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good-beanswrites · 4 months

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My thoughts on how the Milgram mv machine works based on the evidence we have:

(I know there’s been discussion about where exactly the interrogations take place, but wherever they are,) the prisoners are made to sit in a specific chair near the wall that houses the machine.

It’s ordinarily hidden, but the wall panels shift aside to reveal it when the mechanical sounds play in the dramas. As well as the walls moving, the chair transforms to restrain the prisoner and attach whatever it takes to access their brain. The fact that none of the more frightened prisoners try to run or break it makes it seem like they physically cannot. This is why Fuuta sounds so panicked, and why Amane is suddenly helpless in front of Es in their T1 vds.

(My mind conjures very classic sci-fi mad scientist machines with wires, pipes, lights, nodes, needles, etc, but I’d love to hear how other people visualize it.)

In some vds (maybe all? I’d need to check,) you can hear Es take some steps right before their iconic line -- it would make sense that for safety reasons, the power mechanism is placed across the room. Once again it could be anything, but the sound effect makes me think of one of those giant wall-mounted levers you have to pull down.

The voice dramas don’t really provide the type of crime details that an actual interrogation would reveal, and it’s odd that they’re placed before the extraction rather than after Es gets to see the new details. This leads me to believe the machine functions with priming. All Es needs to do is get them talking about their murder, so it’s on their mind.

The video produced is much like a (non-lucid) dream. Even if the prisoners figure out that this is how it works, they can’t control it just by thinking really hard about something else. The murders produce the strongest emotional affect, and that’s what it picks up on. If someone else used the machine, it would default to whatever gave them the strongest emotional reaction in the ~15 minutes beforehand, hence why Es’ video focuses on their daunting task ahead. (The Undercover theory is still a bit loose, though, given the private shots that Es wouldn't have known about). It’s why the videos are usually closely linked to the vd topics/beats. I also like to think that the reason their prisoner colors appear so much is because they’re looking at those colors on their uniform 24/7.

The bell rings to inform Es that it’s the optimal time to use the machine -- the prisoner has been thinking about things for long enough that the video will be about their crime, and if the conversation lasts much longer they’ll start thinking of other things. It’s at a different time for each prisoner because it’s based on the specific conversation. I guess Jackalope is listening in to the interrogation, timing it perfectly. (The only one that kind of messes with this theory is Yonah, because they just keep talking afterwards lol, but it could just show that the interrogation is still in Es’ control.)

Their “Sing your sins” is the final priming nudge to get them to think of their actions as a sin, revealing their guilt.

Once activated, the prisoner enters a sort of trance/sleeping state. It’s very much like REM sleep, with the machine forcibly activating neurons and recording the output. The prisoners have asked Es what they saw, meaning they don’t remember the mvs. I like to think the prisoners do experience the mv in real time, acting as the major version of themself that appears, but can’t remember it afterwards. It’s when you experience a dream, but as soon as you wake up you’re just left with fleeting emotions and memories right on the tip of your tongue.

The video plays immediately upon extraction -- whether on a huge projection or little screen depends on which room it’s in. It simultaneously saves the memory so that Es can rewatch it later (on those old TVs in the jailbreak mix). The machine downloads the song and video together, but requires special parts to retrieve them. The technology is pretty new and fragile, so if one is broken, there might be a delay between when Es can hear the extracted song and see it with the video. (That’s my justification for Kotoko’s delays -- after 9 prisoners the parts wear out, or maybe Mikoto himself overheats it with his complex situation.)

Based on the lack of conversation we get afterwards, I picture Es leaving before the prisoner wakes from the trance. The machine adjusts their brain back to normal before they awaken, restraints freed and able to return to the rest of the prison.

It’s very much like a dream, so it’s not harmful despite the amnesia/head injuries the prisoners have. It does, however, exhaust them. Brain activity alone takes a lot of energy, so forced brain activity with added emotional strain would cause them to feel pretty drained the rest of the day.

#milgram #👍👍#if theres anything contradictory please lmk -- this is how ive been taking the evidence we have so i definitely want to rethink things if #theres a mistake #but also i just wanna hear what people have been picturing 🤔#i mentioned it before but the jailbreak tvs really did shift my brain from sleek tech to clunky old scifi vibes #im also still partial to an idea mentioned a long time ago about the prisoners waking up to catch the last few moments of their mv #and how heartbreaking that can be for some #but i feel like it would make more sense if there was no direct interaction after the extraction since es is overwhelmed with different #reactions (from us) and the prisoners themselves are raw with emotion and fatigue #i like the thought of interrogations occuring in that big courtroom (seen in undercover and now deep cover)#but that room seems way too echo-y for the vds to take place in #and it seems overkill to build every cell with moving panel walls and access to the machine #so the jurys still out on that one #(also hehe im still so excited that my oc fits very nicely into all of this but i kept this post 100% canon compliant)#analysis/thoughts

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22degreehalo · 9 months

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Something I see a lot in talks about AI art is something I've seen about a lot of different kinds of art: a desire to have the product reflect skill and/or talent.

