#and giving me BRAINWORMS AGAIN

[keymintt]

cycles, and the wheels that turn them

#art #fanart #disco elysium #harry du bois #kim kitsuragi #kimharry #harrykim #idr which is the technical ship name #my art #digital #comic #comics #disco elysium fanart #harry disco elysium #kim disco elysium #anyways shoutout to disco elysium giving me brainworms and also an idea to make a comic again. it has been Too Long since i've finished one #also i know this is super short but i like. hope the characterization is alright? i'm probably stressing too much over how plausible it #would eb for kim to buy harry a sandwhich but. such is the way i am hklghdflk #if you saw the version with the typo no you fucking didn't #greatest hits

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

Idk how long Inky even has to live so i am manifesting milf era June

#cant say that the dreadwolf 'announcement' had me overly excited #but also cant deny that its stirred some post-trespasser brainworms again xd #so ye! tosses u a june #my art #my ocs #oc: june trevelyan #i did start out with long hair but ngl i like short hair on her as well #so might as well give her some! #its probably dyed too lol so please imagine her rocking some fancy colour(s)

[lord-squiggletits]

See I really like to imagine semi crack AUs where Pharma doesn’t get yeeted at Delphi (idk they imprison him on the LL or something) and somehow Pharma ends up meeting Optimus because like. Listen. Optimus is “I can fix him: the character” and it would be so fucking funny for Pharma to go crying to Optimus like “blease i’m not a bad Autobot :(((( I did war crimes because I was forced to!” and Optimus listens to this whole story about the DJD and turns to Ratchet and is like: “you told Pharma that he was dead to you? You were going to just let him fall off the edge? that’s not the Autobot way :(((( “ and the whole time Pharma is sobbing into Optimus’ chest periodically stopping to smirk at Ratchet from underneath Optimus’ window tits. This scenario is immensely fucking funny to me and I can’t stop thinking about it.

#i'm getting brainworms about this again oops #squiggposting #like optimus forgave war crimes georg megatron so like he would absolutely sympathize with pharma #optimus has 'i can fix him' syndrome at the best of times dslkfjlsdf #but yeah it's just so funny to me esp since ratchet is friends with both pharma and ratchet you know???? #so when optimus gives ratchet the Disappointed Stare ratchet is like hey now wait a minute #pharma using optimus as a rebound from ratchet to piss him off #the possibilities of this interaction are fucking endless lmao #but also pharma is my meow meow so i think it would be neat for him to be validated by mr i can fix him/no one is beyond saving #and on a serious note i can imagine optimus being disappointed in ratchet for how he treated pharma as his friend skdklfs #sorry. brain worms are speaking right now. anyways #pharma #g1 idw #ratchet is friends with both pharma and optimus*

[presiding]

What is your favourite thing about Billie Lurk?

(Answers are obvious possibly but i love when people talk about her👍)

thanks for the ask!! YEAH ME TOO I love when people talk about Billie! I can't say I have a favourite thing specifically, but I can explain why she's my fav. apologies for not taking this qn literally, but -

short answer: she’s really cool

& you can stop reading there, or, for the maybe 2 mutuals who might have time to read this my thoughts on her as a character, her meta, and her character as raw potential...

long answer:

i considered making this entire thing a gush so you could read a gush about Billie. but, part of what draws me to her is that she’s not always well written, and in fandom she’s underrated for a literal protagonist.

since you ask...

billie is a cool character

when I played Dh2 (hadn't played Dh1), I was excited to see a black woman with disabilities who was captaining a massive ship by herself. wow.

then I discovered Billie’s backstory with Deirdre, the way she responded to that, then having to survive while living on the run, and her bisexuality. as well as her history with daud & delilah. fascinating!

she’s an outsider who has so much to lose, and knows what it's like to lose everything - having lost everything not once but three times - but nevertheless speaks truth to power. she's so brave! she went and helped Emily & Corvo and she must have known they might kill her! plus, she’s smart, she’s funny, she gets shit done, she’s gorgeous.

but... the meta

mild critique of fandom & arkane incoming.

skip this bit if you want - you've been warned twice now - jump to tired Hayao Miyazaki and read from there if you'd like my thoughts on writing her.

i thought Death of the Outsider was going to be amazing and then... well. *sad trombone* i've written about that before so i won't keep banging on. i figured others must be disappointed too, so I joined a few fandom spaces in hopes of finding camaraderie.

