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demonslayedher · 2 years

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Hi! What are your opinions on Kanao? Like how her trauma was dealt with/developed, how she was just characterized in general? I sort of want to write a fic and I was wondering if you have any tips on how you would write her?

Gut reaction opinion: She’s baby.

But, to think more deeply on Kanao (a few thousand words more), I hope you don’t mind me borrowing a few lines from one of my own fics about the pre-canon Butterfly Mansion:

“Deep down inside, Tsuyuri may have always had the spirit of a Flower Breath user. She withered early in life, but she’s got roots, slowly, slowly strengthening her. She’s got Kanzaki to prepare food for limber and strong limbs, little ones to shade and protect, and a shower of love to help her grow. Deep in her heart, sleeping quietly, she may possess the will of a weed.” “The Wasp's Nest” – Chapter 5

If I bring up this fic a lot, it’s because it’s the result of all the questions I’ve asked about Shinobu, Aoi, and Kanao, especially in light of the Taisho Secret before Chapter 164 which details how Kanao learned Flower Breath by watching, and despite not thinking for herself, she decided of her own accord to do something as drastic as joining the Final Selection. I was stunned by that Taisho Secret, as without it, I would have interpreted Shinobu and Kanao's relationship completely differently, with Kanao having been raised to use Breath Technique and been told to go participate in the Final Selection.

Some of my reasons for that: 1. In the flashback extra chapter of Shinobu complaining to Kanae about Kanao being unable to think for herself, she says its “dangerous.” I had misremembered this as being in reference to taking her to battle, though the actual text doesn’t necessarily imply that. 2. In Chapter 100, Gotou describes Kanao as a seriously weird kid who doesn’t even talk, and that she’s been made to fight demons ever since she was a child. 3. The fact that we had zero indication of Kanao having made a choice on her own prior to Tanjiro’s influence on her.

The most damning evidence of the three of these is Gotou’s comment, though it’s possible to explain this in-universe as Gotou’s erroneous assumption. He’s not far off, as the other little girls might not have been forced to fight demons (perhaps for lack of aptitude) but they do have to work as nurses for slayers with gruesome injuries. What’s interesting is that in the manga, we aren’t presented with Kanao’s back story until after hearing that she makes decisions by flipping a coin, whereas Ufotable shaped our perception of the coin flipping scene with Tanjiro by giving Kanao’s back story and Kanae’s “when she meets a boy” commentary an episode earlier. (Also, the glittery-eyed moment with the wind sweeping by her is anime-only, and they removed the part with Kiyo startling her and making her fall off the engawa.) A part of me suspects this change in presentation order is because Kanao was a hard character for Gotouge to get right. Wani-sensei probably wasn't decisive on the skirt length and then blamed it on Maeda, I bet. There was a vision in mind for Kanao all along (no pun intended), but like the rest of the cast, she was extreme in ways that didn’t totally come across without more explicit explanation, and Gotouge might have gotten to know her better over the course of writing her. I also suspect that, in light of the cruel realities of fighting demons and the strictness that requires, and already being a world in which children often undergo grueling Breath technique training, the original intention might had been for Kanae to have taught her Flower Breath all along. However, this idea might had gotten ret-conned via Taisho Secret to soften the image of the Kochou girls and show them raising orphaned girls purely out of the goodness of their hearts, not to pass on their demon fighting legacy to the next generation of swordsmen, even though this is exactly what we see Shinobu doing by raising Kanao as her Tsuguko.

While I’m not an expert in trauma and recovery (and I look for a story to be convincing as opposed to realistic), what I found most jarring in Kanao’s development was the switch from Shinobu as “Shihan” (Master) to Shinobu as “Neesan,” and if it was always meant to be a “Neesan” relationship all along, then why did only Kanao, among all the other Butterfly Mansion girls, get this extra level of closeness? Those were questions I wanted to wrestle with in fic, which was why I created Tsuguko OCs to try to unravel how the Butterfly Mansion dynamic became the way it was (ultimately that fic is just my own personal take on how canon might had come about, but in the end it is still fanfic and can’t speak for canon, and everyone is entitled to their own imagination on how to work with any given character in fic. I still like my version, though).

So, with this as background for how I am most curious about Kanao’s development, let’s look at her from a chronological perspective with what clues canon provides.

Childhood: Sucked.

According to the second fanbook, Kanao was the eighth of eleven children, we know that at least a couple of her brothers died, and their bodies were just left around to be cold by morning. They were especially punished if they cried, which was why Kanao desperately tried to avoid that. She refined a skill of narrowly avoiding being hit in her vital spots, but one day, it was all too much, and something in her snapped, and she didn’t feel anything anymore.

We do see some light return to her eyes when she encounters the Kochou sisters. By that time, she is covered in filth and bugs, so much so the man who expects to make money off of her doesn’t even want to be physically near her. To expand on this, I’ve copied about half of this post of random Kanao thoughts: I was reading the section in this book about Kanao being sold as a child, and they theorized that between being sold to a factory or do agricultural labor or being sold into prostitution, she was most likely sold into prostitution, for she could be sold into prostitution to be a Kamuro at a younger age than she could had been sold to other places. Her parents likely could had gotten a higher upfront price for her this way (somewhere around the range of 1M-3M yen in modern currency) and gotten rid of her earlier. This makes me wonder if the reason we only see brothers in her flashbacks is because any older sisters were already long gone, and they had to hang onto the boys until around age 12 when they could legally work in factories. As for the man who bought her finding her so dirty that he kept her on a rope, the book proposes that perhaps like the Yarite of the Ogimoto-ya spotting a beauty like Inoko under all the ugly makeup, he also had a good eye for spotting diamonds in the rough and getting them for cheap. As for Kanao’s age, this is a bit of a mystery to me, as there is a big difference between her height and Shinobu’s, implying that Kanao is very, very young. However, I think there’s only a four year window in which this encounter could had possibly taken place, and given that Kanae is wearing that haori (though it’s possible she wore it since before becoming a Pillar) and Shinobu seems drawn more similar to the flashback in which Kanae dies than in the light novel chapter when the freshly orphaned girls meet bother Himejima, that makes me narrow it down to more like a 2-year window, and to keep Kanao on the very young side, I’m making a big assumption by saying she’s a very scrawny 10-year-old.

