#but there are just a lot of good unique dynamics that don't necessarily fit one neat category!

[befuddled-calico-whump]

Dude you have no idea how envious I am of your ability to not only come up with a solid idea/plot for a series, but then manage multiple main characters and their dynamics and make it a cohesive, good story. What is your secret. How do you do it. I want to start a series with multiple main characters, but I don’t know where to start. All of your world building is just brilliant and how you manage to create multiple different series all in varying fictional settings, with unique plots and characters, tell me your secrets. Please. And also how you include whump in your work without always making that the focus- >>>. You’re an amazingly talented writer and artist like holy shit.

😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️🥺❤️❤️❤️❤️🥺🥺🥺❤️❤️ THANK YOU SO MUCH❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I don't know how qualified I am to give writing advice, but I feel like it's important to say I definitely didn't used to be good at ensemble casts

I've written a l o t of ensemble-type stories, mostly because I used to base most of my characters on friends, and wanted to include everyone. And honestly, that can be a good place to start. The styles, traits, hobbies, etc of people you know, or even yourself, can serve as inspiration for characters. And since you've seen these hobbies and habits in action, it can give another layer of life to it :)

Something else that helps, that I actually do a lot, is using the "Five Man Band" trope as a template. The FMB consists of five characters, each with their own archetype, usually working together towards a common goal.

You have your leader (self-explanatory, the one who calls the shots); lancer (a foil to the leader, the one who questions them the most); big guy (either the most physically powerful, or the one who solves problems with fists); smart guy (the one who falls back on intelligence, usually stereotyped as a nerd); and heart (emotional center of the team, usually the most sensitive and/or best at de-escalation).

While only using the listed/expected traits can lead to flat characters, it's a pretty good foundation to start with, that can help you determine how each character fits within the story, as well as how they'd react to each situation. When creating T$$ characters, I started with this and kept building.

Some other things that I think helps when trying to characterize a big cast:

- Have a "cheat sheet" for your main characters that lists things like what phrases they tend to use, how descriptive they are, whether they use big words, what they tend to notice when they're somewhere new, etc.

- If you swap POVs, have them reference hobbies, personal history, family, etc, even if it's somewhat subtle. For example, Character A might compare a new acquaintance to a wizard in their favorite fantasy novel, and Character B might use a lot of bird-themed descriptions and metaphors because their mother was an ornithologist

- Okay, this one is slightly more out there, but playing DnD or other TTRPGs helps a lot. Creating a character and pretending to be them, especially when there are other people around who might spring scenarios on you that you don't expect, is great practice for getting into characters' heads for your writing

- Putting new characters through "what would you do" type scenarios. Not even necessarily writing a whole scene out (though that can help you solidify a voice), but just mentally Putting the Guy in Situations and figuring out how they'd react.

Really hope this was helpful, and thank you again!!

#🥺❤️❤️❤️❤️ #anon #writing advice #(sorta) #fave

[prowerprojects]

AU & fic ideas masterpost

I just thought I'd put it down for myself, but if any of those interests you, feel free to ask me questions about them! (Most of them are Tails-centric because of course they are)

General ideas & aus building off the mainline setting

I probably wouldn't actually write fics about those but but some of them hardly qualify as "aus" to me. Also most of those don't have actual names

Sunflower au – this is just my general Tails-centric au where I dump all of my worldbuilding headcanons. I base some of the other aus off it.

Roadtrip au – this one is about Tails and Sage as adults going on another soul-searching roadtrip.

The one with Tails's parents – ok I firmly believe that Tails doesn't need parents in canon and I'm glad that it's left up to interpretation, but I was like "what if he has a human name because one of his parents was a human?" And then it kinda happened.

Parents au – similar name to the other one but this one is actually about Knuckles, Amy and Sonic coparenting Tails together. Everyone is older in this au, except for Tails.

Tailswap – this one is just Tails getting bodyswapped with a version of himself from another universe where he only has one tail. They try to swap back (It's not compatible with some of the other aus because alternative universe Miles has different parents)

Bodyswap au - another bodyswap idea, but this time it's the core four getting swapped around. It's just shenanigans all the way through.

Storybook au - this one is just the classic "characters get trapped in a book and have to finish the fairytales to get out", this already kinda happened to Sonic, but this time it's with 6 more people. (Each for a chaos emerald). Each of them is the main character of their own fairytale and they only recover their memories when they get to the end of their story and get the chaos emerald (this part is inspired by the iseakai stories Sonic Channel is doing rn)

Sickfic idea - Tails gets sick for the first time after meeting Sonic. This one I kinda do want to make into a fic.

Memory loss idea - basically Sonic gets a... very specific fantasy version of memory loss (accident in Tails's lab). It's meant to explore how unconventional Sonic and Tails's sibling dynamic is to an outsider, except the "outsider" here is Sonic himself.

Hanahaki idea - I honestly don't have anything specific for it, but maybe I'll come up with something.

Anti au - basically Sonic & his closest friends (at least Tails and Amy, I'm not sure what I want to do with Knuckles here) are... well not evil necessarily, but they cause destruction with no regard for others, they just want to have fun mostly and don't care who gets in the way. Eggman is still not a good person, but he's not as open about his villainy and tries to present a good image to the public. I need a better name for this.

Alvin and the Chipmunks crossover - I just feel that the aatc cast would fit so perfectly into the world of Sonic. I don't know.

Aus that are more explicitly alternative universes

Superhero au - this also doubles as a high school au. It's the classic teenage superhero thing, but it's probably my favourite au and I have a lot of stuff for it.

Magical girl au - magical girls! and boys. Chaos emeralds help the characters transform so it's only 7 people getting the power. Each of them gets a unique power that they can use even without the transformation (for example for Sonic it would be his speed, etc.)

Tangled - au based specifically on Tangled the Series. It's mostly me putting the Sonic characters into scenes from the show and amusing myself with it.

Wizard of Oz - not actually based on the Wizard of Oz, mostly its vibe. Cream and Shadow are the main characters there.

Actual Wizard of Oz au - au where the characters take on the roles of the Oz characters from the first book. It's kind of supposed to be a comedy, all the characters know they're doing a parody.

Aus that are based on specific adaptations

Ever After High au - that's what it is. I'm having a bit of a trouble assigning the characters fairytales, especially Knuckles (he's a very important character there)

Magic School au - eah au is too complicated with assigning the characters and all, so I've decided to also make a regular magic school au

Aosth au with Amy and Metal Sonic - exactly what it says it is. Except Amy has a plot with Scratch and Grounder, while Sonic and Tails try to fight Metal Sonic. It's mostly about Scratch and Grounder leaving Robotnik and Amy becoming a freedom fighter in her own right.

Au based on the Martin Adams novels (with Amy and Metal Sonic) – Metal Sonic here is actually the character that already exists in the novels, I'm just making them into this universe's version of Metal Sonic. But this au is actually mostly about Sonic & Tails's relationship. Sonic has a quarter life crisis.

Boom au where Tails does become Eggman's lab assistant - ok so you know how in like episode 3 Tails offers to become Eggman's lab assistant for the return of his robot, but then the team gets him out before he signs the contract? But what if they were too late? This au is mostly Tails and Eggman being insufferable to each other, also it could be an interesting challenge to rewrite s1 episodes to be without Tails.

