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genshin-obsessed · 10 months

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When Someone Flirts with You | Haikyuu [Karasuno]

Ok, so I debated on this for a while because this has already ben posted. However, its on a blog I don't/can't go on anymore. Since this is my writing (idea and all), I'm gonna repost it here. I did debate on reblogging the fic here, but it's my works and I want them with me, on this blog. Basically, if you've seen this exact fic posted two years ago, it was me. That blog has my name and everything if you need proof. I just don't want to draw attention to it. I did reuse tags lol cuz I don't know them too well yet

Characters: Shoyo Hinata, Tobio Kageyama, Kei Tsukishima, Tadashi Yamaguchi, Ryunosuke Tanaka, Yu Nishinoya, Asahi Azumane, Koshi Sugawara, Daichi Sawamura

Extra: they're all aged up btw

COME ONE! COME ALL! See what happens when someone flirts with you in front of your mans!

➺ Shoyo Hinata

He’s kinda scared of PDA? Not scared, but he gets embarrassed easily. So there’s not much touching in public, aside from hand holding. This leads people to not know you’re taken and so you’re fair game.

This boy is NOT scary. He’s quite the opposite unless he has his MOMENT which is rare and fizzles out really fast. At first, he’ll let you handle the situation and ONLY jump in when he’s positive you require help. He’s not a helicopter boyfriend, you’re an adult. You can handle yourself. So, he’ll usually come up and tell the person that you’re uncomfortable and that they should go away.

That’s never worked before. Ever. Not one time. Hinata just looks CUTE and he’s not the tallest. Even as an adult, he’s still about 172cm (5’7). So there’s a chance the person is taller than him and if they are, they won’t take him seriously. The whole “under 6ft is not a man” bs. They’ll just shove him aside to get to you.

He hates that. There’s one thing to tease him and bully him but YOU? Oh that’s a whole nother ball game. Hinata doesn’t like seeing you upset/uncomfortable. He does everything in his power to keep you smiling so when he sees someone directly causing you discomfort… God help them.

The next method would depend on the situation. If he has a ball with him, he will throw it (this happened once at practice when you came to watch and someone wouldn’t leave you alone). But he can also jump to their height and punch/slap them. Hinata has gotten much stronger since his high school days. He will defend you at all costs.

His little jump attack? 10/10 it works EVERY SINGLE TIME and they’re GONE. Or you know… unconscious. Usually the area would go dead silent and all you can hear is Hinata huff. He’ll take your hand as gently as he can and lead you out of the establishment. Once you have fresh air, he’ll gently take your shoulders and ask if you’re ok. Reassurance is especially important here.

“They’ll never bother you again, (n/n). Are you ok?”

➺ Tobio Kageyama

Tobio isn’t one to flaunt your relationship because he’s a pretty private person. So not EVERYONE knows you’re together. Which is completely fine and acceptable, it’s just how he is. The thing is, this leads to situations where people think you’re single. If he walks away or you’re alone, people will take their chance.

You get hit on when you’re alone, usually. So, you’ll always try to find Tobio when you’re in that situation. He’ll spot you in seconds. He’s always got an eye on you (cuz you’re hot and he can’t help it). You’ll get the person to see Tobio and he’ll just GLARE. Usually, about 9 times outta 10, his death glare makes everyone go away. It’s pretty scary, especially if he’s like two feet away from them.

But there’s always one person it doesn’t work on. The one who decides to push it and try to physically touch you. This has only happened once, but the person rolled their eyes, pushed Tobio away, and pushed you against the wall.

Oh boy. Tobio doesn’t care if people bother HIM but someone who makes you uncomfortable tries to touch you? Their funeral. Especially this dirtbag. Your eyes widened in pure fear and panic when your back roughly hit the wall. The person’s face was inches away from your own and you couldn’t see Tobio anymore. You’d frozen up completely.

It only lasted a second before the person was on the floor. You’d barely had time to blink before Tobio DRAGGED them and roughly threw them to the side. The person glared and sat up, ready to curse him out when Tobio kicked him in the chest. This is usually how it would go. He takes them by surprise and throws them to the ground, all while barely breaking a sweat.

10/10 they’re probably unconscious or too terrified to move. He’ll just glare at them before slowly walking over to you. Tobio will give you a minute and will often try to hide you from the crowd that is undoubtedly staring at you. If your other friends are there, they'll hide you from view until you’re calm enough to where Tobio can take you away.

“Are you ok? It’s ok, take a deep breath. No one will ever do that to you again… I swear.”

➺ Kei Tsukishima

If you’re dating Tsukishima, you’ve gotta be tough on SOME LEVEL. There’s no way you can’t handle him but got close enough to start dating him. Then again… he doesn’t mind a cute, soft, shy partner. That just means he’ll need to be your shield more often than not. And let’s be honest, he likes protecting you. Tsuki’s not big on PDA. Like Kageyama, the entire world doesn’t need to know your business. So people can think you’re single. And you, lil pretty thang, you attract people.

You try to stick next to your boyfriend when you’re out in a public place or somewhere with lots of people. But if he does leave for a minute or you do, people will swoop in. Tsuki knows IMMEDIATELY. He just does, he’s psychic like that. He’ll see if you need help and if you do, he’ll come stand by. Tsuki’s height alone is enough to deter people, but of course, he’s pretty lanky (like… where’s the muscle?). So, most people wouldn’t be too deterred. 5/10.

See, Tsuki gets it, you’re hot. Of course people wanna flirt with you but they should learn to take a hint. Especially when you tell them you’re not interested. They usually kinda just ignore him or push him out of the way or even try to take you away. Like hell Tsuki’s gonna let that happen. Bitch please. Anyone who underestimates Tsuki is in for a treat. He can and will destroy someone’s self esteem through words. Who needs to fight? Not him. He will roast tf outta some until they’re no longer confident in themselves.

That’s the good thing about Tsuki, he doesn’t need muscle to chase people off. He’s not that weak either though, so worse comes to worse, he can defend you. But worry not, there’s no need for violence with that mouth of his. There is ONE more thing Tsuki will do that will ALWAYS get rid of people. He does this rarely because it scares you a little, but it's effective.

Tsuki will come up to you and then… he’ll punch the wall above your head and glared down at the person. No one stays after that! So 10/10! Would recommend. After that, Tsuki sighs and lets his hand fall on your head, breaking you out of your trance.

“Your face looks weird. Come on, it’s fine now. Let’s go somewhere else though.”

➺ Tadashi Yamaguchi

Oh boy…

He HATES confrontation, but for you, he’ll step right in. Usually, Tadashi likes to get in between you and the offender. He’ll try to tell them to stop bothering you. He really crosses his fingers and hopes it’ll work.

2/10, sadly, he’s just too cute to be scary. So, usually, people just brush past him or even shove him away. This kinda does put a damper on his mood. He wishes every single time he was as scary as Tsukishima (who wouldn’t want to be?) so he could scare people off. When you see that though… ooh.

This usually causes you to get VERY upset! You don’t like it when people treat Tadashi like crap so you become quite aggressive. That works BUT sometimes you’ll get those creeps that like “feisty” people. So they’ll often just pin you to a wall. This usually sparks something in Tadashi. He just… loses it. Sorry, Tsukishima who?

Since their backs are turned to him, he’ll just come up behind them, grab their hair and pull so hard they fall to the ground. If they’re bald then he’ll do the same but with their shirt. You’ll take your chance to hide behind Tadashi, who’s just death glaring at the person on the floor.

69/10! Works EVERY SINGLE TIME! Tadashi doesn’t understand it, where the hell did that come from?! But it’s very effective because the person is always gone. He just hopes no one stands up to fight him because he’ll 100% lose. He’ll realize that he might’ve been really scary and slowly turns around to face you.

“A-are you ok? I-I’m sorry if I scared you.”

➺ Ryunosuke Tanaka

Everyone and their grandmothers have to know you two are together! He’s usually all over you but you don’t hate it. It’s nice when you’re in a place with creeps around. But sometimes one of the creeps doesn’t see him or does see him but doesn’t care. They’ll saunter over to you and just shamelessly start flirting.

He’ll join them! Literally. He’ll swing his arm around the person and just lean in and start complimenting you. “You’re right, they’re hot! Hey baby! You here by yourself?” It’s odd, but you always feel better when he’s nearby in situations like this.

Usually, the person gets weirded out. They don’t know Tanaka (unless they saw him) and so they’ll either claim you’re theirs or just ask Tanaka what he’s doing. Usually, it works. If they recognize him, they’ll just quickly leave but sometimes they don’t. They’ll shove him off and try to regain your attention.

Tanaka takes it as a compliment. He’s not one to just start getting aggressively possessive. No. You’re HOT. DROP DEAD GORGEOUS! He takes it as a compliment when people flirt with you BUT to an extent. If they make you uncomfortable he goes nuts. Yeah, you’re ridiculously attractive but that doesn’t mean you don’t have feelings.

His next method is usually shoving them back. He’ll make it clear that you’re his partner and you’re not comfortable. Sometimes this makes people go away but there’s always one. For that, Tanaka just punches them. It only takes one. They’re either knocked out or just too scared to stay.

10/10. Unconscious or gone. He’ll smirk proudly, then hug you immediately. If you’re super scared or just really anxious, he’ll take a second before touching you. He prefers to reassure first before getting too into your space.

“It’s ok, they’re gone. Come on, let’s go somewhere else.”

➺ Yu Nishinoya

He’s kind of like Tanaka. He loves to show off his gorgeous partner. Everyone has to know cuz he brags about you ALL THE TIME. Kiyoko who?

Like I said, he’s like Tanaka. He’ll join whoever’s flirting with you. “Hey sexy! Wanna get outta here?” This prompts the person to ask who tf he is. “Huh? Oh! I’m just flirting with my partner. They’re hot, right? I know.”

3/10. That, unsurprisingly, fails. Why wouldn’t it? Unlike Tanaka… Nishinoya’s just kinda… cute. He’s not very intimidating. People just shove him away and turn their attention back to you.

Nishinoya’s really in tune with your emotions. Like… it’s kinda weird how well he knows you. He can just feel the second you panic. That really pisses him off. He even scares you sometimes.

He’ll usually grab the person’s arm and tug them back, silently with just fury in his eyes. “Don’t. Touch. Them.” This bumps the effectiveness to 8/10. People get scared and leave but there’s always one. Noya’s already in aggressive mode, so it’s not too difficult to handle this person. He’ll kick their knee. Hard. If it breaks, oh well. 10/10. They’re gone. Either taken away by friends or something, but they won’t ever bother you again. At this point, Noya takes your hand and leads you away.

“Sorry if I scared you, but we should leave. I’m sorry you had to go through that. Some people are just disgusting.”

➺ Asahi Azumane

He doesn't show you off like Tanaka or Noya, but he usually has his arm around you. This proves to everyone you're his, right? Well some people just don’t care.

If he sees you getting uncomfy, he'll be by your side in a second!! He usually starts off by putting distance between you and the offender. 5/10; Asahi’s pretty intimidating looking, so 50% of the time, people get scared off. But there are some who don’t…

He’s not a fighter. He won’t just resort to kicking ass, so he’ll try to explain that you’re uncomfy. That kinda shows people he’s intimidating on the outside but soft on the inside, so they push him out of the way. That’s when you’ll scream for Asahi to help.

It’s on purpose, actually. Because it kinda sparks something in him. He just… changes. He doesn’t like it when you’re uncomfortable and he hates it when you’re scared. So, he’ll grab the person’s shoulder with a death grip. With one rough shove backwards and away from you usually does the trick. If it doesn’t… we’ll he’s pretty strong and he’s a big guy.

then people realize… yeah no, he’s just as scary on the inside. 10/10 they’re GONE.

“Hey are you ok? I’m so sorry you had to deal with that. Do you wanna go home? We can just watch movies and cuddle.”

