#and 2. it would be kind of weird if she was a recurring character

[sonknuxadow]

im already really attached to trip and also mourning the fact that shes probably considered a classic character and is forever trapped in the classic sonic hell dimension

#and i also feel like its unlikely for her to show up again even in classic style sonic stuff because 1. #classic sonic as a separate Thing basically only exists to appeal to 90s nostalgia #so they would be more likely to use characters that have been around since the 90s and are already loved by that audience #like mighty and ray and fang . not a character who just made her first appearance in a game that came out 2 days ago #and 2. it would be kind of weird if she was a recurring character #because none of the games that take place after sonic superstars mention or reference her at all #of course this is because sonic superstars was just now randomly inserted into that spot in the timeline #long after a lot of the games that take place after it were made without the story of sonic superstars in mind #but in universe it kind of implies that sonic and friends didnt see trip again after this since they never mention her #because usually when theres a character who appears in multiple games and has been involved in multiple adventures #they get mentioned or referenced occasionally regardless of how often they actually show up

[frostbytemyrik]

Danny Phantom Required* Watching

*It isn't actually required. I know there are a ton of phans who have never even seen a single episode of the show, but it's a fun watch and I would recommend at least catching some.

Sorting the episodes into colors (with the first letter in parenthesis by the title for those who might be too colorblind to tell). Note that this is all just my objective opinion, and everyone is free to leave their own thoughts on this!

Green (G) - Introduction of an important character or major plot development, such as a new power for Danny or another major shift in the status quo. If you can only watch a few of the episodes, watch these.

Pink (P) - Introduction of a side character or minor plot development.

Red (R) - Introduction of a new character worth mentioning or other general status quo change, but the episode is generally considered to be...not great by most people. (But hey, nothing wrong with liking these episodes!) They'll be summarized at the bottom of each episode description for those who can't be bothered to watch them.

Blue (B) - Nothing important happens to the overall plot, but it's a fun episode that fleshes out the characters.

Season 1

Episode 1: Mystery Meat (R) - Establishes the show and its main characters: Danny, Sam, and Tucker, as well as a lot of other important characters such as the Fenton parents and Jazz, and minor recurring characters like Dash and the Lunch Lady. The writers are still getting their footing so the main trio is unfortunately among the flattest they get here.

Episode 2: Parental Bonding (P) - Introduction of Paulina and Dora, first look at Valerie, and most importantly, Danny's power to overshadow people. Fun episode in general, Tucker makes a weird comment at the start but this is one of Sam's absolute best episodes as a character. (Tucker and Sam actually getting to be fun characters instead of just "butt-monkey comic relief" and "selfish asshole" is rarer than I'd like, so I always like pointing out the episodes where they get some love.)

Episode 3: One of a Kind (G) - Introduction of Skulker, a recurring major antagonist, and his motivations.

Episode 4: Attack of the Killer Garage Sale (P) - Introduction of Technus, Ghost Master of Technology and Destroyer of Worlds, Manipulator of Machines, Lord of all Gadgetry, Wizard of Integrated Circuitry, Master of All Things Electronic and Beeping.

Episode 6: What You Want (P) - First appearance of Danny's Ghost Ray and introduction to Desiree and the Ghost Catcher (a Fenton device with an unfortunately rather...culturally insensitive name and design), explores Tucker and his relationship to Danny. I went back and forth between making this green and pink because I'm biased in my love for this episode, but it isn't necessary to comprehend later episodes. (If you can watch it, though, it's a lot of fun as we get to see how close Danny and Tucker are and how Tucker feels about Danny's powers.)

Episode 7: Bitter Reunions (G) - Formal introduction to main series antagonist, Vlad Masters, and his relationship with the Fentons and the ghosts of the Ghost Zone. (Antisemitism tw: Vlad has hired ghost hitmen that are vultures with Yiddish accents, hooked beaks, and fezzes. They thankfully don't show up anywhere else, as far as I can remember.)

Episode 8: Prisoners of Love (P) - Introduction to the Ghost Zone itself and Walker, a side antagonist. Shows Alicia, Danny and Jazz's maternal aunt who never appears again after this episode.

Episode 9: My Brother's Keeper (G) - Gives Jazz a focus and formally makes her a major player in the plot through a certain discovery she makes. Also introduces side antagonist Dr. Penelope Spectra.

Episode 10: Shades of Gray (G) - Valerie Gray, a background character from Episode 2, gets new motivations and becomes an important part of the series going forward.

Episode 11: Fanning the Flames (P) - Ember is introduced, and she hypnotizes the entire town to fall for her with her music. To keep Danny out of her hair, she makes him fall for Sam. Whether this episode is a Pink or a Red depends on whether or not that bothers you. (Racism tw: there's a sequence towards the end of the episode that shows people around the world watching Ember, and they're all very stereotyped appearances of Japanese, Eastern European, Arabian, and Indigenous Australian people. Thanks, Hartman.)

Episode 12: Teacher of the Year (B) - A fun episode with Technus. It does have some of that early 2000s "don't underestimate me because I'm a girl" stuff, but it's still a good episode with a lot of heart.

Episode 13: Fright Night (P) - Introduces Fright Knight. A Halloween special that has its ups and downs (eating underwear?) It's just really funny that an actual ghost, who has been to the maddeningly twisted and alien world of the afterlife, still can't scare anyone to save his life.

Episode 14: 13 (P) - It's a shame this isn't actually the 13th episode. Anyway, it introduces Johnny 13 and Kitty, while Tucker and Sam get to hang out without Danny while trying to solve Tucker's new run of bad luck and the fallout for his reputation.

Episode 15: Public Enemies (G) - Walker's back and he's making a major shift in the status quo: ghosts are confirmed to exist as he stages a major invasion of the town. Things don't go well for Danny, and the repercussions will be felt for well into the series. Also introduces Wulf, a ghost who looks like a werewolf, exclusively speaks Esperanto, and has the ability to tear the fabric of reality to create portals between Earth and the Ghost Zone. He's putting this power to use for Walker, but it's clearly not by choice...

Episode 17: Maternal Instinct (B) - Maddie notices her son is growing distant from her and tries to take him to a science symposium to bond with him, but disaster strikes and leaves them in the woods, with the only shelter available being...a cabin owned and occupied by none other than Vlad. Meanwhile, Jack tries to understand Jazz, who doesn't seem to want anything to do with him or ghost hunting. Lots of great character moments for the Fentons.

Episode 18: Life Lessons (B) - Danny and Valerie, arriving late to class because they both were out ghost hunting, get paired up in home economics class to raise a flour sack baby together. We get more insight into what Valerie's life is like after Shades of Gray, and she learns to get along with both Fenton and, temporarily, Phantom, after an excursion through Skulker's part of the Ghost Zone. As a B-plot, Tucker makes money babysitting other students' flour sacks while ignoring the one he has with Sam, and Sam tries not to get attached to the sack. It's not important to the plot AT ALL but I'd put this as a must-watch if I could. Alas, I made the rules and must follow them.

Episode 19: The Million Dollar Ghost (B) - A million dollars is placed on the head of the ghost boy, Public Ghost Enemy #1: Inviso-Bill, known to us in the audience as Danny Phantom.

Episode 20: Control Freaks (G) - The circus is in town! New villain Freakshow gets introduced, and he becomes important later. Kinda. Depending on how much you like a certain blue episode that comes on down the line. The trio go to this cool new goth circus, but there's a string of ghostly robberies in town and Danny has been acting strangely lately...

Season 2

Episode 1/21: Memory Blank (R) - Danny and Sam have a fight, Sam wishes she'd never met him, Desiree makes the wish come true and now Danny has no powers and neither he nor Tucker remember her at all. Sam gets him fried by the portal again to get his powers back, but this time with a new logo she designed slapped onto his chest. Really all that happens is Danny gets his logo. This can be skipped...if you wish. ;)

Episode 2/22: Doctor's Disorders (B) - There's a bug going around - literally - getting the kids at Casper High sick. Symptoms include sneezing, chills, coughing, congestion, and various ghost powers depending on the student. The only ones immune seem to be Danny (thanks to his ghost powers) and Tucker (wearing his new homemade cologne that smells awful in a different way to everyone). A new hospital opens up to treat them, but something fishy is definitely going on. ...But Tucker is afraid of hospitals. Great Tucker episode.

Episode 3/23: Pirate Radio (P) - Introduction to Youngblood, an occasional antagonist. A new radio program pops up, and every adult in town (and Jazz, who's 16 but sees herself as an adult) is enraptured by it and the one song that it plays on loop. Then one day, every single adult in town leaves behind a note that they're going on a cruise, and it's up to Danny to rally the teens of Amity Park to discover what's so fishy about the cruise and get their parents back.

