#even 'they're an awful person but they're fun' is much more appealing than that
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Is it just me or has fandom overall...changed a lot in how it talks about its favourite characters over the past few years?
It used to be people who really liked a character would be like “this character’s the best at everything, they can do no wrong, they’d win every fight, they have a plan for everything, they’re the coolest cleverest most attractive person in the whole story!!!”, and like...that could go too far, it could be annoying or just really really inaccurate compared to canon (I used to know a Jill fan who insisted that Jill could easily beat every single character in the series in a fight--and look, Jill is very cool, but Chris was canonically the best in hand-to-hand combat at STARS and was also training HER in marksmanship, Jill is of course extremely capable but...she really does not have to be the best at everything to prove why she’s your favourite...for that matter, Wesker fans who were like “Wesker in RE5 has to be a clone/a fake/whatever because the REAL Wesker would never LOSE because Wesker can’t make mistakes!”...always made me go *stop, please, it’s embarrassing*), but it did...make sense why someone who really loved a character would say these things about them?
But now it seems like the kind of comments people make about their favourite characters, and the way they portray them in fics, are...pretty much the opposite of that? People will be like “my blorbo is SO STUPID! they’re so useless they can’t do ANYTHING! they’re a pathetic weak little wet paper bag!”
Like, a few years ago if I’d seen a post saying things like that about a character I’d assume it was written by someone who hated them?
And obviously...sometimes a character you love is kind of a dork, or makes some silly mistakes sometimes. Other times a character you love is a terrible evil person. I’m not saying everyone should equate liking a character with thinking they’re perfect. But...most popular characters AREN’T actually completely stupid and incompetent at absolutely everything, and I can never quite get my head around it when people seem to hold this view of a character and it’s clearly not true, like...if you really think they’re pathetic, stupid, and can’t do anything right...do you really like them that much?
I’ve seen fandom call characters stupid/idiots when they are either science geniuses, or they’re brilliant inventors who build sci-fi gadgets, or they’re scheming chessmaster strategist types who manipulate all the other characters for years and come very close to taking over the world, or maybe they just canonically speak several languages and are well-read, or even if canon doesn’t focus much on their intelligence you’ve got characters like Chris who was a USAF fighter pilot--which means he has a degree, judging by the timeline probably an Air Force Academy one, which means he was likely in the top 3% of his high school classes and DEFINITELY didn’t “barely scrape through” as I often see headcanoned (not just by people who want to bash him but people who are like “I love him! He’s such a big dumb himbo! He’s so stupid!!” like. what.)
Similarly I see characters who are canonically very confident and self-assured, never really doubting themselves for a second, and who canonically react to things going wrong by calmly adapting their plans and moving forwards without ever getting discouraged, get tagged on posts about “pathetic wet paper bag men who’ve never had a good day in their life and an insult from a child would make them cry”.
Or characters who are shown in canon as dangerous, powerful and near-fearless fighters get written in fics, by people who say they’re their favourites, as spending all their time crying and flinching and not even trying to defend themself from whoever’s attacking/trying to hurt them (and not because they went through some major trauma previously in the fic that left them in this state, either--often the fic is set during canon and the character is just...like that rather than something having happened to change them from who they were at that point in their life in canon)... personally, while I enjoy whump, whumping a character who’s ALREADY weak and helpless and spends all their time curled up in a corner crying BEFORE whatever you do to them in the fic can easily just feel like kicking them while they’re down and is honestly boring because it doesn’t show anything NEW about the character, so it’s particularly odd to see fics written that way when the character in canon is exactly the confident powerful type that I do think is fun to whump.
(For a specific example, RE canon is that Wesker and Sergei had a rivalry and Wesker seems to view Sergei mostly with disdain and see him as an annoying obstacle. Wesker never gives any sign of being scared of or intimidated by Sergei, and certainly doesn’t seem to start panicking the instant Sergei enters a room. And even before he had his powers, he had extensive combat training by the time he met Sergei, and Sergei being taller and heavier doesn’t inherently mean that Wesker would be defenceless and go down in one punch in a fight, or even that Wesker would LOSE a fight against him. Canon doesn’t depict Wesker as a helpless victim for Sergei to beat up...hurt him by all means but it’s OOC if Wesker doesn’t give as good as he gets.)
Oh, and characters who are canonically master manipulators who are experts at getting people on their side and gaining their trust being portrayed as so socially awkward and clueless that they’re incapable of holding a conversation without coming across offputtingly weird...
Maybe I’m the odd one out here but I can’t really get why you’d want to present your favourite character as LESS capable, LESS intelligent, LESS brave or confident or powerful or whatever other impressive traits they might have in canon? Like I wouldn’t go so far as to say I ADMIRE all my favourite characters, because some of them are murderous evil monsters, but...I generally do see them as either having some kind of admirable personality trait (courage, integrity, confidence, determination... or maybe just a lot of charisma and a good sense of humour, though I feel like charisma tends to overlap with confidence a fair bit...), or at least as being very good at what they do. I can kind of get the appeal of the “sweet and kind and caring but not that bright ‘golden retriever man’ type”, even though they’re not usually MY type, because I know some people primarily like characters who they think it would be good to be friends with (and most of those types of characters aren’t USELESS, at the very least they tend to be good at listening and being supportive), but when someone’s favourite character is a bad person AND they seem to think they’re stupid, useless, incompetent and pathetic on top of being evil it’s like...so what do you even like about them?
#I can even enjoy seeing a character at their lowest saddest point#but there has to be some contrast#otherwise it's just one-note#'sad' on its own is not a trait that will usually make me want to spend time with a character#if a character does nothing but mope about and feel sorry for themself throughout the story and never tries to improve their situation...#that's just a one-note 'damsel in distress' trope but as the protagonist#and it also just gets really monotonous#and I also just don't want a character who is always miserable existing in my head all the time#of course there are great and interesting characters who struggle with clinical depression#but there are ways of writing that#without making your character essentially replaceable with a wet tea towel with a sad face drawn on it#who gets bounced around the plot like a pinball#that's just a Sexy Lamp but replace 'sexy' with 'sad'#and while the Sexy Lamp test is meant to be about whether female characters are written as flat characters out of sexism#a flat useless male character might not be sexist but he certainly is boring#if all I know about them is 'they're sad and weak' that doesn't motivate me to want to spend time with them...#even 'they're an awful person but they're fun' is much more appealing than that
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hi randomly picking your brain here! (imagine a literal batjokes brain picking situation though...)
I really like stories with a villain/hero ship, but I feel like they're always in favor of the hero -- tons of aus and potential with reformed joker (AND I LOVE THEM!!!)
but also, I personally love corruption AUs, and I love the idea of the villain reforming the hero. pulling the hero to the allure of the dark side and finally accepting some of the appeal that villainy brings to the table. being able to foster their love in an environment where their desire is no longer focused on others but themselves... and I know some of that happens with the batman who laughs, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on joker successfully corrupting batman?
maybe it would be a fundamental crack in their foundation and wouldn't work in some iterations, but I love a challenge! maybe joker could convince Bruce that joker+batman on the same side of evil is less damage, more control, and more fun than batmanvs.joker on opposing sides. maybe less death would happen if Batman would play by jokers rules for a while! I feel like Bruce would at least explore the potential for that in his own head, even if he may not agree in canon, typically... even if it's just to play the long game and come back out again a stronger hero.
what do you think? 🫀
I haven't toyed around much with the idea of Joker corrupting Bruce. I've written Bruce doing shady/awful things, but they stem from his own issues and are usually, uh, bad for Joker.
