#this character also doesn't really have a name

[arrimorr]

Alright,

A base lore info about my setting.

Most of it was yapped away through the asks already, but I decided that it's still worth to organise this stuff in a coherent manner. This text also doesn't really touch on the character's arcs and their relationships with each other. This is more about the wider setting.

SHORT VERSION:

Tginf is a horror roadtrip game I'm planning to make. Embark on a terribly convoluted forest car ride with different local creatures hitchhiking your car.

EXTENDED VERSION:

The main character: You (are going to) play as the Nameless, a 20+ year old without a name, a concrete gender or any understanding of who they should become to avoid getting crushed by a closing in adult life.

The forest:

The forest they got unlucky to travel through is a strict eco system. Everything not useful to it gets digested by it. Literally slowly disintegrated to at least feed the soil. At least this process takes some time.

The feudals:

Luckily, the forest road is ruled by three higher beings, that can save the useless travelers and give each of them a useful (in their opinion) role to play.

The names of the feudals are: the Oxygen, the King of the road, the Mine.

You can easily envision their domains if you split the forest space in three layers. Everything thats above it, everything that is on the ground, and everything below it. Every forest entity that the Nameless encounter serves one of them.

Because their territories are literally stacked on top of each other, the three don't get along particularly well and have been in a territorial conflict for centuries. For feudals, acquiring new followers through picking up the stranded and lost is another way of getting new recources in it.

The specifics of each feudal and their individual followers:

The Oxygen:

The Oxygen is physically invincible and, because of that, she never had to rely on anyone in her existence. This had a big effect on her personality. Unlike the King of the Road and the Mine, she doesn't really NEED followers. She can create servants out of thin air, like she did with the Dummy*. She picks up the travelers for her own amusement, and because the King and the Mine are invested in collecting them.

Her followers are:

The Dummy,

the Diver,

the Time Seller.

* The Dummy was created as a jab at the King of the Road's second hand - the Knight.

* The Diver is there as a statement of ineffectiveness on the King's ruling manner. He does the same job his followers do, but with one important change added.

* The Time seller was made into a tiger, because the Oxygen wanted to see what would happen if she fully dehumanises somebody. She likes experimenting like that.

The King of the Road:

The King of the road is very physically fragile. He needs protection, and, despite his rather gentle demeanor, time made him paranoid and fixated on the idea of control. He collects the followers to avoid any new and unpredictable variables appearing in the forest.

Through trial and error, he came to a conclusion that love is the greatest source of loyalty and motivation, so he tampers with his followers' brains to make sure they love him and the work he gives them.

His followers are:

the Tennant,

the Radio host,

(Sorry, don't have a proper picture of her yet, since her main way of communication is...well...radio, and because I ran into Tumblr's picture per post limit, I decided to cut what I had of her imagery away)

the Knight.

*The Forest is full of eldritch, sentient and, most importantly, hungry places, such as the house, the radio tower and the grand lake. The King aims to station his followers in them, so they are in his area of control too. The Tennant and the Radio host view their designated places as if they are their marriage partners. They love them, they provide for them.

*The King also prefers to take his time before taking a new follower in. After all, the more he waits, the more the traveler gets digested by the forest, allowing the King to rebuild his new follower to his liking. Sadly, the opportunity to wait long enough rarely presents itself because of the Oxygen and the Mine interfering all the time, thus, the only follower he got to fully reconstruct from the state of blank meat was the Knight. This made him the most predictable and by extension the most trustworthy being in the forest to him.

The Mine:

About a year ago I watched a documentary about mine workers. A part of it was dedicated to the fact, that, in case of that particular mine, people should have been working inside of it 24/7, otherwise the tunnels were guaranteed to slowly become toxic. What caught my attention was the way they spoke about it. They said something along the lines of "otherwise she would start to suffocate". And that unexpected personification never left my mind ever since.

SO, the Mine in tginf sufferers from a constant lack of oxygen, and starts to gradually suffocate if there's is no one performing the maintenance work inside of her. The problem is - she is toxic, thus none of her followers live particularly long inside of her. Which places her in a constant struggle to get herself the new ones. She lets her followers out on the road only for one purpose - to promote the service to her to the new travelers. Followers like that are all called Pr agents. Out of the three feudals, the Mine is the most reliant on others to survive.

Her followers are, you won't believe it:

Pr agent 117, Pr agent 121, Pr agent 124/178 (the number changes depending on the story route)

( sorry (2) 😭 had to collage them bc of the picture count limitation)

*None of them lived long enough to meet the other.

I also made a voice claim post some time ago, you can check it out to feel the characters too

[emotionallychargedtowel]

The em dashes in this example don’t exactly “belong” to Emma (the character) though, right? I’m pretty sure this is a summary of Mrs. Elton prattling. I guess I just don't want it to sound like they're Emma's responsibility, which adding them to her name seems to do. Unless they are her responsibility. Hm.

She is the reader’s point-of-view character. She's arguably the one who summarizes Mrs. Elton in this way. If she took Mrs. Elton more seriously it doesn't seem like her words would be summarized in this way. But then we’d have to read every word Mrs. Elton says here—verbatim. No thanks.

I was wondering if the reason Emma is such an em-dash outlier might be because of Mrs. Elton and/or certain other tiresome or longwinded characters (I'm thinking of Miss Bates, of course), along with Emma’s halfway listening to them.

So I cracked open my copy. And now I'm taking a perfectly good joke and turning it into a detailed discussion of my hyperfixation. Well, hopefully it's of interest to others anyway.

The short version of the answer to my question is that Emma's em dash quotient doesn't seem to be entirely, or even mainly, attributable to any specific character, including any propensity of Emma's as our point-of-view character. It's mostly just that Austen goes all out with the em-dashes all over the place. Now, I love em dashes and overuse them habitually. But the em dashes in Emma seem downright excessive to me.

Check out this bit where Emma and Harriet are looking at Mr. Elton's house:

“…there could be no possibility of the two friends passing it without a slackened pace and observing eyes.—Emma’s remark was— ‘There it is. There go you and your riddle-book one of these days.’—Harriet’s was— ‘Oh! What a sweet house!—How very beautiful!—There are then yellow curtains that Miss Nash admires so much.’”

They really are extraneous here.

At other points, they seem to serve the usual purposes in dialogue, like making a sentence into a sort of aside or showing when someone has been cut off by another person. And sometimes they accomplish other worthwhile things. For one thing, as in the Mrs. Elton summary, they often do the work of helping to condense a bit of small talk. There's also a part where Miss Bates goes off at length twice in quick succession, in which the em-dashes show how abruptly she jumps from one topic to the next.

Mr. Knightley's response when he thinks Emma is upset because of the revelation of Frank Churchill's engagement to Jane Fairfax makes good use of them in a related way:

"...[S]he found her arm drawn within his, and pressed against his heart, and heard him thus saying, in a tone of great sensibility, speaking low, 'Time, my dearest Emma, time will heal the wound.—Your own excellent sense—your exertions for your father's sake—I know you will not allow yourself—.' Her arm was pressed again, as he added, in a more broken and subdued accent, 'The feelings of the warmest friendship—Indignation—Abominable scoundrel!' —And in a louder, steadier tone, he concluded with, 'He will soon be gone. They will soon be in Yorkshire. I am sorry for her. She deserves a better fate.'"

