#like as a teenager/young adult/probably through most of the series

[fuckspn]

wrote a whole long post about dean’s relationship to his queerness and then deleted it because i couldn’t put it better than: there is a word i know. but i can’t say it. i can’t think it. i’ll just keep drawing horses

#like as a teenager/young adult/probably through most of the series #i truly don’t think dean actually conceptualized himself as a queer person #it wasn’t that he didn’t notice that he was attracted to men #it was just that even though he knew that was what he was experiencing he refused to let himself think of it in those terms #thinking about kissing boys would be like thinking about getting to attend the same school for an entire year: #dad wouldn’t allow it so therefore it’s impossible and even the act of wanting it would be betraying dad #and so dean calls men buddy and brother and calls himself straight #and only a tiny voice in the very back of his mind even registers it as a lie #HOWEVER because this post is so bleak here’s a reminder that he does make peace with his sexuality eventually!!! #we are three years post-canon he is out to all his loved ones and has gay sex with his husband several times a week!!

[alpaca-clouds]

The Witcher books always confuse me

And not for the reason you might think.

I can always be on the "I knew this, before it was cool" train for The Witcher. Based on the fact that I just read every fantasy book that our local libraries had. And one of the book series, that was in the library, was The Witcher, as they got translated into German in the early 2000s.

It meant a lot to me at the time because of Ciri. Ciri was the first ever non-anime character, I encountered in media, who was LGBTQ*. Because, you know, representation matters.

But, at the time, there was still so much about the books that I did not get.

Again, I read them from the library, not owning them. And also knew them under the German title "Der Hexer". So, when I was a young adult and my then boyfriend started hyping this new fantasy game, I originally did not even realize from the title that it was a game based on those books I read as a teenager. Imagine my surprise, when I played that first game back then and realized: "Oh, I know those characters!"

I read the books again in 2012 and was still fairly impressed with them. But over the years - reading the books again and again - I got confused about these books. How where these books written in the early 1990s by a white man?!

Like, these books - again - have not only openly LGBTQ* characters, with one of the main characters being openly bisexual, but they also just tackle a plenthora of feminist and anti-colonialist issues within the text. And I am just sitting there: How did this got written in the 1990s, before the age of the internet? How did it get published at the time? What kinda man is Andrzej Sapkowski, that he was actually interested in writing this?

You know... I do not hate the games. They are very fun games. While I only played that first game twice, I did put hours upon hours in Witcher 2 and 3. But also... I absolutely get Sapkowski's frustration with those games. Because the games literally just do not get the books. The point with Geralt as a protagonist is, that for the most part he is just some dude. He is not some superhero type. Heck, he acquires a disability midway through the books and struggles with a ton of stuff after that. But the games ignore this as much as they ignore Triss' scars (and her self-consciousness about them). Just as they ignore a good chunk of the colonization angle of the books.

And... Really... The books are probably my favorite high fantasy book series. And quite frankly, given that a ton of folks got into the fandom through the games, the fandom is obviously full of folks, who have not really gotten access to this full picture and are very ignorant about the themes of the book series. And while I am very on the "hey, adaptions can do their own thing" train... At times I just look at the games with their sexy times side quest and think to myself: "Hmm, they kinda didn't get it, did they?"

To me it is really ironic, though. That this Polish book series from the fucking 90s manages to align with my progressive values a lot more than most books being released these days.

#the witcher #the witcher books #fantasy #anti sexism #anti colonialism #andrzej sapkowski #geralt of rivia #lgbtq #representation matters

[iammissingautumn]

genuine question, in the kindest way possible: why do you like south park? i truly don’t get what the appeal is, especially in a sense of wanting to make fan content for it. i understand that it can be funny to watch sometimes, and i get when people like it casually, but i am continually confused when i see people making fan art and fanfics and intense in depth meta posts about characters and characterization because it’s like. a joke show? it’s all a joke. it’s all satire and inappropriate/sometimes genuinely over the line humor. i don’t understand why there are so many people who seem to resonate with it in such a way, especially because as far as i can tell most of the fandom seems to be very young people - teenagers and young adults. again, i don’t ask this in a mean spirited way or to judge or shame, i just am genuinely baffled every time i see south park content you share and i wanted to ask… what’s up with that? what’s the appeal, for you? why do you think people are so into it in this fandom way? do you think that the fandom is just very divorced from the content itself?

Oooo thank you so much lovely follower. This is an amazing ask. And if you’d want the answer I’ll give!!! And there’s a TL;DR at the end of this :>

Why do (you) so many people like South Park?

(C.W. for south park typical stuff, mentions of abuse and s/a in many forms and serious topics.)

1. What’s the appeal for you?

I got into the South Park fandom at the age of probably ten or so. Eight years ago. How did I get into it? Uhhhh I watched the series rarely as a younger kid. What made me want to get into fandom? To tell the truth it was Stick of Truth. That was South Park’s first video game where you are put into the town and play along side the kid. South Park was the first fictional series I ever got into. Before that I had been a youtube shipper (Septiplier). And then I saw South Park. To be fair, I saw Kenny. Early memories of South Park is fanfiction and pinterest art and playing hours on hours of Stick of Truth, and later the next game.

What did I see in Kenny McCormick? He was a poor kid, who died everyday, with parents who fought physically and verbally. He was the fourth wheel in a best friends/obsession dynamic of his close friends. Pretend this isn’t a comedy. Pretend this isn’t some silly show. It’s a boy who can barely have enough money to eat. He had a younger sister he was willing to sacrifice anything for. And an older brother who never said much without a slur to his words. Without saying too much about my life on main I had a lot of reasons to identify with that. This is a house that many people can identify with, drunks as parents and kids who have to take care of themselves. On top of this he’s Princess Kenny :) Get’s treated as a girl in a roleplaying context and loves it. She’s a great princess. My interest in Kenny then went to Bunny (Ship of Kenny McCormick and Butters Stotch).

What is there to see in Butters Stotch? He’s a boy being dragged into sexist, racist, and homophobic talk. We quite literally throughout the series see him become more and more mean. How does a nine year old boy get dragged through those things? His parents are incredibly abusive, often grounding him for things he didn’t do and finding any excuse to blame anything for. He believes he’s at fault for everything he’s in trouble for. The only friend he eventually gains is a boy who uses him for schemes and tried to kill him at least once. The other person he considers to be a friend doesn’t speak or lead. He finds someone who sticks with him and isn’t a hypocrite and sticks to him no matter the pain he’s put through. He also want made for conflict and enjoys femininity. This will be talked more about later, but I assume you can make some assumptions as to why a ten year old could like the stuff shown here. Then again the next list will be why I like it as well. But Kenny and Butters were my start. They’re on of the most popular ships in fandom. So there’s a lot of content.

2. Why is this a popular fandom?

It’s like. Have you ever been neurodivergent? Have you ever been gay? Have you ever been trans? Have you ever been abused? Have you grown up in a simple U.S. town?Have you ever accidentally become codepdent to your childhood friend as a child? Have you ever been born into a situation that hurts you for years but you’re a child you don’t know what to do? Have you ever been a child and all the adults are so stupid and they’re supposed to be protecting you?

Have you ever been all of those things or some of those things and wondered. Holy Fuck. How am I going to handle this all? I hope I don’t need to explain how or why some people would feel these things and how they would use South Park to express these feelings. (Relatability.)

(Age.) A big criticism I’ve heard is. Oh no. They’re Ageing Up These Characters To Have Sex. It’s a very weird assumption and very strange to assume that people would only care about themes of childhood, being a son, or growing up if it’s about sex. Aging up the characters often has to do with wanting to give them maturity and time to learn. You have access to kids still forming their brains, you have access to 50 year old adults who are still growing and dealing with their current problems. High schoolers going to teen parties for the first time and drinking and smoking. College kids going to parties for the first time drinking and smoking making steps to join their profession and figuring out what they want from live and having the freedom of life or being trapped by family expectations.

Infinite scenarios. The amazing thing about South Park is you have at least ten characters to make whatever drama you want with at a time. You can make an ensemble piece of friend groups full of years of love and hate or a focus on one characters inner turmoil. You can make them into fucked up adults with complicated feelings, a gay man who’s never accepted himself sees his childhood best friend and Understands. The kid being drugged secretly by his parents dies of overdose and now everyone has to deal with that and the feelings towards the person. It’s winter and there’s too many holes in kenny’s house so he asks to stay over at someone else’s by knocking on a window and sneaking in. On top of this for many seasons one of South Park’s things is they would make fun of specific movie concepts that have been run into the ground by putting the kids in it. Losing Edge, Stanley’s Cup, and Up the Down Steroid are great examples of this.

People love to take the absurd seriously. I don’t think I can explain how people who see something silly and take it seriously do it. If you don’t see the appeal that’s really fair. But when Kenny Dies plays and we see Kyle Stan and Eric deal with death in their own ways. We see their differences highlighted. As we watch The Passion of the Jew we see this internalized anti antisemitism, that many people who have the same thing or something similar like internalized racism, homophobia, transphobia, ablism, etc. see reflected on the screen in this surprisingly real way.

A lot of content. There are 26 years of seasons in this show. That’s a lot of content, but genuinely a lot of people don’t watch even half that shit. Majority of the time I’ve spent being invested in South Park I had only seen a few dozen episodes. There are two full videos games with extra content and a phone game. A movie as well. A lot of content you can pick and choose from! A lot of small moments to hang on to. (I.e. Good Times With Weapons Butters get his eye hurt, fandom draws him with a scar more often then not. Eric got Kenny’s eye as a transplant after Kenny died one time. Kyle is said to have the same nose as his mom; hooked.) these build the fandom, but everyone has always embraced those who reject and those who accept canon. There’s so many different things to sink ur teeth into, including serious AU’s of the canonical fantasy and superhero games the characters play together.

