#it’s not a meta HAHAHAH

[rmwb-fanfics]

Could you rank the male HP Characters in terms of Cock Lenght, like how you see them in RU? Thanks!

Hi Curse, hope you’re doing well.

Thanks for asking! Honestly tough one to answer but here we go.

Harry: 9 inch wonder. Brother doesn’t need the spicy double digits he’s all good with the motion of the ocean. Ginny doesn’t complain.

Ron: foot long subway slammer. Ron Weasley FUCKS. Pair this with his lean, defined physique and you’ve got yourself a winner.

Bill and other Weasley men: 7 inch with a great personality.

Draco: Says it’s 13 is really 4. “It’s big though, like.. in girth,” he says to the hooker he hired off the streets of Paris.

Dean: Gay and POC? The imperial system can’t measure that one so probably like 30cm flat. Weird curve though.

Sirius: “I’ve never measured,”. Has measured, is disappointed.

Remus: doesn’t really matter because Tonks can change whatever she’s got going for her to work around him.

Lucius: unfortunately has something going for him at ten inches but Voldemort might rip it off if Narcissa and Draco fuck them over one more time.

Grindelwald: [REDACTED]

Dumbledore: is dead so im spared.

Arthur: no way Molly had that many kids without enjoying herself. 11 inch people pleaser.

Greyback: considering the fact that he doesn’t wear clothes most of the time it’s probably permanently shrunk due to the cold and Tonks doesn’t think he’s got much going for him so let’s trust her.

Elizabeth: doesn’t have a dick but she gives off big dick energy.

Teddy: bro is a tall lanky natural blonde yeah he’s packing.

#harry potter #ginny weasley #ron Weasley #draco malfoy #lucius malfoy #bill weasley #measures #huh #anon answered #meta #it’s not a meta HAHAHAH

[levmada]

Also another fun thiught:

How much did Erwin truly know? Because Erwin says a lot of stuff that ends up happening ( the main one I can think of is him asking Eren if it is actually him who is the enemy). Makes one wonder if he knew a lot or is just extremely lucky.

There is also this theory that my friend and I have that Erwin is a time traveller, but there's no real evidence for that, but it makes me giggle so...

that's a VERY interesting take /gen. but i think erwin's knowledge is the same as everyone else. he's not lucky either. he's just that smart.

i think he asked eren that question for 2 reasons.

1: to gauge if eren really doesn't have a clue of what's going on and why (and he didn't).

at this point in the story, erwin knew eren was the key to the truth, but he didn't trust him completely because of eren's memory loss surrounding how he became a titan and such + he can transform into a titan at all.

this was erwin's train of thought (probably) after hange's titans were killed, which damaged their research efforts. in erwin's mind that would mean there's someone or someones who don't want the scouts to succeed, but also had access to odm gear. therefore it's a solider, but not a scout.

but why has this happened all the sudden? if it was garrison or military police, they wouldn't go near a titan even if it's tied down. so it has to be a cadet.

but what cadet would take such drastic action in their hands? yeah some were put off or scared of eren's transformation, but it was a risky move, and the equivalent of hitting the scout regiment with rocks (joke not intended).

this person must be a cadet who doesn't plan to join the scouts, but if that's the case, there has to be at least two if they have it out for eren. a coordinated effort.

therefore in erwin's mind he already suspected there were multiple imposters who were titan shifters, or at least knew more than all of them.

reason 2: the question is just an aside. he was asking eren, but MAINLY asking himself a question.

erwin knew eren was a monster already because levi knew from the moment he and eren met (which he says later during the 57th expedition) that eren was a monster, not because of his power, but because no matter what cage anyone could trap him in, he'd be unstoppable. levi almost certainly told erwin that at some point.

so now erwin is asking himself.

are you the enemy because you can transform into a monster, or can you fight for humanity even though you can transform into a monster?

levi again ended up saying something similar later.

(how stupidly complex)

(now that i think about it though, this encompasses one of the most major aspects of eren's character. he set out to destroy the world because he was stupid and had too much power like he said in the finale. but he also ended up protecting paradis in the process - on top of his intentions in the early seasons really being to fight for humanity duh.)

