#welcome back to the Trashfire

[thelediz]

Sonic Underground Episode 18: Friend or Foe

I’m watching Sonic Underground in search of inspiration to finish a fic I’ve been writing forever. It’s a sad state of affairs. See the recap of the first three episodes here, if you're interested!

The plot (for want of a better word): In search of their mother, the Sonic Underground explore the dreaded Floating Island! But it’s guardian, Knuckles the Echidna, has been tricked by Sleet into thinking the Sonic Underground are the bad guys! Can they convince him to join the side of good before it’s too late?

Aaaah! It’s the Knuckles episode! Oh my god, these episodes are SO TERRIBLE, I love them!

Okay, so apparently the Oracle sent the triplets to the Floating Island. “The Floating Island is fraught with danger. Beware the echidna.”

In my headcanon of Sonic 3 having happened before this, you can just imagine Sonic going “yes. Beware the echidna. His stupidity is a damn menace to himself and everyone around him” but in canon, Sonic’s just being irresponsible as ever.

And immediately gets caught in a trap. We are amused.

Back in the day, Knuckles was known for his traps. I’m surprised Underground kept this, because by the time Adventure came out (which was just after this series) they’d basically abandoned that part of Knuckles’ character in favour of him being a gullible treasure hunter. Hilariously, the Archie comics (which remember, this series often pulls from) ignored both bits of characterisation.

This series also introduced Knuckles’ pet dinosaur Chomps. I cannot explain this character’s existence and will not attempt to.

Knuckles is tricked with a deep fake. Which, I mean, credit to this series’ Knuckles that at least it’s a hologram, instead of Robotnik just telling him Sonic is bad.

(Also, side note, it’s kind of funny that these days, deep fakes are made with AI, so the voices tend to be a bit too fast, whereas back in the day, you had to piece together words from old recordings, so they tended to be a bit slow. Just interesting how technology changes things…)

While Sleet and Dingo run away from Knuckles, Chomps eats their hologram thing. Because how else would the triplets figure out Knuckles isn’t evil?

Another weird thing this series added is the Sacred Pools, which are like… magic water fountains. Knuckles uses them to see things and communicate with people… and fast travel. It’s weird.

So, as contractually obligated, Sonic and Knuckles immediately get into a fight, despite Sonia suggesting they reason with him. After Knuckles has already thrown punches. This does nothing because Knuckles cannot be reasoned with. I love this idiot.

Meanwhile, Sleet and Dingo are searching for the underground chamber that the Archie comics used as the Chaos Emerald shrine. Confusing bit of lore here, because in Sonic 3 and Knuckles, the underground shrine was for the Super Emeralds. The Master Emerald (which is what actually keeps the Island afloat) has always been kept above ground, but for some reason, the Master Emerald wasn’t part of comic or animated continuity until after Sonic Adventure. The Archie comics had the twelve (? I think… I’d have to go check and I’m comfy in bed right now) emeralds in the shrine which kept the island afloat (until events happened that coalesced them into one with Mammoth Mogul inside and it was a whole thing so let’s just move on). Sonic Underground has a Master Emerald, and shard-like things that will show up in a later episode, and it’s all a bit confusing really.

Sonia and Manic are in a hole underground because of Knuckles' traps. Naturally Sonia has to get them out of there, instead of, you know, the guy with power over the earth. Sigh.

 Anyway, this makes them run into Chomps, who shows them the hologram. Which has the triplets in a different standing order than before. Who needs continuity?

And Knuckles cements himself as an idiot by breaking a bridge he himself is standing on. Now, anyone who’s played the games knows that Knuckles can glide, so this is not actually a problem, but he can’t actually do that in Sonic Underground. He gets off the bridge, but while Sonic homing attacks (before this was a game mechanic, it was an animation trope) himself out of danger, Knuckles gets too close to the edge of the trap and starts falling.

Side note, if you ever want to get super drunk, take a shot every time Sonic says “bummer majores” in this series. You will die.

So while Knuckles nearly tumbles to his death, Sonic literally stands by, makes jokes, and applauds. But he saves the idiot in the end, so it’s okay. I feel like this whole episode could have benefited from someone fast forwarding some of the animation on Sonic and Knuckles, but they needed the extra seconds.

Meanwhile, Sleet and Dingo find the Emerald and take it, and the island starts falling. Everyone comes together for a final chase… only for Dingo to get distracted and drop the emerald. They bring out a bunch of SWATbots to ensure the episode has reason for –

THE SONG: (Things are not always) What They Seem. Which quietly steals a bass line from Sonic 3, I think. Kind of funky anyway. Go off, kids.

Anyway, they get the emerald back, Sleet throws away the communicator so he can pretend to have not heard Robotnik threatening him, and we end on Knuckles roasting what definitely looks like a giant heart (“kroopnik, an echidna delicacy”) for everyone’s dinner. Sonic declines to try it.

Knuckles reveals that Queen Aleena was on the island when he was a kid, and shows them a marking she left in the rocks. A message for her children, telling them that Knuckles is the first ally they need to defeat Robotnik.

This will not go anywhere except one episode later in the series. Don’t get excited.

But yes. Aren't you glad that while this series will never have fan-favourite Tails, or logic, or good animation, it does at least pay lip-service to Sonic 3? Yes? Yes? Anyone?

Oh well. Come back tomorrow for more, I guess.

[honeysider]

When I was a teenager I was terrified of zombies in a way I wasn't with like every other horror monster. I actually had trouble reading the fucking zombie survival guide and read World War Z in abject terror. Then the most ridiculous hentai-infected anime came out called High School of the Dead which snapped me out of my phobia because it was so fucking stupid. I was able to be normal and enjoy zombie media until it overstayed its welcome because in the back of my mind I would never stop remembering the purple haired girl who fought zombies until she orgasmed and the other girl whose tits were used as a platform for a sniper rifle so that the anime studio could slow-mo the bullet and follow it underneath the purple haired girl's skirt and then BETWEEN her sound-barrier breaking flopping tits. It rendered the works of so many better creators accessible because of the brain-devouring stupidity of that twelve-episode trashfire.

[seventhdoctor]

A Trapezoid of Foils: Judai/Yubel and Amon/Echo

I'm back on my bullshit, and my bullshit is yelling about the trashfire that is Judai Yuki and Yubel. This post is a collection of thoughts on how Amon and Echo were clearly meant to reflect Judai and Yubel in some way or other, and how it feels like it should be neater than it is. The parallels are there, but it's not fully symmetrical and some of the angles are kind of weird...so yeah, kind of like a (non-isosceles) trapezoid!

(Geometry Tumblr do not @ me, I'm doing my best with this metaphor)

Spoilers for GX season 3, naturally. I haven't said it before, but for this post as well as previous ones I'm basing all information and characterization on the sub version of GX rather than the dub (which drastically changes Yubel's backstory and motives).

Yubel and Amon

This is the most obvious one, because Yubel spends two whole episodes and honestly some of their most iconic monologues trying to tear Amon down after building him up the whole season.

They're both antagonists willing to cause harm to the one they love for their goals. For Amon, that goal is the power to build a utopia. For Yubel, the harm is the goal - or at least, the metric by which they will have achieved their goal (showing their love for Judai).

Yubel, of course, claims that Amon is more selfish in his use of harm. Pain is love in their philosophy, but it's mutual pain - dishing out the pain without taking any back would only be mere cruelty. This of course misses the nuance that Echo wanted Amon to use her as a sacrifice, while Judai didn't welcome any of Yubel's twisted affections.

Still, from what I've seen most people agree that Yubel comes across as more "honest" one way or another. And to understand why things feel that way, it's important to look at their backstory and motivations, as well as how their motivations change.

Yubel dedicated themself to Judai's past life, tying themself to him through lifetimes, and in the present remained true to that devotion in unwanted ways. When Judai sent them to space and it ended up being Oops! All Torture, Yubel developed their sadomasochistic philosophy as a coping mechanism and an attempt to reconcile Judai's past promises and present actions.

Upon their return to Earth, they planned to return the "favor": by sending Yubel to the pain and isolation of outer space Judai made them stronger (i.e., infected by the Light of Destruction, with all that entails), so they'll give him his own painful experience (all of season 3) to make him stronger (awaken his power as Supreme King). Then they'll reunite, having both demonstrated their love for each other, and [this part is where the Light of Destruction really twists up their thinking]. Everything they do is in the name of this motive*, whether Judai really likes it or not.

Amon dedicated himself to the Garam conglomerate with Echo by his side before being replaced by his younger brother Sid, the sole blood Garam sibling. He nearly murdered Sid before changing his mind and dedicating himself wholly to his brother instead, a decision Echo and Yubel both describe as willingly chaining himself to their service. Even when given an opportunity to become the heir (all it'd take is watching his brother die to illness, not even murder) he rejects it, and begs for a way to save him.

And yet, when when given the opportunity he made a deal with the devil to break the chains he put on himself and abandon that same family. Then when he gets the chance to obtain power by sacrificing someone he loves, he does exactly that. Then he plans to become king of a utopia free of suffering, and always remember Echo.

So then, what are Amon's motives? Is he somebody who got tired of being abandoned or unappreciated? An ends-justify-the-means idealist? Just a power-hungry hypocrite? It's hard to tease out a consistent character and ideology from him. And in a show where people wear their hearts in their decks, I think this part of why people hate him - and so does Yubel.

