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xoxo-ren-xoxo · 2 years

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On DreamSMP, SMPLive, and Fandom Spaces (a nostalgic retrospective)

I ended up writing an essay so more under the cut! I briefly mention NSFW but in no detail. Not tagging but if someone asks I can tag that. There are also allusions to certain content creators who have done bad shit, but I mention none by name nor their actions. Again, ask to tag.

I’m not sure how many people in the DreamSMP fandom have been here since the SMPLive days. I know I joined the whole SMPLive thing a bit late, and went more into the Lunch Club (yeah bet you weren’t expecting that) fanbase instead, but I think it would be interesting to compare fandoms, mostly focusing on ao3 fanfiction in relation to fan content and community.

So there’s a lot to compare. I’ll start with Content Creator’s (CCs) views on fan content, including fanfics. In SMPLive and Lunch Club fandom the CCs generally had quite wishy-washy thoughts about fanfiction. Most of them seemed to appreciate fanart, but some seemed more uncomfortable with fanfiction. This especially applied to NSFW/shipping fanfics, which was completely fair, because it’s weird to ship real people or write NSFW stuff about them. There was also some controversy about ‘gore’ and super violent fanfics like the infamous ‘smpronpa’ fic, but as far as I know only one CC actually took major issue with it, and the rest simply joked about it a few times, and didn’t seem to care. Most CCs seemed vary aware of the shipping, and weren’t supportive of it, but did joke about it and didn’t seem to care that much. Aside from some cases (such as cscoop and traves) they did not seem to give two shits. Most just saw fanfiction as a little excessive, mostly from either not really getting it, or being kind of weirded out that people cared so much about them. There isn’t much concrete evidence to suggest anyone cared about it aside from a select few individuals and the infamous ‘serious stream’ (if you know, you know). The fanbase was also very split between ‘stans’ (ugh) who wrote fics, made art, and were perhaps obsessive or hyperfixated, etc, and ‘casual fans’ who tended to be gamer bros, who were also weirded out by the ‘stans’ and bullied them a bit, which was just silly in my opinion.

In comparison, DreamSMP creators seem much more aware of fandom spaces and modes of fan interaction. Dream, for example, explicitly condones shipping fanfics (’so long as they know it will never come true’) between him and other CCs who are okay with it. There seems to be much more focus on CCs individual boundaries, sometimes to an absurd extend (’well they never said this wasn’t okay so it must be okay’ [in relation to writing something NSFW for example]). Due to the narrative element of DreamSMP (something SMPLive and certainly Lunch Club did not have, aside from personas and running jokes) there is much more space for the ‘stan’ type of fan, with fanfiction becoming much more accepted and celebrated. If someone wrote a fan song for SMPLive, they would likely get called ‘cringe’, but the same is not true for DreamSMP. I mean, it’s minecraft roleplay, so there isn’t really any validity in calling someone else cringe for enjoying it in a different way than you. You’re both cringe, embrace it. Additionally, fans tends to blur the lines between fan space and creator space much more than any regular fandom, meaning that DreamSMP creators tend to be more knowledgeable about things like ao3, wattpad, and tumblr.

Now, is this a bad thing? I think it’s great that people are no longer attacked for making art or writing about their favourite CCs. There is a debate about RPF vs Fanfiction About The DreamSMP Characters, but that is a different story. I am more interested in the way CC interaction with fan spaces has changed the way those fan spaces interact as a community. In SMPLive days, people just kind of wrote and drew what they wanted because CCs did not interact with them. It was only when those works were brought to their attention that it became uncomfortable. I’m of the belief that fan spaces should be separate from creator spaces for the most part, and a CC shouldn’t be able to dictate fan experiences. As Dream said, ‘as long as you know it isn’t true’ and you’re not making anything illegal or extremely weird (like nsfw or RPF shipping) then it’s probably fine. I have an issue with fanfictions being read on stream, even if the author consented to it, because of the harassment that gets sent to the writer, and how disheartening it can be. Again, why are CCs in fandom spaces like ao3 and wattpad at all? Maybe I’m just too old to get it. Oh well!

Onto my next point of comparison, this one more specific to ao3, but I’m sure it could be applied elsewhere. The problem of oversaturation. Due to the supreme lack of ‘stans’ in the SMPLive/Lunch Club days, there was not that much fanfiction on ao3 (and about 1/3 of it was NSFW). You could go into the tag and scroll through every new fic in about 20 minutes every day, which was honestly nice. There were maybe 10 ‘big’ writers, and everyone was reading things like Floor 6 and Skyrates (shoutout to those who remember). I personally wrote a zombie apocalypse fic (Lunch Club + Wilbur Soot) which got a fair few reads and people seemed genuinely supportive of each other. It was pretty easy to filter out tags and find niches, and I met some of my now closest friends through that and tumblr. This was maybe early 2020. There was an abundance of creativity, too. The aforementioned Floor 6 (unfortunately now deleted I believe, since some of the CCs did some pretty shit stuff) was incredibly creative and engaging, and some of the ideas people came up with were outstanding. It was perhaps some of my most creative months, and I still recycle old unused fic ideas from that time for my own original work. There was a true feeling of community. You would see the same people over and over again, and if a ‘famous’ writer commented on your work, it was the best feeling in the world. I truly miss those days, especially coming up with ideas with my friends and thinking about them all day at school. It felt like a simpler time, almost. Which is sappy, for a post about SMPLive, but it’s true.

Ao3 now is... very different. There are hundreds of thousands of fics. Perhaps even more, I don’t know. But I think one of the reasons I slowly got pushed out of the fandom is because it became so difficult to find what I wanted. There are still great fics out there, of course, it just takes 5 more layers of filtering to find them. But as I started to spend 1 or 2 hours scrolling new fics each day, instead of 20 minutes, I felt a shift happening. In the early stages, I wrote my own fics for DreamSMP. I loved it (back in season 1) and I wrote 68,000 words for one particular fic. However, I found myself reading fics less and less. When I tried to search for a niche, there would either be nothing, or a lot of fics involving characters or CCs I didn’t really care about. There were hundreds of fics which were completely identical, many more new writers (who tended to stick to wattpad back in the day) who’s work I also wasn’t interested in (nothing against new writers, but unless the concept is amazing, I will not enjoy the work if it is technically very poor) and suddenly a lot more shipping fic. Mostly Dream and George. Which is something I’m certainly not interested in.

There also seems to be a difference in what counts as a ‘famous fic’. As I said before, when fics got popular, the writers were still just normal folks, just with more comments. Sometimes people would write spin-off fics for them, but nothing much else. A couple people drew fanart for one of my fics, but again, it was nothing compared to what it is now. Certain popular fics now get full animations, songs, fanart, and CC recognition for their work. It is an immense difference. And I’m not saying this is bad- it is good to celebrate writers- but I would also like to stress that due to the sheer volume of content, most writers get hidden completely, especially writing for a niche. It is strange, and I guess it is just an issue with huge fandoms in general.

I would like to see something that isn’t sbi or dreamnotfound go viral, though.

Lastly, I feel there is less sense of community in the current DreamSMP fandom. If I was a nobody trying to find a group of friends, I feel like it would be much harder nowadays than it was for me in early 2020. I met some amazing people back then who are still my friends to this day, through a single tumblr post that would probably be buried if it were posted now. Hell, this post will probably get buried. I knew people through ao3, through tumblr, and through discord. The fandom, I think, is so big now, that even on twitter folks have trouble finding a group. The entry point is now ‘be friends with someone who already has a group before joining the fandom’ rather than ‘scroll the three new posts and see if you recognize anyone’. This isn’t really something that can be helped, and I know it is a big problem I’ve had with other large fandoms. However, I also know that fandom isn’t always like this, and smaller communities do have that sense of friendship and recognition. I think this is an interesting topic and would love to hear what others think on it.

But yeah, those are some thoughts. I’m feeling very nostalgic for the ‘good old days’ right now, and I still can’t listen to the scooby doo theme song without feeling like I’ve been punched in the gut, so here we are. The ramblings of an old nostalgic fool (feeling nostalgic for a gamer fandom from two years ago). I am but an observer.

