#make them better!! make them worse!! just drastically alter

[stimmingandstruggling]

soulmates but not in a soft romantic way soulmates in a destined to change each other for better or for worse, cannot be who they are without each other, unstoppable together but they’re also the only ones who can defeat each other, equals, existences undeniably tied to each other way

#this post is about lawlight. #soulmates #fanfic trope #non-traditional soulmates give me Life #like YES they NEED each other one cannot EXIST without the other #but they do not LIKE each other!!!!! #make them better!! make them worse!! just drastically alter #lawlight #light yagami #l lawliet #death note #dn tag

[ishgard]

Presenting: An Absurdly, Stupidly Long and Wordy Warrior of Light-based Questionnaire, or as my bestie dubbed it:

30 WoL Think Thonkers

Less an ask prompt, more of a daily prompt, (though you can use it as an ask prompt if you prefer!) Answer the questions however you want: straight-forward, with stories or screens, or a mix of all.

Get any of your little brainworms out. Wax poetic, ramble off into several digressions, challenge yourself to answer in the least amount of words possible, whatever you're vibing with! (If you want to tag them #wolthinkthonkers feel free!)

This is very Warrior of Light and MSQ based. It's set from a Post-Endwalker mindframe, so there are some minor/vaguely worded spoilers.

----------------------- WARM-UP QUESTIONS

I. Where is your Warrior of Light from? What was their home like growing up and what set them out on their journey?

2. What city-state did your WoL start in? How did they feel about it then, and how do they feel about it now? (ie, did their experiences sour their perception, or make them appreciate it more?)

3. How do they feel about being Hydaelyn's chosen? (Feel free to break it down from ARR's "Champion of Eorzea" all the way to "The Savior of Etheirys" as much as you like. Have those feelings changed, or just grown more complex?)

4. What do they do in their down time? Do they have any hobbies outside of Primal-slaying and world-saving? Are these lifelong hobbies or recent interests?

5. How do they feel now that "it's all over" (the story of Hydaelyn and Zodiark)? What do they plan to do next? Or is their story finished - and if you're retiring them, what does retirement look like for them? Do you have someone else taking the stage going forward?

6. Who was their Azem? What were they like, and were they different from your WoL? Who were their family, friends? Or, if you don't care for the Azem angle or went in your own direction for their past self, how so? How does your WoL feel about their Ancient identity?

----------------------- CHANGES

7. Have they gone through any physical changes? What scars have they collected, and how do they feel about them? Did they sprout horns or other features as a result of spells or pacts gone wrong? How did light corruption impact them? Or have they walked away miraculously unscathed? Are they more peculiar for how eerily unmarred they are?

8. What is one of their biggest regrets? Has it had an effect on how they act moving forward, for better or worse?

9. The Warrior of Light has been through quite a lot, but what is a moment, big or small, that bolstered and renewed their spirit? Was it a cup of hot cocoa or a lovingly crafted sandwich? Did someone give them a few words or a gesture at just the right time that meant the world to them? (Of course, this can be a canon event or headcanon!)

10. What does home look like for them now? Do they still return to the home where they started, and if so has it changed at all? Or have they found or forged a new home? Who do they live with, if anyone? What sort of things do they keep in their personal space?

11. Despite everything, is it still you? Has the core of who they are as a person remained true through everything, or have they been changed by what they've experienced and learned, for better or worse?

13. Is there a canon moment you've drastically (or not-so-drastically) rewritten? A character death, or something that just really did not fit your WoL's character. Or just some alterations and personal touches you've added? Has that had any long-term changes on the wider story?

----------------------- STORY

12. Which canon moments shaped your Warrior of Light and impacted them the most?

14. Do you have any headcanons for what happened post-Ultima Thule? What kind of injuries did they suffer, or did they walk it off like a boss? Did they take a lengthy vacation, did you shove a time skip in there before 6.1 hit? Or was it quickly off to the next adventure?

15. What were their thoughts and feelings on the events of Myths of the Realm? How did they regard the Twelve prior, and how did the revelations impact them? Was meeting their patron particularly special to them, or not really?

16. What were their thoughts and feelings delving into Pandaemonium? How did they feel working alongside Themis and Lahabrea, after all their history? What did they think about how things ended?

17. Taking a step away from "canon", do you have any wholly unique side quests and adventures your Warrior of Light has gotten caught up in? Did they chase down ghosts of their own past, get married, open a bakery, or fix an ancient blood curse on their family line? Have they reunited with loved ones or buried old hatchets? If there's some unique story behind your character, how does it show up and how did it play out?

----------------------- COMBAT & ABILITIES

18. How do they feel about the work they do? As the Warrior of Light they're tasked with quite a lot of violence, is it something that comes naturally to them or do they resist it? Are they merciless, do they try to spare as many lives as they can, or do they fall somewhere in between?

19. While many fights are dramatic or have high stakes, are there any especially memorable or difficult fights they encountered? Outside scripted battles, were there conflicts that you thought felt better if they were tweaked for narrative or lore-based reasons, ie their first time fighting a primal? Or perhaps a more meta "You the player had a hard time so it translated into headcanon for them".

20. Are there any unique abilities that they possess outside of what's in-game? Are they actually a dragon, or do they see visions of the future? Or, is there a special way that their Echo manifests?

21. Jobs! What job is your character and why is that the route they chose? Is your WoL a Jack-of-all-Trades, or just have one (or a few) specialties? Did they start with one job and change to another? Have you 'homebrewed' their job at all, adding any unique twists or details to it?

----------------------- RELATIONSHIPS & THE WORLD

22. What are their feelings on the Scions? Who are some of their closest allies and dearest friends? Are they more of a loner, or closer to people outside the Scions? Have they kindled any romances or partnerships?

23. How do they feel about getting pulled into politics? Are they adept at navigating political intricacies, or does it go over their head? Do they appreciate getting asked to do more than punch their enemies, or would they really rather just punch their enemies? Are there any areas they like to be particularly involved in?

24. How do they feel about Hydaelyn? What was their perception of the Mothercrystal in the beginning, and how did that change by the end, if at all?

25. Do they have any particular enemies that stand out to them? Someone who inspired a lasting grudge? Our beloved and beloathed antagonists give us plenty of reasons to despise them, but are there any that particularly rubbed your WoL the wrong way? On the other hand, are there villains they can't help but sympathize with, even if it's at odds with the narrative or their allies?

26. What are their thoughts on the Ancients, their way of life, and the world they lived in? Did they sympathize at all with the Ascians, or did learning the truth not influence them in that way?

27. How well known are they? Does everyone know their name as the Warrior of Light, or have they managed to maintain some level of anonymity? Do they prefer it that way, and do they have any struggles resulting from it? (Getting stopped on street corners VS awkwardly avoiding questions.)

----------------------- WHAT'S NEXT

28. What's something they look forward to? Exploring the stars, more of a place we've already been, or somewhere we haven't? Or do they look forward to retirement, starting a business with their craft of choice, or any other little old thing?

29. How do they feel heading into Dawntrail? Excited? Exhausted? What do they think of the promises of adventure to come, and their role to play? If you're using a new character, do you have any idea how they'll end up on this path, and where is their headspace starting out?

30. What are they going to be doing while waiting for the ship to Tural?

#xiv prompts #ff14 prompts #again i have no idea what to tag it #wolthinkthonks #lol #a variety of questions i think about + more that were (sorta) endwalker-based #no idea if anyone would be interested in this (it's soooo wordy) #but i'm curious!!!! #i wanna know!! #anyway if i don't post it it'll sit in my drafts collecting the dust of indecision for who knows how long #if there are any major errors let me know! #i ripped it apart and reconfigured it a few times x“D

[bonefall]

Hey Bones! Sorry if this is a bit random to ask you, but-

Is it ok if you elaborate and/or explain how Millie is ableist towards Briarlight please?

I haven’t really heard much people within the fandom talk about Millie’s treatment of Briarlight and her disability as negative and/or bad compared to Millie not really paying attention to Blossomfall within the books.