➺ Koshi Sugawara

Koshi is attached to you at the hip. He’s always with you and your friends know you’re dating. But he’s not really one for super, crazy PDA. I mean, he doesn’t have an issue with it, he often just finds himself standing next to you. Not touching you. This kinda leads most people to think you’re just friends.

Koshi kinda lets you handle it, but if you’re starting to get really uncomfortable, just look at him. He’ll stand beside you and just ask what’s going on. To which most people tell him to “get lost”. He’ll just smile and explain that you’re not very comfortable and they should leave you alone.

0/10. It’s never worked and it never will. They usually sigh, roll their eyes, grab your hand and try to tug you away from Koshi.

Usually, that’s what sends Koshi into like… defensive, scary Koshi. Flirting is one thing, being pushy is one thing, but forcefully taking you away…

The second someone pulls you away, he’ll grab their wrist with such a strong grip, it causes bruising. That causes the person to let go and you immediately run and hide behind Koshi.

69/10! The air around Koshi is just suffocating, he’s horrifically intimidating, and with just one look people go rigid. No one bothers him or you if you're still at the establishment. Chances are you’ll leave though.

“Sorry if I scared you, darling. Are you ok? Come on, let’s get you home.”

➺ Daichi Sawamura

Daichi’s kinda like Suga. He’s usually seen with his arm around your shoulders or you attached to his arm. Again, he’s not against PDA- he’ll kiss you in public, no problem- but does he need to? If not, there’s no reason. So again, people have a hard time telling you’re together.

Because of that, he doesn’t become aggressive when someone flirts with you. Maybe they didn’t know and they DID build up the courage to talk to you. So, he’ll just stand beside you and kindly explain you’re taken and you don’t appreciate the flirting.

It’s rare that this works out. Some people will genuinely apologize and leave, which is great. But the chances of that are like 2%. 98% of people scoff and just brush him off, turning back to you and explaining they’d be a better option.

Oh boy. Daichi does NOT appreciate that. He’s caring and sweet and often doesn’t seem like a scary guy BUT HE CAN BE. This lil “scary Daichi” thing depends on you. If you’re ok, just talk to the person, but if they’re really giving you anxiety just ask him for help. There’s just a way his name comes out of your mouth when you’re scared that irks him. He hates it when you’re so scared and vulnerable. So, scary Daichi is the result!

So, the next step is Daichi grabbing the person by the collar and glaring at them. “Maybe I’ll need to beat the respect into you which I really don’t mind doing.” Daichi is NOT bluffing. Anyone who dares challenge him WILL get their ass beat. He doesn’t negotiate when it comes to your safety/comfort.

10/10 NO ONE WANTS AN ANGRY DAICHI! 100% of people who go up against an angry Daichi run off with their tail between their legs. He’s just so goddamn scary. But he understands he can scare you too, so he’ll immediately get that under control. He’ll slowly approach you and try to touch you. Once you hug him, he’ll know everything’s ok.

“Let’s leave. I’ll buy you some ice cream on the way home, that sound good?”

#haikyuu x reader #shoyo hinata x reader #tobio kageyama x reader #kei tsukishima x reader #tadashi yamaguchi x reader #yu nishinoya x reader #ryunosuke tanaka x reader #daichi sawamura x reader #koshi sugawara x reader #asahi azumane x reader #🖊─ pocky’s writings

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wind-up-thancred · 7 months

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bit of thancred character musing under the cut that im gonna try to approximate from a 6am discord rambling into something i can actually post. both SHB and EW spoilers included

i saw some folks talking on twt about how guilt seems to be a very important factor in his life and i agree. i think a lot of major parts of his character and arcs have been due to guilt over something he did (or didnt even really do, re: the whole goobue rampage situation). it's driven him to work his ass off after louisoix which lead to him getting possessed... but its probably also what motivated him to do better for ryne after being forced to look his fuckups directly in the eye instead of just wallowing about them. but i think, at the same time, he doesnt really seem to, like... actually be proud of himself for a lot of the stuff he's done in order to work off that guilt? the biggest giveaway for that being the line in endwalker on the ragnarok where he talks about his "good deeds" cynically and seems to insist that they were never really that impactful in the first place. that they'll just go to dust when he dies.

in shb, during the ahm areng segment, not only does he talk down on himself in general, but also puts down his attempts to help OG minfilia back in the pre-ARR days... when i'm pretty sure she never even blamed him for the goobue rampage in the first place.

it's all a little bit sad to me, tbh. i've seen some people reason that, because he was only able to escape poverty due to louisoix seeing potential in his thieving skills, he's essentially internalized the idea that he's only really worth keeping around by ANYONE if he's actively being productive, either helping others or trying to fix whatever fuckups he feels he's made. i think that would explain a lot of this

note the "few positive traits" line, which to me comes across as "i was only picked up out of childhood poverty because he thought my skills were useful." though i don't really know how much of that mentality he's managed to work past by post endwalker. he IS able to go off on his own, and mentions that he trusts the scions to keep themselves safe now... but as i ranted about before, the short story points out that he's only really content to rest briefly before he feels obligated again to seek out unrest to try and help, specifically mentioning minfilia again. also, a couple times during the story, notably post ARR after his possession, mid SHB after he's wounded in a fight with sineaters, and post SHB after he passes out due to the weakening soul-body bond, he seems to dislike even having to rest for medical reasons

it's a pretty interesting part of his character to me. idk if the writers specifically had his rigorous upbringing in mind when they wrote these parts of his character, but to me it would make a lot of sense as an explanation for why he's so averse to rest and why he carries so much guilt and why he's so passionate about keeping the folks around him safe. that's kinda been his whole reason for life since he was a kid-- using his skills for the benefit of others. to him, doing anything other than that would be a waste, it seems.

idk. funny guy makes my heart hurt. yes i had all these dialogue screencaps saved and on hand. yes i am a little insane. what of it

#ffxiv #um idk if i wanna tag this. maybe. whatever #thancred #thancred waters #shadowbringers spoilers #endwalker spoilers

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alyona11 · 1 month

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Ok time for my big Hadestown hot take and that’s that West End Hadestown doesn’t give you a 100% Hadestown experience. It’s still ridiculously good and 100% worth seeing, don’t get me wrong (I used my opportunity and saw it twice and will likely see it again if I’m in London), but it kinda made me realise a couple of things about OBC production that will always be my Roman Empire and make me deeply upset Broadway is too greedy to give us an OBC proshot.

So, here are some of my thoughts and reflections based on seeing Hadestown live on West End + seeing different versions (including London National theatre proshot) in boots. I think you can pretty solidly say that in Hadestown there are 2 main stories: Orpheus/Eurydice and Hades/Persephone. And even though arguably Orphedice is the main most important story, it my opinion it also wins from Hadesphone story being strong. Which works perfectly in OBC due to Amber Gray and Patrick Page delivering a very deep nuanced performances as their characters.

I think part of the success of Hadestown when it works on its fullest is how it creates a very deep emotional journey. And I feel that regardless which pair of Orpheus and Eurydice you have (if we take Broadway/tour/West End take on the characters) it’ll still work! Like you need to try really hard to mess up orphedice the way people wouldn’t root for Orpheus or wouldn’t empathise with Eurydice because they are so relatable and cute. You instantly love them, they are so so lovable. So orphedice part is one thing in Hadestown that imo works if not always then in 99% of the cases.

Hades and Persephone’s part of the story in the contrary is VERY hard to nail on 100%, in my opinion, and this is literally driving me crazy. Maybe seeing Amber Gray and Patrick page in professional recording awoken some feelings in me, I don’t know. I will state straight away that I also do enjoy other actors’ takes on characters and I do see some very interesting character moments there and there. However, I keep returning to the thought that Amber/Patrick’s characterisation works SO WELL for the main narrative. I’ll try to explain why I think so. Consider it my love letter to the OBC.

First and foremost, I feel like Hadesphone story has a very fine dynamic that the actors have to nail, so you would feel that: 1) these two still love each other; 2) these two are buried under their problems and see no way out, only a miracle (aka Orpheus and his song) can save their marriage.

And if the first one usually works at least due to Epic 3, the second one, imo, often (at least partially) falls victim to acting/directing choices which can cause troubles with point 1 as well. I think one big thing I’ve noticed is that often Persephone’s alcoholism gets forgotten in the acting performance. Like yeah sure her choreography includes drinking from a flask but in comparison to Amber you never get a feeling that she is absolutely wasted. Which, is in my opinion something that you should feel when you’re watching the show and something I was constantly forgetting about when I was watching the show on West End. I feel in Amber’s performance you can constantly see that her Persephone’s feel good attitude is a façade of a broken person who knows that her marriage is going to hell in front of her eyes yet she is too passive and hopeless to try to make an active change (well, she does try in Chant and nothing happens), so her only way is to chase the sense of normality that the “medicine” gives her. But when she is alone, if you get to catch a moment when people are not looking at her, you can see a deep sadness under her positive front and her memory of the old days when everything was more simple. Nevertheless, the main point that the lyrics literally say is that Persephone is blinded by the river of wine. And this is crucial to her character and her relationship with Hades because the story states that even though Hades is a problem and he is an active actor in creating more problems, he is not the only failure in this relationship. Persephone needs to be woken up from her apathy almost as much as Hades does and this is something that we see during If It’s True.

From Hades’ side I feel like it’s not a good decision to make him a total villain because when he is irredeemable you don’t feel like the whole “song that will fix the world” has any chance of working long term. I think Patrick nailed a deep antagonist very well. His Hades is weird and lowkey creepy and alien. He does objectively bad things but when you look at him you can’t stop thinking that he doesn’t operate in regular human logic or morality. When I look at him in Chant, it feels to me that his words about building stuff to impress Persephone are absolutely sincere, and I can absolutely see that his Hades doesn’t understand why she is so upset about it when his intentions are so so clear. Maybe it’s my vision but even before Epic 3 when he is so far gone and buried in his projects and messed up ideas I don’t have a single doubt that Persephone is a single motivator and goal of Patrick Hades’ life and that he literally doesn’t need any other being to care about. And tragically this fixation is what makes him blind to all other things he does even if those things ruin Persephone’s life (and other people’s but tbh I don’t think he cares).

I feel like by removing Persephone’s Chant 2 verse Hadestown created more problems for Hades and Persephone part of the story making it a much harder job for the actors to prove to the audience that Hades and Persephone have a chance to make their relationship work. Like I get that maybe it was a necessary things to do (even though I think the show is much better with it) but it made it so much harder to empathise with this particular part of the story unless the actors use the choices that work in the narrative. Because for example when I was watching the show on West End part of me was wondering “what is Persephone’s deal in all of that, what does she win by staying with Hades?” With the verse, and with Broadway Previews or London 2018 in particular this part was clear: Persephone still loves Hades and believes that he has the opportunity to change and become a better man he used to be. Without the verse, however, the actors should give you the same idea during the show which is a hard task considering Hades and Persephone have only 2 big conversations together (Chant and How Long). So apart from those songs there are only subtle mostly silent moments they get together through which the actors have to convey the same thought which is hella difficult and probably hardly will be appreciated by anyone apart from the people who sit closely.

So, maybe because in the actor combo I saw (Zachary and Lauren), I got a feeling that even though they were great separately, I didn’t feel much chemistry between them as a pair. I think, Persephone seemed pissed and tired of Hades all the time until How Long and I didn’t feel that she still believes in his willingness to change. And Zach Hades despite being entertaining, kinda gives the impression of Hades who has other options, he is not into Persephone enough. The only sparkle appears between the two in Epic III which is still cute but I’m not sure if it works just as well if that’s the first time you see the show? Also considering Zach Hades gives more malicious intent in His Kiss, The Riot it seems that he is not even slightly interested in Orpheus having any opportunity to succeed with his quest. Which is not bad, don’t get me wrong! But in comparison to Patrick who is deeply self projecting into Orpheus to the point where you could see that even though he doesn’t want to let him go, part of him does because it would prove he too could succeed in his challenge of waiting for Persephone, this take seems a bit lacking. And overall because of His Kiss, their promise in Wait For Me doesn’t seem as giving much hope that the story won’t repeat itself next Sunday. Which in its turn makes Orpheus’ sacrifice feel a bit… worthless. If on Broadway, when Orpheus turns, but spring comes again you feel like it is the start of something new: hopefully a kinder and softer time. On West End the show also wants you to feel it but when you think about Hades and Persephone you feel…less certainty that this sacrifice will have a long term effect?

