#and theres a character reason for it im not just having him not acknowledge them for no reason

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

yooooo!!! you’re my favorite ethan winters artist i just wanna say that first and foremost, thank you for the wholesome content of my comfort character and father figure 🥹🫶

i’m really curious bc i feel like i see a lot of people against mithan (not me personally, i’m p neutral on them!) but i’m curious to know all your thoughts on them! thoughts on their canon relationship, their fanon portrayal, the backlash against them/mia accusations, and your headcanons? i’m just really interested!!! hopefully that’s not weird :”)

have a good day!! sparkle on!!! ✨💖

i heart mithan... i think that they can be so cute...

i personally hc them t4t and i like to think that the dated in highschool before they both had fully transitioned

mia likes to bake and ethan likes to scrap book and he always likes to take pictures of mias cakes/ baked goods and has a album for them 😭

i am a multishipper so i draw a lot of ethan ships so my girl is left out sometimes and im sorry mia 😔

i actually really like their relationship, its a really complex dynamic that i like to talk about with my friends

i think the issue is that when talking about mithan or mia in general, theres just SO MUCH misinformation that its honestly a pain the butt to talk about

people still think that she was responsible for the creation of eveline, people still think that she experimented on eveline, people still use examples of her attacking ethan as if she did it on her own will instead of being mind controlled

in reality she was just someone who oversaw the transportation of evie. im not excusing her or anything because obviously she knew what she was doing, but people really try to accuse her of doing something she didnt and it bothers me alot lol

the problem with the fandom is that people either try to water her down to girlboss who did nothing wrong and fail to acknowledge the complexity/ moral grayness of her character and the other side is misogynists 😭😭😭😭

its hard to talk about her without people either going "stop trying to villainize her and make her look bad!" or people ACTUALLY villainizing her and acting like heisenberg would have treated him better 😭😭

mithan is such a sad relationship because they loved each other so much and that ended up being the reason their relationship fell apart (sort of... its not like the broke up... ethan kinda just straight up died)

i get a lot a trouble for saying this, but mia is a selfish person.

its not a bad thing! well i mean it is but it doesnt make her some evil witch who is somehow worse than the guy how made a werewolf american ninja warrior. its just a major character flaw she has! which is good! mia being a flawed person who makes mistakes and morally gray decisions make her a more interesting person!

she is selfish in the way that she wants to keep her family with her no matter the cost. even if it means lying to ethan about her job so that he wont think different of her. here is a interrogation from the re7 DLC, which is easy to miss!

she isnt necessarily trying to apologize for the things she has done, she is more of a, "u wont need to forgive me in the first place if we just forget it all and move on"

she doesn't try to redeem herself for what she has done, she tries to move on and return to the normal life that she wants so bad. which is fine! everyone copes a different way and she has to right to move on from her trauma. the problem that lies in this is that she has a shared trauma with ethan who still has no idea what went on in dulvey and still effects him till the present (he is mold! this is a important thing to know! most people would want to know if they were a walking corpse)

she played a direct part in what happened in dulvey, and im not referring to the email, she did not send that. she never wanted ethan to come in the first place. she tried her best to send a video to him, begging him to forget about her because she wanted to protect him, BUT it didnt send.

he got involved because she was involved. its honestly a series of really really unfortunate events.

THOUGH! she did know what she was getting into. im tired of seeing the narrative that mia was innocent and didnt know what was going on or was simply a bystander. she knew what she was doing, she knew eveline was a bioweapon, she knew eveline was a child. she used a MACHINE GUN! she knows how to use weapons and was obviously trained for it.

she tried her best to keep everybody out of the mess, ex: warning the bakers not to take them in, warning ethan not to find her, sacrificing herself for ethan in the later half of re7

but again, those are the consequences of HER actions

her consequences just happen to get really big and end up hitting ethan on the head like a metal sheet 😭

their relationship is really so interesting, it makes me really sad to think about sometimes 😭they both went through something that nobody else would ever understand, in the end they really only have each other. they get moved to an entire different country and the dulvey incident gets covered up with a "gas leak"

its really tragic because their marriage definitely had some flaws and bumps. and i know im repeating myself but its because people always take this in the worst way possible but just because i say their relationship was rocky doesnt mean im saying they dont love each other!!! thats the entire basis of mias character!! saying she doesnt love ethan would destroy her entire character!

you can see in the re8 DLC how fondly ethan talks about mia! he loves her so much, though im not sure if his comments in the DLC are him narrating current (post re8) or his thoughts before everything went down and he died (pre re8)

everything mia did was because she LOVED ethan. she would never do anything to intentionally hurt him, she is not a cruel person. she hides the truth of her job from ethan pre re7 because she loves him and doesnt want her job to drive them apart. she CONTINUES to refuse to tell ethan the truth post re7 because she wants to move on a live a happy normal life with him and knows something like her being directly associated with the connections would probably cause (more) problems. she refuses to tell ethan that he is mold because again, hard to live a happy marriage with your husband after you tell him hes a bioweapon.

obviously i dont think it was right that she did this, thats what makes her selfish! she did it for herself! she did it for her family! she thought it would work out, she thought that they could move on and be happy together.

the issue is that ethan didnt want to forget. he wanted to know what happened, he wanted to know the part mia played, he wanted answers! which is reasonable! he knows to some extent that mia was partially responsible for his involvement and he was always suspcious that mia was lying to him about her job which is implied when mia says "you were right, i did lie to you"

she doesnt learn, she doesnt stop lying, her lies get bigger and worse and it sucks yeah but it makes her so interesting!!! she keeps doing stupid things under the idea that this is whats best for her and her family, that if she hides this everything will work out and it will be for the better but its not!

just because telling your husband hes dead and a bioweapon is a hard subject to bring up doesnt mean you DONT bring it up. people shouldnt use that as a reason to excuse mia 😭, its a very bad excuse and honestly highlights how horrible their communication skills were. you cant just not tell your husband that he is actually infected with the mold and not tell him for the tree years between post re7 and pre re8.

im not saying these things to put mia down, or try and villanize her. these are all just actual things her character does! she isnt evil, but she isnt a knight in shining armor either. we need to be able to have talks about complex characters without crying everytime someone points out a flaw. characters have flaws! and mia just happens to have a lot of them!

im not mad at her, i dont dislike her because i think this way of her. shes a fictional character! you can like characters that are morally gray, or villains that drink blood and make corpse soldiers. they are fictional! pointing out the flaws of a character does not mean i dont like them.

i wouldnt call her "the real villain of re8" but i wouldnt treat her like a damsel in distress either. she is a competent person, she knows what shes doing, she has her reasons for doing them. she made bad descions with good intentions behind them! they can coexist and we should let them!

i like mithan! its a complex relationship because they both love each other so much but hurt each other in the process

talking about them is just a pain in the butt because talking about mia is a pain in the butt lol

i really hate how she keeps getting sidelined, its super frustrating to see mia get put in a cage in every game 😭

its even more frustrating that mia straight up just disappears???? in the shadows of rose DLC... like she just stops taking care of rose and theres nothing said about it. no reason or explanation. i dont think mia would ever ditch rosemary because she didnt care about her, but we probably will never know because capcom sucks at writing and they probably forgot the mia ever even existed.

all in all, i think the fandom is really just full of misinformation which make people either think mia is some horrible evil person, or its full of people who think that saying mia messed up is the equivalent of comparing her to wesker lol.

i really love mia, shes a incredibly fun and complex character, its just hard to enjoy her sometimes with the people in the fandom haha.

also ive got no idea what u meant by "the backlash against them/mia accusations" so sorry if i didnt answer that!

thank u for the ask! sorry for the long response!

#mia winters #resident evil #ethan winters #mithan

[pinazee]

Weekend warriors is one of my fave episodes for a multitude of reasons

The way Shawn flirts with Sally Reynolds at the briefing was fantastic. Shes such a memorable one off character and she doesn’t really do much. I credit that to Clair Coffee and her dazzling smile.

One of the best moments of Shawn showing just how amazing his memory is, and the little montage was wonderfully set up. But Gus really shouldn’t be surprised by now. Out of everyone (except maybe his dad) he should be the least amazed by his gifts.

It has my favorite most stupidest joke i still laugh at to this day actually ive been promoted. Its Captain Crunch now.

I have a deep appreciation of this show for never shying away from the fact that Gus is black. It seems like a lot of 00’s shows simply avoided the topic altogether (if they even had a black main). Starting from the pilot when gus placed his hands on the dash when the cop pulled them over. It goes to show how important it is to collaborate with your actors, particularly if your writing room demographics don’t correlate with your acting talent.

The fuck are you talking about henry. It took him 4 months after he was born to smile at you and thats when you acknowledge him??? I mean, i think they both know thats crap, but still lol

Solid Juliet moment. I love that they showed she was scared, but was brave enough to continue. Too many shows try to do feminism by making their female characters not feel fear for some reason? Or like, they’re kind of crazy and seek it out. Idk. Its nice that shes allowed to be afraid and vulnerable. It makes her feel like a real person.

THIS!

That end scene is the saddest fucking thing ive ever seen, and might be the most heartbreaking little shawn moment in the series. Im going to word for word this because i need ppl to share in my awwws

Shawn: Gus, when we grow up, think ill ever be as cool as you?

Gus: You’re better at kickball

Shawn: Not what I asked

Gus: We talking about your dad again?

Shawn: mm-hmm

Gus: Come on dude, the guy respects you

Shawn: Not like he does you

Gus: I’m not his son. I mean, he might like me okay, but he loves you

Shawn: Did he say that?

Gus: No.

Shawn: Well then how can you be sure?

Gus: You mean he’s never said it?

Shawn: Come on Gus, we’re guys.

SO MUCH TO UNPACK HERE but i’m going to do that in my henry analysis ep. Theres just too much to say.

