#since she was 20 in s3

[catboymoments]

How did Amitys hair change from the end of s3 to next gen? Is there lore behind this? Asking bc I noticed in your most recent comic that while Azura was cookin she had short, undyed hair but after she arrived she had abomination hair (really cool touch btw :D)

Amity had the abomination hair since she was in her early 20’s! Darius helped her figure out a new style :] her natural brown hair in the bob style is just what it looks like without/under the abomination goop. Here’s an older doodle

[hothothotch]

hi! can you write a hotch angsty / fluff piece based off the episode of s3 ep 20 where they go to NY and have to work with Kate Joyner and Hotch treats reader like how he did to Morgan and pushes reader aside bc even after reader being there for him after his divorce with Hayley and thinking there was something more but then ends in fluff? :)

hey hey! first i want to say that this ask has saved my life. second, i got carried away again. but i hope you like it, anon s2

(god knows how much i want a part two for this one)

requests are open!

tw: angst, fluff, 5.3k words.

You should have seen it coming.

You’ve been a part of BAU’s team since the departure of Ellie, a quick replacement approved by Agent Hotchner — or Hotch, as the team called him — that took place for the first time after The Fisher King’s case, when Ellie was shot; when she decided working at the BAU was too much to handle, Hotch approved your official transference only a few weeks before Strauss’ approved Prentiss’.

In all honesty, you’d been surprised Hotch didn’t kick you out after that, but grateful nonetheless — you absolutely loved that job.

You had been the first to notice when Hotch’s marriage started to crumble, your own habit of staying late nights at the office giving you a first-row view of the nights he’d stay late and go home only on the early hours of the morning, just to come back fresh and new as if nothing had happened. There wasn’t much you could do to help, even if you wanted to; the fact that Hotch trusted you on the job didn’t necessarily mean that he trusted you enough to let you in on his personal issues, and you didn’t feel like you really wanted to. But, as purple bags started to form under his eyes, a clear evidence that he hadn’t been sleeping, you couldn’t help but start showing small, almost meaningless acts of service that you hoped would make him feel better.

Everything was pretty secretive.

You started to get in the office earlier, so you could leave a cup of fresh coffee on his desk (black with no sugar, as you know he liked), and whenever you went out for dinner, you’d come back bearing something that was small enough so he wouldn’t want to pay for what you brought.

You started daring more only a few weeks into your small endeavor. Instead of only leaving your secret gifts, you started to write small notes in Garcia’s colorful sticky notes (because you had none on your desk, so he wouldn’t know it was you) with encouraging comments, mostly about his job — and, when you were feeling specially bold, about his appearance in general.

You thought nothing of it, and had no idea if he even read them, but the fact that you were doing something to at least try and make things better was enough to warm your heart. Much more when his stern façade would suddenly turn into a lighter one as the day went by, even when you were out on cases and he found a cup of steaming coffee waiting for him, a sticky note attached to it with a unique message handwritten by you.

It wasn’t until the divorce that you felt the urge to reveal your identity.

Hotch had been served the divorce papers in front of the whole team, only a few minutes before they went out for drinks — it goes unsaid that he immediately stepped out of the group, deciding to go home. The team still went out for drinks, but the talks weren’t as fun as they were supposed to be, and the topic in hand was only one: Hotch’s sudden divorce.

“Haley left home a few weeks ago” Derek confessed, playing with his full glass of beer. A few women had come to hit on him, but it seemed like that small and closed group had decided that if one of them was miserable, they all would be miserable that night — and Morgan had been the first to agree to that silent contract, refusing every opportunity he had to get laid that night, “She took Jack and her things and… left”.

“How could she do it?” Penelope had asked, her voice wrapped in a wrath no one had ever seen the blonde bubble of happiness be.

“Hotch is very dedicated to his job, Pen” Emily had replied, her voice as condescending as sad, a clear indicative that while she wished things had been different, that maybe there was a second chance, something they could do to help, she still could understand Haley’s side in this bargain, “We understand that because we do the same, but Haley… she wasn’t one of us”.

And it was true. While any of you were ready to make sacrifices, to jump off cliffs in order to do the best for your job, Haley was just a wife that had to stay closed off at home with her kid, praying that, at the end of the day (or the week) her husband would make it back home.

Now Hotch knew how it felt.

“There’s nothing we can do to help” David had said that night, taking his own glass of whiskey and taking a sip of the sour drink, “Just be there for him”.

David was right. And maybe his words that night had been what prompted you to climb the three-steps of the catwalk’s stair one week later, one hand playing nervously with your necklace as you used the other to knock on Aaron’s door right after Spencer had left to go home, only you and your boss still on the sixth floor.

“Come in”.

Aaron’s voice was imposing, as serious as it had always been; it was curious, you noticed very quickly, how you’ve never seen Hotch falter before — even when he was served the papers, or when he officially announced for the team that he was, indeed, divorced. He had been calm and collected, talking about the topics as if he was making a comment about a case, or about the weather, and the only indication of his unsaid pain was the way his fingers played nervously with the now empty space where you’d been used to see his wedding band.

Just as he was doing when you opened the door, your eyes falling immediately on that spot, as if searching for an indicative that they had decided to try again. The hope painful on your heart.

“I finished the reports from the last case” you said after a few minutes, moving slowly to leave the folders on top of his desk, “And I’ve also filled the late paperwork, I’m sorry it took me a while”.

Hotch looked up at you, his brown eyes scanning your face almost curiously, and you frowned nervously at the prospect of having something wrong with your face, “What is it?”.

“Nothing” Aaron replied quickly, dropping his eyes back to his hands, “I’m sorry”.

You smiled softly at Aaron, moving slowly to take the seat across from him, careful enough to assure him that if he didn’t want you to sit with him, then you’d quickly move out and pretend nothing had happened. When he didn’t, you allowed yourself to place both your hands on top of his desk, your palms up in an inviting manner — you knew Hotch wouldn’t hold your hand, even with the clear offer, but you’d keep offering until he felt like accepting.

“We’re a team, Hotch” you whispered, almost inaudibly, hoping, one more time, not to be overstepping or making him uncomfortable in any capacity, “I know we’re not best buddies…” you teased lightly, adding a ‘yet’ on your mind, “But you still can share things with me. I’m here to help, you know? If you want to talk, ever, I’ll be here, okay?”.

Much for your surprise and happiness, Aaron had wanted to talk, eventually.

The first time was after a child-related case, from where he left with the need to see Jack, but unable to do so because Haley had taken him to his grandparents’ house. At first, when he called you up to his office, you’d thought you’d be reprimanded for a mistake you couldn’t even remember you committed, but you had barely stepped inside the office when Aaron started to speak, his eyes focused on the mess of papers on his desk.

“I want to talk” he said, his voice more painful than you thought it would be, “If you’re still up to it”.

You were. Absolutely.

And just as talking to him, falling in love with Aaron Hotchner was the easiest thing you’ve ever done in your life.

You didn’t notice how it happened, or when you finally realized you were head over hills in love with him, but what you did know was the unspeakable feeling of your heart thundering on your chest whenever he shot a smile on your way, or when he accidentally brushed his hand on your arm when walking past you, or during your nightly conversations, when he’d repeat the words you first told him all those months ago, when you offered your help.

“We’re a team”.

But you should’ve seen it coming.

You should’ve seen it coming when Aaron announced whoever was responsible for that case had called him personally, and not respected the natural order of things in which JJ receives the case and reunites with Aaron to know if it deserves their immediate attention.

You should’ve seen it coming when Derek commented about Kate Joyner being as ass, and Aaron immediately got defensive — and to some extent you believed you had noticed, even if you decided to ignore it, since your body had responded to his defensiveness.

But you didn’t. Mostly because up to that moment, everything was okay.

“You’ll keep throwing theories at me until I tell you to stop?” Hotch asked, and even if his voice was serious and perfectly professional, you could see a hint of a smile on the way his brows weren’t as furrowed as usual, a shy dimple appearing on the corner of his lips.

This, you thought as you observed his clear features, moving from side to side on the chair you’ve been sitting on, your sole duty being waiting for Garcia’s call, or a lead of any form, this is what I love the most about him. His almost smile.

The thought alone both intimidated you and made butterflies dance on your stomach. You loved him.

“I will” you agreed with a resolute nod, your face as serious as possible considering how bad you wanted to laugh, “That’s what I do when we don’t have leads, I try every possible outcome and make you smile every once in a while. Because we’re a team”.

Aaron shook his head, his smile a bit more apparent than before, “A team, indeed”.

“I hope we make a good one”.

You cringed visibly at Kate Joyner’s British accent, not failing to notice how Aaron immediately moved to look at her, a smile creeping up on his lips immediately as he met her eyes — and you felt your heart break even more at the realization that it was the same smile he always gave you.

“They liaised at Scotland Yard”, Emily had teased when you arrived, JJ gasping at the mischievous tone on her friend’s voice. You wondered if any of them noticed how your face fell by the minute, your eyes unable to match any of theirs, heart thumping against your chest because you had noticed how Aaron had looked at Kate.

He wanted her.

In a way he clearly had never — and probably would never — want you.

“Hotchner” you looked up immediately at his serious tone, furrowing your brows as you paid close attention at his words. You saw, with the corner of your eyes, when Derek and Rossi moved closer to the three of you, their faces as serious as Hotch’s, “Does it look like he could be one of our guys?”.

“What’s going on?” Derek asked, his eyes following Hotch’s every move.

“We’ve got eyes on one of them” Aaron replied quickly, and for a second you hoped they’d be somewhere you could get them, that maybe this hell would be over in the next hour, maybe you were remotely close… “He’s on the subway platform at 59th and Lex”.

Your heart stopped beating at that moment, your breath immediately caught on your throat as you turned to face Kate, “We could be there” you muttered, your voice nothing more than an accusing whisper, “If we’d followed Derek’s plan, we could be there”.

“No, we should be there!” Derek retorted, his voice pulling out the anger you’ve managed to keep away from your words, and if your message hadn’t been clearly delivered to Kate, Derek’s had been — it was her fault.

“He’s got a gun” Garcia announced on the other side of the line, her voice wavering slightly at the new information.

“What do we do?” you asked, eyes moving past Kate to meet Hotch’s, “What are we supposed to do?”.

Aaron didn’t have time to reply before Garcia’s voice came through once more, “He shot her”.

God.

“Where the hell are the police?”, Kate’s voice was nervous when she next spoke, walking past you as if you weren’t there, her eyes not daring to meet yours, even if you knew that she didn’t care about the rage you were displaying. She cared about nothing other than Aaron’s impression on her, “This is Kate Joyner with the FBI. We have a murder suspect, subway platform. 59th and Lex”.

“He’s getting away!” Garcia announced, her voice clearly anguished.

Your mind started to work, all the training you ever had in your life — both for the BAU and other Units — coming back to you on that second, drawing you to move closer to the phone, you’re voice commanding, “Garcia, can you get eyes on him above ground?”.

