#this mc option is hella pretty

[uselessgay10101]

Nia what are you doing here-

[sunthyme]

LAST PART!!! WE'RE IN THE HOME STRETCH, BOIS! Thank y'all so much, I know I keep saying it but I really appreciate y'all sm. The next post I do will feature my Yuusona or Prefect design and some headcanons featuring it. After that, I'll give y'all some options to see whatcha'll want. Now for...

🌹Diasomnia🌹

The disclaimer from Ignihyde is still in effect here, most of my headcanons are either because it looked cool or sounded cool lmao.

First up is...

🐉Malleus Draconia🐉

(he/she/they/it any basically) Agender - Panromantic Asexual

*giggles, kicks feet, twirls hair* Mal... Anyways! Some of y'all probably been waiting for this one! My silly fae prince, whose identity may or may not be based on my own. Sue me, this bitch is hella relatable.

- So, onto the headcanons, I felt like Mal wasn't all that intimidating when he first popped up outside our house. Idk, I see a cat-type personality and all my self preservation is thrown out the nearest window. She's just a big meow. But I wanted them to actually look rather intimidating, making his bangs cover his eyes a bit more, darker makeup, whatnot.

- I know Mal is canonically taller than the rest of the cast but Imma make her even taller. Its 6'6" without the horns and like 6'11 or 7' with them. I want them to be a cryptid!! Also the height difference with Lilia bout to be crazy.

- I like the idea that my prefect made her some lil Howl's Moving Castle earrings, even though it obvious doesn't exist in their world. Or maybe it does??? Who knows.

- *scientist voice* The autism is this subject is astronomical. *cough* Yeah, it's also not up for debate. The gargoyles, the general demeanour. Yuu is their favoured person.

- Malleus and my prefect would probably interact a little differently than Yuu does canonically, as we're both silly little autistic people, but I'll save that for my Yuusona post lol.

- Really tempted to throw in that it has a forked tongue. Does have fangs but Mal and Jamil probably both have forked tongues, j st for funsies.

- Loves to read sappy romance novels, is giggling and kicking her feet at soulmate stuff in particular. Has a whole list of little date ideas in a notebook (totally not saying this because /I/ have one or anything)...

Not mush else to say give I've only canonically interacted with her like three times but now for everyone's favourite grandpa!

🦇Lilia Vanrouge🦇

(he/she) - Bisexual

- Teehee! So I saw someone headcanons Lilia as Indian and I was SO here for it, though I think he's be half Indian, half Mexican or smth.

- Gave this girl SO many piercing. I feel like she got them 'cause she was bored. Idk, 500 years is pretty old, ya gotta spice things up some how.

- Some scars from 'ye old days'(tm) and I made his hair a bit wavy and added a green gradient to the ends, just to mimick Malleus' hair. Also, this bitch stands a proud 5'3" on a good day (aka with heels).

- He's the kind of dad that makes his kids wear matching pjs during the winter holidays and while he knows his kids like the back of his hand, chooses to give them silly gifts most of the time. Also, he spoils Mal and Silver rotten.

- Absolutely tries to get Malleus to properly flirt with MC but it never works out like he plans. Silver just watches with mild amusement.

Speaking of Silver,

🗡️Silver Vanrouge🗡️

(he/they) Demiboy - Achillic Asexual

- Yes, I was mad he doesn't canonically have a last name. I figured that Lilia would have officially adopted him at some point or another and typically you need a last name for a lot of things so I just gave them Lilia's.

- I think that Silver's gray hair is natural and once it gets to be a certain length, it just becomes gray. Additionally, Lilia's a cool dad so Silver got dyed ends and piercings too.

- I actually headcanon that Silver's blind and has narcolepsy (though that's pretty much canon). It was likely from birth or manifested early on and as a result, Malleus is a bit protective of Silver (and Sebek is too but he'd never admit it lol). He has a service dog, which is probably a cute golden retriever named Aurora, and records lectures to listen back to. He, Kalim, and Ruggie have little study groups as second years. Also, Silver's autistic. Lilia really out here collecting autistic children lmaooo.

- He really likes to knit. Don't ask why but I think he'd enjoy the rhythym of it. (He's made Ruggie and Kalim scarves and both treasure them a ton) He likes to make blankets for Malleus and Lilia as well as himself. He loves to work with the chunkier and softer yarns, especially because it makes keeping track of the stitches easier.

- Owes SO MANY plushies. His bed is half dedicated to them, most probably give to him by Lilia for birthdays and holidays. He loves soft things so all the plushies are like squishmellows and stuff.

Ah, I love Silver. Onto our last canon character,

🐊Sebek Zigvolt🐊

(he/him) - Achillic

Oh boy, this design was such a pain. I literally had to redo it because I didn't like it. Though, in the end, I think it turned out pretty neat.

- On with the physical stuff, I fucked around with his skin tone a bit because it did not look right with his hair in my og design which had a more lime, yellowy green instead of the mint. I made it warmer and ditched the yellow green for the original design's mint, just darker. Finally, I thought I needed a kick of something so I gave him some violet streaks and eyes and BOOM! A Sebek!

- I gave him a bit of a rounder face, I feel like he wouldn't have outgrown his baby chub yet, and a single dimple. I thought it'd be super cute, sue me. Cute lil freckles, the works.

- One thing I am super proud of was his Lichtenburg scar (I believe that's what it's called, I've only really heard in in TMA oops). While I certainly didn't do it justice here, I'll be fleshing it out at some point. I think it's a cool addition to the character based on lighting, maybe his magic accidentally hit him or damaged him at some point idk.

- He is, wait for it... also autistic. Shocker, pun intended. He's actually AuDHD to me and has issues with volume regulation, which is real idk. Would actually also be sensitive to loud noise, as backwards as that sounds. Has noise-cancelling headphones courtesy of Idia. Malleus is his favoured person and he looks up to him a lot.

- Grew up loving dragons and thinking they were like the coolest fcuking things then met Mal and was in awe. Was a totally nerd about dragons as a kid and still has figures and posters and whatnot.

God, I love the Diasomnia characters sm omgggg. It's time for my ocs!

🪡Thumbelina Souster🪡

Third Year - (they/she) Genderqueer - Pansexual

She looks like Zelda. I know... but she's pretty!

- Thumbelina is 'twisted' from the loom in the story of Sleeping Beauty. IF EPEL IS LITERALLY AN APPLE, she can be a loom. Anyhow, I made her a fae as well, likely one of the craft fairies, just taking on a more human-sized form. She takes a ton of inspo from the og story of Thumbelina, as a tiny little fae she got separated from her kin and raised by human parents. That's why she doesn't have the 'ick' about humans that most fae have.

- When she got accepted to NRC, Crowley gave her access to a potion that changes her size so she'd be able to attend school easier. Her parents were tailors and so she grew up around sewing but could never do it because of how tiny she was. When she changed sizes, she immediately wanted to try her hand at sewing, official joining (or maybe founding) the sewing club.

- After intially joining Diasomnia and seeing Lilia's piercings, they piqued her curiosity and she got some.

- As a fae, she loves to be outdoors and tends to a garden outside of the dorm. She also rather oblivious when some expresses interest in her as she's not familiar with human courting. Lilia adopts yet another autistic child lmao.

For another character based on something mildly abstract...

🥀Munkh Sarnai🥀

Second Year - (they/he/she) Genderfluid - Asexual Aromantic

- Munkh is my character for the thorns that encircled Aurora's castle. Minorly abstract but hey, cool ass character design.

- They're Mongolian and I wanted the spikey aspect to really shine through, giving them liberty spikes thanks to my friend's suggestion! Wanted to go really punk especially because I haven't really done so in a character design before and I LOVE IT!

- She was originally going to have a Maleficent colour palette for the spikes but it was getting too close to some of the other designs so I made it black and red to emulate roses.

- He's a part of the music club as well, likely a vocalist or drummer. He loves the energy and the people are really cool, plus obviously his vice housewarden's there.

- They're also on the athletic side and enjoy various sports, namely Spelldrive. Also, she does own her own blastcycle and immediately bonds with Deuce over a shared love of them. Deuce and Munkh like this 🤞.

Last but not least...

⏰Kyra Delano⏰

First Year - (she/her) - Sapphic

Pspsps... TMA fandom... pspsps Delano...

- Kyra's my oc twisted from Tick Tock, the alligator(?) from Peter Pan. I gave her the yellow-green from my original Sebek design and it looks way better here.

- I think as a reference to the clock and like 'ticking', she'd have Tourette's. It sometimes flares up more than others so she has an agreement with the teachers about class times where it's acting up.

- I think she'd have like mild beef with Josephina because they met on a wrong foot during orientation but it's not a huge deal. Probably sleep-deprived Josephina said something insulting Diasomnia and Kyra was like, "What the hell?". They have a friendly competition going on now, every gym class.

- She's a part of the track and field club and is one of the fastest on the team. That being said, she's not a huge fan of physical activity and prefer to read in the library or study.

Head's up, I lied. This isn't the last post. I have to do the staff and extra character like Neige, Che'nya, and Cheka. Plus Grim. I tricked you >:). Mayhaps it'll be up tomorrow... love y'all!🩷🩷🩷

[alt-wannabe]

MCSR D&D

Reign's sheet is FINALLY done and as per the poll I also included his character mini.

The Genie (Efreeti) Warlock 8 / Oath of Glory Paladin 7

Chat I tried my absolute best for a streamer I don't know as well so hopefully this one makes sense and is up to standards :)

So in the polls it was a pretty damn clear consensus that his highest stat would be charisma. Class wise that left me with bard, sorcerer, and warlock as charisma mains and out of those I felt warlock made the most sense. With Con voted the second highest stat, I figured I could get away with a martial multiclass so paladin ended up being one of the better options. Oath of Glory also ended up having a bunch of class features that make sense in my mind so it worked out. Finally I picked Pact of the Blade for a warlock pact in order to give him a bunch more utility as a martial attacker.