I guess the creators wanted to concentrate on Orpheus and Eurydice more and forget about Hades and Persephone by making them more secondary story or maybe there was a lack of director’s involvement to give the cast some hints on how to make this particular part of the story work better, but it feels to me that in its current state the show works in its 85% power which is still great but once you know there is something missing you can’t stop thinking about it and wishing the show would give you those 15% you crave.

#me being me #hadestown #thanks for coming to my ted talk #I still immensely enjoyed the production and would come see it again #but when you know the show at its fullest you seem to miss some parts that worked better #also I was able to appreciate the same cast from different angles the second time I could see them from the first row so I could #get a clear view of their acting #and don’t get me wrong Zach and Lauren are really interesting to watch and I liked them #but also I started thinking if it was my first time to watch the show would I understand the appeal of Hades/Persephone line?#and I can’t stop thinking about it #hades #Persephone #hadestown broadway #hadestown west end #it’s also not about WE only but just about some characterisations I saw from different actors in different productions #I just felt like it would be fair to compare to the production and cast I saw life because obviously bootlegs even the greatest are not #the same #thanks for reading this long post

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moongothic · 2 months

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To be honest I can kinda see how having a hook instead of a hand prosthetic has its benefits

Hook is easier to mantain than a hand with lots of small moving pats, especially when you don't know shit about it. If something happens to it and it gets broken, it's much easier to replace a hook, even with all layers and poisons

And depending on when in time Crocodile lost his hand he may have just got used to it already

But also yeah, Crocodile is just the type of guy to choose a hook instead of a new hand because looks and aesthetics lol

(sorry for typos btw)

Crocodile's hook is kind of fun because it's a reflection of so many things in the story. Like there's the in-universe lore and character stuff we can look at, but also we can look at it from a meta perspective

Like we know Oda wanted to give certain important characters in the story the Iconic Pirate Traits; the peg leg for Zeff, the hook for Crocodile and an eyepatch he has seemingly been saving up all these years for a special someone (my money's on Mr Burns but that's a different subject). And so Crocodile having the iconic hook is a part of an old pirate-y "vision" Oda wanted to fulfill with One Piece, an OG "goal" from waaay back in the day

But another thing is that Crocodile is very much from The Olden Days of One Piece, more specifically, very much pre-what I'd call the sci-fi era of OP. I'd say One Piece started truly dwelling deeper into that genre and its tropes during Punk Hazard, but Oda didn't even really dip his toes into it until the CP9 Saga (with the introduction of Franky and the namedropping of Doctor Vegapunk). Sure, Oda did already hint at the existence of Vegapunk and his scientific developments back in Alabasta (when Miss Merry Christmas explained that Lassoo was a gun that had eaten a Dog Dog Fruit, this being "the Latest Science from the Grand Line"*), but One Piece was still very much in its more classical fantasy element/genre at this point in the story, so the science fiction that was to come years and decades later was not even present at this point

*(Thinking about it, honestly, how the fuck did Mr 4 get his hands on Lassoo if Lassoo was created by Vegapunk?? Was he a gift from Vegapunk/the WG to Crocodile, maybe????? That Crocodile just secretly gave away to Mr 4????)

In other words, in hindsight it might seem odd Crocodile wouldn't have taken advantage of his position as a Warlord and gotten a prosthetic arm to replace his hook. But Crocodile is a One Piece character from a different era in the story, when advanced prosthetics, cyborgs, robots, clones and so much more were nothing but a twinkle in Oda's eyes. So expecting Crocodile to have lived up to the sci-fi future One Piece wasn't originally going to even get to would be unreasonable.

But the fun thing is that we can actually look at Crocodile and his silly little hook, and spin it in a way that does actually complement his character. We can find in-universe reasons for him to have stuck to a hook over an advanced prosthetic, and they make sense. The most obvious would of course be that Crocodile does not trust anyone. It would be very much unlike him to go to Vegapunk and/or the World Government requesting to be given a prosthetic, because that would mean 1) Leaving himself vulnerable for a period of time so that Vegapunk could actually give him a prosthetic (dangerous) 2) Knowing the WG they would not just give out something like that for free, surely they'd want something from Crocodile in exchange. And, while we know what would become of Kuma eventually (a fate so cruel I'm sure even Crocodile could not have imagined) I'm sure he could have suspected the WG could want to use him for a science experiment or two, something I'm sure Crocodile would never have agreed to. Or maybe the WG/Vegapunk would've wanted Crocodile to pay them an obscene amount of money in exchange for a prosthetic, and/or have him do some other favors. Whatever the case, I'm sure none of these options would have seemed worth it in his mind.

And yeah, what you said.

Maintaining and taking care of a hook would be easier, like if Vegapunk's prosthetics ever broke or malfunctioned for any reason Crocodile would have to make a horrifically long hike all the way from Alabasta to Marijoa, cross the Red Line (to be fair his Shichibukai Status would allow him to go over which would be more convenient than passing through Fishman Island), go to Punk Hazard (or Egghead later on), and then hike aaall the way back to Alabasta again. And Vegapunk's inventions didn't always work as intended, the man had to refine and develop his creations to get them to work the way he wanted them to.

So if the option get a prosthetic was ever brought up to Crocodile by the WG like 10+ years ago, he might've been far more cynical about Vegapunk's ability to actually create a decent prosthetic that worked and wouldn't malfunction/have issues etc. And as you suggested, by that time he probably would have become used to his hook, to the point that he didn't mind keeping it.

And yeah, it would be just a big ol' Luffyism if he preferred the giant, golden, gaudy-ass hook

#Moon posting #Asks #OP Meta #Sir Crocodile #To be fair as a sharp pointy thing the hook IS good for intimidating people.#Like the size of it is pretty inconsistent as is the height of Crocodile in the actual art but in theory #Like. The size of just the base of that hook is fucking massive (and indeed the base is great for pludgeoning people too)#It just. Like the hook just works for Crocodile (because it's Crocodile) and I love that. Like the writing is so good there

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katsu-curry835 · 3 months

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Why Bisexual Jon Snow Could Work /srs

Jon Snow is bisexual and here's why.

Aight, I'm aware the queer rep in asoiaf is pretty eh for the most part. Sweets is cool, and Loras and Renly have a nice implied relationship but Dany and Cersei having gay sex scenes felt way more fetishized than actually meaningful representation, especially since neither character considers a romance with a woman. Because of this, I'm gonna say that while I think this could be a valid direction to take the story, I'm like 50% sure that GRRM won't write it. Then again, it's been so long between books that times have literally changed and FnB seemed to have a ton of queer relationships so who knows.

Ok, ok, so I've laundered my argument; we all know why we're really here. Jon Snow could be bisexual and that could be really important for the story. Why?

First and most obvious is that it's another parallel with Dany. Jon and Dany have had storylines that directly mirror each other, especially in books 3 and 5. Dany is confirmed bisexual by the narrative, since she has regular sex with her handmaiden Irri, although because of her position of power over her, she tries to limit them. And, as already mentioned, she never gets to be romantically attracted to a woman. Maybe that's coming in future novels, who knows, but all that to say Dany and Jon mirroring each other on the bi front is not inconceivable, especially when you consider that there is already evidence for Jon being bi.

I'm sure most of you deep into this discourse(?) have probably predicted that I'm going to talk about Satin. And if this story does go in the 'Irri' direction, Satin is definitely the candidate for Jon's male love interest. He's a former prostitute from Oldtown, which mirrors another of Dany's handmaids (Doreah I think) and he's Jon's steward, like Irri is to Dany. Other characters also seem to think that Satin has kinda slept his way up the ranks to being Jon's steward, confirming at least that this idea is in GRRM's head. I wanna take a look at a few scenes and see how they could imply a future relationship between Jon and Satin. Take a look at this fight scene between Jaime and Brienne (I promise this is relevant.)

"'Give me the sword, Kingslayer.'

'Oh I will.' He sprang to his feet and drove at her, the longsword alive in his hands. Brienne jumped back, parrying, but he followed, pressing the attack. No sooner did she turn one cut than the next was upon her. The swords kissed and sprang apart and kissed again. Jaime's blood was singing...

...The dance went on. He pinned her against an oak, cursed as she slipped away, followed her through a shallow brook half choked with fallen leaves. Steel rang, steel sang, steel screamed and sparked and scraped, and the woman was grunting like a sow at every crash, yet somehow he could not reach her."

To me this scene has always read as implicitly foreshadowing Brienne and Jaime's future romance. Words like "kissed" or "grunted" or "pinned her against a tree" feel implicitly romantic/sexual, even the way the scene is described as a "dance." Jaime even says at a later point "Might I have this dance my lady" to mock her. Of course there is plenty more in the story as a whole that foreshadows Brienne and Jaime having a relationship, but I use this as an example because I want to point out how GRRM sometimes writes a fight scene as romantic and sexual foreshadowing, or at least that can be how some scenes are interpreted. Now I want to look at the scene where Jon trains Satin.

"It's too heavy," the Oldtown boy complained.

"It's as heavy as it needs to be to stop a sword," Jon said. "Now get it up." He stepped forward, slashing. Satin jerked the shield up in time to catch the sword on its rim, and swung his own blade at Jon's ribs. "Good," Jon said, when he felt the impact on his own shield. "That was good. But you need to put your body into it. Get your weight behind the steel and you'll do more damage than with arm strength alone. Come, try it again, drive at me, but keep the shield up or I'll ring your head like a bell . . ."

This scene reads similarly to me. Words like "jerked," "rim," "get it up," even the one word sentence "Come," can read as sexual foreshadowing in a similar way to Jaime and Brienne if you are given context that Jon and Satin do end up together. In particular, "ring your head like a bell" reminds me of a scene where Gendry gets approached by a girl but rejects her advances.

"I'm named Bella," the girl told Gendry. "For the battle. I bet I could ring your bell, too. You want to?"

I would be remised if I didn't mention that Jon calls Satin pretty three times in the chapter where he's supposed to be engaged in a battle with the wildlings. Like yeah, that's a bit weird, why are you thinking about that now Jon. Or I could mention the fact that he described Satin’s voice swearing his words as being like song and that he could smell the fresh sweet oils Satin rubbed into his beard. Jon… buddy you got something you wanna say? I’m joking of course: you don't have to be queer to recognize another man's beauty. What I think puts this into perspective is if you compare this to how he describes Val, someone who it's generally agreed upon that he takes an interest in.

Here's a quote where Jon describes Satin:

"The boy claimed to be eighteen, older than Jon, but he was green as summer grass for all that. Satin, they called him, even in the wool and mail and boiled leather of the Night's Watch; the name he'd gotten in the brothel where he'd been born and raised. He was pretty as a girl with his dark eyes, soft skin, and raven's ringlets. Half a year at Castle Black had toughened up his hands, however, and Noye said he was passable with a crossbow."

Now here's Val:

"Val stood on the tower roof, gazing up at the Wall. Stannis kept her closely penned in rooms above his own, but he did allow her to walk the battlements for exercise. She looks lonely, Jon thought. Lonely, and lovely. Ygritte had been pretty in her own way, with her red hair kissed by fire, but it was her smile that made her face come alive. Val did not need to smile; she would have turned men's heads in any court in the wide world."

