#(sorry to go on tangents and tangents i have ...thoughts)

[dianthusandhisreds]

Poly twst headcanons: Octavinelle

Relationship dynamics:

Before you barged into their lives, the three of them were already together. In fact, they started dating before enrolling at Night Raven College, but they became official after Azul’s overblot, when the Leech twins saw that not hiding wasn’t enough anymore, that the other needed the “comfort” and “security” of a label.

It was, in fact, at that point, when they sat down in Azul’s office and discussed the nature of their relationship as they noticed new feelings blooming for you. The question now was, how to proceed?

Usually they’d approach the situation like they do with everything else, by squeezing every detail they could about you, finding what were your interests, motivations, tastes in men… However, this wasn’t “everything else”; this was you; a magicless land-dweller that randomly appeared in Twisted Wonderland. This was something important! They couldn’t let their chance slip!

Cue in their chaotic attempts at trying to “seduce” you.

Their flirting style:

Azul will try to persuade you into spending more time at Mostro Lounge, be it by offering you discounts, asking you to taste test a new recipe, to show you the new chairs that got mailed that morning… You get the gist.

He’ll also try his best to look as confident and polished, but sometimes his mask will slip and you’ll get a glimpse of that anxious little octopus who’s desperate for his crush’s attention.

When that happens, don’t comment on it please, he gets enough teasing from the twins; a small break would be appreciated; also, if you showed a bit of interest in his coin collection, he’d be delighted to show it to you.

Jade, on the other hand, is smooth, and eerily elegant; as if he has everything planned out t the detail and knows exactly what buttons to push to get what he wants.

That’s not to say he’ll manipulate you, no; there’s nothing in this world he hates more than a spurious relationship. In fact, to ensure your relationship is authentic as possible, he’ll very much reveal his true colours to you, showing how much of a little shit he can be, teasing you relentlessly.

Don’t worry though, if he sees that he’s crossed a line somehow, he’ll make sure to apologize in the most Jade-like fashion possible; which is to say, giving you space and showing that he understands that what he did was too much.

Note: I don’t think he’s one to directly say sorry; he comes across more as the type to give you space and being more attentive and thoughtful from then on.

Also, be prepared for impromptu mushroom gathering hikes; if you are to become their whole world, he has to show you his favourite places, his mushroom terrarium, the most spectacular routes…

When it comes to Floyd, he acts just as usual. He won’t hide his crush on you or try to act differently; in fact, he’ll be proud to announce it to the whole world by squeezing you tight (not too tight though, don’t worry) and spinning you, peppering your face with kisses and playful nibbles, or showing you his mer form at the pool. He’s very proud of it!

In fact, he’ll probably go on an in-depth tangent on the anti-aging properties of his slime, how strong he is, the fact that he can glow in the dark…

Dating him means of course that you’ll have to deal with his constant mood swings, try not to let it get to you. If he gets annoyed or looks mad at you, he’s probably going through a lot*; talk to him when he feels better.

*I do not mean to excuse mistreatment or hurtful words by saying that one should endure it because the other is hurting, that is not what I’m implying. If someone who is hurting says or does things that make you upset, talk about it, it’s important to establish boundaries between you and other people as well as respecting them.

Displays of affection/love languages

All of them love looking after you, making sure that you don’t lack anything: Have any trouble studying? Azul will take you on study dates so that you feel confident in your skills (in exchange though, you might have to participate in long cuddling sessions with our dear octopus); someone’s giving you trouble? Floyd and Jade will make sure you know how to defend yourself and how to appear more imposing (they’ll even go on an extra mile to make sure those people don’t bother you ever again, isn’t that nice?).

Azul: He’ll send kind of mixed signals; on one hand, he wants to look suave and elegant, someone capable who can take care of you, on the other one though, he wants to be cherished and taken care of. All in all, the poor mer is a bit conflicted on how to act. One thing’s for sure though! He’ll try to cuddle you as much as possible (no, you won’t be able to get up from bed before him, you may try, but it will be impossible), and when cuddling is not possible, he’ll hold your hand or link your fingers together, to feel you close.

He’ll also show you off with pride as if saying “look at them, my incredibly capable partner, look how magnificent they are!”

As said before, Floyd will be very physical when it comes to displays of affection but he’ll also give you random things that reminded him of you. Look at this cool rock I found, it’s so pretty it reminds me of you; or you look like a weird looking fish I saw the other day.

Jade, like his brother, also enjoys giving you things, mostly souvenirs from his little trips or mountain escapades (dried flowers, unique mushrooms, carved wood figures… You name it!); but he also loves hearing you talk. He’ll ask about a topic he knows you’re interested in and watch you go off for hours nodding and smiling. As for physical displays of affection, Jade is more of a private person (like Azul); but like his twin, he’ll playfully nibble you on some occasions as well as teasing you endlessly so it is you who ends up demanding kisses.

*I do not mean to excuse mistreatment or hurtful words by saying that one should endure it because the other is hurting, that is not what I’m implying. If someone who is hurting says or does things that make you upset, talk about it, it’s important to establish boundaries between you and other people as well as respecting them.

#twisted wonderland #polyamory #jade leech #floyd leech #tweels #twst jade #twst floyd #azul ashengrotto #twst azul #no incest #azulxjadexfloydxreader #gender neutral reader #gn reader #headcanons #octavinelle #twst wonderland #poly headcanons #poly ship #please appreciate it #this is a mess but i needed to get this out or i was going to self combust #it has been sitting on my drafts for months #tomorrow i'll publish the 2nd installment #i'm back ajaj #i'm not dead #i also want to write for idia but my god that is hard #I don't relate that much to jade and floyd #so sorry if any mischaracterizations have been made #again #i adore azul and the tweels #but writing is hard

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

cough hack wheeze who wants a teeny tiny fantasy au snippet with uhhhh laughingstock Tension. it's like... half a scene! unedited & out of context As Is Tradition

~

“Nothin’ much. I think I’ll poke around nearby towns, shake down some travelers - see what falls into my paws.”