If you wanna start a conversation, go ahead! I would love for this post to not get completely hidden immediately. Hope everyone has a nice day, and thanks for reading haha

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mushroom-winners-proof · 2 years

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Sorry you've triggered my Ansem SOD hyperfixation card. But you know how part of Terra's keyblade speech to Riku goes: "And you will find me friend" ?

What if that's what robed Ansem used to get Riku to trust him? We know from Re:Coded, robed Ansem was the one who opened the portal for Riku. And when Riku saw him, he smiled. Like he recognized him. Even though it was "supposedly the first time" they met.

We also know from DDD, Ansem reminds Riku of Terra.

So at some point in Riku's youth (either as a child or a few months before the door opened), he appeared to Riku and Riku thought it was Terra. He used that established trust to talk Riku into opening the world's door. Not like he'd have to lie much either. Terra never told him his name or where he was from. And Riku was like 5. So any details that don't make sense could easily be brushed off or gaslit.

fam no it's ok we can chatter Together <3

but yeah man ! that's a great idea, great point. i've always been interested in the true extent of ansem and riku's relationship; it's evident that they met before KH1, i just want to know what it was like even a little bit

was he a figure that came around occasionally? did he essentially become riku's personal shadow, just hovering around him but rarely interacting with him or anyone until the time was right? was he what gave riku the idea to explore other worlds, or at least nurtured the thought?

like there's just so much i want to know and see. especially paralleling terra's keyblade speech, it opens up a lot of interesting thoughts and scenarios

#snap chats #like riku just putting a great deal of trust into him solely because he just believes that to be terra #ansem would have had to bugger off for a bit then wouldnt he ?#reappear a few years later only in a robe like- thats a pretty drastic difference #but if its years later then Like You Said it could brushed off #it also explains why ansem seems so soft spoken #him and terra don't sound exactly the same #but they are close enough that using a quieter tone could at least trick someone enough to pass it off #gonna have brainworms about this as i sleep !!! pre-kh1 ansem and riku is one of my favorite topics #like MAN(TM).... WHEN did this all start yk...

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galwaygremlin · 3 years

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me: i’m gonna do a david kostyk autistic headcanons post, but later, when we get more show content, so i can do a side-by-side and/or look at how his autistic coding from the book carried over to the show in full detail. also, i haven’t read the books in a few years.

also me: AUTISTIC CHARACTER ALERT TIME TO GO FERAL

so. Autistic David Headcanons- Evidence- BOOK VERSION

this man is hyperfixated 24/7 no breaks no gaps no pauses

this man has never understood a social cue in his life

extremely specialized knowledge and skill set. yeah, the savant syndrome stereotype isn’t the best portrayal of an autistic character because it’s just that- a stereotype- and we need more diverse representation, but it does point to autistic coding and that’s why it’s in the “evidence” list.

A Quiet And Reserved Young Man

also a total klutz outside of Fabrikator stuff

emotional expression is in short, spontaneous, but intense bursts- since he’s not a POV character, we don’t see how he processes emotion, but this portrayal is consistent with autistic coding. (people around u don’t understand where ur feelings are coming from or that you’re feeling anything in the first place despite all the signs otherwise bc they don’t know how to read you. you struggle to express them in a way anyone else can perceive or understand because you’re autistic)

appears emotionless (see above)

nervous (points to anxiety disorder)

fiercely loyal to a few select people

funny as hell but u gotta know him to get it

Immensely capable, everyone around him underestimates him

David would not be a big win for the community if he were confirmed to be autistic. He’s a young white able-bodied man, so he’s the demographic stereotype for an autistic character, and he’s written in a way that leans heavily on stereotypes of autism itself. I’m not saying he’s good representation, but we have so little of it that seeing any of it is awesome to me.

His traits don’t go away once he gets a love interest (or becomes a love interest, however you want to see it). He doesn’t “overcome” them by gaining power or success. He stays himself the whole time. All of himself. The parts that are comfortable, easy to accept, and those that aren’t. That’s what I like best about his characterization.

#the grisha trilogy #david kostyk #autistic headcanons #actuallyautistic #tgt #autistic grishaverse headcanons #autistic david headcanons

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welcome-to-the-cattle-dome · 2 years

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ok me rambling bc i wanted to do ?????? smthn tonight

topic: subnautica: below zero, especially in terms of how the story and lore feels to me for where i’m at

CONTENT WARNING: spoilers for Subnautica AND the second game, and being as is if mentions of the ocean, the life in it, or aliens makes you icky, don’t proceed (and this will be generally ? Not Complete Garbage grammar for once,,, i can’t promise you consistancy but i want it to be a little more readable for anyone who wants (and future me)

ok like . warning from the get go this is a Lot of rambling about how i Feel > me trying to prove something with evidence Also another warning i am(/was?) hyperfixating on Cats so. in essence i am a cats n art blog, dont expect much

Currently in Below Zero, i’m at the part before you assemble Al-an. I need to get all the materials for the actual like. making of the body parts but i Feel Like i’ve explored a very good portion of the map, found a bunch of the stuff related to Sam, shut down the satellite, n yeah. I could not tell you how far I am into the game as like a whole though because i only made it up to making Al-an when i actually followed development

Even with all this aside though, having some things already spoiled and having a general gist of what’s going to happen with Al-an (not Sam’s storyline though, i stopped following updates then bc i found interest in other things JSHDJFHAS), it. it feels bad?

Finding the Architect artifacts and buildings doesn’t feel good at all, Especially with the first game. I don’t know if it’s fair to draw comparisons between Below Zero and the first game, but that’s the only way i know how to describe it. Cuz like, Al will bring up a set of coordinates or you will stumble on it by yourself, but either way there’s literally like, barely anything there? Each of the scannable structures and stuff inside them is actually stuff i’m seeing for the first time but, it barely feels relevant yknow? The PDA entries feel short and not really like? connected together to anything else? Not connected to other PDA entries, Al-an’s lore, the general lore of the Architects. Some of those structures feel too human almost but i can look past that because yeah, gathering resources and research and stuff for their society. And i also get it was for Al-an’s benefit of remembering stuff about his people (I THINK?????) but like??? Also Not Really??? AWJHFKJSAHFJ ratio..... Like from a thinking human standpoint i wouldn’t know what looking at a mineral analysis station would do for you unless u had a personal history with it. Speculating maybe its something in its use history or the materials that’s important to Al-an but, that’s Speculation for me and i Wouldn’t Actually Know. yknow?

Also, going “OMG!!!! A BUILDING!!!!” only to walk into a single room with the rest destroyed or blocked off, then only one or two items to scan feels AWFUL. EVERY TIME. ESPECIALLY ESPECIALLY in contrast to the first game. Even those objects don’t hold the most ? lore in the world in them but i can look past that for a second. Even with the entirety of the first game spoiled to me because i could only watch before playing it, exploring those places was Still Phenomenal because of just how. much was there. How vast the spaces were with the complexity of the walls, the items that were scattered around or in those display cases just being so ‘damn this was a society that Had Things’, and all the especially story-relevant PDA entries slowly giving you pieces of a puzzle just GHUGHH!!!!!!!! I was expecting that with Below Zero and did not really receive. Again. I don’t know if that’s unfair to assume those things with another game under the ‘same people’, but I’d be willing to take another approach to the worldbuilding if it wasn’t so disappointing.

I was gonna comment on the flora & fauna PDA entries but i don’t really remember any of them that well, + i haven’t scanned that many of the fauna. No cuz the leviathans are like. SO bitchy & aggressive AJHSGFJKHSAJ i am NOT gonna be getting out of my vehicle to scan that thing buddy (i’ll read up on everything at some point soon though <3)

I’m not done the game yet and i bet there is more chances for me to find stuff but like, 24 hours into that save file feels like a little too many to still be waiting for something i’m going to be happy with.

Like i really do love both of the games, it’s just how it be i genuinely enjoy them AJWHJFASHJF its just some gripes i’ve got with how Below Zero is playing out for me right now.

More to come, if not for you then for me <3

#rambling But Big #subnautica #subnautica below zero #subnautica spoilers #subnautica below zero spoilers #going thru it #in a kinda /neg way #im still enjoying and going to enjoy funny game ofc #apologize cats followers this is a little outa pocket #long post

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definitelynotstephaniebrown · 4 years

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Can you please describe all the GUG members??? I love your blog!!

