#whereas the others all feel pretty dependant on someone else leaving first in my opinion

[multiplefandomsblog]

Hajime x reader x Nagito NSFW and SFW headcanons

request; omg could you please (of course, only if it isn’t a bother) do the polyamorous SFW and NSFW headcanons like you did for kokichi and Shuichi with Hajime and nagito? gn! or fem! reader, please 🛐

Warnings; unedited, minor spoilers, long af, polyamory, anggggsssst, fluff, the timeline is bullshit, voyeurism, praise kink, degradation kink, orgasm denial/edging, cock warming, BDSM, gn!reader, I tried making the reader’s parts gender-neutral, anal, fingering, hair pulling, cum eating, mentions of choking

Note; I feel like I made this more different compared to the Shuichi and kokichi one, but I still hope you enjoyed it nonetheless, thank you for requesting! (i also had so many more things to add, but it was becoming quite long so I had to hold back a bit qwq)

- mod chia

•SFW•

◊ TSUNDERE HAJIME AHHH- I’m so sorry, I just had to.

◊ But yes, Hajime is absolutely the cutest tsundere ever.

◊ It’s especially amusing when you and Nagito both gang up on him, kissing or cuddling him randomly just to see him flustered. You’d both randomly start being super affectionate towards him, turning him red. A thing you and Nagito would do is lean on both sides of his shoulders at the same time, or hug him from the back and front. Maybe some cheek kisses from both sides, he loves those but he won’t tell you that.

◊ I headcanon Hajime to be a protective boyfriend. If he ever found out someone had been rude to you or Nagito, he would throw hands. He is willing to beat up anyone for the two of you, you can’t talk him out of it.

◊ Hajime would get jealous easily, as a result of his insecurity about his talentlessness. If he ever saw an ultimate putting the moves on either of you, he’d probably get uncomfortable and try to pull you away or be extra affectionate.

◊ He gets kind of upset and envious of the ultimates Nagito praises, it makes him wonder if you and Nagito preferred someone else that had talent. So please assure him that he’s everything you both want and more, he needs the confidence and comfort.

◊ If he felt particularly insecure one day, you’d both sandwich him in a cuddle and tell him how important he meant to the both of you. He would refuse at first, saying that he was alright and all, but you two don’t fall for it.

◊ As you two are always there for him, he’s always there for you too.

◊ If he’s ever stressed during a class trial and you or Nagito’s stadium was next to his, he’d instinctually hold hands with either of you, feeling his nerves calm down a bit at the reassuring squeeze. 

◊ He has a sense for when you two are feeling upset, he always knows when something is up because he has a ton of experience himself. So he can recognize all the symptoms because he’s seen them in himself.

◊ Hajime somehow always knows the right thing to say and the best stuff to give to you when you’re feeling down in the dumps. He always reassures you that no matter what, your feelings are valid and that you can always come to him or Nagito when you aren’t feeling like yourself. 

◊ I headcanon that Nagito has some trouble detecting when something is wrong, I feel like he’d be too blinded by how amazing you two were that he’d overlook some symptoms of something wrong, brushing it off. He wouldn’t really think about the fact that you two could have issues in the first place, as a result of him viewing you so highly.

◊ Nagito is a great listener if you ever want to talk, and he will provide the warmest cuddles if you need them. He isn’t great at comforting you or advice, but he will whisper the sweetest things in your ear when you’re feeling insecure. 

◊ Nagito is a pretty thoughtful boyfriend, he remembers everything about the two of you(i.e. Favourite food, flowers, colour, material, etc.) though he can’t even remember to take care of himself. 

◊ He remembers all of the things his loves enjoy, and getting them for you two makes him extremely happy. He spoils you both rotten even though Hajime insists he doesn’t have to, but he does anyway.

◊ Nagito sometimes thinks he intrudes between the relationship with you and Hajime, he has thoughts of leaving the both of you because he thinks your relationship would be better without him. He’d see you two being adorable with each other, and think of how lucky he is to have you two.

◊ Almost too lucky. He worries that his presence in the relationship will somehow harm both of you, he’s convinced that something terrible will happen. So he’s constantly paranoid around the both of you. With everything good that occurs, something terrible follows; That’s his ultimate.

◊ In the early stages of your relationship with him, he’s pretty distant, always trying to edge himself out so you two could be happier together. But you two would notice his behaviour, asking him what was wrong. 

◊ As he explained, your hearts broke from his reason as you both smothered him with love. Hajime would aggressively love him, telling him he shouldn’t think that and that you both would be extremely upset if he had left. 

◊ He’d cry from the affection he’d receive from the two of you, feeling incredibly grateful for the both of you. After that, he’d stop being distant, realizing that he was just being selfish and hurting his loves. He’d realize that he had been doing the opposite of making you guys happy, and all he wants is for you two to be happy.

◊ I headcanon that Hajime and Nagito both have a teensy bit of trouble initiating kisses or contact, you’d have to initiate most of it. Hajime being too awkward and a tad shy, whereas Nagito doesn’t feel worthy of your touch.

◊ Buuuut, Hajime can and will initiate affection if you tease him to the point where he just wants to shut you guys up with his lips. He’d kabedon you guys and everything.

◊ Nagito’s favourite thing to do to you both is cooking and giving gifts. He loves acts of service because it makes him happy to know that he’s making you two happy from what he’s doing. If you let him cook or do anything for you, he’d be extremely happy. All he wants to do is to please the both of you.

◊ It’s cute seeing him dance around in his little apron while he cooks, it leads to one of those rare moments where Hajime initiates a back-hug. You’d join shortly after, not wanting to miss out on the cuddles. Nagito would be pretty surprised, but he’d let you two cling onto him as he kept on cooking with a wide smile on his face.

◊ A thing Hajime unconsciously does is hold your guys’ hands, he doesn’t want you two to wander off and him to lose you. It’s kind of a mom’s instinct.

◊ A thing you like to do is steal both of their clothes, wearing them around the house as if they were yours. The boys love seeing you in their clothes, their hearts just melt from how adorable you look. Hajime would flush and then question you for it,

◊ “Why are you wearing my clothes?” You clenched your hands around his material, bringing it tighter around your body. “Because it smells like you.” Hajime rolled his eyes but didn’t tell you to take it off, “Y-you’re such a perv.” He walked away, “But I’m your perv, right? Right, Hajime??” 

◊ Nagito would question you for it, but for different reasons. “Ah yes, of course, you still look stunning in my garbage hoodie. Speaking of, why are you wearing my trash clothing? I can buy you your own hoodie, you know.” He walked up to you, tugging at the hem of his hoodie you were wearing, “Do you want me to take it off?” You teasingly pouted as Nagito panicked, “N-no! I mean… If you’d like to, it’s your choice. But if you decide to keep it on, I wouldn’t be upset- Hell! I’d never be upse-” You shut him up with a bear hug, “Don’t worry, I’m not even wearing anything underneath this in the first place.” “Oh. Haha, wait wha-”

•NSFW•

◊ I think Hajime secretly loves cockwarming but would never suggest it because he’s afraid you two might think it’s weird. During movies where one of you decide to sit on his lap, all he’s thinking of is sinking his dick inside either of you, walls squeezing around him comfortably.

◊ I headcanon Hajime to be a switch, it depends on his mood if he’d rather be a top or bottom. He goes along with you two are more comfortable with.

◊ I can imagine Hajime tied to the bedpost as you sink down on him, Nagito watching you both with his cock in his hand. Nagito joins after a while, Hajime looked so vulnerable, it’s alright if he’s selfish just this once right? He’d slip himself underneath Hajime, his dick sliding in Hajime’s ass as he cried out pleas and moans. 

◊ Hajime’s eyes would be rolling in the back of his head as you both bounced on and thrusted into him, the pleasure mind-numbing. He’d be drooling from the intense pleasure he received from the both of you, Nagito whispering praises on how good he felt around him whilst you lost your mind writhing and grinding against his dick. 

◊ I headcanon that Hajime wouldn’t really enjoy hardcore degradation, maybe some small stuff to make him submit, but any personal degrading turns him off.

◊ Now, I don’t think this is a popular opinion but, I can see Nagito getting off on degradation. You or Hajime could call him a slut, and he’d be cumming from words alone. He doesn’t really think about whether you truly feel that way about him, he goes into that mindset and he kind of forgets all of it, focusing solely on the pleasure he was giving to you two.

◊ Hajime likes being told he’s making you feel good, it reassures him that you’re actually enjoying it and it’ll get him to go harder and faster.

◊ When Hajime tops, I think Hajime wouldn’t really be a soft or hard dom, he’d just be in the sweet middle spot. He’d never go too far but he wouldn’t be too gentle with either of you. Ultimately, it depends on his mood. For example. If you both had provoked him beforehand to the point he was done, he would go feral and hard dom the shit out of you both, not even giving you a chance to breathe.

◊ It’s kind of hot when you see his face turn red and his neck pop a vein, but it’s even better when he starts releasing all that sexual frustration into you both.

◊ He’d have Nagito on his dick while Nagito sucked the life out of you. Nagito wouldn’t even have enough time to protest, Hajime would already have his tip teasing Nagito’s rim with Nagito’s head pushed down in between your thighs.

◊ He wouldn’t stop thrusting until he came, using you both for his pleasure and his pleasure only(kinda hot ngl). Even when he did feel either of you reach your high, he’ll pull away when you could practically taste it.

◊ He loves edging, the distress on your faces when he pulls away at that last moment gets him off in a sadistic way. 

◊ Though, he would never let you two go without an orgasm unless you or Nagito acted bratty even after the many punishments. He punishes the both of you until you two finally break and submit completely to the point where you had no brat left in you.

◊ Nagito’s praise kink is more giving than receiving, though he will never complain if you did praise him. It makes his heart full when you tell him how good he is, he’s glad he’s making you feel good. You two always make Nagito feel good, so he always makes sure to let you know how good you make him feel.

◊ It’s kind of hot when you see his face turn red and his neck pop a vein, but it’s even hotter when he comes back to release his frustrations into the both of you.

◊ Nagito definitely puts the pleasure of his loves first, he always makes sure you two cum before him. 

◊ Nagito wouldn’t insert his dick in either of you unless you begged for it, he doesn’t think he deserves the pleasure, he prioritizes both of your orgasms first.

◊ Nagito as a bottom would always ask before he could cum, he wants to be good for the two of you and never wants to disappoint you. He doesn’t even think he is worthy of an orgasm himself, so if you said yes, he would hysterically thank you as he gasped and whined from the intense pleasure his orgasm brought him.

◊ Nagito is very vocal during sex, and god bless because I think we all know that Nagito has the breathiest, sexiest moans.

◊ I headcanon Nagito to be the softest dom, I cannot imagine this man degrading or hurting you two in any way. He loves you two too much to hurt you, even if it’s for sexual purposes. Though he may sometimes accidentally(?) overstimulate you at times, losing himself in the moment. 

◊ Nagito as a bottom enjoys any humiliation, degradation, choking or pain you put him through, he loves it all. His sexual reactions are definitely the best, he makes the prettiest moans as you or Hajime insert kanye west loves fingers in his ass, drool trailing down his chin as he arched his back. 

◊ Hajime loves pulling hair as much as Nagito loves having his hair pulled. 

◊ Nagito mostly gets off by watching the two of you fuck, pleasuring himself as he watches the both of you with dilated pupils. You two often have to beckon him to join, eventually resorting to ordering him after his many refusals that you didn’t have to.

◊ A thing Nagito does after sex is licking up every single drop of cum you two had given him, not letting a tiny bit go to waste. He thinks your cum is ‘hopeful’ and it’s precious to him, so he doesn’t want to seem unthankful for the cum you gave him. He makes sure to lap you both up clean, maintaining eye contact as his tongue slides up your guys’ skin.

◊ Hajime’s hard dom demeanour changes completely after sex, however tired he may be, he always makes sure the both of you are alright after the rough treatment he had given the both of you before he passes out. 

◊ Nagito would praise the both of you after sex, holding both of you close as he let you doze off in his arms.

[loghorizonfunfacts]

What do you think about the romance of Log Horizon? (I know it is not the main topic of the anime, but I always like to see opinions :3) ❤️

I'm going to be blunt: I think it’s the least appealing part of Log Horizon. Mamare intended the "romance" to be less about the relationships themselves and more about how they're used to develop characters. But as far as romance goes, he’s a middle-aged, (as far as I’m aware) single Japanese man and... it kinda shows.

I think his previous series, Maoyu, pulled it off more successfully (plus it opened my eyes to ending a story with an actual OT3), but I think he was less successful in Log Horizon inasfar as depicting an actual romance goes. (If you’re looking it through the lens of a healthy relationship, platonic or otherwise, Log Horizon’s romance is a fairly good deconstruction and reconstruction.)

(This is going to be a long explanation, so the above is the TL;DR.)

In Log Horizon, the problem with the "main focus" love polygon (Akatsuki > Shiroe < Minori, with Henrietta and Nureha to the side) is that they greatly respect (and fall in love with) Shiroe because he treats them as equals and doesn't treat them differently on account of their age, appearance, or experience. But this also means that he doesn't treat them very differently from how he'd treat anyone else anyways.

As a result, most of the "romantic" aspects are basically relegated to whatever is in Akatsuki's and Minori's heads, whereas other more-or-less established relationships (Marielle and Naotsugu, Demiqas and Upashi) are largely out of focus. It really doesn’t help that Minori is literally a middle schooler having her first crush, while Akatsuki has a complex about looking like a kid and being treated like one. (In the novels, she even mentions that the only men who’ve been interested her in the past were, well, pedophiles.)

Meanwhile, there’s a disconnect with Shiroe’s level of reciprocity: Shiroe explicitly states in the earlier novels that while he thinks Akatsuki falls under the threshold of "pretty,” he’s uncomfortable with the “master” role she’s pushed onto him. With Minori, his impression of her is more or less a hard worker who’s doing her best. Volume 13/Season 3 cements the fact that he doesn’t see her as a “contender” at all.

It can even be argued that Akatsuki and Minori's development was about stepping away from their feelings for Shiroe. (Which, to be fair, can also hold true for real-life relationships, so I think this was deliberate on Mamare’s part.) Shiroe’s rejection of Nureha is partially on the grounds that she’s already too emotionally dependent on him considering he only vaguely remembered her, so their relationship would be far from healthy if he actually joined her.

Akatsuki's development in Volume 6 was about coming to terms with how her fixation with her ninja-master roleplaying schtick was detrimental to herself. She is forced to acknowledge that she isn't so special to Shiroe that he would expect her to solve everything by herself; everyone at the Watermaple Consulate was picked to protect Raynesia, not just her. She’s forced to acknowledge and confront her own admittedly-irrational jealousy whenever Shiroe smiles at or even talks to other women. With Shiroe away and uncontactable, she can rely on him to come up with the “right answer.”

The turning point in the volume comes once she acknowledges the other girls as her friends and companions. They talk through a plan for the situation and stick it out together; with Akatsuki as the centerpiece of the plan, she has to work on coordinating with others instead of simply leaving all the decision-making to someone else. It’s upon observing the other girls that she realizes that she doesn’t need to force a gimmick to give herself an identity. By freeing herself from the self-imposed shackles of “master” and “ninja,” her relationship with Shiroe is able to grow. Compare Volume 5, where she can’t even come up with a conversation topic with him, to Volume 10 where they regularly hang out and chat.

As for Minori, she’s experiencing her first crush while getting isekai’d, after being rescued from a month of slavery. To give her credit, she processes her feelings much better than some real-life adults I know, probably in part thanks to having people like Tohya to confide in. I think Volume 13 more or less addressed Minori’s attempts to try and move herself up from a student-teacher dynamic with Shiroe even knowing she would probably fail, but I’m still of the opinion that her character could’ve been developed even without making it romantic.

To be honest, I still don’t have the mental energy to go in-depth on Minori’s development, but it’s notable that most of her "turning points” also come while Shiroe isn’t physically present or available. She’s largely on her own during Ragranda (though she did tele-chat him a few times), and he isn’t capable of helping her during the Akiba Guild Hall Raid because of the Genius’ ability. Her admiration of Shiroe serves as a catalyst for her development, but most of the actual development occurs regardless of his direct action.

[fmdjoosungarchive]

restructuring task 1

+5 tracker points

1. assuming your muse has changed in some way, be it internally or as a result of a change of the external factors around them, how is your muse different? these can be as small as an opinion on a song they hadn’t released previously or as big as a major change in their background.

wc: 365

idk if i’ve said this on dash yet, but i’m treating new famed more or less like an au. in sung’s au, the defining change is that he was let go from gold star when he had his injury as a trainee. it was always my headcanon that they truly were close to cutting him loose anyway, so this is just the other side of that. he had his injury, got plastic surgery to try to appease them into keeping him, and they still let him go. when he went home his parents said alright u tried that now join the fam business n sung freaked bc he realized he doesnt want that for himself so he went to do smth he also hated, and joined the military. while there he still worked on his dance and vocals whenever he had a moment to do so, so that when he was discharged and started auditioning again, he wasn’t so rusty

he is a year younger in this world, just bc of quantum’s age range, not for any other reason. makes him a little less of a cradle robber in his relationship lol which, another change is that daisuke wouldn’t have been his first kiss, just first everything else

quantum is very different from old element and new element, but it’s very in line with what i liked about quicksilver (& has models from that) and he’s a leader! this is an idea ive toyed with a lot over the last three years tbh. at first i didn’t think sung suited a leader position, but he came to show me he’s just a different kind of leader. i liken him to jinki often in this regard. rather than lassoing members in, he supports them being however they are, and takes an intimate/emotional path to gaining their trust and leading them. and while he wasn’t suited for the full business life, what he learned from his father’s teachings helps him in dealing with the company as the group’s representative there (& he loves a good powerpoint presentation)

other timeline stuff for big events in his life are likely to shift but i’m not sure on specifics yet

2. what does your muse think of their company and their group?

wc: 260

as the child of a businessman, he’s never under the illusion that as a company entity, their first priority is their wellbeing. he knows that they are products, and that they’re treated as such. it’s a bit heavier with dimensions than gold star, since gold star makes a more active effort to pretend they care. however, once having accepted that, sung thinks himself and dimensions work well together. he does feel that for a company, they allow himself and his members to be a part of the creative process, as says their motto. he feels much more encouraged to write songs and choreograph under dimensions than he did under gold star, where it felt like he was constantly on his knees begging for the company to take him seriously

as for quantum, sung really loves what they’re about. he’s not a big fan of all (or most) of their songs, though he’s more loving towards a song written by another member even if it’s the same sound he dislikes, but he absolutely loves being focused on performance and concepts. his creative mind works very much on the basis of story and emotion that comes with it, and he feels like quantum’s concepts sometimes to often lean into his tastes. he’s always been a dancer first and foremost (god am i so glad to have his main dancer title back i MISSED u) so focusing on performance is v much up his alley, and his preferred style of dance is through storytelling. he feels the heart of dance is in that

3. is your muse on their first contract or their second? if they’ve renewed, what were their feelings around that at the time and what were their hopes for their second contract? if they haven’t renewed, what are their current thoughts on the end of their eventual first contract?