Like, it reminds me so very much of how some (usually older) people react to music software. It used to be that you'd have to go the long way and spend years learning the guitar; now just anybody can simulate that sound for you and clean it all up and make it perfect!

Of course, there are many provisos to that; not anybody can open up that sort of program and put together a great-sounding song. The people who make e.g. really classic Vocaloid songs are very skilled with the program and very talented r.e. music. (And perhaps that is or will be true for AI, too: that anybody can just create a picture, but someone very skilled with a particular program can make something very specific and good!)

But it's that initial impulse that just... bothers me, a little. Because, yes, of course I understand the fear that you devoted years of your life to a subject and now it can be generated by just anyone. But why turn it around and treat it as some sort of principled, purist stance? Why does someone HAVE to devote years of their life to something to make art?

It just feels a bit. Suffering romanticisey. Either that, or making art inaccessible to ordinary people. Like 'Artists' are some inherently different kind of person.

Of course we can still value the dedication that went into specific kinds of work. Maybe that's your favourite thing about art. But doesn't it open up art to so many different kinds of people when barriers are taken away? People who can't afford to slave away for years on it? People who for some sort of physical or mental or whatever reason just can't ever really be as good with the 'traditional' process?

Again: this is not really about AI art and whether it does offer those opportunities to people. This is about the initial reaction that letting ordinary people more easily create art is somehow bad, and takes some kind of soul out of the process. But people have different capabilities; what is easy for most people is very difficult for others. Why is making art impossible for some people so important? What is so much more 'real' about art that requires very special tools, or knowledge that is barred the masses? What are we losing by letting 'untalented' people overcome certain obstacles?

#same thing with autotune #my mum always hated it. if they need autotune they can't sing!!#but i always felt. some people maybe arent QUITE good enough singers #but have really interesting ideas for songs or singing #and id like to hear them!!!#also autotune became a thing not to hide imperfections #but to create a unique sound of its own #VERY quickly #i just.#want to question people's reasoning here #it may be that ai art is bad inherently. but we should dislike it for the right reasons

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fiepige · 5 months

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More Sea Serpent Hobie thoughts!

(been thinking about this au all day, it's completely consumed my mind!)

I was kinda toying with the idea of Hobie being able to take a human form. (In this version most people wouldn't know that sea serpents exist so he uses it as a way to interact with humans without revealing his true nature to them)

He visits a small local fishing village from time to time to hang out with the locals- mostly at the pub, but he also likes hanging around at the harbour

Cause he just gets lonely sometimes and humans make fun company- he finds tales about daring trips to sea entertaining, but he also loves to hear stories about places from far within the mainland as he's always stayed close to the ocean.

Nobody in the village knows what he really is- they all just think he's this odd but kind loner who visits from time to time.

He's well renowned by the people in the village, both for being a nice and helpful guy and because of his unique skills*

He never pays for anything in cash but instead in old trinkets and treasures he finds while out at sea - this resulted in a few arguments at first, but now people have come to accept it, some even look forward to seeing what he'll pull out as payment whenever he visits

if he doesn't have any treasure to pay with he'll offer to pay in favours- specifically favours that involve diving.

*If you need a diving job done he's your guy

He can stay underwater forever and go far deeper than any of the locals.

So if you need to retrieve something from, let's say a sunken ship, he's your guy!

He insists on going on missions alone- it's just easier to get it done if he can dive unseen in his serpent form.

The only people he doesn't get along with are authority figures and whalers!

There aren't any whalers residing in the village but sometimes a whaling boat will come by to restock. Every time they do Hobie terrorizes the crew as much as he can get away with. While also being very vocal about his opinion of them in general. He's gotten in fights with them more than once.

It's also not unusual for the whalers to find their ship vandalised if they stay overnight.

When he's in his human form he lives on a small island near the village, but far enough away that he can't be seen changing from serpent to human form and vice versa

He has a small hut where he keeps some fishing equipment (mostly for show in case a human comes by and wonders how he's able to feed himself on this tiny island) as well as a small garden where he grows different greens.

