#projecting some of my own feelings on gender onto my comfort characters

[djosephqueery]

The Steve Harrington that lives in my head is genderqueer.

Does he still use he/him because it’s convenient and he doesn’t mind it? Yeah.

Does he enjoy a little they/them sprinkled in every now and then? Hell yeah, all the gender euphoria.

They still wear the mom jeans and polos because that shit’s comfy goddammit.

Have they also been known to paint their nails? Absolutely . In fact, he always has at least a clear coat on and is just as finicky about his cuticles as he is his hair.

#projecting some of my own feelings on gender onto my comfort characters #at 3am on a worknight #like this is just me #but opposite #this is also not an original take #i just agree #genderqueer steve harrington #steve harrington #babygirl steve harrington

[blue-sunflower-bee]

I kinda have this comfort headcanon that Mike is genderfluid cause I like projecting my own identity/sexuality onto my fav characters and cause I need some wholesome and gender accepting content (More under the cut)

I feel like Mike has just recently discovered he was genderfluid because he never really thought about questioning his identity cause really...his mind was always full with other things. Maybe he randomly read the word and the definition somewhere and it just...clicked. Or Ness, who's really into the subject rambled about some terms anf what they meant and he went like: "Hold on, thats me!"

He usually just sticks with hoodies/plain shirts no matter what he's feeling like cause it's the safest option...and because he cant afford that many outfits anyways.

When he told Abby, he struggled to find the right words, afraid she wouldn't understand but she does. Kids are smart

Mike told her over dinner and it probably went sth like: "So sometimes I have a big brother and sometimes I have a big sister?" "Uh, yes..." "And sometimes you're neither?" "...yes." "Cool. Can I have some more soup?"

We already know she's creative and likes to draw, maybe she's interested in anything that has to do with crafting and makes pins/bracelets in different colors or sth for Mike in school that he can wear so she knows which pronouns to use.

And to throw in some securitywaiter:

Mike was already dating Ness when he found out he was genderfluid because Ness is really invested with everything that has to do with the LGBT community. He's loud and proud and loves to go to pride parades and stuff. He also introduced him to all the different terms.

When Mike told him, he was really supportive. He even lets Freddie wear a bandana with the genderfluid flag most of the rime to show his support and Mike still wonders where he got it.

Ness changes pet names and compliments depending on how Mike feels

Mike feeling pretty euphoric when she hears a "Hey beautiful" or simply the word "girlfriend" on a girl day

Mike cant really choose a good name for such days, she'd just stick with Mikey or Michel, but feels like they're too plain. Abby and Ness saw it as their job to pick the perfect name and have already spent enough time doing research on different names and their meaning

For some reason I feel like Ness would be good with Make Up and would offer to do her Make Up or help her when she wants to try out something else

Mike actually struggles most days to detect what they're feeling like and just groans in frustration when Ness asks them (cause thats a whole mood) and Ness sticks with neutral terms of endearment when that is the case or uses the funniest pet names ever lmao "Okay, today is just a cute potatoe day then." "Hello my beloved gremlin." etc

#fnaf #fnaf movie 2023 #mike schmidt #abby schmidt #ness the waiter #mike x ness #securitywaiter #genderfluid #headcanon

[valyrfia]

RE: this ask

Sorry about to go off on one, gender studies and online fan culture from an academic standpoint is a special interest of mine because being film and literature student wasn't annoying enough (participatory culture studies my beloved) 

From a general standpoint, I think the reason M/M ships in fiction have always been more popular is because male characters are historically more developed and complex. I think it’s only in recent years have their been an influx of popular F/F ships, with the added development of women on screen (e.g Clarke and Lexa, Kara and Lena, Regina and Emma, Nancy and Robin) - I think there is also a point to be made this has coincided with gender expression, genderqueerness and more general knowledge of being outside the typical gender spectrum. 

I can’t explicitly say that being in M/M fandom spaces encouraged my personal discovery of being transmasc but it certainly helped to have an avenue where I could project onto these “male” characters and see myself in them. I was so uncomfortable in my own body and what I didn’t know at the time as dysphoria, I can see why I didn’t go for F/F ships. 

There are of course a lot of “fandom elders” but young (early to late teens) afab people do make up a large bulk of it and I get why  it may be easier for them to fixate on M/M ships as a, sort of method of exploring their own sexuality and gender expression. F/F ships may hit too close to home and F/M ships are what they are trying to escape from so it leaves M/M ships to project onto. Which, unfortunately then can become warped by the persons own comphet and/or binary ideas about gender. 

A male character may have more stereotypically “feminine” traits (in terms of interests or emotional reactions) and I can see why people who also have those traits would project there own insecurities onto them, reinforcing the feminisation of the male character but not being comfortable enough in your own gender expression to genderbend the character or write them as trans. 

It’s the same reason I think mafia romance, dark romance etc etc is so popular with cishet women because they can read about a fantasy where instead of the very real every day misogyny and violence they face leading to abuse, assault and death, it brings “positives” ; protected, loved, a happy relationship. 

Which, side note. I think this has A Lot to do with y/n, self insert fics becoming “cringe”. Because, I think a lot of people just want to fuck/date a character and feel like they can’t write a self insert anymore, so just project massively onto one character, leading to a lot of these issues. I don’t think Tony Stark/Peter Parker would be as popular as it is if people just let young women write their self insert fic about being Tony Stark’s sugar baby and then we wouldn’t have the wildly mischaracterised version of Peter Parker that we do! 

But, all this being said. I’m talking about fiction. Dean Winchester isn’t actually affected if people online only talk about him in a stereotypically “female” way. 

RPF is a different kettle of fish (and I’m not going in RPF ethics that’s different - I have no issues with rpf creators/consumers to be clear, I am one) because a real person does become affected. Even if you are keeping your fan works and discussions to private spaces, it can leach over into how you speak about the actual person. That’s where it becomes so incredibly important to remember that your RPF version of celebrities are just as fictional as Dean Winchester is. 

sorry I used mr. supernatural as an example, 13 year old me is still alive and kicking in my head somewhere. 

I love to hear your perspective on it with a trans worldview (and academic credentials), and I do agree that that might be a big driver of some young people only wanting to engage with MLM fic and feeling uncomfortable with WLW fic. You've brought up so many great points so I'll try and address them all.

I can add the perspective of a lesbian who was closeted for the first two decades of my life, came out less than five years ago, and still struggles on and off with comphet now. MLM fics in my teens were a way to consume queer content and relationships without having to think about the implications of enjoying consuming WLW content, and I think that's true for a lot of young closeted teens so it's no surprise that some comphet/hetnorm/cisnorm stuff bleeds through there because it's a framework the authors haven't managed to detach themselves from yet.

