#what’s my villain ranking folks?

[ghost-bxrd]

Dude I just finished catching up on the Owl Song series and I am equal parts excited and terrified about what’s going to happen at the end. I swear to god everytime that series updates I just get more nervous, why does every endnote have to be so ominous?! You’re killing me here. I’m gonna start naming my grey hairs after you author, I swear /aff

MWAHAHAHAHA I HAVE ACHIEVED MY GOAL!! 👹 each endnote is to make you more afraid of the ending! Terrified of the pain! MWAHAHAHA!!! I ASPIRE TO BE A FEARED VILLAIN

Nah but we still have 3-4 parts to go before disaster time :333 you know, fluffy family time and mild angst with lots of cuddles, to make the ending hurt even more ✨🦉

[houseofgriffons]

So far my biggest gripe with the fallout show is that they made the steel facsists inclusive. Like we know the brotherhood of steel are homophobes, idk if they'd be ok with a nonbinary like Dane

[post-it-notes7]

spreading my mirror animeverse propaganda (some character rambles undercut)

Hi folks, thanks for tuning in! The Mirror GSA, unlike the regular GSA, is allied with Dark Mind, and consists largely of tricksters, thieves, and knights for hire. They tend to keep to themselves so long as they remain unprovoked, and while considered to be made up of those villainous in nature, many recruits fall into a morally gray category, and can be coerced to change sides if given the right motivation.  

Dark Meta Knight and Mir Falspar both rank high in the Mirror GSA, and since appearing, they’ve seemed to be at constant odds with one another. Mir Falspar has zero patience for Dameta’s tricks, and Dameta gets easily insulted by Mir Falspar’s words, even if he doesn’t visibly show it. They can barely stand to work together when the time calls for it, and after an incident in the past, Mir Falspar has warned Dameta to keep his distance if he knows what’s good for him (But this is DMK we’re talking about, and warnings or not, he actively continues to push that line when given the chance)

[ninyard]

Hey Nin! Tell me about your ABC Pinterest board? Or one of the others, I'm interested in all of them! Have a lovely day 🧡

omg the abc board is like kind of the ~cringiest~ one because it’s a story I’ve had since I was like 13/14 maybe, I’ve tried to write it so many times and honestly I got pretty far into it and then one of my friends was like “so it’s like xmen? that’s so overdone?” when I was like 16 and it killed me ngl like I know it’s cliche and overdone I guess but I have SO much lore and story and full notebooks of notes about it it’s like my lil child I can never give up on. the working title of it is “detached” but I’ve never been super set on that

it’s set in this universe where some people are born with kinetic abilities called ‘mystics’ (that’s the one word im still not super set on but it’s been so long that that’s just what they are now) and there’s a huge war and rebellion that happened in the 70’s that led to this call for reform of the mystic folks living normally and mixed in society and these “hospitals” are set up and it becomes essentially illegal to exist if you have these powers because the world believes you’re a danger to society. the hospitals are divided up into “blocks” based on your powers and how strong/developed any one person is with them. in as short and concise a way as possible there’s four main characters:

fionn, the main character, it’s always been set from mostly his POV: he’s on the A block, “double green”, essentially the least powerful of the least powerful. he’s a chlorokinetic, powers involving nature I guess, and he got caught by his parents who’ve always been very anti-mystic because his aunt had pyrokinesis and that’s considered one of the most dangerous powers, and she found herself caught up in the war/rebellion, and was basically disowned by her entire family. The story always starts with him waking up in the hospital to find he has two/three days missing from the time he got caught to the time he woke up, and it all follows him as he gets comfortable in the hospital (he doesn’t know he has fire powers, either - nobody does, and it’s only something he finds out thanks to two of the other characters)

there’s toby, who’s name has changed a million times, who’s in the A block with half green half yellow bands - he’s not very powerful, but he has a little control over his powers, and because it’s water powers, he’s considered a little higher on the ranks. he has a really rough time in the hospital, and he misses his family, but he’s fionn’s roommate from his first day there.

there’s bella, who as far as I remember was in the B block, but she’s really powerful. she’s clairvoyant, for a start, and she can know everything about anyone just from one touch. she is kind of a mystery sometimes, but she’s very, very useful. the guys don’t know it about her, but she is used by the higher ups in the hospital when they’re intaking new people to find out their powers. she was the one who found out fionn had fire powers, so she was also the one who kept that a secret a) because she knew it would have him put in the D block - away from the general population and locked in segregation for as long as it took for them to make him disappear - and b) because she knew how useful he would be to her best friend ares. she doesn’t talk about her powers, and nobody other than ares (and harold, the villain of the story) knows what she can do

ares, another C ward kid. he has control over time, and telekinetic powers. he’s so strong, that he’s bordering on double red bands, quite close to being moved to the d ward. he’s kind of the ‘bad boy’ to everyone, because of his background. most kids who are there were caught because of their families, whereas his family were enthusiasts who wanted him to have powers. they named his ares, and wanted him to perform and be special. he’s the one who tells fionn about his powers and trains him in secret, and his other closest friend is the most powerful of them all, and that’s pax

phoenix, also known as pax, is the quiet almost double red from the C block who really is only not in the D block because of their social skills and lack of proper, dangerous control over their powers. they can read and control minds, as well as healing powers, and control over light. they’re autistic and ares is one of the only people who understands them on a deeper level and knows how to keep them comfortable and safe. pax finds themself in segregation quite a lot because of their meltdowns that happen when things get too loud, and they’re in segregation when fionn first arrives.

then there’s dr. harold hawkins, the famous anti-mystic doctor who runs the hospital. he knew bella before she was sent to the hospital, and he’s the one that kept her out of a higher block and made the agreement that she would work for him in secret. as far as I remember in the last version he was young when he campaigned a while after the war, and his father opened the hospital with him as his assistant. each of the patients have “therapy” a certain amount of times a week, and he’s bella and fionns doctor. he has powers that nobody knows about, while he pioneers a lot of the propaganda against the folks who have powers.

idk! this isn’t a good or full or detailed explanation of them all at all because there’s SO much I can’t fit into an ask that isn’t gonna be 100000 words long lmao of course this is just the characters and not the actual story or plot or anything but yes thank you for asking <33

here’s a part of one of ares and fionns first meetings from the most recent draft I’ve written!!

[capsensislagamoprh]

My thoughts on this awesome art.

JJ ( lesser noble's son/ mayor's kid or something like that) is just trying to help his friend (Otabek) but he has the worst understanding of boundaries, subtly, and gets caught up in the drama so fast it's tragic. Hilarious, but tragic.

Minami is an elf. Come on now. Look at him! He works with Christophe as an apprentice. Just is suddenly there with whatever is needed. Has a massive break thrugh to become an official court magician apprentice by learning that illusive spell at a crucial time.

Pitchit is all about that tea. Him and Chris have serious side eye when everyone else needs help because of their dramatic selves, but boy do they thrive on it. These two might secretly be the source of all the rumors and spontaneous dance numbers in town.

Christoph is the fairy godfather/court official magical person with all the gentle magic and blatant flamboyancy such a position requires. Somehow he's always there. You just don't notice until he makes himself known. It's creepy, until you realize it's actually to help and protect, and part of his magic. Also, half the time it's Pitchit eaves dropping and using clever mirror placement to get that pipping hot constant comet (tea).

You know that Georgi is so into singing his massive hit (backed up by JJ) that a 'captured' Otabek just unties himself and walks out with Yuri as the villains hold the long note before they even notice. They are well across the dangerous bridge before the song ends and JJ discovers they slipped out. Georgi has to double take, blinks and is secretly impressed and chagrined because damn it that was a GOOD SONG! He worked on that all week! Sends JJ to get them back for the plot to continue.

Yuri hates that everything causes spontaneous songs. Especially when his parents sing them because they are always sappy wake you up at dawn with thrown open windows and birds and suddenly he's dressed and on a horse and what the hell?! Why are they on the way to town? What even is life? Someone HELP! Gets chased because plot demands it, winds up in woods. Hears BEST music. Follows it.

Otabek lives in the woods in an oddly fantastical 'cabin', that would be a massive magical castle if he'd just flip the fuse box switch, but he wont because it causes questions and matinence issues, and he just cannot with these sudden laps of logic for fairy tale rules. Why it all so convoluted? You could just like, not? He's gonna get caught up in the plot and wonder what the heck happened. Otabek helps. Everyone. Because common sense is apparently his alone, WTF people? W. T. F. Finds Yuri trying to escape town folk trying to mob him. Helps. Tried to get him back home. Adventure and secret (is a high rank) noble reveal because Georgi is not as bad as he seems. He's like Christoph's counter part. They both mean well. It's just that one is goth af about it.

