#with. what is effectively the entire fandom that i personally recruited

[faerociousbeast]

GOT ANOTHER PERSON IN IWTHYC AND THEY ALSO LIKE XIAO WANG very happy hes so popular

[myfandomrealitea]

Was your Safe Spaces post discord-(or any closed forum I guess) specific, or do you think the same should go for fandom-themed blogs on tumblr? Like, if I follow someone for Doctor Who content, I'd rather they didn't put real world issues on my dash, but otoh, it's their blog and they get to decide what they post on it (preferably tagged so I can curate). I've observed that people that run themed blogs that become popular often seem to feel an obligation to use their platform for activism (or, in the case of crypto-radfems, deliberately built their platform to recruit), and it stresses tf out of me for the reasons you mentioned, but it's not like the maintags are much safer because there will be spam relating to real-world issues, or antis trying to relate fiction to real world issues.

Realistically; the same outlook can and could be applied to any social setting. Be it online, private, public, face to face, ect.

Your point about obligation in terms of platform scale is something I've also noticed and have been dabbling about raising. Mostly because you see it a lot with celebrities or public content creators who receive a large following. Its often less that they feel obligated and more than they're usually bullied into it.

For example; I follow a trans (FTM) vlogger on Instagram. His entire online presence is based around being trans and helping to educate people and support people in regards to learning about being transgender, transgender health, his personal transitional journey, ect.

He's got a modest following, nothing ridiculous but I think right now he's sitting at around 75,000 followers.

And as of late, there are random people who don't follow him and aren't at all interested in what he has to say flooding his comment section with things like:

Why didn't you mention anything about Gaza?

All these followers and no shout outs for smaller creators?

What are you doing to raise awareness for X?

All these views could've been used to raise awareness for X.

And its fucking ridiculous. People are pressuring a middle class trans man with 75,000 followers to accept responsibility for counter-responding to a literal war when there are actual celebrities and billionaires with both the actual reach and money to make a difference who simply refuse to because they won't personally benefit from it.

I used to run a really popular fandom blog here on Tumblr. For an actual fandom, not just what I do here and now. It started off small, but I eventually grew it to the point where my follow count was creeping toward 10,000. Which for Tumblr and for a fandom-specific blog was not at all insignificant.

And the moment my notes count started going up, the demands started flooding in. People expecting me to reblog their donation links, demanding I share their friend's aid post, asking why I wasn't reblogging awareness posts or donation drives, ect.

Its largely because its easier to harass accessible people over it than it is to harass someone like Kim Kardashian, but its also because again: we have such a skewed understanding of what is actually effective in terms of activism and circulation of information.

Most of it comes down to shaming people and trying to assert that they're a bad person for having the privilege and benefits of a large following but not doing anything for other people or to 'deserve' that following. They're 'a bad person' for having 75,000 people's attention and not using it to force them to be aware of X.

A good example of proper audience targeting and activism is the page We Rate Dogs.

We Rate Dogs will share awareness posts and donation drives.

About dogs.

Because their followers are there for the dogs. Their followers like dogs. They want to enjoy dog content and help dogs.

If they started sharing posts about war and death and rape, the people who are following them to see cute dog videos will simply unfollow them.

They're using their targeted platform properly.

[diaphin93]

Thank you for pointing out the Dimidue vs Dimilix thing. I get loving angst and why people ship the latter. But what really grinds my gears is the fact that Dimidue has less fanfiction than Dimiclaude. Dimitri and Claude barely even interact together in game. They interact more in Hopes. Meanwhile Dedue and Dimitri are practically inseparable. Their paired ending has Dedue being the royal consort. I can't help but wonder if it's because Claude is lighter skinned and more "conventionally" attractive.

The Edelcrit crowd keeps trying to pain her as racist, but it's hard not to say the pot's calling the kettle when you look at how often they forget about Dedue when discussing Black Eagles vs Blue Lions.

Honestly? I think Dimidue has alot more high quality angst potential than Dimilix in my opinion. It makes me think of the impression a friend of mine had when first playing Azure Moon. During her first playthrough, she speculated that Dedues attitude was some act and it would be revealed that he wanted to get close to Dimitri to get revenge for his people, because he seemed to be just too calm and subservient for what was done to his people by Faerghus, while also keeping a distance from Dimitri during their supports. And I totally get this, I personally also would have initially assumed that Dedue hides more anger than he shows, because why set up the dynamic of him being a survivor of genocide by Dimitris people, if not for some pay off, especially considering Azure Moons themes of revenge and being haunted by the dead? Alas, it didn't came to be because the game instead has Dimitri just play Faerghus police by squashing the Duscur Rebellion without another genocide, instead of turning against the nobles who commit it to begin with, and Dedue is effectively written out of the story in Part 2, due to being an optional re-recruit you can easily miss and so that Dimitri can have his loner boar arc.

Also I'm not really saying that I want Dedue to ultimately turn against Dimitri and become his enemy, but some messy complicated feelings and resentment would have added much needed depth to both the plot and Dedues character. Usually you would expect it to be like Dedue claiming to actually hate Dimitri for what Faerghus people did to his, while having conflicting feelings because over the years he grew to genuinly love and care for him, while it would have been a good growing experience for Dimitri, becoming much more aware of the pain and resentment others feel, similar to his own hatred against Edelgard, and how he as the King ultimately shares his own responsibility for Faerghus bloody history. Sadly the game never challenged Dimitri to this extent and makes his entire character development purely centered around Byleth and Rodrigue, but I think the set up has alot of potential for some introspection and alot of Angst when shipping those two.

But alas it shows the Fandoms strong racial bias against men of color, especially those who present as very masc. Instead they go for your typical two light-skinned Bishonen options for the most part. When it comes to Dimitri and Claude, I have my own problems with the ship. It is for all intends and purposes basically just Dimigard in Yaoi, the ship centers usually purely Dimitris values and validates his feelings and perspective over Claudes, enforcing this very white savior-esque perspective on themes of racism. I would say Hopes even made this much more clear, considering how their interactions are fairly awkward and Claude practically promises Dimitri to turn on him when it comes to taking out the church, something strongly hinted at in AG's ending. Alas, I also think they lack alot of chemistry and I have a problem with how Claude inside Blue Lions routes is always marginalized and turned into either a sidekick or PoC in Distress for Dimitri to act as a white savior towards, with little agency and respect for his own perspectives and ambitions. It is different in the case of Edelgard and Claude, where superficially people claim that he just follows everything Edelgard says, ignoring the larger context of him acting the entire time to push forward his own ambitions and that there differences are much more nuanced, them agreeing in their opposition against the Church and Crests but otherwise having distinct goals.

But back to the topic, I would say, yes, Claude being a more conventionally attractive in anime terms, which means bishonen, and lighter skinned PoC plays strongly into it. Claude being smaller and presented as physically weaker than Dimitri also usually pushes him into the position of the Bottom or Uke in that ship, which is another problem in the way PoC's are often represented, namely that Brown Men are usually only validated when they can be contextualized as emasculated and the more effeminate part of a ship compared to the stronger and more dominent white partner. We see this Dynamic play out in one of the most notorious Edelcrit ships, which also features DimiClaude. It generally reveals a strong racist element inside Fandom by erasing Claudes culturally middle eastern inspired heritage by recontextualizing Almyra as Japanese, a culture that white supremacy often contextualizes as the Model Minority, and presents him as the submissive to Dimitris dominant, while also being used to elavate Dimitris status as a white savior to further glorify him. I think this happening in one of the most popular FE3H Fanfics, that goes into alot of religious apologetics as well and involves strong misogynistic themes both surrounding Byleth and Edelgard, reveals a strong anti-MENAT (an extended acronym to also include turkey) bias inside the community.

As I said, FE3H is a true microcosm of fandom and its typical biases, bigotries and problems, which is thanks to its diverse cast. The top list of AO3 ships also showed so much, it was predominantly white and light-skinned asians and alot of Harry Potter.

[alicelufenia]

Maybe it's different on other sites (I don't follow the fandom on twt or reddit) but the #1 with a bullet takeaway most of the fandom seems to have from where I'm at is that Halsin is willing to condemn a woman to death to save his own peace of mind. You can be critical of his character (which is a good thing! As I'll get to in a sec) completely on the basis that he's asking you to choose between them, knowing only one party is in real danger (hint: not Halsin) of being abandoned.

That's still a a character flaw that doesn't even need elaborating on his history with the drow. That can still be a factor, as would his imprisonment in the goblin camp. To say a lot has changed since then is an understatement, and as he states he's perfectly willing to go if Tav (the one he's supposed to be worried about for in this case also) refuses to effectively kill Minthara.

Speaking of his history with drow, it would be equally silly to dismiss it entirely as irrelevant considering he generally has nothing but negative things to say about drow. But then, so does basically everyone else in Faerun, and every other character will make an exception for Tav so yes, that's not the only motivation. It is also the thing he falls back on when Minthara refutes his claims that she's a danger due to what happened (or would have happened) to the grove.

Anyway, count me as someone who really likes the ultimatum, and would be okay with this ultimately being a hard choice (no convincing him) between the two, if Larian is unable to implement any further interactions between the two. Because it'll start to feel weird if they have literally no interactions (as I intend to find out for myself in my current playthrough where I'm recruiting everyone; at least unless this ultimatum drops before I get to that point), but if they remain mutually exclusive but the player has to make a morally difficult decision no matter what they choose, that to me is more interesting and a better way to characterize both of them.

Because it isn't a morally pure choice, it shouldn't be. You either side with the "good" character against the "evil" one, and in so doing condemn her to a fate worse than death. Or you side with the "evil" character against the "good" character, who can walk away and return to his original duties tending his grove, a position he was reluctant to hold, but held no intrinsic harm to him.

I don't know about you, but I don't consider condemning someone to slavery that robs them of their free will to be a "good" decision. No matter who the victim is.

Meanwhile up to this point, Tav has already given Minthara the benefit of the doubt by 1) not killing her (this one is flexible if you take knocking her out as "she survived despite our efforts") 2) rescued her from getting mind wiped, and 3) led her to safety, and 4) knows without a doubt at this point that her actions were not her own, and that you share a common enemy now.

To turn on her now feels not only "evil" but craven and duplicitous. Not on Halsin's part, but Tav.

At this point the only reason I could see for siding with Halsin is a "greater good" mentality that you need him to reverse the shadow curse (which, you can get this ultimatum after that's done, so *shrugs* in that case). And historically those who do morally nefarious things for the greater good are always in the right, right? /joking

Something to think about should you actually have to make a decision on whether to send Minthara off into a fate she says herself she would rather die than face again.

(Also to clarify for "best reading comprehension site", obviously there isn't really a moral choice here, it's a game and none of the characters are real people. There's nothing to judge about a person based on what they'd do in a game. This is entirely about the morality of the decision from the perspective of the characters. Thank you, I genuinely hope this helps.)

Okay ONE more post about this, and then I'm going to try and disengage from the issue again.

I think what annoys me so much about the reactions to Halsin in the ultimatum is that the fandom is working BACKWARDS to make things fit a conclusion, rather than looking at the textual evidence to form a conclusion.

The fandom's conclusion: Halsin is racist to Drow.

Therefore: His objections to Minthara's actions are solely based on her race.

Therefore: It makes no sense that he is okay with a Lolth-sworn Tav, since he is Drow racist, which means he is just making Tav one of his Exceptions. His acceptance of Tav and willingness to judge Tav on their actions does NOT disprove that he is Drow-racist; it is, instead, an oversight in the writing of Halsin as a Drow-racist character.