But yeah, I agree the issue lies with people wanting characters to be self-inserts partially so that they can experience sex, sexuality, and romance without any of the hang ups of thinking about patriarchy. And I agree with your solution: make y/n fics cool again! The ability we have to hallucinate while we read is magic! You can put YOURSELF in as a character's love interest, how cool is that?

Ultimately, yeah. There's nothing wrong with RPF as long as it isn't actually affecting the person that the RPF is based off, but I've seen a lot of takes escaping containment so to say (ie. leaving this website) with takes about the actual racers so obviously picked up through RPF. The main culprits are Charles, Lando, Max in my experience.

#You always send the longest and most thought out asks and I really don't know how to answer them because you're so eloquent #thank you for your POV! #enigmabird #asks #charles in makeup and lace discourse #hate it slightly too late to change it now

[skelaxo]

I’ll do a separate post about Charles Eyler and aromanticism because that is always on my mind but I’m having fresh thoughts about femininity and his character around that but it’ll be kinda long so elaboration under the cut >:)

(Note: I’ll still be using he/him since those are his canonical pronouns and he also is canonically genderfluid so this isn’t really a transfemme headcanon, more he wants to present more femme/possibly some level of dysphoria)

I get the impression Charles wants to present more femme but due to a lot of circumstances he’s not able to—

For one he presents his online self femininely with the username “Charlotte” and using a pfp of her. Many people sort of “test out” gender expression online with different names or pronouns before ever coming out irl, so I think Charles reflects this experience. In addition, he projects his insecurities of not living up to his online persona onto Vincent, assuming he is disappointed coming face to face with someone who didn’t match themselves online saying

“Its you who should be disappointed in me, mr C”

“Charlotte turned out to be Charles, whoops”

“Bet you wanted to see the girl of your dreams”

When Vincent himself says “names and bodies dont matter”

But then again, irl he wouldn’t feel comfortable with completely free gender expression because of all the Mother and Scarlett stuff— “youre a good girl” isnt so gender affirming when its in the context of your mother convinced youre her aborted daughter who’s way more successful than you are and is kinda messing up your whole mental state.

Ok now this is somewhat of a stretch but evidence nonetheless—

Charlotte. All the Charlottes. Trust me on this one. So Charlotte is Charles’ OC/self insert/persona type deal. Perfect protagonist and all that fun stuff. Projection of an ideal Charles. Scarlett. Also Charles. Ideal Charles projected in a fucked up way. So. Here’s where I’m going with this. Charles=Scarlett who=Charlotte more specifically ep1/2 Charlotte who can be considered transfemme coded mostly due to the scene she and Frei look over memories in the mirror room, specifically the one titled “Femininity”

And I’ll just paraphrase it but young Charlotte was unconfident in her femininity feeling unsuited for feminine things until Aiden encourages her to embrace it anyways and feel comfortable in it—

Charles=Scarlett=Charlotte=transfemme ITS A CONNECTION OK.

If Charles writes the story of the perfect protagonist in which the protag is an idealized self and she is living the same experience of not being able go express femininity YEAH CHARLES IS GONNA GIVE HER THE HAPPY CONCLUSION HE DIDNT ok there’s some plot holes in that ep2 is not exactly derivative of Charles’ writing buy leg me have this

There wasnt a convenient spot to slip these in but also some ep3 false realm stuff leans into gender non conformity with 1. Evidence Charles will sometimes pick a femme student vessel over Vincent and 2. Q84 rejecting traditional femininity which is opposite of this whole post but Q84 is that “what I never could be” for Charles WHICH IS A WHOLE OTHER RAMBLE ON ITS OWN so it makes sense the script is flipped here

#hello charlotte #charles eyler #hc #skel rambles

[askthefruitycorpses]

★彡 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 / 𝙋𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤!! 彡★

★.•♫•♬• ▀▄▀▄▀▄ 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 ▄▀▄▀▄▀ •♬•♫•. ★

Hi!! Welcome to another Davesport ask blog. We had wanted to make one for some time but never fully thought people would care but we are happy to make one now! The one writing this post is me, @yui-lover-33! This is a blog that is run by me and my boyfriend @xe-the-void !! We co-own the account and general blog and will answer questions separately or together. Most of the time it may be together but don't get your hopes up as we balance our personal lives with this.

This blog won't be too different from many other davesport blogs other than the Dave and Jack are just me and boyfriends vers which just how our own personal projections and changes of backstory. The two aren't fully accurate as they have their differences from the cannon. You can ask them about it or not if you already know and have seen my posts on my main and twitter.

Whats the point of this pinned post?

It's just to better inform you on rules, characters, ownership of said characters, and creator stuff.

Side note: If you wanna know who is who posting or talking look for these indicators!! <:D!

Yui -🦎 Xe - 💜 Both - 💚💜

★彡 ▀▄▀▄▀▄ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 ▄▀▄▀▄▀ 彡★

As stated before this will clear up who owns what characters. (Yes, we own and draw specific DSAF characters.) It's not really owning them actually more so which ones we design and claim in the blog.

Keep in mind some are not designed and finished so some may come as a later surprise if you choose to ask them.

Any characters not displayed such as the other Phoneys just don't have designs and may not be included for a while. This may change later down the line, but your stuck with Harry and Rebecca for now.

╰☆☆ ▀▄▀▄▀▄ 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 ▄▀▄▀▄▀ ☆☆╮

Is asking other DSAF okay?

Generally yes, you can ask whatever characters from DSAF you want here. Our main focus is just Jack and Dave but we will happily do the others if you ask them.

Just wanted to clear that general question up but I'll state the ground rules now

NO NSFW / EXTREMELY SUGGESTIVE/SEXUAL ASKS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!

I of all people want to make this extremely clear as it pisses me the fuck off and I will not tolerate any shit like that. If ones like this are sent I can and will just instantly delete them. Me and my boyfriend are minors as of this post and will not do shit like that. Even if we turn 18 we will not do it due to a younger following!

Please keep stuff SFW and on topic with the blog

From our past experiences with ask blogs, It does nothing but irritate us when people try to insert their characters into the sk blog and do weird things. We both ask that you please stay on topic with the ask blog and account with the fandom and game we are doing please.

Please don't do weird magic Annon shit

We will allow magic annons but in no way any weird shit such as IDK fetish stuff, Possibly genderbending ( since Dave and Jack are trans ), turning characters into kids, and just general gender changing or any stuff like that. asks that discomfort us will always be deleted unless the habit is repeated then we will state it.

