#this is ultimately a major W for me because i have no choice but to take the night off

[sirpeppersto]

okay so my college got evicted and they didnt tell us until today by putting a notice on the door 💀 so my cosmo license is on hold until they figure their shit out

[right-there-ride-on]

Chronology of Major Gyjo moments (sources cited)

Gyro refuses to leave Johnny behind despite making it a point that he won't be slowed down by him

Chapter 14 - Across the Arizona Desert: Continuing on the Shortest Route

2) After being attacked, Johnny states the only one he trusts is Gyro

Also, early example of Johnny being willing to give the corpse up to save Gyro (even before Sugar Mountain!)

Chapter 27: Tusk (Part 3)

3) Gyro disobeying his father and familial tradition by giving in to his urge to save Johnny (and thereby fight like a 'true man' for what he wants)

Chapter 35: The True Man's World (Part 3)

4) Gyro putting his faith in Johnny to defeat their attacker. When Johnny thinks he's failed, he cradles Gyro's face and asks for forgiveness. (it's a major moment. to me)

Chapter 44: A Silent Way (Part 5)

5) Ok this one is just a little sus but I'm putting it in anyway: Gyro dreaming of that time he slept with one of his patients, only to immediately wake up and have a domestic scene with Johnny. For what purpose...?

Chapter 45: The Promised Land Sugar Mountain (Part 1)

6) Johnny gives up the corpse parts for Gyro (again), immediately followed by them drinking away their sorrows into the sunset. Who's doing it like them.

Chapter 48: Tubular Bells (Part 1)

7) Gyro finds the Golden Rectangle, previously described as, “… the foundation for every perfect structure for beauty" (Chapter 43: A Silent Way, Part 4) in Johnny eyes, and refuses to answer Johnny's question about where he's finding it. The implications of what Gyro thinks of Johnny's physical appearance are obvious.

Chapter 52: Wrecking Ball (Part 2)

8) Gyro sacrifices his hand, his only other point of reference for the Golden Rectangle, in order to save Johnny from a hit he probably could have tanked. Even Gyro looks a little surprised at himself... Also, they are all over each other this arc. Gyro is especially protective.

And, a little later:

Chapter 53: Wrecking Ball (Part 3)

9) Once it's revealed that Valentine intends to kill the rest of the racers (at least the ones who pose a threat to him), and makes an attempt on Johnny's life, Gyro attempts to convince Johnny to drop out, implying that he would drop out with him.

Of course, this is immediately followed by Johnny begging Gyro to, at the very least, help Lucy and see what she knows about the corpse parts. Seeing Johnny's distress at being so close to his goal only to have it snatched away from him convinces Gyro to stay in the race (something that will ultimately get him killed) and theorize how they can use the spin to defeat Valentine (via the stirrups). He tries to play it off but goddamn he is in love with him.

Chapter 72: Ticket to Ride (Part 2)

10) Shuiesha coloring may imply that Johnny is wearing Gyro's shirt beneath his own?? It's got the same collar and everything.

First appearance of this coloring choice is Chapter 63: 7 Days in a Week

11) Exchange of secrets no one else knows (they are each other's most important person!)

This panel in particular:

Chapter 76: D4C (Part 9)

12) And last but not least, thee set of chapter titles ever, in which Valetine attempts to bargain with Johnny to spare his life in return for bringing back Gyro. Johnny refuses, not because of any moral quandary about saving the life of an evil man, but because the Gyro brought back would not be the same. On top of that, he recognizes Valentine as a liar.

When it's all over, Johnny just breaks.

And that's the end of the chapter!

Chapters 88 and 89: Break My Heart, Break Your Heart (Parts 1 & 2)

13) Johnny's Goodbye (I like this scene more in b+w what can I say)

Chapter 95: The World of Stars and Stripes (Outro)

Obviously Johnny and Gyro have a lot of smaller moments too, but these are the ones that come to mind when I think of them!

[yandere-sins]

Before reading: R18+, Mature Content Warning, Violence/Gore Warning, Yandere Warning

Oh, my, look what the wave swept in!

Yet another misplaced human in these wondrous waters, a… poor unfortunate soul, as my sister would say. It hasn’t been that long since another tribe—who was it? The sharks?—had been… blessed with an unusual mate. And now there’s you! How exciting! The orcas are a little temperamental, but I’m sure they’ll treat you lovingly– 

Oh… so you want to leave? Already?

Ambitious, are we? Escape the creatures and get back to land. Well, don’t you look determined? Think you can handle these three strong orcas all by yourself? I’d love to see it. I delight in everything happening around these depths of the ocean, as they are so dark and deep, with barely anything transpiring all day. But as of late, love, freedom, and misery swim hand in hand down here. Intelligence and instincts fight battles that are beyond your little human comprehension. I could not be more pleased with the beautiful bonds that are being woven under the sea.

But I will cheer you on, I promise! I might even have some tips for you, seeing how I’ve been around these sandy lands and great reefs longer than you have!

I don’t think you can trust anyone besides me, really, but you’ll need an ally if you want to get back home. But be careful choosing who you trust. Sometimes you have to take drastic actions to get out of a situation, but there are also times when you need to sit back, stay calm, and let someone else handle it for you. And as badly as I know you want to get out… don’t do anything rash.

These orcas have a fickle disposition, and you wouldn’t want them to decide you’re no fun or tastier than they initially thought. In fact, you don’t want them to think about you at all! Otherwise —ey w—t l— —u ——!

You wake up before the voice can finish. Open your eyes?

Welcome, welcome to Mermay ( & Merjune) 2023!

I think most of you have already understood what will happen, but I thought I'd give a small heads-up about the how, so we're all on the same page:

This will be an interactive story, which means you guys will have to work together to figure out how to continue onwards by choosing the right poll option. Every chapter comes with a decision at the end, and three possible choices. But only one will continue the story while the other two lead to 'Bad Ends' aka not continue the story. Your goal is to escape the three orcas because they won't always like your decision, unfortunately.

I can already tell you that if the majority votes for a Bad End, you'll be able to choose again at the end of it, hopefully picking the right option this time. The story will not stop just because the right option wasn't picked. But who knows? Maybe choosing wrong is actually the better option sometimes (;

To clarify, there are 5 main chapters (the right choices) in total, 10 possible Bad Ends and 1 True End. This is not a video game so there are no secret routes. Nothing will change if you choose certain options after another. Your goal ultimately is to finish this story. But... some interactions and information may or may not be hidden in Bad Ends that could be enjoyable to you as well. (After finishing the main story I'll let you guys pick some other options you would have liked to see if you're interested in that ^-^)

One more exciting thing! I was able to commission a good friend of mine to actually do references for the orcas! We're still working on them but I hope you guys will enjoy some visuals of the new bois ♥

And for good measure: Please read the warnings on the individual posts, as some of the stories contain disturbing content not suited for everyone. Don't read what you don't like.

