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legally-allowed-to-slime · 5 months

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The last few people had logged off the server, leaving it in its burnt, damaged state.

She knew where Gem would be.

Cleo scaled up the ladder and clambered up to the rickety roof of Joel’s tower — where you could look out on the entire server.

Sure enough, Gem was perched on the railing, sitting on the edge with nothing to support her but the wind, staring in the direction of the Secret Keeper.

Cleo looked around at the short cobble walls. Grian had told her that he’d hid away here. Not a bad strategy, overall. You could shut yourself here and forget everywhere else existed.

“Hey, Cleo.”

“Am I that loud?” Cleo joked weakly.

“Who else?”

Cleo watched as the last remains of the green flesh flaked off Gem’s skin, leaving her regular human tones. “No more zombies now, then? Good job, anyway. Killing people left and right.”

“Not you, though.”

“Not me. Only way I’m going out is my way. I’d rather die on my own stupidity than someone else’s callousness.” Cleo allowed a hint of pride to enter her voice. “You were great zombies, though.”

“We weren’t zombies.” Gem turned and hopped down from the railing.

Cleo noticed that unlike the other zombies, or even Scott or Grian, Gem didn’t have a single scratch or injury, save one neat bandage that no doubt was due to Scar’s reckless arrows.

Which meant the blood splattering her face wasn’t her own. “What do you mean?”

“That’s not how zombies work. No offence, Cleo, but most zombies aren’t sentient.”

Cleo blinked. “No worries, I know they aren’t. I kill plenty of them at night.”

“So you should know how they work. They’re mindless. They lurch along, they kill without thinking, they probably bump into trees.”

Gem tilted her head. “They don’t set TNT traps, or betray their teammates, or ask for permission to kill their wife’s perceived murderer.”

Cleo’s mouth was dry. “So you’re saying…”

“I’m saying the apocalypse wasn’t zombies, Cleo. It was human.”

Horribly, incredibly human.

Cleo remembered when they were up on the tower, staring at the others down below, condemning them as monsters.

Somehow, it was better to think of them as a mindless horde and not people she’d been laughing and arguing with a session ago.

Gem was watching her. “You know I’m right. Look at Pearl. Was running from us, convinced we were infected or something but once she realised she had permission to kill, she went in. Even unleashed a warden, or two. That’s how quickly we switch.”

Ironically, Cleo realised, the roles had been swapped this session. The humans were chasing the zombie, but it hadn’t been any different.

“That’s not true,” Cleo said, “It’s not all bad. Did you know, Grian snuck down from this tower to check on his magma pet, and I was there too. And so was Etho. He didn’t kill us.”

Irritation flashed across Gem’s face. “He didn’t kill you? If he had, or, like, told us your location or something, we could’ve all just gone after Scott, and, and, the task would’ve succeeded…”

She trailed off, and looked at Cleo. “Is that the point you’re trying to make here?”

Cleo shrugged.

“Alright, I get it,” Gem grumbled, “No need to rub your holier-than-thou alliance and great morals in my face.”

“Well, no one asked you to put your task over your bandmates.”

Gem didn’t say anything to that.

“It’s not as if I’m exactly a paragon of morality either.” Cleo continued.

“I guess not.” Gem gave a short laugh. “Neither am I. You know, all the murder and stuff? I don’t feel bad! In fact, I feel great. I feel proud of myself for it.”

“…I feel you should be a little less bloodthirsty.”

Gem smiled at Cleo, an innocent, cheerful smile that would have been such if not for the circumstances. “Oh, no.”

Cleo was suddenly feeling very unsafe on the highest platform on the server. She wished Etho was here, or even Grian.

She knew Gem couldn’t take any lives, not now, not when the session was already over. But still…

Cleo raised her sword to stop the axe swing that came, but it was a feint, and her sword hit nothing.

Gem dramatically swung her axe back into her inventory.

“You really thought I would attack you?” Gem said.

“I don’t see why you wouldn’t,” Cleo retorted curtly.

“That’s true,” Gem conceded. “But the curse is just so- it’s so freeing, Cleo? Can’t you see? You could do anything.”

“Uh- no thanks. Session’s over, anyway,” Cleo pointed out.

“That’s true. But I’m still kinda cursed, you know.”

In response, Cleo warily raised her sword. But all that Gem did was deliver a mock salute before logging off with a chirpy “See you next week!”

Cleo stood silently. There had been one zombie on the platform just now. Her.

And thinking about it, she wasn’t sure if there hadn’t been two.

#concept: gem is simply evil #god forbid women do anything #oh no this story turned into that are humans good/evil thing again #that’s great i don’t care #geminitay #zombiecleo #gem centric but i did put in some cleo stuff because etho sparing his allies was so woahwhaha #secret life fanfic #secret life #secret life smp #life series #trafficblr

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serpenlupus · 2 months

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About Wyll and his horns

Let's say I was writing a part of my Tav's story with Wyll directly connected to the dialogue he has during the tiefling party, and while struggling with this bit, I've realized there's quite a few misconceptions floating around. I felt compelled to add information to the table that might clear them, so here we go.

First, what exactly happens to Wyll when he disobeys Mizora in act one? Well, he doesn't get turned into a devil, he certainly doesn't get turned into a tiefling, he's not a half fiend, not a demon, none of that. Wyll stays human, but he has horns and red eyes (and other features we can't see on his model as of now).

(Everyone has their race listed, Wyll's remains "Human")

This is because when a warlock fails to uphold some part of their contract they can suffer a certain number of consequences, Wylls is “The character grows horns, a tail, or some other devilish features that can't be removed by any means short of divine intervention. As long as these marks persist the character detects as a fiend when subjected to Detect Evil and Good spells or similar magic.” ( from Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, page 214)

And I’ve come across some people that think it wasn’t so bad of a punishment, that he was being racist towards the tieflings, or just not being justified in being upset after having his body forcibly changed against his will. I think they are missunderstanding just how insidious Mizora’s actions were, and here I just want to give some context to maybe bring a better understanding to the situation. Your conclusions are up to you.

Gonna start by using a not exact analogy, but I think it’s going to make the explanation easier. Stick with me for a minute.

Remember Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean? He had a branded “P” on his arm that marked him as a pirate. A murderer, robber, criminal, etc. in the eyes of the society he was a part of. What did Jack do to earn the branding? (if you don’t know this I suggest you look up the “people aren’t cargo mate” scene) He refused to transport slaves and later freed them, and Beckett had him marked as punishment.

Then, in the first movie, he saves Elizabeth, a woman he didn’t know, from drowning. Right after however, when Norrington sees he has a branded “P”, he’s like “alright, off to jail with you, and then hanging”, no other option crosses his mind. Again, Jack doesn’t know Elizabeth, isn’t indicated to think he is going to be rewarded for helping her, he just sees a drowning person, sees that no one else is going to help, and chooses to save them. That is a pretty selfless/good aligned thing to do, for no other reason that he was the one able to do it, yet the branding in his arm overrides any good action he could ever do, marking him as a criminal for execution and no further thought.

In a way, that’s what Mizora did to Wyll; she forever visibly branded him as someone that has made deals with devils, and that in the world of DnD is a VERY BAD THING. Personally I really like the mod that gives him more devilish features, but at the same time I think there was something clever about choosing to leave him looking more human. He can’t be confused with a tiefling, he doesn’t have the ears, the claws, the tail, all those features that characterize them. He looks kind of uncanny, and that would be like a red flag for anyone in that world. (Beyond the already existing hate for tieflings that I’m not gonna tackle on here because it’s a complicated thing that deserves its own post). And Wyll wants to do good, he wants to help people, to be a positive force in the world so, so badly. This dude got abducted by a nautiloid, got tadpole’d, and the first thing he did right after that was come across the Tiefling refugees and be like “Oh you need help? No worries let me teach you self defense. Oh you being attacked by goblins? Let me blast them real quick”. His way of saying fuck you to all the awful things that have happened to him is being aggressively good and kind. Mizora knows this very well, wants to see him suffer for her amusement, wants to remind him he can't escape her claws, so her choice of punishment was to forever taint his future interactions with mistrust and suspicion. Some people can go real fast from “oh thank God they saved me” to “oh no, are they gonna rob me, are they trying to trick me, are they in cahoots with the ones that attacked me first?” just because of outward appearances. Especially in DnD world. And that deserves its own conversation, but we're focusing on Wyll here.

(Mizora, when I catch you Mizora)

“Well, maybe he shouldn’t have made a deal in the first plac- - “ He was seventeen, alone, preyed upon by Mizora and put in an impossible situation. Please PAY ATTENTION to the story you’re witnesing.

Anyway.

About the tieflings. I know it’s easy to think his words can be derisive towards them, but it’s less about the horns and more about his body being changed against his will. Imagine instead that he got half his face burned, or something that disfigured him. I think his feelings at the moment were closer to that, and yeah they are pretty insensitive words to say to someone with a similar condition (horns or disfiguration), but when feelings are fresh and raw like that it’s easy to say insensitive things. Not saying it was ok for him to say those things, but ther was no malice in his words. I’ve also seen some people share that they think Mizora wanted to change him more to make him unrecognizable to his original self, the Wyll Ravenguard kid, and I think there is some truth to that too. She wants to make sure that Wyll remembers that he belongs to her, there's no question to that.

(MIZORA, WHEN I CATCH YOU MIZORA)

Whether the Tieflings refugees would feel unsettled by Wyll or not? Yes. In a way, they would. From reasons aside from the ones I explained above, remember that these specific tieflings come from Elturel. If you didn’t pass the History check or don’t remember, Elturel is a city that was literally ripped from the land and dragged to Avernus, First layer of hell (it left a hole on the ground and everything) because their mayor made a deal with the Archdevil Zariel some decades back in the timeline. He sold the souls of all its citizens and the city itself.

This was probably one of the worst times of their lives. Some even got captured and forced to participate in the blood War, like Dammon as a mechanic. And after Elturel got returned to the surface, the tieflings lost their homes because they reminded the other citizens of the literal Hell they’d just gone through, and they kicked them out. And remember, they met and saw Wyll as a human, and then saw him with horns. It’s not unreasonable to think that by looking at him they would be reminded of all the events that led them to the awful situation they’re in. Because of someone that was making deals with devils, just like Wyll. Even if his situation is completely different. And Wyll knows that, that’s why he tells you the tieflings are unsettled by him and chooses to stay away during the party.

It was never just about the horns.

And I know Wyll calls himself a devil but I think it’s because it’s the closest thing he looks as; devils are a whole different race with their own intricacies, although humans can be turned into devils ONCE their souls go to Avernus and they start climbing the power hierarchy there (Mizora and Raphael are cambions/ half-devils btw, which is a different thing, there are plenty of videos exploring those details more in depth).

Do I think Larian should have made some of this information clearer/easier to access? Maybe? but to be fair, it's a game focused and dedicated to a crowd that was already somewhat familiar with the source material, that blew up waay out of what they originally expected to reach. Hopefully they’ll add some clarifications like they did to other quests.

