#and yeah yeah it’s not the fault of individual writers but rather the fault of

[transfemjoker]

when will they start making joker media that doesnt suck. just wondering

#‘but he’s a fan favourite villain he has so much content’ yeah but it mostly sucks big time and only sometimes sucks a little #sorry to her and her writers but i genuinely do not remember the last time we got a joker-centric release with #writing that felt consistently good and in character. like not to be a bitch or anything #like even the recent releases that i consider good often lack a fundamental understanding of the character #and yeah yeah it’s not the fault of individual writers but rather the fault of #a wider issue with mischaracterisation in comics which is a whole other discussion #but god. i miss him . you know #og

[luna-rainbow]

I feel to a degree that Sam and Bucky's attitudes towards John Walker in TFATWS was kinda...needlessly cruel. Like, they had problems with him even before Walker had done anything wrong, simply because he was wearing a Captain America uniform and was no Steve Rogers. I think this really showed in their fight with him at the start of episode 5, which honestly feels to me more like "Sam and Bucky gang up on and brutalize Walker while he's still going through the process of grieving his best friend who was just brutally murdered in front of him."

I have very little sympathy for Walker, because he reminds me keenly of the particular type of person (often white and male) who has been smooth sailing for all their life and gets their way by trampling over other people but has absolutely no self-awareness of this, attributes their own success not to systemic privilege tipped in their favour but rather believes it’s all from ‘individual hard work’, who then struggles because for once in their life things don’t go their way and their tantrum behaviour escalates until it ends in violence.

I know there are more sympathetic readings of his character (he has PTSD, was unsupported, didn’t get much help) but this is the archetype I saw and…to be honest, if I met this kind of person, I would give him very little patience too.

Also, I remember Walker’s introduction very differently. Sam donated the shield to the museum to lay Captain America to rest, and his wish was disrespected. You can argue that’s not entirely Walker’s fault but he’s also not innocent either, so Sam has plenty of reason to distrust him at the get-go. Walker then went on TV and says “I never met him (Steve), he feels like a brother,” which, aside from being a mockery of the friendship between Steve and Bucky, was a weird ingratiating line while disrespecting Steve’s wishes of handing the shield over to Sam (and thereby letting Sam decide what should happen to the shield). So Bucky, too, had plenty of reason to distrust Walker before they met.

The truck fight I’m putting down to shitty writing. You’re telling me two veterans who had fought super soldiers and aliens and everything in between couldn’t handle a bunch of kids until Walker arrived on the scene? I call writer bias, and I’ve talked extensively in the past about how Walker was the only character in that series given the protagonist treatment of agency and a complete character arc at the expense of our two eponymous protagonists, who were passive and whose character beats happened off screen.

Taking away the writer issues, Sam and Bucky were both pulling their punches because they realised they were up against kids. Walker pulled out a gun and shot one of them (can’t remember if the kid died or not). That’s a much better metaphor for police brutality than the traffic stop scene later, and gives more concrete reason for Sam and Bucky to distrust him.

The only thing mean from Sam/Bucky’s side in that conversation was Walker asking to work together and Bucky saying “Just cos you carry that shield, it doesn’t mean you’re Captain America.” Which, after all we’ve seen of him so far, is a pretty fair assessment.

As compared to all the awkwardly cocky stuff Walker says in return. “Yeah, I have (jumped on a grenade), it’s a thing I do with my helmet” which undermines what it says about Steve’s moral character by covering a grenade with his body. Are we forgetting the “That serum doesn’t exactly have a great track record. No offense”? I love the no offense, which is standard repertoire for entitled people to put the burden of offence in the listener’s court instead of apologising for the offense they’re causing. Are we forgetting the “uh no we didn’t track them we tracked you through Redwing” with a smug grin? Are we forgetting his deaf dismissal of Sam trying to rationalise with why a bunch of impoverished kids are successfully leading a revolution (god the way he just ignored Sam’s point is so close to how entitled white men in real life talks it makes my blood boil)? Are we forgetting the “It’d be a whole lot easier if I had Cap’s wingmen on my side”?

I don’t think Sam and Bucky were “needlessly” cruel. I think they had an understandable emotional reaction - during a period of emotional vulnerability for both of them - to someone they see doing their memory of Steve dirty, and an understandable escalation in their distrust by what Walker then showed of his convictions, attitudes, and intentions. From a writing point of view — yeah I do think Bucky’s disgust was more exaggerated than I personally would have written him, but as far as all the OOC shit Bucky has done in this show, being aggravated by Walker was the least of it.

And by episode 5??? By then Walker has said and done a whole bunch of deranged shit. Sam and Bucky were not “ganging up” on him. Are we forgetting that Sam asked nicely for him to hand himself in? And then Walker going full gollum-mode (“my precioussss”) because Sam mentions the shield once?? (But also yes I agree the writing was once again shitty and focused weirdly on retrieving the shield instead of, you know, the priority of apprehending Walker) And sorry, going back once again to the entitled white men trope, because that’s what Walker is — did Walker show any respect to Sam and Bucky for grieving over Steve? Then why should we expect people to afford him leniency in return? Not to mention that they did approach him kindly and say that he would likely be judged leniently because of Lemar’s death. And even as they’re trying to be kind to him, Walker snipes at Bucky “I’m not like you” (actually you’re not, you dipshit, because Bucky never killed anyone in spite or rage) and assumes the worst of Sam for asking for the shield.

Look, I am all for a balanced view on Walker, because he is a layered character who tries his best but was never good enough, and the sense of inferiority escalates his immature emotional response beyond control. But that’s because of his glaring, major, inexcusable character flaws that he only has himself to blame for. He’s basically Tony Stark who has been trained for violence through the military and doesn’t have the wealth or brain power to channel his anger anywhere else.

Not to mention that Sam and Bucky never sought him out even once, and he’s the one barging in on them multiple times despite them making their boundaries clear.

#tfatws critical #i won’t tag him bcos the walker stan’s are pretty vitriolic too #asks

[matchagator]

Sheltered: Chapter 6

Lily continues to make the hybrids feel at home, but maybe they're starting to get too comfortable.

It's Spring Break for us writers, so stay tuned for a week of updates to make up for the delay or visit here for the complete story.

{Main Pairings:} Jeon Jungkook/Original Female Character, Choi Soobin/Original Female Character, Kim Taehyung/Original Female Character(s)

{Rating:} 18+

{Genre:} Alternate Universe - Hybrids

{Summary:} Realization finally dawned on Lily, knowing she now had the responsibility of three hybrids rather than three dogs. Her eyes grew wide while her eyebrows rose up in wonder before she turned her attention to her sister. The shocked expression of Rose had her smile sheepishly. “Well, at least we don’t have to name them.”

{Warnings:} Mild Angst, Mature Language, Mild Sexual Content, Referenced Abuse

{Taglist:} @chimsworldsstuff

Rose dreaded the arrival back home, expecting another massacre in their living room or Jungkook's insistent aggressive attitude. She groaned when she noticed her sister’s truck was gone, anticipating she would need to deal with the hybrids on her own. Then she stepped inside the house and was met with utter silence. The atmosphere, while calm, was eerie and heavy. The peace and quiet unnerved her as she wondered where they might possibly be.

“Well, that can’t be a good sign.” She muttered, moving deeper into the house to see it was still fairly intact compared to the first day she came home to the new additions. She went into the kitchen to grab a snack, determining how long she should wait before getting herself dinner in the event they didn’t return. She grabbed a banana before going into the living room to plop on the couch and watch something she would enjoy without anyone else’s consideration.

About halfway into her favorite sitcom, she heard the front door unlock from the outside as her sister twisted the key in the handle. Curiosity sparked in her as she glanced over, hoping to see her sister miraculously standing alone or, at the very least, without Jungkook following behind. To her dismay and surprise, Jungkook walked in proudly with a large grin on his face. Lily, Soobin, and Taehyun came in after him and were equally as joyous.

That’s when she noticed the modifications gleaming from their heads as Soobin and Taehyun had small silver studs decorating their earlobes. Then the glare of Jungkook’s eyebrow piercing momentarily flashed in her eyes, taking in the rest of his appearance to find metal sprinkled along the shell of both his ears.

Rose blinked as she stared at the four individuals blankly, letting her brain rationalize why they all suddenly had new piercings or felt the need to get them. Nothing logical came to mind. “Did you take them to get piercings?” Maybe it was a trick of the light, and her sister didn’t do something absolutely ridiculous as her mind believed.

“Yeah, I did my helix too!” Lily turned her head and brushed her hair behind her ear to show the stud sitting high on her cartilage. As she showed off the new jewelry to her sister, she didn’t notice the small twitch in her eye as her patience seemed to snap in half.

“What were you thinking? Piercings, really?” Rose stood from the couch; her stance wide as she placed her hands on her hips. Soobin and Taehyun lowered their heads in shame as if they were the ones in trouble.

Lily blinked, registering the irritation in her voice. “We were watching music videos and they thought the guys looked cool. It’s not a big deal.”

Rose briefly glared at Jungkook, whose smile dissipated with the animosity coming from the younger female. “He has more than anyone combined! He doesn’t need that many!”

Lily furrowed her brow, standing just as defensively as her sister. “He likes them, so what!”

“They’re dogs, Lily. They don’t need piercings!” Rose was frustrated and Lily’s refusal to admit her fault was becoming more than she could bear. “How expensive was all that? I can’t imagine that was cheap.”

Jungkook growled deep in his throat as Rose belittled him and his brothers, stepping forward to bark back, but Lily moved faster. “They’re not just dogs, they’re hybrids. People like you and me.” Rose faltered from Lily’s statement, realizing in the heat of the moment how her words sounded. “It wasn’t cheap, but I don’t care. They don’t have a lot, so I took them to get piercings.” Lily dropped her arms to her side, letting them hang as she began heading towards her bedroom.

Rose bit the inside of her cheek as she glanced over towards the boys, who watched the argument transpire before them. She sighed, guilt eating away as she noticed the crestfallen expressions on Soobin and Taehyun, but felt the words get stuck in her throat as Jungkook pushed past her to plop on the couch. He pointedly grabbed the remote and turned her show off with a tense scowl.

Despite how well the new modifications looked on his appearance, it still annoyed her that her sister allowed him to indulge in so many. If he could so easily get those piercings, what would he do next? Get a tattoo? She scrunched her nose, meeting the stares of Soobin and Taehyun. “I’m sorry. I’m not mad.” She smiled reassuringly, “They look good. I was just surprised.” She heard a sarcastic huff from Jungkook but ignored him as she softened up for the other two men.

Soobin and Taehyun perked up from the praise, looking up at Rose with smiles as they moved further into the living room to nestle on the couch along with their brother. Rose felt the weight lift off her shoulders as the more reasonable hybrids accepted her apology. She glanced at Jungkook, who blatantly ignored her presence, and then looked towards her sister’s bedroom door which was firmly shut to keep out the world.

“I guess I’m making dinner.” She muttered to herself, moving into the kitchen to scavenge for ingredients to throw together for a dysfunctional family of five.

—

Steam pebbled atop the glass of Lily’s walk-in shower, the brunette standing happily below the stream of running water as she cherished the warmth that crept over her skin. She could feel the tension of the day melting from her muscles as she massaged the loofa over her limbs, her mind avoiding the latest annoyed reactions of her sister. Most of the hybrids’ transitions into their household had settled, Rose enjoying the company of Soobin and Taehyun more so now that she’d adapted to the idea of having half-human half-dog beings in their home. Jungkook still managed to get under her sister's skin, however, creating a complicated task for Lily to keep the peace.

Her mind wandered to Rose’s reaction upon bringing the boys home with piercings adorning their bodies. Lily often watched K-pop videos which seemed to spark the idea of getting their own in Jungkook and Soobin. Taehyun followed happily, getting his own piercing to feel connected to his brothers which had only elicited more negative reactions from Rose.

Lily let her thoughts trail away as she focused on lathering her body wash, allowing the scent of coconut and bergamot to encase her in a soothing cocoon as she enjoyed the moment of peace away from the boys. She loved their presence and had become comforted by the fact that she was able to provide them with a place in which they could feel comfortable enough to be themselves. However, she did enjoy the moments of tranquility away from the constant chaos of the three hybrids.

She closed her eyes as she melted into the comfort of her shower, the gentle hum of her music echoing through the bathroom from her phone that sat perched on the vanity. She began swaying her hips to a Michael Bublé song, allowing her hands to scrub at her scalp as she began to sing. “Like a flower bending in the breeze, Bend with me, sway with ease. When we dance you have a way with me, Stay with me, sway with me.”

Her moment of enjoyment was interrupted by the click of the bathroom door, her eyes snapping open to find the movement of the door opening back towards her as Soobin made his way into the secluded space. Lily instantly felt the sting of her shampoo invade her irises as she desperately latched an arm over her chest to conceal herself through the glass walls of the shower as she stuck her face beneath the shower to clear her eyes.

“Oh my god, Soobin! You need to knock!” Her voice was in pure panic, causing the husky in human form to freeze in his tracks. He needed to grab his toothbrush and hadn’t thought much about the door being a barrier, preferring them open over closed in the first place. All of a sudden, Lily was informing him about the need to knock before he entered a room which left a puzzled expression plastered on his face. He quickly retreated, closing the door behind him.

Just as the door shut, Lily’s body relaxed only for a moment until a knock resonated from the opposite side of the door. Before she could speak a word, Soobin twisted the handle and made his way back inside to retrieve his toothbrush. “Soobin!” Lily was flabbergasted, her arms sprawled across her body as she used her loofa to conceal her most intimate regions.

Soobin glanced up at her through the mirror, meeting her frazzled expression as he turned to face her with wide eyes. “What?” He questioned, glancing around the bathroom as if something was wrong.

“I told you to knock before you come into the bathroom.” She whined, concealing herself behind the steamed-up parts of the shower door.

He tilted his head slightly, his mouth pouting as he mulled over her words. “I did knock.” He had a confused expression on his face, his toothbrush gripped between his fingers as he met her stare.

Lily felt her heart rate elevate, her body running hot under Soobin’s stare, especially given that she was completely naked and the only thing standing in his way of witnessing her was a fogged-up piece of glass. “You need to wait for permission before just walking in.” She added, her voice cracking as she averted her eyes to find the tile of the bathroom floor.

Soobin could sense her discomfort, suddenly noticing that she was hiding her body beneath her limbs, contorting herself to shield as much as possible from his prying eyes. “Ah, I’m sorry.” His voice was soft as he quickly caught onto the situation, moving to exit the bathroom with haste as he left Lily to finish her shower in peace.

Lily hadn’t realized that she was holding her breath until the bathroom door shut, allowing her to breathe out and release her arms from around her chest. She felt as if she was overheating, completely flushed at the thought of Soobin seeing her in the nude. Her hand quickly turned the nozzle to a cooler setting, allowing a cold shower to calm the sudden rush of emotions she was experiencing due to the hybrid. He was undeniably handsome, the way his lips pulled into a natural pout was endearing. He was tall and muscular, his dark hair shaggy enough to rest just above his animalistic stare that seemed to spark a wave of heat within Lily’s body.

She shook herself of her thoughts, finishing up her shower before proceeding to blow dry her hair and get dressed in her favorite baggy t-shirt alongside a pair of pajama shorts. She took a second to compose herself before escaping the confinements of the bathroom, pushing open the door to see Soobin lying across her bed. Her breath hitched as she watched his toned muscles peek through his sleeveless shirt, slowly peeling back the covers of her bed as she settled for the night.

