#i'm a background character but the villain's mine
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I'm a background character but the villain's mine pt.8
CW: past abuse, anxiety, future smut, Mendella is a little scared, (Names) brothers love him very much, future smut
The time until the arrival of (Names) family for their visit passed far too quickly for Mendellas liking. The blond has been all over the place for the past few days, trying to ensure their guests were received properly and that they had only the best impression of their beloved brothers new spouse. (Name), in the mean time, was relaxed as can be. "It's just my brothers" he had said dismissively as he tried to calm Mendellas nerves and herd the omega towards their hang out spot for more cuddles and nest time. Mendella tried his hardest to resist but he couldn't hold out against his husbands purrs, nuzzles and soft nudges and ended up giving in, forgetting his worries in the soft embrace of his alpha. (Name) instructed the staff to prepare most of the things as they already knew what their lords family liked and needed. Of course the alpha wasn't letting his beloved do any of the preparations....at least not yet. He wanted the sun of his sky to rest as much as possible and be pampered like the precious gem he was before he took on even more of the work of the house management. (Name) had always grumbled about that, peeved that his treasure was making himself work instead of letting himself be cared for and loved. Nonetheless it didn't take long for everything to be ready for the three day visit of (Names) brothers.....
First day was the day of the arrival and to say that Mendella was anxious would've been a very severe understatement. His hands were sweating and his stomach was churning as thoughts of offending his husbands brothers and ruining what he has invade his mind. (Name) did his best to soothe his husband but no amount of purrs and soft touches could calm the clammy feeling of the omegas skin as he tried his hardest to not allow his fur to stand on end. (Names) brothers arrived together in a comfortable and clearly expensive but rather simple carriage, all getting out once it has stopped. Mendella was no artist nor was he one for chasing tail but (Names) brothers were quite pleasing to look at. The dark hair and strong but still quite slender build of the oldest, the blond hair, blue, striking eyes and visible confidence of the second born and the cute youthfulness of the youngest accompanied by (Names) own appearance painted the picture of a refined, noble but not pretentious or arrogant family of members of high society. Despite his anxiety Mendella greeted the brothers with all the etiquette that has been quite literally beaten into him only to be pulled into hugs and be patted on the back by the family who was excited to see their beloved brothers spouse and were interested in seeing how their life together was going. The servants of the house led them all to the dining room where a nice lunch has been prepared for all of them. Mendella as usual took the lighter portions of food that was easier on his stomach as he was still getting used to eating real food in portions that would actually feed him. He still couldn't eat like everyone else but it was progress from how he felt around food in the beginning. He guesses that all the little snacks and treats (Name) has been insisting he eats worked their magic. The lunch wasn't as stiff or as uncomfortable as Mendella had expected it to be, rather it was filled with jokes, light music and good natured jabs from one brother to another. They did their best to include the omega into their conversations but didn't press him to speak if he didn't feel like speaking. (Name) believed that his brothers saw how wonderful his shining star was and he could feel the approval coming off his brothers in waves. He knew that Mendella was already a part of the family even if he didn't realize it himself......
The second day started with an early breakfast since (Name) wanted to take his brothers outside to show off the nearby woods and the nature in the territory surrounding his home. The anxiety that Mendella felt on the first day has abated somewhat and he was more intent on spending time with and getting to know his in-laws than he was before. The breakfast was a calm and casual affair, with a light meal, good quality tea and coffee and plenty of casual conversation that wasn't stifling or oppressive as it was with his own family back when he still lived with them. A small, nearly dead part of Mendella wonders what his old family is up to and what their lives are like without him. He doesn't get to think about it for long however because (Name) was being an affectionate fool again and intertwining their tails together as a substitute for holding hands. Mendella has almost given up on brushing out the fur on his tail each time because it would only get messed up half an hour later but the omega couldn't actually get mad since the alpha was sweeter than most people have been to him in his whole life. The day passes quickly as he and his family (family he still can't get over that) spend time fooling around outside and having picknicks, playing ball games and doing other such simple but still so so entertaining things. They all have a sit down in a small structure on a small island in the middle of the lake as they all eat snacks, share drinks and tell stories from their lives both funny and strange. Mendella is a little saddened by not being able to tell many stories of his own as his life was filled with coldness and rigid rules for most of his existence. His sadness is chased away as (Name) nuzzles his cheek and purrs quietly into his ear, the sound soothing his worries and making him forget of his treatment in the past. Mendella ends his night laying in bed by his husbands side, held close by a loving alpha and being covered in a calming and soothing scent....
The third and final day is spent in town, all of them walking around, (Name) showing off the village around his estate. All the villagers were friendly and greeted the nobles like their own friends. The stalls of the little market were full with fresh products and both Mendella and the brothers enjoyed lots of fresh local treats and a nice cup of tea in a quaint little cafe run by an elderly lady and her daughter. The entire time (Name) kept his tail intertwined with Mendellas as he led the omega around and kept him close to his side as a proper husband does. (Names) brothers left in the evening sharing goodbyes and hugs with more affection than Mendella had ever received before in his life. He was cajoled and made to promise to write letters to his in-laws and come to them for help if he ever needed it. Once the sun has set the omega was lying in bed in his alphas arms as his husband held him close, surrounding him with a calm, soothing scent and the sound of his deep purrs. Mendella thinks for a while, thinks and thinks and thinks some more before he gathers up the courage to turn around to face his husband and snuggle under his chin with a soft purr of his own. The response was him getting showered in kisses as his husbands tail wagged in excitement and love. (Name) was having the time of his life as his husband finally gained the bravery to show some affection after being shown how nice love and genuine friendship can be. Both Mendella and (Name) spend the night in each others arms sharing soft and tender kisses until sleep finally claimed them and took them to the world of nice dreams undisturbed by nightmares......tomorrow is another day.
#original work#my writing#my story#my post#male reader x male character#omegaverse#alpha male reader#dom reader#dom!reader#i'm a background character but the villain's mine#omega male character
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okay heres the fucking thing about this script controversy that some people don't seem to get.
just gonna say it blatently:
strap in babes this is gonna be a long one!
The way Miguel O'Hara is written in the leaked transcripts is blatantly racist, here's why from a Latino himself!
all wrapped up in a sweet little bow for everyone who doesn't know how to comprehend what they're reading, cheers!
er. i mean.
¡Salud!
Miguel fans are not mad that they depicted him in a bad light and that they made it clear that he is in the wrong
WE FUCKING KNOW. WE'RE NOT STUPID.
Miguel has been depicted as a morally grey asshole since the early 1990s, which is when Spider-Man 2099 was initially debuted. And while yes, the movies are.... inaccurate, to say the least, it still stands.
The issue here is how he is depicted. They directly call Miguel O'Hara, a Latino man, an ANIMAL (he is directly called an animal TWICE. FUCKING TWICE.)
[1st image id: Miguel leaps onto Vulture, Clawing his way in past the renaissance armor. he is an ANIMAL. (keep in mind ANIMAL is literally in all caps.) /end id]
[2nd image id: Miguel SLASHES at the walls of light that surround Miles. Clawing the energy field apart, an animal in the throes of bloodlust -- /end id]
I need you to really soak in the fact that he is called "AN ANIMAL" twice. I'm awful at alts and ids but I feel I must so you can read it in plain text. sorry if they suck.
Our issue is not that the writers seem to have a bias against the character. a lot of writers write characters they dont particularly like and in turn tend to write them from a foggy lense of their own perception. An example would be Kate Cary and how she didn't like Crowfeather, a character she had to write about. I'm sure some of her bias seeped through. but this is different.
writing a Latino man as a bloodthirsty animal, implied to be called a predator because they call one of the people he fights (im not sure if its miles or the vulture, im leaning towards believing the former.) his "prey", THOSE ARE ALL RACIAL STEREOTYPES. ALL OF THEM.
[3rd image id: But Miguel can only see his prey: /end id]
There is no context to be needed here, the context is that this is miguel we're talking about and that they call him an animal. it does not matter if he is a villain or not (which he isnt, factually he fucking isnt im tired of having this conversation, fuck you). it matters that he's depicted in a racially insensitive way.
and this person brought this up pretty well actually, I didn't even think of it:
[4th image id: Tumblr user @/404-505 saying:
i want to be so mean to them
they couldn't write miguel crossing the border and stealing a job so they wrote him crossing into another universe and stealing his own identity
they couldnt write miguel as a drug addict so they gave him spider steroids instead /end id.]
They bring up a really good point about these clear stereotypes being seemingly. . . disguised behind points that are narratively relevant? This could literally just be pure coincidence, but noting how the writers wrote him before... it isn't looking too good for them. Sorry. Not sorry.
It is clear that there is some kind of bias against miguel that led to really disgusting, racist retoric. Whether or not it was intentional or if it was a first draft or whatever, the writers, which may i remind you were white, still wrote this at some point.
it makes me question whether or not they hated him because of his "bullshit utopia", their words not mine, or because of their own racial biases.
We cannot know because miguel is the only mexican character on the cast. I know Miles is Puerto Rican, but there are differences between how they were portrayed. also Puerto Ricans and Mexicans come from competely different cultural backgrounds that share simularities but are still different dont even try i will destroy you.
Using another users words again, but:
[5th image id: Tumblr user @/transmiguelohara says:
Don't talk to me about the Miguel parts in the script. I'm so disappointed in how the writers view him.
The difference between the way Miguel is written (antagonist, not the villain) vs Spot (the villain, whats to kill Miles' dad and everyone he knows) is soooo.....I don't know man it just screams racism in sorry. Describing Miguel as a bloodthirsty animal? Repeatedly? Treating him like he's mindless and has no motivation beyond having a hair trigger temper? It sucks man. /end id]
It also strikes me that now that we finally have a brown-skinned miguel, they write him like, well. this.
I don't really know if this is petty or not, but I want to wrap this back to the way the fandom also sees Movie Miguel.
Because TRUST ME it is not good either.
Miguel O'Hara Vs. FANDOM: Spoilers, it's been troubling since the beginning.
From the beginning (and by beginning in this case I mean since he was announced to be a character in this movie) Miguel has been continuously sexualized, beyond belief. He is repeatedly called "papi cholo" which NEED I REMIND YOU "Cholo" is a derogatory term used to call someone, usually a mexican person, a criminal or a delinquent.
