#your bad experience does not inform what the story is actually saying

[valdevia]

Very funny that tumblr is having discourse about whether my art is misinformation or not, after I've been posting it all over the internet for years without any controversy. So let's talk about it!

I know people arguing are a vocal minority, but I'm not going to dismiss anyone's concerns. It's an actually interesting topic that I really consider, and it touches some important issues in society. So here's my (rambly) two cents.

My art is meant to misdirect, in some way. Photomanipulation and the tone I typically use are meant to briefly confuse the person reading it into thinking they're hearing a real story, at least for a few seconds.

The Intended Experience™

In this sense, I feel like my art can be misinformation! And it's not only people who don't think critically about things like "how come I never heard about mermaids being real before?".

So, no disrespect to anyone that fell for one of my pieces! My work plays with reality, so if you fell for it for more than a minute, it just means my tone and style worked a little too well for you! And there are legitimate reasons to be confused when you see something online, too. For example, there are people who can have trouble telling real and fictional things apart. When you post something that goes out to a million people, you'll get one million different reactions.

That's why I always take care to make it really clear, outside the main piece and snippet of text, that my art is no more than fiction. There are tags, the tone of my account, even my profile picture is meant to reinforce this. I also have a website which, in part, is meant to capture the clicks of people to wonder if my stuff is real and google it, so they can find a real source that's clearly an art website. You can try googling "mycelium infection 1806" or "pupillosarcoma" to see how my website tends to appear first.

If I get this comment I know I've done something believable!

But let's say, for the sake of argument, that my art wholly constitutes misinformation. What we need to understand is that misinformation is not the same as disinformation. Misinformation is just incorrect information. It's your grandma seeing a little bit of a found footage movie on TV and thinking it really happened. She might be spooked, but nobody is harmed. Disinformation is false information that's purposefully crafted and spread in order to cause harm, division, or further a political view.

Now I ask you: what real world harm does my art create? The worst that can happen is that a tiny percentage of those that see it get a little scared thinking a weird bug is real, or that mushrooms really grow on faces, or that scientists have released millions of trilobites into the oceans. Is that really that bad?

Anyway, that's my take on the topic! I'm obviously biased, but this being my style, I do put a lot of thought into it and I'm always open to people's opinions! (Just don't scream at random people on the replies or you'll get blocked!)

[oatmealaddiction]

Okay but the weirdest thing about the whole "Brotherhood is better you should skip 03" discourse that's become commonplace now, it sort of forgets the world Brotherhood came out in and why you should watch the original Fullmetal Alchemist. When Brotherhood came out, the original Fullmetal Alchemist was one of the most beloved and most watched animes of all time. Brotherhood assumes you the audience have already seen it because of course you have, everyone has seen it, so it skips important information and speeds the story up because it doesn't want to bore you with things you already know. Have you ever wondered "hey why does the first episode of Brotherhood kind of suck, and why am I being introduced to like 50 new characters, and why are they acting like I know what the hell an alchemist is?" It's because Brotherhood thinks you've seen 03.

The first 7 or so episodes of Brotherhood constitute dozens of chapters in the manga, and the first 25 or so episodes of the original Fullmetal Alchemist. The Nina Tucker episode in Brotherhood, in FMA 03 takes up nearly three episodes. Yoki gets a backstory in 03 and it's genuinely one of the best episodes and taken directly from the manga and Brotherhood glosses over it because: duh, you've already seen it. And so if you skip the original you miss out on dozens of really great character building episodes like Ed and Al meeting Hughes for the first time and getting to spend a whole episode helping him free a train from terrorists, or Ed and Roy having a duel that expands on the relationship they have, or episodes where the brothers just help out random people in towns before the major story gets going.

The original also paces itself quite a bit better than Brotherhood and is more in line with the mangas storytelling. In the manga we don't find out about The Gate until nearly two dozen chapters in, and the same goes for the original anime. Like, that's a twist reveal in those stories, and it's weird that the most watched series is the one where they tell you all about The Gate in the first two episodes because they assume you've already seen the original show.

What's more, people don't know that Hiromu Arakawa helped write for the anime while she was still in the middle of writing the manga, and as a result was inspired to write scenes in Brotherhood that the anime did first. That scene of Edward getting impaled by a falling beam? Directly inspired by a similar scene in the original anime. There's a lot of little instances of that and they're great when you can recognize parallels and things in Brotherhood that are direct references to the original anime, but people don't notice any of that anymore. Because the original anime is just an automatic skip these days, and it's a bummer because people don't realize what a giant it was back before Brotherhood was released. They treat it as *bad,* not realizing it was one of the most beloved anime of its time and the problems people take issue with have a lot more to do with personal taste than any kind of actual flaw in the writing. Brotherhood was never meant to dethrone it, and the original anime was always supposed to be part of the viewing experience which is why those first few episodes of Brotherhood are so fast paced. So like, please stop telling people Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 is a skip, or it's bad, or you don't need it because Brotherhood is better. Regardless if you think Brotherhood is better or not, the original wrote Brotherhood's check. It was huge, it was beloved, and Brotherhood is *banking* on the knowledge you've seen all of it and loved it. And trust me when I say there is so much to love about the original series. It's still my favorite branch of the FMA franchise, and it's worth your time, I promise you.

[utilitycaster]

Here's the thing about projecting your personal experiences onto a story. It's extremely normal. People do it all the time. It's part of being alive and human. If that's the primary way you wish to interact with fiction then you can and I cannot promise no one will physically stop you but I certainly won't. We've all decided that a pop song is about our lives (or about our blorbo's lives) and I am no exception.

However, your projection is not textual. It is your personal experience. Your personal experiences inform your understanding and taste, but they are not the canon of a fictional work.

It's sort of the generalized version of this post. You can ship whatever the fuck you want - follow your heart or your dick or whatever you ship with - but some things have explicit textual support within the narrative, and some things do not. This is also true of other interpretations. Many intrerpretations can be valid. Multiple conflicting interpretations can be valid. But some are not. Some have zero textual evidence.

When, for example, I say that people are projecting their trauma on a narrative, that doesn't mean their trauma isn't valid, nor does it mean I think they're morally wrong for doing that (nor, if I did think they were wrong for doing that, should that matter, as I am not The Arbiter Of How To Experience Fiction). It does however mean that I do not think they are reading the text with an eye towards what is actually happening, but rather what appeals to them based on personal experiences that are not necessarily pulled from the text, and therefore their feelings are valid but their analysis, decoupled from that, is more likely than not absolute dogshit. And people are similarly allowed to have dogshit analysis; no one is physically stopping you. People are just saying "wow your analysis was bad," because they think it was. There is no identity or personal history that permits you to cut the line and have The Only Correct Opinion On A Work That Is Above Reproach.

[kokushibitch]

my dmmd au where mink is actually a brown guy instead of being vaguely yellow and grey. left edit is just a skintone edit while the right contains more natural looking feathers. i also gave him a stronger face

i spent a while trying to pinpoint his nation. unfortunately his design contradicted itself a bit and the slapping of random feathers and dreamcatchers everywhere pisses me awf. i wish that the artists had chosen to stick with one specific nation, and the closer i looked it actually wasn't as bad as i initially thought, but there were still some pretty egregious errors made with his design that could be avoided with CURSORY research, and for a company like n+c, big as they are with the resources to do better research, is unacceptable. to be quite honest, i almost hesitate to even make this post because i really don't want people to run with the information ill be discussing. while i am a native dude that enjoys DMMD, i know so many others that dislike mink, his design, and story because he falls into quite a few racist tropes. also, just because i can kind of glean some information about mink's culture based on his character design/home design, does not mean that it's a 100% accurate portrayal of said culture.

TL;DR: i used to think he was supposed to be ojibwe, but upon further inspection i headcanon mink as navajo/dine and afronative, my reasoning below the cut. im gonna make a later post discussing the nuances of his route and the meta racism in DMMD cause its been a loooooooong time since ive played his route. while im not navajo myself (im tsalagi) i at least have the life experience to tell the goddamn difference between nations lol. i also love the inclusion of a rainbow in his design as a fellow indigenous rainbow enjoyer

note: dine and navajo are the same thing, but im gonna use navajo because thats what more people are familiar with.

the easiest way to start would be with his most obviously unique feature, his locced hair. loccing among NA nations wasn't super common, but it did happen due to the culture & rituals around hair (no cutting unless under specific circumstances, braids/plaits end up "locced" from saltwater, etc etc). to me, however, his locced hair didn't feel like a purposeful design choice. meaning, i dont think the artist chose the locced hair because they wanted to convey something traditional about mink's culture, i think they chose it just because it looks cool, or because mink kind of just falls into the "vaguely brown" category. i'd also be okay with interpreting him as black/native, which i think im gonna do because i know that there are (or was, dead fandom) plenty of black dmmd fans that identify with him

his second most unique cultural indicator is his dreamcatcher. unfortunately, dreamcatchers have kind fallen into that "vague native design" bullshit, but they do have a tribal origin: aanishinabe. again though, due to the sheer abundance of people slapping dreamcatchers onto vaguely native characters, i cant say that this is a strong enough point for me to say definitively that he's aanishinabe. also, you dont fuckin wear dreamcatchers. end of, they're not supposed to be on your body.