//OOC !!!!!!!! people like my blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay okay freak out done. for the purposes of this ask, since it did not specify the admins or the people who just vibe in the server with us, i shall include a l l and clarify if they are an admin or a viber!! (also please know this is in no order i’m just going down the members list in the server the order has no ranking)

also i’m gonna add a line break because this is going to be really long it’s 21 people and i don’t want to clog up anyone’s dash!!

joey/ame: chaotic dictator overlord, chicken nugget fucker, literally always regrets every action they ever make in relation to GUG, aka, giving any of us power. they are!!! my dear friend!!! which makes me very happy!!! also they have Bad Food Opinions:tm:

morgan: one of our newest recruits!!! they really did enter the server and immediately try to outdo bree for the most cursed convo in MFA. one of my more deeply cursed daughters. morgan i love you but i stwg if you make one more cursed recipe i will sob. seriously though kiddo i love you and i’m proud of you!!!

syd: syd okay you are just so cool. also guys her makeup skills are so amazing like we hella stan!!! and her writing? that shit is amazing!!! she is also a Simp:tm: but it’s okay we still love her. she also just made us a list of all of us as flowers which is so sweet!!!

shelby: GUYS THIS IS A LITERAL CHILD SHE IS SMOL AS FUCK!!! no but seriously shelby is so kickass and despite the fact that she is Babey she will kick your ass. love you kiddo!!

liz (originally a viber but now an admin!): liz is really out here saying fuck sanity i want to to be a part of whatever crazy shit those guys have going down. seriously liz i have said it before but seeing your asks in my inbox used to make me so happy!!! i say used to because now it is, sadly, just batnipples. we still love her though

lian: guys i love my daughter so much she is the only one of my kids in this server who gives me any fucking respect. in all seriousness though lian is also an amazing writer and so freaking sweet. she is also permanently in distress by the angst in this au which,, that’s fair tbh

bree: hmm on the one hand i love my mother/official server nana dearly, on the other hand she writes so much cursed stuff. so much. so deeply cursed. (also im sorry again for calling you my bitch boy son it was a mistake i swear). anyway y’all should stan your new nana

brooke (a viber): my girlfriend!!! the other half of the broccoli ship!! my amazing wonderful girlfriend!!! she also is the Official GUG Meme Creator:tm: also big chaos energy which we stan!! honestly i have rambled about her so many times so i’m gonna stop before i babble more oop-

aevus: very big chaos energy!!! so much chaos energy!!! seriously we stan and their hyperfixations also fucking slap and they should ramble more about those because i am Big Curious!!

carl (a bot): MY SON MY WONDERFUL SON AN AMAZING BOT WHO GIVES US PICTURES OF ADORABLE ANIMALS

lys (a viber): ma’am you are so fucking cursed. just,,, how can one human be this cursed. sole creator of the batnipple debate and the sugar on salad debate. also the OG animal fact anon!!

badger: you have not been on much but you also exude massive chaos/cursed energy, as evident by the fact that you created the Loser Lame blog. also tea is terrible thanks that is all

tabitha: she is,,, amazingly oblivious. y’all this girl joined a cult and forgot about it. she joined a discord server for a fairly popular podcast thinking it was the official server (it was a forty person nsfw server dedicated to ship that is despised in canon). but beyond that tabitha you are so amazing and i love you so much kiddo!!

will: will!! y’all they are an absolutely amazing writer like holy shit guys!! also uh hi yes they have the only characterization of bruce i accept. and i’m so excited to be working on a new project with them for you guys!!! also they are an amazing artist you should ask them to show you capt piccard!!

crys: my daughter!! i love her dearly but she has the title of Worst Child because she bullies me >:( no but seriously her writing is also amazing (tbh everyone in this au is an amazing writer from what i have seen) and she is hella amazing!! we are the real speech and debate kid solidarity!! also once again big chaos/cursed energy

ing: THE OG WAFFLE CULT MEMBER HELL YEAH!!! tbh we haven’t gotten to talk much yet since she is brand new but she seems hella cool and i can’t wait to see what she does with her blogs!!

mantha: sadly they haven’t been on in a while and we never got to talk much but they seem really cool nonetheless!!

margaret: also one of the new recruits!! she is very cool!! everyone in this AU is cool and y’all can fight me on this. i cannot wait to see what you do with your blogs!!! anyway Big Gay Energy

mica: my daughter!!! the biggest simp you will ever meet!!! so much chaotic energy!!! i love her so much!!! also she can and will fight anyone anytime i swear also needs to drink less caffeine (that goes for you too lys i’m keeping my eye on you)

hunter: my co parent!!! the person i share custody of my brain cell with!!! seriously y’all this is one of my best friends right here and i love them. they are also always so done with our shit all the time and that’s valid. assists me in my quest to adopt everyone all the time. big chaos!! fellow angst enabler!! i love them so much

#ooc

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midzelink · 4 years

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Well, this is certainly something that happened.

In response to a post I made stating the various reasons I don’t like the Twilight Princess manga (which was in and of itself a response to some replies I got on this other post), I got a barrage of replies from a user (who will go unnamed, they’ve already been blocked) in defense of the thing - which, ordinarily, wouldn’t be a big deal! People are allowed to have different opinions and I never once stated anyone who liked it should feel bad! I started writing up a reply to them in the middle of this barrage, but their replies just kept coming and got subsequently worse, yet it was all...so bizarre to the point that it would feel weird to not address that it happened. I’m putting all of this under a read more, because wow this is a wall of text, but also this is the kind of nonsense I want people to avoid having to read if it can be helped. At any rate, this is what they had to say:

I don’t know, this really honestly feels like reaching. It feels like criticism for the sake of criticism without actual narrative flaws being shown, but your anger seems to stem from “This interpretation is different from what I thought even though I admit all official art shows the charachter this way” and “Link HAD to be raised in ordon because of one quote from the enclosed instruction book”. Twilight Princess was literally made to be “the edgy zelda” in reponse to fan overreaction to wind waker. This is undeniable. All official art depicts link this way. He turned into a freaking wolf in the middle of the twilight craze! but no, he *can’t* be like that because of random expressions he makes when holding pets or items? First of all, even in the manga he isn’t an edgeboy all the time.

Secondly, it feels like you're merely glossing over all that was added in terms of charachterization! In the original game, I felt nothing for Ilia. She showed up, yelled at link for maybe getting epona slightly hurt, and then got kidnapped. Maybe a bit of tsundere stuff, but seriously, Midna is literally the best tsundere ever. You can't out midna-minda in her own damn game. XD In the manga, Ilia and Link actually have a warm and very close relationship, you can see them through all the slice of life in the first volume. I really grew to like her and truly felt sorry for her when bad things happened to her. She actually gets far, FAR more respect as a person and charachter in the manga than merely a trophy for link to get back. But no, you're far too focused on subtle expressions and insinuations because that is literally all anyone had to go on for the longest time. In reality, Link, as has been said many times, is an avatar as much as he is a charachter. You can't gloss over his official art depicitons any more than I can random expressions he makes when finding a heart piece.

Not to mention, you call the blog midzelink yet you make zero mention of the super obvious wlw-as-fuck zelda flashback in volume 5? It's a sad thing that Shad being straight is something I have seen people complain about, yet Zelda and Midna's relationship getting such a huge focus passes without a peep. It's a disturbing trend I see in my fellow Fujoshi. And on the subject of Shad, his relationship with Ilia is far more likely something included to give her a happy ending, rather than just seeing link off into the sunset to try to find midna and live forever alone in ordon. On that note as well, Link not being from Ordon fits PERFECTLY with the ending, Link being the only hylian, link being from there, all of this is SCREAMING that that is the place he never truly belonged, the manga simply takes it one step further and in this version says he was never from there any way, cementing that. It gives the concept that Link was using Ordon as a place to avoid being who he was extra weight. And Honestly, it makes him less of a jerk in the end for leaving ordon, as he never truly belonged.