Victor and Yuuri are just trying to throw a frikin birthday party for their feral son. He's cursed, but like, in a good way. Some day his prince will come (wait until they meet the guy from the woods and start the betting pool on how long it takes for the curse to break because they are keeping him) and they have SO Many Songs About It. Ah, how will they ever lift this (dramatic, tragic, so exciting) curse? With SONG! Wait... where did Yuri go? LE DRAMA! *smooch smooch* Los DRAMATICA! *kissy kiss kiss kiss* OH How Will They Ever Make it to That Fateful Day?! *aggressive making out*

[cipher-fresh]

Reviews for Skip Haverty: Companion Chronicles #3 (2025) boxset

Disc #1: Water Wars

A toddler could have predicted that the company town owner GoldCircuit was artificially causing the “natural” hundred-year drought, but the civilians looking for, rationing and recycling water is a compelling conflict when Skip and the Doctor get accused of stealing water. More conservative reviewers on YouTube are probably going to call this one “preachy” but countries fighting over clean water, and water poisoned by corporations becomes scarier and closer every year.

Skip’s fish-out-of-water thing goes from social to physical as the planet’s heat starts killing her. This foreshadows how she actually dies later on, too. Ouch. This story also has a folk song about the ground miners looking for water sources. More Paul McGann singing, please! 6.5/10

Disc #2: The One With The Sitcom

Oh my god, I was excited for this one. A mysterious, legally-distinct-from-Star-Trek’s-Q entity feels threatened that the Doctor and Skip will make their worshippers stop following them so they trap the 2 of them in a sitcom with only hazy memories of their lives. Skip and the Doctor encounter illusions of people in their past who have died, now revived as silly sitcom characters. When the two of them wake up to the trap, they can only plan how to escape during commercial breaks.

Really, really fun. They really lean into old sitcom tropes, and the time before the Doctor and Skip come to awareness is just long enough to utilize the concept without getting boring. The fact the reality-manipulating entity only ever speaks through possessing other characters is super creepy, (leaving room for it to be a former villain because we never see their body or hear their real voice!). It also made me kinda sad to see the Doctor considering what a little domestic life would be like living in a sitcom. K9 cameo made me gasp. Funny and incredibly sad all in one. 9.5/10. (Objectively it’s maybe a point lower but like, my ranking. Shut up.)

Disc #3: Flunking Out

A college laboratory experiment goes wrong, creating a space anomaly and trapping a fraternity in their dorm building, where walking out of the front door pits them back into the boiler room. The Doctor and Skip must find the engineering students’ experiment while navigating the maze the university has become, and untangle the engineering department’s backstory.

What a stinker. Fun premise but boring execution, which is worse than confusing execution. 4/10.

I loved The One With The Sitcom but thought the other two were just okay. If you can do one of those bundle packs I might recommend you buy it but in other cases, just pirate the second one. Paul McGann is especially great, though, and I’m always up for more Skip.

[kaliade]

Twisted Wonderland Headcanon- The Villains Were Right

  I’m really, really into Twisted Wonderland right now and you all have you suffer for it.  If you don’t know what Twisted Wonderland is, it’s a gacha style Disney game with Twisted versions of the Classic Disney Movie villains all attending an all boys college called Night Raven College (herein referred to as NRC).  There the Great Seven (the Disney villains) are revered.  There are 2 different ways of interpreting NRC’s reverenace of the Seven that I’ve seen so far. 

1. The Villains were villains and this is a school for villains so no one cares 2.  The Villains won instead of failing in their respective movies and thus are still respected.

I propose a 3rd option.  The Villains were in the right even if their actions were seen as extreme.  Allow me to elaborate.  Beware, Spoilers ahead!

The Queen of Hearts In my re-telling/re-imagining, the Queen of Hearts is the uniter of her kingdom.  The Rose Queendom did not always follow a single ruler, instead being made up of a bunch of smaller kingdoms that were in a near constant state of war.  This war state would represent the madness that keeps getting brought up in regards to her.  The Queen of Hearts managed to untie the entire area of what would become the Rose Queendom under her banner.  The 800+ odd rules of hers were her way of uniting several cultures.  Feeding the flamingos while wearing pink?  That’s from one group who believed the similar colors would make the animals stronger.  No eating hamburgers on Tuesday?  One group had a religious observance on that day that forbid it.  And yes, the Queen did sentence many who broke her rules to be beheaded, but that was mostly because those breaking the rules were rebelling against her in an attempt to break the kingdom apart.  This is the main part where I think the Queen’s a bit extreme in her punishments, but my version of the Queen of Hearts was a traumatized general who definitely had PTSD as well as other mental health issues.

Scar United the hyenas and other downtodden folk against his brother King Mufasa.  Mufasa was giving positions based on blood ties and, in essence, racism by not allowing certain animal species to hold rank or even employment.  The hyenas were banished.  Scar saw that things were going to go bad with the spark of rebellion just waiting to be lit.  Wanting to save his kingdom, he allied with those who the Lion King scorned and banished.  Scar was successful in defeating his brother and took over as king, even saving his nephew Simba from being kidnapped by Mufasa’s loyal retainers to make the prince a puppet ruler.  He was aided in this by a meerkat and a warthog that had found the injured cub and taken him in.  Both meerkat and warthog were rewarded for their actions.  Scar ruled fairly over the Savanna until Simba, who had been taught how to be a ruler by his Uncle, was ready to take over.  Scar then retired and enjoyed the life where he didn’t have to make decisions that could affect the whole country, even if he did stay in the palace to act as a source of wisdom for his young nephew.  His extremeness comes from being the killer of his brother.

Ursula Triton’s sister who left after being treated horribly by the tailed merfolk (Basically like Azul was)  She does learn her magic and to create contracts and, yes, did start out as she is in her movie.  A scam artist, power seeking, etc.  Then her sister-in-law dies at the hands of humans (see the Little Mermaid prequel for details)  As much as she despises her brother, her nieces need a female role model.  Triton is busy and grieving and takes little notice of his sister’s return until he eventually does and she’s banished again, but now the mermaid princesses know her and have heard stories about what she can do. This is also a turning point of Ursula.  She’s been bitter this entire time and being treated kindly by her nieces and getting respect for the other merfolk with how she was helping the princesses made her change her tune, slightly.  She still makes deals, but the consequences of the deals are less eternal servitude and more indentured servitude with a stated end date.  This brings us to the Little Mermaid movie events.  Ariel still falls for a human prince but this time she knows her aunt has the power to give her legs and there’s less screaming all around from Sebastian and Flounder.  Ursula is hesitant on giving Ariel what she wants.  She remembers how her sister-in-law died.  So, in order to keep the existence of merfolk quiet, her price in her niece’s voice, which she also uses to test the human boy her niece is in love with.  Triton does find out, but the man has mellowed over the years, especially with his many daughters asking why he’d so mean to their aunt.  He is angry, but the siblings do talk it out and he appreciates Ursula looking out for his daughter on land.  There is no stabbing of the giant cecaelia or any stealing of a trident and Ariel eventually works out a treaty between the merfolk and the humans after getting her voice back form her aunt after Eric proves he loves her.

Jafar Took over Agrahbah because the sultan was an  idiot and the princess nearly caused a war with having her pet tiger attack her suitors.  It was the only way to keep his home safe.  After the princess was nearly tricked into marrying a street rat with a genie at his side, Jafar deposed the sultan and his daughter.  Life in Agrhabah grew better under his rule as he made several advances using magic to bring comforts to his people.

Beautiful/Evil Queen (Trigger Warning:  Rape allusions, Abuse, Assisted Suicide) Married to the king less than a month after his first wife died of mysterious circumstance,  Grimhild age age 17 became the new Queen and stepmother to a 5 year old Snow White.  While she didn’t spend much time with the girl, leaving her rearing to nannies and tutors, the Queen did not have any animosity toward the girl.  No, her hatred was focused on the King, who liked his women beautiful and young, the younger the better and they didn’t necessarily have to be willing.  Grimhild put up with this, trying to help the girls as much as she could with her potions but having no actual power to stop her husband.  Then Snow turned 14... Before the king’s eye could turn to his daughter, a prince from a nearby kingdom visited and was besotted by Snow.  Grimhild became enraged, not because he did not look at her like that, but because the man was in his 30s!  The king agreed to betroth Snow and the prince.  Fearing for the girl, the Queen sent her loyal huntsman to take the girl out to the woods to gather wildflowers for a gift for the prince.  In truth, she ordered her huntsman to take her into the wood and get the girl to run away on her own or make her.  After scaring the poor child with tales of what awaited her and what her mother and stepmother had suffered through, Snow fled into the forest and came upon the dwarves, who took her in and protected her in exchange for some housework and cooking.  The Queen would later, after events, give them royal fiat to mine magestones and sell them at high profit with the royal seal.  Unfortunately, Snow fell ill one day from the plague and never recovered, dying at the age of 18.  Nothing her stepmother or the dwarves did could save her.  Grimhild, taking pity on the girl’s suffering and inability to heal her, offered Snow poison to make her miserable death easier, which Snow accepted.  (Meaning assisted suicide) Now, while Snow was safe with the dwarves, the Queen decided enough was enough and with the help of the castle staff, who were also sick of the king’s ways, poisoned the king and took over the kingdom.  Snow came back home after a year, but she missed the dwarves home and would visit when she could.  The prince that was courting her never made it home and no one (save for an eagle eyed huntsman and a viciously protective queen) know what happened to him...