But once again I’ll harp on this. I think what brings people to this show is seeing damaged things and giving them the chance to heal. Or giving them things to make their damage a bit easier. Or maybe damaging them more. Standard exploring relationships and feelings. But on top of this we see character who have been sexually assaulted, groomed, abused, neglected. While also the show gives very liberal takes and knows how fucked up these situations are. That’s apart of the comedy (Tsst. Where we see Liane Cartman take away the chance for Eric Cartman to become more respectable and less bigoted and everything because she wants someone to hang out with her.). There’s always something enthralling about seeing yourself on the big screen, and seeing my friends right there too etc. (Relatability, again.)

Simple designs. A child could make the cardboard cutouts that we see the characters as. That’s motivating! What’s also motivating? Giving these characters with specific color schemes a full face body and wardrobe of clothes ! Oh so that means I can make my favorite superhero team Coon and Friends all hanging out together? So that means I can draw something about Kenny dying? So I can make them play dsi’s together? There’s a lot of one off concepts we get that are very cool and some people love to reimagine them in their own style. Others love to make the setting more fantastical like Princess Kenny in the rose garden during the Black Friday Trilogy. You can make them anything!

Sand box! We have set up friend groups, conflicts from twenty years ago, and a mayor of the township! We have the entire map laid out in front of us and more from every episode’s location that hasn’t been included. We have the local coffee shop and the local movie theater. We have a whole city! We have canonical neighbors and stores and everything! Where would you like to start? We have it all.

Taking things “Seriously”. Most importantly, South Park wants to be take seriously. SP doesn’t work without being able to take it seriously. The comedy in Passion of the Jew doesn’t work unless you sympathize with Kyle. I laughed at the obliviousness of the adults as Cartman formed his group and then a pit grew in my stomach as I saw Kyle and them about to crash. The comedy in World Wide Record Concert doesn’t work if you don’t know that Mr Garrison feels bad for a very dumb reason !!!! But that episode is genuinely one of the funniest to me. South Park did not make it a character trait that Mr Garrison is gay for all those early seasons just for us to not notice. And more importantly he feels like a very very ignorant gay man in those seasons, but he feels genuinely gay. As Kenny Dies it asks you to take this seriously, and we watch in Coon Vs. Coon & Friends and are asked for it to be taken seriously as Kenny describes the many deaths he’s faced. This show quickly shows how absurdist and crazy it is in most if not all episodes it has yet it still cares to ask you to take things seriously, to sympathize, empathize with these characters. It tells you to laugh at Kenny’s deaths and then it has the audacity to tell you he remembers Every Single One and is reborn every time, and that Cartman always knows and they never talk about it. They never mention it more then once. They lull us into personal moments and then never bring it up again. The fandom is built around these one off moments, these things the creators didn’t think too much about. These characters have such strong personalities and back bones that have existed for YEARS. Stuff set up and shown in the first five seasons makes sense to the characters of today. The character consistency goes rlly hard for a 25 year old show that only stops itself for exploring character because they know they’re there to be funny and not serious. It’s crazy and amazing and we want the serious shit!

History. South Park history is crazy, what’s ever crazier? Fandom history. The shows history doesn’t matter too much (except that time Matt and Trey went to The Oscars for sp while on LSD) but the fandom history is legendary. The development of fandom, the fandom blorbo of the time, the Stan and Wendy baby guy. It’s really neat. We have a steep history with artists that have come and gone in a very unique way because of how tumblr’s algorithm is set up. South Park’s fandom existed before most popular social media sites. And while this allows you to put the character in Any decade it also lets you see how old some of those ff.net fics are. The fanart on tumblr can easily be a decade old if you look at the right blog. A deactivated user behind it. Ships that have come and gone, we’ve been here this whole time !!!! I love hearing about different sites issues and problems. And also the beloved stuff that has happened here. Some people weren’t here before Creek was canon, some people came in with a canonical gay couple amongst the kids as just an average background thing.

So those are some reasons. The most important ones that I think most south park fan in the fandom. will list at least one of when being asked Why. I value all of these things heavily. You also meet some really great people with mostly solid opinions ! It’s great ! Genuinely a really understanding and accepting place with unique stories from anyone you meet.

3. Do you think that the fandom is divorced from the canonical content?

Off the rip I would say no. But it’s complicated. To those who have seen all or most of the show I’d say; We’re pretty connected. I think the majority of us are just smart enough to understand that Cartman is a bad person on purpose. A lot of this has to do with he’s something the creators use. He’s an archetype of the worst person and is the only character imo that gets pulled ooc in order to do What The Plot Needs. But majority of the fandom is gonna give Kyle curly hair, green eyes and he’ll love to study with some side sports interest. We have a lot of continuity in many ways.

That being said there’s MANY people who have seen Five episodes and read the wiki and maybe play the game(s?). And they treat the show the same as those who have seen it more. Those who have not seen the show might be a bit more outspoken about how it’s Bad or Wrong when they haven’t seen it and I usually don’t trust those people. Hence why I’m watching the entire show rn on my own, to get my own opinion. Those people who haven’t seen shit are also probably connected mainly to a duo or one character. Popular examples of this are Creek (Craig x Tweek) and Bunny (Kenny x Butters). There’s non watchers in the Style (Stan Marsh x Kyle Broflovski) and Kyman (Cartman x Kyle) community but less so from what I’ve seen.

But we’re looking at this show in a different genre. Many of us act like we’re creating CW Shows except Better. Many of us lean into drama and tragedy. Others are in it for the sillies. Majority of people know what’s bad in this show, some people are sometimes so hurt or misguided that they think Cartman is the only evil and never want to see him. Other times ppl are just uncomfortable with him (Like I’ve spent the majority of my time here being). There’s a scale! I think it’s important to realize what is wrong with the show in your own way, and I think the show gets demonized for its effects on main stream media and boys who couldn’t grow a spine for themselves so took Cartman’s personality. It’s pretty apparent that Matt and Trey are very liberal they just thought “making fun” of everyone “equally” was right which got some bad apples. No one likes season 9 episode 1. Not a soul. Tbh most of the drama doesn’t relate to bigotry, though enough does that it matters. And if you aren’t interested in exploring how bigotry effects ppl I’m not sure why you would be interested in South Park.

Like yeah Matt and Trey haven’t thought about Marjorine more than once, but everyone saw a boy being accepted and cared for and enjoying himself seen as a girl more than ever before. And Matt and Trey aren’t gonna give these kids real mental illnesses when we see the symptoms clear as day (price of making characters “unique”). We’re playing a different game then they are, so yeah we’re disconnected in some ways. But we’re very connected in others. We don’t let all 25 seasons go to waste.

And what has my opinion been from watching the show so far? Well I’m on season 11 and so far it’s not as bad as I expected. I agree with a lot of their messages and the stuff that’s obviously just. terrible isn’t as common as I thought it would be? Again, s9 e1 is the worst of it, and you phrased it really well when saying it’s mainly inappropriate humor that often goes over the line. They’re very liberal though, I mean they introduce a gay character in the first episode and in the 90’s teach a kid gay is chill. There are episodes I dislike or just get bored by, but most of what I’ve gotten through which is getting closer to half of the show runs from decent to surprisingly well made (pick any s8 ep tbh. oops all bangers). Mattrey aren’t me, and I’m here to develop the characters, they’re there to develop a comedy. we are not the same but we appreciate each other even tho we probably squint and think the other is more in the wrong then ourselves. But we enjoy each other occasionally.

EDIT: I meant to put this originally but not everyone here is a young adult. I’ve seen 11 year old fans I’ve seen 50 year old fans. we have a lot of diversity in stuff like that. I think young adults had a wave of coming into the fandom because creek became canon which gave the show credit for showing how good it can be at times. Every one of my south park friends are at least two years older then me. That being said I joined a discord that I hadn’t realized was for minors and saw the swath of young ages we get. a lot of us have a decade between each other, but even more of us are in that 17-25 range. I think it’s just more common for young adults to get into it since we have the freedom to watch whatever we want and it’s a household name some may have been restricted to. Then again I joined this when I was 10 as well so like. i may be a bit warped. either way this shows rlly has smth for everyone.

Oh wait! Oh no!!! TL;DR: South Park is a show that’s important to me and others for a lot of reasons. Nothing butters me up like seeing people in broken worlds be able to put it together again in the future, or to be torn apart idk it depends. Other reasons to like the show are: Relatability, they can be literally any age, Infinite scenarios, People love to take the absurd seriously, A lot of content, Relatability; again, simple designs, the setting is a sandbox, creators kinda want us to take this seriously, and a lot of fandom history! And probably more. We’re not that disconnected from the series itself but everyone is pretty aware how problematic it is and many disconnect entirely from the series. Other choose to embrace it to Fix Them. Ppl love to do a lot.