She was surprised to see Soobin move quickly to lay beside her, his apologetic eyes finding hers. “Sorry about the shower…” Before he could continue, Lily swatted the air with her hand, offering him a warm smile.

“You didn’t know. It’s okay.” Living with hybrids was proving to be an interesting journey, however, there was something endearing about watching them learn to fit in amongst humans. Her eyes filled with sadness at the thought of their owners shielding them from normal human experiences, treating them coldly as if they were nothing but sheltered animals.

Soobin sensed her sadness, his eyes studying her as he leaned on his elbow, allowing his head to fall to the side. “You’re sad?” He asked curiously, hoping he wasn’t the cause of her solemn demeanor.

Lily chewed on the flesh inside her cheek, a habit she had formed as a kid, and watched Soobin as she imagined his life before sneaking into her truck. “Your owners…they aren’t very nice, are they?” She asked, already knowing the answer, but wanting the confirmation from his lips.

His expression hardened, recalling how poorly he and his brothers were treated back at the shelter. “No, they aren’t.” He could remember the lengths his previous owners would go through to make sure they never got too attached to being in their human form.

Soobin’s lips pulled into a smile as he looked at Lily, resting his head so that it was leaning against her shoulder. “You and Rose are nice.” He grinned as Lily’s heart swelled at his confession. She was elated that they thought so, thankful to know they seemed more comfortable since they arrived.

“I’m glad.” Her voice was soft as she passed her hand through Soobin’s hair, gently scratching his scalp as his eyes closed in contempt. Lily could’ve stayed that way forever, smiling at Soobin’s gentle exhales as his breath danced against her collarbone. Unfortunately for them, a speedy little border collie jumped up into the bed, panting joyfully as he pounced onto Lily, ready for his own round of cuddles and scratches.

Soobin glared at his brother’s dog form, rolling his eyes in irritation as his moment alone with Lily was interrupted. Thankfully, Taehyun rested his head against her lap, allowing Lily to give them both attention as they prepared themselves for a good night's rest.

Previous | Next

#bts hybrid au #bts hybrid smut #jeon jungkook #choi soobin #kang taehyun #bts fanfic #txt fanfic

[rachetmath]

Favorite (Characters)

Ruby: *barges in* RatchetMath!

Me: What is it Ruby?

Ruby: You’re showing favoritism.

Me: Okay. And?

Ruby: You need to stop. Why not draw us for once?

Me: Hm, maybe because I like Jaune more. Hell I like Penny and Neo more than you or your team.

Ruby: Why?!

Me: Because your team is horrible.

Ruby: So is team JNPR!

Me: Yeah, but only because they have to follow you. They have some individuality but we don’t explore that as much. Plus, your team would be dead without them. But you know what Ruby, I would rather draw Yang, Blake or any other character except Weiss than you right now.

Ruby: What?! But I’m-

Me: The main character that barely does main character things. Woman, Salem was in Atlas! Why was she not your top priority? Why was James your problem?

Ruby: Um well…

Me: Ruby, she knows your mother! She might know what happened to her! I get Yang was some levels your mom but shouldn’t learning what happened to your actual mom be just as important? Especially after that dark memory.

Ruby: That is true.

Me: You have silver eyes but you still don’t know how to use them. There was army of grimm around Mantle and that would have been good practice. And a better solution than Ren.

Ruby: But then I be overpowered.

Me: No. Ruby your silver eyes only work on one person. If someone sneaks up on you or doesn’t care about that light you give off then, you’re dead. Maria is proof on that.

Ruby: Um..

Me: Plus, the question that everyone in the audience could have an answer to is whether your silver eyes can even work on Salem. In all honesty, it proves the writer don’t keep track of the characters and their personalities to where they fit together in story. You know what I have been making skits, trying to be funny but… the jokes died. Look guys I-I’m sorry but… let me explain.

1. Ruby and Blake should have stayed in Mantle. Why?

1. Salem is the main villian. She knows Ruby’s mother. You know the same mother who left for a mission and didn’t come back. The same mother, who Ruby knows nothing about while everyone seems to have different perspectives of her. Or has a better clue on who she is, than Ruby herself. Plus wasn’t Salem after her too? She basically would be killing two birds with one stone by kidnapping Oscar and giving Ruby a reason to see her. That way Ruby isn’t assuming what happened to her mother. Let Salem antagonize Ruby. (Question: Can silver eyes work on Salem?)

2. Perfect training for silver eyes. Let’s face it, Ren proved to us he can mask a bunch of people without Jaune’s help. All he needed was concentration. However, Ruby is more effective because silver eyes seem to be able to destroy multiple grimm on sight. And with lives on the line that gives Ruby plenty of reason to start using them.

3. Ren calling Ruby out on her issues. Look I loved how Ren was willing to tell the truth, but him revealing Jaune cheated Beacon was… weak. Reason being it relates to Jaune’s character and Ren still follows Jaune’s orders. However, Ruby, who is supposed to be a prodigy because she came to Beacon two years ahead of her class, has not proven once that she is worthy of such praise. The only reason-The ONLY reason Ruby was enrolled into Beacon was her silver eyes. Ruby even in volume one has been nothing but liability. Initiations, she almost dies from a Stinger. Stake out, she almost got run over by a truck and it ended in failure. First mission, she gets kidnapped and almost destroyed a city block. Roman, a man with no semblance or aura continues to beat her four times in a row. And it gets worse. Ruby almost got her uncle killed. She was the first to get knocked out by Emerald. Almost dies by a robot and Godzilla. And the moment she arrived in Atlas her first move was to lie to James. She didn’t even try to stop Tyrian when she saw him. She had her gun with her too. Ren is not her sister, he might as well tell her the facts so she can do better.

4.  Blake is Faunus. Mantle hates faunuses. Why not have Blake help them to prove faunuses are people too? Let Blake represent her people. I mean Velvet and Sun represent faunses more than she does her whole existence. Blake also can relate to Ren’s problem. How? Blake was a part of the White Fang, so there were expectations she had to fulfill. Especially when trying to measure up to Adam. However, she explains the longer she was in the White Fang, the more she found out how messed up and extremely bias it was. Including with Adam to the point she decided to leave. She even states she was lucky that Yang even forgave her after all the trouble she caused her. Blake challenged her bias nature, and it made her stronger for it. Blake would be basically telling Ren the more he tries to live up to someone else’s expectations, without seeing their flaws, the more he loses touch with himself and everyone around him.

5.  Oscar shouldn’t have been able break out of Salem on his own: I’m sorry but… Oscar got beat up. Took a magic beam to the chest. Had to switch between him and Ozpin and mind you he had no aura to help him. He should be tired and unable to move. (In my opinion, this kid was given too much screen time. At first I was worried about him but now I’m wondering why was I worrying at all.)

2. Jaune and Yang should have gone to Atlas.

1. Penny is basically Pyrrha in the opposite light. Penny’s special because she’s a robot with a soul, a mind of her own and an attitude to prove it. She is just as human as everyone else, but no one seems to treat her as such. James only sees her as something of a weapon. Pietro treats her like child even though she’s more mature than the rest of the female cast, except Maria. And now with maiden powers, everyone is out casting Penny even more. Jaune is perfect for her because he has experience with this kind of issue. However, he would’ve had to take different route to the situation considering his failure with Pyrrha last time they had discussion on maiden powers or responsibilities (Destiny.).

2. Jaune already has been a part of maiden business since volume three. His reason to be with Penny would be make sure she doesn’t meet the same fate as Pyrrha or Amber. Not just for himself but for others around him. Especially since Cinder was in Atlas and is willing to hunt her down for the maiden powers. And James was willing to turn Penny into a soulless machine to follow his every command. (Actually, Watts is more a fault considering he hates Pietro.). James and Cinder are also opposite to Jaune in some ways.  James earned his position and earned respect from his military. Jaune on the other hand cheated, and unlike James might not have everybody’s respect. Cinder treats her allies like tools. And with power she just consumes and gives nothing return. Jaune however treats his allies like family. And instead of just taking power he gives power to others around him. He’s the reason Cinder has maiden powers. So, him making it his personal mission to make sure Cinder doesn’t get more power only increases his resolve to protect Penny. (Especially since he already had to kill her in the canon finale.)  In other words, James and Cinder purposed a challenge to Jaune. Can he pervert history from repeating itself? Can he really protect the maiden powers? Is he truly worthy of being a huntsman? What is he willing to risk in achieving his goal? (Also let’s be clear. Hazel beat Oscar down for the password to the relic. James shot the kid and was willing to let him fall to his death. Qrow intentionally punched the kid.  I don’t care if it was for Ozpin, he still punched Oscar. Lion before even knowing Oscar was Ozpin reincarnation was already about kill him anyways. All Jaune did was push him to a wall. Yes, Jaune still would have hurt Oscar, but he didn’t. He walked away.)  

3.  A lot of the situations could’ve been avoided or mattered if Jaune was there. Don’t believe me? Well let me explain. Was Ruby the only option when sneaking pass Central Command? No, because they had Weiss, Nora and Penny. Weiss could have done a freezer burn like in her fight with Marrow. Or Nora could have thrown her grenades and Penny just shoots them before the hit the ground or damage anything. Both causing a smoke screen, so no one sees them. Plus, they were already caught by using Pietro credentials. Did Nora need to get knocked out for the team to escape? No. If she had Jaune with her they could’ve one caused an EMP wave being Jaune has gravity and Nora has lightning. Or two, if Nora still went through with it, Jaune would have healed her immediately. Penny lifting and keeping the arena in place. If Jaune and Weiss were with her then once Amity was in position, Weiss with Jaune’s assistances can keep it place so Penny can come back inside and the whole video could be played. Also, Pietro would know what was going on with his daughter and can properly explain how to fix her. (Better than Jaune healing her.)

4. Nora’s whole character is knowing who she is without Ren right? Then why not just have her lead the evacuation once she’s done with Atlas? Why not have her and Yang work together along with the happy huntress to evacuate Mantle? Especially if their friends disappeared to save Oscar. (And before ya’ll tell me they can’t do it….. Yang, blocked a punch from a mech, held off a Manticore, and has a semblance that literally lets her take damage and dish it back five times harder. Nora who literally crushed Weiss and Yang in a food fight. Knocked a giant horse down on its knee. And knocked Hazel away.  Are you seriously saying these girls are not enough to take on a few little tigers? Come on!) If the whole point of Nora’s character development was finding out more about herself then let Nora try something without Ren. Let her call the shots. Let her take charge. Give her a character. (Hell don’t stop there. Have her interact with other characters. Like Jaune. Yang. Weiss. Or anyone other character than Ren. Let them tell her what they think about her. Let Nora be a solution to a character’s struggle. Ya’ll make it sound like Nora has no friends.)

5. All Yang needed was a break from Ruby and Blake. In all honesty Yang should have been the one to see the hounds face and kill it. Why? Well Ruby is Yang’s sister and only reminder of her nonblood related mother. And Blake is her girlfriend. And if we saw the hound’s face, we know it’s not just a silver eyed person. It’s also a faunus. This will give her a reason to protect both her loved ones because by seeing the hound she knows Salem intention with Ruby and want to keep her, and Blake from meeting the same fate of being turned into monsters. Yang should’ve been the 2nd to 4th member of team RWBY to fall. Why? One, a Yang vs Neo fight. Two, Cinder and Neo both wanted Ruby dead. So why not get rid of Ruby first? The fights would have been more thrilling and seeing the character, the show is named after, presumed to be dead would have added stakes and tension to the fight. (Also let me say this. Why is it, that the only great display of the maiden powers I’ve ever seen, was from Amber and not the maidens, as of now, Winter, Raven, and Cinder? The maiden powers are basically magic right? Why isn’t Cinder using any other element than fire?)

6. Weiss was completely useless. Look, as the saying goes, “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.” And when it came to Weiss and family, she has little to no clue of what it is nor deserves it. Weiss should have been more of an inspiration for Whitley to do right. How? By simply talking to him. What reason would she have other than Mantle? Simple, he’s her brother and she started off like him. Beacon, she was a brat. She was arrogant. And more importantly a jerk. Blake ran because of her racist attitude. Ruby literally had to impress her to prove she can be leader. Even though Weiss is not leadership martial herself.  Plus, hearing May and how she and her family never resolved their issues should inspire Weiss to not repeat that mistake. And guess what, her mom, Willow, the drinker of the family, wasn’t wrong. Both her and Winter left Whitley alone. Klein wasn’t there for him either. All Whitley had was his father. So Weiss, actually acting like his sister and trying to help him allows him to feel less alone. Instead Weiss was complete Jacque through out the entire volume.  

And that’s all.  Look I know I should have seen this coming but I had to say it.  Volume 8 could’ve been good. The problem was.

1.       Characters are not placed well within the story.

2.       We lost track of who said characters are.

3.       The ships are in the way.

4.       Being dumb for the plot. (Sometimes it’s necessary.)

#rwby #jnro #rwby vol8 #ruby rose #weiss schnee #Blake Belladonna #yang xiao long #Jaune Arc #nora valkyrie #lie ren #Oscar Pine #adam taurus #cinder fall #hazel rainart #qrow branwen #winter schnee #rwby willow #penny polendina #maria calavera #pietro polendina #james ironwood #rwby lionheart #raven branwen #pyrrha nikos #rwby bumbleby #rwby whiteknight #rwby watts #sun wukong #rwby velvet

[traincat]

I know the comic piracy debate is a never-ending cycle, but in India where I live, you can't get western comics (or manga for that matter). There aren't comic book stores. Sometimes on Amazon you can find collected editions worth more than INR 1000 at least, for the paperbacks. Most older collections, even from the early 2000s, will be upwards of INR 6000. And sure, it's because the exchange value is so low for Indian rupees, but that's still a LOT of money to Indian citizens. You can get digital editions of random odd issues for approx. INR 150, so that's there. But overall it's really a huge investment to buy a physical comic. So yes, I pirate. But I get so guilty when this debate rolls around, every time. I just don't see any other alternative.

I debated whether or not to answer this considering I haven't really addressed the comics piracy issue before so I'm not sure I'm the right account to talk about it, and also because my askbox is not a confessional and I am not a priest, but then some Spider-Man news broke that I feels ties into it this so whatever, we're going for it. The comics piracy debate comes up every couple of months and will probably continue to come up every couple of months until forever and all of these points have been stated before by others because nothing in this debate is new. First things first, you shouldn't feel guilty. I'm going to suggest actually that nobody should feel guilty, unless you are like, a millionaire and you're exclusively pirating indie books. The prices you're quoting are prohibitively expensive but I have some unfortunate news for everyone involved: the prices are really bad in the US, too. If you want good collected editions, especially in hardcover, they're going to run at similar if not quite equal prices. Comics have gone from a cheap hobby to an overwhelmingly expensive hobby.