Hades (Admittedly my weakest of these) The Titan Class Phantoms are phantoms of half-gods that attacked Olympus.  Hades, being the only god who didn’t have residence of Olympus, was the only survivor and managed to trap them in Tartarus.  He set himself, and his descendants, to watch over the gate, which did eventually come to be more like a curse than a true calling.  Due to his connection to death, it was very difficult for him or his descendants to accumulate Blot.  Their magic tended to have a life draining effect which is why the family prefers to use tech over magic.

Maleficent The only one out of the whole bunch that I do not blame her canon counterpart for her reaction.  Listen, you are dealing with the Fae, a ruling Fae to be precise.  THat shit of not inviting her to a christening (which  for the sake of TWST i’m renaming a Naming Ceremony), which for a royal is a very big, public event, is just asking for a curse.  Seriously.  And if we take the fact they invited 3 light aligned fae to the party but not the dark fae, then that adds another layer to the situation.  In short, that could have been cause for war with a human nation, let alone a fae one.   So yeah, not much change in this one for me personally.  Maleficent was in the right. 

[enden-k]

Can I ask what makes Arlecchino evil? I'm v much a villain enjoyer and like some morally greyness, but I genuinely didn't pick up on a lot of bad stuff with Arlecchino. She was super helpful during Fontaine and seemed to be the only powerful person who cared about helping the common folk when the water levels were rising.

I'm not here to start an argument, just wanna expand my view 🙏

dw didnt think u want to argue! i will also use this to say i wont tolerate arguments, this goes for everyone here

i will talk about sensitive themes under the cut (mentions of when i was groomed/emotionally abused by my adoptive father/mentions of abuse/grooming in general) so if someones not good with this, be warned please and dont click for your emotional comfort.

i really love arlecchino (theres also difficult, personal reasons ig) and id rather wait for her to arrive to get more information than we have so far through other characters/side quests/main quest but well.

her goals aligned with ours in the fontaine quest which is why we have the impression shes a good/nice person, especially considering our other meetings with the harbingers we met so far (signora, childe, scara, dottore) and the situations. shes very calm and diplomatic (lets see how it changes in the next update when we fight her)

but we shouldnt forget how the travellers on their toes the entire time/everytime they come in contact with arle. its because shes a harbinger after all. shes a danger. her graceful politeness and calmness is supposed to have you on guard, make your hairs rise. shes mentioned to be manipulative and shes manipulating others to achieve what she wants by being nice and calm. she has ulterior motives. we should be careful. this is my impression based on my own gaming experience and idk if it was the same w others, but bc of us being on guard around her i was always prepared for her to turn on us until the end of the main quest.

anw, arle is supposed to be intimidating and have you wary. even tho she comes off as nice and polite, having done good and helped in the main story. its bc thats what she wanted and you happened to have the same goal. also lets not forget scaras and childes thoughts about her which already tells a lot

she has two sides. the one we saw in the quest, the graceful, calm, polite face to get what she wants. and the other, the one scara and childe talk about here, the one they call "crazy"

not to mention her codename, "the knave". what does it mean? servant. what else does it mean? "dishonest/deceitful man". basically, swindler. isnt it perfect?

shes manipulative and whatever her "true" nature is, we dont know (yet). she may have "good intentions" here or there but will achieve them no matter what it takes.

as for the thing you can consider as bad; the house of the hearth is an orphanage that raises children into fatui agents. only those who have potential join the ranks while the others are kept close (its not known whats done with them afaik). theyre basically grooming/raising child soldiers/spies.

before the sensitive stuff comes up, for the ppl who dont want to proceed, arlecchino fools/manipulates you into thinking shes a nice person/good parent. its amazing and so in character for her. its also scary how some ppl cant see the abuse/manipulation unless you went through this too or well. just actually read and realize it.

arlecchino is an emotionally manipulative parental figure. now, this is coming from someone who went through heavy abuse/was groomed by their adoptive father who was extremely manipulative and i spot so many things very well known to me. others who went through the same get this feeling. these signs you immediately recognize.

you get punished for the tiniest mistakes and when you get loved, it makes you forget all that was done to you, just for that tiny bit of affection you crave. you try to do your best, to do everything asked and expected of you, not to disappoint the only parent you have and youre dependent on, to be a good kid deserving of love and when you slip up youre in shambles. there was a time i did a tiny mistake by accident and my father said to me in the coldest voice "you broke my trust" and i remember so vividly how it broke me, how i cried until i got sick. i was physically abused before and none of it hurt me more than this. it still gets to me after all those years. emotional manipulation is cruel

what im trying to say is, she came in a time of need. taken as a savior while it just is one abuser swapped out with another. like my adoptive father having me dependent, giving me love i never received and being everything i wanted, making me believe hes everything i need, a common thing abusers do. wanting to do everything youre asked of and do it good, the fear of disappointing and being punished, believing you deserved it bc its your fault and treating your abuser like a savior, being conditioned. this is whats happening.

now, arle genuinely loves and protects her children; its very clear that the life of the children matter to her the most (look at childes line and freminet/lynette etc) - she was one of them too after all. so, its possible to love and still do these. moral greyness etcetc

anyway idk if its understandable or if i can explain it in proper words while maintaining a good distance so ill add the voicelines of the siblings heavily implying this, and also a tweet adressing this that brings it to proper words, better than i can say

tweet here bc tmblr doesnt insert the link properly

[salvagesmha]

PLF Advisors: My Take on their Aliases, Bios and Quirks

Because why not celebrate this blog no longer being shadowbanned than by another list of MHA's most bizarrely handled Villains!~ Here is basically the names I thought up for most of them and tried to keep it in line with the whole 'religious' aspect of the MLA. Quirks are kind of based on vibes.

Sanctum

“Currently, the oldest living member of the Meta Liberation Army turned Paranormal Liberation Front. Strict, no-nonsense  person that basically acted as temp MLA leader until Re-Destro was of age. He became Twice’s #1 Advisor in order to try to direct the most unstable of the League of Villains to more MLA values. It hasn’t really gone well in that regards. He joined the MLA since he genuinely believed that society’s current draconian ruling regarding Quirks was unsustainable and a new order that supported liberal usage of powers was beneficial to all metahuman kind. His base was a well known private university with Sanctum serving as it's President that would indoctrinate youth to the MLA. ”

Meta Ability: Sanctum - He creates an impromptu hideout for temporary rest and recouping for his allies...and if any enemy tries to answer without permission they are mentally harmed until they leave or die.

Vent

“The second oldest member of the Meta Liberation Army. A Heteromorph whose seen a lot of tragic sights regarding discrimination for being so visually different and joined the MLA in hopes of elevating hopes of reform. Though in his age, he has since passed down his fire to Disgustus, while mellowing out a good deal. These days he likes to tell young folk stories of his youth and act as a mentor. Dislikes being called Grandpa. His base is a scrapyard that has hands in many recycling program efforts and non-profits, especially those related to defective support items in the hero industry and is constantly seeking volunteers/accepting rehab people to help in Vent’s operations…and eventually the MLA’s.”

Meta Ability: Air Manipulation - For a brief space and time, he can alter air to be able to fly or use air pressure to stall/crush his foes.

Blossom

“Otherwise known as Auntie Blossom to the younger people in the MLA (she hates being called Grandma - she’s not that old yet!!). She operated an orphanage that took in kids and teens being abandoned or coming in abused because of society’s intolerance to Quirks and lack of accommodation for them. When the orphanage was in danger of being shut down, the MLA stepped in to give it the funds it needed to thrive. Because of that, both Blossom’s loyalty and a new stream of recruits was acquired that day. Blossom loves to spoil the younger MLA folks rotten, and can’t help but dote on even her peers as well. However, she has no love for the current status quo and is ruthless against those that support it. She’s the mother to another Advisor in the Violet Regiment.”

Meta Ability: Sweet Smell - Emits a pleasant scent that lowers enemies accuracy and evasion...leaving them open for Blossom and her broom spear.

Fervor

“Dabi’s 1st ranked Advisor. Just one look and you get all that you would know of about FErvor. He’s an energetic to the point of insane man, whose own self-preservation isn’t even remotely close on his mind. He’s an utter battle junkie that loves to go all out with is Quirk in brawls. He was recruited int othe MLA after higher-ups witnessed his power in a street fight, and sought to recruit him. Currently, he’s the manager of a support Despite his looks, he’s actually pretty friendly to his underlings and his co-workers…they still are pretty wary of him though.”