The Batman Who Laughs basically illustrates why the idea's never grabbed me. Joker has built his life around acting in opposition to Batman. That's what he thinks is fun, getting under Bruce's skin. If Batman joined him in pure destruction, the challenge between them is gone. It's not their roles. It's why Joker considers TBWL an offense to the natural order. And more simply than that, I think Joker would get bored. It's the same as when he succeeds at killing Batman: yay, he did it! And… now what? It's easier to see Joker being reformed— or "reformed"— because there's still lots of ways he can start shit. 😂
Plus on Bruce's part, I can't think of a reason he would take that kind of turn that doesn't feel like a stretch, other than having his brain chemistry altered as in the case of TBWL. Like I did have the idea once of doing an inverted Halfway Across, in which Bruce gives up and joins Joker— but part of the inverse is that this story is a comedy and Bruce is just really bad at being evil. He'd drive Joker nuts by only stealing what they really need, giving people a chance to escape traps, freeing animals Joker tries to test on, etc. Which gets at the "less damage" aspect you mentioned, but I could still never think of a great reason Bruce would cross over to start with, even a goofy comedy reason.
But then again, that assessment is based on more modern takes on the characters. I could see it more with earlier versions, when Joker is obsessed with Batman but his crimes revolve around getting money or jewelry or funsies. Bruce is goofier too, and he hasn't, you know, dealt with any dead children.
And of course there are AUs, like in Telltale, where John starts out wanting Bruce's approval so it's easier to see him compromising with Bruce than your standard Joker. So you could have a universe where Bruce isn't as stringent about his principles— but then it feels less like corruption, and you lose the fun!
Hmmm, there is Omega in Last Knight on Earth. Joker was not a fan, but maybe we take a similar scenario. There's an utter catastrophe, and Bruce is broken, and when he has the choice to rally his usual worldview like he always does, Joker is there and convinces him otherwise. But then I still come back to: would Joker get bored? Maybe that's just part of the story. Joker is entertained by guiding Evil Novice Bruce for a while, but inevitably turns on him, mocking him for abandoning the principles that made him such a great nemesis. And then Bruce realizes he's truly lost everything! 🙃
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whispers into your inbox "jmart was the worst thing that could have happened in tma; it wrecked Jon's character and is the most transparent 'how do we not have our mc become suicidal?' I have ever seen. TMA then falls into the hole of the only important or good enough relationships being romantic, discarding previous character development to throw everything into romance solves all ~ ♡ I hate it and I hate how much Jon is woobified and infantilized in the fandom to drool over Martin and I hate how everyone acts like their relationship is good, when I think either of them with 5 years of a normal life would realize how awful the relationship was for both of them." Anyway lol I expect no response or post of this I am just being spicey on anon
oh anon you thought i was gonna see a take like this and not post it?
i need you to out yourself to me because goddamn this is an interesting take!
look, i love jmart, but even with 5 seasons of development they still somehow managed to feel rushed?
i disagree in that their relationship being unhealthy is a bad thing for them, because like the appeal of podcasts for me is the fucked up relationships. fucked up characters = fucked up relationships, yknow? like john and arthur from malevolent, normally, they'd hate each other without much of a second thought, but that's not the point, they love each other despite that, and that kind of extends to jmart for me.
i also totally agree with the fandom criticism, woobifying jon is like the only tma content i see on twt and it is soooooo annoying.
my personal qualms with tma however is in part the lore decisions and how the fandom treats the lore (and also the whole podcast).
s1 is easily the best season, mostly because you have no fucking idea what's going on, but after s2 things really start feeling like they're being drawn out, at least to me? like i think season 3-4 couldve been one thing, and um. season 5 is fun if you like jmart and the eye ig. i know most of this is a gross oversimplification (not forgetting yall basira&daisy fans) but after the core cast of season 1-2 i could not really get the other characters being fundamental in the story (not georgie. i love georgie)
don't get me wrong, the not-sasha arc was amazing! but after tim died, and martin fucked off for most of a season being sad, i was a bit bored. the buried isnt interesting to me sorry.
and also they under-utilize basically every fear, including the eye, and the one that upsets me the most is the stranger. oh what is it? circus and clowns ig. LIKE OPEN UP YOUR EYES THE WORLD IS OPEN TO YOU THE UNCANNY VALLEY AS SO MANY NICHES PLEASE
and by the end of the show, it just feels like they keep rotating the same 3 fears, and the others just kind fade into the bg
and then there's the fandom. i'm sorry but some of you guys act like tma is the end-all-be-all of fiction horror podcasts. when it's just not. sorry, but the magnus archives, after s1, just isnt scary. you know what's going on, the fears! which are neatly tied into these categories of oddities!
and the show explicitly states that the 14 fears categorization is arbitrary and that they all bleed into one another, but the fandom just. ignores that? like i've heard so many people go to other podcasts and say ''oh x is so eye avatar-coded!!'' and then x just has some vague eye symbolism that isnt even the point (this is about arthur lester)
and like i don't understand how tma manages to be the most mainstream fiction podcast nowadays, when welcome to night vale is right there ! and yes, i am implying that wtnv is objectively better than tma, because wtnv despite running for 12 goddamn years has never bored me with an episode, and it has roughly the same amounts of episodes! they both have similar formats that could repetitive quick (radio show vs statements) and even though i'd say statements have more creative freedom, wtnv still manages to not be boring. this might also just be a fact of better and more varied authors but hey, this is just my opinion
i want it to be clear that i'm not trying to start discourse, i still like tma! the fanartists are some of the most talented artists i've seen, and the fics are just aughhhhhhhhhhhh /pos
#podcasts fandoms have next to no discourse but that also doesnt leave room for criticism#tma critical#<- just in case#2 magnus 2 arch-ives#!! red !!#anon#red replies#sorry to anon if you didnt want this to be public i needed to rant about the tma-glorification#i did listen to all of tma in 2 weeks but um that may have something to do with it#fandom critical#discourse#<- not really tho this is just my opinion
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Pretty much this. In the end, all the condemnation for Jin's actions, the pointing fingers and accusing him of "being bad," is just general hatred for Jin. Even if TK6 never happened, I'm sure people would have other reasons to hate him. (Other common hate not including TK6 actions is that he's boring, a homophobic slur, whiny, or a Kazuya clone).
I think the reason for this really boils down to Jin being a hard character to like. I don't think he's unlikeable at all, the dude's my favorite character... but I think it's hard for the general audience to really get into him. Lee & Kazuya are easier to like due to their "charming" personalities. Lee is oftentimes funny and very flamboyant. Kazuya is may be an awful awful person, but he's confident, expressive, and badass. Meanwhile Jin doesn't have any of those traits. Jin is much more reserved, and he limited in his expressions. Jin is also a much more "negative" man - which ppl usually dislike. Jin hates himself, Jin hates his powers, his family, his life, Jin is suicidal even. Even though all of Jin's reasons are justified, people view this as "whiny", that's why they gravitate to Kazuya - as Kazuya may have had a bad life, but he accepts himself & his devil powers rather than rejecting them as Jin does.
Most people prefer exaggerate characters - characters that are zany or "fun." Jin's stoicism tends to bore many people. Not only bore people, but confuse them, too. Although I do blame TK6 for being the primary reason why "Jin doesn't care about anyone!!" or "Jin doesn't like people!!" is such a popular take, but another reason is simply because it's hard to see Jin care about people. Jin absolutely does, he's just not... as expressive with his feelings, therefore this isn't a fact he's shouting from the rooftops. To understand Jin's character, you really have to watch him, rather than be spoonfed the information. You can see that Jin cares a lot, but through his actions - not his expressions or sometimes, even statements. You have to watch certain character endings to get the full gist of Jin. It's a lot harder than watching Lee throw a rose in the air whilst laughing and shouting "EXCELLENT!" Which is more entertaining and quicker to consume.
Like another example is how when Bloodline dropped, there were actually quite a few people saying that the anime finally gave Jin "personality", and others saying the anime was what made them like Jin. The funny thing is, the things they listed about how the anime made them like Jin (beyond being more emotional) was list of things they didn't know about it that the anime showed. Which uhhh... they would've known had they tried to get into Jin's character by either watching all his scenes throughout the games, or researching his character. But again, Jin is a harder character to get into - therefore, people are less likely to be interested in trying to.