“He’s heading west on 59th Street”.

“If he makes it to the park, we’ve lost him” Kate pointed, clearly worried.

The point was, Kate’s worry meant nothing to you anymore. Not when she was responsible for that; not when her pride got over her job and caused you to lose the only lead you could’ve had.

“And whose fault is this, Joyner?” you asked, your voice as venomous as you could make it sound, both your hands holding tightly at the wooden surface of the desk you’ve been sitting at, “Because from where I see it, is yours”.

The silence between your small group was almost palpable, and you could hear how someone took a harsh breath, as if your words had been like a slap to their face. You didn’t turn to see who had had that reaction, though — you knew the team had a very tunneled vision of you, that the fact you rarely snapped at people made them think you weren’t as fierce as Prentiss, even though they knew you were way more able to stand your ground than Spencer, usually without being overly rude at the source of your dismay.

That wasn’t the case, not that day.

You heard Aaron calling your name, and if it were any other day, maybe you’d have drawn your eyes off Kate to look at him, but you knew if you did this now, you’d backtrack — and God knew you didn’t want to.

“We could’ve had this guy!” you spat, pointing at the phone, “We just had to follow along with Morgan’s plan, which was a good plan, but Ms. I’m-better-than-anyone couldn’t handle hearing that someone was better than her!”.

“That’s not what happened—”.

“Oh, isn’t it?” You cut her off immediately, licking your lips for a second as your eyes kept glued on hers. Not blinking, not faltering. For the first time since you joined the FBI, you allowed the anger to consume you, because it was personal for you.

The way she looked at Hotch was personal for you.

The way they kept their bodies close was personal for you.

The way he had immediately stopped reciprocating you and your feelings whenever she was close, was personal for you.

The way she had the man you loved under her spell was personal for you.

“Even if we were on that platform, odds are he would have moved onto someone isolated” Kate retorted, her voice way calmer than yours.

“Maybe, but it was worthy a fucking shot!” you screamed, slapping your hands against the table, the sound calling the attention of the other Agents around, “Morgan said to put us at express stops. You wouldn’t need any new cop or to take the cops that are working from the streets, you just needed to assign us for this, and you decided not to, just because Morgan said so!”.

“It’s not your place to have this discussion”.

You were ready to spat back, maybe even to move closer to Kate and tell her that if she failed to do her job, then it was time someone else do it. But the voice that called you out wasn’t Kate’s.

You faltered, your voice suddenly getting caught on your throat as you turned to face Aaron, his eyes void of emotion as he looked at with you a grave expression, only one message written on his face: shut up, or you’ll see the consequences.

“My…” you stuttered, “My place?”.

“You need to back off” Aaron moved on, “We’re here to give the profile, that’s what we’ll do”.

“We have seven bodies, Aaron!” you said, but your voice had lost the strength it had when you were discussing with Kate, your anger turning into something way more painful. Painful for you, “Seven bodies. A woman was just killed on a subway platform because of her incompetence and you’re telling me to back off?”.

You hated how your voice broke on the last phrase, clear evidence that you were on the verge of tears. And you hated that he was a good enough profiler to see it, but he chose to ignore, because he was favoring her over you.

“You said it right, we have seven bodies” Aaron agreed, “Which is exactly why we need to stay focused”.

Derek snorted, drawing your attention back to him, “Pretty rich coming from the man who can’t stay focused on anything but her”.

As if it couldn’t hurt you more.

Aaron didn’t flinch, his eyes meeting Derek’s as he finished the almost inexistant space that separated the two of them, his voice low and passive — the tone he always used when talking with a suspect, “Take a walk. Now. You both”.

All you needed was for his eyes to meet yours for you to know you were done. With this case; with Kate Joyner; with Aaron.

“I’m out” you announced, messily grabbing your things and throwing them on your pockets, trying your best not to unravel then and there, where Kate could see how much she had affected you — how much their actions had affected you, “Out of this precinct. Out of this case”.

You walked past Aaron without sparing a glance at him, making a beeline towards the elevator. And for a second you thought about ignoring the way he called you, aware that you wouldn’t be able to look at him without the tears falling down your face, without you pouring your heart out to the man you ultimately loved, but that couldn’t reciprocate your feelings.

But you stopped, anyway. You stopped because a part of you hoped you’d see the man you’ve grown fond of in the past months; because you expected him to apologize, to say that you were right, or just say something… because if he didn’t, you might as well give up on him.

Ask me to stay, you pleaded, just ask me to stay.

“You can’t walk away from this case”.

You snorted at his cold words, and even with your back turned to him, you knew his face was still cold as stone, the Unit Chief, not your friend, “I can. And I will” you finally found it in yourself to turn and face him, the first tears falling down your face, “I’ll tell Strauss I couldn’t handle it, that it hit too close to home. Don’t worry, I’ll take the plane back to D.C tonight, I don’t want the jet and won’t make the Bureau pay for a bedroom for me. It won’t ruin your budget”.

“Why are you acting like that?” he asked, and you allowed yourself to bask on the way his own voice faltered, the way his closed demeanor changed at the sight of your tears, but it only lasted one second before you looked over his shoulders, finding Kate looking straight at you, clearly curious.

Suddenly there was no way you’d walk out without saying everything you needed to say.

“You really don’t know?” you questioned, “Okay, so I’ll tell you, Aaron” you made a pause, fidgeting with your necklace once again, trying to find the courage you needed to let it all out — everything and nothing at the same time, “I’m so in love with you, Aaron. I’ve been from the moment you started opening up to me. And to see you dismissing my opinion, acting like I’m nothing more than just an AIT who has no idea what she’s doing here, it hurts…” your voice was nothing but a mumbled hiss, the tears now staining your shirt, and you were unable to stop them, even when you violently wiped them away with the palm of your hand, “It hurts because I thought maybe… maybe you were feeling the same. Maybe you were opening up to me because you wanted me to be a part of your life, more than a friend, but a real partner… I thought we were a team, but I see I was wrong”.

You allowed yourself to look desperate, broken, out of place for one more second as you watched the way his demeanor changed as he processed every word you’ve said. You noticed with a heavy heart when it stopped, when he finally took in the meaning behind your words, and then…

Then you saw nothing.

And that only made your heart break even more.

“As I said, I was wrong” you repeated, pressing the elevator button violently, “I’m sorry, Agent Hotchner. I hope the case ends well. I’ll hand you my resignation once you’re back home”.

And without a word more, you left.

…

Prentiss called to let you know the case had ended only two days after you left — not that you wanted to know, but you had told Hotch you’d hand your resignation once he was back, so you were grateful she called. She didn’t ask if you were okay, because you clearly weren’t, and you were grateful for that, too (even if Derek and Penelope did call to know if you were feeling okay).

Aaron didn’t call.

He didn’t reach out.

Didn’t send a message or an email.

He was dead silent.

You had learnt from Derek that Kate Joyner had been killed on an explosion meant to hit her and Hotch, and that Morgan had driven him back to Quantico once Aaron was cleared from the hospital. He didn’t need to tell you, but you knew he had talked to Aaron (or either talked while Aaron listened) about what you said before leaving, about your feelings and how you were ready to resign because of the way he treated you; you also knew from his voice that he wanted you to ask what had been Hotch’s answer to their talk, but you didn’t want to know. Your heart was already too damaged to accept another blow.

It had been around the third day since the end of the case when someone knocked on your door. You had asked the team not to come over, not wanting them to see you on the state you were — hair disheveled, eyes puffy and red from crying —, and much less have to answer to questions you weren’t ready to answer; but you had been receiving a visit from your neighbor, Mr. Clark, who had caught you crying alone once and since then had been visiting you on the same hour everyday to make sure you were doing okay.

He was also helping you look for new jobs, even if he was trying to convince you to do something less dangerous than working for the FBI. It wasn’t working.

“Hello, Mr.—” you cut yourself off immediately when your eyes met the newcomer, your lips slightly parted as you took in his image, “Agent Hotchner?”.

You noticed how he flinched at your words, moving slightly back as if you had shot him straight on the heart, and not just called him by his title. Still, Aaron tried to keep himself perfectly composed (as always), one hand hiding something on his back as he fidgets with his fingers with the other.

If you hadn’t spent the past weeks crying over him, you’d have found it adorable.

“What are you doing here?” you asked sharply, your eyes scanning him one more time before you stopped to find his eyes, almost losing yourself on their brown — almost green, depending on the light — immensity.

“I wanted to talk to you” Aaron replied, rolling his eyes at the notice of how obvious his words were, “I wanted to apologize”.

You tilted your head to the side, your body clearly blocking his way inside your apartment — something you’ve never done before, “Okay. Done. You can go now”.

Your words were harsher than they’ve always been, void and certain, mostly because you knew you still loved him, and that if he asked to go inside, you’d allow. You’d buy anything he said in order to feed the fantasy of you two being more than friends, of the possibility of you being what you wanted you to be.

“Can we talk?” Aaron pleaded, taking a step towards you, “Please”.

“Why? So you can ignore everything I said at the precinct and cry over Kate’s death?” you spat out, and maybe you shouldn’t have talked about someone’s death with the coldness you’ve done, but you were honestly tired of Aaron and his bullshit, “I offered myself to help you, Aaron, because I knew you were suffering over your divorce. And if for some miracle Haley and you decided to go back together and try again, I’d swallow my feelings and let my heart break as I watch you and her trying to rebuild what you had, because I know how much you suffered over losing her. How much you miss being Jack’s father everyday…” you raised one finger, pointing directly at Aaron’s heart — the heart you still loved more than everything, “But I’m not stupid. I won’t let you step on my feeling to cry over another woman after I’ve told you how I feel, after I’ve pathetically confessed my love to you. I’m worthy more than that, Aaron! I deserve more than someone who only needs me when they’re emotionally vulnerable. I deserve to be loved, Aaron!”.

Aaron was silent for a moment, his eyes scanning your face as he observed the first tears rolling down. You thought he wouldn’t say anything, that maybe he’d only move away as you told him to, but he didn’t.

He took a step towards you, using his free hand to clear your tears, “I know” Aaron whispered, licking his lips, “And I should’ve thought about it, about your feelings, before putting mine on top of them. And I apologize, even if I know it’s not enough”.

No, it wasn’t. Because merely apologizing wouldn’t erase the memory of him observing as you poured your heart out and dismissing it on behalf of another woman. It wouldn’t erase the comments, and how he belittled you. It wouldn’t erase the pain you’ve felt on the plane back, or how pathetic Erin Strauss made you feel for abandoning the field over personal problems.

“I didn’t notice you were in love with me because I was trying to brush past the fact that I had fallen in love with you, of how inappropriate it would look like for Strauss, of how it could jeopardize your career…” Aaron cleared his throat, looking at the ground, “And how bad I felt over the fact that you were trying to help me with my marital problems, and I was too busy noticing how beautiful your smile is. I didn’t believe it was right for me to fall in love with you, because I didn’t deserve someone as pure as you”.

