For his grandfather was old, it was not at all unusual for him to lay down to bed before sundown. Once the hut had fallen in drowsy silence, Takao packed his one and only bag with what little he felt he needed, took his cap and jacket, and stepped over the doorsill. He had left the safe warmth of the hut behind.

Royal fantasyverse AU (the tale of four kingdoms) takes place in a fantasy universe with four kingdoms (east, west, south & north) created by the four holy beasts, in an era where each kingdom happens to be ruled by an exceptionally young king due to their respective circumstances. when the four meet for the first time, a snowball of events is set in motion that's going to affect all four kingdoms. is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 is there a fic of it? yes 1 / 2 note: like a period drama with magic and gay and tons of worldbuilding. probably has way too many mysteries for the boys to solve because i have no self control when it comes to creating twists. this is The one AU that i have crammed every usable canon character into, i need enough people to inhabit four fucking countries

After creating the four lands, the holy beasts created people to inhabit them. Because the beasts were celestial beings and couldn't but guard people and the world they lived in from far above, they needed human vessels to lead the four nations. Thus they created four kings who would rule over other people using the four beast’s powers. The four kings were neither human nor gods, but something between – they were messengers, or icons, of the four holy beasts.

Omegaverse AU a canon divergence AU (i guess??) where genders are replaced by A/B/O and everyone being either canine or feline. max is a late bloomer canine and finds out he's the only alpha of the BBA boys thanks to a certain feline omega. is there art of it? not really but i do have dog boy max and cat boy rei art (which are a bit too cute for this kinkfest. i mean they're obviously aged up for the real thing.) 1 / 2 is there a fic of it? it's been in the works for like, five years but i always shy away from finishing it note: it's omegaverse, it's exactly what you'd expect. the smut is so filthy i've been too embarrassed to even post it. hiromi is also an alpha by the way

Coffee shop AU highschooler rei goes on a venture to hit on a local Hot University Teacher and coffee shop owner judy in a cafe owned by her, ends up receiving a bunch of flirty cups of latte from barista max working there. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: i mean, rei being into blonde MILFs is pretty much canon

Now that Rei looked at the boy more carefully, he realised his hair was just as fair and eyes just as blue as he knew Judy Mizuhara's to be. Maybe they were related? It wasn't that strange if Judy had hired a relative's kid to help out at the shop, right? He certainly looked American, but he had spoken Japanese. And then, all of a sudden, the boy turned to look back to him. Startled, Rei blinked his own golden brown eyes and shifted them back to his now empty cup. God, it was rude to stare at someone, wasn't it? He'd been too deep in thought to even notice doing it. Not that the boy had looked judgmental – he only seemed to wear a smile.

Soulmate AU max keeps having dreams with peculiar scenarios about a boy named rei. one day he borrows a book on soulmates from hiromi and finds a chapter talking about meeting your soulmate in the realm of dreams. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: i don't even care for soulmate AUs, this was my own dare to myself to find a single soulmate trope that interested in me enough to write a thing of it.

Max was walking through a crowded airport, carrying a heavy backpack with him. He had never been to this airport in his life, but somehow he knew exactly where he was, and where he was supposed to go. And he was in a hurry, and Rei had at some point emerged from the crowd, as usual, keeping up with him without bumping into any of the people that should have blocked his way. “I'm sorry, this is probably my fault,” Rei said. “I haven't even travelled in ages anymore, but these dreams just keep coming back to haunt me.”

Chess player AU rei is a young chinese chess champion participating in the world junior championships, ends up falling for the american chess prodigy max somehow in the process and is determined to get to play against him again. is there art of it? no is there a fic of it? yes note: so this is one of the weirder ones i've done. it was inspired simply by me having a very vivid mental image of a scene of them playing dramatic chess together. this is probably my most underrated AU even by myself, i think the writing is pretty solid for such a short story of a topic i know practically nothing about

As a child, Rei had initially been taught to play xiàngqí, a Chinese game much more popular back in his home country; but chess with its refined, uniquely shaped pieces was love at first sight for the young Rei. He was a fast thinker and had amazing concentration skills once he set his mind on something, and he also had an outstanding memory, making it easy to memorise game patterns he once saw and then use them for his advantage. This all granted him natural talent in chess. But despite his skill, he had a bad habit of easily losing his temper and becoming indecisive once his focus wavered. Also, he was just a tad bit too sentimental. These traits often became his worst enemy in important matches, much worse than the actual opposing player. Keep your cool. Focus. Play well.

Flower shop + fake dating AU yuriy doesn't really know anything about flowers but is working part-time in a flower shop for the easy cash. he keeps getting a pair of weird customers who ask about flower language for hypothetical situations. is there art of it? not by myself and i don’t have a link to the fanart made of it unfortunately is there a fic of it? yes note: did i write this for valentine's day? i feel like i maybe did. this is my only AU (and fic in general) so far that's about a non-BBA character as the main lmao

“So, I need some advice for a particular situation,” the customer then began, idly tapping the counter with his hand. “I mean, not a real situation, of course – hypothetically speaking, if someone was just pretending to be going out with another person, but they weren't really going but it just needed to seem that way to everyone else, what kinda flowers would get the message through?” Possibly an idiot, Yuriy concluded his analysis. “So you need suitable flowers for a date,” he stated, shooting his eyes at his notes about common flower-usage.

Classical music AU (the heart that i love) max is a piano prodigy attending a classical music college that holds annual music competitions for the students. he's got some haters for being the son of a world-known pianist who's one of the teachers, but he also ends up having a budding romance with rei the mysterious chinese violinist. is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 is there a fic of it? yes note: the origin of this was my "max and mao are besties" college AU. then it got mixed in with my thirst for classical instruments and max being bullied.

Max isn’t exactly a synesthet, but he has always been able to see music as pictures – as entire sceneries, as great adventures. This tendency of his emerges especially strong whenever he’s learning to play a new piece on the piano; as he moves along the melody, the scenery is also being built around him like a jigsaw puzzle, creating a complete picture piece by piece; and once he has mastered the song, he’s able to freely traverse and immerse himself in the world inside that puzzle. Some pieces have a more relaxed or soothing scenery than others, some are exciting and thrilling – even deliciously sinister in the way that a good horror film can be. Setting himself down in front of a piano is always an invitation to a world of his choice.

Bakeneko AU after moving to a small rural town in japan, max hits his head and starts seeing things, such as a weird white cat following him around. after a while, he's convinced that he's being haunted. is there art of it? yes is there a fic of it? yes note: another halloween AU, a more surreal one where max is human and rei is. well. not

Max kept walking, his eyes still on the narrow road. He hadn't noticed while deep in thought, but it really was quiet that evening. The sun had nearly set by now, leaving the sky striped with the dusk of the approaching nightfall. There was no wind to rustle the treetops, no birds chirping, nothing. Only the sound of Max's own footsteps on the pavement, and the matching sound that followed. Followed. What if someone actually was following him? A sudden, violent chill struck down Max's spine, causing his hair to stand on end. He stopped. After a short delay, the steps also stopped.

Genderbend AU a canon divergence AU where everyone's a different gender from canon (duh). starts off as an alternate version of the g-revolution world championships where the girls meet for the first time and befriend each other. rei is a professional model in addition to being a blader in the baihus, and max from the PPB is delighted to be able to battle her. she has no idea that rei has fallen for her at first sight, though. is there art of it? yes 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 is there a fic of it? it's... in the works. note: i created this because i wanted to design attractive girls, what about it. absolutely partial to maxine's huge badonkadonks.

It wasn’t like Rei hadn’t already taken notice of her before, given that they were participating in the same world championship tournament, but the real turning point was the first time they stood on the opposing sides of a bey stadium. It was the day when the match-up roster signalled the match between the Chinese team and the American team, the Baihus versus the PPB All Starz; and despite both teams consisting of five players, it came down to, to Rei’s immense joy, the tag team of Rai and herself against the two most interesting US players, Rikki Anderson and Mizuhara Maxine.

