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sepublic · 10 hours

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Alright, let's talk about some details from the TOH pitch bible;

A lot of the stuff is what we've already seen and/or in line with the show. What's interesting is that King WAS a former King of Demons at one point, and we would've had an episode where he runs into his old gang and chooses Luz and Eda over them. It makes me wonder if he even had a connection to the Titan in earlier drafts, if he wasn't recognized as one back in the day because he just wasn't big enough, etc. Eda makes a deal to help remove the collar, which IS the source of King's woes, placed by a 'mysterious wizard', I wouldn't be surprised if it was Obron AKA Proto-Belos.

What gets me is that Tibbles originally started off as a friend to the protagonists, while Bump was an antagonist! Coupled with Tibbles being re-elected as mayor after Bump is deposed for corruption. I like the detail of Bump being a parasite controlling a body from the head, because it carried over into his final design with Frewin, and before we got confirmation Frewin was a separate entity, I loved the joke theory that the imp on Bump's head was the REAL Bump!!! Seems that was always the implied story of the design, I love it. Tibbles being the demon fan of human stuff would eventually become Gus instead, so this is technically Proto-Gus too…?

Interesting how Bump and Tibbles' alignments switch completely with one another, and it makes sense that with Lilith no longer the principal in the final draft, it goes to Bump, who ends up being really chill and a subversion in his own right! Interesting, but I do prefer the final Bump we got, and that's fine by me, because when the concepts aren't as interesting as the final product, it means we got the best possible version.

I've already discussed Obron and William in a separate post, and Pupa is someone we've been told about in a previous livestream. Lilith would've been both head of all covens (and not just the Emperor's Coven) AND principal at the same time, and she seems much more of a jerk to Eda in general; She has no qualms with cursing Eda because of a direct order from Obron.

Apparently the curse would've been an AGING spell, which settles my questions on how it would've been portrayed in earlier drafts! This goes along with Eda's older look. Likewise, there would've been a subplot of Eda considering Luz's sacrifice as a way to restore her youth, which likely goes hand in hand with Obron's orders to bring Luz to her, etc. The 'Bloom of Eternal Youth' quest, which Eda and Lilith go through together as their sisterly relationship is explored, feels like a carryover from this past idea.

I think I prefer the final draft; I like that the curse isn't just aging Eda, but also takes away her magic, makes her turn into a beast, etc. I like Lilith being a lot more complicated in her relationship with Eda, instead of just hating her and cursing her without hesitation. The redefining of the curse makes it less about age, and more a chronic illness metaphor, and I like how Eda in the final draft is upfront about having to learn to live with it, deal with it, on her own terms. She isn't trying to find a cure (although Lilith being promised one by Obron feels like a carryover of Eda's moral dilemma with Luz), and that adds another nice dimension to her conflict with Lilith, as well as Gwen. It's pretty frank in its own right about normalizing disability, and those who play an antagonistic role (however brief) are the real weirdoes for making such a fuss about it.

The Bat Queen would've had more of a recurring role based on the description, which saddens me; I always got the vibe she was planned for more, but between all of the other stuff the show had to juggle, plus the shortening, she ended up getting shafted despite being one of the earlier characters. Sashley, Pasha, and Bruno are also interesting, with Pasha in particular giving me freaking Philip Wittebane vibes with his grossness, beard, and anti-demon attitude; He even starts off as a potential friend to Luz because fellow human, only for his true bigotry to show. Makes me wonder if Philip ended up incorporating Pasha, we also have bodily transformation because of consuming magical stuff... P-names.

(Also, I like how in the drawing of typical Demon Realm denizens, I can see an eye demon who resembles a past drawing of Dana's!!!)

Eda was actually a late bloomer, which creates a parallel with Luz in one way, and their relationship is referred to as sisterly (in the final draft it’s explicitly maternal). So Eda wouldn't have been the talented youth, in fact things may have switched between her and Lilith; Lilith's disdain may have partially come from Eda not being as innately talented as her.

Luz and Amity's dynamic seems like it would've had Amity retain a lot of her more stand-offish, pragmatic personality even as a friend with Luz, and this would've come up more; So basically, she'd remain more like S1 Amity. That, or this part of their relationship would've lasted longer, and then we would've seen character development as Amity unlearns a lot of the issues her parents passed on. I also wonder if the Willow who cameos in the pilot was originally supposed to just be an extra separate from ‘Paulina’, but then they combined the two together.

The themes are exactly as I expected, glad to see they're still there, nothing changed! Luz becoming a witch and defying all odds to do so, putting in real work and passion. Celebrating individuality amidst conformity, plus Luz trying to impose her own fictional tropes onto the world, only to have to put that aside... Just like Wing it like Witches. It seems Amity would've had more involvement with Luz's journey to become a witch, though we still do have a carryover of that disconnect with her rant near the end of Covention.

I love the Demon Realm being situated BELOW the Human Realm, way to be subtle about being Hell you guys lol... Apparently portals to the human world are a lot rarer to find and use, which makes me wonder if the pilot's 'dimension port' doesn't have access to the human world; Meaning Amity is Luz's only way back, so her improved relationship with her is linked to getting back home. There's a gag about the Knee having service with the human world, but I can see how that didn't make the cut, for dramatic purposes; It seems like the premise for a S1 episode or at least a B-plot. Would Luz have struggled to communicate with Camila through this, or would her search for wi-fi be for mundane reasons?