We've got two spell lists since both paladin and warlock get spells. This one was a LOT more based in utility than characterization- both because I'm not exactly confident in my ability to characterize Reign and also because this multiclass is a little funky so I can't just go all in on gimmicks. I tried to give him a pretty large amount of charm spells (ie Command, Charm Person, Enthrall) in order to reflect the super high charisma score in a way outside of just pure ability modifiers. Some other smaller references include invisibility (get it like the potion omg so im so smar- *gunshots*), Dimension Door (my mind is pretending this is like the nether and end portals even though utility wise it's infinitely closer to an ender pearl cause it's a teleport), Locate Object (spawner locating), and Enhance Ability (basically can be used for a variety of effects kinda like potions). The biggest stretch reference is Summon Fey and that pick was ENTIRELY because in this AU silverr is fey adjacent.

Here are the picks for the inventory- congrats Reign on being the first person to get a hella rare artifact yippee. A lot of these are slap in the face references: scale mail from the dragon, the brazier sounds straight out of a nether fortress, flame tongue greatsword is basically just a fire aspect sword, and I've been trying to give all the speedrunners something movement based so I added the gloves. Fun fact when you pick the warlock class you get to pick an arcane focus and one of the options was a rod so that's got double utility as a MC reference and also a spellcasting focus. Like the other sheets I gave him pearls but also note that he has a folding boat cause these speedrunners love their mf boats.

This is just the utility of the orb of dragonkind to give y'all a bit of understanding as to why I picked it.

Okay we've got a lot of features coming up so just like be prepared lmao. The top image is just ripped straight out of Tasha's Cauldron guidebook; I thought I'd let yall read about the subclass and judge if I picked right or not. Divine Sense is akin to finding spawners imo, and I picked interception as the fighting style because of the duos runs Reign does.

These are some more features from his paladin subclass that seemed fitting for specifically duos speedrunning. The big one here (and basically the whole reason I split the multiclass 50/50) is the 7th level feature Aura of Alacrity, which deadass just increases the speed of all allies nearby.

Finally here are the warlock invocations I picked up. Agonizing Blast just adds damage to eldrich blast (warlock cantrip aka an attack that doesnt use spell slots) based on your charisma score so it's an ESSENTIAL pick for a warlock (like genuinely if you make a warlock you need this invocation). Tricksters Escape gives freedom of movement which is essentially just a spell that prevents you from getting stopped by difficult terrain- really fitting for a speedrunner imo. Eldrich smite was just so perfect since he's multiclassed into paladin, giving him access to traditional smites.

And to go along with the character sheet I've also got the mini made!

Features I'm Proud of:

The sword is supposed to look like it's made from the ender dragon's jaw, and it's aflame like his sword from the character sheet

The paws/claws that are featured on his gauntlets (they're technically lion paws not bear but shhhhh)

The wand on the ground I colored like a blaze rod (I was trying my best guys there's no just plain rod)

Looking at his MC skin I have no idea what the thing on his head is so I just made it a circlet.

The teal thing is supposed to be the Orb of Dragonkind but with an eye of ender type of color palette.

The thing on his back is technically a vial pouch but I'm hoping it looks like a strap where he could put his sword when it's not in use- all of the sheaths were too small.

[rose-tinted-kalopsia]

so curious why sylus has you this hooked when he's so different from xavier and the guys you tend to like

RIGHT OK i was going to not be as unhinged over him on the dash as i truly was being in my head, BUT SINCE YOU ASKED.... buckle up anonie bc this is LONG long <3

ok but honestly genuinely i don't account for my lane switch to be official at the moment, bc on account of visually, given what we know? i'm still v much into xavier! and we just. don't know anything else set in stone about sylus yet!

and all this has honestly WAY less to do with how he looks or how he portrays the villain aesthetic, which i know is what like- ive been seeing most people attached to. he has the vibes from that trailer, undeniably, but it's also really not why i'm so interested in him—

as much as the why.

as much as the how.

as much as the how far.

so i guess you could say i'm just hella on my toes rn for the potential?

in my head he has very much of a morally grey anti-hero trope; arguably right intentions, wrong methods, sort of a thing. enough so that he'd become the villain, instead of trying to play hero in some way like the others—enough so that, whether he chose to be this way at first or not, he did grow to the need for there to be a stronger catalyst that can be selfish, that doesn't care so much for morals or being "good".

and when you put that into perspective, it means he didn't start out with that kind of mindset.

so what pushed him so far? what was the breaking point? why did he turn to this path? and how different did he will himself to become just to achieve all of this?

then simultaneously it makes you think, like. what about mc would make him need her so much, love her so much, possibly obsess over, that he would turn his back on those convictions just to love her? and then like,,,,, to think about how his world could come crashing under the realization of his love for her, through all he's done and has been doing? how he'd struggle with his emotions and his actions and how to be affectionate with her in a manner that's genuine yet still acceptable? the intensity of it all that he has to learn to control... and then the gentleness that could eventually be found amidst whatever passion or desperation there probably is in that love?

and you'll find this absolutely the fuck out of pocket from me of all people because "wtf? roxie? being soft on main instead?!" but he does feel like the type to slow dance with in the kitchen at midnight, to walk barefoot on the pavement back home after a long day, shoes in your hands, lamplight flickering above you... and not in like, a goofy sort of way? but just? the vibes of pure, possibly intense, sort of love? like. like running his fingers theough your hair waiting for you to fall asleep first, watching the way the moonlight scatters on your face as you do. or looking into your eyes trying to convey something with such ardor and fervency; maybe it's a plea, maybe it's love or aftection or adoration, maybe it's determined.... you get it.

it's the vibes.

it's the possibilities that come with the vibes. it's the possibilities of how he could be, given that the situation and the set-up and the vibes that we can glean from the trailer open up so many options.

so to me it feels like there's like an 85% chance i might fall head over heels for him.

you say he doesn't have the trope of the fictional characters i tend to like; you have not yet seen me cry over wei wuxian, or khun, or blackwater, or moriarty... 😭✋

and like.

we'll still see, obviously, if this is enough to pull me away from xavier, but—if i like the depth in his character? if i like his development? if i like his backstory? if i like his portrayal, if i like his relationship with mc and how their love story is portrayed? then... maybe. it's still a maybe, because we don't know anything yet, but it's a pretty strong maybe.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I feel like malleus might overblot before the ended of the week to stop Lilia (maybe mc/yuu and everyone else) from leaving him ESPECIALLY after yuu/mc went and answer yes to his question of "if you had the power to make everyone stay with you would you? Blah, blah" But it'll take a lot to make malleus overblot in that short amount time so LOT will have to happen to him, like maybe sliver (tho I highly doubted it) deciding leaving Bair valley to find his birth parents or sebek "leaving" malleus to get him help if he's going into overblot mode.

I think it’s pretty likely (based on what we know of the current set up) that Malleus will try to do something… not advisable… to prevent Lilia and/or Yuu from leaving. A lot of people are theorizing that more stuff will pile on top of the bad news Malleus has already received (ie Silver and/or Sebek will also be going away for various reasons), thus driving him to an even darker place. cbbssblsns The next seven days of in-game time are going to be hella intense 🥲

The way I screeched when the dialogue options for Yuu came up at that part of the story 🤡 because both options basically encourage and enable Malleus to do whatever he can to keep everyone with him forever… BAD YUU, BAD BRAIN CELLS OF YOURS………………. Can’t you read the mood?! Man’s literally just told you a sad childhood story, you pointed out how LONELY he must be, then you decide now is a good time to make him feel even lonelier???? I wanted to shake Yuu by the shoulders so badly 😩

If I get burnt to an ashy crisp, I’m blaming Yuu/j

[gemsgamegems]

couldn't do this yesterday because it was hella late and I was half terrified of what was gonna come out of my mind.

here to report that going to sleep and then work has done not a damn thing for my psyche so everyone pull up a chair, grab a snack, and get comfy.

I'm literally gonna descend into Straight Madness all over this post and call it a review. you're welcomed or I'm sorry or whatever 💩

(footage of my MC going to bully her beloved on his special chat app💀🖤)

there is surely crack or something very similar to it laced in chatsim games I swear to God??? I've played over a dozen different ones, and then the especially recent popular ones (i.e. Blooming Panic, Error 143) were living snugly in my remaining braincells. so like, I'm not stranger to the rabid insanity I feel when I play a really good chat sim.

also, I have a thing for being mean. let me rephrase: in romance gaming, I love when I as the player character can essentially bully the intended love interest(s) and possibly get rewarded for it 😇. a...bully-a-boyfriend simulator if you will.

Enter A Date With Death.

the game of my dreams.

featuring the victim Man of my dreams.

my fictional tastes in men are so very much not aligned that I never know who I'm gonna be in love with for the next 5 months. so I'm pleasantly surprised each time I get attached LOL!

yeah he's a grim reaper, yeah he's hella edgy, yeah he's got white hair, yeah he embodies what the kids call 'babygirl', etc etc etc. on anyone else, I probably wouldn't have cared. and on our dear Grimmy, at first I didn't. all those aspects of him that didn't register as a need or want for me suddenly became the spices that enhanced the flavor that is Grim/Casper's personality and his interactions with the player character. he is QUITE LITTERALLY the ONLY LOVE INTEREST at the moment WHO CAN GET AWAY WITH CALLING ME STUPID/AN IDIOT even if I very much am, either as my MC or irl lolz

homeboy is literally insulting my intelligence and I'm giggling and rolling my eyes like a textbook school girl 🤣 truly loved that for me.

my goodness the banter??? the RICHNESS of the back and forth and the teasing and the insults and the flirting and the presence of something building up to be intensly romance flavored was at too much and not enough (in a good way, I pinky promise!!)

