#they're both villain-coded if you see it the way i do but we don't talk about that here

[lala-blahblah]

I will never make this because it would be for an audience of one (me) but ever since reading "If we Were Villains" (story about serious drama kids in college who perform shakespeare and deal with a murder) I have been entertaining the thought of a crack fic crossover with High School Musical The Musical The Series where the staff decides they will no longer put on shakespeare after the tragic accident that happened at Thanksgiving, because Shakespeare plays would only increase the tension and drama. So they hire Ms. Jen who decides their spring play will actually be High School Musical (which exists in the 90s in this universe) and it ruins the vibe so much that everyone gives up on being dark and mysterious because they're universally pissed at Ms Jen for making them learn choreoraphed basketball dancing.

[yonemurishiroku]

Sometimes I mistake Luke and Jason’s fanarts and it’s kinda distinguished experiences since one is the Gods’ warrior and the other is the vengeful one who would do everything to take them down. 

And then again, they were both leaders/de facto leaders of their respective Camps and thus widely loved among demigods (at least for a while, in Luke’s case).

I love my blue-eyed short-haired scarred-faced dead blonds.

[rootspiral]

AGATHA ALL ALONG DEEP DIVE: episode 1 part 1

(Wandavision entries: [1][2][3])

(AAA entries: ep1 [1][2][3][4] ep2 [1][2][3][4] ep3 [1][2][3] ep4 [1][2][3][4][5][6][7])

IT'S TIME TO REWATCH AGATHA ALL ALONG, WITCHES! And as usual, spoilers below.

episode 1, Seekest Thou The Road

Wanda is dead (no she ain't). As a result, her spell is weakened and Agatha has changed from her nosy neighbor character to detective Agnes (or caught the true crime bug, as Herb will put it.)

Stinky grimy Agnes, so serious and depressed. As soon as she appears onscreen she's humming the Ballad.

Detective Agnes has just been recalled to action after being off duty for a while. She was punished for "punching a suspect", which is code for going after Wanda. Agnes points out that now the suspect is a convicted felon, i.e. that she was right after all and Wanda is dangerous and evil. "I can't be right and wrong" she says. "Yes, you can" says Herb, because both Agatha and Wanda are villain and victim. And lol at the police tape symbolizing Herb's fence. You know the poor guy is in his garden looking down at Agnes in her Bonher family tshirt, wondering what the hell is going on.

oh that's a seriously good shot

Agatha looks heartbroken when she sees Wanda's body, doesn't she? She looks so sorry.

Herb (the real Herb behind the illusion) confirms that Agatha is acting different than usual.

THIRD TIME SHE DISCREETLY DRIES HER TEARS

There is nothing funny about Detective Agnes. Or rather, it's funny to watch her because she's so intense, but we laugh at her, she's not being a clown on purpose like Agatha usually is. And Agatha right now is in a lot of pain, even more than usual having completely lost her agency. This character so unkempt, so sad, so doggedly searching for answers, is more true to Agatha's real self than what she usually lets people see. Deep down she's just a tragic lesbian wet rat.

Somebody called in to have the body found, and I think that somebody was Rio. Why would the body be next to the water otherwise? It's like the River of Life laid her gently where Agatha could find her. In other words, Wanda's death brought her to Agatha. I'm curious about these woods too, we know they don't actually exist as this is all in Agatha's head, but where did the idea come from? Are these the woods where she killed the Salemites? Where she gave birth to Nicky? Or where she buried him?

Agatha's victims from the finale flashing throughout the opening. Wherever it may bend, I'll see you at the end.

"based on the danish series WANDAVISDYEN" never fails to destroy me. and it's so clever too, it's like they're telling first time watchers that yes, this seems like a grim detective show, but you clever audiences know that things are not as they seem and this is a parody, right?? this is not serious at all, it's funny! Laugh! Except. It's not funny. It's not funny at all. And you're going to realize only when it's too late. It's the same thing they do with Sharon/Mrs. Hart, they lure you in with laughs only to hit you with heartbreak. This show is not a comedy at all. It's at its very core a senseless tragedy.

Sarah/Dottie lives next door too, was Agatha talking to her through a window, or does the library desk symbolize another fence? This poor woman, hasn't she suffered enough? But they all more or less try to help Agnes, that's sweet. Has anyone from SWORD or whomever dropped in to talk to them, did the Avengers just decide to leave Agatha there? Did Monica (or Ralph) even explain to the poor people of Westview that she's a witch, or do they just think she's a random neighbor who couldn't be saved from Wanda's Hex?

THE MAILMAN CONTINUES BEING SUSPICIOUS. Is Agatha putting words in his mouth, or was he (the "messanger") sent by someone to warn her about the Darkhold being destroyed???

her FACE when she sees Rio

and the way Rio just stares and stares. When you rewatch this scene knowing that this is the first time she gets to see Agatha in centuries... and she has to be cool and she has to be gentle. I think it's deliberate that they put Phil/Harold/Ross Geller in here, because he's one of the funniest people in Westview and it's suggesting a first time viewer to read this scene as a comedy. Except it's a cosmic tale of tragedy and heartbreak, but you're not supposed to notice yet, even if it's right there under your nose.

Stop being such a lone wolf, Agnes. Or rather, stop being such a sad and lonely covenless witch, Agatha.

Rio laughs her delighted little laugh, licks her lips, looks out the window for a moment as if overwhelmed, then goes back looking at Agatha and basically devouring her with her eyes. ("te veo.") (thank you for my life aubrey plaza.) Agatha stares daggers back, but her body language stars getting defensive. She feels very vulnerable.

Yep, defensive. And wistful.

She is doing her job, like always. But she's also going above and beyond. There is technically no need for her to wake Agatha up, but here she is, dropping gentle clues, guiding her with such patience and care.

"If you wanna be in control you can be" is said in such a kind tone, but it's also sexy?? I think Rio really likes for Agatha to take control, in a lot of ways. Her body language is the opposite of what Agatha is doing too.

Oh noes she's making herself so small now. She's like, intrigued and angry and happy and scared to see Rio. They're both being so tentative!! And she doesn't actually know who Rio is because she's under the damn spell, so her body language and feelings are pure instinct. They come from somewhere very very true and deep. (and LOL that mug says "get a clue")

Is this who you are now, Agatha? the intense but lonely detective? she's genuinely interested, because Rio investigates Agatha just as Agatha investigates everybody else. Rio simply cannot get enough of her. and she keeps talking with this gentle, warm, understated tone.

Gains personal space. Keeps staring and staring.

oh now we're leaning. they do this every scene they are together, they keep getting closer and closer even if they don't mean to, like magnets.

Agatha literally bolts to the door and tells her to leave. Rio's presence is so overwhelming in so many different and complicated ways, and she doesn't even understand why that is at the moment. Kathryn Hahn is playing this perfectly straight (no pun intended), there is genuine pain in her voice.

"Te veo", which is not "see you," but I see you, I'm always looking for you, I'm always watching. And I finally see you, after all this time.

Oh, honey.

I'm running out of space again, but I promise I'll continue this tomorrow. Thank you for all the notes you guys, I was not expecting so many! I'm doing this mostly to amuse myself, but it's nice to know that the brainrot is collective 🙃🙃🙃

go to the next entry

[citrineaura]

New Official Welcome Home Theory

The person Wally is talking to is from the Restoration Team, which the rest of the members seem to be against- the person who Wally is communicating with- is the black sheep of the team. You will see that in the hidden page where the passcode is needed. BSPJW is the password by the way.

That is also who Wally is referring to when he says in his new "prank call" audio "Keep working" because this person is the main one working to combine all the clues together while feeling left out by the rest of the Restoration Team.

This one is the apple of Wally's eye, which is why he says he loves them.

This person also seems to be experiencing some illusions, maybe they have sort of an unstable mental state, as you will see in the hidden page, they have spirals drawn on post cards, there are eyes, they're either dreaming or having illusions (caused by Wally?) of Wally sitting on the foot of their bed with a phone because he wants to communicate with them.

That's why all of the audios when you click each bug says "Answer" because Wally wants this person to answer his calls.

All of this is why I don't believe Wally is naive like we think he is. Maybe he was before his awakening, but his current self isn't at all. He's learned to code on computers, he's seemingly casting illusions as a way of communication, he's the only one that's aware his life is fictional which is why all of the audios (when you click on the bugs) ends with each character saying Wally's name in a distorted way.

