#i want to get it for switch so bad but i just cannot justify the price

[muffinlance]

Wait, what’s going on with Embers???? That fic has been on my read later list since 2021, what’s happened with it???

Brief overview, then I'm likely never touching this topic again, because this is not a Drama Blog:

Context: Embers is a super old AtLA fic that was written during the early fandom days, read widely at the time, and was the origin of the widely-used fanon name of "Wani" for Zuko's ship (kind of by default that it was one of the first popular fics to give his ship a name, I think?), even though most fic writers don't seem to realize it's from there anymore.

"What's Going On": I used to include a link in all my stories to it, because I believe in crediting other writers for borrowed elements, and I was using "Wani" in all my fics. But BOY did I not want to be sending readers that way anymore, so I've adopted a new name for Zuko's ship, and removed all Embers links.

None of the criticisms about Embers itself are new; I'm assuming they date back to when the fic was being written, because this isn't an "it aged badly" thing, this is an "actually yeah this gets worse the longer you think about it and I shouldn't have ignored my bad feelings just because some of the worldbuilding was interesting" thing.

An Incomplete List of Why I Made the Change:

I don't actually like the story that much anymore, and don't want to rec it

I tried to re-read it recently to see if some things were as bad as I remembered and it turns out they were So Much Worse Oh Yikes. More specifically, the treatment of Katara and Aang and their respective cultures has... rather a lot going on. One example: The Fire Nation and Air Nomads are both given multiple backstory elements in an attempt to make the average Fire Nation soldier's participation in the genocide/war in large part the fault of the Avatar and the Air Nomads themselves, and also fully justified from the Fire Nation perspective. And I do mean fully. One of its core tenants is "People from the Fire Nation (and only people from the Fire Nation) who don't follow orders Literally Die, therefore murdering pacifists and babies and continuing the war (and their regularly scheduled war crimes) is the only thing it is physically possible for them to do". I cannot emphasize enough how literal that is.

Also the name "Wani" means "Alligator" and is... objectively a pretty lame name for Zuko's ship? Where's the personality, where's the deeper meaning, where's the resonance with Zuko's themes? @tuktukpodfics initially thought I was calling the ship "Wanyi", and that's what I've switched to, because it is Objectively So Much Better. In their words: “Wànyī (萬一): Literally ‘one in ten thousand,’ ‘perchance.’ Used grammatically in Chinese to mean ‘what if’ or ‘just in case.’ I think a ship called ‘The Perchance’ is perfect for a boy clinging to false hope.”

TL:DR; I don't rec Embers anymore, because I don't actually like the story anymore, and there are things about it that get worse the more I think on them. I've removed links to it and renamed Zuko's ship to "Wanyi" ("The Perchance") because our boy deserves a ship name that reflects his character arc.

#for the record if you ever find something kind of rancid in my fics #do please let me know #EX: I've rewritten scenes to be better Actual Blind Rep for Toph based on blind reader feedback #and I'm debating how hard it would be to ignore/re-write the canon issues of Water Tribe sexism (for the Southern Tribe at the least) #because that is a common complaint I see from the people who's RL cultures the Water Tribes was based on #probably I can do more interesting things with that going forward #in other words justice for Hama and Hahn #at least the show itself made Hama excellently complex #anyways back to doing actual writing #please no follow up questions #though I will say anyone who wants to update their own fics to use Wanyi (or any other name): go for it! #all you need to do is plop your chapters in a word editor and find/replace the ship name! it took about 40 minutes to do literally #all of my fics and I had some other editing to do besides! it'll be even quicker for you! #let's sink the Wani #avatar the last airbender #atla #Zuko

[actual-changeling]

I’m sorry if this is stirring things up as I really don’t mean it that way I’m just new into the fandom and getting a bit confused between posts.

I’ve seen a lot of people saying that people are switching Crowley and aziraphale’s personalities, perhaps to make aziraphale seem a bit more forgivable? Or just misunderstanding their characters entirely….im just finding it a bit hard to catch on to what people mean and what characteristics are being switched

It seems to me that aziraphales behaviour is quite inconsistent and confusing anyway 😅 (intentionally written that way)

I guess that’s what people are getting caught up in

You're not stirring up anything, don't worry!

I can definitely understand that for someone who didn't experience all the developments as they happened, it's hard to understand where we landed and why.

Everything that follows is my personal opinion and how I interpret the posts and discussions I am seeing. There are a few different kinds of topics:

some people "sided" with either Aziraphale or Crowley in the divorce and are treating anything that doesn't align with their side as wrong or outright offensive

a few of them are outright vilifying one or the other, going so far as claiming that they're abusive towards the other character

there are people excusing and justifying Aziraphale's behaviour in the final fifteen minutes, the final fifteen as they're commonly called, and are freeing him from any responsibility for his actions

then there are people who (imo for good reason) take issue with posts like that and that's how we get either respectful discussions or immature arguments, depends on who's doing the talking

if you happen to have some basic reading comprehension and have touched grass sometime this week you will probably find yourself with in the "we have nuanced opinions on complex issues and discuss them like adults" corner, which is my personal favourite

I want to add another, more... potentially inflammatory type of post, which is people 'defending' Aziraphale against accusations that people who 'hate Aziraphale and love Crowley' spread—but, and I am not lying or exaggerating, I have yet to come across ANY of those posts they claim exist.

Maybe it's my corner of the fandom, I don't know, but all I see is people vehemently defending Aziraphale and at times ruining both his and Crowley's character, but never any of the posts that supposedly sparked it. On top of that, the only hate I've gotten (which is a surprisingly large amount) is from people 'defending' Aziraphale against me because obviously I hate him and everything I do and say is against him. Go figure.

Aziraphale IS contradictory, it's what makes him hard to understand for some because he holds seemingly opposing views at the same time without settling on one or the other. Crowley can seem more forward or easily understood, but once you get down to it they're both complicated, layered characters you cannot break down to angel good and demon bad (which yes, is actually takes I see floating around more than I'd like).

#alex answers asks #alex talks good omens #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #good omens season 2 #go2 #aziracrow #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable husbands #ineffable wives #ineffable spouses #ineffable divorce #the final fifteen #good omens fandom

[kzmi-j]

Okay, so Wish SUCKED ASS, I think we can all agree on that. The concepts were a ton better than the actual movie, there was so much missed opportunities and ruined potential, and I'll said it many time and I'll say it again :

MAGNIFICO WAS A GREAT CHARACTER, and he had SO MUCH potential, and I'm SO angry, but I love him SO much.

The part about his family? Ruined potential, it could've been an insane backstory for him. And I feel like it created a huge plot hole in his character.

His wife turning against him? Ruined potential, the concept of the evil couple was amazing! Why didn't they stick with it, I don't know, but it sucks.

Him being the villain in the first place doesn't make any sense. He's not a villain, antagonist to Asha sure, but he isn't a bad guy at all. The point in all Disney movies is that every character says what they think when they sing. Even Hans in Frozen when he sang with Anna did throw some hints about his true intentions, but not Magnifico. I listen to At All Cost so many times, and there is not one hint that he was evil from the start.

