#this last one was actually even arguably of a character that I legitimately could not tell until they were like ‘Eddie Munson’

[poetic-ivy]

the amount of times that I will see a hc post and assume it is simply modern au ofmd and be absolutely vibing only to be suddenly smacked directly in the face with a full name or smth and realize it’s not ed and stede but apparently eddie and STEVE

[autumnmobile12]

I've seen more than a few posts by now asking why Horikoshi doesn't just kill Dabi off by now, and frankly I agree with that question. Let's be honest, killing him would be a mercy at this point and in spite of everything he's done, I don't thinking another prolonged coma with sporadic moments of consciousness is a punishment that fits the crime. He killed 30+ people, caused mass destruction, and tried to overturn an entire society.

Giving some crossover insight, Light Yagami probably killed millions with the Death Note, and I don't think even he would deserve the fate Dabi got. His poetic justice was he was an arrogant psychopath who died a pathetic death in a warehouse. The vampires of Castlevania Netflix have killed and tortured millions of people over the centuries they've been alive and out of all of them, I think only Erzsébet Báthory might deserve that fate, and that's only because she's ascended to goddess status and may be unkillable at this point and eternal imprisonment might be the only option.

So why doesn't Horikoshi kill Dabi off already?

Well....Horikoshi does have a problem with killing off characters unless its for shock value. There's no reason Nighteye, Magne, or Midnight had to die other than shock value. Most other characters that are killed off are barely in the series long enough to consider them a noteworthy death.

You could argue that Magne's death was to show that Overhaul was a new villain that meant business, but given the fact Overhaul doesn't kill or maim any other character the same way unless it's one of his nameless henchmen, his power doesn't prove to be that much of a threat to the main cast.

When Midnight reacted to Majestic's death, I legitimately asked, "Who?"

Endeavor confronts Dabi about killing Snatch and even Dabi asks, "Who?" (Also, why? Did Endeavor even know Snatch? Why bring that up?)

Why did Star have to die? To showcase how strong an opponent AFO/Shigaraki was? Uh, we already knew that...? To show why no other nations were getting involved in the fighting in Japan? A simple doomsday message from multiple nations that says, 'You're on your own,' would have sufficed. AFO could have been blackmailing world leaders into staying out of it. There could have been an international conspiracy of corrupt leaders who were in on it. They could have been having the same issue with mass prison breaks and couldn't help out. There was no need to invent a whole new character for any of that, so her death was a waste.

Arguably, Twice is the only character I can think of at the moment whose death was plot relevant. Realistically, how else was that fight going to go down? He and Hawks spend the entire battle in a weird standoff?

So either Dabi's current state is the result of creator cruelty or:

In the last couple chapters we have left, we're going to find out Eri's Quirk is not as damaged as everyone thought it was and she comes in clutch to save everyone. It's a cop-out ending, but I tentatively think this one might actually happen yet, mostly because it would neatly fix Bakugou's destroyed hand and some of the other characters who were maimed in Final War to the point their Quirks are barely usable.

Dr. Garaki cuts a deal where he biologically engineers a solution that saves everyone in exchange for a reduced sentence. Also a legit possibility. Would not be shocked if President Hawks visits the guy in prison and says, "Listen, a lot of people got really messed up in that last fight, so we've got a proposition for you." Saving both heroes and ensuring the villains actually live out a life sentence.

That unknown figure wandering around the wasteland does prove to be Shigaraki and he's got some unknown Quirk from AFO that could potentially save his comrades and we're headed for a Harry Potter Musical 'It's Not Over Yet' twist ending.

If the rumors about My Hero getting a sequel series are true, Horikoshi may be keeping Dabi around in case he has a use for him there. I don't know how that would even be possible, but I do admit the possibility of this conversation does make me laugh a little:

Pro Shouto: The plan couldn't have gone more wrong. Deku was in the wrong place. Bakugou was being Bakugou. Yaoyorozu had a relapse in nervousness and just created those weird dolls of hers instead of the materials we actually needed. The whole thing made the civilians laugh though. Not mean laughter, they were entertained and that's important, but if we were still in school, Aizawa would have expelled us all for sure.

Dabi: ...as much I just love our bi-weekly challenge of how long we can keep a conversation going before that heart monitor goes off and they put me back to sleep, do I have to listen to you bitch about work?

Pro Shouto: You said you wanted to hear about the outside world.

Dabi: Yeah, the fucking weather and shit.

Pro Shouto: You want a full forecast or--

Dabi: Don't make me come down there.

...

Realistically, none of those four scenarios are gonna happen, but the sequel rumors are preventing me from discounting them outright.

I would say there's no point in having that last minute 'everyone is saved' because that's it, that's the end, but then I remember Zuko's last line in Avatar is, "Where is my mother?" and opened up that whole subplot for the graphic novels.

So I don't know anymore.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

It is obvious to me that Zeb Wells is only writing ASM because no one else wanted to. I'm old enough to remember the early 00s when Wells first started writing Spider-Man. He was essentially a fill in guy even back then. He was never deemed good enough to get an ongoing to himself. His stories back then were mediocre at best, the one exception being the origin of Jameson, which was legitimate good but also notably not actually about Spider-Man himself.

Then he was one of many rotating writers during the Brand New Day era of 2008-2010. In theory this was a promotion of sorts as he was actually writing ASM. But the nature of the tri-monthly set up sort of meant that inevitably there were gaps to be filled, they just needed material. Roger Stern himself did a few issues here and there in that era, but not many. Yes, Wells was working alongside people who (at the time) were either big names (Mark Waid, Joe Kelly, Bob Gale) or (again, at the time) fan favourites like Dan Slott, so in theory he was being elevated. But to my recollection they tended to give the BIG stories in that era the other writers. Slott opened BND, did the first event story New Ways to Die and did ASM #600. Joe Kelly reinvented the Rhino, reintroduced Black Cat and (ugh) resurrected Kraven the Hunter. Fred Van Lente reintroduced Chameleon and Mary Jane. And Waid did...I forget but he did something significant.

In contrast the only BIG story I recall Zeb Wells taking point on was Shed, which was to the Lizard what One More Day was to Peter. The absolute character destruction wherein the Lizard (in his lizard form) is at least implied to have raped a human woman and is confirmed to have eaten his own human son. The story concludes with Spidey being shocked that the Lizard is capable of talking even though he's been able to do that since the very first Lizard story. It was such a catastrophe that Marvel had to steadily walk it back through at least 3 different stories, two of which were by Slott. When even Slott is like 'um...this went way too far', you really went too far.

By rights Wells should have been in Spider-Man writer's jail forever after that, but instead he got to be a lead writer on an era where ASM was again tri-monthly, except this time with only 2 other writers, none of whom nowhere near the fan favouritism nor had the Big Name clout of the original BND era. And to top it off, it wasn't even about Peter it was about Ben Reilly who was suddenly Spider-Man again, following a run by Nick Spencer which had blatently tried and wanted to undo One More Day but was forced to awkwardly change direction. It was obvious that this was thrown together last minute out of desperation, Ben Reilly was basically just Peter Parker's understudy.

Then after all this Wells, the old man (at least compared to the other writers from the Beyond era), the guy who's most famous contribution was something Marvel walked back, a guy's who's best contribution was an obscure story and from 15ish years ago gets the top job? Meanwhile the former writer goes off and starts a substack?

It reeks of desperation. It reeks of 'No one but this guy WANTED the job'. So, ironically, despite it being over 20 years, even when Wells gets the biggest job in Spider-Man you could have, one of the biggest jobs you could ever have in the industry, he is still just a fill-in writer. The fact that his run' is incompetence at best, cynical spite at worst, speaks to why he wa not deemed good enough for the top job until the point where no one else wanted to do it.

And why does no one want one of THE biggest jobs you could have in comics, arguably in American literature?

Because of One More Day.

Because Marvel's narrative that writing a married Spider-Man was just soooooooo hard and such a turn off to potential writers was probably lie back in 2007 and definitely an exaggeration.*

Because it has been close to 20 years since One More Day and these all time great Spider-Man stories have not materialised. And even the ones people (rightly, and imo generally wrongly) regard as really good (like Superior) either didn't require Spider-Man to be unmarried/single or they would've likely been better if he had been married.

Because making Spider-Man unmarried did not attract back lapsed readers who disagreed with him being married.

Because making Spider-Man unmarried did not attract new readers in significant numbers, indeed the scant new/younger readers they got were happy to read about him being married (as evidenced by Renew Your Vows and the current USM's success).

Because One More Day and their anti-marriage agenda is SO bad that the fandom has NOT let it go all these near 20 years.** And never will. We have, and we will continue, to bring it up, complain about it and that wound will only be reopened every single time anything like Dan Slott or Zeb Wells run crops up.**

So, Marvel are in a lose-lose situation.

The pro-marriage writers (of whom there will likely be more and more as the younger generation who grew up with it roll in) do not want to write ASM because they will not be allowed to undo it and their work to even alleviate it will either be derailed during their run, or else reset ASAP, as happened with Nick Spencer.

Meanwhile anti-marriage writers (of which there were not that many and their numbers ever dwindle) do not want to write ASM because they know their work will also likely be interferred with and more poignantly they will have to deal with us fans very loudly (and louder than ever thanks to modern technology) yelling at them for reinforcing the anti-marriage/anti-Mary Jane agenda.

Simply put, most writer's, especially if they are talented, can make an easier buck on anything other than Amazing Spider-Man, regardless of whether that is one of the Big Two or indie.

And so, what Marvel are left with is desperation cases like Wells and Slott or talented people who come in for short bursts like Joe Kelly.

That is, of course, unless they give their customers what we have wanted for over 16 and a half years!

*As evidenced by the fact that in 2007 we had THREE Spider-Man writers, Straczynski, David and Sacasa, who were all pro-marriage and wrote generally good stories, often leveraging Mary Jane and her marriage with Peter in the course of doing that. In fact one 2007 comic specifically about their marriage was nominated for an award.

