#this isn't canon btw just a fun thought to play around with!

[naffeclipse]

Reading Apex Polarity made me wonder if William Afton became a siren when he fell into the water finishing off a mother siren. He "always comes back" in some way and i wonder if that's the case. That would be a huge threat to orca siren eclipse and y/n.

Pawpaw Willy as an old, half-rotten, purple-fleshed shark siren still prowling the Arctic waters after Eclipse's mother did what she could to kill him would be something he'd pulled. And as a final threat to Eclipse and his mate? Oh, Eclipse would make the ocean red with Afton's blood—what's left of it anyways. This madman took everything from Eclipse once. He won't allow it to happen again.

[bookishjules]

any thoughts on how Simon and Isabelle will be around their in laws, I know we got to see a bit of it in the later books but would love to hear your thoughts

anon i will take any chance to talk about rebecca lewis <33 yes, i know there are more inlaws in question, and i will get to them, but i have been dying to talk about becky hehe plus there really is so much more to explore on the lewis side--naturally, since neither elaine nor rebecca have interacted with izzy in canon (insane btw).

sidenote: i kinda love how izzy only ever grew up with brothers, but gained a sister through simon (or two really, since we really must count clary, but you know, we're talking technicalities here), and that for simon, it's the opposite.

anyway, speaking of sisters hehe i genuinely think izzy and rebecca would get along well. i think iz would be a good source of.. fun i guess? for becky. like a good reminder to let loose. and i think becky would be a good resource for izzy, someone with a bit more age and wisdom that she can go to, someone who isn't maryse. and it's not like becky would be the only one offering advice. i think izzy would remind her to put herself first sometimes, to chase what she wants and to be kinda.. undeniable i guess. and i think they would laugh together and i think they would go shopping together, despite their very different fashion senses, and i think becky would maybe make some clothes for izzy and i think they would bond over the matching simon-shaped swell in their hearts.

i think becky is a common presence at the sizzy household. movie nights or game nights, or becky-cooked dinners (she might also try train some better cooking instincts into izzy while she's at it hehe), at least for a while until life things happen etc. i also think, and i know this is thinking a decent way further down the line, but i also think she'll be one of their go-to babysitters, since i don't think she'll get settled with her own family until she's in her 30s, and because i just know she'll want to be part of every second of that.

okay okay i think i need to stop talking about rebecca now or i will end up writing a novel..

i think their relationship with elaine is a lot more.. delicate. they don't see her nearly as often. because they can't be honest about the shadow world, for one, but also because i think she still has a little bit of.. not exactly loose canon, but something akin to that, in her. i think she wishes she got to see her son and daughter in law more, but i think there's this underlying anger for izzy any time they go to elaine's place, because even though it was years ago, izzy's first introduction to her personality was still through the lens of her condemning her son and kicking him out of the house at 16. and i also think izzy's seen how that reaction has affected simon, both in the direct aftermath, and in the years after he got his memories back.

i know levi is dead and wouldn't have any sort of relationship with izzy, but i do think simon would have taken her to levi's grave at some point to introduce them anyway. maybe around their wedding?

i really don't feel like there's much to say about the lightwoods that we haven't already seen, or that can't be easily extrapolated, but in spirit of fairness..

jace and simon are very much jace and simon. it's kinda hard to imagine their relationship changing much more than it already has. the comfortability and familiarity between them, the playful jabs, etc. i do think jace has probably begrudgingly gone to simon for a second (or third after clary, ig) opinion on some plans or strategies etc. he's having to make as an institute head. and i definitely think simon has tried to teach jace dnd, and had him over to play video games more than once.

i think simon and alec's relationship goes through more change than what we've been privy to. i think they have their bonding time doing target practice or over coffee after putting the kids to bed. they talk about politics and work and the sda. they also definitely talk about jace being an idiot lol

when it comes to maryse.. bro maryse is so hard for me. their relationship with her would be much closer than that they have with elaine, of course. and i think in maryse's effort to be more present with her family, she also makes a point to have a personal relationship with simon. they don't really have all that much in common, but simon has always seemed like something of a mom charmer to me. he's funny and smart and knows how to be polite. plus he really really cares about izzy. and i think it means a lot to maryse to see that. call it projection or mother's love or a little of both, but it's nice to have that reassurance that her daughter won't have to go through what she did.

[rad-batson]

THIS IS FOR FANS OF CASSANDRA CAIN! PLEASE READ! I WANT YOUR THOUGHTS

(skip to the bottom if you just want silly headcanons about her :D)

Hello! So first, I want to thank everyone who read the Wayne pilot I made :) I appreciate your feedback, and I love you all.

As I'm preparing to post it on AO3, I decided to make a few (admittedly small) changes to the script, primarily around Cassandra Cain, because I haven't quite fleshed her out yet.

I don't have much experience with writing Cass, so I decided to do a bit of research on her yesterday, and wouldn't you know? I fell in love. 10/10. She didn't play a huge part in the pilot, but she will have a bigger one in the second episode, and there are a few things I think can or should be added so she doesn't feel too one-note.

There wasn't anyone who told me this, by the way. (In fact, I actually got some nice comments about her so thank you.) I just had it in the back of my mind while writing, and now that Cass is getting more screen time, I'm finding that my lack of knowledge might lead to mischaracterization.

SO TO COMBAT THIS, I MADE A GUIDE FOR MYSELF ON HOW TO WRITE CASS

Is this overkill? Probably Think of it as a silly headcanon list for my version of her. And I'm posting it here because I want your feedback before it's set in stone. (I know Cass isn't written well a lot, so this is my attempt to right these horrid wrongs.)

If you're going to give criticism, please be constructive. Tell me what you like or don't like. I'm all ears. Have fun :)

Writing Cass

(Btw I still gotta read Cass’s first Batgirl run by Kelley Puckett)

Has some sass, has a lot actually

Used to be awkward in social settings. she’s better at it when she’s with people so she can match their energy but she still prefers to just dip

Speaks in short-ish sentences, trying her best tho

I WILL BE ADDING THIS INTO THE PILOT, I JUST WANT TO KNOW TO WHAT DEGREE?? OR IS IT REALLY FINE

Mostly just relies on body language though

I WILL BE ADDING THIS INTO THE PILOT TOO, ESPECIALLY WITH THE ASL SCENE (BUT IT’S NOT REPLACING THE ASL)

also yes i know her using ASL isn't canon, it just works best for the scene, it would have been written the same whether she was in it or not, it is still a cute nod to fanon tho

Steph and Cass are extremely close BUT ALSO HAVE SEPARATE LIVES (I HAVE BEEN TOLD TO STRESS THAT AND I AGREE)

Messy, low-key gross. Bad-ish hygiene but she’s good at looking put-together so only those close know this about her (this is just my headcanon)

Often forgets bigger words so she occasionally uses the wrong one, she ALSO mixes up proverbs but no one corrects her because 1: it’s cute and 2: they don’t want to discourage her from speaking with them more casually (also my headcanon)

Cass: So I pulled the door off its…*makes motion with hand*…metal books. Steph: Do you mean hinge— Cass: Metal books.

Dick: Well that was a surprise. I didn’t know The Penguin would be here. Cass, nodding: Well life gives you grapes Dick: Wut Cass: You make grape juice. Get on the same book, Nightwing

I'M ON THE FENCE ABOUT ADDING THIS ONE BECAUSE IDK LET ME KNOW PLEASE

Is a cinnamon bun AND a little shit, it’s a balancing act

Production: She’s Wayne’s darling Princess Cass: *will break your fingers*

She does appear behind the camera crew to scare them on purpose, she thinks it’s funny, she likes seeing them freak out

She is super competitive, but she's always like "Oh I'm not that competitive" *proceeds to be very competitive*

Because she isn't super confident in her writing or speaking (or just uncomfortable communicating without seeing the other person's body language) she prefers to Facetime or simply reply to texts with selfies of her reaction. It is a thing now. when you need an honest opinion about an outfit, text a photo to Cass. She will either give back a photo of a thumbs up or a photo of a grimace and some not-so-flattering emojis

Her princess persona is her public cover persona in this show, parallel to Bruce’s “Brucie” and Dick’s “born for the cameras” thing

Is surprisingly vocal (and sometimes snippy) about her distaste with things but she mostly gets a pass because her morals align best with Bruce’s

Is most snippy when her family uses methods other than violence when violence is clearly the faster option, god they're such pacifists

Tim: *trying carefully to pick a lock* Cass: Just break through the wall? Tim: We can’t do that. We’re trying not to be noticed. Cass: Wimp

Bruce: Cass, why did you have to dislocate that man’s shoulder? Cass: I put it back. Bruce: That’s not the point. Cass: Fine, I’ll dislocate it again.