Please don't force your ver / ideas onto our versions

The vers we have are very personal to us and we please ask that you don't fetishize, change, be rude, or just generally try to switch them up. We ask that you respect the way we portray them as it is our preferred and most comfortable way.

» For more information on boundaries I recommend you refer to the carrd I made for em :P

☟

Overall, this will get updates over time, but almost half the time we will take the responsibility and charge to delete asks we don't like or don't feel comfortable with asking. It's no harsh feeling but we state what the grounds are here for all of you to know. We just do what we think is best and we just ask that you respect that.

#dayshift at freddy's #dsaf #dsaf ask blog #dayshift at freddy's ask blog #ask blog #davesport #davesport ask blog #dsaf dave miller #dave miller #dsaf Jack #dsaf old sport #dsaf dave #dave dsaf #davetrap #dsaf davetrap #Jack kennedy #dsaf jack kennedy #dsaf peter #dsaf peter kennedy #peter kennedy #dsaf dee kennedy #dsaf dee #dsaf puppet #dsaf rebecca #dsaf harry #dsaf phone guy #dsaf steven #dsaf blackjack #dsaf henry #dsaf henry miller

[piosplayhouse]

Do you know why so many people hc Shen Yuan as trans/genderqueer? Some posts in the svsss tag seem to allude to canon instances that inspire the idea, but I've read the 4 volumes twice trying to find clues to what people are talking about to no avail. Is it just a popular fanon thing? Not against people reading it that way, just wondering if I'm missing something.

Hi! I actually got a very similar question a while back but responded to it kind of poorly since I had a lot going on irl so I'll try again with some stuff I said before:

Ultimately it is just popular fanon and lots of subtextual reading- I don't think anyone could fully say gendersomething sqq is 100% intended and canonical, but there definitely are some instances that people tend to point to to support this hc:

Even beyond positioning himself as the “woman” (literary role) in his relationship with the skinner and dream demon arcs etc., sqq repeatedly compares himself and his experiences to women in a very frank way– I believe this is most obvious by his comparison of his pain to period cramps, but there’s also the significance of the Skinner mission featuring a demon which is described as an originally male demon that wears female skins but yearns for another male skin (Shen Qingqiu’s). You could argue this is just a reflection of transphobia in the story but I do think it’s interesting to note that this is sqq’s first mission, and comes during a period of time that he still clearly believes himself to be a man (Shen Yuan) wearing another’s skin (original Shen Qingqiu’s). And of course he continues to project his own feelings onto the female characters around him, which you could argue is due to his literary role becoming that of a female love interest’s, but a point that I find particularly interesting is that he also compares himself to Binghe’s mother completely unprovoked, something that easily (maybe even more easily bc lets be real why the fuck did he say 'Binghe if i was pregnant with you I would never abort you' there are so many other things you could say that arent th) could’ve been substituted for a male comparison for him using Confucian values of the teacher/student relationship relating to that of a father and son. Instead, he becomes the mother. He's a strange little Freudian specimen to be honest. Speaking of which if you would like to read a much more in depth analysis of topics including this with textual evidence I do have to recommend tshirt3000's Freudian reading of Scum Villain which can be found as a pdf here:

I hope this makes a little bit of sense! Tldr yes it's mostly just fandom but so much about scum villain is about gender and toxic masculinity and what does it really mean to be a man in a genre where your masculinity is a tool to attain power for your desperate search for unattainable reciprocated love in a hopeless world where you are promised only shallow sexual comfort to appease horny viewers that would discard you as soon as you begin to feel emotions other than rage. If Shen Yuan was a horse he would be a gelding because the castration mellows their temperament just so

#long post #long posts #svsss meta #svsss spoilers #trans shen yuan #trans sqq

[wisecrackingeric-2]

Wasted Summers

Summary: Leon has always hated the summertime. The heat makes him exhausted, depressed- and some days, he can hardly move from his bed.

At least he won’t have to spend those summers alone anymore, though. Not now that Luis is by his side. But Leon still can’t help but let his mind wander….

Content Warnings: Depression/Seasonal Depression, Dissociation, Gender Dysphoria, emotional hurt/comfort (this is a very fluffy fic I promise BXBEHENEJD)

Rating: G

Fic below cut!!

Notes:

Hiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!! So I wrote this a little while back when it was starting to get hotter in my area and I have MAAAAAAJOR seasonal depression like I get SO SICK during the summertime, so I decided to project that onto Leon!!!!! It was a nice character study and ofc I’m a sucker for Luis and Leon taking care of each other through their bests and their worsts <<33

The song in the title is Wasted Summers by JuJu!!

—————————————————————————

The thin summer curtains swung lazily from side-to-side just out of the corner of Leon’s eye, being blown gently by the cold breeze from outside his open window; cracked slightly to let the fresh afternoon air inside his usually rather stuffy room.

The breeze was cold- cold enough to warrant a blanket thrown languidly over his legs, but not nearly cold enough for Leon to bundle himself under them. The sun was bright and if you stood outside, you’d be sweating within minutes, but his room was angled perfectly to enjoy a nice breezy afternoon without getting too warm.

At least in theory. In actuality, though, Leon was a walking furnace. And having Luis curled up little-spoon style with his back against his chest wasn't helping the heat much, either.

Luis was like one of those massive dogs that don’t know their size yet still insist on sitting in your lap. He was tall- shockingly taller than Leon- and was probably made up of 95% limbs. At least that was the running joke between them.

Leon never minded, though. Not in a million years.

He’d take holding Luis’ body in an uncomfortably awkward position on the bed any day over cradling him dead.

Which, if you’d seen the state Luis was in almost a whole year ago from now- all the way back in Valdelobos, Spain- you’d think that would have been inevitable.

But by some divine act of God, Luis had survived.

Leon could physically feel his heartbeat when he lay his hands on his chest- As if to confirm to his brain that, yes, Luis is right here- Real and breathing and alive. And also lying curled up in his arms practically snoring the afternoon away.

Leon smiled to himself; afternoons like this had become his favorite routine. In between being the President's personal bodyguard and running around fixing other people's mess, his lunch breaks usually lasted a couple hours at around 3:00 PM. Which, conveniently enough, was the same time Luis would get let out of work.

He usually would wake up at atrociously early hours of the morning (Leon simply does not let him get up before 4:00 AM, no matter what the Lab wants) and sometimes even took the Night Shift if there was nobody else to cover it, warranting the late send-off time.