most people with complaints about DotO didn’t like how the Outsider and Daud were handled. which is valid & I agree. but it seemed like most paid no attention to Billie; when people talk about her it’s with respect to Daud, as opposed to in her own right. you could argue for fandom misogyny because people don’t talk about adult Emily Kaldwin that much either, but in Billie's case, it’s misogynoir (compare & contrast with the popularity of thomas, particularly the popularity of thomas portrayed as a white man for no particular reason that i've been able to discern - i keep asking around, is it in the books???).

i think this is a LOT better now than it used to be, which is fantastic. or perhaps i have found the correct echo-chamber? ha.

ultimately, The Fandom is a fraction of the entire picture, and not even the important bit since The Fandom is not who these games are made for. you can't make money relying on only your hardcore fans even if all of them spent a fortune on merch, this is true for any AAA game.

while it's true that Billie is underrated from a fandom perspective - but Billie as an underwritten protagonist is squarely Arkane’s fault.

it was reasonable when she was a side character - the lack of info in Dh2 makes perfect sense (if anything there was more lore in Dh2 which is kind of wild)-

- but as a protagonist in Death of the Outsider?

.... there’s lousy writing, and there’s whatever is going on with Billie Lurk, a black woman who mostly exists as a foil or saviour for light-skinned characters. In her own game there’s barely any of her own lore except where it's relevant to saving two dudes.

lore hints at, but barely touches on what race means in the Dh universe (xenophobia is stronger in Dh1; separate essay i guess), but Arkane has patted themselves on the back for portraying non-white characters, which feels like the same thing as the aesthetic of diversity we're seeing in advertising currently because it’s in marketing trend guides. it's self-congratulatory and it's a missed opportunity for deeper storytelling.

you can see an example of diversity at its most shallow in the way that Billie’s written: there’s little engagement with her as an entire person with history & wants & preferences, and the world she walks through in that game feels like it has nothing to do with her. you could make a case for alienation as a theme, but then, how do you handle the titular premise of 'Dishonored' without ever letting Billie make changes in an environment without a chaos system? it's disappointing from that angle too.

in my opinion, whatever it's worth, it was an accident Arkane created such an awesome character - they needed someone to betray daud. congrats billie.

all this said, it makes her an underdog as far as characters to enjoy & create art & stories for. it's nice to find so many like-minded, switched on people! <3

billie's character potential

she’s got a wealth of unexplored lore, being deeply intertwined with both Karnaca & Dunwall’s fates & criminal underbellies, as well as her connections to the witches & whalers, and three Empresses.

she’s lived a few distinct lifetimes and in the games we get to meet her at two peaks (KoD & DotO) & a low (Dh2 as Meagan).

her voice is very distinct, her dry & often dark humour is entertaining & fun to write. her perspective is really interesting - she’s had the widest variety of void-powers of anyone canonically, and she’s also lived through the highest highs and lowest lows.

she's got everything going for her :) i couldn't really pick a fav thing!

#i assume my followers are cool enough to let me give a brief measured critique on fandom trends and DotO #thanks for the anon question!! what fun! #i love billie lurk <333 #jumped on the opportunity to rant n rave #what part of billie isn't my fav! (im a guy who likes the bad stuff too. mmm interesting meta) #trying to be not unfair or mean- i'm not targeting anyone but rather trends. and it's ok to be disappointed with something you love #fuck it. make it part of the appeal! her writing sucks! plenty of room for me & other creators! #its easier for me to indulge my billie brainworms when it sorta feels like she's not getting as much love as she deserves #you know? i want stories where her history is explored and her agency is important so i guess i'll roll up my sleeves #tumblr is a terrible place for this sort of critique IMO- lots of nuanceless empathy-free guilt-trip-ish rhetoric #so i hope i avoided that. but not so much that i seem forgiving. #that said i'm not tagging this one with fandom tags! no thank you. #i am blaming arkane yes. but that is also not without games industry context #i could complain about amateurish writing but that also never happens in a vacuum. industry problem(s) for sure. #people love to blame writers for things #and yeah a couple really fucking good writers can push a boulder uphill #but its usually a company problem #hire lots of diverse people in your company. give them authority and respect and reasonable workloads. and no crunch. #ah fuck this is a separate essay in tags. again #THIS WAS A SIMPLE QUESTION #*clutches head in hands* #uh if you're still reading at this point im SO sorry and thank you and i love you

[smokestarrules]

i love you artists who are giving timeskip Amity the biggest muscles ever how does it feel to be the smartest people on earth

#shes giving me the brainworms again rn #toh #the owl house #amity blight #smokey speaks

[mag200]

two birds on a wire: one tries to fly away and the other watches him close from that wire. he says he wants to as well, but he is a liar.

