#THEY HAVE ALL REFERRED TO THEMSELVES AS DADDY ITS LITERALLY CANON | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kaypeace21 · 3 years

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I believe that byler is an endgame

but why would they spend 3 seasons winding up with mileven?

People REALLY need to pay attention to the shows the Duffers cited as huge inspirations to them. Cheers,dawsons creek, freak &geeks did exactly what the Duffers are doing (and the Duffers said these shows inspired them)

. Cheers for over 5 seasons built up the pairing of sam and Dianne- had them break up in the s5 finale and then in the last 2 eps of the 11th season have them get back together and once again break up explaining for the 100th time they were wrong for each other and brought out the worst in eachother . Cheers would build up multiple pairings (Frasier /Lilith (s4-11/broke up in s11) , sam/Dianne (s 1-11, broke up in s11 permanently) , rebecca /sam (s8-10) Rebecca/robin (s8-9) -these pairings lasted for multiple seasons and they all broke up! They built pairings up for multiple seasons but showed throughout the show why those pairing in cheers could never work out in the long term. The same Thing happened with almost every pairing in Dawson’s creek (they’d build up multiple pairings up -sometimes for multiple seasons- sprinkle in good but also dysfunctional aspects of those relationships- and then break them apart for good ).

Also in Dawson’s creek 2 characters (a rich girl and poor guy with daddy issues) date and breakup- but both of their gay brothers get together and are endgame instead of them (cough jancy vs byler). One of the gay guys (the rich one with the book smart sis) even dated the main girl (Joey) for a while before admitting he was gay and that he was in denial (while dating the main girl for more than a season ). In D.C even the main guy(Dawson) / girl (Joey) don’t end up being endgame (despite teasing it for all 5 seasons) . They did this with a lot of couples in the show. Honestly, the Duffers pretty much borrowed this idea of showing pairings with issues and breaking them up -but toned down how long they’d bait them . Like 11seasons of showing dysfunctional couples date -ick. And Dawson’s creek ... my god it had a literal love octogon/ love webs (so many love squares/pentagons/ and on and off relationships). The 1 adult couple broke up and I’m not exaggeration 4 times, and Dawson got back with 2 of his girlfriends like so many times. And ugh I’d say each (of the 4-5) main characters dated at least 4 people -and each of those relationships lasted for like 20+ eps each... and then after all that build up -break up ). That’s not even including the people the main 5 or so characters would date for like 5-6 eps . Thank god it was toned down compared to Dawson’s creek or cheers. i can’t imagine the frustration watching those shows during its airing 😂

Freaks & geeks (set in the 80s)was also inspo.14 y old Sam who is bullied and called “homo” “queer” etc throughout the whole series - he also obsesses over a cheerleader girl for the whole series and in the second to last ep of the series- they finally start dating and he realizes they have nothing in common and says “it’s boring. all we ever do is makeout.She likes nothing i like. We can’t talk to eachother. We never have fun.” And he admits he only keeps dating her cause everyone would call him “crazy” to not date her. sam and her are also said to be “from different planets” and “different species” just like mileven in s3 lol. The gf of sam also says before they dated she saw him ‘like a sister’ (like El asking mike if he’d be her brother in s1, before they date). And after this sibling comment various characters -encouraged the couple and said they would be good together (before they dated-like what we’ve seen in st with mileven and other ships ).Sam eventually decides to not cave to peer pressure- and breaks up with her. Meanwhile sam’s sis (is a straight A student, who is initially into a popular guy and starts hanging with the cool kids). After getting over the first (popular) guy, she later dates another guy- a music-obsessed-stoner-guy with a cruddy dad...and she breaks up with him (like jancy?). That couple was even called ‘romeo & juliet’ before they broke up-similar to mileven being called “romeo & juliet’ before their breakup. plus r&j were never in love... just like mileven.

All 3 shows had the main guy/girl date but not end up with eachother in the end . And both shows -would build up several pairings that looked like endgame but would show faults in those relationships and would have them breakup (because those pairings were never that healthy together). Which I believe is what they’re doing with jancy, jopper, mileven and lumax (explained in my analysis here all the evidence for why I don’t think they don’t end up together). I mean there’s many reasons I listed in the analysis but you think it’s a coincidence - jancy, lumax, mileven , and Steve/rando girl who rejected him in s3-all incorportated spying on their love interest ? you think the duffers think that’s good to have all these romantic pairings spy on eachother? When in the show they canonically have the us gov (villains) spy via phone taps, and hidden recorders, and cameras? Brenner used El as a spy for his own gain ? they even call the mf a ‘spy’ (which the characters perceive as the main villain)... i don’t think the mf is actually villainous but that’s off topic).The point is narratively equating spying as something ‘wrong’ by characters our main cast of heroes is against. But having that same cast of heroes partaking in spying themselves … specifically on to their romantic partners- and not also showing it as a negative. But romanticizing it? Would be quite hypocritical. And a HUGE narrative oversight.

Also build up?

S1- mileven kiss right after el asks if he’ll be her “friend” or “brother”. Has others compare el to mike’s sibling /cousin. Hint Will is gay . Have hints mike is queer too/ and cares deeply about Will. Constantly mention how el physically resembles Will/a boy. Parallel mileven to ted/Karen who were “never in love”. Have Nancy and mike verbally compare the jancy/stancy love triangle to mileven/byler . And at the end of the season mike writes a story for Will that likens the 2 to han/leia. Flo says about jancy/Jon “ only love makes you that crazy and that damn stupid”. (Which flo wasn’t entirely right about since jon punched Steve for insulting his family- for Jon it was familial love -not romantic love. But put a pin in that phrase)

S2- was pretty much byler season (and mileven barely interact that season). Byler say they’d go “crazy together”. But el’s new catchphrase is she’s “not stupid.” They Compare mileven to luke/leia (siblings that kissed) . Ref ghostbusters and parallel byler to the romantic pairing of Dana /venkman (but have el just be a ghost and mike a ghost buster which isn’t romantic but the opposite) .parallel mileven to hopper/el. Have el spy on mike, el hurt a stranger cause of unhealthy jealousy, have mileven dance to a song about a possessive spying/Stalking ex gf . Throw in mileven burns like “they’re not in love they’re not even from the same planet.” (El being et ref) . Have mike say annoyed “a bond ?! (Scoff) cause you shared nougat?! “ (egos like s1 ) “. Mike saying after knowing max for a week “hate you? I don’t even know you?” (He knew el for a week too so no way he loves her -cause he doesn’t know el , just like max ) . mike even criticizes his friends’ instant attraction to max saying “you haven’t even spoken a word to her.”Dustin saying “ I don’t have to . I mean -look at her.” Which makes it even more suspicious that mike was into a girl who multiple characters said looked like a boy (specifically Will) in s1. Have El watch a soap opera (all my children) and mimic the scene of erica kane and her love interest michael. Which in the soap opera-isn’t endgame, and ended with some stalking after their breakup.

S3- mileven is finally dating : multiple characters (lucas, Will, Hopper, dustin,Max, etc) in the show dislike and verbally complain about them together . In cheers all of sam’s friends hated him dating Dianne and would vocally complain about it (similar to joyce they even clapped/cheered after 1 of their many breakups) . Mike is horrified by the spying(that mileven fans romanticized in s2) , el is happier single and neither is heartbroken over the breakup. They date for 2 eps and then breakup . Mileven being together inhibits El’s character arc from s2 (aka she went from wanting to explore the world and leave the cabin in s2 to see her friends, to ignoring her friends and cutting herself off from the world in order to stay in the cabin all day to make out with mike for 6 months - she would literally lie to her friends about curfew to return to the cabin and kiss mike -going against her ‘friends don’t lie’ mantra from the past 2 seasons too ). Mike canonically doesn’t trust her / doesn’t believe in her ability to make decisions and lies to her and never apologizes for lying. And el doesn’t apologize for spying . They throw in more gay hints of mike & Will. Mileven is called “bullshit” like s2 stancy . And Both pairings in the show kissed a bunch and said “I love you” (but they weren’t endgame). They also contrast s3 mileven scenes to s2 byler scenes and have byler win out. And once again parallel mileven to hopper/el and Karen/ted. As well as paralleling and likening Mileven to stancy in numerous other ways (besides the “bullshit “ line) . They also parallel mileven to stobin (both are straight baits) .They parallel the stobin confession to the mileven one -both confessions have them sitting on the floor, both girls have bandages on their legs, and both confessions are interrupted by dustin. Also both Steve/mike use the terms “crazy & stupid ” to confess to robin/el. But unlike Will who agrees to be “crazy “ with mike .El confused , asks “ what makes you crazy?” And robin says she didn’t have a crush on his “stupid hair”. el even says in reference to mike “there’s more to life than stupid boys.” Showing how el/robin don’t have romantic feelings for the boys-like the flo phrase of s1. Unlike Will who after fighting with mike calls himself “stupid” over and over and rips up the photo of him and mike where they promised to go “crazy together.” Even Steve says in s2 stancy should should “pretend to be stupid teenagers” in love. Emphasis on “pretend”. And when el says she loves mike “the first I love you” plays -the only other time that song plays in s3 is when robin rejects Steve (cause she’s gay.) cough cause mike is gay too.

There’s a lot more in each season (that illustrates mileven was built up -but not as a positive couple but a problematic one that was never was in love to begin with ). But I’m trying to keep this short . You can read this post here where I go in more depth about all of this .

S1-2 builds up the problematic ships (but showed good and bad aspects of their dynamic) . like the spying of jancy, lumax, and mileven or the jealousy. of Hopper in s2. In the s2 finalie they have them kiss or hug/exchange romantic glances. And in S3 we see the after math of this with all the couples officially dating - and they show all the couples issues at the forefront . I already talked about mileven. But, Lumax broke up 6 times (they dated for 6 months- and every month they dated max dumped him ). Jancy fight in the opening of ep 1 and don’t understand each others issues (sexism/poverty-and Jon’s issues with his dad) . And neither supports the other in their passions of journalism & photography.Nancy is also called “nancy drew” who in 1986 (year of s4) before going to college dumps her long term highschool bf (who helped her in many of her past mysteries/novels ). Their relationship was also shown as complex and somewhat dysfunctional because of both parties -before nancy drew dumps him. And (even if not dating like the other pairings) jopper almost go on a date in s3. Joyce was trying to hide the fact she was moving, Hopper was horribly jealous, and all they did was yell and argue.Murray says to joyce regarding hopper “he’s a brute... probably reminds you of a bad relationship” (aka lonnie/Joyce) . They even have Joyce watch a cheers ep- which directly compares jopper to (dianne/Frasier) who weren’t endgame in cheers but a rebound . Hopper /fraiser both drink chianti . Fraiser asks dianne to marry him/Hopper asks Joyce on a date-both women stand them up. Or when Joyce asks Hopper out she calls her self ‘detective byers ‘and Hopper name drops miami vice. Which had an on and off again relationship for several seasons- of the male /female detectives.The relationship faded out as Gina realized they mainly got together when one or both needed someone. Crockett was very protective of Gina, and had some jealousy when Gina was involved in relationships , but was the first one to be there for her when things went wrong. And they realized it was better to not be together romantically. Heck seems like all these couples have negative film/tv parallels... lucas in s2 mentions not liking winston in ghost busters cause he came ‘super late’ (like Max). in s1 disses michael myers (which Max dressed as). And at the end of s3- lumax dress identically to eric/donna from a ep of that 70s shows (in the ep eric/donna were broken up).