#tldr erwin is the smartest character in the show #i cant remember other foreshadowing erwin said but i'd happily go into it like this hahahah #aot #erwin smith #erwin aot #erwin smith aot #aot meta

[mizumonohomo]

reread Red Dragon this past summer and 10/10 great decision

Will is such a compelling character, you can see why this book got so many adaptations (2 movies and one show). even though the book just covers the tooth fairy/red dragon murders, you can see Will's past in so many ways. How much he struggles with his empathy and his insight into people's heads. His empathy and care for the victims AND killers is really what separates him from typical gruff'n'tuff true crime protagonists. The weight that working in his field has/had on him. He is a sympathetic character, yet people in the book as well as readers can definitely see how he could be threatening, scary to know socially. How much he struggles to contain himself and be 'normal', even though he is being asked to use the darkest parts of his mind. And though Hannibal plays a much smaller role in this book than the others (and he played a larger role in the following books BECAUSE he was so interesting to people) you still see hints of a shared past and familiarity between Hannibal and Will.

Even separated from the context of the NBC hannibal show, it makes you wonder what exactly happened between them, how well did they know each other? Even if your interpretation isn't romantic, its interesting no matter how you slice it. Does Hannibal's insight into Will stem purely from his ability to analyze people and not from having an 'intimate' relationship/friendship/work colleagues in the past? How much did Will actually know Hannibal, did they ever see each other socially outside work or anything even approaching friendship? Like yes, obviously I adore the nbc hannibal obsessive gothic romance between them, but even without the context of a falling out between them it surprises me that Will in never mentioned in the following books (beyond one single reference from jack crawford anyway). It would've been very veryyyyy interesting to have seen Clarice Starling and Will Graham interact at all, like even a single letter exchanged.

I could easily see Clarice being intrigued by Jack's descriptions of Will, enough to send a polite inquiry for help/insight into Hannibal or the Buffalo Bill Case. Whether Will would just chuck that letter into the trash or actually help is up for interpretation, but still! I could see a correspondence between Will and Clarice so easily. They actually have somewhat similar backgrounds (and a great disinterest in discussing their past) though their reasons for joining the FBI are somewhat different, they both care very much about the victims in their cases. Will begrudgingly taking on a mentorship role with Clarice because shes's persistent and courageous enough to pursue help from a guy who is a world champion at shutting people out and he just cant help himself from wanting to help save people from danger despite his own best interests. Will's advice would probably have been more helpful than Crawford or Hannibal.

And just imagine Hannibal's reaction in Silence of the Lambs if Clarice dropped the fact that she had spoken to Will 'dont text me dont call me dont write me letters dont even fucking look at me' Graham. Like "oh. he. responds to YOUR letters hm? well did you know Will is scarred and ugly and afraid of his own mind?.........did he....mention me?". Clarice could've easily leveraged help from Hannibal by making it competitive between him and Will. "Ah yes, that is a fascinating insight Dr. Lecter, Will Graham said something similar when he and I spoke." just playing them off each other and she WOULD'VE too lol i love her

And how would book!Will have reacted to Hannibal's escape from prison/subsequent life on the lam? I guess people's most common interpretation is Will being like "never fucking call me again" after Red Dragon is all said and done, even that case was one he was pushed out of 'retirement' to work on by Jack. And maybe Will just did not want to engage with Any Of It at all after that. But I find it hard to believe Hannibal didn't send him even one semi-taunting letter like the : "i have no plans to call on you, the world is more interesting with you in it" letter he sent Clarice. Or that Will wasn't tapped for info/help by ANY law enforcement agencies as the guy who caught Hannibal way back when. I mean at the very least freddie lounds would've OH wait he did actually die in the books lmaooo 🤣

Anyways as a book Red Dragon is a great read, a tense murder mystery worth flipping through. The movies are great adaptations of the book, not many important details are cut out. NBC Hannibal is still my favorite interpretation of the Red Dragon book, though obviously the show takes from the whole series not just the first book. I'm still sad we never got to see Clarice in the show as she's one of my favorite fictional characters but any role she'd have played in the show would be soooo diminished from her role in the books as her story/dialogue was portioned out to other characters on NBC Hannibal (Will and Miriam mostly but also, Abigail and Bedilia to some degree) so perhaps its for the best 😐

#long post #hannibal meta #sorry i ramble on so long i REALLY love this series #i still long for a modern interpretation of clarice starling #i wonder how she would navigate our modern society #though you read the books and are like. yeah aside from technology advances this could've been written TODAY #in terms of the sexist racist classist bullshit she has to wade through in her career #and though her.....' romance ' with hannibal would most likely NOT be as popular today... i want to see what people do with her character #i also think she'd be a great candidate for being played by a person of color #it adds a layer to her that complements the struggles she already faces being a woman being attractive being from a poor background #and being unwilling to play coy and cute for men who demean/sexualize her #As well as her eventual realization that she isnt allowed to do her job through proper channels #bc the system itself is corrupt #shame that is followed by kidnapping/drugging/mind warping in the books FOREVERSALTYABOUTTHAT HAHAHAH #augh i could go on forever ill just end it here #clarice starling #hannibal lecter

[phantoms-rain]

Random Clone Wars Thoughts:

When everyone’s having visions and shit of Sidious…y’all really couldn’t figure out who that was? Nobody else has a chin like that man!