-Because that's what his predicament is; distortion of life. Unreality if you will, like Clown tags each time he posts about Wally.

On that note, I'd like to end this observation with a small theory. Considering this ONE person from the RT is the one Wally is communicating with, I assume something is wrong with both the team AND Playfellow Workshop.

Wally and Home are crying out for help- for answers. None of them are the villain. I do believe Wally has been driven to slight insanity because of his situation, so he's questionable at best- but these two aren't the villains.

Playfellow Workshop is the problem and the Restoration Team (excluding the person Wally has chosen to talk with) doesn't exactly seem like a reliable source.

That's all I have for now.

9/27 edit: Part Two

9/27 edit: Part Three

[kerubimcrepin]

Liveblog: Wakfu Season 2 (episodes 13-16)

Episode 13 - The Night of the Thirsters

Proof Amalia and Joris are not close friends number 829342345: if she knew the alcohol he drinks and what he considers "a clean environment to live in" she'd get scared.

WoT twitter would kill Amalia.

I know it's more likely that both alcoholic and non-alcoholic bamboo milk exists, but the thought of everyone being a-ok with Yugo underage drinking makes me giggle for some reason. Ruel would fucking do that.

Are your villains 1. indestructible, 2. want to consume something that could theoretically fix them, 3. in the process, inflict a fate worse than death upon their victim, who 4. becomes one of them?

...Necromes were a missed opportunity. Shoulda called them Wakfu Thirsters instead.

Episode 14 - The Voice Thief

It's always sad to see the way the world has been devastated by Ogrest's Chaos.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...This says:

Her singing is so cute!

She is now fully bamboo milk-pilled. GOOD.

New Krosmoz music lore: We already know that vinyls and their players exist, as well as the fact that rock music exists (due to the fact that The Blues of a Hypermage (parody of the IRL song The Blues of a Buisinessman) exists).

Now we have the confirmation that metal bands are real.

Also, electric guitars are also real.

Mics are also real. (I am totally not noting all of this down because I want to write a "Joris, Kerubim, and Atcham go to karaoke" scene in one of my fics in the future, nuh-uh...)

Hummina hummina hummina bazooooooooing! eyes pop out AROOOOOOOOGA! jaw drops tongue rolls out WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF.

It's very rare to see, within the show, characters who differ from their usual class skin and hair colours, which is a shame. (I am 99% sure this is an iop due to his clothes and his hair pointing upwards)

Text behind Eva: rien ne sert de payer il faut en fuir / there is no point in paying, you have to run away

Text behind Amalia is too shielded to transcribe fully.

This is written in Brakmarian. It says:

This means that, metal music is stereotypically a Brakmarian form of music (big news: spoon found in kitchen)

I usually don't point this sort of stuff out but, man, this tavern is really well off. Not only is there a lot of food, there are also huge hot baths...

Also, once again, canalization and running water are real in this setting.

I choose to believe that this bubble thing is the Krosmoz equivalent of vaping because it's funny.

[blushing] Would!

Jpop is real in this setting, and someday, I will be able to prove to you, that Joris is a fan of it, using some proof besides "well ecaflips are kind of japanese-coded sometimes" and "it just makes sense."

Good rooms in taverns like these not only have hot baths but also fruit, candles, and drinks... [starts writing down "Joris, Kerubim and Atcham go to an expensive tavern and start talking about some convoluted topic, with vivid descriptions of delicious fruit-eating, how good the wine is, and how soft the bubbles in the bath are" in my fic self-indulgent scene ideas document. I can live my vacation fantasies vicariously through those three men]

Of course metal music from Brakmar is about the fact that the apocalypse caused inflation and that it's Good.

This says:

ourse

olle

m al

venu

Episode 15 - Wabbit Island

Hhh she is a very good artist.

[guy who is insane voice] This means that if I ever want to use the expression "canary in a coalmine" in a fic it'll be "tofu in a coalmine" instead.

The word Sayonara exists in Krosmoz which implies that some sort of fantasy Japanese is real. Big win.

Episode 16 - The Cursed Fountain

:(

While I usually talk a lot about character parallels between Yugo and Joris (these men who had to grow up far too fast will someday commit acts which no human being can be forgiven for in the name of goodness—-) there is a lot to be said about parallels betwen Eva and Joris.

They're both artistic, kind people who try to appear logic-driven (and sadly, they are both basically the wranglers/babysitters of their entire adventuring groups).

[animentality]

re: gortash and durge having such a good working relationship. i respect the toxic relationship grind too (and godspeed to all who partake in that durgetash flavour) but i feel like we just.. do not talk enough about how they were BEST friends. utterly and desperately in love with each other too of course, but god they also LIKED each other. admired each other! made up their own secret code to send each other notes! they were spending time together presumably just for fun for years before they even knew ketheric, for years before the dead three set the whole mind flayer thing in motion. when durge went missing, gortash didnt just lose his lover he lost his best friend too. his ONLY real friend, probably. all in one fell swoop. and that’s almost what breaks my heart the most about the whole situation.

(i wonder how long it took gortash to realise he’d fallen in love with his best friend. i wonder if that added any trepidation to it, what with the risk of destroying their friendship if durge doesn’t feel the same way.. i’m unwell)

see, i love toxic ships too, but durgetash is so special to me, because it's the inverse of toxic villain ships.

it's not just "oh they're villains who HATE EACH OTHER and FUCK and have a power imbalance/struggle that makes them compelling," although i do love that dynamic myself.

it's "we are the most evil people alive, who are incapable of feeling empathy...except, at the end of the day, we are still, somehow, human. we still NEEDED someone who could understand us. we killed and we tortured and we maimed, and somehow, in spite of it all, we still found kinship, camaraderie, and love, even if it was in the most wicked of places."

the perseverance of the human heart, in spite of all the brambles and thorns.

that's durgetash.

i don't think that they're a vanilla ship, or an edgy ship. i think they're both. i think they're neither.

you can read death and despair and tragedy in them, or you can read this oddly uplifting wholesomeness to them.

it doesn't matter. it's just a perfect ship, with so much potential.

i'm holding it in my hands like sand holds the waves.

[enixamyram]

Long Rant About Greek Retellings

This is a post I'm using to vent. Feel free to ignore it or not, I just need to get these thoughts out in the open.

Summary of my rant: It's dumb to hold the "crimes" of the original stories against retellings that change these things. And stop being an asshole to people who write/enjoy harmless retellings.

This comes about because TikTok's keep popping up on my FYP and they're genuinely making me want to bang my head against a wall.

The most common that I've seen is people bitching and moaning about the artist on Webtoons who is doing a retelling of Ganymede's story. These people are definitely the worst since I saw them bragging in the comments about how they are constantly tagging the artist (aka, harassing them!) in other videos about the original story and messaging them and just being bullies. Now this is just shitty in general because I'm pretty sure the artist has stated this will not be a romanticized version. But for the sake of my rant, let's pretend that it is. Let's pretend that someone is retelling the story of Zeus and Ganymede with a romantic focus.

Why is that so wrong? I keep bringing up Hades and Persephone because they are a perfect example of this being done multiple times. Both Persephone and Ganymede's stories are incredibly similar with them being kidnapped, held hostage and eventually settling in their new lives. Obviously there are many versions, but one of the versions I read had both of them coming to enjoy their new lives and being happy there. Now in our world, we would agree that's very Stokholm creepy coded but back when these were written it probably wasn't intended that way.

Now if someone decides they want to rewrite the story, fixing the toxic parts of the story (eg. having Persephone willingly go with Hades because she fell for him before he took her to the Underworld and having her willingly eating food in order to stay with him) and keeping the later romance... That's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. There are many retellings and reboots that try and "fix" things that didn't quite work in the original and I'm always in favor of that because it's interesting seeing another version of this updated.

So if someone wants to age up Ganymede and rewrite it in however they choose to write it, why is that wrong? People against it usually respond with "in the original...!" and my response to that is: This isn't the original! That's the whole point! If you genuinely can't let go of the original source, then I suggest you don't read/watch anything that retells it.

Another example I want to give is Calypso. I'll admit, I don't know her original story (I really want to look it up because I'm curious but as of writing this, I am ignorant to it) but since Epic has blown up, I've seen a lot of people talking about her. Especially during her song in the Vengence Saga and a bit of a debate has started over whether or not she's genuine or manipulative. Now whatever your feelings of her and her story/song, I just want to focus on one thing I saw, again on TikTok:

Someone said they hated people making Calypso's story a tragic one, that she is the villain and nothing will undo her S-A-ing Odysessus and - I'm literally quoting them here - "not even if you do a retelling where she didn't"...