(s3 was marketed as the “summer of love” and “summer love” is a euphemism for flings that don’t last.) s4-5 Will probably show good healthy ships/break up the problematic ones from past seasons .

So first 2 seasons focus on the unhealthy ships / and the last 2 seasons focus on healthy ships. S3 the middle season would be considered the turning point -and why none of the popular ships (assumed to be endgame) came off looking that great (compared to how they were presented in s1-2) .

#byler #anti mileven #byeler #stranger things

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mittensmorgul · 3 years

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Hi Mittens! Happy holidays! I love your meta and I had a question: I've seen you make a couple posts about Miracle lately, and while I'm definitely angry at canon replacing Cas with a dog, I was kind of taken aback at some of your comments about Dean and dogs (specifically how much you seem to hate that combination; I've never felt strongly about it one way or the other). Do you have a tag or post about your feelings on Dean and dogs? Or could you explain in a little more detail, please?

Hi hi!

Dean... has never been associated positively with dogs on this show-- up to and including that scene in Scoobynatural where he does the SCOOBYDOOBYDOOOOO! and Cas rolls his eyes and tells him flat out he’s not a talking dog. I mean, even in one of Sam’s heaven memories, he’s effectively replaced Dean with a dog... so while Dean was being implied-harshly-punished by John for “losing” Sam, Sam had been having the time of his life with a dog instead... Sorry, I’ve got a lot of resentment for dog symbolism in the show...

Cas has also been associated with dogs in a lot of... let’s go with derogatory comments, and since this dog in the finale was SPECIFICALLY a replacement for Cas in Dean’s life... I find it particularly insulting, you know?

5.14: We get dog comments about Cas and Dean both in this ep. Famine refers to Cas as Dean’s dog... “You sicced your dog on me, I threw him a steak.” And we see Cas crouched on the ground eating meat. Earlier in this ep, Sam teased Dean about his lack of any “appetite” for anything with the comment, “when a dog doesn't eat-- That's when you know something's really wrong.“

7.21: after being banished, he reappears at a dog track, where the dogs were unhappy. so... Cas was basically just another unhappy dog in this part of the story.

10.22: Rowena compares Cas to a “dog who thinks he’s people” for being an angel who rejected heaven and chose his family with the Winchesters.

10.23-11.03: Cas is literally under a spell referred to as “Attack Dog,” which he fights against but is slowly turning him into a killing machine. He seeks help from Heaven, but they only want to use him, to torture information out of him and then kill him once they get what they want. It’s implied he even kills a dog in 11.01.

11.06: when Cas is in the bunker still suffering from trauma related to the attack dog spell, lying in bed and watching tv, he changes the channel to a news story about a dog riding a skateboard, and the newscaster uses Rowena’s line from 10.22: “Aw, that dog thinks it’s people!”

12.19: Lucifer refers to Cas as the Winchesters’ “purse dog,” and s12 is littered with dog references, especially between Lucifer and Crowley (which started back in s11 when Lucifer was using Cas’s vessel and treating Crowley like a dog... there’s a lot of negative baggage attached to dogs on this show)

13.16: Scooby is obviously the one dog Dean’s okay with, having positive childhood associations with him. But when comparing themselves to the scooby gang, Sam says they don’t have a talking dog, and Dean replies that Cas is sort of like a talking dog... which is interesting because at the end of the episode Cas tells Dean he’s NOT a talking dog. And this, in a scene that was directly foreshadowing Dean becoming Michael’s suit...again, more negative baggage for both of them.

The Dean vs Dogs imagery really kicks in when Dean’s soul is destined for Hell in s3, though.

3.10: In his rant to his dream self, Dream!Dean accuses Dean of being as “mindless and obedient as an attack dog,” just a few lines before he gives the “daddy’s blunt little instrument” line that Cas reminded us of in 15.18. So I do think this is something that the writers couldn’t possibly have been unaware of in invoking that specific line and the specific baggage attached to it.

3.11, one of the MANY deaths Dean suffers is from a seemingly nice dog he tries to pet in a friendly manner. The nice golden retriever mauls him to death, like the hellhounds are due to do to him in just a few short episodes...

3.16: literally torn apart by hellhounds... don’t know how else to make it clear that Dean Is Not A Fan of this.

4.06: suffering from Ghost Sickness, and being magically forced to experience heightened levels of fear, he runs from a lil Yorkie with a bow in its hair, pausing only long enough to warn another person on the street to run before it kills them. We are invited to see how his biggest fear-- of Lilith, of being tortured in Hell, and having been dragged there by hellhounds-- is literally tied to his feelings toward actual dogs, including nonthreatening little lap dogs.

6.01: When Dean falls under the djinn’s spell, he hallucinates an unseen monster, presumably something akin to a hellhound, but when he thinks he’s caught the monster, it’s the neighbor’s Yorkie. Just like in 4.05, Dogs, Hellhounds, and Things Dean Fears In His Soul are all tangled up together.

6.08: aka that one episode I forget exists until it comes back around on the loop (actually I don’t forget it exists anymore, I’ve seen the show too many times at this point, but meh...). But it does plant this fear, that any dog anywhere might not really be a dog. The “sleeper cell” skinwalker packs in cities all over the world? Yeah, not a happy thought for someone who really doesn’t like dogs. Or at the very least has a low-key fear of them.

7.15: I would qualify this one as just “symbolism,” but since this episode is full of anvils, it feels legit to mention that the spell Jeffrey uses to summon his demon back to him involves using Dean’s blood and a dog’s heart. Not really a dean/fear thing, but Dean AS a dog-- and a sacrificed dog at that.

8.01: When Dean gets back from Purgatory, he gets in the Impala and smells dog. Bringing on the famous rule that he’s quite angry about Sam having clearly violated even when he wasn’t on the same plane of existence at the time-- No dogs in the car. He’s still clearly not a fan. Early s8 becomes a long string of “Sam hit a dog” comments, too.

8.15: for all this episode’s grossness, it does remind us over and over again that Dean really does not like dogs. Even flat out having Dean say he likes dogs, and the woman who literally is a dog familiar tells him that no, he doesn’t.

9.05: Dean... is basically a dog. He bonds with the Colonel a bit, even identifies with the dog while he’s under the spell, but all that good will that built up between them effectively shatters again with the ominous last words he gets before the spell wears off and the knowledge that dogs were not created to be man’s best friend, but had some other-- and in this context seemingly sinister-- purpose.

And then we have every other ep that deals with Hellhounds, Dean’s failure to kill one leading to Sam taking on the trials instead of him, tied up in their mutual discussion of what they see as their respective futures-- Sam wants to live, and he wants Dean to live, too, instead of Dean constantly running toward death and self-sacrifice. So like, these themes are all tied up together, and makes all the dog stuff incredibly not fun when it comes to Dean specifically.

So when Dean does lose Cas-- and everyone else on the planet-- the dog being the ONE living being they’ve found, Dean picking her up and putting her in “Cas’s place” in the car, only to have Chuck snap her away like she was a manipulative trick the entire time? Not even really real, just one more thing to give Dean a tiny bit of hope only to maliciously snatch it away again?

And then for the SINGLE thing Dean asked for from Chuck being to bring Cas back?

And then he doesn’t get Cas back, but apparently kidnaps this random dog instead?

It’s just... indescribably weird to me, and so entirely out of character and insulting to Cas on top of it all. Like this was the only happiness Dean was allowed after saving the universe. No found extended family, no life outside of Sam and hunting, no dream of retiring and finding a beach to sink his toes in the sand for a little while. He just gets a dog, which he canonically doesn’t like and has a lot of issues with for entirely understandable reasons. So like.. .how is this cute or happy or nice?

#dean vs dogs #spn 15.20 #i'm sorry the dog thing is just making me irrationally angry on dean's behalf but dammit it's just gross to me #Anonymous

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the-lost-girl-you-didnt-know · 3 years

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Rules and Regulations (for mobile users)

Hi everyone! I’m happy to see you here reading the rules before making your request!

Reading and following the rules I’ve set out below will be helpful for both of us, so I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read through them. :)

Here are the rules and regulations for making a request:

WRITING TYPES:

Oneshots

Imagines

GIF headcanons

My general opinions and discussion about the movie and its characters

CHARACTERS I’LL WRITE FOR:

David

Dwayne

Paul

Marko

Michael

Star

Sam

Laddie

Edgar and/or Alan Frog

Max

Lucy

(Literally everyone but Grandpa lol)

(WILL write Poly!, separate, or on their own)

WILL write:

Fluff

Angst (gimme it, I live for this shit)

NSFW

AU’s (if I’m not familiar with it I will do my research, bring it on)

Kinks (some are excluded, see below)

Typical awkward teenage crush/relationship stuff

Really, unless it’s on my WILL NOT WRITE list, I’m open to at least trying to write it

WILL NOT write:

*Trigger warnings

✶ = Deleted, blocked, and reported IMMEDIATELY

NSFW involving Laddie, Sam, or the Frog brothers✶

P*dophilia and grooming✶

Race play✶

Inc*st✶

Bestiality✶

Vore/Cannibalism✶

Non-con, dub-con, and r*pe (Referring to past assault and r*pe is fine, but there will be no graphic detail)✶

Dd/lg or age regression (no caregiver dynamics whatsoever, but daddy and mommy titles are fine)

Hard drug usage (marijuana is fine, if you aren’t sure)

Anything for the sequels

Ships/pairings that are not canon (I don’t have the confidence in writing for this fandom yet to do them justice; this may change in the future)

OCs (unless they are my own or those I know VERY well i.e. my friends’ OCs)

Most mental illnesses (I only have experience with depression and anxiety, so those I will allow)

Kinks that involve urine, feces, or vomit

Writing for the actors and not the characters (I’m fine with referencing the actors, but I will not write for the actors themselves)

Anything to do with furries (Nothing wrong with furries; I just personally don’t understand it or know anything about it. Sorry!)

Religion

Politics

Some tips for requesting:

Please feel free to be as detailed with your request as you like! It’s very helpful, and makes writing for you easier and it will take less time.

BAD example: “David x Reader NSFW” GOOD example: “David x Reader having hate sex under the pier”

If you’re in doubt of if your request is okay, it’s always okay to ask or message me first! Just make sure you tell me that you’re unsure to avoid any confusion.

And now for some general writing notes:

I am a white, cis woman.

Therefore, all works will be written with a gender neutral reader unless asked for otherwise. The only other gender I will write for is a female reader. I don’t want to miswrite or offend other genders by writing them incorrectly. This means body descriptors will also be as neutral as possible unless the reader is written as a woman. Any NSFW will be written with an AFAB reader unless requested otherwise.

I also won’t be making the reader any particular race, as I cannot accurately write any person of color’s experience, nor would I want to overshadow or mitigate them with my lack of experience and knowledge. Any physical descriptions of the reader will be as colorblind as I can make them unless asked for otherwise.

The reader will automatically be written aged 15 for anything that has even a hint of romance for Sam and the Frog Brothers. This is not up for debate, and if you try to argue with me on this you will be blocked.

All works will be tagged accordingly and have warnings for anything that could potentially be triggering for you. If I miss any or if there is something you feel was tagged incorrectly please, please, please let me know and I will fix it ASAP.

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I hold discretion over what requests get written and posted. If I cannot write a request for any reason, whether it be the content matter, lack of motivation or inspiration, or even just extreme writer’s block, I am within my right to not write it. I’m incredibly sorry if that happens to be the case with a request that you send in; I never want to disappoint anyone, but sometimes I just need to clear the requests I have to gain new inspiration and get back into the flow.