In his mind there was a war coming to Rosas, he felt threatened, and he wanted to do his best to protect his people and they were still ungrateful. It's the whole point of This is the Thanks I Get?, he felt betrayed. The part that he's a narcissist? It's so irrelevant. It hasn't been mentioned once before (beside the "you're right, I am a handsome king." Can you blame him? He is handsome.), and they put it here to excuse their decision of making him a villain. 'Bou-hou Magnifico loves himself more than anyone else, that's why he's bad'. No? All he did during YEARS was to protect Rosas, and I couldn't agree more with him when he says that some wishes cannot be granted because they may be dangerous in the future. He thinks of his people over everything else, because he knows their wishes, and they don't. He protects them from themselves. But he doesn't destroy their dreams, he keeps the wishes safe and keeps their hopes up that one day their wish might be granted.

So, why didn't he grant Sabo's innocent wish, then? Because he felt pressured. Asha barely stepped into his office and asked him to grant her grandpa's wish. When he explained why he wouldn't grant it, she insisted. He cracked, and this one line made him the villain. "I decide what everyone deserves." Well, yeah? He's the King? And he has been a GOOD king until now.

Not to mention that he wasn't evil until he opened the book. Really, like I said, This is the Thanks I Get? is a bullshit song that justifies his 'evilness' and makes a giant plot hole, but in the end, it was just him panicking. His people are ungrateful and unhelpful, Rosas is still in danger and he's frustrated. He decides to take the book because it seems like the only choice left. You can clearly see the switch. He becomes happier, crazier, his emotions are out of control, because he's controlled by the book. From then on, Magnifico isn't himself, and THEN he is the villain. Not before. Only from here.

The people of Rosas are good. Magnifico included.

I'm a huge Magnifico defender as you can see, change my mind. He's my baby and I love him.

I didn't mean for it to be that long buuuut

#disney #disney wish #wish 2023 #king Magnifico #wish king magnifico #wish asha #queen amaya

[topgunreacts]

please share your thoughts on canon ice with the peanut gallery. character analysis i beg of you. this funky little guy has been shaking in my parlor like a sopping wet chihuahua and i cannot understand him by God. break him down for me. explain him.

what are your thoughts. feelings. complaints, concerns. rude remarks. who is Iceman what’s he about

Omg I'm so bad at these. Please take everything I say with a grain of salt. I will try my best. My real character dissertations are in my stories.

Thots

Tall

Moist

I don't give a shit what color his eyes are; it's running gag of mine (and only funny to me) to switch up his eye color between stories

Stop wearing sunglasses indoors

Great bone structure in the fingers

Fuckable but not by me

Misunderstood

Gum problem

So fucking tired

Incredibly bad at talking about his feelings. So bad. But god he tries his best to make Maverick feel better after Goose goes to the Untitled Game in the sky.

Too smart for his own good

Afraid of emails

Home of sexual

Every time I give him anxiety, I also give him a huge cock as a consolation prize. It's what he deserves.

Could use a good consensual caning. He could learn from Chance Engagement Ice.

Goes to bed at 9 PM

From California or Hawaii or Michigan or Canada or somewhere, a place definitely, with a location that is real

Is NOT a rule follower. Look at his fucking hair. He says YO to Viper. He is unapologetically Doing His Own Thing. Werk.

Concerns

Iceman is regarded as a shallow villain-antagonist by many people. This is very silly. Just because Maverick is The Hero doesn't mean he's right about everything or that what he does is justified. Each and every time Ice calls Maverick out on his behavior, he's (1) correct and (2) motivated by a desire to go home alive at the end of each day. Maverick IS dangerous. He IS unsafe. His behavior SHOULD be regarded with suspicion re: his intentions by his supposed allies. These people are flying around in high-speed metal triangles. Have you ever seen the end result of a mid-air collision between aircraft that AREN'T going mach speeds? Here is an example! [image depicts plane crash debris, no bodies, but...nobody survived this] [TCAS wasn't invented until after the 1956 Grand Canyon collision!!!!!] The DC-7 was the faster jet in the incident, with a max speed of 406 mph (653 km/h, 353 kn). Those little regional jets you might have flown on for short domestic hops can hit speeds of 600 mph in the modern era. A Tomcat, remember, can go supersonic. Ice would become confetti. I'd fucking say something, too!

At no point does Ice come across as cruel when he makes these comments about Maverick's performance, also. He shit talks (cough cough bullshit) but it always struck me as standard issue locker room talk crap. It's not Personal. He's not trying to throw Maverick off his game or anything. Ice isn't there to make FRIENDS he's there to WIN is at TOPGUN ready to do his job and kick ass. And he also, you know, wants to survive to graduation without getting slammed [aerially] by the guy who thinks it's fun to break aviation regulations over an ACTIVE AIRFIELD. People like to compare Ice to Hangman in terms of attitude. A lot. And Ice is not even remotely like Hangman. Asking Maverick whose side he's on after Maverick demonstrates careless piloting--behavior that directly endangers Ice and others--is not the same thing as bringing up somebody's dead dad as like, a dig.

Feelings

Spoonable.

Val Kilmer's little mole is cute.

Complaints

Needs more gay

Needs more lines

Needs more ass shots like the ones Miranda got in Mass Effect 2*

Rude Remarks

Take off your fucking shades in tha club, you absolute square.

*(Did you know the person who made the ME2 mod to remove Miranda's ass shots made a mod for the legendary edition to re-add the ass shots? The studio took out the ass shots on their own for legendary. To be modern and corporate-approved feminist or something. And this modder was like no. Only I can do that. They took Miranda's ass out of this world and they're going to put it back in.)

Conclusion

pussy shot.

#iceman kazansky #top gun #in depth character analysis worthy of academic journals #ask #iceman #top gun iceman #top gun iceman kazansky #top gun shitposting #feel free not to have opinions about this post I certainly don’t

[ironwoodprotectionsquad]

Okay so that last addition by bad food sells burgers to the ask I made got a bit heated and I think was a misassumption thinking that I think it’s wrong for people to call things and say how they affect their feelings and how it negatively shows their life so let me put it this way cause I want to leave you be about this, I am sorry for bothering you about it. In their justified passion to explain their examples really really just more so confused so I’m partially lost again.

Also please I am not saying any of this really in regards to Ironwood himself when asking about “limited” writing rules of disabled characters because that ship had long sailed and did not apply to Ironwood and was the creator intent.

So to swing this back around:

If they Ironwood “throwing away his humanity” was not based on him adding prosthetics but solely about him pushing down his emotions so that he could make the hard choices that no one else would, would that have been fine for his character.

That’s what I’m essentially getting at in terms of writing a disabled character in such a manner. Is this a case in which the word humanity needs to be switched with emotion or a case where a disabled character should just as a rule not be used.

That’s really at the heart at the new turn of this topic. Not on Ironwood or Penny or Yang, RT fucked up already. I agree with everything you have said in the past of your blog that has said as such.

How and when can you have a disabled character be a villain. Would it be like Tyrian Callows or Vader where they are villains prior to any injuries that would make them disabled.

Once more this is the last time I will ever bother you with this topic. As someone who is working on their writing and wants to make sure they do good by certain characters.This is not meant as sarcasm or a means over confrontation on representation and Rooster Teeth being Rooster Teeth.

I cannot speak for badfoodsellsburgers and their intentions really that’s more of something they can discuss if they have any sort of desire to. Tone and meaning over text can be extremely difficult to understand so I know from experience it can very easily lead To misunderstandings. You’re not bothering me I’m happy to talk, this particular topic can be emotional and given how complex these issues are can be hard to discuss without a full picture of the stories you want to tell and the themes you’re trying to convey.