Anyway these are my two cents to the conversation, have a nice day, and don't hesitate to add your two cents if you feel like it!

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athena-swords · 4 months

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🎊 Gifts for our NEW YEAR 🎊

PAC

Disclaimer: people I am doing this in all seriousness and all and no it's not for entertainment purposes but ya collective readings so take what resonates

Pile 1. Pile2.

Pile 3. Pile4.

Pile 1❄️❄️🤍

We keep this love in photographs, so if you wanna buy cameras or just capture moments please go ahead and buy it it will give you lots of joy pile 1 new year could be looking as just any new year coming but you know that things are gonna change and maybe the people you are close with now will have to move and you too to other places so cherish this moments.Are you all joining colleges??or like your graduation is being done anyway congrats wishing you absolutely the best .

Maybe you will take the road less taken which will have its own uncertainty but for sure it's gonna be so worth it ,okay first of all whatever type of exams or test you are planning for they gonna give you your desired or expected results and you could be seeing true faces of your close mates and if you feel that you get easily evil eye or affected by others energies don't worry your guides are there to protect you ,this year you could have on issue in financial matter you are being in open to receive energy I see a energetic shit around you and you actually coming into limelight (attention song being played)you definitely should check your solar return chart could bein fire asc sign ok

And I am seeing or more of sensing lot's of puppy love energy so ya talking stages could happen and you ending up liking someone all over just enjoy your "up in the poppy hills" movie vibe so here comes the end of a eventful year wishing you all the best guys take care 💓

Oracle cards: Give it sometime approx 3 to 4 months,the more you live the less you worry,luck is in your favour,My gurl is the prettiest,Be careful with the people you choose

Please comment on your 2024 wishes and reblog means alot

Pile 2❤️‍🩹🥀

Some of you could be getting married or just getting your"THE ONE" for you if you wanted to meet your soul tribe and have been manifesting some wholesome human bond well I am pleased to tell you , you're making some lifetime connections this year , lots of self care products buying specifically perfumes and scented products if 2023 has been the pain the upcoming one will heal all those wounds and the word hork you thought no one saw wanna check some parts of pile 1?? I would recommend there could be a message for you there

Look you need to stop procrastinating!!!like if we wand our desires to turn into reality we need to put some action okkk and studyyyyy like when you study just put your focus on it if need then gurl you have to read it again n ugh that's more tiring.being more organised and balance is always a gift for you this year and a quote for you is "sometimes rejection is protection in disguise"so just jio lol even if it's your lala world I just said a paradox bit don't come to me fantasy and reality just need a little balance and we are good with it.

If you love gloomy weather then congrats you could experience it alot this year.I think you tend to underestimate your intuition and when it turns out right you regret so this year all about working on this and believing ourselves more then others 💗💗

Oracle cards: make a priority list,oh lala it's a love story, it's a yes, please zindagi jiyo baba...,study remember it's "you reap what you sow".

Please comment on your 2024 wishes and reblog means alot

Pile 3📸🦋

My Roman Empire is..... Idk lol.So travels travels and lots of travels in the list 😸 are you planning to fulfill your bucket list or something kya pile 3 anyway you could start talking again with a dear one with whom you could have stopped interacting or cut ties.Having a reunion of some kind being on backpack this could be the highlight of your year sudden plans being made you shifting family dynamics being changed

You again starting to learn alottt like an instrument, occult knowledge,your ancestors, about the world human body and many moreee.Having watermelon with closed ones on a beach or family farm haa such a vibe and keeping your room clean so it does not look like a messy place

Honestly I don't want to touch this past but somewhere along the line if you started feeling that it's hard uk to be happy like genuinely feel so content of life and kinda just at the starting stage of depression well this year is gonna prove your fact so wrong love muah muah have my love ok💓💓

On a side note your Cooking is good please try more

Oracle cards: Are you pretending love,the fingers create magic , living life king size , friends are the bigger enemy.

Please comment on your 2024 wishes and reblog means alot

Pile 4🪴🦓

Headache ahh you could be having them a bit this year ya but but it's because of all the packed schedule you need to get done with which you will be doing for not overthinking about "this" situation of yours someone from past could come back now it's upto you what you will do with them (it seems romantic connection btw).

Do you put this "I don't care" attitude I see you gotta change this one as there will be things you have to be responsible for alot this year.Emotionally you could be working on yourself listening to podcasts and actually making opinions of yours not just blindly following whatever is being said .you confused about something?? honestly sameee sorry for this just that your biggest gift could be knowing yourself more and handling just how you show yourself to the world

Oracle cards: posh lifestyle,lose yourself a little bit, it's not worth it,it worth trying,you know the answer

Please comment on your 2024 wishes and reblog means alot

Wishing you all a very happy New year 🧿🧿🤍

Pls message me my ishman fam i need someone to talk about them 🤌🤌

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blackcat419 · 4 months

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Pros and Antis in HotD and aSoIaF Fandom: the breakdown around grey storytelling

I think I know why TB people struggle so much for understanding why TG is liked by people and it’s because fandom discourse has been so rotted away by “pro shippers” and “anti shippers” discourse that we’ve entered into a puritanical view of consuming media.

They see the media you consume as a direct reflection of the type of person you are and thus the characters you like must be similar to who you are as a person.

To a certain extent I get it, looking at a broad portfolio of media consumption can reveal a bit about a person. For example, I consume a lot of horror media. You can discern that I like being scared and the adrenaline that comes from it. But that’s only in a safe controlled situation where I can turn off the tv or monitor when it gets too much. I don’t like haunted houses, being alone at night, or even the dark.

Media is a safe place to explore different sides of humanity in a controlled setting where the only thing at risk is our own enjoyment. People can find that they like things in media that they wouldn’t like in real life. But this distinction is lost on a lot of fandom puritans. To them, media consumption is a political act. You reaffirm that you are a “good person” by watching the “good shows” and rooting for the “good guys”. To look upon a morally complex character or even the villain with interest and sympathy is thus to condone and support every action that character will be written to take.

But this idea of assuming moral righteousness from the characters you support in media because even harder to understand and justify when applied to stories like HotD and aSoIaF where every character possesses both good and evil. So how does a puritan fan reaffirm their belief that they are morally good in a series such as these? The fan will assign the idea oh moral correctness and superiority to the characters they like. Any bad, morally questionable, or straight up evil act the character commits will be justified as righteous no matter how the story frames those actions to the audience. The same is applied to characters these fans do not like. Every bad, morally questionable, or evil action is amplified to become the main character trait while any good, just, or morally righteous act is off written as either an evil act in disguise or any good to come out of the act should be attributed to another character. Any harm committed again the character is then down played as not that bad or actually deserved.

In HotD and aSoIaF, this fandom Puritanism mainly affects female characters.

In aSoIaF, we have characters such as Dany and Arya being framed as the morally righteous and just while characters such as Catelyn and Sansa are painted as villains. Weirdly this does not apply to actual villainous female characters likes Cersei. This could be because the books and show are very clear that her actions are evil and cruel, puritan fans do not feel insecure liking her as they feel secure that the story and thus other fans know she is a bad person and won’t assume liking her means viewing her as a good person. Characters such as Margery Tyrell and Arianne Martell are viewed with more complexity than other female characters but I bet once they come into conflict with beloved female characters, they will be viewed as villainous.

In HotD we see the same thing happening. Puritan fans see Rhaenyra as the perfect hero with any negative action being just or not her fault while Alicent is painted as more evil than the step mother from Cinderella who, despite all evidence to the contrary, wanted to be queen and this deserves everything that she gets.

This is why so many people have to explain to puritan fans that liking characters like Sansa, Catelyn, Alicent, Aegon, or Aemond does not make one bastardphobic, a rape apologist, or anti feminist. I also think it explains why these fans can’t except that their favorite characters have done wrong and hurt people. They can’t accept criticism or critique of their favorite character because to them it’s not another person’s reading of a fictional character, it’s someone judging them on their morals.

Puritanical fans interlock their identity and sense of self with the characters they like and struggle to separate criticism of those characters as criticism of themselves as a person.

#house of the dragon #hotd #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #hotd discussion #asoiaf discussion #hotd discourse #asoiaf discourse #Puritanism in fandom #puritanical fans

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psalmsofpsychosis · 1 month

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"#Batman resists his own insanity so it spreads to e v e r y t h i n g around him"

You can't just say this and not elaborate in great detail. PLEASE elaborate oh my God. I do agree but I want to hear every single thought you have about this topic.

Btw, I'm the same Anon who asked -- or not really asked but more so talked -- about Batman and Joker's soulmate sort of bond.

AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN WITH "COMBINING JOKER'S HEAD WITH BATMAN'S BODY"???????

I was thinking along the lines of the concept version and how they could never be satisfied like this, united in one body. What is the result of mixing chaos and order? What is the result of mixing the act of forgetting the past and fixating on it? What do you get through combining the ideology of making everything matter and taking all meaning away?

The result is that the pure concepts become stained and dull, pushed away from their original function, losing their purpose to oppose each other.

Becoming one entity is the act of becoming complete (concepts being stained) and losing the thing that made them them. Batman and Joker were never meant to unite in this way with overlapping voices, finishing each others thoughts and sentences and it SHOWS. I'm in love with their grotesque obsession with each other that borders on love and punishment. Their desire to win and conquer the other for good but never being able to because losing one side takes away the purpose of the other.

That's why I'm so, so, SO disappointed with how the Batman Who Laughs turned out. Where are my identity crises? Plural, because this could never be an one-and-done kind of deal. They became OneTM, inentionally or not, but BeforeTM, they were always wondering what it would be like. Batman could try to get closer to Joker's mental state but never fully experience it, same with Joker. But now they are OneTM and then what? Batman is just the Joker with Bruce's memories and face. I can't begin to describe how boring that is. That's like if DC made a "Deadpool kills the Marvel Universe" story only they used Joker instead of Deadpool.

Do you see my vision? Can you feel my pain? I wanted to psychoanalyse that asshole with my amateurish psychology knowledge but they only gave us a watered down Joker who makes other Batmen less interesting upon contact. WHERE ARE THE IDENTITY CRISES?? WHERE IS THE DIFFICULTY IN MAKING A DECISION?? WHERE ARE THE LENGTHY MONOLOGUES ARGUING BACK AND FORTH OR CONTRADICTING EACH OTHER ALL THE TIME??? The Batman Who Laughs is basically Two Face but without the wall seperating Harvey and Two Face. Joker!Batman should be unable to do anything or constantly switch between Bruce and Joker or save one life and then turn around and kill it. Like, where is the complexity? Why the hell is that guy only a murder machine?? That was neither Joker nor Batman's whole purpose??

Tell me all your thoughts, my friend, while I'm here spinning in circles and going insane. I'll never get out of this alive, you'll still find me ruminating on this on my deathbed.

I swear, if you give an absolute banger of an answer again, I'll come and start living in your walls.

Have a nice day!! :)

ANON LOVE OF MY LIFE, i'm shoveling all the insides of my walls out as we speak, you can move in by Wednesday morning—

Like, the way i felt every single word you said in my bones. You are so right, and there are a couple different points here and it's gonna get longer than usual so i'll separate each thought thread to avoid drowning in lé brain soup.