He'll trade his food for stuff with the villages, he mostly trades for clothes, sewing equipment or beer at the pub

Sometimes he'll disappear at sea for weeks at a time- if any of the villagers question him about it he'll just say he was out fishing- despite him only owning a small rowboat with a small engine, that doesn't work half the time. - He uses it to get to and from the island in human form as to not alert the villagers to his true form.

At some point he befriends Gwen**, who's a newcommer, when a local overhears her lamenting the loss of her mother's trinket at sea, and they suggest she asks Hobie for help- since the guy has a way of finding things lost at sea

Gwen doesn't really believe he can actually find it but seeks him out nonetheless cause it can't hurt to ask

Hobie accepts the job. In exchange he wants Gwen to tell him about the places she's been to before she moved to the village.

(** you can kinda replace Gwen with any character you want. I'm kinda considering making a small fic for this au where the reader takes Gwen's place, but I don't have the time nor energy to write it any time soon. Also I've never written a fic from the first person point of view so I'm not sure how it would turn out lol.)

Lemme know what you guys think! 💙Any input is welcome- it can be world building stuff, story stuff, ideas for hobie's serpent form or something else!

#oh yeah I'm normal about this au #it's not like I'm constantly thinking about it- imagining all the stories and interactions you could write for this au #I've even drawn a few scetches of hobie's sea serpent form but I can't really settle on what I want him to look like #cause on one hand I kinda want him to be humanoid/mermaid like- but on the other hand I want him to actually look like a serpent!#might share them at some point but I haven't really drawn one that I want to consider his true form yet so idk #all I do know for certain is that I want him to be BIG in his serpent form #also any thoughts and inputs from you guys is greatly appreciated!#cause this au is still very new so I'd love to hear other people's ideas going forward #hobie brown #spider punk #sea serpent hobie #across the spider verse #atsv #across the spiderverse #across the spider verse au #spiderverse #my post #my au

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purgemarchlockdown · 6 months

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The temptation to vague about something in the milgram-confessions blog because its something thats bothered me for Actual Years about certain fandoms vs letting it go because when it is brought up its actually done somewhat tastefully and reasonably which makes me happy and this anon probably didnt mean it in the incredibly bad faith way I keep on seeing it be repeated so really Im getting upset over nothing.

#the answer is: ramble a bit in the tags just to get it out of my system #for some elaboration: Im asian! I have a knee jerk reaction when people go 'the westerners are projecting their values onto the east again'#because 9/10 of the times someone does that they're an American who wants to justify their weird racism/homophobia #by using the idea that asian countries (especially Japan) are backwards and/or ignorant but disguising it as 'being mindful of their cultur #and also then homogenizing them and pretending their all a monolith to be assholes to people!#and/or completely dismiss any possible criticism or interpretation for a series as a cultural values thing #this one fucks me up especially because usually there IS Merit in those interpretations/criticisms #but a concerning amount of people then go 'oh your just pushing your cultural values onto them' as a smokescreen to be a bunch of assholes #and/or discredit their ideas because Clearly All (insert x group here) think EXACTLY THE SAME and BELIEVE FULLY in whatever cultural #idea their using to justify this behavior #Ive Seen actual good discussion on differences in culture!#especially in another fandom of mine #but the worse option has happened so much that when I hear someone say those words alarm bells start ringing #its bad faith! I know its bad faith! But Ive engaged the worse option in good faith and came out wanting to punch someone A Lot More #Ive seen actually good faith discussions of cultural difference in this fandom sometimes! Its really nice but It scares me #cause im just Waiting for Someone to come in and ruin it #can you guys tell ive seen too many bad anime video essays? Ive seen too many bad anime video essays.

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avocadoraisin · 2 months

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yall have been too happy for too long i need to think up a new angst piece

#also just for the record because i think yall are being shyer than you want to be #u can totally drop ideas in my askbox at any time #i cant guarantee ill ever get to them but i keep them around for rainy days when i need inspo also its fun hearing what people want from me #or even just questions if u ever have any. really i dont bite.#also my askbox on my main Jennilah is almost always open if you prefer to not ask on my art blog for any reason #anyway just felt a need to mention all this & figured this was a good opportunity lol #i should make a more in-depth pinned sometime #jenna shut up

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insane-weasel · 5 months

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I think as writers we should hold funerals for our WIPs more often.

Dearly beloved, gather us here today where this fic of some middle-aged man getting rawdogged and this other fanfic about the importance of friendship are laid to rest, because the author got really distracted playing that new video game.

We celebrate what could have been, cut-and-recycle those really good lines or ideas, because I swear I'm going to use them, I swear! And drag this poor document not to the great recycling bin or trash, but to the "graveyard" folder because sometimes I like to commune with the dead.