You remained silent; your arms crossed in front of your body. You knew there was something else he wanted to say, so you allowed him to.

“I imagine you heard someone talking about how… how much Kate looked like Haley”.

You snorted bitterly, and that seemed to attract his attention back to you, “Everyone. Even I thought that when I saw her”.

Aaron nodded slowly, this time his eyes didn’t move from yours, “When I saw her, all I could see was Haley. And I tried to convince myself that the fact I was shaken by that meant that I was still in love with Haley, and that I didn’t have to worry about my feelings for you, that I wouldn’t mess up our friendship because there weren’t feelings between us… but whenever I looked your way, or talked to you, I’d feel my heartbeat faster. And when I looked at Kate, I felt… empty. As if I was staring at an old ghost” he confessed, and you could see on his demeanor how confessing that pained him — either because he was confessing in a way that he wasn’t in love with Haley anymore, or because he felt bad speaking ill of the dead, you weren’t sure, “So I tried to force myself into find that old spark, the way I felt for Haley, something that would prove to me that I wasn’t in love with you, but I failed. And I failed you in the meantime”.

You took a sharp breath, hating yourself for the way you started to play with your necklace, “Where does it put us, Aaron?” you asked painfully, “Because I won’t go through that again”.

Aaron took his hand off his back, showing you the small Tifanny box he had been hiding, your breath getting immediately caught on your throat as you reached for the object hesitantly, “I’m not proposing to you” he clarified at the look on your face, “I couldn’t, not after just getting divorced… and I also can’t be in a relationship with you, now. I want to, but I need to settle things with Jack before I bring someone knew into my life, and I need to prove to you that I mean it when I say I love you”.

“Aaron…” you whispered, opening up the lid to reveal a golden lock pendant, one that you knew all too well — one you had nonchalantly commented with Aaron you wanted, but thought nothing of it, believing he hadn’t paid any mind at your words. He had, “I can’t… I can’t accept it, I—”.

“I’m not trying to buy your forgiveness, I’m not stupid to think you’d accept a gift in exchange of it” he cut you off, “But I want you to keep it as a promise that I’ll try to make it up to you every day, until you can forgive me. And that I’ll wait for you ‘til my last breath, if needed”.

You looked up at Aaron, nodding slowly.

You knew by the look on his face that you’d be the one leading them from that moment on, that if you wanted to just get the necklace and tell him to go, he’d go without missing a heartbeat. But you didn’t want it. Aaron was willing to try, to win your forgiveness and to respect your feelings in a way he hadn’t before.

“We’re a team” you muttered under your breath, opening up a smile.

So maybe you owed it to yourself to try, too.

Aaron gave you a similar smile, nodding, “We’re a team. The best team”.

And as you took a step to the side, inviting Aaron to enter your apartment, you knew you had already forgiven him.

Thank you for the request ✨

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x reader #criminal minds #hotch #hotch x reader #hotch x you #aaron hotchner fanfic #aaron hotchner imagine #aaron hotchner fanfiction #aaron hotchner oneshot #anon <3

[cerastes]

Are there any notable supporters you reccomend? I kinda ignore the class except for gnosis (and I do use scene and deep color in IS a bit) and I wonder if I'm actually sleeping on some fun units.

YOU CAME TO THE RIGHT NEIGHBORHOOD, MOTHER FUCKER, I LOVE SUPPORTERS.

Suzuran - 6* Decel Binder. The moral of Arknights is that children make excellent soldiers, and Suzuran proves this. Her two Talents are really good, as she serves as an incredibly potent SP accelerator for Supporters (+0.4 extra SP per second, so Supporters will charge 40% faster, herself included), and all enemies suffering from Slow (the actual status effect Slow, not the movement speed reduction effects one can find on Manticore or Chung the Hung, for example) in her range are also inflicted with 20% Fragile (so, they take 20% extra Phys, Arts and True damage from all sources). It doesn't have to be Slow inflicted by her, any Slow will do, so Angelina's S2 machinegun Slow will render an enemy vulnerable to an ass kicking quite effectively, as will Podenco's S2, and any source of Slow additional to Suzuran herself. S2 gives her an extra target on every attack, 2 extra targets with Masteries, alongside a minor Attack buff and, more importantly, infinite duration, meaning she can control more enemies at once and better prevent Slow Dilution (what I call when you Slow an enemy, then the next enemy passes them, making them the next target, and so on, diluting damage and clustering them; this isn't necessarily bad but it can be undesired depending on you strategy). Her spotlight stealer, however, is her S3, which expands her range, provides strong passive healing (so unhealables can be healed), doubles her Fragile Talent (40%), and Slows everything in range. Gnosis Fragile is bigger (50%) but he only maintains it in comparatively shorter bursts, Suzuran's S3 last 35 whopping seconds, and enemies that are Slow-immune are far fewer than Freeze-immune. This section is particularly big because, yeah, Suzuran just really does that much, she combos VERY well with other Supporters, can be slotted in any team, and just generally works, I'm not even a Suzuran fan, she's just that jacked.

Podenco - 4* Decel Binder, real name GODenco, also slots easily into any team, can switch to healing on her S1, or provide bursts of Silence, AoE Arts damage and Slow on good upkeep with her S2. She also provides a minor passive buff to other Supporters. If you need to Silence things, you think of the best Silencer, Lappland, but sometimes you need to Silence a LOT of things, enough that Lapp might get overwhelmed, well, that's when you use GODenco S2 and suddenly that entire cluster of 8 exploding spiders won't go boom no more. She's really good for Slow Dilution because of her single target into AoE skill, so she combos really good with AoE hitters like Artillerymen, Fortresses, Chain Casters, Qiu Bai S2, etc.

Shamare - 5* Hexer, a good execution support, as she applies 30% Fragile to enemies in range under 40% HP. Her main hat trick, however, is her S2, her signature Cursed Doll. At S2M3, the Cursed Doll, which you deploy on the field and it affects its tile and the 8 surrounding tiles, will provide an absolutely ungodly debuff of -50% ATK and DEF to all enemies in said range. One of the rare ATK% debuffs in the game, and in my opinion the best, it'll make even Gopnik hit like a wet noodle. What's more, since it's not an active skill, the moment you drop your Cursed Doll, Shamare will immediately begin charging the next one! With a charge of 30 and a doll timer of 15 seconds, her true charge time is 15 seconds. Basically, you can cycle 15 seconds of regular enemy stats and 15 seconds of halved enemy stats. This is legitimately insane. Since Shamare's stats are also unimportant, you can just leave her at E2Lv1 (unless you want her Module, which imo is not worth the lv2+ and I'd only get the lv1 if you really like her) so she can be a cheap and powerful investment.

U-Official - NUMERO UNO CAMPEAO DA PENTA

Quercus - 5* Abjurer. I'll keep it simple here: Her healing with Module is bonkers, and she provides Shelter (damage reduction%) to units in range above 70% HP, 60% with Module Lv3. S1 is her permanent Healer mode, toggable on a long cooldown, while S2 is her burst healing window skill, notable in that it provides SP to healed units throughout its duration. Quercus is sleeped upon, she's a REALLY strong Supporter that provides SP, healing and bulk.

Orchid - 3* Decel Binder. I include her here if you want to play Integrated Strategies, because she's always a good free pick there. She's the Slower that Slows.

Roberta - 4* Artificer. I include her here because my stream audience will disembowel me and chain my flayed corpse outside the Museum of Modern Arts if I don't, she's my meme unit. THOUGH, her Shield-providing, DEF enhancing tools can come in handy.

Valarqvin - 5* Ritualist. The IS4 free unit. Significantly stronger in IS4 due to built-in Necrosis Damage on autoattacks, but even outside of IS4, she can be useful for bursting or key enemy elimination with S2, as Necrosis is a strong effect with a built in, decaying ATK% debuff (again, rare) and unmitigated DoT (total of 12000 damage over 15 seconds, 800 dmg per second). Nothing so far in the game resists this, so go ham.

Angelina - 6* Decel Binder. Angelina's whole thing is that she's not a standout unit in any regard, but she can support practically every team, can so strong sustained damage and Slow against single targets with S2, strong multitarget Slow and reduced Weight for Shifting with S3, and passively increases party ASPD and gives them passive healing (works on unhealables). Angelina is kind of like a crowbar or a length of rope in that she's as useful as you can be creative with her, never as a stand out, but as a good brick in the overall house.

Ling - Limited 6* Summoner. Kind of an obligatory mention, but basically, God Mode. One of the gamebreakers, as she can produce 4-Block replenishable immensely powerful summons with multitarget equal to block, Arts damage, and damaging auras. Yeah. Even without that monster of an S3, she can sub Burst Damage and crowd control really well with S2. Her applications are insane, she's so strong that we can be here all day, so we won't do that, she's a very well documented unit.

Skadi the Corrupting Heart - Limited 6* Bard. Again, another well documented unit, but she can basically E3 your units with the sheer stat heft she provides through her S2 buff, can deploy an extension to this range with her Seaborn Summon, and if you really want to go ham, she can enter Microwave Mode with S3 so True Damage cook the shit out of anything, in addition to providing a really big Attack bonus to units in range while at it. Well documented unit so I'll keep it brief but yeah, godlike unit.

There's a few more, like Proviso and Scene, but that's enough for now. "Your forgot to mention--" I didn't forget, you do it.

I hope this helps, anon!

#arknights #supporters #dreamknights

[shuttershocky]

hiya shutters,

hope you're doing okay!! on a scale of sad wet cat to anxiety but with guns - how much are you looking forward to the jessica alter banner? if i can pick your brain for a bit, do you have any insights about her or the other ops coming our way?

Hi!

Jessica the Liberated is actually my favorite kind of 6 star: versatile, packing a lot of weird tech/utility, and damage high enough to do the job without being high enough that she becomes instapull Youtuber clickbait. As always, i don't recommend pulling beyond the guaranteed 10 roll when not on limited banners, since she can always spook you later (and will also definitely rerun), but I would raise her to E2max at once if I get her.

Jessica's big draw is that she's currently the only Defender with a summon—a shield that doesn't attack, and can only be deployed in the 4 tiles adjacent to Jessica, but has a +1 Taunt buff on itself. What's the point of a summon that doesn't attack you ask? There's 4 important pieces of info to consider

The Mobile Shield has stats almost as high as Jessica's, and is Block-2 to boot. When you consider that Jessica is a 6 star Defender, that's a really tanky summon. If you go all the way and max her module too, the mobile shield gets higher max HP and DEF than Jessica herself.

Jessica temporarily changes her direction to face the Mobile Shield. She's so far the only Operator able to turn around, useful when enemies try to surprise you out of nowhere, or when dealing with map gimmicks that involve Operator facing like Near Light's shadows.

Since the mobile shield doesn't attack, it can stall enemies that activate skills upon being attacked. Simply form an L shape direction (the long line is Jessica + shield, the short line is the enemy) so that Jessica herself can't shoot the enemy because the Shield is blocking them from entering her range. Flagbearers, Seaborn Reapers, any enemies whose ATK stats can't overcome the shield's DEF stats, you can stall them for a very long time, as the shield lasts 50 seconds.