Am I alone or is that the dumbest thing to say?

You can feel whatever you want against the "originals", but you cannot hold the original toxic traits against retellings, especially if they make a point of changing these things. That's ridiculously stupid. If you cannot handle this, then don't read/watch retellings because you don't actually get to dictate what story someone tells or how they tell it.

If you want an "accurate" (I use that term very loosely) story of Ganymede or Calypso, then bloody write it yourself. Don't give artist and creators shit because you don't like the choices they made.

One side note I wanna add: You cannot have a high horse against retellings unless you have somehow successfully managed to avoid the dozens and dozens of retellings that have existed all our lives. Just for a quick example, every Disney version of the Fairy Tale is a retelling of it that changes details to make it more romantic/fix little details like the ages of the princesses at the time.

I have my own personal opinions on certain stories. I'm not a fan of Hades and Persephone stories that demonize Demeter. I might make a post saying as such, but then I will move one. Because there's nothing wrong with a retelling, even if I don't personally find enjoyment in it. And giving others a hard time because they don't agree with you on this is just the height of arrogance.

[brandwhorestarscream]

I read the newest post on the cybermorph au and this. THIS IS THE SHIT I’M TALKING ABOUT! Bro Trion just LEFT the YOUNG MECH WHO GIVING BIRTH! Not gonna lie, if someone I loved left me during childbirth (not by choice but still) -I’ll straight up become a super villain. Fuck it. this is D-16’s canon event.

Love your work, hope you can continue with pregnant D-16 part 4 and the cybermorph au!

In Alpha Trion's defense, they know next to nothing about cybermorphs. As far as they know, chestbursters are always fatal (they're not, but we can get into that later). The best thing to do if you're faced with cybermorph eggs is to run. Don't try to be a hero, just put as much space between yourself and them as fast as you can. He made an executive decision to protect three vulnerable children from a grisly fate, in his mind: he's not the bad guy in this

But we can talk about that later: for now, poor D-16 all alone 🥺 When he wakes up he's having rapid ocontractions and the next egg is already on its way. Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but these eggs have been trapped inside for months and are huge compared to the usual morphling pods. He's all by himself in labor, and all he can do is strain and push and wrap his arms around himself. Pathetically attempting to hug himself, he rocks back and forth in a desperate attempt to self soothe, crying harder than he ever has as he delivers egg after egg after egg. Laying in a puddle of bloodied mud, he calls helplessly for Orion, for anyone to help him, but his voice echoes endlessly in the cave without answer

He has no idea where they've gone, he had passed out and was unconscious when Alpha Trion evacuated them all. He doesn't know what happened. Disoriented from pain and too weak from labor, once all five of the eggs are out he faints again. He's lost a lot of energon, and was already sick when they arrived. Tbh, the only reason he doesn't die is because of his morph code. Cybermorphs are damn near unkillable, and his body enters a form of suspended stasis in an attempt to regenerate and preserve his spark. At some point during the birth his whole body had transformed, so the frail, unmistakable form of an infant cybermorph queen lays comatose amongst the deceased Primes, five large ovomorphs nestled together nearby.

They could be there for hours, days, weeks, months, years. The queen will remain in a coma til his body can refuel, and the eggs will remain in stasis until an incubator becomes available

Thankfully though, neither will have to wait long 🤭 Alpha Trion has evacuated the younglings elsewhere, and tells them what he knows--about Sentinel, about the quintessons, and about D-16. That he's dangerous, all of morphkind are dangerous, and they absolutely cannot go back for him. They would all die. "I am sorry, little ones. I know this is distressing."

Knowing they're can't outrun the old mech, nor escape the strength of his hold, Orion waits until nightfall and they're all asleep to run away from their camp.

...followed by Elita, cuz she knew his dumb ass was gonna try something.

........followed by B-127, because he wants to be included.

They hike back toward the cave (they still have the map, after all). Bee asks if they're sure this is a good idea, cuz, y'know, Alpha Trion said they'd die.

"I don't care what he thinks," is Orion's response, frowning. "Dee's not a monster. He'd never hurt us. And right now he's hurt, and he's sick, and he needs us!"

It takes them quite awhile to get there, but it's still dark when they duck into the original cave entrance. The stars are beginning to slowly blink, promising the delivery of morning sun shortly, when they make their way inside. It's still incredibly dark in the Grave, and even with their mining headlights it's hard to see.

"DEE!" Orion cups both hands around his mouth to yell as they stumble through the darkness. "Dee, we're back! Are you alright? Where are you?"

He can't remember exactly where Alpha Trion had laid him down. The cavern is spacious and they spread out, trying to find their friend, calling his name repeatedly.

Suddenly, something splashes under Orion's pede, cold and slimy. He backpadels with a yelp of surprise, kicking his leg in disgust. "Ok, gross, I stepped in something-"

He hears a soft crinkling noise and looks down, scanning the ground with his little beam of light. There's... a weird oblong thing on the ground. Silver in color, and sitting in a puddle of what looks like crusted mud, dirt wetted with energon. The round silver thing looks rubbery, outside smooth and springy, and the top is blooming open like the petals of the weird invasive plants they'd by now become well acquainted with.

"Huh..." He kneels down to investigate. "Hey, guys, were these here before?"

Elita's voice echoes from the darkness, somewhere to his left. "Was what here before?"

"These rubber things!" He reaches out and pokes it with one finger. It jiggles, and pulses softly with pink light, almost reminiscent of the energon veins. Another crinkling noise, and he glances to his right. There's another one, nearly identical to the first, opening up it's petals. He glances upwards, and sure enough, there's a tiny bit of light beginning to bleed in from the cave ceiling. They must be reacting to the sunlight! "I think they're more of the 'nature' stuff-"

There's a flash of movement from the corner of his optic and something flies out at him from the darkness with terrifying precision. It impacts his face, his denta, with such force it sends him crashing backwards onto the cave floor, screaming. Its too dark, he can't see, there's something cold and wet and slimy attacking him. He tries to claw at it but it's slippery, and he gags as the long, wet little creature forces it's way into his mouth and dives down his throat. He gags grandly around it, whole body flailing as he tries to pull it out, but its too fast, slithering with speed like a darting pipe-viper down his intake. He feels it slither over his glossa and the tip of it's long, wormy body disappears past his lips--and then everything goes black.

...

Press F for Orion 😔 cybermorph survival guide rule #1: never poke at alien eggs!

For anyone wondering why they're not facehuggers, its because these are morphling eggs. Morphlings are cybermorph sparklings: they can only be created through sexual fertilization of an egg, and hatch from their eggs in larva stage. They still require an incubator, and while inside, they undergo rapid metamorphosis then pop out as actual sparklings later. Drone eggs, which are asexually produced by a queen, follow the more traditional xenomorph life cycle, being deposited by a facehugger parasite and then chestbursting as the traditional worm-like larva. Hope you enjoyed

[the-blorbo-project]

Blorbos at Conference!

Long time, no update, but this project is moving forward! This weekend, we're at a conference hosted by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, or SCMS, presenting as part of a panel devoted to fan studies.

Why do panels matter?

First and foremost, it's a way to get research before a bunch of other researchers while it's still in progress. This helps catch poorly formed ideas, surface new good ideas, and share what's coming up with the fan studies research communities. It's also good for our humble PhD student CVs!

The Findings

Of course, the most interesting part is what, actually, we're presenting, AKA the findings! They're a work in progress, and the hardest part is the coding (talked about here). Therefore, I'm focusing on what I could do deep analysis on relatively quickly. (note: these images don't have image IDs because I summarize them below, but they're graphic representations of what I talk about in the text).

The majority of survey respondents were young: about 39% were 18-22 and 32% were 23-27. A further 17% were 28-32, about 8% were 33-37, and then it got progressively smaller from there. Shoutout to all 3 respondents who were 63 and over! So glad you're here.

In terms of social media usage, most people used tumblr - unsurprising, since that's where we got our most traction for the survey. Discord was the second most likely. Part of a later analysis will be seeing if these terms are more likely to be used by different age groups or on different platforms, which is cool.

Almost everyone surveyed had heard of these terms. Blorbo was the most-used and meow meow was least used, but very, very few respondents had not heard of these terms at all. This may be in part due to how we used them in our survey recruitment, since we did want to find people who knew what these terms were so that they could define them for us.