Au where Aosth Tails ends up in the Boom universe - exactly what it says it is. It's mostly shenanigans.

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #project.txt #project.au #I'll keep editing it plus I probably forgot something already #should I tag Tails since a lot of those center around him?... #miles tails prower #tails the fox

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

it's been a year since i first completed persona 5 royal, and since then i've read quite a bit of akeshu fic. i went through my bookmarks to find my favorites to rec them to you all here in a kind of masterpost. i'll be giving a short summary as well as my thoughts on them. this is going to end up being a very long post, so the rest will be under a readmore.

so, first off we have my favorite oneshots that I've read this year. listed in the order i read them.

you've got me seeing through different eyes by futuresoon

a bad ending p5r fic where maruki gives akira the ability to actualize akechi according to his wants. really fucked up with a lot of psychological horror, and while i don't necessarily think this is what would have happened in canonverse, its a terrifying thought experiment and exactly what i'm looking for in a p5r bad ending akeshu fic.

Fools Rush In by Atalan

akira speedruns his confidant with akechi in a single day and things end up happening a little bit differently. it absolutely nails their dynamic and there is A Moment in this fic that will forever live rent free in my mind.

never a wish better than this by shouldbeworking

2/2 but its groundhog day (which is fitting, since 2/2 literally IS groundhog day). this made me hurt in a very unique way only a fic like this could. god. hhh. pain. just thinking about it. fuck

When it's over, you're the start by thenotwriter

the phantom thieves slowly start to forget everything that happened in the metaverse, including akechi, but akira doesn't want to forget. there's a moment in this fic that made me cry but don't worry it has a happy ending.

why don't we spin the wheel by futuresoon

what if there was a cognitive akechi in sae's palace. this one has some pretty fucked up stuff in it so read the tags but damn is it good holy shit.

With Mournful Tread by Yustiel

ng+ time loop but its a little bit ethereal and you have to read it multiple times to really get it. that ending though. it always gets me. its the kind of thing you have to stare into space for a while after reading it.

Falling Up by KivaEmber

akechi has Angst about killing akira during the third semester. it's short and simple but it hits extremely hard.

fallen angel by cruellae

after killing akira, akechi descends through one last palace. one final mental shutdown to induce in a target whose distortion is dante's inferno--a hell covering all of tokyo. impeccable symbolism and several moments that make me Emotional.

next we have some shorter longfics, aka anything with multiple chapters that's under 50k words. once again laid out in the order i read them.

Lions Share by Turandot

akira and akechi are both hit with a status effect that compels them to snuggle with sumire that sustains even after they leave the metaverse. very royal trio-centric but not necessarily romantic. this was the first p5 fic i read so my memory of it is a bit hazy, but i do think i had a couple minor gripes with akechi's character, but on the whole it is very very good.

Pleasant Boy by ez_cookie

okay. this is my second favorite p5 fic of all time. GO READ IT.

ah shit. i forgot to tell you what it's about. maruki actualizes goro during the third semester and turns him into the detective prince but Genuine. this fic is so so so good and has my favorite moment in any fic ever. i have fully sobbed both times i have read it, and i do not easily cry. (it has a happy ending.) go read it!!!!! now!!!!!

gravitational reset by chashmish

the third semester if maruki accidentally created a bond between akira and akechi that forced them to be near each other at all times. lots of akeshu fluff as they try to deal with this 'problem' with some amazing moments near the end.

Kintsugi by cryptisPrince and Ethereally

this starts out as a velvet room attendant akechi fic and ends with an akechi palace. the beginning is good but the ending is goddamn AMAZING.

killed with kindness by veterization

(this one is technically JUST over 50k words buuut i decided to put it in this category anyway.) the phantom thieves forcibly befriend akechi starting early on in the game. the pt befriending akechi is literally my favorite thing ever and this fic does it very well. its super sweet.

Press To Give Gold by Erina

persona 5 but the characters use reddit. this one is fricking hilarious and mostly lighthearted fun until it suddenly punches you in the gut. and then its lighthearted fun again.

take me to church by cruellae

akira has a palace post-royal. the symbolism/imagery in this one is what really elevates it for me.

Trickster's Maze by TwilightKnight17

another akira has a palace post-royal. its a tad mean to the thieves but the symbolism and catharsis is worth it. joker's shadows (there are several) are literally the best things ever i love them a lot.

Flight through fall by Tayani

a summary would require several trigger warnings, so. post-royal, very sad and dark, but it has a hopeful ending and i found it to be very cathartic. i've already read it twice and i only found it a couple months ago.

Love, Ren by Tayani

akira (okay, its obviously ren in this fic, but i always call him akira bc ren just does not fit him and i will die on this hill) writes a series of letters to akechi over the course of the game. the characterization is wonderful and the ending beautiful.

finally, we have the longer longfics, aka everything over 50k words. its the shortest list but some of my absolute favorites are here.

the first step to find your way is to mark where you have been by futuresoon

akechi palace fic post-royal. akira and akechi make their way through akechi's palace every night so akechi can return to the living world and the metaverse can finally be completely destroyed. there is a ton of amazing character development for akechi and it gets deep into his backstory. this fic also heavily influenced my own akechi palace au, which you'll probably be able to tell once its out. this is one of my absolute favorite akechi-centric fics. there is some darker stuff though so mind the tags.

it takes a village by shouldbeworking

AND HERE WE HAVE MY #1 AKECHI FIC OF ALL TIME. its a ng+ from akechi's perspective and everyone remembers the original timeline except for goro. i read this fic three times in a fucking row despite it being the longest fic on this list it is THAT good. and i am currently (slowly) making my way through it a fourth time and highlighting all the best beautiful passages which is honestly a majority of the fic. the whole thing is just, absolutely gorgeous in every single way and has everything you could ask for in an akechi redemption fic. i cannot rave enough about this one just go read it and pleasant boy and i will die happy. wow. just. wow.

hiraeth by atomjenkins

akechi spends time with each of the phantom thieves one on one during the third semester. (almost) every chapter is beautiful and explores their parallels with akechi. i have a couple minor complaints about how it deals with akechi's feelings about killing people, and one major complaint about makoto's chapter (the author doesn't like makoto and it shows), but other than that. very solid, highly recommend.

Once More, With Feeling by beesandtoes

akira and akechi get stuck in a time loop on the day akechi dies. this starts out great and slowly gets better and better and then the twist hits and it becomes absolutely fucking amazing. definitely somewhere in my top five.

the uprooting of the universe by akc

taking place five years after the end of persona 5 royal, akira and akechi meet by happenstance and reconnect. both akechi and akira have changed a lot in the past 5 years and while akechi's life is now relatively stable, it's still not happy. basically a slow burn of akechi learning how to let himself become happy and finally make some real friends. the akeshu is extremely wholesome and adorable. also this fic made me kin akechi even harder, lets just leave it at that.

and you know what? lets include some bonus ichinose-centric fics i read bc i went through her whole tag on ao3 and these two were the highlights. ichinose deserves so much better. c'mon you guys lets write more about her please i am begging

A God As Lost As You And Blind by Fuchi

multichapter fic where ichinose and maruki have a long conversation in his taxi and do some soul searching together. there were a few (many) moments where i was like 'do people really talk like this?' but then again this is ichinose and maruki we're talking about.