Because Jin is difficult to appeal to people, people are likely to be more biased toward the ones they DO like. Lee is entertaining to them, so they're "shocked" that he was a villain despite all the signs being literally there. Or how SO MANY people were saying that Kazuya was more deserving of a redemption arc, that Kazuya should be the main character & Jin be the villain, even though Kazuya is literally doing the same shit Jin was except for even worse reasons. But people are willing to excuse these actions from these characters because they like them so much. Just how they're willing to condemn Jin for the same flaws just because they don't like him, and it gives them more reason to hate the character.
Anyways, I personally think Jin is a very amazing character when written correctly. I think if people were to look at him closer & learn about him, as well as not just disregarding everything due to TK6 and the stupid inconsistencies, then maybe people would enjoy him more. Hell, I've had people here tell me that they started liking Jin more because of my blog. I just get tired of all the double standards, too.
#tofucasserole#✏️ - ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏsᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏsᴛ // (ooc)#// mostly i just wanted to write my analysis on this xD#// it doesn't help that i... honestly think tk8 kinda did more damage to him tho :/#// if you REALLY look at him / the story critically#// oh well
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🌻
I almost missed this one!!
I'm a big fan of all kinds of gothic romances, absolutely morally bankrupt characters (and the fucked up ways they might fall in love or lust or obsession or something in between), villains and foes and psychosexual nightmares, all that good stuff. I do not believe fiction needs to be moral or didactic in this respect. I say this as a preface to what I have to say next because I think it's a genuinely unpopular opinion:
This is an Edward Rochester hate zone.
I cannot abide this man. I hated him when I was thirteen, and I hate him at twenty-five. (I believe I once wrote "he should have gotten crispy in that fire" in some free reading assignment or other.) His Byronicisms all fall just in the wrong way for me, in large part because they are gross in a way that feels painfully real that isn't fun to read about, and they aren't tempered by any traits to recommend him. I find him not at all interesting and entirely unsympathetic. The only time I ever liked him was when he was doing the most with the drag act, but even then that was pretty loaded.
This all makes him a realistic jerk so he is perhaps well-constructed and well-written, but I for the life of me have never gotten the appeal of this dickwad. He's so mired in his own privilege and unearned self-pity that I genuinely find him to be insufferable. This is a bit bizarre to me as I have adored characters who have done objectively far worse and behaved far more cruelly and violently than he ever did, but again, as asserted earlier - I can get into an awful person being awful if they're doing so in a way that's interesting to witness, and/or if this is balanced out by humanizing elements. Heathcliff abuses women and children and kills innocent animals and he's still intensely sympathetic. Sweeney Todd did all of that and I feel for his plight and love his wry sense of humour and capacity for deep love. The Vampire Chronicles' entire thesis is that even the truly monstrous among us are made human by their ability to connect to art and to one another. To clarify, I know that a character need not have suffered/had a tragic backstory to be sympathetic or interesting just as people we know don't require xyz to be deserving of compassion (for instance I enjoy Dracula being The Worst because he's interesting, he's irredeemable with some zazz), but in terms of what he feels and how he acts, I cannot find any avenue for this connection to come in. I know that it's not uncommon as a modern reader to feel horror for Bertha Mason rather than at her (and it's not '''purity culture"/Puriteens/whatever paper skinned English majors are coming up with now to dismiss any critical discussion of books they like to feel this way!), and this plays a large part in my reading, but he's also cruel and dehumanizing to Jane in a way that feels very much like a Victorian era equivalent of negging/overpraise, which strikes exactly the wrong nerve in me compared to other destructive romances I've liked. That's not to say that one is more or less realistic than another, and comes down to personal bias, but I feel what I feel, and this is a free opinion sunflower emoji ask lolol.
I understand Jane Eyre and like most of it. I understand what a huge step it was as a protofeminist work, the reversing of the power balance by having him be humbled and reliant on her by the end, the emphasis on Jane's freewill and self-worth in the face of her horrific struggles and turmoil.
I cannot grasp wanting to be around this man for more than five minutes. Truly no judgment to those who get something out of this guy, but I just Don't See It.
#posts that will get me kicked out of gothic literature fandom#i'm interested in hearing people's counterpoints on why they like him#less so in debates on this post lolol#no judgment to anyone on either end of this love you all xoxo
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Oh Rings—can I call you rings?— with every Analysis and au you post my mind becomes intrigued you really understand and get to the heart of are favorite sometimes divorced most times fight couple that is Mishanks. I adore it and your post make you day.
But this Loguetown AU... now, that's some sadness and angst waiting to happen. And genius, truly. It makes sense to draw all these pirates and people to the execution and snap them up as they come rushing in. I'm guessing a lot of Marines and civilians died, but I’m sure that was a sacrifice the World Government was willing to make. Did Doflamingo get caught? He’s got friends or at least blood high up, so I assume he wasn’t caught for long.
And I’m certain just as how Shanks isn’t our fun-loving, calculating Yonko, and Mihawk isn’t our ever-bored, apathetic gardener warlord, as we know and love them in the future. Familiar faces will definitely have differing personalities, yet to face the horrors of paradise and the new world, yet to have their Sabaody arc(or maybe this is their Sabaody) and oh Mihawk you ambitious, vicious, little teen you. I can’t wait for you to earn your new epithet, i’m sure it will be… bloody. And I’m also assuming in this timeline that whoever decides to bring him the offer becoming a warlord is laughed at and then bisected for the gull.
Also total forgot Dragon. Mans is in his prime.. I’m sure he got away maybe he even run into a blue haired red nosed clown? Maybe not we can only guess but ahh that’s the fun of it! Who lives who dies who becomes a revolutionary? pirate? who gives up? that’s what it is really all that aren’t they?
All that to say, I love this au I will now place it delicately into my one piece brain au folder we’re it will be chewed on like a pit bull with lock jaw.
Rings is great! I have to say, I'm thrilled my mishanks posts are such a hit, with you and everyone else enjoying them! I was having fun putting my random thoughts on them out there, and now it's even more fun.
Angst and sadness is the key! Maybe it's horrible (and I'm not apologizing for that, lol) but I love drama and discord and awful high-stake situations. And what can give more angst than messing with Shanks right after Roger's death? And throwing Mihawk in there for the ride? The entire pirates-are-captured-by-the-World-goverment-at-Roger's-execution is one big excuse to get Shanks and Mihawk into Marine custody together, where they have only themselves to rely on. And since they are going to meet and fall in love in Marine captivity (they will be there a while) their dynamic will be more intense from the start. Their natural connection + the trauma bond.
There's going to be a huge fight and many dead for sure, because none of those pirates are going quietly, but the marines had a plan from the beginning, of course. If they didn't they wouldn't have been able to take anyone. And I will say that they were also gunning for Shanks specifically. For reasons. The marines/admirals/world goverment will certainly be the villians of the story.
Doflamingo knew enough to get out of dodge before anything went down, as did certain other people. Coincidence? Well, maybe not.
I do love young!mishanks, so Mihawk and Shanks being earlier versions of themselves is half the appeal about this AU. You can see their older selves in them, but they are younger and there's everything that comes with that. They are not quite the men they will become. (and that goes for all the other characters too!) Which means they can be hurt much, much more easily.
I said this was one of my darkest wips because Bad Things are going to happen to them, it won't just be threats or easily patched wounds. This being their Sabaody is spot-on! Everything will be All Right in the end, but they're going to go through things to get there. Mihawk's rise will be bloody. (so will Shanks') and maybe it's too early to talk about this plot, but they're also going to get revenge. through some interesting means.