Apparently Luz's magic would've required a lot more steps to complete, and I see why the show simplified things down to just glyphs. I wonder if there was always going to be the connection of glyphs as a gift from the Titan, or if the Titan and her story was going to be less intertwined in the overall narrative. There also don't seem to be nine main covens, just the many, many covens, some of which are pretty ridiculous, and Covention's sub-covens seem a callback to that.

Luz's first spell would've been levitation, and THEN she would've infiltrated Hexside, with Amity being a lot subtler about exposing Luz, though in the final draft she does figure that out as the way to go in I was a Teenage Abomination. Yeah, I prefer Light being her original spell, feels so much more symbolic and personal, etc. I wonder if the Titan is even as much of a character in early drafts, and if there's still the whole connection/relationship with the land and learning to respect it aspect. Some of these hypothetical episodes push the idea of Amity as a more episodic, typical popular kid antagonist, though in the final draft, the show goes through her character development and explores Amity's romantic relationship with Luz and its complications.

It seems the idea of the Mirror Ghost was split into Adegast and Vee, with Adegast being the one who offers the easier narrative for Luz to believe in about becoming a witch (only to be a fraud who uses uncanny puppets), and Vee being a doppelganger whom Luz communicates through with mirrors. Interesting how Yesterday's Lie was born from this. We saw the test animation from Spencer Wan for TOH, so I guess we know what Luz's puppet-doppelganger is called! And we can safely call her Proto-Vee. I wonder if she also would've been a sympathetic character, I always thought she reminded me of Lake from Infinity Train (and speculated her to be as such since Enchanting Grom Fright), and now the similarities are even MORE apparent!

Alas, The Good Witch Azura, or 'The Unassuming Princess' seems like it'd have been a lot less dear to Luz's heart, as the pilot also reflects; In the end, it turns out the author is just Eda's ex using her adventures as basis, and including private information. I remember when I once speculated that Raine, before we saw their face, would've been just like this as the author of Azura... Again, I think I prefer Azura as being a lot less mean-spirited in the final draft, and instead a celebration of who Luz is as a person, her relationship with fantasy and fiction, etc. We also would've had a Luz birthday party, the Quincenera we've been hoping for since S1...! In the final draft (and episode) we still get that Human-Demon Realm disconnect, though by that point, Luz is much more attuned and chill with the isles.

There’s definitely more of an episodic, sitcom feel to this pitch bible, especially when you compare Proto-Yesterday’s Lie to its final version. Makes sense, Dana is pitching this to Disney executives, though her statement on Understanding Willow feeling truly like her show makes me wonder if she always intended to push TOH in that more serious, emotional route we got.

#the owl house #the owl house pilot #king clawthorne #principal bump #hieronymous bump #luz noceda #the owl house tibbles #lilith clawthorne #eda clawthorne #edalyn clawthorne #amity blight #lumity #boiling isles #analysis #the good witch azura #meta #speculation

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specialofficerlemons · 2 days

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Can we talk about Autistic Tucker? We always talk about Autistic Simmons, Autistic Caboose, etc, but never Tucker and I want to talk about Autistic Tucker.

One of the ways that Autistic masking can present is by becoming a jokester or a "class clown" type. I think that Tucker learned early in his life that he could make friends- or at least make other people laugh -with his bawdy jokes and his catchphrase (one could even call it echolalia), but as much as he talks about sex, it seems like he doesn't seem to actually have that much experience with it. He built up a persona of being hypersexual and he probably has a lot of sexual feelings, but he doesn't seem to have a lot of comfort when it comes to sex, especially when it's with a partner that's more experienced or more confident than he is (like Kai).

It's also worth mentioning that it's significantly harder for Black people to get diagnosed with Autism than white people and even though RVB is technically set in the future, it's also set in the early 2000s where there was a lot less Autism visibility in general, let alone in more marginalized populations.

We see the kinds of relationships that Tucker has with Church and with Wash, how they are similar and how they are different (whether you ship them or don't). As antagonistic as Church and Tucker are towards each other, Tucker consider Church to be his best friend and he's comfortable with how they treat each other- not necessarily comfortable in the sense that he likes it, but comfortable in the sense that it's what he's used to. With Wash, things are, in a way, more antagonistic because Wash isn't charmed by his jokes and laid back exterior until he softens a little bit. They butt heads more seriously than he did with Church, but they also get to have a bit more of a deeper and vulnerable relationship because of how Wash lowers his own walls on Chorus. When Tucker and Church "make up" on Chorus, Carolina comments on how there was no apology or anything like that, and both of them just say that that's how guys are, but I think they both just wanted to get back to the relationship they had and that relationship didn't require any kind of emotional vulnerability. The closest Tucker gets to showing emotional vulnerable wrt to Church is when he's arguing with Wash and says "I wanted to be with my best friend and now all I have is you," but he never tells Church directly that he is his best friend or how much he means to him because that's not the kind of relationship they have and (speaking from my own experience as an Autistic person) that's a really hard subject to broach when you don't have the framework for it.

This got off the rails a bit, but I'm firmly planting the rainbow infinity flag on Tucker and I have a lot of feelings about it.

#rvb #red vs blue #lavernius tucker #Tucker rvb #no one in this show is nt

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tobiasdrake · 13 hours

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Does Perfect Cell have Agency?

Cell is... difficult to get a read on, as a character. The extreme jankiness of the Android arc left us with an oddball of a villain whose level of wickedness doesn't seem in line with the scope of his motives.