#anon #asks #i assume ur a follower bc i’m not sure how else u’d find this place #btw rlly funny if u r a follower and have been following for the last few months like i’ve been deep in it #Kenny and a butters metapost??? #mod caden #south park #kenny mccormick #butters stotch #stan marsh #kyle broflovski #eric cartman #etc etc #sp creek #sp style #sp bunny #south park meta #meta

[the-romcommunist]

a list of my comfort shows:

fleabag - phoebe waller bridge, i want to be you when i grow up. The writing, the acting, the comedic beats, need I say more. I could analyse this show for forever and still wouldn't get bored. The juxtaposition of fleabag and her deflection through comedy with her grief is so poignant, it always makes me feel all the Feelings™️

normal people - genuinely the most perfect book to tv show adaptation i have ever seen. usually, the book or the show is better but in this case, the book and the show add to their respective counterparts, its crazy. also, the acting by daisy edgar jones and paul mescall is so well done. I have watched normal people so many times that i literally watch the show on shuffle. my thought process: "hmm today feels like an episode 8 type of day"

leverage - everyone go watch that show rn, its so fucking good, every single season slaps. are you aware of how rare that is?? and the fact that this show aired on television while actively criticising every major organisation is insane. i genuinely believe that if i hadn't already been radicalised, just from looking at the world around me, this show would have pushed me over the edge. i love my criminal found family. the depth and nuance to all their relationships but also how campy and fun the show is makes for such a fun watching experience. i have such a good time every time i watch because, let’s be real, who doesn’t love a good heist.

teen wolf - but especially season 3. the downside of making season three such Good television is that it ruins the rest of the series. nothing else after or before season three of teen wolf can live up to the standard set by season three. also, dylan o'brien in season three? man really brought out the big guns, and I love that for him

skam - literally any version, i have watched each remake so many times. this show drives me nuts, when i fall into a skam phase, i fall deep. it happens like once every two years, and for like 2 months straight, i don't watch anything but skam. i don't know why i like skam so much, it just makes me feel so comforted.

veronica mars - does kristen bell age? I mean, she looks the same in veronica mars and the good place. anyways, veronica mars. it is everything riverdale wished it could be. it's one of the only shows i've seen that, while catering to a teenage and young adult audience, doesn't talk down to their audience. and i love that while there's the overarching narrative, it's also a procedural so every episode is different. means that you can just pick and episode and watch it. it also means that some episodes let the teenage characters actually be teenagers (ahem, unlike every other teen drama show)

anne with an e - anne with an e just makes me want to enjoy my life. especially the mundane, quiet, small moments that i otherwise don't think about. anne shirley cuthbert is such a vivid character, i almost always watch a couple episodes of awae when i'm sick. probably because i first watched it when i was sick. the show, while not all happy go lucky, makes me feel like i’m getting the media equivalent of a warm hug.

arrow - but only season 1, 2 and 3. sometimes i just want to watch something that really doesn't require you to pay attention. maybe i’ve just finished exams and my mental bandwidth is like, -1, in which case i only have the energy for something like arrow. there’s nothing more to it than what’s being told to you on screen and sometimes that’s all you need (or all you can handle)

shameless - i don't know why this dysfunctional family brings me such comfort but it does. i just love watching the family dynamic. clearly. looking over this list, i am realising that found family is exactly what i look for in everything i watch. watching the effects that every character has on each other is so interesting but the shows also just so funny? i mean come on, there’s no other show that does recaps as well as shameless does. also, the best enemies to lovers arc ever executed on screen? ian gallagher and mickey milkovich, hands down. for a show that’s so coarse, they gave these two such a heart warming arc.

the OA - i am so jealous of britt marling's mind. she's a genius. the tone of the OA is so different to anything else i have watched, it’s so refreshing. the only show that i feel maybe has a similar tone is mr robot, but while mr robot has you constantly on edge and wary of everything that’s happening on screen, the OA is calming. the chinese box narrative structure is done so organically and so kindly (?? it’s the only word i can think of that fits) you can’t help but feel for the characters, no matter how much of an asshole the character is. in fact, this show might have actually changed my mind on a whole lot of things regarding how we treat others. again, the found family aspect is present, front and centre. then there's the romance between OA and Homer. it is so pure. I can't even articulate my feelings about this show, it's so mind bendingly good

#fleabag #normal people #leverage #teen wolf #skam #veronica mars #anne with an e #awae #the OA #arrow #shameless #comfort shows #if anyone comes across this #feel free to add your own comfort shows

[lunarlegend]

The Japanese Cultural Significance Behind Older Ignis’ Hairstyle

this is something i’ve touched upon a couple times before, but i felt like going a bit more in-depth and i have 24/7 blorbo brain, so here we go

for those who are unaware, the pompadour is a bit of an infamous hairstyle in Japan (taken from Wikipedia):

it actually first rose to popularity in the 50s-60s...

...and remained that way on and off up until the early 2000s.

(source is this article, which has a lot more great examples, but unfortunately is also pretty full of annoying ads, lol)

a lot of notable thug-type characters sported the pompadour hairstyle in anime/manga from the late 80s - early 90s...

...and the stereotype is still used in more modern anime, too.

but the way i first learned of the hairstyle’s significance was through the manga Shonan Junai Gumi (precursor to the more popular Great Teacher Onizuka series), where protagonists Eikichi & Ryuji...

...choose to purposely get rid of their pompadours so they can start trying to pick up women (it’s a shonen series from 1990, just bear with me):

but as soon as they step outside, they get challenged by some punks...

...and immediately fix their hair back up so they can participate in the fight.

it’s a huge statement on what it means to be a stereotypical “delinquent” in Japan (obviously taken to the extreme in this case for humor’s sake, but it’s a joke that’s intended to be immediately understood by the audience).

so, what does any of this have to do with Ignis Scientia?

of all the Chocobros, Ignis is definitely the most straight-laced. he’s had the responsibility of being Noctis’ caretaker from a very young age (six years old!) and prides himself on being the most practical of the group, making sure everyone eats healthy and stays out of danger. he drives the car, he manages the money...at 22 years old, he is wise beyond his years, and often joked to be the only true “adult” on the team.

but even as a teenager, Ignis looked far older than his age (pictured here at only 17):

quite the opposite of any of the thugs seen above, young Ignis dressed for his role as a servant of the Royal Family and never acted much like any “typical” teenager. in fact, in his Brotherhood episode, he’s already learning to take on some of the King’s parental responsibilities towards Noctis as Regis’ health noticeably declines...certainly not what one would expect of the normal adolescent experience.

Ignis didn’t really have a childhood (another topic i’ve frequently touched upon), and that’s part of what makes his post-timeskip hairstyle so interesting. instead of keeping his “cockatiel” hair from the main game or simply letting his hair stay down, 32 year old Ignis specifically chose a pompadour:

i’ve often seen it said that Older Ignis looks younger than 22 year old Ignis, and that’s absolutely true. but it’s more than just the softness of his features; it’s that Older Ignis sports a hairstyle you’d normally expect to see on a teenage punk.

given the very little information we have about the 10 Years of Darkness (laziness on the developers’ part imho, but i digress), i consider Older Ignis’ choice of hairstyle to be a significant clue to how he carries himself in the World of Ruin.

here is an Ignis who has accepted the consequences of his decision to wear the Ring, who has gained newfound confidence and stubbornly trained himself to navigate through an endlessly dark world. here is an Ignis who taught himself to hunt again, taught himself to cook again, who has honed his other senses to the point where he can fend for himself in a daemon-infested nightmare that would probably send a less-disciplined person running to their death. 32 year old Ignis quite literally rebelled against his own fate; he chose to survive.

considering that Insomnia is a Japanese city (based on Shinjuku), and that Ignis himself is from there in the original Japanese version of the game (no accent, born in the Kingdom of Lucis just like the others), i can only assume he would understand the cultural significance behind the pompadour hairstyle and what it represents. it’s also a lot of effort for someone who not only exists in a dark world, but who also cannot see himself...there is no doubt in my mind that Ignis chose this style on purpose.

and that’s why i find all of this so fascinating. especially considering what few details we are shown about each of the bros post-timeskip, here’s something about my favorite character that stands out to me as a form of deliberate symbolism and allows me to easily draw conclusions from it. to me it reinforces what a resilient person Ignis is, and it also fuels some of my headcanons that Older Ignis is less uptight and more confident (something that his younger Japanese version self struggles with).

it’s an aspect of Ignis that i feel is extremely significant, but i think has the potential to get overlooked by fans who are not familiar with Japanese culture, which is why i wanted to share it here.

#final fantasy xv #ffxv #ignis scientia #JapaneseIgnis

[tremendouskoalachild]

Mralisola recruitment post

(no spoilers beyong the basic setup)

What is Mralisola?

Mralisola is the ship name for Zeen Mrala and Lula Talisola, major characters in the first phase of the Star Wars: The High Republic publishing initiative – specifically the works of one of its story architects, Daniel José Older. These include especially the comic line The High Republic Adventures (2021), some of its one-shot issues, and the young adult novel Midnight Horizon, as well as appearances in the manga The Edge of Balance and the middle grade novel Race to Crashpoint Tower. Phase Three of THR is starting this Fall, with the first issue of the comic's 2023 run releasing in December.

Who are Zeen and Lula?

Two Force-sensitive teenage girls who have a huge impact on each other’s lives. Lula is one of a group of young Jedi who come to help Zeen’s community during a disaster. Zeen has been raised to shun and hide her Force-sensitivity but is forced (heh) to reveal it in a moment of crisis. Being outcast from the commune that raised her, she joins the Jedi kids and becomes their close friend and ally, though she doesn’t join the Order herself.

Where does the shipping come in?

The girls are strongly paralleled from their very introduction and click immediately upon meeting. While the Padawan squad are all good friends, Zeen and Lula are especially close and are almost always seen together. Their growing feelings for each other are hinted at many times throughout the comic and acknowledged in their inner monologues.

Will the ship become canon?

It will be the star wars queerbait if not. Seriously.

But canon gays? In my Star Wars?

It’s more likely than you think! Look at this excellent guide to canon wlw by @chipthekeeper or the lineup of the ongoing @queer-starwars-bracket, which featured both of our girls. The High Republic is probably the most queer-friendly part of the franchise.

Yeah but. Lula is a Jedi. How does that work?

Non-spoilery answer is that there is definitely precedent for her situation in THR media and it will be interesting to see the characters grapple with it. The High Republic has many things to say about the Jedi Order and its view on relationships, and I believe Zeen and Lula are a major part of that theme, whichever way their story resolves.

Gimme some more reasons to get invested.

Girl friends to girlfriends. Complementary blue/pink color palette. The conflict of love and duty. Battle couple. Meditation couple (is that a thing? it should be). The theme of living as your true self in a loving found family. Pining. Helping your gf deal with the demons of her past. Teen sapphics, in Star Wars.

Okay, you got me! What do I need to read?

Definitely The High Republic Adventures 2021 (13 comic issues). If you get really into the setting you will probably enjoy the whole High Republic series, which has plenty of reading orders but is perfectly safe in publication order, such as on wookieepedia here.

