#they know how to make it character driven while still keeping everything interesting and just. the characters are SO GOOD
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man the owl house is so good it's just such a well written show. i'll never forgive disney for cutting 3/4 of the runtime of season 3 this is some of the best television i've seen in a while
#they know how to make it character driven while still keeping everything interesting and just. the characters are SO GOOD#ofc many shows struggle with this because ''it's for kids'' but man i've never seen a character like hunter in a cartoon be so well written#not that this need to happen every time cause suspension of disbelief etc but its refreshing to see a cartoon that actually deals with the+#+Holy Fucking Shit these are actually just children going through intensely traumatic situations and they're gonna have feelings about it#just UGH this show is so fun and i like it ever since i looked at the first promo that got released and im gonna be really sad to see it go#toh#the owl house
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About Imelda Goldfinch
Looking back over episodes, transcripts, and the wiki as a friend experiences Midst for the first time, I keep coming back to Imelda.
She "mistook" Weepe for the Mayor of Stationary Hill when they bumped into one another (literally) in S1 E5 "Missions". She spends the rest of S1 pester-courting Weepe into the Trust, starts him at Zero, and then grants him enough Valor to become Upper Trust for the Cabaret betrayal. She makes sure he gets off Midst in the Consector's flagship.
In S2 she continues her Weepe project, showing him around the city, introducing him to people, accompanying him to Upper Trust meetings. And then the Arca, S2 E13 "Inside." Where she uses her zealousness to torment Weepe until he (outwardly) acquiesces to her.
She knew about his condition, and his medical treatment. In detail. Cameras aren't that advanced in this cosmos, and Weepe keeps that knowledge quite secret; Saskia knew after four years as Weepe's business partner, and being noted as perceptive. When and how did Imelda find out, enough to gauge a normal day's risk (if not enough to know what happens when Weepe gets excited/stressed)?
In S3 she is front and center at the naming of Weepe as Tripotentiary. She automatically becomes his Archauditor, a minimal show made of having to create the position and choice to fill it over brunch. She attends high end meetings like the dinner with Kozma, where Imelda makes interesting notes on her menu (per the appendices) about what Weepe does and doesn't like, among her other notes and reactions.
Then we get to S3 E9 "Baron."
And I have to wonder: Did Imelda "mistake" Weepe in S1 when they met? Was she there not just because of the Breach investigation and/or Moon sale, but for him? Does she know, or at least suspect, who Weepe was before his first Fold-induced transformation and the salvation from the Mothers?
Imelda is a character that fascinates me, and is a bit frightening when thinking about her. She gives some of the same vibes as HP's Dolores Umbridge, but with the caveat that Imelda seems to be a True Believer in the Trust--while also being extremely driven and ambitious. We saw in her Notary prep school yearbook that she had Caenum as a girl (with the note "most likely to Break Even"). When we meet her, middle-aged, she's wearing a wide sash of Valor and regularly rubs shoulders with the Upper Trust.
It took Fuze Peabody his entire working life to Break Even by retirement (and given Lark's past, they start working rather young in the Trust; no child labor laws in the Highest Light I suppose, for those in debt). Most Trustees never reach Zero; it's why so many Breach.
And so much of Imelda's recent Valorous momentum has been due to her maneuvering of Weepe. Of the things she has done with, for, and to him.
Did she gun for Jonas Spahr being removed as Prime Consector? Was it convenient, or targeted? Disdain for the Company or just a way to maneuver Weepe into power? And why? Did she see the incompetence at the top and think it could be better? One of her menu notes is re-starting Valor checks for Upper Trust and other important meetings. Did the Fleit scandal make her think change was needed? Does she think Weepe can get her what she wants when the rest of the Upper Trust cannot?
What does she know? Why is she doing all this? Personal power? Grandiose zealotry? Revenge? A little of everything? Is Imelda the real mastermind and arch villain?
I dunno, and that last may be a bit silly (??) but something is going on with this woman, and she stands somewhere near the heart of this tangled web.
"He's totally fucked" the Narrators say of Weepe when he bumps into Imelda that first time. That's certainly been true in many ways--and I don't think it impossible that it will continue to be, with Weepe maybe not expecting the damage this scarily cheerful little lady with Pollyanna curls can still do to him before the end.
For the good of the Trust.
#midst podcast#Midst Spoilers#Imelda Goldfinch#Moc Weepe#character analysis#Scheduling this for S3 E9's release as I'm ahead#And a LOT of things are coming back around to the very early episodes in these latest ones
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Amy Kiriwo redemption is real and here's why (an analysis/speculation)
Ok. I don't normally make posts like these but since I've posted Iruma-kun art on this blog a few times some of you may be aware that I really really REALLY like Amy Kiriwo. I really adore Mairuma in general but Amy specifically makes me go fucking coconuts as a fan of that type of character (obsessive, desire-driven, yandere, whatever)—and also because Amy has a certain unique charm about him, whether that be the gap between his twisted personality and his ditzy demeanor or the unique setting, so on and so forth. But I also tend to like villainous characters in general, because they're so unhinged and fun and interesting to think about!
Usually I hate when characters like these get redeemed because the whole appeal of them is how unpredictable and outrageous they are in their villainy, and more often than not, a redemption gets rid of (or at least severely dampens) these characteristics!
HOWEVER. I just caught up with the manga for the first time more or less since Deviculum last year and I just cannot help but feel absolutely insane about how much a "redemption" (heavy quotes here) for Amy is being built towards, and yet I rarely see much discussion about this in fan buzz. This is both in terms of general narrative structure as well as a certain scene in the recent Battler Party arc.
Disclaimer: I have terminal brainrot and some of this might be confirmation bias. But maybe it will still give you some food for thought. It's cool if you hate Amy and don't agree with my interpretation just be nice ok guys?
Part1: Iruma's Belief
I think a good jumping off point for this argument would be addressing a point of contention I've seen floating around in this fandom sometimes: Why does Iruma still believe in Amy?
I actually understand why some people might be confused about this. After all, Amy has done nothing but hurt Iruma and the people he cares about, and he has every right to feel upset, angry, and betrayed after he found out the senpai who he'd related to and looked up to so much was nothing but a facade.
Putting his reasons aside for a second, this scene in Deviculum isn't actually the first time Iruma has acted like this toward Amy. It's easy to miss or forget about, but even after everything that happened at the Battler Party, Iruma never shows any hostility, even retroactively, toward Amy.
He kept what happened with Amy a secret from even Asmodeus and Clara—but he doesn't fret over it like he does hiding the fact that he's human. Iruma just doesn't think it was pressing enough that Asmodeus and Clara needed to know about it. Of course, keep in mind that Iruma doesn't interact with Amy at all from the Battler Party all the way until Deviculum, so he doesn't know the extent of the danger he's actually in.
I think Iruma believes in that weak but ambitious demon he met during the Rookie Hunt. Even if Amy revealed himself to have that perverted obsession with despair, even if he tried to kill his classmates and cause chaos, I think to Iruma it doesn't change the fact that Amy is still weak, just like him.
I think a lot of people forget just how much impact Amy had on Iruma when he was first adjusting to the demon world: he didn't have much of a real ambition until he saw that there were demons like Amy who (seemingly) wanted to make the world a more equal place for those without magic—those like Iruma. (A side note, but I imagine this made the part of Amy's speech during Deviculum saying there would be no place for him particularly hard for Iruma to hear from him specifically).
The thing is though—Iruma isn't being entirely naive here. It's true that no matter what Amy does, evil or otherwise, he cannot change the fact that he was born with weak magic.
It's constantly pointed out that Amy relies on magic that's not his own.
It's pointed out so consistently every time he makes an appearance that for a while I thought there was gonna be some weird twist where it wasn't actually Amy? I'm still not confident in how to pin this obvious foreshadowing but for now I firmly believe it's meant to remind the reader that Amy is dependent on his borrowed magic, most likely from Baal—physically, and maybe even emotionally? (It seems possible from the way Asmodeus's narration in this panel is framed that there could be something more insidious at play like experimentation or something, but that's just speculation)
Amy is dependent on most likely Baal's magic just like Iruma is with Sullivan's magic. They may be gaining more and more power to the naked eye, but the moment the "tool" to express that power is stripped of them, they're helpless again. There's a reason Nishi highlighted the direct parallel of both of their magic devices being ring-shaped.
Iruma believes (or wants to believe) that the facade Amy showed him had a glimmer of truth to it because of how strongly it affected him. Of course, it's also because Iruma is an inherently kind and also selfish person. In my opinion, he wants to have the Amy who he looked up to so much, even if he barely ever actually existed. This is why what he declares to Amy at Deviculum is framed as a desire. This is a strong theme of the series and it's something I'll touch on again in another section.