Episode 4/24-5/25: Reign Storm (G) - The creepy castle in the Ghost Zone Danny accidentally freed Fright Knight from in Fright Night holds yet another secret: the coffin of the Ghost King, known as Pariah Dark, whose goal is to rule over the Ghost Zone and the human world with an iron fist. Vlad frees him hoping to snatch the powerful artifacts on him, but it backfires and now the King is free and follows the fleeing ghosts to Amity Park, which he promptly invades. Danny, Valerie, and various enemies including Vlad need to team up to seal King Pariah back within his sarcophagus and save both Amity Park and the Ghost Zone as a whole. Major status quo shifts happen here.

Episode 6/26: Identity Crisis (B) - Not my favorite episode, but I'm including it here because it was popular with the Phandom a decade ago. Danny gets tired of trying to balance his human and ghost lives, so splits himself in two using the Ghost Catcher that was introduced in Season 1 episode 6: What You Want. That also, unfortunately, divides his personality to two extremes; the human half ("Fun Danny") is lazy while the ghost half ("Super Danny") is an absolute ham of a superhero stereotype, and Tucker and Sam struggle to put their friend back together so he can stop Technus in a way only he can (and also because both halves are honestly really annoying them).

Episode 8/28-9/29: The Ultimate Enemy (G) - This is THE episode of all time. Maybe not the best episode, but it's great in its own right and, more importantly for this list, introduces another major status quo shift. It's also basically required viewing for the comic that came out last year (at time of writing), as that comic is a direct follow-up to this episode. Clockwork, a ghost that is essentially a deity of time, has a mission to eliminate the greatest threat to Earth and the Ghost Zone that has ever been before he comes into that role: a ghost named Danny Phantom. Danny comes face-to-face with a version of himself that caused a doomed future, and needs to fight to ensure that future never comes to pass.

Episode 10/30: The Fright Before Christmas (B) - The boy Danny Fenton, a Grinch to his core, finds the holiday season to be quite a chore. Into the Ghost Zone to blow off some steam, he accidentally causes a scene: the Ghost Writer's finished manuscript in ashes, and with Danny's indifference he clashes. He traps him in a book that warps space and time, and forces all events in his life to rhyme. You're in for a treat if you like all these rhymes, but if they annoy you, then don't waste your time. (This factoid may not matter to you, but this is where we learn of the Christmas Truce!)

Episode 11/31: Secret Weapons (R) - Jazz is overbearing, Danny doesn't like it, so Jazz decides to go to Vlad. The episode's latter half isn't bad, but it's R because Jazz's constant invasions of Danny's privacy and the repetitive thermos jokes grate on me. If you plan to skip, the thing that makes it a red episode is this: Vlad learns that Jazz is in-the-know.

Episode 12/32: Flirting With Disaster (G) - A lot of the more plot-relevant episodes in season 2 (and one in season 1) have been building romantic tension between Danny and Valerie, and here's where it comes to a head: they actually start dating! However, after some jealous stalking thorough investigating, Sam finds that there's someone pulling the strings, and manipulating their real feelings for each other to pull them together and get them out of the way... Valerie especially undergoes a lot of major character moments, and we learn a lot more about her as a person. One of my personal favorite episodes (and I don't just say that because I'm a Danny/Valerie truther) (the "engraved" ring and Sam being a stalker about it aren't great, but honestly I just try to ignore those parts. Yes, I know I'm biased).

Episode 17/37: Kindred Spirits (G) - While Danny's busy being an asshole to his friends leaving Sam and Tucker to take the blame for property damages during his fights, he finds a strange girl named Danielle (or "Dani") who claims to be his cousin and shares an eerie resemblance with him. The similarities go more than skin deep, as she quickly reveals that she's ALSO half ghost. Tucker and Sam warn Danny that there's something suspicious about the whole ordeal (in between being left behind to be blamed for collateral damage more times than I'm bothered to count right now), but when Danny winds up in trouble anyway, they still skip detention (that he got them in) to save him before it's too late. Danny's a dick, but despite that, it's still a good episode and we get introduced to Dani before her next appearance.

Episode 19/39-20/40: Reality Trip (B) - Freakshow gets the Reality Gauntlet: an off-brand Infinity Gauntlet that can warp reality to anything he desires. He gets Danny's secret revealed to the world, causing the government agency the Guys In White (from Million Dollar Ghost in season 1) to relentlessly pursue him. Luckily, thanks to knowledge Sam gained from a book on the gauntlet, the main trio manages to warp the gems to different parts of the United States, severely limiting Freakshow's power. Unluckily, Freakshow retaliates by kidnapping their parents and Jazz, forcing the three to go on a cross-country road trip to get the gems back to Freakshow and save their families while evading the law. No permanent shifts of the status quo, but one of my personal favorite episodes. It's a fun ride!

Season 3

Episode 1/41: Eye for an Eye (R) - A prank war between Danny and Vlad ends in Vlad becoming mayor and passing a lot of horrible laws specifically to spite Danny. The laws are undone by the end of the episode, but Vlad stays mayor.

Episode 2/42: Infinite Realms (R) - In trying to map out the Ghost Zone, the main trio end up meeting Frostbite: leader of a realm in the Zone known as the Far Frozen, filled with spirits that take the form of peaceful, yeti-like monster folk who revere Danny as the chosen one who defeated Pariah Dark. Frostbite is also keeper of the Infi-Map: a map that can take the user anywhere in the Ghost Zone. Now for the bad news: Vlad is here, he wants world domination now for some reason, and he wants the map to help him do it. Vlad steals the map, the trio needs to get it back. It's not the worst episode, but Vlad's villain decay is...tragic. Tl;dr: Frostbite is the leader of a tribe of friendly yeti spirits and keeps the Infi-Map, which can take the user to any point in the ghost zone.

Episode 5/45: Forever Phantom (B) - One of the only actually fun filler episodes in season 3. Introduces us to Amorpho: a ghost with the power to shapeshift into anything and anyone, who uses their power to cause mayhem for attention. They bite off more than they can chew when they impersonate Danny Phantom, however, and a Fenton device gone awry locks both Amorpho and Danny into the form of Danny Phantom. Wacky hijinks abound.

Episode 6/46: Urban Jungle (G) - Haha green. Like plants. Anyway, Danny has been cold lately. No matter what he does or where he is, he's consistently freezing. It gets worse: while Danny's in this weakened state, a giant plant ghost named Undergrowth takes over Amity Park and possesses Sam. Unable to fight the constantly-regenerating Undergrowth or to keep himself from freezing, he flees into the Ghost Zone to seek Frostbite's aid.

Episode 9/49: Frightmare (B) - Danny wakes up one night to learn, to his horror, that Nocturne, the ghost of dreams, has put all of Amity Park into a deep sleep to feed on their energy. He enters the dreams of his friends to wake them and get their help taking Nocturne down. A good episode for people who ship Danny/Sam, and a GREAT episode for people like me who like to pretend that all the episodes I left off the season 3 list were just bad dreams.

Episode 10/50: Claw of the Wild (B) - The students of Casper High are ending summer with a camping trip in a foggy forest. All seems normal until, one by one, campers go missing. Danny, Tucker, and Sam go investigating and find their ally Wulf, who seems to know something about the disappearances...

Episode 11/51: D-Stabilized (G) - Regarded by most as the final good episode of Danny Phantom. Dani had been on her own in the world since we last left her, but over time, her form has been getting unstable, causing her to be slowly melting into a puddle of ectoplasm. She tries returning to Amity Park to get help, but is now being hunted down by Valerie, who Vlad commissioned so he could melt Dani down and study her remains to make a superior clone. (Valerie thinks he's just going to keep her contained for the safety of Amity Park; she isn't informed of the cloning.) Valerie turns Dani in to Vlad, but Danny manages to form a shaky alliance with Valerie to get Dani back, since Valerie knows that Dani is half human.

Episode 12/52-13:53: Phantom Planet (R) - The only reason this is here is because the comic continues from where this episode left off. If it didn't, I'd suggest ignoring it entirely. Rapid-fire summary: an asteroid is about to hit Earth, Vlad reveals himself to the world and demands unquestioning rule over Earth (and one trillion dollars or something) in exchange for turning the asteroid intangible. Vlad can't turn it intangible since it's made of Ectoranium, an anti-ghost substance we never hear of until now. Jack leaves Vlad in outer space. Danny gets every ghost he knows to help him turn Earth intangible, it works somehow, and Danny reveals his secret identity to the world. Statues of Danny are built all over the world, Sam and Danny start dating, and Tucker becomes mayor of Amity Park. A bunch of other stuff happens too but it's all stupid. Valerie gets thrown into a dumpster on live TV and that's her only appearance besides clapping for Danny at the end. I'm still mad. Don't watch Phantom Planet.