While there are many crossovers between storylines, Daniel José Older's characters are almost completely contained to his own works, so for a mralisola-only reading spree you can just go through the list of Phase I picking out his works. (The comic miniseries Trail of Shadows and the manga volumes are skippable in that case, though you'll miss a cameo in the second manga volume.)

Whatever books and comics you end up reading, don't skip the Midnight Horizon novel, and read Starlight Coda (contained in Free Comic Book Day 2023, and included in the Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures — The Complete Phase 1 trade paperback) at the very end.

#mralisola #zeen mrala #lula talisola #the high republic #thr #the high republic adventures

[ipsen]

Kishou and Eto: A Tangled Web of Hatred, Fear, and Apathy

(Alternatively: Good God They Are Horrible For Each Other But Like Actually)

Let’s talk about this slow motion car crash. Buckle up, this one’s actually really long. Subtext, amirite, fellas?

This connection is fascinating. It came out of basically left field if you were like me and could not predict a story to save your life when re was coming out (even when it was foreshadowed as far back as tg 141). The two “pinnacles” of humankind and ghoulkind were working together the whole time!! Amazing. It also spawned lots of content for a brand new ship because now they’ve canonically interacted! Very cool.

And while “two broken souls try to fix the world that wronged them and maybe fall in love along the way” is a good trope and I love it, I want to talk about the aspect of this relationship that is most appealing to me that I don’t see talked about often: the story of a revolutionary who, instead of being finally given the tools to change the world, is instead yanked up by strings and thrown about by the whims of a child having a temper tantrum.

When sourcing, I use (ch X) to refer to the original series and (re X) to refer to re (there’s also some (jack X) for tg jack). And, as always, I’m looking at the official translations. Under the cut.

First, the age gap. no one talks about the age gap even though it’s like the most important part

Anyways, let’s lay the groundwork for their first meeting. It looks like this:

(re 86)

Does this area look familiar? It should:

(re 62)

This is Eto’s hiding spot when she’s 14. We can also infer that Noroi is no longer around because of a few things. Bit of a tangent, but it’s important we contextualize her mindset when she meets Arima.

Noroi raised Eto in the 24th ward, and we can probably assume she would have grown up down there with him if things had gone fine. However:

(re 66)

We can assume V interfered with that setup. Not only that, but Eto’s first appearance on the CCG’s radar was in the 24th ward, where she killed Kasuka Mado. An angry ukaku-type ghoul kills one of Akira’s parents after losing an important adult figure in their life. Now, where have I heard that before...?

(ch 16)

There it is.

The difference between Touka+Hinami and Eto+Eto again is that the former are not alone in their pain. They have Anteiku, they have each other. As a result, they are able to heal from the past and move on with their lives. Eto did not have this luxury, and the pain and rage (she’s freakishly similar to Touka) were allowed to manifest. It didn’t help that Eto was familiar with cannibalism at a young age (24th ward culture is freaky like that) and developed a full kakuja by fourteen. Horrifying thought, if you ask me.

So Eto is lonely, she is angry, she wants to change the world through extreme targeted violence. We know it’s targeted violence because Aogiri never attacks civilian areas: they only attack certain targets that can get them what they want (Kanou’s nurse, for example) as well as CCG property (Cochlea being the big one). Her hatred is reserved solely for those who deserve it, which is a pattern that follows her through her entire life.

Let’s move on to Arima.

By the time Arima meets Eto, he has experienced the events of Jack. So he is familiar with the workings of the Garden, the Washuu, and V as a whole, and has interacted with a ghoul that was a bit more sentient and aware of herself than he’d like:

(jack 7) (“Maybe they [the Washuu] want to be human...” -- Arima, from re 83)

He’s 19 when he finally encounters Eto at her shrine. Evidence:

(re 74)

So there’s a 5-6 year age gap between eto and arima when they first meet. They are basically at two completely different stages of their lives, being an extremely young teenager and someone on the cusp of adulthood (context: during TG’s and re’s run, the age of a legal adult in Japan was 20. It’s been lowered to 18 since April 2022. Flabbergasting, if you ask me).

I’ve stated this before, but the best way to look at Arima and Eto is to look at a similar age gap:

(re 142)

They are an inversion of Kaneki and Hinami. We can also highlight the similarities further because Eto and Hinami have met before and Eto implies that they are similar:

(tg 114)

Eto only ever gives out advice-- cruel and otherwise-- to those that remind her of herself. The Yasuhisas and Kanae both reflected some aspect of her that she wants to correct, but that’s beside the point.

(She’s also alluding to her collaborating with Arima with this line, as Hinami is 14 during this chapter as well.)

Anyways, we know that Hinami is one of Eto’s foils, alongside Touka. All three women are women who crave love and affection from parental figures who have either died (Hinami’s dad+Ryouko, Hikari, Ukina) or were just never there when they were needed most (Kuzen, Arata). So what we can apply to one, we can generally apply to the others as well.

Hinami takes to Kaneki very easily and very early on. She’s very lonely, even when Ryouko was alive, due to not really having any friends her age (or friends at all, honestly). Having lost her father, she is also (subconsciously) looking for an older male figure to take his place (hence Big Brother Ken, the sweetheart). In the same vein, Touka acquiesces to Kuzen’s request for her to take school because she is lonely, even though Ayato is Right There (but also he doesn’t really Get Her), because again, no friends her age as well as No Dad.

We can easily apply this phenomenon to Eto with Arima. A young, lonely girl with no real friends her age or parental figures in her life is seeking a replacement for the hole that left in her. She also wants to upend the narrative that ghouls and humans have to kill each other to survive. As someone both stuck in the middle and someone with very personal connections to the origins of that narrative, she wants to destroy the “us vs. them” mindset.

Enter the strongest investigator in the history of the universe: Kishou Arima. And he wants to help her. Unfortunately for Eto, though, the world is cruel, and Kishou Arima is not a Ken Kaneki or a Kuzen.

Let’s see how he interacts with people, shall we?

(tg 73)

(re 8)

(re 45)

Now, Arima’s not exactly mean, but he’s... overwhelming. It’s not condescension, it’s more... unawareness. Tactless.

I’m sure some of you have been in Akira’s, Haise’s, or Hirako’s shoes before. Someone who is just typically Correct and wrapped up in their own thoughts, that you have little choice but to accept it. Arima’s worldview is completely twisted around his strength as a fighter, to the point that he can’t understand others.

It’s sad, because he also craves connection and friendship and love like everyone else in the series. Unfortunately, he is also a perpetrator of that “not being good enough” feeling that goes around the CCG.

He was trained by Kaiko, after all. Heartless bastard.

So we can imply that the dynamic he had with Eto wasn’t very different from anyone else in his circle. We can also see the effect this had on Eto herself using the advice she gives out to our favorite points of discussion, the Yasuhisas and Kanae:

(tg 98) (side note: i actually wrote a fanfiction about this scene. read it here! It’s called “Toddle, Toddle” on AO3 if you don’t trust my links.)

(re 43)

So, as Eto worked more and more with Arima, she became more and more aware of Arima’s actual goals/nature, which don’t align with her own. She’s perceptive like that, but it’s likely that by the time she Caught On, it’s too late. After all, everyone listens to Kishou Arima. Everyone likes Kishou Arima.

Eto values control, but she is never the one truly in control. So she projects onto others in a vain attempt to seem like she has some semblance of control over her own actions and her own life. Such as becoming an author, one of the few things she actually enjoys doing.

So, if Kishou Arima were to say “Sen Takatsuki is a ghoul”, that’s one more thing she’d lose control over. One thing too many.

But what is Arima’s actual goal? Well, children are prone to tantrums, aren’t they? They like to break things, using what they know to do so. He’s known to use his quinques masterfully to kill. But Arima doesn’t exclusively have literal quinques. He has metaphorical ones, too:

(re 52)

While on the subject, Haise’s got an interesting pose there, doesn’t he? But it looks so familiar...

(re 69)

Not quite...

Bingo. (not to shoot myself in the foot when we’re almost at the end but they should kiss bc of this. arima’s broken toys smashing together like barbie dolls. it’s the ultimate fuck-you)

Poor girl doesn’t even have the luxury of having two arms when this happens. Arima took advantage of her weakened state to rope her into what is basically a childish rebellion.

He often goes into the 24th ward to exterminate ghouls. Ghouls that are not a part of Aogiri, presumably. However, this is counterproductive in the long run; how do you recruit ghouls into a ghoul organization if their numbers are continuously dwindling? You can’t change the world like that.

But Arima, with the OEK as his secret identity, is not actually affected by this. He will still have the praise and love he craves from the CCG. He wants both things. He can’t choose. So he doesn’t. Because no one can stop him. Who would stop Kishou Arima? Who would stop the God of the CCG? Who would stop the King?

Nobody.

It’s a childish rebellion because if it fails, then he doesn’t face any real consequences. No one would listen to the whims of Tatara or the One-Eyed Owl; they already have humongous targets on their heads, and they’re part of the Aogiri Tree, the organization with the largest Dove kill count in history (besides the Clowns, probably). If Arima actually cared, he’d at least stop killing ghouls en masse like he did with the Anteiku raid or his regular forays into the 24th ward with his squad that can see him. That’s the bottom line.

Of course, V being all over the world probably discourages him, but he could have at least tried to lean more into his identity as king instead of trying to compromise between both sides of him. But that doesn’t really matter to him, does it? None of it really matters. After all:

(re 83)

--

So yeah, that’s Eto and Arima’s imbalanced power dynamic featuring my silly little rambling. Did it make sense? Who knows!

Thanks for reading!

#tg #tokyo ghoul #tg meta #eto yoshimura #kishou arima

[wyattjohnston]

looks a lot like forever - erik johnson

series: only all the time

word count: 1,655

note: for the anon who asked for gwen/erik domestic fluff! i hope this is what you were after :)

Gwen was on cloud nine when she arrived home, not even bothered that she struggled through the door hindered by shopping bags up to her elbows. They were her shopping bags, though, so complaining would be hypocritical.

