#yeah....i just thought the fandom could do with more positivity tbh

[rawliverandgoronspice]

re: sympathetic ganondorf vs evil for evil’s sake ganondorf, i think this is misrepresenting and underselling what’s actually offputting to people

“i’m evil because i’m evil” or “i’m evil because demise is evil” and the associated lust for power simply for its own sake has always been lame and low effort. there’s a reason it’s “shit tier” on the classic “villain motive tiers” thing

“i’m evil but there’s enough nuance to make the player at least somewhat sympathetic to me even if i’m still ultimately a bad guy” is a good thing that people like? i’ve never personally interacted with a zelda player who thinks windwaker ganondorf ruined the character or anything - he’s generally regarded as the gold standard of villain writing both in and out of zelda. this is roughly “high tier” on the tier chart

“actually TWIST i’m not evil at all, it’s the good guys who were evil all along, i’ve done nothing wrong and i’m completely justified in my righteous quest against the status quo, you’re the real secret true villain for being complicit in preserving it” is technically regarded as “elder god tier” on the motive tier chart but i would personally label it as “oscar bait tier”. these things *can* be compelling in conversation with the existing landscape, but often it comes across as a deliberate effort to subvert the audience’s expectations for the sake of being unpredictable (or worse, for the sake of proving you’re the smartest one in the room). in separate works where this conversation/critique is the entire point (eg. Watchmen or The Boys), that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and the audience sets their expectations accordingly. in an established, long-running franchise, however, this almost always reads as dripping with contempt for the audience, like walking into a room and going “you morons like this shit? let me, a person much smarter than you, explain what it’s Actually about, because you’re an idiot if you’ve been a fan of this series before now”

on top of that, in the context of a series like zelda, this type of story feels myopic and disrespectful to the future of the series. “welp i burned down the 20+ years of lore behind this character so i could do a deconstruction, good luck using them in any capacity in the future, sounds like a you problem”

all this is to say, i think it’s a bit disingenuous/strawman-y to suggest that people put off by this want ganondorf to have 0 depth at all. there’s a lot of room for different kinds of depth, it’s just that the trend of the last decade has been for “depth” to mean “condescending deconstruction”

Hey!

Thanks for taking the time to write this ask, I think it warrants an interesting conversation. To me, there's like, a lot of things about what you're saying, and tbh I do see where you're coming from --in part.

First thing first... No yeah unfortunately some people Are hostile to even WW Ganondorf. It's been a rising trend in the fandom since TotK was released --people being very against the concept of any additional complexity to the character, either not getting it or considering anything he says pure manipulation that doesn't even warrant a conversation, literally making fun of people who were intrigued by this and wanting more out of this particular thread. This position not only absolutely exists within the fandom --less so on tumblr, I'll agree there-- but it's not even hard to stumble upon as a pretty regular opinion that gets tossed around. I had some interesting asks thrown my way, let's say. The idea that Ganondorf is a remotely interesting character that deserves more thought than what he gets is very much Extremely not the norm, and the very fact that you, as a fan, likes him as a guy is perceived as weird and missing the point by a lot of people. Like a lot a lot of people.

So I'll just... I guess I haven't clarified my position in a while, so I will reclarify my position on our favorite evil dude: I do like him perfectly fine as a villain, I do not want him to be "redeemed" by the narrative, I think he works fantastically as an ongoing threat, I think they could make him even scarier and more offputting and that would be super fun and thrilling... and I also think he already is complex. Like, inherently. Everything Nintendo has been putting into him since his first appearance is complicated --even their attempts at flattening him back in TotK do not fully work because they can't scrub him of the extremely loaded ideas they injected into him from the get-go. Nobody forced Nintendo to do a Mega Orientalism when inventing him, nobody made them write the NPCs to have this super weird antagonistic relationship to the gerudos in OoT, nobody made them have all this lore of the one man born every hundred years, raised by twin witches --and then nobody made them press on that tension point in Wind Waker explicitely, and then, in a more subtle fashion, in TP too. Nobody forced their hand when it came to having the strange "round ear" situation, suggesting (confirmed even, in additional canon) gerudos are born unblessed. The fact of the matter is: everything to make the relationship between Hyrule and the gerudos complicated has been there since 1998. There's no need for a Switcharoo to prove that anyone is smarter than the audience: everything messy has always been baked within the worldbuilding itself. It's in the cartridges already!!

Perspective on it is what could change, though --because, except in Wind Waker, we never get even a hint of a sense that we should think, as an audience, that Hyrule's super weird relationship to the gerudos is maybe questionable. Worth thinking about at least. Which, given the optics, is wild to me that to bring this particular can of worms up is still very largely considered crazy talk within the fandom (that, or the Sheikah situation across the series, also insane in many ways). And yes, it would perhaps lead to themes that are a bit heavier than what Zelda has been overtly dealing with (though, again, Majora's Mask exists --and I do find a lot of unpacked ideas in the Wild Era, like the very unquestionned gerudo bridal pipeline, very uhhh unfortunate already if I'm being honest --even moreso because it is unquestioned). But Zelda, when well handled narratively, can do wonderful things with evocative subtext, open doors never fully crossed, a lynchian pressure on what should feel offputting. We don't even need a sad monologue about it. It doesn't even need to be handled explicitely. But I think the pressure point is just better when understood and incorporated in some form, instead of being denied so hard the world itself start to feel incomplete and unlived.

I do want to say... I get what you mean with the whole "oscar bait" thing. There has been, historically and in recent years, a tendency to be driven by an external, almost panicked sense of morality rather than by the internal drive of a story, its internal thematic logic. I also do think it can feel very corporate, very "Disney looking back at its own movies and scrubbing off everything Buzzfeed deemed problematic in 2014 while making everything glossy and lifeless and awful" and it's not that great!!! and tbh I can't say I would trust Nintendo to handle any appreciation for the fact that the story of an eternal golden kingdom cheering on beating the evil outsiders who want to corrupt everything good and pure and blonde about that perfect inherently good place, is like, extremely not neutral. It absolutely is a delicate thread to weave, and I agree that putting a definitive end to Hyrule is probably not the smartest IP move to do. But, Hyrule doesn't have to be condemned as Bad, it can be merely complicated. And ongoing, regardless. To keep on with the Disney parallel: The Lion King would feel weird if we started to peel off the internal politics of the hyenas, it's just not the right place for it, when everything about this story revolves around the Righteousness of the Divine Right to Rule. But if the Lion King was an ongoing series that had been looping on itself for a while... wouldn't it make sense to figure out how to achieve majesty by studying other angles too, eventually? Is it that strange to suggest the exercise is like, possible? That it can be handled with artistry and soul?

I feel like... Yes, to acknowledge Ganondorf's humanity --not even to coddle it, just to acknowledge it-- implies taking in everything that makes him who he is, and that might rattle some foundational ideas about why this ancestral fight is even happening in the first place. I also do not think it means that he must be Good now. He can still punch a child and cackle maniacally, he can still be unredeemable --he can still destroy himself and others out of the most unconstructive spite ever, and we can still see the purpose in defeating him while basking in the "yea....." left in his wake (Wind Waker did that!!! Wind Waker did that and then we had more Zelda games!! crazy how that happened). This is hardly undoable. It does take some narrative skill, and some commitment to taking a bit of a risk, but Ganondorf is genuinely unmanageable as a character if you insist on your refusal to acknowledge his foundations --and I think it's partially why TotK's story is such a mess. He sells a TON, but you can't have him breathe slightly too loud without risking the entire world falling apart. They did try in TotK, so very hard, and to me they still failed--as insane as he behaves, Hyrule still doesn't come out of this looking good or particularly justified, because the very central core of Ganondorf's character is to be subjugated, and then rebelling in a destructive and brutally selfish, uncompromising manner that ends up robbing him of humanity --and the discomfort of that premise will therefore always haunt the conversation. Nintendo dug themselves into that mess. I feel like a lot of the Ganondorf fans I know merely... point at that. At the mess. And I feel like the longer the games avoid this mess, the more coats of spinach green they slather ontop of his skin, and the more nonsensical characterization they pile up, and the more Ganondorf will become a parody of who he once was, and what made him compelling to begin with.

And to top it all off, as if he wasn't contentious and complicated enough to handle already, they leaned into the internet turning him into a sex symbol for some fucking reason??? Yeah I genuinely have no idea how Nintendo will manage this dude moving forward, because to me, he is, at best, an endless source of (very lucrative) headaches, and at worst a ticking time bomb. I'm not sure how long they can get away with that TotKification strategy, is what I mean.

(Also: I tried to not overdwell on all the incredibly complicated conversation re: race and orientalism, but it's borderline impossible to have this conversation without acknowledging that I have never seen a major pop culture villain receive more pushback against "woobification" than him, and I don't think it's a complete coincidence let's say :) )

[ravinoforre]

So I saw an opinion on a character that I, respectfully, don't agree with at all, and it isn't the first time I've come across this particular take either. I don't like nor want fandom discourse, making counter points to arguments in general make me nervous, but as someone particularly attached to them and their related characters, I have a lot of thoughts I want to get out there in the hopes that maybe they can be seen from a more positive perspective. So um, here they are. Get comfortable, this is gonna be a long one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Defense of Lily (Pokémon XD).