#I’ve been thinking about star wars hella meta lately and it’s so funny #HAHAHAH Palps chin I’m CW is so obvious!!!!!! #you don’t even need to see his face! #the clone wars #star wars clone wars #emperor palpatine #sheev palpatine

[angrymac]

16.05 spoilery thoughts

very funny episode, I was laughing out loud throughout

Charlie’s stomach is the eighth wonder of the world fr, his digestive tract is unreal

Mac and Dennis look like such a couple in this episode (technically they are if Mac still thinks he’s with Johnny)

Dennis is absolutely lying about disliking his suit, like be serious for one second dumbass

Dennis saying he can’t understand what Mac is saying, making Mac be quiet… ooh the miscommunication trope continues

Aaron Paul being controlling is hilarious

Mac and Dennis’ subtle touches, Dennis patting Mac’s chest, oh I’m gonna cry

brief explanation of Charlie’s driving for the confused superfans hahahah

The Aaron Paul & Bryan Cranston dynamic is SO FUNNY

I love the idea of Gritty solving all of macden’s fights like some sort of couples therapist

Aaron Paul saying clown is something that can be so personal to a Todd Chavez girlie (sobbing)

Tony Danza’s Oysters in a Canza is so funny

Mac and Dennis doing the same hand motions on the plane oh they’re so married

great episode, meta humor but not too on the nose, and Aaron and Bryan were hilarious

#sunny season 16 spoilers #iasip #iasip s16 #iasip Season 16 #iasip spoilers #iasip Season 16 spoilers #always Sunny #always Sunny s16 #always sunny season 16 #it’s always sunny in philadelphia #macdennis #macden #Mac McDonald #Dennis reynolds #dee reynolds #Frank reynolds #Charlie Kelly #Aaron paul #Bryan Cranston #Todd Chavez you will always be my beloved #celebrity booze: the ultimate cash grab

[deripmaver]

Griffith, Sex, and Power

Feat. a brief special guest: Laurent of Vere from Captive Prince (spoilers, and of course canon typical content warnings for both Berserk and Capri)!

Ok time for a complete 180 from all my Berserk meta posts so far hahahah. Probably this is one that’s been made before, but I wanted to take a crack at it possibly from a different angle than before. This’ll be just sort of a ramble, no panels ‘cause those panels make me sad and I don’t want to go looking for them.

In CS Pacat’s Captive Prince, Laurent of Vere was directly inspired by Griffith from Berserk. Part of what allows the audience to forgive him for the sexual violence he causes Damen is when we learn that said abuse is just being replicated from his own experiences. Laurent has learned by being abused as a teenager that sex and power are intrinsically linked (as he says to Damen, his perception of sex is that it occurs “as a man takes a boy”), and so when the man who killed his brother (and lead to his abuse in the first place by leaving him with his uncle) is put in front of him, the ways he dominates and reasserts power over him come from his own sexual trauma.

It’s not hard to see how this characterization draws from Griffith. As a young teenager, he is given the “choice” (which isn’t really a choice at all) to make money to sustain his dream by winning battles, and thereby sending his followers to their deaths, or by prostituting himself to Gennon. As far as we know with what’s given to us in canon, up until he sleeps with Princess Charlotte this is his only sexual experience - purely transactional, a show of power from those who have it forced upon those who do not have it. 

When Griffith has sex, in Princess Charlotte’s case, or... commits sexual assault, in Casca’s case (twice), it’s not a coincidence it happens at moments where he feels at his lowest and most powerless. It’s ALSO not a surprise that he replicates the dynamics he’s familiar with during these sexual encounters. With Charlotte, he goes to see her to regain a sense of control and authority after Guts leaves, and during that encounter she expresses uncertainty at the beginning, outright saying no before eventually just kind of submitting to it. This encounter I think falls into somewhat of a gray area of fictional consent, because we see ultimately Charlotte happy with it, and thinking only fondly of it in later chapters, but it’s undeniable it’s coercive and considering how the whole thing is framed vs the sex between Guts and Casca is framed, I think the discomfort is intentional. 