#im really trying not to let these get too long #but i love this ep so it was a special occasion #im just waiting for the perfect opportunity to talk about henry #but im definitely keeping tabs on all the fucked up shit hes doing or teaching him haha #psych #psych rewatch #shawn spencer #james roday rodriguez #james roday #burton guster #dulé hill #dule hill #shawn and gus #juliet o'hara #maggie lawson

[soullessjack]

so im on s5 of miraculous and i keep thinking about cat noirs whole “kept at a distance” arc bc it’s genuinely really interesting but gets so wasted by always winding up with him basically validating ladybugs nonsensical decisions and treatment—the same treatment that we were already shown upset him enough to destroy public properly about it. the most consistent reason LB ever gives cat about why he can’t be fully trusted or relied on is that he’s too much of a liability for their partnership to work—either because he’s too reckless, too in love with her, or his cataclysm would be too dangerous to use.

whatever it is, the baseline is that she thinks he’s a liability, and obviously that’s like salt in the wound for cat since he genuinely loves her and enjoys being partners with her, but it’s also just sad to see him continue to respect her decision and act like it isn’t a problem for him when he’s literally upset enough to physically lash out and use his powers to do so. and I know a lot of it can probably be explained by ladybug’s experience in the cat blanc timeline, but 1) she starts holding him at a distance way before that even happens, 2) she’s actively making it worse by not telling cat noir about cat blanc and why she thinks she has to exclude him for his own safety, and 3) SHE SHOULD HAVE TOLD HIM ABOUT CAT BLANC TO BEGIN WITH BECAUSE IT’S LITERALLY A WORLD ENDING SITUATION INVOLVING HIM DIRECTLY‼️‼️‼️‼️

instead she just allows him think he’s unwanted and unnecessary, calls the shots on how he should feel about “having more free time” and ironically makes him even more susceptible to being Akumatized because of it. ladybug might not be aware that cat is adrien and has a terrible home life he actively uses his miraculous to escape from, but she’s playing right into all the key aspects that adrien resents from his father; she decides what he wants without considering or asking him, she trusts him conditionally and still distances herself enough for him to just not know certain things. it’s done with good intentions, but it still clearly affects adrien very poorly, and it’s just such a frustrating glass-chewing miscommunication that only needlessly complicates the situation

don’t even get me started on Kuro Neko where ladybug falls head over heels for the changed version of her partner and narrowly avoiding her having to actually screw up and learn a lesson about accepting cat for who he actually is because catwalker is just “too perfect” for her to function—instead of being an obedient idealized version of her best friend who lets her be in control of everything (WHEN ADRIEN LITERALLY USES HIS DOUBLE LIFE TO HAVE THE CONTROL HE DOESN’T GET AT HOME).

theres so much potential for the base concept of the miraculous of destruction and its Kwami/holder being distrusted outliers among the rest of the Kwami/holders, but the magic system sucks and it kind of loses any chance when the other Kwamis are established to be catastrophic if they use their powers without a holder. and it gets even more confusing if you consider that Fu specifically chose adrien to hold that miraculous, but then encourages Marinette to keep her distance from him and barely acknowledges him as a hero in general. Like why did you even bother testing adrien for his worthiness or whatever if you obviously don’t think he’s worthy of knowing anything about you or the rest of the miraculous OR his best friend’s identity??? but you’re totally okay with her just giving them out to anyone in Paris who’s conveniently around and having her know their identity???? master fu when I catch you master fu

auugghhhfgg I don’t know the magic system thing could be its own separate post but likeeeeee I just think the miraculous of destruction whos constantly mistrusted for no reason and goes Kamehameha Krazy in another timeline is very special and could be treated so much better if the writers were good at their job and didn’t make every character’s sole purpose be validating ladybug/marinette even when she’s in the wrong

#honestly he deserves to be a villain #at the very least an antihero. gotta push my antihero propaganda into everything I enjoy #like the same way Luka got Akumatized over his frustration with people keeping secrets #that should 100% happen to cat noir im so deadass #because like imagine if you found out your best friend saw an alternate timeline where you lost control and destroyed the city #and spent months completely isolated by what you did and slowly goinf crazy with grief and guilt and just wanting to fix it all #and she just doesnt tell you about it but she clearly sees you differently than she used to because of it #that is literally such juicy material for him to get Akumatized and yet. #Thomas Astruc you and I are public enemies now #cal.txt #miraculous ladybug #cat noir #adrien agreste #cat blanc #ladybug and chat noir #marinette dupain cheng #master fu #I need to fix this show I need to or I will also blow up Paris #I LOVE BEING AUTISTIC 🗣️🗣️‼️‼️

[simplyender]

If it's asks you want, asks you shall get! I remember you mentioning that you think Spot will probably die in the next movie. However, Miles says something like "Spot only wants to be respected, like everyone else," before he gets interrupted by Miguel. Maybe this could hint at Spot making it out alive. Or this is just wishful thinking on my part. And if he really does die in the next movie, then it will be due to his own actions, like using up all his powers or smth like that.

tbh, my reasoning for spot dying can be boiled down to a few points. but first, i wanna talk about...

why i absolutely believe spot shouldnt be killed off.

1. the current narrative is that miles is effectively breaking the cycle that is "canon", giving a big 'ol Fuck You to whats defined as fate and inevitable pain. spots trying to force miles in to the narrative hes made up in his head (which coincides with whats meant to be "canon"), but things dont have to be that way and miles KNOWS that. i think itd be thematically appropriate if miles breaks this cycle of cruelty and allows spot to survive, making him have to face his own actions and crippling lack of self worth and actually work to make things better, for himself and everyone hes hurt.

2. im overly attached to spot being disability-coded, for more on that, please read this amazing post that opened my third eye. anyway, the tl;dr is that spot behaves and is treated a lot like a newly, visibly disabled person, subject to the same prejudices as they are as well as being forced to navigate an entirely new body, as somebody might have to if they were to receive a workplace injury that left them disfigured and permanently disabled. this is also why id like it if he doesnt get turned human again/"cured" at the end. it just doesnt feel like itd be satisfying for things to end like that for him. if anything, the most satisfying conclusion to his arc would if he got stopped, and then be given the opportunity to finally take responsibility for his own actions, and acknowledge his own fault in what happened to him and that it ultimately wasnt miles that did this to him and that even so, one of the things thats NOT spots fault is how he got treated for what happened to him so he really should get understanding and validation in that department. he also deserves to learn how to accept himself (beyond seeing his new form and powers as a tool to pursue revenge) as he is instead of it being framed likes hes only worthy of respect and recovery once he becomes human again.

3. i like him a lot and thinks he deserves better than to just be killed off.

why i think that despite it all, spot will be killed off:

1. any form of redemption or willingly giving up entirely depends on if spot can bring himself to listen to reason and take responsibility for his actions. something weve seen that hes notoriously bad at.

2. why would spot willingly choose to give up and back down when hes got absolutely nothing left for him in life? theres literally nobody waiting for him on the other side of this if he does. no family. no friends. no job. nothing. he might consider himself too far gone.

3. while 90s cartoon spot DID redeem himself, he did it through a heroic sacrifice...

4. lbr spiderman villains usually either get jailed or killed off. why would things be different for spot. because hes sympathetic? a lot of villains are. hes also insanely powerful and this could end up as a "destroys himself"" situation.

5. spot might be about to commit mass murder, which...definitely makes it harder to consider him as somebody "worthy of redemption".

6. ive watched so many of my favorite characters die. im not kidding i have the worst luck. 98% of them have been killed off and i think spot might be next in line bc its unlikely the writers care about him as much as i do. :(

so...yeah.

#the spot #atsv #across the spiderverse #spiderverse #spot #theories #long post #asks n answers #this was fun to write:) i like talking about spot

[stupidrant]

RANT INCOMING!

I have to talk abt this as this has been in my mind for months and this i think is the only safe space to talk abt the fandom and their weird antics towards the characters/actors and overall games.Im not against criticism but theres a line between criticizing and going overboard with hating.

One thing i dont understand abt the god of war fandom is that they complain about alot of things not being “accurate” and thats doesnt make sense to me bc when has gow ever been accurate? I thought it was obvious from the beginning that SMS wasnt going for that and never truly will. Its always their own interpretation. They also have this weird hatred / ignorance towards atreus that i also dont understand? Yea he was a little annoying in the first game but thats understandable as hes… a kid. Ragnarok expanded his character pretty well imo and i feel like alot of these people for some reason cannot get past him in general? Maybe because they are afraid of him taking over the series and “forgetting” kratos (idk why thats in their minds LOL) or they just hate him just because. I feel like the fandom wants kratos to forever be this god who destroys things and whatnot and its all so weird. like they never gave him a chance. thankfully he has fans but majority hates him. Dont even get me started on how they treat angrboda. Its really so ridiculous to me that they can be so hateful for no true reason. they call her a bitch for yelling at atreus when all the women in the game get annoyed or disappointed in him atleast once. And they dont understand that she has only known this prophecy shit for her whole life and she couldnt do anything outside bc of the threat. ofc shes angry bro LOLL its also in her name like i dont understand 😭.  Atreus helps her get out of that mindset and assures her she can do whatever she wants now. Laya is so strong idk how she does it :( I also noticed they treat thrud as this “replacement” of angrboda bc they dont like her either cuz shes black or bc they hate her and everything related to atreus but as long as he has a character they can like thats not angrboda its fine. Its all so weird bc theres no competition between the two. There never was. I dont think they actually like thrud for her character they just want to be weirdos and i feel kinda bad for her and mina bc they really dont give a fuck. Im so shocked chris sunny and others even INTERACT with this bullshit of a fandom they are all really strong bc id say fuck all of you and go 😭 im not against criticism at all and i try not to take this shit seriously but its hard when you see a insane group of people take alot of this shit to the next level. this fandom is a bunch of whiny babies who hold onto their precious destroyer too much. The hate everyone has gotten recently is just so stupid and they often times try to make it their goal to hate. I see that SMS is trying to diverge their fandom to a broader audience and they are taking a bit more risks esp with atreus and i love that despite the backlash against him, they continued with his character regardless. I hope they do the same thing with the other characters as well and expand them no matter how much these people want to hate and act all high and mighty. I can understand certain critiques like the ending being too fast or maybe they couldve done blah blah better and whatnot but i think alot of people are overreacting and being ridiculously nitpicky with alot of things when it comes to ragnarok. 