Despite Erik’s car being in the garage, the house was dark and silent. Gwen headed straight towards their bedroom, knowing that she’d find him either in the shower or passed out on the bed. She got her answer when she heard the water running in the bathroom.

She dropped her bags on the bed, starting to empty them out and put away her new wardrobe while she waited for him to appear—and he did so about ten minutes later laughing at the bags littering the floor.

“Successful day?” he asked, walking towards her with just a towel around his waist.

Knowing that he wasn’t just making fun of her shopping spree, Gwen let a smile take over her face, “Yeah, I think I’ve found The One.”

She had gone full steam ahead with wedding planning; picking and asking her bridesmaids before the month of June was over and starting her search for The Perfect Dress as soon as they were settled back in Colorado; she’d seen too many brides take months to find their dress and she didn’t want to leave it too close to the wedding.

“Can I see it?”

Gwen hummed, wrapping her arms around his waist, her fingers disappearing below the top of the towel, and tilting her head up to silently ask for a kiss. Erik obliged without hesitation.

When Gwen pulled back, she smiled sweetly and said simply, “No.”

She patted his bare chest and moved to step away completely, only for Erik to catch her by the waist and pull her back in. His speed and his strength never ceased to amaze her, and, even though she rolled her eyes playfully, she let it happen.

“No?” he asked, the pout on his face small but present.

“It’s bad luck. You know that. Besides, it still needs to be altered and will need to be altered closer to the wedding. In the photo it’s pegged together at my back.”

“You know it’s The One, though?”

“Mel cried,” Gwen admitted, somewhat deliriously. “She hasn’t cried about any other dress.”

Erik laughed, “I’m a fucking goner then, aren’t I?”

Despite not being able to attend Mel and Gabe’s wedding, Gwen had been slated for a bridesmaid spot and thus had been present for all the activities being a bridesmaid entailed—including the dress shopping. Gwen had cried the second she saw Mel in the dress that would end up being The One because of how clear it was on Mel’s face that she'd found exactly what she was looking for. Mel had assured her that it was the same reason she’d cried seeing Gwen’s dress.

Gwen kissed Erik again and then directed him towards their closet so that he could get dressed, with a gentle reminder that they needed to think about leaving for the Landeskogs’.

She went about cleaning up the bags and tissue paper that had come from her shopping and joined Erik in the walk-in robe so that she could take in her wardrobe and what she needed to cycle out.

“Give me a hint?”

"It's white."

“Yeah, alright. I deserved that,” Erik conceded.

They were heading to the Landeskogs’ to look after Linnea and Lucas so that Gabe and Mel could go to the basketball—a horribly boring date in Gwen’s mind but some would probably say the same about her and Erik using their free night to look after someone else’s children. They didn’t often take on babysitting duties because there were young adults, and teenagers truthfully, who were much better suited for it, but it was fun when they did do it.

They inevitably taught Linnea at least one new behaviour that Gabe complained about—the most memorable and persistent being Linnea laying on her back on the hardwood floors so that Gwen and EJ could take turns spinning her in circles.

Gabe was insistent that the second Erik had a kid he was in for hell.

Linnea was waiting for them at the door, bouncing up and down in the window. She could be heard babbling and asking for the door to be opened, waving at Gwen and Erik enthusiastically. As soon as it was open, she was throwing herself at Erik who was ready to catch her.

“I don’t think people come here to see me anymore,” Gabe said, watching on as Gwen leaned into press loud kisses to Linnea’s face as she giggled and wriggled in Erik’s arms.

“We’ve never come here for you, you know that,” Gwen said, even as she kissed his cheek. “Where’s the love of my life?”

“Luke’s room. He’s being fussy because he knew you were going to come in and insult me.”

Gwen smiled, sarcastic innocence etched over her face, and left to find Mel and Luke.

The wailing coming through the hall as she got closer to the room let Gwen know that Gabe wasn’t lying about Luke being fussy. It was a sound that, to be frank, made her less sad about delaying having her own children, especially when Mel had described the colic both kids went through as newborns.

Mel frowned when Gwen walked into the room, where she was carrying Luke around in her arms, “He’s been like this all day. I really thought we were over the temper tantrums.”

“It happens,” Gwen said, holding her arms out to let Mel know she could handle Luke over if needed. “Everyone needs a good cry every now and then.”

Mel passed Luke over, rolling her shoulders. “I shouldn’t leave you to deal with this.”

“Yes, you should,” Gwen insisted, twisting away from Luke’s screams. “Go get your jacket and get out of here. He’ll see Erik and it’ll be fine.”

There was no argument from Mel there, because everyone knew that Erik had magical, baby calming powers. Before Mel left, she hugged both Gwen and Luke.

Gwen started bouncing Luke up and down, begging him to at least scream quieter before he burst her eardrum. Luke didn’t seem to care. When it was clear that there was no settling him down, and after Gabe poked his head in to say goodbye and apologise that Luke was already fussy and then hadn’t gone down for a nap which made everything much worse, Gwen sought out Erik.

He was gleefully playing with Linnea in the living room, a tiny, tiny table set up with a plastic tea-set with Erik sitting awkwardly at it. He looked up instantly at the sound of Luke’s crying, and he reached out to take him from Gwen.

“He’s so loud,” Linnea huffed, dropping her teacup to cover her ears with her hands.

“I know, hon,” Gwen said, helping Linnea to her feet so she could take her out of the room and away from her screaming brother. “I think it’s snack time, don’t you?”

Linnea’s mood lifted and she instantly forgot that she’d ever been annoyed at all.

They both stood in front of the open fridge, scrutinising the contents—Gwen knew that they would inevitably order pizza for dinner so whatever Gwen was going to prepare was going to be something like carrot sticks but a distraction was a distraction.

Luke’s crying could still be heard but it was more subdued, proving that Erik was as much a miracle worker as Gwen expected him to be. Erik brought Luke into the kitchen when he’d quietened down entirely, leaving the loudest sound being Linnea crunching away at carrot sticks.

“You’ll have to teach me how to do that,” Gwen said, peering down at Luke who was fighting to keep his eyes open in Erik’s arms.

“Our kids won’t be this loud,” Erik said assuredly. “Do you want to put him to bed while I organise dinner?”

Gwen hummed, gently taking Luke, and tilted her face up to Erik for a kiss, which he gave her. Before she left, she said, “My big strong man providing for me by making a phone call.”

“Even better,” Erik said, leaning into the joke and pulling his phone out of his pocket, “I’m going to order it on an app.”

“Swoon,” Gwen said as she fanned herself.

“What does ‘swoon’ mean?” Linnea asked, just in time for Gwen to duck out of the room and leave Erik to come up with something that would both make sense and not get him in trouble.

Gwen very much loved getting to spend time with Linnea and Luke, yet she still enjoyed the time when they went to bed and she and Erik sat on the couch together more.

It was horribly domestic, even if they were watching basketball, knowing that at any moment they could be interrupted by a child in need of attention. It rarely happened—both Linnea and Luke were kind enough to wait until their parents were home to rouse—and even if it was mildly annoying, it had Gwen dreaming of her own future.

Erik nudged her, gently, during a break in the game, and Gwen leant closer and hummed to let him know she was listening.

“What if I don’t want to see you in your wedding dress at the same time as everyone else?” he asked, solemnly. “What if I want it to be just for me? Can we make everyone stare at the altar?”

“That sounds a bit bridezilla-y,” Gwen said, cringing. “People do First Look photos. Before the ceremony, we meet in a little secluded place and it’s me, you and the photographer—there doesn’t even have to be a photographer there, I guess—and that’d mean that the only people who saw me before you were my bridesmaids.”

“We should do that.”

“Whatever you want, baby. Whatever you want.”

#erik johnson fic #erik johnson rec #nhl fic #nhl imagine #hockey imagine #hockey fic #homemade fic #only all the time fic #fic: avs

[almightyhamslice]

KIRBY'S DREAMLAND 3 ON THE SUPER NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAY IM SO STOKED ABT THIS DRAWING SERIES (it is going to take me a million years to finish and be much longer than KDL2 just a warning LOL)!!!! KDL3 is one of my favorite Kirby games, I played it all the time as a kid! Tbf a lot of Kirby games are my favorite. But this is probably my favorite OLD Kirby game! It's missing a lot of modern Kirby conventions, but I still love it so much, it's so cozy and warm.

In my gijinka AU timeline it's set about a year after Star Stacker, so Kirby is now 13. I dunno if I set ages for the original Animal Friends ngl. I think Coo's in his early 50's, Kine's in his early 40's, and Rick's in his mid 20's. ALSO I finally found out what the nonbinary equivalent to nephew/niece is!! It's nibling!! Kirby is Rick, Coo, and Kine's honorary nibling!

I will get into Acro and Ado's context in this gijinka universe during their respective boss encounters, but for now I CAN tell you about the new generation of Animal Friends! I described them on instagram as "extended found family"-- they're loosely connected to the original 3 Animal Friends in the sense that they know them well, but they're brought closer together through knowing Kirby!

Nago is from the Iceberg and knows Rick well because he often visits the Iceberg to improve his climbing skills. I imagine that he and Kirby might 'click' because Nago is trans and Kirby is nonbinary? Nago's a teenager/young adult, but is the oldest of the 3 new Animal Friends. He's a werecat and can turn into a giant calico cat whenever he feels like it! So I guess he and Rick probably would be friends since they're very alike?

Chuchu is from Ripple Field, so she and Kine have met before! Kine has told her many stories about his adventures as a Dark Matter hunter on the surface world, though Chuchu finds herself most interested in his friend Kirby! She thinks Kirby is cute and wants to date him. Kirby has never dated anyone in his entire life and has no idea what romance is like! Chuchu is a flapjack octopus mermaid with mild transformation abilities-- she doesn't have a fully human form like Kine does and is instead half human half octopus in her default form, but fully octopus while transformed. Chuchu is a year older than Kirby.