It worked out pretty perfectly for the both of them. Leon would pick Luis up from the Labs on his lunch break (And, most of the time, Luis would already be at the door like an excitable kid waiting for their parent to pick them up from school- If Luis had a tail, Leon swore it would wag every time he saw him) And would take him home for an afternoon nap not too unsimilar to this one.

The plea deal after bringing Luis home was that he’d join Leon on his missions whenever they occurred. But for whatever reason, Leon was almost never sent on Ops during the summertime. Bioterrorism just conveniently didn’t like popping up whenever it got hot, he supposed.

Which sounded great on paper. But in actuality; Leon hated summer.

He hated it for a long time, in his defense. If he had to trace back where exactly it began; he guessed around the time his gender dysphoria really started to kick in.

The heat meant less clothes, and less clothes meant more dysphoria- He’d try his damndest to cover himself up with light hoodies and bind with whatever fabrics he could find in the old Academy lost-and-found boxes, but to no avail.

Even years after his Testosterone and Military Training had sculpted out his body and offered him more freedom, he still dreaded summer.

He’s heard of people saying that they felt worse in the winter; that the cold weather and dark sky made them tired and depressed. But for Leon, it was the opposite.

The hot sun made him feel constantly sleepy 24/7 and his clothes always seemed to cling to his skin with sweat uncomfortably. He felt groggy no matter how much sleep he’d gotten the night before, and he’d wake up from naps still feeling drained.

The days seemed to last forever, and the fan beside his bed would become his best friend.

The government he was forced to work for called it laziness; Leon called it seasonal depression.

So he slept his summers away. But at least this time he wouldn’t be alone.

Leon felt a little bad- even with Luis curled up in his arms with a small smile on his sleeping figure, the blonde couldn’t help but feel a small pang of guilt thinking about all the ways they could be enjoying their summer together outside of sleeping the days away in bed.

Leon could have taken Luis to the movies. Or the beach. Or to a carnival- something so perfectly cheesy and romantic that his trope-loving knight in shining armor couldn’t refuse.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Luis shuffle down further into his arms. The sleeves of his shirt rolled up his forearms and exposed the soft arm hair underneath, and Leon instinctively did the same. He sighed in relief as he felt the cool air from the window hit his skin.

Looking for more of that relief, Leon shuffled his leg out from underneath the blankets and practically threw it over Luis’ waist; an awkward position to be sure, but all Luis did in response was sigh in his sleep, so Leon was confident he didn’t mind.

Leon began to card his fingers lazily through his lovers hair, admiring how soft it was even without having been washed for a couple days.

He let his mind wander as he closed his eyes and buried his nose against Luis’ skin- taking in the familiar scent of leather and cigarettes.

He wondered what Luis’ summers used to look like before he met Leon. Did he used to go fishing in that lake he had fought Del Lago in? Did he used to run around in those endless woods to hide in the shade from the hot Spanish sun? Did he walk along the mountainside bridges with his Grandfather, borrowing his hat to avoid getting sunburnt? Did he have friends to share the summer with? Did he miss his childhood summers? All questions Leon never found the perfect opportunity to ask.

Leon felt an imaginary sense of jealousy just thinking about it. He never got that classic 80’s kids-on-bikes summer holidays like most other boys his age did- most mornings were spent taking care of his parents after violent hangovers.

He looked back over to Luis. His shoulders rose and fell with his even breathing. He smiled and cuddled him closer;

He never had a person to feel this safe around.

He never had somebody to waste away the summer with.

Not until now. Not until he met Luis.

He turned his head and pressed a warm kiss to Luis’ neck; which, much to his surprise, actually got a response out of him.

“ You should be asleep, cariño”

Leon chuckled sleepily. “And so should you.”

“You’ve got work in thirty minutes,” Leon could practically hear the pout in Luis’ voice as he instinctively snuggled down further into his arms.

“You need the rest more than I do”

“I’ll only sleep if you sleep, too”

There was a pause from Luis. Before he groaned and kicked part of the blanket off of his legs.

“ Fiiiiiiiiiine. Only because I love you, though, Sancho”

“I love you too” Leon had to bite back a smile at his faux-annoyed tone as he pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

Another moment of silence passed over them.

“Hey, Luis?”

“ Hmmmm?”

“You don’t actually mind doing, well… “ Leon waved his hand over the bed, “ This with me, do you? I feel kinda bad I’m not spending our first summer together differently…”

“ Leon,”

Luis took Leon’s hands and brought them over to his lips- and although the blonde couldn’t see it, he could feel his smile as he kissed his palm.

“I don’t care what we do together. Just being with you is more than enough”

Leon was about to open his mouth to object again before Luis added;

“Besides. I like taking these naps with you. It makes me feel like an Abuelo”

Leon threw his head back and laughed at that comment, feeling that familiar glow of relief and appreciation sitting at the bottom of his chest once again.

“I like taking naps with you too, Luis”

“If you like them so much then you should actually go to sleep”

“ Ok Ok I will I will!!!”

“Te amo, Leon”

“I love you too”

#ericswriting #resident evil #resident evil fanfiction #re fanfic #leon kennedy fanfic #leon kennedy fanfics #leon kennedy fanfiction #leon s kennedy fanfiction #luis serra #luis sera #serennedy #serrenedy #serrennedy #luis serra fanfic #luis serra navarro #luis sera navarro #re4r

[phantom-witch]

Phantom's Finished: Persona 5 Royal

Where do I even begin? It's taken 20 days at least to even start writing this. This is one of the most impactful games I've ever played. I've seen the impact on games as a whole this game has made, and this released the same year as BREATH OF THE WILD. The way games have used 2D stylisation especially as part of a limitation has been super inspired since this. This game is a masterpiece despite all its flaws and I'm okay to say that!! I'll split this up into many sections so this will be very long, you have been warned...

Context & Importance:

Before getting into the game itself, I wish to go into the significance of this. I was a closeted Trans girl who had heard of this game from the 2017 game awards, I then looked into it and became obsessed, I watched a whole playthrough of the og Persona 5. I wanted Joker in smash AND GOT THAT! But it took forever for me to have the opportunity to play it on switch. I almost gave up hope until last year in July it happened.

This was basically my most anticipated game of all time, of which had given me comfort alongisde playing Xenoblade 2 and Pyra helping me realise I was a girl. So these two games have very close and personal connections to me. Not only that, my partner and friends got to hear the majority of my reactions to this game whilst I projected a trans girl headcanon onto my beloved Ren Amamiya! (she/her will be the pronouns I use here) That's why this has been so hard to start, how important this is... it's overwhelming!