THEN there are even more important indicators to me that denote exactly which nation he's from.

just judging base on the patterns used on his traditional tapestries, blankets, and runners, would denote some sort of southwestern nation. now they're not accurate designs necessarily, but i can understand and see clearly where they took inspiration from.

the peace pipe on the wall in both his home and his hideout immediately indicate navajo, a southwestern nation. the fact that he has a strong religious orientation to smoking herbs (im assuming in place of tobacco) is also very navajo to me. the pottery in his home & hideout are also very strongly southwestern, as pottery was a very common art in the southwest. the fact that he has an altar at all is unique because altars are actually not common practice and are usually only found in the southwest, which is actually a good detail point whether it was intentional or not. ignore the dreamcatchers which were, again, thrown in randomly

and of course his homeland contains mountains and more importantly, cliffs and canyons which is another southwest feature. there's also his fuckass cowboy boots which are VERY southwestern

IGNORING the dreamcatcher in his hair AGAIN, he's also flexin beaded jewelry. to me, these are just like regular beads, but you could interpret them as turquoise if you wanted. traditional turquoise jewelry is usually inlayed onto silver bands or pieces as well as strung together like so. his white belt also contains a very southwestern design.

as much as some elements of his design annoy the fuck out of me, i love, love, love, love the inclusion of the rainbow in mink's character design. the rainbow is so important to so many different nations, and mink being a religious person, it actually makes a lot of sense for him to have this sort of draw to rainbows or rainbow colored items. specifically in navajo culture, rainbows are used as Bridges between The Navajo and The Holy People, basically communicating with a higher power. a rainbow is also a symbol of the 7 sacred rituals in navajo culture, one color per ritual. here's a youtube video about it, learn something

i do have some thoughts on mink de-loccing his hair in his good ending, but i think i will have to save that for another post further down the line

anways, ive made my case. mink is navajo

[kissohee]

bestfriend!sub!sohee x reader ☆ nsfw ; wc : 1.1k ☆ one-shot mdni! synopsis; your best friend spills that he has never gotten a blowjob before. what kind of friend would u be to not give him his first. warnings; use of good boy, cum eating @wontonstaro!

You knew Sohee like you knew the back of your hand. Unless it was about his sexual life. Sohee never opened up to you about how he spent his time in the bedroom, and you honestly didn't care. It didn't bother you if he never wanted to open up like that.

You on the other hand, had almost zero shame with him. If it was about a guy, you would give the most detail possible, maybe even sometimes acting it out so he'd understand the full picture, and he didn't mind.

Sohee actually like that you were comfortable enough with him to even share things like that. Thing was, Sohee hadn't really experienced much. Everything he had experienced was through you.

Guy couldn't find your clit? In his head he'd note to look for it first. Guy used to much tongue? He'd note to not do that. Guy didn't make you cum? He's sure with the amount of information he has from you, he could.

The most he got was a hickey, his hand, and a lame dry humping session with his ex-gf. He didn't seek out sex either, but yeah sometimes he was a little jealous of the guys you spoke about.

You actually had so much experience that it made him a little embarrassed inside. You had done almost everything he'd watch on porn sites, and could probably write a sex book if you really wanted too.

But you'd much rather spend your time ranting or storytelling to him.

"He brought me back to his house," you start telling Sohee about the date you with some random guy your other friend had tried setting you up with, "His house.. on a first date!" You lay down on his bed, Sohee sitting up across from you.

"Okay?" He raises an eyebrow at your complaining, "That's a problem, why?"

"Well. We just met and I wasn't look for a one night stand." You state as if it was obvious, "But he kept begging me for a blowjob!"

"He was begging you for one?" Sohee hated to admit that sometimes he would get lost at your stories. Why would someone ever beg someone for a blowjob? Was it ever that serious?

"Yeah he kept going on about how it was all he could think about whenever I opened my mouth or talked. Perfect size or whatever. What a creep." You pout thinking about the bad experience.

Sohee watched as you talked, now that you pointed it out, he couldn't stop staring at your mouth. Hes never gotten a blowjob before but now that it's in his mind, he does think you have a nice mouth shape.

Sohee was too busy looking at your mouth to take notice in the way he was starting to strain in his pants. "Sohee? Are you listening?"

"Huh?" He looks at your eyes and nods, "Yeah sorry continue."

"Were you trying to see if my mouth would be a perfect size for your dick?" You caught him in the act, but you weren't mad. You actually let out a small laugh to make sure he doesn't think you are upset about it.

"No!" He immediately defends himself, "Well... kind of? I've never had a blowjob so I wouldn't know what a perfect size is or anything like that. Like it's your mouth I dont understand how-"

"You what?!" He gets interrupted, your eyes widen when you process Sohee's sudden confession.

"I've never gotten a blowjob before.." He almost whispers, head shrinking into his shoulders.

"Like ever?" Your mouth finally noticing the bulge in his pants.

"Not really.."

"Do you want one?" Sitting up, you look at him with a smile on your face.

Sohees mind goes blank. Did you just offer to give him a blowjob? His best friend? Should he accept?

"Uh..." he trails, unsure if he should say yes. You like jokes, what if you're joking? If he says yes and you're joking, he might as well just die there.

"Sohee it's a simple question. I'm very willing to give you a blowjob, I think we trust each other enough."

"Sure." He says with a slight nod, watching you as you make your way to him. Sitting on your knees in front of him, the way you look up at him already has him in shambles.

You help unzip his pants and pull his boxers down. Sohee truly believes hes dreaming right now, lifes not real, you're actually not on your knees in front of him but at your house. The second your hand comes in contact with his cock, he's reminded that this really is his reality.

"Cute.." You whisper to his cock before softly licking his tip. Sohee shuts his eyes and when you do it again, his whole body shivers. Nothing has ever felt so good to him in his entire life.

"S-shit." He curses when your mouth fully takes his cock, the feeling of him hitting the back of your mouth making him twitch.

You remove your mouth to look up at him, "Look at that.. Perfect fit." Your eyes look so pretty from his point of view.

You place your mouth on his cock again, this time gliding your tongue all around it. Sohees eyes are shut, your spit feeling warm against him.

You bob your head, earning small moans from him, his hands holding him up. He feels so good he swears he'll faint when he cums, and he almost does when you moan against his cock.

The feeling sending vibrations, causing him to accidentally thrust his hips foward, making you gag. "Sorry.." He moans when you lick his tip again.

His hands start to curl up, holding onto his bedsheets as his breathing gets heavier.

The feeling is unreal, he does everything he can to not fuck your mouth, you're already feeling so good on him.

He used to be upset that he never got to experience much, especially at his age, but now he's starting to feel better about it. He's sure no one could've given him a better blowjob than you currently are.

You feel him twitch in your mouth, taking it a sign to go faster. Drool dripping out the sides of your mouth.

His moans get louder and more frequent as you're sure he's close. His face scrunches up as his head falls back.

"Fuck..." he grunts, the feeling of his climax only inches away. He opens his eyes and makes eye contact with you. The image of you looking up at him while your sucking him off forever engraved in his memory.

You take your mouth off of him, but continue stroking him. Your mouth wide open, ready for him to cum.

And when he does, he's a moaning mess. His cum shoots straight into your mouth and he watches as you swallow his cum and lick the cum around your lips.

"Good boy," you smile innocently at him, as if you hadn't just been doing far from innocent things to him, "How'd that feel?"

His eyelids heavy as a smile crept onto his face, "Really good. Thanks."

😭 my poor baby sohee never has fics on here 💔 - 🐠

[zan0tix]

May I just say I really really appreciate your approach to and respect for the transfemininity embedded in Homestuck. Like the fact that you depict Jake as a kind of "genderfuck" (for lack of a better word) character without trying to divorce that from transfemininity as so many others do, as well as being able to depict Roxy with certain clocky characteristics without disregarding her femininity or making it feel fetish-y, is all really admirable in my eyes. It gets extremely frustrating seeing large swathes of the fandom constantly trying to separate the story of Homestuck from transfemininity despite it having a transfem enby author, so I really appreciate that you don't shy away from it in your art :)

I am so glad!!!!! Its something ive Always noticed in like every fandom since i first got onto the internet the disparity between the amount of transfems i knew vs how often their story got to be uplifted in fandom spaces or get to be celebrated how transmascs did considering how queer dominated they are but then i grew up and realised how badly male centric queer spaces are too😭

Homestuck is one of the spaces that has a big amount of transfems openly engaging in fandom activities and that makes me really happy to see! since i often see gross rhetoric from transmascs or cis women about fandom spaces abt “who is allowed” and “fandom being a safe space” cough blatant transmisogyny (sobs everywhere its so bad)

I DONT UNDERSTAND HOW PPL BRUSH PAST HUSSIE BEING TRANS SO OFTEN ISNT THAT INSANE. To me it reframes homestuck how the creators of the matrix being trans does. Like I dunno maybe that informed the works presentation of gender somehow. Maybe all the commentary and critique and displays of frustration at the contradictory nature of gender but especially trying to fit “being a man” in society came from somewhere when they were writing it 🤔🤔🤔 hussie said it herself that alot of homestuck was just stream of consciousness. Everything that comes out of daves mouth near the end seemed very plausible to be a reflection of hussies own journey realising that Actually these boundaries of what defines A Good Man and A Good Woman are ridiculous and no person can possibly live up to that no matter what were told from birth.

But i try my best to reflect the innate transfemininity of homestuck and the majority of its cast, its something integral to the works themes and just the community who built it! It saddens me how skittish other transmascs are about engaging with or portraying the transfeminine stories when its just. Practically textual. And all you need to do is Listen and empathise. I love learning how other feminine people see themselves in this story like how often do you get such a menagerie of in depth fem characters. And i love seeing what the experiences transfems see echoed in homestuck are because its all such insightful stuff About femininity and its beauty and its ills all at once. Roxy..kanaya.. wipes tear from my eye.