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Barn,” Howdy says. He sweeps aggressively, spreading dirt more than gathering it into the usual neat piles. “Who knows if those ne'er-do-wells are still roaming around the woods - if you and Ed couldn’t take them, what makes you think you could alone? Or- or! What if you stumble across those cultists? I hate to think of you stuck in an ambush with no help coming, knowing fully well that-”

A large paw slips the broom out of his grip and sets it to the side, and Howdy stammers to a stop as Barnaby crowds him against the bar with a soft, “Howdy.”

Howdy swallows hard, bracketed on each side by strong blue arms. The look Barnaby fixes him with dries up his well of words and bristles his fuzz. Howdy’s heart hammers against his ribs. He can feel Barnaby’s body heat, and it’s lighting his blood on fire. 

“I’m not gonna be reckless, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Barnaby says. He barely needs to speak louder than a whisper for Howdy to hear him loud and clear. He smells like sweet smoke. “The other day was a one time deal, cross my heart. But, if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll take someone with me. I’m sure Jules is itchin’ to get outta town.”

“What would really make me feel better is if you stay,” Howdy blurts, just barely reining in the with me. He tenses, knowing that he’s toeing a dangerous line. One wrong word, and he’ll make the unspoken spoken - but the stress drains out of him as Barn’s eyes go soft. Perhaps that wouldn’t be so bad. Of course there’s no reason to worry, not about this, not with him. There never has been.

“You know I can’t do that,” Barnaby murmurs. “Not yet.”

Howdy doesn’t need to say that he knows. Not for the first time and with any luck, not for the last, it clicks in his mind that they’re on the same page - he doesn’t need to be a telepath to understand the thoughts behind Barnaby’s dark eyes. 

Barnaby says it anyway. “I gotta get him back. I can’t… there’s no room for anythin’ else right now.”

Howdy sighs through his nose and slumps against the counter digging into the small of his back. He nods and adjusts the lapels of Barnaby’s vest. His fingers ghost over soft blue, and Barnaby doesn’t flinch at the contact. If anything, he leans the barest millimeter into it. His gaze burns into Howdy’s, even if they aren’t meeting at the moment, but it isn’t a bad feeling. Quite the opposite, actually.

“Well,” Howdy says in a low voice, “if you find a good lead, send for the rest of us. I’ll be there as fast as my four legs can scamper.”

Barnaby smirks. “Even if you need to take a boat?”

“Even so, Barn.”

The smirk slides into something that isn’t a frown, but isn’t a smile. It’s too soft for a grimace, but too intense for simple recognition. Barnaby seems to sway forward, and Howdy is sorely tempted to meet him halfway.  

But Barnaby’s claw taps the counter, and he pulls away before anyone’s mind can be made up. Howdy’s hands slip from his lapels, brushing against fur as they fall and knuckles skimming over the smooth, fresh scar cutting across Barnaby’s belly. 

“I’ll be back before you know it,” Barnaby says, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He squeezes Howdy’s shoulder and then his back is turned, and he’s leaving. All Howdy can do is watch. 

And call out after him, “Your table will be open and waiting for you.”

Barnaby pauses in the doorway and looks over his shoulder at Howdy, and his grin is so full of affection that Howdy may just burst. 

“With a free pint?” he asks.

“Hey now, don’t push your luck pal.”

Barnaby bursts out laughing, and Howdy can hear it even after the door thuds closed.

#clawing and sobbing and- no. no #im normal. im so normal i swear #yk on a related tangent. i keep wanting to go to my sleep but spotify keeps playing bangers #all of my Lore songs... the animatics in my head... i dont want to not listen! #so i thought hey. might as well offer Yet Another Snippet! #i have many these days! #i almost posted the human au carnival snippet but uhhhh this one won out. i wrote it like. two hours ago #im sorry if it lacks some Personality or if theres blatant Mistakes #im tired! i meant to be asleep two hours ago! its 2 am! #snippets from the bog #laughingstock #wh fantasy au #its not shown in this tidbit #but barnaby has his pack and it contains Not Only Wormie! but also Puppet Wally! #barnaby: i gotta find wally 🥺 #honey... you have had him the whole time... kiss your caterpillar.... #the. the tall one. not the teeny worm. #well. the teeny worm too but she just gets a little kisth on her tiny face. #the tall caterpillar would get uhhhh a lil more than that id expect. lotsa sugar yk yk #im. gonna go sleep #these two will be my nightly bedtime story as i drift away... #and hopefully ill wake up early enough to find the christmas lights before The Stream #and maybe crochet a few more rows.... read a couple more chapters... #i just misspelled read as red i need to be Unconchus

[its-your-mind]

Kim 👏 Dokja’s 👏 only 👏 reference 👏 for 👏 love 👏 his 👏 whole 👏 life 👏 was 👏 his 👏 mother 👏

he did not have a single friend for his whole life! and as far as his conscious mind knew, his mom’s act of protection and her subsequent sacrifice were sullied by her essay!

And he! Hated her for it! But he visited her! And told her about the novel that was the only thing that made his life worth living! Because somewhere deep down he did still love her and OF COURSE he knew she still loved him! Especially that deep down buried part of himself that Knew The Truth! Which made the hate hurt even worse!!

And so then!! When he finally had people he loved and who loved him back! He told them he loved them THE 👏 ONLY 👏 WAY 👏 HE 👏 KNEW 👏 TO 👏 TELL 👏 THEM 👏

Was to sacrifice himself. Over, and over, and over. And then use the story he created from that sacrifice, the Demon King of Salvation, to save them.

And that’s why all their attempts to stop him never worked. Because they tried to tell him that he was just as important as them. They tried to stand beside him in his sacrifice. They tried to get him to tell them the plan, so they could make a better one together.

But the plan was Never the point. He finally had people he loved, and now he even had a power that allowed him to negate his fear of death and numb his pain, and then the opportunity to come back from death, to tell them with more than one life and death how much he loved and cherished them.