Specifically for a disabled character, an arc about them pushing down their emotions is a minefield to put it bluntly. With disabled characters, their disabilities are apart of them. You can't really separate them from their disabilities because it is apart of them. With James specifically his trauma and PTSD are fueling his decision to leave and his desire to bury his emotions and make the hard choices no one wants to make. Villainizing that is villainizing his PTSD and trauma. He is having a PTSD reaction when he shuts down emotionally that is a large part of his character along with Mettle, a passive semblance he also cannot control. His response to Salem is fueled by his PTSD, which likely came about as a result from whatever event got him his prosthetics.

I think the bigger question once again is; why do you want to write disabled villains? Why do they need to be disabled? Are any of the heroes disabled? What message are you wanting for your story and why does it require a disabled villain? We have so many disabled villains I don't see why another is so necessary. We live in a world that is extremely hostile to disabled people, people make cruel and heartless "jokes" about them and no one seems to care. Even if one where to write a story the "right" way to have a disabled person be a villain....it would still feel wrong. For so long media has demonized and stripped people with any form of disability of their humanity so wanting to make more disabled villains I don't think adds anything, because people see people with disabilities as less then able bodied people, what does it add to have more disabled villains that able bodied villains cannot add? That is what I am struggling to understand why do you want a disabled villain?

It's just so easy to write an ableist story that perpetuates harmful tropes and ideologies, and its just....exhausting. I don't know how else to explain this to be honest, I just think writing a disabled villain is just too complicated to try and do correctly because of how many ableist and harmful tropes exist. Trope TV page has some extremely specific tropes that exist because of how many exist and trying to navigate it is just too difficult and too easy to accidentally cause more harm.

#rwde #james ironwood #ironwood protection squad #pro james ironwood #pro ironwood #general ironwood #general dadmiral #dadmiral ironwood

[melvisik]

Aziraphale's Choice aka If this turns out to be too controversial, I'll take it down...

Since Good Omens season 2 dropped, public opinion of Aziraphale has pendulumed from frustration to sympathy in a matter of days, and it’s completely understandable. At first, most of us were more than likely experiencing the same as Crowley in that moment – that sinking feeling of ‘Oh god no, no he didn’t. This cannot be happening. Aziraphale, please be smarter than that.’ We were devastated, we were angry, we were disgusted at Aziraphale’s choice to essentially abandon Crowley. Justifiably so, to be honest.

Then came the switch, when we got a chance to breathe and realize that Aziraphale’s actions weren’t entirely unreasonable. He wants to make a toxic environment a better place, not just for humanity, but for Crowley as well. While he does still tend to view things too much in black and white, it’s no crime to want your world in a better state. And this isn’t as if Aziraphale is losing Crowley forever, at least not in his mind. Come Hell or high-water, Crowley always shows up again. Especially if there's even the slightest chance Aziraphale's walking into a risky situation.

Though this time just might be a step too far... However, another argument has often been made that I'd like to emphasize here: Aziraphale is, essentially, in a cult. Now it's a cult of a different color to be sure, as he hasn’t been forced into performing lascivious acts, or tortured, or imprisoned (as far as I know…), but he has been an integral part of an organization based around a single theological/idealogical idea - that his every waking moment should be dedicated to serving the will of an ineffable Higher Power, without question or complaint and in complete accordance with the demands of his superiors. In short - he's got major religious trauma. Getting out of a cult is frickin hard. (So much respect and support to those who have broken out of cults, and to those still trapped, I sincerely hope you find your way and peace someday.) Aziraphale has the idea of the righteousness of Heaven ingrained into his very being, and that can be extremely challenging to let go of, even if you see the consistent wrongness right in front you. Aziraphale sees it as being problematic because of some systematic flaws.

Crowley on the other hand, who has been literally rejected and hurt from this organization, sees the system itself as inherently flawed. Ok, you know what? Let’s go for it and use a plant metaphor, because this is Good Omens and it’s what we do: Aziraphale sees the tree as being sick because of a few bad apples, but he is attached to that tree. Crowley is already off and sees the tree as being rotten at the root; he's ready to sprout his own roots and be his own tree. Aziraphale is situated and comfortable in his environment, while Crowley is more or less accustomed to being displaced. For instance, Crowley loses the flat, but they take their plants with them - Crowley takes care of them, giving them what they need to survive (though they don’t exactly let them be ‘lazy’ about it).

Aziraphale keeps his bookshop and takes care of books, which requires considerably less effort. And although Aziraphale eventually leaves his books, he’s going back to a familiar environment under the banner of improving it. In Aziraphale's mind, Heaven still represents all the good deeds humanity chooses to do, even if Heaven and humanity have shown very different brands of ‘goodness’ (and a worse kind of badness when it comes to Hell for that matter, humans doing something so much worse than Hell could have imagined). And of course going to Hell would be bad since they're the bad guys (I mean, completely ignoring Beelzebub as another demon capable of love, but who's counting?), but Heaven is a different matter, right? There are people like ‘Jim’ and Muriel who seem well-intentioned, so it can’t be all bad, can it? It can be fixed, can't it? An interesting question that many people asked in the first season – does Aziraphale realize that Armageddon, the War between Heaven and Hell, means that he’ll probably have to kill Crowley? Or at least that Crowley very likely will be killed, since he’s so sure that Heaven will win? Besides this part…

…it doesn’t seem to register in his head. It could be argued that even Gabriel and Beelzebub seem to acknowledge this, not wanting to start up another Armageddon and risk destroying each other. But why not Aziraphale? Sometimes, Aziraphale reminds me of the kind of person who smiles at you and goes, “You don’t seem like such a bad sort, it’s such a shame you’re going to Hell. I’ll pray for you.” *cough*Iforgiveyou*cough* You know who sounds sorta like that?

As I said, cults are difficult leave. They’re often even dangerous and vindictive towards ‘deserters’ (Book of Life anyone?) Aziraphale does need to finally see the light, but at the moment he’s so blinded by Heaven’s. The kicker is, it’s something he must want. Nobody else, not even Crowley, can make that decision for him. Crowley can't rescue him from this. Crowley can only help him, give him guidance or be there to catch him if he… well, hopefully metaphorically falls. This has to be Aziraphale’s choice. But we all knew that. So...

It’s just hard for him, y’all. P.S. There's so many beautiful analyses on Aziraphale's choice, but one I would highly recommend (it's also a bit of a different take):

#good omens #good omens 2 spoilers #sorry if I'm flipflopping with Crowley's pronouns #not always sure what to call them #aziraphale #crowley #crowley x arizaphale #good omens 2 #neil gaiman #go 2 spoilers #go2 spoilers #david tennant #michael sheen #supreme archangel aziraphale #ineffable divorce

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

I really don't want to seem like a terrible person and I'm still trying to better understand the topic, but I want to talk about my situation with Entrapta. When I was watching She-ra, I didn't know that she was autistic. I didn't know much about autism at all. And I was genuinely annoyed that Entrapta was behaving quite childishly, that she had so easily switched to the side of evil, and so on. I had no idea why she was doing this. Only after understanding the issue a little, I was able to justify for myself many of her actions, and I felt uncomfortable with the actions of the princesses, although initially I understood their irritation very well. And I think it would be better to She-Ra to show the problem of ignorance about autism by making it so that the princesses did not know about Entrapta's autism, did not know how it affects her, like it was with me. Initially, they would have seen Entrapta as a person who just doesn't care about them, so they also didn't really want to get close to her. But having learned from her that she sincerely wants to be useful to them because she just wants to be friends, but because is difficult for her to understand other people she cannot express the way princesses are used to, they would sincerely apologize and start looking for ways to get closer to Entrapta, realizing that she is different from them, but does not wish harm. And it would definitely be worth removing many of the disgusting moments from the show (such as the moment with the leash) too. Yes, it would probably be quite naive and childish, but the whole She-ra is not mature in general.