wc: 281

quantum’s on their first contract still, up for renewal in 2024. at the current moment, he would like to re-sign. however, unlike my others, his re-signing depends more heavily on the other members. if they were unhappy and wanted to leave, sung would want to follow suit, not because he can’t make his own decisions, but because if the reason the members want to leave is because of the company, not quantum, he’d want to try to help quantum continue to live. if that means all of the members leaving in order to rebrand under another company, so be it. he’d like to avoid lineup changes however he can, and ideally would like to be an idol for as long as possible

he himself feels alright about his treatment. he feels creatively stimulated, and appreciated for talents further than his face. if he were to try to negotiate different terms at their contract renewal, part of it would likely be wanting to give members a higher share of profits, especially on releases they’re creatively involved in. sung personally has no use for excessive money, but not all of his members have his background, and he feels more than just the money, it’s what’s fair. he’d also prefer to allow for more creative freedom. as a 7/8 year group by then, he’d think they should be allowed to take the reigns more heavily. and on his personal side of things, he would want dimensions to be more mindful of his schedule. sung enjoys working, but he’s only one person, who doesn’t want to be overworked. these are all just his current thoughts, though, and will probably change before contract renewal comes up

4. what are your muse’s goals and motivations?

wc: 294

his motivations to be ‘successful’ and/or achieve his goals are his family, namely being someone his nephew and niece can be proud of, and someone his parents can feel was worth letting go of. he feels closer to the latter than he did in old famed. his members motivate him to be a good leader, his desire to grow as a creator motivates him to write and choreograph

specific goals could be bigger like his desire for more public recognition. while quantum has a lot more recognition both in korea and abroad than element or quicksilver, sung wants the best for his group. he’d be happy if they stayed where they are with their loyal fandom, but he still aims for more

sung also wants to get better at standing up for himself. he’s best at standing up for others, because he can slap on a bit of bravado in order to help them out, but when it comes to himself, especially with his parents, he’s pretty awful at it

he’d also like to create more for quantum, and others. i/he have a goal for him to write a whole album for someone, so if anyone reads this far and could want sung writing for their muse, hit me up!

he’d like to get married and have children one day. that’s always been a dream of his, and while he knows his career doesn’t allow for that soon, it’s still on his docket

he wants to spend more time with his family, especially his nephew and niece. they’re so new to the world and learning everything, and sung wants to be a part of that. he doesnt want his part in their early lives to be ‘i don’t really remember seeing him back then’

5. what is one conflict, internal or external, that your muse is currently dealing with, has recently dealt with, or will need to deal with in the future?

wc: 291

at some point, this bitch is gonna have to admit he’s a homiesexual. in his previous version, it was a lot easier for him to ‘i pretend i do not see it’ when it came to that. sung’s very ignorant when it comes to the queer community in korea, so he’s not even really aware of terms beyond gay, maybe trans. but, terms aside, he always thought he was someone who liked women, and daisuke and a couple of others were just outliers. they were the Special ones outside of his jurisdiction that were just too good for him to not notice. aka he believed he was bi. and now, he still does, but i have less faith he’ll be able to hold that up until he dies like i did before, because he’s actually dated at least one woman before in this world. considering the plot has yet to be picked up, i don’t know the specifics, but i do think it’s harder to run away from when the way he treated a relationship with a woman and a relationship with a man were lightyears away from one another. it’s still possible for him to run away from the truth of the situation, but it’s also very possible that one day, his thoughts on it will shake, and everything will click into place (messily,, probably the messiest clicking ever) it would be a difficult thing for him to come to terms with, though i think it’s better for him in the longterm to truly know who he is, and why he acts the way he does, why he feels the way he does about women vs men. it’s also nice just to not live a lie, even if only privately

6. if your muse has established career claims, what are their thoughts on their career so far? if they do not, how do they feel about not having individual activities yet? what would they like to do in the future, if anything? if they don’t have ambitions for individual activities, explain why.

wc: 523

sung has a pretty filled history of individual activities. most are points claims with a focus on modelling, his radio, and music, though he’s dipped into pretty much ever facet of idoldom, some with more success than others. his ecp expenditures flesh that out a little more, and add a bit more realism, and/or make sense of the group changes. he had a one year modelling contract with the north face, and while official claims aren’t possible, i was inspired by a couple of things rowoon did with them. there was more of a push on an eco-friendly side of things, and there was a bit of dancing. playing into his group position with dancing i feel is fitting, but the eco friendly part i also feel could round out his image more as a good, kind boy who also can be sexy, whereas before, his earlier modelling claims focused a lot more on the sexy aspect, because it fit element and his trajectory there better. here, it makes him more dual sided from the beginning. north face is also just a nice, strong brand that i think is fitting for a pretty boi. i set it a bit after a year out from debut because i feel like that’s the most realistic, especially for a group like quantum that grew audience with each comeback

part of that first year being focusing only on the group ties into his creative claims as well! his first creative claim was with the bside love, lalala on the eternity ep. the nicest part of creative claims being unattached to positions is that all of sung’s claims are the songs in the discography most Him. so love lalala is very jazzy and smooth, and would have served as his first introduction to songwriting, as well as what made him interested in songwriting. then he was a choreographer on error, which is heavily story based, and about the members being a unit, and making beautiful pictures together. i hope to snag intro long journey and outro long journey from the beginning and end of the ateez sector, because they’re beautiful compositions that fit sung’s style, but also having him on both makes him feel like he’s a part of the concept’s creation in an intimate way, which fits with dms. then there’s aurora, which sung partially composed and partially choreographed. the choreography has contemporary flair to it, and the song is a flowing sound that matches that. then there’s partial production on sunrise, which i just love the robotic ass experimental production there, and comp for with u, which i believe ties back into sung’s rediscovering his love of piano. choreo for valkyrie is most similar to error in it’s pretty pictures way, and also has a bit of complex footwork, especially as its point dance, which is also p sung to want to include. and finally, some comp on stand by, which is like a mix of the appeal of aurora and with u methinks? listening to all of his written songs together i feel like really makes a picture of sung’s songwriting so i love that

[seyaryminamoto]

Hey! Do you really like Zuko and Suki together or you just ship these two just so you can ship the best and hottest ship ever aka Sokkla? In any case, why do you think Zuko is better off with Suki out of all the avatar characters? Thank you and pls stay healthy.

XD well, it’s a mix of both, I guess.

The truth is, I read the comics and I sensed the romantic vibe between Zuko and Suki because I don’t think anyone who has had much experience with romantic fiction could see those scenes and not think there’s SOMETHING going on there. I mean, seriously, the hand reach in The Promise, Suki unnecessarily correcting herself in The Search to say EVERYONE is worried about Zuko, not just her, their moonlight conversation in Smoke and Shadow…? Come the heck on. If neither one was in a relationship, most people would be reading all those scenes as blatantly romantic.

Still, I stayed neutral as far as Zuko ships were concerned until I met a Zuki shipper who read my first story, The Reason, and roped me into Zuki without much trouble :’D (if you’re wondering, that was @jordanalane). It didn’t take her too much work to convince me to ship Zuki, because yes, it was convenient as heck to have Zuki happen when you ship Sokkla, but I was already half-on-board with it as I was…

Now then, if you’d like to know my actual, rational reasoning for why I’d ship it, the truth is that I’m not exactly the biggest Zuko fan (as some archive diving in my blog would show…), and most the ships I’ve seen for him seem to exacerbate what I really don’t like about his character. Meanwhile, Suki seems to do the exact opposite thing…

Mai is Zuko’s canon girlfriend, and I was more or less neutral towards this ship at first… but upon further reflection, I found I didn’t enjoy their relationship that much. Maybe they could work well with each other… if they were more mature and less impulsive :’) but Zuko’s behavior with Mai through most of Book 3 only convinced me that he’s absolutely not grown enough to have healthy romantic relationships with anyone (and seeing as Mai was pissed at him 9 times out of 10 throughout Book 3, I think my perception isn’t exactly off). Both have their faults, and boy, in the comics Mai is a much worse offender than Zuko if you ask me, but the point is that, while canon certainly has been very realistic by not turning their love story into the perfect, smoothest fairytale, I really don’t think they’re much good for each other as they are, and the only way they could get better in the future is if they grow a LOT, on their own, before trying their luck at being together again. The likelihood of that, however, isn’t exactly great :’D

Then there’s the most famous pairing for Zuko, Katara, who actually feels wrong to me for the exact same reasons as Mai would, despite Katara is on the opposite end of the spectrum Mai is, character-wise: the thing is, both Mai and Katara have a ton of things in common with Zuko, but not necessarily good things. If Zuko and Katara were, as well, less impulsive and more mature, they might make a decent enough match. But as they are in canon? They’re every bit as likely to self-destruct and tear each other down as Mai and Zuko were. Where Mai and Zuko share a jaded, gloomy perspective of the world, Katara and Zuko share a hot-headedness that means every tiny thing could easily lead to catastrophic, world-ending arguments between them. I mean, if Zuko could have huge arguments with someone as cold-blooded as Mai… just imagine with someone as hot-blooded as Katara :’) And I DO see the virtues of this ship, namely the ones that resemble, to a fault, my particular OTP… but I honestly can’t see Zuko and Katara being good influences on each other, romantically. Friendship-wise they could be healthier, but romance means expectations and complications that, like I said, I don’t think Zuko, as we last see him in canon, is prepared to deal with.

There’s other Zuko ships, naturally, and I won’t get into all of them, I just bring up these two because they’re the biggest ones… and so, why would I ship him with Suki rather than with Mai or Katara or anyone else? What exactly could make her a better match for him?

Suki has a few things in common with Zuko… but they’re not the things Mai and Katara have in common. The first, and most important of them for me, is that Suki (in her initial episode) seems to put a lot of stock in honor and duty as a Kyoshi Warrior. I’m not at all in the “Zuko is the most honorable man in the Avatar world!” camp, if anything I believe he needs to learn a LOT to really understand honor, even at the end of the show and at this point in the comics… whereas I don’t have the same feeling with Suki. Not only did she fight for her people, defending them from any threat even if she might die for it, she also was inspired by Aang, Sokka and Katara to travel the world, not with some angry intent to defeat the Fire Nation and end the war, but…

And while “changing the world” could easily be interpreted as “she wants to defeat the Fire Nation at any cost!”, what do we know Suki was up to between Books 1 and 2? 

Suki wanted to HELP people. Compare this to the banished prince who stole from them instead… :’) Suki didn’t have an Avatar leading her group, telling her this was “the right thing to do”, she simply does it because she believes it is, deep down, and she doesn’t just wait around for someone else to step up, she chooses to take action by her own volition. She doesn’t need anyone telling her what’s right or wrong, she has strong enough principles that she can tell what is and what isn’t, all on her own :’) Doesn’t THIS sound like honor? Duty? Doesn’t this sound like someone who actually sets a great example, as far as these concepts go?

Compare this to Katara, who was easily influenced by Zuko into wanting to kill a man, who shifts between “I want to steal things because I feel I need them” and “OMG Toph how dare you scam people that’s so unethical” at the drop of a hat? Yes, Katara’s heart is in the right place, but Katara is highly emotional and hot-headed… so as many good intentions as she may have, she can do pretty awful things without even realizing how awful they are (as in the case of the theft, she doesn’t even blink about stealing clothes from people in The Headband and then is utterly aghast about what Toph is up to merely a few episodes later… come the heck on). Compare it, too, to Mai, who apparently loves her baby brother so very much (according to her fans and to Smoke and Shadow, at least…), but didn’t even blink when Azula decided they couldn’t trade a toddler for a king, and declared the deal was off without betraying the slightest hint of remorse? Do we really know that Mai has decent principles at all? She doesn’t exactly betray Azula because she ideologically disagrees with her, she does it to save Zuko. Which leads me to wonder, what on earth are Mai’s morals? What does she value other than Zuko? If she values Zuko more than anything… heh. Yikes. Definitely sounds like theirs will be a healthy relationship if that’s the case, huh?

I can’t imagine Suki being swayed easily by any wild or stupid ideas Zuko gets if she knows they’re stupid AND wrong. She’d put a stop to him where Katara or Mai could get swept into whatever he’s up to (whether out of excessive empathy or apathy, in either case), and she’d be likely to set him straight before Zuko can take anything too far. As far as morals go, I will always hold that Zuko leaves too much to be desired… but Suki really doesn’t. Could be because we don’t know Suki as well as we know the other characters, but what little we do see of Suki, she doesn’t do anything that merits much reprieve. Most importantly, she never needed, like I said, Aang or Sokka or anyone else to tell her what she had to do, to correct her morals or anything of the sort. This by itself already makes her, in my opinion, the best possible character, in canon, to stabilize Zuko and temper his most chaotic impulses while teaching him, by example, what honor really looks like.

Now, that’s not all: Suki is highly independent and has experience as a leader. Zuko has always tried to be independent too, succeeding in some situations, failing in others. Of course, there’s a stark difference between independence and loneliness, and Zuko does have tendencies to isolate himself from others whenever he gets stubborn and wants to prove himself… fortunately, that’s one of the things I do think the show helped him with, as he did learn there’s nothing wrong with asking others for help. Still, I’m sure Zuko would like to handle things on his own, without needing everyone to help him… and once again, Suki can set an example for him in that sense. She makes her own decisions, fights for what she believes in, follows her heart and such, and never self-destructs in the process… all of which must sound idyllic to Zuko, who I’m sure has always wanted to be like that, too.

Maybe it sounds confusing for me to advocate for a couple while saying the characters ought to teach each other to be independent :’D but the way I see it, this is, if anything, a good thing: Zuko shouldn’t be in a co-dependent relationship, not unless he’s HIGHLY developed, far more than canon and most fics allow. Being with someone who doesn’t need him 24/7, who respects him and knows how to give him space, who wouldn’t be invasive and who would teach him not to be invasive too… through a relationship with someone like Suki, Zuko could genuinely learn to respect someone else’s independence fully, and figure out how to be like that, too.

As for the leadership, Suki has only led Kyoshi Warriors, a small group… so it may sound like something that can’t be compared to leading an entire country. But that’s REALLY part of my problem with Zuko… I’m sorry, but the point at the finale where everyone looked to him as though he’d lead them into finding Aang was absolutely absurd to me. The argument that he’s the one experienced at figuring out how to track down Aang DID make sense and salvaged the scene for me, but as far as leadership is concerned? Sokka by far outdoes him in that area, he literally led a goddamn military invasion and later in Sozin’s Comet he’s seen strategizing and leading Toph and Suki as he orchestrates the downfall ofthe worst of Ozai’s conquest/destruction force. I mean, seriously...

… Anyways, got sidetracked :’D the point is, Zuko hasn’t really been much of a leader in canon. Has he been in a position of command before? Yeah, he was in Book 1. But does this mean he’s a LEADER? A born leader? Yeah, we didn’t see remotely enough of him in a leadership position that could have convinced me of that.

Hence, Iroh theoretically should be a great influence for him in those regards, because Iroh not only was raised to be Fire Lord for well over 50 years, Iroh has been in positions of leadership before, he’s even apparently the leader of the White Lotus. Therefore… Iroh is a good idea. But what did canon do? They sent Iroh on a retirement plan to a teashop in Ba Sing Se and Zuko had to fend for himself! :’D fascinating, right? 

While of course Sokka could be a great influence and help Zuko too, as far as leadership is concerned, canon chooses to keep him chasing after Aang and Katara without any aim or purpose… whereas it chooses to send Suki to Zuko as bodyguard and eventual confidante. Like I said, Suki does have experience as a leader, even if only on a small scale: couldn’t she be eligible for helping Zuko figure out how to lead the Fire Nation, through sharing some of the lessons she learned as leader of the Kyoshi Warriors? It even offers the possibility of Suki and Zuko learning side by side in some regards too, since this whole royal mess isn’t at all what Suki would be used to… so that allows interesting dynamics and complications to arise too, and they can both grow and learn a lot together.

Point and case being, I just can’t imagine these two ever getting into a fucked-up toxic romance, whereas I absolutely can see something of the sort with virtually every other Zuko ship I’ve known. Granted, the whole “But Sukka and Maiko are canon so they’d be cheaters!” side of things can lend towards an unhealthy situation, but I’d honestly rather not portray these two as cheating on their current love interests for each other…? Anyone who wants to is free to do as much, of course, but it’s barely necessary if you ask me :’D people can break up, and get together with other people, without needing a Days of Our Lives-sized drama along with it.

So, in short, I really think Suki is the healthiest possibility for Zuko. Pretty much every harmful thing I can think of in any other Zuko ship is ruled out with Suki. Even as friends Suki would be a great influence on Zuko for all the reasons I said above, but the reasons I mentioned above are also why I think that, if Zuko got to know Suki better, he might find himself smitten before he knows what’s going on: she basically embodies everything he ever wanted to be. He’d be full of admiration for her, and she’d probably be utterly clueless over why x’D and that even offers interesting romantic dynamics to the two characters. I can imagine Zuko being a bit of a tortured old-school romance hero who feels Suki is absolutely magnificent and wonderful and perfect… while she’s like “so is he ever going to pin me to a wall or is it all in my head?”, and frankly that’s about the best possible idea I can imagine in a relationship involving Zuko x’D

I do ship Zuko in a few other ships, I’ve mentioned before that I like Toph and Zuko, but I like Toph and Zuko as a temporary thing (and ONLY with a fully developed Zuko too, once they’re both around 20-30 too). It’s a cute enough ship, but I don’t really think it could last, and I don’t think they could offer each other nearly enough of what Suki and Zuko can offer each other. Hence, I’ve always envisioned Toph could be more of a casual love interest for Zuko (a big reason why is because I can’t imagine Toph consciously settling down with anyone…), and I’ve seldom written it into anything because I lean harder towards Zuki. Gladiator-wise, Toph and Zuko would have been AWFUL together, no matter if I had a few people asking if I could make them a thing :’D hahaha, nope. I like the ship plenty, but it would have been dreadful.

Anyways, yes, Zuki is highly convenient and compatible with Sokkla, but that’s far from the only reason to ship it. Canon may go in whichever direction it wishes, I’m pretty sure they won’t find anything better for Zuko than what they already toyed with in the comics with him and Suki.

Granted, a few of these arguments aren’t exactly suitable for Gladiator’s Zuki, but there are many other arguments to be made there (I actually leaned very heavily into the honor side of things when Zuko first saw her in the Arena, precisely because I think that particular side of Suki would be one of the first things to appeal to him about her). Either way, be it in canon-based settings or in my own particular AU, I’m pretty sure Zuko’s best match would be Suki.

[thecorteztwins]

Character Flaws: How To Do Them (And How Not To)

Hi there, I’m going to talk about character flaws today! And I’m going to start with a very unpopular statement----I think flawless characters, or characters with minimal flaws, are just fine. It just depends on what kind of character you want to portray. Some character roles are SUPPOSED to be paragons of virtue or sweet innocent angels, just as some characters are SUPPOSED to be dastardly evil-doers or complex nuanced grimdark antiheroes. What matters is whether it’s what you INTEND, and how to pull it off. Also, I’m not an expert. These are opinions. Feel free to agree or disagree, take what you like and leave the rest, etc. I am not an authority in ANY way, and your thoughts are just as valid as mine. That said, let’s start. Strap in, this got long, I’m sorry.

