#unreliable narrators are so much fun and also so funny

[delimeful]

love the way you do gt miscommunication/undercommunication fear plots. gonna go reread (don't) take this the wrong way again

thank you so much :D i always love to sprinkle in a little "characters get scared out of their wits by complete misunderstandings" in my plots

[itsmagsdoodles]

Wanted to share some silly tbh creatures/autism creatures i made on a server dedicated to @unreliable-narrator-2845 's amazing fic, L'Appel du vide! (A recommended read imo. Mind the gore tags though) I realized there were already creature versions of 80s ford and stan, but not of their younger selves or fiddleford (as far as i could see) so i went ahead and created them. Ciphord/Bord is also there because it's funny. Feel free to use these 5 for all your meme purposes!

I also wanted to share the ones i specifically made for @unreliable-narrator-2845 , i had so much fun! These aren't for use outside the server (unless with express permission).

I don't know why these funny-looking goobers are so fun to draw, but I may do more requests if asked.

[fourtyforever]

Get in losers were making a fic rec masterlist

Hi y’all it’s me, your local multishipper, and I’m about to be the change I wish to see in the world by putting all the best f1 fics in one place.

Maxiel

cool things to say to your soulmate by @powerful-owl (E, 14k)

A collection of shorter soulmate stories by the great em powerfulowl. Essentially the maxiel thesis as far as I’m concerned. If you ever catch me talking about the goose fic, this is what I’m talking about. Fun story: this was actually the first F1 rpf I ever read and I blame it for why my standards are so fantastically high.

Thursday girl by @boxboxlewis (M, 3k)

Max is outed by the press. Shocking emotional impact to word ratio and off the charts tenderness. Short and sweet and low key a comfort read to me.

the being unknown by anonymous (E, 12k)

Body swap with really unique and emotional vibes. Ngl this one hurt me (in the best way). A fantastic and heart-wrenching take on the horrors of 2022.

Charlos

win or lose (it’s how you play the game) by @f1-stuff (E, 18k)

Hickey bet between charles and carlos. Cannot get over this fic for as long as I live: the silliness is off the charts, the vibes are literally the most perfectly balanced tenderhorny I’ve ever read and the writing is just really that good. I think about this fic minimum once a day.

last night by venerat (E, 24k)

College au. Ngl this one is just especially spicy, but also very very funny and fully captivating top to bottom (see what I did there? haha). Also a great ensemble cast here, which I always love.

Once more (before we die) by @f1-stuff (M, 6k)

Fantasy AU where charlos are princes of warring kingdoms. I love this AU and I love the tenderness between Charles and Carlos that we get out of it. I’m usually not really an AU type of gal but this one really did change my mind.

Playing games by @vegasgrandprix (T, 4K)

Gay chicken. WIP, but I can already tell so clearly exactly where this is going and that is delightful to me. Honestly this really is how they act like 90% of the time already.

Yukierre

match made in heaven by venerat (T, 4K)

Pierre is yuki’s matchmaker. this one is just so sweet and sooooo silly. Comfort read 100%

Loscar

Are they gay or European? (the answer is both) by periwinkle_bumper_cars (T, 30k)

Logan keeps walking in on other drivers in compromising positions. 100% balls to the wall silliness from beginning to end and just completely delightful the whole time. Background carlando, kmag/hulkenberg, brocedes, maxiel, and honestly the ensemble cast is what takes this one from great to top tier.

Landoscar

By a thread by @mctwinkdom (E, 32k)

The classic Australian thongs misunderstanding (gone sexual). Incredibly silly, amazingly hot and honestly a top-tier character study of both Oscar and Lando. A great study in unreliable narration as well (probably part of what accounts for my previous point).

carried away by orphan account (E, 22k)

Fake dating. Honestly this one got me in my feels so much more than I expected from the premise. Sweet and a little bit angsty and just a delightful read all the way down.

Strollonso

green light, red wine (and I don’t feel fine) by @vicsy (E, 19k)

Mafia AU where lance is the son of Fernando’s arch nemesis. THEE strollonso fic of all time I tell you. Unparalleled characterization on the part of both nando and lance, fantastic ensemble cast, FANTASTIC writing, and off the charts unreal spiciness. If you haven’t read this yet then what are you doing

El dick plan by @waddlingpenguin (E, 800)

Lance says ‘daddy,’ both Fernando and Lawrence answer. Short, sweet and SILLY.

camera roll by @penaltyboxboxbox (E, 5k)

Sexting/sex tapes. Overall nice and spicy and just fantastic characterization. Also absolutely crucial is the companion art also by dave penaltyboxboxbox which is literally like the ice cream on top of the cake for such a wonderful fic

silver platter by @wewentcarracing (E, 10k)

getting together fic featuring long suffering estie bestie. Honestly the fic is amazing and spicy and just so well written but Esteban’s ever growing dismay is lowkey my favorite part. Works as a pretty great lance character study as well.

Brocedes

Roseberg’s vs haminkton by @jean----ralphio (E, 16k)

Tattoo artist versus flower shop, except they’re rivals. This is like…just how they are honestly. Absolutely stunning ensemble cast and absolutely hilarious buildup to lewis and Nico finally getting together. Side order of seb just being a massive shit stirrer which honestly I think is the role he belongs in

The real reason nico rosberg retired by periwinkle_bumper_cars (G, 3k)

Secret Santa (gone horribly wrong). This is…..also just how they are unfortunately. The rancidest of vibes but also screeching-out-loud funny.

will be updating this on the reg so stay tuned for more good fics. also maybe if I am very lucky someday I will have my own fics to add to the list. definitely I need to become slightly more insane before I can start writing for this fandom but believe you me I’m well on my way.

[joejhang]

unpacking the different narrative voices in aftg pt. 1: neil

basically what the title says.

insane tunnel vision. have already said this but basically. not unreliable narration just with such insanely skewed priorities that he will delude you, the reader, into thinking that ball is life and nothing else really matters, up to and including your survival, social life and future. like really, neil is so single-minded about exy that he most of the stuff that isn't exy-related he just won't talk about. like will not even mention. his narration revolves around his priorities, and his priorities are very limited and unconventional.

he will not describe the way any characters look. not even hair colour or skin tone or anything. unless it is necessary for u to understand why he reacts to them in a certain way. the only reason he describes allison in the detail that he does is because it leads into why he isn't interested in women and how that relates to his time on the run. the reason why he describes renee in detail is an explanation for why she bothers him and why he doesn't trust her.

ball actually is life. not joking. andrew threatens to murder katelyn and neil literally just thinks hm. this has the potential to mildly affect exy practice tomorrow. like it's not an exaggeration.