Vampire & merboy AU rei is a starved vampire just about to end his own life when he meets merboy max at a forest lake. is there art of it? of max yes is there a fic of it? yes note: yet another halloween monster AU, this time they are both monsters though. this one’s a pretty grim one i have to admit

Rei succumbed into deep thought, considering his few options, when something grabbed his unsuspecting hand. Something yanked him forward in one mad splash and forced not only the rest of his arm but also his shoulders and head underwater. Half a second later Rei, so badly startled that he’d come close to slipping into insanity, found himself staring at a pair of bright blue eyes only inches away from his own face. His other hand and lower body still firmly on land, Rei pulled himself back with strength that he didn’t even know his weak body still contained. As he did, he also pulled up whatever was clutching his hand, which turned out to be another hand – a white hand with elongated, dirty fingers, so sharp at the tips that they looked like daggers.

Mafia AU max is the boss of the BBA mafia family, rei is a hitman and max's right hand man, the rest have various roles in the organisation. salima, mariam and some other girls (at least) are reporters doing investigative journalism on organised crime who get interested in covering the story of a group of russian elite detectives doing a thorough investigation of the BBA. is there art of it? of rei and max yes 1 / 2 / 3 is there a fic of it? it's in the works but it's just a gratuitous reimax smut note: this is a story i wish existed but this kind of police investigation action thing is so not my genre of expertise. that's why i'm just doing a PWP of my boys and the rest exists on conceptual level

“Did you know,” Salima said, perfectly peppy about it, “that there are secret underground auctions for stolen artwork that’s sold in the black market? Not just online auctions in the dark web but actual, physical events held somewhere in the city! Isn’t that so intriguing? Can you imagine how an event like that would look like, Max?” Max can – in fact, he doesn’t need to imagine. But he’d rather not think about it; the memories bring the familiar taste of bile in his mouth and make his gut curdle with a mixture of disgust and very particular guilt. The mere thought of it makes him set his coffee aside and bring a hand between his tightly shut eyes.

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the next thing i come up with? who knows............

[volfoss]

Johnny, Prosciutto, and Melone for the character thingy?

TYSM!!

Johnny:

Favorite: he's just like so detailed w personality and I like how he gets kinda violent for fun because I think every character should be violent. Like him as a character is ultimately so fun to watch and how he gets along with Gyro is fun!

Least favorite: honestly I think there's not smth I like about him, other than whatever happened in part 8 because it emotionally devastated me but wasn't handled as well as I think it could have been

Fanon gripe: this man gets so uwuified when he goes murderous so often and people really feminize him a lot and also act as if gyro is the super violent one when in canon it's the exact opposite and I think people also really simplify him a lot to one or two traits.

Prosciutto:

Favorite: literally everything but I really like how he encourages Pesci and how he's just like a big brother to him! Also just I love him sm he's so special and so good and the entire train fight was so so good. I love him literally fucking up an entire train of people because he's so pretty that he deserves to murder ad many people as he wants to as a little treat 🥰

Least favorite: they butchered his vibes so bad in the anime like they took away his overbite and calling Bruno a motherfucker. Also the death scene fucked me up sm like the parallels to how drawn out that was to how drawn out Bruno's death was.

Fanon gripe: him getting called mom over and over or people doing genderbends and making it not even look like him properly and just kinda making things look v weird. People also acting as if all he does is bully Pesci when it's more of tough love

Melone:

Favorite: this little dude can cram SO much gender in him and I love that for him. Like there's just a lot to him that I really like if I ignore a few scenes and I care about him a lot solely because he's just some goofy guy

Least favorite: beginning train scene def and how they played up how he's just weird in the anime, ie the ankle/foot lip licking scene that's anime only.

Fanon gripe: the way u described how the fanon takes that first scene is exactly my thoughts on it, it's hard to kinda get past that on a first watch so I definitely can't blame some people in fanon for this but him being just overtly sexual based constantly and nothing else irks me

[bloodyshadow1]

just finished Alanna’s route and I gotta say, I’d give it a C, it wasn’t bad, but I didn’t see a lot of good either.  There was so much crammed in as much as possible between the Society (that we barely get to see anything of), Time travel (which is fine but done pretty poorly with little buildup or fanfare or explanation), Immortals (like time travel, a decent story enough on it’s own, but only mentioned in the final 3rd of the story and barely talked about afterward), and Magic power stones (pretty vague power system that no one seems interested in telling the MC about) it feels like they accidently threw 4 darts at the idea board this time and never bothered to throw again.  It’s such a mess that the MC has to take on faith without ever being given a real reason to side with the Circle over anyone else other than her ex girlfriend is part of it and they hate her dad.  It’s so quick and it doesn’t ever feel like the right decision at least to me since you spend so little time with the Circle even as background characters to Alanna’s story.

Alanna as a character is kind of meh for me overall.  Physically her design is fine, seems cute more than hot or sexy, but sort of bland and generic.  there are other cute love interests that never felt this generic, she feels like she should be the sister or best friend character instead of the love interest of the MC.  It doesn’t help that by making her the MC’s ex returned, we know little to nothing about her, so much of a romance arc is missing because even if the MC knows, we the player don’t know what’s so great about Alanna.  All of Alanna’s character feels told instead of shown, the MC seems to worship the ground she walks on, but the actual story leaves much to be desired because we don’t really see her do anything super charming or amazingly skilled.  She’s pretty, but she’s not even the most beautiful woman in her route much less London or the world. I could understand why the MC would love her since she’s still hung up on her, so I could believe it if I took the story with a grain of salt, but the fact that her personality seems to be she’s so charming and everyone loves her without every truly delivering on such claims makes her whole route fall even flatter than it’s plot led to. The fact that the MC slept with her right away as a ‘palette cleanser’ was sort of interesting, but it still felt like being told about her, nothing about what she and the MC had gone through felt like she was so irresistible that the MC would need to get her out of her system, because we don’t know anything really about her relationship with Alanna.  And that’s a big problem to her selling points as a love interest

  We don’t know all the stories the MC has with Alanna, especially if they only dated for 2 months, the audience/player/readers, need to understand why the MC is in love with their love interest besides the route being named after them, by making their entire relationship when they first fell in love we miss all of that and are left with empty feelings and gestures between the two of them. The little back and forths between them about their past are okay to start with, but nothing about Alanna as a character from her 12 chapters makes me believe that she’s so lovely the MC can overlook her massive flaws and go along with her very unpersuasive desire to have the MC join them to help the world.  Her depression and feelings of helplessness after 200 years was interesting, but it felt like it came too late.  I’m actually really glad the MC called her out on her bullshit, by the end of her first chapter, I get a bit of where she’s coming from, but what Alanna did to the MC was fucked up and she doesn’t get to just pretend it never happened.

Plot wise, the story is a mess, like Alanna, so much of the story is told to the MC and she’s supposed to take it on faith that the Circle is somehow more morally right than the rest of the Society.  It fails because the Circle has barely any real character, they have interesting traits that if they were around more to make me care about them as something other than the vehicle to do the time travel and nothing more.  In so many routes, you’re introduced to all your love interests at the same time and they’re already a group, while you spend the most time with your love interest, you get to know most of the characters as people outside of their routes, but the rest of the Circle is pretty bland.  Not to mention that the Society is built up as this big maybe evil maybe just powerful and in the wrong hands thing..., but you barely interact with them at all.  The only people tell  the MC and her brother that the Society is bad is the Circle who are actively members of it and nothing about what they say or do makes me feel like they’re any more trust worthy than the rest of the society except most of them are going to be future love interests.  In Alanna’s route, the only member of the Society not in the Circle that has a unique character portrait is Arabella and she’s kind of a more interesting character with a more sympathetic story than the Circle. We hear about how corrupt and morally bankrupt the higher ups in the Society are, and we know the MC hates her dad, who seems to be considered the worst, but aside from being a bit stuff and arrogant, (much like the wealthy elite of our world) we don’t see much evil, and it confuses me if the Circle wants to bring down the Society or try and take control of it for the greater good without much of a reason to trust them.

The Immortal plot point fell flat to me, like the story basically skipped over the time travel plot device by making it literally a this happens and barely talk about it, but adding the Immortality plot felt unneeded in a narrative that needed a lot more structure, not irons in the fire.  I feel like if Alanna/your love interest was the only one of the Circle that was immortal other than the Elites of the Society it would have made a better route to go.  Having an immortal character in your romantic story is fertile ground, they could be a tragic figure, a figure who is hedonistic and loving their immortality, etc, there are plenty of ways to go, an immortal character with a bunch of their pals who are already incredibly powerful and have a vague sense of goodness about them, makes it feel far from a curse or whatever they’re trying to portray it here.  It could have also been introduced better to the MC by say meeting Arabella in the present day and being shocked by seeing her and needing confirmation from the Circle or Alanna, instead of Alanna dropping it in a mood to the MC.  