So I’m interested what you know and/or have to say about it.

OH boy, I feel like this one is REALLY easy to see if you just pop the book open. It will make your skin crawl once you see these quotes. Millie is an AWFUL mother and SHOCKING in how nasty she is to her disabled child.

I run in some pretty good circles and curate my Tumblr experience well, so I see plenty of people just mentioning it as a fucked up thing the series did casually, but I'll make a compilation of the worst of it.

(CW for some serious ableism, Millie is terrible.)

She's injured in Chapter 11 of OotS Book 2: Fading Echoes, and Millie is obsessive over her until Chapter 9 of OotS Book 3: Night Whispers. She's interfering with Jayfeather's treatments, constantly in the den, shouting at him when he tries to be honest about Briarlight's condition.

But that would be understandable. She's concerned and the prognosis isn't great. Her very young, athletic daughter (basically 17-ish) has suddenly received a life-altering injury that will drastically affect her life. Until Night Whispers Chapter 9, she's just worrying about her daughter.

And then we get this.

(Please note this is happening in front of the entire Clan. The entire social group is watching this.)

Though Briarlight expressed frustration with her exercises and how painful and difficult recovery was in Fading Echoes, that is not the case in Night Whispers. At this point, it's difficult but Briarlight is recovering well. MILLIE decides that her daughter being alive with a disability is suffering.

Note how in this exchange, Jayfeather is being forced to comfort Briarlight's MOTHER. Not BRIARLIGHT herself, the one with the injury who is looking at a massive upheaval to her life. Though superficially it seems like this is coming from a place of love, Millie is making Briarlight's recovery about herself by doing this, and this exchange is ableist.

Millie: "I want her to do all of these able-bodied things."

Jay: "That will not happen, but life has inherent value."

Millie: "No it doesn't, if you cannot do those able-bodied things, you are suffering."

But it gets worse because it's not even that she's only expressing this in private. Her daughter is within earshot. The newly disabled person is listening to their own fucking mother call her medical treatment "dragging out her suffering."

BURN this passage into your mind. Having heard her OWN FUCKING MOTHER cry to a crowd of cats that maybe it would be better if she was DEAD, watching several cats drop everything to comfort HER for having a disabled daughter, Briarlight has to drag herself out and act like a cute baby to get her to stop making a public spectacle.

It's hard to describe to someone who hasn't been in the situation before, but if your parent is making a scene like that, it'll end up falling onto you to "appeal" to their sense of... parental valor, is the best way I can put it. "See? Aren't I getting better? I promise I'll work hard. I'm not hurt it's okay! Everything is fine!" You give them a chance to affirm how good of a parent they are, for helping you, or 'putting up' with you. You have to assure them that your existence isn't so bad.

In essence, it falls onto the child to comfort their parent.

This is specifically a form of a toxic family dynamic called emotional parentification, on top of it being obviously ableist. She is being shoved into a position where she needs to sacrifice her OWN need for support and comfort to coddle her parent, to STOP her from making a scene, while that parent screams that her disabled life is worth less than her siblings' abled ones to a crowd of cats.

Naturally, this affects Briarlight's sense of self-worth. She stops eating.

Thankfully, Jayfeather is here to have an exchange about how her life has value. For all my issues with Jayf in later arcs, he has some of his best moments here in OotS.

In later books, Briarlight's struggles with self-worth continue. It's all shit that Millie implied about her being less useful because she is unable to do what her siblings can.

It's every other cat who has to come in and assure Briarlight that she isn't worthless. Not Millie. Millie comes on screen and she's either making Briarlight feel like garbage or barking at Jayfeather for not doctoring hard enough.

She desperately craves independence. This above scene is happening because she wanted to come out into the woods for the first time in forever, and she's being suffocated and bossed around in the camp constantly. It was up to her brother, Bumblestripe, to do anything to help her.

Not her dad. Not her mom. Bumblestripe. (Rare Bumblestripe W)

I also want to take a brief moment to point out a detail that the fandom often forgets, about Blossomfall. She actually knows full well that her feelings are unreasonable here, and she believes that the fact she isn't feeling "what she is supposed to" is proof that she is a bad person who deserves hell.

Millie's actions are crushing ALL of her children under its weight. Briarlight is obviously getting the worst of it, but these are YOUNG adults, just out of apprenticeship, and Blossomfall is being told that her sister is in a constant state of "suffering." This means she's not allowed to be frustrated about how Millie is behaving, because hating THAT means you hate your sister, and that makes her an awful person.

What Blossomfall is describing here is the feelings associated with being a glass child.

But no it's not JUST that she's being neglectful to Blossomfall, who yes, is a young adult and can take responsibility for her own actions. Millie is being nasty to Bloss too, directly comparing her to Briarlight and unironically doing the "You should be GRATEFUL you can walk when BRIARLIGHT WOULD DO ANYTHING TO LEGS AROUND."

Again. I'll state the very obvious from the passage.

"Hey Millie, your other daughter looks kinda upset right now!" = "PERFECT TIME TO SNAP AT HER"

Blossomfall = Wasted her morning when she should be Useful

Useful = Can hunt

"YOUR SISTER wouldn't act like this"

Proper warrior = spends every waking minute in service of the clan

Once again, Millie does this in public, with several people watching her rip into her child. She even gets ANGRY at Brackenfur gently trying to soften the blow. It's freakjob shit to hear, "h-hey, at least they're safe!" and SNARL back "IS IT?"

Millie continues to hover over Briarlight well into Bramblestar's Storm. The closure for these intense, insulting comments, public embarrassments, snapping at and neglecting one child while telling the other one that her life was "suffering" because she can't walk is.....

millie watches her do some pull-ups and is so impressed by them she isn't bigoted anymore :o)

"my daughter's membership at British Planet Fitness paid off. Look at how big her biceps are now. I guess I was wrong to tell her that her life is inherently suffering because she can't hunt, just look at her gooooo"

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

So, basically, Millie's a terrible parent. She never gets properly called out for this manipulative, toxic behavior. She says that her own daughter might have been better off dead in public. She makes Briarlight feel like half of a cat because she can't do all the things her siblings do, while her siblings are told that they should be grateful they're not disabled like Briarlight.

And just to end off, because it's relevant, the BRAND NEW writing team then killed off Briarlight in an incredibly stupid, insulting way. She catches fucking Greencough in AVoS so that they can have a very sad funeral for a couple of chapters, before moving on to Jayfeather being a shithead to Alderheart for being friends with Velvet.

Then they wrote a line in Squirrelflight's Hope where Squilf's mother begs her to stay dead in heaven, because if she goes back to life, she might be disabled like Briarlight and her mate Bramblestar won't want her anymore. The line was so bad the authors promised that it wouldn't be there in reprints; the reprint still has not come.

normal series.

#warrior cats analysis #Briarlight #CW Ableism #Cw bigotry #CW jesus christ I feel like this needs more tags because it's SO bad

[ultram0th]

31 Days of Derek Hale

Day 13: Clown

Info │ 01 │ 02 │ 03 │ 04 │ 05 │ 06 │ 07 │ 08 │ 09 │ 10 │ 11 │ 12 │ 13

Derek practically whimpered like a wolf pup as he watched his husband, Stiles, slowly slump to the couch. The usually vibrant and cheerful human had been going through some hardships at work, and it’d really affected his mood; thus, the normally smiley and singsongy Stiles was all gray and sulky. The alpha werewolf frowned as he saw Stiles’s thin shoulders rise and fall with a sigh.

On a normal day, Derek was the grumpy one, mad at the world and scowling at every living creature that dared to cross his path; and Stiles would be his anchor, calming him down with a simple kiss on the cheek or by placing a warm hand on his broad shoulder. Now that the roles were evidently reversed, Derek was struggling to find out the right things to do/say, empathy never really being one of his strong suits.

“Babe?” Derek asked as he walked over to the couch and placed a hand on his husband’s shoulder as he would’ve done had the roles been swapped. “Um… have you tried not thinking about it?”