Yubel hates Johan because he's terrifyingly like Yubel in some ways, focused and protective and dear to Judai.** Yubel hates Amon because he can't be like Yubel at all, resenting the brother he dedicated himself to and sacrificing the person he loved for power in an empty world forever devoid of that same person.

No way Yubel can be that kind of person, right? Otherwise, what was it all for?

* To be fair, you don't know all of Yubel's backstory by the time of their final duel with Amon. However, even removing the context of their past life that duel together with Yubel!Johan vs. Hell Kaiser establishes Yubel's central motivations more coherently than they do Amon's.

** Help, I know there's been other essay segments on this topic, text and video alike. But I saw a lot of them back in early 2023 when I was mindlessly going through GX material in a haze of hyperfixation and now I've forgotten all the other good sources.

Yubel and Echo

If Yubel's parallels with Amon are about their dedication, Yubel's parallels with Echo are about who they're dedicated to. Both believe in their loved one's destiny to become a king, and take actions to make them that king.

Yubel has historical basis in that Judai is quite literally the Supreme King, bearer of the gentle darkness. To help him achieve that role, Yubel enacts a plot to break Judai until he awakens his Supreme King side. It fits neatly into their schema of things: this is how they make the person they love stronger, so that they will thrive and survive. Make Judai stronger and awaken his old power, and all will be as it was meant to be.

Echo just believes that Amon is amazing enough that he would make a better king than anyone. When the chances arises to help break his chains and give him a world to rule, Echo takes it.

...And boy does she.

Both Yubel and Echo believe their loved ones are meant to be a king. Both give their lives in support of their loved one, and become weapons wielded in their service.

No wonder Yubel was shaken by Echo's devotion remaining within Exodia for just a moment - it's not all that far from their own.

Unfortunately Yubel's only direct interaction with Echo is goading her attack on field-Yubel during the final Amon duel. Otherwise they only speak of Echo as someone used and abandoned by Amon - which in itself has potential, given Yubel's own feelings about Judai sending them away.

I think GX could definitely have explored this connection a bit more. There's space to fill here.

Judai and Amon

As noted above, Judai and Amon both have roles as kings - at least, in the eyes of their single most loyal people. Judai holds the title of Supreme King as the wielder of gentle darkness, and while not confirmed his past life sure looked like a prince. Amon simply has ambition, talent, and an ideal world in his mind.

And in operating with the ambition of kings, they both do terrible things to achieve power. Judai lays this out explicitly in the Edo vs. Amon duel:

Amon lets his need for power get in the way of his other relationships and priorities, and sacrifices the ones he loves to obtain Exodia similarly to how Judai sacrificed his friends and eventually uncountable innocents for his own goals - finding Johan, and then ruling as Supreme King. Straightforward, right?

But I think there's another parallel between the two that's a lot more interesting. Or...most of a parallel. Namely, their relationship with their other halves and the responsibility of a loyal follower who would give up anything for you, be it their life or their humanity.

What do you do when the person you love most dedicates their existence to you - to the point of throwing everything else away, even their very life?

Of course, the Judai-Yubel and Amon-Echo situations aren't exactly the same even putting aside the issue of reincarnation. (For the purposes of this essay I'm not making huge distinctions between Judai and his past life, but if you want to get into the details I've written about that previously.)

Yubel went ahead and made their sacrifice without Judai's input, and all he could do was decide how to respond. He chose to dedicate himself back to them so hard it crossed lifetimes, so hard he chose to risk his own existence for them as well in his next life.

Amon, on the other hand, is the one who proposed Echo sacrifice herself for him. Echo agreed to it, and even by the end she stood by her decision. But Amon loaded the gun and pulled the trigger.

He tries to honor her sacrifice, of course. He's always mindful of Echo's sacrifice and what it means. But in the end, he did choose to sacrifice her, ultimately using her as a pawn. Their love never trumped his own objectives.

And I think the example of Amon and Echo leads to the question: if Judai had the choice of letting Yubel become a dragon or stopping them, what would he do? When it was explicitly their will?

This is another missed opportunity, one that could have solidified the parallels neatly. But GX never asks that question, so the answer is unclear. What could have been a parallel is just kind of...askew.

Judai and Echo

Okay, I admit there isn't a lot here off the top of my head. Probably the best parallels between them are in relation to their other halves, as the people "harmed" by their villainous partners, and how they respond to that harm.

Judai rejects Yubel's torments as unwanted attention, until he remembers the past and flips to understanding why Yubel did they did and makes moves to unite the two of them forever. Echo, meanwhile, understands Amon's motives from start to end and...lets herself be sacrificed, the end.

I don't know about this one. Really, ultimately Echo is supposed to be a willing participant in her own sacrifice but in the end I still don't feel like the narrative gave her a strong sense of agency in the matter and it really weakens my attempt to write this section.

In Conclusion

Some of these connections are stronger than others for sure, but I argue that they're all there in some way or another. They're very uneven and overall I'm not entirely sure what you're meant to take from the parallels, and I wish I could give something neat and concise for this section. Instead, it's a bit messy and misshapen - hence, the trapezoid metaphor.

Still, I think there's interesting room for thought in this awkward space. I was certainly thinking about these parallels while working on the latest chapter of Need (accidental last-minute plug?) and trying to figure out exactly what the prince felt while Yubel was in the middle of dragon surgery. What must it be like, to be in these relationships of sacrificial devotion?

[lordsovorn]

The sky above you is getting paler, the clouds disappearing in the white static. Between the rustle of leaves and the footsteps of horses, a quiet even hum is slowly growing louder. You can't yet point it out - and later on you'll simply be too used to it to notice.

...

Introduction to a setting I haven't posted about before.

...

More and more houses are dotted along the road. Tents, shanty towns, old taverns with overgrown gardens. Figures shuffle in the shadowy alleys of this limbo, neither out in the wild, nor inside the safety of the City.

Perhaps your village was ravaged by bloodthirsty marauders or merciless creatures of the night. Perhaps a storm came, and left it a twisted cobweb of molten stone and burnt bodies. Perhaps a maneater swamp slowly seeped under the foundations of your home until it was too late for everyone but you. Perhaps you've simply outgrown your tiny muddy bubble beneath the shifting gray sky. Either way, you seek safety, certainty and hope - and there is nowhere to go, ultimately, but to the White City.

Maybe it had a name, but it was forgotten. Maybe it never did, and was built from the ground up by the Company around the first Gates.

Either way, the White City is Civilization. It is the Center of the World - or what's left of it.

Few will get through the borders easily. Maybe you'll trudge through the colossal bureaucracic machine with passion in your eyes, favors and handshakes behind your back, valuables in hand and sheer persistence. Maybe you'll find a crack to slip in. Maybe you'll bribe a guard or pay a trafficker. Maybe you'll dig and crawl through the sewers. There are many ways forward, no road back.

Through the narrow passageways at the bottom, lit by lanterns and trashfires, followed by faceless gazes and stiff gestures. Through the maintenance tunnels with deep shadows and red lights, through the hanging megastructures extending far below, illuminated by cold projectors. You'll be lost in the labyrinth of towers above the streets. A spiderweb of rails, cables and bridges. Layer upon layer upon layer. Void-like black shadows from the intense light above.

Dirt like you isn't welcome on the gleaming cleanliness of its streets. If you want to stay, you'll stick to the alleys, to places where you are unseen. To the shadowy corners teaming with monsters, strangers and rats like you, from the strangest of places. Maybe you'll even find someone who will give a non-citizen work. Or maybe you'll tumble to the very bottom and rob those who are more lost than you, until a bigger fish comes along. Inevitably.

There are many paths through the City, literally and metaphorically. Maybe one day you'll even reach the marvelous floating villas and fortresses, anchored to huge spires. Factories with thousands of chimneys, vast halls of the University around the shimmering Gates, plazas, dotted with towering ceramic sentinels. Balloons and giant kites, black dots along the endlessly white sky.

Or maybe the stark, patient darkness below is the only thing that awaits you.

Strangers in the bars will laugh at you and call you lab meat. That is, if we are being sincere, an entirely possible outcome.

You need the City - there is nothing beyond it. So you'd better find a way to make the City need you.

[droughtofapathy]

"Welcome to the Theatre": Diary of a Broadway Baby

Urinetown

February 8, 2025 | NYCC | Encores! Series | Evening | Musical | Concert | 2H 30M

Once again another weird pick for Encores! that goes against its core mission given how often this show gets produced at the regional and amateur level. I've seen this musical three times now, and this is the first professional production. It's middling in every way. Aimless in direction and tone, it fails to lean into the bonkers nature of the show. Most of the principal cast just don't rise to the occasion. The most successful at the story's tone is the actress playing Hope Cladwell, who balances her wide-eyed naivety with that undercurrent of manic madness needed for the piece. Lockstock serves the narration admirably and Barrel is as amusing as you'd expect in the capable hands of Christopher Fitzgerald, Broadway's best weird little guy. The ensemble of character actors do well in their parts. But as for the rest of it? Tiresome. And that's not a description you want with this show.