Overall, it felt to complicated of a story to tell with all the moving pieces that didn’t deliver on any of them sadly.  the whole story felt like it was a mix between Queen of Thieves and Astoria Fates Kiss, without the charms of either the story or the characters, replacing Greek Mythology with time travel.  I will also say, it the plot made me kind of uncomfortable with how a bunch of mostly white young adults have decided to be judge and jury throughout time with the first antagonist being a powerful black lesbian in london 200 years ago, and we only have their word that something is afoot.  I know that she actually was doing bad stuff, but the Circle is just a vigilante group with no actual authority and using time travel as their own means of policing people and if it wasn’t a simplistic romance story disguised as a scifi fantasy story, I feel like more nuance would have saved it.

The good parts: Alanna’s route for Immortal Hearts Society wasn’t all bad, I  I will admit I am probably overly harsh since I just finished it.  I actually really enjoyed the both the Female and Male MC character designs, they both were surprisingly interesting compared to a lot of MC’s.  I really did enjoy the MC for the most part and I liked her relationship with her brother, most of the time I’ve seen sibling relationships in Lovestruck they’re fine but don’t tend to have much actual conflict, just superficial.  But I like that the MC loves her brother, but burned her bridges with him to keep him safe, she regrets what she had to do but not what happened which is a pretty interesting take.  Alanna was enjoyable as a love interest in the beginning, but as the story got more and more convoluted, it felt like she didn’t have much actual character.  I do have a soft spot for the Circle characters, except for the two current love interests, I’m more annoyed that we didn’t get to see and interact with them more, especially since it looks like they’ll be future love interests if the pattern holds.  It was a fine story and I know I’m being overly harsh, but it just felt underdone instead of bad, which tends to make it worse in my mind because the lost potential is frustrating. 

 I wouldn’t mind continuing if the writing got tighter next season, I’ll still give it a try.  I would very much like an Arabella route before anyone else, she has such a gorgeous design and despite not seeing a huge amount of her character being a warm genuinely kind person stuck between a rock and a hard place for her family was an interesting take instead of making her one of the many false sweethearts in Queen of Thieves that stab you in the back.  I also think that if she still is around in modern day she would have fit the story as a love interest better than Alanna. 

Not sure if anyone is going to bother to read this but it feels good to get it out.  Maybe you think I’m full of shit and I’m fine with that, maybe you love Alanna and she’s your favorite love interest.  I’m sorry you read this because I don’t want anyone to feel bad, this is simply how I feel after reading the first chapter

[toaarcan]

I think you're putting too much on Fiona's "purpose" being in relation to other characters. A big complaint was that she wasn't really ANYTHING. She was resentful about Sonic and Mighty, and then next time we see her she's part of the FFs with no explanation or role. She was sometimes a medic, and then part of the Brain Trust for no reason (never really showing those skills), and then she was suddenly Sonic's gf...while he was still saying he and Sally were meant to be. Villain = direction.

I mean, there was an explanation for her, but it came almost two years after the fact: Her belief that Sonic was a selfish glory-hound was rattled by his selfless sacrifice to save the world, something that she personally witnessed, and therefore, she tried to make amends. Not only that, but it was a quick moment too, with her even attending Sonic’s “funeral” in Issue 125.

The problem with the story is that it was written by Bollers, and unfortunately that means that Penders completely ignored what happened in it no more than two issues later. 

Bollers’ Fiona: Not interested in Sonic, but trusts him and respects him, though she acknowledges that he isn’t perfect and does have a selfish streak. Made aware of Tails’ feelings for her, and chastises “Sonic” for hitting on her despite that knowledge. 

Penders’ Fiona: Very much interested in Sonic, completely unaware of Tails’ feelings, completely uncaring about the whole debacle.

Her position as a medic is likewise something that was there with Bollers, and then absent once Penders took over. Admittedly, a medic is a somewhat difficult character type to use in a book where characters don’t regularly get injured, so I can see why it could fall by the wayside, but one must keep Penders’ inability to keep anyone consistent in mind. When it comes to Fiona, Penders couldn’t even keep consistent with himself. Look at the very-obviously-preteen Fiona from the Knuckles book vs. the sixteen year old he portrays her as in the main title.

Believe me, I’ve done this song and dance many a time. There’s this perception that the villainous version of Fiona is automatically a better character because Ian did something with major with her, but the fact of the matter is that it’s entirely possible to do something major with her without taking a torch to everything except that one single issue of the Knuckles comic where she was kind of a jerk to Mighty for mostly understandable reasons.

It’s been a long while since I’ve reread any of the comic, and I’ve been immersed in the fandom’s perception of things a whole lot more than that, so I legitimately forgot a lot of  what was there, but one thing that sticks out from seeing the old stuff again on Thanks Ken Penders is how compassionate Fiona is, she’s portrayed as very frequently being the one to voice concern for her comrades’ safety (A fitting trait for a medic character), and it jars so heavily with Ian’s decision that she should be a self-centred, “Survival of the best” character who cares about nobody except herself and her abusive boyfriend.

As I said in my post “Fiona Fox: Depth vs. Prominence”, summing up Fiona’s personality before she was sacrificed on the altar of Sleazy the Recolour takes a whole lot more than summing up her personality afterwards, and even then that relates more to her relationship with Scourge than it does to herself.

Now that’s not to say that Fiona as a villain couldn’t work. In my most recent post on this topic, I even said directly that she could’ve been a really darn good villain, if her status as a traitor actually mattered. A traitor should be an intensely personal antagonist, someone who can get inside the heads of the heroes and damage them emotionally just as much as they can physically. The interactions between her and her former friends should be brutal, knife-twisting, and send them reeling. The fact that Fiona’s villainy is arguably something that Sonic created can only add to that, as she is living proof that sometimes the hero can fail.

Buuut she’s none of that. Sonic is more bothered about her harming Tails than anything she does to him directly, and the second (and final) time they interact, Sonic dismantles her arguments without flinching and leaves her to run off crying. 

Tails’ faith isn’t shaken at all by her, he finishes 172 stating unflinchingly that she’s wrong (And her philosophy never made sense anyway, so Tails is correct there), and within six issues he’s physically attacking Sonic primarily out of envy over the Fiona situation, and outright states that he doesn’t care that she went with Scourge. 

Sally... never liked her in the first place, but gets no vindication from it. She neither gets a moment where she feels explicitly proven right, nor is frustrated that the others went to bat for Fiona and had that trust rejected. Like with Sonic, it seems to be way more about how Fiona treated Tails than it is about how Sally herself was affected. 

Amy actually gets the most out of it, with Fiona’s mockery of her at the start of Issue 172 being used as motivation for her to train to be a better fighter... but... it’s all positive. The idea that the other FF don’t take Amy seriously is barely relevant, and it’s used as motivation for her to improve herself, and then that’s it.

None of the other characters get any word on it, save for Antoine using it as a prompt to skip over all that emotional development and reconciliation after a year apart and immediately propose to Bunnie, because Ian’s got to cram something happy into this set of issues before he blows up Knothole, plays the “Villain could win whenever he wants, he just doesn’t want to” stupidity card, and gives Charmy brain damage to make him more like SEGA’s version.

And that’s it. Fiona exists primarily to be Scourge’s girlfriend. In a way, it’s fitting that Amy is the only character that gets an appropriate “Hero vs. traitor” scene, because like the then-current official depiction of Amy, Fiona’s life is defined entirely by her relationship to her respective Sonic.

Ian’s Fiona is, in every sense of the word, a satellite love interest for Scourge. Even the sole arc she has apart from him is spent building a team to get him back. 

She’s just Scourge’s girlfriend, despite him yelling at her, screaming at her, resoundingly failing to live up to his own promises, undermining her, and, if her reaction to his threats in Issue 190 is anything to go by, physically attacking her as well. 

I won’t deny that Fiona, as a character, had become listless, and needed a strong new direction. She had a lot of substance to her, and a surprisingly uplifting story when stripped down to the basic structure, but she was being painfully underutilised. 