Cell is a weird character for me because he just seems... unfinished but also overly symbolic moreso than a literal person.

What does PIccolo actually want? He wants to kill everyone because he's mindlessly evil. After he reincarnates, the question "What does Piccolo actually want?" becomes a major facet of his journey.

What does Frieza actually want? He wants to kill planets and sell them for profit because he's a real estate speculator, and also to be immortal and untouchable. This extreme want coupled with the callousness with which he pursues it is what fuels his unbelievable cruelty and heartlessness, and makes him the most evil person in the Dragon Ball universe.

What does Majin Buu want? Again, this question becomes a major facet of his journey and opens up new sides to him, because Buu himself doesn't know the answer to that.

Which. Brings us to. What does Cell want?

He likes to spook. He wants to have fun. He's a spooker looking for a good time.

Cell's primary goal is to a) become really strong, and then b) prove his mettle by testing himself against the greatest fighters in the world. He's a tournament arc villain presented with the gravitas and stakes of an epic adventure villain.

It's wild because everybody here wants to get really strong and then prove their mettle by fighting Goku. That's what this whole social dynamic is about. That is literally the main goal that everyone in this group pursues. Well, except Trunks and Gohan.

In a sense, Cell's just... one of the guys. Like. He's a rotten dirty bastard to be sure. But it's not like that's a barrier for entry into this group.

"I WILL KILL AS MANY PEOPLE AS I HAVE TO AS LONG AS YOU ARE ONE OF THEM!" ~TFS

So his goal is to get strong and fight strong guys. But. Like. Who's isn't?

And he's a cruel, sadistic monster. But. Like. We're fine with that. Vegeta's our bestie and Piccolo joined this crew way before he reformed too.

This guy could legit just be hosting the Tenkaichi Budokai. (And he DOES.) In terms of overarching character, nothing about him reads "Epic villain that must be stopped at all costs". So Toriyama really had to ratchet up the moment-by-moment horror to make him fit.

What Cell wants is not that big a deal. Get strong, fight strong guys, and also he's an asshole about it. So he's given a vile mechanism for attaining the strength he needs. In his base state, Cell can drink people to gain their power for himself.

He's basically Piccolo if Piccolo were born a parasitic vampire instead of a flesh-and-blood Namekian? It's weird. His whole introduction where he walks out and explains his entire character so Toriyama's pal will get off his back about the Twins is weird.

"Hi there, Piccolo. Did you know that I'm an evil bio-android from the future who wants to absorb the Twins to become really powerful? Also I eat people and I have the genetic makeup of five of the most powerful warriors in the universe, as well as having all of their techniques and abilities. I think that about covers everything. Toodles!"

So we have a character whose primary goal is to defeat the two characters who, up until this point, were billed as the antagonists and are currently seeking to kill Goku as we speak. Like. That's Trunks. Cell is Trunks again. So to make it read as sinister and bad, the means for him to achieve Trunks's goal requires him to kill people in visceral and horrifying ways, and also he's a jerk about it.

This is far from the worst thing a Dragon Ball character, even the ones on the protagonist side, has ever done. But it's so viscerally horrifying that it feels like the worst thing they've ever done.

Then again, that guy was part of the 1% so maybe it's deserved.

Truly, Cell is a champion of the underclass. He's literally eating the rich. What's not to like?

I jest. Point is, Cell is a villain of vibes more than anything. In practical terms, Vegeta gleefully slaughtered entire planets and Majin Buu exterminated 80% of the world's population for fun. In fact, Buu even single-targets people and turns them into food to chomp down on too, so he and Cell have a lot in common.

To be perfectly honest, Buu feels like a second draft of Cell with more time and thought put into his character.

So, logically, eating a bunch of people isn't that big of a deal relative to some of the other shit that people we're hanging out with have done. Hell, we spend a portion of this arc helping to power up Vegeta to stop Mr. City Devourer over here.

"Hey best buddy, you're a remorseless monster who's slaughtered billions of people and is only chill now because you're stranded on Earth with no better options. Want to come with me so we can make you a hundred times deadlier and fight this guy who wants to eat the Androids that destroyed the world in the future?"

And then Cell's over here like.

"All done eating people. Thanks y'all." Like a parasitic version of the Genki-Dama. Uh. Cool. Glad we could help. Let's go Dragon Balls them all back to life and then I guess we're done here?

It's the vibe. Cell's wickedness is a vibe. It's in the means he needs to undergo to achieve the ends of becoming strong. It's in the sadistic personality he shares with 4/5 of his genetic makeup (two of whom are in the protag party). And it's in his long-term plans for what to do after the tournament when he runs out of strong guys to fight.

It's like they ran out of ideas for why we even need to fight this guy once he ate the Androids and completed our mission of defeating them and thwarting Trunks's future. So Cell's like, "By the way if we don't defeat me in an epic climax, I'm going to aimlessly wander the globe killing humans individually forever, I guess."

No real ambitions of any kind beyond "Get strong, fight strong guys". He just. Is a dick.

This is sandwiched between vanquishing the CEO of Galactic Genocide Incorporated and fighting a god-killing abomination who made the heavens themselves run red with blood. Cell wants to get strong and fight strong guys, and he'll become Jason Voorhees if we don't deliver. That's it. That's the entire plot. It's so weird. He's the ultimate despicable monster villain up to this point but it doesn't really feel like he should be.