There are three general types of flaws that you can give to a character: INTERVIEW FLAWS aka CINNAMON ROLL FLAWS aka NON-FLAWS I call them this because they’re the sort of “flaws” that you would say you have at a job interview when asked what your flaws are. They’re “flaws” that make someone actually sound better---more moral, or more endearing, or more sympathetic, etc. Things like “too loyal” or “kind to a fault” or “too protective of his friends”. They’re the sort of flaws that “cinnamon roll” characters typically have. These actually can become very damning mega-flaws if taken to the extreme, but more on that later; this paragraph is for when they’re still solidly in “interview flaw” territory. A big aspect of these “flaws” is that they only hurt the character, if anyone. They will seldom, if ever, negatively affect another person. If they do hurt someone else, it will often be in a way that is totally justified to the reader (the character who is “too protective” beating up someone who was being a jerk to his friends) or really not the character’s fault at all (a naive character being manipulated by a bad guy into revealing something important) Whatever trouble they get in will usually be done in a way that is meant to make the reader either feel bad for them, or see them in a positive light for it. If this is the sort of character you want to go for, that is a-okay! Cinnamon rolls have their place in a story, and they can be just as beloved by fans as more grimdark characters. The only problem comes is when someone tries to sell their character as “flawed” when actually they’re just one of these. Or, alternatively, tries to sell the character as one of these when actually they’re one of the categories below. But if it’s exactly what you intended? Great! NORMAL FLAWS Exactly what it says---flaws that a normal person would have. Things like jealousy, snobbery, misanthropy, negativity, bad tempers, irresponsibility, laziness, not taking things seriously when they should, the list goes on and on. This is probably the widest category, since what flaw you pick and how it manifests can span the range from being almost a non-flaw but not quite, to nearly a mega-flaw. It also depends on the character who has it, what they’re like otherwise, and why they have it. For instance, someone who is unjustly hostile to someone trying to help them because they’re suspicious due to being tricked, exploited, or abused in the past by people pretending to be well-meaning, is a lot more sympathetic than someone who just doesn’t think they need help because they see themselves as perfect and don’t like correction. Both still fall under the “normal” category most of the time, but are coming from very different places, and will be perceived differently by most readers. So, which to use? It all depends what you’re going for with your character! MEGA FLAWS The big ones. The ones that will really make others dislike your character. Things like real-life bigotry (as in, being homophobic, not hating elves), gleeful bullying and abusiveness, toxic egomania, blaming others (especially innocent characters) for their mistakes, sexual misconduct, and kicking puppies, to name a few. Sometimes, these can be used to make audiences hate the characters instantly, but that’s actually not always guaranteed. A great many characters that are among the most popular in their respective fandoms have one or more of these traits. Sometimes, that’s just because people love a good villain, but other times it’s because the character’s reasons for these flaws, or the character’s overall personality in general apart from the flaws, are very compelling and interesting. Just as some people love cinnamon rolls, some people prefer darker characters like these, and much like preferring different ice cream flavors, neither is superior to the other. These kinds of flaws also don’t always translate to truly inhuman, awful people either. Sometimes a character may actually be MORE human for them. The protagonist in a novel I once read was raised by his grandparents because his mother, who gave birth to him as a teen, hated him. She wanted nothing to do with him as a child, and outright told him she hated him when he was just barely an adult. The protagonist didn’t know why for most of his life, but eventually found out it was because he was born a twin, and his twin brother died when they were babies. He was born big, healthy, and strong, whereas his brother had been tiny and weak and sick, probably because he sapped the bulk of the nutrients in the womb, which sadly is something that sometimes happens. The mother was devastated by the death of her weaker son, and blamed the surviving one, feeling he was a monster baby that killed his sibling, not to mention resented how he was fawned over by the rest of her family when they had treated her like dirt, including her own parents. This woman was not meant as sympathetic to readers. It was pretty clear to me that the writer wanted us to see her as horrible. And what she did was completely horrible indeed. She blamed an innocent baby for something not possibly his fault, and held that against him his whole life. That’s unforgivably awful, and there’s no excuse for it. Yet it’s such a human reaction that it made me feel for her. People often are illogical and awful in ways like this, it’s very believable to me that a human being would feel this way. It was meant to make her an irredeemable strawman, but my reaction was to see her now as less of a 2D “bad mother” cutout, and more of a person. Sometimes, it’s the worst in people that can win us over, because that can sometimes be the most human part of them. Note that this will often be divisive; I’m sure a lot of readers actually did hate this woman all the more for this, and that’s a totally valid reaction too. However, if you wish to make your character truly despicable, hurting children or cute animals is generally a good way to go; most readers won’t forgive that (though I’ve seen it happen) That said, be warned that making your character sexy or tragic (especially in combination) will inevitably make some fans fawn over them regardless of how evil they are, and there’s not much you can do about it. Someone is ALWAYS going to find the bad guy hot/sympathetic even when you’re not SUPPOSED to. Now that we’ve covered the different categories of GOOD ways to write flaws, here are some ways that I see people failing at writing flaws: INFORMED FLAWS Informed flaws are flaws that the writer CLAIMS the character has, but never actually show up. For instance, they SAY that this character is standoffish, has a temper, and can be cruel, but only ever write him as being lovably surly at worst, and typically very tolerant and patient with others (especially cute children or cinnamon bun types) Or they claim that the character is shy and insecure, but here they are trying out for the lead in the school play without anyone pushing them to do it. This is often due to the author being overly affectionate towards their character. In the first example, they want their character to be a tough guy, but an ENDEARING tough guy, and not risk him doing anything that the audience might possibly dislike him for. So they go overboard with showing his “soft” moments, while never showing the “hard” ones that are what would make the “soft” ones actually special and unusual. In the second example, maybe the character is just shy and insecure in a different way (like they’re comfortable on-stage because there’s no actual interaction with people, and crumble when in real conversations) but more likely, they’re just acting out-of-character because the author WANTS them to be the lead in the play, regardless of how little sense it makes for them to try out and get the part. Informed flaws are basically a failure of a “show, don’t tell” rule. We’re TOLD that this character has a flaw, but we’re either never shown it, or shown the exact opposite. For instance, we may be told that this character never opens up to people because of her dark past, but it sure doesn’t seem that way if she immediately starts talking about that dark past to first man who shows interest in her as she falls into his arms. And it’s hard to take a writer’s claim that their character is “humble” with any seriousness if that character has a habit of bringing up his numerous talents and accomplishments in every conversation. And you may SAY that a character tends to get jealous, but how do we KNOW if she never encounters anyone she’s jealous of? INCONSEQUENTIAL FLAWS The character is a rude abrasive jerk, but everyone likes her immediately anyway! Maybe they can instantly see past her snarky surface to the sensitive soul beneath, or maybe they respect her toughness and candor. Some people have a problem with her attitude, but they’re either prudish sticks-in-the-mod, overly sensitive namby-pambies, sexists who are threatened by a strong woman, or they come around to respecting/liking her in the end! The character hates breaking rules and getting into trouble; he craves approval from authority, and will tell on his friends to get it. Fortunately, he’s never put in this position, or, if he does, his friends understand and forgive him, and may even agree that he did the right thing. The character is impulsive and acts on their first thought, if they think at all. Luckily, her assumptions prove correct (or at least lead her to the right place) and her reckless actions not only don’t cause any problems, they save the day! Everyone is proud of her, and no one scolds her for anything she did along the way that might have broken protocol or endangered other people. The character is super hostile anyone breaking his routine...but then his routine never gets broke in the story or any of his interactions. He’s also terrified of animals, but luckily no animals appear in the story. And he’s an asshole at work, but none of the story takes place there and none of the other characters are his co-workers. See the problem? None of these flaws MATTER. They either don’t come up in the story at all, and thus never get a chance to affect the character, or if they do come up, they don’t cause any problems for the character, and in fact may benefit them. That’s not a flaw. It doesn’t matter if your character is a freaking SERIAL KILLER if they never face any kind of issue because of it, it’s not a flaw in the context of the story unless it works AGAINST your character in some way. ACCIDENTAL FLAWS These often overlap with inconsequential flaws, and are kind of the opposite of informed flaws. In the case of informed flaws, the author claims to us that the character has a flaw, but then fails to show it (or shows the opposite). In the case of accidental flaws, the author claims that the character DOESN’T have a certain flaw...and then proceeds to give them exactly that. For instance, how many times have you been reading a novel where the heroine INSISTS that she’s very plain and not pretty at all, then proceeded to give us an extremely flattering description of herself? How many times have you read something where the protagonist was acting like a huge jerk, but you got the impression from how it was written that the author expected us to be cheering him on, and anyone who thought he was indeed a jerk was portrayed as always unlikable and in the wrong? This is a case where the writer is either so oblivious or so in love with their own character that they become unaware of how obnoxious their darling is actually coming off. They rush to justify everything she does, they portray any opposition as simply evil or jealous or stupid, they overlook any kind of actual harm that he’s doing to anyone else, and they often make the villains end up accidentally sympathetic by comparison because the hero we’re supposed to love and admire is just so unbearable. The writer has made a very flawed character---but they didn’t mean or want to, and that’s the problem. WEAKNESSES Weaknesses aren’t flaws. Being clumsy, having a physical disability, or being a member of an oppressed/disliked group is not a flaw. Flaws are personality traits. They can be the RESULT of things like trauma or mental disorders, so they’re not always changeable or the person’s fault, but they’re still part of WHO they are, not WHAT, and something they can be held accountable for. If your character’s only “flaws” are being deaf and having PTSD and being an elf in a world that doesn’t like elves, those aren’t flaws, they’re weaknesses or drawbacks. If they’re lacking in some skill, such as fencing or shooting or flipping hamburgers, that’s also not a flaw. It could be a flaw if having the skill is important yet they refuse to work on it (ex: a police officer who doesn’t bother to improve his aim) but it is not in itself a flaw. Hell, it’s not even a weakness unless it’s relevant---I don’t know how to use a gun, but there’s no reason that it’s immediately relevant to my life to do so, so I wouldn’t count it as a weakness or a flaw. TIPS: - Try to be objective as you can about your character, even if you love them. Keep in mind that the other characters around them are people with thoughts and feelings too, and that if your character is rude, cruel, annoying, or off-putting to them, then they may have good reason for disliking or losing patience with your character, no matter what good reason your character has for being that way. If your atheist character trashes the faith of a religious character, it doesn’t matter if they grew up in a household of religious abuse, they’re still being a jerk and the religious character has a right to think so. If your character loses their temper and wrecks a store, it doesn’t matter that they were provoked or are really a nice person, the store owner is still well within their rights to press charges and demand compensation. Avoid vilifying other characters, and take their pain and personhood as seriously as you do the main character’s own. This alone will open the door to showing a lot of flaws that your character has, which will let you then decide if that’s the amount you WANT your character to have, or if you should change some things. - Any trait, including very good traits, can be bad taken to the extreme. For instance, let’s take a common “interview flaw”--- loyal no matter what. A lot of people don’t realize just how dark this can get. But what if your character is so loyal to their friend that they overlook it not only when that friend treats them badly, but treats other people too? What if they discover the friend has done something terrible, like is abusing his wife? What if they’re loyal to a fault to a supervillain organization that is actively hurting or even killing people, and they KNOW this? You can take this some pretty terrible places if you want. You don’t HAVE to, it can remain in “cinnamon roll” or “normal” territory if that’s what you want, but if you’re looking to make a more dark scenario, remember that you don’t need to rely on inherently “dark” flaws like “he loves to hurt people”---the most mild and even positive traits can become disturbing and evil if taken far enough. - If you’re trying to make someone MORE flawed, look at the flaws they already have and consider how it might hurt OTHER PEOPLE instead of just the character. For instance, if your character is very insecure, perhaps instead of just thinking about how worthless or untalented they are, they are overly-critical, even mean, to people who are even less talented. Or when someone else is more talented at something they wish they were better at, they scrutinize that person to find bad things about them, or even just assume things about them---like “sure, she’s a much better artist than me, but she’s ugly and she can’t write worth a damn” or “he may have a girlfriend and be good-looking, but he’s dumb as a brick and probably a bully like all dumb jocks”. An attitude like that takes your character from simply being the purely sympathetic sort of insecure, to someone who is actually doing something wrong because of it. Again, this is if you WANT your character to have more of an edge; it doesn’t suit some characters, and that’s ok. - By the same token, if you want to take some edge OFF your character and make them less flawed, look at how their present flaws might negatively affect others, and decrease that. If  the character you WANT to be a “cinnamon bun” lashes out at people who just don’t understand her pain/genius/specialness/goodness/etc, maybe reconsider that. - If you want to get ideas for flaws, look at the things other people do that annoy you. What are your pet peeves? Maybe you hate “Karen” behavior, or people who don’t take proper care of their pets, people who think they’re funny or clever when they’re not, people who interrupt you when you’re talking, people who make assumptions, people you feel are fishing for attention, people who believe or share false information without checking it first, people who never seem to listen or learn, people who are always late, people who feel entitled to something, and so on. See if any of them fit your character. Be sure to be honest with yourself---yes, you REALLY love your tough guy character, and you HATE when smokers just throw their butts on the ground...but maybe he would? And maybe he WOULD be snappish with someone who didn’t deserve it? And maybe he WOULD be quick to stereotype others, such as labeling them privileged preps based on how they dress? Think about it. - Zodiac signs are another good place to get ideas for flaws, as are Myers-Briggs personality types, and anything else that categorizes people into different personality types. Note that your character need not actually, say, have that sign for their zodiac, it’s just good places to get base personality ideas. - Try to keep your voice out of your character’s mouth, and let their actions speak for themselves. Whether you want to portray the world’s sweetest cinnamon roll (tired of that phrase yet?) or the worst dumpster fire in the universe, what works to show that isn’t for your character or those around them to TALK about how sweet/terrible your character is, what works is to actually have them do and say things that are sweet/terrible! - Get second opinions! You want to make your character MORE of a jerk? You’re worried they’re TOO MUCH of a jerk? You think your villain is too soft? You want to add moral ambiguity to your hero? Get other people to look at your work! Friends are great for this, but what’s even better is people who aren’t particularly close to you, and won’t hold back on honest advice and feedback.If you want to see how your characters come off to a set of unbiased eyes, the best way is to ask someone! - Remember that everyone is different and no matter how well you portray a character the way you intend, there will always be someone who views them in a way you didn’t want them to at all, even if it makes no sense for them to do so. Make peace with it. Don’t dismiss everyone by saying they “didn’t understand” or “read it wrong” or “are interrogating the text from the wrong perspective”, but by the same token don’t get too hung up on making sure every single reader views every single character the exact way you wanted. It just won’t happen. Just do your best.

[crusherthedoctor]

Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite? - Part 10: INFINITE

There are some villains I like. And there are some villains I don’t like. But why do I feel about them the way I do? That’s where this comes in.

This is a series of mine in which I go into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the villains in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and why I think they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). I’ll be giving my stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves in the game(s) they featured in. Keep in mind that these are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions! I don’t bite. :>

Anyhow, for today’s installment, we’ll be sharpening our blades and resisting the pain as we discuss what it takes to be the right-hand henchman of Sonic Forces: Infinite.

The Gist: Dr. Eggman was minding his evildoing business when one day, from thin air emerged a particularly strange jewel that seemed to be drawn to him. Realising this was no mere Chaos Emerald, due to both its peculiar shape and its bizarre reality-distorting effects, Eggman immediately contemplated how he could effectively utilise this new gemstone for his purposes.

Suddenly, jackals!

“Go forth, Red Shirts!”

Eggman's base was under attack by the imaginatively titled Jackal Squad, a group of thieving mercenaries who figured they could profit from the theft of the doctor's equipment. Unfortunately for them, Eggman had Main Character Immunity, so their efforts to kill him send him to the Shadow Realm fell flat. Despite nearly getting killed by them, Eggman knew an opportunity when he saw one, and he offered the role of apprenticeship to the squad's heterochromia-inflicted leader. His fellow jackals insisted not to take up the offer, because even they knew the risks, but the leader signed up immediately, because he's not all right in the head if you know what I'm saying.

In a cruel twist of fate, Eggman's first request for his new stooges was for them to take care of Shadow the Hedgehog. That Shadow the Hedgehog. Ultimate Lifeform Shadow the Hedgehog. Fast, immortal, capable of stopping time, drops his bracelets to grow even stronger Shadow the Hedgehog. They had to defeat that Shadow the Hedgehog.

They did not succeed.

BOOOONESAAAAAW’S READYYYYYYYY

After metaphorically and literally murdering the rest of the already forgotten squad, Shadow gave some parting words to their defeated leader, and those parting words were responsible for what happened next, and everything after. As someone who prided himself on being the ultimate mercenary, Mr. Jackal was bloody well peeved off about coming to terms with his physical shortcomings, and thus decided to give himself an upgrade in the form of sticking a gem on his chest, putting on a mask worthy of a heavy metal cover, and rechristening himself as... Infinite. Infinite power. Infinite possibilities. Infinite memes.

The upgrade paid off. With the aid of the gem, known to us as the Phantom Ruby, Eggman's latest minion was able to distort the environment, summon past foes, and do what no other villain not retconned out of existence had ever managed to achieve: defeat Sonic the Hedgehog.

Eggman was delighted. The past foes were delighted too, as evidenced by how they stood there to take it all in.

This is a very sentimental moment for them.

With Sonic out of the way, Eggman was able to take over 99% of the planet, because Sonic's friends were tragically all on holiday at the same time. During the subsequent six months of suffering and strife, Infinite relished in the doctor's conquest, but not as much as he relished in killing and terrorizing innocents. One incident in particular involved him leaving behind a scared youngster for the sake of letting them know fear. This would turn out to be a big mistake on his part, when - with the ever reliable power of friendship - said youngster would go on to oppose him as part of the Resistance. (This franchise isn't known for creative group names.)

“L’Oreal: Because I’m not weak.”

The formerly incapacitated Sonic also managed to eventually break free from his captivity, and proceeded to do what he does best alongside his new friend. Infinite was having none of this, and so he made absolutely certain to... leave him alive. Despite Eggman's insistence that a freed Sonic could cause as much trouble as a freed Sonic could in every other situation since 1991, Infinite remained confident that he couldn't be beaten. Three guesses for how that turned out. The first two don't count.

He was serious about crushing the Resistance though, and together with Eggman, not only did they summon a whole army of clones, they also summoned an artificial sun that, upon reaching the ground, would ensure the Resistance would meet a terrible fate. Good always triumphs however, and the clones were fought, the sun was vanquished, and Infinite himself was defeated once and for all.

It was at this point that Eggman decided to reveal that Infinite was a sham, a distraction, a red herring. For all his power, Infinite was little more than a glorified mook the whole time. Infinite was never the doctor's endgame. He was. Infinite didn't even have true mastery over the Phantom Ruby... but he did.

Death Chad Robot.

In just a few minutes, Eggman tapped into the power of the Ruby more than Infinite ever did, and overclocked it to turn his Doc Ock-looking mech into a beast. But through thick and thin (and a second Nega-Wisp Armor), Sonic and his ambiguously named friend teamed up to take the madman down, because we're Sonic Heroes.

The world was saved from further tyranny, and Eggman went on to either lose his memory or shrug it off to take part in racing spinoffs depending on the continuity. But Infinite - or rather, the jackal who called himself Infinite - remains absent. He could be alive. He could be dead. He could finally get a haircut. His fate is a mystery that we may never know the answer to. Maybe he's spending his retirement climbing the tallest of mountains.

The Design: Careful you don't cut yourself with all this edge.

