#its like that thing i read when i were a teen that was edgy but it was still kinda good and i can overlook its flaws

[e17omm]

what IS your comfort fic? :0

A tad embarrassing, but I did feel the urge to reread it again and I did bring it up...

Its not a soft, goofy and fluffy fanfic, its actually dark but I like it a lot with its more unique plot and execution...

It's Black Reaper by Vengfulfate over on ff.net

Its a RWBY AU fanfic, and... Uh, its kinda edgy, but I have caugh myself, in my mind, de-edgy-fying it. Like, every overly edgy moment and detail is toned back by like, 6 in my head.

But despite its edgy (and some cringy) moments... The plot of it is so interesting and I think its plot development is great - especially because theres not many fanfics like it.

So to go over the start (this is assuming that you've watched the first 3 seasons of RWBY (the only good seasons) to their ends)

The Fall of Beacon happens differently. Ruby is dating Velvet and is down in Vale instead of at the stadium, and when the Fall begins, they run into Neo, and stops her before she can use her Semblance to teleport to the ship Roman is on to break him out in time.

So he remains captive. Ruby then makes her way to Beacon and runs into Blake, Yang and Adam! That scene goes differently and Adam is captured, but not before he can throw his blade at Ruby.

This is where the fun begins, because Yang jumps to block it to protect her little sister, logical thing to do. But this isnt a cheesy happy story, so she miscalculates and gets herself impaled.

Then she fucking dies. But Ruby tried to save Yang with her Aura, which doesnt work as her own and Yang's aura turns on her

Ruby takes on Yang's Aura and Semblance. An emotion-based semblance, a semblance that makes her stronger the angrier she is.

And Ruby has no control over Yang's semblance as it is too strong for her, and she was never meant to have it. Take a Yang with a speed Semblance, an anger-based strength Semblance, and double the Aura reserves. Also make her unable to control her anger-based Semblance at all. That's Ruby in Black Reaper.

Queue Ruby getting angry at everything. Stuck in hospital? Mad. People get scared of her? Mad. Cant have a shouting match with Weiss? Mad. Getting hit in training battles? Almost kills Jaune. Banned from training matches? Mad. Mentions of the Fall or of Yang? Mad. This goes on for a year.

She keeps running off to the forest to fight Grimm to vent, until one day she instead ends up in Vale. And she kills a (likely) innocent faunus on the street, because it reminded her of when her sister died. Then she runs away from Beacon.

Months later, Neo finds her in Vale, they team up and break Roman out. And, Ive gone on long enough.

>One of the plotpoints I love is that, Ruby never truly redeems herself. Sure she eventually goes back to being a good guy™... But she's still a criminal at heart now, she casually steals minor stuff like chocolate bars just because she didnt feel like paying for it, even when she has billions in her bank account and a Heiress of a massive company right next to her.

As I said! It is cringy at times and edgy a lot (especially in Black Reaper 1 *mild shudder*), but if you take a step back and look at the idea, the plot, and the storyline - its great.

Its also the one fanfic I keep wanting to reread every now and again, especially when Im feeling down. I dont know, maybe it just brings me back to the past? It was written... 6 and a half years ago? o_o

Sadly the Author got burnt out. I chatted with them privately and it was a mix of burnout due to character bloat (OC's that are pretty good) and feeling like they (the Author) had to give every single character at least a scene in every chapter.

So its abandoned... What's there is pretty good, or at least decent, I think.

As you can probably tell I like it a lot, despite how edge it can be (which I subconsciously dial back in my head. Gotta keep reminding myself that I do that if I want to try to talk about it objectively...)

#fanfiction #when i think about it #its like that thing i read when i were a teen that was edgy but it was still kinda good and i can overlook its flaws

[essaytime]

I think the main thing that absolutely infuriates me about the "Romeo and Juliet were just dumb, horny teens" take is this implication that because they were so young, their relationship had to boil down to them being dramatic and inventing some great romance to moan about, or lust and hormones. As a teenager, it makes me want to tear the speaker apart with my bare hands. Interchangeably with stabbing, maybe.

When you look at the text, you can clearly see that there is some emotional connection between Juliet and Romeo. Their first conversation is literally a sonnet - which already indicates some sort of understanding and mutuality, and it's also beautiful poetry. They are the only characters in the entire play that they are really fully comfortable talking to. The adults are caught up in the feud, Nurse loves Juliet, but cannot understand her (and makes a dirty joke at her expense in Act I, which for a person Juliet's age would be awfully unpleasant), Romeo's friends, though I Iove them, don't get his sensitivity - Mercutio laughing at it and Benvolio worried by it - which Juliet, in turn, appreciates. They speak of each other with respect and admiration, quite unusually in Verona, where all is conflict and even Juliet's own father insults her: look at the sonnet, the balcony scene, Romeo comparing his sweetheart to the sun or a jewel (in contrast to his earlier quotes about Rosaline, which are literally a compilation of clichés stacked on top of one another). Even when Juliet awaits their wedding night, in a speech clearly centered on sexual matters, there is a visible softness and affection with which she treats Romeo ("cut him out in little stars"...). She waits for the night because it's him, not "I want to sleep with someone because I want to sleep with someone". The two genuinely care about each other, and are fond of each other. Of course, we can wonder if this love would last if they were given an opportunity to grow older, but when the play takes place, this love is there, and it's beautiful.

(Off-topic, I'd also like to note that this is an Elizabethan play that takes place in even earlier times, presumably late medieval - early renaissance Italy. They wouldn't live in the modern world where you can date many different people and settle well into your thirties or fourties. The average marriage age for girls in Shakespeare's time was about twenty, in fifteenth century Florence it was eighteen. Both of them were from wealthy families, so they'd likely be expected - even if Juliet's parents did not force her into a marriage with Paris - to marry earlier, for financial and political purposes. There couldn't be a "growing older" like we imagine it. Even their hypothetical different relationships would be early relationships for today's standards)

And it makes my blood boil when the visible genuine bond between these two is reduced to just "dumb kids being horny". The motive behind these words being partly, of course, the high-school-acquired All Required Reading is Nonsense edginess, but also a deeper issue - the inability to comprehend the fact that teenage love is also often real love.

Being capable of having deep and meaningful romantic relationships does not come baked into your birthday cake when you turn eighteen or attached to your first ever bill. Not every single feeling a teenager might harbour is at its core shallow lust and wanting to get laid. Of course, there's lots of cases of shortsighted infatuation where the pair really have nothing in common! I could name at least a few examples I have seen personally. But still, on every street and every corner of the world, and often a few metres from these pointless infatuations, teens fall in love because there's something more to it. Because they find they have a lot in common, because they get along well with each other, because they are able to see the good in the other person - their kindness, their intelligence, their enthusiasm, you name it. "Teens" including the younger teens, from thirteen to fifteen. And this love is a deep emotional bond. Sure, in most cases it will not last until death (and to be honest, relationships not working out is not really a teenage-specific phenomenon and a sign that young love of all is inherently doomed and it has to die so the curse of growing up is fulfilled), but it doesn't make it less of a love when it still remains, and it includes all the things love is about. Young couples go on dates, and have fun. They confide in each other. They support each other through hard times, they show care, they sometimes make sacrifices for their loved one's good. As any person in love does, at any age.

When I fell in love four months ago, I did not fall in love because I wanted to sleep with someone so bad. In fact, I do not want to - not for the next several years. I realise it's something I might want someday, but it's not today; and above all, I'm way too young. If anything, what I want is to kiss someone, or run my fingers through his hair, or read with his head in my lap - but it's not something I'd go out of my way and date a random person to get, come on. I fell in love because he is actually the first boy that reminds me of myself so much, the first I can understand so well. Because I also have a penchant for history and writing, I also tend to use formal and flowery language in very informal situations, I also enjoy people's attention (though I seem to worry more about being a potential inconvenience than he does), I also believe that we should judge people as individuals, because there's too much nuance in one person to make proper statements about large groups - and I find in him so many things that I can relate to, though of course I can't say I know him well enough to speak much for sure. Besides, he's simply a wonderful person, not flawless, of course, but he has a good heart. He is always kind, and well-mannered, and intelligent, and you can laugh with him. He would care if something bad happened, no matter if he says that he wouldn't. I think I know him well enough to say this at least. And if he loved me back (a thing I consider unlikely for now, but not entirely impossible), would we stay together forever? Heaven alone knows! Maybe not! It is up to the higher power. But even if we broke up, that wouldn't erase the fact that I loved him, and I would have done a lot for him, and we were able to have meaningful conversations. Just because a love isn't forever, doesn't mean it was never there.

