#but to make it into such a core trait of her as a character .. it just reads as if kishimoto perceives women as shallow

[gotyouanyway]

time lord ocs info post

ok this is a LOT of info and doesn't even cover it entirely but here's the main details about my little trio of time lord ocs :)

some of the canon details might be a little off - i haven't listened to all of gallifrey: time war yet and i'm pretty sure i nudged some facts around to make everything fit but don't worry about it <3

names:

caldinsedravin (caldin) 3rd regeneration (f, m, m) - ex cia agent - prydonian

hollustallamanta (hollus) 1st regeneration (f) - ex guardsman - prydonian

kilicoversonterast (kilic, kilico to friends and family) 2nd regeneration (m, ?) - genetic engineer - arcalian

story:

academy

- become best friends through constantly being put in weird situations together

- eventually they become known for being an inseparable trio, nicknamed gallifreyan equivalent of “XYZ” as a group like cartesian coordinates. caldin is x, hollus is y, kilic is z. they hate it but privately consider themselves lucky it wasn’t something more mean

- graduated a few years before the civil war

pre/early time war

- caldin went into the cia, hollus into the chancellery guard, kilic became a teacher at the academy

- hollus and caldin got together romantically toward the end of their academy days, slowly get more serious over the years after they graduate

- they all have individual adventures for a bit (caldin regenerates) but all stay friends

- time war starts

- kilic is drafted into project revenant, gets obsessed with it and starts experimenting on himself

- when the chancellery guard is dissolved, hollus wants to run rather than be forced into the idu

- eventually she convinces caldin to go with her

- caldin wants to bring kilic with them, so they go to get him but he’s not having it at all

- they fight badly. caldin pulls a staser and goes to shoot kilic. at the same time, kilic grabs the staser and caldin’s arm, causing the blast to go through them both and intensify/kick back. they’re both badly hurt and regenerate

- kilic regenerates into the same body because of their experimentation, but it's messed up

house era

- hollus takes caldin and runs. they can’t get any kind of off-planet transport so they just flee the capitol

- they go through it for a while. they aren’t important enough to be hunted down, but if they ran into conscription officers or anything they’d be taken back in and punished

- eventually they find a House (unnamed rn) that looks abandoned and they take shelter there. the house is a little senile

- they find 2 children/loomlings/whatever you want to call them. all the adults were conscripted, the older children were taken away, but these two hid (sidan and linara. they’re a whole other story, lots going on there)

- eventually more kids join them from other houses/from the house’s loom. hollus and caldin are kind of stuck taking care of them and it’s dangerous and insane. see my post about broken looms for a little more detail but they need their own post tbh

- kilico stays in the capitol working for rassilon and the war council. the others are always trying to convince them to come join them and they won’t do it. but they can’t just leave them out there to suffer either, so they help with supplies and evading conscription etc. at great personal risk and not always unselfishly. they want hollus and caldin to come back to the capitol where they can keep them safe. they want them to stop being childish and running away. they want them to be back together and happy again. etc.

characters:

caldin

core traits across regenerations: hot headed, deeply emotional, self interested/internally focused (as in, only cares about themselves and loved ones, doesn’t pay much attention to society in general)

caldin 1 (academy & cia)

-bright, sarcastic, playful

-overly ambitious, competitive, arrogant

-loyal to her friends but doesn’t always treat them super great

-recruited by the cia more for her disposition and potential than her skill or intelligence, but did really well in training

-regenerates on her first field mission when an enemy operative attacks her

caldin 2 (pre/early time war - cia)

-serious, compassionate, tense

-still ambitious, but less tolerant of navigating fair competition and existing power structures. makes him frustrated and eventually, unwilling to even play the game once the time war messes everything up

-barks at authority but doesn’t bite

-terrified of regeneration

-regenerates due to staser feedback when shooting kilic

caldin 3 (house era)

-funny (both intentionally and not), cautious, old soul

-no filter, no patience for small annoyances, but more mature and rational than he’s ever been where it really matters

-tired, hurt, scared, but keeping it together and trying to make the best of things

-just wants his loved ones with him and for the fighting to stop and the kids to live (against all odds, he’s pretty good with the kids. not great, but pretty good)

-almost won’t even look at kilic. fight on sight. but needs the help they’re giving and misses them so bad

-extremely grouchy about the house but protects it like a housekeeper

-the struggler

hollus

core traits: analytical, bloodthirsty, insecure in herself as an individual (needs a group to thrive)

(academy)

-meticulous, straightforward, level headed

-really into weapons and weapon maintenance as well as the technical aspects of combat

-bit autistic in general

-not a peacekeeper but gives the impression of being at the eye of the caldin/kilico storm

-challenges authority but in a respectful bargaining way that gets her what she wants

(pre/early time war - chancellery guard)

-the guard becomes her life and she loves it

-quickly promoted to commander

-really discovers her love of combat here and feels good having healthy safe outlets for it (not something she actively recognizes about herself but true)

-everyone’s favourite trainer because she’s honest about extreme violence and knows everything about stasers. plus she’s pretty. the new recruits all fall in love with her

-most of her squadron sided with romana during the civil war they were like blood bonded brothers and all that. except for the ones she lost (either to picking sides or to the virus or to death or whatever) which hurt so bad she never even processed it oops

-loyal to the guard (her friends) over gallifrey so when the guard is disbanded she splits immediately

(house era)

-still the same but colder. getting emotionally closed off. lonely without her comrades

-finds herself wanting to either cling to caldin or push him away depending on the day, but he’s sort of immune to it (doesn’t take it personally, doesn’t overreact to her moods)

-feels guilty about how much she still secretly enjoys combat even though it’s real and dangerous now (same as she felt during the civil war but so much worse because of how many innocents are involved now, + it's worse without the buffer of a dozen other bloodthirsty guardsmen surrounding her at all times)

-struggling to develop some kind of maternal instinct toward the kids but it’s not going great. would still do anything for them but it’s all very weird for her