i did say he's very focused on survival but honestly not really. neil honestly is a bit of an unreliable narrator because even tho he's not intentionally misleading or lying in his narration, his own narrator bias bleeds into his narration a LOT and his perceptions of himself and the people around him aren't always accurate. for example, he describes himself as fearful and intensely focused on survival, even after he ditches every reasonable fear of retribution and survival instinct to bitch at riko. so honestly, he's not even that laser focused on survival, he just thinks that he is, so he makes it seem like he is in his narration. it leads to an interesting cognitive dissonance, because he's been pavloved to think about his own survival before anything, but he quite literally comes to terms with his inevitable death sometime at the beginning of trk and spends the rest of the series fucking around and doing things that will arguably make his death much sooner and bloodier. so. he's just funny like that.

anyway his narration is very rough around the edges. he doesn't go into detail describing just about anything except for things that relate to exy (e.g. the foxhole court, practices and games). eventually he expands his horizons a bit more and describes his makeout sessions with andrew.

his narration is very logical and rational for the most part. when things happen that trigger strong emotions (e.g. drake's attack, ea's transfer), he tends to acknowledge those emotions, spend some time unpacking or explaining them, and then turn to his coping mechanisms of smoking/running. but for the most part, his narration is pretty bare bones and you spend a lot of time in his head rather than experiencing actual events. he does a lot of exposition and info dumping and just general Pondering™. but i honestly don't mind it i think it's helpful and generally very concise.

anyway a very unconscious narrator. he does a lot of the things that he does in his narration subconsciously rather than deliberately. the stuff he skims over and/or skips entirely aren't things that he deliberately wants to avoid (see: jeremy knox) but are literally just things he considers unimportant and therefore automatically won't focus on in his head.

a lot of this unintentional misleading in his narration is why it's so fun and a little jarring to see him from an outsider's pov. because you realise: oh he is not what he led us to believe at all. he made us think he was this normal, chill, quiet guy but he's actually. deeply unsettling and a little bit scary. and also has insane aura. part of why tsc neil was revolutionary to me.

honestly his narration is so reflective of his personality it's actually really cute. like his narration style is unconventional yes, but he'll occasionally drop a throwaway line that is just so him it's so cute (see: "neil considered asking [dan] how she was doing in her english classes but took the higher road of silence." and "in his tired state neil thought it was the greatest bus ever invented."). love him.

[zuzuzuko]

Thoughts on The Boy Wonder #3:

Under the cut because it got LONG

I really really am enjoying this comic still. This is part of my favorite page from this issue:

Someone posted the Talia panel earlier but I think that panel with the context of the rest of the page makes it even better. It’s kind of a subtle nod to the fact that Talia and Ra’s do NOT fuck with these kinds of people and in fact think they’re a blight on the world. So I really really liked that.

LOVED Tim being all smarmy at the Gala. And I thought it was fun that Damian just thinks that’s how he is. It shows how much Tim and Damian misunderstand each other and how neither of them think very highly of each other at this point.

Glad they showed Tim’s distrust of Damian too because that is a big part of why their dynamic is how it is. Early Damian and Tim interactions are basically built on misunderstandings and lack of trust. I also thought this dialogue was interesting because it is a great reflection of how Damian originally DID stop killing just because his dad told him to and he wanted his dad’s respect. It took some time for him to actually BELIEVE that not killing was the right thing to do. So Tim saying “I can tell you feel bad about killing that guy. But do you feel bad because you hurt someone or because you got punished for it?” Was a very good insight to include in my opinion.

I don’t really have any commentary for this next page I just think it was a really fun silly page:

This next part was so cute 😭 Damian thinks Tim decided to be a better person that makes him believe HE can be a better person too. And in the last panel I post he says “I thought… I thought I was the one who got you to…” meaning he thought he inspired Tim to be a better person. 😭😭😭😭

so it makes sense that he’s upset then when he finds out that Tim was just ACTING like a smarmy socialite and was actually helping Damian with the mission all along. Because he kind of felt like “oh I thought you made mistakes and now were redeeming yourself which meant that I would be able to redeem myself. But you were actually just good all along…”

Completely off topic but Tim breaking in the night before and stealing the Batman statue head is so funny and definitely something he would do.

“He wanted to feel better, worthier than him so badly…” yeah Damian definitely saw Tim as competition when they first met.

Also the last panel I didn’t read as if Talia and Ra’s tell Damian he’s weak but I see it more as an unreliable narrator thing. Like Damian’s own insecurities are presenting themselves as his mother and grandfather.

ANYWAYS

there were so many more panels I wanted to talk about alas the 10 picture limit.

Overall I really liked this issue I think it was a simple story for sure but it also highlighted Tim’s distrust of Damian and them misunderstanding each other. I will say Juni Ba definitely made them nicer to each other which is my only real criticism tbh.

TLDR: it was good 👍

[kerink]

okay, i finished the book of bill and i wasn't going to make this post because i was sure someone already had, but i was asked to make it anyway so here we go. my compilation of the billford content:

SONGS

three songs have been identified in relation to bill and ford:

the first is "we'll meet again" by vera lynn, which is about the singer wishing well to the listener before they travel, and promising to return home to them soon. this song comes up twice, first when bill sang it to ford in the fearamid and then again at the start of the book of bill, where ford says he still gets it stuck in his head upon waking up, giving the impression they both are singing it to each other at different points.

the second is a 1960s song by james and bobby; when you search this, the first song that comes up is "i'm your puppet." the meaning of this song is really straightforward, especially within the context of these two, but you can read this if you'd like. i believe this is the song ford is whistling in his dream before he's confronted by bill's previous victims. during this scene, he's sitting in a birch tree clearing (the tree commonly associated with bill) and sketching a yellow meadowlark.

as an aside, something interesting about the meadowlark is that its chest marking has a very peculiar resemblance...

the third is "sweet dreams (are made of this)" by the eurythmics. after bill tries for days if not weeks to talk to ford about the portal, bill resorts to violence and spends the night abusing ford's body and reputation. when ford wakes up, this is the song bill left playing for him.

as an aside, i think it's interesting that the first draft of the song was played on a black and yellow synthesizer.

HOW TO TRICK EVERYONE INTO LOVING YOU

there is an entire section in the book dedicated to bill outlining his dating tips. of the 8 tips bill gives, he uses 3 of them on ford. EDIT: he uses 5 of them

the first is "the love cage," which pretty much ver batum outlines what happened in the fearamid during weirdmageddon.

the second is "vulnerability," where bill advises you tell your date 1) how no one can relate to you and 2) that you have a tragic back story, both of which he does in one fell swoop.

as an aside, this is a fun chance to peek at bill being an unreliable narrator in some kind of mobius double bluff. when you read these two sections back to back, it appears bill is lying to ford to gain his trust, especially if you also just watched the previous video. however, earlier in the book, it's implied that the genocide of his dimension was traumatic and something he wishes he could undo, and later in the book, after ford leaves him, bill gets drunk and attempts to call his mother, sobbing. this gives the impression that bill was indeed being vulnerable with ford here but doesn't want us, the reader, to know it.

the third is "good ol'-fashioned valentines," where bill provides some cheap and easy gift-giving advice. he then follows this advice for ford's birthday.

as an aside, i think it's funny bill brings up cats here. who belongs to whom, william?