Because - what the "dumb kids" people don't seem to grasp - teenagers are also human beings with a functioning, even if not fully developed, brain, capable of having complex feelings and thoughts just like an adult. Note that Shakespeare's leads, at least Juliet, actually do that - hence the pre-wedding night monologue, the "deny thy father and refuse thy name", her statement (I don't know the English original of that one, to be honest) that she is too soft and loving towards Romeo already, but it's because she has such profound feelings for him she can't even pretend to be strict. It's noticeable that she has some emotional maturity, at least - she shows some critical thinking abilities, she understands the consequences of many actions, she is able to see that the feud is pointless and a name is just a name. She's a teenager, and someone in their teens is also a Homo sapiens specimen, not a being from a different planet. Teens think and feel. It might not be the same reality as the adult one, and they don't deal with emotions with such ease as an adult would, but that doesn't mean they are unable to truly love and care, to enjoy talking to someone and want the best for them, like grown-ups do - as developing an affection for someone that makes you happy is a very human thing, and I can guarantee you a thirteen or fourteen-year-old is a developed enough human being to experience it.

So, to sum it up, if I hear any "Romeo and Juliet were just dumb kids being horny" on my watch, the author of this statement will presumably be mercilessly killed, and then I'll do as Fulvia allegedly did to Cicero and stab something through their tongue, except instead of a hairpin, I'll probably use one of the darts my little brother got for Christmas. They are very sharp. We have several holes in the floor already.

#and today I live up to my URL and write a full-blown essay #romeo and juliet #shakespeare #classic literature #my Romeo and Juliet rants

[yellowbluemoonshine]

Hi,

I see you finished Monster and are quite versed in Johan. Can you help me understand the depth of his character better? I feel like many people miss the point of it. Also I'd like to know why you like him so much.

Oh, there is so much to say about him but i will try to make it short as possible.

Lets Talk About Johan;

First of all, i heard his character as some 'evil' mastermind so i wasnt really interested in his character until i experience the story by myself. I wondered why this series is popular so i decided to give a chance. I tought Johan was like Afo (from Bnha) but he turn out to be a lot like Shigaraki lol.

What makes a character depth is if they are not one-dimensional, that there is a more than how they seem from surface. And Johan fits well since he is mysterious character who is seen as angel, monster, devil, basically anything but human but they end up failing to understand him because if he was so simple, police would've catch him a long time ago.

At the start of series, he seems like your usual dangerous serial killer which fits the psychological thriller theme of story. And one of the best thing in series is his connection with Tenma. A doctor saves his life and this dangerous killer starts to view him as parent figure. A killer who see no worth in life and the doctor who thinks every life is equal, especially saving Johan is the reason he starts to to be able to live his life as a real doctor. Only to learn the child whom he saved turn out to be serial killer.

Tenma feels responsible for this and goes to journey to kill Johan. During this journey, we aldo discover some hints of what made Johan the way he is. The irony is we get the hints and a lot of characters perspective of him, everyone except Johan.

Is his messages about 'the monster inside of him' serious or not? Tenma assumes Johan is enjoying this at first, then he assumes Johan has multiple personality disorder. And later when he talked with other doctor, he assumes Johan is just playing with him because thats what most serial killers do with police. This is interesting because all of those end up being wrong. Johan doesnt enjoy from killing people. Johan doesnt have DID. Johan didnt write those messages to play with them. We know this because we later learn that he is unconciously imitate the fairytale stories he read as child.

Meanwhile, he has fanclub. A lot of murderers admire Johan because they view him as destruction Buddha. Just like others, he is seen as monster but why though? Its not like he is the only killer in the world. And personally, a lot of characters are more 'evil' than him so the thing about Johan is; he treats human life as nothing. Not just other people but also himself. Thats what makes him so scary to everyone. He doesnt even do it out of joy, money, statue. He looks like the devil in human form. He spreads misery to world. (Thats why he burns library when they said "its humanity's treasure" LoL.)

To people, that is scary. When they look at Johan, his eyes, the see someone who has no identity (nameless world). They see someone who treats life like as a game. Which explains why many people are afraid of him.

Some also want to use him, such as they want him to make second Hitler and he is like 'Nope'.

I think the main reason i love Johan is that he is like a magician. He can create a beautifull illusion. He is someone who can touch people's hearths because how well he understands them. Which is why he is seen as angel when people dont know he kills people.

This is also why he can use other killers for himself. He can see their vulnerabilities. Because even a killer is still human and they might need acceptance, to be understood by someone. Johan can give it to them. And they wish they were like Johan because they think everything would be a lot easier for them to kill others, like some kind of edgy teens. They fail to understand the person they want to be is extremely miserable.

On other hand, Johan can use his skills with curing people. Such as him waking Suk's mother, he made her remember her son again. Though he does things with ulterior motives, same skills can be used for good things. He can make people happy or miserable by little things. With a little magic or just skill.

And even though he is villain, he has very relaxing voice. He is very elegant. He listens other people. This fits perfectly well with his manipulative character.

We also never know when he is sincere or not because when you think he doesnt he actually seem to care, such as when he cried for Karl. Apperantly, tears were real. He is always in his world, its so funny when you think about he is some kind of mastermind.

Also his interaction with kids is so interesting. I think he geniuely enjoys being around them. Otherwise, why would he bother to spend time with them, why would he know so much about child's rights, why would he look for picture book for a friend? This is the same guy who encourage kids to rooftop game (and the scene where he was projecting on Milos) which is messed up. It gives me chills. His nihisilism, him viewing life as game end up resulting him expressing love as twisted.

----

Later, everything changes when Johan finds certain book in library. Basically, Johan's character doesnt necessarely stay same during the series. He changes his motives from unconciously imitating nameless monster stories to find actual monster who ruined his life. Even though he does messed up things, everything about his character makes sense with that scene. Johan geniuely believed that he is nameless monster. Johan geniuely believed that he doesnt exist.

Everything about him makes sense because it explains why he doesnt think death as much of it. Because if someone doesnt exist, they cant be killed. If someone doesnt exist, they cant be responsible for killings. He is detached from reality. Its not that he didnt feel. Its that he doesnt view it as real the way other people does. Because Johan isnt there. This is the tragedy of Johan's story. He doesnt have name. He doesnt have identity. He feels as he doesnt exist.

The famous 'monster' tape everyone after is about a child unable to see the difference between fairytale story and reality. 'My name is Johan. My name is Thomas. My name is Hans. My name is Otto.' He is them but he is neither of them. Johan views Anna as his half, as Anna is the real one and he is fake copy. He killed people as child, not because he is evil but because he geniuely thought that monster is coming after them. He cant even separate his own memories from Anna's. He takes all bad memories both to protect Anna and other reason is to become someone. He wanted to have identity, he wanted to live so bad but he didnt have on his own so he took it from others, just like the nameless monster.

This is also why Johan is also affected by Tenma's saving him. He probably wondered Tenma wouldnt save him, if he knew he was monster. He was kinda right because Tenma regretted his decision but he was wrong because Tenma couldnt shoot him and he saved him the second time. He showed him that he has right to live, he has right to exist, and that he has a name so he is not monster. This is why Johan can open up his worst insecurities. And they really give father-son energy and i think thats cute. I am glad that even after years Tenma visists him at hospital.

And we can guess what happened at the end thanks to Grimmer (one of the characters who deserves better), 'The monster become human at the end'. and Lunge said that if he were not a human being, he would not leave a trace, only humans leave a trace. For the first time we see Johan leave his mark. So Johan is no longer a monster, just a human. Also, his real name doesnt matter, he is Johan to us/all.

I love the messages of story. There is a monster inside all of us, but we can contain/heal it and after all, we are all human, our lives are equally valuable and stealing a person's name is the biggest crime, so having a name is very important. Story still has certain writing issues but generally, it is good story. Johan is well written character because his story is such a journey. We cant even really appreaciate the story without fully understand Johan. Every scene he is in meaningfull. And personally, i think his story is very empathic because of how tragic he is. Also sometimes he looks so funny and weird which makes him entertaining. He is such a good character.

Though you are right, anon. Many people still misinterpret the story, especially his character but anyway, there are still people who makes great analysis about him. Such as this analysis made by @cyanogoth.

Its ironic that most/some main villains have the most interesting and sempathic backstories, even though they are supposed to be 'big evil' or something but in reality, they are not really.

Anyway, he is fun to think about, i love him, lol.