Thank you for participating and I hope you guys will be able to enjoy the story as much as I do ♥ (If you have questions, please ask away any time! ♥)

[blankd]

DA: dogguard Veilguard opinion (crossposted + expanded from twitter)

I only know about dragon age through osmosis, my friend is playing it while I sit in, and so far my major criticism of VG is that the game is flanderizing its own characters at breakneck speeds and the banter feels incredibly weak DESPITE that aspect being one of the more signature traits of DA

regardless of how the journey ultimately goes, it's an experience that I'm taking notes on as a game/narrative designer for MushRush since you will be carting around a similar number of fantastical companions

read more has more scattershot, but specific thoughts; contains spoilers up to after having JUST finished recruiting all of the companions

disclaimer: I don't know shit about DA LORE, so I'll probably misspell locations, etc., I don't care enough to correct any of it.

the early game has real "shaky first draft" issues where characters repeat themselves or say nothing insightful or at least entertaining. it's gotten better since after the mayor in d'meta, but there have still been some instances of dialogue triggering that makes rook come across as hilariously unobservant such as them noting there are "a lot of undead" in the necropolis you pick up emmrich in. dead bodies in MY NECROPOLIS???

another part that sticks out to me is that the female characters are getting shafted hard since they are all (mostly) introduced before the male characters, so the "1st draft writing pains" get assigned to them

however, neve is unfortunately the Worst Companion so far, followed by harding (will elaborate on her later).

I still don't have a grasp on what neve's companion hook even is- even AFTER letting minathrous get dragon nuked. all I got was "neve is sarcastic and dry and job-oriented, followed around by sprites???" which is a shame since a mage detective should BE ENOUGH but she doesn't have the GRIT of a noir detective or the clever observations of one who is more holmes-aligned. her room does more to characterize her, which is good for the art team but a shame to the writers (even as they try to pepper in more interesting traits about her through other characters)

so we have to fall back to what the game DOES tell us, such as approval/disapproval, of the 2 instances of her showing disapproval, we couldn't figure out WHY she disapproved. (1st was doubting varric could convince solas to stop fucking up everything, 2nd was for leaving the mayor in his fucked up town)

my friend and I formed several theories for something internally consistent:

-neve doesn't like it when you assume the worst of people (tall ask considering what solas was actively doing, but it's a BELIEF) -neve doesn't like it when you doubt/question authority/authority figures -neve believes the gods truly override people (my friend joked "SECRET CHANTRY GIRLIE??") -neve doesn't like that we are "being mean to a man" (this is a joke I made) -neve is a contrarian because when you only have two characters, someone HAS to have a different opinion (this is purely meta and still poorly executed)

whatever it is that makes neve tick, we're probably not going to find out since she's HARDENED or w/e because we chose birdbatman over her (my friend was aware of the effects of the choice locking out Neve/Lucanis content, but debated over the choice because of the LORE, the tipping point occurred when I asked if they cared about Neve content which was an obvious NO)

TL;DR: we are currently getting more mileage/chuckles out of "NEVE DISAPPROVES" during choices than from anything the game intends, UNFORTUNATELY

----

next up is harding, harding is a perfectly normal character with some obvious insecurities and now having to grapple with magic. unfortunately the writers have tipped their hand that they care more about harding's LORE ties with the titans/gods than as a character

the most awkward handing of this is when we did harding's personal sidequest of trying to get a handle on her powers (perfectly fine!), but then it just abruptly STOPS because we help some random fucking guy in the forest

the real nail in the coffin came when she (essentially) went "solas seems sad tho )8", despite being the same character that hated she didn't shoot him to stop the inciting incident. I personally would have appreciated if she had more doubts/expressed conflicts about her action/inaction, about it but as-is, the exchange feels WAY too much like the writers taking shortcuts to make solas grey (or god forbid, "GOOD", ACTUALLY). varric is already running interference, having harding do it too just tells me they're willing to throw other characters under the bus to accomplish this annoying goal.

as an aside: when this conversation occurred I said something to the effect of "Harding, no!! Don't make us throw you into the basement with Neve!!!"

----

returning back to the point of how the female characters seem to be suffering a lack of writing effort compared to the male ones- bellera is a noticeable example of this.

her characterization is purely fixated on magictech (fine), she gets more character as soon as emmrich gets introduced (not bad in a vacuum), but despite being present with harding and neve, the most conversation she seems to have is that she can cook different foods and neve wants in on some of the cooking. again it could have been "1st draft" pains, but given how fixed the party is at the start, they should have something more going on, ESPECIALLY since harding and bellera disagree with neve on how the mayor and d'meta was handled! bellera supposedly had people she cared about in this town and she glosses over it fairly quickly. also there's a relative lack of reaction to harding (or neve)'s injuries from the solas event.

----

character flanderization as mentioned WAY back at the start, this problem is (too) quickly made apparent with lucanis

I thought the mention of the coffee (WRT to dealing with spite) was intended as a throwaway line and something that would stay confined to the sidequest, instead it comes up in the banter as well, in addition to him being the demon of whatever (and now having a literal demon, har har). the 'most' interesting banter so far is when bellera asks how lucanis's situation even happened, and it's not BAD but I felt there was flavor missing to the exchange

since both characters are noted to be the "good" cooks of the companions, I thought it could hint at how lucanis's favoring of cooking is NOT out of niceness but because he doesn't trust other people to it since he is 1) a fucking assassin ("he stabs people", I don't care, poison exists and he's the grandson of the crow mafia), 2) was force-fed something that saddled him with spite

like I know there's more parts here, but SURELY something spicier and/or more natural than just the point-blank answer, the man was betrayed and landed in prison for a year AND is supposed to be operating on a lack of sleep because of spite, he can be a little snippy about how his bodily autonomy was violated

----

the last recruits:

davrin (at this time) ends up being on the upper end of characters since he's the MOST GROUNDED/NORMAL. he's fine and closest to what neve was probably intended to be, skeptical, has a dry sense of humor, but can trip up rook (our rook didn't recognize that a name davrin held a grudge against is historical). it probably helps he has assan to bounce off of so he can tread closer to have a 3rd dimension of personality (it's TOO early to tell)

emmrich is a professor of necromancy, he's polite/nice but also has no problems with magicking skellieboys into servitude, I'm hoping this old man has some spice going on. also it's a crime he puts on his human face when he has a SKELLIE FACE. COWARDS. I'll forgive it a little since at least he still gets to be OLD, instead of some freakishly smooth bishonen.

taash is a horse girl(TM) but for dragons. they also have hints of relationship with a controlling mother, I have no expectations of this. I'm hoping this isn't another lucanis flanderization situation but that's probably a different game.

the lords of fortune thing is bullshit however, "yeah we steal items but return cultural artifacts" that better be a PR thing purely b/c rook is in the room, otherwise, holy shit I'm dying. like, writers, I could understand some cultural favoritism, but ALL cultural artifacts? what the hell are you talking about??

---

now a main plot writing quibble, just to round it out:

the treviso occupation is driving me insane that they really said with their full narrative mouth that the place with NO military but an ASSASSIN'S GUILD couldn't figure out how to deal with the MOST hierarchy-based military occupying them??? like I get that wouldn't instantly (or permanently) end it, but it just feels absurd!!! what kind of assassin guild doesn't know how to kill ONE GUY, especially when he gives speeches in open areas!

it's just such a HARD SELL that the assassin guild can be so bad at assassination short of some 5d chess backdoor dealings involving the mindrape potions that the antaam were apparently cooking up while avoiding having it traced back to them or something

as for the minrathous/treviso choice, it feels like a missed opportunity to have the macguffin knife be what actually drives the dragon off

like, I KNOW that rook/the player is the center of the world, but you don't LOSE anything by tweaking that detail either, it just comes off as ridiculous that "3" (1) people really would make a difference

anyway, thanks for reading, that was a mountain, we'll see how DA:VG continues

if there's additional DA LORE you think would season my experience (baffled/piss me off/etc.), feel free to comment!

