#because it does not contradict the canon media

[etaleah]

What Is the Appeal of Sonadow?

I have a lot of thoughts about this ship, what draws people to it, and why some of the criticisms of it are exaggerated or less than honest. Putting them under a cut because it’s gonna get long.

First of all, the critique of “Lol why do people ship them when they beat the shit out of each other whenever they disagree on something, they’re abusive!” is dishonest framing for two reasons. One is that it ignores the fact that Sonic and Shadow are allies far more often than they’re enemies, and even when they are enemies, it’s usually over something serious, not just a minor disagreement. The other is that it’s bad media criticism to apply real human standards to a cartoon animal universe.

When you watch the classic Looney Tunes short where Bugs and Daffy are arguing over whether it’s Rabbit Season or Duck Season and Bugs tricks Daffy into shooting himself, do you see Bugs as abusive and evil? Probably not, because the laws of physics don’t apply in cartoons and Daffy getting shot in the face doesn’t actually hurt him. He’s still completely fine afterwards because he’s a cartoon and is therefore invincible. The same is true for Sonic and Shadow. Have you ever seen either of them seriously injured after one of their fights? Has either one ever needed to go to the hospital because the other beat him up so badly? No, of course not. They groan in pain for about two seconds and then they’re fine. If the creators wanted to convey them being injured, they could show bruises or blood or have bones snapping and the characters limping, but they don’t. The fights are never meant to be taken that seriously. I find this criticism every bit as annoying and overzealous as people who insist that Pinky and the Brain are abusive because Brain bops Pinky on the head. They’re cartoons, y’all. They’re not realistic, were never meant to be realistic, and shouldn’t be treated as realistic. Different standards apply.

To the second point, Sonic and Shadow don’t actually fight that often. In all the interactions they’ve had together, it’s only been a handful of times. They’re allies in the Archie comics, Sonic ‘06, the canon ending of Shadow the Hedgehog (they’re only enemies in that game if the player wants them to be), Sonic Forces, Team Sonic Racing, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, and most of the IDW comics, along with the endings of Sonic X, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Heroes. They’re allies for much of Prime as well. But hey, let’s break down the times they do fight:

Sonic Adventure 2: Shadow’s memories have been tampered with and he and Sonic are literally fighting over the fate of the world.

Sonic X: Same thing for season 2, and in season 3, they’re fighting over whether Cosmo should live or die. Sonic says killing her is wrong, Shadow says stopping the Metarex is what’s most important and if that means little Cosmo has to die, well, them’s the breaks, pal.

Sonic Prime: Sonic has broken their world, Shadow is trying desperately to save it, and Sonic is valuing the Shatterverse inhabitants over Green Hill.

IDW: Shadow says Eggman is too dangerous to leave alive and if that means Mr. Tinker has to die too, well, them’s the breaks, pal. Sonic says killing anyone is wrong no matter the reason.

You see a pattern here? Most of the time what they fight over is literally life and death. They’re not going at each other’s throats over petty bullshit like who gets the last slice of pizza or who gets to pick the film for Movie Night. They fight over serious moral differences. I would argue that Amy and Knuckles have gotten angry at Sonic for way less than what Shadow does.

Now, there are a few instances where their fights are stupid, namely Sonic Boom and Sonic Heroes. But I think it’s pretty universally agreed that Shadow is out of character in Boom, and honestly, all of the fights in Sonic Heroes are very forced. There was no reason for Team Dark or Team Rose to fight Team Chaotix; their goals don’t contradict each other in any way and it’s clearly just manufactured conflict to give the player another boss fight. And these are the exception; most of their fights are over serious ideological divides.

Those serious ideological divides are exactly what makes Sonadow so interesting. I personally prefer ships where characters can learn and grow from each other, where their differences can clash until they learn to reconcile them. I don’t find a ship like, say, Sonamy nearly as interesting because I don’t think there’s many (if any) moral stances Sonic would have that Amy wouldn’t. They already agree on the important things. I’m not bashing anyone who likes that ship; if that’s your thing, good for you. It just doesn’t appeal to me because I think Sonic and Amy already having a lot in common morally means they can’t really grow and change from interacting with each other in the same way.

Sonic can bring out the best in Shadow, teach him to trust others and lighten up and learn how to live in the moment rather than being tethered to the past. Shadow can teach Sonic how to think before he acts, to view the world more realistically, and to consider the impact that his insistence on moral purity will have on others. That setup makes for some amazing stories.

Also? These guys love fighting each other. They’re both athletes and very competitive. Look at how much they smile when they fight:

Like…they love this. It’s so much fun for them. Sonic and Shadow are both competitive athletes who love pushing themselves, but in terms of speed, no one is any competition for them except each other. No one else can beat either of them in a race. Imagine spending your whole life winning so easily that there was no accomplishment in it, and then suddenly this guy comes along who’s actually as good as you or maybe even better. Finally you have a challenge and can really enjoy the feeling of being the best. That’d be amazing. They give each other something no one else can, and to me, that’s what good romances are made of.

And all of that is combined with the fact that Sonadow offers an Odd Couple setup, which is always fertile ground for fun, comedic situations that require opposite characters to work together. Plus the Enemies/Rivals to Lovers aspect, which adds a bit of “forbidden fruit” to the mix because we all know that the most tempting and appealing relationships are the ones that are Forbidden (TM). That’s literally the premise of Romeo and Juliet, people who aren’t supposed to be together but end up wanting to be anyway.

I wouldn’t want Sonadow to be canon, but I definitely enjoy exploring it in fandom. It’s a fun ship that offers a lot for a writer or artist to work with. And while I would never force it on anyone, I wish the criticisms of it weren’t quite so shallow and disingenuous.

#it’s possible I missed a few bits because I haven’t played all the games #if so I’m sorry #it’s just not financially feasible to play all of them ya know #sonadow #sonic the hegehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonic prime #sa2 #sa2b #sonic games #shipping dynamics #sonic heroes

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

PADMÉ AMIDALA (STAR WARS) (CW: Pregnancy)

1.) From the beginning, she only existed to be Anakin's love interest and Luke and Leia's mother. Although she's an important political figure in all three prequels, her characterization in being Anakin's crush/maternal figure in Phantom Menace, Anakin's love interest in Attack of the Clones, and Anakin's wife and baby mama in Revenge of the Sith. She literally dies of a broken heart when Anakin turns to the dark side in RotS, right after giving birth to the twins, because her whole purpose in that movie was to motivate Anakin's fall and be the twins' incubator. What's more, she didn't even know she was carrying twins until after Luke was born because George Lucas apparently gave no thought to what prenatal care would have been like in a universe with futuristic technology despite the whole main plot revolving around Anakin thinking Padme was going to die in childbirth. There was also a subplot cut from RotS where Padme helped found the rebellion with Bail and Mon and then goes to Mustafar to kill Anakin after he falls, but it was apparently deemed not important enough to keep.

2.) Her characterization was drastically forgotten about in the prequel films in favor of her husband's (despite her being one of three main characters in the prequel franchise). She went from queen of an entire planet to a senator of a galaxy-wide political body to dying of a broken heart. She does not question the actions of those close to her despite them contradicting her character morals (which her character was built on!!). Plus, she is rarely mentioned outside of the animated series. The show, Kenobi, doesn't even mention her name, only that she was essentially kind and brave. Also, she was not approached for a cameo in any of the largest related media while the men have.