These numbers slope slightly down because something broke when we imported them into NVivo (a coding software) and frankly I don't understand it well even when it actually works, let alone when it breaks.

Here's a little visual of the terms you suggested for characters. Unfortunately, NVivo crashes every time I try to exclude words from this word bubble (like "term"), so it's not as clear as I'd like it to be, but there are some interesting ones. Particularly interesting are the cluster of gendered terms; husbando and waifu, malewife, sexyman, boy, girl, etc. I want to do some analysis of this because it parallels some preliminary coding results. Y'all also really find your blorbos scrunkly/skrunkly/scrungly, huh?

I also want to figure out how to tell the visualizer that "glup" and "shitto" go together, because "shitto" all by its lonesome over there is cracking me up.

Qualitative Findings

Like I said, the coding is...so far from done. That's mostly due to some Ao3-author levels of life disruption from both of us. BUT! I can tentatively say a couple of things:

There are notably clear definitions about these terms. We weren't sure if there even really was a definition of "blorbo", but it clearly refers to a very specific kind of one-true-character. By contrast, comfort characters are associated with experiencing positive emotions, and meow meows are more likely to be evil or morally grey (but you love them though).

Unsurprisingly, your characters make you happy. We're distinguishing between general positive emotions, attachment, relatability, and one-true-character belovedness. Also sexiness, but that (surprisingly) hasn't come up that much.

There are a couple of ways in which darker themes come up. Villains remain beloved, but a recurring theme is also using tragedy or trauma in fiction as catharsis.

Finally, there's a lot of playful and tactile language. "Rotating him in my mind" really is that common.

Additionally, I'm really interested in the role of gender. Many of you referred to your blorbos/meow meows as your guys, with some of you clarifying that it was "my little guy (gender neutral)". Others noted that most characters you'd seen people describe as blorbos or meow meows were men/masc. This did not come up for comfort characters. Analysis of the characters you consider exemplars of each definition will help flesh out this analysis.

Still to Come

SO much. Who are these characters? Is a specific character exclusively a meow meow, or are they also a common comfort character? What types of positive emotion are associated with each type? Are these character types or do they speak to a fan's individual (or a fandom's communal) relationship with a character?

Additionally - we didn't ask about neurodivergence, but many of y'all referenced it. I'm looking forward to exploring that as well.

That's all for now! I present this live in about two hours. If you're somehow following this account AND at SCMS, please come by!

[bookishfeylin]

I don't want to accuse Sjm of Zionism, there is simply not enough evidence and it is a severe accusation because of the state of Palestine right now and can very easily be blatantly Anti-Semitic. But I do want to say with her track record of being racist, misogynistic, homophobic and with a tendency to write her white main characters as conquerers and colonizers (Its not confirmed but we can all get a picture of Feysand being primed for High King and Queen) it does rub me wrong.

Not to mention a lot of ToG has that same undertone. There's a conversation between Aelin and Rowan where they talk about conquering more lands after taking back Terrasen and she says that if she gets “bored of being queen she will conquer and gain more land to be empress". And once again I'm not saying this to accuse her of Zionism, but it doesn't feel right and Sjm is known to write in a way that mirrors her personal beliefs. I say this with only regards to her actions (through her writing) and not her beliefs as a Jewish woman.

There's nothing wrong with visiting her family in Israel, or even having a grandmother that still volunteers at a military base because that's her grandmother's actions and not hers. There is something wrong with the fact that she wrote Aelin as someone who's "taking back" her country and then contemplating conquering more. And Feysand possibly being High King and Queen when they treat PoC coded Illyrians like they're savages and you don't see them outside of the Mountains unless they're dying for Rhysand on the battlefield. It just all feels very colonizer to me.

I hope I'm not coming off as rude, the issue of Palestine is very close to my heart and reading ToG and Acotar and seeing some things mirrored in them has always kind of remained unsettled with me and I would love to hear your opinion on it.

Hi anon! Nope, you’re not rude! :) So a big disclaimer: I am a Black American. Any analysis I can offer on this is through that lens, fortunately or unfortunately. That being said:

While the pro-imperialist, pro-colonialist, and pro-"both sides" themes PERMEATING Sarah's writing do likely point to her beliefs or biases (even unconscious, internalized ones she has), so do the artistic works of many white creators, often in way worse and way more blatant ways than Sarah's books. How many of tumblr's beloved “children’s shows” feature the imperialist/colonizers/genocide committing villains be shown as redeemable, as sympathetic, and worthy of redemption while simultaneously declaring any victims of colonization/genocide who have the audacity to fight back as the REAL bad guy, or just as bad as their oppressors? And not just children’s shows—so much media in general has this same theme, where the colonizers are more redeemable than the colonized, often including a cautionary tale warning oppressed peoples to “be careful” in our liberation efforts so we don’t become “just as bad.” (See my on media tag for a lot of discussion on this, among other things.) Our media—our books, our television shows, our movies— are, unfortunately, FULL of colonizer/imperialist apologia. Full of some “they’re human too!” nonsense that I am TIRED of having shoved down my throat. My point is, Sarah's writing is more likely due to her being a white woman in western society rather than any support of what’s happening to Palestinians. She’s one white creator among many, and merely exists as a symptom of a greater problem in our society and white fans who argue that pointing this out and critiquing this disgusting trope of “oppressor is redeemable and sympathetic and HUMAN but oppressed aren’t” in their favorite cartoon is being a ~toxic anti puritan~ make this worse. So does her writing point to her own biases about the nature of oppression? Yes, but in a way that appears to be no different than most media made by white people in the West, and unrelated to her thoughts on the Israel-Palestine conflict specifically. But yes please be unsettled because these ideas are ALARMINGLY present in media.

[evelhak]

Old art #21: Four Colours

I love talking about this old project. We drew this exchange impro comic with the childhood friend my last repostober post was about, when we were 12-16. We sent the pages to each other with our letters, and that was our way of continuing to do art together after I moved away from my birth town.

Basically, it's our version of W.i.t.c.h. and Winx club type of magical girl stories. Except... we really didn't give a crap about the magic part of the story. We drew so much about the characters' ordinary life that it's hilarious how every once in a while it's like a side note... "Oh yeah, I guess we should do something about our magical mission, huh. Anyway, I'm really stressed about the math test tomorrow." Lol. I guess in that sense it resembles h2o more than it does those other series? They're mostly just living life. Except they don't really get into funny incidents because of their magical secret. It's really mostly just school, friendships, family, dating, for some reason a singing contest two of the characters win and become famous (LOL exactly what 12-year-olds would come up with), with some resemblance of a plot sometimes.

Yes, the comic's name was really just "Four Colours" and yes, the characters were colour-coded and their colour was in their name. They had colour related powers and with absolutely ridiculously over-dramatic names, like, seriously, I can't even say them, even now that I'm mostly endeared by the stuff I wrote as I kid. (My dear KnB's got nothing on these 12-year-olds. It was that bad.)

The magic plot was basically that there was this random village somewhere(?), where people were dying because of some magical disease and these four girls were chosen to climb a magical mountain and unite their colours at the top of it, and that's how the village would be saved. Sounds completely ridiculous, but when I think about it, I guess it's not completely uncreative from kids that age. (But the chosen ones sure let the village suffer for a long time.)

Obviously, as we grew, we just ditched the most ridiculous stuff, and some parts of the end of the story when we were 15-16 aren't completely horrible.

The story was full of generic and unexplained villains, weird anatomy, for some reason it always started raining and someone pointed it out for no reason, there was a character who was a real dramatic romanticised curse magnet, another whose breakup with a guy she'd only known for a few months haunted her for more than half of the 500-page story, another who was co-dependent on the dramatic curse magnet and made everything about her, and the one who both me and my friend had apparently decided was the least interesting character because she did practically nothing.

But these are the stories that make you grow into a writer, you know? And I still love these characters. I have plans to rewrite their story in a completely different way that brings out those interesting personalities that had to suffer from this horrible story.

And like I said, some of it is not that bad, and is interesting to me. Like, there's this character who sees everything magical that happens to them through a religious lens, and that is neither confirmed nor debunked at any point in the story, and none of the others ever argue about it with her even though they clearly don't see it that way, they never even say anything like "oh well, that's her", because that's just so her, that no one has to even mention it. It's just her way of seeing the world, and she never really pushes it onto others either. I like that. And there are some fairly interesting psychological consequences some characters suffer from because of their powers, which is something I always want to see in stories, and also is pretty clear unintentional exploration of neurodiversity from me when I didn't know anything about it. Some powers are also clear unintentional explorations of trauma.