Meta Ability: Frenzy - Like a shark, he enters a frenzied state when smelling blood. His pain sensors dull, and he grows faster and stronger too.

Strict

“Strict is one of many in the Meta Liberation Army that believed he should have had a better lot in life than what he has now. He actually aspired to be a Hero himself, but his brutal disposition and cold attitude towards civilians/people he thought of as lesser had him expelled from his school. Eventually, during his current stint as head of a security company, he would come across Destro’s book, which eventually lead to him joining the MLA.”

Meta Ability: Gaseous - He can turn the very air around him into different sorts of gases.

Pierce

“Pierce is an up-and-coming Commander of the Meta Liberation Army. He’s known as the charismatic bad boy of the new generation of MLA executives. He’s dating Bless, and is known for being a teasing, yet loyal companion. Pierce joined the MLA as a wayward youth without much to his name, yet eager to make his mark on the world. The base he controls over is actually a hostel that he acts as a hangout for lost souls like himself and a refuge for those with nowhere to go, with Pierce essentially being their big brother figure.”

Meta Ability: Puncture - He can make holes in anyone and anything, though in himself, it's mostly harmless.

Wisdom

“Wisdom has the reputation of being the most levelheaded of the PLF Advisors. Wisdom is a Quirk therapist that helps people deal with the trauma or issues their powers have given them. As a result, though, he was constantly butting heads with the current dogma concerning the ineffective Quirk counseling at the time. Eventually, in frustration he joined the MLA to change society’s views, and uses his position as a therapist to guide more hurt people towards an organization that will readily accept them and their powers.”

Meta Ability - Flash Orb. He can throw out orbs that act as mini-bombs and/or flashbangs on his targets.

Bless

“Bless is a woman who was essentially raised into the MLA as apart of its new generation of MLA executives. Bless is the daughter of Blossom, and had been helping her mother ever since she was young in her endeavors with the Cause. She’s a deadpan snarker, and doesn’t hold a high opinion concerning a lot of her allies and their intelligence, but is devoted to working with what she got. Dating Pierce, who genuinely loves her, even with her face being scarred due to her Quirk - something she is self-conscious about. She's running her own private clinic that especially caters to those who struggle with Quirk related illness or injuries, and holds the most medical knowledge of the Advisors.”

Meta Ability: Corrosive Breath - She can emit noxious, steel melting breath. Due to the potency of her breath, she needs her guard to properly keep it under control.

Sly

“Sly is a Heteromorphic man that comes from a poor, neglected, family with fox Quirks. Ultimately, he split up for them in an attempt to make it on his own as a businessman, dissatisfied with society’s treatment of them. He joined Detnerat as apart of its weapon testing branch and eventually becoming acting director of his own division once he joined the MLA. He’s frugal man that loathes wasteful spending, having come from a home that relied on every cent counting.”

Meta Ability: Fox! He can do everything a fox can!!

Speculate

“Speculate was Curious’ Vice President of Shoowaysha, handling things in the organization while her boss was away. Her own inquisitive nature and need for the truth had her meet Curious as kindred spirits who have been disillusioned with journalism concerning Hero Society. As one can expect, she holds mixed feelings regarding working under Toga. However, she tries to be professional and polite when going about her new PLF life, determined to see Curious’ will come to fruition.”

Meta Ability: Shutterbugs. Can create little minions to act as her means of attack or recon of any area or person.

Keen

“An introvert to their core, Keen is the most reclusive member of the MLA commanders, but is still one of their best assets. A skilled programmer in their own right, Keen was recruited by the MLA after Skeptic was impressed by their own set of programming skills when Keen applied for Feel Good Inc. Skeptic introduced them to the fold and they eventually became commander of a base that was an Internet Cafe. They’re a major Star Wars fan and would rather not be seen out of their cosplay.”

Meta Ability: Tamper - They can tamper with any electronic device and use that to either attack or disrupt their foes.

Bold

“A former street fighter in her younger years, Bold is a big sister type, she loves to rumble and is highly competitive, so when the MLA offered her a world where she can do that her heart’s content, she readily agreed. Bold runs a private gym and is always eager to help new clients get in shape themselves.”

Meta Ability: Brawn Boost - Can enhance her muscles for a limited amount of time.

Red

“It’s hard to imagine that Red was a 1st-ranked Advisor with his laidback attitude, but he was actually one of the most active members of the Intelligence Regiment. He owns his own bar that’s an active hotspot for disgruntled patrons and broken folk, as well as government official and Heroes who are prone to letting things slip in their drunken states. Like many others, he joined the MLA out of frustration with the system. He oftens tries to get Skeptic to go drinking with him, to no avail.”

Meta Ability: Liquid Control - Red can bend liquid to his will and even manipulate it to act as weapons.

Slidin’ Go

“Was once the highest ranked Hero in the Meta Liberation army before Hawks joined the PLF. He was one of many struggling Heroes in the thousands, barely being able to scrape by due to his lack of popularity. It was the MLA that reached out to him, promoting him and getting him in the upper echelons of the Hero rankings, in exchange for his loyalty.”

Meta Ability: Some slide on the wiki already.

Victory

“A Heteromorphic man who life hasn’t really been kind to him, since minute one, given his toad mutation. Pretty much a social outcast, he was left with little choice but to join the MLA to gain some sort of refuge. He’s very bright and a great engineer, if a bit sloppy, and it’s to the point he’s in charge of his own workshop for the Cause, where he develops much of the cutting edge support items Detnerat uses.”

Meta Ability: Toad. He can do whatever a toad can.

Power

“A grumpy individual that thinks highly of himself and lowly of those not in his position. He was a fierce believer in the Electric Dream - that those who hold electrification Quirks were destined for greatness in Hero Society due to their powers always being in demand. However, his ego and carelessness had him lose job after job in such fields. Bitter and wanting nothing more than to dominate the society that ‘failed to see his greatness’, his eyes were turned to the MLA. He is currently the chief of security of one of their hideouts that acts as a supply depot.”

Meta Ability: Amplivolt - Can do whatever shocking thing it does on the wiki.

Flair

“Flair is a part of the new generation of MLA commanders that was set to take over the organization’s reigns later on in life. Flair is a pretty boy that has the hearts of many of soldiers, boy, and girls alike, with his down to earth nature making him very likable. Flair runs a cafe that actually serves a hangout spot for his fellow Commanders and even other higher-ups when they just want a chance to unwind. He also plays guitar and likes doing songs cover to his cafe audience.”

Meta Ability: Heat Spikes - Can generate a layer of fire spikes to use against his foes, and can cover his body with them as well like a porcupine.

Question

“Who are they? Now that’s the Question: and the answer is fairly simple! The Question is a flamboyant actor who dreamt of making their theatre a big shot in the entertainment world. But, sadly, while they were a good manager, it was a constant struggle to keep the theatre afloat. Thankfully, the MLA stepped in to provide said fundings for not only repairs but to even host plays that made use of the talent’s Quirks as well!! While controversial, it became a smash hit and the Question was loyal to the MLA ever since.”

Meta Ability: Inquisition - Can force a person to go mad with questions about their own existence.

Fury

“A heteromorphic woman that received the brunt of both ends of discrimination for her looks. Both from those who despised her appearance, and those who thought of her as ‘exotic’ and a prize to show off. Filled with rage against the current status quo for this, she joined the MLA for finally payback such actions. Fury runs a shelter for unhoused Heteromorphs who can’t find accommodation easily.”

Meta Ability: Shell Hair - Can use her hair as a shield or as sharp weapons to attack.

Disgustus

“Of the Heteromorphic Trio of the Spinner’s advisors, Disgustus, as per his name, holds the most bitterness towards society. Similar to Spinner, he had to deal with harassment and assault by non-heteromorphs, and has become filled with vengeance and hatred because of it. Naturally, he found his home in the MLA as it was his best chance at rectifying such an issue. An eloquent speaker, he has the best persuasion skills of his trio, which serves well for his job maintaining a church.”

Meta Ability: Spider - Does whatever a spider can.

Joy

“Like with Fury and Disgustus he was also a victim of Heteromorphic discrimination and often thought to be stupid for his passiveness. However, Joy is a big believer of being subtle with intent and purpose: until it’s too late for your enemies. As such, he fits right alongside the shadow organization of the PLF. His base is a recreational center for the youth of Heteromorphs.”

Meta Ability: Size Increase - Can bloat or thin himself at will, and even down to specific body parts.

[sarah-sandwich-writes]

20 Questions - Fanfic Writer Edition

I was tagged by both @writer-or-whatever and @jmrothwell so I suppose I better do it 😅 Thanks guys!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 42 (*gasp* am I Miles Morales?)