3.) oh boy. she basically dies because apparently George Lucas doesn’t realize that women’s healthcare exists??? like you could argue that she wouldn’t have died if she just had an OBGYN. in 2/3 of the movies she’s basically just used as a tool for the main male character’s development. then there’s this whole plotline in The Clone Wars (aka TCW) series where there’s all this gross stuff with her ex who literally tries to kiss her when she’s actively saying no, then her husband proceeds to lowkey victim blame her??? it’s just so unnecessary. I could go on

BUMBLE (WARRIOR CATS) (CW: Domestic Abuse)

1.) Back with another Warriors submission, I bet you’ll be getting a lot from other people too LMAO. Bumble is a kittypet (housecat) who befriends the male protagonist Gray Wing’s girlfriend, Turtle Tail, and lets her stay in her house. This gets Gray Wing all pissy because he’s controlling of Turtle Tail and shares most of the wild/clan cat’s proclivity for looking down upon kittypets. Turtle Tail gets pregnant by another kittypet, Tom, who tries to control her by hiding the fact that humans take away kittens after they’re born. Eventually Bumble comes clean about it so Turtle Tail returns to the forest. Some time later, Bumble is found in the forest seeking refuge because Tom has been physically abusing her, scratching her where the humans can’t see. So, she’s CANONICALLY ACKNOWLEDGED as a domestic abuse victim (unlike Squirrelflight who meets all the textbook signs but the narrative and authors deny it). How do you think our good guy protagonists, i.e. Gray Wing “The Wise” and Turtle Tail, respond to an abuse victim seeking refuge? They tell Bumble to go home, thinking to themselves that she’s fat and soft and therefore would be useless in their group. Bumble stands up for herself and asks to speak with the leaders of the group. One of them asks if Bumble could just get along with Tom better (bro???) and when Bumble says it’s not within her control, the leader suggests being nicer to the humans instead. Another rival leader butts in and verbally abuses Bumble again by ripping into how fat and lazy and useless she would be. Despite Turtle Tail having been friends with Bumble and Bumble had helped her through her own hard times, to Gray Wing’s approval Turtle Tail chooses not to intervene as Bumble is forcibly escorted back to her abuser. But that’s not all. Later Bumble is found in the forest maimed and dying, and it seems likely that Gray Wing’s brother Clear Sky, a male with a long history of violence, is the culprit. Rather than mourn the dying innocent cat, Gray Wing’s primary concern is how other cats might be mean to Clear Sky if they think he’s a murderer, and reassures himself that refusing to help Bumble in her time of need was still the right decision.

2.) I have no idea how she managed to be written so horrifically from an abuse victim and woman (/she-cat I guess) standpoint but here we are. Okay so my memory is a bit fuzzy but basically Bumble was a character in Dawn of the Clans and a close friend to Turtle Tail, a major character, as well as a character who lived close to Tom, an abusive dickhead of a cat. Bumble was largely depicted as just a really sweet cat. Turtle Tail was very briefly the mate of Turtle Tail, but once she got pregnant, he became super violent towards both her and our gal Bumble. Tom actively hid the fact that, once her kits were old enough, Turtle Tail’s kits would probably be taken from her, and made Bumble keep quiet about this too, but Bumble eventually told Turtle Tail the truth, Turtle Tail left and Tom became extremely violent towards Bumble because of this, and was extremely abusive towards her. Eventually, Bumble ran away from him to where Turtle Tail and co were and begged to stay, since the wilderness as a whole was genuinely more safe than being around Tom was. Naturally, this meant kitty xenophobia from cats who had only arrived in that area recently, because everybody was insistent than, since she was a kittypet/house cat, things wouldn’t work out, and even her friend Turtle Tail denied her on this, insisted she was too soft to live in the wild and only sent her towards a cat Bumble wanted to convince because she was absolutely certain she’d be denied. Also our good old protagonist Gray Wing got to spend this scene being all upset about this soft cat wanting to join them to escape an abuser and was all bitter about the fact that Turtle Tail lived with her for a short period of time, and he also got to have a sweet romantic moment with Turtle Tail after denying an abuse victim an escape from her abuser. Also as much as I like Tall Shadow usually she sucked ass in the following scene because she was essentially telling Bumble to go find a way to make peace with Tom as if she was not the one being abused (Bumble pointed out that Tom was the one who would need to make peace for it to happen, not her) and that she should just make life better by going back to being a housecat and being spoiled despite the fact that she was actively at risk with her owners because of Tom. Then she leaves after being threatened by several cats there and is called soft on the way out. The next time she appears she is literally dying, and her death is just a plot device to create a stupid little mystery which is solved in a very stupid way. Also her abuser does continue to be a shithead and for some reason is fully permitted to kidnap his own children but he also gets a heroic death and the only reason I will not rant more about him is because this is too long already. Long story short Bumble deserves the world and everybody who decided not to let her escape her abuser just because they thought she was soft sucks

3.) Is nice to the group of starving, feral wild cats that left the mountains so their friends and family could have more food to eat and befriends one of them to the point of opening her home to her after she leaves the group because the guy she likes is too dumb to notice she likes him and keeps falling for his brother’s love interests.

Unfortunately, because Bumble is a house cat who lives in a house with people and not a Wild and Free cat, this is a grave and horrible crime (luring a wild cat into the safety and comforts of domesticity) and is villainized for the rest of the arc, including for things wildly out of her control

I.E.

Her owners taking in an aggressive male cat that bullies and abuses the two female cats already living there

When Bumble’s friend leaves and goes back to the wild cats, Bumble leaves her home (as the abuse as has gotten worse) to see if she could either get help or have her friend return so the abuse isn’t as bad again)

Bumble eventually dies in the wild because the feral cats all hate her for ‘stealing’ their friend and tricking her into becoming a kittypet for awhile and refuse to help Bumble adjust to wild life or even teaching her how to hunt.

They are littl e to no hard feelings at her death beyond 'good riddance’ but the aggressive tomcat that chased her out of her home is later regarded with good feelings and regret at such a 'good, heroic cat’ passing when he dies despite him literally never doing a good or kind thing in his life and actually causing trouble for the wild cats right before dying

#polls #round 1 #week 1 #new #cw pregnancy #cw domestic abuse

[general-cyno]

I watched film gold the other day and it's been making me think about luffy's relationship with food wrt zoro and how it's been presented in different OP media.

Aside from the importance the riceball incident holds for the animanga and OPLA, luffy's specific reaction to zoro's injuries after the mihawk duel in the latter is so good. although the LA won't touch luffy's full backstory for a while, it's obvious he loves food in both the usual goofy manner and as something he associates with kindness or a lack thereof. it's why zoro eating the riceballs and sanji feeding gin is important in both iterations of the story. and not only that, OPLA also directly links luffy's appetite to his mood/feelings - when kid!luffy gets sad about shanks's upcoming no-return departure, makino goes out of her way to point out something's really wrong after luffy says he's not hungry. as it is, OPLA used this character trait of luffy's again to highlight how affected he is by seeing zoro (who, at that point, luffy hadn't considered could lose) truly hurt for the first time.

From I'm not really hungry right now, Nami amidst his rising panic, refusing sanji's food, admitting he'd eat his arms and legs to save zoro's life (in the context of what happened to zeff and sanji) and my gut hasn't been so great lately, the message is clear: luffy is not only worried about zoro's wellbeing, he's also very, very upset and willing to go crazy lengths if it means saving zoro. plus, if you watch the LA knowing about sabo and ace, imo it emphasizes further why seeing zoro in such a state makes luffy feel/act the way he does and how much he cares for zoro to react like that to begin with. I love it. I also love that though he rejects the food for himself, luffy admits while rambling that he wants zoro to eat and asks sanji to prepare food he believes zoro would like, even if he quickly concludes letting him rest is probably the best option instead.

That last part brings me to thriller bark, in the manga. It's not food per se and it's portrayed less seriously, but he still tries to have zoro - unconscious and wounded after You Know What - drink an entire barrel of booze because luffy knows how much he loves it (as much as luffy loves meat) and believes it will make zoro wake up/feel better. comedic as it may be intended to be, it's also kinda sweet. luffy's shown more than a few times to recuperate ridiculously fast and in an equally ridiculous manner from injuries by eating meat, so this is luffy's own way to show how much he cares and that he wants zoro to be well again imo.

This also brings me to the start of thriller bark itself! luffy's offered to share his food before (with nami, for example), yet ig what stood out to me during this part is how he just... offers to share his lunch with zoro simply because luffy wants him to come along. luffy rarely makes that sort of offer for specifically mundane reasons, so. squints.

(the fact that zoro fell right for it is so. lmao.)

And as for film gold - albeit not canon as most of the OP movies are, it's still interesting. for once, it's zoro who ends up in need of rescue. after the whole ordeal with tesoro capturing zoro and pushing the straw hats to try and buy his freedom before the public execution, luffy seeks out food.

And when usopp remarks zoro is more important than that? luffy immediately agrees, but insists that's precisely why he needs to eat.