FUCK YOU if you are not Latino OR hispanic and use this to describe people. from the bottom of my heart.
I'm pretty sure the majority of the people who called/ still currently call him "papi cholo" are mixing it up with "papi chulo" (white people moment.) which means something completely different but is still troubling as hell.
"papi chulo", which is slightly different in the way, just directly translates to "big daddy". Which again, Latino men being overly sexual "Latin Lovers" is ALSO A RACIAL STEREOTYPE. also its just blatant fetishization. Point blank fucking period.
Not only that but I notice a lot of art and fanfiction depicts him doing a lot of violence, or being very overbearing and demeaning, or in short terms.
a lot of people write him as physically and sexually aggressive.
fuck do you mean he growls during sex i can and will send you to space with no return.
which
for the millionth time
racial stereotype
halleluiah or however you spell it.
Having him say random spanish phrases you don't know the meaning or connotations of in your fanfiction is icing on the cake at this point.
fucking end me.
it isn't even only sexual depictions, since he's been shown in the movie, a lot of people seem to just see him as this guy who goes off and tries to kill children at a hairs trigger. which uh. fun fact no he fucking doesnt.
you clearly didn't watch the movie as well as you thought you did. hes just sarcastic and generally pretty level headed through the majority of his runtime, whether its implied by how characters around him act, or its just what we see on screen.
He doesn't necessarily have anger issues, the moment we see at the climax of the film is quite literally a mental break. he is not acting in a way that he usually would because he was cracking under the stress of holding the multiverse together with some scotch tape and orange glitter glue.
Also side tangent but he also has a mental break in the comics that's a little more... droopy and sad as compared to the movie, but it still happens. he has shitty mental health is what im saying. he only really lashes out angrily when hes at his wits end because that's how he grew up. he was taught to suppress his feelings and seem smaller when he was upset.
he is the result of abuse and neglect. of course he wouldn't be amazing at emotional regulation.
Which before anyone says it no, this is not an excuse for his actions. just an explaination that isn't "hes an angry animal that has it out for miles UwU" that everyone seems to have in their brain. I'm tired of you all. truly.
the sentiment that hes agressive and angry and his only emotion is anger and upsetness unless he's horny which is when he experiences all these emotions tenfold is. racist. idk how clear i have to be for people to get it through their damn skulls that the way the fandom depicts him is harmful. do i need to slap you in the face with a fish until you understand. do i need to burn your fanfiction. will you get it now that a 15 year old latino boy has to scream it in your face.
and dont even get me STARED on how inaccurately he is written
this is a more light hearted section because idk. feels like i should have it because this part is just comical, pun intended. How can you fuck up this hard guys.
I was gonna give them the benefit of the doubt because "Miguel has fresh trauma!" "He only shows up for like 10 minutes!" "insert 3rd reason!" for his drastic change in demeanor and personality, which, without context, are valid reasons for him to be a little different. trauma fucks you up man. we only see 10 minutes of him. but at this point im chalking it up to complete incompetence
it doesnt take that long to read a comic book guys. you could have done a little research, I know you can do it.
first off:
[6th image id: Miguel's SPIDER-SENSE goes off! He races to the edge if the building and peers into an empty alley -- /end id]
LMFAO WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN "SPIDER-SENSE"
Unless you didn't get the total of TWO jokes that they made in ONE scene (the vulture fight scene), Miguel doesn't have a spider sense. at all. He has elevated senses, but he doesnt have a spider sense.
guys
guys.
you made TWO jokes IN A ROW about it. YOU WHACKED HIM IN THE HEAD TWICE WITH IT. HOW DID YOU FORGET
I cant help but laugh! this is a rookie mistake! these are seasoned writers! They could have done at least a little research, or at least remembered that he doesnt have one, no? is it that hard? or does his lack of a spider sense only matter when you're making fun of your least favorite character? thats what I thought.
this one is less funny. not to sound like a stereotypical comic nerd but this infuriated me a little bit I'm not gonna lie.
[8th image id: tumblr user @/darksidecorner reblogged tumblr user @/spiderxpawz with:
They definitely didn't
a screenshot of the script reads:
AN INDUSTRIAL TANGLE OF HUGE PISTONS -- the literal DARK UNDERBELLY that undergrids Miguel's bullshit Utopia.
Miles doesn't know where to go... but he doesn't need to: SOMEONE YANKS him up into the safety of an alcove.
the user then continues:
This in particular made me PISSED because they quietly canonized that Miguel is CEO of Alchemax while conveniently ignoring that he did everything in his fucking power to BETTER Neuva York. Downtown wasn't built by him. It was built by people WAY before him.
I can excuse and defend some comic deviation, but THIS? Holy FUCK /end id]
I honestly cant tell if I find this part funny or pathetic because seriously. he did not do this. why are you blaming him for something he had nothing to do with. i dont think he decided "hey i should build a city for rich people over poor people because reasons" when he was like... not even alive. Alchemax did this before he was even sentient. it had always been this way since he was born. he also actively hated this decision. because he actively hates alchemax.
but right MIGUELS bullshit Utopia yeah HE did this that EVIL LITTLE BABY i cant believe him
kill me.
In conclusion:
I. . . Don't really know, to be honest. I'm still processing all this. I am genuinely disappointed and upset because this isn't okay. It never will be, and if it takes yet another blunt essay with absolutely no filter for people to understand it then so be it. I don't care if this comes off as mean. This is something I feel qualified to talk about and I will express my disappointment and anger if I want to.
All of the posts I reference I have reblogged within the last 24 hours of making this post, they shouldn't be that hard to find, but if you want the links to them here they are:
https://www.tumblr.com/spiderxpawz/735344322114977792/live-mexican-reaction?source=share
https://www.tumblr.com/404-505/735289664739606528/they-couldnt-write-miguel-as-a-drug-addict-so?source=share
https://www.tumblr.com/transmiguelohara/735289238625648640/cant-believe-the-writers-have-the-same-reading?source=share
if you want your image to be removed or for your link to be removed just ask and I'll do it. but currently im kinda bummed out and tired.
goodbye.
#atsv#across the spiderverse#miguel o'hara#spiderman 2099#sm 2099#spiderman 2099 comics#miguel ohara#marvel critical#marvel criticism#atsv miguel#spiderman atsv#spiderverse#into the spider verse#spiderman into the spiderverse#marvel#racism#fandom racism#fandom criticism#idk how else to tag this other than#fuck the writers#i guess.#long post
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New Article! Scrapped Season Concepts!
We've all heard of the scrapped Cowboy inspired season of Ninjago. But few know there was many more ideas that were ultimately scrapped! Today, we'll be looking at this scrapped season, along with many other abandoned concepts from Lego Ninjago artist Matt Betteker! And try to unlock some of the mystery behind them! Let's go!
1: The Dawn Of The Devourers, Lloyd vs Pancho, The Race, and Adventure
Clearly inspired by Western movies, this epic adventure seems it would have pitted the Ninjas against a Great Devourer riding band of outlaws, (One of which is named, Pancho) in search of perhaps some sort of treasure! This concept is extremely interesting, since it shows the existence of multiple Great Devourers! One of which looks a bit like Wojira! This season also seems to take inspiration from Incan civilizations, going by the jungle tomb-like building in the concept Adventure, and the Incan style Pyramids in the background of Lloyd Vs Pancho. Overall, this seems like it would have been an epic season. I can only imagine what the concept titled, The Race would have looked like animated. I honestly wonder why it was scrapped.
(I love the little detail of Cole manning the guns and Wu driving the wagon. Good father and son teamwork. Lol.😂)
2: The Lightning Temple and ThunderTown
What are these concepts for? Who's to say. It could be a very early version of Prime Empire. Going by the circuitry style painting on the temple in the concept called Temple Of Lightning, and the overall lightning themed atmosphere. OR, it could be an early design for the Island of the Keepers. Whose to say? But either way, it's a really cool concept and I'd love if they could reuse it some day.
3: Clockwork, The Ancient Ones Return, The Gold Army Meets Fibo, and The Gold Collector
This concept looked like Crystalized, Master Of The Mountain, and Hands Of Time all rolled into one!!! The gold and white color palette seems incredibly similar to Shintaro's. Meanwhile, clockwork patterns and style are reminiscent to Hands Of Time! And last but not least, the floating island looks almost like the Crystal Kings from Crystalized! This season would have had all sorts of crazy stuff! The main villain, (Known as The Gold Collector,) seems to have been very interested in two things. Gold, and Clockwork stuff. And it seems he or she would have been collecting gold to perhaps bring back the Golden Army shown in the artwork The Gold Army Meets Fibo. Who is this mysterious Fibo? A time traveler perhaps? Look at the flowing swirls of clock styled energy surrounding him. Very intriguing.🤔
If Ninjago had a steampunk inspired season like this, I would have been thrilled! It's to bad this concept was abandoned. But I would love to see what fans do with it!
4: Hunt For The Lava Hammer, and Cole Lava Blade
An early version of Master Of The Mountain, or something else? Going by the mining style machines and side characters in the backgrounds of both these pieces, this could have been a mining themed season centered around Cole. Even Cole's outfit is designed to look like a mining or construction outfit. Almost reminiscent to Lego City's Volcano Explorers line.
5: The Dragons Tribe, and Hunt For The Elemental Shurikens
There isn't much to say about this one. As we can't really take many clues from it. But going by Lloyd's outfit, and the lush green plant life, I believe this could be an early version of The Island. What really interests me is these Elemental Shurikens. What are they? Unfortunately, it doesn't say. But I'm sure they would have been interesting! Also, look at that dragon guarding her nest. The patterns on her are beautiful!
6: The Journey of Lloyd
All these piece were under one title. The Journey Of Lloyd. How mysterious.👀 So what is this collection of concepts? Just by looking, you can tell this was no ordinary season. The muted color palette and the more mature atmosphere all seem to point to something bigger. Was this perhaps a scrapped version of the Ninjago Movie? Or something else? Perhaps a Lloyd centric story, in which he goes an epic adventure all his own! Whatever's is was, it looks amazing. The love how much more mature and darker it feels. Surely a concept worthy of a nail biting, heart racing, action movie!