**And, in fact, many writers for Marvel (like Nick Spencer) can be counted amongst those fans unhappy with it.

***Indeed, for those younger fans who maybe knew little of pre-OMD Spider-Man or only know about Spider-Man comics from Youtube and social media, Wells run has them believing and perpetuating that Spider-Man has now been ruined. It was ruined long before now of course, but Wells via Paul and the rest of his run has spawned a new generation that despises Marvel's treatment of Spider-Man. Paul has essentially become a meme!

[adamsvanrhijn]

Ok wicked thoughts for real. Spoilers somewhat

re: performances

Ariana Grande-Butera (as she is credited)'s soprano is very light, and they did lean into the pop sound when opportunities arose. Which you will be used to if you have seen any professional/equity circuit musical with a prominent soprano role in the last 15 years but if you've been listening to the cast recording a lot leading up to this I expect you'll notice it more than I did the first time around. I really enjoyed her performance personally!! (and frankly if you're expecting an og wicked performance you would have been disappointed anyway because They Do Not Make Them Like That anymore—but if you are a megafan who has seen multiple casts I think you will have heard Glindas who are not perceived as stunt casts who are less pleasant to listen to.)

Cynthia Erivo was great. I don't really have notes, I think everyone expected she would be good and she was.

Peter Dinklage did a good job. No notes

Jonathan Bailey.... Fantastic though I wish they let him be a little more legit. I assume he has it in him based on his resume but they went primarily pop rock for Fiyero. The vast majority of stage directors do this unless/even if they get a sparkling talent though; I'm not like mad about it at all. I actually think it's great that my main Thoughts capital t about the movie are the same ones I have about stage productions. (Also he has chemistry with everyone but I do legitimately think stage junkies expecting Fiyero eye candy may be disappointed with the costuming and choreography. This doesn't make it bad just something to be aware of.)

They split Morrible into two characters which was an inspired choice that improved the impact of the plot imo. Michelle Yeoh is not a singer but that role is frequently not a strong vocalist anyway. I didn't mind the speak singing for her like 2 total verses

Jeff Goldblum also not being a singer.... they cut down sentimental man and I am simply not complaining. Also a role that frequently doesn't have a strong vocalist.

Marissa Bode killed it, no notes

Ditto Ethan Slater

Big cameo was a little long but you can't hate it. It's The Big Cameo. Zero issues with the actual performances

Ensemble slapped. Incredibly strong dancing and singing. I haven't looked at the whole ensemble cast but I assume they pulled from the theater circuit. There were little cameos which were IYKYK and cute

Glinda's bestie situation was great, they did such a good job

Speaking of cast recording disappointment. The wizard will see you now 😐

everything else

I am going to be honest I don't remember what was in the book vs what they made up wholesale

Pacing was really good and it was difficult to notice in the moment what could be making it be double the length of the original. Arguably better than the stage show's pacing.

Lack of compromise of vocal quality despite resonant acting and live singing... 👌🏻

I think almost everything they added or changed worked! Exceptions.... Yellow brick road 😐 Cameo a little long as I said. A couple others but nothing that big a deal. I hope we get Glinda blue dress at some point in part 2 😔

I didn't mind how they broke up Defying Gravity but I do wonder if it could have been better if they hadn't? I didn't mind though.

Dancing Through Life was broken up in a way that made it work for the film medium in the way that a direct transfer wouldn't have been successful with imo. Also a phenomenal sequence.

I've seen a couple people say it's overchoreographed.... I thought the dancing was perfect personally.

I really appreciated that they actually treated it as a musical, where it doesn't really matter what is and isn't diegetic music and dancing and you don't need to pay attention to that, because it's a musical.

Use of montage and split screen was good!!

I think on the whole one of my big takeaways is disappointment about other musical movies of late, but also hope that things will be different moving forward... The bar is high now both for on screen performers with traditional stage worthy talent and for production style and value. This movie was obviously very expensive but I am referring more to the actual techniques and like, literal camera angles. It felt like they wanted to expand the reach of the musical and bring it to new audiences, as opposed to needing to Fix it to make it appeal to the mass market. There should be no question moving forward that a musical movie can be cast, filmed, and produced with special care and attention to the fact that it is a musical and be successful.

I think that sums it up but I could be misremembering things out forgetting stuff... I want to go see it again with a better sound system than the theater I was in lol and maybe feeling better than I was yesterday and maybe I will have additional nuance to my takes!

[pokemenlovingmen]

Oh neato new blog!! I enjoy reading peoples different interpretations of characters through x reader imagines, and it’s nice to see another one pop up. If you’re comfortable with it, would it alright if I request a scenario using any Pokémen of your choice developing a crush on a male reader who’s a big, intimidating buff guy..but in personality is actually a softie and an attentive single father to his young child. (Who is tinyyyy. Just a lil thing to contrast dad) I like romance and found family..what can I say.

oooooh that sounds so fun and cute!! Since it seems like you meant one guy, I’ll do one dude, but a longer post! Usually that’s my form, one person gets a longer post whereas multiple get shorter segments… however long it takes me to adhere to that. Because I have no self control. Anyway, my man of choice for this ended up being Grusha, because some nice and warm fluff should melt that frosty exterior.

And on the romance and found family thing, you are speaking my language fluently, you’re talking to a guy who worships those things in fan content. You can’t!! Go wrong with it!!

Soft as Snow

Grusha x Intimidating Male Reader (who has a kid!)

So. In your relationship Grusha might be a bit uh.

❄️ — Grusha is not a kids guy. Not at all. He’s the literal opposite of sunshine and rainbows. But hosting arguably the most intense and therefore exciting out of Paldea’s gym matches and spending so much time in a snow-covered mountain that is, realistically, so much fun for a kid to go to, he sees a lot of kids. Usually glued to their parents, which he’s grateful for, because rounding up some kid who runs off is about the last thing you can expect him to do successfully. So all in all, he limits his interactions with kids as much as humanly possible, but understands his job puts him around them a lot.

❄️ — A frequent culprit of drawing in rugrats he’d really rather not interact with would be the Cetoddles he looks after. He supposes he can’t blame the kids, they’re pretty cute and definitely not something you see anywhere but the mountain. And that’s exactly what gets him awkwardly interacting with some unknown little girl when he’d rather be doing anything else.

❄️ — A little girl had come to look at one Cetoddle, and with no parents in sight, he had to stay near. So, sighing, he stuffs his hands in his pockets and walks over, making the Cetoddle chirp excitedly when it sees him. He clears his throat and makes some horribly awkward attempts at small talk at this random child, no older than seven, who is just staring at him so intently now.

❄️ — “You, uh… like Cetoddle? Yeah… um. I think he likes you,” he tries, but he’s no… well, any other gym leader, even Larry, would be better at entertaining some random child while phoning the league staff on site that some unsupervised kid is running around.

❄️ — But he never actually has to make that call, because you run up shortly after he hesitantly approaches, frantically calling your daughter’s name. Like good lord, she is so fast. You blink once and she’s gone. You’re pretty fit, but even now you’re sweating profusely from all the times she’s bolted off on you.

❄️ — Grusha just stares at you as you approach, bug-eyed and wondering how the earth didn’t literally rumble as you ran up. Because holy shit, you’re massive. Legitimately built like an Ursaring and for a second he fears for his life and regrets ever approaching this kid thinking she was lost, because he could swear at the speed a guy who looks like you is approaching, you’re about to bite his head off for getting near her. Once again, interacting with kids proves more trouble than it’s worth, considering he’s so sure this is going to genuinely cost him his life. People get rash when it comes to their kids, understandably.

❄️ — But instead, you look at him, then at your daughter and immediately fall into bowing your head muttering thanks and apologies. “Oh, hey, I’m so sorry, she can be so fast when she wants to, I hope she wasn’t pestering you and your Pokemon for too long!”

❄️ — While you’re gently chiding your daughter for running off and imposing on a stranger, he looks from her to you. Then to her. Then to you. She’s not even, like, a quarter of your size. Being a former athlete, he’s seen some built dudes, but you’re giant and he’s still taken aback by how different your attitude was compared to your appearance and how doting you clearly are over your daughter. (A big heart AND nice body? Grusha isn’t even aware of how many of his boxes you tick because he’s just never thought about those things since his accident.)

❄️ — He clears his throat, scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly. “Uh. No problem. She wasn’t causing any trouble.”

❄️ — Both of you awkwardly mumble out some small talk (Grusha really isn’t one for talking and you’re kind of struggling to hold up the conversation), but when he mentions he’s got to get back to the Gym, you’re shocked. Oh! He’s the gym leader?! THE retired snowboarding prodigy?

❄️ — Turns out you and your daughter had just moved to Paldea, and to warm up to your new home, you’re taking her to see a few of the Ten Sights of Paldea. She ran off when she saw the Cetoddle on their hike, though, and you’re pretty surprised you just kind of bumbled into a pretty famous trainer who you’ve seen in a lot of informative pamphlets and ads for the region. It also makes you increasingly apologetic for your daughter imposing on him because he definitely has a job to do, and shouldn’t be pulled away from it.

❄️ — The conversation doesn’t last much longer, and you part ways shortly after. Grusha doesn’t even realize how attractive you are to him, you’ve got his heart thumping but he doesn’t even consider feelings for someone being a reason why. He’s just sort of resigned himself to be alone. But deep down, seeing a man so attractive (like phew. you are FIT.) be so caring and soft is actually really resonating with him. Basically, you’re a type he doesn’t even know he has.

❄️ — He’s a bit surprised when he sees you and your daughter again after a week or two, back on Glaseado. You wave and give him just the sweetest, happiest greeting when you meet again and sheepishly explain that your daughter became fascinated with the local Ice-type Pokemon and had been begging to go out and see them again. (He’s not sure if he can imagine that child emoting. His interactions with her, including now, all she’s done is hug your side and stare blankly at him.)