[eisforeidolon]

Alrighty- Whaddya think of this?

I’ve been rewatching the show and am now at season 8. I shake my head at all the known moments in the show that hellers claim are canon ship bs, because you’d have to be stretch Armstrong to reach that far..

But something did nag me. There were times that Cas WAS the emotional support for Dean where I really thought it should have been Sam conversing with him. For the majority of the series we saw Dean be the caretaker, emotional support etc for Sam, and it never really came from anyone else- lest he was being manipulated by some evil person. However there were many times where that wasn’t reciprocated on screen. Cas would almost stand in for Sam when Dean needed someone, showed Dean a lot of compassion. (Please believe I’m being objective and not a stan in hiding). I think THAT dynamic confused people. Why didn’t they have Sam having those convos with Dean more? I mean, narratively I understand the need for Cas to move the plot forward with his specific role, but so many times it was an angsty Dean who I think NEEDED his BROTHER more than a convo with Cas. Now there are people who just wanted to sexualize Jensen/Dean and couldn’t possibly be linked the wincest as their puritan sensibilities just wouldn’t allow them. But OTHER fans seemed to have latched on to the dynamic of Dean and Cas because they saw Dean have emotional moments with him.

Now during my rewatch it pissed me off, because I realized that the writers were making some conscious choices to have Sam NOT fill that role for Dean. Like it seemed like they went out of their way at times to make Sam seem more indifferent to Dean. This is why- wildly unpopular opinion here- I didn’t like Sera Gamble! I think she isolated Sam away from Dean and had Cas fill in for Sam. That codependent brother thing I LIVE FOR, was kinda washed out during her seasons (in my opinion), but more so from one side. I think she didn’t really like Dean, period, but whereas I know Sam fans LOVE Gamble, I think she mischaracterized Sam a lot.

In my mind, Sam is just as in love with Dean as Dean is with him (whether that be wincest or brotherly is up to your interpretation). You remember when Rowena started really having a relationship with Sam? And then Jack, too? That was really the first time we’ve seen Sam have that type of side character interaction depth. It’s why Sam fans love those two characters because they related to Sam! Well, isn’t that why Dean fans loved Cas, too?

I dunno I’m ranting and probably make no sense, but I was definitely annoyed with the writers in quite a bit if my rewatch during seasons 4-7 because it seemed such a purposeful choice to NOT show Sam being for Dean what they chose to show Cas being. I think knot blurred the lines and did such a disservice to Sam. Ironically, I think Carver rectified this a lot! Even with the angst and separation, Carver’s seasons demonstrably showed the codependency and intense brotherly love. I prefer seasons 1-3 and then all of Carver’s seasons!

I couldn't remember any instances of Dean leaning on Castiel when there wasn't some obvious reason it wasn't a conversation with Sam. So I went through season by season, and ultimately, I think you have to look at what the plot arc between the brothers is. As I've said before, the one thing that I actually like about Dabb as a showrunner is finally dropping the constant circling back to brother conflict drama that, to me at least, felt more and more artificial. Even if we're talking about seasons 4-7, we have to start at the beginning, because I think the first three seasons are pointedly bringing the brothers back together closer than ever in preparation for all the apocalypse shenanigans to attempt to tear them apart.

In terms of Dean opening up, specifically, consider what happens in those seasons between them from Dean's perspective.

In season four, he comes back from hell traumatized only to realize Sam has been lying to him about using his powers and working with Ruby. When he asks Sam to explain because he's scared of the powers, Sam refuses to talk about it and says he wouldn't understand (4x04). So how can it be a surprise that when he wants to talk in the next episode, it's Jamie the bartender he chooses instead? Is it really strange he basically mirrors what Sam said about Dean not being able to understand when Sam confronts him about what Uriel said regarding him remembering hell (4x08)? Castiel (4x07) and Anna (4x10) conversing with Dean are more about their own fears and insecurities more than Dean's. When Dean does finally open up and is ready to actually talk about what happened in hell, it is to Sam (4x11). Except, it's pretty soon after that (4x14) where Sam throws it back in his face under the influence of the siren, calling him a weak, whiny burden who is just holding Sam back. Can it really be a surprise then that, again, next time Dean opens up it's to Tessa (4x15)? And then, when the doubts are basically exactly what Sam said, i.e. that the apocalypse really is too big for him to deal with and he is scared, he says it to Castiel instead (4x16)? Which I think is only validated to Dean when Sam says the same kind of thing all over again without the siren's influence when they fight in 4x21. They're in conflict and being torn in opposite directions, which is kind of the point. Actually communicating – if they both weren't too stubborn to do it – would basically halt season 4's entire plot in its tracks.

Without making this post five miles long, those kinds of things happen again and again in 5-7, too. Sam is literally not there to talk to when he leaves at the beginning of the season, and they don't get back together because they've actually sorted out all the shit between them from the previous events, but because Sam has realized he can't get out and Dean doesn't trust that Sam will continue to say no to Lucifer if they're apart. So when Dean opens up, it's to his hallucination of a therapist instead of Sam. Blow after blow follows thereafter. What they see of Sam's heaven being an entire absence of Dean. Everyone leaving Dean to grieve at Lisa's for a year knowing Sam is back(ish) the whole time. Soulless!Sam's actions, which (as unfair as it might be) Dean clearly had trouble separating out from regular Sam's. Sam's sanity hanging on by a wall, then being plagued by Hallucifer. Similar big conflicts and obstacles to frank conversation continue on into seasons 8 and 9, too.

I think you can fairly go fifty layers deep into what's going on in both of their heads in any of those instances and see where they're coming from, but Dean isn't going to be doing that as the one living it. From his perspective? There are a lot of reasons to not open up to Sam because of what's going on in their lives and how they each feel about it. So sometimes he does open up to others – which includes Castiel.

I definitely remember way back when I was a multishipper that a lot of D/C shippers said they started shipping the ship because Castiel didn't have that fraught history with Dean that Sam does with all the conflicts and misunderstandings. That's fine (although IMO it hardly held true for very long). However, to me it seems like Dean is just as likely to turn to a stranger (or the hallucination of one) as he is to turn to Castiel instead of Sam, so I don't really see it as some huge thing in the canon that really justifies thinking the ship is anything but certain fans over-investing in what they particularly like. I also think that Sam was just less and less likely to open up to anyone at all as the series went on – but when he does, it was also often with Castiel or Jody or Charlie or Rowena instead of Dean. Because the season conflict didn't rely on them being unable to communicate effectively with those other characters and the judgement of those other characters couldn't do as much damage if it was negative.