7: The Dragon Mask
A single concept amongst the others caught my eye. It didn't seem to fit with any of the other concept seasons. What is this dragon mask? It could be an early version of the Dragon Forms seen in Crystalized. But whose to say? Still, a very striking design! Feel free to comment your theories about it!
Want to look at the artwork straight from Matt Betteker himself? Here's his Art Station account with the exact art pieces we went over today.
Thanks for reading everyone!
#ninjago#lego ninjago#ninjago lego#ink dragon#concept art#Matt Betteker#links#ninjago crystalized#ninjago the island#ninjago prime empire#ninjago hands of time#the lego ninjago movie#ninjago movie#lego ninjago movie#ninjago master of the mountain#trivia#Inky's Articles#scrapped concepts
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Long af rant about Velvette's old design and character as I share my art of her :D
Pilot Velvette/ Og Velvette gives extreme babydoll harley quinn vibes, which is a stark contrast from how she ended up being in the show. I like to imagine that something extreme happened to her, like a horrible breakup or betrayal, and she went all crazy. This is the version of her we see in the pilot. The Voxtagram stories seemed to lean into this, depicting her as more immature, bratty, and murderous. She also depended more on Vox and Val like she saw them more as father figures than co-workers. (Just a thought.) However, as she adapted more to the landscape of hell she became the Velvette in the show; A fashion icon girlboss who is much more independent and while not serious, much more mature than her pilot counterpart, and even the other Vees. They ditched her psycho vibe to replace it with something that made more sense to her character.
Something that I personally wonder is: Why was Velvette like this in the beginning if she was meant to focus on fashion? A puffy Lolita dress goes against the Vees whole idea of being up to date, so what was the original vision for her? People have complained about Velvette already having too much going on for her, being both the overlord of fashion, master of social media, backbone of the vees, selling a love potion, etc. If those ideas were already there, did they just think a crazy serial killer girl would be even more extra clutter to her personality?
A concept many fans I've talked with is if the Vees personalities in the pilot stayed. Val would be pretty much the same, but the other two were almost different characters. In the Voxtagram stories, Vox let Val beat him around, had a goofy pet, and seemed to care less about his public image to remain more villainous. Velvette I already discussed was extremely different, the only thing connecting her to our Velvette is her connection with the Vees and fashion. In this universe, would Velvette see Vox and Val as toxic dads who kept breaking up and getting back together again, instead of seeing them as equals and KEEPING THEM TOGETHER? it's a wild shift.
Essentially, Pilot Velvette acted more like a bratty little girl, while her show version acts more like a annoyed but controlling teen. We see her pilot look as her profile picture, so this 'phase' of hers is still canon. I know she already died as an adult, which is why I'm so curious as to why she originally acted this way. Did Viv think she would be a better contrast to Vox and Val like this? To be fair, a spoiled brat AND annoyed girlboss are both contrasts of their personalities, just two different approaches. Was their originally going to be a backstory for her as to why she was this way? or was she just crazy to BE manipulative? or you know, just liked murder while looking cute like Niffty. speaking of Niffty…
I think Niffty is the most likely reason why they changed Velvette's design and personality. we already have a little crazy girl who admires 2 men she sees as older figures and enjoys murder for mysterious reasons. It mightv'e seemed a little counter-intuitive if there was 2 versions of the same character stereotype. Another reason they could've changed her is that she stands out more. If we're supposed to take Velvette as an overlord seriously, how are we supposed to do that when she leans back on the other two guys and looks like she's from a horror movie? Sure, I'm positive pilot Velvette could've been intimidating at times when she got legitimately frightening. however, this didn't seem like her vibe 95% of the time. It might've made her blend more into the background of the Vees than she practically already does. (Which is just a problem for female Vivzie characters but that's a whole separate rant.)
A headcanon of mine is that this was just her psycho little girl brat phase, and she is hella embarrassed over it. like a teen being embarrassed over their phases of when they were a kid. and Vox and Val would constantly piss her off by reminding her of it. That could lead to some fun banter in the future I would love to see as a reference to the pilot.
Anyways, sorry for the literal Essay I wrote here again, just a ton of over-analyzing which I'm best at. Personally, I do vibe with Velvette's new design and character for the show, I just cant help but think of why she used to be so different and arguably had the BIGGEST character shift from pilot to show In Hazbin Hotel.
#hazbin hotel#hazbin hotel rant#hazbin hotel character analysis#velvette hazbin hotel fanart#hazbin hotel velvette#hazbin#rants n rambles#pilot velvette#character analysis#hazbin hotel vees#hazbin hotel thoughts#hazbin hotel pilot#ok but seriously why was she changed the most??#Deep deep deep dive lol#fanart#my art#art#hazbin fanart#hazbin hotel fanart#this is long I know#Character thoughts#character theory#hazbin hotel characters#hazbin hotel theory#Heyyy sorry I’m not super active but I will rant for way too long when I want
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Cries over Rook and Cryptan (whose name my phone is desperately trying to turn into crystal). Their friendship kinda reminds me of Adél and Bendegúz, not because of any parallels, but it's this very strong, deep friendship.
...if I think about it, they remind me of the villain Adél au, where Bendegúz doesn't go with her to look for Ákos (and this becomes his biggest regret), and to put it simply Adél makes a deal with the Black swamp: Ákos remains unharmed, and Adél will carry on the Black swamp's purpose after Odette desrtoys it.
Adél and Bendegúz end up on opposite sides when it's the last thing they want.
It would be interesting how your characters from the present would get along with pre madness Rook (if you discount the fact that Aiden's job is to stop him from coming back). Just personality wise.
Also, I forgot to ask last time: can Callan fight?
Also, also:
Continuing the your traumatized boy takes care of mine Aiden babysitting Ákos saga:
I had this idea (that is actually canon) that i see as half cute half sad, which is this:
No matter how cute and precious Ákos is, despite still being a child he still managed to survive a month in a very hostile environment because 1: he's very smart, 2: he took some advice from each of his older siblings that helped him. He took care of himself... but he didn't like doing it. He stayed strong, sharp, and determined, but in the background, there was this little "I don't know what to do" (among other things, but this is what's relevant rn). And he couldn't do it forever. One time, he just stopped (and i can't say more cause spoilers).
And one of his feelings that I love writing about actually is that after Adél and Bendegúz find him and there's finally someone to take care of him. It's this repeated feeling of "It's okay, it's okay", but it's still a little suprising each time.
Finally getting to the point:
Ákos knows he can take care of himself, but on "bad days" he doesn't like it. Fortunately, he also knows that he has people he can rely on. So on some "bad days" (he has different types of bad days) he just follows people around like a little duckling (or on very bad days just Adél or Bendegúz), and yeah, he sometimes does this anyway, the difference is that on these days he kinda wants people to show him/ tell him what to do. To guide him a little.
And I think this would look so cute actually when Aiden's looking after him.
Like, idk exactly why (maybe because he was also left alone as a child), but I can totally see Aiden being like: child needs me to steer the ship for a bit so I will! with no hesitation.
Rook and Cyprian are everything to me at the moment <3
The villain Adél AU sounds cool! Dare I say it does remind me of Rook a bit. Either way, it's interesting!
Original Rook would get along quite well with everyone. Like insaid, hes really older brother-coded, not just with his issues. He's older than all of them and often busy though, so they probably wouldn't really spend much time together.
Callan can fight, but chooses not to. He's a person that sees fighting as a last option. He got weapon and fight training, though, so he can defend himself if necessary.
Poor Akós, that sounds like his survival instincts took over. But it's understandable, especially for someone so young, to just be taken care of.
Aiden knows how to look after himself, has been since he was a child. For him, it's almost normal, he had to unlearn that first. Had to learn to accept help. But he likes to give help, so as soon as he recognizes Ákos problem, I'm sure he'll try to help
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Do you think you'll be able to write headcanons about being Red Sons friend? She's a comfort character of mine and I'd like to see how it would be to become friends with him >:)
(if you can't write this or don't want to or anything, then that's totally fine!!)
WOOOOOOO MY ARO ACE NESS IS VERY HAPPY WITH THIS ONE
(I'm cupio romantic and on the ace spec so I like this idea)
And I'm also taking liberties and day you're also some sort of immortal for this
Anyways!
Redson Friends hcs!
First off, you two started out as friends like in early childhood
You grew up together and such, running around the gardens and fortress with servants chase you while your parents just sign in the background
As you grew up, you were the one to drag Reds to bed or rest from er working himself on one of his projects or plans to free his father
In turn he made sure you ate and was very hydrated
Your parents joked about marriage one time and you both shot that down very fucking fast
Reds was your sibling tf
You comforted them a lot while she dealt with the loss of her father
And they were always a shoulder for you to cry on
I knoooowww you teased him about almost anything, mostly his villain voice he would put on infront of MK and the others
And they made jabs at you for anything they could think of
You are the reason Reds finally got a phone, so he could actually talk with others that didn't have communication magic or get a hold of it
And to be caught up in the news
Oh and you best believe she flaunts their wealth
And by that I mean she brings you very expensive gifts every once in a while or makes you something to cheer you up
You are both very comfortable with eachother, knowing y'all boundaries from an early age
And you better know that she's your out on anything
Someone sleazy trying to dance with you? Nah, you're with Reds
Someone trying to court you and they give off a bad vibe? Their place might be a little burnt
Mostly you both just hang out and do your own shit. But together. Like parallel play.
All in all, it's just very comfy around Reds and you both are grateful for each other
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Riverstar's Home Bingo
I'm making one. I have to. I'm compelled.
PLEASE shout out your funniest predictions we're gonna have some good old fashioned sadistic fun with this
Here's mine so far;
Clear Sky Apologia
(At least one situation where Clear Sky is an unambiguously horrible asshole and another character downplays how shitty they are)
New Skykin Kits
(Thunderstar, Skystar, Jagged Peak, or any of Gray Wing's biochildren have more kits)
Riverstar feels bad about fighting someone despite being completely right
Spider Paw becomes a background character
despite having a fear of water and being River's apprentice, which could carry the SE in its own right
The "returned park cat" becomes a villain
Bonus points if they create an evil cult in the process, Darktail/One Eye style
Riverstar finally moves on from his Man Pain with a new wife
Bonus points if it's Night specifically
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You've written about Overhaul in the past. Any tips on writing him accurately?