Cell isn't really a character, so much as he is an idea. Specifically, he is a summary of Goku's entire journey up to this point, all rolled up into this one asshole. He is Goku, and also the major villains Goku has fought.

He is the Tenkaichi Budokai.

He's a limit-breaking Super Saiyan who becomes stronger through Namekian Fusion of others like him and also regenerates and gets Zenkai boosts.

He is the concept of everything that Dragon Ball has ever been.

Hey remember when Piccolo-Daimao blew up that one district during a live broadcast? Do you remember? Cell is Playing the Hits, The Character. But with purpose and intent.

This is why it's hard for me to get a read on Cell. Because who he is isn't so different from much of the cast but what he needs to be is something else: He is the complete assessment of the journey Goku's undertaken over the course of his life, presented all at once for Gohan to surpass.

The physical embodiment of what Gohan must overcome to be his father's successor.

His character, his motives, his ambitions, his desires, it all takes a backseat to the simple utilitarian purpose of providing a symbolic nemesis to mark Gohan's ascension. Hastily assembled once Toriyama decided that was going to be the real actual plot for realsies no takebacks this time.

It's hard for me to assess Cell because I feel too strongly that he needed a second draft.

Which. Like. Apparently Toriyama agreed.

As a character and as a story, Majin Buu is hit or miss but he hits most of the same beats as Cell and really does feel like Toriyama trying to take a mulligan on this entire villain concept.

Mileage may vary on whether he pulled it off.

#dragon ball #dragon ball z #cell

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add1ctedt0you · 4 months

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What a plot twist you were. [x]

#Like. The narrator introduces jc to us as the antagonist #Then we got to know him. Not who people think he's. But who he really is #And we saw jc giving wwx a piggyback. Giving him soup. Rescuing him. Putting himself between wwx and any danger (madam yu/wen soldiers)#And even the staged fight. It's yk. Staged #jc wanted to protect wwx at any cost. But wwx wasn't willing to compromise. But jc did #The fight was wwx's idea. Because jc is an enabler (just like jfm and jyl)#jc is ready to bend for his loved ones sake #The point is. Every action jc takes. Is in the name of his loves ones' safety. And surprise. wwx is one of the people jc really cares about #Even after wwx' return. Aside a broken cup. jc isn't doing much to stop wwx or anything. We know that jl was able to free wwx from Zidian #only because jc - Zidian's primary master- wanted it!#And jc fling himself into danger countless times to save wwx even though wwx can't sit still with him for a hot minute #What I wanted to say it's that the jc is presented to us - the mean ungrateful man- is very different from the real jc -#the indulgent uncle who rolls his eyes at his nephew antics. the brother who buries the hatchet for his sister's happiness.#the uncle who kinda wants to help wn to get up from the floor because he was an ass to jc but he helped jl and that's what matters to jc #the sect leader who let two women speak freely their mind in a patriarchy society #People better than me have already said this. shit I can't remember my point lmao #Like. jc is presented as an antagonist but what this man wanted was an apology and an explanation #This post is a mix of a rant I wrote last year (ha) after seeing a bad take. About what I don't remember lmaoo. And me wanting #to make gifs of wzc in this scene. Why does he look so good. It should be illegal. Seriously #jiang cheng #*mgifs

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 24 days

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favourite twdg villain?

I'm a fond enjoyer of the St. John's as villains. I don't know if they're my favorite just because they're only in one episode, but I love the concept of this family almost immediately jumping into cannibalism toward the start of the outbreak, dealing in human flesh to bandits, and casually feeding this group their friend's legs.

Like... what the hell was this family like before the outbreak that all three of them were like, "Hey now listen... nothing should go to waste, the dead are eating people so why shouldn't we? We gotta survive and in our defense, we only target those who were gonna die anyway... like y'all."

Dude, Mark was shot in this shoulder with an arrow. He wasn't going to die from that injury. It's so fucked that these seemingly friendly people took the group into their home and then fed them Mark's legs.

If we take the idea that everyone is infected and have the capacity within themselves to become walkers, to become monsters, then the St. John's were infected long before the outbreak, y'know? Not literally, but something was wrong with them and the outbreak just further spread that infection and changed them.

But again, are they my favorite? I dunno if I can say that since I have a lot more appreciation for Lily now. Yeah, some of her writing gets a little wonky in ep3 of TFS when she goes on her monologues and shit, but y'know what? I'm into it.

You have to remember who we're talking about and the fact that she's the antagonist; Lily isn't some anti-hero in TFS who secretly has a heart of gold that's brought to light because she reunited with Clementine... she's a fucked up woman who did fucked up things in the name of survival. She's full of rot now. She sees kidnapping children and turning them into soldiers to protect her home as a means to an end, but she doesn't actually give a shit about the people she's taking. They aren't people to her, they're as the episode title suggests, toys in her game. The only one she sees as a person is Clementine, and while that makes her hesitate at first, she sees Clementine's a prize to bring back.

She remembers what happened in S1; her father had a heart attack and as she tried to save him, Kenny smashed his face in with a saltlick and then expected Lily to just stand up and help him get back to his family because "he did what he had to, he made the hard choice." Yes, Larry was a piece of shit. No one liked him, and you can even question Lily on him and she'll tell you that he has a lot of pain. Yes, it makes him an asshole, but he's still her dad and he's all she has. I mean... the simplification is daddy issues, but in all seriousness, I don't doubt for a second that many of Lily's issues stem from Larry being a shitty father to her.