This is a good article comparing to the cover costs of American comics since the 1960s adjusted for inflation which I think puts some things in perspective. Comics currently cost roughly $5 USD per issue, which doesn't sound that bad, even though most of my monthly streaming services are roughly that price for a whole month's access to a library of content. But it only doesn't sound that bad if you're not buying special issues (the Marvel Pride book retailed for $10), and if you're only reading one or two books a month. The problem is, American superhero comics are specifically designed so you're not reading just one or two books per month -- this is why we have events! And crossovers! Not for the story potential but because it forces the consumer to purchase more product. This is why there's constantly an event running with a checklist of tie-in issues in the back. So now you're spending probably at least $20 a month. If you're a fan with a lot of interest in different titles, and in different publishers, this can easily hit triple USD digits. It's a money pit. It's not affordable to most people. And this is where that new Spider-Man news comes in, because it was announced today that Amazing Spider-Man is going back to a thrice monthly schedule like it used to operate on during Brand New Day. Which sounds good at first -- more comics, yay -- until you realize that's probably going to be $15 USD a month for a one title. That's $180 a year for one title, not including annuals or special issues. That's not feasible for a lot of fans -- young fans, poor fans, fans with other financial obligations etc. And most people aren't reading just one title. I don't know how the X-Men fans are currently financing their Krakoa habit and I'm afraid to ask. There are services like Marvel Unlimited, which make things slightly more affordable, but I imagine the wait for newer issues to hit the service can be alienating for some fans who want to join in current discussions, the library has some incredibly massive holes in it which is unacceptable when it's coming from inside the mouse house, and I believe, although I could be wrong, that it is not available in all countries. Comics are no longer an easily accessible hobby, if you're paying for everything you read.

"But the creatives deserve to get paid" is the common argument and yeah, they do, I'm not arguing that point. They should absolutely get paid and they should get well. I'm a writer, I'm a published writer even, and I want to be a published novelist, and I definitely want to get paid, and I'm reserving the right to be a complete hypocrite about this, as I do with everything in my life, but this is where the difference between indie publications and Marvel publications comes in: Marvel is owned by Disney. There is absolutely no excuse for Disney not to pay their creatives. If they are not getting paid fairly, it's not because you pirated a book -- it's because Disney has a vested interest in not paying their creators, as evidenced by Alan Dean Foster's lawsuit claiming that they are withholding royalties from him. Fans pirating these books are not the reason the creatives are not getting paid fairly -- the creatives are not getting paid fairly for the same reason that Disney park employees experience homelessness, and it's because Disney would rather put that money into the pockets of their executives. There is no debate on that subject. It's easier and perhaps more convenient to blame fans for pirating comics rather than putting all of their money into what has been for years now a prohibitively expensive hobby to keep up with, but the fact of the matter is Disney could pay all of their creatives what they're worth without hurting their bottom line and instead chooses not to. That is not on you, as an individual reader. You have no reason to feel guilty about that, no matter what your circumstances are, and you do not have to justify your actions to either me or the House of the Mouse. I'm with you, and Disney ultimately doesn't care. They're making that money up elsewhere and then not distributing it fairly to the people who create the properties their media empire is built off of. But especially if you're buying older books, you should know that your money is not going to the creative team -- once it's out of publication, they're not going to get any of the money you spent on it. The argument then becomes that you should be supporting local comics stores which yes, is true, but also doesn't apply to everyone, like anon who doesn't have access to local comic book stores. And again, this can become prohibitively expensive -- collections are expensive. Older, hard to find collections can be very expensive. Once something is out of print, all bets are off on what it might be selling for. Buying single issues is only affordable if the single issue isn't desirable or sometimes if it's in exceedingly bad condition. For the sake of transparency, I have a fairly big single issue collection because it's my preferred format, but I had the time to bargain hunt, access to local comic book stores and large comic conventions, and I'm very good at sniping eBay auctions. The most I have ever dropped on a single issue was expensive for me -- and still under three digits USD -- and it's for an issue from the '60s that is not in great condition.

The problem with this debate is that it is generally a nuanced issue that always gets boiled down to "piracy bad" in a way that makes a lot of well meaning and well intentioned fans, especially the ones with extenuating circumstances, feel bad. It's not your fault. You shouldn't feel guilty. There are a huge amount of reasons why someone might pirate something that are not bad reasons and do not make you a bad person who is personally withholding money from the creators -- because you're not. I don't publicly tell people where to pirate comics, mostly because I really don't think it's that hard to find out for yourselves especially because several creators involved with Marvel themselves have, I suspect accidentally, posted pages of their work to social media WITH THE BANNER OF A WELL KNOWN COMICS PIRACY SITE STILL IN THE IMAGE please learn how to crop, so maybe my standpoint on the issue wasn't well known, but there it is. I think readers should, if they are able to financially and otherwise, support the creators they like, but that it should be acknowledged that this is a more complicated issue than it's commonly made out to be on Twitter and that the largest part of the blame needs to be put on the companies making these comics inaccessible to many and who refuse to pay their creators fairly, not on individual fans. Don't feel guilty, anon.

#traincat talks comics #*replies

[yaboylevi]

“Let’s talk!”

In this post, I’d like to examine why the words chosen to sway and stop Eren in chapter 133 didn’t resonate with some readers, as well as with Eren.

Disclaimer #1: This isn’t a justification of any kind. I merely tried to look in a critical way at the individual parts, because while reading them, I felt a disconnect with what the 104th thought could get to Eren.  As I read, it felt obvious that what they were saying wasn’t gonna work. So I asked myself, Is Isayama such a bad writer that all his characters say is so obviously inappropriate or ineffective, or is this on purpose? (I still don’t know the answer)

Disclaimer #2: I realize that the 104th was suddenly brought in front of “Eren”, so they were surprised, and didn’t have time to sort through their reasonings, but I’d also say they have had plenty of time before. Also, maybe the suddenness of it all was actually a good thing, so we could see how some of the characters really felt.

Let’s start with Jean:

“We’ll figure out the rest from here” and, after Eren says he won’t stop, “Why not? Are you saying you can’t trust us?!”

First of all, Eren has been feeling like he was partially* pushed to this outcome, because in 4 years they couldn’t figure out what else to do to save the island in the long term. They still cannot come up with anything better than “we will be left alone for a while”, so Jean’s words offer an empty promise. It has been established that Eren won’t settle for “a while”, he wants a “forever”. Never mind that a temporary solution would still require for Historia and her kids to be sacrificed.

*Eren also feels like it was his own fault, due to “his past self wishing for everything to disappear”. We are still not sure what this means exactly, and if it is true (I’m thinking of Paths shenanigans here).

Then, Jean talks about “trust”, particularly in comrades in arms. This is a topic that has been explored repeatedly since the beginning of the story, through Levi’s “make a choice” speeches, and Eren’s harsh experiences. Basically: when Eren decided to trust in his friends and comrades, in the forest of Giant Trees, Levi’s squad got killed, Eren captured, Levi injured. All in all, it resulted in many losses, and Eren has felt a deep guilt for that outcome ever since those events, all the way through Uprising Arc and probably even later on. No matter that it wasn’t his fault, he felt that it was. So the next time he had to decide whether to trust in himself or in his comrades, he decided to trust in himself. The story also calls back to the time he “chose wrong”, as if it wasn’t an obvious parallel already.

Eren is rewarded with his friends safe and sound.

So it is no surprise that, as much as Eren - I believe -  would love to trust them, experience told him that he cannot, or the price to pay will be their lives. Eren has been entrusting the SC to find another solution to the Rumbling for 3-4 years, and in the end Marley was close to declare war on Paradis. Eren isn’t averse to trusting his comrades, he just feels like he cannot, not on this one choice. (Albeit I think he’s trusting them to do the choice of stopping him - but there is something he needs to do alone).

When it comes to Connie, I feel like bringing up Sasha’s death wasn’t the best of choices. Eren feels guilty about that. He broke down in such a helpless, desperate way, that I find it hard that Connie’s words would absolve any of that hatred and guilt he must be feeling. “We are the same” - both Eren and Reiner have acknowledged this about each other, and if it has even a bit of credibility, then no amount of apologies for not understanding them, or forgiveness for what they did, is gonna make them feel any better about the death and destruction they have both caused and feel guilty about. 

It was when Reiner threw himself to the ground and refused to accept Eren’s understanding and forgiveness that Eren reiterated they are the same, after all.

Hence why Connie’s words couldn’t have had the desired effect. (Also, guys, look, the “let’s band together against a common enemy is RIGHT on this page...lol)

Now, Armin’s words.

To me, it seems like he doesn’t really know what to say. Or rather, he tried every idea that bounced in his head at that moment, without a clear strategy. He didn’t have time to form one, and besides it’s difficult to decide whether to use an objective approach or an emotional one when it comes to your best friends. But even then, I felt like the reasonings, and reasons, he brought up, failed to reach Eren in a significant manner. And by this, I don’t mean that Eren wouldn’t want to just drop everything and hug his friends... we all know he would, under normal circumstances, because there is no doubt he loves them deeply... but it seems to me he has resolved to push his own feelings down and just...move forward - which is in a direction away from his friends.

Armin starts with logic, “Eren has brought so much destruction that nobody will interfere with the Island for centuries”. Except, Armin has no proof. On the other hand, Eren has probably seen that there are still enemy forces advancing in their attack of the Rumbling, so if he were to stop the Rumbling now, they’d attack Paradis. “The island is fine now.” It isn’t. I think Armin is aware that this was a lie on his part.

Armin immediately realizes that’s not good enough, and that he’s wrong, and Eren knows, so he switches to the emotional route. 

“We were wrong. We forced you to this point”. It would not resonate with Eren, because Eren is too aware of the fact that what he is doing is not because his friends never understood him. As bad as they acted toward their friend, they aren’t the cause for this war. The Rumbling exists because there are people who were ready to destroy Paradis.

This prompts Jean to bring up another elephant in the room: “Eren is doing this for our sake”…which isn’t wrong, but telling Eren he doesn’t have to do it for them just won’t make Eren stop. Eren has repeatedly stated that he wants them to live, and be free. Armin has just reminded him that if Eren stops, that freedom will be crushed, along with their lives. Eren, of course, cannot accept that.

After Eren refuses to stop, Armin gets in full desperation-mode, saying they will be forever together. This is untrue, and I am not sure Armin fully realizes in the moment (how could he not, though?), because Eren will die in 4 years, Armin in 9. Besides the more pressing matter that the island can be attacked again, if Eren stops.

Lastly, “Don’t go any futher away from us than you already have”.

This is a sentiment that Armin shares with Mikasa, since all the way back to the Clash of the Titans Arc. At the time, they thought back on how Eren was always rushing forward, leaving them behind. Mikasa’s argument, in chapter 133, also touches on this. I said “argument”, but it’s more like a confession. The chapter is called Sinners for a reason, after all.

So yeah, Mikasa.

Amongst all the ineffective argument that were brought up, Mikasa’s words are the ones that took me aback the most, honestly. I am not sure if I am interpreting this right, but she sounds like she’s okay with falling to Eren’s level, as long as she can be with him. Nothing new here, but more specifically, the worst sins Eren has committed, for example killing innocents and children, which is what Mikasa focused her horrified shock on in Liberio, she is willing to do herself. That’s how you share a burden of sins, by taking part in committing them. And that’s what she acknowledges. What she wants. She says it quietly because she seems ashamed of that. Because she wanted to be like Eren, to stay close to Eren, and to share his sins, she killed and enabled Eren. So now that she has “committed the same sins”…? She has conquered a spot next to Eren? So he should stop and come back. This seems to be her line of reasoning. This is horrifying, I understand why she didn’t have the courage to yell it.

We know that Eren’s fear is that he may have enslaved her to his will, and whether he still believes it or he has just a few doubts left, seeing Mikasa admitting to something like this, must have reminded Eren of exactly why he wants Mikasa to be separated from him. ‘Cause this isn’t healthy.

Eren surely can’t feel any better by knowing Mikasa had followed that logic - maybe unconsciously. If he tried to be firm and cruel once to get her to “abandon” him, it can only get worse.

The second part of Mikasa’s little speech isn’t any better, as far as situational context goes.

In the text, Mikasa has embodied the concept of family in regards to Eren, just as much as Armin instead embodied their childhood dream of freedom.

And sure enough, Mikasa repeats what she told Eren in Liberio: “Please come back (home)”. Well, at least the Japanese version is the same, lol.

It is (still) her wish (it seems like nothing has changed in 30 chapters). But other than that, it brings up memories of Liberio, and of Mikasa’s disappointment and pain for Eren’s actions. The fact that Mikasa is willing to forgive (or better, accept) everything just because it’s Eren, may make Eren feel like she’s still not free from his influence. He may be feeling as if he brought her to accept killing innocents as something that can be partially overlooked…And I doubt it is what he wanted.

Besides, it seems that the story wants Mikasa to learn to let go as well. If Mikasa has kept on trying to keep Eren close, and it’s now become even as explicit as saying, literally, “come back home”, that “itterasshai” at the beginning of the manga counters this need and seems to imply Mikasa (who I suppose is the girl saying that) will learn to let Eren free to “go far away from her”.

“Itterasshai”, in Japanese, is a wish for someone to be safe on their journey, whenever they go out, with the expectation that they will come back. Mikasa is soflty smiling, meaning that she is okay with Eren “going out and away”. Meanwhile, the Mikasa who costantly repeats that she wants Eren to come back, to stay close, is a Mikasa who suffers and cries.

And finally, Levi. What a lacklustre moment.

It feels like Levi believes no word can sway Eren (he isn’t wrong, but still…).

Levi has never been averse to “talking it out”. He has always mostly resorted to talking, before anything else, when it counted. With minor characters such as Dimo Reeves, but mostly with regards to Eren: when the first Levi squad was about to attack Eren, Levi tried to talk them down; whenever Eren was in doubt or set on hating himself, Levi reasoned it out with him, with heartfelt little words that hit Eren’s core at the right angle. Even when Eren was out of his mind and high on adrenaline, fear and rage on the rooftop in Shiganshina, Levi opted to try and talk to him first.

The point is, he has always tried to understand Eren so that what he ended up saying, it would help the situation or resonate with Eren, or so he hoped.

This time, he doesn’t say anything of the sort. He merely admitted, in a very roundabout and lacklustre way, if not a bit too parodic for my tastes, what everyone else has said: that he would forgive Eren if he stopped now. Which isn’t bad, per se, but it’s not even close to what Levi used to be, or how he used to approach Eren.

Where Eren’s friends have missed out on what their words could achieve, potentially, due to a mix of not understanding Eren fully, and a concoction of feelings (panic, desperation, frustration) making them spout things that had no significant influence on Eren in that moment, Levi on the other hand didn’t even try this time, even though he has always done so before.

I am not sure if it’s because of Isayama’s total disinterest in Levi’s character as of late, or if it’s due to Levi himself not caring anymore - albeit it doesn’t seem the case, because he has kept on trying to find alternatives to killing Eren, so I don’t understand why he didn’t even try...

...unless he already knew it wouldn’t have worked out how Armin&Co wanted (and here I have conspiracy theories but let’s end it here lol).

Anyway, I hope this wasn’t too boring, I just felt like breaking down the scene a bit. Let me know what you thought of the various things the characters said in Paths, and if you agree with me, or if I am the only one who was disappointed by the scene, lol!

#snk 133 #shingeki no kyojin #snk spoilers #snk meta

[darlingwrecks]

Do you have a list of fic recs? x

Oh, good question! With a long answer, because when have I ever been concise. So, I generally avoid doing fic recs, because something about it makes me vaguely uncomfortable…which is clearly related to my I Want Everyone To Like Me And Don’t Want To Hurt Anyone’s Feelings complex). Instead, I’m just going to share ones I’ve read in the past year (since resurfacing in the fandom after like a ~9 year hiatus…also, some of these are WIPs) that have stuck with me, and therefore, I highly recommend. I pretty much exclusively read Grey’s/PP stuff (and am pretty selective about what I read), but if you’re a Law & Order: SVU fan, I really enjoyed this Olivia/Elliot fic, in this twilight our choices seal our fate (remix version…there is also an original 2013 version to it), by openended.