I found myself playing with the other features (watering my plant, interacting with my bunny and bookshelf, etc) only to quickly rush back to click the laptop so I could interact with Grim/Casper again. I don't know who falls in love first, Grim or the player character, and maybe that's something that's supposed to be headcannoned??? but if that's so, I think that it's a gradual thing. because while Grim is literally commenting on how pretty/gorgeous/handsome we are, and then trying his damndest to take it back, me and my MC are sitting there like...damn....oh shit...we like this fool....shit we LOVE THIS FOOL WTF????

I'd like to take a moment in this random stream of thoughts to talk about the scene where Grim visits us to bring us flowers, reveals his highly classified name, and proceeds to woo and charm and fluster us until you have no choice but to be swept up by him... oh. wait. was this 3rd person or 1st person speak...

BUT ANYWAY I JUST WANNA LOSE MY SHIT ABOUT THE FLOWERS BECAUSE MY GOD WHY IS HE SO FUCKING CUTE?!!?!? (my favorite thing about this game was having the option to call him sexy and not in favor of calling him cute. because what you gonna do about it???? exactly 🤣)

at the time of this rambling, I still have only gotten to 1 ending, but I hope to knock out the others before the end of the month, time permitting lol.

annnnnnd speaking of Other Features and my absolute love and adoration of the Two and Half Studios team...

I bought the DLC so I had access to the additional dialogue, clothing, and physical customization options 🤭hiiighly recommend you grab the DLC if you haven't already or were on the fence about it!

the pet optionssssss. I mentioned this on my demo review, but I loved having my pet bunny. I love that we can interact with our pet. I love that it Casper understands that MC and Pet are a packaged deal. Damn right, that's our shared child now ya dork 🤭

music room was funnnn, the special features on the laptop (games, internet, drawing app, etc) were absolutely perfect and I tired out everything at least twice.

the bookshelf feature??? I clicked on it every day and I gotta say I adored the little diary entries from younger MC. alsoooo the fact that the book 'changed' each time you went to your shelf was SUCH a fun thing???? loved that shit

eavesdropping on the neighbors?!?!? i'm hella noisy in real life, oops, so there was a big thrill in listening in on the peeps on the other side and experiencing a different type of love story emerge. I am mad at myself because I think I missed a day of eavesdropping and by the end of my first playthrough that part of the game felt 'incomplete'. but nothing a second, third, and fourth replay can't solve LOL!!

watering our plant 💓 idk why that made me so happy but it just did. something about giving emotions to inanimate objects gets me ever fucking time

( a tangent within a tangent: there's nothing more attractive than someone with a plush, yes azreal, I'm talking about your owner zjjddgfs and Casper wonders why I called his ass cute. this is why!!!! this is exhibit A-Z my guy!!!!)

I'm sure there's a slew of other things I squealed and fangirled and cooed over in my playthrough, but this is a perfect stopping point, right?

thank you all for coming, see you next time when we discuss another game that's infected my brain and rendered me absolutely useless 👍🏽

[nulltune]

five interesting facts about Hakuno & five things you consider uncanny. Go!

THANK YOU SUE FOR MY LIFE!!!! talking abt hakuno is my hobby fr so thank u 4 enabling me ehe <3 here we go!!

5 interesting facts about hakuno:

her name is an annagram of kimi no na hakushi which translates to "your name is blank". i think it's suuper neat because 1. it gives you the impression of it being an insert name here kind of thing that's common for self-inserts, but it's a nice way to start off hakuno's character journey of becoming her own character from a blank slate and 2. it's a pretty straightforward way of telling us that her name, much like herself, is blank. empty. there's nothing there ^_T

speaking of- you know how with mc characters, there's usually a silly haha kind of dialogue option? that's present for hakuno too but i like it because it's more like an illusion of choice than something more like a self-insert thing. the point hakuno makes in the end is essentially the same, she's just being a lil goofy about the delivery, y'know! i'm not even kididng btw sgfkshfj hakuno herself admits sometimes that she did do it to get a rise/see the other person's reaction to it. moon lady's got a lil michievous side ✨️

she knows the sa-shi-su-se-so which is an expression to memorize essential ingredients for japanese cuisine. so it's safe to say that she'd at least know the basics of cooking, though it's a lil headcanon of mine that although she knows it theoretically, she absolutely flops at the execution (and if you wanna make this more nuanced, you can think of this through the lens of food as a love language-)

she "doesn't particularly like octopus". we don't get a reason why, but it's kinda funny when considering the sea motif in fate/extra! maybe hakuno wouldn't like seafood in general? this isn't that interesting but agfkshf we barely get any information about hakuno herself ya kno!!! which makes sense considering she doesn't even know herself, but that's why i treasure these little crumbs !!

i've noticed this in my reread of fate/extra, but i feel like hakuno brings up the fact that she's "not alone" Quite A Lot post chapter 4 or so. it's her only solace after finding out the truth of her existence so it makes sense why that fact is important to her, but i also like to think that repeating it so much is her (likely unconscious) way of trying to cope with how truly lonely her existence is :,)

5 things i consider uncanny:

OH MAN THIS IS A PERFECT THING TO ASK BC there's always hints about something being "off" about hakuno. in hindsight, it's pretty sad when this disconnect with everyone and everything else seems almost inherent to her existence when all she wants is to be a normal human and find her place in the world </3 and spoiler alert: She Is Not and She Does Not. but it's neat!

there's this one hakuno dialogue response that was essentially her introducing herself in an almost automatic "pavlovian response" ��� it's a small hint about her true nature as an artificial intelligence but i wish we got more of this aspect explored tbh! how much of her is real? how much of her is her? it could really mess up hakuno's head but it'd be hella interesting to see !

her reaction to being felt up by someone as a first meeting was seriously underwhelming ! a lot of hakuno's reactions to things are pretty tame and iirc it's been noted that she's strangely calm for someone in such a high-stress situation (enough to cripple even the finest soldiers, according to rin). it's likely her being so numb to it all tbh ^_T but it's still pretty weird hakunochan!!!

this one's kinda graphic but there's a scene where hakuno tries to reach her servant-- even as her body is literally being broken down and deleted in the process :,) i say it's uncanny because damn it's a great scene but hakuno's thought process behind it all is a widdle fucked up!! look at what she has to say when she goes numb from the pain + her stomach collapsed: "I just feel gross, like I’ve turned into a skeleton-monster. Though with my body being lighter, I’ll be able to walk faster, which is nice." HELLO??!? (bassbooted)

this one comes a ccc anthology chapter but basically hakuno was asked to pose for a photoshoot and she has no problems wearing a suggestive nightgown, a bikini, and a wedding dress but Draws The Line at a maid outfit (girl?) (she ended up wearing it — and absolutely slaying the look, if i do say so myself — but was Very embarrassed)

[yoyoruggie]

What if Ace and Deuce had to babysit a kid who was constantly being targeted by assassins, debt collectors, loan sharks, everyone, and they fight back in the most scariest ways possible.

TW: explosives and murder

Scenerio:

They didn’t understand what they were running for at first, mc had started running all of a sudden and so they joined in. The kid they were babysitting was extremely weird and quiet, they had an extremely cute fashion option, though the words that came out of their vocabulary weren’t so cute as them. At some point Deuce looked back and noticed a horde of men in black suits running straight at them. Ace shrieked at that and tried to pick up mc since they were running pretty slow and considering the fact that they were probably about to DIE if they went slow, though mc stopped him from doing so and grabbed something inside their bag, a grenade.

They took the coil off the grenade and threw it behind them, straight at the men in the back and a loud explosion blew behind them.

ACE:

what. the. fuck.

he’ll stop functioning for three whole days (which managed to stop at three days due to riddle) would’ve lasted a week

why does a SIX YEAR OLD HAVE EXPLOSIVES??

WHERE DID THEY GET THE EXPLOSIVES??

WHO GAVE THEM THE EXPLOSIVES??

when he went back home, he told his older brother all about it and he didn’t believe a single word that came out of Ace’s mouth

he never saw that kid again

ranted about it in a discord vent server

he isn’t babysitting again,

fuck Crowley AND the shit he makes them do.

Deuce:

?

??

???

he won’t register what just happened

sure he was exposed to violent stuff at a young age but not throwing grenades at people??

he got over it faster than ace

still worried though

that kid was hella cool though, he’ll give them that

but still where’s the explanation to the EXPLOSIVES JUST LYING AROUND THEIR KIDDY BAG??

they’re like in kindergarten what are they doing

“What did you do in Night Raven College, Deuce?”

“Oh nothing really, saw a kid murder a crowd.”

[writercole]

Cole’s Fortunate 500 Challenge

First and foremost, I want to thank all of you for hitting that follow button and being as kind and supportive as you’ve been. I wouldn’t be here without all of you. I was having THEEE shittiest day and then I got that 500th follower and I feel so much better. I know it’s dumb to take so much enjoyment from something like this but fite me, okay

Secondly, thank you to @cajunquandary​ and @thinkinghardhardlythinking​ for encouraging me to even start writing. Priest Kink? was my first fanfic ever and I was hella nervous to post it. But as all good friends do, these beautiful women hyped me up and kept me going. By the time I’d reached part 8 of Saints and Sinners, I’d gained a lot more confidence and a lot more followers. I finished my first series in March to much yelling and tears from many of you and I appreciate every single letter of it.

Special shoutouts go to @flamencodiva​, @that-one-gay-girl​, and @waywardbaby​ who didn’t know I was going to start writing and still hyped me the hell up. I love you three more than words can say!