Final note, I'm not going to shy away from spoilers on both Persona 5 and the Royal content at any point, as it would be hard to discuss a lot otherwise, so SHOO if you don't want that!

Story:

I will be going over my favourite and least favourite parts and then Royals segment on its own!

The Amazing:

Where do I begin? This game has so many amazing moments! The entire build up to Sae's palace, Joker's awakening, Akechi's justice?? That last one I'll save for Akechi's section but gosh this game has so many moments! A favourite is how Futabas palace is really a gamechanger with both Futaba herself but the mystery around everything to do with her mum and how that effects Sojiro and even carries over into his second half of his confidant.

Then there's the whole build-up to Shido and the super close connection he has to Ren, after ruining her life. You feel the personal importance so powerfully as the game has built up connections to him and the main crew so well! Which in my opinion overpowers the obvious "save Japan" element of it in the best way. Once you send the calling card too, you get the coolest reveal ever with a takeover of Japan's network revealing Joker to be alive and it is SUCH a satisfying feeling!

Even the calmer moments of this game are beautiful. Whether it's a lovely dance with Kasumi at the festival, or Maruki's sessions, or the lovely time at the beach! Even in Hawaii when Ann and Ryuji have a lovely bonding moment with you. Simple moments like that make this game the beautiful experience it is...

The Awful:

Before I get into my three main things, I want to cover some minor things.

Firstly I believe that Ann gets way too sexualised throughout the story sadly, especially by Morgana. Furthermore, it feels the balance of the cast is sometimes a little off. Ryuji and Ann suffer this a bit but Yusuke is the worst for this and reduced to a bit of a joke sadly in terms of story. There's also a lot of gender stereotypes pushed for no reason on the cast at times that feels out of place for the rebellious message this game tells.

However, 3 things in this game bug me the most. First off is honestly just... Morgana. I'll get into him a bit later but he is such a hypocrite that when he finally gets negative talk back to him he immediately bails and it causes the games design and structure to awkwardly change focus and takes away partly from Haru's introduction! The one character that didn't need less screentime. Then there's how Ryuji gets treated especially in the out of place beat up scene after Shido's palace. He is literally disabelled despite managing to run so it comes across extrememly abelist having the girls smack him so hard like that. Bad vibes after an incredible moment. Finally, Yaldabaoth. I don't hate this at all for it's moment to moment experience, but my main issue is for a finale it really doesn't connect to our party like the Shido and it doesn't feel like the finale for the characters, moreso the world they're in.

Speaking of...

Royal:

The moment I started this part of the game, the eeriness was immediate... everything was wrong, completely incorrect. Morgana was a human, Makoto, Haru and Futaba had their parents still alive whilst Ann still had Shiho. And then Akechi arrives, fully aware of everything going on. With Kasumi's support after some sweet moments with her, they enter the palace they had encountered during Okumura's arc and the atmosphere is potent. Maruki shows a wish to help the world be better for everyone by creating a reality fit for them. But it's all artifical, fake, a lack of choice. Due to this pursuit, Kasumi is forced to learn of her true identity of Sumire, as her sister who is actually Kasumi is dead. Learning of the dancing sisters and how Sumire felt so low of herself and behind Kasumi, we also learn Sumire was saved from a car by Kasumi, causing a massive trauma and survivors guilt in her. Maruki altered her reality to make her think of herself as Kasumi.

This is how far Maruki is gone, to the point Akechi was even brought back to life due to the bond he and Ren share. The reason this is so much better than Yaldabaoth is because it's about every party member choosing freedom over a fake happiness. As what is living if you don't get to choose for yourself? This whole game happened due to this groups choices and will. Allowing Maruki's reality goes against everything they've gone through and being ignorant again. This new semester allows us to see more of Akechi shine, Sumire become her true self, Ren show her resolve and the phantom thieves stick to their truth. Whilst having an antagonist that is deeply connected to the main group. I'll go into Maruki himself later but wow, this third semester concludes the themes of the games perfectly with an ending that had me going "no, don't go..." because i grew in love with this group of teens so much. An amazing story with a lot of lovely moments and some hiccups.

Characters:

Here I'll be going over the party members, villains and any other's of note! To start with...

Ren Amamiya (Rin Rivamiya for my playthrough):

Never have I seen a protagonist designed with minimal lines to be so well characterised! She is such a lovable dork and I love her so much. Constantly trying to be cool and IS cool as a Phantom Thief, constantly expressing herself through the prompt options beautifully.

As stated, I projected onto her a lot whilst also seeing her as her own character as a trans girl who helped me a lot with my gender identity when I originally discovered Persona 5 in 2018. Ren makes this games personality and charm all by herself whilst everything around her compliments the charm she brings. I admit that I headcanon a lot but overall she is handled very well still! However, there are some questionable lines sometimes given this is adult men trying to write a teen boy poorly. But, this is a given with Persona sadly, and I'm willing to look past this for my own enjoyment.

With an amazing dynamic with most characters and beautiful climax to her ideals with every phase of the true final boss of Maruki... what a beautiful character I found such huge comfort in and glad how popular she now is.

Her Persona, "Arsene", is a beautiful representation of her will, strength and rebellious spirit. Arsene represents Joker's energy and the pallet and visual design of Persona 5 as a whole perfectly

Ryuji Sakamoto:

I already covered the poor moment for Ryuji earlier, but I feel this game doesn't take him seriously at all and that is such a shame. Morgana belittles him and that is never taken seriously, having his self-esteem constantly put down by another party member and sometimes treated as a joke despite having some lovely moments!

That isn't his fault though, and instead the short comings of the writers. This boy is loud, passionate and has one of the biggest hearts ever! If he makes a mistake, he tries to learn from it. A brilliant example is how after Okumura's palace he realises how he lost his resolve and sincerity for a while, too focused on the fame over helping those in need. Once he realises, he talks a lot about this mistake and genuinely grows massively from it.

We get to see how he looks out for others often in both the main story and his Confidant, alongside how he manages to get by with his injury and supporting his mom. I feel they balance his involvement out pretty well throughout the whole game.

Ann Takamaki:

Ann has to be the girl that gets treated the worst by this game, and that's such a shame! Funny how I'm formatting the images as I feel one of the biggest issues is how they designed her Phantom Thief outfit. It's super sexy which is exactly what Ann isn't comfortable in, to the point she expresses discomfort! That sucks and I think the design is actually quite poor and even fails at the catwomen inspiration.

Sadly she also gets quite dumbed down as the game progresses and her role is extremely non-existent for a while with a few high moments. This infuriates me as it is one of the rarer moments of hypocrisy this game goes for with a character that could have been much more empowering for young women.