BREAKUP

them both accusing each other of cheating:

a callback to stan's season 1 joke: "my ex-wife still misses me, but her aim is getting better:"

this amazing lower back tattoo bill made him get:

bill totally being fine and normal and great after ford leaves him for good. in fact, he's doing so well that he got drunk and took himself to dinner to celebrate. he's not upset. he's not upset.

and let's not forget mabel calling it like it is, as always:

MISC

and finally, here are some various tidbits i just enjoyed:

ford's a cipherholic attracted to things that hurt him lmfao

can you just give him a normal compliment jesus

the tattoo reads "if lost return to bill"

also the "the rats were his idea? i get it now." get what baby hm? hm? hm? implying we WERE supposed to "get" something from it

fated i guess

not tonight dear i have a headache

in conclusion, i definitely think bill is more in love with obsessed with ford than ford is with bill at this point. probably because ford's had a third of his life to come to terms with their partnership, while 30 years to an immortal being is imperceptible. given what we saw with "the love cage" and with how bill tells ford it's not too late to join the henchmaniacs during weirdmageddon, he's probably still trying to get ford back. in his own insane, demonic way.

as an aside, i do think it's interesting that the end of the book implies bill blames stan for turning ford away from him. especially since what he cites is what happens at the end of the show, implying bill thought he still had a chance during weirdmageddon

anyway, thanks for reading! if i missed anything, please let me know!

[b0tsbby]

I realized I never actually shared this here but for the Drakengard fans, a while ago I was cooking up a Drakengard 3 au inspired by another artist who I genuinely can’t find anymore. Such doubled as a swap au cause Knives as a protag really did and still kinda does interest me.

The whole concept was kinda exploring things from a plant perspective and like, the world REALLY being bad…like bad…and if you’ve watched that 6-7 hour video on Drakenier lore on YouTube you’d KNOW, that canonically there’s constantly different timelines that sometimes converge or diverge so I can make a lot of executive decisions like the watcher’s cult and the flower and what not.

In the instance of Rem project Seeds, in this medieval setting is a lot more like the Cult of Watchers with slightly different intentions like weapon research and mana extraction. They really do weirdly praise the Black Flower though, despite honestly hurting it. After migrating from the city, Rem is very curious about its existence and how it can help with the constant war and environmental crisis befalling Midgard, but is actually more interested in the stars. She’s a scholar at heart and is one to question a lot so I mean, forgive her for falling into the clutches of a cult, it’s a very drab time to be alive. She did her best.

On the topic of Zazie I know we already have Accord as someone who is canonically everywhere all at once as a recorder, but I thought in this au Zazie would really fit that role. They aren’t an android like her though, and are closer to the magical side of the spectrum where dragons and intoners are, just a lil higher. Pure black and a coat felt like a fitting design choice considering they’d be the most enigmatic as the unreliable narrator.

So funny but I actually started with Elendira cause she kinda deserves to be a Drakenier character idk?😭😭 From the style to her personality she’d just do very well in that setting! That said I have the most fun with her in this au cause she’s a breath of fresh air from the melodrama and gives, very little fucks? Her goals are very simple: to live and not simply exist, and to have her own dragon…naturally. It is Vash who takes her in in this au…but that only makes her quote unquote ‘worse’ because she deeply can not comprehend his values. That said, as much as she hates him she respects him. She only barely respects Knives if she does at all.

And on the most important little duo we have the twins who are, Intoners. The only two there is. Like I said Knives is the protagonist and his goal is simply to kill his brother. That’s it. (“They don’t even know how deep this is gonna go” I say in the shadows). I pretty obviously related him to Zero for this design. And just like Zero, he’s a pretty unconventional and bitchy protagonist and the whole question of ethics was already out the window 20 min ago. Have some plant twins as little tiny guys cause I never figured a design out for Vash as a heroic antagonist.

While I consider this au abandoned I re listened to that 7 hour Drakenier lore video and kinda fell in love with it again. I also have Meryl, LR and Legato literally sitting there cause they’re practically almost finished designs. You can ask about drakengard lore anytime but for the love of god never play that game series (it’s peak). Genuinely don’t touch it (best worst games in history, actual art pieces). I have a whole lore doc and a 1000+ one shot on Elendira based on the Drakengard 3 novellas I don’t know what to do with it please someone tell me what to do with it.

[eldritchenochian]

spoilers for Stardust Rhapsody season 2 (eps 15 & 16) below

stardust rhapsody is (was? idk.) my favorite Legends of Avantris campaign. I've watched the first season upwards of 5 times now, and almost all of the fics and fanart I've made have been related to it. it got me through some pretty rough times.

I am disappointed with season 2, so far.

the whole idea of "all of that was just a story, and very little of it actually happened" just feels very. not great.

all those characters we love and connected to, including Pyke who told the story, are not at all what we know now. some characters weren't even real to begin with.

what was the point? both of caring about the characters, and retconning it all? it feels bad to have a set of characters that I spent so much time dedicated to- drawing, writing, analyzing, relating to- just to be told "none of that matters cause it didn't actually happen, also there's a copium leak in here".

we do not know these characters anymore. Pyke has proven to be an unreliable narrator- the past what, 2 years? of character development and recordings and story building mean nothing, because it's been made out to be an embellished story riddled with lies and barely truths. we don't know if the Pyke and Rett from the first season are the real Pyke and Rett or just a lie told by Pyke- same with everyone else. their backstories too- Pyke isn't even actually a racer. Leo doesn't exist, Rex is just some random guy- who knows what else about the crew was made up. Kavir and Dandy's backstories too, probably. which, ouch.

maybe it's stupid, because these are fictional characters. maybe I'm just not smart enough to enjoy the "story within a story" trope here. idk.

I get that they threw the campaign together relatively quickly, and thought the characters didn't mesh super well together (that second one is bs, they were peak found family, and the crew even said they qere the most stable party after the icebound crew). I get that they planned to do this for a very long time. but there were better ways they could've gotten rid of Leboosh and Chuckles. which I'm also upset about, but. not important in the face of throwing away 14 episodes of canon.

