#the characters aren't real

[tiny-chubby-bird]

why do people always feel the need to stir the soup

#let me just vent here real quick #it's been some time since full release bg3 came out and the vibes were rlly great #but recently I've been seeing more and more drama #like ppl getting mad at other people's opinions and hcs #and while some posts are rlly nicely informative about stuff others are just plain rude and mean like #man it just rlly puts a damper on things u know #like guys it's a game #it's for enjoyment #the characters aren't real #the actors are real people though #it'd just be nice if ppl could stop being shitty and just enjoy a game normally #like normally as in just dont be a fuckin asshat #and like it's cool when people take things from the game and make something bigger out of it #like hey this little thing actually shows this big thing and a lot of thought went into this #but sometimes i feel like some of these are unraveled a little too far and the deal is being made too big #idk im bad with words #i just want everyone to be happy and hold hands #:(

[aregebidan]

i love you goncharov mythos, i love you innate human urge to make things up, i love you tumblr blorbos created By tumblr, i love you meta insight into current internet attitudes toward character archetypes that's inherent to this process of creation, i love you opportunity of witnessing yet another major event for very online people, and most of all i love you katya

#she sounds cool #goncharov #tbd #the more i think about it the more i realize that this is the single most interesting thing that's happened here since i made my account #like. sure nov 5th 2020 was wild but the goncharov renaissance developed completely independently of real world events #people aren't posting memes about geopolitical events anymore they're posting memes about a New Thing #with No real world equivalent and making up everything about it ON THE FLY #and it STILL retains some internal consistency because of the types of characters/traits that have grown into their popularity here #and i just think media studies people who write about the internet are having a fucking field day right now

[the-great-kraken]

if you see a male character kiss a male character, you assume they are gay.

if you see a female character kiss a female character, you assume they are a lesbian.

if you hear a character say they don't feel like their gender, you assume they are trans.

so why do a-spec characters have to jump through so many loops?

a character saying they've never had a crush or don't want a relationship or that they don't understand romantic love is so often ignored or used as fodder for other queer or autistic headcanons (reinforcing stereotypes that aroace people are secretly gay or always autistic)

why is it that our stories are always "up to interpretation"? why do we have to wait for the words aromantic or asexual to be said to be taken seriously? why is it that even when characters say they don't want relationships, fans will scream and cry about sex/romance favourable aspecs and qprs?

when it comes to gay and trans characters, even the likes of bisexual lighting is often treated as though it canonises their sexuality. for aroace characters, even the most explicit coding possible is swept under the rug in favour of other "interpretations"

i'm so tired of fighting for representation just to have it ignored and minimised by fans. let characters be aroace. please.

#obviously there are a ton of circumstances where the qpr and sex/romance favourable is completely fine #but when characters explicity say they dont have sex or dont want relationships it feels so hollow #fandom is fandom and there is nothing i can do to stop you shipping or writing smut or headcanoning or whatever #but please just think it through. the characters aren't real but there are so many geniunely harmful ideas doing stuff like this reinforces #rhi rambles #aroace #aromantic #asexual #a-spec #a spec #aspec #aro #ace #aspec representation #asexual representation #aromantic representation #lgbtq+ #queer

[egophiliac]

OH YEAH HIS TAIL ALSO LIGHTS UP

here's a bunch of quick reactions to some of the smaller bits, while I work on bigger things for the bigger bits and obsess over Silver's breakdown some more. don't be fooled -- this is only the beginning of my descent into pure diasomnia hell.

(I also need to figure out how to draw OB Mal better)

#art #long post #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7 spoilers #ugggh sorry i really do need to figure out ob mal i have not managed a decent one yet #anyway saving my feelings for later #i have tried a couple of times to write something about how blatant lilia is #about being an ancient fae pretend to be a high schooler in order to keep an eye on his idiot dragon son #but every time i remember that this is a universe in which rook exists and is a real person that the characters know #and it's like. oh yeah. lilia isn't anywhere near the weirdest person they know. #they aren't exactly secretive about fae aging differently either #i assumed he told everyone he was literally 18 because he thought it would be funny #🤷 #drink your juice everyone

[buckleyreid]

The thing with buddie fans and the bisexual arc...

Sometimes I look at certain posts and I wonder what show people are watching.