I also experienced some of the first insane flow states with this story. One time I stayed up all night and drew 40 pages in that one sitting.

Anyway, this is just another story that will never leave me and probably explains part of my taste for writing about the everyday lives of extraordinary people.

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure (Manga) - Vol. 1

This is the manga (or manhua) adaptation of the original Digimon Adventure anime. I got my copy from the library and you can borrow it for free on Archive.org!

Manga adaptations of anime are typically cheap money grabs that just copy-paste from the anime, removing some of the soul of the original along the way. As such, I'm not expecting much from this.

Notes:

Ch. 1

-You can almost always tell when a manga isn't drawn by a Japanese artist, it's just a certain vibe (I know this is technically a manhua). That being said, the art is competent enough. Yuen Wong seems to struggle most when it comes to faces. A lot of the faces look really janky and off model for both the digimon and the digi-destined. The only other thing that's kind of off is that the text boxes are very heavily lined and take up a lot more space than I'm used to.

-When Sora is drawn in chibi-mode she has the straps of her hat up like a rabbit. At first the silhouette was so unfamiliar that I had no idea who it was lol.

-So they covered two episodes in one chapter (up until the Shellmon battle). Let's see if the pace stays that way...

Ch. 2

-This definitely has a similar vibe to most manga adapted from anime that I've read. I wonder if it will diverge from the original material at any point, too soon to judge.

-Tai says to Agumon "I'll do anything but a teeth buffing" and I have nooo idea what that means? (Is he saying "don't eat me?") Also in chapter one Izzy said "baby blue, how emasculating!" when talking about the digivice. I don't think Koushiro would ever say that tbh. I feel like spotting these weird dialogue choices is going to be the most entertaining part about reading this.

Ch. 3

-I guess we're now going at a pace of one episode per chapter, which is fine. Somehow the content still seems a little condensed with a lot of the emotional beats cut out. I feel like the setting changes every two seconds which is giving me whiplash.

-Some weird quirks: the digi-destined call their digimon by their rookie names, even when they're in champion form. Also, the artist really really likes drawing smiley faces as stand-ins for the actual characters. That's like a step below chibification lol

-I think manga like this is perfect for if you wanted to watch Digimon Adventure 02, but you didn't want to catch up on a 50+ episode anime. It's a lot faster to read than to watch. (Although probably not as satisfying overall).

Ch. 4

-More cheesy dialogue. Izzy says "don't mess with an elite hacker" to Tai lol. Koushiro is way more likeable in the original Japanese because localizations loved to make nerds insufferable in the 90s.

-It's funny, I've never thought of Tentomon as robot-like, but in this chapter he said his parts were "short circuiting" and I was like "oh yeahhh...I guess he does have metallic features"

-Did we really need that close-up crotch shot of Andromon?

-You would think that the plot point of there being editable code laying around in random areas of the digital world would have come up again, but I can't remember another time it was really used to the kids' advantage.

Ch. 5

-This panel made me laugh:

(something about this phrasing and the expressionless chibis is so funny).

-And then Izzy never manually triggered a digivolution again...for some reason? (I feel like this was definitely explained in the anime, but I can't remember what they said).

-They didn't censor the poop this time! As usual, you can get away with more in print than you can on the screen B)

-They confirm that you can repel Numemon with sunlight...and then immediately the kids get attacked by more Numemon in broad daylight. Quickest continuity error ever!

-Another chuckle worthy moment:

Ch. 6

-Okay, but this one had me die laughing. Just a really good dad joke:

-Going from Adventure 02 back to the early Adventure days the stakes really do feel lower. No existential conundrums or human/humanoid villains to contend with. Just rampaging digis that can be easily cured.

Ch. 7

-Maybe it's just a translation thing, but sometimes the digimon act like there's one of each digimon species. Like Gomamon says "Unimon's a nice guy!" as if there's one Unimon in the world. Pretty confusing for kids. I wish mon series would just use names (they do sometimes, but it's not the status quo).

Yep, that was pretty generic. I wish they had thrown some more personality in there to make this a unique experience. I would have loved to read some final thoughts from the mangaka or to have gotten an omake of some sort. Ohhh welll...

[julianobungus]

Could you talk about which are your absolute favorite TOH ships and why you like them? I find your takes very interesting and it's so cool that you ship so many rare pairs!

That I can do! Thanks a bunch~! I just enjoy coming up with and seeing different dynamics, and some stick more than others or just appeal to me personally.

Luzador (Luz/Alador): I like this one for a couple reasons. Firstly and superficially, I think they look hot together (y'know, big burly man and lithe petite woman), so they have nice physical chemistry. Secondly, I feel like they have pretty similar/convergent personalities, both being socially-handicapped nerds who are considered deviant and who stand out in some way. I feel like they'd bond over that. I also feel like they'd have a fair bit of shared pain as well - with Luz being ostracised for being 'weird', as well as losing her father, and Alador being emotionally abused by Odalia and feeling guilt for messing up as a father because of her.

Huntleb(Hunter/Caleb): This one may be a little out of left field, but it appeals to me too. I've been seeing a few artworks and talk of it, so that's more or less swayed me hehe. To me, Hunter and Caleb are dadson/selfcest coded, bringing in the best of both worlds and being all the spicier for it. I feel like they'd get along well, with Caleb feeling a sense of duty to protect this poor, abused young man, and Hunter projecting onto him as the closest thing he has to a father figure. Couple that with the fact that Hunter doesn't know how to healthily process and disentangle romantic and familial feelings, and how Caleb has been repressed sexually because of his religious upbringing, and you have two young men giving in to their urges.

BumpEda (Bump/Eda): Okay, so hear me out. These two were already acquaintances in canon and actually got along quite well (to a degree at least, hehe). I'd imagine that Eda confided in Bump about the curse and what was going on with her family life, so I feel like he would have been a good confidante. A good reason for strong feelings to develop. And he even kept the Owl House's location a secret! Now that they're both adults, I'd imagine they have more time and confidence to explore the feelings they have toward one another, with what was once platonic friendship becoming something romantic~

We can't forget Lunter, which is definitely up here as one of my favourites. Even in canon they get along so well! I swear to God, if Amity was out of the picture they'd get together and it'd probably work! There's also the themes and symbolism behind it - the parallels to Caleb and Evelyn for example. It's all so juicy.

Beluz makes me pretty happy too. I'm a sucker for hero/villain ships just because of an 'opposites attract' type deal. Philip/Belos is devoted to Luz, and she needs a big strong man who probably understands her better than *anyone else*, or is at least willing to understand her (same vein as Luzador then, hehe).

Guslow (Gus/Willow): So sweet it makes me sick. Classic childhood friends blossoming into sweethearts. There's only a two-year age gap so I don't really know why this is considered proship (if it even is?). They just slot so neatly together: taller buff GF and short meek boyfriend - i.e., that size difference we all crave.

Camiluz (Camila/Luz): If there was another person beside Alador, Philip, and Hunter who would truly understand Luz, it's her own mother. Despite her mistakes, Camila thinks the world of her Mija and wants her to be as comfy as possible. I like to imagine that they discovered their feelings for each other after Luz came home, and have both just accepted the fact that they're now mother-daughter-girlfriends! Despite how much happier they are together, they feel a little bit of shame because they wonder what Manny would have thought of it.

Belunter (Luz/Hunter/Belos): Listen. Belos loves these two so much. They both remind him of Caleb and one of them is a beautiful human girl. He cherishes them even if they don't feel the same way. While you can definitely ponder the darker/dead-dove aspects this would all imply (of which there are aplenty), I'm a sensitive wee soul so I tend to focus on the soft stuff (with only some aspects of DD). I'm still formulating in my head the proper dynamics to fit these three, but trust me: they have all the more reason to love each other. Hunter was raised by him and has an unhealthy view on relationships; Luz has been ostracised for much of her life and is desperate for the company of those who understand and sympathise with her, and Belos? He's obsessed with them.

Lastly, I've recently been thinking of Amity/Edric. Writing those headcanons for them earlier (thanks to the anon who suggested them, btw) has made me a little gaga over them. It's a new and interesting idea/dynamic to me~!

[theheartbrokensystem]

Superhero Interviews (long post)

I spent days writing out these interviews, please reblog.

Blazing Ember (Amber)

(The camera is focused on Blazing Ember slouching on a couch.)