• Re: batman resisting his own insanity, i feel like i have simultaneously talked about this in 7986 different ways and haven't said anything about it at all 😂 possibly most of it has been discord ramblings. Long story short, the spine of his narrative to me is that he actively resists his own humanity and in extension of it, his evil. He wants to be good. But there's also immense psychological/emotional/physical price we pay whenever we make these kind of choices; whatever we disown and banish to our subconscious, we project out into the world and unto the people around us. The load you refuse to carry will be carried by the people around you, because at the end of the day /someone/ has to carry it, it doesn't just disappear into ether. So, in a way, for Batman to remain good, to remain a hero, someone else has to be bad. The extent in which Batman keeps his goodness "pure and untainted" dictates the horrors created around him— and particularly the creation of Joker. I say creation because the existence of Batman as a concept absolutely necessitates the existence of Joker. In a way Batman does create him, and it's true that with Batman gone Joker and half the evil in Gotham would be gone too, not because Batman is an evil presence— but precisely because he disowns his own evil.

And the thing is, in the specific context of Joker, it has become this almost loving, adoring symbiotic relationship; Joker has willingly shaped himself to fit the outline of an evil that Batman needs to defeat, he has become the sin that Batman can overcome so he can stay a saint. I actually have a draft on this that i never finished, a meta about how all the coloring choices in Joker's design eerily resemble the different color stages of a wound and the bruising after, how Batman almost feels like Jesus with Joker as his side wound, Joker being the price he pays and the pain he goes through for his martyrdom in order to stay pure, for his idealogy to have any form of meaning and significance, Joker being his very own holy suffering.

We fundamentally understand reality in form of contrasts, internal ones, external ones. As you very well pointed out, without an innate sense of contrast, we cease to have any form of coherent grasp on different concepts, and they start to sort of become noise, they become nothing. Would you truly understand what a day was and grasp it as a concept if it wasn't followed by a night? So like, what i'm saying is, people around Bruce/Batman become what he needs because they love him and they want to help him keep his narrative, the structure of his psyche intact. They help him stay 'him' by taking on the burden of what he doesn't want to be, he subconsciously shapes them in the image of what he needs to uphold his identity as a good person. This is why Alfred becomes Joker to save him, this is why Selina is the more socially acceptable pretty Joker that Bruce can actually marry and bring to his family, this is why Joker and Batman feel like they can never escape their narrative, their roles and their performance. It's the reason the moment Batman lurches to kill The Riddler in "the war of jokes and riddles", Joker stops his knife with his hand. It's their defined roles, and the greatest act of love that noone except Joker would show him. Joker says "I'm the sacrifice. I'm the evil, i'm the one who kills, i have made this choice so you can make yours. You're the good one. If you become evil, it renders both your efforts and my sacrifice meaningless, and i can not allow that to happen." And it's a truly fascinating dynamic really, for all that Joker has and hasn't done throughout the Batmanverse history, when it comes to Batman he's irredeemably selfless. Everything he does regarding Batman is to keep Batman's sense of goodness and heroism intact, and in this context he's more pure than him. Everyone around Batman wants him to kill, perhaps rightfully so, they mean well. But Joker says "i'll bear all the unbearable evil so you dont have to, and we both acutely understand that without my existence you mean nothing. I will be the monster so you dont have to." And honest to god there's a heartbreaking affection to this, something noone else will ever be willing or want to offer to Bruce, not to this extent.

in 'the war of jokes and riddles' Bruce tells Selina that "what separates him from utter evil is a hand on his knife. Joker's hand." like bro, he knows. In a deeply twisted and gutwrenching way Bruce knows that noone loves him the way Joker does.

• Re: combining Joker and Batman's heads and bodies, i was thinking.... two concepts maybe?? 👀 one is more like the Dullahan myth, in which Batman loses his head but he isn't carrying it, Joker steals it. And then Joker loses his head and Batman has to keep it and he's forced to use it. It'd be an insanely fun concept; the Dullahan myth can be interpreted as the idea of death of self by supposedly losing all that would make you human; your thoughts and memories and logic, etc. Except that you still have a heart, and a body, and they're not exactly cooperative. It'd be fun to have Joker's mind trying to tame Batman's heart and body, each fighting and singing their own song, same for Batman. A version of the myth has Dullahan carrying a human spine in one hand, and i mean, the possibilities are endless!

But also another concept would be: two frankenstein monsters lmaooo, same sense of discordent internal landscape, same sense of ideological tension and conflict, but also someone's gotta [tw mentions of gore] chop chop them and sew their body parts together, and that can be another interesting element added to their fucked up dynamic ✨️ it can also be Joker as Dr Frankensten and he sews parts of himself to Batman in order to save him!

• Re: Batman Who Laughs, oh girl (gn), i have nothing to add that you haven't already said more beautifully than me. There's so much emotional nuance and complex philosophy that could've gone into that concept, it's certainly one of the hardest Batman story variations to pull off, and weirdly enough, the people who dont directly aim for "Batman becomes Joker/Joker becomes Batman" stories often tell a better more intricate tale about that transformation than the people who straight up shoot for the concept. One of the things that always sends a chill down my spine is the ending of Batman: Europa, in which Joker is terrified and screaming as Batman laughs and lurches for him; that's the dynamic, that's the Batman who laughs, and the most unsettling part of it is that, Batman doesn't change. He doesn't have to. On a core level he is quite frankly a bit fucked up, it's not a stretch for Batman to be evil, and that's why his goodness is meaningful. Cue Nietsche's quote, "Of all evil I deem you capable: Therefore I want good from you. Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws." Batman is not a good guy entirely, and that makes his goodness a conscious choice with so much weight and worth and significance. I dont think a lot of DC people understand this.

With Batman Who Laughs, the name kinda sums up the take unfortunately; it's a superficial interpretation that falls flat on its own face because the writers couldn't be assed to explore how a chemical combination of Batman and Joker's narrative would unfold. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ as with any potent chemical reaction, the mixture is highly unstable and unpredictable, and that's the fucking fun of it. There's gotta be tension. I do think Batman and Joker can very well mix, i do think they can make a seamless fusion, but i dont trust any canon DC writers to handle the characterization well in a way that doesn't bore you out of your fucking mind. You gotta make a new person and you gotta capitalise on the core components both Batman and Joker share; their incessant sense of idealism, their need for purity, their volatile emotions and their aggression, their need to individuate from their context and deviate from the norm, take the third way out narrative wise, their philosophical and intellectual bend, their immense grief, their need to be oh so special and different 😂 they actually have a whole lot in common, this is why they're perfect enemies!

But yeah, writing that personality fusion is very hard because it's such an emotionally complex context and most DC writers have not felt a single emotion in the past 35 years aflhdtdhlf

Anyway yep i love your brain so SO much Anon, hope you have a wonderful day ❤️💕 and dont forget to tell me what ya think!!

#the way this ask had me scrambling through my desktop blog to find posts and then i realised that i dont like my desktop theme #so i overhauled the whole theme while i was writing this lmaooo #anyway yeah. goddd i need to finish that jesus/side wound meta one day.#it's a bit above my paygrade because i thought i'm pulling one single thread but turns out it was a whole 9 yard yarn pile #with three cats entangled in it #but the gist is more or less the same #but also ''what do you get through combining two idealogies of making everything matter and taking meaning from everything''#i need to gay lay down a bit. maybe die a little #i think they're not a single identity in this framework; they're cycles. you understand them as they continue each other #the way spring sprouts from the belly of winter; winter spreads from the spring's belly; they be like dat #anyway Anon you're out here working all my 2.5 braincells overtime godbless ❤️💕#Batman #Batman meta #Batjokes #Batjokes meta

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timelessstardust99 · 5 months

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Star gazing | 14th doctor x female! reader (part i)

NO SPOILERS (okay, maybe slightly)

Pairings: 14th doctor x reader

Warning: slight spoilers, nothing major, hopefully (the meep counts as a spoiler I think)

Characters: the doctor and the reader.

Summary: after everything with the meep had finally ended, the doctor thought it was best to stay the night at the noble-temple household, slowly getting closer to y/n who reminds him so much of his late wife.

y/n sat on the roof of her goddaughters shed, staring up at the vast openness of space. It was calming, relaxing even. Just today, she had battled some evil alien by the name of meep and nearly lost the earth because of the meep.

She had also met a strange man, he was named the doctor, he knew Wilfred a long time ago and apparently he knew Donna and Sylvia as well before she came into the picture. Growing up, she had heard of a man in a blue box that could travel in space and time, she was quite the spunky kid growing up and loved everything about the stories and would attempt reenact the stories, as if she herself lived them. Her imagination was good, she could imagine anything and she could do it. That's how she got her career. She was determined.

Startled out of her thoughts, she saw the strange man in question climbing up onto the shed, struggling to steady himself, which caused the young woman to raise a brow. Once he was steady enough, he looked up and saw y/n there, and he grinned. "Oh, hell y/n, I didn't realize you were here." He lifted himself up and sat right next to her, "why haven't you gone to sleep yet? I'm sure you're exhausted from today," the doctor questioned. She bit her lip and turned away, staring up at the stars again.

"sorry, I've got lots of things on my mind, hard to sleep really." She sighed. The two were shoulder to shoulder, the silence between them was awkward or had any sort of tension. The doctor glanced her way, noticing small details, little ones that remind him so much of River. Everything she did today reminded him of River, and he couldn't explain. He nudged her.

"well, that's no good. You humans need your sleep." He joked. y/n laughed, shaking her head, her slight curls (or whatever style you have/want) bounced on top of her head.

"yeah, suppose you're right, doctor," she looked over to him, him being caught and frozen by those e/c pools of hers. "But, I just can't seem to. I mean, after everything, it's a wonder I'm still sane. That alien nearly killed me and my goddaughter and her family and almost millions of others." She pulled at her hair in frustration, before slumming, the doctor watching her closely. She glanced at him, "you know, growing up, I heard the stories of you. The amazing doctor my mum would call you, thought you were a myth." She shrugged, nudging him back.

He chuckled, "amazing, huh?" He asked, "I think I'm far from that, dear." He froze at the word he used, hoping she didn't catch it. She wasn't River. River was gone, and so were Amy and Rory.

y/n stared at him with wide eyes, before smirking, "dear? No one besides Donna or Sylvia calls me that." She gently pushed the doctor. "Don't tell me you fancy me doc," she laughed. The laugh was so familiar to him, which helped sooth his aching pain.

"no, sorry, it slipped." He admitted, "you just remind me of someone... Someone important." y/n stopped laughing, her smiled going soft.

"they must be important if little old me rinds you of them. What's their name?" She saw his face and tried to backtrack herself, "I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me --"

"no, no, it's fine." He sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "Her name was River Song... She's gone now." He said.

"well, she sounds nice, this River woman." She leaned back on her hands, her hair cascading down her shoulder, "wish I could've met her."