The material still holds up, and it's timely. Capitalist overlords. Oh joy. But Cladwell just isn't cartoonishly villainous enough to carry the lead antagonistic role. He's too tentative and never throws himself into the kooky nature of the world. And Jordan Fisher as Bobby Strong is too earnest and bland to really stir up any revolution. He gets there in "Run, Freedom Run," but that's about it. He doesn't have the comedy chops to go for broke. Filling in for Keala Settle, Tiffany Mann does the best with the time she had to prepare, but eh. She sings the part in an operettic style instead of the brassy belt, and that's fine, I suppose. She's a great singer, but she's not the strongest actor, and her Pennywise is too soft and sympathetic right from the jump. The character needs to be brash and brazen enough to carry the secondary antagonist role throughout most of the show. She needs to have total authority and inspire major fear, but here she's played as exhausted and almost a shrinking violet among the hammy chorus. Why is she not unhinged here? It's the sort of show where overacting is encouraged. Just let it all hang out.

But the weakest link is unfortunately the child actor. Casting Little Sally as an actual child is a big mistake if the child cannot do the immense comedic work needed to bring the whole story home. And she doesn't have the acting experience or skills needed here. She's quiet and recites her lines as if she's reading them off a script for the first time. Nowhere does she embody the scrappy kid who can survive on the streets with her own wit. Cut the kid and bring back a madcap adult on roller skates. Where's Celia Keenan-Bolger when you need her?

And through it all, the whole thing is brought down by the poor sound mixing. The last few productions have been better at sound design and balance, but here it's right back to the absolute trashfire that was Pal Joey's inaudible vocals. Even from the front mezzanine, the actors were getting drowned out by the orchestra. The material made it funny enough not to be a total slog, but it just was not good. Still not the worst thing I've seen at Encores! though, so at least there's that.

Verdict: Enjoyable, But Left No Lasting Impression

A Note on Ratings

[vermanaward]

.

i've had this idea kicking around in my head for a while for a rewrite of the pld questlines (especially post arr) so that they're not a. hot trashfire, and like. i've always had this vague idea of like. the hw storyline involving working with the temple knights and maybe dealing with drks who are not sid and his friends (i've always liked the idea that there are others, just the nature of theirs being a banned art means they are entirely independent of each other and possibly even ignorant of each others existences) but like. i just had the terrible idea of like. the 50 quest being you having to prove your mettle in the arena or something as the temple's representative in a certain trial by combat (with the obvious caveat that completing it becomes a pre-req for the drk questline). you put down the heretic, the temple is suitably impressed and welcomes you with open arms, etc.

...but then you feel it. that darkness is not only not gone, it's calling to you. so you go to investigate the corpse, and well. yeah. congratulations idiot, you slaughtered another innocent (at least as pertains to this particular incident) without asking questions or pushing back. so what do you do? your mentor in the temple, if questioned, doesn't care, and actually questions your commitment to your oaths. by contrast, everything that esteem is would be compounded by your guilt (whether thrown in your face by esteem at whitebrim, or ruminated on by yourself during dialogue options) for killing the person you think you're taking your lessons from. and sid would be far more hostile, and far slower to trust you, especially if you completed your pld questline before your drk one, a clear favouring of the temple that hates them, hates him. but if you prove yourself, then maybe, maybe-

[rococospade]

#writing#fanfic#fic#i read this all last night... once i started i could NOT stop#this genuinely makes me want to finish watching naruto aaaaaauugh#this is SOOOOO good ! i have no idea how many fic are out there with this sort of focus on kisame but clearly i need them#(and of course ur boy yari/ascelin is always a fun character to read getting put in situations)

<3 thank you! this was really nice to find in my notifs. I'm glad you're enjoying the very niche fic. I love Kisame and it's so fun to write stuff with him.

Yari/Ascelin is a walking talking trashfire so aside from the concerningly similar backstories they can bond over (yes it's very normal to have a punishment closet in the school that sometimes people don't come back out of. Why wouldn't it be) I think Kisame would follow him around with a notebook. Because wow there sure is a lot of canon precedent for Kisame finding the most unhinged person in an area and Observing Them.

I dunno how many Kisame centric fics are out there but small and self destructive and a dog and a shark walk into a bar are where I got Kisame's backstory and the 'hanyou' worldbuilding from, and what generally got me back on the naruto dumpster fire. it has been like 7 months help. You see, cloudycats keeps letting me in their sandbox instead of spraying me with a squirt gun. If you're looking for more, it might be worth checking their bookmarks or asking them for recs, they've read a lot more Kisame fic than I have. .... I also have more fic with him as a major POV char in my wips bin because self-control is for other, more responsible entities than I

(I keep meaning to write a different backstory for him for some fic or another but somehow their backstory ends up being the funniest so it's what happens, whoops. :'D )

Anyway! Welcome back to hell there's like 1k episodes waiting for you. On the bright side, if you cave, you get to see Hidan and Kakuzu's intro again. It's much funnier as an adult

Chapters: 8/? Fandom: Naruto (Anime & Manga) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Hoshigaki Kisame, Original Characters, [Kōrino Yari] - Original Character Additional Tags: Shinobi Slice of Life (Naruto), Kirigakure | Hidden Mist Village Worldbuilding, Tags May Change, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Slow Burn Series: Part 1 of Out of context Summary:

A few streets away from the temple (derelict since the regime change), cramped between buildings old enough to predate his grandfather, there was a shopfront with Apothecary writ on the sign in faded paint. The pharmacist in residence: a nominal shinobi, inactive duty, and a local curiosity for the simple fact of having survived so long. Kisame might have gone on ignoring that curiosity, if personal circumstance hadn’t shifted enough to make poison a necessity.

[chaifootsteps]

It’s been so long! I found my long lost tumblr page. How about a recall on an old friend I’d like to regroup with… the one and only blitzstrike ship :P

With full awareness of your current stance on vivzie, are you still taking requests or indulging in said ship? If so, I have been offline for too long and I’d like to have an imaginary tea party and hear your recent thoughts or headcannons—if any—you’d be willing to share!

Welcome back, and the answer is yes, always! BlitzStrike is the last thing about Vivzie's trashfire that sparks joy and I can't stop loving it so I'm not even going to bother to try.

I've been in a bonfire mood. I picture them doing a lot of cozy bonfire nights. Also leaving Moxxie deeply conflicted because on one hand having Striker around calms Blitz down and keeps him from installing toilet cams in his and Millie's house and on the other, they'll frequently team up to make fun of him.

[popculturebuffet]

Prep and Landing Mini-Retrospective Finale: Mansion Impossible and Naughty Vs Nice (comissioned by weirdkev27)

Ho ho ho all you happy people and welcome back to Pop Culture Buffet. I’m Jake, I review stuff and things and today I finish out my quick look at the prep and landing tetralogy. For those just joining us Prep and Landing was a breif series of Disney Shorts and one comic book tie in about Lanny and Wayne, two elves who work in the titular branch of Santa’s elves to prepare houses ahead of time (knock out anyone still awake, make sure the cookies aren’t stale, etc), to help Santa reach his “all the kids who write to me and are good in one night goal”. It was a clever premise.. but I found the first special a bit lacking, while the second, the shorter operation secret santa, was perfect and not just for using the almost 100 years old betty white as Mrs. Claus. 

So I had no idea how this final special or i’ts companion piece, an 8 page comic adventure at the Avengers Mansion , would play out. Would they  be tinsel or a trashfire? The only way to find out is to join me under the cut. ‘

Mansion Impossible: So this is an interesting little artifact. Mansion Impossible was an 8 page story in the back of Marvel Adventures Super Heroes, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man and the mainline avengers book in december of the same year as Naughty Vs Nice. It’s something a lot of people who liked the specials didn’t even know existed and I didn’t even till kev had me covering it. 

I”m glad he did. While I don’t have much to say about this one the premise is brilliant: The Elves have to prep the avengers mansion. For those MCU fans scratching their heads the avengers had a mansion in the comic. They got the tower later, it’s a whole thing. They also had a butler, Jarvis. Jarvis rocks. 

So we simply get some fun gags as our heroes deal with security, the hulks underwear and use a combo of shield surfing and one of iron man’s gloves in the wash to get the job done. Not much to say here honestly: it’s 8 pages with a very simple gag at the core. it works even if I feel it coudl’ve been more avengersy, but hey for an 8 page story clearly meant to hype up a new special, it works. And i’ll never object to elves sliding down caps shield. I do question where the avengers were but they were all seeing that hip new musical working boys I reckon. I don’t know what the timeline for these avengers are, I just know prep and landing has it’s own set. 

It also has it’s own x-men as the ending sets up the boys going to the xavier mansion for a prep, something we sadly never got. Maybe because the writers thought wolverine would stab them, I dunno. They forget that the X-Men are tight with leprechauns, so unless theirs some racial tensoins between elves and leprechauns they should be fine.

Naughty Vs Nice:

So as I outlined last time while the first special wasn’t bad, it did have some flaws mostly piling on Wayne, with both Magee and Lanny calling him out when, while he did screw up royally, they don’t acknowledge, WHY he was being such a dick at all. So you’d THINK the sequel would avoid this, do better and give us a better story where Wayne is either more clearly a dick or just not one and they focus on something else. 

Yeahhhhhh Naughty Vs Nice dosen’t do that and instead has Wayne have a conflict where he’s treated as entirely in the wrong even though he has some points, and has to learn a lesson.  Yes he’s still a bit of a jerk but ONCE AGAIN you can’t hardly blame him, and at least want his greviances acknowledged.  But to fully grasp why they botched it, we have to go into the story sooo...