Do AIs Dream of Past Mistakes? by presidenthomemaker

oneshot where ichinose has a touching moment where she reconnects with her emotions while on a road trip with sophia. nitpick that its a little repetitive of their moment together in p5s but i liked this fic a lot regardless.

#sera posts #sera's fanfic recs #<using that tag so if i make more posts about fics i like you can search for them on my blog

[maleyanderecafe]

Who are some of your favorite male yanderes? Personally I like Domotoris Yuki character and Kylar from dol

I actually did make a list here about the type of yanderes I like, but I do have a couple more since it's been a while, haha.

Liev from Pulsato Cordis - I'm not sure exactly why I like him, but I think it's because he's both a reluctant yandere and is afraid of scaring the MC (in one part he ends up panicking if you call him a monster). Plus he has cute reactions if you pay for his meal. Overall, I like the relationship built up between him and Quinn.

Lake from Forever Yours - I mean technically it's not out yet, but @dei-os is in the process of making it and I do love my pathetic crying yandere guys. I honestly don't see the crybaby type a lot a lot (I think the closest one that I've seen is like maybe Trick or Kiss or maybe Yeonho from Nameless before his redemption arc) so seeing him and his personality makes me immediately like him.

Yuuto/Oliver/Odin from @tsukaramachi - currently she hasn't really been active (I'm assuming university is taking up her time), but I really do like her Ocs and general art style. Yuuto for obvious reasons is the poster child, he's pretty sweet and tries to become the person the s/o likes (which I always like). Oliver is a crybaby so I mean, no surprises there and Odin is a weird drooly dogboy and he's cute too.

Xie Yun from Pestered by the Yandere Once Again - Future Recommendation, but I did like reading this one even if the main female lead kinda gets away with most things? The yandere in this one is like a puppy dog and the main female lead is pretty cool. The plot is kinda confusing though, but listen... he's cute.

Taiyou/Tsukita from StalkerxStalker - It's more of a comedy based one, but I still think it's really cute. The bigger buffer guy is more of the softy in this one while the smaller cuter one is the scarier one. It hasn't been translated in a while though, so that's unfortunate.

Akira from How to Train your Handsome but Overbearing Boyfriend- I always forget about this one, but when I watch it, I remember how much I love it. I keep watching it over and over again for no reason, but the relationship is cute. I just like cute things okay.

Abyss from Kiss the Abyss - This is more in the idea that I like the entire thing and not necessarily just Abyss, but since I love the Killing Game genre so much, this one was really fun to read. It's really well written and fun to read through. Plus, I think the dynamic between Abyss and Prince is really balanced, which is rare in a lot of BL style stories, if I'm honest.

Kirihara Kan from There is a Lie in My Contract Marriage - I actually don't like the yandere in this one, but the story is really interesting and kept me on my toes. Plus, the artstyle is pretty nice too.

Amane Ryugen from My Perverted Stalker - ystrike might not like it, but dang it, I did! I mean aside from the kinda sus stuff that happens and how quickly conflicts are resolved, I actually do like the relationship between Amane and Rindo. Amane isn't too extreme of a yandere but he has enough to warrant being one. Future Recommendation.

The Mermaid from What's Your name - Future Recommendation. I can't really tell the name of the mermaid because that kind of defeats the purpose of the game, but I really did like his route. His attitude about things was really cute and innocent (being afraid that he got her pregnant just by touching her was really funny) while also being dangerous in many ways. I think the MCs for each route are pretty unique as well.

if you can't tell, I have a... type and usually, it's a mix of can I coddle this yandere and/or break them because there's no in-between. It kind of makes it hard to find the type of yanderes I like, but that's alright, I think it's good to experience different things.

Oh, I too, also love Kylar a lot. He fits into that category after all and plus, I think his interactions are really cute. And his dismissal event... well, that one is pretty good too. Now if only I could top him...

#male yandere #yandere #yandere boy #recommendations #asks #lists

[edzephyr]

Personal question (and no need to post this), but... were you by any chance the anonymous "Kirk lookalike" who sent me such nice messages a few years ago? (I would ask you through my handle, but I'm a coward. If you were them, though, I assume you'll already know who I am without needing the username. Unless I was just one in a long list of people whose spirits you've boosted, which I have no trouble imagining a gentleman like you would do.)

If so, I want you to know just how very much those notes meant (and still mean) to me, how profoundly moved I was to have someone—anyone—offering me comfort, support, and kindness. I've been feeling particularly unwanted/burdensome lately, so I've gone back to reread those words over and over again because they truly helped me survive a really rough chapter of my soul's apparently never-ending struggle with suicidality.

Thank you so much for helping me feel less alone back then. I wish I could do something (anything) for you that would be even a fraction as significant as what your words did for me. 💔💛💙

(If I have the wrong person, I'm so sorry, please disregard me.)

I wasn't sure how to answer without posting so I hope you don't mind. It sounds like something I remember, yes, a while ago. And my oblique reference was because if I recall it was apparent Kirk and how he'd view you/the situation was important to you. Although in truth, I am just me, I of course made no pretence! What's important is that it helped you, and this is great. And well done. I'm not always resourced to offer as much support as I'd like but be assured you are NOT alone and are being thought of - I'm sure others who follow and have sent you messages will agree.

But boy - I sometimes listen to the likes of James Doohan and his fan story and sometimes I'm not sure which party I am. To make a frank confession, I've found fan support itself to be an unexpected, and genuine help in low points, when I've questioned my own value and purpose. Imagine a scenario similar to the idea of having lead a life of challenge due to a myriad of factors, to have dedicated yourself to a hard career and been knocked back constantly by things outside your control; to see jobs that it's clear to all the world you'd be perfect for - that you've worked just as hard for and have much ability to carry it as people who got the chance to prove so a little earlier and the paperwork's a little better - taken in very different directions. You start to have thoughts like 'why am I here if I am denied doing what I'm good at?'

When you care passionately it's hard to rationalise things sometimes. It feels like letting go of your own self-belief or sense of purpose. Your heart breaks for a lost opportunity to amaze and enthral and indeed, to reach and inspire more people, as you know you'd do. The difference you'd make if you'd been given a chance. Imagine the timeline when one difference in casting changed the impact of one of our iconic pieces of media – like Star Trek. If they’d dropped Nimoy at the pilot and we never had Spock, or his dynamic with Kirk. If Kirk were not so unique and specifically THAT character and not something more generic and forgettable. If Nichelle had left and Martin Luther King Jr hadn’t convinced her to stay. Imagine how different the world would be if it hadn’t caught the imagination, the heart, the social conscience; if it really did fade away back in the 60s.