Despite all this, I still adore the positivity and vibe she brings to the group, she absolutely is the one to lift people's spirits whilst being the very extroverted one in the group to help support those more reserved or introverted and especially has a lovely dynamic with the other girls and Ryuji, helping them all to express themselves wonderfully with a Confidant that slips a little as I wish it went over her growing stronger for Shiho and helping her to recover but instead is about an infuriating model. I love Ann but it's so weird how much problems this games has for me with how she is handled, which is very comparable to Rise who is another Lovers arcana in Persona 4.

Morgana:

*sigh* This is the can of worms character. Persona has a tendency to take their talking mascot designs and write them in the weirdest ways possible. Teddy in P4 was unnecessarily creepy and with Morgana they went, what if it wasn't as bad... but still a thing. Especially when it comes to Ann it really infuriates me how infatuated this cat is with this teenage girl and constantly calls her "Lady Ann" in a very flirtatious way. It sucks!

The thing is, he has moments of a good character shining through with his dynamic with Ren, and in the end of the base game with how he is a metaphor for people's hopes genuinely got me emotional! To the point it makes me so wish he was written differently.

Then there's... the Okumura Arc. Morgana loses his mind with the group because of his own insecurities and gets mad at a single time Ryuji belittles him. Which, would be understandable if Morgana hadn't been doing this to Ryuji for literally the entire game. He is one of the most hypocritical JRPG party members I've ever seen as someone whose favourite genre is this JRPG's. Plus he takes away from Haru's introduction in that arc which is such a shame as despite that Morgana and Haru have a lovely dynamic!

Yusuke Kitagawa:

Yusuke very much reminds me a lot of myself in many ways. He is extremely autistic coded with how his mindset is very unique and has an wonderful art focus. Even his Confidant is a wonderful showcase of him rediscovering his love for art beyond the Madarame Arc.

Speaking of, he is so heavily focused on in that arc and it is so beautiful how that arc handles him! Going over how he was manipulated and abused without even realising and how he learns and accepts this fact, whilst finding reconciliation with his late mother and the art she made to represent her love for him. It is very wonderful seeing his recovery from everything he went through and learning to recover.

However, as the game progresses, his involvment slowly dwindles more and more to the point he is more the comedic relief character and I heavily dislike that. I like the comedic moments but I wish he got more serious moments in the main story as I feel there's multiple missed opportunities with him. That being said, Yusuke grows a lovely dynamic with Futaba in such a lovely way that contrasts each other wonderfully! It made me smile whenever they interacted.

Makoto Niijima:

If I had originally played the original release of Persona 5 and not started with Royal, Makoto would have been my favourite character. Originally I didn't really understand the hype around her, but she has now become one of my favourites right next to Ren and two others I'll get to soon.

Makoto is really inspiring to me, she is very intelligent whilst still having sincere flaws or shortcomings (for example her social anxiety and struggle to connect with others). Her Confidant is about her overcoming some of these flaws as a genuine way to help her newly made friend whilst trying to feel more in touch with her peers. Not only that, she is an active member consistently playing a role in the story whilst having a nice contrast with her sister Sae Niijima whilst complimenting her too. In fact when the Sae Arc happens she gains an even more active role again which is awesome! My only criticism is that she seems to be portrayed strong and I feel they could have leaned into that with her building up her muscles past the game as her being strong in the real world would've been amazing (and I would've crushed hard over that in Strikers given she's a young adult now)

none of this has even gone into when she's introduced! Which smartly ties to everything that happened with her father to do with crime lords and how people around her that are old adults pressuring her instead of doing the work themselves to the point she snaps completely after the Phantom Thieves help her out and she decides to join for her own truth. Accompanied by an amazing Persona design with some very unique animations! She is very much a highlight of the original game for sure.

Futaba Sakura:

Whilst I clicked more with Makoto, I believe Futaba is the best written party member of the base game by a mile. She is full of personality that shines so bright, funny and they know how to be serious with her character beautifully.

Futaba has one of my favourite palaces in the game because like Sae and Maruki, it isn't an inherently evil person and more someone struggling a lot with their mindset on reality. Futaba's arc heavily focuses on this and how she copes with the survivors guilt towards her late mother, Wakaba. We learn how much adult's victimised her as the reason Wakaba was driven to her death to the point it caused genuine hallucinations. This isn't the kind of trauma that can heal after her treasure is stolen instantly. Sure, it's a huge help to her recovery but we see how after they take a lot of time with her as a group to help her be more comfortable and allowing herself to manage more overtime

This carries over into her Confidant where her sister (yes I said sister as that is very much the INTENDED dynamic don't be weird) Ren helps her to further her recovery, by supporting Futaba's checklist. This is the one Confidant I'm really upset I didn't finish as I adored her! Her dynamic with the group is funny, has amazing battle lines and has amazing use story wise which is shown off and contextualised super well! She is probably right behind Makoto for my favourites and any Persona game without her genuinely feels it is missing something.

Haru Okumura:

This is one of the characters heavily effected by the extra time in Royal. I've already covered how Morgana completely overshadows a good chunk of her introduction compared to how every other party member prior gets proper spotlight. But the reason it's so bad here is because she's the last standard party member in the base game so gets even less time than already due to Morgana overshadowing her arc.

However, not all is lost! As what is there is amazing, alongside a wonderful character design and lovely performance by Xanthe (love all her work). We get to see how she accepts and stands up to her father for her beliefs and how her family legacy is important to her over being rich. She is very sweet but deadly as she shows a more brutal side under that sweet tone. It's used for both endearing/comedic moments as well as a way for her to be more powerful in moments.

Her Confidant is fantastic as it goes through both the grief of her father dying in one of the rawest moments of the game but also her having to run the company he left despite only being 18. For the grief, she didn't even get to hear her father apologise for everything he'd done. Every other chapter allows for reconciliation except for this one and it hits so heavily. Haru has to continue on with that whilst learning to manage to support a company and it makes her one of the strongest characters mentally in this game. Furthermore, she learns and gains her goal for her future to go back to her family roots with her own personal homemade café and is able to be supported about that. I adore what we do get and how she's able to shine in Royal a lot better!

Goro Akechi:

Goro

Akechi...

One of the best characters of this game. He gets a lot in Royal but let us start with the base game content for him. Akechi is one of those twist villains that the twist isn't that he's a villain, but instead the how and the why. I find that is always more interesting when that is the focus on a mystery over "who?" He is established pretty early on as an opposing force to the Phantom Thieves ideals, of which builds him up throughout the game as a striving Detective that's also investigating the Phantom Thieves.

