how serviceable is the machine translation for volfoss? it seems like you’re able to understand the plot fairly well using it if i’m right. and what is the gameplay like? i’m more interested in playing it from your posts, i’ve always wanted to but never got around to it

FUCK YESSS ok so. A few things. I am pretty used to working with machine translation and kind of working with how stilted it can be. I've translated comics this way and it can be a massive pain at times. From the last time I tried to do this with a game -> now (maybe 8 months or so?) Google translate has really upped their game with getting more accurate/good translations. I use a mix of Google translate and Yandex, and then match it with checking a Japanese to English dictionary when I need to (sometimes Google and Yandex completely disagree on something, so using a dictionary helps a lot in those cases). Volfoss itself is kind of a peculiar beast with translation solely because of names. The machine translation does not play nice with names because they are spelled odd. For example, an enemy called Iron Meiden will NEVER get translated with the proper spelling. The protagonist, Shalvas, gets translated as MANY different names, so it's kind of a pain to work with that. Places have the same issue. Where a machine translation might put Korel as Kolel or anything in that range, it rarely gets it right. One of the major locations, Caldealand, gets spelled 5 different ways and there is never any reason for it. Thankfully, the in game gallery has the English names for creatures and characters, and the map I just got has the proper English for the places. This is probably not like. A big issue for most people but it's something that I'm pretty anal about because I don't want the translations to be super bad and inaccurate. In the guide I'm working on, I have a massive glossary for the names and places due to how finicky this is.

All of that to be said, I definitely do understand the plot with this, but there are a LOT of frustrating things when you're first getting used to it. I can send you the guide as it is right now if that would help, as I think the long list of characters and the summary of the first route I've nearly completed could be helpful :) I'm also here to help anytime.

As for gameplay, it's a trpg, so you move your characters from tile to tile and choose attacks. It's kind of hard to explain but from what I understand it's similar to fire emblem (haven't ever played it but my friend who has says it's similar). It's honestly not too bad after you get used to the combat, there's just a LOT of story crammed in there if you're bothering to translate all of it. There's a lot of specific systems that from what I can tell are pretty unique to volfoss (you get gems and can make combos with them, and that's how you can make your attacks/defense have certain attributes. Not explaining that well at all but. There's a lot of weird stuff to it I think. There's also a system for getting enemies to join your team both temporarily and permanently and just a lot of other stuff that can make it complex to give a short summary of gameplay).

Tldr: machine translation is definitely viable, however, when it comes to proper nouns it is a VERY scary experience. This was my first trpg and I got used to it pretty easily so I wouldn't say it's too bad?

OH MY GOD???? I already love them sm

I literally edited a new profile for them for this cuz the old one was outdated BUT YEAH IDK IF THIS WAS AN INVITE TO INFODUMP ABT MY JAMIAZU FANKID BUT IM USING IT AS ONE

Btw I can only wish to achieve your level of snake knowledge I thought my reptile hyperfixation went deep but yours is deeper I wanna know your ways

But that isn’t relavent YEAH HERES MY JAMIAZU FANKID HI TUMBLR *lets them out like you would a spider under a cup*

So I have a shit ton of Twst fankids btw! They kinda swim around in my brain but only a few ppl I know have gotten the info dumps lmao

Skye was the first one I made I think (actually it might’ve been Rico (florid) but eh oh well who’s counting)

But yes this is Skye Ashengrotto!

They’re my older Jamiazu kid, I do have two. The younger one is my octo boy Akram :) he’s funny I wanna pinch his cheeks but he’s not the point here

So Skye! It feels weird publically infodumping abt my OCs like wtf am I even supposed to put here

They’re a half mer, which do work a lil different than normal mers in my lore. Half mers can transform without a potion but it’s still a long and generally painful process, esp going from mer to human. I kind of switch between calling them a snake mer and a naga but there’s lore there- Nagas exist in my lore outside of sea snake mers, there are also fully terrestrial Nagas. So the terrestrial nagas wouldn’t be considered snake mers but the sea snake nagas would be a type of mer while also still being a naga ITS CONFUSING DONT ASK (actually do. Ask everything so I can roll more of my fankids out like marbles)

Skye was created by a spell, I haven’t quite worked the details out 😔 but Jamil is part gorgon in my lore which is why they have the hair snakes which isn’t a typical naga trait. And to elaborate on the hair snakes: they are alive, the one w the bigger stripes is Flora and the smaller stripes is Jett. Skye can communicate w them telepathically and their eyes glow which is kinda neat. They’re kind of Skye’s version of floatsam and jetsam (unless u count Rico (florid) and Lilac (treyjade) which is like their ver of the twins- IDK ITS COMPLICATED)

idk what else to put here so LETS THROW SOME FHARACTER DYNAMICS YEAH and also mentioning some of my other fankids! They all have profiles (except my Malleus kid I’m sorry Aihan I can’t think of a design for you) but I’m probably gonna save those for another post-

So jamiazu in my lore live in the Shaftlands in a beachfront place and also live pretty close to Treyjade, however Florid live in the Queendom. The octatrio and their spouses is a close group so they’re essentially a big family. My treyjade kids are Maren (older) and Lilac, then my Florid kids are Rico (older) and the twins Mary and Eliza.

Skye saw Lilac more as a kid cuz they lived so close together but also saw Rico a lot when flrd would visit or they’d go to visit them. Rico is an agent of chaos and Lilac is Skye’s 2nd in command so their dynamic on a surface level is pretty similar to the octatrio, but there’s still a lot of differences once u get into the meat of it. Tho Lilac and Rico are Skye’s best friends and basically like siblings to them.

Outside of jamiazu Skye is particularly close with Jade, they share a love of tea :) he’s their cool but also slightly unsettling uncle

THEN THERES SHENZI- Shenzi is my younger kaliruggie kid and I am not gonna get into her here bcuz she rlly needs her own post w all her trauma but good lord these two do not like each other. Shenzi’s really nice but she’s not quite as nice as Kalim so after about 5 months of trying and failing to befriend Skye in their freshman year she just gave up and now their relationship is nothing but hostile (which was not helped when Shenzi and lilac started dating)

Speaking of that tho- so my idikei kids :) Ember (named after the pokemon attack) is the older one and he’s basically that “Jock idia can’t hurt you he’s not real Jock idia:” thing as a person he has the Fire hair n shit but he plays basketball and is heavily extroverted but no one gives a shit abt Ember this is NOT ABT HIM this is abt his sister! Her name is Zelda because you know Idia would name his daughter Zelda- she got all of Idia’s social anxiety lmao. She’s extremely shy and there’s a total of like 4 people in the school she can actually talk to without melting into a small stain on the floor. She’s an Skye are both in board games club and sometime in early freshman year she falls on her ass and knocks over a bunch of stuff which Skye happens to witness and cue the most awkward interaction known to man bcuz Skye can’t talk to pretty girls and Zelda can’t talk to ANYONE but they end up walking to the mirror hall together afterwards which becomes a routine. Except they’re both awkward as fuck take like almost two fucking years to get together bcuz neither of them are gonna do anything abt it BUT THEYRE VERY CUTE!! I love them