This is a fun contrast to OPLA luffy though I'd say not necessarily a contradicting one. whereas there's little OPLA luffy can do wrt zoro's injuries, film gold luffy can't afford not to eat because here he needs to be at peak strength to rescue him. I like that the movie showed luffy's frustration too,

and how far he'd go to save him: jumping into a duct that's filled with "vicious golden bats" no one's survived from and launching himself straight against a moving, giant sea prism stone ventilation fan (all related to rescue plan) that franky has to bodily drag him away from before he gets more seriously wounded.

(Quite a reminder luffy's pretty crazy about zoro too!)

All in all, food is a very important aspect of luffy's character whether it's for a comedic or serious effect. though it's made more relevant in the WCI arc, I still love how it's something you can see portrayed in his relationship with zoro throughout OP too, be it in the animanga, the LA or in movies as well.

#zolu #tp #long post #ish #sjdjd the way I was out of brain juice bc of work and the fact that I've been sick for over a week now #but the zolu brainworms once again prevailed #(it's 3am save me) #anyway daily I love zolu so much #forgot to say but the gif is mine btw #jay reads op

[chubs-deuce]

I think I also saw a post explaining that if a ship in the fandom got too popular, the network producers would try and force that ship to become canon.

It's like, I love Charlastor, but I really don't want it to be canon. I feel like non canon ships are more fun!

yeah!!! 100% agreed, and I despise it when producers actually let that happen too :/ Glaring very hard at the grossly entitled people a good while back to tried to sway their preferred ship into canonicity by doing petitions....

I wouldn't want charlastor to be canon tbh.

It's, frankly, wild to me that so many people even equate shipping to exclusively mean "to root for two or more characters to get romantically involved in the source material", and any exploration of dynamics beyond that is then frowned upon, shamed or invalidated.

To an unfortunately large amount of people, shipping is little more than a popularity contest :')

To me, a huge part of the appeal in shipping is that it's a means to explore interpersonal character dynamics from a piece of media in ways we don't necessarily see happen in canon.

I LOVE non-canon ships for the fact that they leave us with SO much creative freedom! [more in-depth thoughts + what appeals to me about charlastor under the cut]

It allows us to hypothesize and experiment in-depth with how these characters would find their way from one type of dynamic into a different direction in so many different ways, without canon to give us one solid path to stick to.

One trope I'm very fond of in fanfiction in particular has always been slowburn with a touch of mutual pining - when a dynamic is truly given room to breathe and naturally grow into different directions and REALLY digs into the involved characters, it enables the authors to thoroughly lay out why and how their feelings change, what affected them in the process and how/when they eventually choose to act on them!

Character analysis is my bread and butter, so if a dynamic strikes my interest it's almost always because it has something unique about it far beyond just wanting to see them all lovey-dovey bc it's cute (though that can be part of it lol).

Charlie and Alastor as a combination are so intriguing to me because they're in many ways polar opposites, but simultaneously also have just enough similarities to leave a lot of potential for a genuine bond.

They combine the most conniving, manipulative, steadfastly and proudly immoral person with someone whose good intentions color absolutely everything she does, who also has the willpower and moral code to see it through.

They're like a forbidden, alluring dance, endlessly circling in each other's gravitational pull - which parts of them will prevail? Who will inevitably buckle to the other's influence first? What draws them in? What drives them apart?

I love watching Alastor's masterfully crafted plans get absolutely thwarted because he can't get a consistent read on her - a being who's - by her very nature of being part demon and part angel - a bundle of contradictions.

I'm also extremely fond of Charlie 100% seeing through him every step of the way and still keeping him around - regardless of his motivations, he is a vital, helpful part of the hotel, and she won't give up on trying to win him over for her cause in earnest.

There are very few things as funny to me as the idea of Alastor -master manipulator - being so far up his own ego, obsessing over getting a figurative hold over this fascinating and yet frustrating princess, that it takes forever for him to realize he's the one being used all along, expertly playing right into her cards.

Simultaneously, there's so many other ways to write them!!! It's just so damn fun to explore all of the what-ifs.

#there's more I could say abt all this but the post is long enough lmfaoo #charlastor #radiobelle #shipping #chubs answers #long post

[gffa]

I have noticed that there is a weird contradiction in fandom in which swaths of it do not like the Jedi Order(tm) but like a lot of individual Jedi who have dedicated their lives to it (Obi-Wan being the biggest example for me personally but also Luke, Plo Koon, Ahsoka, whoever) so that means that the genuine love, pride, and importance that the Jedi has for them is completely erased or even devalued in a lot of fanon. No offense to other people's personal head canons but as far as I'm concerned, Obi-Wan would neva denounce or go against the Jedi Order for anyone or anything short of the whole Council falling to the dark side in some monstrous Palpatine scheme, he simply Would Not Do That.

At a certain point, there forms a pretty consistent pattern of how so many of these Jedi that we love individually are pillars of their community, they're often well respected, placed in positions of authority in both the structure of the Jedi Order and in the narrative itself (people going to them for advice and the tone of the scene is that they're giving heartfelt advice) or even that they're on the Council itself. At a certain point, there forms a pretty consistent pattern of how these characters are shown to be upholding Jedi values and living their life dedicated to being a Jedi of the Jedi Order, that they're not dissatisfied with it, but instead are active participants in it and leaders of their people. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon and Kit Fisto and Depa Billaba are probably the four biggest examples of Jedi who are beloved--and all four of them are on the High Council and shown to be leaders of their people, who shape Jedi reactions, who are shown to love their people. Each of them has had moments of expressing that mistakes happen, that they're not perfect, they think other things should be done, but that at the end of the day, they're Jedi and they want to be Jedi of the Jedi Order. Even Luke, until he's in his depressive funk (that is said, via word of god, to have been Luke projecting personal failure into religion's failure) has always been shown to want to be a Jedi, to uphold Jedi values and ways. These are characters who genuinely find value in dedicating their lives to the Force and to their path as a Jedi and it's fine to not like the Jedi, I can't and won't stop people who disagree with me about it (I will make my case why I think racism and bias plays into a lot of it, but even then I'm making my case in my own lane, if you block me and never sneak onto my blog to read my posts, you'll never see me), I can't and won't stop other people from writing what they want about fictional characters in fanfic or whatever, but also there does come a point where it's a very consistent pattern that these Jedi we like are ones who just Would Not Say That. Obi-Wan is shown as, in nearly every piece of media he's ever been in, that he loves and supports the Jedi Order. Even when he said he would leave the Jedi Order, it wasn't because he wanted to walk away from them, but because he might personally have another path. You cannot divorce that moment from the massive scope of his larger story where he teaches both Anakin and Luke about Jedi values and tries to guide them on their Jedi path. Characters should have their own personalities, they sometimes say/do things that we disagree with and we can still like them, even if we disagree with what they're saying! Though, I will give fandom this: As a serial "I have read/mentally played out soooooo many scenarios where He Would Not Say That except He Is Going To Say That Because It Makes My Id Happy" enjoyer, I will never judge anyone for playing to their id. That's what one of the major points of fandom is even for--we're here to scratch that itch of "oooh brain go BRRRRRR when I make them say this". We have to let these people (by which I mean, you have to let me 😂) have their space for this, but also these people (by which I again mean me) have to recognize that sometimes we're playing to our ids and that's fine. (But also sometimes maybe be willing to think outside our id to see what biases we're playing into, even while recognizing fiction is not 1:1 to reality, like it's all a balancing game and each person is unique to what they feel they should do.)

#lumi.txt #star wars #jedi order #obi wan kenobi #meta

[yuurei20]

do you have a compilation of all the heartslaybul rules somewhere? was thinking of writing a fic and wanted to know what's already established

Hello hello!! Thank you for this question!

Yes I do! :>

The post above includes all the rules (I have been able to find) within the game, but while searching around for any I may have missed I noticed that fans will sometimes include rules from other sources like the anthologies, manga, etc.

Twst's non-game media is generally not considered canon to the game itself because there will often be contradictions--we have to choose one or the other!

For example: Riddle defeats the mine monster in the manga, but Ace/Deuce/Prefect/Grim defeat it in the game, so they are not canon to each other. But does that mean that manga-only rule #304, "On days when a hedgehog sneezes, all card soldiers must sing a song together," is also not canon to the game? It has never come up, but it is technically not impossible that a different rule #304 might appear in the game one day, as the content of the two mediums is not being kept identical.