#polls #regina spektor #sorry this song is giving me brainworms again

[seventh-district]

was about to lowkey pat myself on the back for having the most liked playlist for Big Red (YuuriVoice) on Spotify but. after further searching i believe it may be the only Big Red (YuuriVoice) playlist on Spotify 😭

#Seven.txt #yuurivoice #music stuff #rp audio stuff #(might as well go ahead and make a tag for it with how much i've been posting abt it lately) #what is a win when there is no competition #(that is a Joke i do not consider playlist making to be a competition. i am Truly Shocked that anyone likes any of my playlists) #like my music taste is awful! i made those playlists to please my own taste why r u guys even here #*looks at my Dark Mode Alphonse playlist with 150+ likes* WHO ARE ALL YOU PEOPLE #but like. that is so funny to me #am i just not finding the other Big Red playlists or am i the only person insane enough abt him to make a playlist #where's that 'if x has 1 million fans meme' #If Big Red has 1 fan‚ that one is me #and the 42 ppl that liked the playlist lmao #If Big Red has 43 fans- #okay i'm done joking around #i'm supposed to be drafting up a fic for a completely different character to post rn but i'm fucking around on Spotify instead. whoops #like sorry but the Big Red audio on Patreon yesterday hit me in the heart and got the brainworms wiggling again #me when a character i love cries for the first time: YESSS YESYESYES GIVE ME THE EMOTION GIVE ME THE VULNERABILITY OPEN UP TO ME I LOVE YOU

[herequeerexitentialfear]

👾!

thank you!!! enabling my ramblings<3

Hmm. well ive names two fics after it and its The Celia & Elena song so i probably should talk about it in depth<3

Oh, baby this town rips the bones from your back It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap We gotta get out while we're young 'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Teen Celia is not the stone wall she becomes yet, and has yet to experience the wake up call to just how dangerous her life is. born to run touches on both her want to get out, to escape, as well as how she reaches towards those she loves for strength.

For Elena, it holds similar meaning, her burning desire to get away from her home streets, the hurt that remaining is dealing to her, as well as her knowing she has a chance to escape, that she deserves more, and desperately reaching for it.

it also holds a desperate undertone for both, and for Celia especially, is very tragic. Elena managed to get out, but Celia is forever stuck behind, not to mention Celia losing her own desire & ability to run, to try and escape her lot in life, instead letting her hopes and dreams for the future die. they are both singing their hope for the future, but everything is about to go to shit.

Part two about how it relates to the fic[s] is in the works and will be added once i finish it [it got longggg bc i summarize the unwritten fic named after this song, the part one to everlasting kiss]

#gold & silver #celia #maría elena #Tyy again! #it gives me Celia and Elena brainworms every time i hear it

[starstiels]

i think of destiel with mitski and i SOB. I FALL THE GROUND AND SCREAM.

#and i know i kissed you before but I DIDNT DO IT RIGHT FAN I TRY AGAIN TRY AGAIN TRY AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN #WITH EVERY DROP OF RAIN SAYING I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVEEEEEEE YOU #CAUSE ALL I EVER WANTED WAS YOU ALL I EVER WANTED ALL I WANT IS ALWAYS YOU ITS ALWAYS YOU #I BROKE WHAT YOU GAVE ME BUT YOU KEPT GIVING MORE AND IM SORRY FOR TAKING BUT I KEEP WANTING MORE MORE MORE #JUST DONT LEAVE ME ALONE WONDERING WHERE YOU ARE I AM STRONGER THAN YOU GIVE ME CREDIT FOR #YOU BELIEVE ME LIKE A GOD I DESTROY YOU LIKE I AM #SO WHEN YOU LEAVE ME I SHOULD DIE I DESERVE IT DONT I #sorry anyways #the nov 5th brainworms yk #spn #supernatural #dean winchester #castiel #destiel #nov 5th

[yearning-gay]

oh bother is it already time to re-examine my sexuality and how i approach it again. is it time to evaluate whether i could even engage in a relationship in a healthy manner of if im too irresponsible for such things. sigh