Also my ashengrotto siblings are very wholesome I need to write some stuff w them- Akram is a little shit and he loves pissing Skye off but at the end of the day he admires them and Skye loves their brother a lot :)

Anyway good lord I’ve yapped too much okay OH YEAH Skye has a Russian blue cat named Mariana who they just fucking found on the side of the road and thought it was a mouse so for like 2 years Azul thought Skye was gonna eat the cat

OK HERES RHE ACTUAL PROFILE these aren’t as chaotic as the other ones all the other ones are more meme than profile ALSO RHEIR UNIQUE MAGIC DOESNR HAVE A NAME AT THE MOMENT IF ANHONE HAS AN IDEA FOR ONE PLS SHARE I HABE NO THOUGHTS

(If you recognize my art style from instagram no you don’t also THEY DO HABE EYES I JUST DONT DRAW THEM CUZ MY STYLES WEIRD)

But yeah I love them I hope they explode (affectionate)

Love youre ST art, but if you dont mind me asking, why Billy? Theres just so much about his character I cant get passed enough to like him outside of peoples art.

I appreciate the cordial ask Anon, as most who do not like Billy would not do so: I love Billy for many reasons! Sorry, this is gonna be a fairly long response because I want to encapsulate not only my own points of enjoyment, but ones that a majority of the Billy side of fandom have as well.

First reason being: Billy is WONDERFULLY acted out by his actor. Dacre Montgomery did what is probably one of the top handful of performances on the show (probably rivalling the way I feel about Mason Dye's [Jason Carver] performance.) and that alone gives me some of the first reasons to love Billy as a character.

He's well done. He feels real, he gives depth and complications like real humans! That in part due to Dacre's representation of him. Dacre himself has put a lot of his own experiences into Billy's character, both in just the small things we notice and some of the larger aspects like having dealt with abuse in the home regarding his father as well as neurodivergencies and weight.

I'm a sucker for a well made character!

Second reason!: He's a bombshell, and not in just a 'hot' way. His character draws attention, he wants to be seen and noticed and heard! He's not great at going about it in a way that doesn't cause himself problems because...well he's still a child!

He's bound to mess up, especially in a time that does not see children as vulnerable members of a community, in a new culture (midwest) that he is unfamiliar with and unaccustomed to their social norms as well as being under the rules and obligations of a man who not only keeps him vulnerable but actively undermines him both mentally, physically and emotionally.

I empathize with and for him. I myself have never been abused by a parent, but I know what abuse feels like and it doesn't feel good. I have experience with sibling and spousal abuse, but even then it's not the same as being abused by your support structure, the person(s) who are supposed to be there to love and nurture you.

He has lost one of his major support structures in his life and is damaged for it.

But back to the bombshell title: He fits some of my favorite character tropes, Femme fatale & Antihero.

He's MADE to be destructive, he's an abused bull placed into a china shop by his own father and if that isn't sad, I don't know what it. No matter what he does, he cannot help but break something! His narrative was constructed by the show to always put him in a position of destruction and it's such a sad existence.

My third reason: He's an AMAZING foil to Steve as a character. He's everything Steve both wants and hates. He's 'carefree' and interruptive, he's hot and nasty, he's strong but has a hairtrigger-

He challenges Steve as a character to both think and do better in ways he doesn't realize yet.

These are all just basic reasons why I love him as a character. The fandom as a whole could lead you down a bigger path as to why, but there's a lot to love in Billy.

I can completely understand why someone might not like him, he is brash, rude, destructive, mean- and it can be hard to work around those issues when those things are actually damaging in real life.

But I see him as an opportunity to delve deeper into the "why". Why is Billy brash? Why is Billy rude? Why is he destructive and mean? That's the meat and potatoes.

In the end, I love Billy because he's a character who turned out the way he did, because he lacked the appropriate amount of love in his life, and we can see that by his actions and memories before his death.

He craved touch. He craved closeness and friends. He missed his mother, he feared his father. He had EMOTIONS that deserve to be expressed and heard.

He's what so many people can become, because no one takes the time to just give a shit. That's why I love him. Because I think he, in the real world, would have benefited from that. Just to be seen and heard and understood, even if no one could fix his situation, at least he would have the ability to have a safe place to confide in long enough to get himself out of his situation.

Thank you! So, for the last several years I thought of myself as bisexual, but I still feel like I’m lying to myself. That maybe I’m just straight. I don’t get turned on by women as much as men. Although I’ve realized that my obsession with men (it is, in fact, kind of an obsession, I myself feel it) is a result of an abusive father, then a stepfather, and my overconsumption of porn since I was like 6. That’s actually a whole another topic, I fucking hate pornography so much. It feels like it ruined my brain. I still feel like I get turned on by extreme stuff. It’s disgusting and I feel like a vile human being. But getting to the initial topic - I don’t fantasise of women in such context as much as of men. I don’t think I ever masturbated fantasising of a woman… And it feels like a cornerstone for me. I often think I’m just delusional , or I want to feel included somewhere. That I’m just straight. I’ve never been in a relationship with either sex. As of now I feel like men dont interest me as much and I don’t want to date them, but I still feel this “obsession”. I don’t know how to get rid of it.

I didn’t have any crushes on female characters or real life girls as a kid, I think. So that’s another thing… But I did have a crush on one girl in my college. I think I’d still feel butterflies in my stomach if I saw her. But one crush compared to my many infatuations with men doesn’t seem enough. Also, even if I fantasise about being in a relationship with a woman, it feels almost strange. Because I feel as though I’m not good enough. Or that I’m an imposter. I’ve had one girl who had interest in ME (which I can’t believe in to this day), but I didn’t like her back. I still lived with my mother than, and I remember telling her about my complicated feelings on this and she just disregarded it all. Saying that I’m straight and it’s time I stopped lying to myself and trying to be trendy, that I’m not a lesbian. (I’ve never called myself a lesbian, I don’t know why she said this).

I guess getting a crush on a woman and this feeling being mutual would help me realize if I’m actually bisexual. I mean, like entering a real relationship. But that’s another thing - I mostly get crushes on butches. And it makes me always think, and I know this sounds so wrong and disgusting, but - what if I like butches because they are similar to men? What if I just like men and this is some sort of projection?