I've always been a hyper realistic person, maybe that's my own flaw, but I genuinely don't understand how someone could watch Buck coming out to Eddie, and their main takeaways being that 1) Buck is disappointed when Eddie says nothing will change between them and 2) Eddie is upset that Buck went on a date with Tommy.

That scene is about so much more than Buddie as a romantic ship, and I guess people who haven't been in Buck's shoes won't understand how nerve-wracking it is to share a part of yourself you're still not 100% confident in with one of the people that matters most to you. It's so incredibly important to see two men who love each other so deeply be there for one another platonically. Seeing people twist and take things out of context just so they fit their own narrative, while ignoring the meaning of such an important storyline is a little disheartening to say the least. If down the line we see Eddie internally conflicted about seeing Buck and Tommy together, and if that leads him down his own journey that's great (I'm a buddie shipper too), but I think it's important to not lose sight of what the show is telling us in the present time.

Buck starts out episode 7x05 nervous, anxious even, about being on a date with a man. He's looking around, he doesn't want anyone to see him and Tommy together like that. Cut to the end of the episode, and he's setting up a date himself, he's smiling and putting his hand on top of Tommy's and he's grown sure enough of himself to ask him to be his date to his sister's wedding (where his parents will be, where his whole team will see them together). That's important, that's the character development we've been looking forward to and unfortunately I feel like I've seen more people focused on making cheating theories and taking Buck and Eddie's interactions out of context instead of celebrating that Evan Buckley, for the first time in a couple of seasons, actually has a decent (monumentally so) storyline. You don't have to ship Buck and Tommy together, but please don't disregard Buck's feelings for Tommy just because you wish Eddie was in his place instead.

TLDR: Buck's arc is his own, it doesn't and shouldn't revolve around anyone but himself, it doesn't revolve around Eddie or Buddie and it doesn't revolve around Tommy either. Bisexuality in media matters, it deserves time and it deserves to be treated with respect.

#i know it's just fiction #these characters aren't real #but they do represent real people #very desperately needed to get that out of my chest #911 abc #evan buckley #eddie diaz #buddie #buck x tommy #bucktommy #evan buck buckely #maggie yaps

[barrel-crow-n]

Do you ever read a fic that rewires canon in your brain?

#what do you MEAN dirtyhands isn't a character in the komedie brute? #what do you MEAN reuben and teun aren't real dregs? #what do you MEAN pamphlets aren't given out to tourists warning them about dirtyhands? #it was real. it was real TO ME #grishaverse #six of crows #six of crows duology #soc #kaz brekker #jesper fahey #inej ghafa #nina zenik #wylan van eck #matthias helvar

[bucksbisexualawakening]

the progression from "there's a morning snack and a midday snack" and "20 bucks for pizza" buck looking after his friend's kid to "bobby's famous lasagne: 6 types of cheese cooked to perfection" buck cooking for his family to "that's makes me your sous chef" teaching his kid how to cook is making me go so feral.

#going from two separate things - like how normal friends who aren't co-parenting would organised it - to the most domestic thing ever #to being the good responsible parent and making sure he eats real food before cookies #AND and the motifs that've been established: teaching to cook as father/son bonding and cooking food as a demonstration of love #im UNWELLLLL #buckley diaz family #911 abc #right from the pilot buck has had an intense care for children (but was also immature himself) #and we've seen him grow into a person who is literally becoming a father. (alongside his increasing ability to cook - which he is learning #from his own father figure) #children - specifically caring for children and being a father - has been tied to very important parts of buck's character development #thoughout the seasons #that man wants nothing more than to be a father AND HE IS ONE. #i dont even know if what im saying is coherent anymore but you get my drift #season 6 911 #lynnsaysstuff

[fatedtime]

I know there’s a lot of people talking about the culture conflict between Toshiro and Laios, but I think it’s important to acknowledge the class conflict between them too. Mayor’s child or not, Laios is still from the boonies, while Toshiro is waited on hand and foot by a flock of women his family employs to serve his needs. This has 100% stifled Toshiro’s ability to communicate with others, to the point where acknowledging his retainers and thanking them for their efforts is shown as a huge point of growth.