Then everyone thought she was losing it when she insisted there was a traitor in the group, which she was right about, but she was unstable. She was unwell, but how do you help someone like that when you don't have training to go about it? Then Lily ends up killing either Carley or Doug and the group turns on her, and either she's left behind or she steals the van and runs away.

Then we don't know what the hell happened to her until we see her again in TFS, but like... a lone woman with decay festering inside of her joining the delta? Exposing her to their methods? I mean, what else did she have to lose? She had nothing, she lost everything, and she has a lot of issues. Survival is easy when you're numb, when you don't care about the individual; they're all just cogs churning to make the system run, and if a piece doesn't cooperate, you get rid of it and find a new one.

Plus I think there's something to say about Lily not wanting to be perceived as weak again. That whole display she put on in the cells? Telling the story of what happened to Minerva and Sophie? I get the criticism that it feels like Lily did a 180 between episodes but like... yeah dude, because it's a performance. It's not just her and Clementine anymore. It's a display of power and authority. She's playing the part and thriving in it as she ensures everyone else is terrified of her.

But then when Clementine and AJ get the upper hand? Again, she's not afraid to play up the pleading to earn enough sympathy to spare her- hell, just to let their guard down enough to strike and get the upper hand again. I mean, she's got nothing else to lose, right? If she doesn't go for it, she'll be killed and sure, you can kill her anyway but at least she tried.

Honestly, I look at Lily in TFS and still see that scared little girl playing the tough bitch, just like Carley said in S1. It's just now escalated from "tough bitch" to a downright vile person. She's so... lost? I suppose? Lost within herself and the monstrous means she's taken to survive.

I get the criticisms of how she was used in TFS, but for me, it's like when people complain about Minerva not getting the redemption arc she supposedly should've gotten, y'know? There's no saving her. Lily was never on our side, and there was no getting her on our side. She wasn't ever going to redeem herself. Even if you spare her and she drifts away on her raft, can someone like her actually find redemption? Or will she just find another group that'll feed into her rot?

Truly, I say let her be horrid. Let her be the piece of shit villain with a few fleeting moments of humanity. Let her drown in the blood she's spilled.

#asks #twdg lily #twdg andy st john #twdg danny st john #twdg brenda st john #twdg clementine #twdg minerva #twdg mark #twdg larry #twdg kenny #i know i used to complain about lily in tfs a lot years ago but past cj complained about everything tbh sksksks #now i'm just like babe lily's interesting as shit like not every villain needs a redemption arc just because you think they're hot #and don't wanna feel bad or because you want her to be like she was in s1 when she was sympathetic like... it's been years #that's like being mad that clementine isn't the same person as she was in s1... the difference is we got to see clementine grow #but what happened to lily is a mystery... but that doesn't mean she didn't change especially for the worst #i dunno sometimes i look at lady antagonists in media and then look at people's reactions and i'm like.......... hmmmm #c'mon now- if kenny came back in tfs the same exact way then y'all would be foaming at the mouth insisting he's complex #and morally grey and he's just really sad about his family dying and really he's a sad widdle meow meow but also the best villain #who should be spared because he always cared about clementine and aj and he's just traumatized and sad and amazing unlike OTHERS #like.................... okay sure mmhmmmm #side note but the worst thing about kenny is the fact that he IS a brilliantly written character but his stans tend to just be the worst #anyway i like lily she's a great tfs antagonist like i recognize there are some weak spots and i wish she has more of a presence in ep4 #if she lived but y'know... gotta make room for minerva being the final bridge boss so... yeah

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sunderberry · 2 months

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i like drawing these two. their designs are fun. i think it's the fluff, the heart motifs, and the stupid hats. and also their size difference

the bottom two are sort of like "what if valentino owned husk" ideas

#hazbin hotel #hazbin husk #hazbin valentino #valentino #husk #obligatory “i don't condone val's actions i just like his design and antagonistic role in the story” tag #idk if i should tag this as ship amd tbh i don't think they even have a ship tag #i just like the size difference. husk holding val's arm like a child #i have a lot of thoughts about the “val owns husk's soul” au actually #it isn't a swap au. val still owns angel #yes val is his canon levels of abusive self and husk has a terrible time #angel and husk are acquaintances. they are friendly with each other but val keeps angel on too tight a leash #husk isn't very important to val. he brings in enough clients that he's allowed to just exist in the background #maybe one day husk stumbles across a broken angel and can't help but clean him up and tend to his wounds #they could become proper friends #though neither would be in the right place to even consider a relationship #i just really like it when husk's heart is too big for his own good #i imagine valentino would start being worse with husk once he finds out he and angel are friendly #there's only so much i can go into the au on tumblr unfortunately #sun art #oh yeah in the second pic yes his wings are clipped :)

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demisexualnathanvuornos · 7 months

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I support O's asexual wrongs.

#o #o sex education #sarah owens #using that tag for search purposes #idk why she doesn't use her government name but it's easier to use than just o #did she do some shitty things? yes #more than the other people on the show? no #the show just was against her the way it isn't against other characters #it constantly frames her as antagonistic and manipulative #even we don't really have a reason to think she isn't as genuine in her desire to help people #*even though #at the very least i fully support her right to ghost people #(also the fact she's the only east asian character and she's narratively portrait as inherently manipulative)#(isn't a good look)#if you like o please message me #i'm gonna stop going into the main tag or i'll block everyone #nocticola art #thaddea graham

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mothbeasts · 3 months

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unpopular ieytd headcanons? /nm

seeing as I've dedicated myself to being the world's biggest fabricator enjoyer (joke). i think it will be obvious who i'll take the opportunity to talk about :] with some other headcanons thrown in also.