I feel like I should mention after all of that talk that I don't think Amy is actually secretly tortured about his weakness/abandonment or some sadboy schtick like that. We'll get into this more in the next section, but any self-pity or anger he once harbored was something that was flushed out of him quite thoroughly. Right now, he is very much narrow-mindedly concerned with his obsession with eating Iruma, his goals are aligned with Baal and the 6 Fingers, and his lack of magic is solved by his collar, so it's natural he doesn't really care.
I feel like any discussion of Amy's motivations or themes gets shut down a lot with accusations of "making a villain character sympathetic for no reason" when really I only care about villains being interesting. Like I said at the start, the last thing I wanna do is take Amy's unhingedness or autonomy away, because it makes for a really enjoyable villain. I just genuinely believe that Amy is being framed this way deliberately, and I think it opens some fascinating avenues for his character development other than just "Iruma realizes Amy is actually evil after all because unconditional belief is for naive WEENIES and they defeat him".
Anyway, that leads me to the next section, which I admit, is a bit heavier on the interpretative side, hence my disclaimer.
Part 2: Baal
Listen, I know it's a shounen manga and all, but keep in mind Amy is still a 17-18 year old teen. He doesn't have much life experience. He had a hell of a shit childhood even if he did have a weird sadism thing going on. All of these things don't excuse his evil deeds—obviously. But I do think taking these factors into account is absolutely necessary if we're going to try and understand why he is the way he is.
I'm not gonna recount it beat by beat, but as a kid Amy was not only shunned by his family and peers for his lack of magic, but also by his only friend for something that
"Grooming" is a term with very heavy connotations that I'd like to avoid, but at the very least the way Baal takes Amy "under his wing" is very reminiscent of cult conditioning. Members of cults are often recruited in strained or distorted emotional states in which they have a greater desire for acceptance. This tactic is successful in maintaining loyalty in cults because the members are convinced that no one else will accept them besides the cult figurehead or leader—the result is usually a hostility for the world outside of the cult, paranoia about leaving the cult, or both.
Amy, a young child at this point, says outright that he's being ostracized for his behavior, but Baal validates it, and thereby earns his loyalty. Amy is a child at this point; even if Baal claims he's more "twisted" inherently, I think it's unreasonable to characterize them as equals in this relationship, especially when Amy depends on his magic. I think the Amy we know could be very different if he joined Baal when he was older and less impressionable.
You could say Baal didn't validate Amy with the active intent of emotionally manipulating him, it was just a declaration of his honest beliefs—and I honestly half agree with you. Functionally, however, I do still believe that a conditioning process is what happened. In this same scene Amy seemed to still be at least a little bit troubled about how gifting his horn to his friend troubled her and reflected on his abnormalcy, but by the time he reveals all to Iruma, he shows no reservations at all. He doesn't really reflect on the hierarchy which caused him so much suffering outside of how it contributes to more chaos, more despair.
This interpretation (which I've held for quite a while) brings me to a certain scene in the recent Battler Party arc that was eerily reminiscent of this dynamic. It was what spurred me to type all of this out at 5am on a Monday night.
Humor me for a minute, because I realize the comparisons between Palome/Galna and Amy/Baal are not 1:1, but I feel like there are enough similarities that it's worth talking about.
The idea of a demon with twisted perversions which were encouraged by a sibling figure with an ulterior motive is already a pretty compelling parallel to me, but the fact that it was specifically the story behind the Magitool's Battler Party exhibition makes me think that, just maybe, the parallel might have actually been an intentional allusion.
In particular, the line about Palome "facing her desires earnestly" caught my attention. Quite honestly it seems like Amy's fixation on Iruma has become his #1 priority—and although he certainly has returned to origins (strongly associated with base desires) in my opinion his obsession with Iruma, as twisted as it is, is probably the strongest desire he's felt that exists somewhat removed from Baal's direct encouragement. It's personal. It doesn't serve a greater purpose in Baal's plan. Remember the cult analogy I loosely used for comparison earlier? Cult mentality punishes individuality. Food for thought.
There's this great comic by gigausagi on Twitter (it's 🤏shippy so only click if you're cool with that) that explores the idea of Amy's obsession with Iruma conflicting with the will of Baal/the 6 Fingers—I think this is one perfectly natural way his character could develop. I'll get into more detailed hopes/hunches about this later, though.
If the Palome/Galna parallel is an intentional parallel, I think it's really interesting how much it emphasizes the lack of empathy Galna has for her sister because of how it would in turn highlight that feature in Baal, something that I previously had to desperately piece together from subtext. On the other hand, for all the familial fondness Amy seems to have for Baal, at least on some level however shallow, it's already pretty obvious Baal does not care much about Amy outside of how useful he is to his cause.
It might seem silly of me to clarify this considering he's, y'know... the villain, and their thing isn't exactly friendship and rainbows especially considering their beliefs. None of the 6 Fingers display any real fondness for each other—Amy is just the exception here, albeit small.
And Baal does actually have belief in Amy—he believes in Amy's "messed up head". He believes that Amy will prove useful; he believes in Amy's potential for evil. It's a transactional belief, benefitting the cause that they both align themselves with—and which, notably, ends with him in power. Iruma's belief in Amy is largely the opposite. He believes that Amy is capable of good, and his belief in him is founded in the bond they formed.
I also wanna make it clear again that this isn't me scapegoating Baal for everything Amy does because that's lazy and boring and they make it pretty damn clear Amy is all-in on their plans together. However... I don't think it's unreasonable to think this contrast could be a set-up for something in the future.
How could this manifest? Who knows. Right now Baal is more of a passive villain, so it's hard to predict the kind of drastic actions he could take before he does them. Maybe Amy will outlive his usefulness, or maybe there'll be some internal conflict within the group that will strain their allyship. Or maybe Amy's personal desires will conflict with the goals of the 6 Fingers like I mentioned earlier.
Ultimately I'm more concerned with the thematic implications of a conflict like this, which brings us to...
Part 3: Desire
(Spoilers for 2nd Year Battler Party Arc)
I find it veeery interesting the way the protagonists keep aligning themselves with demons like Beem.
They are extremely desire and thrill-driven, I would argue more than any other non-returned to origins demon we've met so far—their parents even suspected they could be returning to origins as a child.
Mairuma has such an overwhelming theme of desire. Mairuma wants you to chase your most private, most shameful, most visceral and selfish desires. Sylvia even went through her evil cycle she was so desperate to fulfill her desire to paint Galna. Mairuma again and again seeks to tell us that there is nothing wrong with being selfish and reaching for what we want.
So far I've talked about two desires that are relevant to the future of Amy's character.
And yeah... it's pretty much spelled out for us here. So, if Amy is still latched onto the idea of eating Iruma, and Iruma is still latched onto the idea of his relatable senpai, how would that conflict be resolved? Well... We've basically been talking about it this entire time. Indulge me for a bit and let me spin the scenario that plagues my mind for you.
I briefly alluded to the possibility of Amy being subjected to some kind of experimentation, presumably to enhance his magical ability. It doesn't have to be this exactly, but nevertheless Amy ends up doing something drastic in order to fulfill his desire of eating Iruma—and in the process either gets used by Baal and the 6 Fingers and thrown away, or intervenes, inadvertently throwing off their plan enough to have him meet a similar fate. It's important here that his magic is taken away somehow—maybe the ring in his collar gets crushed or something. I think it could also be interesting if during this conflict Iruma also lost his ring, or even took it off willingly, to level their footing.
The point is that Amy follows his desire to the point of veering off the path of outright villainy, and onto that personal desire I spoke of earlier.
However, one thing I'm absolutely sure of is that Iruma's desire will be granted. I don't have as much of a concrete picture of this, but I would be extremely shocked if Suzuki "I want to pick everything up" Iruma ever goes back on his desire—especially when it was that first confrontation with Amy that he realized that was his desire in the first place. This, combined with the ominous ass dialogue "It's too late for me, Iruma-kun..." from the panel at the start make me absolutely certain that some sort of Amy redemption is coming—I only wanted to lay out some of my thoughts about it.
I don't think any redemption he gets will cause him to be watered down—Nishi writes way too many unnecessarily insane scenes with Amy for her to just stop cold turkey in my opinion. And even if it ends up incorporating none of the talking points I delved into in this post, I'm still sure that she could do an outstanding job with the task.
And lest we forget how Amy saved him from falling to his death. I think this desire to keep Iruma from dying meaninglessly (or being harvested for his magic or whatever crazy shit 6 Fingers are doing) is also quite a likely point of conflict that could come into play.