I will post as I feel like; trying to rush me or have your request written first will not fly with me and will most likely either get your request written later than others or not written at all. I’m a person, not a machine; please treat me with some human decency (can you tell I’ve run a writing blog before? 🥴)

Alright, I think that’s everything! If there is an update to these rules, I will let y'all know. If you have any questions about the rules, please ask or message me! With that being said, request away! :)

Updated: 8/21/2023

#rules #rules and regulations

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ryuutchi · 4 years

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Dearest Yulegoat [Mirrored Yuletide Letter]

[General]

To start with, if you're writing fic for me, I love you. I'm going to be happy just to be able to share my fandom love with someone. You'll notice I throw a lot of ideas out-- feel free to take one, take many, take none. I know how hard it can be to settle on an idea once the assignments come in. So I'm offering a bunch of options that I will enjoy. None of these suggestions are hard and fast requirements. They're here to give you an idea of what's going on in my head and what my preferences look like. My current blog is ryuutchi, over on Tumblr. I can't promise it will be helpful, but in the interest of helping with the stalking process, feel free to check me out over there. I like: Plot, adventures, banter and dry humor, happy endings, over the top AUs (steampunk, noir, organized crime, rum-runners, harems...), casual physical intimacy, emotional interdependency, bad decisions and poor coping mechanisms, hurt/comfort and whump-with-comfort, loyalty and morality confusion, worldbuilding, identity porn, questionable healthy attachments, seeking out physical affection, accidentally caught feelings, power-play, porn, gen, slash, femslash, het, any rating you feel comfortable with (for violence and/or sex), bittersweet things that are heavy on the sweet, Happily Ever After/Happily For Now endings I don't like: Deathfic, gratuitous angst, character-bashing, introspective character pieces, five times fics, mommy/daddy kink, A/B/O universes, contemporary social issues as the main focus/issuefic, sad or hopeless endings. (Also the standard DNWs: scat, watersports, necro, mpreg, homophobia, transphobia, etc) No Game No Life - Kamiya Yuu: Sora, Shiro The Series: They are both NEETs and Hikikomoris… but on the internet, the genius gamer siblings Sora and Shiro are known as the undefeatable “__” (blank). Sora and Shiro’s talents and skills are so abnormally good they are considered as urban legend. One day, they are challenged by the god of games to chess and are victorious. As a result, the god summons them to Disboard, a reality which revolves around games. Intent on maintaining their reputation as the undefeated gamers, Sora and Shiro plan to conquer the sixteen ruling species and to usurp the god of games... NGNL is a series of light novels, of which 6 have been translated (PDFs can be found here, or bought legally at any online bookstore). The No Game No Life anime can be found on Crunchyroll here. Request: The fact that Shiro and Sora literally cannot be separated from each other is one of the dynamics that I like about the series. I really enjoy codependent siblings as a Thing. So I would be happy if you played with that dynamic. Plotty gen for this series would be great-- it's always fun when one of them is much better than the other or they have to separate and execute plans while relying solely on the intuition of what their sibling will do. Alternately, someone kidnapping Sora and Shiro having to play a game to get him back while they both battle their inability to get anything done alone... I'd love background on them, where they tried to separate or were forced to separate and failed to function, or where one or the other tried to interact with other people (maybe a gamer who tracked them down) but were either terrible at it, the other one quietly sabotaged the budding relationship, or the third person got way too freaked out by the way Sora and Shiro act around each other. Future fic would also be great-- King/Queen Blank or even the Gods Blank, after they've beaten Tet. What does that look like? What kind of world are they making for themselves and each other? I ship them, but do not expect other people to, so if you want to write shippy fic (with aged up Shiro!!!) for them, I will be surprised but happy. I will happily admit to wanting kinky sex games. Extra Details: For reference, I've read through volume 8 of the light novel, watched the anime and the movie. I am not precious about spoilers for this series, so feel free to use later information. I know this series isn't everyone's cup of tea, with the sheer amount of fanservice and Sora's utterly otaku personality and the pseudo-incest thing with the 12 year old. Personally, as is probably obvious from the request, I'm less interested in the fanservicey characters, and much more about the dynamics of Shiro and Sora's relationship. I love the way they know exactly what the other is capable of and trust each other completely and whole-heartedly. Whether you write something small and domestic or big and plotty, for me the core of NGNL is that they love, care and respect each other in a way that is beautiful but also extremely unhealthy. If you want to go the shippy route, again, Shiro needs to be aged up appropriately-- it's always been interesting to me that Sora understands that it is inappropriate to sexualize his underage adopted sister, while Shiro goes out of her way to help sexualize other women for Sora's entertainment. There's a part of me that wonders if she's planning ahead for when she is old enough to be an "appropriate" (in age, if nothing else) sexual partner and is trying to get Sora to lose his virginity ahead of time. selector infected WIXOSS: Aoi Akira, Igarashi Rumi | UlithThe Series: WIXOSS is a popular trading card game in which players battle against each other with fighters known as LRIGs, using cards to support them. Certain LRIGs are able to communicate with their owners, and the girls chosen to wield them are known as "Selectors". Selectors are given the chance to have any wish granted by winning battles against other Selectors, but should they lose three times, their wish will be reversed into a curse instead. The main series, selector infected WIXOSS, follows a girl named Ruko Kominato, who becomes a Selector after receiving an LRIG that she names Tama. As she and various other Selectors battle it out for the sake of their wish, Ruko finds herself drawn into the dark, sinister world of WIXOSS, discovering that, win or lose, there is always a price to pay. The anime can be found on Funimation here Request: So, you know how in my "general likes" I said I don't like "gratuitous angst"? In this fandom, there is no such thing as "gratuitous". Darkfic is absolutely welcome here. The thing I am most interested in here is the manipulative, awful relationship that Akira has with Ulith-as-Iona. Like, I love them all, and for some reason in this fandom, that comes out to "please break them". Exploring their adult lives and how their relationships and the Wixoss game affected them in the future would be amazing. What else happened to them? What are their careers like? What are their home lives like? Are they... living together? Does some sort of magic continue to be a theme in their lives? Feel free to write in-universe plot or no-powers universe, or some horrible Madoka or Yurikuma Arashi or other magical girl thing, where they can all be horribly manipulative lesbians together because that's magical and wonderful. OTOH, if you want to write codependent-but-vaguely-functional adult Akira and Iona/Ulith being horrible assholes and having adventures of some sort (magic, detectives, idk) that is ALSO A+. I mean, I like happy endings, and if you can come up with something heartwarming (or "heartwarming") I'm not going to complain. Extra Details: Evil lesbians are Problematic, I know. But Akira was one of my favorite characters from the word go and (if you're paying attention to my fandoms as a whole) I really really like codependent or unhealthy relationships. I love her love/hate relationship with Iona and with Ulith, and the way those two characters sort of get mixed up for Akira specifically. If you want to play with Iona and Ulith's personalities and interactions as well, that would also be pretty fun. I'm also down for other types of AUs, like they have to get their shit together and track down someone who is killing Selectors, or they become selectors as adults and not girls. I know they're young, but given that this is a super-fucking dark canon, I am totally cool with dubiously consensual sex either on or off-screen. FANDOM: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers | Ronin Warriors (Shuu Rei Fuan | Kento Rei Fang, Mouri Shin | Cye Mouri) The Series: Ronin Warriors, known in Japan as Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (lit. "Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers"), is a Japanese anime series and manga adaptation created by Hajime Yatate. It's the story of five teenage boys, given mystical armor to protect the world from the evil Arago. 1000 years ago, Arago nearly succeeded in taking over the human world when Kaosu managed to defeat him. Although Arago's soul is banished to the demon world, his armor is left intact. Kaosu divided the armor into nine separate armor suits. Each armor will choose its bearer, and together they will fight Arago. At least that was the original intent... Although Arago manages to corrupt four sets of the armor, the last five remain safe. It's a bit like Power Rangers, only grounded in more serious traditional Japanese cultural trappings. Being created in the 80s, the art style is a little wonky, but it's an enjoyable thriller and is somewhat more focused and serious than a lot of sentai shows. The anime can be found on Crunchyroll here Request: I love Shuu/Shin with Shin being snarktastic and Shuu being smug and solid and dependable. I used to frequent the Minkland archive back when this fandom still kinda existed, and was forever disappointed that the skinny pretty boys got tons and tons of fic and Shuu was just sort of there in the background. (If you used to read Mink and Jink's fic, I will be so happy I could cry if I got that sort of cracked-out porny fic with Shuu, okay. Due to that formative influence, if you want to GO FOR THE AU, GO FOR IT WITH GUSTO. I've always wanted nanshoku/samurai AU. Or, you know, hooker fic, or dark!troopers fic, or harem fic or something like that. I also like found-family fic, gen-ish mysteries and adventures-- more fighting Massive Cosmic Evil, and curtainfic. Futurefic is also awesome, where they get on with their lives, maybe together or maybe trying to keep their friendships intact when there's no massive Cosmic Evil to keep them close. Extra Details: If you used to read Mink and Jink's fic, I will be so happy I could cry if I got that sort of cracked-out porny, possibly AU fic with Shuu, okay Fics I especially enjoyed from that archive: The Grand One The Clit Club Chronicles The Harem Vinyl Wagashi Cherry Zima Threesome Theater of Magic Due to that formative influence, if you want to GO FOR THE AU, GO FOR IT WITH GUSTO. I've always wanted nanshoku/samurai AU (see this image). Or, you know, hooker fic, or dark!troopers fic, or harem fic or something like that. My usual ships are Shin/Shuu, Shin/Ryo, Touma/Seiji and Ryo/Nasuti. But I multiship and am willing to run with anything-- I'm a Sex With All Teammates sort of person, so fivesomes and alternate pairings are not a problem for me. Dragon Prince Trilogy - Melanie Rawn: Ianthe of Princemarch, Sioned of River Run The Series: To blatantly steal someone else's review on Amazon: "Melanie Rawn created a world and a people that gives everything you could possibly want in a fantasy world. It gives love, hate, peace, war, magic, royalty, commoners, children to take over the next generation and best of all; dragons." I want to say "if this wasn't the matched fandom you should go out and read them right the fuck now', because I have read these books So Many Times. They're high fantasy novels about politics and the prince of a desert and magical people who communicate via sunlight and can conjure fire. AND DRAGONS. Also a lot of interpersonal and romantic maneuverings. It's a high fantasy politics and romance romp of somewhere ~550 pages. If that sounds interesting to you, pretty much every used bookstore I have ever been to has at least one copy of these books. I think they spawn on bookshelves or something. The books are also available in ebook form here (Kindle) and here (Nook) for 3 bucks. Please read them. (TW for rape in the first book) The Request: I love everything this series chooses to be. It's fun and cheesy and fantasy, which the best thing in the world. I've always thought that Ianthe had a serious hate-crush on Sioned and part of the reason she was so vicious and fucked up was that whole "you must marry a guy and expand the empire or your useless" thing when maybe she didn't want to do that. Ianthe's always been one of my favorite characters because she's brilliant and ruthless and clearly takes joy in clever plans that go well. Of course, being the villain in a cheesy fantasy, she got no depth whatsoever, aside from that whole sexually liberated, taking male consorts thing (which is AWESOME, okay.) Sioned is also awesome and brilliant and kick ass. Her hesitance in the first book while she decided what she really wanted to do was pretty great, as was the fact that she promptly made friends with Tobin and pretty much every character not designated "villain". It seems like up through Ianthe's death, they're playing a game of brinkmanship. (Which isn't to say I don't like Sioned and Rohan together. They're bookTP and totally awesome.) As for prompts, I normally prefer plotty fic to introspection. I feel like the whole sunrunner thing lends itself well to espionage, so political thriller, or murder mysteries or something would be great. If you want to do plot-what-plot involving these two-- either sex or just the sort of dancing around/pigtail pulling that would be great. Threesomes with Rohan-- also acceptable! Hell, if you want to do an AU where they end up together instead of Sioned marrying Rohan-- or alternately, an AU end to the trilogy, where Ianthe never died in the fire and ends up taking over as High Princess and making the Desert monarchs' lives hell and discovering her powers. Or something where she knew about her powers all along. Or Sioned, I don't know, realizing she kind of did think Ianthe was attractive. I also really enjoy Pandsala, but I didn't find her dynamic with Sioned and Rohan quite as engaging, even though she also did some bad-ass stuff in the long run. Her weird push and pull backstabby, politicized sisterly thing was interesting, though. Extra Details: Okay, like I said, I think this series is the cheesiest fantasy series in the WORLD and in a lot of ways it's one of my first nostalgia fandoms. If you haven't read them, they are kind of ridiculously long (Like, GRR Martin-long), but they're quick reads despite that and rather less depressing than a lot of high fantasy. It's silly in the way that "adult fantasy" that takes itself way too seriously can be. A lot of the main protagonists actively enjoy each others' company and that's as much integral to the book as the politics and dragon-slaying. That said, I kinda asked for a semi-serious plotty story. But if you want to run with the "it's cheesy fantasy" and want to write about Ianthe rescuing princesses or Sioned running away to be a knight and abducting Ianthe away from her toxic father, or something silly, I say get down with your nerd self and run with it. I've only read parts of the second trilogy, and the second generation aren't really very interesting to me. If you want to write future-fic, I would prefer that it continues to focus on the original generation (no matter how much I love Andry, Pol just seems like kind of a jerk).