#hi mutuals??? I’ve been MIA for like two weeks and that’s because I’ve been binge-reading sorry #now you get all my unhinged thoughts #anyway go read orv #orv #orv spoilers #omniscient reader's viewpoint #omniscent reader #omniscient reader spoilers #kim dokja #also I just have the line from dodie’s Boys Like You playing on repeat in my head #“you can’t help it / this is just how you / were taught to love” #but that is the only relevant line in the song #anyway thanks for coming on my tangent journey I’m sure there will be more off-the-wall unhinged ranting Soon

[seeminglyseph]

I keep seeing Dimension 20 vs Critical Role one is superior to the other, but honestly, the more they do crossover stuff the more I’m delighted because I love everyone involved.

and yeah I did find out about Dimension 20 because of Critical Role. I think that just proves that like. The rising tide raises all ships and all that jazz… And I hope collaboration helps Dropout recover after Facebook fucked College Humor to death.

And they both introduced me to the work of Aabria Iyengar and she’s been hugely inspirational and so, so entertaining and I am a huge fan and both give me great chances to see her work fuckin magic so.

Let there be collaboration!

#critical role #dimension 20 #these are not important thoughts but they are mine #I really really want to see aabriya run an extended campaign with interwoven plot lines and characters #I see her have these like planted seeds and intentions and machinations that have to either pay off quickly or somewhere else #and I want to watch her weave a whole tapestry with the others working as assistants #because her style is so fucking vivid and my fucking jam #I’m such a fucking fanboy I’m sorry I don’t even know #I refuse to get parasocial with it I’m not following socials #but I love her stuff so much I want to see her do something long form maybe with romance and her storytelling interests at the forefront #I’m going on a nerd tangent I have to stop

[squuote]

my narrator could definitely look more human or even have a full stylized human look but I think he would hate the idea of looking fully human to any extent. even his humanoid form would originally leave such a distaste for him because the feeling of control resides in not being the human, the player, but instead being the narrative. so it’s more of a ‘I would never stoop to being human to any extent because they are weak and powerless things that barely have any agency for themselves’ kind of thinking that only a certain button could break him out of that line of thinking

#crow thoughts #the narrator #SORRY im having intrusive thoughts and this is the only way to combat them this morning #head full of shitty thoughts!!! bring in the narrator to fix it thx!!! #but yeah sorry I just. I put so much thought into my designs and the reason why I wanted him not entirely human looking #the narrator definitely has this concept that he’s all in control and it’s like the basis for why he fights so much with stanley #because stanley finds ways to go against his command that he thought couldn’t be altered or changed by someone like stanley #a measly little office worker that was confined the a task that was simply following orders and nothing else #surely there will be no consequences of taking this obedient office worker and putting him into an eternal loop of my own devices #IM GOING OFF ON A TANGENT BUT. I HOPE MY POINT GOT ACROSS #reminds me I still need to make that list of things for my narrator designs because I have so many small tidbits about it!!!!!! #I love to design but god am I extremely over the top with it I will admit that #I still cannot even pick my curator design which also reminds me I need to replay her route a few more times

[sskk-manifesto]

Osamu Dazai and the Depressing Era

#I have so many thoughts through my mind these days I was barely able to focus on the episode. I kept zoning out #I made barely any post #Okay some thoughts. The thing that really hit me since the first time watching b/sd... Is the– #“I don't kill people because I want to write about lives” “I start doing good because my friend asked me to” #Like I get grey morals and everything but also. Sorry for being so simplistic but I think everyone should do good / not kill people– #because killing people is bad lol. No because of other personal reasons #I really *really* feel b/sd ultimately has a very nihilistic approach to life. #And that when Oda said “You won't find a reason to live whether side you're on. Both sides are the same.” it's not Oda-character talking– #but it's really the author expressing their own worldview through the one character that's the most distinguished #They really think there's no difference between good and bad in their little nihilistic world. #Which is something I personally don't agree with. #“It is a given that everything that is worth wanting will be lost the moment I obtain it” #......... No it's not you just need to go to the shore and listen to the waves crush and the seagulls squeal dude. It's going to be okay. #That's why it's so easy to portray Dazai as perfect and flawless for the author btw. #Because nothing he ever did in the pm was wrong if “good” and “bad” don't mean anything to begin with. #And this is coming from a deeply relativist person. But I believe even grey morals have a limit. #Thus my general disagreement with most b/sd themes #I don't know why I went off this tangent btw I didn't intend to. #I suppose it bears repeating once in a while where I stand compared to the b/sd themes and my personal interpretation of them #(Even though I acknowledge most people don't agree with such interpretation... ) #There were other things regarding the episode I needed to say but I forgot... #One of them was that season 2 Dark Era proves that even amv openings can actually be good if you put enough budget in them #Which makes me even more pissed at the season 3 / season 5 ops #random rambles

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

Something I've been considering recently: the big storytelling difference between Hideo Kojima and Yoko Taro.

There's an obvious reason I've been thinking about this, I feel: both these guys are, on the surface, exceedingly similar. They're both well-known Japanese video game creators*, they're both known for their eccentricities, they both tell stories that run the razor-thin line between 'Violence is corrupting and immoral' and 'Okay, but that bit of violence was pretty sick, right?' really well, as well as throwing in some really funny 'Hey, what the fuck did I just watch?' energy, hell they even both had a game in their series directed by Platinum Games, I don't especially think this is an overreach, here.

But they are different creators, and I've been thinking about their differences (specifically in storytelling - obviously one makes Action-RPGs and one makes Stealth Games and Baby Postman Simulators) as I play MGS3 and Nier Replicant, and I think I've come down to this: it's in how they condemn violence, and especially war.

Kojima bases all of his stories in reality - a heightened reality, perhaps, but there's a reason multiple MGS games end with long lists of dates and events, Kojima's made-up ones slipped in-between the actual history. Kojima bases his critiques on things that are real and tangible - MGS3 itself, more than any bee-wielding supervillain or photosynthetic sniper, is about the Cold War, and it's no accident that the Boss' speech at the end isn't about the Philosophers, or Volgin, or Metal Gear (METAL GEAR?) it's about soldiers, their fates and their traumas. Kojima lives in the world of... not exactly reality, but allegory-through-reality, and it makes his games pretty explicit in their messaging - which in my mind is a good thing, because it means that people who fundamentally misunderstand MGS aren't just wrong, they're obviously wrong - show me an MGS fan who thinks they're pro-America and pro-military, and I'll show you someone who did not pay attention to MGS.