Those of you who've played this might already know what I'm referring to, so I'm just going to rip off the proverbial band-aid. Right at the start of the game, as you, the player, are being introduced to her, one of the first things she says is;

...and ok yeah, I admit. This is kind of a weird thing for her to say (in front of her son too, oops). This is usually one of two instances that people latch onto to prove she's an awful mother, but there is, at least in my opinion, some hidden context to her words. First of all, she's not wrong; the whole lab does in fact constantly sing their praises and fawn over both these kids (which is adorable tbh). Secondly, it's not unreasonable for her to believe that lots of inflated praise on a child, no matter how well meaning, may have negative consequences on their development. A kid receiving a constant stream of "you're so cool/special/talented" may end up with an inflated ego and become depressed, or even lash out in anger, if that praise either stops or something comes along to disprove it (like failing a test or making a mistake).

(Side note, I came across some partially related studies (x), (x) and an article from a parental psychologist (x) that go into different types of praise given to children; person, or ability praise ("you're so clever") vs process, or effort praise ("you worked really hard"), their effect on self esteem, personal growth, and performance, and how ability praise actually negatively effects a child's sense of worth compared to effort praise or even no praise at all. It's a lot to go through right now and this post is already going to be super long, but I mention them here because I'll go into something later that you may find rather interesting. I know I do. They're fascinating reads, too, I would recommend!)

Now listen up! Lily, contrary to the belief that she's a cold-hearted mother who shuns her offspring, actually does praise and engage with her children! Throughout the story, she'll talk to Michael and say some interesting and wonderful things as his adventure continues! The problem is that unfortunately, a lot of this proof is hidden throughout each story beat in a section of the lab that is no longer required to enter to progress (and most people won't bother to go back and speak to their own mother who apparently "hates" them). Off to find Jovi:

🥹 baby... Before saving Phenac City:

🥺😭euuhhbbebeh father mentioned During the Phenac City hostage situation:

After the Phenac stuff:

"I'm proud of you." You literally cannot get a more explicit form of praise than I'm proud of you. Hell, I can't even recall a time my own mother told me that. Fucking hell. Also. Pampered?! You hear that? She's practically contradicting those accursed two lines! By her own admission, the kids are pampered babies! Her concern isn't that people will spoil them—because they're already spoiled!

(Jovi is a pampered baby princess). I think Lily's worry in her comment is that may roll too far; it's like she says—spoiled rotten.

Ok one more example for this section:

(disclaimer: these screenshots are from the romhack XG which is why her name isn't in all caps; trust me, this same line is in base XD too) Remember the types of praise I mentioned earlier? Ability (person) praise and effort (process) praise? And how the former could be damaging to a child's self esteem? Do you notice anything particular about the way she speaks to Michael and praises him? "You've become an outstanding trainer in your own right." Not "You're so strong." "You're doing so much for the good of others." "Your courage will save the Shadow Pokémon." Not "You're so brave." "You did it all by yourself without anyone's help." She's praising his actionable efforts! She's applying process praise! (Pleeease read those studies and article, at least the first study I linked, it's genuinely insightful and fascinating, and it's even more amazing that an example of it is featured in a video game by a character most people won't interact with beyond necessity! I love this game! So! Fuckinhg!! Much!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Ahem. She's also not saying that people shouldn't praise her kids either; only that she wishes it wasn't gushing praise all the time. Too much of a good thing could be harmful, after all. Let's see...

Sounds reasonable so far, right?

...Galactic peace?! My brother in Arceus, all he did was beat you in a friendly Pokémon battle—a battle that Michael's already been led to believe he'd win anyway thanks to that previous comment from his coach (those screen caps are in chronological order)! Even without the fact that by this point he's midway through a dangerous fight against a criminal organization, it's probably not a good idea to give a developing young teen a literal God complex; what if he gets so full of himself he genuinely believes he's unbeatable... and then loses? That child's mental state is going to plummet. So even if you don't agree with Lily's praise comments, you might at least better understand where her concerns are coming from if this is potentially the kind of thing that's being told to her kids regularly.

Moving on, try putting yourself in her shoes a moment. She's a working, grieving, single mother of two who, according to an NPC in the lab "has an exceptionally high sense of responsibility".

As a scientist with the necessary expertise, she has the heavy task of helping realise a sensitive project—sensitive not just in terms of urgency (as Krane predicts Cipher is going to be a threat again), but also in terms of emotional weight; this project was something her late [husband] poured everything into until his death, so both her and Krane continued on with it; by the time the game starts, they're agonisingly close to completion. And time is of the essence. Quick tangent: watch the cut scene post Krane kidnap again. The camera rests on Lily an awfully long time. The father of her children died before this project was finished, and now Krane, a close friend of both of theirs, has been taken away by force. Both her children have witnessed something traumatic. Her daughter is sobbing. She's literally being told the situation is "hopeless" by a colleague. Imagine the sheer anguish this woman must be going through before having to push through all of it and take complete charge for the sake of finishing the project. For the morale of the entire lab staff. For the sake of keeping her kids calm. For the fate of the region itself. Anyway, because of this project, and how close they are to finishing, she isn't able to afford much, if any, time off to spend with her kids "this instant". It's probably why the lab staff have pitched in to help look after them (which must make her feel pretty damn guilty with that high sense of responsibility of hers). It's why she asks her son to go find his little sister in her stead.

And this brings me to point number two that I've seen used countless times to slander her:

She just lets Jovi run off on her own, and doesn't care what her kids are up to.

Which... no, sorry, hang on here. Lily isn't letting Jovi run off on her own. For starters, both her and Krane believe she's in or somewhere outside the lab grounds, playing hide and seek with the caretaker, Adon.

A game of hide and seek (particularly if they're taking turns hiding) is likely why nobody's seen her since lunch, by the way, and not Lily not giving a damn about the whereabouts of her child. And when she's found and brought home again, Lily says this;

This implies she's spoken to her daughter about running off on her own before, and we do later get to know that Jovi has a habit of running off ahead; she runs off down the steps in Gateon ahead of her brother, she rushes off to deliver the machine part by herself to the chamber, and even though Michael is the one asked, she runs off to go see Datan—despite Lily telling her she doesn't need to do that. This means if Jovi gets invested in something, it's apparently hard to stop her. Visiting Kaminko's is a recent fixation of hers, and if Adon is already aware of where else she might have gone off to if she's nowhere on lab grounds, it might mean she's been there before (that, or Adon was the one who caved and told Jovi where to find the place). I might even speculate and say Lily has specifically told Jovi before about not running off to the manor. Anyway, check out what she says when you find the little runaway but come back empty handed.

The heart-sinking realisation and disappointment in that "...Oh" alone....

So no, Lily isn't letting her young child run off on her own—Jovi is disobeying her mother. She's either used the game of hide and seek as an excuse to dip (and then forgot about Adon entirely), or she got bored midway through and decided to head to her new place of interest despite any of her mother's previous objections. (And before anyone says anything, no, that doesn't mean Jovi is a bad kid, either. She's, what, around 7 yrs old? She is doing typical little kid things, emulating her older brother, and discovering and pushing her boundaries as she grows up. I have seen some putrid, abysmal hate for her over the years too. She is a child, leave her alone.) Onto the second half of the above statement; she doesn't care what her kids are doing. As in, Michael is on a treacherous journey against a dangerous group of people and she's totally ok with letting her kid do that (as if that isn't the case with practically every mainline entry protag mother but alright, I'll bite).

Introducing one of my favourite exchanges with her in the game. During this time, the purify chamber still isn't complete, and they'll need to use an alternate way of purifying Shadow Pokémon until then—the Relic Stone in Agate Village.

oh it worries her, does it? You know what happens when No is selected?

And then she drops the conversation. There's no endless loop to get him to go, which would have been the more convenient thing for the devs to implement. But this was a very deliberate choice that tells me more about a character than I've seen done in a video game before. She's respecting her son's decision to stay home. She is not forcing him to do something he isn't comfortable with. Of course, as a video game, the purpose is to progress to the next story beat. So he has to go. Better talk to her again.

I don't even think I need to add any extra commentary, this should really speak for itself at this point.

I've also reached the image limit on this post so it's probably time I wrapped this up, so in conclusion; is Lily a bad mother, as I've seen people claim? No, and I believe I've showcased plenty to prove she isn't. She's not perfect, no parent is, but she's a damn sight more involved in her children's lives than the mainline moms, who are often nothing more than out of the way Pokémon Centers that don't acknowledge their child's journey in any meaningful way. So then, was she in the right for saying what she did at the start of the game, right after Krane praises her son, who is in earshot of this conversation? Well... also no. She could have picked a better time and place to bring it up, honestly. But God forbid a woman make a mistake or voice a concern, lest her be mischaracterized and demonized forever by two unfortunately worded lines of dialogue.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Michael, you're finally going off to the ultimate battle, aren't you? You've really grown in stature. As your mother, it makes me feel conflicted. I'm happy and proud on one hand, but I'm also a little sad. Go and get rid of Cipher, and make it quick! And come home safely."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you've managed to reach the end of my ramblings, I'd like to say thank you. Hopefully I've given you some food for thought. Maybe I've even changed your mind about her. And even if I haven't, I appreciate you taking the time to read this regardless.

[flowerslut]

what are your headcanons in regards to when alice and jasper first met the cullens? what was the cullen’s reactions? were they intimidated by jasper, confused by alice? how long did it take for jasper to get comfortable?