-also grouchy about the house. would throttle it if she could find out which part was the neck

kilic/kilico

core traits: obsessive, curious, “i can fix everything if i try hard enough”

kilic 1 (academy)

-flippant, brainy, head in the clouds

-cares about studies and about his eventual place in time lord society way more than the others (stuffy old professor in the making, but not yet yknow)

-obsessed with the biology of regeneration. weird about it. gets the group to play eighth man bound

-stumbles into opportunities rather than having any idea of how to navigate time lord society, but it works

-often feels like he and hollus are babysitting caldin. hollus would say she’s not babysitting anyone she’s just watching the show

-a little jealous of his friends, he thinks they’re cooler than him, but doesn’t actually want to be like them. just wants to also be cool (they are all equally cool/uncool in reality he’s just got self esteem issues)

-constantly fighting with caldin but when they’re not fighting they’re inseparable

(pre/early time war)

-genetic engineer specializing in regeneration

-professor at the academy, not really through choice but because that’s the best way to get research grants and assistants

-doesn’t care that much about his students or their education, but does have a soft spot for the much younger ones and the ones who get all excited about regeneration biology like he does

-has sort of a cult following of students who are obsessed with him in a ‘this guy is so insane it’s funny let’s study him’ way but he doesn’t know about it and never finds out

-occasionally gets caught up in petty prof drama and has a good time with it (caldin’s influence)

-when the war starts and the academy is shut down, he’s drafted into project revenant and gets freakishly obsessed with it

-he’s scared of the war and thinks this will keep everyone he loves alive and safe

-personally supervises resurrections and is working on augmenting regeneration

-starts going wild with experiments and does them on himself when willing volunteers run out (he’d never get unethical enough to experiment on anyone against their will, at least)

-regenerates when shot by caldin, but into the same body because of self experimentation

kilic 2 (house era)

-regeneration induced identity issues. same body, same mind, but still regenerated. entire personality shifted to the left, intensified, came back wrong. gave them gender issues too (many such cases)

-still working on proj. rev. after the dalek attack but everything is going crazy everything is broken the vibes are twisted now that the project has moved and half the people on it are dead or resurrected

-questioning loyalty due to everything falling apart and the identity issues

-really trying to have everything both ways. keeps helping caldin and hollus evade capture on purpose, wants to go with them, wants them to come back, wants them captured, wants them safe and happy in their new home

-increasingly wants to run away and go live with them but can’t let go of the project. despite everything they still think revenant is the only way they’re all going to survive the war

-even if they did decide to flee, they don’t think hollus and caldin would take them in and they’re probably right

notes:

i forgot there was a hollis in gallifrey s4 when i made my hollus so we're just ignoring that. that guy wasn't anything anyway

idk what's meant to have become of proj. rev. after the dalek invasion but based on narvin saying they might resurrect his dad later on, i'm assuming they sort of tried to keep it going. idk.

they do have other friends and relationships besides each other. but you know how it is.

i didn't reference it much in the post for clarity but they used their academy nicknames a lot in the academy and occasionally after to tease each other. they also use them when delivering coded messages between the house and the capitol. they are xyz :)

made picrews of them <3

caldin 1, 2, 3

hollus

kilic

#this post is so long sorry i just love them your honour #i tried to make it as organized and readable as possible but it's sooo hard to do subheadings on here.. #maybe if i do colour text idk.. whatev #p #ocposting #xyz

[obihoe]

kind of lame tbh how sakura in the chuunin exams arc is shown to cut off her hair as a symbol for her independence and coming into her own power (since she grew them out in the first place cuz she thought it might make sasuke like her) but then at the end of the story she still ends up being defined solely by her crush on him. like during the war arc kakashi makes it her most defining trait when he thinks to himself abt how team 7 has grown and they each have changed, he says abt sakura that her feelings for sasuke have changed. and in the end, when sasuke and naruto are about to take off to the valley of the end, she again, begs him to be with her. even says that she is pathetic for doing so like .. okay

#posts #i just smtimes wish kishimoto would give her more of a personality #other than just girl who has a crush on some guy 👍 #its fine that she has a crush on him but dont make it her sole defining characteristic maybe? lol #and like she's consistently shown to beg for him and cry for him and sasuke tells her to go fuck herself over and over #i think when she says she's pathetic ... thats how the audience is supposed to perceive her as well yknow #that is how kishimoto intends for her to be seen #and that doesnt feel right for me :c #moreover ... it is also i think not debateable really that sakura's crush on sasuke .. it doesnt have that much depth #it doesnt have really any depth #which is fine conceptually i think. not everything has to be super deep and meaningful #but to make it into such a core trait of her as a character .. it just reads as if kishimoto perceives women as shallow #they just have shallow crushes on men no deep/complex relationships tho :) not with anyone thats for the men #u know? #anyways i know im not rlly saying anything new here #naruto is sexist fork found in kitchen #but yeah

[mourning-at-night]

ok im going to ramble for a minute but i think van palmer's turn towards violence is so interesting. like in the beginning, she nearly throws up just thinking about allie's broken leg. she can't watch when shauna sobs over her baby's body. but then she's one of the first to truly believe and accept that they'll end up turning to violence in order to survive - she stops and she watches shauna beat their friend and teammate and she knows. it's brutal and bloody and near deadly, but this time, she doesn’t look away.

despite her weak stomach, she's always been willing to do what she believes is necessary. to her, violence isn't intriguing or sensational or something to be celebrated - but it is something to be resorted to, one of those things she sees as an inevitability, a necessity, no matter how painful or nauseating or depressing. she’ll slap her mother awake, but first she'll call out to her. she'll hunt nat through the woods and she'll let a 14yo drown, but only because she and taissa and lottie and everyone who she cares for, they're all starving, or hurt. she will do what she believes it will take to keep herself and her loved ones alive, at least most of them, at least as many of them as possible - because, of course, she’s always tried so hard to be the protector. that's who she is, shown in a thousand little ways. she plays goalie. she tries to break up the fight between tai and shauna in the pilot and she starts to defend nat when travis is being a dickhead in bear down and she helps hold shauna back until lottie tells them not to in burial. she tries to look after tai when she sleepwalks, like how she possibly had to look after her mother for years. she jokes around and she tells the group stories, trying to keep them connected to the outside world.