I want to actively include and celebrate transfem features and bodies as much as transmasc ones get to be around here and i am glad my jake and roxy do feel that way 🥹🥹 my aim with my designs is to make them feel like some everyday people youd see, no fetishisation/sexualisation or demonisation, just Existing and appreciating. Because i know how much it can mean to see yourself in something and for that to be treated with care and kindness. Its why i create in the first place! Because of how others creations gave me that comfort when i couldnt find it elsewhere

I feel similarly about how people portray fat women or just like. Women in general. its sad how badly the whole sexualisation = acceptance warps how people portray things fatness or transfem features. Never ever saying these things arent hot or sexy or to be appreciated. Duh. I think how i portray jake says enough abt what i think of that LOL just that It feels like its the only way people try and show theyre accepting? Which just feels so gross and dehumanising the only way they think to display they feel empathy is through saying “Yeah i can get off to people like you”😭

Rlly bad in society in general so also in the homestuck space. Worlds hardest challenge is liking the alpha kids. Im so sorry for what they do to you jane and roxy🥲🥲🥲 Its baffling because Homestuck is Prime Example Numero Uno of how to humanise characters. Just display them being people; their thoughts, their feelings, their insecurities, their passions, their woes, their loves, their losses. So much can be communicated through how a character speaks with their friends.

I wana do that for jake and roxy! They get to be dimensional too! I like showing their laughs and their sorrows, just them Existing with the people around them. They get to be a part of the lighthearted comedy just as the rest of them do. They get to be a part of all the gender and sexuality insanity going on in their friend group, can point out their flaws and mistakes and insecurities. I dunno its rlly not that hard to just empathise with them and want to tell their stories.

I am so invested in the raw unabashed Humanity of homestuck. Its just one person pouring their brain contents into this huge thing and it displays the best and the worst and the absurdity and the questions. Its so interesting and hussies transness IS JUST BAKED INTO IT. Thus the characters contain that too and it kinda stinks of transmisogyny to throw that out!

YAPPING TOO MUCH OMG but i rlly appreciate this ask🫶🫶🫶makes me so happy to hear

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

as someone who's an azul kinnie im curious why you placed azul on the slightly dislike list considering you like scheming characters

[My TWST character tier list is here.]

I think the easiest way to explain it is that I came in with the wrong expectations of him? I thought Azul would be similar to what Jade’s character actually was, so Jade ended up upstaging him in that regard. Essentially, not all scheming characters are equivalent; Azul has other traits which weigh him down for me.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll reiterate it here because I feel it is very relevant for Azul. I… tend to not like “main” guys because of of how much they appear everywhere (including merch and marketing); it makes me feel like I’m being “pushed” to like them specifically rather than being allowed to think for myself about who I like. This is the case for dorm leaders, which includes Azul. Additionally, “main” guys tend to get more of a story focus (also true of the dorm leaders), and that in of itself can be a double edged sword. It means more information + backstory about that character, and while that’s great for lore and fleshing them out, it also means potentially polarizing the fans who were content with their perception of the character prior to the reveal. Once that change happens, it completely shifts how you see the character and then you can’t go back to how you felt before. This was a painful factor in what I call the “stock market crash” of my opinion of Azul Ashengrotto.

I actually quite liked him at first. I took his hand at the start when I first started playing TWST back in 2020 ^^! I even *gasp* simped a little??? (weird AU where Azul was my oshi instead of J word…) He was every bit an intelligent and calculating deal maker as I suspected he would be—well, at least that’s what the few vignettes available at the time and book 2 implied. Back then, only books 1 and 2 were available in full and book 3 was slooowly being updated in chunks. And really, I was liking book 3 a lot (he was still being a silly little scumbag, lol) and took no issue with it… UNTIL THE LAST PART DROPPED 💀 AND WE GOT HIS BACKSTORY…

Now 💦 I’m aware that the OB boys’ backstories usually garner sympathy and enhance the preexisting love we have for those characters but… Azul’s backstory actually had a very strong opposite effect on me. It was the moment I realized, “Hey, maybe I don’t like you as much as I thought I did.” I’d describe the feeling like having a pleasant dream and then you’re suddenly violently awoken by a loud alarm clock, a screeching parrot, and Sebek shouting in your ears at once.

I want to be clear when I say I do not mean to demean or to diminish Azul’s experiences of being bullied. I also do not mean to shame Azul for being (rightfully) upset about his circumstances or for being emotional. When I say that I started disliking Azul because of this backstory, it’s for a very personal reason: I just don’t like stories where a victim of bullying becomes a bully, thus perpetuating the cycle. It’s sad to see someone go down that path, spreading more hate because of the hate they had received before… and I’ll never believe that revenge is a good response for an injustice 😔 Azul’s case is a little different, as he does eventually go on to recognize how far he has strayed from the benevolent ideals of the Sea Witch and is now actively trying to work on himself (which I appreciate and applaud him for). However, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I can’t quite scrub away. I think it’s because I found myself relating to kid!Azul in some ways, so that personal connection amplified the disappointment I felt in the decisions he made. It feels like looking into an alternate reality where I, too, went down a dark path—and that thought is unpleasant, to say the very least. Now I view Azul more like a cautionary tale and keep a safe distance from him.

[vind3miat0r]

Project Meridian Theories

brought to you my yours truly

(putting it under the cut once again)

ALRIGHT. SO.

using information from the new audio, i think we might be able to rule out time loop?? its still a possibility, but ive looked it over and i feel like other things are more likely

so far we have:

— a simulation loop/stuck in a simulation

— taking it at face value and Asset actually having gotten sucked into an alternate universe

— yknow how the brain relives moments before it dies n stuff? same thing applies. could be Asset literally about to die and theyre remembering the events leading up to their death

— past/future time travel fuckery

a lot of the evidence can still support the simulation theory, but some of the new evidence points to other directions. i think the "alternate universe" thing holds some weight, but considering that we were quite literally thrown into that ending, i think we should take it with a grain of salt. we have NO idea who this new James is, so even if the alternate universe theory is true, he still could be lying to us about his motives (you do NOT start a conversation with "im gonna save your life"). still, we can reuse the evidence from the time/simulation loop theory and slap "alternate universe" on it, and it can still make sense

the "Asset is dead and reliving their last moments" theory is quite literally a crack theory i came up with. it could be that the entirety of both SW and SR are Asset remembering the events leading up to their death, or it could only be SR. not a lot of evidence to support it, but something to keep in mind

if im being honest, im kinda iffy with the time travel theory. we know that holding people in time is a thing (Avior being trapped in the Meridian for two years from his perspective, but it actually only having been less than thirty minutes in real life), but thats about as far as our knowledge with it comes to timey wimey stuff and the Meridian. not to mention, we STILL dont know when Project Meridian takes place. im assuming its at least after Sovereign State, since "two emissaries from the Meridian" were mentioned in an audio before this whole ordeal 

i saw some people pointing out that alternate!James (as ill be calling him) sounded a lot like the James in the recent patreon teaser audio. i had read that audio as being set in the past, before James and his Spouse were married and were much younger. but, it is an interesting connection nonetheless

reusing the evidence from the time/simulation loop theory, the time travel theory can be made plausible. all the weird instances (the phone calls, the PA system, etc) could be interference from either the past or the future. again, since we a) dont know how exactly time travel would work using redactedverse logic and b) dont know when PM takes place, its not exactly a solid theory, but it does hold some weight to it

some of James' behavior could also support the time travel theory. as said by my wonderful friend Galaxy: "What if it's past James but he's from the future. Like he did the experiment, it failed, by some miracle James managed to time travel back, essentially surviving. And the past James and Spouse audio, with him freaking out, it's because he knows something bad is going to happen, but he obviously can't say that because that's crazy. Maybe that's why he's stressed out in the audio"

not to mention James seemingly brushing off Asset essentially getting bitchslapped out of the Meridian and the massive amount of new data they acquired. hes already seen it all before, so he has nothing to worry about

in the end, it think the most plausible and likely theory on this list is the alternate universe one, as that seems to be where the story is going with this. then again, we dont have all of the details, and Erik does love a good plot twist

uhh thank you for coming to my ted talk :3

[ruvviks]

it's been a hot sec since i've talked about cyberpunk and i was initially working on a fic that would tell the story of this whole thing, but i've abandoned it many months ago and cannot say when i'll be picking it up again SO! i've decided to instead make this timeline. sorry in advance for how much information is in this thing the cyberpunk extended blorboverse essentially refers to the story parallel to the in-game events of cyberpunk 2077 that @mojaves and i came up with. we don't really have a better name for it but at this point the term has been used so many times that i feel like everyone here knows what it is by now, but at the same time we've never really explained the full scope of what the story is by now (it's a lot sorry). so in an attempt to get you guys a little bit more up to date with it all, here's a semi coherent timeline that describes the core events of the story and every branching story that came out of it! for additional background information, you can check out the following posts (timeline 1 / timeline 2 / timeline 3) to catch up with the continuation of the in-game storyline that's referenced in this timeline, but it's mostly irrelevant to everything here save for a couple of referenced events that cross over between the stories. it all ties together very intricately sorry about that. don't worry too much about it i've included my taglist down below to make sure people who are interested won't miss this post, but feel free to skip over this if it's not your thing! won't be doing a lot of this kind of stuff in the future but i'm trying to get back to the cyberpunk roots so this is kind of like, a good starting point and reference point for later posts!

The story starts in early 2077 and is centered around Sebastian Vidal, gang leader of the Cobras and previous test subject of Arasaka Special Programs (the linked page is a lot of information but gives the most coherent overview of what the branch actually is). The current director of the SERPENT projects, Andrew Colton, and Dr. Alana Cartier, both want him dead, to tie up their last loose end before the rest of Arasaka can find out and shut down Special Programs once and for all.