Now, what would such a milestone be without a little challenge, right? But this one is going to be a little different than my last one (that I legit forgot about). All of these prompts have something to do with the number 5, whether it’s a song title, artist, quote, something. 

This time, however, I’m going to expand the fandoms included. This time you’ll have options of Supernatural, The Boys, Marvel Cinematic and Comic universe, Peaky Blinders, Sons of Anarchy, Mayans MC, Witcher, DC Comic, TV, and Cinematic universes, and RPF involving these fandoms.

Here’s the basics:

Send me an ask, message, or comment to join. Prompts are first come, first served.

As this is an 18+ blog, I do ask that all participants be 18+.

No minimum or maximum word count. You want to send me a 200 word drabble? Sweet. You want to write me a 12k word novel? I’m here for it. Just the fact that you’re participating and writing for my challenge is appreciated and I love it.

Please, please use a keep reading break if it’s over 500 words. 

Tag @wonder-cole​ in your AN and use the #colesfortunate500 tag in the first five.

Combine with whatever challenges you want. You might even bring something new to my attention.

No underage smut. 

I’ll reblog everything on @colereads​ and link all the posts in a master list when the challenge is done.

Due date is: 10/31/21. Halloween.

No. Fucking. Hating. On. Others. NO FUCKING FIGHTING. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

One person per prompt. I’ll add more if they all get snatched up.

Without any further delay, here are your prompt choices!

I’m gonna be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

Mambo #5 - Lou Bega

Seasons of Love - Rent Cast

“You want five hundred dolla?!” 

“It’s five o’clock somewhere.” @flamencodiva​

“Honor's killed millions of people, it hasn't saved a single one.”

“I don't know love. I was built to protect not to love, so there is no use for me other than this.”

“We're newlyweds. Just met. You know how it is. We bumped into each other, sparks happen…”

“You wanna play it soft. We'll play it soft. You wanna play it hard. Let's play it hard.”

“I realize you that must be pretty mad at me, but I want you to know that I am fighting for a noble cause.”

“Okay... rope, tape, cable ties. You're the complete serial killer.”

“You want hearts and flowers? That's not something I know.”

“I’m hurting, baby. I’m broken down.”

“I just can't apologize, I hope you can understand.”

“When I had you to myself, I didn’t want you around.”

“I drove for miles and miles and wound up at your door.”

“Tumbled out of bed and I stumbled to the kitchen.”

“I swear sometimes that man is out to get me.”

“They just use your mind and you never get the credit.”

“You used to call me baby now you’re calling me my name.”

“Remember the words you told me.”

“I’m no hero and I’m not made of stone.”

“I can smell your scent for miles.”

“What is it really that motivates you?”

“I’m gonna be the one that’s taking over.”

“I do what I can but I know I can’t take anymore.”

“I know you don’t believe in me but I do believe in you.”

“I don’t know why I’m still alive.”

“Some things are just meant to be.”

“I can’t go back. I’m in too deep.”

[lsvdw-blog]

Hiiiiiiiii! I am so excited to see what Serena and Ethan respond! Here we go:

Note: Once again, this week’s round focuses on photos! Dialogue is entirely optional, though for some of these, it’d be fun to know the story behind the pictures ;) Tumblr mobile only allows 10 picture uploads (there are 10 questions), so collages are highly encouraged! Otherwise, the non-beta version of Tumblr desktop will allow more than ten.

Have fun!

For MC

Favorite childhood photo of Ethan

What’s your phone wallpaper image?

Contact name and photo for Ethan

Top three photo results when you Google Ethan

First picture of or with him that you uploaded to social media

For Ethan

Favorite childhood photo of your spouse

What’s your phone wallpaper image?

Contact name and photo for your spouse

Top three photo results when you Google your spouse

First picture you ever took of or with your spouse

*Credit to the anon who sent me the first three questions!

I LOVE being a part of the Newlywed Game and I'm so excited for Round 4!! Thank you for giving us this gem and for thinking of me 😊 Love you!! 🥰😘

Also, this took me so long b/c I got hella distracted when looking for photos of Ethan and just kept scrolling, in awe of how freaking PRETTY he is 😍😍

For MC

Favorite childhood photo of Ethan

Serena: "This one! Because food is one of the loves of my life and it looks like Ethan knew that from a young age too. Also, the fact that he used to have blonde hair before it got darker as he grew up is just so adorable! LOOK AT HIM!!"

What’s your phone wallpaper image?

Contact name and photo for Ethan

Serena: "E 😍🔥"

Top three photo results when you Google Ethan

Serena: "I mean, come on. Oops, how'd those last two get in here?? 😏"

First picture of or with him that you uploaded to social media

Serena: "Because I like a bit of mystery. 😉"

For Ethan

Favorite childhood photo of your spouse

Ethan: "She wasn't kidding about food being one of the loves of her life. Look how pleased she is."

Serena: "It'd still be the love of my life if it wasn't for you. How does that make you feel? Breaking up one of the happiest relationships I'd ever been in?"

Ethan just rolls his eyes.

What’s your phone wallpaper image?

Serena: "Really?"

Ethan nods. "Every time I look at it, it calms me down. Like you're actually there, hugging me."

Serena immediately stands, tugging his hand to follow her. Ethan's eyebrows knit in confusion, but he stands. When she hugs him, he gets it and lets out a contented sigh.

Contact name and photo for your spouse

Ethan: "Serena 💝"

Serena: "Wait, since when did you have an emoji by my name? He says he's too old for emojis. 🙄"

Ethan: "I did not say I'm too old. I said they're for a different generation."

Serena: "Yeah... a younger generation."

Ethan: "Hmm well, you were screaming a lot of things this morning and not one of them was calling me old. 😏"

Serena: "While this is true, I don't know if I'm entirely convinced. I may need a repeat performance..."

Ethan's eyes darken. He tears his eyes away from her and clears his throat. "The reason why I have that emoji by your name is because ever since I gave you my heart, you've taken such good care of it. Like it was a gift," he says quietly.

Serena grabs one of his hands with both of hers and laces their fingers together and squeezes. "Because it is a gift."

Top three photo results when you Google your spouse

Serena: "He likes the long hair, if you know what I mean. 😏"

Ethan begins to turn red. "Please stop."

First picture you ever took of or with your spouse

Serena: "In Miami my intern year? I didn't know you took this photo."

Ethan: "Yes, Miami your intern year. I very well couldn't have let you know, could I? At the time, I didn't even know why, but I just had the urge to capture you. Now I know it's because, even back then, I was a goner."

Serena: "I can't believe you kept it all this time."

Ethan: "Of course I did." He brings their laced hands up and places a kiss on the back of her hand.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

I love ben but Talbott is seriously growing on me

Ben is someone who I have complex feelings about. Prior to Year 6, he was baby and he needed to be protected at all costs. As much as Rowan was my favorite, I wouldn't hear a word against Ben and never found that campaign to make any sense. I trusted Ben to the end of the world, even when he was unmasked as the Red Cloak. Seeing him shield MC from the second Red Cloak in Year 5 was hella satisfying. That said, then we have Ben in Year 6. "New" Ben. And oh boy, did I not take to him at all. I very much appreciate the character development. That is something that makes all of it so much better. It may be a stark 180, but developing what seems to almost be a parody of a teenager's invincibility complex was an interesting new direction for Ben, and I wear he just tempted fate by talking about how they made it to the end of the Year and "no one died." Even then, I said aloud to the screen, "The year isn't over yet Ben, stop talking." I can still empathize with Ben, but he's grown up to be a person that I'm not as fond of as I was. He is absolutely justified in the sense that he's coping with his trauma and he's not really unpleasant in any conventional way on a regular basis. But him being allowed to cope however he needs to can only go so far. When he starts abusing wild animals to assert dominance (the acromantulas) and seriously injuring younger children in what is supposed to be friendly sparring (Cedric) and both times he refuses to apologize...yeah, New Ben makes it very difficult for me to be in his corner, though obviously I'll still try.

Talbott on the other hand, is someone who I was curious about from the moment I saw him. I know it's commonplace now and that new characters are being passed out like candy. But at the time the Animagus TLSQ dropped, it only only like, one of the first handful of timed quests to be released. So debuting a new character in a TLSQ was at the time, kind of unheard of. It was cool, on top of that quest already promising to fulfil a dream that at least half of us Potterheads always had. And as Talbott got developed further, he only became more and more compelling. Not only that, he was relatable. Seriously, half of his lines and emotional issues are things that players can say they understand. Talbott is a fine example of how to develop a character in response to demand from the fans. Talbott was, for instance, probably added as a dating option because of his immediate popularity among the fans. But unlike Penny and Merula, the game fleshed him out and gave him more content without making him feel like he had overstayed his welcome. Now perhaps that's just a result of his antisocial nature, but either way, it works. The word of the day is human. Talbott is so incredibly human for a character that spends half of his time in isolation, transfigured into a bird. He has a pretty unique bond with MC as well, which can make for a great story, whether or not he's the player's chosen love interest. The little things with Talbott, like the story of his parents, how he doesn't always gender-conform, the unique design, the writing of a compelling Ravenclaw character which is underrepresented in the Potterverse...not to mention, writing a realistic introvert in a way that doesn't feel patronizing. I love Talbott so very much.

[missnight0wl]

While it could be true that Jam City consider Corey as a substitute for Rowan, I think personally Alanza was a better option. She's warm, kind and cheerful, even Mrs Norris likes her. Her personality is the opposite of Rowan, but I think she can be as loyal. She gave her grandmother's necklace, and she tried to help these people she didn't know before. It's such a shame Jam City forgot her existence, because I always enjoyed her screen time. Telling Filch, Snape, and Pince how grim they look? :D

Hm, I can’t quite agree with that.