The em dashes show the abrupt way he switches from one phrase or exclamation to another. If his tone is "steadier" at the end of this passage, the em dashes seem to show how unsteady he was at the beginning of it. He's not just changing his tack repeatedly, he's doing it because he's agitated.

So, yeah. Austen does some worthwhile things with her preponderance of em dashes in Emma. But for the most part, she was just wilding out.

An ode to em

One of the reasons that I love Jane Austen's work is that she loves an em dash. Just how much does she love an em dash? Behold:

That's right, baby—Emma has 3102 em dashes in it! Not hyphens—this is just the count of true em dashes alone. It's glorious.

Let's all bask in the em dashes in this famous Emma passage:

“The best fruit in England—every body’s favourite—always wholesome.—These the finest beds and finest sorts.—Delightful to gather for one’s self—the only way of really enjoying them.—Morning decidedly the best time—never tired—every sort good—hautboy infinitely superior—no comparison—the others hardly eatable—hautboys very scarce—Chili preferred—white wood finest flavour of all—price of strawberries in London—abundance about Bristol—Maple Grove—cultivation—beds when to be renewed—gardeners thinking exactly different—no general rule—gardeners never to be put out of their way—delicious fruit—only too rich to be eaten much of—inferior to cherries—currants more refreshing—only objection to gathering strawberries the stooping—glaring sun—tired to death—could bear it no longer—must go and sit in the shade.”

31 em dashes in that sequence alone! And that's not even the whole paragraph—there are 9 more em dashes in the rest of the paragraph before that quotation! Iconic.

[thydungeongal]

Having thought about it some more, the dissonance between people who are okay with talking in an out-of-fiction register over the table and people who insist on an in-fiction register for even mechanical discussion isn't as simple as the latter group being irrationally demanding of some kind of immersion, but it is definitely an issue of the group not having properly established a tone. Now, this is also not particularly helped by the fact that many games are. Really bad at communicating what kind of tone is to be expected of players over the table. But I feel it's further compounded by the fact that many modern RPGs basically expect players to be able to make mechanically informed decisions, with their characters acting as a group to overcome obstacles together, and with no agreed upon in-fiction definitions for many game mechanics the language of the mechanics remains the best cipher for players to communicate these things about their characters.

Some games do a better job of this than others and are thus more amenable to playing in a way where there is almost zero communication in a meta register. Some games, including most mainstream trad RPGs (your D&Ds 5e and Pathfinders 2e) make it all but impossible because they are so mechanically dense and require players to make mechanically informed cooperative decisions. Trying to play one of these games with zero discussion through the best cypher the players have for making sense of the fiction (the language of the rules) would be an exercise. Imagine a group of aliens, all speaking slightly different dialects of the same language, all trying to explain gleeblor (and all of them have a slightly different definition of gleeblor).

Some crunchy TTRPGs do a better job of bridging this gap between mechanics and fiction which means there is less need for code-switching. World of Darkness games have always had descriptive text indicating what each Dot of an attribute or ability roughly corresponds to in real life. Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy also does this, grounding character skill ratings with actual examples of what kind of person could be expected to have that skill rating (Eureka also has explicit guidance for what kind of discussion should and should not go through the meta channel, which is sort of the thing I was grasping at in the first paragraph: many games do a very poor job of transmitting the desired tone to their players, which means that players are left with an oral tradition of never talking in terms of mechanics even while playing mechanically dense games that make such a playstyle all but impossible).

Anyway so Pathfinder and modern D&D are not exactly amenable to this type of play, which doesn't mean they're bad games, but it should be acknowledged that these games do very little to actually communicate how their numbers would translate into terms in the fiction, meaning that the rules text is often the best cipher players have available to them for communicating changes in the fiction. Because the games themselves don't do a lot to define their mechanics in terms of the fiction, any discussion of "what goes in the meta channel and what doesn't" should ultimately rely on consensus, not a single player trying to enforce their (arbitrary, personal) interpretations of the mechanics on the rest of the group.

Anyway this ties a lot into something that @vixensdungeon is always posting about and what her recent 0D&D posts also touch on: the shape and presentation of modern D&D rules is so that it's really easy for players to just look at them and decide that their character can just "Do an Arcana." She's also talked about how back in 3e days even the skill names had much more of a Verby quality to them. There's less of a need for this code-switching when the Thing in the Fiction matches with the Thing in the Mechanics. Gonad the Barbarian would like to Climb a wall, so in D&D 3e he Climb checks that wall. In D&D 5e to Climb a wall Gonad the Barbarian must Athletics on that thang.

And this relates also to our silly 0D&D posting. A Warrior (level 2 Fighter) fights with the strength of two men. Halflings may never be able to rise above the ranks of Heroes, but Halfling Heroes have Superheroic wherewithal (saving throws of a character four levels higher). Naiviv the Medium may yet one day rise to the rank of Wizard. 0D&D is also, in general, less mechanically dense than modern D&D, so a game of 0D&D where the meta channel is almost never used is entirely possible.

Anyway also shout-out to Apocalypse World as well, because it has a completely different approach to bridging the gap between mechanics and the fiction; a way which might turn off people expecting more crunchy play with less room for language games, but a way nonetheless. These are all examples of effects that can happen when a character does a thing:

Force your hand and suck it up.

Back off calmly, hands where you can see.

You lose your footingm

It's not openly for sale, but you find someone who can lead you to some selling it.

It reaches deep into the world's psychic maelstrom.

You provide covering fire, allowing another character to move or act freely.

Your prey doesn't suspect you. Otherwise, they're wary and alert.

See what I mean? When a lot of the mechanical text is like this there is less need for code-switching. The meta register and the in-fiction register are all but the same. It's not an approach that works for every type of game (a mechanically dense game of tactical combat written in this register wouldn't necessarily be unplayable, but it would leave a lot of things ambiguous that people generally drawn to mechanically dense tactical combat games would rather the game resolve for them), but for the type of game Apocalypse World is it works remarkably well.

[loojii]

Capricorn post? *Sniffs your art like a dog*

It's been a while since I got back into this project and I totally forgot that his name is not actually Capricorn, it's Capricornus! Because that's the name of the constellation. And like mentioned before (I know it's getting annoying hearing it from me all the time haha) but these are based on the constellations :) Not the horoscope stuff - but friends can call him Capricorn I guess lol

He's the 10th prince, so one of the younger ones (even though they're all thousands of years old, mentally he's young adult). He's a bit of a party boy! But great at planning them too

Miss Sun was mentioned before in these posts, but she used to be the princes' nanny and now still takes care of them during their reign. And she is often concerned when Capricornus is out partying again.

Capricornus Alpha Star doesn't really have a proper name? It's official name is Alpha Capricorni. It's also two stars but we see it as one (some other stars are binary systems, who are also two stars but appear as one, but then a big star has a smaller star orbiting it. Alpha Capricorni is an optical double. The stars do not orbit one another, just from our angle it looks like one). So I will design that one too at one point. Alpha Cap had some names: Algedi, Algiedi, Al Giedi or Giedi. Since Deneb Algedi already is called Algedi I thought I would call the character Giedi. He has horns in the very quick sketch but I'm not sure anymore if I want stars to have horns as well. So a redesign is in order soon!