After what Mihawk suffers in the time spent as a captive, the very idea of him becoming a Warlord would be nothing but the highest insult. (That's not to say that becoming one is off the cards, but that's a different story)
Ahh, Dragon. He's one of the ones who gets away, with someone else important. Buggy having got away is crucial, because him being free comes into play later. I don't plan on killing many people, but making them suffer is fair game. And this entire scenario is going to change the course of the future for sure.
All that is too say, I have all this I need to write and get out there to you guys already, lol. I love how much you love it!
#one piece#op#opla#dracule mihawk#akagami no shanks#hawkeye mihawk#red haired shanks#mihawk one piece#shanks one piece#mishanks#mihawk x shanks#op marines
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Another general fandom thing I've been thinking about lately is the extent to which our attitudes are shaped by opposition rather than just liking things.
This extends beyond fandom, of course, but I do feel that the broad dynamics of fandom are increasingly shaped by opposing things we don't like or people we find grating or worse. I'm very conscious of the "ugh at that, I'm going to do the exact opposite" impulse, because I'm a very contrary person by nature and I have to deliberately push against a tendency to have my perceptions (not just activities) shaped by that.
I mean, sometimes we dislike some trend or fanon or whatever because it's diametrically opposed to how we see things or what we like or find acceptable, so it's very natural to dig our heels in. But there's a really common phenomenon, for instance, of "I didn't really care about [whatever], but the fans are so awful that now I hate it." And I have absolutely been there—I'm not excluding myself at all.
But there's still something sad to me about people we find obnoxious actually managing to change our feelings about things and shape what we think about them to such a degree—even though their behavior often has nothing to do with the quality or morality of the thing.
It's one thing if you already dislike something, and then fans/opponents of that thing reinforce what you already thought. But when that actually causes you to think something different than you did, than you would have without them, it's—there's something very uncomfortable about that to me.
Additionally, I think it creates these kind of drastic backlash cycles that can be kind of exhausting. This isn't new in itself, but it feels to me like it's been more rapid and more extreme over the last few years (which may not be an accurate perception; that's just my impression). And this is not always just about annoying and inescapable fanons and the like, but responses to actually bad things.
For an example I'm really familiar with as a lesbian, homophobes in and outside of fandom tend to perceive same-sex relationships as in some way more sexual than het ones and more depraved, corrupt, and/or exploitative. And one of the ways that fans (sometimes queer fans, sometimes not, but well-intentioned) will often respond to this is by a total rejection of that narrative and creating or advocating for depictions of same-sex relationships that are wholesome, soft, and "pure."
And it's not uncommon for those reactive depictions to get pushed forward as the right kind of ships or content to the point that they're presented as the only way to be queer in fandom or to represent queerness, and you end up with people talking like anything this side of Candyland is impure or problematic or grimdark or whatever.
And the thing is—some of those people genuinely prefer the soft bubblegum kind of content for varying reasons, and would have preferred it or created it regardless. That happens! It's not really fair to impose that preference on everyone else (nor fair to deny its validity for some!), but okay. However. A a lot of the time, it gets really caught up in being so much of a rejection of the standard homophobic narrative rather than its own separate thing that it can feel like even things we do for fun are being shaped by homophobes' values and ideas, and we're pressuring each other based on cycles of backlash to them more than expressing ourselves in our own hobbies.
And I feel like this happens in a lot of ways, ranging from very serious concerns like that to "ugh, that fanon is so annoying, I'm going to do its opposite because I can." And it can be difficult to even tell the difference between things we like because we like them, and things we "like" because they annoy people we dislike or at least contradict the things we dislike. A certain amount of pushback to dominant narratives is healthy and appealing, but ... idk. I think it's something to be wary of, too.
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Been playing the newest Harvest Moon game (Winds of Anthos) and while I find the gameplay fun the character designs are definitely not for me. Like not even ugly or anything, just very plain and uninteresting which imo is worse than "ugly" designs
Like, compare these two
While the designs for the new game (right) aren't awful, they're obviously very plain and more akin to your average anime guy whereas the older games (left) had so much more care put into the designs and they put personality into their character designs
Feels like they're aiming for plain-ness with their characters instead of making them actually interesting to appeal to a wider audience after they split from Marvelous honestly
#meffy rambles#like i know some people probably prefer it but it feels devoid of life to me#harvest moon#harvest moon winds of anthos
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Prompt: “i thought you went to bed an hour ago”
Maybe some fluff? 🙇♀️
This took on a life of its own and I'm gonna have to do a second addition to actually get to the fluff. (>___>)
Random AU in the future where Bill has somehow become Mabel's dysfunctional demon room mate who she keeps in check. Why? How? No idea!
-SWEET DREAMS
Mabel was sat in the kitchen, hunched over the table with tongue poking out in avid concentration. She just had to add two hundred more rhinestones to this shirt and it would be finished!
Easy.
She was so raptured in her crafts, she didn't even notice the figure entering through the door until they spoke.
'What the heck is that?'
The brunette paused, raising her head to find Bill staring down at the shirt with a look of distaste. Undeterred by his response, she replied:
'My shirt for Dipper's party tomorrow! Wanna help?'
'Pass.'
Yeah, she doubted he would. 'Okay, well if you're not gonna help then why are you even here? I thought you went to bed an hour ago.' She hadn't seen him around the flat since he left to go watch some weird television show.
Bill snorted as he slid into the seat opposite her. 'I don't sleep, I'm a dream demon. I invade the minds of others whilst they're asleep, that's it.'
Mabel paused. 'You don't sleep? Ever?'
'Don't need to, demon privelege.'
Mabel had forgotten about her bedazzling and was now offering the blond her full attention. 'But sleeping's so fun, and dreaming's like the best part of it! Just last night I had a dream where Zac Efron was my chauffeur to school. That was so fun. Oh Zac, you scallywag.'
'Sleeping's stupid! You basically waste eight hours of your day laying unconscious and being completely vulnerable and easy pickings.' A shrug. 'Guess I shouldn't complain, makes it easy for me to manipulate you guys.'
Mabel's eyes narrowed. 'Hey.'
'I mean, it made it easy. Obviously past tense. Don't do that anymore. Scouts honour.'
She rolled her eyes at his less than believable response and the cheesy grin plastered on his face.
'But I stand by what I said, sleeping's dumb and boring.'
Mabel pursed her lips together. 'You wouldn't say that if you had someone to sleep with.'
Bill shot her a look and she quickly added:
'Not like that! I mean literally just sleeping next to someone in the same bed, you weirdo! Even just a pet!'
Bill blinked. 'What difference does that make?'
'Well, you get cuddles and can stay warm on cold nights. Plus, it feels nice and comforting and if you have a nightmare, you can just roll over and hug Waddles- or, uh, the other person.'
'Hm. Don't see the appeal.'
'Urgh, forget it.' It was like talking to a brick wall. He'd totally ruined her motivation for bedazzling as well.
She called it a night and went to sleep in her double bed surrounded by twenty stuffed animals.
>
It was three hours later in the middle of the night that she awoke to a hand on her shoulder.
She groggily opened her eyes to the sight of a pale face inches from her own. On instict she slammed her fist forward only to have it halted with impressive speed. There were very few who could stop an attack from her. Such as:
'Wait, Bill?'
'Sup.'
Her eyebrows furrowed and she sought out the clock in her room. 'Urgh, it's like 3am. Why are you in my room?'
'Let's sleep together.'
'...eh?'
He smirked. 'Not like that you sick pervert.'
'I'm not-!'
'I figured I'd give what you said a try, and since you're the only one around what d'ya say?'
'Uh...' An attractive guy was asking to share her bed. Granted, it was Bill Cipher though that only made the request even more bizarre.
He quirked an eyebrow. 'Cm'on, I don't bite.' A pause. 'Much.'
'Okay, fine!' She just wanted to go back to sleep. Although that prospect was seeming less and less likely the more her heart rate picked up.
She felt the covers shift as he shoved off her stuffed unicorns and slid in. 'Jesus Christ, how many stuffed animals do you have?'