I think a lot of my Fabricator headcanons count as "unpopular" if only because not many people talk about her in general. The first thing that came to mind for me is that I personally headcanon her as trans for no reason other than I'm trans and my favorite characters get hit with my beam attacks. I also think she's not really mean once you get to know her - She's much more relaxed around friends, it's just that she has. One friend total, maybe two if we're being generous with the definition of friend. And I just generally see her as a different kind of "mean" than other people seem to, if that makes sense? She has fun with it, yeah, but she has reasons and such. even if those reasons can be petty. I don't know if she enjoys drama for drama's sake, she's got a reputation to uphold and all. She uses more subtle verbal attacks, sarcasm and such.

Another unpopular headcanon, but for Agent Phoenix this time: My Phoenix is a lesbian. Got them with my beam attack also. I also tend to see them as less... Chaotic? They're cautious, taking their time to figure out the situation. They do still put things in their mouth though. That's important to me.

#ieytd #surprising lack of trans hcs to me.. where is the gender in here (<- trans)#i mean. beyond phoenix + zor being nonbinary fairly often that is. which i like.. yaay nonbinary people ^ ^#on the topic of phoenix. sorry phoenix/juniper fans i know you're the main fandom ship but i have other favorites..#i only see it with other agent phoenixes really. mine does NOT like men like that #is it fine if i say juniper feels a bit overrated to me.. nothing against him really i just see him Everywhere and he's not. like.#one of my favorite characters or anything. of the three main antagonists we've had other than zor. he's like. my least favorite #and that isn't me saying i hate him!!!! i think he can be interesting!! i just find solaris and prism More interesting y'know #i'm glad i'm not the only one making ieytd f/f content anymore also.. i feel like for a while it was Only phoenix/juniper #which i guess means fabricator/solaris is another unpopular headcanon? more popular than it used to be though #it's still me and like two other people making content for that one... but at least the two other people are there #hi savvy hi gene waving at you

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daz4i · 6 months

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wait i have another rant unrelated to anything. the common... perception? trend? idek what to call it, in fandoms and media commentary communities that every antagonist in every story has to have some deep reason for why they do things, or a sad backstory or w/e, imo kills creativity, makes stories lose their focus, and can be very upsetting when done wrong

like it's okay to have purely evil villains. it's okay to make hate sinks. that doesn't make you a bad writer. characters are meant to be tools, vehicles to tell a story, and sometimes you need that tool to just be an obstacle with no real depth. sometimes the story is more about how the protagonist overcomes hardships, and in certain premises those hardships work better when depicted as other humans. and honestly, even if they can be replaced by a generic monster or some object or w/e, it's still okay to make them a person if you wanna bc it serves the same purpose at the end of the day and you don't need to excuse that choice, imo.

like ppl who tear into every story and try to find every logical fault in it - even when it's only a fault when you entirely strip the context of fiction off it, thus often making these points irrelevant to the discussion about. yknow. a fictional work - can be so boring. I'm all for dissecting stories and trying to understand the logic behind some stuff, and while i personally prefer stories where the villain does indeed have a relatable or at least understandable motive, i do think that for certain stories it just does a disservice and frankly misses the point of why the story is even being told. like sometimes the villain is some money hungry asshole bc we needed a money hungry asshole to stand in opposition to our protagonists. it's not that deep, and it doesn't need to be. you just want to read a different story, so go do that.

#i think that last sentence is really the essence of it #if you like certain tropes or structure choices and hate when stories don't have them... just... don't read those stories...?#alternatively: can you tell i was an avid p5 fan in persona communities where everyone missed the point of its antagonists 💔💔💔#sometimes we just need assholes to be assholes for the sake of being assholes 😭 it doesn't take away from the story's depth #like this is a game abt dismantling corruption in society. we need villains that embody concepts -#- rather than be actual characters bc the story isn't about them. and that's FINE #like this is what i mean by boring. why do you want all stories to be the same. just play a different game #anyway yeah that was another rant. sorry

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todayisafridaynight · 30 days

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sorry if you've already been asked this but what did you think about eiji in iw? like idk i feel like they were trying to recreate a masato and ichi moment without actually having any of the elements that made their relationship narratively compelling.

as a whole, i thought eiji was at least a nice 'how he wished things couldve been' for ichi in regards to masato, but still being independent enough from the masato comparison to stand on his own as a character (or at least as an antagonist. his actions wasn't what was reminding me he was a masato parallel, but more so ichi's insistence he help him). i think thats why ichi and eiji's relationship don't have the same 'elements' that make their relationship interesting like masato and ichi's