However, one Royal I can't save for later is his entirely new Confidant. It establishes his rival dynamic with Ren so well in a very positive way compared to how it develops later on to be more of a serious rivalry in the latter of the game. He almost lures the group in perfectly if it wasn't for a single slip up of him overhearing Morgana speak, to which it causes the best comeback and moment in the whole game. Akechi's jealousy shows so strongly whilst he wants an opportunity to get to his father to get his revenge. It gets to the point he is so determined to prove himself to Ren and the Phantom Thieves, only to see his true self with how aggressive and insane he is. Akechi's true self is amazing to see as we get an amazing design with amazing Persona and one of the best boss fights in the game. Combine this with a beautiful performance of how desperate he is to prove himself, to the point he is killed by himself, leaving Ren devastated. Akechi shines in vanilla and the new Confidant establishes his relationship with Joker adds so much to Akechi's build up to his highest moments, like when he kills Joker (technically) all in the name of his own Justice. Already a top 5 character here alone!

And then there's the entire new third semester in Royal. Suddenly appearing as not dead taking Ren's place to turn himself in. As mentioned, Akechi is brought back to life by Maruki through his new reality. Akechi being a smart detective is able to put the pieces together and learn this himself. One thing about Akechi that I really enjoyed is how he always sticks to his own beliefs, to the point he would rather stay dead over be brought back to life just to live some reality he never earnt. Stopping Maruki with Ren, fully aware of what will happen to him as we see him fully shine as a party member fully unhinged. No niceties, no compassion, just a fully blunt ready to get the job done man without having a façade to the world. Robbie Daymond does a fantastic job with him, as we hear such conviction to every line he delivers as Akechi is consistently firm about his beliefs. That's the brutal reality, Akechi was always meant to die and he knows it. Ren was the one that couldn't accept this as we see Akechi fighting for free will and the justice he chooses.

A character that was amazing goes to being one of the best in this game, literally in the top 3 of this game easily with how amazingly handled he is.

Kasumi & Sumire Yoshizawa:

Let's get the main thing out of the way, she is my favourite character of this game! I adore her and how she develops over the course of this game, especially as the main new character to this version of the game!

She's introduced in the prologue as someone you know in Sae's Palace, meaning you get a tease that she will be able to go through palaces by that point of the game. From a time perspective, the actual first time you meet is middle of Kamoshida's Arc where during a trip to school you see an act of kindness from her rudely interrupted by a man. She is clearly shocked but doesn't wish to cause a scene, establishing her kind yet non-confrontational as Ren tries to help her. It's not until Madarame Arc onwards she is more prominent role with interactions with Ren, most notably when they properly meet and introduce themselves to each other on a school activity. It even kicks off their Confidant alongside more interactions over the main story!

Her Confidant is only 5 levels long and it goes into her feeling a level of control with her body as she's growing and changing, whilst supporting her family and dead sister, Sumire. It's a lovely and super endearing Confidant where Ren feels equal in terms of the support given in return where her feelings are also considered and I love that! Kasumi really cares for Ren and vice versa which creates such a strong dynamic between these two that is very balanced. We then learn that Akechi and her know of each other and we have an interaction with Ren and those two where she proposes a wonderful opinion about how she really respects what the Phantom Thieves do but also believes people need to help themselves too as that won't last for society if people stop trying to change themselves. It shows a very open minded angle to her and how she's extremely intelligent by having a more nuanced answer for a serious topic in the world of these characters and I really like that, it considers how some might need that help whilst others are over-relying on it.

We get so many lovely moments, ranging from a beautiful dance with Ren smoothly dancing, to her saying Aloha in Hawaii with a cute gesture. We even discover this unknown palace with her, of which she learns of the Metaverse and Persona users. Even awakening to her Persona after showing such will power to fight for herself instead of relying too much on Ren, like she said about the Phantom Thieves! However, that's all we really see for the most part, outside of further lovely moments the game gives us. They intentionally make the awakening feel cool and yet, overall off and different in comparison to the other Party member's awakenings (more on that in a bit). I find a lot of queer-coded elements within Kasumi, in how her struggles of her own bodies feels akin to puberty, especially with a teenage trans girl and I felt very close to that alongside her charisma, self-doubt and struggles. I was like, "yeah I kin Kasumi so much I love her! She's just like me!"

Ah... oh Riley of 2022 how unprepared you were you innocent girl...

Cut to the new Third Semester to Royal, as the whole reality shift happens. The only suspicious people are Ren, Akechi & Kasumi going into the palace where she awakened to her Persona. The further in, the more suspicious I and the trio got that something was up with her, as manifestations of her memories start to show up with weird inconsistencies. Even seeing her get called by her memory as Sumire? Overtime they end up meeting the host of this palace, Dr. Maruki, only to reveal that Kasumi really is dead. The girl with us has been her younger sister all along, Sumire.

Sumire was Kasumi's younger sister, always feeling in her older sisters shadow and struggled to keep a smile on herself or even see her own worth. Because of this, there was an accident where Sumire stormed off after not being able to cope anymore with how low she feels. Kasumi rushes after she tries to call out for Sumire about an approaching car. Too lost in her head, she doesn't hear Kasumi as she is pushed away by Kasumi, saving her but crashing into her older sister. Sumire blames herself for all of this, she feels so low about her self and worth that not only does this all happen but she has such survivors-guilt too. Getting to the point she see's herself as Kasumi partly due to Maruki's influence. Upon remembering this she goes into a downward spiral of guilt and denial, begging to be Kasumi still as the Phantom Thieves (+Akechi) fight her Persona and then herself, rescuing her and escaping the palace as best they can. Recovering and sleeping from mental and physical exhaustion, Sumire wakes up at Leblanc whilst deeply apologising to them all for her actions, whilst thinking hard about how to move on with her life back as Sumire. With support of Ren and the thieves, she is determined to live for her sister since she would have wanted that, unlocking the second half of her Confidant finally.

Sumire is shown to be much shyer, keeping to herself and over-apologising much more compared to when she thought of herself as Kasumi. Exploring how as a dancer and gymnast she finds her own style instead of trying to copy what people liked about Kasumi, with a lovely tutor who is stern yet supportive of her growing. This Confidant highlights how living for someone else isn't really living, you need to live for yourself and I really like this for Sumire. The clear depression and anxiety she has due to how she's been made to feel by society and herself really hits close to home and I relate very hard to her journey, especially when I was her age. Grief and guilt have plagued her for ages, and the death of her sister was only a year ago. Her Confidant ends beautifully with her talking about how much Ren's support has meant to her, with her confessing to Ren as the trans lesbian flirts awkwardly back (love you Ren) at her new partner! Only for Sumire to finally perform her own dance instead of a copy of her older sister. Her tutor even notices this, commending her and being absolutely proud. Traits seen when she was presenting as Kasumi can still be seen as her own personality traits when she's more confident, and how they're easily brought out from additional support due to how little confidence she has. Speaking of "presenting as Kasumi", it's very trans-coded with how one experiences their own self-acceptance of their gender identity. It's easy to say "I wish I was cisgender" instead of embracing the you here and learning to support yourself on your journey.