❄️ — But you’ve done something rare, and like most of his feelings, Grusha doesn’t realize it—you’ve struck a chord with him somehow and he’s too much of a die hard, stubborn loner to understand why. So when you meet for the second time he awkwardly offers to let you and your daughter meet the local Cetoddle pod that he watches over a lot.

❄️ — It’s cute. Seeing someone of your towering stature playing with the Cetoddles, who somehow don’t fear you at all despite how intimidating you are. They’re crazy about you, probably because they see how your daughter interacts with you and just flock to your parental nature. That and your daughter herself just having a good time while you laugh with her, sometimes throwing halfhearted snowballs because you know if you actually tried to could hurt someone with one, and she mostly just wants to pelt you with them than get hit herself. (Kids)

❄️ — The whole time, Grusha’s watching, not even aware of how smitten he is. But someone else is, because after a bit he’s startled by something shaking violently on his poke ball belt, and then with a crack! and no other warning out comes his Altaria, which grabs his scarf in its talons and drags him the hell over to you. When it shoves the flustered Grusha your way, it lands and begins preening itself, instantly capturing your daughter’s attention. (Because what kid wouldn’t want to pet the fluffy cloud bird? Altaria’s cute, and it knows it.)

❄️ — While Grusha’s giving his dirty traitor of a Pokemon the stink eye, you just give this warm and hearty laugh that has his heart doing flips all over again, and pat Altaria on the head. “Aw, this is a friendly one! Isn’t it pretty?” (To which your daughter vigorously nods.)

❄️ — “Uh, yeah, sorry…” he glares at it, and out of the corner of its eye Altaria glares back. “She’s usually not like this. I don’t know what her issue is.”

❄️ — “Haha, it’s no problem!”

❄️ — Then silence. And silence. …And silence. Grusha’s out of things to say, which didn’t take long at all. You cough. He clears his throat. The both of you watch your daughter and his Pokemon play in the snow. He’s only just now realizing how strangely desperately he wants to find something to say to you. And then, while playing with your daughter, Altaria gives him another Look.

❄️ — Oh. Oh, Altaria knew, too. Altaria was trying to bide him time. Well, he couldn’t let his Pokemon companion’s efforts go to waste, as embarrassing as it was…

❄️ — “So, uh…” he clears his throat. “Wanna… come back to the gym with me? Got a coffee machine there. Get something to warm you up.”

❄️ — Your eyes light up and it feels like his heart just got body-slammed. “Hey, that sounds great!”

❄️ — You call your daughter, and he calls his Pokemon, both running at the promise of some hot chocolate from the coffee machine. As you and him are both turning to head back in the direction of the gym, you completely miss a certain interaction nearby.

❄️ — Your daughter tugs on Grusha’s scarf, and when he looks down at her, she gives an unsettlingly blank stare as she studies his face. Finally, as if it’s a complex equation she just solved, she happily announces: “You’re nice.”

❄️ — Oh, uh… thanks? Those are the words Grusha wants to say, at least, but your daughter keeps going with a genuine verbal gut-punch.

❄️ — “I think you and my daddy should get married.”

❄️ — Kids say the darndest things, huh? (You exchange numbers by the end of the day, and who knows… maybe one of you will follow your daughter’s advice some day. But definitely not today. Grusha has to go crawl into the void and die of embarrassment first.)

[darkmasterofcupcakes]

What are five pros and five cons you would give to Hazbin Hotel?

Gonna start with the cons, because I like to end on a positive note.

The Pacing. This was something I had a feeling was going to be a weakness of the show from the time I saw the trailer and learned that the first season was going to involve the next Extermination, especially when it was confirmed the season was only going to be eight episodes long. The twist in the first episode that the next Extermination was happening in half the time helped a little, but it still meant we skipped over months between episodes, with it being implied important stuff did happen that we just didn't see.

While I think it's better than Helluva Boss in balancing it's main cast (I love that show, but the uneven attention given between all of the main characters is one of the biggest issues it has), it still has some trouble with making all the characters feel fully like "people"? Niffty probably being the biggest example, since I love her, but right now she feels more like a living punchline than a real character.

The tone can sometimes be just a little...off with how it feels like we're supposed to feel. Best example being Sir Pentious death. The characters react to it like it was a serious event, because for them, it was...but the death itself was treated as kind of a joke? And I understand the show is a sort of dark comedy, so to an extent I expect stuff like that. But I think at that moment, the switch from "joke" to "you're supposed to seriously grieve this character" felt a bit too abrupt?

This is a completely personal thing, but as I've mentioned before, I don't love the whole sideplot of Sir Pentious having a crush on Cherri Bomb? It felt like it came out of nowhere, whereas most of the other relationships that seem to be a thing in the show were at least given hints in the Pilot. And it's just another example of the pacing being break-neck, since they had Cherri not show up until episode 6 of 8, and then Pentious dies in the finale, so they had basically two episodes (and not even full ones, just some scenes) to try and convince me of a romance, and, maybe it's just my arospec self, but....I couldn't really get convinced at all.

It's kinda hard for me to really think of issues I really have with the show, so I gotta kinda cheat a bit with this last one, since I can't help but wonder if they would've left the scene out had they known from the start of production that they'd get more seasons, but I personally don't love the whole stinger that reveals Pentious ended up in Heaven after Adam killed him? Not so much because I don't like the idea that he ended up there - I like that part. But I kind of feel like his death would have had a bit more impact if the audience did genuinely think he was gone for good for longer than like...fifteen minutes.

And now for the things I loved about Hazbin Hotel

The songs are arguably the biggest highlight of the whole series for me. I don't think there's a single one that I wouldn't happily listen to, whether in or out of context. From what I've seen I apparently don't have as high of an opinion of some songs as others, but I legitimately love all of them. I don't think there's anything I could say about any of the songs in this show that could be considered anything close to a real critique.

All of the characters are an absolute blast to watch. Yes, some of them don't have the most depth so far, but that doesn't change the fact that I just love to watch them whenever they're on screen? And it's not just the main cast, either. Obviously I love all of them, but even with fairly limited screen time, I found myself absolutely adoring whenever I got to see characters like Carmilla Carmine, Zestial, Velvette, and Rosie on screen. And all of the characters are so interesting and fun to imagine in different scenarios. And since I'm a writer, that is one of the biggest pros a series can have.

While the show is arguably more of a comedy, it is actually very good, in my opinion, dealing with some pretty serious topics when it wants to. The biggest example is Angel Dust's struggles with what he goes through thanks to Valentino, but you also have things like Vaggie's past and how her hiding that effected her relationship with Charlie when the truth got revealed. Or the whole thing of how it's implied most of Heaven didn't know about the Exterminations and that being revealed to them caused a lot of tensions, particularly between Emily and Sera. Or even just the whole thing of how Carmilla discovered how to kill Angels...but doesn't want it to be known what she did because she doesn't want to cause a war and lose her daughters, when the whole reason she learned that Angels could be killed was because she wanted to save them.

The character designs are some of the best I've seen in a long time. It really feels like the team took full advantage of the fact that it seems like there's no set rule for how demons can look in their version of hell, and so they went absolutely nuts with it, in the best possible way. Pretty much every single character has an incredibly unique design, and they're all just so fun to see. It makes the whole world feel so much more alive....slightly ironically considering it's the main setting is full of people who are technically all dead.

Outside of the one I mentioned above, I really like how basically all of the relationships in the show are handled, from the romantic to the platonic to the familial. They are all extremely varied and obviously some get more real attention than others, but all are given enough focus and attention that you always get the sense that the characters care for each other very deeply, especially by the end. And because you feel those bonds, you are even more effected by what the characters go through, because you feel like you're part of that group of people who care for one another. And I love that it also applies to the villains, with how Lute was clearly devestated by Adam's death, following the show indicating they were close, but usually showing them in what seemed to be a mostly "professional" relationship.

[twistedtummies2]

Year of the Bat - Number 17

Welcome to Year of the Bat! In honor of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Richard Moll, I’m counting down my Top 31 Favorite Episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” throughout this January. TODAY’S EPISODE QUOTE: “Man or woman, a sick mind is capable of anything.” Number 17 is…Harley & Ivy.

There are many episodes in B:TAS that can be considered “landmark moments,” not just for the show, but for the lore and history of Batman – in general – moving forward and into the present day. Characters and stories that were so well-conceived, and so incredibly interesting, that later writers, artists, and creators in general would find them to be fountains of inspiration, and which fans still adore to this day. “Harley & Ivy” is one of those landmarks. It not only expanded on the character of Harley Quinn – thus further ensuring her long-lasting legacy as a character – but also on the much older character of Poison Ivy, and provided perhaps one of the most popular supervillain duos in the history of fiction.

Once again, Batman is sort of a secondary player in things for this outing. The focus of the story, really, is on three of his greatest villains: Harley, Ivy, and his arch-nemesis, the Joker. The plot begins when Joker, angry at Harley after a botched robbery, kicks her out of the gang. It’s indicated this isn’t the first time this has happened, and Harley – fed up with the Clown Prince’s ego (despite still having feelings for him) – decides to try and show him up by pulling off a few crimes on her own. Her schemes cause her to come in contact with Poison Ivy, and the two decide to team-up, as Ivy seeks to drill some more backbone and independence into her new partner-in-crime. When their crimes lead to them upstaging the Harlequin of Hate, however, Joker is quick to try and get some revenge. Out to stop all three villains, Batman is dragged into the mess, as usual. This episode really solidified the relationship between Harley and the Joker. In earlier stories, they’d actually gotten along rather well, but this is the first story where we see the unhealthy, dangerous side of their relationship. Over time, writers and creators have gone back and forth on how toxic or how surprisingly touching the relationship should be, but this was the status quo with the original Animated Series version of Harley moving forward: the Joker is awful to Harley, an abusive creep of the highest order…yet he also can’t be without her a lot of the time, for one reason or another. Harley, meanwhile, is hopelessly devoted to the Ace of Knaves, but at times she’ll show a surprising amount of gumption, whenever the Joker does something she REALLY doesn’t agree with.