Pitch is a harpy like Coo, but he's just a lost baby essentially. He's only 4 years old! For now Coo is looking after him since there aren't many other harpies in Dreamland (much less any who'd want to care for Pitch) but they both really want to find Pitch's mother. Pitch sees Kirby as an older brother and likes to shadow him. Unlike Coo, Pitch shrinks when he transforms and turns into a tiny bird you can fit in the palm of your hand! I think he is a shima enaga specifically. A colorful one I guess. They can't be green irl lol.

ALSO I decided to reveal Zero extra early because honestly I don't like that they're just, at the end of the game only! And I like their design a lot. I've drawn them before. I think they deserve a bit more limelight! So I drew them in 2 panels here.

ALSO ALSO (oh my god this post is so long already) thank you everyone for blowing up my Gryll post!! glad 2 see there r so many Gryll enjoyers on here :)

#art #Kirby #kirby gijinka #Kirby's Dreamland 3 #traditional art #mixed media #marker art #pen art #colored pencil art #completed #Coo the Owl #Pitch #Chuchu #Rick the Hamster #Gooey #Nago #Kine the Fish #Zero #Whispy Woods #Acro #Adeleine #King Dedede #Bandana Waddle Dee #Dark Matter #scopophobia

[reading-books-in-the-moonlight]

I want to start reading books what do you recommend?

I don't know what you're looking for specifically so I'll make a big list of advice, just read the parts you care about and have fun :)

•For some advice!•

NEVER be afraid of looking something up. That's how you learn. I spent most of my time learning English by just looking up whatever I didn't get, and now I'm a fluid speaker with a vocabulary big enough to match my ego.

This is personal but god stay off tik tok or "booktok" or whatever I promise your'e not missing out on anything please save yourself PLEASE

•Where to get books?•

Go to your local library and be very very nice and polite to a librarian and ask if they have any book recommendations or ask if they happen to have books about something that interests you and if you find something then get a library card and borrow them and be careful with them and bring them back on time. This has been my library PSA.

•Book recommendations for starting out•

Okay if you're Just getting into reading books at ALL then I'd recommend these book series meant for teenagers to young adults:

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

What if circus performances were real? But with time travel and monsters and war.

Artemis Fowl

Do you wanna see a capitalist child exploit the fairy world for money?

Percy Jackson

Okay you probably know this one. Greek mythology is real and it's coming to get you. Probably the funniest narrator I've ever seen. God Percy is so cool I wish he didn't go to hell all the time

Skullduggery Pleasant

Jazz music. Skeletons. Mystery. Throw fireballs at stuff until you figure your life out.

•My personal favourites•

These are mostly pretty easy to read fiction, but uh I'm not gonna recommend Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin to a beginner

Coraline

Charming protagonist, creepy yet intriguing, god i love Neil gaiman

Six of Crows

Heist! Really cool magic system! Teenagers with invariably fucked up backstories! Gang violence but like for good reasons (probably)

The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet

Basically the opposite of star wars when it comes to world building (it's really good). Cruise through space and have fun reading about the bird people.

This Is How You Lose The Time War

I'm still crying. Time travel war spy love story. Poetic about finding ones humanity again. Made me a bit deranged. Might contain the meaning of life.

And most importantly:

DISC WORLD.

(the fun one.)

This is not longer a recommendation. I am making you read Disc World. They don't have to be read in order, but I suggest starting with Colour Of Magic. Really and truly some of the best books ever written. Fantasy and stretching magic rules until they break and shattering the fourth wall so the characters can pop in for some tea. Why not. We have imagination powered dragons and turtle powered planets. C'mon

#I'll add more when i think of more #reading recommendations #book recommendations

[best-underrated-anime]

Anime of the Day: Tai Chi Chasers

[The Anime of the Day series will feature two anime each day from the list of shows that, for a variety of reasons, didn’t make it to the final list of shows that will be joining the tournament.]

“Five kids search for 500 missing Tai Chi characters.”

Summary:

The Tigeroids and Dragonoids, two races from another planet called Suhn, are at war with each other. Each side is looking for 500 missing Tai Chi characters, scattered across Earth, as possession of these characters will grant their holders power over their enemies. This is where we find the main characters, a group of kids sent to assist in searching for the characters.

Propaganda:

This show deals with a couple different heavy topics: the death of both parents and facing discrimination for being mixed race. Both of these happen to Rai, the main character, who is only a teenager. All of these kids are pretty young (most likely preteens to young teenagers), and they’re sent out to assist the adults (literally everybody else, including the enemies they go up against, are full-grown adults) with only one of the elders (who has to leave about halfway through the first season) and one of the white tiger spirits (a talking cat ironically named Hak (pronounced Hawk)). They’re literally just kids, and yet nearly every time they go up against their enemies, they come out on top. They’re able to master the powers of their Tai Chi characters to overcome their enemies, and not for differences in abilities. They were just regular young teenagers who had to grow up fast in the middle of an adult’s war. Originally released in South Korea, the show aimed to teach young Korean children about Chinese characters (what the Tai Chi characters are based off of). When it was released in English, it aired alongside shows like Dragon Ball Z Kai and Yu-gi-oh, and yet there’s only about 10 people in the fandom today (probably because the show was canceled after the second season because 4KIDS Entertainment went bankrupt). It’s time for this show to make a comeback! Who knows? Maybe if it does, the third season will finally be dubbed!

#tai chi chasers #anime #anime of the day #aeni #korean anime

[number1villainstan]

Ok you’ve mentioned before that you think everyone in the Hassaikai is autistic (except for Rappa who’s ADHD, rip Tengai) so do you have headcannons on special interests, stims and such for everyone? If so can we hear the ones you have?

A lot of the 8pods are actually AuDHD, so let's sort them out:

Autism only: Chisaki, Tengai, Tabe, Hojo, Nemoto, Katsukame, Irinaka

ADHD only: Rappa (rip)

Both: Kurono, Setsuno, Sakaki

You mentioned comfort items in a different ask, but I have very few headcanons for that--most of what I have are headcanons for special interests, so that's most of what you'll get lol.

Chisaki Kai: Special interest is definitely anatomy/biochemistry, and it's lasted basically since he had the means to start learning about it. So--years. As for stims--he likes having something to chew. This oftentimes conflicts with the mysophobia--he can't just put something in his mouth, but once he's chewing on something he doesn't exactly want to stop. He also likes running his fingers through the fur of his coat. Sometimes he carries Irinaka around in plushie form because he needs something soft to carry and he knows that since it's Uncle Joi nobody can say a damn thing about it. Lots of tactile stims for Kai, although he may also use music as a stim sometimes, just put in some earbuds and listen to a specific song on repeat for hours. He does not do well when overstimulated, too, and hates overhead lights.

Kurono Hari: Special interest would be mechanical stuff and engineering--the lab that's featured in canon? He fucking built most of it while in the grip of a series of the unholy offspring of special interest and hyperfixation. He likes to play with gears and springs and pieces of metal that Kai often Overhauls into specific shapes for him (like joints and things). He also often has Kai weld together pieces of metal using Overhaul. He has a lot of motion stims, probably tends to get up and move around a lot, especially when he needs to think. He didn't do so well in school for this exact reason. Like Kai, he also likes to carry Uncle Joi around in plushie form.

Irinaka Joi: I don't have any specific stims in mind for him, but I do think he likes being in plushie mode in part because of species dysphoria but also because lights/sounds/All The Stimulation is blunted and lessened somewhat, and because plushie mode doesn't feel pain unless you handle it really roughly. (That's part of why he lets his nephews carry him around, because he's hard to hurt in that form and because they often really need it.) It's easy to imagine that he gets overstimulated really easily, or that he's photosensitive when in human form.

Nemoto Shin: Special interest is definitely psychology and sociology--he's very interested in learning how humans think and behave, in part because he needed to know stuff like that to survive as a teenager/young adult bouncing between gangs and living off of the money he got from conning people. That knowledge of psychology is really helpful as the leader of the Precepts as well. He also suppressed a lot of his stims during this time, and is still rediscovering them.

Sakaki Deidoro: I like to think that his special interest is linguistics. He knows several languages and often talks with Nemoto about the intersection of language and psychology. Possibly he stims with the fur on his vest the same way Kai stims with the fur on his jacket. He also likes the feeling of someone playing with his hair, but obviously only a select few are allowed to.

Setsuno Touya: His special interest is history. He can talk about various periods that he's studied for hours, and often goes looking for primary sources to confirm what secondary ones are saying. Recently he's been looking into the history of the yakuza. Like Kurono, he has trouble paying attention/absorbing information that he's not super interested in when he's sitting still, so he tends to fidget a lot and has developed some motion stims.

Hojo Yu: I said geology once for his special interest and I'm sticking with it.

Tabe: I don't have any specific special interest for him. I think he likes chewing on things too, when the hunger from his Quirk is more manageable. (Kai actually created some nontoxic very slowly dissolving pill-like-things that can last for a few hours in Tabe's gut to alleviate that hunger.)

Katsukame Rikiya: I'm stealing your headcanons for this guy--dogs, gorillas, and foxes.

Rappa Kendo: I decided that he liked bugs as a kid so now he likes bugs now. Chisaki has yelled at him several times for bringing them inside the compound.

Tengai Hekiji: Since he canonically lived most of his life in a Buddhist monastery, and I headcanon him as somewhere in his early 50s, he probably knows a lot about Buddhism and Buddhist history. You could say his special interest is Buddhism.

#shie hassaikai #shie hassaikai headcanons #chisaki kai #kai chisaki #ask #long post #kurono hari #hari kurono #irinaka joi #joi irinaka #sakaki deidoro #deidoro sakaki #setsuno touya #touya setsuno #hojo yu #yu hojo #tabe soramitsu #soramitsu tabe #katsukame rikiya #rikiya katsukame #rappa kendo #kendo rappa #tengai hekiji #hekiji tengai #tagging for exposure #bnha #mha

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

I think it’s very interesting, as I kinda mentioned in my last post, that Changeling seems to be much older than his AU counterparts.  When we seem him as Changeling and once out of uniform, he seems to be at least Xavier’s age or older:

TAS series Morph sometimes looks older:

Probably because they were modeled off Changeling, but the animation isn’t consistent, and they sometimes look younger:

TAS Morph’s voice and overall personality also seem younger, and Wolverine calls them “kid” a couple of times, so I generally assume that they are supposed to be somewhere vaguely in their twenties like most of the other adult X-Men. 