Overhaul's actually one of the most complex villains in the story that's not a part of the league of villains, however since he's pretty unlikable and has mostly negative and unsavory character traits he's not discussed as often. However when it comes to writing him, there's a lot of rich material to mine here.
So my starting point whenever trying to write a character and make them as in-character as possible, is to figure out what the author intended for them in story. What role are they supposed to play? What function do they serve? In my opinion, Chisaki was an attempt by Horikoshi to twist a lot of traditional "good guy" traits into a villainous character that the audience would despise.
One of my biggest ways of doing this is to compare them to other characters, especially haracters who aren't given as much screentime because there are lots of cogs in a story and often the purpose of one character is to highlight a personality trait in another character because they share it.
Now I'm going to explain Chisaki's characterization by comparing them to another character, but here's the curveball here: I'm not going to use Shigaraki. Because I can explain it real quick with Shigaraki, the purpose of Chisaki is to show how Shigaraki's leadership differs from Chisaki because Shigaraki sees his allies as more than just pawns to be utilized. However, to come to understand why Chisaki wholeheartedly believes that everyone exists to be used thoroughly to further his own ends, we're going to look at a different character.
Hawks and Chisaki are both bird-themed. They are both orphans who were taken in by an organization at a young age, Chisaki by the Yakuza and Hawks by the hero commission. They are both also extremely fanatically loyal to that organization and do everything possible to ensure that organizations survival, in part because they feel they have to repay being taken in.
They are both characters who were introduced to the league of villains, trusted by Twice, only to turn around and kill a member of the league. For Hawks it was literally Twice himself he killed. They were also initially presented as cooperating with the league, but when they reveal their true colors it shows how they view people in stark contrast to how the league views and treats it's own members. Which like, Hawks does not come out looking pretty in the comparison.
Hawks doesn't actively abuse children so he has that over overhaul, but he does drag them onto battlefields that are basically an active warzone where the villains are fighting to kill. Which means that much like Overhaul, he tends to treat children the way he was treated: Ie, weaponizing them.
If you are familiar with Hawks mindset, "I am a pawn, so therefore everyone else is a pawn that I can maneuver around to obtain my objective" then it's easy to extrapolate the same onto Chisaki. Hawks talks about dirtying his hands, Chisaki is literally a germaphobe who has panic attacks if he gets blood on his hands (I'm exaggerating only slightly).
Chisaki is introduced with a deep psychological need to stay clean and avoid everything he considers filth, dirty, or diseased a rampant paranoia of his which spreads to his hatred of quirks. We never get the reason why Chisaki hates quirks, besides the fact that the advent of heroes threatened his home in the Yakuza, but if we're going to extrapolate here it's probably due to the grotesque nature of his own quirk. He literally targets Eri because their quirks are similiar and he finds hers to be incredibly disgusting, and justifies his abuse of her with that logic.
My pet theory is that he was either abandoned by his parents because of hsi quirk, or that he was taken in by AFO at some point and deliberately targeted by his quirk like Toya was (people have pointed out that the wallpaper here and the children playing int he background resemble the house that Toya was taken to).
So, what we get here is Chisaki hates quirks, and he likely hates his own quirk possibly because of how he was treated in childhood because of it. He was definitely exploited by the same man who took him in due to that quirk, considering the fact he's a yakuza enforcer and has probably been committing violent crime since childhood. Once again, a Hawks trait, to be born with a prodigious quirk and yet find that quirk incredibly filthy.
Hawks and Chisaki are a study in how characters can be painted to have "good guy" and "bad guy" traits, when really they're only being painted that way because of circumstances or surroudnings. Hawks in a lot of ways acts the same as Chisaki, he just happens to be manipulating people for the heroes, not to restore the Yakuza. Chisaki values no one, everyone including his childhood friend, the people he takes in off the streets, are pawns to be utilized by the best of their aiblity. He even tries to teach Shigaraki to play Shogi (Shigaraki not knowing how to play probably signifying how much he views people differently).
So, Chisaki's willing to utilize everyone around him in service of a goal, the worth they have is to how he can use them to benefit his larger goal in mind and he's got no qualms about it.
Villainous trait, villainous trait, you say but Hawks does the same thing basically maneuvering everyone on the battlefield in the first and second wars the way Chisaki does, he just does it for an entirely different goal. He's even willing to personally betray and mutilate someone who trusted him in order to achieve that goal. Chisaki's point of no return is him completely massacring Nemoto in order to fuse with him when the tables started to turn against him in his fight against the hero. Hawks stabs Twice in the back in order to prevent him from using his quirk to stop the raid. In both cases it's a personal betrayal of someone who was good to them and trusted them.
You could say Hawks did it for the greater good, but for CHisaki who only knows his Yakzua way of life he's doing it for the survival of the only life he knows. Which is why I say they're so similiar, Hawks isn't really protecting innocent people, he's protecting his role in the hero commission. He takes what he was raised to do to the extreme.
Which is another central character trait they share, Chisaki's biggest defect is that he never, ever gives up on anything ever. A traditionally heroic trait especially in the shonen manga where the character never gives up ever, but his determination is twisted into something hideous because he has no qualms about making sacrifices to get what he wants.
Since childhood Chisaki has done absolutely everything to protect the family's dignity, to the point where it was disturbing. He never changes his mind, never backs down, even when the man he's trying to repay goes against him, but it comes from the same source as Hawks.
He believes he owes the person who took him in, and does everything he does in service of that debt.
So the last part is Chisaki's germophobia himself. Now Chisaki is a man completely divorced from his own sense of guilt who doesn't really hesitate before making heinous actions, but I wouldn't say he feels nothing,the man's clearly not mentally well. If anything I'd say his own germophobia is a metaphor for the guilt and self-loathing he feels and chooses to ignore.
He usually has breakdowns shortly after using his quirk as well. He'll absolutely brutalize people and then have a breakdown about the blood that they've gotten on him. Which suggests he you know, probably does not enjoy bloodshed in any real way. You could even compare it to Shigaraki's statement that he always feels like there's a constant sickness no matter what he destroys, which is likely his repressed guilt that AFO played off as some kind of urge to destroy, or the way Shigarki carries his hands of his family on him so he'll never forget his own self-disgust at murdering them.
Chisaki is living completely divorced from his own sense of guilt, until he's not. Once you remove him from his position of power, when he's away from the mission and forced to sit in his prison cell in tartarus he's reduced to a shambling mess that just constantly apologizes over and over to his boss and begs for the chance to see him again.
Which means that Chisaki represses all of his emotions to perform a task, and when he si not performing a task or functioning in a role he falls to pieces, because he doesn't have any sort of life except for serving in the yakuza. He's even referred to as a "gangster without a heart" because he literally has nothing else and no identity.
Chisaki's gotta be a gangster and he'll even throw a coup and put his boss in a coma for fear of losing that place in the world, because what else is there for him?
He even hates being called by his real name, much like Hawks, so his central issue is really a lack of identity because he was raised in a fishbowl with no other place to belong in the real world. Except we saw Chisaki when he was taken out of his fishbowl, and all he did was flop around like a magikarp.
As for general guidelines on his voice:
The germaphobia is a constant thing with him. Don't put your shoes in my table. Don't breathe in my direction. Hey stop bleeding on me your blood is filthy.
He talks down to people in general. He's extremely condescending with Shigaraki right off the bat, and states to his face that the only worth that Shigaraki and the League will ever have is pawns to be used as a part of his plan.
He flips between being detached, and extreme anger. Basically he's able to act cold and detached when things are going his way, and when people resist his plans or manipulations he then switches to browbeating, bullying or just otherwise lashing out in anger. If the square peg won't fit in the round hole, then just hit it harder until it does. He's cold and calculating until his calculations fail then he just brute forces it.
He's generally pretty good at negging people, he's got Eri convinced that her quirk is disgusting and she's the source of the misfortune around her. He's also got a bunch of street rats incredibly loyal to him by convincing them they can literally do no better in life than being used as a part of his plan.
He also has a softer and more polite side that only comes out in front of the boss. This is his childish side too. When he's fighting Deku and has basically lost, he flashes back to his boss patting him on the head and thanking him for protecting the family's honor. He literally just craves validation from the closest thing he has to a father figure. He'll go to any lengths to get it.
In general Chisaki should be disturbingly inhuman too, not just in his actions, but in his rationale and how far he can go and how little he considers other people in the equation. Even his own childhood friend and fellow yakuza finds him to be offputting. His boss asks him point blank, "What are humans to you?"
Basically, he's creepy, weird, anti-social, uses everyone around him, and is also completely divorced from his own feelings and sense of guilt which lets him run roughshod over other people's feelings.
So, y'know. Hawks.
Except Hawks puts on a charming and likable personality, whereas Chisaki's personality is having no personality.
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Building Dungeons that Tell Stories
One thing I've been hired to do a lot lately is to write a dungeon that's meant to fit into a larger adventure/product. For example, I wrote the Ivory Tower for Sarah Morris's The City Lost to Dream. I'm writing another one now, for [redacted], and I thought it'd be cool to talk through my process as I build the outline.
You can find a Notion template for my dungeon outline here! But this blog post will talk through it.
First, a disclaimer: This isn't the definitive way to make a dungeon! In fact, not all dungeons need to tell stories in this way. But the vast majority of mine do, because they're attached to one-shots, and I like the narrative completeness this style of dungeon creation affords. There's a narrative throughline to this kind of dungeon, where each room serves a purpose and allows the players to piece the story together. At the climax, the characters can use this information to make an informed decision about how to proceed.
This style is heavily inspired by the environmental storytelling found in games I've enjoyed like Bioshock and Pokemon. Every bit of the environment, down to the smallest aesthetic choice, links back to the main idea in some way. When you put all the pieces together, the image becomes clear.
So let's dive into it:
The Dungeon Thesis
The Dungeon Thesis is the story told by traversing the dungeon. What happened here? What will the party learn from each of these rooms? Every room in the dungeon should be a supporting argument for this thesis.
If you've read my adventure The Workshop Watches (get it here for free!), then you'll recognize the strong thesis there: S.A.M. is a sentient workshop who accidentally killed its creators. Every room inside S.A.M. supports this thesis, by providing more insight into Illumar's research and S.A.M.'s actions since its creation.
The Dungeon Background section can help you with this thesis. Who lives in this dungeon now? Why was it originally created? What conflict is created by the disparity in the answer between those two questions?