Of course, the real major relationship here is Harley and Ivy themselves, and in this first outing, it’s nailed perfectly. In the original show, the pair are essentially best friends, and were described as having a sisterly sort of bond. Later reinventions – as well as numerous fanworks – would go further, making the two into love interests; arguably the most popular lesbian couple in the history of superhero fiction. While you COULD argue there are hints of that in their interactions in this episode, and throughout the Animated Series as a whole, I don’t necessarily feel like they were intentional…but regardless of how you look at them – as lovers, sisters in bond, or simply very good friends – watching these two bounce off one another is just as great as seeing Harley and the Joker together. Sometimes even more so! For Poison Ivy, I would argue, it’s ESPECIALLY interesting, because she’s so often depicted as a lone mama wolf, so to speak; a highly independent character who shows little to no empathy for most other human beings. Yet for some reason, you can tell Ivy actually does legitimately care about Harley, even as early as this first appearance. Seeing Harley’s bubbly, childish, manic personality rebound off of Ivy’s more serious, sarcastic, sardonic attitude creates a lot of comedic and dramatic tension. It’s the Animated Series that really made me fall in love with Ivy as a character, and I think a big part of that DID come from her interactions with Harley. Out of all the other characters Harley has been paired up with besides the Joker in times since – from Deadshot, to Killer Croc, to Lobo, and so on – something about Harley & Ivy’s particular partnership remains arguably the strongest of all. It all started with this episode, and anyone who loves these characters owes it to themselves to check it out, if they haven’t already.

Tomorrow we move on to the halfway point of the countdown, with Number 16! Hint: “Fear’s a prison, you see, and I’ve just broken out!”

[astreetcarnamedwynn]

p3p romance for femc is wild

For a long time, I thought P5 was wild with its romance routes, which include Sadistic Doctor, Perpetually Drunk Reporter, and Your Homeroom Teacher. 

Then I played as FeMC in P3P.

Her romance options, taken individually and as a collective, are buckwild. At least P5 balances out the aforementioned options with the female members of the Phantom Thieves as well as Hifumi.

Not P3P for FeMC.

Needless to say, there will be spoilers as my brain goes BWUH??? in reaction to the options.

First up, there’s Boxing Bae, aka Akihiko, the least WTF of the options. Most of the time, he has exactly two focuses: Training and Shinji. His romance route is so tricky that he can ask you to be his girlfriend without actually treating you as his girlfriend, i.e. he asks you to “be his girl” but not actually consider you his girlfriend (meaning he doesn’t ask you to spend time with him on Christmas Eve). (Not that I’m bitter about this happening during my playthrough. Not at all).

Then there’s Mr. Doomed by the Narrative, otherwise known as Shinji, who is one of three romance options that you have to marathon in, like, a month in the game. You don’t hang out with him once, the romance is basically toast. You don’t find him the item that he mentioned in the right timeframe, he’s actually toast.

Next up, A Child. I know you don’t have to pursue the romantic dialogue options with Ken, but they shouldn’t even have been options. It’s gross, and there was so much that could have been explored with both Ken and FeMC losing their parents when they were young. Or just make the confidant focus on something random, like Fuuka’s Cooking Club shenanigans.

Then you have A Robot. I love Aigis. She’s probably my favorite character in the game, and I like that you have the option to pursue a non-heterosexual romance. It’s just wild that, legitimately, one of the best romance options in the game is with a robot. One that, like with Shinji, has to be marathoned in a month of in game time.

If the four prior options don’t float your boat, there’s The Human Personification of Death, who had brief, ambiguous conversations with you when he was in his Creepy Child Form and who lived inside of you, unbeknownst to yourself, for ten years. This is the last of the marathon routes, an even more intense one than Shinji’s, because you miss just one opportunity to hang out with Ryoji, it’s over.

Finally, you can romance one of two Strange Supernatural Hotties, aka your Velvet Room Attendant: Theodore or Elizabeth. They’re both hot and precious in their desire to learn about the human world. Theo’s little blushes made him my fave of the two.

It’s also wild to me that the most normal character of the game (arguably), aka Best Bro, aka Junpei, is NOT one of the romance options. I really like that the relationship is kept platonic. I probably would have liked Junpei less if he tried to flirt with FeMC, rather than treat her like his BFF. Still, it’s wild that he’s not a part of the romance collective (beyond a possible scene in which you confess and he rejects you).

Anyways, play as FeMC in P3P if you want to crush on and have your heart broken by some seriously precious oddballs. Except with Ken.

[ragnar0c]

Just Cleared EO3 :"]

Here's my guild card!

(Below is just me reflecting about my experiences with the game. It's going to be long. I AM GOING TO BE SO LOUD ABOUT IT!!)

EO4 was the first game I 100%ed well sort of. I still haven't found all the treasure. So this is technically my first, and it took a really long time!

I got the game when I was a kid in 2014. Took me till I was an adult to actually grow a brain.

I remember my first play thru, I was 11. I actually didn't read a whole lot of the story stuff... and had a bunch of trouble. But I had gotten into the series and thought 3 had the best portraits and labyrinth designs so I pulled through.

I remember sneaking to play this whenever I could, replaying it to get all the endings and redo certain fights.

I started drawing the year before I got the game, and started drawing the characters as well.... I had a chokehold on me for... a while. (Still) here's some old art circa ~2014

It was always nice to come back to the game thru the years and get each of the endings again bc each play thru I noticed something new in the story or found an easier way to kill a boss. Or a new gameplay style.

I still get my ass beat on the daily, but it reminds me to get up and change what I am doing to get results...

The story isn't a magnum opus, I legitimately want to destroy both sides for my own reasons. (They are so dumb!!) I guess... it's my favorite just bc they lay down so many concepts for you to play with?

Depending on how old I was, I would have different members in my guild. But it was always named Ragnarok. I actually revamped Ragnarok entirely about twice. The only constants being the name, Hana, and Alope (kinda I never used her in the first version.)

(Now that I think about it, my farmer party has a few keepers too.)

Since Hana was such a trooper and in every single party I had over the last 9 years, I found it natural to give her the Armoroad shield.

AND the npcs, even the faceless ones were so fun to see.

My favorites tho, the ones who arguably ruined my chances of being normal were definitely Kujura (main culprit), Edie, the Guildmaster... and maybe the Harbormaster. (He's recent tho.) The faceless ones... I wont list them here.

I didn't know the Harbormaster started the end credits, I kinda instinctively go there to save bc I like Inver and he gave me a whole speech...

I used to hate him, but eh, he's grown onto me.

This game means so much to me, and I'm so glad I finally cleared it :]]]

if not playing it would have made me more normal I do NOT CARE!! Thank you Etrian odyssey 3 for ruining my life, it was the best possible way for that to happen.

[goldensunset]

actually i have one last piping hot found-family take of my own that i don’t think y’all are ready for but i have to word it carefully.

characters A and B might arguably have a family-like dynamic. maybe they’re actually canonically family. then characters A and C might also arguably have a family-like dynamic. but- get this- it actually doesn’t automatically also make B and C’s relationship like family.

maybe that sounds bad at first. but think about reality for a moment. for an example from my own life: i have a sister. she has a boyfriend. we’re all super close with him and when he’s around the vibes remind me a lot of my older brother. but he’s not literally actually my brother and i’m not out here screeching about found family or whatever. imagine if i insisted that we were literally actually siblings and that therefore since all three of us were siblings then him dating my sister was incest. utterly deranged train of thought. i can think of him as being somewhat like a brother to me without being a weirdo freak about it.

when it comes to viewing stuff as found family in fiction people are so quick to try to nearly organize everyone into a specific role to mimic a legitimate nuclear family. like oh these two are like the parents and therefore all the others are their children. or this guy has older brother vibes to all of them therefore they’re all siblings. but that’s just… kinda not how stuff actually works irl. relationships are complex things and the way multiple relationships interweave is even more complex. unless they’re literally biologically or legally family, you can’t sort people into boxes so easily.

and i’m not even saying this exclusively to justify shipping characters B and C or whatever. that can be the case, but also: characters B and C could be friends. they could be neutral towards each other. they could be actual literal worst enemies. there’s a range of possibilities.

[pilot-boi]

Sorry if this is a weird ask but - its nice to see someone appreciate Jaune's character for what his character actually is and his complexities instead of say... Wanting to make him the protag of rwby / ignoring the all the other characters in favor of him and only him (which unfortunately I have seen in the Rwby tags).

Also I really like your art!

It’s not a weird ask, I appreciate hearing from you guys!

Also legitimately thanks so much. Sometimes I look in the Jaune tag and I feel like I’m the last bastion of sanity among his fans. Jaune isn’t THE protagonist, he’s just one of them

RWBY is an ensemble show with the title girls taking the lead. Arguably Jaune is the next most important, but his role in the story is LITERALLY to support his more attack centered friends. He’s not the hero who’s going to save the maiden and slay the dragon, he’s here to help his friends and give them the power necessary to get the job done

He’s the healer and a lot of his fans just can’t handle that he isn’t a fighter and is never going to be. They also can’t handle that he’s not the perfect male power fantasy that so many shows capitalize on

Jaune’s a gentle soft boy who has too many emotions for him to deal with. He’s got low self-esteem and self-worth that he’s visibly struggled with the entire show. He canonically cries more than almost any other character and gives everyone hugs whenever possible

The closest he ever got to the male fighting fantasy was V5 when his guilt and grief were driving his self-esteem to LITERALLY SUICIDAL LENGTHS. He abandoned his shield and threw himself at a fully powered maiden so he could buy his friends time that they didn’t even need

And then he unlocks his Semblance and dives head long into being the healer. He never wanted to be the fighter, he just wanted to help people

And if I’m the only brave enough to say it, then so freaking be it

[gammija]

The final Web!Martin evidence list

Now that canon is done, and we’ve got word of god confirmation that Web!Martin wasn’t complete nonsense, I decided to go back to my lil chronological evidence list and actually clean it up a bit, delete parts that in hindsight weren't all that indicative, and put everything in a slightly more readable format. (Obligatory disclaimer that i don’t and never did believe or advocate for some kind of evil web!martin, and that I'm not intending to connect a moral judgement to martin (or anyone else for that matter) having some of these traits)

So here: The (hopefully, please) final list with Web!Martin Evidence! Presented in order of importance, according to. me

The final (hopefully) Web!Martin evidence list

(In order from most to least obvious)

Spiders

I mean, it’s called the Web. TMA reiterates quite a few times that Martin liked spiders. Sometimes it IS that easy.