Stiles’s frown deepened and he rubbed at his temples, making Derek feel guilty.

Derek flinched and quickly tried to make things better. “Got a headache?” he asked, already dashing to the bathroom. “I’ll grab you some Ibuprofen!”

As Derek leaned over the sink, images of his sad husband kept replaying in his mind, making him grimace. He felt guilty for not being able to cheer up Stiles like he would do for him whenever he was moody. He couldn’t help but feel a little helpless and, what was worse, was that whenever he felt like this, it was usually Stiles who convinced him of otherwise with a little corny joke.

Derek loved his husband with all of his heart, and it pained him to see Stiles sad. He missed his smile, he missed his laugh.

“Damn it,” Derek cursed under his breath, “I wish I could cheer him up.”

The second the words left his mouth, Derek felt a shudder ripple through him. The sensation morphed into an odd tingling that consumed his whole body before fading, but not before being reduced to a tickle that actually made Derek laugh.

“Hyuck! Hyuck!” Derek guffawed, his normal throaty chuckle sounding more like a cartoonish wail that was comically deep. The werewolf jerked back and cleared his throat, wondering why he’d just laughed like that.

He shook it away and opened up the mirror cabinet to grab some Ibuprofen for Stiles, gasping when he saw his reflection after closing it.

His normally jet-black hair was green! Derek dropped the small pills in shock as he ran a shaky hand through his green hair, his eyes wide at the vibrant color that would without a doubt, draw a lot of attention his way. 

“What’s, *giggle, wrong with my hair— Hyuck! Hyuck!” Derek laughed again. This time, he finally realized that he’d been smiling the entire time. Although he was confused and slightly panicked over what was happening to him, his face looked alight with zeal. His pearly whites were on full display, which brought about something new to him. Derek had always had larger front teeth, Stiles sometimes referring to them as Bunny Teeth, but his eyes widened when he saw them grow in size until they protruded over his bottom lip, effectively giving him over-exaggerated buck teeth.

Derek barely had time to react to his large teeth before he witnessed his nose shudder. Its skin reddened drastically until it looked cherry red, even taking on a shimmery sheen. It then steadily inflated, rounding out until Derek had a red clown nose affixed to his face.

“I look ridiculous!” Derek giggled, still grinning widely despite his inner panic.

The altered werewolf’s first thought was to rush to Stiles, knowing that his husband would figure out what was happening to him. Derek quickly hurried out of the bathroom, stumbling over his feet as he moved. Derek’s eyes widened even further when he witnessed his feet elongating past their usual size thirteen, growing comically huge with large stumpy toes capping them. 

With each step he took, Derek’s new feet slapped loudly against the hardwood floors and he struggled to maintain his balance. His gait resembled someone more clumsy, struggling to walk a straight line. He kept bouncing against the walls, knocking over pictures and causing a ruckus as he moved.

With a loud giggle, Derek waddled into the living room where Stiles moped. His husband took one look at him and scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. 

“Der?” he asked. “What are you doing?”

Instead of asking for help, Derek heard himself laugh, “Hyuck! Hyuck! I heard that there’s someone who’s a little down!” He cringed at how he was acting, this cheery clown attitude a direct contrast with his usual self.

Stiles just stared blankly ahead. “Huh?”

“Want a balloon?” Derek happily asked. “I got a real big one for you!”

With large, flailing motions, Derek searched all around his clothes. His busy show wouldn’t allow him to display his shock over the bright neon colors that his black clothes had been magically dyed to. Derek felt as if he were a passenger in his own body, hearing himself speak and feeling himself move, but he didn’t have any control. He was helpless as he behaved like some sugary sweet clown, unable to stop smiling and giggling the entire time.

When Derek couldn’t find a balloon, he frowned before perking up with an a-ha motion. Pursing his lips and whistling through his large buck teeth, he unzipped his now bright yellow pants and let them fall to the ground. 

He exaggeratedly gasped as he looked down at his soft cock, grabbing at his green hair. “Oh no!” he chirped. “You don’t want that small balloon!” 

He winced at calling himself small, but then flinched when he saw the corner of Stiles’s mouth slowly pull upward. Seeing Stiles doing so sent a fluttering feeling through Derek’s chest, and he started to feel a little excited, his panic steadily fading.

Derek felt himself stick his thumb in his mouth and take in a deep breath, puffing out his chest. He then puffed out his cheeks and acting like he was blowing air into himself, pausing every so often to take a deep breath.

Stiles let out a little chuckle.

Derek felt himself perk up, his cock instantly rocketing to attention. It swelled up and stood out in front of him. Derek dropped his thumb from his mouth and gestured towards his hard cock.

“Ta-da!” he cheered, puffing his chest back out and setting his hands onto his hips proudly as he pushed his hips forward so that his rock hard member was closer to his husband.

Finally, Stiles’s face broke out into a loud smile and he started to laugh.

At seeing his husband finally laughing and being able to see his beautiful smile again, Derek’s cock throbbed and began to leak precum. His own smile was back in full force.

“Oh, thank you, Der,” Stiles cooed as he sat up and gave his husband a big hug. “You always know how to cheer me up.”

“Hyuck! Hyuck!” Derek guffawed, his face blushing wildly as Stiles kissed his cheek lovingly. Seeing the love of his life smiling again, Derek figured that as long as it made his husband happy, he was fine with being a werewolf clown.

#31 days of derek hale #derek hale #tyler hoechlin #Clown #Clown TF #Hair change #voicechange #foot growth #loss of control #stiles stilinski #sterek

[shuttershocky]

love reading your rant/analysis on the mech accords vs core casters. would like to hear your thoughts on the other branches, i.e. would you say chain casters have semi-replaced splash casters?

You can't replace what was never there

See the thing is I wouldn't say Chain Casters semi-replaced Splash Casters because Splash Casters were already living under the shadow of Eyjafjalla, whose S2 just did their job but better, while being cheaper to deploy AND with a much lower SP cost on skills AND having more range.

More than Surtr and Ch'en Alter, Eyjafjalla is the one I hold responsible for having done the most damage to Arknights. Being a release 6 star Core Caster that did both Splash and Core jobs and did it better than anyone else affected an entire class for literal years.

Anyone and everyone had to get out of her way to be of any relevance. Ifrit was saved by having her then unique, straight line attack range which made her irreplaceable on certain maps, but everyone else got fucking bulldozed over.

Do you know why Patriot exists? It's Eyja's fault. The guy has 90 RES at Phase 1 because Eyjafjalla S3M3 deleted everything in sight, and when HG ran the numbers they found that only a few players actually E2'd Amiya, since she went completely ignored as soon as players pulled Eyja.

So they made this boss with the highest defensive stats they could possibly give any enemy in order to make True damage more appealing, but when that didn't work they just gated Chapter 8's finale entirely unless you E2'd Amiya then gave her a new Guard class, admitting she'd never defeat Eyja.

Every single other Caster since has been all about staying out of her way. Goldenglow boasts global range and an AFK skill to rival Eyja. Passenger got buffed twice, and THEN all the Chain Casters received really good modules that made them appealing crowd clearers. Ceobe was anti-armor and yet always did worse than Eyja at 30 RES anyway until she got her module doubling down on her anti-tank role. Ebenholz got funny oneshot capabilities to deal with enemies that even Eyja couldnt kill fast enough.

The Splash Casters already did worse AOE damage than Eyja, so when the Chain Casters took the crowd clearing role, they went all-in om their support role, which is why Mostima's module has a global slow, Dusk's 2nd module enables summon spam, and Lava the Purgatory has a +inital SP talent for Casters to enable Eyja hotdrops.

You could technically argue that Chain Casters taking the job of dealing AOE Arts damage means they replaced Splash Casters, but the issue is that it implies Splash Casters had that job at some point, and they didnt, because Eyjafjalla existed.