AoA Morph doesn’t have a clear age, although the characters acknowledge that he was previously Changeling.  And Exiles Morph gets his age retconned all the way back to being a teenager alongside the New Mutants:

Given that we have AU’s where Avalanche and Toad are teenagers named Lance Alvers and Todd Tolensky, and we have a hilariously young Sebastian Shaw in the X-Campus universe, it’s not unheard of for alternate universe counterparts to have wildly different ages.  616 Changeling might just be the Kevin Sidney whose parents had him earlier. 

But I have a kind of wild idea (not even really a headcanon), that maybe Changeling was, like the original idea for Mr. Sinister, a young shape-shifter pretending to be much older.  Like he was playing-acting as a super-villain.  It would also explain why he turned heroic so quickly, if he was basically a teenager going through a villain phase.  Changeling put on a goofy purple helmet and joined a terrorist group the same way other teens listen to MCR and put on lots of eyeliner.  It would also be completely on-brand for Xavier to read all that in Changeling’s mind, and be like, “Well, we don’t have time to unpack all that.  Get in the chair and pretend to be me, I’ll be in the basement.” 

#I don't actually believe that idea its just fun speculation #probably they are just different ages because AU's #don't mind me I'm just taking a minor character and picking apart every detail I can find #morph #changeling #kevin sydney

[linkspooky]

Oh I want you to go all in deep! As deep as you can go!

So plz tell me. How is Kitty Pryde from X-Men is like Mai Zenin from jjk?

I'm going to take this joke ask completely seriously, watch me.

Why are Mai Zenin and Kitty Pryde from X-men the same character? To begin with a brief history on comic books at the time. The Uncanny X-men is one of Marvel's most popular series, it features a school full of children who are gifted with great super powers but otucasted from society because of it and need to be taught by older people with the same powers how to use them. So you know, nothing like Jujutsu Kaisen.

X-men is the original "superhero high school" story. If a story features a bunch of teenagers with superpowers it's probably at the very least indirectly inspired by X-Men. When there's worldbuilding where some people in the world just happen to be born with superpowers, that idea probably came from X-Men. X-men is iconic! Kitty Pryde was introduced to the comic as a result of a Marvel Comics editorial dictate that the series depict a school for mutant children.

Kitty Pryde was the youngest to join the X-men at the time of her creation, and served as the archetpyal "Kid Sister" character to all of the older teams in the group. Not only does she play the part of a literary foil, she's also someone who provides an audience perspective especially to younger readers. The whole point of having a bunch of teenagers have super powers is to make the characters relatable so you can imagine yourself as one of them, so as the other characters got older they added Kitty Pryde to give the audience a new perspective character.

Except, Kitty Pryde is one of the most famous X-Men. Bar none. There's something about how young and normal she is that makes her appealing, especially around a band of freaks, a lot of whom have much more dramatic backstories than her. She's a lot more interesting than just "the baby sister" or "the normal one" because her perspective is unique, she's literally a kid who's thrown into this new world. She's sympathetic because the world she's just stumbled into is bigger than her and she just barely knows what's going on and she's just a normal person who happens to have the ability to walk through walls.

Then we have Mai Zenin, the most teen girl of teen girls. She is a character who should be as immediately sympathetic and relatable as Kitty Pryde, because she also is a completely normal girl thrown into a world she doesn't like, but we the audience don't see her that way because she's not the perspective character, Nobara is.

And Nobara thinks Mai is an asshole.

This is where I go back and introduce you to more comics history. Running at the same time as Marvel's X-Men and just as popular was a series that was also about teenage superheroes, the New Teen Titans. They decided to add a younger teenage girl to a team filled with young adults mostly in their late teens or early twenties but with a twist.

George’s strength was he also understood the characters 100 percent as I did so there was never any question. He knew. We had talked enough about the characters to know we were exactly on the same page with them. So I said, “Everyone keeps complaining that we’re like the X-Men” and the X-Men had just gotten Kitty Pryde. I said, “Why don’t we really screw around with them completely?” — this is the fans — “…and make them think we’re stealing Kitty Pryde only she’s gonna be bad from Day One.” You always had characters pop up, certainly at Marvel, who were bad that get redeemed. But this character would never get redeemed. She was insane. In fact, she was the catalyst for everything. She wasn’t working for Deathstroke. He was working for her in many ways and she was leading him because she’s crazy. She’s a total psychopath… and she’d be 15. 

In a famous interview Marv Wolfman admits that the concept of Terra came from everyone accusing Teen Titans of stealing from the X-Men, so they decided to make a character exactly like Kitty Pryde... but an asshole.

Terra is the exact same character as Kitty Pryde, young teenage girl added to the team, feels like she doesn't belong anywhere, completely new to life, can't control her powers, but Marv Wolfram and George Perez decided to write her as an antagonist to the main characters so despite having sympathetic traits, the audience doesn't sympathize with her.

Terra's the asshole little sister.

Which is essentially the same concept for Mai, especially in regards to her relationship with Maki. Mai doesn't present herself right away as a loving little sister who looks up to Mai, and loves her in spite of the Zen'in's treatment of Maki. She piles onto the Zen'in's abuse and throws the same insults at her. She's immediately unlikable as Nobara the audience perspective character decides to hate her. After all they grew up in the same household, Maki can be strong and fight back, Mai is just weak and blames others.

Mai, just like Terra too doesn't really want to get stronger, she doesn't want to change. She pouts, sulks, whines, makes excuses, blames others, all ways that we don't like to see victims acting because Maki can be strong right? So why not Mai? Terra was created to be everything that Kitty Pryde is not, and Mai was created to be everything Maki is not.

That's why Kitty Pryde and also Terra remind me of Mai Zen'in, because she is literally created to be the little sister of Maki Zen'in a character we're supposed to love and sympathize, with the exact same backstory of Maki... but an asshole.

#askspookies #mai zenin #tara markov #kitty pryde #this was a silly ask #but i answered #now give me a cookie

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Let's be honest, most of the poor choices Dumbledore made in the books is due to a shitty writer and the fact that they needed to make Harry 'the hero' in a book meant for children/teens. Dumbledore was the most powerful wizard in the world, especially during the time Tom was a teenager and in his early 20s and hadn't even reached his full magical potential. Dumbledore could have easily taken care of Tom/Voldemort himself long before Harry was even born.

I suppose if you really want to get at the core reason for why Dumbledore makes the choices that he does, it's because the genre is YA.

I've seen posts that talk about this, but criticizing characters like Dumbledore for putting the children in harm's way and not handling the problems himself...to do that is to ignore one of the unspoken rules of the genre - and every genre has it's tropes and departures from reality. Real life isn't a comedy, or a romance, or a horror, or a musical, or anything like that. Real life is a story, but it's not so focused, and everyone's is different. For young adult literature, the kids have to be the heroes, and the story has to work around that. Which I do understand, and even respect. The main thing is making sure the adults in the story don't feel like absolute monsters for not using their autonomy to help the kids.

Naturally, there are a few ways to go about this. One is to give the adult (usually a parent or some other mentor figure) a reason why they physically cannot prevent the hero's journey. An easy way to do that is to make them the damsel in distress. Or have them tragically die, like James and Lily. But you can also deconstruct their status as the trustworthy mentor, like Rowling did with Dumbledore. Frankly, I wouldn't even say it's shitty writing. Dumbledore, for as much as I give him his due...is arguably one of the best written characters in the whole series. He and Snape are endlessly complex.

But all of that is looking at the characters through a critical eye. Examining what the doylist reasons were for why things happened the way they did in the series, beyond the fourth wall. But if we move closer, look inside the universe of the story...if we restrict ourselves and only allow explanations within the world of the books...well, that can be intriguing to figure out. Why did Dumbledore spend sixteen years grooming Harry to become the Chosen One, rather than fighting Voldemort himself? So long as we're disqualifying "Harry is the main character" as a reason, I think the books do a good job of more or less spelling it out.

The prophecy. That damn prophecy. Alright, I don't mind saying it, prophecies and "chosen ones" are dull, cliche, and boring. This series did not need to have it, either. You could omit it and very little would need to change. It's offered up as the reason for why Voldemort went after the Potters in the first place, but...if James and Lily are proud members of the Order, who have defied Voldemort three times...if they're a pureblood and a muggleborn who are happily married...does he really need another reason? The Prophecy also specifies that either Harry or Voldemort must kill the other. Which...yeah, I think everyone knew that was how the series would end by the time they finished book one.

Even Dumbledore's grand plan (which I am getting to, I promise) doesn't require the Prophecy to be a thing. Dumbledore chose Harry because the Prophecy did. Or more specifically, Voldemort chose him. (Over Neville, anyway.) and once he met his downfall in Godric's Hollow, it was only a matter of time before he returned. (Not sure how Dumbledore was so certain he would but whatever, he was right I guess.) and once he did, he was never going to just leave Harry alone. His ego was bruised, and he was probably paranoid that his followers and the world at large would doubt his invulnerability so long as Harry lived, that they might look to him as the "hero" that could stop Voldemort. He did it once, he can do it again, right? There's a reason why Voldemort is so fixated on killing Harry himself. He has to prove to the world that Godric's Hollow was just a fluke.

So why even have the prophecy? Honestly, it's mostly symbolism, tying in with how the world sees Harry as this icon, this celebrity, "The Boy Who Lived" when...he did nothing. All he did was not die as a baby, and even that was thanks to Lily, not Harry. The entire world has thrust this role of "chosen one" upon him, including Dumbledore, and the prophecy just physicalizes what was already emotionally true as far as the story was concerned. Leaving no room for doubt or misinterpretation - Harry is in fact, chained to this life. But the prophecy doesn't even matter, and Dumbledore says as much - Voldemort will never stop hunting Harry, not until one of them finishes off the other. The prophecy is basically there to tie in with Harry's hero complex and place in the wizarding world.