I guess I just feel like I've been made to feel stupid for getting attached to a handful of characters and expecting that their story would go in a direction that I enjoyed.

also I don't like Glup. I know he and Quibly are supposed to be comic relief, but he doesn't really feel like a character. he can't even talk directly, Derek has to do interpretation as Quibly. sure it's funny, but he can't meaningfully contribute to conversations, or planning, or interacting with non party members unless they speak his language. I know they're going for the Han Solo and Chewbacca type relationship, but idk. it doesn't appeal to me in this format. Chuckles was a fully fledged character, Glup is mainly a bit that's been turned into a character.

now I may be completely wrong about this, but it feels like they're trying to change the direction of stardust from something a little more lore based with bits of humor at points, to something more humor based with a sprinkle of lore at times. like another campaign that the algorithm and shorts really really love. nothing wrong with being more marketable, but doing it at the expense of good characters and great stories just feels bad.

for those who were there with me in Discord last night while we watched it live, don't get me wrong, I had fun. it was fun to theorize about what was actually going on, maybe this was real, maybe this was all a coma dream- until the cast addressed it and debunked it themselves. I'll be honest towards the end of episode 15 and all of 16 I saw (I bailed early, which is insane), I was not having fun. all I could think about is the fact that some of these characters don't matter as much to them as they do us, and that they are willing to get rid of them because they don't like them anymore. which campaign could be next? what if when Witchlight comes back, they pull this again, and one or even two characters leave in a heartbreaking, unsatisfying way? what then?

I desperately hope this is something I cam get used to, like they said on stream it may take some folks a while to come around to the change. I really hope so. please don't ruin stardust for me Avantris I BEG

[galaxymagitech]

for the character breakdown ask game: steph!!

Thank you so much for the ask! This was really fun, it made me think deeply about Steph's character.

Character Breakdown Ask Game

How I feel about the character:

So, if I’m being honest, I like her, but I really struggle to relate to her. Tim is the stand-in for a dorky, nerdy audience member. But Steph is a stand-in for a normal suburban teenage girl. And if you can tell, I really don’t feel like I have much in common with the average teenage girl.

That said…like Tim, despite being a stand-in for someone normal, she’s very much not normal. She’s whip-smart and extremely dedicated, and she's got a fire in her that burns very intensely.

I think ultimately, I need to write her more. Already I think I'm starting to understand her better in once you cross the line, through that sort of gross feeling that comes with being a teenager. I don't really know how to explain it, but it's there. Like, where you've got all these stupid chemicals in your body and they don't feel like they should be there, and you're supposed to be growing up but you just feel like an idiot. And so that's very much helping me give her that spark of life that I need in each character's POV.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Mostly just Cass, although I'm also down for StephCassHarper. Which is kinda funny, given I'm working on a TimSteph fic, and thus accordingly reblog TimSteph posts that give me the vibes. I guess I bullied myself into shipping that too. But to be honest, I'm pretty sure 90% of my shipfics use the ship For the Plot™ so this is fairly on-brand for me.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Steph and Crystal Brown. I think there's a lot of potential and complexity in their interactions, and it might be my key to fully "unlocking" Steph's character.

My unpopular opinion about this character

She's a very unreliable narrator about her own competence--or, in her eyes, a lackthereof. Her uncertainty and general teenage confusion means that she thinks she's pretty much worthless. I think this trait is better ascribed to her than Tim. Like, in fandom portrayals, Tim is always the one who thinks he's worthless and Steph is confident, with her "bad case of the Stephs" memetic mutation. But Steph's outward flirtiness and confidence hides a lot of insecurity. And it doesn't hide it well.

Off the top of my head, I immediately thought of 1) how she said she didn't even mind not knowing his identity because she considered him "too good for [her]"; 2) how she thought Tim would break up with her because she would look "fat" and "gross" when she was pregnant. She also doesn't give herself enough credit for her agency and motivations in becoming Spoiler. I'm sure there are plenty of other examples.

Also, I don't think she at all views Bruce as her father. Her daddy issues absolutely play a role in how she interacts with him, as he's a male mentor figure around her father's age who isn't fond of her and thinks she's incompetent. But he's not her dad and never will be. I don't know if that's unpopular or not.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I think you know the answer to this one.

StephCass. I want StephCass to be canon. I know it probably won't be, but I wish it would be. And I want someone with a spine to write them, so they don't become "Carbon Copy DC Token Relationship #12" or whatever. They deserve to be messy and in love.

[knightotoc]

Trying to wrap my head around Fight Club 1996 vs American Psycho 1991. Both written by gay men making fun of "straight" men during the AIDS epidemic, but I'm having some trouble finding discussions of the stories through this lens.

They're making me think of how people idealize the 90s, considering them the peaceful "end of history" before 9/11 restarted it. These books are about men who have more than they need and are absolutely miserable, even thinking that a "Great War" would give them more purpose. But the authors themselves were living through a historic plague that the average person was ignoring and continues to downplay.

I think one huge difference between the books is Fight Club is genuinely funny and hot, and American Psycho will absolutely kill your libido. FC has edge, and AP is a smooth slide into hell. This might be because "Tyler" is middle class and Patrick is rich. Or because "Tyler" does at least appear to be making human connections, even if they are fucked up or just in his head, while Patrick is unable to connect with anyone, even himself.

Both of the movies deserve their great reputations, but there were a few passages in these books that made me think the stories would be better suited to a more abstract adaptation, even an animation or hybrid rotoscope project.

There's a huge motif in AP about all the men looking the same, and this turns out to be key to the ambiguity of Paul Owen's death, that is iirc lost in the film. It's such an big detail that the film gives me the impression that Patrick didn't do it, and the book gives me the impression that he did. In a similar way, in FC, I pictured the narrator and Tyler looking much more similar than they do in the movie. I'm pretty good at faces (though I did totally mix up Elijah Wood and Daniel Radcliffe yesterday LOL) so the live-action casting loses a lot of the effect from the writing.

I was also reminded of these books while I was reading, parodies with unreliable narrators in ridiculously horrible situations: It Happened In Boston?, Candide, Don Quixote, The Quest for the Holy Grail, The Knight of the Cart, The Song of Roland sorta (lots of medieval literature is like this imo)

[david-talks-sw]

I think it's interesting that - in order to make his "free-thinking Jedi" characters hold any semblance of rationality in their arguments - Dave Filoni needs to resort to artificially dehumanizing the other Jedi and painting them all with the same "we dogmatically worship protocol" brush.

He does this with Huyang in the recent Ahsoka episode.

"Lolz he's so narrow-minded, preachy and by-the-book, unable to think outside the box, just like the Jedi in the Prequels."

My first reaction was being amused at the fact that Filoni had to resort to making the Jedi Order's ideals and rules be embodied by a literal machine for his anti-Jedi headcanon to start making sense.

But then I remembered: Huyang isn't just any droid.

In The Clone Wars, he had a sassy personality, he had a pep in his step, he had a sense of humor...

This character was human in his behavior, he was fun and whimsical.

But now he's been reduced to, I dunno, "Jedi C-3PO"? Basically?

"Ha! He's blunt and unsympathetic because he's a droid, but it's funny because the Jedi were the same, they were training themselves to be tactless, emotionless droids."

And Filoni does this with Mace Windu too, in Tales of the Jedi.