While your final draft probably won't have a section labeled "Dungeon Thesis," the entire thing should have echoes of what you put here in your outline throughout.
The Dungeon Gimmick
Not every dungeon needs a gimmick, but it is a great way to make this encounter stand out. Maybe the corridors shift, or the characters are running on a timer. Maybe your dungeon is sentient and very, very curious. When coming up with a dungeon gimmick, also consider the other overarching features of the dungeon. How are the halls lit (and who made it that way)? Are there doors? Do they lock?
When adding a gimmick to your dungeon, make sure you introduce it right away. I'll cover this more in the entryway section, but it's a good idea to establish the gimmick as soon as possible, and keep reinforcing it, so it sticks in the GM's mind (and therefore their players' minds). Here's the gimmick from The Workshop Watches:
Individual Rooms: Purpose, Challenge, and Reward
The meat of a dungeon is, of course, its rooms. I have a three-pronged approach to coming up with the rooms: purpose, challenge, and reward.
Purpose
Why is this room important to the overall dungeon? What can the characters learn from traversing this room that will lead them closer to the thesis? Does it establish the ruthlessness of the villain, betray a secret weakness of your enemy, or provide more context for what's going on here?
You don't always have to come up with the purpose first. Sometimes you look at your dungeon layout and say, "I need more combat." So build your combat encounter, and then retroactively determine why that's necessary to the story.
That's what I did for The Workshop Watches. I added the greenhouse fight because the dungeon needed more combat. I asked myself, "what kinds of rooms would exist in a wizard's laboratory?" and settled on a greenhouse full of magical plants. Later on, I came up with the temperature control mechanic, where S.A.M. would counter cold damage with fire damage and fire damage with cold damage. A burnt section of the greenhouse suggests that S.A.M. has incinerated something-or someone-before.
Challenge
What are the characters meant to do in this room? This one is the most straightforward, but writing it out can help you keep track of the balance between different types of challenges. Combat, exploration, social, trap diffusion, puzzle solving, etc.
Reward
What do the characters get for completing the challenge in this room? Sometimes the reward is just "passage to the next room." Sometimes it's as explicit as "treasure!" But think outside the box for things your players would appreciate inside a dungeon: new tools, the opportunity for a rest, more lore, a role play opportunity.
There can be multiple Purposes, Challenges, or Rewards in one room, but try not to overdo it! Conversely, you can cheat a little bit and have them overlap or omit one ("The purpose of this room is simply to be a place for the characters to rest -- a reward! The challenge is in whether they'll recognize it or not")
Examples
The template has more questions for special room types. I won't go through all of them, but I do want to share some examples from my outline for The City Lost To Dream. Here's the entryway example:
Later on, I realized that there wasn't enough in the entryway. The final draft has a statue of the tower's founder and clues to suggest you should rub the bottom of her robe, which grants you a boon on a check. A fun reward for a History challenge.
Another example, one of the Laboratory floors:
You can see there's multiple challenges here, but no concrete reward yet. In the final draft, the aboleth can help you in a later encounter, but it also grants you three "knowledge" wishes (basically, three castings of legend lore).
The Climax
The climax of the dungeon - the final confrontation. Most dungeon delving games consider some kind of confrontation to be a great cap to the adventure. Combat is especially popular here. Give your characters something to fight!
But almost as important as the fight is the choice. A question I am constantly asking myself is, "The Characters learned all that information you gave them; now what are they going to do about it?" This is a roleplaying game, after all! When the characters learn the full truth of the dungeon and uncover its thesis, it may change their minds about how to proceed. Maybe they must choose between two potential adversaries, or choose whether or not to fight, or choose whether or not to use lethal force.
And that's the outline! I hope it's helpful to folks who are interested in creating this style of dungeon. Definitely pick up a copy of The City Lost to Dream if you haven't already; it's a fun 5e adventure! And let me know what you think of this method.
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elektra natchios aesthetic
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Villain - Searows / Never Love an Anchor - The Crane Wives / The Oresteia - Aeschylus / Antigone - Jean Anouilh (tr. Lewis Galantiere) / Planet of Love - Richard Siken / @moldavite / H of H Playbook - Anne Carson / Anecdote of the Pig - Tory Adkisson / @exigencelost / Things haunt - Joshua Jennifer Espinoza / Wishbone - Richard Siken
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[Image ID:
Picture 1: Two sets of lyrics, one from the song "Villain" by Searows, and one from the song "Never Love an Anchor" by The Crane Wives. The lyrics from "Villain" say, "I started a war / I'm gonna fuck it all up / And I'll probably pay with my life / And I know you told me / That everything's fine / But I wrote this story / Before it was mine / And I know there's a villain / But I'm worried it's me this time." The lyrics from "Never Love an Anchor" say, "I am all the things they might have said to you / Do you ever think of me and my two hands, and wonder why? / They never soothed your fevers / And wonder why / They never tied your shoes / And wonder why / They never held you gently And wonder why."
Picture 2: Two quotes from the Oresteia. The first one says, "1. Enter here knowing that she is already dead." The second one says, "Orestes: (highlighted) This was always going to happen. She's been dead since the beginning."
Picture 3: An excerpt from Planet of Love by Richard Siken. It says, "so smile for the camera, it's your big scene, / you know your lines. / I'm the director. I'm in a helicopter, / I have a megaphone and you play along. / because you want to die for love. / you always have. / Imagine this: / You're pulling the car over. Somebody's waiting. / You're going to die / in your best friend's arms. / And you play along because it's funny, because it's written down, / you've memorized it, it's all you know. / Isay the phrases that keep it all going, / and everybody plays along."
Picture 4: A quote from Jean Anouilh's Antigone. It says, "In a tragedy, nothing is in doubt and everyone's destiny is known. That makes for tranquillity. There is a sort of fellow-feeling among characters in a tragedy: he who kills is as innocent as he who gets killed: it's all a matter of what part you are playing. Tragedy is restful;…”
Picture 5: A headline that says, "Calf born with third eye on forehead--but still destined for slaughter."
Picture 6: A quote from the H of H Playbook by Anne Carson. In normal text, it says, "Brief pause. I'm walking backward into my own myth." In strikthrough, it says, "I was trying to walk out."
Picture 7: A excerpt from Anecdote of the Pig by Tory Adkisson. It says, "Do you still believe myths / can save you? Foolish creature. / Let me be clear: every version of the story / ends with you being slaughtered."
Picture 8: A post from @exigencelost. It says "She's dead she's immortal she's haunting you she doesn't care about you she's muzzled she's screaming at the top of her lungs she's unnoticed she's unforgettable she doesn't have control over the story she doesn't have control over her body she doesn't even have control over her voice. And I'm obsessed with her."
Picture 9: A quote from Things haunt by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza. It says, "Things haunt. / Things exist long after they are killed."
Picture 10: A black silhouette of a man's bust with red lines extending from a gunshot hole in the middle. This silhouette is layered on a red background, the same color as the lines extending from the center of the man's bust. In fragments, a quote from Richard Siken's "Wishbone". It says, "I'll be your / slaughterhouse / your killing floor / your morgue / and final resting."
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#elektra natchios#web weaving#tragedy#im normal about her#greek tragedy elektra natchios fic#now with image ids!! apologies on how long that took i was on my phone
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I’m a background character but the villain’s mine pt.5
CW: past toxic relationships, future smut, fear of SA, snuggling and cuddling, Mpreg mention, Mendella is confusion, reader continues to simp
I’m a background character but the villain’s mine pt.5
CW: past toxic relationships, future smut, fear of SA, snuggling and cuddling, Mpreg mention, Mendella is confusion, reader continues to simp
Your and Mendellas wedding was almost pathetically small and quick. You didn’t mind of course since you didn’t really like large crowds or big and loud events that dragged on for hours. Your poor brothers were almost always the unfortunate witnesses to any tantrums caused by fear or discomfort. They were very understanding and more often than not tried to help you get some piece in some way. When you told them about your marriage and to whom you were getting married to your brothers got a little concerned before quickly realizing that you were after all in your right mind and knew what you were doing. Warnings and wishes for you to be safe and careful were exchanged but your family was supportive of your union. Your father sadly couldn’t make it to the ceremony since he was retired and traveling the world and the timing of your wedding didn’t give him any time to come back. He did send a present though so that was nice of him. Now as for Mendellas family...They looked as haughty and arrogant as ever. Walking around as if they owned the place *tch*. You were kind of ready to leap at your brides brothers throat because of the way the other man was looking at Mendella. Like the most radiant person in the world was nothing more than an eyesore. You were lowkey fuming but also had to hold yourself back from purring way too loud during the ceremony ‘cause of how happy you were. Mendella looked more relieved too as the event came to an end. He was really eager to get away from his family you guessed.....
Finally. Finally Mendella could breath a sigh of relief as his marriage to (Name)(Lastname) became official. Now his family could do absolutely nothing to him as the contract they all signed stated that he now fully belonged to the other lord. Belonging to someone as if he were mere property hurt his pride but this was better than being forced into the bed of a man almost thrice his age (and from what little interaction they had (Name) really didn’t seem that bad). Since everyone wanted to end this whole thing as quick as possible there was no banquet and after the official part and brief congratulations from both families everyone went their own ways. To say that Mendella wasn’t anxious would have been a lie because now he had satisfying his new husband to worry about and the last thing he needed was another failed pairing. He had to make their first married night memorable lest his savior gets disappointed. Mendella did promise to make it worthwhile and he will. Not matter how painful or humiliating it gets....
Once you and your now husband arrived at your home you were ready to lay down and spend the rest of the day sleeping beside the best person in the world. Oh how you longed to hold him, to cuddle with him on your warm and soft bed, to kiss him anywhere and everywhere he would let you, to shower him with gifts and love. “Ah~ my dear husband. The ceremony may be over but I still have one last thing for you before we go rest” after saying that you cringe inwardly because seriously? How lame could you get? Is it appropriate to call him that? Should you have waited? What even is social interaction? Stopping your thoughts you go and retrieve the gift you’ve had prepared a long ass time ago. The present was born from a frankly insane delusion and a hyper fixation that followed. You hadn’t slept for a long time and began thinking how you could possibly wow the only person who shined in your heart. And since you knew that crystal flowers were your main big thing and Mendella hated things that were useless and obstinate you created fully crystal flowers that would never wilt and remain beautiful and shiny forever. When you presented the omega with the flowers his ears perked up in visible interest since nowhere else had he ever seen fully crystal flowers. “Wha-? How? For me?” “Yes for you. How I made them is a secret but I knew you disliked useless and temporary things so I made you something that would stay forever and actually has a use!” you interrupted his stuttering while enjoying his flustered expression very much. ‘Did I do good? Do you like me? Am I being a good husband?’. The questions in your head were endless...