"yeah." He said, watching the stars alongside her, their shoulders close as her head gently leans against his shoulder. He tensed at the feeling, but soon relaxed. "Oh, I have to ask. Donna said that you were back only for a month from college. What do you study?" He asked after a beat. She got off his shoulder and beamed.

"archeology. I'm becoming an archeologist, so I can travel the world and find hidden discoveries and artifacts that have been lost in history!" She grinned. The doctor stared at her in shocked silence as she went back to watch the stars. But, River was an archeologist. Don't tell him this is the universe's way of playing a crude joke on him. "Someday doctor, I'm gonna change the world. And people will know who I am. I'll be a great archeologist, I just know it." She looked at him to see him looking at her with nervousness. "What's that look for?" She asked. He smiled at her gently.

"heh, spoilers," he chuckled. She shook her head at his weirdness and went back to the stars. What did the world have in store for him? Only time would tell, and he already knows he hasn't got any left.

note: it's a bit short, and just to clear it up River and the reader are not related. They just look similar in style and career choices, that's it.

#fourteenth doctor x reader #rose noble #doctor who #x reader #female reader #donna noble #meep doctor who #alienxhuman #shaun temple #sylvia noble #doctor who 60th anniversary #one shot #fluff

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princess-ibri · 8 months

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Redraw of some designs from cleaning out my old room and going through /years/ worth of drawings and found these old concept sketches for a Disney version of the old story Feathertop:

There was an animated movie of this story made at one point but it wasn’t very good and barely held to the actual plot. But basically a witch turns a scarecrow into a man to seduce the daughter of the local judge who’s wronged her in some way. But the poor thing doesn’t realize he’s a scarecrow and really falls in love, but then figures out he’s only the result of a spell and in despair breaks it and becomes a lifeless scarecrow again.

In my version we keep the revenge plot /the scarecrow being actually good hearted but now add the extra level of Old Dickon (the devil) trying to get Feathertop to be a good evil familiar and take her soul so he can be properly human, and later offering to trade Polly’s soul for her lover to become human,and Polly and Feathertop having to face off with him in ‘The Downstairs”. Feathertop sacrifices himself to save Polly/her soul but of course this is a reality where True Love prevails and her tearful kiss makes him human, no infernal spells needed.

(Oh and we replace the pipe needed to make him alive with a star medal cuz of course Hypothetical Disney isn’t gonna support smoking in this day and age x)

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crimeronan · 3 months

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Hello, got a TOH question for you! I'm trying to write a scene from only-slightly-canon-divergent!Luz's POV, and to dismay finding I'm struggling with it. Any pro tips for writing her you can pass on to someone who didn't study at Luz University? 😅

aw, this is a sweet ask. i'm flattered to be considered a resident luz expert! and i LOVE an excuse to infodump. this got long i'm sorry i just love thinking about. my girl.

luz is usually pretty whimsical and optimistic (which is why her later self-destruction hits so hard), she believes in people and she believes in The Triumph Of Good Over Evil. she's weird and doesn't understand social norms but she cares So Much, About Everything, Ever. she believes that things will work themselves out like they do in stories, she sometimes steps on people's toes when she's trying to fix a situation, she loves an underdog story and it's constantly getting her into trouble.

i think the biggest three things for me when writing luz POV are these:

she is UNRELENTINGLY kind and trusting.

this is her biggest strength - she's constantly befriending her enemies through the sheer power of earnestness. and this is how she makes and keeps friends like willow, gus, and eda.

this is also one of her biggest weaknesses - she gave hunter back his staff in hunting palismen when she Really Should Not Have, she didn't pick up on philip's Bad Vibes, etc.

she truly honest-to-god believes the best in everyone and is surprised and hurt whenever they disappoint her.

2. she has NO impulse control and CRIPPLINGLY hyperactive ADHD.

luz is all over the place, constantly. her thoughts and hyperfixations go a mile a minute. she can devour a book in a day and learn a conlang in a week, but she can't sit still and she has the type of ADHD that makes traditional classroom learning borderline-impossible.

outside of school, you see this constantly in the decisions she makes, or rather the decisions she Doesn't make. luz always blurts out exactly what she's thinking, when she's thinking it. she always thinks that her first solution to a problem is the best one & rarely plans beyond that. she's not an analytical strategist. in fact she's frequently fucking up everybody else's plans by..... just. being luz.

the fact that luz always says and does whatever she's thinking is, again, one of her greatest strengths: she is SO earnest and genuine, and it makes it easy for people to believe in her. she loves SO openly and is so lovable in turn.

it's also one of her greatest weaknesses because. oh my god, girl. challenging boscha to a witch's duel on willow's behalf. angrily shouting straight-up heresy about belos in public in hollow mind. all the shit that got her into trouble in the human realm before she ran away. u know

3. she is Desperately Afraid of hurting people.

i'd say she's afraid of being a Bad Person (TM), but i do think her fear is more specific. in WAD, her nightmare isn't exactly about having committed atrocities herself -- she doesn't even believe she could have! she knows she didn't create the statue graveyard, she immediately tells amity "i don't know what's going on, but i wouldn't have done this."

all of her fears are related to things her friends & family went through after meeting her.... she's terrified that she's going to hurt the people she loves, no matter how much she tries not to. she's terrified that her presence in the world is harmful by itself.

same with her rant in the classroom in TTT. when she says "it would be better if he [i] never existed," she even says (paraphrasing) "who cares about the broader impacts or the greater good. who cares if he was a hero or wanted to do the right thing. it doesn't matter!!! what matters is that he ruined everything anyway!!!!"

her anxiety with papa titan reflects this, too. "doesn't that make us just like belos??" she's figuring out how to navigate the world and complex morality and she's terrified of getting it Wrong. she already feels like she's done everything wrong & it's completely shaken her sense of self. she doesn't trust herself not to hurt people or to work for evil because she doesn't have a clear understanding of what separates her ideology from belos's.

this third point often isn't relevant in fluffy/lighthearted fic because luz's optimism, joy, and simple zest for life are Definitely dominant in her character. but it is VERY relevant when doing character studies or angstier writing exploring her headspace in situations where she feels guilty or afraid.

everything else is set dressing. she's quirky and weird, she's bouncy and stimmy, she loves bats and rats and snakes and bugs and creepy crawlies, she loves gross shit, she loves shipping and romance and sweeping high fantasy, she gets Deeply invested in every random plan she ever conceives, and she is Astonishingly easy to love because of how easily she loves.

you don't have to keep every single detail of this in mind when writing her!! this was just a nice excuse to gush about my girl who i love so so so so so fucking much. luz love of my life daughter of my heart FOREVER.

#replies #long post #luz noceda #toh #toh meta #writing advice

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manderleyfire · 5 months

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'panem lost a poet panem lost a standup comedian' lmaoooooooo what are your favorite Coriolanus’ unhinged quotes from tbosas?? I cackled so much during that rather dark book, I feel embarrassed, lol

He had to think of just the right way to break the news. But what would that be? 'I love you deeply, but I love officers’ school more?' That wasn’t going to go over well.

Did you tell your best friend his crush was a cannibal? Never a rule book when you needed one.

AH, TRUST AGAIN. ThE aIr WaS fUlL oF iT.

Coriolanus winced slightly. TWO biking mishaps in the same twelve-hour period seemed more than coincidental.

This entrance was for the poor people, Coriolanus thought. Or perhaps not poor. The word PLEBEIAN came to mind. (those history classes did nothing for him)

PASSING OUT SANDWICHES WAS ONE THING, THROWING THE CHAIR QUITE ANOTHER (sorry, i'm in tears, xDDD)

Snow lands on top and ALL THAT. He knew he should be elated at this turn of events and jumping up and down inside while p r e s e n t i n g a modest, pleased front. But what he really felt was jEaLoUs.

THE HERO OF HER LIFE!!!!!!!!!!

The i m p o s s i b i l i t y of being a Snowflake in this postwar world.

And here he was in his uniform, clutching a rose like some lovestruck schoolboy, hoping she would — what? Like him? Trust him? Not kill him on sight?

Good-bye, Lucy Gray, we hardly knew you (biiiiiiitch 🔪)

So now that loudmouth Arachne was a defender of a righteous and just land. Yes, she laid down her life taunting her tribute with a sandwich, thought Coriolanus. Maybe her gravestone could read, “Casualty of cheap laughs.”

BETTER OFF SAD THAN DEAD

Coriolanus did not want to spend the next twenty years listening to them *mockingjays* serenade the local executions.

What was he doing but dressing her up to be a pretty corpse? Perhaps she could strangle someone with the scarf, or stab them with the pin?

HIS OWN FANS HAD A LITTLE MORE CLASS (rich boy™)

The LAST TIME Sejanus had lost his appetite, he’d lost his sanity as well.

Who were all these PeOpLe hanging around on a weekday at the zoo? Didn’t they have jobs? Shouldn’t the children be in chool? No wonder the country was such a mess.

What an ugly place, he thought dully as the train chugged its way through District 9. It didn’t look fit for human habitation.

Coriolanus gave the camera a thumbs-up when they cut for his reaction. He could not believe THIS was his life.

How much bread had they wasted with this nonsense? Oh, no, he starved to death! Somebody get the bread!

CORIOLANUS SNOW, MORE LONER THAN LOVER (whatta slogan for his presidential campaign)

How awful, Coriolanus thought. To have YOU be the first person in the world a baby sees *about dr. gaul*

Why would evil incarnate help his girlfriend?

In rhetoric class, she’d once attributed his inability to decipher the deeper meaning of a poem to the fact that he was too self-absorbed. The irony, coming from Livia, of all people! But actions spoke louder than words. Coriolanus to the rescue, Livia to the nearest exit.

“Of course I liked it, but I’m more open-minded than most" (hahahaha)

Then came confusion. If she had saved his life, he owed her, what? A sandwich and two cookies? That was how he was repaying her. For his life. Which apparently he held quite cheaply.

Oh, a ghost story. Ugh. Boo. So ridiculous.

Ma? Was Coriolanus’s place about to be uSuRpEd by someone who referred to his mother as “Ma”? The cabbage and posca threatened to make a reappearance.

CANNIBALS OVER CUTTHROATS!

several people took the pained look on Coriolanus’s face as sorrow at Arachne’s death, when ironically he felt like killing her all over again.

“That was some good-bye.” Coriolanus just shrugged. “What can I say? I’m irresistible.”

Poor Sejanus. Poor sensitive, foolish, dead Sejanus. (GUNSHOT 💀💀💀)

#he's insane he's unstoppable he's blue blooded charles bukowski #some of these quotes aren't even that funny but coryo's constant bitchin mood is priceless #also ngl as a reader i savour how sharp witted his inner voice is #sharp voice of unhinged mind lol #vittacorle #ask #coriolanus snow #the hunger games

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beebopboom · 4 months

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A Bookshop in Soho Eden

This is not a new idea and after reading these wonderful post by @the-apology-dance here and @queerfables here my brain just got hooked on it. I wanted to see though, if I could take this idea one step further and oh boy can you - so if you want to join me down this rabbit hole I went down strap in for this rollercoaster - I broke it down to three parts that I will post separately

This is technically season 3 speculation as I bring up some points connected to the Second Coming for further down the line

Also I'm just going to lay out the information then connect in all in the end so just stay with me - it will all connect

But without further ado

Aziraphale's Jobs over the years

Let's start at the beginning or just after - the Garden of Eden

Angel of the Eastern Gate and donned with a flaming sword - technically on apple tree duty according to him but we only see him after the whole eating the apple business. What we do see is him doing is opening his “gate” for them to leave, closing it, and then getting questioned by God - specifically about his flaming sword. The next time we see him he is back at his post on the wall - Adam and Eve are quite a bit away by now - and this is when Crowley comes up to him.