Meanwhile, Laios’s bumbling nature towards Toshiro’s boundaries is very much informed by his lack of knowledge of other people and places. He knows how much it hurt him to see his sister rejected by people whose insular attitudes made her powers frightening to them, so he tries to express overtures of friendship towards Toshiro by being so interested in him that it comes off as frightening instead. While he means well, his lack of knowledge on how to interact with people who are different from him puts Toshiro in a weird spot, and this lack of knowledge isn’t just the autism — it’s where he was born and raised. And it’s something real kids from rural areas go through when they enter more urban spaces. The sorts of social manners that are appropriate there aren’t appropriate elsewhere, and they get seen as… well. Inelegant. Pushy.

If Laios had gotten Hien’s name wrong, she would have decked him. But because it was Toshiro, whose upbringing didn’t give him any conflict resolution skills (because he’s around people who have to bend to his needs*) he doesn’t know how to sort things out with Laios, and grows to resent him. It’s not just the culture, it’s the place he occupies class-wise.

That’s part of why I love Toshiro’s arc — if this was just a culture conflict where Laios commits microagressions against him, as I’ve mostly seen it put, him ultimately learning a lesson would be pretty weird. But it’s not. His upbringing as a noble lord’s son in a BONKERS family has given him certain issues… and Laios helps him confront that, so he can live without regrets.

(*please note, this is a massive oversimplification of what the hell is going on with Toshiro Nakamoto. i just didn't want to write a book.)

#dungeon meshi #toshiro nakamoto #laios touden #also I know that it’s partially because the anime hasn’t gotten there yet #but it’s really weird to me that the microagression conversation is around toshiro and laios #when nothing has suggested the dm world has any real concept of whiteness or white colonialism #laios doesn’t have inherent social power and the reason toshiro doesn’t correct him isn’t because Laios’s whiteness puts him in danger #not that i don't think these differences are worth talking about it's just a lot of the conversation seems to be really loaded #in ways they... aren't in the story????? and also i think strips away some of toshiro's unique situation #there IS a character laios is extremely weird towards that fits that criteria though #and I’m curious how people will respond to that

[lgbtlunaverse]

"Nie Mingjue would still have died young even if Jin Guangyao hadn't killed him" Not as in "So it's fine to kill him because people who won't live for much longer have obviously already forfeit their lives" (what) But as in "If you don't get that Nie Mingjue has had an inevitable young and violent death hanging over him since he was a young teenager and has embraced it you can't fully understand his character"

#mdzs #nie mingjue #i do not wish to be misconstrued on this #because the first interpretation might genuinely be my least favorite nmj take #because it has so much baggage in regards to the actual real life murder of disabled people. most often by their caretakers!! #and the reaction to it from public the media and the justice system is overwhelmingly 'oh well that wasn't a life worth living anyway' #'plus they were SO hard to take care of rlly if you think about it the murderer is the victim here that must've been so hard for them' #and these characters aren't real. nmj isn't actually dead he was never alive. but i really hope that take is no one's actual view on life #but from a purely story-perspective i also hate the 'everything would've been fine if not for jiggy' takes #STOP MAKING THE BLORBO UNINTERESTING BY OUTSOURCING ALL HIS ISSUES!! THOSE ARE /HIS/ LET HIM KEEP THEM

[modwyr]

i love when game companions don't have a positive relationship and they aren't 'found family' (whatever that term means nowadays). to me it feels like it really emphasises the idea of this being a group of characters gathered together by the protagonist for a common goal, and therefore have clashing ideologies, and it makes everything more natural, from big game moments to companion banter, to have them argue or act awkward and stilted with each other because that's how people are

#and of course i've gone on record saying i like when companions fight (gladio train scene/thinking anders & fenris hating each other is ok*) #but also when relationships just aren't good like eder and xoti for most of deadfire where he's just made uncomfortable by her and is tryin #to politely/not so politely get out of talking to her #because that feels like a real human reaction to another character #text

[leupagus]

Okay I've been drinking but I gotta say

I keep seeing takes in the Ted Lasso takes about the various favored pairings — be they Rebecca/Ted, Trent/Ted, Roy/Jamie, Roy/Keeley, Keeley/Roy/Jamie, WHATEVER, with this sentiment of "if this relationship does not turn into a romance, then what was the point of the show?"

And that really frustrates me as someone whose most valued and cherished relationships are not romantic, and who will not likely ever have another romantic relationship in her life. Because there's a point to friendships! There's a point to love in all its forms, in all its complexities. Romance is great, absolutely, but to say that there's no "point" to Rebecca and Ted's trust and respect and affection if it doesn't become a romance, or there's no "point" to Trent becoming a Diamond Dog if he and Ted don't start dating, or there's no "point" to Roy and Jamie and Keeley's complicated dance around each other this past season if it doesn't end up in bed — that just makes me really depressed about the limitations people are putting on how people can love each other.