House of M - New X-Men: Academy X: Any The Series: I'm surprised it took me so long to nominate and request this fandom. I love New X-Men and was GUTTED when Decimation forced them into killing off so many of the characters. If you've never read it, New X-Men: Academy X was an X-Man title in the mid-00's, focusing on entirely new students at Xavier's Academy, being taught by the more established characters. Some of the New X-Men have managed to escape and become general Marvel characters in their own rights (David Alleyne, for example), but for the most part, they were just teenagers at school who rarely got caught up in larger plots. 616 New X-Men were about teenagers fighting, and coming to grips with the fact that they're being raised and taught to go sacrifice themselves for a Greater Goal. They're all wonderfully, horribly traumatized teenagers with powers. The plots were fleshed out and realistic, and when they weren't they were still interesting or fun. This request isn't technically for that. It's for the House of M megacrossover from 2009. Wanda Maximoff, mutant reality shifter and sometimes-crazy-lady, decided that mutants should run the world. SO THEY DID. And suddenly the lives of our young students become very different. Half of them after still "New Mutants", working towards peace, and the others are "Hellions", SHIELD trainees in a violently anti-homo-sapien state system. I've always felt that House of M as a narrative concept has been dismissed too easily by Marvel fans, because there are so many pieces of worldbuilding left unbuilt. I'm most interested in seeing it from the eyes of younger participants who are being trained or have been trained for their places. What does that world look like? New X-Men: Academy X can be found online here: https://viewcomics.me/comic/new-x-men-2004. The House of M crossover runs for issues 16-19. The Request: There's a lot here to play with because the authors never really got to play in either the Academy X OR the House of M sandboxes long enough to do all of their ideas justice. So I'm going to lay out some of the stuff I liked most about NXM in general and HoM in particular. The nom is for HoM, but I think HoM is most interesting in conversation with the standard 616 universe, alongside having the fun YA action stuff and the complicated interpersonal relationships. For example: in 616 Josh joined the Reavers and pretended not to be a mutant until he was confronted with Laurie nearly dying. I can imagine a bunch of different scenarios for House of M that would lead to where we see Josh and Laurie in the HoM comics (Laurie undercover with the New Mutants, and Josh working as an interrogator alongside Kevin). Laurie's introversion in 616 juxtaposed against her brazen treachery and clear control over her skills in HoM. HoM shows Kevin in a full decontamination suit, but we know in 616 that his ability is blocked by wearing synthetic fibers (I imagined this to be a interrogator scare tactic, but it could be any number of other things). Kevin and Josh's relationship in 616 is fraught, especially with Josh's previous experiences with anti-mutant activists and the fact that Kevin killed his father when his powers manifested. But they seemed to work together well in HoM. And speaking of Kevin-- how did his powers manifesting actually pan out in a universe where mutants aren't seen as a threat? I have to wonder whether there's some concept of "acceptable casualties" because some peoples' powers clearly manifest first in dangerous situations. Alternatively: Fluffy Josh/Kevin with a backdrop of torture, murder and state violence. I ship mostly Josh/Kevin because rivals-to-lovers and boy-who-kills-anything-he-touches/boy-who-cannot-be-killed is Great For Me. I also love the abuse of powers and manipulation involved in being interrogators/torturers(/murderers?) for the House of Magneto. They work together, they hurt people together, but maybe they also... smooch? THAT SAID! Adding Laurie to that ship is always a great way to fuck up and destabilize them! Especially in HoM, where we know she's already keeping secrets and can and WILL use her pheromones to fuck with people. And David! OH, DAVID. The only real New Mutant in this request. Does he have previous relationships with Josh and/or Kevin? I don't mind David/Noriko, but I also ship David with Kevin and Josh, and also Tommy and Teddy from Young Avengers, if you feel like exploring other parts of the HoM world. I have never considered David/Laurie before, but if you want to give it a whirl, I'm down. As for David-- His responses to state violence (as evidenced by the Hellions and SHIELD) are clearly different from the rest of the requested characters, and it would be interesting to explore David and his experience of this universe. Are his powers still restrained the same way? I know he supposedly dies at the end of the HoM mini-arc, but we never see them die, so feel free to write David managing to crawl off and plan to take down everything and everyone. A specific DNW for this fandom is Josh/Rahne. I don't mind the relationship having existed and impacting the characters, but only as a past relationship.

Extra Details:

SENSORY DETAILS. When it comes to magic and meta powers-- especially ones that aren't battle-oriented-- is what they feel like. What does it MEAN for David to be able to know anything someone else knows? What does the emptiness and fullness of it do to him? Josh's powers are all tactile and his body actively changes after trauma (in 616, first by turning him gold, then by creating black spots on his skin after he kills someone for the first time). Does his power always alter him, but usually in unnoticeable ways? What can he know and feel from a touch? Same for Kevin-- does withering sate a hunger, or make him feel worse? What would it feel like if he touched Josh? And Laurie... I'd love both her thought-process and the sensory details of what she's doing. Can she smell her own pheromones? Do they ever affect her? What does she feel like when she's manipulating people so subtly that they barely notice a passing smell? If you want to bring in other 616 knowledge and see what it looks like in HoM, that's cool. So is bringing in other HoM storylines. There's a throw-away line in Luke Cage's HoM crossover that the Runaways are known as an organized crime group. Cage himself runs a resistence cell (and given the end of the NXM crossover, David seems like he'd be willing to throw in with that lot). Young Avengers, the other New X-Men who weren't given much screentime in the HoM crossover-- I'd love any of that. Young Justice (Comics): Match, Tim Drake

The Series: Comics are confusing! This request is for the late-90s version of Young Justice by Peter David, which consisted of Robin, Impulse, Superboy, Arrowette, Secret, and Wonder Girl, along with others. It's very much a young-heroes-trying-to-make-their-way. Unlike the newer show, this Young Justice tended to be left on their own without much of a guiding hand. It was a very 90s comic, with very 90s fashion and a lot of nod-nod-wink-wink in-jokes. I love it because it's a series that always wore its humor on its sleeve. It's an affectionate look at young superheroes, and allowed them to react to teen problems alongside the more standard superhero tropes. There's the possibility for angst and darkness (and once they graduated to Teen Titans especially, that came up more), but they were allowed to be both hurt and upset AND fun and cheerful. The comics weren't available collected until last year (it took them TWENTY YEARS JFC), and it's well-worth buying from your local retailer, but you can also find them online here. The character I'm requesting first appeared in Superboy's solo series (starting in issue #35), which can be found here and again in the first volume of Young Justice: Sins of Youth. The Request: SO! I have always loved Match in the original YJ and Superboy comics, and the writers gave him really short shrift. We have a clone of Kon, who is as smart, if not smarter, can pretend to be Kon for extended periods of time— but every time he tries, people get hurt or die. I’ve always wondered how Tim felt that he literally couldn’t tell his best friend from an imposter. And then Match went and ran off and disappeared and no one ever seemed to consider what he was doing, after thousands of his/Kon’s siblings/clones were murdered essentially in front of him and the Agenda fell apart. (I’m not entirely surprised that Kon didn’t pay attention to all of those clones of him dying, but think about it from the standpoint of someone for whom those were supposed to be an army of his siblings. What a way to get survivor’s guilt.) Did Match go to Lex? It doesn’t seem like it, but given that as Kon’s clone, he’s technically Lex’s son too, it’s a possibility. Or alternately! He got himself out of the superhero game and did something else! What was it? I’d also love for a story about him wanting to be a super and have that family that Kon and Clark have, but being shut out of that world because he’s a “villain”. Or him getting that family after so long. Or him showing up at the Kents’ place because “fuck it, if Kon can have this, so can I” and it goes… well or poorly, depending on you. Or him finding his own family in a place that is separate from the who superhero thing, and Kon or Tim or Clark stumbling on him. Or Lex trying to use him— whether or not it works is up to you, although I’d love for it to touch on Match’s need to be part of something larger— after all, he was built and trained to be the vanguard for an army that was summarily murdered in front of him. Tim's refusal to even vaguely hint about his real identity during this time is fun too-- we have two boys who are both hiding their identities in different ways. It makes me wonder if Tim COULD have figured Match out, if the Sins of the Youth plotline didn't happen or was delayed somehow, because he seems to have all of the pieces of information. Or maybe Match-as-Kon was the only person Tim revealed part of his real name too, and has to deal with the ramifications of trust. Actually, Tim and the Issues Of Trust is the YA novel that I'd love to see Tim and Match (and Kon and the rest of YJ) star in. Bring back Mr Sarcastic (PLEASE bring back Mr Sarcastic) and Alvin Draper. Bring back the way that Tim hides by burrowing under identities and performances, and collects information on everyone he knows. I love detective stories and, out of all the Bats, Tim has always struck me as one of the best actual detectives, rather than crime-fighters. So Tim getting lost in a mystery will always make me happy. There's also something interesting about a group of young teens fighting for their own autonomy and identity. At this point in Tim's story, I think he was still thinking of the Robin thing as almost an extracurricular, and probably grappling with how hard it is on him physically, as well as mentally. So, I guess struggling for a coherent snse of self and agency are really interesting touchstones in this fandom. ALSO, MY DEEPLY HELD RARE PAIR FROM THE 90s: Tim/Match! See above, re: Match being present for Identity Crisis instead of Kon. I’d love Match to be trying to follow Kon’s footsteps re: Cassie, and being way more into Tim, which leads to Tim being confused and into Kon. Also any of the above prompts can include Tim (maybe Tim tries to help cushion a meeting between Match and Kon or Clark! Or maybe he just ends up Match’s sugar daddy. I’m down.) Although this request is ripe for dubious identity weirdness with Match pretending to be Kon, I'd really prefer that you focus on Match getting to be his own person, even if there's some pretending-to-be-Kon in there. Extra Details: This has been a lowkey love of mine for literally decades. My absolute favorite gift of all time was original pages from one of the Superboy issues where Match appears for the first time. And as I've grown older, my love for this rare, obscure character has deepened. Also, as I've grown older, I've begun to want more adult!Match, or growing up!Match just because the idea of growing up in the margins of superhero culture after everything that happened to him is really interesting. He was straight-up groomed and brainwashed, and then the Agenda was gone, so how did he cope? What is he doing now? What kind of adult does he make? This request is specifically for the mid-90s comic, so feel free to stick to that. But if you read the 2010-era Teen Titans and want to explore some later story choices-- like Match becoming Bizarro-like, Slade making him part of Titans East, or his fear that Jericho would hurt the Titans in his body, or save Match from Superboy-Prime, I'm not going to complain. (Personal headcanon time: I think Slade was trying to mind control Match with the same stuff he used on Rose, and it caused the Bizarro-like symptoms). I also love Elseworlds and mirror!verse stuff too. As I've said elsewhere in the letter, I really prefer Happily Ever After/Happily For Now stuff, and I prefer my bittersweet fics heavy on the sweetness. Please give Match the love and affection he's always deserved. But also, please feel free to make both Match and Tim HURT first.