Over the past months they’ve been hiring various assassins in secret, to try and get Seb killed; however, these assassins keep failing, and their latest attempt lies in the hands of Cassidy Shaffer, an ex-corpo turned assassin with a strong moral code and plenty of experience to his name. With little to work with, as his mysterious client doesn’t give out much information, Cassidy starts with what he thinks is gonna be a quick and easy job– but he ends up hunting after Seb for essentially a year.

During this year, the two men have a series of wild encounters that get more and more insane the longer it goes on; it includes, but is unfortunately not limited to, Cassidy biting off a chunk of Seb’s ear, the two of them running over the highway, the two of them getting handcuffed together and chased by the NCPD then hit by a car right in front of the hospital, and Seb sensually licking blood off Cassidy’s face after having stabbed him when Cassidy wanted to strike at a concert Seb is visiting.

All of it comes to a sudden stop when Cassidy learns his client has been lying to him the whole time, and since he does not appreciate lying clients he ends up jumping sides and teams up with the Cobras to do some cleanup duty in Arasaka Special Programs. He and Seb work together to go after a list of targets to get the still ongoing projects mostly to a halt, while remaining in the shadows themselves as to not draw too much attention their way; and during this collaboration they meet several people from their past, bringing back both good and bad memories.

One of these people is Hanan Chisaka, the Head of Security at Special Programs. She ends up becoming the next test subject of Project Cobra after the last successful subjects, Xavier and Gabriel Mason, end up escaping in the midst of the chaos of Hanako Arasaka’s capture in mid-2077. Once Seb’s best friend and Cassidy’s mentor, she’s now forced to hunt the both of them down; but in their final confrontation she snaps out of the controlled mode Arasaka keeps her in and runs away with them, effectively leaving Special Programs without any test subjects. Another one of these people is Reid Bennett, Cassidy’s ex and ex-coworker back at MaxTac. He still works for the corporation and has been on an ongoing investigation into Arasaka Special Programs; seeing Cassidy alive and well, working together with Seb no less, piques his interest and he continues to look further into the case, which will cause him to make a very big mistake later on in the timeline.

By September 2078, Seb and Cassidy have successfully taken down all their planned targets and retreat back into the shadows, leaving Special Programs with many losses and no test subjects. With the APEX program discontinued a month earlier (incident discussed in this fic, which is a continuation of the in-game events), and Hanako Arasaka recovered and ready to take the corporation back from the hands of her corrupt brother, Special Programs ends up having to retreat for the time being, and cook up a new plan in the background.

Special Programs by this point is run by Andrew Colton, Alana Cartier, and Kaida Akiyama, three players who have been in the game for a long time already in the SERPENT projects’ runtime. Colton and Cartier are married– Cartier used to be married to Seb and cheated on him for a good amount of time when he was still at Arasaka– but their marriage is starting to fall apart. Akiyama has had to watch over Special Ops agent Ambrose Hawthorne for a while during his chase after the Mason twins, which ended up with the twins dead and Hawthorne going into early retirement (Arasaka doesn’t know the twins faked their death and Ambrose is now dating one of them lol), and xe is now determined to help Colton and Cartier get Seb back into Arasaka so the projects can continue.

Cassidy’s initial plan was to leave as soon as the collaboration would come to an end, but he has found his place with the Cobras and instead ends up officially joining them.The next chapter in the story is a more laid-back and easygoing chapter, in which Cassidy learns to be part of real life again, and in which Seb learns to let people get close to him again after spending years trying to convince himself he doesn’t need any help. Over the course of a little over a year (all the way to November 2079), the two grow even closer than they had already done, going on gigs together and, you guessed it, slowly but surely falling in love until they inevitably end up together at the end of it.

Not long after the two get together, Reid returns into Cassidy’s life. He wants to try and be friends again and Cassidy gives him a second chance, though this soon enough turns out to have been a mistake, with Reid trying to create distance between Seb and Cassidy and then going as far as trying to sell Cassidy to Kang Tao (one of the few corporations that have been hunting Cassidy down for a while now) in exchange for his own freedom from MaxTac (where he would have otherwise been stuck at for probably the rest of his life). Naturally, Reid can’t watch Cassidy get tortured for long and leaks his location to the Cobras, who find and free Cassidy and take Reid into captivity instead– he does not get killed, but instead has to sit out some time at a safehouse somewhere in solitude, where he gets to decide what kind of person he wants to be in the future.

This brings us to Elysium; a gorgeous spaceship which was supposed to be a relatively cheap escape from reality for everyone who wanted a refreshing break from Earth, but through Arasaka sponsorship has become just another cash-grab project to compete with the Crystal Palace– and considering the megacorporation has its greasy hands all over it, the secret labs in the spaceship are used for a series of very unethical experiments. Naturally so, it would be the perfect place for Colton to continue his SERPENT projects without the risk of Hanako Arasaka finding out and shutting the place down. He sends forces up to Elysium (obviously after his other attempts at relocating the project to space have failed tremendously, having lost contact with every single crew in the smaller Arasaka stations in orbit around the planet), but since he’s not there himself his cousin (one of the CEOs of Elysium), Maxwell Crane, unbeknownst to Colton, takes control of the SERPENT projects in space instead. From the earlier linked Special Programs page: “Project Eryx used the technology of previous projects, but took a completely new approach in the hosts it used; rather than focusing on the human psyche it attempted to create a new type of cyborg which would lack the humanity that caused previous projects to fail. The Cobra chips were no longer used and the software was instead installed directly onto the host’s mainframe. The flexibility of the new hosts– more robot than human, and in some cases the entire human aspect was lacking altogether– allowed for experimentation with highly advanced cybernetic enhancements and military grade tech and upgrades, turning the test subjects– dubbed ‘prototypes’– into dangerous, unstoppable killing machines.”

Things settle down for Seb and Cassidy, but this moment of peace does not last long. In January 2081 the two find themselves traveling to the spaceship Elysium, to investigate a curious situation in the laboratories– they’ve been hired by Arasaka without their knowledge and it’s a setup to get Cassidy killed and Seb back in Cartier’s control.

While in space, they learn that the secret labs have suffered an outbreak of the above mentioned prototypes. They quickly connect the dots and realize Special Programs is back in the game, and they work together with security guards Aubrey Valentine and Leon dello Russo to try and fix the situation before it gets out of hand. Obviously this fails tremendously and Elysium ends up on a complete lockdown after a ship-wide outbreak, which is eventually contained in late March of that year, with CEO Maxwell Crane dead, leaving only his wife Kinsley Osborn behind.

Elysium continues to exist and is rebuilt after the crisis, and Kinsley Osborn can now finally turn it into the retreat it was always meant to be. Previously, most Elysium employees were to be stuck in space for the rest of their lives; however, with Arasaka out of the picture they are free to leave as they please, which results in a gigantic cut in total employee count in the months that follow.

Seb and Cassidy return to Night City and take Aubrey and Leon with them. Aubrey reunites with his sisters; Becca, James, and Rikki, and soon after his return to the city he opens an LGBTQ+ nightclub called Bodytalk with them, found Downtown, City Center, in June 2081. Not only is it a fun place to hang out at, it’s also his main hub as a fixer, and he starts a collaboration with the Cobras to get business going between the gang and the club; and soon enough it grows into a large and powerful network of connections, which is the foundation on which the rest of the stories are built.

After this point in time, many many more things happen but it would take me another hour or ten to go into full detail of all of that, so instead here’s a quick rundown of some of the other things that Bodytalk gets involved in:

Reid Bennett is handed over to Aubrey and he starts working at the club, and he becomes a very valued employee as well as a good friend to many now that he’s no longer fucking insane

Kaida Akiyama returns from Elysium and shows up to Hanan’s doorstep, to ask for her help with getting out of Arasaka for good; much later on, xe starts working for Bodytalk as well, in an attempt to put xyr past behind xem and become a better person

Urban Dynamite starts performing at the club regularly, and it becomes their home base

Luna Serratos, Cassidy’s ripperdoc friend from all the way back to killing era, gets involved in the Harbinger case from Maelstrom (one of the gang’s most feared members); turns out the Harbinger is in fact Reuben de la Rosa, a by then 22-year-old kid who has ended up in Luna’s care with his friend Noah Telavera after the two got caught up in an explosion. She requests the Cobras’ help with getting Maelstrom to let Reuben go

Officer Michele Diaz from Militech (who used to be Cassidy’s boss) is demoted following the lawsuits after the Elysium incident, and her investigation into the incident in hopes to get her job back leads her to Bodytalk; she begins threatening them and sends the whole club and their allies into uncertain times

Many people get married. There’s so many fucking guys here we went a little insane with the numbers but there’s several weddings and there’s a whole polycule going on too feel free to send asks about this if you’re interested

Cobra Cybernetics releases a new line of cyberware, which is incredibly buggy and dangerous to the public; it’s brought to the club’s attention and it makes them realize that Luiza Vidal (Seb’s sister), who not that long ago asked them to kill her husband (William Colton (Andrew’s brother), CEO of Cobra Cybernetics), has gone missing; they now need to get involved without getting the news out that they actually didn’t kill William and that he is still alive somewhere, while also balancing out dynamics between Biotechnica (angry at Cobra Cybernetics for stealing their designs) and Arasaka (the actual reason why Cobra Cybernetics’ designs look like Biotechnica’s designs, because William stole designs from Special Programs after halting their partnership after the Elysium incident, but these designs had been stolen by Arthur Jenkins from Biotechnica even BEFORE that to be able to hijack the European Space Council’s cybernetics following the Frankfurt incident. Are you still with me)