Then, of course, with Casca, these encounters are outright sexual assault and rape. Again, it’s not a coincidence that these happen when Griffith is feeling completely shattered, completely without power, at rock fucking bottom. It’s heavily implied that some of Griffith’s torture was sexual in nature, if not outright rape though considering how much rape of women there is in Berserk I’ll forever be pissed as hell that Miura didn’t bother to show any of that happening to an (adult) male character if that is what he intended. 

So now, as far as what’s been shown in canon, Griffith’s sexual experience is underage prostitution, coercive sex with Charlotte, and now possibly rape combined with torture. After this, he assaults Casca in the wagon (only stopping because he physically can’t go through with it due to his injuries) and when he’s able to move again as Femto, rapes her. Rape is fully about power, and to Griffith sex is about power in general, and the eclipse to me is a very clear show from Griffith that he’s the one with power, he’s the one whose will the world bends to, and he needs to reassert that power over everyone. 

As an aside, it’s very interesting to me that in those moments of powerlessness, the people he uses to reassert his own power aren’t the men who have taken from him, but women. I mean, during the eclipse he’s hurting Casca to get at Guts, but like... He doesn’t rape Guts LOL when he easily could. I’m sure most of that is just Miura not wanting to draw sex (even if it’s rape) between adult men, but taking a more meta view, it replicates power dynamics and hierarchies of misogyny and oppression in the real world in an interesting way.

Griffith, as a character, knows what it is to be powerless, and is desperately climbing for more and more power throughout the story of Berserk to never experience that again. However, in doing so, he becomes the same as the oppressive nobles who hurt him, and once you accept that hierarchy it chips away at any intrinsic sense of justice you may have. This hasn’t come up again since his rebirth, but it will be interesting to see what his reaction will be if something happens that does shake his absolute authority over humanity, and what he’ll do about it. I think that moment might be coming up sooner than we expect.

#berserk meta #berserk #captive prince #griffith #Laurent of Vere #we interrupt ur regularly scheduled casca meta etc etd #etc etc

[lewis-winters]

would love to hear more about the skinny/speirs confrontation 👀 (I'm sure other would too so feel free to answer publicly)

Ok I did not actually anticipate ppl being interested HAHAHAH but since ya'll asked nicely (@ep6bastogne and @hellofanidea mWAH to you too), here it is under the cut.

Ok so like. Understandably, people are more focused on Web and Lieb when it comes to the mountain top scene and that's perfectly fine. They're the ones I first thought about too. But then the more I watched that scene, the more I nyoomed in on two details: 1) It is implied that Speirs personally gave the order for Liebgott to go up there and deal with the officer, and 2) Skinny is the one who ends up pulling the trigger.

Which brings me to like. This fic I started planning in my head but couldn't quite write down because I am. Lazy. Anyway, it follows several plot points:

1) This is piggyback riding off my meta that Ron had ulterior motives to sending Liebgott up the mountain, which I have outlined in this post. TL;DR Ron used Lieb's anger (and to some extent, Web's too-- in my head, he heard about the incident with the baker in ep9, and he wanted to exploit that, not anticipating that Web's own self-preservation (of both his own person and morals) would get in the way) to do his dirty work, knowing that he wouldn't be questioned because of his position and because of said anger blindsiding all logic Lieb might have.

2) Skinny somehow knows this. He's more intuitive that people give him credit for. If Ron handpicked Lieb and Web because he knew, at least to some extent, that their anger would push them to do what he wants, then what the hell was Skinny doing there?

3) That question will haunt Skinny for awhile. Because why did Ron know, somehow, that Skinny would pull the trigger when either Lieb or Web could not? What anger and violence did Ron see in Skinny that made him think: "ah, yes, him; that's my killer of killers"? And most importantly, why did Skinny prove him right?

This is very much informed by how irl Skinny's PTSD was very much centered on the people he killed as a soldier (as opposed to people he lost). He's constantly cited in his writings and his letters that he felt unforgivable. So it isn't a massive leap for me to go yeah!! that boy killed an unarmed man (albeit a nazi, but I don't think even that could help him justify this) and then was later present when Web says "war's over, anyone would run" which no doubt would add to his already guilty conscience.

Add all of that together, and you have a recipe for a very traumatized lost boy wondering if maybe he's carrying a monster inside of him, and if maybe Ron could see it.