#iw spoilers #not really but lol #snap chats #like what made masato and ichi interesting was their family dynamic and how they were narrative foils to each other #eiji isn't supposed to be that. both in-universe and meta wise he's just meant to remind ichi of masato not wholly replace him #and not replace who masato was in ichi's life. just yk. trick him for a bit fJALKAJ #i mean sure you can still find their relationship uninteresting with that in mind so just to me i thought it was cute at the very least #at least in that you can see ichi trying his hardest to connect with eiji #like you can tell he just doesn't want history to repeat even if he's mostly projecting his fears onto eiji #and the situation is not. equivocal LMAO but i digress #i don't feel strongly about eiji one way or another- i mean i liked how it was easy to tell he was going to be an antagonist vjlKJAJ #i dont mind that kind of thing though. i like being able to pick up on things being Not Right with a character or situation #so it was neat seeing how that culminated. still confused on what he was blackmailing chitose with but i assume it's family related #sometimes i think about how beau says eiji and ebina were meant to be rgg feeling bad about killing aoki and it makes me chortle vjalkvjla #anyway thats the end of my eiji prattle. oh ps i like how he actually had a chair that doesnt look painful to sit in #veyr cringe he turned out Not to be disabled but listen if i start talking about masato's disability again im gonna lose my mind #as i frantically close my thirty tabs about lung diseases/conditions and lung transplants and patients' anecdotes post operation

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ganymedesclock · 2 months

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Out of curiosity, any thoughts on the anime Bleach?

I consumed a fairly good chunk of it when I was younger. It's since faded in my passions. I think Rolling Star by Yui is by far my favorite of the openings but a lot of them are very good.

I think the visuals are fairly stylish but it suffers the shonen problem- granted, I think a lot of this is in the format of how long running shonens are produced- of starting out with a bold exciting concept and then sort of petering out in weird directions the longer it goes on. In Bleach's case, I really loved the design and concept of the early hollows, but from the Soul Society arc onward, this entire fascinating afterlife concept boils down to Fashion Sword Boys Fightin' It Out.

Most of my residual fondness for it has me eyeing @gallusrostromegalus's An Elephant Is Warm And Mushy, because it seems to be taking a lot of the later series and injecting that sense of weird monsters and afterlife ramifications back into it.

#Bleach #I actually really liked the intro episode of Don Kanonji #the idea of a 'hoax' TV medium actually having just enough of a foothold in this world to do damage #and then having to realize that and acknowledge his own relationship with it #I think this is why many of the later arcs disappointed; I was most interested in seeing how this world impacted and related to the mundane #similar powerful early episodes to me were the 'haunted cockatiel' and the episode with Orihime's brother #later arcs absolutely have their perks #I actually unironically like the 'king and his horse' speech #even though I think it plays to some limitations of the genre that everything has to be settled by hierarchical power levels and fighting #like I dunno maybe your ~EVIL SIDE~ isn't actually evil as much as someone who has not decided if they want to obey you or not #because why would they #do they respect you enough to actually want to help you with your goals #wouldn't anyone 'act up' in that situation trying to have their own priorities #ALSO ALSO it aggravates me that the closer to main character you get #the more boring your weapon powers get #some of the secondary characters and temporary antagonists and such #have REALLY COOL powers #but Ichigo is like ok. here's my power. it's basically a laser gun #pew pew #sorry Ichigo. you are trying to be main character while that one guy is over there with the executioner's weapon that weighs opponents down #Hanataro's the objectively best character though hands down y'all can fight me #(nobody actually fight me I have zero horses in this race)

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asteria-argo · 3 months

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i can feel myself getting preemptively annoyed with some of the comments I might get on the next chapter of to all the better places and let me tell you it's making it really hard to write this chapter in peace

#i just know I'm going to get so so many people hating on Ted again #and I appreciate the comments I really do #but the total lack of nuance astounds me #I think people forget just how much of a dickhead Jamie actually was in season one #and also that Ted thinking slightly ill thoughts about Jamie when he remembers him as being a very hostile and combative person #doesn't make him a bad guy #because fun amazing fact about to all the better places #is that Ted and Jamie haven't actually had a SINGLE conversation yet #because when Ted tried to have a civil conversation with Jamie in chapter three Jamie ran away #they are currently still dancing around each other #and I love that people are invested in the story and care about Jamie #but getting comments that are literally just character hate towards a character that isn't actually supposed to be hated?#not that fun #makes me feel like I'm trying to write around a bunch of landmines to avoid getting comments that are pure character bashing #you can be mad at Ted in this fic he's being frustrating and I'm writing him like that on purpose #but he's not the villain #he's barely even an antagonist #he's just bias and not sure what he's doing because he's in a confusing ass situation. he's trying his best under the circumstances #because he is as much of a fully fleshed out character as Jamie is

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vioisgoinginsane · 9 months

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The rio hate is just making me wanna love him more fyi

Sorta spoiler rant in the tags

#ikepri #cybird #ikemen prince #ikemen series #i love rio #ikepri rio #ikepri spoilers #k but in order not to could violett's comment section #yall just made me think about his trauma all the fuk over again #like yeah he KNOWS he should back off and let mc be happy but he really got no healthy way to deal with his possessivess #cuz yeah he's had things he loved taken away from him and his eventual coping mechanism was to not care about anyone so he won't get hurt #but he can't NOT care about mc #and it's funny cuz that sounds like a problem that appears if you already don't like rio which couldn't be me can't even imagine it sorry #and his possessiveness isn't outta nowhere it's cuz he grew up seeing his mom suffer cuz altho his dad loved her he still put #duty first and failed to protect her #and HE DOESN'T WANT THE SAME THING TO HAPPEN TO MC AO IT MAKES SENSE THAT HE'D BE SKEPTICAL #IT EVEN MAKES SENSE THAT HE'D KEEP TESTING THE SUITOR lol yeah kinda like a kid testing his stepdad or like a dog or something #EVEN WELL INTO THEIR RELATIONSHIP DESPITE SORTA KNOWING THAT WHAT HE'S DOING IS WRONG #idk about others but in clavis' 2nd birthday he's essentially a comedic antagonist there to be defeated by true love #like yeah he tests clavis but it's not some swindling scheme to get them to break up‚ he tests him fairly (in him eyes)#*his #on stuff a lover should know (rio plz not everyone is as insane as you) and clavis passes cuz ofc he does (cuz he's also insane and smitten)#like you might not like it but makes sense