The Comics

Book 1: A Glitch in Time (G) - Danny's life is perfect: his secret identity is out, and the world accepts him not just as a part of it, but as its savior. His parents and former bullies fight on his side now, he's in a committed relationship with Sam, and Amity Park seems to be at peace. There's just one problem: his powers are getting weaker by the day. Unbeknownst to him, there's another problem in progress: Dan Phantom, the evil future Danny from The Ultimate Enemy, is released and fuses with Clockwork, causing present Danny and those near him to experience unstable glitches in time. Vlad returns to warn Danny of the threat of Dan, and they all team up to venture into the depths of the Ghost Zone to find a way to stop Dan and get Danny back to full strength. Meanwhile, Jazz and Valerie hold down the fort at Amity Park, holding Dan off for as long as they can while the trio and Vlad search for answers.

Book 2: To be continued in 2025!

Danny Phantom can be watched on Paramount Plus, but if you don't have a subscription, there may be DVDs at your local library! Other people may also have resources on how to watch the show, so feel free to ask around!

Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time can be found anywhere books are sold! Abrams Books Amazon Barnes and Noble Google Play Waterstones

#danny phantom #danny phantom agit #a glitch in time #dpagit

[tobiasdrake]

Junko's ultimate ambition in Danganronpa 2 is indicative of what makes Junko so much fun as a recurring villain.

Operation: Junko-fy Mankind is a bit weird. Like. If she turns everyone on Earth into Junko then she wouldn't be spreading despair, would she? She'd just be spreading herself. It's not clear what she would get out of that.

But that's kinda the point of Junko?

Like. Her whole thing is despair. She wants to create despair. But at the same time, it's kind of... not?

At the end of the day, her whole thing is that she doesn't want to be bored anymore. Despair is the form that her entertainment takes, but it's ironically not the end-all be-all of the Ultimate Despair. She can even become bored of despair. That's what happens to her in a Junko playthrough of Danganronpa S; She gets bored of despair and decides to try wearing hope as a hat for a little bit.

Junko is an emotional sadomasochist who finds enjoyment from both suffering and inflicting trauma, but her core motivation ultimately is to fill the silence. To have something to do that will stimulate her for a little bit. She's. Just. Bored.

As the Ultimate Analyst, Junko's literally too smart for her own good, which has infected her with super-enhanced ADHD and an ever-present agonizing boredom. That's it. That's who she is.

As the recurring archvillain of a franchise, that's great. Like. Junko is perfectly designed to be a Saturday Morning Cartoon villain. To show up with a new wicked scheme that she's totally devoted to even if it utterly contradicts the goal behind the wicked scheme she was trying to carry out last week.

Experiencing and inflicting trauma are the main things that numb the boredom, because nothing else stimulates her quite so much. It's her stim. She needs the most extreme psychological reaction possible. She eats that shit like candy.

She cuts herself to feel. Only instead of cutting herself, she murders her childhood best friend and crush so that she can experience the anguish of watching him die. Then she has a new little nugget of trauma to entertain herself with. And thus, the boredom is staved off. For a time.

But in the end, she's not dedicated to any particular manner of hurting people. She's not even dedicated necessarily to hurting people, as her growing bored of despair demonstrates. She's just here to have a good time, and she doesn't care how many eggs she has to break to make her short-lived morning omelet.

She is exactly the kind of character you can get 53 different evil schemes out of.

#danganronpa #danganronpa 2 goodbye despair #junko enoshima #enoshima junko #revisiting dr2

[bleachbleachbleach]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you to @recurring-polynya my beloved for the tag!

I tag everyone who writes fanfic who hasn't done it yet! because I love reading these kinds of things

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

203, 11 under bleachbleachbleach.

2) What's your total AO3 word count?

827,868

3) What fandoms do you write for?

I currently write for Bleach!

4) Top 5 fics by kudos?

I use a site skin that hides kudos/comment count/bookmark/hit data on all of the fics on AO3, because they make me feel bad about myself.

5) Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I post my fanfic on the Internet because I want to talk to people about these characters and these stories. Of course I’m going to take the opportunity. If someone comments on a fic of mine, chances are I’ve probably re-read the whole fic before replying, because, again, I’m going to TAKE that opportunity.

6) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

All my fics are fairly dour the entire time, but I don’t think they tend to end badly. I’m most interested in the afterwards of something having ended badly (and/or something that is probably going to end badly, but hasn’t yet and maybe it won’t).

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All my fics are fairly dour the entire time (she says, again), but happiest overall and happiest ending is probably Some Things, because nothing hard is obviously about to happen right after it ends (e.g. Aizen, the Winter War, the rest of TYBW, etc.).

8) Do you get hate on fics?

Hate, not usually. Passive-aggressive dismissiveness or unsolicited critique, yes.

9) Do you write smut?

I’ve written sexual content, but idk if it’s technically smut? In that the point of it is often not arousal. Like, I’m not expecting anyone to want to read it because it promises to be sexually satisfying and scorching hot. Usually the characters are Going Through It and either the sex is incidental or it makes everything worse. I love either an inconsequential bathroom fuck or sex that exists somewhere on the spectrum of Weird. All of which can be kink in itself, yes! But I’ve never written anything and thought, "yeah, THIS, this is gonna make someone nut."

10) Do you write crossovers?

No, but if I did it would be about Iba being great friends with King from Run with the Wind. This is THE crossover canon of all time, mark me.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know. 

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

I’m not sure? I’ve had people offer, usually never to be heard from again, but I think it may have happened once, a long time ago.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, but I didn’t really enjoy the process. Or didn’t *get* it? I guess I don’t really understand how it works? I barely understand how RP could work, lol. 

Obviously we run this blog in tandem, and have co-written posts. I regularly hop into docs with multiple authors for things like abstracts, copy, organizational statements, etc. But fanfic is, to me, a completely different creature. That’s between you and the characters.

14) What's your all-time favorite ship?

I don’t think I’ve ever thought about a ship in this way. This is not about fandom or fanfic, but I will say I’ve reliably cried about David/Patrick’s wedding (and entire courtship) EVERY time I’ve watched Schitt’s Creek. S-tier.

15) What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

I used to be someone of many fics and many WIPs, but in Bleach I am someone with one WIP and a selection of other posted fics, all of which have been pinched off of my one WIP, like little spider plants.

16) What are your writing strengths?

My strength is that I enjoy the process of writing fanfic. Like, obviously it’s frustrating when something isn’t coming together, or is just bad (though sometimes it’s still enjoyable even when I know the product itself is bad). Sure, it’s often DISTINCTLY UN-FUN if this is happening while the fic is on deadline, but overall I like writing fanfic, and I find I don’t relate to most "writers avoiding writing" memes I see. (Well, with work writing, I find them highly relatable. I’ve heard there are people in my profession who enjoy work writing. COULDN’T BE ME.) By god, I did not wrest away this time to write fanfic, only to NOT enjoy it!!

Product-wise, my strength is that I know my taste, at least, so I usually like the things I post, even if I don’t think they did everything well. Craft-wise, my personal favorite trait of my own writing is the rhythm and repetition, and the layering of metaphor that results.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

How badly I want to hear from people after I have shared something. My father once told me (not about fanfic lol) that "not everything requires a response" but man, if I’m going to put my heart on the line, my heart requires one, regardless of whether the greater balance of the universe does. 

Craft-wise, I think my weakness is sometimes leaving too much to implication (and the opposite, overwriting or overmechanizing, executed out of fear of leaving too much to implication).

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

For Bleach, I consider all dialogue as already in-translation, even though the only language these fics exist in is English. Depending no how important I think the dialogue is or how well-versed I am in how the character speaks in Japanese, I will sometimes spend a lot of time thinking about how the scene would go in Japanese, and what the best translation would be for that in English. I’m nowhere near fluent in Japanese; I just really like translation theory. In practice, the way this works is like, I’ll have a certain grammatical construction in mind, or an order of phrases in mind, and then I spend a lot of time deciding if what I want for the scene is a "Nabokov does Onegin" translation (literal, "pure," estranging), or a "Pushkin does Shakespeare" translation (in the artistic idiom of the target language). This kind of playground is one of the things I love most about Bleach, and one of the reasons I started writing for Bleach in the first place. I really enjoy it!

I am not fluent enough in any language other than English to want to write dialogue in it. I think all of you who write fanfic outside of your primary language(s) are phenomenal.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

Online and disseminated to others? Inuyasha, back when you had to also build the website to host it. (We discovered FFN later, lol.)

20) Favorite fic you've ever written?

I really like most of the fic I’ve written, to be honest. I think that’s probably less true of things pre-2009, but probably some of that stuff, too. Some are more take or leave, but of everything I’ve written in the last five years, there’s only one where I looked at the title just now and thought 'ehhhh.'