Last thing and also kinda random thing SMS is very wrong for what they did to TC Carson and i acknowledge that completely and i hope they never do smth like that to any of the current cast either bc i would be fucking pissed if so LOL

#God of war #god of war fandom #Gow #kratos #Atreus #angrboda #freya #thrud #thor #sif #yall are some fucking assholes #fandom #bullshit #gowr #god of war ragnarok #my stuff

[methed-up-marxist]

I did what we all must strive never to do and looked up one of my faveourite movies Happy together (1997) by Wong Kar-wai on youtube to see what people were saying about it. I made it 4 minutes into the first video. They contended that it was a narration on the nature of toxic love, fine, and that the two were unable to see how damaging their love was and while it was extremely intense love it was met in equal parts by destructiveness. Obviously everything about this from the fine onwards is not fine. Both characters readily see how intolerable their affection for one another is, they try to leave each other, Lai says that he wishes he never met Ho, the film is permeated by them acknowledging how awful their relationship - it is simply not a narrow mediation on the difficulty of self-knowledge and knowledge in relationship. This youtuber says that while Lai is working, Ho is getting drunk and having sex I don't know if this person is just completely stupid on genuinely didnt realise Ho was engaging in sex work. They don't get back together because they want to, they get back together because they are constnatly drawn into each others orbit by material circumstances. When Ho is beaten he is beaten by a white frenchman who is essentially his boss, for the act of theft none of that appears in what this youtuber had to say. When Ho goes back to Lai after this beating defenitly there are emotional reasons he does so but it is also readily apparent he has no other options, Lai's choice here isn't between starting a relationship again or not, it's between succesfuly ending a relationship he hates or abandoning someone he once loved to likely death in a city where no one knows him and he hardly speaks the laungage. Like on the wikipedia article theres someone who bawlks at the idea its a queer movie because Lai is rewarded for his "hard-work", lack of engaging in sex work, desire to return to his family and nation, and is generally frugal throughout the entire thing and so its him that gets to go back to the hong kong. And like that does happen, but its also kinda likely to be the thing that happens in real life? Ho is clearly mentally unstable in a way that Lai isnt - the stealing of the watch demonstrates this, he lets his guilt control him to the extent of a decisive choice that hurts both of them directly and like, he's succesfuly doing sexwork i refuse to believe he's just a naieve idiot. It's definitly possible that director etc intended their outcomes to be punishment but also theyre just... accurate. Thats why the claustrophobia is so important, they actually are trapped with each other, no matter how open and wide the world is the actual space they have to move in is miniscule. Im going to raid but i could be more clear than this

[ms-all-sunday]

i got reminded to elaborate on this: "why do i write zoro as blind/has shitty sight but uses observation haki to see " good question! honestly the reason ive never elaborated on this unprompted is the fact i forget its not directly canon.

it explains his directionlessness. i genuinely think its The Joke oda is intending when people make comments about how directionless zoro is because theres a joke in enies lobby that has him miss stairs that are right in front of him and im pretty sure the only explanation for that is his bad eyesight because the entire stairs are the same colour and i believe in the dub thats the explanation for why he couldnt see them? he says "they blended in" or some shit. correct me if im wrong??

zoro is a very intense person and while i think he tends to deny his feelings for a variety of reasons i dont think he doesn't acknowledge them or see them the way some people think he does (internally i mean i think he has an issue with externalizing feelings but he definitely knows what hes feeling) and because of this and the fact i think he is autistic ive always used haki as a way to externalize him having hyper-empathy. (which is often what observation haki is comparable to in a lot of ways i think) it just makes sense for zoros character to have a physical feeling of pain when other people are in pain he's just that type of person and furthers a lot of his themes i think.

the third reason is that this all ties in nicely with a little bow because of issho (my beloved) being his marine parallel and him also being blind and having observation haki to see which is not where i got this idea from (i hced it before then) but it was affirming to see that issho, the marine meant to parallel zoro, ALSO was blind and used observation haki to see.

#modposts #op #one piece #roronoa zoro #meta #exposing myself as an issho lover and supporter #i LOVE issho!!! #that old man is one of my favourites and if jimbei and whitebeard didnt exist would be THE favourite

[gayemeralds]

what are the things you hate most about shadow? i think i was mostly neutral-negative towards him but fandom blorbofication made me so instinctually averse to anything about him i cant really pinpot the ones that annoy me the most

i'll admit at first it was mostly because i was annoyed by the fandom's approach to him but i try my best not to get swayed by other peoples perception of sonic and i went back to look at the source material so i can bitch and back myself up. lmao.

i think i just really hate the direction of his character post sa2. i think there's plenty of story to be wrought from shadow- i say i wish he stayed dead after sa2 but thats not 100% true. i think the amnesia arc they went with post sa2 was the dumbest fucking thing they could do with a character who we spent an entire game (sa2) figuring out his past in. like sa2 is so lore heavy that having the core character of the game become amnesiac was stupid i fucking hate it. and it doesnt even get resolved in sonic heroes we have to get shadow the hedgehog 2005 to get a better answer and if im honest even then its still immensely confusing on what, exactly, they're trying to do with shadow.

like imagine if they didnt go the route of amnesia. a shadow that has to fully reckon with the fact that he nearly ended the world. a shadow that has to immediately acknowledge the events of sa2, his grief, geralds actions, and where this leaves him. amnesia shadow jsut doesnt do shadow figuring out where he stands in regard to his past enough justice. idk i just with the amnesia thing literally never happened it was so stupid and i think it fucked up his character post sa2.

but other than that, i really do hate how he keeps getting pushed into things that he really shouldnt be pushed in. i think the sonic movies and sonic prime are the most egregorious examples. i really dont understand why sonic prime, who's purpose was to explore alternative dimensions, didn't focus on sonic and blaze. why was shadow a core part of this show. and the sonic movies skipping sa1 just to get to sa2 to have shadow in the universe to milk as much money as they can frustrates me so fucking much. why is shadow confirmed before amy. also shadow in the twitter take overs when hes not even in the fucking games??? like sonic frontiers and sonic colors... i'll admit i hate sega using him as a marketing ploy. shadow to me is a character that should be placed in the reserves- he's really only useful for big, world ending events. otherwise whats the point of having him around, especially since they don't want to be consistent in his characterization.

speaking of charaterization... im not sure how to phrase this but i think a lot of modern presentations of shadow, in fandom and through sega, really forget how sa2 presented shadow, and his relationship to sonic. i hate how shadow keeps getting casted as sonic's edgy doppleganger whos just picking fights for the sake of a fight. like if you want that metal sonic is right fucking there and always has a good reason to pick a fight with sonic. and i really hate how sonic & shadow are not always casted as equals. theres an underlying respect to their relationship that i think gets forgotten. shadow does respect sonic- he calls him the ultimate lifeform during the finalhazard battle- he acknowledges and respects sonics ability, tenacity, and simplicity. he respects sonic! and the two are equals! they're supposed to be foils of each other- of what letting your losses define you as. they're equals! they're two sides of the same coin! i don't know how to phrase this without going on an insane tangent i just feel like people don't entirely encompass what them being foils means.

anyway. idk. i don't like shadow post sa2 is the simplest answer to this lol.

#master emerald brothel #sighs #. shadow.....

[vyladromeave]

all of them >:)

jkjk

17 and 27?

17. any headcanons you're attached to?

BOY DO I HAVE SOME HEADCANONS IM ATTACHED TO. First off this post is required reading. its over a year old and its all stuff i stand by pretty strongly in regards to vylad. lets just start there.

ok hmmmmmmm see now this is hard for me because you could ask me about any specific like character or location or concept within mcd and i could give you headcanons for them immediately i have too many options. here's what I'm going to do I'm going to open the aphmau wiki and randomize a page on the mcd characters section and whatever I land on is what I'm going to talk about here i go.

I GOT KENMUR OK ITS KENMUR TIME. Well first off he's bi4bi and t4t with emmalyn so jot that down. Emmalyn is more on the history and literature side of things, but Kenmur is much more on the science side, he likes reverse-engineering things and he likes understanding how things work. He doesn't usually get as visibly excited over findings as Emmalyn does, but they are still very much equal in nerdiness.

Despite him going to the Irene Dimension, we don't get a lot of his thoughts about the weird stuff that happens to/around him in canon. I think he'd be very interested in Irene's Dimension, not necessarily because it's Irene's, but because it's a weird weird place with weird rules about how you enter and leave and how time flows while you're there and that's fascinating to him. He would've loved talking about the process of Zoey's portal activation with her if she wasn't so cagey about it.

I'm not big on the whole "Sasha was his fiancee thing" but I do like the idea of them being friends :) And I ESPECIALLY like the idea of him trying to figure out how to cope with the fact that a lot of the people he knew and grew up with turned into Shadowknights. Sasha, Laurance, even Hayden's guard, these were people he knew who all just died around him, some of which becoming much worse people for it. Shadowknights are so poorly understood that nobody (not even Shadowknights!) seems to really understand how it works or why it happens, and that frustrates him deeply. I think he'd be very interested in studying Shadowknights, but also feels very weird about asking Laurance to essentially be his lab rat. So he just quietly makes notes whenever he notices something weird and moves on. World's First Shadowknight Scholar!

27. what's something really interesting that you wished canon decided to explore more? alternatively, what's something interesting that you wished the fandom acknowledged more?

this question is fun because its actually two questions in one which means i get to spend more time talking heehee. there's pleeeenty of stuff in canon, not to go Kenmur-mode but we still barely have anything on how Shadowknights actually work aside from "you died oh noooo now you have to kill someone." This is not helped by how much conflicting information we get.