MAG022: Martin: "I like spiders. Big ones, at least. Y’know, y’know the ones you can see some fur on; I actually think they’re sort of cute -"

MAG038: | Sasha: "A spider?" Jon: "Yeah. I tried to kill it…" [...] Sasha: [Chuckles] "Well, I won’t tell Martin." Jon: "Oh, god. I don’t think I could stand another lecture on their importance to the ecosystem."

MAG059: Jon: "I have done my best to prevent Martin reading this statement in too much detail. I have no interest in having another argument about spiders."

MAG079: Jon: "Apparently, biologically, his account of the spiders doesn’t make any sense according to Martin."

MAG197: Martin: “What? Because I like spiders? Well, used to.”

Lies and subterfuge

Martin is able to use lying and subterfuge to achieve his goals, and is called manipulative a few times.

Lies:

MAG022: Martin: "[He] became slightly more co-operative after I lied to him and told him that one of the upstairs residents had buzzed me in."

MAG056: Martin: "I lied on my CV."

MAG158: Peter: “But you said –” Martin: “Honestly, I mostly just said what I thought you wanted to hear.”

MAG164: Jon: "You – I actually believed you!"

MAG189: Martin: “Sorry. Sorry, John. Not sure how much everything up there actually understood what was going on. But, y’know, I didn’t want to take any chances so it made sense to… um…” Jon: “Put on a show?” Martin: “Yeah, basically, more or less.”

MAG191: Martin: "That's not true." Arun: "Liar!"

Subterfuge:

The plan in 118, which revolved around convincing Elias that Martin was only “acting out”, to create a distraction for Melanie. (Also compare the way he evades giving a straight answer here with the way Annabelle talks in 196.)

Working with Peter in s4 under false pretenses, to distract him from Jon and eventually try to learn what Peter wanted.

Manipulation accusations:

These, I know, are somewhat contentious, since it’s mostly villains saying this to him. I’m still including them, since

1): From a media analysis standpoint, being mentioned 3 times is a sign to pay attention, even when it may not be the full truth.

2): I only see it as describing Martin’s behaviour in the previous points, not as a moral judgement; Especially since he almost always ‘manipulates’ people in positions of power over him.

Still, if it bothers anyone, feel free to ignore these.

MAG138: Martin: "That’s it? No, no monologue, no mind games? You love manipulating people!" Elias: "That makes two of us."

MAG186: Martin: “I can be a real manipulative prick, you know that?” Also Martin: “Oh yeah.”

MAG196: Annabelle: “Because you always managed to get what you wanted through smiles and shrugs and stammerings that weren’t nearly as awkward as they seemed.” [SMALL SOUND OF MARTIN’S CONCESSION TO THE POINT] Martin: “Point taken.”

The Lonely/the Web

The Lonely and the Web sometimes affect Martin to similar degrees.

In season 3, when Martin is getting used to reading statements for the first time, most of them leave him emotionally affected: MAG084, MAG088, MAG090,

MAG095: Martin: “S-S-Statement… done.” [HEAVY BREATHING & TREMBLING AS MARTIN STEADIES HIMSELF] “I don’t like recording these. There. I-I said it.”,

MAG098: Martin: [Panting] “End of statement.” [Deep breath] “I, um, I think I might need to sit down. Oh. Yeah, I am. Right. I don’t, uh, I’m not really sure if these are actually getting easier or harder. I mean I don’t feel –”

Only the last two statements he reads are remarkably easier. This might be a hint that Martin is just getting used to reading them, but the quote from MAG098 seems to contradict that. Either way, it’s likely not a coincidence that those last two happen to be the Lonely and the Web:

MAG108: Martin: “Statement ends.” (exhale) “That wasn’t so bad…”

MAG110: Martin: “Statement ends.” [...] “I mean, I think it sounds like a Jurgen Leitner book. About spiders. Hm. Good John didn’t have to read this one, anyway. I know he’s not a fan. Although, this one wasn’t too bad, actually! I – yeah. Anyway.”

In season 5, there are two powers’ Domains that actually affected Martin mentally, as opposed to only physically: the Lonely’s, in 170 (and arguably 186), and, depending on your interpretation, in 172, when Martin went exploring without knowing why he did so.

Proximity

Martin investigates a lot of the Web statements during season 1 to 3 (in other words, when the archive team still researches statements). The only ones he isn’t mentioned in during this period are MAG019 and MAG020, when he’s being harrassed by worms, and MAG081, which Jon records by himself outside of the institute.

Most notably, he’s the one who discovered the statement in MAG114, ‘Cracked Foundations’, which is the one statement in the entire show that sets up the interdimensional properties of HTR.

The Web!Lighter passed through Martin's hands first, before he gave it to Jon.

Similarly, Annabelle mostly spoke to Martin in season 5, despite most other Avatars usually focusing on Jon.

Aesthetics

Apart from the above obviously Web related areas, there are some other aesthetics which are mentioned in connection to both the Web and Martin, throughout canon.

These are describing the Web;

These are describing Martin.

Tapes:

Martin is the only character to treat the tape recorders as friends - any other character is either indifferent, or treats them as enemies.

MAG039: Martin: "I think the tapes have a sort of… low-fi charm."

MAG154 Martin: “Oh. Hi. Hello again.” … (small laugh) “Sorry pal, false alarm this time.”

MAG156 Martin: “Mm? Oh.” [HE LAUGHS, GENTLY.] “Yeah. (rustling paper) I was going to read one. Hate for you to miss it!” [SHORT, FORCED LAUGH, AS HE FLAPS THE STATEMENT AROUND.]

MAG170 Martin: “Oh. Oh, hello. What’s this? Wow, retro! What are you up to, little buddy; just – listening? That’s okay. It’s nice to have someone to talk to.”

MAG190 Jon: "[The tapes] seem to like [Martin]."

Retro:

MAG069: Statement: “I only saw Annabelle Cane once during this period. She wasn’t hard to pick out. She dressed like a vintage clothing store exploded on her, and her short bleach-blonde hair stood out sharply against dark skin.”

MAG160: Jon: “Anyways, don’t tell me the phonebox down there doesn’t appeal to your retro aesthetic.” Martin: “It – might. Maybe.”

MAG163: Annabelle/the Web callying Martin via an old payphone: [ A PHONE RINGS. IT’S NOT THE TINNY, ELECTRONIC SOUND OF A CELLPHONE – NO, THIS IS A TRUE, HEAVY, CLASSIC RING.] Martin: “Uh. John? Uh, J, John – the, uh, payphone that’s – here, for some reason – it’s ringing?”

Hatred of burns:

MAG067: Jack Barnabas’ statement: “I looked up and noticed within the corner of the room, where there had been a spider’s web this morning, there was just a faint wisp of smoke.” “Another held a bag that seemed to be full of candles, while a third had a clear plastic container filled with hundreds of tiny spiders.”

MAG139: Statement by member of Cult of the Lightless Flame: “The Mother of Puppets has always suffered at our hand; all the manipulation and subtle venom in the world means nothing against a pure and unrestrained force of destruction and ruin.” Agnes burned down Hilltop Road.

MAG145: The Web ties Gertrude to Agnes, stopping the Desolation’s ritual (the only Power whose ritual the Web is known to have prevented).

MAG167: Gertrude enlists Agnes’/the Desolation’s help in order to burn her assistant Emma, who was Web aligned.

MAG169: Martin: "Look, I just – don’t want to get burned, all right? It’s, it’s like my least favorite pain ever. [...] I, I legitimately hate burns, alright? They’re, they’re awful, and they scar horribly, and they just – it – it just makes me sick; I, I hate it. Hate it!"

Phrasing:

MAG039: Martin: "I’m trapped here. It’s like I can’t… move on and the more I struggle, the more I’m stuck. [...] It's just that whatever web these statements have caught you in, well, I’m there too. We all are, I think."

MAG079: Martin's poem: "The threads of people walking, living, lovi–"

MAG117: Martin: "This last couple of years, I’ve always been running, always hiding, caught in someone else’s trap, but, but now it’s my trap, and, well, I think it’ll work. I know, I know it’s not exactly intricate, but it felt good leaving my own little web. Oh, oh, Christ, I hope John doesn’t actually listen to these. “Good lord, is Martin becoming some sort of spider person?” No, John, it’s an expression, chill out! Besides, spiders are fine. I mean, yes, people are scared of them, obviously, but actual spiders, they just want to help you out with flies."

MAG167: Jon: “Methinks the Spider dost protest too much.” Martin: “Jon –” Jon: “Joking! Just joking.”

Personality:

How applicable these are depends heavily on how you interpret Martin's own personality, so your mileage may vary.

MAG008: Statement: “Nobody ever said a word against Raymond himself, though, who was by all accounts a kind and gentle soul [...]”

MAG123: Jon: "The Web does seem to have a preference for those who prefer not to assert themselves."

MAG147: Annabelles statement: "I discovered a deep and enduring talent inside myself for lying. [...] My manipulations were not intricate, but they were far beyond what was expected of a child my age, and I have always believed that the key to manipulating people is to ensure that they always under- or overestimate you. Never reveal your true abilities or plans."