Mace, who brought a lightsaber to the throat of a planetary leader to defend the endangered Zillo Beast...

... and who went waaay past his mandate by mischievously sneaking around Bardottan authorities and breaking into the Queen's quarters because he felt something bad was afoot...

... was reduced to being an almost droid-like, rule-parotting, protocol purist who sticks to his instructions (and is implied to be willing to let a murder go unsolved so he can get a promotion).

I mentioned this at the end of my first post on Luke in The Last Jedi... while changes in personality do happen overtime and can be explained in-universe... if you don't show us that progression and evolution and just leave us without that context, that'll break the suspension of disbelief, for your audience.

Here, we have two characters with a different (almost caricatural) personality than the one they were originally shown to have.

Now... we could resort to headcanons, to make it all fit together.

We could justify Huyang's tone shift 'cause "Order 66 changed him". And we could make explanations about TotJ's Mace:

Being younger and thus more ambitious and a stickler for the rules, and only really becoming more flexible after getting his seat on the Council and gaining more maturity.

Being such a teacher's pet in the episode because we're seeing him through the eyes of a notorious unreliable narrator, Dooku.

There'd be nothing wrong with opting to go with either of those headcanons to cope with this. After all, Star Wars is meant to help you get creative.

But the problem I encounter is that:

Filoni has an anti-Jedi bias, so the above headcanons clearly wouldn't really track with his intended narrative.

We'd be jumping through hoops to extrapolate and fill in what is, essentially, inconsistent characterization, manufactured to make Ahsoka and Dooku shine under a better light.

And that sours whatever headcanon I come up with.

Edit: Also, yeah, as folks have been saying in the tags... wtf is "Jedi protocol"? The term isn't ever mentioned in the movies, I skimmed through dialog transcripts of TCW, never saw it there.

So it's almost as if - if Filoni wasn't draining characters like Mace and Huyang of all humanity and nuance - his point about "the Jedi were too detached and lost their way, but not free-thinkers like Qui-Gon, Dooku and Ahsoka" wouldn't really hold much water.

[notedchampagne]

Trick or Treat! I haven't read tlt yet, and I'm sure I would like it, but my pet peeve is that most of the "synopses" I see are basically just "lesbian necromancers in space!" and even the back of the book that I've seen just doesn't give me much of an idea of the plot? I'm sure I would like it, but it's hard to know what it's actually About 😔

treat. thats a similar gripe i have as well! i think its good for attracting an audience but it doesnt do much to get them hooked aside from "it has lesbians in it". if you want to get a genuine tlt fic rec from me i wrote this in goodreads. yes sorry i started a goodreads i just needed to keep track of what books i read:

the locked tomb series is about the horrors of love, the tragedy of relationships beyond romance, why codependency is not as fun as you think, the joy of sacrifices, how imperialism affects culture affects people affects imperialism, and most importantly: the humor of not knowing what the fuck is going on. i PROMISE you that tamsyn ties all of these together perfectly.

gideon the ninth is about the intimacy of hating someone youve known your whole life, the all-consuming desire to make something out of yourself and how it can destroy you if youre not careful, how no man is an island, and how you are not immune to propaganda. it is also a murder mystery. i ALSO promise tamsyn writes this all in efficiently.

throughout the series, muir's gimmick is choosing the person least equipped to narrate objectively: the points of view are opinionated, ignorant, humorous, and challenging to get through if you're someone that asks "can this PLEASE be explained now??" she sets up dominoes in seemingly random places at random times, and then knocks it all over in a beautiful cascade of information that makes you feel thrilled and sick. the series is incredibly rereadable from the layers of foreshadowing and theming between all three (soon to be four) books, but for your first run you HAVE to be patient. you HAVE to be willing to be entertained. the payoff of being invested in this series is glorious; it's red-string 'am i crazy' hype. i have a google doc listing off theme connections and details that i started for fun. the characters are MEAN, which i value with my life. gideon and harrowhark are 17 and 18 years old and they act like it: they're funny, theyre self-flagellating, theyre bitchy, theyre unreasonable, etc etc. every character flaw is consistent with their being.

my biggest gripes with the series is that the worldbuilding is too weak for what i can see it being and the memes can be a little niche. the setting and necromancy is moreso a tool for the characters, so theres a lot of beautiful tidbits and descriptions, but you're not going to get any rules or meta beyond surface-level aesthetics. personally, "lesbian necromancers in space" does not cut it for me. if you were raised catholic though, this book might strike a chord with you. if you were raised catholic AND you are a lesbian, youre the target audience. i hope you have fun YOU WILL LIKE THIS SERIES/BOOK IF YOU LIKE: tragedy, character juxtaposition, the teen butch struggle, the exploration of love and toxic dynamics, mystery, sci-fi written like a fantasy novel, catholic theming, death theming, enemies to lovers but worse, freaky white girls, dyke drama, lesbians that have problems bigger than dyke drama, swordfighting, character duos, morally gray characters YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE THIS BOOK/SERIES IF YOU DISLIKE: being confused, being left in the dark for too long, unreliable narrators, morally gray characters, loose/light worldbuilding

[chibimui]

The Apothecary Diaries LN4 Thoughts: Prologue-ch4

(Previous LN: Vol 1 - Vol 2 - Vol 3)

We have started LN4!!! I don't really remember the first half of this novel that much so re-reading it again has been interesting.

I don't have much to say as an intro, so let's just get into it!

(Warning: Continues major spoilers for anything beyond the anime and all the way up until recent WN chapters)

Prologue/Chapter 1 - Bath

Reading the prologue with context, I realize LN4 is very much the "Loulan" book, like how LN3 was the "Jinshi" book and LN2 was the "Maomao" book. Which is interesting considering Loulan disappears after this volume. She's not actually a main character, and yet she gets a book essentially dedicated to her. It opens with her and it basically ends with her - and it's ultimately a tragedy too.

Even within the first chapter in the bathhouse, Shisui/Loulan is the one that really helps Xiaolan get the connection that nets her a job after the leaves the rear palace, even though Maomao is who she initially asks. Her presence will be a constant throughout this novel and I'm interested in picking it out as we go through it.

On that topic of Maomao...

It's so sweet how seriously Maomao thinks about a way to help Xiaolan. Specifically giving Xiaolan a good connection - one where she will be happy, treated well, and safe from danger (the last one is what knocks Jinshi off the list). This sentiment also gets brought up in recent WN chapters too except it's expanded to Maomao not even wanting Xiaolan that closely connected to her, which makes me kind of sad :( I'm still here waving my "make Xiaolan one of Maomao's ladies-in-waiting in the future plz" flag.