I’m just doing the title, author, and pairing due to sheer laziness, but I do recommend all of these with big levels of enthusiasm. I am grouping them by author. All are available on AO3, unless otherwise stated. I’ve linked to the author profiles rather than individual fics, because, again, lazy:

openended: church of scars – Addison-centric, with Addison/Mark and Addison/Derek…mainly Addison plus ghosts though, and I am so excited about this one. dropsonde (singers in a lower choir remix) – Addison/Alex, Meredith/Derek, with some Addison/Derek at the beginning. This is a redux version of the original dropsonde, which is also phenomenal (and fun fact, how I originally met Sara…14 years of friendship and still going strong).

winter_machine (alternate title: a darlingwrecks/evil-redhead love letter to winter_machine, but it’s not my fault she has an entire wonderful library for me to read) Break My Fall – Addison/Mark The Climbing Way – Addison/Derek (on FF.net – same user name) When I Grow Up – Addison/Mark and Meredith/Derek. Chapters alternate from Addison and Mark’s perspectives…and honestly, find me a better Addison/Mark fic. I’ll wait. (on FF.net – same user name) Take Your Life and Light it Up – Meredith/Derek primarily, but some Addison/Mark too, and Mark/Derek friendship (on FF.net – same user name) Six Miles High – Addison/Derek The Only Thing That Gets a Little Complicated – Addison/Derek Potential Life – Addison, with Addison/Mark (on FF.net – same user name) Eleven – Addison, with Addison/Derek, Addison/Mark, Addison/Alex, Addison/the other men who have seen her naked (on FF.net – same user name)

LittleTay entangled – Addison/Derek and Addison/Mark, with Maddek friendship Don’t Kill Your Darlings – Addison/Mark

Dangerosa Hamartia – Addison/Meredith

Also, here is a link to all of my old stuff that a reader saved (I kept a few of my works when I sort of “exited” fandom, but I also deleted a lot). I’m most proud of “On Your Shore” from the list of available docs (possibly next on the redux list, but I’m having a hell of a time imagining anything of mine ever reaching Atlas-level good, rewrite or new). I’m always hesitant to share this link, because the writing is…fine. Fine, but not great (some may disagree, but it always baffled me that I was considered a BNF back in the day…I’d say I was better than the average writer, yes, and understood the characters better than the average writer, but…yeah). Anyway, I’m older, wiser, and a much better writer now. The original MTGOF (the one I was most known for) makes me full-body cringe, and the redux version is like fifty times better (though if it wasn’t such a big undertaking, I’d go back and fix a lot of grammatical things for that, too. I was basically October 2020 Years Old when I realized, “You know what, that sentence should definitely not end with a comma.”). I will also just add, because I’d hate myself if I didn’t: anything related to an infant sleep environment in my old stuff isn’t actually safe, and I’m deeply ashamed of that, which is amplified by personal experiences (but again: older and wiser). (And while I’m on the subject – sorry anon, I know you did not ask for all of this lol, and obviously this is directed to everyone – stop using DockATots).

#fic recs #just fyi i'm not looking for any reassurance on my self-deprecating paragraph - that's just genuinely how I feel! #asks

[mudwingpropaganda]

(Princess) Kinkajou of the RainWings

I want to believe that Kinkajou is actually a biological descendant of Grandeur, but it doesn’t truly matter because she was supporting Glory for the throne and heritage does not equal merit. Kinkajou is fascinating character who took so many punches yet shes never properly thanked or appreciated for them? I think Kinkajou ought to be more painfully optimistic. As a partial foil to Sunny. She’s not optimistic because she NEEDS to be the one keeping the group optimistic. Kinkajou remains happy because of somewhat emotionally stunting double standards in the RainWing queendom and the act that tears only get you so far. Confidence and energy is what people respond to.

Kinkajou deserves so much more than what canon gave her. Tui might have said “her story is over,” but I seriously disagree. Let’s open her book in the first place.

Design headcanons

I may have leaned a tad far into the idea of her design being physically representational of my ideas for her, but let’s just say these are her comfort colors. The default! They spontaneously flicker with pink and yellow patterns but her default is a banana yellow and bright pink combination, with intruding grey scales on the edge of her torso. (I imagine her underbelly is also similarly melting into pink colors, as her wings are. I just didn’t have the foresight while drawing this.)

I referenced a kinkajou in designing Kinkajou! As a result, her paws seem a little too big for her and she has little ears as opposed to Glory’s more serpentine/bird appearance. Kinkajou’s frill is an example of a feathered RainWing that have plumage similar to a bird of paradise that is also susceptible to the color changing pigmentation.

Her eyes are a striking jungle green, the most natural color on her.

I believe that her time under the NightWing’s grasp definitely should have a more visual representation on her. It may be exaggerated but... art is such. She retains indents where cuffs and chains essentially squeezed on her scales and snout. Her scales tend to dull and turn grey if she is not consciously keeping control over these body parts, yet she has more trouble changing the color of her afflicted indents. 

Her wing is illustrated with the venom wound she suffered from the accident she had in the Queen competition. Her wings struggled to fold back into her sides after the event and regardless if she had these scars removed or not through “magic,” she finds it awkward trying to put her wings back.

I imagine she had more of a full mane of plumage in store, but due to the stress on the island, they struggle to grow healthily behind her ears. 

A personal headcanon of mine is the most noticable circular scales on a RainWing is the clearest indicator of their current emotions. Glory’s was an angry red-orange. Kinkajou’s tends to default, like her indents, to a grey if she doesn’t pay attention. A numbness.

Miscellaneous thoughts

Kinkajou could have been a fascinating case study about the flaws of the RainWings’ lifestyle. Rather than their flaws being a foolish, uneducated, lazy tribe, the RainWings could have been at fault for putting too much trust in their young, making subjects feel obligated to put on a happy face, and their violently isolationist tendencies. Dragonets may be obligated to reach out to adults for help if they need it, not the other way around. That’s why she self isolated to personally focus on her venom practice lest infuriate Bromeliad further. It’s why she maintains a bright yellow and pink coloration rather than subject other dragons to her emotions. It’s why Kinkajou never quite thought she would be able to escape the NightWing island. 

When she was young, Queen Grandeur also realized that Kinkajou was one of her own descendants, making Kinkajou a princess. Grandeur may have been the only one concerned catching wind that Kinkajou went missing, but her perception of RainWings as lazy beings was a personal bias that took away any sympathy she had for her offspring, assuming the dismissals were true that she simply went lost in the woods.

Kinkajou’s upbringing really affected her! She begins dropping her ideals of being an ideal RainWing due to her trauma chipping away at her. Especially the fact that she now realizes the extents of what the Queen, her friend, Glory, goals mean when it comes to a symbiotic shared queendom between the RainWings and those who experimented on her for months, or maybe even longer, until Glory finally took action. 

Kinkajou retains scars from the NightWing island, both physical and mentally. Scars from her bonds and greying scales from a jarring transfer from a flourishing environment to something significantly harmful for her body and color shifting scales. And aside from that, she developed PTSD from the events on the island. Between nightmares, the occasional flashback if someone jostles her... she herself has compartmentalized the experience so she herself doesn’t fully remember the events of the island. But she remembers things at extremely inconvenient times. Especially around NightWings.

Her friendship with Moonwatcher was initially based on the mental note she makes that Moonwatcher isn’t a “real NightWing.” Originally, Queen Glory asked that Kinkajou, as her friend, made the effort to connect with NightWings attending the school, which panicked her. But Moonwatcher didn’t have anything to do with it. In fact, she spent as much time and she did in the rainforest! If not, more. And there’s an envy that Moon never faced any of the ugliness of the NightWings! But a disconnect that maintains their friendship. It isn’t until they begin to bond on their across the world adventure that they begin to trust each other outside of the fact that they were supposed to. It’s difficult! Of course! Especially when Chameleon (another great victim of the RainWing culture), taking the form of Shapeshifter to incapacitate her. Yet it was Moon’s face that greeted her when she woke from her coma. Who had been by her side intent on her recovery. 

A lot of what Kinkajou does is to try and reinstate normality and an environment she finally feels comfortable in, essentially! She feels out of touch with other RainWing dragonets, not enough to be around them, and inevitably confides her self worth mostly to the Jade Winglet, as they don’t know what a RainWing is supposed to be like. She assigns a crush to Winter to make her childhood feel more normal, even if she doesn’t really feel it. 

Kinkajou has internalized a LOT of the shit that was thrown at her. To the point where she doesn’t consciously recognize that she’s been putting on a happy face for so long, aside when she needs to put her scales back in their classic pink and yellow. Even when Moon sees her mind, she struggles to recognize if those thoughts really belong to her or not, assuming the ash and glow of lava is that of a NightWings’, not hers. 

Queen Glory is the main dragon that teaches her how to read. Her and Moonwatcher were both somewhat or basically illiterate when they started their educations. But are both are passionate about literature. Where Kinkajou becomes an avid writer and attempts to to become a journalist for kingdom specific and international news for the continent! She assists Starflight in the library of Jade Mountain occasionally. But she also helps establish libraries and such in the Rain Forest! She helps Glory develop an education system that doesn’t sacrifice culture for secular curriculum.

LGBT+ headcanons

I would say that Kinkajou is a questioning genderqueer individual and still uses she/her pronouns but is growing partial to neutral they/them and doesn’t object to other terms used to address her. She is generally flexible with how she is perceived as long as she is perceived respectfully.

Kinkajou is also panromantic but also on the aro and ace spectrums! She muses the idea of finding a partner eventually, but finds platonic relationships easier to establish and grow than the prospect of a romantic one. Like how she simply plays with the idea of Winter being her crush for the sake of personal normalcy in her childhood and, honestly, Anemone’s little innocent emotional manipulation spell? Yeah. That never happened. Kinkajou’s oblivious to Turtle’s feelings. Attractions fly RIGHT over her head, from others or her own self. She also may have queer platonic partners perhaps? I don’t make the rules. Love is love! uwu

#wingsoffire #wings of fire #wof #kinkajou wof #wof kinkajou #wof rainwing #rainwings #wof redesign #sebastiowu #enigmew

[itsclydebitches]

Twiins iink really opened my eyes to Blake, and how her characterization is the best example of RWBY’s inconsistency. V5 she brushed Adam off, one shot him, stopped Sun from going after Adam, and acted super confident. Then, in V6, all of a sudden Blake’s terrified, cowering and, as Twiins put it, a damsel needed to be saved by Yang. This works if this happened after V3, but it didn’t. This happened so they can push BB, and give the shippers an excuse to rip people like you to shreds.

I don’t agree with Twiins iink’s overall reading of Blake - in order for her to be the “petulant, conceded c**nt” of this story requires ignoring everyone else’s flaws and Blake’s own needs. Like how Blake returning to her family after a traumatic battle isn’t all about Yang, or how Sun continually ignored her boundaries and privacy in his quest to help, or how letting Adam go might have been stupid but that doesn’t make Blake responsible for his decision to stalk and attack her, etc. - but I do agree that the flow of Blake’s characterization is... not great: 

I can sort of buy that she’s more confident with an army beside her, but we should have still seen the emotional weight of Adam’s presence as her abuser in that scene. Or have her demonstrate some of that same confidence when fending him off in Argus. As it is, yeah, Blake seems to jump from pure confidence to terror with little explanation for the change.

I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with one team member coming to assist another (the group does it all the time), but I do wish the fight had been more balanced in terms of letting both girls fight Adam. He’s undoubtably important to Yang’s story, but he’s been integrated into Blake’s since day one, so having her mostly kneel on the sidelines and coach Yang on how to beat him doesn’t read well. This is somewhat redeemed by them both getting the final shot in, but still. In reterospect, I would have liked a battle where they overcame him with more teamwork, rather than Yang realizing she can now catch a sword with her metal hand. 

I’m spoken before about how yes, the relationship could have definitely been developed in a more cohesive manner. Showing us Blake’s realization about “We’re protecting each other” would have gone a long way towards that, rather than dumping that emotion on the viewer seemingly out of nowhere. I think it’s worth reiterating though that that gap - and any others - is not the fault of the BB fandom. This is RT’s work and despite what many in the fandom claim, a now massive company does not make decisions solely on the whim of an (admittedly vocal) fanbase, let alone bad ones. When the writing doesn’t work well that’s the fault of the writers, not the fans who had hoped for this content. Shippers are responsible for their own fandom actions - how they interact with the cast and other fans, the “ripping people to shreds” that you mention - but they’re not responsible for a flawed canon and the frustrations tied up in that. 

Finally, Blake definitely suffers from the issue plaguing the whole team: a lack of compassion. But as said, it’s the whole team. In Volume 6 Ruby is out there threatening Cordovin and rejecting Qrow. Yang is screaming at Oscar and insulting Maria, Weiss is making her own snide remarks to Ozpin, Qrow is throwing punches and Jaune is slamming kids against walls, etc. I’m not comfortable dragging Blake specifically for being a mean person when all of these characters have become mean. Blake didn’t apologize to Yang? Yang hasn’t apologized to Ozpin or Oscar. Blake is awful for running off? Yang is awful for keeping a growing collection of secrets. They’re all flawed people, with the writing doing a less than stellar job lately of balancing those flaws with strengths, so to my mind it’s not like Blake is an outlier here. She’s not the black sheep of an otherwise kind and level-headed RWBY group. Which doesn’t mean that others can’t dislike her for any reason or no reason at all, just that any personal dislike I have isn’t connected to Blake as an individual so much as the larger problem with all of our protagonists. 

#rwby #rwde #mymetas #Anonymous

[generallypo]

“I heard your voice, so I came... Aoba-san.”

Hooo-boy, if that doesn’t get me emotional every single time. Call it my bias for eccentric bundles of sunshine and softness, or my crippling weakness for the secretly-handsome-and-devastatingly-earnest type, but you can’t change my mind: Clear is, hands down, DMMD’s best love interest. Character development-wise, thematically, romantically, he nails every trial thrown at him, gets his man,  and proceeds to break your heart in the tenderest, sincerest way possible. I am hopping with Huge Fan Energy, so this post is gonna be unapologetically long and self-indulgent and grossly enthusiastic. Yeeeee.

———— 

Look, DMMD meta analysis has been done to death, I get it. This game is old. But I think it stands as testament to its excellent production that it’s still a game worth revisiting years later — especially during these times when social contact is so hard pressed to come by and we all rabidly devour digital media like a horde of screeching feral gremlins. (Have you seen Netflix’s stock value now? The exploding MMO server populations? Astonishing.) It’s pure, simple human nature to want to connect, to cling to members of our network out of biological imperative and our psychological dependency on each other. As cold and primitive at that sounds, social contact also fulfills us on a higher level: the community is always stronger than the individual; genuine trust begets a mutually supportive relationship of exchange and evolution. People learn from each other, and grow into stronger, wiser, better versions of themselves.

Yeah, I’m being deliberately obtuse about this. Of course I’m talking about Clear. Clear, who is a robot. Clear, who is nearly childlike in his insatiable curiosity regarding the human condition.

And it’s a classic literary tactic, using non-human entities to question the intangible constructs of a concept like ‘humanity’ — think Frankenstein, or Tokyo Ghoul, or Detroit: Become Human, among so, so many works in various media — all tackling that question from countless angles, all with varying measures of success. What does it mean to be human? To be good? Who are we, and where do we stand in the grand scheme of things? Is there even a scheme to follow? … Wait, what?

Jokes aside, there are so many ways that the whole approaching-human-yet-not-quite-there schtick can be abused into edgy, joyless existential griping. Nothing wrong with that if it’s what you’re looking for, except that we’re talking about a boys’ love game here. But DMMD neatly, sweetly side steps that particular wrinkle, giving us a wonderfully grounded character to work with as a result. 