But also: Halsin makes one comment early on expressing skepticism that a Drow Tav actually has reservations about killing another Drow, when Drow society is built on constant betrayal and culling of the weak. This proves that he is actually Drow-racist.

Further: It is really gross that Halsin is willing to sleep with the Drow twins. This does NOT disprove that he is Drow-racist; instead, it suggests that he will fetishize Drow while being Drow-racist.

Further: Halsin saying "Lolth's followers" does not make him not Drow-racist. Instead, it means he's discriminating against a religion, and also being very insensitive to cult victims, and he should turn the other cheek. It's actually WORSE if he hates just Lolth's followers instead of all Drow.

Further: Halsin's statements about Minthara's true nature are obviously about exclusively her race, and not her character as an individual. Therefore, his forgiveness of Kagha wasn't because he had seen her be a different and better person before her corruption by the Shadow Druids, but because she was not a Drow, and therefore, this supports that he is Drow-racist.

Therefore: Halsin's objections to Minthara are NOT based on her being a slave owner (and slavery supporter) while Halsin has trauma about being enslaved, and not about her attempt to murder everyone he knows, and not about concerns she will harm the player character (who Halsin has shown multiple times is EXTREMELY important to him), and not about fear for his own life, but solely about Minthara's race, which makes him Drow-racist.

Fandom refuses to see the inherent tautology of this, and it makes it impossible to stop the character-bashing. Instead of contradictory evidence proving Halsin isn't Drow-racist, it's either twisted to make it out like he wouldn't care about that thing if she wasn't a Drow, so he actually is MORE Drow-racist than he was before that issue was brought up, or it's written off as an "inconsistency" with a character as obviously Drow-racist as Halsin.

There is just no winning here. So fine, I give up, I guess I'm stanning a Drow-racist daddy now.

[stellocchia]

I think it's been more than two months since I pushed my "Wilbur is remembered far more competent than he is" agenda in your asks.

So let's rectify that, shall we?

Wilbur is pretty fucking incompetent. He's never been that amazing charismatic smooth talker we characterize him as (not that I'm not absolutely behind that too)

Like. Who did he ever successfully smoothtalk? The Lmanbergians? None of them were ever hesitant to join from the very beginning and Eret betrayed them pretty easily when Dream manipulated them.

Techno? Techno wanted to join them, he was the one who reached out to them. There was no convincing needed and Wilbur never convinces Techno of anything Techno wasn't already willing to do by himself.

Dream? Definitely not during the revolution and Dream's support during Pogtopia was Dream following his own agenda, not being influenced by Wilbur in any way.

He couldn't even get Quackity to let him into Las Nevadas.

Nah, the only person Wilbur ever smooth talked is TommyInnit. The fucking powerhouse of this cell. And even that's not completely true. Tommy hasn't been convinced by Wilbur of anything since the very beginning of the Lmanberg revolution. Not during Pogtopia. And not even now (it's not smooth talking if it's just exploiting mental exhaustion and trauma and all that. Tommy isn't convinced of what they're doing.)

Really. Not even Tommy, per se.

He just got Tommy extremely loyal and attached to him.

And honestly, that's all he needs.

You don't need to have influence over everyone, you just need to have strong influence over the right person.

And that's what Wilbur had and has.

Wilbur's accomplishments are just pretty much him having a vision and Tommy throwing himself at it to make it come true.

Wilbur had the idea for L'manberg but Tommy was the one leading the troops. Tommy was the one who negotiated for their independence and got it when Wilbur was negotiating their surrender. Tommy was the one who FOR NO REASON built the escape tunnel they escaped through when Dream blew up L'manberg and he was the one who built the lil panic room at the end. Tommy was the one who's home became the embassy to L'manberg (something Wilbur very much pressured and kinda manipulated him into btw. I'm never not gonna mention that lil detail when the embassy comes up)

Wilbur had the idea and stood around looking pretty. My guy literally stood around looking pretty, without armor, during battles. Just. I love him.

And let's not forget that Tommy was fckin great at being the general. The SMP was so much better equipped and still, L'manberg was kinda winning. To the extend that Dream saw the need for TnT (which was hidden) and the betrayal through Eret (which was hidden)

Dream felt the need to pull two deceitful moves to keep if not even gain the upper hand.

If I'm not mixing stuff up here, correct me if I'm wrong.

And stuff like the tunnel weren't even expected of Tommy. My boy just thought of that on his own and did it on his own. Noone knew it existed. Noone expected it to exist.

After independence Wilbur is implied to have been leading but he generally wasn't around too much. Tommy was keeping order in the more face to face kinda way. He tried to navigate people's personal conflicts and make sure things didn't escalate and just. He did so well.

And Pogtopia? Oh, Pogtopia.

It's a bit more difficult here, since they were no longer on exactly the same side and goals are more muddled but still.

(and I want to make it clear that I'm in no way trying to shame Wilbur for mental health issues or anything. This isn't about that. I'd never fucking even imply that)

Tommy kept morale high. He made sure that other people were fine, when there was a chance. He tried to reassure Wilbur when Wilbur was spiraling, he asked Tubbo if he was happier, he told Tubbo to be safe, he recruited Quackity when he saw the chance while making sure that Quackity's intentions were sincere enough (he didn't just naively offer Quackity a place in Pogtopia and risk it being a trap).

He avoided any kind of destruction to L'manberg as much as possible.

He rallied people.

Really, his one actual flaw was not "turning" on Wilbur. His unwillingness to give up on him or even just incapacitate him or limiting his ability to act as he wanted was what ended up costing him everything. His unwillingness to interfere with Wilburs plans beyond talking to him and threatening him with a crossbow that one time ended up making the 16th possible. And he can hardly be blamed for that.

And Wilbur, during Pogtopia... Well... Nobody liked him, he made everyone uncomfortable and most people just kinda tolerated him because... Yeah...

Without Tommy troop morale would have been abysmal thanks to Wilbur. He constantly put himself and his side down, labeling them as villains and thus morally inferior. He pitted his own people against each other, spread paranoia between his people. No communication or actually planning involving other people. Still refused to wear armor.

And don't get me wrong, that's the point. He wasn't on their side. Obviously Tommy added more to their victory, Wilbur didn't want their victory. But still I just wanna praise my boy Tommy, he was. So amazing. Boy fucking peaked.

He's so good in tactical warfare or whatever you call it.

And I wanna just make it clear that this isn't criticism of Wilbur. Not at all. This isn't criticism at all. This is just about the big fanon perception of Wilbur as this great and mature leader.

Tbh this is actually more about showing people how amazing Tommy was and PLEASE I WANT FICS TO HAVE TOMMY BE MORE OF AN EFFECTIVE POWERHOUSE

Regarding my former ask I just wanted to clarify again that I'm not trying to critique Wilbur or anything.

It's really just that I think it's hilarious how people remember him as way more put together and competent than he really was.

-

Yeah, honestly one of the biggest disservice people have done to c!Tommy in this fandom is fail to portray him as the badass general that he actually was. Like, sure, Wilbur's title was as "general", but he never did anything for it. He gave a few speeches, but then the work was left up to Tommy. Like, genuinely, rewatch the Eret betrayal vod, Wilbur says it openly that he's leaving it in Tommy's hands. And Tommy does manage to lead his troops into an advantageous position! They get their enemies to retire at one point during the very first battle!

Then, of course, there is the betrayal, but, once again, Tommy didn't give up. He built the tunnel for their scuffed escape beforehand and, when everyone was just about ready to give up, he went against Dream in a duel and then traded the discs for their independence without loosing a beat.

Tommy was a BIG asset during that war!

Wilbur mostly was and still is kind of a wreak. And it's not his fault, 'cause mental health is an absolute bitch and he wasn't doing too hot after the war, then it got worse with Pogtopia and even worse during the 13 years in Limbo. And now we are where we are now with Wilbur being... not a great individual.

But still! In Pogtopia Tommy was the de-facto leader. And yeah, that was because Wilbur wasn't on their side anymore, but they didn't entirely know that. Or didn't wanna see that.

Tommy himself was hoping that Wilbur would "come back around" if he managed to get back their country. That was a big motivator for him. And he did everything that was in his power to do to not lose either Wilbur or L'Manburg. He tried talking to Wilbur multiple times, tried persuading him that there was another way, he never bought into Wilbur's ideals, he recruited people and he lead the troops once again. It wasn't Techno that lead the troops (despite him being a much better fighter) it was Tommy. And once everything was exploded and Techno and Wilbur betrayed them? Well he kept encouraging people. Literally I'm begging everyone to watch that vod! Tommy was there at every step of the way, telling Niki that it wasn't over, telling Quackity to keep fighting and, after that, you know who was there to validate Tubbo's presidency? To rally people behind him? It wasn't Tubbo. Tommy gathered everyone by the L'Mantree and got their spirits high once again.

He is just genuinely amazing.

And, like, yeah now Wilbur managed to manipulate Tommy to an extent to be by his side. But that's not that much of an accomplishment anymore because Tommy has just been through so much that he's exhausted now, as you said. Like, remember when Tommy said he wanted to be on Wilbur's side because "he gets things done"? Well, I'm still waiting to see that one honestly...

[mprosperossprite]

Since my post yesterday about Nile Freeman’s erasure from The Old Guard fandom, I’ve noticed several non-American folks respond that they want to explore Nile more but feel like they’re missing an understanding of a key piece of Nile’s backstory that it seems like American folks understand without talking about it: that Nile is not just from Chicago, but she’s from The South Side of Chicago.

I’m not an expert, and, once again, I’m a white person. But my best friend is a middle school English teacher who’s taught A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry’s groundbreaking 1956 play about the Youngers, a Black family attempting to achieve the American dream by moving from their apartment on the South Side of Chicago into a house in a white neighborhood. On the first day of the unit, before they even touch the play, she shows her students these two maps.

The first is from 1934. Though the language used to refer to Black people is antiquated (please never use the word this map uses), the data is interesting. It shows each census tract in the Chicago area, shaded based upon what percentage of the population in the tract is Black. The darker the shading, the higher the concentration of Black people living there. Note that there are a series of tracts in the southern part of the map that are shaded to indicate that Black people consist of 80% to 99% of the population in those areas. Also note that most of the rest of the tracts on the map have almost no shading.

So what does this map tell us?

It tells us the Black people in Chicago were concentrated in certain neighborhoods, to such an extreme extent that there are almost no other groups of people in those neighborhoods and almost no Black people anywhere else.

This was intentional.

The US Federal Government engaged in a practice called red-lining, wherein the Federal Housing Authority designated some neighborhoods as “dangerous” and “undesirable” and made it almost impossible to get a home loan in those areas because the agency would not insure mortgages. Richard Rothstein, whose book The Color of Law, interrogates the ongoing harm and effect of red-lining calls this a “state-sponsored system of segregation.” Yes, state-sponsored segregation happened in the North, too.

There were other contributing factors that created this intense housing segregation in Chicago and other northern cities, including restrictive covenants that legally prevented homeowners in certain neighborhoods from selling their homes to non-white, non-protestant people, but the result of all these policies is that during periods of so called “American prosperity,” wherein white Americans were owning homes at higher rates than ever, Black Americans were excluded. The result was neighborhoods like the South Side of Chicago, intensely Black and intentionally impoverished.

But that was almost 100 years ago. Red-lining and restrictive covenants and other housing discrimination practices have now been ruled unconstitutional.