You could have gotten yourself an eyepatch for half the price.

Demonic eyes, dark colours, anime hair... he's a villain alright. Infinite's design is unashamed of itself. It knows it's ridiculous, and it goes all out with it, which - let's be frank - matches the character in general pretty reasonably. Funnily enough, I don't have much else to say about it. It's not my favourite character design in the world, but I can credit them for pioneering loudspeaker ears. And at least he's not a hedgehog. Or an echidna.

If you listen carefully, you can hear Shadow sighing in relief under the knowledge that he's no longer the edgiest guy in the room.

The Personality: What's an easy way to make a villain a villain? By making them pointlessly sadistic, of course.

"You may call this the Sonic Chronicles soundtrack... in the brief moments that remain to your eardrums."

And I don't speak lightly when I say pointless. Infinite's penchant for sadism is actually treated as a character flaw, as it contributes heavily to his ultimate downfall. He wastes time by drawing out his kills, and his decision to leave his greatest foes alive because they're supposedly "not worth killing" bites him in the ass on more than one occasion. Even Eggman calls him out on his shitty decisions.

"Don't get cocky with me, son. This ain't the Adventure Era anymore.”

And this ties in with how he is in general. Infinite, for all his delusions of grandeur and nihilistic waxing, is a bit of a fuck up. Him and his squad combined couldn't even take on Eggman on his own (albeit with a Phantom Ruby in his possession), and when the mask comes on, it becomes clear that he only defeated Sonic through the element of unfamiliarity. Once Sonic starts to know about him and fights him for real, Infinite doesn't rely on the Phantom Ruby nearly as well as he could. He has a jewel that can do all sorts of distortions, and all he can think to do with it is use basic lasers and blasts for the most part. He's a thug at the end of the day. A powerful thug, but a thug all the same.

Despite this, though it's only hinted here and there, it seems that he has an Inferiority Superiority Complex. His passionate response to Shadow calling him pathetic (ironically, he never actually said he was weak) goes without saying, but then there's his dramatic speeches about having no hope, and how you can't count on anyone, and blah blah blah eat a Snickers already.

The Execution: Much like Erazor Djinn, you may have gathered that this character has a lot in common with everyone's favourite Ice Age antique, Mephiles the Dark. Like Erazor, Infinite is a better (albeit flawed) take on Mephiles' schtick, but whereas Erazor better emulates the success that Mephiles tried to go for, Infinite better represents the failure that Mephiles actually is... right down to showing how Silver would react if he had actual brain cells.

Above: Character development.

Hell, they both share the fate of getting swatted by Omega.

Not bitter at all.

Anyway, to explain this requires some elaboration. I'm aware that a lot of what I've said about Infinite sounds negative, and that's not entirely untrue, since I'll be the first to admit that he could have been handled a little better, and fleshed out a bit more, especially with all the pre-release hype and attention he was given. At the same time however, he's still leagues above the likes of Mephiles, for one simple reason that we discussed previously: his incompetence is intentional.

Maybe not fully - the pre-Infinite breakdown probably wasn't meant to be as comedic as it ended up being - but you can't tell me his setbacks weren't there on purpose. Eggman lost the war because Infinite left his enemies alive and free. Eggman lost the war because Infinite clumsily left a Phantom Ruby replica behind. Eggman lost the war because Infinite kept messing around when he had better things to do, didn't know what to do other than blindly attack when the chips were down, and got disposed of with little fanfare by the doctor after having failed him enough times. Compare all this to Eggman himself in the same game, who despite being known for his childishness and occasional shortsightedness, had a lot of genuine foresight to share around, and went from backup plan to backup plan like it was nothing.

In other words, Infinite could be seen as a well-needed deconstruction of villains like Mephiles, and why they're not as great as they look at first glance. And in that respect, he's kind of a genius concept.

“Ugh, MORE shitty friends...”

Infinite is a very divisive character, and I can see why. Alongside his far from perfect execution, many fans were expecting and hoping for a straight example of late 00's Sonic villains, in part because that's what the marketing and his infamous theme song set him up as and partly because '06 is now considered better than everything afterwards because Baldy McNosehair is literally oppressing all Sonic fans across the world. If you're like me on the other hand, and don't have the slightest unironic interest in those kind of villains, you can probably respect Infinite a little more for addressing the elephant in the room. And even though he is indeed flawed, I think most of that has to do with the wasted potential of the plot itself rather than anything inherently to do with Infinite's own character.

He's no Eggman, Erazor, Metal Sonic, or Hard-Boiled Heavies. But he's above Mephiles, Black Doom, Eggman Nega, and so many others who blend together after a while. Still, maybe someone should assist Shadow the next time he decides to insult somebody.

Crusher Gives Infinite a: Thumbs Sideways!

[antonverloc]

💯💕💑💘

sex + romance headcanons || accepting!!

→  💯: WHAT IS YOUR MUSE’S IDEAL DATE?     it depends both on his mood and the point in the relationship he’s at with the person. regarding the first stipulation: if he’s in a particularly bad mood or particularly stressed with work (which is often on both accounts), he’ll be very difficult to convince to go on a date at all. work will always come first, and when he’s swamped or otherwise compromised (i.e. upset), he will not want to go out for anything, even if he’s thoroughly in love with his partner (which is unlikely in and of itself). on days like that, his ideal date would simply be spending time in comfortable silence with his partner while working: if they bring him coffee and just be with him without demanding conversation or attention, just hanging out with him (and not getting in his way) while he’s doing lab work or research or whatever else, he’ll be truly pleased. a symbiotic evening during which he can just have company without being expected to put work second would be the best possible date he could ask for. if he’s in a good mood and not overly busy with work, he’ll be more inclined to go out with his partner (or have a romantic night in). he’s rarely one to enjoy simple dates, in this case, like walks in the park or going to the pub - instead, he prefers to take his partner somewhere nice, like an upscale cafe or restaurant in the parade district (or a select few on st. george’s holm that are up to his standards).

     regarding the second stipulation, the type of date he prefers largely depends on where he’s at in his relationship with the person (all of these depend on the relationship being a relatively serious one, as he’s otherwise relatively uninterested in dates with a partner). for example, if it’s early in the relationship, anton is more inclined to take them somewhere extravagant in order to charm, manipulate, and impress them. if they’re already very close and he feels he’s already done so adequately, he feels less of a need to (although he often still will, as he likes to spoil his partners). instead, he’s more inclined towards the aforementioned type of date (simply enjoying their company) - although if he’s in a good mood, this doesn’t always mean comfortable silence. these dates can also be simply unwinding in the living room-type area of his “lair” with a glass of wine and whining about today’s most incompetent idiot or other, lighthearted and therapeutic topics of interest. conversely, instead of very frequent, extravagant dates, verloc will switch to more personal ways to go overboard. like, for example, making (read: having someone else cook it and passing it off as having been made by him) them a romantic, candlelit dinner.

     dates with verloc can be few and far between given that he prioritizes work over most everything else, but they’re not unimportant to him. he values his partner, and his wealthy upbringing left him with the belief that pampering them (usually with gifts or nice dinners and the like) is the proper way to show them that. he’s also a very, very lonely man in many ways, and as such, they’re also important to him individually - he needs the company of someone he feels close with sometimes, whether he’ll admit it or not. additionally, manipulation is something he falls to often, and he finds that taking his partner on lavish dates is a good way to keep them placated despite his often erratic and abusive behaviour. which, yes, is also abusive. 

→  💕: WOULD MY MUSE EVER BE IN A POLYAMOROUS RELATIONSHIP?     short answer: no. long answer: in a hypocritical and self-serving way, yes. anton verloc simply cannot share. he’s jealous, possessive, and controlling - partially because that’s simply his nature, and partially because on some level, he’s absolutely terrified of losing his partner to someone else. if he were in a polyamorous relationship, he would ultimately be incapable of trusting his partner: he’d fear that they loved the other person more, fear that they don’t love him, fear that they’d leave him for them. moreover, he’d go into a jealous rage in all of three seconds, mostly because he has… issues with seeing people as his property when he loves them. which, naturally, is very problematic: he thinks he should have the right to make his partner’s decisions and choose who they can see. not actively - he doesn’t recognize that he thinks this way, and i could go on about why this is the case for hours, but that’s not really the topic. the point is, he could not handle it emotionally, and wouldn’t want to.

     even so, he wouldn’t be against having multiple partners, bringing us to the aforementioned hypocrisy. he would never cheat on a partner and would always be sure that they were alright with it first, but assuming they were and he did have an interest in someone else at the time, he would be perfectly willing to have a polyamorous relationship. but if either (or any) of his partners wanted to be with others themselves, he would never be alright with it (with the exception of very, very rare circumstances). unfair and unreasonable, i know. fortunately, at the very least, if a partner told him “no, i’m NOT comfortable with you having multiple partners”, he would be understanding and respectful of that.

→💑: WHAT ARE MY MUSE’S REQUIREMENTS FOR A POTENTIAL PARTNER?     there are both many and very few all at once, which i realize makes very little sense. to elaborate: anton could, potentially, find a wide variety of partners appealing, as his requirements don’t necessarily limit him to a certain type of person, which i imagine is what this question partially means (”what’s his type”). that said, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a lot of requirements.

     first of all, intelligence. this is a deal-breaker. anton cannot and will not be in nor want a relationship with someone he finds intellectually dull. it’s not stimulating, it’s not interesting, and in all likelihood, he’ll just find them abundantly irritating. there are no exceptions or stipulations here.

     second of all, honesty. this is more important after sally than before sally (the two universally accepted eras of time, A.S. and B.S.), as he’s terrified of being manipulated after his relationship with her whereas before, he was certain of his ability to be the one doing the manipulating instead. as such, after she left him, it became infinitely more important to him that he was sure he could trust his partner. liars, manipulators, people like him - he’s notably less inclined to be with them than he would someone straightforward and blunt.

     next, he needs someone who, to some extent, can understand him. he’s a complicated man who can very easily be viewed as nothing but a villain, and he can’t be in a relationship with someone who can’t see that that isn’t all he is. he doesn’t need them to agree with his views or actions, but he needs them not to demonize him for them and to at least understand where he’s coming from.

     he also prefers partners who he can understand. he has great difficulty understanding overly emotional individuals, and when a person frequently favours emotion over logic, he grows frustrated both by his inability to relate and his inability to understand why they’re thinking how they are. and if he gets constantly frustrated, that relationship is destined for failure. we’ve all seen anton verloc frustrated. he doesn’t need his partner to think exactly like he does, but he needs common ground.

→💘: WHAT ARE THE WAYS MY MUSE SAYS “I LOVE YOU” WITHOUT ACTUALLY SAYING IT?     these nonverbal methods are pretty much the only ways he says that, actually. those three words very rarely leave his mouth, as they openly and undeniably put him in a place of vulnerability. that said, that means there are many (often subtle) ways in which he says it without saying it. 

     talking to them about his work without prompting is one of them. it means he expects them to understand, subsequently showing that he respects them - and that he cares about their opinion enough to share his full thoughts with them. 

     there are small actions, additionally, that say “i love you” simply because he wouldn’t do them for anyone else. they can be easily dismissed, though, because a normal person might do them for anyone. for example, if an average human being made you a cup of tea without prompting, you might write it off as them being polite and hospitable. if anton verloc makes you a cup of tea without prompting, that means that he actively thought about another human being’s preferences and desires when he would normally only have considered his own, and that’s quite something. there are some circumstances in which he would do this to be hospitable (only when manipulating/charming others, really), but if he’s his normal asshole self and he makes you tea (or something of the like: alcoholic beverages, food, coffee, etc.), that means something. 

     if he lets himself be vulnerable around them, that’s a solid “i love you” right there. aftercare after sex? not something he allows. but if he lets a partner take care of him afterwards, that’s an “i love you”. if he lets them do something like give him a massage when he’s openly stressed/in pain, that is too – bonus points if he actually asks for one. emotional vulnerability, too; if he opens up about something he’s feeling, that’s yet another thing he wouldn’t do with someone he didn’t care deeply for.

     little things like generally taking care of his partner are also important. making sure they’re eating and sleeping well, bringing them gifts, worrying about them in any capacity - all of those small things mean that he actively thought of them and their wellbeing without prompting, and valued those concerns enough to act on them.

     finally, actually wanting their company is another way he shows his love. verloc just doesn’t like people as a general rule, finding himself superior to them and as such, finding them irritating. so when he actually seeks out a person to spend his VERY VALUABLE TIME with, that means he thinks notably higher of them than almost anyone else. 

[dragonlands]

Friendship vs queerbaiting

"Can we stop shipping all (m/m) friendships as romance?"

First of all, no. Why should we? Shipping is supposed to be fun, and we can ship whatever we want as long as the characters are fictional. With real people it's a little trickier but this is not about real people shipping so I'll leave it at that. People don't usually choose a ship, shipping happens a little like falling in love: we find ourselves attracted to the dynamic of certain characters and the ship just kind of happens.

Shipping is not activism, like people often remind here. We fans don't need to ship the ship with the most under represented dynamic, we should ship the ship that makes us happy. It's not homophobic if you don't ship the popular gay ship. Its not racist if you ship the main character with the white person instead of poc bc you feel like these two have a better dynamic. And so on. But I need to add here that if a queer/interracial couple is canon but you ship them in a straight/white relationship with someone else it's a little... questionable at least. It depends the dynamic and the history of these characters and so on, but I'm just saying that there are exceptions to the rule I just presented.

So, if you feel like friendships between two men are under represented you have no right to tell people they shouldn't ship it because you prefer their dynamic as something else than romantic. And also: where did the idea come that they are under represented? The sole reason why so many non canon ships are m/m friendships is because THEY ARE EVERYWHERE. Plus, all kinds of friendships are shipped, f/f and f/m too but they're much rarer in mainstream fiction which is why they are also less popular in fandom. If you think "Fandom only ships canonically straight white men", look at Clexa for example. They only had one season together, and it got to the top of tumblr's most shipped list immediately. Stormpilot is very popular and it's interracial while neither is white. Don't blame the fandom for something the creators are responsible for.

The idea that we shouldn't ship friendships tells something about how our society portrays romance - an instant connection, physical attraction, something that consumes your soul after the first glance and makes you leave everything, even your friends and family behind. As if you were ready to die for them after one conversation, one night together, sometimes even just one look. This doesn't sound healthy or even normal to me.

Romance and friendship are not mutually exclusive. Healthy romances are often build on friendship, and even if infatuation comes first and dating second, any couple who has been married for years will tell you that the secret to a happy marriage is being good friends too. Best friends, actually, since they have to spend most time together. Of course I'm not saying we shouldn't ship different kinds of dynamics, I enjoy love/hate relationships as much as the next person, but popular ships that are accused of queerbaiting are usually canonically close friendships.

Drawing a line between close friendship and queerbaiting can be tricky, I admit. Sometimes even if I do think something is queerbaiting I understand the opposite opinion, sometimes not. Often, the opposite argument is something like this: "Yes, they clearly do love each other very deeply, deeper than most friends, but that's because they're like brothers/siblings." And I'm like... no. I know brotherly love is a saying but it isn't really... a thing. For people who aren't actually brothers. Because there are two things that make people siblings: 1) Biology, as in they are genetically siblings. 2) They have been brought up as siblings, they have the same parents and have known each other since birth.

Often siblings are both, but there are adopted siblings, and biological siblings who haven't met each other before adulthood. So if you can't check either of these for your ship, it's not incestuous. No matter how brotherly you think their love is. Because yes, people can form strong bonds to people outside family, but even childhood friends don't have the experience that siblings have. They don't have the same parents and the same happy family memories or shared trauma. They've never had the kind of authority that a parent is, who is close for both and able to decide who's right about the fight and who gets a punishment, who gets the bigger cake slide etc. And when you're biologically related the biology actually affects your relationship: it's just part of surviving the natural selection that we protect those who are genetically like us. Also there's a natural repulsiveness towards our relatives which prevents us from getting mutant babies. These things obviously apply to adoptive siblings too, but not to "bros".

So if someone says that these two characters have a deep connection but it's brotherly, sure, they can think that, but they have no way of getting actual evidence for their claim. Whereas if I think some characters are in love I can present evidence. I obviously can't prove it unless it becomes canon, but I can make it pretty clear why I think so.

Now, I'm all for having male characters be close friends without it making them gay. We need to show that men should be able to talk about their emotions with each other, just like female friends do. It's proven by many studies that straigh men are likely to have their girlfriend/wife as their only emotional support, and that needs to change. Male friend supporting the other when he talks about his crush on a girl: hell yeah. Male friend supporting the other when their parent dies: hell yeah. Male friends talking about games and selfcare and literature and their interests just like female friends do: HELL YEAH! I would like to see male friendships where they need each other because they have shared interests and memories and because they can be open with each other. Being physically comfortable with each other. All that.

But, you see, most so called friendships that are popular as ships and accused of queerbaiting, are not what I just described. These friendships are codependent. If the other died or was taken away from the other the other wouldn't just be sad for a year or so, but they would lose their grip of life and themselves. They are contradictory, and the characters are bad at describing their feelings for each other, unaware whether the "friendship" is mutual, surprised when the other shows that they care. They are full of misunderstandings, and the narrative seems that there's something that they're going towards. Normal friendships are solid and stationary, and while they do change with time and circumstance, they're not constantly evolving as if what the people involved have right now is not what both want.

Friends have fights over petty things, and sometimes just can't be around each other. These characters usually fight - if they fight - because they leave things unsaid and the viewer is forced to think: what did they mean to say? There's tension, neither of them knows how to quite be around the other but they need them like they need air. It is sometimes even shown that even if the other is in a relationship with another person, they can't share the most important parts of their life with that person - they need their "friend" for that. As if love was just physical, no common interests or chemistry needed.

Obviously there will always be some things that can only be shared with a certain person and that person may not be your lover, but at least in my opinion it makes sense if your romantic partner is the one who gets you the most. Especially if the love is supposed to be ideal or even supported by the audience which mostly is the case in fictional romance. And if the "friends" have most in common with each other, have shared their most vulvenerable moments with each other and seem to have romantic chemistry to many of the viewers, why not make them a couple? Because they are both straight men? (Or women, but most often men since most main characters are men.)

The argument against queer ships is usually just "not everyone is gay". Yes, well, obviously not. Some people are straight, that's true. They don't feel attraction to the same sex even if their life depends of it (So I've heard. As a bisexual myself this sounds like a weird concept. Whatever.)

And the conversation continues: "I think these two men you ship together are both straight, so they can't feel attraction towards each other."

"Fine, that's your opinion. But how do you prove that?"

"He slept with a woman/flirted with a woman/ loved a woman etc."

"Bisexuality. Exists. Also, some gay people try to date the opposite sex before they admit they are gay, because society teaches that's the normal thing to do. They could be in denial, or pretend to be straight so they don't get beat up or something like that, it's often hard to be queer. But once again: BISEXUALITY EXISTS."

So, the person saying they're straight is usually just basing their thoughts on heteronormativity, thinking that they're straight until proven otherwise. Fandom, on the other hand, looks at how the character acts around different genders and bases their opinion of their sexuality on that.

Back to "Not everyone is gay". What do people even mean when they use that phase? I look at the fictional universe that I love and see zero canon queer people, or maybe two minor characters that were in one episode. The world is filled with characters, and I'm only pointing at a few of them and saying that they seem to have potential for a romance, why not? Straight people already have almost every popular character, is it really too much to ask if we could get one or two too? That's not everyone.