I mean, alice timing her and jasper's arrival so that emmett and edward weren't around has always been suuuper telling. because like, yeah. I fucking BET that if alice and jasper showed up out of nowhere with everyone home, between emmett's 'act now think later' tendencies and edward being able to see into jasper's head (which I'm sure was full of tense, uncomfortable "if it comes down to it I can just kill them and we can dip" thoughts), in combination with the entire family just taking one LOOK at jasper, it would not have gone smoothly in any way 💀

I mean, in breaking dawn even BELLA perceives jasper as a scary/dangerous threat on an instinctual level that she hardly understands!! and he's her best friend's husband! who she's known for over a year!!! no matter how much he's chilling out the atmosphere there's no way esme, rosalie, and carlisle aren't at least a liiiittle nervous about him. alice could have shown up nude and covered head-to-toe in human blood and i'm confident they would have still been more uneasy about jasper. (don't mind me linking more of g's posts. she's the only person I know who would have all this evidence documented lmfaooo ♡)

but thankfully, because of alice's and jasper's gifts, those two should be able to nail introductions 10 out of 10 times with a 100% success rate! if alice can pick the best possible route to take and jasper can keep the atmosphere light and relaxing, then they could probably charm their way through any 1950s entryway! I highly doubt jasper did the same midnight sun baseball scene camouflage, but I'm sure he did plenty of tension-smoothing.

I personally enjoy that they planned to show up when it was only carlisle, esme, and rosalie home. in midnight sun, alice fucking glomps edward (no, I won't apologize for using this word because I swear to god it's literally what she does) which he only responds positively towards because of their weird, instant psychic connection that lets her bombard him with LOOK-I-SWEAR-WE'RE-GONNA-BE-BEST-FRIENDS-I-LOVE-YOU-ALREADY visions. tbh, I think it's edward's absence specifically that alice probably needed. sure, emmett would've automatically perceived jasper as a threat alongside the rest of the family, but I bet that alice knew that if she could just get jasper through the door, and get carlisle to hear them out, then dealing with edward (and his ability to see what goes on in that nightmare's jasper's brain) would be muuuuch easier.

to answer your more specific questions: rosalie was definitely the very last person to be "okay" with their presence, but I'm sure she was fine with alice first, and that it took emmett to get her to be okay with jasper, too. it probably took jasper ages to adjust to living peacefully alongside 5 strangers—I'm sure these difficulties were probably exacerbated by alice being comfortable and happy right off the bat. and i'm sure the reason that jasper finally calmed down and relaxed into his new life with the cullens had to do with a combination of his trust in alice, his respect for carlisle, and the improvements that vegetarianism had on his mental health (we, as a fandom, forget too quickly that this war criminal has a canonical eating disorder and that's so INTERESTING AND FUNNN)

[suohenki]

on my second playthrough of veilguard (for some reason). this is the insane person's ramblings about lore/writing unlike my last post

this is the first time i've been so utterly bored of a second playthrough. never has an rpg given me this feeling.

like there are no quests i look forward to tbh, every main quest is a long combat sequence. even inquisition had the orlesian ball that you had to resolve with some actual noncombat solutions. (get behind me inquisition i will defend you from the fandom)

made a qunari this time to see if it affects anything, no, really doesn't. there's barely any qunari dialogue options.

picked the crows origin, it is truly astonishing the way they treat them in this game. they seem completely shy about the crows being contract killers? it's not even that they don't talk about the things Zevran talks about, but they fully try to ignore the murder part. Mfrs are freedom fighters now apparently.

and the "twist" villains in the crows storyline are so comically obvious i hoped they were both red herrings. the butcher is so underdeveloped too. the way the illario/blood magic twist is written is confusing, rook sees it all with his damn eyes and then never says a word about it. Yes i think illario is the bad guy here, Rook, i know you heard the "amatus". What. (swear to god the dark brotherhood is more deep than this. i never thought i'd say TES has better writing than DA.)

By the end they never address the fucked up things the crows do, outside of Rook's one throwaway line of "yeah my training was hell lmao." Is it just Aranai that's fucked or what kind of hellish training are we talking about? Rook also mentions having been an orphan... so the crows are as usual but we just won't talk about it. The lore and characters have never been this confusing and woobified. The positivity of Rook rly feels off when they are a trained assassin... no one reacts negatively to it, everyone even goes "Omg lucanis is a killer. Oh, not you Rook, you're better :)" no i don't think he is? Both killers.

Similarly they are so scared of the (elven) slavery in Tevinter. If you hadn't played the previous games you'd be forgiven for thinking Tevinter had no slavery because you missed the 3 sentences that mention it. We are in the slavery capital of Thedas and we are being shy about it. I guess Dorian's and Fenris's stories are too "problematic"... It's frankly gross how they brush it off after how serious it was in previous games. Also crazy how religion never comes up. In the country of the "black divine", you'd think Harding would have something to say at least. It really only now hit me how hard they avoided bringing up non-elven religion when it's been such a big part of the lore...

Neve's storyline just begs to be about the actual known issues of Tevinter instead of whatever it was about, all of it went from one ear, out the other. To me, her and Lucanis are the weakest companions on replay. Neve's voice acting is so strange and flat it's really difficult for me to be endeared by her. (this is coming from a cassandra pentaghast enjoyer)

Even if I think Harding's scenes could be better at least i get what she is about. Tho all the titan stuff feels like it's not treated with the gravity it should be. I do like Taash and Bellara, i just wish Taash wasn't written so immaturely. i never found Sera immature in this way, she's abrasive and yes, "immature" with the pranks etc., but Taash is written like a stereotypical teen, Sera just felt like a weirdo adult. And you can tell Alistair to suck it up lmao, it's really not even comparable. And the Isabela scene with the push-ups.... talk about making it all about yourself. Taash should have just been nonbinary from the start if they were going to make the representation this awkward.

I wish Bellara's quest had more drama. You don't get to save her brother but you also have no scene where, for example, Bellara endangers Rook or lets Anaris escape because she is actually conflicted about her brother... Rook and her just kinda let them go. Bellara is okay with killing her brother with barely any convincing lol.

Emmrich and Davrin are still my favorites, I think Davrin just works, and i like that we get to see more of his background. He's not terribly ~deep~ but he doesn't have to be, saving the griffons is an understandable goal, one that would be devastating to fail. Just a charismatic man that has things he cares about with conviction.

Emmrich is an interesting portrayal of necromancy which is something i'm always receptive to, i'd play a DA game set entirely in Nevarra. His quest has wild tonal shifts but at least the set dressing kept me interested. I do wish we didn't decide for him if he became a lich tho.

I wish with all the companions the way it worked was they decide based on previous dialogues. If you keep encouraging emmrich to pursue lichdom and face his fear then he does, if not, the opposite happens. i'm just not a fan of the "here's the moment where rook decides another person's fate!!!" like why am i deciding. it's their life.

i romanced Lucanis this time to try to see why people like him so much but man, i just think his whole story is a mess. they love to imply all the trauma Lucanis has but don't truly convey any of it. you don't even talk about being a crow with Lucanis like you talk about being a watcher with Emmrich. I guess it's my bad for expecting an assassin that has been tortured and forced into an abomination to be more of an interesting character.

i'm gonna need to know more about a companion than he has trauma, he likes coffee and he cooks, to be invested. The coffee thing feels like flanderization before i even know the man, put the damn cup down. First time i felt this disconnected with a romance.

i felt like they really squandered Spite too. You'd think a demon possessing a companion would cause more trouble than 1 escape attempt. Lucanis missing the first stab attempt barely registers as Spite's fault. Spite doesn't get any sort of pay off or drama.

I could forgive a lot more if the writing was better but the bad writing stands out so much more on a second playthrough. The basic dialogue, the spoon-feeding of info, the marvel-quips, the uninteresting side quests. Can't believe that i had to find out from fucking tumblr that the time Rook spent in the fade was WEEKS, you'd think that would be an impactful detail. Legit thought they got him out in a day lmao. Explains the dagger coming out of nowhere.

They try so hard to make the team cute and wholesome, it cemented my dislike of the found family trope. It comes across as so unearned. The game is like half competent writing, half DA fanfiction. Everything to do with Solas is okay. But everything else is so off. At least they managed to make Solas a love-to-hate type character for those like me who did not care about him in DA:I. The reason i'm not talking too much about the overall plot is it was okay, i just don't care that much about the evanuris. weird choice to try to blame it all on the elves tho. Like i love you but stfu Bellara, you do not have to take on the sins of the father. Have the elves not been through enough?

[skibasyndrome]

Your confidence and the way you have opened up about writing smutty fic has been really great and eye opening in a way. I think there's still a lot of shame around wanting to read or write smut in fics in a way that's unapologetically centered and letting our imagination go wild. It's amazing and tbh we need people to be more open about it so we can all stop judging ourselves for liking it or for ever feeling drawn to them (bc let's be honest I think it's usually guilt we bring up from what we were told about sex etc). So thank you and all the other smutty writers out there !!!

This is so 🥺���🥺🥺🥺 oh my god. I'm- yeah. Yeah. This ask really struck a chord with me and I'm beyond grateful that you sent it in, oh my god 😭

Hearing this means SO fucking much to me, you have no idea. I'm so happy that the things I write and how I talk about writing them can have even a little bit of an impact.