Vitali Dobrynin (fixer and main character from the in-game events storyline and the continuation of it; Vincent “V” Mayer’s boyfriend) ends up visiting Bodytalk after meeting Aubrey at a Fixer Council meeting, which happens in late 2083; this essentially ties the two main storylines together, which means that yes, a lot of the characters from the two separate storylines end up meeting :]

Officer Ulysses Dimakos (used to work with Reid at MaxTac) is sent to investigate Bodytalk following the Cobra Cybernetics scandal, and ends up teaming up with the club to get MaxTac on a dead trail in exchange for his freedom of the corporation

On top of the Bodytalk / Cobras centered storyline, there’s a couple of side stories that are still connected to the whole thing but are more of a standalone thing with only a few touching points to the rest of it all:

This obviously takes place a lot earlier because it’s already mentioned above, but Special Ops agent Ambrose Hawthorne is tasked with chasing after the escaped Mason twins; naturally he lets them go and ends up going into retirement, and Xavier Mason later on ends up becoming Bodytalk’s part-time repair guy on account of knowing Kaida

Gabriel Mason ends up in a car crash with retired security specialist Ames Ortega, who was also in Elysium during the incidents there, and the two end up babysitting Ambrose and Xavier’s kids together while those two are helping Hanan with getting Kaida out of Arasaka (Are you still with me. Blink if you can hear me)

Mercenary Frankie Sayyad gets a promotion from his fixer, Vulture (real name Diana Crane, Maxwell Crane’s older sister and cousin of the Coltons), and becomes one of her Bloodhounds; he works together with Evelyn Harris, Nimue Nkuna, and Beckett Rydel, the latter being one of the very first test subjects of Arasaka Special Programs, and the four accidentally get themselves mixed into a mystery concerning their secretive fixer

Caleb Harris, ex-security at Biotechnica, ends up back at Club Bodytalk not long after the conclusion of the Cobra Cybernetics scandal, and starts working for Aubrey; he is partnered up with Ramiel Al-Masri, a mercenary who has been working for Vitali Dobrynin for a while and has recently joined Aubrey’s mercenary roster too, and together they dive into a series of gigs neither of them had expected

Journalist Bodhi Shankar has finally found more evidence and information surrounding the mysterious cult gang Umbra and its so-called Prophet, Thiago Salazar; however, his antics have led to him accidentally becoming part of the gang himself, and he has to figure out a way to get Thiago to stop listening to the supposed deity that the gang worships known as Scintilla, before she makes him do things that will get many people killed

taglist (opt in/out)

@velocitic, @deadrlngers, @euryalex, @ordinarymaine, @gurathins;

@mojaves, @shellibisshe, @dickytwister, @mnwlk, @rindemption;

@ncytiri, @calenhads, @noirapocalypto, @florbelles, @radioactiveshitstorm;

@strafethesesinners, @fashionablyfyrdraaca, @aemondtargeryen, @radioactive-synth, @katsigian;

@estevnys, @elgaravel, @aezyrraeshh, @carlosoliveiraa

[f1amboyant]

All fine! Happy to share, and yes, this could be used for any pairing (or just platonic) but in my case this is a Charlos AU since they are the ones currently making me sad, Fred if I see you it is on sight

There are a lot of studies and analysis about what makes a mark a romantic or a platonic one and every single one has gotten to the conclusion that none really, the colors are simply a mark of soul compatibility in its way to look for companionship and intimacy; some even suggest than they have nothing to do with romance and actually the best couples are not soulmates. Absolutely bs if you ask Charles, how could your chosen one be someone who your soul doesn't yearn for? Call him romantic but he doesn't think he could love someone who his soul hasn't recognized as his.

Charlos jump the line of platonic and romantic like a rope across their years as teammates, Carlos has never been shy of touch so they always had contact but now they are so close it is impossible to denied that their souls are also close. Ferrari even makes a special livery for Monza one year in which Charles' car and suit are bright read with a yellow stain over his real mark and the side of the car, and Carlos' is yellow with a red mark over his shoulder and halo (so much merch it was sold, ridiculous, Charles doesn't know how to feel about people wandering around with red shirts with a yellow mark but Carlos says is cute si he'll let it go for now)

Everything breaks when Lewis Ferrari announcement, and Charles feels literally his soul bleed and then his heart breaks when he talks with Carlos on the phone and feels his complete devastation after this treason from Ferrari (Honestly Charles agrees, it is treason as well TO HIM, Lewis is nice and all but he is not his soulmate, he is not Charles'). The beginning of the season is torture, living every day like a countdown and to be fair, Carlos' gets over it quicker than Charles and will chat his ear off about contract negotiations and teams plans for the future and planning little dates for them in the next years because "I'm just moving down the paddock, I am not dead Sharls" but Charles is in agony and just wants to cuddle with his soulmate without talking about THAT. Everyone can see they gotten even closer through this and Charles doesn't even know anymore, does everyone want to kiss their soulmates stupid face after a near death experience? It is really licit to want to climb your soulmate like a tree when he shows up with the ugliest mustache ever seen? Charles is just aware enough to not act on his instincts and drop to his knees in front of Carlos (and the whole world tbh) after his Monaco win and asking him for a bj or his hand in marriage, he doesn't know.

But his breaking point (bc Charles is a little dense but not THAT dense) is after Carlos informes him that he has signed with Williams (just before a break, rude) and after the vacation he shows up in the paddock with a soft lavender mark up caressing the inside of his wrist and forearm and stories of Alex not only being his future teammate but also his new neighbor and Charles absolutely RED 🫣🫣🫣🫣

Hahaha to be continued I guess! This feels kinda long already for an ask but it was a good one to explote during my coffee break

Thank you for your kind words and letting me explore this in your page without the pressure 🥰🎨

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod this is so goooooooooooooood 😵‍💫😍❤️😵‍💫😍❤️😵‍💫😍❤️

Charles being a romantic and wanting his partner to be his soulmate, yes, of course, absolutely, that's exactly him.

The soulmate special livery???? Hello????? I'm DECEASED 😵‍💫 This is so good, so perfect, so fucked up of Ferrari and just so aighqghqopiughpqoughqg I NEED IT!!!

And then Lewis to Ferrari, and of course Charles would realize at that moment. At the prospect of being away from Carlos, he wants him so so bad. He can't take the separation (god, those early videos when Charles couldn't even talk about it and seemed so distraught every time the subject was brought on).

And then seeing Alex' mark on Carlos?? Seeing the future teammate mark his soulmate?? What if he replaces Charles?? That's not possible in Charles' mind.

Please please please tell me what's happening next?? What crazy thing Charles will do?? I NEED TO KNOW

(I kinda think Charles would ask something stupid, like offering a bj to Carlos or something like that instead of asking to date like a normal person)

(Also also, in my mind, it feels like Carlos has been in love with Charles since day one, but he just feels like nothing can happen and he just indulges in Charles' presence, enjoys their moment together but doesn't ask for more because he can never have more)

Feel free to come back in my ask box! I love this so so so very much 😍

[weaselle]

if you want to give a critique to an artist, but are worried about how it will come across, a great way to be super chill with feedback is to do these 3 things

if you have access to notes or comments or messages already left, just take a minute to scroll through them a bit. If a hundred people have already said "you suck at writing relatable characters" maybe your well meaning advice to write more relatable characters isn't appropriate anymore.

use a compliment sandwich

use "I" statements

Compliment sandwich is easy. Find two things you like about the piece, and put your critique between them.

Example:

"what a great story, i really enjoyed the setting you've provided for it. I had a hard time making a personal connection with some of the characters, but I love the twist ending!"

So, sure, critical feedback can be hard to make palatable, but you see how two thirds of this is actually positive feedback. And the part in the middle is gentled by using an "I" statement, which explicitly does not say anything bad about the writing or the author -- not connecting with the characters could be a personal failure on the part of the reader, and this statement is phrased to acknowledge that.

That's what makes "I" statements a little trickier. The first step is simple, start your feedback with "I" to help you frame it innocuously

So like instead of "You Need to Write More Relatable Characters" or "None of the Characters Are Relatable" i might say "I Had Trouble Relating to the Characters" In this way you are not asserting yourself as anything but The Expert in What You Have Experienced (which we all know is true) instead of telling someone what they did wrong or what they need to do, as if you are An Expert in What They Are Doing

And it's better quality information. Imagine I said "You have trouble writing relatable characters" or "These characters aren't relatable"

But maybe this artist has had 100 comments about Relatable Characters and 78% of them are about how relatable they are. That means i'm actually wrong. They have written pretty relatable characters. So i'd totally be wrong.

Plus i'd be wrong in an accusatory way, and "this is what you should have done/this is how you've messed up" is something any artist getting feedback (especially online) has to kind of shield themselves against. Everybody has a way they would have done it "better". And you especially have to find a way to not give your energy to people are both wrong and antagonistic online. So being accusatory and wrong, even accidentally, even with the best intentions, is a great way for me to get ignored, or, if i catch the artist in a vulnerable moment, get clapped back. Or if they are new or very sensitive, hurt their feelings.

Whereas "I had trouble relating to the characters" is just, an accurate depiction of your experience. "I didn't notice the stop sign" doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with the stop sign. Sure if a number of people say it, maybe do a little check up on the sign's visibility. But at the same time, "i didn't notice the stop sign" doesn't say the stop sign is wrong in any way, like, maybe you were just thinking about mashed potatoes and didn't notice the clearly visible sign, who is to say.

And that makes you helpful. Even if 78% of the responses that deal with character relate-ability are "these characters are so relatable" if, say, 17% of them are along the lines of "i had trouble relating to several of the characters, I didn't make a personal connection with them before moving on to the next character" it might help that author really dial in their characters for that story.