#yuletide #dear yuletide author #no game no life #selector infected wixoss #wixoss #yoroiden samurai troopers #dragon prince #young justice #new xmen

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faiakishi · 5 years

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Well Delilah was a child when all the horrors happened to her. I don't think she was upset that it happened to her, just that people allowed it to happen. and suddenly she is supposed to care about the same people who built the world she suffered in. Fat chance. If you have been never taught empathy, you will never learn to show it.

Okay, back the fuck up. I wasn’t really planning to go on My Delilah Rant tonight, but I guess this is going down.

Shit’s under the cut because I know this is going to be long.

“Well, these horrible things happened to Delilah as a child” You’re absolutely right. It is horrible. You want to know who else had a shitty childhood? Oh, about half the people in the game.

Let’s look at Daud, for instance. Daud canonically A) is a product of rape, which resulted in B) his mother literally murdered his father, (justifiably, but still) and raised him as a single parent in a foreign country where she was treated like dirt, likely didn’t even know the language, and had to be brutal just to get by, which ended when C) he was kidnapped as a child by a man who exploited him and likely abused him, and it’s implied that Daud ended up snapping and killing him before being unleashed onto the world. Yeah. Not really great formative years. Not a whole lot of teaching him empathy and personal responsibility, was there?

Or Billie Lurk. The child of two broke drunks who didn’t give a shit about her. Her mother physically abused her and her biological father isn’t even mentioned aside from one line from the Heart, so Billie quite possibly may not even know who he was. She was a hungry, homeless kid who at fifteen watched as her first love was brutally murdered by an aristocrat for-what? Annoying them with her presence? They literally killed her because they fucking felt like it and laughed about it. And when Billie retaliated-because she knew they wouldn’t face any repercussions for killing a street girl, people like her were disposable, those boys were supposed to be her betters-she was hunted down like a dog and spent a year on the run, completely alone, because she’d be brought to face ‘justice’ for doing to Radanis Abele what he did to Deirdre. She was taken in by a man who taught her she had to cut throats and be merciless in order to get ahead, and that lagging behind would mean a knife in the ribs for people like them. She learned she had to be terrible if she wanted to survive. Also not great for learning how to be empathetic, but she sure still managed it.

“Oh but those are the bad guys” Yep. That’s intentional. I purposely did not mention the ‘good guys’ to give this comparison a more even contrast. Billie and Daud both did terrible, awful things. What sets them apart from Delilah is that they don’t try and excuse it with ‘my childhood!’ Their brutal childhoods definitely played a part in their formation but ultimately, they accept that they are responsible for the choices they made and understand that their actions had a negative impact. And they care about that. They feel guilty. They both refer to themselves as evil people and see themselves as beyond redemption, but still try to make up for their sins not because they want to feel better about themselves but because they feel like they should. They still have a functioning fucking moral compass, despite the ‘bad childhood’ experience. They aren’t trying to say ‘my actions were okay because x’. (and likewise, nobody in the fandom really should either-their actions weren’t excusable, that’s the point) They still have a sense of empathy. That doesn’t make them good people or even redeemable, but it makes them understandable.

Now let’s look at Delilah. For starters-Delilah is a narcissist. She literally meets every criteria of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. (She’s also very obviously a sociopath and is probably host to multiple other mental disorders, but I’m just going to focus on the first one)Narcissists have, at best, a very warped sense of history, and are at worst delusional.

There’s absolutely 0 proof that Delilah is Euhorn Kaldwin’s daughter, for one. In fact, there’s evidence against it. She didn’t come forward to take the throne during the first game, the ideal time to come out as Euhorn’s long-lost second daughter-she doesn’t even say she’s Euhorn’s daughter until DH2! Her story is inconsistent. And she gets her father’s hair color wrong, which is weird; it’s kind of flimsy evidence but I’m pointing it out anyway.

But let’s assume that she is a Kaldwin, to make things simpler. That Euhorn Kaldwin knew she was his daughter, treated her like so and promised her shit, and that it all ended when she got in trouble for breaking a decoration and that was the sole reason her mother was fired and Euhorn Kaldwin decided to conveniently ignore the fact that his daughter and mistress were living on the streets. (yeah, there’s more to that story) At what point was that Jessamine’s fault? Jessamine was a literal fucking child. She didn’t lie with the intent of making Delilah homeless and getting her mother killed. She shouldn’t have lied, yeah, but she was a kid and didn’t understand. Delilah’s hatred of Jessamine is so strong that she plans to remove her daughter’s soul-her daughter, someone who wasn’t even born at the time and had nothing to do with it-and inhabit her body, and would have likely arranged to have Jessamine and Corvo murdered if Burrows hadn’t done so. She defaces her memorial and still rants about her even in the last mission of DH2-you know, after Jessamine is at peace. She’s been dead for fifteen years and has literally faded from existence, and Delilah still can’t get over her anger at her. For telling a lie. About forty years ago.

(also, I just want to point out, NPD on the level that Delilah displays it does not freaking happen overnight. Delilah was likely a child narcissist. So the whole “Daddy I pwoooomise I’ll be a good girl, wHaT dId I DooOOoO’ act-yeah, no, that’s complete bullshit, it did not happen like that. If it happened at all, she was using it as a manipulation tactic. I can tell you what I suspect happened but I know if I do someone will scream ‘you’re just making shit up’ and use it to discount my entire argument, so I’m just going to leave that bit out)

Alright, so we got that established. Delilah went through some shit. She’s angry about it. And that’s 100% understandable! Anyone would be mad!

The problem is what she did with that anger.

Delilah focused 100% on enacting pain to ‘make up’ for what happened to her as a kid. This included people like Jessamine, who her retribution against doesn’t, you know, really match the crime. But it also included people like Emily and Corvo, who had nothing to do with that. Included people like Billie and Daud, who were already fucked over by those same circumstances that fucked her over. Included the lower class who were actively being fucked over by those circumstances. They didn’t ‘build the world that made her suffer’. The world is making them suffer too!

I could understand if Delilah’s plan was ‘fire and brimstone to this because it caused me so much grief’, and then worked to build a better society where people like her didn’t get fucked over. I could understand if that was Delilah’s motivation to take the throne.

But it wasn’t. Delilah wanted the throne because it was hers. She’s the rightful Empress, she’s perfect and wonderful, she’s a literal god, don’t you see?! Why aren’t you worshipping her?!!

She did not give a single shit that this system existed. She did not care about all the people it crushed under its boot. She was angry because she was better than those people, and how dare they act like she isn’t!

“Buh-but she was never taught empathy!” We’ve already established that Delilah has no excuse not to have a sense of morality. People who survived much worse conditions managed to form one. And even if no one ever showed her kindness, it would only take a scrap of self-awareness to realize that she was making others suffer just as others made her. She just didn’t give a shit.

Now, let’s move onto Delilah as a ruler. She lets her coven run wild. They murder indiscriminately-rich folk, guards, peasants, doesn’t matter. They torment and kill because they enjoy it. She encourages Luca Abele to treat Serkonos as his personal piggyback and playground. She thinks it’s funny how he fucks people over. She never sees the irony of that. She’s incapable of seeing it because those people are just her subjects. Not even in the monarchic sense, she literally sees them as just objects to serve her.

The only person, by the way, that she doesn’t treat like a disposable commodity is Breanna Ashworth. She’s the only one Delilah seems to have any genuine respect and love for. (she still gets over her death quite quickly, which plays into her sociopathy, but that’s another argument) Even Luca Abele, she sees more as a pet than a lover and partner. She shows her coven some moderate respect, because they worship her indiscriminately, but even them she doesn’t seem to care about too terribly much. Her allies are nothing to her. She turns Ramsey to stone because-why? They let him out of the saferoom and his first action wasn’t to prostrate himself and thank her for gracing him with her attention? She does this to literally anyone who annoys her.

So all those people screaming “well Emily wasn’t a perfect Empress either” well, you don’t have to worry about the Empress daydreaming during court because Delilah had Parliament torched! Court isn’t held! Delilah kills anyone who ever even suggests she do her job, because Delilah has no actual interest in ruling. She just wants to take from Jessamine and be worshipped as the god she knows she is.

When Delilah got crushed under the boot of the Empire, she was not mad that it happened. She was mad because she wasn’t the one doing the crushing.

This all, by the way, isn’t me saying that Delilah is bad as a character. On the contrary, I think Delilah is a beautifully written character! It’s just that not every character is meant to be redeemable. That’s not a requirement of being a well-written villain. And that, ultimately, is my problem with Delilah’s depiction in DH2 and a lot of the fandom’s response to her. Because she isn’t redeemable. Trying to throw a sympathetic backstory at her in order to justify her actions just comes off as cheap, because it does not explain why she does what she did. It basically says she just did it all out of anger and hate, which is not really a sympathetic standpoint.

She’s an awful person who took joy in hurting others, not out of her own pain but because she enjoyed having the ability to cause it. She has no excuse for any of it. She doesn’t care to excuse it. In her mind, this is how things should be. She’s the god. Everyone else are just objects to orbit her. It’s a fantasy incompatible with reality. And in trying to make it a reality, she becomes the oppressor she always railed against. She never sees the irony of that.

That is why Delilah is a Bad Person.

#Anonymous #delilah copperspoon #empress delilah #dishonored #dishonored 2 #dh2 #if you read the entire thing i fucking applaud you

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tangomango2017 · 5 years

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Thoughts on the Chinese DotA Animated Series, The Tower Will Go On, and its two main characters

It’s been five years since this animated series based on Warcraft 3 Dota was made. The fan forum is still alive, and it’s amazing to witness the fan dedication to this work, in the form of essays, debates and even a ridiculously detailed second-by-second analysis of the opening theme.

But I barely got a glimpse of those essays before they were removed, apparently to be scrutinized by their internet police for objectionable content. The series itself has also been taken off all China websites, such that China’s fans themselves can’t watch them even if they wanted to revisit. Which makes me so glad that I have all the episodes in HD.