I do think there still is a lot of shame around it. I mean, I guess in a way I'm not really confronted with a lot of it because the reactions I do get on my fics are very positive which I'm insanely grateful for and I obviously don't know about the people who want to stay hidden, but. Yeah. I think it's definitely a thing.

And I 100% agree with you, I think SO many of us struggle with that inner judgement or guilt about liking smut, wanting to read it, wanting to write it. When, honestly? It's just one of the many ways we can enjoy depictions of intimacy and romance and human connection and joy and all sorts of different emotions! Smut can absolutely be as cathartic as all other genres, and even when it's not that deep, it's fun and enjoyable and interesting to read!!! And, just as much, it's fun to write!!! It's not any less moral than any other fics, just because it's sexual.

And while I can confidently say all that, about smut in general, I still struggle soooo bad with that internalized shame. So much of it is, for me personally, just like you said, linked to the things people in my life said or implied about sex or sexual content. Purity culture of all forms is fucking rampant and it's awful, and it's definitely exacerbated if you add queerness into the mix, both of the subject matter and of many readers and writers of fanfic. Like. The amount of times I have to tell myself that it's actually okay and kind of the point to depict my queer characters as sexually attracted to each other... Just because there's still traces of shame that rise to the surface very easily.

But I've noticed A LOT of growth in myself since I started writing fic again when I came into the fandom. I remember how terrified I was of going there, whatever that meant, in the first few smut fics I've written for yr, and now that fear is deeeeefinitely a lot less pronounced than it used to be!

In February I remembered how bad I felt a year ago while writing the hallway scene fic and how I thought I was leaning into it too much. And now recently I posted collar Wille and, while still nervous and very invested in how it would be perceived, felt good about having gone there and written something I haven't tried writing before!!! Hell yeah for some niche smut!!!

And, honestly, a huge part of that has been the lovely lovely lovely feedback I've gotten from people like you, the conversations I've had about this with friends, the amazing smut fics I've gotten the chance to read in this fandom (so THANK YOU to everyone else out there writing smut! you guys inspire me to no end 💜💜💜), and, very fundamentally, the way the show itself handles sexuality.

Whelp. That got unnecessarily long. But... yeah... Your message means more to me than you could possibly know, I'm going to cherish it forever, so thank you ��

[jonayariley]

My Thoughts on Homestuck^2

I say this as someone who has been fairly critical of the Epilogues and Homestuck^2 - I think that HS2 (or Homestuck: Beyond Canon as it's properly called now) has the potential to be something positive again. I was really excited for HS2 at first (after not super loving the direction the Epilogues went in) but got really burned out on it. But I'll say a few things on why I think this can work:

Greater transparency in terms of what's going on with it. I think that James Roach and crew are in a position to be really up-front about what's going on and what's to come, and I think they've done that. James has always struck me as being a pretty even-keeled guy, and having worked with him in the past on both Friendsim 2 stuff and when he presents at SAHCon, yeah - definitely a solid choice in terms of organization and being willing to communicate.

I think there's a lot of room to bring the plot around. I'll admit I wasn't a huge fan of everything that was happening in HS2 (weird pacing, focus on Vriska stuff, weird cucking plotline, out of character stuff) - but I really think there's a way to judo throw that shit around into something good. My take has always been "meat and candy are two divergent, slightly-unreal timelines and there's something else going on here" and some of what I saw in the last couple upd8s seems to confirm this. Personally I think that could work well, and the theme of collapsing reality in on itself could work. The fact that the new upd8 starts off with some stuff I thought they'd forgotten about bodes well.

Writing so far is good - feels balanced, good character writing. It feels Homestuck-y but also it feels like its own thing, which I think is a good thing. Also, solid choices for writers - seeing @floralmarsupial on the list alone has me very excited about what's to come!

Art is good too! Very nice balance of styles and some really solid panel work! Nice use of limited motion in classic Homestuck style combined with a good combination of Act 6 bean style and sprite style.

So far, reactions seem to be pretty positive. In the past, some people were profoundly NOT NORMAL about HS2 - going so far as to harass and attack the folks working on it. I can't express how profoundly not okay this is! So far, I see folks being pretty positive about it overall, and I think that's good. The folks who don't like it are not liking it in a normal, not-harassing-the-crew way, which is good.

I trust the team involved - I've worked with several of the people involved on my own projects (Chumi, Kim, James) and I have a tremendous amount of respect for the other folks involved. Like, this is a solid core to build a team around. Kim doing art direction is a good thing.

On a related note, hearing that this is a truly independent thing with creative control in the hands of the current team is a big thing. I have good reason to believe that this is 100% genuine, and that the direction "Homestuck community involvement" is going in is a positive one. It's a process, but it seems to be moving in a positive direction.

Good community involvement, less adversarial feeling - James has been reaching out to the community at large in a way that feels much more open than HS2 was doing before. HS2 got to the point where it felt like it had this contentious relationship with the fandom where it wasn't just challenging readers within the context of the text, but challenging them as readers and fans of the work (if that makes sense).

There seems to be a real commitment to doing this thing in a way that isn't exploiting the artists, writers, and other creatives involved. To working with people in a fair and open way and allowing them to guide the creative vision of the work. And tbh that's one of the most positive signs I've seen from this whole process.

Remains to be seen how things shake out in the long term - especially with stuff like the upd8-to-upd8 pacing (something I felt like was really broken in HS2) and how some of the more contentious aspects are handled.

But I feel hopeful about this, and I would absolutely not have said that two or three years ago. Like, ngl - the whole thing with Jade/Rose/Kanaya hit me hard enough to make a whole divergent post-canon AU

(read Negotiated Consent and its sequels Ways of Being and This Sudden State of Mind, btw - I'm still quite happy with them)

but I've had time to think on this a lot and time to become significantly more involved in well-known Homestuck stuff (specifically Friendsim 2 and co-directing Stuck at Home Con) and, like... idk I feel like the annoyance got replaced with a kind of "I really wish things could be better" bittersweet feeling, because at the end of the day this whole thing is important to me, and there's a lot of folks in this fandom who aren't shit-ass individuals who harass creators, and I think the relationship between author(s) and work can be something good and positive.

So yeah, I would describe myself as "cautiously optimistic" about this whole situation. Homestuck is a work with a lot of baggage - both textually and in terms of fandom/creation history. I don't think that can just be wiped away, but also I do believe it can move in a better direction, and there's clearly still a lot of folks who would like to see that happen.

And yeah, I guess in my heart I'm still one of those people too.

[chaseprice]

hi!! hope i’m not a bother. i just came across u and i wanted to ask something,,,

basically, i joined the life is strange fandom in 2018 so i never got to experience the pre-bts era, meaning i didn’t get to experience what rachel was like to the fandom back then or see the different interpretations of her.

i did some digging and i found some fan content of her from 2015-2016 & i’m absolutely infatuated with all aspects of the fanon version of her, especially her personality & how she looked. i totally wanna embody her. also the love is strange vn was so interesting to play, i love how she was written. i’d love to know more!

i stumbled across ur blog while i was doing my digging and i saw an old long post of urs saying how bts didn’t live up to the fandoms expectations, as almost everyone perceived her differently.

sorry for all the yapping LOL but what i basically wanna ask is,,, how *exactly* did the fandom perceive rachel back then (2015-2016). what were some popular headcanons for her? things you guys even considered to be canon? what were some of your own *personal* headcanons? (can be silly, realistic,,, just anything you thought resonated with her)

do you have any favorite arts from that time period that you thought really captured her? what were your hopes for the prequel/rachels character before it was released? what did you want to see in terms of story? was rachel’s style, appearance, & personality extremely different than what you expected? what did you expect?

i assume that rachels treatment in the fandom was different then than what it is now. whether it’s better or worse, i’m not sure. i was hoping u could answer that too😞. recently i’ve just been seeing constant hatred or lack of care for her character so i’m starting to think that if bts was written differently and based on the fandom’s interpretations instead, the hate now wouldn’t be this bad.

from my digging it seems like you guys had alot of fun sculpting rachel’s character on your own, and the interpretations were probably more realistic than what decknine put together.

anyway i’m sorry for the yapping essay on this random saturday, most old lis accounts are dead & i didn’t know who else to ask☹️. just trying to relive what you guys experienced the best i can. hope i’m not bombarding you with this. thank you so much if u respond !!

hiii u def did not bother me, i am not in a position to answer all of these questions, but although it makes me feel ancient, it's cute to see so much passion for rachel and pre-BTS fandom opinion, so i'll try answer some and for the rest (art, hcs, etc.) im just gonna have to direct you to my archive* (will continue under the readmore)