I’m sorry if this was too graphic and long. You don’t have to respond to this. Also thank you for your time

hello darling! first off - you can relax. it sounds like youre putting a lot of pressure on yourself. bisexuality isnt 50/50. some are more same-sex attracted; some more opposite. and it can change: for example, the older i got, the more attracted i became to women, and possibly due to allowing myself to feel that attraction (because in my experience admitting to yourself you are bi is one thing, learning to allow that attraction another; we are raised in a heteronormative society and kind of have to learn on our own how to deal with our same sex attraction) i also initiated more with women. i think theres a lot less chances because there are just not as many same sex attracted women, and then you have to be attracted to her and she has to be attracted to you, etc.

im sorry you were exposed to porn this early, and that the men in your life did this to you. this probably has a huge influence on your sexuality and especially how you perceive it. again i would recommend you to allow yourself to breathe, what will happen will happen, if youve felt attracted and had romantic feelings for women before and you know a woman who gives you butterflies you are likely right in your assessment. i also think straight women dont think about it this extensively. as bisexual women men are the „easier“ option (as in, more potential partners and established norms of behavior, social expectations etc; and men tend to be more offensive in flirting and initiating stuff) and i think if you never had a woman return your interest there is this doubt which is on top enforced by womens bisexuality often being questioned and mocked, something we internalise.

please feel free to reach out via direct message if you are comfortable with that, youre more than welcome to. and please, dont stress yourself! you have nothing to prove to anyone!

hi! ive been seeing ur posts around a bit and just wanted to ask you a question which honestly isnt related to the show plot because even though i do ship byler i believe mileven is gonna be cannon because a suger mega mainstream show isnt likely to throw away their main ship for an unexpected gay ship which imo would make sense with all the queercoding and would just be sumn new but yknow its unlikely. so my wish for s5 is some serious and good growth for mileven as a couple but back to my question as i mentioned earlier there is quite a bit of queercoding and ig what u could call 'proof' and while i agree some of the byler proof thrown around are stretches and reaches most of it seems pretty plausible which does mean there is a chance that the people working on that show purposely put in those aspects and parallels but for what? (possible queerbait which ick!) and another thing with will and his love arc it seems kinda unfair ik its the 80s and in reality it wouldve matched wills situation but in the end it is a super popular fiction show in 2020s and it does have the liberty to provide some sort of solace to will like everyone else in the show gets some kind of romance but the tortured gay guy should be happy with the acceptance? kinda ouch and on topic of queer characters i personally think robin has one of the most beautiful coming out scenes in tv history but with vickie they did bad to her character like they have barely 5 mins of screen time tgther and theyre basically the same person w the brain and mouth parallel so impo the writers and show producers have sort of messed up with the queer characters(s5 could redeem everything but i have a feeling it rlly wont) plus i mean making will love mike was such a choice like he couldve like anyone else the show has time and time again had clear chances to just either not make will have a thing for mike or get him to confess and or move on and introduce a new guy for him and have a chance of a happy ending but they had to employ the overused gay guy loves his straight best friend trope and drag onto the last season where theres already the battle to the death going on so even if they do get a new guy there will be no satisfying development to their bond. and then practically use his feelings to encourage mike which is just cruel and is kinda harmful for many queer people like i remember just sobbing in my grandmas living room because how horrible that scene made me feel so i just want ur opnions on this as u seem like some1 passionate about the show and an ally. (sorry if its kinda long this my first time ever interacting w anyone on tumblr im rlly unsure how to go about these things)

Yeah, definitely, I think I understand what you mean. Queerbaiting sucks, but I don't personally think that's what this show is doing. I think a lot of the hints people are claiming as Byler evidence is just based on their interpretation, and not what the creators intended it to be seen as. We honestly can't know what they intended without them confirming it, so it's hard to know one way or the other. I don't believe a lot of the evidence for Byler personally, and it just doesn't make sense narratively for the show like you mentioned. I don't know, it's complicated. If anyone else wants to share their thoughts on this, feel free to leave them in the comments. :)

SONIC PRIME RAMBLES!!!!

SPOILERS FOR SEASON TWO AHEAD!!!

(sorry if the screenshots are a bit mushy i was taking them quick)

firstly of course id like to mention these two. i love how when sonic is playing around and talking to himself, shadow just nods along. he didnt tell sonic to shut the fuck up, he just waited until he got his zoomies out. he even slightly participated! i just love how when shadow is cooled down a bit he’s actually pretty used to sonic and doesnt mind his silliness, it only makes him genuinely upset when it’s not the right time or place. and sure this also isnt the right time or place, but seeing as hes been blessed with literal gay magic i think shadow mightve given him a pass. that or shadow is never actually as pissed as he tries to be. which i also believe, because he plays around during fights. i think hes having fun too. hes just trying to ignore it in favor of the overall mission, which is completely fair and is kinda needed. without shadow sonic would have no fucking clue what to do hed just be running around spitting off cheesy one liners like an idiot, but without sonic shadow would be all alone with nobody but space rocks and his pissy attitude. sonic does provide shadow with fun, and everyone needs a little fun and positivity. sonic makes him happy and keeps him entertained but he’d never admit that. they balance each other out in such a nice way. they need each other in more ways than one in my opinion.

this leads me into my favorite thing about this show: sonic is not simply the hero. he’s not just saving the day and that’s that like he thinks. it’s much more complicated. lots of people he’s met seem to have clashing opinions or views of the world, and that’s not a bad thing! most of rouges variants want to just hand over the shard and get it over with, which wouldnt help in the long run but is A REASONABLE THING TO THINK!!! shadow was never malicious he was just pissed off and he’s RIGHT! hell, i dont even think nine is wrong either!!! hes never even seen the reality that sonic is wishing for! all of these people simply want to be happy but theyre from completely different worlds in a very VERY dangerous situation, of course theres going to be conflict amongst people who ARENT the villains! because the world doesn’t revolve around sonic and in situations like these its hard to find a middle ground between COUNTLESS AMOUNTS OF PEOPLE FROM ALL AROUND THE MULTIVERSE!! i think it perfectly demonstrates how all of these people arent bad people, they simply dont view things the way sonic does and thats ok. theyre all just scared and confused and in a life or death situation. well, except for dread. that motherfuckers just crazy.