Honestly? If I were in HG I'd be proposing some drastic buffs to the Splash Casters, even more drastic than Mostima module x and Dusk module y. Give them 2 SP regen per second instead of 1, most of their skills are either weak, or way too expensive. Halving their downtime and making them much spammier than Core Casters would make them more appealing since theyre already trading away range, ASPD, and overall DPS vs Core Casters, and Mostima S3 plus Dusk S3 are both very powerful, but not strong enough to be utterly gamebreaking if their cooldowns are halved on top of their SP bonuses from Mostima's talent / Dusk's module.

If Mlynar S3 gets to recharge every 40 seconds while being a melee unit (which are far more flexible in placement than range), then Mostima and Dusk deserve to spam their own skills. Greyy's S2 might even be a semi-viable crowd control skill now that it doesn't take 60 whole seconds to charge to do very little.

#arknights

[hareofhrair]

Typed out a whole long post on reddit that it won’t let me post for no apparent reason, so y’all have to read it instead. It was a response to the question…

Imo, Dragon Age 2 was worse (because it just wasn’t *finished*) but DAI had some pretty glaring flaws. People have mentioned the gameplay issues with things getting annoyingly mmo-like, and the terrible war table timer, a lot of the fights being unnecessary slogs or just annoying to fight- the fear demons that teleport in front of you, knocking you over, then stun you while you’re still in the standing up animation comes to mind.

But for me the biggest problem was a culmination of writing problems that had always been present, but compounded as the series went on. It’s always been a bit… I don’t know if centrist or just contradictory is the better word.

The writing of inquisition is very concerned about *judging* or punishing the player’s negative moral choices and this has an impact on the consistency of the writing, even for people who aren’t interested in engaging with the ethical issues the game presents, because it’s afraid to give you consequences for your actions or allow them to make major impact and it goes out of its way to try and justify any choice you make as morally right or at least pragmatic in a very surface level way. This is consistently teeth grindingly annoying if you’re playing a “good” character/aligning yourself with the elves and mages, because the game is constantly finding an excuse to interrupt whatever you’re doing to say “but what about the Templar’s feelings??? QmQ” or “Did you consider… some elves are really rude???” or “This one mage did something Bad(tm) therefore it’s actually reasonable and right to want to murder all of them!” It also undermines player choice if they want to be evil or self serving, since it’s constantly bending over backwards to tell them how right and just and good their choices are. The writing itself won’t commit to a moral position because it’s too afraid of contradicting the player, and that makes it impossible for it to actually bring any of its themes to a satisfying conclusion.

(It makes this worse by choosing to really backseat the darkspawn storyline in favor of the templars vs mages conflict, which is annoying for multiple reasons, not the least of which is because they can’t bring it to a real resolution without drastically altering the worldstate and having to create two separate storylines- something inquisition is desperate not to do because of money and time restraints. You just can’t do meaningful branching narratives in a triple A setting as this whole series really illustrates- so they just pivot away from it into the *bullshit* with Tresspasser which I will get into in a minute…)

DAO handled the moral issue at least slightly better, I think. There were consequences for deciding to be an asshole at least. I was recently playing a Dalish elf and slogging through the Sacred Ashes questline getting more and more resentful as they essentially forced my character to Become Fantasy Catholic, so I dumped dragon blood in the ashes just to be spiteful… with Leiliana and Wynn in my party. Whoops. In case you haven’t played DAO, there are multiple big moral choices you can make- among them deciding to defile the mortal remains of Fantasy Jesus- which will cause your party members to leave permanently or straight up try to kill you! They have firm personal morals, and if your actions go against those morals they won’t just tolerate it.

Unfortunately, there’s a reason DAO connected such a major party breaking choice to the unavoidable-if-you-want-the-best-ending Player Has Become Catholic quest. These games have some issues with religion.

On the surface, it wants to pretend all the different religions are equally valid and it’s not taking a stance on which one is *real.* Wink wink nudge nudge. Then in practice it trips over itself to provide proof the Christian analogue is real. From finding Jesus’s ashes which have magic healing powers in DAO to Corypheus in Inquisition confirming the blight really was started by Tevinter mages desecrating heaven and pissing off the Maker, which up till then at least had a plausible deniability veneer of “this might be church propaganda, we don’t know what really happened.” And the games will *consistently* assume you are fantasy Catholic 90% of the time, *even if you’re a dwarf or an elf or FUCKING QUNARI*, the only concession being essentially flavor text dialogue where, if asked directly about religion, you can tell people their god is fake in the rudest manner possible. You are either catholic or an asshole, that’s it. Inquisition really knocks it out of the park though with making you *literally* the leader of the titular fantasy catholic inquisition. You can protest throughout the game that you’re not actually fantasy catholic, but this doesn’t have any meaningful effect on anything, and you obviously can’t just choose *not* to lead an explicitly religious order of a faith you don’t actually ascribe to.

This isn’t just me ranting about how much it sucks to be Assigned Catholic At Character Creation (though it is) it’s about how consistently the game renders player choice meaningless. And I fully believe it’s an extension of the already discussed issue with being terrified to contradict player choices or have to account for them in gameplay. It’s just that it treats believing in the Christian analogue as something *default,* standard and unobjectionable. “Of course our players will be Christian. Everyone believes in god! They’d only choose *not* to be as a fun wacky role playing experience! Which means acknowledging those other religions is optional and we can cut it for time.”

Which brings me to *fucking* Trespasser. First of all, and totally besides discussion of the writing, they released DAI without its actual ending, and then released the ending nearly a year later, as PAID DLC. That dick move alone engendered a Lot of negative feelings about the game, even from people who loved everything else. And then there’s the actual content…..

I actually just decided it’s too goddamn much to get into for a reddit post that probably no one will read. Short version- remember the religion problem? And also the bending over backwards to make the player feel morally justified for hating the elves and mages problem?

So it turns out not only is the elven religion *not* real, it was actually just a bunch of evil elven mages doing a slavery! You know, just like the empire of slave owning evil mages we already had? Remember Tevinter? Yeah, turns out that happened twice. Fuck mages, am I right? Also the racist egg you’ve been trying to make friends with all game has, apropos of absolutely nothing, decided actually Fantasy Islam is the biggest threat to the elven people right now (not the civil rights issues or the slow cultural genocide or anything) and he needs to blow up the world before the elves become muslim.

I don’t even know where to go from there frankly! What else can you say! His entire justification for turning against the player and wanting to tear down the veil is wanting to “save” his people (people he has spent the entire game calling inferior and not real elves) by…. Killing them all! Which will fix them, somehow? The specifics aren’t important. All that matters is it’s better they die now than join a different religion. As for everybody else on the planet? Well, we already established he’s racist, not giving a shit about destroying all the non elves is actually perfectly in character. No notes there.

Uhg. I’ve gotten very off track. Trying to bring it back in-

The dragon age series has always been over ambitious in trying to center player choice, stumbling into the same pits Mass Effect did when they simply didn’t have time or money to implement branching narratives, leading to games that talk a lot about how your choices matter while actually giving them very little impact. Origins came the closest to that goal, giving you more choices than most games of the time for how to approach problems. But as the games went on and the team was expected to continue accounting for those choices going forward, it became increasingly avoidant of giving the player choices that had any actual significant impact on the overall worldstate. Combined with a growing reluctance to be perceived as punishing players for in game moral choices (potentially alienating players when they needed to be as broadly appealing as possible because capitalism) and the writer’s centering an explicitly christian perspective as default, these problems snowballed and by Inquisition became very difficult not to notice, creating a choice driven rpg where you can’t make meaningful choices and can’t role play.

#dragon age: inquisition

[arkus-rhapsode]

Video game hot take of the day or really more like a video game hot discussion because I know I'm opening myself to a discourse and I want to give an actually though out and decent take on something that's kinda always on my mind involving Smash Bros and frankly the perception of Nintendo franchises as a whole.