4) the answer, in the end, is that Ron couldn't see it. This was the dialogue I wrote first, and it has had me by the balls ever since:

"So why me? What did you see in me that was so twisted and cruel that you decided I should be up there, huh? Tell me!"

"... Nothing. I just needed a third man."

5) anyway. Ronald does, finally, admit to having used Lieb and Web to get what he wants. But Skinny doesn't care, because all he hears is that he's collateral damage. And that's not quite as comforting as Ron thinks it is.

soooooo. yeah.

**another plot point I have listed but couldn't really put anywhere in this weird ass list: there's also some cognitive dissonance sprinkled in there-- Skinny could justify Lieb and Web's reactions. He'd say Lieb has the right to do it. He'd also say Web's attempt at perserving himself as wise. it's important to note that Skinny went into this with the mindset that he was already unforgivable from the beginning. this just exacerbated it, but also gave him somebody who could probably answer his questions (i.e. am I really unforgivable? am I rreally a monster? am I a murderer? etc etc).

#ask #skinny sisk #ronald speirs #band of brothers #fic idea #thanks guys for letting me ramble #mwah mwah i have saturday classes in a few hours and there's a smoked salmon in the fridge that's calling my name #bob meta

[inevitably-ineffable-husbands]

Omg are you the Steph from Inevitably Johnlocked? That’s amazing, because I adore what you do with Johnlock, and now to see that you also have an Ineffable Husbands account… AMAZING!!!

Hey Lovely!

LOL you say that like I'm a celebrity HAHAHAH! I'm honoured you think so highly of my, but YES, I am the same Steph! :) Spending a lot of time over here right now, same amount of time as I am on @inevitably-johnlocked, so yeah, I am online too much LOL. I want to get around to writing some more meta here, but I don't have a lot of time :P

#steph replies #my blogs #chatting with lovelies #happy posts

[broomsticks]

@ashesandhackles hahahah i still remember the OMG CELEBRITY moment i had upon seeing you in the TLE discord. but seriously — i’ve loved getting to know you, and it doesn’t surprise me in the least that someone who writes such insightful meta is such a sensitive and patient and wonderfully kind person! getting to hear your thoughts on the series has been mindblowing, sooo many things i seriously wish i could make mandatory reading for everyone in this fandom.

remus meta of all time: Gentleman Monster: How Remus’s Marginalisation and Comparative Privilege Made Who He Is

remus meta pt. 2: the four landmarks of ashes' journey with remus

the similarities and contrasts and one of my favorite lines of all! The Marauders Map scene in POA: Verbal Fencing Between Snape and Lupin

so much adventure and so much depth! Tales of Rolf and Luna • 5k, G. seriously, fall in love with all the backstory ashes draws out in these characters.

most unexpected: Innocence • 2k, G. tonks and aberforth, tonks and hagrid — HOW do you come up with these ideas? so unusual and wonderful, and of course andromeda & tonks gets me every time <3.

Winter Sun (it glows, it gleams, it fades) • 7k, G. gosh all these wonderful little moments! i loved your postwar kingsley & andromeda, your dean & ted, and cho & ginny, but my favorite, hands down, has to be the patil twins one. all the ways this society torments and oppresses on the basis of gender, culture, species… so hauntingly good. thanks, i hate it XD

---

for an explanation of why i just wrote you a whole ~thing~, check out this post & the ‘mutuals march’ tag below!

#mutuals march #ashes tag #hp meta #my fic recs

[rontra]

So, given you are interested in DC, or at least aspects of it and RWBY I am curious what your thoughts were on the recent crossover? I assume positive given the art, which s amazing by the by. Also low key curious if you have any "born in DC" headcanon for superhero RWBY. No pressure though.

THE MOVIE YOU MEAN??? well first off thank you hahahah

& for #2 i don't really have any headcanons like that ... somehow i struggle with conceptualizing rwby crossovers w my other interests in general. (maybe it's because rwby's language is so specific to me i struggle to translate in or out of it????)