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 1,265,660 lol

3. What fandoms do you write for? currently just Spider-Man but I used to write for Supernatural and before that Harry Potter. I'm a one obsession at a time kinda girl.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Paradise (spread out with a butter knife) - 72k spideypool soulmates au

Don't Freak Out - 136k parkner rivals to lovers speedrun

A Peach Like You - 73k parkner featuring autistic!peter, loveatfirstsight!harley, and a cringe self insert as the villain of the week lmao

The Distance Between (You and Me) - 29k parkner bodyguard au

You're Freaking Out - 166k sequel to DFO featuring plot (wow!) and Miles (yay!)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

My dudes I try. I know I'm not very consistent and I have a tendency to disappear for months at a time, but I read and cherish each one.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't really do angsty endings lol I think the closest I've gotten is Lay Me Down - 8k destiel major character death--lowest kudosed fic out of all 42 lmao

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

This is an impossible question. I am like the queen of happy endings? You want me to rank them??? Fine, it's You're Freaking Out. Best 10k epilogue in the land. Oh hey also I just noticed it has 997 kudos. May I humbly request 3 more pretty please?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No. Closest was when someone complained on one of my destiel fics about the grocery store not having plastic bags and needing a quarter in order to obtain a cart. I specifically remember they said, "I hate when writers do this," and went on to complain about us making up obviously fake stuff that pulls them out of the story. Like, first of all you're complaining about storytellers making stuff up ??? okay. And second, it was an Aldi. A real grocery store. That I didn't make up.

I had to take a day to cool off before I responded and then they were like oh yeah, my roommate told me when I complained to them, you responded to this really nicely though! WHICH folks LET ME TELL YOU made me angrier lol Like you found out you were wrong and didn't even come back to edit/delete/apologize for your comment???

Anyway after that I internalized that you don't know what kind of lived experience your commenters have so some comments should be taken with a grain of salt. Which is a double-edged sword bc sometimes I get really nice enthusiastic comments and read it like, okay but what if this person is 12 and read it at 2am in a fit of delirium and this is their first fic ever and it's actually not as good as they think haha

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I doooo. I haven't published any since I wrote for spn but I have a parkner pwp ready to go as soon as I muster up the nerve.

I have no idea how to interpret the question "what kind" lol uhhh the hot kind? pffft

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I have but I never published them. Again, these were for spn which is hella fun to play with merging into other canon. I started but never finished spn crossovers with Firefly, The 100, The Hunger Games, Criminal Minds, Agents of Shield, and Teen Wolf. I think that's all of them. I've been thinking about putting all of my abandoned wips on AO3 for archive purposes, but idk still noodling on it. I wish there way a way I could elect to post without notifying my subscribers :/ Or at least send them a message warning them that I'm about to be incredibly annoying

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of 🙃

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes!! A few now! The ultimate kudo in my opinion, and one I never expected <3

The wonderful @bluettspetal has translated An Insignificant Problem, Undercover? I thought you said under covers..., and Completely and utterly devoid of sex appeal into Russian with plans to translate more.

And Faaayeee42 on AO3 translated Paradise (spread out with a butter knife) to Mandarin Chinese.

I'm forever blown away by this.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope! Done some brainstorming a few times but nothing that has evolved into actually writing out a shared thing. Not sure I'd be any good at it tbh. I'd probably be a very frustrating writing partner.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Peter Parker/Harley Keener. They're good boys.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

My Infinity War time travel fix it (make it worse) fic 😔 It's got so much potential but it is perpetually at the bottom of the to-do list.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and developing relationships

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

mother fucking action sequences and like, coming up with The Plan (the evil kind and the ones to take down the evil kind)

This silly little graphic I made for You're Freaking Out where Harley mocks The Plan made by the spider dumplin gang was initially one half of my brain negging the other half about being shit at making Plans and I decided that it might as well manifest as the characters lmao

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Eh. It's fanfiction, you know? Do what you want. Experiment. Try your best to do it justice. Accept that some people are going to let their eyes blur and skim over it while others will pick it apart but most will exist somewhere in the middle. Just write what you want to write, how you want to write it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

*sigh* Harry Potter. Looking forward to my own post getting gobbled up by my block list lmao

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Goodness gracious how do I even decide? I think Peaches Ain't Pretty is my favorite. It's the fic that showed me beyond a shadow of a doubt that I can step outside of fanfiction and write whatever I want and be just as satisfied, if not more.

[natsubeatsrock]

Ranking Fairy Tail Death Fakeouts

I'm not posting frequently enough to make joke posts.

We've had quite many death fakeouts in this series. 

That statement alone is an indictment on Hiro Mashima, who has gone on record to say that he enjoys writing characters in situations where it seems they died but survived.

I figured I'd rank as many fakeouts as I remember from best to worst. 

I tried to limit myself to situations where it was clear that we should think the situation led to death. However, things got out of hand. (You'll see.) Bear in mind that some involve groups of people who we thought died.

While this is my ranking, I tried to stick to these criteria in ranking them.

Should they have died otherwise?

Does their return make sense?

Is the series better for their return?

We're starting with the best version of this trope. 

Fairy Sphere was the best death fakeout, and I'm not sure people would expect it to fit these criteria.

Everyone on the island thought they would die. They accepted their fate in Toy Story 3 style when the Black Dragon came and blasted Tenrou Island, leaving only a crater. 

That's good games, folks.

However, the return makes sense. Those members were at a sacred spot for their guild. While we know Mavis' body isn't on the island now, we've seen her powers at work earlier in the arc. Mavis using one of the guild's most powerful spells is reasonable. It activated because of their shared spirit, leading to the Grand Magic Games.

I've criticized Mashima's handling of training in series, especially in the Grand Magic Games. Their return was a genius idea. Time skips happen often in anime and manga, but few function as this did. The heroes have to play catch-up with the rest of the world. The execution wasn't the best, but this was one of Mashima's best ideas in the series.

Speaking of Mavis, I think her death fakeout was the best individual example. This might be because we didn't get enough reason to believe there was anything past her death. If you could make a phantom image of yourself, wouldn't you put yourself in your prime? We had no reason to believe she died at the age we saw her. 

I'm not the most supportive of Zervis, but I like this as a death situation. The good news is that she didn't die from the curse of contradiction. While it's a bit sketchy, I do like that there are attempts to keep her alive as soon as possible.

Her continued existence as Lumen Histoire (I prefer this name to Fairy Heart) was foreshadowed amazingly. It was a situation that affected all the major arcs from its mention to the end of the main series. Of course, after escaping Lumen Histoire, she continues to impact the series for the better. The Larcade/August situation is a mess, but I don't think it hurts Mavis' return.

Speaking of which, Lisanna's fakeout was also really good. (Shocking, I know.) Let me start by admitting that this one is hurt by her lack of importance in the series. She hasn't taken out any major villains or caused dramatic character changes (unless you read my stories). It doesn't matter since we never really were led to think she would become a super relevant character.

As for the other aspects, she passes with flying colors in my book. She should have died on the mission based on everything we know about the situation. No one in the guild operates under the assumption otherwise, and it is taken for granted for two in-series years.

However, we never see her die in the manga. We hear about the events and get flashes of what happened. However, Mashima never shows us that she died, even after the series was extended past Phantom Lord. While the anime shows more of what happened, the director admitted he never planned to treat Lisanna as dead. Edolas as an escape for Lisanna makes more sense than people give it credit for.

Next up is Irene, whose situation is interesting. I should be madder about how that was handled. There didn't seem to be a reason for her to kill herself, especially given the justification of actually loving Erza. While Acnologia brutalizing her body was too much, that felt like the nail in the coffin. If she wasn't dead before, she was dead then.

However, the return itself isn't nonsensical. Irene was impressed by Wendy's enchanting skills during their battle. No wonder she would want to tag along with her temporarily. I do prefer this justification for Irene. She still wants to find a body of her own to host. I'm glad she's selfish about it.

This aspect was one of my favorite things about the sequel. It was great to see how Wendy and Irene interacted with each other. Often, it would be Wendy accounting for Irene in situations or Irene intervening in places where Wendy needed help. I wasn't a big fan of the resolution, but I did appreciate that it tied into the Knightwalker situation.

The last of the good returns is Gajeel. His death was another situation that was treated as a given. He was being taken to 'hell' at the end of his fight. This was almost a tragic end to the best ship in the Big 4. We recognize their mutual feelings only to be ripped out of their hands just as soon.

The genius of this moment comes in the timing of events. It's hard to explain this, but the events of the arc all overlap in weird ways. This fight happens as Natsu and Lucy hope Brandish can negotiate peace with August and Irene's meeting with Acnologia. While the portal closes, Irene is casting Universe One. The spell changes the continent's shape-up, so it's not out of the realm of possibility this brings Gajeel back into commission.