Word of God and Annabelle

I kinda wanted to ‘prove’ that Web!Martin had quite a bit of evidence to back it up, hence this header being last. But of course, in this post-canon world, there are a few lines that most obviously confirm the theory:

MAG197: Martin is Web enough to be able to read the 'vibrations', like Annabelle, and see Jon and Basira (the latter being especially notable, as he hadn't known she was there beforehand): [CHITTERING, BUZZING AND HIGH-PITCHED SQUEALS CHANGE CADENCE] Martin: "Wait… Wait, hang on, is that him?" Annabelle: "Yes. I guess you’re better with the Web than we thought." Martin: "And – Wait, ha– No, uh… is that… Basira? He – He’s got Basira with him!" Annabelle: "Yes."

Season 5 Q&A part 2: Jonny: “Essentially, it was fascinating looking at the fandom and, like, the Web!Martin believers, because what they were doing was correctly picking up on hints dropped in the early seasons that were later, like, not exactly abandoned, but it was much more like, ‘Well, no, he does have like aspects of The Web to him, but he is moreover The Lonely.’ And that came about very… very organically, really. Because throughout Season 3 and going into Season 4, we had this conversation and we were like, ‘No, actually he's like-” Alex: “‘It can't be, it cannot be, it must be the other way round’ Yeah.”

(Note that they say “throughout season 3 and going into season 4,” which likely means that season 1, season 2, and at least part of season 3, aka half of the entire show, were written with Web!Martin as an intentional possibility.)

If you read all that, thanks so much! Obviously, Web!Martin never really came to fruition, so it's fine if you still don't like it. This is just a post explaining where it was coming from, at least for me and the other theorists I've spoken to.

[robbyrobinson]

WILLIAM AFTON RANT

So, I do like most of the Five Nights at Freddy's series. The series had its highs and lows, and has really evolved from being the point-and-click survival horror game in 2014. The first game is pretty solid; the second is good; third, kind of a drop in quality. The fourth one was the one I legitimately did not like because it through a monkey wrench towards speculating on the timeline. Sister Location was the tipping point where we get more bits of the lore to chew on. Pizzeria Simulator, to me, was the perfect way to wrap up the mainline games by burning it all in a blaze of glory with heavy drops on the lore with character revelations and the finality of it all. VR...not much of a fan on because it brought back a recurring element that I felt the games knew when to cut ties with. It being the main antagonist of the series William "Purple Guy" Afton. I should probably state that the first problem with the Afton story line had to be the fact FNAF didn't start off with an overarching story. Scott Cawthon developed the first game as a last hoorah when he felt that his dream of becoming a game developer was through. But, luck would have it, the game blew up in popularity namely because of let's players like Markiplier playing the game and the rest is history. The first FNAF game was relatively simple: survive five nights at a pizzeria where you'd have to conserve your power and check the screens all while trying to keep homicidal animatronics from stuffing you into a suit. A very, very simple plot where you did not have to think too much on. That is not to say that there weren't any hidden secrets in the first game: there are occasional newspaper clippings of reports on five children being led into the back rooms by a man dressed up in a mascot costume. They were never seen again, and the animatronics started to reek from mucus and other fluids suggesting that the kids were killed and stuffed into animatronic bodies and possessed them. Beyond that, there was not much to chew on or speculate about. Which would become an issue with Afton himself. To say that he really evolved over the course of the series is an understatement. From the games he goes from: a nameless serial killer; the CEO of Afton Robotics; an undead rabbit animatronic who was burned; an even more horrid-looking rabbit who gets burned (again); and eventually becomes a computer virus. The dude is seriously a supervillain at this point. Not helping that we then are given information on remnant which is at best a glue trapping souls. I hated that remnant was introduced to the series largely due to over-complexity. Simply saying that the Puppet brought the animatronics to life by having them possess the animatronics is simple enough: explaining remnant is as bad as when midchlorians were introduced to explain how the Force worked. Which goes into... Afton. Keeps. Fucking. Coming. Back. I get that it was a nod to the "He will come back. He always does. We have a place for him" tagline from the third game, but this is getting ridiculous. I'll be frank when I say that Afton is not a good villain. For starters, even when we get more insight to him being the CEO of a robotics company and arguably the worst father in gaming, we have no clue what his motivations actually are. Sure, you could claim that he wanted to achieve immortality as revealed in the Silver Eyes and its two sequel books, but ignoring them entirely, virtually nothing is there to pin in the games. Or is it that he wanted to resurrect the Crying Child from FNAF 4 on the assumption that the CC is his son? So it would mean that all of his actions were the results of him experimenting around with technology and remnant? It looks like he was already a psycho killer as evidenced by him describing the designs of Circus Baby to his interviewers. Even with that idea, it was always weird that if the Crying Child was in fact an Afton then why is it so explicit unlike with Michael and Elizabeth who are both confirmed as his children. With me, I did actually think the Crying Child was likely

Henry Emily's child going off the SN books with Cassidy; as in, William, for whatever reason, liked Henry's boy (and gave him the purple phone to conduct experiments on him with the Nightmare Animatronics), and secretly created replacements each stage representing a point in the CC's life. But then that would only complicate things like explaining the whole "I will put you back together" line and if Michael knew about the sudden appearance of a robot in his life, but that is straying from the main topic. So, yeah. Afton is a total enigma whose motivation for what he does is unclear. At most, you could say he kills kids because he's evil. Okay. Not a satisfactory answer, but from the sprites in the game, he always has a smile on his face. It wouldn't be that much of an issue if he was at the least interesting. But he is not. Afton is no Freddy Krueger or Chucky; even Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees have better characteristics and the latter two don't even talk. If anything, Afton's main flaw is that whatever his motivation was gradually changed as the games continued to evolve, but it came at the cost of making him an OP villain who keeps reappearing making him shoe-horned into the plot of the game when he does not belong. Makes me really wish that Vincent was made canon. You remember Vincent, right? He was an interpretation of Afton made years before the name drop. He was a homicidal maniac who was laidback and evil. Yet, he was a hilarious character and was full of personality. Like take Security Breach. Taking Glitchtrap (who may be his virtual ghost or something relating to him), the game's focus should have been entirely on Vanny. But even then, Vanny is not her own antagonist due to her basically being implied as a "reluctant follower" of Afton's which by itself makes Afton hijack the game instead of making good with a new threat. And then Afton of course comes back this time as Burntrap which pisses on the ending of Pizzeria Simulator which causes Cassette Man's goal of putting an end to the horror all for nothing. But even then, the bastard had survived burning alive at least twice leading me to think that remnant being destroyed by heat is total BS. Afton had no reason to be in Security Breach making his appearance shoe-horned. He of course has to have wrangle the plot of the game over and make it all about himself yet again. And he doesn't even do anything eventful there because the Blob just catches him and takes him away. I sure hope that finally, finally this means that Afton is dead for real and we could move on to making a new main antagonist unrelated to the Afton family, but I doubt it. Don't get me wrong: the Afton family story line plays a crucial role in the lore of the franchise and I feel that just having a basic game about surviving animatronics would not make the series last for as long as it did. But, besides theories and speculation, really what more can we expect to get from the story? We have threads of a story there, but the series prefers to leave some details vague. It is JJ Abram's mystery box all over again further showing that there were no long-lasting plans for the franchise. The series itself also took on a more science fiction aesthetic which further compounds a bloated story. It was already a willing suspension of disbelief that the animatronics were advanced enough to walk around in the 1980s, but now, we have remnant as a concept and the alternate continuity books where they take nosedives with how high-tech the animatronics are and overcomplicating a simple story of kids possessing animatronics to get revenge on their killer. Are those moments still scary? Yes, but I feel trying to explain the mechanics behind it lessens the intended effect. Ultimately, my problem with Afton lays solely on how he was written as a nameless killer in the first game with no foreseeable larger goal beyond that. As the series continued, Afton was forced to evolve, but as a consequence, Afton's motivations behind his actions are underdeveloped being reliant on the books and fan

theories. He lacks interesting traits and characteristics besides "I kill kids because I am evil." But worse, Afton continuing to return to the games despite constant burn attempts makes him an invincible villain which lessens the stakes and makes any actions to put a stop to him meaningless.

[pandoricpies]

SSO Horrors

A post diving into how dark this franchise’s storyline gets and ideas for a horror game that will never actually be created. SPOILERS for the SL books and SSO storyline.

This idea originally came to me after reading the second book of the SL trilogy, The Legend Awakens. Props to Helena Dahlgren for the Pine Hill Manor scenes in that book; I was completely left on the edge of my seat the entire time. Linda’s whole experience was definitely an unexpected thriller for the children’s genre; cutting her leg on a broken window, exploring an old creepy mansion owned by the centuries-old psychopath that was targeting her, her friends, and their horses, being chased down halls and having to barricade herself in rooms to be protected from the apparent non-human dark riders (not to mention the way Dahlgren describes the animal sounds and scratching that they made, chills), and, to top it all off, nearly dying from sepsis due to her cut becoming infected.... if that’s not horror game material, I don’t know what is.

If you can’t already tell from the title of this post, I am a huge fan of the horror genre. The suspense-packed and often deep moral stories are always a fun watch/read. I personally am currently making my way through some classic Stephen King books that I haven’t read yet which was sort of what inspired this post.

Taking a look at SSO’s storyline on the surface level, we see a classic dark vs. light story, with horses and female heroines as the main points. However, there are quite a few darker elements hidden among the story quests, most of which would only be noticeable to the eye of the older audience of the game. The potential for this plot to be upped to a more mature level as far as darker themes go is definitely there. Regardless, the already existing underlying themes have some heavy themes...

- Teenagers, around the ages of 15-19, have been tasked with saving the world from a demonic entity. They have been granted special powers to do this with. These powers however can be extremely dangerous, as we see with both Alex and Catherine with their Lightning Circle incidents, in which they almost killed living beings. These factors combined would no doubt take some sort of psychological toll on the Soul Riders, as they are so named.