I mean, the fact that "pretty" is a word used to describe both Ygritte and Satin is a connection that I shouldn't need to point out the significance of, but I digress. If you actually compare these quotes, both look like neutral descriptions of someone's appearance in isolation, however in context, you have to ask why the author shows you this stuff. Why does Jon comment on how good looking both of these characters are so often? It doesn't seem like there would be any other purpose to these, again, repeated descriptions of both Val and Satin other than to highlight that the fact that Jon finds both of them attractive is important.

Again, none of this proves anything outright. I mention this because this is the sort of thing where if you reread the books with this lens, suddenly more things start to jump out at you, and it can read like obvious foreshadowing you missed. Like when Catelyn sees her reflection in some armor and comments on how "drowned" she looks. It doesn't mean too much on a first read, but when you know what happens to her, it's some clever foreshadowing.

Another big reason I think Jon getting with Satin might be important is that you can see it as a pivotal part of Jon's character arc, specifically Jon's sexual awakening storyline. When Jon first has sex with Ygritte, she's the one who initiates the interaction. In fact she has been doing that the whole time he's had her hostage, teasing him with advances and mocking him for his inexperience. In the famous cave scene, Jon's thoughts are how he wants to bang her, but also about how it would be in conflict with his vows. That's the main reason he never has sex with her until she incites it on her own; it's not because he doesn't want to. It's because he thinks it would violate the words he swore at the weirwood.

So Ygritte begins this part of his arc, and Jon discovers that he likes having sex, how original. But he still feels reservations about it, during the act and afterwards. After all, his people resent him for being able to openly take a woman to bed with him, while they have to go to Mole's Town to dig if they want to get any action at all.

My view on this is that the story is heading in a sex-positive direction with respect to Jon. There’s plenty of theming about this “why is it a sin if it feels so good” etc etc. The books are full to the brim of people feeling needlessly guilty about having casual sex, Jon especially. Where I think this is headed, therefore, is probably something like a wildling understanding of sex; Jon has to view sex as Ygritte did, because that was always the healthiest way for him to go about it. Except this time, to complete his arc, he is going to need to take the initiative himself and embrace his desires like Ygritte did. Her teasing him for not doing this was trying to get him to come out of his shell. It would feel strange to me if this went nowhere. Jon needs a future romantic/sexual partner so that he can feel no qualms with taking the initiative with them. How he learns to do that is up to George but suffice it to say, however uncertain I maybe that this partner will be Satin, a future romance is in the cards for Lord Snow.

So Jon's in a bit of a bind here from a meta perspective. If we want him to complete his sexual awakening storyline, he's going to have to take the initiative himself with a partner without feeling any inhibitions. But he can't do that if he's still a brother of the Night's Watch because of the aforementioned conflict with his vows. But he's not going to stop being a crow, his vows are important to him. So how do we reconcile the fact that Jon's character arc about his sexuality needs to be resolved, but he also needs to keep to his words? Simple: make his next partner male so it doesn't violate anything.

I've actually thought this could work as a plot point for anyone either in the Night's Watch or the Kingsguard. One of these men surely has to consider at some point the obvious loophole of "so I can't bed a woman, but what about a man?" and how that affects their honor or whatever. It just slots kinda nicely into Jon's storyline here. Another reason it really works is that Jon is looking to socially progress the Night’s Watch: unity with the wildlings, defending Satin from homophobia etc. Him realising the obvious flaw of the vows for not considering that men can be romantically involved through his own experiences as a bi guy can help him begin to dismantle the outdated nature of the customs. He’s framed as this sort of reformer, and being a queer bastard (who is also probably the lost heir to the Targaryen dynasty) makes this thematically poignant. He’s an outcast, but also a king.

Of course, he’s always been an outcast, being queer would just help add to that. And this is just one way of writing this arc; I’m not married to this take on this basis alone.

I can so imagine a scene where Jon is having sex with Satin and the lit hearth is positioned behind Satin's head from Jon's POV and it looks like Satin's been 'kissed by fire.' Also, Jon considering how Ygritte would feel about him doing this and coming to that conclusion that she would be proud seems like a great way to end a chapter about the two hooking up because Jon's arc would be basically resolved.

This final part is something that I feel should not be left merely implied: Jon being canonically bisexual would be great representation. This is one of the most beloved and famous heroes in all of fantasy, hell, in all of modern fiction. Making him queer would be a really important step forward for queer rep that should not be underestimated. Verity Ritchie (VerilyBitchie on yt) did an excellent video essay on bisexuality in reality tv, a point from which I'm going to paraphrase: it's really hard to effectively depict bisexuals because any confirmed relationship with another character would look like they 'picked a side.' But in order to continually show someone's openness to sexual attraction to two or more genders, you risk going to far the other way, falling into the bisexual sex demon stereotype. This is a really difficult needle to thread, and is why we have characters like Nick Nelson constantly having to remind us that they're bi, rather than having us just assume they could be. Put simply, we need better bi representation, especially with men and Jon Snow is excellent casting for the role. His relationship to Ygritte is constantly referenced throughout the narration as something he treasures and misses, so there would be no doubt that he was not 'gay the whole time.' But, if the Satin story goes ahead, there can be no doubt he's not queer either. Literature is a great place to put bi characters, I think, since an internal monologue can remind you of past relationships with other characters of different genders and how they mean something to the character in question, but never undermining the integrity of the current relationship.

Me personally, I'd be buzzing for Jon Snow to be confirmed as bi. Really interested to see people's thoughts on this.

#asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #jon snow #satin flowers #ygritte #val #bisexual #jon snow x satin flowers #jon snow x ygritte #bisexual jon snow #jon snow is bi 2024 i will die on this hill /j #please george a crumb of queer rep #brain worms

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fullonfandomindulgence · 1 year

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dimple is a great fucking character and i will fight anyone who says otherwise. specifically i will fight them by making them read this masterpiece client-crashing god-tackle effortpost about dimple

ive deliberately put off watching the telepathy arc episodes so i could finish this. i like tome So Much. you have no idea how much willpower it took. but it is done and its abt dimples like whole story and purpose and life and i think its a real good thing for you to read and enjoy

im so serious about this that I'm gonna capitalize and punctuate. My sorta thesis here is that Dimple's goals of manipulation are an expression of the basic act of choice that Mob Psycho 100 defines as living, but caring for Mob freaks him out because it distracts him from that purpose, and that contradiction and desperation to choose to live through control is tragically what ends him. Dimple is a friend. Strap in, motherfuckers, we're going for a ride.

Dimple's Goals (Dimpoals)

This is kinda an easy one.

I'm gonna be using images from the show and the comics but I'm not talking about anything past season three, episode six, so no worries anime-onlys. I describe all relevant visual info for each image, though there are also extra IDs in the alt text--I try not to repeat information.

Dimple wants to be a god, "the ultimate being in all creation," "the greatest power in the whole world," and "an object of devotion for all humanity." This dovetails with ideas about superiority and idealism in other parts of the comic but this post ain't about that. It's important that he never says what he'd actually do as a god. Like what is the power for? This comes up in his final confrontation with Mob, too.

Dimple claims that Psycho Helmet leads "people onto the right path," but the second Mob interrogates that he admits he has no plan, "no codex of any kind" from the comic. I don't think that's entirely true, though. Clearly Dimple doesn't care about ruling, because he doesn't actually know what he'd do with the power. But he does want to be revered--he wants positive attention!

Dimple's LOL cult is all about people laughing, and in this panel he says he chose that so he could gain a following without violence. Dimple's attempt with the divine tree is the same, he's trying to keep people the same besides their worship of the tree, make them feel happy in togetherness, help them "find peace at heart." I think there is a reading where making people happy is just a means to an end for Dimple. He for sure tries to kill Mob the first time they meet. But he doesn't have any logic for why he's not, like, using his powers to threaten people and demand tribute. He wants to become a god by making people feel good.

All this said--he's not gonna do it by being himself.

Identifying as evil

When Dimple meets Reigen he identifies himself as an evil spirit. Obviously this is sort of a joke. Like the idea that Mob's pet/mascot is actually an ancient malevolent ghost is pretty funny. But it's meaningful for Dimple's character too, so let's talk about what "evil" looks like. First, obviously the possession thing. How good is it that among all the people trying to manipulate Mob, one of them wants to literally control his every move? Second, here's a bunch of bad stuff Dimple did that Mob thinks about right after Teru tries to exorcise him:

Bro! She's like fourteen! (Dimple makes a lecherous comment about Tsubomi in this image.) He threatens Reigen, he tells Mob the body improvement club is a waste of his time, he straight up asks Mob if he can possess him... He's vindictive, pushy, mocking, and transparently manipulative.

Now to be fair lots of Mob Psycho characters are Like That. But there are some other things more specific to Dimple. Third, he tries to possess Ritsu, taking advantage of his fear of Mob. Fourth, again, the attempting-to-kill-Mob thing. Fifth, here's a bit from a recent side story:

My god. Dimple is terrifying in this. If you haven't read it, Uu is a little dog spirit that Reigen's been keeping around as a pet. Dimple notices that it's feeding on Reigen's energy so he gets rid of it. In these panels he waits until Reigen asks him where Uu is before telling him that he ate it. He has all these lines on his face and this expression of like hostile delight. There are creepy effects blobs behind him. He burps! He does a thing he knows will hurt Reigen and then rubs it in his face, acting like he takes pleasure in it. And finally from one of my favorite scenes in season 2:

I love love love this scene, when Mob is asked to exorcise the ghost family and he refuses. It takes the existing tropes in the story and introduces this like moral complexity and thoughtfulness, it communicates a change in stakes... "They won't have to exorcise you if the clients are dead." Again Dimple is smiling maliciously. He tries to manipulate ghost dad into attacking the college assholes, which is the one hand, for the purpose of getting him exorcised by Mob, which is the other hand. Harm in both directions. There is a third hand! We'll get to it.

But I want to summarize this section first: Dimple's default tool for dealing with adversity is manipulation. He, unlike, say, Reigen, is very comfortable looking like the bad guy, and to some extent he believes he is one. He wants to reach godhood by making people feel good, and he's going to do that not through bloodshed or by being a paragon of virtue but by using other people's flaws to control them.

The Living Spirit

Sorry, I want to do some more stuff before I get to the third hand.

I'd like to think I've been helpfully analytical up to this point, though probably not too novel. But I haven't seen anyone talk about this. Dimple is the liveliest dead guy in the comic, by a wide margin. He has multiple genuine relationships with people, he gets embarrassed, he gets happy, he fears things, he fully laughs. Sure in-canon this might be a proximity thing but in a narrative context I think it's significant that he's so much more of a character than other spirits. Here, in essentially his introduction as a significant character, he says, "I don't want to spend the rest of my life as a ghost!" There's also a great pun he makes in the Dark Horse translation when Reigen questions the existence of urban legend spirits--"Look, pal, just because you're a fake, don't disrespect the lived experience of the dead!" He thinks about living a lot.

Dimple comes back from apparent evaporation more than once, first when Mob exorcises him at the LOL meeting, second when Teru exorcises him in their first encounter. He really really wants to live.

Then there's the brief conversation between him and Reigen about the woman being stalked by what appears to be a spirit, but ends up being a neighbor astral-projecting himself. In this panel Dimple denies that spirits get horny. "It's not like we can do anything about it." He doesn't even think about like romantic love. So most importantly, canon aroace Dimple. But also Dimple believes that being a ghost reduces your existence. It's not even a possibility to do certain things, whether you want to or not. There's a tension here, Dimple craves life but knows that as-is he can't have it.

And then there's this six-page omake at the end of volume five. Please please read it if you can, it's not in the anime and it's such a good little story. When Dimple is almost exorcised by Teru, he only just manages to pull together an ant-sized form, and is rescued from being eaten by a pig ghost by a tiny human spirit called Stubble. The above image is an abandoned house in the woods, with Stubble, off-screen, monologuing, "I simply don't want to perish. I don't hold any grudge against this world. Neither do I have any dreams. Years have passed, without a clear goal." Stubble lives an extremely reduced existence, figuratively and literally. He rides around on the back of the ghost of flea, i.e., he is dependent on the echo of a thing that needs to latch onto something else to exist. He has no agency at all.