So I think it is fair to say that for better or worse, Smash Bros as a series has drastically altered people's perception of certain video game characters. I know it is essentially a gateway for many to be introduced to this cornucopia of franchises both belonging to Nintendo and not belonging to them. Hell, factor in competitive players who might not ever purchase another Nintendo game in their life will know who guys like Fox or Captain Falcon are from this game alone. And because of the level of success as a franchise has reached, there is a certain prestige that comes from being in that roster. People who are deep in the wool of Nintendo fandom and the casuals can all recognize them from this simple to learn hard to master game.

I've said in a previous post a lot of people view Smash Bros as a video game hall of fame or a celebration of video games as a whole. You make it there, you are synonymous as a pillar of gaming. But the truth is its not really. Oh sure we treat inductions into smash as a big event, but this wasn't some independent committee of adjudicators decided that this character has to be in Smash Bros, its ultimately up to Nintendo and the deals they can crave out in back rooms we aren't privy to. I'm sure Sakurai and co try really hard with getting guys like Banjo and Terry into the roster, but ultimately it comes down corporate negotiation. At the end of the day, Smash Bros is a Nintendo product. with a goal of selling many units and creating enticing additions to the game that may also coincide with deals they have with other companies or even advertising plans for themselves.

And with that in mind, if we decouple that prestige, we are left with something else. That ultimately characters and the franchises they are from in Smash Bros are not all the pillars of Nintendo. Now that sounds harsh and I really want to make it clear, I'm not at all saying these are bad games. However, I am not under the perception that just because Ness is in every Smash game means earthbound is a franchise that Nintendo needs to keep in perpetuity alongside Mario and Zelda.

And before I continue, I really want to stress this. I get it. It sucks to lose a series that you love. It sucks that art, characters, worlds, stories that you are invested in can just cease to be because they don't sell enough to justify sequels and the company that owns them have no interest in taking that risk to continue making them. I am a Fire Emblem fan, I know what it is like for your franchise to be on death's door and potentially getting shelved. We were lucky we got Awakening which was a game that appealed to old fans but also made a bunch of new fans. And there is no denying that some percentage of new fans learned what Fire Emblem even was because of Smash Bros.

So I am sympathetic to the plight of people who want series they love to return. I understand that if you are a Star Fox or F-Zero fan you are literally dying for new content. To be given that same shot at second life that not only satisfies existing fans but also grows the franchise into something sustainable for many games. But the truth as it is, is that Nintendo as a company don't see that as a viable new stream of revenue and there isn't really an incentive to take that risk at this time. They may just be too niche of a game without the strength in sales to justify investment into future titles.

I have heard this take before, but there are people who do genuinely believe that the first ever roster of smash characters from the N64 should always have a game. That these are Nintendos all stars. The Justice League of Nintendo characters. But once again, set the prestige to the side, you'll realize that's not even what the original Smash Bros was about. Like Captain Falcon? He's just here because his model is similar to the rough prototype of Smash, Dragon King. Jigglypuff is just here because their model is similar to Kirby. And I'll be honest, that's not really convincing me that we should always have a new F-Zero every gen or have Jigglypuff in every Pokemon game. At its core, smash was about making a fighting game that you already recognized the characters then invest in the gameplay and like any game that develops, it needed to make good within the limitations that it had to release a fun and satisfying product.

However, for many people they see this as the symbol of Nintendo IP. The showpiece of their iconic characters. Yet a good chunk of these guys are from games that are unavailable? Heck, for some people smash is the only time they'll see some of these franchises because Nintendo isn't doing anything with them.

So again, this isn't about "Stop whining! Your thing doesn't sell get over it!" My thing is that I do not believe that just because something is in Smash Bros means it is owed a new game or to constantly get entries. And that just because it is in Smash Bros means it is a priority for Nintendo to honor. At the end of the day, corporate interest will dictate that choices made in what games they make. And Nintendo is thankfully one of the companies that has way more than like 3 blockbuster IP is makes every year. I do have faith that fans can show an interest in something financially and that will get people to take notice. I do think seeing how massive a positivee reception people are giving Golden Sun being put on Switch Online may actually spur them to make a new one.

Nintendo has brought back some lesser known IPs of theirs, so I think it is disingenuous to say that Nintendo never tries to bring things back like some like to say. We have remakes of Advanced Wars, Another Code, Famicom Detective Club. These are safe but still a form of chance that goes beyond just making the millionth Mario game because Mario is guaranteed to sell. But the truth for some is that because they're not in Smash Bros they're not recognizable iconic character who haven't gotten a spotlight. When people say they want Nintendo IP revived they mean the popular stuff that they can recognize as Nintendo IP that was around before but is no longer like F-Zero and Star Fox and EarthBound. Which is thanks to the power of something like Smash Bros. Meanwhile Advanced Wars gets announced and you don't see people recognizing it as "The game Andy is from."

Now I never want to say never, I don't know what the future holds, perhaps we will see Nintendo put some serious weight and investment in a Star Fox game and its a game that's more than like a mid level indie team remake of it. Its an actual honest to god new entry into the franchise that not only does well, but also growing the fanbase beyond its passionate fans. And there isn't a shadow of doubt in my mind, that some people who have never touched a Star Fox game will recognize who Fox is and give it a try because he's in that fighting game with Mario and Zelda.

So yeah while there is a lot hype and bluster and something really cool about seeing all these video game characters under one roof and a lot of going beyond just the company of Nintendo, it really makes smash almost this institution. But I do think when we talk about games and choices Nintendo makes with the games they decide to make, we should set aside that sort of mythologizing that smash has done for some characters and franchises. And ultimately remember that this is a business.

Again, one last time for the road, this is not me saying your love for these franchises and characters is invalid. And neither is the desire to see them return. We will see waters tested. Look at F zero 99. It might not be GX 2, but it clearly shows they do care. They do want to preserve and introduce this game to people. Maybe it is that one small step towards F zero’s Metroid Prime/FE Awakening. But it’s still a calculated risk, there’s a reason nintendo doesn’t just make more games because it’s nice to have or because they’re obligated to.

#hot take #smash bros #super smash bros #mario #super mario #nintendo #video games #fire emblem

[artzychic27]

Just some Blue Emperor doodles

And some headcanons

There are some negative side effects of the Miraculous caused by a person’s mental state. Years of bullying, the threat of his moms losing their jobs, his best friend being forced to switch schools, and having no one to back him up make Nathaniel susceptible to those side effects

The more he uses the Miraculous for vengeance, the worse the side effects are, helping to drastically alter his mind along with his appearance (hence the fangs I drew on him)

Had his bullies not gone after his moms the day after he found Nooroo and Duusu, Nathaniel would not have been corrupted by the Miraculous

But, they did. And Nathaniel snapped

He treats Nooroo and Duusu slightly better than Gabriel, but he manipulates them into staying loyal to him by mentioning how much better he is than their past holders

Nathaniel's at his calmest when he taking care of his senticreatures or spending time with his moms

He's nice enough to allow Nooroo to spend time with the other Kwamis for his birthday, knowing he and Duusu can't reveal his identity or where he lives

When Marc discovers he's Blue Emperor, Nathaniel creates a senticreature named Iris in the form of a choker necklace with an eyeball charm to watch his every move, and has Marc wear them at all times

Marc sort of understands his reasoning behind his attacks, but is worried for the day Nathaniel goes too far and there's no way to bring him back

Nathaniel's classmates are slightly unnerved by the unsettling aura that seems to surround him these days. Even his bullies froze mid-insult

#blue emperor au #evil Nathaniel au #mlb au #miraculous ladybug #miraculous #headcanons #fanfic headcanons #nathaniel kurtzberg #marc anciel #my art

[dig-jules]

The saddest moments of Star Trek TOS belonged to "throwaway" characters

They all deserved better.

1. Lieutenant Riley - Conscience of the King

Faced with the chance to kill the man who once ordered the executions of thousands (including his family) in the wake of a famine, Riley's chance is stripped from him and he is ordered to stand down.

This is also a devastating moment for the captain himself as the only other remaining survivor of the colony. Kirk stops Riley's drastic actions, which, although damning, were perhaps his only chance of overcoming the guilt of having once been selected to live while others were sent to death.