Ophiuchus is the mc of the game concept and Capricornus (who was the very first Zodiac Prince I drew btw) is her friend. Ophiuchus was designed as a joke when I first started this design series, as an answer to the question if I would make zodiac princesses and the 13th sign. I did some sketches for a different design so maybe she gets that one as well. Capricornus is a smooth talker, a pretty boy, so Ophiuchus likes him.

Capricornus has a split tail, because it's a goat with a fish tail get it? Other fish like constellations have it as well (not all of them though).

Here's more art of him! He used to have stones on his horns, but I removed them because it was too much. He's the hardest Prince to draw in my opinion, I struggle the most with him for some reason

Taurus post ★ Gemini post ★ Cancer post ★ Virgo post ★ Libra post ★ Scorpio post ★ Sagittarius post ★ Aquarius post

[saessenach]

Thinking many thoughts about Miss Andarateia Cantori tonight because what do you mean we get to be in her house for the entire game, in which she and her boyfriend/partner-in-crime run a gambling den, assassin guild ANd find the time to argue with the public administration while opposing a military occupation?? who does it like her??

Joke aside, I think she's an incredibly fun character, and I'm really happy that hers was the lens through which we saw the Crows this game. Whenever I see random posts and critiques commenting that the Crows were too "sanitised" or "found-family", I want to yell a bit, because DATV never claims that to be the case!! Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but what we see is anchored in a very specific context: not just Treviso under Antaam occupation, but also the Cantori Diamond, which falls under Teia's jurisdiction.

She's an elven orphan turned Guildmaster and Talon, who desperately wanted to find family in the Crows! While the other Talons resisted her attempts at every step (some more succesfully than others ksks), that implies 1) her approach towards her own House was probably not dissimilar and 2) it got her the Talon position in her 20s. Ergo, her modus operandi was probably fairly successful.

For all that she threatens to evict anyone who treats her like a landlord (lol), the Diamond is very much a reflection of her as a character. It's all completely in line with both her general characterisation in 8 Little Talons and with the point she reaches at the end of that story when confronting Emil. I don't think it's a coincidence that out of our two POVs in 8LT, she's the one discussing Crow ideology with their would-be-murderer:

and

and

Following this particular set-up, of course orphans like Jacobus are treated kindly; of course fledglings have time to gossip in quiet corners while training; of course she helps the Dellamortes however she can?? She decided these people are family to her, and she wants to do better by them than what she got. This is wildly compelling to me personally, because she's such a delightful mix of idealism and disillusionment, honesty and manipulation, compassion and retribution - and she's so fucking obstinate about it!!!

There's also the little connection with the Crows' beginnings, specifically in Treviso. Iirc, it's mentioned in 8LT that her base is Rialto (she's also got gardens there), so a part of me wonders whether the Diamond was an inherited property from a previous Cantori Talon, or whether she got it up and running between then and the events of the game. I think that between that little tibdbit and with Lucanis being named First Talon at the end of the game, it's pretty obvious that the theme of rebirth is very much the point in the Crows' plotline - a messy, hopeful and spiteful rebirth.

All of this is to say, what we get doesn't at all negate the other aspects we've seen from the Crows in previous games, but rather puts them into perspective. The game just goes on to ask - isn't there another way to do this? what else is there room for us to be? is there any chance we might find some kindness in this world? and one of the ways these answers are explored is through Teia's character (we start this series with Zevran's story within the Antivan Crows - an elven orphan bought from a brothel, who doesn't have the power to change this guild, and end with Lucanis, Viago and Teia, who is, specifically, an elven orphan picked up (?) from the streets, who remains one of the powerhouses of the organisation. I love a bit of narrative symmetry ✨)

And honestly, I find this entire thing delightful - it's cheeky and dramatic and a lot of fun, and it makes sense for these characters, if you only sit with it for a second and give it a bit of thought!

(PS the way she draws Viago into her orbit and the way their partnership works is another rant entirely, and they drive me absolutely insane nghhh)

[katerinaaqu]

In one way indeed that seems really true and one can argue that even the domestic life he left behind (Deidamia and his son Pyrrhus) was not the very essence of domestic life to begin with.

I would argue that all the characters though were ripped off that domestic peace exactly because they left their families behind or that their families were already in a tough situation to begin with (such as Agamemnon and Clytemnestra or Menelaus still dealing with the shame that his situation brought and having his daughter behind)

Achilles domestic life was one could say linked to his father and mother and both of them were a curious case to begin with. The existence of his mother in the battlefield is critical but at the same time we also observe the phenomenon that Achilles has a "household" with him more intensely than the rest of the heroes with the existence of Patroclus and slaves and among them Briseis among others. The heroes who ironically fit the bill a bit here are Agamemnon and Menelaus (two parts of the same family fighting together) and Ajax and Teucer (two half-brothers fighting with each other). Homer doesn't seem to make distinction between these family relations and the potential of others given how also Agamemnon and Menelaus stick for each other or the intense self-blame of Agamemnon even if Menelaus was not mortally wounded. Which of course shows how having your family with you gives you both strength and weakness.

But for sure the fact that we have heroes that have a problematic domestic life to begin with like Achilles or daresay even Neoptolemus who even if he left his mother behind to fight with not even proper experiences in life to fight the bloodiest end of the war and he even comes back to find his own grandfather exiled so he continues the cycle of war and violence or even Diomedes whose domestic life was also not so established to begin with how he has to suffer upon his return and somehow he shows similar behavioral patterns with Achilles how his obsession to gain his place in war and live up to the name he carries he takes the riskiest missions not really seeming to count on coming back either.

Domestic life they left or didn't leave behind is apparent for sure in every part of the poem.

in the Iliad, the rest of the greek commanders were separated from their wives (their domestic halves), but achilleus was not. patroklos was his tether to humanity by being his tether to domesticity, and when he died achilleus lost all hope for his homecoming (because his home was dead) and that led to him committing animalistic acts of wrath. women couldn’t participate in the warfare of the Iliad, which is why Homer had to create the character of patroklos (and his unique relationship with achilleus) — to show us what happens when humans (specifically men) are brutally ripped away from domesticity.

[lu-is-not-ok]

Could you elaborate why you think Big and Might/Will be Bad Wolf is more fitting for Hong Lu than Heath? Cus it's story of being forced to only be the villain because of *what* it is is pretty much exactly Heathcliff's experience with WH mistreating him because of his Backstreet origin and his subsequent lashing out thats attriubted solely to his 'nature' (not to mention his canonical wolf Distortion, and being called the Wolf in the Wildhunt world, and dogs/wolves being a strong association to him in his source), so I'm very curious.

Heathcliff screams dogs/wolves to me more than any one else by a longshot, for the above reasons.

I am so glad you asked, because this is something I've been wanting an excuse to yap about ever since I posted that art!

Big and Will be Bad Wolf is an Abnormality which, while straightforward on the surface, has a lot of interesting nuanced subtleties to it that are the main reason why I assign it the way I do.

The gist of the Abnormality is that it's an initially cute and even kind wolf who is "destined" to become the Big Bad Wolf, becoming the villain of another story, simply because of the way it was born. It was fated to be hungry, unable to fill its stomach enough to feel sated. Fated to be alone, to be hurt as the one who becomes an example and gets punished.

If we were to stop here, then sure, Heathcliff could reasonably fit the themes here. He's forced into being a villain purely because of his birth, forced into a destiny that makes him unfulfilled, dehumanized, and unfairly punished.