The thing I find interesting about this is that he is still there after the apple business is done and over with - and he is still in guarding position, looking out towards the humans

So let's take a look into the actual bible for maybe an answer as to why -

Genesis 3:24 - “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turn every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life”

Now the Tree of Life is an interesting mention with it's connection to the Second Coming

So let’s take a quick look into what the Tree of life is

The Tree of Life is mentioned in two particular stories in the bible - Genesis and Revelations - or in other words the Beginning and the End

Adam and Eve had access to this tree and were only warned against the Tree of Knowledge because they couldn’t have both - eternal life or knowledge of good and evil

So once they had taken a bite from the apple God then revoked their access to the Tree of Life by banishing them from the garden and placing a guard - no humans were to have access anymore

Until the Second Coming comes around where all the humans who have passed judgement(all the names written down in the book of life) and get to live in Gods’s paradise again - with the Tree of Life in the center and fully accessible. People are able to consume the fruits from the tree once again

The point I'm trying to make is yes technically he was on apple tree duty then but now he is on Tree of Life duty - it’s the purpose of him remaining in Eden, and on Earth among humans. Protection for and against humans

Now Aziraphale had one more job that I wanted to bring up, courtesy of the Demon’s Guide to Angelic Beings who Walk the Earth, and that is Garden Designer. We don't know exactly when he did this so we can only guess - I’m going to out on a limb and say the 16th - 17th century French Gardens

Developed from Italian renaissance gardens, this style of gardening used symmetry, parterres, and geometrical shapes. I’m just going to touch on some key features but if you want to learn more here are some links (here and here)

These gardens tended to start at the house and were meant to be view from above on the terraces. There would be a main path way that would lead away from the house and would come to a circular center that was often just lawn or water sometimes surrounded by trees, it was from here that the garden was broken down into sections. Through the use of geometry they created perspective and optics with rows and designs of the plants placement. Closer to the house these designs were more complex with them getting less complex the further away. Symmetry and control over the plants was a big part as it was a way show a man's mastery over nature. Water was also a key feature mainly through the use of still water ponds that served as mirrors. On top of all these interesting designs the gardens were often decorated with statues. These gardens were meant to tell a story whether viewed from above or walking within - it would seem as though you were going through different rooms

Some of these these design elements might sound familiar and they should - it's only reflected in one of the most visited places in the show

The Bookshop - A.Z. Fell and Co.

Aziraphale opened up the bookshop in 1800, but had been working on it for years as we learn from Crowley in 1793, all due to his love of books. Not that the actually wants to sell his books and actively makes it unpleasant to a customer.

The bookshop also serves another purpose though - it's a safe place. I've theorized before in this post about how something happened before 1793 but after 1601 that made Crowley get in trouble with Hell due to their arrangement - a fear that Aziraphale has had from the start. So Aziraphale took this chance to combine the things he loved and the need for a safe place so he could hang out with the one he loved - all wrapped up in the explanation that he was just doing his job and was able to make it a Heaven’s embassy - unable to enter without permission and easy ways to sneak out. But I’m not here to really talk about the emotional connections -

So let’s look at the actual layout of the bookshop - the bare bones at least

As soon as you go through the door you are hit with a second circular doorway - pointed out to be the omega symbol. In this front little area there are three tables but then we lead into the center of the bookshop with a big circle rug lit up by the skylight and surrounded by four pillars. It is from here that the bookshop opens up into different pathways and sections all directed by the actual bookshelves. Towards the back of the shop is a staircase that leads up to the second floor where you can still look down and around the lower floor. There are statues placed all around the shop with extra tables and chairs throughout and quite a few rugs with some French influenced designs on them laying about.

(credit to whoever made this - you are a godsend)

Rings some bells doesn’t it?

Now you may be asking why these specific gardens instead something more like Eden to commemorate their first meeting on Earth. I mean this is Aziraphale we are talking about - the angel who got himself arrested because he wanted to go on a french date and who decided to learn french, or in other words one of the more romantic languages, the human way. For designing a bookshop that would be their safe space picking a french design is not too far out there.

But what if I told you there was more to his bookshop and the of Whickber Street as a whole.

If you remember the whole Tree of Life rant I went on earlier let me add one more piece of information - the geometry symbol

so is that bookshop is not only meant to represent their Eden but particularly the paradise that is the reward of the Second Coming? Is he actually really doing his job in protecting the Tree of Life from humans? Even if it was a subconscious choice on Aziraphale’s part - could it explain the concept art of the cut dream?

Technically on Tree of Life duty guarding his books/fruit of eternal life from humans in their modern day Eden.

Now I’ll admit it doesn’t line up perfectly but I wanted to include it because my next point can still stand either way - and I’m going to go more into this idea in the other parts.

Rivers of Time

In Eden there is one big river that when it reaches out of Eden it splits into four rivers that water the garden and reach to the ends of the Earth - Pishon(full flowing), Gihon(bursting forth), Hiddekel(swift or darting), and Euphrates(fruitful). The Tree of Life it is said to have a river on both sides.

Now I’m sure we have all noticed the some weird instances of time being messed with in the show - particularly in the streets of Soho. They are sped up, slowed down, and normal speed. Often these roads are also depicted as wet.

So let me throw in the idea of Timestreams

It’d probably be easier to go read that but basically it’s -

The concept that time is always flowing forward or backwards, and meeting in the middle - always on the move always connected - never quite knowing where you step in. Just like the flow of water.

And wouldn’t it be ironic that Crowley, our time stopping demon, and his car are now constantly in this stream of time darting around only to finally stop and slow down in the bookshop

So we can take the four streets of our little spot in Soho connect it to the four rivers and apply some time fuckery - you get a place that is full and bursting with life, people darting all around looking and buying things that make their life more fruitful. But time is a bit wibbly wobbly for the residents, always flowing and connected - past, present, and future - so we get characters that are parallel’s to the past, that may have existed in a different time or universe, and that repeat often.

So if the Bookshop is their version of Eden it would make these streets representative of the rest of the world - what with a street that lead to chinatown and have various French and Italian restaurants along another - this idea is not too far out there

But also if you take the Bookshop as a little more representative of the Tree of Life in particular with the two streets surrounding it - Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death can very easily be equated with the Tree of Knowledge. The whole of Whickber Street is their Eden.

This is what happens when you have an Angel and Demon with too much affect on the world around them living in one spot for hundreds of years

So to wrap this all up please remember this is just a theory and for fun - take it as you will

But if you have followed along this long and I’ve somehow managed to get you entertain this idea of the Bookshop being their slice of Eden - whether Eden itself or just a single part of Eden (Tree of Life) with the whole street being Eden - wait and see for the next part

After all the apple (coffee) did come from within the Garden and then they lost access to the Tree of Life (bookshop)

This was Part 1

In Part 1.5 it just a couple theories concerning the Book of Life and more, like an intermission

And finally Part 2 we discuss the second place the Tree of Life is mentioned, the Book of Revelations, and how we have already seen a version of the Second Coming

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens s3 #aziraphale #crowley #aziracrow #ineffable husbands #ineffable spouses #good omens meta #good omens analysis #good omens theory #A.Z. Fell and Co.#aziraphale’s bookshop #good ineffable omens

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smolghostbot · 4 months

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A Little Role Playing

Because this scenario was rotating in my brain like a rotisserie chicken for at least a week. This was meant to be more of a microfiction but turns out I can't be brief to save my life.

(in my anxious opinion this is a little bit zestier than what I would normally post but it's still firmly a g/t story. Just keep that in mind.)

Word Count: 1.5k

CWs: consensual fearplay gone too far, mouthplay and vore vibes, vague spicytime allusions and that is definitely the intent but the fun turns unfun before anything serious happens

======

“I- I’ll never tell you anything, human!” shouted the diminutive voice at the towering form in front of them.

“Hehehe… I have ways of making a tiny little thing like you talk…,” spoke the form, a man named Evan. He quickly changed his tone, though, as he added in a whisper, “Was the laugh too much? Too on-the-nose?”

“The laugh was fine, babe, but don’t overdo it,” quietly responded Avery, caught in Evan’s loose fist. After quickly clearing their throat, they continued shouting, “I’ll never talk! You’ll never get me to reveal where my town is! I’ll take our secret to the grave, on my honor!”

Evan rolled his eyes at this. The human had regularly questioned why his borrower partner was so in love with this scenario, but based on their past experiences, it was always the one that made Avery tick. Evan simply played along as best as he could on days where they agreed to play out Avery’s fantasies, and this was one such day.

“Now now, little borrower, that’s a lot of words, but not a lot of answers. I said to tell me where your town is, or else!” Evan growled, as his fist gave a quick squeeze to Avery.

“N-never!”

“Very well then… if you’re no good as an informant, I could find another use for you…” the human said, giving himself time to think over what to do as a threat. They had played this little game often, and this was always the part where things tended to diverge. What direction things progressed in depended on the mood of the two partners, but Avery was very clear about what they wanted out of their game tonight: Scare me.

Evan thought back to when they first met, when he had discovered Avery attempting to steal food from his pantry. The little thing was terrified of Evan back then, begging and pleading for their life before Evan had even said a word. From the sound of it, Avery was missing that thrill, that exciting fear of being caught by a human, and Evan decided to commit to the act in order to please his partner.

“Hm… what to do with you…” he murmured, before they were both caught off-guard as Evan’s stomach loudly rumbled. Evan decided to run with this as inspiration as he continued his “evil” speech… this was a direction things hadn’t gone in before.

“You know… if you won’t say anything of help to me, perhaps you could help me in another way…” Evan spoke, as he did his best diabolical grin. He saw Avery’s face begin to pale as they were moved closer to the human’s mouth.

“H-hey, wait, I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but…” stammered Avery, in what sounded like their role-playing voice. That simply wouldn’t do, thought Evan, as he spoke again.

“Oh? Your wandering eyes tell me that you know exactly what I’m thinking about, tiny one. Tell me where the others are, or I may help myself to the nice little snack in my hand…”

The fear in Avery’s voice was quickly becoming more real. “H-hey, uh, I don’t know if I like the direction this is going…” They said, as they gulped in nervousness. Evan only continued to smile as he spoke, “What’s wrong? I thought you wanted to be scared? Is the little nugget chickening out?”