Picking and choosing what is canon and what is not can lead to a lot of confusion, but thankfully rules like that do not apply to things like fan-fiction, where everyone is free to do what they wish :> If you would like to keep to a game-canon world, then I hope the list above may be of help!

If you would like to know every rule that has ever been established across every form of media, I liked this compilation very much!

The blog is no longer being updated and so there is a risk that some are missing, but it casts a wider net than my little screenshot compilation and may hopefully be of use ^^ Thank you again!

#twisted wonderland #twstask #Riddle Rosehearts

[queer-reader-07]

coffee theory and the disparaging of aziraphale’s character

ok y’all buckle up, we’re finally talking about why coffee theory not only disparages aziraphale’s character but would cheapen the story.

this is a meta i’ve been trying to write for ages now because i know i have Thoughts but trying to communicate them in a coherent and not passive aggressive way is… difficult to say the least.

i have a few main points i’m gonna touch on in this post:

1) why coffee theory disparages aziraphale’s character and removes him of his agency

2) why it would cheapen the story

3) how it underestimates neil’s talent as a writer

4) why the implications of it irk me

ok. let’s get into this.

firstly, a run down of coffee theory for anyone who’s managed to miss it. coffee theory basically states that the metatron drugged/manipulated the coffee he gave aziraphale such that the coffee was what led to aziraphale making the decision to go to heaven. (i.e. he wasn’t himself, he was under the influence and that’s why he did what he did)

why coffee theory disparages aziraphale’s character and removes him of his agency

look. i understand that aziraphale’s decision to go to heaven and take up the position of supreme archangel hurt. i understand that a lot of y’all were angry at him, and many of y’all still are angry with his decision. that is so totally valid and i’m not saying you’re wrong for being upset.

but what i do have to say is this: you can be angry at him while simultaneously acknowledging that his decision makes sense in the context of his character. those two truths can coexist without contradiction.

i think that a lot of people (myself included) have this unconscious tendency to view characters through our own warped perceptions of them rather than their actual character. like we all have our own headcanons about the characters and media we enjoy, but sometimes they get away from us and we start projecting complete headcanon onto real actual canon plot.

so let’s talk canon for a minute. the show has shown us time and time again that aziraphale fundamentally believes Heaven is good. he knows the angels are mean or bad sometimes but he thinks that capital H Heaven is good. that God’s plan is good. he believes that being an angel makes you good.

“i know the angel you were.” “you’re a demon you lied.” “you’re the bad guys.” “we’re hereditary enemies” “there is no our side”. aziraphale believes that being an angel and being on the side of Heaven is what makes you good. yes he knows crowley is good but aziraphale thinks it’s because of his past status as an angel. that it’s in spite of his demonic nature.

aziraphale believes that with the help of someone good (properly good, not pretend-y good) Heaven can be perfect and good and share that goodness with humanity. and he’s been given the opportunity to do that, alongside crowley no less!

aziraphale doesn’t fully understand how corrupt Heaven truly is. and nobody can get that across to him. not even crowley. miscommunication is an issue between them, yes. but it’s not the only issue. aziraphale fundamentally believes in Heaven, and crowley does not.

so of course aziraphale chose going to Heaven and being in charge because now he can truly enact change. his decision makes so. much. sense.

and coffee theory? coffee theory would strip aziraphale of all his depth and complexity as a character. it would say “yeah he has this long history of being hurt by this institution but his faith in it is so strong that he was willing to leave the one being he loved most in the universe behind if it meant fixing the institution and creating a safe future for him and his lover. but actually he just got drugged lol.” like. how utterly disappointing would that be? it strips him of his agency, it strips him of his complexity, it makes him boring. and boring is one of the worst things a character can be.

aziraphale is allowed to be a complex character. he’s allowed to make decisions you don’t like. in fact i think he should. that’s what happens in stories. especially in good ones. characters make decisions you don’t like all the time but what matters is if the decision makes sense. and aziraphale’s decision makes all the sense. no matter how upset it made you, it checks out.

why it would cheapen the story

look me in the eyes when i say this: most of y’all would probably hate coffee theory in practice because it is such a cop out plot twist.

coffee theory fundamentally disallows complexity to aziraphale’s decision to leave earth. it makes it a “oh no he was drugged!” situation instead of a “he has a lot of shit to work through and he’s hurting and the being he loves is hurting and the world is gonna end and he needs to work on himself before he can save the world properly.” situation.

coffee theory is bred out of the knee jerk instinct to say aziraphale was completely wrong and crowley was right and “i need to explain away aziraphale’s decision because he would never hurt crowley!!!”

y’all. i love aziraphale, do not get me wrong. but have we been watching the same show? aziraphale has hurt crowley, multiple times. he’s said many hurtful things. and it all comes back to the same reason: he believes Heaven and angels are good, and demons and Hell are bad.

it’s all connected. and i want to see the show acknowledge all of that. push it to the surface and let them confront it all. not brush away the hurt with some cheap “he was drugged!” plot twist. it’s boring and disappointing.

how it underestimates neil’s talent as a writer

neil is a good writer. i’m not gonna entertain arguments about this, if you like good omens you like neil’s writing. (and i highly suggest you read his other novels). and if there’s one thing i’ve found in my time reading neil’s books it’s that everything is intentional.

how much time does this fandom spend dissecting every single frame of the show because we know nothing is accidental? that is not a good omens specific thing, it’s in all of neil’s works (at least the ones i’ve read). neil is incredibly intentional in what he does, and in my experience he doesn’t rely on cheap plot twists.

he can plot twist the ever living daylights out of you but it will never be a cheap cop out like “he was drugged!” and acting like coffee theory is actually plausible is frankly an underestimation of what neil is capable of as a writer.

why the implications of it irk me

can we all just agree that the fandom likes crowley more? and that whenever aziraphale does anything slightly complex it’s often times either met with “oh nonono here’s this reason that doesn’t allow him any complexity” or “i hate him!!!! (also doesn’t allow complexity)”

you can adore crowley. i adore him too, i relate to him very deeply. but i love aziraphale too and i’m kind of tired of how frequent the aziraphale slander is.

and coffee theory, if i’m being honest, feels very much like y’all just can’t handle aziraphle being anything more than “silly little gay angel running the bookshop”. it feels like people just can’t handle the fact that he has his own motivations and feelings and that he truly thinks he’s doing the right thing.

and it’s to the point that you need to convince yourself he was DRUGGED so that you can accept his decisions?? y’all. did we watch the same show?

#i knew this would be long but damn. didn’t think it’d be this long. #i would apologize for the length but this took so long to write i’m not even sorry #i hope i articulated my point well enough that no one misinterprets it #and i’m totally open to discussion about this but just be respectful #i tried my best not to be rude and if i came across rude that was definitely not my intention #anyways i hope someone enjoys this nonesense #good omens #good omens meta #gomens meta #meta #coffee theory #anti coffee theory #ineffable divorce #aziraphale #aziraphale apologist #supreme archangel aziraphale #aziracrow #ineffable husbands #crowley #good omens 2

[cvntkisser]

This is a massive fandom pet peeve of mine that I've literally never talked about. Yanno how people use headcanon refer to anything anyone thinks a certain character would do? Well thats not what it means.

A Headcanon is something that a character would do that does NOT contradict canon.

Headcanons are things that someone who has consumed that piece of media can hear about and go there's nothing in canon to disprove this, so even if it isn't stated it could hypothetically happen so maybe the character did do this but it was just never talked about.

A headcanon is something like Frankenstein having bolts-canon never says it but canon also never not says it.

For example, saying you headcanon a character is gay when they have canonically been shown to be attracted to the opposite gender is not a headcannon, because canon disproves it. Saying that a character is bi or pan or multisexual when they have canonically been shown to be attracted to the opposite gender is a headcanon(just because they have been shown to like one gender does not mean they don't like other genders).

Similarly you can headcanon a character as having transitioned into their canon gender but only if there's no canon depiction of them as a baby or toddler where they are the same gender they currently, canonically are(because that would show that they are cis).