*(tumblr archive is so broken on mobile so you gotta go on pc for this, but also there's so many gifs from that time so it will Definitely slow down your browser). i was insane and 17 years old so like, just excuse all of the cringe content i guess. you can click tag and filter it by either #lis #rachel amber #amberprice or whatever to try and find stuff like art. and i got into lis sept 2015 so that's like, as far back as it will go, but i was fully lisbrained from 2016 through 2018)

to be honest, in alignment with pre-bts thought lmao, rachel is whoever you want her to be. there was less of 'this is a correct objective fact about her personality/history' and more 'yeah, this is an idea the fandom really likes and has become fanon, most likely because it is a nuanced and entertaining and realistic interpretation of what we have seen of her character in lis1' which means people whose opinions conflicted with that might've be contested/laughed at/unpopular, but they weren't wrong per se. there were plenty of people i'd criticise (and ridicule) back then for implying that this teenage girl was evil, and being a teenager myself back then, i'd call them morally reprehensible and cancellable and whatever, but tbh, as an adult now, i can just see that it was simply a boring interpretation of her character informed by misogyny

i'd disagree with the notion that fandom treatment of rachel's character was better before bts, back then there were plenty of people seemingly excited to characterise her as emotionally manipulative, a cheater, deserved what she got, etc. as well, bc tbh, the story did leave room for that interpretation, but it left room for so much more as well. i feel like bts just really locked in on a certain story they wanted to tell plot-wise, and didn't choose to explore a lot of the questions fans had about rachel as a person. it's hard to turn the ambiguity of a friendship turned situationship over a period of 4 years into a playable experience for an audience - so they didn't. regardless, it got people thinking about rachel more, putting a spotlight on her, hence increased attention both positive and negative. i feel like there's just a fundamental difference between what lis1 fans enjoyed about the potential for her character and how she related with chloe and the world around her, and what deck9 wanted to portray in bts (yes they hit the astrological headcanons, the charmingness, her rebellion, the emotional conflicts... but it personally felt hollow, contrived sometimes, i suppose). but there were a lot of people who loved bts (i enjoyed a lot of parts of it!). just, in my opinion, some of those were quite different people from who loved lis1, and with that wave it brought a lot of emotional immaturity to the fandom (like... ship wars, really? that was an insane change to fandom dynamics for me lmao, but maybe i was just spoiled by surrounding myself with people whose takes i respected)

anyway i highly recommend also that if you're hungry for that kind of content, read fanfiction on AO3 by the old fans - by Mogatrat (TON of rachel centric ones there), explosionshark and tippytypewriter, chicknparm (though Cusp is written post-bts, it's informed by pre-bts characterisations), vicepoint (me hehe), def many more good ones out there those r jus my friends so they come to mind first, e.g. i liked homecoming by kriegersan back in the day, but you could def find some more by sorting the lis ao3 page by kudos and reading the older ones that are highly rated featuring rachel. and lastly, my gf wrote a beautifully worded blog post called "The Assassination of Rachel Amber by the Cowards Dontnod and Deck Nine" which gets into some of this from a media crit perspective (not about fandom) in a very eloquent way thru comparison w twin peaks and i highly recommend that

rachel hcs that def started way before bts: skater rachel, stoner rachel, punk music listener rachel (but also like, fleetwood mac cranberries cocteau twins grungy hippy stuff rachel too), rachel's parents being distant and still living in california, curvy thick rachel, things that i've accepted as canon but were def created by diff people: bri explosionshark hc'd that rachel paid for chloe's sleeve, mogatrat (i think) hc'd that rachel initially went to get her nips pierced with chloe (that's a longtime fan hc now idk who started that one) but chickened out at the last minute, i think she also hc'd that chloe made the earring for rachel which is cute too

[storm-saturn]

incoming: another fucking voltron rant because i watched a langst edit and now i wanna cry😭😭

they did not take time. they did not slow that show down for a little bit. especially for lance. cause he did not getting a fucking moment to find himself again after he FUCKING DIED. we saw him homesick, we saw him missing his family, we saw him insecure about his position on the team, we saw him insecure about himself, but we never actually saw him go anywhere else but being sad. he really did get barely any character development.

and tbh i feel like in a way just all the characters didnt have a moment to slow down. and i know, i know, its a kids show, its about fucking robots for fucks sake, theyre in the middle of a war. which, yeah. youre right. but there couldve been so much more, for him, for all of them. what about them? as people, with feelings. where are there emotions. why is it only sadness and happiness and not the enitre confusing spectrum of emotion between. does pidge not feel lost after she finds her brother? yeah, hes back, but i bet she didnt imagine she would be fighting an intergalactic war, and now matt is too. she imagined family dinner, brother barging into her room, dad making corny jokes, house happier and full of life.

hunks family was put in a fucking work camp. he had seen this across the galaxy, zarkons army imprisoning people, making them work, killing them. did he imagine that for earth ? did he imagine that for his family? how the fuck did he cope fighting a war, anxious as he is? how did he cope at all?

shiro isnt even in his fucking original body. thats fucking weird. im not saying that in a rude way bc like yeah, organ transplants are a thing irl, and a major life saving thing they are ! but like, how odd it must be to have someone elses kidney or heart in your body. nevermind to have your entire soul and conciousness put into another body, you but not really you.

keiths life,,, dude probably just doesnt even give anything a second fucking thought anymore. but like, could they not have shown him showing some more emotion. fair enough if he doesnt always cry in the moment but rather late on, but you'd think seeing allura die, they wouldve at least put some tears in his eyes. he had fucking no one before he had voltron. only shiro, and even then he was alone for so long when shiro had been on his mission. you cant tell me he didnt want to think of voltron as his family. they bonded :(

and lance, gosh lance. i feel like, if we looks at this as it is, lance would be the character that people think back on and go "oh yeah, he helped me accept my emotions, he helped me become the best version of me and gain confidence in who i am". in the fandom hes seen as someone with big emotions that he wears on his sleeve, but also someone who will put everyone else and their needs before himself.

he's a story of self-sacrifice, quite literally. he's the story of sincere love, of casual admiration. he's the story of the most wonderful friend, of loyalty, of no, I'll step down because there's a cause bigger than me, and im not the one for the job when there's people like my friends and you on the team.

and no one wanted to explore that? no one wanted to see him do more than just, what? flirt and literally die and fall in love and barely find his place on team voltron? that was it for him. it shouldn't have been, but it was.

[lemurballing]

little un-themed tangle analysis to get my thoughts out

tangle really severely lacks direction/decision. she follows whoever she follows because she holds herself to them; follows whisper because whisper needs help, follows jewel because jewel needs support in the restoration, etc. and it’s both her strength and weakness and she will never determine/realize her full self if she fails to strike out on her own (sora kingdomhearts issue, daisuke motomiya issue)

her reservations against killing mimic, in my eyes, are a mix of fears and encoded moral principle. killing is Wrong and Bad and only bad guys do that, and if you kill even on accident it makes you Bad. she wants to prevent whisper from becoming Bad - stopping her from killing mimic. i wonder if part of her fear also is - refusing to consider any situation where killing someone can be a positive result - she worries killing mimic will be the start of a ‘slippery slope’ where that person then justifies killing other people. if someone’s willing to kill once, they will again, right? and how are you supposed to determine whether it’s ‘right’ to kill someone yourself, anyways? even though tangle says what mimic has done is unforgivable, she wants to just vaguely lock him away and forget about him forever. she wants him dead, even if she doesn’t think about it in those terms. she wants whisper free of her history with mimic.

it’s really just making me think of cassie from animorphs. tangle’s morals and principles - they are both good and bad, not solely one or the other; they’re a balance when her teammate is at risk of going too far or being volatile. (so long as she can stand hurting whisper to hold her back, when other people are at risk in the crossfire - a lack of decisiveness, of firmness, when it comes to her close friends. she doesn’t want to drive them away - it’s doormat tendencies from someone who is deeply lonely.) but in some situations, yeah, it doesn’t help.

anyone read animorphs here? well. david trilogy. this random kid gets morphing tech and winds up trying to kill the team - as animals, because if they’re animals they’re not people. if david kills them as a lion when they’re a hawk that’s okay. and so the remaining animorphs gotta figure out a way to deal with him, they can’t just take away his morphing. instead of killing him outright, cassie comes up with the plan - to trap him in rat morph for the rest of his rat lifespan, stick him on a remote island completely isolated from other sapient beings, where he then psychically screams on end because he is fully and entirely alone as a rat on an island with rat predators. they spared his life; it is not any more merciful. i also see the same sort of argument brewing around tangle as it seems the animorphs fandom had around cassie… which :PP

also, on tangle still being upset with lanolin? i’m so glad it’s there (<- not a judgment on whether i like it or not) tangle has had a huge lack of.. i guess personal agency?? seeing her actually have her own personal feelings and acting on them is so important, whether she’s in the right or wrong. i hope she does more. and the reasons i see tangle being upset with lanolin are a lot of things stacking up, big and small. yeah in 58 tangle believed in lanolin and gave that big speech but tbh i don’t trust 58 for tangle characterization all that much. and that belief could have eroded anyways - concurrently to lanolin having more respect for tangle. lanolin, as they were just casually existing together, probably had a hard time tolerating tangle and working with her. (maintaining the fact that as fun as it is, as they were/are lanolin and tangle do NOT work on the same team. they are on different wavelengths - they can work together, but they need small doses of one another, not to coexist nearby each other for so long.) so tangle already got little inklings of negativity from lanolin. i also imagine lanolin’s harsh reaction to sonic, amy, and tails in the race soured her opinion of lanolin, and tangle just let it lie instead of confronting it. (very tangle of her.) tangle just pressed that back. and from tangle’s standpoint - sonic, amy, and tails just had a rough experience and risked getting hurt as much as the other racers did, and lanolin blew up at them instead of offering comfort! that doesn’t inspire trust in tangle - it shows tangle that lanolin has no tolerance for someone doing the ‘wrong thing’, even if it wasn’t their fault. and, as small as it is, lanolin snatching the paddleball and tangle going “you coulda asked first…” contributes to this point. then the whole deal with whisper being so upset - regardless of whether lanolin was in the right to dismiss silver and be harsh with whisper or not, it’s possible tangle still holds resentment for all of that happening - she’s very defensive of her close friends, which lanolin is not yet.