So let’s look at another map, this one from the New York Times’ 2015 project Mapping Segregation. Using the 2010 Census Data, each dot in the map below represents 500 people. The different colored dots represent the different racial categories used by the Census. Notice how in the southern part of the map, there is a wedge that consists almost entirely of the blue dots representing Black people. Notice also, how the green dots, representing white people, are intensely concentrated on the northern shoreline of the city, as well as on the outskirts, in the suburbs.

What I hope you notice about these two maps is that they are essentially the same. They tell the same story.

The end of state-sanctioned discrimination and ghettoization does not reverse the harm and inequality caused by these practices.

All this is interesting, but what does this mean for Nile specifically?

It means she grew up in a segregated neighborhood, in an intensely segregated city.

It means that the glittery downtown and famous lake-shore probably felt almost like a different world, even if it was technically her own hometown.

It means she probably grew up in a community with Black churches and Black hair salons and barbershops and kids playing streetball and cookouts in the summer. It means she grew up in a community with a long tradition of celebrating Black culture and Black arts and Black identity.

It means she probably also went to a school that was chronically underfunded, with teachers who were overworked and underpaid. The odds are good that Nile had at least one full school year where her class didn’t have a permanent teacher at all.

It means she probably grew up knowing the sights and sounds of gun violence in her neighborhood, and knowing people who were the victims of gun violence, both gang related and caused by police.

Perhaps, most important of all, she grew up in a neighborhood which is heavily targeted by US military recruiters. The most common pitch these recruiters make is that the US military will pay for their college education if a person enlists straight out of high school. For many of the people Nile grew up with, and maybe even Nile herself, this seems like the only path to higher education that won’t saddle them with an inescapable amount of debt.

In the film, Nile tells Andy that growing up on the South Side of Chicago with a single mother meant there was a “million different ways it could have gone left.” That might just be the understatement of the century.

And yet one of the reasons I love Nile and think she's so so so important is that her story is not about any of this. Her story is not about how she triumphed over adversity, or how she "made it out." Nile's story is about a woman whose upbringing and identities inform her future actions. She understands loyalty. She understands suffering. She understands fighting for herself and those closest to her and what she believes in. And maybe the South Side had something to do with all that, but it also comes from who she is.

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Tbh I think the reason people Ashe as “flat” is because he doesn’t shine as brightly next to some of the other characters. As a non-main, he’s not given as much to work with, and I think in the overall fandom he also suffers from a lack of a “darker” side. Ashe has effectively already undergone his character development prior to the game’s timeline and only recounts it during his supports/in the BL version of the Lonato chapter.

He’s also not played for laughs the way Bernadetta is, and isn’t based explicitly on a popular trope that pops up in all his conversations (re: Bernadetta). He’s also not female or a hot guy, so most people will handwave him simply for those reasons alone (look at Heroes’ pool of characters for reference lmao). He has his fans, but most of the fandom finds him boring. Not so much unlikeable, but uninteresting.

Tbh I’d actually argue Sylvain and Bernadetta aren’t more prominent at all in characterization. For Sylvain, his real personality only shines in his supports (or in Hopes, which some people haven’t played or didn’t like). All his main story lines are the same old fake flirty comments with the same old Ingrid responses. During the Miklan chapter and during general exploration he does have some good lines with more character to them, but in the main story he’s actually one of the most flat characters (and I love Sylvain, and he’s one of my faves... but not because of the main story dialogue lol).

Bernadetta hardly has a personality outside of screaming and running away after completely ignoring her conversational partner, which people apparently find funny? idk, I wrote a wrote a thing on her before and how IS completely made a joke of people with agoraphobia, and how she’s one of my most hated characters in the entire franchise because of it so I can’t even comprehend what’s appealing about her. Imho Berandetta’s character was created to be nothing but a joke from IntSys’ perspective, banking on people thinking that being afraid to leave your room/house is funny. It’s not. People with agoraphobia also do not act like that. 🤷 Of course, they needed a backstory for it so they half-assed one about a family you literally never even see one time in the whole game (so Hopes had to do that too), in contrast to us actually getting a conflict and story for Ashe and his family, as well as, in a sense, with Catherine because of the details of that story.

Ashe isn’t one of my favorites either, but I certainly don’t think he’s a flat character. Tbh, I’d actually even say Ferdinand is a more flat character than Ashe. A lot of the more popular characters don’t have the same depth as Ashe, but since Ashe’s growth journey happened prior to the game’s timeline, he comes across as flat and lacking a proper story. If we had seen Ashe grow from being a thief that you had to recruit on the battlefield and turned his life around throughout the story/his supports, he’d have a stronger and larger following (hell, look at Yunaka lol. She somewhat qualifies, of course, because she’s obviously very popular because she’s a female and quirky and Ashe is neither of those things, but her story helps).

Also, they had the opportunity to give us an A support with Dimitri and Ashe that could’ve been locked behind the timeskip like the other A supports, where Dimitri wants to talk to Ashe and apologize for condemning thieves as people who deserved to die - including literally the day Ashe found him with Gilbert. We had the chance for Ashe to talk to him and forgive him and maybe even admit to having been upset with him for how he was treating thieves, presuming they were indiscriminately bad people and not a mix of shitty people (re: Pollardo lol) and people trying to survive.

tl;dr no, Ashe isn’t a flat character but out of five checks for popularity: he doesn’t have big boobies and cleavage and isn’t at least a hot or beautiful woman so he gets a big ol’ checkmark removed from popularity, he isn’t a hot man so he loses another check, he’s not prominent enough in the main story for his character to be properly noticed so he loses another check, and his story is already completed pre-game story so he loses another check. Precious nice boy is really the only check he has left. ;~;

There was a discussion about fandom interpretation in a discord server and Ashe was brought into it, specifically how people see him as a flat character in the fandom, and I responded with this

"Ashe isn't a flat character as much as he is reserved and takes the time to look at the bright side and not dwell on the bad things in conversations too often. His trauma isn't brought up often because he tries his hardest to not let it weigh on him, no matter how much it actually does, because he wants to be strong. Strong for everyone around him, strong for his siblings, strong for himself. "Ashe is flat" is a handwave people use because Ashe's trauma isn't as prominent in his character like Sylvain or Bernadetta. Yes, his trauma shaped him, as every character's trauma has, that's what trauma does, but he's doing his best with what he was given and is grateful to be where he is"

idk I feel like I should say it out loud

[loregoddess]

Reverse unpopular opinion: anything about Triangle Strategy

The fandom's small enough that luckily there isn't too much hate for weird stuff in this game that I've come across as of yet, so I'll just gush about some things I think are neat.

The entire mechanics setup is really fun and challenging, and I love that things like weather and elevation can affect damage output because it added an entirely different layer of strategy than what I was used to. I found myself really having to think about how to complete maps, and how they couple be completed with vastly different strategies depending on which units were deployed.

It's also really neat that the classes aren't really like, actual rpg classes in the sense that you can class-change and therefore rearrange a unit's stats. By having each character locked to their own unique class it was more like getting 30 unique characters who I could figure out to how use on their own unique build, rather than trying to learn a class system and then slam-dunking my favorite characters into my favorite classes. This got me to actually pay attention to how each character was different, and figure out their strengths and weaknesses and which other characters they could synergize with in battle. For example, having Ezana and Frederica in the same group was difficult because I liked having Ezana change the weather to up the damage on her other spells, but this negated Frederica's Clear Skies skill; however Ezana's ability to cause windstorms would help boost Archibald's damage if he had the Raging Winds skill.

Also I really enjoyed not having to manage weapons or armor outside of the blacksmith mechanics because I love to micromanage in jrpgs (or really, any game that will let me do so) but it's also wildly time-consuming, and I found the ability to just level up a person's unique weapon far less stressful than trying to figure out who gets what weapon and why. Likewise, having all the character stats on fixed growth rates rather than something like FE's rng-based stat growths was nice as well, since I vastly prefer fixed stat grows to rng-based growths.

More than anything, I was really impressed with the story, especially how the dev's managed to marry the actual game mechanics with the game story. Having the core values of each decision be hidden in the first run was really nice, because I felt I could just choose whatever option I wanted without trying to "get" a certain type of outcome or value, and it made the voting sections of the game more like a puzzle to figure out with trying to sway people, and it was interesting that failure just led to a different story outcome rather than like, some sort of punishment to the player for not being good enough at figuring out which sort of argument worked on which character. Of course, I also liked that the NG+ unveiled all the internal mechanics and carried over the value scores, since by that time I was more interested in recruiting the last of the characters I could based on value scores alone, and being able to sway people even if I didn't select the right dialogue choice (because I had a high enough value score in whichever department) made it much easier to get the exact path I wanted. In fact, this game has one of the best NG+ replay set of mechanics that I've played so far.

I also liked that most choices felt like there wasn't a "good" or "right" path to take. It really helped to set the mood for how serious and dire the situation of the story was, and brought to life a "no one wins in war" feeling that I think is sometimes lacking in stories with wartime settings. It's interesting to watch the cause and effect cascade from the very early game down to the penultimate Ch17 decision, sometimes in the most tragic ways possible. And while I enjoyed the somber undertones of the three non-golden endings and the sense of "this still wasn't a solution to the problem, and others will arise", I loved the sense of hope provided by the golden ending, both in the internal story logic of "there exists a good ending for these characters" and in the external sense that hope is never beyond reach.

[duckprintspress]

What is an Alpha Reader?

Stories don’t exist without writers - that much is a given. But the best stories are never a solo effort, even if they have only a single author. Other people will contribute, in big ways and small, and potentially fill many roles to help the author see the work through to completion. Three of the most prominent of these roles are:

Alpha readers

Editors

Beta readers

Each does something different, but often in fandom-based writing spaces they’re used interchangeably in ways that can lead to confusion and a mismatch of expectation and performance between the author and the person helping them. As such, Duck Prints Press will be doing a series of three posts over the next few weeks that discusses each of these roles in detail. The purpose of these posts is

to provide a definition of each role (alpha, editor, and beta)

list examples of services a person in each role might provide for an author, 

provide insight into some appropriate ways for an author to interact with their helper, and

to suggest some points that an author and their selected feedback provider should discuss before the alpha/editor/beta begins work, to ensure that both individuals have a positive experience and that the helper is providing the kind of information that the author is seeking.

Two things of note before we proceed:

There is no single definition of these terms. We’re not claiming to be an authority or to say, “these are the correct definitions and all others are invalid.” Instead, our goal with these posts is to provide a common framework to help authors and individuals interested in helping them communicate about the nature of the roles to be undertaken, and to give information to help both writers and people who want to help writers understand what help is desired and how they can support each other.

If an author hasn’t said “I’m looking for an alpha/editor/beta,” then it doesn’t matter what form of feedback you provide - unsolicited alphaing, editing or betaing is generally unwelcome and often unhelpful. Yes, some authors DO like and appreciate it. However, most don’t. Never use these posts as, “now that I know what alphaing is, I’ve read your story and now I’m alphaing for you!” That’s not how this works. Alphaing, betaing, and editing are always collaborative, undertaken between an author and feedback provider that they’ve entrusted to help them. If you’d like to give feedback to an author about something of theirs you’ve read...ask them if they want it! And respect their response! It’s really, truly that simple.

What is an Alpha Reader?