It's especially interesting because Maomao probably still doesn't really think of Xiaolan as a "friend" in her mind, but the way she treats her? She's so sweet on her, washing her hair, buying her gifts etc. Yes, this is a sign that Maomao is the most unreliable narrator, but if she truly didn't think Xiaolan was a friend it really makes you wonder how unbelievably generous Maomao would be to someone she does consider a friend (apparently the answer is get willingly get kidnapped by them LOL). All of this to say - as per usual - I love Maomao and Xiaolan T-T.

Maomao's autism kicking in real hard here =P

All. The. Hints. About. Shisui!!! This is how you do clue dropping in a mystery series to make re-reading it fun! It's so good because all the details about Shisui is just simple character building to a first time reader, but once you have context you realize all these character details double as clues. All the details we learn about Shisui are important to the narrative - not just "fun facts".

It's actually so funny seeing Maomao this rattled. To be fair, if I accidentally fell on someone and grabbed their dick when I assumed they didn't have one, and then belatedly realized I was low-key giving them a handjob, I also would have a hard time forgetting the moment too. Mostly because ew?

For shipper reasons though, I choose to believe there's another reason Maomao has a hard time forgetting the "splendid" frog she happened to get a handful of :)

Chapter 2 - Seki-u

Maomao having a hard time with their names is relatable. Also, thank you story for confirming that Maomao is still 18 at this part of the story AND that Gyokuyou herself is 20--which, when you think about it, oh my gosh she is young (but definitely raises my opinion of her intelligence at such an age).

At some point I really want to make a comprehensive timeline of the series.

No deep thoughts, i just found this moment funny. Once again - yes, I am aware I have the humor of a twelve year old boy. I do think in Japanese it was a bit more funny because in Japanese Maomao and Xiaolan are more like "Ooooooh =O". Hahahaha.

Someone save Lishu please, this poor girl.

The part I highlighted stood out to me when I switch from JP to ENG. Not because the translation is wrong, but I found in the Japanese Maomao's thoughts felt a bit more personal--like you really got a sense she found Kanan's fear of her quite hurtful. I will elaborate on this. But first.

SOMEONE SAVE THIS GIRL

Okay to elaborate on point #2. In Japanese you can often omit subject markers so it's a lot easier to play around with the text to dive deeper into character thoughts/feelings even when the novel is written from a 3rd person POV. Due to the omission of a clear subject, there are times when the text is structured in such a way that it feels like you are basically reading Maomao's direct thoughts without any clear indication that you are (like how in English you might put thoughts into italics). This is one of those moments. In Japanese, with the way the sentence is structured, it really reads like Maomao is directly thinking "It'd be nice if you didn't think of me as a monster..." which... =(

Anyway, moving on.

Chapter 3 - The Dancing Ghost

Once again, speaking of Maomao's kindness - I think it's really sweet that even though she absolutely does not believe in ghosts, she very much wanted to figure out this mystery and help Lishu out.

WE SEE YOU MAOMAO. WE SEE YOU.

I think this is one of those moments where everyone including the reader probably had their jaw on the floor - I know I certainly did at this moment. Like. SIR. SIIIIIR YOU DO NOT TOUCH THE GOODS! NO TOUCHY! Gaoshun was probably a step away from having an aneurysm, while Gyokuyou was probably trying hard not to kick her feet up in the air in excitement.

Also - I just want to say Jinshi's proclamation here is such a good piece of translation into English. In Japanese all Jinshi says is 「いえ、”返して”ですよ。この猫猫を」 (ie, "kaeshite" desu yo, kono maomao wo). Which - if I were to do a very direct and literal translation reads as: "No. I mean return [her]. This Maomao".

There are no exclamation marks because Jinshi is supposed to be polite, courteous and a gentleman - he does not raise his voice, however the bluntness of his speech in Japanese, and the way he abruptly drops Maomao's name really emphasizes the impact of his statement. It's his mic drop moment. And I think the English translation captured all of this perfectly with "this girl right here! Maomao!" to emphasize the "kono Maomao wo" part.

Someone save Maomao this time. Poor girl. I cannot wait to see this scene in the anime because it will probably be hilarious. I can already imagine Aoi Yuki saying the "It was the frog's fault" T-T" part in Maomao's sad pleading chibi voice. Hahaha.

Onto the first actual "case" of this novel!

I think it's interesting that Maomao initially has the observation that it didn't seem necessary for Jinshi to personally accompany her. Fair assessment considering... I realize, Jinshi rarely ever directly accompanies Maomao to solve a case. I think the last time would have been with Consort Lihua, and usually he shows up after it's been made clear something is wrong.

This time though he accompanies Maomao because he is doing his own job - Jinshi is taking this opportunity to catch Lishu's ladies-in-waiting in the act of treating their mistress poorly and properly put them in their place.

Maomao is clearly quite unhappy with Jinshi right now considering she just compared him to a fish head, and then starting thinking about chopping his frog off. Which is mildly hilarious considering last novel she was running around trying to figure out if she could make a medicine that could grow his frog back. Make up your mind Maomao, do you want it or not?

The actual mystery itself wasn't bad. As usual, Maomao solves it quickly and cleverly. I do think it's interesting how many of the mysteries in the past two novels keep hinting at the sewer system in the palace. Interesting.... veeeeeery interesting. Also, as with anything related to Lishu, the conclusion is... just kind of sad really. This poor girl really was born under an unlucky star.

Another moment I am looking forward to in the anime. As a timid person myself, it's always gratifying to see someone like Lishu try to stand up for themself.

The mystery aside though, I feel like the most interesting part of this chapter really is Jinshi's behaviour when he actually needs to use his authority to get something done. I think this is also the first time Maomao ever sees Jinshi in this manner, and I think it's interesting that this happens in the novel where we eventually learn Jinshi's true status.

I just... love the emphasis on how much of an act this is for Jinshi and how good he is at it. The emphasis on his smile, on the politeness of his speech, all of it is fake. It also stands out to me that this is the only time that Maomao actually comments on Jinshi being scary - not in the cave, not later in LN5 - Jinshi is never scary to her even when he's angry, because at least he's being himself. When he's wearing his mask in this way though? Using it to assert authority? That's when she actually thinks "Oh, this guy is scary".

Chapter 4 - The Rumored Eunuch

I love how despite Maomao's desire to try and forget the frog, she can't stop herself from finally, actually, questioning what the hell is going on. Maomao, if you had paid juuuuuust a bit more attention to your lodgings during the summer retreat, I think you'd be able to connect the dots much faster (although I can kind of see why she wouldn't immediately jump to "He's the crown prince in disguise!" because you wouldn't assume a prince would choose to debase himself as a pretend eunuch).

Gaoshun is so tired you guys. Someone save him.

Also - this is the first chapter where we learn that there are, indeed, factions in court and Lakan is part of none of them. We also learn a bit about how he took over the La clan!