This time around we start with something I like as the opening focuses on the Coal Elves, who were seen breifly last time and were one of my faviorite bits of world building. The Coal Elves are Prep and Landing’s oppisite number: While P and L focus on preparing houses for good kids, the Coal Elves double check the bad ones and give them coal. The special even makes the whole lump of coal thing more palatable: The Coal Elves check for comformation the child is still naughty, via evidence they can find and scan, and once they have enough then they send the coal, with a “be better next year” ribbon attached. It shows Santa, true to his words in the previous full special, knows kids can slip and dosen’t WANT to give them coal, but has no choice if they give him none, and gives them every opportunity. 

Things go plum shaped though as the coal elves are assaulted by a mystery child in a mask and her robot dog, whose not only ready for them but takes their fruitcake device. How this child, given the screen name jinglesmells, knows all this ..  is never really explained, and while it’s a bit of a plot hole I can let it slide as she is easily the best part of this special. 

So enter our heroes who are pulled out of holiday shopping (Lanny getting gifts and Wayne getting a sled). And to Wayne’s credit, and to the special’s discredit.. wayne simply has them hold the sled. Wayne gladly dashes away all to go do his job when given a red alert. He has grown.

So Magee gives them the mission along with the smarty pants head of elf intelligence, played by my boy Chris Parnell: they need to stop jinglesmell before she can use the device to hack the naughty/nice database. 

So they go to the coal elf bar.. which has some weirdly cheery song about the coal elves playing. It just.. dosen’t remotely fit the grimy, rough and tumble bar astetic at all. You might as well play this over it

So then we meet our heroes Coal Elf helper, as Magee assigned one.. and asked wayne not to be mad. Turns out he has a reason to as their contact is Noel, who not only bought the sled Wayne wanted.. but is Wayne’s baby brother, just a big bigger than him. 

Yeah we have as a year before this, we got the Regular Show episode Don where Rigby also had a more successful younger brother whose taller than him and people liked more, but isn’t making his life miserable on purpose and geinuiley loves and looks up to his older brother. 

The problem is Don actually treats the older brother’s concerns with some respect, while still painting him as an ass. In Don, Rigby’s forced to, against his will, call his accountant brother don for help, as the Park’s being audited. He dosen’t WANT to and is stubbornly forced into it by his boss on threat of firing, not unresonably given the park’s future is on the line. Rigby is petty, mean, and agressive to his brother the entire visit before eventually scarring him off. He’s still throughly a dick and his actions nearly get the park repossesed. 

But what makes the episode work is Rigby isn’t being a dick for no reason. A bti MUCH of one. Of course, and that early in the show he did this shit all the time, so i’ts not a huge suprise. But he has a valid reason to resent his brother: everyone PREFERS his brother to him, with even his own best friend taking Don’s side, and Don constantly upstaged him without meaning to. 

But to Rigby’s credit he mans up, explains this to don.. and apologizes realizing he was too much of a dick and finding out his brother really does love and respect him and he was cruel to the poor guy for nothing. The two reconcile, the part is saved from being sucked into the void. Goood ep all around. 

Here it’s about the same.. except unlike Don.. Noel’s not that likeable. While you do get the sense he really likes wayne, even recounting a story about a sled wayne wanted in his youth and how close they were, playing superheroes together, he’s also a boistiorus dick who chooses barging in over stealth and repeadetly botches the mission as a result. Don was just a geninely sweet guy who didn’t MEAN to upstage his brother. Noel dosen’t mean to but he makes his job harder. Noel then accidently gets the device.. and gets the position of elf of the year Wayne wanted from this. Is wayne doing this mission for the glory right? Not especially no. But is wayne understandably upset his brother is set to get an award wayne worked his ass off for and did all the hard work for? Yup. 

And that’s the problem: if like don the obvlious party at least admitted they were sorry or got that they do this all the time it’d work. But instead Wayne hurts Noel’s feelings, makes it very clear ot him WHY he’s so hurt, and .. endds up having to apologize because he goes too far and wishes he never had a brother. Once again Wayne is only the bad guy and the grey areas are glossed over. Merry fucking christmas. 

And I say this as someone whose BEEN like Noel, whose made his brother’s life harder without meaning to. I’ve also been like wayne, a resentful dick. So I empathize with both when the special clearly dosen’t. and that’s what makes it fall apart: once again it only grasps one side of thigns and unlike last time dosen’t have the santa ending to help fix it. Wayne gets what he wants by working with Noel, noel learns nothing, chrismtas is saved. 

It also seeps into what’s an otherwise GOOD emotoinal arc with our antagonist: As it turns out Jinglesmell.. is just a very smart little girl who simply wants to be on the nice list again, and has only been acting out because she got a baby brother, one who steals all the attnetion, destroyed her faviorite doll and whose crying prevented her from asking santa for a new one. She’s doing something stupid and destructive, but you get why and thus feel terrible for her when her gambti backfires, corrupting the database to make all kids naughty. That, combined with the two idiots above fighting, gets her to realize how far she’s gone and geinley atone for it... as well as realize her younger brother is just a baby and looks up to her. Granted I don’t like this specials message that older siblings should just take all the shit, i’m a younger sibling and even I think tha’ts gross, but overall jinglesmells does the arc better,and her ending, saving christmas and still getting a present from Santa after all. 

I WANTED to like Naughty Vs Nice: it has increased worldbuilding, intresting new characters.. but the main emotional crux drags it down. It just dosen’t CARE what Wayne feels and has an awful unteitonal moral of “Well if your the older siblings you shoudl just eat shit and take what you got because the little one respects you blurgh blurgh blurgh” Look having a sibling can be difficult, I know from firsthand experince.. but the reasl message should be you should love each other, try to understand each other and make things better through commuincation not one side buckling entirely. Overall a disapointment if a watchable one and a downer to end this special on as I really feel this franchise SHOUDL continue. I’d like a movie or a reboot series at some point, I feel it has legs. It deserves another shot even if it’s bigger works.. came out like two large lumps of coal. Happy holidays and thanks for reading

[midwestharpy]

New Fics for the New Year!

*cracks knuckles*

Alright folks! I did this last year but it was in the notes for one of my fics. This is a better format so here we go! This is pretty much a list of any fics I found that I really enjoyed, and that you might to! Find something you’ll like in 2021! Which hopefully won’t be a trashfire!

Authors are tagged with their tumblr or a link to their AO3 account if I couldn’t find one for them and links for the fics themselves are in the titles. PLEASE check the tags on each story for warnings and ships if you are interested in reading them, know your limits!

Disclaimer, none of these stories are mine. 

Most of these are Harry Potter fics and I need to make the statement that JKR has decided to be a TERF and we don’t stan. We’ve taken the content from her and will not be returning it.

If your story is on this list and you would like it removed, or a link is incorrect, please tell me and I will not hesitate to fix these things. Same goes for if one of these creators have a tumblr, please let me know so I can tag properly and give credit where credit is due!

On with the show!

Harry Potter and the Welcome to the World of Grey by sobsicles

Oh my god this was a ride. Delves into what would have happened if Harry had killed Bellatrix after the battle at the Ministry in OOTP, its such a time.

A Shift in Perspective by @nobodyzhuman

Harry finds out Dumbledore has lied to him for a really long time and he’s on the wrong side of the war. After catching Harry Dumbledore turns him into a cat and sends him gift wrapped to the Dark Lord. Its so, so fucking good if you’re looking for a sympathetic dark side/death eaters story.

The Sun and The Moon by Silverlynings

Drarry soulmate AU that just hits different. Amazingly written and just a really good story? Hermione is the best person ever.

There Is COVID in Ba Sing Se by @koala-otter

Absolutely adorable modern Zukka AU where they move in together at the beginning of the pandemic. Quarantine AU is a thing now, fight me.

Ripple of Change Series by weirdsisters99

Sirius and Snape become unlikely friends and things spiral out of control. Now Snape's a mentor figure for a bunch of Hogwarts students who pretend they absolutely don’t know each other outside of his rooms and visits Sirius in prison. I’m not doing it justice so just go read it please.  

Shoulder Pillow by Music_dreamer_003

Muggle Drarry AU where Draco falls asleep on Harry on a plane. Adorable to the max and just a fluff masterpiece. 

Son of Thanos Universe by @essayofthoughts and Kiterou

Harry is kidnapped from Earth by aliens and is raised by Thanos. He eventually escapes and chills with Yondu, Peter, and the Ravengers, and after awhile makes his way back to Earth. Earth hasn’t forgoten him. It was a time and I love it so, so much. The worldbuilding is phenomenal and also shines a light on what HP cannon could have been without their golden boy. Read it.

Wizards IN SPACE by @esamastation

The Room of Requirement can, in fact, turn into a space ship. Magic teenagers plus a spaceship is not something I thought I needed but I did and you do to. Yoden has done a continuation of the story here that is unfinished but also highly recommended, its amazing.

Be Kind by juhele

I’m not usually one for Cedric/Harry but this. This is a masterpiece. Harry is pretty much a panicking Bisexual and Cedric is the number one. Like he’s just amazing. Boyfriend goals. 