i do think however we should rank dc characters on how competently they could solve the salem situation /j*

the movies... i watched them back to back in the same night of course, so it was very funny to like, go directly from v7 to post-v9. they were like Guys you will not believe the shit that happened to us since last time we spoke

of course it's crossover spinoff material and not that important to me in the grand scheme of things. so my mode of interaction with it is mostly Enjoying A Light Snack. i can't say i have many capital t Thoughts that are worth posting about individually bc of that. but i DID enjoy the post-v9 aspect of movie2 bc like--altho obviously they can't dig into this shit in a crossover spinoff film--it still gives somewhat of an inclination towards what the writing room is thinking about. ruby especially i had a great time with. how's figuring out the summer rose shit going for you girl (BADLY) (LOL)

oh and omg invoking raven's name ... RAVEN MENTIONED... (to yang no less. heh)

a lot of salem namedrops in movie2 as well which i did chuckle about every time. speaking of, salem not going to vacuo Bolstered... hee hee hoo hoo... pleaaase give me evil gang meetup at beacon pleaaase

movie1 was a special treat for me because i loved all the "this doesn't make any sense this doesnt add up" Memory/Continuity/Spatial fuckery. i could've genuinely watched two full movies about rwby characters going "wait, that doesn't make any sense" at each other. i REALLY enjoyed that. very good show. pyrrha moment very fun also

i think zatanna shouldve showed up in movie2. for me.

i thought i was gonna miss bat ears brucie baby from the RWBYxJL comic more than i did. i think of him so fondly. but wings were kinda fun .... 🦇

movie1 had a little too much diana characterization disease for me to enjoy her. but that's so common its barely worth leveraging as Specific To This Movie. and i feel like she barely talked in movie2 so jury's still out on that. but of course there's a fair bit of wriggle room for the dc characters (in movie1 especially) as well given the "its a random ass crossover so the meta stakes have never been lower + they all got Genuine Teenager Brain for the whole first movie anyway"

movie2 had some pretty cool animation moments that i really noticed. movie1 wasnt like Awful but movie2 was the one where i perked up like "oh, that animation looked cool", you know? also i really liked the models they made for team rwby. the stylization felt nicely balanced to me?...if that makes sense. i hope we can see more models like them in the future just for me. idc who uses them but its my christmas wish RT please

final evaluation: better than DC/RWBY the comic. here is my favorite screenshot

so true girls<3

*wonder woman could fix everything i know this about her

#this is just a Loose Collection of Thoughts I Had. none of this is insightful. but since u asked HDBHJFD #tl;dr “yeah”

[yea-baiyi]

(so this is the meta post that i rambled in response to an ask about hua cheng’s character archetype (link) it got so off topic from the general archetype description that i removed it and answered the ask separately. but here it is, a somewhat brief unpacking of hua cheng’s character journey! )

when we meet hua cheng, he is already near the end of his character arc. he’s confident, independent, and has a clear sense of self. he is a ghost king, he is a supreme, he has a sense of humour, he’s a bitch, he has friends, he has places he frequents, he has a whole life and identity that he has made for himself. his love for xie lian and desire for xie lian’s approval does not overshadow his individual personality. he does what he likes (most of the time, anyway. he still wants gege to like him hahahah). but as the book unfolds we see the long journey that he has gone on to reach this point.

chronologically, we first meet him as hong’er, a mistreated and abandoned child. he reacts to xie lian’s kindness with utter devotion, beginning the relationship that will define his entire life and growth. when he is older, in despair he turns to that person who showed him kindness and asks for guidance, to which xie lian responds, then live for me. that pretty explicitly establishes that initial dependent relationship, where hua cheng is using xie lian, and his role of worshipping xie lian, as his sole reason for living. but that quickly hits a turning point as xie lian, in his own despair, himself tells hua cheng to give up on his devotion, because he does not see himself as deserving of that worship. in the face of xie lian’s weakness, rather than give up, hua cheng takes the burden on himself instead. his devotion is no longer one that asks for strength. instead, he will be xie lian’s strength. and that is a strong, strong motivator. he is able to achieve the impossible, over and over, because of his conviction to becoming stronger, to protect dianxia.

but he spends a significant chunk of time seeing himself as nothing but that strength. he is nothing outside of xie lian, not even a name. but his time at xie lian’s side as wuming gives him more perspective on his god — he is more than just a tool to xie lian. even at his lowest point, xie lian treats wuming as a person, someone deserving of dignity, respect, kindness. xie lian constantly tries to protect him, even as wuming willingly offer himself as a tool to aid whatever xie lian desires. so i see that as kick starting wuming’s journey to becoming hua cheng. and then he has another 700 years to do that.

so hua cheng, as we finally meet him, is his final form after all that growth. he has a name, he has a face, he has a life, a purpose, and a legacy. all those things are inspired by xie lian, yes, but they are all things that hua cheng has built for himself. before he meets xie lian again he is a full person with a full, full life. he could have be separated from xie lian the rest of his life and continued to live and thrive as he had been. him falling in love with xie lian, really, is just a lucky chance, because it has almost nothing to do with his devotion and everything to do with who he is as a person. xie lian doesn’t fall in love with his most devoted believer, he falls in love with hua cheng, the person that his devotion helped him survive to become. he falls in love because hua cheng is bitchy, funny, kind, vicious, petty, steadfast, and as much of a disaster as he is, and they have a blast when they’re together. and none of that would have been possible if hua cheng hadn’t come all the way to the end of his character arc.