so with all that resentment building - plus the rush of validation and anger when whisper was right all along and duo was mimic - she’s probably riding a wave of righteous (as in the way tangle treats it, not objectively righteous) irritation/anger with lanolin now. which also means it’s a very good thing she’s not on a team with lanolin at the moment!

tangle seems to actively avoid introspection at any given moment, and struggled with it across the campground arc where she felt she HAD to make up her own mind on whisper and potentially leaving the restoration - she couldn’t ask jewel for help. (and probably knew that unless she was decided, if she told jewel, she wouldn’t actually leave. she wouldn’t be able to say no to jewel and leave for certain unless tangle WAS certain.) and the worse thing is that even after that introspection and tangle made her own decision to pursue her own interest and find whisper, that whole potential storyline and aside dropped like a rock on jupiter.

tangle just disappeared for a handful of issues and wound up REJOINING restoration efforts OFFSCREEN in one of the central city issues - 51? i have it noted somewhere. OFFSCREEN went back on her momentous decision - it’s a negative payoff for the hope we get seeing tangle off to do her own thing. and probably reinforces tangle’s idea that her own decisions and ideas are trash and she needs to follow someone - except with tangle pushing that down, nobody’s gonna address that. tangle will believe the best of anyone else - that jewel’s mistakes are because she was taken advantage of, that whisper just needs to ease up and rest, that their bad decisions are forgivable and they will make better ones - but when it comes to tangle herself, she doesn’t have that belief or faith. belle commented on tangle’s confidence in herself during the campground arc - i think it’s moreso tangle doesn’t believe there’s any point to her just existing unless she’s doing something. she needs to feel useful or fulfilled. when she’s encouraging others to relax and take it easy, she’s fulfilling that purpose. but down to herself, with no one else to comfort? tangle’s harsh on herself.

and tangle herself - unlike mimic - is a decent actor. she diverts attention, eases up with her comments so they seem like jokes and stays positive when she can. she’s going to crack at some point. what happens to tangle after that depends on when she cracks, and who’s with her afterwards.

and i don’t think it’s JUST tangle favoritism speaking when i see a lot of potential in tangle to be a leader figure - she pulls people together and mediates between them already, and is willing to listen to others for advice; the parts she lags on or doesn’t have expertise with is making her own decisions for other people instead of just her own safety or risks. cause tangle treats herself differently than she will anyone else, and her willingness to risk herself feels different when we know she doesn’t always /value/ herself. “better me get hurt than her-“ tangle that’s how you become pearl stevenuniverse and she is NOT a good role model.

thank you for reading down here :3 have a cookie and remember to share your own analysis and thoughts if you have em!

[fluffypotatey]

you know, i see Heimerdinger from arcane similar to how i see Gaius from bbc merlin, and tbh i see both characters viewed and examined very similarly in fandom spaces

both are characters driven, essentially by their own fears when it comes to magic and lean more towards science as a more beneficial and neutral option. Heimerdinger watched mages and others go mad with power over magic leading to war and thousands of unnecessary deaths all in the pursuit of power. Gaius watched a king commit the genocide of his community because magic would not bend to his will

Gaius advises and urges Merlin to stay low and keep his head down, to barely practice magic because of the giant risk of execution if he is ever found out. Gaius is even complacent to the acts of King Uther throughout the show because of said fear. he even advises Merlin to not tell Morgana about her own magic nor give her some hope of community believing that her ignorance will grant her safety and plausible deniability. Morgana’s knowledge and position as ward are too risky to be combined

but it all gets fucked over anyway because of the complacency. because of the secrets

Heimerdinger objects to Jayce’s experimentation of magic and science, terrified that it will lead to the same horrors of war he saw centuries before. and there is some merit in that thinking since many council members care more about their power and influence than true progression. but in Heimerdinger’s own paranoia of magic, he neglects the Undercity. he neglects Zaun because he is so focused on creating a city without the need of magic and a city of utopia with scientific progress. Heimerdinger forgets and turns a blind eye to Zaun because “progress takes time” and fixing the issues within Piltover and Zaun is too long term and too much of a risk. and Heimerdinger is done with taking risks

but it all gets fucked over anyway because of Piltover’s neglect. because they were too narrowed minded on themselves to look down

but unlike Gaius, Heimerdinger is given the chance to go back. he got to go to a Piltover that was not yet introduced to Hextech, that wasn’t so separated from the Undercity just yet. he was given a chance to take the leap he was too scared to jump before

near the end of s1, Heimerdinger saw what his negligence has done. he is forced to look down and be granted the perspective he refused to see with Jayce and Viktor. Ekko made him listen and showed him how the Undercity had to adapt and progress despite the neglect and how many people he has left behind who could do so much good

and there’s a bit of tragedy to that. here is Heimerdinger, able to fix his wrongs but in a different universe and doesn’t even get to see or know that his efforts for his world aid them.

for Gaius, there was always that fear of discovery. some times he would help in the shadows and archive lost work, but the Purge taught him to bring no attention to himself or Merlin when it came to magic (the only times he would are when Merlin was in danger. it’s those moments where he breaks his own code and draws attention to himself which 🥺 whatever 😭)

but yeah, food for thought. very interesting comparison between the two

[envyq00]

I can tell how much effort you put into your Narrator design he looks so cool (completely positive) (like goddamn how do you NOT mess up that goodly) (the man ever)

WAHH thank you so much!!!

A lot did go into him. Allow me to ramble for a moment about my inspirations for him:

1) Peter Jones

According to an interview with Kevan Brighting by Cressup on YouTube, he said he got inspiration for the Narrator's voice from Peter Jones in the original radio play of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. So I already had a good idea of where to go with my Narrator, specifically the vibe of a late 60s -70s radio host. Mixed with 80s work clothes as well.

2) Various 60s-80s work clothes.

I just looked stuff up on Pinterest but these first two pics of Gregory Peck and Clint Eastwood REALLY gave me a lot of the vibes I wanted to go for. (Also Harrison Ford in the 2010s but Tumblr has a 10 image limit 😭😭). I also thought Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill fit the vibe as well. Moreso in looks than personality but Idk. Maybe that as well.

3) Stylization from other cartoons

And then to kind of stylize the look I wanted to go for, I looked at different characters and cartoons. Specifically, Ford Pines from Gravity Falls (especially him bc I thought it was funny that he had a brother named Stanley so I mean duh. Plus Alex Hirsch IS in Ultra Deluxe which is hilarious), a lot of concept art from Batman the animated series, and especially the Iron Giant. I'm actually planning to make a short animation with the Narrator and a scene from the Iron Giant for a class project! (Actually tbh, I definitely wanted to capture babygirl vibes that everyone's been talking about on Twitter and I know Saul Goodman and Kent Mansley definitely had those vibes XDD.)

4) Other internet artists

I don't want to repost their art without permission so I'll just mention names:

Forte-Girl7's/Forte7's Wheatley gijinka was actually the first gijinka I've ever seen for like anything and considering that the Narrator (especially in Ultra Deluxe) gave me more Wheatley vibes, I wanted to kind of pay tribute to her.

Also you've ever seen Bechnokid's Yokai Watch/Whisper art, that was also a big inspiration dhsjjsjs.

And of course there are the GOATs like MissAzura and CYM-K whose takes on the Narrator I've adored and actually got me into this fandom in the first place. Sooooo yeah!

There's also my own OC whom the Narrator reminded me incessantly of and he also played a part of my own Narrator design. And of course a biiiit of Kevan Brighting himself mixed with my pure imagination coming up with a simultaneously vague and particular image of what the narrator looked like in my head.

And of course, there were other things in game that informed the Narrator's character that I wanted to translated into his character design (i.e squarish shape language bc of his perfectionism and obsession with structure but also cuz of the exposed developer textures and of course the color scheme being close to the office colors in the game).

But yeah! There's more I could talk about in terms of the Narrator as a character but I'm saving that for later hehehheheh

[midnightrings]

My AO3 Wrapped 2024

As I did this last year, I thought I might do one for this year as well :)

(Like before, feel free to copy this for your own fics if you want)

Works published: 24 (22 new*) Total Word Count: 194k Total Hits: 21k Kudos: 756

-> So the general stats are quite similar to last year, it seems. Quite surprised that I managed to write that much, because I somehow felt like I was constantly taking breaks this year lol (but I guess that once I was in the right mood, I wrote a lot)

*[I took 2 stories (Paths to Happiness and La Rosa Rossa) with me into the next year last time. Because AO3 only shows the stats for the years in which each fic was last updated, I took screenshots of the stats back then and just subtracted the numbers of those fics from my stats this year]

Number of Fandoms: 4 Top Fandom: Bridgerton Top Pairing: Ned/Cat Top Tag: Sexual Content

-> NedCat being my top ship was definitely unexpected, but I guess that was because of NedCatWeek (I don't mind it tho - I constantly wish I would write about them more often). Also, 'sexual content' being my number one tag is quite funny, considering I don't really write that much smut (tho I do like for my characters to fuck in between all that angst)

Top 3 by hits:

Paths to Happiness (Bridgerton - Kate/Anthony)

A White Lily (Bridgerton - Kate/Anthony)

La Rosa Rossa (Bridgerton - Anthony/Siena)

-> Quite surprised that La Rosa Rossa made it into the top 3 tbh - tho it also took me a whole year to upload 12 chapters, so more than enough time for people to click on it lol. Also very happy about A White Lily - really loved writing that story.