i think it's interesting to see a character so solidly rooted in the idea of protection to be the one spearheading violent action. it's ironic and tragic and it makes sense, because as yellowjackets shows, over and over - care is not an inherently gentle or bloodless act!! it's van telling the others to leave her bleeding in the woods after the wolf attack and it's tying herself to tai even though she gets hurt and it's helping carry bodies onto the plane and digging graves. it's telling tai she loves her for the first time by literally writing it in her own blood.

sometimes it’s painful. sometimes it's not healthy or righteous. sometimes it’s the hard choice - putting forth the playing cards and joining the hunt and watching with grim determination as javi struggles and cries out for help, and then separating herself and the others from the choice to let him die by claiming the wilderness made it for them. reaching out and turning his face away from shauna when it’s time for the bloodletting. convincing travis to cannibalize his little brother by telling him that he owes javi this final act of love.

it's giving up retelling movies and tv shows and instead telling a different story, a quiet, cold one, because she believes the only way for them to survive out in the wilderness is to give themselves over to it fully, no matter how horrible - because, after everything, what choice does she feel she has but to persist? even in wiskayok, living was always a fight, another series of necessary actions in order to Get Through It and Get Out. after the alcoholic mother and ambiguously unmentioned father and the trials of being young and gay and butch in the suburbs of 90s new jersey, she wants a future, so badly. and after having to pull herself out of the crash and surviving the wolf attack and the pyre, after spending months watching the others around her suffer and starve and die, she can't pull out of the fight. she wouldn't even know how. like a brutal, desperate instinct, she must survive, and she must protect.

it's agonizing but she won't let herself feel it and it's endless but she can only think about the end result. it's selfish in the way they're almost all selfish and it's loving in the way they all love - but especially van, who is so deeply and fiercely protective, who has always cared so much. in the end, that protective instinct both keeps her painfully human and pushes her out into the deep end. it's the kindest and most wonderful piece of her being and it's an intense force that leads her towards brutality. because sometimes caring is the violent thing!! sometimes love is violence and violence is love!!!!

#i literally have a fever rn. does this vaguely strung-together nonsense make that obvious #this tumblr post is like if a 3 paragraph essay was half-digested and then spit back out and thrown in a paper shredder #anyway me when a character's kindest core traits are what lead them down a dark path....... <333 #god im obsessed with her i want to see her get Worse in s3. like go on commit more atrocities in the name of love and life. cmon do it #don't even get me started on the cancer thing. how she helps instigate the hunt when they're adults. god #obviously this isnt an overarching analysis or a moral judgement. just a thought i wanted to get out of my fever brain bc im insane abt her #van palmer #yellowjackets

[rocker-socks]

not to be insane but Stephanie Brown is so underrated and i really do hate to say its misogyny but. well. It is.

#stephanie brown #batman #spoiler #this WILL get me shot but. steph is everything fanon tim wishes he was #i think i could write a whole dissertation on how if steph was a guy people would love him #like. obviously Some Men In Comics will not be happy with any female characters that aren't background wives or daughters #but this is so apparent with fandom that its kinda. boggling #know i shouldnt read too deep into it bc duke and cas get done dirty as well #(duke and cas are whole other rants. i love them both dearly and i DO think Cas should be Batmans heir bc she is literally the Ideal Fit #while WFA is great but has also reduced peoples perception of Duke to a reader insert that is still learning the ropes instead of like. #the robin gang leader who has been studying since birth to defeat the riddler. who has powers. #duke and cas are kinda insane and deserve that recognition is all so i dont go into another rant) #the way that people are so happy to have the batboys be complicated people (even when they reduce them down to core traits) but not steph #she's always the fun one #her struggle with being a completely average teenager fighting to be recognized and her struggles with self worth gets put to the side #oh for what? waffle jokes? yeah okay #ppl would be dickriding her so hard if she had an actual dick i KNOW it #ppl would be making tiktok mitski edits of her

[beegswaz]

I MISSED BUG. BEING CORRECT ABOUT WHEATLEY..???? WHY IS THE WORLD SO CRUEL.

#HES NOT SHY!!!!! AWKWARDNESS DOES NOT EQUAL SHYNESS!!!!!!!! #BITCH NEVER SHUTS UP HE JUST DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO CARRY HIMSELF IN CONVERSATIONS AND JUST OVER EXPLAINS SHIT #I AM SO SICK OF SHY LITTLE GUY WHEATLEY HES A MILDLY NERVOUS SHITHEAD WHO GETS CAUGHT ON THESE STUPID ASS LITTLE DETAILS #AND WILL NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT THEM UNTIL HES DOES TALKING OR SOMEONE TELLS HIM TO SHUT UP! #can i Also just say i Hate like. stupidly Tall skin And bones blonde White guy Wheatley #just For a moment. #its A shit design i dont. Why does it. ugh #also Proud wheatley isnt The intelligence dampening Sphere fan #ok. ok ill Be normal now. #but Yeah not only has he Shown the capacity to Come up with Actually decent ideas but Also glados is The smartest thing in Aperture. #and she is So disconnected from the Attributes that can make Someone human (empathy Curiosity Morality etc etc) because Of not only the #events of Portal 1 but Also because of The chassis chamber (glados vs PotatOS. shes Still snarky but is Actually more willing to Be #reasonable blah Blah blah) that when Faced with an Entity that DOES have those Traits #she immediately Deems them as less Intelligent regardless of How smart they Actually are #now this is NOT to Say she cannot feel those emotions #but After losing the Cores attached to Her shes become very Disconnected from Those emotions and Appears uncaring And cold because of it #she Appears more like A machine than A person #and Theres a lot of Character quirks in Wheatley that make him Much more human-like Than machine (even in Chassis!!) #i Could also go On a rant about Why chassiswheatley Becoming suddenly Evil actually Makes sense according to A scientific study but #i Dont think you guys wanna hear That #nor Do you wanna hear my Machiavellian Bach analysis and How its so thematically Correct with the Story while still being true To wheatley #SORRY ILL BE.SANE NOW.