I will, however, strongly oppose the idea that Ian’s decision on that front was the correct one. It was a lateral move at best, a step backwards at worst. He didn’t really fix her as much as make her a different brand of underdone, and that uplifting story was gone. Now all it said was “If you did bad in the past, you’ll always lapse back to it and nobody should trust you”, combined with none-too-subtle abuse (In a ship that Ian made popular with thousands of teenagers, very smooth) and a new design that sexed her up for no good reason. 

Good Fiona had all the ingredients and not enough time in the oven, but villain Fiona was missing half the recipe.

[antiquecompass]

Untamed Fest Day 2: Dynamic

Summary: Wherein Sizhui has a best friend and a crush and parents who care, perhaps, maybe, just a little too much.

(So, like I said yesterday these fics are going to bounce around the ages of 11-18 for the Juniors. In this one Sizhui is 14. It’s also pre-Sizhui/Jingyi. Don’t worry, nothing will get above Teen in this entire series, and only then bc I, and therefore characters I write, curse like a sailor.)

When it came to personality, at least inside the confines of Lan Academy, Lan Sizhui had taken after his Papa. He projected an aura of quiet leadership and confidence; fair in judgment, but willing to mete out and take punishments. Even at fourteen, he was already one of the leaders on the Student Council; the youngest Vice President in a decade. Sizhui had entered the Academy at the age of eleven, determined to prove any doubters wrong, and had done so quietly and efficiently, just like a Lan should.

Lan Jingyi did not lead quietly, though he was still a leader among their class. Lan Jingyi had the type of dynamic personality that drew others in, fluttering around him like butterflies, but he ignored most of them to keep the company of his two best friends. He was loud, opinionated, and always willing to make his feelings known. He wasn’t the way many thought a Lan should be, but he was very much a Lan, through and through, just willing to openly show the more stubborn parts of their personality that people forgot they had under their veneer of genteel manners.

It was often said that together, Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi truly made the perfect Lan. A balance of the best, and worst, traits. Sizhui was calm and quiet, Jingyi excitable and loud, but where Sizhui often had self-doubts, Jingyi had enough pride and confidence for the both of them. They’d grown up as a pair, rarely apart, settling into their roles and friendship with an enviable and familiar ease. So many years together, being so known to each other, they were a hard pair to defeat in anything--be it something as simple as a classroom debate or something more serious as an actual fight to defend someone’s honor. Since they were always found in each other’s company, they’d become the pride of the family and the Academy. 

Sizhui was proud to be the one-half of such a whole.

Sizhui also had a problem.

He knew he had a crush on Jingyi. It’d been there for years. Apparently he’d told his fathers at the ripe old age of five that he was going to marry Jingyi one day, and while it’d been a story retold often at family gatherings for laughs...well, Sizhui may not have truly meant it at five, but at fourteen, it was definitely a future he wanted.

And somehow he knew that wasn’t normal.

He knew it was normal, for him, to have a crush. His fathers had taken great pains to inform him about different sexual and gender identities and forms of attraction and the like as soon as he showed the first hints of a boyhood crush. So he knew a crush, especially on attractive, kind, funny, caring Jingyi wasn’t unusual. They’d been best friends since they were four. There was no one else his age Sizhui trusted more than Jingyi.

But Sizhui was worried that he’d passed the crush stage long ago and had been firmly planted in something that he was hesitant to call love, because he was only fourteen, but knew that clearly picturing a future with Jingyi that saw them married and raising some kids of their own as the most natural course of their relationship probably meant something significant. 

He knew most Lans fell hard, fell once, and fell in love for life. But Sizhui was a Lan in name only. 

Perhaps Nurture had won this round versus Nature.

He still needed to talk to someone before he embarrassingly blurted out his love for Jingyi straight to his face, probably when the other was devouring a basket of chicken wings. That would be Sizhui’s luck. He’d probably make poor Jingyi choke. And then he’d have to give him the Heimlich or something, and Jingyi would probably spit out his chicken bone right into Great Uncle Lan’s face, and then Sizhui would have to go find a grave plot to bury himself in after he died from the collective embarrrassment. 

So, yeah, he needed to talk to someone.

**********

Dad’s office occupied the single turret tower of their massive house. He jokingly called it his gargoyle hoard, and often sang songs from Disney’s take on The Hunchback of Notre Dame as he climbed the stairs to the tower. Or he called for Papa with, ‘Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, let down your hair’ which never made much sense to Sizhui since Dad was the one in the tower, but they all indulged Dad’s whims and humor.

From the outside the tower looked imposing in its stone and dark shingled roof, but inside it was full of vibrant color. All of his books were here, crammed on an overstuffed bookshelf, containing every edition of every book he’d published in every language available, a handmade wooden sign hung above it declaring, A Leap of Faith. Art of his various characters hung on the wall, some official that he’d commissioned, some of his own making, but most sent by fans from around the world in the barrels of mail that came to the house each week. 

It was a cluttered mess of genius that perfectly encapsulated his dad. 

Today Dad was behind his desk, hair pulled up into a messy bun, with fingers covered in paint as he worked out some new character designs for his latest story. He was slowly moving from elementary reading level books to Young Adult, but his new series would straddle that border of Young Adult and New Adult--that vague spot where the characters weren’t young teens, nor in their mid-20s, but still had their own stories to tell. It was a story he’d been wanting to tell for years, based largely on his own life, but set in a mystical and magical modern world. 

His papa was unceremoniously sprawled out on the battered couch that had followed his fathers from their apartment in Cambridge, to their home in Boston, to this massive estate in the Berkshires. Sizhui smiled to himself as he pictured his classmates faces if they ever saw the great Hanguang-Jun with such imperfect posture, wearing only worn sweatpants and a t-shirt older than Sizhui. His hair was also pulled up into a messy bun, a red pen clutched in his teeth as he read through the most recent edit of Dad’s new book. 

Sizhui smiled as he watched them. His parents had always been so full of warmth and love--for him, for each other, for all their family--that Sizhui knew he’d been spoiled in care and affection. And he wanted that, the connection that they had. He knew it wasn’t effortless, every relationship took work and dedication and effort, but they made it seem so very easy. 

“Sizhui, why do you linger?” Papa asked, eyes barely leaving the bound pages in his hands.

“Because he is a good boy who waits until he’s invited in, even though he knows he never has to,” Dad said, waving him inside. “What can we do for our favorite son?”

“Your only son, since you never did give me that sibling I asked for,” Sizhui teased.

Dad smirked. “Not for lack of trying,” he said.

“Wei Ying,” Papa admonished from the couch.

Dad patted the chair next to his desk. “Come. Sit. Speak. Bond. I feel like we never talk anymore.”

“We had an entire family conference just last night,” Sizhui said as he took his seat.

Dad frowned. “But that was school stuff. I want gossip, Sizhui. I want the deets. I want the 411. Give me the dirt. Spill the tea. Or the beans.” He looked to Papa. “What else do the kids say these days?”

“None of what just passed your lips,” Papa said. 

Dad frowned. “So mean, Lan Zhan.” His pout became more pronounced as he turned to Sizhui. “See how he treats me? Betrayed by my very own heart and soul.”

Sizhui shook his head at them, but grasped on to the opening. “So, about that.”

He didn’t know what he expected to happen but Dad actually gasped and Papa sat up so fast he nearly tumbled off the couch.

“Is it happening?” Dad asked. “Did it happen?” He pulled out his leather planner, full of post-it notes, napkins, and various other bits and bobs. “I had you two down for at least another month from now, but your Papa insisted it would be before Halloween.”

“What?” Sizhui asked as he looked back and forth between his parents.

“Sizhui,” Papa said as he walked over to the desk. “Did Lan Jingyi not ask you out on a date?”

“What?” Sizhui asked. He felt the blood rush to his face, in his ears, blocking out all other sounds. “What?” he repeated.

Dad grimaced. “Whoops. I think we broke him. Bad parenting penalty.”

“No--I---what?” Sizhui asked again. “I just wanted to know how you, like, know if you like someone more than a friend and you’re running a bet on my dating life? With my best friend?”

“To be fair, your Uncle Huaisang runs a bet on everything,” Dad said.

“Wei Ying,” Papa cautioned. 

“Fine,” Dad said, pushing his planner to the side. He sat forward and grasped Sizhui hands. “Sizhui, if you’re asking us this question, do you not already know the answer?”

Sizhui nodded. “But, how can you be sure?”