Alanza was always pretty clear about her role in the story: she wanted to be a distraction for MC from all serious and grim things related to the Cursed Vaults and R. She didn’t want to do it because she thought parties are more important, but rather because that kind of distraction could be helpful for MC’s mental health. That’s the role Alanza was actually quite good at, too, and that’s because of the things you mentioned: she’s warm, kind, and cheerful. And while I agree it’s a shame Jam City didn’t explore it further, I simply don’t see how it could be compared to Corey in this situation.

See, the thing about Rowan is that they basically had two aspects: let’s call them emotional and more practical. The first one is obviously related to the fact that Rowan was our first and best friend, and so they were our emotional support. The more practical aspect is about Rowan being hella smart, thorough with their research etc. Now, both Alanza and Corey kind of fit one of these aspects each – but they are also pretty bad at the other one. Like I said above already, Alanza might be good at emotional support, but I also imagine she’d get pretty easily distracted while trying to investigate the mole issue and whatnot. Moreover, her emotional intelligence might be high, but we didn’t see her being particularly good at things like deduction. Corey, on the other hand, is supposed to be pretty good at solving mysteries (I mean, they’re really not good at it, but that’s a different story…), but they’re lacking when it comes to emotional support. For instance, a while ago, I talked a bit about how Corey’s constant excitement might be inappropriate.

So… we're basically dealing with two different things here. And therefore, I simply don’t think Alanza and Corey are interchangeable characters. Alanza replacing Corey in particular wouldn’t make the story progress any faster – and that’s the point of the discussion about replacing Corey, to begin with.

[random-fandomtrash-om]

Lesson 38 spoilers

As I work my way slowly through this lesson. I can't help but think "wouldn't it just be easier to kill mc?"

So far no one has even humored the option (unless I just skipped that part, but I'm pretty sure I didn't). And I honestly don't know why. Everyone keeps talking about how important devildom and the human world is, and how they would do anything to protect their kingdoms, but killing someone you've known for like a year is out of the equation? It feels like their just putting Mc's life above everything else. Like they absolutely have to survive, even going so far as to steel the ring from heaven. That seems hella extreme, for one random ass human. I'm just saying. Its weird.

Like I know my mc would totally be fine with dying. Severing the connection with their death. Its not like they got beef with God like the brothers do.

Speaking of God. He can't help us? I would think this disturbance of power would make him do something or help in some way. Some might have the arguement of "he's supper cut throat, and has no empathy." Which I have to disagree with. Giving what they have told us, he just follows the rules that he's made. No one talks about him outside why the brothers are in hell in the first place. Which is supper weird. You'd think the angels would be hyping up God instead of Michael. From what I gather on the few vague details on him, he doesn't interact much with the world around him. Probably sealed himself away, and doesn't talk to anything or anyone. So I'd say its a possibility that he would.

Also, theirs also two other people I'd think could help us with this whole ordeal (like the demon king, or the grim reaper himself). But they just haven't asked for help. At all. Is these guys peace and privacy, and Mc's life, really worth destruction across the 3 relms? I don't really think so if it's as big as their making it out to be.

Idk, maybe they explain this more as the story goes on. I'm not sure I haven't gotten their yet. If anyone could shed some light on this, or give their thoughts on the events it'd be appreciated. (FYI, I don't mind spoilers).

- RFT

[kawaiijellymonster]

Black clover is an amazing show/manga and anyone who disagrees is wrong. Yeah thats a strong statement but its true. Black Clover is shamelessly shounen but in the best way possible. The main character is an underdog, so far so shounen, but the thing that makes him different is that his underdog status is never magically resolved, yeah he got a cool new power but unless he had spent years training his body that power would be useless, and as the witch arc showed us even after he got the power he had to do a whole training montage with a weird guy in the woods just to learn how to use it properly, his skill now is a culmination of a decade of work and everything he achieves will be because he put in the effort. Also people don’t recognise that he is as amazing as we know him to be, he's just that weird kid from the black bulls, the kid with no magic, he doesn’t get taken seriously until he shows off what he can do and even then some people still think that there's a trick. This is starkly different from shows like BNHA that give like an episode long training montage and then kinda call it good enough, give the mc a cool power and then they use it recklessly. Asta is painfully aware of his own incompetence. He knows that if he screws up thats it, so he has to be careful with his body, take care of it, eat, sleep and keep up with his exercise or else he’s doomed. “He still got hurt” I hear you say” and you’re right, he did get hurt because it was hurt his arms or let everyone he cared about die, and then he sat there yelling at fate saying he’d find another option and that he won’t stop. Its a kind of shounen tenacity that you don’t find many other places, in mha if izuku hadn’t been given a quirk he probably would have given up, he was kind of fed up with being told he couldn’t do it and was ready to agree, Asta only agreed once and for a single moment because the moment he stops thats it and he knows it. How they incorporated rivals was fantastic, most shows pick one or two rivals and that's about it, but in black clover just about everyone has declared themselves astas rival. They are acknowledging his strength and daring both him and themselves to do and be better. It lends an air of intrigue and tension to just about every scene he’s in because they’re competing, always This leads into my next point, the pacing is fantastic. Maybe not in about the first 18 episodes which was largely responsible for its downfall in the anime community due to the (bullshit) "three episode rule". However its like demon slayer in that it goes from action to action to action, it gives you maybe an episode or two of what me and my friend call "TA episodes" where it gives you a moment to breath but otherwise its moving forward, every action scene progresses the plot or the characters in some unique way that makes it so you can just...binge it all since the end of the episode is never the end of anything, theres always something more, something to wait up at night or to wake up early for when the new episode airs. It does have a "harem" I guess if you wanted to call it that, which lends back into the "shamelessly shounen" aspect of the show but it doesn't disgrace these characters, the three characters who are in love with him, noel, mimosa, and that girl he saved in that town that one time (can't remember her name, sorry) haven't changed anything about themselves to make themselves more appealing to him, they don't fall over themselves for him, yeah they're awkward but like...thats how love works. There is only one "fanservice" character in the whole thing, which is vannessa however shes not dressing for anyone else but herself and despite the fact that shes wearing a bra and panties and drunk af most of the time none of the characters sexualize her and treat her badly/as less than because of it. This show drinks its respecc women juice and you cannot change my mind on that. On that point, although there is a clear male female imbalance within the group the women are pretty strong and they're hella respected, nobody fucks with meleorelona, nobody questions dorothy unsworths place in the captains even though she sleeps all the time, a whole squad of girls? yeah and nobody teases or gives them shit for it kuz they know they will get beat the fuck up. Also going back a moment, Asta, despite having a harem only has eyes for one girl!! his whole life he just wants to marry the nun from the orphanage he grew up at, he has girls desperate for his attention and he still just wants to marry this one girl and if that isn't the greatest dedication you've ever heard of in a shounen (aside from everyone loving nezuko in demon slayer) you get get the fuck out. Then the foreshadowing, the whole first arc/plot story thing with the elves had so much foreshadowing, they played the magic king defeating the demon in the start of every episode and I had no thoughts I skipped it every episode after the first like 20 times and then it shows it again and you learn this giant lesson about how there are often two sides of the same coin, because to the people it was "yeah the magic king defeated the giant monster" but to the magic king it was a mercy kill on his best friend who didn't want to hurt anybody but it was the best of his few and all bad options. It was the biggest slap to the face that nobody expected but it was perfect anyway. Thinking about duality, many people in the story have an issue where they were brought up a certain way and think a certain way, often that they are incapable, or that their power is somehow flawed or useless. But the show straight up says that its not that your power its useless you just haven't found the right application for it yet. noelle thought she couldn't do anything but with more training, a wand, and more defensive spells or the suit shes able to accomplish things she never thought she could. Finral was always told his magic wasn't useful because it was passive rather than attack magic, but when used in conjunction with vannessa and asta they were able to down one of the eyes of the midnight suns biggest guys, it wasn't that he was useless he just wasn't thinking of how to apply it to make it useful before and now that he does he has so many options its amazing. these are just my off the top of my head reasons why I think that black clover is one of the best shows ever but yeah, tell me what you think, or not, totally up to you.

[offtopicoverload]

how would your ideal LI season go?

oooh thank you anon this was really fun and definitely too long and entirely unrealistic because of all the variables but oh well i had fun lmao

Okay I’m just going to start by talking about LIs

I think one of Season 3’s biggest successes was making AJ available from the start, I think that definitely kept those who play for the girls interested

HOWEVER i also think we need one of each: an AJ, a Talia, and a Marisol

Someone you can couple up with right off the bat, someone that takes a bit of time to warm up, maybe around the halfway mark, and someone that isn’t available til the last or second to last recoupling, maybe because they’re only bicurious or its just in their character to take a while to warm up in general, they spent the season in friendship couples or blowing their shot because they didn’t want to move too quick

I know the amount of LIs in Season 2 is a huge attraction, but it obviously wasn’t maintainable, since so many LIs lost their personality after CA

Again, I think Season 3 did great on ideas, but bad execution on drama and actual plot

So I’d probably keep it about 9, maybe 10

And ideally one of them would be trans, probably a trans guy with top surgery scars. Someone makes a joke on the first day and he explains no problem, is open about it and his experiences, maybe he was kicked out as a teenager and is all about positivity and loving people for who they are because of it

I’m all on board for a enby or gnc character or MC, but I honestly think Love Island’s too binary for someone like that to thrive

OH! And an ace LI that’s probably sex neutral and really comfortable with it. They’re up front with their sexuality but have no problem with how sex-focused Love Island is, like they’re fine with the flirting and intimate stuff, they’re just not attracted at the end of the day

Or have this season’s slowburn female LI be demi? I’m not demi, only ace, so I can’t speak on that experience, but I think that might work pretty well, maybe she goes in knowing she’s demisexual and comes out of it knowing she’s demiromantic too? Id love that but idk