You can absolutely cheer for your favorite ship and hope that it becomes canon — but to reduce all the rest of the show does a disservice to the show itself.

#ted lasso #to be honest there's been a lot of other things that have frustrated me in the ted lasso tag lately #but most of them aren't in my lane #so I'm just gonna say the constant comments about how you haven't 'forgiven' a fictional character for fictional things they did fictionall #is weird #as I said before: #real fucked up to treat real people like characters and characters like real people #REAL FUCKED UP #believe mothereffers

[schmaddi]

So uhm... guess who tripped and fell HARD for Coral Island's merman Semeru. Definitely not meeee~ Anyway, here's a quick sketch because I can't get him out of my head and I really need to share my obsession with sOMEONE.

(also, i know that he's currently rather grumpy, distrustful and not that outgoing, so the expression that i gave him might be a litttttle OOC for him (for now). HOWEVER. BUT. Just imagine him doing his job guarding the kingdom and stuff and keeping an eye on MC-farmer because y'know he still doesn't really trust us and all that quak, but then farmer does something dumb that he finds mildy amusing, which is why he'd have this sliiiight very tiny smile on his face. That's the kinda expression I wanted to give him. Also shoutout to @fyreiswriting because their work on Ao3 is what kept me alive these past few weeks, months? Hi fyre. Love your stories.)

#this man needs more content #i need more semeru #why do i always fall for characters that aren't even romancable (yet) #like for real what is this #axel and senja too #crying rn #please someone tell me what it is about this fish that i love so much #coral island #semeru #coral island semeru

[figsandphiltatos]

the raw power of gorgug and kristen synchronized second hand embarrassment is unspeakable

#okay i have more clips from this episode #i feel bad because emily and brian aren't in this one but it might be one of The Best in fantasy high #purely because lou is on an absolute TEAR #everything he does is fucking astoundingly funny in this episode #like he is on fire for real #god i love fabian he's THE WORST #his character growth in this season alone is astounding like in junior year he's sooo much better at just. not being selfish lol #love this guy love his fucked up family dynamic where his parents try to fight him to the death all the time #love the idea of being raised in a family where emotional vulnerability is almost always substituted for violence #i'm normal about him #fabian seacaster #kristen applebees #gorgug thistlespring #fantasy high #fantasy high sophomore year

[ventiswampwater]

Griffin Dunne as Jack Goodman in An American Werewolf in London (1981)

#baby angel babyBABY loml.png #this is MY hellblog and I WILL be making 48737432874 individual posts about this man!!!! #we are past the point of no return!!!! FAR PAST IT!!!!! lmao #an american werewolf in london #jack goodman #griffin dunne #gore #body horror #<-all simulated fx body horror/gore #mine #real canon fact: his horrific wounds aren't actually from being mauled by a weeeirhheeerewolf #they're from the sheer force and whiplash of me hoovering him down. dyson vaccum vroom vroom whirr whirr style on sight #to SHREDS!!!!! you say!!!!! #anyways!! wow incredible!! can't believe i wrote those last three tags in invisible ink!!! #u know when people are like. my fave fictional guy did nothing wrong!!! #and they are talkin about a man who breaks the geneva conventions every other nanosecond #and is guilty of 734298439 crimes against humanity and good taste #which like no harm no foul. that's 37847382734 of my favorite characters. but this guy??? #he TRULY did nothing wrong and I'm kissing him always for that #he's like. the most guy of guys every. just a Guy. literally just a dude. just a Human Male™. #and he's my favorite!!!!! tysm for asking!!!!!!

[bonefall]

post/734733274896809984/do-you-ever-worry-your-own-writing-might-come-off that makes sense. i was asking because i'm afraid of accidentally writing misogyny myself and i kind of admire what you do

Hmm... I wish I had better advice to give you on this front, but honestly, the only thing I can tell you is to consider the perspective of your female characters.

Women are people. They have thoughts and feelings of their own, so like... just let them have their own arcs. A lot of the worst misogyny in WC comes from the way that the writers just don't care about their girls (or, in the case of tall shadow, actually get undermined and forced to rewrite entire chapters), so they're not curious about their lives, or WHY they feel the way they do or what they want, or any direction for their character arcs.