Is the best fighter, none of this “oh she’s the best fighter so when people do win against her, it makes them look cooler” thing, shut tf up, she could break their bones (not important to the show ofc but I need to add this because it is important in general)

Horrible at drawing, wretched (again a headcanon but I did see someone else mention it somewhere)

Also bad at writing, refuses to study to improve out of principle (i.e. she told Babs she doesn’t need to and now she refuses to admit Babs was right)

(AND SIDE-HEADCANON IF SHE IS HORRIBLE AT WRITING AND ACTIVELY HATED STUDYING HER ALPHABET THEN WHAT IF LIKE ONE DAY SOMEONE SAYS “hey can you grab me one of these files from last week’s case, it’s under M” SHE’S LIKE “fuck you, how could you do this to me” WHILE SEARCHING FOR M OR MORE SIMPLY *throws something at them*)

That's all I have right now. If you'd like to give me any recommendations, please do. I can't promise I'll add in every single one because this show is still about the whole Batfam, not just her, but I want to do her justice, and that definitely involves more fine-tuning on my part

OKAY THAT'S ALL LOVE YOU BYE

[emblemxeno]

Cindered Shadows Thoughts

Btw if you don't wanna see thoughts on my 3H playthrough block this tag #playing fe3h

-Finished it in exactly 8 hours, at least 2 of which could've been an email /s

-It is truly a microcosm of my foundational issues with 3H as a whole, besides two things

-One is that exploration isn't as tedious because Abyss isn't as big as the monastery, but I guess that isn't really a point in its favor since that's the whole point lol

-The second is I feel like Byleth's dialogue and text selections with the characters is a bit better. There's less instances of , what I describe as "characters extrapolating how Byleth feels in 1-2 text boxes before actually responding to what they said", which I swear is a cause for why the main game reads as if it's 10% longer than it's supposed to be.

-IMO unique map objectives don't save map design that's pretty uninteresting at the end of the day.

The first map's layout is cool! Until it gets reused in chapter 4, where it's only saving grace is a new objective utilizing prior knowledge established in chapter 1. Clever, but still a reuse in a game that infamously spams repeat maps. And outside of Chapters 2 (a slog where you defeat enemies in waves which isn't fun in FE) and 7 (a cramped hall where you have to brace against a monster boss), the other maps are reused from the base game, even chapter 3 is a slightly modified sealed forest.

-Combat itself is so slow, I'm really just debating turning off animations in general when tackling the main game. Not only do the animations take forever, but they don't look interesting, are surrounded by washed out textures and models, and-my personal biggest grievance-have absolutely no momentum nor weight behind them. The Tellius games, from what I've seen, yeah the animations take decades, but from a visual and sound design point, fighting feels significant. 3H also being sandwiched between Echoes (the gorgeous culmination of handheld 3D Fire Emblem presentation after half a decade) and Engage (which to me set a new, high bar standard for 3D FE presentation going forward) is an extremely unfortunate situation and I feel really sorry for it.

-Music still hits though, Shackled Wolves never gets old

-Another thing that 3H does that this DLC reminds me of is the amount of -Stand Around- cutscenes there are. It confused me that Engage gets the most heat for this, when this game does it more, due to more drawn out dialogue, simpler camera angles, stiffer models with fewer animations, and an absolutely diabolical background setup. For a game with an expository selling point, it repeatedly falls short at being engaging in a visual sense, with its scenes always being saved by the phenomenal voice acting. Almost always, at least. The scenes where the Wolves are getting their blood drained while they just stand there is so jarring and bad, it's nearly funny, when it's obviously not supposed to be given the lines, their delivery, and the accompanying music.

-The story from A to B is sweet I guess, but given that the devs said the Cindered Shadows version of events is basically non-canon to what happens in the main game sours me on it. Like, yeah it's cool that the Wolves can technically be capable enough to do it offscreen on their own, but then what's the incentive then for me to recruit them beyond the player's pre-established care? There's no narrative payoff in the grand scheme :/

-Also the whole plot is "what if Yuri, Rhea and somewhat Claude/Linhardt do everything and also these other goobers are here" which became really funny, because after a while even the lines had characters deliberating the sheer amount of coincidences and melodrama that was occurring. 3H style writing shoved into an 8 hour timeframe is accelerated, exhausting nonsense.

-Sothis not being in the plot is fine, because even though it doesn't make sense why she wouldn't comment, it's not like there's anything of value she would contribute beyond her usual schtick of "bratty banter, where are my memories, i sleep now".

Not having Jeralt though? Absolutely ridiculous. I don't like Jeralt as a character (he's my idea of pretty face and that's it), but there's no convincing me why he couldn't be here but Alois can. Love Alois! But he was a device used to have the Knights on standby and nothing more, which Jeralt could've done and it would've let him have a proper impact on the ordeal with Aelfric.

Speaking of which, revisiting this DLC had me thinking... wow this love of Aelfric is veering very close to cult-like, and it's cut short after chapter 5 because we don't go back to abyss once that map's done. I'm left with wondering how the Abyss denizens would feel after knowing that their caretaker was Like That™️, which is a completely foreign feeling to me when discussing 3H's narrative since the game normally never lets it be remotely unclear how the characters or the player should feel about anything ever. So... props for that for making me flex that part of my brain! You did it Fodlan, the creepy custodian plotline that was left dangling was great fridge horror material.

-The constant suspicion throwing and animosity towards Rhea and the church is tiring as usual, and also sometimes downright baseless. Like, at one point it's said that orphans are among those who are relegated to Abyss or otherwise ignored on the surface which is flat out not fucking true, Rhea literally takes in former bandit kids and Remire orphans, what are we doing here.

-Balthus has a cringe "fight the system line" meanwhile he's an irresponsible jackass pushing 30; Constance is written like a joke; Hapi's writing is a joke; Yuri is as incomprehensibly competent and storied as ever and I love that cuz it's nonsense.

-Overall, not godawful terrible, but nothing in it that's worth coming back to in my eyes.

[total-drama-brainrot]

I'll be honest all I can think of is P!Noah's family react to his tv persona.

Like, they know the littlest of their family is a little unhinged but they know he's not bloodthirsty so they're just a wee bit confused.

(And since Noah has, like, 8 sisters I just like to imagine the rest of their giant family is COMPLETELY normal. Like, they have their own individual quirks like anyone else but they're just normal people.)

If you can't tell one of my favorite dynamics is gremlin x just some guy but in this au it's multiple "just some guy“s and it's platonic.

And they've never actively troed to real P!Noah in either btw. They're perfectly content with their little adrenaline junkie baby brother.

Though it does make me wonder how they react in the P!Noah getting stabbed ask

No, see, this is a part of the AU that I actually have some thoughts for.

P!Noah's whole schtick wouldn't be achievable without the showrunners being aware that he's not really gonna do anything to permanently harm the other competitors- it'd be a PR nightmare to justify having an actual loose canon on the show risking the safety of the other teens. So, at the very least, the producers would know that a lot of his threats of violence or otherwise concerning behaviour are an act. (Or an exaggeration of his wilder tendancies.)

Thankfully, canon has its' own subtle little explanation for keeping someone so 'dangerous' around - Izzy's audition tape(s). In those, Izzy states that she'll do her best to "not be boring", which is probably the line that cemented her inclusion in the show. She's kept around as a conflict starter and an audience engagement device, since her antics are so entertaining to watch.