Alpha readers are generally one of the first “outsiders” brought in to support an author, and, depending on how the author approaches their process, may be sought before the story has been written. The primary roles of an alpha reader are to brainstorm with an author, flesh out the plot, fill plot holes, solve conundrums and issues that arise, and help the author get their vision of the story put down in concrete words. Alpha readers may be recruited short term, to help an author work through a specific issue, or they may accompany the author from conceptual inception through the entire first draft or beyond - some may even end up credited as co-authors, depending on how many ideas they end up contributing! In fandom spaces especially, alphas are often described as cheerleaders, and in many cases, they are explicitly asked not to provide extensive criticism and editing - alphas work with the understanding that they have been brought in to help an author complete a first draft, and so the issues they help with are those more relevant to a work at an early stage of development.

Many people short-hand alphas by jokingly refer to them as “rubber duck debuggers,” inspired by the habit many computer programmers have of talking out a problem to an inanimate object until they figure out the solution. The idea is that alpha readers often don’t have to do anything - they just have to listen to the author until the author figures out the solution themselves! Sometimes, that’s truly all that an alpha will need to do, but don’t assume that’s all an alpha will do, and don’t play down the critical role that many alphas have played in the development of stories by giving timely, insightful feedback. An alpha can be invaluable in solving issues, seeing through thorny challenges, resolving points of uncertainty and confusion, and providing the author with the motivation, support and encouragement they need to see a first draft through to the end. Alphas are great, and are definitely not interchangeable with a rubber duck (however much we at Duck Prints Press love our rubber ducks).

Services/Responsibilities/Activities Associated with Alpha Reading:

Meet with the author to establish the scope of help the author would like. This post includes a thorough list of tasks often undertaken by an alpha reader, but it’s unlikely that an alpha reader will do all of these tasks. 

Listen to and incorporate world building and character information provided by the author, and work to provide feedback that fits with what they’ve established.

Read an author’s notes or outlines to get a general idea of what the author is trying to accomplish

Discuss story elements with the author to whatever degree of detail and specificity the author requests.

Offer insight and ideas to help solve problems that the author approaches you about, within the scope of what the author has said they’re willing to change or modify about their story.

Cheerlead, praise, and support the author as they write their first draft.

Indicate sentences, passages, and/or chapters that work especially well, and those that lacked adequate explication for the alpha to understand what took place.

Point out issues with representation, areas where the author might need to do more research, use of racist or sexist tropes, and other aspects of the story that may be problematic. (Please remember to be careful of the difference between “this story contains problematic elements” and “this author is problematic.” Many authors intentionally playing with these elements. Also remember that alphas are not the same as sensitivity readers!)

Make sure to offer feedback on what is good and what you like!!

If given a full first draft manuscript to review, post-reading you may be given a list of questions the author would like you to answer, indicating specific areas that the author would like more information about and/or help with.

Very rarely, an author may ask for an alpha to edit for grammar, structure, word choice, and other technical elements. However, in “standard” definitions of alpha reading, these roles would be excluded.

Be honest and objective! Don’t say something is good if you don’t think it is, and don’t say something is bad just because you didn’t like it.

Understand that an author is never obligated to take an alpha’s advice!

Services/Responsibilities/Activities Associated with being an Author Working with an Alpha Reader:

Have a clear idea of what an alpha reader will be asked to do before recruiting one - ideally, any request for an alpha should include this information! Don’t just say, “I’m looking for an alpha reader” and assume that anyone who responds will understand that to mean the same thing as you do. Instead, say, “I’m looking for an alpha reader to help me with…” and indicate the specific area(s) that you’re requesting support for.

Don’t ask for feedback if you’re not prepared to be given feedback. Understand that requesting an alpha may mean opening yourself up to criticism; never forget that you invited them, so respect them and appreciate them. Don’t ask someone to alpha for you if you don’t respect their opinions and assessments.

Communicate your expectations and needs clearly.

Listen to the alpha reader and take their advice under consideration.

Indicate when you’ve reached a decision, so the alpha reader doesn’t continue to focus on a point that has been resolved.

Be kind and polite, even if ultimately you reject the alpha’s recommendations.

Ask clear questions directly related to what you’re trying to find out about what works and doesn’t work in your manuscript. Don’t try to be vague or passive to try to “get at” if something worked; it’s better to be honest and straightforward.

Employ multiple alphas to get different viewpoints.

Do not take criticism of the work as criticism of you as an author and person.

Respect the alpha reader’s boundaries.

Understand that the alpha is never required to agree with you, and may ultimately dislike your work.

Communication is critical! If both parties aren’t clear about their expectations and responsibilities, how can they effectively work together? It’s also critical to set and maintain boundaries. An alpha doesn’t agree to be “on call” 24/7. An author doesn’t agree to hear endless criticism of their ideas. An alpha should never be subjected to material that they’ve indicated may trigger them. An author should never be subjected to an alpha harping on a pet idea that the author has already indicated they don’t wish to use. If the relationship isn’t working for both individuals, it should be terminated. Furthermore, just because the relationship doesn’t work, that doesn’t mean either individual is “bad” at fulfilling their role; often, it’s simply a mismatch in communication and work styles. And that’s okay! Don’t bad mouth someone you failed to work effectively with...but also, don’t feel you need to keep working with them!

Suggested Questions an Alpha Reader and Author Should Discuss Before Working Together:

Not all of these will be relevant to every author/alpha relationship, but they’re worth being aware of!

Will the alpha reader be paid for their help? This is generally not relevant in fan spaces, but may be if the alpha is working on an original work destined for publication.

Will the alpha reader be credited when the final product is made public?

Will the alpha reader be expected to keep silent about what they’ve read, or perhaps even sign a Non-Disclosure agreement or other form of contract?

When is the alpha usually available? When is the author usually available? Will meetings be held regularly on a schedule, as-needed, or elsewise?

What software and/or accounts will the alpha be expected to use? For example: a specific word program, a gmail account, Discord, etc.

How will the author and alpha communicate primarily? For example, by chat program, by e-mail, by telephone, etc.

Is the alpha required to be familiar with other works in the author’s oeuvre?

Is there any potentially triggering material in the work that the alpha should be made aware of?

Does the alpha have any unusual triggers or squicks that the author should be aware of?

At what stage of the project is the alpha reader being invited in - conceptualization? Writing? Completed first draft?

What specific aspect(s) of the book is the author looking for feedback on? The plot? The characters? The pacing? If a specific line landed as intended? Is the dialog catchy? Is the world-building thorough? 

Will the alpha reader be providing long-term help (eg, for the entire time an author is writing the first draft of a novel) or short-term help (eg, an author has gotten stuck at a specific point and wants to discuss only  that with someone else)?

Is the author looking for someone to primarily listen to them and let them work it out on their own?

What are the main themes/tropes/elements/etc. the author hopes to communicate? It’s often best to discuss this after the alpha has read the work, so the author can see if they’ve succeeded, but it depends on when in the process the alpha has been brought on. If the alpha is helping develop plot and concept, it will be important for the alpha to understand upfront what the author is trying to accomplish.

Is the alpha familiar with areas relevant to what the author is writing? For example, if the story is fanfiction, is the alpha familiar with the franchise? If the story is in a specific genre, is the alpha acquainted with the tropes of that genre? If the story is in a specific setting - especially if it’s a setting with a high degree of technical specificity - is the alpha able to offer insight and knowledge to support accurately portraying that setting?

Does the author want criticism at this stage? (Usually, inviting an alpha implies the answer to this is yes, but don’t assume!)

Does the author want editing done? (Usually, inviting an alpha implies the answer to this is no, but don’t assume!)

Are there aspects of the story the author feels are “set in stone?” Are there aspects the author doesn’t mind changing, or would even prefer to change?

Is the alpha welcome to provide suggestions for developments outside the framework of storyline and world building provided by the author? For example, would the author be open to having the alpha say, “maybe you should create a new character to fill this role,” or, “maybe you should change the entire ending,” or would they prefer that the alpha work with the plot, characters, pacing, etc., elements that the author has already created?

Check in throughout the process - Is the way I’m doing this working for you? Is this feedback helpful? Are my responses as the author enabling you to do your work as an alpha? Do we need to change anything to ensure that this is providing the kinds of support that the author has requested? Talk to each other! You’re in this together. It’s okay if things need to be changed (in the story, in the relationship, in the communication style, you name it) - change them until you find a way to collaborate that works best for both parties.

You’ll see the common theme in all this advice is that the key to a successful alpha/author relationship is communication. Authors: be clear and honest about your project and your needs. Alphas: be clear and honest about your assessments and suggestions. Work together, not in opposition. Now, go forth and write things, and read things, and make amazing stories!

We’ll be doing two more entries in this series - What is an Editor? and What is a Beta? in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Okay, I have thoughts about the new MCU Loki show, but especially about Mobius (perfect name for a guy whose job is protecting the timeline, by the way).

SPOILERS!

That was a master class in interrogation/deradicalization/recruitment. Possibly the best I’ve seen.

First off, there’s the usual TVA protocols - and I’m highly amused that an organization with extremely futuristic technology and an amazing-looking city deliberately designed their system on a 1980s-bureaucratic aesthetic, right down to the old-style animated video. It’s like they considered every single style from every single time people, country, and planet and decided that Earth-style-1980s-bureaucratic would be the most demoralizing.

Then Mobius comes in all friendly-like. And while that starting point is just standard good-cop-bad-cop, everything he does from then on is just outstanding. And we can reasonably assume that Mobius is coming in knowing everything about Loki, from his entire history and future to his psychological profile - after all, he’s been hunting other-Loki for a while now!

First off, Loki starts with threatening him, and Mobius is giving him absolutely nothing; just cheerful, casual agreement, ‘sure, why don’t you start with burning down my office,’ none of the fear or anger that threats are intended to provoke. At the same time, he takes Loki on a route that makes it unmistakeably clear just how impressive the TVA and their technology is; it’s on a level well beyond even Asgard, and it’s clear that Loki is picking up that the world is a good deal bigger than he’s accustomed to thinking about, and he’s a much smaller player in it than he believed. Mobius takes this moment of discomfiture as an opportunity to reassure Loki, present himself as a friend and build rapport; set up the feeling of ‘we’re on the same side here’. See, Mobius finds the bureaucratic system annoying too! And then, in the elevator, he mentions offhand that he just saved Loki’s life. He engages Loki in banter and wins a few exchanges.

In the cell, he starts off talking to Loki while facing away from him, and talks in an distracted tone. Rather than a standard interrogation setup with the interrogator trying to drag out information and the prisoner trying to stay silent, this creates a situation where Loki is trying to get his attention - as he just observed, Loki loves talking (and attention) - while also giving Loki an opening to attack, an attack that is immediately not only foiled but time-reversed, and which Moebius brushes off casually, thereby reinforcing that Loki is absolutely no threat.

To get Loki to start talking, he encourages Loki to try to manipulate him for future gain; after all, that’s Loki’s best available strategy under the circumstances, and not one he’s averse to (see: Grandmaster). He again emphasizes that Loki isn’t dangerous. He offers him unspecified benefits (he sounds like he is promising to let him go if he cooperates, but there is in fact no firm promise). And this gets Loki talking - especially since the questions are about himself, Loki’s favourite subject.

Now Mobius pulls out some truly incisive questions. (Note that this wouldn’t have worked without all the prior TVA stuff - it works because Loki is bewildered, wrongfooted, and placed in a situation where he’s got zero control. If you put Loki at the end of Avengers in a room and asked him those questions, he’d just laugh at you.) ‘What do you plan to do when you’re free?’ - which immediately reveals that Loki doesn’t want to do anything in particular with power; he diesn’t have any, like, policies; he wants power because it makes him feel powerful and successful. Then he butters him up with ‘I’m a fan; why limit yourself to just ruling?’