“In your own heart, what do you feel?” Papa asked. He knelt to meet Sizhui’s downcast gaze. “You don’t have to tell us, or even him, but you’ll feel so much more relief if you acknowledge your own truth.” His smile was small as he patted Sizhui’s knees. “It was the only way I was able to manage all the years when your dad still didn’t know his own feelings.”

“It must’ve been torture,” Sizhui said.

Papa smiled and met Dad’s eyes. “It wasn’t so bad, in the end. But you and Jingyi are different. You don’t have the restrictions on you that Uncle put on me and your Uncle Xichen. You don’t have the physical distance between you. If you want to, you can start dating now. If you feel like you’re ready.”

Sizhui tried not to hunch his shoulders and make himself smaller, but the uncertainty ate at him. “But what if I ruin our friendship? I don’t think--I couldn’t take him hating me.”

“Oh, Sizhui,” Dad said as he clambered over the desk and hugged him. “Jingyi could never hate you. I know you know him better than that, but if you want more, well…”

“Leap of faith?” Sizhui asked.

Both his fathers nodded. 

If the Lan-Wei family had its own motto, Leap of Faith, would be it. If they had their own crest, it would be a rabbit surrounded by the words, Daring, Determination, Devotion, and Honesty. His fathers had raised him with those values, and Sizhui did his best to own them, and now, he knew, he could either rely on them or try to patiently wait until Jingyi came to him. 

If at school the dynamic of Sizhui and Jingyi made the perfect Lan, at home, Sizhui was very much the best, and worst, of both of his fathers. 

“Oh, I know that look,” Dad said as he kissed the top of Sizhui’s head. “Poor Jingyi isn’t going to know what hit him.” Sizhui could feel his wide grin against his hair. “It’s going to be awesome.”

Part 2

[creative-type]

I recently read Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn on recommendation from a friend. Finished it in about a day, and have had it stuck in my head ever since. Not because I liked it -- quite the opposite, in fact -- but after finishing the last pages of the epilogue and setting the book down never to be revisited again, I had to ask myself a question:

Is it possible to read a book incorrectly? And if so, did I?

Spoilers and musings beyond the cut. Fair warning, Sharp Objects is a fairly dark book that covers some pretty heavy issues including cutting and abuse. Consider yourself warned

To start out with, I’m not a huge fan of death of the author. I do think the reader of a text has to take the effort to try and figure out what the author is trying to tell them. Consideration should be made for the time and place the work was written, the prevailing culture, and so on and so forth. A historical romance written today isn’t going to ever replicate completely the style of Jane Austin because the authors are drawing from two completely different frames of reference. Culture changes. Languages changes. How we tell stories changes. 

(Note: Not saying death of the author is inherently bad. It is just one of many systems of interpretation, and like every other system has its benefits and limitations. My hackles only raise when it becomes the only system of interpretation, as if it were intrinsically more valuable and valid than the rest /rant)

That being said, I think an author can be very subtle with the message they’re trying to send, or purposefully leave that message open to interpretation. And sometimes...sometimes sometimes the signals get crossed along the way, and the message that was intended never reaches the reader.

Which brings me to the point of this rambling mess of an analysis. I found Sharp Objects to be a dreary slog of a book. I knew it was dark going into the story, but there’s no levity inter-spaced between the overwhelming negativity to act as a reprieve between the elements of horror and tragedy. It has a very bleak opinion on the human condition in general and the small town the story takes place in particular. The ‘small town with a dark secret’ and the ‘family with a dark secret’ tropes are well-worn and familiar fodder for stories like these, but if I hadn’t read the author’s note at the end I would have thought that Flynn had never actually spent time in small-town America because it clashed so hard with my experience growing up in rural Iowa, the disconnect taking me out of the setting pretty early on. 

I’m sure some people enjoy this kind of storytelling -- and apparently enough did that they turned it into an HBO mini series -- but it’s not my cup of tea. Maybe it’s my small-town roots showing, but I was almost offended by the picture Flynn painted of the fictional town of Wind Gap. I can handle darkness, but not page after page, after stinking page of unlikable, mean-spirited bickering and backbiting. 

The mystery itself sparked enough curiosity to keep me engaged, but I’d pretty much figured out whodunit midway through the book on genre conventions alone. I figured about the fifth time someone remarked that the killer had to have been a man that it was probably going to be a woman, and was instantly suspicious that the main character’s sister’s illness was never named. 

About the same time I more or less knew who the killers likely were, I began to wonder if I was reading the book wrong. I was struck by how well-written the prose was, with several vivid descriptions helping carry me along even if I didn’t particularly like what was being described. The main character, a middling journalist named Camille, starts the book as a former cutter and current alcoholic, and her mental state goes downhill from there. At one point she takes Ecstasy with her (I think?) thirteen year old half-sister (who, along with their mother, never felt like an actually character to me and more like a collection of bizarre traits and behaviors smooshed together in the semblance of a human being. Like I said, there’s never really any doubt who the killers are) and later on has sex with a barely eighteen year old boy who happens to be the prime murder suspect. She’s in such a messed up state that she thinks the best way to make up for this lapse of judgement is to try and give a blow job to the lead detective of the case while they’re sitting in the police station. 

You know, as you do.

What made me think this way was the fact that the book’s written in the first person. I thought, if only for a moment, that perhaps we the reader was being led on by Camille’s own prejudice. It’s no secret that she hateed her hometown and the people she grew up with, and would rather leave her past behind than face the trauma she endured head on. No wonder she’s describing the sky before a rainstorm as the color of piss, or that she takes the time to mention a floating pube in the bath of a hotel on the way to Wind Gap. Of course all of her mother’s friend’s are equally as horrible as her mother, or that the girls she knew in high school would grow up to be just as shallow and vain. It made sense that she would describe the siblings of one of the victims as a fat, tantrum throwing girl and another as a dullard of a boy who would never amount to anything. A stubbornly pessimistic, barely functioning, disaster of a human being would see the negative in everything everywhere she went. 

All at once everything clicked into place, and I felt like the author and I were on the same wavelength. By the time I got three-quarters of the way through the book I could see it going one of two ways: 1) Camille would somehow be proven wrong about her assumptions and prejudices, which would in turn kick start some character development or 2) Camille would be right, and Wind Gap would be proven to be just as horrible as she already thought it was. I figured if that second option was taken it was likely for the story to have a somber, even tragic ending, as the weight of all these terrible secrets and pain broke our lead character completely. 

That’s...not what happened, and in strange display of pacing the true killer is only revealed during the epilogue (side note, I thought the reveal of where all the teeth were hidden was one of the best twists in the whole story). To be honest, it felt like the author tried to cram an entire sequel into the last 10 pages of the story, but long story short, Mama killed Camille’s sister during their childhood, but it was Baby Half Sister who did the present-day murders. After this stunning turn of events, Camille finds a knife and gives into the temptation she’d been fighting for the whole damn book, mutilating the one bit of unmarred skin she has left and the implication that she would have killed herself had someone not stopped her in time.

Ah, I thought to myself, tragedy it is. Not my favorite, but I could see how the author got from Point A to Point B and you could take a somber message about how the effect the environment a person is raised in affects them for the rest of their lives. 

If the book ended there I would have been fine with it. I still wouldn’t have liked it, but it would have made perfect sense. Instead we get this last little bit to tie all the loose ends neatly in a bow. Note this ending comes immediately after the relapse into self-mutilation, which itself burst onto the scene with very little warning and was over after one paragraph:

Curry and Eileen packed my things and took me into their home, where I have a bed and some space in what was once a basement rec room. All sharp objects have been locked up, but I haven’t tried too hard to get at them,

I am learning to be cared for. I am learning to be parented. I’ve returned to my childhood, the scene of the crime. Eileen and Curry wake me in the mornings and put me to bed with kisses (or in Curry’s case, a gentle chuck under the chin). I drink nothing stronger than the grap soda Curry favors. Eileen runs my bath and sometimes brushes my hair. It doesn’t give me chills, and we consider this a good sign. 

It is almost May 12, one year exactly from my return to Wind Gap. The date also happens to be Mother’s Day this year. Clever. Sometimes I think about that night caring for Amma, and how good I was at soothing her and calming her. I have dreams of washing Amma and drying her brow. I wake with my stomach turning and a sweaty upper lip. Was I good at caring for Amma because of kindness? Or did I like caring for Amma because I have Adora’s sickness? I waver between the two, especially at night, when my skin begins to pulse. 