But it’s just so hard to see this Shinobu as 12! I tell you, one of the facts that shakes me the most, still!!! Is that when canon takes place, Shinobu is 18 and Kanao is 16. SIXTEEN!!!?? But… but she’s baby… but also, like how do they even know that!?!? She didn’t know her own birthday, so they picked they day they found her (which Ufotable totally did not follow, as they set this against winter scenery and the day they took her home was May 19). So were they like, “so how old are you? Aoi’s age?” and Kanao didn’t deny it, so they just decided, okay, she’s the same age as Aoi (even though she clearly seems younger, it must be due to undernourishment and trauma, right??? Did they not see she’s baby???)

So anyway. Baby who they have decided is only two years younger than Shinobu needs a name. We do not know if Kiyo, Sumi, or Naho were around yet, but Aoi sure was, though not in a Corp uniform yet. We also do not know what Aoi’s relationship with the Butterfly Mansion was in the first place. Aoi has her own story and we can make guesses but we will never know it. What we do know is that the four girls made a game of letting Baby choose her name, writing some ideas for names down (and I assume having read them aloud to her as I doubt she’d have ever been taught to read—she probably got a lot of education to keep her busy after entering the mansion). Among the first names, Shinobu added some fishy names that she didn’t realize would sound weird, and Kanao was about to go for “Kamasu” (barracuda) when Aoi swept it out of her reach. As for surnames, they let her pick this out too and gave her options that included “Kochou” and “Kanzaki” but she went for the rare (but existent) surname Tsuyuri. As for Kanao’s name sounding so close to Kanae’s, there is a theory in the Japanese fandom that there is a pun woven into it which shows Kanae’s wishes for Kanao.

Kanao doesn’t go out of her way to interact, and but will cooperatively do whatever she’s told. As a reminder, she was in such a state that even with her stomach growling with hunger, she won’t eat unless she’s told to (probably a rule around her family home about not eating without permission). With all her sense of suffering having snapped, she might not had even recognized that’s she felt hungry, and I’m willing to interpret her as having had other emotions, but being unable to recognize them. After all, years later when she’s slaying demons, she is still convinced that everything is “whatever” so there’s no need for her to decide a thing; it has been 5 to 7-ish years since Kanae told her to make decisions with the coin and Kanao has been doing exactly that for this whole time. At some level, Kanao has chosen via indecision to remain as she is, giving herself no pressure to get in touch with her own feelings.

However, she does have them.

When Kanae died, Kanao was distressed, and recognized this—was even troubled by the fact that she was distressed, and felt she should be crying, but could not. This was a moment when Kanao was forced to recognized that there was something wrong with herself, despite having given herself permission—by way of indecision—to remain in a numb “whatever” state in which she doesn’t need to face her own heart, and the pain it carries. She wasn’t only experiencing a physical inability to cry due to her history having to keep from getting physically harmed, but was forced to peer into her own Pandora’s Box. While we wasn’t aware of it, at the time she was probably facing a decision: open the box more, or close it? By way of indecision, it stayed as it was.

Kanao really couldn’t help that she felt pain and sympathy and righteous anger, especially when seeing (specifically, according to that aforementioned Taisho Secret) how Aoi and the little girls had lost their families to demons, and how Shinobu lost her parents, her sister, and her Tsuguko to demons. Kanao knew she had to do something, but since she wasn’t good at nursing work like the other girls were, she became a demon slayer. THIS WAS A DECISION. The Taisho Secret makes it absolutely clear that this was Kanao’s will, even if Shinobu worried that this was a decision Kanao made because of the environment she was in instead of this being a decision Kanao wanted.

So maybe the voice in Kanao’s heart is small, and she still relies on the coin even for small things like whether or not she wants to train with the boys (the coin said not, at least in the anime, because the anime added tons more breathing room (no pun intended) to the Functional Recovery Arc) and whether or not to say anything to Tanjiro (the coin said yes). However, these are pretty innocuous decisions; Kanao has zero confidence in deciding what she wants, and is used to not even asking herself. It’s easier not to. It’s also easier not to get emotionally involved with other people…

…because Kanao has does care very, very deeply for other people.

While I considered more about Kanao’s potential relationship with her other siblings on this Ask, what I want to focus on here is that Kanao was of course scared for her own physical safety, but she had to watch her siblings suffer and die. Kanao, who was willing to risk her life because of the injustice she felt for her new housemates/sisters-ish, probably could no longer take helplessly watching her siblings perish.

I really like that one of the ways Ufotable added to her story was in a scene where the Kamaboko boys are training together, Kanao is watching, and Shinobu suggests she join, after all, they’re from the same batch (translation: You need friends, Kanao). Kanao silently smiles and bows and nopes off to the side (which Shinobu probably was resigned to expecting), and after pondering them a moment, Kanao flips the coin. The kicker is that Kanae instructed Kanao all those years ago to use the coin “when she can’t decide” and in this moment, Kanao really didn’t know if she wanted to train with (aka, bond with) those boys. Caring about people opens oneself to being hurt; it’s safer to feel nothing.