#anon ask #johan liebert #tenma kenzo #tragic villain #naoki urasawa's monster meta #monster meta #monster #monster analysis #character study #character analysis #monster naoki urasawa #naoki urasawa #naoki urasawa's monster

[shy-mama]

The Dream

There once was a girl who grew up with a family of immigrants, the youngest out of the bunch with memories of blue and confusion. Since young shed looked up at the sky and make wishes, having complete blind fate it would happen. The young girl was beaten by life backstab after backstab, her audacious smile was gone. Turned into a edgy pre teen who was just trying to take it day by day. The dreams were still there but wrong encounters with the wrong people cut the strings of the balloons and made them float into space. Then there was nothing, nothing but love, so she clung onto the little she could conjure up, and there was so very little so she turned desperate. Drugs and visions, visions and drugs. visions inside and out. The love that she had summoned started to consume her until she couldn’t even tell who she was or what, or why. Then after several dark nights of the soul. She sat up. she remembered the wishes she made to the sky. In fact she didn’t just remember, she had always remembered, this time she FELT those wishes once again. She was going to do what she wanted to do because what the hell with it. What she desired was what will make her happy and thats all that mattered to her at that point. She wrote down a list with the cadence of a kindergartner. Become model aka prettiest girl in the world, get cute and popular boyfriend, travel. And for the first time in a long time all of these seemed possible. She just had to get the ball rolling. That day she had completely gained trust in herself. She started with the weight loss she did a juice cleanse which jumpstarted her weight loss. Then got a juicer and would mostly drink juices. Then she applied for about 10 modeling agencies and was accepted to the one she was most hoping for. She knew she would get in since this is what she had been destined to do since she was 3. Thankfully she had the right encounters with the right people and quickly moved up in the modeling world. Her skills and looks were also a testament to that. She was traveling the country and world doing photoshoots and runways and drinking hot chocolate in a cafe with Bella Hadid. First part of her list complete. She had a fashion award ceremony to attend to in Seoul, south Korea. She had been informed from her agent that she would be winning a big award. After she had received her award. Thats when she met the 2nd part of her list. Boy A, he approached her and was visibly in awe of her. The two love birds hit it off immediacy and started dating. Things were moving fast between them, they said its because they feel like they knew each other in several past lives. After a few months they had been caught on one of their outings together. The photos were posted all over and boy A’s fans were outraged, some were sad, and some were happy for him. The blogs were all talking about boy A’s mystery girl lover. She was thriving with this, reading all the jealous and shocked comments had her vibrating she had craved this. It was one of the reasons she wanted a popular and cute boyfriend anyway. Oh and for item 3 on the list that was already accomplished. Because of work she had to travel frequently, she had also gone on friend trips and lover trips as well. 

So the sum of the story is just sit up, you don't have to stand up just start somewhere. Make a list of what you want and I mean truly want. If thats hard for you to find out try to pretend a genie came and gave you three wishes. Then break down those wishes and how to practically get there. honestly along as you start on wish 1 the other wishes will come rolling easily to you, why? Because the universe loves when we have desire. Because love and desire is the creators one true will. And also drill into your head that its impossible to fail. Because the universe has a billion safety nets on every side of you. And if you are like me and really hate this universe talk just remember the universe is closer then you think. Ps the universe is you!, yes when all those manifesters on YouTube are talking about trust in the universe they mean trust in yourself. I don't want to get into the whole quantum physics, astronomy, and spirituality logic of it but I had a hard time trusting the uni. Primarily because it was a source outside myself. Then I learned that universe is literally inside everyone and myself and things got some much easily to understand.I know that at the end of the day if no ones got me I got me. Ive only been alive for 22 years but I, myself, has brought me, myself, out of some much chaos and darkness. So I really have no other choice but to believe in myself and make shit happen.

#self growth #it girl #life skills #becoming that girl #dream girl #girljournal #self love #glow up #glow up tips #it girl energy #manifesting #early morning #healing #healing journey #self awareness #hyper feminine #just feeling #motivation #my diary #inspiration #wonyoungism #pinkcore #dream life #creator of my reality #girlblogging

[dongpound]

i demand to know more of your oc's (also im trying to catch up on your space au fic its been so long since i last read it)

OH MY GOD IT DIDNT GET EATEN BY TUMBLR

Anon™️ I’m using your ask as like a sticky note of oc ideas specifically Tundra dude there’s SO much I’m so sorry I got into the hyper focus zone

Tundra’s name is actually Alejandra Citlali Osorio-Cruz and through the series she’s just about to turn 16 in season 1 and roughly 19-20 by Season 5 (give or take how the fuck you think time works in 2012 bc I think it takes place over 3-4 years season 5 included)

Tundra came about as a nickname when she was a kid and got super hyper-fixated on professional wrestling and like. She made an entire persona and lore. Alec started using her wrestling name as a silly nickname and it stuck.

Yes I did come up with a stupid cute reason behind the name Tundra bc I can not handle the fact I chose such a BAD oc name for a LION but like I can’t change it NOW!! I MADE HER IN LIKE 2015 SHES TOO OLD TO CHANGE IT

Xever did just think for the longest time Tundra WAS her name. He also just assumed that Alec and Chris adopted a child for fun.

Her bio parents Ixchel and Alejandro were really good friends of Alec and Chris for like. Well over a decade. Ixchel and Alec especially. Ixchel was an actress (like I would say their worlds equivalent of Selma Hayek) and Alejandro worked in music production.

They didn’t have a ton of family they kept in contact with, so Alec and Chris were named Alejandra’s legal guardians if anything happened to them. They sadly died in a plane crash when Tundra was around 1.

This feels like SOOOO edgy and silly to me now but like I literally can’t see Alec and Chris adopting a kid any other way than the guilt of losing their friends pushing them to do it. WHICH SOUNDS BAD. AND LIKE IT IS. However they still love and raise Alejandra as their own, if anything Chris is like. Somewhat distant bc he still has his career but Alec’s like “fuck yeah I get to raise a kid again” and kinda slips from the spotlight. Which is fine by them , they’re like 600 years old they can just have messy fun in the public eye another time

Tundra goes fucking THROUGH IT emotionally through the series. Like goes from would do anything for Chris and Alec (especially Chris who. Again. Was distant and she desperately wanted his approval) to the point where like. She’s yknow. Mutated, to growing resentful of them when Hachi enters the picture (especially when she has to take care of him) to like. Low key betraying the foot and joining the mutanimals in season 3. And then having to deal w Chris being resurrected temporarily in season 5 after a really chill and happy 2 years with her mom and little brother like it’s a LOT.

In season 1 she’s very much a “mean girl” stereotype and slowly evolves into Cool And Gay (but still a little better than you)(she. She gets that from her upbringing.)

Tundra and Karai are seen as like a duo/bffs up until season 2 after the whole “I’m not shredders daughter” thing happens. They grow distant (obviously) until season 4.

So like Alec and Chris are NOT the best parents and like. They did totally just let Tundra take Hachi to live w her and the Mutanimals in season 4. She’d already been in space w him for 6 months and the poor kid really didn’t want to go live in the woods. I have such a specific scene in mind for this and I want to write it out so bad. Anyway tundra basically becomes a teen mom for a little bit. Eldest daughters am I right? *plays class of 2013 by mitski*

Tundra has a modified mini van which she does haul all of her friends who can fit in. Apologies to leatherhead and slash . No she doesn’t have a license

She also has a bike. These two vehicles she did canonically find on the side of the highway and she convinced Donnie and Casey to help her fix them

Tundras in a punk (? Maybe more Pop punk ) band called The Muties (my other characters Jack and Spinstra are in it. also Mondo. Sometimes Raph fills in on drums if Spinstra can’t make it). Tundra and Jack switch off on vocals, she’s usually on bass. They started up in the down time between seasons 4 and 5. They play in Moira’s Menagerie (a mutants only bar and hall) every week on Fridays. Alec comes to nearly all of their shows and also they bring Hachi sometimes when they practice and he’ll play his DS.

Alec will also force their friends (I.e. Apep, Anton, Ivan and Xever) to come watch Tundra w the promise of drinks and she thinks it’s embarrassing every fucking time bc they’re SO LOUD and OBVIOUS and god she could just DIE (but also. Having the support makes her happy)

Alec WILL slam back 3 tequila shots and go on about how talented their daughter is.

Chris got to see her play once. And it was when he was resurrected. And Tundra, frankly, was not thrilled. Another one I wanna write

#thanks for reading all that I love Alejandra and she deserves the world #oc tag #I’m a little embarrassed by how much I wrote but I’ve been in a big tundra mood lately

[nitewrighter]

Gonna re-read all of your Fighting Daphne stuff to clense myself of the Velma series.

Honestly one of the things that really meant so much to me writing the Fighting Daphne AU was seeing the combination of people who already had a love for Scooby Doo, and seeing people get excited at a concept of Scooby Doo where the personality traits already present in the gang were interpreted in a way that felt more like them. Like I was really lucky to get readers who appreciated my writing in both of those different respects, because when I adapt something, I want it to ultimately come from a place of love for the thing, and not from a need to 'fix' the thing. Like, and I think that's another thing that people like about Scooby Doo--the idea that these teens with wildly different interests, backgrounds, and priorities can all team up with a common goal and use their different skills and talents to solve mysteries and help people. Making them all hate each other not only misses the core of the series, it also speaks to a very cynical view of people--that we're incapable of appreciating what makes our fellow human beings unique, that we're incapable of recognizing that everyone has something to contribute. Like at least when Venture Bros did an "edgy" parody of Scooby Doo, at least they went all the way and modeled them after 70's serial killers and criminals and didn't turn it into a self-insert wankfest-slash-revenge-fantasy involving everyone who was mean to you in high school and also you self-destructing as a producer because they forced you to attach to a beloved property because your writing wasn't strong enough to stand up on its own. Yes, I'm talking to you, Mindy Kaling.