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unproduciblesmackdown · 19 days

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blade gunnblade !!!!!!!!

via eliza simpson:

There are no words for this true warrior. They kill me. MMM: went in for a post show hug. Me:"ow!" Asia: "oh sorry, that's my bullet necklace." 😳........ 😍

#blade gunnblade #asia kate dillon #kapow-i gogo #eliza simpson of [angel & others in the mysteries] & [the mother line story project] & [saw ak dillon in triptych yes we're jealous]#& [princess cloudberry in kapow-i gogo]#here we also see stephen stout in the 1st pic but going ''!! surely our dear cherished blade gunnblade's back. hair's long though hmm''#only to have that cleared up by the 3rd pic thank god =']#i guess at some point blade gunnblade has blue hair & i do love that for them #i believe they're in part 3 but i have all the less information about that plausible appearance #(and of course still no info on [asia perhaps doubling roles with the longer black haired wig & ultracorp jacket in that one pic?])#one thing that would be fascinating & fun is if part 3 blade has more of part 1 kapow-i's look. the bright blue hair #looks like pink lipstick. Pure Speculation but i know the like [this is reaction to You Know How Media Is] element discussed like #part 1 thinking most [sat. morning cartoons experience; the legend of] part 2 is like when these series get sequels or just some #ep or turning point that upends its own previous established conventions. Darker more Serious / Mature Themes etc #part 3 like well sequel to That which adds yet another layer of the same factor there lol #i'm not really that versed in All This Media directly b/c i'm not that versed in / familiar with much of any media directly but #i am also not completely at sea & also one thing i could think of is like. blade is our revenge vengeance tragic anti antagonist lmao #what if after that they get to lighten up in delightful contrast to the torment & tragedy. turn more optimistic moral support bestie etc #but like i said utter speculation based on ''oh this is a look they have?'' & comments on [comments on material commenting on itself] so #could be anything! or nothing! except that it's Something enough to have been photographed a couple of times. thank god #oh hang on also we can see that that's stephen stout's character in the pic of Wearing A Black Longer Haired Wig & Ultracorp Jacket #who's to say it isn't also: yes that's blade disguised or something. underneath they have this bright blue shorter wig & Blade Outfit lol #i would cheer for that. compelling #(also noting that it didn't preclude a doubling of roles instead but; that figure Is wearing blade's necklace. makes it easy to switch to #Blade Mode backstage; makes it easy to switch to Blade Mode onstage....)#which: noted! bullet necklace! makes sense lmao. sort of #also pic 2 ft. director kristin mccarthy parker fyi. and the typical blade hair length i.e. simply asia's own.#''😳........ 😍'' soooooo true ''MMM:'' standing for ''most memorable moment:'' and also sooooo true as well #blade gunnblade is everything to me. if they died in part 3 i'm blowing this whole building up. they have bright blue hair now

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dimonds456 · 9 months

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Hey, y'all?

Making a character's motivs understandable is not the same as making them sympathetic.

Making a character's motivs sympathetic is not the same thing as making them redeemable.

Making a character's motivations redeemable is not the same thing as making them understandable.

From a writing perspective, you want to strive to make your characters understandable, yes, but that does not mean they have to be sympathetic, redeemable, or even nuanced at all. It might be good to have those things, but ultimately you just want your character to be understandable. The audience should be able to explain why your character does what they do in your work once they've seen/read/listened to it. That's it.

It depends on what your story needs and the tone you're going for, of course, but people seemingly have been confusing these things a lot. A character can have a sympathetic backstory and we can go "aw that's sad :(" but. Rachel, he still killed people. A lot of people. For no good reason. Sympathetic, not redeemable.

And even then, some people have been assuming that understandable = sympathetic, when this simply isn't true either. You should want your character to be understandable! You should be able to follow their train of thought, no matter how rocky or unstable it is, to see how and why they came to the conclusions they did about the world and thus why they took the actions they did. Doesn't mean they have to be #relatable or sympathetic in any way. It just means they are a consistent character with their own wants and desires.

And from an audience's perspective, this also means that RACHEL, HE KILLED PEOPLE FOR NO GOOD REASON, HE'S NOT REDEEMABLE-

#i like the jokes about it the jokes are fine this isn't about the jokes #this is actually about the people who try to justify and 'redeem' william afton's actions specifically #but this was written in a way that it doesnt have to be about fnaf which is why i didnt bring him up #i love a redemption story as much as the next but even though it's possible to understand afton that doesnt make him sympathetic #like straight-up he's NOT a sympathetic antagonist and *that's the point*#if you wanna write fiction about william getting a redemption arc you can. it's possible. i also love springtrap and deliah #(i think. it's been a few years since i've read it so i'd need to reread it now as an adult to really judge it if you asked me.)#HOWEVER: if you *genuinely* defend william's actions and then retroactively try to make him a 'bad but sad boy' or something #um. no.#please think for 2 seconds #feel free to rb this btw i made it vague on purpose #and yes you can blorbotag it #dimond speaks

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