To gift him something like this...What was your angle? Mendella wasn’t even sure what was going on anymore. You made those flowers especially for him. What could Mendella do to be even with you pay everything back was beyond him. Just what would you have him do? The omegas imagination immediately conjured up images of being pinned beneath you and being fucked painfully while you degrade him and whisper promises of even more pain in his ear. Would you demand heirs of him right away? It would be very difficult to get pregnant when not in heat, drugs existed of course, but from what Mendella knew drug induced heats could be dangerous so he sincerely hoped you wouldn’t force that on him....
It was finally evening and you all could rest after a frankly exhausting day. You were in the room that was prepared for you and Mendella for your “wedding night”. You were sweating once again because who wouldn’t be pouring buckets in this situation? You were both almost naked! “(Name) we should- we should preform our ah marital duties” Mendella whispered so quietly that you almost didn’t hear him. Your ears twitched. You felt yourself begin to blush. “HUh!? Uh yea sure duties yea” you were really a master at making a fool out of yourself weren’t you?....
You two shuffled around on the bed until Mendella laid beneath you your eyes meeting as you tried to calm yourself. Although...Something was wrong. The more you looked at your husband the more your stomach churned. He didn’t look like he wanted this at all. In fact he looked like he would rather be anywhere else than here, with you. You were getting sick. You can’t do it. Not like this. “Mendella. I-I can’t. I’m sorry it’s just that-that you look like I’ll kill you if you breathe wrong. I-I don’t know” you mumbled as you got off of him and sat at the edge of the bed. “Bu-Wait! We must! We-” the omega got up as well and scooted closer to you in an attempt to get you to do what you were “supposed to”. You turn to look at him “We don’t have to do anything.” you huff “It’s no ones business what we do in the bedroom” “I don’t want to do anything if you don’t truly want it” you tried to placate the man next to you. Mendellas ears were pressed firmly against his head as he tried to think of what to do. “But it’s my duty to satisfy you. You know that I’m sure” the omega tried again. You tsk-ed as you took your husbands hands in your own. “My dear I’ll be honest with you. I could go my entire life without having sex with you if you never wanted it. I have a perfectly functional hand and access to more toys than most people could imagine.” “What about a mistress?” the stars of the universe asked you. “I would rather swallow glass than betray you in that way. The day we were married I became yours just as much as you became mine.”. You kiss his hands and your tail slowly and gently winds itself around his own. “My dear husband” you begin “May I hold you tonight? Nothing more I just wish to be near you. You can say no and I’ll leave or sleep on the floor. Anything to make you most comfortable”. Mendella sat there for a bit before his ears relaxed and his tail gently squeezed yours. “I’ll allow you to hold me for the night. It would reflect badly on us if the groom got kicked out of the marital bed.”. You purred with with happiness and your noises got even louder as the two of you got beneath the covers. You made sure to hold him gently as you nuzzled into his hair. Your warmth seeped into Mendellas skin as he relaxed into your hold. You two laid there, your tails intertwined as you dozed off to dreamland....
#my story#my writing#original work#I'm a background character but the villain's mine#dom reader#dom!reader#alpha male reader#omegaverse#omega male character#male reader x male character#what if i made art for my fic?#wouldn't that be something?#i finshed writing this at 3 in the morning so idk what went where
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Last night I read someone's article analyzing Honest Fellow and his place in society. While I don't personally agree with most of OP's points as per usual, like the fact that I think Jamil is more on par with Ruggie rather than being "rich" and on par with characters like Riddle and Vil when it comes to wealth, one interesting one they mentioned is how all of the Halloween one shot villains so far served as one of the character's dark reflections. I honestly see that.
Rollo=Idia
Both lost their brothers in tragic accidents. While Idia was able to deal with his anger and grief in a healthy way, Rollo was never able to accept or cope with his loss. He directed his anger towards himself for not being able to save his brother outwards, doing the flower thing in order to get rid of the one thing that stole his brother way in his eyes—magic. (Strictly talking about the canon versions here. My own take on the character is slightly different, even if they share the same backstory. Plus, I'm handling Ortho FAR differently in mine to the point he will seem like a different character. Rollo doesn't reflect Idia very much in mine as a result.)
Honest Fellow=Ruggie
Both come from impoverished backgrounds and have been screwed over by society to varying degrees, clinging to wealthy benefactors. Both also have UMs that control people in different ways. While Ruggie is fully willing to swindle, steal from and take advantage of oblivious rich people, he has his limits about how far he'll go and has compassion for others, even those from rich backgrounds. Honest Fellow wallowed his resentment, and took out his anger for his circumstances by willingly taking part in a plot that would turn people, especially magic users and from privileged backgrounds, into puppets. This is likely due to thanks to Ruggie being able to go to NRC and Leona helping Ruggie grow past his station while Honest Fellow was not, it's still no excuse or make Honest Fellow's actions any less fucked up. Plus, Leona also cares about Ruggie and treats him with respect whereas Honest Fellow's boss treats him like trash. (Granted, I don't think this arc was well written. Hell, I have plenty of issues about how Honest Fellow was handled as a character, especially about him not paralleling his canon counterpart. Neither here nor there rn.)
I did something similar in my stories as well, albeit unintentionally somewhat. One example is for Addie (Yuu)...even if she's only a rival rather than outright villain like the above examples. There's also the final boss for her as well. But considering the first one won't show up until the next arc of my fic and the last one I want to keep under wraps, I will leave it at that for another post at a later point. However, the more I think about it, Destan, my "twisted" Narissa OC that shows up in the middle of my Savanaclaw rewrite fic who harassed my "Yuu", is Vil's dark foil.
Undercut thanks to spoilers to the next arc of my fic
Both are actors and Hollywood (or the fantasy version of that) nepo babies. Both feel like they are mistreated by the entertainment industry, Vil with being typecast as a villain and Destan for not being casted in hardly anything. Both have powerful UMs that can be deadly in the wrong hands, being connected to the Evil Queen in different ways. (Vil with his ability to curse anything or anyone he touches, and Destan's making him basically a Heartrender, aka being able to control another person's heart...literally.) What separates them is that Vil is kind, considerate and genuinely cares about others, wanting to help people become their best selves, while Destan sees others as pawns to get to help him become famous.
Yes, Vil is a polarizing and super flawed character. He's domineering, overly critical, controlling, harsh, impulsive, temperamental among a whole other laundry list of things. Also, yes. He did try to poison Neige. Double yes, the way that he treats Epel isn't it. However, at the end of the day, he wants to help out those in his dorm become their best selves. He gives others personalized body care. He helped others with their makeup in the first Halloween Event. In Epel's SSR dorm uniform story, when Vil needed help tinkering with magiwheel for one of his plays, he asks Epel, since he knows about his skills in that area and that it's something he enjoys. He put in a lot of hard work into his routine and wanted to win against Neige in legitimate means. He only resorted to the poison shit after he was disheartened by others loving Neige's shitty performance that he put no effort into. (Handling that differently in mine, but strictly talking about the canon here.) He's also the only person who overblotted so far who actually apologized to Yuu and tried to make it up to them.
If you include my writing as well, he genuinely cares about Addie's wellbeing and sees her as a friend by the end of his arc. He will even help her with something at one point during Pomefiore thanks to empathizing with her circumstances. He also apologizes for when he says something horrible to her and tries to make it up to her.
You can make the argument that he is using her and Epel to aid his VDC team, however, he never coerced them to do anything. He was up front about his conditions, both with her and Epel. They both have free choice. They are able to say no and back out at any time. Hell, she even agrees to help take down Neige at one point. While he could've been clearer with Epel about what everything entailed, that's more do to his own misunderstanding than anything on Vil's part.
Destan is the complete opposite, being like if Vil completely gave into his ire from the get-go and did anything to get the roles he wanted. He doesn't go out the way to help others around him. He only sees everyone as pawns, including his "friends". Rather than earning his goals and trying to accomplish them through honest means like Vil, he's taking the lazy and worst way out. Destan's whole plan is forcing Addie to be his girlfriend in order to be spotted with her and be thrusted into the spotlight like that. He will not take no for an answer, and will do some nasty shit to make her comply. How she gets out of that situation, only time will tell.
Destan also represents her ex that cheated on her. Both he and her ex boyfriend saw Addie as a sex object and a tool to put themselves in the spotlight. His UM being a nod to her ex being a "heartbreaker" is not subtle.
I admit, making these one shot villains dark foils to the NRC boys is genuinely clever writing and is one aspect that makes those events seem more engaging compared to most of the other ones. The fact that these guys are able even have darker foils goes to show you that most of the NRC boys are more like the Dregs from Six of Crows and more morally grey. It also proves that most of these guys have potential to be so well rounded they seem like real life people than characters based on cartoon villains if they just had more consequences for their actions and were handled differently in general. (Minus Ortho and Grim, who I think are poorly written characters. Ortho has no personality outside of being the "child character". Grim is poorly constructed and makes zero sense. King from The Owl House is what I imagine Grim would be like in the hands of a far more competent writer. But I'll save that for another post.)
I would say "great minds think alike". But since I think Yana is a highly overrated and terrible writer, I think it's a "even a broken clock is right twice a day" situation. xD I'm genuinely curious how the game will handle these "dark reflection" foils in future Halloween events and which characters Yana will pick out to be those. (I, for one, can see a twst version of Ernesto being Azul's thanks to him basically being Azul without any of the latter's positive traits or conscience. Same goes for a twst version of Jack Skellington for Kalim. Have no idea about who Jamil's dark foil could potentially be, though.)