It's disconcerting, how Dimple starts at Stubble's size and slowly grows--or, reframed, Stubble slowly shrinks. Here Dimple accuses Stubble, "You died, even before your death. But I on the other hand..." Stubble gets angry. "You're dead too!" Again you should read the story, the way it concludes really blows me away.

Remember in the first episode of season three the S&S crew help the bald guy out of his funk, and at one point he says, "Am I doomed to just repeat these meaningless days until my death?" And then, soon after, "Wait, is my life already over?"

This is about the desperation of agency. Because like, Stubble is right. Dimple has been dead for a long time. His goal is ridiculous. His existence is scraps, yet he's clinging to them with everything he has. What's the point? Lay down alone among the insects, shrink and fade.

Dimple doesn't have a counterargument to Stubble. He doesn't justify "why." But the last sentence he says in the omake is, "I want to stay alive." Dimple, and by extension this omake, and if I may be so bold all of Mob Psycho 100, identifies agency with life. It's not even that life is about making choices, it's that life is literally the act of choosing. You have to choose to live. And Dimple does.

He likes control. He likes choice. He may not be alive but he chooses to live every day. Why? Because he has a purpose: he's going to become a god. And he's going to take Mob there with him.

The Third Hand

Are you good? You're like 1500 words in, feel free to take a break, drink some water.

Maybe you're starting to sense where this is heading. On the third hand, Dimple manipulates ghost dad to help Mob. He attempts to take away both of their autonomy in order to ease Mob's obvious distress. Let's talk about Dimple's evolving relationship with Mob.

I say this a third time, Dimple tries to kill Mob when they meet. Then, despite a positive spin on his initial pitch to Mob, he's pretty transparently evil about it.

These frames of the show are from that introduction, the first with Dimple surrounded in stars and bright colors saying "Let's shoot for the top of the world together," the second with Dimple thinking, face lit from below and body language full of menace, "I'll just wait for my chance to possess him." To be fair again, lots of Mob Psycho characters are Like That. Compare this to the first episode of season two: when Mob tells Dimple the story about Emi, Dimple, excited, assures him that they should keep sticking together so Dimple can help him out with these things. The animators even use the same image of Dimple with the stars and colors:

"Looks like you'll always need an advisor like me!" But this time he doesn't have the sinister turn he did when they first met. This is how Dimple keeps acting throughout season two. He helps Mob, apparently so that Mob trusts him so that in turn Mob can help him reach godhood. But he goes so far above and beyond without any malice: he keeps Banshomaru safe, he possesses one of the high school kids bullying Mob, he eats the curse off Reigen's back, he tries to defend Mob against fucking Toichiro.

Here's a great couple panels: after Dimple explains the deal with urban legends becoming real, he reiterates that he wants to be a god. Then Mob asks Dimple to "make sure [Banshomaru] won't get hurt," and little surprise lines come off Dimple. He agrees but says, "You gotta do me a favor sometime too." Dimple is a little struck by Mob's trust, but maybe more importantly this is the first time in a while, and I think the last time in season two, that Dimple suggests Mob do something for him. It only comes after he reiterates exactly what his purpose is. Dimple's priorities are a little unstable.

Yeah this is just a full comic page from the encounter with Mogami but it's meaningful as shit. Dimple has just suggested taking over Mob's body to protect it. The first panel is Dimple looking away and down, deflated, ashamed. A few sweat drops come down his face. He says, "but something like that..." And to his surprise (action lines, closeup, wide eyes) Mob agrees. Dimple puts on an evil affect when he responds: a horizontally squashed panel shows his backlit face. He smiles unpleasantly and laughs a little, "Kuku..." But his heart clearly isn't in it! His eyebrows are worried, not hostile. There's no pleasure in his smile. He's covered in sweatdrops, eyes wide. When Mob assures Reigen, "It'll be okay," there's another panel of Dimple where the remnants of that affect slide off him. The backlighting is still present but not as severe, the echo of that smile is on his cheek. He's openly worried and covered in sweatdrops. Mob's speech bubble covers a large portion of his face.

Points about this. First, by now Dimple has given up on possessing Mob. This thing that seemed like the main path to his goal is not an option. Second, while both Dimple and Reigen believe that this is a bad idea for Mob, Mob disagrees. Dimple identifies as evil. Reigen identifies him as evil. Mob no longer does. This is classic Shigeo Kageyama behavior, being generous to people even when no one including themselves thinks they deserve it. And the worst part for Dimple is he's starting to agree with Mob. When the option he'd dropped is handed to him on a silver platter, he finds he doesn't want to take advantage of this kid that way. He's a different person than he was.

I don't even know how relevant this is but. Look how much fucking fun Dimple has when he's possessing Mob to protect him. He's doing all these flips and kicks. His smile when he's fighting Mogami!Asagiri is so funny. He does the wildest mid-air combo I ever did see when he attacks the Claw guy as Mob.

Mob becomes such a top priority for Dimple that in the first episode of season three he realizes he forgot that he wanted to become a god. Not only that, but when he comes to Mob to convince him to lead the cult together he's immediately distracted by Mob and what's going on in his life. Mob has to prompt him for him to remember that he's there about the cult.

All this is why Mob's mistrust of Dimple in this conversation is so tragic. Dimple has helped Mob so much, and been so much of a genuine friend, because he knew that Mob trusted him. Where did it go? What happened? Mob's parting words to him are, "Why don't you give your schemes a rest already?" What schemes?? This is the first he's had in months. The translation in the comic, though, is so much more brutal:

"Why don't you stop doing bad things?"

Dimple is

Dimple is terrified of Mob. When Mob wonders if Dimple is scared of him, he's right, of course he is. He has lots of reasons. Mob almost evaporates Dimple when they first meet, threatens him multiple times. Dimple saw him at 100% rage, Mob's first on-screen. He watched Mob hit ???% without being knocked unconscious. This is all especially threatening given Dimple's drive to live. He's terrified when Ritsu tries to fight Mob, he's terrified when Mob asks him if he had anything to do with Ritsu's kidnapping, he's terrified when he thinks Reigen is about to tell Mob that they don't know what happened to his family. But I also read his fear as a symbol of how important Mob is. Dimple attached himself to Mob as the way to achieve his goal. Dimple helps Mob out in so many ways, putting off his goal, so that eventually they can fulfill his purpose together. Then he starts caring about this kid so much that he forgets his purpose! Of course Dimple fears Mob, because their relationship threatens what drives him to live. As much as Dimple is a manipulator, Mob is the one who ultimately has power over him.

Dimple so easily reverts to an evil persona once he leaves Mob because without Mob that's all he can be. If he can't get to the top with Mob, then he has to do it the old way, by using people's flaws to manipulate them. He's able use the broccoli to become a physical presence and get around the "amazing power" problem--though the broccoli's presence and power are still kinda Mob's! But why does he need to become a god at all? Because that's all he is. If he doesn't have Mob and he doesn't have his purpose, then he has nothing.

"Don't go casually denying the thing I've been wanting so badly!" Dimple gets so angry when Mob tells him he's being fake because first, Mob is denying Dimple's manipulative tendencies, which are really important to Dimple right here because he feels his identity is so precarious. And because second, Mob is denying Dimple's purpose. Dimple is in equal danger from Mob's physical attacks and Mob's denial of what he wants. What he wants, what he chooses, is what living is. Dimple doesn't want to die.

Here's a lot of a comic page again, from the final confrontation. Dimple tells Mob that he's just been using him the whole time they've known each other. Mob says, "I'm sad... Does that mean it's time to say goodbye to Dimple?" He steps towards Dimple, who screams in fear and anticipation. I think this is basically the worst thing ever, because god, Dimple is so afraid. Mob is justified in what he's doing but Dimple's desperation is what stands out to me, how hard he's tried to cling to agency and life and how sincerely he believes Mob is about to take it all away from him anyway, to disappear forever and ever.

And then Dimple insults Mob's shirt.

Dimple insults Mob's shirt

Fucking kills me. These are two frames from episode six, Dimple sees how much Mob suddenly trusts him and his reaction is anger, "You okay with leaving me like this?" His eyes are wide, brow down in anger. And then what he says next, "I'm... a dangerous evil spirit!" Here the anger is present but has softened with worry on his brow. The lines by his nose and his pouty lower lip make him look scared and sad. This fight has made it important to Dimple's identity that Mob try to stop him, because he's evil, and Mob stops evil spirits.

Panels from the comic where Mob tells Dimple, "You weren't doing bad things. You were just doing what you wanted to do. Together with me. You trusted me before I trusted you, Dimple. Thank you." Mob doesn't think Dimple is evil, but he identifies how important Dimple acting on his wants is, and he tells him that he still values their relationship. He denies that he has to hurt dimple but affirms his power to choose.

I maybe could've skipped a lot of BS if I put this page further up but I wanted this to get felt, what Dimple's admitting to himself here. It's another section of a page. Panel one, a white splotch in darkness with Dimple's thoughts, "It felt like my ambitions would fade away. Did spending time with unselfish Shigeo cause even me to lose sight of my goals?" Panel two, Dimple is the white splotch. He's scared. "...eh? Wait, that's a problem...!! I'll lose my reason for existing!" So Dimple tells Mob, angry, "No, not yet... I'm not done yet! Even now... I've still got... plenty of things I want to do! And ambitions!" Mob agrees, with that tired, frank look. "I'll hear you out for real. As your friend." Accepting Mob's friendship like this is terrifying, because it means what it always has, forgetting about this purpose. What if Mob stops trusting him again? If he really, consciously abandons his purpose, will he still have agency? He wanted a friend, always wanted a friend. Will it be enough? Will he disappear?

Dimple takes Mob's hand anyway. This was such an amazing shot, I've reproduced its animated glory here, Mob and Dimple reach towards each other, Mob weakly, so Dimple closes the gap and grabs him. The hand grasp of all time. I'm not gonna talk about how this fits into all the other Mob Psycho hand symbolism, that's another 4000-word megapost.

It's worth it. I'm convinced that by involving yourself in a network of people and creating some sense of obligation to others you can actually give yourself an even deeper kind of agency than you could achieve alone. And this is awful, terrifying. Because it involves giving yourself up a little bit. You have to give up some control. Dimple wants to be a god, to have ultimate power and control, so much of him is his manipulation, but he has to give that up for this. Goals that may have guided you for a long time can become irrelevant--and then who are you? If you've defined your life by something for years, and at the end of the decade you realize you don't fit your definition anymore, where do you go? Dimple tells Mob, "Let's go home." But...

Panels from the comic, where Dimple carries a sleeping Mob and thinks, "I said 'let's go home,' but I don't really have any place to 'go home' to... And I don't have anything to aim for from here... I wonder what I should do now." That Dimple is allowing himself to think this is really powerful. I don't think this has to be a sad moment. Like obviously Mob thinks that Dimple's home is his house. He just asked him to stay away until he reverts to his smaller form, as in, he otherwise would've expected Dimple to stay with him. I appreciate the larger point that now Dimple feels unmoored, and deciding on a new purpose is existential. But I think Mob also has a larger point that he believes he can help moor Dimple. I think allowing yourself to wonder where to go next is so important. Dimple is where Mob was a few months back when he decided he wanted to join the body improvement club! He has a future, even if he can't see it very well.

Or, um.

I keep fucking crying while I'm writing this. I love the translation in the comic here. Dimple kneels before a prone Mob and, finger touching his forehead, says, "Listen well... I'm giving you orders for the first and last time. First, wake up. Stand up, Shigeo." Mob is still for a moment and then says, "...it's no use. I can't put any strength into my legs. I can't move my arms either." Dimple is very serious now as he relays, "Your body may complain, but still... stand up. Even if you cannot stand... you must stand." God damn it, god fucking dammit.