Avery could only stutter as they thought of what to say. “C-come on, Ev, we’ve talked about how terrifying this kind of thing is to me… you were supposed to, um, you know…”

Unfortunately, their words fell on deaf ears as Evan began to laugh, a laugh which was somewhere between their fake laugh from earlier and the real deal. He continued to hold his borrower partner near his mouth, moving them out of his fist and into a loose grip, held between his index finger and thumb. “What’s wrong, little borrower? You wanted to be afraid, didn’t you? You love being afraid… I bet you’ve been wanting me to do this for ages, haven’t you?”

“N-no, no seriously Evan, not like this… knock it off…” whimpered Avery, being sure to emphasize the use of Evan’s name, which was their signal that things were turning very real.

“Oh no, is the little one getting scared? Tell me you’re scared and maybe I’ll let you go… maybe,” chuckled the human.

“Evan… I- I know you won’t hurt me, b-but, you’re acting very weird right now… it’s scaring me… can we change the script?” pleaded Avery, who was staring at the grinning, gaping maw that was moving right in front of them.

Evan chuckled, now was his chance to truly give his partner the adrenaline rush they craved. “The script? There’s no script, little borrower. This is very, very, real… and you’re about to become a very little meal… any last words?”

The fear on his partner’s face was palpable, and Evan could feel Avery’s heartbeat soaring. “Evan… Evan stop. Safe word time. Evan… Evan!” They cried, as Evan moved them closer to his mouth. Avery could feel the human’s breath on their skin as they were more close enough that Evan could easily bite down on them.

“S-s-seriously, Evan, Evan stop! Th-this isn’t funny! Game’s over! S-stop!”

But Evan ignored their pleas, gently moving the borrower close to their tongue, and giving them a small, but still gentle lick across the front of their body, causing Avery to shiver in fear.

“H-hey, s-stop! Say something! Stop this! Evan, I know this isn’t you!” Avery cried, desperate for this game to end. The human leaned their head back, so that the terrified borrower was dangling above the gaping mouth. As the human’s eyebrows furrowed, Avery continued to plead.

“Evan, Evan please, don’t do this, I-I don’t know what I did to upset you but this isn’t the solution, we can talk about this, please! I… I don’t want to die, Evan, please! I’m sorry, for whatever I did I’m sorry!”

With that, Evan smiled a devious grin, before moving Avery down closer to his mouth… and giving them a quick kiss. “Was that the fear you-” he started to say, before noticing something was off. That kiss tasted… different than usual. As the human looked down at their partner, it became obvious that Avery was sobbing, face covered in tears. “P-please, please Evan don’t do this, please…” was all they kept muttering to themself, seeming to ignore the kiss entirely.

“Woah, hey, hey Aves, it’s okay,” Evan quickly stated, as he finally realized he may have gone too far. “You… you know I was just playing, right? It wouldn’t have been scary if I just stopped. You wanted me to be scary, remember?”

Avery was clearly in shock at they stammered, trying to form words. “I… I wanted you to scare me, not… not threaten to eat me! What… why would you… why did you do that?!”

“Woah, Aves, calm down, calm down, let me just, uh, put you down…”

“Don’t… don’t ‘Aves’ me right now, Evan! You almost killed me!” cried the borrower.

Evan knew that he should be calm, but he couldn’t help but rise to anger at Avery’s accusations. “I wasn’t going to actually eat you! I was just trying to scare you, like you asked me to do! You were the one whining that I was too predictable, so I mixed it up! You’re welcome!”

Avery flinched at Evan’s voice raising, and Evan could tell that Avery was uncharacteristically fearful. Normally, the little borrower was actually the more pushy one in the relationship, so to see them buckle like this was heartbreaking to Evan. “I- I’m sorry… I-I guess I did… y-you’re right, just… d-don’t do it again… please…”

Evan sighed and took a deep breath before trying to talk again. “Aves… I mean, Avery… I should be the one apologizing, I took things too far, but I just wanted to make you happy…”

“Just… just put me down, Evan.”

Evan complied, and placed Avery down on the floor, before getting on his knees on the floor to be as level as possible with the borrower.

“Look, I’m sorry… How about we wind down, watch some movies, and share an ice cream? We still have some of your favorite flavor left…” said Evan, trying to keep his tone as quiet as possible. However, the borrower had other plans.

“I… I want to go home… sorry, I think I just need… a little break from human time for now…”

Human time, Evan repeated mentally. That was a term Avery hadn’t used since they first started dating, when they were overwhelmed with the sheer size of the human, and needed to be around people their own size for a while.

“I… understand… I’m sorry again, Avery. Can you… forgive me? Please?”

“... I’ll be back in a day or two… we can talk then.” was all Avery said, as they turned and quickly walked towards the borrower hole in the wall.

#remember everybody: stop words exist for a reason #g/t #giant/tiny #g/t writing #g/t fearplay #g/t angst #macro/micro #my writing

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jellybeanrobinhood · 5 months

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The Experience Of Watching Wild Blue Yonder When It’s Your First Time Watching Doctor Who

Oh right this is Doctor Who. Cool

WELL THAT WAS QUITE THE BURNING TARDIS CRASH, WASN’T IT

Oh I don’t trust that robot thing. Don’t like that. Don’t like that at all

Well, guess the Doctor’s bi.

WAIT, the Tardis is just gone?

It’s gone because it’s so dangerous to be in this environment

Ok, I don’t like this hall. I like that its special effects aren’t entirely convincing, but this hall’s vibes are concerning

I feel like the temperature probably means something

DON’T SPLIT UP

Right that’s not Donna. I barely even know her name’s Donna, but that’s definitely not Donna. Why’s she standing so still? Where’s her accent gone? Why do none of her questions seem to follow each other? What does this have to do with the unknown threat?!

“My arms are too long” Oh fuck. I bet that’s not David Tennant David Tennant either, is it?

“My arms are too long” No, it’s not

That’s an interesting jaw and knee situation you’ve got there, guys

“Hungry” Oh no. RUN

Huh, so both this and Nativity! (2009) feature a golf cart chase. I wasn’t expecting that similarity

Is this what it’s like for Doctor Who fans?

NO the thing and it’s weird moving walls

So you’re just wandering about in the dark trying to find actual David Tennant and not “is going to eat you” David Tennant?

Ok, the tie thing seems like something he’d do

But that’s not Donna.

No David she’s making you emotionally vulnerable and that’s not Donna!

What human person uses this for an opportunity for a deep chat. IT’S NOT HER. RUN

Ah no I’ve been fooled by the tie

Weird-funny-scary backwards run here we go

Oh this is like that Spiderman meme

YES THEY FOUND EACH OTHER

Why do you just have this thing of salt, David? Was there like, a reason that I missed or does he just have this?

Oh I never knew they have to count and that’s why they can’t cross it

Oh yeah. I forgot you can blow away salt.

RUN AGAIN

Yeah, why are they chasing you?

Don’t Think? Wow I wouldn’t survive in Doctor Who

Ah no, medically-licensed David Tennant can’t either

Oh fuck that’s a being of some sort

It’s dead. I think

Oh the Captain.

A BOMB. WHAT DO YOU MEAN A BOMB?

STOP THINKING DAVID

RUN. AGAIN

Oh no, evil David Tennant can go on all fours

A DONNA FIGHT

THIS IS SO TENSE

Which Donna?

It reminds you of Mr Bean

Oh no

YOU’VE GOT THE WRONG ONE

IS SHE ACTUALLY GOING TO DIE?!!

SHE’S TURNING TOWARDS THE FIRE AND ACCEPTING HER FATE THIS IS TOY STORY 3 ALL OVER AGAIN

“Your arms are too long” You noticed!

Ah, Donna has been saved

Huh. The Tardis is more white than I pictured it

Poor unfortunate David Tennant. None of his characters are having a good time right now

Bernard Cribbins!

He’s right, everything’s alright now Bernard Cribbins is here

Wait what

It’s The End Of The World?!

What do you mean?

(Credits roll)

#doctor who #david tennant #catherine tate #bernard cribbins #the doctor #donna noble

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resuri-art · 20 hours

Text

So, to feed @bakawitch need of casteshipping, here my bird-cursed!Atem Ancient Egypt AU:

Context: Atem is cursed since a very young age. Someone tried to kill him as a kid with magic *cough*Akhenaden*cough cough* but it didn’t work completely. Now Every night Atem turns into a falcon and to turns back human he has to be in contact with the sun's very first lights. If he miss them, he is stuck as a bird until next morning. Only a very few selected people know about this (not all the priests know).

Then story line stays the same until the 'Bakura goes into the throne room with daddy's corpse on a leash and get his ass kicked by Atem" part.

Bakura flee, but Atem is very worried about the menace he represents. So he decides to use his curse to search for Bakura. Bird-boy escapes the Palace as soon as the night is here, but... Atem didn't take into account that he never left the city before and his dumb ass ends up lost in the middle of the desert. Not to mention he never flew that long before so he gets quickly tired.

Atem goes on the ground to rest but gets attacked by wild animals and his wing gets injured. He is rescued by Bakura who makes the animals flee. Atem doesn't have the time to react because he lost a lot of blood and pass out.

He wakes up the next day as a bird as he missed morning's first lights. His wing has been cares for, he has water and food around him, is on a very comfortable pillow. Then bird-boy realises with horror that his savior is Bakura. Usually the thief lets animals do their things but he somehow felt pity for the bird this time. At first Atem is very aggressive but he can’t do much with his injured wing. Bakura doesn't think much about it as he expected a wild animal to be aggressive.

Atem has no choice but to deal with it until he can escape. The two of them spend a few days together (and Atem manage to avoid morning sun's light because he is sure Bakura is going to kill him otherwise). Turns out Bakura takes very good care of him and Atem is so confused. Like is this really the same guy who attacked him before???? Bakura even rescues him again when people tries to capture Atem to sell him. (And damn it why does it have to fell so nice when he pets Atem's feathers???) Atem also learns more about Bakura's past because Bakura loves to talk even if it's just a bird listening.

When Atem's wing is fully healed he knows he has to go. It's been days and everyone at the Palace must be panicked by his absence. So he leaves the night Bakura gets his bandage off.

Bakura suddenly feels very lonely, but that was to be expected from a wild bird. Atem returns to the Palace and gets everything back in order.

Things happens and Bakura goes to the Palace to fight Atem again. But this time Atem just can't attack him like before because he knows Bakura is not a villain but someone who has been hurt.

He doesn't have any choice but to fight because Bakura is serious about killing him. However the night will arrive soon and Atem is too focused on the fight to notice. He changes into a bird in front of a very confused Bakura. Akhenaden uses that confusion to attack Bakura, but Atem flies in front of him to stop him. Akhenaden doesn't care and it's Atem who gets hurt. The priest does some evil speech how he can kill the thief and the Pharaoh (one stone for two birds you know) and put everything on Bakura. Bakura is still very confused but gets Atem and runs away.

So the thief is back in the desert with his bird, now very much aware of its identity. And very confused. And angry. (And omg I scratched his head and called him cute names.) They talk about it once Atem can change back and conclude that Akhenaden is behind everything and have to work together to get him down (and Atem has to deal with the 'Oh fuck I'm in love with Bakura'. It comes a bit later for Bakura.)