Character Design — a see-through secret

Let’s start small: Clear’s design and premise. Unlike so many other lost, clueless robo-lambs across media, Clear does have a small guiding presence early on in his life. It takes the form of his grandfather, who teaches Clear about the world while also sheltering him from his origins. It means he learns enough to blend sufficiently into society; it also means that Clear has even more questions that sprout from his limited understanding of the world.

Told that he must never remove his mask lest he expose his identity as a non-human, Clear’s perpetual fear of rejection for what he is drives much of his eccentricity and challenges him throughout much of his route. As for the player, the mystery of what lies underneath his mask is a carrot that the writers get to dangle until the peak moment of emotional payoff. Even if it’s not hard to guess that there’s probably a hottie of legendary proportions stuck under there, there’s still significance in waiting for that good moment to happen. And when it does, it feels great.

His upbringing contextualizes and affirms his odd choice of fashion: deliberately generic, bashfully covered from the public eye, and colored nearly in pure white - the quintessential signal of a blank slate, of innocence. Contrasted with the rest of DMMD’s flashy, colorful crew, Clear is probably the most difficult to read on a superficial scale, not falling into the fiery, bare-chest sex appeal of a womanizer, or the techno-nerd rebel aesthetic that Noiz somehow rocks. Goofy weirdo? Possibly a serial killer? Honestly, both seem plausible at the start.

And that’s the funny thing, because as damn hard as he tries to physically cover himself up from society, Clear is irrepressibly true to his name: transparent to a fault. He’s a walking, talking contradiction, and it’s not hard to realize that this mysterious, masked stranger… is really just an open book. By far the most effusive and straightforward of the entire cast, his actions are wildly unconventional and sometimes wholly inexplicable. But given time to explain himself, he is always, always sincere in his intentions — and unlike the rest of the love interests, naturally inclined to offer bits of himself to Aoba. It doesn’t take the entire character arc to figure out his big, bad secret — our main character gets an inkling about halfway through his route — and what’s even better is that he embraces it, understanding that his abilities also allow him to protect what he cherishes: Aoba. 

So what if he doesn’t fit into an easily recognizable box of daydream boyfriend material? He’s contradictory, and contradiction is interesting. Dons a gas mask, but isn’t an edgelord. Blandly dressed, but ridiculously charming. Unreadable and modestly intimidating — until he opens his mouth. Even without the benefit of traversing his route, there’s already so much good stuff to work with, and sure as hell, you’re kept guessing all the way to the end.

Character Development — from reckless devotion into complaisant subservience, complaisant subservience into mutual understanding. And then, of course: free will, and true love. 

At its core, DMMD is about a dude with magic mind-melding powers and his merry band of attractive men with — surprise! — crippling emotional baggage. Each route follows the same pattern, simply remixing the individual character interactions and the pace of the program: Aoba finds himself isolated with the love interest, faces various communication issues varying on the scale of frustrating to downright dangerous, wanders into a sketchy section of Platinum Jail, bonds with the love interest over shared duress, breaks into the Oval Tower, faces mental assault by the big bad — and finally, finally, destroys those internal demons plaguing the love interest, releasing the couple onto the path of a real heart-to-heart conversation. And then, you know, the lovey-dovey stuff. 

Here’s the thing: as far as romantic progression goes, it’s really not a bad structure. There’s room to bump heads, but also to bond. The Scrap scene is a thematically cohesive and clever way to squeeze in the full breadth of character backstory while simultaneously advancing the plot. In this part, Aoba must become the hero to each of his love interests and save them from themselves. Having become privy to each other’s deepest thoughts and reaching a mutual understanding of each other, their feelings afterwards slide much more naturally into romantic territory. They break free of Oval Tower, make their way home, and have hot, emotionally fulfilling sex or otherwise some variation on the last few steps. The end. 

That is, except for Clear. 

Clear’s route is refreshing in that he needs none of these things — the climax of his emotional arc actually comes a little after the halfway point of his route. When Clear’s true origins are revealed, he comes entirely clean to Aoba, fighting against his fear of rejection but also trusting that Aoba will listen. It’s a quiet, vulnerable moment, rather than the action-packed tension we normally experience during a Scrap scene. 

That doesn’t mean it’s prematurely written in — it simply means that he reaches his potential faster than the other characters. Because of that, he’s free to pursue the next level of his route’s development much, much sooner in the timeline: he overcomes his fears of his appearance, he confesses his love to Aoba, he leaves the confines of a largely dubious master-servant relationship and allows himself to be Aoba’s equal. Clear’s sprite art mirrors his emotional transformation all the way through, exposing him to the literal bone — and Aoba’s affection for him doesn’t change a single bit. Beautiful.

The whammy of incredible moments doesn’t just stop there, though. I don’t exactly recall the order the routes DMMD is ideally meant to be played in, but I believe Clear’s is meant to be last. And if you do, I can guarantee that it becomes a hugely delightful gameplay experience — in order to achieve his good ending, you must do absolutely nothing with Scrap. It doesn’t just subvert our player expectations of proactively clicking and interacting with our love interests; it grabs the story by its thematic reins and yanks it all back to the forefront of our scene. 

In every route besides Clear’s, Scrap is a tool used to insert Aoba’s influence into and interfere with his target’s mind. Using his powers of destruction, Aoba is able to prune whatever maligned thoughts are harming his target; in any conventional situation, using Scrap is the right choice. 

But one of the central problems in Clear’s route is his conflict between the impulses of his conditioning and his desire to live freely as a human would. Breaking free of Toue’s programming is what initially made him unique; growing beyond the rules imposed by his grandfather is what makes him human. In the final conflict scene, Clear’s decision to destroy his key-lock is an action of true autonomy, made with perfect understanding of the consequences and a sincere, selflessly selfish desire to protect someone he loves. In order to receive his good end, you have to respect his decision. It doesn’t matter which option you pick — by using Scrap, Aoba turns his back on every positive choice he made with Clear and attempts to exert his authority over him. This is Aoba becoming Toue; this is Aoba trying to reinstate himself as ‘Master’ right as he approved Clear as his equal. That’s blatant hypocrisy, and it doesn’t matter if Aoba is trying to do it for Clear’s ‘own good’ — that’s not Aoba’s call to make. If you truly wish to respect Clear’s free will, you will stand by. This is the truth of the moment: Clear has no emotional blockages that Aoba needs to fix. Believe in him, just as he believed in you.

The path to his heart is, and always has been, clear. Scrap was never needed from the start.

While Aoba might be the main character, Clear is undeniably a hero in his own route just as much. Tirelessly earnest and always curious, he leaps headlong into the unknown and emerges with his newfound enlightenment. He’s unafraid of weathering trials, even to the point of accepting death, and returns anew from oblivion to a sweet, cathartic ending. That’s about as textbook hero’s journey as it gets — if that doesn’t make him unquestionably, certifiably, unconditionally human, then I will scream.

And only finally… there is the free end. The final CG is like a throwback to our first impression of him: indistinct, purposefully obscured from proper view. But this time, we know better — and so does Aoba. Looks were never what mattered in Clear’s route. If you were patient, and you were open-minded, and you listened… well, what we realize now is that Clear was doing the exact same thing for you, too.

From a carefree, aimless robot-man with only the gimmick of “eccentric ditz” to carry him forward, we get a supremely more interesting character by the end: a man who has graduated from the well-intentioned but claustrophobic conditioning of his childhood; a weapon who has defied the imperatives placed on him by his creator’s programming; a wanderer who has, through unconditional patience and empathy, discovered love, and striven to become a better person for it. Who was it that ever doubted Clear’s character? He’s the goddamn goodest boy that ever wanted to be a real boy. Of course Clear is human. And in fact, he does it better than every single one of the actually human love interests. You can’t change my mind.

The Romance — kindness is really fucking attractive, okay.

Like I’ve said earlier, I have my Big Fan Blinds stuck on pretty tight. I might be conjuring sparks from thin air. But I think every choice was a deliberate creative decision on the writers’ part, and they deserve all the kudos for it — I’m just the lucky player who gets to enjoy it. But aside from Noiz (who I also think is a perfect darling as well — I could go on and on about him), Clear’s route is a model example for consent and healthy relationships in VN storytelling. This is reciprocated on both sides: never does Aoba infringe on Clear’s boundaries, and neither does Clear. They’re sensitive to each other’s needs and concerns; they ask for permission and stop when it isn’t granted (and when it is, boy do they get frisky — I’m not complaining!) I don’t need to say much more, because I think that consent is both fantastic and yes, incredibly hot (the scene in DMMD is tons more sad, go play Re:connect!). Good writing shows off the massive erotic potential enthusiastic consent puts into intimacy, and Aoba’s and Clear’s relationship is honestly a dream playground. The point is, I think Aoba and Clear genuinely do find equal balance in their relationship by the end of his route (and certainly through Re:connect). If you follow through Re:connect’s storyline, there’s even more thematic richness that comes through in the form of Clear’s greatest asset: communication. The couple get to discuss the long-term implications of them being together; they both offer concerns, points, and assurances to the other, and it’s just a soft, honest moment not so unlike the worries of a real relationship. Hearing is kind of Clear’s motif sense, but it’s really great to see that Aoba also subtly picks it up, really flexes his own communication skills to better engage with Clear. 

Point is, Clear’s route spoke to me on a lot of little levels. Design-wise, he’s already got a ton going for him, and his story builds upon it rather than against it, enriching his development and grounding him a little more solidly in the DMMD universe (and in my heart). His route, aside from being emotionally ruinous, carries a pretty solid chunk of world-building (only beaten out by Mink’s and Ren’s, probably), and the romance feels organic, healthy, and realistic. He’s not the only one with an excellent route, but he’s my favorite. If you read through all of this, you’re a real trooper and I’m extremely impressed. Thanks for tuning in. Peace.

#dramatical murder #dmmd #aoba seragaki #clear #dmmd clear #long ass emotional screeching #lOL I FORGOT TO DRAW IN THE UMBRELLA HANDLE ahA #fixed

[bigskydreaming]

I saw you're old post on JayKyle and like I had a quick question: Ignoring that Jason's love life is embarrassingly bad, do you ever think that he'd might swallow his pride and go to Dick for advice? Because Jason focused on revenge for so long, his social skills (especially when romance is involved) are a little rusty when he's trying to be honest, and he would remember Dick being in a relationship before he died and stuff (also what advice do you think Dick would give to him?)

Absolutely.

See, this is one of those things where I think its key to remember that these characters - no matter how well established or fleshed out they might be - are ultimately still just fictional characters. The choices they make will never be anything other than the choices they’re assigned to make by the writer.

Which means that ultimately, execution always matters more in individual character choices than premise.

Because people are complicated, and good characters are too. People do contradictory things, they do inexplicable things, there’s very rarely anything where there’s just NO situation that could result in characters doing a certain thing. And so yeah, in premise, as I’ve talked about “oh Dick goes around killing people without a care in the world”.....not really plausible. Doesn’t really fit his character. But in execution, “the murderer of Dick’s brother taunts him with his brother’s death and Dick kills him”....not only plausible, it happened and was completely in character.

There’s very very little that can’t be done with just about any character....but you gotta do the math. Put the work in to explain WHY its not out of character, what about THIS specific scenario and execution of character choices and actions adds up to something that’s believable....even if nine out of ten times, it wouldn’t be, just on the surface. 

To bring all this back to your question....I think its not really an issue of WOULD Jason ever go to Dick for romantic advice, but rather....could a case be made for Jason plausibly ever going to Dick for romantic advice.

And before getting into that, I wanna raise a question of my own:

If not Dick....who WOULD Jason ever go to for romantic advice? Bruce? Not likely, just as like, even if they are on good terms at the time, how often do people usually go to their parents for romantic advice as their first choice...especially if that parent doesn’t exactly have much in the way of longterm relationships themselves? Alfred? Ditto - Alfred’s like Jason’s grandfather, and do you usually think “oh, I’ll go ask Grandpa” when thinking hey who is the best person to ask for dating advice? Especially when you’ve never seen them in a relationship either? 

Or how about Tim.....is it really at all MORE likely for someone like Jason to go to a YOUNGER sibling for romantic advice than an older one, even IF we were to ignore (as fandom usually does) that its actually Tim that Jason’s canon issues most commonly crop up with, rather than Dick the way fanon likes to invert that just to enable The Jason and Tim Show? (Sorry, letting my bitterness leak in there, lol, I’m just never not gonna be annoyed that so many fics handwave away the literal bad blood between Jason and Tim - which hey, everyone’s more than welcome to do, especially in the name of family unity - but WHILE at the exact same time inventing bad blood between Dick and Jason where it literally didn’t exist, just to have DISHARMONY in the family, but that’s specifically the fault of one person and one person only, that Dick. But where was I...)

I mean, that basically leaves Babs, which again, you certainly can go with, but the reality is they were never all that close in canon, and if Dick and Jason didn’t have a ton of in-canon bonding moments, he and Babs had even less, so again....

The question is: Given that Jason is mostly associated with just the Batfam, particularly pre-Reboot (and with his Reboot associations usually as often BEING his romantic counterparts as being someone he might feasibly go to for advice with romantic counterparts)....

Who else, other than Dick, really even EXISTS as a MORE plausible option for Jason to go to for dating tips?

(With again, the reality being that just as you can make a case for Dick being someone Jason goes to, you CAN make a case for him going to others.....with the point here being just that there’s really no one else out there that’s somehow MORE plausible for him to turn to here, and thus no reason Dick should be seen as a particularly IMplausible option here).

Whereas, if you strip away the fanon interference between Dick and Jason having any kind of decent sibling relationship, certain actual canon truths start to become more evident....

Like the fact that Jason was excited, in canon, to be Robin SPECIFICALLY. Not Robin as in Batman’s partner, but Robin as in ROBIN. Jason, contrary to popular opinion, looked up to Dick. He respected the older man. He was HONORED to walk in his shoes. Its why despite the machismo he’s usually written with, he never once in canon (okay at least pre-Reboot) talked shit about the Robin costume or wanted to change it. Its why in all of his ACTUAL canon interactions with Dick, he clearly wanted to impress him. He valued Dick’s opinion and insights. He always has.

Or the fact that compared to the relative lack of longterm relationships among the other significant figures in Jason’s life, pre his death, Dick was in a happy, committed relationship with Kory for the literal entire time Jason was Robin and knew him. Like, despite the fanon that Dick is a disaster in relationships, or that he’s had a billion of them, or that they always end because he doesn’t know how to actually be in one....none of this could be further from the truth, all his relationships end as much due to external plot wtf-ery as having ANYTHING to do with his inability to handle intimacy or romantic entanglements, and he’s literally the one and only major figure in Jason’s life that Jason can look at and cite memories of seeing him actually SUCCESSFULLY in a happy romantic relationship....which is again, something you tend to look for in a person you ask for romantic advice.

And so on along similar lines, with the point being....this, like so much else to do with Dick and Jason’s dynamic and even just Jason’s character individually.....is actually FAR more plausible than kneejerk fanon or fanfic impressions I think would make it out to be....and in fact, this is a far more plausible dynamic to exist between Jason and Dick in specific, than Jason and anyone else. Like, I really don’t know who else you would have him turn to for this specific issue, without having to invent the reasoning for that wholesale, having to put even MORE work into making credible than just building upon the idea that Jason goes to his older brother for advice in this department (even if he only does so with a lot of reluctance and awkwardness and “you better not laugh about this” threats, like......again, its all about the execution, and I’m not saying Jason would be GRACEFUL about going to Dick for help here, just that there’s waaaaaaaaaay more groundwork to build off of here than there is anywhere else).