Turtle Tail as an example. She'll often just end up feeling whatever Gray Wing's plot demands. She's gotta leave when Storm dumps him to make him feel lonely. She shows up again to love him in the next book. Lets her best friend Bumble get dragged back to Tom the Wifebeater, but is sad enough about her death to be "unreasonably angry" with Clear Sky, and then calms down and accept Gray Wing is right all along.

And then she dies, so he can have his very own fridge wife.

In this way, Turtle Tail's just being used to tell Gray Wing's story. They're not interested in why she would turn on Bumble, or god forbid any lingering negative feelings for how she didn't help her, or even resentment towards Clear Sky for killing her or Gray Wing for jumping to his defense. She isn't really going through her own character arc.

She does have personality traits of her own, don't misunderstand my criticism, but as a character she revolves around Gray Wing.

So, zoom out every now and then, and just ask yourself; "Whose story is being told by what I wrote? Do my female characters have goals, wants, and agency, or are they just supporting men? How do their choices impact the narrative?"

But that's already kinda assuming that you already have characters like Turtle Tail who DO have personalities and potential of their own. Here's some super simple and practical advice that helped me;

Tally the genders in your cast. How many are boys, how many are girls, how many are others?

And take stock of how many of those characters are just in the supporting cast, and compare that to the amount you have in the main cast.

If you have a significant imbalance, ESPECIALLY in the main cast, fire the Woman Beam.

It's a really simple trick to just write a male character, and then change its gender while keeping it the same. I promise women are really not fundamentally different from men lmao. You can consider how your in-universe gender roles affect them later, if you'd like, but when you're just starting to wean yourself off a "boy bias" this trick works like a charm.

Also you're not allowed to change the body type of any girl you Woman Beam because I said so. PLEASE allow your girls to have muscles, or be fat, or be old, or have lots of scars. Do NOT do what a cowardly Triple A studio does, where the women all have the same cute or sexy face and curvy body while they're standing next to dwarves, robots, and a gorilla.

Or this shit,

If you do this I will GET you. If you're ever possessed by the dark urge, you will see my face appear in the clouds like Mufasa himself to guide you away from the path of evil.

Anyway, you get better at just making characters girls to begin with as time goes on and you practice it. It's really not as big of a deal as your brain might think it is.

Take a legitimate interest in female characters and try not to disproportionately hit them with parental/romance plots as opposed to the male cast, and you'll be fine. Don't think of them as "SPECIAL WOMEN CHARACTERS" just make a character and then let her be a girl, occasionally checking your tally and doing some critical thinking about their use in the story.

(Also remember I'm not a professional or anything, I'm just trying to give advice)

#I wish I had more succinct and practical advice to give you besides the woman beam trick #Honestly I just kinda feel it out because I like telling stories about girls #I made it fun for myself by clapping and cheering and whooping and hollering whenever a girl does something #because it's not fun to write like a monk in a monastery #With the spectre of Brother Smockbimble looming over your shoulder telling you to Write Perfectly Every Time #Characters aren't real people. You can just fix it if you happen to fuck up or do better next time with what you learned. #Making mistakes is just part of acquiring skill #and writing is an art just like painting or drawing. #So don't make a fun OC project into homework! You should be enjoying making your own art! Express yourself! #Please understand that when I'm ripping into the series I'm being so harsh because it's bestselling corporate media #Read by HUNDREDS of thousands of kids worldwide #Raking in millions of dollars a year. Written by a TEAM of professionals. #So I have higher expectations of it than of a fandom rando on the internet. Or even a self-published author who's just One Guy. #Hence why I'm infinitely more charitable to Ratha than I am to Battle Cats #bones gives advice

[rogueddie]

Once again thinking about the fact that Caleb McLaughlin is easily the best actor on Stranger Things and Priah Ferguson is slept on, despite being hilarious on the show. Thinking, thinking...

#stranger things #caleb mclaughlin #lucas sinclair #priah ferguson #erica sinclair #they're both done so dirty #by the show and the fandom almost equally #it doesn't even make me angry anymore. it just makes me sad. #plus the problem with priah is ALSO people assuming that comedy actors aren't real actors even though comedy actors are top tier #a lot of those 'amazing' and 'serious' actors would not be able to play a character like erica and make her believable and funny #but priah does is with such ease like that is TALENT