What do you all think? Have I gone coconuts? Is anyone else overthinking this the way I am? Is it not that deep? To tell you the truth I probably could have written even more but it's now 8am and I need a power nap. Might edit it up some more when I wake up. Let me know...
#on the art blog like damn sorry i got a lot to say someones gotta hear it#*not art#mairimashita iruma kun#mairimashita! iruma kun#mairuma#m!ik#welcome to demon school iruma kun#ami kirio#amy kiriwo#suzuki iruma#baal
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Fandom : Homestuck
Character : Dave Strider
Pairing : Romantic
Description : Just some regular Headcanons with the coolest Boy
Love your writings! :D
- Eridan Anon
Sure! This focuses on my take of him in Homestuck, if something is off I'm so sorry :( I wasn't sure if I wrote him right so I researched what I could.
Happy late Birthday to Dave, I share the same extended zodiac sign as him and I love his character :)
Not fully edited, may have spelling mistakes.
Yandere! Dave Strider Concept
Pairing: Romantic
Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Delusional behavior, Overprotective behavior, Trauma (Dave's backstory primarily), Manipulation, Kidnapping, Violence/Death, Stalking, Secret picture taking, Forced relationship.
I feel Dave is one that both tries too hard around you yet also puts up facades.
More than anything he feels he should protect you and that he knows best.
The above trait is something he shares eerily with Dirk due to the trauma he suffered with Bro.
He greatly cares about you but at the same time appears distant at times.
Dave tends to make music for fun and for his friends, playing a cool persona despite being quite vulnerable due to his past.
He tends to go on long rants and talks to himself and is quite mature.
He jokes but can take things seriously when he needs to, he also tries to not abuse his time powers.
Yet it's shown he'd go back in time to prevent the demise of any of his friends since he cares a lot.
Dave originally appears like he doesn't care about you or your interests.
Although, in reality, Dave really enjoys you and listening to you talk.
He remembers every interest you have to bring up later, just to hear you speak about it.
Dave is easily influenced by you too.
He really does think you're cool and if you bring up the fact you like something... Dave does his best to find a gift that goes along with it.
He'd talk to you over Pesterchum and send gifts to you at times.
He often wants to ramble at you about various things, like he's venting.
He'd love it if you listened, honestly.
In a way Dave displays delusional behavior as he thinks he knows how to care for you.
Part of him is certainly projecting trauma.
Similar to how he wanted to protect Jade because he liked her, he feels he has to do the same with you.
You can tell Dave has care towards you through the music and gifts he sends.
It's all tuned to your likes and interests, showing he does listen to you despite the front he puts up.
Honestly, due to his past I can see Dave wanting your praise.
He would want to feel validated through you.
Being there for him is enough to make him attached.
As I said before, he is eerily like Dirk Strider in terms of yandere behavior.
Dave may manipulate you without really meaning it.
This is due to the delusional thought that he knows best.
He knows kidnapping you, isolating you, and being the only one around you is wrong.
But to him is seems like the right thing to do.
Seeing the mortality of his friends and himself certainly doesn't help such thoughts.
If you were in his session he would use his powers to protect you.
Still tries not to abuse them, yet he can't see himself going on without you.
If you were both Derse Dreamers, Dave would want to find you to just talk.
Dave seems like he'd get unintentionally clingy.
Subconsciously he wants to get closer up until he eventually gives in and isolates you.
He just feels comfortable with you, you're so much more welcoming than Bro was to him.
He hates to upset you but finds it necessary at times.
How else is he supposed to keep you safe with him?
Dave is skilled in photography.
Which obviously means he tries to take as many pictures as he can of you.
Everything from shared selfies to more... candid and secretive pictures.
He keeps them in either an album or a folder on his PC to look at.
They bring him comfort.
Dave often suppresses his emotions.
While he does feel bad when he makes you upset, he can't be so easily driven by emotion to let you go.
Which is ironic... as he allowed emotion to drive him to the point of isolating and kidnapping you.
Dave doesn't mind you speaking to the others for the most part.
But he isn't afraid to restrict it eventually.
Dave doesn't mean to be so possessive and protective at times.
He unfortunately can't help it.
You're just about the only one he can cling to.
This leads him to trying to form a romantic attraction towards you.
He just wants you all to himself... for the protection and comfort of both of you in his eyes.
Dave would try his best to be affectionate.
It's difficult for him as he doesn't understand at first.
However, if you showed him affection before things went downhill, then he'll do that.
Tight hugs, attempted kisses, stuff like that.
For the most part he feels comfortable with the fact you're safe.
He tells you that in his rambles.
Dave no doubt would make songs that represent the two of you in his mind.
He'd then play them while sitting beside you, just enjoying the moment while you plot ways to leave.
Overall... I feel yandere Dave means well... but that does not make what he's doing right.
Due to his background and experiences... he's so obsessed with protecting and impressing you he loses himself.
Leading to Dave often neglecting your own feelings in favor his own.
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i saw that you're currently reading my stand-in novel but you're not really spoiling anything. how are you finding it so far if i may ask? is it as angsty as people say it is?
(i waited until the end of the day to answer this because as i thought i've already finished the novel, so much for self-restraint lol also sorry this got a bit long... oops?)
i enjoyed it a lot! and it made me get over my reading slump, so i will even excuse it getting into some tropes i'm not particularly fond of at the end. it got cheesy…er, and not even in a way i like. amazingly, that didn't make me like it any less.
from the synopsis of the series and the tags in novel updates (and i only skimmed those because i didn't want to get spoiled) i had a pretty good idea of what the novel was going to be like, which is why i decided not to really liveblog since, transmigration aside, i'd say it's a pretty straightforward story. i could be persuaded to make a recap if there's interest though, since there's still over three weeks left until the series starts airing and i'm probably going to go over everything again and take notes anyway...
and oh, is it angsty! the whole thing hinges on zhou xiang (joe) being a sweet angel baby and yan mingxiu (ming) being a fucking idiot, and it's pretty much what you can expect from any dogblood/makjang with the scum ml, misunderstandings, heartbreak, regrets, etc. i have to say i'm not usually a fan of the misunderstanding trope bc i tend to find it annoying, but as with most tropes i don't particularly enjoy it's because of the way i often see it done. here it was painful for everyone involved, so i really liked it. also, please keep in mind that i'm a huge fan of big character development and characters redeeming themselves, so. there's that. wink wonk. (i've been reading some reviews and think for some people it may be best to know what kind of story this is before going in, other than because of triggers–which, very important if you need them, at least in the novel–because of the whole. scum ml more than anything lol even though yan mingxiu is not that scummy really!)
i love my stories character-driven, so having them being this well fleshed out and compelling was a joy, and being able to see so clearly what both zhou xiang and yan mingxiu were thinking and feeling, sometimes a lot earlier than they themselves could (please bl gods keep at least some of the internal monologue in the series, i am begging), was soooooo ugh. you're supposed to hate yan mingxiu allegedly but i just couldn't, not even in his scum era, because he was so obvious and so oblivious and so set in his own ideas he kept gaslighting himself into not noticing things. this could have gotten frustrating pretty easily, but again, everything feed into the delicious, delicious suffering. that being said, and because it doesn't seem to be a popular opinion... i think it's important to empathise with both of them, or at least sympathise, for maximum enjoyment of all that angst. you cannot cry over yan mingxiu's pain if you want him to get hit by a bus.
oh and the relationships (not only the cp's, though their progression is really good) are very important in this story, which is something i hope we get to see more of in the series because i ended up missing certain side characters in the later chapters. not tan yin though, i hope that fuck ass didn't make it into the series. how is a character so annoying while being in maybe six scenes total.
i can't say if it's good or not but it was extremely enjoyable, zhou xiang is my sweet darling angel baby, yan mingxiu is okay too (if you see me in the trenches defending him in about a month…), and i can't believe i am now, somehow, even more excited for my stand-in.
#professional body double#my stand in#my stand in the series#asks#anon#didn't get into any specifics bc everything i would have said is a spoiler yippee#so yeah i didn't want to spoil anything so this is kinda . but feel free to ask anything!#my fav character is zhou xiang my fav character development is also zhou xiang's#again not to spoil but: aaaa#tan yin can come if he gets reworked to hell and back and kisses lan xirong btw#i have a weirdly specific wishlist for him now#and by 'him' i mean lan xirong
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Hey, you! You should watch Hikaru no Go!
Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: Hikaru no Go/Qi Hun/棋魂.