Lately, I’ve been leaning toward kindness.

When I read that last sentence, the gears in head ground to an abrupt halt, and I immediately disconnected entirely from the story. Camille had spent the majority of this book being anything but kind. The only instance I can see that might fit into this characterization is an off-hand reference in the first chapter that her boss (the Curry mentioned here) thinks she’s too soft in her writing. 

I don’t know why these last paragraphs exist in this story. For all I know, the author couldn’t think of a way to finish the book and defaulted to a last-minute happy-ish ending. It is, after all, her debut novel. Hell, maybe it had been added at the insistence of her editor, or some other outside influence. 

Or maybe I’m just missing something. 

Death of the author demands that I, the reader, create my own meaning, but I simply can’t. Neither of the two readings I saw the potential for are supported by the text, and I find myself wandering back again and again to the matter of authorial intent. But for the life of me, I can’t figure out what the author’s trying to say. Either the story is too bleak to justify this...if not redemption, then healing for the main character, or the ending is too positive for the harsh and terrible world the author has gone through such pains to describe. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

There is a third option: That even though the world is just as terrible and awful as you thought it was, recovery is still possible. It seems to be what that last page implies, but this is the weakest reading of all, if only because it doesn’t have time to develop. Three paragraphs does not a character arc make, and Camille spent too much time moping around being miserable to even consider the possibility of closure.

I think this might have been what the author was going for. It fits well with the metanarriative of the mystery itself. But if so, it’s a message poorly communicated, and even now I’m not sure what I’m supposed to take from the book.  

Again, on a technical level it’s very well-written, and undoubtedly I’m putting too much thought into what’s otherwise a generic murder mystery.  But I also think it’s important for the author’s voice to be heard in their work, even if that message gets a little muddled along the way. 

[cloudsaysthings-archive]

| FALLOUT OC INFO SHEET |

Info sheet done by @madddraws. (thanks for making this, i really needed to actually organize his character info for once…)

Info is under the cut; be wary, as there may be triggering information below.

Name: Jackson Seth Schmidt

Nickname: Jack, Blue, Bullseye

Age: 30/240

Height: Exactly six feet tall. (1.82m)

Weight: 205 lbs. (93kg)

SPECIAL: S:9 P:8 E:8 C:9 I:8 A:7 L:4

Eyes: Hazy Blue

Hair: Brown

Body type: Muscular, medium

Status Pre-War: Former soldier, artist (although his art career never truly took off :/)

Status Currently: General of the Commonwealth Minutemen, part-time gun for hire

Relationship Status: Widowed, currently in a relationship

Spouse(s): Nora (deceased), Piper Wright

Sexuality: Demi-biromantic demisexual

Gender: Cis male

Ethnicity: White (German, Greek)

Family: Edward (father, presumably dead), Elizabeth (mother, presumably dead), Sadie (sister, presumably dead), and Jason, (brother, missing and presumed dead)

Languages: English (first language), German, (second language), French

Disabilities/Illnesses/Injuries: Suffers from multiple mental disorders: Cyclothymia, PTSD, Anxiety, Insomnia, and Depression. Right shoulder has been subject of multiple injuries, including laser burns, bullet wounds, and dislocation, still occasionally sore. Lazy left eye. Has had multiple spells of carpel tunnel in right hand and wrist, still occasionally sore. Chronic migraines, although have become much more rare. Suffers from vertigo and dizziness as well.

Allergies: Pollen.

Scars: Freckles on upper back and near neck from sunburn, Long scar on left eye from knife fight with a Chinese soldier, scar on lip from the same knife fight, scar on chin from a fight with the Diamond City Security, small right eyebrow scar from the same fight with DC Security, small cut on the bridge of his nose from the same fight. Scar on his left palm, as well as multiple scars on his left wrist. Light claw scratches on chest and stomach from a feral ghoul attack.

Physical traits: Pocked neck and rough face, big nose, light and barely noticeable beard, thick eyebrows, full lips, straight teeth (wore braces as a kid), bags under eyes, bright eyes.

Voice: The usual male protagonist voice with a light Bostonian accent that is only apparent every now and then. (Trust me, it used to be worse.)

Clothing: Riot Gear Coat, Mercenary hood, Blue scarf, wastelander coat, Kellogg’s arm armor, Minutemen General coat, Grandpa Savoldi’s hat, white tank top, navy blue suit, literally any plaid for flannel shirt he can find, combat boots.

Fashion Style/Lifestyle: Anything comfortable/anything that can protect him.

Weapon of Choice: M1 Garand rifle with Piper’s name carved into the barrel and blue tape covering the grip.

Skills: Marksman (he has a great aim with guns), knife combat, hand-to-hand combat, can play multiple musical instruments, artist (drawing), great poem writing, great aerobatic skills

Weaknesses: His mental illnesses, hotheaded and short temper, can be cowardly at times, past light addiction to mentats, can also be a bit of an asshole at times as well

Poor skills: Writing legit stories, painting, being strategic, stealth

Affiliations: Commonwealth Minutemen, allied with Railroad

Former Affiliations: Brotherhood of Steel

Enemies: The Institute, Nuka-World Raiders, eventually the BoS, anyone who gets in his way

Neutral Affiliations: Far Harbor, Acadia, Children of Atom

Religion: Formerly Christian, none

Likes: A good whiskey, cigarettes, comics, being helpful, ANIMALS, sarcasm, tinkering with things, drawing, playing music, singing, time with Piper and friends, reading, practicing his aim, the perfectly preserved pies after he gets them out of that stupid Port-A-Diner

Dislikes: Chem usage, racism, betrayal, lying (even though he does lie a lot), raiders, painting, rudeness, stealing

Hates: Murder/killing, any type of abuse, those stupid Port-A-Diners, cannibalism, socializing

Friends: Pretty much most of the companions, Sturges, Albany Fisher (my Lone Wanderer), Garvus Manchester (my courier)

Acquaintances: Strong, Hancock, Porter Gage, and Old Longfellow

Former friends: Mags, the leader of the Operators

Enemies: Elder Maxson, Kellogg (deceased), Angry Warren (my raider OC), and Bishop Montgomery (an oc to be released that is in the making)

Pets: Dogmeat

Fallout OC friends/family: Gene (@vkm11), Patti Helter (@werewuffgoth), Elenora Clarke (@laurenallyse), Nate Blackwell (@failout4) (others may join this list in the future)

Personality: An ambivert, Jack is a quiet person when you first meet him. As he becomes your friend, he will begin to open up to you more. He is a person who has high respect for everyone, including his enemies (like the ones listed above) for their strong desire to defeat him. He is a very charismatic man, one of many words. He is sarcastic and at times silly, but can be serious as well. He can be your best friend but can also be your worst enemy.

Favorite color: Navy blue

Favorite foods: Deathclaw steak, deathclaw omelettes, Takahashi’s good ole Power Noodles, cram, potato crisps, salisbury steak, perfectly preserved pie, fresh melon, grilled radroach, grilled radstag, InstaMash, Sugar Bombs, bubblegum, YumYum deviled eggs, Dandy Boy apples

Favorite drinks: Whiskey, all types of Nuka-Cola, purified water, beer, Scotch, Sunset Sarsaparilla (when he goes to the Mojave)

Favorite sweets: Listed above in favorite foods

 OTHER INFO: 

Once again, beware of triggering content. 

His story/introduction, copied from his roleplay blog:

Jack was born on December 21st of 2047 in the state of Rhode Island, where he lived for the first five years of his life. He later moved to New York for the rest of his childhood and teenage years before moving to Boston, Massachusetts. There, he went to college at Suffolk University along side his future wife Nora.

Later, he was drafted into the Resource Wars where he fought in Anchorage for his first two years of service, and fought in China for the rest of his time in the army. Jack retired after a horrible army experience, and married his fiance, Nora, when he returned. The two lived in Sanctuary Hills in the House of Tomorrow, had Shaun, and were put into the vault in 2077. The rest of his story is history.

MENTAL HEALTH HISTORY

Jack was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder when he was twelve, and cyclothymia at fourteen. His mother’s side of the family had a long running history of depression and bipolar disorder, so it was no surprise that he had cyclothymia (another form of bipolar disorder) and depression. 