Maybe I forgot some moments because I have no desire to rewatch this mess. And I'm sure that ideally it would be better to show an initially normal and adequate attitude to Entrapta, but I just wanted to tell about the situation from a slightly different angle.

And I'm very sorry if I made any mistakes in understanding autism and said something wrong, I just recently started to understand this topic and still may not fully understand

don't worry, you're not a terrible person! it's already a good thing that you're willing to learn more about autism and correct yourself if necessary, not many people do that! and i get your point, i think it's natural for a lot of allistic people to get irritated at autistic people, because they don't know much about autism.

if the princesses were just kinda rude to entrapta, i wouldn't think much of it. but putting someone on a leash and dragging them around is a horrible thing to do to anyone, regardless of how annoying they are. there were a lot of other annoying characters in the show (like seahawk) who wasn't treated the same way entrapta was. it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

and yes, it would have definitely been a better choice to let the princesses realize their mistakes and try to be better friends to entrapta. but then again, spop sucks at writing good character development and healthy relationships. sure, mermista is kinda nice to entrapta in the end but that's only because entrapta proved to be useful, not because they like her for who she is.

this show is really not as progressive as it claims, and you'll start to see the cracks once you watch it with a more critical eye.

#spop critical #spop #spop salt #spop discourse #spop criticism #she ra #she ra criticism #she ra critical #she ra discourse

[danmeiconfession]

genre conventions anon

So many straw men in the comments. From claiming I want people to stop analyzing the book,to mentioning authors' comments,which I never did,to the usual "but wei wuxian doesn't deserve to be a hero either!". also something about him bottoming ? It's quite amazing how you can do complex textual analysis but fail to understand a simple ask. I believe that it's a reading in bad faith problem rather than a literacy one,but who knows.

Ok,first of all,if your textually grounded analysis has you reaching the conclusion "jgy is not comfortable working with xue yang" after reading the villainous friends extra,then your argument that you only care about text is null. That's exactly why I say you are lying with your whole chests. I'm not going to send a wall of examples but there are at least 5 moments,in the actual text of the novel(which you claim to care about),which point to the opposite: except for the literal throwing in the cage,jgy is quite an active participant to the cruelty that happens there. Cherry-picking just two scenes: the tongue tea rejection and one moment of jgy calming his nerves,and omitting almost the entire extra because it does not match your agenda is what I mean by intellectual dishonesty. It's not 'thoughful analysis' or 'defying genres'.

Of course the classic defense is gonna be "but wei wuxian!!". That's why genre conventions matter and why I made the first post. If I pick up a book titled the grandmaster of demonic cultivation that is about a guy raising corpses,I expect the guy to be demonic and clearly not a pure angel. I already have preferences of the types of characters I will root for,because I know what genre I am CHOOSING (out of hundreds of genres available). Yes,there is plenty of xianxia with actual evil or far more morally gray protagonists. The difference is that xianxia also often contains characters like Wei Wuxian or Xiao Xingchen. Those would not be given such a strong voice in a more classic lit genre,as they would only be described as naive fools(both) or unhinged violent madmen(wwx). In a different genre,it would not be at the centre of their narratives that these two are,at their core,idealists who want to help people.

In the case of MDZS,I know before reading which type of character flaws I will enjoy vs the ones I will not. Killing 1000 cultivators and torturing Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao might be worse crimes in real life,but in this fictional world,for me these actions are emotionally justified forms of revenge or self-defense,enjoyable to watch and far preferable to something like Jin Guangyao enabling Xue Yang, or Xue Yang tricking Xiao Xingchen. Basically,evil I cannot personally enact in real life VS. evil I am capable of. I also chose the novel with a main character I might like,it's not that I like him just because of his protagonist halo.

Also because of genre conventions,if I pick up Succession to watch,I will not complain about people being duplicitous or manipulative. There,I would root for the Jin Guangyao-like characters,and find them heroic. But to look at something like mdzs,unapologetic in its belief that following your principles MATTERS,even if all it gets you is being cast off from society, and complain that the hero and villain should be switched is not reading the room at all... If you switch them it would become a different novel,and I wouldn't love it so much.

I actually have a love-hate relationship with JGY,and I'm quite content with letting both those emotions flow at the same time. More emotional enrichment for me. But when reading something like MDZS,I rather want to experience the imaginary fantastic evil of torturing the killer of your entire family,instead of experiencing and empathizing with the banal evil of JGY's lies. I want to see how a two-faced politician shielding a criminal who tortures innocents for fun is finally exposed. I also feel more strongly for the characters that will break than for the ones that will bend and survive at all costs. I see these 'I had no choice!!' JGY-like guys every day. For once,I want to be allowed to NOT empathize with them.

Also,coming into a foreign country genre with established tropes and claiming your western interpretation is how you make the genre cooler and better and that the author is irrelevant...yeah. That part especially does make me sick. I tried to ignore this but the venn diagram of people living in the US and those who position themselves as authority on what FEELINGS fans should have about a villain(only reasonable cold logical analysis allowed because otherwise you are the purity police or however you call it),has some significant overlap after all.

What you in your US American ignorance won't get,is that your culturally-specific redeemability discourse is irrelevant to me. I DO NOT care who is morally pure and who is morally evil on some abstract 'rational' scale. I am reading this book,in this specific genre,for my own emotional enrichment and catharsis. Talking about it as if I'm about to be graded on how morally neutral or empathetic to antagonists I am,is not what I'm here for. That's why I said open up your mind. Not everyone approaches fiction from an 'undergrad literary analysis course' point of view,and your culture is not universal.

.

#jin guangyao #wei wuxian #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #xue yang #xiao xingchen #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation

[fierceawakening]

@notthateither (I think that's your username) I keep meaning to come back to your post on what we agree with and what we don't, and I keep getting distracted by various shiny things. So I'll just say:

Starting off, if you're cool with people transitioning even though you don't understand it and maybe even find it weird or, hell, maybe even a bit scary, then I'm cooler with you than I am with a lot of people. I believe creating the least oppressive world possible involves giving people freedom to make decisions for what we think are bad reasons, so If you're doing that, we're broadly aligned in political terms even if I don't like some of what you believe. (An example for me here? I'm deeply troubled by "I wouldn't have an abortion if my fetus were "normal," but I would if there was evidence of disability." I think that's very, very often going to be influenced by growing up in an ableist society and is rarely going to be about realistic expectations. But a world in which women are forced to carry to term is a more oppressive one than one where they are not, so I cannot stop someone even if I'm 100% certain that is her only reason.)

But as for where our beliefs differ and why, I'd say the core of it is that radical feminism often asserts things about men and/or males (not defining these here although to me they are different; it's not relevant to the point I'm making) are particularly dangerous, threatening, or destructive. I worry that singling out a group of humans and calling them the source of destructiveness is wrongheaded, and in fact the first step on a very long yellow brick road to fascist thinking.