#jack.txt #i had. the most domestic poly fantasy today #probably way unreachable and out of my league but it got me thinking #then i was distracted by creative shit for about 10 hours give or take but im back at it again. thimking. #how dare i even entertain the idea of a relationship involving multiple partners if im not responsible about it to an obsessive degree #let alone think i could handle a relationship without being 100% neurotypical and well-adjusted with all my shit together #yes i have brainworms yes they make it very hard to get off sometimes hee hoo

[fellhellion]

Valmeia Perceiving herself in Astarion when he speaks w so much hatred about being controlled vs Astarion realising that although he thinks Val is cringe (kind) it feels so nice when she’s cringe (kind) to him

#still unsure who Val is going to romance but man. those two are giving me brainworms #val who climbed her way out of poverty with a clever tongue and thieving hands and who hates hates HATES the thought of being controlled #again even as she lies to herself about her perception of her self worth #bards who hide behind charm and honeyed tongues my beloved #tunes talks bg

[ialpiriel]

wanted to draw but didnt want to actually get anything done so i drew Agnes Sands from @ikroah

#del did a thing #reading ikroah did give me my FNV brainworms back #thught id escaped by finishing lucy's whole big fic but. no. back at it again at the mojave desert #background is from the like only marginalyl suitable screenshot i have public on steam #all my other screenshtos are on a different computer

[misfortunegirl]

bro i really am just.

😀

i am just fucking sitting.

#GIRL.......not nerdy guy just texting me cause i havent responded in more than two weeks 😭 OH CMON I JUST FORGOT YOU i cant be getting #delusional over him aGAIN..... he just texted me “hey (name)? where've you gotten lost?” okokok. the fact he hasnt forgotten my ass yet? ok. #slay mayhaps but also... why🤨 anyways. i came to uni today and barely talked to anyone💀💀💀 he doesnt share today's particular lesson so #we haven't seen eachother in like............. more than a month? give or take.. #so if i decide to show up again tomorrow ill most likely see him. so. ill have to dress up extra cute. why? i dunno. my brainworms tell me #to do so. see #i wouldve dressed cuter today but i was too tired and didnt have enough tjme..... #im kinda running on not enough sleep but i meant to say we dont share today's particular class. #ive almost forgotten how his dumb cute lil loir face looks like. hm.... anyway. #im tired. took too much hydroxyzine and almost fell asleep in class 💀 someone nameless bitch gave me a dirty look and i was like ok i dont #eveb know you why the disgusted face💀 youve never seen a sleepy angel or what #“some* nameless bitch” #especially an angel sleepy cuz of a “drug” like cmon. grow up. 🙄 #placeholder tag

[pumaskulls]

"Every little thing you do I see

Doesn't feel quite like your relief

I find it hard to sit this still

You've left another hole to fill

I hear you well and I won't pretend

That every other word held ill intent"

#my art #my ocs #eye strain tw #eye strain #digital art #song linked is 'by your side' by archie summers #os: like a stray dog #oc: renee chaput #dont mind me. using OCs i havent talked about before to vent some of my own shit thru #anyways renee & harmonia's story has been in my head since i was 17 <3 #so like....8 years now? #and ive wanted to give it a new coat of paint + actually design them for like 2 years now #then i saw a pair of designs for sale that i just INSTANTLY knew had to be those two #so ive spent a couple weeks now rotating their story in my head to try and figure out what changes will be made #its mostly the same premise but the motivations and themes have been mixed around #anyways yea ive got too many brainworms for renee rn and ya know. maaaay be projecting my own issues once again #its okay tho cause he will get his recovery #i just sure did fuck his life up beforehand huh? #enjoy my trauma girly

[vaynglories]

my old d&d character and her big sis

#oc: clarity #oc: marion #tiefling #vayne's art tag #all the bg3 posting i keep seeing is giving me brainworms again #d&d

[poetic-ivy]

one thing that I think tiny me would be immeasurably delighted and proud of is the fact that the danny phantom fandom is so alive and well in this year two thousand and twoty two

#they would also call me a dumbass for believing that fandoms could die but that’s like smth else entirely #but anyway ​every once in a while I stumble across a gaggle of posts or blogs or whatever and it’s just so heartwarming #those bitches still out here giving people serotonin and brainwork’s like they used to do for me #*BRAINWORMS I refuse to try and copy that whole tag down word by word #(again. because. it autocorrected to brainwork’s on that tag the first time too. hardest struggles to strongest soldiers etc etc) #anyways. #wish baby eli coulda hopped on that trans danny train bc I KNOW there woulda been some interesting self analysis born of that #danny phantom #eli.txt