None of that even gets into the whole other issue of the underlying dynamics carried over from their childhood which also plays into things. Where Dean still sees his primary purpose as protecting Sam as his little brother rather than always seeing him as a true partner. Where he has self-worth and abandonment issues that make him unable to understand why Sam would value him and not be able to just get over his death. Where Sam is not only all too aware that Dean doesn't value himself and gets frustrated with that? But has spent so long fighting against what everyone else wants from him that he still sometimes treats Dean as a substitute for authority instead of a partner and pushes back at any disagreement with his (not always as) brilliant (as he thinks) plans as “bossing him around”? Where he also gets very agitated whenever Dean is not okay because he needs Dean to be okay to the point he insistently tries to fix it by making Dean talk when Dean isn't ready to. In short, they both have huge underlying issues that skew how they see each other and they're both stubborn as hell.

Then when you add on top of that how the writers had such a tendency to revolve the action arcs around Sam and the emotional ones around Dean as the viewpoint character that Sam's emotions and thoughts often seem like a mysterious locked box through large parts of the series? I do get why some fans can read that as Sam being indifferent to Dean, but I don't think that's the underlying intention or the case. Because of that focus choice, to a large extent we only see how badly Sam needs Dean when there's a threat of Dean not being there or Dean is taken away – but I would argue that we do really see it then. From not caring about Marshall Hall to wanting to try Doc Benton's solution to trying to suicide by demon to initially allowing himself to be manipulated by Ruby to taking on his Cage memories to the Rowena and Oskar debacle to how his montage life was entirely blurry except for his son and his grief over Dean.

[nico-esoterica]

ATEEZ has reportedly received proposals from Valentino and Dolce&Gabbana to create their stage outfits for Coachella. Love this for them. Astrologically, they're compatible with both houses in different ways. The chart date for Valentino I'm using is based on when the founders met and its romantic leo makeup and cancernarian sensibility that favors a timeless and effortless glamor would elevate Ateez's image. It'd help bolster their appeal to a maturing audience. I also think that both brands queering fashion in their own way, particularly D&G, fits Ateez's group's individual tastes (namely Hongjoong and Seonghwa) and politics. On the surface at least.

D&G being a house ran by two previously coupled gay men with a Scorpio brand which needless to say influenced their taste to be more brazen, sensual, and provocative with a deliberate homoerotic image for their mens' lines honestly appeals to me more for what'd suit Ateez the best aesthetically. However, it gets a bit hairy and complicated to praise D&G for this when the founders not only have a bigoted history in what they've released down the runway but are upfrontly anti-queer and transphobic. They love the binary because its all they care to acknowledge.

This puts Ateez in an awkward position. With Coachella literally tomorrow, who knows if this was a press release to flex the offers which may have been ultimately turned down. But if they did take an offer and it turns out TO be D&G, I hope Atinys won't lambast them for it because when you want your little engine that could to succeed, compromises have to be made. No major fashion brand is safe from scrutiny under a gaze eyeballing for offenses to our more politically informed sensibilities. If we know that our boys love their fans and aren't going to suddenly change up who they are, then they should be spared the pitchforks, imo.

Anyway, from a strictly astrological compatibility perspective combined w/ aesthetics, I think D&G would make a better choice. But I can also see a choice for Valentino to avoid any criticism. It'd fit them well because it'd make them look more sophisticated. But eyeee think that bc D&G has a more playful and (youthful) aesthetic and the boys are performing at Coachella, I think the stage outfits would have more wow factor, personally. Ateez is also a Scorpio stellium in their group chart.

We'll find out today!~

[rubberduckyrye]

im an ouma kinnie who cant even be open about it because ill get dogpiled to hell and back for being a n*zi when. he isnt one at all and its such a reach but i digress

Oh my god I am SO sorry for you, anon. Well, this is a safe space for kins of any kind, so I hope you can find some comfort in that. ;w;

Anyway major salt incoming.

As for the whole "Kokichi is a Nazi" thing--like. My god. This old debate. I hate it with a burning passion. It's just--it's just wrong.

Look. Japan uses a lot of similar imagery in their culture to Nazi Germany. The red arm bands used for club leaders in high school. School uniforms resemble what I think is formal Japanese military uniforms (like, non-war uniforms?) They use the same kinds of hats too.

Also. Fandom wake-up call time.

I'm sorry but if Kokichi is a Nazi then wtf is Kiyotaka to them?

Or Korekiyo???

These two have the red armbands and illusion to military attire--something FAR CLOSER to Nazi imagery than a stupid hat with a skull on it that doesn't even have a canon sprite to its name. Why do these guys get a free pass? Is it because Kokichi had the bad luck of being the Ultimate Leader and there was a piss poor fantranslation calling him a Dictator? Because literally the only elements to Kokichi design that you can say are Maybe Inspired by Nazi Germany attire is his hat. Which only just kind of looks like one of the hats worn by Nazi Germany. I never found an exact match for it myself, so idk. Regardless, Kiyotaka and Korekiyo both had WAY more ties to that attire than Kokichi does.

Or if we're going to talk about problematicly-designed characters in general, why is Fuyuhiko getting no hate? He's literally a crimelord--a mafia boss. Why are mob bosses okay? Are you saying that mob bosses don't maim, murder, exploit, or abuse people? Did you know that certain factions of the Yakuza are known for human trafficking? That includes sex slavery. You do know that, right?

Not only is Fuyuhiko properly translated to be a Yakuza/mob boss, but his design has FAR more ties to the Yakuza/mafia than Kokichi has to nazi germany. And the game he's in makes him a sympathetic character to top it off!

And let's not even get into the anatomical horror that is Hifumi. Like if you want to talk about offensive design choices, Hifumi is by far the worst contender as the most offensively designed character. Fucking egg with twig legs, as if that's how fat people work at all!

Anyway what I'm getting at is that the people who don't like Kokichi look for any reason to hate on him, even if the reasons to hate on him would apply to other characters in the franchise. They just want to have a "legitimate" reason to hate him so they can legitimize their rage and validate themselves for attacking his fans. It's disgusting behavior tbh.

NOTE: The only design I think that's actually offensive out of the ones I've listed is Hifumi, solely for his piss poor fat anatomy. Even then, you don't see me going around and harassing people who actually like Hifumi for the fatphobia in his design.

.... I just noticed that Hifumi isn't even wearing SOCKS. nkdjegnjkngkfr

Anyway salt time over.

[rocketchip-comic]

Totally ok if this isn't the vibe of what you're exploring in rocket chip's world, but I'm personally really interested in how different fantasy/sci-fi societies view gender & how that relates to characters, so how does Rocket's planet view that & how does that affect Rocket's worldview, and how does Chip view it, being a robot and all? :D (I adore these two btw your art is so fun & it brightens my day to see them!!)

Ooh I like this question! It's something I've thought about a lot . (BIG DISCLAIMER: every time I mention societal stuff here I'm speaking from a VERY American lens. For our purposes we can assume Rocket is from the equivalent of America. I can't speak for anything else.)

Fun fact, if you go back far enough, my original concept for rocket and chip had them both be boys! I ended up rethinking that after going through some reevaluation of my own identity. I realized that I only made them male because that's what I mostly saw in other sci-fi stories, and I wanted to make the characters be closer to my own experiences. I'm a girl, and I like being a girl! But I don't want that to define me, y'know? I decided that the label can mean whatever I want it to mean, and whatever I'm comfortable with. So I decided it would be the same for these two!