Honestly, I kind of miss this Lakan. The goofy doting dad is amusing and all, but we know that Lakan can be absolutely ruthless. He basically wouldn't stop pestering Jinshi for the entirety of LN2 before Maomao stepped in. I want to see more of cunning, scary af, willing to BREAK A WALL in the name of his daughter Lakan again.

I know in this paragraph they're talking about all the new eunuchs, but the fact that Suirei was actually able to blend in with a crowd of slaves that had likely been beaten regularly is just... so sad. I mean, she was probably treated barely better than a slave anyway, but man.

To end this - I think it's really sweet that Jinshi recognizes Xiaolan in this moment, and even remembers her to this day in the WN, specifically because she's one of Maomao's friends. Part of it is probably because it's his job to pay attention to everyone in the rear palace and their connections, but I think it's sweet that he specifically remembers Xiaolan for being Maomao's friend. <3 He pays atteeeeentiooooon.

And that's it for today! A quite like the start to this light novel - it's nice and chill, and a nice breather from the events at the end of LN3. A soft reset. I can see why I didn't really remember a lot of it though. The pacing and calmness of it definitely contrasts from what is going to happen in a few chapters.

We still have a few more chapters until Maomao's little adventure though and I'll cover those next post. Until next time :D

[fantaseagal]

so I have uh... been playing a lot of dragon age the past few months

good games. had fun :) extended spoilery ramblings about my time under the cut.

I started with Inquisition cause I knew people liked it and it ran well (unlike what I saw from Origins' steam page and would VERY much experience later). I then went back to play Origins and then 2 and am currently replaying Inquisition now that I know all the lore (Sera x Qunari Inquisitor is going great). I really like how even though I played mage through all 3, each of my girls ended up being very different characters.

Inquisition

To start with, Evira was my belligerently Dalish girlie. She fucking hated Solas and the way he acted like he knew so much more about magic than she did. Idk why, but his approval gain for asking him about his interest in the fade and magic ticked me, the player, off so I held a grudge against him for like 2/3rds of the playthrough.

Evira flirted with most of the girls, especially Vivienne, but ended up dating Josephine. Love that you get to have a whole duel for your girl's honor with her old fiancé. I did that in a heartbeat. I also flirted ONCE with Cullen in the chess scene cause it sounded funny and the game gave me the option to commit to dating him immediately after and I almost panicked.

Gameplay-wise, Inquisition felt a bit long. A lot of the areas felt way bigger than they needed to be. To be fair I did not use the horse as much as I maybe should have, and I feel it's been going a lot faster on my replay but there's still a lot of world to traverse even just to get between main story points. I still had fun, and Tresspasser's much smaller loop was nice after dealing with the giant scale of the main game before it.

I also stumbled into the deep roads dlc immediately after getting to Skyhold which was a very bad idea in retrospect. It was terrifying.

Origins

For Origins, I fully leaned into what I'd learned of the lore in Inquisition and played Ceres as a super devout Andrastian (picked up from her time in the Circle). She was very much a quiet little rules follower who just wanted to rat on Jowan and got pressured into helping him by the first enchanter. I also played her as having some real issues with her elven identity: hiding her ears with her hair and putting off going to Denerim or the Dalish as much as possible.

I dated Leliana (not that I had much choice as a Lesbian) and it was very sweet. Loved giving her Schmooples the nug. Best gift interaction in the game :)

As a story, Origins was great. Ceres definitely went through a whole self acceptance journey while also saving the world from the blight. It made me feel for the stakes as the end game really pushes hard choice after hard choice at you (I am so sorry Alistair for forcing you to be king and marry your dead brother's wife and have sex with the woman who has been bullying you the entire journey)

As a game, man does Origins crash so much. I didn't realise just how stressful it was just to play the game and try to not have it crash until I went to go play DA2 and had a weight lifted off my shoulders. Also, the game could've done with 10% less Morrigan bullying Alistair and 90% less Oghren sexually harassing the girls (I so regret taking him, Leliana, and Morrigan as my deep roads party, just for the girls' sake)

Awakening was a fun change from the high pressure of Origins. It was a fresh start with new companions (aside from Oghren, yipee... (I do totally get why he was the one Origins character to stay for Awakening, I just don't like him)). Anders and Justice were particular standouts for me (and I was SO glad to see their evolution in DA2)

DA2

Man I love this game. Varric the unreliable narrator my beloved. Any narrative inconsistency can just be explained as Varric gooffing. It's already just his telling of the events and just as accurate as anybody's fanfic if you think about it. You died? Just a goof. Interrior maps are all the same? Yeah they sure look that way bud.

I love the way the game immediately gives you stakes in the mage templar conflict and keeps pulling at those stakes with Hawke's family. I kinda love how Carver just wants Hawke to keep her head down as a mage but you as the player just can't keep your nose out of anyone's business. I made Carver stay home during the deep roads expedition cause, ya know, he isn't a mage that's going to constantly be in danger from the templars and mom doesn't want both her kids to die down there.

The messy conversation when getting back from the deep roads to see Carver joining the templars stuck in my head for so long because I know that I picked a dialogue choice I really shouldn't have. And even though I know it's a game and I could've just reloaded to pick something better, I let that sour realness stay because it absolutely was something Avery would've said.

I played Avery as funny girl who cannot shut up to save her life (while trying to be kind and respectful when needed). She was only going to be able to keep her head down around the templars for so long. She would have always taken the mages side from her own experience, but getting intimate with Anders definitely radicalized her. He was also definitely the one to teach her how to use healing magic cause girl would not have just picked that up on her own.

Going into DA2 having already played both Origins and Inquisition, it felt super clear that this was the exact midpoint between the 2 games and I honestly love it for that. It's very much a sequel to Origins, but in retrospect, so much of it directly flows into Inquisition al well. While I missed getting to share armor loot with my companions, I can see how this led to the character specific armor designs in Inquisition. And on Hawke's side of things, I know a bunch of the mage robes were definitely just lifted from Origns cause those models were crunchy as hell.

I loved the writing in DA2. It was funny. It was heart wrenching. The Hawke family was messy, but deep down they all really cared for one another, and I cared about them. The companions quests, even if sometimes super short, did a lot to flesh them out as complex players in the even bigger mess that is Kirkwall.

DA2 was definitely a lot shorter than Origins or Inquisition (by half according to my playtime) but it was just so tightly packed with story. This game has been living in my head rent free even as I'm 20 hrs into my 2nd playthrough of Inquisition. I'm still thinking about the little interstitial moments that would've happened to the characters, what they did when everything fell apart, where they went.

I did get pretty pissed that Inquisition won't let me put the same tattoos from DA2 on Hawke! What's the point of me recreating my girl in your new character creator if 2/3rds of the tattoo options are being wasted by transparency!!!!! >:( She looks so close but she's not the same without her tattoos :(

TLDR: I love my girls. Love playing mage. Love the time I spent with them. All three games were fun but DA2 hit way harder in all the right ways

[seeingteacupsindragons]

Do you prefer reading and writing in the first person POV or third person POV?