In a similar vein, in p!Noah's audition tape he explains that he's only auditioning for the show out of boredom, and he mostly sees the whole experience as a relatively quick cash grab - after all, he's wicked smart and plenty talented; it'd be child's play to outperform the other contestants (keep in mind, pretty much all of the OG cast were under the impression that Total Drama was going to be something more akin to a talent-based competition at an island resort). He explains that he's not really interested in the show itself, but it could be fun to spend his summer somewhere new where people don't know him or his eccentricities.

At this point in time, Noah's already got his gameplan planned and set; he's already presenting himself as the stoic and somewhat egotistical bookworm, which honestly isn't too far from his actual personality. Save for his psychotic tendancies, that is. Of course, Noah really is smart - smart enough to know that if he came in guns blazing to an audition tape for what is at it's core a social game, he probably wouldn't be picked.

And then the video is interrupted by one of his siblings, who points out that Noah's idea of "fun" generally consists of tormenting the people around him, providing examples of his more daring pranks from a seemingly endless list.

Then more of his siblings join in, all the while Noah stares towards the camera with a smug smile, which only grows wider - unnaturally wide, with hints of unusually sharp teeth poking from stretched-thin lips - as they share transgression after transgression. The tape ends without elaboration, nothing but a still frame of Noah's sinister smirk.

These pranks themself start off pretty tame sounding, like rigging water balloons full of vinegar above doorsteps. They quickly devolve into Noah cutting the breaks on his teacher's car after recieving an unfair grade, mowing down his classmates on a renegade bumper cart during a school trip to a theme park, and things along those lines. Chris, and more importantly the producers, feel a sense of sadistic kinship with the little psycho after hearing about his dangerous endeavours, and cast him on the spot.

So he's chosen to compete for a similar reason as Izzy; to wreak havoc in an entertaining way, and hopefully to kickstart drama.

His family are fully aware of this, though they don't fully anticipate the gleeful sort of vigour Noah has towards tormenting his castmates whilst remaining undetected... by the castmates. They do, however, expect Noah's sly grins and menacing smirks he throws towards the cameras before each successful prank he pulls off with Izzy. And the blank, uncannily empty stares he fixes towards the audience from the background of challenge footage - as if Noah himself can see through the lens into their souls.

After all, they've dealt with him for his whole life. They know his tricks, they've lived his tricks. The whole family has become accustomed to their baby brother who doesn't fully understand concepts like morality and empathy and, as such, can be a little silly sometimes. And they all know just how committed Noah can be to things he finds fun and interesting.

Their first bout of genuine surprise is during one of his later confessionals, when Noah gets too into the persona he's cultivated and starts portraying himself as violent and out for blood.

In Noah's head, he's just upping the ante of his metasocial game. For his family? They know he isn't nearly as violent as he's portraying himself as.

Sure, he's a little impulsive and thrill-seeking, but he's never had a fascination with blood or sharp objects of whatever else he tries to claim in the confessional. When Noah gets home from his stint on Island his siblings are lining up to berate him for his act - doesn't he realise how dangerous portraying himself as an unstable lunatic for the world to see is?

He justifies that anyone who believed his act is an idiot. It's reality TV - anyone with half a brain knows that things are exaggerated for entertainment purposes. He was just giving the editors something good to work with.

Noah is promptly dogpiled by eight irate older siblings.

(I'm also a big fan of "gremlin & just some guy", in this case it's gremlin & many exasperated some guys who aren't afraid of the gremlin. The rest of his family are perfectly normal people who just so happen to know how to deal with somewhat morally bereft hijinks and tomfoolery thanks to their youngest member. P!Noah has an incredibly healthy home life, he's just like that by design.)

As for the stabbing ask; I'm not sure if I want that little scenario to be "canon" to this AU, (and if it is, it'll be re-written with things like context in mind, as opposed to the shitty sleep-deprived drabble I wrote way back when) but if any of his family witnessed Noah being stabbed on international TV the whole brood would be storming the network's headquaters and/or chasing down the Jumbo Jet to get to him. He's The Baby™, you can't stab The Baby™. (Though, inwardly, they'd all agree that it was karma in action. Noah was tempting fate by playing around with knifes for so long, it was only a matter of time before someone got stabbed.)

[sakuraharuno156]

Hi! So while normally I don't indulge in anti... I can't help it, it's fun XD People are so sensitive about some things, but anyway... I'm on board with you since I realized later in life that yeah, Sakura is absolutely brilliant and Hinata is... SO not. I can't say I enjoy her character one bit anymore after she's done nothing but disappoint me. BUT! What I wanted to let you know was something else that kinda pisses me off.

Now we know that it's obvious that Studio Bones and the animators have this insane and somewhat misogynistic favoritism towards Hinata (because's quiet, submissive and kind), given how much to flanderize Sakura's temper to make her look like that's all she is.

Well I think even whoever made the video games favor Hinata too. I used to play this old-ass game called Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2. Very old lol but there were some joke/unique versions of characters.

Example: "Sealed Orochimaru" in reference to how he couldn't use any jutsu thanks to 3rd Hokage's Seal. And "Nine Tailed Naruto" with Naruto as the Nine Tailed Fox.

And then there's "Byakugan Hinata" I'm not kidding you, they have this... badass version of Hinata who is a competent fighter, has a strong disposition and seems to actually care about her status as a Hyuga. Even though in canon there hasn't been a single moment where Hinata's shown to be competent in fighting (she hasn't won a single battle in combat), strong (any bold moment was just so she could look cool in front of Naruto) or given a damn about her clan or her status given that she spends every moment on panels or screen gushing and thinking about Naruto.

Now here I am thinking... how pathetic is that?

That the creators of this game made up such a farfetched and dare I say fanfic-ed version of Hinata that you can find in any badly written fiction where Hinata is suddenly a badass when she's shown repeatedly in canon that she is NOT.

Hinata is no badass. She just isn't. I thought she had potential once upon a time, and then the fillers (which aren't canon) go out of their way to make her look badass when in canon, she isn't.

So it's not just the anime, the games were guilty of this too.

Okay I'm so sorry this got long lol, but I just thought it'd be neat to tell you this because it's a game many have forgotten because it IS pretty old lol. But... looking back on it, it disappoints me.

Sakura is the true badass female of Naruto. That's a fact.

Hey, there is nothing wrong with being an anti, as long as you are anti-fictional character and not anti-real preson, then you are good! 💕

So let me welcome you to the datk side, and let's go.

(BTW we clarified that it was supposed to say "studio pierrot", a mix-up, it happens ❤️)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

100% true and the worst part is that they don't see they do her an injustice.

Like studio pierrot made Hinata a healer:

But when it mattered she couldn't do anything, because she can't heal, so she looks just stupid.

Neji is dying? Better let him die. People are dying all around during war? Better not heal them because why would she? 🤷‍♀️

Or

They made her meet Naruto when they were children in The Last:

But then Naruto at 12yo calls her a "weirdo" or in that translation "a freak who won'teven look me in the eye"?

They make it seem like "she was always there for Naruto", but when Naruto is thinking about his first bonds she's nowhere to be found?

And I tried to like Hinata too, I even talked about it here, so i understand, but she's such an awfull character to be shown to younger audience that it's painful.

She's selfish and rude, her whole life revolves around a boy, her whole ambition is to be with Naruto and to cook and clean for him.

And now to the games, I had to Google it, because I haven't played it, but:

This is another injustice towards her, because it hypes her character out to be strong and hype her potential just to leave her weak and without accomplishing a thing.

And don't get me wrong, I know that games are supposed to allow the player to decide who wins and who loses based on players skills, but...

That game came out in 2004, by then the manga was at the end of OG Naruto, so looking at how the games are trying to portray her, we (as viewers or players) can assume that she will be strong someday, and yet she never was.

We were led to believe that her father will see her as strong and with "great potential", but Hanabi is still the one that will be the head of Hyuga clan, and Neji was the one who is the strongest (and we know it, it was stated).

"Surpassing the main branch" and "For the brilliant blood of the Hyuga to be flowing within a child who cannot become an heir what natural talent".

And then, Hiashi that had pure hatred (or at least the thought about them as a less than/slaves to main family) towards the branch PREFERRED TO TRAIN NEJI AND HINATA WAS THERE TO BRING THE TEA.