Anyway, on to the show itself. It’s divided into two parts:

Season One is about Crystal Maiden forming her rag-tag team of Radiant/Sentinel heroes. It’s light-hearted and full of jokes. The heroes die a lot and revive at the fountain every time. Sniper’s death count reaches above 300 at one point.

Season Two (titled Death for the Reborn) is darker as the team clashes with the Dire/Scourge and the war intensifies. The plot gets more complicated with internal factions, spying and conspiracies. The rules change: the river that revives dead heroes gets corrupted, so deaths are permanent.

One’s reaction to this show would likely be: “No! This isn’t Dota. This isn’t Invoker at all! What travesty is this?!”

But first, let’s consider these two things:

Firstly, the story is set in the game map. All hero skills and items stay faithful to the game. There is no ‘lore’ to speak of, as this series came out before Valve took over Dota. During that period, ownership of Dota was attributed to Ice Frog, who’s referenced in episode 2.

Eul’s Scepter in the show

Old Eul’s Scepter in Dota 1

Secondly, it’s fan-made. And as with all fan creations, anything’s possible.

For example,

It’s possible for Bloodseeker to be gay with a jungle creep(centaur) and foster a baby centaur.

Bloodseeker X Jungle Centaur in the show

Old Strygwyr in Dota 1

It’s possible for a carry to be so fed, he’s ten times the size of another:

Daddy Doom and his Little QuoP

Love it or hate it, this fan tribute to Dota is in a class of its own. It’s entertained me for hours, made me laugh, sigh, cringe, think; it was one hell of a nostalgic ride back to Warcraft Dota days. And it will always have a special place in my heart.

And now, on to the main characters…

The protagonist - a tribute to Support Heroes

‘Little Ice’ (China’s pet name for Crystal Maiden) is a fan-service kind of character whose appeal is mostly sexual and emotional. I won’t talk much about her but I won’t write her off completely either.

So Little Ice starts off with a dream to rise above her destiny as a position 5 support. She’s left her team carry (Dragon Knight) as she resents him for being overbearing and overly task-oriented. (It’s unclear what’s the relationship between the two, though they hug a couple of times). She tries to carve a career for herself, forming her own rag-tag team. But reality is a wet blanket, and like her role in the game, her impact on the story is limited and she ends up having her heart broken several times.

Old Crystal Maiden from Warcraft 3 Dota

In the show, she is depicted as a klutz with a bad sense of direction and is sometimes impulsive, casting Freezing Field at the most ridiculous, anti-climactic moment and generally doing stuff that would be considered ‘bad decision making’ in the game.

But despite her limitations, the girl has a mind of her own. She stands firm in her beliefs and is courageous enough to try to protect her male teammates. Even when said teammate is the Dragon Knight being bashed up by Roshan.

She is also fiercely loyal, refusing to abandon the dying Bristleback and instead managing to persuade DK to risk a Roshan fight to get the Aegis.

Overall, I’d say her character serves two purposes here: as a shoutout to under-appreciated Support players, and as a symbol of innocence. This trait of hers is seen as a weakness and is used to comical effect, yet, at the same time it is also something to be prized and guarded. The Queen of Pain (portrayed as a man-hater with lesbian tendencies) mocks her several times for her naivety, yet she admits that CM represents the innocence that she’s lost and that she needs to protect.

From Zero to (Anti) Hero

The central character, Kael (pronounced Ka-er, I’ll refer to him as Carl since it matches the Chinese pronunciation) appears in the second episode and drives the entire story with his zero to anti-hero arc. The title of Season Two refers to him being reborn from the ashes (he was Doomed and almost killed in a fire). He is the only one besides QoP to have a backstory (both underwent the trauma of having their entire homeland and families destroyed).

Invoker from Warcraft 3 Dota

Invoker from Season One of the show

Invoker from Season Two

While this Invoker is as OOC as he can get, there’s no denying the detail that has been put into his design. For example, in Season 2 his orbs are actually faces, perhaps representing the connection of Invoker’s volatile temperament to his elemental powers.

Just as the two parts of the show are divided into a dichotomy of light and dark, there are two different depictions of Invoker in each part.

Season One Invoker

If you’ve ever played this hero, Season One will remind you of how it felt the very first time you tried him in a game. Clueless, powerless, the butt of your teammates’ jokes perhaps.

Carl first appears in episode two quoting that famous line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It sounds really pretentious (not that surprising for Carl), but considering that Hamlet killed someone by accident in the play, it’s also a kind of foreshadowing of what will happen later on.

So Carl is introduced as a depressed guy trying to hang himself. In a comically tragic manner, he tells his story as a former prince who lost his home, sought refuge with the Dire/Scourge but is constantly scorned for being useless as he hasn’t figured out his spells.

With a background like that, who wouldn’t be damaged for life? But CM sees him as even more vulnerable than her, and he brings out the encouraging and protective side of her. Of course, the naive part of her ignores the fact that he is a defector from the enemy side.

Carl is of course extremely grateful, having found the acceptance he’s always longed for, and one can see the beginning of a pure, somewhat platonic love between the two.

In China, Invoker/CM are almost regarded as canon pairing, with roots going back to Kael’thas/Jaina from Warcraft.

Initially, she brings out the good qualities in him, such as courage and self-sacrifice. Noob Carl is actually quite lovable, even willing to take one for the team by ‘donating’ blood to the Bloodseeker. He forges a strong friendship with the gang and they have a lot of fun fending off their one enemy in Season One.

Although he’s harmless at this point, his uselessness repeatedly emphasized by all characters, there are glimpses of his more complicated self, such as when he uses his knowledge and cunning to get the team out of trouble. More foreshadowing of who he is to become is given by the Queen of Pain, who tries in vain to warn CM about his potential for evil.

Meteoric Rise to Power

Two events serve as catalysts to the awakening of his powers. First there’s the excessively bloody whipping that Queen of Pain gives him, just because she feels like it. This happens in the middle of a team fight and in his state of desperation, it is his thoughts of CM (whose nickname is literally, Little Ice Ice) that unlocks his first skill, Ghostwalk. At the same time, the sinister side of him awakens as he turns the tables on the Queen and blinds her in one eye before burying her alive.

And then he gets punished by Doom, who’s rather high up in the hierarchy here. Doom (whom everyone calls ‘Daddy’) is furious to find out that his beloved god-daughter, his Little QuoP has been hurt. He finds out about this in an interesting manner - by devouring the jungle centaur that witnessed the incident.

Doom: WHO ATE THE COOKIES?

Tiny, CM, etc: (keeps quiet)

Doom: Very well, I shall find out the truth (devours jungle creep).

(everyone watches on nervously)

Doom: …CARL!

Carl: Yes Daddy?

Doom: How dare you eat my cookies!

Carl: I don’t get what you’re talking about, Daddy

Doom: You’ll get THIS, you little shit.

Season Two Invoker

After being doomed and running into the forest in agony, Carl goes missing for a while. A flashback later shows Dazzle’s saved him and bandaged him up like a mummy. By chance, Windranger finds him when her Powershot arrow accidentally hits him. Probably out of guilt, she brings him home and cares for him for three months. When Ogre Magi harasses WR and sets her house on fire, Carl rises from the ashes with a complete makeover, a costume change, full mastery of magic and a marked change in personality. The change feels really abrupt and I’d have preferred something more gradual. But the writers probably wanted a striking contrast between the two seasons.

So he helps her fend off the Ogre and she falls in love with him. But he stays true to CM.

Despite what this shot in the opening theme suggests, WR doesn’t force herself on him. She’s really cool.

In Season Two, Carl’s personality becomes much more conflicted, longing to return to CM yet afraid to endanger her with Doom hot on his heels. While she thinks about him in her quiet moments, he watches over her in invisible form. The next triggering event is when the Dragon Knight beats him to rushing to CM’s rescue. He is consumed by jealousy and the fire element comes to the forefront. From then on, his emotional instability deteriorates further, and with some goading from Dazzle, he forms a plan to destroy DK with Ancient Apparition’s Ice Blast dealing the killing blow.

However that plan goes tragically wrong when his old friend Bristleback walks into the Sunstrike spot. One mistake leads to another, and he ends up killing QuoP as well. That confrontation between the two is one of the most dramatic scenes I’ve ever seen. When the Queen threatens to reveal his bad deeds to CM, he starts grovelling and begging her for forgiveness, but it turns out it’s all an act allowing him to get close to her for a tornado. Despite the cringeyness there is a special kind of satisfaction in seeing one’s favourite video game character display the whole range of emotions, just as it’s satisfying seeing him perform the whole shebang of spells after being abused for the first ten episodes.

Carl’s final move is one that completely breaks CM’s heart. He steals the Aegis meant for saving Bristleback’s life. However, his motivation isn’t very clear and was the topic of much debate and speculation among the Chinese fans at that time. But going by his character’s trajectory, it’s highly likely he’s doing it for self-preservation. After all, Doom’s absolutely livid that he’s killed QuoP and the Aegis is his only chance at standing against Big Daddy Doom. But the ending leaves questions unanswered. Now that he’s pissed off both sides, what’s to become of him? Is his character totally irredeemable? How will the war end? Season Three was supposed to be in the works, but never materialized.

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cosmamas · 5 years

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self-indulgent pre ‘before everything goes to shit’ headcanons for @kyecupio ! fyi for anyone else reading this: serenity / usagi / cosmos are all the same person in this verse but she refers to herself as ‘usagi’ while she’s living on destiny islands!.

under a cut because this got way longer than i meant it to be!!!!

pre-birth / baby / toddler stuff

her feelings on being pregnant range from, ‘i love this mamo-chan! i love you! i love this baby!’ to ‘i can’t see my feet. why does my back hurt so much!! get this baby out of me FUCK!!!!!!!’

a real conversation that was had between her and mamoru: usagi: *casually refers to the baby as a she* mamoru: wait how do you know it’s a girl? usagi: oh well every serenity had a girl befor- mamoru: um what do you mean by ‘every serenity’? usagi: lol i didn’t i tell you my mother was named that? my grandma and great grandma were too. i also look like my great great grandma and my great great grea- mamoru: *chuckling nervously* what the fuck!!!!!

she 'talks’ to the baby a lot by telling him stories, singing to him, or even occasionally admitting that she’s terrified of not being a good parent oof! she likes to think that him moving / kicking right after she says something is him reacting to what was said. but he’s really just a little shit that kicks / moves a lot especially when she’s trying to sleep!!

she definitely gets cravings for delicacies that only existed on the moon kingdom and mamoru tries his best to recreate it but usagi’s terrible and vague about the ingredients ( b/c chefs and makoto cooked everything ) so it never comes out right but she appreciates his attempts none the less.

idk when his birthday is ( i’ll let kyecupio handle that ) but he definitely comes late / past his due date which drives her insane because she just can’t sit still despite everyone telling her to and it gives mamoru daily heart attacks.

she probably goes into full-on labor at night / during a new moon because hahaahah GET IT NEW. MOON. cause it’s a new moon kingdom heir........ i’m deleting. anyway, a lot of symbolism regarding the new moon is specifically tied to starting over, second chances, new beginnings, etc. which is literally what this baby represents for his parents. this is also a moment where the ‘usagi’ facade drops and ‘serenity’ comes out as she gathers strength from the moon to help her get through the pains of labor ( it wouldn’t be surprising if she kind of just...zones out and enters an almost trance-like state and doesn’t snap out of it until he’s actually out ).

do to the close ties the moon kingdom has with kingdom hearts itself as well as the greek references in kh ( χ-blade ) and in sailor moon, usagi thought of the name archísei but the meaning / significance in its meaning was something both she and mamoru desired in a name for their child.

archísei is the cutest baby!!! he has the chubbiest cheeks, the biggest ears, and is very fussy when he’s not being cuddled by mommy or daddy. and yes, he’s born with the traditional mark of moon royalty: the crescent moon on one’s forehead. it’s hidden away but when they’re alone usagi chooses to reveal it by kissing him on his forehead uwu.

because usagi can’t help her home sickness, his nursery definitely has a slight celestial / moon kingdomish feel to it with white, gold, and other neutral colors + a wall with some constellations or stars on it ( and yes, i looked at baby nurseries for this. let me live!!!!!! ).

this is totally them when he starts screaming at like three in the morning. mamoru can get him to fall back asleep pretty quickly if he’s lucky. with usagi, there’s more work because archísei is spoiled and likes to be sang to before eventually falling asleep, usually to one of these ( both of these, especially tuxedo mirage, are like....aggressively about mamoru but we’re going to ignore that because i like the ‘lullabyness’ of how they sound ).

usagi is tall, around 5′9 / 5′10 ( without heels ), so when he’s not attached to her hip / being carried then archísei is always latched to her legs once he starts learning how to walk.

his terrible twos phase is the absolute WORST. usagi regrets the day he learned how to say no.

childhood stuff

mamoru and usagi are definitely the ‘we’ll fuck you up if you even look at our son the wrong way’ type of parents. even if he were to do something he wasn’t supposed to at school or even goes to far while ‘playfully’ sparring with another kid, they would probably argue in his defense but then lecture him once they’re at home.