While the rest of the fandom is freaking out about Loki’s reaction to the MCU clips, the line that got me was his one about freedom: “For nearly everything living thing, choice breeds shame, and uncertainty, and regret. There’s a fork in every road, yet the wrong path - always taken.” Hello, projection! It’s a great window into Loki’s thinking in The Avengers (albeit a retconned one). “I’ve made terrible choices for myself that made me miserable, therefore I should make all the choices for everyone else” is of course a nonsensical idea, but Loki’s not operating on reason, just emotion.

The Mobius pulls out the video clips, first emphasizing Loki’s lack of success, and then pushing harder with “Do you enjoy hurting people?” Making him look at his actions from outside his own perspective. He keeps pushing, until Loki looks genuinely uncomfortable with his actions, and then, to counter the clips of him failing at conquest, invokes his title as ‘god of mischief’ and shows him succeeding at something genuinely mischievous. Be who are you really are. Be what you’re good at.

When Loki diverts from the topic at hand to rant about the TVA and his inevitable ascent to power, Mobius shows him the real outcome of his choices: imprisonment, and his mother’s death. Loki’s clearly emotionally affected, and Mobius presses his advantage; this is the first time in their entire interaction that he’s raised his voice. But Mobius then immediately returns to calm, and plays his masterstroke. Your predetermined role in the world is to cause pain and suffering. Is that what you want? It flips the narrative: suddenly, Loki returning to his quest for power and rule is compliance with the established order, and becoming a better person is defiance of it.

I don’t know if Loki’s escape is genuinely an error by the TVA, or if this is something orchestrated; the former is more probable, but the latter is a possibility - it’s seeing Infinity Stones thrown in a desk drawer like junk that takes Loki to the breaking point.

After the escape attempt, Mobius, in another great move, leaves Loki alone in the room rather than resuming the interrogation. It’s practically a guarantee that Loki will look at the rest of his future - there’s nothing else to do in the room, and it’s an irresistible opportunity - but at this point it’s more effective for him to feel that he’s acting freely that for Mobius to actively show it to him. And he’s also, obviously, more able to engage with his emotions when there’s no one else there (though the TVA is certainly observing him remotely, he’s not thinking about that).

And only then, when Loki’s coping with all those new realizations - both that his family loved him and that his life ended pointlessly - does Mobius come back. And then he at last gets genuine emotional vulnerability from Loki and, even more stunning, an admission of wrongdoing: that he’s been acting as a bully, harmimg others so he can feel strong. And it’s at that point, when Loki acknowledges himself a villain and is unhappy about it, that Mobius can make the offer of Loki helping on the case and have it feel like something he’s doing for Loki.

It’s the same deal it was at the beginning - help the TVA or die - but it feels very different to Loki. An opportunity rather than a threat. A choice he’s been given to do something different with his life.

And all this is nested within an episode that’s about the illusion of choice. Impressive.

Short version - I don’t see Mobius as Loki’s new best friend. I see him as a man who’s very, very good at his job. And I love competent characters.

I could be misreading it - I frequently read more into superhero movies and shows than is actually there - but that’s how it’s looking to me now.

[dgcatanisiri]

So, if a character suffers from bad writing, like say the character's from media that's ten, twenty, etc. years old, writing that hasn't aged well, or is suffering from a writer not accounting for the perspective that's not their own (like a white writer failing to realize how a black character would react to situations)... Do you blame the character for the problems or the writer for what they failed to pull off?

Like that's usually what draws me to a lot of underappreciated or even disliked characters in the things that I like, I see that the writer did them wrong - maybe they didn't understand something enough to be talking about, maybe it was normalized behavior that only now we acknowledge is A Problem™, maybe it was simply the fact that the source material just didn't give them the right focus and the negative impression outweighed the positive ones.

I mean, I also have the added perspective of looking into things as a writer, so I have to look at the characters who are not liked within fandom (or even that I personally dislike), and try to dig out the positives, the reasons that the characters around them are willing to associate with them.

If I'm gonna write a story within a given media, something that features these characters, I need to view them from the perspective that they're actually liked by the characters around them. Like I try to avoid anything that's outright bashing - even with my therapy fics, like what I've written about me dealing with my frustrations surrounding Liara, I genuinely truly tried to approach those as at least having something redemptive to the character, that she's not just making these mistakes but also owning up to them, accepting them, taking them as her making mistakes and wanting to make amends, make her errors right, rather than how the "canon" narrative sees nothing wrong.

And so if I'm going to write something that features a character who the fandom dislikes... I genuinely try to be positive. Like I wrote a whole 3500+ word fic that centered on Diana Allers, trying to explore her as a reporter, rather than just a meaningless fling dressed up in offering some War Assets.

It's my way, I suppose - this character (back to generalities here) is a part of the tapestry, I feel like they should thus be acknowledged as a part of it, and, if they need to be cleaned up, then I'll engage in the patchwork.

Some characters, I admit, I don't particularly care for and will write around as much as possible - I've been toying with a fic that's effectively me patching in the M!Adaar/Cullen romance I needed into Dragon Age Inquisition, and I intend to leave out the characters who I don't recruit, because, in effect, this is my version of the game, and it's going to be the way I work with things. Y'know, if I want to rework their characters, I certainly could, but that's going to take away time from the story that I'm actually there to tell.

But overall, my attitude is to look at the characters as people who the audience is expected to like. And, if there's a problem with how they come across, rather than say "the problem is in the character, throw them away entirely," I'd sooner say "the problem is in the writing, let's see if we can't fix that."

[michaels-blackhat]

thoughts on evil Forrest 😈

We are going to start out by apologizing. This is very very late. I’m sure when you sent this ask, you meant it to be in the same joking tone that I approach all of my other propaganda posts. Sadly, this is actually going to be a deep dive into a few Evil Forrest related things, including the moment I feel they changed directions, the perfect wasted build-up, and the implications of the change/how it then negatively impacted the story. As I’m sure you already know, by being on my blog at all, I don’t think the story was good to begin with, so we are going to focus on the weird hoops they made themselves jump through to make that story still work. Additionally, I am only going to mention once, right now, how much of a waste it was to not have Forrest ‘fall for his mark’ and complete one of my absolute favorite tropes. Honestly, I think “because I want it” is a completely valid reason to like Evil Forrest. But, the question was “Thoughts on Evil Forrest” and these thoughts have been developing for over a year and a half. So, I apologize in advance.

The majority of this is under a cut, with highlights in the abstract. If no one wants to read this, I understand completely. Go ahead, skip it.

Note: it pains me greatly to not actually have full sources for this essay. Just know that in my heart I am using proper APA citations, I just absolutely do not feel like digging through tweets to find sources to properly cite.

Abstract:

Previous research indicates that Roswell New Mexico has a history of repeating excuses to explain mid-season changes to plots. This essay explores how those excuses are not only loads of crap, but how they hinder the show’s ability to tell a coherent story, misuse the multiple-plot structure to enhance the themes being explored, and lead to decisions that mean the show continuously goes over budget. This also means that characters are not used to their full potential and has led to what some fans consider to be “out of character” behaviors. While these behaviors are not universally agreed on, evidence can be shown that these behaviors directly contradict emotionally important character arc/plot points in the show.

The author of this paper acknowledges that the show took some strides to mend this problem. However, once again no consensus could be found on whether Forrest was a low-level member of Deep Sky and thus just allowed to fuck off on a bus, or his job was recruitment because he did a piss poor job of making Alex not join.

The concept of Evil Forrest has been with the fandom as early as New York Comic Con (NYCC) in 2019, when it was revealed that Alex had a new “blue-haired love interest”. Speculation abounded within the fandom, with some people, including the author, going “yeah, he’s evil” while others rejoiced in the concept of Alex having a loving partner. Speculation increased as fans discussed Tyler Blackburn’s seeming disinterest in his new love interest, prompting some once again to scream “EVIL” at the top of their lungs to anyone who would listen. Very little was revealed, beyond the fact that the new character would show up somewhere around episode 3 of the second season.

Episode 2.04 aired with some commenting on how he barely interacted with Alex- prompting more evil speculation- and others excited to see the characters interact more. The character appears again in 2.06, where he invites Alex to dubious spoken word poetry (which Alex attends); 2.08, where they have a paintball date and go to The Wild Pony; 2.10, where the two are seen writing together briefly at the beginning of the episode; and 2.13, where Alex performs his song at open mic night, tells Forrest his relationship with the person in the song was long over, and they kiss. Forrest was not revealed to be evil during season 2.

Amidst the season airing, Word of God via Twitter post announced that yes, Forrest had originally been planned as a villain, though not the main villain, but it was changed as filming progressed.

The Word of God Twitter post revealed that Forrest had originally been planned as a villain, but they decided that they could not make their “blue-haired gay man” a villain. This mirrors a similar situation and excuse used the previous season, where the character of Jenna Cameron was originally planned to work with Jesse Manes against the aliens, before it was changed because they just “loved Riley [the actress] too much”. Both of these examples occurred while already filming and reflect on a larger problem with the show. Though not the topic of this essay, it is important to note that both characters are white, both in the show and by virtue of being played by white actors. The fact that they couldn’t be villains for one reason or another is not a courtesy extended to the male villains who are all the most visibly brown, and thus ‘other’, members of the cast.

This also highlights the fact that, via Twitter, it has been revealed two other times that occurrences that were reported in season 1 also occurred in season 2. During the airing of episode 1.02, it was revealed that the single best build-up of tension in the show- when Alex walks to the Airstream not saying a word to Michael after a dramatic declaration- happened because one actor was sick at the time and they had to go back and film the kisses later. At the point of airing for episode 2.08, it was revealed that one of the actors were sick and unable to film a kissing scene. Allegedly, this caused the writers to retool the entire scene and deviate from the plan to make that subplot about Coming Out. The execution of this subplot will be explored later in this essay.

The last occurrence revealed via Twitter also revealed larger issues within the show: lack of planning and poor budgeting. During the airing of season 1, Tyler Blackburn was needed for an extra episode beyond his contracted 10. A full explanation was never given, but speculation about poor planning and to fill in because Heather Hemmens had to miss one of her 10 episodes due to scheduling conflicts for another project. During the airing of season 2, yet another tweet came out saying they made a mistake and Tyler would once again be in an additional episode. No explanations beyond “a mistake” were given, though once again speculation occurred. It is the opinion of the author that this was due to changing plot points over halfway through writing, while episodes were already in production. It has been speculated by some that these changes occurred during the writing of 2.08, which was being finished/pre-production was occurring roughly around the time of NYCC 2019.

Previous Literature:

A brief look at different theories of plots and subplots

Many people have written on the subject of plotting, for novels and screen alike. The author is more familiar with film writing than tv, but a lot of the concepts carry over. Largely, the B- and C- (and D- and E-… etc) plots should reinforce the theme of the A-plot. This can be through the use of a negative example, where the antithesis of the theme is explored to reinforce the theme presented by the A plot, or through other examples of the theme, generally on a small scale.