i do think nine should. maybe chill 😭😭. but i think sonic shouldve at least talked with the kid a bit more about the overall goal cuz damn. i like the parallel between shadow saying “theyre not your real friends.” and nine saying hes real. because shadow was right in a sense. nine is NOT tails. he’s REAL, sure, but hes not the real TAILS. he isnt the real tails and hes not sonics friend just because sonic knows a version of him. that doesnt mean they cant BE friends but sonic being quick to assume that nine will end up like tails was just wrong on his part. sonic was quick to assume so many things about nine because of his relation to tails, and he shouldn’t have done that. he should’ve listened to shadow. it’s all “ooo shadows such a fuckin debby downer party pooping asshole” until the universe still isnt put together and THEN people consider that yeah maybe he was a little right. harsh, but right. literally if shadow was able to go into those portals i promise you this shit wouldve been over before we even got a season two. like genuinely i feel like they keep shadow in the void simply because they need to prolong the season. and i love the content dont get me wrong but please just let him go with sonic that motherfucker really does need a babysitter. i think we need BOTH of them in the actual shatterspaces. like i said, they balance each other out. if shadow was to go on his own i honestly think he wouldnt do too good either. hed just ignore everyone else and try to get things done quickly without needing help and sure he might get a little far but eventually hed need the help and he wouldnt have it. so i think sonic and shadow together should finally be allowed to do this shit fully together so that shadow can do what he has to do and sonic can go around making friends with multiverse people and saving them from robots on the side. its a win-win people!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!

i do like the fact that shadows speed is artificial so it isnt the same as sonics, or at least thats what i like to think. i know hes stuck in the void because of the chaos control he did (i think) and sonics speed might not be the only factor but i do think its interesting how they cant do the same things

but truly i think the only reason the writers are keeping them seperate is because they know damn well if they teamed up full time theyd start kissing eventually

i need u to know tht im thinking abt ur boba au SO much like actually. im so looking forward to wht u hav in store for it.. makes me think abt the ch0 crew a lot more than i probs would without it lol esp abt melami and how using her forte would work in kanai.. if they tried speaking to a victim through her how would that go.. since they dont actually die theres no ghost to talk to now is there… or would their originals soul turn up instead if she got their clothes .. and ofc the question whether she would also see shinigami and stuff.. many thoughts

this message was a treat to wake up to!! (don’t ask why i slept so long in the middle of the day shhh) glad to hear you’re so excited to see what’s next, I am too

and sorry that chapter 2 is taking so long, there are a couple reasons why:

1. life happens, I got busy with the first semester of school wrapping up, and then a busy holiday season

2. i’m showing my partner a playthrough of the game (slowly but surely) so they can understand what’s been driving me insane over the past half a year. good news: he likes yakou :) we’re on chapter 2 now so i’ve been waiting to have that fresher in my memory before writing/drawing the new version (well, some of it’s already done. but most of it)

3. until then (amidst other projects) I have been working on writing the later chapters where things start to go off the rails from the existing story a bit. @growling made a really excellent point recently that with the train crew alive, that’s kinda too many characters to juggle. and it’s true! putting a bunch of extra moving pieces in the story does complicate it quite a bit WHICH IS WHY i’ve been working on adding an extra chapter. well, two extra chapters actually. one i’m calling chapter 2.5 (which is a little side story like the dlcs) and one i’m calling chapter 5 - which is an entirely new mystery that happens before the canon chapter 5 - which will turn into chapter 6. the new ch5 is actually mostly written now and i’m so so so so so pleased with it >:)

Hey there! Got another question about your Apocalypse AU! So you talked about how Lloyd ended up with the Ninja. Now that leaves me asking, when and how did they win him over? How did he learn to trust them and become close? Thank you for answering my questions! Your art and your AU are super cool!

after chatting about this w @shadesofvermillionvoid for a while we came to something

we dont think that theres like.. an exact moment something in him clicks and he gets won over by the main group. it kind of happens as he stays with them.

so his powers are being blocked out, which means hes really weak, even having some trouble walking. the group always has someone watching him, he was their number one enemy after all, but he has no real way to attack or escape.

he slowly starts feeling.. safe? around kai and zane, who are nothing but nice to him despite everything. and help him get a different view on some of the things he doesn't understand.. like family. like why harumi would betray him, like how his life is nothing close to normality... and so on

he's still acting all snarky and evil around them, but those walls hes been putting up kind of crumble as he realizes that these people are different from anything he's ever seen

the others slowly warm up to him too, but kai and zane kind of guide them to it too. kai because.. he relates to lloyd/gb quite a lot. the 'green bandit' is what he could've become if he'd never turned good, an exagerrated version of kai. and zane because he's been undercover into the bandit's gang, he's seen his lows and his highs like no-one else has(if you dont count harumi). he knows this is someone with a troubled past and someone who is disconnected from reality. and he wants to help as much as he can, because lloyd is still just a kid, he has the chance to turn things around, despite everything he's done. just like kai.

(and.. kai feels bad for unnowingly using lloyd's power as a battery and performance enhancer when he was a villain..ill talk about that more in another post if anyone is interested hopefully)

so yeah, it's not a huge dramatic moment, it's something more gradual. we had some fun ideas of zane teaching lloyd how to cook and kai giving him some pen and paper to draw on.. just to let out his feelings into a less 'violent outburst'-y way.

still, lloyd has a complicated relationship with emotions.. keep in mind that he's still gb, the 'green bandit' at this point. he doesn't even remember his own real name. they all just call him "gb", although kai and zane know his name is lloyd.

gb's emotional walls may be being torn down slowly, but he's also got a record of being an exceptionally good liar. so, in the main group's eyes, they never really know if he trusts them or not until the final battle, where he makes a sacrifice to save them and the rest of ninjago.

and after that... well it's only uphill from there!

---

HDJDND SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO GET TO THIS!! pokemon came out and it TAKES ME A BIT to even it out when i have two.brainrots HDJDJDA

I've seen a ton of fan content where trucy is like furious with phoenix for not telling her that lamiroir or however you sorrel her name is her mother and I find that idea like. laughable. trucy is her father's daughter she is perceptive and precocious and has spent 7 years watching him bluff at poker. she knows when he's lying or not telling the full truth. and she also knows that while phoenix is a chronically terrible communicator, he's not going to keep her in the dark for no reason. like I feel like he eventually spends a solid month trying to figure out how to tell her only for her to be like hey.. she's my mom right? and he's like. yeah. like their relationship is so good and strong despite all the circumstances and all of phoenixs problems disorders. and she might get frustrated or put out by his actions sometimes but in this instance. well she is simply her father's daughter!!! sorry for ranting I just think that so few people understand phoenix and trucy and it makes me insane

i don't think she'd be furious per se i don't think it's all that unrealistic that she'd be upset with him to some degree. i think she'd also be upset with lamiroir for taking so long to tell her, but whereas i think the burden of letting trucy know is a little bit more on lamiroir than on phoenix in many instances, trucy's emotional connection to phoenix is much stronger so i think she'd expect more from him. but i definitely agree with you in that i dont buy that it'd be any kind of catastrophic falling out

i also don't think she'd ever come to the conclusion that lamiroir is her mother on her own, because she has literally zero reason to believe her mother is alive. to the best of general knowledge, thalassa gramarye died of a gunshot wound when trucy was very young, which isn't very ambiguous. She hasn't been missing or anything. I dont think thered be any logical way for her to draw the conclusion between 'my dad is acting weird and hiding something' to 'my mom is alive'

at the end of the day we have to do a ton of extrapolating about trucy's interiority because she presents herself in a very carefully curated way, so we don't ever get a great amount of insight into her personal feelings on the more complicated aspects of her life. it's hard to speak confidently on What Would Happen. i feel lke i could be sold on a lot of different perspectives here if done thoughtfully

hii tiny lil violet anon here :DD sadly i havent been able to work on rocket fic bc suddenly theres been a huge influx in work to do & i’ve been super tired ߹𖥦߹ i hope youre doing well though! just wanted to pop in and wish you a nice day ٩( ᐛ )و♡