This isn't just about sexuality or gender, but also about things a character's likes or dislikes and habits. I've seen so many people depict in fics and/or headcanon a character who mainly uses non violent & defensive strategies in fights but bcz its never really pointed out by the narrative and also bcz they are often verbally aggressive, their dislike of physical violence has been ignored, and its common to for them to be depicted and/or headcanoned as violent and physically agressive.

Another example is if a character canonically has been raised by their parents-even if it's proven by a single one off line or something the creator said in an interview-and then you headcanon them as growing up in an orphanage, is not a headcanon, because it actively goes against canon.

Another thing is things that are implied to not be canon being seen as a headcanon. For example, if a character is implied to be poor as a child and you headcanon them as being raised rich, then you either need an explanation for why they did or said whatever implied that they were raised poor or it's not a headcanon.

I think fandom needs a new word for stuff that people want to believe about characters that contradicts canon and/or implied canon. Oh wait, just realised that's called ooc but no one likes saying they like an ooc version of character bcz then they have to admit to mischaracterising a character or not actually liking the canon character so i still sorta think we need a new word.

#fandom #sherlock holmes #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #mha #bnha #bsd #bungo stray dogs #miraculous ladybug #harry potter #pulla magi madoka magica #marauders #marauders era #anime #manga #kekegurui #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu sorcerer #headcannons #danganronpa #genshin impact #honkai star rail #marvel headcanons #marvel #dc comics #dc headcanon #fnaf #percy jackon and the olympians #mypo)t #rantish

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

How do time lord names work, an essay (sort of)

(also if anyone reading this has more info or corrections to things i say, please put it in the notes)

As with most things relating to Gallifrey and Time Lords, how their naming conventions work are not very clear. This rant/essay thing is basically just me trying to figure out a system that works based on the information that is given to us in the show (and some of the extended universe media)

So, first things first, Time Lord names are not consistent. Throughout the show we see two main styles of Time Lord names, the regular (enough) names and the titles. Some examples of this are Romana, Andred, and Rassilon vs the Doctor, the Master, and the Rani. (there are a few outliers, but I'll get to that later)

With these two types of names a relatively consistent pattern emerges. The ones with title names are mostly renegades while the ones with normal names are not. I don't really have a solid theory on why this is, something about rejecting the name given to you by the society that you are leaving. It also is said that these names are chosen, so that would fit with this theory.

We also see that most of the 'normal' names are just the beginning part of a much longer name, such as Romana being short for Romanadvoratrelundar. This is shown to be true for multiple other Time Lords, so I am assuming that to be the case for those who have no canon extended version of their name.

Now we get to the exceptions to these two naming styles that make things more confusing (ranked from least to most confusing) (in my opinion)

Susan Foreman - The name Susan was chosen to fit in with humans while she was on earth, doesn't actually contradict anything said above (not sure if she was ever given an actual time lord name though)

Drax and Morbius - Both renegade Time Lords who do not follow the pattern of having title names, doesn't really complicate things that much since they could have just chosen not to give themselves title names

The Other - One of the three founding members of Time Lord society? does he count in this if he was one of the first, also has a weird connection to the Doctor? (going to be honest I know very little about this guy)

Irving Braxiatel - His name would be fine without the first part, I just choose not to think about it, which means it can't be a problem

The Doctor - aka the worst one of them all when it comes to complicated things with names. To start off, they do follow the renegade having a title for a name pattern (though in Divided Loyalties we see that he chose to go by that name while still at the academy, because as with everything else with the doctor's name it is confusing), but after that they just complicate things more. Then we get to the problem of Theta Sigma, which on the surface has the same problems as Irving Braxiatel, but then you have the problem that that isn't actually the Doctor's name, but a nickname given to him at the academy. So then what is the Doctor's real name? Well, according to The Making Of Doctor Who his name is δ³Σx². In human language, this basically means nothing, but in The Five Doctors this equation appears on a piece of stone with other writing that is identified as Old High Gallifreyan (the ancient and no longer used language of the Time Lords). This leads me to my third point about how Time Lord names work,

Along with the two kinds of names I previously mentioned, I also believe that Time Lords have another 'true' name in Old High Gallifreyan that is rarely, if ever, used. This comes from the fact that the Doctor has repeatedly said that they can not (except in special circumstances) tell people their real name, and that even if they did people would not understand it. The not understanding it part is obvious since a) all the Time Lords are dead and b) even before then it was an unused language. It is also stated in the show that Old High Gallifreyan words held power, giving a pretty reasonable explanation for why the Doctor would only tell someone his name in special circumstances. I think there could also be a factor of a Time Lord's name being something very personal to them and there is no reason to share it with most other people.

Anyway tl;dr Time Lords have a 'true name' in Old High Gallifreyan that is only used in special circumstances. The rest of the time they usually use one of two naming systems, a 'normal' Time Lord name, which is often long but shortened (Romanadvoratrelundar to Romana for example) or a title name, which is often chosen by renegade Time Lords as part of their rejection of Time Lord society.

#doctor who #classic who #dw #the doctor #the master #nuwho #romana #sorry that this post is so long i apparently had a lot to say #theta sigma #time lords #new who #dr who #gallifrey #gallifreyan #if this has typos im sorry i did not check

[le-panda-chocovore]

What do you think are Gojo and Geto’s greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic?

Until now, have you found any couple (canon or non canon) from any media (books, tv series, movies, anime/manga, etc) that the dynamics remind you of Gojo/Geto?

Thanks if you want to answer....

(I forgot this ask in my drafts sorry)

Asking me to ramble about my hyperfixation when I'm too tired to write in correct English is cruelty actually /j

I think their strengths are mostly the same as their weaknesses. (It's only my take on them, everyone has a different opinion)

Geto's empathic, he understands people, he likes helping, giving advice, protecting, and caring ; he makes a point to ensure that everyone around him is fine and safe. He's strong so he can bear with painful tasks, he knows he can, so he doesn't complain about it. He has a great sense of morals and responsibilities. It's all amazing qualities, until it became too much. He was caring too much, worrying too much, enduring too much, and he drowned under the weight of everything he fought so hard for. His morals contradicted his will to help people and he had to make a choice. He loved people so much he couldn't bear to see his friends die, so he sacrificed the entire world to protect them. I think his greatest weakness is that he loved his close ones more than he loved himself, so he didn't even think about asking for help because he didn't believe people would care about him as much as he cared about them.

Geto, like everyone else, would say that Gojo is selfish, which is ironic because Geto is the one who kept everything to himself and didn't let people worry about him. He tried to fix himself alone, then decided he didn't need to be fixed.

Gojo's selfish, egocentric, forgetful, defiant, and is very much in love with his best friend. Those are weaknesses, to be clear. He's also kinda naive, because he believes things will be fine no matter what, but this is just another side of his arrogance. He hates authority figures but he needs to be told what to do because he is not able to regulate himself. He needs someone to draw a line for him, but he cannot express the importance that person has because he doesn't think it matters. Not that he doesn't believe they'd care but because he thinks they already know. (They don't- again, it's because of his arrogance). He doesn't realize nor understand how other people feel, but that doesn't stop him from reacting accordingly. Because he knows what it's like to suffer, to be lost, to be betrayed, to be lonely. He is not empathic, he doesn't feel what people are feeling, but he was so self-centered that he lost the person he loved the most, and now that he knows the pain he can project his own emotions on others. He's selfish and egocentric, so he saw people he could take care of and decided it'd be his responsibility to ensure they'd grow up happily. He doesn't care what the higher-ups think, he will do whatever pleases him. He also doesn't care what those people he takes care of are thinking, he forces himself into their lives because he truly believes he can make it better -and he does. (arrogance, the good side).

Gojo is arrogant and strong, he thinks he can change the world and deal with the consequences. He knows he can fight anything, so he doesn't actually worry about threats, even though it sometimes hurt his students. He proposes a status quo because he knows no one can fight him. He manages to keep Yuuta and Yuuji and Megumi safe by pure defiance.

Also it's canon that Gojo's mortal weakness is Geto himself.