It's not just that I think trans women aren't men, that there's a relevant difference between sex characteristics and social role (though I do indeed think that.)

It's that even if I DID literally see trans women as "males who wish to be women," and this switch as something that people can only sort of do and never manage completely, I still don't see how that's something inherently wrong to want, or that there's something suspicious about people wanting it. It's maybe a little weirder than "I was a stamp collector, but now I want to be a skydiver," but it's that sort of thing. There's nothing inherently untoward about it.

Body modification should be undergone after a great deal of thought. But most humans fly by the seat of their pants a lot, much more than I generally do or generally understand. I used to think it was my job to warn them against this, but... now I don't. People who live high risk, high reward lives are allowed to do so. All that's necessary is that they acknowledge and own the risks they take, and not blame it on other people if those risks are presented to them truthfully and without spin.

(And hell, I'm one of the most cautious, risk averse humans I have ever met, and MY medical-reasons, justified-to-most modifications went wildly wrong. Sometimes stuff really is just life being fucked up and not making sense.)

Why do we have gender? I don't know. I suspect it's a mix of nature and nurture, social factors and vague, difficult to pin down biological ones too. I don't know that I'll ever know for sure.

What I do know is that the oppressive stuff I've seen seems to happen, and really mess people up, when they're demanded to fit into one box and not another. I'm not sure what abolishing gender would mean or would look like, or how we'd make sure we do it justly, but I do know that letting people be is something I can do right here and now, and something I can encourage others to do, and a thing that seems, from the evidence we have, to help most of the time.

Which is why I'm not... well, I'd say why I'm not "gender critical" but it feels very weird to think of myself as not critical of gender when what I mean is the much weaker not sure we should abolish it. So instead of saying why I'm not GC I'll phrase it as "why I'm not a radical feminist."

Fair?

[dianititties]

so i haven't been able to stop thinking about AvM mianite crossover au. take my random doodles while i was thinking about it, varying in quality. my ramblings are under the cut >:3

OKAY SO

purple is SO fucking andor esque. like. got the gender swag for it, the wings, the princely aesthetic, the tragic balance, the fuckin DADDY ISSUES--

*coughs* okay so uh. here we go.

out of the color gang, here's their godly alignments:

Green - Ex-Mianitee, now Ianitee. not because of anything bad happening, they just eventually found their own balance and that was right for them. (plus it does not hurt that their bestie is an ianitee but shhhhhh that's not why they switched) though i am tempted to give them wizard status on principal alone. but the Aesthetic.

Blue - i honestly couldn't think of an alignment for blue? like. i get mianitee vibes from her. but not in the way that any of the canon mianitees acted. except maybe like, dec, but less priestly. blue's just vibing out here!! though it will DEFINITELY be challenged by s2 mianite.

Yellow - Also Mianitee- though she's definitely more into it than Blue. redstone is tricky business and follows many rules and yellow knows the bounds and sticks to them, like in the nether sleeping short. unlike a certain someone...

Red - Dianitee, but only in s2. I cannot see Red willfully siding with Dianite in s1? I think Red would prefer to be godless- though aligned with the Mianitee and Ianitee sides in s1. also he probably got FUCKED UP in some way, relating to divinity? because herobrine analogous thing? maybe the tank of judgement taken to the extreme? idk.

Orange/TSC - Ianitee but vibes from both mianite and dianite. Got main character energy, they've gotta! Plus relating to how TSC was prepared to stay hidden from Alan out of fear until meeting the CG, and upon seeing them get deleted, went OFF- that is ianitee divine retribution right there if i've ever seen it. ianitees aren't just balance, they are justice.

Okay moving onto the misc. others-

King - Miantee, but like, that gets tested at the end of s2 of mianite. He can't say that he's upset to lose his faith, but it feels like something he can't fill back up has been ripped out of him. He's done horrible things for his god, for himself, to others. also i gave him a fun custom variant of his staff for this au because i think the significance of killing the wither as a test of strength in s1 was very neat and should be explored more. though he wouldn't be in s1 world probably. hm. ANYWAY--

Chosen/TCO - Godless. So fucking godless. And proud of it. Well, not proud to be godless necessarily, but vehemently against forming bonds with the gods. Ex-Mianitee, then joined Dianite during the time he was with Dark, but then left Dianite's side after realizing "oh wow we're using this to justify violence and hurting people, using our own pain as reason to give other innocents more, that's kinda fucked up." Has been godless since, and has no sway to try out worshipping Ianite either.

Dark/TDL - DIANITEE. DIANITEE. DIANITEE. Always from Conception has been a Dianitee. Chaos flows through her veins, corrupting every inch of him. Destruction follows, taking a deep hold in him. Dark will have what she wants, and what she wants is for the ones who hurt him and Chosen to pay. What, she's hurting other innocent people in the process? They should have just gotten out of the way. ...Maybe one day, she can see the other side of chaos- the kinder, simpler side. Maybe one day. But that day isn't today, as much as Chosen wishes it was. (Also has a hair clip given to him by Chosen. Hasn't stopped wearing it since.)

Victim, who's not in this PICTURE - Mianitee. Like. No doubt given Rocket Corp. He may have a long strike of cruelty in him, but he's going to go about it in the most efficient, orderly way possible, instilling it in everyone who follows him.

What would be the plot here? Uhhhhh who knows! I don't even know if the gods would stay like, minecraft gods, or stick figures or smth. The mianite in the picture was just for funnies.

#animation vs minecraft #mianite #animation vs animator #ill throw that one in here bc tdl/tco/vic are in this au #very much inspired by keys post abt purple and andor getting along #no ships all platonic! some are just closer than others

[kzscarcadeau]

03/9/24

technically an update from yesterday but it’s 1 am right now lmao

Worked on some pages

Fixed some older design sheets

i have made a decision that sets me back quite a bit but it will save me a significant amount of time in the long run so i feel less bad about it

i restarted. again. i was going back to look at some old pages and there were quite a few weird continuity errors (ex. line sizing, line colours, character placement etc) that i just couldn’t fix because i get rid of the file as i finish them to save space. there’s also a bigger reason i wanted to, which is a problem ive run into several times while working on this project:

colour. i am so incredibly bad at picking colours for non-painted artworks that it’s embarrassing 🥲 i just can’t do it!! and it takes me so long and procreates fill bucket just doesn’t work properly so i’m doing 2 things:

- switching the comic to black and white

- going back to my drawing tablet and using krita as the art program

the reason why i used my ipad for so long was because i wanted to be able to work on it wherever i went, but procreate has so many setbacks that has wasted so much time that the portability isn’t enough to justify using the program. i cannot go as loosely as id like to be with my linework in procreate as i can on pc and the fill bucket never working is such a big reason why i’ve struggled to work consistently on this project. these changes will eliminate a large majority of my problems when i’m making this comic so there’s very little chance i end up restarting again. my only problems would just be hating my old art but what can you do 🤷‍♀️

not really update related, just kinda yapping utc

i used to care a lot about getting this comic out and making hype earlier into the project. thats what all creators usually go through. trying to push things out while they’re relevant so it gets more reach. after working on this comic for almost 3 years, im doing this more for me than for anything else. it’s so incredibly self indulgent that it already caters to a rather small demographic, and im fine with that. that’s how i’ve always worked. i did whatever i wanted and if people didn’t like it, i didn’t care. they can go find other media they like.

i used to be worried about not getting this comic out when this ship was super popular. not to say that it isn’t still, but there was a prime time and i was trying to get there within that time period. obviously that didn’t happen but whatever 🤷‍♀️ i’m taking the time to make sure i like what im doing with this project. who knows when i’ll finish it. but i want to make sure i do. just to say that i did it. this story has evolved and grown alongside me and i can’t wait for a day where i can put it out into the world. i’m okay with the possibility of my friends being the only readers. as long as it exists someday and im happy with what ive accomplished, i’m okay with the time ill need to get there.