You'll notice I refer to Rocky and Chip as girls, but I only use she/her pronouns for them outside of the actual comic. Within the story's text, I've been trying not to have them refer to each other by any gendered terms at all! And if it can't be avoided, they both use they/them. This is mostly because I want readers to come to their own conclusions, and not focus on it too much!

Rocket's planet is extremely similar to ours, just with an extremely exaggerated version of our class divide. The rich cats created a barrier around the planet to contain all of the pollution, living on top while the poor "undercrust" cats stayed underneath the shell. Their society is capitalistic to the ultimate extreme, and everyone is focused on working their way up to the top. (Very unlike the cats from earth actually!)

The cats are biologically the same as earth mammals. They're actually the least interesting aliens that appear in the comic haha they're basically just anthro cats.

But another detail that won't be explored until later, is that their society necessitates working so much that the concept of marriage and parenthood doesn't really exist. Things happen and kittens are born, but the majority of the kittens are sent off to live in schools and don't know their parents at all. This makes their view of gender kinda different. There isn't really an expectation for women to have children or be homemakers, likewise there's no expectation for men to be strong protective breadwinners. It's better in some ways, worse in others.

But generally, even though gender inequality still very much exists, gender isn't considered as big of a deal. It's also more socially acceptable to present as gender neutral. Not that they're super progressive or anything, it's just that they don't really care about it as much. Especially from Rocket's point of view. See, Rocket was always ignored a lot. She's short for her species and shies away from attention so she never really cared to express herself at all. She was never really expected to be anything but neutral though. It was less of her choice, and more a side effect of being easily overlooked and not really thinking much of herself.

The ONE thing you could consider "girly" about Rocket is that her favorite color is pink and she loves things decorated with hearts. She's a little embarrassed about that now, but over time she'll start showing it more! But it's the reason she always wears that jacket with the pink heart and trims. But even if she was a different gender she would always love pink hearts!

Now Chip's origins are still a total mystery for now! 🤫 But she genuinely did not consider gender AT ALL. I think she still hasn't. Not a thought in her head. When the alien at the recycle shop referred to her as an "it" she was not at all offended. Chip genuinely would never care what pronouns you'd use for her. For that matter, Chip's body is all doll anatomy. If she wasn't already wearing clothes when Rocket woke her up for the first time, she would prefer not to wear any. (The only reason she continues to wear clothes at all is because Rocket gets embarrassed when she doesn't. Chip thinks this is hilarious. Chip thinks the concept of sex at all is hilarious.)

Now considering all that, why does chip use she/they pronouns? Because Rocky does!!! And Rocky is so cool! It's as simple as that!

[zukkaoru]

i dont want to pry but i rly liked your trans yuki headcanons and im rly interested on what other stuff u have to say abt her character/backstory/anything really. im rly a big fan of your fics n i like your hcs n ideas in general and this is one thats sort of stuck with me because of the possibilities it has. anyways have a nice day x) (pls ramble as much as u want im all ears 😭😭)

ahhh thank you so much!! and yes i will galdly talk about my headcanons!!

okay so to me, yuki holds personal choice and her own free will in very high regard. this goes along with the fact that she was supposed to merge with tengen as a spv but ultimately didn't go through with it. as far as i know, it's unclear in canon why she didn't go through with the merger, but i think her own choice to walk away played a major role in it and the higher ups let her do it bc of her technique (and because they're cowards who fear special grade sorcerers but that's another conversation)

in terms of appearance and presentation, i think yuki likes to play around with that sort of stuff. this is why yuki w dark roots/bleached hair is so special to me. i think she gets piercings, and then lets them close up once she's tired of them. i think she gets tattoos, and then maybe gets a few covered up. i think she should get to dye her hair purple and blue and pink and whatever other colors she wants. i think she enjoys buying new clothes and putting outfits together and making herself look how she feels, and her being trans just fits in with that so well. and i think she knew she was trans from a young age, and that solid aspect of her identity was something she could hold onto even as a star plasma vessel who isn't supposed to have a sense of identity, and that was how she knew she wanted to continue living as herself instead of merging with tengen. and along with the clear choices yuki has made concerning her appearance, i also think she doesn't cover up any of the things that are proof she's lived. she doesn't cover up her scars or freckles or moles with makeup. she doesn't shave her arms or legs. because she wasn't supposed to live as long as she has - she was supposed to merge with tengen and lose herself in the process - so everything that is evidence of the life she's lived is a reminder of how far she's come. they're a reminder that she chose to live, and it's a choice she wakes up and makes every day.

i don't think yuki was ever very close to her parents, and she never really had friends at school either. she learned to rely on herself when she was young, so by the time she ended up at jujutsu high, she was already independent. i do, however, think she got along fine with her classmates. but she clashed with the higher ups and most of her teachers quite a bit, and was always labelled as a troublemaker. i also think she had to fight hard to get full acknowledgement as a special grade - a lot harder than gojo and geto, who were basically just given their rankings. i think she had to prove herself several times over before the higher ups finally promoted her to special grade. i also think she was probably the sort of student who would not hesitate to call out the teachers if they were wrong about something, or ask questions that no one else wants to think about the answers to (hence, her going off and doing research on her own after she graduated)

i also think, at some point, she told the higher ups' her intention to study cursed energy and curses and figure out a way to cut off the problem at its source, and they all laughed in her face. i think the higher ups have basically ridiculed/taunted/looked down upon her from the moment she rejected her merger, and there are a lot of rumors spread about her that paint her in a negative light because of it. sometimes, she plays into them just because it gets people to leave her alone. in reality, she can be kind when she wants, but she's also tough and mean and and blunt and doesn't care if she hurts your feelings. she prefers to work alone, but she has a soft spot for people she can see her younger self in - people who are trying to figure out who they are and what their purpose in the world is. i think this is probably why she took in todo and trained him; she saw something in him that reminded her of herself, back when she was desperate for even one other person who understood, and she took on that role of being todo's one person who could understand

anyway this is long already so i'll stop here but. to me, the best yuki is one who shamelessly alive. someone who nearly had her soul taken away from her and now knows how precious it is to be in your own body and make your own choices. she doesn't have time for regret or guilt. she's determined and stubborn. she's powerful, and she isn't afraid to prove it. she's smart, she's strong, she's flawed, and she is herself

[xenon-demon]

💝: fave trope w/ rec

This isn’t from the list, just offering it up to give you the chance to talk about it if you’d like—no pressure!

HHHHHHHH IM VIBRATING EXCITEDLY THIS IS SUCH A CUTE IDEA, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

ok. so. It’s very hard to pick an ULTIMATE fave trope buuuuut a very strong contender for the title is time travel fics. More specifically, time LOOP fics. (What can I say, Doctor Who had some significant effects on my preteen brain chemistry.) I love a good time loop fic because it lets you hit a lot of my favourite things all in one: timey wimey nonsense, getting to Fix whatever canon bullshit you need to, having all these little character moments where you can explore different dynamics and do character studies - especially if people other than the looping character start to change/remember things as the loops go on??? MAN. I EAT THAT SHIT UP. Also the potential for calling back to previous events or repeating an event with a subtle twist to it each time, it’s suuuuuuch good shit. I also find stories about the importance of trying - even when it’s difficult, even when you don’t want to anymore, even when it may not actually change anything - really resonate with me. Which is major time loop vibes, yknow? I am a certified Time Loop Enjoyer™.