[moonahmoo]

im manifesting so hard for a s3 finale timeskip epilogue where Hunter and Willow perform a spell that elevates a sapling from the ground. The camera pans out, we now see that sapling is just one out of an entire grove of palisman trees. It’s the result of months of the two researching how wild magic and plant magic can restore the palisman trees that once populated the Boiling Isles. The fruit of their labor if you will.

For them, this forest is a budding reminder of how much both have grown since their show introductions. The forest is everything that goes against Belos and his 16-year rein on Hunter. (Deep down, he knows even after the Emperor’s death, it won’t be the last time he’ll have to grapple with the aftermath of his uncle’s abuse).  

He’ll most definitely never escape the horrors of being the Golden Guard and the atrocities he’s committed, especially those he’d hurt as the one enforcing it all. There’s no way to undo what he’s done. The suffering he’s brought onto others is something Hunter will carry for the rest of his life, and that weighs on him even more from the moment he learned his values and beliefs as the Golden Guard didn’t stem from the benevolent rule he thought they did. But this forest is a living testament that his time moving forward can be spent building a life he couldn’t have imagined prior. Built on love and kindness. With all the time in the world to unearth the mysteries of wild magic. Surrounded by people whom he loves and who love him so much that he has no choice but to believe them when they say so. Carving out a life as Hunter, whatever and whoever that may be.

And that absolute joy, the giddy waves of childish wonder that engulf him, bring home this path he is paving for himself, that he wants to pave for himself. It’s one rife with unknowns, and that fills him with terror, warmth, anxiety, hope all at once. But he doesn’t have to face it all alone. His friends (the word is slowly becoming less of a foreign syllable as warmth and gentle voices take their place) have told him this from the very start, and for the longest time he was too stubborn to believe them, pushing away the idea that love without proving oneself useful was not one worth pursuing. Thank Titan his friends were even more stubborn and pushed harder. 

He’s experienced a lifetime knowing how much power lies in a relentless cycle of control and fear (coupled with blurred boundaries on love), but he’s learned the same can be said about love and strength amplifying one another. And no one showcases that love and strength better than Captain Willow Park. Flyer derby extraordinaire. Fearless plant magic and research virtuoso. The best and brightest of the Boiling Isles.

I’m still curious if Willow will have time for another arc to her character growth for the final season, but at the very least the palisman forest is a manifestation of everything she’s learned to openly love and hold dear. She’s spent years learning to keep her head down and hearing her peers and teachers tell her nothing she did was of any value. And here is a place that proves them exactly wrong, where you can see change and life, tended and nurtured by the strength and wisdom she’s poured into it. It’s here and it’s hers (theirs).

Her strength and wisdom are built on kindness now, rather than the suppressed resentment that fueled uncontrollable bursts of power back when the world made her feel helpless. And getting there hasn’t been easy. There’s a lot of forgiveness involved and days plagued with recurring doubts on if she can trust herself to protect the people she loves so, so much. And on those days, she now knows she doesn’t have to shoulder her burdens alone. The warmth she lovingly pours into her friends and family—it’s in the form of hugs, shoulders to lean on, tender words, thinly veiled threats to anyone who dares make her friends feel small—is mirrored back to her in kind. She trusts her friends and if they trust her, then she very well damn have that same trust in herself and her decisions, mistakes and all.

It’s something that’s taken years to develop and it’s something she’s never going to stop working towards. That doesn’t bother her anymore. She’s surrounded by people who make her want to keep working towards it. 

Both Hunter and Willow have grown, are still growing. And a great deal of that comes from knowing that their strength doesn’t have to come from oneself alone. They have each other. They have friends and family who got their backs every step of the way.

Gus is there, his tried n’ true human bucket in hand, ready to help water the saplings. Luz rushes forward hand-in-hand with Amity, marveling at the sight before them and asking if the trees have names yet. Flapjack trills on Hunter’s shoulder, unable to contain his delight—he thought he'd never live to see the trees that Caleb loved and cherished again. Darius and Alador wheel in an Abomination (not an Abomaton to Darius’s repeated insistence. Titan forbid anything he creates has such a hacky name attached to it. He just as vehemently rejects Luz’s suggestion to call it the Agromaton.) whose arms can transform into a variety of farming devices. Clover clears the way for Gilbert and Harvey, who bring with them a crate of apple blood juice boxes and cans of paints to decorate the shed they built for the Agromaton (“Fine,” Darius acquiesced. “We may call it… that until we find a fitting name). Lilith eagerly scribes notes on the properties of the newly sowed trees, comparing them with her research on the palisman trees of the Savage Ages. Eda and Raine unpack vials of various fertilizer samples the two predicted would most likely encourage healthy growth for the palistrom trees. 

There’s a lot more room to grow. There always will be. That doesn’t take away from celebrating the steps taken together to get them here. There’s growing to do tomorrow and growth that can be found here, right at this very moment.

It’s not always visible, but it’s there. Tender yet tenacious.