It's pure embarrassment. 🤷‍♀️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's an injustice to her character and I'M THE ONE WHO IS SAYING THIS, WHEN I HATE HER GUTS 🤷‍♀️

[kitkatopinions]

What made you don't like coco? Other than the Nazi allusion of course which is fucked. No hate btw, just curious of your opinions. I only follow RWBY proper and don't read the spinoffs, I don't give a shit about her either way.

So outside of her allusion being Coco Chanel, there are a couple of problems with Coco in the canon content of RWBY that made me think she was an over-rated character even before knowing about her allusion, reading Before the Dawn, and seeing the Chibi skits with her in them.

She told Velvet to just... not fight in season 2 when Vale was attacked by Grimm. It was a pretty serious thing where civilians could've been hurt, and it could've resulted in a much larger fight if it didn't get contained, but apparently Coco didn't care about that as much as she cared about being flashy with Velvet's weapon later for some reason.

Coco's fight with the Grimm is one of the worst fights of the first three seasons, she seemed very stationary and took like five minutes to take down one Grimm which she took her sweet time to do and like, clunkily clumsily hit it with her purse and kicked it in the crotch (which is such frat-boy humor tbh anyway.) And it was all while this really high energy song was playing and us as audience members were supposed to be like "whoa cool, look at the upperclassmen!" But like... Comparing Coco's fight to any other main character's early fights, she looks much less impressive. This wouldn't be so bad if we weren't clearly meant to think she's super cool in that moment.

Those were just a couple of small things that made me a bit annoyed with her because I just couldn't see the appeal in a character that didn't seem to take a Grimm attack seriously and then seemed to not be that good at fighting when that was like all there was to her besides a vague idea that she liked fashion and was confident, two things you could get from other characters easily.

Then there's the books. I didn't read the first one, but I read the first like fifteen chapters of Before the Dawn and tbh I thought Coco was so annoying. Here's why.

She's super judgmental towards people she doesn't even know. She basically decides she hates Sun and that he's a talentless loafer and a horrible leader the first time you ever see them interact, and every time she thinks about Sun, she takes the least generous outlook of him and is making assumptions and thinking rude things about him. She also judges a girl Reese for the way she dresses.

One of the things that Coco takes issue with in Sun was him needing help fighting off a group of like four powerful adults who he saw stalking a woman and tried to help with that to make sure she was okay, and Coco assumed he must've been like hitting on her or something? And also made fun of him for needing help instead of just beating them, which to me felt also hypocritical as well as judgmental considering we saw Coco be unable to hold her own against one teenager when she was fighting with Yatsuhashi in the Vytal Tournament, like Merc was literally running circles around them both, and then she's like 'oh the guy who went onto the finals must be so much worse than me because he can't take on four powerful adults on his own!"

She is super prideful tbh in a way that's icky for a future badge carrying law enforcement officer. Three things that come to mind is one time she stood up and people fell silent and she inwardly reflected on the fact that it felt good that people were afraid of her, another time she inwardly reflected that one of her problems with Reese was that she'd put things to a vote with her team whereas Coco just made choices and didn't need any other input, and one time she went to save a civilian and when he protested that she called him helpless Coco threatened to abandon the guy to get attacked and one of her friends proudly thought about how she was super sadistic and it was cool.

Another thing that isn't cool in a future badge carrying law enforcement officer is that Coco seemed to really detest having to follow... Any sort of rules, and in fact a 'clue' that one of her teachers was possessed or something was that the teacher was doing things like telling Coco she couldn't do things she wanted to do and didn't have the authority to just walk around doing whatever she wanted. I don't remember all the details, but there was this strong element of them not wanting accountability or rules and being frustrated every time they had to follow rules.

Also I can't remember anything specific right now, but she kind of thought some weird stuff about people from Vacuo sometimes that made me be like ??? and in the first book (though I haven't read it) she does things like name the nightvision glasses Velvet gave her 'BunnyVision' which is a yikes, and especially coupled with her Nazi allusion, it makes her venom towards Vacuo born Asian Faunus Sun seem more than a little suspicious.

So yeah, those were reasons I collected to not like Coco from the book. Then there's Chibi.

In the Chibi skits, Coco calls Velvet "Bun Bun," which just makes their already uncomfortable dynamic worse and feels very microaggression-y.

In all Coco's skits, it was painfully obvious that whoever wrote them really really REALLY wanted EVERYONE to think she was just so so so cool. Like, they read like 'everyone clapped' reddit stories, and they specifically had like 'cool' rwby characters desperately trying to be as cool as she is, and everyone was fangirling over Coco who just couldn't care less. And it was just super annoying, like the more they hype up Coco and try to convince me that she's cool, the more that I look at her stupid Nazi-themed outfit and her bad personality and go "Huh?" Like maybe instead of trying to convince me to like her, the writers should've made a better character. XD

Aaaand the last reason I don't like Coco is because she has some of the most annoying fans in the entire rwby fandom. The glorification of Coco as some girlboss queen and 'great lesbian rep' who just cannot be removed from the RWBY lineup is just wildly off the charts. One time I made this post that was like "shouldn't we want more from our queer representation than a Nazi-inspired character? Shouldn't we be trying to get Rooster Teeth to retire Coco for the sake of the Jewish fans who are rightfully uncomfortable and tell them to make Velvet openly queer so she can head this extra content instead?" And people got furious with me, and I think I might've even got death threats for that. Also, the amount of times I've seen Coco stans attack Jewish people for complaining about her being based off of a Nazi... Like the response is always "you just hate lesbians," to Jewish queer people! Also, this is less important than the antisemitism but a Coco stan once got annoyed that my sister said not only should Coco never make fun of what another girl is wearing but that it was bold coming from someone who also doesn't dress in a way that's traditionally considered fashionable, and they started picking apart my sister's fashion sense and appearance. I'm sure there are some fine people who like Coco, but on a general whole they tend to be bad news, and the venom they defend their Nazi best girl with severely put me off of the character even more than normal.

So yeah, outside of the allusion, it's a combination of her just being not well done in her first appearance and yet framed as really good, her having a bad personality in the book I read where I didn't think she was fit to be a badge carrying law enforcement officer, her Chibi skits trying to make her the coolest of the cool in a really forced way, and her fans sometimes being terrible people. XD

[halorocks1214]

okay so i just steamrolled thru detective pikachu returns over the past 2 days because i was sick and had nothing else better to do and right after finishing it i went into the tags and WOWIE the negative reception is very large!! i do understand and even agree with some of it but i just felt the need to get my own thoughts down (again. sick with nothing better to do) so take a peek under readmore for very typical elongated halo ramblings about his fave video game series

for the record i never played the first game (only watched a few clips of it on youtube even) but i did go see the movie in theaters. just figured i'd mention this ahead of time so my favoritism is known and to prevent myself from coming off as a perfectly unbiased reviewer

BEWARE THE SPOILERS BTW

(post-editing note: it be long under here, you have been warned)

to start off YEAG this game is not worth 50 bucks! the story's pacing is all over the place and is very basic, the graphics are not particularly well refined, the characters' expressions do not fluctuate as much as they should (professor gordon in particular ;-; i felt so bad for him), and the voice acting outside of merloch and detective pikachu himself are kinda phoned in! it felt like an early 2000s 4kids dub for real. even the gameplay aspects themselves were rather meh in presentation; the button hitboxes were annoying to deal with and as cool as i thought the "main" mechanics were they were incredibly clunky and the tension they tried to build up in the "solving the case" climaxes was just Not It. there was absolutely no reason for the loading/pauses to take that long

(the pokemon gimmicks were okay tho. i would die for growlithe)

however, this isn't a problem specific to this game. while i enjoyed scarlet it was definitely not 60 bucks material (and when i went back to it for the teal mask i even went "good lord, did it always run this badly?"). i gotta give credit to detective pikachu, at least this game ran properly for the most part and never crashed on me lmao

while that doesn't negate the criticisms i previously mentioned i simply wanted to say that this is going to be a problem for as long as pokemon keeps making money. this isn't me finger-wagging at anyone in particular (i certainly have no room to talk, i did say i liked scarlet), i just wanted to say: yeah, pokemon has been A Mess

"but halo!" you cry. "you talked like the negative reception was overblown! what gives the giant negative paragraph??"