Honestly, Gajeel doesn't do a whole lot past his return. He certainly puts work in, especially in the sequel. However, he's not impacting the series like several other characters mentioned before, along with others to come. Though, even at this point in the series, he's nowhere near the focus of the series. Not to mention, he's always been a secondary character, so no meaningful change there.

Other people wouldn't count this, but I'm putting Silver next. I say I'm not sure because this is a rare example of a fakeout of a death fakeout. Silver was killed by Deliora all those years ago. However, he was brought back to life thanks to Keyes, who used him as a puppet and experimental rat. This makes sense as a reason for him to return. 

However, the lead-up to this revelation is pretty messy. We're led to believe he's Deliora for some time, among other things. (We'll get to him soon enough.) His most meaningful impact is giving Gray Demon Slaying magic. His role involved setting plot points before their fight, like freezing Sun Village and capturing Natsu.

I'm not a fan of Jellal's return. This could be a higher ranking. The circumstances surrounding his supposed death are reasonable enough to think he died. We'd probably assume he was gone forever if it weren't for Mystogan showing up during Fantasia. Nirvana justifies his return. He's arguably made the most impact of anyone on this list.

So what gives?

Petty as it sounds, this version of Jellal bores me. Look at how Jellal acts before Nirvana and how he acts after it. Of course, this is because of what happened in the Tower of Heaven arc. However, I wish there was a way we could keep Jellal's snarky attitude while also being a heroic figure. Thank goodness Crimson Starbird wrote Kidnapping Erza. Speaking of which, his ranking is saved pending his joining Fairy Tail. It's a cliche ending to his arc, but a welcome cliche for a fan favorite. 

Moving down the rankings, God Serena is up next. This is another situation like Silver, where he died but was brought back to life. I don't like him or his return. I plan to talk about this later, but his death is made worse by the final battle of the main series. We're supposed to believe the power of eight dragons couldn't beat Acnologia. Yet the power of seven fire dragons can get the job done? No dice.

His importance in the sequel is to be noted. It certainly was a shock to see him come back. However, I don't think anyone was clamoring for this former member of the Spriggan Twelve to come back into the series. Brandish and DiMaria were more popular characters. I'd take my chances with the Dragneels coming back again. (You can tell this is a personal list.)

We have another fakeout in this list of death fakeouts because we have Igneel, Metallicana, Grandeeny, Skidarum, and Weisslogia. That's right, I'm putting all the dragons on this spot. This is another spot that feels like cheating because they did die all those years ago. All we saw was their last spurt of energy. That was enough to go toe to toe with Acnologia and destroy all the Face statues.

I want to like this one more. This was one of the best moments in the series. Still, I can't say that it makes sense for them to be back. I appreciate that this was hinted at, but the hints were cryptic. I'm glad the dragons destroyed the Dragon Seeds and Natsu's dreams. I can't put them any higher in good conscience.

I wish this next one was at the bottom, but I can't lie. I hate what happened to Ultear. I've talked about that much already. Last Ages might be the only thing I hate more than Nalu in Fairy Tail. That said, I can't act like it makes no sense to exist or that the results are shocking.

I can say that I'm annoyed by the future implications of this moment. I'd rather Ultear not be an active character in the series than see what's happened. Whenever I see Ultear do something, I can't tell if Mashima regrets his decision or is doubling down on it. This isn't anywhere frequent enough to piss me off more.

I'm going to throw Deliora next on this list. I'm not sure who counts for this list anymore. Let's start with the positives. His death was very well explained. The plot to revive him was interesting. 

However, this arc is among my least favorite in the series because of what happens when the ice melts. Outside of a version-dependent last roar, Deliora was always dead. While Moon Drip and Deliora's legacy matters moving forward, the real Deliora doesn't.

We're in the bottom three now. Fitting that the only man to be guild master three times is up next. Makarov's situation is a bit too weird. He only survived based on the technicality of Tenrou Island joining the continent when he went out. You probably didn't know that was a part of the deal. That's right. The only reason this can be justified isn't even common knowledge.

Honestly, there wasn't enough reason for Makarov to come back. The benefit to his return is that Erza can go on the Century Quest without worrying about being the guild master. I know that the Ghost Dragon Slayer was part of the guild, but that's not enough reason for him to not have passed leadership to the next generation.

This is another shocking addition to this list, but our second to last person is Kageyama. Technically, he was the first instance of this happening in Fairy Tail. During the Lullaby mission, he was about to free them from Erigor's trap, but he was stabbed before he could do anything. I could see this argued as not truly being a death fakeout. However, I'm counting it because it wouldn't make sense to interpret his absence as not being a death. Then again, we are talking about him here.

You could also argue that his situation isn't as bad as other characters we've mentioned. However, he earns this spot because, by coming back, he causes more problems for the Strongest Team. Let's get this out of the way. Natsu should have left him in the trap, regardless of his feelings. But by being brought along, he betrays the group's tenuous trust in him and endangered guild masters from all over the land. If he threatened them, I'd bump him higher on this list. He served as a glorified delivery boy. Erigor could have been in the same place as him, fought Natsu, and lost. Nothing serious would have been lost.

But he's not the worst. The undisputed worst death fakeout was only ever going to one person. You know her. You love her, but nowhere near as much as she loves Gray. That's right, Juvia's death fakeout is the worst. (I can hear the Gruvians coming for me from a mile away.)

I've also discussed this situation too much for any person's sanity to be intact. But let's review what we've gone through in this list. Some character's death (fake or otherwise) makes sense, but not the return. For others, the return is pretty sensible, but not the death. Many characters are saved by their relevance after the fact. Whatever the case, some aspect of their situation has reasonable logic. The best characters make sense on all accounts.

Juvia's in a league all her own. Juvia's death was under ridiculous circumstances that strained believability. Her return was arguably just as bad, if not worse. I've heard plenty of people talk smack about Lisanna's comeback. You can't tell me with a straight face that this is better. At least people didn't expect Lisanna to return at all, least of all the chapter after she was revealed to have died. That would be enough to earn this spot on its own.

What cements it for me is that Mashima decided to shoehorn her into nearly every arc of the sequel. I won't go so far as to say I wish Juvia was dead so the ship wouldn't happen. But is Juvia living to fuel one of Mashima's sloppiest ships ever to head towards being canon that good a tradeoff? By the way, this whole situation shaped Gruvia's current trajectory. Considering that happens to be one of the worst things about the sequel, I feel comfortable putting this return at the bottom of this list.

Let me know what you think. If I left anyone on this list, I'd be shocked to find out.

[titanus-horizio]

@littlemissatlas @standard-human @sleepymilkcarton @gay-trashcan-cat @mjtheartist04

So....3 announcements on atab

As I mentioned earlier the inspirations for the story are a lot of indie stuff like helluva boss, lackadaisy,hazbin etc(don't wrap me up in the drama, I could not care less)

But also for the kaiju tone and stuff like that, here are the main inspirations

All of these Kaiju films are easily my favorites in the genre. Shusuke Kaneko, and Takashi Yamazaki are some of my favorite kaiju directors and their movies have shaped the kaiju genre as a whole tremendously, Godzilla vs mothra is here for nostalgia reasons mostly and because I think it handles the lore of monsters pretty well too.

Now, what's a Godzilla/daikaiju story without some monsters. The roster already included Godzilla, Gigan, Megalon, titanosaurus, Mothra,Anguirus, and Rodan but I think that there's another kaiju icon that needs...some work. The ion dragon from Monarch legacy of monsters was cool and all....but it gave me false hopes of a sonic super dragon showing up. So joining the ranks of the kaiju in atab are these fine folks: Moguera, Barugon, gyaos, legion

....and one more, taking on a more villainous approach than the usual benevolent guardian role he usually has

Gamera

Each kaiju will be adapted in my own way that I think would be interesting for atab. also me saying that Gamera is gonna be more antagonistic presence doesn't mean he's gonna be THE villian of atab. I'm taking an approach similar to the titans in the monsterverse, where they are just creatures from an age far older and far more merciless than the age of man.

And now for the 3rd announcement, production on the first story of atab's universe is starting, I want it to come out in early to mid March, it's gonna be focusing on the early days of the warden's and fittingly enough, the origin of several Kaiju(primarily Godzilla, Gamera)

I hope you enjoy! There's a lot more to come for this^^

[asurastro]

Got any heroes (or even villains) you’re buddies with? What’s a day out with them like?

"Oh yeah sure. Sometimes when I fight a supervillain, monster, or other 'evil' foe, we can work things out once in a while and chill out, usually from among those treated like low ranked fodder. Most of my superhero pals are grassroots do-gooders who didn't join up with a celebrity or government supergroup either."