#Like Venture Bros is a very cynical show but it's a cynical show that clearly has a deep love for camp and its source material #And it's also a deconstruction of like... traumatic experiences that get repackaged as 'character building'

[waitwithwaluigi]

Why I like Quirkless!Midoriya AUs

TW: explicit mentions of discrimination and bullying against disabled (ends at ***)

TL;DR at the bottom

So I've got mental illness. (I know, I'm a pretty rare find on tumblr) Despite the fun cocktail of disabilities I had, I wasnt diagnosed until later in my teens. As you can guess, school wasn't very fun. I was disadvantaged because I was different. I was treated as less, as if I had something missing and nothing I could ever say or do could fix that. I didn't know what people thought of me though.

Dont get me wrong- I am not my disabilities. But I can say for certain, it's been a huge factor in how I see the world now, how I move around it. The protective rage and resigned acceptance I feel when I see discrimination against minority groups might not be the same as an able person. The desperate kicking and clawing to establish better resources for people like me isnt the same. The frustration and exhaustion I feel when the school board sees my 'condition' listed and having to prove myself competent over and over again isn't the same.

I've had my fair share of Fun!! and Exciting!!! experiences in discrimination!!!!

Like saying hello to the koi fish while trying to rescue my school bag that a teacher had flung out of the classroom after she got tired of my ADHD ass. (I bet you can guess how I felt when I saw That™️ koi pond scene) I was called out to the front of the class and told to unpack my bag and and show my classmates how disgusting I was (I was depressed and decided to just carry all my books around instead of unpack and repack according to schedule). I remember sprinting after my packed lunch but being so depressed and exhausted to keep going for more than 5 minutes. I was made an example of when I forgot my things and had to go back to school during the afternoon classes to grab the worksheet I left in class.

Through it all had to keep quiet. I was less, after all. If I wasn't, why did so many ignore the bullying? Why did they let go of me and say I was exagerating when they found me Too Much To Handle?

(Not looking for pity btw, just giving context)

***

Now, I initially began reading MHA fics because I was a teen who saw pretty people and cool fighting and was like "damn shawty, I'm gonna need more". (All hail Yaomomo) Then I came across the Quirkless Midoriya Izuku tag and was like huh.

Pretty interesting concept, right? So I read. And I read and I read and I read. And something just clicked. It wasnt like one of those mental illness success stories where they where overly positive or ones where I had to keep taking breaks because I kept getting reminded of the bs I went through. It was just removed enough but still relatable to my experience. Midoriya wouldn't be less if he didn't get a quirk.

In these fics, he found ways to work around it. Like yeah, maybe finding a work arounds when fighting your besties with god-like abilities while you have nothing isn't the same as finding a way to study that best suited my ADHD ass. But the fight to be considered equal, the ways I had to find creative ways to problems that my classmates thought nothing of. It resonated with me. (The fantasy and escapism were bonuses too)

It gives me a little extra push when I get too exhausted after the 100th time that day I have to prove that I am just as capable as anyone else.

While I'm not really a fan of Quirkless Villain!Midoriya cuz its typically a little too edgy for me, I do like it when its written well. Fuck the system and fuck the assholes who doubt us, right?

Something Fun!! I've experienced with disabilities is that you sometimes have to ignore any system entirely and just Do It. Just kick people in the shins and carve out the opportunity that nobody would bother giving you. Maybe one day they'll recognise you, maybe not. But you're doing what you've always wanted to do. That's something I feel when I read Quirkless Vigilante!Midoriya fics.

Quirkless AUs aren't like Batman where he's Super Intelligent and has 70 black belts. There isnt as much angst oof. He was just some Dood with determination and some smarts. We get to see him train, see the emotions and struggles all written out. Not to mention, I was a teen when I found MHA so it was extra relatable. I'm very sure that there are superheroes who fit that description but this niche is what I found.

That's why I like Quirkless!Midoriya AUs so much.

Do I think him becoming a hero will change a lot? No, not as much as me becoming a world famous super star would. But it would inspire. Even if it inspired just one person, stopped one person from doing something bad to soothe the ache, wouldn't it be enough? It inspired me at least.

Tl;dr: I seeing people with 'less' ability than their peers be equal and overcome challenges using creative solutions since they arent as 'catered' to, just like a disabled person. Its also easier to read without getting triggered compared to an actual book about mental illness discrimination.

Please enjoy this adorable panel as thanks for reading

#quirkless deku #quirkless au #quirkless midoriya izuku #my hero academia #my hero acedamia #vigilante deku #vigilante midoriya #i thought up a whole rant in the shower and I forgor most of it 💀 #rant #tw: discrimination #boku no academia #villain midoriya #rant post #mentally ill #quirkless discrimination

[thesims2comics]

any chance of rating the posters? cue eyes emoji

*cracks knuckles* let's GO!

(I've included some posters from the EPs and APs, otherwise this would be a very short list of like 4 posters)

LONG POST AHEAD!!!

Engineered Angst Full poster: 5/10. what's going on here?? Is the person in front going to an eye doctor with funky walls? And why does she kinds look like a Urbz DS render? So many question, no answers

Engineered Angst Red: 6/10. Better than the previous one imo, I like the sims' facial expression a lot! And this is a me problem, but it kind of reminds me of the promo clips of the virtual boy?? Y'know that nintendo console that only used red and black as its colors? Still pretty cool though!

Searing Indifference: 7/10 Angsty teen poster number 3. Honestly? Iconic, this is one of those posters that I still remember from playing the game when I was younger. I've always thought it was a band poster though. Nonetheless, it's a very cheesy poster but I just can't rate this any lower

"Civic Idol" by Adora Wall Arts: 7/10 AMAZING POSTER!! I'd say it's the best "emo/edgy" poster in the game. I'd only like to know what the hell that humanoid thing is. Also, the red thing looks wonky and apparently the white stripes are meant to say "Civic Idol". But the skyline and the moon look so great and the red stripe makes it look like dangerous and egdy. Kudos for the amazing composition of this one

Pets poster: 5/10. Cursed. For some reason, this poster looks much more jankier and pixelated than the others, even the basegame ones. Kinda simple, but it sorta does the job (Fun fact: this is one of the few posters that have variants! Which redeems it)

Revolutionary Rebellion poster: 8/10. Really cool! I love the hard red with the black and white and is much less crispier than some other posters. In the build&buy description it says that we should check out the Sim with the moustache but honestly, I have no idea what that's about. At least it looks pretty nice! Kent, Nervous and Moustache Mercutio is my fave rockband

"It's Reggae, Mon" Poster: 9/10. Really pretty!! I love the posing of this guy and with the sun flare and background it's one of the most beautiful posters available! Also, seeing the previous music posters' description, I thought the devs would've made fun of the genre since they also did that with the teenage angst posters. But I think it's actually really nice and cool what they wrote about reggae music so I've included it for you to read

"Fists of Bunny" poster: 8/10. I think this might be an anime reference or something? Or is this what the Social Bunny does when he's not with a sim? Just anime kicking in the Void? I don't get the reference, but it does look cool! Would I hang this up in my actual room? Probably yeah! And I like that it's the Social Bunny, we don't see the guy that often in the Build&Buy

Inverted Vertigo, Cover art: 5/10. What the hell is going on here??? Hands??? light strokes? Some people? A face??? This reminds when I discovered blending layers in a drawing program for the first time honestly.

All the alien posters: 8/10 Tumblr limits me to only upload 10 images, so these guys are getting grouped. Hell yeah! Alien posters! These look cool as hell, HD quality next to the pets poster. I don't know how to feel about the way too human alien head on the left though, it kinda freaks me out, because for the sims 2 this is far too realistic. And apparently the guy on the surfboard is PT#9 cousin, RT#66 surfing through the galaxy, good for him! These posters are rad as hell in my opinion, especially after some rather small and pixelated ones.

That's gonna be it for the poster review! There's an image limit of 10 and because I have the Super Collection I don't have all the posters, so there isn't gonna be a part 2 from me. If anyone else feels like completing this list with all the posters form the Ultimate Collection or make their own review with the posters, feel free to do so!

These were just my opinions on the posters, if you have others thoughts on the posters that's fine, your opinion is valid!