Excuse Me, Do You Fucking Mind? by Nine_3quarters

Another modern Drarry AU but they have superpowers in this one. Draco is in drag. It’s just...everything you could ever want out of this AU and its wonderful

Family is a Purple Bus by @rowanmoonlight

Yet another one I didn’t think I needed but absolutely did. After leaving the Dursleys Harry gets a job on the Knight Bus and the family he deserves in its employees. Just...oh it’s wonderful, so fucking wonderful. 

How Like Home by @waitingondaisies

 Its a god-tier story, like everything by this author but this one. This one. Harry falls through the veil after Sirius and ends up in another universe where his parents are alive and well and Voldemort never existed. No war, no death. Just redemption and a new chance for Harry.

Independent Study by SomewheresSword

So this is now one of my favorite authors, because of not only this but their founders AU and another fic which is right under this one. Its just so fucking good? This story in particular is a Harry got expelled before fifth year AU and its amazing. He lives with Sirius (as he should) and definitely does not have a crush on George. Its great. 

Lily’s Boy by SomewheresSword

Deep sigh. Ok this one. This one. Wizengamot politics meets a taking-no-shit Harry and supportive heirs. Drarry just happened so that's been a plus and its just-look this author made me love Snape/Lupin and that, that my friends, is a feat. 

(Note: This may or may not be up. The author was having trouble with copyright and it was taken down briefly. As of last time I heard it hadn’t been reposted however if you ever see it again, READ IT. This note will be deleted if I see it again on AO3.)

Misticheskiy Institut by GhostIsReading 

Harry says fuck it and moves to Russia. That's literally what happens but it’s so fucking good. There's also a dash of creature inheritance but man I just love the worldbuilding of the Russian school and Magical World its just-gah its incredible.

Pieces Verse by @tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors

Tulip just has a habit of making me cry and I love it. This is the same author who did LAOFT (which I also recommend if you haven’t read it) and has yet again wowed us with their excellence. Pieces is a Sanders Sides soulmate AU. Prinxiety and Logicality were one shots but Dukeceit has received its own chunk and its an angst fest but so. Fucking. Good. 

The Way We Wind by @thesleepiesthufflepuff

*screams into pillow* LOOK IF YOU DIDN’T THINK HARRY OWNING A KNITTING SHOP COULD BE GOOD, IT IS AND YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT OK?!? Drarry is thrown in but god this is so wholesome?!? Even without it?!? I love it.

To The Dead by LadyoftheWoods

Look. Look. I’ve read a lot in my short, short life. Very few things have made me cry or come close to it when it comes to literature. This? This made me cry. Ghost Sanders Sides AU that's just...wonderful. Its so wholesome and beautiful and I expect any of you who read this and cried to tell me so we can cry about it together. Ok? Ok.

And that's the list for 2020! Obviously there are other fics that were amazing and this is all just my opinion but I hope you get a good story out of this post! Send me anything you think I’ll enjoy to! 

Heres to 2021 being better!

[undignifiend]

Some notes about Dezoka’s formative experiences; why she decided to abandon her post as a changeling and join up with the Gumm-Gumms on the frontlines, what she believes is at stake if Gunmar falls, and some speculating on shenanigans during a low-key return to the surface - at least before any world-changing operations.

+As a whelp she had a knack for dodging, climbing, sneaking, and escaping, but she was not at all inclined to fight. It was figured that if she had any use, it would probably be in learning subterfuge and how to blend in with and spy on humans. Not to say that being a changeling is at all easy - it was simply the role that she seemed to have something of a shot at, particularly if she could maintain a low-level information-gathering position. Besides, if she couldn’t manage to sharpen her fangs among fleshbags, she wouldn’t last long anyway.

+In her youth, trolls and humans were constantly fighting over territory and resources. And to her eyes, the Gumm-Gumms were the only ones willing to stand up to the humans while everyone else hid. At the time, she was prone to hiding, too. She didn’t want to get hurt, but the more she thought about it, the more she despised the idea of anyone else getting hurt on her behalf, or just because she was too afraid to stand up. That was a crucial shift for her, and is the core of her idealized vision of the Gumm-Gumms and their Underlord, and why she wants to be one of them. 

+That particular shift happened while witnessing a human raid on a troll village, where a small group of Gumm-Gumms were stuck fighting the humans off. She was already integrated with a human peasant family, and prone to sneaking out to trollish villages, markets, and hideouts. She understood enough to know that she wouldn’t be welcome among trolls, but it was enough to hide nearby and take in familiar sights, sounds, and scents of an older home she couldn’t quite remember. When the raid hit, she knew she might die if she tried to fight, but she also knew that if she just ran, she’d regret it forever. So she made a nuisance of herself, mostly by distracting and disrupting the humans’ tactics; tripping them, stealing their weapons, and switching to human form to avoid death by sunlight while propping up temporary shade for the real fighters. The Gumm-Gumms won that fight just as their reinforcements arrived, and she scampered off as quickly as she could, feeling like her whole world had just opened up. She knew where she wanted to spend her life, and commenced planning to get there.

+She was rather judgmental toward Dwoza for their initial “keep our heads down until this blows over” policy. The humans didn’t seem to care what faction a troll belonged to, they were ready to kill any they found. So it felt to her like Dwoza was using the Gumm-Gumms as a convenient and expendable shield against a common enemy, and she couldn’t pretend she had any respect for (what she saw as) a decision to just stand back and let others take all the risks for them. Dwoza siding with the humans at Killahead surprised and confused the hell out of her for a good long while. She’s had centuries to think (and occasionally rant) about it, and has come to think of Merlin’s Amulet as both a bribe (a powerful weapon to convince Dwoza to side with them) and a Trojan Horse (to make trolls keep themselves in line, prioritizing the wellbeing of humans over themselves). Hearing that it’s most recent champion is human just looks to her like the mask coming off. Trolls may have wielded it for centuries, but it has remained a human weapon all along.

+(Almost) nothing will supersede her loyalty to Gunmar. He’s her king, and her hero, and she believes in his vision for the future.

+The only exception that might contest her loyalty is the safety of her familiar. Dezoka doesn’t like being a changeling, but she has fond memories of her familiar’s family, and loves Danica like a little sister, and has gone to great lengths to hide her, and wants to find some way to give her a good, secure life. 

+Due to her experiences, she is willing to fight and kill humans if she believes it is necessary - especially where the wellbeing of trolls is concerned, and she follows Gunmar’s judgement of that - but she also understands that humans are not so simple as to be easily summed up. If she has a soft spot for them, it’s a small one, tinged with distant memories of songs and stories around fire-pits, careful instruction on how to fell a tree, re-thatch a leaky roof, or weave fibers into cloth, scary and thrilling stories about trolls, and comforting, well-meaning arms when the loneliness of her secret got overwhelming. They’re not evil, and she doesn’t have the luxury of kidding herself. They’re just people. Albeit, people who have a tendency of causing problems for trolls.

+Secretly disinclined to eat human flesh, but not out of any notion that humans are special. If offered (and not pressured into eating it by someone of higher rank, or if not currently starving), she’ll “save it for later” and use it for bartering, bribes, or gifts. Fighting and killing them is one thing, but “cleaning up after” (while practical, especially when food is scarce) often comes with a lot of “this is your place, you arrogant fleshbags” / “we’re superior to you” baggage that ruins her appetite anyway - partly because she knows that’s exactly how she’ll be treated if anyone finds out she’s Impure. And she believes she doesn’t have to think of humans as prey, or reassure herself with stories about natural hierarchy, in order to fight them effectively. And unless it has to do with orders from her king and superiors, or keeping her team functioning well, she doesn’t give a damn about hierarchy or “one’s rightful place” anyway. She made her own.

+Dezoka has heard scary reports of what a trashfire the fleshbags have turned the Surface into while the Gumm-Gumms have been locked away. She’s upset about it, and she believes the Eternal Night is important not just for Trollkind, but for the Surface itself. As she sees it, someone’s gotta get the humans to back off, or they’ll just keep doing more damage (pollution, mass extinction, etc) until they, too, die out, and leave the Surface an even more barren wasteland than the Darklands. And having everyone (regardless of species) retreat to the Darklands just to survive a little longer would be the most tragic failure/death/defeat imaginable, in her mind. She believes that without Gunmar, that would be the way the world ends, so it is absolutely paramount that he survives and succeeds.

+She has a hard time getting close to people. Partly because death is fairly common in the Darklands, and partly because anyone finding out her secret would risk getting both her and her familiar killed, and she wants to limit those chances. She can bundle with others for warmth, tackle someone out of the way of a projectile, or appreciate and crack jokes with her fellows in grim situations, but she doesn’t yet feel comfortable with “unnecessary” physical contact or emotional intimacy. It’s not that she doesn’t like it - she sees it as a luxury she can’t afford.

Potential AU shenanigans where the Gumm-Gumms return to the Surface:

+Loses her composure over the smell of woodsmoke. It’s the detail that cements it for her that they’re finally back on the Surface. Also has a little trouble with the open sky and sometimes loses her balance when she feels like she might fall up. Closing her eyes helps. Needs a bit of an adjustment period at first.