( an unpopular opinion but i unapologetically love how snarky / somewhat of a jerk mamoru is in the first season of the 90s anime which is trait that...pretty much disappears after that rip :’(((( - and it’s easily my favorite version of the character. his banter with usagi kills me. ) so going with mamoru’s personality being a mix of manga + season one of classic sm then archísei’s snark definitely comes from him + watching his parents playfully go back and forth with other as usagi can be pretty sassy too ( mamoru taught archísei how to rile her up by calling her bun-head which still makes her throw a fit despite being 30+ years old ).

archísei is a momma’s boy but he definitely admires / looks up to his dad because mamoru is definitely important™ on DI, like a doctor or something because he’s got the smarts. archísei is easily smarter than most, if not all, the kids in his age range ( and probably even the kids older than him too ) so he breezes by in his course work and doesn’t find school interesting. as a result, he would definitely beg his dad to let him skip school and go to work with him and because mamoru is weak, he says yes every single time.

did i say he’s a momma’s boy? he’s definitely a momma’s boy. when he’s a child ( and still too young to stop and question her things ) they did almost everything together. from baking ( and failing at it ), to her teaching him how to do his eyeliner ( this one is completely kyecupio’s ), and he would probably learn to dance from her too. overall they’re just very ‘in-sync’ with each other due to the natural link between them ( similar to her and chib’s connection in canon ). she’s probably the person he loves and idolizes the most which is why it’s going to hurt so much once he learns out that she’s been the one lying and deliberately holding him back all this time.

he doesn’t need help with his homework but usagi and mamoru will sometimes sit down with him anyway - although in usagi’s case, he probably ends up teaching her than the other way around.

a lot of the bed time stories he was told where legends passed down in the moon kingdom or vague stories about other worlds she had been told to as a child.

luna is their cat ( although i’m still debating if it’s moon kingdom luna or just a cat with the same name ). regardless, she’s very protective of him and snuggles with him at night.

pre-teen / things go to shit stuff this section wasn’t supposed to exist but here we are

him entering his pre-teens is when his relationship with his parents, specifically his mother, slowly deteriorates. usagi and mamoru have very different approaches on how to handle their son and his desires to see more outside of DI: usagi wants him to play with other kids / make friends while mamoru feels that if he should be allowed to do things at his own pace because mamoru relates / understands him in ways that she can’t. he was ‘different’ by being the boy who lost his parents / memories and he grew tired of everyone taking pity on him so he just learned to deal with being alone in his own way until he was able to grow and move passed it.

they would definitely have family nights where they would sail to one of the smaller islands to have a small bbq, watch the stars, have fun, etc. these decrease as archísei grows older; he makes up excuses not to attend before eventually not even bothering with doing that.

also that natural link he and his mother have? it’s gone now or more accurately it’s like he’s unknowingly created a barrier around himself that effectively shuts her out. so while she could naturally always faintly ‘feel’ him ( whether it was emotionally or just knowing if he was nearby ), that’s just not there anymore. it hurts her a lot.

he definitely eventually hears them arguing one night over usagi’s ‘past’ and whether they should tell them to truth. usagi is very ‘nope, not doing that’ despite mamoru trying to convince her otherwise. also if luna is moon kingdom luna then that means the cat that’s been watching over him since he was baby, claiming a dedicated sleeping spot on his bed, and has casually walked with him to school can talk and would probably be on mamoru’s side. archísei vc: you guys have even been lying about the fucking cat too????

when he does finally leave, there’s a....denial about it as they try to convince themselves that maybe he’s just staying late at a friend’s house even though they know he doesn’t have any or maybe he’s camping out on that island he always likes to visit. ‘ we’ll lecture / yell at him about breaking curfew in the morning ’ is what they say but then he’s still not back home in the morning. they check his school and learn he hasn’t been there in over a week so then they start knocking on neighbor’s doors, asking if they’ve seen their son and get no answers. they even check the surrounding islands but he’s still nowhere to be found which is when reality sets in hard. they don’t know if he’s lost at sea, dead, or if usagi’s greatest fear has been realized and he’s somehow managed to leave this world entirely. they just don’t know.

and like not to be cliche but......she loves her son so much and that love can never be replicated or replaced by another so him leaving literally breaks her heart in a way that can’t be fixed ( twil.ight, outside of its soundtracks and leah / rosalie, is not good™ but the song in this scene always...made it weirdly memorable to me and i feel like it’s lyrics accurately sums up how she feels internally - i don’t really see her completely shutting out everyone / just sitting around the house as usagi’s been wearing a mask for a long time and can externally hold it together but would she have sobbing fits at the beach in the middle of the night? yes. ).

also mamoru’s pain over losing his son is important / shouldn’t be brushed over because he literally can’t remember his own parents and has been alone until this strange woman falls, quite literally, into his life. she becomes his new family before giving him a son who he loved so much that he risked sailing the ocean and eventually drowning for because he was so desperate to reach him, to tell him he was sorry for the lies, and that everything would be okay. good god what a DAD.

bonus ‘what if things didn’t suck from the start’ b/c i gotta get this all out my system!

usagi meeting mamoru under less dire circumstances aka she’s free to able to travel to other worlds and casually takes him back to ‘her place’ which just so happens to be a secret kingdom. usagi: haha isn’t it rad!!! mamoru: *chuckling nervously* what the fuck!!!!!

archísei is still ‘different’ but more in that he symbolizes how ‘traveling outside of their home can be good for the MK’s people’ instead of something to be frowned upon.

catch him always in nana serenity’s arms, holding her hand, and them having little picnics together. she also gets him out of trouble from his parents all the time!!!

his aunts / the senshi spoil him so much!!!!! ami ( the nerd ) and setsuna ( the time lord ) are his favorites for obvious reasons but he has unique relationships with all of them - minako and rei probably baby him just as quickly as they would discipline him if they needed to. makoto constantly bakes sweet stuff for him and makes him lunches packed with his favorite food. michiru and haraku are the vodka cool aunts who teach him all about fashion and how to not just look better than everyone else but how to actually be better than everyone else too. he would also probably get along really well with hotaru?? she’s kind of the ‘other’ in the group / not really supposed to exist in a way so maybe they can relate to being different and celebrating that.

he still leaves for scala ad caelum to train but usagi is very dramatic and there’s lots of tears and crying. archísei: mama i’m not even going to be gone that long!!! usagi: b-but!!! *starts sobbing again*

archísei brings eraqus home and mamoru / usagi are just being hella nosy the whole time. mamoru and usagi in union: who dat??? 👀👀👀

there are lots of crying from mom and dad during his coronation / when he eventually succeeds usagi as the moon kingdom’s monarch!!!!

BASICALLY EVERYONE IS A LOT MORE WELL ADJUSTED AND THIS DOESN’T END IN DISASTER GOODBYE.

#i posted this right after posting my reply to you b/c i'm an ahole #☽ ⋮ ✫ ━ ❛ one with the cosmos ⋮ headcanons.#kh verse tag.#kyecupio #☽ ⋮ ✫ ━ ❛ you are my greatest gift and soon my greatest pain ⋮ kyecupio.

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sweater--child · 6 years

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So, I finally read Ship of the Dead...

Now, I know. Its been out for months. Its been sitting on my shelf since it showed up on my doorstep way back in whatever month after waiting forever for it to be released after I preordered it. So trust me I know that I'm behind on the times. But I'm a college student and have the life drained out of me as I sit in my completely overpriced lectures and contemplate archaeological finds and cultural decelopment in western civilization.

And I saw you all attempting to be spoiler-y on my Blitzstone post. For shamed.

Edit: This is getting more attention than I thought it would. Please, add your own favorite moments and stuff! I love reading them and seeing what I missed.

But here are some of my favorite things from this particular book (SPOILERS!):

Fierrochase. Beyond just loving the ship, this is huge in ways of representation. I'm nonbinary myself, and lack of representation makes it so hard to go about my life and be accepted. Also dating is basically impossible? So this was a huge win for me personally. Also I feel like pansexual Magnus has just been accepted by the whole fandom as canon, which makes me little broken heart swell (I'm pansexual as well).

Fierrochase again! I just felt the transition into their romance was much more real than most books and media? Like it wasn't this "I kissed you and know we're going to be together forever and stuff". There was a confession and then honest thought and consideration? Also all the hinting and awkward crush moments were adorable and made the confession less jarring and prevented that awkward "oh no we need a romance lets just shove these 2 characters together with no pretext" that a lot of books and shows seem to fall into.

Magnus can know talk to animals, on top of glowing and healing and being a beautiful soul- confirmed Disney Princess. Now to get him a gown and tiara (men can wear dresses, fuck you).

Muslim representation. I'm not Muslim myself, nor do I know a whole lot of the culture (I'm an ignorant potato, I'm sorry) but from what I've heard Sam's character is pretty spot on and is really great. Specifically, I think the discussion about the treatment of Muslims in America, while short and brief (it is a kids book and Uncle Rick can only put so much in before it causes problems with publishing and stuff), was really important.

Mallory, TJ, and Halfborn's development. Mallory came to terms with her death (sort of) and embraced herself and her parentage. TJ showed all of us what it truly means not to forgive per se, but to move on, that fighting is only worthwhile when its for something bigger than yourself, and that optimism is never wasted. Halfborn coming to terms with the failings of his life (not returning to his life) and turning it into a purpose, a new way to keep going.

Alex. Alex gets her own little segment here because there are so many good moments with Alex. We finally got the source of a lot of Alex's will and independence with her Grandfather, along with Mexican culture representation. The real struggles of being queer. The loss of a friend. Building Pottery Barn (and refusing to designate a gender until they themselves could have a say). There's a lot- but what sticks with the me the most is that moment when he kisses Magnus at the end in the Hotel. The fact that he waited until he was a boy to me shows that Rick was making a point with this- it was one thing for Magnus to say Alex was the best thing that happened to him while she was a girl, but completely when he's a boy. It showed a real fear to Alex that she covers really well, and this moment addressed the very real fear of rejection that gender fluid, nonbinary, and trans* people face when it comes to dating.