#very long post #long post #poster review #not art #the sims 2 #ts2

[thesilvercondor]

Hoenn Battle Frontier x The Owl House: Greta Kogomi (Bard Coven)

[text reads: ‘martial arts imbued with bard magic’, ‘guitar lick (single attack)’, ‘guitar riff (multi attack)’, and ‘’freestyle percussion’’.]

Young Greta Headcanons:

-I absolutely had to make Greta a Hexside student, purely because I can’t see her attending any other school without getting kicked out. Exhibit A: She’s constantly pushing the school uniform to the limit, by doing things like sowing colourful fabrics onto the capelet to make it into a full cape. If there’s one thing this kid loves, its fucking with authority.

-I decided to chuck Greta into the bard coven, because I can see her early forays into ‘music’ being just. Screaming a battle cry while full-body tackling an opponent. Calling that ‘bard magic’. Suffice to say, her grades were awful for a very long time, but she won most of her fights simply because people don’t expect bards to ditch their instruments and start punching.

-Her grades got better when she learnt how to imbue her fists with elemental magic instead of her staff. Aka her punches could burn/paralyse her opponents. (this is based off Breloom’s effect spore ability lmao). Coincidentally, this is roughly around when she got banned from duelling the other students.

-Her palisman is her shedinjas, who are merged when her staff is in guitar form, but split into two creatures when released. One of them (Slice, in blue) helps Greta channel her elemental electricity magic, while the other (Dice, in pink) helps with elemental fire magic. (I chose those two because I reckoned electro music and punk ‘this is straight fire yo’ music would be good choices for an edgy teen lol).

-She would occasionally put on punk shows for other detention students. And by occasionally I mean that she was immediately banned from doing it again as soon as she set the school’s roof on fire. Good work Greta.

Older Greta Headcanons:

-Of course a bard that hates authority will be joining the (noi-)BATs rebellion. Greta starts to really refine her craft, learning how to play sick magical riffs on her guitar with the goal of one day beating up the emperor. 

-She’s ok with wearing the uniform, simply because its already really shoddy and varying between members; and also because she was specifically told ‘nah you don’t have to wear it, its just for anonymity’. ...she is failing at the anonymity part due to constantly wearing really distinctive accessories, but oh well, its the thought that counts.

-She teaches the other bards martial arts, so that they’re not helpless if the emperor successfully removes their magic.

Oh yes also have bonus versions of the above artworks vv

#arena tycoon greta #hoenn battle frontier #toh crossover #shedinja #edgy teenager greta supremacy lol. or at least trying to LOOK edgy while actually being really friendly and well-meaning. #hbf x toh

[otakween]

I’m Standing on a Million Lives - Volume 13

Woah, it's been almost an entire year since I read volume 12...oopsies. Luckily, volume 14 comes out at the end of this month, so at least I can get two volumes without a giant hiatus.

Also, heck yeah! Fatina's on the cover :D

Ch. 60

-This was a politics and battle strategy chapter. The explanation of how the 1% ruin everything for everyone sounded verrry familiar.

-Malita's arc is very weird. Also, she low-key high-key feels like an Attack on rip-off with her design. Kinda expecting her to either go out in a blaze of glory (self-sacrifice) or be mercy killed by the end of this arc.

-Yuusuke shows back up at the end of this chapter, because god forbid we go any longer without the main character! This series actually feels pretty different when you take the teens out of it. Less isekai nonsense and more just straight fantasy (well duh)

Ch. 61

-I've probably already complained about this at some point, but I really don't like the naming sense of this series. "Jangani," "Cathean," "Vikie." I don't know how to explain it but some fake fantasy names just work and these don't. They feel very "scrabble letters thrown at the wall."

-Yuusuke comes back to life and immediately goes on an edgy rant about how smart he is and how that's going to be his downfall. Ignoring the humble brag, I do kinda get what he was going for. He was basically saying that a lot of book smart people don't feel the need to rely on others so they isolate themselves and "die out" (like the Neanderthals apparently). The idea that Homo Sapiens survived due to their social nature and reliance on others was interesting, I've never heard it put that way before. His rant seemed to boil down to being frustrated with not having any street/social-emotional smarts, which I can definitely relate to.

-Not sure what Yuusuke's goal is at this point. It kinda seems like he's growing away from his "I want to kill humanity" aspirations, but it's not super clear...

-It was pretty brief, but I enjoyed the Fatina vs. Oku battle. It was nice that Oku got to die as his true self and Fatina got to inherit his battle to fight the dragons. That's kind of like revenge for Oku in a way.

Ch. 62

-Oop. I was wrong. Yuusuke is still very much into his "kill humanity" plan lol.

-Yuusuke pretending to be nice to Futashige was pretty brutal lol. At least it gave Futashige some tiny inkling of joy in his miserable life.

-And suddenly we're in a court case. It's kinda a fun idea to have a real battle and a legal battle going on at the same time. Really shows how the work is distributed amongst the players too.

-Fatina's owl is adorable in sleep-mode

Ch. 63

-I thought this chapter was really good. 100% politics + economics mode with some real world stuff tossed in for good measure. I was thinking "why does this feel so American??" when they were like "this is based on America btw lol" in an aside. Basically all about the wealth hoarding of the 1%. I didn't expect them to throw in the bit about the internet destroying everyone's mental health and Idiocracy-style eugenics.

-Basma literally reminds me of Elon Musk with his "lol you should just try not being poor" attitude. It almost hits too close to home, but it's also cathartic cuz I know the good guys will win. Futashige is the perfect hero for this arc since he's repping the downtrodden working class.

-Mangaka is based for anti-capitalist sentiments. Makes me curious to know more about him. I feel like you don't hear takes like this too often in anime/manga

-There were parts of the trial that I unfortunately think would have hit harder had I not read the last volume a whole year ago lol. I've definitely forgotten some things. (Like what the decree even is)

Ch. 64

-I always appreciate it when the mangaka goes into a lengthy description of the strategy used to defeat the boss. This is a very brains-over-brawns series. Although straight up action has its place, it can get pretty boring after awhile.

-I'm a bit skeptical about the "if you remove the stomach lining the acid will disintegrate everything!" logic. I mean sure, it would do damage, but I dunno if stomach acid is really that OP. (Well, it is a fantasy creature, so whatever).

-We get that Ace Attorney moment where the perpetrator finally snaps and the gang clears the mission (what was that again? lol)

This volume felt super short for some reason! I guess because it was pretty fast paced. Guess we'll wrap up this arc in the next volume, so it will be interesting to see where things go next. Hope we get more real world time in-between.

#I'm standing on a million lives #100 man no inochi no ue ni ore wa tatteiru #manga

[james-stark-the-writer]

my thoughts on Netflix's Wednesday

alright so i've been hearing other people's thoughts on the show to see if i missed anything or if someone understood how i felt and yeah these two videos by Mina Le and film fatales pretty much get the basics of why i can't stand the show as an adaptation of the Addams Family or even as its own show.

okay now my thoughts: if you haven't read them yet and would like to, feel free to go read my thoughts on most of the important moments in all the episodes in detail as I experienced them here. the tags are where the juiciest stuff is so make sure to read those actually. anyway, all my previous critiques that I made literally on episode 1 still stand now having finished the show, this is absolutely a horrendously (derogatory) Tim Burton project, it's very much an encapsulation of his worst tendencies to me, a lot of the show is very much "oh we're so edgy and nobody gets me and we're so oppressed because we like being on our own". Tim. you are 64 years old. I think it may be time for a new shtick. teens deserve better than this.

anyway, yeah, the show has a needlessly complex mystery with very predictable endings and just generally bad writing overall and it's just not really that fun? the only real standouts were the dance scene obviously and most of episode 7 like I said. like, episode 7 was genuinely really enjoyable although some of it is just because it's so refreshing after the slop of the rest of the show. it feels like the only episode where the show gets close to actually understanding the Addams Family and like someone actually cared about how things sounded like the dialogue and pacing and everything about it is so much better than anything in the previous episodes. episode 5 is particularly egregious because we literally started the season with Wednesday lamenting how she couldn't successfully kill someone. she (and the rest of the Addams Family) would not give a single flying fuck about Gomez killing anyone. fuck, if they cared, it would be a thing to boast about like Morticia would go: "remember that time Gomez killed a man and saved me?" and vigorously make out with Gomez immediately. the very premise of the episode is flawed. this is an extremely middling mystery show attached to the Addams Family name for mostly marketing purposes. none of it feels like there was any reason for it to feature these characters. also like the Addams' also work best as a family and when contrasted against other "normal" people so separating Wednesday AND throwing her into a school full of freaks who for some reason think SHE'S too freaky???? a highly misguided choice to say the least.