And in conclusion, this also brings me back to my popular refrain of how - due to the fact that Dick is linked and pivotal to SO much of the Batfam’s interpersonal history and dynamics - the more you reduce even just him to one note, the more you constrain his dynamics with his family members to being just one thing and one thing only, and so often that one thing being a negative - the more you actually hurt and limit all the characters around him too, inadvertently. 

Such as Jason. Who innately becomes limited in how well and how believably he can engage in romantic storylines in general, due to not just to his own relative lack of history and experience there....but because the ONE character who is actually MOST ideally situated to be the best person for Jason to turn to for help there, for advice, to fill in the gaps where his lack of history and experience makes him reticent to even TRY dating.....that one person is automatically discounted as not a possibility simply because so many people don’t WANT him to be a possibility. Because they’d rather Dick be the villain of Jason’s stories than an actual positive, supportive older brother helping him to have nice things.

But when you take away those kneejerk assumptions as to why Jason would NEVER go to Dick for help here, with almost all of them stemming from fanon assumptions that Jason neither respects Dick or trusts or values his opinion, nor is he willing to allow himself to ever be vulnerable around Dick......or else stemming from fanon assumptions that Dick doesn’t like, trust or value Jason enough to be helpful or encouraging, or to not take advantage of his vulnerability or fail to respect the effort being vulnerable asks of Jason......

Suddenly, without those largely fan-formed obstacles in the way.....there’s little to no ACTUAL reasons why Jason wouldn’t or couldn’t ever go to Dick for help or advice with dating or romantic relationships.

[wygolvillage]

been thinking about how i would make a remake/reimagining of simons quest. long post ahead. might be a little stupid since im no game designer or writer or anything lol

random gameplay stuff

it would be metroidvania style, but not all in the castle. imagine it like ooe but the map is interconnected.

i would keep the day/night cycle but it would be less obnoxious of course... probably there would be a little clock on the HUD showing what time it is and how close you are to nightfall. villagers would go inside during the night, but you can still enter churches. churches are your most reliable healing method since save rooms would be pretty sparse in the rest of the world map, and saving at the churches also allows you to skip straight to morning or nightfall if you so desire. being stuck in the middle of the woods during night can be disastrous if the player is ill-prepared since monsters grow stronger then.

there would still be puzzles to figure out and complete, and it would still be a bit cryptic (not to the degree of the original of course), but there is a supporting character i would put in who you can ask for hints at any time, and hers are a lot more straightforward (more on her later). important items are gained through quests rather than bought with hearts, but drop rates would be VERY forgiving since it’s required. like, a villager promises to give you the red crystal if you can get him some fish meat from a merman, which would have about a 40% drop rate... i kind of wanted to preserve the sense of fighting monsters to forage for materials the original has without making the game a total grindfest :P

additionally, materials dropped from monsters can be used to craft food items after simon teams up with the aforementioned supporting character. like i said before, save rooms wouldn’t be super common so it would be implemented as a way to heal yourself when you’re away from town.

the bosses would be decently difficult to compensate with there being very few of them- a true challenge, but they can be beaten with both playable characters if the player is skilled enough

the plot would be expanded upon as well so lemme give a little summary

it begins in simons house where he wakes up having trouble breathing. he’s been struggling with some physical illness ever since battling dracula years prior, especially a nasty bite on his arm he sustained during the fight, and that arm has been turning a pretty nasty shade of grey, like its wasting away. he goes outside to a graveyard near a local church to try and get some fresh air, but it is largely unhelpful. suddenly, he spots an old woman standing at one of the graves. he looks over at him and says mysteriously “ah... must be a horrible night for a curse.” simon is like “what do you mean?!” the old woman tells him to “resurrect him and destroy what remains, or nothing will remain of you”. she then disappears into thin air, implying she’s a ghost or something equally spooky. simon is like “destroy what remains... dracula’s remains?!”

the game starts properly in the graveyard and surrounding forest as simon heads in a fairly straight path towards the town of jova, where he meets a woman a few years younger than him named agnes. agnes’ parents were killed by dracula’s forces when he was resurrected back then, and she admires simon greatly for defeating the dark lord (shes also implied to be a descendant of grant danasty!). she decides to accompany him on his quest after hearing about his curse. he asks the head priest of the town if he knows about dracula’s remains, and the priest tells him that he heard of some of dracula’s followers placing some of dracula’s body parts in their strongholds to worship, and points him to the direction of the first stronghold and hands him a stake. he also warns them that bringing all of his remains together can resurrect the dark lord and it holds a remarkable corrupting power.

simon and agnes then become a character swapping duo (just like portrait of ruin hehehe). agnes is low on defense but can deal plenty of damage at a close range, and her signature weapon is the golden knife. she’s fast as well, whereas simon is more of a slow, defensive character who is best at keeping distance between himself and the enemy. agnes is smart, but impulsive and stubborn, and doesn’t like being told that she’s wrong. simon is a stoic but kind individual who tends to keep to himself. their personalities occasionally cause conflict between them during the adventure, but they eventually grow to become really good friends.

eventually they reach berkeley mansion, the first of the strongholds, and its aesthetic is very much “dark evil church”. there are the usual skeletons and bats and stuff, but some of the dracula followers are regular enemies as well. the first boss is a human who has dedicated his life to following dracula (specifically to contrast against the priest dude who gave simon the stake and directions) who uses magic attacks and stuff. beating him earns simon dracula’s rib, which functions suprisingly well as a shield (which becomes important later).

the adventure continues on like this, going from town to mansion to town, with simons curse becoming more and more hindering to him (from a story perspective not a gameplay one. simon wont become worse to play as because that would be lame as hell). they go to the other mansions, with the bosses being carmilla (guarding the nail of vlad, in a mansion thats very much a vampires lair), olrox (guarding the eyeball, in a massive dining hall themed mansion) death (guarding vlads ring in a Spooky Clockwork Skeleton Mansion with slogras and gaibons and all the usual death stuff), and in the final mansion... there is no boss. just as simon is about to grab the heart, agnes stops him.

Agnes: You told me you were going to destroy the remains, weren’t you?

Simon: Of... Of course, Agnes. Why do you ask?

Agnes: Why haven’t you?

Simon: ...

Agnes: We have almost all of them. You remember what the priest said, right? That bringing them together can resurrect Dracula.

Simon: Well... I haven’t exactly been truthful, Agnes. The old woman who sent me on this quest didn’t tell me just to destroy his remains...

Agnes: So you’ve been intending to resurrect the Dark Lord this whole time? For your own selfish gain?

Simon: This curse will kill me if I don’t.

Agnes: ...So it’s true, then. You’re willing to risk the lives of thousands just to save your own skin. Lives like my parents’... Lives like mine.

Simon: I...

Agnes: There’s no need to explain yourself, oh great hero, Simon Belmont. (Scoffs) If you care more for yourself than anyone else, strike me down now!

surprise! simon has to fight against his best friend! tbh i would be pissed at him too lmao. and it’s a tough fight, as agnes can deal a ton of damage and is hard to dodge. killing her like any other boss will give you the bad ending, where simon realizes she was right and lets himself succumb to the curse out of guilt for her death. the way to the good ending is to use dracula’s rib as a shield (i told you it would be important!) or dodge/survive her attacks until she tires out (the shield is the best method though), and realizes simon doesn’t want to hurt her. they have a touching emotional moment and simon assures her that he beat dracula before and can do it again, but he will need her help. agnes nods, and they head to the ruins of dracula’s old castle, which is totally empty. there’s no music, while the rest of the game has been filled with catchy tunes, here there’s only ambient noise.

they reach the throne room and place drac’s remains on a pedestal, where they begin to glow with dark energy. blood is dripping down the walls and stuff, and the count is returning to the mortal plane as thunder booms in the background. simon begins to doubt himself. if he loses now, the world will be plunged into darkness, and it will all be his fault. but... agnes has his back, despite everything. they fight dracula together, and though it’s tough with simon’s weakened body, they eventually prevail, as simon drives the stake into his heart, the curse finally lifted.

the game ends with agnes and simon returning to jova. agnes admits that she’s still upset with simon for lying to her, but she would be even more upset if he died slowly because of her. simon sighs, stating that there was no easy solution to the situation they were in, and asks for forgiveness for breaking her trust and risking so much for his own desires. agnes says maybe one day she will forgive him completely, and she still considers him a friend, but she needs some time to herself. simon nods, and they go their separate ways.

SO YEAH idk if this is even good but i hope u at least enjoyed reading it. maybe ill make designs for this version of simon, and for agnes too ofc :D

...yeah, not exactly the happiest ending, but i always found it kind of weird that simon was so willing to resurrect the count to save himself from the curse, so that’s the main conflict i decided to add to the story. its not the sort of conflict that can be easily resolved. theres no easy answer... agnes was right about simon risking other peoples lives being wrong, but she was also wrong to insist that he just give up and let the curse kill him instead. its Complicated idk... Castlevania II: Simon’s Trolley Problem

edit: actually i decided there would be two "true endings" after using the shield in the agnes fight. the one i described, and a second one where they decide against resurrecting dracula and simon lives out the short rest of his days with agnes until he dies of the curse. both endings are considered equally canon and valid

#Castlevania #castlevania ii simon's quest #simon's quest #simon belmont

[shineyma]

I know you will probably deny this but it'll be no use because I am 100% certain that you slyly faux-randomly mentioned you ship Nell x Callen early on in my introduction to Nell, so you would ensure I slip and fall for them as a couple and you will have another person suffering with you the non-canon status of this ship. Because I have checked. They are not canon. And you are sinister. Plying me with your eagerness to help out by writing up a list of Nell-heavy episodes, meanwhile you had been planning my descent into Nell x Callen since I asked you if you recommended NCIS:LA. Now, you will claim that you barely mentioned Nell x Callen twice and you didn't even go into any detail, but I am onto you. You're playing a long con.

I'm looking forward to moving onto later seasons so I can read more fics without spoiling myself. So far, I've only read a couple and Nell's characterization was rather off, so I didn't enjoy them as much.

The thing with Nell's character is that the writers have fairly managed to avoid many of the usual pitfalls in writing a young, female, genius, small-framed, tech wiz character working side by side with big bad agents, cops and the like. And I really love and enjoy that. Some of my favorite Nell moments so far attest to how they've deviated from that cliche character. I will be sending you a few of my favorite Nell moments so far, in vague details because my memory gets even worse than usual when binging.

I want to go on record to say that although I would prefer them dating other people because I think they wouldn't be as interesting together, however I don't mind Nell x Eric. Maybe it has to do the way both of them deviate from the cliches of their respective characters, and in fact I think it's mostly that, but the point is that I don't think they would end up toxic as many nerd x nerd type relationships end up written. But it's still tired to do this kind of thing. Of course, I skimmed the Nell x Callen tag and saw some spoilers for both ships mostly in the form of commentary, and I have the vague understanding that the writers will unfortunately do neither ship right. Well, I'll just ingore their bad writing as much as I can. I just love Nell and Eric individually so much, and you've told me I have things to look forward to with Nell, and I hope the same goes for Eric, because he also deserves his own heavy storylines and episodes.

Can I just say, in continuation of our talk on the team's body count, that I've noticed another pattern where several people die from a single gunshot that normally wouldn't be fatal, at least within a fictional setting, and mostly it's good guys or sort of good guys? Like, you have Callen who survived five bullets all over his torso, right? a

And then, if you recall the episode where they thought someone was leaking or selling classified information regarding covert ops or undercover operations, but it turned out that he was only putting together a tribute for fallen covert operatives and the like, who never received the recognition they deserved because of the classified nature of their work, instead they were just numbers, and the guy's tagline of sort was "names, not numbers," and he and sam were on a bus together, sam lied to the bad guys that he was the guy with the classified info and the other one was the agent protecting him, so they shot the guy instead, and he died. From a single bullet. To the right side of his torso. Maybe the bullet hit a lung in a bad way. I'm not saying it's not realistic. But the others haven't had a similar brush with death yet as far as I can recall, save for Dom (gone too soon, gone too soon), and obviously they would be as lucky as Callen if it was Kensi or Deeks or Sam, but still, the single-episode guys that fall dead from one bullet in a spot that in fiction is usually not lethal... I'm just saying. In an odd way, Callen surviving five bullets in his torso while other men and women have died from a single bullet somewhere ostensibly non lethal, whether the bullet came from the team or someone else, counts in the end toward the body count of the team and this show. It's not the same thing but it sort of falls under the same umbrella thing, if that makes any sense.

Phew. Six short paragraphs. Middle name is indeed "laconic," thank you very much.

*evil laughter* Yes, you've stumbled upon my evil plan!! Obviously it was my plot all along that you would be sucked into the Nell/Callen ship. Suffer, nonnie, suffer!!!

But really, nonnie, it's not my fault! The chemistry is there! They're perfect!!!

The fic is....something, I'll admit. I can recommend the fics by danakate but otherwise I haven't found many I love. But to be fair I am EXTREMELY picky, so. There's that, lol.

I'll be happy to hear any and all of your favorite Nell moments!!

I do not ship Nell/Eric AT ALL, which is part that they give me fs vibes and part that, in my opinion, the writers handled them really poorly. For a long time it seemed like they couldn't decide whether or not they wanted Nell to return Eric's feelings, so a lot of the time there was awkwardness that didn't make sense when compared to other scenes. I definitely prefer them as BFF.

Yeah, this show is just.....yeah. They want characters dead, so they're dead. Or they want characters to live, so they live. Even if it doesn't make sense most some of the time. But what can you do?

Thanks for checking in, nonnie! I'm happy to hear all of your thoughts lol.

#amy communicates #my nonnies are the best nonnies #anonymous

[lynne-monstr]

Writers Month Day 21: Family (tka, yuhuang)

follow up to Part 1 and Part 2. (de-aged training camp yu wenzhou in the present day)

Part 3.  yu wenzhou meets blue rain.

.

Yu Wenzhou isn’t sure what to expect when he agrees to accompany Huang Shaotian to meet the team. He’d prefer to avoid it altogether if he could. Meeting groups of new people makes him nervous when he hasn’t had a chance to read up on them beforehand. 

In the end, the memory of them piling into the infirmary, noisy and boisterous in their concern for him, makes the decision for him.

Somehow, Huang Shaotian seems to know, and talks nonstop about the team all the way to the training room. “...there’s Song Xiao, he’s great, too! A little inconsistent, okay a lot inconsistent, but he always comes through in the playoffs. You can count on him.”

They’ve gone through nearly the entire team. Except for one. 

“You still haven’t explained why there was a child in that infirmary room with me. Are we recruiting children, now?”

“You mean Little Lu?”

“Is that his name?”

There’s an extra spring in Huang Shaotian’s step as he explains. “Yeah, yeah, Lu Hanwen. You’ll understand when you see him play. He’s amazing. And fast! So, so fast. He’s still green and doesn’t always make the best judgement calls but he has plenty of time to learn. He’ll take over Troubling Rain one day.”

It’s a good thing Yu Wenzhou turned down the can of iced coffee Huang Shaotian offered him earlier, because he might have spit it out all over himself. How embarrassing. 

Huang Shaotian? Give up Troubling Rain? 

Everyone, even Yu Wenzhou, knows how much he adores that account card. There’s been more than one comment among the trainees that he’ll never find a wife because no one can live up to Troubling Rain. To hear him talk so casually about giving up his precious account is shocking. And yet more proof that this older Huang Shaotian is not the one Yu Wenzhou knows. 