Based on the manga of the same name, this drama is the Chinese live-action adaptation of a story about a boy who plays Go, the spirit only he can see who teaches him how to play Go, and all the friends and enemies he meets along his journey to become a good Go player.
...Wait, no, come back. I swear it's more interesting than that makes it sound.
What it is, is a character-driven tale of a charming young boy who, among a bunch of weird and wonderful people who love him, grows up to be a charming young man.
(You see how his shirt says SWEETIE CUTIE? That is because he is a sweetie cutie.)
It's a sports manga, so you've got Training Montages and The Big Game and all sorts of tense moments like that. But there's also lots of fun, gentle plotlines that are equal parts tearjerking and heartwarming. It is incredibly written, act, and produced, and I can't believe that it's not more popular, because it's so good.
Here are five reasons you should watch it:
1: GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY
Word of Honor is merely the second gayest thing I have ever seen a c-drama do. Hikaru no Go is gayer by an order of magnitude.
I think the way they got it past censorship was by saying, oh no, this isn't gay, it's just a sports rivalry! But come on, what do you mean sports rivalries aren't gay, have you seen how all those Canadian and US hockey players keep marrying one another? This is that. This is the tale of two boys who've been in love since they were seven figuring out that they've been in love since they were seven.
(And speaking of seven-year-olds, the kid casting is amazing.)
I mean:
This is an actual still from the show.
So is this.
So is this.
These are not taken out of context. The context would make them gayer. That's how gay they are for each other.
But you know what the best part is? They're not the only pairing. And I don't just mean this like, oh, here's two other cute boys, you can imagine the times they kiss -- I mean, the show itself has its own ships! Ships you wouldn't expect! Intergenerational gay Go solidarity!
Now here's the catch: You have to wait for it. But oh boy, the payoff had us clutching our heads and screaming as quietly as we could because it was after midnight and we were losing our minds.
That last episode!! You have to see it to believe it!!!
2: EMOTIONS!
Bring the tissues. There are parts where it was kinda hard for me to watch because I was sobbing.
Because it's a sports manga, there are lots of triumphs and tragedies. Not everybody can make it to The Big Game. Not everybody gets to live out their dreams. Sometimes you try your hardest and it's not good enough. Sometimes you play your best and you still lose. Some people have to give up on what they love. Some people who were there with us at the beginning don't get to make it with us to the end.
What really makes it is that the show sits with its emotions. Events will affect people's emotional states for multiple episodes to follow. People who have sadness don't just snap out of it. Loving someone doesn't automatically fix them. Shit's hard!
Of course, this contrast makes the triumphs even more wonderful. I will tell you that the show has a happy ending, but not always the ending you would expect would have been their happy ending. It is overall an incredibly uplifting show. You'll need tissues for that, too.
3: (Nearly) Everything Is Pretty Dang Normal
Part of what I mean by that is that while a lot of the actors are real pretty, they're also done up in ways where, like, if you met this person on the street, you would think, this person is pretty! and not, what the hell fancy-ass magazine cover did you just step off of?
Look at these normal goobers:
There are two exceptions to this. The first is Chu Ying, because he is a ghost energy being from the distant past, and ghosts energy beings from the distant past get astonishing eyeliner.
The second is Fang Xu, because his actor, Han Mubo, is an actual idol. Congratulations on your face, sir.
However, I also mean that the story is delightfully mundane. Sure, there's that one supernatural element to it, but everything else is just a regular story about regular people who have regular human problems. There are characters who disappoint their parents and mentors, struggle to pay their bills, try to balance school and extracurricular activities, have crushes, argue with teachers, flake on responsibilties, get lost in the woods, and do some pretty normal human things. Nobody's avenging anyone or trying to slay anything. It's just people being people.
It's even a bit of a period piece -- the show starts out in 1997, then jumps forward to the late '00s, so everything's just charmingly slightly outdated. Damn, I love everybody's flip phones.
4: Actually Good Television
Okay, if you like c-dramas, you know they can be ... janky. Episodes sometimes end practically in the middle of sentences. CG leaves much to be desired. Obvious cuts and last-minute overdubbing really stand out. You can tell where the censorship mandates got in there and started mucking around with things. That kind of jank.
This show feels different. It feels like someone thought out each episode, start to finish, and then created each piece to fit that vision. Every episode even has a title and beautiful title card. They start and end in dramatically logical places. The cinematography isn't anything particularly artful or experimental, but it's solid and clean and lovely. (And if you're sick of shows so dark you can't see them, you've got no worries here.)
The CG in the show is unobtrusive, and most of it is spent making Chu Ying subtly transparent.
There are a bunch of secondary characters, but to me that never felt overwhelming. Most of them are interesting, three-dimensional characters, no matter how short their screen time is. And while there definitely could have been more female characters, the show itself is pretty open about how sexism in the Go world means that it's mostly a boys' club -- and the ladies that are there are great.
In short, this is a show you can show to people who don't have c-drama brain and thus are less inclined to overlook some of the more cringeworthy aspects of their productions. I bet that your Average American Television Enjoyer Who Can Handle Subtitles would have no trouble getting into the groove of it, which I imagine could be very useful for those of you who have people you'd like to watch c-dramas with, except you don't feel like stopping every five minutes to apologize for one thing or another.
5: Better Than The Source Material?
This is the point where I have to admit that I myself have never read the manga or seen the anime. I came into this with only the vaguest familiarity with the source material. I can only tell you that the live-action drama is good; I can't swear that it's better.
However, @jianghootinandhollerin can speak to this comparison more authoritatively than I:
When I was 20, Hikaru no Go (manga) was my favorite thing, the primary obsession, the source of multiple livejournal themes, custom winamp skins, and a fanfic where Hikaru got a go stone stuck up his nose. Because of this deep love in my history, I was dubious about a live action version and the changes it made, but hey, turns out, those changes were exactly what the 20 years older version of me needed. This version of the story benefits so much from having the full, completed story to work from from the outset. The manga didn't know where it was ending when it started, but this show got to, and the story gets to be richer and the characters' stories get to be deeper thanks to that. And also, very importantly: everyone is older and much, much gayer.
Look, I understand if "but it's not the original manga/anime" is a dealbreaker for you. There are adaptations of things I can't watch because no matter how good the end product may be, I'm going to hold it against it that it's not the source I'd rather be seeing, and that's not a fair standard. That's fine. It happens.
But if you can, give this a go (pun unintended). It does not replace the original thing; it is a different take on the same idea. And yeah, it's one that really speaks to me here, on the other side of forty as I am. Maybe I would have missed it at twenty, but the person I am now really respects its attitude that while Being The Best is all well and good, it is not the only thing, and it is absolutely not more important than being yourself and doing what you love with the people you love. Sometimes you peak and can't advance anymore, so you become a teacher, and you know what, that's better than okay, that's actually pretty great. (Do I overidentify with Bai Chuan? Listen: maybe.)
Have I convinced you to watch it yet?
You can watch it on iQiyi, or you can watch it on iQiyi's YouTube channel. I hope you love it as much as I do.
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The way you write canon characters to not be ooc is insane to me. The way everything flows has me banging my hand against the wall from the sheer beauty of your writing. Is there a process or a trick you do to help understand a character you write? I’ve been having issues writing more complex characters *cough cough* jjk & csm characters *cough cough*. Any advice would be appreciated, thank you for the hard work with all of your fics!
AVOIDING OOC HOW-TO!
omg thank you so much?? i am literally gonna cry because i write character-driven stories more than plot-driven so you saying that makes me feel so good right now i will cry.
but the way i think about it is like, if you're doubting something the character is doing, then you're probably doing it wrong. the most recent chapter of froggie was completely different from what it was supposed to be originally. and the reason for that change is because the characters were entirely very, very much ooc. i hate just thinking about it, ugh.
anyway, i'm not really sure if there's a trick to it? i like to think whether or not the character was originally written in a complex way in the original media, i still write them with the intention of their being complex. but instead of being complex, i think it's more writing them as humans. i honestly don't know. i've always been a socially aware and insecure kid so i pick things up easily, so i might not have the best answer to give you.
but if i really think about it, just consume as much media about them as possible and put yourself in their place in a somewhat of a method acting but not way. whether or not you think they're about to do something bad, just go with it as long as you feel like it's accurate. or, you can write them in a way you don't actually write their character.
for example, in my among dawn flowers (the face of god), we see gojō from the perspective of the main character so how the main character describes gojō might not exactly be how gojō actually is but just a surface-level observation from the character. the main character might see gojō doing this for what she thinks is because of that, but in gojō's head, he's doing it because of a different reason. keeping a character from a distance helps a lot and making your character overthink their character also adds some psychological spice that makes the story look more complex and interesting.
but if you want it to be more ingrained in the character's perspective like what i did in sunday without god where it's entirely in nanami's pov, make him focus on what you already know: aka your character. make your character do this and that but don't write in a way that you're leading specifically what you want to happen. i think the hard thing about writing fanfics is that the characters you're writing aren't yours. that's why instead of usually leading up to what you want to happen, you're going to use what the character would realistically do then adjust your story to their decisions.
you can't really just choose to write a canon character in a way that serves you because that would just end up OOC. writing fanfiction, in my opinion, is adjusting to what the canon character would do while maintaining the essence of your plot.
but if you're writing strictly canon characters with no interactions with OCs, then all i can say is yes, consume as much media about them and it might not be a nice advise, but restrict yourself. the character isn't yours so you can't just go running off and make up things that aren't really true. consider it in a behavioralist perspective: with every action you have to consider their past, present, and future, most especially the past and their backstories because backstories always affect present actions and future aftermaths.