#the owl house #huntlow #toh willow #toh hunter #this was supposed to be a short wishful prediction for s3 #but here we are #here take this (projectiles word vomit on ur dashboard) #i just want to see palistrom trees #petition for huntlow palisman research efforts so hunter has an excuse to comfortably talk to willow #bc u damn know he's too much of a teenage loser to utter a coherent sentence around her without sweating his thoughts away #and if theres one character trait that stands a chance against being a sweaty loser in being hunters core personality #its being a sweaty nerd #let me indulge in my found family makes you a better person and you make your found family better people agenda

[roseofcards90]

I just woke up from a nap and lowkey recovered from an ocd flare up but I truly do hate when fandoms downplay the relationships characters have with each other and water them down to fandom tropes/jokes it just fucking annoys me especially when said relationship has a lot of complexity and it ends up affecting the characterization of the characters involved too that they become misinterpreted/watered down/ flanderized in the process 😭

#this is mainly about Junpei and Akane and Suletta and Miorine btw #I see this a lot more often with female characters which doesn’t surprise me #but like the way in which I see people mischaracterize Akane and Suletta to be like evil masterminds who don’t care about humanity #as well as the fandom saying they don’t care about the person they love #when like their entire goals and personal traits in canon completely contradict that #what Akane did she did for the whole sake of humanity and she did it for Junpei in the long run even when she knew she couldn’t be with him #Suletta in her ignorant upbringing did what she thought was best for Miorine in the moment and is at her core a caring person #who wants to help people no matter what like bruh how could you characterize these two into such the opposite 😭 #it bothers me so much #yes they are selfish and have made a lot of selfish actions but that doesn’t contradict them into not being a person who still cares #their whole motivation centers around caring for humanity and the people they love #edit: OH YEAH ANOTHER ONE THAT COMES TO MIND IS SUNNY AND BASIL I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH #people who portray Basil as some sort of yandere or people who claim Sunny never cared about Basil make me want to stab a wall #my posts

[a-simple-spiders-oc-dump]

love procrastinating going to bed and then suddenly thinking about how I need to give at least one of my characters VERY strong opinions on different animal species RIGHT FUCKING NOW

#Local Spider Yells At Clouds #like??? characters having strong opinions about things that mean jack shit is just really fun to me #I'm gonna try to think of some animals each character would like and dislike real quick off the top of my head #first thought: Gamma is probably both fascinated and deeply terrified by deep sea fish #like!! he thinks the fish themselves are pretty neat!! (it helps that Alice makes freakier looking things on a regular basis) #but everything about WHERE THEY LIVE freaks him the fuck out #man is hydrophobic already!! learning about water pressure and what it could do to a person might make him pass out #very next thought: Lydia probably likes frogs. I feel like they're not her FAVOURITE animal tho. top 5 definitely #very strange that I'm saying that while also having no idea what her ACTUAL favourite animal would be but eh. that's how it goes sometimes. #she probably likes tree frogs the best because those are peak Silly Little Guys #none of these are STRONG opinions tho!!!! I want a character who's either ride or die for a very specific animal #or a character who looks at this particular animal and goes ''I want this bitch GONE FROM EARTH'' #...actually I just realized. I gave NONE of the Realm kiddos animal-loving as a core trait #HOW did I do that???? I MADE THESE FUCKERS WHEN I WAS STILL A KID AND WAS WAITING TO BE ABLE TO VOLUNTEER AT THE LOCAL ANIMAL SHELTER!! #TWO OF THESE BITCHES STARTED AS STRAIGHT-UP SELF INSERTS AND NONE OF THEM HAVE ''LIKES CREATURES'' AS A MAIN CHARACTER TRAIT????? #the easy answer would be to say Lydia or Dylan but. that's the easy answer. #oh yeah make the super-friendly character care about animals a lot. real original there me #...aw it'd be sad if it was Cynthia #because. no memories. any pets she had back on Earth are long forgotten by now. #and because of her role in the camp she'd probably never let herself get a pet either... never rediscovering her love for animals at all #this started with a dumb one-off thought about how I need to give my characters more stupid hills to die on #and ended with me remembering just how damn depressing Cynthia's memory wipe really is as a plot point lmao #it's just like. remembering that she used to have a LIFE before all of this!! #she had passions and joys and all of it got THROWN IN THE TOILET due to circumstances beyond her control!!! #and because of a choice she made herself she has no idea there was ever something else her life could have been!!! #...then again. maybe that was the point. #anyways!!!!!!!! sorry for the blog being dead for a bit lol #getting back into writing now so I'll probably get the queue running again shortly!!

[mootmuse]

Y'all. We've got to talk about that fucking gandalf big naturals joke.

If you're going to post a meme where the whole joke is just the image of a guy with tits, ha ha, look at this man, he's got tits, what more do I need to say about how hilarious that is, etc etc, at least tag it so people like me can block it. I get that none of y'all are thinking about what exactly it is you're laughing at, you don't mean it, but for a website full of people who never stop yelling at the top of their lungs about how trans inclusive they are, I'd think some of you guys could do a little better.

#i get it right? #people don't think about what they laugh at. laughter just comes naturally. #once when i was a cashier these two girls ran up to the cashier next to me asking where their parents were #and the cashier's customer grinned real wide and said they'd probably already left. his whole posture and tone indicated that it was a joke #and that everything was okay and nothing serious was happening #when he laughed the cashier laughed too and the kids left #a minute later another customer came up to the cashier and went OFF on her for it #saying what if those kids had panicked and run into the parking lot or street looking for their parents etc #and this cashier was a sweet old grandma who spent all her breaks knitting. she never would have wanted to endanger those kids #or even just freak them out #she just laughed on instinct because her social instincts told her to follow the first customer's tone and body language #which were telling her that everything was fine and that a joke was happening and to laugh #i would definitely have laughed. I know me. I don't think quickly enough to react the way I want to in person #so i get it. but like. after we laugh it's up to us to think a little bit about why we laughed #and where exactly the punchline was #while y'all have already signed up for my in-tags essay: #I know you could make the argument that the humor lies in seeing a character who doesn't come off as sexy- #-now having a trait that contrasts with that image in a surprising way. the unexpected is the core of how humor works #but I've found the line between that and making fun of the idea of a man having 'feminine' qualities is REALLY thin #just asking that the next time you see a similar joke you think a little bit about the mechanics of it #how it works. why it works. where the punchline is. how a man who fits that description would feel about it

[devilfruitdyke]

wanna draw angie of danganronpa fame but her design really fucking sucks

#the idea of an artist religious fanatic is so interesting. then boom racism and bigotry against indigenous religions #and it drives me insane because theres no way around it really #make her light skinned to avoid exoticism? bitch what am i a merch designer #remove the religious part of her character? thats a core trait for sure #sorry girlie ill just give you clothes #.sorry zev for not tagging drposting this is not going in the tag tho 👍

[praxeus-13]

There’s something so heartbreaking about watching your favourite parts of a tv show, the parts that you have loved for years and found so much joy in, being misunderstood, forgotten and erased by it’s predecessors.