Am I deluding myself, or am I simply being beaten by a nonsensical world? Both scenarios don't exactly help lift the spirits. The latter I know to be true, especially in the case of the industry I (attempt to) work in, that has more than its share of odd decisions and practices. A lot of it is luck and happenstance. It's a profession where, as I've said before, what gets you a job isn't necessarily being a brilliant fit. It's where you stand. Who you know. You can be a terrible fit for something but those other factors make the selection. I do get told, by people I meet; by others in a better position than I 'your time will come'. It's hard though, on a day to day basis. Sometimes it all descends like a black cloud. Imagine for example the frustration of seeing people let down; fans disappointed by something; telling yourself it's not your fault but thinking, why am I here, struggling, wasting time, when I could be doing something brilliantly? Making things better, making people happy, making productions a success?! An overall win-win??! Instead you're scraping by while feeling overlooked, rejected, not even getting in the room even when you're offering what you're offering, and it's not just you unhappy about it - it just seeming to make no sense.

Even if I let go, I have to retain the belief, the shred of ego, that I do offer something of value, and that I can do certain things in a way no-one else can; that no-one else is offering exactly what I am, and it is of value and benefit for the art and business. Productions and people are not all alike. Somehow something will come through. You know what the profession is like; of course, pragmatically, you know exactly why they do as they do; you know 'your time will come', when lady luck arrives. It's just that all this supposed 'knowing' doesn't always make it any easier.

One thing that I do believe and try to remind myself, that is very much in the spirit of Kirk and Trek, is the idea that everyone has something of value in the world. And intrinsically, whether you're an astronaut or just making really a good cheese sandwiches, each has a value. It all makes the world turn. I still maintain that even when you're not doing something, you're still feeding into the pot just by being here. Even in bed. Even reblogging something online. Even just thinking. We're all here. You just have to periodically reframe your view on things, and there are people who can help, and also lots of online help resources. I am terrible at taking my own advice.

What can anyone do for me? I can’t speak for all in my position but it’s good to know you’re valued. I guess it’s like artists sharing their work online, receiving comments, kudos, that kind of thing. We don’t need validation per se but encouragement is good especially when we're sharing ourselves. I guess that’s all I can say to people out there who want to help me. I appreciate the support. If I’m the captain, you’re my crew. But remember Kirk was a deeply flawed and fallible person. We’re all equals; all have troubles, all have value; are all in the same boat. Perhaps on the days it feels like its sinking, it’s worth walking out at night and looking up; because although we’re not yet on a ship called Enterprise, we are among the stars.

[epitheterasedgen]

Would Percy and Sora acknowledge each other as “sisters” in this AU?

Mmm, not really. A "sister" bond is a very specific kind of dynamic that those two do NOT have. Zora and Yoomtah are the best example!

#if you gotta pick a bio-family dynamic to compare them to honestly I'd say they're most like brothers?? #but there are just a lot of good unique dynamics that don't necessarily fit one neat category! #sometimes Percy is more like Zora's mom #sometimes they fight over custody of Molly #sometimes they are antagonistic fools <3 #FOILS #I MEANT ANTAGONISTIC FOILS BUT THAT'S THE GREATEST TYPO I COULD MAKE #answered headcanons #zora salazar #percival king #percy king #cowboy and cop #anon

[bigskydreaming]

I'm having a worse than usual day, so my go to moodlift method is making up headcanons for Dick that don't involve superheroing. You know, the romantic hero, the 'most eligible bachelor' aspect.. gets the focus. Because hey plenty of us had a crush on him growing up. Just for fun, I wanna ask you, do you think he's a slow burn romance kinda guy or intense fiery passionate romance from the get go kinda guy? One more, the age old question, is HE an ass guy or a tiddy guy? Imo he's a thigh guy..

Sorry you’re having a crap day, and uh, hope this didn’t end up not fun, I got lost in the headcanoning and character analysis and zigged and zagged per usual, so……I do not trust my ability to tell, overall. LMAO. But good question, made me think!

I think it depends on the person. I feel like Dick is capable of both, that sometimes feelings just creep up on him for someone over time, but other times he’s just drawn to someone instantly. For me, Babs and Kory is the proof - the instant crush on Babs from day one is more of a Reboot introduction to their dynamic…..in various older continuities, she was more a rival at first. Even as he advocated for Bruce to help train her and not stop her from being Batgirl at sometimes, he still very much was competitive with her, that sort of thing. You could argue it was the schoolboy kinda crush, that idea of a boy pulling the pigtails of a girl he likes because he doesn’t know how to admit he likes her or even realizes himself that he does. But personally, I find that explanation doesn’t really fit Dick, as its more fitting to someone who lacked his early maturity.

The thing is, a lot of people tend to focus on some of Dick’s more immature behaviors and actions, as a grown man and back when he was Robin with the puns and seeming innocence, and just see it as innocence and immaturity…..but I’ve always seen it as a coping mechanism. Dick grew up fast at a very early age, as much as Bruce himself did - they just coped with it in very different ways. People emphasize that Bruce took him in partly to keep Dick from turning out like he did, but they often forget at the same time that Bruce also took Dick in because he empathized with him, saw himself and his own tragedy reflected in Dick’s. Life-altering events had already happened to Dick before he ever set foot in Wayne Manor…..and Dick was altered. He was painfully aware of how cruel life could be, how serious things were, before Bruce ever actually had any ability to halt that realization from ever touching Dick.

The difference between Bruce and Dick and how they turned out, is that with Bruce’s support in those early years, Dick willfully clung to as much of his childhood as was left to him, even if at times it was the ‘fake it until you make it’ mentality. Many of his more immature behaviors are IMO a spiteful defiance of life’s attempt to make him grow up before he should have had to….and Bruce encouraged these things, IMO. He gave Dick the support and shelter, the buffer that allowed Dick to act immature even in the face of gravely serious and dark issues, because quite frankly, Dick cracking puns even while they were face to face with a life-threatening danger is probably a healthier coping mechanism than any Bruce had at the same age, at least in Bruce’s eyes if nothing else. 

But my point is, Dick’s youthful optimism and cheeriness even in the darkest parts of growing up Robin in Gotham City….none of that existed because Dick was truly childish and immature as befitted his actual age, thanks to Bruce taking him in and guiding him to turn out better than he did or whatever that line of thought might look like…..rather, it existed because Dick made the willful and deliberate choice to act as much the child as he could for as long as he could…..and I think that in the early years when things were really good between them and they were largely on the same page, Bruce recognized this choice for what it was, this defiance to the cards life had dealt Dick, and he encouraged and defended Dick’s ability to make this choice and act this way.

But you can’t see the kind of things all the Robins saw and actually be as immature and goofy as Dick acted as Robin, untouched by all of that. Dick was right there in the thick of it all along. How can you avoid being touched by Gotham’s darkness, seeing Gotham’s darkness, when you’re punching it right in the face, you know? You can’t. But what you can do, if you choose to, and which is what Dick chose to do….is not give it the satisfaction of knowing it touched you. The real testament of how mature Dick was or not as a young crime-fighting Robin, how aware he was or not of the grim realities of life, was not in how he acted when face to face with villains and criminals, but rather, how he acted when face to face with their victims. THAT’S where the reality of Dick’s maturity shined through, even LONG before he met Barbara in any canon.