However, it's when you get to the subtleties that Heathcliff begins to clash severely with what Big and Will be Bad Wolf is actually about.

First of all, and most notable when you look at the Wolf's flavor text in Ruina, is its complete resignation and acceptance of its role. The Wolf doesn't fight against its destiny, it doesn't try to change, but rather the opposite. It's fully resigned to the fact it will be hurt, be called by no name, and have to hurt others, to the point where it slowly stops caring about anything other than its own hunger.

This is, if you know anything about our Heathcliff, in complete contrast to everything his character stands for. Heathcliff's entire character arc is about him rejecting that very role being forced upon him. He has the resolve to prove that he's just as human and just as worthy of respect as everyone else. And he refuses to stop fighting for that right to be recognised as a person at all cost.

The second nuance I'd like to bring up is one that already has been mentioned here and there, that being the overwhelming hunger the Wolf feels which is what causes it to lash out. Just like the previous theme, it's primarily seen in Ruina, though in this case more so in the Floor Realization for the Floor of Language and how it relates to Roland. The Wolf, similarly to Roland, has a void within it that it cannot fill no matter how much meat it eats, how much violence it commits.

Again, despite all the memes the fandom might make about Heathcliff Black Silence, he's really nothing like Roland in this department at all. In a way, Heathcliff is almost too full, his being so focused on Catherine he has barely any space to be concerned with anything else. Even after her death, he refuses to give up on her, despite how impossible his chances at getting her back may be. There is no void to fill with meaningless violence, but rather a direct purpose to strive towards.

So, that's what I have on why Heathcliff, despite how he may seem fitting for it on the surface, is actually deeply opposed to everything Big and Will be Bad Wolf stands for on a thematic level.

Here's where the fun part begins though. Because if not Heathcliff, then why Hong Lu, right?

See, we already know from the fact that Hong Lu has Rose Hunter E.G.O that he too has a certain role he's destined to fulfill, one that he finds undesireable but also one that he can't truly escape from.

I believe that in the case of Hong Lu, the role of the Wolf would be representing his birth status as a Jia. Think about it. Everything we've seen of the Jias show them as hostile at best and extremely violent and downright villainous at worst. If Hong Lu has any similarities in status to Baoyu, that being that he's a sort of "chosen" Heir to the Family, then that means his role as yet another perpetrator of the Jias' violent ways is all but predestined.

You can even say that Hong Lu has a notable parallel to how Big and Will be Bad Wolf presents itself, that of course being kind and cute on the surface, but repressing a deeply unfulfilled and violent side with what little resolve it may have left.

And speaking of resolve, this is where Hong Lu matches the Wolf much closely than Heathcliff. There is a constant thematic thread of hopelessness and meaninglessness in Hong Lu's character. Even if he might have run away for now, the way he speaks about meeting his Family again makes it clear he doesn't believe it will last. There's a notable resignation and acceptance of the fact that no matter what he does, he will be dragged back to his Family and stripped of the name he gave himself. Born a Jia, always a Jia, you could even say.

Unlike Heathcliff, who constantly fights back to assert his existence as a person who deserves equal respect, Hong Lu simply lies down and takes everything thrown his way. The Wolf is an inherently Slothful figure, a trait which matches Hong Lu far better than Heathcliff.

Hell, Hong Lu even shares a specific sentiment about that with the Wolf. In Ruina, one of the Wolf's possible flavor text quotes is "There’s no need to be nice to me… I’m destined to be a big bad wolf…" Doesn't that sound familiar? Doesn't that seem so similar to how Hong Lu expressed that he understood why his Family members wanted to kill him, and thus didn't bother to fight back?

Then, of course, we come back to hunger. And here I have to get a little bit more speculative, but not as much as you would think. See, I believe Hong Lu is much more similar to Roland in this case than Heathcliff. Everything points to the fact that Daiyu is not only dead, but left behind a void in Baoyu/Hong Lu, one that he tries to ignore but one which clearly taunts him into snapping and falling into that "meaningless wrath".

If you're wondering what exactly I mean, I go way more in depth about Hong Lu's repressed anger and how Daiyu's death appears to be what causes it to leak out in this post. However, to summarize how it ties back to Roland and the Wolf, I believe that just like for Roland, the void left behind Daiyu's death is what ends up causing Hong Lu to lash out and will eventually drive him to outright meaningless violence. An attempt to fill one's life with anything after their meaning was taken away from them. Which is exactly what the Wolf reflects through its endless hunger, unable to be satisfied no matter how much it eats and kills.

Honestly, Hong Lu is kind of a sleeper pick for Cobalt Scar with just how much he fits it. I'd almost say it's shocking that I've only seen like one other person similarly assign it to him, but it's really not. Hong Lu is one of those characters that repeatedly gets sanded down due to how he presents himself, with his more worrying and violent tendencies being ignored in favor of falling for his facade. After all, one has to first accept the fact that Hong Lu not only has a capacity for violence, but even the potential to outright enjoy it, to be able to see the reasoning for Cobalt Scar as an E.G.O for him.

[rococo-sonata]

SMALL THEORY ABOUT BSD CHAPTER 121 ^_^

okay so people are saying that dazai may have been created by the book bcs of that thing atsushi says, i was kinda mixed about it tbh but if we connect it with natsume's character it makes so much sense

we have literally nothing about dazai's life before he's 15. he's a child in the mafia, and it seems like it's all he has ever known. like he was born there. kinda like sigma just appeared one day. dazai is supposed to have parents canonically but did we ever see them or hear something about them more than they're just dazai's parents? it's possible that it was just written in the book that dazai has a family when he was created, but they just don't exist in reality. also all his completely over the top abilities, like the way he controls his heartbeats, his intelligence etc. all his capacities seems purely utilitarian. like he was made to help and be useful. like sigma was.

just no longer human in general. it stands out from every other abilities just like irl dazai was like alienated from others, his ability is a good metaphor for that. so is dazai so alienated and can't connect with other bcs he was made with the book? the fact he knows about the alternate universes too like there is a thing not normal about this guy he can't be human

and that fact would be a great parallel, bcs with what i heard (bcs i didn't read stormbringer), chuuya thinks he's not human be in reality is. and dazai would be the one who's not human in this theory (like his ability name...no longer human...oh mah gah)

and who follows dazai since his 15. and also happen to be an author. natsume!!!! i mean what if natsume is the book's author. he's described as the author of the book that made oda want to stop killing and start writting. that book, maybe it's the book that created dazai. and that would be another parallel. bcs dazai saved oda just like he saved him after.

it's really that phrase natsume said that make me think it may be true

also fyofyo ripped the page it does not mean dazai doesn't exist anymore. he ripped the page. not the book

btw i don't remember if we know who wrote sigma, so if someone can tell me please! if we do not know maybe he was wrote by natsume too? idk

so every mains seems to have something to do with the book, atsushi's tiger is the bookmark, dazai is the main character, ameno gozen is shaped like a pen, sigma is a secondary character maybe??? can't wait for when we learn kunikida is the ink or something🙏/j

maybe i'm forgetting a lot of details and making up things don't hesitate to correct me but it would be so so cool imo

[utilitycaster]

I read your posts regarding c3 and what could be done differently, and I’ve always thought the way they handled Bertrand Bell was weird. He’s only in three episodes, then dies — c3 was my first campaign, and I had no idea who he was before, nor sure why I should care . Emotionally he didn’t leave an impact on the other characters (although I love Fearne’s jazz monologue) or the audience who has seen him one time before. They use his name for their party name but then don’t bother to see his grave, or remember him at all.