Now, just beginning your sentence with the word "I" doesn't make it what we're looking for, it's just a great place to start. What you're trying to make sure you do is Only Describe Your Experience, without giving advice or rendering judgement on quality or technique. Especially avoid anything that says "you should". Even indirectly.

You might be tempted to tell them something like "I feel like if I had more time with each character i would connect with them better" ... but this isn't actually the kind of "I" statement we want.

It's the same as saying "I feel like you should spend more time on each character" which is just putting "I feel" in front of a "You Should" statement, see how that works?

and If you say "My experience was i spent the whole story thinking about how you need to spend more time with your characters to make them more relatable" you're not really talking about how you experienced the story, you're telling them what they "need to do".

Avoid giving advice.

Even something like "I was kind of bored during the dialogue" is better than telling them what they should do. After all, maybe nobody else was bored during the dialogue. Maybe you were thinking about mashed potatoes and missed how good the dialogue was.

See a good I statement doesn't pretend to have the answers. Sure, taking more time with the characters might be a solution, but maybe there's a pacing thing I'm doing so i'd prefer to find ways of helping readers connect to the characters better in the time allotted.

"i had trouble relating to several of the characters, I didn't make a personal connection with them before moving on to the next character" alerts me to the issue while still allowing me to be the one to decide what to do about it. It doesn't say "I think you need to slow this down" it just says "i couldn't keep up"

And "I couldn't keep up" isn't accusatory or antagonistic or anything like that, so it's an easy more friendly way for an artist to hear feedback.

I did this example for writing because (looks at yet another long ass post) i love writing, but it's true of feedback on anything.

I hope people find this helpful. I didn't write this because of any bad feedback i've gotten (tho gods know i've gotten some bad feedback in my time).

I wrote this because i wish there was a more satisfying balance between critical feedback as the Monster as currently existing on most of the internet, and the Helpful Creature it could be.

I would like more people to feel comfortable giving critical feedback on my little writings. Like, I post poems and stories and like, idk, science and nature articles, and of course i am hoping for people to say nice things about them (and people do! thank you <3 ) but artists do actually often want feedback about the not great stuff too, if it's done politely. If i write a poem and nobody can figure out what it's supposed to be about, i kinda need to know that so i can grow as an artist.

And i feel like maybe there are a lot of people who are too worried they'll come off wrong or hurt someone's feelings, who want to make sure they aren't accidentally a part of the asshole hoard it's so easy to find in comment sections. And this is a great way to help make sure you don't accidentally come off like that. I hope it gives some people the confidence to leave some critical feedback on my writing in the future.

[cripplecharacters]

My girlfriend is writing a story that, after meeting me and hearing my experiences, she realized was about a (fantastical) disability and she decided to intentionally lean into that. As someone with a (real) disability, I have been a sort of beta reader to make sure that she is using her work to amplify stories rather than talk over them - she's been doing a great job on her own, largely in part because she's been asking me the right questions before writing scenes.

However, yesterday she made a post asking for help with the event that caused this fantastical disability, because the most logical cause is something big and flashy, while she wanted it to be something kinda mundane. In her own words, "most disabilities don't have flashy origin stories, they come from everyday things."

In reading the replies to this post, it came to my attention that people who have inorganic internal parts - pacemakers, replacement hips, etc. - would not survive the flashpoint. This felt wrong to me, but not because of how gruesome the image was, but because the overwhelming majority of people who have such parts are disabled. Everyone affected by the event is disabled thereafter, but a large swath of what I've been referring to her as "pre-disabilities" just wouldn't exist.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't necessarily find this to be a bad thing per se. It's background details and the actual story is going to take place almost two decades later. It's worldbuilding that might not even see print, depending on how important that detail is to the story.

My issue is that, as she is writing a story intended to help talk about disability, it feels problematic to kill off a significant portion of pre-disabled characters in the background. I've brought this up to her and she does agree it sucks, the issue she has is that scientifically, it is more realistic.

I bring this question to you guys because the two of us are unsure how exactly to proceed. Do we just ignore internal inorganics entirely and let those with them survive even if it's not realistic? Is it okay to let them die for the story? Is there some middle-ground option that isn't coming to either of us?

(I can provide more detail if need be about the story.)

Hello

Basically, you have to be willing to use some Hail Mary complete and utter random caveat that you add in after the fact to keep a bunch of people from dying.

I don't know exactly how this "flashpoint" works but let's say it deactivates technology. Maybe things like a pacemaker, which is embedded inside of a human, can't be affected because the flashpoint couldn't affect it through the layer of biological matter. Maybe you make this a futuristic where all internal implants are made using biochemical engineering because, I don't know, maybe that gives them a longer life in the human body. Maybe the flashpoint is basically a giant magic put hey, lucky us, internal disability devices aren't made of magnetic metals, or maybe, again, they're made of modified biological tissue.

Basically, you need to completely bs it. It doesn't matter how realistic it is, the flashpoint is fake but disabled readers are real. You can do anything, it's your story, so if you want the disabled people to live, you can create a caveat that would let them live. And no one can say "that wouldn't work" because yeah, it would, because you said it would work in a world that you have complete and utter control of.

Don't be afraid to grasp at straws.

Mod Aaron

Thank you for your ask! Please don’t have people killed for having a specific disability! It’s hard to give more information without knowing what the ‘flashpoint’ is, but you could have the event target metals that aren’t used in humans if that’s the issue. You could also make the event something that wouldn’t target a specific group of people, you don’t have to change the whole story, just the side effects of the event. As mod Aaron said above, it’s your story and anything can go, so please don’t put an unnecessary mass extinction event.

I’d also say killing off a specific minority group for a story, whether or not the story is about that group, is a bad thing. People with implants should be allowed to see themselves in fantastical stories and not be told that they’d just be dead so don’t bother. As you said this happens in the background, this side effect isn’t integral to the story, so why add it? The readers are already suspending disbelief that this event happened in the book, so why not let them suspend disbelief that people with implants won’t be killed in this story?

Have a good day!

Mod Rot

[utilitycaster]

Inspired actually by me nonstop thinking about the Young Witch Solving The Disappearance Of Her Neighbor's Cat In The Alps tweet since last night and a number of other unrelated posts I have been thinking about the concept of maturity in media, because I think there's a lot of different dimensions to that. It's a series of spectra, rather than a binary, and if you use the terms "mature" or "immature" you can quickly realize that a lot of our societal metrics for what's adult-appropriate vs. child appropriate are very skewed in specific and in my opinion untrue and unhelpful directions. This could honestly be a 10 page essay and I may very well write that when I'm on break but just to give you my outline here:

Stimulation - is it grabbing your attention with bright lights and loud sounds and fast action, or do you have to actively focus? Action films can be just as "jangly keys" as children's animation despite being an "adult" work, whereas something like Mad Men can have vivid colors but would bore a child to tears in terms of pace and action. However, and this will be an ongoing theme, you can have a very choppy, fast-paced narrative that is complex and a very slow and dull one that is incredibly simple and childish.

"Ratings" Subject Matter: Sex/Violence/Profanity. This is the one I think is most misleading, because you can have an incredibly puerile R-rated film, and you can have an immensely complex narrative without any of the above. [note: I have zero patience for people who act like sex and violence are inherently unnecessary wastes of time; they are merely things within a narrative that can be executed well or poorly, but it is true that something can have a simple plot and constant bright lights and stimulation and essentially be big old jingling mobile for infants but there's a sex scene in it so it's Adult Now. Unfortunately a lot of people are like "and this is why YA is inherently better" which we shall see is not the case.]

Other Difficult Subject Matter (I don't have a good name for it, but to give examples, death, racism, genocide, abuse, serious or chronic illness, etc). This one is tricky because all of the above are topics present in works for quite young children, because they can experience all the above or have someone close to them experience them, and fiction is a powerful teaching tool. Obviously the nature of how this is presented varies, and later points will cover it, but while in my opinion the simple presence of these topics says nothing about the work's level of maturity on its own I'm including it because you do get people who think that children should be shielded from all the above and would consider the mere inclusion of those topics as inappropriate. They're wrong, but it's definitely an axis of judgement/categorization that exists.

Adult-level processing of information (probably a misnomer in that teens can do this but like, teens read adult books all the time, and as Tumblr has shown us, many adults cannot do this): does the narrative require you be able to pick up on subtext? Do you need to understand what is relevant to the story and what isn't? Do you need to be comfortable with or at least able to tolerate not knowing entirely what is going on right away? Do you need to have a sense of irony? Is there an unreliable narrator?

Adult-level processing of moral complexity (in my limited, not a parent or educator experience, I honestly think teens do better with the information processing than this, ie, this is one of the last things to develop; also Tumblr is even worse): does the narrative require you accept that sometimes things are unfair and will never be fair? Do you need to accept a story in which the Quote Unquote Bad Guys walk free without real consequence? Do you need to accept a story in which no one's actions are entirely defensible or in which no choices are easy and clean and harmless? Do you need to attempt to understand an alien perspective? Is there senseless tragedy? This incidentally is how you separate out the children's books from the adult books on topics like illness or catastrophic events; a lot of children's books end with a message of "it's hard and sad, but it will be okay eventually" and focus on very relatable POV characters which is understandable! But, to use an example as someone who went to a Jewish school with a robust Holocaust education, elementary schoolers read Number the Stars in which the (entirely fictional) Jewish family escapes to Sweden; middle schoolers read Night in which Wiesel's (real) father dies painfully in front of him.

None of this is to say that escapism/cozy fiction/whatever you want to call it is bad - I am not interested in a diet entirely made of thorny moral quandaries and no happy endings. I enjoy a stupid turn off your brain action movie, or a fluffy romantasy. But I do think that a demand that every ending be happy and that Justice Be Served in every story is no less immature than saying "ew, there's kissing in this???"