Which is how this tangent brings us back to topic, lol….a schoolboy crush being the explanation for some of Dick’s earlier pettiness with Barbara and their rivalry at times, like, just doesn’t track with Dick’s actual maturity, IMO. The actual more likely explanation as I see it is that Dick did genuinely clash with her at times, in the very early years, that his initial attitudes were a confused mish-mash of feeling threatened by her and her possibly getting between him and Bruce, the partnership that was in all but name his unique form of father-son bonding time….but also at the same time still being Dick Grayson and feeling compelled to do the right thing and respect and thus defend her being given the same chance and training he’d been given, to do what they both felt needed doing, that they were driven to do.

So I don’t think he and Babs were instant friends, and I don’t think she was his instant crush….I think it was slowburn with her, he gradually grew to develop feelings for her over time, as his respect for her mind and capabilities grew to outweigh whatever conflicting emotions he felt about her being around, and then eventually blossomed into actual love.

Then in contrast, you have Kory. And I think Dick was instantly attracted to her from the get-go, and their relationship was the very epitome of intense passionate romance and all the ups and downs that go along with it, as befits too of the most primal and passionate people in the DC universe. Dick was drawn to her pretty much from day one, and Kory was as well, and it wasn’t an opposites attract thing so much as two beings resonating on the same wavelength, even if at times from different parts of the same spectrum. 

Because here’s the thing about Dick that I think links the two kinds of relationships and makes them both fitting for him…..he is very much a creature of instincts. He goes with his gut, he responds to things on an automatic and visceral level. But at the same time, the other truth about Dick is that his mind is no less exceptional than anyone else’s in the Batfamily, and his instincts are guided by a hell of a lot more intellect and processing power than most peoples’ are. He’s been trained from the time he could walk, even long before he met Bruce, to have exceptional situational awareness, to adapt to changes in his environment and predicaments with a moment’s notice, to take in every possible relevant detail at a glance when the stakes are literally those of leaping off a high trapeze. Dick trusts his instincts, because Dick’s instincts are exceptional, and with reason.

And this applies to every part of his life, not just the superhero parts. So when Dick feels drawn to someone like Kory, I think he trusts his gut and goes with it….he might not necessarily even know yet on a conscious level why he’s attracted to them and they’re someone he could really fall for and have a relationship with, he just knows that he does feel that way, and trusts that its for a reason. And then at the same time, with someone like Barbara, he likely had those same instincts about her, leading to the times he defends her to Bruce even though he might have clashed with her just minutes before, but he knows there’s a reason for him to do that, act that way, even if it takes much longer for that to transition from a mere possibility of actual compatibility to conscious feelings of actual attraction and love. 

Its all instinct to him either way….but the person he’s instinctively reacting to has the definitive role in whether or not its slowburn or instant passionate attraction….because the other deep truth about him that I feel is relevant here is that Dick feeds off other people, their energy, what they show him and give him to work with….and his instinct is usually to meet them in kind, give the same energy back, unless say, he makes the conscious decision to override his instincts and power through an antagonistic reception and try and forge a positive bond, like with building his sibling dynamic and mentorship of Damian.

But in regards to his romances, as I said, I think the same instincts might be in play with both Barbara and Kory, but it played out very differently because Babs wasn’t initially drawn to him, not in that way at least. She wasn’t putting forth a romantic energy, and so it took awhile for Dick’s own romantic feelings to emerge and for them to finally be reciprocated in time. In contrast, it was hot and fiery from day one with Kory, because Kory was drawn to him from day one as much as Dick was to her, so there was nothing to slow down or stop those instincts from transforming into attraction and romantic feelings from the second he felt them.

As to the rest of your ask, lololol, sorry to be a cop out, but I don’t think there is a specific physical draw for Dick. I’ve always headcanoned him as bi, which is a bit of projection on my part, sure, but also I just genuinely don’t think gender or even physicality at all has anything to do with what draws to a person, or makes him attracted to them. Yeah, sure, I think he absolutely has physical attributes he loves and might put forth as their best attribute for any partner he’s with, but I think its different with each person because Dick is all about individuality….not just with himself and his own independence, but just….people aren’t interchangeable for him. At any level, I think. 

Every person who’s important to him is uniquely distinct in his mind, and I think with his romantic partners, this results in him liking something distinct about them physically, that separates them in his mind from any other partners he’s had. Because I don’t think its physical appearance that’s Dick’s primary source of attraction with his partners….he’s attracted to them first, and then he settles on something physical that’s uniquely attractive to him as well, that’s different in his mind from anyone else.

Because I think the thing that draws Dick to people in all forms of his relationships, but is particularly true and evident in his romantic partners…..is Dick is both drawn and attracted to competence, skill, power, intellect….all the things that make someone hardy. Durable. A survivor in the context of the world of superheroics that he lives in, specifically.

He’s drawn to people he feels he’s less likely to lose. And he’s attracted to people that this is equally true of, and even moreso, to the degree where he doesn’t feel any need to protect them….not because he doesn’t want to, but because it isn’t relevant. He feels and trusts that they’re more than capable of protecting themselves just as well if not better than he ever could.

And he knows better than anyone that nothing’s a guarantee, and even as he surrounds himself with family and friends and romantic partners that all have in common the fact that they’re incredibly skilled, capable and powerful…enduring…..he still knows that doesn’t mean he can’t lose them, that he won’t lose them. And thus IMO they all wind up in distinct categories in his mind.

His family, he’d kill for. His friends, he’d die for. And his romantic partners, the thing that makes him attracted to them, rather than just drawn to them, are those that he has no doubt would kick his ass for ever presuming to do either of those things for them, because they’re more than capable of taking care of themselves, thanks ever so much. He’s attracted to people he feels safe around, in the sense that he’s not always on guard, always worried about losing them, because he trusts in their ability to endure, survive, and thrive. And that he also can relax around, in the sense that he’s not always feeling like its on him to protect them, defend them, that he has to be always to be on guard or watching out for…because its not his job to protect them and it doesn’t have to be, because there’s nothing he can do for them that they can’t do for themselves and wouldn’t prefer to be left to them. And thus with them he can just…be.

Dick Grayson IMO is attracted to one type of person and one type only: his equals in body, mind and spirit. The ones he can stand beside and not feel dwarfed by or lost in their shadow, and at the same time never have to look back to make sure they’re following him because he knows they’re right there next to him keeping up. He’s attracted to those who challenge him, intellectually, emotionally, that he respects on every level, but who respect him on every level too…..with this part being especially key, and the problem he’s had in his canon relationships - they ONLY fall apart on his end of things, make him lose faith in the relationship, when he feels disrespected, that they’re not valuing him or his capabilities or contributions. 

Dick KNOWS his own worth, which is why he’s such a unique blend of confidence and insecurity….he can weather a whole society of people looking down on him because he knows their opinion doesn’t mean shit to him, but still be stricken with insecurity when he feels someone whose opinion he DOES value, like a romantic partner, family or friend, seems to question his worth or what he’s capable of. 