Sometimes it's not so easy to change. Your actions have consequences. Your history follows you. Dimple's desperate attempt to keep his old wants comes back to kill his new ones.

Dimple's final act is the same thing he always does, he manipulates Mob to protect him. And it is good and kind. Suddenly his reason for existence is paradoxical: he's going to have to die to fulfill it. Who exists to die? But that's not what it is. Because he's making a choice. He denies death, he says, no, you can swallow me whole, you can annihilate me, but even then you can't take my agency away from me. And I will use this final choice to protect someone I love.

Dimple was a friend.

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greatwyrmgold · 3 months

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I just watched the first (non-pilot) episode of Hazbin Hotel, and I came away from it with two thoughts.

First, the music is still catchy. "Hell is Forever" (Adam's song) is a particular highlight; the way he interrupts a reprise of "Happy Day in Hell" emphasizes his personality, it covers a lot of characterization and plot stuff in two minutes, and it's catchy in a completely different style than Charlie and Alastor's songs.

My second point also focuses on Adam, but it's a bit less positive. See, my first impression of Adam is that he's a lot like the demons. The horns and fangs and whatnot don't help, but more important is the way he talks. He's not just rude and dismissive when talking to Charlie; he's dismissive and rude and crude in almost the exact same way as the demons.

The only difference between angel and demon is that angels are in power. Well, and Adam has some standard angelic acoutrement, but not even his own assistant has that. (She looks more demonic than anyone in the titular Hotel.) The conflict between Heaven and Hell is critical to the setting, the plot, and the protagonist's motivation...but it's two more or less identical groups, and one has its boot on the other's throat.

Now, to head this off at the pass: I don't think it's bad for Heaven to be bad. In fact, I find it kinda insufferable when there's a Good God and his Good Angels, positioned against an Evil Devil and his Evil Demons, all of which is treated as absolutely accurate. But God and the Devil need to be different. One classic setup is to have Heaven represent a restrictive, conformist kind of order, where everyone who doesn't fit into God's plan is exiled or executed.

Now, Hazbin Hotel clearly isn't going for that. I think it's going for more of a "hypocritical heaven" angle; the angels judge the sinners while engaging in the same vices. Adam's character design is perfect for that role; a demon whose nature is half-concealed under a pure-white robe and shining halo.

But that doesn't work, because...why does Adam think he's superior to the sinners? He indulges in sin; he's prideful, he's envious of the groupie macking on his band's drummer (which also qualifies as lust), he expresses his wrath when Charlie shares her plan, and worst of all, he's obvious. Adam isn't hiding these flaws, he's flaunting them, without even a hint of shame.

And then there's the bit where he says that exterminating sinners is entertainment for angels. This isn't just another angelic vice, it also undermines the claim that angels think demons deserve to die because of their sins. If that was Adam's angle, he wouldn't care about the question of fun. But clearly, he does!

For a hypocritical Heaven to work, Heaven needs to be self-righteous. If it's not some flavor of righteous, what the hell makes it Heaven?

#hazbin hotel #angel #demon #characterization #kinda #not sure how to tag this

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wolfstrong · 1 year

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hi sorry if i come off as a hater lmao it's just i hate xander and you seem to like him, could you explain why? I know he has some positive qualities and can be a decent friend but i've always perceived him as a Nice Guy (tm) and often just a misogynistic creep (maybe i need a rewatch where i try to have more compassion idk)

I don't think you come off as a hater, everyone has a right to dislike any characters they want!

Yes, Xander is one of my favorite characters and I have a deep affection for him! I do agree he can be very misogynistic and also creepy (more so creepy in the first couple of seasons, his crush on Buffy often made me very uncomfortable) I'm not going to say I "forgive" his misogynistic actions, but I guess I see it more as a problem with the show as a whole. You know, the time period and such and such. BTVS is a very strange show because it was progressive and groundbreaking in some ways and also very flawed in other ways. It's got some of the most realistic and well written female characters I've ever seen in a show, and yet its constantly undermines them with misogynistic jabs. i don't know, its weird but I digress. The point is I can kinda look past those two specific flaws because I see them more as functions of the show itself.

I like Xander because he's the "everyman" of the series. He's the very unspecial normal guy and idk I just really like that. I’m not trying to reduce the other scoobs to just their practical talents, but Buffy is the slayer, Giles brings the smarts and has his watched role, and Willow has her magic and before that her hacker skills. But all Xander has is himself, all he can give to the team is himself and he does it every single time without question. And like he knows this, everyone knows this about him. If all he can do with himself is physically throw his body in the line of danger to try and help someone else, he's going to do it. How many times does Xander run into the fight only to get punched out. And it's like yeah, its probably stupid and self-destructive, he's never going to be able to face off with the demons they fight because he's just a regular human. But he tries anyway and I love that. I don't know, it's just very admirable to always try, even if you feel like those around you are stronger or better then you. I guess i personally struggle with this, feeling like other are better then me or have more to offer or are more talented. It's nice to see a character whos in a similar situation yet still gives it his all every time. I think he's really relatable because of that and I feel for him.

I really love his loyalty. I know that his dislike for Angel in the earlier seasons stems from his crush on Buffy (which is ew) but also I think a part of it is because he feels protective of her as a friend. Like when Angel turned evil and they were debating what to do, Xander was like "maybe we should just kill him" and everyone acted like he was a huge dick for saying that, but I had to agree. Angel was trying very hard to kill Buffy, to kill all of them, and Xander was trying to prioritize their safety. Oh also there is a part of the season one finale (I think it was that episode... i could be mistaken) where Willow and others get kidnapped because of Buffy and Xander gets so mad he says "If they hurt Willow I'll kill you" which i know is kind of harsh, but like I think it really shows his loyalty and priorities. At this point, he did have a crush on Buffy, but he'd known Willow for much longer and his friendship to her was more important. So like idk, when we see him at his most angry or cruel its always on behalf of his friends.

I also just love that he's goofy and funny and cute. He has a certain charm that so based around the fact that he's slightly pathetic and lame. Just look into his big brown puppy dog eyes and tell me you don't like him just a little bit... he's literally a big loyal slightly stupid dog, come on now. He's always got sleeves that are just a bit too long that they flop over his hands, his shoes are untied his hairs a floppy mess and he has a giant smile and a weird cracky voice that goes up a pitch when he's nervous and he's always trying so hard to get everyone to laugh. I love him :) I can't help it, I just really love him

#it helps that hes cute...#xander harris #btvs

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absolutebl · 2 years

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I've been showing a good friend BL twice a week since early pandemic. She's seen a lot of the best stuff, and recently finished To My Star 2. We were discussing how the seme/uke and top/bottom perceptions affect how the characters are portrayed.

With TMS2, I commented that the scenes we get to the end where they keep switching who is big and little spoon felt like a tasteful way to show that they were versatile. We also noted that Pat and Pran are never shown in a way that confirms their positions.

Does your spreadsheet track anything regarding top/bottom presentation, and do you have thoughts on BL and how it presents this?

Verse Characters in BL

What an interesting question.

Well I would argue that Fighter & Tutor are the only Thai BL couple who are explicitly verse, in their case they talk about it openly in terms of "showing ownership" which is pretty clearly code for who fucks whom. As in, the idea of being taken or taking (invasion) = ownership. Trust a BL script to use the language of war for an act of communication and connection.

My spreadsheet doesn’t track this because it’s so rare. I remember a couple other times getting very excited about it (other than Why R U?) but not which shows.

Okay here’s our biggest example:

Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese shows them verse (explicitly depicts the sex act both ways), but it’s one of Japan’s discussions about the nature of identity and intimacy and possession. It could actually be argued that the whole movie is a debate of what seme/uke means and does to its characters, what obsession means, how long term devotion without consequences of boundaries corrupts. It’s kind of like the very dark version of what could have happened to the characters in My Beautiful Man if they had never managed to find each other and reconcile (and Hira learn to accept and express himself). The leads in CMDoC are genuinely at war, so the lens showing us who fucks whom as an expression of who is winning the narrative battle at that point in time.

Look, I don’t like this movie, but apparently if it’s Japan I’m always going to have a lot to say.

I mean there needs to be enough self aware queerness in the BL to realize this should even be addressed - otherwise just slap seme/uke on it and conflate personality with sexual preference (SIGH).

Also the BL has to somewhat follow the characters into the bedroom, and it would need to be higher heat which, in and of itself, is pretty rare.

So I did a heat ranking, then a ratings sort (since I’m more likely to rate verse characters higher) and here’s a short list of ones for which a case for verse... could be made.

Why R U? - Fighter & Tutor (no question - couched in a request to “prove/show ownership”)

My Day - Ace & Sky (also I think this is pretty clear via their sex scenes - they were the other ones I was thinking of, also they engage in some fun light kink, I LOVE these two)

To My Star 1 & 2 - implied by the cuddling debate in 2

Bad Buddy - actually they imply, when asked at one point, that it’s still open to debate between them, so we don’t know what they settled on but given their dynamic, probubly verse

HIStory 2: Crossing the Line - ZiXuan & YuHao, I mean YuHao's fantasies go both ways so I think he, at least, is verse

Mr Cinderella - mostly because of the linguistic grappling, but also both actors have a history of the seme role (clearly also implied top) in their other BLs, they swap tropes around a lot too in this one

His the movie - it’s just... not important

Ai no Kotodama - I actually think they have a kinda conversation about this, it’s been a long time since I watched it though, and 2010 = intentionally confusingly vague about everything

Boys Love - right so there’s a bit of an underpinning dialogue about this in both installments. In both cases I think the “teacher” is meant to be the bottom, but also the student is so desperate and so needy there’s an implication that he would do ANYTHING, including alter his whole identity (even sexual preference as a top) in order to be with the object of his desire, which is part of what makes their love destructive - it cannot and does not conform to... anything, least of all seme/uke (which at the time, when present, was always conflated with Top/bottom).

Either of KarnNat’s pieces, I mean I think Nat is meant to be the catcher, but they don’t act their higher heat scenes that way, it’s extremely mutual, and power exchange back and forth in terms of who kisses whom and stuff.

Frankly, any of the couples who have no seme uke are open to debate since in Thai BL especially Top/bottom = Seme/uke (it shouldn’t, but in the narrative it’s implied). BL couples where there is no seme/uke

Be Loved in House: I Do - YuZhen & ShiLei, maybe

Double Mints - fuck ‘em, though

Ingredients

My Tee

Wish You

Second Chance - PaperFah

Seven Days

So Much in Love - North & Onsah, there’s no seme/uke in this Thai pulp, but it’s so much a pulp and so confusing I’m not sure if that’s intentional or just failure of narrative clarity and poor acting

Your Name Engraved Herein - I am NEVER watching this movie again, but from my recollection of the characters’ behaviors, maybe?

Gameboys 2 - I have only seen discussion here and the previews, but I think they make this pretty clear in conversation and behavior

Hey Rival I Love You - certainly entirely up in the air in all ways

Love is Science? - Mark & Ouwen, I think the flip flopping of who’s on top/in charge in their sex scene implies general experimental willingness, shall we say?

HIStory 3: Trapped - TangYi & ShaoFei, possibly, ShaoFei is hesitant because he’d scared, but that’s of the implications and intimacy of being a couple, not really of sex. After all he runs away when TangYi is too nice and gentle with him.

I honestly think My Engineer 2 should go there with RamKing. They are perfect characters and actors to do this with. But Thailand really doesn’t have the guts.

Other pairs who I think can and should rep verse?

First & Toru

PokeTongue

MaxTul could absolutely portray verse. Why they haven’t yet is a weakness of Thai BL and y-novels inability to stop heterosexually vomiting all over their gays.

Weirdly? EarthMix, I think they could and should do a bit of a FighterTutor sitch in Moonlight Chicken.

Crosses arms.

Impress me, GMMTV.

A reminder:

So top/bottom/verse is difficult because it means we follow the characters into the bedroom AND have a glimpse into their penetration preferences, that means very high heat, and there is (statistically) less of that in BL.