because much like scarlet, i still really enjoyed this game sdfjnsdk. how can i say that with confidence, though, when i largely agree that there were many, many issues to be had with its performance?

the word of the day: expectations

and perhaps this is where my bias comes into it. whenever i play a spinoff game (like snap or pokepark for instance), i don't really go into it for mindblowing gameplay and stories, i do it for the same reason this series has kept me enraptured for over a decade of my life:

the pokemon themselves!!

there are SO MANY little things that the regular games don't go into, and while i have my own headcanons and OCs i can play off of, it is so much fun to see actual canon material acknowledge certain things you've only ever theorized about!!

the whimsicott were so fun to watch float around, the article asking where a furret's tail began and ended made me laugh out loud, the fact that they went hard into the "slowpoke tails are eaten as food" thing, and the "let's not get into that right now" jokes about venonat hunting other pokemon and dusknoir eating souls LIKE. i LOVE when pokemon goes into its more "serious" aspects. i know main series games do it too occasionally but outside of offhanded mentions or pokedex entries, do they go this hard into them? if they do and i'm just stupid pls tell me about it i'll eat that shit up

being reminded of less-talked-about pokemon is always a plus and how can you not pop off when you see one of your faves included in the story? (INTELEON AND WOOPER I'LL KICK THEIR ASSES 4 U) it's simply fun immersing yourself into the world of pokemon and getting a glimpse of what it would be like to have pokemon walking down the street and how that affects everyday life! maybe the story is basic, but it served its purpose and i had fun going along with it!

perhaps it's just my mental illness talking, but walking around and seeing all the pokemon and THEN doing the quiz girl's quizzes was actually kinda nice! even if the puzzles weren't that hard, i can't lie and say i didn't pump my fist when i guessed where the mystery was going like with cramorant swallowing the jewel or how the passimian statues needed to hold different berries. overall, i just enjoyed being reminded of how much i know and what i love about this series

also, the ways they incorporated the movie were pretty baller. i liked how they didn't just do a repeat of the mewtwo plot from the movie and let me tell you, even tho i called it early on, i liked that my suspicions about the aurora drop being deoxys were confirmed!! (i suppose it's not that hard to guess bcs what other pokemon comes from space, but i just recently finished playing omega ruby again and i normally don't think about deoxys a lot so LET ME HAVE THIS)

plus "i heard they made a movie about the R case" MADE ME SCREAM. i thought they were just going to ignore the movie and do their own thing but then they DID THAT. incredible. you can call my expectations low (which is valid) but holy fuck

so the TLDR for those who want this: if you want a sweet but cliche game exploring the world of pokemon with a lot of funny moments + worldbuilding, then this game is perfect for you. if you want a game with a groundbreaking story with graphics to boot, then yeah, you're not gonna find it here. i've even seen people say their own nostalgia of the original spinoff wasn't enough to get them to enjoy this game, so take my words with a grain of salt

i would say just watch compilations of the game on youtube, but not every youtuber is gonna go fully exploring the game for all of its little details, so if you care about that kind of stuff, buying the game is your best bet. also if you don't care about that kind of stuff then you should just ignore the game altogether etc etc anYwAY

as for a TLDR for the TLDR: new pokemon snap is goated and i would say a more enjoyable experience than this game esp if you didn't like it so PLEASE buy it the game's only 30 bucks and you can throw treats at pokemon PLEASE it has so many sidequests and interactions you can partake in PLEASE i prommy i won't bite PLEASE stick your fingers in my enclosure PLEASE PLEASE PLE

[the-music-maniac]

I'm relatively new to ORV, I got into it a while back and then ran out of time to continue (the novel is long AF lol) but as I'm getting back into it, I've realized that ORV is one of the most main character centric fandoms I have ever encountered before.

And tbh I think that's why I've been having so many issues getting invested in ORV fanworks. Specifically shipping ones. It's super rare for me because usually I love reading fanfics.

Before I start talking about my thoughts I just wanna make a disclaimer that I'm not trying to attack anyone. You should interact with media and create stuff however you wish to! Lord knows that I'm not exactly unbiased about my blorbos (I would die for them and you can tell from my posts) but I just kinda wanna talk about this because it's such a unique experience. Never before have I encountered a fandom that is so centered on one character.

Like I hope y'all know what I'm talking about and that I'm not just talking out of my ass. Everything in the ORV fandom is super Kim Dokja centric. On one hand, I really do get it, he's a great character. He's not my favourite character but he's a lil rat bastard and I think he's so fucking neat. And how centred the storyline and moreover the people in the story are on Kim Dokja is to a certain extent, canon. He's their leader and also the person keeping them safe. He's the one who reached out in their darkest moments and pulled them to the light. And he's a traumatized little bitch. Oof. A certain amount of hero worship and protectiveness is valid.

What I can't really wrap my head around though, is the lack of development between other members of the group in a lot of fanworks. This is specifically fandom interpretations of the characters btw, I haven't finished the story fully, so I can't speak on how they are canonically but I have seen people's stories and thoughts. And this isn't always the case of course, I have read fics before where our protagonists all appear to have relations with each other outside of their care for Dokja but it... wasn't as much as I was expecting. Which is weird to me because ORV is super good at writing like. Well written and thought out characters that would be super fun to play with in writing. In developing connections and care for each other - creating a found family. At the beginning they're all tied in by the need for survival and circumstance, they don't even necessarily like each other, and so of course they all gravitate to Dokja, that's to be expected, that's who they're familiar with. But eventually I expect they would learn to care about each other too, y'know? It's difficult to not get to know each other when you're living together daily, fighting alongside each other to survive. I don't believe that they wouldn't develop care for the other members of the group, and people who care about each other don't tend to genuinely threaten each other anytime Dokja gets hurt, especially when it's not anyone's fault - like usually it's in response to one of them "not doing enough to protect him" which makes no sense to me. You don't guilt trip people you care about for things outside their control. Moreover, Dokja is his own person - he will do what he will do and you can try and prevent it because you care about him, sure, but it's also unreasonable for others to expect anyone to be his keeper enough that they get angry when Dokja gets hurt due to his own actions or to situations outside of their control. People in general also don't have their entire character and world centered on loving one person. There are fics I've read where all the characters don't even seem to have any hobbies outside of spending time with Dokja, and I say this because they all literally fight, tooth and nail, over Dokja's time. It feels out of character to me. And yet this characterization is also so common???

I don't usually mind fics that so clearly have a bias towards one character because it's valid to write what you wanna see, but I think it's how saturated the fandom is with those types of works that makes me feel weird. It makes me stop seeing all the characters as individuals in their own right. Having no wants or needs or hobbies outside of Dokja makes it seem like they're just accessories to the story of Dokja's life. The story itself becomes less compelling to me, because it becomes less of a narrative of how Dokja has helped these people and their responses, and more of a world that bends over backwards to worship this one character, using all the other characters as tools to do so. Because if this is meant to convey gratitude and love, its illogical to how it usually works. Specifically in that, you don't lose your own identity or your connections to other people because of it. And I find it hard to interact with this level of saturation of those tropes because at a certain point, I start losing sight of the canonical writing of these individual characters as their own people. I start losing the idea I have in my mind of their canonical personalities. And I don't like that feeling. And because Dokja also isn't my favourite character in this story - I still like him, don't get me wrong - I start feeling indignant on the behalf of all the other characters that are not getting development BC of the concentration on Dokja.

I also don't like it when the banter goes away. Like you can care about people and still enjoy messing with them, I'm not sure why caring about dokja translates to hero worship??? I annoy my friends all the time, and they do it back. It's fun. Like that thing the group does where they can't see Dokja's face and just unanimously decide to tell him he looks bad when he asks about it? That's peak friendship. Peak messing with your sibling energy. As far as I've seen Dokja isn't self conscious about that either (then again I haven't read the entire story yet), so like. What gives? It's canonical that they mess with Dokja - but a lot of fics just get rid of that element.