... Damn. This got way longer than I intended it 😂

#casteshipping

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walli3darl1ng · 5 months

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Hello there darling

Can I request for a welcome home ppl react to a 9 tales kitsune reader

Like she/he has lived in the woods for a long time and was curious what the neighborhood was like and the people that were in it

And the fact that there tales were soft and he/she was beautiful and helped wally finally get a good rest sleep with his/her tales

if u don't mind

(I dont mind at all, Darling! I apologize for getting to this late TT but I really love this! Hope I live up to your expectations! Before we continue…as much as I personally dislike this I really want to post something for you guys ;))

The Kitsune Fox; a fox spirit that can turn into a human to trick and fool those who are easily fooled. Although even the most cautious can’t resist the temptation the spirits posses. In some folklore these spirits are wise and humble spirits that help the living, others say they are evil and only wish to hurt those that are weak.

They are rumored to see and hear all that goes on in the world and if deemed worthy—they can interact and help.

“Sally, I know you like this kind of thing but is it really necessary to say all the scary and nasty stuff on our sleepovers?” A slightly shaken and worried Julie interrupts Sally’s dramatic explanation of the fantasy tale making the star puppet stop and turn to her.

“Oh, sorry! I just really love those stories,” she gives a brief pause and glances around at the rest that were asleep. The only ones still awake was her Julie and Wally. “Besides everyone else is asleep.” She whispers back.

“Yeah, but now Julie won’t be able to sleep, you know how she gets.” Wally tiredly replies, patting Juliet’s shoulder softly. The scared blonde hugging her stuffed doll close to her chest.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Julie.” Sally frowns then opens her sleeping bag to her friend. “We can cuddle until you fall asleep, how’s that sound?”

“Okay!” Julie nods and smiles as she crawls over and hugs her best friend. “We can go see the small shrine tomorrow? The one you were talking about earlier.”

Sally hums and nods, already half asleep due to the warms Julie was providing. She was telling them that she found a small shrine not that far and wanted them to go with her to check it out.

Speaking of which here you are, draped over the roof of the shrine, your fox ears tall and alert and tails swinging about as she let out a boring sigh. “How boring…I guess a couple 100 years will do that, huh?” This is a common thing for you. Talking to yourself I mean. You have been alone for over a few centuries.

Your ears flicker when you hear slow and relax heartbeats, the neighborhood must be asleep now. You’ve noticed the neighborhood not that long ago but was always a bit hesitant to go down there and say hi. What if they think you’re evil and cast you away?!

Anyways, you’ve been keeping an eye on them for the time being. Just watching over them.

“What..?” You sit up when you pick up on a faster heartbeat, was someone having a nightmare?

“I need to investigate..what if someone’s in danger?” With a new found determination you gracefully float down and toward the neighborhood.

As colorful and unique the neighborhood is you can explore just yet. Your ears snap to the sound of the beat of the racing heart to a house. You peek inside a window to see a blue haired puppet rubbing his eyes as he takes a few deep breaths.

You tilt you head as you can still hear his heartbeat beating a bit too fast so you swiftly float in through the cracked open window which gets his attention.

“Who’s there?”

“I’m sorry…you had a nightmare?” Way to start a conversation, I suppose. Then again it’s been so long since you had a conversation with someone else and have gotten a response.

Wally however wasn’t worried at the fact that you, a complete stranger has entered Julie’s home but the fact that you were the exact tale sally was gushing out early that night. You are so beautiful, majestic and grateful even in your tone. Your ears are tall and huge, your tails! Gosh they look soft and the fact you got nine of them! Blow his mind, alright.

“Um…hello?” You asked, waving your hand in front of him making his jump a bit.

“Oh! Sorry, you’re just…you’re so pretty that’s all.” Wally shrugs it off and smiles.

You blink at this, he think you’re pretty? Seriously? What does that mean exactly? “..thank you?”

“..so you’re here because you thought I had a nightmare?”

“Your heartbeat was fast, that’s not normal.” You said as you pointed to his chest. “Then again, it’s been a few days now that I hear that from you, you’re the one that live in the red house, right? The one that’s alive.”

“Home you mean? Yea that’s me, Wally.” He smiles, his heart beat is calming down. That’s good.

“Wally…I’m (Y/n), I live on the shrine that’s up the hill.”

“Sally was telling us about it earlier! That’s where you live, that’s fantastic, you can meet the others.” Wally was now so excited to share his new found friend with the rest.

You tilt you head and hums seeing that Wally was still tired, he’s fighting his sleep but still talking to you. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“Sleeping? No, no I can’t sleep now.” Was it the nightmare? You mind is racing with solutions but to no avail. Oh wait!

You perk up at your idea and float towards him, shifting a bit bigger as you circle your body around him and using one of your tails to gently push hums against you and wrap the remaining tails on him like a blanket.

“What are you doing, friend?”

“Helping you sleep.” Was all you mumble before gently humming a soft lullaby you wound for centuries and slowly but surely the blue haired puppet closes his eyes and lets calming sleep take over him, the most calming sleep he’s has these past few days.

The morning sun comes up and shines onto the neighborhood, everything was peaceful and—