[airin-lavellan]

my brain agonizes me every day about latching onto rezaren and here's the thing. here's the thing I dislike most about how he was written: he was an inconsistent and rushed character. the inconsistency was the worst part and I could go on forever.

he starts as the morally questionable guy right? the show leads you to believe he's grey in morality- willing to fight a spirit for what he believes is right, manipulative but still caring. the first major hint of the backstory/flashbacks we see is rezaren crying. crying asking what miriam has done in the bloody scene. and that hits like a "holy shit there's more to it

then they open up with the brother/sister thing when they finally meet. still incredibly interesting- a villain who platonically loves the mc? who cares about them but in the wrong way and does the wrong things because of it but overarchingly loves them? amazing.

then in episode four, they build it up. the flashbacks point to rezaren having an idealistic idea of their past and miriam being rightfully very angry. we see it from his eyes, them laughing and playing together. then we see what rezaren ignored. he deflects this by saying he was a child and couldn't protect them- a fair point if we infer his mother was abusive towards, which we can infer from the harrowing "no ammosine has failed" part. he could apologize. he does not. miriam brings up the harrowing as her trump card- extremely strange to me in terms of narration because it portrays rezaren in a...not bad light? his mom is the aggressor, he's just shown as younger and weak and helpless. it doesn't match the buildup

there is a very clear snapping point where redemption is no longer an option for him: when he loses his temper at miriam. the switch is jarring, very jarring, at first, but it's okay. it would have been preferred if he was redeemed but it's not necessary, he could still be an amazing pure evil character.

...and then he's not. he goes far too quickly into too much evil- they set him up for a descent to madness and then go from one scene of "i won't use blood magic tassia don't worry" to "watch me publicly kill this guy on my own team".

when his character is really messed up is the finale. when he decides to go super sayan racist mode and be like "i'm going to enslave you bitch kys" but is STILL TRYING TO RESURRECT NEB. perhaps he's delusional but they don't explain that!! if he's angry with miriam now, if he's fully evil now, his character motivation is gone. it cannot be "i want to resurrect my 'brother' and have a happy family again" because if he's going to turn on miriam in this way he should have no reason to keep trying with the circulum.

the show had so many places it could have solidified him as a villain- a true villain like he was supposed to look like at the end. they could have, say, shown him mistreating miriam or slaves. or shown him owning slaves. because we don't have any idea if the slaves in the summer palace are his- and they're probably not because he doesn't even live in that city. the palace is in Nessum, and he explicitly tells Tassia "don't worry queen i can't keep doing evil blood magic study because soon I have to go back to Minrathous".

they could have made him a descent into madness character- which is totally thrown off by the whole "hey don't get too deep into blood magic" "*kills people*" swapup. so now people can basically paint things however they want- because a lot of the "proof" for him being a certain way is inferences. justified, reasonable inferences, but inferences nevertheless and the show is just badly paced. and so we have people differing from "if you like rezaren you're a slaver" to "actually his enslavement was good and miriam is the real villian" and it's just. aagg. they were all good and bad characters!! liking a fictional character does not mean you agree with them. agony agony agony. anyways sorry for my 9 paragraph essay in your ask box but I am Tormented By Thots and your rezaren post reminded me of the queercoded little man who would call me slurs if I ever breathed the same air as him (he has 55 limp wrists and two arms. and it's no coincidence the show censored the only heterosexual kiss him and tassia have to be fruity at least just a bit)

Wow first of all thank you for taking the time to read my post and giving me your insights. I was fully viewing this in terms of what we see in the show but reading this, I must say a lot of aspects of how he was written also came into play. I loved the show and it's characters and I think it's biggest flaw is it's length since a lot of things had to be rushed and couldn't get explored on a deeper level.

He is definitely presented as a rather grey character and I think it's thanks to all of these sudden shifts that the fandom is very divided, since we didn't get to explore more about him and his other motivations or actions in the past we can merely judge him by what we see, and only what we are shown. From the start he did seem a bit manipulative, hiding true intentions behind the so called kindness, yet as the show progressed I couldn't help rooting for him, like you said: the harrowing scene doesn't show him in a bad light. He was completely helpless and in danger himself, the choice to use Neb was his mother's and I do believe she was also abusive to him. Sure not in the same way as Miriam got abused but you can see how fearful he was. When they were kids he was taught that slavery was normal and okay, yet we see an adult that wants to change that, he recognizes his mistakes.

The snapping did feel rushed and out of nowhere, and you're right. I hadn't noticed how conflicted his motivations are during the show. Perhaps it is indeed flawed writing but I think if we can find a logical explanation, it would point to the circulum itself. Tassia openly says that the thing is changing Rezaren, and she has known him for a while. Again, we haven't seen anything else from his past so nothing we can really base ourselves on. He seems to know blood magic and as far as we know he was always in control using it. Why did it change now? I blame the circulum, mixed of course with his desires being frustrated. Miriam was algo blinded by rage, both were equally stubborn and wanted to do something yet they sought a different purpose with different means and I can love and appreciate both. I just indeed dislike the discussion about Rezaren being a slaver, because imo he definitely isn't.

[arcsin27]

Justifying to myself why the narrative foils are who I think they are using the themes I identified in that other post.

Keep in mind 1. My memory can be hazy 2. Im not the best at criticism, characterization, or theme analysis. I’m kinda just vibin

Maki (P1): Escape - Although it was technically Kandori’s doing, the alternate reality was created by Maki. It was her ideal world, an internal place she could retreat to to escape her bleak life. She represents the idea that running and hiding - to the point of escaping life entirely and wishing to die - is acceptable until the party helps her realize the errors in this way of thinking. I’d bet Kandori could fit this theme too to some degree but I straight up can’t remember :(

Jun (P2IS): Dreams - Jun’s entire character revolves around dreams. This isn’t a bad thing; the main party is very similar in this regard. The main problem comes from his methodology. Instead of believing in obtaining dreams through hard work and dedication, he instead grants them like wishes. The party, especially Maya, teaches him that this cheapens them. Secondary issues include his ability to steal dreams, leaving people as empty husks that fade away without accomplishing anything, and his granting of destructive dreams that are detrimental to those around the dreamer.