"Let's see... one instance: there was Pillbug-- once the puny, then the brave. He was a little roly poly fella, he and a couple of his pals, Suckerpunch Marrsk and Sodavend Robo, fought me and my pal Botticelli on behalf of the toku-style [SUBTERRANEAN EMPIRE] "Mantle." They were decent folk, and fully defected after we defeated their boss [MIDDLE MANAGER] "Tacker Mask" (A marrsk is a demotion), as well as some rookie members of the celebrity supergroup, the Enforcers. Now they operate for themselves instead being pawns to Emperor Fumerole and his aristocracy."

"My hero pals include the speedster Hot Wheeler, size-shifting Super Robot "ActDroid," Taria-- warrior-mage of Seatopia, and the Curious Kunoichi. Botticelli is a little tortoise jock who I attend superpowered pro-wrestling shows with, along with our good pal Capybara Joe. Joe doesn't fight much, he's just a hype man and moral support. These are just a few of the folks I get along with-- at least when our schedules are all free!"

[eclipsecrowned]

objectivism before autism. sources before vibes. logic before character shilling.

i don't think i can abide those rules but let's try.

so first off on a grand scale, nothing he has done is any worse than our heroes? there's this soldier who is the pawn of a malignant figure of power killing indiscriminately out of a misplaced sense of moral superiority. am i talking about bl*ckthorn era d*linar, or canon era m0ash? both are running around carving down opposition and serving a force of evil riding on a campaign of helping 'his' people. everyone loses, but especially the soldier loses his personhood. the only difference is how pre-war rank defines each man's narrative to me -- d*linar is upholding a system that in turn benefits him, m0ash is a deeply, humanly flawed desire to tear down those same power structures. they can parallel, b-money just won't let them.

my second point is basically the thesis statement of the series: no one is beyond help. people choose every day to be better. healing is a journey. we already see my man having the sort of deep conscience-grappling trauma that defines d*linar and k*ladin, especially after the tower. we see him holding back where he can go absolutely unhinged otherwise, despite his clear apathy. there's still a part of the man within the machine, and i think that's pivotal. people can make choices. people can stop, can reach out, can say 'never again.' we see it over and over again in the series. accountability paving the way to a brighter future.

also, loving others seems to be a large requisite to this, probably highlighting how important support is to those trying to be better irl. d*linar cries because his son cannot hate him, despite the horrific things he's done and how he's hated that boy in turn. k*ladin has his love for his men, and the true desire to protect those around him. m0ash is mostly unchained, but he's still got that link to his former captain, and sweet jesus, his response to what happened to t*ft -- point is, i think it can play out without feeling totally out of left field 'no m0ash-kun is good guy now and wants to defend konohathiru with narudin-kun.'

there's also something to how he responded to r*narin dealing psychic damage with 'and here's what you could have been if you had fully baked a single idea in your life.' i keep coming back to it. there's something brewing there.

as for how i think it will happen... listen, i make the m0ashsuke jokes all the time, ask my discord buddies, but i don't think this ends with him welcomed back into the fold. it'd be cheap somehow but would not surprise me if the author did go the route of 'no he's cool with the system now and is going to come back and be a good guy,' because he's so opposed to the system of his society that he turned kingslayer. i am a firm proponent of 'shit is going to get worse at the duel.' i also think this will be his redemption.

one idea i've floated is that it's going to come down to m0ash, the fleeing masses, and a man making a choice. maybe it's no longer about tearing down those in power, maybe these are innocent darkeyes like his family. maybe this is everything he didn't want when he started dreaming of making a stand. maybe he registers there is no better system waiting. so he does his part to strike against the other side as hard as he did against the kh0lin. one last dance. he might go down a folk hero, the former br*dgeman who stood up for his people against the encroaching dark. he doesn't go down having apologized or with the chance to see where this goes, but he dies having at least made his own decision and not being anyone's pawn, and in that becomes a complicated figure rather than a strictly villainous one.

i also like the somewhat fringe theory of 'new 0athpact' and that our r*diant protags are going to be a man short to hold 0dium back for the next 15 years -- and m0ash digs his blade into the ground before them. accountability. he killed a her*ld. he'll make up for this, and make a choice for himself. he's spited one corrupt leader, and he's happy to do it again. take him with them. he doesn't beg forgiveness or admit he was wrong -- he just balances the scale he tipped into chaos.

i don't know if this is what i will get, admittedly. personally, i think m0ash has some points, and stand by if he had a bit better sense/patience, if he was able to more critically parse his intent in getting revenge, he'd be a menace to the kh0lin as the sort of revolutionary the people sorely need. i just don't know that the author agrees with me. doubtless of m0ash does get one last stand or similar, he'll go in k*l's arms apologizing for all that he's done, bleeding and begging k*l to help their people. do what he couldn't -- what he was too blind to see.

but honestly i want an unrepentant but wiser m0ash making his own way, to whatever end, instead of constantly caught in the gears of machines far older than he is. if he has to apologize, have it be to people he hurt, not systems he's lashing out at -- hey prince sorry for the lifelong trauma of witnessing your father's death, hey man that i love i'm sorry i drove you to literal breaking point despite knowing better, etc, etc.

[couldbebetterforsure]

Okay folks I’m back from my vacation, so now I can go back to posting about my Jack Jeanne playthrough!!!! I finished the Fall Performance before my vacation but I didn’t have time to post my thoughts before I left, so let’s get to it then!

Man, Mary Jane as a play was so creepy and wild and enjoyable! I loved how it managed to be both fucked up and lighthearted at the same time??? Also it just may have my favorite play related CGs so far because WOW there were some fantastic CGs for this play!!! Mary Jane herself is such a fun and sad character in how lonely she is and how warped she is by that loneliness, and yet how kind she also is. Fumi yet again did a wonderful job in this role! All the ghosts managed to be funny and sweet characters. Suzu, Neji, Mitsuki, and Otori did wonderfully (while also having the funniest costumes I let out such a dumb laugh when I saw Suzu’s)! Otori I think you’re meant for the weird roles, just embrace your fate…And man were Figaro and Charles just sooooo delightfully unhinged! Kisa, my girl, she truly did a masterful job in her second Jack role and that maniacal laugh of hers was fucking incredible. But Sou…fucking Soshiro Yonaga…holy fucking shit!!!! More on him later….But anyways the pair were also pitiful in that along with their hatred of ghosts, it’s understandable that they were so angry at Mary specifically for (albeit unknowingly) using their friends’ corpses to make Jacob and man Figaro going absolutely batshit after Charles died because that’s his brother, his twin…What absolutely fun villains! Well at least they can be together as ghosts, right?

Some more A+ music from the play! A Friend Without a Name was such a lovely tune, reminded me in many ways of a music box. Fumi and Kai had some wonderful choreography for this song. Hallelujah Shout the name of God, My Friends was my favorite of the three for sure! I loved how it shifted so much and the way Kisa, Sou, and Fumi’s voices all came together! Ghost Party is a very close second, it’s so damn catchy!!! Like I wasn’t really feeling it when I heard the instrumental during the practice but when I got to hear the actual performance I was bouncing along so much I fucked up the rhythm game 😂😂😂 Still got the SS rank though ✌️ Then again, I am playing the rhythm games on normal mode, which is SUPER forgiving regarding how much you can fuck up and still get the best rank.

And good GRIEF the drama going on with Quartz throughout all of this! I mentioned this earlier but the sheer shock I felt when the cast list first came out and Sou didn’t get a named role. I truly didn’t expect that to happen! I figured there’s no way that doesn’t change, it doesn’t seem right, but I was getting worried there as we got closer and closer to performance day! The buildup to what happened with Sou for the Fall Performance had been building up slowly, like I’ve said before he’s shown he’s getting frustrated with his performance on stage. Especially when compared to how Kisa and Suzu, his two closest friends in Univeil, have been performing in the last two plays…I said before that what he needed was the chance to prove himself in a role that truly clicked for him. But then he wasn’t given a named role for Mary Jane…And geez you see how badly that destroys him despite him trying to stay his polite and soft spoken self, to the point of even ignoring Kisa and Suzu. Which all comes to a head when Suzu and Sou have their big fight, which leads to Sou being the loudest I’ve ever heard him at that point in the game. While I was so uncomfortable in that fight because “nooo boys please you’re friends don’t do this 😭😭😭”, I liked that I could get both sides of the argument. Because on Suzu’s end one of his closest friends has suddenly started ignoring him and won’t explain anything and it’s also clearly hurting another one of their mutual friends (Kisa), while on Sou’s end his insecurities and frustration at how his own efforts aren’t matching up to what he wants and how his friends are seemingly getting where they want to be so easily and seemingly aren’t as gutted by disappointment made him reach his breaking point.