I want to touch on customization too, since there’s nowhere near enough

Definitely body types

I forget who said it, but have the typical thin type, a muscular type, and a plus sized

And don’t get me wrong, I know it’s extra work for the artists, but I personally think it’d be worth, but who knows

Make fantasy hair colours possible - blue, green, purple, pink, silver - with the type of variety S3 had, in a style closer to S2

Also tats! And piercings! Just like a septum or some ear piercing, maybe a lip, nothing too difficult

And allow for actually different personalities and careers

I get that most people who apply are going to be outgoing and influencers, but this is all fake anyway so who cares

Have your personality impact LIs, certain LIs are easier to get hearts with with a certain personality, while others have more negative reactions to that personality

Lot of coding but this is just my make believe, what’s the harm

Okay into each day

Id have 20 days, since I agree that that’s a pretty good sweet spot

And Im definitely on board with MC being a bombshell, but instead of introing her on the first day, Id do the second

First half of the episode is spent as a recap of the first day, 5 couples like usual, let’s call the Islanders Bobby, Harry, Camilo, Bill, Rohan, AJ, Talia, Elladine, Miki, and Erikah, I’ll explain later, it’s pretty much for one single reason each

So MC’s first day is the Islander’s second, she shows up like Lucas & Henrik, before all the Islanders are up, and she has an option to say hi to someone early, add a gem to be upfront about being interested or something, during the second half of the first episode

Second episode starts with all the Islanders finding MC and saying hi, whoever you chose to have a chat with’s partner is kinda salty, if you chose a guy

MC ends the day choosing between any of the guys and two of the girls, AJ and Talia

For the guys, like Season 3, three are endgame, ones a red herring like Rohan in Season 1, and one’s up front about it being a friendship couple from the start, since I definitely think we need actual friendship couples - this friendship couple guy is Bobby, but without the pushy crush

Rohan is initially interested, but like in Season 1, he gives it up after a while

AJ is super into it and happy if you pick her and has no problem with it, while Talia has a “no thanks” thing and makes you pick again

Basically, youre not supposed to pick Talia because she’s not open to that yet, and that tosses you off her route or makes it really difficult to fix, maybe only a few dialogue options over the next few days or a specific personality gets her to forgive you. If you don’t pick her, you can couple up later as normal

Day 2 is like it usually is, you’re LIs original partner starts grafting on your LI if you have a male LI, Bobby doesn’t care if you steal AJ, you just have to have a talk with him and he’s fine

You can attempt to reconcile with their original partner, and if you succeed they’ll stop, if not your LI will step in and tell her he’s not interested

Day 3 finds a whole Villa recouping with a dumping. If you have a female LI, then girls are choosing, and AJ will pick you, however there is no dumping for future numbers sake, I know it doesn’t make much sense for the guys to be safe but whatever

If you have a male LI, the boys are choosing. If youre with Bobby, you get stolen and have to help Bobby decide who to dump.

He’ll always choose to dump Miki, regardless of who your LIs ex was or what you say. His reasoning is that she hasn’t made a connection and she was accidentally mean to him once and this Bobby’s hella sensitive

Bobby kinda struggles with it and has a rough few days - You have the option to be sympathetic and keep him available as a friendship couple option, or be a jerk and lose the option to be in a friendship couple

Day 4 is a bit of a filler day, with a fun challenge and some actual conversations.

You learn about your LI and someone else of your choosing, whether that’s a friend, like Ell or Erikah, or another LI youre romancing, like Talia or another of the guys

This is the first time Talia starts to be honest with MC about maybe fancying her and being open to seeing what happens

Day 5 has bombshells: a guy and a girl. The girl is our Marisol of this season, which can also explain away why she’s so slow to open up, she feels like an outcast since she came late and MC can empathise better than anyone which is how they initially bond

The guy is also a LI, but far more bold than Marisol, he has no trouble grafting in front of MC’s LI and trying to steal her or win her over - I’m just going to call him Lucas

Day 6 has another boys’ choice disaster recouping, but with the threat of a dumping on an AJ route

No matter how you reacted to Lucas’ flirting, he picks MC, whether you were going to couple up with him or not, he still steals you from your LI just like Season 2, for simplicity’s sake

The other couples get mixed up, a Nope-adjacent couple are split up, let’s say Erikah and Camilo, but they don’t make it all about them. One of the girls had been pining after a guy but he chooses someone else even though she’s available (Elladine, but Bobby’s oblivious), the girl Bobby was planning to couple up with gets stolen (Talia, but regardless of your route, she doesn’t fancy him), so he couples with Marisol

On a male LI route there is no dumping because the couples are already even

On an AJ route, Rohan is the deciding factor between AJ and Miki. Miki is always dumped because she was barely involved the past few days and Bill isn’t that interested in her even though they were coupled up

Day 7 is the start of Casa Amor, but much shorter this time. Two of the guys are endgame - let’s say Arjun and Carl, two are interested in other girls - let’s say Graham and Nicky, and there’s one you CAN get with, but cheats and gets dumped later on, essentially a Rocco, and one just isn’t interested, another friendship couple opportunity if you don’t want to share with one of the LIs - let’s say Seb

Day 8 is still Casa, you get to know the boys or can crack on with any of the female LIs, though this is still applicable to Day 7

You get a chance to either commit to AJ further or say you want a break to crack on with someone else

If you reassure her, she’ll pie off all the guys and you can stay on the daybed together, essentially ignoring the disaster recoupling and pretending youre still together. But if you dump her, she’ll crack on with Seb if you’re not paired with him, and Arjun if you are, just as a sort of revenge

During CA you can get closer with Talia, cheeky winks in public and getting kinda nasty during a challenge

You get sneaky scenes with Marisol where you learn where her head is at and how she has a hard time opening up and letting people in. You can reassure her and say you’ll be patient or pie her off and she’ll get with the season’s Graham, though they’ll have a different dynamic and ACTUALLY MAKE SENSE AS A COUPLE

Im sorry but boaty mcboat face and MARISOL?? i just dont get it, im sorry

You can graft on Arjun & Carl, tell them where your head is at, and they’re far less pushy

They try to impress but they’re not like poking you until you tell them you’ll take them back to the Villa like in S2

Day 9 is the final day of Casa, with a stick or switch

You can take back Arjun, Carl, Seb, or Rocco, although Seb is a platonic option but you can pair with him the rest of the season as aromantic representation

AJ never switches to save Rohan, and to be loyal if youre on her route

Talia doesn’t switch no matter the route, she spent Casa just hanging out which honestly isn’t the best idea outside of her route

Erikah switches, because like Season 1 Erikah, her head turns quickly, it’s just a matter of time. She switches to Rocco if you’re not on his route, and Arjun if you are. This is going to absolutely blow up in her face

Elladine switches because she gets worried Bobby will, picks Nicky and they actually get on really well

Marisol switches to Graham if youre not on her route to stay safe again, though they dont last anyway, and sticks if you are because she spent Casa with MC instead of the guys

Bobby sticks cuz Bobby

Harry always switches to someone, let’s call her Cherry cuz why not

Camilo sticks to get back with MC or Erikah - Erikah switched, effectively dumping him and really upsetting him

Rohan switches to someone, lets call her Shannon, no matter the route

Bill always sticks

Lucas switches to someone, lets call her Blake, no matter what, just for simplicity’s sake and because I’m already ripping from S2 so who cares

Day 10 is aftermath, much like Season 2

You can talk with your previous LI, 

Day 11 has a massive dumping where you vote to save a few people

One of the original Villa boys stays, Camilo is the default but if youre on Harry or Bill’s route, they’ll fill his place

Rohan and Bobby survive

If you brought back a Casa boy, you pick between him and Lucas to be dumped 

If you didn’t, Lucas is safe automatically

Rocco/Arjun survive, they’re coupled with Erikah

Either Nicky survives to stay with Elladine or Graham is saved for Marisol if she brought him back, Nicky automatically survives if not

For the girls, Erikah, Elladine, Marisol, and MC are safe

You vote between Cherry, Blake, Shannon on who to save, Shannon is the encouraged option because her and Rohan are actually really cute, but he’ll be nice to any of the girls for the rest of the season

You have to vote between AJ and Talia, sorry queers, i hate it too

Day 12 has a recouping where Talia is finally available if you saved her after everything from Casa Amor

You can reunite with your LI from pre-CA or simply stick to youre CA pick, it’s girls choice, MC is somewhere in the middle

Day 13 has two bombshells - both guys, let’s call them Levi and Tai

Levi grafts hard on MC whereas Tai takes a backseat and MC has to go to him instead if shes interested

Day 14 is a grafting day, you can graft and bond with your LI, Levi, Tai, or Marisol

Day 15 is the second to last recoupling, where you can get with every LI 

If youre romancing Marisol, you have a fight in the morning because she still won’t commit and she hasn’t really had an drama on her route yet

Day 16 is an explosion of drama

It’s another Roccogate but on an even bigger scale

If you’re on Rocco’s route, you suffer the backlash, and if you’re not, Erikah does but it still blows back to MC in order to keep her involved

Rocco makes a move on Erikah when MC’s with him, and MC when Erikah is. If he makes a move on MC, she can reciprocate or blatantly shut him down and Erikah will always reciprocate it when he’s coupled with MC because whaddaya know her head can turn at the littlest thing

If he made a move on MC, she can tell her LI who will chew him out privately, or keep it to herself

They basically get caught in the act by Levi, who doesn’t say anything until the afternoon - a lie detector that reveals a bunch of stuff, ill discuss later

He’s asked if he has any drama and he lies, saying no but eventually spills that Rocco made a move on MC/Erikah, and regardless of whether MC reciprocated or not, he says she did