What I love about them is perhaps the metaphors, the parallels, and the co-dependency. They're literally soulmates, they're a perfect match, they value each other so much it's overwhelming. They're also dumbasses and I love that kind of ship. They're handsome and pretty and gorgeous. They're smart and stupid at the same time. They're so in love that 9 years apart weren't enough to kill that. They're both little shit but one knows how to pretend to be nice. Literally EVERYTHING Gojo does as an adult is because of the influence Geto had in his life. They know each other so deeply that a simple glance is enough to recognize the other. Geto's body broke through Kenny's control because Gojo was in danger and it was the FIRST TIME it happened in CENTURIES. Hell, what is there NOT to love about them ??

Anyway. They make me think about Orpheus and Eurydice from the Greek mythology (He looked back. He knew she shouldn't, but he looked back because he loved him). I recently read a post that compared them to Achilles and Patroclus and I was like, oh, yeah, that could work. Also, they kinda have a vibe of Steve and Bucky from MARVEL. Like, childhood friends who liked messing around together until one got lost and followed a dark path while the other had to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders and was so praised and admired that he wasn't allowed to have a life by himself. Years and years later they met again and memories came back and the world fell apart. They're enemies know, opposite sides, there's only one way to stop the other. But. But they still love each other. (I'm going to make myself cry)

I could write so much more but I'm going to stop here because I have the feeling that I'm already annoying lmaooo

#analysis #stsg #geto suguru #gojo satoru #satosugu #sugusato #jjk #answering ask #answering asks #jujutsu kaisen #character analysis #anon ask #gego #goge

[joyboyish]

I honestly also think fan portrayals of Luffy (both by people shipping him to other characters or not shipping him to anyone) being so ""childish"" (when he had accepted before Vivi that they cannot save every people in war, & have other displays of maturity I'll mention below... he's just enjoying "stereotylically boyish" things/actively trolling cuz he's so confident in his & his crew's abilities/being indulgent behaviorally most of the time but he is very aware of loss, battle deception, etc.)

that they think he does not know anything about sex or romantic love... is majorly not canon!

Cuz (disclaimer a bit raunchy here) Luffy not only canonically consciously made a balls pun all on his own (the family jewels/kintama ie golden balls thing) in Amazon Lily & *explained* to them that those balls + "mushroom thing" can help make babies (so he knows what procreation is but isn't interested in that at this point in time & all of the main canon One Piece media so far... canon doesn't say he 100% will never want that)

At the start of Whole Cake Luffy also says sth like he knows marrying should only be done out of love & only wants to stop Sanji's marriage if he sees Sanji is not happy with it. Luffy even says he'll invite Sanji's spouse to be part of his crew if they want to! As in Luffy understands what marrying & spouses are, & doesn't oppose having a couple in a happy/healthy romantic/married relationship on his crew & boat at all within canon!

So Oda's words of not having romance on the boat is not absolute- it's just Oda setting the boundary that he wouldn't show romance happening on the boat in the main storyline because his storytelling for the Strawhats specifically would not focus on that, but none of his Strawhat characters have actively opposed to it. Oda even said he knows his characters can be interpretted however his readers want & has long accepted he has no control over that.

Luffy doesn't even call the Strawhats his adoptive family ever in canon! He calls them his friends! He differentiates between them, his friends, from Ace & Sabo who he calls his blood brothers! He never calls Zoro his brother, Nami his sister, etc. (if she is why did Oda not deny he ogled her under Usopp's influence??? Oda said in an SBS it's icky to do that towards siblings, so he'd never make Sanji do that ogling gag to his sister!) Even if Oda says the older guys are like the crew's dads, doesn't mean Luffy himself considers them his actual adoptive dads, for another example less related to this main argument.

So that original poster on Tumblr who recently puts in their z0s4n/one piece/opla post tag that Zolu shippers are in the same category of moral wrongness as incest shippers like Th0rk1 fans can kick rocks,

because the canon they think they're """following properly""" contradicts their own hcs (which they should realize are just personal hcs & not canon representation at all)

literally! just because luffy isnt interested in something doesnt mean he doesnt know what it is or that hes this innocent childlike character bc hes not lol

#ask sleepy #one piece #monkey d luffy #one piece strawhats #straw hat luffy #monkey d. luffy #straw hat crew #luffy #straw hat pirates #roronoa zoro #pirate hunter zoro #aroace #aspec

[justa-smalltown-gargoyle]

Hey batman/batfam people, I wanted to talk about something. I know this might not be received well, but...this is my blog. So if you disagree with me, feel free to block me! Literally that's what's great about this site. (I've been trying to do so on my end, but I thought I'd reach out a bit.....idk maybe try to form some understanding?)

I have been a batman fan since like...age 13 or something. Batman as a character means so fucking much to me, as does all his kids and massive extended family. (can't forget Alfred, Kate, Lucius, and Jeff Gordon!!) And I know that they mean a lot to you guys too.

In comic book and fandom spaces we talk a lot about misrepresentation of characters in fandom, but even in "canon" or rather published/produced content. I have beef with a lot of live action adaptions of Batman for example.

The thing with comic book characters, even more than some fandoms/pieces of media, is that there is SO MUCH content out there, that two people can say they like this one character but those two versions might be in total contradiction. But does that make one right over the other? does that make one superior?

Now, I hate Ben Affleck's Batman. And to fans of his, I'd say, you want the punisher, not Batman, because to me, that goes against who Batman is fundamentally. I read the comics, watch a lot of the animated stuff, and formed my own opinion and version of Batman. However, and this seems to be a controversial take, i really enjoy Wayne Family Adventures.

I see a lot of hate on here for WFA (and on tiktok but they're another beast), which, it's not for everyone, that's okay! Not everyone has to like what I like. But what I don't agree with, is that people who like WFA are seen as "not true batman fans", "they haven't ever read a comic". "they only like the flat fanon versions of the characters", etc.

These comments I would like to rebut- some comic readers such as myself might enjoy WFA. There might be people that have never read a comic or even watched anything batman related but like WFA. Are they not valid to enjoy that and have their own fandom for that? Are they not allowed to be fans of Batman?

I also would ask, how much of WFA did you actually read? In it's nature, it's suppose to be the bat family on their time off, or more light stories, but it actually addresses things like Jason's trauma, Duke moving in to the Manor, Damian struggling to fit in at school, things like that. Now if you read pretty far and still didn't like the portrayal of the characters, that's fine, I'm not asking you to change your opinion, however I am asking you to make space for those who do enjoy it, or that WFA is their first introduction or only experience with the Batman and co.

WFA isn't perfect, but it holds a special place in my heart, and gives me more content for Not Perfect but Trying and Cares Dad Bruce Wayne which I am grateful for. And tbh I feel like it just shows other sides to the characters we don't see that often!

And again, obvi people have their opinions, I guess I'm just asking for us to be more aware and create a space where people can feel free and excited to talk about these characters that we all love. I enjoy content and discussions I see in the tags and different blogs but then I see the hate for WFA fans and it just puts a real damper on otherwise really good content.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

#maddy if you see this i know this is dumb but i had to talk about it #batfam #batman #dc #fandom #and like we all agree we don't like male fantasy batman right? #i mean maybe some do #idk #also again yeah i could block everyone that disagrees and i do that sometimes but i dont want to do that all the time #and yakno #im gonna say it #getting mad at people for only reading wfa and not the comics its giving dude bro #do you really want to be that way #so do we think this was how the ancient greeks were about their gods or no #because tbh comics and mythology are very similar #anyways

[fondofcowboys]

here's my very all over the place feelings on certain aspects of baldur's gate 3 as a romani immigrant. warnings for spoilers of course. mind you i have not finished the game yet!