#fanfic #Writing #I just had to throw out 5k words of a one shot over something I can't change/control but I never delete old WIPs #I do just put them in a folder and still backup that folder with my other files #Yes some of my earlier ideas were horrendous but also there's a part of me still there in each of them #Sometimes it's less about the writing and more about who I was I want to sometimes revisit #Who was the teen girl writing gore at 15 and what would she think of today's writing #Who was the insecure fearful loveless boy who over expressed his masculinity online and wrote tough lonely guy characters #I don't want to be them anymore but when I hate myself sometimes it's nice to read what I've written #You hear the problems you never thought youd overcome in the author notes or in the subject and those fears and pain #You also see the first time you wrote a subject #I wish I hadn't deleted lots of my writing from when I was very young #Some I did because it legitimately could cause or encourage harm if left online #But I think I always smile when I see the old “this year is 8th grade” because by golly #Still think it's hilarious I got really into writing in middle school because I was jealous of someone else's writing ability in 6th grade #I can remember the exact moment I looked at my 2 page story and was filled with jealousy because they wrote 12 pages and my story felt so..#I remember going home and going 'i know I can write something good!' and people will like it!#And then like while looking for some place to upload writing I found fanfic

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fiomeras · 1 year

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Sometimes i think ooobbghhhhh nobodys gonna wanna see this and then i remember, I'm the one making the image. Im making hundreds of free images online for people to see . I should be payed for this.

#i talk #i feel like so much good original stuff gets left in the dust bc of how were conditioned sm to base our worth of off likes and i realise...#i dont wanna live like that! i dont want anyone else to feel like that either! i love my ocs and i love the stories i wanna tell!!!#i love hearing about others projects i love seeing what they have to say and what ideas they have in mind...#its just!!!!!! its just really lovely to see people being unabashedly passionate about their art and thats just how it is!!!#ahh!!!!

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lightblueminecraftorchid · 1 month

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I love learning ASL it’s so good. Makes me happy to learn it. I’m so glad my university has classes for it with professors actually steeped in Deaf culture.

#blue chatter #am I good at ASL? hahahahahahaha. no.#ASL and English grammar are incredibly different and even when I remember my vocab I am easily clockable as hearing #but I do have some language capacity now. enough to communicate the basics.#and I just. genuinely really enjoy it. it’s fun to learn and engaging in a way most of my classes just aren’t.#and I can. yanno. communicate respectfully w Deaf ppl. and learn about their culture #which is incredibly important given that I want to go into a field where there is a higher incidence than typical of Deaf people #autistic? you’re more likely to be Deaf!#not to mention the fact that sign language can sometimes be a useful alternative to speech for nonspeaking/nonverbal people #depending on the person obvi; some nonspeaking/nonverbal autistics cannot use sign language and that’s okay #but surely at some point I will encounter either a Deaf client or a nonspeaking/nonverbal client who uses ASL #and when that time comes I should have some idea of how to communicate with them #I also rly like the Deaf church by my parents’ house #their community is really welcoming and their services are really interesting #I think it’s rly cool how they take intentions directly from the congregation #they’ll raise their hands and then sign what their intention is from their pew to the ambo #which is rly neat #it is funny bc every time I go the Deaf ppl I talk to will tell each other ‘go slow she’s hearing’#which is ENTIRELY fair bc. I am hearing. and I do need them to go slower.#but it also makes me laugh bc truly everyone knows within a few minutes.#oh hey the new person? they’re hearing. yeah they’re learning ASL at college. sign slowly for her.#which again makes sense bc a big Deaf culture thing is keeping ppl informed. it’s not gossip it’s getting everyone on the same page.#Deaf ppl do NOT beat around the bush that is like the height of rudeness to them. u say what u mean goshdangit. do not waste their time.#which I appreciate the heck out of bc i don’t have to try and phrase things delicately or w/e #it was also funny bc my mom came w me while I was home for Christmas and they asked her if I was her kid #and she said yes. and the lady running the kid’s craft corner thing was like ‘great you’re doing a craft now’#and I’m sitting there. visibly over 18 years old. amongst several seven year olds. trying desperately to figure out how to say hot glue gun #I made a v pretty pinecone tree it was a lot of fun ^-^

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napping-sapphic · 6 months

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hey can you post this for the "WhatsApp group asking" anon? The one asking for a gf to cook cuddle n do cute stuff with...