[emoevanafton]

Is gremlin Prescott misunderstood? The great debate!

My debrief…

Gremlin Prescott, just like many villains with complex backstories and lore from media, is a character who is horribly misunderstood, mainly due to how he is presented, outwardly.

For the sake of characters like this, i bid you to turn your views- Inwardly. It makes it much easier to understand a quote unquote ‘evil’ character, if you simply take into account how they are presented in this way.

Intro!

If you’ve ever played epic Mickey, or any games from the franchise for that matter, you would probably know who Gremlin Prescott is- an outwardly jealous, and egotistical character who, to an extent, is portrayed to be ‘evil’. You’re probably thinking “Well, why wouldn’t he be evil, he is one of the main villains you fight in the game!”

Just because a character is a villain, does not mean that they are a ‘bad person’.

Prescott is actually a perfect portrayal of this.

Funny enough, there is not actually a SINGLE action that he does in the game, which would make him a bad person! Even the fact that he attempts to murder the protagonists (mickey, oswald and gus) in my opinion would not be enough to deem him evil- he is simply doing what has been asked of him, in a fit of jealousy, rage and betrayal. And lets not ignore the fact that his relationships with these characters are not exactly good ones…

And of course Prescott would do what was asked of him, gremlins are naturally proven to want to serve the needs of others, in his case, he serves the Mad Doctor; half against his will.

Lets discuss this!

relationship with MD

Prescott’s relationship with the Mad Doctor is actually reminiscent of a father/son relationship- one in which he never got to experience. This is clear from the way Gus (his father) treats and undermines him.. gremlin Prescott is arguably one of THE SMARTEST gremlins within the franchise… but this is a whole different topic in itself. To cut a long story short, the Mad doctor takes advantage of Prescott and uses him for his intelligence, and betrays him immediately after…

The mad doctor, being the ‘evil and unforgiving’ villain that he is, takes advantage of Prescott’s vulnerability, after seeing how much he despised his mediocre job working at the gag factory. (Believe me when i say, he HATES working there.) Which eventually lead him to becoming one of the main villains. The fact that his Brother (Jam-face) was working on the one thing that HE was good at, really pissed him off, therefore he would be understandably upset

Now, Would it surprise anyone to know that the reason Prescott made the machine you fight in the second stage of EM2, was because of the Mad Doctors influence? Because the Mad doctor gave Prescott the attention he so desperately desired (and deserved), he did all this in an attempt to appease him.

And as we know, the only reason the mad doctor decided to take Prescott in, as it were, was to manipulate him into doing his bidding, creating a distraction from the larger problems in wasteland, caused by himself, and leading the public to believe that it was all Prescott’s fault. How unfair!

If that wasn’t unfair enough, think of the cutscene shown just after we defeat Prescott, where he gets sent to prison- there is a-lot of important dialogue here.

“I don’t understand, he told me no one could defeat me!” -GP

“He told you? Who are you talking about?” -G

*and then GP points DIRECTLY at MD as he comes out the projector*

(And yes, i do know the entire cutscene plus the song off the top of my head, it is a talent, i know~)

The ‘He’ in question, is actually the mad doctor, and as I’ve just said, the reason we know this is because Prescott points over at the Mad Doctor as he is retelling this information… And he was smart for this, however it appears to be to no avail- as Gus completely ignores him during this…the only reason he actually got hypnotised during this interrogation, was because the Mad Doctor KNEW that the first thing Prescott would do, upon being betrayed, would be to protest, and understandably so! How would you feel if the one person you trusted, who you considered your closest friend, betrayed you on the spot like that? Im sure this is something in which we all have a mutual agreement on, it makes you feel anything BUT happy..

So yes, Prescott is miss understood for this, as he was taken advantage of, and falsely lead into a state of evil- and as we know, Prescott can, and will absolutely murder and take vengeance upon anyone who attempts to upset him.

(I mean, all you have to do is look at the event that happened with the telephone in EM1- he dismantles the telephone because she Locked him in a safe and took his wrench… valid reason to murder? Thats up for debate…)

And To absolutely no one’s surprise, Gremlin Prescott is shown in BOTH GAMES to be a naturally vengeful character, which i might tel you, is not normal for his ‘kind-natured and down to earth species.’

And I’ve done enough epic Mickey two speed runs completed in record time to know that none of this was ever in Prescott’s control, its just how he IS.

So how can a character who’s personality and attitude is out of their control, not be perceived as misunderstood? Exactly. They can’t.

relationship with Gus + Jamface

If you observe how Gus is With Prescott (who, yes, is his son), you would probably notice how much he apparently cares for him- however, if you do some research and inference into the two character’s interactions, it is evident that Gus far from a good parent.

Would i go as far as to say he is partially emotionally neglective? Absolutely.

Jamface is put on a metaphoric pedestal by Gus (who yes, is also his dad… Jamface and Prescott are brothers, shock, horror..) all because of Jamfaces ‘excellent projector skills!’

Wanna know whos BETTER at working on projectors? Gremlin prescott.

And its not as if Gus doesn’t know this, either, during the investigation into who sabotaged the projectors, Gus outright states that prescott would never destroy the projectors.

“But Prescott LOVES working on the projectors, hed never destroy them on purpose’”

Would he though?

If it was fuled on jealousy, yes, he would.

Prescott and jam face are shown to have a conflicting relationship right from the start. (Sorry Prescott x jam face shippers, but that would never work out :) )

And Prescott is shown to be overly jealous of jam-faces position. He is dubbed the ‘best mechanic in wasteland’ despite this not actually being true…

Could jam face single handedly build multiple intricate interactive dioramas depicting historical events in lore, and build a literal war machine for the sake of someone else?

I think the answer we are looking for here is No.

So why would Gus give jam face a job and title that he doesn’t exactly live up to, and give Prescott the boring job of working in the gag factory… its basically like forcing the worlds smartest mathematician to work a 9/5 office job for the rest of their lives, and giving the person with no experience of working a complex job, a job as a doctor…

Prescott even says to Gus that he does not listen to him, in his plans to upgrade the projectors… so we can infer from this that gus doesnt really give a shit about what he has to say. And whats even worse is that Gus rarely believes in prescotts ability to do well… as we see in the first part of EM2, where states “i knew i shouldn’tve let Prescott make that amplifier” the fact that HE KNEW gives us the impression that he had thought on it before hand, which leads us only to believe that Gus doesn’t think to greatly of his OWN SON’S ideas and abilities, which in turn is a negative attitude to have towards a person, regardless.

Gus simply favourites Jam-face over Prescott, which actually happens to be the main reason as to why he turns ‘bad’, so to speak. Prescott becomes desperate to appease his father, attempting to persuade him to give him the projector job, and when he realises that he isn’t getting the appreciation and approval that he wants, he turns to the only person willing to help him- the mad doctor.

Which leaves him to be backstabbed in the end- ironic right?

Shame on you, Gus.

how does Gremlin Prescott respond to criticism?

Gremlin Prescott is presented as being highly intelligent, and that wouldn’t exactly be false either, because he IS highly intelligent. However, upon being faced with criticism of any kind- such as Gus disregarding his ideas of upgrading the projectors, or Goofy not using his supercharger machine to filter thinner out of Ostown, be becomes rather grumpy over it, and so he should. (To be fair, Goofy wasn’t even using the supercharger properly in the first place, you are actually only supposed to use one.)

Not to be bias as an Epic Mickey two speed-runner, but Prescotts supercharger method during the first portion of the game is actually proven to be both effective, and fast! And a time saver for us speed runners… (thank you Prescott<3) Despite the after effects being a spray of thinner at various houses, it does actually get the job done,

Need a faster way of cleaning up the thinner in Ostown? Prescott provided the perfect solution!

And to add to this, Jam-face was the one who suggested using the three pumps as they are, whereas Prescott basically went a step further and provided a faster method which requires less pump use- and judging by the interaction between the two characters, we can only assume that this was another one of Prescott’s attempts to ‘prove himself’ to Gus, and to prove that he is better than Jam-face- which, he is!

And not to mention, Prescott also gets rather offended when someone tries to insult his intelligence- he saw Gus putting him in charge of the gag factory, as a criticism to his work, and therefore, he is slowly driven mad by it, Which unfortunately leads to his downfall.

This would again, proves him to be misunderstood, as the people he is trying to prove himself to are critical to his ideas, that are actually useful; they are not giving him a fair chance.

I might also add, Prescott will stop at nothing to prove himself correct. Going back to what i was saying with Goofy misusing the supercharged pumps, when he misuses them, Prescott snaps at him for doing so, only because after misusing them, Goofy decides on using jam-face’s method! (Idiot.)

Further on this, if you use prescotts method of clearing the thinner, he sounds certain that they would work, just like he said, in a rather bothered tone.

In conclusion to this, Prescott is just one of these people who- if questioned when he knows he is correct, he will willingly put up a protest!

gps waisted potential

Unsurprisingly, due to Prescott being given an awful job at the gag factory, he has naturally lost his potential to do well.

He blames Gus for wasting his talent- i quote

“My talents were wasted in the gag factory, wasted by you, Gus!”

Prescott’s idea of a place where he would be appreciated, is a dark, isolated and potentially dangerous abandoned float-yard- which perhaps implies that he does not believe he will ever be appreciated, hence the isolated area?

However you look at it, this definitely damaged Prescotts self esteem when it came to his works, he was constantly told by the mad doctor that “no-one could defeat” him, Despite Mickey and Co defeating him at the end of the second section of the game…

If you complete a flawless paint path for the dioramas (fix all 3 of them no with no mistakes), there is a section of dialogue between Abe and Prescott which is recited to Mickey, Gus and Oswald when they ask if he has heard from him.