+Due to Dez’s tactical and combat prowess as a Gumm-Gumm captain, her loyalty, and her ability to (reluctantly) disguise as human, Gunmar could (if he saw fit, and before she pulls anymore Danica-transporting shenanigans) assign her to bodyguard individuals beyond a troll’s reach during the day once they return to the Surface - especially ones who are likely to see combat and need backup. She doesn’t have the raw hitting power of a troll, but she has good pain tolerance and reflexes, generally knows what she’s doing, and coordinating with teams is where she really shines. Her usual role against tougher opponents involves knocking them off balance and provoking openings in their defenses for her team to exploit (which she will also exploit whenever she has a sufficiently clear shot). She’s like an aggressive evasion-tank. But in any 1v1, she’ll do her best to strike hard and fast and end it quickly. Slow, horrible, and painful is all well and good, but she’s got work to do.

+Remembers very little about how to blend in with humans, and acts like a Gumm-Gumm even in human form. She wants to do her job well, so she takes any instruction on the modern world very seriously, though she also tends to get frustrated when she’s confused (which is most of the time - being on the Surface again is rather overwhelming at first, and it’s not the Surface she remembers). She’s alert and effective at protecting those she’s assigned to, but also occasionally needs to be stopped from committing theft, assault, drinking perfume, climbing buildings, making cookfires and ‘ghost fences’ wherever she wants, rolling around in dust or mud baths, wearing ash and/or coal-based warpaint, or growling when she’s irritated, confused, excited, or worried. Can be taught to ‘store’ her armor and parlock spear on her trollish form so she won’t be caught unarmed if she needs to change quickly.

+Will also contend with anxiety over taking human form again after she’s worked all her life to deny that it even exists. Won’t like looking at mirrors (will only really do so if she’s checking in on Danica) or her own hands (both pinkies are missing, too), and will be all the more inclined to distract herself with work. Without sufficient distractions, she might turn to substance abuse to ease some of the stress if she thinks she can get away with it and still do her job.

+Likes to rest outside. Very light sleeper. Even cool nights are warm when compared to the Darklands, and she likes to watch the stars and feel the Earth turn. Stargazing is (despite the light pollution) one of the few things left that still feels like the world she remembers.

[dorcasmeadowes]

an ooc intro:

yes it is literally 5:30 am where i am now but i had to say hello! my name is stuti (you are welcome to call me suze), i take she/her, and i am so very excited to play dorcas and MESSAGE ME to plot

my gal takes she/her/hers and is a first-year ravenclaw getting a degree in spellcasting. she’s started attending and given up on quite a few clubs in her day, but is a regular at charms club and frog choir, and is the ravenclaw seeker. she graduated from caerphilly in 1978.

she’s also trying to make the muggle music appreciation club a thing but knowing her it will FLOP so hmu if you’re interested in this trashfire

this yr she’s taking advanced charms i, advanced transfig i, magical theory, defensive magic: combative spells & duelling, and muggle studies: music. so if you’re in any of these classes, we can! chat!

also i think she’s rooming with zoe and jennifer so hello let’s get funky let’s get plottin! and whether or not you have an “automatic” connection with dorcas i am SO down to plot, i have not rped in like a zillion years and i would love to jump back into things

so excited to e-meet u all xoxo

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 121: Rocknaldo

“I don't love that. I don't accept that.”

Ronaldo Fryman has always been annoying.

From his first speaking role in Cat Fingers, and his first starring role in Keep Beach City Weird, this has been obvious. He’s selfish and insensitive, dominating every conversation he’s a part of and refusing to respect viewpoints that differ from his. He works well in small doses, where his grating nature can be properly diluted, so it’s understandable that an entire episode of Ronaldo at peak Ronaldo is not a widely beloved entry in the Steven Universe canon. But even though I can’t stand watching Rocknaldo, I actually, uh, kind of love it.

That’s a hard “uh, kind of” though. It’s tough to separate my emotions about this one, because I respect such an incredible portrayal of toxic fandom, but I hate toxic fandom so much that I don’t enjoy spending time with it, even as parody. This isn’t an episode I’m ever in the mood for, but it’s just so good at what it’s doing that I can’t stay mad at it.

Ronaldo’s propaganda is first played for laughs, with Steven’s bewilderment at what he’s reading (“They’re adding mind-controlling minerals to our water suppl—they hate men?”) and the vaudevillian back and forth of Ronaldo’s Rock People talking points and Steven’s quick and absolute dismissals. Ronaldo’s embarrassment is a bit of a surprise considering he’s never seemed capable of such a sensation, and his willingness to admit he’s wrong seems like a good sign, but oh boy does that attitude not last.

The mindset that led Ronaldo to make his bad faith arguments in pamphlet form (which he calls Ronalphlets because heaven forbid we get the idea that it’s not about him) persists, and it’s so much worse in conversation than as printed media. It’s not enough that he impedes on Steven’s personal space, but he checks off multiple key items on the Pathetic Internet Troll I Find Useless List (or “PITIFUL” if we’re using proper jargon). He’s casually sexist. He negs Steven into accepting his intrusions. He gatekeeps the concept of being a “true” Crystal Gem, which is lousy in a bubble but so much worse in practice because he’s doing it to an actual Crystal Gem. He gaslights by stating his incorrect views as obvious facts, complete with his own lingo, to make Steven question his own validity. And perhaps worst of all, he takes advantage of Steven’s empathetic nature to pretend that a tolerant person must accept abuse.

On the one hand, Ronaldo’s extreme behavior can be chalked up to severe sleep loss; that’s certainly the angle the episode goes for. But on the other, his toxicity begins well before he decides to stop sleeping, and as someone whose record for consecutive waking hours is an inadvisable thirty-six, fatigue will make you cranky, but it won’t make you more conniving. In cartoon world it’s a clean device to up Ronaldo’s awfulness in a way we can walk back from, but ugh he’s still a trashfire. Zach Callison always deserves kudos, and Rocknaldo is no exception, but Zachary Steel wins out here for capturing such a loathsome version of his character.

A key ingredient for Rocknaldo is timing. Steven just had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and this is our first glimpse at how it’s changed him, so what better way to test our all-loving hero than to pit him against a black hole of selfishness? He’s grown a lot since Keep Beach City Weird in a way Ronaldo hasn’t, and while his instinct is still kindness, now there’s a welcome dose of teen moodiness mixed in. 

It takes a while for Steven to realize it’s a grift, but beyond this slowness being a necessity for the conflict of the episode to work, it makes sense for where he’s at this point in the show. Again, kindness is an instinct for this kid, and even when Ronaldo starts getting infuriating, we’ve seen Steven be patient with him before. He’s also got that martyr complex revved up: this isn’t the first or last time he’s been willing to suffer to make someone else comfortable. He knows how much it sucks to be called the wrong name by now, so he’s the only person who consistently calls Ronaldo “Bloodstone.” And considering Rose Quartz wasn’t what he thought, he now feels that he must double his efforts to be his best self to compensate.

Also important is Steven’s willingness to defend his friends from the start, calling the term “Rock People” offensive and defending the Gems’ decision to leave Ronaldo behind on a dangerous mission. He can take Ronaldo’s lousiness all day, but finally snaps when Connie’s worthiness is insulted. It’s sweet that he sticks up for people, but it’s a bummer that he probably would’ve put up with Ronaldo even longer if the only one suffering was himself. Steven would do anything for his friends, but he’s not doing much for Steven.

This is why Ronaldo is the ideal antagonist for an episode coming off Steven’s space adventure. Steven’s selflessness contrasts perfectly with Ronaldo’s selfishness, but instead of a story about selflessness being good and selfishness being bad, we see how selflessness isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Yes, it’s good to care about others, but it’s also important to have boundaries and enough self-respect to defend yourself; this isn’t even the first time we’ve gotten this message, but it bears repeating. There’s are limits to tolerance that trolls will always exploit (“White Nationalists aren’t welcome here? So much for the ‘Tolerant Left!’”), and on a show about empathy we need for Steven (and the audience) to see that empathy doesn’t mean being a doormat.

Steven’s patience fuels the episode, but the wheels are greased by the Amethyst and Pearl’s disdain. It’s a minor part of Rocknaldo, but I’m not sure I could survive how grating Ronaldo is without some backup from the Gems.

Garnet may lead a slow clap at Steven’s rousing speech on the nature of acceptance, but Amethyst is happy to crack jokes at Ronaldo’s self-seriousness, down to that perfect impression near the end of the episode. Meanwhile, Pearl openly hates the guy. We don’t even get Sassy Pearl (perhaps the greatest Pearl of all), she’s just bluntly dismissive as a refreshing antidote to Steven’s hospitality. She doesn’t bother to remember his ridiculous new name because she refuses to humor the notion that he’s a Gem, and it totally works for me; misnaming is played for drama when Steven is concerned, as befits the trans allegory that comes to a head in Change Your Mind, but Ronaldo is a human belittling Steven’s identity by pretending he shares it, so “Bloodstone” isn’t worth getting right to her (it helps that “Fryrocko” is also a delightful thing to call somebody). This jokey take on names works in the moment, but more importantly primes us for a more serious take in our last scene.

The final conversation, after a rare time jump, does salvage Ronaldo somewhat. He apologizes and admits he was acting like a jerk, and remains dedicated to helping the Crystal Gems in his own weird way. But the root of his problem isn’t gonna up and go away, and that root, again, is selfishness. He doesn’t fit in because he would rather the world adjust to meet his whims than take a single step towards self-improvement, so he chooses to see himself as “the ultimate outsider.” I guess it’s nice to find a positive spin on qualities you’re not great at, but it reeks of self-importance in a way that’s true to the character but is still frustrating to watch. Ronaldo is very good at being who he is, but I just don’t have much patience for intentionally annoying characters.