Following his return from war, he quickly developed PTSD and insomnia. His PTSD became so bad that it hindered his relationship with Nora, so much that she dropped him off at the Parsons Insane Asylum until one day, his wife realized that dropping him off at Parsons was a mistake, and took him to see his sister (who was a psychiatrist/therapist). 

He has little recollection of his time in Parsons. Occasionally, he gets random flashbacks of his time there, experiencing memories that he didn’t remember. Over time though, after he stopped seeing his sister for PTSD, he slowly got better with the help and support of his wife. After waking up in the wasteland, it became progressively worse (luckily, not as bad as it was after he retired from war). 

Jack suffers with self-harm after leaving the vault, yet quickly recovers from it, to only have his suicidal depression return later.

FANFICTIONS

His main fanfiction is Fallout 4: Purple, which is currently being rewritten from chapters one to twenty one. Purple starts after meeting Father in the Institute, as he picks up Piper from Diamond City and begins to fall for her.

I will be eventually writing a prequel story to Purple, based on his time from the moment he left the vault until he meets Father.

I have also written an AU fic for him, called Wastelands featuring Elenora Clarke (belonging to @laurenallyse). The Scharke AU states that neither Nate nor Nora were murdered in Vault 111. In this AU, Jack and Elenora are together.

The Scharke AU is also present on Jack’s roleplay blog, @implicit-hero, as well as Elenora’s roleplay blog, @ecotonebeing.

PLAYLISTS

I have four playlists made for him.

[LEAVE ME WITH A RAZOR]

This playlist is his general playlist.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/screwyouimcloud/playlist/72HJM83G0Zo1kyItgUaNwS

[WORDS. WHAT ARE WORDS?]

This is Jack and Piper’s playlist.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/screwyouimcloud/playlist/03Zaz6Zx09iMi77uZbz2ND

[I NEED A DAMN BREAK]

Jack and Piper’s angsty playlist.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/screwyouimcloud/playlist/29JweWZuVULsjMUiPHUZbm

[AS YOU WISH, MY DEAR]

The Scharke playlist for Jack and Elenora.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/user/screwyouimcloud/playlist/6NwCxLOwesspbwhUKzXWs9

Anyways, that’s all, folks!

[dialoversotaka]

50 questions about me

Rules: fill this out and tag at least one person you’d like to know more about! Or just fill it out! Or don’t! Answer only some of them! Make up your own questions! “What kind of requirement is that”, you ask? A reasonable one! Who am I to tell you what to do? Anything goes!

Tagged by @shadyraisincookie

1. What kind of food can’t you stand? Spicy food, it’s rlly bad for me

2. If you could choose one minor inconvenience to never have to deal with again, what would you pick? There are so many things i don’t even know where to start…

3. Have you got any useless talents? I know how to roll my tongue into a 3 leaf clover

4. If you were really really good at one thing, what would it be? Knowing ppl’s true feelings/ thoughts (I’m so DENSE when it comes to ppl’s true thoughts/ feelings, if they don’t tell me what they feel/think or show it explicitly i’ll never know)

5. Name a few people you think are extremely good-looking: Ian Somerhalder, Tommy Karevik, Jared Leto (it’s a big list so i’ll stop here)

6. What was your favorite way to pass the time as a kid? Reading books (i get so lazy to do it nowadays)

7. What is something you’re proud of? I can summarize rlly long things and i can develop rlly big stories from one phrase

8. What’s one character flaw in people that you just can’t tolerate? Ppl who hide their true personalities

9. Do you consider yourself to be more of a leader or a follower? It rlly depends on the situation I’m in, sometimes i like to be the leader, but if there’s someone who’s way better than me to do it then i don’t mind staying as a follower

10. What kind of student are/were you? I’m the kind of student who doesn’t study and gets good grades (if it’s maths though, i’ll have to cram the day before if i want to pass)

11. Butterfly effect question! Has there ever been a seemingly minor decision you’ve made (at the time) that ended up having a profound influence on your life? Starting to watch subbed movies (i mean, my english was always good, but it improved a lot when i started to watch them in their original language)

12. Name your most irrational fear/ aversion: Losing a member of my family (i get so paranoid about it, you have no idea)

13. Are there any fictional characters you find especially relatable? I always get related to so many characters, it’s rlly hard to mention a specific one

14. If you drink, what kind of drunk are you? Alternatively, what sort of person are you at parties? I don’t like to drink and i’m the kind of person who sits with my cellphone till the party’s over (i’m not a sociable person soo…)

15. Do you fall in love easily? Or does it usually take a long time for you to trust someone? I develop some kind of interest, but to rlly come to love someone other than my family takes at least a year or 2

16. Would you rather have one close friend or 100 casual friends? I think i already have both?

17. Do you consider yourself to be more of a slob or a neat-freak? When it’s my own room i’m kind of a slob, but if i’m in a school trip i’ll probably be the neatest in the whole school

18. Describe a place (imaginary or real) that you would find incredibly cozy: Any house in a state called Teresópolis (It’s in Rio de Janeiro), every house there is so CUTE, idk why but I feel so cozy just by looking at them

19. Do you have kids? If not, do you want them someday? I want to have kids someday

20. What was your favorite book as a child? It was (and still is) ‘’The Lord of the Rings’‘

21. Name one thing you just don’t get what all the hype is about: Fidget spinners, they’re like meh

22. Name one thing that you think is tragically underrated: The Versus Song ‘’Die is Cast’’, it’s so AWESOME but not many ppl know it

23. If you had to be glued to a person for a month, real or fictional (who you have never met), who would you choose? I wouldn’t choose anyone, i don’t like meeting new ppl so much, so being glued to her for 1 month is impossible (but when i get to know the person, i get very flexible)

24. What’s something you’d like the chance to do someday: Go to Japan! 

25. Do you typically speak your mind when you have a controversial opinion? Or do generally prefer to not rock the boat? i don’t generally hold back, so I speak my mind without being afraid of what ppl will think

26. What’s the dumbest fad you’ve been caught up in? Getting overly excited to see that my favorite manga ‘’Devils Line’’ was being translated again (I cried out of happiness… i know it’s too much, but it’s such a great manga and it had so few chapters translated, i thought i’d never read it again, but then a miracle happened, i thank God every day for it)

27. What’s something you thought was cool as a kid/adolescent, but now cringe at yourself for? Speaking rlly formally and using difficult words when i was 7 years old (i had to stop cuz ppl didn’t understand me well…)

28. What’s a trait you consider to be very admirable? Ppl who admit their mistakes and are willing to fix them

29. Is there a particular kind of item people always tend to give you as gifts? I can’t think of anything…

30. Do you speak multiple languages? Which ones? In order of fluency: portuguese, english and still learning hebrew and japanese (i don’ wanna brag, but what can i do if it’s true?)

31. Would you rather live in the big city or the countryside? I can’t choose, i like both!

32. Has there ever been something you were certain you’d hate, but ended up loving? Starting my high school in Israel. I thought everyone would hate me in there and it would be awful, but the girls in my school are so nice, the mood is light and everyone gets along well, i rlly like it

33. Do you mind being the center of attention, or do you prefer the spotlight to be on someone else? I don’t like being in the center, i get too nervous if everyone suddenly starts noticing me

34. Favorite holiday? Hanukkah (not joking, i’m jew)

35. Are you a more go-with-the-flow type of person, or do you need to have things planned meticulously? If it’s on a competition or a risky situation, i do my best so nothing goes wrong, but most of the times i just go like ‘’que será, será’’ (what will be, will be)

36. Is there something you loved so much you wish you could forget it and experience it all over again? Going to Disneyland

37. What hobbies do you have? Mostly drawing, singing and analizing situations (like pretending to be a detective haha)

38. If you could have a superpower, but it was only mildly useful, what ability would you want to have? I’d want to be able to fly, it would be super useful

39. Something people are always surprised to learn about you: That i get rlly scary when i’m angry bcz i’m cute and it doesn’t seem like i’d explode so easily (altough depending on the situation i cool down rlly fast)

40. Something that took you way too long to figure out: Finding out the order of the DL games (I was rlly struggling to know it back then, but now i feel dumb about it…)