- Brainwashing and cult-mindset was a huge theme brought up with Justin’s kidnapping. He was abruptly cut off from the outside world, had his memories removed, and his mind artificially filled with thoughts of Garnok and world domination. It’s clear when he is rescued and goes back to his home that he’s depressed; his Midsummer dialogue a year back was “My dad thought it would be good for me to get out. I don’t do that much anymore” (not exact but close enough). When he talks to his mother during the memories quests the first thing he jumps to seeing her pregnant with him is “I wonder if she’d would be so excited if she knew all the terrible things I did”. To add to that, upon getting Justin back home, Thomas tells our character “If he keeps having these dark thoughts, I’ll have to turn to the druids.” That in itself was pretty unsettling. All this dialogue was put there to draw attention to the mental affects of literally having your brain tampered with.

- Elizabeth’s story was probably one of the saddest in my opinion. She had to stand by while her friend group fell apart, one going on to die, one going missing, and the other two continuing to split away from her. She then felt it was her responsibility to make up for her sisterhood’s failures, staying with the druids and eventually helping recruit new Soul Riders. Seriously though, imagine that. She saw what pain the magical war brought to her and her friends; knowing that she was pushing four more kids into a situation like that would’ve been devastating (here comes the morals vs. duty idea). Our character must have been a whole other level of that feeling. She saw what Catherine went through with her magic - the fear, the near madness. Then of course she goes on to imprison her close friend’s son (it appeared from the quests that she was closest to Catherine so that just adds to the pain). And to end it all, she sacrifices herself to save a girl who she considered a daughter.... jeez. - Catherine is another issue here for obvious reasons. A teenage girl is entrusted with goddess-level powers, then nearly goes psycho from the inability to control them. You can clearly tell from her last few diary entries how exhausting that was and how happy she was to finally have a somewhat normal life with her husband and son.

- And finally of course we have the DC gang. Mr. Sands is a basket case all on his own, a man who has used mind control (arguably in my opinion one of the creepiest forms of dark magic out there) on numerous victims including his own grandson, a man who legitimately worships a demon, and not to mention has it out for a bunch of teenagers. His whole backstory with Rosalinda made me feel some sort of sympathy for his character (he watched her nearly be drowned to death), and I’m actually quite curious as to where they’re going to take that. Also, The Nightmare Institute? That could be a horror game within itself. All we know so far about that place is that humans and animals are tested on with dangerous materials (ex. Mr. Anwir). Let’s not forget to mention the dark riders who apparently have animal qualities now? (as it was described in the SL books) Ok so we can clearly see that SSO’s storyline gets a bit dark. But just imagine; a Pine Hill Mansion first-person POV game, where you’re in a situation similar to Linda’s, or even one in DC or the Nightmare Institute. Honestly this entire storyline could be turned into some Resident Evil plot lol.

But that being said, as much as it’s fun to speculate these types of things, I enjoy SSO’s storyline just the way it is. It’s enjoyable for me as an older player, but it’s also filled with great moral stories and motivation for young children, especially girls. I love the atmosphere of female empowerment, and it’s especially unique to SSO because around the time of it’s initial release, that wasn’t seen much in video games.

Might start during these ‘chat’ or ‘random things that come to my mind’ posts more often.

[crusherthedoctor]

Can you list anything you unironically like in the games (and cartoons and comics) that you don't like?

I won't bother mentioning music, since that goes without saying and is to be expected for a Sonic game... unless you're Chronicles.

Sonic Adventure 2 (mixed gameplay-wise, annoying story-wise) - While I prefer Sonic's SA1 levels for a number of reasons, I still think his and Shadow's gameplay in SA2 is fun on its own merit. I also don't mind the treasure hunting gameplay returning or how big the levels are this time around, since Knuckles and Rouge are still fast and not '06 levels of slow. It's mainly the gimped radar that creates the unfortunate domino effect of making them a problem.

- Introduced Rouge, one of my favourite characters for how playful she is and how she's a lot more nuanced and intelligent than you'd expect.

- Some genuinely good scenes, like Eggman's trap on the A.R.K and Sonic escaping from the G.U.N. helicopter.

- Had some good ideas going for it, like the Pyramid Base and the Biolizard as a scientific monster instead of an ancient one.

- Despite my thoughts on the backstory itself (or rather, its execution), Shadow has enough depth and subtle qualities and occasional unintended hilarity to stand out from the typical dark rival characters you see in media.

- The Last Scene's music in particular is one of my favourite cutscene tracks in the series.

Sonic Heroes (mixed gameplay-wise, loathed story-wise) - The gameplay is fun when you're not being screwed over by repetitive combat, overly long levels and/or ice physics.

- Boasts some of the most consistently Genesis-worthy environments in the 3D games, up there with SA1's and Colours'.

- The in-game dialogue that isn't the same tutorial drivel repeated ad nauseam can be interesting, funny, etc.

- Reintroduced the Chaotix, which provided me with another character I quite like in the form of Vector.

- Bringing Metal Sonic back in full force and front and center in the plot after a long absence (not counting cameos and the like) is a perfectly fine idea. Just... not like this.

Sonic Battle (decent yet repetitive gameplay, mixed story-wise) - Emerl's arc is compelling, and it earns the emotional weight of having to put him down at the end.

- While some characters are iffy (read: Amy), other characters are extremely well-handled. Shadow is probably the prime example.

- Gamma's belly dance healing animation is fucking hilarious.

- When I was young, and the game was first announced, I was really excited about being able to play as Chaos. This proved to be my downfall when it turned out he was arguably one of the worst characters in the game due to being slower than me during the writing process, but I still recall that excitement fondly.

Shadow the Hedgehog (comedy classic) - The sheer amount of legendary stupidity this game has going for it makes it practically impossible to actually hate. It helps that it's not quite as white-knighted on the same level as '06... usually. You know you're in for a unique experience when you hear a gunshot every time you click something in the menu.

- By extension, Black Doom never gained an unironic fanbase like Mephiles/Scourge/Eggman Nega did, which means I'm a lot more willing to take Doom's dumbass brand of villainy in stride. He even has a unique design... a terrible one that rips off Wizeman granted, but alas, even that is a step-up from Fridge Shadow and Bumblebee Eggman.

- Despite being... well, Shadow the Hedgehog, some of the environments would fit right in with any other Sonic game, like with Circus Park, Lava Shelter, and Digital Circuit. Even the Black Comet levels look pretty cool.

- This game understands amnesia better than IDW does.

Sonic '06 (what do you think?) - The obvious one: Shadow's character was handled pretty well, even if it came at the cost of everyone else being a dummy and being forced to interact with Mephiles.

- Like SA2, there are some good moments, like the Last Story ending sequence with Sonic and Elise.

- In the greatest form of irony ever, I like Solaris as a concept and design(s), and its backstory has potential to serve as a parallel with Chaos without being a complete ripoff. Iblis sucks, Mephiles sucks, but I'm fine with Solaris.

- Introduced legendary characters like Sonic Man, Pele the Beloved Dog, Hatsun the Pigeon, and Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove.

The Rivals duology (apathetic outside of Nega-related grumbling) - There were some cool zone ideas in both games that were sadly let down by the restrictive and limiting gameplay. I particularly like Colosseum Highway for thus far being the only full-on Roman level in the series instead of merely having a couple minor hints of Roman, and Meteor Base for the unique scenario of the space station being built into an asteroid. These level concepts and others deserve a second chance IMO. (At least Frontier Canyon got a second chance in the form of Mirage Saloon, amirite?)

- Ifrit has a better design than Iblis. Not saying it's amazing, but the Firebird motif it has going on is a lot more interesting for a fire monster than the Not-Chaos schtick they had with Iblis.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (a very frustrating gaming experience) - Erazor Djinn, A.K.A. Qui-Gon Djinn, A.K.A. Dr. N. Djinn, A.K.A. I'll Take It On The Djinn, A.K.A. Not From The Hairs On My Djinny Djinn Djinn, is one of the best villains not associated with Eggman in the series. He's a Mephiles-type character done right, and there's actual weight and reason to his actions, however sinister or petty.

- I don't have strong opinions either way on Shahra as a character, but the Sonic/Shahra friendship is sweet and well-handled.

- The ending is one of Sonic's greatest moments. The sheer contrast between how ruthlessly he deals with Erazor and how comforting he is towards Shahra speaks volumes... Still gonna make fun of the mountain of handkerchiefs though. (Before anyone lectures me, I understand the significance of it and can even appreciate it from that angle... doesn't mean I'm not allowed to poke fun at it. :P)

- Another game with some redeeming environments. I love the aesthetic of Night Palace, and Sand Oasis looks gorgeous too.

Sonic Chronicles (my personal least favourite game in the series) - Uh...

- Um...

- Er...

- I like Shade's design?

Sonic Unleashed (overrated game and story IMO) - The obvious two: the opening sequence and the Egg Dragoon fight deserve all the praise they get.

- Seeing Eggmanland come to life was an impressive moment to be sure. While part of me does feel it didn't quite measure up to what I had in mind (ironically, the Interstellar Amusement Park ended up being closer to what I had in mind), it still looks badass and works well for what it is. I also don't mind the idea of it being a one-level gauntlet... key word being idea.

- Obviously, the game looks great. Not a fan of the real world focus (real world inspiration is fine, but copy-pasting the real world and shoving loops in it is just unimaginative), but it can't be denied that the environments look good.

- This game pulled off dialogue options a lot better than Chronicles did, since they didn't rely on making Sonic OoC.

Sonic and the Black Knight (just kind of boring all around) - Despite my gripes with the story (Merlina wasn't nearly as fleshed out as her unique anti-villain status deserved, which ends up severely undermining the ambition of the plot in more ways than one, and the other characters go from being useless yes men for King Arthur to being useless yes men for Sonic), I will admit it provides interesting insight into Sonic's character.

- Like '06 and Secret Rings, the ending is very nice... well, aside from Amy being an unreasonable bitch ala Sonic X at the very end.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (apathetic) - The admittedly few new concepts sprinkled within had promise. They may not have been as fleshed out as they could have been, but level concepts like Sylvania Castle and White Park, bosses like Egg Serpentleaf and the Egg Heart, and story beats like the Death Egg mk.II being powered by Little Planet, all could have been brilliant had they been better executed.