I also find it especially hard when it comes to shipping, specifically Joonghyuk and Dokja. The reason why I love Joonghyuk and Dokja's dynamic so much in the first place is because they view each other as equals. It would be very easy to place either Joonghyuk or Dokja onto a pedestal - but they don't do that to each other. They know each other pretty damn well and they care about each other even though they're so in denial about it. And you know that thing they do where they act like the other is the worst person in existence and then negates it all by repeatedly devoting themselves to saving them? That's my shit. That whole "you're so fucking annoying but if you died I would kill everything in this room and then myself." The whole "what was that?" "Affection." "Disgusting. Do it again." THAT SHIT. I love that about them. And like the platonic relationships, a lot of shipping works get rid of that type of banter when they shift to a romantic relationship. Like yeah, sweet talk and honesty is important. You should let your partner know you love them. But that's not gonna be all there is. I don't see a need to get rid of the banter because as the story goes on, it's clear that even in canon, eventually the harsh words they say to each other stop being genuine because their actions negate the words. They don't mean them in the first place, so why would that banter change once their care shifts from a platonic to a romantic one? And I could perhaps be okay with that shift from banter to sweet talk if it was MUTUAL, but too often I see a situation where Dokja continues to insult Joonghyuk but he doesn't return it in kind. Joonghyuk is very blunt about his love for Dokja - which is good - but Dokja doesn't do the same back, and for some reason that's fine, and then Joonghyuk also no longer has those very human moments of annoyance when Dokja does some stupid shit. Like I guess I could understand the characterization of Dokja being emotionally constipated cause he's kind of a traumatized control freak and I can see how getting him to talk about his feelings is like trying to get a cat into a bathtub, but it's not like Joonghyuk isn't also like that? It's not really as much of a compelling relationship if one person is telling the other everything, giving care in words of affection and the other person isn't returning it. And you could depict that returned care in other ways, absolutely, but again I don't see it in other ways either, because those stories are still so Dokja centric.

Another factor is that I find that I can't really like a ship in a work where one of the characters is elevated to a point where they can't do anything wrong. Where their own needs are always at the forefront and their partner is always catering to it. Like a relationship is a give and take. We focus a lot on Dokja's trauma - which I love, that man needs sO MUCH THERAPY and it's an interesting topic to explore - but we don't focus on the amount of shit Joonghyuk has had to go through. I very rarely see a shipping fic where Dokja tries to address Joonghyuk's trauma or his hurt. Physical hurt sure, maybe, but that other shit that Joonghyuk bottles up?? Never talked about. My man has had to keep living lives over and over again. Has had to see people he love die, make hard choices. There is no way he's not traumatized to shit, and I'd like that to be a focus some of the time, y'know? Moreover, of all people, Dokja would be the one to understand him the most? One, he's the only one who really knows the whole truth about Joonghyuk, or as much of it as you can, and two, they both have taken on very burdensome leadership roles in a situation where few would be able to understand their position - it makes sense for them to lean on each other mutually, and so far there's a very prominent skew, only an exploration on one side.

And I pretty much haven't seen a shipping fic with Dokja and Joonghyuk where Joonghyuk has recieved any form of platonic comfort from the other characters. I've seen plenty for Dokja. Where he gets comforted/helped by both Joonghyuk and all the other characters. But not for Joonghyuk. If y'all have any recs where Joonghyuk has that, PLEASE recommend it because I need. And sure, it can be argued that Joonghyuk is a hard man to know considering his prickliness but regardless, he DOES have canonical platonic relationships. People who care for him. Who would be protective over him if he were to get hurt. That is not something only Dokja has, and yet it's something I only ever see written for Dokja. Y'all need to remember that technically Dokja doesn't act like any less of an asshole sometimes than Joonghyuk. He's more outwardly approachable sure, but he's not necessarily sweet 100% of the time - he has grit and he's a rat bastard and that's my FAVOURITE FUCKING PART ABOUT HIM. The fact that he's a rat bastard and the fact that not everyone likes him. His interactions in a world where he does have to make hard choices or say things that put people at odds, or hurts others when he didn't mean to. I love that about Joonghyuk too. They suck and they both have so much capacity to be kind despite all the shit they've gone through, but they're not able to see that in themselves and they do bad things because they have to, and I think they're so fascinating.

Y'know out of all of this, I think what cracks me up is, knowing Dokja's character, he would be absolutely appalled at how centred all of it is on him only. Like. Like that's literally the opposite of what he wants 🤣🤣. Like I get that makes people want to do it more because he deserves it and whatnot which is valid but like. He would be quite disgruntled 🤣🤣🤣

[holopossums]

Not to be pushy or anything but could you PLEASE do a reference for a non-canon mutant Crow from your Radiant Souls au? Also as a thought from a huge fan of your I got a feeling that if Crow did get mutated he would either be a half falcon mutant (basically him looking like a Harpy) or a wolf mutant or a turtle mutant. But whatever non-canon mutant you decide Crow should be/look like is completely fine by me. BTW I am sincerely a HUGE fan of your blog!!!!

I would love to, really I would, but I sadly have way too much on my plate atm. I'm a pretty busy guy and I'm often tired. I work ~30 hrs per week now for a relatively low wage and have been struggling to balance my life and manage my plethora of hobbies. This is the first time in weeks that I've had 2 consecutive days off of work.

That doesn't mean that I might not draw it in the future, just that I'm tired as hell right now and haven't been given sufficient time to truly rest in a long while. (Last time I was given multiple days off, I moved back out of my parents' place earlier this month. I've been trying to use my off time wisely.)

I'm only just starting to try to be active again on here, so I'd appreciate if more isn't added to my plate. But I do hear you and if I ever find the time and energy, maybe I'd give it a go! Playing around with mutation designs is always fun.

[night-market-if]

What was your 'small' idea for The Night Market?

Gosh it appears I have missed quite a few tense emotions these past days. To jump on the 'love' bandwagon, I just want to say that I fell in love with The Night Market because of the story (you caught me a few times with some unexpected twists!), the characters, and that it is unique in the IF world. I am so so happy there are *no stats* and that I can, instead, choose to go 'left' or 'right' and experience what happens in the world that way. I absolutely adore that your characters have lives and relationships outside of the MC. The MC is the foundation upon which all of them have been able to live these lives and it feels like everyone, including the MC, is just finally recognizing this (except Mal, he's pretty on-the-ball for his condition). It's such a wonderful story dynamic. Gonna M&M simp here for a sec: I'm very excited to see how these two relationships develop around the MC (romance or not). Just so so in love with the juxtaposed dynamics between the one who would protect the Night Market at all costs versus the one who thought they could protect the Night Market by sacrificing it. BTW you cannot convince me that the canonical name for the MC isn't 'Lux'. ;) I'm a mom of one and cannot do the writing I want to do (hubby sleeps on his days off so I never get a break) so I have no idea how you accomplished all this with *four* of your own! You are a Goddess among mothers. I mean that sincerely. You have my adoration and full support. Take all the time you need for edits. I'm fully in the quality over quantity camp. I'd rather a game take the time it needs to be polished and complete over a messy, rushed release. Tying into the above, I remember reading way back that you stated all your ideas start out small. If you remember, what was your 'small' first idea for The Night Market before you started writing for it?

Hey anon!

Thank you for your kind words. Especially as another mother. It's something else trying to find time with kiddos underfoot, as you well know. LOL!

Your observation about Mal and Milo made me so excited. That is literally what I have set them up to be and not a lot of people talk about that. These two men have a very similar job when it comes to the Night Market, but their brains work so very differently. It's going to be a lot of fun to write that and see it play out. I think first and foremost, those two have respect for each other, but they rarely attack a problem the same. They were most of the on opposite ends of a job because of that.

As for the small idea. Lanterns. I just loved the idea of a market out there that had lantern light strung between buildings. It stuck out in my mind for months. I even put it in a D&D campaign I was doing at the time with Caliban. And then it just kind of grew from there. But in the end, it was a world that allowed me to throw any time or setting or situation at and see what ended up sticking. Having a nexus point of all realities provides a lot of opportunities to play with.

Thank you for such a cool ask!