It's not written in the skill descriptions on Gamepress but the Shield has +1 Taunt, meaning you can deploy operators after it and ranged enemies will still attack the shield. It's a free ranged tank on top of your regular tank! Oh and did I mention at E2 when the shield takes damage Jessica gets a 50% chance of getting +1 SP? If the shield draws fire, it also charges Jessica faster.

But let's say having a 2-in-1 tank package doesn't excite you. Let's go into her skills.

S1 is an infinite duration, AFK skill where Jessica modestly boosts her ATK and DEF by +70% while also increasing her mobile shield duration by +30s. As AFK skills go it's not the greatest, since it doesn't expand her modest attack range and the DPS is low at 800 (though has a modest 1000 DPH), and when it comes to AFK tanking you have Hoshiguma S2 (or my personal favorite, Croissant S1) to compete with, but if you need your AFK tank to also be dealing damage, it's not a bad deal. The mastery gains are huge too, Level 7 goes from 90 SP cost to 70, still large, but a 20 SP cut is a 20 SP cut.

S2 is a range expansion to Spreadshooter Sniper range, +75% ATK, speeds up her ATK interval to 0.3s from 1.2s, and has a very juicy 75% Physical and Arts dodge. Now Arts dodge is very rare even among dedicated tank units in Arknights, and 75% is also really damn high. For a skill that lasts 15 seconds and also boasts a very high 3.5k DPS, this is a damn neat tanking skill, even if still chance based. It should be noted that this skill gets a big upgrade when Sentinel modules are released, since the Sentinel module reveals invisible units inside a Sentinel's attack range. Limited but useful for most Sentinels since they only have two tiles of range normally, but Jessica's S2 expands it into spreadshooter range, making her both a decent invis counter while her really high DPS lets her kill them herself.

S3 expands her attack range by 1 tile, slows down her ATK interval to 1.8s, gives her +310% ATK and +80% DEF, while the Mobile Shield gets +170% DEF. If the mobile shield is deployed, Jessica fires a cannon shot that deals 250% of ATK as damage and stuns enemies in the AOE for 6 seconds. Uses 20 ammo.

Oh boy that description is so long I'm making a new paragraph for the explanation. It's funny, an AOE 6 second stun on a 40 second cooldown is practically Mostima's whole S2M3, except here it's just one feature tacked on to the rest of Jessica's S3. There's a ton of tricks you can do with the cannonshot I won't list down here (refer to the S3 section of this video if you want to learn them), but the general gist is this is a very high DPH (2.5k) tankbuster skill that gives Jessica 1.4k DEF and the shield 2k DEF, making the pair extremely tough. When you combine this skill with Jessica's ability to change directions, you have a very flexible skill that can AOE crowd, control tank, and tankbust all at once, and it uses ammo too so it won't waste any duration when there are no enemies. This lets Jessica S3 cheese enemies that freeze her (since she can't attack them, she won't run out of ammo so her DEF buff lasts forever), or lets her keep her DEF up the whole time while being pelted by ranged enemies she can't hit back yet. There are a ton of ways you can abuse this skill's various quirks, making Jessica the Liberated a favorite unit for players looking into making optimized clears for challenge stages.

_____

Now, whenever anyone talks Arknights meta, people always favor units that are the best of the best in one aspect (usually, DPS) and disregard everything else. However, I feel that's a bit disingenuous, given that Arknights' best game mode and probably the game mode that will outlive Arknights' live service itself is Integrated Strategies.

In the roguelike mode, versatility is king. An operator that can do two things but isn't the best at both will struggle to compete in normal Arknights when you can bring whoever you want, but when you're assembling a well-rounded team at the mercy of voucher rng? Suddenly second-best looks real attractive when they can also do a second role in a pinch.

Jessica the Liberated is one of the most valuable picks you can possibly get from a Defender voucher. Tanking? She can do it. Attacking? She can do it too. Anti-air? She's one of the very few Defenders able to do it, and she's also really good at it with S2. Crowd control? Cannon. Weird map layout? She can change directions. DP is tight? She costs 21, cheaper than a tank like Hoshiguma at 23. Invis reveal? She gets that too eventually, as if she wasn't packing enough options.

The only thing this girl's not doing is fucking healing, incredible given that she's interned at a hospital for years now and somehow came out of the experience with heavy weaponry and zero bandaids.

Ah but we're not done yet. Apart from packing enough utility in a single voucher to make Saria start sweating, Jessica also has a ton of different possible relic combos. To use Spinach relics with her cannon shot, simply deploy the mobile shield before S3, so as soon as S3 activates, she instantly fires the cannon with the Spinach boosting its damage. Any Phys+, ATK+, DEF+, or DEF- for enemies works as well as you would think on her too. Her S3 cannonshot can have its stun duration extended by relics, or deal extra arts damage by relics like Children's Puppet. Being a melee unit with extra range means Scout Scope works on her for both S2 and S3, while S2 having 75% Arts and Phys dodge means she can take advantage of dodge relics too. She's got a summon, so relics that boost summons can boost her shield, and IS4 has a new relic that boosts an operator's ATK when their summon is deployed too.

We can go on and on here, but you should get the idea now. Jessica never solved her anxiety, but she did bring an arsenal big enough to handle almost any situation you can throw at her. I think she's a great unit, and if you're a new player when you get her she's absolutely capable of being your rock.

#arknights

[howtobecomeadragon]

here's what mlvn's say about their ship and what they want from s5 when they're not feeling defensive about byler:

(these are from a reddit post posted about a month ago with no byler interactions, and these are many of the same people claiming that mlvn is perfect, there are no big issues, etc when byler is brought up as an alternative ship. all of these comments have upvotes and no arguing. they were all on the same page with no defensiveness about the perceived shortcomings of the relationship and wishing for better for mlvn in s5.)

many acknowledgments that the ship has been sidelined

acknowledgment that El does NOT compliment Mike. acknowledgment that Mike's self esteem is tied to El, although there is no awareness that this not a good thing. they want to see El supporting Mike in some way, which means they know we're currently missing this. they want to see just 20+ seconds of Mike and El enjoying each other's company. "more than 20 seconds" bc the show does this with other couples but they're still waiting to see that with mlvn. 🤨🤨 "it's only fair." ooookay, and who always says shit about fan service?

acknowledgment that mlvn as a couple has sucked for the last two seasons, for half the show, for the entire time that they've officially been a couple. always going back to the romantic moment of "El fell into his arms in the sauna test" which was not a scripted moment, MBB literally collapsed and Finn caught her. always going back to El being protective, i.e. making sure he doesn't die, which she does for everyone in these scenes.

this was a really interesting one bc I think a lot of bylers think that mlvns want to see improvement from Mike’s behavior in the relationship, but most were more focused on El needing to do more.

"she hasn't demonstrated concern and empathy so much for Mike in the last two seasons" 🤨 then why do you ship it 🤔

"I don't doubt how much El adores and care for Mike but she needs to show it better/more" 🤔🤔 ohhhhh okay, so you have decided that El adores Mike and are frustrated that this isn't reflected well in El's behavior since they've been a couple. you made up your mind probably in 2016 and are frustrated by the lack of follow-up and progression in their relationship since 2017. gotcha. 😇😇

mlvn's blame the writing for El appearing to have inconsistent motivations and characterization bc she isn't a perfect girlfriend to Mike that doesn't act like she's head over heels. hmmm. 🤔

someone seems to be about halfway there in realizing that maybe with her lack of a good foundation of socialization when she entered into a romantic relationship, she doesn't have the standard emotional growth, but not quite extending that as far as "maybe she should grow a little on her own first." reminder that when a byler says something like this, they're accused of ableism and "disregarding what El wants"

acknowledgment that we have not gotten to see mlvn functioning as a couple and that we don't know HOW they function. we don't know their bf/gf dynamics. after 4 seasons. mlvns are often stating to bylers that their endgame ship is already set, all that's left is a happy ending, but in reality they are still hoping to see how their ship functions as a couple, to see one half of the ship compliment the other half. they don't doubt that they are endgame, but they're crossing their fingers for just bare minimum coupley interactions, while all the other established couples get those. I wonder why 🤨🤨

acknowledgment that the duffers haven't been interested in portraying mlvn as a perfect couple: "flakey history"

claims that El was more mature in s1 than s3 and s4. WILD coming from mlvns that call bylers sexist. "more mature" bc she seemed to like Mike more. El not acting like a perfect girlfriend to Mike is bad writing and a total mess apparently. totallllly not purposeful at all, nope 🙄

more acknowledgment that El hasn't been a great girlfriend to Mike. some overlapping reasons with bylers (she's not complimenting Mike, she never apologizes), some not (the root of this is bc she takes on too much responsibility for everyone's safety...?).

acknowledgment that the way mlvn is functioning now is NOT a 2 way functioning relationship and that El is NOT meeting Mike's emotional needs. no acknowledgment of who does meet Mike's emotional need, though. 😏

acknowledgment that their relationship thus far has been bogged down with "unnecessary" arguments and drama

acknowledgment that they don't really discuss their feelings now and there is air that still needs to be cleared

acknowledgment that the writing is good otherwise in the show but for soooome reason it lacks when it specifically focuses on mlvn's relationship. 🤨🤨 again, still hoping for those scraps of "how do these two even play off each other" in the final season and the third season of mlvn together as an official couple.

all of this to say really: the super aggressive mlvns on reddit, for the most part, know that they're exaggerating the idyllic nature of mlvn's relationship when they're arguing against bylers. they thought mlvn was really cute in s1 and s2 and have been waiting 6 years since 2017 for their relationship to be cute again, and they're frustrated and just wanting the bare minimum in s5.

they're still waiting for the basics about "cute moments that last more than 20 seconds," they're still waiting to see how they function as a couple despite them dating for 2 seasons now. they're still waiting for El to act like a good girlfriend and not just a "superhero."