His death also means that we are tied to the moon plot very early on with an emotional weight so it feels like the group have to follow that story thread early on, setting up the mystery too early which then becomes exhausting to the audience. I wonder if c3 would have been better off if they didn’t bother with him, or if Matt and Travis agreed to really wait a while before killing Bertrand off, when they actually want to escalate the plot (would have had accusations of ‘scripting’ but who cares if it’s better narratively.) I think if he died around when Molly died then it would have been stronger (maybe too close a copy of c2, but at least that worked?)

I think a planned player character death can still be shocking and dramatic to the other players who weren’t expecting it, but how c3 executed it feels like a nothing burger and a waste of time. I don’t really know what would have changed if we just had Chetney at the start.

I'm going to be totally honest: I disagree strongly and I think you are assigning blame to a completely wrong place. That doesn't mean that you can't feel this moment failed to land (though I think that too is a criticism more of the overall campaign) but the concept of having a character show up, be quickly killed, and be replaced by the actual character isn't a particularly new one, doesn't require you to have a pre-existing attachment to the initial character for it to be a fun concept. It also, in my opinion, did serve a good purpose and frankly Bertrand had, in his three episodes, a stronger and clearer arc than several party members who have had over a hundred episodes.

I may put this specific piece in a separate post because I believe it's a requirement for understanding the failings of Campaign 3 but: A lot of discussion positions Campaign 3 as the story of Bells Hells, who were ill served by the Moon Plot. This is, in my opinion, incorrect. Campaign 3 is the Moon Plot Campaign, in which Bells Hells are ill-suited characters pushed through said plot because they happened to be played by the cast members. And to that end, I think that actually, introducing the moon plot immediately was a good idea. The problem was that the execution of that mystery was very poorly done. Bertrand led the party to Eshteross, and was then not long thereafter killed by a group of people working to destabilize the Chandei Quorum on behalf of Armand Treshi, so that he could bring in the Paragon's Call as a means of reinstating order in Jrusar. This presumably would also help them because then they wouldn't have to use Jiana as a middlewoman for the shipments they were receiving via her in Jrusar, and would generally increase their power. Bells Hells found out this was happening and thwarted it, but Treshi escaped.

This is when the plot began to become a mess, and while there were plenty of further opportunities to right it, I think basing the entirety of the early campaign in Jrusar and Bassuras, and severely paring down what was done in Bassuras [probably a whole other post but I'd have had Treshi remain captured in Jrusar but give up the information, making Bassuras entirely a data gathering mission, thus freeing up a lot of time in Bassuras for personal errands and bonding time] would have fixed a lot of the issues.

Again, that doesn't mean the concept worked for you, but this isn't even rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic - it's complaining about the meal that was served on the titanic 4 days prior to them hitting the iceberg.

[roipecheur]

While the reverse robins trope does not usually Compel™ me (sorry), I was thinking today about keeping the rest the same but reversing Tim and Steph. To be clear, I think this would be 10x worse for Steph and probably at least slightly worse for Tim.

(Warning: this does get a little Bruce critical. I do like Bruce as a character, but part of me liking him is putting him under a magnifying glass and examining his Bastard tendencies.)

So. If Bruce met Steph/Spoiler first. She'd be about 12/13, same age as Tim. Bruce is mourning Jason, out of his mind with grief, and then he meets this bright, fierce kid who reminds him a little of Jason but quips and laughs in the face of death like he hasn't seen since Dick. Since Steph is doing this to fight Cluemaster (her dad) and doesn't want him to figure out who she is, she's pretending to be a boy. This unintentionally goes a long way in getting Bruce to accept her.

Because Bruce was really fucking sexist in the '90s and '00s. I don't know if this was a deliberate character choice or the sexism of the writers/DC at the time or a mixture of both since Bruce of course would've had a bunch of different writers during that time. You only have to look at the difference in how he extended endless compassion and second chances to Jean-Paul Valley and Bane, two men who attacked him and broke his big no-killing taboo, and how he treated Helena and Steph--like loose canon liabilities despite how they were generally doing the vigilante thing and not getting dead. And, to a lesser extent, how Bruce treated Babs especially during War Games, and how he treated Cass.

In Cass, Bruce really wanted a kindred spirit. He wanted someone who lived and breathed the mission like he did, for Batgirl to be who she was in the way Batman is who Bruce is. Bruce Wayne is the mask, and one it seems at times (Fugitive arc) that he'd happily discard. I've only read a few issues of Cass' Batgirl run, mostly while following Tim's appearances, but I've gathered that Bruce gets into a snit whenever she goes off script and does her own thing. It threatens him.

Back to little 12-13 year old Spoiler, who Bruce at this point thinks is a boy. They team up and defeat Cluemaster, and during the fight, Arthur unmasks Steph and realizes he was about to kill his own daughter, which is what allows Bruce to get the drop on him and send him away. Bruce's assumptions have been rocked a bit, but Steph's dad is now in prison (again) and for plot and convenience reasons, let's say Steph's mom is having drug problems and is about to lose custody to the system. Bruce has always solved his emotional problems by taking in wayward children, so he scoops Steph up.

Alfred, Dick, Babs, Clark, and little Tim Drake watching through his camera lens: "What the fuck."

This prompts Tim to track Dick down, which he was about to do anyway, except instead of "hey I think Batman is going to get himself killed" it's "hey I think Batman is gonna get another kid killed because he's got a new Robin already" and Dick, who is hearing about this for the first time, goes home to yell at Bruce. Meanwhile, Steph and Tim have intense rivalry/tension at first sight. Tim's Robin material and a Real Boy, and Steph accuses him of wanting to be Robin in her place. Tim claims he doesn't want to be Robin (but deep down, he kinda does, and he also thinks he could do a better job).

Also. Bruce is extremely hard on Steph because he subconsciously or semi-consciously needs her to make up for the fact that she's 1) not Dick and 2) the Robin after Jason. Part of it is justified because he doesn't want another kid to die on him, and part of it is Bruce forcing her to choose between normal middle school activities and friends and being Robin. He isolates her in a way he didn't with Dick or Jason in the name of protecting her--definitely doesn't let her go off with the Titans or meet the Justice League or anything like that. Steph, desperate for approval and someone willing to spend the time on her, tries to live up to his expectations while chafing under them.

Fun bonus: Bruce makes Steph hide her blonde hair under a short, black wig on patrol in a call-back to making Jason in the pre-Crisis timeline dye his red hair black. He says it's to help protect her identity (and pretending to be a boy was Steph's idea first), but it almost seems like it lets Bruce forget she isn't a boy when they're out as Batman and Robin.

Bruce also keeps letting Tim hang around. He says it's because Tim knows their secrets and has some useful computer skills, so it's better to keep him where he can see him. Privately, he also thinks Tim pushes Steph to become better and work harder. Steph resents Tim heavily because she sees him as a threat--someone to replace her as Robin if she steps out of line--and their relationship improves once Tim starts working more closely with Babs instead. While Babs wasn't willing to take on Steph's training in her Spoiler days in the pre-Flashpoint timeline, Tim's already good with computers. He can provide support on that front and fill in for her in a way that Steph couldn't, so he finds a niche with Oracle.