The man walking beside him has grown from the training camp star into an adult with his own protege.

He’s always quietly had his reservations about Huang Shaotian’s maturity, wondering silently if his brand of loud egoism and irreverence would hold him back from ever being a true professional. Yu Wenzhou suddenly feels like he’s the one who doesn’t live up to expectations.

The thought is only reinforced by what comes next.

“Oh um, Wenzhou,” Huang Shaotian bites his lip and brings them to a halt before they can enter the training room. “About Hanwen. He really looks up to you. To both of us. I know you don’t know him yet, but don’t push him away, okay? This is hitting him hard.”

It’s hitting me hard, Yu Wenzhou doesn’t say. “Of course,” is what he says instead. “I’ll be gentle with your protege.”

Huang Shaotian looks at him strangely. “Our protege.”

For the second time, Yu Wenzhou is brought up short. The more he learns about this current time period, the more unbelievable it is. Not only is he Blue Rain’s captain, Swoksaar’s user, and apparently close friends with Huang Shaotian, but the two of them are raising up a pro player together. How deeply are their lives entangled? 

He doesn’t know what to say, so he settles for, “You know the team best. How should we play this?”

“Just be honest with them. They want to know you’re okay, they’re so worried. It isn’t just Little Lu who looks up to you, do you know that? They all do. You’re—well the older you—you’re their captain. One of Glory’s Four Master Tacticians. Which is just as cool as it sounds. You’re so smart at making plans. You create all the team’s tactics and you tailor it to each of us and our strengths and our skills and our weapons and whoever our opponent is. You do all that, it’s amazing.”

It’s a lot to take in, and not just the barrage of nonstop words. Yu Wenzhou has spent so much time studying everything about Glory down to the last detail, in a desperate effort to prove that he’s better than his slow hand speed, and all he’s gotten for it is ridicule when it still isn’t enough. How can it be that in the future (technically he supposes it’s the past but it feels like the future to him) he’s achieved everything he’s ever dreamed of?

He almost turns around and leaves, swept by another wave of helpless frustration. It’s not fair that he can’t remember. It’s not fair.

Instead, he mentally recites the player summaries Huang Shaotian gave him. Back in his room, he’d watched a couple of the videos Huang Shaotian gave him, between doing his own research on the internet and looking through his olders self’s notebooks, and it hammered home that whoever these people are, they’re a tight knit group that trusts their captain. 

Blue Rain is his team. 

His stomach turns as they walk the rest of the way to the training room, and it takes him a moment to realize it’s not just dread. The swoop in his guts is excitement. He has a team, one that accepts him rather than merely tolerates him. He wants to meet the people his older self surrounded himself with. Perhaps meeting them will help him understand what watching pre-recorded matches on a screen didn’t.

“Are you ready?” Huang Shaotian asks, shaking him from his thoughts. 

He isn’t, but if he let trivial things like that stop him, he’d still be living at home with his parents. 

“Yes.”

.

The room falls silent when they enter.

It lasts for the longest three seconds in Yu Wenzhou’s life and then the roar of multiple voices breaks over it. It’s impossible to pick out individual words with so many overlapping voices, but he hears a lot of “Captain,” and “feeling okay,” and “so young.” The last one in particular makes him want to turn around and leave.

He doesn’t.

“Captain! Captain!” A high pitched voice cries out.

Yu Wenzhou almost turns and looks for Captain Wei except before he can, he sees a short, skinny kid running up to him with so much enthusiasm Yu Wenzhou feels exhausted just looking at him.

The same kid from the hospital. Lu Hanwen, he remembers.

The kid stops short right in front of him and beams. “Wow you’re only a little older than me, this is so cool! Does this mean you won’t make me do homework anymore? Can we play Glory all day? You still like Glory, right Captain?”

Hushed whispers sweep across the room, and Yu Wenzhou notices several wide-eyed stares, like the thought that he might not like the same things as before is just occurring to the majority of them.

Yu Wenzhou breaks the silence with a warm laugh, the way he often sees Captain Wei do when tensions rise during training. His own laugh doesn’t sound nearly as raspy as the captain’s--his has softer, warmer edges--but it works just the same. The whispers die down and some of the fearful looks ease. Inwardly, Yu Wenzhou sighs in relief. 

“I still like Glory,” he confirms. “From my perspective, I was at Blue Rain this morning, so if I didn’t like to play, that would be a problem.”

It earns him a few laughs.

“You’re in training camp, right? I overheard Huang Shao talking to the doctor and that’s what he said. I bet you and Huang Shao were the best together back then.” A ripple of agreement sweeps over the team. “Will you tell us about it?”

“No!” Huang Shaotian’s refusal sounds more like a squeak, and Yu Wenzhou can’t quite hide the smile spreading over his lips. “No he will not! It was boring anyway, nothing to tell, nothing interesting at all.”

“Maybe later, Hanwen,” Yu Wenzhou says, once he’s confident he can speak without laughing. Who knew teasing Huang Shaotian could be so much fun? Has his older self discovered that yet?. He’ll write himself a note in one of his notebooks, just in case.

“I guess this means you’re going to win our wager,” a sedate voice breaks through the low din of voices.

Yu Wenzhou knows that voice, even though his face has aged. He’s happy to see his assumption in the infirmary was right. Zheng Xuan made the pro team.

“I was going to win it anyway,” Yu Wenzhou says back, relieved to be on known ground for the moment. 

He sees Huang Shaotian frown and maybe it’s petty of him but he’s enjoying this reversal of their roles. Ever since he woke up, it’s felt like Huang Shaotian knows him better than he knows himself. It’s nice to be the one in possession of information, for a change. Even if the information is trivial.

“Zheng Xuan made the mistake of wagering against me. We didn’t have anything to wager on at the time, so we bet on our careers.”

“You?” The person beside Zheng Xuan shoves at his shoulder. “You can barely be bothered to get out of bed in the morning and you’re making bets with the captain?”

Zheng Xuan shrugs. “He wasn’t the captain at the time.”

“You can’t leave it at that, tell us the rest.” the other player says. When he doesn’t get an answer, he turns to Yu Wenzhou. “What was the bet?” After a moment, he quickly adds, “Oh. Sorry, Captain. I’m Song Xiao.”

Yu Wenzhou humors him, mostly because he appreciates that he offered his name. “The wager was on who would have the longer professional career.”

Zheng Xuan groans. “Now that he’s seventeen again, there’s no way I can win.” 

A round of good natured mocking follows.

From beside him, Huang Shaotian cackles. “Zheng Xuan, Zheng Xuan, you should know better than that. With the captain’s hands, he’ll be playing until he’s fifty!”

Automatically, Yu Wenzou tenses. The reminder of his poor speed has always been a test of his will, of his ability to appear unaffected while his biggest weakness is dragged out into the open and mocked. Except this time, he’s reminded again that nothing here is what he’s used to.

The laughter is friendly and the words that reach his ears are about his intelligence and his tactics. There isn’t a single derogatory comment. He can feel the warmth of Huang Shaotian as he steps closer and says, “My fault, my fault, I didn’t mean to bring up your hand speed, I know I’m the last person you want to hear that from.” Miraculously, his voice is soft enough for only Yu Wenzhou to hear.

“It’s okay,” he says back just as softly. Huang Shaotian nods at him like an eager puppy. Despite their age gap, Yu Wenzhou is tempted to pat him on the head.

“Captain,” Zheng Xuan adds, once the latest wave of laughter has settled. “We’re all happy to see that you’re alright.”

“Even if you’re younger than us, now!” a different voice calls out.

“Still not younger than Hanwen,” Song Xiao calls out, and the laughter starts up again.

It doesn’t take long before the room descends into chaos once more. Despite everyone’s high spirits, there's a tangible thread of concern and relief beneath the laughter. It doesn’t escape Yu Wenzhou that most of the team is standing a little too close to each other, as if their first instinct was to stick together to ride out the waves of this particular storm.

Warmth fills Yu Wenzhou’s chest at the sight of them. Blue Rain isn’t just a team. It’s a family.

“Captain? Are you still going to play?” A player that Yu Wenzhou doesn’t recognize steps forward from the back of the group.

“It’s a little early for that kind of question, Lin Feng.” Huang Shaotian shoots back.

Lin Feng, thief, practical and straightforward. Huang Shaotian had given him a helpful summary, albeit with a lot more words than that.

Inwardly, Yu Wenzhou is grateful to Huang Shaotian for deliberately giving him the name of the person who addressed him. There wasn’t time to go over individual photographs and he hates flying blind. He wonders if Huang Shaotian knows that, too. He thinks he already knows the answer.

“I don’t know,” Yu Wenzhou replies, before anyone else can echo the question. “Huang Shaotian and I are still discussing logistics. We’ll keep you informed.”

There are a bunch more questions that he can’t answer but he tries his best. Mostly, the team seems relieved to have him back, even if he’s not the captain they’re used to heaving around. He sticks around to talk to everyone individually, getting to know each of them in turn. It’s a little strange that they all treat him like he’s still their captain despite his age but he has time to puzzle it out later. 

He’s in the middle of talking to Xu Jingxi about music when Huang Shaotian comes up to him. “Blue River got back to me. I’m heading down to the guild. You coming?”

Yu Wenzhou nods and follows him, hopefully towards some answers.

#the king's avatar #yuhuang #yu wenzhou #huang shaotian #tka fanfic #lynne writes fic #writersmonth2020 #i think i finally know where i'm going with this #and yes again it is not finished oops #but i'm making progress #:D #deaged ywz fic

[liam-93-productions]

I remember meeting Liam Payne once before. I was writing the cover story on One Direction for this very magazine four years ago and, finally, after endless tail chasing and schedule clashes, I managed to pin all five members down backstage at the O2 shortly before they played to what seemed like a bazillion screaming teenagers. The air was heavy with the fug of Haribo Starmix and raging hormones; even at that point the band were already more popular than The Beatles in some circles. Or, as John Lennon would have put it, Jesus.

The band members were courteous and convivial. One certainly got the impression that their time wasn’t their own, although any cracks that would end up splintering the band some years later were kept well hidden. I remember Payne for being perhaps the most grounded out of all five of them. He seemed to have an ease with his status and fortune that kept his ego in check. He seemed genuinely bamboozled at the hysteria going on around them. He was a young, ambitious pop star caught in fame’s full beams.

Last week, in some respects, a very different man sat down for an exclusive chat with GQ Hype. He’s certainly more hench, as this exclusive shoot with fashion photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott prove. Whoa. We talked about his sizzling new underwear campaign with Hugo Boss, his first nude shoot (which may well be his last if his dear mother has anything to do with it) and we reminisced about his One Direction days, a period which he came out of shaken, sure, but not completely upside down or inside out.

He’s been through a great deal since the end of being one fifth of the biggest boy bands in history – drink problems, therapy, (...), anxiety – but at his core he’s still that same multi-talented, hard-working boy from Wolverhampton, honest about his faults and still excited to see where all this is taking him. Undoubtedly, he’s a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. Well, when he’s wearing any sleeves at all...

GQ: So how’s the build-up to the debut album, LP1?

Liam Payne: Good, can’t complain. Just rewriting a lot of things in my world at the moment. That’s why I was in with my top, top manager for a while just reconfiguring things towards the end of the year.

What are you reconfiguring?

Well, we just kind of ticked off album one. The writing process was interesting to say the least. I mean, it was almost like blind dating in LA with different writers, and when that happens it’s hard to get traction, or get to know anyone properly, or let your guard down in a way. You feel like you’re going into different rooms all the time, with different styles. There are so many things that can affect the writing unless you find that one person who can carry you all the way through a record. Post Malone has a producer called Louis Bell, whom he works with, and there's a common stitch throughout the whole thing that kind of puts it all together properly, whereas we never really found that.

How come that never materialised?

I was going through a bunch of stuff when we started writing the album – growing up and all sorts of different shit coming out of the band. So for me it wasn't the best entry into the writing side of it and making personal music rather than writing for a band. So it was difficult, but I mean the album is done and coming out and I absolutely love it and it's just interesting to see that my favourite is from when I was younger. The first albums I listened to actually helped create my first album, so super cool.

It sounds like it’s been a long process getting the debut album finished?

It’s been, since “Strip That Down” really, the best part of two maybe three years to get everything finished. And it was difficult. I mean, it's opening up at first and trying to figure out who you are and what people want to know from you. And what the sound is. Trying to find that medium point for all those things. It's just the most difficult thing, especially at a young age when you're constantly changing and you don't really know yourself yet. We spent the best part of five years in a band closed off from the world and I had to go through this really weird transition inside that band as the world, and then myself, came out of it. I mean, even in my therapy sessions, my therapist asked me, “What do you actually like to do?” And I'm like, “I don’t know what I like doing!”

Most people presumed you came out of One Direction fully formed. That wasn’t the case?

Everything changed. New teams, new managers, new labels. Building those working relationships can be tricky. You also become the boss of your own shit, and I was 21, 22 when I first started doing my own thing, so it’s all a bit scary and can be a bit lonely. That’s not a complaint; it's also a lot of fun as well. We have a great time. Now the band members have all worked our way through this first couple of years, you can kind of see everyone's finding their own feet. Take Harry [Styles] at the moment. You know, he's just found what I think is his sound and exactly where he wants to be, which took him a little minute to get into since he had his last album out. So, yeah, it just takes time.

Towards the end of One Direction, were you aware of everyone’s own tastes developing?

I think so. I mean, for me, someone like Louis [Tomlinson] always had a very specific taste – things like Green Day, that was the era he was from... also Oasis and old Robbie Williams. Harry always played an eclectic mix of stuff too. I can always remember the one time Harry put Rick Springfield’s “Jessie's Girl’ on and I had never really heard it before but it was an interesting choice. I liked it nevertheless. And then for me, I mean, when I wrote “Better Than Words” for the last 1D album, it had a different rhythm for us, something we hadn’t done before. So you could definitely see those unique tastes early on. I think funnily enough it was through fashion and style that our own perspectives could be seen most of all, all hints of what was to come for us. We would always wear black on stage, black skinny jeans and a black T-shirt, but maybe we’d add something else as individuals. I remember Harry having these cool rings, for example, and then he’d go crazy with his shirts as time went on. Saying that, I think Louis still dresses pretty much the same as he used to.

Was it competitive with the other band members?

I mean, for me personally, I don't think I ever really looked at it that way. I think the biggest question for all of us at the start was figuring out who the hell we were without each other around, which is a really weird thing because you’d found your dynamic and role within the band. But then when you started a solo thing it was almost like leaving like school or university and trying to find your place within the real world. So I think it was more the pressure of that than anything else, rather than us competing with each other on, like, dress sense or vibe or even the music.

You mentioned therapy. Was that while you were still in the band?

I went into therapy a couple years after leaving. I kind of went off the rails a little bit and just couldn't really figure out what was making me sad. So, you know, my team got somebody around to help me through a couple of different, difficult things that I was going through. I was just trying to figure myself out. It was just such a strange course through life, and then when the switch turns off you're left to your own devices...

Did it throw you off when the band’s scheduled just stopped? Going from having a two-year plan to not even having a two-day plan?

I mean, yeah, we went through a really weird retirement phase. It’s quite funny, when my dad retired, I was telling him what to expect: first off, you're not going to get out of bed for ages, and then all of a sudden you get an urge to get out of bed all the time and start trying to do stuff just to seem like you are doing things. But I think everyone in the band went through this really weird retirement phase and trying to switch off. For me, I remember standing in my garden at my house and just looking around thinking, “It's been a lot of fun, but what do I do now that’s done? What actually happens at this point? Who do I call? Who is the ‘point of’ person?” I just didn't really know what was going to happen; a very strange thing to be involved in. All of it is weird, but that was a real strange moment. But things pick up and slowly you start getting back into the groove again.