We ALSO also don't get a lot on how the magicks system works??? Oh everyone has magicks but not really but also kinda but you have to find it and some abilities are passive (Kiki can talk to animals all the time) but also most are active (KC animates dolls, gets tired when she uses it too much, its a big ordeal she has to work up to) and also some are so well-documented that there are entire categories for them (WHAT THE HELL IS BARRIER MAGICKS. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THATS JUST A WELL-KNOWN THING. EVERYONE ELSE HAS UNIQUE ABILITIES AND THEN THERES JUST "BARRIER MAGICKS" WHAT DOES THIS MEAN) and also maybe magicks are passed on by blood but also maybe not and also theres WITCHES now fuck you. And they hate magicks users for noooo reason despite "magick" being incredibly poorly defined at best. What is a curse? How do potions work??? Cursed Objects???? Cursed AMULETS????? WHY????????????? At least they tried to explain things about Shadowknights, when it came to magicks they just fucking gave up. I know its like this because they just used magicks as the macguffin of the week and had no plans on actually developing how it works, but i would literally kill to see plans on how they intended for this to work.

Interesting things Fandom should acknowledge is also fun. There are many. There are so many. I think the politics side of mcd is VERY interesting and very rarely looked at by fans, which is shocking to me considering how central it is to mcd's plot. Because despite the title of "Lord" there IS no active monarchy in Ru'aun, and that's BECAUSE of Irene (which was incredibly based of her), which changes the definition of Lord entirely. ITS REALLY NEAT!! O'khasis has a council!! Who the fucks on it? I don't know!!! But they have a council!!! Isn't that exciting?? This is not a joke I mean this so genuinely. Do you ever wonder if maybe the High Priest is on that council and thats why Zane got the job. Do you ever wonder if there's a reason someone so young and literally THE SON OF THE LORD got put into a position so early? Do you think having that extra vote on Garte's side helped things crumble at a quicker rate than it had been previously?? I do. I wonder these things. And you should too. please.

And SPEAKING of Irene being incredibly based, she did in fact do some things that are incredibly based!!! I know most people like to write her as a Secretly Malevolent God™, which like fair whatever I like to give her some evils too, but I really wish people would take more of a look at what was established about her in S1. There is a reason she is worshipped so widely by the people of Ru'aun and it's because she Literally Is a hero of the people. I think people are generally blinded by how she was portrayed in MCD S3 and in Mystreet that they forget that she was a person for a very long time before she lost it. Go back and look at some of the earlier Irene lore!!! I promise its much more complex and fun than "oooo your goddess is secretly evil and was never good and there is no hope or joy in the world ooooo."

(ask prompts from here!)

#long post #big post #ask #mcd meta #mcd

[raysletters]

2023 Character Wrapped

Rules: share your top 9 characters of 2023

tagged by the lovely @suseagull04 (like, so long ago, but i had forgotten to do it so here i am)

1. Alex Claremont-Díaz (RWRB)

i wish i could explain to you the deep connection i have to this fictional man. he is me and i am him. he probably has been my favorite character since i first found him on 2021 (which is the longest hyperfixation ive ever had, funnily enough) and has actually shaped me to be more confident in myself and all that mushy stuff, so yeah, im just missing a henry kinnie that wants to put up with this mess.

2. Percy Jackson (Riordanverse)

i binge read pjo and hoo these last months, and the way ive become attached to this kid is something else. i want to protect him from anything.

3. Nico di Angelo (Riordanverse)

like with percy, i became attached to him from the moment he showed up, and i would protect him with my life even from rick riordan. he cant do no wrong ever.

4. Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor (RWRB)

henry has specially gained a piece in my heart lately, but i have to be honest, when i first read about him, i thought nothing of him more than the perfect companion and love interest in alex's story. i have to say that getting a glance to his mind through both the bonus chapter and really fucking good fics gave me the insight i needed to comprehend him: his actions, his motivations, and everything in between that made him who he is and made me realize how many things we have in common and how many things i could learn from him, which is always a beautiful experience

5. June Claremont-Díaz (RWRB)

theres nothing i wouldnt do for her. even though i absolutely HATE how i wrote the fic that has june's pov, im still in the process of learning about her and comprehending her more. still, she reminds me so much of my own sister, even though i should kin her more than alex because of the whole sapphic latina journalist who loves her sibling very much, even when they annoy the shit out of you, but alas, im a younger sister and june has so much vibes of my own sister except with my tastes, so yeah, nothing i wouldnt do for her

6. Iris West-Allen (The Flash TV)

in case you didnt know this about me, i had a not-so-recent hyperfixation on the flash (and it can absolutely be seen in my sky high au), and she was half the reason of it. i wish i could put into words how much i fucking love her in every sense of the word. like, i'm in love with her but i also want her to be happy and protected at all costs and i would do anything for her to actually get those things. she can also step on me and i would thank her, but that is unrelated

7. Annabeth Chase (Riordanverse)

what you dont get is that for her i would become like a rabid feral gremlin or maybe that dog that takes a sword in its mouth and starts swinging carelessly. thats how ready i am to protect her from absolutely everything, even spiders, no matter how fucking scared i am of them

8. Imogen Heaney (Heartstopper TV)

yes, i am absolutely biased because the actress also has t1d and my hc is that now imogen also has t1d, but also because i, too, affirmed with my whole chest how i was an ally and totally straight and then slowly realized i was sapphic bc of one cute girl in my friend group that called me out on my bs 💀

9. Barry Allen (The Flash TV)

yes, we dont acknowledge that other version by that other actor. yes, he's last because i had a love-hate relationship with the way he was written. but season 8!barry became one of my favorite versions of him, and i absolutely thank grant (the actor) for the way he made me love the character once again

i missed so many characters that i love but just not like i love these ones. the only one who could easily take barry's place on the list would be nick nelson my absolute beloved, but since flash tv ended this year, it had me in my feelings and i couldn't not put him there, so yeah

DISCLAIMER: i am at the moment reading trials of apollo (im just like 1/4 of the first book) and if somebody spoils me anything i WILL become a rabid feral gremlin, this is your only warning, thank you very much.

anyway, you can consider this an open tag and do this and tag me in it bc i always love to read about yalls favorite stuff. still, no pressure, but im still tagging beautiful ppl so i can read about your favorite characters @anincompletelist @inexplicablymine @read-and-write- @sherryvalli @14carrotghoul @formorewishes

#tag game #2023 character wrapped

[polyhexian]

Nate ranks every transformers thing ever

What:

- Eugenesis

i have no idea how i can ethically rank this as good or bad. its good. its bad. its canon. its fanfiction. it is what it is. dont read eugenesis. please read eugenesis.

God tier:

- Rescue bots

i am not joking. i am not memeing. rescue bots is the best thing to ever come out of the transformers franchise. its the only series to break the three season curse and get a fourth season. it has more episodes than any other series, over 100. it didn’t get cancelled because it wasn’t popular, it ended because they ran out of stories they wanted to tell. then they dropped a sequel series with TWO more seasons. they gave nicole duboc a mainline series for this.

- Mtmte/lost light

life changing. incredible. ruined my life. saved my life. jro is my enemy. jro is my best friend. jro is my dad. i met him once. i showed him my hard copy of eugenesis i paid 150 dollars for and had him sign it. he probably thinks im insane. he DID sign it tho. i think about whirl and cdrw every day of my life

- Cyberverse

I LOVE CYBERVERSE SO MUCH... I don't think any series has captured the pure unbridled chaos of the entire franchise so well. It has so many characters and all of them feel RIGHT. I love the art style. I Love this unhinged soundwave. I LOVE the fresh and interesting new ideas if brought to the table. Season 3 was incredible. The season 4 specials destroyed me. TARN??? TARN IS HERE???

- Rescue bots academy

- Rise of the Beasts

I think that Bumblebee is an objectively better film, I just had more fun watching ROTB lol

- Bumblebee movie

BABY GIRL MY BABY DAUGHTER BABY GIRL BABY BABY

- Earthspark

- Botbots

Yes I am in fact putting botbots this high. This show was so unrepentantly funny. The goof at the beginning show us like oooh space ENERGON crashed to earth the war... Anyway none of that matters lets go to the mall. That is SO funny. They did a chopping mall parody and a Hamilton parody. The protagonist is an unhinged megalomaniac burger.

- Beast wars

don't worry about the visuals you get used to them so fucking fast. beast wars is incredible. the storytelling has so much depth. tigatrons big episode about the cost of their war against the planet and defining what protecting the planet even means changed me. theres an entire episode about farting and rampage and depth charge wanna hate fuck SO bad its fucking unreal

- Recordicons

you WILL acknowledge david willis’s contribution to lgbt history and you WILL laugh at his very funny memes

Great tier:

- Transformers Prime

- Transformers Animated

waspy baby.....

- Idw shattered glass

IM UNHINGED ABOUT SG STARSCREAM AND SG STARFIRE IM ABSOLUTELY UNHINGED

- 86 movie (Bluray remaster)

-the five minutes at the end of earthrise when cog became the main character for some reason

This was the funniest shit I've ever seen. One of the worst most boring shitty tf shows I've sat through with characters I truly care nothing for suddenly lurched sideways as out of fucking nowhere and for no reason at all a random background character suddenly took over the plot and gave the most harrowing performance I've seen in awhile in this horrifically tragic death scene that had my jaw on the floor. And then we just moved on and never spoke of it again ckdhzhcjof. WHAT WAS THAT.... LITERALLY WHAT WAS THAT AND WHY DID THAT HAPPEN....