Yoko Taro, on the other hand, is entirely a creature of allegory. Yoko himself has said in interviews that he tells stories primarily as a way to get people to feel something, and all other things like connections to the other games or even internal consistency comes as a secondary concern (as someone who's tried multiple times to tie everything Drakenier related together - that's believable.) As an inevitable result of this, his stories aren't really 1:1 parallels to history or the modern day, they're very general conflicts that speak to a wide range of topics.

Put it this way: in MGS4, Kojima describes in great detail a situation that is the natural endpoint of the geo-political situation (especially re: America) during most of the early 21st Century, especially The War on Terror - instead of war being a means of obtaining resources to generate income for big corporations, now war is the means of income, and all the inherent flaws of American late-stage capitalism have been applied to it - to the point that soldiers have to pay extra to use someone else's gun. It's a heightened, at times absurd version of reality, but it focuses on specific issues and flaws with the subject matter - The War on Terror, and through them highlights issues with our current world - hell, Kojima may have predicted some of the issue we currently face with capitalism.

In Nier Automata, however, Yoko doesn't present an exaggeration of a real-world conflict to portray it's flaws and its hopelessness. Instead, he constructs an entirely hopeless war, a war that is literally pointless on every side, and explores how people react to that. As opposed to Kojima's slight exaggeration of the War on Terror, by the end of Automata Yoko has presented a proxy war fought on behalf of two races that died off millennia ago, between two groups that are, at their core, exactly the same, made from the same components, fought on one side because of a poorly worded instruction from their creators that necessitates eternal total war as a basic fact of their evolutionary cycle but also inevitably results in their evolutions being violently purged because any form of passivity is betrayal, and on the other as a grand Machiavellian scheme to kill off their own troops, thereby concealing the deaths of their creators – a scheme, it’s worth noting, conceived of by an android that no longer remembers conceiving it, because his own scheme necessitates his constant assassination by the person he cares about the most to prevent him from discovering his own plan. Kojima's wars in MGS4 are absurd and pointless for us because we know what the results of the War on Terror were, Yoko's war in Automata is kinda like an onion - every layer you peel back on it, you discover a new way that it's pointless, and every time you do, you're crying a little bit more.

So, wrapping this up before people realise I just used the ultimate cliche of poorly-worded food metaphors, if you were to ask me what the big difference between Yoko Taro and Hideo Kojima was... well, I'd still go with the gameplay genres, but I'd also say that it's a slight, but really interesting, difference in how they go about their metaphors. As for which is better... neither, obviously. They're both really talented creators, this is just a style thing. You seriously expect me to choose between a series that includes 'a man pretended to be possessed by the ghost of his crush's son because he grafted his arm onto him and everyone bought it' and a series that includes 'at some point the Earth stopped spinning. This has never been explained in any of the games'? What are you, a cop?

*albeit if Yoko ever heard someone compare him to Kojima he'd probably simultaneously die of embarrassment and make a joke about being a younger, hotter Kojima.

#yoko taro #hideo kojima #drakenier #metal gear #metal gear solid #nier #I have to admit my own western biases: #it was extremely weird calling Yoko Taro 'Yoko' through all of this #but one of the things I still retain from my essay-writing days at uni is that it's really weird to call one author by their last name #and another by their first name #so since I was calling him 'Kojima'... #also I'm sorry if this is semi-incomprehensible #it's kinda stream of conscious as I thought of stuff #hence also why I didn't mention why the WWII parallels with Automata counted as a Kojima-style allegory #(and also why I have not come up with a fancy word to differentiate Kojima- and Yoko-style allegories) #seriously I planned out an entire footnote on that #(along with a brief tangent on why people who say Nier Automata is fascist apologia are wrong and idiots) #(because that's a thing I discovered exists) #ah well #I'll probably go on that rant another day #I could literally talk forever about Yoko Taro games #stay tuned!

[no1ryomafan]

I’m midway through Giant Robo and as much as I hate to point out something that reminds me of getter bc I say every mecha I’ve watched since has been very different:

I immediately notices two characters who have green hair and not only did I call they were siblings just based off of that but they are related to a mad dead scientist. I am once again wondering if Imagawa had the Kei is Genki plot point from the start and the team still used it after he left because this scarily aligns with what fucking happens later in arma. Like I heard he took his script with him but there is- so much foreshadow in the eps he did to the entire family plot line that unfolds in arma. So many lines Saotome saids about Go alluding to he’s a clone, a line from Musashi pointing out Genki is different, even Genki always had that yellow shirt in group photo that upon a second look feels like a *girl* would wear it and not a boy, but they have the cap still. Not to mention like I’ve said in a couple recent post MANY times is the weird factor that Kei originally was a side character, even my one friend pointed this out. Sure, she does show up in the manga when Sho isn’t around much and she did pilot shin getter during that point, but it’s not like she did much since Ryoma was doing the fighting for that section and then she died.

Also just the fact Kei is two characters merged into one is something imagawa would’ve done, given his other works he’s Frankensteining all these characters together and Giant Robo predated Arma, it’s not out of line for him to do something like this again especially when he keeps the same story telling beat of throwing his viewers into it and not explaining a thing. (Also I haven’t seen G gundam but KNOW family is a theme there for him too)

I’m always gonna go insane whether or not what we got in arma was actually lacking Imagawas original vision or not but this made me go more insane.