Sudou(?) (P2EP): Acceptance - So I’m not really sure about this one… I never really thought about who the antagonist of p2ep is. Doesn’t help that I didn’t understand and don’t remember the plot :|. If I recall, Tatsuya Sudou is a major antagonist because he could not accept his situation. He hated his father and his life, and upon learning of the Other Side, he could not accept his reality either. The party struggles with acceptance as well, but while they learned to cope and move forward, Tatsuya dies still wishing things were different, even if they could never be. I’m assuming Tatsuzou is also a good fit but I deadass cannot remember a thing about him lmao maybe others will have a proper answer for this entry

Ryoji (P3): Death - Yeah yeah Ikutsuki and even Takaya probably fit better but still. I like him more lol. But he still fits regardless. The theme of the game is basically to disregard or overcome death, right? Well Ryoji is death itself. Plus, Makoto is withdrawn and shuts the world out, whereas Ryoji is open and friendly and sees the beauty in life. Then they switch. Makoto wants to hold onto life and defeat death, but Ryoji tells him it is impossible. He becomes inevitability and ignorance while Makoto becomes rebellion and openness. But also, since Ikutsuki and Takaya want to bring about death and blindness to the world they’d also work pretty well. Maybe it’s because they get dealt with quickly that I don’t see them very well in this position? Or because Ryoji is more perfectly tailored to Makoto than the others? Or maybe I just like Ryoji lol

Adachi (P4): Truth - Ngl I didn’t finish this one so I don’t actually know much about Adachi, sorry :( I know he is tailored for Narukami, like Ryoji is for Makoto, so just with that he’s basically confirmed to be the narrative foil in my eyes lmao. From what I’ve heard, and from the wild guesses I’ve made, I’d think that Adachi is the type of foil that’s identical to the other instead of opposite? He is living his true self, and he doesn’t care what others think of this decision. Narukami also chooses to be his true self of course, that’s the point of the game. I’m guessing the difference is that Narukami chose kindness as his truth while Adachi chose hatred? Idk I’ll need help with this one

Akechi (P5): Rebellion - Akechi is the narrative foil. Do I have to explain it? The game beats you over the head with it no matter the version. Chosen to be opposing forces by god, “two sides same coin,” constantly comparing themselves to each other, etc. The tricky thing is how exactly they foil each other. Just a minute ago I was explaining Akechi to someone and out of nowhere I said that his sense of justice serves himself while Ren’s serves others, so there’s that. Wait it’s rebellion shit uh… well same deal, Ren rebels against adults in power to help others while Akechi rebels against adults in power to help himself. It could also be because Ren’s rebellion is meant to fix things and heal society while Akechi’s is meant to destroy and give him vengeance. They’ve both been abused and heals down by adults and society, but while Ren rebels against those who wronged him, Akechi just sort of lashes out and anyone. Plus, Akechi is actually not rebelling for most of the game, but is under the strict control of a said adult in power. Meanwhile Ren is completely free, rebelling against adults instead of being under their thumb. I’d like to note I only have so many options because, like I said, I’m not the best analyzer. Each of them sound accurate to me but idk their characters and the themes well enough to choose one ;-;

#long post #persona series #persona #meta analysis #narrative foil #narrative foils #maki sonomura #Jun #tatsuya sudou #ryoji #adachi #akechi

[destinygoldenstar]

Total Drama Danganronpa Island Chapter 4 Deadly Life Spoilers:

I genuinely think that this moment, and the exact line “I’ll make you walk the dock of hell”, will remain as one of the most SAVAGE and SATISFYING things I have written.

Regardless of how you feel about Courtney, this is a W I feel she deserves as her revenge on Chris.

Chris is the definition of a ‘love to hate’ character, and an irredeemable monster who hurts so many people here just for the sake of satisfying himself and getting entertained. He has proven over and over again that he has no intent to change at all, no matter what gets thrown at him to destroy his image, which is now crippled by the killing game and the Mastermind’s council being fed up with him. So what does he do when one of the kids commits suicide? The very kid that was making his endless games possible? Use it as an opportunity to let out his frustrations. As well as, you know, poke fun at the kys victim. (This is a bad guy doing that. Please never do this.)

The suicide victim so happens to be Courtney’s best and closest friend. So all of this behavior puts her over the edge and she finally snaps.

After all the torment that Chris had indulged her in, robbed them of a peaceful life, robbed Courtney herself and screwed over a moral high ground for the sake of himself and not what she felt was justified… she cannot take it anymore.

So when she sees the opportunity in the rules to kill Chris, she takes it. And she ends the unfairness and unjust once and for all.

Notably, shes not doing this to save Bridgette. She doesn’t really care. She’s doing this to kill Chris. (She even says such in the chapter)

I rewatched the show, specifically with Courtney’s scenes, and yeah, that sounds about right for her to do if she had that chance. At least that’s how I view her character… who I felt I neglected a bit since Chapter 1, so now she’s a spotlight here and she gets a W all to herself. Courtney stans can get some food.

Burn in hell Chris McLean. Walk the dock you put so many teenagers on, teenagers that were corrupted by you.

You will not be missed.

And if you’re asking if I was ever planning on killing Bridgette in this execution and there was some sort of switch: No.

You better believe I’m taking every single risk I can think of. I just killed the host character, and we’re only on Chapter 4. You better believe the rules have become very twisted at this point. I’m even kind of scared of myself and my choices, especially going forward, despite me planning this ahead. (I’m asking myself “WTF author? WHAT are you doing?!”)

But at least now I have an original line to say to demons when they haunt me in my sleep. “Walk the dock of hell b***h. I know I’m too stubborn to see a therapist on my insomnia, but I don’t care.”

Also, so you know, I have a tag for this fic. #total drama danganronpa island

You can tag posts talking about this fic with this so I can find them and see them easier, if you want to discuss it in any form. I won’t respond to everything, it depends on the subject, but you know, it’s there.

#total drama #danganronpa #total drama danganronpa island #td courtney #td chris #chris mclean

[errorcode582]

ff.net has been in complete shambles for the past several years and is a notorious hive for plagiarism. The mods also nuked thousands of fics from the platform for reasons ranging from justified to incredibly questionable, and the site has had two of these mass purges in its lifetime. It's also been on the decline for years with constant outages, unresponsive mods, and a piss-poor tagging and search function. The owners of the site do not seem keen on even really giving the base code a spit shine, and I'd really question the security of it overall. I would not be surprised if they have a major data breach in the years to come. Don't get me wrong, I love it to death in a nostalgic way, but I can see why it's not exactly a great place to post fic these days.

Wattpad, usually the second site mentioned in these discussions, hosts tagged erotica alongside the rest of its content with no filter by default. This means you can find erotica in any search query you use unless you specifically exclude the tag. It's also a notorious hive for rpf, and allows rpf erotica. It also allows sexual content of 16 year olds, as it states in its code of conduct that, quote, "the age of consent is 16+ on Wattpad".

And really, those are the only notable contenders against ao3. Any other website you could list would fall into "niche" territory, and most writers do want their work to be seen so they can gain traction and potentially a clientele later on if they want to enter writing professionally. Plus, blogging sites like Tumblr tend to not be very conducive to posting fic as they aren't designed with a book format in mind, so word limits are tighter, you have to manually stitch a sort of chapter browser together by yourself as you post the fic, readers will encounter your fic in reverse chronological order, and honestly I could go on. Plus, Tumblr's tagging system is also complete garb, and if people don't reblog your fic, you're SOL. So, while I've heard of Fanfiction Online and have seen some promise in Quotev (I've made an account there recently, so consider that a "to be continued"), sadly, in terms of usability and popularity, all alternatives are overshadowed to the point of complete obscurity by the behemoth that is ao3.