#byler #anti mileven #st reddit #these comments were so fascinating to read after getting so much rose colored bullshit thrown our way every time byler comes up over there

[rebornrosess]

going to be terrifyingly sincere about greg for a moment here sorry but the dynamics between greg, logan & ewan are so fascinating to me and even if they can’t explicitly explore it anymore due to obvious reasons, this one short sequence from the funeral is soo catered to me specifically. even in death, logan overshadows ewan in greg’s eyes. and yet greg didn’t need to tell ewan that he gave a good speech. he could’ve given him the cold shoulder after he cost him his deal with roman. but he doesn’t. and either greg is in too deep that he doesn’t realize what ewan said about logan closing men’s hearts and feeding the dark, hard, mean, hard-relenting flame in them (that melts their wax wings in the end) was most likely pointedly directed at him (thus proving his point)—or maybe greg did a little bit. he still goes to mencken at the wake but he still tells his grandpa he did a good job. it was a good hard take that he gave.

i think of this a lot but something that truly sets him apart from everyone else is that HE’S at the intersection of the brothers’ decade old feud over family, betrayal, ambition, integrity, and greed—central themes of the show but also, crucially, to his arc over the last few seasons. he has that dual connection to the past that the others don’t. a past that has stayed nebulous for so long until ewan’s eulogy. in previous seasons, we’ve gotten some really interesting scenes with him in which ewan sees the danger of power and ambition for greg because he’s seen it in logan, but it would have been so interesting to explore it more between greg and logan too (like in 2x08 when greg tells logan ewan is cutting him out of the will. i like you greg). i do think that ewan’s point about logan and masculinity and meagerness in his eulogy is particularly relevant though. maybe ewan was saying “men” in the way old history books use “man” as the default, but the performance of masculinity at ATN is one best embodied by tom, which trickles down to greg, but is evidently shown in roman too. and he fed a certain kind of meagerness in men. perhaps he had to. because he had a meagerness about him. (and maybe i do about me too. i don’t know. i try. i try.) i selfishly wish greg and logan could have had more than just one scene together this season (even though logan attempting to emasculate greg by pointing out his lack of a traditionally masculine father figure as a final interaction is very funny). i don’t think my threshold for second-hand embarrassment could have survived an on-camera take of greg trying to explain the whole rummaging situation from ep.1 to logan but logan being oddly chill about it is. interesting???????? what greg wants, greg must have.

but before s4 at least, logan’s awareness of greg’s connection to ewan, his estranged brother, has informed their interactions and it’s always fascinated me because logan doesn’t quite treat greg like his own kid but he’s still a kid that he’s trying to win over by being “uncle fun” rather than “grandpa grumps.” logan last saw his mother at age 4 and greg has been on his own for some time now too. marianne made her first appearance since the PILOT in the before last episode of the fourth season. i’ve found his interactions with ewan reaaally interesting because the brothers didn’t come from wealth and, when compared to the siblings, greg didn’t either. the hirsch’s financial situation is never fully delved into but i’ve always found it a bit peculiar given greg’s inheritance is like. 250 mil he’s sleeping in a youth hostel and a chapel in s1 and tells his mom while on his flip phone that shiv took his last $20. at the beginning of s3 he’s helping his mom get a new credit card because she maxed out the last one. i feel like ewan did the celebrity parents thing where they don’t spoil their kids so they learn real world skills or something, which iirc is something logan regrets not doing. yet ewan also seems to regret his use of his wealth, which he voices in his eulogy when he states maybe he has a meagerness about himself too, but he tries, and is disappointed in men who do not try harder (and the camera pans to the siblings. ouch.) i sometimes wonder if ewan hadn’t withheld his wealth, would his daughter and grandson have become so desperate that they turned to his brother? or would they have turned out like the siblings too if they had enjoyed wealth since birth? are the throes of capitalism inevitable? marianne is the sibs’ first cousin but they never really acknowledge that. if anyone has thoughts on her absence and/or exclusion from the family tree, i’d love to hear them.

anyways. i could 100% be overanalyzing this but i do love how much information succession packs into each of their shots. greg will forever be seeking approval from both sides of a broken brotherhood and will never receive it from either. you beautiful ichabod crane fuck you. what greg wants, greg must have. i don’t want to see you hurt. one big happy family. “greg?” he’s an addendum of miscellaneous matters in pencil with a question mark.

#is this anything #i finally finished this draft that has been sitting in my drafts for weeks #sorry for being sincere about greg but it will happen again #i can make him interesting #he's a mishapen egg. not a full roy but not spared from fate either #greg hirsch #succession #media analysis #maya.txt

[markantonys]

I came across a Twitter thread that said the set up for the docks when it comes to the Warder bond between Lan and Moiraine was handled much better in the books cause in the show they feel like the mechanics of the Warder bond was too vague/not explained well in the show that they weren't able to connect with Moiraine and Lan's emotional conflict in s2 because of it. And I am a bit confused cause honestly I don't think the books explain how the Warder bond works at all from what I remember. Just making a lot of wild claims about how everything about the books are better and how the show is fumbling when they haven't even read half the series yet (show first to book reader). Just this trend to shit talk every choice the show makes when you don't even know the full complete story is wild to me

haters: the show hasn't done enough to explain how the bond works

all the screentime across 2 seasons the show has dedicated to showing how the bond works which the haters kept complaining was a waste of time better spent on rand having swordfights:

like literally what do they want lmao some people will never be satisfied!

but the mention of the "mechanics" of the bond is interesting to me because i think we may be hitting upon 2 different types of viewers here: the minority of lore enthusiasts who need to understand every single detail about how things work or else they will be upset and lose immersion, and the majority of audiences who are content with a general understanding of how things work and don't get hung up on details, or will at most go "hmmm i'm not sure if this makes sense, but it's a cool story beat so i'm happy to shrug and move on".

the former category were going "but what weaves is moiraine doing now? did they actually unbond and now she's remaking it from scratch? i thought the bond was only masked? this is such a plothole, it doesn't make sense, i can't concentrate on anything else about the scene" during the 2x08 moiraine & lan beach scene, and the latter category were thinking "what a beautiful and emotionally satisfying moment of seeing them come back together!" and that's it. and probably similar for the rest of the season. if somebody felt unable to connect with the emotional aspects of that storyline, i would bet it's because they felt too unclear about the mechanics of the state of the bond and couldn't let go of that confusion enough to sink into the emotional aspects. (which is really more of a personal thing; my show-only mom was definitely keyed into the emotional aspects of this storyline and didn't get bothered about some mechanics being left vague. in fact, i think she would've just gotten confused if they'd tried to explain the mechanics in more detail djkfjg bless her.)

undeniably, the show does not explain magic mechanics in as much depth as the books do. but that is because it's banking on the very fair assumption that the majority of audiences don't need to have this level of detail in order to enjoy and understand the story (and may get more confused than they need to be if they ARE given this level of detail). i'll admit that s2 was a bit muddled on What Exactly Is Going On with moiraine and lan's bond, and i found myself a bit confused by the mechanics at times, but that never impeded my appreciation or understanding of the emotional aspects of the storyline because i'm someone who is happy to shrug and move on if the mechanics of how something is functioning in a fantasy story aren't making total sense to me.

also, moiraine & lan at the docks won't happen until the end of s3 and it's very very possible we might learn even more about bond mechanics earlier in s3 via elayne and birgitte (who will be good candidates for explaining some New Bond Basics that it wouldn't make sense for moiraine and lan to talk about since they've had theirs for 20 years), so like..........maybe they should just Watch And Find Out.

it's also very interesting that this is coming from someone in the show-to-book pipeline because i honestly would not be surprised if a lot of their base knowledge for how warder bonds works was absorbed..........from the show. and they just don't realize it. granted, if they started with new spring it might be different because i'm assuming new spring goes into a lot of depth about how warder bonds work (though i don't know for sure, i haven't read it). but if they only read EOTW-TFOH, they sure as shit are not gonna have gotten much info about bonds *from the books* because we barely spend any time with characters who are part of a bond during those books. we get, what, maybe a couple chapters total of moiraine or lan pov and then start diving into it a tiny bit more in TFOH with elayne and birgitte, but it's really not that much from what i can remember - and i can't remember very well, because i went into the books already having a very solid understanding of the concept of the bond thanks to all the work s1 put into showing it. i do not remember learning anything significant about the bond in the first 5 books that i didn't already know from s1.

it's also so strange to me in general to see people start with the show, then go to the books, and then start hating on the show because as a show-to-book pipeline person myself, all going to the books did was make me go "wow thank fuck for the show, it will fix X, it will fix Y, it's already fixed Z" basically constantly. it made me 10000x more grateful for and appreciative of the show and the way it's choosing to tell the story!

#i won't lie a part of me is always like #'i bet this is a lifelong bookcloak making a fake account to pose as a show-to-book person' #whenever i see people claiming that they started with the show and then read the books and now prefer them djkfgjg #i know everyone prefers different things in stories and the show's priorities align way more with my personal ones than the books' do #and not all people will feel the same way. but it's just such an incomprehensible take to me as a fellow show-to-book person! #anonymous #answered #wot book spoilers

[erikiara80]

Will, the Forever Clock and Cerebro

The writers used Dustin’s inventions to tell us A LOT about Will and his powers. 

The Forever Clock, very useful in the apocalypse is probably about time powers, timelines and time loop... Maybe only Vecna has time powers, we don’t know, but it’s not a coincidence that in S3 Dustin gives the Forever Clock to Will, and that the name Williams is engraved on the grandfather clock.

But let’s talk about Cerebro! 

Cerebro, an unassembled, one-of-a-kind battery powered radio tower

Will: So it’s like a HAM radio.

Dustin: The Cadillac of HAM radios. This baby carries a crystal clear connection over vast distances. I’m talking North Pole to South.

Note: Dustin uses Cerebro to communicate with Suzie, who lives in Salt Lake City. Water and salt. Two things that are constantly mentioned on the show. @will80sbyers made a masterpost about it )

Why is Cerebro connected to Will?

1.  One-of-a-kind It’s also the title of the book behind Will in Lenora. That could mean that his powers or his very existence are important.

2.  Battery.  Will has always been associated with lights, and in S4 Nancy even says that ‘When Will was in the Upside Down lights came to life’.

So it is possible that his powers give the UD and the hive-mind energy, and Vecna needs them to build a new world. 

3.  Battery powered radio tower 

The number twelve represents Will since S1. When Hopper talks with Joyce after looking for Will, she says: Six hours. It’s been six hours! And when she’s at the lab with Brenner, he says:Six. Six people (have disappeared) And there are many other examples

And what does Twelve do in the Rainbow Room? He builds a red tower.

So it really seems that Will can build. Creation powers? The shed scene is the first time they mention that, when Jonathan tells him that they built Castle Byers just the way Will drew it (and Vecna/Mind Flayer is also there, listening)

Or maybe, like a battery, Will can give the UD the energy to grow and spread.

In S3 the Flayed had to eat fertilizers for the Mind Flayer to build its body. Maybe Will’s powers/energy are like “fertilizers” too, but for the whole Upside Down. 

He’s like the water that plants need to grow.

I’m still analyzing the many Billy-Will parallels but it’s in this season that the writers started to show AND tell what Vecna wants from Will. 

Vecna/Mind Flayer tells someone named William, in a scene that has many parallels with Will’s vanishing, that he wants him to build.

In the Rainbow Roow Twelve builds a red tower, and there’s a red buiding on the poster in Will’s room. 

It’s also note worthing that some of Michael Maher JR’s concept arts for Vecna’s Mind Lair looked like a tower.

So maybe the red tower and the rose glass of Creel House are a reference to Stephen King’s Rose Red and The Dark Tower series (always love to mention SK! @lilitblaukatz​  )

It’s also interesting that Will has the poster of The Cure. Owens said that he thinks El is the cure, but she lost. It’s like the game in 4x01. They were losing with an 11, but won with a 20. 