41. Worst injury you’ve had? When i was 8 i crashed my bike in the corner of a pillar in my playground and i opened a medium ‘’V’’ scar in my left knee (i screamed so loud it seemed like the world had stopped) and it hurt so much, my parents got rlly worried (although it hurt more when the doc put the anesthesia than when he sewed it…)

42. Any morbid fascinations? Any horror movies/ games (specially Corpse Party or The Evil Within)

43. Describe your sense of humor: It’s one of the traits ppl know me for, so  it’s very good 

44. If you had to be born in another era/place, which would you choose? I’m fine with this era, thank you very much

45. Something you are irredeemably bad at: Always judging ppl for bad

46. Something that sucked but you’re glad you went through: That misunderstanding that happened about my HDB translation posts, but we always have something to learn from everything that happens

47. Would you rather have a really godawful ugly tattoo in a place that is only slightly inconvenient to conceal with clothing (upper arm, thigh, etc.), or the coolest, most beautiful tattoo ever in the middle of your face? I don’t like tattoos, so neither of them

48. Are you more of an optimist or a pessimist? I’m more of a realist, but between those 2 i’d say pessimist

49. What would be the most flattering compliment someone could give you? That I’m as smart as Kira haha

50. Something you feel people often misunderstand about you: Ppl think I’m like Ayato, but in reality i’m a Reiji at heart

My tag goes to @vampiretsuki. That’s it guys! Hope you found it interesting! See ya~!

[dingoes8myrp]

My Beef with Alien: Covenant

I had a lot of beef with this movie, and I didn’t expect to, so it really hit me in the face and left an unpleasant taste in my mouth that’s still lingering two days later. While this wasn’t a bad movie by any means, I personally strongly disliked it and I think it marks the nail in the coffin of this franchise. My reasons why are in a spoiler-heavy review below.

The opening scene really set this movie off on a bad note, in my opinion. I felt like I was in detention sitting in this room watching what looked like a deleted scene from Prometheus they crammed in here to remind us who David is, which made his “surprise” reappearance later a total “No shit” moment.

When Michael Fassbender-As-A-Different-Android was the first person we met aboard Covenant, that was just confusing. Two different androids have never been played by the same actor in the franchise, so the fact that suddenly Michael Fassbender is playing both David and Walter was kind of “Huh?” It made me think “Well, the only reason they did that has to be because at some point in this movie we’re not going to be able to tell David apart from this guy.” That totally took the punch out of David’s sneaky “I’m going to pretend to be Walter to get off this rock” moment and the twist of “Holy shit, it’s David!” because, yeah, no shit. We saw that coming a mile away. It also meant for the first act of the movie I was trying to figure out if Walter was legit, or if it was David in disguise, or what.

Right away, the ship was met with some kind of catastrophe because of course it was. Some guy burns up in a cryo chamber and I don’t care because we have no idea who Deep-Fried is until several scenes later when we gather he’s Short-Hair-Girl’s husband and Underqualified-Billy-Crudup is now our captain. This film lacked the character development we saw in Alien, Aliens, and Prometheus, which made this feel more like some “Random Teens Get Together in A Cabin in the Woods to Be Murdered” movie, only in space.

Speaking of which, we have a totally bloated cast of characters, none of whom are developed further than a few stereotypical surface traits, if that. When everyone starts dying horrifically right off the bat, we learn everyone on this ship was married to someone else. So when a chunk of the cast dies, most of the remaining characters are left emotionally crippled because “Oh my God, my spouse just died!” Literally, if you’re not a shady android, your only options as a cast member of this film were to be an expendable spouse or a grieving spouse. This meant that every single character was making dumb snap decisions because “Ahh! The grieving!” or something. I don’t even think anyone thought it through that much, to be honest. Oh, and of course we have our two non-emotionally-crippled cast members (also married, but we don’t know that until they die later), but they’re just hanging out on a ship awaiting further instructions and have no idea anything horrific is happening because comm problems. What?

Okay, we know this is an Alien movie, which means several cast members are going to die horribly. But, could you maybe not slap us in the face by not even bothering to give us any character development at all? “Here, watch a bunch of people die in space because aliens” really isn’t what made the original Alien great. We had a competent crew with a comradery we got to see before everything went to shit, which made their motives and behaviors make sense. This was like watching an improvised Whose Line is it Anyway skit where everyone got handed a slip of paper with a vague character description, and no one had any clue what anyone else was doing. It was like Crudup’s Wife didn’t even know she was his wife and when she died he only just remembered it himself. When the two Flight Crew people were showering together that was a total surprise. Nothing about them expressed they were at all fond of each other, let alone a couple. The only relationship I bought was Short-Haired-Lady’s and Deep-Fried’s and we don’t even get his end of it at all.  

When we get to the “explore a strange planet” part of the story everyone’s brains just fall out of their heads, and this is before everybody’s spouses die horribly. I mean, I get that these guys aren’t yet aware of the dangers of Xenomorphs because these are pre-Ripley films. However, this is still a strange planet they got some kind of weird message from. You would think there’d be some basic precautions like “don’t leave anyone alone somewhere because some screwy animal could jump out of a bush and bite somebody” or “don’t clomp all over strange looking spores with your big ass boots.” I mean, it makes no sense that before they leave Covenant they all pack their weapons as if they expect trouble, but then tra-la-la around the planet with no concern at all for their safety. No shit they all start dying, because everyone’s kind of stupid for no apparent reason. Examples? Alrighty.

Captain Crudup commits two horror movie sins at once by suggesting they split up so half of them can investigate the strange noise, which comes in the form of a garbled radio transmission. Captain’s Wife tries to wander off alone and is saddled with Guy with Cigarette as a sidekick. Doesn’t matter because they split up anyway and he contracts the space asthma and doesn’t let anyone know. Captain’s Wife notices Cigarette Guy’s not feeling well, but ignores it. Meanwhile Obnoxious Dude does the same thing as Guy with Cigarette in his group, going off alone and getting space asthma and not mentioning it to anybody. Captain’s Wife then decides to bring Sick Cigarette Guy back to the ship so he can spread his sick to everyone else, and Panicky Blond Girl lets them in because she doesn’t have a Man in Charge to tell her not to, ‘cause comm problems and Dipshit Captain.

Everything goes to shit quickly as Panicky Blonde Girl tries to handle a back-burster and instead makes the ship into a fiery hellhole. Luckily they have the Covenant crew waiting in the wings in case of this exact thing… oh, wait. Comm problems, so no they don’t. So, we have aliens chomping and bursting their way through this group of useless dummies, but totally-not-a-surprise!David shows up to rescue them. Except David is shady as fuck from his intro and while this is noted, no one seems to care. No one asks questions about all the corpses outside his dwelling either. Seriously, how did these people get their jobs?

The absence of Shaw was troubling to say the least, and David’s “she died in the crash” story stank of bullshit. As David’s sanity began to reveal itself to be absent and the crew got picked off one by one I wondered what the hell happened to this movie. The end of Prometheus set Shaw up to be our answer to Ripley in this collection of films, and suddenly she was unceremoniously killed off-screen between films and we get new underdeveloped characters so we can devote most of our time to David, who has become both the protagonist and the villain. Why did we skip over the cool story we were promised at the end of Prometheus to get stuck with this half-assed slasher film that basically tricked us into watching it?

I had some hope when we got back to Covenant and Short-Haired-Lady seemed like maybe she’d be our new heroine. Except Walter was clearly not Walter because Walter’s wounds healed on their own and we got a whole scene between Not!Walter and Short-Haired-Lady that revolved around her patching him up. Also, why did no one test this fucker when he came hobbling up to the ship, considering the evil twin story we’ve been dealing with since David Single-White-Female’d Walter’s hairstyle? Unfortunately our heroine is also inexplicably stupid and doesn’t figure this switcheroo out until she’s trapped in a cryo chamber being put to sleep by this crazy dude.

I’m not sure what was supposed to happen with this movie, but I know what definitely didn’t happen. We didn’t get a kickass heroine beating the odds, nor did we get a resourceful crew pitted against an unreasonable alien villain. The aliens became a backdrop for David to do his thing in as he played God and puppet-master and we sat and watched the fallout.

Alien franchise, I want my kickass heroine. I want the aliens. I want the scrappy crew. As pretty as Michael Fassbender is, I really didn’t need David to have his own movie. Maybe this direction was great for some people, but not for me. Alien: Covenant, missing the point.