1. i really can't believe there aren't more people talking about the very blatant racism in astarion's questline. im quite sure it's because the game already touches on it, even giving you the choice to call astarion a racist, and also because everytime we roma talk about anything that makes us uncomfortable we're immediately shunned and "well actually!"'d.

the problem is that it feels Extra icky because the man who was the inspiration for the original dracula, Vlad the Impaler, kept romani slaves. this is the ONLY part of vampire history that, no matter how different the media, will always stay relevant for some reason.

castlevania has the seekers, a nomadic group of magic users who pass their history down orally. while they are *mostly* treated well, the first arc of the show literally shows them being hunted out of town for the simple act of existing.

vampire the masquerade... well.. that's an entire other can of racism worms.

curse of strahd has the "vistani", a nomadic group of people who are treated like third class citizens everywhere they go, and are of course, most known for being tarot readers and drunkards.

the vampire diaries have the "travellers", who get called "gypsies" explicitly as a derogatory word by other vampires.

i want you to take any vampire media you enjoy and ask yourself, "is there anti-roma racism in this?". i guarantee you, if you look for it, you're going to find it. for SOME reason, the only thing that stays consistent with all these different vampire IPs, is that romani people are hated and scrutinized at every moment of their lives.

i MORE than understand that astarion's racial insensitivity is part of him. it's part of what makes him malleable by the player. you can help him understand why he's wrong, or you can lead him down a worse path.

i still reserve the right to feel some sort of way about astarion sacrificing fantasy-romani children for power, willingly. don't get me wrong, he's my favourite character, right up there with halsin. which is why i obviously have so many feelings about this.

(yes, the Gur were written inspired by romani people, if you were not aware)

2. the anti-immigrant sentiment is such an inherent part of the story that i did not think was going to stick around for SO long. i dont really have much to say about this, i think i should've expected it. as a fan of dragon age (i know, tragic) i'm quite used to unnecessary fantasy racism everywhere i go, i just hoped it wouldn't be part of the main crucial story.

3. larian studios i am so so so thankful for the halsin romance. eternally. forever and ever. he's my pookie bear and i'm so grateful some extra time was made to create a romance for him.

can i ask you why the hell does halsin want to LEAVE. At The End. i've noticed how much he contradicts himself throughout his questline and i just... I don't know. i've seen some other people complaining about how non-chalantly he talks about being a sex slave and i understand too, but i think it's part of his character to not take the horrible things that happened to him seriously like he does with others. that, or someone at larian took an unknown substance that led them to make halsin Very inconsistent.

with the poly situation, some people are strictly polyamorous! some people are strictly non-monogamous and do not feel comfortable being in a monogamous relationship. i understand the frustration everyone, but that's how halsin is. i dont know if that was the writers' intention, but that's certainly what he comes across as to me; strictly non-monogamous.

what i DONT understand is why he says he only wants you, calls you "my heart", is so fondly and lovingly attached to you, and then he just.... Dips? Whatever. I'm ignoring that part forever. it's not canon to ME!

anyways. yeah. feel free to Engage in some Friendly conversation. emphasis on friendly, for the love of g-d

#ezio.txt #the bear speaketh #bg3 halsin #halsin the druid #halsin #astarion #astarion bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldur's gate iii #antiziganism #sorry for rambling but also i have a mouth. i must scream #if you try to well actually me about this i'm eldritch blasting you #fantasy racism #dragon age

[paintingformike]

actual canon and factual things found in the show itself that reveals the red flags and problems of mileven and shows how they’ve been treating byler’s relationship way more seriously and as a healthier relationship that directly contrasts mileven:

mike’s place in his relationship with el is the source of his insecurities. he constantly tries to be another person in order to impress el and feel worthy of her, as he feels inferior in their relationship (he even admits it himself, calls himself a “random nerd” that can’t begin to hold up to her level). it would be all fine and dandy if it was actually el herself that reassured him that it doesn't matter and that she’d love him either way, but it was will comforting him instead, the selfless pining love interest that prioritizes his happiness over everything else.

will, the second love interest, was the only person who gave mike needed reassurance and comfort throughout the entire season and he’s seemingly the only person mike is able to open up to and be vulnerable with. he continuously fails to actually communicate and express himself to his own girlfriend, but spends the entire season doing the exact opposite with will.

mike and el don't seem to be able to connect and level with each other the way will and mike can. in the mileven season 4 argument, el goes out of her way to tell mike that he will never understand her struggles, even though he has also been bullied his entire life. she feels different from him. however, mike and will don't even need words in order to understand each other (“i didn’t say it” “you didn’t have to”). they see each other as equals in every sort of way (“i think it’ll be easier if we’re a team”).

lumax and mileven this season were both written to have major relationship problems, but the difference is that lucas and max solved their issues with proper communication and didn't need to have other people involved in the mending of their relationship. however, when they seemingly “fixed” mileven’s relationship, they made the conscious writing decision to make will be the one to push mike to talk to el in the hopes that his words would help her survive. it wasn’t something mike himself planned, he was just prompted to do something. will was also the one who talked mike through his insecurities in the van when he was on the verge of giving up on his relationship, convincing him that el still needed him. it wasn’t the words of his own girlfriend that made mike feel cherished, loved and needed, but will’s. they effectively tied the second love interest so deeply into the narrative direction of mike and el’s relationship so that he’s the sole reason they’re still holding up right now. mike would’ve never done anything if it hadn’t been for will reassuring him that his relationship with el still had a chance, since he wholeheartedly believed that el didn’t need him anymore. but will lied and masked his own feelings in order to achieve this. how does will know for sure that what he was saying about el was what she truly felt? how do we know for sure that mike wouldn’t start questioning his relationship with her once the truth is revealed, and that everything he believed to be el’s feelings were actually will’s?

the writing choices made for mileven seems to contradict how they’ve been writing the other good canon couples in the show. jancy, lumax, and jopper have never needed verbal expressions of “i love you” to affirm that the romantic love is very much still felt from them. it is shown, not told. so what does it mean when el seemingly needs a verbal affirmation of love from mike in order to feel secure in their relationship and feel romantically loved by him? why can't they just prove it through their actions and their moments together? and no, you can't just use the “every relationship is different” reasoning, because these are characters from a piece of media and a show/series, not real life people, meaning their has to be a specific pattern followed by the writers in portraying real, authentic relationships. mileven shares little to no similarities with the other relationships they’ve built up over the seasons, but is eerily similar to stancy, a relationship that was portrayed to be shallow and ultimately failed to last. they’re also the only relationship to be portrayed as a “love at first sight” trope, while all the other relationships are built on a developing friendship and are somewhat slowburn (including byler when they eventually become canon).

since season 3, they have been directly contrasting how mike deals with conflict between will and el, and everytime he has a fight with el, he also coincidentially has one with will. they also all happen back-to-back, meaning you’re meant to compare them as opposing parallels.

with el, mike would deflect blame and has to be pushed by other people to apologize and take action. in season 3, he was complaining and wondering what he did wrong and needed lucas to constantly coach him through confronting el, and in season 4 he blamed outside forces like “mouthbreathers” for ruining their relationship when the main problem was with himself. this time, he never apologized to her at all (although you could argue he was about to do it in the surfer boy pizza scene but was ultimately interrupted).

with will, mike immediately takes responsibility for his own actions and doesn’t need to be pushed by other people to apologize to him. in season 3, he bikes through the pouring rain and calls himself the asshole for going too far, and in season 4, he looks affronted at the mere idea of will thinking he deserved the treatment he got from him, and calls himself the self-pitying idiot for the way he acted towards will.

it is undeniable that all the intimate heart-to-hearts between mike and will this season were portrayed to have romantic undertones. oh, but aren’t they just two completely platonic besties that happened to be glued next to each other throughout the majority of the season while most of the other characters played a role in the supernatural plot? where’s the proof that their scenes were meant to be read romantically? well, an obvious romantic trope where they were constantly interrupted from staring intently at each other was used across all their crucial scenes together, which is something they’ve only done with canon couples in the show 🤔

meanwhile, will sabotaged the few moments that mileven had together in season 4, and they never got to be alone except for their fight. and if you really think about it, even in the past seasons, mileven moments are mostly very lighthearted or comedic and almost always in public spaces where they never get to have serious, deeper and meaningful conversations (especially in season 3 when their relationship was played as a joke), while the majority of important byler moments are private and its always them having a genuine heart-to-heart with each other. there’s underlying tension in their scenes that isn’t present in most mileven scenes.

think long and hard enough on why mike was purposefully separated from el for the majority of the season and they had him spend the most time talking about his feelings to will, while showing how somehow, the second love interest knows exactly how to reassure him through his problems the way his own girlfriend has never actually shown to be doing before. while they gave the person in the middle major problems with the person he’s currently in a relationship with, they simultaneously developed his relationship with the second love interest and built up romantic tension between them. it’s literally a writing technique and a way of showing which would actually be the more compatible partner for the one in the middle, no matter how you look at it.