But let’s look back at that big decision Kanao made, resolutely. She went to that Final Selection and came out without a scratch. This was not due to any external pressure put on her or instruction whatsoever, Kanao knew to do this without a doubt. Her selfless empathy and righteous anger drove her to that, no matter how much she believes she doesn’t feel anything.

So anyway, Kanao, in this resoluteness while also being untouchable for as long as she never makes the decision to peer into her own heart, blasts through the first five of ten ranks within a couple months. Baby is bonkers, I hope Shinobu was astounded. But then Tanjiro BOOM-BOOMed his way into Kanao's life with his Functional Recovery period, and took the top of her box and threw it away as forcefully as he threw her coin. Kanao’s locked away emotions stood no chance.

Let’s be clear, Kanao might had fallen in love with Tanjiro in that scene, but it wasn’t until his declaration of how he was going to wrestle that box open one away or another—I mean, not give up if the first coin toss failed. No, Kanao was emotionally invested for other reasons. It was all a safe, if not awkward conversation until Tanjiro took possession of her coin, and Kanao fretted about having given someone the power to make decisions for her which might have emotional consequences; until this point it’s always been easy to follow instructions as long as she’s numb to the results either way. She’s put herself in a vulnerable position by letting Tanjiro hold that coin, which is for when Kanao is emotionally invested in something enough to not be able to decide something. But then when Tanjiro tosses it, she’s eager to know what fate will decide. On the one hand, she’s terrified of the result Tanjiro wants. Listening to her own heart means being vulnerable, to care, to suffer. But on the other hand, she does want this, but has been too scared this whole time to make the decision to do anything with that partially open box. Having someone else force the decision on her is what she’s been pining for all this time, a push which neither Kochou sister ever gave her, hoping she’d come around in her own time.

And then, once the box is open and the decision is made, Kanao’s changes are fast.

At least, in comparison to the numb-by-virtue-of-having-decided-nothing state she in for years, her changes are relatively rapid. It’s not overnight, but as Kanao learns to confront her own vulnerability, she is likewise able to better understand what she likes, and what she wants. Fanbook 1 tells us that she used to be happy just to sit and stare out into space when not training o on missions, but lately she’s been actively blowing bubbles (BABYYYY), helping cook, buying little candies and presents for everyone back at the mansions when she’s sent to run errands, and poking the pads of cat’s paws (BAABBBYYYYY). Now that she’s open to positive emotions too, she’s exploring the world with wonder for the first time. (BAAAAAAAABBBBBBYYYYY.)

This development as a human being seems to have come at the expense of her progression in the Corp, but Shinobu likely does not push this at all, now that Kanao is finally coming around and expressing her own tastes and interests (and defying a Sound Pillar’s orders, as one does). I dedicated a whole post to pondering how and why her accession through the ranks slowed so dramatically after she got Tanjiro’ed, including pondering in more detail why was at those particular ranks. We also see in the light novels that Kanao is progressing in her friendships with Aoi (who still found it hard to communicate with Kanao even after all this time) and Inosuke, whom she goes so far as to have an argument with when he’s being insensitive about Kiyo being distraught over losing one of her butterfly hairpieces from Kanae (righteous anger!), but when appreciative of him later, she asks Aoi to help her make tempura for him. Within the pages of serialized manga, Kanao can even listen to her heart when it wants everyone to SHUT UP because Tanjiro is sleeping. We see time and time again how Kanao’s deep emotions stem from how much she cares about others.

A big turning point, one which Shinobu points out, is when Kanao verbalizes an “I want” statement. She wanted to train with her own Shihan. This is when Kanao graduates from doing things for others like an extension of doing what other people would want her to do, to taking up her own space in the world. This when Shinobu can finally feel that Kanao can act as her own person, but this means she can also be trusted with the full responsibility of a Tsuguko.

(Quick tangent here. Kanao totally took part in the other Pillar Trainings and I wish we could had seen how it went. Any bad blood between her and Uzui? Blowing through Muichiro’s training like its nothing and making everyone else watching feel as inadequate? Her greatest difficulty in Flexibility Training being surviving a hug that’s too tight? Showing up to Snake Pillar training and hitting it off with a friendly snake only to have the Pillar say his training isn’t suitable for girls and sending her on her way? The meditation with the Rock Pillar being refreshing but then who knows if and how she succeeded at moving the rock? Showing up ready for hard training with the Wind Pillar but he goes very obviously easy on her because he doesn’t want to be the one to harm Kanae’s adoptive sister? No wonder Kanao would have wanted to train with her Shihan if she lost out on so much of it elsewhere! But at least she got to see a snake and that was cool, right?)

So. Kanao is now getting instructions from her Shihan which are hard to stomach (again, no pun intended), but it’s the true test of her abilities now to follow these instructions while also having vulnerable emotions.

Growing up: Sucks.

Even if she was prepared, Kanao is consumed with righteous anger and a slew of other ugly emotions when Shinobu is killed right in front of her, and this is when Kanao really must step up and live out her decision to be a demon slayer. That means keeping her cool, not being numb. That means making decisions in the moment, including social decisions to keep Douma distracted. I don’t think she planned everything she said to him; that was the ugly depths of Kanao’s heart open and doing all the talking when she told him how she felt about him. There was zero hesitation in saying any of it. Even if she was still in the habit of flipping a coin by that point in the story, she wouldn’t have felt even an itch of temptation for it because she felt those words so strongly. Taking her own place in the world means not only knowing her own likes, but also discerning her dislikes.