this should have either been a 4-5 episode miniseries or a ~3 hour movie. I would honestly let them keep the fluff too with the movie so you know it's incredibly bloated on a fundamental level. the mystery does not deserve more than a 4-5 hour runtime and the show is absolutely bloated for what it actually does have to offer. Jenna is the highlight of this but also?? every single other actor, with the rare exception of the actors for Pugsley and Fester (and kinda Gomez too like I liked Luis but his material really dragged his performance down), was just awful like they really did not understand how to deliver their lines (although some [most] of that is the writing). even Brienne of Tarth was like ??? not good?? like her material wasn't great, just like everyone else, but every line she delivered was basically the fucking same and she always delivered it with a smile except for a couple of scenes which made her performance really grating after a while. like none of it is completely terrible, most of it is serviceable but they are made so much worse bc Jenna is a goddamn star and fucking kills it in every single scene. she's always at 500% and doing her best even though the writing really does not give her much to work with.

anyway, if you're not a Jenna Ortega stan or really care about Danny Elfman scoring something, feel free to avoid Wednesday, you really won't be getting anything out of it other than bad writing and bad acting and a horrible adaptation of the Addams Family. truly it's not even funny!!!!!!! which is like the one thing anything attached to the Addams Family name should be!! literally only episode 7 had jokes that actually made me laugh. there's a few one-liners that aren't terrible (although most of them are elevated by Jenna's performance, obviously) but generally, most of her one-liners are incredibly predictable and boring and just so dry (negative). if i was dying and could only be saved by laughing at a joke and you put on any episode from this show besides episode 7, i would be dead within the first 2 minutes. they're that bad and boring and basic. genuinely just no real creativity with most of these.

Wednesday is a 5/10 show with only one actually good episode that is entirely carried on the performance of Jenna Ortega and a genuinely really fun Danny Elfman score. I can't say I entirely regret watching it because Jenna is just so damn talented and I'm glad she and Danny got their coin but like wow that was like a waste of my time for the most part. just so not fun and tired and boring and predictable and needlessly edgy with very questionably mixed metaphors about oppressed groups and annoying fucking dialogue clearly written to be posted in gifsets or screenshots. every time the show mentions the patriarchy or how "outcasts" are oppressed, a part of my soul dies. that's on your conscience, Tim.

truly, the only real fun I had with the show was the dance scene, episode 7, Jenna's performance, and the score. everything else ranged from functional to subpar to horrible. 5/10 raised to a 7/10 bc of these things, would not recommend. you could do so many better things with 8 hours of your time.

frankly, if you're really itching for an experience that's similar and like actually good and incredibly funny and innovative and clever, you could watch Scream Queens! it's so damn good! even S02!! or you could watch the entirety of S04 of Riverdale and get a better experience and a better mystery with the same creepy academia vibes and with like actually redeeming qualities to boot. fuck, if you can't stand the camp of Riverdale and Scream Queens, go watch the first season of The Magicians, it's also got a really well-done mystery and it takes itself seriously AND it's just a fantastic show that's gorgeously written and severely underrated. or go watch The Order, which this is so desperately trying to emulate in so many ways. although The Order will take a few episodes to adjust to bc those first 3-4 episodes are not great, especially in terms of the writing. hell if you're desperate for deadpan/macabre humor, you could just go watch the original Addams Family show or the two 90s movies.

the point is: there are so many better things you could be watching instead. if you're not a Jenna stan I truly cannot recommend watching this show lol. it's like genuinely not good.

#james talks #james reviews things #james reviews stuff #wednesday #netflix wednesday #yes this is a repost with a few edits bc my original post was too long to read through to get my actual thoughts #Youtube

[zero-body]

70, 82, 112 for the book ask game :)) - @adhd-academia

Thank you for the ask! Took me a while to answer this, I had some trouble with my last few exams and didn't have enough free time to devote to this.

70. your favourite poetry collection

First off I have to say I've mostly read poetry from the Slavic area and because most of them don't have translations/I don't know how well they were translated, I am going to propose a book originally written in English despite my limited English poetry knowledge.

After a quick look around my shelves a little booklet stood out, and it's Blackened White, a relatively obscure book by Brian W. Foster. I will admit I got it at first because of my fascination with Critical Role (which has in the meantime dimmed considerably). Brian was this edgy talk show host and I've watched a lot of the show before looking him up and finding out his other facets of work. His music made me cry so I also got the book.

It describes a period of his life soon after he first moved to LA. There is talk of addiction, abusive relationships and overall struggles spawned from his life choices.

Its edgy, uncensored and could use an editor (which he didn't have as it is self-published) but its made me feel things and that's all I really ask for with poetry.

82. a book featuring the chosen one trope

This one is easier to answer since I spent a lot of my early teens in the fantasy genre. I will not explain the choice as much as I'm sure there are reviews out there, and I am keeping to the classics.

My two favourite are The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, and Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher. I've read them when I was young and if I were to revisit them I am sure I'd find something wrong with them but as of now, I have not touched them in years. I don't have clear enough memories of them to write a review, only the feeling of pure joy I felt while burrowing through them, putting my life on hold for a day or two and experiencing someone elses.

112. a book about war

The last book I have to share is a simple one. One I've read back in middle school and, depending on your educational system, it may have even been required reading.

It's The Day of the Bomb by Karl Bruckner. It was sweet and sad and it made me cry. I can think of a few other books on war / war events but this one hit me like a brick like no other.

If you haven't read any of the books I mentioned, try this one. It deserves to be read.

#awfuly long post #book recommendations #book ask #Brian W. Foster #Jim Butcher #Robert Jordan #Karl Bruckner #I just like to read and am not an authority in any way

[magioffire]

25 and 13

munday questions ; accepting

if  you  could  tell  your  muse  something ,  what  would  it  be ?

i would tell this little bastard so many things if i could. theres a lot of things he needs to hear, but would likely refuse to listen to. so i think the most important and effective thing to say to him would be just to tell him that its okay not to be in control all the time, its fine to let go a little bit and not hold on so tight, its okay to breathe and just be yourself sometimes.

which is all extremely hard for him because being something hes not is not just a matter of ego or personal taste or a malicious desire to manipulate people, its an attempt to survive. so i know it wouldnt be just that easy for him buuut. i think he would need to hear that. so that you can tell him to go get therapy and to stop being so self destructive AND regular destructive in a desperate plea for attention and help. like please please go see a psychologist fictional bug (what do i give him instead? i give him emotional issues and cock. just what he needs)

who  is  an  author  whose  writing  inspires  your  own ?

hmmm i wouldn’t say any one author has inspired me directly, theres been many different authors in my life that have played a part in developing my interest in writing. and i would actually say, much of my inspiration comes less from fiction and more from non-fiction sources, and i just let my imagination go the rest of the work. but sometimes you gotta read a good old fashioned novel in order to get new ideas on how to structure sentences, or ideas for how these authors structure plots and develop characters, thats mostly what i’m looking for in terms of ‘inspiration’ when it comes to reading for the sake of developing my own writing.

 when i was younger, i read a lot of vampire fiction, so a lot of anne rice (gag i know, but i was reading anne rice’s near incomprehensible purple prose in 5th grade and somehow *mostly* understanding it, so it gave me a taste for understanding very detailed orientated, sometimes very flowery writing and being able to intergrate more details into my writing without (hopefully) falling into the same pitfalls i saw her fall into)

 i read a lot of classic gothic fiction like bram stoker and edgar allen poe, you know, the basic stuff pretty much every edgy wanna be goth but too poor to actually be goth pre-teen reads. i remember reading a lot of c.s lewis work as a kid, mostly because it was ‘christian approved’ fantasy i could read in my private christian school and among my extended family without being judged for it, and that kinda opened up my mind to the world of fantasy. i enjoyed stuff like bridge to terabitha, a wrinkle in time, stuff where fantasy worlds live adjacent to the ‘real’ world.   i also read quite a bit of holly black and her various fae-centered novels, i was a little too old for the spiderwick chronicles by the time i got into her work, but i was there just in time for the tithe/valiant/ironside series which i LOVED and honestly set the seed in me for later on enjoying fae media and honestly. set the seed in me for fantasizing about having a fae boyfriend, or BEING the fae boyfriend.

 i read tolkien because i grew up watching the lotr movies with my mom, and getting through tolkiens material really made me appreciate movies LOL. i LOVED the last unicorn, both the animated move and the book. the specific genre of ‘cute animals killing eachother brutally in the forest’ which included redwall, warrior cats (at least the first few books i enjoyed), and watership down, i think those books instilled in me my joy of writing violence funnily enough.

 the pellinor series by alison croggon was a massive influence on my love of high fantasy and sprawling adventures over vast lands, her books were exactly the escape i needed at that point in time. i highly suggest her work to anyone who likes tolkien-esque high fantasy.

books like city of brass and reading the assorted stories of 1001 nights really got me interested in middle eastern fantasy, as i had not been exposed much to it before being a westerner. i started expanding my horizons beyond the sort of fantasy media that was ‘curated’ to me (as a white american who grew up christian) and branched out to stories that came from other parts of the world, or came from parts of the world that were familiar, but took inspiration from lesser known examples. i cant think of many examples off the top of my head because they were mostly anthology series i read, but it helped me develop a better impression of fantasy beyond the ‘mainstream’. i also started getting back into horror.

nowadays im primarily inspired by the work of terry pratchett, h.p lovecraft, holly black, susanna clarke, margaret rogerson, c. s. e cooney, tolkien, stephen king, mark z. danielewski (house of leaves changed me)  and toni morrison.