If MC’s with Rocco, she can attack Erikah until someone steps in, maybe Bobby? Or Arjun? and reasons with her. She can get most of the Villa on her side about Rocco being a prick - except for Levi, no matter what, he’ll always side with Rocco and say it’s part of the show

If MC’s not with Rocco and denied him, her LI will accuse her of lying and she’ll have to essentially win them back by the next day or try and get Rocco to clear her name, which she can if they have a high relationship

And if MC didn’t deny him, her LI will dump her on the spot if they have a low relationship, or still win them back if they have a high relationship - but it will still be remembered

Back to the lie detector

There’s the typical S1 questions, cheating is revealed, you can commit to your LI

BUT 

If youre on a Marisol route, your LI asks you about her and MC has to confess, which drives a rift between her and Marisol because yeah

y i k e s

Day 17 is the final recoupling

Marisol basically storms into the kitchen when MCs making breakfast and says they’re coupling up and just leaves again. MC has the option to be like “yeah okay, chill” and go back to her breakfast or “what the fuck? no” and chase after her and pie her off

If you don’t pie her off, she chooses MC herself, because that scene in S2 is just really cute and I want another

There’s a double dumping of two boys - Levi and Rocco, and you have no say in it

Erikah, MC, or her LI will essentially turn the Villa against Rocco, while a few of the Islanders resent Levi for his take, mainly the girls

It’s a couple vote, and even if you vote for someone else, they still get dumped because they have the most votes

Day 18 is filler and fluff, meet the parents and final dates, with a surprise dumping where you can get a say and can help them pack, but its a strictly platonic goodbye

There’s so many possibilities and I don’t feel like listing them out right now, but it’s a single couple between three at-risk ones

Day 19 another surprise dumping, why not stick with prom? I just really dig the art, and but maybe make it closer to Season 2? And more personalized speeches!!!

And have a Lottie/Hannah moment! 

Idk who all would be here, I don’t feel like listing it out, but I think I have all the dumpings listed below the cut

You can pick between both people dumped who you want to help pack, and can have a moment with either of them, opening a “runaway” option after the finale or reunion

Day 20 is the finale, with the Islanders gossiping and stressing in the morning as some filler content

The afternoon is the announcement, and your placement depends on your couple - If you were loyal the entire time you were with them and have a max relationship you get 1st, if you were loyal but dont have max hearts, you get 2nd, if you weren’t loyal but still have max hearts, you get 3rd, and if you have neither you get 4th

If you win, your LI gets the money no matter what and it’s not based on relationship, it’s based on where in the relationship you are - if MC agreed to be their girlfriend on Day 18, they split the money, and if MC didn’t, then they don’t see a future and keep it

The last episode is the finale party with options to dump your LI for good, make plans to move in, reconcile and explain why MC didn’t say yes on Day 18, or get with someone else entirely

Oh and I want two of the dumped guys to show up together and have started dating outside of the Villa

Cuz I can’t think of another opportunity for mlm in this chaos

This is really messy so I’m going to list out couplings under the cut to try and make sense of this, I think I got everything but probably not its a disaster

LIs

AJ

Day 1 - MC or Bobby or Single

Day 3 - MC or Bobby or Bill

Day 6 - Rohan

Day 9 - Rohan

Day 12 - MC or Bobby or Dumped

Day 14 - MC or Bobby or Dumped

Day 17 - MC or Bobby Dumped

Talia

Day 1 - Rohan or Single

Day 3 - Rohan or Bill

Day 6 - Camilo

Day 9 - Camilo

Day 12 - MC or Bobby or Dumped

Day 14 - MC or Bobby or Dumped

Day 17 - MC or Bobby Dumped

Marisol

Day 6 - Bobby

Day 9 - Single or Graham

Day 12 - Graham or Harry/Bill/Camilo

Day 14 - Graham or Harry/Bill/Camilo

Day 17 - MC or Graham or Harry/Bill/Camilo

Harry

Day 1 - MC or Elladine

Day 3 - MC or Elladine

Day 6 - Elladine

Day 9 - Cherry

Day 12 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped 

Day 14 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Day 17 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Camilo

Day 1 - MC or Erikah

Day 3 - MC or Erikah

Day 6 - Talia

Day 9 - Talia

Day 12 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Day 14 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Day 17 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Bill

Day 1 - MC or Miki

Day 3 - MC or Miki or Elladine/Erikah

Day 6 - Erikah

Day 9 - Single

Day 12 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Day 14 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Day 17 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Lucas

Day 6 - MC or Erikah

Day 9 - MC or Blake

Day 12 - Blake

Day 14 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Day 17 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Erikah or Dumped

Arjun

Day 9 - MC or Erikah or Dumped

Day 12 - MC or Erikah or Dumped

Day 14 - MC or Erikah or Dumped

Day 17 - MC or Erikah or Dumped

Carl

Day 9 - MC or Dumped 

Day 12 - MC or Dumped

Day 14 - MC or Dumped

Day 17 - MC or Erikah or Dumped

Tai

Day 14 - MC or Single or Elladine

Day 17 - MC or Erikah

Rocco

Day 9 - MC or Erikah

Day 12 - MC or Erikah

Day 14 - MC or Erikah

Day 17 - Dumped

Levi

Day 14 - MC or Single

Day 17 - Dumped

Other Islanders

Elladine

Day 1 - Harry or Single

Day 3 - Harry or Bill

Day 6 - Harry

Day 9 - Nicky or Harry/Camilo/Bill

Day 12 - Nicky or Harry/Camilo/Bill

Day 14 - Nicky or 

Day 17 - Nicky or Tai

Erikah

Day 1 - Camilo* or Single

Day 3 - Camilo* or Bill

Day 6 - Camilo or 

Day 9 - Rocco or Arjun

Day 12 - Rocco or Arjun

Day 14 - Rocco or Arjun

Day 17 - Tai or Lucas/Casa

Miki

Day 1 - Bill or Single

Day 3 - Bill or Dumped

Day 6 - Bill or Dumped

Day 9 - Dumped

Day 12 - Dumped

Day 14 - Dumped

Day 17 - Dumped

Shannon

Day 9 - Rohan

Day 12 - Rohan or Dumped

Day 14 - Rohan or Dumped

Day 17 - Rohan or Dumped

Blake

Day 9 - Lucas

Day 12 - Rohan or Dumped

Day 14 - Rohan or Dumped

Day 17 - Rohan or Dumped

Cherry

Day 9 - Harry

Day 12 - Rohan or Dumped

Day 14 - Rohan or Dumped

Day 17 - Rohan Dumped

Bobby

Day 1 - AJ or MC or Single

Day 3 - AJ or MC or

Day 6 - Marisol

Day 9 - Marisol or Single

Day 12 - AJ/Talia or Elladine/Marisol

Day 14 - AJ/Talia or Elladine/Marisol or Single

Day 17 - AJ/Talia or Elladine/Marisol

Rohan

Day 1 - Talia or MC

Day 3 - Talia or MC

Day 6 - AJ

Day 9 - Shannon/Cherry/Blake

Day 12 - Shannon/Cherry/Blake

Day 14 - Shannon/Cherry/Blake

Day 17 - Shannon/Cherry/Blake

Graham

Day 9 - Marisol or Dumped

Day 12 - Marisol or Dumped

Day 14 - Marisol or Dumped

Day 17 - Marisol or Dumped

Seb

Day 9 - MC or Dumped

Day 12 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Day 14 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Day 17 - MC or Elladine/Marisol or Dumped

Nicky

Day 9 - Elladine

Day 12 - Elladine or Dumped 

Day 14 - Elladine or Dumped

Day 17 - Elladine or Dumped

[clansayeed]

Hey Jack! I wanted to know what your thoughts are on Rheya. Was she really a villain to you? Were her motives justifiable? Was she a good villain? Did you think she deserved to have a redemption arc in chapter 16? What could have been written to make her have a better character story? Any thoughts at all about Rheya!

FOREWARNING: Anon... I accidentally wrote you a 2500 word essay. I shit you not this thing is 2,528 words long. So... I don’t know whether to say you’re welcome or I’m sorry. Just letting you know in advance.

ADD-ON POST-POSTING: I’m fully aware this is an app game. A three book series written with sexying vampires in mind. Where the medium is limited both size and content-wise, where you can’t go into much detail because they can only have so many panels in a chapter, etc. Still thinking what I think though. And if you get paid to create content professionally the least you can do for your own paycheck is go back and double-check your work.

Actually this ask came at a good time since I have to work on some character motivations for her for my series... and I always break down the in-canon versions before working on my own. So anon, let’s talk... are you a mind reader?

Kidding! mostly

So. Rheya.

I actually just finished my first replay of book 2 and at the moment I’ve only ever played book 3 the once. I played it as it was releasing so there were some memory gaps in some places and needed-refreshers in others. But on a whole I have similar thoughts about Rheya as I do Xenocrates, and you can find those thoughts here.

Overall she was a solid setup, good design and potential, and PB pretty much wasted her execution.

I wanna start with a genuine question to the fandom since I’ve never actually been able to ask this... but y’all like... totally saw the Bloodkeeper being related to her coming, right? Like I was so convinced of it that when it was revealed in some big dramatic point at the end I was like “yeah... they told us this...?” and it turns out they fuckin didn’t??? Like I could not understand the people who were like super into her sprite like yes she looks good but here I was thinking she was our ancestor from the get-go so I was... confused to say the least.

Not gonna lie when they started pushing in snippets of Rheya’s past trauma in book 2 (things like her yelling “you know what they did to me/took from me” which is paraphrased but you know what I mean) I really hoped they weren’t gonna do what they did. So of course they did it.

But I wish they’d like... just given her the kid. Just give her Iola and leave the weird suddenly random husband out of it. At this point we know Gaius has an unhealthy idolatry for her, we know Xenocrates adored her in his own way in his youth... but we know fuckall about Demetrius up to and including his existence until literally book 3. Sloppy, IMO. They took something not being mentioned and used it to put in a plot device when the omission should have been strategical.