#aqua rambles#twisted wonderland#vil schoenheit#aqua writes#rollo flamm#honest fellow#ruggie bucchi#idia shroud
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All I've Ever Needed
(Warning, some mild spoilers for episode 3 lie ahead in this preamble)
Soooooo episode 3 happened, and honestly, I don't know how to feel. I LOVE where Riya's arc is going and Jake also calmed down, which is good to see. But god Miriam did Tom dirty this ep, and I am kinda starting to worry about Ellie's arc. I mean, if she's doing a villain arc, fair enough, but I'm worried for what this will mean for her friendship with Gabby - reminder that Ellie was the first person who ever made Gabby feel valid? I really don't want things to go awry between them but I'm worried it's an inevitability...
So to cheer myself up I wrote an adorable fluff ficlet featuring them being romantic, cuz I've been starved for that content lol. It's probably not very in character for Ellie knowing what she's been through, but I need some touching cuteness.
Oh yeah, Tess is here too.
--
Outside the Cyan Team's tent, Tess was drawing a night sky. She gazed towards the heavens, and painted drops of white to represent the twinkling stars above her.
Watching her from within the tent, Ellie and Gabby decided to go out to watch their friend.
"Wow, Tess," Gabby chirped as she stepped outside the waterproof tent, getting Tess' attention, "That's such a pretty drawing! You're so good at this!"
"Thanks," the dark-haired girl responded with a smile.
All of a sudden an idea appeared in Tess' mind. She took a pale white paint and streaked it gently across the dark blue background, before dabbling a tiny dot ahead of that white streak.
The girls didn't take long to register what Tess had just painted.
"Wow," Ellie spoke lightly, "Is that a shooting star?"
"What else would it be?" the artist chuckled quietly, before looking to the skies once more, admiring the twinkling stars above her. "Even after a life like mine, I've still wished on a shooting star every time I've seen one. Maybe it's futile, but it's a source of comfort. It always has been."
"Aw, I do the very same thing!" giggles the Polish girl, "Every time I see a shooting star, I wish that I could make friends with every animal in the world and make them all happy forever!" She clapped her hands giddily, and Ellie couldn't help but blush at how adorable her girlfriend was being. It felt like, even after the life she'd been through, Gabby's infectious joy was always capable of making her rough life worth dealing with.
Calming down, Gabby sat on the grass and asked Tess, "If you could make a wish right now…what would you wish for?"
"Well," the quiet girl considers for a moment, before giving her answer, "I'd wish that Ally and Hunter could find a way to work through their issues and be happy. That's what I want most."
Now the Asocial turned to the freckled girl, "What about you, Ellie? If you could wish for anything…what would you wish for?"
Ellie thought for a moment, and soon came up with her response…
"Honestly? I don't need to wish for anything," she said, "Right now, I have everything I want and need."
"Wait, huh?" Gabby gasped, "But what about your jo-"
Ellie cut her off, giving her girlfriend a warm, loving smile. "That'd be nice, trust me…but I already have everything I could've ever needed in my life…"
And with that, Ellie gently put one of her hands on Gabby's cheek, stroking it gently with her fingers. She gazed deeply into the eyes of her beloved Tree Hugger - her one and only Nature Princess.
"And she's right here in front of me."
#disventure camp#disventure camp all stars#disventure camp gabby#disventure camp ellie#disventure camp tess#ellabby#gabellie#spoilers#disventure camp spoilers#mild spoilers#my writing
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A Quick List of My Best Rereads of 2023
Ah, I remember when I was but a new reader, exploring all the worlds of books and telling myself, "I'm not going to reread books. That is a waste of time. Time I could spend exploring other realms."
Foolish was I.
(Sip, sip)
Happy winter solstice, my friends, a fitting holiday for this list as one book is what changed my whole opinion on the entire "rereading" thing. To celebrate, let's have some nice Apothic Red Wine and briefly talk about my favorite rereads of 2023. My favorite reads of 2023 will be posted on either NYE or NYD.
(Sip, sip)
Well, let's get to it!
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
(Sip, sip)
I picked this book up after the announcement for The Mysteries of Thorn Manor, wanting to refresh myself on this incredible world and the characters. I enjoyed everything about this book essentially: the magic system, the characters, the world-building, and---something unique for YA books in my case, especially standalones---I felt the stakes. The dynamics between the characters were fantastic, nothing felt rushed or forced.
It has become a comfort read of mine, as well as The Mysteries of Thorn Manor. There is also the incredible level of creepiness, especially with Nathaniel's nightmares and him projecting those nightmares; that I devoured and always wanted more. Even though The Mysteries of Thorn Manor is a novella, it still delivers heavily on the darkness of Nathaniel's nightmares, which grew more intense following the whole Silas affair. Both novel and novella are exceptional and I will recommend these books any chance I get.
(Sip, sip)
Between by L.L. Starling
I have an entire post dedicated to this book. It is adorable, cozy, funny, heartbreaking, fantastic! The magic is interesting, the characters are treasures, the humor is actually enjoyable, and the plot is engaging. I have scribbled all over the chonk of this book with thoughts, predictions, things I think will be of importance later. I have never done that with a book before.
This book also holds a very special place in my heart as it was the last book I read to my dearly departed cat (yes, he'd snuggle up close and listen to me read, purring in delight, and even hold my page open) before having to watch him cross the rainbow bridge.
Still, I reread it every year as not only does it bring back fond memories, but is also an enjoyable read. It is by an indie author but do not let that dissuade you. It is everything!
(Sip, sip. Pours one out for my baby. Refills. Sip, sip)
Dark Harvest by Norman Patridge
My goodness is the book small but it is written like poetry! Such a silly, creepy idea and yet, I don't know how Norman Patridge did it, but he made it all weave together so effortlessly. You feel embraced by the story, immersed in the culture, like you are a part of it. Lived. in it.
And the October Boy character, ole Saw Toothed Jack, damn is his story and POV one for the ages! What an amazing character! His thoughts, his actions, the mission he is on is such a harrowing journey that I so thoroughly enjoyed reading and it always gives me those sweet, spooky Halloween vibes.
The movie was good, but the book is outstanding! Read it, folks! As is usually the case, the book is a thousand times better!
(Sip, sip)
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
Believe it or not my The Folk of the Air lovers, but Severin, that background character that Jude approaches for help in The Cruel Prince and later requests the sword from in The Queen of Nothing, well, he has his own novel. And he is pretty fucking awesome and he was my first faerie love before Cardan came into the picture.
Severin's story is what made me fall in love with Black's Faerieland. The Darkest Part of the Forest reads like a true fairytale and feels so incredibly cozy and whimsical. And the characters are all so precious, even one of the "villains."
Oh, and "scheming great schemes," yeah, that actually came from this book. So, if you love Cardan, Jude, and the rest of the High Court, you must read The Darkest Part of the Forest. In simple words, it is enchanting.
And it was the first time I teared up during a love confession (Severin, you softy 🥺).
Also, no character is sacrificed in power to favor another, which is what I see a lot of YA authors in fantasy do, specifically to favor the female character. What I mean is, that they will write the male character as faltering in some magical way and then have the female character pick things up and save the day. Holly Black doesn't do that. She doesn't take power away and redistribute it to her female characters. She makes them powerful in their own ways. For example, Cardan is more magically inclined than Jude because he is a full-blooded faerie, of Mab's bloodline, and the High King, while Jude is a far superior swordsman because she was trained vigorously at it by a redcap while Cardan was not. They complement each other, and neither is considered weaker than the other. They both have their strength.
It is the same in this book. Never is Severin's power as a faerie lessened for the sake of building Hazel up, and in the final confrontation, it makes sense for it to play out as it did given the circumstances.
Overall, The Darkest Part of the Forest is tremendous! Give it a read if you haven't. It certainly complements The Folk of the Air trilogy.
(Raises glass)
To you, Alderking Severin, my first and always faerie crush. 💕
(Sip, sip)
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
This book ... oh, this book ... I will never get over it. I had mentioned previously that I do not often cry when reading books, and that is true.
This one had me tearing up constantly and yes, even the waters flowed at a certain point. But why?
Some of those tears were sorrow.
Others were joy.
The story of Maia is the most inspiring one I have ever read in any book. Ever. Maia, a goblin in an elf-supremacy world, finds himself suddenly the emperor, as the title implies. And that's it. That is the story. Maia is attempting to navigate through this tremendous obstacle; meeting friends, making enemies (though through nothing that he did beyond just being a goblin), and trying to make as many people as possible happy while questioning and discovering his own emotions towards his family and himself.
Maia is a character blessed with unconditional kindness and empathy. He is a person just trying to make the best out of a most impossible situation. The world-building is exceptional, the writing is superb, and Maia is a character that will touch your heart no matter how stone it is.
There are spinoff novels to this book but, truthfully, this one alone is all you need. It has everything a fantasy book should have minus some grand quest. There is none. It is just about Maia finding the emperor buried beneath years of trauma and prejudice. But even with all the hate, Maia and his friends are a beacon of so much hope.
20/10, one of my favorite books of all time and quite possibly my favorite standalone novel ever written.
(Sip, sip)
Last but certainly not least as we bring in the winter solstice, I bow before my High King and High Queen, and raise a toast to the faerie I love most and my beloved mortal warrior.
The Folk of the Air by Holly Black.
I have come to understand the purpose of rereading books you love because of this series. Granted, when The Cruel Prince came out I originally thought I was not going to be interested in it. But Amazon was persistent, always having it appear as a suggestion whenever I opened up that damn website. And I caved one day, figured I could always return it or donate it.
(Sip, sip)
Now I have nine versions of the damn thing (mutters from rim of wineglass: no, I don't have a problem).
(Sip, sip)
Every time I reread this trilogy, I am reminded of why I fell in love with Cardan, why I aspired to be like Jude and related to her so much, why I adore fantasy, what incredible writing sounds like, and what a faerie book has the potential to be. Cardan is not some thousand-year-old, super intelligent, militaristically inclined, muscular faerie king.
He is a moody, noodly, seventeen-year-old teenager who is ticked that he has a crush on the weird girl and doesn't want any responsibilities whatsoever. It. Is. Genius!
There are always new secrets I'm discovering in the trilogy; the lies within the truth, the truth within the lies, character quirks, hidden jests, and foreshadowing small details.
I had heard that for mortals the feeling of falling in love is much like fear.
Jude, are you afraid of me?
Like, come on! Ugh!
Every year since I purchased The Cruel Prince I have reread this series. And I will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
(Sip, sip)
So those are my favorite rereads of 2023. My favorite reads will be posted soon, as will be my most disappointing. But, cheers to you, dear readers!