“ok, but didn’t mike already say ily to el? theres no chance byler is gonna happen when theyve already fixed their relationship” maybe i’d buy it if they decided to do this in the last season, where there’d be no more room left to doubt. however, there’s still an entire season left which also happens to be will’s coming of age season, meaning anything could happen and the trajectory could completely change. trope subversions and plot twists exist, and coincidentially, little women was in the inspiration board for season 4 wherein one person in the middle of a love triangle declared a love confession towards the one person people thought he’d end up with, but the story still went a complete 180° and he ended up with her sibling instead (who happens to be a painter like will 🤔), when the story was nearing towards the end. sound familiar? maybe you shouldn’t get too cozy and comfortable when the writers have said they are going to complete will’s arc and tie all loose ends, meaning the relationships will continue to develop while the chararacters interact with each other over the course of an apocalyptic setting. they aren’t just gonna spend the entire season fighting monsters, their personal relationships are obviously gonna continue to move forward in the plot, especially when the major villain of the story also takes advantage of their personal traumas and histories to prey on them. their personal arcs are still tied to the supernatural plot, one way or another.

#another long post to quell anyone with byler doubts #because we have enough proof in the narrative itself that points to byler endgame #not just with lighting or color coding or minimal subtext #the painting itself still hasnt fulfilled its purpose in the willelmike situation #and will’s arc cant be completed without mike learning the truth about everything including his feelings #byler #byler proof #byler analysis #will byers #mike wheeler #st #stranger things #byler analysis by me

[egg-emperor]

Game canon Eggman is pure evil y'all, rest assured to my fellow evil Eggman enjoyers. He's never acted for any reason that wasn't fueled by his evil/selfish intentions. I've carefully analyzed him in all of his scenes for hours and hours for years and years. I don't need to theorize, speculate, or insist on personal interpretations to get to this conclusion because I specifically go by what the games tell and show me undeniably.

I analyze very literally, not abstract or based on how I feel about it, only literally what I can see and hear. I feel this avoids a lot of unnecessary confusion and complication and it can actually be this way and yet still have a lot of depth to it to explore despite this. I don't see appeal in straying too far with the what ifs rather than the literals that are deliberately blatantly presented because the former is when bias can seep in.

But I know some probably think, "If you think I'm biased because I don't like pure evil Eggman so I don't want to see him as such, why aren't you biased for not liking less than pure evil Eggman? What if you're just seeing what you want to see?" But with the way I only go by what's blatantly there to see and hear in the games themselves in bold explicit forms, I feel I avoid any chance of bias.

I don't like to admit this but when I was younger, I had some incorrect interpretations about Eggman. Yes, even me. XD I never thought he was this completely good and caring guy but I definitely didn't have the most accurate understanding of who he was, how he'd act in certain situations, and what he is or isn't likely to say or do. A lot of my own personal biases at the time were to blame.

Years of heavy studying and analysis got me to where I am now. And I realized he said or did the exact opposite in the games to what I thought he'd do or wrote in my silly private fanfics back then. So I started to look at him neutral and unbiased, without expecting or wanting anything specific and letting it influence my perception. Only exactly what I could hear him say and see him do instead.

I rebuilt my understanding into what it is now and ever since, it has stayed completely consistent. Every new piece of media just reaffirms it or gives me new stuff to add that tracks and doesn't contradict the old in the slightest. I'm still having new revelations, discoveries and eyes opened to new things about him but they only further prove, develop, and strengthen my understanding now.

This was all done by me just shutting off these biased parts of my mind and letting the game canon show me who he was, not by my own personal desires and influences. Then I realized I was such a big fan of what I understood him to be, all of my desires turned into loving game canon Eggman for exactly who he was and wanting him to stay the funny pure evil bastard he is. And he does! 💜

But yeah because of that, even though my old perception years ago certainly wasn't the same level as those that spread misinformation of him being way nicer, softer, and morally good than he is in the games, I know what it's like for bias to influence me in some ways. And those little things I believed then are far different from what I know now, so this isn't an example of me being biased lol

I'm very happy that I came to fully recognize, embrace, and appreciate his funny but very much pure evil self! And one of the main goals of my blog besides expressing my passion, is to help people learn more about him and understand him too because I swear, your enjoyment and appreciation of him can grow so much stronger when you do. I love when I'm told I've helped with that!

But if you really don't like that he's pure evil because it makes you uncomfortable, that's fine. But there's a difference between not wanting to see it because you don't like it and what happens in the games. And if you don't like game canon Eggman like that, I have a lot of respect for you if you admit that and just do something different in your fan stuff, without claiming it to be fact.

But game canon Eggman canonically being a funny silly but very evil and threatening bastard man personally fills me with immense joy and it's why I adore him so much. It's endless fun and entertainment! 🥰💜

#hope people don't take this the wrong way as telling people what to do. tried to make that clear at the end #and I'm trying to say that I almost understand the opposite perspective #just speaking my mind honestly as usual #dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #my post #eggman is evil

[zoobus]

I'm not normally a victim of FOMO tactics, nor do I usually let being late to the party stop me from chatting about a piece of media but I'm genuinely sad I didn't get into Obey Me/Nightbringer earlier. It makes me want to write a million essays but the disposable and decentralized nature of gacha kind of makes it feel like you missed your chance to talk about it. I keep coming across years old, unrepliable comments that I want to jump on sooo bad but I can't because the moment is gone and most of these people have likely moved on to less overtly money-hungry games.

Which sucks! because one essay I want to write in particular is how this game is extremely skilled in arousing your desire to create, to actively engage with the characters and worldbuilding, to do fandom shit, and I find this enormously fascinating in itself. The story isn't good but to a certain extent, it's not supposed to be; it functions as an elaborate set of writing/art/rp prompts for its audience to expand on and tailor to their needs.

And I think Obey Me does this well! Amazingly well. I find discussion of narrative structure fascinating, the study of how we define writing as effective, good, or as failures, so I'm drawn to this story full of contradicting lore, one-note characters, and half-finished plots. The story isn't good but that hardly matters because it's not here to be a good story; it's here to throw you into imagination boot camp. It compels you to speculate what it could be, what this character could be, what a slightly different tone would look like, what other people think about it. It feels distinct from the average popular show fandoms where, to an extent, creators congregate simply because that's where the people are. Creating for your own sake is nice and all but validation is usually a stronger force. Usually.

I keep coming across old high effort researched posts about abrahamic religions and occultism from fans setting themselves up for inevitable disappointment. I keep coming across creators leaving notes on their work like "I haven't written a thing in ten years, but,". I keep losing it over heartfelt posts defending x and y canon story decisions with their whole chest, oblivious to the fact that they're misremembering their personal tweaks/headcanons as what happened in the game, like it's seriously so cute when they're so passionate and completely wrong.

I have no idea if fandom actually plays a role in the lucrativeness of a franchise (though as a personal anecdote, I 100% started Obey Me after a single piece of horny Mammon fanart crossed my dash), but it makes more sense to me now, less a projection of wishful/haterful thinking from those with strong opinions about Fandom. Maybe it really does matter.

---

Other essays I missed the boat on:

A Casino Right in Your Home: goddamn is the pre/sequel's gacha obscene

Satan: how to put a mid character into S-tier with one simple trick (make him insane)

Sorry Belphie defenders but you're imagining a better psycho than you were given

Solmare added a shiny new rhythm game but didn't fix the now four year old coloring error on Levi's hands lmfaooo the disrespect is crazy

Remember when you saw the Nightbringer trailer of them glaring in bdsm gear with freshly blackened wings, and you thought "ah, so this takes place right after they fought god and lost. After they went to war to protect their sister only for her to die anyway. After one brother in particular saves someone, but not her, the focal point of the war. They will finally take these to their logical, guilt despair rage pain and grudge filled ends." And you were correct until that very last sentence? lol

Remember when the Ruri-chan event gave you the option to tell Levi you're not cheating on him and then the rest of the event was just making out with his brothers? Then it ends with you kissing him in front of them? Bring that energy back!!!

#obey me #obey me nightbringer #niche effortposts #eh kinda. i spent time on it #anyway it's a game that makes you wanna write and draw things and all things considered I think that's pretty cool =)