- Armada (the starscream and Optimus parts)

It is UNREAL how good the starscream and Optimus bits are in this show. When the rest of it is pretty terrible. I would say after starscream dies it's pretty meh but not outright bad, just sort of nothin. The first couple episodes tho are so funny because they're so bad they had no script and were all but ad-libbing the whole thing. They couldn't go two minutes without getting a characters name wrong. Incredible. Anyway this starscream is legendary for being such an interesting and dynamic character with the best design ever. And just like. The coolest character arc.

Okay but also just like do not watch this show in English. The English version is awful and it is More than just a dub!! The Japanese version was finished AFTER the American version despite being animated in Japan!! Because the show! Was not! Done!!! The Japanese version of the show is called micron legend and it's practically a different show. Do yourself a favor and watched micron legend subbed.

- Victory

STAR SABER IS MY DAD OK

also the plot hinges around the premise that current autobot commander star saber found a human infant floating through space and legally adopted him. That's incredible come on

- IDW windblade mini

saren stone could kill me with a brick and i would thank them

- Transformers RiD15 IDW comic

Good tier:

- IDW2

- MMC mnemo/notif comic *

- Transformers go!

FUCK YEAH DRAGONS

- Funpub shattered glass

- Beast Wars uprising

DID YOU KNOW EJECT HAS A FUCKING SON?

Okay Tier:

- Wfc: Siege

- Zone

homosexual

- Challenge of the Go Bots *

Bad tier:

- The rest of IDW1

- G1

I'm not sorry for this. I don't like it. Boo

- Japanese headmasters

- Armada (the rest of it)

- Energon

- American headmasters

- Robotix *

im fucking unironically convinced when this flopped they just reused the plot for headmasters

- Wfc: earthrise

- Super god masterforce

- Beast wars 2

- Beast wars neo

- Beast machines

- RiD 2001

- 86 movie (pre bluray remaster)

- Cybertron

- Vanpires *

the wildest shit ive ever seen. ive watched every episode. imagine the cgi of beast wars season 1 with integrated live action. theres vampire cars and they "drain the gas from innocent cars" when cars??? not sentient???? the human children got irradiated and now they can turn into fucking horrible car beasts. why was this fucking made

- Bayverse

- Machinama’s Prime Wars

You know a series is bad when the first thing I want to complain about is the sound mixing

- Go-bots (transformers branded)

- Wfc: kingdom

Elite one my beloved I am so fucking sorry

Burn in hell tier:

- Rid15

Copaganda to rival paw patrol

- Exodus

This book called me a slur

- Hayato sakamoto’s Transformers Legends

- Kiss players

The worst thing transformers has ever done

??? (I still havent read/watched these) tier:

- Robot Masters

- Devastation

I played twenty minutes of this

- WfC

I’ve actually played a few hours of this but i got bored and didn’t finish so I don’t feel like i should rate it, but ultimately i just found it kind of generic and it didnt grab me

-FoC

-Wings Universe

-Unite Warriors

this is illustrated by hayato sakamoto and ive seen enough of like, the horny bathtub art and oversexualized female characters to assume its most likely shit tier, but i think he also brought breakdown back to life and canonized kobd? I do legitimately want to read this eventually

-Transtech

-Marvel comics

-GI Joe transformers crossover comics

-Dreamwave comics

-new energon universe image comic

-Q transformers

I have actually watched the subbed episodes of this but, there’s so few of them and its so clearly not intended for me since this is like a little silly flash cartoon specifically for japanese fans of transformers that its like, of course i dont really get the jokes or anything so even though i found this kind of boring i dont think its bad and i dont feel comfortable putting it on a tier

- TFP tie in games

- Bayverse tie in games

- Earth Wars

Energon enema though

- IDW MLP crossover

- Nezha

Nezha is lost media but it has toys and I have one so uhhhh I guess I'm acknowledging it theoretically exists

* don't act like this doesn't count, once you're deep enough to make a list ranking every transformers thing ever made you have to start counting this type of shit too

[suffarustuffaru]

I've read some rezero crossover fanfics , but I really don't understand why some people like to impose the whole background and character traits of other characters on certain characters in Rezero, and some fics even directly stated that A in Rezero is in fact B from a certain work, which is very bizarre and disrespectful to both canon source material, it's like B is cosplaying A but is a completely different person on the inside, if you want to insert a character from other works into the rezero world why don't you just keep their original identity and characteristics? Personally, I really hate this type of rezero crossover fics tbh :///

anon i understand you so much hah.

i joined this fandom months before season 2 started airing, so i was there to see rz ao3 pick up and the fanfic scene in rz be more established—so seeing this trend in rz fic has always really confused me tbh?? 😅 and i dont personally like it either for the same reasons you stated. its just one of those rz fanfic tropes that i 1. am not very fond of and 2. am continuously confused by given these arent very fandom typical trends, theyre extremely rz fandom specific if that makes sense (the react fic trend… re:forgotten… etc)? and i dont often see crossovers treated like this in other fandoms, and rz in general seems to be a fandom that really enjoys fic because its kind of. astounding?? that theres a whole fanfic thread that gets continuously renewed on rz reddit and is almost always pinned right at the top of the page. its rare to get a fandom that very openly acknowledges its fic in this way i feel? but you know, you go on that fic thread and you see a lot of people suggesting crossover ideas that—as you said anon—tend to be very “rezero but character a is character b”?? its like such a commonplace thing that occasionally i just go through that thread out of curiosity and read it like you would a morning newspaper hah and you cant go more than a minute without seeing a crossover idea like that.

and if anyone else is seeing this and confused on what the hell that means, one example i see a lot is “rezero but subaru is guts from berserk” wkfndnd

i think subaru is the one this happens most to, just because various audiences have various relationships with subaru, mainly because there tends to be a habit of 1. using him as a self-insert and 2. thinking hes absolute hellspawn or the best most perfect person to ever exist with zero nuance, so the whole “person a is now person b in everything but name and looks” thing is so. telling. like sometimes when i see people talk about a character like subaru it always boggles my mind because its like?? do you… even like subaru as he is? and if youre warping rezero to be more like that other media youre crossing it over with, do you even like rezero either? anon saying “its like B is cosplaying A but is a completely different person in the inside” is exactly how it feels like?? T^T

and of course its not as if you cant write crossovers. i love seeing crossovers!! i read some crossovers myself and ive written a whole bunch of crossovers and i come up with all sorts of ideas. its super fun to do and i completely get it. but the “person a is person b” thing is odd to me because at the heart of it, it feels like it basically means “*insert character* but theyre not actually themselves”. and of course its not like you cant make AUs where things are changed from canon, or AUs where the character grows and changes in general even if its different from canon. but theres a difference between “im gonna put this character through shenanigans and see how they change as a person but theyre ultimately still the same deep down and im examining how theyd most likely realistically act in this situation if this happened to them” vs “im gonna change the entire point of this character until theyre only recognizable in name”. i feel like it completely misses exactly what makes these characters and stories so good in the first place.

also side note: headcanons are a whole different thing because thats just “i have specific ideas about how this character is like” and is usually fine unless youre being pushy about it or condemning others for having (innocent!!) hcs you dont agree with wkdndn

and okay, i also get it if people have issues with how characters or media are written and want to change it. i myself have issues sometimes with how tappei handles rezero, but i still like rezero and so many of its characters. you can critique a media without trying to change what the heart of it is, and rezero for example is ultimately a story with a lot of heart to it and clear purpose behind so much of its writing. and its clear to see some things this crossover trend because so much of it is done with subaru. because it 1. misses the point of all of subarus nuances, complexities, the intent behind his character writing, and what makes him so good in the first place and 2. shows that people dont want him to actually be subaru. they want him to be someone else, which is ironically a plot point that comes up again and again in rezero wkdndnd. its interesting that it comes up so much in rezero too, because i feel like its in part most likely commentary on how audiences react to subaru and often try to change him to fit what they want.

but yeah thats just my thoughts on this whole crossover trend in general 👍👍

#rezero #ask #natsuki subaru #yeah ig ill tag him wkfndn

[danepopfrippery]

Wtf is happening over on ofmd Twitter??

I dont tag in much so last i was aware was the ‘stede bonnet is a racist and u are too’ fluff. And this is of course my take. I only peak in anymore someone more involved might be able to explain better.

Theres some lovely ppl over there, gorgeous art and nsfw art too. But starting lets say may-ish a group of mostly young fans (judging by their profiles most were under 22) started saying most fans were racist for liking Stede Bonnet or Izzy and basically white people and straight ppl shouldnt be allowed to watch or be fans. If u like Con or Izzy (yup both) you were basically a klan member cuz clearly he thinks Ed is his slave etc. it goes on.

Look im white and cishet so im basically 3% of most of the fandom. But i found this particularly interesting cuz a lot of these people crossed over with Wwdits and no one wanted to talk about Kayvan Novak doing repeated blackface starting in 2015. They also didnt want to acknowledge Taika said some real terfy shit when he was my age in 2014 (mustve been an asshole era). Neither man has apologized (or mark proksch) and Kayvan doubled down on it last year.

So look i absolutely can not say how poc are allowed to feel. I just find it very odd they want to lynch Rhys and Con but are fine with Kayvan especially. Blackface to me seems like an ultimate sin.

So moving along… by the C2e2 they wanted to cancel Con for playing Izzy and slammed anyone who fangirled over him. A few weeks later Con made an insensitive comment about a tory having a coke nose, comparing it to a latine country. For some reason that didnt blow up til August. He did apologize and deleted or paused his twitter (he claimed before it blew up he would for filming and this coincided with filming beginning so hard to say). Most of them felt apologizing was no good and this was proof he was truly a racist playing a racist character.

(Fyi my personal belief is ppl should take responsibility, sincerely apologize, and never do x again).

Rhys’ wife is a royalist and when the Queen died they went after her and Rhys for saying Elizabeth’s death was sad. Wife doubled down. Ppl said proof shes racist and he should divorce her (i mean…i didnt love it but they really went after them. Im no royalist and think the queen was a colonizer.)