Fred Hillsdale: Blazing Ember, what's it like being the leader?

Amber: It's great, it can be a bit of a hassle though. If you're wondering how; I'll list them for you mate.

Amber: First off, my mates can get into disagreements with me or each other. Some plans can cause us to be split on decisions, one of us could be unavailable; due to sickness or family stuff.

Fred Hillsdale: I see, as a leader, what do you think qualifies for someone to be a leader?

Amber: Well, show respect for ya other mates. Communication is key when it comes to working together. Ya gotta motivate your mates when they're down; or they won't have the strength to fight on. Lastly, be flexible, as there will be times where you gotta think outside ya thinking zone.

Fred Hillsdale: Wow, you really know how to be a leader!

Amber: Thanks.

Fred Hillsdale: Blazing Ember, your thoughts on the paparazzi?

Amber: (Lets out a groan, then shakes their head disapprovingly.) Do I have ya permission to swear, mate?

Fred Hillsdale: You may, but, it'll be edited and censored when these go up on live TV.

Amber: Thanks, I think they're a bunch of drongos that need to fuck off! Like stop shoving cameras in people's faces, get a damn hobby! (Amber takes a few deep breaths, then looks back at the camera.)

Amber: Sorry, got frustrated.

Fred Hillsdale: Your frustration is understandable.

Amber: Hm.

Fred Hillsdale: Your opinion on Chef Nefarious?

Amber: Nefarious may be a troublemaker, but he has a good heart; One time, Instead of fighting and putting em' in the slammer, we went to the park and talked it out.

Fred Hillsdale: Huh. That's oddly wholesome.

Amber: Yep.

Fred Hillsdale: The people always wondered how you're so laidback during crimefighting, what's your secret?

Amber: No secrets here, I just am.

Fred Hillsdale: I see! Now, What's next for Blazing Ember?

Amber: Me and my mates gotta stop a heist; then stop a giant lizard from destroying downtown... then we all go home, and organize my trophy collection.

Fred Hillsdale: Anything else?

Amber: Me and my mates are dedicated to keeping our world safe, from criminals and villains alike.

(The camera zooms out then fades to black.)

------

Cipher Streak (Joey)

(The camera is focused on Cipher Streak sitting on a couch.)

Fred Hillsdale: Cipher Streak, how do you have so much knowledge about technology?

Joey: Well, I'm a tech geek! So I LOVE learning about it! I'm currently taking programming classes, we're learning how make games! Besides that, I do a bit of hacking though.

Joey: Before anyone says anything- not for bad reasons! I can make pop ups on the screen, hijack, and override severs! (Joey nervously grins, while making a waving gesture with both of his hands, amplifying said nervousness.)

Joey: I do this to help others, not harm them! (He awkwardly chuckles after.)

Fred Hillsdale: That's a relief, besides that; people say you're always seen with Blazing Ember, is there a reason behind that?

Joey: We're best friends who stick together! I will admit, I don't like being alone; I cling to them because they make me feel safe. (Joey then lowers his voice to a whisper.) Don't tell them I said that!

Fred Hillsdale: (Whispers back to Joey.) We won't.

Fred Hillsdale: When it comes to names, what's the meaning behind yours?

Joey: I'd be happy to explain! The "cipher" part of my name means "a secret or disguised way of writing; a code"; while the "streak" part means "to move swiftly". But, the word has multiple meanings too!

Fred Hillsdale: That's intriguing! When it comes to crimefighting, as your role as a planner; do your worry about your plans failing or not working out the way you wanted?

Joey, now sounding dejected: Yes. I, uh, worry about that a lot... (Joey awkwardly fidgets with his tie.)

Fred Hillsdale: I see, what's next for Cipher Streak?

Joey: I have to stop a heist, fix a bunch of people's computers; then go home and do my chores, and continue to code my game.

Fred Hillsdale: Anything else?

Joey: Would you like to see me build a race car?

Fred Hillsdale: Why not?

(The camera zooms out and fades to black.)

------

Saccharine Sweets (Patty)

(The camera is focused on Saccharine Sweets sitting on the couch, while the sound of liquid is being poured from a teapot into a cup.)

Fred Hillsdale: Thank you for the tea, Saccharine Sweets.

Patty: You're welcome, sir.

Fred Hillsdale: Saccharine Sweets, people are wondering how you make your pastries taste so good; your secret?

Patty: Can't tell you, sorry. It's a family thing.

Fred Hillsdale: That's understandable.

Fred Hillsdale: When it comes to fashion, what's your style like?

Patty: I dress in a variety of styles, I'll share some examples! I like Goth, Y2K, Lolita, Decora, Emo, and Scene.

Fred Hillsdale: You must be one of those trendsetters, eh?

Patty: No sir, I don't follow trends. I like dressing up because it makes me happy!

Fred Hillsdale: Ah, I see. When it comes to crimefighting; where does the emotional support come into play?

Patty: Well sir, whenever my friends are overwhelmed; I give them a BIG hug (Patty makes a hugging motion with her hands.), give them a snack, and tell them "take a break, I'll cover for you until you feel better".

Patty: There will be times where I'm overwhelmed too, cause of that I become emotionally unavailable. So I won't respond to my friends needs; cause I'm in shut down mode until I am ready to continue crimefighting.

Fred Hillsdale: Huh. Being overwhelmed while trying to fight crime would be draining, isn't it?

Patty: It is, sir.

Fred Hillsdale: You have my sympathy, Saccharine Sweets. That goes towards your other teammates too.

Patty: Thank you, sir.

Fred Hillsdale: When it comes to crimefighting, do you have a favorite ability you like to use?

Patty: Well, I love using my "Rainbow manipulation"! I love creating rainbows, they're so pretty! I LOVE how they paint the sky with their colors!

Fred Hillsdale: Rainbows sure are a beauty, aren't they?

Patty: They sure are, sir!

Fred Hillsdale: Now, what's next for Saccharine Sweets?

Patty: Me and my friends do more crimefighting, then I have to bake a cake for a friend's party; go shopping with my friends, and do my homework!

Fred Hillsdale: Anything else?

Patty: Stay fabulous everyone!

(The camera zooms out and fades to black.)

------

Sheriff Justice (Dustin)

(The camera is focused on Sheriff Justice lounging on a couch.)

Fred Hillsdale: Sheriff Justice, what do you enjoy about being a superhero?

Dustin: Welp partner, I like usin' maah fists, a lot!

Fred Hillsdale: Any villains you like using them on?

Dustin: There's that Nefarious fella! Ooo, wait- I especially love using 'em on his pizza minions! I like how thay pull apart with each punch; cause thay're made of cheese, and well, cheese is just daisy(good)!

Dustin: But lately, maah favorite villain to throwdown with... would be that Xen alien fella! He puts up fair fights and doesn't play dirty, as an opponent; he's quaht(quite) the civil fella! (He lets out a hearty chuckle.)

Fred Hillsdale: You must enjoy crimefighting then, huh?

Dustin: I sure do, partner!

Fred Hillsdale: As the "muscle" of the group, do you worry about injuries?

Dustin: I try not to worry about injuries much, but if it starts ta bother me; I have to sit it out until I fully recover. Or ma partners will scold me, cause in the end; they care about me, and don't like it when ah'm (I'm) careless with myself during throwdowns.

Fred Hillsdale: It's good to have people care about you though, right?

Dustin: Yea, it's nice.

Fred Hillsdale: Despite your tough demeanor, do you have your moments of vulnerability?

Dustin: I do, there's nothin' wrong with that. Bein' vulnerable is a experience we all deal with.

Fred Hillsdale: Sheriff Justice, besides crimefighting; what else do you like doing as a superhero?

Dustin: I do like savin' the day, keepin' the folks safe is maah main priority!

Fred Hillsdale: Safety is important after all.

Dustin: Damn right!

Fred Hillsdale: There's a rumor about you going around saying that you like someone romantically, any truth to said rumor?

Dustin: I ain't interested in nobody right now, Ah'm (I'm) only focused on keepin' the world safe, that's all I'll say.

Fred Hillsdale: Alright, we'll tell the news outlets to respect your privacy. Now, when it comes to being reckless; do you worry about hurting your teammates?

Dustin: I do... but I'll let ya on a lil' secret, neither does Cipher Streak. Cause when y'all see him do that reckless stuff too; that's me wearin' a red wig!

Joey, out of camera's view: Hey! You take that back!

Dustin: (He lets out a snarky laugh.) I'm only tellin' the truth, partner!