And man, she slays and slays hard. While the fight against Douma is impressive enough as it is (and yes, unlocking her ability to cry at the end of it (right before that big Taisho Secret reveal) is indeed a major moment in her character arc, as she’s finally been able to unlock that last hidden piece of vulnerability), the fight against Muzan? Everyone else went down, down to bits and pieces, she is deeply shredded with injuries that were too fast to avoid, but she still managed to avoid getting hit in her vital areas and, even if she fell to her knees, she did the best at standing her ground. When I had originally read that chapter (that awful, heartbreaking Chapter 191) I took this as Gotouge not wanting to rip the girls apart as viciously as the boys, which was why Kanroji was already removed from the fight, but haha… hahahaha…. Clearly this was never a concern and I was naïve. No. Kanao was not lucky. Kanao was acting on deeply rooted trauma and narrowly avoided getting hit in a “bad place.”

Sorry, my writing is getting all over the place as I’m mentally reliving this arc and how much pain it put me through as I was following week to week. My gosh, though, can we give it up for that Kakushi who was charging in to save her without a shred of hesitation? Charging straight toward a direct hit from Kibutsuji Muzan himself? Kanao was totally doing her best, deciding as hard as she could to stand up and keep fighting, she wanted more than anything to do that but she physically could not.

So anyway. After this, Kanao disappears for a while, which is why I called it when I suspected Kanao might be the key to dealing with demon!Tanjiro. I was right although for totally unexpected reasons, but dang, THAT WAS AWESOME. The final, defining Breath of this whole manga was Kanao’s, it was her moment, and she was amazing. She was still bleeding from her abdomen and limping and gasping for air (this is our 24-hour Total Concentration Breath pro, you know panting like that is a bad sign) but she knew she could do it and she did it. You’re amazing, Baby. I know I’m getting off-track, but if we bring this back to being a moment of characterization for her…

…Kanao, at some level, still believes in fate.

She believes in a reason for things happening, like every time she flipped the coin, the universe was making a better decision than she could. When she knows what she needs to do in this moment, she feels this must be the reason fate left her with one eye left. She is still a deeply emphatic person who cares about the welfare of others before her own; as she approaches the Kamado siblings she’s moved with pity for them.

Zero hesitation.

Kanao has reached a point of peace with herself that can she act on these feelings, which is what points in her in the direction of wanting to practice medicine. Although being vulnerable makes her open to pain, it makes her open to joy, she and doesn’t hesitate in embracing what she likes—and we can assume, she doesn’t hesitate about what she wants, either. The fact that she believes in fate may be something that helps her. It wouldn’t have been possible for her while she was numb to everything, but now she sees how good things came from the painful sacrifices, and she’s ready for all the suffering and joys life still has ahead. While every fic writer is welcome to take their own approach because that is how fic works, I choose to write my post-canon Kanao with a generally positive outlook. I don't write her with survivor's guilt; instead of wishing she could had died in her sister's place she wishes that no one had to die in the first place, and she remains filled with gratitude for her sisters. In the case of TanKana developments, I write her as knowing what she wants, being decisive about it, and embracing the joys as well as the suffering. I was never really sold on her being a capable doctor if she's freshly (near) blinded and never showed much aptitude for tending the injured slayers before, but I suppose where there's a will there's a way, and Kanao's got the will of a weed.

#tsuyuri kanao #kny fandom theories and meta #I really do love Kanao though her development really is jarring if you're not reading deeply into it #anyway tldr #she's baby

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chibi-sunrise · 1 year

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Asobistore is accepting preorders for Tales of Festival 2023 merch from March 31, 2023 to April 9, 2023 (JST) Orders will be shipped in late May 2023! There’s a huge selection of merch from 24 Tales of Series titles, and this is Toto’s first official merch too!

Check out the readmore for how to buy, links to Luminaria’s merch, and some notes about the merch currently offered.

Buyee works with Asobistore no problem, and I’ve also received confirmation that Zenmarket also works! I was also advised that Zenmarket is cheaper and faster to use, so I’ll be trying it out for the first time. If Buyee and Zenmarket both work, then I’m sure other proxies won’t run into issues other.

Links to Luminaria’s currently offered merch, so you don’t have to scroll through everything just to find them:

TOF2023 Official T-Shirt with the names of all 24 titles printed on the back. If anyone still wants to argue that Luminaria “isn’t a Tales game,” then this official merch tells them they’re wrong. Comes in sizes S-XL

TOF2023 Official Tales of Luminaria bracelet. It has a charm that almost resembles an Embleo?

TOF2023 Official Tales of Luminaria Medal Plate. Looking at the measurements, I think it’s like a pressed penny?

TOF2023 Official Tales of Luminaria Scarf. The coloring is Luminaria’s official hexcode used for official merch, so it looks very similar to Phantasia, Hearts R, and Xillia’s scarves

TOF2023 Official Mascot Toto T-Shirt. Comes in sizes S-L.

TOF2023 Official Toto Acrylic Stick. According to the item description, you can take pictures with the lil Toto on top of this stick without worrying about your hand appearing in the photo.

TOF2023 Official Mascot Masking Tape Type A. This type includes Toto along with other Tales of Series mascots.

TOF2023 Official Toto Acrylic Clip.

And that’s everything Luminaria-related...for now!

If you scroll down to the bottom the of the page, you’ll find a notice about the merch that’s currently offered. In addition to the general event merch like penlights, booklets, bags, etc., there’s a large variety of character merch available.

The character merch that’s currently available is based on the voice actors who were invited to participate in the event. Currently there were two waves of voice actors announced to participate in the event, and we have yet to see the third wave of voice actors announced to participate in the event. There’s also a chance that “secret guests” may be invited to the event.

When more voice actors are invited to the event, there is a possibility that more character merch will be added to the lineup in the future. Phanatsia, Destiny, Eternia, Xillia, Zestiria, Luminaria, and other titles have not had voice actors announced for them yet, so we may see some character merch for those games later!