#tgcf #tgcf meta #hua cheng #hua cheng meta #xie lian #hualian #meta stuff #my hyperfixation demon #yeah i REALLY need to do a hua cheng centric reread #i need to flesh out the wuming part a lot #this is just off the top of my head #sighs. enjoy reading everyone!!

[wolfsbane-if]

ahhhh, I started this if today, and I'm right now with Maverick loose trigger and IDK what to doooo, im so bad choosing because there can be so many variables ahhh

I mean, the most logic path would be kill him, then there shouldn't be any problem with the bastard trying to hunt them down, but at the same time, who can tell us he has not people protecting him? and then, when they known about the incident they try to revenge him? Maybe even the town could be in danger?

But the same thing can be told if you dont kill him, what if he tries to follow Mc's trace and discover the place where the sweet sweet girl is trying to learn magic (with her teachers) and kills everyone?

But… maybe if you can teach him that not because there are beings that traditionally people see as bad, they MUST be bad, and the first input in this ideology is when MC (in my case a mage) with a vampire and werewolf spare his life.

BUUUUUTTTT his personality doesn't fit in the spectrum of "hey, lets stay in a open-minded state" and now im stressing myself with this HAHAHAH

All excellent points to consider! I did do my best while writing to include some nuanced and sometimes difficult choices in the story, but while it's very gratifying to see people putting so much thought into them, try to remember that there's never a "wrong" choice -- it's all in service of telling (what I think is) an interesting story!

If you're really struggling to make a call, I can always recommend saving the game and trying each choice out to see which outcome you like the most. You're correct that there could be consequences down the line for either decision, but perhaps just seeing the immediate results will help guide you towards one path for the other -- and if you end up not liking the ramifications in the future, you can always go back and replay it.

For me personally, half the fun of IF is seeing how things change with your choices, and that's part of why I don't ever plan on publishing my work through the official channels - losing the ability to save and load would take so much of the enjoyment out. If that's not your style though and you'd rather pick one choice and commit to it, I can offer one piece of meta information to help assuage some of your worries:

Neither the people of Katja's home town nor the people of Adderstod (where Pamina, the teacher lives) will be in danger as a direct result of your choice to kill Maverick or not.

Hope that helps!

#leftski answers

[the1975attheirverybest]

“do not come for me, trust me... you know who i am talking to. honestly no you can't. i am as mental as we speak. i have the receipts. don't fuck with me. trust me. it's not worth your time, missus” who is bro fighting

hahahah inner demons.

I don’t think he said “missus” I think he was making a general statement as a riff on “tell me something that I didn’t know.” From the end of the song. Commenting on the commentary. Meta and pretentious and stuff

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Alright. I've been reading your metas and, wow, congrats, you're awesome. Can you recommend me a book with characters you consider good or well written? Like, Harry Potter and Edward Cullen are psycho weirdos, we don't necessarily think it's good or bad, but at least interesting... Can you name a book or character that aren't problematic or... Y'know? Have i expressed myself poorly again? Hahahah I'm sorry if som thanks if you answer.

Thank you, glad you enjoy the blog.

As for your question...

No.

Look, there exists many media with many excellent characters, but almost all of them would be what tumblr deems, in one way or another, problematic. They deal with drug abuse, murder, anxiety, depression, etc.

Either the characters are problematic in and of themselves or the content of the show, book, movie, or play is problematic.

Breaking Bad, for example, one of the best shows I've ever seen with excellent character development, but it's about Walter White and his road to becoming a king pin and murdering everybody.

If you're looking for a character like Edward or Harry Potter especially, who are written masterfully, then you're going to get into stuff tumblr doesn't really like seeing or talking about.

You're going to have to clarify what kind of recommendations you're looking for here.