#ooc. #ask. #anon. #long post

[kylekozmikdeluxo]

Yeah... I'm gonna talk about FAMILY GUY... Long post, incoming!

Actually, I'm seeing some talk about FAMILY GUY, specifically early FAMILY GUY, elsewhere. As of late. Because the TED Peacock series, based on a now 12-year-old movie, is out. And apparently it's pretty good? Reminiscent of the early seasons of FAMILY GUY, which people who actually like the show consider to be the series' best seasons? I couldn't tell you.

Coincidentally, I've re-watched most of Seasons 1-3 now that my Disney+ plan includes Hulu. The seasons produced and aired *before* FAMILY GUY was here to stay. FOX had cancelled the show twice in the early 2000s, and when it came back for the second time, it never left. It's now one of those long-running cartoons, ubiquitous with the word "cartoon" you could say, a new season almost every year.

I'm gonna be a total hipster and say that I was onboard the FAMILY GUY train as early as mid-2003 ish.

I was in fifth grade, and was at the time starting to stay up later than usual to watch a little thing called [adult swim]...

FAMILY GUY had just started airing on [adult swim], almost a year after its then-final episode - 'Family Guy Viewer Mail #1' - had aired on FOX. A classmate of mine had told me about it, and little by little, I was watching FAMILY GUY regularly. Even on school nights, low volume, haha. I didn't want to get in trouble. Life in the early 2000s was different, to any smartphone-era babies reading.

I didn't know anybody else in school at the time, sans a few classmates, who watched the show. It was like we five or so kids were the only ones who knew of its existence in my town (along w/ the original [as] shows, like AQUA TEEN and SEALAB 2021), which is kind of wild to think. I think by mid-2004, I'd seen every episode of the show to date, including the one that FOX was too cold-footed to air (for understandable reasons, especially in the early 2000s. The episode in question is probably tame compared to what the show would later "get away with"). And it was on almost every night, so I only had to wait 24 hours to see a FAMILY GUY episode I may have never seen... So catch-up was pretty easy!

I think part of the appeal for me - at age 10/11 - was definitely "haha this is a naughty show and I probably shouldn't be watching it" (though weirdly, my mother and stepdad let me watch a SOUTH PARK episode or two, I don't remember that show being off-limits) aspect. Another reason is kind of weirder, and I came to this realization rather recently-ish. Around 4th/5th grade, some things bothered young me. Growing up autistic wasn't always easy, and my way of processing the way world can be and how unfair life can be sometimes kinda... Made me act strange, in ways? I definitely had this "old soul" kinda bullshit going on at certain points in my kid life, when I should've been loose and funny and laughing at fart jokes. And I was at times, don't get me wrong. It's not like I was miserable or anything, or bearing the weight of the world on my shoulders, but some days I'd feel... Strange. And I was weirdly anti-some things that the typical kid finds funny or amusing. I don't know if I can fully articulate it now on a tumblr post, but the long story-short is... [adult swim] was one of the things that helped loosen me up a bit.

Going into middle school at age 10-going-on-11 (I started school early?) was not easy, and that accelerated a lot of things, a lot of feelings, a lot of complications in my brain... And my embrace of [adult swim] started to converge with that, and by 7th grade, I was really, really loose. I swore more, I wrote edgy stuff, I upped like most of my original stories I was writing to PG-13/R-level, I was a silly little edgelord sometimes. But at the same time, unleashing a lot of *that* after a few years of this weird pseudo-old soul nonsense, bad habits, and general confusion was a very fun and freeing feeling!

This is why, despite a lot of shit that should've made that time in my life a nightmare, late 2004-early 2005 was a really exciting time in my life. I think just letting the proverbial hair down was a big reason why, alongside all of my hyperfixations that I always turned to when things really sucked. Things such as Pixar movies and BIONICLE and Cartoon Network stuff and various video games, etc. etc. etc. And smack-dab in the middle of all this was my nightly [adult swim] viewings before I had to get up at 6:30am to wait for the bus on cold-ass mornings. FUTURAMA, FAMILY GUY, AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE, THE BRAK SHOW, on and on... It was the stuff I could turn to.

For Christmas in 2004, I was given a newly-released FAMILY GUY DVD called "The Freakin' Sweet Collection"... I probably wore that poor disc out. Creator Seth MacFarlane's 5 favorite episodes, ones that I still find to be bangers to this day, plus some bonus features. FAMILY GUY was a prime special interest of mine at the time, and eventually I went to a music store that went out of business many years ago and picked up the DVD sets compiling Seasons 1, 2 & 3... And subsequently wore all of those out throughout 2005. They're but gone, now... Though some stores sell a whole box set with like, what, the first 10 seasons of the show for a fair price? I may or may not buy that if the discs aren't updated from the original 2000s versions. Anyways, FAMILY GUY, yeah... I just really, really liked it back then.

Really, I was the perfect age for it at the time. FAMILY GUY has always been contested, regularly seen as one of the nadirs of animated trash. You can definitely make a case for that. As much as I dig early FAMILY GUY, some of its humor really has not aged well, and is indeed offensive in many ways. For me, I feel those pre-2nd cancellation seasons have a charm to them to shines through the more egregious stuff. A charm that noticeably fades away from Season 4-onwards. You see, being from Connecticut, where MacFarlane was born... FAMILY GUY is *very* New England to me. After all, it is set in a fictional Rhode Island town, the state the neighbors me.

The show started airing in 1999, and while I wasn't watching it back then (let alone had even heard of it), I feel a lot of the character interactions, dialogue, and setting really do capture the feeling of being there. In a New England state, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Little nuances and such, the way Peter and Lois joke about things in particular. Such as this scene from Season 2's 'E Peterbus Unum':

I don't know how to put it in words, but it's very New England to me. My family and I interacted like this quite frequently. Plus, you have Peter's voice being inspired by a security guard that Seth overheard when attending the Rhode Island School of Design, a very New England accent. Lois, too, to some extent. I hear a middle-aged Connecticut mom or aunt in Alex Borstein's delivery, whom she based on a relative of hers. Maybe that's why I initially connected to this show more so than THE SIMPSONS back in the day (and at that time, THE SIMPSONS was on its not-so-beloved seasons), I was too inept to grasp THE SIMPSONS' wit. It hit just right, I think, back then.

Now, upon learning that the show had been cancelled and that it was actually coming back... Within a few months... You bet I was excited? I remember the Sunday the fourth season premiere aired, my family and I gathered around to watch it, and I just remember all of us laughing like hyenas throughout. The episode had so much wackiness and a bunch of cameos as well. We also watched the AMERICAN DAD! episode that dropped right after, but I mostly remember when I first saw 'North by North Quahog'. What a night that was, lol. And you just, went home... Didn't tweet about it. I didn't have any message board accounts at the time, either, so... A couple of classmates to talk to about it, that was it. A lot of my classmates apparently still hadn't seen the show by this time. I mostly remember being ahead of the game when it came to this show, liking it before it was cool, you could say. Once others in my school started referencing it, it was like "I had you beat by almost 2 years." I also remember getting a T-shirt depicting the Griffins beating each other up, as seen in the episode 'Lethal Weapons'. And I remember some of the other kids thinking that was so cool, and one teacher - who probably couldn't stand me, to begin with - calling me to the front of the class to see exactly *what* was on that shirt. Surprisingly, I did *not* get in trouble...

(Not my photo, this is from an eBay listing... But it was THIS exact shirt. Only thing was missing was the horse's ass portrait!)

Later in the year, a DVD called 'Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story' was released, which I instantly put on my birthday list. It was kinda billed as "The FAMILY GUY Movie" when it was coming out, and of course my 13-year-old arse fell for it... And wore that DVD out, too... And then it aired as three separate episodes - albeit with missing footage because this was a DVD release and not a primetime TV airing - the following spring. Still, I have fond memories of getting that DVD and many others. The early DVD era was just so fun back then, what with interactive menus and much more care put into bonus features. And with less distractions back then, I feel you felt more immersed in the movies and content on the discs... Just sitting in your bedroom, you hadn't owned a laptop yet, smartphones didn't exist... Just, entranced in whatever it was you had on. It gets even more bittersweet nowadays, as stores and companies are trying to phase out physical media. How obtuse... But that's another rant for another day...