Reading, I don't especially care. If it's well done, it's fine with me.

As for writing, I find that close third person is my default, but writing first person can be fun and sometimes easier--and more importantly, better for the story.

Back in college (I majored in creative writing, so this was part of a class workshop), I was asked by a classmate why I wrote in third person when I cling so tightly to a single POV (or multiple, but alternating--third person omniscient has never been something I've tried much. It's not bad, but I find it difficult to do without head-hopping and with a strong voice, although I enjoy reading it when I find it). They figured I should just write in first person.

And I kind of internally rebelled, because--they're different! Close third and first person are different! They have different uses and different vibes, dangit!

The difference, as I would explain it now with a stronger understanding, is that a first person story is a character telling you their story, where in third person, even clingy, close, tight third person, is not being told a story but instead having the story filtered through one.

I love unreliable narrators. But I prefer to do it in ways that aren't...lying. First person narrators can lie to you. Third person narrators cannot. They can be wrong, and misunderstand things, and understand things from a specific lens, they can not have enough information and come to the wrong conclusions. They can share the wrong details.

But they cannot lie.

Sometimes it's important to a story that a character is telling their own story, and I've written those from time to time. Sometimes a story benefits from a character trying to articulate what happened to them on their own, or a story is so tied to how a character experienced it that their own retelling is important. And that's when I tend to switch over.

But sometimes I write warmups or off-the-cuff things in first person for a number of reasons that I suspect other people are also attracted to it by:

You get to come up with character names later (You kind of need at least one immediately if you're writing third person)

It can be easier to start with a strong voice/casual tone. You can do this in third person, and I'm very good at doing it in close third, but I think a lot of people find it difficult. Sometimes just taking over a character can be easier to get into the flow.

Sometimes it's just really funny to hear a story told that way. Not that third person stories are never funny, but there's a different kind of humor often in first person.

If you are writing an unreliable narrator, first person pings that possibility in a reader the way third person does not. People trust third person narrators more than I think they should.

But I prefer writing in third person. I like the feeling of being at a character's shoulder rather than across the table from them. I like following along their thoughts alongside them and experiencing it as they experience it.

And I think a lot of people would find that's why they prefer first person. But to me, that sense of being told a story by someone removes me a bit from it. It feels less like I'm hanging out and watching along.

So most of what you'll see me write is in third person, but I'll do both from time to time.

[web-novel-polls]

Trans WN Character Bonus Polls

[Anti-Propaganda is NOT allowed. Please be kind and respectful.]

🔽 Propaganda below 🔽

Jang Hayoung / Jang Hayeong from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (ORV)

Gender Identity: Transfem / MTF

Canon Pronouns: she/her (she gets misgendered for a big part of the novel in the unofficial english translation, but when we're in her pov it's she/her)

Submission 2: a woman that got isekai'd into a boy body. learns female swordsmanship, is always correcting people about her gender

Submission 3: She's so fun and silly, unfortunately doesnt get as much time in novel as the main cast, but shes genuinely so funny

Wiki Link

Luo Binghe from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (SVSSS)

Gender Identity: Transfem / MTF

Canon Pronouns/Gender: He/Him, Male

Submission: Scum Villain is a satirical transmigration novel where the protagonist transmigrates into the in-universe novel Proud Immortal Demon Way, which is a male-fantasy novel. Some themes/topics include toxic masculinity, not putting people in boxes and the harm thereof, abandonment, motherhood, identity, and there are several instamces of body snatching/changing. During the plot, due to both the toxic masculinity themes and the author poking at gendering in danmei novels, both the protagonist and binghe are described very femininely. Instead of a usually anti-toxic masculinity plotline where instead it talks about healthy masculinity, scum villain basically just says that the mc and ml should instead stop repressing their natural feminity so they can be happy. Also the novel has transphobic parts but somehow they even wrap around to implying that these two are trans women. Binghe is indirectly described as a trans woman (in a transphobic way) dont get me wrong the transphobic parts are transphobic and shouldnt be in there but its still pertinent. After a certain point, binghe is constantly called maiden-hearted, described as a younger sister reaching out to her elder sister pleading for help (the elder sister here is the protagonist) and is described as being very much like his biological mother in appearance and personality, and as a pretty boy. (His mother su xiyan is described as having the aura of a tyrant, cold and ruthless, as well as masculine, especially in comparison to his biological father, who is described as the runaway young miss in comprison to su xiyans wealthy young master. Also binghe is described as physically similar to her, including her tall height, except for his fathers eyes which makes him not too feminine.) Binghes bio father is described as maidenhearted like binghe. Uses his special blood, which is compared to menstration, in text, for many purposes. When asked his gender he refuses to answer (intext the unreliable narrator says that its due to it being a simple and obvious question but unreliable narrator so who knows for sure) and he is also called bingmei, or younger sister binghe to distingiush him from the original timelines toxically masculine, unhappy bingge, or elder brother binghe.

Wiki Link

Shen Qingqiu from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (SVSSS)

Canon Pronouns: he/him

No transfem propaganda (submitted as transmasc)

Shi Qingxuan from Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF)

Gender Identity: Transfem / MTF, Nonbinary, Genderfluid

Canon Pronouns: She/Her and He/Him

Submission 1: Canonically switches between female and male forms due to personal preference. Also theres alot of gothic doubling on her plotline as well.

Submission 2:

Genderfluid rep

Goes by any pronouns depending on form

Yoo Joonghyuk (The Punisher) from Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint (ORV)

Canon Pronouns: he/him

Gender Identity: Transfem / MTF

Submission 1:

1. inexplicably fights with the strictly girl-only sword fighting technique. is the only 'guy' to ever learn it and the only other person who is a discipline is a canon trans girl so

2. has an ability where he can become a woman and when he uses it it's said 'it was still Yoo Joonghyuk. No, it was even more than before' ??? there's no cis explanation for that. also he's canonically the hottest person in the entire universe as a woman based on MC's attractiveness rating

2.5 described as feeling 'conflicted' over the gender changing thing when thinking back on it. I THINK he's conflicted bc he likeeeeed ittt

3. whole arc is about breaking free from her chains and gaining autonomy over her own life and story despite what other people think she should be (trans narrative)

4. there's a binary in the universe (incarnation/constellation) to which everyone is forced to confirm to, but there's a special category of people who refuse to be a part of this and carve their own path in life (transcenders). guess what Yoo Joonghyuk is.

thats all i remember shjfjsk she's just in general VERY transfem coded story wise

Submission 2: his girlification canonically allows him to access a level of power he can't as a man (this form is called The Punisher). brokers a deal at one point where he must undergo transformation into a girl for a certain amount of time every day for a week. goes out of this way to hide said girlification from the main character (Kim Dokja)

Wiki Link