I'm more that a non-binary tho... might give me a chance? I'm single n want those stuff too so if you want to... y'know... being spoiled with love n treated like you're a princess... cuddle n do cute stuff all day... then please consider giving me a chance

Actually, it's up to all the single sapphlings around

Please someone date me (yearning hard today, I know)

-💫

You’re very sweet and as always I’m rooting for you and hope you get to meet someone soon :)

However, I’m really really sorry but as a general PSA for everyone I would really prefer if people didn’t do this here. I probably sound like your like 90 year old aunt or something but I get really extra paranoid about internet safety and the idea of sending a bunch of completely anonymous people someone else’s way in that capacity kind of freaks me out. The only reason I was willing to post this ask at all was because it was still on anon honestly. There’s nothing wrong with meeting people online but I do think a certain level of caution should be used and idk sending a bunch of random people to another random person’s blog to all ask to date them feels Not Great to me.

Again I’m really really sorry and yall are all very sweet and I’m obviously not like upset or anything and maybe it’s a weird boundary for me to have but I am going to stick to it, I’m still fine with 90% of asks just not ones where I would potentially be sending a bunch of strangers someone else’s way in that sort of capacity😓

#asks #im sorry #i really don’t want you to feel bad about this or anything #my blog is like the opposite of a dating service #it’s like the singles rest area where we all go to complain and take a nap #no action here❌#just the internet can be really dangerous!#and i think meeting and talking to people through the internet is fun but again i prefer to use a lot of caution #like i get nervous being responsible for my own internet safety at times #being responsible for multiple other peoples too?? i think id go crazy with anxiety #again im really so sorry and i promise im not mad or upset #this ask just made me really nervous and im really freaked out by the idea of more people doing this sort of thing here #like i said it mostly as a joke earlier but seriously im not a dating service #and while i hear their security sucks a lot of the time #it’s still probably better than some random 23 year old on the internet that you know next to nothing about #💫

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flashdoesahundredyarddash · 6 months

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I feel like if Hal spent much more time on earth than in space he would be beloved in the coast city as Barry's beloved in the central city cuz he would hang out with the people there like friends like playing baseball just like Barry did

THIS, but at the same time, I think it isn't just the space thing that people aren't fond of but whatever DC writers (loath..) made him do in the early comics (<- The most I can remember is Hal going onto the Oprah show to make his image appear better and etc...). At another time people will like him, like they do with Barry. It's kinda curious to see the different sides of how people treat heroes within the universe, especially if they're from other planets or use weaponry that they 'don't know of'

And for my second part, I am a HUGE fan of baseball... And seeing (forgot what it's called) but the BASEBALL fanfic is SO cute. I actually can't think about it without having to mention how that fic has grasped my heart and tossed it around a couple of times.

^ It even influenced my baseball hcs for these two, or how I genuinely think that their bond of baseball is kinda everything. // Or you know how they have people play games for fundraising (or even the raise between Superman and Flash), how I believe it would be kinda fun to see heroes play baseball together..

#cessmaga you have done it again #(<- talking about the asks.. literally my favorite thing to answer to)#mostly because i get to share some of my personal thoughts on things #and to see other shares or ideas...#but YES so agree with you #I do love that Hal is more known for semi in the universe rather than sticking and staying bound to Earth #I really love talking about these two #It's so unfair with their bond I need it for myself #Okay but hear me out on this one #the different contrasts of how Hal has compared himself to Barry is insane #part of it he just wants to be seen but at the same time hal has always been..#partially hesitant with what he does because he tries his best to do good and nobody sees that despite the people who care about him heavil #even with people he's let down partially dont believe him #but in this case lets talk about Barry and how Barry sees the good in him #and with that if someone as (in hals pov) GREAT AS BARRY sees the good in him then #he gets the hope and belief for himself that he has something in him #speedster ramble #halbarry #? kinda #barry allen #hal jordan

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internetgiraffekid1673 · 1 month

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I Had Miraculous Ladybug Thoughts, Specifically the Chloe Lila Alliance Situation, and I'm Making It Your Problem! I am So Sorry!

Just. Read the title of this post. I am the most biased person you could have on this topic. You've been warned.

Okay, so. Chloe. If you are in the ML fandom, first off, my condolences, we shall suffer together. Second off, you know that Chloe is incredibly divisive. On the one hand, she's an absolute a**hole to everyone around her at any point in the series that is not season 2 and parts of season 3. On the other hand, it is clear that she has no adults teaching her how to not be an a**hole or regulating her behavior because the only people who have the necessary authority should not have ever been parents.

And then you have that whole thing in season 2 where they started to explain her awfulness and gave her the bee miraculous and she started getting better and developing a support structure, and then she stopped being allowed to have the bee miraculous and dove headfirst off the deep end. This frustrates pretty much the entire fandom. On the Chloe hate side, you wonder why they were wasting time with this. On the Chloe love side, you just got baited, and you're annoyed as heck, and you also are wondering why they wasted your time with this.