13’s beautiful TARDIS interior, and sonic screwdriver erased to make way for nostalgia.

13’s clothes, her entire outfit, burnt up never to be seen again without any explanation.

Yaz, who 13 was in love with, who she wanted to tell everything to and spend the rest of her days with, not even mentioned - not even hinted at!

13’s character, her core personality traits and storyline reduced to ‘woman Doctor’ and fundamentally misunderstood!

13’s fam, the family that she found and built, not even mentioned or reminisced about!

I’m glad that the Timeless Child wasn’t erased, but I feel like so much else was that RTD didn’t properly watch 13’s era. It’s like he was given a summary and only took the parts that he thought was interesting.

13’s memory deserves better! She deserves to have passed on the baton to Ncuti’s Doctor, to have him running around high on regeneration energy while wearing her outfit! To use her sonic for an episode before choosing to make his own!

13 deserves to be remembered as a Doctor who was loved dearly by her companions and fans, as a Doctor who went through so much tragedy right from the start and struggled to deal with that, but still managed to face down her foes! As a someone who was optimistic and kind, but could also be cruel and harsh when needed! She was complicated, she went through so much, I love her and she will always be my Doctor.

She deserves to be remembered as more than ‘woman Doctor’, because she was so much more than that.

#I am so upset after last night’s episode #and I hate that I am because I have been so excited for Ncuti #anti rtd #13th doctor #doctor who #thirteenth doctor #all the fans who are like ‘Jodie deserved better’ #and I’m like YEAH FROM RTD! CAUSE HE DOESNT UNDERSTAND HER CHARACTER! #screeching

[buggachat]

i do just have to say though.................... i feel like people who really really loved the movie's portrayals of the characters are adding aspects of the show characters onto them? you know what i mean? like i see people say that adrien and marinette were more likeable in the movie than the show, when movie adrien didn't perform a single act of kindness in the entire 2 hours despite kindness being a core trait of adrien in the show? marinette was normal and not particularly weird at all and just kind of a generic protagonist? were adrien and marinette actually more interesting in the movie than the show, or are you just cherrypicking the aspects of them you like the from the show and putting them on the movie characters to make your favorite amalgamation?

marinette fell for adrien not because he showed vulnerability and forgiveness and kindness and opened his heart up to her.... but because he awkwardly tried to help her up after being kind of weirded out by her? so like i guess she thought he was hot and that was basically it? chat noir fell for ladybug not because she was strong and confident and showed determination in the face of fear... but because she begrudgingly helped him up in the middle of a battle? so like i guess he thought she was hot and that was basically it? they fell for each other over just the bare minimum interactions? most of their relationship was a montage? like, did the movie do the work to convince you of lovesquare's romantic potential, or did you go into the movie already shipping them because the show had already convinced you?

thats totally a valid way to enjoy the movie ftr! i'm just saying.... idk it's weird to see people praising the movie for being "better" when i feel like a lot of the enjoyment of the movie actually hinges on watching the show as context for their characters. and i guess im just a cringe slow-burn enjoyer but i find it weird that people are using "faster" as a synonym for "better"

#ml movie spoilers #ml movie #to be clear i dont hate the movie it's fine #it was fun enough to watch #we dont talk about plagg #i guess im mostly just '?' about people dismissing all the work the show put in #i just know people are gonna use this post as an excuse to hate on the show but auauaggghhh i really dont care if you hate the show lol #in fact thats kind of the point. i find it weird people are using the movie as an excuse to dunk on the show when the movie didnt #actually do anything particularly substantial #ml fandom salt #<- i guess? i'll tag it to be safe

[emptyjunior]

Can I say how much I love how Ouran High School handles the rich boy/poor girl in love trope. 

Like I absolutely believe it’s discussions about classism and elitism to this Day still hold up! 

I will admit there is so much weird stuff in ouran😭, but we see the Handsome ‘Unlimited Money’ Male Lead a LOT in anime and I feel ouran gets a lot of points of the characterisation SO right, that a lot of other shows just don’t! 

Ouran does the whole love story/harem/all the boys want brown hair girl that we project on, trope. Like they do that, but they show that at the foundation, the root of all of it, those rich boys are JEALOUS. They aren’t approaching Haruhi with the need to protect and own her, at their core the rich are envious of her! Even though they have everything, they want what she has! 

Like we see in the real world with how the rich cosplay as poor! And say "ohhhh I'm so broke please venmo me for lunch" and wear their ripped jeans and strained sweaters and take pictures at the met gala with a box of McDonalds fries in their hand. 

The classist comments made towards Haruhi ARE comedic relief, but the joke isn’t on characters like Haruhi, the joke is on THEM. 

They are the ones who can’t do anything! They are the ones who are stilted and emotionally closed off! They are the ones who can’t make an instant coffee or go to a mall without help! 

THAT is why Haruhi is the center of this harem, why she is the one they’re chasing. They are jealous of her insight and world experience from living independently, from living a REAL life. That is her enviable trait. Haruhi GETS people! And they don’t. Their wealth has isolated them and now there is a barrier between these characters and the rest of the world and they have no idea how to navigate it. 

And this is the foundation of 90% of the problems/conflict in the show! 

The holiday ep when Hikaru has feelings because Haruhi reconnects with Nice Guy Arai? Hikaru says he doesn’t like this guy for all these reasons and most of them are like ‘he’s just some nobody from nothing who only knows Haruhi cause they went to some stupid public school together’. Like okay? Haruhi has all of those ‘bad traits’ as well but you still seem to like her?  

Because it’s not about that, it’s never about that, it’s not even about the love rival/romance angle (at least not completely).  