May your Christmas (if you celebrate it) be merry and bright! May your New Year (if you celebrate it) be inspiring and magical, and may the coming days bring you bliss.
Thank you for sharing a drink with me and reading my silly opinions. It means the world to me.
Happy holidays, friends!
Cheers!
(Sip, sip)
#books#2023#reread#sorcery of thorns#mysteries of thorn manor#the darkest part of the forest#dark harvest#the goblin emperor#the folk of the air#the cruel prince#the wicked king#the queen of nothing#how the king of elfhame learned to hate stories#high king of elfhame#high queen of elfhame#cardan greenbriar#jude duarte#holly black#katherine addison#fantasy books#cozy fantasy#book recommendations#book review
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2023 Dramas I Watched in 2023
Cdramas:
A League of Nobleman--Slashy historical mystery drama. I loved all the slashiness and all the intrigue and then in the last few episodes I fell even more in love with the villain. Worth a watch but not my favorite slashy historical mystery of the year.
Mysterious Lotus Casebook--My favorite slashy historical mystery drama of the year! Tho more wuxia than historical I suppose. Bromance and archnemeses and identity porn abound. The identity porn in particular was a special treat for me; a character wandering around all these ppl who care deeply about him or idolize him but all think he's dead is my catnip. (I technically have a few episodes left to go on this one but I'm still counting it bc I am very close.)
Parallel World--YE LIUXI. I did a review of this one here! The short version: urban fantasy and parallel worlds in a desert setting, with a badass amnesiac female protagonist.
The Lady and the Lies--Miniseries, one of those short-episode things that China's doing a lot of now. Involved a cheating husband and a wife out to get revenge. I'm sorry but I shipped the wife with almost every person doing her wrong. She should destroy their lives and also dom them. They're all kind of obsessed with her anyway, in their own way.
Under the Microscope--You ever sit down and say, "Okay, but what I REALLY want from all these historical dramas is to just dig into the tax fraud going on in the background"? Me too, my friend. This show and Long River, which I also watched this year, are all about logistics, bureaucracy, and corruption, and the small man's struggle against ppl in power. That makes them both kind of difficult watches in a way, but also fascinating. I have yet to finish Long River, but this one is an easy 14 episodes and not as emotionally draining, so it was much easier for me to binge through.
Ye Cheng--I must admit I watched this for the pretty people. It's set in a matriarchal fantasy wuxia setting, but the gender role reversal feels a little shallow when the strongest good guy and the strongest bad guy are both men, even tho in theory women are supposed to be the warriors in this setting. However, the role reversal can be quite interesting in some ways--watching the male MC run a brothel as the city's top entertainer, try to use his ~masculine wiles~ to charm the FMC in a way that would be more typically feminine, and deal with the power dynamics of joining the FMC's household. Also, the two leads are just a lot of fun and have a lot of chemistry. The plot is sometimes stupid, but it's still a lot of fun to watch. Also, this was one of just two dramas I managed to finish this year that were mostly romance focused. When you reach the "dropped" section you will see that this is an impressive feat.
Kdramas:
Bloodhounds--I love Woo Do-hwan and I love Park Sung-woong but you know I was here for the ACTION SCENES. PEOPLE PUNCHING EACH OTHER AND SLICING EACH OTHER WITH KNIVES. THATS WHAT ITS ABOUT. I've also written a lot of fanfic about the protagonist and villain at this point but honestly they should have interacted more, we were robbed.
Queen of Masks--The only rich woman thriller kdrama I completed this year. But honestly, when it comes to rich woman thriller kdramas, I've seen better and femslashier. Mine did a better job with the whole "your husband told you the mother of his child was dead, but guess what it's actually me and I'm still alive and here to cause problems" plotline, tho I still enjoyed it here. And the sexual assault aspect... eh. I don't love seeing that kind of plotline in a revenge story; it's such a serious issue (and so much more realistic than, say, "this businessman murdered my whole family to acquire our company" a la Eve) that it kind of makes it hard for me to enjoy the fun of the mystery. But I suppose the way they handled it at least had gravity. My favorite plotline was Hae-mi and her husband and the drama they got into, which is serious in its own way (addiction and lies) but extremely well acted and with so much romantic chemistry.
Revenant--Spooky spooky ghosts and Kim Tae-ri, what's not to like? The possession aspects were creepy without being gory or too terrifying for a wimp like me to handle. The acting was great. And I actually shipped the sort-of-romantic subplot, though apparently a lot of ppl shipped the two MCs instead, which is understandable.
Song of the Bandits--A whole ton of gunfighting and other action scenes. One very badass assassin woman, a dude who is equally capable of taking out a whole squad of soldiers or bandits on his own, a villain with a complicated relationship with the dude above, and a woman spying on the Japanese government who's in a sort of spy love triangle with the MC and the villain. the plot was okay but again I was mostly here for the action!!
Thai dramas:
My Dear Gangster Oppa--This year I tried to watch a bunch of different BL dramas bc I was in that kind of mood but the truth is, it's not the het that gets me in m/f romcoms, it's unfortunately the romcom. Despite that! I persisted and did manage to finish this one. The lead couple was cute, and there was gangster intrigue and action etc to keep the fluff and comedy from driving me insane. still mostly a romance.
To Sir With Love--Also has a BL romance in it but not really a romance drama but a Family Drama with lots of familial plotting, the classic first wife vs. second wife scheming-for-their-children plotline along with what could have been a love triangle between brothers... except Tian is gay, which means the love triangle is null (except he's still engaged to his brother's love interest. which is awkward for all involved.). Also Tian being gay is a Deep Dark Secret. There's a lot of homophobia which might turn some viewers off but I loved seeing Tian's struggle between wanting to come out and having been forced to stay in the closet for so long that he freezes even at the thought of telling people he trusts. Also his mother commits a bunch of murders with terrible poison mushrooms so if THAT'S what you want out of a Thai drama, there is also that. Also he and his brother are. so sweet. and I love them. but also the central m/m romance is very good and involves assassination attempts and identity porn and pining and everything good. Also also this is actually a 2022 drama BUT IM STILL COUNTING IT bc it came out in October 2022 and am I really supposed to get around to watching dramas that fast??
Started and dropped:
Kiseki: Dear to Me--Even gangsters and intrigue could not save me from dropping this romcom.
Our Blooming Youth--This is also a romcom. You may see a pattern here. But to give it credit it is quite a plotty historical drama too. I just didn't really care about the two leads and dropped it halfway through.
Pandora: Beneath the Paradise--A thriller that was going places a bit too wild and frustrating for me.
Killing Vote--Can you believe I dropped this with only four episodes to go? I'm sorry Park Sung-woong, I love you but the plot is just so boring. And it plays at moral complexity while being just. not very complex. Like I swear the morality in this thing is "catching bad guys and punishing them is good, not catching them and not punishing them is bad." We could be talking about police corruption, our MC's terrible ethics, innocence until proven guilty, and so on and so forth, but we were just not going there. Also the twists were doing very little for me and the cops are just not very interesting characters. Again, Park Sung-woong, I'm sorry, you were a decent character but you could not save this show. Let's be real I needed either more Devil Judge here or more Death Note.
Legend of Anle--The romcom element was not helping this show's case but I still tried for 1) wuxia with identity porn and 2) Dilraba Dilmurat costarring with Gong Jun. Unfortunately those two had no chemistry and the plot was just very unsatisfying for me in the political intrigue area. One example: Gong Jun can't find the supplies needed to pacify a near-rioting mob. But that's okay bc Anle's subordinates found it. How did they find the super secret hidden storehouse?? we don't know and will never find out bc it was offscreen and never explained. They just did. this would be fine if it weren't, like, the climax of the episode and presented as a victory of the two MC's brilliance. I can't deal with this.
Naughty Babe--It's. A romcom. I'm so sorry I probably should just stop trying.
Other romcoms I quit too fast to give a fair opinion: You Are Mine, Extremely Perilous Love, My Lethal Man, Taikan Yoho.
Well, there you have it, 2023 dramas I watched in 2023.
Fun as it was, I think in 2024 I'm going to try to catch up more with older dramas lols.
Did y'all watch any of these dramas this year?
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III FINALE SPOILERS
This is a list to sort out my thoughts on the III Finale.
What I liked:
Cabby wins!! I was rooting for her, and I think she really deserved the win! Love that she ends up with a library on the island, its a nice secondary location to the hotel, and it also means that Floory won't be left alone on the island, which was a concern of mine.
Finally, some closure between Yin-yang and Candle.
Overall, I was left pretty excited and hyped after the episode. I do think it was a satisfying ending, and it could've been much worse. 7/10 ending, though I am still confused on what Walkie Talkie whole deal was.
What I didn't like:
Springy and Walkie Talkie. The other villains too, but not as much. To start out, I really loved Springy's return and how they aren't associated with Cobs. They were a great, and genuinely scary villain! But they switched sides so quickly though, I feel like they could've benefited from more screentime to better understand their motivations. The same goes for Walkie, though she is both a better and worse case. Better in the sense that there was a lot more foreshadowing and screentime for her, worse because she was redeemed OFFSCREEN. Honestly, for some of the other villains I feel like they contributed nothing. IMO I feel like Springy and Walkie would've been more impactful villains if they were working alone.
So this is a problem that I've been feeling about III in general. At some point, at around ep 13-14, I just began to feel like the episodes felt a bit... fake? Off? Before then, I was obsessively rewatching episodes, but at around this mark it was like the episodes kind of bored me. I felt it in the finale too, and I think it has to do with how rushed/cheesy everything feels. I dunno, I guess I felt like the ending was too happy, and problems were just resolved easily. Character interactions also seemed more inconsistent and forced. Felt this especially with Nickel and Balloon's arc. I'm a little concerned that this atmosphere will be brought into S2.
This is less of a problem I had with III, but I wish Floory had more of a role in Mephone's journey. Compared to Mepad and Toilet, I felt like Floory was way more in the background since becoming cohost.
#inanimate insanity#slight criticism#osc#inanimate instanity invitational#i realize that this sounds like i didnt like the finale or III in general#but I really do! it just didnt meet my very high expectations#ii cabby#ii springy#ii walkie talkie#ii floory
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