#meg text #getter robo #giant robo #also I’m sorry if this evolved into another getter tangent and not a lot about giant robo #I like it so far but I’m waiting until I finish it to sort my thoughts given this is a shorter one #also a lot is going on LMAO #my only guess now with imagawas OG script is like- the dinosaurs would've been around and the hayato framing would be addressed #shin dragon would be more of a horrifying thing then what we got at the end #ryoma would PROBABLY be around the whole time so I don’t think Kei would’ve replaced him #and ig the tone would be more intense the whole time where as it kinda calm down a bit #man I still want the story of the drama to be revealed but it probably won’t ever happen #it’s a two decade old show and imagawa happy doing whatever now there’s no reason to touch it #but I’m always gonna theorize about this more then actual getter stuff /hj #also funny how Kei doesn’t have a weird apparent powers bc I hear that’s a common thing with imagawa #But go took her place ig

[sushisocks]

so this is like two asks ig? but what is ur most unique sean headcanon, and what is ur sean headcanon that you will defend with your life (i really love ur headcanons lol)

OOOHHHHH ANON!!!!!! we're in it now lmfaoo THANK YOU first of all I'm honestly so glad people enjoy my headcanons/rants about these characters!! RDR2 is my first time really foray-ing into fandom space like this (previously having kept my writing & thoughts to closed circles of friends lol), and the reception here has overall been a lot more than I ever expected!! Especially since I've really picked my faves <;- said while sideeyeing the 28 works in the macsummers tag on AO3.

ANYWAY these are some insanely good questions, anon, and I've been thinking about them ALL DAY, so I'll do my very best to answer you here in a way which does these questions justice.

It's hard for me to know which one of my Sean HCs is the most unique, as I have a LOT of HCs, and I've been posting a LOT of them over the course of the past few months. I've been told (as a compliment!!) that my overall take on him & the connections I make regarding him is unique, which I obviously am very flattered by! But I also don't think it's too hard to be unique when you're thinking & talking about a character who generally isn't given the same amount of genuine consideration and meta as other characters from the same franchise. Like, I could be talking at length about Arthur, or Charles, or John (and I HAVE!!! Not on tumblr, but still, I love those characters too!!) but my takes would probably not generate the same kind of attention by virtue of those characters being talked about a lot by a lot of other people too!! My posts about Sean stick out because there's not a whole lot of other people writing posts about Sean in the meta/HC style I do!

(Sidenote, while I don't fault the RDR2 fandom for not giving Sean his dues - he is a side character who dies very early on, and who is easy to stereotype, after all - I AM very glad and grateful that the stuff I've said & shared seems to have impacted some people's understandings of him, at least in the circles I run in. As of late I've been seeing a lot more thoughtful takes on him, reflecting how he has the capability of being just as nuanced as several of the other characters in the game. Maybe that's because I'm right in the middle of it though; most RDR2 circles I'm in KNOW me as the Sean stan, and engage with my takes on him, after all!!)

So like, is my most unique Sean headcanon among the ones that reflect canon & actually took off, impacting some people's view of him - like how he DOES mirror a younger Arthur, and how he fulfills a role in the gang, and how his death is necessary to set the tone for the rest of the game? Or is my most unique headcanon him being a gnc bi poly king in the messiest possible queerplatonic triad with Karen and Lenny? Is it that I think he prefers licorice to chocolate? That I think his favorite color is burgundy(not that he'd call it that)? I don't know! I both have so many HCs that picking one is extremely hard for my Libra-ass-self, and I don't have many others writing similar stuff to compare myself with, at all! I'd love to hear from others, though, if anyone else who's been reading my Sean posts have any takes regarding what of my stuff has stuck with them!!!

OKAY sorry for the rant mkjhbjj It's probably not what you were looking for asking me that but it's something that's on my mind, given that I think a fair amount of the uptick in my following over the past few months, if not from AO3, is very much from my RDR2 meta posts - which are in majority about Sean.

ANYYYWAYYY as for a Sean HC I will defend with my life - DEFINITELY the Sean learning disabilities ones - he is INCREDIBLY ADHD & dyslexia coded to me, it MASSIVELY influences how I write him in my fics, and I don't think anyone will ever argue me away from that one. Also, Sean siding with Arthur & John in the end, IS a hill I will die on - to the point that I've written several posts about/referring to it mjnhbnjbh Honestly though, I am a petty bitch who will die on most hills available to me, and I'm not afraid of confrontation, so I am a little bit of a menace when it comes to my Sean HCs and defending them lolol I'm overall very pleased they've gone over well with the rest of the Sean stan community here on tumblr though!! Yall are the best fr <3<3<3

#i went on a tangental RAAANNNTTT here im sorry #ive just. been having this on my mind and tumblr is where i go for talking abt things on my mind lolol #i hope it doesn't seem like im bragging OR complaining btw!! i greatly appreciate everyone who contributes to sean's tag!!! #but i don't think it's unfair to say there's not a whole lot of people writing several thousand words of sean meta like i do lol #and the word unique has been in my like. in my WORLD if you will. a LOT lately so it just unlocked something in my brain #that i needed to write out here. nothing against u anon i loved these questions and i did genuinely think on them all day while at work #which is why this got so long </3 #teki talks #rdr thoughts #sean macguire #rdr2 #rdr2 sean #red dead redemption 2 #asks #meta asks #rdr asks

[svvordsmachine]

the fact that the robots in ultrakill were programmed to appreciate music in some form drives me crazy. what else would their creators have tried to let them appreciate.