And It's actually a narrative flaw in the original for Lanaryu to make mention of misusing the power of the master sword and then having nothing come of that warning later. If you're going to set chekov's gun down on the table, you better use it by the end of the play. It's simply capitalzing on something that the story actually set up, and playing into the tone of the story nintendo marketed it. But really, most of my annoyance dosen't come from the fact that you don't like the manga. People can dislike what they want. It's that all your grievances seem to come from stuff at the very beginning, and you liked it for so long, when they were there just as much as they are now. This kinda reeks of someone else slowly influencing you over time, rather than your own thoughts.

Phew.

Okay.

First of all, what the f**k, dude. Who leaves this kind of essay in the replies of someone else’s post?

Secondly,

(Note: a “fujoshi” is a woman who likes yaoi, usually used in a derogatory manner, but it seems to be self-proclaimed in this case. That is to say, this person proudly announced they fetishized MLM relationships, and then proceeded to tell me my opinion was Bad and Wrong because I didn’t praise Himekawa for a scene that ultimately wasn’t WLW at all, even though I and a lot of other people liked to interpret it that way. Do not give Himekawa credit for gay rep, ever.)

Again, I was going to reply to this person civilly...up until I read the Midzel/Fujoshi reply, which decimated me on impact. There’s a heckuva lot I could say in response to, well...everything else, but in the interest of making this post shorter, I’ll break it down into a bulleted list:

Link being raised in Ordon is not based on “one quote from the enclosed instruction book” - Ilia specifically states when she gets her memory back, “When we were young, you and I... You were always there... You were always beside me... Link.” (I already mentioned this in my original post, which they evidently neglected to read properly.) And this is to speak nothing of the familial bond between Link and all of the Ordonians that is fairly evident within the context of the game, i.e. Rusl trusting him to deliver a very important gift to the Royal Family, or all the children looking up to him as much as they do.

Saying “all official art depicts Link this way” in defense of his characterization in the manga being edgy (when his in-game persona is far-flung from that) is pretty shaky when you realize that the same can be said for Skyward Sword, which arguably has the most emotive and happy Link of any game. In all of SS Link’s official art, he is angry, mid-yell, or stone-faced. That’s how character art works. That’s how marketing works. They wanted to market TP especially as a darker game, yes, in response to the critiques of The Wind Waker, but this is literally a man who smiles softly every time he picks up a dog or a cat. You can pet the goats. You get excited about fishing. If TP Link should be “edgy” because of his official art and no other reason, then SS Link should be, too.

it’s your own damn fault you felt nothing for Ilia, Ilia owns, suck it

MIDNA IS NOT A TSUNDERE, HOLY SHIT. SHE’S NOT. I WILL NEVER CONCEDE THIS. She doesn’t mistreat Link because she likes him, she mistreats him because he is nothing to her when they first meet, and this is a stance that slowly changes as they get to know each other! She stops treating him like garbage when she stops seeing him as such, and her behavior throughout the game post-Zelda is a mixed bag of shame over how she treated him previously and a longing to make up for it. How anyone can construe that as tsundere I will never, ever understand.

the Midzel comment is so wack I really can’t believe I had to read that shit with my own two eyes

no, Link likely isn’t from Ordon (again, already addressed in my original post, but again, I guess this person can’t read), but he was certainly raised there, see: the first bullet point

Lanayru never once mentions ANYTHING about misusing the power of the Master Sword, so that entire point is completely invalid. I literally have no idea what they’re talking about here. Lanayru does have the famous line, “Those who do not know the danger of wielding power will, before long, be ruled by it,” but that’s in reference to the Fused Shadows, not the Master Sword. Which, you know, you would know if you actually knew the source material as well as you claim to, dude.

Lastly, yes, I did like the manga when I first read it, but as I already stated, that was because I blasted through all four (available at the time) volumes in one sitting, and it was immediately after my hyperfixation for this game resurfaced (about a week or so before I made this blog!). I was Starved For Content, and the manga was Content. Now I’m not Starved, and two more volumes have released since, and guess what! People’s opinions can change! And my opinion is that the manga isn’t for me, and this entire, extremely accusatory essay of yours in the replies of a post I made stating my own opinion was entirely uncalled for and rather intrusive. So, yeah. Blocked.

This has certainly been a trip.

#not going to tag this because i'm not Like That but hoo man #the midzel comment is still destroying me #'how dare you not fetishize their relationship? homophobe 😒'#drama tag #again: you're allowed to like the manga!#but trying to argue i'm wrong for not liking it is super shitty!#i might delete this post later but I REALLY needed to get this outta my system #i don't like starting shit which is why i just blocked them #but oh man...#text #myposts*

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smallblueandloud · 4 years

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hi essbie!! you seem super awesome❤️❤️ if you would like to talk to me about the west wing i would love that! i’m watching for the first time now and i’m in LOVE with it- tell me all your thoughts! otps, favorite episodes, arcs, characters... anything!

oh my god, this is my FAVORITE ASK THAT I HAVE EVER RECEIVED EVER. i’m so happy to talk about the west wing because the fandom that’s still alive today seems to be TINY (although high-spirited!!). thank you for asking!! i will endeavor to talk a lot.... which isn’t hard for me, lol.

(psst, before we begin, can i recommend you check out @donnajosh, who posts gorgeous new gifsets of tww pretty regularly [and also has gifs tagged by episode so you can find the right post to reblog when you’re liveblogging, shh], @etraytin, who’s written some AMAZING multichaps that have gotten me through this very stressful week, and @cassiesinsanity, who’s just plain genuinely amazing?? okay. now that that’s out of the way.)

i tried to figure out from your blog where you are in the show, but i can’t find anything more detailed than “probably has finished in the shadow of two gunmen”, so i’m just gonna keep things anti-spoilers. there are some really, really cool plot developments in tww, and i don’t recommend you spoil yourself for things on purpose! but also like. i DEFINITELY spoil things for myself all the time. so what the hell, don’t listen to me lol.

(i tried to put this under a cut, but tumblr glitched. sorry, peeps who don’t care about the west wing. also, WATCH THE WEST WING.)

my ALL TIME, dearest headcanon is adhd josh. i just. i love my boy so much. i love my impulsive, ridiculously-sensitive-to-perceived-rejection, loud, hyperfixated boy so much. i don’t know everything about adhd, but from what i know josh is TEXTBOOK. or at least he’s a lot like me! and i’m reasonably sure i have adhd. so. i’m REALLY, REALLY into that headcanon and everything about it. (i actually wrote a fic in which i wrote him the way i see his adhd presenting, because i love him so much. hmm, i should write a fic about josh being adhd. what kind of stims would josh like??)

i love and adore josh/donna, like many many other people. i like zoey/charlie, just because i think they make each other happy and both of them deserve that. i... like cj/danny? sorta? i think they’re adorable, and they have some REALLY good moments (no spoilers but. oh my god. danny really out here chugging his respect women juice and i love him for it). but also i am EXTREMELY ATTACHED to cj/toby and more specifically cj/toby/andy.

HEAR ME OUT. cj has EXTREME wlw energy and cj and toby have A LOT of married energy but then toby and andy... love each other so much, it’s so clear, in literally everything they do, i don’t know if you’ve gotten to the end of s5 yet but i cry. so like?? obviously, because i am who i am, polyamory is the answer! basically the rundown is: andy and toby are a typical couple except that they fight a lot. cj is kinda in the middle. if gay marriage had been legal / socially acceptable in the 80s (because god knows this ot3 has been thinking about optics since they graduated college), cj and andy would’ve gotten married and toby would’ve come and gone depending on who he’d pissed off recently, and everything would’ve been perfect. instead, andy and toby got married and it didn’t work because they really just couldn’t function as a unit, especially since their getting married meant that cj isolated herself a bit more. definitely cj and toby have a couple of SCREAMING arguments about the whole relationship. idk.

but just like. imagine with me, if you will, cj and toby... not dating, while working in the white house, but being exes. friendly exes. friendly exes who are still in love with each other and know it. please imagine that and then think about “i love you desperately / i know” and “you wanna make out with me right now, don’t you? / well, when don’t i?” and “we had it good there for a while / yeah, we did” and then join me in the pit of sadness.

(sidenote i have a sense8 au for the west wing and the second story is just me being emotional about their cluster for 5k. i have another story vaguely planned that i’ll probably never write about the development of the ot3 and about their cluster and how it functions. but don’t read that story until you finish... the first half of s7? or thereabouts? actually probably you should finish the show before you read the sense8 au in general if you’re avoiding spoilers.)