A movie example of this would be Hidden Figures (2016), where the A-plot explores how race and gender impact the main character (Katherine Johnson) in her new job. The B-plots explore the other characters navigating the same concepts in different settings and ways- learning a new skill as to not become obsolete and breaking boundaries there (Dorothy Vaugn) and being the first black woman to complete a specific degree program and the fight it took to get there (Mary Jackson). A TV example that utilizes this concept of plot and theme is the 911 shows. Each of the rescues in a given episode will directly relate to the overall theme of the episode and the overall plot for the focus character. This example is extremely blunt. It does not use any tools to hide the connection, to the point you can often guess the outcome for that A-plot fairly quickly.

This is not the only way to explore themes within visual media. Moonlight (2016) looks at three timestamps in the life of Chiron. Each timestamp has a plot even if they feel more like individual scenes or moments rather than plots as some are more used to in films. Each time stamp deals with rejection, isolation, connection, and acceptance in different ways. So while there is no clear A-, B-, or C-Plot, each time stamp works as their own A-Plot to explore the themes in a variety of ways, particularly by starting out in a place of rejection and moving to acceptance or a place of connection to isolation.

Please note that there are many ways to write multiple plots, there are just two examples.

While there are flaws within season 1 of RNM, overall the themes stayed consistent throughout the season, mainly the theme of alienation. The theme threads through the Alien’s isolation/alienation from humanity which is particularly seen through Michael’s unwillingness to participate and Isobel’s over participation. There is Rosa’s isolation from others, how her friendship with “Isobel” ended up compounding her existing alienation from her support system due to her mental illness and coping mechanisms. We see how Max and Liz couldn’t make connections. This theme presented itself over and over in season 1. While this essay is not an exploration of the breakdown of themes in season 2, it should be noted that there were some threads that followed throughout the season. The theme of mothers/motherhood was woven throughout season 2, with some elements more effective than others. Please contact the author for additional thoughts on Helena Ortecho and revenge plots.

One of the largest problems within season 2 was the sheer number of plots jammed into the season. These plot threads often ended up hindering the effectiveness of the themes and made the coherence of the season suffer. Additionally, a lot of them were convoluted and difficult to follow.

Thesis:

Essentially, season 2 was a mess. To look at it holistically is almost an exercise in futility. Either you grow angry about the dropped plots and premises, you hand wave them off, or you fill them in for yourself. Instead, this essay proposes to look at individual elements to explain why Forrest should have stayed evil.

We first meet Forrest in 2.04 when he is introduced on the Long Family Farm, which we later learn was the location where our past alien protagonists had their final standoff. He’s introduced. He’s largely just there. The audience learns he has more of a history with Michael. In 2.06, we meet him again with his dog Buffy (note: poor Buffy has not been seen again and we miss a chunky queen). There’s mild flirting, Alex is invited to an open mic night, which he attends. For the purpose of this essay, the author’s thoughts on the poetry will not be expressed. Readers can take a guess.

It is after this point that the author speculates the Decision was made. This choice to make Forrest not evil- paired with the aforementioned ‘can’t kiss, someone’s sick’- impacted the plot. We have Alex have a scene with his father- which the author believes could have been pushed to a different episode- and then have Alex go on a date and then not kiss Forrest at the end of the night. Here, the audience sees Forrest hit Alex in the leg, allegedly not knowing he had lost his leg despite ‘looking him up’, which parallels the shot to the leg that happens to Charlie. Besides wasting this ABSOLUTELY TEXTBOOK SET UP WTF, it also takes Alex away from the main plot and then forces a new plot for him. Up to this point, Alex’s plot was discovering more about the crash and his family’s involvement. Turning Alex’s date from a setup for evil Forrest to a Coming Out story adds yet another plot thread to a packed season. It is also the author’s thought that this is where the convoluted kidnapping plot comes in. With Forrest already in 2.10 for a moment, a plot where Alex is evil has Forrest attack him for Deep Sky rather than Jesse abduct him for a piece of alien glass Alex was going to give him anyway and then for Flint to abduct Alex from Jesse. It’s messy. In a bad way. Evil Forrest would have been a cleaner set up: no taking back a piece of alien glass Alex gave to Michael in a touching moment. No double abduction. Instead, there is only Forrest, who Alex trusts, breaking that trust to take him as leverage over Michael.

Implications:

Now, Alex has two plots (Tripp & Coming Out). The Coming Out plot is largely ineffective, as they are only relevant to scenes with Forrest and have the undercurrent of there only being a certain acceptable way to be out. This could have been used for Alex to discover his comfort levels, mirroring Isobel’s self discovery, but there was not enough screen time for that. Additionally, Isobel’s coming out story was about her allowing herself the freedom to explore. Alex’s story was about the freedom to… act like this dude wanted him to. Alex’s internalized homophobia played out often in the series but it was also informed by the violence he experienced at Jesse’s hands and the literal hate crime he and his high school boyfriend experienced. With that in mind, the “kissing to piss off bigots” line comes off poorly. This is a character who experienced what a pissed off bigot could do- reluctance to kiss in public is not the same as not being out. There is more to be said on this topic, but as it is not actually the focus of the essay, it will be put on hold. To surmise: Alex’s coming out is attempted to be framed as being himself, but it is actually the conformity to someone else’s ideals. It does not work as an antithetical to Isobel’s story, as the framing indicates that the conformity/right was to be out contradicts Isobel’s theme.

Further Research:

MAKE FORREST EVIL YOU COWARDS

Author Acknowledgements:

The author of this paper acknowledges that the show took some strides to mend this problem. However, once again no consensus could be found on whether Forrest was a low-level member of Deep Sky and thus just allowed to fuck off on a bus, or his job was recruitement because he did a piss poor job of making Alex not join.

[prolestariwrites]

Ashes [2] by lickitysplit

Fandom: Resident Evil Characters: Jill Valentine/Carlos Oliveira Rating: M (Mature)

Summary: A year after the destruction of Raccoon City, Jill is ready to put the past in the past and get back to her life. When she and Chris are recruited to go after Wesker, it seems like the perfect opportunity... until she's partnered with the last person she ever wanted to see again.

Chapter Two: Jill heads out on her new assignment, and makes a few things clear to Carlos on the way.

Read below or on AO3 ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Her jaw is nearly aching from being clenched by the time they return to the hotel. Jill knows Chris can tell something is wrong; he’d have to be blind not to see the scowl that settled on her face for most of the day. The only thing holding her back from telling the feds to shove the entire mission up their ass is the holster that sits with a comfortable familiarity on her hip and the badge in her back pocket.

They had been put up at a chain hotel that boasted free HBO and continental breakfast, nothing fancy. So when Chris cautiously asks as they arrive if she wants to go out to get dinner, Jill declines. “I’m going to the bar,” she says through gritted teeth.

There is a small one off the lobby, and Jill heads straight there without bothering to go back to her room first. She drops the bag they had provided with copies of their paperwork and briefing material on the counter as she slides into a stool and nods to the bartender. “Shot of whiskey,” she says. “And whatever is on tap. Room 316.”

Chris chuckles as he takes the seat next to her. “Drinks are on Uncle Sam?”

“Damn straight.” Her shot arrives first, and Jill drinks it without hesitation, only wincing slightly at the burn.

“So um…” Chris clears his throat. “You seemed excited about the job. I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess it’s the partner situation.”

Jill gives herself a few seconds to breathe before answering. Not his fault, she reminds herself, swallowing the resentment that sits ready to spring in her stomach. Luckily her beer arrives, and it gives her another minute to delay answering as she takes a long sip.

“Okay,” she finally says. “It’s not the partner thing. It’s him.”

“Oliveira?”

“Yeah.” Jill takes another drink.

Chris orders a beer of his own, and Jill notices how he takes a ten dollar bill out of his wallet. “Since when were you such a Boy Scout?” she asks.

“I’m not,” he protests.

“Fine,” she replies, deciding not to argue. “But after what these people have put me through, they are gonna pay for me to get drunk.”

They drink in silence for a few minutes, and Jill is somewhat grateful. She knows Chris is probably burning with questions; as much as he liked to keep to himself and had the reputation for being a hard ass, he’s still a man. And Jill knows from experience that men are the worst gossips.

Sure enough, it’s not even five minutes before Chris starts. “So, about Oliveira…”

Jill rolls her eyes and sets down her empty glass, nodding when the bartender asks if she wants another. “Yeah?”

“I mean, I thought… I don’t know. You never said you hated him.”

“I don’t hate him,” Jill snaps. “I don’t even know him.”

Chris considers that for a second. “He saved your life. He got you that vaccine.”

“I didn’t ask him to do that.”

“You’d rather he left you to die?”

Jill shoots him a scowl. “You weren’t there. You don’t get it.”

“Really?” he argues. “You’re going to tell me that I don’t get it?”

Her drink arrives and Jill focuses on that instead of Chris’ words. The cold amber liquid helps to dull the urge to argue, and they sit in a semi-companionable silence. She should say something, but how to explain? It barely makes sense to her, let alone tell someone else.

But this is Chris, and Jill knows he’ll be hurt if she doesn’t at least try. She sets her glass down as she lets go of a breath in a deep sigh. “Mansion was different,” she mumbles. Is the beer taking effect? Her mouth feels fuzzy and her skin feels tight. “Those days at the end… it was different, because it was people, you know? On my street, in my subway, my home. Not some creepy mansion filled with monsters. It was different. And then the Umbrella guys just made everything worse.”

She leaves it at that, and by the look on his face, Jill figures it’s good enough. At least now she doesn’t have to go into the real reason why she didn’t want to see Carlos again, why she had ignored his messages after they escaped, and why she hadn’t contacted him at all.

Three beers later Jill is comfortably drunk as she makes her way back to her room. Chris is enough of a gentleman to walk her, but she refuses his offer to come in, knowing he’ll just hover.

She drops her badge and the gun in its holster on the little table before flopping onto the bed. The sun is nearly down outside, just the last few rays coming into the room through the slats of the blinds. Otherwise, the room is blessedly dark and cool, leaving Jill space to breathe.

Her eyes fixate on a spot on the ceiling above. It’s a trick she had developed in the lab, where she had spent four months going through every test known to medical science along with a few she suspected the doctors were making up on the fly. Just stare above and focus on a dot, ignore everything and everyone else. Ignore the thoughts and the fear and the voices on either side. Ignore the sting of the needle and the stale air inside the hospital and the beep of the monitor. The catheters, the blood pressure cuffs, the cold ultrasound wand, the sharp draw of blood.

She must doze off, because the next thing she knows, the phone is ringing. It’s enough to jolt her awake, and the room goes a bit sideways for a second when she sits up. Briefly Jill wonders how many scares a person can take before their heart gives out, an ugly thought that is probably in a chart somewhere in Washington. She shivers as she reaches out to grab the receiver and the shrill ring cuts off. “Yeah?”

Her voice rasps, her tongue feeling thick and dry. “Hello?” she tries again.

“Hey Jill. It’s me. Carlos.”

She closes her eyes. “How did you know where I was?”

“Donner gave me your contact. You didn’t leave your number.”

“Yeah well…” Jill can’t think of a good excuse so she sighs. “What do you want?”

“Looks like we’re heading out tomorrow. Thought you might want to catch up first? We can get breakfast before the flight and compare notes.”

Jill swallows thickly, rubbing her palm on her thigh. “I got a lot to do, need to pack and everything. We can do that on the plane.”

“Yeah, that’s true. We got a long drive too.” She frowns, realizing she hasn’t read the full itinerary; what long drive? “Yeah. Sure thing.”

“Okay. See you—”

“You okay though? You seemed… not yourself.”

Her lips press together as her fingers clench against her pants. “I’m fine. See you tomorrow.”