#[iz.txt] #sorry im just #this drives me crazy!! #especially wrt how in w359 the thing that gets the aliens to want to know humans is music #super technologically advanced beings confused by music. a thing so human. you know #but also i like to imagine that some of their creators wanted to let them know(?) or give them more humanity #wanting to program them with an appreciation for aesthetics in architecture comes to mind #cause i dont think the people making them (hands on not leading the project) are particularly thrilled at making a warmachine #the thought is appreciation for architecture/structures being programmed into them -> less general overall destruction #if theyre appreciating how something looks theyre not going to just explode it #i know they dont have that. #but i like to think someone who built them wanted to give them programming that made stuff worth saving to them #this i a very v-model centered tangent but i just. sighs

[thresholdbb]

Let’s talk about some of the problems with Star Trek. There are obviously real-world, behind-the-scenes reasons for many of the things we don’t like about Star Trek, and they’re usually pretty messed up. A very non-comprehensive list includes but certainly is not limited to:

Geordi being bad with women - racism

Geordi and Worf being the people of color on the cast but in heavy make-up - racism/othering

Harry Kim not getting a promotion - racism (see: model minority)

Klingons all being black/dark skinned (pre ~2001 at least cause that’s mostly what I know) but sometimes played by white actors - racism (see: blackface)

Chakotay’s whole deal - racism (see: noble savage)

The Kazon not assimilated by the Borg - anti-black racism

Deanna Troi not wearing a uniform - sexism

Seven of Nine not wearing a uniform - sexism

Jadzia getting killed off - sexism

Ezri’s poor reception - sexism again

Miles/Keiko/Kira’s baby situation - theres a post going around calling it misogynistic and it’s a pretty good take

B’Elanna being reduced to angry Klingon - Racism and sexism double whammy (see: spicy Latina)

Keiko being perceptually reduced to nagging wife even though that’s not what her actions necessarily portray - racism and sexism double whammy again

Beverly Crusher’s trill episode - homophobia

DS9 flirting with different expressions of sexuality (many characters) but barely committing - homophobia

Pike’s fate - ableism

DS9 Augments - ableism

Later iterations of Spock losing the Jewish coding - antisemitism

I’ll stop the list there since we can keep pulling examples out as nauseam and find examples of any of the -isms, any of the -phobias either within the media itself or behind the scenes but especially in some of the fan spaces. There’s plenty of ethnic/religious/gender/sexuality coding, erasure, contradictions, and many other things that can be pulled out and dissected in ~900 hours of a franchise made over 6 decades. (Keep adding examples if you want, since mine do not cover the whole spectrum of the franchise and barely even touch alien species that also have issues.)

Star Trek is undeniably made in a capitalist Hollywood production company, so white supremacy, heteronormativity, and dominant cultural tendencies usually end up dictating what gets put on air. Hollywood has a dominant thread of white supremacy throughout its history, so even intentionally trying to diversify staff and talent is difficult because of the systems feeding into Hollywood or other industries/institutions. There can also be a great deal of privilege working in the favor of successful artists - not always but something to consider.

Additionally, Trek presents itself as a post-scarcity, futuristic utopia, and sometimes things stick out to us if they don’t meld with our personal understanding of what that would look like.

I’m sure we’ve all heard a little about the old production schedules, long days, demanding schedules, rotating writers, rotating directors, etc etc. It has been proven that implicit bias can drive decisions, especially when people are busy. Even if the production isn’t explicitly motivated by these things, they seep into the work. The -isms and -phobias are sometimes reduced to characteristics of a person/piece of media, but it’s sometimes more useful to characterize actions instead of people since it allows better conversation about the topics. Sometimes it is intentional and explicit, sometimes it’s not. The intention does not affect the impact, so how a storyline or message lands on the audience/viewer is important. Science fiction in particular is a genre that makes social commentary, so by design it lends itself to deeper analysis.

We also can’t forget that the shows are products of their respective times, and a lot of what was shown was pushing against cultural boundaries. For the most part, the franchise has tried to explicitly be diverse, but they are bound to make missteps in other areas, intentional or not. No piece of media is perfect or above scrutiny.

Now, all of that said, there are many schools of thought for how to analyze media. I’m not gonna give a whole crash course in literary criticism but we can look at it from a continuum of different perspectives. We can wonder what the production meant when they made it/what happened off camera (author intentionality), we can draw from the piece itself (in universe), we can focus on how the media was received either in its cultural context or outside (reader response), or we can do some combination of the three. No media exists in a vacuum, so they all end up working together to make the work.

My main point is this: it is ok to pick your analytical perspective. You can chose to ignore the real-world contributions and intentionality when analyzing media. If people want to stay strictly in universe to come up with reasons why something did or did not happen, that’s ok. If people want to focus on what happened behind the scenes and how that affected the work, fine. If people are just focused on how it made them feel, also great. Just maybe don’t get all worked up because someone is analyzing media from a different viewpoint or someone has a different take than you do.

#Star Trek #long post #infinite diversity in infinite combinations #I could put more in the bullets if I thought about it #there are plenty of examples floating around #a lot of the -ism tropes are so common they have names #I don’t remember all of them cause I lent that book out and never got it back #I am not defending the production for making bigoted decisions #the issue is nuanced #i like to stay in universe because it was hammered into me not to look to hard into author intentionality #intentional fallacy #like I’m not a Russian formalist or anything #I can acknowledge that behind the scenes and what resulted is far from perfect and may even perpetuate stereotypes #we contain multitudes #sure we can find plenty of white saviors too #I know I didn’t hit all the possible isms sorry #I have a lot of thoughts on the augment situation though #like yes x happened because whatever person was sexist racist etc but we can look deeper if we want #idk if this is a rant or what but I’m sorry I decided to go off on a million tangents today #a post no one asked for #just gonna keep writing long posts and tags people probably won’t read #meta

[muninnhuginn]

Thinking about Seo Dongjae’s arc and how Lee Changjoon factors into it.

Spoilers for both seasons of Stranger under the cut.

Both came from similar backgrounds in that they were ‘disadvantaged’ compared to their peers. Lee Changjoon didn’t come from a family as wealthy as the chaebols and Lee Yeonjae is explicitly said to have married ‘down’ when she married him instead of Kim Byunghyun. Seo Dongjae meanwhile wasn’t an alumni of a prestigious university and so doesn’t have the same connections as many of his colleagues. This pushes them both in different ways. Dongjae towards latching onto the nearest person he thinks he can use to give him a leg up. Changjoon towards the murky business of Hanjo and his father-in-law.

As season 1 progresses, Dongjae and Changjoon become more distant. We’re told that they used to be closer and have been growing apart over the course of the early episodes as Dongjae’s suspicion of his boss grows. Dongjae is still an opportunist though and so he returns back under Changjoon when given the chance. Ultimately, survival is what matters most for him and if it’s playing all sides that keeps him from being arrested that’s just what he’ll do.