Dick and Kory are my preferred canon relationship because when they’re ALLOWED to work without editorial mandate to break them up or keep them apart, they embody this most fully for me. Because Kory is massively more powerful than Dick, but never regarded Dick as anything other than her equal in the field in spite of that. There was no question that they both regarded each other as fellow warrior spirits that they trusted to have their back in battle above all others. Kory and Dick work so well for me, because with everything else I said kept in mind, they SHOULDN’T work, not as total equals, and yet they DO. There SHOULD be a power imbalance there, and yet there never was. Not one that was felt, anyway, and not one that was ever in any way responsible for any of their romantic problems. Their issues were disagreements born of competing ideologies….but that both felt equally strongly about. Or issues of trust but only that were externally imposed by brainwashing and shapeshifting and bad shitty writing and editorial mandate that I’ll be ranting about on my deathbed. 

BUT I DIGRESS.

Anyway, enough rhapsodizing about Dick and Kory, lol, like that’s anything new. I mean, I could insert rhapsodizing about the potential for Dick and Kyle based on all of the above and other reasons, but that’s nothing new either. And also, whoops, this got super fucking long.

OH UNKNOWABLE UNIVERSE, WHO COULD HAVE FORESEEN SUCH A THING.

[thedeadflag]

so this is something I've been mulling over for a while now - do you reckon it'd be possible to make a version of a/b/o that isn't fundamentally transphobic, or would it reach the point of "this is so different that you might as well not call it a/b/o" before that? off the top of my head you'd have to take out all elements of g!p, mpreg, and biological essentialism, and it'd probably be possible to write a version of a/b/o with that framework, but I don't know if I'm missing anything.

a/b/o is a reactionary trope that relies on cissexism-derived biological essentialism to function. Like, that’s the engine that powers the bdsm/power dynamics, cisheteronormative breeding/family building, “dub/non-con”, etc. elements that draw people to it, and led people to create it in the first place. 

Like, my best attempt at describing a non-transphobic, non-shitty typical a/b/o adjacent fic would include:

Werewolves (let’s face it, werewolves can be really cool if written well, and there’s a lot of really good ways to write them, a lot of ways to subvert tired subtropes within the trope)

Found Family-focused family/pack building (because wolves often adopt wolves from other packs into their own, blood lineage isn’t really a thing; much like vampires being created, newly turned werewolves of any age can be considered their sire’s child; if it needs to have a pregnancy arc between two men or two women, there’s IVF/IUI, or magically/spiritually-induced pregnancies, and of course writing a fully fledged complex trans character with their own non-pregnancy arc and virtues/flaws/goals/etc. and getting relevant trans beta writers who aren't your friends to keep it on track if you’re a cis writer)

A flexible, non-binary gendered society (rather than the rigidly structured biology-is-destiny a/b/o society) that’s trans inclusive either explicitly, or implicitly if it’s a new social universe with different rules. 

If mating seasons have to exist, they’re cultural more than biological, and no biological processes that could impede or trouble a person’s ability to properly consent. 

No inherent, glorified or reified power dynamics, certainly none rooted in or fostered through biology. 

That doesn’t seem very much at all like a/b/o to me. It’s a werewolf AU, which is the reason why a/b/o was created in the first place. It wasn’t enough. It needed something more than just a supernatural bent

I’ll continue on below for a bit on some simplified functions of a/b/o, but it’s mostly just some ramblings.

-

Like, to quote the originators of the genre/trope:

I'd like to see Alpha male Jared, and Bitch male Jensen. Jensen is a snotty prude (think Lady from lady and the tramp) he may be a bitch male but he's not just going to let anybody take a go at his sweet little ass...until he meets Jared...then prudey little Jensen turns cock slut for Jared. Bonus points for J2 being OTP, Jensen was a virgin before Jared, and now that they met each other, it's for life.

...

There are three types of men, alpha males, beta males, and omega males. Alpha males are like any ordinary guy with the exception of their cocks, they work just like canines (the knot, tons of cum, strong breeders, etc) The beta male, is an ordinary guy without the special cock. Omega males are capable of child bearing and often called bitch males.

Like, I want you to look at that real close and see what’s going on in there.

This was created to be a trope where there’s a world where women, as we explicitly know them, don’t exist, but where a subgroup of men take up the functional role of the woman in the heteronormative social structure of the world. It’s also not surprising that (assumedly cis) women created and initiated the spread of this trope.

Look at the language used. This is heavily, explicitly gendered for a reason. If you’ve read much of anything about how the male gaze impacts female sexuality, you’ll know a common response is for women to position themselves out of the proverbial frame entirely, so that no part of them can explicitly exist as an object, where they can take on the role of a subject. There’s no women whose experiences will directly link to her own and her own perceptions, comfort/discomfort/etc.

However, many of these women also have been heavily affected by the male gaze and heteronormativity, and that combined with not knowing what a real gay male relationship is like, what it looks like, what experiences might be unique to it...they fill in the blanks with their own conditioning. 

And maybe seeing a lot of that toxic masculinity in media content was unsettling because of how women get treated in that content, and how they in turn might feel in those shoes. But if a MAN, even if it’s a heavily female-coded man, were to undergo that...well, it’d be easier to appreciate those tropes and dynamics they’ve been force-fed to believe were arousing, hot, desirable. Especially if they can have two hot men in it. They can enjoy that self-created taboo, bypass their own discomfort and insecurity, and project it onto a type of person different enough to suspend their disbelief and maintain that difference, even if they’re pumping that guy full of all the typical misogynistic tropes and experiences they’re not comfortable having directed towards them and other women.

In short, it’s a way to get off on heteronormative norms/tropes, using another as a vehicle in order to keep up their cognitive dissonance.

Of course, this eventually spilled out into the Het fandom (makes perfect sense, since many of the a/b/o originators and proponents were het women), and then worked its way into Femslash fandom by piggybacking on g!p in order to meet the necessary criteria for PiV sex. 

Just, in this case, you necessarily shift some of the puzzle pieces around. Trans women take the place of the “alpha”, acting as an acceptable vehicle for a toxic masculine cis man, since lesbians aren’t into men. Even if the trans woman is generally written, in nearly every way aside from part of her body, as a toxic cis man. The original a/b/o’s “Bitch Male”/Omega Male is swapped out for the  Omega Female, usually a spunkier, more in your face version outside of romantic/sexual contexts in the media content, but let’s be real here, she’s still by and large submissive when it comes down to it. 

In a world where more wlw grew up feeling predatory for their attraction to other women, for feeling sinful, for being rejected from female intimacy het women enjoyed with each other after coming out, etc., it’s pretty common for a lot of lesbians to lack initiative, not be able to read or communicate romantic/sexual cues between each other...to essentially be “useless lesbians’ as the joke goes,and to feel isolated and undesirable. 

So writing a F/F fic where some hot woman modeled in the image of some hot cis woman pursues you? Takes the initiative sexually/romantically? Doesn’t beat around the bush, but is blatant? Who can’t control her lust around you? Who can give you the perfect nuclear family you’ve been conditioned to want in order to feel value in our heteronormative world, but were told you weren’t worthy of or could never feasibly attain? Who gives you a sexual encounter you have some education in and some emotional stake in due to common conditioning of PiV sex > all else? Who can give you plausible deniability for a number of contexts due to a lack of ability to explicitly consent? etc. etc.