Because the characters wear a T-shirt of their game’s mascot in the merch illustration, a lot of JP fans are speculating that Yelsy’s voice actor might be invited to the event. I’m unsure about this since the mascot for Berseria is Bienfu, and Magilou or Eleanor would be the closest associated character with Bienfu, but neither of their voice actors have been invited to attend (...yet?)

I also think it’s too early to assume that all main protagonists will have their voice actors invited. And just because Leo and Hugo are the characters you’d normally associate with Tales of Luminaria’s “main” characters, I don’t think that necessarily means their voice actors have a higher chance than anyone else. I’d say Celia has the same odds as anyone else too.

If anything is consistent, it’s that Bamco will invite voice actors for popular characters whose merch is bound to sell, so I think Ed or Lucien actually have better odds of getting those merch slots. Bamco also seems to invite voice actors who are good at presentation and bounce well off other voice actors, like Zelos’ voice actor, so that’s another thing I’d consider. But it’s anyone’s guess!

Oh yeah, and I’d be careful about the inventory that’s displayed!

I’ve found multiple JP fans who’ve already ordered Luminaria merch, and I’ve also already ordered Luminaria merch myself, but the current stock of merch has remained unchanged since the sale started. The website says that they have 20 of everything stocked, but I think it’s more likely that they have less than that based on what I’ve observed and what I’ve bought myself...

I think they might cancel your order in the event that they run out of their limited stock? That’s probably what happened to me the last time I ordered Luminaria merch...and it might happen to me again if I was slow enough this time too? Honestly, if Luminaria merch sells that well, then I won’t have any hard feelings about it!

And if you aren’t able to make a pre-order for the item you want within this period, it’s not the end of the world! They’ll be selling this merch during the actual event’s sales period, and some merch may be resold at Asobistore or other stores in the future!

#tales of #tales series #tales of series #tales of luminaria #luminaria #even more official luminaria merch in the year 2023?!?#anyway tldr #first official toto merch!#lots of general lumi merch #we're still waiting on a third wave of voice actors to be invited to the event #if lumi voice actors get invited then we MIGHT get lumi character merch #there will be sales during the actual event #so don't be sad if you can't make a preorder #and they might resell this stuff in the future too #have fun

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soaked-doors · 6 months

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a comic about wine, a wager, and reconnecting through your weird kids

this behemoth of a comic is finally done - and just in time for zoros birthday huehue. initially i wanted to make a zolu introspective from an outsider POV and was like you know who would have really funny input on this … mihawk. and then it spiraled into seven pages of mishanks sitting and talking. i thought it would be funny if mishanks ended up doing self imposed couples therapy the day mihawk brought luffys bounty bc well. its kind of hilarious to think abt mihawk realizing shanks was onto something all those years ago after he meets zoro and luffy. like sure this new generation is batshit crazy but my god are they cooking. anyways. cheers. get some kids

#one piece #i seriously cannot explain what came over me in order to make this #tldr: mihawk saying hubris is ok if you do it in a cool way #anyways #happy birthday RORONOA ZORO #mishanks #zolu #dracule mihawk #roronoa zoro #red haired shanks #monkey d. luffy #opla #one piece fanart #my art

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infectiouspiss · 3 months

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there's someone in my inbox saying porn didn't exist until the 70's what

#that's the tldr of their message anyway

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fishbloc · 3 months

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ashes to ashes, dust to dust

#grian #mumbo jumbo #hermitcraft #waffleduo #waffle duo #hermitblr #咸鱼.jpg #tldr it wont make sense anyway - grian is not grian and mumbo is harbouring a fugitive: the au #idk what to call this au #maybeeeee this for now ->#ashes to ashes au #grumbo

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rollercoasterwords · 2 years

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the tiktokification of ao3

or: some of you fundamentally misunderstand ao3 and it really, really shows

i was talking about this with a friend a few days ago and since then i've seen multiple posts of various sorts that have just made me think about it more, so. here is me breaking down a disconnect i see particularly with younger members of the marauders fandom (i say marauders specifically just bc that's the only one i'm plugged into):

okay, so i've seen many (usually younger) marauders fans either talking online about how they wish ao3 was more like social media (specifically regarding algorithms) OR talking about ao3/fanfiction/fanfic writers as if they are operating under the same etiquette/guidelines/assumptions they would bring into social media platforms. this ranges from being mildly irritating to genuinely harmful, and i want to talk abt why.

first - you have to understand that social media, in this day and age, exists in a profit economy. and when i say social media here, i'm referring to platforms like tiktok, twitter, instagram, etc. all of these platforms exist in a profit economy where content is a product that can be monetized. this leads to a few important distinctions:

people posting on these social media platforms are generally posting with the intent to get their content seen by as many people as possible, as quickly as possible

they post with this intent because once their content is consumed by enough people, it becomes a product that they can monetize

therefore, if that content gets popular enough, these people can become influencers, where content creation is an actual job and their audience are, in a sort of vague and obscured way, similar to consumers purchasing a product

because of the profit economy surrounding social media, there are certain assumptions + forms of interaction that bleed across almost all social media platforms. the ones relevant to this little essay include:

operating under the assumption that anyone posting anything on the internet wants to go viral, ie. be seen by as many people as possible as quickly as possible in order to grow an "audience"

these influencers are creating content for us, their audience, so they should want to please us. they should also be trying to appeal to the broadest possible audience. therefore, if we dislike their content, we have a right to make that very, very clear.

in that same vein, we have a general right to critique content creators, as they are making a profit and we are the consumers purchasing their product--much like you might feel entitled to a certain standard of service in a restaurant where you are paying for the food.