On this blog, I try to avoid talking in the specific about things I’ve made that aren’t for Bleach, but How Many Thousands is my top favorite. It was written for one of my best friends in the world, before we were actually friends. I consider it my love letter to her.

For Bleach, it’s probably my East Rukongai Soul Train fanfic, which I have  read more times than the entire rest of the planet combined. I have read it many times. Thank you to those of you who also read to the end, because you are one of the highlights of my entire 2023!

#writing #meme

[charmixpower]

Issue Thirteen: Moonlight

Who gave Sky alcohol??

The kiss was real in this version!

This is so weird and fucked up and I hate it

This is the worst thing the comics have done

...

I take it back

THIS is the worst thing the comics has done

Hey wait a fucking second–

Tecna being boy crazy is SO weird

But they are so cute

Would magic count as girlie business because most magic users are women??? That's really interesting about how magic would be viewed

Feminine things included: giant magic beams

Aside from that later in the comic Riven's feelings are brought to the forefront of his mind by the moonlight, so it's implied the reason he is unhappy to be going on this mission is because he dislikes the effect that the moonlight will have on him

Flora no, stop, please

Like yes, men do have harder times expressing themselves on mass, but that isn't a reason to just excuse his actions

Musa tell him to fuck off if he's being annoying

Tecna is reading a comic about herself

This guy knows going to the mountains during a full moon is dangerous, but instead of warning anyone he runs away

Amazing kindness from the locals

I love how Sky catches on to the fact this guy knows something he isn't telling everyone

The lettering got fucked up but look at how proud he is of his fire

"And the fire started too! We are going to be warm and comfy!" Is what it says

Btw what they are doing here is a bad idea

1) thermo cracks, this could make the cave fall on them

2) the cave has a limited amount of air, they could suffocate

3) the cave is an enclosed space with no chimney, they could suffocate smoke edition

Don't make fires in caves kids

There is obviously a safe way, but it requires a big ass cave, and this is not cutting it. A small fire wouldn't be the best idea in this tiny cave, nonetheless that big ass one

Riven is so serious around Musa nfnsnd and later in this comic it's practically confirmed that Riven has feelings for Musa at this point

It is also confirmed that Riven can't communicate to save his life and he and Musa easily misinterpret each other

It is my opinion, as some guy on the internet, that Musa saying that she liked the fire made Riven go "ahaha!! I know how I can make her happy!! Keep the fire going!!"

That or he didn't want to accidentally make her upset again because he's bad at expressing himself and, again, Musa misinterpreting him. So he took his introverted self outside before he made an ass of himself

Both interpretations feel viable

Tecna being the less ridged of them is so fucking weird

HEY THAT DONT LOOK RIGHT

Cooking moonlight, fnjsjfjskd, amazing

Also moon fairy cooking moonlight

Riven wants to tell Musa how he feels sooo bad but he can't

Riven attachment issues and socialization into repressing his emotions SO real

Not even magic can make him do it

Imagine the cute girl you saved literally brings in berserk juice into your house

She is trying to save him!! So sweet

I hope he becomes a recurring character

Wanna see how you cure werewolf

#Winx club #Rus liveblogs #Winx comics #Winx comic #long post

[jupitermelichios]

so someone on the buffy wiki asked a question that i have basically been thinking about non-stop since i saw it

how would btvs be different if spike had died when he was originally planned to, during the church collapse in season 2

and there's a lot of interesting logistical questions (honestly the answer is not much, he very rarely actually contributes to the main plot, probably because most of the writers room hated using him) like how would s7 end (you just create a different arbitrary mcguffin), would the buffybot still exist (probably yes, you just make her a warren or a jonathan thing and remove spike from the equation), what would buffy's s6 unhealthy coping mechanism be (my instinct is to say a buffy/xander subplot, which would be objectively worse but would hit basically all the same narrative beats, and would also make the xander/anya breakup feel a bit less weird)

but that isn't the reason i've been obsessing over this

the reason i've been obsessing over this is that if spike dies in that church, drusilla should logically become a recurring villain, probably hitting a lot of the same broad plot beats as spike did

and now i can't stop thinking about a version of buffy where dru gets actual character developement, where they have to think of cool shit to do with her future-seeing powers (being completely incidental to the plot is a very weird quality for clairvoyent powers to have tbh but they never once make effective use of them in the show)

and i also realised that in a version of season 6 where dru is a main cast member, or at least a recurring guest star, the obvious choice would be for her to mentor willow

willow never gets any kind of magic teacher in any way that matters, and she never gets to talk to another canon-queer person apart from tara, and giving willow a mentor figure who is magic and queer and probably pretty supportive, but also is absolutely 100% trying to make willow worse would be so interesting! and maybe it would force the writers to remember that giles knows magic, and you could have a 'which will willow choose' dynamic going on between this proudly bi proudly magic vampire and the closetted deeply afraid of his own magic human and it could be so interesting! like i fucking love spike and giles's canon relationship, but it never goes anywhere and this would absolutely have to go somewhere

also there would obviously be a subplot, probably in season 4, about dru manipulating events to bring spike back from the dead, but he'd come back as human, and the scoobies would want to protect him from her both because he's human and because spike died before they realised he's not actually a threat so they think vampire spike is a big deal, so he'd be a main cast member and build relationships with them all, and you've got human spike and vampire dru kind of circling one another and flirting but also being freaked out by one another, and however you chose to end the subplot it would be the kind of compelling tragedy that all the best spike stories are. if he choses to become a vampire then you're functionally killing the relationships he would have built with the scoobies by that point, and if he chooses to stay human, you're breaking dru's heart, and basically every other variation i can think of is also tragic, and i love basically all of them

and dru would fucking hate glory, even if you never did the chip subplot in s4 and didn't use human spike to bring her into the group, you could absolutely fold her into the gang in s5 using 'the enemy of my enemy' as the justification

there are so many little problems with buffy that you could fix using dru as a recurring character - the watcher's council functionally only exist when needed, they have no real presence, but they're canonically fascinated with dru and want to experiment on her so they'd have a reason to have a recurring presence in the show that isn't directly related to buffy. vampires have no culture and the one time they were given a religion the writers were too scared to explore it in any depth, but dru is possitioned to interact with the cult of aurelius in a way spike never was, so they might be forced to actually think about the fact that vampires ought to have a unique culture and religious perspective and general outlook on the world. the concept of bisexuality might have to exist. everything with how angel interacts with the gang post s2 would be so much more interesting, and there'd be a reason to bring darla back and give her some character developement. mental health! they'd have to talk about mental health prior to season 6!

i'm not going to write this fic, because it would be so fucking long, but please join me in imagining the au that could have been if buffy comics weren't all terrible, or i had infinite time for writing fic

#buffy #btvs #drusilla #sprusilla #spike #spike btvs #drusilla btvs #willow rosenberg #giles #ruper giles #buffy the vampire slayer

[galaxae]

if youre still doing the ocverse ask game, 3 and 19? 🥺

ougghhh i so totally still am. i'm mainly fixated on my stupid ass video game idea (working title is gods don't bleed but i want to change it bc it doesn't fit as well anymore)

forgive me if this is incoherent, my boyfriend dislocated his knee so i have to care for him, and work has been terrible and burned me out, so i'm definitely leaving some stuff out of my answers :(, but whatever!!

3.) any recurring images/elements?

absolutely yes. lots of imagery of plants and animals, for one. fire vs. ice too, yes i know it's a very commonly used trope but i like playing around with those two things, especially when i get to kinda subvert expectations with them. similarly with light vs. dark. and also colors vs black and white, both in terms of morality and in terms of actual visuals

19.) describe the sillies you think about but that dont go in the story.

in my mind, charity and fabian (the first two playable characters, and close friends) are exes. it's probably not going to be canonized, but it's also not going to be explicitly denied, so...

their first date was incredibly awkward, by the way. fabian was an ignorant rich kid who loved to pry and stick his nose in others' business and not let up until he knew everything about a situation, while charity was freshly in the "my mom and i were homeless, got taken in by a man, and then that man turned out to be very very bad so we had to flee the state and come to this small piece of shit town where no one realizes how privileged they are, and this all sucks, and i don't want to talk about it" mindset. they were also both 14-15 which is the worst age to be. they broke up so fast after this but now they've got a really solid friendship going a few years later, and charity has a different (cooler) partner

also, so many silly bits of dialogue that... i'm not sure they'll go into the game at all, or if they do, whether they'll just be optional bits. but some favorites include (formatted sorta like they would be in my script document):

KIMBERLY: Oh, hey, Fabián, you're in French 2 with me next semester. JAMAL: Wh... what? People actually take French? I thought that was a myth. FABIÁN: Well, I already know Spanish since everyone on my mom's side and, like, half of my dad's side speaks it. So I thought taking Spanish would be way too easy. CHARITY: You stupid son of a bitch. That's exactly why you should take Spanish.