It also solidifies Dumbledore's #GrandPlan to turn Harry into the hero the wizarding world needs. To fashion Harry into his next underdog and secret weapon, like he did to Newt and Snape. But with Harry, he goes the extra mile. Forcing Harry to be raised by abusive, magic-hating relatives so he won't know he's famous, or know of the wizarding world. Instead, he'll be a humble, grateful boy who will lay down his life to save the world that rescued him from the Dursleys. If you want a plot-based reason, there's always the Blood Wards, but this...I think this is the real reason Dumbledore assumed control of Harry's living arrangements.

Now, why didn't he stop Tom Riddle?

Why did he never lift a finger to curb Tom's actions until it was far too late? Dumbledore did form the Order of the Phoenix to combat Voldemort, but it doesn't seem like this organization was founded until after Voldemort cursed the D.A.D.A. job. Dumbledore was just sitting on his ass for all that time. Now, one could argue that he doesn't have to do anything. He's a teacher (and later Headmaster) at Hogwarts, fighting Dark Wizards is not his job. But that's a paper-thin excuse when Dumbledore is the most brilliant and most powerful wizard of the age, and he clearly knows it. Not to mention that he was the one to defeat Grindelwald - the world was looking to him, and he knew it. So why did he dig in his heels?

First thing's first. Albus Dumbledore does not do the right thing before anything else. He does it when it is expected of him. Prior to that, he will delay. Stall. Try to find excuses not to do anything. In this case, it's likely out of some hang-ups he might have about fighting a former student...and I hate to say it, but I can relate to that. But this is exactly what he did with Grindelwald, both when they were plotting together, and later after they split and went their separate ways. In that case, it was the same idea - emotional baggage, and a sense of responsibility for the dark wizard in question. Also, shame. Dumbledore procrastinated stopping Grindelwald until the world began to notice that he was refusing the call, for no other reason than his own shame. Really, I think shame is a huge motivator for this character. It causes his action - and inaction. I also feel like Dumbledore is a firm, firm believer in second chances. He would kind of have to be, given his own personal history. He's giving himself a second chance. This is why he has such faith in Snape, and why he was in denial about Tom Riddle.

I think, in Tom Riddle, Dumbledore might have seen a little of himself. Or, the potential to become as great as he himself did. But despite Tom giving no indication of remorse, despite there being zero reason to assume he had changed his ways, Dumbledore looked the other way and chose to believe that Tom was becoming a better person. (At least at first.) He gave Tom a "second chance." (Which I take issue with, personally, because Tom had never set foot in Hogwarts, he was still on his *first* chance.) because Dumbledore believes in second chances for young, unruly wizards with brilliant minds, a lot of potential, and selfish priorities. Because that was him at 17. He was willing to support fascism for the chance to be closer to his crush. Meanwhile, Snape was willing to renounce fascism for the chance to save the life of his crush - it's no wonder that Dumbledore respects the hell out of him and won't hear a word against him. (Doesn't stop Snape from being a bastard, though. I'm just saying that from Dumbledore's point of view, he'd seem noble.)

So he closes his eyes and pretends that he never saw the red flags in Tom's behavior. Once he did that, he put himself at a disadvantage. The time for Dumbledore to tell the staff about Tom's disturbing behavior was, like, during his first year. But he didn't. So they don't take him seriously if he ever warns them away from Tom - Dippet didn't listen when Dumbledore advised him not to hire Tom. The only reason he didn't was because Tom was a little too young, but he was invited to come back and reapply in a few years. As for Tom's crimes at the school, such as the opening of the Chamber...Dumbledore totally knew Tom was guilty, but without any proof, there wasn't a lot that he could do. And Tom was keenly aware that Dumbledore was the only person at Hogwarts who knew what he was really like, and he tread carefully for that reason. Once Tom graduated, he worked at Borgin and Burkes for a hot second but then he just vanished off the face of the earth. Going totally off the grid and not resurfacing for years. When he did, it was under the "Voldemort" moniker.

I wonder how long it was before Dumbledore realized what Tom had become. How long, between reading about the rise of this mysterious yet powerful Dark Wizard called "Lord Voldemort" and realizing his true identity? Because most people at the time who had known Tom, never knew he was Voldemort. (I mean, the average witch or wizard will have heard of Voldemort, but not actually seen him.) I don't think Dumbledore even considered fighting Voldemort until after the "Job Interview" scene. He never intended to give Voldemort a job, and Voldemort knew as much. We know why he applied anyway, it gave him the chance to hide the Diadem.

But why did Dumbledore agree to an interview? I suspect it was for two reasons. 1) To see for himself if his theory was true, and Tom Riddle was indeed the same person as this ominous "Lord Voldemort." which was immediately obvious when he walked in, his features twisted and distorted by Dark Magic. Later confirmed when Tom did not deny Aberforth's testimony about his consorting with the Death Eaters. And 2) Knowing Dumbledore, he probably held onto some last shred of hope that he could talk some sense into his old student. It would have quickly become clear that was impossible, but think it was that point that Dumbledore decided Tom could not be saved, and Voldemort simply needed to go down.

Dumbledore failed to defeat Voldemort in his prime because inaction in the face of danger is one of his many, many flaws. He groomed Harry to do so because Voldemort created his own nemesis when he went after Harry. Dumbledore saw him as the world's greatest chance to stop Voldemort once and for all - thereby alleviating his personal shame for having failed to act when it mattered.

#Well this became a whole ass essay #Largely about Dumbledore #But not as unkind as I've been to him in the past #I wouldn't call it kind either #But I kept my temper I guess? #It's more reflective than anything #Albus Dumbledore #Harry Potter #Lord Voldemort #Tom Riddle #Tom Marvolo Riddle #Harry Potter Analysis #Harry James Potter

[starlightbelle]

7, 12

Oooh, yay! Thanks for asking; I’m gonna have fun with this one! 😃

7. One DC death you’d like to make permanent — or alternatively, one you’d erase so it never happened?

Hmmm…tough one. I’m not usually a fan of permanent character deaths tbh. Especially with my faves. But even with other characters like…they’re someone’s fave, y’know?

I guess maybe I’d say Solomon Grundy?? Granted my only exposure to him has been in JLU but I was so…bored?? I’m not a fan of the “giant hulking characters who no speak good” trope. So I guess I’d write him out 🤷‍♀️ Sorry that’s the only thing that comes to mind rn

It’s definitely not Jason. That’s who it’s not

Although the “death by fan-vote” is kinda a crummy thing, at this point in the narrative it is kinda fascinating having him brought back. It has evolved to be synonymous with his character so I don’t know whether or not I’d erase his death from comics canon. The storytelling potential is too immense 😅

Last-minute addition:

Oh! I’d make it so that Aquababy (Artur) never dies. Killing him off is dumb and I hate it, so I’m reversing it.

12. Pick up to 7 characters to star in a Teen Titans ongoing (any era or generation you like). What tone do you envision for this series?

Okay I pondered this and I think I found a lineup I’m comfortable with:

Dick Grayson/Nightwing

Koriand’r/Starfire

Wally West/ Kid Flash

Donna Troy/ Troia

Artemis Crock/ Artemis

Jaime Reyes/ Blue Beetle

Jason Todd/ (??)😉

Dick, Kori, and Wally I knew immediately. My dream team is not complete without these three. Donna has been left out of so much for far too long, and she’s Dick’s other best friend, and I just like her character.

After that it becomes a bit dicey because I have to narrow it down to seven…

I elected to have Artemis (Crock) with her YJ-characterization. I like her in the show and she’d fill the archer role since (sorry, don’t hate me) I’m not making Roy a draft pick, lol. Plus she and Wally are great together and I like her friendship with Dick.

I’m putting Cyborg on the Justice League, so he won’t be a member of the Titans. Having Garfield without Vic feels off somehow, and having Raven without BB also feels off. I like Jaime so that could be fun, plus I liked the idea of him and Kori being on a Team together (since she showed up in his comics run recently).

My last pick…might be unexpected?

I feel like most of the run would center mostly on these six. With a side-plot-turned-main-plot tying in another antagonistic figure (Red X/Red Hood) who ends up being Jason Todd. In the end of the first arc, Jason ends up joining the Team (he maintains that he works alone, yadda yadda…but he definitely joined the team 😅)

I’ll ramble a little more under the cut. I have more thoughts but don’t want this post to be too long so I’ll abbreviate it here 😁

The tone would probably be somewhere between the Young Justice and Teen Titans cartoons. I’m a big fan of YJ’s first season especially. I also like the anime influences TT had.

Maybe something similar in tone to My Hero Academia? It can be lighthearted at times but isn’t pulling its punches when it comes to the action/storytelling aspects.

I’m giving this run the “Titans” title since I don’t envision this being a teenagers story. They’re probably mostly young adults.

Dick has been friends with Wally and Donna for a long while already. Maybe Kori at the point has been on Earth for a couple years? Artemis has been close with Dick and Wally especially for several years. Jaime is the last to join the Team (until Jason) which feeds his insecurities at times. Kori is more than eager to help him through those feelings (which is how their friendship blooms)

All-in-all, I want this to be a very close knit group. I’ve always liked the idea of Kori and Wally being friends too, and Donna is canonically one of her best friends, too.

It would probably be a largely urban setting, as only one (arguably, two?) of these characters is not native to that landscape.

I think other settings could be possible at some point, teaming up with someone from Atlantis, for example. (Part of the reason why I didn’t choose an Atlantean to begin with was I was torn between classic Garth or YJ Kaldur)

Anyway this was fun!! Thanks for asking! 😅

#my post #ramblings #dc #titans #teen titans #asks #ask