I’m sure it’s not a coincidence that the dnd game and the game at school were won by the Sinclairs. Brother and sister. Only together Will and El can win. Only together they can fix it.

Ok, they focus on Will’s skates, but let’s not forget Mike

More about Cerebro, X-Men and The Lord of the Rings

Dustin’s radio tower is called after the device Professor X uses to locate other mutants and humans in The X-Men. Reminds me of the hive-mind.

And the kids assemble it on Weathertop, a reference to The Lord of the Rings. The ancient watch-tower where Frodo gets stabbed by a Nazgul with a Morgul-knife. That weapon remains in the wound of the victim and turns them into a wraith under the rule of Sauron. Hmm, sounds familiar.

Weathertop = Will’s possession and connection to the UD and Vecna.

Will and Max

Before S4 we couldn’t know that Vecna would target Max, but the two Venkmans in S2, was foreshadowing of this Lumax and Byler parallel. Venkman’s love interest, Dana, is possessed by a creature similar to a demodog. Will gets possessed in S2 and is still haunted by Vecna/UD, and Max was targeted in S4.

In 3x01, more foreshadowing of Will and Max being connected to Vecna while they’re assembling Cerebro. And if “Will is Cerebro”, it is possible that he will try to communicate with Max.

But this could be very dangerous for him. I read a very interesting theory, by @freetobeeyouandme​ about the episode of My Little Pony Dustin and Erica talk about in S3 and that could be foreshadowing of Max and Will’s storyline in S5.

Here the post  

There is so much in that scene that is foreshadowing of S4 and I think S5 too. Brilliant!

#will byers #will has powers #byler #twelvegate #max mayfield #st vecna #the mind flayer #lumax #henry creel #dustin henderson #st parallels #st theory #st analysis #stranger things and the lord of the rings

[lynpheas]

winx club - age order

okay i just spent an egregious amount of time trying to figure out the age order for the winx + the specialists (+ the trix). so alfea (and i'm assuming cloud tower) are three-year academic institutions. since stella is already established to know the specialists (sky, riven, and brandon specifically), we can assume she met them in their collective first years. & since the specialists seem to graduate at the same time as the winx, that means that red fountain likely has a four year run.

since bloom is canonically 16 at the beginning of the show and stella is a year older than her at 17, that makes sky, riven, and brandon all 17 as well. the rest of the winx (flora, musa, tecna, aisha) would also be 16 (since aisha is 17 at her first appearance in s2). we can also assume timmy is 17 since he's already part of the specialist squad and has likely completed at least one year at red fountain.

now, helia is likely a year older than the specialists + stella because he spends some time dropped out of red fountain but then seamlessly joins the specialist squad in s2 -- which would be the specialists' third year at rf. so, in my mind, after completing two years at rf, helia dropped out and then returned after a year. so it should be his fourth year, but instead he's a third year. this would make helia 18 if he appeared in s1.

when nabu is introduced in s3, we aren't given any information about his schooling or anything that would indicate his age, so i'll just assume he's the same age as the og squad of specialists, which would make him 17 at the beginning of the show.

to reiterate, at the beginning of the show, we have: [stella, sky, riven, brandon, timmy, nabu - 17], [bloom, musa, tecna, flora, aisha - 16], and [helia - 18].

now, just to make it more complicated for myself, i'm going to factor in the canon birthdays. assuming everyone who is the same age is born in the same year (and for easier visualization, i'm going to say their birth years are [2004 - s1 age]), here is the age order:

helia - september 2nd, 1986 nabu - january 30, 1987 timmy - february 15, 1987 sky - march 20, 1987 stella - august 18, 1987 brandon - september 23, 1987 riven - october 15, 1987 musa - may 30, 1988 flora - march 1, 1988 aisha - june 15, 1988 bloom - december 10, 1988 tecna - december 16, 1988

this means that in the year that they all graduate from alfea & rf in s3, the ages would be something like: [stella, sky, riven, brandon, timmy, nabu - 19], [bloom, musa, tecna, flora, aisha - 18], and [helia - 20].

and i forgot if this is only in the 4kids dub or canonically mentioned anywhere else, but the trix are apparently 'seniors' (third years at cloud tower) in the winx's first year. and since they all share a birthday (may 5), this would make the trix 18 in s1 and 20 in s3. (in my rewatch of the cinélume dub, i noticed darcy calls icy "little sister," so maybe darcy is older by a couple hours than icy and stormy just seems like she'd be the youngest.)

i like to play around with school-year cut-offs and i don't think each of the characters that share the same age/grade are born in the same year, so my hcs for age order differ from this list. but yeah :) this is what i could work out based on canon information.

#winx club #winx club headcanons #textp #long post #tbh i've also worked out an order in which musa and sky are the youngest of the winx and the specialists respectively #which rings more true for my heart #but i needed to make this to iron out some confusion in my brain #ref #winx #trix #specialists #winx bloom #winx stella #winx flora #winx aisha #winx layla #winx musa #winx tecna #winx sky #winx riven #winx helia #winx timmy #winx nabu #winx brandon #winx icy #winx darcy #winx stormy

[theflyindutchwoman]

There is an opinion that Chenford appeared under the influence of the audience. If I remember correctly, the showrunner once said that Lucy and Tim would not be a couple, that Chanford's popularity came as a surprise to them.

It seems to me, if not Plan A, then Chanford was plan B. The creators in the first series placed a morally broken man (a drug addict wife was prescribed to the character right away, perhaps a tyrant father too) and an empathic woman (her character was also prescribed one way or another initially) in a confined space (a police car). I don't know…

What do you think about this?

Full discloser : while I started watching the show around the time Day of Death aired, I wasn't particularly paying attention to the behind the scenes and interviews at the time. So this is probably going to influence my answer in one way or another.

You remember correctly though : Chenford was not originally planned. Here's what Alexi Hawley (showrunner) said on the subject - and I think this touches on the second part of your ask : "Tim was always designed to be a character who was much more complicated than he seemed, and Lucy was always designed to be a really strong, empathetic character, but I think [what we’ve seen] is the magic of chemistry that happens that you just can’t know when you’re writing a pilot." (source)

What really started Chenford was Eric and Melissa's chemistry… Backed by the writing and the actors' understanding of their characters. To me, it was clear that Tim and Lucy were always meant to share a special relationship for the points you covered, romance or not - which, by the way, doesn't lessen the beauty of their story in my eyes. They were always going to be the most important person in each other's lives. Bring the best in each other. Their dynamic was developed with so much love and care, with so many beautiful and emotional scenes and this, from the very beginning… Alexi himself wrote some of their key moments : their meeting, the quarantine house, Tim turning down his promotion for Lucy… to name just a few of the very early ones. But the romantic undertones? That was mostly the actors' doing, probably not even intentionally at first. And that combination, that magic, is what caught the eyes of so many, I believe.

The other thing Alexi said at the time (s3), was that Chenford would never happen, since Lucy was Tim's rookie : "Tim would never cross that line. She’s his rookie and he would never even consider crossing that line. So while I’m obviously aware that there’s a big ‘shipping there, and I appreciate any kind of passion about the show, that’s a huge line [to cross]. […] We’d be hypocrites [to write a Lucy/Tim romance] because we made it very clear in those first four or five episodes that female officers unfairly get tagged if they sleep with cops, and it’s why Nolan and Lucy couldn’t be together — and ultimately I think that was the right move. I mean, he was on the rebound from a 20-year marriage and she was 20 years his junior, and so it worked out the way it was supposed to, but if we turned around and threw [Lucy and Tim] together, that would be somewhat hypocritical.”

Now I remember reading many times that Lucy x Nolan was supposed to be endgame, but I never found any official interview : by the time I started the show, that idea was entirely buried so that may be why… But if it was the original plan, I applaud Alexi for adapting so swiftly without insulting the audience for forcing his hand. Some showrunners should take notes.

In any case, this is where this idea that he was opposed to Chenford started - at least, to my knowledge, there were probably other interviews. But in this one, this isn't exactly what he's saying. The context is very important, and unfortunately, was often forgotten in the various articles that derived over the years from his original interview. Lucy was still Tim's rookie and this is the line he is talking about. For reference, even Eric, who was already the captain of the ship, agreed with this (back in the beginning of s2) : "It’s something that Bradford would never organically do, being a superior to her." (source) (in all fairness, it does say later in the same interview that he doesn't rule it out either). And honestly… I agree with them. I enjoy reading fanfics that explore this alternative, but in the show, I'm really glad that they waited. Power dynamics are a real thing, so I appreciate that it was not just swept under the rug. And the writers unwittingly backed themselves in a corner with the reason used to break up Lucy and Nolan. They needed to explore Tim and Lucy's dynamic further first, unravel everything and wait for her to graduate. To get her to a place where she no longer cares what others might think.

But I don't believe Alexi was completely against Chenford at all : again, he wrote so many romantic moments… Case in point : the interview is from s3 and yet, he was behind that 'Save me a dance' scene… So clearly, he already had a vision for them, no matter what he was saying on the record. I personally always take these interviews with a grain of salt because the writers/actors are basically told by the different publicists/PR the main points they should address.

Now the audience probably influenced his decision, yes… The way the network made sure to bait the fans made it clear that, at the very least, they knew where to focus in the marketing department. But I don't think that was the only factor. So many shows have very strong fandom, and yet they never go further than baiting. That's actually the usual MO : bait but don't commit, since so many networks are still afraid of that infamous 'Moonlighting' curse (even though it is getting better nowadays). Abc is no exception.