when you carry these assumptions over to a platform like ao3, it creates problems. why? in a nutshell: because ao3 exists outside the profit economy

ao3 is a non-profit. it does not have an algorithm because it is not trying to sell you anything. this means that the writers posting their work on ao3 are not making a profit. we are not influencers. we are not creating monetized content to sell to a consumer-audience. where consuming content on other social media platforms might be comparable to eating at a restaurant, reading fanfiction on ao3 is more like coming over to someone's house and eating cookies that they made for free. you are in their house. the cookies are free, given as a gift. so what happens when those assumptions outlined above start to bleed over from other social media?

assuming that anyone posting fanfiction online wants their work to go viral -- i've seen this with popular fic writers getting questions like, "are you worried x isn't going to be as popular as y?" those questions are usually not ill-intended, but they demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding about why writers post work on ao3. it's not to go viral. it's not to build any sort of online following. most of us who post on ao3 have jobs or schoolwork or other commitments, and writing fanfiction is something done for fun, out of a love for writing. those sharing their work online might be seeking community, but that is fundamentally different from seeking an audience, and in no way involves internet virality. if someone is posting fanfic on ao3 with the hope that it'll "go viral," then they likely either won't continue writing fanfic for long or will reach a point where they have to re-evalute their motivations, because seeking joy and validation by turning your art into a product for consumption just isn't very sustainable.

influencers are creating content for us, so we have a right to let them know if we don't like it -- nope!! fic writers are not influencers. yes, even the popular ones. no matter how much other people might blow their work up on social media, fic writers are still outside the profit economy. they are not creating content for an audience. they are not creating content for you. they are writing because they love it, and they are generously sharing it. if you don't like it, don't interact with it. you are never entitled to loudly and publicly proclaim how much you dislike a fic. i talk about this more here

we have a general right to critique fic writers, the same way we do with content creators/influencers -- again, no. you should not be treating fic writers the way you would treat an influencer on another social media platform, no matter how popular they may be. this is not to say fic writers are beyond all reproach; rather, it is a call-in to check your entitlement. fic writers are not little jesters entertaining in your court. they are not subject to your whims. they do not have to do things for you. they do not have to write things you like. in that post i linked on point 2, i talk about what etiquette might look like if you're really concerned that a fic writer is doing something harmful, but that is not what i'm talking about here. i am talking about the proliferation of negativity i have seen, especially on twitter and tiktok, where people essentially just talk shit about fics or fic writers as though they are entitled to have those fic writers working to please them. this is gross, and it needs to stop. you wouldn't go over to someone's house, eat the cookies they baked to share, and then spit those cookies back in their face and start shouting about what a shitty baker they are. or maybe you would--in which case, congratulations! you are Not A Good Person.

anyway, at the end of the day, a lot of this can be boiled down to: Because ao3 exists outside the profit economy, fic writers are not influencers, and you should never be treating them as though they are. i think i see this disconnect largely with younger people just because they've maybe only ever really understood social media within this sort of influencer-consumer-culture economy, and genuinely don't understand how to interact differently with the internet. so, consider this post a call-in to reevaluate the way you interact with fic writers and the etiquette you use when it comes to engaging with fanfic on ao3! i promise that ao3 being different from social media is a very, very good thing, and also a very, very rare thing, so let's treasure it and focus on fostering community rather than trying to morph it to fit the mould of influencer-audience dynamics that we see almost everywhere else <3

#tldr: fic writers aren't influencers #stop acting like they are #it only creates problems!!!!#anyway if you have engaged in some of these behaviors that doesn't make u a bad person #it just means u should maybe shift ur perspective moving forward #capitalism is a lifeless desert that grows every day and ao3 is a little oasis #let's all enjoy it while we can #instead of trying to place it within a consumer economy #ranting and raving #txt

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coralnoodle · 1 year

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someone signed too many contracts

#danny phantom #dp x dc #john constantine #dp x dc fanart #my art #ignore me as i do not know how to tag this #anyway my danny phantom phase came back to haunt me #it has possessed me #ok enough puns #had this idea so i had to doodle it out #i have more ideas if one is willing to listen #tldr danny is taking care of infinite amount of paperwork of the infinite realms

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mintjeru · 29 days

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"but there is nothing more beautiful and terrifying than innocence."

open for better quality | no reposts

#n harmonia #natural harmonia gropius #pokemon #pokemon black and white #fanart #myart #doodle #can't believe they dropped the rawest line of the century in a mainline pokemon game. unova remakes when??#for context one of my friends sent me a video of this trend w/ kvh and it made me think of N so here we are #me the whole time drawing this: please don't let me fall back into my N phase please don't let me fall back into my N phase-#but yeah i haven't drawn him in like what. almost 10 years?? and i'm really proud of how the 2nd piece turned out #younger minty would be so happy i can draw him prettily now lol #also (not so new) trivia drop: did you know g.hetsis' hydreigon has a moveset that can singlehandedly wipe N's party??#i only just recently found this out and it has horrifying implications #anyway!! tldr i love and missed my boy so i drew him ^^

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chiricat · 8 months

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let's dance, nanako! 🎶

#yu narukami #souji seta #nanako dojima #nanako #p4 #persona 4 #p4g #cat’s art #persona #godddddddd they make me so sad. i WILL cry if i think about them for too long #nothing like family. nothing like big brother yu the best brother in the whole world #LIKE GODDDDDDDD ESPECIALLY THE MANGA #doodle request from ig #i forget to answer my asks ahhhh apologies... i might do one big answer post idk #anyways. tldr P4 dancing is a great game

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tangledinink · 9 months

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so we saw one of swanatello's good days . . . how do the bad days go? :eyes: don't mind me i feed on angst~

Swanatello is Guardian of The Lake and is extremely territorial and protective. The brothers have to take turns and visit him one at a time-- if they approach as a group, Swanatello will quickly grow defensive and view them as a threat. They've learned by now that if he's not able to recognize them, the best thing to do is back off and try again tomorrow.