Coupled with Sou’s drama is Suzu’s own drama. Suzu struggling to play a villain role so unlike who he is, a cunning guy. Gosh when I heard Suzu was gonna okay a villain I was sooooooooo hyped!!! He struggled but that’s the thing about Suzu, he struggles but he gets there eventually because he doesn’t stop trying. I was so ready to see him as the cunning and arrogant Jean Jose!!! But then…his injury…You know I remembered a while back a random Suzu event I saw had him mention a scar on his ankle if I remember right, and I was like 👀 at that info but then it was never brought up again so I thought it was just a random fun fact or something. But then as the weeks went on for the Fall Performance, Suzu was shown occasionally struggling with his foot. I actually thought maybe he sprained it in that early practice scene but then I remembered that scar thing and was like “👀👀👀👀👀 oh????? is it related?!?!?!?!??!?!!?!!” And then BAM!!! My poor sweet boy’s ankle couldn’t hold out anymore…Gosh that reveal that he had to give up kendo because of how bad the injury was…And how acting, specifically Univeil performances, gave him a reason to keep going again and a new dream…But now his ankle gave out and now there’s that chance acting could be taken from him too. I wonder if we’ll get more info on his injury, specifically what caused it. Because I admit I’m not too familiar with kendo but I’ve seen some pictures and stuff of it, and I can’t figure out what on earth happened to Suzu that injured him THAT badly. Based on a convo with Neji earlier, I can guess either he or the person he was sparring with wasn’t careful enough but I’d like more details. But yeah seeing how much of a brave face he was putting on, especially when he was cleared to come back but no longer had a role in the play. That scene between him and Kisa when he admits how scared he is murdered me…My poor sweetheart….

Also the way that before the fight was officially cleared up between Suzu and Sou the two of them were already friends again. Sou wanting to practice all the play lines to help Suzu and Kisa with rehearsals while Suzu told Neji to give the role to Sou if he couldn’t stand on stage himself. The way Suzu had no hard feelings towards Sou about being replaced. Sou at the end of the performance telling Suzu that HE is the one Sou doesn’t wanna lose to most 😭😭😭😭 I love all of Quartz so much but the first years are special to me because they really are the best friend trio.

And maaaan, Quartz really does have the best senpai in the world!!! Mitsuki, Fumi, and Kai all helping out Suzu, Kisa, and Sou respectively regarding the fight. Mitsuki and Fumi both standing up to Utsuri and Kakuto when they wanted to start shit with poor Kisa. The fact that Neji at the last moment added an entirely new character to the play just so that Suzu wouldn’t be left out! I mean when they changed the okay so that Sou would play Figaro and as Charles’ brother instead, Neji only needed to fix stuff related to that. But he also went and gave Suzu a new role that wouldn’t stress his ankle out because he knew that despite Suzu trying to be lighthearted about it he desperately wanted to stand on the stage too. For all that Neji thrives on chaos he’s much kinder than he lets on ☺️

Anyways, Sou’s acting in Mary Jane was nuts, absolutely bonkers. The way he kept such a calm tone for most of the play before starting to yell some lines once Figaro and Charles revealed their true purpose. And then…the masterpiece…Figaro’s screaming after Charles died….I truly thought Sou was gonna throw his voice out with how absolute batshit those screams were. How did his VA manage to NOT destroy his voice??? And the CG that accompanied that moment? Perfection. You know half of the audience went home and had nightmares after that. But yeah I was right, Sou got the role that clicked for him. He got to showcase what he’s made of and I can only hope he’ll improve from here! And he deserved that reward, I would’ve entered this game and fought all of Univeil if he didn’t get anything after that performance. Also I really loved Fumi finally getting a chance to be free and not be so tied down from being Quartz’s responsible senpai and getting to truly showcase his skill by competing with Kisa and Sou.

Final note, while I loved Mary Jane and think everything that went down in the Fall Performance arc was great, I’m sad we never got Jean Jose realized. I wanted to see my boy Suzu play a villain role 😞😞😞 Neji, babe, please come through for me and give me the gift of villain Suzu for the Winter Performance! Please do me this one solid, Neji 🙏

[quinloki]

And here we go, May's Top 20 Blorbo Rankings:

Stable rankings: Arlong and Beckman consistently going 1-2 is the only thing I can genuinely count on with these rankings. Kid is holding steady in 10th and that's it for being steady.

People who fell off the rankings: Wyper, Sabo, Bepo, Killer, & Laboon.

People still missing from the list: Buggy.

People new or returning to the list: Nico Robin, Zoro, Ace, Vergo, & Thatch.

Those who moved UP since April: Shanks tangoed with Alvida to move back up 1 spot to his original position of 3rd. Borsi Baby also moved 1 spot into 5th & Penguin moved 1 spot into 15th, Sakazuki moved 2 spots into 7th, Vivi moved 3 spots into 16th & Trafalgar moved 3 spots into 11th, Mihawk moved 4 spots into 8th and lastly, Marco moved 5 spots into 6th.

Those who dropped DOWN since April: Alvida danced a dangerous tango with Shanks and dropped 1 spot into 4th. Smoker dropped 1 spot into 14th, Sir Crocodile dropped 4 spots into 9th and Rayleigh dropped 6 spots into 13th.

Mihawk ended up taking Wyper's spot while Mihawk's 12th place went to Thatch. Penguin moved up into Sabo's spot while Vivi moved into Penguin's spot. Bepo's spot was taken by Vergo, Killer's spot by Ace, Zoro took Vivi's old spot since she moved up and Nico Robin took Laboon's.

Nico Robin brings the lady count up to three! Marco jumped the most spots for someone already on the list and Thatch ranked the highest out of new/returning players. Rayleigh dropped the most spots for folks already here and of the people who fell off entirely, Wyper fell the furthest as he was originally in 8th position.

I actually dropped someone who was in the top 10 from the list entirely. Wyper had been a staple if I recall correctly. =(

I'm still bummed Buggy hasn't made it back onto the list but thrilled i finally got Thatch on there. I am baffled as to how Mihawk not only stays on the damn list but moved into the top 10?! And you managed to get Marco into the top 10...or maybe the bartender managed it, it's hard to say.

I'm super glad to have both Ace and Zoro back, Zoro has been a staple and it was horrifying he fell off at all. He's still my favorite strawhat and technically my favorite character in the whole series, just platonically my favorite. If the people who run the site ever add Aramaki, I'd be okay with him knocking out Vergo—both villains but Aramaki is better looking. I'd also be okay if he stole Penguin's place.

It would be best to drop Penguin and Vergo (and Mihawk) and get Aramaki, Dr. Kureha, and Laki on here. I loved a lot of different ladies so far and would love to have my rankings reflect the feminine awesomeness but they are struggling to get on here. I'm glad the strawhat I most resemble made it though and Robin is giving me hope that I can get my other two ladies on here.

I don't know who I'd want to give up for Nojiko & I could easily live without Makino, Perona, and Bell-Mere but at the same time I wouldn't mind having all my favorite ladies on the list. It'd just be hard to eliminate that many good looking men.

I might have to start changing the blorbo ranking strategy from who I find the most attractive to who i actually value as a person more. Because I could definitely get more women on the list if I didn't rank everyone from an attraction standpoint.

You know what, I'll try that for June. I'll rank everyone based on how much I'd value them as people if they were real instead of just a literal face value of attraction. That's how the women get shafted by me because I'm not attracted to ladies but if I changed how I voted, I bet I'd have a lot more women represented.

If I did that I could easily get rid of: Mihawk, Rayleigh, Penguin, Vergo, Sakazuki, everyone who fell off this month [Wyper, Sabo, Killer, Laboon, Bepo], and even Smoker. That's 11 fellas I could vote against when paired against Alvida, Vivi, Laki, Nico Robin, Dr. Kureha, Nojiko, Perona, Makino, Koala, & Bell-Mere. That's 10 ladies against 11 guys, so one guy gets to live (maybe get Wyper back).

I look forward to seeing the changes and fruits of this new strategy for next month.

I usually rank them based on just overall favorite, but that skews toward who I like to write too - the more I enjoy a character the more I enjoy writing them, so it's kind of a feedback loop. I think it's why my top 4's been so solid for so long at this point. I don't even really have to think about it.

And some of it is physical attraction, and some of it is just how much I love the canon characterization and the creativity that affords as AU characterization and options.

but my rankings definitely lean on who I enjoy writing, so I think it makes it easier for me to focus on a single set of parameters.

It's interesting, I'm not terribly enamored with writing female canon characters, but I don't mind writing fem readers. Not that I have anything against the ladies - I love the Doc, and Nami and Vivi and Robin and Monet and -- I could go on, but it's just not at the same level I guess. I might even out on it more with the host club, since the cast is so heckin' big, it'll give me more practice.

xD I'm not going to dig any further than that though, I'm not trying to have an impromptu therapy session lol

As always, thank you for sharing \o/ I love seeing the rankings =3