'Never enough and- hey, don't touch me with your weird cold feet!'
'Aw cm'on share the warmth, Shooting Star. I'm freezing.'
'I thought you said you did't feel the cold!'
'I feel it, it just doesn't bother me.'
'Then keep the ice blocks at the end of your legs away from me, you dorito!' She already regretted this as she turned her back towards him and curled in on herself. 'Either that or get out and go back to your own room.'
'Okay, okay, I'll behave.' She felt him settle behind her, though she was still on high alert. But as the minutes ticked by and he remained quiet, she began to ease up, gradually unfurling her body.
But it was still impossible to sleep!
'Why did you change your mind?' she asked, cutting through the piercing silence.
'I change my mind a lot, I'm funny like that.'
She glanced back over shoulder, narrowing her eyes. 'If you try to pull something, I'll punch you in the eye.'
'Jeez louise, relax.'
'Then be honest and stop lying! Why did you really come in here?'
She could feel him scowling at her through the darkness. 'Tried the whole sleeping thing, and it was awful. Lotsa screaming and nuisances I'd rather forget about. Was a big pain in the ass.'
She blinked. So, he'd had a nightmare?
'So that's why I came here,' he said cheerfully. 'You said sleeping together helps you forget that weird stuff so here I am. And guess what, you were right. You make quite the good distraction when you keep wriggling around like a worm cut in two.'
'Wha- gross!' Did she wiggle that much? 'And you should try sleeping again, maybe you'll have a nice dream.'
'Shooting Star, it's cute and naive you think like that but I'm literally made of nightmares. I don't have any good dreams in me.'
'That's sad.'
'It's true!' A pause. 'I mean I guess there's-' He cut off abruptly and she arched an eyebrow at his sudden silence. She could make out his profile in the darkness but that was it. She rolled over so she was completely facing him.
'There's what?' she asked, prodding him to speak.
'....Nothin', forget it. Demons and good dreams don't mix. It would never work out.'
She frowned. 'You just need to learn how to have nice dreams, it's like learning anything new. If you want, you can watch me for practice. I can be like your fun teacher.'
'What?'
She poked him. 'I'm cordially inviting you to pop into my dreams tonight. I'll show you how exciting it can be.'
'What happened to you punching my lights out if I invaded your dreams?' He still had a bruise from last time.
'Tonight's a one-off. And you better behave! No turning ribbons into human inestines, that still makes me wanna hurl.'
'Oh yeah I forgot about that, heh.'
'So?'
He turned over so they were facing one another in the bed, and she became acutely aware of how close in proximity they were. It was fine. It was just platonic. Totally platonic. So what if she could feel his breath hitting her skin?
'Alright, deal,' he said, voice quiet and the way he said it made her heart tug slightly. Haha, weird. A warm hand covered her eyes and she swallowed thickly.
'Sweet dreams, Shooting Star.'
She fell asleep, and the real fun began.
TO BE CONTINUED
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I'm really curious about your thoughts on zadr for the ship bingo!
Sorry it's taken me so long to answer!😅
(I hope this was the right bingo)
Haha I have read so many fics
There are a lot of Invader Zim ships I like but WOOF this one, man. It's just so fun and entertaining
Do I even need to explain? Constant drama. So much angst potential. They're at each other's throats, they're the only person either of them can actually rely on and yet they don't trust each other at all, they're the only people who understand each other and yet they just don't get each other. They'll be friendly for 5 minutes and one will backstab the other for no reason. It's not unheard of for their conflict to escalate to tbe point one attempts to kill the other, and yet neither can operate without the other. They have in a sense become dependent on the other's existence for enjoyment, for motivation, and have grown to crave attention from the other. They are a complex toxic mess (it really is no wonder why I flocked to lawlight immediately after thinking about zadr for months)
Listen LISTEN. Zim is nonbinary. Neither boy nor girl? Both? Gender apathetic? Gender fluid? It does not matter. He is Zim. Gender is queer. Dib is a trans man to me.
This is probably the most concise way to describe what their relationship is to me. I don't know how to explain that zadr, zadf, and zade are all true to me. At once. It's complicated! They want to kill each other and dissect and study and tear apart and ruin each other and yet they couldn't handle the other being dead. They could be friends while dating separate people and yet be so wildly close. They're possessive. They're the only ones allowed to be this close to each other as friends, they're the only ones allowed to hurt the other this way and try to kill them this way, they're the only one the other should desire to this extent. There is a minimum level of attention they should have on the other, whether friends or enemies. They've never hated a person so viscerally. They've never loved a person so passionately. They could live together domestically and be life partners without ever desiring what is usual in a romantic or sexual relationship. When they get older tension tends to snap and they swap kisses on the battlefield. They're scientists at heart, so romance and sexuality is an extension of their curiosity. And yet if they ever came to desire each other they'd never admit it. It's its own nebulous thing. They can never be fully platonic, fully romantic, just enemies. No matter what form their relationship takes (allies, enemies, best friends, lovers, etc) there's always SOMETHING that makes it different and sets it apart. And that is something that makes them appeal to me
Combining both unhealthy in a good way and a bad way here. Unhealthy in a bad way is clear. Kind of obsession and passion that makes them so much worse. Like you put them in the same room and you can be surprised how much more awful they can get. And yet it's unhealthy in a good way like...like that redit post about how they're toxic but they're better together than apart ("never involve anyone else in what you have going on"). And yet while they clearly make each other worse, they also have the possibility of making each other better at the same time. If they admit to themselves that they care about each other, it's sort of an irrevocable change to their personality. They will never be able to be ruthless in the same way. In every universe they exist, they find each other (canon to the comics), and they make each other better and worse at the same time with the relationship they share.
I may not be rotating them as hard as I was even a year ago but by GOD can I go off about them. They are so funky. Every time I get back on them again the microwave becomes a taffy puller
Sorry they've never dated but they have the vibes sometimes. Especially in aus where one of them leaves for an extended anount of time or they stop seeing each other for a while and feel as if the other has stopped wanting to oppose them.
🥲💖👍
Ahahaha would this ever happen in canon? Extremely unlikely. But I myself have bamboozled myself into Zim/Dib/Keef/Zib/Zim2, and if I'm being real with you, I could probably convince myself into any number of pairings between any different Zims or Dibs with those 5. This is an infinite possibility polycule that would never happen. But I love it
Okay, so for the record, this fandom understands them better than a lot of other fandoms I've been getting into understand my favs, but regardless. Their relationship is just so complex to me, so it’s hard to reduce it to any given trope or relationship type
ㅤ
Thanks for the ask!! I hope you got the answer you were looking for
Although of course, if you want to ask specific questions on how I feel about them or what I think, go for it. I'm always happy to infodump out my (often complex and not always easy to understand) strings of thoughts
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booboo, how are you?
fav MHA character(s) and why? least favorite? who do you ship?
I gotta know
Working hard on all my projects! That's why it took me a few days to get to this. Apologies!
Now, on to your questions! If you were looking for short answers you asked the wrong person. Abandon all hope ye who enter here!
I’ll get to the shorter answers first:
“Who do you ship?”- Let me preface this by stating that I don't really care about ships, canon or otherwise. Like… at all. It takes a LOT to make me care about a romance in any story. Luckily, MHA is an action-shonen anime, so not a lot of that going on. However, I will try to put some more thought into this topic than I usually do.
If we’re talking confirmed canon ships (discounting married couples), the only two I can even think of are Midoriya/Ochako and Denki/Jiro. I’m sure there are others, but MHA is (thankfully) very light on romance, so those two seem to be the only ones that have actually been confirmed as canon. (Forgive me if I’m wrong; I literally had to Google “canon MHA ships”.) Midoriya/Ochako is cute, and I love their dynamic. I think they'd be a good/healthy couple, but they're perfectly fine just as friends. Denki/Jiro is also sort of cute, a little more on the “belligerent sexual tension” side, but there’s not nearly as much to work with. That may be because these two don’t get as much focus as characters, I don’t know. Overall, the students in this show are more mature than their peers, so they’ve had to be more thoughtful about their futures and life decisions. They’re also still just kids. Adolescent relationships almost never last irl, and in fiction they seem to be portrayed in a similarly shallow vein, so I see no point getting invested.