But fine, okay, it's dumb, but whatever, the fanfiction can work with this. What the fanfiction has a MUCH harder time working with is Chloe and Lila forming an unholy alliance over their mutual hatred of Marinette and Ladybug. Because the problem here is, it's redundant, it doesn't make sense, and makes Lila even more of a Mary Sue.

Tangent warning: YEAH I SAID IT! I think Lila is a Mary Sue. You don't have to think that. My definition of a Mary Sue is "a character that warps the fabric of the story around them without it making any sense because the author likes/hates/pities/has other strong emotion about this character/ too much to care about a coherent narrative." Not everybody defines a Mary Sue this way, but by this definition, Lila is a Mary Sue. Everyone immediately loses their brain cells around her despite being compassionate and sometimes intelligent individuals who will kill for Marinette in most other scenarios. Nonsensical story warping just because the author said so. Tangent aside:

What this alliance does is it gives you two manipulative lying b*tches who willingly get akumatized to further their petty schemes and are out to destroy Marinette and Ladybug and are weirdly possessive of but don't actually seem to care for Adrien. There's really no point in having two. They occupy the same narrative niche and it is awkward and stupid and I DO NOT LIKE IT. Neither does most of the fandom it seems, because this alliance rarely appears in fanfiction.

There are a couple default solutions in fanfiction:

1. Redeem Chloe. I like this solution. I like Chloe, I think she's entertaining, and I think her interactions with other characters as a good guy are especially entertaining, I think she brings a lot of valuable skills and perspective to the cast as a good guy, I think she has a lot of reasons for being an a**hole that should be properly addressed, and I think the reasons her redemptipn arc got aborted were stupid. Most fanfiction goes the route of having redeemed Chloe viscerally hate Lila too, because Chloe goes after enemies with passion and her whole heart. This is a clean solution, but not great if you don't like Chloe all that much or are trying to make it canon compliant (best of luck to you, canon is all over the place).

2. Only focus on one as a villain and yeet the other out of the story. If Chloe is the villain, set the story during the time that Lila was off being Cerise or wandering around Paris or whatever, or before she showed up. If Lila is the villain, give Chloe an unrelated reason to decide she's not dealing with that today, thank you very much. Usually used in salt fics to dunk on whichever character grinds your gears more without unwanted interruptions. I like salt fics, and this is also a good clean solution. Having both of them is redundant, so just remove one. For Lila, it makes sense because she's a Mary Sue and writing her is annoying, so pretending she never existed is a great fix to that. For Chloe, it makes sense because "lying manipulative ladybug hating b*tch" only really starts being her archetype after the writers screwed up her character with a million inconsistincies. Before that, she was more of a "comically loud, bossy, really obssessive fangirl b*tch," so Lila just works better for certain plots. Downside is that you can't focus on Chloe-Lila interactions, and you sometimes have to do a bit of finagling to figure out how to remove them from a situation they would ordinarily be VERY invested in.

3. Make them hate each other. This is one of my favorite solutions because I have a weakness for villain rivalries that are equal parts comedic and dramatic, but bias aside, this absolutely works. They both want Adrien's sole, undivided attention, and, prior to aforementioned screwing over of Chloe's character, Chloe is the world's biggest Ladybug stan, and Lila is her number 1 hater. They also both have a weird power over the adults in the story that two 14 year old girls really shouldn't have. All these factors make it very easy to guess they would clash. Watch as they try to destroy each other! This plays into the "they both suck, but it's different flavors of suck," and makes those flavors mix BADLY together. The one downside is that it is hard to not make this the central focus of the story, because both of them are so over the top that they're absolutely going to drown out most other going ons, and this is technically supposed to be about Marinette and Adrien. It also erases some of the storylines you can get from an actually thought out alliance.

4. Redeem Lila. I have only seen this in one place, but it is a prominent place and that's more places than my suggestion on this whole ordeal. The prominent place being the Scarlet Lady AU by the very talented and lovely ZoeOneesame. Her take on it was basically:

"Chloe in this AU has the ladybug miraculous, and Chloe sucks at her job, so Lila's ladybug hatred is justified. Marinette is in love with Chat and isn't involved in the ladybug drama, so Lila has no reason to hate her. Adrien is both much smarter and much more active in this AU, so he wouldn't deal with Lila in the same hands-off way. Everybody else is also smarter in this AU and would probably know Lila was lying and also not care because they are forgiving and compassionate. So Lila's lies would most likely get called out, she would have the freedom and desire to figure out who she is beneath the lies, and she would have a justified hatred of Scarlet Lady matched by other characters in the AU, and would probably band together with them."