Changjoon took Dongjae on to be his employee on the condition he stay away from Hanjo and his father-in-law. In retrospect, I’m inclined to believe this was his way of protecting Dongjae from their influence rather than because of worries Dongjae could ‘expose’ him. After all, Changjoon intended to expose Hanjo himself and so keeping Dongjae away from them doesn’t particularly help with this. If anything, he’s limiting potential information Dongjae can obtain to only the pieces more relevant to himself.

And, of course, Changjoon told Dongjae to not follow his path with his dying breaths. He could see the direction Dongjae was heading (and was already far enough down to have an arrest warrant out in his name) and knew where it had ended for him. Changjoon knew how how hard it is to extricate yourself once you’ve started down the corrupt route. But he also knew it wasn’t too late for Dongjae. Eunsoo proved that Dongjae couldn’t stomach being a killer.

Season two Dongjae, for all he’s still trying to make inroads and build connections in dubious ways, does show signs of growth. The fact he looked further into the Choi Bit and Park Gwangsu when Woo Taeha tried to draw him away from them is evidence of that. Looking further in this case would not endear him to the very person he wants to gain a promotion from. Also, it does seem like he was genuinely invested in his role in juvenile crimes, in even ‘simple’ bullying cases. And that in of itself helped him unlock the beach case. There was also how didn’t particularly socialise with others at his current office and mainly kept to himself which is a far cry from his early season 1 behaviour. Of course, the last point is somewhat weakened by the way he was most definitely networking outside of his station, but it adds to the sense of isolation and desperation present in everyone this season. His motivation skews increasingly towards his family and dissatisfaction with the whole system (though as a prosecutor he aims most of his ire at the police force).

There’s a part in the second season where Dongjae says something about how looking too deeply into places regardless of what everyone else wants can get you in trouble. And at the time the most obvious person it applies to is Simok (and also Eunsoo, but that stays silent) but in a number of ways it applies to Dongjae himself in this season. He’s probably lucky he was taken out by the culprit he was when you look at the other potential suspects. He has a lot of new powerful enemies. And those enemies are still future threats to him (as Lee Yeonjae demonstrates aptly). For a character so focused on survival historically, his choice should be clear when it comes to whether he speaks up or whether he chooses to stay silent. And yet, he’s shown enough growth that it isn’t clear anymore.

In the dream sequence in season 2, the subtext is pretty clear as to why each person appears. They’re all people who quite literally ‘lost their way or lost their life’. Changjoon (life/way - self-explanatory), Kang (strayed his way but chose to leave), Eunsoo (life, and also her way - though not in the corrupt sense, more how her revenge consumed her and she made self-destructive choices), Yoon (way, though importantly *not* his life). And Dongjae being there is partly to raise the potential he won’t make it, but most of all, it’s there to say that Dongjae hasn’t yet chosen his own path.

As of the season two finale, we don’t know which direction he’ll choose to go.

#stranger #stranger 2 #secret forest #secret forest 2 #tvn stranger #tvn secret forest #(sorry idk the best tags for this so just went for the ones I've seen around) #wanted to maybe muse about how lee yeonjae said her husband may not have chosen dongjae to take him down in the same way as simok #but he was still someone important enough for her to realise #also I skimmed over the implications in the gap between s1 and s2 about dongjae returning to his old ways #I do think it's relevant and is another reason his arc could so easily go either way but couldn't figure out how to put it in #also unrelated but the thoughts I have about young iljae's idea that family = justice is fascinating when applied to others #changjoon. yoon. young eunsoo. dongjae. and then at the other end you have simok. but anyway #this tangented a lot oops #also. if anyone reads this who hasn't watched stranger all you need to know is that dongjae is charismatic but slimy

[lumiereandcogsworth]

throughout the movie, lumiere, maestro cadenza, and mr. potts ALL call their wives “darling” at some point. like!!! no wonder adam calls belle that so much!!!! that’s what all the good men in his life call their beloveds!!!!!!!!!

#this is just like one of those moments i have where my headcanons reflect soundly in canon #also yes i Am assuming lumiere and plumette are married. that’s neither confirmed nor denied #i honestly think they eloped so young. like he’s been head over heels for her since they met when they were teenagers #and the moment plumette was 18 lumiere was like marry me marry me marry me marry me #he probably asked before she was 18 but she was like can you WAIT. A MOMENT. #i think i hc lumiere is like 2 years older or something. which means he was 20 #Which Means adam was 9. WHICH MEANS they probably got married like Right before queen renée died :( #she was always rooting for them though. she would find secret places for them to be alone together lol #she was already sick when they eloped but they do go tell her and she’s So Happy for them… augh 🥹 #anyway ajdksj didn’t mean to tangent there but!! woo !! #lyd watches batb2017 #batb 2017 #adelle #plumiere #potts thoughts #(sorry i don’t have a cadenza x garderobe tag but. *blows a kiss to them*)

[theotherrichardpapen]

endlessly curious to know how things play out between Alex and the kid on the train at the end of the film. the implication seems to be that Alex (or I guess Jack at this point in time) has now taken up the role that Nigel previously held, and is looking to essentially 'recruit' others to their cause; the sticking point for me is that Nigel specifically picked Alex because of the bloodlines that could be traced back to the original Templers, whereas Alex meeting this kid was just happenstance

#sorry kid but i think more likely than not you're gonna get got by the unhinged red-head cutie #and his murderous psycho boyfriend that now lives rent free in his mind #'you want me to study history? the thing that got nigel and this random kid on the train killed?' #GREG answer the phone Greg. if i cant have a sequel then i want answers #come on u could give me a sequel. older alex. who just happens to run into someone that looks EXACTLY like nigel .. #could just be some random individual. could be nigel reborn. either way alex is OBSESSED y'know? #and now it's alex's turn to get into HIS head. take over his mind. #if it isnt nigel reborn than by gohd alex will twist this guys thoughts around until he makes him into the person he wants him to be #anyway i gotta walk the dog this was a weird little tangent to go on #like minds #murderous intent #nigel colbie #alex forbes

[xiaohuayaos]

i really love your lbfad posts, You really Get the characters. I'm so fond of the mortal arc in particular because it shows the characters being able to goof off and have some silly fun. It's wild but I once saw someone get through the entire mortal arc of the show and somehow come to the conclusion dfqc is just awful and abusive? Truly bizzare takes on the wider internet.