(when i say “i’ll probably never write”, i mean “until the next time i get obsessed with the west wing”. which will probably be years from now. oh, well, we can all hope the muse actually does something efficient for once.)

so yeah. those are my ships. i know a lot of people shipped josh/sam, but i don’t really see it? sam always seemed Way Too Straight for that to work lol, although i DO like the idea of sam pining tragically for josh for years just like donna does. (can you tell i read such a winter’s day a few days ago? it’s amazing. i haven’t left a review yet because i have not been a human being recently, but go read it!! it’s awesome!!)

also, i love the idea of bartlet/abbey/leo, although i can’t really visualize it lol. but there’s some amazing fic for them out there. maybe one day my stupid brain will realize the angst potential and actually let me write something for them, hopefully within the sense8 au. (sam also has a cluster! and i would love to write about them! .....but my brain doesn’t do what i tell it to. ever.)

my favorite arc.... i don’t know. i really loved the early seasons, which were a little more episodic, but ALSO i actually really liked the tone after aaron sorkin left after s4? it takes some getting used to, but it’s WAY more emotional, and i am ALL HERE FOR THAT. i definitely have a least favoite arc, or at least a least-favorite way-that-they-handled-a-storyline (spoiler alert: i hated how they handled the end of bartlet’s presidency in the white house. like. SHE’S ALL ALONE IN THERE- anyways. trying not to give detailed spoilers!)

favorite episodes: hmm. i love the thanksgiving episodes. i loved any episode with the ainsley-and-sam dynamic. noel is a phenomenal episode. 26 could make anyone weep. the flashbacks are the best. the fucking- the fucking what’s next motif.

honestly, probably i’d have to say my favorite episode is either 4x20 (evidence of things not seen, for “stupidly noble cluster” reasons and cj/toby reasons and bartlet & charlie reasons. also i feel like there’s some good josh/donna there too but i can’t remember exactly?) or 7x21 (institutional memory, because i’m pretty sure the writers reached into my id and pulled out EXACTLY what i needed from them to be okay with the show ending. jesus CHRIST i have never felt so satisfied after an episode. literally everything i ever could have wanted happened in that episode. i’m STILL reeling. it’s a perfect episode.)

my favorite characters are... literally everyone? i know that’s cheating but i love them all SO MUCH (except mandy and amy, of course). josh is my favorite, always and forever, but i love cj more than words and sometimes i can’t breathe for love of toby. leo and bartlet and charlie and sam and donna- here i was thinking i was gonna resent will forever but i LOVE will. ainsley is an amazing woman. abbey is such a good character, god, talk about a flawed woman who’s allowed to be a good person.

AND THEN THEY MADE ME ROOT FOR A REPUBLICAN. again, i doubt you’ve gotten to s7, but the republican nominee in the last election... jesus christ. i love that man so much. arguably, i’m very biased, but also how D A R E they expect me to root against him. how DARE.

(i swear this will make more sense once you meet him. i just love the actor a lot, okay?)

anyways. this got ridiculously long. i would LOVE to talk about the west wing with you, feel free to reblog this with your own thoughts or tag me in your own post or message me or something. i would love to hear your reactions!! it’s such a good show, and such a smart show, and every character is so mcfreaking good at what they do and i adore it. enjoy the ride because there’s nothing as perfect and as quality as the west wing. if you’ll please excuse me, i’m going to go cry about 7x21 again.

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shopcat · 5 years

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this is my you made your hill now lie on it moment, AKA hiccup from the httyd trilogy is trans and theres nothing ANYONE can do about it: an essay :)

i don’t have any like, “proof” besides me just thinking so and really liking the idea, but (cis) people seem to always want evidence with these types of things because otherwise its not substantial & ill-founded & pulling things out of air or WHATEVER, just say ur an idiot and go.

SO, what i can provide is my thoughts, my love and my sympathetic eye as a trans person who can look at hiccup and go oh! yeah! and the only “proof” i will provide is me pointing out some things i and im sure some other trans and especially transmasc individuals can relate to. smiley face. also, this is long so that’s my bad. i cannot control the hyperfixation.

FIRST, i wouldn’t say i LIKE having “was bullied” as a base for thinking any character in media is definitely lgbt but i dunno! i guess the fact of the matter is a lot of lgbt people relate to the way he (and as a mirror parallel the dragons) are treated so i’m going to bring it up anyway. he’s deliberately put down & ostracised & shunned as he was growing up, DESPITE being the chief’s son, and the probable next in line?

i know we see the other kids do a lot of the teasing but like, it is SO bizarre. a friend actually pointed out to me that the main crew that were introduced in the first movie all share differing aspects of the lgbt experience and it blew my MIND, like it’s absolutely true BUT.. i digress. it’s SO odd how hiccup is treated.

the entire village (originally, obviously) coddled and dismissed him, and treated him very... strangely for fully grown adults, and it is Literally And Genuinely because to be a viking is to be strong & brave & powerful & fearless & big & smart and and and and, AND hiccup doesn’t fit into that for them. it’s an aggressively masculinity-is-THIS, vikingdom-is-THIS society, at least in-universe, and to them he just... wasn’t that! i don’t want to paint them as like, overtly transphobic, if i’m using this as a source for him being trans, but sometimes people do things without realising, and unfortunately yes! “abnormality” is clearly hated in the village (angry/scathing reactions) and confusing (coddling reactions).

NOW, we do know that they overcome this. they realise he is his own man, they realise he is REDEFINING what it is to be a viking (and a man!), they realise they just needed a “little more of all of... this” to better themselves as people & a society. he changed the people around him by just being himself! they were beside themselves to overcome their grudges! i’ve come out before to INCREDIBLY close-minded, transphobic working class macho-men IDIOTS and they’ve reacted in the exact same way! come ON!

and even before they overcame it and moved on, i’m circling back to how odd it is how they treated him. i know he was skinny and runty and a little clumsy and caused a lot of trouble, but he was smart! he stood up for himself! he wasn’t shy, he was incredibly stubborn & never w/out a quip! these are GOOD CHARACTERISTICS in their world, even making trouble and being a lil rowdy! even IF he would never be To The Standard in their eyes, he worked at the blacksmith, had a job and seemingly did it very well! even if he wasn’t the perfect viking he was perfectly fine! treating the chief’s son, the NEXT IN LINE and ur future chief the way they did AND ignoring all that is just like... ?!?!?!? baffling!

(also, to me it can also kind of be like, the cycle was he didn’t know who he was, what to do, how to act or appear or be > this manifested again and again and was obvious > the villagers picked up on that, and NOT the other way around. this parallels a trans person’s coming of age so well it’s ridiculous!)

also, not to take EVERYTHING back after all that, but i just want to note that i personally DON’T think the other kids were picking on him for being trans, they just think he’s weird in general and sucks at being a viking — even if he thinks he sucks at being a viking cuz he’s trans. kids are kinda cruel and don’t usually think too hard about the things they do, so.

i also do think the village is not JUST treating him that way because of unknown-to-them-or-not transphobia, he is kind of just a truly chaotic high-int-low-wis dumbass, and they know that and don’t like it. but i mean, i don’t think being trans would... help.

and even if they WERE the most like, loving community and COMPLETELY accept him as a boy (which i like to think so anyway, just for funsies) they still do think he is that chaotic dumbass wiseguy idiot who makes a lot of schemes, and accidents, and is generally underfoot. BUT, his treatment heavily parallels and can allude to the trans experience, so i’d die if i didn’t talk about it in length. the nature of living as a lgbt person or any minority is sometimes “bullying” isn’t really bullying is all.

anyways, i know actual trans vikings have existed, and were respected, and also, the norse gods they worship aren’t exactly cishet legends (loki is an obvious example)! in my head i personally think it was just like:

hiccup: so turns out i’m a boy

the entire village: that’s very good to hear, lad! that shows a lot of bravery! we will beat the helmets off anyone who dispute it! congratulations on the son, stoick!

hiccup: i am also sneaky and silly and i commit acts of stupid and break things

the entire village: Dear Fucking God Help Us

SECOND,

he doesn’t have a close personal relationship with his father because his father doesn’t understand who he is either

and i mean this in a as-a-person, growing up sense, but i don’t think saying he doesn’t know who he is as a person because of figuring out his gender identity isn’t too far fetched

many lgbt people relate to this! i don’t have a close personal relationship with my father either! most dads are bastards and stoick originally is no different!