IN SUMMARY:
treat them as humans and not just as one-dimensional characters!
if you're really struggling to write the character, don't write them! write around them through keeping it from an outside perspective from a character you know or make the canon character react to a character you know / something you're familiar with.
consume as much media, read fics that you like and do not like about them and figure out why you think so!
that's all i could think of hehehe <3
according to my friend whom i also asked in passing: "writing a canon character is already considered personal interpretation." and i was like ooh? that's true.
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Brenti may be an abomination but he’s SO interesting as a character. I love that we get to ask the questions you’ve already answered about breg and santi and get different answers. What kind of yandere is he? What’s his personality like? How does he meet the reader?
[Christ, hold on hold on-]
What type of yandere is he?
Brenti is just as delusional as Breg is, but instead of being oblivious and relying on cheesy depictions of love made by humans, he adopts Hell's models of love and relationships. Which can be brutally different.
Neither Breg nor Santi are very bright, but Santi has a certain type of street smarts and cunning Breg lacks, and Brenti retains that. What ends up happening is that Brenti passes as a poor ignorant monster that doesn't know much about civilized human living, when he's in fact much more informed than he lets on and is passing himself off that way deliberately to lower your guard.
He can be seen as a dedicated, openly perverted, confident yandere. However, Brenti ends up coming off as if his intentions are a lot more nefarious than they actually are, and he handicaps you early on.
Brenti's ideas of flattery and courtship are a lot more depraved than you're ready for. He has less tact than Santi, so he truly believes telling you how hard you make him and that he'd fill you everyday are genuine, wholesome displays of love and you'll be charmed by him. He's definitely the type to give you "tributes".
How do you meet him?
He's not a fugitive from a breeder facility, and he was conceived (more like cursed to existence) in Hell, but he's been in and out of the surface ever since adulthood- Although he never truly adapted to it, in spite of his fascination. Brenti is in love with certain aspects of human living, and he wants to add a filthy little twist to them, which society won't allow. So he ends up being inappropriate in his half-hearted attempts to fit in, resulting in him getting shunned out of various locations, rinse and repeat until he stumbles upon your general living area.
A lot of things can spark Brenti's infatuation. Maybe a mix of delicious-smelling lust and a genuine desire to help him when he seems lost, he finds you irresistible, immediately expending as much magic as he needs to keep you enraptured with him for as long as he can milk the encounter. It's utterly obvious early on that he's salivating after you, and though his charm is clumsy from overexcitement, Brenti manages to basically steal an entire evening with you.
Cumbrain that he is, he was thinking of fucking you in the nearest convenient surface, but that's gotten him in trouble way too many times, and he's determined to not be driven away from you too easily. It physically pains him to end the encounter without even getting his fingers on you, and he's going to need to relieve himself, but that's a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, everything else goes downhill.
See, much like Breg, this loser creeps into your living space far too easily. Except these episodes are now a lot more detrimental to you. The first thing Brenti does is slap his mark on your body. You may wake up with the pain of it being branded onto your mons, but unfortunately, your face is being pressed hard to the pillow, masking your startled scream as a monster much stronger than you keeps you still with his weight, gently shushing you and grinding two dribbling cocks on your ass. Blunt force makes you pass out.
Maybe you know what the faded thing in your lower half is, maybe you don't, but it's there now. You've already lost.
Every night after that one is spent having wildly erotic dreams while Brenti trains your unconscious body to respond to him, just like it should. He rubs his own seed on your skin before he leaves, causing you to wake up in the middle of the night in fits of feverish lust, longing for something very specific but not being able to place what. You spend your days in a state of bothersome sexual frustration, to the point where it'll start getting in the way of your routines and causing you to lose functionality.
Brenti starts showing up more often around you when you're practically dripping senselessly with desire. It's only a matter of time until you invite him over, he believes.
You'll realize how you've been betrayed when you see the faint mark on your mons become more pronounced the moment you come around his cock, looking up at the blissed out face of the monster who's to blame for all of this...
Personality
While still somewhat socially awkward, the concubus side will translate that demeanor into an oftentimes charming quality of his.
Brenti has his moments of total charm and temptation, but they're not a constant act like Santi's. In fact, he's a lot more genuine than most concubi, which is something you may end up valuing in the long run, even if it means you're often privy to information you don't want.
In a strange way, he's more open to sharing you than Breg ever was but not to Santi's degree. Brenti only has eyes for you, he craves to pleasure you in every way possible, so he's surprisingly okay with letting others worship you. But only that. He's always in control of these encounters and doesn't really seek to fuck the other person, he's more focused on making sure they get you to cum your brains out.
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ask dump #3!
rch
Yes and no! Holetta Baby is a character song for a story I wrote in high school with some friends I've since fallen out of touch with --- because of that (esp. since some of the characters were based on ourselves), and because it's frankly bizarre, I don't know if I'll ever share too much about it.
All you really need to know is that it's from the perspective of a man whose wife flew away as he gradually realizes that she's never coming back. IIRC she was just fleeing for a while because their love was forbidden, hence "Loving you's so good I fear it's wrong." In reality, she got trapped on an island somewhere and he was too heartbroken to consider the possibility that she might need rescuing.
Thank you!!! I really can't overstate how happy I am that Townsend resonates with other people who have intrusive thoughts. It's something I still have trouble talking about but she's been a good outlet for that. Also quite happy that the angst is hitting right ehehe
art
Honestly no, I have so much trouble with that too OTL. Occasionally I use the warp tool on a sketch to help put an interesting line of action before I actually do lineart? I recently started experimenting with drawing in fisheye perspective too, and that definitely shakes things up.
Thank you so much!!
I almost always draw in Procreate (with an iPad + apple pen). I have 2 sets of favorite brushes on there - these are what I usually use:
6B Pencil (found in the "sketching" category). I use this for EVERYTHING from lines to rendering.
Studio Pen ("inking")
Medium Hard Airbrush aka the most generic brush on earth
Inka ("inking")
Spectra ("painting") - annoying because it can alter colors by pressure though
Then I have this set I call 'ink kit' which I use when I want to change things up without actually switching mediums lol
Blackburn ("drawing") - Really thick brush that makes me think a little harder about lines. I also have a duplicate modified to make it a little smoother and smaller & I switch between those two when doing lineart on these pieces
Gesinski Ink ("inking") - one of those pens that's flat so it's really thin or wide depending on the angle
Oil Paint ("painting")
Watercolor ("painting") -- just for coloring stuff in when it doesn't have to be precise
Also these niche uses:
Driven Snow ("elements") for freckles
Nikko Rull ("painting") for skin texture
adamandi
It was just a fairly thick curling iron (curled upwards all over my head) and then a lot of hairspray. If I remember correctly, the first night it was done by our costume designer Hahnji Jang (@/hahnjij on insta!) and then I did it myself the rest of the nights. It was definitely their idea at least - my hair is naturally pretty flat and up til then I assumed Vincent's would be too, lol.
No idea where the bag (or really any of it) is from, sorry. I really liked walking around in his swooshy jacket, and I ended up buying it afterwards. As far as normal people clothes I would actually wear, I really really liked his pants, which I was unfortunately not able to keep.
There actually exists in my mind a completely different "biblically accurate Vincent," which is the Vincent I had been picturing all the way up until the actual performances. I always pictured him with long black hair and freckles, and I considered drawing on freckles for the show because of that.