Hearthstone. Baby boy breaks my heart. We get a lot of closure that I needed and really gave us a chance to see that Hearth is gonna be okay, that he can move on and be happy. He no longer carries the burden and is free.

Blitzstone? Okay, I know I've talked about this ship in the past, and I do still really love this ship, but I actually like that it was open to interpretation. Honestly, there isn't enough healthy male friendships in media. As long as my 2 boys are happy and healthy and alive, I'm not mad.

The flyting. Theres a trend I've noticed recently that I love and that's the departure from the typical brawny fighting male protagonists to mains who have an empathy and peacefulness about them. Primarily I think of Newt Scamender and Magnus Chase. Neither are fighters, and only do so when necessary. Newt is a caretaker and Magnus is a healer. Looking back on Percy Jackson, nearly everyone of his adventures was solved by fighting, which is not a bad thing and I'm in no way complaining. But I do have to praise uncle Rick for choosing to end this series the way he does- not only does he choose a nonviolent duel of words and wit (rap battle), he also veers Magnus from being insulting and cutting but instead Magnus literally wins by praising his family members. In the end, our hero didn't succeed through fighting ability and bravery, but instead because he realised that he couldn't ever really lose in life when he has these people with him, come Ragnarok or eternal existence as an undead hotel guest.

The Chase Mansion. Nuff said.

Big Banana

Magnus immediately assumes every goat he meets in Otis.

Alex's continual obsession with pink and green.

Expand-o-duck

Mango Cheese is awkward and dorky in every situation and I agree.

Almost freezing to death.

Heavenly dates (I actually hate dates)

Percy praising Annabeth and gushing about his baby sister

Guava juice

Continued love for Falafel (never had it, but seems great)

Cherry Soda insanity resulting in ceramic Voltron versus mud monster showdown

Pop culture references and Magnus fearing his Tardis Banana

Chocolate tug of war

Being prepared for Ragnarok with organized parking and golf carts

Magnus doesn't know how to date and I agree

Amir is constantly astounded by how awesome his Fiancee is

Actual discussion of grief and loss

Dragon Heart grants Disney Princess powers to anyone savage enough to eat it

Hearthstone is a better Thunder God than the Thunder God Thor

Daddy Frey

Butchering all the Norse namesand pretending like I remember who half of them are

Green Hair Meal

Billionare fish

Blood, Spit, and Honey

Blitzen yelling at a dragon because his friend is sad

Walnut

There's more but I'll leave it here for now

#magnus chase #mcatgoa #alex fierro #fierrochase #blitzstone #hearthstone #mallory keen #halfborn gunderson #tj #blitzen #ship of the dead #samirah al abbas #thomas jefferson jr #mango cheese

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incarnateirony · 6 years

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The reaper non-retcon(undrum)

Old meta/plothole issue has resurrected itself now with "Wait, if there's only X amount of angels, what about reapers? Reapers became angels in later seasons! Are they retconning that retcon?!"

There was never a retcon.

There was a lot of headcanons assumed into meta and canon understanding that were (understandably) read as canon that then got etched out and here's why.

STARTING POINT: The word “angel” simply means “messenger,” and while we’ve equated it to species, in 4x1 itself Castiel clarifies, “I’m an angel of the lord.” - an angel in service to and created by God. It seems like “of the lord” is an unusual qualifier if there’s no other kinds of angels out there or like he’s from The Master Angel Race with other subsets all just being beneath whatever he is. It enters casual usage as the most present, but these angels still identify Chuck as their father.

On the other hand, we have “angel of Death,” which do clearly operate under Death. And Death HIMSELF, before he ever popped up in the show, was called this in SEASON FIVE.

Supernatural 5.10 BOBBY Not this guy. This is—this is the angel of death. Big daddy reaper. They keep this guy chained in a box six hundred feet under. Last time they hauled him up, Noah was building a boat. That’s why the place is crawling with reapers. They’re waiting on the big boss to show. (…) BOBBY The angel of death must be brought into this world at midnight through a place of awful carnage.

Death was referred to as the Angel of Death even before (and for) his release, as far back as season 5. This is in no way a retcon.

Okay then, obviously season FIVE was where the retcon was, and we just... missed it? Cuz Kripke said no angels before S3!

No, actually.

1.12 Faith

Sam: You really think it's THE Grim Reaper? Like, angel of death, collect your soul, the whole deal?

Even before Kripke said “no angels”, which I’ll address later on, and shows literally proves this point about the fandom conflating things based on their assumptions.

Also,

I know there was some confusion. I get WHY people read into the "angels are reapers and working for heaven," because April just further flummoxed everybody. However, April was hired, and rogue reapers are also canon.

9.03 CASTIEL Who hired you? I assumed with Naomi gone, things were in chaos. APRIL New sheriff in town, Cas. He hired a bunch of us. I got lucky.

Tessa’s gripe was the inability to cross souls over the threshold once the gates closed, which again has marginal relevance in comparison to serving God or being the same type of messenger. This has always been part of reaper duties, even before the word "angel" baffled everybody despite it being used in S5 as well.

In fact, what the angels did with April in 9.03 literally inspired how Castiel got his hands on converting Tessa to their forces in 9.22

TESSA When Castiel came to me and told me what I had to do, he said I was chosen because I was strong. Others...they couldn't handle this. They're too weak. [she looks at HANNAH] (...) DEAN No, forget Cas. Why are you doing this? What would make a person want to pop their top, huh? I mean, look, I've been in bad shape. I have. But I have never been that damn low. TESSA I guess I just can't take the screaming. DEAN Who's screaming? TESSA All of them. The lost souls. The ones that can't get into heaven now that it's been boarded up. I hear them. They are so confused. They're in so much pain. All I want to do is help them. It's what I do. It's my job. But I can't. So I suffered... Until death, nothingness. Suddenly, it didn't seem so bad. It seemed quiet. DEAN So, why don't you just jam an angel blade in your throat and call it a day? TESSA I thought about it. But I was too weak. Till Castiel gave me a reason to die.

That’s it. Just a reaper that couldn’t do her job and was tormented by it to the point that Cas merc’ed her into cooperating in taking back heaven.

That’s it. That’s all that says.

Oh look, Metatron takes over and angels hire a reaper and Cas gets ganked, then learns from that, and turns around and recruits reapers to do things to get back at Metatron.

But they were RECRUITED.

GADREEL

Tessa, Constantine -- I recruited them, and you brainwashed them into blowing themselves up.

Also,

5.21 DEAN Well, I got to ask. How old are you? DEATH As old as God. Maybe older. Neither of us can remember anymore. Life, death, chicken, egg. Regardless – at the end, I’ll reap him, too. DEAN God? You’ll reap God? DEATH Oh, yes. God will die, too, Dean.

Death is clearly independent, and at least equal to, if not above God in his presence. Chuck did not create Death. Roughly as old as god (probably even 'before time', though that is unconfirmed), chicken or the egg, unable to tell what came first; Death also has its own respective domain now seen in 13x5, much as God had Heaven. The origins of hell are curious, and vague, but only ruled by fall and things created after the fall. It isn’t part of the Light-Dark-Nature balance really, as much as “how to sort souls” and punishment. That’s a whole other topic-bag but Death has its own domain like God had Heaven. Reapers have NEVER been implied to be part of heaven's order, but Death's natural order.

Death, and God, are two very different important forces. God is Light, Amara is Darkness, Death is Natural Order, so to speak. Messenger of Divine Order vs Messenger of Natural Order. These are all three very canon elements. Reapers have always been assigned to death and "angels" as WE identify them (see: Angel of the Lord) to God, however, there is the qualifier of Angel of the Lord, Death HAS been called Angel of Death from go despite NOT being under Chuck's domain (clearly), and these are all existing since S4-5. And frankly, since S1.

While calling out plot holes has its points, one must make sure there are actual plot holes, and not assumptions of plotholes based on pre-existing headcanon (such as the exact limits or definitions of angels versus potential inconsistent or shorthand dialogue, versus what we've seen on record and in effect). Yes, it takes some viewer-end explaining and line-drawing, but that’s also a good deal of entertainment. Not everything gets ELI5′ed. But with regards to “why aren’t the reapers angels in heaven if they were in S9~” - that’s because even then, it was never implied they were. That was an assumption. There were a lot of fandom end assumptions off of partial lines, when pre-existing lines give solid corroboration. Death-Angels report to Death (and possibly the Thanatology area if at all, it's implied that their relationship with Death is much like angels with God, and few have seen God), Divine-Angels report to Chuck and Heaven.

So no. There’s no evidence to say it’s an oversight that Reapers aren’t being counted in angel headcount.

TLDR it’s extremely presumptuous of fandom to keep projecting this as a plot hole off of projected headcanon interpretations of what was there rather than original substantiating quotes, mechanics, and even earliest-form revelations (Kripke era.) There is no evidence there was ever a retcon, no evidence that reapers REPORTED to heaven (some go rogue and run back doors or take bunk jobs, but that is being a renegade), and no evidence whatsoever to make this actually look like a sequentially dropped ball on the parts of the author as much as a serial misconception from viewers. Is it somewhat unclear? Yes. But a gaping plothole or retcon? Or even now a retconned-retcon? Nah.

This is just a failure to differentiate “Angel of the Lord” which runs heaven and is the species we casually refer to as angels, and “Angel of Death”, starting as far as S1 in use, and never-once applied as working for heaven. Just assumed against bold dialogue choices.

There was never a retcon. They hired reapers. People are conflating the use of “angel”. That’s it.

Yes, Kripke said no angels before S3; no, that doesn’t mean Reapers were never called angels of death (1x12) (this ALONE differentiates the usage in dialogue, as Kripke already used Angel of Death for reapers, but said “no angels”, meaning Angel of the Lord as we casually call angels is SOMETHING DIFFERENT, although BOTH ARE CALLED ANGELS.); no, canon never said they were part of heaven’s function beyond the delivery of souls at any point; no, they have never, as a whole, reported to anywhere but Death, spare for those hired or merced onto other roles (rogue reapers, like fallen angels); no, reapers are not, and have never been, canonically tied to being the SPECIES we know as Angels (angel of the lord, distinct from angel of death, both of which are age old lines, and the angel of the lord being S4+ only.) Reapers were never adapted into angels of the Lord. Ever. That’s all in the fandom’s head.

Nothing ever had to be changed or tampered. Nothing had to even be underwritten. There was never a retcon, just a lack of understanding from the viewership turned widespread fanon.

This starts in S1 and continues through current. Insisting otherwise despite all of the various information above is more trying to demand erasure of multiple blatant elements under “interpretation”, in the interest of claiming they’re retconning the retcon, instead of having maintained a consistent continuity the fandom misinterpreted in the middle despite dialogue. They aren’t retconning a retcon, because there was never a retcon, and I’m honestly not sure how this was taken so widely into fandom circulation that there was with these sentiments already committed to screen.

Reapers have never been Angels of the Lord, as we identify Angels as a species. They have been another angel/messenger type dedicated to Big Daddy Reaper. Since. Season. 1. And never committed to heaven as much as were hired and/or recruited temporarily. They are not part of heaven’s works. Canon never implied this. That’s all headcanon.

#supernatural #spn #canon #retcon #angels #reapers #meta #mine #my meta

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