Both enter a confrontation regarding their shared past, but neither heal.

2. Janice Rand - The Enemy Within

Although it was an "evil extension" of Kirk who perpetrated the assault on Janice Rand in her own room, at this point she only had reason to believe that the assailant was Kirk himself.

Rand is forced to testify with Kirk (the man she thought she loved, a captain with both power and position over her, an officer flanked by his two closest allies, and a man whose proximity in the same ship could endanger her after the testimony) standing over her. Rand even admits to "not wanting to get him into trouble", highlighting how closely her struggle mirrors the victims of everyday workplace violence against women.

What may even be worse are the blatant intimidation tactics Kirk employs throughout the scene. Although he knows he didn't do it (and perhaps suspects foul play), Kirk makes no attempt to empathize with the testimonies of Rand and Fisher regarding what they saw, and he even hints at the danger of them conspiring against a man of his rank.

Rand endured constant objectification in each of her appearances in the series, and would go on to be entirely forgotten after its first season. (Though she would return in The Motion Picture.)

3. Lieutenant "Joey" - The Naked Time

Joey delivered perhaps the most poignant monologue of the series, just moments before his impending death. Though Joey's inhibitions were altered by the infection that would soon kill him, we see later in the episode that the infection forces people express existing wants and needs. Therefore, real are his pleas begging to understand why humanity should be in space at all when it has merely taken and taken... leaving only destruction in its wake and its own to die.

Not only did he bare his own insecurities, Joey also established a central conflict of the entire series: can a utopian vision of the future include acts like leaving six people to waste away on an empty planet?

Tragically, Joey couldn't bear the burden of this conflict alone (no one else had or would mention this guilt at any point in the series) and though his death was prompted by the infection, it only acted as a catalyst for what was truly a su*c*de.

McCoy ruled in the autopsy that Joey might have survived, but he simply gave up fighting.

#joey you will always be special #because now that I’m really looking at em… starfleet kinda ugly #common denominator #justice for janice rand #Kevin Riley I love him he’s my girl he’s my buddy he’s my pal #star trek tos #star trek #jim kirk #leonard mccoy #*

[dryemiddi]

I know you've probably gotten this a couple times. But as you're probably aware, the original creator of Vantablack was diagnosed with DID, where Vanta was present as a fictive alter. Vanta, alongside other alters, were the ones grooming and sexually abusing minors and adults alike. I won't say the host, or the original creator you knew, was innocent, but most of the problems arose from his alters.

Being that Vanta was a major abuser, and possibly a lot of his victims are becoming aware of this revival of project, is it possible that you could make and design your OWN Ink/Nightmare fusion, to spare them from triggering content? It would be in theirs, and your, best interests to consider doing so. Don't subject people to a sore reminder of their traumas. You've already removed most of the other characters created by the original creator, so why not the one who was centred in the drama surrounding the grooming and abuse thanks to a fictive of him? Please. As a friend to a few who were victims, I just want to ask if you hear me.

I do hear you. And I recognize the victims that we're affected by J's actions. But I also recognize the grey complexity of this current situation, at least in how it pertains to myself and my decisions here. I see Vanta (the character) and Vanta (the fictive) as very separate in nature; one of them is a real person who is responsible for their own actions. I've never properly met the fictive and I know very little about him besides the news of what he did (and honestly I'm very grateful for that). Perhaps the closest I've ever gotten to interacting with him was when J had a hostile meltdown in front of me after announcing my pull of my work from the old project (I was later told that it was Vanta who had that meltdown, but I'm unable to confirm it). I was never groomed. But that does not mean that I don't hold a large share of trauma that stemmed from my interactions with J. My memory of my time with him is foggy, perhaps repressed, but it's clear to me that he's left a sizeable negative imprint on my psyche-- if my innate fear towards him (even before hearing the news of what happened) is anything to go off of.

I do know that, at least for a while, I considered him to be my only friend. And knowing what I know now -and the fact that I am the same age as one of the victims- that scares me in ways I cannot even begin to describe. Does that make me a victim in some sense? I'm unsure. There is no simple or straight answer here, as there is with a lot of what I am and will be talking about. I don't want to force a simple conclusion out of all of this. I don't want to make this situation black and white: because it simply isn't. That would ultimately be a disservice to me fully processing the events that did occur. (Ironically enough, J wasn't the one out of the admins to leave me with the most trauma, but that's its own complicated story that I will save for another day.) Now Vanta, as a character, I still hold dear to my heart. I was responsible for designing him (both his initial and updated designs), as well as co-writing and coming up with major parts of his character. I see Vanta no different to any character I created entirely on my own, seeing as I was the second largest contributor to his character. It sort of just made sense to me to take him under my wing after what happened. For better or for worse, I can't bring myself to replace him. Perhaps I'm just stubborn or too sentimental for my own good. I love Vanta, in spite of everything J has done. And I want to give people the chance to enjoy Vanta without all that horrific baggage-- and that includes myself. I am willing to make an accommodation or two, however. As a compromise, I am willing to give Vanta a redesign (no drastic changes, unfortunately) as to further dissociate him with his past iterations. I also will aim to give my own spin to Vanta's personality to some extent. It isn't much, but it is something I am willing to do if it helps. If people are still uncomfortable with Vanta (especially victims), I certainly don't blame them. That being said, it is their job to curate their online experience to best suit their individual needs, whether that's ignoring posts, blocking tags, or even unfollowing me entirely. I'll respect that decision, as I ask that they respect my decision in turn, whether they agree with it or not. . I am thankful that you were able to approach me about this in a respectful manner. I applaud you for that. It's nice to be able to have a civil discussion about tricky topics such as this, as many are quick to be reactionary towards things they don't agree with. If you have more to say/ask and would like to, anon, my DMs are open.

#ask #anon #anonymous #AccidentVerse #Vantablack #glad to have that off my chest haha #sorry for how long the response is #I never left AV because I wanted to #it was more for my own safety really #But I never stopped loving the characters #in spite of it all #AV holds a special little place in my heart and I hope I can tell a fun story or two for everybody #tw: grooming mention #oh also I'm no longer using Admixverse as a name for it haha #well I only tagged it such so people so people that only knew the mv as axv would be aware #but i never was involved with axv #so that was my bad

[fugamsemidei]

His feathers remained slightly ruffled as he continues. “I...definitely admit, most of the scars are indeed psychological. And still I consider the kids’ lot worse than mine. But that’s not really what you asked.” Honestly he wished more people were worried about how the kids were doing. But it wasn’t like they were awake to be asked right now. Just him.

He fishes around in his pouch for a moment, before pulling out the first disc he felt. A reddish-orange one. Fire. He cringed just imagining what it might do to him. He hoped he’d never need to find out.

“........for a normal Silvally, a memory disc simply alters ones type. Mine.....changed me much more drastically.” His breathing grows unsteady for a moment. “Day in, day out, they....tested the effects they had on me. The....the water one made me leak from the eyes, mouth, and tail uncontrollably for as long as it was in. I could barely see, and I could barely breathe. The...the bug one....” His breath hitches, and he has to take a moment to calm down.

He considers not even finishing the thought. But....at the same time, maybe the other was right. Maybe he’d be better off not letting these memories....fester.

“.....it made me grow new limbs.” He says, claws clenching around the Fire Memory. “A pair of legs, vestigial, and antenna. The process was........extremely painful. All of them are, to some degree, but growing new limbs was.....awful. The humans amputated them after they were finished testing that one. Took a long time to recover, but it was a welcome respite from more disc tests.”

He takes another deep breath, putting the disc back in his bag. “.....all the ones I have with me now....are the few they hadn’t gotten around to testing yet. I don’t know what any of them do. And..........I can’t stand the thought that I might need them. I’d needed the Steel Memory, to regrow my foot. Each time I use one I run the risk of permanently altering myself. It makes me so unbelievably sick to my stomach.”

A pause.