[castlebyersafterdark]

you are never too sappy! (congrats btw! + big love to the mike to your will... i see that blue heart and height difference mention 😉) the balance works so well so far. like a little glimmer of you. especially as its always relevant through a byler prism, so youre not making it all about you at all. i cant believe how cosy it is here. i genuinely await your writing like i would a new published novel hahaa. i also was going through my likes and saw an anon post on spicybylerpolls from february. it mentioned the sears catalogue and byler's fantasies and i had adored it at the time. rereading now, i'm like... VINNY?!?!? hahaha maybe it's not you but it's textbook and the style of writing and openminded humbleness felt very you. love.

especially love the self-acceptance journey you seem to be on here, allowing yourself nerdery, allowing yourself spice in byler forums, keeping a healthy eye on your online habits! + growing to love yourself more through will perhaps, keeping up with your writing, learning you kind of love cringe roleplay sex in fic?!?!? hehehehehe and also realisations that you may or may not want to share! its all gold dust - and honestly, this feels like blogs as i knew them growing up, like wordpress, blogspot, etc. proper old blogs where it's just right mix of artistic and personal.

x

Thanks, I feel so happy being here, everyone is so sweet 😘 Saving the dash from my personal rambles:

I didn't want to ruin it by changing things up too much. But, I do kinda want to talk about whatever here and post the occasional non-Byler stuff, still mostly the normal fandoming and spicy posting like I've been doing. Keeping the chill vibes. This does feel very much like a different type of blogging than I'm used to. It's cool. Even if people get sick of me or lose interest, I'll pretend that's not the case hahaha. Corny as hell, but it feels safe here.

Incredibly flattered that you look forward to my writing! I've always wrote fic and original pieces and scripts and loved it but had zero confidence. Did it anyway. I still have a lot of growth to work through with my writing when I decide to post polished fics, but that's fun now, feels different. I have so much in the wheelhouse. It'll fuel me to season 5 and beyond, I'm pretty sure.

That's funny you mention the spicypolls account, because I HAD to go searching through their archive and I found that post - wow, I see what you mean. The typing style certainly could make you think it's me, and it was an excellent post but full disclosure - I've never sent anything into that blog before! I only started this blog in May (whoa! 2 months?? Feels a lot longer!) and I genuinely only lurked and never interacted anywhere on the spicy corner before I converted this account, even on anon.

And I never thought I'd learn things about myself through something as genuinely kind of silly as what is, at its core, an explicit head-canon and writing blog for a fictional fandom ship. Hahahaha. But here I am. Feeling a little more confident in embracing my vulnerabilities and weirdness. Weirdness isn't bad! It's stuff I've known but it's different when you just live your life, instead of actually talking about it outside of your brain. Helps me feel less embarrassed after posting here sometimes - I look back over what I post and just cringe on occasion but power through a little easier lately!!

And ohhh it always comes back to the cringe roleplay, doesn't it 😏 Which has been a fun exercise in letting myself play around and try new things in general, with writing. With real life. Be a little weirdo. Find your people. Stay authentic.

Thanks for this one, it's a little self-indulgent, rambling about myself, but it made me smile. ❤️ Incredibly corny, but this is the kind of environment I think I've always been searching for online, but looked in all the wrong places. So, ughhhh. Finally.

[thenationaltreasuregazette]

Schrodinger's Sequel: A Treatise on Ignoring Book of Secrets

At this point you may have noticed that sometimes...I ignore Book of Secrets' existence in my analysis of the first National Treasure.

Why?

It's not just because I don't like it (although I don't). It's also because I don't think you necessarily should consider later works when analyzing a piece of media, particularly if you're looking at the development process or the "how we got here" of it all. Or at least, you shouldn't have to.

This blog is not the first place I've noticed that I have a slightly different approach to media analysis that some other fans when it comes to sequels, and the way that an ongoing narrative is viewed over time. I've wanted to dig into it a little more, so let's do it!

Btw, this is not intended to be an argument for or against any particular reading style, only an exploration of my thought process.

Reading Styles

The two "reading styles," I'm going to call them, are thus:

First, there's the retroactive reading style. In this style, anything that happens in a later installment of a multi-work franchise retroactively affects the past works in that world.

To use my very least favorite example in the whole wide world:

Avengers: Age of Ultron reveals that MCU Clint Barton, (Hawkeye) has a wife and three kids who live on a farm.

The retroactive reading style would say that because of this new development Clint always had a farm family, including in previous installments where this wasn't included or hinted at. Therefore, a reading of the preceding Avengers movie should include space (at least in the back of your mind) for the farm family.

And that just doesn't make sense to me because that's not how the story was created or experienced.

In what I'm going to call the developmental reading style, the story canon only really exists up until the work in question.

To take the AoU example again, I think an analysis of Avengers (2012) should take into account the events of the Phase 1 Marvel movies (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Iron Man 2) but not only does it not need to take into account the events of later films, I think that's almost counterproductive to understanding how the story is working as a narrative machine.

The farm family did not exist when Avengers was written. It was not a consideration when Jeremy Renner was making decisions about how he was going to play the Clint Barton character. Maybe it was floating around as a fun fact (Hey, did you know in the Ultimates comics Clint has a family that Natasha murders in cold blood because she's a double agent? Maybe we'll do that. Hey, did you know that in the comics Natasha has a nemesis/adopted younger sister who's another Black Widow agent? Maybe we'll do that.) but it wasn't a part of the text of the story.

If you're writing a fanfic about Clint and Laura (the farm wife) then sure, imagine her into wherever you want. Have at it; it's your playground. But if you're analyzing how Avengers works as a film, how it creates its narrative and brings together disparate c-tier comics franchises into a single cohesive story (which was unheard of at the time)...then the farm family isn't bringing anything to the table because it was not on the table.

In the same way, if I'm looking at Book of Secrets I'm going to include the events, themes, and characterization of National Treasure in my thinking. If I'm looking at National Treasure—not the National Treasure cinematic universe, but National Treasure (2004)—I'm generally not.

This is especially true when I'm looking at how a story came to be. For example, how the 2003 script became National Treasure. BoS doesn't factor in because it wasn't a part of the initial calculations/art/alchemy that made the first movie what it is.

Exceptions

There are exceptions, of course, particularly when a specific twist, reveal, or piece of knowledge was known from the outset and integral to the development of the story as a whole, for example...

Spoilers for The Good Place season 1 and Steven Universe incoming

...I would read an early episode of The Good Place with the context that it's really The Bad Place, because that knowledge is fundamental to how the story is being built and told. And I would include the Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond reveal in a future rewatch of Steven Universe because again, that concept was fundamental to the telling of the story—and of the tellers' desire to tell the story in the first place. The clues are all there for you to see, once you know what you're looking for.

Threads

These kinds of stories are the exception though, not the rule. Outside of major milestones like that, most ongoing stories are built from the ground up. Each entry creates material that can be drawn on for the next, threads that start out as extraneous little pieces of worldbuilding that can be pulled on and incorporated into future works.

As much as it was a meme at the time, Avengers: Endgame was not planned from the beginning. Maybe on a very conceptual "We'd like to build to an adaptation of the Infinity War storyline" level, but no. Remember, they didn't know that Iron Man (2009) wasn't going to tank like most other superhero movies of the time. And they didn't know if multiple separate movies even could be brought together under the same banner, and if audiences would go for that. And they thought Age of Ultron was a good idea.

Conclusion

My point is, basically, that I don't tend to consider future installments to a franchise as fundamentally relevant to understanding a work of fiction--regardless of whether or not I personally like them--because that's just...not how I experience ongoing narratives.

Is this an fancy excuse to ignore sequels I don't like? I mean yeah, probably, sometimes. But also, if I'm ignoring Book of Secrets it's also maybe that I've kinda sorta forgotten it exists?

I've polled a few friends about this, and so far they're all said they do the first thing. What about you?