... Mostly learned, anyway.

(The next time Leo's able to visit properly, Donnie will worriedly ask him what happened to his wrist.)

#swanatello #donnie was already an excellent fighter #now hes been buffed with swan lake magical girl powers and he can kick their asses #and hes done it multiple times now #anyway tldr on a bad visit he'll drive them off #if they push back and try to convince him of their identities #he'll beat their ass #and chances are really good he'll just get confused and upset in the process #rottmnt #rottmnt au #donniesona #risesona #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt donatello #blood and injury #blood #asks #anon

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a-dauntless-daffodil · 11 days

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It’s hilarious how Vaggie made herself a ‘sinner’.

How that linked her up with Charlie is such a weird, round about truthful way, even when she was lying by omission about it.

And how amazingly dumb it all makes Adam and Lute look.

Thousands of helpless souls killed by her, but she didn’t do anything ‘wrong’ until she wondered if what she was doing was right. The divine powers in her life only took her wings and condemned her to hell after she doubted their orders, their idea of justice, and quietly chose not to completely follow them.

“You fucked up” they tell her “your mistake” she “left the band” “tried for a solo career". It’s so pathetic. They're so butthurt over the idea of one of their own having a mind of her own.

It’s also so funny, because they spin her simple act of whispering “Go, run. Now!” to demon kid she’d been holding at spear point like it was big defiant move- which makes it into one- even though she never challenged them openly, or threatened them.

Hell, Lute’s “You always were weak” plus exorcist Vaggie always frowning while her murder sisters all grin with glee as they kill sinners- it paints a picture of Vaggie never having been as into exterminations as she ‘should’ have been. Too weak to be a proper exorcist no matter how good at killing she was, not just “the traitor” but also “the failure”.

And she was scared of that. She didn’t want anyone seeing her spare that child, whispered her words to them in a back alley, out of sight.

She was scared of what would happen and didn’t even fight it when Lute took her eye and wings- she was scared and no threat in any tangible way, but apparently refusing to do one single murder is enough to freak Adam and Lute the fuck out.

One woman. Doesn’t do exactly what she’s told. After who knows how many decades of being one of the “top girls” at murder, a “bad bitch” named after “the best thing ever”, and they still get spooked by that tiny moment when she wasn’t under their total control. Like it's such a betrayal to them, her daring to so much as think this level of violence isn’t justified actually, and for a split second act on that thought.

It’s an instant ticket to ousting her from the exorcists AND from heaven, while they fly the fuck off again.

“If angels can do whatever, and remain in the sky-”

and they do. After doing that to one of their own. They did that, to someone who was supposedly meant to be in heaven. They didn’t wait for divine justice- took it, and her eye, and her wings, and her halo, into their own hands and tore them away from her. Then happily, they spend the next three years up in heaven, slurping smoothies and doing more murder sprees.

until Vaggie comes strolling back with the princess of hell, there supporting her girlfriend and the idea that all the shit she did for so long really was and IS wrong.

oh and Adam and Lute are pisssssssed about it. They take her being there PERSONALLY, wanna solve it with VIOLENCE

She hurts them without even trying. Without even noticing they're there.

They're told to fix the princess of hell situation and they have no concept of forgiveness, of caring about sinners, so they guess (rightly) that Vaggie hasn't told Charlie about her past and bet (wrongly) that Charlie would never forgive her if she knew, and also assumed (rightly) that Vaggie would be terrified of that

But they don't get that she's scared of hurting Charlie. Of Charlie being hurt by her. It's a selfless thing. That's her whole PROBLEM.

Her running to hold Charlie after the reveal- her NOT breaking down when Charlie takes alone time in the aftermath, respecting that right up until she thinks Charlie's actively in danger- afraid FOR Charlie when the deal with Alastor is made, no crumbling that Charlie went to someone else for help, when being helpful to Charlie is basically her raison d'étre- agreeing to go alone to an overlord, after learning she can DIE and THIS OVERLORD knows how to do it- all this for the sake of Charlie's dream, their shared goal, their hotel. Their friends, resigned to despair in the hotel lobby, losing hope and maybe hours away from losing their lives

No shit she was never going to bow down to the blackmail?? It'd be like turning herself inside out. Charlie isn't just some "little hottie" or whatever, they're partners. They're in this together. Even when Charlie out loud doubts if that's true, it still is.

Lute and Adam don't GET what it means, that Charlie assumed Vaggie was a sinner already. That the thing she'd be hurt about was the lying, not the murder. She was scared of not really being loved by Vaggie- of everything else wonderful between them being a lie too, all that support and faith empty empty- she wasn't afraid of loving Vaggie, whoever Vaggie had been, she was afraid of who Vaggie might be now and that she'd never really believed in Charlie at all.

Charlie was angry at the thought that Vaggie didn't think she would've accepted her. The idea of not really being understood or trusted by Vaggie, that's what hurt.

And it goes against everything Lute and Adam are, Charlie actually caring about sinners while knowing what they've done- about an exorcist after finding out who they'd been- really trusting that people can change. Lute and Adam hear her say it and see her stand up for it and they just want her to shut up and die

again though, no shit she was going to stick with Vaggie after the truth came out, in the end. Once she had a moment to take a breath and step out of her head long enough for a reality check

Vaggie didn’t say to Charlie what she'd done or who she'd been. But she’s been and keeps doing what she can to follow that idea, unvoiced, from that day when she couldn’t kill a sinner- something Charlie didn't know about but now knows must have happened- A final death means no second chance and no worth as a person, but Vaggie didn’t think that, even before meeting Charlie she didn't think that.

She's always been on Charlie's side. They were on the same side before they ever set eyes on each other. All this time, for three whole years, and now she's off to go find a way to protect everything they've built together.