Still, we get that lovely moment of Steven talking about his name; it’s not a big revelation that folks only call him Rose Quartz when they’re mad at him, but verbalizing it shows that he’s aware of the pattern. The issue of his name will pop up more and more, becoming a cornerstone of both the Season 4 and Season 5 finales, so it’s nice to discuss it in a calm moment so we can keep Steven’s opinion in the back of our minds when things get messy. Ronaldo, to his credit, asks permission before sharing this story on his pamphlet, and evokes fellow emotionally-challenged antagonist Zuko in his attempt at solidarity. (Fun fact: in no other way is Ronaldo similar to Zuko.)

Moving from Zuko to Zuke: I don’t know where Rocknaldo’s production lined up on the timeline of the Steven Universe fandom's worst elements harassing Jesse Zuke, but I hope Zuke got some level of catharsis in portraying such “fans” in this pathetic manner. Speaking as a guy with a blog, calling Ronaldo “just a guy with a blog” is perfect putdown for a loser that makes himself feel big by pretending to know how to run a ship better than the captain. Imagine if I spent every post saying how much better of a storyteller I am than this crew. Ugh.

Fandoms can do great things, but man are they pros at doing horrible things. During the week that I wrote this review, a 15-year-old Super Smash Bros player got yelled off the internet for beating an established player in an incredible fashion, because while the community adores a young upstart, they can’t stand when that upstart is a girl. And no, I’m not saying the entire fandom did it, just as the entire Steven Universe fandom didn’t target one of the show’s best boarders (note that this article was written when Zuke still went by Lauren), but there are more than enough Ronaldos in every community, and it’s up to people who comprehend the basic tenets of empathy provided by a show they claim to love to stand up to such bullies.

If you don’t like Rocknaldo, that’s just fine. Because you shouldn’t like how Ronaldo acts in it. Liking something doesn’t give you the right to harass people, so do your part in shutting that nonsense down. 

I’ve never been to this…how do you say…school?

Just give us an episode with Peridot, Yellow Pearl, Peedee, and Ronaldo trapped in a room already.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

I hate watching this episode, but that doesn’t mean I hate the episode. It does its job very well, which is worthy of admiration even if I’m probably never going to watch it again now that this review is done.

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

That Will Be All

The New Crystal Gems

Storm in the Room

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Gem Heist

The Zoo

Rocknaldo

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

No Thanks!

     6. Horror Club      5. Fusion Cuisine      4. House Guest      3. Onion Gang      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

[tellywoodtrash]

the great indian dysfunctional family ep 1 lb

gosh just seeing swaroop sampat in the credits is making me soooooo happy.

oh starting right off with a house party blasting ladki byootiful kar gayi chulllll. ironic wink wink since the show had a heavyyyyyyy kapoor & sons vibe in the trailer. 

they even stole the smoking a joint in the bathroom scene. cool cool cool.

i’m guessing chubby-cheeked, reluctant-joint-smoker addu (aditi) here is the baby sister of the two guys?

addu’s being a real bummer towards her bride friend and dissing the groom. hmmmm. is she just not a nice person, or is there something more there?

lmao she just told some annoying dude slamming on the loo door to “bhag behenchod” tho, so maybe i like her?

cut to samar (barun) who seems to be a doting moon-eyed husband. nice.

sobti’s wedding ring featuring in prominence as always.

dude you cute and all but you’ve got to give up your 4 Lions Leading Man habit of driving so carelessly. why do literally none of you guys keep your eyes on the damn road??? maana ki biwi bohut hi cute hai lekin is rate par kisi ki jaan lekar rahoge tum log. 

oh he’s a chef (i think.) dang, this might be the most attractive role sobti’s played.

he just pulled the car over for a quickie! waaah re daring! get some, boo!

addu has zero spine to stand up to peer pressure. also her bride best friend (nandu) needs to quit literally shoving joints and shots into her mouth.

the music is now assi vele from student of the year. whoever’s in charge of the party playlist here seems to be a siddharth malhotra stan.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh boy, does addu have history with nandu’s to be dulha? yikes.

and now she won’t let her one non-asshole (guy) friend pee in peace. we’re only 5 min in, but i think addu’s kinda a terrible friend.

of course guy friend is not so secretly in love with her. enough to let her wipe her puke-stained mouth off on his shirt. sigh.

okaaaaay. kay kay’s character is On Edge.

and his son, mridul, seems to have inherited it from him? he’s veryyyyy cute, but there’s something... about him.

ok the rifle might be overkill, vikram.

lmao what a welcome samar and wife got.

swaroop has just made her entry and said her first line and i already know i love her the mosttttttttttt in this show.

vikram is already glaring at mom’s laad for baby bro. ~~~~~DRAMA!!!!!

they took the unfixed stair gag from modern family, and gave it a sorta angstyyyyyyyy turn.

clearly samar’s wife is ~~~the cool one.

vikram seems... regressive and needs to tone down his opinions on a woman he’s JUST met.

who’s this other unidentified lady with swaroop? the house-help?

ooooooh samar was in the army. (as was vikram too, i suspect, from his general demeanor.)

samar + wife (sonali) have a nice easygoing happy comfort and intimacy with each other. it gives me the warm fuzzies.

vikram needs to let this humaaare ghar ki auratein don’t smoke bs go. esp. since we know swaroop’s character likes to puff puff pass from the trailer. 

AND LOL ADDU WAS JUST CARRIED IN BY HER FRIENDS WITH A CIGARETTE IN HER MOUTH. SO MUCH FOR THAT.

samar chachu! ohhhhh addu’s vikram’s daughter!

wait, it’s nandu who’s greeting samar that way. addu hasn’t even noticed samar’s here.

.... is nandu family? apparently samar’s here to attend her wedding. so they’re clearly close. but that guy at the party called nandu addu’s best friend? huh.

drunk/high addu is giving expository details much to family’s discomfort: vikram’s retired from the army coz of an injury. and he’s the one who set nandu up with... whoever she’s marrying.

addu dgaf about all the awkward tho.

dumbass boy in love with addu is describing helping addu puke like she was giving him a bj (“main khada hua tha... she was on her knees... i held back her hair...”) cool. nice story to tell HER DAD. WHO’S HOLDING A LOADED RIFLE.

sonali and swaroop’s character (can we have a name already?) are the only two people with any real chill here, and i look forward to seeing them bond.

vikram did notttttttttttt appreciate samar telling him to not grab addu so hard and is now lashing out at his interference. ugh he needs to chill.

and now there’s baap-beti tension. lord, what a mess. we’re just 11 minutes in.

addu’s like “lol welcome to the fucked up sasuraal of your nightmares, chaachi!” and sonali’s now thinking haan cute toh hai yeh BUT AT WHAT COST??? WHAT HAVE I MARRIED INTO?????

vikram’s wife is very mild mannered as of now. can’t wait to see all the crazy SHE’S hiding!

ohhhhhhhh mridul seems to be mute, and speaks sign language. ah man. i hope the show treats his character properly without any ableist bs.

cut to next morning, and samar’s getting handsy. uh huhhhhhh honey.

SAMAR AND SONALI ARE HELLA CUTE AND #COUPLEGOALS AND PLEASE GOD LET THEM REMAIN THIS CUTE AND HAPPY.

meanwhile vikram’s doing some kinda.... army waalon ki tuition?

LOL SAMAR CAN’T.... “FOCUS” COZ BADE BHAIYYA IS YELLING ABOUT FOCUS RIGHT OUTSIDE HIS WINDOW.

“soldier down” lmaooooooooooooooooooooooo poor samar.

sonali’s saying thanks for protecting me from your trashfire of a fam for as long as you did.

gosh i just really like samar and sonali together. they seem like a couple who genuinely like each other as friends AND spouses. again, throwing up a most fervent prayer to the heavens that their relationship survives the show.

okaaaaaaaaay creepy house-help seemed to be eavesdropping on them.

finally a name for vikram’s wife. geeta. who has a really nice terrace garden it seems and is showing it off to some friend of hers on a video call.

friend only cares about samar’s return though. #relatable

who’s swaroop (WHAT’S HER CHARACTER’S NAME?????) waiting for????

LMAO HER DEALER.

dealer and baai seem to have a flirtation going onnnnn.

addu’s bitching about her fam to sonali first thing in the morning. brush toh kar lene do behen.

ok addu’s putting nazar on samar/sonali by remarking how happy and sane they are. oh gosh, pls don’t.

sonali is giving addu some well-meaning tippani on how following your heart makes you happy and we all know addu’s gonna take that and apply it in the most fucked up way possible and blow everything up to shit.

vikram is aggrieved that addu is pulling standard desi kid maneuver of resolutely avoiding papa after fucking up last night. lol.

get yourself a man like samar, who WHOAAAAAAAAAs when you dress up nice.

and a saas who calls you a “totaaaaaaa”.

lol the khataara family van is called “sharon”.

i’m guessing this is nandu’s sangeet we’re at. still don’t know how she’s related to these ppl though. i’m guessing a cousin or something?

yeah, looks like nandu is the daughter of a cousin of samar and vikram.

i envy sonali’s confidence and verve and ability to cheerfully blend with whatever crowd she’s in.

mridul in the bg beamingggg at samar chaachu’s happiness is making my heart glow. he’s so cute.

oh so nandu’s all sanskaari and shit now, and mad at addu for getting high last night. again, i remind you, she literally shoved the joint and shot AT addu.

but there’s some srs tension between these two, thanks to addu having some hang up with this wedding/dulha.

oh boy, it’s heading towards confrontation. in a weirdly... like... they’re getting into each other’s spaces in a... romantic way?????