So then a few weeks ago Rhys Darby briefly replied to a friend that he felt playing Stede Bonnet was like reliving a past life. It was like 2 sentences. Ppl first thought it was cute, then this mob came to feast. They attacked any fan who liked it and attacked rhys so much he declared this is why he doesnt tweet much.

I personally took the tweet to mean he felt like he was reliving a life, not necessarily Stede Bonnet the real dude. But i mean shit if ur playing (or claiming) a rich white man pre 1860 the dude was likely a slave owner. Not a justification but liking a fictional character doesnt mean u think the fictional character is the real dude. I didnt know Stede Bonnet existed before ofmd. Real dude was a cunty slave owner who was prbly mentally ill and an asshole to his crew. I dont conflate Rhys’ bird of paradise bitchy queen with that dude. In my world Stede Bonnet is a fictional character. Fuck the real guy.

Soooo ive ranted nice and long here (sorry i have feelings). But the summary is theres a young mob of ofmd fans on twitter who want to prove they are activists by being assholes to real ppl who arent doing anything worth calling out…while also not calling out actors who really have done shit. Basically baby bullies. And oddly many of them are white so its even weirder. But thats that. I dont recommend bothering with it.

#ofmd #our flag means death #twitter drama #twitter ofmd #con o neill #rhys darby #izzy hands #stede bonnet #kayvan novak #cw racism

[spidermanifested]

returning to the concept of greed playlists: im actually really proud of the one ive been working on. its not "done" yet, in the sense that i like to make my character playlists go in chronological order and theres still comparatively few songs representing the latter half of his arc, but what ive got so far is very solid in my humble imho. so. heres a big post with all the songs ive got in it so far, particularly relevant lyric excerpts, and explanations for how they fit into my Grand Vision

act i: greed the avaricious

softy by kiltro

there's a boy who stalks these halls, he never leaves and when he talks, he talks a lot always by mistake there's a man who runs the show you never see and where he walks, all our breathing stops, how he quiets things

i figured this was a good one to start off the playlist, it sets up the quiet unease of greeds existence. also starting with a song called "softy" on a playlist about the Ultimate Shield and building everything else on top of that is a move of genius i think

shadow's keeper by black rebel motorcycle club

what is the purpose if you feel so incomplete? what is the reason if it beats you to your knees? what do you keep? your eyes were wide but there's a world that keeps you blind a painted serpent turning water into wine seeking light

hes starting to acknowledge how unfulfilled he feels, and the shadow/light motifs are an extra treat considering he uses the metaphor himself. ive done my best to continue that theme throughout the playlist. especially fun if you take the "painted serpent turning water into wine" as the "world that keeps (him) blind" AND the thing "seeking light", aka father, and combine that with the later verse:

you're begging for the truth but now you've seen too much you're living in your head but never feel their touch and everything was buried by the deep blue sky help me to breathe 'cause I don't wanna see the light just tell me to breathe 'cause I don't wanna be denied

he doesnt want whatever grand plans father has in store, he wants a family that cares about him. truth mentioned also, as well, give it up for the truth

willard! by will wood

i've never understood what humans do and want it's quite confusing to me to try to connect never learned how I should feel, instincts somehow stunted just seem haunted by my stupid urge to protect

replace "humans" with homunculi and you have a whole song about how his chimeras are the only ones who really get him. "being haunted by (his) stupid urge to protect" is also such a greed line

hast thou considered the tetrapod by the mountain goats

and alone in my room i am the last of a lost civilization and i vanish into the dark and rise above my station

he, father and the other homunculi quite literally are the last of a lost civilization. also

held under these smothering waves by your strong and thick-veined hand but one of these days i'm gonna wriggle up on dry land

^these lines make me cry on their own already and when i place them in greedcontext it has an effect

what's a devil to do? by harley poe

oh, when the saints go marching in i won't be there, 'cause I love my sin am i so bad that you hate me? there was a time when i could see my hopes and dreams, they are no more i'm not a rich man, but blessed are the poor oh man, forgive me, i turned away i won't come back, so i'll have to pay

i dont think i have to expound on how this relates to greed very much do i. entire song about your inherently sinful nature making you unfit for your home

act ii: taking on the world

could have been me by the struts

don't wanna live as an untold story rather go out in a blaze of glory i can't hear you, i don't fear you i'll live now 'cause the bad die last dodging bullets with your broken past i can't hear you, i don't fear you now

the tiger! he destroyed his cage! the tiger is out!!!!

i by kendrick lamar

and i love myself (the world is a ghetto with big guns and picket signs) i love myself (but it can do what it want whenever it want, i don't mind) i love myself

hes seen how much pain society has in it at this point, but he still has no regrets about leaving home. for the first time in his life hes starting to fill the void in his soul

i want it all by queen

i'm a man with a one track mind so much to do in one lifetime (people do you hear me) not a man for compromise and where's and why's and living lies so i'm living it all, yes i'm living it all and i'm giving it all, and i'm giving it all

the first of several songs about Wanting Everything because you have to have songs about wanting everything in a greed playlist. but thats not the only reason this one fits, youve got the "not wanting to live a lie" part, as well as talking about giving instead of just taking

raise hell by dorothy

young blood, run like a river young blood, never get chained young blood, heaven need a sinner you can't raise hell with a saint young blood, came to start a riot don't care what your old man say young blood, heaven hate a sinner but we gonna raise hell anyway

hes way past young at this point but theres always room for a Fuck You Dad song

emperor's new clothes by panic! at the disco

welcome to the end of eras ice has melted back to life done my time and served my sentence dress me up and watch me die if it feels good, tastes good, it must be mine

this is maybe The classic greed song. everybody knows its about him. the only difference in opinion with the masses i really have is that even though emperor is in the title it really fits more as a pre-nest wild party era greed song than a greedling era song because at no point during the winter road trip does he get to engage in the songs brand of lavish hedonism. hes too busy being depressed

also its fun that it has the word decapitated in it. when, you know

the man by the killers

i know the score like the back of my hand them other boys, i don't give a damn they kiss on the ring, i carry the crown nothing can break, nothing can break me down

obligatory Toxic Masculinity Song. some of the lines about not taking advice dont really apply here because this is greed "looks to his minions for social advice in the middle of a kidnapping" the avaricious but he does have his weird chivalry thing and also a lot of baggage around his own vulnerability. i also think its funny to put in a song where he brags about his dick

thrift shop by macklemore

imma take your grandpa's style, imma take your grandpa's style no, for real, ask your grandpa, can i have his hand-me-downs?

unfortunately this is definitely a greed song.

mr. pinstripe suit by big bad voodoo daddy

now he strolls through the city like a big ol' alley cat with his pinstripe suit and a big bad voodoo hat i don't believe i ever saw him without a kitten on his hand and no one swings as hard to the big bad voodoo band

the time period doesnt quite line up but the Vibe is there. hes making a name and a reputation for himself and hes looking good doing it

busy earnin' by jungle

you think that all your time is used too busy earnin' you can't get enough

a more uncertain interlude. the melody doesnt falter but the lyrics ask if this is really what he wants out of life. after all, he has a long time, but he doesnt have forever.

everybody loves me by onerepublic

don't need my health got my name and got my wealth, i stare at the sun just for kicks all by myself, i lose track of time, so i might be past my prime, but i'm feelin' oh so good, yeah

this answers the question the previous song posed with a "psssh, ill think about it later"

i want it by viv and the revival

in the stores make it rain 'cause it's wet like a dream (a-wooo) cars, boats, big house, everything in between (a-wooo) i don't know i don't care i don't give but i can share, so i'll make you scream make you believe that you can have anything, anything!

another "i want everything" song that stands out by mentioning wanting someone else to have things too. still not really addressing the uncertainty yet in favor of continuing to fuck around

gimme! gimme! gimme! (a man after midnight) by abba

gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight won't somebody help me chase the shadows away? gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight take me through the darkness to the break of the day

well? give him a man after midnight

i'll rust with you by steam powered giraffe

i'll rust with you i'll rust with every one of you nostalgic nights have got me feelin' its all gone, gone, gone to rust

song about being immortal and watching all your relationships fade away before your eyes as the decades roll past? dont mind if i do

highwayman by the highwaymen

i was a highwayman along the coach roads i did ride with sword and pistol by my side many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade the bastards hung me in the spring of '25 but i am still alive

by this point hes been living among humans long enough to have racked up a considerable number of deaths. but hes still around. he'll always be around. Or Will He

act iii: coming together

red right hand by nick cave & the bad seeds

you don't have no money? he'll get you some you don't have no car? he'll get you one you don't have no self-respect, you feel like an insect well don't you worry buddy 'cause here he comes through the ghettos and the barrio and the bowery and the slum a shadow is cast wherever he stands stacks of green paper in his red right hand

the tone of the song is sinister. within the context of this playlist i am envisioning it as entirely literal. whats up with this weird guy and his red right hand. well he got me a new car so he cant be all that bad. he definitely casts a shadow wherever he stands but you know itd be kind of weird if he didnt

this marks the beginning of his quest to find lasting friends minions. clearly just bribing them wont really work

evil friends by portugal. the man

it's not because the light here is brighter and it's not that I'm evil i just don't like to pretend that i could ever be your friend

return of the light motif and the cataclysmic collision of greeds refusal to lie and his refusal to accept the most basic truth about himself. hes gotten to the point where hes able to recognize that who he is isnt a bad thing, but he still cant connect the dots and understand that he was lied to from the start about who he is at all. so he says shit like this with full confidence

let me bathe in demonic light by the mountain goats

someday the old flesh will give way to the new find a functioning mirror inside and slip right through and there, there i'll be and who, who's coming with me? to show me my one true face when i arrive at my preordained place

the light theme continues, and illustrates the fact that in starting to seek out immortality he's retreading the same ground as father-- making the same mistakes. the hunger, as the lyrics explain, runs "deep in the bloodline". just like father, he cant do it alone, and calls on others to join him, while the lyrics run in direct contrast to the past song by saying the word "friend" multiple times. this will continue

amy aka spent gladiator 1 by the mountain goats

i hide down in my corner because i like my corner i am happy where the vermin play

i might wind up relocating this somewhere else on the playlist at some point but right now the sound fits well in this part so. song about Coping, and not necessarily coping healthily or well. but hes surviving, with his little crimelord hobby

if i lead by kiltro

show me the ways that you talk and all of the places you walk if i lead would you follow? let me at the corners where the light don’t touch colors, figures sway love, they might lift you away from the street to what’s under and everything that scatters by the light of day

weve got light again folks! this ones (very plainly i should think) about recruiting the gang. he asks for their trust and brings them down into the underbelly of dublith.