As opposed to Dom/sub/switch which plays into personality and correlates better (but not perfectly) to a seme uke dynamic because it is about who has the power to make decisions.

And my definition of Seme/uke - which is the character showing the most narrative drive to consummate the relationship (physically or otherwise) = seme.

Finally:

Sexual preference does not correlate to personality! Please stop this. I put it to you in het terms:

If you are a straight women who likes to ride reverse cowgirl style does this show up in your personality as you walk around in your day to day life? No it does not.

So a boy likes to fuck or be fucked - that’s like cake verse pie, it doesn't say anything about how aggressive that boy is in relationships. And prying into that dynamic is tantamount to me asking you about the details of your penetration preferences. (Which, to be fair, I probubly would, but I'm a curious, rude, intrusive shitmonger.)

Also, it behoves me to add, plenty of gay men do not like penetration at all. Plenty of straight women don’t like it. Or don’t like vaginal but do like a-play. And plenty of straight men like to be pegged. A-play has to do with how sensitive you are, how relaxed, how prepped, how much lube, whether you find the idea a turn on when applied to yourself, how self conscious you are, and a host of other factors.

Puts proverbial soap box away while reminding you that soap = also to be used prior to such encounters.

(source)

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personasintro · 1 year

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Mimi ch 53 was a rollercoaster ride like my mind can’t absorb what was happening. But first let me thank you for working so hard on this and every other one of your story and sharing this with us 🫶🏼🫶🏼 Anyway some of my thoughts…

1. Its good that jk told his family about what happened. Sometimes we do need time on our own to process and accept what happened and him feeling like it is okay to share the burden now, somehow feels like he is finally ready, really ready to let go and move forward with his life. 💝

2. Ohhh them finally doing it raw is like the sexiest smut I have ever read. The teasing, anticipation then finally going at it is like okay. Yn riding his face and her squirting omg she’s so hot like dude give her to meeee 🫠

3. Yn moving out and Jimin calling them out on their situationship.. I kinda feel like there’s something more out this and it will affect how the rest of the story will pan out which leads me to my next one

4. Jk inviting Ester and missing on the communication like he suddenly brought this up a few days before the trip itself. I dunno but when yn was still living with him from ch 46-52, they never really argued. They communicated the best and now that they did the deed, and yn out of his apartment, it kinda feels like jk doesn’t care anymore and he can do whatever he wants. That is just me though. Yn might have overreacted a bit, but jk calling her selfish and childish and saying ester is his friend too like her and yn are on the same level is.. uncalled for I guess. Can we just go and inhale the Busan air back?? 🥲

5. When they were in Busan, jk acted so clingy and so boyfriend to yn. Which makes me think like finally, things are looking up and these two might fall in love with eo. But after this chapter it seems to me that jk only ever sees her as a bestfriend and that all it is is just fun and casual sex with him as what they tell their friends that they are JUST hooking up- for him it might be what it is. I cant say the same for yn because it seems like she’s falling for him even if she’s not yet aware about it.

Anyway sorry for this long ask. I thoroughly enjoyed the story even its giving me a a bit of anxiety hahaha excited to see what Yoongs will bring to the table. If his and ester character will bring the positive - yn and jk realising they like eo more than friends. Or not so positive as in yn and jk starting a relationship with other people. Either way I just hope they don’t actually ruin their friendship. You did such a good job of portraying the characters like readers genuinely love them or hate them, that’s how great you are as a writer!! Also, you keeping us on our toes all the freakin time is genius! I swear I don’t know where the story is leading us for sure but we’re here for the sweet long ride 🫶🏼

Thank you for reading this chapter and sending this in!! 💗

1. It does feel oddly freeing, doesn’t it? It would be completely fine if he decided not to tell them. Partly, he did tell them because he saw they see a few changes in him. But he told them when he was ready and that’s the most important thing 🫶

2. 🔥🔥🔥 that’s all I’m saying hehe glad you enjoyed those moments!!

3. Jimin definitely thinks this is not a good idea!

4. I mean… he can still do whatever he wants 🫢 in jk’s defense he did tell them as soon as he saw them, maybe he didn’t even consider it as big news or something that should cause an argument. If you look at it generally, it’s not a big deal at all. Only y/n made it a big deal. But yes, you’re right he definitely shouldn’t compare them but jk is still a man, there are a few things he doesn’t see like we do haha 🤭 Busan air is well needed in this situation!

5. Well, firstly they’re friends than anything else. From their point of view, they’re having fun. They have an amazing chemistry 🌪️

Thank you so much for this feedback! There are a lot of exciting things about to happen, I can’t wait to read them!! 💗🫶

#ask #ask: mutual help

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lost-tardis-room · 22 days

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just saw an annoying post so here we go

if you're emotionally attatched to good omens fanon crowley i would reccommend not reading <3 remember if you dont like a take you can always go find another one <3 curate your own fandom experience <3

it was some ask like 'omg i love the good omens collectivly agrees that crowley was friends with freddie mercury and hozier who wrote songs about his venting ahaha' like YOU REALISE THAT DOES NOT FIT HIS CHARACTER. SORRY TO BREAK IT TO YOU BUT JUST COS YOU'RE A HOZIER GIRLIE AND A LOT OF HIS WORK FOCUSES ON RELIGION AND THAT ONE SLITHERED HERE FROM EDEN LINE IS KINDA COOL DOESN"T MEAN THAT THE SIX THOUSAND YEAR OLD ACTUAL DEMON FROM ACTUAL HELL like your pop music i'm really sorry but it doenst fit his character he canonically has like one friend and a few people he doesnt mind so much he is not buddying up to your favourite celebrities/musicians just cos you think all your blorbos should like all the same stuff you do. the bentley playing queen is framed as an annoyance because hell is annoying, that he just kinda of got used to just cos its playing all the time why would he have been friends with the guy???? doesnt make sense?????

also current fanon takes on crowley annoy me so much he's always some whiney baby and look i love a good sopping wet and pathetic character as much as the next guy but we've sort of completely overshot s1 'i just lost my best friend' level of understandable grief and gone straight to him just being annoying????? like being mopey??? and i dont read a lot of fic but when i did he seemed to get portrayed a lot as like this submissive quivering mess like GUYS LITERALLY HOW DID YOU REACH THAT CONCLUSION???? HES NOT LIKE THAT. HE JUST ISNT. and he's always soooooo traumatised and like.... yeah! they've both been through A Lot but they also have fun and enjoy being alive and enjoy hanging out wih each other and going and getting coffee etc. they both enjoy life!!! and i get some people are projecting to deal with there own stuff and like cool whatever works for you is good and healthy but i see so many takes that are starting to warp the perception of how the characters really are? and people keep positing aziraphale as being manipulative and i mean. yeah a little but they're under a lot of stress here and probably heaven doesnt have therapy covering healthy coping methods and good relationships so i really dont think itsthat much to get hung up on. also. it's literally not real they're fictional, fiction characters who have Issues are wayyyyy more interesting to literally whats the problem.

like idk man if you love teh characters so much then why are you making so many changes to their fundamental characters idk.

back to teh music thing too like. he listens to the velvet underground. idk if any of the people who are hozier stans bothered to go listen to some velvet underground before they made their character playlist but pale blue eyes & i'll be your mirror are like the nice ones??? like go listen to sister ray and then tell me the guy whos been listening to that will find from eden interesting. and neil saying he was goth and then people seem to have taken that to mean 'wears black and has a tattoo and is grumpy' like nooooooooooooooooooooooo you missed it. you missed the point again. and teh person who answered the orginal ask was like 'ahaha yeahhhhh and aziraphale was friends with composers and all teh beautiful symphonies were about crowley ahaha' like AHSGNAJKNHSKAJNSKANHSKANAKSNAKSKAKKKKK . AHN. K. not everything in the go universe is about them like. sorry! good worldbuilding doesnt make Everything focused on two guys. just cos they're very important and have been very influential doesnt mean they're like. the only thing thats ever shaped anything

ok sorry rant over

#anyways i think the fanon version of them both now is annoying #i reblog good art when i see it cos there is still so much good art being made #but i think a lot of people are missing the point and need to rewatch the show for what it is #not with some warped fandom take on it running in their heads the whole time #its not fanfic!!!! not everything exists to be a tragic love story with 128718271298 hot sex scenes!!!!#which is a while nother can of worms but uhm. ace queerplatonic ineffable husbands they are married but dont have sex <3 imo

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bigklingy · 2 months

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Apologies for this temporarily turning into a Sonic blog, but since getting back into the series recently, I realized I'd posted a lot of tier lists here in the past and never did a Sonic one, so... here's one I whipped up in 10 minutes. Important note: my first Sonic game was Adventure 2, never played any of the classic games. Favourite game is Generations, gameplay-wise. Explanations: Amy: Death incarnate in SA2 multiplayer, enough said. (Also surprisingly deep when she's not flanderized) Sonic himself: Surprisingly deep when he's not flanderized. Wait. Eggman: It says something that even most who don't like the Colors-era writing STILL think his PA announcements there are perfection and in-character. Big: If you don't put him in S-Tier, he'll hunt you down, challenge you to a fishing duel, and reel in 50 Sea Guardians in a freshwater lake. (i.e, I'm in part of his "ironic fandom that gradually turned non-ironic") Gamma: Somehow, a generic mook had the deepest story in the franchise. Vector: His position is almost entirely because of the Team Chaotix theme song. Tails: I watched "Alone Again, Unnaturally" from Boom recently and it kinda summed up my thoughts on him. I was not expecting that ep to turn so wholesome at the end. Blaze: Rush is good. Being one of the only remotely playable characters in 06 (arguably even more than Sonic) is also a huge achievement. Silver: My liking for him is almost entirely ironic, sorry Silver fans. But he's the source of a LOT of 06's unintentional hilarity, and that's memorable. He's decent in the comic so far, though. Tikal: Decent plot in Adventure. Her voice is slightly annoying though. Not sure why Chaos isn't here, but he'd be low-mid B. Sticks: I've watched a bit of Boom, and she's actually pretty funny. Interested to see what comes of Frontiers confirming she's canon to the main universe. Shadow: I'M SORRY, I'm just not a huge fan. (Still looking forward to Movie 3. And hoping for Keanu Reeves playing him, but not sure that'll happen now.) Knuckles: I honestly... don't really "get" him as a character. Looking forward to playing Frontiers and seeing its take (and seeing Movie 2), might make me like him more. Metal Sonic: His position is ENTIRELY due to Heroes. Everywhere else, he's just a flat obstacle. Babylon Rogues: They're basically just jerks, but Wave is higher because her jerkishness is so extreme it's funny (mocking Tails in direct earshot of Sonic, Knuckles and Amy is a "crosses the line twice" moment to me), and her tech specialty makes her stand out. Storm is the lowest, because I sum him up as "Boom Knuckles except not funny." Eggman Nega: Why does he exist? Apparently even Ian Flynn hates him.

#sonic the hedgehog #tier list #please don't hurt me I know this fanbase can be brutal

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sidleyparkhermit · 3 months

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fanfic director's cut: talk about what went into your characterization of Chilton in interrupted stitch because i'm still amazed that you managed to capture a version of him that feels in-character without making me want to dropkick him. also tell the people about interrupted stitch

Thank you for the lovely ask and always being such an encouraging reader. I'll try to fulfill both requests as best I can, in reverse order, without wandering off to complain too many times

So: Interrupted Stitch originated as NBC Hannibal hiatusfic, though early in the outlining the second season premiered and the story officially became a canon-divergent AU. It had many elements that might seem in retrospect to be dunking on seasons 2-3 of Hannibal but simply came from looking at the plot and characters of season 1 and thinking about things that would make sense to happen.