Top 3 by Kudos:

Paths to Happiness

Memories of the Attic (Bridgerton - Kate/Anthony | past Edmund/Violet)

No Expectations (Fellow Travelers - Hawk/Tim)

-> No surprises here. I just translated Memories of the Attic to German and I really loved reading through it again. I almost forgot about it, because I wrote and published it within a day, but it's really such a sweet story.

Top 3 by Comments:

Paths to Happiness

La Rosa Rossa

A White Lily

-> Yeah, Paths to Happiness being number one is still nothing positive lol. Really like the contrast to La Rosa Rossa tho - it has way less comments (mostly by one person), but those comments made me a lot happier. Tho I'm obviously just as happy about all the people who actually enjoyed PtH :)

Top 3 by Bookmarks:

Paths to Happiness

No Expectations

Memories of the Attic

Top 3 by Subscriptions (multi-chapter):

Paths to Happiness

La Rosa Rossa

The Daughter of Flames (Winx Club)

-> Really wouldn't have thought to see my Winx rewrite here - neither would I have thought that I would ever get as far as to start publishing it lol. But I'm happy I finally started posting it. Let's hope it will turned into a long fun journey :)

Top 3 by Words (completed works):

Paths to Happiness

A White Lily

To Be Loved (Bridgerton)

-> If I hadn't been that lazy, La Rosa Rossa would be here as my first 100k words fic. Sadly, Paths to Happiness missed the mark by 7k words.

My Personal Top 3 completed works:

Didn't do that last year, but thought it might be fun :)

Twelve Years Series (ASOIAF - Ned/Cat)

-> The series I wrote for NedCatWeek and I just absolutely loved writing about those two again. Let's hope I will find some inspiration to write for NedCatWeek2025 as well (it's in a couple weeks and I got nothing so far...)

Secret Dreams (Bridgerton - Siena/Kate)

-> Just started working on some more stories about them (platonic and romantic), so that oneshot has been stuck in my mind those past weeks. I really loved writing it and I hope that I will write more about them soon :)

Lost Promises (Bridgerton - Marina/George)

-> Only posted this a couple weeks ago, but I loved working on this. And I'm so glad that I could finally publish something for Marina. I'm currently editing some of my old drafts, so hopefully, I will post more about her in the future :)

Also, to conclude this post, I just realized that I have a fic with zero kudos for the first time ever: Fairytales. I know Siena/Edwina is a rarepair, but I'm still surprised as it still got a couple views - I haven't read through it since I posted it, but I guess I will have to do a re-read soon, just in case fucked up in some way lol

Anyways, love how much I've written this year. And I've got more than enough stuff in my drafts to publish just as much in 2025 :D

[growling]

please give us the tea on the warrior cats ships!!!

I'll go first by saying Mothpool is overhyped and Leafpool had more chemestry with Cinderpelt. (in my opinion, ship what you like!)

:3c !!! Didn't think anybody would actually ask I am gonna gonna ramble now.. Separating this into pos and neg opinions

Positive:

I did think of leafcinder before and thought it was cute but not really something I'll get passionate about (i tend to be very picky on these kinda age gap/mentor x apprentice ships), now that I'm reminded of it I can really see it! They would have a great dynamic (taking tnp cinderpelt personality into account here. tbh her in tpb and her in tnp are almost different characters to me... where's your whimsy girl...), and honestly, there are almost endless options for Leafpool ships (she interacts with so many cats woagh that's crazy for this series she actually has friends??) that have more chemistry than crowpool. I mean it's fine I guess from a strictly plot perspective (and even that's well. bendable) but why is Leafpool, 30 cat years after their breakup, dead, in cat heaven, STILL deeply in love with cat Clay Puppington. I know they will get back together in StarClan because the authors absolutely love them and think they popped off writing their romance subplot they think they created a banger. Sorry this veered off into negative can't help being a hater.

hollyjaylion, leafsquirrel and bramblehawk are the three shipcest pairings I will never be able to be normal about. Canon to me. I say this as if I'm joking but I'm serious oughhh the goddamn dynamics. On a joking note though, graysky. there is no healthy nothing to see here just bro supporting his bro explanation for whatever the hell gray wing's problem was this entire arc

spottedtiger is cool it's interesting it's mindblowing it saves lives and it's haters are sooo silly I am sorry... "but spotted is his aunt according to the family tree!!!!" ok. and is this made relevant in the books at all? do they ever even acknowledge these two as kin. It's so pointless.. draw them making out

why's the fandom turning on darktiger suddenly now because they're still related (which is not even relevant or explicitly pointed out in the books and them being related was only decided way after both of their arcs together were done I. ughhhh.) wasn't this your favourite little henchman x fascist dictator toxic yaoi ship just a few years ago?? cowards. draw them making ou- ah wait that's just dark being obsessed with tiger, who on the other hand would RATHER NOT he wants that useless lickspittle OBLITERATED he doesn't CARE

ivyhawk good she could fix him. or he can make her worse. once again the fandom are major cowards for turning on it just like they did with darktiger, but much, much more aggresively so. like you people need to calm tf down just take deep breaths it's just a warrior cat ship...

people complaining about dovetiger's age gap (which are commonplace in the wc series tiger is not alone in dating apprentices) are so boring. they actually have the most wholesome dynamic in the current era/arcs I'd argue. they're in love and I love them. as a ship and both as characters.

fallenholly had the option to be one of THE best dubiously-canon wc pairings to come out of this series had they just went the direction of making fallen actually somewhat more messed up after being trapped as a ghost in the torment tunnels for cat centuries like. I remember someone else wording this really well earlier but I'm not really gonna search so just. Yeah. fallen leaves ships.

leopardtiger is hilarious I don't care. she thinks he's sooo correct and intelligent and truly the enlightened sigma worthy of the tigerclan podcast throne while also poisoning his food because he's fucking pissing her off in their side twitter dms and plotting his demise every night while he's snork mimimi'ing next to her in their kitty political marriage cuddle pile. ben shapiro x pragerU fucking ship I hope they kill each other

mudhawk... funny... seriously WHY is the fandom picking the most interesting goddamn ships to get pissed off at and call "problematic"??????? "age gap" THEY WERE BOTH ADULTS WHEN THEY MET WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ON LET HAWK MANSPLAIN MANIPULATE MANFUCK THAT OLD MAN

I didn't read AVoS in it's entirety (and don't want to. it's... boring for the most part. I mean I love violet but is she enough to make me keep reading all that.) and don't remember if they even had any notable interactions but violetpuddle is very cute and my favourite (and, honestly, only) option for their ships. puddle's mother suckled violet but they don't consider each other "real" siblings just like how their mother doesn't consider violet as her daughter but try telling that to the fandom who can't distinguish between wet nurse arrangement, foster siblings and adopted siblings. Proud only resident of violetpuddle nation...... literally nobody else is here...

Negative: (gonna start censoring the cat/ship names now)

so correct moth.pool overhyped and their fans annoying. and also because I headcanon moth as aroace like there is not a single romantic thought in her body I cannot ever imagine her in a relationship moth don't care.

*takes a deep breath* mouse.fur is not aroace. tall.star, raven.paw and barley aren't gay. authorial statements made 10 years ago at some con ARE NOT CANON. IF IT'S NOT IN THE TEXT IT'S NOT CONFIRMED CANON. Also the latter examples also reek of biphobia lol. you can ship any of these characters with anyone forever, what is any of you people's problem.

long.fire, shadow.root, holly.cinder, bright.cloud, jay.kestrel are boring yaaawn I am falling asleep and do not see it. same with sandfire; these two did not have the groundbreaking dynamic (nor was sand that uh, well-rounded as character) you think they did you're just nostalgic. I actually prefer spottedfire and cinderfire over sandfire. anything over sandfire.

hawk.ash pisses me off because their shippers are always "hahahaha toxic yaoi sooo fucked up they make each other worse!!" but show them an actual toxic pairing and they immediately shit themselves and call you an abuse fetishizer. COWARDS you lot are COWARDS and this is why I cannot get behind hawk.ash at all like I associate them with the most annoying people so much I cannot sorry. I'm sure it's a cool ship or whatever

I actually got tired and now am too sleepy to articulate myself properly anymore but still here are the other ships that I either dislike or just plain out hate seeing: fern.ivy, alder.needle, crow.squirrel, bristle.root, bramble.squirrel (but that's a very popular one lol), lion.cinder.

thanks for the ask! :3

[cabeswaterdrowned]

Decladam

•Whether I ship it or not: I ship it a little but primarily my interest in it comes from from an obsessed-with-Adam’s-psyche pov, I read and interact with it purely from a standpoint of how it could provide interesting character work for Adam rather than an emotional attachment to the idea of it as a *romance* yk? So, would answer yes over no but it’s a more clinical interest rather than something that gives me feeeelings ( my favorite pairings are the ones that make me experience both a thirst to analyze and potently strong feelings simultaneously). It’s my second favorite Declan ship after Jordeclan though.