I know there’s a lot of good time loop fics out there in the ST fandom (especially steddie fandom), which, duh, Steve and Eddie and the events of season 4 are practically BUILT for a time loop. Because of that (and because the fic I really wanna rec for this trope is A Lot and Not For Everyone), I’m going to rec TWO time loop fics for you.

1: echo by CaptainHoney (~30k words, rated E)

Warning - READ THE GODDAMN TAGS. CHECK THE ARCHIVE WARNINGS. I AM NOT KIDDING. This fic starts out going full tilt balls-to-the-walls and it does not stop once. It’s emotionally intense (lots of angst), the events of the fic are intense, it’s a heavier take on time loops than a lot of other fics in this fandom, and you Will feel like you’ve been put through an emotional blender by the end. But there is a happy ending (I’m a sucker for happy endings, I can’t read anything more than ~5k without one), and like I mentioned above this is a story about Trying. Trying even when it’s hard, even when you don’t want to anymore, is such a powerful story theme for me and I really like the way it’s explored in echo. Plus, it’s a love story of course, and a damn fucking good one - both the love between Eddie & Steve, and the love their whole extended found family have for each other.

ALSO. I’m a feral creature for fun narrative choices and echo is told both non-linearly AND from multiple POVs (don’t let that scare you, it’s always really clear who and when we’re dealing with. You’ll see if you read the fic). It’s absolutely fucking delicious. I don’t see this fic talked about much (literally ever, actually) and I think that’s a SHAME. That being said, I do recognise this fic is Very intense and not for everyone, which is perfectly fine! Take care of yourselves, and don’t read something that you’re worried might put you in a bad spot mentally just because I’m hyping it up here. 💙

2: you are young and life is long (and there is time to kill today) by heartofwinterfell (~70k, rated M)

This is a fun one. This is technically a series, with the first fic being ~18k from Eddie’s POV as he goes through the loops, and the second is ~52k from Steve’s POV as he lives in the time loop without knowing it’s a time loop. Yeah. I really love that perspective, you don’t often see a time loop fic from the perspective of the other character, and it’s done really well here. PLUS the second chapter of Steve’s fic goes into time loop aftermath and recovery, which is one of my favourite things to explore that often doesn’t get addressed in great detail.

Thanks so much for the ask, anon, I really loved getting the chance to ramble a bit 💙

Ask me for a fic rec!

[scramble-crossing]

your writing has like totally reframed minamimoto as a character for me, its so cool. like of COURSE this central idea of social interconnectedness and the worth of it to someone with other priorities would be explored in echoes throughout the cast, like the story is asking Has asked sho the same question its asking neku. which i guess is also just. what a foil is lol.

its just wild tho, like down to the interest in art, theyre so similar that its like hes a version of this story of isolation that went differently !! i could totally see his backstory as showing him go thru life+the reapers game as Almost realizing people are worth it, swerving away from that conclusion into self-reverence, and there NEO shows him approaching it again, as if to illustrate the idea that there is no point at which it is 'too late' for someone to re-evaluate the world and how they look at it.

(and the idea that he does this, while still not having an entry fee of i think, his ability to relate w others?? could be such a cool examination of the idea of empathy, and how its different from compassion/kindness/caring for people)

anyway thank you!!!! bc of u i have a richer understanding of my favorite game now :)))

;-; Oh jeeze...that's so kind of you to say!! I'm so happy you enjoy my silly little shoposting :] Spreading Sho Narrative Propaganda is my ultimate goal and so I'm absolutely thrilled to hear that whatever the heck I've been doing on this blog for the last year and a half has actually impacted someone's view on Sho as a character.

"like of COURSE this central idea of social interconnectedness and the worth of it to someone with other priorities would be explored in echoes throughout the cast, like the story is asking Has asked sho the same question its asking neku"

^^^Yes!!! Exactly!! Part of why Sho is so fascinating to me is because he is the only main character in the series who has not yet answered this question for himself (Because Joshua has. He, at some point, chose to forsake closeness and actual relation to humanity in favour of his position as Composer, and however much he may regret it or wish that things were different, he still, for reasons we don't quite understand, holds onto it (Perhaps out of obligation? Perhaps there is no easy exist strategy for a being of his status and composition). In any case I think NEO makes it clear that his story has concluded, however miserable a conclusion that may be).

I mentioned this before, but it's the fact that we have already seen the worst-case scenario in Joshua, the lowest that Neku could have possible gone had he made different choices, that makes me hope for a redemption arc for Sho.

"...as if to illustrate the idea that there is no point at which it is 'too late' for someone to re-evaluate the world and how they look at it."

I cannot overstate how much I love this. It does fit so well with the themes of the series to show a character grapple with the fact that a worldview he's held for so long is extremely toxic and damaging to both himself and others in a messier and more complex way, and farther into adulthood, too, than the majority of our cast. While this is more into the realm of headcanon, I do think that there is a part of Sho that only clings to his ambitions to become the Composer because at this point he has invested too much in the pursuit, and to abandon it would be to admit that everything he's lost or discarded, his friendship with the Wicked Twisters, the prime years of his youth, his life, not just once, but twice, because had he joined the Twisters there's a chance he could have shared in their second chance...it would all be for nothing.

"Is this what you're searching for?"

"Are you scared to know the truth?"

I would kill for a threequel that explores Sho's journey as his resolve begins to waver and he realizes that overcoming the Composer was never possible, and maybe wasn't ever what would make him feel...happy? Complete? Nothing about the cold and lonely darkness of the Room of Reckoning could ever fill whatever emptiness was inside of him that made him dedicate himself so fiercely to this goal in the first place. And despite the years that have slipped by him with failure after failure after failure, he can still start again, and make something new of himself.

Joshua, Neku, and Sho are three sides of a very strange coin. One failed to connect with others and rationalized this lapse to himself by digging in his heels with his severely individualistic mentality, shrugging off his personal responsibility to make efforts to empathize with or understand the perspective of other people by insisting that it just isn't possible. Neku is the same. Or at least, he was. But then he made the choice to try anyways, and discovered that even if we cannot always see eye-to-eye, we challenge ourselves and make ourselves into wiser, kinder, better people by reaching out to others and, if only for a little while, making their world a part of our own.

Sho exists somewhere in the middle, sharing and maintaining many of the same beliefs ("All the world needs is me" / "All that matters is MY beauty!"), while also growing in a way that seems to have him challenging some of his own preconceived notions on the worth of other people, even if it's with baby steps. There is so much potential to parallel his arc with both Neku's and Joshua's in a very interesting way while still letting him carry his own unique message, and I do genuinely believe that if Square wanted, they could make something incredible out of a game with a narrative focused predominantly on him, and his answer to the series' greatest question.

...And maybe how he came to have to ask it in the first place?