“AHHH! there’s a fox in the living room!!”

~~~

The end :) I wrote all this in a Ross parking lot 🧍🏻now I know I’ve abandoned you guys—IM SORRY! But it’s been a hard couple of months and I’m trying to get into my happy hobby again which is writing and talking to you guys 💜

#welcome home #welcome home wally #welcome home x reader #welcome home x you #wally darling

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roydeezed · 11 months

Text

Chainsaw Man-Chapter Round-Up(Chapter 131)

Oh Shit! We get to learn some motivations! So I just sort of assumed that Fami wanted to end the world as it would help further her goal of starving people but it turns out she wants to, much like they did in Pacific Rim, cancel the apocalypse! And with Nayuta on the side of humanity, it makes me wonder why Yoru wants to end the world and if this will be about her journey in accepting humanity and changing her goal as much as it is about coexisting with Asa. Another neat thing is that Fami says she can turn the starved into pawns so it once again brings us back to that theme of control that’s been present since the first part. I wonder if that contributes in any way to Nayuta/Makima’s strength? As a lot of devil’s seem to have control based powers. Working our way through devils, before we get to Nayuta, I want to talk about the Falling Devil. Gosh I love her so much! She has so much character for a villain and a devil. And with her not being explicitly evil my fingers are crossed for a reappearance. She could fill a similar hole to Angel. Finally on to Nayuta. Her and Fami bonding over human interests such as good food is not only hilarious but also shows how despite how othered they seem the devils are quite similar to humans. I can definitely see the prophecy coming true and the new status quo becoming some sort of hell on earth where by the end of it coexistence is reached. Because devils are fear incarnate so you can’t really eradicate fear altogether. Going back to Nayuta, she has so much personality! She reminds me of Power a lot with the way that she’s obstinate and strong willed. In a lot of was Part 2 is paralleling Part 1 so I wonder if it’ll be a two part series or if there’ll be more after this. It certainly feels like a two parter as events mirror each other and characters take up roles from the previous cast. I really hope we get a Nayuta centric chapter because I’d love to see what similarities she has between her appearance here and her appearance in Fujimoto’s short stories. Also, I feel so sorry for her poor teacher, she definitely does not get paid enough.

#chainsaw man chapter 131 #csm 131 #csm spoilers #chainsaw man

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blueikeproductions · 9 months

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I’m gonna be honest, I’m falling a little out of love for EarthSpark because of the last batch of episodes. Part of it is the same reason I didn’t like Cyberverse: the absolutely crap pacing and decision making.

Now EarthSpark did start off well enough, I think the first two episodes remain my favorites because it sets the tone and world up pretty nicely. After that it starts getting … messy. Nitpicks abound! As much as I do enjoy the Terrans, Thrash remains the forgettable one to me. He’s just kinda there and has nothing really to do. He gets overshadowed by his siblings being more memorably quirky (Hashtag and Twitch) or having their own arcs (Nightshade and Jawbreaker). Thrash being the somewhat immature, lackadaisical, older brother IS fine, I just wish he had something to help stand out more.

Megatron’s redemptive antihero role is pry the best it’s been written. Not even Roberts, who ushered it in, really handled it that well since it was somewhat forced and skewed into Twitter/Tumblr stereotypes. Imma be blunt: Cyberverse didn’t even try when they did it. The staff patted themselves on the back for a repenting Megs, but didn’t even bother explaining it in-show, instead giving a lengthy explanation on TWITTER. Stuff like “Oh Bisk got arrested because he beat up another Transformer he lost to at a space video game event” is harmless fluff, describing a major component of what your story is trying to do meanwhile is just mind bogglingly horrendous. Not helped is despite this, Megatron is still torturing Autobots, smacking lunch trays and being a huge dick, which runs counter to him having changed upon seeing his worse Robo-Robotnik counterpart. But CV Megatron was still his more traditional villainous self intentional or not, and I do think ES trying to keep Megatron as a heroic character is hurting the overall series. Transformers has a huge villain problem currently, and it’s only gotten worse with modern media trying to make all the Decepticons sympathetic. EarthSpark, the longer it went on, really seems confused as to what role the Decepticons are supposed to have. Are they still trying to cause trouble, are they just trying to survive, were guys like Breakdown simply on the wrong team in the first place? It’s all very muddled, and I NEVER liked the idea that the Decepticons are just slightly more irritable Autobots because you loose the franchise’s defining good vs evil dynamic that’s helped keep the thing going this long. Even stuff like Superlink, RiD15, and the G1 cartoon make it clear the Decepticons are stubborn and refuse to give up to prove a point. They WILL conquer the galaxy, dammit. And stuff like EarthSpark is just… taking the fight out of them. Which gets to my next nitpick…

So the Decepticons, understandably, are locked up by GHOST for their crimes, and the humans are trying to study them/torture them to make weapons. Naturally, the already angry robots would be pushed to the brink, want to escape the fleshies’ grasp, and lay down the pain similar to Dreamwave and Bay, and while we do see a bit of this, at the end the Decepticons just decide they’re suddenly friends with the Maltos? Something here feels very rushed, along with Shockwave also suddenly wanting to be pals after initially finding the Terrans disgusting. The pacing here is just odd, and a deleted scene shows Shockwave petting Fluffy Ears after he was just about to turn her into hamburger meat a moment before. It’s funny out of context, but it still doesn’t make sense. It skews uncomfortably into Diamond territory for me, where I get the logic, but how they got there doesn’t work (at least for me). You CAN have redemption stuff, heck Decepticon like robots like DragoBurst from Daigunder came around, but they, for the most part, properly built up to this. The Decepticons being “good” feels like a split second decision that had no real pay off. Because again, in the past, if the Decepticons helped the Autobots, it was an enemy of my enemy/Earth is where we keep our stuff thing, and they’d go right back to trying to destroying it once the third party was dealt with.

And I feel like EarthSpark may have had some internal problems with the story. How much of this was Nick not being cooperative ala Rise of the TMNT or just genuinely bad planning I’m not sure. The biggest issue for me was Ravage, and, to an extent, Starscream too. Early on they had Screamer, Wave and Ravage concocting a scheme by letting the dog-cougar cassette out into GHOST to snoop around, Starscream laughing evilly with his glowing red eyes. Inexplicably, Starscream’s eyes are blue, even in flashbacks, which has confused a lot of people, and the show doesn’t address this. A characters’ eyes turning red to accentuate a point isn’t a new thing in animation, but I don’t think that’s what this was…? I was assuming it was Allspark Affinity, but I don’t think it’s that either. More than likely him having blue eyes is meant to show he’s a good boy deep in his shell, similar to IDW’s “true inner Starscream” thing. …However, and this comes back to Ravage, Starscream was originally planning to sic Shockwave on Megatron for what amounts to the usual petty revenge on Starscream’s part. Ravage was sent out to get the remote that controlled Shockwave’s stasis pod, but this scene was cut entirely, instead explaining Shockwave’s escape as simply poor upkeep on his pod. The scene was cut for time, but … WHY? There was surely a better means to incorporate Ravage snooping around instead of just turning it into a dropped sub plot. The show attempts to course correct by suggesting via Swindle this was an attempt at a prison break until Hashtag and Mandroid initiated it instead, but Ravage is unaccounted for. I’m assuming this was a plot point that was debated on, as the official guide book INSTEAD says that Soundwave had Ravage snoop around for info on the Allspark due to an agreement they had with Prime and Megs when they got arrested. It feels like they just couldn’t decide on what to do, and chose neither, and while they could have Ravage later reappear and go “Hey guys I found the Allspark’s location and a whole bunch of ancient Cybertron relics on GHOST’s computers!” in S2, that’s fine, but I don’t trust the writers atm to do so…

There’s also turning Starscream into a trauma victim. Again sort of that Steven Universe/fandom mentality made canon thing that bothers me, BUT I completely get what they were going for. The problem for me is that even in the 80’s, Starscream’s constant beatdowns were played for laughs, and frankly a lot of the time Starscream had it coming in the first place. Starscream may have had more common sense than Megatron, but he was also driven by his pride, ego and his comedic sense of self preservation. Starscream also would bite off more than he could chew by messing with relics like the Enigma of Combination, Omega Lock and the Underbase, usually destroying himself in his quest for godhood to simply one up Megatron and show how much better he is at being evil and/or just being a petty glitch. So to play the dynamic straight and make Starscream more of a domestic abuse victim feels… wrong, especially when I’ve seen plenty of Megscreamer ship art of the G1 and Prime versions that suggests… a bit of hypocrisy in the name of a ship. I think Micron Legend Starscream handled the idea the best, though there Screamer was more a young warrior looking for approval, but Megatron thought he was weak and selfish, and the two would fight, but it was more of a anime warrior’s honor kind of way and not the more slapstick marriage falling apart way G1 and other shows did it. I do like Starscream becoming friends with Hashtag, reminds me a bit of ML Starscream becoming friends with Alexis, and I think that’s handled well enough. At the very least Micron Legend shows what EarthSpark wants to do with Starscream CAN work, it just needs a bit more fine tuning to make sense, and I feel internal decisions saw the clearly G1 and Prime inspired Starscream hugely rushed into a role he’s not ready for or arguably suited for. It’s a similar problem I had with Donald Duck in DuckTales 17: he’s barely in the show, clearly has a chip on his shoulder over Scrooge’s role in Della’s disappearance, and off screen he just sorta changed his mind and is suddenly wanting to help Scrooge. I get that part of his decision was influenced by how it was affecting the boys, but I never liked how we never saw Donald change, he just … does.

Mandroid’s descent into villainy is also rushed. Starts off well enough and him Roboticizing himself into a monster by the end makes sense, but it feels like some steps were skipped to get there, which was the same problem I had with IDW Megatron going on this big quest off screen we never saw. Also, a plot point is the Terrans don’t actually use Energon, and instead power up with Emberstone blessed Earth water… but there’s a few instances that contradict this, such as Mandroid’s Doomsday Project that shouldn’t affect the Terrans at all, but it… does anyway. Like… what? Also Mandroid and Alex knowing each other doesn’t appear to be addressed either. Especially notable when Mandroid went out of his way to AVOID killing him, only to not have this qualm anymore. It feels like a step was skipped, I get Mandroid is too far gone but even that was a huge leap in context.

Not a big deal, but do the Sharkticons Transform? Their design seems to skew to Terrorcon Rippersnapper, RiD15 Hammerstrike, and the Street Sharks style Sharkticons of Cyberverse, but I never liked how the later didn’t Transform into a robot or a speedboat or something. I get Mode Attachment, but even guys like RiD15 Grimlock and IDW Leviathan walked around in Robot Mode once in awhile.

Similarly, Jawbreaker scanned an actual fossil to get his Beast Mode, but doing so was new to Grimlock… who has a dinosaur Beast Mode which has left fans puzzled. Fans theorize Grimlock may have scanned a toy of a picture, similar to Nightshade, or that Wheeljack helped reformat the Dynobots into Dinobots as a G1 nod. However a stylized flashback shows Grimlock in Beast Mode on Cybertron, which makes me think in RiD15 terms that Grimlock may have already BEEN a dinosaur, just a “space” one. Though that runs contrary to the discussion how alt modes can help define a Transformer, and Grimlock is shown to be reluctant in the current era to Transform, as he can’t quite control his Beast Mode due to anger and PTSD caused by Mandroid. I never liked FOC’s Hulk like take on Grimlock though, and seeing that be an influence here kinda sours Big Grim for me, especially since my favorite incarnations, G1 toon and RiD15, LOVE being dinosaurs. Grimlock is still handled well otherwise though.

A lot of modern shows like this I’ve noticed have this out of balance tone where they can’t decide what they should be. It’s either super weird and cutesy or hard core darkness and angst. The one time I’ve seen this handled well was Bomberman Jetterz of all things, and that’s a kids anime about a little bomb throwing goofball that was never brought over here. It organically builds up to its darker elements, while the show starts off fairly goofy and weird it still lightly explores some things early on like Mighty’s sense of self and successfully builds on it.

Also Nightshade. Oh poor Nightshade. They continue to be the punching bag and poster child for some why this show is bad because it has The Gay TM. I do think kids can handle the concept of being gay, and I think kids can understand to some degree why a person would choose not to identify as either gender. But I also understand why parents don’t want to have such a conversation and there’s a time and place for this sort of thing, especially in kids media. (Blue’s Clues’ Pride parade animation was well intentioned but a little too… much for preschoolers. Same sex couples, sure, the nitty gritty stuff beyond that, not as much… And I say that knowing an older lesbian couple in college who thought what Adventure Time was doing with PB and Marcy was inappropriate for kids). Nightshade has more stuff going on besides their gender, but those stirring up trouble and even the owl’s supporters tend to ONLY focus on their being non-binary, which isn’t helping. The show only focused on it twice, and I think the first time was enough to set the tone. Optimus wasn’t sure if Nightshade was a boy or girl, NS and Moe clarified they/them, and Optimus warmly accepted, and that’s really all you needed for a children’s. Easy to understand for the target audience. The show then has Nightshade learn the definition of being non-binary by a human teen they help out and become friends with. The scene is fine, but I think it’s a tad over-explained keeping in mind the target audience. It also feels like an artifact of the original intention that was scrapped. In the planning stage, Nightshade simply identified as Terran because gender wasn’t important to their identity as a robotic being. Keeping it simple for the kids at home, as well as for those who might feel like Nightshade where they can go “I’m a Terran!” The official guide book also goes with this explanation. With Nightshade then learning about being NB from Sam makes a little more sense with this older concept in mind, but I think a simpler “Thanks for the save, uh…. I wanna say mister…?” “Oh I’m a they/them! Nightshade the Terran, at your service~!” “No way, I’m they/them too! I’m Sam!” “Ooo, delightful! Oh do you like the Winged Sentinel too?” “Do I? I run a big fan blog about it and Changaliens!” “-Nightshade Transforms and makes happy owl noises-“ sorta thing. At the very least, that’s been my experience being reintroduced to a friend that’s now trans or NB. “Oh you’re a dude now? Sweet! So what’d you think of the latest Digimon episode?” is a typical exchange. Unfortunately no matter of simplifying it is going to keep people from disliking the character as being a form of “indoctrination”, and I worry that’s affected the availability of the toy. I’ve seen people show they have Nightshade’s toy, but locally I’ve not seen Nightshade’s toy at all, and I wonder if controversy has led to stores refusing to carry it. That being said I’ve not seen the Arcee or Hashtag finger puppet toys, the Deluxe Grimlock or the Twitch One Step Changer, but I have seen Shockwave and Jawbreaker, and they went quickly, and as of typing weren’t restocked. So could be crap distribution again, but I can’t help but worry the toy is functionally “banned”. I may not be NB, but I do jive with Nightshade being a reclusive, yet happy go lucky nerd. I enjoy their swagger too, something I wish I had, so there’s plenty to like on top of them having a owl beast mode. I was a Beast Wars kid so Beast Modes rule, man.

Anyhow, going back to another point, this is why I like RiD15 so much. It knew what it wanted to be, a mostly low stakes action comedy, and even when it leaned a bit into darkness, it still felt tonally correct with the show. Here we have a wacky episode about an Energon parasite possessed bear, and then they jump into heavy handed discussions of racism, violence and post apocalyptic disaster the next. That’s not organic, that’s just being indecisive on the tone of your show. It’s this awkward trend of trying to make your kids cartoon into a mature, sophisticated thing, but no one has the patience or finesse to pull it off anymore and it drives me nuts. And I don’t think kids care for it either. The age range for EarthSpark I spoke to are watching the Super Mario movie, classic cartoons and older Disney movies (a lot of them, especially boys, were into Princess & The Frog and Moana in particular as it happens) when it comes to western animation. Last time I saw kids interested in Transformers was Prime, Rescue Bots, RiD15 and Bumblebee. Outside of RotB, I don’t think recent stuff has been doing it for kids, as I haven’t found any kids hugging an EarthSpark Bumblebee like their life depended on it like I did with RiD15 Bee.

I want to be clear I still like EarthSpark, and I like a lot of the characters like Alex, Mo, Jawbreaker, Bumblebee, Frenzy and Nightshade, but the cracks have been starting to show and grow larger. 26 episodes and the end goal still felt very rushed as if they thought this would be like a long running anime and didn’t utilize their time the best, and with the current strikes as of typing, I fear that’s not gonna bode well for season 2’s production either. I am very skeptical atm we get a S3, so I hope they were more careful in crafting the next phase of the story. A second season was greenlit when the first season was still being worked on, so it seems odd to me they still felt the need to rush through things as if they didn’t have time. Maybe they didn’t due to other factors? Still I hope for the best, but I’m not as exited as I once was, and a possible Prime style Relic Hunt potentially being next makes me concerned…

#transformers #transformers earthspark #blueike productions #macaddam #maccadam #autobots #decepticons #terrans

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