OMFG WAIT WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. IT’S NOT THE DULHA ADDU WANTS. IT’S THE BRIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LIKE, BUT AREN’T THEY COUSINS????????????? OR ARE THE FAMILIES JUST THAT CLOSE THAT THEY’RE ALMOST RELATED. EITHER WAY, OH ADDU. OH MAN.

aaaaaaand sonali just saw addu lay a kiss on nandu (who pushed her away angrily.) whoa. welcome to the sasuraal, indeed.

oh the credits have finally given me a name for swaroop’s character. premlata. thank you!!!!!!

[deathexe6110]

I posted 3,245 times in 2021

12 posts created (0%)

3233 posts reblogged (100%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 269.4 posts.

I added 41 tags in 2021

#original post - 13 posts

#my art - 6 posts

#my artwork - 5 posts

#my oc - 3 posts

#oc - 3 posts

#my oc art - 3 posts

#technoblade - 2 posts

#mcyt - 2 posts

#camp camp - 2 posts

#pure vanilla cookie my beloved - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 64 characters

#my dads family were immigrants from ukraine that moved to canada

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Camp Camp OC

Their name is Annette, but most, if not all, call her Anne/Annie

~ Info ~

Name: Annette “Anne” Allard

Age: 24

Gender: Fluid

Sexuality: Unlabelled

Pronouns: Any

Likes:

- Nature/Outdoor camping

- Painting/Art

- Most types of art

Dislikes:

- Insects (exceptions: moths, butterflies, dragonflies)

- Animal cruelty

- Extreme cold

Fun Fact:

They have a pinkish birthmark from their right shoulder to their mid-back that also goes half way up their neck and goes to their mid-lower back, but doesn’t cross over to their left shoulder

Art by death-exe (aka me)

15 notes • Posted 2021-06-19 03:25:41 GMT

#4

Welcome to my page! :)

I hope everyone who sees this has a grand time scrolling through this trashfire of a blog :3

Rules of mine:

Don’t be:

Racist

Homophobic

Transphobic

OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT MAKES YOU A BIGOT!!!

Please don’t discuss politics, because that just leads to arguments/arguing, and nobody wants that

And don’t be scared to like OR reblog any post that I share or of my own, I try my best to be a good person, so if I mess up please don’t take it to harshly

Enjoy these amethyst shards that I collected as a gift :)

13 notes • Posted 2021-08-19 05:40:04 GMT

#3

Daniel from Camp Camp :)

Art by death-exe (aka me)

6 notes • Posted 2021-06-21 03:20:14 GMT

#2

I made a fursona

I’m still working on the body but I have a pretty solid design of the head :)

She’s a sheep/cow hybrid (cow pattern and cow and ram horns)

Colours:

Fur: fff4f7

Ear (inside): e4cbff

Spots: ffcbd7

Horns: ff90aa

Eyes: light part - fc2a2a, dark part - af0000

6 notes • Posted 2021-07-10 05:59:57 GMT

#1

I made a meme based on the Chuckle Sandwich episode today :]

4 notes • Posted 2021-02-13 22:50:34 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[activatingaggro]

It's been a couple of days, but I totally missed people reblogging memes, so: B, C, H, K, and S?

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Enemies-to-lovers! Enemies-to-friends. Anything that hugely and dramatically changes CR.

Friends to enemies is a huge favourite, but only if they kiss. Sorry.

“These two characters are romantically inclined, but not admitting it, and oh no, now they have to share a bed / pretend to be married / publicly flirt or make-out, and O O P S, FEELINGS.”

This only never appears on tumblr because I’m classy. You’re welcome.

Platonic soulmates! Or those sitches where characters just click, instantly, with someone that they really, really, /really/ should fucking not have. I want the drama, the self-loathing, the spirals of mutual distress, because you just fell in love with the spy you’re supposed to capture and you’re still going to shoot him in the face, rifp.

Blood swaps. I don’t do magic anons, but please let it be known that I absolutely would write a long, massive thread with either of the birdrails having to successfully impersonate seadwellers, or with another character having to pretend to be a wildly different caste. I want the cultural shock, the privilege gain/loss, the struggle of looking in the mirror and seeing something totally wrong - or delightfully right, per society’s standards of behaviours - and the intricacies of caste behaviour.

“You’re incredibly important to me, but now I’m going to have to betray you, because MORALS.” Or vice-versa! Any situation where a character’s morals come up against their preferences, basically, and morals win out, and everyone has to deal with the backlash. GIVE ME CHARACTERS STANDING BY THEIR CONVICTIONS AND PAYING THE PRICE.

H: How would you describe your style?

HOW GROUCHY AM I TODAY IN DESCRIBING THIS is the real question. uwu

I put a lot of focus on narrative, and a lot of focus on minor details! I like to note what characters are paying attention to, and letting it (hopefully) say something about themselves: ID rarely notices people’s appearances unless they’re violet, or unless it’s in his face, and he misses a lot of details period. Sipara is constantly assessing if she can kill someone, and how. Riccin is constantly speculating on what quadrant they can fit someone in. Pheres is constantly assessing if he’s about to get killed.

My main focus while writing narratives is ensuring that you can strip all the names and still, hopefully, tell which character is telling the story! This is in roleplay. In writing, I try to put a lot more focus on the actual scenes, and a lot less focus on the narrative: my absolute ideal of style, for individual stuff, has to be WATCH THE ROOTS by Lionpyh, or pretty much any story of Isozyme’s.

Individual stuff where the focus is on a story rather than the characters, I really like crisp, clipped lines, and in roleplay stuff, I like longer, narrative-focused ones.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

Back when Pheres had gills as his default: he gets found out by a seadweller who collects mutants, and yanked into her collection, so he starts off a long-haul plan to escape that involves wooing her flush, but accidentally ends up genuinely falling for his own ploy in a fucked up stockholmian sitch. So Sipara finally manages to yank enough strings to get the info to come and rescue him, a year or so in, murders her way through the facility, collects Pheres -

- and he’s a mess, because oh, no, don’t kill her! She can be fixed! Don’t, don’t don’t -

And Sipara kills her, anyway, and they have a pile in the middle of this awful, bloody facility, and everything is terrible, and everyone is crying, and I think it eventually results in an incredibly ace, weird blur of <3<>, where the two of them dissolve into even harder codependence then they started off the blog with.

I have art of this somewhere on this blog, actually!

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

Pheres is directly inspired by the fact my definitive memories of my teenage years included a lot of my friends being exploited/harmed by significantly older men at 13-18 under the guise of ~*relationships*~, and our flailing attempts to figure out how to navigate romance/relationships in a context that was defined by that kind of abusive fuckery.

Pheres is subsequently a trashfire in a way that’s meant to examine and prod at that in a different context! How do these situations happen and exist in Alternian contexts? And if the foundation upon which you’ve learned to build relationships was fucked up from the get-go, how does that affect you as you grow older, and how do you learn to fix it?

And a lot of Pheres’s general encounters with his customers reflect negative experiences that I have had with folks, or that my friends have had with people, just amped up to fit the Alternian context. Someone who’s previously been civil getting in your face shrieking because WAS THAT DISRESPECTFUL, ARE YOU BEING UPPITY – gets twisted into a customer shanking him over something equally minor.

C: What character do you identify with most?

I deliberately don’t really identify with most of my characters, haha. It’s part of my IC-OOC barrier: I love them, and I love writing them, but the majority are morally incompatible with my own viewpoints, or have done horrific shit that can’t be overlooked in the name of identification.

With that said, the specific traits I put in that I hook onto the most:

ID’s general ennui towards strong emotions is something I relate to! ID finds it detrimental to himself, at points, and gets delighted over having strong emotions on the rare instances it happens - I, on the other hand, am just thoroughly disinclined towards them completely when it comes to myself. HARD LOGIC ONLY.

Which has led to interesting character gaps between my portrayal of ID and others perceptions of him, I think? I personally view his largest flaws as his lack of empathy and his history of fucking over everyone around him on a whim - a lot of people view one of his largest flaws as not emotionally connecting to his romantic partners. Different writers view different aspects of a character as relatable, and it’s neat to see.

Sipara’s temper issues! She’s got a (physical) parallel of my anger issues from when I was a baby, and the same levels of “I MUST CONTROL EVERYTHING”. She’s totally a feral goblin of a hellchild, but I find it #relatable, even while I’m like “yeah, girl’s batshit”.

Pheres’s general control freak issues, and his inability to disengage from people that he really should, because what if they feel bad? =:( Also, his general desire to take responsibility over everyone and shove them into his nest to be mothered, lbr here.

Riccin’s desire to just roll with the fucking blows when it comes to their interpersonal relationships.This has come up with Orivar, it’s come up with Videle, it’s come up with Gliese - if you push them, they’ll fold, because their focus tends to be more on “keep the peace” with friends and quads, moreso than “keep my own personal interests in mind”.