I'm gonna shamelessly plug my fic Loner Phase here because it's all about exploring Sho's potential backstory and how it led to him becoming the person we see him as at the start of the first game. I started writing it faaaaairly recently and quickly distracted myself with writing a fic for the twewy bang (no regrets though. Crazy stressed about the time limit because I'm obviously a bit of a slow writer and tend to bite off waaaay more than I can chew, but I'm working on it. It'll be fine.) so there's only one chapter so far, but chapter two...it's coming. It's getting there. <- said with my head in my hands

I'm rambling but genuinely your comment made my day :] This is my first time being active in a fanbase and I feel so grateful for all the kind and creative people I've encountered here. You guys are the best 💖

[rednite-dork]

First off, your art is adorable and you just seem to always capture our favorite Slytherin boi's face perfectly 🥰

Secondly, I got hooked on watching a Hogwarts Legacy playthrough on YouTube because I'm a procrastinating grad student who doesn't really have time to play the game herself and had an interesting thought:

I just got to the part in the game where MC has to make a major choice with regards to Sebastian (to turn him in or not) and the youtuber is playing as my own house, Hufflepuff. One of the traits of a Hufflepuff is their strong sense of justice and morality. This, theoretically, would make the decision to turn Seb in "easier" for Hufflepuff players. However, I can't stop thinking about why the devs chose Hufflepuff players to visit Azkaban in that quest early in the game.

So, my wheels started turning and I'm thinking that maybe it's to make that decision more difficult. At Azkaban, MC witnesses how the dementors completely corrupt someone emotionally. They turn prisoners into shells of human beings. Also, from HP lore, we know that unforgivable curses ultimately lead to Azkaban imprisonment. What if the devs wanted Hufflepuff players to visit Azkaban to play on their sense of justice and morality, making the decision to turn Seb in more complicated by knowing how he may end up as a result?

Maybe I missed something or am just completely overthinking things, though 🤷🏽‍♀️😅

I'm answering this super late I'm sorry ;w;

Ooooh I like your way of thinking! As a Gryffindor myself, I fought with the sense of what is right and what is wrong (had to sit there for like good solid 5 minutes whether or not to turn Sebastian in). I dunno would it have been an easier choice for Hufflepuffs if they didn't visit the Azkaban, what do the other players think?? 👀

My honest opinion is that they should've let every house to visit Azkaban, to see the consequences of what would happen if they turned Sebastian in. It could've made it more interesting and people really think of what is right and what is wrong WHILE knowing the consequences of their choices.

(or then it's just me who's just salty of not getting to see a cool prison and getting a spoiled meat instead lmao 🥴)

[growingupgreene]

I read The Hunger Games when it first came out. I then chose not to read the next two books when they came out. My main reason was that I didn’t enjoy Suzanne Collins’ writing style. It felt like if I didn’t keep reading something terrible was going to happen. That doesn’t mean I don’t think they’re good books, I just didn’t want to experience that type of reading hold on my life.

My friends read all three books when their English teacher assigned the first book freshman year of high school. (I was in a different class but that’s another story). I didn’t mind spoilers, as I didn’t want to read the books. And hearing what happened in them confirmed that choice for me at the time. Looking back, I think it was partially because I was haunted by the Twilight effect (also didn’t read those, but again, different story), and partially because it was the popular thing to do. I had made up my mind not to read them and so I didn’t read them.*

I did go and watch the movies when they came out. I was more willing to devote a couple hours of my time to them instead of days. I loved Catching Fire, especially the chariot scene. But what stands out to me the most is when I went to see Mockingjay Part 1.

It came out around the time of the Syrian Refugee crisis. I was once again a freshman, this time in college. And all I could think, as I watched bombs fall and the characters flee for their lives, was that this was people’s current reality. And how many people sitting in theaters across America would get that? How many people who came to be entertained by a heroic struggle between the oppressive state and an underground resistance would understand that this was the reality for many people around the world? That this was history played out as fantasy? So yes, the Hunger Games trilogy had a massive impact on YA literature, but I think it had an even bigger effect on the teens reading it. It’s the first step to understanding how the American regime works. And, as OP says, how we are all complicit in it.

*Major spoiler discussed:

The one big reason I didn’t want to finish the books was because as an older sister, I identified perhaps too strongly w/ Katniss’ urge to protect Prim. And she ultimately failed, which would have destroyed me. When I watched that scene in the film I was sobbing & it makes me tear up just to think about it. It didn’t help that the actress slightly resembles my sister. I understand from a narrative sense why it happens and it’s actually a really strong part of the plot, but I refuse to read that. It’s just too personal

I think the Hunger Games series sits in a similar literary position to The Lord of the Rings, as a piece of literature (by a Catholic author) that sparked a whole new subgenre and then gets blamed for flaws that exist in the copycat books and aren’t actually part of the original.

Like, despite what parodies might say, Katniss is nowhere near the stereotypical “unqualified teenager chosen to lead a rebellion for no good reason”.  The entire point is that she’s not leading the rebellion. She’s a traumatized teenager who has emotional reactions to the horrors in her society, and is constantly being reined in by more experienced adults who have to tell her, “No, this is not how you fight the government, you are going to get people killed.” She’s not the upstart teenager showing the brainless adults what to do–she’s a teenager being manipulated by smarter and more experienced adults. She has no power in the rebellion except as a useful piece of propaganda, and the entire trilogy is her straining against that role. It’s much more realistic and far more nuanced than anyone who dismisses it as “stereotypical YA dystopian” gives it credit for.

And the misconceptions don’t end there. The Hunger Games has no “stereotypical YA love triangle”–yes, there are two potential love interests, but the romance is so not the point. There’s a war going on! Katniss has more important things to worry about than boys! The romance was never about her choosing between two hot boys–it’s about choosing between two diametrically opposed worldviews. Will she choose anger and war, or compassion and peace? Of course a trilogy filled with the horrors of war ends with her marriage to the peace-loving Peeta. Unlike some of the YA dystopian copycats, the romance here is part of the message, not just something to pacify readers who expect “hot love triangles” in their YA. 

The worldbuilding in the Hunger Games trilogy is simplistic and not realistic, but unlike some of her imitators, Collins does this because she has something to say, not because she’s cobbling together a grim and gritty dystopia that’s “similar to the Hunger Games”. The worldbuilding has an allegorical function, kept simple so we can see beyond it to what Collins is really saying–and it’s nothing so comforting as “we need to fight the evil people who are ruining society”. The Capitol’s not just the powerful, greedy bad guys–the Capitol is us, First World America, living in luxury while we ignore the problems of the rest of the world, and thinking of other nations largely in terms of what resources we can get from them. This simplistic world is a sparsely set stage that lets us explore the larger themes about exploitation and war and the horrors people will commit for the sake of their bread and circuses, meant to make us think deeper about what separates a hero from a villain.

There’s a reason these books became a literary phenomenon. There’s a reason that dozens upon dozens of authors attempted to imitate them. But these imitators can’t capture that same genius, largely because they’re trying to imitate the trappings of another book, and failing to capture the larger and more meaningful message underneath. Make a copy of a copy of a copy, and you’ll wind up with something far removed from the original masterpiece. But we shouldn’t make the mistake of blaming those flaws on the original work.

[sparklyfix]

[A/N] I'm back 🎉🤭: random stuff about my new fic

Welp after about 7 years, it seems like I've gravitated towards writing again!

I decided that I wanted to take a try at romance for a change

So many thoughts and ideas has been bubbling in my head while plotting this fic, and i've been plotting since July. Sooo I figured it was about that time to start blogging about it

mmm hmm! it's gon be about Hwangkim 🤭

With them being my ultimate ship (and the ship that I miss the most) I wanted to take a try at my very first romance fic about them!