When Cass shows up, Bruce pits her and Steph against each other and sets Cass up as an 'example' for Steph. It pisses Steph off because she was here first, and maybe she can't fight like Cass and never will, but she can do stuff like talk to people they need information from and pretend to be a Normal Teenager to blend in when the situation calls for it. Despite that, she tries to be friends with Cass...and it works a little too well for Bruce's liking. Steph does something like take Cass on a girls' night to a skating rink and a movie where they wear dresses and do their hair and nails and makeup, and Bruce is furious because they disappeared and weren't answering comms. He benches only Steph for that, which is shitty to Steph and infantilizing to Cass.

Steph could still get pregnant at 15-16--without meaning to, Bruce set her up very well for that. Living with Bruce and being Robin for a few years in those conditions would make Steph want someone to see her as a girl, as the person she was and wanted to be, and not as how well she could fit the mission. Essentially, an easy target for an older guy who told her all the right things. Bruce is angry with her when he finds out....and tells her that she has to choose between Robin and the baby. Steph chooses to carry the pregnancy to term. This happens to correspond with her mom getting better and wanting custody back, so Steph goes back to her mom's house, and Bruce more or less lets her. (Alfred side-eyes him, but we all know that's all the enabler-in-chief will do.)

It's very easy after that for Tim to step into Robin. Bruce was preparing him for this possibility all along. At this point, Tim just started dating Steph--as in the comics, right before Steph found out she was pregnant--and he wants to at least talk to her about it first. But the call comes in an emergency situation, and Tim goes out in the suit, and Steph finds out via rumors or the news. She's upset with Tim, but he shows up later to apologize, and Steph's starting to realize she should be more angry with Bruce.

Steph carries the pregnancy to term, gives her baby up for adoption, and dusts off her old Spoiler suit because she doesn't think she'll get Robin back and isn't sure she wants it. She fills in for Tim when he's at Brentwood and when his dad finds out he's Robin and makes him quit, but it's never the same, and the mantle is never really hers again. As in the comics...Bruce uses Steph when Tim's not around, and he uses her to try and get Tim back.

I don't like the whole War Games arc and I fuckin hate how it treated Steph, so. Since I'm sitting here spinning yarns, rather than Steph stealing Bruce's plans and starting a citywide gang war in a misguided attempt to impress him, she steals information on everyone who trained Bruce in her quest to Find a Mentor Who Gives a Damn. It's the last straw after Bruce fires her--again--for saving his life. Steph skips town, has adventures and misadventures on her training world tour, and eventually comes back to Gotham and becomes Batgirl after Cass gives it up.

As I said. It's Worse.

[skimmingmilk]

ooo now i'm curious, tell us more about drift! 👀

i'm assuming, like his name implies, he "drifts" around and just does whatever he wants?

You got it! Drift's name came from a couple of things. First, it's the game mechanic when you take tight corners while boosting as Sonic xD But also, it can mean being carried along by the wind or water, so fitting for a pirate world and also compatible with Sails's name :) And then the big thing is that he's so adrift in his own life. Just completely and utterly directionless.

Drift lives alone on an island in the middle of No Place. He can't swim, so he's not about to go live a life on the open seas. Most of the planet is under water, with scattered islands spread out across the ocean.

Now, he doesn't let it bother him! He doesn't need much, his island is lush and peaceful. It's okay that he can't really run anywhere, the island's not that big, he can cross it in less than fifteen minutes just walking. He likes living life worry-free, without a care in the world. He naps in hammocks all day long, plays his guitar, and eats seaweed salads and drinks out of coconuts xD He has absolutely no drive to do anything. No purpose. No point. And he's happy. He doesn't care that he's stuck in one place because his island is beautiful and he's alone! No one telling him what to do, no one expecting anything of him. It's just him, nature, and peace.

This probably doesn't sound too bad, right? Except, it's Sonic. An aimless Sonic who sees absolutely nothing wrong with lying on a beach all day, every day, alone, forever. He's Sonic's carefree nature dialed up to the point where he couldn't care less. Without anything to run towards, he doesn't run at all. Without anything to live for, he's not even really living.

He's also very talkative despite being alone. Drift got the whole slice of the talking pie xD Sharp might have a sharp tongue, but he also isn't compelled to say everything that's on his mind and Bur (originally Snare, but I think Bur works better for his character, like the little spiky seed balls that get stuck on clothes or in animal fur) is non-verbal. So it's safe to say, Sonic's most annoying qualities went to Drift, lol.

When Drift finally has some company - in the form of Rouge and Knuckles landing on his island for a change - all he's got to offer them are carefree conversations and coconuts, no way home in sight. Just miles of ocean.

"Haven't you ever wanted to at least see what else is out there?" Knuckles demanded. Eyes still closed, Drift lazily waved his hand towards the endless blue expanse beyond the edge of his beach. "Take a long look, pal. That's all there is." "You can't know that!" Knuckles smacked the palm tree with the side of his fist, the whole thing swaying along with the hammock and finally coaxed the hedgehog to crack one eye open and peer up at him. "If you've never left this island, how could you know that there isn't something more for you?" Drift clicked his tongue, a lazy smile spreading across his face as he folded his arms behind his quills. "You tell me, big guy. What could be better than this? Now d'ya mind? You're kinda blocking my sun."

Knuckles can't stand him xD Rouge is just annoyed and wants to find a way back as soon as possible. But the two of them give him a little more perspective, even if he doesn't outwardly show it - because it is pretty fun to annoy them, he's never had real people to mess with - and when Tails shows up, it becomes clear that Drift is fully aware of how he's not actually free. Not caring is his way of coping, convincing himself that he couldn't possibly want more because he can't have it when the world has nearly drowned. But after connecting with both Tails and Knuckles, Drift decides life's no fun without taking a chance or two, so he decides to go with them when they finally leave the island.

Then they'll run across a familiar pirate ship we all know and love, and Drift will find both a purpose and adventure waiting for him aboard <3 He and Sails hit it off almost instantly, to the surprise of absolutely no one, lol. They bond the quickest out of all the variants.

Drift likes to hang out in the crow's nest because "it's the farthest from the water that I can get" and that's where Sails likes to hang out, too, when he doesn't feel like partying and wants somewhere to tinker on his contraptions. Sails thinks he's funny and Drift thinks he's clever. They understand each other's longing for freedom and purpose, but they worry about the price. Drift doesn't want to be anchored to anything and Sails worries he's only valuable as a member of a crew, that on his own, he's nothing. They both fill a need they didn't know they had, and they recognize it straightaway.

"Well... if ye every feel like yer being dragged down here," Sails hummed as he looked out at the edge of the horizon, "I'll fly ye up and out." "Oh yeah?" Drift snorted, but his muzzle quirked in genuine amusement. "Wouldn't that be considered mutiny?" "Can ye really mutiny if ye don't even have a proper captain?" Sails sighed dramatically, coaxing a chuckle out of his companion. "It keeps changin' every day! They keep... they keep abandonin' us," he said, his voice soft, but there was a frustrated edge to it lying just beneath the surface. "Why shouldn't any of us leave?" "Then why don't ya?" Sails pursed his mouth thoughtfully. "I've only ever been any good as a part of a crew. Even if all I ever do is help throw parties and act as lookout. At least I'm doin' something for someone." "A fair point," Drift agreed idly. "Well, guess it'll just depend then. How far can those tails of yours carry ya?" Sails looked over at him and shrugged. "Don't know," he answered honestly. "But so far, they've gotten me where I've needed to go. Can't promise they'll do the same for ye, but... I can promise I'll try." Drift glanced at him, and the sea breeze suddenly wasn't all that cold as a warm smile spread across his face. "I'll hold ya to it," he chuckled.