Hikaru is scared and embarrassed! He already was when they got there, when these rich boys crashed Haruhi’s summer to find out she is an employee here and she is working with her own two hands. This is not a break for her! And then he’s so worried when Haruhi and Arai find each other because what they have is so untouchable to him. Same background, same class, they can meet each other’s needs! And know the other's needs! And this is a chasm that Hikaru has no idea how to cross so he starts lashing out. 

And that episode concludes with Hikaru being told about Haruhi’s fear of thunderstorms, finally actually listening and empathizing with what that means, and then going to her and giving her the stuff she needs to deal with that problem (blanket, headphones, support, protection etc.). 

He has to LEARN that none of those poor people inherently know all this secret knowledge! They just care and ask each other stuff! You can ask Haruhi what she's afraid of and then help her with that! It was always this simple! Just because you’re not the same class as her and knowing her isn’t as easy as it is with people the same as you, doesn’t mean you’ll never know! Learn! Listen! Keep trying! 

Ouran shows their rich characters being hurt by their wealth. Their elitists mindset does NOT benefit them and they’re only narratively rewarded when they break out of it, THAT’S why the arcs are so good. 

(And also while we’re here, I LOVE when they do eps that show Tamaki’s character is actually a parallel of Haruhi’s. Tamaki grew up as an illegitimate child, hidden away in France with his mother. He knows what it is to not be at the top of the food chain, and he learns the skills to keep living! Tamaki is a survivor in a world run by a man who was ashamed of him and did not want him. That can destroy a child, but Tamaki doesn’t let it. He learns how to work people and he learns that belief in yourself is the most powerful asset someone can have. And this is the life experience he imparts onto Kyoya and this SAVES Kyoya, who was barreling towards a black pit of despair and chasing his father’s shadow. The ‘poor’ characters of this show have power that the rich people desperately desire, and in the end they learn that it’s not something you take it’s something you build for yourself.) 

#anyways yes kyoya and tamaki ARE the rich boy/manic pixie girl trope #ohshc #ouran #ouran high school host club #tamaki suoh #haruhi fujioka #kyoya ootori #hikaru #anime #manga #tropes #text post

[alexiethymia]

Ka Zuigetsu

(spoilers for the manga, LN, WN you name it)

Jinshi or rather Zuigetsu is such an interesting character for me because of the dichotomy. We're initially introduced to him as someone with a lot of pride in his looks, confident, mature beyond his years. Later on, we find that his true self is quite self-depreciating and childish.

He doesn't have an attachment to power, nor his looks. He's actually not the arrogant lord Maomao initially thinks he is because he's open to learning and taking the advice of those who know more than him. And while this feeds into his complex that he's surrounded by eccentrics who are extraordinarily good and excel at one thing (the entire Ra Clan, Maomao included, Basen etc.) he's no slouch himself!

I mean Jinshi doesn't think much of himself considering himself a jack of all trades, but what a wide variety of trades it is - he can beat Basen using skill instead of force, he beat the Emperor at Go at the tender age of fourteen and this is with the Emperor having been taught by the Sage who is one of the only two people known to have beat Rakan, he dances with such grace that foreign envoys can only think of him as a goddess, he's enough of a quick study with medicine according to Maomao, not to mention his prowess at both the military arts and diplomacy.

As if to make up for all that he perceives he lacks, he knows talent when he sees it and will use people accordingly. Ironically (and though they would both hate to hear it) Jinshi and Rakan are more than a lot alike. Despite his complex, these qualities actually make him quite a good leader and you could see why the Emperor really wants to make him the Crown Prince even if this isn't Jinshi's wish.

But unlike Rakan, he is still soft-hearted at his core (see the case with Fuyou for example). And though Maomao is rankled at how he attempts to be both pragmatic and kind, at his inability to wholly abandon his heart for the things he knows must be done, at her core, I think that trait of Jinshi's is the main reason why Maomao finds herself unexpectedly loyal to him.

Much has been said for Maomao's charisma, but Jinshi also attracts loyalty from unexpected places. Like Gyokuyou, he surrounds himself with capable people. While part of me is cheering him on to get his wish of being an ordinary person, I feel like everything has been building up to his eventual ascension to the throne. Because while Jinshi may complain and grumble about his work, ultimately he will still do it. At present, he could only implement his plan because he still thinks he's just the Imperial Brother. But the moment the truth gets revealed, he won't easily be able to shake off his burden.

A part of me thinks that he will eventually take the throne in some form or the other, but only until Gyokuyou's son comes of age and he can finally pass on the crown and become an ordinary person once and for all. This scenario would actually be the perfect pretext for him to justify having only Maomao for his sole consort since he can reason out that he doesn't want to further complicate the lines of succession by having more children with more consorts. In other words, a win-win possibly for both Jinshi and the current Emperor (except Maomao haha).

#jinmao #jinshi #ka zuigetsu #kusuriya no hitorigoto #knh #the apothecary diaries #maomao #maomao x jinshi

[yumeka-sxf]

I've been waiting to see Yor's epiphany chapter in the anime and it did not disappoint! I felt like analyzing more than usual because I loved this episode so much~ 💖

I hope that any anime-only viewers who at this point still had the opinion that Yor's just ditzy/submissive, one-dimensional, or whatever negative traits associated with her, have changed their minds. Throughout the cruise arc we've seen so many sides of her character: how she's struggling to understand the exact reason why she's taking on these dangerous assignments when her original reason for doing it (supporting Yuri) no longer exists, how her internal desire to seek her own happiness - live a peaceful life like Olka - is at constant war with her diligence to complete her mission, her yearning to be with Loid and Anya and how sad she looks when she has to tell herself that they're just a cover-up family and she'll have to leave them without a word if anything drastic happens, and how much more confident she is when doing something she excels at - assassinating - yet still retaining her kind and polite demeanor (Unlike Twilight, who dons the mask of Loid Forger, Yor Forger is not a mask for Thorn Princess, at least not in terms of personality. So everything she says as Thorn Princess can be interpreted as her true feelings, including the now two times she's hesitated during fights because of the thought of having to leave the Forgers).