Don't be fooled, it's not just any premise tho lol I didnt think too hard about it tbh, it just came to me lol

A fantasy romance where a mysterious clumsy alien (minhyun) who crashed from outer space falls in love with an imperfect but ambitious journalist (jonghyeon). A choice between love and mission must be made, when jonghyeon makes an outrageous decision that would put minhyun's identity at risk.

Now don't laugh okay???? Minhyun will be humanized with some alien quirks. So it's not gon be super super weird.

The only thing I thought hard about was the actual plot. It's definitely subject to change. But I LIVE for plots w/ a non-human protagonist trying to interact with the fellow humans and their world ("National Fairy" flashbacks 😂), so this premise just randomly knocked at my door and i just ran with it!

When I started to get into the meat of the whole plotting process, I was elated to realize that this would be my first ever fic where I would have a full clear understanding of what the major plot points would be.

Because with every fic I've done in the past it always became incomplete because.... I would never plot anything past the 1st act and just kinda write on the nose after that..

Anyways I wanna do things right this time.

I'm also on the fence whether I should make it more rom-comey or more serious??? Or serious with a dash of rom-com ????? Obviously ima probably do a mixture of both and with the way the premise sounds.

I think it might start off kinda rom-comey and before slowly becoming serious and making its descent into the 3rd act

[princess-viola]

i genuinely think people who say shit like 'streaming is basically cable now' NEVER actually paid for cable in their life

cable was and is absolutely bullshit and streaming is nothing like cable.

does it suck ass that there's like a million different subscription services now?

yes, it does - but that whole fantasy of there only ever being one single streaming service with everything on it was never going to last forever and even now it's still absolutely nothing like cable

i did some math recently and you could subscribe to the following streaming services:

netflix

disney+

hulu

apple tv+

max

paramount+

peacock

for less than $100/mo total. and i ain't talking like 'oh if you sub to the cheapest options with ads, it comes out to sub $100/mo', no that is the total price if you sub to Netflix Premium, the Disney Bundle Duo Premium, (Disney+ and Hulu), Apple TV+, Max Ultimate Ad-Free, Paramount+ with Showtime, and Peacock Premium Plus. The most expensive options for all of them (sans Disney+ since they also have a Disney Bundle Trio Premium that also has ESPN+ w/o ads)

now let's compare that with cable. obviously cable prices can vary depending on where you are and what providers are in your area, so i'm just going by what's available where i live right now. i have xfinity and here are the current channel packages available at my address:

choice TV - $20/mo

popular tv - $60/mo

ultimate TV - $80/mo

that sounds great, don't it? I mean even the most expensive channel package is ~$20 cheaper per month than being subbed to all the major streaming services. that clearly must mean that the complainers are right and streaming has just become the new cable and cable is even cheaper than streaming now

well, no. it's not. because here's the shit they ain't telling you: - the cheapest package? choice TV? that's literally just your local channels (which you can pick up for free with an antenna because they're broadcast OTA), C-SPAN, some shopping channels, and the music choice channels. that's literally it, that's all you get if you for the cheapest option.

also in addition to the advertised monthly price, there's tons of additional fees and shit you gotta pay that aren't included in the advertised price.

that $20/mo choice TV option? you also gotta pay a $24.40/mo broadcast TV fee. the $60/mo and $80/mo popular and ultimate TV options? you gotta pay the broadcast TV fee and a $16.50/mo regional sports fee

so at the very least the prices of $20, $60, and $80/mo are bullshit and the actual prices are $44.40, $100.90, $120.90 for each plan per month

WELL NO THOSE STILL AIN'T THE ACTUAL PRICES YOU'D BE PAYING EITHER BECAUSE SALES TAX, EQUIPMENT FEES, AND OTHER ADD-ONS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE PRICES

let's say i decide that i want the biggest channel package available from xfinity, so i go for the $80/mo ultimate TV option. $80/mo for all these channels, seems pretty great!

well, you can also customize and add additional packages to your plan, so i decide 'well i do also like to stream, so i'll go for the xfinity streamsaver bundle (which gives me netflix standard w/ ads, apple tv+, and peacock premium) for an additional $15/mo and maybe i'm into sports so i also get the more sports & entertainment package so i get more sports channels for an additional $9.95/mo

then comes the equipment, you get one TV box by default but most people have more than one TV. so let's say there are three TVs in my house: one in the living room and one in each bedroom, so i'll need three TV boxes total. those are $10/mo each, so that's $30/mo more for the TV boxes.

you got DVR as well, you get 20 hours included for free, but i figure 'well the option to get 150 hours of DVR recordings is only $10/mo, so i'll go for that'

so what would be the total estimated cost per month for all of this?

per xfinity's own website, all of this would cost me an estimated $203.88/mo

that's right, over $200 a month for a plan that they advertise as being $80/mo

being subbed to all of the major streaming services: sub-$100 and the price that the streaming service advertises is the price you are going to pay per month (maybe slightly more due to taxes depending on where you live). there's no hidden extra fees you pay that they don't advertise, you don't have to rent equipment from them to use their services, and the big one YOU ARE NOT LOCKED INTO A CONTRACT WITH THEM

thankfully lots of cable companies nowadays offer no-contract options (the example xfinity plan i was using was no-contract) but back in the day, you'd literally be locked into a 12 or 24 month contract with your cable company with no way out unless you wanted to pay an early termination fee

streaming? not a thing. you can cancel and resub whenever you want. you're only subbed to a service to watch one series and now the season is over and there really ain't anything else you wanna watch? you can cancel your subscription, you ain't locked into having, for example, a netflix sub for 12 months that you don't use

(also for fucks sake i pay for cable still and my combined cable and internet bill is $300/mo like deadass if you seriously think streaming is at all comparable to cable you can eat my ass)

[attourney-at-lycan]

it bothers me so much how jess never explained how aaron knew how to get to the irene dimension and snatch zane out of it.

how did aaron know that the combination of these magic items that he has and gets from after the warlock incident cause irene’s portal to open?

ITS SOMETHING I JUST.. hhh- it doesn’t bother me much how he did it, but the fact that it was never explained. she literally could’ve said “yeah aaron researched the amulet that killed his village and come across different information of irene while hunting down zane”

it bothers me because it’s a MAJOR plot point that just happens because.. it happens. because aaron has to be the one to give his life for aphmau, to give him some sort of relevancy to the plot.

aaron had the chance to open the portal as soon as he got the fucking magic thing from the travis’ dad, so why didn’t he do it right away? why did he have to wait until aphmau mentions how much she wants garroth back?

there’s so many different reasons too! aaron cld’ve chosen later on to do it because he was conflicted on maybe wanting to move on from his past by starting over again w/ but feeling guilty because he would never be able to avenge years of deep seated vengeance against zane + selfish desire to for once be happy at the cost of leaving one of aphmau’s loved ones to die but eventually changing his mind because he ultimately cannot let go of revenge and wants to give aphmau back her friend

maybe the key to using the portal requires months of preparation? maybe the key to using the key resides in his blood ties to shad?

THERES SO MANY EASY REASONS TO MAKE AARON’S CHOICES MAKE SENSE but because the show was probably rushed or jess’ skills in writing or simply just not giving a single crap it did not happen