To summarise, Prescott explains to Abe that what he is doing is for the benefit of himself, and that he is “going to a place where he will be appreciated”, he also states that “soon, everyone will remember his name.” Whether people will remember him for something good or bad is never actually stated, but we can infer it to be bad, as Prescott appeared to want to take over wasteland in vengeance against all who disliked him, maybe for the mad Doctor?

Gremlin prescott clearly has some kind of trust problems.

Abe appears to be one of the VERY few people (robots) that Prescott trusts, as the news does eventually get back to him that Mickey, Gus and Oswald are looking for him- which he is not impressed by… :|

So, would wasted potential be a factor for Prescott being misunderstood? I would say yes, as this is yet again, another reason for him to feel the need to lash out, and side with the mad doctor, one of the only people who seemed to appreciate him.

Para6: the telephone incident

For those unaware, Gremlin prescott dismantled (murdered) mickeys telephone in the thinner path of EM1, which happens to be the true ending… He did this because the telephone lured him into a safe, locked him inside and took his wrench; this is referred to by the fandom as the ‘telephone incident.’

To be blunt here, Being locked in a safe must’ve caused prescott some form of trauma- if he felt that strongly about being locked in there. What we could also infer from the incident is that prescott is INCREDIBLY vengeful; its not every day you see a person commit murder over being trapped somewhere…

And this incident could have influenced Prescott’s later actions in the game, potentially forming more of a hatred against Gus for putting the telephone back together.

Conclusion!

What conclusions could we make from this? Well, Prescott is a clearly complex character, who is evidently misunderstood. He struggles to trust people due to his past experiences, and because of the way he had been treated by Gus, having his work overlooked, he latched onto a person who turned out to not have the best intentions… we’ve heard this story before, haven’t we?

This is a common occurrence in antagonists, and the sad part about this particular situation is, Prescott looks up to the mad doctor as a father figure- and if the mad doctor didn’t turn out to be a twat, they could’ve been the perfect duo…

Maybe in another universe, folks!

[wolveria]

Sorry to bring up shipping discourse on your blog. Reminder that you have every right to just ignore this. It’s your blog.

But the whole thing around shipping aspec characters tends to be less “should we do it?” and more “stop fucking erasing a character’s identity just bc you don’t know how to write it”. I mean, not for everyone, obviously, but that tends to be what it boils down to.

Me, personally, I don’t mind the shipping (esp crackships and selfships. They get too much shit as is and I’m not adding onto that), but I do mind when people just ignore the characters identity or treat it as Straight Lite™️, which I have seen a lot of people do. And I know you said that it’s less about what they do with fictional characters and more about how they treat actual aspec people, but oftentimes (as far as I’ve seen) their attitude towards actual people tends to be similar to how they treat the identity of a fictional character. Which is to say, bad.

Again, this is all just from my personal experience with people, so maybe you’ve had a much more positive one. I just figured as another aspec person I could share my view. If it’s not welcome, no hard feelings or anything. I do hope you have a nice day/night.

(Anon is responding to this reblog)

And you can acknowledge your feelings about how fans interact with aspect characters. You have a right to be uncomfortable.

But these are your feelings, shaped by your experiences, and your perception will always be subjective. That's simply a part of human existence.

In other words, feelings don't inform reality (ask any person with anxiety).

There are two separate points you bring up, that 1) fans can erase a character's identity, and 2) how fans treat characters is a direct correlation to how they treat real people:

1) A character isn't a real person, therefore it doesn't have an identity that can be erased. It's an object. A fictional concept. You cannot harm them no matter what you do to them.

I am not speaking about representation. A fan does not have the same impact as a Disney executive. I am not, and will not, put them on the same level of power. How a fan headcanons a character will never equate to how media treats queer representation, and I will repeat this until my dying breath.

Which leaves this question: Do you believe it's immoral for other fans to fantasize about characters in a way that you find uncomfortable?

If so, why? Do you believe it's an actual problem? What would be your solution? How do you control people's fantasies, and is it your right to attempt to do so?

If the answer is no, then you must accept that how people interact with fiction isn't your responsibility or obligation, and that discomfort does not equal immorality.

If the answer is yes, please see below.

2) Correlating fantasies with "immoral" behavior is a talking point of conservatives, fascists, and pro-censorship groups.

People writing stories, making art, creating headcanons, etc., is not an accurate indicator or predictor of behavior. It might be helpful to ask yourself why you're equating these two things.

Why do you believe fantasy influences behavior? Or the inverse, do you believe that fans who treat others poorly will always have "problematic" headcanons/ships?

If so, why is your focus on how fictional characters are treated, and not on the actual behaviors towards actual people?

Are your opinions based on facts or on fears?

Pro-censorship groups will argue that reading certain books will lead to a corruption of morals, or those who write toxic relationships will become an abusive partner, or kids who play violent video games are more likely to hurt other students.

Claiming that fans who "erase" the queer identities of fictional characters will lead to actual bigotry towards real people, is the same kind of fear-based argument as above--it just uses leftist language to do so.

(I don't even know how to address the Straight Lite comment without getting into a whole other discussion about how you seem to believe some headcanons aren't queer enough. And following my own example, I am not going to extrapolate that onto how you might view real people's queer identities.)

I've seen a lot of shitty fans in my decade of fandom involvement. I can make a lot of assumptions about what kind of characterizations they like and how it relates to their behavior. I could do that, with a lot of gut feelings behind it, but that doesn't make it true.

Sometimes, shitty people have certain headcanons, or ships, or fantasies, and it doesn't actually mean a damn thing.

At the end of the day, I understand that what someone enjoys, their headcanons, their art, their fantasies, do not inform who they are as a person, nor does it predict how they treat other people. That's not how human behavior works, and there are decades of research to support it.

You can be uncomfortable. You have every right to feel uncomfortable. But discomfort is not an indicator of right or wrong, nor is it evidence your discomfort has an inherent moral weight.

This concept even has its own term: the wisdom of repugnance.

I hope this has been helpful to you. Thank you for your ask.

[coffee-master]

What would Kai do in season 3 with the blackout and Nindroids ? I guess he would have a different story than Nya, who had a love triangle problem with Cole and Jay

Ok so first of all- OMG PEOPLE ARE ASKING ABOUT MY AU- THIS IS HAPPENING-!! I'm very excited!!!!

Now to the main point.

In the reboot season, everything would be a little diffrent. I mentioned some things about it on the post about the relationships Jaya & lavashipping in this au here:

But this is only lightly mentioned, so here's more:

In this au Kai would have similar role like canon Nya, but with some differences.

The season begins with the fact "the ninja era is over" and ninjas now are teachers for the kids. They are about to go on a school trip to Borg Industries with the children, but before that could happened, when Cole and Kai are coincidently alone in the classroom, Cole decided to take a shot and ask Kai on a date.

It'd be a little awkward, since Cole has never asked anyone on a date before or was interesed in romantic topic in general. Meanwhile Kai would be taken aback by his question, because he hadn't expeceted that comming. Kai didn't even think that Cole was interesed in him.

However, in the end Kai would agree with a smile, calming the earth ninja down.

Later in the Borg's Industrie as Pixal asked to go to the hundredth floor ninja, Kai at the last moment grabs his sister's hand and asks her to go with him because he wants to discuss something with her.

Even if Kai was good at hiding things and acting cool- He was a little nervous about this date and wated to ask his sister discretly for some advice.

Nya at first reluctantly agreed, but then noticed that something was going on and was curious.

So Sensei Wu, Kai & Nya go together for a tour around the factory. Nya is pretty much interested in the technology, while Kai is thinking how to approach the subject, without her sister finding out about this whole thing.

Eventually they come across this crush-seeking machine and the kids talk Nya into using it and when the result comes everyone is schocked, but Nya doesn't take the result too seriously.

Here her relationship in much better and based on common experiences and trust, and she has is no doubt about it.

The fire master actually takes this more like a joke.

Everyone: *looks shocked at the result*

Nya: Hah, clearly this mashine is broken.

Nya: Cole is only interested in cake.

Kai: ...well actually-

Nya: Hm?

Kai: He kinda asked me on a date today.

Nya: ...

Nya: He what?

After that they are attacked by the machines and ect. and later the whole team meets again. The boy give Nya her new costume and weapoon and later they go to the sensei Garmadon.

There's a lot of fighting, which is practically no different from canon.

Then later on the landfill while fixing Pixal, the result information from the matching-machine comes to light and everyone finds out about the result.

Jay is very concerned about this information, but he does not lash out in anger at Cole. He knows that Cole wouldn't do anything bad and even has crush on Nya's brother, but is still bothered by the result.

Like an inteligente mashine says there's better a match for your girlfriend than you.

That information is just really messing with Jay's head and giving him self-doubts. So during their mission Jay is nervous and wants to prove at all costs that he is better than Cole.

Nya almost immediately noticed that and is both worried and irritated by Jay's behaviour. So after having enough of this nonsense and finding a moment of peace she talks with him.

Nya tires to get this stupid thought out of his head and says that it was dumb of him to even think, that he's not enogh.

In the end everything comes back to normal and nothing too serious happened with their relationship.

Then next fights took place and Kai tries his best to help others, even if he is not very comfortable in the technological world.

Here Kai is also a Samurai X despite lack of engineering skills that Nya has, but but how it happened is another story-

There was not much time for Cole & Kai to interract and after Zane's sacrifice in the end never went on that date.

-----

That's pretty much season 3. I've gotten so many questions about this au lately, I'll try to answer them as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, I'm often busy and write slowly, but I'll do my best!

[Siblings elemental change AU]

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