The fans don't want the show/book/movie to become a romance suddenly, we're in this fandom because we like the thing that makes it what it is. We're just asking to acknowledge the romance that literally is already there. WE'RE NOT ASKING FOR A SEX SCENE. We're asking for something that could make the people who watch/read the thing from their heteronormative viewpoint see that it was actually queer all along. So that they would stop ridiculing us queer people for "seeing things that aren't there." Something very small will do: Hannigram didn't even have to kiss because everything needed to make a romance were already there, they just needed one conversations to make it clear that yes, Hannibal was in love with Will and yes, Will did ache for him too. Simple. Korrasami just walked off together in the end. With both cases the fans were happy, and it proves that the idea that "fangirls just want to see two men fuck" is wrong. We just crave to be represented.

The final argument against the queer interpretation is: "Relationships are complex, and sometimes you don't fall for the person who seems to be the perfect match for you." Yes. Real life is complex. Sometimes love is just physical, often you don't fall for your friend. BUT. As a writer, you're not trying to recreate real life. You're showing things and emotions that are important to the story, so why make a multi season/movie/book arch for a relationship between two men if you're just going to pair them off for someone else?

As a person who's into writing I get really confused by these things. One of the first lessons I learned that I still hear daily is: "show, don't tell". If you've shown us the two men falling for each other, telling that one or both of them suddenly love someone else won't fix it. And if every other character in the universe seems to think these two are a couple then it's not very hard for the viewer to see that too.

I am tired of hearing about "platonic love stories". The creators have called so many popular ships that, as if it somehow excused their queerbaiting. Platonic and love story are each other's opposites, and platonic love stories don't exist - unless they're talking about the platonic concept of love: that humans had four legs, four arms and two heads but they were too powerful so the gods divided them in two, and that's why people need a soulmate. But usually they don't mean that - however, sometimes they do. Thank gods for Hugh Dancy. But when creators literally call the ship a love story between two men yet insist it's not romantic, it probably aren't the fans who are reaching. If it's a love story, let it be a love story.

[tommykaine]

Till Death Do Us Part ramblings

Now that I’ve been tinkering with the game for a bit (two days I have no shame) I feel that I can ramble a bit about it

Warnings for assorted spoilers under the cut and also mentions of things of distasteful nature due to the game in question

First things first I’m gonna get this out of the way because I know it’s just unescapable: whether this is “another BTD”, and just the general comparison that is bound to happen between the two BTD games and TDDUP.

My answer to that is no, it’s very much not “BTD 3 but with a different name”.

Yes, the “genre” is of the same nature, and the way the game functions is similar (but it’s a visual novel pretty much, all visual novels have multiple choices and different story outcomes at the end depending on previous choices). However, there are significant differences, enough to make me come to the conclusion that this is only superficially related to the first games.

Firstly, TDDUP is a lot more story-driven. You still have several choices, but there is a lot more reading involved than in the BTD games. Besides the amount of text, however, the main difference is with the MC:

In BTD, the MC was more or less a blank state. Yes, there was a hint of pre existing characterization (in BTD 1 we know they are a drinker and have trouble socializing) and some that would come up depending on the choices (in one route it comes up that the BTD 2 MC likes to paint, for example), but for the most part, you could imagine whatever backstory and it would fit.

In TDDUP, you still have room for your own headcanons and some degree of customization (name and gender - note that the gender option influences more than just pronouns/titles. If you want to headcanon the MC as a pre-op trans character you might want to pick the “they” option), but there is a whole pre-existing set-up that is different in each story.

So basically in BTD it was more like the MC was a self-insert/your own OC in a story, whereas in TDDUP it’s more like you are playing a pre-existing character.

Same with the relationships - in BTD, you’re just getting to know the guys, and even with the more “romantic” outcomes there is no pre-set relationship. In TDDUP, each pairing has a more specific setting. Either you’ve recently escaped a relationship with an obsessive partner who just can’t let you go, or you’re the main asshole in what ends up being a mutually destructive relationship, or you’re in a loving marriage that is suddenly shattered by a dangerous secret. The same is true in the scenarios with Aria and Ellen, albeit a bit less so in Ellen case as she knows about you but you barely do.

Another major difference is that in BTD, your “goal” was to survive (even if that was not the real goal for most of the players let’s be real ;) ). Most of the endings involved the MC being killed for failing, with a few harder to get ones where you get to survive (albeit how “good” of an ending you’d get was quite arguable). In TDDUP however, there isn’t really a “goal” towards getting any specific ending. In one of the routes it’s not possible to be killed in the first place so all endings are survival endings, in another there are a few death endings but they’re not necessarily the most likely endings you’re gonna get. So the “goal” is not really to survive, but to advance the story (or for a “final goal”, to unlock all the endings and get the bonus content, if you’re a completionist).

Finally, there is as far as I can tell no connection between the BTD characters and the TDDUP characters. Whereas in BTD 2, you had some characters being connected to and/or mentioning BTD 1 characters, so there was an explicit connection between the stories. In fact, TDDUP might not even take place in the same universe as the BTD games, as evidenced by the fact that there are no supernatural elements in it (even Strade, who was the closest to a “regular human” you’d get in the BTD universe aside from the MCs, had a supernatural creature as a pet).

There are some other differences (the obvious one being that this is @electricpuke’s fully own creation of course) but I think that these are the main ones that bring me to consider TDDUP as a completely different creation than the two BTD titles, rather than a spin off or a sequel in all but name.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’m gonna talk about some of my first impressions. Please note that this is all very subjective and mostly based on personal taste!

I’m also using pronouns based on which ones I picked in each route, as those are kind of my own “headcanon” for the situations, so it’s not gonna be gender neutral in all of them for that reason.

Also, this is where the most spoilery part starts, so be warned for that!

My first reaction was that I really loved the first endings I got for both Chris and Jack. They are also my two favourites out of the four characters, followed by Aria and Marcus. I don’t know why, but I just couldn’t get into Ellen (no pun intended). Her storyline just didn’t click with me for some reason.

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I think my absolute favourite storyline and pair out of the three might be the one with Jack (unfortunately he hates the memes - btw the first time I arrived at the “stab me daddy” option I was unable to continue for like 5 mins cause I was just stuck there laughing at it). I’m a sucker for fictional serial killers, and as unrealistic as that’d be IRL I love the “one exception” type of dynamic with a serial killer and another character. I really liked how Jack was genuinely in love with the MC, the fact that it wasn’t just an act for him to act like the caring husband. In my first playthrough with him my character was trying to reach out to his caring side, to still accept him to some degree, but in the end Jack couldn’t kill him nor keep him - therefore, the only thing he could do was leave. It was really sad, but I liked that ending the most. I was expecting to prefer the one where MC snaps and comes to love the twisted side of Jack (for example the survival ending in BTD 1 where MC snaps and joins Sano as a fellow killer is still my favorite one out of all the endings in that game) but I actually didn’t. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t love it either.

I just really like that the ending where he leaves was the closest Jack could get to a genuine love for his partner, as he realizes he cannot have him like he’d want to, and that MC will never see him in the same way he did before, but he doesn’t want to kill him to save himself from the consequences, so the only thing he can do is leave.

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The first ending I got with Chris (by the way I hadn’t understood from the warnings that the temperament referred to how MC acted, so I went in thinking “I kind of want my character to be a dick to him” and it turned out that was exactly the case, lol) was the one where he gets his revenge, then he just leaves. It felt like the best culmination of their dynamic, honestly. It just was doomed to not end well, and in the end it doesn’t - not because Chris kills MC or tells him off and says they both need help, but he just has had enough, and that’s it. There’s no closure, no lesson to learn, no attempt to salvage what’s left. MC destroyed what they had built together and was left with nothing, and no one to blame for that but himself - if he even could have the self-awareness to do that.

I also really like the ending where he decides to leave but explains you why, and you repent for your actions but too late, which is probably the closest thing to an actual good ending you can get in the entire game with any character. Arguably the one where you stay together and agree to work on your issues is the “actual good ending” but I’m honestly too jaded to believe it. In my opinion it’s just not going to work out, either MC is going to slip back into his old habits and Chris will either tolerate it or break it off, or if things go a bit better then they’re just gonna end up breaking up because they each bring out the worst in the other. It’s also why it’s not one of my favourites, even if I do like it. My third favourite is the one where Chris turns himself in, which is also the saddest in my opinion. MC doesn’t have the self awareness nor the care to realize their wrong-doings in years (unless someone else forces them to), yet Chris cannot cope with what he has done in maybe a couple days, he’d rather face the consequences of that and be done with it. You could argue there is a big disproportion between what Chris and MC did, but also consider that especially in Aria’s route it comes up that MC sexually assaults Chris, and we do not know whether MC has ever been physically abusive as well, plus MC has been abusing Chris for years whereas Chris snaps after years of mistreatment from pretty much everyone (not saying he’s right to be violent, in an IRL situation no one would be innocent, but in the contest of the story it’s hard to argue that Chris is the one to blame).

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I don’t love any of Aria’s endings to the same extent, but I do like her route nonetheless. I think my favourite ending is the one where you are trapped in her basement until you die and she wants both herself and Chris to forget about you. It’s just so tragic and twisted, plus it low-key references Poe so that’s a plus (I loved the Poe reference in BTD 2 too - sorry for comparing the games again but I’m just a sucker for this kind of thing, plus The Pit and The Pendulum is my favorite of Poe’s tales). I like how her confrontation of the MC comes both from a loving place but also from a selfish one - that’s why you don’t get any “good” endings in her route, not even a sad one. She never actually wants MC to do things right, she just wants her gone so that she can no longer hurt her brother, and she wants her to pay for what she has done.

I kind of would have liked to have a survival ending in which she keeps MC for herself but I definitely understand why that’s not an option. Probably wouldn’t have suited the storyline if there was.

Still, if there is ever a TDDUP 2 or another game involving murder husbandos/waifus, I’d love it if we got a femdom route with that option, JS ;P

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I liked Marcus’s route, but just not as much as the other ones. It’s the first one I tried, so if I didn’t like it at all I might not have been so inclined to play the others, but I think it just was overshadowed by how much I liked Jack’s and Chris’s routes. So it’s not like I can find any specific fault to it, I just loved the other ones too much, lol. I definitely liked John’s character too (he’s the one true Cinnamon Roll) and his relationship to the MC. Which works very well to make all of the outcomes for MC all the more tragic.

I like that there are ONLY survival endings to his route. MC doesn’t get to escape their fate, not even by dying. They *are* going to stay with Marcus whether they like it or not. The closest they can get to a “good” ending is by getting mindbroken and accepting the situation, which is arguably the “worst” ending you can possibly get as in all of the other ones MC does at least retain their determination.

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As I’ve mentione before, I’m not a great fan of Hellen. I think the ending I liked the most is the one where she lets MC go because she is now obsessed with both Jack and his wife. I don’t foresee a good future for MC there XDOverall, I just wasn’t as invested. I wonder if maybe if I had played her route before Jack I would have liked it more, as by that point I was so enamoured by the Jack/MC dynamic, and maybe I just saw her as getting in the way of that? No idea. I ended up using guides to get most of her endings to see if my opinion of her changed, but it didn’t make much of a difference, aside from the aforementioned survival ending.

That’s just me though, I’ve seen other posts from people who really liked her! I’m glad she’s there for those who do, I’m just not going to be one of her fans XD sorry.

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Overall, I really liked the game, might play around with it more (especially if I draw or write something with the characters), it definitely was an experience that I’d like to repeat and a great early Christmas surprise as I only found out about it the other day XD

I’ll definitely be looking forward to other games from EP, whether to continue from where this left off, or to see something new entirely. 

[phoenixagent003]

In Defense of Fanfiction

So, fairly recently (at time of writing), a fellow writer decided to disparage authors who cut their teeth writing fanfiction which, in their words “actively teaches you to write worse.”

Now, as someone who did cut their teeth writing fanfiction, my gut instinct to seeing this tweet was to angrily quote tweet it with the reply “Oh fuck off.” But that much as a I wanted to do that, I didn’t for several reasons. For one, I just generally try to be restrained and selective for who I get that angry and confrontational with online, reserving it mostly for politicians, celebrities, and DC’s Titans. Entities at once morally bankrupt, and largely immune to any kind of damage that I personally can inflict due to an absence of actual humanity.

And that all being said, this person was… well a person. A person with a narrow-minded and incorrect opinion, but still a person. And a fellow writer. So then I thought about refuting their bad-take, but that felt too much like swooping in to mansplain writing to someone who by all accounts seems to have been doing it at least as long as I have, and who’s been considerably more professionally successful at it.

Plus, like I said, I got my start in fanfiction. My origins are quite literally being targeted and attacked here. And feeling targeted can make people say and do some really stupid stuff if they don’t stop and think beforehand.

Basically, I didn’t want to start a Twitter beef over this because quite frankly the internet would be a happier place if we all just did that less, but I still saw a lot of bad arguments and missed points, so I couldn’t just say nothing. And so here we are, at a compromise between Twitter arguing and saying nothing—blogging about it.

The writer in question turned her single tweet into an entire thread that brought up a lot of very different, very unrelated issues, some of which I want to touch on as well, but before I do any of that, I want to answer the central argument, taking it as much as I can on face value and inferring as little else as possible: that fanfiction “actively teaches you to write worse.”

Does it?

Twitter is a terrible medium for communication. It rewards broad, inflammatory statements and its character limit leaves little room for nuance. Some people attempt brute-force circumventions of that limit, but most don’t, and the site isn’t suited to it. So it is unsurprisingly difficult to parse out exactly what they meant, but I can take a stab at it by covering as many bases as I could think of.

Does the medium of fanfiction inherently teach poor writing fundamentals, like prose, plot structure, or character development?

No. Writing, like most skills, is honed by practice. Every time you think about the best word to put on a page or the best way to structure a sentence or story, you are getting better at writing. You start a sentence, and think to yourself, “Hang on, there’s gotta be a better way to word that.” And that moment, where you reflect on your craft and look for ways and spots to improve it—that is you learning. Developing. Maybe you think of a way to word that sentence better, maybe you don’t. But the act of thinking, of searching, of even just acknowledging that it could be better is still work towards improvement. Doesn’t matter if it’s dialogue written for Harry Potter or for your original character, do not steal.

90% of fanfiction is crap. But 90% of everything is crap. Fanfiction is perhaps more famous for being mostly crap, but it’s really not hard to understand why. First off, the only barrier to entry for writing is basic literacy. If you can read this sentence, you can try your hand at writing. The difference between fanfiction and say, traditionally published works, is that fanfiction kind of keeps that low barrier to entry, whereas to get traditionally published you typically have to impress at least two other people—your agent, and then the editor you agent sends your shit to. And even then, that’s not a insurmountable barrier to entry. A metric butt-ton of people do it all the time.

In short, with fanfiction, the “slush pile” is open and visible, whereas with most other stuff, the only people who have to read that garbage are agents and editors, God have mercy on their souls. But rest assured, there is just as much shitty original fiction as there is shitty fanfiction.

In addition to the low barrier to entry, fanfiction is where a lot of people first dip their toe into this gig. And unless you are an unparalleled prodigy, when you’re new at something, you are bad at something. Which is fine. Doing something poorly is the first step to doing something competently. Practice is practice.

Now, you can practice something incorrectly and do yourself wrong—anybody who knows about proper weight lifting form can tell you that. But for the most part, a writer working on fanfiction is no more likely to do this than someone writing anything else.

The two exceptions I can think of are character and worldbuilding. Somewhat unique to fanfiction (we’ll talk about that in a minute) versus original fiction is that in fanfic, the characters and world are already established. Depending on the kind of fic you write, you may very well not get practice or experience making characters or worlds, since you’re using someone else’s work to basically cover that for you. So, sometimes, in this one specific area, fanfiction does feature something of a crutch that could theoretically lead to deficiencies in a writer’s fundamentals.

That said, that is very much dependent on the type of fanfic. Some works feature entirely original casts, telling a new story with new characters in an established setting. And even in fics which predominantly focus on the established cast, fanfic writers are downright notorious for adding new, original characters into the mix. Most of them are… awful. But we already covered why that is. Remember, bad writing is not the same thing as bad practice.

Ditto worldbuilding, where we’ve got plenty of fanfics that outright replace the world of the established story. The Alternate Universe concept is a very popular one in fanfic.

I will say in a closing than with worldbuilding and character, fanfiction does typically replace only one of these while keeping the other. Mainly because if you changed both, you’re liable to have left the realm of fanfiction altogether.

Does fanfiction, by its nature, leave you unprepared for making the transition to the professional writing world?

Let’s pretend for a moment that we didn’t just shoot down the idea that writing fanfiction means you never honed your ability to create your own original world and characters. That’s nonsense, but let’s say for purely hypothetical arguments sake, that if you start out writing fanfiction, your character-creating muscles will atrophy and you’ll only be able to work with pre-existing concepts, worlds, and characters. Does fanfiction leave you unprepared for making it in the world of professional writing?

For your consideration, I present: the very concept of episodic television. TV shows regularly bring on writers who did not originate either the show or its characters. TV writers craft stories borrowing a world and characters that somebody else came up with. The only difference between them is fanfiction is they got paid and get to be stamped as canon. Same muscles getting used. Same kind of exercise.

The spec script, the method by which most people showcase their ability to write for TV, is literally just fanfiction.

Then we have adaptations and retelling of both licensed and public domain properties, where once again, we have scores of writers, taking characters and concepts that they did not come up with, and using them to tell their own stories, or even just put different spins on the originals. What if Hades and Persephone, but without the whole “against her will” thing? Hey Marvel, can I use your Norse god character to tell a story about how societies built on the back of colonialism are inherently flawed and shouldn’t be preserved at the expense of the people?

The skillset of playing with other people’s toys to make something compelling is an incredibly valuable one for a writer to have. If anything, I’d argue that fanfiction is even better suited to teaching this skillset than writing original fiction.

And as a quick aside, that practice of playing with other people’s characters and constantly asking “Is this in character for them?” is a very useful practice that actually translates very well to writing your own characters. When you invented a character, it can be tempting to declare anything you write “in-character” since, well, you wrote it, and they’re your creation. But that thinking can easily lead to disjointed characterization.

I routinely ask “is this in-character?” while writing for characters I created. It makes me a better writer, and I learned how to ask that question and how to identify the answer from writing fanfiction.

Does fanfiction distort your sense of good taste?

This is the closest I could possibly come to agreeing with the original argument. The last time I was actively involved in it, the fanfiction community had pretty low standards, actually? I say this, because when I was writing fics, I was actually heaped with praise and attention, almost all of which was near universally good.

But I was not good. I was bad. I was very bad. Because I was in junior high, and an idiot, and those fics were the first thing I ever wrote that was longer than seven pages. But I updated my fics daily over the summer, in a very popular fandom that predominantly targeted people my age. So I got lots of fans and praise, and I started to think I was a good writer. Even worse than that, other people thought I was a good writer, and told even more people that I was.

Which is an affront to good taste.

That having been said, even though I do hold fandom and its nature partially to blame for the single most humbling aspect of my entire life, I also just hold adolescence in general to blame? Maybe? I like to think that much as I grew beyond my poor grasp of my own woeful incompetence, so too did my audience grow up and get a better understanding of what actually good writing is.