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hello!! no pressure to answer this but i was wondering do you have any recommendations for books, specifically books that made you feel things very deeply? i know that's vague and weird but like i also love the goblin emperor/baru cormorant/similar books as you and i was wondering if you had any faves you'd like to share :) i am looking for a book that will put me in agony in a good way lol
HELLO FRIEND
okay so I am a Big Emotional Dummy so everything makes me feel very deeply, whether or not it's actually any good. So I'll try to keep it to recs that I felt alot while reading, after reading, and I think are actually good.
Also idk if you want specific genres or sticking to fiction, so I'm just gonna throw a whole whack of things at you, hope that's ok!!! I'll also try to avoid super popular recs (like trc or ursula k le guin) not because i love them less, just because you've probably already heard of them?
Hands of the Emperor - Victoria Goddard - probably my current fave book and protag, read it twice in less than a year despite it being like 1200 pages, if i loved it less i could talk about it more, and without crying. maybe it's niche and imperfect, but to ME? book of all time
The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner - fave book series for more than a decade, makes me experience shrimp emotions that nothing else will ever be able to replicate
Piranesi - Susanna Clarke - how did a portal fantasy meets psychological horror become actually the most existentially comforting book in the world
Tuyo - Rachel Neumeier - technically a series, with 3 main novels and other novels and novellas about other characters (which i enjoyed less but still), but def start with tuyo. I fully went in expecting to not like it At All and was blown away???? I wept. I still weep. I can't explain why I love it without spoilers but it's technically a fantasy war story and yet is almost entirely character driven
Wind, Sand, and Stars - Antione de Saint-Exupery -reading this rn and technically it's billed as a memoir and adventure novel but actually its an existential meditation on the nature of human interaction and the soul and definitely comes from the same core as The Little Prince
If you HAVENT read the cemeteries of amalo/thara celehar spinoff of the goblin emperor PLEASE do, in many ways i love them even more than tge bc thara is up there with kip mdang in terms of characters i cant talk about without crying because it's too personal
The Sparrow Duology - Mary Doria Russell - PLEASE check the trigger warnings, unlike most of the recs on this list, this falls way more to the side of Baru in terms of dark content, but also it's maybe the closest I've ever come to being at peace
I'm definitely missing things, but these are all the books that have made me want to chew drywall in the last 2 years. I've also linked my goodreads here with the caveat that my ratings skew high because i am very much a 'i didnt say it was good, i said i enjoyed it/was entertained' type person. also i have read a lot of trash YA. oops. like yes some of it is real bad but also some of it makes me Feel Some Things even (or especially??) when it's real bad.
Friends pls chime in with your recs, and also please rec things to me!! Am seeking new and interesting emotions previously unknown to humankind.
#recs open to everyone EXCEPT rae who is spiders georg and recs me books every week#AND I CAN NEVER CATCH UP DFJHASKDL#i mean rae i love u and ur recs are so good but GIRL IM SLOW#anyway. 3 of the books on this list are rae recs so. yknow. shrimp emotions#fran reads#looking at my faves shelf on gr and like#ohhhh there is some cringe there except cringe is dead i killed it#yes terribly plotted dumb ya book is there bc it UNDERSTOOD MY EMOTIONAL ANGUISH AGED 18#and made me want to live#so there ya go#i am inventing all new emotions everyday babeyyyy
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Some Thematic Lore
So, here comes this volume's climax. It is probable the next 2 episodes are going to be packed with revelations, which will clarify several things, theme-wise.
As for now, though, here comes some little things I noticed and some theories.
CORRUPTED GIFTS
RWBY's journey in the Ever After seems to lead the 4 girls to meet characters, who embody the Gods' gifts. Or to better say their corruption.
The Curious Cat embodies the desire for Knowledge, which is clearly driving them crazy. They need to know everything, which means they will never be satisfied.
The Rusted Knight embodies the desire for Creation, which doesn't let him move on. Jaune needs to be a hero to function, which leads him to stagnate and keep others from evolving.
Neo/Jabberwalker embodies the desire for Destruction, which ends up breaking herself, as well. She needs to have someone to hate not to collapse and the moment she breaks Ruby can becomes an empty shell.
I wonder what will happen with Choice tbh. Is this gift gonna get corrupted too? And how? Is choice meant to be the Blacksmith/Tree? Or something else?
In general, it is interesting how all these characters are driven by a desire for a certain gift. Curiosity, a wish to protect, a willingness to break. They aren't the gifts, but are fueled by a desire for them. A desire that when left unchecked and not balanced by the other gifts can consume a being.
AFTERANS AND GRIMMS
CC: I need to know eveything. But more than anything I need to know why my makers left me here only to leave and make all (of you)
The CC is clearly envious of humans, just like the Grimms are said to be. Both Afterans and Grimms appear to be previous Creations made by the Gods, which were then discarded in favour of humanity, a perfect mix of both brothers.
The difference then is that Grimms are said to be a product only of Destruction, while the Ever After and Afterans seem to be unbalanced toward Creation. After all, the Ever After is called like this because death supposedly doesn't exist. People don't die in this realm, unless you happen to meet the Jabberwalker, who seems to be together with their acre the only product of Darkness in there.
It is interesting to consider and it clearly mirrors the unbalanced relationship between the Brothers. It is easy to imagine how Light would want a world centered around his own gifts, while leaving Darkness with the shortest end of the stick. A single acre.
That said, if the Tree is meant to work as a metaphor for the Cycle of Life, then "death" and "destruction" need to fit into the picture.
THE JABBERWALKER
Despite only having 2 episodes left, there is still some mystery surrounding this creature and their role in the Ever After. They are said to be the only creature, who can prevent ascension. In short, they are an embodyment of Destruction. Still, if they are a part of the world, it is possible they still come to the Tree, in a way or the other. So, here comes a thought.
The Tree is going to transform Afterans according to what they are and to what they want to become. This can lead to progression, like the Paper Pleasers or to regression, like the Red King, who turns into a Prince. Still, what happens if the creature just... can't figure themself out? What does happen if they choose to give up on any new possible identity?
In this case, they would choose to become nobody. They would decide to give in to anonimity, which is the opposite of self-individualization. Anonimity is a trait of Grimms, which are empty and try to fill themselves by praying on human negativity. In short, anonimity can be seen as a declination of Destruction. So, what if when Afterans can't figure themselves out... they end up becoming a Jabberwalker? Or what if the Jabberwalker is a body that collects all the souls who could not properly ascend, neither to regress nor to progress? A body with no proper identity, which can only jabber very basic and instinctive concepts, with no real meaning behind them?
After all, they very clearly allude to zombies, as RWBY even start calling them Walkers. And what are zombies if not people who lost their sense of self? And what do zombies do if not to spread an infection, which in this case is Destruction? Death?
THE GIFT OF HUMANITY
Humans are different from both Grimms and Afterans in how they are a more complex mix of Creation and Destruction. As a result, they seem ot have a gift both Grimms and Afterans lack, which is choice.
Humans are not given a purpose, but can choose their purpose. Afterans need the Tree to change, while Humans can simply choose to change. I am curious to see how this difference is gonna influence the outcome of this volume.
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the ask went away with the draft that i made earlier- and accidentally deleted 😭 im so sorry!! but still posting your matchup nonetheless.
thank you for being my first matchup @lady-of-endless !! these are so fun to do, i’ll definitely have to make much more. i hope you enjoy!! <3
i match you with…..
Caesar Zeppeli !
(gif belongs to rightful owner!)
-Caesar is just as affectionate as you are, sometimes even more. He’s an incredibly affectionate person, and when it comes to you he just can’t contain himself. Despite this he knows when to limit himself and switch up his demeanor immediately, just like you. He enjoys your teasing and makes it like a competition, the two of you ending in (another) victory from Caesar.
-He admires your stubbornly behavior and honestly digs it. He loves himself a woman that will stand her ground, all while keeping your temper balanced.
-Though he wishes you’d open up to him more and let your emotions flow out healthily, resorting in small gifts being left on your bed with heartfelt handwritten letters tied onto them with a red ribbon. He hates to see you overwork yourself, he’s always trying to get you to take a break. Whenever you do give into a break when you want it, he’s just overjoyed. Whether it’s dragging you into a private dinner date, or taking you to play with the puppies at the local pet shop, he’s always trying to find a way to ease your head. He’s afraid of pushing the wrong button so he shows his concerned-driven affection through gifts and small reminders that he’s always there for you as well.
-Be a little extra thankful for your great listening skills however, because *boy* will this guy yap your ear off. He’s extremely interested in your empathy and because of this, it’s hard for him to hide anything from you. Not that he likes to, but the second he’s upset in the slightest you’re onto him. It’s incredibly impressive to him and sometimes he likes to experiment with it by acting sad, not knowing that’s not how it works. He’s just so silly.