SatAM (apathetic outside of SatAM Robotnik-related grumbling) - I'm not a fan of the environments on the whole due to them looking too bland or samey, but there are some exceptions that look pleasant or interesting, like the Void.

Sonic Underground (apathetic) - The character designs make me feel better about myself.

- Does "large quantities of unintentional meme material" count as a positive?

Sonic X (mostly apathetic outside of Eggman's handling) - Helen was a better human character and audience surrogate in her one focus episode than Chris was throughout his entire runtime.

- Actually, most of the human characters not named Chris were legitimately likable. Including everyone in Chris' own family not named Chris. Hilarious.

- Despite arguably having the most Chris in it, I actually don't mind the first season that much, partly due to slight nostalgia from seeing it on TV when it was new, but mostly because Eggman actually acted like a villain for the most part, and certain other characters weren't quite as flanderized yet. It's season 2 and onwards where things started going off the rails IMO. (Incidentally, Helen's episode was part of season 1...)

The Boom franchise (apathetic) - Along with Chronicles, the games provide yet more proof that just because someone isn't SEGA/Sonic Team, that doesn't mean they're automatically more qualified to handle the series.

- The show had some good episodes here and there, and Tails' characterization was probably the most consistently on-point out of the cast.

- Despite not exactly being favourite portrayals for either character, even I'll admit that many of Knuckles and Eggman's lines in the show on their own were genuinely funny.

Archie Sonic (pre-reboot is mostly terrible, post-reboot is mostly... bland) - Whenever I doubt myself as a writer, I think back to Ken Penders, and suddenly I'm filled with a lot more confidence.

Sonic the Comic (apathetic) - Fleetway isn't a comic I tend to recall much of aside from how much of a loathesome cunt Sonic is, but IIRC, Robotnik's portrayal is pretty good. Different, but good.

IDW Sonic (stop pissing me off, comic) - Putting their handling aside (and being too obviously "inspired" by MGS in the latter's case), Tangle and Whisper are good characters IMO.

- Same goes for Starline, before he was killed off-screen and replaced with Toothpaste Snively.

- Execution aside (noticing a pattern?), the zombot virus was a fine concept on its own and an interesting new scheme for Eggman.

- I get to remind myself that I've never drawn scat edits and posted them publicly on Twitter.

[lazyliars]

The Quackity Meta: Justice without the Blindfold

[Anonymous asks: (DSMP) Somebody talk to me about Quackity and Eret’s character. I wanna talk about what Quackity’s views on power are with what he’s planning to do with Sam along with whatever he saw in the egg. I wanna talk about why Eret thinks reviving Wilbur is the best option for the sever to lead and their views on what a leader should be with them being the king of the Dream SMP. I wanna talk about Quackity planning to create a casino for the server to rise to the top. What does it mean to be king?]

[/rp. All mentions of dream smp members should be assumed as referencing the character, not the cc, unless specifically stated otherwise.]

At the heart of every conflict, if you look closely enough, you will find a similarity. Two contrasting ideals will reveal their own likeness, in the stage they play out their war – they both fight for the same result; to be known and followed and asserted, and in this they are the same. There would be no conflict if both sides shared nothing in common.

Lets talk about Quackity.

We'll gloss over a good deal of Quackity's history to get to the meat of this discussion, which involves Technoblade. But there are a a few lesser known facts about Quackity's early days on the server that are relevant to the discussion, like  that Quackity joined the server because of Tommy.

Namely, he joined for The Cartel, a short-lived organization comprised of him, Tommy, Tubbo and Jack Manifold, and their aims of obtaining power over the entire server by getting a monopoly on one object, the Phantom Membrane.

(Trivia: This is why Technoblade had to strike a deal with Tommy for the membranes – Phantoms are turned off on the Dream SMP now, so their monopoly actually ended up working. (Un)fortunately, Tommy traded nearly his whole supply for the priceless act of... making Techno scream really loud and talk in a funny voice. Worth it.)

However, Tommy's interest in the Cartel waned almost immediately, to Quackity's frustration. Tommy was constantly busy with his Vice Presidential duties in L'manberg. Quackity wasn't entirely left out, and he helped Tommy on multiple occaisions, but this was back in Wilbur's L'manberg, where non-europeans were strictly banned.

Quackity would slowly come to resent Tommy for this over time. He joined the server to be with him, took his side in nearly every conflict, including the ones that were L'manberg-oriented, and yet he wasn't allowed to be a citizen of his friend's own nation.

The resentment would reach a boiling point when Quackity discovered Wilbur's bid to consolidate power by running a sham election – with a one party system. Quackity challenged him, formed Swag 2020, and the rest is history...

The takeaway here is that from the start, Quackity has been shunted aside by people in power – Tommy, Wilbur, and then later, Schlatt. This wouldn't prevent him from executing his own immoral power grabs, but that trait – the distaste for people with power holding it over him, is one that would stick around, and become even more prominent later... Quackity has more reason than most to hate tyranny.

But “Tyranny” Is a word thrown around on the SMP often enough, that it's probably up there with “betrayal” and “pop-off” in total wordcount. But few use it more commonly, or more persuasively, than Quackity and Technoblade.

This begs the question: what is Tyranny in a M/inec/raft role play, and why do Quackity and Technoblade both detest it so much while still hating each other?

Well, after a moderate amount of research, I have discovered the following:

Tyranny is complicated.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

...No, but really. Tyranny is very old concept. The words originates in, you guessed it, Ancient Greece, but conceptually, the idea goes waaaay back.

Now, that last thing I wanna do is give anyone a history lesson. I'd suck at it and I haven't done that much research. But the takeaway here is that “Tyranny” has come to be defined in fairly vague terms. We'll look at a few different ones in reference to the SMP.

Oxford dictionary defines a Tyrant as: A cruel and oppressive ruler. / a person exercising power or control in a cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary way. / (especially in ancient Greece) a ruler who seized power without legal right.

Lets look at the first and last definitions:  A cruel and oppressive ruler; (especially in ancient Greece) a ruler who seized power without legal right.

By these definitions, one could call Quackity tyrannical during his term as Tubbo's VP. He exercises the power granted to him as a government official to spearhead an operation to execute a man without trial. He violently invades the home of a citizen and then puts said man on house arrest, and to subdue the target of this operation he threatens a pet (-a vague but ostensibly severe criminal act in the terms of m/inec/raft specifically-) and then reveals to Techno that the reason he's doing this actually has nothing to do with the crime Techno was accused of, and it is instead a ploy to consolidate power.

Quackity is leveraging his position in the government to amass power, and using that power to harm individuals (Philza and Techno,) in process. As an added bonus, his position in that government came from usurping Schlatt, a legitimately elected official. Thus, Quackity is a Tyrant.

But there, in Schlatt's government is where things get complicated.

Quackity had some power in Schlatt's government. Not the same kind as he did in New L'manberg, but arguably a more unrestrained form – Quackity could basically do whatever he wanted, as long as it pleased Schlatt. In New L'manberg, Quackity needed to convince not only Tubbo, but the rest of the cabinet whenever he wanted to initiate a new project. New L'manberg, while still maintaining a ruling class, had a far more equal distribution of power than Manberg did. It was still democratic.

And while we're on the topic of Quackity as Schlatt's VP, Quackity had almost instant regret the day of the election. He was undermining Schlatt from the start, questioning him, trying to stop Tubbo from breaking the signs that read “if you break this sign, you hate your viewers” and freeing Niki when Schlatt trapped her in Jack Manifold's house and then whispering at her to run.

Quackity only fell into step with Schlatt in the aftermath of Election day, when he saw a major desire fulfilled; the tearing down of L'manberg's walls. These walls were a symbol of L'manberg's isolationist roots that prevented Quackity from joining in the first place. It was one of his biggest promises whilst campaigning.

From this point on, up until the festival, Quackity would be in support of Schlatt. The things he did try to push back on would be downplayed and ignored, if not scorned. This period of time is difficult to pick apart where Quackity's personal morals and ideals begin, and Schlatt's influence ends. The steadily worsening abusive dynamic between them doesn't help this vagueness, either.

I point this out because I've seen people conflate Quackity's abuse at the hands of Schlatt, and his willingness to participate in Schlatt's rule as being of the same root; implying that Quackity only followed Schlatt because he was in an abusive relationship with him, when the reality is far more complicated. Yes, their relationship was a major factor in Quackity's actions, but downplaying his ambition and willingness to accept Schlatt's Tyranny when it helped him realize his own goals does a disservice to the nuance of Manberg-era Quackity.

What all of this points to is an individual who has a strong, some might say defining sense of Justice, yet also a susceptibility to Temptation. Quackity’s experiences with disenfranchisement by Wilbur and Tommy, coupled with his Dark horse victory in the election paints him in a sympathetic, even heroic light. But the way he slowly relinquished more and more power to Schlatt, and ended up indulging in the fruits of tyrannical gains when they proved they could get him what he wanted.

...

So, back to the question... Is Quackity a tyrant?

The answer to that question is a solid “mmmmaaaybe??”

It comes back to what you consider Tyranny. Quackity has never held complete power – he has always, always been scrapping and struggling and fighting to get a foothold in the machinations of the truly powerful, like Dream and Wilbur. He's very much an underdog story.

On the other hand, the times that Quackity has held positions of power, he's done some questionable shit. People like to forget that, while he was deeply disturbed by it, he wasn't exactly against Tubbo's execution at the festival. Putting Phil on house arrest and executing Techno without trial also count against him.

Like most things on the SMP, it's just complicated. Quackity's motivations run deep and aren't always obvious. He doesn't seem to want to hurt people just for the sake of hurting them, or use his power in arbitrary ways, but when he can personally justify it, the sacrifice of his moral integrity gets severe sometimes.

What it looks like is that more than anything else, Quackity wants control, and to never, ever lose his own autonomy. That is also why he despises Technoblade.

...And here we are at the Technoblade part of this meta, AKA the MASSIVE BULK OF THIS ANALYSIS. Which you can read HERE, because it’s too long to fit in just this one post.