I haven't written much for them, I still need to figure out exactly when in the show they meet (right now I have it outlined for right after the episode "No Way Out" but I haven't fully pieced together each sequence of events), but I know I love them and they're wonderful~

Thanks for asking about my other problem child Drift! <3

[v0id-clawz]

Horikoshi has a problem with sexualising minors and that needs to be talked about

that or he's really bad at character design

Under the cut cuz this is gonna be long. Also tw for the sexualising of minors

First off, let's start with Midnight, her hero moniker the the 18+ hero, right? Normally wouldn't be a problem, he's an adult she can do what she wants, except for one small detail: you choose your hero name when your 15/16. So unless the rules changed, that means a FIVETEEN year old is marketing herself as 18+. You could say Hori just forgot, but combined with her hero costume when she was 17, I'm not so quick to believe that (for those who haven't seen it, it's described as so revealing that had to change the rules on what your hero costume can look like)

Now, let's get on the the current cast:

Hagakure is naked. Just. Straight up nude. Mirio gets a suit made of his DNA, but Hagakure can't? Weird. Also, there's a gag where Snipe accidentally touches her boob. I don't think there's more to be said here

Momo's suit is notorious for being bad, the camel toe must be absolutely insane there's no reason to have it cut like that??? Also the boob window is. Weird. Also why does she have high heels?

Uraraka's suits weird pelvis thing doesn't really need to be there?? It could be for protection but all of her organs are exposed with nothing but a skin tight suit to protect them. Also, high heels. Again

As for Mina, skin tight again, but with added boob window. Atleast she doesn't have heels. Also why does nobody have knee or elbow protection

Tsu and Jirou have the least amount of problems in their suits, with Tsu only falling into the skin tight suit category

Also as for the boys, Kirishima. Why are you shirtless. Please.

As for bad suits, who in the hell thought Todoroki covering himself in ice was a good idea??? He's going to get hypothermia.

And this isn't even covering 1B, or Toga?? Don't get me STARTED on Toga.

[hiskillingjar]

Since you were asking for questions to distract you:

What is one thing you have been DYING to share about Echo, Lawrence, Ren and/or Strade? Literally just use this ask to go on a rant about whatever/whoever you want 💛

*fiona apple voice* what the hell, sure.

long post so under the cut. general headcanon dump for ren/fox, law and strade be upon ye. echo is included.

ren + fox 🦊

can't speak japanese (think this is canon) and feels weird and traumatised about it. makes an effort to learn after strade's death, and by fox age, he's fluent.

(also) after strade's death, he attends community college (by fudging a high school degree and upping the sob story of an abusive boyfriend) and gets a degree in coding :)

really struggles to eat vegetables and dairy. would only eat meat and carbs if he was left to his own devices

both of these make his not entirely subtle ED habits flare up, though, so he's kind of a bad eater. don't take him out for dinner, he'll overthink it for days

has a pintrest where he collects outfit inspiration ^_^

sort of self-conscious about his height but knows it's an asset in his younger years. starts wearing heeled boots as he gets older.

lawrence 🥀

can't watch movies or tv shows without disassociating. it makes existing as a human being sort of exhausting

had a crush on their guidance counsellor at school and fantasised about her raping them. felt immediately bad about it and had an OCD doom spiral that made them stop going to see her

generally sex and romance repulsed, to the degree that they questioned if they even had the capacity to feel those emotions at all

turns out, just super depressed

when they do feel romantic or sexual, it can be very overwhelming and intense. which is why they prefer to just. not feel it lol

struggles gaining weight but develops a bit of a gut as they get older. they're a little self-conscious about it.

has a few hang-ups about masculinity, queerness, gender nonconformity. their dad put some fucked up ideas into their head as a kid (which also explains their OCD)

has two broken molars and crooked teeth from not looking after them when they were younger

strade 🔨

coffee drinker. likes it strong but with two sugars. won't drink tea, thinks it's a bad use of caffeine

not a picky eater but won't eat vegetarian "fake" meat. he has like a visceral reaction to it. real dad core energy in that respect.

on the subject of dad core, totally does that thing where he'll walk into a room and just stand there watching tv for twenty minutes. has done that when ren watches anime. no sitting, just...standing.

yellow teeth <3 from smoking when he was younger (with the occasional cigar in his older age) and coffee drinking.

never broken a bone, but has a fuck ton of scars and scrapes. his back especially (from fucking ren <3)

has a few masochistic inclinations. likes a punch to the face, likes to get scratched up and beat up. it gets his blood pumping

very comfortable being a verse, but wouldn't sub for love nor money. ultimate power bottom when he's doing it

acab. really doesn't like police. like he knows how to chat to them and put on the charm and all that, but he doesn't trust them. acab.

echo 🪒 (that's her emoji) (also just facts I feel like sharing)

echo was named and based after echo and query, the riddler's lesbian sidekicks in the batman comics. i developed the two of them into a genderfluid domsub lesbian couple for a batman 2022 fanfic, and got so attached to echo that she became her own character <3

echo's design was partially inspired by trianon serious weakness, but more so that I miss having black and green hair lol. she also has all of my piercings :)

characters who also inspired echo are vikki from what happens next and beth from manhunt by gretchen felker-martin

echo works at fictional cafe that's a stand-in for st*rbucks because of their gender affirming care benefits.

when she and law first met at therapy, she thought they were a clocky trans girl. had absolutely no idea they were basically cis until they told her

her favourite video games are metal gear solid (of course), silent hill and yume nikki

she'd never ever tell anyone she likes anime (because it's cringe apparently), but her favourites are neon genesis evangelion and berserk. has a secret fondness for madoka magica too

echo has one (1) other friend who's a detransitioned butch nb called matt (they/she). echo bullied matt in high school, and they eventually dated but broke it off amicably. they play call of duty together on thursdays.

echo has fucked every woman in law and her's group therapy, and she hates it.