ACE: Holy shit, I just got stung by a bee! FABIÁN: Are you ok??? Ace pulls the stinger out of their face ACE: LOOK! It's still pumping venom! That's so cool! CHARITY: What the fuck is wrong with you? ACE: What's wrong with you? Lookit!

JAMAL: Hey. Kimbie. KIMBERLY: Don't call me that, please. What is it? JAMAL: Spell ICUP. KIMBERLY: "ICUP?" JAMAL: Spell it. KIMBERLY: That's not a real word. Fake words don't have spellings. JAMAL: Can you at least try? KIMBERLY: Oh. Wait. I see. I-K-U-P. JAMAL: ... KIMBERLY: Does that suffice? Jamal looks as though he's about to cry. [Later that same day] JAMAL: Hey, uh, hey Kimbi-- Kimberly. Is it just me, or is your outfit kind of, uh, "updog?" KIMBERLY: What? JAMAL: Your outfit's kind of "updog." KIMBERLY: What does "updog" mean? JAMAL: ........Can you........... rephrase that, please? KIMBERLY: ? No. JAMAL: :/

also, there's a period of time when kimberly is in 9th grade where she gets really intensely into astrology. specifically so that she can Know A Lot About A Thing that other people don't know as much about. she'll see someone doing something, walk up to them and be like "what are you, an aries venus?" and when they don't understand the reference she'll be like "never mind :)" and feel smart. she no longer does this in the game because she realizes that's so cringe. and she has OTHER science to do, dammit!! (like proving the Weird Kid at school is a literal alien)

another fun fact: kimberly (resident genius) and jamal (who does not give a shit about academics) play chess together one time and jamal wins because kimberly is so perplexed by his newbie moves that she doesn't know how to respond to them.

oh... i didnt realize i had this many sillies... cool :)

yall are encouraged to send more asks if you want i love these blorbos

#ocs tag #adrian posts

[stillgeekingout]

I was gonna be like "would you believe it's my 10th one of these" but apparently tumblr has a CHARACTER LIMIT now????? why would they nerf me on the year I decided not to worry about how long it was

anyway I guess I'm splitting this in 2 so reflections on 2023 part one~

let's start with work bc then I want to be done with it: I spent all year doing trainings (& 2 conferences) and researching and preparing to apply for an advisor position if it ever opened up. it did open up in spring, I applied and did not get it, the new advisor was not good and got fired, I applied again having done much more training and still did not get it, I applied for a different advisor position trying to triumphantly leave my office and did not get that either. so now I’m still in my same position working under the person who beat me for the job but this time with a bunch of extra responsibility that I gave myself trying to prep to be promoted. lol. if I sound very bitter it’s because I am :)))) 

all that being said, I do still mostly like my job from day to day. and I still want to do advising, probably. if they’ll ever hire me for it

related to work but less bitter: I had mostly good relationships with my coworkers. one of them was pregnant for a lot of the year and just had her baby last week and I’m very excited to meet her (we went to her baby shower despite all her friends being Very Christian lol it was a time) (this coworker is uhhhh A Lot but it’s complicated lol). I got to be on the hiring committee for another coworker which was a cool experience and also she is very nice. got closer with another coworker who I previously had kind of a tenuous relationship with (and now she works fully remote so it doesn’t even matter) (jk)

another thing I did in my quest to Be Hireable was basically take over supervising the student leaders (work study students) at work. shoutout to esteban, isa, aar and sheri lol

I have inherited my mother’s trait of getting attached to problem children. there are several students who are a recurring Thorn In My Side but also I’m rooting for them

last work thing that is only tangentially a work thing: I became the advisor for GSA at my campus and now I have a bunch of queer college students under my wing. a few of us walked in pride which was my first time being in the parade and it was wild. also we had an event for trans awareness week and I am proud of them for coming up with it :)) more exciting things to come this year. feels good to have a little corner where I can provide support in the face of so many attacks from the FL govt

let’s get the other big bad thing out of the way! my mental health was shit lol. I briefly was doing virtual appointments with a therapist in the spring but it mostly just made me feel weird and untherapizable. (as in, I didn’t feel like I was getting much out of it but I think part of that was that it was zoom calls from my car on my phone during lunch breaks) although it did lead to me leaving my phone outside of the bedroom at night and putting timers on my apps which I think have been net positives even if they haven’t made as much of a difference as I hoped. 

the aforementioned job stress was a huge part of it, the application process lasted like 2 months and then they left me on the hook after the interview for Multiple Weeks which was. a bad time.

another part of it was I was alone a lot on weekends and I’m not very good at using my time off to do fun and nice things when I’m by myself, usually I end up just stewing in my brains. I did try to get in the habit of occasionally going to these nice gardens near us so maybe I will do that more this year also.

also health related: got my first mammogram this year. it was uncomfortable but fine. also got my first pap smear which was QUITE PAINFUL AND UNPLEASANT but I did survive it

also tangentially health related: I tried a few times throughout the year to do yoga. for a lil bit I was doing it with some coworkers after work once a week. some of it I did with some people from the carry on discord. it was very intermittent but better than nothing at all!

last health thing: my dad’s siblings had an Exceptionally Shitty Summer. one of his sisters died, another of his sisters had an extreme staph infection and was in the hospital for weeks, and one of his brothers had a mini stroke and possibly also a heart attack? the latter two are doing okay now but it was rough for a minute there

ENOUGH BAD STUFF I turned 30 this year! three full decades on this earth

Ingrid got her work authorization and a job and later in the year her green card!

I paid off my car (and also my car is having a lot of minor problems but that’s just… having a car)

I made a few financial mistakes (messed up our taxes, accidentally got a best buy credit card) but they are hopefully still fixable and overall we still saved money by the end of the year. we tried to keep a budget for a while but it was hard to keep up with. we also tried to join a credit union but their customer service was really weird

made a halfhearted attempt at local politics (went to a few protests, one city planning thing, and one socialist alternative meeting)

stay tuned for part 2 since tumblr hates me apparently

#genuinely so annoyed????? since when does tumblr have a character limit??????? #personal? #part 2 coming imminently

[linkspooky]

Hiya! I love Donna Troy and want to know more about her but don't know what comics to read or shows to watch. Can you recommend anything? Also, I too am team cyborg needs to be back on teen titans lol

Okay, so it is a bit difficult to reccomend Donna Troy stories because she tends to be a supporting character in others arcs but you probably don't want to hear me say "Just read ALL OF NEW TEEN TITANS" and you'll get it.

Here are my reccomendations for individual storylines.

#1 Who is Donna Troy? New Teen Titans #38

This is the chapter that made me love Donna, it is very different from most comic book story arcs it's heavily noir, and it tells a much more down to earth story. This is also the Donna Troy backstory I like to go with when interpreting her character. The other origin stories are all dumb, she is best when she's just some girl that Diana rescued from a fire and brought to live on Themyscra. Donna's entire character is she's just kind of normal... BUT THAT'S INTERESTING when everyone else in the friend group is insane.

#2 New Teen Titans 18-21 HOMECOMING

Homecoming story arc, this demonstrates number one a lot of the personal flaws of Donna's character. Dick leaves Donna in charge of the Teen Titans and Donna is bad at it, the team falls apart under her leadership because she can't manage her personal life. At the same time this points out the flaws in Dick and Donna's relationship, Dick expects her to be perfect, Donna is not.

Donna has what I call "Second oldest daughter syndrome" everyone expects her to be Diana, but she is not, she is not as strong and selfless as Diana but she tries to live up to that anyway (ironically, I think Cassie is actually a lot more like DIana in terms of self confidence she just has a meaner edge to her). Donna's biggest recurring story arc is how much other people's opinions on her influence her because she always tries way too hard to conform to other people's expectations and suffers herself because of it.

3. Darkstars 1-38

The Donna gets divorced and flies around in space with Kyle Rayner her rebound guy, Era. Once again an arc that focuses on the humanity of Donna Troy and the faults underneath her good girl image, her marriage falls apart (like wow the marriage of a 35 year old college professor and a 20 year old wasn't exactly healthy, surprise surprise), Donna became a mother way too early and she has no idea how to balance being a superhero and raising a kid. This arc also has like, the most horribly tragic consequences for Donna's character I don't want to spoil it.

2. Titans (1999) #1-50

If you want a Teen Titans run more focused on Roy Harper, and the fab five while throwing new members on the team this is for you. I say Donna is usually a supporting character but this series Donna and Roy are essentially the most major characters (there's a lot of Garth too!!!). Donna's story arc especially early on in the comic follows on what I find compelling about Donna's character in that she is so focused on living up to the Donna that everyone else sees she's completely lost sight of herself.

5. DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy

This is Donna's only solo, and it's basically a tribute not only to everything Donna Troy has been as a character so far, but also all of the connections she has made with other characters, including the Teen Titans, and the wondergirls. If you want a short comic about who Donna is, and what she means to the people around her this is the one! Though I would reccomend reading this last because otherwise you'll have no idea what past events they are referring to. This was also DC's attempt to just kind of move past Donna's weird backstory problem and focus back in on who Donna Troy is as a person, because Donna's greatest character trait is the connections she makes to the people around her.

Also the only adaptation Donna ever appears in is Titans the live action series on HBOmax where she is fantastic and I highly recommend her it adapts the best part of her character as baby sitter extraordinaire and her relationship with Dick. Without the backstory bullshit. If you want a taste of her character I would watch that first.

#donna troy #wondergirl #teen titans #ntt #dc asks #dc comics #new teen titans #teen titans asks #teen titans meta

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

What's the scariest ghost story you know?

I'm always sort of amused when I think about what a weird and out of touch person I am, because here are some examples:

1. The Mummy is a big scary movie monster, and scary movies in general are big scary movies. I don't want to be associated with that

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide is another big scary movie monster, and again, I don't want to be associated with them

3. I like horror. I like the idea of horror, more than I actually like the contents of the scary stories that I read. But there are parts of the horror fiction genre that seem to be aimed at me. (Although "gore is good" would have been a bad premise for the HHG books, as the title suggests)

4. In high school I had a "classical music and mythology" class taught by a creepy old woman (this was probably a pretty good sign for future things, but I was 11). She had some creepy things in her house (the name of which I forget, but I was always frightened of them because of their association with her). I think a lot of it was because her name was a Greek name, like "Orpheus"

5. The "old woman living by the railroad tracks" story from "Tales from Outer Suburbia," which I read on a dare or something -- that story has been in my nightmares since I was a kid

6. I used to have recurring dreams about the ghost of my grandpa trying to kill me with a kitchen knife. It would be scary at first, but then it turned out that he was just my grandpa, but my mom had divorced him (and apparently had some reason to divorce him). I don't know much about his life. I remember it being really funny

7. My mom and I used to watch a very scary and gory made-for-TV show called "Thirteen Ghosts," which was about a haunted house. The ghosts were all ghosts (i.e. they didn't have bodies, they just existed in the house). It was very scary -- the last episode was a "haunted house" and it was scary in the normal way, but in the last scene there was a huge monster that looked like an elephant and which had huge jaws and giant teeth. My mom and I laughed our asses off (my mom said it sounded like she had seen a really nasty sex movie)

8. The movie "The Ninth Configuration," which is about a haunted house, except that it's not really about the ghosts at all -- it is the ghost of the ghosts that haunt the house. They come to life and move the house around, and then they talk to the main character in the movie. I remember seeing it once and being very scared. I also remember reading a bit about the plot of this movie, and it seemed really cool, so I must have liked it very much. But I remember never actually seeing it

9. Another movie that I liked was "The Others," about haunted houses, except they are all places where someone died, and the ghosts come back to life. It's sort of like "Dead Ringers," and I think I may have liked it because one of the main characters was me and it was set in my high school. That was a weird film

10. Another movie that I liked was "Scream," but I watched it many years ago and I'm not sure if I still like it. I remember that the killer had a black mask. I think it was kind of creepy

11. I liked the book "The Girl in the Glass House," which was about a scary house. I think it was one of those books which was meant to be scary and also a love story. I liked the love story. I also liked the house, which was full of ghosts and strange things

12. At some point in time I watched a horror movie -- I forget which one -- in which the haunted house was inhabited by two sets of twin boys who were really violent and fucked people up and stuff, and there was some sort of evil computer controlling them and keeping them trapped inside their house. I think that movie might have been a part of a series that started with a very normal-looking house on the outside (I watched that one first), and then you went inside, and inside was the house that had two sets of twins, and they were all like demons in human bodies. And this was the last in the series.

I know a lot of what I'm listing here could be taken as evidence that I like other people's scary stories, that I don't actually have an appropriate personal "fear response" to things like the aforementioned Mummy and Hitchhiker's Guide and TNC, but I've actually gone to lengths to avoid things that I associate with those things, and I'm sure I'd keep avoiding them.

So, as I said, very out of touch. I'm going to continue out of touch for as long as I can, as it were.

#cbblanchard

[mouseratz]

it's also very funny to me that reed & sue are said to be engaged in issue one but it's kind of implied that the engagement is taken off after the first submariner fiasco, as they are never referred to as fiances again (by the issues I'm reading, like fifteen issues later, so), even though they also still seem to be together at times, and others it's just not mentioned? it's very complicated. grey area. also submariner is a character that appears a Lot in this series and I still can't help but think he looks really gay on account of 1. being mostly naked and 2. looking a hell of a lot like Spock. if you look like Spock you're gay I'm sorry you should be so honored to be compared to him though. (although the character may predate him? I'm not clear on the dates but I think he does. but as a 2023 reader.....). they seem to really like him when so far he is giving me nothing. he's always like aaaah I'm conflicted I hate humanity for justified reasons but I think sue is pretty and I don't want her to die!! and then nothing else. my favorite part of him is that sometimes he's a good excuse for an octopus or giant squid to show up and that's awesome . otherwise. idk. he's whatever he's nothingburger

of the recurring side characters Alicia is the coolest though. I love that she's not exactly precisely superpowered but ends up helping them anyway because she has a supernaturally good intuition (and at first her relationship w the thing seems like a very on the nose message because she's blind; she's the only woman who would ever love him because she can't see his ugliness. then, it's pretty clearly said he's literally like a rock man so it makes sense she can Tell The Difference and is actually more into that/openly prefers Ben as the thing than him as a regular guy. which is so funny.....it's still very on the nose 'character needs romantic love to accept themselves' which isn't my favorite but Alicia herself i like) . that's neat of her. I thought she would just disappear as a weird one off for the puppet master thing but. yeah I enjoy her I think she should show up more

[sunsrefuge]

Hi, answer me 2, 5, 7, 14 and 15 for Khozzak. (from the gw2 ask meme, though I guess if you want to do song asks you can do those as well :D)

OH… UR FEEDING ME SO WELL TY TY TY <3 im gonna be honest. Im doing both <3

Under a readmore since I'm doing both, this is gonna get kinda long! <3

2. What class would your character just absolutely blow at?

Ranger! Idk why exactly, i just like to think that Khozzak isn’t… he’s not bad with animals necessarily, he just really doesn’t know what you… do with them??? Fjklsdjf I mean, his Jackal is a construct; his Warclaw is a construct; his Griffon… well, Hornet just decided that she really liked him and now she follows him around. She’s allowed to do whatever her little heart desires. He doesn’t know how to deal with animals so she’s the most spoiled little Griffon in the world ♥

5. What would they look like as the side character in someone else's story?

Still a Lightbringer for the Order of Whispers! He specializes in foiling enemy mesmers, so he could be a recurring character for shenanigans VS evil mesmers! :D In AU’s he isn’t the Commander, he actually eventually leaves the Order of Whispers and makes his own Guild! It’s made under a serious premise but basically turns into “thieves and minor criminals accidentally find a family in each other.” ^^

7. Do they have any skills or abilities that their class wouldn't normally have/just go about their class differently in some kind of way?

He’s always had a knack for connecting to the Mists, due to a weird incident when he was a kid that he doesn’t remember himself! In that sense, he’s a Revenant before they’re properly introduced, but was originally trained as a Warrior. He thought of his Rev tricks as just “putting his own flair on it” lmao.

Specifically during and post-Icebrood: He gets a kind of freezing dodge! I mean, he gets iced, and he acts kind of like a spooky ghost ability-wise for Icebrood Saga. Basically, he can now dash through enemies and freeze/chill them on his way through! <3

14. Biggest misconception about them?

hm… Probably, since that Level 70 fear story - that he’s easily foiled by mesmers! While that was true back then, he doubled down and took to studying mesmers as well as he could to make sure that he never made such a mistake again. So, while the general public probably believes that mesmers are his main weakness, they’re not anymore! >:) Now he’s become their weakness! It’s my favorite bit because when I first played story with him, I… somehow picked every single story step where mesmers were out for your head. I have no idea how I managed that, but it gave him a vendetta Lmfao.

15. What is their favorite and least favorite part of being the commander (or whatever role they play in your canon)?

His favorite part would be that he gets to travel! He always meant to when he was younger, and just never had the time because he was taking care of himself and two sisters. His least favorite part… learning that enemy mesmers are the actual worst. :) thinks about that Level 70 fear story again, where you get tricked into murdering your own troops <3 "he had such a great time! it was so fun!" i said, you know. like a liar.