(( @asktidethegastrodon​ ))

#fugamsemidei #asktidethegastrodon #Pokemon ask blog #Pokeaskblog #Paleo Silvally #Silvally #Tide Gastrodon #Gastrodon #My art #Story #Long post ish #Body horror cw #Implications at least

[creaturefeaster]

Ooh, now I’m intrigued… Could you get into Atrox’s lore? /nf

☁️

Atrox is in that range of color where things get weird and unstable. He is very weak, as I previously stated, and because he's so far off into the more "impossible" side of hues, he doesn't have close contact with a lot of the other mimes until he arrives in the physical plane. He was somewhat isolated, if that makes sense.

He was somewhat indifferent to the idea of coming into reality, because he felt safer sticking to what he knew. But, everyone he ever knew was occupied jumping ship, and he didn't want to feel even more alone. So down he went with Calamea, that situation also previously explained.

Atrox, as one of the most unstable mimes on the spectrum, has this pretty unique thing about him, a trait he shares with only one other character in the cast-- it's that he is unaffected by the tides of fate. There is nothing persuasion can do to him, and he is not tethered to a specific fate like most people are. On it's own this probably sounds flashy, but insignificant. However, because of this, he cannot be doomed for doing things that "controllers of fate"* don't like.

*Those who harbor the power of Persuasion, who can alter fate through a magical force that... well, persuades things to happen!! And the people who can control this are generally very aware of things that can/will seriously fuck up the continuum. So if they're faced with someone who is unaffected by their magic, seriously fucking up something that is fated to happen, there is no way of stopping them. Short of just outright killing them, I guess? But that can be a drastic solution depending on the circumstances, so these Persuasion users prefer to stick their expertise.

Anyway, Atrox is fateless and learns pretty early on of some dire, dire straits in the works. Terrible things that are meant to happen, and if anyone involved in this fate were to know about it, it would alter reality. But there's no telling if that's for better or worse, and there are people on both sides of persuasion-- those who want things to turn out well and those who want it to stay terrible. This gets Atrox shoehorned into a game of capture the flag, where he's the flag.

He is pulled around a bunch into the hold of many different people, he is lied to and made to feel confused and unsure about everything, he is threatened, and so on and so forth. It's really unfortunate. Because of this he is too afraid to speak on some of the most serious things that go on in the story, and prefers to stay out of everything, as much as he can.

He finds friends though, to help him through his woes and come to his aid when he is in danger. So a lot of his story revolves around a balance between his struggles, and his healing & coping. At least, that's what I've always hoped to achieve for him.

#uh sorry I don't know what that means at the end of the ask #those things make it harder for me to understand what people are saying so in the future I'd say they're best not used for me #sorry ig if im missing something you're getting at. #anyways i hope this doesnt come as a shock to anyone but atrox has always been the Tragic of the story #so do not open this expecting his lore to be sunshine lmao

[vital-information]

"The wondrously humane and strangely spiritual odd-duck of a movie, Junebug, incisively gets at all that unspoken complexity existing in the spaces between family members by treating them as just that: spaces, gaps, blind spots. Family in Junebug is as aesthetically controlled as it is suffocatingly full; as warm as it is frigid. Jousting is ubiquitous: Brothers engage in unarticulated hostilities as outwardly as sisters-in-law fumblingly attempt emotional contact, and husbands and wives cut each other down with razor-sharp truth as much as they dull each others’ senses with politeness. In other words, the world in a house. How to enter upon such a simultaneously antagonistic and reassuring trunk full of decades-old angst and secret communications without seeming like a mere intruder?...More than anything, more than its oft-cited red-state/blue-state dichotomies, more than its fish-out-of-water conventions, Junebug is about the bonds of family, for better or for worse, and their propensity to morph and alter with each passing season, the need to make room for change, to allow for error, to accept transition with open arms.

What makes Junebug such a unique, even cathartic, experience, however, is its reliance on silence, not just as a mere narrative justification (many of the characters seem more than happy to not express themselves verbally) but as a visual and aural tool. Junebug straddles a fine line between realism and aestheticism—its determined mise-en-scene often gives way to almost documentary-like flights of fancy, suddenly brimming with Carolina locals, picking up on the sensorial surroundings of a church banquet-hall or a factory warehouse. There’s a fairly drastic split at play here between ceaseless chatter and contemplative quiet, and not just within the obvious differences between maddeningly with-child Ashley (Amy Adams) and her preternaturally collected brother-in-law George (Alessandro Nivola): think of how Morrison will shoot his family’s living space—at once populated by the joy of family babbling, the next moment empty, voices trailing off like the faint buzzing of flies as they exit the room and thus the camera’s frame. A succession of shots shows the now-empty house with a hush fallen over it, yet the space is still alive, breathing, cognizant, pregnant with memories.

Something familiar has become unfamiliar, made odd through what the camera is able to capture. This is Junebug’s greatest strength and what gives its mundane setting such an extraordinarily uncommon demeanor...

Morrison’s contemplative style (a thicket of backyard woods at nighttime is granted the same calm as an empty living room) keeps us constantly off-guard, a refreshing sensation in what initially seems a family comedy. Yet genre is ultimately beside the point, for Junebug coalesces as something far darker and thoughtful; if not tragic then somehow beyond feeling. The title itself refers to the film’s most gaping empty space, the place on which an entire family hangs its hopes, desires, and grief."

Michael Koresky, "Inside Out," a review of Junebug (2005) for Reverse Shot

#junebug 2005 #junebug #amy adams #embeth davidtz #film criticism

[womanofwords]

Bunny Suit

“What do you mean there’s nothing else you can get for me?” Hero stammered, looking at the pink monstrosity with revulsion.

“It’s either this or Lost and Found,” Superhero replied.

“B-but it’s a bunny onesie! A bright pink bunny onesie!”

“And beggars can’t be choosers.” Superhero leaned forward and smirked. “So what do you say?”

Half an hour later, Hero walked down the street wearing the bunny onesie, doing their best to hide their face from the snickering pedestrians and stop them from seeing their tears. That was probably why they didn’t see Villain.

“Well, what have we here? It looks like a defenceless little bunny.” Villain leaned down and smirked, and Hero cursed their diminutive frame.

“There was a clothing malfunction. This was all they had,” Hero mumbled. “I plan on burning it.”

“Burning it? It’s not that bad,” Villain tried to argue.

Hero scoffed. “Look at me.”

The bunny suit was baby pink and so fluffy that it almost obscured the zip on the front. The mittens were large and cumbersome and the feet had little bunny faces and ears on them. The hood had ridiculously large ears that flopped forwards, as if the suit knew that the wearer was ashamed of it. It was also made for someone a good deal bigger than Hero, making the already embarrassing suit even worse.

“Here’s a deal. Promise not to arrest me, and I will get you a change of clothes. I’ll even take the bunny suit off your hands. Whaddya say?”

“How do I know this isn’t a trick?” Hero asked.

“Fine, don’t accept my help, do the walk of shame back to your house all alone,” Villain said.

“OK, OK! I’ll take it!” Hero snapped. Villain grinned and took Hero by their large, mitten-wearing hand.

“There’s a good bunny.”

A week later, Hero spotted Villain wearing the bunny suit, albeit drastically altered. The bunny feet had been cut off from the rest of the suit and turned into slippers, which was a good start. They were cumbersome and they kept falling over the ears. The bottom and top half were separated and the mittens were repurposed as pockets for the new pants. Hero’s jaw dropped at the sight of them.

“How are you making it look so good?!” they yelled.

“First off, this fits me a lot better because I’m bigger than you. Second of all, nobody wants to say anything bad to the person who is currently running the crime syndicate in the area,” Villain explained.

“Oh, right, that too.” Hero looked over appreciatively. “I didn’t know you could sew.”

“I’m a villain. Of course I know how to sew.” Villain smirked at Hero. “We don’t have agencies like you do to give us our clothes.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s quite all right. Now remember, if you ever need help with clothing that’s too embarrassing to be seen in as is, just give it to me and I’ll alter it.” And with that, Villain put their hands into the newly fashioned pockets and walked away.