But then again, EL James and Reki Kawahara have made more money than I’ve ever seen in my life. So maybe neither fanfic nor adolescence is to blame. Maybe sometimes trash just sells.

As an aside, I hope this doesn’t come off as me trying to be mean or make fun of all those people who liked my old stuff. I know I’m embarrassed by it, and the only reason I haven’t deleted it all is because I need an ego check every now and again (and they’re also how I met my wife). But whether you also did a 180 on my old stuff as you got older or you still unironically think it’s good… thank you for the support. You are my humble beginnings and I would not be the person I am today without all of you.

…and that’s enough getting sentimental and making this about me, let’s go back to debunking opinions that are objectively wrong because I disagree with them.

The Other Stuff

I feel I’ve thoroughly said my peace on the original argument put out by my colleague. Namely, that they are wrong. But I’d also like to very quickly address the everything else they spewed out. My takes on this are considerably less long winded and probably could have been sanded down to a Twitter reply, but I still figure their inbox is getting enough shit already, and I want to make this more about the arguments than the person.

I’m not going to cover everything in detail, especially since I am super not qualified to speak on some of them—there is only so much I as a cishet dude feel comfortable giving my opinion on—but I will cover the bits that stood out and ground my gears.

EL James and Cassandra Clare are “fucking terrible”

No disputing the EL James part. Her character work is atrocious, her understanding of actual kink and BDSM dynamics and lifestyles is woeful, her plot bears clear evidence of serialized work that was not properly cleaned up prior to publication.

I haven’t read Cassandra Clare’s work. I have heard both good and bad things about it, but let’s say for argument’s sake she’s also not great.

This comment shows a distinct lack of knowledge of just how many authors, many critically acclaimed, write fanfiction on the side or got their start in it. Neil Gaiman writes fanfiction—and usually manages to get paid for it. I could go on with a long and yet still non-exhaustive list of authors who have done or still do it. Bottom line, there are some very high profile, not good writers whose start in fanfiction has been effectively weaponized against them to further underline their badness—“Of course EL James is bad. What did you expect from someone who started in fanfiction—while simultaneously many good writers have their connections to it downplayed by either choice or their own profile.

“Low effort formulaic lowest-common-denominator writing is bad actually”?

I almost brought this into main discussion, but I said I would infer as little as possible and on its own, this tweet didn’t directly say it was talking about fanfiction. I would argue it heavily implied it, and I very much doubt the author of the tweet would disagree with me, but I made the no inferring rule and I stuck to it.

I’m actually still going to take this argument on its own for a moment. I’ve already covered how and why fanfiction is generally seen as bad—low barrier to entry and the bad stuff is as easy to find as the good stuff—so I want to talk about something else. “Low effort writing is bad. No real arguments. I could jokingly say Neil Gaiman could drunkenly scribble something on a napkin that would outclass my best efforts, but I actually don’t have that low an opinion of myself.

Lowest-common-denominator writing is probably bad. In general, I think trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator is a good way to make uninspired trash, but on the other hand…fuck it, I’m liable to be included in that lowest common denominator most of the time. That’s the whole goddamn point of the LCD. It casts a broad net. And there’s a place for that. I don’t think it should be a big place, but still a place.

“Formulaic writing is bad” though? That I also just straight up disagree with. Formulas are a tool. And like every tool, they can be used really well, or really poorly. Used well, a formula can provide a solid structure around which to build interesting stories or ground the audience in otherwise unfamiliar settings. Don’t call a hammer a bad tool just because you’re hitting the nail wrong.

Several arguments discussing fanfictions relationship to queer and female audiences/writers/identities:

Nope, not touching that.

Oh fuck off.

Fanfiction isn’t collaborative or about community because “it's all corporate IP” and “Ultimately, someone else legally owns it, and you are choosing to give a corporate entity your creative energy.”

And this is actually something that’s been bugging me a while, specifically regarding the relationship people have with corporately owned IP and how it being owned by a corporation doesn’t automatically invalidate it as a source of emotional investment or cultural symbolism. But quite honestly, that really deserves its own post, so I’m just going to put a pin in this that and say we’re done here.

Glad I got all that off my chest.

So that was a thing. If you’ve got your own experiences with fanfic, good or bad, I’d love to hear them in the comments or over on Twitter.

If your curious about my history in fanfiction, like I said, it is all still technically out there, and very bad, but I’m not so much of a masochist that I’d link it here. I wouldn’t read it if I were you.

I write newer, much better stuff now. Some of it is here on this website, and some of it is in a novel coming out Fall 2021! Check that out instead! I promise it’s a much better use of your time.

[lawyernovelist]

Action/Adventure Writing: Interrogation

Sorry about the delay; I’ve been fighting writer’s block and coming to terms with the need to read Stalking Darkness again before reviewing it.

On with the next in my series! Interrogation is something that I've seen a lot of writers use to break up captivity scenes. Well, to be honest torture is something that I've seen a lot of writers use to break up captivity scenes. And yes, that is a job it does pretty well - it's active, visceral, and can be exciting.

I kind of wish there was a bit more variety, though.

Spoilers for The Force Awakens, the Hobbit movies through Desolation of Smaug, and Lord of the Rings. Warning for discussion of torture.

Despite the warnings, I'm actually planning to talk about torture as little as possible. This is a large part of my problem with a lot of the interrogation scenes I encounter, both in professional and fan work: everyone always reaches for the thumbscrews, and that's just... we need some variety.

I posit that a well-written interrogation scene should be less about brute force and how much gore and how many screams you can pack onto the page and more about a carefully-crafted battle of wits. Play mind games! Gouge deep into your characters!

Apart from anything else, let me engage in some serious talk for a moment. Interrogative torture is a big controversial issue. I personally am opposed to its use in all circumstances on moral grounds and also on practical grounds: it's often been shown to do more harm than good. The thing that's often said to justify it is that under torture the victim will say anything. And that's the problem: they'll say anything. You can get a lot of false stories out of someone who's just looking for a way to persuade you to take the electrodes away. And that's even before you've considered issues of moral high ground, co-operation with allies, and so forth.

OK, serious talk over. I'll go back to some of those issues, but I wanted to get my cards on the table good and clear as we go into this, since this is something that's being discussed and that has implications in the real world.

Yes, yes it does.

That having been said, of course I use it in my writing, and so do a lot of other people, and I'm not going to say that it should never appear. I just think we need some variety.

OK, so a lot depends on what the scene is even here for. And while I'll get to character motivation (again), I'm currently talking meta. There are plenty of reasons to have an on-screen interrogation scene. To name a few:

Motivation for holding the interrogated character prisoner

Clarifying the interrogators' knowledge and motivation generally

Providing a ticking clock and raising the stakes for other events

Of course, there are also perfectly good reasons not to have the interrogation happen on-screen, of which the best is suspense. Returning to my post on captivity sequences, a writer might prefer not to go into the point of view of a captured character at all in order to leave the audience wondering what's happening to him: Tolkien's handling of Frodo's capture by orcs in Return of the King is a good example of this technique. Throughout the sequence with Sam searching for Frodo, we have no idea what's happening to Frodo, so we share Sam's fear and suspense. Afterwards, once Frodo's been rescued, we learn that he was strip-searched and interrogated while a prisoner, but the suspense of not seeing that was more valuable than anything we might have gained by seeing it.

So ask why we actually need to see the interrogation at all and whether the story would be better served by another point of view.

Anyway, returning to those reasons that you might want to put this scene in. They're actually pretty powerful, and the first one in particular is why I think this is actually a really good choice for breaking the monotony in a captivity sequence: it answers what might otherwise be a question in a neat, well-integrated way.

The second and third require a bit more elaboration. What I mean by clarifying the interrogators' knowledge and motivation is that the readers can actually learn a surprising amount from what questions are being asked during an interrogation scene. "Who are you? Where do you come from? What do you want?" implies a very different level of knowledge and involvement to "What interest does House Elwood have in the heir of House Alpin?". Even with no other knowledge of the interrogators, we know from that second one that they know (or think they know) where the captured character comes from and they are also specifically interested in a particular aspect of the situation. That aspect might or might not have anything to do with the captured character, and that in turn can tell the audience something and give the author extra lines of plot to pursue.

The third thing - ticking clock and stakes - are more to do with other things going on in the story and with other characters than the characters actually in the scene. Say you have one character - Erain again - being held prisoner and interrogated about the actions of another - we'll call her Maethor - who is getting on with the rest of the plot. If we see Erain starting to waver and give up information, we know that Maethor is running out of time before her enemies will be able to know what she's doing. It adds suspense. As for stakes, the fact that Erain may be about to betray Maethor makes it important that she stop the interrogation in some way, whereas if we didn't see what was happening with him we would feel much more secure about her not doing anything about him being held prisoner.

On that note, incidentally, and as a sub-point of the second reason to include an interrogation scene, it's my opinion that if the antagonists are finding out information from a captured character and using it against the protagonists, it's only fair to let the reader know where they're getting that information, whether by having it told at some point or by actually seeing the captured character talk.

Oh, and by the way, I may have to catch myself and/or specify a few times, but all of what I'm saying here applies to interrogation of villains by heroes as well as heroes by villains.

So OK, you've decided to include an interrogation scene on-screen. How to go about doing it?

First of all, and returning to my point about variety, it might be cool if these scenes could be more, well... clever. I mean, think about it. This is at its heart about one character trying to wheedle information out of another character and using whatever means are needed to do so. And, yeah, those means can involve torture, but they don't have to.

I'm always in favour of battles of wits between characters, and it's actually another major reason to think twice before just writing a torture scene for interrogation. Apart from anything else, there are really only so many torture scenes you can write and they tend to be pretty generic. There's really not a lot of character involved in the standard torture scene.

Villain - Mwa ha ha! Tell me all of your secrets! Hero - I'll never talk! *torturing ensues, with appropriate amounts of screaming and blood, depending on method and variety of hero * Villain - Curses, he is too strong!

The only real difference the characters involved make is how much the hero screams.

Now consider the possibilities of a scene with clever questioning. I can't write a generic scene for that, and that's kind of the point. It also means you get to avoid the problem that I've actually pretty rarely seen heroic characters doing any interrogation where they're not morally-grey antiheroes prepared to use torture (Lookin' at you, Clive Cussler) or terrible at it (That one's for you, Desolation of Smaug).

Yep, it's the Hobbit Movies again. And they almost got away with it because I'd forgotten about this scene until I was thinking about examples where the character being interrogated was clearly way smarter than the characters doing the interrogating. Let's return to the Interrogation scene in Desolation of Smaug.

I already made fun of this scene pretty extensively, but let's go back to it from a meta perspective as a case study. The biggest problem, I think, is the fact that I almost declared it an entirely pointless scene. It actually isn't; if I set everything else aside it has several meta goals: it advances Thranduil's character as cold-hearted and borderline duplicitous, it shows us the lock-in moment for Tauriel going after Kili, and it raises the stakes for Kili by telling us more about his injury. The problems are that 1) All of that is completely buried in clutter, and more importantly 2) There's no in-universe reason for this scene.

Now, the first thing plays into the second, and if it were better-written wouldn't be a problem. You don't want to pare scenes down so much that there's nothing but the bare bones of what's needed for the plot, so I'm fine in theory with there being some extra content to put some flesh on the scene. However, there's a difference between content and clutter, and that's where the second thing comes in.

Why did Legolas decide to take this orc prisoner and why did Thranduil attempt to interrogate him?

And I mean their in-story motivations (there's that word again). They don't know about the structure of Tauriel's subplot or stakes for the audience, so they need an actual reason to go to this trouble, and there isn't one. At least, not one that matters.

Let me break that down a bit more: this is where the clutter problem comes in, because it's not clutter that's relevant to the characters involved. The orc is able to repeatedly change the subject and avoid answering the questions he's being asked and almost across the board the elves seem to neither notice nor care. In fact, in a couple of cases they actually abet him.

Legolas: What is Thorin Oakenshield to you?

Narzug: The Dwarf runt will never be King!

Legolas: King? There is no King under the mountain, nor will there ever be. None would dare to enter Erebor whilst the dragon lives.

Thank you for not pursuing your point and instead reiterating how much the world is against Thorin, Legolas. Perhaps you can also tell me why I should care whether you get any answers when you don't?

That's really the problem here: it's the old problem that I don't care about the outcome of the scene if the characters don't. To go into more detail, though, and pull out to the learning point, the issues are stakes and motivation. As I mentioned up above, like all the scenes I've talked about in this series the characters need to be motivated to get involved in the scene, and the more effort is being put into the interrogation the stronger the motivations need to be. Taking the Desolation of Smaug scene as an example again, the elves have put significant effort into capturing the orc, so they need to have a good reason to have done so, and that's why the fact that they seem to not particularly mind whether they get information or not is such a problem and makes the scene feel like such a waste of everyone's time.

And by the way, yes I know that apparently Thranduil gleaned all the information he needed to know from the orc's mention that "My master serves the One.", but given that that's never expanded on and doesn't really prompt him to change behaviour, just to continue doing the same thing in a smaller boundary, I don't think it counts for anything, especially when the specific questions the orc was asked went unanswered.

Anyway, on the subject of motivations and stakes, these also need to be demonstrated on the part of the character being interrogated, especially when they're actually a character rather than a walk-on like the orc. To give a relevant anecdote, I once read a fanfic that opened with Aragorn, having been captured by orcs, being interrogated and tortured for information about an unnamed companion. He insisted that he had been travelling alone, but because it was the very first scene in the story and the author didn't see fit to give us any of Aragorn's internal monologue, I spent the whole scene wondering if he was lying or not.

If, on the other hand, I'd known that (as I found out in the next scene after a POV switch) he was travelling with Legolas and they were scouting before the departure of the Fellowship from Rivendell, I might have been a lot more concerned that the orcs might get information out of him. The stakes would have been a lot higher.

Now, I was going to prescribe not opening your story with an interrogation scene for this reason: we won't know the stakes. However, I could have gleaned them from any internal monologue. The same goes for if I'd been in the POV of the interrogators - I could learn from their POV what the scene was about and how important it is that they get the information they want. Both of those are really important for a reader - or viewer - to know.

Returning to the world of film, let's have an example of an interrogation scene that I actually thought was done pretty well: Kylo Ren's interrogation of Rey in The Force Awakens. It's also worth noting that that film actually includes two interrogation scenes, because Ren interrogates Poe near the beginning of the film. However, I'm going to ignore that one for the time being because it cuts off halfway through the scene.

That having been said, it's a good example of a scene that didn't need to be on-screen. As Ren was leaving the room he states the information he learned from Poe; we don't actually need to see the process by which he dragged that information out of Poe's head. The one-line statement was much more efficient at getting the necessary information across to the audience than a full scene would have been, and it leaves everything else to our imaginations while still having shown just enough to advance Ren and Poe's characters.

Anyway, back to Ren and Rey. This is actually a really good interrogation scene, in my opinion, and we can start by pointing out one way in which it's superior to the Desolation of Smaug interrogation scene: it has a point both in and out of universe. Not only does it advance the characters and the story, but there's a reason for Ren to be interrogating Rey and he puts significant effort into pursuing the information he wants. He cares whether he gets the map from her. He actually tries to get it, and while he allows a bit of space in the conversation he's always driving towards that goal. Meanwhile, Rey resists him from hatred and spite to begin with and then also out of self-defence.

By the same token, the stakes have been set up: we know Ren is betting his reputation with Snoke on being able to get information from Rey, and we know that his methods have potential to harm Rey as well as just being violating. As a result, we know why it matters that she resists.

Now, it's true that Ren walks away before getting what he wanted from Rey. However, for one thing he doesn't kill her. He has the option to come back and carry on. For another thing, he walks away because she defeated him, not just because the scene had achieved its meta aims. For another, we saw him trying hard to get what he wanted despite her attempts to prevaricate and resist.

Now, I mentioned that there's some space in the conversation, and that's what I mean by the scene having some content other than what's needed for the plot. Structure-wise, this is building on the Midpoint (Rey's kidnapping), but all that's really needed for that is for her to now come face-to-face with Ren and begin developing her Force abilities. Here are some things we didn't need for that purpose:

Kylo Ren: You still want to kill me.

Rey: That happens when you're being hunted by a creature in a mask.

Kylo Ren: *Removes his mask*

That's the first time we come truly face-to-face with the antagonist, as well as continuing a theme of masks that's appeared a few times in this movie.

Kylo Ren: You know I can take whatever I want. *Almost touches her face, but she mentally pushes him away. He then crouches down beside her, touching her face* ... You're so lonely... so afraid to leave... At night, desperate to sleep... you imagine an ocean. I see it. I see the island... And Han Solo. You feel like he's the father you never had. He would've disappointed you.

Rey: Get out of my head!

A couple of bits of foreshadowing and some serious character points including what may be the creepiest moment in the movie.

Rey: ... You... you're afraid... that you will never be as strong as... Darth Vader!

Kylo Ren: *withdraws and leaves*

More character development as well as a major step in Rey's advancement.

The difference between this and the clutter in the Desolation of Smaug scene is that it means something for the characters and the story. It develops themes, it develops character, it foreshadows later developments. It's also actually relevant to the characters - no other two people could be substituted into this scene because of this extra content.

I... guess from the Desolation of Smaug scene we learn that Tauriel loves Kili, Thranduil's an asshole, and Legolas is in the movie? Invaluable.

Back at the top, I said that a well-written interrogation scene should be less about brute force and more about a carefully-crafted battle of wits with mind games and gouging deep into the characters. Well, technically the Force Awakens scene is... actually it's one step from being a rape scene, and that step is that Ren is violating Rey's mind rather than her body. This isn't a battle of wits, but of power. However, it's still got mind games: the way that Ren manipulates Rey's vulnerability and fear. It's still got character in every moment. The very fact that Ren reaches for mind-reading first tells us something: how different a character would he be if he looked at this captured scavenger with information he needed and his first option was to apologise for scaring her and then offer her money and a ride home in exchange for the map?

Back on point, back on point. This isn't about praising The Force Awakens. I think we can see from the comparison of those two case studies that regardless of style and regardless of which of protagonist or antagonist is interrogating or being interrogated, some points emerge:

The scene should have a point in the story: like any scene, it needs to advance plot, story, character, world, and preferably more than one.

There needs to be an in-story reason the characters are going to all this trouble. The author's knowledge that over the course of the interrogation some information will be revealed that will make it worthwhile is not good enough - Ren had an original reason to be questioning Rey even though he actually learned something else.

Consider salting the scene with as much other character development as you can stuff in. Every word counts. Silence counts, if used well.

Avoid clutter. Everything needs an internal and an external reason to be there, whether it's a power-play that also develops character or a deliberate diversion that shows intelligence and cunning.

On the topic of that last one, here's another example: Faramir's questioning of Frodo in The Two Towers. The book, that is. Now, I would still class this as an interrogation; Faramir's still asking questions and Frodo's not free to end the conversation and leave. Of the three case studies I've brought up, this is the one that is just words; there's no immediate threat to Frodo.

Faramir has a motive: he wants to find out who these trespassers are and what they're doing. Frodo has a motive: he wants to keep his quest a secret. This scene in a big way introduces Gondor as well as leading into the last friendly place Frodo and Sam are going to get before the end of the quest. It has some lovely character moments for Faramir and Sam in particular, and one of those things is how and when Faramir backs off.