(side note: out of curiosity, how did you get into guardians of the galaxy and rocket specifically?)

tiny lil violet nonnie, you are too sweet && this made my morning thank yoooou ‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. i’m sorry your work has gotten in the way of you doing more enjoyable things, and im so sorry it has you so exhausted! i hope you get to rest soon ♡

i’ve always loved comics but i was not really a marvel kid — mostly a dc/image/mirage kid. i’ve also always loved comics adaptions (my dad and i had a complicated relationship to put it mildly BUT i think we saw every batman movie ever made together, before the dceu…. happened). so i fell very easily into the marvel movies when they started coming out (except the hulk movies. i don’t believe in those.)

anyway i honestly just saw gotg 1 because it was a comic book movie. i didn’t know much about it walking in. i actually didn’t love the first movie in my first viewing. i can’t remember why - maybe i already hated chris pratt lol. i know i thought starlord as a character was kinda…boring. but what saved the movie for me was groot (adored him) and rocket (the minute we saw that fuckin raccoon’s back i was like…wtf why isn’t this movie about him??).

and you know. there was the snark. the voice. all that. i was in denial but it was there. im just predisposed to love a grumpy wounded person desperately trying to hide a heart of gold

then gotg 2 came out and i loved it. it was probably in my top three favorite marvel movies. it was so good i think it made the first movie better??? we got to see so much more of not just rocket’s backstory but who he is. how he interacts with people he loves. how he self-sabotages. how he shows care. i just wanted to bundle him up and protect him. and aside from rocket, this is also where i fell in love with yondu. and i am a sucker for a sibling dynamic (startling no-one) so i loved the nebula & gamora arc too.

i probably started rewatching both movies at this point. not obsessively but they were definitely comfort rewatches. and partner has the marvel unlimited app so i was catching up on a lot of the comics

narrative structure is also really important to me and i have a rigorous list of what makes a “”good” trilogy (different t from what makes a “fun” trilogy) and gotg is like. one of two or three trilogies that make the cut.

then 3. ugh. once the first trailer came out and it was clearly focused on rocket, i stayed away from all gotg media. put a pause on reading the comics — everything. i wanted to go in with no preconceived notions. a few things had happened to me in the year or so prior to the movie coming out. i’ll skip explaining those because they require their own content warnings and this is already very long but suffice it to say i was predisposed to feel very strongly about this movie.

so. 3 broke my heart but it also put it back together. i think it might be the most realistically hopeful movie i’ve ever seen. from a narrative perspective, each character is so loved by gunn. they were each given the ending they needed and deserved. but also i felt like the message of the movie was this:

no matter how fucked up and ugly you think you or your past are, you deserve to allow yourself the possibility of joy & connection.

and i just. i needed that. as a mental health professional, i think almost all the clients ive ever worked with have needed that. i think a lot of the world needs that.

anyway that’s how i fell in love

starlord still bores me tho

Incredibly stupid/uneducated question incoming:

Can you like,,, explain Butch? Is it only lesbians? Is it a gender expression? Is it a like series of life choices and values? I'm honestly asking, because the way people talk about it and the way I'd kind of come to understand it as a sheltered 90's kid are not lineing up so well. I just didn't think Google was a good place to kind of try and figure this out.

I'm so sorry to bother you, and hope you are having a good day! Thanks so much for your time!

you dont need to worry about asking questions in good faith. also sorry this is a long reply

Trying to answer what butch is kinda complicated because it's such a complex identity. There are as many versions of butch as there are butches in the world.

There's a lot of discourse online based on flawed ideas of gender and sexuality that have people claim it's a lesbian only term (femme as well) but throughout its history it's been used by all sorts of queer people. Idk how much you know about how lesbianism has changed throughout the last century or so, but before 70's/80's introduction of political lesbians and transphobic cis lesbian movements, being a lesbian meant, in general, a woman who has sex with other women. this didnt exclude people who also has sex with or were attracted to men, or people of other genders. being a lesbian was something you did, not something you were. bc of that, you'd have butches/femmes who may not have been exclusively attracted to the same gender. There's been resurgences and push back of the recent idea that theyre lesbian exclusive terms.

It can be a very complex identity. It can mean gender expression. The popular idea is that it's a queer woman expressing queer masculinity. That includes clothing, certain roles taken, and other aspects of gender expression. It's also as malleable as people can decide. It can mean anything ranging from the classic leather dyke, to exaggerated masculinities (like drag kings), to Black specific expression like studs ( i should note someone being a stud does not automatically mean they identify as butch, but there are a lot of Black studs who so identify with butch too) . Things like stone butches tend to denote the sexual preference of not wanting to be touched during sex.

And yeah google's not the best place to find the nuances of queer identity I would know lol

Theres a cool poem I wish I could find that puts all of this into perspective. There's a line i think that went something like "a butch is not a man, except when he is" god i wish i could find it. if someone knows what im talking about please share.

so i have to go to work soon and am feeling quite scatterbrained so im sorry if this doesn't feel coherent. But I've been thinking for the last couple days about Elia Martell.