At the end of the day, regardless of what was said in interviews, the showrunner and the writers still created these wonderful characters and developed this relationship in a loving manner… That's the thing that matters to me. So even if it wasn't his idea, even if he was completely against it, he at least listened to his team, to the actors, letting them improvise and even rewrite some parts. And that's actually how it should be done even if, unfortunately, this is far from the norm. I may not agree with every decisions he has made, but in that regard, I respect him for doing much better than many of his counterparts. However, I realise that this is also easy for me to say this since I'm sure I missed a lot of dramas in-between… That might have changed my perception. I hope this answers your question :)

#ask & ye shall receive #little talks #the rookie #chenford #lucy chen #tim bradford

[dilftesbiggestfan]

more dante pookie hcs plz its rare to see dante stans

on it bro I’m giving u mys and diaries hcs cuz why not we gotta be more annoying like laurence stans

Mystreet:

he gets Gene gifts every Father’s Day since from his perspective he was the one who raised him alongside his mom and was the only father figure he had :,)

Has like 12 guitars (this isn’t over-exaggerating)

started dyeing his hair blue after freshman year of HS, his natural hair color is black

he was a late bloomer so he looked more feminine while the others looked masculine and were developing quickly, Nana thought he was adorable which is why she dated him also at some point Zenix thought he was a girl 💀 after 16 he started developing quickly and becoming more masculine till he finished puberty at 20

grew up in Nashville before moving to the city pdh is located in then he went to college in Spain then he moved to wherever Mystreet is (still haven’t decided but its the USA).

has a masters degree in engineering, and has a great paying job which makes it easier for him to travel a lot, he always takes Gene and his friends/family with him though, he hatessss travelling alone

ages gracefully currently he’s 34 in my rewrite and he still looks 24 same goes to gene (but Mystreet seasons 1 - 3 takes place in their early 20’s and mid 20’s; which is the past I know it’s confusing but so is my head so yeah. If ur wondering seasons 4 - 6 don’t exist and never will be canon to me :))

pretty masculine but still uses makeup and “women’s” perfume / skin care doesn’t care tho

cooks really well but he’s not the best because Laurence is and no one else can compete

when he was dating nana he learned Japanese for her and can speak around 80% of it, basically he can hold up a long conversation he can also speak other languages:

English (obviously, American accent)

French 65% Spanish (Mexican dialect cuz he’s Mexican)

(Spain dialect, he learned the European dialect first then worked his way up to Mexican dialect, he can switch between dialects easily)

he can also understand some Portuguese :)

very picky with fast food, he prefers healthy food but he does like pizza

really calm and chill (unlike his canon version) opposite to Travis who’s extremely chaotic and messy

long hair and refuses to cut it

Eventually he does dye his hair back to black in his 30s after feeling like he damaged it (thankfully he didn’t and won’t be balding like dilfte 😇)

Favourite band is Metallica

nerd when it comes to astrophysics and astronomy

only ex he’s in good terms with is nana who he dated for a while in HS before they decided to mutually split up (no he never dated Nicole I hate that ship)

MCD:

Loves wolves and tames them he treats them like puppies even though they can rip apart peoples flesh :3

is 7’2… …. ..

insanely beefed up because bro ran a village all by himself for 15 years and trained hard everyday also he canonically beat both laurence and garroth in a fight after the timeskip he’s a beast

ambidextrous and can use both arms efficiently when it comes to combat and fighting

Dilfte rarely shows his face like how Garroth used to wear his helmet back in s1? it’s like that

Extremely gentle and cautious with his wife and kids because of his size

has 7 kids including Dmitri and naoki (so 5 other kids) yeah he been busy

in s2 he’s in his early/mid 30s but in s3 of MCD and afterwards he’s in his early/mid 40s

Still madly in love with his wife and still in that honeymoon stage

Unlike Nicole he let Dmitri pick who he wanted to live with and Dmitri chose Dilfte and Nana

Wraps injured people up in his cape and carries them in it

physically very strong slightly above garroth (if we’re counting physical strength and not magic)

as intimidating as he looks he’s super sweet and wouldn’t hurt a fly

likes to go on picnics with his kids and wife

Extremely supportive of his kids and very progressive (keep in mind this is the medieval ages so it was rare)

finds lizards intimidating

bisexual but he doesn’t know what it means all he knows is women and men are both hot

Moved on “quickly” from Nicole because they already were unhappy and distant before breaking up, for months he thought they’d break up the next day so he spent that time wallowing and grieving their relationship until she broke the news to him and left him alone, then he moved on with Nana 2 months later. Which isn’t even quick if we’re being historically accurate.

limits drinking and refuses drinking around any kids, not that he’d go crazy and hurt anyone but still he’s extremely cautious.

Dilfte is probably the only dad who wants his kids to surpass him in the series 💀 he’s very proud of them no matter what though

long hair he puts it up usually (balding and short haired dilfte/dante ur dead to me.)

beard

Still tried to talk to Gene using the amulet even after the incident, Gene would always listen but never respond.

thanks for fuelling the hyperfixation

#mystreet #dante aphmau #aphmau dante #aphverse #aphblr #minecraft diaries #aphmau gene #gene aphmau #mystreet dante #mcd dante #mcd gene #laurence zvhal #garroth ro'meave #shadow knights #mcd #chats!!!

[cerastes]

I picked up Qiubai from the current banner and know absolutely nothing about her. She worth leveling and if so is there anything I should know about her skills/talents and how best to use them?

Qiubai is one of those units whose banner was very untimely, smack between Lin and Chongyue's limited banner, and the Monster Hunter collab limited banner (not to mention that afterwards, there was Absolute Beast Ines to account for, and a bit farther down the road, fan favorite Muelsyse and Ho'olheyak), so a lot of people decided to skip her, making her one of the rarer Operators.

But I am not a lot of people, and my main reason is "She's Fucking Cool, Your Honor".

I think she's a damn good Operator worth investing in. The main criticism levied against her, besides the unfortunate timing of her banner, is that she's Not Thorns, which is like looking at a successful and highly skilled physicist and saying that he's shit because he's not Albert Einstein. The actual criticism I would levy against her, as someone that uses her all the time, is that she does require a bit of presence of mind to use her due to the nature of her Talents requiring procs if she's not supported appropriately, and her S3 having a rather long downtime.

So, Talents (E2 no pots): First is whenever she attacks enemies affected by Slow or Bind, she deals 40% of her Attack as extra Arts damage. This is a good extra bit of juice you can squeeze out of every attack, as well as a means to deal with high Defense powerhouses. Second is that attacks have a 20% chance to Bind for 1.5 seconds. Attacks that proc this 20% apply Bind first and then count the attack, meaning that every time she procs her Second talent, her first Talent is also activated. This is true, to my knowledge, to all Operators with similar effects (such as enemies receiving extra damage when Stunned in her range; the Stunning hit benefits from this extra damage instead of having to follow up to start benefiting). Her attack interval is 1.3, meaning that whenever she procs Talent 2, she'll usually get two free Talent 1 procs in, "usually" because sometimes the enemy is actually at the edge of her range or just wandered off, and the projectile doesn't land in time.

S1 is your least used Skill, probably, but it's not useless: It's Bind centric, and Binds the enemy for 2.5 (3 M3; M3 numbers in parenthesis from hereon) seconds, followed by a small AoE explosion of 240% (300%) Arts damage once it expires. It is Automatic and Attack Charged on a low limit of 5 SP (4 SP) so it reliably gets fired off. It's honestly not a bad skill, it's just that her S2 and S3 exist.

S2 changes her range into a single file 4 tiles forward and immediately slashes all these tiles to deal 240% (300%) Arts damage and enemies in this slashed ground are Slowed throughout the duration, 5 seconds. QB gets an steroid of +90% (+140%) Attack for these 5 seconds, and when the skill expired, the initial slash explodes once again for 240% (300%) Physical damage. The slash itself CANNOT hit air units, but QB's regular attack can, be wary of this. This Skill is your go-to for general use when you just need to kill regular enemies and elites, since it gives her phenomenal true AoE capabilities, a strong steroid, and since enemies are Slowed in the slashed area, she will proc Talent 1 every time while Skill is active (against ground units, that is). All of this on a very good timer of 12 SP (10 SP), making this skill's strength its ability to reliable, consistently use it: It's ALWAYS ready when you need it, and on longer fights against very strong enemies that you need to stall for a bit, you can use it several times.

S3 changes her range to one extra side tile forward, changes damage type entirely to Arts, Talent 1 is augmented by 1.5x (2x), gives QB +45% (+55%) Attack, Lord ranged attack penalty is negated, QB attacks 2 extra targets, so 3 total per attack, and each attack animation she does gives her 13+ ASPD for the duration of the skill, stacking up to 6 (8) times. This is QB's burst skill to deal with numerous strong enemies or even just one strong enemy, to be honest. She'll become a machine gun of Arts damage, and since she's attacking so fast, she'll likely keep proccing Talent 2 repeatedly, meaning, even more damage from Talent 1, which in itself also gets augmented. The sole weakness of this skill is that it exists on a 55 SP charge, unlike her very fast S1 and S2. It lasts 30 seconds. I recommend Mastering this skill first because its gains are actually very good, due to the Attack bonus and the Talent 1 augmentation coming into play for a very drastic increase in damage.

S2 is true AoE so you use it to deal with many enemies, S3 is Arts burst so you use it to delete strong enemies. You want to pair QB up with people that can Slow or Bind enemies so you can constantly enjoy Talent 1 bonuses instead of relying on Talent 2 procs. Her Best Match is Suzuran S3 for QB's S3, since that'll just make her become absurdly devastating, but for less bursty options (Suzuran's S3 also has long downtime), you can use Angelina S2, Podenco S2, Ethan, Dorothy S2, and other such Decel Binders and Operators with consistent ability to Slow or Bind. KEEP IN MIND: It needs to be the status effect known as Slow, capitalized, not just any slow effect! Meaning, Ch'en the Holungday, for example, who spreads movement speed slowing areas with her Skills, DOES NOT combo with QB for Talent 1 purposes. It needs to be the status known as Slow (which reduces enemy movement speed by 80%).

QB's main strengths are the ability to vary damage types, synergize well with support units to hose out great damage, have reliable true AoE that can be spammed, and good burst when that is necessary, further improved by synergizing well with a popular and strong Operator (Suzuran). QB's main drawbacks are that her S3 exists on rather long downtime, and that against highly Resistant enemies, her Skills will not fare particularly well, as they all have an Arts damage component to them (you'll mainly want to use S2 here, since her steroid affects her Phys damage output and the expiration explosion is Phys).

Overall, a very fun and strong Operator! I recommend investing in her, yeah.

#itsmearia #arknights #qiubai

[shuttershocky]

I just tried out ch'en the holungday for the first time using the support system and as soon as I turned on her (surprisingly long???) skill everything started instantly dying how much power does that summer outfit have???

Ch'en the Holungday to this day remains Hypergryph's most hated limited unit. They've made only one broken shitter stronger than her (Mlynar) since, and both he and Surtr aren't limited nor are they cheap appeal bikini alters, which is what really made Holungday so controversial.

Anyway, the reason why Bikini Ch'en's S3 feels so monstrous is because it does a little bit (lie, more like a lot) of everything. It applies the Spreadshooter trait (150% damage when in melee range like a shotgun) across her entire range, expands her range, slows enemies inside it, reduces enemy DEF inside it by -220, has 32 ammo so instead of being duration based, it can last forever as long as Ch'en doesn't run out of ammo (fun fact her talent is a 20% chance for an attack to not consume ammo), can be manually turned off to recharge for the next skill, and it also makes every attack hit twice too so you get two shots per ammo or 64 attacks overall without talent procs. Why the fuck not.

She was so blatantly overpowered that the single biggest buff regular Ch'en got (and Ch'en got massive buffs in the form of modules and upgrades) was the change so that Alters didn't take up the same slot as their original forms, allowing you to take both Ch'en and Holungday to a stage at the same time. Before that, using Holungday meant not using regular Ch'en, which meant the latter's usage dropped off a cliff even if you were a Ch'en fan.

And now you know why Eyjafjalla the Hvit Aska is a medic.