It involves... how do I explain this. It exists because one time Aaron Abrams tweeted about Raúl Esparza being cute. It was supposed to be a PWP. It quickly grew a plot, wherein some traumatized secondary characters eventually solve the Chesapeake Ripper murders with the powers of gay S&M and friendship. It's my first foray into what I would call genuine crime fiction. My joke logline for it is "PTSD, BDSM, and some FUBAR MDs." Also, Beverly lives, of course.

I worked hard on it for a long time, but it's only really been seen by @stellerssong, partly because of [real life redacted] and partly because, as longtime readers will know, I hate the Hannibal fandom.

As to the Chilton question!

So, I think the most important thing to begin with was to take him as he is (or was at that point in canon). He's annoying, he's arrogant, he's not qualified for his job -- those are just facts on the ground. They don't have to be explained away.

What else is he? Well, despite the fact that he clearly should not have been in his position at what my old friend gamesiplay dubbed CrazyJail™️, he advanced this far as such a relatively young age somehow. He and Zeller have in common the quality of being overachievers in high-stress and high-risk occupations. I figured right away that he would be continuing to work as much as he could after the Gideon kidnapping, not just to take his mind off things but because that's his personality.

What does he want? In some cases he wants what everyone else can see is the wrong thing; he cannot help trying to get back to the BSHCI despite all his disastrous mistakes. But since we're seeing him outside that frame as well, we also see the quite ordinary human things he wants that were taken away, in some cases permanently, by Gideon (and Lecter): to enjoy food and sex, to hang out with normal people, to have one goddamn night of good sleep. To drink a cup of coffee.

What Chilton endures in "Rôti" is so extreme, from the point of view of the real world, that I feel like simply exploring its effects is more than enough to make the reader sympathize. Because Chilton is annoying, but he's not evil, and he lives in a world deeply infected with true evil. Hannibal Lecter thinks being evil is superior to being annoying, and I guess Bryan Fuller does too, but they're both wrong.

So, I think part of the answer is vulnerability, and mainly just the vulnerabilities already opened up by the text. (I guess the text didn't inherently suggest the humanizing effect of discovering a character's embarrassing sexual fantasies, but I think I ripped off that trick from Terrence McNally [Love! Valor! Compassion!, 1995].)

I think Zeller's POV, and Zeller being himself someone who alternates between brilliant overachiever and human disaster, also helps kinda equalize them. Like, yeah, here's a dude that makes bad decisions, I too am making bad decisions, who the hell would even be making good decisions at a time like this.

They -- and the others in that story -- aren't normal people, obviously. But what they are is people with normal kinds of flaws. And when you are just regular messed up, when you may have thought you were ready for the worst because you're very clever and you've done so much research, how do you deal after your own life is changed by extreme evil? That was the kind of question that interested me.

#interrupted stitch #stellerssong #there I only interrupted myself to complain a couple times

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help-i-need-a-cool-username · 2 years

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I was laughing at the couple of posts about Rachel taking in one of the future kids (whether thats Shadow or Amy or someone else) that are going around and i realized two things

1) Rachel herself is so entertaining i can only assume anyone who lives with her is rarely bored. Can just imagine the side events that would go on with them lol

2) was this actually... planned from the beginning? With Randall and everything?

Like right in movie one they go out of the way to establish Rachel as a character (her very vocal distrust of Tom) instead of a we-need-a-sister-because-plot character. Theres no real evidence of any partner, just her and Jojo. Movie two comes along and theres this whole fake wedding side plot, which seemed kinda unnecessary unless its actually/Rachel is actually more important in the next movie. G.U.N. is introduced yes, but they're introduced through Randall. Who does end up with Rachel in the end. Randall works for GUN, which puts him and his family (Rachel and Jojo) in a unique position: knowledge on alien related activity. So right away they are in the position to be informed about more aliens visiting, before Tom and Maddie (unless said alien shows up in their backyard... again).

Now i dont know much about canon backstories and lore, but i think this is a pretty good set up in particular for Shadow (who we already know will be in movie 3) as so much of his story involves GUN. This could manifest in Randall (and therefore Rachel) being informed about his discovery/Randall being present during Shadow's escape. Or maybe Shadow is hunting down GUN personal for some reason (access to info, revenge, etc) and Randall's house is the one he happens to end up at. Maybe Maddie calls up Rachel and asks her to have Randall look up specific classified info on (or for) Shadow, and thats how they get involved.

The only "hole" in this theory (and why i didnt look at it as a valid option for so long) is that Rachel lives in San Fransisco. A city. With cameras and people everywhere. While the Wachowskis live in a small middle of nowhere town, thats established to have low security/crime. If i wanted to essentially hide a alien from the public i would pick the nowhere town that likely doesnt even have security cameras over the major city. Now we dont actually know Maddie's past. We know Tom's family is from Green Hills, and it seems him and Maddie met when they were young and have been together a long time (that line about Tom putting her thru vet school in movie 1). Theres no evidence to say Maddie isnt also from Green Hills, so maybe Rachel decides to move back home (Green Hills) and takes her daughter, secret agent boyfriend/husband, and new alien child with her?

#hinacu sonic #sonic the hedgehog 2 #sonic 2 #sonic 3 #sonic movie 3 #rachel #jojo #agent randall #shadow the hedgehog #amy the hedgehog #🤯

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unlimitedhorsepower · 2 years

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i dont know if they ever intend to tell us anything about ryans backstory because its not necessarily important to his character and it could be enough for us to know that he used to disobey his parents to go see his girlfriend of the time instead, and that he alludes to karinas parents being nice in a way that makes me think his own parents arent like that

but because hes an amalgamation of kotetsus and barnabys traits in a lot of ways, ive built my own ideal reality. also, this was supposed to be a really short post but its actually unnecessarily long and rambling and actually has little to do with his backstory in the end, and tumblr will cut it off thankfully.

its my blog and i post whatever i want, including my stream of consciousness thoughts. here. have this ryan figurine i think about on a regular basis

in my mind he would be from a well-off enough family and he wouldve started his career as a child and the hero work wasnt his topmost wish always. nowadays hes obviously rich, but i often think about KOW the rising saying that he likes to study tax plans and is good at buying in bulk...

anyhow, i think it would be fitting if his parents were kinda lacking in the parenting department. why did he become the wandering gravity prince? did he not want to stay with them, he never really talks about them even when its topical, they dont seem important to him. hes looking for a place to not get backstabbed and his first instinct is go to sternbild after a devastating injury and not like, show up at home for a bit at least?

kotetsus mom is still around and we know shes nice and doing the most really, and kotetsu has a brother who supports him too. kotetsu also is a very normal person without particular talents. in contrast, as we know, barnaby lost his parents who were busy but cared about him, and he was then raised by maverick who only wanted to use him and never cared about him.

barnaby is also a virtuoso in so many things, what is he not good at? he can have himself a perfect celebrity persona and do so many things so well. he was smart even as a kid. kotetsu, on the other hand, has no particular talents, however, he scored himself an eventual wife and a best friend for life (antonio!) when he was still in high school.

sure, he does dumb stuff all the time, but hes a decent guy who can make people laugh. hes well-liked enough, and he has a penchant for making genuine human connection even (and because of) his meddlesome nature. barnaby has difficulties making friends, in contrast. and if were absolutely honest, ryan is much more like kotetsu in the sense that underneath all of his ego that gets in the way of everything, hes actually a relatively normal guy with no particular talents beyond being extremely loud and proud about himself. without his ego he pretty much has nothing.

every day he wakes up and pretends to have both the positive traits of barnaby and kotetsu, when actually he kind of has both of their negative traits. his motto, too, is about believing in himself. as long as he believes hes perfect, then he can convince others of it too.

so hes a little bit like barnaby, who has a very likable and nice public image to supplement his shortcomings as a person who has difficulties connecting with people... but he goes beyond and above and makes no distinction between who he really is and what his “public image” is. his ego is Him, because its all he really has, and it gets in the way of genuine human connections.

again, in his schedule he is noted that he “had a pleasant time” at an event with a lot of celebrities, but theyre just his acquantaices. he keeps giving his number out to women, takes a woman home from a date and getting texted that the vibe was off, and he just goes okey-dokey and continues unbothered and arranges an another date

but then his buddy hero partner karina is about to DITCH him for kotetsu just like barnaby did (not that he cares. it was his master plan btw) and hes ready to flee the city immediately and cries.

does that really seem like a man who has a lot of genuine friends, like kotetsu has for example?

no... ryan has a lot of surface-level acquantaices and so on. hes well-liked enough, but the image he projects is absolutely insufferable and doesnt seem genuine (despite it being genuine, because he really just is like that), which also has made people consider him a rival to a degree it seems they arranged for gregory to cause ryan to lose control of his power.

in the scene where he loses control, hes wearing civilian clothes. was he invited to a hangout with the heroes at the monument he was crushed under? it certainly wasnt during his work, but his co-workers are in their hero costumes. it would also explain ryans preoccupation with being betrayed, which implies to me a more active role than just leaving him to be crushed to death under rubble.

even barnaby, in the rising, suspects ryan of being involved with the villain plot, which ryan catches on and brings up himself and acts unbothered about- he doesnt mind, he gets it a lot, it seems. he would know this, too, because hes good at reading people.

anyhow, attention is what he wants, and attention is what he gets... he doesnt even mind if the attention is a bit negative.

like kotetsu, hes kind of meddlesome with other people, but hes also the type to claim all credit (even for things he didnt do), like when at the end of rising the announces its his idea that barnaby and kotetsu should work together.

anyway, i think this all would perfectly fit in my fantasy of ryans parents not being really explicitly awful but maybe they just didnt care enough so ryan never received an adequate amount of attention and parental guidance, and ended up like this.

barnaby is an only child, and kotetsu has a brother who he is on good terms with...

ryan could be an only child (as he never mentions anything related to a sibling as far as i know, but some information is so hard to get. i wish i could read japanese), but i think it would be interesting if he had a sibling, and for no particular reasons, the sibling was always just a little bit better than ryan.

maybe they were smarter and had more realistic dreams (ryans wish is being the only number one. thats not even a wish. why did he even become a hero? i would say it was for attention. a guy with no life plans, really), or something, but it doesnt matter. losing in his parents eyes to something boring and cringe like a well-paying office job or a doctor or something. but thats something just for additional comedic purposes for me personally bc i think itd fit for him to be an only child

i also like to entertain the idea his parents wouldve pushed him into the entertainment field and i do love the idea that he was involved in a lot of things (like modeling etc) before ending up becoming a hero, which wouldve been one of his first choices he made for himself

hes not a bad person by all means, but to me at least before rising he more cared about the fame and attention part and people thinking hes an awesome person. theyll appreciate him then.

but then he learned about the power of friendship and now he can better focus on being a good person in the way he knows how to be (extremely meddlesome and getting into your personal business but nonetheless hes doing his best)

he definitely was like that as a kid too, you know how some kids are just so nosy? i also like to think he was the type of kid who just makes up outrageous lies and cant even tell why, which he stopped doing as an older teen and moved into exaggerating his life instead

i think hes always been really outgoing and the class clown-type who causes problems at school but like most kids who act like that, he was trying to get attention because he was going through something

and lets face it, hes kind of weird with how over-the-top he is. his apartment has black marble and leather and gold and he has frescoes of himself on his walls... this sort of eccentricity doesnt just happen overnight, im sure hes always been a little bit like that

but its harder to get bullied when you just tell everyone youre awesome with utmost confidence. kids dont really know how to react to something like that, its pretty easy to convince people youre cool as long as you can just act the part (source: me). you can get all of your weird traits excused if you own them and act like its the most natural thing (even if it wont stop people talking behind your back) anyway i think that deep down he knows that hes nothing special and has known since he was a kid but this lifestyle of his isnt something he can back down from. hes perfect because he says so and if he admitted otherwise it would be equivalent to getting executed.

he made his bed now he has to lie in it. but hey its a nice bed with silk sheets and damn he looks good

#i wrote this a few days ago here have it #ryan goldsmith #tiger and bunny

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