If we’re talking non-canon, it’s still not my thing. I kind of low-key ship All Might/Inko Midoriya, but ONLY if Hisaishi Midoriya was out of the picture (I HATE cheating, even in fiction). That’s probably about it. I steer clear of shipping wars, so I’m not going to get into any of the other non-canon ships. I don’t care enough to paint a target on myself.
The ships I really care about are the friendships. I'm way more into those, and found family! MHA is full of both, which is one of the many reasons I love it! (If you want to know who I “ship” in terms of “friendships” I’ll post a follow-up answer for that.)
“Least favorite characters?”- I’m going to qualify my answer by setting aside characters you’re meant to dislike/hate (i.e. the villains/the Hero Safety Commission). Of those left, Mineta might be the only character I actively dislike. I think his design is fun, and his quirk is offbeat, but his personality is mostly awful. If he was a villain, or just some random background person, he wouldn’t grate as much. But Mineta is supposed to be funny and sympathetic. I don't hate him, I just... That character type (95% pervert) has never appealed to me, no matter the series. I'm glad he's gotten a bit better in the last few arcs, but it's been too little, too late for me to really like him.
I also found Monoma irritating, but he’s gotten better.
Now onto my “long” answer. You have been warned!
“Fav MHA character(s)?”- I have to say, a big part of the reason I love most of the characters in this show is the translation/VA work, as well as the animation. This may be the best English VA cast for a show I’ve ever heard, and the translation is exceptional.
Aside from that, I love (or love to hate) pretty much all the main and side characters in the whole series. I think they all have something interesting to contribute to the story, even if they’re only in one scene. On the “villain” side, Twice is arguably my favorite, but I find all the main baddies compelling, and even some of the minor ones. On the “hero” side, the class 1-A kids have a special place in my heart, along with Mirio, Tamaki, All Might and Aizawa.
However, if I have to pick favorites, my top 3 are Midoriya, Todoroki and Kirishima; not necessarily in that order. And that’s only if I have to really whittle it down, because the top tier would be even larger otherwise. (I do love a good ensemble!) Since you asked my reasons for picking my favorite(s), and I’m trying hard not to write an essay, I shall break it down thusly:
TODOROKI
Cool quirk!
Fun to draw
Half-and-half hair
Has scar; I want to hug him
Hidden sweet side
Also sassy
Overall bishonen looks without being aware of it (or not caring)
Dual personality like his quirk: cool-headed warrior/socially awkward teen
Takes some things literally (with amusing results)
Curb-stomps multiple thugs at USJ like it's nothing
Snarks at said thugs about how they should be embarrassed
Loves his mum
Screw the rules, I’m doing what’s right!
Will throw hands if you hurt his friends
Terrible upbringing, still wants to be a hero like All Might
Every reason to be villain but is Good Boi
Tells it like it is
Also worries about others
Stoic boy becomes soft boy with friends
Will do what it takes to be his best, even if it means working with abusive dad
Willing to forgive those who have hurt him
Admits and overcomes his weaknesses
Never gives up!
KIRISHIMA
Cinnamon roll
Sunshine boi
Fun to draw
HIS EYES
Shark teeth
2 hairstyles, both cute!
Loyal
Sees the good in others (even Bakugo)
Worries about his friends
Not afraid to cry/be emotional
Positive manliness!
Devotion to chivalrous outlook is PRECIOUS
Works hard to improve
Protective quirk, protective heart
Super helpful
Overcoming insecurities to become a true hero!
Risks death to save lives
Always ready to help
Dad/son vibes with Fat Gum
Empathizes with others, even villains!
Consistently rises to the occasion
Knows others may have “flashier” quirks but still does his best
Looks terrifying in battle/is soft boi irl
Anyone that can put up with Bakugo as equals…
Keeps Lord Explosion Murder (somewhat) in line
Just overall seems like he gives excellent hugs
MIDORIYA
Cinnamon roll
Nerdy nerd nerd
Socially awkward
Freckles
Expressive eyes
Floof child
Mumbles to himself 24/7
Loves his mum
Fun to draw
Emotional without being annoying
Forgiving nature
Wants to be a hero to help others
Risked death as quirkless kid to save his bully
Always tries to do what’s right
Gains most powerful quirk and uses it for good
Seriously- every reason to be villain but is Good Boi
Willing to work harder than anyone to get where he is now
Lifelong outsider who helps others reevaluate their quirks’ potential
Bullied relentlessly and still didn’t give up hope for a better world
Dad/son relationship with All Might is GOLD
Big Brother vibes with Eri are made of diabetes
All his friendships… ALL OF THEM
Goes feral if you hurt his friends
Will go feral if you hurt total strangers
Smol boi, BIG PUNCH
Broken every bone in his body? Uses “Blackwhip Froppy Style”
Seriously, nothing stops this kid. I love him so much!
I hope this answers all your questions. I did try not to go overboard, but… eh.
#My Hero Academia#MHA#Boku no Hero Academia#BNHA#everything you never wanted to know#I make overlong post#Midoriya#Todoroki#Kirishima#Class 1A
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I was hoping you'd play this game! for beejhawk: B, D, I, W
HELLO HELEN yaaay these are all so so so good thank you so much!!!!! and . I went on about them at extremely excessive length SORRY ABOUT THAT. answers below the cut:
B = Body part (Their favourite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)
Sighhhh. You got me good with this one. I think they're both so insane about each other it's difficult to narrow down. Re: himself, I think BJ is pretty confident in his legs. (My take on) Beej is a runner, and I think Hawkeye is enough of a leg appreciator it'd make him feel even better about them.
For a favorite part of Hawk, I think BJ'd be hard-pressed to pick. Like, it's Hawk? He's literally Hawk. He's all amazing all over. But shoulders may win out by a very narrow margin--Hawk's awfully broad, and the straight-up breadth of his frame I think is a shorthand for a lot of other things BJ would be into, i.e. his masculinity, contrast with some of the softer/prettier aspects of Hawk, etc.
(My take on) Hawk I think, despite all of his confidence and showboating irt sexual prowess and thinking he's awful cute, might actually be a little uncertain about himself in the looks department. Like, he thinks of himself more as a force of personality and fun and charm and skill than an embodied appearance-having thing. Though he can get vain on occasion, he's complex, he contains multitudes. Anyway that's a lot of meta to say I think he'd probably be partial to, like, his hands or hair: something skill-based and dextrous or something he gets to style and determine for himself. I also think it hits him kind of hard when he starts greying in Korea, because, damn, well, there goes something he liked about and chose for himself spiralling out of his control again.
And for a favorite part of Beej, similar to above it's basically impossible to pick but I do think he's a leg guy. Long, lean, tall BJ--he likes being an inch shorter, too, I think.
D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)
Dirty secret for each:
BJ's dirty secret (this is all S2G2 verse I'm realizing, actually, sorry) is, like, he definitely used to get himself off to Hawkeye even before he had any realizations about his sexuality. He was probably weirdly possessive and jealous about Hawkeye going off with nurses. He'd just lie in the Swamp seething because He Had Plans With Hawkeye They Were Going to Play Chess (or something) and then he'd get to thinking and brooding over (as he so often does in canon) what exactly is going on outside his sightline. Sleepless and thinking, like, 'probably Hawkeye is leaning in and kissing her... maybe she's shy so he's pretending like he's a gentlemen (That Hussy) and taking it slow, licking into her mouth, one of those big surgeon's hands running up the back of her thigh' and then he's bringing himself off and he's not sure if he's angry or turned on or who, even, he's thinking about, but then of course he's rationalized it away into nothing by the morning. If he ever tells Hawkeye in the future, Hawkeye would laugh at him and also consider it just shatteringly romantic.