Jill hangs up before he can say anything else. The room is dark now, so she stands and stretches, wanting a shower before she starts prepping for her assignment.

Chris is already in the lobby for checkout in the morning. She gives him a warning look over her sunglasses. “Don’t start.”

“I didn’t say anything.” He hands her a coffee cup as he takes a sip from his own. “Got everything?”

“Yeah. Where are you going anyway?” she asks.

“Turkey.” Jill raises her brows and he gives a laugh. “Yeah, I know. Makes sense though, shit goes through the country from Europe to Africa and Asia.”

“You’re gonna stick out like a sore thumb,” Jill chuckles.

“Maybe.” He laughs again before asking, “You getting a flight too?”

She nods as she drains half the coffee, sighing in contentment. “Flying to El Paso, then we’re driving south. Less likely to be tracked.”

“Doesn’t sound so bad,” Chris says. “Maybe you’ll see some nice beaches.”

Jill rolls her eyes. “You have my cell number, right?”

Chris nods. “Only for emergencies though. Can’t imagine what a call from Turkey costs.”

A taxi pulls up outside, and Chris picks up his bag. “I think that’s for me. Agency said they were sending you a car, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

A weird lump forms in Jill’s throat, and they awkwardly look at each other. Finally Chris gives a half-hug, wrapping one arm around her and pulling her close. “Take care of yourself, partner,” he says, and Jill nods, not trusting her voice. “See you in a few weeks, hopefully. Don’t kill Oliveira.”

She laughs as he walks out, and Jill remembers watching him walk out of the police headquarters more than a year ago, also heading to the airport in a taxi to follow a lead on Umbrella. It was hot then too, the sticky July days making the city almost unbearable in a heat wave that had the air shimmering. Jill was supposed to follow, but the chief got wind of what they were up to, and the next time she got to leave Raccoon City it was on the back of a helicopter, watching a bolt of light streak across the sky.

Shaking her head to clear it, Jill checks out at reception before picking up her bag and heading outside to wait. She isn’t sure what kind of car exactly to expect, but she is beyond annoyed with herself when Carlos pulls up in a pickup truck. “Should have figured,” she mutters to herself as he jumps out of the cab.

He’s wearing jeans and a dark t-shirt, much more casual than the dress pants and blouse she had opted for that morning. Even though they are undercover, when they travel they should look like professionals, right? That’s what she had figured at least. Jill pulls open the door before he can do it, and climbs in before he gets around to greet her. But Carlos shuts the door and hurries back to slide into the driver’s seat, smiling as she tugs on her seatbelt. “Morning. Ready to go?”

“Yup.” Jill looks straight ahead, folding her hands in her lap. After reading all the briefing docs, Jill had decided that she was going to be nothing but professional on this trip. Simple, direct communication, keep everything short and sweet, no engaging, no personal stuff. Just get to their destination, find Wesker, make the collar. She had done it a hundred times before. This is just one more job, one more partner.

“Did you bring a bathing suit?” Carlos asks amiably.

Her head snaps to the side as she shoots him a look. “Yeah, the agency issues bikinis. Come with a harness attached for the gun.”

Carlos laughs as he merges the truck onto the road. “See, I got excited there for a second, but now I know you’re joking with me.”

Jill folds her arms, huffing in frustration. Not even two minutes and she’s already annoyed. “Don’t ask stupid questions.”

“Haven’t you heard the saying, no stupid questions?” he asks.

“Yeah I heard it. It’s wrong though.”

“Hey, maybe this will work better,” he muses.

She frowns, hating that she has to ask. “What do you mean?”

“We’re a couple on vacation, right? Seems like the most logical scenario for our cover.” She bites the inside of her cheek as he checks the mirrors to merge onto the highway. “None of my girlfriends ever liked my jokes either.”

She knows he’s trying to tease her, but Jill refuses to give him the satisfaction of a response. Folding her arms, she looks out the window as her mind runs a mile a minute. He had been like this in Raccoon City, making jokes and trying to be flirtatious despite shutting him down. It’s not that she minded it, necessarily—after being in the Army, then Delta Force, and ultimately joining the RPD, putting up with men who found themselves funny had become almost an artform. And deep, deep down, way down, under other circumstances, Jill might have even joked back. Of course, the only thing worse than Carlos trying to be funny had been Carlos trying to care.

They ride in silence for several minutes, during which Carlos tries the radio. He scoffs at the stations though before ultimately turning it off. “Damn Americans don’t know good music,” he says.

Jill glances over. “You’re not American?”

“Not exactly.”

“What do you mean?”

“I grew up in South America. Was recruited to the UBCS there.”

“How did you end up in Raccoon City?” she asks.

Carlos shakes his head with a laugh. “That’s a much longer story.”

Jill turns to look out the window, deciding not to ask even though she’s dying to know. “You know, I heard about S.T.A.R.S.,” he continues. “Read all about Wesker and what happened to you before the outbreak. That shit was fucked up.”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” she replies shortly.

“Hey, I get it. I wouldn’t either.” He glances over. “But you got someone to talk to, right? Like your parents, or a husband or something?”

With a scowl she sits up and turns to him. “Listen, Carlos, I want to make one thing clear. We’re not friends. We’re temporary partners. Yes, we survived the outbreak and yeah we each saved each other. So we’re even. There’s no need to go any deeper than that, okay? I’m not looking for a friend. I want to do this job and prove that I’m up for duty and put all this shit behind me. That’s it.”

She expects him to joke or argue, but instead he just huffs a laugh. “Whatever you say, supercop.”

[meggannn]

i'm interested in hearing your thoughts on garrus being shoe-horned into the best friend role if you want to talk about it!

I may not be able to talk about it as much as some people who are super Garrus-critical, but yes I can try!

this really becomes a problem in ME3 more than the other games. basically my understanding of Garrus’s writing in ME3 is that they were well aware that of the fact that he was a fan-favorite, and didn’t want to threaten that, so they made it his crux. they took most of the fandom’s feelings for Garrus and decided to reflect that in Shepard’s relationship with Garrus, but by doing this, they basically ended up pretending a relationship had been there throughout ME1-2 that existed in some player’s heads. of course, Mass Effect is an RPG (well, sort of) so in theory... your best friend could be whoever you want to be, so with that in mind, it’s a little strange for a dev team to go “your best friend is this one character and we will write all of his scenes around that assumption.” unless they really want to play up the fanservice, I guess.

when he’s introduced in ME1, people joke about how they would never not recruit him, but it is a possibility—you could run through the entire game having only met Garrus in the Citadel Tower and never spoken to him again—in which case by meeting him again in ME2, it is a little strange to see that guy you barely remember from the Citadel in the last game show up, but not entirely unwelcome, because at least you, like, recognize him. it’s a little odd how you banter like old friends by making fun of his scars, but what is straight-up bizarre is how in the next game, ME3, Garrus talks about how he was there with you fighting Reapers from the beginning. of course, not a lot of people would specifically go out of their way to avoid recruiting Garrus in ME1, and very few people probably naturally avoided him standing by the elevator in ME1 (which is the only way to not recruit him if you don’t find him in Dr. Michele’s clinic), so the odds of someone not recruiting him in ME1 are low unless they intended to, but it’s still possible.

come ME2, I think they chose to forget that. a few lines have changed in 2 if you don’t recruit him in 1, but not many. remember in ME1, Garrus was an optional squaddie, who had an optional side quest, and his relationship with Shepard there was very much superior/subordinate, or as some people interpret it, more mentor-like. the most personal they get is when they talk about their jobs, the difficulties they face making moral choices, a bit about their families, and Spectrehood. it’s a nice introduction to Garrus’s character but the lines are drawn pretty clear between their roles; by the end of ME1, given the canon dialogue, the closest I’m personally willing to believe of their relationship from helping him deal with Saleon is “subordinate I am fond of,” or post-Saren after Garrus leaves the Normandy, “ally I can call on later.”

and then Shepard dies and is gone for two years. by ME2, when you meet up with him again, I actually find this jump from “subordinate” to “ally/friend” works for my Shepard, but it might not for people who never really engaged with Garrus or even liked him on the SR-1, or those who weren’t thrilled with the idea of him... basically running off to kill as many people as he could on Omega after Shepard got themselves spaced. if you don’t romance him in ME2, he has so little content in ME2: his recruitment mission, post-recruitment convo, loyalty convo trigger, loyalty quest, and post-loyalty convo. if you romance him, you get several more scenes, but compared to other romanceable companions like Miranda or Jack—whose attitudes toward you change the more you talk to them—or even Samara, who you can just chat with while looking out at the stars, Garrus’s platonic relationship with Shepard seems to stall after the Sidonis quest: you gain his loyalty for the suicide mission and then you’re assumed to be all cool. realistically, they could’ve given us a lot of reasons why Garrus might not want to talk—he’s probably still reeling from getting his face blown off and confronting his betrayer again, or if you don’t let him kill Sidonis, maybe he could’ve gotten pissed at Shepard and confronted them—but that’s me trying to justify a lack of content. truthfully there’s very little non-romanceable Garrus content in ME2 to build up that “best friends” angle they want to sell in ME3.

in ME3, you DO get more content that shows how naturally “at ease” he feels working with Shepard: his recruitment mission, longer conversation trees when he joins, more banter from squaddies—including Garrus—on missions, him inviting you to go bottle-shooting, a scene with him after every main mission where he asks you how you’re doing, if you miss Ash/Kaidan, mutual struggles over the burden of leadership, worrying over his family, etc. by this point though, if you didn’t romance him, he’s treating you like his best friend even though he basically ignored you all of ME2. again, you could rationalize that time as his social awkwardness on a Cerberus ship, or him dealing with trauma, but in my friend’s words, it’s really more of bioware telling-but-not-showing that they really wanted you to like this guy but waiting until the last game to give him consistent scenes with the player that reflected that closeness.

on paper, Garrus makes a lot of sense to be close to Shepard, because assuming you recruit him in ME1, he’s been fighting Reapers with Shepard in every game, but also... so has Joker or Chakwas or Tali, for the same reason; so does Ash or Kaidan, for being the only Alliance teammate who was there at the beginning and end (assuming they didn’t both die); so does Liara, for being there every game and only abstaining in ME2 because she was still dealing with the fallout of saving your life (there’s lots of criticism of her being “forced” on the player too and while I agree with some of it, that’s a topic for another time lol). Bioware does introduce Garrus early in each game—I don’t know if this was intentional, because they knew he was so popular so they wanted to give him to the player early—but then he has so little to say in ME2, the game about building relationships, that introducing him early just means he stands around for half game talking about calibrations. a lot of fandom, especially shakarian fans, end up filling the gaps of ME2 with their own headcanons, myself included, to make the relationship development feel a little smoother, but the trouble there is when we start treating it like it was always canon for everybody.

I know it seems weird to complain that such a popular character should’ve had even more content—there are lots of other characters just as or more deserving who got really screwed over (coughs Ashley)—but in my ideal world, they all would’ve had more content lmfao.

[mk-wizard]

Is Non-Standard Changing Natural for Transformers?

Hello, Trans-fandomers. Today, I am approaching a long time mystery that even Hasbro has yet to wrap its head around and it invented these types of bots in Transformers. The mystery is whether non-standard changing (triple, semi, multi) is natural or not for Transformers. I will do my best to draw up a fan theory that explains things though keep in mind, it is just theory that has yet to be proven or disproven.