#creative writing #my writing #writing inspiration #writers on tumblr #writers #writeblr #writerscommunity #superheroes #superpowers #super villians #heroes and villains

[discet]

So yet another TOH/Amphibia ask, but hypothetically if Luz was a part of Anne, Marcy, and Sasha's rather toxic friend group from the start, how do you think she'd fit in and potentially change they're dynamic for better or worse?

Ooooh. This is interesting.

Okay so to keep it simple premise wise, Camila and Manny move to LA to relocate to a better hospital like Luz suspects they did in Thanks to Them. Lets same timeline wise, Anne and Marcy become friends in kindergarten. Sasha becomes their friend at the beginning of the following summer, Luz transfers in to St. James Elementary in first grade. Manny dies partway through that year.

I think what happens is that Marcy gets hurt, lets go with a broken leg for old times sake, something that keeps her in a cast for a while. Anne and Sasha stick with her for the first few recesses, but eventually Marcy feels bad and insists they don't have to stick by her every recess period. Which is why Marcy notices that the friendless new girl who usually was rooting around in the bushes for bugs and critters one day comes looking totally defeated sitting under the big oaktree on the playground near Marcy with a book. Curious, Marcy borrows the book from the library and brings it to recess the next day. Luz of course asks about it and where Marcy is, and the two of them end up starting what amounts to an impromptu bookclub. Both agreeing to read up to a certain place each day and then talking about it during recess.

Some shitty kids crash one of these meetings and of course Sasha and Anne come to the rescue when they see Marcy in trouble. Marcy introduces Luz, and the trio becomes a quartet.

What's fascinating, cause it would drastically alter both Luz and Marcy's core character motivations.

Luz was up to series start was friendless, with no one who she could relate to. Marcy felt unappreciated with Anne and Sasha never sharing or trying her interests.

So these two basically solve that problem for each other. It's still a bummer Anne and Sasha are kind of dismissive of her interests, but Luz is there to pick up the slack.

As for how this effects the friend group longterm, I think it goes one of two ways. Either Luz fixes everything, or the friendship is broken up into duos.

Cause the interesting thing here is Luz does not have a follower personality. If she could swallow up the lest conventional parts of herself to make friends, she would have done that in canon. She is a person who makes stuff happen. And I think that personality coming up against Sasha as she teters more and more towards toxicity is a flashpoint. Ultimately I think it would come down to Anne.

As Sasha's controlling streak hits a breaking point for Luz at the start of middle school, I think Luz tries to talk to Anne and Marcy into confront her about it.

Option A: Anne Backs The Plan

Best case, if all three of her friends confront her about it, Sasha is forced to temper herself or risk losing them. Maybe they dig to find what the source of her damage is and help her through it. Things get healthier and the next real crisis is Marcy having to move a few years later.

Alternatively Sasha refuses to compromise, does lose the three as friends and Luz, Anne, and Marcy have a healthier friendship. Maybe they all reconnect later once Sasha realizes they were serious about it.

Option B: Anne Backs Out [This one is probably the more interesting for conflict]

Anne feels guilty about what feels like conspiring behind Sasha's back and goes and tries to be honest with her alone. Sasha uses her natural aptitude in manipulation to get Anne to get back in line, and goes to confront Luz.

Luz and Marcy are waiting to meet up with Anne and Sasha outside the thrift store, and spot the music box in the window and I think go and check it out just cause cool frog box? It has a fourth gem, cause that's always fun. Luz is holding it when Sasha and Anne arrive.

Sasha storms in raring to pick a fight with Luz. Luz and Marcy both feel a little betrayed by Anne for breaking their confidence. Anne tries to keep the peace, but that works as well as you'd expect. Sasha tears the box from Luz's grasp and hurls it to the ground. Cracking it open and teleporting them all on over to Amphibia.

From there man there's a lot of ways that plays out.

I don't want to outline the whole adventure from there cause I've been at this for almost 2 hours, but I'll finish up these loose ends.

To complete the quadrent, Luz ends up with an Axolotl. If I'm gonna be indulgent I would choose Dia Mond from my own fanfic. Most cause I really like Luz's being a seafaring dork in Separate Tides and want more of it. Also cause man when Marcy and Yunan attack the ship like we see in her themesong takeover, talk about natural drama.

Not sure what Luz's gem would represent? Might have to totally revamp the gem system so that it doesn't feel tacked on.

#Amphibia #the owl house #au workshop #what name should I have this AU? #4Stars AU #lets go with that.

[ehlnofay]

if you’re comfortable with sharing, i would love to hear your thoughts on the shivering isles :)

friend I am ALWAYS down to ramble

I've been doing a bit of writing exploring my hero of kvatch's super-fun holiday (turned long-term - as in eternal - occupancy) in the isles and while I don't think any of that will be ready to post for quite a bit I'm having an absolutely delightful time generating and sorting through thoughts on it. I talk all the time about how my conceptualisation of sheogorath is very different from canon (listen. I've had a special interest in psychopathology since I was eleven years old. the amount of both clinical and personal introspection I have done on my own mental disorders is off the fucking charts. you can't give me that kind of disastrous attempt at a character embodying "madness" and expect me NOT to run with it) (I have just posted an almost sixteen thousand word story about my sheogorath, incidentally, if that sounds like something that might interest you) and trying to change the isles to match the way I see it in my head - without making it completely unrecognisable - is an absolutely fascinating challenge.

I've talked a bit about my thoughts on the mania/dementia split so I won't repeat that here, with the exception that I think the geography of the isles is inconstant, so while there are mania places and dementia places nobody fucking knows which is which. (mania is always to the north, but directions also don't really work in the isles, so north is also wherever mania is.) in general I picture the isles being... I guess the best word is kaleidoscopic. not hostile, but extremely trippy. in its natural state - what I refer to as the wild isles - it's uninhabitable, but there are a number of places that are more livable where people have settled down. it's kind of a chicken or the egg problem - are those places livable because of the moderating influence of the people inhabiting them, or do people inhabit them because they're livable?

the mortal denizens of the isles don't often venture into the wilds, and when they do it's always alone. the wild isles fuck you up bad. they strip you down to emotion and instinct and adrenaline - the results of which vary drastically based on the individual. some people have a really cool time. some people come out fundamentally altered, for better or worse. some people never return. (for their part, my hero of kvatch likes the wilds; she always comes out feeling relieved, a bit like having finally thrown up after feeling sick for hours. she also comes out almost invariably covered in tears and sweat. she's doing very well and normal by this time.)

I also think the wilds are very important to the isles' more religious sects and are key to a lot of their rituals and traditions. tangentially related, I don't think that sheogorath being venerated religiously is particularly common, even in the isles (perhaps especially; there might be more cults without than there are within.) sheogorath doesn't really care for worship and the people of the isles are too familiar with its sphere to feel like it makes sense. this is not necessarily something others will be able to relate to, but for a long time I would end every night sitting on the roof and talking to god/the universe/the benevolent spirits of my backyard/whatever would listen to me about my day, and that's the kind of relationship a large portion of the isles have to sheogorath; they're very aware of it, and it isn't irreligious, but there's not exactly much piety to it. they talk to it like one talks to the moon: respectfully, of course, but simply a fact of life, a part of the environment as inherent as breathing.

I've been going on for a fair bit so I'll wind up. I will say that something I'm finding most interesting is reconciling the very unsettling and inhuman way I picture the shivering isles with its large population of regular-ass people; considering how people could manage to survive or learn to thrive in that kind of environment is super fascinating, and also something I want to be thoughtful and considerate about. I really want to make sure I'm not falling into otherising the denizens of the isles here - god knows the games do that enough as is.

#thank you kindly for the query! I had a lot of fun answering it #asks always brighten my day #sorry about the obscene amount of (parentheses) in this. I banged it all out without bothering to look it over and I love to make (asides) #fay talks #sheogorathposting #ask #fay complains about the shivering isles