Hawkeye's dirty secret I think might be that for all his sex-positivity, he's got some kinks he's worried about indulging or admitting to. Breeding kink, for one, despite all his jokes about it. That's a whole lot of complex emotionality, intimacy, commitment, etc. to bring into the bedroom all at once. That, or it's something small like he didn't have sex until he was like 22. Bit of a statistically late bloomer, especially for the time and for his canonical levels of preoccupation, but he bloomed enthusiastically. And/or one time in college he had a particularly frustrating week and jacked off so frequently he gave himself a friction burn and had to mope around with salve on. Etc. BJ would find all of these probably embarrassingly hot, even the JO injury (he thinks desperate enthusiasm is appealing). I also think he'd probably be into a first-time roleplay scenario with Hawkeye doing a blushing inexperienced be-gentle-with-me bit. If I'm being real.
I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect...)
Answered here, but I'll speak a little more on the romance aspect, in that I think once they get together the center of all of their interactions is just that they genuinely really like each other. There's a really tangible fondness, love, respect, comfort in everything they do, and that obviously extends to intimacy. They just really like each other, and that's suffusive through everything! Leads to so much trust and care in the bedroom.
W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)
Beejhawk headcanon: switchy as hell in everything. I mean literally as in they're both open to topping/bottoming, if they ever play with dom/sub stuff they'd both like both roles, and I think with only a few exceptions they'd have fun switching off in kink scenarios. They both understand each other well, I think, and that level of intimacy and empathy would go a long ways towards getting the other on board from both points of view. Like, I think (no surprises from any of my work here lol) that BJ has a thing for getting to play a caretaking or providing role. But I think Hawkeye would get off just as much on turning the tables on BJ and letting him be the center of attention.
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Something I've been thinking about is how Jon has said he couldn't possibly have assaulted Martin because Martin’s stronger than him, which begs the question... if Martin was hypothetically weaker than him, or at least in a position where Jon could somehow easily overpower him, would Jon have gone for it?
Hm, that's quite a complicated question. I think the short answer is that if Jon had more physical advantages in terms of being able to grab and shove Martin, he'd do that so long as he was in a frustrated mood where he didn't want to stop pestering and intimidating him until he'd gotten him to give in. So that could potentially go worse for Martin, in scenarios where he'd have otherwise decide to shove Jon away and leave. Still, in the story so far, Martin cooperated quickly anyway.
This Jon wouldn't want to think of himself as someone who does awful things unprovoked (early on, at least), so if he lashes out, he'll excuse it with sentiments like "I can't be expected to never get frustrated when people are being difficult", if he feels like they're making fun of him or refusing to listen to something important. And if he gets permission to do something intimate, he'll push his luck and go even further, with the reasoning that "if he's letting me do this too, it must be okay, and I can push him to agree that it's okay", even if he knows he's going too far really.
He wants an element of submission from his partner, so he wouldn't go for 100% violence to override a firm 'no' - and that's for selfish reasons, as well as some degree of morality. He enjoys feeling like someone who's impressive in their own right is choosing to defer to him, the same way he'd see it as more impressive to have a pet wolf than a pet mouse. Part of what's gotten him conflicted and confused is that he doesn't know why he's starting to think of Martin as someone special, since he's still torn between seeing him as weirdly incapable, versus being impressed by his endurance and determination, following the Prentiss statement. (He's magically felt Martin's hatred for Prentiss, and he doesn't want to accidentally push him into determinedly hating him the same way.)
If this Jon saw someone as just a weak pushover, he might feel protective in a pitying way, but he wouldn't find them as appealing. Of course, Martin's physical strength didn't have much impact on how the Prentiss encounter went down, so a weaker Martin might still have a similar personality.
I headcanon that when he was a teen, Martin took a few months of self defense classes, to feel more confident that he could handle himself in a crisis. He canonically carried a knife during the worm siege, and I figure he looked up some training videos to refresh on knife fighting while he was on his own in the Archives. It didn't make it into the fic, but he left his knife with his day clothes when he got ready for bed. (There wasn't a natural point for his narration to mention that, since he was never thinking about using it.)
I imagine this version of Martin as just a few inches taller than Jon, but much broader, and Jon as a beanpole with significantly below-average strength. (He couldn't lift a metal pipe very easily, his colleagues find it hard to imagine him beating anyone up, and he tries too hard to be respectable in a professional sense because he's never been able to command other kinds of respect.) If Jon gets deeply angry, he can get fighty anyway, and he provoked his way into a few physical fights at uni (which he either lost, or won by getting a bit feral and bitey, mostly while drunk), but he's hidden that side of himself at work, until now.
So for Martin to look weaker than Jon, he'd have to be far skinnier. And if he was that much smaller, Martin would've stuck with the martial arts for a bit longer to be extra sure he could handle himself in an emergency, and since he'd be better trained, he'd be very capable of beating Jon in a fair fight. (Though Jon wouldn't necessarily know that.)
And if Jon was significantly stronger and more visibly intimidating, he'd have started to get his head around what it's like to have the power to defend himself and push other people around much earlier. (On one level, the canon feels like a process of 'new manager handles the promotion badly, ends up feeling guilty for the way he had an impact on subordinates, then gains enough evil magic powers to stand his ground against a world full of threats for the first time, realises he's hurt people, and has to decide whether he can live with that' - as if having strength & advantages was new to him. And while this version of Jon is meaner, is still partly comes from a feeling of being a frustrated underdog. If he was already used to being able to throw his weight around, he'd be somewhat different. More practiced and considered in how he goes about trying to get his own way.)
(When dark-routes!Jon gets more practiced at having power, he'll refuse to let Martin leave the relationship, and he'll push him to agree to ground rules that give him an excuse to enforce them, like not letting Martin go out alone for the sake of his safety, but maybe letting him go out with Institute security as bodyguards. Jon sometimes wants to make Martin cry, but he still wouldn't want to make him hate him forever, so he'll rely on his ability to compel honest answers to try to walk that tightrope.)
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I beat Pokemon Opalo recently. Opalo is a Spanish pokemon fan game translated into English by another fan. Spanish Pokemon fan games in particular go REALLY hard from what I've seen, and this game is no exception.
Full review under the cut- But fair warning, the game isn't totally politically correct if you catch my drift. It's not 4chan offensive mind you, but it's a game that tries to make statements the creator may be ignorant about and also has some humor that may not exactly appeal to everyone. I wouldn't say it's purposely offensive, basically.
anyway, more under the cut, but I'd give it a 7 or 8 out of 10, mainly points docked for not being totally translated at times when the story is happening and some other stuff. I'd still say it's a really good fan game though, and I've had a lot of fun with it.
The story was pretty damn amazing and once the gas was pressed, it never let up for a moment. It went dark places, it delved into American colonization and theft of Native lands, American imperialism and toxic politics, death, and a bunch of other twists. Not to mention, this game went more American than even Unova did, visiting places from all over the map, including the south!
But the game isn't perfect, and I do think that the creator was maybe a little ignorant about certain things, but I don't think it was necessarily malicious in intent. As an adult that consumes a lot of media, I've learned to look at things with a bit of nuance, and I don't really think he meant to harm anyone. That being said, it does mystify and exotify Native Americans to a certain extent- you could argue it's not any particular tribe, but it's pretty obvious that they're the basis for the in game Natives and delve into good and bad stereotypes (admittedly for both sides as well), and it does delve into a lot of the atrocities that America and settlers have committed against them- especially one very disturbing scene towards the end game.
That being said, any extremism is definitely painted as wrong, and there's definitely an understanding that the government is wrong in how they handle things, and it seems like the natives have a happy ending, so there's that at least.