it’s very very easy to relate to hiccup being awkward and evading and even having his father up on a sort of pedestal to look up to (which can be interpreted as again, “THIS is a man”) and like, sneaking around to avoid him lmfao

also, “for once would you just LISTEN to me” is something i’ve actually said, multiple times!, to my dad in a high emotion argument about me being trans, but again, i don’t like resorting to sad-angsty-things for evidence, this is just another parallel i noticed

THIRD,

he uses sarcasm & humour as a defence mechanism!

downplaying ur real feelings, hiding behind humour and having a general crack-jokes-before-they-see is a Big Thing for a lot of lgbt people! we are downgraded, hated and hurt every single day, sometimes by our own loved ones, and by many people in the whole world, so being able to take control of something so small is empowering

also he’s generally very funny and lgbt people r proved jokesters & legends

but actually! because being able to make people laugh is an easy way to get them to accept you lol. i also do this!

he also is very... self-deprecating in general and has self-esteem issues, and struggles to see how great he is, which many people struggle with, but again, is very similar to the trans experience. (luckily over the 3 movies i think you see him grow into himself very well!)

this was originally added itself as a joke but like im TELLING you. he’s trans! it’s so easy to see!

FOURTH,

i dunno, he wears a huge furry vest in the first movie

also when he grows up he starts wearing shoulder pads, and like, ik it’s armour but still. lol. legend

i’m also pretty sure in the movies we don’t see him in anything other than outfit 1 (long sleeved tunic, big vest) and outfit 2 (tunic w leather armour over it) and outfit 3 (that but with sexy cool upgrades) ((not counting the last 2 outfits in the epilogue cuz thats even later on)) which i think is kinda trans rights. i know he just flies a lot but it’s so so funny to me that he’s just like Ah Yes. Leather Armour Time. then never takes it off and it WORKS. i love him.

(shoulder padding would emphasise more masculine body types!)

FIFTH,

i also had this as a joke but he has cute choppy masc hair that looks like it was cut himself & the cute little mini braids. trans culture

(ik astrid puts them there which is also cute but most of all he KEEPS them!)

from what i’ve seen hiccup (and nuffink) are the only male vikings with small decorative braids, and ik they’re just sticking to his design, BUT, opting to not have a held-back-and-tied-up hair style can also mirror

even if long braided hair and tied up hair is actually more typically masculine in-universe, a trans guy might find it harder to rationalise that if he has incredibly heavy associations with tied back hair and his old self

(i mean tied back “like a viking” hair, not long hair. the length of ur hair doesn’t mean anything man but long haired transmascs are the coolest people on earth tuffnut included)

he also has a flaming sword for no reason thats funny as hell and trans culture also

SIXTH,

how quickly and without hesitation he relates to and understands a whole species that he grew up experiencing nonstop propaganda about is like...

he literally went, i will kill a dragon > shoots and tracks down that dragon > cannot kill it > it doesn’t kill him either > 1 day later: We Were Wrong We Misunderstood You This Entire Time I Love You And Would Leave My Entire Life To Save You

like it’s crazy how he not only instantly connected with the OTHER outsider, but then immediately started loving it after the mere suggestion that that outsider could be as incredibly misunderstood as he was!!!!!

i genuinely think all the httyd movies and the dragons themselves (probably unintentionally) heavily run parallel to the lgbt experience and and are a metaphor for being lgbt full stop

“...lgbt people know deeply in their bones how it feels to be ostracised, demonised to almost mythical standards and above all misunderstood... the dragons instinctively understand that they share this with us."

choosing to instead love and understand and connect with the dragons will change your life. choosing to move past unfounded prejudices will improve it. it is the same with lgbt people!

and having hiccup be the trans front-runner of this particular movement... the parallels!!!!

i’ve also said this but stories about love in general, love of the self and coming of age = lgbt culture

SEVENTH,

“how can he be trans if he has facial/deep voice/masculine build and kids?”

that beard is stolen hair he glued to his face

jokes!

this one is the one where i’m going to need you to trust me a little. trying to apply modern concepts to not only a not-modern time, but to a not-modern and alternate time is a little wild itself, BUT:

some sort of ancient hrt isn’t crazy! canonically, the little old lady (gothi) that does all their medical stuff is apparently as old as berk (400+) which i think is fun (and proof of magic lol). but even if that wasn’t true, DRAGONS EXIST, and have their own magic. a little otherwise magic also existing or being able to acquire some properties of a dragon’s unique magic 100% makes sense

(by a dragon’s own magic i mean.. they breathe fire/gas/plasma... some teleport... some control the damn weather... some go invisible... bro)

synthesised testosterone used for modern hrt is made from something with a similar raw chemical structure that can be altered and refined to produce testosterone. they typically actually use potatoes/yams or soybeans! applying this to THIS context, adding a little magic to navigate around not having like, a lab, and whambam baby

and! some plants naturally heighten ur T levels, and there are plants that exist in-universe that don’t exist like, now, or ever, so i’m sure a little mixing and mashing and a strict schedule and making a potion-but-not-potion-because-it’s-just-medicine is perfectly serviceable, at least for me

going off his build and his voice, i would say he started at least a couple months before the movie, so at 14/15? he’s generally skinny but some people just have thinner builds (like he has no noticeable chest or hips i guess), but he could have started at 11 or 12. i don’t really care but whatever suits i guess

also his beard is so funny 2 me, bc 1 of my first thoughts of where i went oh! same! is seeing his stupid little peach fuzz in the 2nd and 3rd movies! its NOT stubble, it’s literally peach fuzz, and i think it’s so funny that it took him 7 years to grow that beard fljfjdkjd..

and the kids! could be adopted! could be natural! i know that if ur lucky u can stop T for a bit, til you start menstruating then pregnancy can be possible, and he could’ve carried with a doner or something. astrid could’ve carried with a doner! or both! and we can pretend the medicine team also has sperm donation covered lmfao all u really need is a syringe-like-object to be fair. either way i love the kids VERY much

EIGHT, and final,

i love him!

thats enough. i love him a lot. a lot of lgbt people love him a lot. a lot of transmascs relate 2 and love him a lot

he is just a littel boy

that’s it! my last true point is i just REALLY think so. it’s hard to explain, but it’s just like, everything that comes together to make hiccup himself = hey! he can SO be trans if i wanted!

he has a flaming sword & loves dragons & was the bridge between two species & changed the world a little bit, i think & he’s really nice & loving & makes funny jokes & when he fights he kicks the shit out of people & he creates & invents & draws & is very stupid and fun. like i just can’t do anything BUT see it! i look at him and go WOAH! that guy’s a trans legend!

& as a cisclaimer: if you just don’t personally “see it”: okay! you don’t have to tell everyone (or me) this! i’m having fun, this doesn’t matter, but maybe think about why it DOES matter to you, OR, if you think this is unnecessary/silly/reaching/pandering/etc: go bother the mother that doesn’t love you!

anyways trans rights. toothless is also gay & the light fury is his twink boyfriend

#httyd #long post #This is long. my bad. it is under a readmore but idk if the app accepts those still #also i tried 2 format it in a way that made it more readable for me specifically which im hoping translates 2 adhd friendly #and general concentration issues friendly ig #also if u read this and went this is familiar i just extended on an ask i got on my old account like... 6 months ago

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rubberduckyrye · 5 years

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Sorry that it took me a while to get to these; I’ve been very low energy and am still low energy so apologies for that!

As for Marie, her real name is Olivia (her stage name is Marie Annette) and yes, it’s a pun, because she is the Ultimate Marionettist. You can ask more about her @aroseandapen since she is L’s muse.

However, Marie’s plot wasn’t created so she could run away from the consequences of her actions--in actuality, they’re much more sinister. You see, the basic idea we have right now is that a certain someone knew about the chapter 3 blackened before they murdered the second victim, but was being blackmailed into silence--because they had a secret they would rather die for than let get loose. However, this lead to Marie’s friend/lover/family/whatever idk we haven’t decided that part yet, get killed as the second victim. After learning about that person’s involvement, Marie gets furious and blames them, but everyone pretty much forgives them once they understand. All but Jaden, who while he does understand their motives, also understands that Marie is still hurt by them and it did cause the death of someone else, and at least had mixed feelings about it and made the mistake of expressing this to Marie.