-You two both share the urge to defend those you love. This is a major factor for Caesar, especially when it comes to you. He’s the sweetest, but all his playfulness disintegrates the second either of you enter a serious situation. He knows you’ll defend yourself, and he will let you, but he loves to be perceived as your big strong knight in shining armor. He’d make himself a human shield for you, and usually does, resorting in you having to treat his wounds. Sometimes he’ll purposefully get himself the tiniest wound, just so you can aid and baby him. Your touch is his favorite sentiment, medicine, drug, everything. He’s very lucky to have that as your love language.
-Your style is his favorite part. You guys are opposite aesthetics and he lives for it!! Whenever he’s off doing whatever he’s doing, he loves to pick up random clothing and jewelry that he thinks matches your aesthetic. He thinks all the gold and wine red jewelry he gets you suits your appearance just perfectly, with your blonde hair and hazel eyes. Not to mention the tattoo, he thinks it’s the coolest thing ever! He likes to compare it to the Joestar star a lot, earning a chuckle out of the both of you.
-Your music can put him straight to sleep. He doesn’t have the patience to learn the guitar, but it’s his favorite thing when he comes home from a long day and hears the low strums of your guitar in the room further down the hall. He loves to train with you, all while encouraging you to infodump about neuroscience while taking out your pent up anger. Angry rants about the things you love? Angry rants about the things you love.
a/n;; i also thought part 2 Joseph was a great match for you too. your complex build of character made you his favorite subject, and if already hadn’t pulled a Josuke, would probably have drifted much closer to you.
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Next week's episode, I imagine, Tim will end up learning to let people in and accepting help. Another character growth for him, while Lucy isn't even allowed to really feel the emotional consequences of her near fatal shooting. It's already as if nothing happened and she's over it, nothing comes back to haunt her.
To me, the biggest turn off of this show/ship is this unbalance of storylines and depth between the character, the female one always getting the short end of the stick.
Hi anon!
Thank you for the meaty, thoughtful ask! Definitely some thoughts here that are right up my alley.
I'm going to start by saying I have genuinely been surprised by and happy with this season so far. Season 6, at least for Chenford, has felt like a return to the to the show's earlier roots of being truly character-driven. And I mention that simply because I still see a LOT of potential for Lucy's storyline this season.
This is the first time in YEARS we've had a multi-episode storyline seeded for Lucy, and I'm over the moon about it. With that said, the show still has its issues, and I completely get what you're saying.
While the moment with the radio was sweet and I can appreciate the sentiment, I agree that it was actually quite strange that we went from Lucy being devastated by the idea of almost killing someone to Tim framing something that will forever remind her of that moment and them smiling and laughing about it. I think in the show's attempts to deliver fan service, there isn't always someone asking: is this actually something a normal person with human emotions would do? 😂
So yeah, in making that choice, it did seem like they'd swept the shooting storyline under the rug and were moving on.
That said, I will be completely flabbergasted (and legitimately outraged) if there's not more to come in terms of Lucy's broader storyline, including her having to come to terms with her feelings about all of the challenges she's faced this season. We're coming off of multiple episodes that were very focused on Lucy's emotional state around the detectives exam and the aftermath, so I understand why they've shifted to seeding a storyline for Tim for a little bit, but I'd argue that as much as this episode gave us some (tbh kind of convoluted 😬) backstory for Tim, it was just as much about how Tim's actions impacted Lucy.
I'd argue that it was WAY easier to empathize with Lucy this episode than it was to with Tim (minus Eric's teary-eyed "Understood" that was an act of violence against us all). And tbh I'm not sure if that was intentional, but I'm more than okay with it.
For me, this was one of Lucy's best episodes in a long time -- this is the badass, take no shit woman from Seasons 1 and 2. She loves Tim dearly, and we know it must have killed her to ask him to leave, but she still found the strength to stand up for herself. She knows she deserves to be treated as an equal partner, and she demanded that Tim either provide that or go. And for her to be able to do that amidst everything else her character has been through in just the first 4 episodes of this season was IMO phenomenal (and so, so painful but absolutely needed) to see.
I couldn't agree harder though with your broader point -- the show has seemed very lopsided in terms of giving Tim lots and lots of backstory and multiple opportunities to grow and evolve, and then can't even be bothered to keep track of Lucy's parents names😭. It genuinely sucks. And they have so much to make up for.
They've given Lucy plenty of screen time and they've put her through tons of shit. I just think they haven't seemed to have had much interest in really exploring the actual impact on her character in any meaningful way, until now (I hope!).
And to be clear, I have zero interest in seeing Lucy simply tag-along on Tim's story for the rest of the season. I love that they are going to be together; I love that they are getting to support each other, but Lucy needs (and deserves) a fitting conclusion to her own story.. And if they don't give her one...
Thanks for the ask anon!
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Hii! I’m not really sure whether to send in this request or not because it’s not really an “X reader” so, I’m a lil bit confused haha.
But could I send in a request for platonic Heartsteel Boys with GN!Reader who does street racing? Y’know like Suki from Fast and Furious? Like reader makes money doing racing, or has one of those kool cars!!
(If you don’t do requests, feel free to ignore this ask tho ofc.)
No problem! I wasn't very clear in my response: what I meant is I'm mostly interested in doing general Heartsteel headcanons or "heartsteel member x heartsteel member" style prompts rather than interactions with non-heartsteel characters, but this sounds really cool so I'm still gonna do it!
(And if you or anyone else is interested in submitting more requests, I'll make a lil post about the types of things I'm happy to write <3)
Heartsteel with a street racer reader!
Platonic, gender-neutral
Yone
Yone would be concerned for your safety, so he'd always check in with you afterward to make sure you're uninjured.
He would help you with your car if it ever got damaged during a race - he'd try to help you figure out what's wrong with it and replace any broken parts.
Like Ezreal, he is hesitant to attend an actual race out of anxiety about things going wrong. It stresses him out to know that a bad crash could leave you extremely hurt, so he tries to make sure you know what you're doing, even though he's seen you drive before.
You can soothe his worries by distracting him with information about the cars being driven, or what gossip you've heard about the drivers recently. He asks you about the other drivers to get to know who you like and dislike in the street racing scene.
He enjoys hanging out with you while you work on your car: keeping it clean, installing new parts, repairing anything that broke, decorating it with decals to make it look cooler.
Sett
Sett would go to every race you were in to cheer you on.
He would want to learn about everybody you race with (so he can trash-talk your opponents and support your allies).
Knows the dates of all your upcoming races and where they're going to be so he can find the best place to watch from.
He also just enjoys the adrenaline rush of watching the races, so he'd go to watch races with you as buddies even if you weren't competing in them.
Would bet with you on which drivers will win which races, and probably is keeping tabs on who's been the most/least successful.
Constant hype man - Sett is always doing the most to make sure you feel supported.
K'Sante
K'Sante is always proud of you, no matter if you won or lost.
He wants to make sure you stay safe, but he knows you're a good driver and can take care of yourself, so he doesn't worry as much as Yone does.
He likes going to races with you to listen to you talk about the course or how you're going to prepare for your next race - what's going to be tricky, who's going to be there, what you're planning to do with your car.
He's more into the 'drivers' side of things than the 'cars' side, and enjoys hearing about the newcomers to the scene, the people who've been racing for years, the established rivalries, and who you personally think are the best racers.
He'd enjoy getting to drive fast with you occasionally, or casually racing you on a closed, safe course. He could be a good driver if he was interested in learning, but he's not as competitive as Aphelios, so he's more interested in supporting you than in racing himself.
Would hype you up like Sett before a race and holler support for you during them.
Ezreal
Ezreal would be excited to hear you talk about everything you loved about racing.
He would get really interested in the cars specifically - if you'd made modifications to your car he'd spend hours examining them or listening to you explain how they worked.
Would learn all the makes and models of the top-performing cars and discuss them with you (especially if you were planning on getting a new car!)
Would love to hang out with you as you were testing new things, practicing turns or gear shifts, or getting familiar with a new modification.
He would be a bit shy about going to the actual races at first ("Isn't that, like, dangerous?") but if you dragged him to one after reassuring him he's not gonna get hit by a car or arrested, he'd have a good time.
Long story short Ezreal would become a car guy if you introduced him to street racing.
Aphelios
Aphelios would want to hear all the details of every race - the course, the competitors, any rivalries that will be there.
He would be a great driver! If you could convince him to get into racing with you, you'd have a blast together.
He also knows how to ride a motorcycle, so occasionally he'll ride with you - you in your car, him on his bike on an open road.