Just be prepared for that kind of stuff. Sort of look at it like you would an anime or video game interpretation of that kind of stuff. I mention it not to excuse it, but sort of as a head's up, and because I as a white person don't really think I have the authority or really the knowledge to talk much about subjects such as this, but I'd feel awful if I didn't give some sort of head's up.
However, the story I think is still.... Very, very good. Like Metal Gear meets Pokemon meets Disney's Pocahontas meets Final Fantasy type stuff. When you think "They can't possibly go higher" they go higher. I know I mentioned a lot of stuff about American govt vs Native tribes, but the plot also goes so far and beyond that. I can't even say some of the stuff that happens because it's that much of a spoiler.
Overall I think it was pretty fun and tough. I don't joke when I say that my team at the very end literally hit level 100 and STILL had difficulties- That being said, it's not too difficult until the very end. The game is paced very well, and the special EXP share system it has makes leveling up a breeze. There's hardly any grinding necessary other than to catch a new team member up sometimes, and even then most Pokemon you catch will be roughly your level anyway.
There's not really a lot of new Fakemon per se, in fact you're only going to see about... 20 of them? I think? 9 being starters, 9 more being starters from a previous project of the creator, and then 2 being the legendaries of the game.
BUT, there's a good bit of regional variants in the game that all look pretty amazing. My main issue is that a bunch are harder to find or are located in West Cefira instead of East where we start. But that is forgiveable, I think. Oh yeah, there's 2 regions- er, 1 region split into East and West. Don't worry, it's not like GSC or HGSS with the levels- as I said, the pacing is very good.
The characters are also amazingly written, with the two main rivals being my particular favorites. I actually cried at a couple of points out of admiration for how far they've come and happiness for them. I definitely think the MC gets with Gala at the end, and the ending left me in tears. I'm actually feeling something like I did BW2, where I'm sad to leave them behind. I'm doubly sad that they aren't official characters, because I feel like they have so much more depth than some real ones.
Music- Well, I think there's probably not any or much original work here. Most of it is either recycled from the games or from other sources. That being said, it works. The western vibes are very strong and I really dig the atmosphere at times. I do wish it went harder on some fights, particularly gym leaders. I'm left wishing that the gym theme had at least half the oomph Xenoverse or Uranium had behind them. But some themes fit perfectly, and usually have a western vibe to it.
There's also a LOT of really great artwork in the game and a museum in game dedicated to it and fan art. Color me surprised when that also included nsfw art. Fear not, the characters depicted are at least 23+ or and older, and the nsfw art is locked away to a bottom floor of an in game museum, and it does not come up at any point in story. Ignoring that, the actual trainer art is great, and there's sometimes very beautiful scenery painted or some great expressions on characters when presented. Trainer sprites, however, are pretty passable but could use some work. The fakemon and regional forms have much better work put in, imo.
Overall though, I think I had a very pleasant time. It's not perfect, but you can tell a lot of soul went into it, and some research into the American Gothic as well. Its actually kind of neat seeing a foreign perspective on us. I'd even argue that this game sort of depicts how I think my area would be as a game to some extent.
Anyway, that's all. Gonna upload a team shot soon
And if you have some disputes with my claims or whatever, please remember this is just an opinion. However, I'm open for a respectful opinion or take on how the game presents the whole Natives thing- particularly if you are NA yourself. Like I said, I don't mean any offense, I'm just pointing out what I believe was kinda sus stuff. I hope that makes sense, I'm just wanting to watch out for people I guess.
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Do a lot of people tell you that you are funny?
Usually it's only my friends, but that's also because I only try to be funny around them haha. I'm pretty serious/formal with most others cause it's hard to tell what kind of humor they have and I don't want to possibly offend.
Have you gone to a tanning bed lately?
No and I never need to. I get tan for free where I live, lol.
What did you do on the Fourth of July?
After checking my IG archives, all I did that day was work from home and post some outtakes from my Bangkok trip as I was apparently still on a vacation high.
Do you ever watch Hannah Montana?
I watched the first two seasons, but it was around that time that we moved houses and we couldn't afford cable yet, so I was never able to catch up with the rest of the show. I still really liked Hannah Montana though and had her first album and even the Wii game. I think I even owned a couple of bedazzled Hannah Montana tops haha.
Do you think Miley Cyrus is a good role model?
She must be to a certain audience, I guess?
Do you have nice legs?
I like them, at least.
Are you good at decorating?
No, that's what I need my sister for haha.
Have you ever been to Ohio?
No.
Do you like southern accents?
No.
Do you watch Big Brother?
No, never saw the appeal.
How old is the oldest person who has ever liked you?
Only one person has and they're the same age as I am.
Do you get intimidated easily?
I try not to.
Do you get a shower every day?
Pretty much, yes.
Do you like mountain biking?
Nope, I can't even bike.
What is something you like to do for fun?
Watching wrestling, painting, and learning about either social history or prominent family trees.
Do you remember a lot of things from whenever you were a child?
Well, yes. I had a darker childhood than all my peers, and a sure side effect of that is developing a sharper memory...
What was something good that happened to you this week?
I managed my last event for the account that I negotiated to get off of and from now til the end of March I just need to oversee turnovers.
Have you ever been to Ireland?
Never been.
Do you have a lot of shoes?
It's not a closet's worth but it's definitely more than enough!
Would you rather go out to eat or make dinner yourself?
I'd rather choose from the pantry.
Do you like The Goonies?
I've never seen it.
Would you ever consider being a photographer?
I did, but I realized it wasn't for me. Photography is an art, and I am no good at art.
What is something that you aren't good at?
I'm awful at any sort of creative writing. < Hey, same!
What is something you really regret?
Buying running shoes that cost way more than how much I'm willing to pay for shoes. I thought it'd make me get into running.
Running just sucks.
Do you think you have a lot of friends?
No, and it's okay. I get what the adults mean now - your circle really does get smaller the older you get, and that's ok! I actually prefer it this way! Hahaha.
Do you like to answer questions in detail?
Yeah I tend to be a big blabberer hahaha.
Who are the texts in your inbox from?
They're all work people.
What is something you wear everyday?
Just airy and thin stuff since I live in a country that's well over 32C everyday and it wouldn't make sense to wear thicker tops and jeans or sweatpants at home.
What clothing store do you really like?
Shopee and IG stores...hahahaha.
Do you have a lot of chores?
I'm in charge of a handful but I wouldn't call it 'a lot.' We share equally.
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Headcanon: Mechagodzilla is so vicious because he isn't Kevin, or even Ichi and Ni, he's ALL of them. Ghidorah's decentralized nervous system allowed all three personalities to re-emerge, but now they're all mentally mashed together into a single, erratic heap with the fused consciousness being murderously insane and simply remembering Godzilla...
I prefer the headcanon that Mechagodzilla is so vicious because he IS Kevin.
What we know about Kevin from KOTM is that he’s really, extremely, stubbornly determined to lick up the ashes of freshly-incinerated corpses, and Ichi really wants him to not do that. This mutated his fandom characterization very quickly into “aw he’s a curious boy :)” and then “he’s JUST a curious boy who’s silly and fun and naive” and then “he’s not mean like the other two, he’s not vicious, he’s not violent, he’s actually very nice—”
Y’all, he likes licking up corpse ashes more than his other heads. I’m so tired of Nice Harmless Kevin.
So “Kevin needs an assist from the other two heads’ personalities in order to be as vicious as MechaG” doesn’t appeal to me as much as “now that we finally get to see what Kevin can do when he’s by himself and making all his own decisions, it turns out that he’s always been just as brutal as Ichi and Ni.”
That aside, “all of Ghidorah’s brains get piled together and it kinda fucks them up” could be a fun headcanon to play with! I just prefer the thought that Kevin’s getting his chance to shine.
#gvk#godzilla vs kong#gvk spoilers#godzilla vs kong spoilers#godzilla#ghidorah#mechagodzilla#anonymous#ask
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