#Arknights

[raayllum]

I keep seeing people calling Callum Snake boi what does that MEAN

Little slice of fandom history and also because it's my fault (TLDR at the bottom in bold):

Years ago, a few days after S1 came out and when JK Rowling wasn't an outspoken bloody TERF there were discussions of what Harry Potter houses the characters would fit into. The general consensus for Callum seemed to be that he'd be a Ravenclaw because he's clever and artistic, but I argued for Slytherin (whose symbol is a snake) because I saw him more so as ambitious than just curious and more selectively loyal when it comes to his motivations, etc etc.

If you've been following me for any period of time you might know that I tag Very Meticulously, so as a trans person and a trans ally I was like I don't wanna use the TERF's terminology anymore, but having a tag to talk about a specific aspect of Callum's characterization (his wonderfully harsh temper, his intense selective loyalty, his obsessive ambition, etc etc) was still a useful prospect to me. Thus Snake Boi Callum as a tag was born, mostly as a joke? And so I could find metas that talked about his characterization (specifically) as I don't think I had a characterization tag almost at all for a while?

It started to pick up steam in my tags specifically when there was starting to be a little bit of - pushback isn't the right word cause everyone's entitled to their own interpretation and characterization of a character, nor does everyone have to engage with every part of a character's canon personality or actions in their fandom stuff if they don't want to.

But there'd be stuff of people forgetting that he can be pretty mean when he gets angry or not seeing him as selectively loyal to Ezran and Rayla? People would also be surprised but accepting, or resistant, to his growing and consistent parallels in characterization with Viren and Claudia (even if they are all still, ultimately, different from one another).

I saw a fair bit of sentiment during the hiatus of "oh he'd Never ever do dark magic again" (which I never believed even immediately post-s2) or in discussions of how he'd respond to Rayla after she left in Through the Moon graphic novel (set shortly after S3). Some people thought understandably that he'd care a lot about the lie (that he'd get to go with her) and the abandonment, understandably so - they're both shitty things to do, but I also sympathize/cry over why Rayla thought she had to do them, but I never thought he'd think the lie was that important, and focus more on the abandonment aspect as a source of hurt.

Snake Boi Callum as a concept also got some mileage in the development of my Cube Hostage Exchange Theory as well, an ongoing theory since November 2020-ish that Callum will help Aaravos / give him the Key of Aaravos in order to save Rayla's life if she was injured / taken hostage. I don't know if they'll do that scenario now because S5 basically delivered the exact thing, just with Finnegrin instead of Aaravos, but there was some more legitimate pushback to said theory/scenario during the hiatus because people thought Callum would never help a villain like that or take such a big risk for someone he loves. I'm not gonna say that I was wholly right (because I wasn't) and again people can interpret his actions in S5 in whatever way they want, but I will say that all of S5 was one of the most validating experiences of vindication I've ever had in my whole life, so that probably speaks for itself

But yeah, it's a term that's kinda caught on (I would say 60-80% of the fandom sees Callum as someone who would risk the world for Ezran and/or Rayla, with 20-30% - maybe less? - seeing otherwise, hence why I think it's caught on; but again, having an 'unpopular' opinion in fandom doesn't necessarily make it wrong, god knows I've had plenty) and then in the discords I'm in, a few people thought a week based around those traits would be fun and boom. Snake Boi Callum Week was born.

TLDR; Snake Boi Callum is a fanon catch-all / shorthand for the 'darker' / more emotional and torn side of Callum's personality (his ambition, his temper, particularly his fierce protectiveness and selective loyalty) that is being explored by whoever wants to in a fun fandom week. His bio in official series material does read that he values "those close to [him] more than anyone or anything" after all (which again, was very validating after years and seasons of seeing and writing him with that exact sentiment)

The tagging also means that for people who don't agree with this characterization for whatever reason, or whom dislike the emphasis on it, can blacklist it easily (as is the intended purpose with all tags on my blog)

He's a goofy nurturing guy who will Cut You and verbally eviscerate you without question if you hurt his loved ones or piss him off enough, and I love that for him. He's a little snake boi and we think he should have lots of angst (or sometimes not enough when it comes to killing/threatening people) over how far he'll go to protect the people he loves, as a Treat

#snake boi callum #has breached containment i see #fandom history #snake boi callum week #thanks for asking #anonymous #he's our goofy lil guy and if he's coerced into committing atrocities then we still love him #tdp #the dragon prince #fandom events

[xieyaohuan]

Homelander's penthouse: the obsessive analysis nobody asked for, part 1

After having overlooked something as fundamental as the door to his "balcony"/launch pad, I decided to spend part of my Saturday reconstructing Homelander's very, very ugly penthouse. Let's start with a numbered list of individual components. No, there is absolutely no logic to my numbering system.

Big nine-panel TV screen, as seen here:

And here, behind The Deep:

2. Entrance area: Homelander has no door that we know of - people can just enter. The entrance area is to the right of the big TV screen. You can see it clearly behind Ashley in the first image above, vaguely in the second image with The Deep, and also here where the guy bringing the food is coming from:

3. Weird platform/mini staircase leading to an unknown room. It's opposite the entrance area, and we can see it here:

4. Bookshelf (looks purely decorative)

5. Ugly ass big brown couch where he sulks naked (plus small table in front of it)

6. His bed! Yes, I believe we actually get a glimpse of it in Season 3, and it is inside the big room, not upstairs or behind the flag door. This man honestly has zero privacy. More on this later; for now, a screenshot (S3E7):

7. Portrait of George Washington (hanging over Stormfront's bed in S3)

8. Weird fur thing in front of his fireplace

The mirror we see in this screenshot is probably one of the two by the side of his bed, more on this later. Also, the reflection is completely off and was probably added post-production??

9a: male lamp statue (with female lamp statue and Sisyphos 🎉🎉🎉 in the background)

9b: female lamp statue

Let's take a minute to look at some of this stuff in perspective; the screenshot is from Season 3, Episode 7 when Homelander has a meltdown while watching Starlight on his big screen (right before he goes off on a rant about her at the Bob Singer rally):

10. The door inside the flag on his wall (leading to an unknown room we have probably never seen canonically, unless it leads to something like the meeting room on 99)

11. The door to Homelander's "balcony" (how did we all miss it?? No clue. But we know of it now!)

12. The winding staircase going upstairs to an unknown area we have probably never seen in canon

13. The giant ass flag on HL's wall

(Yes, I'm just looking for excuses to post this screenshot again)

14. The big mirror we see in the beginning of the Mirrorlander scene. It is probably by the side of his bed, opposite another equally big mirror (basically, he's got mirrors to the right and left of his bed, and on the ceiling, way to go, little star):

The perspective of the reflection that we see in the big mirror onscreen makes absolutely no sense though, so again, it was probably added post-production?

15. Stormfront's bed in the corner by the window underneath the George Washington portrait and opposite the Mirrorlander mirror:

(She can - technically - see his bed, and he can see hers; if that's not clear now, it'll hopefully become clear later)

16. The fireplace (no clue if real fireplace or just a mock-up; the distinction is probably irrelevant to HL). You can see it here behind the ugly fur thingy:

17. The Mirrorlander mirror:

Okay, time to look at some of the stuff in context again; don't worry about the numbers that haven't been introduced yet

18. The female statue that gets moved around a bit from episode to episode. You can see it in the picture above, and also here and here to the left and right of the pillar and wall that has the Mirrorlander mirror:

19. Second TV screen that HL put up so Stormfront could watch TV. Awkwardly, it was placed riiight in front of the Mirrorlander mirror - no wonder Mirrorlander hates anyone HL might love in real life; he gets displaced.

In context:

In context again, labelled:

This is where shit gets interesting because on the left-hand side of the image, we can probably see HL's "bedroom"

20. Bedside table, close-up:

It's probably time to finally address this bed business, since I've been going on and on about it. I don't consider it 100% confirmed, but two of the paintings shown in his bedroom are clearly recognizable in the screenshot from the scene with Stormfront, see the comparison below:

They clearly added more stuff in the scene with Stormfront that is not in the still, but I'm still pretty certain that's his bedroom we see in on the left-hand side in S3E1. And again, we also get a glimpse of his bed in S3E7, and it does look like the bed in the still above:

Plus the whole "mirrors on three sides of his bed" is just a very HL thing to do. Anyway, let me know if you're convinced. I think I am.

Anyway, I have more analysis to add, BUT tumblr is reminding me I can only add 30 images to each post, so I guess I'll have to stop here and continue in Part 2.

#homelander's penthouse #homelander's apartment #homelander's bedroom #homelander #the boys #homelander analysis #my mental illness shows I have zero regrets

[mdhwrites]

So if Dana said she didn't have any original season 3 ideas, why did she also say on Twitter that she wanted 10-20 half hours for season 3?

Now apparently from the transcript and the like, what was said that there were like one sentence pitches for episodes but nothing concrete or the like. That I believe. After all, it's like taking sticky notes and using them to jot down passing thoughts. But... Ideas don't mean anything. You need to have an actual coherent thought as to how you are going to use those ideas as a creator.

So when she says she wanted those episodes, I believe her. But... Instead of it being so she could have coherently finished her story, something you can feel isn't exactly happening during S3, it would have been to explore her ideas and let it be her mouthpiece. Even as far back as S1, you can clearly see this conflict in the show. The First Day lets her take potshots at modern education and saying kids should have more freedom... At the expense of everyone forgetting that multi-tracking is literally illegal. But the idea was more important than the overall story so in it went.

Besides, when asked about your work that you cherish so much, are you going to tell people you wanted LESS time to do whatever you wanted? Or are you going to say you wanted as much time as possible? Especially since without a solid plan, you can't be like Matt Braley who straight up went "Nope. Amphibia wasn't shortened. It was always planned to be three seasons."

I still stand by the idea that Dana actually wanted to just keep going WELL past S3. Even now, she wants to do a spin off and one of her greatest regrets for what was missed was not being allowed to do more teenage Raeda stuff in the show. A second episode in the past. Expanding on what? Who knows but it's more time spent with the ship that Dana clearly loved.

I am not saying Dana was lying or a bad person but the question that is worth asking is if that time would have been spent actually wrapping up plot threads or exploring characters as they are now. Otherwise, it would end up being like the S2B and S3 we got where we are still getting elements added, refusing to wrap up story elements, and having to drag back plot points from almost entire seasons ago (Willow and Amity's friendship), if not MULTIPLE seasons ago (Willow's lack of power control) just to do something with these characters despite it being way too late to treat those elements as relevant. There is a reason why if I hear that Dana is the lead for another cartoon, I'll probably be staying away. Not when I don't want promising statements to never have a plan behind. Not again.

Expected this to be shorter. I'm rambly though. Also just wanted to clear this out. Admittedly, it's stuff like this that makes it so that if anyone ever told me they didn't trust me as a writer, I'd understand. Not because of me wasting time but because my mental health gets in the way and can cause ideas to die as my brain just refuses to write them. How we as writers use our time with the audience is important. It leaves an impression and for me, Dana's impression is incredibly negative because I care about story, even if characters come first to me.

Sigh.

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#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house