#honestly all the asks that i've mentioned on the askblog that i'm not sure how to answer yet are pretty much this

[coffee-bat]

cortex is still suprisingly hard to write

#or maybe rather draw AND write #bc i can usually imagine his dialogue well enough but then when i think about drawing him with that speech bubble its. off #like he has such a distinct way of speaking and phrasing things but i genuiely often cant imagine what expression/pose he'd have saying- #-the goofy shit he says #bc we don't usually SEE him as he's speaking y'know. esp in crash4 #so i'm still struggling a bit💀 if the asks are wonky/ooc i'm very sorry i'm working on it #ramble #neo cortex #honestly all the asks that i've mentioned on the askblog that i'm not sure how to answer yet are pretty much this #it's not that i don't know the answer- i just need more time to think how cortex would react/phrase his response #he's often unpredictable (wildly varies between very goofy and very serious) so esp for ones that could be emotional for him- #-i'm not sure which direction to go in. like one time he'll deflect/deny feelings or make a joke and another he starts sobbing #yknow?? #so with every ask i'm like. ok what would be the funniest here (and can i imagine it in his voice). #i'll get better at it with practice but i'm still learning rn lol

[theboyandthepeach]

Hey Ari, maybe you should stop the state the blog is in now and, reboot it or something, I mean you learned and grew a lot about the course of it and maybe that's just what is needed set all back to zero and start it again, like surely theres things in hindsight you'd do diffrent or not at all, things you'd like to add, I mean you had literally arceus on this blog let him whipe the timeline under a guise and start anew, maybe take it slower, dont rush yourself. I love this blog and your style, It would be saddening to see you lose the love for a blog so many like by now, just maybe think about it or if you are unsure put a pool up so people can vote or what ever, I really think a reboot would do you good.

Grettings from plot anon

I've been thinking about this ask ever since you sent it, and honestly? Maybe you're right.

There are some things I want to do differently, and there's things I want to just remove entirely. I'm also starting to not be 100% spineless, so things will be more grounded and I won't just use any and all ideas thrown at me.

Not to mention, I feel like fans of the AU itself find my blog and go ???? at all the stuff there.

But, I'm not going to pull a Watcher and do it without considering the fans, so....

Keep in mind that I am NOT going to be deleting this blog. It will stay up, just won't be active.

The new blog will also stick more to the AU's plot (which means some characters won't be available for asks)

#ooc post #toxic consequences au

[ranboo5]

Follow up on the ask about your opinions on how the fandom treats Ranboo, HOW should I treat him? Aside from not infantilizing or demonizing him obviously. I want to write him and not fall into any of the other common mistakes you mentioned but he is confuse me. I know you said you're still figuring it out yourself but. You are the Ranboo expert from my perspective and I love your content involving him. How do I write and characterize him. Please you're my only hope

Confession I am not really happy with my own Ranboo fic characterizations

I'm tryin to write what will. Hopefully become a multipart fic (and, full disclosure: I have the peoplenotsides URL and I intend to start an askblog with that when I get the time) and I am just... he's Hard To Get A Grip On. I've written him alright before and I think I can again but especially in a whole story... it's Hard (and it's kneecapped also by the fact that I have a really, REALLY hard time uh. Writing events. And also writing complex social dynamics. Like I know how Ranboo would respond to things but I don't know what the things ARE and I can't. Augh)

However. I do think that what's important is and this seems obvious but. The question of but is it smth he would Do. And the key concept in my experience of thinking he'd do smtha nd then going "...hey wait a minute" is it happens bc you weren't considering the whole thing

A too-decisive Ranboo is too decisive bc you didn't consider him second-guessing himself in full. A too-waffly Ranboo is too waffly because you didn't consider how defined he can be. A too-nice Ranboo is too nice because you didn't consider how mean he is and a too-clumsy and unlikeable Ranboo is too clumsy because you didn't consider his people pleasing enough. A too-callous Ranboo is created when you forget about his care for people and a too-committed one when you forget his self-serving streak. A Ranboo who's too competent is one whose weaknesses and oversights are forgotten; a Ranboo who's too pathetic is one who's gotten his perception and social machining nerfed. A Ranboo who is too closed off to form attachments is one that's missing his sentiment, the heart he wears on his sleeve, and a Ranboo who's too open is one that's missing his walls, his caginess, his guardedness, the way he holds people at arm's (considerable) length

And these Seem like contradictions but really they're not

Ranboo's sure of himself and how right he is because he thinks he's the only one who second guesses himself. Ranboo's polite when he can be but backhanded as a manner of lashing out and bc so much of his politeness and people-pleasing is simpering and superficial he is Easily fake and Conniving. Ranboo is terrified for his own safety but is also willing to go to bat, except when he's not, because he values his friends but he's so so afraid, and he sees the people he cares about as in some ways his Responsibility (to varying degrees) and his friendships as varying Obligations and sometimes he won't take others on. Ranboo has trial and error'd his way to his social skills and he won't be good at it but he has to be good enough at it to live but he's not a master the same way no one's Perfect at any one skill. I wish I could say how to balance it in a defined way but honestly as I said I'm not really confident in my own ability in all contexts

The only thing I've found that works is thinking in opposites almost. Like. "Would Ranboo do this" can be answered by looking at whether there's smth about him that contradicts it, and whether there's something that appears to contradict it but that actually fits neatly into the same larger paradigm

At the end of the day that's rlly the only way. Ranboo can only b written by reconciling, and writing, the whole of him. A missing part is a broken image.