Joey, out of camera's view: Yeah, whatever you say cowboy!

Fred Hillsdale: I-

Joey, out of camera's view: I'm sorry- please continue talking with my teammate!

Fred Hillsdale: It's all good! But, I now see why news outlets consider you two to be "friendly rivals".

Dustin: (Laughs again) I guess we are! Aren't we, Cipher?

Joey, out of camera's view: (Laughing with Dustin.) Yeah!

Fred Hillsdale: What's next for Sheriff Justice?

Dustin: The usual crimefighin', deliver some stuff; cook somethin' with a friend, train with another friend, and finish my chores.

Fred Hillsdale: Anything else?

Dustin: Wanna see me and Cipher Streak battle it out?

Fred Hillsdale: I'll pass on that.

(The camera zooms out and fades to black.)

------

Drowsy Mellow (Tristan)

(The camera is focused on Drowsy Mellow snuggling his pillow, while sitting on a couch.)

Fred Hillsdale: Drowsy Mellow, what's it like being the "Voice of reason" in your group?

Tristan: It's frustrating cause sometimes they won't listen to me, but I do understand... that there'll be times where I have to raise my voice; and, uh, I don't like doing that very much...

Fred Hillsdale: I suppose you feel bad when you have to resort to that?

Tristan: I do, I really do.

Fred Hillsdale: Hm. Despite being seen as the "shy" one, do you have your moments of bravery?

Tristan: I do, mind if I tell you some of my moments?

Fred Hillsdale: Of course, take your time.

Tristan: Where I do start... (Tristan goes silent for a moment; deep in thought, then bolts up excitedly.) Oh! I got a moment I'd like to share!

Tristan: One time, there was this giant mechanical snake destroying 'Auburn Shine Bridge'; my friends were helping civilians evacuate the scene, Saccharine Sweets and I were handling the snake.

Tristan: While Saccharine Sweets distracted the snake, I built up the courage to, uh, how do I say this? Charged into the snake so hard that it's chest ruptured; After that, Saccharine Sweets and I ripped it's head off.

Patty, out of camera's view: I can confirm that.

Fred Hillsdale: I'm... speechless.

Patty, out of camera's view: We figured.

Fred Hillsdale: Drowsy Mellow, what do you have to say to those who say you're not as strong as your teammates?

Tristan, now irked: I'm tough and just as strong as them! I'll beat up any villain right now! I'll do it!

Patty, out of camera's view: Drowsy, calm yourself; they're saying this to anger you.

Tristan, now relented: (Tristan scoffs) That's what they all say.

Fred Hillsdale: When it comes to your "Lunakinetic combat"; how do you exactly get your powers from the moon, if you fight mostly during the day?

Tristan: Come to think of it... how do I get my powers from the moon, if I mostly fight during the day? Maybe, the moon goddess 'Selene' is lending me some of her strength.

Fred Hillsdale: How intriguing.

Fred Hillsdale: When it comes to weapons, you and your teammates each have a weapon that symbolizes you. Why your weapon is a pillow; what does it say about you?

Tristan: I just like pillows, nothing more to that.

Fred Hillsdale: Oh, I see.

Fred Hillsdale: On the topic of pillows, why is your weapon a combonation of a pillow boomerang exactly?

Tristan: You know how both of them are throwable, yeah? My boomerang can be used both offensively and defensively; the same way a pillow would, well, when it comes to pillow fights. Would you like to see an example?

Fred Hillsdale: Of course.

Tristan: Okay, here we go. Why don't you throw something small to start us off?

[Fred throws an apple into the air, Tristan immediately throws his boomerang; the apple is then caught by said boomerang, as it descends, Tristan manages to catch it.]

Tristan: Got it! (He does a little fist pump before taking off the apple from one of the boomerang's blades, sits back down on the couch; then takes a bite out of the apple.)

Fred Hillsdale: That was incredible! Now, What's next for Drowsy Mellow?

Tristan: (Still chewing pieces of apple, but swallows them to answer Fred's question.) Have to stop a two headed griffon from destroying another town, go home, finish chores, and hang out with my friends.

Fred Hillsdale: Anything else?

Tristan: Right after I finish this apple, would you like to hear me ramble about constellations?

Fred Hillsdale: Sure.

(The camera zooms out and fades to black.)

------

Harmony Sage (Serenity)

(The camera is focused on Harmony Sage humming to herself, while sitting on a couch; in the process of tuning her guitar.)

Fred Hillsdale: Harmony Sage, being the peackeeper of your group; what's it like?

Serenity: Like a mixed bag of candy, it can be either sweet or sour!

Fred Hillsdale: Peace doesn't always work in our favor. Has there ever been situations where peace isn't working out, so you had to resort to serious measures?

Serenity: I have, one time my friends and I were fighting some five headed goopy monster in Glistensville, I think? Cipher Streak, Sheriff Justice, and Saccharine Sweets were arguing about how we should take out said monster; the arguing got bad to the point where I had to give each of them the good ol' "Disharmony stare".

Fred Hillsdale: What is the "Disharmony stare"?

Serenity: To put it short. Grip a person by the shoulders, look at them until they look away.

Fred Hillsdale: I'm guessing that passive aggresive stare gave them the "get yourself together right now" feeling, eh?

Serenity: Yep!

Fred Hillsdale: Does the stare always work?

Serenity: Depends on who it is.

Fred Hillsdale: When it comes to crimefighting, is there a reason why you combine dancing with combat?

Serenity: It's fun, plus I get to show off my dance skills! I mainly do ballet if you're curious!

Fred Hillsdale: Ballet, huh. Besides that, what other types of dance do you incorporate into combat?

Serenity: Besides ballet; I also can do Bolero, Quickstep, Salsa, and Swing! It's fun to combine abilities with my friends while we dance together!

Fred Hillsdale: When it comes to dance combat; who's your to go partner?

Serenity: Saccharine Sweets, she's my go to dancer! We go together like PB&J sandwiches!

Fred Hillsdale: That's nice. The people want to know what's your favorite genre of music?

Serenity: I have a LOT favorite genres, but, I think I'll have to go with "Bubblegum pop"! It always gets me energized!

Fred Hillsdale: Interesting, my favorite genre is blues.

Serenity: Blues is pretty good too!

Fred Hillsdale: On the topic of crimefighting again, how do you incorporate music into combat?

Serenity: With my guitar, my voice, or both, of course! When the guitar is used during crimefighting; I use sound waves to knock enemies down. Whenever I use my voice, I either use "Sonic scream" or "Voice masking" to distract enemies.

Fred Hillsdale: I heard that your "Sonic scream" is fatal, how fatal is it exactly?

Serenity: Just as long as you aren't in my vicinity, you'll be fine. For the those who weren't lucky enough; they were left with hearing loss or Tinnitus. (Her smile turned into a grit.)

Fred Hillsdale: How unfortunate.

Serenity: ...Uh-huh.

Fred Hillsdale: May I ask, how do you respond to negativity?

Serenity: I usually laugh it off or mask it with a smile. Though, there were times where negativity has gotten to me; I become doubtful of myself as a person. It may be hard, but at least I got friends who got my back every step of the way! (Serenity's grit was replaced by a grin.)

Fred Hillsdale: For someone so upbeat, I didn't expect that.

Serenity: Yeah, that goes for a lot of people like me. Sometimes the negativity just messes with your spirit; and you're not yourself for awhile. But, things will get better with time and patience!

Fred Hillsdale: Wise words, Harmony Sage. Now, what's next for Harmony Sage?

Serenity: Finish up crimefighting, get chores done, help my friends with their work, put up party decorations, and send out invitations for a friend's party!

Fred Hillsdale: Anything else?

Serenity: I love you all! This Harmony Sage signing off! Bye, my friends! (She grins while waving both of hands at the camera.)

(The camera zooms out and fades to black.)

------

I was inspired by this "Powerpuff Girls Character Interview" video here (LINK), so I thought I'd do something similar. The villain interviews will come soon, if I have enough motivation to do it that is.

[1863-project]

I feel that Emmet would never chose to do evil, except in situations where its explicitly not evil!

Examples of what I mean: Education. Gotta reenact a completely fictional train robbery, then someone needs to be the robber. Or education on what happens if you are unsafe on the trains. Which I imagine are a series of badly acted videos in which both showcase why not to do various unsafe things.