[all-pacas]

I can’t quite congeal this into a proper question so it’s okay if you don’t have much of a response but I was thinking about Cameron and your thoughts on her. I was thinking about how she started out as the fellow who defended House the most and moved onto being the one who saw House as corrupting everyone around him, who didn’t want Chase to go back to Diagnostics. Her journey is just so interesting

YEAH NO she's fascinating. she really starts off s1 hard on the asskissing: in the pilot she has a whole thing defending house as "someone who doesn't believe in pretense, who says what he wants," which… doesn't completely gel with cameron's later character (as someone who would much rather lie than tell an unpleasant truth), but is telling for who she was written to be. and it's everywhere in s1: foreman makes fun of her for not believing in god but believing everything house says; she alone doesn't believe he has a drug problem in detox, etc. my absolute favorite is in heavy, when house thinks cameron might have made a mistake: cameron is furious. she is personally betrayed:

CAMERON: I’m the only one who’s always stood behind you when you’ve screwed up. HOUSE: Why? Why would you support someone who screws up? CAMERON: Because I’m not insanely insecure. And because I can actually trust in another human being and I am not an angry, misanthropic son of a bitch.

i love this, because it is so - it makes no sense. house is right. why is she touting her loyalty when house fucks up as a selling point worthy of praise? why does she think it's a mark of confidence to back someone she knows is wrong? but it's very cameron, all righteous fury.

and it's fascinating too to watch her slowly shift away from this stance. she loses a lot of it after their date: while cameron doesn't completely get over house for a while, she never pursues him again and starts off s2 with a crush on a patient (so she's clearly moving on); she sort of… slides back in s3 when house is struggling with the ketamine wearing off (getting fully white knight about it), but is absolutely furious with him after and during the tritter arc: if i were to name a turning point for cameron, that was it. with vogler, with a lot of house's mistakes, she/we can sort of handwave house as "he's doing the right thing, just not playing by the rules" (she says as much about him in role model); house is sort of noble, right? but tritter really exposes the lengths house will go to when he's in a corner: he alienates basically everyone, punches out chase, and then cheats his way through rehab. and cameron… moves on. she tells house in human error she thinks he'll be just fine on his own, which is in a way a complete departure for cameron, who spent s1 trying to be his best supporter, s3 his protector, etc.

it isn't that she stops caring, right? while i do generally believe her when she starts tiredly insisting she's over house by s3, he's definitely always someone she's gonna be attracted to and drawn to, even though the shine and hero worship have absolutely worn off. and there's some interesting dynamic stuff at play too -- cameron really treats house and wilson like equals in a way chase and foreman don't, in a way house and wilson also don't really treat the 'kids:' she insists on being on equal footing with them, talks to them like peers instead of an underling, and that persists for most of the series: i've said it before, but cameron and house are much more alike than they're given credit for, too, yeah? and in a way it all comes together: as cameron's worshipping shine fades, she treats house as more of an equal and stops agreeing with everything he says and does in an attempt to make him love her, which in turn house responds to i think -- he too starts treating her more like a peer as time goes by. but she no longer has that loyalty in that same way. she's no longer trying to be his protector. they're peers.

and so when s6 happens… i mean, let's be real. cameron is scapegoating house. house says it. chase says it. she, fair enough, doesn't want chase to have killed a guy, so she's shifting the blame onto a convenient target. she's known for years house plays games, his messing around in teamwork is fairly innocuous and not different from his s4 games (that she participated in actively). but at this point she's looking for an excuse to blame house, to protect chase, and house no longer has that hero worship shine………

idk, i'm really just rambling too, but i so agree with you; cameron has such a fascinating arc (there's also the way she gets progressively more cheerful and confident as the years pass) and really doesn't get credit for it. i hate that she left the show and the show suffers without her, but… i love she was able to do it, you know? she's just the best

[teatime-tangents-and-toys]

With all the love in my heart for MH G1, it is interesting how distorted the fan perception was of its legacy. It kind of shows what we were being starved of in a few ways.

G1 was so goth! Bestie, they wore a safety pin or two, sometimes did a net or a tattoo, and then moved brighter and more camp early on rather than being edgy for very long. I get this sentiment when remembering G2 had a whole line of fantasy garden fairies, but having this standard of edgy might make you combust looking at an alt lady from Bleeding Edge Goth dolls. MH was really baby's first goth, and I guarantee there were MGA dolls for the same audience that were edgier, for better or worse. Also, like...MH is goofy as hell. It's a kid's cartoon full of endearing Flintstones-style slang.

G1 was so diverse! Yeah, diverse...like how most non-American characters were cultural costumes and exaggerated or incorrect (Abbey was Slavic for some reason, Jane Boolittle is a colonialist witch-doctor archetype with no specified origin, Jinafire is a flame dragon and blatantly "the Chinese one", they named a Scottish girl LORNA McNESSIE, etc). Hair type diversity was minimal, and the total of confirmed unique Black cast members as dolls was low--just the Wolf family carrying the rep for the brand, plus Black-coded Honey. Yeah, G1 was diverse, like how there was zero actual canon queerness in the line when G1 was current and not legacy, despite the team hoping they could have portrayed it. Also, a lot of diversity representation played cute with the monster types being thematic or allegorical and I love that G3 just lets monsters be real things, come from certain places, or be disabled or queer without their monster type being why they are those things. There was also the controversy over Isi's Native depiction, and cases where you could read diversity into characters that simply wasn't text. Sure, Robecca can read as Indian, Ghoulia might be autistic, Viperine literally reflects the human and snake visuals of albinism...but none of these are stated aspects of the characters. G3 just depicts stuff and names it. And the G1 voice cast looked a little bizarre in terms of not aligning in a way that inspired confidence for sensitivity.

A smaller, very late example: Kala Mer'ri was big and curvy! Yeah, when everyone else is a uniform spindle, someone with realer proportions and mermaid squid hips will look like that. Kala mapped closely to the adult body sculpt; actual curves came in G3.

Yes, G1 still goes harder than G3 in terms of attitude and spookiness. G1 had attractive boxes and stands and diaries. G3 monster sculpting is reserved compared to the extravagances G1 went to, and the pets are infantilized. G1 also broadly did boy dolls far better, and really well for doll brands as a whole, and G3 absolutely doesn't. But there's a lot to criticize or readjust perspectives on re: G1. It was very marked by its time.

[thegh0st-of-ingrid]

Alright, little Modern AU IvanTill scenario (Tw: probably ooc)

Premise: it's difficult (at least for me) to immagine the alnst characters in a modern setting since the enviorment they grew up in is really different from ours. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that their mental states and behaviors don't exist in a modern setting but that there they would be dealt with in different ways

So, in this AU Ivan and Till are childhood friends that growing up had a pretty tumultuous relationship but always stuck together at the end of the day no matter what

In this au I'm mantaining Ivan's "I'm unlovable but that's how it is" mentality and less relevant for the scenario Till's avoidant tendency and more relevant the 'if I don't get too attached than I won't suffer once they're ripped away from me' that than evolves in 'I can't/don't want to let you go' mentality once there's an attachment (this is ispired by a line from Cure and one from Blink Gone) for the sake of this AU. I'll leave the 'why are they like this in this AU?' up to you.

Ok, so, in this AU their feelings are ultimately mutual, and after a really bad event akin to the canon meteor shower (or the round 6 kiss, something that makes Ivan's feeling clear to Till) they reconcile and start a situationship.

Till is trying to navigate this new found stability in the relationships but something worries him, they don't put a name to what they are since what they have is clearly not the friendship they had anymore, and Till is ok with it. What's bothering him is that he know that their feelings are mutual by now, but Ivan just keeps giving him mixed signals and deny his feelings to the point that it's driving Till crazy with confusion, bc even though they both want to be more than what they are, Ivan would walk away from it as soon as this truth get's too concrete.

After some attempts at bringing their situation up Till finally snaps and confronts Ivan about what really are they in what would be an arguement that would have outright ended their relationship if Ivan wasn't also on the breaking point of his own internal conflict that had him confront the reality that Till loved him, a thing that went against everything he belived.

Thanks for reading this idea loosely ispired by Super Psycho Love by Simon Curtis