-- SONG ASKS -- These only go up to ten, so i did 2, 5, and 7!

2. a song lyric to describe their love life?

Love, let my love inside go free.

Free by Mother Mother

I like this one, because it’s right off of his playlist and specifically highlights how he has trouble expressing emotions a lot! His childhood was a rough one, where it was better to hide your emotions rather than show them in any form. Spending most of his teenage years and adult life in the Order of Whispers, where he was taught how to hide them further, definitely didn’t help him learn how to express himself at all! It’s all in there, it’s just… having trouble getting out somehow. :’) It’s okay though, he figures out that people really like home-baked bread and stuff, so he starts doing that and giving it out to his friends and all aksddfgkj (He makes Qlikk’s favorite cookies at least once a month ♥)

5. a song lyric to describe their physical appearance?

Look around. Leaves are brown, And the sky, Is a hazy shade of winter.

Hazy Shade of Winter - Epic Trailer Version by Hidden Citizens & JAXSON GAMBLE

Okay, the specific version is because that’s what’s on his playlist! ^^; But yeah, he’s icey now! <3 Also this is just a really good song for Icebrood Saga stuff !! It’s very dramatic and the second verse always hits me with Bjora Marches for some reason:

Seasons change, with the scenery. Weaving time in a tapestry, Won’t you stop and remember me?

7. a song lyric that would comfort them when they’re sad?

Fill my cup with endless ambition, And paint this town with my very own vision.

Machine by Imagine Dragons

Does smth that helps you get up and get moving again count as comfort?? He’d count it as comfort !! i dont have a lot to spill for this one i think - but! There are themes in the song that are very “I’m going to prove my own individual worth, whether you’re pay attention or not” kind of themes! Khozzak lives to spite his dad Lmao

#THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THESE !!! #did not realize how much Khozzak i had on the brain today omg #c:Khozzak #my content #uses the two ask sections as an excuse to use both banners

[house-vestra]

fe17 thoughts (part 1)

first round of engage thoughts... i just beat chapter 17 but this is mostly about the firene gang so probably only spoilers for the early game

probably the worst FE in terms of line writing; ppl rag on fates for bad writing but mainly for plot holes/concept but i didn’t mind fe14 on a line level. there have certainly been more times during engage where the actual lines characters were given felt very amateurish.

in terms of characterization, i feel this game is probably the weakest as well. the character gimmicks are fine to me (none feel very egregious at this point) but i think the characters are hurt by how short the supports are. i think these are the shortest supports in an FE game? generally i feel like in FE, supports generally each contain a full story beat so a support chain will consist of 3 separate encounters, usually with at 1 or 2 reversals in there, but fe17 supports sometimes take all 3 levels to cover just one story beat (i.e. the b support picks up directly where the c support conversation left off, rather than being a new conversation resulting from the characters getting to know each other better). that gives the impression the characterization is much shallower than in other FE games. but i’m not convinced it... needed to be this way? there are moments where i feel like some characters DO have other things going on for them other than the 1 gimmick/character trait from their c-support.. i’ll revisit this when i’ve unlocked more a-supports i guess

like many people, i was taken aback by Alear’s design but I’ve mostly come around to it. I played M!Alear because he has less hair to look at. ppl have criticized the divine dragon thing being an excuse for protagonist worship but I don’t mind it; the game plays with how being worshipped is actually something uncomfortable for Alear and there’s a minor recurring theme about the nature of worship in Elyos which is a little juicy

mixed feelings on framme/clanne (i always want to write framme/cramme lol). probably least fav christmas cavs, which is a feat when alan/lance exist. i actually do think the Divine Dragon Fan Club is very funny... but i don’t like either of their designs and i feel like.... they’re annoying??

alfred is a wannabe himbo and i love that for him. it’s an interesting choice to give him that personality but make him look like That. i liked most of his supports; he is very funny.

reserving judgment of celine until i’ve gotten her later supports. she does talk about tea a lot but i sense she does have more going on; i like that she’s more canny and mature than a lot of kind younger sister types. i feel like a lot of the character supports are padded by polite pleasantries but celine sometimes cuts through the niceties in a way that suggests there’s more going on with her?? i will return to this point after i get more supports. i do like her design; she is cute and her big poofy dress is funny.

chloe is pretty. i think her thing with eating weird foods is funny as well, but the writers (possibly localizers, could be in the original jp context as well) missed the mark with calling the food “folk food.” it would be one thing if what she was eating was actually established in lore to be what commoners or regional peasants eat as a fact of the world. we do have a lot of noble characters who could be aghast by that. but we also have characters from poorer backgrounds and nobody eats what chloe is shown to be eating, so it doesn’t feel like honest world building when chloe lectures other characters about the authenticity of weird regional delicacies

(but it could have been funny if chloe could only cook weird things that no one else likes in the cafe)

louis’s thing with watching ppl is a little uncomfy for me but i could change my mind at some point. i do like his green eyes when he opens them, and i like that they do have him open them at times; that endears the character to me. i like that he’s a pushy big brother to zelkov

limited thoughts on boucheron; i do like his reactions to alfred and etie harassing him and he makes a good straight man to them. “those are my abs” from the etie support was great. his model does make it abundantly clear that the shoulders on the adult male model are too broad, so that’s distracting.

i actually like most of the firene gang on their own... but as a group they are too nice lol and it makes most of the conversations/supports in the early game feel kind of bland and samey.

ESPECIALLY QUEEN EVE; i feel like her design is very regal, proud, and borderline-could-be-a-bitch but then she just is a normal nice lady, so i was disappointed.

as a side note, to all the people (on reddit) who keep saying they wrote etie to be a buff bodybuilder but didn’t draw her as one... they didn’t write her to be a buff bodybuilder. they wrote her to aspire to be a buff bodybuilder, but she struggles to put on muscle like alfred does, read the words on the screen, i beg of you.

thought jean would be a stronger unit but he’s... not that good for me; i feel like... qi adepts aren’t good???? i don’t mind that he and anna are children but i have seen some criticism of their ages.

anna is cute. i have the same criticism of her as i do with all post-fe12 anna’s, which is that fe12 anna is best anna. the money thing is more toned down in engage, which i appreciate. she is so little. i think she has good growths but i haven’t noticed her being that good because mine is flimsy as paper.

gameplay-wise, the emblems are really fun. this is a new level of unit customization for Fire Emblem. class changing/skills were serviceable before but they required grinding and some level of commitment to them, whereas i’ve been swapping emblems on and off characters very liberally so the way i play each unit changes between battles. that is very neat.

edelgard/dimi/claude is my favorite emblem; fallen star is very good, atrocity is strong but less useful, raging storm is mostly not useful due to the cost but i’ve used it once. tiki is good as well as she’s strong; i’ve not noticed her increased growths having that much effect but could be because i swap her on and off people.

for base game emblems, i think probably... micaiah  > lyn > sigurd > byleth > celica > eirika > corrin > ike > lucina > leif > marth > roy

i haven’t used leif and roy that much so they could be better than i recall.

unit-wise, i don’t think i’ve noticed many stand outs for me? everyone is roughly usable, and i’ve trained everyone but clanne and vander (i’m in desperate need of more master seals)

everyone is saying you need to promote at level 10. THERE’S NOT ENOUGH MASTER SEALS TO DO THAT. i promoted everyone at level 20 and i still have people sitting there waiting for master seals.

speaking of not having enough of a resource, i’m also very poor. i upgraded all countries to level 2 to get their regional clothes but the level 3 is TOO EXPENSIVE. i have a lot of gold skirmishes but they’re rough to do bc they’re pretty high level and if i use my high level guys, those guys will level up, and then the skirmish level will INCREASE MORE. this is... like a punishment for sisyphus

they buffed armors so much that mages are really indispensable. hammers and armorslayers... do not work lol

i appreciate that they gave us lots of shiny staves to use, and pretty early too. i have not used them.

i guess alear is my strongest unit??? they’re pretty dodgy but didnt stop marni from ONE SHOTTING ME.

i’ll do brodia gang next; i have lots of thoughts on them. i’m recording these for future me’s reference, but i’m happy to hear other people’s thoughts too!