Like, yeah, that’s going to feel comfortable for a lot out there. That’s going to seem pretty hot/arousing. It’s a way to get off on the norms and expectations thrown on women in society, but in a way that lets them distance themselves ever so slightly from men by shifting it from text to subtext, explicit to implicit.

Don’t just take my word for it, though. Here’s a few snippets from one of the most popular g!p/omegaverse femslash writers (if not the most popular) that help illustrate how/why this trope has found an audience

Why Do I Write G!P?The elephant in the room. It arouses me, but it’s also a form of self-comfort. I grew up in a very fundamentalist home. Women being with women was at first unspoken, and then derided, both by my church and at home. I felt insanely guilty for my attractions, so I developed ‘cheat codes’ to deal with it.

It was okay if the woman I had sex with in my dreams had a penis, for example. It was okay if she forced me to have sex with her. It was okay if we basically simulated heterosexual sex.

Because of my childhood (which included conversion therapy), I found myself falling into heterosexual roleplay patterns, at least sexually. It was a lingering thing from my childhood.

It’s still there, and I know I’ll never be rid of it.

...

I associate penetration with power. You know, being steeped in sexism from an early age turned some problematic thoughts into kinky lemonade. And since I’m a femme sub, taking power away from the top by ‘penetrating’ them can ruin the mood for me. I mean, I can write power bottom scenes with the best of them, and I enjoy them, but… *shrug* if I’m going to write omegaverse or g!p, someone’s getting fucked, and it’s not the top.

There are rules to a/b/o. There are specific reasons it’s sought out, read, and created, and that’s why it’s hard to imagine a version of it without those harmful elements, because the trope requires them for the audience to be satisfied.

It’s why all gay male a/b/o fits a pretty specific pattern. it’s why femslash a/b/o fits a very specific pattern. There’s nearly no deviation as a rule, because there are so many parts that have to be in play and functioning in a specific way in order to get the desired result. 

I could go on for hours about this, and the above is all a pretty damn simplified take of what’s going on in a/b/o for it to exist in the way it does and meet the needs of the audience, and I’ve already written a lot about this in the past, so I’ll try to cut it short here.

#a/b/o #omegaverse #trans fetishization #creative responsibility #transmisogyny #cissexism #genitals tw #genital mention tw #long post #fandom dynamics #fandom meta #heteronormativity #g!p #biological essentialism #Anonymous

[greenlightmusicreviews2]

Hyperion - St. Lucia | Album Review • 7/10

Now Playing: Hyperion by electro-pop outfit St. Lucia.

I feel like where we fit in and where we're unique is that what we do is positive, but it's also not preaching to you or hitting you over the head with a message. I think it makes you feel positive.

- Jean-Philip Grobler (2018)

Bright, dancing keys - big, reverb-drenched drums - and bright, energetic vocals is how Hyperion, the third album from St. Lucia, electro-pop artist extraordinaire, begins.

“Bigger” is a heavy dose of the feel-good pop music that Jean-Philip Grobler - St. Lucia bandleader - is so intent on delivering. In his own words:

“I think that we need more positivity,” [Grobler] concludes. “Not in a brain-dead way where we don't acknowledge problems, but rather to show there's a way to overcome them. You can make reactionary music that is negative and aggressive, but I gravitate towards the things that feel more inspirational. Social change has often come from a positive force, not an anarchistic one. How can you make your life the most enriched positive thing that it can possibly be?”

Not every song sounds like the feel good hit of the summer, though every song does carry this quality of positivity. Even in darker sounding songs like “A Brighter Love,” where these dark, introspective synths glisten below Grobler’s lilted South African tenor, with partner-in-crime Patti Beranek offering her vocal talents in the chorus where the song “finds [its] way to a brighter love” complete with handclaps and sonic burps that remind me of Chi Ali’s repetitive uh - come on! on Black Sheep’s “The Choice Is Yours (Revisited).” On a similar note, the fourth track “Walking Away” is as aggressive as it gets on Hyperion which has the memorable line “the summer days are numbered.”

“Walking Away” brings me to the unabashed 1980s synth-pop influence that is all over this record.

I had a friend tell me once that the 1980s was one of the most influential periods for pop culture - especially for music, basically saying that a lot of what we hear from many artists today, you can pick out the influence from ‘80s musical trends. I don’t think that’s a totally unfair claim to make - I think a lot of rock acts from the 2010s certainly had a neo-hair/glam metal way about them; there is of course the Lady Gaga/Katy Perry comparison to Madonna; and the wave of synth-oriented acts like St. Lucia.

You can hear the ‘80s influence often in the musical themes and motifs. The triple-threat of “Walking Away,” “Tokyo” and “Gun” are all very reminiscent of that cool mix of new wave synth and funk guitar with some big nods to classic rock of the 1970s. Take a song like “Gun,” for example, the faux-horns and the triumphant dun-dun-dun-dun electric keyboard that would not sound out of place on a latter-day Phil Collins record, and with a chorus that is achingly catchy. In fact, a lot of the album’s best moments manage to combine an older, traditional pop styling with a bit of psychedelic moments that are taken straight from Dark Side of the Moon. In particular, “Tokyo” and “Gun” both feature these dazzling and winding synth leads that remind me of the VCS 3 synth used on “Any Colour You Like.”

I want to highlight that line of thought - what Hyperion does best is blend traditional pop styling with a tinge of psychedelia that comes out in songs like “Paradise Is Waiting” with it’s sunny gospel-style choir and lyrics like:

Every night I dream about a man who takes my place Tells me to go up, up into the highest mountain In the dream I wait, among the lonely ancient beings ’Til I hear that voice, telling me to come to paradise

“Paradise Is Waiting”

“Paradise Is Waiting” is of course, one of a few songs featuring, again, the Pink Floyd-esque synthesizers, which brings me to “Tokyo,” where the synth comes in at around the halfway mark and just takes the song to the next level.

One of the album’s biggest highlights for me is “Tokyo,” a love song for that popular Japanese metropolis. The drums are perfectly understated, and the synth work is tastefully done with gorgeous vocals that are stacked and harmonized to perfection. The hook is catchy and not in the way that other songs are where it can be gratingly so.

Later on in the record, it does lose a little bit of steam. “China Shop” is good, though the annoying synth lead imitating something that I think is supposed to sound Chinese does not do it for me. A lot of the back end of this record begin with interesting ideas and sounds, and there are some great, lush and atmospheric instrumental passages (intro to “Next To You,” all of “Last Dance”) that don’t lead anywhere that makes it enough of a satisfying listen, and often just devolve into cliches by album’s end. Do we really need another song about “saving the last dance?” And “Next To You” has a verse where the descending chord progression has been done to death and reminds me of “Overkill” by Men At Work.

Although the group does occasionally fall into instrumental and lyrical cliches mentioned before, there are some poignant moments where Grobler displays his talent for writing thoughtful lyrics.