I understand that Elia Martell is supposed to be dead. that her narrative role is to be dead. but i keep wondering about if she had lived. (i have severe difficulty believing that Tywin actually wanted her to live, despite his "regret" over the Mountains actions. i think his regret literally comes from the fact that Dorne is a pian in his ass and not because of anything ehtical or even Strategic*)

*how would it have been strategic to let the princess consort of the previous regime live and go back home after killing her husband and her children? she would probably have been a political hostage tbh, to ensure Dorne's behavior, forcibly remarried by whomever Tywin chose. have no idea who that would be tho. but thats besides the point.

to be honest, I'm too scatterbrained to get all my thoughts in order, but if Elia had lived (and was aloowed to go back home), I have genuine doubts that Dorne would have enacted the same type of long lasting revenge that they do in canon. probably Doran and Oberyn would want the Mountain dead, and Tywin as well, but in this case their sister is actually "alive and well" and while children are precious, at least they have their sister back with them safe. and of course, probably Elia probably would be "broken" in this case. little more than someone wracked by grief. (tho maybe not. proably suicidal, or maybe the fact that shed be grief stricken, "broken" would drive them to revenge)

anyway, if Elia was going to live, i keep thinking that shed very likely become hard, after being the woman of sweet wit once. and I dont know, but if she wanted revenge, would Dorne really help her get it? i know that mysoginy is real, and Westeros seems to have a hard time allowing women to get their own revenge. I dont doubt the depth of Oberyns feelings, but its been almost fifteen years and its clear that he put Elia on a pedestal, (probably seeing the real woman would be truly difficult for him) and Doran clearly wants political vengeance in the story.

GRRM said that Elia and Rhaegar had a complicated relationship, and it seems to me that She probably loved Him more than He loved her. so its questionable whether she would want revenge on purely on his behalf, which would lead to very complicated feelings of vengeance and scorn intermixed, naturally.

probably shed be a heavier inspiration to Arriane, if Elia wanted revenge against Robert but her brothers dont exactly listen, with Oberyn wanting the glory of the act and Doran's never ending patience.

I wont lie, i couldn't help think on this because i Know that the Stansas tend to wrack Elia Martell's description like a corpse doll for whatever shit they're snorting atm, but i think that if Elia had lived, theres a small chance that she would want to go to Daenerys.

Daenerys fitting the description of the Prince that Was Promised- which Elia would probably know about since Rhaegar told her the song title-and also bringing Dragons Back, which probably Rhaegar spoke pf repeatedly.

I dont think Elia would feel only scorn for Rhaegar, even his actions probably hurt her a lot, especially because over the years she too would, alos view him through a lenses of grief. but i think that if Elia knew that Daenerys seems to be the one Rhaegar was waiting for, she'd want to be at her good sisters side, either for vengeance, or because she too, wanted to see the dream of spring-the hope- that no doubt Rhaegar had shared with her.

what do you think?

So, thank you for asking my opinion on this, but this is really not my thing. I believe I'm fairly good at analysing written text, but I am not good at speculation and imagining alternative endings and what ifs. Maybe you should adress this question to someone in this fandom who writes fanfiction or generally likes speculation, AUs, etc. I will tag @ladyalianora for a pro-Rhaegar approach and @alethiaii for a not so pro-Rhaegar approach.

Having said that speculation is not my thing, I don't really know what would have happened if she had lived, cause she died, and her death is a pretty important part of the story and definitely the most important part of her story. But if i want to speculate, Elia surviving without her children in my opinion wouldn't have changed things so drastically. Her house would still want revenge over the dead children. It is not only Elia that would want revenge as you say, it's her entire house, and in my personal opinion, in universe, I think the children were actually more important than Elia herself for the house Martell. Not for her brother maybe, but for the house and the legacy of Dorne, the children are the most important. Let's be real. These children were Martell children and they were the heirs to the throne, they were supposed to succeed their father and grandfather and they would have if Baratheons and Lannisters hadn't killed them. This new order of things didn't just erase Targaryens, it erased Martells as well and the power they held because of their affiliation to the Targaryens. Yes Rhaegar left Elia but her children were always going to be the Targaryen heirs and nothing in the world would change that. It's Robert and the Lannisters that killed them and usurped their father so for Dorne they will always be the actual enemy, always. Plus they would really dislike the Starks because of their alliance with them and because of Lyanna, realistically.

So yeah Dorne would definitely want to avenge the children.

As for Elia, she would be a shadow of her former self, abandonned by her husband who is now dead, and with her children killed. Her attitude towards Rhaegar would be really complex cause he did abandon her but at the same time, strangely, tragically, her interests were tied to him, his death was the catalyst for the death of her children. She would definitely had mixed feelings, bitterness, betrayal, scorn possibly, she would definitely accuse him for being the cause of this entire rebellion but at the same time she would, I believe, feel intense grief over his death and usurpation. As GRRM said, their relationship was complicated, I personally believe there was some sort of understanding between them before he left, there was some sort of closure, cause I believe this possibility is way more in tune with Rhaegar's canon characterization. They were in an arranged marriage after all, it was a marriage of duty. But I'm 100% biased in Rhaegar's favour so maybe you don't agree. Also her negative feelings for Rhaegar would be largely covered by the disgust she would obviously feel for anyone involved in the new regime, the Lannisters, the Baratheons and the Starks.

To sum it up, her mental state would be very interesting to write, very complicated and tragic, just an endless sea of grief and disgust directed towards many different people, her husband, and his usurpers. An Andromache type of character.

As for her attitude towards Dany, I really don't know cause I never thought about this. Maybe she would go to her maybe not. I feel that Dany would be the one to go to Elia and not the other way round. Dany would absolutely want to meet her and talk to her, she would be the only hint of family she has left after all and they could have a connection over their common loss of their families at the end of the Rebellion.

"Daenerys fitting the description of the Prince that Was Promised- which Elia would probably know about since Rhaegar told her the song title-and also bringing Dragons Back, which probably Rhaegar spoke pf repeatedly". Now I do believe it is a possibility that Rhaegar had shared with Elia the prophecy but I am not so sure. Maybe he was very solitary in his visions. And also I don't believe he spoke repeatedly of bringing the Dragons back. I actually don't buy this and I think the fandom has severely misinterpreted his "obsession" with the prophecy. The line "the dragon has to have three heads" was spoken in Dany's dream and it was spoken to Dany. Rhaegar in the dream looked directly at Dany when he said that, and as we know, Dany was most definitely not present in the real scene, if we supposed it was real (it wasn't). It was Dany's vision, not Rhaegar's. All we know about Rhaegar himself was Aemon saying :

"He shared my belief when he was young, but later he became persuaded that it was his own son who fulfilled the prophecy, for a comet had been seen above King’s Landing on the night Aegon was conceived, and Rhaegar was certain the bleeding star had to be a comet".

That's it. He first believed he was TPTWP and then he believed his son was TPTWP. Period. So I really do not get how we concluded from this that Rhaegar was obsessed with having three children and that he even talked about it all the time. All this comes from Dany's vision, where Rhaegar was talking to her. And this theory is directly promoted by Targ antis who believe the Targs are just a bunch of self aggrandising assholes starting with Dany herself.