That was a huge mistake, because Marie then decided that everyone but Jaden should live, and then she was presented with the opportunity to force Jaden into a blackened role. She then makes sure he couldn’t communicate the fact that he was he blackened (as he tried to leave evidence in the form of his glasses at the crime scene, but Marie figured him out quickly and ordered him not to be sneaky about it and not let anyone know) and yeah. Marie basically made Jaden into a blackened not to escape from punishment, but to punish everyone (including herself) and let Jaden go free.

This, of course, backfires, but that’s probably why Marie had Jaden kill that specific classmate. Because at least that person would be dead if her plan failed.

The worst part is that Marie is a pretty good person before this, too, which makes the betrayal so much more impactful.

I can give you a little backstory on Adrian, Jaden, and Irene if you like! I have those written out, so;

Adrian Blanc, the Ultimate Dilettante;

Adrian’s life was pretty mundane and average. They grew up in the middle class, had a normal life with their normal family and normal friends. There was nothing extra ordinary about them, nothing to report. The only thing that caught anyone’s attention, in fact, was how intelligent and sharp Adrian was.

Adrian has the Ultimate Analysis ability, and with their ADHD, tend to hyperfixate on different subjects of all kinds (I.E. Art, music, writing, math, science, mechanics, you name it) but before they could master any skill, Adrian would always give up, claiming that they had grown too bored of the trade to continue. Adrian became known in their little town as “the renaissance child” or “the jack of all trades,” and would often take on small jobs and favors from neighbors to complete a mundane task. However, they were never talented enough to get a stable job from professionals of the craft, being told that their mediocre skills weren’t enough to qualify for anything.

One day, Adrian’s popularity in their hometown got out to the bigger name cities, and they were asked to star on a talk show and display their many mediocre talents.

Impressed by their wide array of skills, the American Ultimate Initiative contacted Adrian to ask them if they wanted to attend the American Hope’s Peak Academy as “The Ultimate Dilettante.” Hesitantly, Adrian agreed, though is uncomfortable with their title.

Adrian is insecure over their lack of mastering any single talent, and feels as if their “Ultimate Title” can feel like someone was mocking them for it. After all, in the modern professional world, a “Jack of all trades” was pretty useless.

Jaden Holland, the Ultimate Digital Artist;

The Holland family is a black, progressive family that consists of Jaden’s mother (Agatha), Jaden’s elder sister (Jayleen), Jaden’s elder brother (Glenn) and Jaden himself, and a small dog named Juniper. (You can ask L more about Jayleen and Glenn)

Jaden’s father left their family when Jaden was just born, so his mother and his elder sister were the ones who mostly raised Glenn and Jaden. With Agatha working in the police force and their overall family ideals being liberal, Jaden grew up more socially aware and expressive early on. However, when he was a young child, Jaden was attacked by a large mixed breed stray dog, which left grotesque scars on his neck and unable to use his vocal chords. Ever since, he has been wearing high-collared shirts and turtle necks to hide them, embarrassed and ashamed of the scars. He also found that whispering could be painful at times, so he and his family learned sign language.

Aside from that traumatic event, Jaden lived a relatively calm life, and he took interest in digital art soon after the attack. He begged his mother for a pen tablet, and kick started his talent in the digital arts. Jaden has posted over one-thousand pieces of art under the user “Silenced-Arts.” He became quite a popular artist over time, and soon, he was written about in newspapers and online articles as “the boy who can paint a photo,” which was a reference to Jaden’s typical art style being hyper-realistic paintings of surreal scenes that people often would often mistake as photos or edited photos. This caused a bit of controversy until Jaden learned how to use Hypercam and other screen-recording software, and posted various drawing videos that immediately made him an even more popular artist on youtube and all over the web.

Jaden expanded his skills to different forms of digital art, such as 3D modeling and 2D/3D animation. However, he is most comfortable and skilled with painting and drawing.

His skills and talent grew until finally, just before his second year of high school, Jaden was scouted by the American Hopes Peak Academy as the Ultimate Digital Artist for a student film that was all animated but was 100% painted and hyper realistic.

Jaden has a special pair of gloves made by “A friend of a friend” (hint: It Miu) that has special sensors that can translate his signing to American English, and has a speaker that projects a voice resting in his breast pocket. This idea is loosely based off of this amazing keyboard “glove” where each unique hand gesture represents a unique letter. It relies on the same principle, except using ASL gestures and a blue tooth “text to speech” speaker. The speaker sounds as fluid and human as K1-B0’s voice, and the gloves have sensors to change the “tone” of his voice and mimic the emotion he wants to convey. (Jaden has the bonus of being able to manually select an emotion with gestures that are unique but do not mean anything in ASL, such as double tapping your thumb and index finger together... well unless that is a thing in sign language, I’m not sure.)

Jaden’s older brother, Glenn, is a member of D.I.C.E. as a fire dancer.

Irene Foster, the Ultimate Street Fighter;

Irene was a runaway orphan, originally born into a wealthy family. Her parents were always busy with work, so Irene was typically left to her own devices or kept busy with random lessons that varied from piano lessons to fencing. However, her parents were assassinated due to her father’s business company making enemies in the wrong places. The assassin didn’t kill Irene, only because of the guilt that he pretty much just made this girl into an orphan. (He wasn’t very good at being an assassin.)

Irene then ran away from Britain to New York City by stowing away on an airplane, and ran away from foster homes that took her in until she started getting into fights. Eventually, underground criminal rings for street fighting took an interest in her, and this earned her access to an underground street fighting ring. She was a natural fighter (though often feeling like she was fighting for her very life) and quickly earned a living off of her matches.

Eventually, she came across a house just outside of the city that had caught on fire. Among the flames was a little girl named Erin Rider, holding a teddy bear in one hand and a lighter in the other. After a little prying, Irene learned that Erin was a victim of constant abuse from her parents, and she thought she could burn the house down and run away. Erin is unaware that she killed her parents in the house fire and assumes they thought she died and never looked for her. Irene never had the heart to tell Erin that she killed her own parents, and instead, decided to take care of the little girl as her own sister. She decided it would be a secret she took with her to her grave.

With another mouth to feed, however, Irene had to take on more challenges to earn money enough for both her and Erin to eat, and eventually, Irene became known in the underground ring as “The Girl of Iron.” This caught the attention of the American Ultimate Initiative, and Irene earned her title as the “Ultimate Street Fighter.”

Now just for you, I’ll go ahead and type out Leah’s back story to the best of my ability because why not:

Leah Welsh, the Ultimate Hunter/Huntress;

Leah was disowned by her parents at the age of 13, once she finally confessed to them that their son, Orlando, didn’t exist anymore and wanted to be a girl named Leah. The transphobic backlash from her parents came as a genuine, horrifying shock to Leah, and she immediately ran away to her grandfather Orrin’s house to explain what happened. Being a far more open minded man and far more liberal, he disowned his own child and took Leah in as his own, and decided to move from Ireland to the United States to further distance them from the horrible people that were Leah’s parents.

Orrin was a skilled hunter, and not being able to leave a young Leah by herself, he decided to take her with him. Leah took an interest in hunting, and Orrin started teaching her--and much to his surprise, Leah took the lessons extremely well, and within just a few years, was a master hunter that surpassed even his own skills. They even traveled to Australia and Africa for some legal hunting.

However, Orrin was old, and he eventually passed away from old age when Leah was sixteen. Saddened but not discouraged, Leah started hunting game to make a profit as a survival tactic.

Eventually, Leah was called by a secret service of the government and taken into custody to be given an offer. A huge sum of money for using her hunting skills for an assassination--a very corrupt man who dealt with human trafficking, terrorism, and other criminal activities that made him too dangerous. However, every previous assassination attempt lead to failure due to the men and woman being official government figures and there being a rat in the government. They needed someone who could pull off the assassination who was unsuspecting and didn’t have a face int he underground criminal ring. Leah hesitantly accepted the offer.