•Why I ship it or not: I like thinking about Adam going through it and making bad horny choices and Decladam lends itself to this nicely. I also enjoy stories about mirroring and identity work so their foilisms and similar tendencies as social maskers, while also there’s some distortion and projection at play, are interesting to explore through having them interact. But I would need more canon material and emotional content to get to a higher level of shipping than just *intriguing* like I said.

My opinion on their canon potential (chemistry, canon interactions, etc): well Adam being at least a little attracted to Declan in early trc is basically canon, as is his multifaceted complex and *thing* for men *cut from the same cloth* as Declan. So definitely basis for physical attraction within canon / I think Adam’s thoughts about Declan have historically been So much hornier than he’d ever be willing to admit, although I think when it comes to romantic attraction on Adam’s side you need to diverge / spin off from canon to a certain degree for me to see it. I don’t think within the sequence of canon events he would develop much in the way of romantic feelings for Declan but I could see him getting there in the right story that either diverges from canon (@decladams fic is a really excellent take on a decladam relationship that I can buy) or is an au. Really I think the most compelling way for that to unfold that I could buy the most is a situation where Adam is at rock bottom which sounds mean to Declan but like.. yeah that’s the headspace I think Adam would need to be in. I like a good trainwreck relationship though so that’s not a deterrent for me. My interpretation of Declan’s side is less fixed, but I definitely think Declan finds Adam to be compelling to a greater degree than he would like to admit to himself, and I don’t think it’s difficult to extrapolate that response into repressed attraction if you want to. I also do think Adam and Jordan have some interesting parallels / are similar in some ways personality wise, so I think you could use that as basis for Declan being inclined to fall for someone like Adam. But I only feel strongly about teenage Adam having some type of physical attraction/psychosexual thing for Declan / that’s the only part really set in stone in my head as Sana’s-trc-canon, in terms of them. With anything else I think there’s potential if you want to see it but I wouldn’t die on the hill of reading the rest of the dynamic as subtextually queer.

My opinion on fanon interpretations/fandom around it (Favorite widespread hcs, pet-peeves, etc): hmmm. I don’t have a lot of thoughts on fanon about them I guess the only thing I’ve seen that I specifically disagreed with was takes on Declan’s perception of Adam in MI that position it as entirely a correct read, I think he has a better read on the Adam and the crying club situation than Ronan does at that point because he doesn’t have Ronan’s specific emotions/insecurities there but I also think Declan projects onto Adam in a weird way and so I don’t take his interpretation of Adam in those chapters as wholly reliable or correct. But I haven’t interacted with fanon about them a ton tbh

(send me a ship and I’ll answer these questions about it)

[dovelydraws]

Im no creator or anything, but that last part you wrote about how the internet is becoming a lonely place…i kinda feel that. Most likely not in the same sense you do, but everywhere the release of new and newer stuff and media is on the forefront, AI is rising and making the release even faster (at the cost of quality most of the time) and it‘s just…there‘s no appreciation anymore? Nobody stops to listen or see or engage with stuff because newer music or art or anything really is coming out and everyone wants to keep up. Communities or fanbases become short lived and that‘s for the huge pieces, and the smaller ones kinda seem to just…fall behind and are forgotten

Engagement also seems to have become somewhat precarious. That‘s solely an opinion of mine, but whenever I hear what creators have to deal with due to the animosity made possible by the internet…it‘s just sad. And as such, I for one don‘t want to bother anyone and so I feel like not wanting to say the wrong thing and in the worst scenario cost an artist some motivation or joy (yes, Im aware, me sending an ask anonymously is a bit ironic, but that‘s mostly my anxiety peaking)

Yeah, I totally agree about everything going way too fast. Over the last few years I REALLY began hating the binge-format brought on by streaming services, ever since I noticed how quickly communities die out after new shows air because of it. I remember a lot of people complaining when certain ones like hbomax and disneyplus decided to release their shows weekly instead of all at once, but I actually felt relieved and excited by the idea, because it meant we'd all actually have time to digest and truly appreciate what we were seeing and have actual discussions around it like we used to.

It's why I describe the feeling I get when people simply leave a quick "like" on my art without actual engagement with me and my work as "consumption." I don't fault people for doing it on occasion, I get sometimes we just like what we see and don't have much to say about it and that's that, I certainly do the same thing sometimes. But when it's constantly the only form of recognition I'm getting, it really starts to feel like I'm not being seen as a person behind the screen, that my work was churned out for instant individual gratification with no extra thought behind it.

This feeling started to get really, really bad with the rottmnt fandom in particular actually, which is why I swore off making any more fanart for it. Seeing several strangers discover me, spam-like through my blog on all my fanart posts, ignore everything else, no reblogs, no comments, and not even follow me afterwards, it really began to leave a bad taste in my mouth and made me super uncomfortable. It was happening literally every day for months at one point, after the movie came out. It made me feel like a content mill, and I very nearly deleted every single one of my fanart posts because of it. I'm hesitant to jump into making fanart for any other fandoms now too, because I don't want that to happen again.

As for what you said about the way people treat artists making you nervous to engage yourself, in worry that you'll bother them or make it worse- tbh, I think your recognition of that makes it even more important for you to say what you want to say? Art is a form of communication. Artists are looking for community, when we share our work to the world. We're always bound to not be understood or treated fairly, when you open yourself up like that. Whether that's feeling hated, or ignored, or disrespected, I think every positive comment left by someone who enjoyed what they saw helps to drown out those bad experiences. It's all we're ever looking for, to know that our effort meant something to someone.

I totally get where you're coming from with your anxiety, but I truly think you could only do more good than harm by letting someone know that you liked something they put a lot of love and effort into creating. I always reblog art that I like over on my personal blog, and I try to leave little comments in the tags whenever my brain's not totally fried after an 8 hour shift at my job, lol. It doesn't even need to be anything specific! I try to do that for people when I can because I know how happy it makes me feel when someone else does that for me. :)

[cassiaratheslytherpuff]

20 questions for fic writers!

Thank you so much for tagging me @orange-peony, these things are always so fun to do!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 40 works right now.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

624,677, which is more than I thought I had (probably due to the fact 1/6th of them were posted during the past 5 months or so)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I only really write for Harry Potter, though I do like to play in next-gen, marauder and golden-trio era so there's a little variation there.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Blue Roses and Other Impossible Things Drarry, 40k, E To Be Out of Your Own (and consumed by another)  Drarry, 18k, E Though My Mind Could Think (I still was a mad man) Drarry, 87k, E Things Unknown but Longed for Still Drarry, 30k, E Use My Last Breath (to say I love you), Harry/Charlie, 6k, E

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

I do. I love talking about fics in general, but especially the ones I write. I love reading theories or thoughts people had while reading, and responding to those. And also, comments make me so happy and I want to show that to the person who commented because I know it can take a lot of energy and mental work to comment at all.

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

I actually think I have to list more than one, because I have three that all end kind of terribly.

A Long Line of Fine Rarry 2k There is a First Time for Dying Scorbus, 1.5K Give Me a Memory Drarry, 2.5k

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

Probably all the rest of them.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Yeah, sometimes.

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

Yeah, I think like 35 of the 40 fics are rated E for smut. I like to write all kinds tbh. Like, super angsty, kinky, romantic, longing etc. I think it's the feelings and emotions that makes it fun for me, but they don't really have to be all positive.

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

I tried once years and years ago to write a supernatural and Hunger Games crossover, but I never finished it.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I had one reposted on Instagram once, but nothing else that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, a couple.

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

No, I don't think I'd be any good at it tbh, I can never stick to an outline.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

I think maybe Drarry, but that might be because there are SO many great fics written for it. But I also adore rarry and prongsfoot, and I think I love them just as much – I just read them less because there are fewer fics.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There are a lot tbh, but the one I'm always angry about not being able to finish is a fic I started a loong about Muggles finding out about magic and inventing technology to supress it, and Draco and Harry working to get Teddy out of England.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think (or at least hope) it's putting words to feelings and emotions. I tend to struggle to name or describe my own feelings so I usually explore that a fair bit in fics.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm pretty sure I'm ace so I struggle a lot with writing my characters as feeling physical attraction. I think I can do the emotions and physical bits, but yeah, the whole attraction thing is difficult. And also describing actions. I'll have a character stand up to do something and then completely forget I did it, so they'll be sitting down in the next line. Or they'll just be talking with zero description of what they're doing.

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

I'm not sure I have any. I never have myself, but I'm not really opposed as much as I've never had a need.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter. I think it was a hinny fic sometime between the fifth and sixth book came out. At the time I had no idea what fanfiction or shipping was at all, and it never left the notebook I wrote it in.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

I think my favourites changes every time I try to pick one, but right now it's these:

Like a Dream I Can Reach (but not quite hold) queerplatonic darry, 19.5k

Though My Mind Could Think (I still was a mad man) Drarry, 87k

Four Gallons of Oblivious Rarry, 18k

I'll tag @stargazing-enby, @drarryruinedme7, @acnelli @maesterchill @pineau-noir and @shealwaysreads if you want to do it (and haven't already). And anyone else who'd like to do this!