Apparently there’s a bit on this record that’s meant to be confrontational and political. “Gun” for example is an examination on the issue of gun control and power dynamics between men and women - however, there are times when Grobler’s lyricism is just too vague and toothless for any meaningful dissection of what he wants to get across. It’s interesting that “Gun” is the song that he chooses to make as an example, because there are other songs that convey his political messaging much better. A song like “Next To You,” which I wasn’t terribly impressed with, does have some of the most direct and interesting lyricism on the record:

And millions of people keep checking their phones As a Labrador keeps licking the bone That it hid in the earth 5 years ago The director tells the actress to say her lines quick There ain’t no time here to overthink The world’s changed, and it’s changing so quickly And can’t we build a skyscraper 20 miles thick And fill it up with all the shit that we bought At the president’s impeachment sale

“Next to You”

Even the album closer “You Should Know Better” manages to maybe convey some kind of message to the political and upper class in America.

Hyperion at times manages to reach the potential that its leader seems to so passionately reach for: music that is positive, meaningful, thoughtful and provocative in a proactive way - but sometimes it just amounts to pleasant-enough sounding electro-pop bedroom hits. In a featured piece in Riff Magazine, there’s a very touching and illuminating part of the profile where Jean-Philip is utterly candid in his experience recording this album:

[Grobler] felt like pop music stopped being about being truthful and inspiring others. “I take what I do very seriously, and I didn’t know how to bridge that gap,” he said. “I felt like what I was trying to make was so at-odds with where the music world is heading. Sometimes I wondered if it was even possible. It’s like climbing up a sheer rock face and not seeing another ledge to hang off of.”

Riff Magazine | Sept. 25, 2018

The back-and-forth struggle between the need for honesty and truth in your music, and the desire for artistic relevancy, was clearly on display on this record. No doubt the music industry has long been a pretty machine that spits out pop hit after pop hit while disposing of artists when they have no use for them anymore, but there are a lot of “pop” artists that still manage to create totally compelling works while not necessarily becoming the Billboard darlings, or while even being critical/commercial chart toppers. St. Lucia, and Grobler in particular, totally appear passionate about the music they create, and I hope that on future records that they can just run with it with no pretense of who to please other than their following and the muses in their heads. That’s when a lot of the best music is made.

Hyperion: 7/10

Favorite songs: "Paradise Is Waiting" • "Walking Away" • "Tokyo" • "Gun"

#st. lucia #st lucia #music review #hyperion #fantano #artv #music analysis #blog #pop #pop music #electro pop #tumblr #jack antonoff #phil collins #synth pop #synth #80s style #80s nostalgia #green light music reviews #hyperion analysis #hyperion review #music reaction #music reccs #music blog #musicislife #mucus

[kendrixtermina]

Hi, I've thought for the longest time that I was an enneagram 4w3/5 but then I revised the core fears again and realized that my fear of being unloved or unwanted is so much bigger than my fear of not having an identity/inviduality. I still identify with the "I'm unique" "nobody understands me" of 4. If this means that I'm a 2w3-somethingw4- I'd have to choose 5 because I identify more with this than 6, but I don't have "cold detachment" of 5s. Is it because it's not my core? What do you think?

At least in this system, 2 and 4 are genuinely impossible to have ‘both’because they represent ways o dealing with the same emotions - if you feel bad, do you try to ‘make up for it’ or do you go thinking into wether it’s a bug or a feature? the 4 pov views your attributes as a lot more static which can be a limiter sometimes whereas the 2 sees things more dynamically sometimes too much in a catholic like “faith & good works” approach. There may be trouble comprehending a a good, well, intentioned action can still be unwanted. 

You might consider that maybe some part of it comes from another component, (maybe the ‘uniqueness’ part comes from being, say, a high Fi user in the mbti, or a bit of the Self-Confident, Inventive or Ideosyncratic traits in the oldham system)

Nominally there’s also the possibility of mistaking a 9 fix for a 2 one, 9 is also afraid of “displeasing” ppl and losing relationships - thought it’s more about finding the state of chaos stressful than feeling personally rejected but it could interact with the 4 - this one is easy for you personally to judge, prove or disprove, because a 9 fix might cause you to stay chill when something goes wrong, whereas a 2 fix is openly expressive and emotionally dynamic, sorta Phlegmatic vs. 

Another thing to consider is your instinctual variant - are you sx first? Sx 5 can be somewhat unlike your classic stereotype of 5, a lot more ‘dreamy’ & not strictly ‘academic’, especially if it’s not your primary fix. - those can be mistaken for 4 especially if you’re F mbti wise. (basically social orietented more than task oriented if you’re not familiar with the term)

In any case you can generally ‘smell’ a 5 fix or wing if a person often shares ‘funfacts’ as a bonding activity (”Hey buddy a while ago I read this super cool thing...”) or takes an opportunity to explain something when it arises. This too might interact with a 2 fix like being self-conscious of comming off as a smartass but also - & for all their differences both are uncomfortable with others spontaneously doing tasks for them, the 2 might feel guilty that it’s an ‘indulgence’ & that they should be helping instead while the 5 doesn’t like the implication of not being able to do it on their own - of course you could have neither of these problems if you’re relatively well-adjusted. 

Instinctual variant in general may be helpful b/c 2 and 4 are amongs the ones that vary somewhat, especially 2.

sp 2: Sorta childlike in presentation likes to be spoiled, will present adorable & refreshing to seem loveable (more via your attributes than actions)

sp 4: Can sorta appear somewhat more sunny (by still quirky, ‘unique’ & negativistic ie - “This day was so hard I deserve chocolate”), a person with a more tough demeanor (in some cases enough to be mistaken for 8 or 6) or a mixture of both - in any case there’s an idea of beiring suffering  by May fantasize abut doing extreme things, puts significance in favorite belongings

sx 2: 2 classic, focussed on building & pleasing personal relationships, very expressive & relationship pocussed, probably always has to have a best friend and/or romantic partner

sx 4: ‘intense artsy person’ / 4 classic, can have tempestuous moods, very romantic but can fall prey to overly high expectations & quickly grow disillusioned, feels *personally* slighted by the world

soc 2: The mom friend or charity worker sort, very adult in presentation, attracted to important positions where they can do a lot of help. Focus on being needed by others in general

soc 4: ‘Social critic’/ ‘subculture’ sort of person. Defines self as standing apart from mainsteam culture or feels they don’t fit into it. Can have a lot of social avoidance or negatively compare self to others sometimes, probably somewhat self-conscious of social interactions, not as ‘tempestuous’ as the others

There’s also a difference in communication style - 4s may narrate their current pursuits or misfortunes & comiserate if someone else chimes in, (unless they think the other person is a boring tool then they might get critical & judgy, like “You think you have problems?”) - This isn’t necessarily or at least not consciously attention grabby just their way of talking & they’d liste to another person if they talked similarly but there’s probably a lowkey wish that someone would validate you & if that happens it feels nice. 

2 by contrast is one of the more positivistic types & focusses on feelgoodsy stuff in conversation, they wouldn’t spit out a personal misfortune unless they felt safe & saw the other person emphasizes. The communication style is different - If someone complains of misfortune they won’t so much sit back & listen but try to comfort or advise the person, like actually try to get them un-sad asap, with the expectation that next time they’re sad the other person will comfort them though they’ll expect it more than explicitly ask for it. 

They might for example get pissed if a loved one doesn’t comfort them in a hard moment, like “ahh i went through this nasty breakup &my friend didn’t support me enough” etc.