TBH I thought the whole “you know what they did to me” was gonna get hella dark RE: Rheya and King Kaelisus’ obsession with her. That’s as far as I’ll go there.

But you have a Priestess, a known Priestess, who was definitely faithful enough not to stray even when she thought she was walking to her own death. It’s pretty easy to assume (as I did ngl) that she would be completely devoted to Phampira, including romantically/sexually. It would have been a good setup to explain why she never gave Gaius the goods if anything.

And there’s nothing wrong with having said Priestess have her own family while still being devoted. I just wish PB would have used some fucking forethought and hinted at that earlier on than they did. Because they didn’t hint. They dropped this random fisherman-something husband on us and told us she cared enough about his opinion to make him part of her advisory board but not... to like... mention him in any of her conversations in any of the flashbacks... including those in which he would have been alive.

On that note the whole timeline there is really messy, they obviously threw him and Iola in later on after some things were established/couldn’t be taken back. I’ve studied this shit extensively and it’s really muddled exactly how long Rheya ruled, when shit went down with her family, how much time had passed when Xenocrates staked her, etc.

I would have loved for Iola’s father not to have been there. Give me a strong woman, a strong single mother, who would burn the world for the loss of her daughter. Doesn’t matter who did the deed, Iola was hers and the Sons/Order took that from her and the world would have to pay the price.

If I had been given that I would end all of my complaints right here. I would, genuinely. Because then her descent into madness, her paranoia, her megalomania would all have been explained. And they still technically are but -- maybe it’s just me -- there’s something about her having to factor in Demetrius that just... takes me out of it. IDK.

I didn’t mind the guy... though him being a talking tree of doom was a little much for me... though by that point I had accepted the plot was off the goddamn rails and just kept nodding and going with it. But his presence made the story okay when his absence could have made the story impactful and powerful and emotional. That’s just my thoughts. Which you asked for. You did this.

No takesies-backsies.

Was she a villain? Hells to the yes.

It’s a classic case of obtaining ultimate power and abusing it; of crossing the line between justice and vengeance. Not that she wasn’t justified in her freak-out over the death of her family. But everything after up to and including her fatal feeding schedule was totally unnecessary. For a villain, yes necessary. 

For a vampire goddess who could have easily used Gaius’ influence over the vampires of the modern world to form a cult following around herself with an open dialogue about her big ass appetite and probably would have ended up with swaths of willing adorers ready to lend their blood to her cause thus eliminating the need for secrecy and subsequent feeling of betrayal...

You tell me.

I feel like she was definitely more than a little hyped up though. Not even going into my whole-ass issue with the entire Unchained plot and thus the first like 4-5 chapters of book 3, she was hyped up in myth and kind of a let down in person. She could FLY. Walk in the SUN. Heal the DYING. She’s vampire JESUS.

*ADDED IN LATER: She took out THE ENTIRE ORDER OF THE DAWN, WHO HAVE RAVAGED THE VAMPIRE POPULATION FOR LITERALLY 3000 YEARS since they were around in her time after all IN LIKE A THREE-MOVE COMBO BREAK. ALL THIS SHIT THEY HYPED WITH THE ORDER and their entire ERADICATION isn’t even an ON-SCREEN THING. Unless you pay.

Dude if they had kept Xenocrates and the Order and used the two of them against each other; the Order’s long-standing influence on the modern world versus the new world Rheya wanted to create with the human populations not knowing the history behind their hatred, where like the first half of the book is Rheya and MC and gang taking out the Order and Xenocrates only to find out in the middle point that she’s been doing it for selfish reasons and they were on the wrong team the whole time and THEN Rheya becomes the big bad... I would have enjoyed the shit out of that.

Anyway. “She’s vampire JESUS...” and her big evil plan is to... suck face on national television? IDK. It didn’t play the mood right for me. I can see from a writer’s perspective how they kind of played out all of their options and went with a quick and easy solution... but it didn’t work for me. That’s a no from me dawg.

Do I think she deserved a redemption arc? I don’t think anybody deserved a god damn redemption arc, unless they are done with extreme care and attention to detail before/during/after said arc they go horribly, and overall tend to be the plot device pick of lazy writers.

And I take nothing back. No like I think I might have gone into how much I fucking hated Gaius’ “reDEmPtiON aRc” before or at least I have somewhere and to someone. Probably Sofia... no most definitely Sofia. But anyway. They spend TWO GOD DAMN BOOKS hyping Gaius as this ultimately irredeemable bad guy. 

OMG I was literally playing the book 2 finale and got a quote hold on... HERE. Adrian literally says about Gaius in 2.16 “It’s like there’s no humanity left.” And that’s just one actual example of the tons of times they make him out to be devoted to Rheya of his own volition, the ultimate example of the line between believing in something and being blinded to everything by it, etc. Like a huge chunk of Kamilah’s and Adrian’s arcs RE: Gaius are about how he was definitely a monster, he turns the people around him into monsters, and while they have worked their asses off to be good and right their wrongs he has not, will not, and would not ever do such a thing.

Then suddenly he’s brainwashed, tried to turn Rheya down and was made into a loony toon because of it, and everything he made MC’s loved ones do that they blamed themselves for but needed to blame him for is suddenly Rheya’s fault and now we should blame her for.

Mmmmmkay sweetie. I’m good, thanks.

But really -- that was the last straw for me when it came to both Gaius and Rheya. There’s a difference between giving the villain something they see as a just cause (ex. Rheya avenging her family) and giving the villain a cop-out that absolves them of guilt (ex. Gaius and... everything about him). Like yes I know MC didn’t have to forgive him, I know Kamilah didn’t really forgive him, but it’s pretty fuckin obvious from how it was put out into the world story that the writers were trying to lean you towards blaming Rheya and letting Gaius off the hook.

I mean... making him save Lula for real when Rheya saved her for fake earlier on in the book, using Lula as a stand-in metaphor for her own child daughter that she finds out she was the cause of her death for, etc? That symbolism is so transparent I could put it in the asset database.

And I’ll only briefly touch on this since I could write a whole other essay on the matter RE: PB and their fucking constant repetition of this, but “let’s give both bad guys similar moral quandaries but suddenly reveal it was a consent issue and the woman is wholly to blame and now gets the man’s crimes piled on with her own” is super common in fiction and hella. fucking. sexist.

But that isn’t to say all of this is necessarily bad.

When done right, everything I’ve complained about above can be a part of a really good story. What “done right” means is different for everyone, everyone has a different example and different thoughts on it. These are mine. I think the better term would be done well. It was not done WELL.

But given things like PB’s weird obsession with redeeming the attractive (apparently) bad guy, PB’s history with narrowing a woman down to one trait or part of her (ex. Rheya’s power corruption centered around her role as a wife and mother and not... a super all powerful vampire goddess...), their obvious lack of attention to detail and overall lack of vision when it comes to the big picture* and more, I personally don’t think they knew what the fuck they wanted by book 3 and were already well into transitioning into whatever adultery-obsessed lingerie shenanery they’re fixated on now; so much so that it’s almost a disservice to the writing done in earlier book 1 and a decent chunk of book 2 when calling it a whole series.

*I keep bringing this up only because it means I can back up stuff like this with real examples of theirs: these guys did not write the plot of this series as a cohesive story. I get that, as a writer writing a big series myself I get the fuck out of that. But you have to solidify some things early on in the development process in order to avoid writing yourself into a hole or, like with this, having to result in trope-y plot devices that work in theory but on paper don’t give the story the full-circle fulfillment it deserves. 

Their timelines are out of whack, they contradict themselves in quite a few places, constantly wishy-washy their own lore, and definitely didn’t go back and double check if they’d said something already... and that’s not including where they focused on the details of one unimportant thing and left another more important thing to just be “and this is the way it is moving on.”

I literally have no way/idea how to summarize any of this bullshittery going on in this ask. Did I like Rheya? The character personality, design, and overall idea as this big ass badass power/hungry goddess demanding fealty was pretty cool. Did I like Rheya when they narrowed her story down to her grief over her family (which, again, is valid, but just seemed really disjointed and rushed when compared to everything else they had given about her/shown of her by the beginning of book 3)? Not... as much.

I think they wanted her to seem like she could be redeemed. I mean FFS in the “big battle” she literally just stands there and lets you do the thing. 3000 years imprisoned and however many centuries before that spent taking the power that she was denied all because some bad dudes in masks killed the mortal husband and daughter you would have eventually lost to old age anyway...? And she just stands there??? 

Even knowing she was really behind Iola’s death they could have stuck with the “madness consumed” plotline and had her be like well... what’s done is done back to taking over now thank you.

But sometimes a bad guy just has to be a bad guy. Rourke from ES, mister capitalism -- can’t remember them trying to redeem him. If they had I don’t think I would have liked it so much. Who else... UGH. Thomas in NB. Crazy zombie man wants all monsters dead because one killed his family (can we stop using dead families for grief porn please and thanks...) another example of a useless villain. Hence why I removed him from my NB rewrite don’t even get me going...

What’s his face in TCATF! Luther! You join up with him and he still tries to kill you in the end! Now that was fucking classic. Hex, who suddenly is forgiven for the literal enslavement of a race of people and the thoughtless murder of a civilization that didn’t agree with her.. and all because she was ‘like a mother’ to the kid genius? Not so much.

I could go on and on and go search out tons of examples but in the end the one thing you can say PB does well is that they stay consistent in their ideas of redemption, of who deserves it and who isn’t, and just how far they’re willing to stretch the fucking story to forgive a character if 1. the sprite is hot or 2. the sprite had a little sprite family somewhere in there.

legit just talk to me about bb/nb