So no at this point I don't vibe with what you say. I do believe, however, that Elia would recognise Rhaegar's visionary and idealistic personality in Dany, along with other specific traits, and she would probably believe that Dany may be able to achieve what he did not.

hihi :3! may i request spending the holidays with ena, mizuki and mafuyu (separate if it’s okay). I KNOW THERES STILL TIME UNTIL CHRISTMAS BUT IM JUST IN A MOOD OK😿. btw have an amazing day/night, and you don’t need to accept this req if u dont wanna <3

Hoo boy, the holidays are wayy closer than last time I was here, aha... Actually, they're far closer than I expected!

{Mafuyu/Ena/Mizuki with reader on the holidays!}

Mafuyu Asahina

Oh boy... How complicated I'd it going to be when Mafuyu explains that her holiday celebration were something like... A beta version of a miniature of the real thing? Yeah...

She didn't even know what you were talking about when you suddenly started to say stuff like preparing the tree and presents since November! Like, it's something so small and unimportant that it doesn't take much preparation... Right?

Prepare yourself for almost a day worth of explaining the true traditions, the significance, the joys, and the experience of a true holiday, and expect her to not understand for half of the day what you're talking about...

"... I'm not sure I understand. Is it really that big of a deal? I mean, I've heard about it a lot during my years as a student, but I never expected it to be so important... Because it is important, right? At least, from what you're telling me."

And ALSO prepare yourself to guide her along the whoooole month leading up to the 25th (nice), and for her to be confused about the significance of putting colored plastic balls on a fake tree... It's a lot to explain.

However, as you are putting the lights on and turning off the lights for a visual test, she finally understands. This is to relax from the busy year, isn't it? After all, a celebration doesn't have to be born out of a very important purpose, simply by existing it is important enough to the world!

Now that she comprehends, she will start researching herself and find out about the millions of holiday customs in the world, and she'll frankly be a little stunned. You tell her that you can explore slowly but surely each year, and she seems quite intrigued...

However, make sure to hide it all from her parents, with the help of the rest of the group! It will absolutely be a thin tightrope to walk along, but now that you have her interest, she'll give her effort to ensure the preparations aren't for naught!

Long story short, she doesn't understand the Christmas spirit, and now it's your job to help her with it, all for the efforts to help her have a more normal life! You can bet she'll be thankful by the end, even if she may not be aware of it herself....

Ena Shinonome

She is absolutely not taking advantage of all of the preparing process and time with the decorations to snap millions upon millions of selfies and photos for her page. Yup, absolutely nothing sketchy going on here.

It definitely could get a little absurd, as almost each 25 seconds she has to stop you to take a photo of her and the decoration, you and the tree, maybe all of them at once! She never missed a beat and is always holding her phone for the right moments!

It takes a few days for her to realize that, by focusing on only her social media and her photos that she has been neglecting your actual efforts to work and prepare everything by leaving it all to you!

Preparing presents, the tree, the decoration, she was so focused on the pictures that she wasn't doing what you both planned: For both of you to decorate together! Cue an 'Oh crap' realization sooner or later!

As soon as she does, expect her to put in double the effort the next few days! She really feels bad for abandoning her part of the deal for such a selfish reason, and Ena wouldn't ignore the consequences that this could have on your mood or energy if she doesn't compensate immediately!

"Ok ok! What else do you want from me? Huh? Why am I so excited?? Well, I have to make it up to you, of course! I'm not the type of friend that just says sorry to the problems they cause and does nothing to fix them! So tell me, how can I help??"

It actually starts to get a little too much in the exact opposite direction, as her enthusiasm is unlike nothing you have seen from her before! Except for her art, and some editing of photos. But this... Is quite the unique sight!

You'll actually have to make sure that she doesn't overwork herself, by checking up on her and rewarding her! And what better way than to offer her the main reason why she was so selfish before...?

So in the end, you're both left satisfied, and the preparations are done way before the deadline! You both go out for a congratulatory dinner outside, and another picture would pop up in the artist's account soon enough...

Mizuki Akiyama

Hoo boy, here comes the one that presents the exact same opposite reaction of the honor student's, here comes the pink menace that would actually start to prepare everything before you!

Get ready, for the seamstress's excitement will force you to try and keep up with them at all times! Not only trying to catch up to them progress, but helping out with everything new from there on now... It could be rough, and their seemingly boundless energy will make the process go on for days!

However, this is only one side of their mood swings, one that changes their behavior before any special festivity! And with the swing going one way, it will eventually swing the other way, in the most umprecedented times!

Mizuki will forsee the following days, and will suddenly start to work even harder, making you struggle even harder to keep up wth every day that passes! As they notice how worried you're becoming, the mood swing hits completely, and they start to feek instensly guilty...

"I"m sooooososo sorry for not noticing before! Oh gosh, I feel like such a jerk now... Nono, this is absolutely my fault, and I can't let you suffer because of my careless behavior! Now just lay down on the bed as I bring the food over! What are your favorite snacks??"

Get ready for a sudden pace shift as the next days are spent just chilling as the editor takes care of your every need so that you recover better! Although you appreciate it, you can't help but wonder what happened for them to shift gears... And why does their smile look so sad at times?

And then the realization hits. They have been saying so many times that it's their fault... Do they really feel that intensely guilty? When they bring the next plate of food, you confront them and force them to explain everything. They give in without major resistance when they perceive that you already know the truth...

They can't even look you in the eye as they explain how, aside of how her energy made you so overwhelmed, it's been running out recently. It's the first time you've seen them so vulnerable; there's no light in their smile. You gently sit them down and have a chat with them, to ensure that this wasn't their fault!

It takes a while, but they give in. After all, the work wasn't for nothing, right? After all, you still have more than a week left and everything is almost done! Perhaps this opportunity to rekax wasn't missused. They laugh, their enthusiasm glowing once again! Maybe they should just chill for a bit... Especially with your company!

hey I was wondering if/how you managed to get a cfs diagnosis? its smth i've always suspected I have but everyone tries to convince me it's just a lifestyle issue or a depression side effect :/ also if theres any resources you've found helpful for managing it? thanks in advance !

(also not time sensitive so no pressure to answer quick or at all, trust me, I Get It)

I did manage to get an official CFS diagnosis, but it was more like I kept saying 'I have CFS' until finally, a doctor said 'okay' and put it on my diagnosis list. that's an oversimplification but what I mean is, don't count on the doctors to know shit about fuck about cfs lmao

This going to be a long, complicated answer, so heads up for that lol

I am extremely lucky that I have a mother who supports me. She helped me every step of the way, including standing up for me when I was dismissed and/or ridiculed by medical professionals. This isn't to say it's impossible to get your diagnosis without support, but it certainly helps and I'm not going to pretend her support didn't factor into things.