modern jesus by portugal. the man

don't pray for us we don't need no modern jesus to roll with us the only rule we need is never giving up the only faith we have is faith in us

the Greed Crucifixion jokes are hilarious but this song i think fits very well as a refusal by the nest to treat him as anything but an equal, at least in terms of his being a homunculus. they dont want a god, they want a boss and an ally and a friend.

bourbon street by jeff tuohy

every night we throw this little soiree i'm gonna turn her head until she's mine, all mine every night I breed a new disaster might be right, might be wrong try to get away and i will bring you right along

another party song, this time with hints that being on his side isnt totally safe, and he might not be as in-control as he makes himself out to be. everyones having fun, though. for now!

guys on every corner by the mountain goats

with your tabloid stars and your unmarked cars with your special forces and your inside sources with your radar fields and your riot shields and heavy horses i'm coming to swat you down like flies 'cause i got guys

come at him, government. hes got guys.

act iv: the downfall

alligator teeth by mother falcon

i will turn my friends to gold for the treasury to hold them safely while they dream

a sudden shift in musical style to something way more... i dont quite know how to describe it but its soft at first and then turns frantic and its generally not the kind of music i would typically listen to for Fun but in the context of the events leading up to the raid i think the sound works to illustrate the confusion and fear. immortality, i think, was never just for greed. he wanted to protect his friends too. the lyrics start to repeat "i don't wanna ever dream", and then "'cause all it ever leads me to is bad things, bad things"-- this desire is exactly what gets them all killed.

king rat by modest mouse

we spun like birds on fire right down towards the residence, and i i took all that I desired, even crooks have to pay the rent we swam like rats on fire right, right down the reservoir we took all that we could carry, but we tried to carry more and you know, you know, you know it all went wrong

the musical panic continues into the next song, which describes a burglary gone sideways and perfectly captures the raid. greed tried to bite off more than he could chew and paid the price for it. plenty of the lyrics can be directly associated with the situation-- the "king rat" who "has (greed) on his list again", the "deep water" he's sinking in, the claim that he was "honest even when he cheated them". i dont think id be able to find a more fitting song for this part if i looked for a year

going to hell by the pretty reckless

father did you miss me don't ask me where i've been you know i know, yes, i've been told i redefine a sin i don't know what's driving me to put this in my head maybe i wish i could die, maybe i am dead and he said for the lives that i fake, i'm going to hell for the vows that i break, i'm going to hell

barring any better future options this song has provided the title for the whole playlist-- "redefine a sin". the in-context priest being called father really elevates this one, if the whole premise wasnt enough to begin with. a+ greedsong

heretic pride by the mountain goats

and i start laughing like a child and i mark their faces one by one transfiguration's going to come for me at last and i will burn hotter than the sun

maybe greeds emotional state is a little different from the narrator here, but overall this is a certified Song to Get Put in the Soup To

act v: rebirth

still feel. by half alive

floating in outer space, have i misplaced a part of my soul? lost in the in-between, or so it seems, i'm out of control floating in outer space, have i misplaced a part of my soul? lost in the in-between, but it can't keep me asleep for long 'cause i still feel alive

i can so vividly picture the animatic to this one. greeds little soulface flipping around in the stone. zooming in on fathers weird eyeball as he cries him out and puts him in different guys. the last verse being him coming to life again in lings body. why dont i have 7 million dollars

same man i was before by oingo boingo

i'm not the same boy I was before but I haven't changed my desires i've not extinguished the fires i haven't lost wide-eyed wonder i haven't lost, haven't lost, haven't lost that stupid fear of thunder

AND everyone keeps telling him everything he does is wrong. cut that out

ドーナツホール ft. GUMI by hachi

いつからこんなに大きな | When was it that I got these memories, 思い出せない記憶があったか | These big ones I can't remember? どうにも憶えてないのを | Out of what I just can't recall, ひとつ確かに憶えてるんだな | There's one thing I remember pretty well もう一回何回やったって | Try one more time, a hundred times, 思い出すのはその顔だ | All I remember is your face それでもあなたがなんだか | And yet you yourself, I'm not sure why, 思い出せないままでいるんだな | But I still can't remember you…

this is the bido song. look up the rest of the lyrics its about bido. i searched bido on japanese twitter one time and saw somebody else saying this song reminded them of greed and bido. its about greed and bido

act vi: memories returned

stronger by the score

set me on fire set me on, set me on fire (whoa, whoa-oh) i'm still alive i'm still a- i'm still alive (whoa) bet you didn't think that i'd come back to life

every single line fits him perfectly. youve all seen @humming-fly's animation right you dont need me to explain. if you havent what are you doing

long way down by black rebel motorcycle club

don't you cry to yourself just to feel like someone who's hit bottom? but you can't run away 'cause the hole that remains will follow don't you care just enough? don't you feel your heart stop? but you can't know what you want

after the emotional high of 'stronger', representing the anger overtaking him as he goes to attack bradley, 'long way down' takes us, well, Down. hes is so fucking sad. but he cant know what he wants! now more than ever! because to admit it would mean admitting he lost it!!!

clean slate by the mountain goats

rest until you're rested, climb back onto the caravan remember at your peril, forget the ones you can and then just when you think you've learned how to forget you learn it's just the ones who haven't risen to the surface yet

this is The Roadtrip Song. hes sorting through his memories and struggling the entire time. i owe john "the mountain" goats my life for continuing to make ten million songs about extremely specific situations. ideally id have so many more songs in this category but until i find more this is it for the time being

act vii: final sacrifice

human heart by thao

god damn your crooked mouth and lean your fear is a bullet in the wing is it so brave? tell me, is it so brave? the private posture of the self homemade

with this, we skip ahead to the final fight and the moment when he decides to sacrifice himself. shout out to whoever transcribed "eat and won't you be hungry" as "ethan won't you be hungry" on the spotify lyrics for this one, i dont know who ethan is but i hope he has a good lunch. what was i talking about. oh right

children play with fire by mischief brew

children lead us to the lake of fire (fire!) children lead us to the lake of fire (fire!) and as we drive down into the flames maybe I'll let you hold the reins

change da world... his final message. goodb ye

epilogue

just one more by mad caddies

no necesito la vida rica (i don't need the rich life) estoy contento contigo (i'm happy with you) 'cause in the end we all go the same place, yeah so i'll be happy with what i know

like the title says: just one more. because whatever form it takes, he IS partying it up in that shitty bar in the sky. and all his friends are there too.

like i said i would very much prefer to have more songs in the latter parts so if anybody has recommendations. please rant at me about the songs you associate with greed. and if i can fit them in i will. this post took me all day to make i have got to get some follower interaction out of it

#fullmetal alchemist (fullmetal alchemist)

[antimony-medusa]

i very much agree with your post abt keeping certain fandom things out of a streamers chat/donos but i think it should be acknowledged that scar has never been outwardly uncomfortable with jokes abt his character being painted in a “sexy” light. he laughed abt the poll and the “propaganda” and asked why people didnt tell him about it. scar is very aware that people draw his character in a certain way and mentions/laughs abt it on stream often, even liking art or jokes. ofc common sense is a thing, and for most ppl telling a creator something overly personal or saying that you draw suggestive/nsfw art of them is (rightfully) weird asf. i dont think every single thing has to be stated as a boundary by a content creator for fans to just understand that its weird to do/bring up, but i think theres also a place to say that scar (as far as i know) has never shunned these jokes or comments, and often joins in

(im very much /nm over this, just wanted to mention smthn that went through my head when i saw your post, sorry.)

In my mind, this is not a matter of boundaries, though that applies in the fact that all human interactions are about boundaries and manners, as much as it is a matter of politeness and kindness. I might watch all of Scar's videos, but I don't actually know Scar, and importantly, he doesn't know me. One of the reasons that it's impolite to tell streamers that someone famous just died is that you're trying to get a reaction out of them, for your entertainment. Telling someone that they were in a sexyman tournament is still trying to get a reaction out of them, and they didn't get to choose if they want to engage with that a) at all, or b) right now.

When someone is streaming, or at a Q & A, or something of that nature, they are at work. They can't leave right now. Whether or not he's expressed amusement or approval of hot guy art, it is impolite to bring up something that is potentially contentious, like a sexyman poll, in a situation where half of the conversation can't leave.

Like, I ran the sexyman poll. I'm a mod on a pin up calendar for hotguy art. I would not have done those things (maintagged!) if I thought it was baseline inappropriate to do, or for CCs to know about. But I still think there's a time and a place to bring things up, and TTS is not the place.

There is a huge difference between someone deciding to go into the art tag and like some fan art, or bringing up jokes on their own time, and between someone conversationally grabbing them by the face and going NOW PAY ATTENTION TO THE FACT THAT I THINK YOU"RE SEXY. It is vitally important to me that creators are able to choose their level of engagement with fandom, and TTS or bringing things up in chat takes that choice away from them.

They get to bring it up to us, we don't bring it up to them, because we are not their friends, and they don't know us.