#about this blog #praise #opinion

[stagefoureddiediaz]

really its because of you that ive become sort of. not obssesed but like whenever i watch the show i just. keep looking at the costumes! trying to look for the patterns in your theories and its become one of my favorite parts of this hahahah anyway, the point is i was reading some of your check theory posts earlier today and now i started rewatching animal instincts (mind you i havent read your costume meta for that ep, i shoumd have done my homework!) and it was just really interesting to see it play out perfectly! specially in the scenes with buck + connor and cameron. like, in the dinner scene buck (buck's in black, i already read that disscusion) but also connor was in check! and cameron's shirt had like a big floral pattern and all i could think about was how that was sort of a reflection on what they would bring to buck after that scene! (which also like, reinforces the idea that the sperm donor thing is a Bad Idea), then connor wearing check to buck's loft later, aaaand my favorite, which i actually spotted during my first watch, was the stripes haha (i also think like half my dash was people going insane over that last monday), and the fact that buck wasnt the only one wearing the stripes, but i dont remember exactly what was the difference between vertical and horizontal stripes rn hahaha because ofc buck saying yes to the donation is supposed to be this big life change for connor and his wife, but i dont know what it all means! im just here chilling and spotting the patterns. idk, your costume theory is stuck on loop in my head and i cannot stop thinking about it!

(and im not even gonna get into the slutty black tanktop of it all and chris's new patterned pjs! thats a job for the professionals)

how did i do? did i get the assignment right? hahahaha anyway thank you for helping me and all of us actually to appreciate the art and thought that goes into costume design, its really interesting to me and i wouldnt have started to learn more about it if it werent for you 💛 have a great weekend and see you next monday!!

jj / babygirldiazz

JJ/ babygirldiazz

I'm so sorry its taken me an age to reply to this! real life got a bit crazy for the last 10 days or so - fighting literal and metaphorical floods and fires at work so I just haven't had the brain power to go through my inbox properly until now!

I adore that you are having fun playing spot the patterns and see if they fit the theory. I hope you're now read the Animal instincts costume meta and that you enjoyed it. you're pretty spot on with your analysis of everything and the thing with stripes is that my theory is about the horizontal ones we see on lots of characters - which Conor was the one wearing in that scene.

The vertical stripes is a specific Buck thing, and they tend to accompany him being emotionally compromised (and invariably ending up making a less than stellar choice). This is really interesting and I've only just fully put two and two together on this (so JJ you get all the praise and gratitude for allowing me to spiral and go on a little Buck costume trawl) but the shooting is the first time we see Buck in vertical stripes.

And thats big - really big - because that is the moment Buck becomes emotionally compromised in a way that he hasn't been able to come back from. Everything that has been and is going on with buck stems back to the shooting. The shooting lead to a host of other choices that were less than ideal - things that he wouldn't have done, choices he wouldn't have made, if the shooting haddn't happened - letting Taylor into his life, saying ILY to her, moving her into his apartment, etc etc etc. all stem from the shooting and all are times when Buck is wearing stripes.

The ones from Let the games begin fit into this pattern - the zip front denim shirt and then the cream shirt both tie into Bucks reluctance to get a new couch - and the questioning of who he is and what he wants - the fact that he's essentially in stasis - and hasn't fully moved on with his life - leading to him trying out self help books etc as a way of figuring out what he wants from life - this is a trauma response in so many ways and those shirts are our sign - a theme the costume designers are using to tell us, the audience, that Buck isn't doing great - that he is mentally unwell and it's why these vertical striped shirts are becoming more frequent in their appearance - because he's not getting better - he's getting worse - spiralling more.

Thats why I've only just been able to really get my head around their use on Buck in the last couple of episodes - it can sometimes take a little while to figure out what a designer is trying to say with patterns and styles, and this is no exception. I fully expect us to be seeing more Buck in vertical stripes going forward until he either fully breaks down, or until he is able to start healing properly - and I'm pretty confident we won't see him stop wearing them until the shooting has been talked about by Buck and Eddie. Its sitting there hanging over them and this show is all the levels of insane and clever for the way they are using all the tools at their disposal to provide clues and information for those of us who want to spend the time looking.

Just going to sit here and feel even more feral about the shooting of it all than I already was!

I hope you have an amazing week JJ and feel free to pop into my inbox whenever you like - you've made my day!

💜💜💜

#kym answers things #JJ asks #babygirldiazz asks #spiralling about Buck and vertical stripes o'clock #I've finally connected the dots #911 on fox #911 spoilers #911 fox #911onfox #911 #evan buckley #buck #buddie #Buck and vertical stripes #they need to talk about the shooting #911 costume meta #I love the wardrobe team #911 wardrobe team keep on giving us the goods #kym costume meta #JJ this post is being added to my master pinned costume post - for posterity