The first thing you have to do is get any other issues managed. For me, this meant trying out a few different antidepressants until I found one that helped my depression but ~somehow~ didn't affect my fatigue. I was able to point out that my depression symptoms didn't line up with my fatigue. depression and CFS symptoms both fluctuate, so if the fatigue was a part of the depression, it would line up- ie, more depressed, more fatigued (and vice versa)

this also means the doctors have to rule out everything that can cause fatigue. medication side effects, thyroid levels, sleep apnea, anemia, Lymes disease, etc.

something that will be VERY helpful in getting diagnosed is knowing CFS, because most doctors won't know shit about it. Although, with more people getting Long Covid, more doctors are realizing CFS is a real thing. This is because Long Covid is CFS. CFS is a post-viral condition, so if you can point out when you got a really bad virus and then started getting CFS symptoms, that will also be SUPER helpful.

More than likely, at least one doctor will try to shut you down for 'looking up your symptoms on Google and diagnosing yourself'. No shame if that's how you first heard of CFS, but I found it very satisfying to tell the doctor that I checked out library books and took notes lmao! The book I found that was super helpful was "Hope and Help for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia" by Alison C. Bested, Alan C. Logan, and Russell Howe.

as for other resources that may help, the r/cfs subreddit has been quite helpful! mostly in regards to support, but they also have some good links and advice

if you have any more questions or need me to clarify something, feel free to come back and ask! there is a lot more I can say about diagnosis criteria, symptoms besides fatigue, etc but I've already wrote an obscene amount, sorry lol

OH also I kept my notes from when I checked out the book I mentioned above, so if you are interested I can also share that info and save you the effort of reading the book yourself lol

Asking very earnestly - in your opinion at least, how do you think TES creators should approach the inherent racism with the Dunmer and Azura’s curse, if someone was wanting to fix it? Because it does make me really uncomfortable yet I’m not sure how to approach it in a better way. My first thought was to have it so the Velothi had always had grey skin, and Azura only cursed them with the red eyes. But then theres Vivec and Almalexia whose designs are very distinct and predicated on the complete or partial golden skintone (and obviously reworking that iconic gold skintone into like, not a past skintone, but a mark of divinity of some kind would still carry colorist connotations), and also the whole Velothi backstory with having been Aldmer. Theres so many contingencies that it leaves me feeling like there IS no good way to fix the situation? So then, is the best call to just acknowledge and condemn the racism of the Dunmer curse and leave it? And work within canon improving Dunmer lore in other ways? Sorry for the long ask, I have been having this conversation with myself all day since reading your post and I am very frustrated that Tes is so flagrantly racist like this (and this is just one thing on top of soooo much else) and with Tes being my ultimate special interest I can’t help but want to fix all its problems if only in my own fanworks and not perpetuate its bullshit wherever possible

I feel you anon -- closing our eyes to the racist canon does no one any favors but it's so deeply embedded that reinterpretation is a truly mammoth task. The answer ultimately ends up being individual: what purpose does my reinterpretation serve?

I won't get into all my complicated family shit but I would be remiss not to mention that while many of my blood relatives have been the targets of racism, I have not; I move through the world as a white person. There are issues I can speak to from direct experience and issues I can't, so part of the work is sorting out where the limits of my knowledge lie.

That being the case, I, Ray Wispstalk, wouldn't undertake an effort to reimagine the Dunmer origin story. This isn't to say that I'll avoid the subject entirely -- it's necessary to actively betray the institution of whiteness at every opportunity -- but ultimately any condemnation in my writing is just words. Not worth a lot to begin with, so it's extra-important that I don't cause anyone pain with my shallow understanding of colorism.

Putting aside my personal lens, it's also a matter of time and effort! Azura's curse is such a central piece of lore and once you start tinkering it'll ripple out into everything else. But tinkering is good and the more people do it the closer we get to a world where the fantasy genre doesn't lean so heavily on race science. Brainstorm and fuck around and eventually you'll find the shape of what you want to say and have a clearer picture of how to execute it.

Sorry if this is random, but not many people are in the rswr fandom so you may be flooded with questions for the next week.

how related do you think Roman from sanders sides is to Roman from rswr? I know they address it in the first episode a little, but it’s still unclear to me. They seem very different in terms of personality and goals. It can’t be a coincidence because Thomas sanders wouldn’t just use one of the names of his well established characters for nothing.

sorry again, this was really long.

No need to apologise for sending me asks! I'm always happy to talk, especially about roleslaying

This is a topic that's been rattling around my head for a while so here goes

I would agree with you there, sanders sides and roleslaying with roman are very different. Different universe, characters, message, tone, etc. I think there's probably no in-universe connection between the two series tbh (although it can be fun to imagine the roleslaying universe as the creation of princey, for example).

Some people call roleslaying a spin-off of sanders sides but I'm not a fan of that tbh. It's a show that involves a guy who makes another show, not a spin off. Roleslaying has a much larger cast of entirely new characters, much more worldbuilding and whats looking to be a more complicated plot. Spin-offs usually take place at least in the same universe as the original media, but that's clearly not whats happening here.

Plus if it was a spin-off or if sanders sides had any real in-universe significance to roleslaying, "doc" Janus probably would have had more than 5 minutes screen time and Roman would be more similar to side!Roman

Personally, I think that dnd is the kind of game where someone who has an established oc might choose to adapt them to fit a new universe, because people are very attached to their ocs and it's fun! I do feel that at it's core, roleslaying is just thomas and his friends having fun and telling us a cool story as theu do it.

So Roman was taken from the sanders sides universe because he was an established character who Thomas enjoyed playing, and then he created a new character based partially on side!Roman and partially adapted to better fit the context of the campaign. A prince really wouldn't have fit with the story they're telling here, and changing that part of Princey changes a lot of Roman's character so we end up with a very different person. But they have the same name because rswr!Roman came from side!Roman.

When it comes to doc Janus, some people might say that he was there as a way to grab sanders sides fans' attention and in some ways I'd agree. But I also think his inclusion in the story (and likely any inclusion of other ts characters in the future) probably started from AJ thinking "hey my friend has these cool ocs, and the character he's playing is already inspired by them, I bet he'd enjoy it if we put some of his ocs into the campaign!" But doc janus isn't plot relevant or anything because at the end of the day, roleslaying isn't supposed to be a spin-off or sanders sides focused at all

So. This got a bit longer than I was expecting but to summarise. I think that the roleslaying and sanders sides universes are totally separate, but they have references between them just for fun. It's like the equivalent of putting a character into a private campaign as a reference to an inside joke, except theres an audience who's also in on it

I know my mutuals have a lot of thoughts on this topic too so if anyone else has something to say, go ahead! This is just how I personally think of the 2 universes and what I'm guessing the intentions are behind how they reference each other