Were you worried about not being famous any more? Or making music? About it all just stopping?

Actually, no. I kind of always knew that something would happen. I just didn't know what the hell it was going to be. And that was the scariest part of it. You just didn't really want to make a fool of yourself at that point. I think after such a long legacy of your band being absolutely amazing, the most important thing was make sure you don’t step off that pedestal; don't embarrass yourself. The biggest worry was don't ruin the legacy.

Let's talk about the underwear campaign with Hugo Boss. These are some incredible photographs taken by Mert and Marcus…

It got very raunchy very quickly. I hadn’t been properly warned about the amount of nudity Mert and Marcus do in their work, let's say. Mert’s actually become a really good friend now. We were in his house to three in the morning the other day singing karaoke, which is so funny. Yeah, I mean, really great to work with. I think everyone was quite surprised early on that they wanted to work with me and it kind of gave us a little nod and an entry into working in fashion proper.

Had you always wanted to land an underwear campaign?

Before we landed the deal with Hugo Boss I’d gone into my gym and said, “I'm going to get an underwear commercial.” I just wanted to do it; I knew I could do it. And then it actually happened! And I worked my ass off and I'm still hitting the gym: I didn't realise once you get on that thing you can't really turn it off. You've got to keep it going. Like I said, it’s been a lot of training and being an athlete and working out – it became 90 per cent of my job for the best part of a year leading up to that shoot, which was crazy. Come 2019 everyone's a lot more open about body image and I wanted to get in shape. Not to show off my body to anyone else, I just knew that’s what would give the confidence on set. I didn’t want to arrive not ready and not looking like I’d worked hard to get there. But what a thing to do and then to go on to designing clothes for Hugo Boss too – an amazing experience. We actually had the first design meeting [for the clothing line] here and I remember in the car on the way to the meeting thinking, “What have you got yourself into?” That always seems to happen to me. I was lucky enough to spend some time with a friend of mine, Kim Jones [artistic director at Dior menswear], and he gave me some great advice: “It’s the same as music: once you’ve had a hit you know what people want from you.” And I took that with me into the design meeting and used that to help the whole process. Find the hit and make it work.

Have you done a nude shoot before?

No! Well, not a planned one, at least. There was a lot of tequila involved for this shoot. I mean, the first day we did most of the shots for the capsule collection and then the last shots were the box shots for the front of the underwear packaging – which was just like, “Wow, I get to be the guy on the box,” which was a real moment. I’d never take that for granted. And then like the next day, we set up again and the model, Stella Maxwell, she's in the shoot with me. And it just ended up being a lot more naked than I thought it was – and for her as well. She was also naked. And I was just, you know, “Don’t look!” She was naked behind me and I was thinking, “Liam, don’t look whatever you do.”

Talk to me about the curtain shot...

Wow. Yes, I mean it was just a room full of five or six people and a hell of a lot of tequila to get me to this level. I was standing there and all of a sudden it was, “Right, OK, take them off.” I'm like, “Really? Take them off? Off, off? Like on-the-floor off? Oh, my God.” And there was a real hollow moment afterwards where I was sitting outside smoking a cigarette thinking, “I have basically just shot soft-core porn.” For one, my mum is going to kill me. For another thing, I don’t know how far this is going to go... That was just the first shot! It was a lot of fun to shoot but my mum wasn’t best pleased. There’s this really raunchy shot of me and Stella, and I showed my mum. She took one look at it and gave me a clip round the ear. All I was thinking was, “I better not tell her about the London buses!”

Still, your parents must be very proud?

The One Direction thing was enough. Just to get to that level. I would have happily walked away at that point. But now with all the other things I have managed to achieve, not least this underwear campaign with Hugo Boss, it’s meant a lot to me personally. I think it’s got me closer to those men whom I respect so much, people like David Beckham and Brad Pitt, such icons in their own lifestyles. It’s a real pinch-me moment. I can’t believe it hasn’t all burnt down to the ground yet, to be honest.

You mentioned a bad patch, a depression of sorts?

There was a lot of stuff. I was drinking too much and getting into really bad, bad situations for quite some time actually. And I hit a peak moment where I knew the drinking was going to get me; I needed to do something about it. I spent a lot of time drinking to escape the crazy world that I had created for myself. I didn't know what I was doing. That first therapy session and being like, “I don't even know what I like or anything about myself” – it was pretty scary stuff. I was afraid of how far my career was going and that it might go even further. You can say, “Who is afraid of success?” But that’s what it entails sometimes. Success has got the better of me on more than one occasion. When I am losing I tend to concentrate more.

Did you stop drinking for a bit?

Yes, I got sober for about a year, cutting down so the only vice was cigarettes. I hadn't planned to go sober forever, it was more important for me to say I didn't actually didn't need to drink. I wanted to prove it. I did the whole year, no booze completely, and at that point I didn’t actually know being sober was making my life any better. Things went up, but things like my social life plummeted. I was the biggest recluse on the planet. I would get up at 5am and go running in the park, but at night I would be in bed by 7pm. Is that a way to live your life? And in a strange way I am trying to still figure all that out and get the balance right between being a party animal and being an animal in the gym – the latter not being fun at all. We are all at fault; we all need balance.

So, 12 December: Boris or Jeremy?

I think I will vote but I am always out of the country. We need a mobile app where we can vote with our thumbprint or something. I mean, in regards to Boris or Jeremy, I don't think we give people enough time. Same with West Brom football club. They always change their manager every week it seems and we never get time to gel with anybody. So it's like, if I was changing my manager every week, I'd probably be really shit too. We need to give someone a chance to at least have a proper go of it or it will never be fixed. Also, I don't think it's always the one person that's to blame. Take Winston Churchill, people hated him at first, thought he was a drunk, that he had no clue, [wondered] what’s he doing going to war. Maybe we should all just be more like Winston Churchill.

Zayn has been through his own difficulties with fame and anxiety...

I think for anybody entering into these talent shows we do them for specific reasons. And I've often asked myself this question a bunch of times because we all went through it. You know, for me, as I was younger, from my own experience, I entered the show because I wanted to make my dad proud. Fast forward ten years and here we are in his office, talking about an album and an underwear campaign – incredible. But here’s the thing: you just don't know until you get there whether you're built for this or not. For Zayn, he loves music and he's an amazing talent. He genuinely was the best singer in One Direction, hand on heart, out of all of us. But for him to get to a point where, you know, he can't step on a stage? It's a lot. I mean, he's doing great. His streaming numbers are ridiculous but I do think he misses out on the performance side a bit, you know. He can't seem to get past that part. We all have it. I mean, I have this, like, brain fart syndrome: I was on medication for a while, and it was something to do with epilepsy, but I was using it for something else. And it was to do with anxiety for me too, fully prescribed, but I didn't realise that [on the medication] certain lights made me forget, well, everything. I totally forgot who I was. And lyrics. It still happens. I have a fear of it now. It happens all the time. So we all have our little beasties in that sort of scenario. But this era of talent shows, it is dangerous and some people just don’t know what they are getting into.

Did you want to reach out to him?

I did, yeah. I didn’t want him to feel like he was going through this all alone in some ways, or that we were all out to get him. We're the only people who know what you're going through. The only five people who know what you are going through were all in a room together once, and you left – fair enough – but you don’t want anyone going through such evils for no reason. But it got to a point with me where I wouldn’t know where to begin with Zayn. I hope he has good people around him, but I don’t at this stage think it’s anything the rest of us can solve.

Are there still grudges between the five of you?

Definitely in some part, yeah. We had our differences throughout the whole experience with some things. I still think about some stuff that was said and done that now I would do differently, but then that's all part of growing up. Being in One Direction was such a schoolyard mentality somehow – the One Direction University, I call it. Everyone has stuff they’ve said at parties they wished they hadn’t but, for us, the difference was that it was all happening in front of the world. Now we are older, for me certainly there are things that I am just not as bothered about. I think with Zayn’s particular exit and the way he chose to go, we haven’t really heard from him since he left. He didn’t even say goodbye, if I am being honest. It was a really sordid scenario, from our side certainly. A bit strange. It’s difficult.

The Hugo x Liam Payne bodywear collection is available now. Payne’s debut album, LP1, is out 6 December and available to pre-order now.

#liam payne #british gq #hugo boss #hugo bodywear #lp1 #liam's interviews #04.11.2019

[script-a-world]

Clearly there are some settings which make no sense scientifically. But how do I decide when to intentionally ignore reality, can't bother to do research, don't understand research, and thus create scientifically impossible places? When are such things considered be offensive or overused cliche or have a reader point out the impossibility and can't get into the story? I'm guessing some of this might be structural issues instead of world building?

Tex: One of the perils of attempting to write about highly technical subjects is that you run into the issue of not understanding your writing. I do raise a nominal objection as your first sentence, because sensibility is a sliding scale based on one’s familiarity with a given subject. I don’t know crap about, say, textile art (however much I might have bluffed readers in the past - no, no, this is just good googling skills on my end), but that doesn’t mean the textile arts are an inherently incomprehensible subject.

Scientifically, automobiles were once thought to be insensible. Scientifically, phones were thought to be a flight of fancy. Scientifically, 3D printing was improbable. Scientifically, quantum computing was the stuff of sci-fi nerds who just wanted to slap the “quantum” label on everything.

And yet we are now on the verge of robotic vehicles, mostly functional smartwatches, laser printing cells (PDF), and quantum computers (VentureBeat, IBM).

So I would argue that the insensibility of a setting would be due mostly to, yes, a structural issue - on the part of the author. No matter what you put into your world, internal consistency is key; nothing, no matter how ostensibly outlandish, will make sense if you contradict yourself.

I’ll volley a few questions back to you:

“[...] when to intentionally ignore reality” - Are you ignoring reality entirely, or just parts of it? Why? How does that decision benefit your world? How does it detract from your world?

“Can’t bother to do research” - Is it because you are discouraged by the breadth of your comprehension of a subject, compared to the subject’s depth? Or is it because of something else?

“Don’t understand research” - Is this because you don’t understand the academic papers that turn up in your search results, or because you have a fundamental lack of or misunderstanding of the given subject? Or is it because of something else?

“When are such things considered to be offensive or overused cliche” - As someone who intentionally arranges their studying around the plausibilities of the future, I would quite frankly be delighted to see more conceptual stretches of the imagination in this regard, as do many others on this blog, and beyond it. Why have you already passed judgement on the offensiveness or clichéd-ness of incorporating scientific things? Is this related to your other comments?

“[...] or have a reader point out the impossibility and can’t get into the story?” - If you are writing to please a specific individual or demographic, you are inevitably always going to fall short, because it’s genuinely impossible to meet every single item on a group’s wishlist without devoting your life to it (not an entirely worthy pursuit, in my opinion, but alas). What made you decide to be so concerned over the potential reaction to your stories that you worry about it before the story is even written?

I think I will put the majority of my curiosity’s weight on the last bullet point, as I’m seeing similar themes with the other portions of your question. It’s a fruitless endeavour to tie yourself into knots over a possible (not necessarily probable!) reaction - and quite likely from a stranger, to boot. Education is a relatively easy situation to fix, so long as you’re patient with yourself; dealing with anxieties over readers is… not so easy.

I can really only recommend that you take a close look at the goals of your worldbuilding, and see where you contradict yourself - once you have that in hand, it’s a relatively simple yes/no process of what concepts you want to keep. If the issue of decision comes from a lack of understanding, then make a note to yourself to seek out either the million wikis we Pylons utilize ourselves like any other worldbuilder, or to chalk it up as a genuine lack of context.

Please understand that even someone who’s dedicated their life to a certain aspect of science won’t know everything about it - that’s the point of research! We’re constantly asking ourselves questions, and pushing the envelope of known boundaries. Star Wars has lightsabers, but we don’t need to know how they work; likewise with holodecks in Star Trek. So long as an audience is reasonably entertained with the least amount of head-scratching, you can get away with handwaving quite a lot.

Lockea: On a scale between Star Trek and Star Wars, how “hard” is your science fiction?

I mention that mostly to illustrate that science fiction exists on a continuum, wherein science fiction with more “science” than “fiction” drives a story towards the harder end rather than the softer end. Also, a story’s place on the continuum will change based on what we know and understand about science.

I feel like everyone always beats me to saying all the important stuff about questions, so I’ll just give a few thoughts from my personal experience as a science fiction fan with two engineering degrees and a thesis about robots on the moon (yes really, I wrote my thesis on AI for moon robots). I really, really, love the creativity of science fiction writers. I think so often in defending the genre, we can get caught up in saying things like “science fiction predicted XYZ!” Well, sure, I may have studied Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics in my introduction to engineering ethics course, but I was also greedily reading my way through “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins at the same time. The fact that I sincerely doubt Panem will ever happen didn’t dampen my enjoyment of Katniss’s story. It was a fun read and it gave my friends and I something to talk about that wasn’t “feasibility of Battlestar Galactica” during our daily lunches.

The thing about writing science fiction is that, without a doubt, there will be someone who knows more than you about a topic who reads your story. Most of the time, I end up being that someone since everyone likes to talk about Skynet and robots taking over the world to a roboticist who sincerely refers to artificial intelligence as artificial stupidity. Y'all are seriously overestimating the field, my friends. Nonetheless, I still enjoyed “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” even as I thought how impossible Project Insight would be. Honestly, something every READER of science fiction needs to make peace with is the fact that writers will get something wrong. Writers, despite their best efforts, are not always going to understand that a facial recognition algorithm will fail if you introduce tiny amounts of random noise and are thus going to treat The Algorithm™ as infallible in your crime drama novel.

It’s not the writer’s fault, though.

That deserves to be on its own line. It is not YOUR fault if you get something wrong. Would it be nice if science literacy was just better all around? Of course! But it’s not your fault if your science literacy isn’t up to snuff enough to parse the article I cited above. It’s also not your job. Your job as the writer is to tell the most interesting story you can and to maintain your own internal rules and logic such that the reader never breaks the willing suspension of disbelief.

I watch Star Wars and get really into the light saber fight scenes and forget that light sabers are basically impossible to make. Star Wars has the Force, which is basically magic, and that’s okay. Really. I KNOW it’s not possible, but I still have a lot of fun watching it!

So yeah, write that story about how the robots are going to take over the world. I’ll probably enjoy reading it even as I laugh off my friends telling me that I will be the first to die in the robot apocalypse (of course I will -- I have five robots in my living room alone).

Constablewrites: Tone and consistency are the biggest pieces of this for me. If it’s the kind of story where the answer to “How does this work?” is usually a detailed and plausible explanation, then getting an answer later that is implausible or slapdash will stand out more. But if it’s the kind of story where the answer to “How does this work?” is “You push that button and it goes whoosh” from the start, my expectations adjust accordingly. (It’s possible to have the latter version in a story that is mostly the former, frequently when it’s played for last. Again, tone is key.)

So yeah, a lot of this is execution and the way the story sticks to the rules it sets for itself, and also how central the implausibility is to the story. A realistic thriller that relies on cartoon logic for a background bit might be a little jarring, but not nearly as much as a realistic thriller that relies on cartoon logic to set up its main showdown. The more central it is to the story, the more consistency and accuracy matters. Learning how to balance this can take some practice and some insight from beta readers.

#pylons #research #believability #worldbuilding #Anonymous