Unlike Ren, Faramir isn't repulsed and defeated; he chooses to change the subject, divert the topic of questioning, and move on. However, that does not mean he's not keen on getting answers. For one thing, he has a lot of subject matter and the topic of what Frodo knows about Boromir's death is still very important. For another, he's started to guess at the sort of secret he might be getting close to, and even if he wants to know it himself he does not want it broadcast. His choice to divert shows that intelligence, and he returns to the topic later, more privately.

This exchange actually is a battle of words and cleverness, and the way the characters manoeuvre around one another shows that. It's also a demonstration that the character being interrogated isn't the only one who might benefit from carefully changing the subject!

Just before I summarise, I'd like to go into one more topic: lying. A lot of the time, it seems that the options available to the character being interrogated are 1) Tell the truth, or 2) Remain silent, and writers who do that are missing some interesting opportunities. Apart from anything else, I don't think it says much about the intelligence of the characters doing the interrogating when they just take everything they're told as the truth.

Narzug: We shot the hunky dwarf with a Morgul shaft. The poison’s in his blood; he’ll be choking on it soon.

Tauriel: ... Sure. OK. Who sent you?

Narzug: Wait, aren't you upset? I just told you that your One True Love is dying!

Tauriel: What, I'm just going to take your word for it? Give me some more related and verifiable information and maybe I'll be better able to conclude you're telling the truth.

Interrogation Remix #11

No, really, Tauriel had no evidence except the orc's word that Kili had been poisoned.

Actually, it probably contributes to the use of torture as a failsafe interrogation technique in fiction - nobody ever lies to make the pain stop!

Anyway, there are rational reasons for a character to not lie. For example, Frodo and Faramir were not enemies, Frodo's a painstakingly honest person by nature, and there wasn't really a lie he could tell that wouldn't cause a bigger problem, so it makes sense for Frodo not to lie to Faramir and instead to just refuse to answer him.

Furthermore, lies can be difficult to keep track of and a character may be aware that being caught in a lie could result in something worse than staying silent. For example, a character being interrogated by the police may feel that it's safer to say nothing than to risk (depending on circumstances) adding a definite perjury charge to his problems.

So while both of those are true, it would be cool to see characters lie under these circumstances a little more often. Again, these scenes should be as clever as you can possibly make them while staying true to the characters and their circumstances!

So, to finally summarise:

Think about five times before incorporating torture.

Motivation, motivation, motivation.

Like all scenes, an interrogation scene needs a reason to be a) in the story and b) shown on-screen/page.

There are lots of great opportunities for character development, especially through dialogue and power differential. Use them.

That having been said, if something makes the scene lose focus, it's clutter (unless the characters are doing it on purpose).

Consider all three options: truth, silence, and lies.

Here's to more interesting interrogation scenes!

[occupyvenus]

Who do you think LF is talking to when he said "the last best hope against the storm"? Because I think it's not just about the fight against the White Walkers, but also Euron first-and-last-storm Grayjoy, and Daenerys STORMborn.

Hi anon! You are right, isn’t it a funny coincidence that the White Walkers bring the storm, right when Euron, who is the first-and-last-storm teams up with Cersei, while Daenerys Stormborn starts her conquest of westeros? It’s almost as if the word “storm” might has some negative connotations and is associated with a more general atmosphere of doom. (If someone knows of any “storm”-imagery related to Cersei, please tell me.)

As for your question, I have some guesses but that is one of the things I have no clear idea on… You probably expected a short answer, but since “reading too much into things” is one of my most favourite things in the world: Pack some provisions for the road and let’s go, shall we? 

His exact words are: “Your father and brothers are gone, yet here you stand… last best hope against the coming storm.” 

While I agree that he could be simultaniously talking about all possible threats (political or wintery), I do think his little speech will be more specificly about one of them. Which one depends entirely on who he is talking to. 

My candidates for that are one of the starklings or - in a better world, that could have been - Dany. Yes, I have a headcanon that will never manifest itself in the real world (considering the leaks, spoilers, set photos), where that could happen. I will list all of them from least to most likely, while shouting my opinion into the void. 

Last place: Dany | he’s talking about the White Walkers

If there is one thing in the leaks I really believe, it’s that Littlefinger will stay in the north, cause some trouble for the starks and is killed by Arya/Sansa at the end of the season. This won’t happen, but I love this idea so much, I’m going to talk about it anyway.

Why Dany?

Even though I am just as happy as everyone else to see LF go, I also think it’s a bit of a waste to have one of the most capable political players in the series causing some family drama in Winterfell, without really being involved in the “grand political plot” of the season (alliences/rivalry between Team Dragon, Team Iron Throne and Team Stark). I like that Sansa’s creepy fake father will be the stark sisters/siblings common enemy and that bringing him down together will “unite them as starks” - as if that was necessary - and they’ll get some sweet, sweet revenge for their dad, but still.

I think that LF’s first instinct when hearing about Dany landing in Westeros would be to get to Dragonstone asap and scheme and manipulate her to further his own agenda. I just don’t think he would pass up that chance, even if he had to leave Sansa behind. 

Calling on her “grandiosity” by saying she’s the last best hope against some supernatural threat (DESTINY! PROPHECY!), while reminding her that she is the last targaryen would make sense.

I just always liked the idea of it and seeing tyrions desperation about LF worming his way into Danys good graces would be quite entertaining to watch. At least in the show (a bit in the books to) I would have loved Tyrion and Sansa, the “background” political schemers, to team up and take down a threat their respective “foreground” leaders are blind to. Dany, because she lets LF get into her head (she’s new to westerosi “lobbying” and has so many desires a little shit like LF could exploit) and Jon, because “the great war is here. We have more important things to worry about”. 

I would love the political scheming to have a bigger impact on the war of the dawn, because that’s just how humans are (see global warming). You first have to take out the human trash, before taking care of the supernatural one. 

Why not Dany?

One thing that doesn’t quite fit is that “last best hope” sounds a bit … disappointed? Maybe that’s just me but it has this “You aren’t that much, but better than the other shit options we have.” “your father and brothers are gone” … but implying that the mother of dragons isn’t clearly our best chance against the white walker doesn’t really make sense. 

If he had said “only hope” or “the / our best hope or even “the / our last best hope” … it would be feel less ambigious. I know this is such a small, probably meaningless detail but not using an article/pronoun gives me these meeehhh-vibes, somehow.

Well, they won’t meet on the show with a 99% certainty. So last place for Dany. 

Third place: Arya | he’s talking about politics (mostly)

Why Arya? LF will (unsuccesfully) attempt to drive a wedge between the stark sisters. Pretending that he’s the one working in the starks best interest, whereas Sansa’s loyalty can’t really be trusted will definitely be part of his scheme. (But I don’t buy into those stupid “letter to robb from s1″ leak. Stupid letter is stupid.) In this scenario he would “warn her of southern threats and influences” embodied by sansa, since this would clearly be an attempt to emphasize Arya’s “starkness”.  

Omitting Jon as one of her “brothers” could mean three things: “gone” doesn’t mean dead, but simply “not in winterfell right now”, he’s a bastard and not her true “brother” OR R+L=J WAS ALREADY REVEALED.

Why not Arya? This would only work if Bran and Jon both aren’t around yet/anymore and I’d say it’s pretty unlikely anyway. I just wanted to include it for the sake of completeness. Third place for Arya.

Second place: Bran | he’s talking about both (mostly politics)

Why Bran ?  LF is trying to manipulate the “young lord stark” into turning against his bastard brother who’s threateting to steal his birthright. Omitting Jon as one of his “brothers” is something LF would do out of spite, but maybe ~ just maybe ~ it could hint at Jon’s true parentage as well. 

He could try to pull another “Robin Arryn”, and try to get into a vulnerable, young boys (teenagers?) head. I really think that getting Jon out of the picture - completely - is LF’s main priority in Winterfell right now. 

Bran might actually be the rightful ruler of the north (despite your opinion on the matter), but eliminating him would be way easier if he didn’t have an older (half)brother around to watch over him. At least in LF’s mind, Bran is nothing but a child, who knows nothing about ruling and can’t walk anymore. Getting Bran on his side would make it pretty easy to get rid off Jon. After that desposing of a crippled boy shouldn’t be to hard and Sansa & Winterfell are ready for the taking. 

Why not Bran?Well, Bran isn’t really “standing” anymore. This could just be a very mean jest (saying that to Bran would be very much intentional). If Littlefinger had said “yet, here you are” Bran would be sharing first place with sansa, but instead he’s sharing second place with Jon. 

Second place: Jon | he’s talking about the White Walkers

Why Jon? He is trying to manipulate him into doing some dumb shit (like going on a stupid wight hunt, for example). LF wants jon gone. He needs jon gone. Pretending to be on his side would be a smart move. 

Why not Jon?Littlefinger would never ever call Robb, Bran and Rickon Jon’s brothers without making it sound like “brothers (but not really, because you’re a bastard)”. As I said above he could be trying to kiss jon’s ass, but I honestly think that’s rather unlikely. I don’t think his ego would allow him to be so nice to the man who snatched “his sansa” away right from under his nose. But I could be very wrong about this, so second place for Jon. 

First place: Sansa | he’s talking about the political threats

Why Sansa? Well, when has Littlefinger not tried to manipulate Sansa? His reasoning for saying this to Sansa is the old “you, my love, are the future of house stark” . Those two statemens feel so similar, it could just be more of the same old.  

Until proven wrong I am going to assume LF thinks the White Walkers are complete bullshit. He will try to convince sansa that jon is wasting his energy on the wrong threat and take the “look at our idiot king worrying about fairy tales, when all this real shit is going down in the south. you have to stand up and take care of the real problems, or the north is doomed” approach. 

What doesn’t sit quite well with me is that he simply says “brothers”. His previous interactions with sansa make me believe he wouldn’t miss an oppurtunity to openly throw some shade at jon’s bastard-y. 

If “gone” only implies that all her “male relatives” aren’t in winterfell anymore, he would say “your father, brother, even your half-brother are gone …” or something like it. If “gone” means gone, as in dead, he would have said “father and true brothers”. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but compared to arya and bran, he would emphazise jon being their half-brother more directly when talking to Sansa. It’s just a gut-feeling I have. I might be wrong about this, since we only get this one, out of context sentence . The next thing sansa says could very well be “jon is ..” and LF finishing her sentence “… your half-brother. A bastard, not a true stark.” Omitting Jon could be a set-up for such a conversation.

OR: They know about R+L=J - can we have that, pretty please? The sentiment behind it would actually be the same, Jon isn’t a true stark and he “stole” sansas birthright.

(Some fandom wank on the side: Can you believe that some people give sansa so much shit for ~ maybe ~ being a tiny bit frustrated about being looked over as heir to winterfell, while simultaniously cheering for a certain dragon queen “to take what is hers with fire and blood, because she was born to rule the seven k-doms” Fucking hypocrites.)

Why not Sansa? It would be a bit too obvious, maybe? I honestly can’t think of  a single reason that would feel out of place, so first place for sansa. 

[thank-your-lucky-stars]

Okay. Having time away from tumblr yesterday really gave me a chance to sort of...be okay about stuff for a bit. I mean, I’m not, but I got some ~clarity about things that I need to talk about.

It was good to be away from Robron and I only came on tumblr to reply to birthday messages (thank you again everyone!) but I didn’t look at my dash or anything. I had a Robron-free day, which was what I needed. 

When I got home last night I did come on tumblr and look at my dash a little, and just like....seeing all the Robron gifsets and stuff, I didn’t really feel anything. Like before all this crap, I’d always feel joy when I looked at them. The past few days I have only felt sadness. Last night I didn’t really feel anything.

In some weird and twisted way, I feel like I have been “cured”. I know I was (am?) in too deep with Robron and I probably was from day one, but over the past year especially I have really relied on them in a way that is unhealthy. I have spoken about this a few times, my reasons for it and what-not, so I won’t go into that again (you can probably find the posts in my #personal tag if you need me to elaborate) but while the good times can leave me with an incredible high, the bad times can really....fuck me up. And that’s not normal. I literally laid awake most of Thursday night, unable to sleep, tossing and turning, and any sleep I did get was plagued with dreams about what happened Thursday (despite the fact I didn’t even watch the episodes) and I was left feeling genuinely sick to my stomach. That isn’t normal. That isn’t healthy. That isn’t fun.

I’m not deluded and I never have been; I know how soaps work and I know couples more or less never get a happy ending unless they leave the show together. I’m not a mug; I’ve watched soaps for more than 20 years, since I was a literal child, so I know the drill. It doesn’t mean I can’t be affected or hurt by what I see, or that I can’t think that the way this has been written, or the timing of this is absolutely awful. Because it is. I’m pretty certain that’s not even a matter of opinion; I think that’s probably a fact. 

I spoke on Friday about how I’m not a positive person and me being positive about Robron isn’t actually like me, yet my faith in ED and my love for Robron somehow carried me through. I had real trust and faith in their storytelling, in their writing (for the most part), and in the words of encouragement they gave us on twitter and in interviews and what not. I believed it all, and I was wrong to, because here we are.

So let’s talk about where we are; it’s shit and lazy. The cheating crap has been done to death, I know it’s a soap but for a soap that has been on form over the past year or so, you’d think it’d try to break the mould and do something a little....different. But nope. I always, deep down, figured something like this would happen one day, but I always hoped it wouldn’t be for at least another year or so. But it has happened, and even though I haven’t watched the episodes, from what I have heard it wasn’t even well written. Which is....a shame. If they’re going to fuck up, at least fuck up right. Although I do sort of like....appreciate that this probably happened in the “best” way. I’d rather it be under the circumstances it was under than have Robert just getting bored and randomly shagging someone one day. I’d rather this than how things went when Paddy randomly started cheating on Rhona even though their marriage was pretty solid at the time. I appreciate that this is probably the “best” way it could’ve happened, even though the timing is crap and it shouldn’t have happened at all. But whatever.

Last night I was almost feeling positive in the sense that “well, at least that’s over and done with now.” - like the worst has happened, it’s happened early, so maybe once it’s happened it won’t ever happen again? Cheating is the one thing I struggle with, the one thing I find hard to forgive, but at the same time I don’t see things as black and white, and regarding the circumstances of Robert’s actions, and the fact he was drunk (no excuse, but he wasn’t of sound mind to give proper consent) it makes it a little more bearable, I guess. I can forgive him, depending on how he deals with it. (Whether I can forgive the writers is another thing.)

But whether I forgive Robert or not, Robron have been tainted. I - and others - can still ship them and love them, but it doesn’t mean it’ll be the same. Their relationship was messed up and unhealthy in many ways, but in another way it was “pure” from cheating. I loved that with Aaron, it was different for Robert. He was meant to be the one that was different from the others. And I still believe that, definitely, but at the end of the day Robert has still been unfaithful, and that can never ever be erased. We can forgive, and maybe sometimes we can forget, but it’ll still be there in their history.

And now we have the fact that Rebecca will probably end up pregnant. Spoilers are saying there’s a pregnancy, and while it hasn’t been confirmed that it’s Bex, I’d literally bet my last quid on it. And when I read those spoilers earlier, I didn’t even feel anything. I didn’t feel sick or want to cry. I just felt...disappointed. I almost laughed. It is the most predictable thing in the world, it has been done approx. 288442848942 times and yet here we are. 

Maybe Emmerdale will surprise us. Maybe there will be a massive twist. I read something on twitter, apparently someone on DS said that a “source” said that Bex and Robert didn’t actually have sex, that Robert can’t remember and Bex is lying or something??? I mean LOL that would be amazing if that was the case, but it’s blatantly....not. At this stage, I don’t have faith in ED to be that clever about it, and even if that was the case, they still put us through all this stress for like......nothing. And after this week, I really don’t believe anything “sources” say. 90% of them clearly don’t know all the facts, all the details, and the rest of them seem to completely make things up. So I wouldn’t believe a single word of that.

Do I think Robron will get through this? Eventually, yeah. But it’ll drag on and on and be boring as fuck, and one thing Robron have never been is boring. We now know that Robert still hasn’t told Aaron by the time he’s released from prison, on the 6th of April. So that’s another few weeks of secrets and shifty behaviour and lies. Awesome. And then who knows when Aaron will find out once he’s home? God forbid ED actually have Robert own up and be honest about it, making a change from all the other cheating crap. So then we have to wait....and then we’ll have the pregnancy stuff (which is no doubt Bex), adding more ~drama and making the eventual reveal even more explosive. YAWN.

So we have - at the very least - another month of crap, it seems. I’d like to think ED will throw in some surprises, will surprise us in a good way, but I can’t see any light at the end of this anymore.

And in a way, I feel like I’ve been cured. I used to try to plan my life around Robron, like I’d try to avoid making plans on nights when I knew they would be on screen (or at least their major eps anyway) and even if I did go out when I knew they were on I’d be thinking about them and feel like I was missing out, even though I’d always watch the episode as soon as I got in.

Not anymore. That’s going to change. I don’t want to be ruled by them. I don’t want my moods to be influenced by them. I don’t want to only feel really ridiculously happy because of them and I don’t want to feel sick and miserable because of them. It’s not right and it’s not healthy and I feel like this whole thing has just, in a way, killed it for me. Not completely, but enough for me to sort of....love them a normal amount, maybe. I mean the spark has gone and I don’t know if or when it’ll come back. 

There are plenty of characters I like/love from Emmerdale, and I enjoy their stories the appropriate amount. I can be affected by stories in good ways and bad ways without it having any major impact on my life. Maybe Robron will get to be like that now too. Maybe I can watch a bad episode for them and not lay awake at night feeling sick and upset about it. Maybe.

I don’t know. I think I’m going to be up and down about this. I’m no longer optimistic about their future but I hope that’ll change. I’ll never be as positive again, that’s for sure. I’m sort of torn between feeling like “okay, the world is shit. there’s bigger things to worry about than a fictional couple.” and “yeah, the world is shit, my life isn’t great, and that’s why I need them to focus on and to be a light in my life.” - I feel like I’ll go back and forth between the two.

I’m still upset and angry and disappointed. I hope that will change, even if a miracle happens and somehow this manages to be okay and Emmerdale somehow manage to fix this. At this point it’s hard to see how it realistically can be fixed, but whereas once upon a time I had faith that they would fix it (like in November), now I’m not so sure they can fix it in a way that is satisfying for me and for everyone else too.

I just hate how things have so dramatically changed not just for me but for everyone. I admire the people still trying to find the light and I understand why even some of the positive people are having to take a step back from the fandom as things are really negative and dark right now. I understand it all and I respect everyone’s views and opinions on this, I honestly do. I just hate that we’re all - not just me, but everyone - having to deal with this in the first place when just three weeks ago we were so so happy and almost excited about the direction we thought things were going in.

This post is a mess but I needed to get my feelings out. I don’t know if anyone will feel the same; I think everyone is feeling a bit confused and messed up at the moment. I just feel like we’re going to have to sort of accept this new era of Robron, accept that things are crap and will be for some time, and we’re either going to have to somehow deal with it and move on, or move on to something else all together, or just learn to live with loving Robron in a different way.

It’s going to be rocky. I think most of us will be very back and forth about it all. But I just want you all to know that I’m still here, and even if I need to take a step back at any time, I’m not planning on leaving the fandom. You guys are the only shining light right now and even if we feel like we might lose Robron (or at least the joy and “purity” of Robron), I don’t even want anyone to feel like we’re going to lose each other.