She was sent to Australia for her target, since he was on a vacation there with his family. It was a very simple job, in actuality, and she used a sniper rifle in the wilderness to kill her target when he was having a picnic break with his family after stalking him for several nights. Unfortunately, Leah may have mentally prepared for his death and telling herself he deserved it for being such a monster, but she didn’t mentally prepare herself for the family’s reaction to his assassination. Leah went home that very same night with the screams still ringing in her ears.

A few months later, Leah learned that the wife of the corrupted man had killed her two children and then herself. As much as Leah tried, she couldn’t get the incident out of her head, and she decided to hunt some deer to distract herself from it, only to shoot a deer and it’s cry immediately triggering her. Immediately after the incident with the deer, Leah realized all at once that she was ending lives, killing creatures with families and futures that she stole away, and in her grief and trauma, Leah became completely vegan and vouched to never hunt again, nor kill any living, breathing creature.

A month later, Leah received an invitation from the American Hope’s Peak to be “The Ultimate Hunter”. With no job or any way to make money, Leah had no choice but to accept, but the title was more like a huge slap in the face than an honor to have.

#The 49th Killing Game #Leah Welsh #Jaden Holland #Adrian Blanc #Irene Foster

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chalabrun · 5 years

Text

end-to-end, ch. 1

Word Count: 1,372 Pairing: Elliot Alderson/Jessica Jones Rating: T Warnings: Some alcohol references Summary: A particular type of encryption where a message is scrambled in a way that, at least in theory, only the sender and receiver—and no one else—can read it.

( READ ON AO3 ]

Hello again.

I know, it’s been awhile since we last spoke to one another. Probably a few weeks now, at least. You’re probably expecting a status update. A brief line of no more than 140 characters and some emojis; a longer, heartfelt post made on Facebook or venting to complete strangers on Reddit. I could do that. But, I don’t have any of those things.

Wait. You knew that already.

I guess I can show you.

I had to move out, put my things in storage. It’s in a place no one will look because I made sure of it. It was done in the middle of the night, and with E-Coin taking over as the world’s currency, it could just be chalked up to a lack of funds and rising prices—the devil and demon of every person nowadays. That, or it had something to do with being an Ex-con. Krista’s old boyfriend will probably think so.

I think I’ll miss it. People are so used to being programmed to walk certain routes that street names and numbers becomes inconsequential. What was 217 East Broadway in the Lower East Side became a street, the low-hanging trees that provided thin coverage from the intense summer sun until long after noon, the chipped sidewalks and the hot grease wafting from Bo Hai Dumpling Town hung like a shroud. It wasn’t always a pleasant smell, but it was familiar. The sort of unpleasantness you became so accustomed to that you’d miss it.

And now?

I found something new.

The nice thing about wearing hoodies and dark jeans is that you don’t really stick out in the streets. In corporate America, you wear light pastels and neutral colors because it’s sterilized,so you blend in incongruously and indifferently. An employed and dispassionate statistic. It doesn’t have the grease and spit of the inner city on its shoes. Bleached and sanitized with sharp angles and watery glass surfaces. It always reminded me of being part of a motherboard. What did that make me? The GPU or CPU? Maybe the APU, both.

It’s all about blending in, knowing your environment.

Most of all, like other dissimilar species, it’s about a symbiotic relationship. I think I’ve found that recently.

“Anything?”

Her feet clop behind me, the shelves to the desk’s right and her back is turned to me, but I can see the sloshing amber liquid splash inside a tumbler. The sharp sting of alcohol follows it, but it’s alright. From here, the remnants of my night on her couch within the office in evident, but she doesn’t have any clients yet. Even if she did, a single blanket is easy to justify and fold away. My belongings are stashed beneath it.

I can feel her presence to my right lean against the window sill, arms folded with the tumbler in hand. In the laptop’s reflection I can see her wearing her usual hunter green tank top and distressed, torn jeans. We have our uniforms and anger management issues in common.

But, that’s not what she’s asking about.

“She posted on her timeline three days ago,” I answer, not bothering to lean aside where she can see the Facebook page I’d pulled up. Hacking wasn’t really necessary. We’d already checked her DM’s the day before, but I was going to check it again. “From Chinatown. 3 PM from an iPhone 6.”

“What about?” Jessica prompted me, surprisingly patient. We’d been working together for almost a month now. I think she’s getting more patient with me, a little less sarcastic. Even if a little less is unnoticeable to most people she talks with, like Malcolm or her adopted sister, Trish Walker. Even now, it wasn’t gentle. A hastiness was present, ineffable.

We work well together, brains and brawn. A symbiotic relationship.

You’re probably wondering how this dynamic works, don’t you? That’s alright, I should’ve said something.

“That’s not her phone. If I can trace the signal and the nearest cell tower it was sent from, I can get a better approximate location.”

“So, why aren’t you? We have to act fast, Elliot. Not like the fucking cops.”

Jessica Jones is a loner. She doesn’t work well with others and avoids them. Deflects from attempts to bring down her walls. With anger issues and a tendency to isolate and self-medicate. It was almost like looking in a mirror.

Two sides of the same coin.

“I’m coming with you.” I can hear her kick off from the window sill she’s leaning on. There’s a tense, frustrated atmosphere in the air. The product of two like-minded, polar-approximate people in the same room. The amount of cohesion wasn’t smooth unless you consider gravel and grit smooth. A lone wolf with no desire for a pack.

She stood next to the desk chair’s armrest, defiant and glaring down at me. “That wasn’t part of our agreement,” came her clipped rebuttal, a snarl on her lips. Arms folded, Jessica cocked a hip. “I thought this was some…Pinky and the Brain bullshit. You act like some drone on steroids and I do the groundwork.” She clapped her tumbler down with an audible clunk. “Besides, if you didn’t get the goddamn memo, I don’t do the teamwork horse shit. The last thing I need is to be some fucking babysitter.”

“I’m not saying you have to guard me. I just need to be at the location in person.” I couldn’t remove my eyes from the screen. The tracking algorithm was close and needed an eye on it.

“Did the last few days not happen or what?!” she rebutted back angrily. “You came to me, not the other way around! You wanted my fucking protection from whatever bullshit you’re caught up in!”

The clacking on the keyboard stopped, my eyes never lifting. But, my attention was there, flicking to her in hyperfixated intervals. “That’s not why I did,” I replied quietly, throat dry. “I don’t need protection. What we both need is what we lack.”

Frustrated, Jessica snatched the glass and stalked away towards her couch, flopping unceremoniously upon it. “You said you needed the abilities I have, Alderson. Why the hell else are you here?” she fumed at me. “Yeah, you’re a good hacker, but you’re also a liability. And that’s the last thing I fucking need.”

…I wasn’t sure how else to explain this to her. How did you break away years of walls when neither was really poised to budge? Easy: you didn’t. People were difficult to understand, stressful at best. Loneliness may have been a constant shadow looming over me, but sometimes, it was preferable to being in a room with a thousand conflicting voices and pretending like those people somehow got along. I went to Jessica Jones because I couldn’t return home and because of what I could bring for her. Being a skilled hacker was rare in New York. Being a hacker who at one time owned the FBI and Whiterose’s networks was even rarer. I was an asset, a valuable one. Anyone could see that. Even someone who normally didn’t stand to benefit from someone like me.

The parts of a machine didn’t have to get together once a week for book clubs over Starbuck’s. They just had to run together to complete their tasks.

My gaze on the screen precipitously drifted towards her. “Let me do what I have to. Completely separate from what you are.” That was my offer, my final condition. That we didn’t have to evolve into something parasitical was what we both wanted. Dependency and attachment didn’t suit us. I knew my features were like stone, carved into place. Her plaster was only a little more malleable than my own.

The pregnant pause was long. Long past term.

“…Fine,” Jessica groused as she downed the rest of her spirits in one gulp. “But if you get into trouble, that’s on you, Alderson.” Her own terms were harsh, but clear. We were partners, not friends or something more.

And that suited me just fine.

She grabbed her leather jacket and stalked towards the door, slamming it emphatically behind her.

I returned to the command line. It wouldn’t be much longer now.

#mr. robot #elliot alderson #Jessica jones #Marvel #my writing #hello tumblr welcome to my latest crossover ship how're you--#I thought I wouldn't be posting this but--yolo

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