"-words are cheap, but actions, they speak the truth"

Charlie never really stopped trusting her. Maybe she wondered if she should, but even then, she had Vaggie go to Carmilla to find the key that might save them all.

"She killed an exorcist in the last extermination. She knows how they can be harmed."

"But… I- I didn't even know that was possible."

"If you did, would you have told me?"

So Charlie asked. A pretty painful thing to say- and she said it even as she sent an angel to go find out a way to hurt other angels.

She DID trust that Vaggie WOULD tell her.

The irony of all this happening thanks to Adam and Lute trying to keep it from happening, and all of it leading up to Vaggie getting back part of what they took from her, because now she doesn't need them or heaven to be an angel anymore.

Charlie has faith in her. Enough to send her off on an important mission even after Vaggie hurt her- and send her right to the person who end up helping Vaggie get back her wings.

“The rules are shades of gray when you don’t do as you say”

Vaggie’s new fucking wings are gray when Lute sees them. When Vaggie’s standing over her, sparing her life, her wings and that one, fucking unexplained stripe separating her from the other exorcists, all of it is GRAY.

That visual gut punch of, you’re. Fucking. Wrong. You’re wrong about sinners, you’re wrong about supposedly protecting heaven, you’re wrong thinking you can just DO this shit. That imagery of an angel who DIDN’T stay in the sky because she DIDN’T think being angel meant everything she did had to be right- who’s here in hell, trying to protect sinners from heaven’s slaughter-

And Lute wanted Vaggie to “correct” HER “mistake”? Vaggie’s???

That’s Lute, admitting that people in hell can get second chances and make up for what they did. Admitting that “Sinful filth” like Vaggie can be redeemed in some way, by following Lute’s version of what’s right.

But wasn’t her and Adam’s whole thing the idea of blowing your shot? Getting no other chance after it?

Oh yeah. Vaggie doesn’t believe that though. Not for sinners like her, not for angels like her.

She let’s Lute live. She does it to make Lute suffer, but there are a lot of ways to make someone suffer- an eye for an eye for example- and Vaggie chooses the one that doesn’t hurt Lute more than it has to, that leaves her alive, and leaves Lute’s suffering to be something completely of Lute’s own making (a HELL of Lute's own making, if you will) (Lute choosing to tear her OWN arm off to continue the fight-).

She's totally dismissive of the woman who was just going after her remaining eye like a dog after a bone.

Why is it that nothing Adam and Lute to do her matters?

Why don’t THEY matter to her at all?

Walking right past them, being so done with them up in heaven, not caving to the blackmail, only being worried about Charlie afterwards, not letting that crack in their relationship stop her from doing what she can for their hotel, Lute threatening to take her other eye and BLIND her just making her snark- even the vague threat to Charlie only gives Vaggie the oomf she needed to defend herself.

“Pathetic” she calls Lute. She’s right- they’re so pathetic, both them, Adam and Lute. They’re so scared of being wrong. So pissy over the idea of being less than great and perfect.

It breaks them. Adam’s last words are him having a meltdown in the face of not actually being hot shit. Where’s his respect, he wails, they should all be worshiping him! But they’re not. One of his random decedents stabs him to death because he would’ve done the same to her, and one of the last things he hears is Vaggie- the fuck up, the traitor, his former grumpy top girl Vagina- whooping with glee as he dies.

And Lute lives knowing that could’ve been her, too.

If it wasn't for Vaggie.

Being not all that didn’t break Vaggie. Finding out she was wrong got her to stop and think and change, not run straight on blindly into a fight that ends up with her (with HIM) dead.

Why does she go from terrified of Lute and Adam, to dismissive and annoyed and just all around not caring about them at all?

They gave up all her respect for them when they demanded the death of a child.

The father of humanity wanted a child killed. A helpless, whimpering kid, sacrificed to his ego and bruised pride, and for shits and giggles. His first lieutenant saw failing to do so as a sin worthy of hell. All this over a child. How could she ever take them seriously after that.

She came down from high and chased the child and held a blade over them on divine command.

Then, somehow, she saw the HORNS in her own shadow above them- even though she wasn’t WEARING her MASK, and she stopped.

She was her own messenger angel.

She chose to give the child mercy, and became the sacrifice herself.

Vaggie stuck it to the man. Didn’t steal that life. And, terrified of what would happen to her next, acted selflessly. The same thing that got her left behind in hell should have earned her place in heaven, according to Adam-

heaven was shit to her though. Made her into a soldier. Sent her to kill and kill and kill. Taught her trust on the battlefield- in heaven, of all fucking places-

Timeline wise we see her very first smile when she meets Charlie. When a stranger does- again- the bare minimum for someone else.

When she’s back up in heaven later she isn’t wistful, just angry, uncomfortable, annoyed. She isn’t happy there. It’s not home to her, like her and Charlie’s room back at the hotel is. Why should it be? What good did she ever find in herself up there?

Down here though, she's happy. Hell is where her heaven started. So I guess in the end, she did find what she’d earned after all. Or it, Charlie, found her.

When “The rules are shades of gray…”

Sometimes they’re wrong, and you have to break them.

People like Lute and Adam would rather crack under the pressure and die instead, but not Vaggie. They're out for blood. She's out for love.

Sucks to be them~

#hazbin hotel #vaggie #charlie morningstar #chaggie #speculation #silly headcanons #fans of adam and lute im sorry if this shows up in your searches- please scroll on if you don't like your blorbos being called pathetic..#repeatedly #for #several paragraphs...#hmm #anyway tldr: the irony of vaggie's history amuses me greatly #she did like the bare minimum and got fucked over so badly for it she just went Fuck It Now I KNOW You're All Assholes #amazing

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