I would continue to watch FAMILY GUY regularly, and then slid off by around 2008-09ish. The show was beginning to change for the worst, I felt, and I definitely felt that original spark from the early seasons was kind of gone. The simplicity, the New England vibe, the characters feeling a lot more real and not just springboards for whatever dumb stuff they were coming up with. Seth's involvement was apparently minimal by this point in time, as he already had AMERICAN DAD!, THE CLEVELAND SHOW, the first TED movie, and other stuff in the works or bubbling up at the time. By 2011-12ish, I was getting rather actively pissed off at the show, and only checked back in when that "Brian dies" publicity stunt had happened. Otherwise, I've seen very few episodes of the show afterwards, and most of them didn't impress me... Outside of, surprisingly, a few selections from the Disney batch. Quite something! If you time-traveled to 2004 and told me that Disney was going to own this cartoon that I was watching on [adult swim] late at night without my folks knowing, I would've told you to get out of town!

But I hold a special place for those first three seasons, and watching the DVD sets of them back in early 2005, as an unhinged middle schooler. I won't posit that early FAMILY GUY is some kind of underrated gem in the history of television animation. It really is, in most iterations, perhaps the personification of that old Chuck Jones quote about "illustrated radio". Television animation that you don't watch for the animation or visuals, but solely for the writing. It pretty much is that, even if the designs of the Griffins are instantly recognizable and iconic. And it arguably had a bad influence, not the fault of the show or its creators, but of the way things go.

I came to the conclusion that Season 2 is my favorite of the original three. For me it was the most focused, the characters were at their best, banger jokes a minute and clever use of pop cultural references. I can even sense some of Seth's Cartoon Network roots in a lot of it, which is no surprise given that this show evolved out of a project he developed for CN. Season 1 is only seven episodes long and they were figuring things out, Season 3 has highs that equal that of Season 2's best moments, but I feel that parts of it kinda plant the seeds for what the show would eventually become. It noticeably gets denser, a little meaner, characters are more out-of-character, it tries to be even more offensive than before and sometimes really not sticking the landing. And yet, that's mashed up against a legit emotional episode like 'Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows'.

In fact, those last four or so half-hours... Especially with the redone end credits music that re-imagines the theme song as a big band production, there was a weird sort-of... I dunno, finality to it? And that's not counting the S2 leftover that FOX wasn't keen on airing... I mean the original ending of S3, 'Family Guy Viewer Mail #1'... It was if they knew that Season 3 was going to be the end? You had the aforementioned Wallows/Swallows, then 'Stuck Together, Torn Apart', then another "Road To" episode with 'Road To Europe', and then 'Viewer Mail #1'. Like four really well-done character-focused episodes with some heartfelt moments, even... And then as a coda, three fun skits based on wacky ideas... Like, had the show ended there in early 2002 with the recalled Weinstein episode popping up somewhere else in the future... That would've been a fine way to go out, honestly. Even as a preteen back then, I felt just that watching these episodes... So it was a big surprise to me when I found out that Season 4 was a go. And S4 would use that same 2nd rendition of the end credits theme, so that was even more unusual for me.

Yeah, FAMILY GUY... It's a part of my weird-ass life. And there's probably whole holes of other stuff related to this show and other things that I could waffle on about regarding my preteen years, but... I'll just cap it off here, lol.

#Youtube

[kelpiemomma]

thank you @forgersfeline​ for asking for my warrior cat lore :) i logged off my backup tumblr to log onto my main tumblr on my laptop just to answer this.

OKAY SO. info under the read more!!!

Due to Circumstances (dead laptop) I don’t have all my old art, but THIS is my beloved baby leader, Duskstar

Many many moons ago I was part of a Feral Heart roleplay called Divination. It was kind of a rekindle of 2 other roleplays created by the same person, the first of which was the first iteration of Duskstar. Because I was an edgy teen on her own for the first time, she was a small cat who was abused by her mentor before poisoning him in the very first roleplay. She went through two other mentors (in-game characters) who perished, not at her paws, before becoming the apprentice to the clan’s leader, whom she eventually saw as a father figure. Her closest friend was a warrior, and his brother was also a friend of hers though they argued a lot. First RP iteration died, was reborn, the second died, and then there was Divination. Dusk went through a bit of hell in Divination :) She helped train two other apprentices, watched her father figure die saving her from his biological son, got attacked by a different clan and severely scarred (face scar), became deputy at a young age due to lack of available warriors (ie players), became leader not long after bc the leader got sick and stepped down? (player had to step away), she ended up training like three other apprentices at one time, I think she killed another cat... baby girl went through a lot and when Divination died I loved her too much to let her go ♥

Duskstar is very young, very small, but very determined and a little bloodthirsty in defense of her clan. She has gotten her claws dirty from a young age and is willing to do anything to get her clan back to the power it once had.

Then there is my beloved bastard, Snagglefang

Another Feral Heart original, Snagglefang never really got into any active RPs. He became more active once I moved back to deviantART, however I won’t go into details of the rp that made him active because the people that ran it were, to put it lightly, massive pieces of shit. That’s a story in its own that has me, sitting here, pissed off and ready to fight. ANYWAY. Snaggle is like the precursor to Khan. He’s big, he’s scarred, he’s pissed off. Again, his original history was that his mentor abused him bc I was an edgy teen. He was neglected by his father because his birth caused his mother’s death. He’s big, aggressive, and loves to fight.

He is Dusk’s temporary deputy, one of her closest confidants, and her crush (though he doesn’t know it and she pretends it doesnt exist). He’s very happy to be a tank, and enforcer, and to not have to think too deeply or hard on things. Not that he’s stupid, though he’s not quite as clever as Dusk, but he likes simplicity after everything.

They are essentially what kicked off my personal lore due to a (now deleted :C ) youtube video that was an enemies-to-lovers playlist. I was listening to it and was like, wow, this would really fit dusk and snaggle if they were in the same clan and...

lol. oops.

SO.

There’s honestly so much I haven’t done bc my laptop died, BUT

Due to circumstances, they are re-founding their old clan and calling it DawnClan. Duskstar is barely two years old, just a little older than Snagglefang (she’s renamed him Blacklion for reasons), and while she still feels unprepared to be leader she is fumbling through it as best she can.

Their region believes in the Three Beyond rather than StarClan. There is the Above Beyond, where those who did notably good deeds end up. There is the Between Beyond, where the majority of cats who lived average lives end up. And then there is the Below Beyond, where the assholes, murderers, etc of the clans end up. You can have killed someone and still end up in the Between if it was an accident, in battle, etc. It allows for more nuanced judging, and the ghosts of cats can move between the Beyonds. All three are known and referenced (one might say “Above bless you” when they’re giving thanks, or “i just want to go Between” when they’re tired, and “Below take you!” when they’re absolutely livid) by all clans.

There are at least two other clans who are not yet named, but who have been encroaching into DawnClan territory. DawnClan suffered from poor leadership as well as a severe epidemic that cut their clan numbers into less than half. Because they failed to be able to properly patrol their territory, attending gatherings, and hunt due to lack of warriors, the other clans began encroaching into DawnClan territory. Since the clan has began recovering health, Duskstar is now pushing those boundaries back and has said they will recover their territory at any means necessary.

Dusk has acknowledged to her clan that due to their low numbers, outsiders are currently allowed to join. Her own former apprentice, now warrior, and another close confidant is a cat that Dusk herself found half-starved as the sickness began leaving the clan. Said cat is called Amberwolf and started her life out as a pedigree housecat. Snaggle/Black’s crush is another former-loner named Lilyfrost, who came from a clan far far away. He suffered severe burns and brought along his very young kit, whom he named Lionkit after Blacklion. Black thinks Lily is beautiful (and he is) and Dusk lowkey hates Lily for taking Black’s attention off of her, she’s never had to deal with jealousy and is still young and handling things poorly.

Battles are frequent due to the border issue, however after the sickness left the camp Duskstar relocated the clan. Their new camp has yet to be discovered and therefore can’t be ambushed or attacked, and she keeps a small patrol around the old camp so that if it gets attacked, they can defend it while sending a runner to the new camp to let them know of the attack.

Though Dusk is small, their clan numbers are small, and clan tensions have always been high and tenuous, Duskstar holds herself with as much pride and leadership as she can muster during gatherings. She holds her tongue, bides her time, and subtly threatens the other leaders just as they do her. It’s quickly becoming recognized that although her clan and territory may be small and weak, they are discovering ways to reinforce what strength they have and fight back.

#the urge to talk about my OCs is so strong #warrior cat ocs #warriors oc #duskstar #snagglefang #blacklion #amberwolf #ASK ME MORE ASK ME MORE ASK ME MORE #I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THEM!!! #though dusk and snaggle both have severely fucked up histories