He cares about your safety, but he's surprisingly got a vicious competitive streak, so he'll tease you relentlessly if you lose.
Would scope out what your competitors are doing to their cars and report back to you like some kind of spy.
Kayn
Kayn would get in the car and drive it himself if you let him.
He's more of a motorcycle boy, but he loves driving fast, doing dangerous things, and getting into trouble, so street racing would be right up his alley.
He'd sit in the passenger seat as you showed him what racing is like, and then bug you endlessly until you let him drive.
Would definitely try to race, but lose control of his car and spin out or go off the course.
Would threaten to race you (then get pissed off when he loses).
He would talk about the kind of dramatic fast cars he would buy if he had the money, but wouldn't really have the patience for the details of the modifications like Ezreal.
#i'll be honest i don't know a lot about driving or cars so this might not be very accurate haha#sorry this took a while for me to write!#i had a fun time doing it though!#i hope you enjoy it :)#request#heartsteel#street racing
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Every time I look back at Star Vs. The Forces of Evil I just get so depressed because it was a show I actually loved only for it all to go to shit in the very end and that’s kinda all people will remember it as when time moves on. It was such a banger show in the beginning, with likable characters, good animation, and interesting villains and obstacles ect, season 1 and 2 was where the show peaked, season 3 was very flawed and wonky but it still kept me at the edge of my seat, and then season 4 was just a fucking disaster, with things that were drawn out, lore stuff that was never explained, zero buildup over most of the events going on, and of course the infamous shipping drama. It really felt like the writers dropped EVERYONE and everything all to make Starco happen, like it didn’t care if it would fuck up the world or characters around them, so long as the ship becomes canon everything is okay…..and like…no. As a past starco shipper myself, the way they executed it was just…..beyond bad, and this is the only SURFACE of issues the show had, like things ACTUALLY being built up but the climax being underwhelming, VERY important lore points that legit SHOULD have been in the show but instead got stuffed in a Disney book, Star as a main character just fucking downgrading and turning into a shallow teenage brat as the show progressed, there was honestly a LOT of issues I had with the show, even if I was young and naive when watching it. I still think in general the show is good, or WAS good at least. It was a huge part of my childhood and had the show gotten another season or two, and Daron wasn’t writing the damn script as the show progressed, it would have been better. There’s like…..a LOT of video essays on Star so like…I wouldn’t be able to go into detail in one post.
It’s honestly just sad that certain shows I grew up with that I loved the hell out of eventually just got either bad or underwhelming, like…Gravity Falls is STILL the only show from that cartoon era that managed to have an actually satisfying ending, and ended at the perfect moment. Shows like Regular Show and Adventure time were also shows I loved in the beginning, but Adventure time just dragged for WAAAY too long and started turning ridiculous in my opinion so I stopped watching, and Regular show I just grew out of. I remember coming back for both finales to pay respect to the shows even if I wasn’t caught up with either of them, and while I can say Regular Show’s finale was decent, I didn’t like Adventure Time’s. Then there’s Steven Universe, and we all know how THAT went. Why did these four shows that were famous for being actually good had to turn bleak for me? In my opinion, one of the main reasons is that when you’re making a show similar to the whole “This is a story driven show that has some filler but at the same time follows a story leading to something big” (Amphibia and The Owl House are also examples of these) the main important thing you have to make sure you’re able to do is perfectly balance filler episodes AND story driven episodes, (something that Steven Universe and Star Vs. The forces of evil SUCKED at I’m sorry) and you have to make sure the show doesn’t drag on for too long, which is what happened with Adventure Time, Regular Show, and even SU. Of course you also need to be a good writer and storyteller, but that’s a requirement lol. Keep in mind these are just my personal opinions, but I’m certainly going to miss the shows, mainly Star. Even if I haven’t seen The Owl House and Amphibia, I’m glad they’re both new shows of this era that have entertained others and seem to be VERY good. Oh…and there’s Infinity Train and Over the Garden Wall. Those were REALLY good.
#rant#star vs. the forces of evil#regular show#gravity falls#cartoon network shows#Disney shows#world building#criticisms#writing#steven universe#unrelated
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Some thoughts on DRIVEN in 1x19
I announced this before. And now it's time to face the alleged end of driven. I will talk first about how this scene is done and show you some screenshots of the scene one doesn't notice while watching at normal speed. And yes, I will interpret tons of things in tiny details. And secondly, I'll tell you how this scene could have been done better.
I The scene how it is in detail (like DETAIL detail)
So, as shown in the last post, Riven went straight to cloud tower. This means, that Darcy never told him, that she got expelled. We don't exactly know how much time went by from episode 16 to episode 19. It might only be a few days and Riven could have been busy with the party at Red Fountain in episode 17. But it's still a bit strange and shows again that the show is too centered around Bloom and that all other characters aren't thought of very well. But however, he arrived and Darcy shows Riven where they are.
And now look at these screenshots that happen right after this shot:
Everything's still alright and he jumps off to get to his gf
and now look, Darcy looks like she wanted to embrace him or something. But he keeps moving as he realizes that they are in Griffin's office
Let's get deep: There are still trust issues. I think it takes really long to heal Riven from these and it looks like he and Darcy hadn't been at this point in their relationship yet. He still stays with his guts and is confused. Darcy on the other hand notices that. His behavior must cut her into her heart somehow and now listen: I think Stormy and Icy already talked with Darcy about her relationship and that she and Riven might have reached a dead end. After all, Stormy and Icy saw Riven as a pawn, as something useful, a tool. A tool, that is not important anymore. To Darcy, Riven was obviously more. We can see how she is worried in 1x8 on the Day of Roses. There is something between them. So Darcy would totally be like: "but we can still profit from him just let me tell him and get him fully on our side." Icy and Stormy would've been yeah yeah whatever, knowing that it would not work out but still let Darcy have that chance. However, the chance was gone after Riven behaved like he did: ignoring Darcy and wondering what was going on, expecting the worst, and showing the Trix, that he is indeed not on their side. So Darcy had to act quickly. I will say in II what could have saved this scene but as for now we only look at how it is. So she sees, ah he doesn't trust me and won't let me explain, so then that's it I guess. And then she betrays him with the thought in mind that he would leave her anyway now. So why not be the one who breaks up then? Maybe that reduces the pain of a breakup. After all, Darcy is a girl of the mind. She knows herself very well and therefore also how to fool herself in order to make herself feel better. Tragic but I think that is what she does here.
Ok let's get to part II: How this scene could be fixed
Unfortunately, it's necessary for Riven's character arc to break up with Darcy. But the way it is done in the show is very poor. For the watcher who doesn't pay much attention to other characters than Bloom or the Winx, it looks like Darcy just ditched Riven like an old tool that isn't useful anymore. Rainbow totally misses the chance to let both confront their feelings and see how a breakup would be best for both. In Darcy's case, there should have been shown the talk with her sisters who tell her that she had no future with Riven. We should have seen her struggle with this decision and having still a little hope that Riven might stay with her. OR Rainbow should've shown us, that she lost interest in him very quickly which would make this scene as it is more comprehensible. But they did not show that to us. They build up worried, bb girl Darcy in ep 1x7 and 1x8 and did NOTHING with it and I can't express how much that angers me. This villain x anti-hero romance could have been done so well even in a sideline of the normal Bloom-centered story. But they did nothing with it and seriously, Rainbow, WHY?
So how should it have been done? They should have had a proper conversation about this topic. Alone. Without Stormy and Icy. Darcy should have told him about the situation calmly without her sisters disturbing her. Riven then could come to 2 decisions: The first one would be to still stay with her. It would have gone completely against Icy's and Stormy's will but if he had truly proven, that he was on their side, they couldn't do very much against it. Or he could have come to the conclusion, that he had to leave Darcy. He would feel betrayed by Darcy not telling him their plans earlier and simply for her going too far. And Darcy on the other hand would feel betrayed by Riven for not sticking with her. Both would be deeply hurt and that is how a good relationship like this should end. Both broken, both sad. Rainbow showed us with Brella how good and deep they could portray relationships (also those that are not from the main character). But they totally left this part of the story out. A part, that they OWED to all the fans that shipped them.
Ngl I'm thinking of a one-shot ff about exactly that matter. But I don't know yet if I will write it soon or write it later in my Winx Rewrite that I planned. But be sure, no matter when and where I publish it, it will be more satisfying than this scene in the show.
#winx club#winx#winx darcy#winx riven#trix darcy#darcy x riven#riven x darcy#driven#darven#darcy and riven#riven and darcy#leni watches winx#winx rewrite#winx fixed#winx darcy riven#winx season 1#1x19
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