[crusherthedoctor]

Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite? - Part 4: BLACK DOOM

There are some villains I like. And there are some villains I don’t like. But why do I feel about them the way I do? That’s where this comes in.

This is a new mini-series of mine, in which I’ll be going into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the villains in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and why I think they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). I’ll be giving my stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves in the game(s) they featured in. Keep in mind that these are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions! I don’t bite. :>

Anyhow, for today’s installment, we'll be helping the brave-hearted hero take on the black-hearted evil as we discuss the alien threat of Shadow the Hedgehog's spinoff, and champion Dr. Claw impressionist: Black Doom.

The Gist: Remember Shadow? Thought he died? Well he didn't apparently, as he was discovered by Rouge in one of Eggman's compounds like it was no big deal. Though he was generous enough to help out with fighting bad guys alongside Rouge and the rejected E-Series juggernaut, E-123 Omega, there was one thing that was troubling him. Namely, he couldn't remember a goddamn thing outside of his name, his abilities, and possibly his favourite colour.

“Maybe it's the dead girl I just thought of... Wow, maybe I DON'T have amnesia.”

So one day Shadow was contemplating who he was, reasoning that sitting on his ass would be more beneficial than actually asking the other characters for information on the subject. When suddenly, right on cue, a bunch of aliens fell from the sky and started asserting their bad guy dominance via fucking shit up.

“We remembered to take the parachutes with us, right?... right...?”

The Ultimate Lifeform was initially unconcerned about something that he probably would have sorted out without a second thought if he were actually in-character, but his undivided attention was soon caught by the presence of the alien leader, Black Doom. This fellow, who already knew Shadow on a suspiciously familiar basis, made the benevolent promise that if Shadow were to find the Chaos Emeralds for him, he in turn would help him discover the truth of who he is, and maybe give him the extra cash to buy a PS4 or something.

“If he says the blue hedgehog is evil... then like it or not, I have to believe him.” - Knuckles the Echidna

Things from here onwards... got complicated. Due to the nature of Shadow's game, you could go through all sorts of expertly constructed paths depending on whether you felt like being a heroic gentleman, a villainous swine, or somewhere in-between. This meant that one moment you could be up in space, figuring out how Black Doom was involved in your past, then the next minute you're back on Earth, questioning if you're an android made by Eggman. The progression of Shadow's story was - in a word - tangled.

That said, we do find out some pretty important things thanks to Doom. About 80% of that is what we already knew in Sonic Adventure 2: scientist creates Shadow, girl makes friends with Shadow, bang bang girl is dead, bang bang scientist is executed. But if you felt it wasn't enough for Shadow to be a biological creation made by a kindhearted scientist who eventually went apeshit over his granddaughter's death via the incompetent military and subsequently concocted a devilish (and loophole-filled) plan to take everyone with him posthumously... well, get ready, because it turns out he's part alien too!

How is this so? Bad writing. As it turns out, Professor Gerald Robotnik made a deal with Black Doom prior to Shadow's completion. He needed that extra spicy flavor to make the Ultimate Lifeform worthy of that title, so he figured making a deal with Literally Satan™ was morally and logically sound. And we're supposed to believe this was before he went insane.

“Maybe he'll renounce his evil ways if I wear these fuzzy blue slippers in front of him.”

Gerald wasn't completely braindead however, as he created the Eclipse Cannon to do away with the Black Arms in the event that they turned out to be moustache twirling fiends. Still makes you wonder why he made the deal in the first place though, seeing how he had many other options to choose from in a universe filled to the brim with sources of power and/or immortality.

Also, making a giant cannon in space is dangerous.

Someone could use it for malicious purposes.

Which is exactly what happened.

Twice.

It happened in this very game, even.

By the alien it was supposed to be used against.

“Thanks for the free weapon, dumbass.”

Say what you will about Eggman's mistakes, at least his goofiness gives him an excuse.

Anyway, Shadow is naturally distraught about being the son of Literally Lucifer™, but he decides to stick it to his dad and kills him in a climactic battle anyway. Sonic and chums would have helped, but they got taken out of commission via Doom's paralyzation gas, which was never brought up at all before this point and was clearly only set up so that Shadow could be the only one to save the day. You would think everyone else WOULDN'T be affected since they DON'T have Black Arm DNA inside them, but what do I know about deus ex machinas programmed by actual aliens.

“You all failed. I didn't say Black Doom Says.”

So Shadow defeats Literally Beelzebub™, and subsequently uses the Eclipse Cannon to destroy the Black Comet, the aliens' home domain, before deciding to put his past behind him once and for all. We're thirteen years on, and we haven't seen a single Black Arm since then, so we can safely conclude that Shadow drove an entire species to extinction. Hurray!

What NOW, Attenborough?

The Design: Doom's design is looking a bit wise, man.

*seal laugh*

“One, two, three! THREE fingers! Three, two, one! ONE dimension for my character! Ah! Ah! Ah!”

I mean, credit where it's due, at least it's its own thing and not a recolour of another character in the same franchise, even if he did steal a page from NiGHTS. But on the whole, it's not a great design for a Sonic villain, because he doesn't even look like a Sonic villain. He looks as though he could have jumped out of any run-of-the-mill product involving demons, aliens, or demon aliens.

His Devil Doom form is not much better.

Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry™ Series

When the only impression Doom's design leaves me with is the question of how he gets his head through small doors, you know it's not looking good.

The Personality: He's evil.

And he's evil.

He's also evil.

By the way, he's evil.

Not a lot of people know this, but between you and me, he's evil.

And you know what else? He's evil.

Evil.

Yeah, there's not a lot to say here. Shockingly enough, the villain they decided to name Black Doom doesn't have much of a personality beyond his villainy. While there is a hint that he wants to expand his race, he's mainly in it for the evulz. About the closest thing to him having a trait outside of that is the curious implication that he doesn't know what lightning is.

The Execution: Black Doom is presented as a serious villain, but you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise, because everything about him is completely half-hearted. His design is generic, his lines are full of tired cliche after tired cliche, he doesn't really do an awful lot outside of commanding Shadow's actions, and his voice is less “scary and imposing” and more “I smoke twenty a day”. They tried so hard to create someone so serious, yet they ended up doing the opposite and made one of the most unintentionally brilliant comic relief characters in the entire franchise.

“Oh no. He teleported me to some ruins. This is suffering.”

And yet, because of that... I actually can't bring myself to hate him. Whereas villains like Mephiles and Eggman Nega simply annoy me with their own issues, Black Doom is so one-dimensional, so transparent, so accidentally comical in his attempts at being cool, that I can't help but have an ironic fondness for him. Granted, it probably helps that he actually is regularly mocked by everyone and never gained a massive undeserved fandom like Mephiles and Nega did, but still. You really would be forgiven for assuming that Doom is a masterful parody of one-note villains.

But I'm not blind to the reality. He's not a masterful parody. He really was intended to be cool, badass, menacing, and everything he ended up not being. Objectively, he's a failed concept, and while I personally believe that Shadow's backstory as established in canon was messy from the beginning, the inclusion of aliens nonetheless complicated it even further, and it's highly unlikely that Shadow will be living down the events of his spinoff in-universe or otherwise, all thanks to Ten Packs a Day Man.

He's a shit father, is what I'm saying.

Crusher Gives Black Doom a: Thumbs Down!

[pomegranate-salad]

Seeds of thought : Wicdiv #25

So, did you know midterms season is upon us ? I’m sure this has nothing to do with my subject of choice this month. I’m not projecting, you’re projecting. Anyway, thoughts and opinion on the new issue, spoilers below the cut.

ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME, TAG, YOU’RE IT

 You’ve got to admire the wicdiv team’s relentlessness when it comes to stuff we’d all rather forget : if last issue only gave us a glimpse at the weight on everyone’s shoulders, this one tackles it head on (or off, depending on your point of view). Whereas last month we dealt with drives, this issue seems to revolve around responsibility, or perhaps more specifically accountability.

In a typical wicdiv fashion, this theme is pictured multiple times throughout the issue in various framings to paint a more global questioning of the concept and how it could apply to our characters. Accusations and excuses fly left and right : can Woden be held accountable for helping Ananke ? Baal for believing in her lies ? Amaterasu for leaving Mini ? Persephone for killing people whenever she pleases ? And as a coronation, an early contender for this year’s biggest “wait… is this our fault ?” shows up at the window.

 What surfaces from all these particular situations is a debate on the very nature of responsibility : what makes us accountable for our bad deeds ? Who we are or what we are ? Inverting the question, can someone’s bad actions be justified by their specific personality, meaning we shouldn’t expect the same from everyone ? Or should the same behaviour and standards be enforced on every person, which begs the question : what about someone who isn’t a person ? What can the laws of men mean to them ?

 Obviously all the characters have their own idea on the subject. For Cass, who still considers them all as human, the rules of society are still absolute. You don’t kill people on a whim, “you just don’t”. And not just because she refuses to cover it up, but because you cannot be human and think this is a good idea. Baal, on the other hand, takes into account one’s personality before judging them : the right thing to do for Ammy would have been to save Mini, but she’s not the kind of person who had the strength to do what was right. He also applies this logic to himself and clearly feels guilty for believing Ananke, as he should have known better. But note how he refuses to share this burden with Persephone : he is to blame for acting pretty much the same as the others, but it doesn’t mean the others are as well. It’s about who you are and what should be expected of you in that regard.

 But of course the biggest antagonism in the issue comes from Persephone facing Woden.

Confronted with his bad deeds, Woden makes excuses resting exclusively on who he is : he’s weak, a coward, and in a bad place. His understanding of the world is such an egocentric one that what he could do in his situation becomes the norm ; that someone else might have acted better is irrelevant since he could not have acted that way. It’s interesting to note that in this context, his self-hatred is not a redeeming element but a defence mechanism who prevents him from having to change his ways to be a better person : he may be a little fuck, but it’s okay since he feels bad about it.

Persephone on the other hand has a deterministic approach to accountability : she considers herself exempted from the laws of men and even from morality. She is no person. Not only that, she’s doomed to a tragic fate. If it’s not going to be okay, why would she “do the right thing” ? In the most enlightening bit of their exchange, to Woden saying he was “in a bad place” Persephone replies “I’m in Hell. Join me.” Woden’s bad place is a personal one, defined by his relationship to others, while Persephone’s bad place is her own realm, one she necessarily exists in by the sole virtue of being who she is. And in this queendom, there is no system of justice or morality unless she wills it. Both Cass and Persephone see right and wrong as depending on your status, but while Cass places herself within the human paradigm of morality, Persephone sees the world from her position as a god. And within this frame of understanding, she’s not acting right or wrong because no human understanding of this dichotomy can fully seize the actions of a god.

 And despite this attitude being clearly framed as her “going off the rails”, there is a case for it. The reason why the “let’s cover up Ananke’s murder or we’ll go to jail” plot device is so ineffective as a motor force (yes, this is a hill I will die on) is because the subject of the conflict between gods and human justice has already been dealt with in the Faust Act. We know what happens when gods are faced with a human understanding of their actions.

An interesting parallel can be made between Luci and Persephone in regard to the murders they committed and its consequences. The first arc spent so much time focusing on the murder Luci didn’t commit that it almost felt incidental that she indeed killed two people in cold blood ; no one, not even Cassandra, seemed particularly shocked or was made uncomfortable by that fact. Meanwhile, Persephone murdering Ananke is still clearly on everyone’s mind. That may be because Luci’s actions could still be linked to human standards of right and wrong. Whereas self-defence is but a cover-up story in Persephone’s case, Luci killing the shooters actually comes devilishly close to actually being self-defence. If I can go all law monkey here for a second, two things are required for your action to be justified as self-defence : an actual or imminent unjust threat to your or someone else’s safety, and for your response to be reasonable in regard to the threat. However, if the first element is verifiable given there were humans in the room, the second is impossible to demonstrably satisfy or deny : how could one prove that Luci acted reasonably in regard to the threat, given no one truly knows the extent of the gods’ power ? Could she have stopped the threat some other way ? Who is to say a murder isn’t a reasonable response given how important the gods are to the fate of the world ? A miracle, after all, is beyond explanation.

Luci’s mistake was to place herself within a human paradigm of justice while acting in a way that couldn’t be accounted for within that paradigm. Her trial and imprisonment demonstrates the failure of trying to apply human justice to an act of god. Persephone has no intention of playing by human rules. To gods, godly rules only must apply. But given how small and unstructured the pantheon is, this means that Persephone is living in a vacuum of societal rules, morality, and since Ananke’s death, necessity. Nothing is just, right, fair, or even necessary. The god society has lost its only objective criteria in the form of both its authority figure and the purpose of their actions. There is no scale on which to judge Persephone. When she writes she’s “no person”, are we to assume she meant “I am a god” or, in light of the 1831 special, “I am a monster” ? Who’s to say when there’s no judge, no jury and no executioner ?

 … Until the issue’s last page, that is. The apparition of The Great Dark, with its lack of head, going after the very god that was to be sacrificed to cast it away, has every chance of being the direct result of Persephone’s actions. It is purpose, wrong to a right, wrong waiting to be righted. The structure the god society had been missing, something to base yourself on, something to be judged by. It is responsibility barging in Persephone’s Hell and demanding its due.

Unless it isn’t. Unless its apparition was unavoidable, and nothing Persephone or anyone else could have done would have prevented it. Unless it was never going to be okay. The only one who might have known the truth is dead. Worse, nothing the gods can uncover can ever be fully trusted. Some will believe they’ve to take responsibility for what they’ve done, and others will refuse the bear the blame because it was destiny. Either way, the proof they would be required to achieve is an impossible one. In law studies, we have a name for this. Probatio diabolica. The devil’s proof.

WHAT I THOUGHT OF THE ISSUE :

 So New Year is a time for good resolutions, right ? How about I take up fairness this year ?

So how about that Cass/Woden dialogue ? Cass is still the greatest right ? Oh, and the evening family scene, so sweet. Loved the Anna Karenina reference, in fact all the title cards were great. Persephone’s hair deserves a mention on its own. And that underground scene ? Right up there with the best wicdiv scenes ever, right ? The art, which I ALWAYS forget to give credit to because I’m such a non-artistic person myself, was just breathtaking.

 Am I in the clear ?

*deep sigh*

Alright, let’s talk about that damn cliffhanger.

 If you’ve read… well, anything I’ve ever written, you know I mostly look for two things in a piece of media : characterization and narrative structuration. Concerning the former, Wicdiv has never let me down : I genuinely believe it is a masterpiece of modern character development, for comics and beyond. But everytime I’ve felt only so-so about an issue, which really wasn’t that often, I could pinpoint the latter as the origin. In most cases I could confidently affirm that these were objective problems that had nothing to do with my personal tastes. However, when I’m faced with something like this cliffhanger, I’m left wondering whether I’m fairly analysing it when I say it was a terrible idea or if it’s a solid development I’m unfairly judging by my own preferences.

I’m sure I’ll find some to say there is no such thing as an objective analysis and that our personal preferences always come into play, but I’ll have to respectfully disagree with these people. There is such a thing as making a mistake when telling a story. I sometimes say when commenting an issue that it is “the best version of itself”. What I mean isn’t that I agree with everything the story does, but that it found the way to make the least possible mistakes to achieve what the story achieved, and that changing a single thing would completely stray from which story the author has chosen to tell and how they chose to tell it. But to analyse things in that perspective, you have to acknowledge that the story that is told and how it is told isn’t necessarily what you would have liked. And I think this time, I may be stuck at that step, both for what the story is and how it’s told.

 Let’s talk about form first. I wasn’t reading comics growing up ; I might have been 20 the first time I picked one up. As a kid, I only ever read books, and mostly XIXth-XXth century French classics. My understanding of narration is still deeply rooted in the codes of this particular era and medium. And if there’s a staple classic books just don’t have, it’s cliffhangers. Why would they ? The answer would be right on the next page. Imagine every chapter of a book ending on a cliffhanger. Comics, on the other hand, derive more from strips and serials than they do from books, and so come from supports in which cliffhangers are the normal way to end an issue.

Cliffhangers are something I just don’t like, because my appreciation of narration comes exclusively from books. To me, it will never stop feeling like a cheap way to provoke thrill that isn’t actually there, a little artificial bump in the story that undercuts a broader rhythm to it. In this particular case, that’s two issues in a row that end on a one-page new brutal development, which ends up feeling repetitive instead of show-stopping. Not only that, it takes the thrill out of reading the next issue, since every cliffhanger has to be quickly solved or redirected in the subsequent chapter.

 But then again. If I try to be objective, I can’t think of a different way to introduce this new development. I may not like it, but where are you going to bring up a giant ball of darkness and doom capturing a child but in a ridiculously over-the-top cliffhanger ?

 So even if I’m not a fan of cliffhangers, I think my problem comes much more from where the story is going with this. I’m probably harsher now that I’ll be after a few days, but I just hated everything about this scene. It casted a shadow over the entire issue, possibly the entire arc, both of which I was loving so far. Just to list a few things, poor Mini is apparently forbidden to get even the slightest characterization before she has to go back to being damsel in distress #1. Baal’s one-liner is nonsensical, except if the Great Dark has been coming by his window to say hello every Friday after eight, in which case you’d think he would have mentioned. Mini standing saying “what’s wrong ?” while the windows shatter behind her is my new contender for Most Cliché Thing wicdiv has ever done. And like I said, the very nature of a cliffhanger means we just know the supposed “battle” isn’t going to be the crux of next issue, meaning this setting is just pointless.

But I’m even more pissed on a deeper level : bare what I said earlier about responsibility, what exactly is a Big Bad Scary Dark Thing going to bring to the story and our protagonists ? What are our characters supposed to get from facing a faceless swarm of black ? That Ananke was right ? We’ve had four arcs with a complex, tortuous villain and we’re ditching it for goth Sharknado. I hate this for the same reason I hate every movie in which the villain is a dinosaur : it’s big, mean, ugly and that’s it. It takes space and tells us nothing. I would much rather have had every single god wanking around for 5 arcs until total self-destruction than this.

 BUT.

THEN.

AGAIN.

 Mini getting kidnapped again is a very telling clue that this figure is linked to the ritual, and Baal actually having seen the Great Dark can still find an explanation somewhere. Gillen has said upfront in the latest notes that this arc will be about self-indulgence, so I can’t fault him for going with the clichés. As for the deeper stuff, it’s still way too early to tell exactly how the great dark will feature as an opposing force, or if it will at all. Maybe it’s just going to disappear with Mini in tow and the gods will be left wondering what to do. Part of why I am so angry at this development is definitely me : I like human villains and dark mirrors. Non-sentient or one-dimensional antagonists is something I have zero interest in. I was probably also taken aback by how Persephone gets exactly what she wants in this issue, a force she can battle with even less remorse than Ananke, when I’d identified this arc as the one Persephone would finally have to deal with herself. So, points for unexpected direction. Or hell, maybe I was still right, and the real danger will come for the gods’ incompetence in handling this. Oh, and maybe this new player will reveal itself to be an old one, or even a current one in disguise. Theories are already floating around.

 So yeah, I’ve got nothing. I hate this, I really do. It’s not the story I want. But it may still be the best version of itself. We’ll see. As a good resolution this year, I am trusting artists with their work.