#anon #ask #GoodTimesWithScar

[bluelockednyx]

helooo! if u dont mind me asking, is there a reason u prefer the isagirin dynamic when rinsagi is the more popular one? sorry, it's just really rare to find ppl who kinda favor isagirin too, it's also my preference but my reasons are dumb af. and after looking at some of ur six-part analysis on the ship, im curious if theres any underlying reason you prefer isagirin over rinsagi ?

!!! Fellow Isagirin shipper!!!

It’s perfectly valid to ship whichever for the shallowest and dumbest reasons possible, anon. What is shipping but smashing two of your favourite fictional characters together like barbies for whatever things you want them to do? I have plenty of crack ships of my own, I even have ships that have never interacted with each other in canon at all lmao.

Ship preferences really comes down to 1) personal interpretation of character and relationship dynamics and 2) your personal likes and dislikes in a relationship. That's true for everyone, and true for why I prefer Isagirin to Rinsagi as well. But since you asked for a more in-depth explanation… buckle up, I love ranting.

Let's start with Isagi.

One of the most memorable bits of characterization for me from early Blue Lock, was the Team Z vs Team Y match. After Isagi makes the winning shot, we’re treated to several pages of his reaction. He walks through Team Y members crying on the ground, thinking that he won the game, that he trampled over their dreams with his goal, and then we’re treated to a close up of Niko’s crying face, and we have Isagi come to the profound realization that he likes how that feels.

Read this scene in the manga. Watch this scene in the anime. And if you come back and tell me that this scene doesn’t make you think that Isagi is a sadist dom in the making, unfollow me forever because that is my stance and I will die with it, however Blue Lock ends.

I've mentioned it in my meta, but Isagi is a pretty passive person when it comes to interpersonal relationships. He mostly goes along with whatever kind of dynamic they initiate.

Let's look at his and Bachira's relationship. Bachira is Isagi’s first and arguably closest friend in Blue Lock. In their relationship, it's Bachira that takes the lead, with Isagi following it. Bachira is the one who persistently reaches out, but Isagi is not always receptive or accepting of it. There’s a subtle personal and emotional distance that Isagi has in place between them, a barrier that he never quite lets Bachira cross. When Bachira tries to feed him meat early on, Isagi pulls away. When Bachira talks about how glad he is to be in Blue Lock because he found Isagi here to be friends with, Isagi’s reaction is… well, surprisingly cold, to me. Almost unbothered? Not because he doesn’t appreciate it the communication and honesty, but more along the lines of he views it as having very little to do with him, personally, if at all. Isagi says that Bachira gives him courage in the early chapters, but beyond that... well. I don't find much emotional draw in their friendship from Isagi's side. Bachira doesn't inspire much in Isagi after the Team Z arc. Again, this is personal character and relationship interpretation, so YMMV with this one.

That's not the case with Rin. That's not the case with Rin, at all. Isagi chooses Rin, over and over again even when he doesn't need to. He didn't have to fight with Rin in the first 3v3 -- he could have waited for more teams to come up, but he said it himself, he wants Rin. He specifically chooses to match up with Rin in the 4v4 until Barou wrecked their initial plans by wanting to duke it out with Tokimitsu, and Nagi then said that he wanted to match up with Rin instead. In the Blue Lock 11 tryouts he chooses Rin again over Nagi, despite acknowledging the challenge and difficulty of it. In the U20 match he still focuses almost entirely on Rin's actions and moves. After the U20 match, he didn't have to stay back and speak to Rin, to try and comfort him with 'That goal was our goal', but he still did. Even before the Neo Egoist League restarted, he could have chosen to avoid Rin after how poorly their last talk ended, but he still went to speak to Rin alone, separating from his other friends. Isagi is astoundingly assertive whenever Rin is concerned, and he's drawn to Rin as a person.

Isagi is the one that sets the tone for their dynamic. He’s the one who started up a one-sided rivalry in the first 3v3, and he also specifically mentions that he ‘wants to win with Rin’. Isagi is the one who gets emotionally attached to Rin first, who links his own wants and desires with Rin, and then when Rin tries to worsen their relationship, Isagi is the one who puts the brakes on that by being the more emotionally mature one and taking the high road, even playfully teasing Rin over being a ‘fake villain’ when Rin calls Isagi a ‘fake hero’ before the Neo-Egoist League begins properly.

So that’s one reason why top!Isagi works better for me where Isagi and Rin’s relationship is concerned. Now let’s look at Rin.

Continuing from the above, Isagi is the one who sets the tone for their relationship dynamic, and it’s Rin who responds to it. Rin is not the person who takes the emotional initiative in their relationship, though it may seem that way on the surface.

Rin goes along with Isagi setting up the first 3v3. He picks Isagi only after Isagi challenges and surprises/surpasses him in the 4v4. He thaws a little towards Isagi during the yoga session, after Isagi joins him and acknowledges him as his own person. As they’re training for the U20 match, Isagi is the one to reach out to him and offer him water, which he accepts after refusing it the first-time round. It’s only when Isagi tries to comfort him after the U20 match that he lashes out at Isagi. Again, before the Neo-Egoist League, he’s the responder, snapping at Isagi for being friendly with him after Isagi reaches out to talk to him first.

He is also not the person who has the emotional initiative in his other, closest relationship either. It’s Sae who sets their dynamic – Sae tells Rin to become the best forward after him when they were children, tells Rin to be the best forward while he becomes the best midfielder on that unknown snowy day pre-Blue Lock, and after Rin hurts him Sae is the one who starts the painfully strained dynamic of their relationship and continues doing so by ignoring and stonewalling Rin before the U20 match. All of Rin's attempts at reaching his brother never click until he gets into flow. At the end of the U20 match, too, it’s Sae who comes up to talk to Rin instead of the other way around. We don’t even see what Rin does or says to Sae after that, and it’s safe to say, I think, that Rin buried all his emotional wounds beneath the surface, and it’s Isagi who dragged it out of him after his little speech in the locker room post-U20 match, and he redirects all his anger at Sae to Isagi instead.

Remember Bachira’s conversation with Rin before the 4v4 rematch? Bachira telling Rin that Rin’s football seems lonely? Rin is lonely. He’s just not self-aware enough about it, and he thinks that all his problems can be solved if he just gets Sae's acknowledgment again. Which it really, really won't.

For all Rin appears to be aloof and stays apart from the Blue Lock boys by being both hostile and unfriendly, he’s a very emotionally needy person, and we know this through his relationship with Sae, and how he so very desperately wants his brother’s acknowledgment. He keeps playing football and pushes through alone by improving his individual skill after Sae left for Madrid, even when he finds it hard and restricting without Sae around. He would have willingly set aside all the pain Sae put him through just to have to his old, close relationship with his brother again. He was ready to forgive all the hurt Sae caused him at the end of the U20 match when Sae came to talk to him, but when Sae acknowledged Isagi instead of Rin himself, it sent him spiraling into hate for Isagi. I’ve already talked about this in my meta: it’s not healthy or good for Rin and Sae’s relationship that Rin hinges so much of his emotional needs on Sae. He’s realised some of the problems in the U20 match, but there’s still more work he needs to do on himself.

We haven’t had an equal relationship built up with Rin and Sae (as much as a relationship can be equal in a pretty hierarchical society with older and younger siblings anyway). It’s almost all about what Sae wants, and he never really tries to talk about things with Rin and figure out what Rin really wants. One throwaway line after four years of not seeing each other about how the world is really big and expecting Rin, who’s been playing at home in Japan (presumably in a youth team too, like Karasu and Hiori) to just understand you like that? What the fuck, Sae. And it’s hard for Rin to even bridge that gap, because Sae keeps stonewalling. Rin’s right here: Sae is a shitty big brother to him. We, as the readers, get some insight into Sae, so we can read deeper into Sae’s characterization and understand that beneath his callous attitude Sae does care for Rin and thinks highly of him, even going so far as to encourage Rin to fulfill his dream when Sae’s all but given up on his own. But communication is a two-way street. If one person doesn’t understand, and the other doesn’t try to talk/elaborate/explain or do something for them to understand, well. You get the clusterfuck that’s their relationship.

Rin is simply not emotionally mature enough to handle his complex feelings for both Sae and Isagi well. He’s just sixteen, and he has been depicted with little, if any, strong relationships with anyone in the series besides his brother, so there’s not much of a template his own experience can draw off to handle them, or someone else he can really talk to about them to get a broader perspective. Which is why I’ve been speculating that if the author intends to go down the healthier, more wholesome route with Rin, Rin's character arc should involve him foiling with, and being the inverse of Isagi’s: establishing proper relationships with his teammates, growing to become actual friends with them instead of simply a revolving door of temporary partnerships and alliances. Authorial intentions are still up in the air (there’s been a lot of artistic foreshadowing that Rin’s going to suffer more later on and have ‘his life turned upside down’), but yeah.

So I guess you could say that I prefer to ship Isagirin more primarily for this reason: the emotional initiative and directional control of their relationship dynamic lies more in Isagi’s hands, rather than Rin’s.

For dumber, shallower and sexier reasons: it’s hot.

Shorter, smaller, physically weaker Isagi topping Rin? Nice. Very hot.

But more importantly for me: the power dynamics of their relationship??? Isagi being a sadist dom who got a goddamn high from watching Niko cry after he beat him, asserting himself and reaching out to Rin constantly in contrast to all his other relationships in-series, versus Rin who’s emotionally turbulent and deals poorly with them with a whole lot of repression and anger, is somewhat of a masochist, yearns to be wanted and needed and if that’s not… a sub… well.

I want to see Rin break under Isagi’s hands, fall apart completely and then have Isagi put him back together again. That's where my personal tastes run.

TLDR; Isagi’s has shades of sadist dom top in my interpretation of his depiction, takes both the initiative and has greater control of his and Rin’s relationship dynamic whereas Rin is an emotional sub with shades of masochism, and a deeply rooted emotional need to be wanted.

#niki answers asks #otp: heart stolen by his beautiful parable #will yell about top isagi when given the chance