And thus, no filter, vindictive good guy Lila was born! Again, I have only seen this in Scarlet Lady, but it is amazing over there, so I had to talk about it. Redeeming Lila is an unconventional choice for sure, but I think if you arrange for circumstances where Lila would rather ally with the heroes than the villains, then you can get a lot of mileage out of her people-reading/manipulation skills helping out the heroes while possibly scaring the crap out of them at the same time. This has basically all the same downsides as the Chloe redemption though. It's not fun to do if you're here for Lila salt, and it's ABSOLUTELY not canon compliant.

Now. You may have noticed that nobody who writes fanfiction for this show does the canon Chloe-Lila alliance. This is for a myriad of aforementioned reasons: it's redundant, it continues the confusion of Chloe's character arc, and Lila is a Mary Sue, so anything that involves her tends to be frustrating. But, I think there is a way to make it work, so I'm writing about it.

First of all, don't do what canon did where 6 just have Lila teach Chloe how to lie. Take full advantage of the fact that they are two very different types of a**hole. They can ally for the same reasons: they both are super possesive of Adrien and are raging about him getting together with Marinette. And while I don't like the arc of Marinette being a trash and controlling guardian who shows inordinate favoritism to Alya and Zoe and literally nobody else because she's gay for them, you can still do that and have them both hate Ladybug too. I don't like that plot beat, mostly because it's never really addressed that Marinette is in fact a bad guardian outside of some light sulking from Chat, but it can work. She's a 14 year old girl in way over her head with no adults left to help (except the kwamis, but they don't really count because they are very unhelpful). It makes sense that she wouldn't do a good job at first. But whatever their reasons for teaming up, lean into the fact that Lila is a two-faced secretively awful person while Chloe is an in-your-face publicly awful person. From there, it depends on the tone you're going for.

Chloe is a great villain for humor because she's so loud and dramatic. She can get away with saying and doing really insane and rude stuff on the grounds that she's insane and rude (and also rich and powerful). People don't have any expectations for Chloe to be nice or rational, so she can do stuff like try and write a Queen Banana character into the class film and be met with annoyance and frustration rather than outrage and shock. So if you're going a lighthearted route, let Chloe be the one who does all the public legwork for their schemes, and let her be absolutely over the top about it.

On the other hand, Chloe can also be threatening in a far more tangible way than Lila. Lila can make people think you're a bit of a jerk, but it takes a lot of work for her to come close to getting Marinette expelled, even with all her Mary Sueness to help. Chloe can just look at the principal and say "My dad will fire you and remove all school funding if you don't expel her." Chloe won't make people dislike Marinette because nobody likes her, but she can physically hurt Marinette in ways that Lila can't. So if you're going for drama, you can lean into that. Chloe is in a completely different social class than everyone else and has actual power.

Either way, let Chloe be a complete drama queen who is publicly out to get Marinette, because there isn't anything anyone can do about it.

Meanwhile, let Lila work in the background. Lila has never been a comedic villain, only getting introduced after the show had taken a turn for the more dramatic, so don't bother. Leave that to Chloe's antics. Let Lila be the actual threat who is driving their plans. A lot of the reason Chloe was manageable while Lila never was is because Chloe's rage tends to be directionless and impulsive. She has a short temper that can easily be triggered, but also easily soothed, and she doesn't have any thought out plans or long form schemes. She just does whatever she thinks will make her happy in the moment. Have Lila be the one who convinces her to think in the long-term, and who comes up with an overarching plot to get rid of Marinette, adding a sense of real tension to the situation. Sure, before Chloe could have you expelled on a whim, but she also would have stopped bothering the second Adrien paid attention to her. Lila will help Chloe drop that boundary.

Lila also has the advantage of people actually liking her and being willing to do things for her without threatening or bribing them. Lila can do things like make it so Marinette doesn't have any of her friends around to help in an emergency. She can make it so people believe Chloe might actually be justified in her crusade against Marinette this time. She can plant seeds of doubt and distrust and she can socially isolate Marinette in ways Chloe can't. Make people love and believe in her instead, slowly destroy Marinette's support system, and so on. It not only is really dramatic and upsetting, it basically leaves Mari with just Adrien and Chat to rely on, which is FANTASTIC ship fuel if that's your jam. This can also let you have some other prominent characters come to the fore. Have some Kagami focus. Have some Luka focus. Bring in Socqueline and Felix and see how that changes things.