(That said I also feel half of it would derail into an excuse for the Dead horse trope of tying someone to the railroad tracks. How often do you get an excuse for that?! Also the twins probably switch between who is the 'villain' of each educational segment. )

Yeah, that's the thing - what you’re talking about is normal, and cartoony, and funny. The post I reblogged was specifically about people doing ableist things with him due to him being the more obviously autistic coded of the two of them. The tl;dr is that since 2010 people have taken this character with neurodivergent traits and decided this meant he was unhinged in a way that actually really hurts autistic people who see themselves in him.

Does mental illness sometimes make people violent or lose control? Of course, although it's important to note they're more likely to be victims of violence than the perpetrators. Should we inherently be villainizing mental illness because of this? ABSOLUTELY NOT. There are people who almost fetishize this, and it does nothing to erase the stigma of mental illness, especially for people who do lose control. I work in a public library, and a lot of my patrons are experiencing homelessness. Of those patrons, a lot of them are dealing with mental illness (and not just situational depression) - some have big scaries, like schizophrenia or bipolar, and a lot of homeless folks actually have personality disorders (one study put that rate at 92% of respondents). None of these people are inherently scary or unhinged or bad - they're just dealing with a lack of access to treatment. And none of them have ever made me feel threatened on the reference desk! In fact, they respond verrrry positively when you treat them like regular people, because guess what? They ARE regular people! They're just dehumanized so frequently that they're traumatized.

Furthermore, autism isn't a mental illness (although being autistic often leads to mental illness due to how we're treated by society), but we are disabled by society's standards. Some people don't like to call autism a disability, but the social model of disability more or less does mean we're disabled. We're also highly stigmatized, and that's what the "evil" portrayals are perpetuating. To neurotypicals, we're too blunt and direct, too straightforward, too honest. They think we're being rude, but to us, their more passive, indirect communication style often seems rude and manipulative. They see our awkwardness and our unfamiliarity with social rules and our difficulties with speaking their language and they demonize it. We're ostracized, and people speak of us as if we're a plague and we need to be eliminated. They pity our parents and call us our parents' worst nightmare (instead of, you know, having a stillborn, or having a kid develop cancer, or something actually horrible like that). Instead of the supports we need to thrive, we're given stigma and trauma.

So to see a character with traits like ours, thriving and happy, means the world to us. We don't get that very often. Portrayals of us in the media are often made to be objects of pity or something to laugh at. But seeing Ingo and Emmet, who are not explicitly stated to be autistic but have a lot of autistic traits (making them autistic-coded), being happy and leading fulfilling lives...that is incredibly important for autistic people to see. Our traits are not demonized or mocked here. These characters are allowed to just 'be,' and that is so incredibly important for us.

So to go into the tags and see all of this "villain" stuff, or portrayals where the more obviously autistic-coded twin is "deranged" or "unhinged," plays into the stereotypes people have about us and it really, really hurts, which is why I haven't been in the tags in months - I can't watch myself being dehumanized anymore. I've spent my whole life trying to find my place in a world that hates me. I was so happy to find characters who were just like me who were happy and successful and allowed to be themselves, and the fandom post-PLA ripped that extremely healing space from me and other autistic people.

Sorry for going on a long ramble again, but this has actively negatively impacted my mental health - knowing that’s how so many people still see me and people like me despite the progress we’ve made in the decade plus that I’ve been part of the autistic rights movement really cuts deep and makes me worry that fundamentally on some level I actually am a bad person.

[yharnammoved]

akechi, fyodor, dazai, and izaya for the character meme. :)

so many... akechi

favorite thing about them: there's too many things but it's his tenacity and how he refuses to change himself for other people in the end (ie 3rd semester) for me babey!!

least favorite thing about them: fanon pancakes xD

favorite line: “I’m going to be entirely honest with you, I hate you.”

brOTP: makoto and akechi... i just think they'd have the stupidest intellectual conversations about morality and justice that i'd subscribe to

OTP: do i really gotta say it

nOTP: idk how people ship him and yoshizawa but absolutely no thanks

random headcanon: despite hating sweets, he perfectly curates his social media with date spot sweets and makes sure the other seat is always empty so that he can better appeal to his fanbase and look available as a celebrity. it's incredibly annoying for him to put in the effort, but he really is meticulous with it

unpopular opinion: akechi isn't a bad character, you all just hate the people with "scary" mental illnesses

song i associate with them: flight of the crows - jhariah

favorite picture of them: i can't find my favorite favorite but this is a runner-up by kaninn

fyodor

favorite thing about them: how incredibly intelligent he is.... look at that little guy go. look at the prison chapters where he's just talking with dazai in code that they both made up on the spot.

least favorite thing about them: i can't think of anything beyond the fact that his eng VA annoys me. that's how much i'm in love with this little rat man

favorite line: “I am crime. I am punishment. Crime and punishment are close friends. Borders vanish. Rooms awaken. The incarnation of death, the master of the ability-consuming fog… Eat, howl, and make violence as your instinct desires. This is neither a loss of control nor a singularity.”

brOTP: fyogolsig. we love two maniacs and a tired casino owner shenanigans

OTP: fyozai.... let me talk to you for the next twelve years why fyozai is the only perfect bsd shi

nOTP fyoran. don't see the fandom appeal

random headcanon: he has to get iron replacement injections for severe anemia or else he's just a useless little bag of bones in his bed for a long while. idiot. stupid.

unpopular opinion: i think fyodor is probably the most underrated villain of the series because people really sleep on him compared to how they treat members of the port mafia, or treat him like just an underling of fukuchi -__-

song i associate with them: l'inverno op. 8 no.4 in f minor 1. allegro - vivaldi

favorite picture of them: OKAY LISTEN IT'S NOT ARTWORK BUT I GO GOOGOO GAGA OVER THIS SCENE IN DEAD APPLE EVERY FUCKING TIME IT'S MY FAVORITE!!!!

dazai

favorite thing about them: he's such a fucking snake? like this man is on x games mode when it comes to his true agenda at all times. things just LINE UP to where they work out with the ADA for the most part, but he still has so many threads from his before life that he pulls whenever he needs to

least favorite thing about them: boiled down to either a part of a ship or teehee suicide joke by both canon and fanon ALL the time

favorite line: "If you place yourself somewhere close to raw emotions, where you’re exposed to violence and death, instinct and desire, you can brush against man’s true nature. I thought that way I could find a reason to live somehow."

brOTP: kunidazai... i just think they're funny little guys. :)

OTP: i can't say my true otp so i'll just say fyozai because i like them too!

nOTP: dazai and ranpo. i just cannot fucking stand it because of someone.

random headcanon: now that he has an actual apartment, dazai keeps an eclectic amount of collections from his interests. books, letter openers, handheld torture devices, little 100 yen gachapon figures. it's not to the level of hoarding, but it's much more than the normal level of collecting that your average person would have

unpopular opinion: dazai has a comorbid cluster b personality disorder but you're all too cowardly to admit that

song i associate with them: a mask of my own face - lemon demon

favorite picture of them: https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/4657637

izaya

favorite thing about them: i'm realizing i hate this question because there's never really just one thing. i love how he he tangents and how he loves to hear himself talk, and i love how he power trips without ever fully going to a place where he can't recover from a blunder

least favorite thing about them: his hairline... he's gonna be bald by 40

favorite line: listen... this isn't a direct quote from him but ABOUT him but it's my favorite thing that just explains him so well: “He may seem cold-blooded, but he is more human and his heart more brittle than anybody else’s, so much so that if you filled it with human love or betrayal, it would break easily, which is why, I think, he chose from the beginning to avoid it all, to love humanity, you understand? Not to accept, not to face it. To avoid it.”

brOTP: kadota and izaya!! i think they're pretty chill

OTP: shinzaya bc i can't say my other otp....

nOTP: there's only very certain instances i will even look at shizaya because of the fandom. and fanon shizaya ain't it.

random headcanon: izaya collects different scents of cologne that he gets as gifts from ~ certain ~ clientele, and will use it when he wants to impress. his favorite scents are usually ones with high fruit tones but nothing too aggressive that the subtlety can't speak for itself

unpopular opinion: i think people in the fandom are incapable of seeing izaya as either this troll character with very little substance besides being a nuisance or being a cocksleeve for shizuo when he's actually an integral pivot for most everyone's character development in the series because of his meddling and the SEVERAL strings that he has to pull at any given time.

song i associate with them: cotards solution - will wood and the tapeworms

favorite picture of them: unfortunate source but it's from the doujin ABBERANCE!!