[t4tpumpkinduo]

hello gm i just thinking abt age things dsmp style and well....

i've seen multiple people draw up their cq as like. 8-10 yrs older than cclingy and uhm. huh? huh? he's like. their slightly older peer 😭 both point blank and narratively

we have canon conformation that ccling are minors on account of the eyes that we have and the ears that we use. but if you wanna be difficult abt it the exile contract plainly states that cdrm wants to keep tommy in there 'until he's 18.'

which. uhm. first of all, hope he boils alive in a giant pot. secondly, that makes ctommy at THE VERY LEAST 17 at that point, logically younger. he never ages out of the exile contract. both ctommy and ceret confirm it took place over Multiple Months, and he must've not been in the age range to have that happen, as neither the conditioning + torture AND the subjugation of nlm are ever talked abt with having a nearby end in sight. (cdrm melt alive in boiling acid challenge. btw. )

anyways cq is likely 18-19 at the start of the dsmp because he talks abt having JUST gotten out of juvie. like this JUST happened. you don't say you JUST got out of smthing if it was 8 or 6 or 3 or even 2 yrs ago 😭 cuz it. Just Happened. what age do you need to be to age out of juvie. are you saying ccling were 10 yrs old in the beginning streams. cmon man.

on the topic of character ages, imo cschlatt my sweet lil princess is likely 21-ish bcs smplive is explicitly canon. how can he be a geezer when he and wilbur are canonical situationship, when he and connor are treated like peers. cclingy see him in the same admire box they see cwilb in like 😭 how would tht be possible if he was 93. and the geezer jokes are just jokes IN CANON. you guys are just ableist w no media literacy.

if anything i think it makes more sense for ppl to have hced cwilb as older but god forbid our blorbo be anything but the youngest possible age so h(i am forcibly removed off stage). anyways that said i Do think it makes sense for him to be 24ish. the smplive-isms mean he's likely still 3ish yrs older than schlatt and the way he acts is super. postgrad daddy issues burnout guy who can't get his anti psychotics filled. the narratives you understand. it makes sense for him to be young.

he does however have a whole ass old ass son tho? 😭 and i DON'T WANT TO HEAR 'ohhh what if fundy ages different what if he-' FUNDY DOESN'T. he confirms he's 22 in later streams and he's on equal standing w niki at the start who's like 18. he doesn't show any kind of rapid onset age growth on screen at all despite multiple years passing so WHY would that suddenly stop being a factor as soon as the cameras turn away. be serious.

(my hc abt that is cfundy got whisked away/went missing to vault hunters as a v v young toddler, [he knows who iskall is and is actively friendly w him, he even invites him to the dsmp!], and came back way older cuz time there works differently and it REALLY wasn't that long for cwilb maybe a couple horrible grief stricken years. and the gap and strain isn't smthing they're able to work through v well because. how can you be normal. abt any of that. yr dad coddles and talks down to you because he still sees you as his little boy because How Can't He but also yr a grown ass man and yr own person with yr own thoughts and wants and opinions. and yr still so deeply desperate his attention and his approval. he didn't raise you. and he loves these other kids way more than he could ever love you. let's kill ourselves over this btw.)

anyways idont really have a point to this i just like yapping ^__^ 👍ppl can have their own interpretations it's whatever do whatever who cares i don't begrudge that but like. idk it's v interesting how narrative age Does play a factor into sm things and the few clues left around fr character's canonisms are very fun to discover.

[sneezemonster15]

https://at.tumblr.com/oxydiane/wait-kishimoto-accidentally-confirmed-trans/evalldm8en5f

😮‍💨

Hahahahhahah.

I am wheezing. Wow. These kids. It's like a little fairy tale they imagine for themselves and then they live in it.

Okay so they said this :

"meaning that in the case of naruto’s kids they’d have to have grown in his womb to have those markings which confirms naruto as dfab and also confirms hinata as dmab as they’re her kids too. if you were referring to them being Naruto’s kids, then the correct pronoun would be ‘his’. But no, it pretty much has to be him and Hinata, with Hinata being trans too - Himawari has physical characteristics similar to Hinata. And the show and manga both confirmed it by having the kids exist with the markings - that is itself the confirmation, regardless of if Kishimoto meant it to be (which he likely did not - he probably forgot the specifics of his own rules and just wanted the kids to look cool). But according to the universe rules he created, that’s how it has to be."

So Naruto grew his kids in HIS womb because otherwise his kids won't have the whiskers (not whiskers btw, just marks). So apparently the 'universe rule' that Kishi made, according to these kids, basically 'implies' Naruto carried the kids which is why he is trans and his kids have whisker marks. They can't see that this universe rule is simply their assumption without any validation in canon. Heh. And apparently Hinata is also trans. Why? How? Himawari had physical characteristics that are similar to Hinata.

Umm yeah, she is her daughter. That's how genetics work. Smh.

Universe rules Kishi created. Lol. Can't read narrative for shit but ready to follow up on the non existent universe rules Kishi 'created'. It's just so dumb.

Kishi didn't mean it, he must have forgotten his own 'specific' rules. For his MC. Sure.

Noice. Because that's what professional writers do. Make specific rules for their protag and then conveniently forget about them. Totes. Spot on. Emphatically accurate.

Hehehe. They can't digest the fact that Boruto and Himawari having whisker marks is just a design aspect so they can appear distinctly as Naruto's kids. That's literally it. No other reason. For Naruto, those marks were functional, as they would flare and darken when his kyuubi chakra leaked out. They served a design purpose in Naruto's story. They don't serve any purpose in Boruto. Boruto simply has them because he is Naruto's offspring whose design necessarily needs to look similar to Naruto. So he is instantly recognisable by the audience. That's really all. No mental gymnastics required.

These kids are playing make-believe stories for their heart's pleasure. They find themselves too het and vanilla in an increasingly complex world and so, they look for diversity where there isn't any. Can't follow a very gay love story for shit (wherein they ignore the story and major characters but glorify and overestimate their largely irrelevant and less than sidey fave character, a selfish and boring woman married to a gay man) but they can and will appropriate queer theories to feel better about themselves. Reassure themselves. They also want to be seen as woke and forward thinking. Lol. And they think appropriating important concepts without an iota of intelligence, objective thought or consideration is the way to do it. Won't acknowledge a very visibly canon and credible gay love story that makes this manga, but will surely pull their heads out of their asses to believe Hinata is queer and NH is special. Wow, so woke. So QuEeR. Lol silly lil hypocritical ones.

I think they are just little kids or young adults who want a little feel good hormones and I guess, just let them have fun? They will get it sooner or later. Including how to comprehend media. All sorts of eye openers around, they just gotta look for it, maybe have an epiphany. Lol. If they don't, it's their loss.

[lovebirdgames]

Sorry if this has been asked before but what is your reasoning behind the recommended play order? I know you've explained the Peter-Doug-Clark order, but what about the other lads? Loving the game btw, I'm from the UK so marching band at school and college isn't really a thing so summer camp and marching band stories are always a lot of fun

Major spoilers under the cut! Don't read unless you beat the game!

Also obligatory "You can play the routes in any order you want!" but here was our line of thinking for coming up with a requested route order...

We basically looked at levels of romance, angst, and batshit crazy. -We put Peter's route (which we lovingly refer to as the First World Problems route) first so no one would be thrown straight into the fire (barring the fire on his route). It has the lowest levels of crazy and the highest amount of romance so I feel it's a good one to start with.

-Initially, we had Sam second, but we switched him and Doug. One thing that was on our minds was the big reveal of Mr. Wiley pointing a gun at you and I absolutely love the rain scene from Doug's route as your intro to that, so we put Doug second.

-Clark got moved around a bit too. We just knew he couldn't be right before or after Peter because Clark's route will leave you mad at Peter and vice versa. He has lower romance and higher angst so we thought his lonely route would serve as a good follow-up to Doug.

-After the stress of breaking the pit instruments in Doug's route, and the sadness of being ostracized in Clark's route, Sam's chill demeanor and route is the way to go. Since it's the route where you're able to snap Mr. Wiley out of it, we thought it would be a nice halfway point and a way to mix things up.

-We shifted Garth towards the end. I like extending the mystery of what happened to him for as long as possible.

-In otome, the angstiest route or the yandere route always seems to slide into second to last place on the route order. What do you know, Poptart is both! Easy decision.

-It's been said that Tom's route has "final route" vibes so it made sense to put him last. He also has some of the best action, the most painful bad endings, and every character shines in his route, contributing to that feeling. We don't believe in having a canon true route boy, but Tom fits well as the grand finale...or he would if there wasn't a final route!

Hope you liked this essay and thank you for playing!