And, in the moment where she's facing death right in the eye, all the doubts she's had since getting this assignment culminate, not only causing the samurai assassin to get the upper hand, but causing her to take a deep, introspective look into her reason for fighting...if it's not for the same reason as the other assassins, what is it?

What's even more amazing is that these things about her character did not come out of nowhere just for the sake of a flashy climax. We saw in previous episodes that not only does she understands that being in the Forger family makes her happy, but most importantly, how she's lived her life only thinking of the happiness of others above her own. And what's most tragic is that, upon finally realizing that her original reason for being an assassin is gone (since Yuri no longer needs support) she's ready to die then and there...until she remembers Olka's words about wanting to live a peaceful life, which in turn makes her remember her core reason for becoming an assassin was to not only support Yuri, but to make the world he lives in all the more peaceful by eliminating the villains in it.

Despite how naive Yor is about many things (due to her upbringing), she's certainly not ignorant about the needless tragedies that exist in the world. And here is where she makes her decision to keep doing her assassinating, not because she enjoys killing people, but because the result of it will make the world a better place...because now, she has even more people whose happiness she desires to protect.

Even if she sacrifice her own happiness by leaving the Forgers, that's not as important to her as preventing tragedy from befalling her loved ones, or the world in general. And these thoughts are so similar to Twilight's reasons for becoming a spy! Coincidently, as Yor has these thoughts, she thinks of how Loid complimented this aspect of her personality way back when they first met...and the thought that the man who she trusts and respects so much would approve of her decision, gives her the final push to keep on going (I love that they reanimated this scene too and didn't just use the exact frames from episode 2).

So yeah, if anyone who wasn't sure of how much depth Yor's character has, I hope this episode shed a lot of light! This is the right way to make a character both cute/sweet but also a total badass who's strong on the outside as well as the inside.

(I will probably reword a lot of this for my upcoming Twiyor analysis posts but I couldn't wait until then, lol).

#spy family #spy x family #sxf #spyxfamily #yor forger #twiyor #sxf anime

[projecttreehouse]

how to write relatable characters

writing relatable characters may seem like an easy task, especially when you’re constructing your protagonist. but what if you want to make your antagonist likeable? what if you want people to hate your protagonist but still root for them? all of this and more requires that your characters be relatable. they need to feel real, so how do you do that? here’s how:

- flaws: this is probably obvious. everyone has flaws, so we should give our characters flaws, too. this applies even if your character is non-human; they cannot escape the personification that we as writers or readers project onto them. we are humans reading, so we expect to see human qualities everywhere we look. if you’re having trouble of identifying your character’s flaws, here are some prompts for ways to think about flaws beyond a list:

what skills do they lack? what do they struggle with?

can their strengths be turned against them as a weakness?

what makes them react emotionally or impulsively?

are they aware of their flaws? if so, do they want to improve them or change them?

- quirks: these are what make your character unique or special, and no, i don’t mean purple eyes or unique physical traits. i mean: what makes your character authentically themselves? what traits define them that few others have? some ways to think about this are:

how do they react when nervous? do they have a tell? similarly, how do they react on behalf of any emotion?

what skills do they have that hardly anyone else has?

what obscure thing are they obsessed with?

do they have a unique outlook on life compared to their peers?

- values: these come from life experiences: where we were raised, our family and friends, our community, religious affiliations, etc. i suggest identifying eight to ten values that define your character and then narrowing that list down to five values that mark their core or essence. think about how these values influence their choices, decisions, and ultimately, the plot of the novel. here are some more prompts to think about values:

how do they react when their values are challenged? are they one to speak up or do they sit back in the shadows?

what, if anything, will change or shatter their values?

are their actual values misaligned with their believed values?

- stakes: what is at risk for your character? what is motivating them? stakes don’t need to be over the top or life or death; they can be as simple as maintaining a relationship or reaching a goal. unless there’s an outside influence (ie. percy’s mother being kidnapped in The Lightning Thief), most stakes—especially those relatable—tie back to values. even those influenced by outside factors can tie back to values: the only reason percy is motivated to get his mother back is because he cares for her and she is the one person who has always advocated for him and cared for him. he values family and riordan uses his family to motivate him and incite the plot. generally, there will be one overarching stake for your character, but throughout your novel, there should be several smaller stakes. these may not service the plot but should elaborate on your character nonetheless. some ways to think about stakes include:

how can i use internal or external factors to create convincing, relatable stakes that tie back to basic values?

why does the overarching stake matter to my character? why do they care?

how can i raise the stakes or introduce new ones that are relevant to my character and illustrate them as a relatable being?

- connection: even if your character is an introvert, they will still be connected to someone, something, or even an idea. we, as humans, look to certain people, pets, objects, and ideas to maintain our sense of reality whether we realize it or not. if your character prides themselves in having no attachments, think about the ideas or themes that mark the cornerstones of their reality. most human beings strive for some form of connection, so here are more prompts for thinking about your characters and connection:

what does connection mean to my character? how do they show how they value their connections or relationships?

how does my character’s behavior change when around different connections?

what connections define my character and their reality? how will these connections influence my character and/or the plot?

how will removing or challenging a connection change, influence, or motivate my character?

a good rule of thumb is to treat a character as a human, not a plot device. there is a time or place in which a character must act as a plot device, but if you’re wanting your readers to be compelled by your narration and the characters within them, you should strive to write your characters as human (aka as relatable). one of the greatest pleasures i find in writing is when other’s identify themselves in my writing.

you’re not just here to tell a story, you’re here to connect with others through the illustration of your characters. let the reader navigate your prose as a detective, to search for and identify the evidence provided by you. that is to say, show us how these things manifest in your character. don’t tell us.

happy writing! hopefully this post gave you some ways to start thinking about how to show the relatability of your character. if you have any questions about implementing these tools or about writing characters, our ask box is always open.

#writing tips #writing advice #writing help #story writing #novel writing #nanowrimo #writing #write it #writeblr #writers of tumblr #creative writing #books and novels #writers block #character development #writers on tumblr #writing prompts #writing tools #fiction writing #indie writing