Aw, I'm glad you enjoy my posts- I appreciate knowing 💗 but yeah the wider internet can be Very interesting.... I think one of the first things I saw outside tumblr about the show was a decent review that I was enjoying reading up until the point when the author just started in on how terrible and annoying Xiao Lanhua was and how she only watched the show in spite of her and I was just ??????? like at the end of the day we are all entitled to our own opinions and feelings but there's a lot of opinions and feelings I do not agree with <3 to put it nicely <3

#thanks for the ask! #Anonymous #like idk ive curated who i follow to such a degree seeing like the 2000s levels of Ough i hate the girl characters from an adult woman was #wild #i was like wait.... people are still doing that #accidentally curated my online places too well and forget how weird people can be lmaoooo #same though I've seen a few takes about DFQC that again #idk i feel like to watch a show like this you have to have some level of whimsy and not think of it from explicitly real world pov #like in real life poisoning your guys drink 3 times is Bad #but in this show its like yk fairys and devils and circumstances out of this world #and im such a bitch about my male characters if I thought DFQC was really at all Actual Evil to her i wouldnt have enjoyed the show #but thats why its such a funny watch bc he's telling us again and again I Am The Big Bad #and then we're like okay but why did you get on your knees on her level and brush a tear from her cheek babes? why did you continually #go out of your way to try and make her happy even after you had that ring on ya finger and couldn't feel her feelings anymore? lmao #sorry i went off on an tangent #suffice to say thanks for being nice to me 🥺

[st4rstudent]

ALRIGHTY SO- (I'm so sane and normal about these toons and cogs I swear) as I said before, personally I really like to think that brian's brain is a motherboard and/or wires/neuron like things covered in a silicone mold that made it shaped like a brain-! It would explain why when he starts getting more and more frustrated during his battle he starts overheating and eventually leading to his brain exploding at the end- (which leads me to believe that mayhaps his wiring needed some extra cooling to help him prevent that, perhaps being the reason why he has a dome head in the first place so that way it could be liquid cooled by being placed inside of- whatever brian has inside of there shchsdhs) which in turn would make the silicone brain a pretty solid idea-!! Keeps all his wiring n electricical brain bits all nice and dry, but also gives him a little flair and from the looks of it, seems like a fairly efficient way to help stop any overheating caused by his emotions or stress- (I mean he literally starts going red with rage, that's gotta be some hot pieces of parts in order to do that even with some cooling factors in place-) but what's really got my gears turning is that if he does have a sort of wiring inside of that brain mold of his, it would basically be the like- in between of cog parts and toon-ish parts-! Assuming that his wiring would help out his processors n act as any neurons should, they would not only help out his thought process (him being the self proclaimed smart man that he is /lh/lh) but it'd also allow him to feel things-!! Neurons are the main units of the brain and nervous system, they help the brain feel any sensory input from the outside, send signals to help the body control motor functions, and in general just relay electrical signals throughout the brain all the time- Which sounds very much close to what the cog equivalent of a brain could also do (and does for brian)-!! I know all the cogs have brains and all their inner bits, but I justshfhs I think it would be really cool if brian's brain had just a little bit more brain-like functions-!! I don't know if I'm making any sense here, but- if he can think, that man can feel too-!! Probably more than the average cog, but he would also probably just decide not to draw much attention to it-!! I know this started out as silly snowglobe dome talk, but in all reality I'm so very interested in the complexities that the cogs and toons have-!!! Doesn't mean I don't think it'd be silly to shake that man around and see what happens, that'd be silly- even more so to bonk him with hammers- BUT I JUSTSHFBS I THINK-!! THE COGS DESERVE SOME MORE THOUGHT INTO HOW THEY COULD ACTUALLY FUNCTION N FEEL THINGS AND WHAT THE INNER WORKINGS OF THEM COULD POSSIBLY LOOK LIKE-! BRAINS HELP SHAPE WHO WE ARE AS PEOPLE… SO I THINK IT'D BE COOL TO UNDERSTAND HOW THAT WOULD WORK WITH THE COGS AS WELL- but yeshdhghs I'm . very sorry that this got so much longer than I intended, but thank you very much for letting me ramble out my thoughts-!! I hope you enjoyed hearing some of my thought process SHCHSDHS

OHHTHIIS IS REALLY GOOD. i never even thought about him possibly having a heightened ability to feel things like touch . i imagine with his brain also moving around, there's probably other pieces in there that would also be shifting which would increase the need for it to be in a somewhat cooled down area.

BUT YEAH . it's all very interesting to think about!

#clemask #sorry i dont have much to add but i did enjoy hearing your thought processes! it has opened up some new ideas to explore #to go back to the feeling thing i think thats interesting bc i always just imagined cogs having a certain lacking of like physical sensory #not that they dont have it id imagine but its much less because they dont have the receptors right on their hands/fingers unless built in #same with smell too . honestly anything other than audio and visuals #like they can feel pressure and vague stuff but theres a lot of subtle texture differences they might not notice. just as a general idea #so your idea of that brain freak having a heightened ability to feel is a really fun idea to think about #BUTYEAH THIS WAS AN AWESOME READ THANK YOU FOR SHARING! #i usually chalk a bunch of stuff up in tt to cartoon physics (especially with toons) bc i think its funny to do so #but exploring actual potentials of why is always fun . i love hearing different thoughts and explanations/interpretations #also do not apologize about it being long! i dont mind at all. shirt that says I LOVE LONG READINGS #ialso get on long tangents (mainly in tags) as youve probably seen so i completely get it