So to get how non-standard changing works, we have to get how standard changing works first. As the movie Bumblebee confirmed with visuals, what really transformers is the armour the bot wears and the bot contorts on the inside. That within itself is rough on the body and having two forms takes up energy to maintain which is why Transformers are in fact not born with the ability to transform (as Animated confirmed with protoforms/sparklings). It is something they are able to do when they are physically mature enough to handle it specifically when they hit puberty it seems. And even then, Transformers can undergo a reset mode of which they have no alt mode in their databanks as Rescue Bots showed. In that form, they even look kind of naked.

Are for non-standard changing, it looks to me like it takes even more work and only Transformers who are exceptionally strong or have some kind of unique code are able to do it. In the case of Triple Changers, they are usually quite gigantic though not as big as wrecker types as we’ve seen since the days of G1. In the case of triple changers, they are socially an acquired taste. They are either admired or shunned since the Transformers norm is to only have two forms. The same goes for multi-changers. Only the powerful and gigantic seem to be able to do it as seen from Megatron in many of his anime incarnations though he also seems to have a plethora of deformities and mismatched upgrades. Finally, there are semi-changers like Airachnid who are able to transformer entirely or only halfway. It should be noted that she is a beast type also and most beasty types tend to gain freakish abilities.

Looking at all of this and the backstories of triple/multi-changers as well as how semi-changers usually are, I am going to have to go with them not being natural at all as being able to hold two forms is the natural thing Transformers do while being able to hold a third form is something that requires an upgrade that is downloaded carefully through a process or it can have dangerous consequences. In the case of Animated Blitzwing, it fractured his mind a bit and he has multiple personality disorder. In the case of Optimus Primal, it nearly killed him as holding two sparks was a lot of energy to handle. And even Heatwave from Rescue Bots was left breathless after undergoing the upgrade process safely and successfully. The fact that it is not natural also explains why not many Transformers are like that and the fact that most Transformers can wind up handicapped if something goes wrong explains why most Transformers don’t want to go through with it and are creeped out by triple changers. With that said, anime Megatron looking like a Frankenstein monster now makes more sense as he is a multi-changer. How many side effects does he have from having so many forms?

Meanwhile, the recruits in Rescue Bots Academy are perfectly fine due to their mul-T-cogs, but these items seem to produce their own energy and have an almost magical vibe to them which allows the Transformer to hold many forms without side effects or breaking a sweat. The only catch is that they can hold only one alt mode for 24 hours. This further drives home that triple or multi changing is in fact an extension pack not a natural thing.

As for semi-changers, it seems to be the same thing. It is not something that can happen naturally and from what I have seen, only beast types can do it. We have seen maximals and predacons do it from the days of Beast Wars (Rattrap can retract wheels as a beast, Cheetour gets jet packs as a beast, Rampage can have treads as a crab, etc.) and even in Prime, other beast types like Airachnid can do it. I am guessing that this is a feature unique only to beast types and it is a bonus ability that only manifests through luck as not all of them can do it.

Anyway, that’s all just my fan theory. What is your take on the mystery? Is non-standard changing natural or artificial only?

If you have a Transformers theory or character analysis you want explored, please let me know in my ask box. And please, support me through Patreon or Ko-fi if you want me to make Transformers merch and videos. Or if you want a commission of your favourite bot, let me know in my shop. All links are on my profile page.

Thanks for reading and please, stay safe.

[prime-pulse]

After-Party

Word Count: 1,706 Fandom: Dragon Age Inquisition  Characters: Varric Tethras, Edric Cadash (The Inquisitor) Content Warnings: Alcohol consumption

Celebration rang throughout Skyhold. Music clambered up the courtyard walls, the sounds of people laughing and shouting echoed in the main hall. The smell of sugary wine and pompous desserts was almost sickening to the stomach, if not alluring. The sounds of shuffling feet; dancing, running, jumping— People were happy, people were excited. A victory well deserved for the Inquisition.

After many long months of destroying Red Templar forces, soldiers, workers, advisors and companions alike could breathe out a sigh of relief— if only briefly. They let their shoulders relax, they unclenched their jaws— This, this was the victory they had so desperately needed. The Inquisition worked hard to help people, from all walks of life— it believed in second chances, it believed in correcting past wrongs for the sake of the greater good— And now, for the first time since Haven, people from all around were allowed to just be. They partied, they sang, they cried and they drank. To describe the feeling the Inquisitor felt in response to the celebration couldn’t be described as anything short of euphoria.

And yet, he kept close to the walls. He took the back ways to get up to the second floor of the castle. He did what he could to remain small and unseen, despite being one of the biggest people in all of Thedas at the moment. The journey to the Well of Sorrows, the Eluvian, had been an important one— one the people were excited and happy to have won, but the inquisitor himself did not want to interfere with the festivities. He saw the way most people acted when he attempted to join in on conversation— they’d tense, and choose their words carefully, while still trying to attempt to look like they were having a fun time. He knew countless people out there would kill for a conversation with the inquisitor, he knew countless people out there were practically dying just to see him walk by. And yet, he kept to the walls, he kept in quiet, pleasant exchanges with those who had the courage to walk up to him. And he preferred it that way.

As the night continued on, and people slowly began to return to their tents and rooms, Edric found himself wandering the gardens with a wine glass he’d barely sipped on the entirety of the night. It was a golden liquid, and were it not for the smell and the way it moved when he swirled the glass it could’ve been mistaken for run-of-the-mill mead. It tasted like a dry honey, with the strong aftertaste you’d get with a rich red wine. He didn’t know what it was, but he liked it. He wanted to savor it, even if there was more stored in the kitchens. The dwarf took a sip from his glass before he decided to sit beneath the pavilion in the now empty garden (save for a few younger recruits in the shadows stealing kisses from their partners), staring up into the clear night sky. He’d never seen stars like this before joining the Inquisition.

“Didn’t feel like joining the after-party?” A man hummed as he sat beside Edric with a loud sigh, dusting off his pants and readjusting his open shirt with his free hand- the other being occupied by a mug of Ferelden beer-, “I can’t blame ‘ya. Sera gets a lot more bow-happy when she’s drunk.”

“Hello, Varric.” Edric said with a smile, moving to set his glass down beside him and fold his hands over his lap. Varric laughed for a moment before setting his mug to the side as well, patting the other dwarf on the shoulder.

There was a long bit of a comfortable silence between the two, as they both stared up at the sky for a long time. The sound of music from the nearby tavern quietly hummed in the air, the singing of crickets and other insects filling the rest of the void.

“So, gardens, huh?” Varric hummed after a good ten minutes, Edric then chuckling as he went to reach for his glass.

“It’s quieter here. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to all the noise that comes with these parties,” Edric said before he took a sip of his wine, “But they’re fun. I do enjoy being able to talk with soldiers and Skyhold staff— usually I’d be too busy running around, ‘Make sure you sign this off for Leiliana, Cullen!’ ‘Cole, I need to talk to you about stealing radishes from the kitchen staff.’ ‘Sera, I need to talk with you about the frogs you released in the library.’ ‘Oh, two farm hands are having a disagreement in the Hinterlands? Guess I’ll put my MOUND of paperwork aside to go deal with it PERSONALLY!’ You know, far too busy to converse with anyone.” Edric snickered to himself, Varric offering a bit of a breathy laugh.

“Yeah, I… I’m sure it’s a lot.” He nodded, head tilting to the side so he could glance back up at the sky, “Glad you had fun, though, even if you stuck to the corner the entire time.” The dwarf then grinned, Edric rolling his eyes and shoving Varric’s shoulder lightly. “Hey, careful! I paid good gold for this coat, and I’ll have to go complain to Josephine if you rough it up!” Varric said with a laugh, Edric’s hand hovering over his own mouth while he snickered.

“I just like staying away from the center of the room sometimes, it’s nice when you’re usually in the center all of the time,” Edric said with a shrug, taking another sip from his glass— he paused for a bit before he continued, “I’m still not used to this whole… Thing. Being in charge, leading people. I’m happy to be apart of it, and help people, but…” He shook his head, running a hand through his loosely tied back hair. “I’m worried that sounds selfish.”

“It’s not selfish to want a normal life for yourself— or maybe it is, and you are sent by The Maker, and it’s incredibly selfish to want that— but it doesn’t matter even if it is. Everyone’s entitled to wantin’... A normal life.” Varric shrugged, then pausing, “At least more normal than this. I think if I didn’t get to use Bianca I’d die.” He took a swig from his mug, nose wrinkling at the taste of the contents.

“I suppose.” Edric muttered, “You know, back when I was in the Carta, we used to have parties. None on this level, of course, we mainly just sat around and drank and pretended we were all having a ball sitting in the same room as one another—” Varric snorted, “— But we always had them after we’d completed a difficult job. It became sort of a staple thing; if someone… Lost an arm, or someone died, we’d have a silent drink in their honor and call it a party. Or, if the job went good and nothing catastrophic happened, we’d have a silent drink in our honor and call it a party! I guess I’m just too used to the whole… Silent part.” Edric shrugged with a confused expression on his face, Varric giving him a grin.

“For someone so used to silence, you do talk a lot.”

“You are my worst bully, Varric. You are so mean to me.”

The two laughed together for a moment, returning to a comfortable silence. Edric kept his eyes on the sky, Varric’s eyes curiously following the moving of a few figures in the shadows.

“That does explain a bit, though. You know, I don’t think I ever saw you smile until we saw Skyhold for the first time? You cracked jokes, sure, but you always said ‘em with a straight face.” Varric said, looking toward Edric with a lazy grin, “Did your clan just… Not deal with the whole feelings thing?”

“I didn’t— Well, wow, look at how far I’ve come. I didn’t ever notice I hadn’t…” Edric laughed and rubbed at the back of his neck, shaking his head, “It’s… Complicated. It’s not like my clan is full of people who don’t experience any emotions or feelings, we just… It got in the way of work, in our eyes. You can’t work efficiently and effectively if you’re caught up with anxiety or dread over something unrelated, you can’t focus if you’re too busy thinking about some pretty human you saw at the last town— Mother always taught us to keep our heads held high and our minds focused.” He shrugged, absentmindedly swirling the glass in his hand while his foot tapped on the stone below them. “It’s not that we don’t feel anything— Not that I didn’t, I was just… Focused. I think seeing Skyhold snatched that focus away from me, now I babble on and on with no clear direction about what I’m talking about, and— Ah. See?”

Varric laughed a bit, shaking his head, “It’s alright, it’s alright. It’s been nice seeing you come out of your shell almost completely the last couple months. From stone-faced warrior to… Still a warrior, but now he bakes cookies.” He shrugged with a snicker, Edric laughing. “What I mean to say, is, it’s nice seeing you be… I don’t know, comfortable here. I’m glad that even if all this is stressful as shit, you’ve found your people. I mean, what, you’ve walked in the fade and now you’re imbued with the power of some magic well? At least you’ve got friends, I guess!” Varric threw up one of his hands, then shaking his head as he lowered it back down.

“Friends are all I could ask for.” Edric smiled, moving to give Varric a firm pat on the shoulder, “And you, despite your rampant bullying of me, Varric, are a great friend.”

“Hah. You too, ‘Quisitor.” Varric smiled, returning the pat on Edric’s shoulder.

Returning to their drinks, the two fell into silence again, both looking up at the sky until it came time for even them to retire to bed. A celebration well earned. A celebration, the Inquisitor hoped, that spelt the beginning of at least a few years of well-earned rest once this was all over.