#m #fe17 #elyos #mine #i'm not finished w the game so could change my mind at some point #i wonder when the fe17 ao3 category will pop off #there's only 79 fics rn but i assume most ppl haven't gotten most of the content yet #my wager is it certainly won't get the readership 3h did but it should get several thousand like fe13 and fe14

[superstarshowcase]

my thoughts on the new panic album

just finished listening so here is my bullet pointed live reaction. i have not been a patd fan since like 2018 so please do not read this if ur looking for a glowing review. HOWEVER there are some good parts i'm not wholly biased, but spoiler alert all of those good parts relate to the instrumentals not the vox/lyrics.

enjoy

i’m not listening to the singles again; don’t let the light go out is the best one because he’s only doing falsetto for like 40% of the song instead of the usual 90% and also mike naran slayed. still would not listen to it in my spare time tho

star spangled banger

would it kill this dude to sing in a healthy octave

what the fuck why is the first verse so fast

“home of the freaks” is an extremely corny line also why is he screaming it at me

i do like the bassline

it seems like all of these songs so far have instrumental solos which i would normally like but they’re all mid and sound exactly the same so what’s the point

god killed rock and roll

omfg he wishes he was queen soooooo bad

this one is ok so far. guess why? because he’s not singing in his high register (…for now?)

… never mind. damn it can he go ONE SONG WITHOUT IT???

this song did NOT have to be this long why is it still going

say it louder

“everybody hates you now” is he directing this at himself bc yeah no shit

i HATE that he based this whole song around that “louder for the people in the back” phrase

i swear to god some of these songs aren’t bad but then he goes into falsetto and it makes my ears want to explode

okay this one is not awful i’ll give him that, it’s pretty theatrical

sugar soaker

i like how the verses sound, but i don’t like the chorus it feels like he just defaulted back to the standard chorus for all the songs so far

and i hate the lyrics as a whole wtf kind of metaphor is comparing the woman to a car

this had potential

something about maggie

less than 30 secs in i already don’t like this. especially the lyrics.

why does he keep referring to a DJ in these songs??

has he explained what the recurring character of maggie represents or is she just A Girl

WHY DOES HE KEEP REFERRING TO AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE????

i like the instrumental break at 2:00 it actually sounds unique compared to all the other ones but also i’m a band and orchestra kid so i’m just a sucker for orchestral/brass/woodwind parts

sad clown

this mv could NEVER be that one ofmd scene

is he going for opera bc he’s failing miserably

… and is he aware that opera is more than just going as high as you possibly can and saying italian words

wtf is this beat change at the end

brb taking a lunch break my ears are bleeding

all by yourself

WHAT are these lyrics supposed to mean

there are so many songs on this album where the verses sound cool (mostly instrumentally but also vocally)… and then the chorus sucks ass

(and you will Never guess why (he cannot sing high notes (that’s why)))

“we live FOREVHA”

do it to death

i detest everyone who was comparing the singles to vices/pretty odd, but i WILL say that the way he sings “patience now, don’t cut the line” here reminds me a little of vices

“do it all to death” more like do it all the ti-[GUNSHOT]

the shut up and go to bed part sounds so out of place

wait that’s IT?? that was a weird song to end the album with.. idk what i personally would’ve chosen but

1 day later update i have already forgotten how these songs sound so. not memorable whatsoever

#anti brendon urie #panic at the disco neg #patd neg #viva las vengeance #original

[a-bucket-full-of-feels]

I binged re-watched hakata hyakkaten season 1 and 2 many years after, and i’m reminded why this show is such an underrated gem which transformed me into a hkt oshi:

- this was hkt’s first variety show which featured them alone only without any “veteran” members (other than the sister group guest members), and they were all diamonds in the rough, trying to figure out the kind of character they wanted to portray as an idol, and looking back you can really see the growth from back then vs how they were many years later up till present/the moment of graduation

- like within these 2 seasons of hyakkaten you can see several members finding their personality e.g. natsumikan’s transformation into hkt’s “boss” by the end of s2 and finding her niche in MCing/talking, chiichan’s “ponkotsu captain” character being established

- although i would like to note that it’s quite amazing that chori and to some extent tani (she didn’t appear much cos 2nd gen) were such natural comedians from the moment they appeared on the show - chori was basically as funny today as she was back in 2013 (also we were robbed of a potential star hkt owarai combi chori/tani cos they were too good for hkt and had to be pulled to akb/ske)

- the weird recurring jokes/segments were really something e.g. chiichan trying to play the guitar at every opportunity, aoi crying at the most trivial shit, murashige trying to appeal to the guests every episode by standing up and shouting “xxx daisuki!!”, the “gui gui corner” which first was just murashige but eventually including some of the more variety oriented girls who would take every opportunity to stand up to be noticed

- i’m just blown away at sasshi’s MC skills - she was able to draw our attention to the uniqueness of the hkt girls while at the same time bringing in a lot of her own personality and making entertaining comments - and all at just 19 years old (back then i didn’t think that was a big deal, but in retrospect as a much older person now i’m like...wow)

- something i also noticed a bit more in the rewatch is how much the girls look up to and trust sasshi e.g. the way they tend to look at her a bit more when talking in the presence of the guest members (especially when it’s just the 3 of them) - a subtle detail, not sure if i’m looking to much into it

arguably, hkt48 no odekake was the show that helped to bring out a lot more of the members’ personalities since it was a longer running show and the format was less structured, but it’s way too long to binge and i don’t recall that many iconic moments lol. but the “rawness” of hyakkaten was what made it charming and cemented hkt 1st gen as one of my favourite 48g teams

#not to be an elitist but s1&2 is better than s3 #like the vibes are different when you invite actual 48g members and eat at a restaurant for the gourmet date

[owilder]

Penguindrum is a story about a terminally ill young girl who, after dying, is granted a second chance at life by a possessed penguin hat that her brothers had purchased for her at the aquarium. In return for this gift of life, the brothers - and the penguins who now follow all three siblings - are tasked with retrieving the titular penguindrum - else the girl will die again.

This summary does not even scratch the surface of what actually transpires in these books. They are the novilisation of an anime; and, while I am familiar with anime luring you in with a somewhat weird premise and cute creatures only to hit you over the head with sad moments and dark themes - I still was unprepared for how bizarre and heavy this series gets.

The series deeply explores the themes of what it means to be family, which ties into its recurring theme of ‘invisible children’ - the children that society tends to ignore, overlook, or straight up toss aside. In this case, it focuses specifically on children whose parents perpetrated the 1995 Sarin Gas Attack, as well as several others who had some connection to one of the victims, and the relationships between all those affected by the attack.

This subject is especially well-handled since, despite never shying away from keeping the awfulness of the parents’ actions in perspective, the series also shows the parents, through flashbacks, as their children saw them - as kind, loving, protective parents. The lens of violence and fear through which the world views their parents is not that through which the children view them because their parents never showed them that side of themselves.

Another common theme is that of childhood trauma at the hands of their guardians and society. Each of the children presented here has suffered in some way, and series explores how that trauma has effected them, pushing some of them, in some cases, to violent extremes. Those extremes can be difficult to read on occasion, but are never romanticised or excused.

Admittedly, this does make the book a dismal read in parts. (Don’t even get me started on San-chan. As if the series wasn’t depressing enough, they had to throw that at me.) However, the lighter and more comedic moments are numerous and warmly welcomed. This does mean that the series periodically gives its reader tonal whiplash which, while I would ordinarily argue is a flaw, actually benefits the story, since the subject matter and themes are so heavy.

I appreciate that the terminally ill Himari is a fully developed character with dreams, doubts, and flaws, as opposed to being the archetypically “pure and perfect fragile child” whose character and illness exist solely to drive the plot forward. While she is introduced as pure, innocent, and childlike, it becomes apparent rather quickly that there is more to her than that and that those characteristics may be a mask she wears for her and her brothers’ sakes. As is typical of many anime, the characters appear simple on the surface only to have it revealed later that they have many deeper (and in this series, often darker) layers.

Of course, there are a few areas in which the series could have been improved. Noticeably in the second book, though more egregiously in the third, the penguins that are constantly present in the background, especially No. 1 and 2, are frequently omitted. While I would ordinarily assume this is intended to by symbolic in some way, I am aware that, in the anime, they’re still present, making their sudden omission feel as though Ikuhara just got bored with describing their background antics and gave up doing so. Similarly, it is a shame that the second penguin hat has almost zero bearing on the story beyond explaining a certain character’s motivation and actions. Himari’s relationship with hers is repeatedly depicted and explored, so it feels like wasted potential to not do so with the second hat even just once. Finally, while I’m aware that the suggested incest in the series is not actually incest (which is all I can say without spoiling anything), I believe the story suffers from its suggestion. The character dynamics work best and service the overall themes of the story best when they’re strictly familial. The story makes it clear that these characters see each other as family and, for that reason alone, will do anything for one another, and even hinting at any romantic interest between any of them cheapens that a little.

Overall, if you are not bothered by a heavy and, at times, outright heartbreaking story, then I recommend reading this series. It offers so much more than its premise promises.

#Books #Reading #Penguindrum #Kunihiko Ikuhara