Point is, between these two, you could have a genuine, non-redundant threat that you can get emotional mileage out of. Lila is on one side turning all of Mari's friends against her and scheming to destroy her in the long term. Chloe is on the other side threatening Marinette's lifestyle---her bakery, her school, her fashion career, her public image, her existence in Paris---anything that can be damaged by the Mayor and the Style Queen is under attack. And then you have Hawkmoth on the other end, throwing akumas in her face and forcing her to make impossible choices. I would imagine Lila also gets akumatized on purpose whenever she needs a little extra help, while Chloe just gets egged on and pushed off the deep end by Lila whenever Lila thinks it'd be advantageous. So that trifecta is super genuinely threatening. But you can also have Chloe being a really stupid drama queen whose fits of rage can still be silly and poorly thought out, even with Lila helping her. And you can have some really heartwarming stuff as the people left in Marinette's support system band together and become even closer to get rid of these two once and for all. I just think this plot beat has a lot of untapped potential if the writers didn't make then fulfill the same narrative role, and I haven't really seen it explored yet.

Feel free to use this idea in fanfic, tell me that it sucks and would be bad, or ignore me, I mostly just needed to write this down!

If the mood strikes me or multiple people express interest (yeah right), I will make a (probably much shorter) post explaining how you can redeem both of them effectively and also why I think that would be bad in most circumstances.

Congratulations if you read this whole rant, now please go to sleep. Please. So much please.

#This got really long #i'm ranting #the opposite of no regrets #all the regrets for making you read my unhinged ML thoughts #i think about this show too much for it to be healthy #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug rant #miraculous ladybug fanfic ideas #miraculous ladybug rewrite ideas #chloe bourgeois #chloe bourgeois redemption arc #chloe bourgeois villain arc #lila rossi #lila rossi as a better villain #lila rossi is a mary sue #fight me #seriously #I want to hear other people's thoughts and why you would think she isn't a mary sue #lila rossi redemption arc #how to make marinette dupain cheng's life hell #a beginner's guide #chloe lila alliance #chloe lila team up #oh gosh I didn't even talk about Sabrina #that's a whole other thing #idk how to tag stuff #ignore me and go to sleep #the fans write miraculous better every single time

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vexcraft · 2 months

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thank you for your fics because you have somehow managed to put down into words what i think about convex and what they could be. i am shaking your hand. i WANT to desperately write stuff about the convex that exists in my head but i don't know how to do it while preserving their dynamic but you Somehow Manage It and that's amazing. Especially in love with 'to break what was meant to be beautiful' and '(deadly) peace of mind'. Yes I'm aware that the latter is two years old however I have just now gotten into hermitcraft and convex Immediately Infected Me. ANYWAYS all of this to say. how do you do it?

ahh thank you so much!!! this ask made me so happy :D i'm so glad to hear you enjoy my idea of them and that it matches your idea too!! i just think they're very neat... about their dynamic - i've actually thought about maybe making a post with some character notes and things i've noticed and taken into consideration while writing convex, but i'm not sure it would be interesting and/or helpful. if people would like that i could definitely try to find some time for that :D

i have great news for you because there is actually a second part to 'to break what was meant to be beautiful' in the works! well, not exactly in the works, i wrote like 2.2k words five months ago and haven't been able to return to it due to being busy but! i will!! i want to finish it. i have most of the fic planned out in my head. it will be about having whatever little comfort they've managed to find ripped away and not only having to deal with the fact that they're monsters but they've also been found out as monsters and things are getting worse. there's also a hypothetical "what if things went really really wrong" kinda alternate ending thing i'm not sure i'll ever get around writing but it exists in my head. that other fic you liked? funnily enough was written partly as a joke bc a friend kept saying convex was dead because there hadn't been any content in a bit and i was like "y'know what? *kills them*" but then it ended up being quite heartbreaking in the end :P

how do i do it? i'm not really sure either! i think there's something very special in having such a deep understanding of each other that it makes it possible for them to make it through the worst horrors imaginable. it's not some "meant to be"/soulmate stuff either, they just work together so well. i definitely encourage you to at least try writing something, it does get a lot easier after a bit :D

also welcome to convex hell! if you're interested in a very interesting and very minecrafty approach to the whole vex deal thing and the struggles that come with it i'd recommend this fic by the lovely kie! and for some trust and identity struggles maybe this one of my own works, even though it's quite old and felt a little awkward to reread now :D

#asks #whoops this got kinda long #i just really love hearing that people like my ideas/fics #it makes me so happy!!!!#oh how i want to get back to writing #soon...#must finish my thesis first

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