Trust me, I hate that website and the cesspool it plays host to. Ever since I learned just how bad it was over there, I haven't spent a single second of my time on it. However, I can't blame aspiring writers for using it in the same way I can't blame other content creators for using YouTube rather than Dailymotion or Vimeo, despite YouTube's openly predatory practices towards their artists and child audiences (the Elsagate stuff never stopped, they're just using Mickey and Sonic now). The site holds a soft monopoly over the realm of fanfiction publication, and it's going to take a website that directly outclasses it in terms of user-friendliness to even really start giving it trouble and to convince the majority of the audience to switch over.

I'm all for taking as much of an audience away from that hellhole as possible though, so I'll gladly vouch for any alternative website that directly outclasses ao3 purely by design. Hell, ao3's code is completely open-source. If anyone manages to literally make a better ao3 (maybe even implementing those lofty promises of multimedia support that they've been harping on for years, hm?), I'll make an account on there the moment I hear of it and spread the word of it as far as I can manage.

Honestly, I think it really speaks to the state of fan culture overall that the best place to view and post fanfiction online is a csem hive, and I really want to change that message if I can. Unfortunately though, as much as I want a viable alternative, we're stuck between YouTube and Dailymotion, and I cannot blame anyone for wanting to stay away from Dailymotion.

Also @proship-blocklist since it was your post that was involved in this, feel free to add your input as an author/reader if you feel so inclined.

#error code: asks #error code: anon #error code: discourse #? #i guess it's discourse I'm too tired to think of another tag #cw csa mention #for those in the audience wondering where the hell this came from I poke my head into replies a lot #anyways complex topics requiring complex explanations y'know #I can feel a cluster headache coming on so I'll just leave this open to discussion

[decadennce]

Epic swag villain asks-

For Azale... Syndrome, Tamatoa, and Mor'Du?? However many of those u wanna answer

And for Jupid, how about Alien? (This is a joke)

[For Azalea]

SYNDROME: Was there ever a point they could have been a hero?

-Oh there were multiple points. So many points. Literally at any point in his life before he decided to get into politics he could have been a better person, and honestly if he quit early enough in his political career his path still wouldn’t have been as villainous. If only he was a small town mayor for a few years before deciding to switch careers but alas, he turned out like this </3 but here’s some of the more major turning points in his life where things could have gone differently

I think the first key point that formed his views/outlook today is joining the military as a young adult. I unfortunately haven’t really named the conflict or figured out too many details but the TL;DR is that he went to fight in an imperialistic war and thought it was 100% justified and got radicalized because he’s fucking weird <3 If he hadn’t had that experience I don’t think he would have developed such a strong drive to get directly involved with politics and tbh he probably would have avoided it altogether. Also funny story but he barely met the height requirement at the time when he joined… if only he was just a tad shorter…

This one was in college. Azalea is a huge perfectionist and he wants to constantly do better than his past self, and this translated to him going absolutely fucking insane with studying. If you can’t already tell, he is a Highly Stressed And Anxious Dude. He began to develop a bit of a drinking habit, though he mainly just maintained a state of tipsiness as a shitty second rate anxiety treatment. He never majorly messed up in his studies but man if he did I could honestly see him drinking more to cope with the fact that he’s failing and then completely flunking out of school and just isolating himself while going from dead end job to dead end job for the rest of his working life. Failure is a massive fear of his and this would have fucked him up bad enough to where I don’t think he’d even try to get back to where he was before. So like. Unironcally he would have been a better person if he just went full alcoholic and destroyed his life lol

So by this point in his life he’d already strayed pretty far from the hero path because. well. he’d currently be a dictator by this point. But man he really didn’t have to start an unnecessary and ideologically fueled war huh </3 like come on man maybe former territories are former territories for a reason and you don’t have to invade them 60 fucking years later but what do I know <3 And god I don’t know how to succinctly explain the fictional politics around this point bc this conflict is actually more developed(mainly because uhhh this is when the main story happens lol) but here’s another TL;DR - cringe guy invades his neighbor while internal political tensions worsen, gets ganged up on by his other neighbors causing him to start losing, THEN a second civil war happens due to said internal tensions and the overall shitty conditions of uhh everything. Like good job man you really did great things for everyone :)))

I know You’ve seen me post massive essays about this world’s politics on discord but for any random people seeing this I cannot possibly fit it all into one ask because we’d be here all day <3

TAMATOA: What is your antagonist's theme song? (or playlist)

-So a lot of his playlist is based off an event in his backstory that I later removed because it didn’t make sense #oops but here is the link. I think the song that my brain mostly associates with him is poison apple by uncle acid. Somehow my brain decided to associate him with stoner rock <3 OH and also masked jackal by coroner because that’s about being a corrupt politician :D Though honestly he’s not traditionally corrupt in the sense that he bribed people or anything, he just has awful views and policies.

MOR'DU: How are they different from the hero/How are they similar?

-This is such a sexy question because I’ve thought about this in depth in the past. It’s also sexy because Aureus himself isn’t even much of a hero, though of course he is leagues better than most of the characters in this universe. For similarities:

Aureus and Azalea both struggle with morality to some extent, albeit in different ways. In Aureus’ case, it’s a huge deal for him, so much that instead of facing the fact that he was wrong, he instead just changes his moral compass so his actions fit within it <3 Eventually his actions do catch up to him and he can’t rationalize it anymore and he kinda loses his shit and has a breakdown but that’s a ramble for another day and also something that happens post-story. In Azalea’s case, his desire to be right mainly stems from his longing to succeed. If what he’s doing isn’t the correct thing, then wouldn’t that just be failing? Occasionally the thought will come into his mind that he’s not doing the best thing in the world, but he pushes it away because he doesn’t want to deal with it <3 If only this bitch actually self reflected.

They are both very anxious people, but once again the core motivation is different. In Azalea’s case, his anxiety stems from insecurity and the feeling that he’s not, and will never be able to be enough. For Aureus, a major source of anxiety is him being found out for being a spy which is a. pretty obvious one. But another one is he gets overwhelmed with the expectations of life very easily, and he often feels like the world is too fast paced for him. I decided to project my dyspraxia onto him and this is mainly why and wow this is reminding me that I should post a dyspraxreus ramble explaining how it affects him someday ANYWAYS back to the point-

-As for how they’re different…

So this first point is for basic differences. Mainly: Azalea is extroverted while Aureus is introverted, the massive height difference between the two, their conflicting political values, etc etc. uh uhhhh Azalea is outwardly friendly and polite while Aureus can be kind of cold and a bit of a prick sometimes… yeah

Okay so I am losing steam </3 but a lot of their differences are kind of explained in the similarities section since the root of their respective issues are different for each of them

[For Jupiter]

ALIEN: Are they a parasitic, acid-drooling, two-mouthed terror?

-Hi for some reason I misread two-mouthed as unwashed, which he is indeed unwashed a lot of the time however that was not part of the question lol. But yes he is all of these things… and more………….

#my ocs #agent blackthorn #text post #oc info #fenris azalea #jupiter ludwig #this is the first post in his tag and he deserves it because he is cringe and fail #not art #ALSO THIS GOT OUT OF HAND I THINK LOL #I have thought in depth about azalea #I love him but in a throwing him down the stairs kinda way #also i have been tormented by phone calls for the whole day and I worked on this during the downtime epic distraction moment #oh I should tag aureus too bc I talked about them a bit #aureus morozov