I only have three criticisms of Sumire's handling. Firstly, I find her reclaiming the ponytail hairstyle for herself as a memory of her sister to be poorly contextualised in the game and feels extremely abrupt compared to everything else with her writing. It feels like they didn't want to commit to her new design in the endgame moments and reversed the design near the end. Secondly, I never got to experience her Showtime due to how easy to miss as the only one you don't get naturally through story. This sucks as it was the one I was looking forward to the most! Finally there is me being so selfish, I wanted her as a party member sooner. I love how she becomes apart of the group naturally but I love her so much I wish I got to use her outside of the last Palace in the whole game.

That being said, I think the length of this segment is a testament to how Sumire is my favourite character in this game, if not one of my all time favourite characters. They did a fantastic job with how they naturally integrated her to the plot of the game, with a beautiful job and range from Laura Post alongside the animators at P Animation Studio, perfectly representing the theme of will power and overcoming hurdles in your life with precise execution.

Sumire Yoshizawa, thank you for bringing me such joy and tears to my eyes 💙

The Villains & Antagonists:

If there's one thing Persona 5 doesn’t lack, it’s antagonists and villains! Every arc has one and they vary in quality, so let’s go over the more simple villains from the first half of the game…

By simplistic, I mean that they are easy to explain and define in how they are portrayed. For example, Kamoshida who starts the game off beautifully with an utterly detestable character praying on minors abusing a power of authority that very much happens in real life. He kicks this game off strongly with a simple yet powerful force for our first Palace. My only issue is Atlus’ hypocrisy with how underage girls in their games, including this one, are treated. Ann especially is treated with sexualisation, which is awful given she was the main victim of Kamoshida. That’s less a criticism of him and more the writers when handling other things in comparison. Next is Madarame, who has a really good aesthetic and boss design. His design for him and Palace are stunning, which is where my huge praise ends. I love this chapter a lot, but Madarame doesn’t have much to him than “the one that stole the Sayuri” as there isn’t much else to him? I can’t separate him from Yusuke whatsoever and it feels like there’s nothing else to him. That being said, he’s still enjoyable, just doesn’t come close to Kamoshida. Kaneshiro has to be the most “this isn’t about him” moments in a game, as it really isn’t. You don’t see him for long at all and yet I like that choice due to him being a crime lord. I find it akin to how Dr. Seuss in “The Lorax” book doesn’t show the face of “The Onceler”, AKA the metaphor of capitalism as to not humanise them. Here I felt similar intent behind Kaneshiro, however he is still an extremely simple villain. His arc is more for Makoto’s character than it is for him, whilst properly establishing the threat of another Persona user. A fun boss and fun palace still give him a leg up though! Lastly is Shadow Wakaba, who is a weird one given the villain here isn’t the Palace holder. Instead it’s Futaba’s visualisation of her mother after so many adults tormented her for Wakaba’s death. Of course this girl would become distorted in how she perceives her mother due to this! Not much else to say since a good chunk of it is covered in Futaba’s part.

Then we get to the nuanced villains, those with more depth either in motivation, or how they connect to the grander story. First up is Okumura, who is a bit of a tricky one to discuss without going into game design and barely linked story content within the same arc. Morgana’s whole fallout not only affects Haru but Okumura as well, giving a bitter feeling throughout that arc whilst allowing less time to develop. That being said, Okumura is a character who clearly started off with good intentions and lost his way and I really enjoy that about him. He is detestable and yet we understand why Haru loves the father she once knew. Only making it more tragic when he is eventually killed and not given the chance to reconcile with his daughter as a changed man. I would love him if not for the association with the worst boss in the whole game, if not any RPG I’ve played. Strong base, weak executions around it with some bad association around it. Next, here comes our first antagonist that isn’t a villain: Sae Nijima. Sister to Makoto, she is actively after the Phantom Thieves to the point of such desperation that it makes her lose sight of her own justice. She’s gone through a lot with Makoto, losing both parents and having to raise Makoto at a pretty young age and trying to get by in the prosecutor department as a woman proves to be difficult due to gender norms in society. This has a heavy impact on her mental health as she is pushed by higher ups, of which are secretly using her, to the point she resorts to scummy and unjust methods. A character so desperate to catch a group of thieves to the point of seeing herself as a protagonist of this story, falling into the trap of those controlling everything. However, she isn’t the true antagonist of this arc and instead built up as the reason the Phantom Thieves survive. Ideals challenged and thinking about her own justice and faith once more. Akechi I’ve gone over but his father, Shido, actually has a little to say. Whilst being nuanced, it’s different to Sae for me, in that the depth comes from around him and not from him. To elaborate, he is overall a very simplistic villain in that very enjoyable way that’s almost theatrical, but is also behind all the wrongdoings the characters have experienced. Ren got put under probation due to him, Makoto had to see her sister go through hell and back because of him, Futaba and Sojiro lost Wakaba due to him, and Haru lost her father. Even Akechi, someone working for him, was so heavily affected all his life to the point of madness and how his true self is revealed to be. Shido feels personal, a fight the Phantom Thieves have been so prepared to finally face and save the world from him. However, they allow a level of selfishness, by also having motivation on avenging everyone’s pain, especially Ren’s. I love Shido because of this huge personal connection with a powerful presence, making for an exceptional villain. 

Along come the last two, Yaldabaoth and Maruki. Yaldabaoth is the final boss of the original release of Persona 5, and I have to be honest, despite the really cool set piece and moment I don’t care much for this and as the final boss think it is extremely weak as it barely ties to our main party with the exception of Ren sort of. Cool boss gameplay wise, super weak story wise. With that brief mention out the way, it’s on to Dr. Maruki from the Persona 5 Royal content of the game. Like I said at the beginning of this review, Maruki is the complete opposite here, as Maruki actively connects to our main cast consistently throughout the game. This is especially the case with Ren as she helps Maruki learn to research the heart of the mind, eventually bonding overtime as his paper gets completed. He also acts as a councillor that the students talk to, therefore allowing us to see the main cast talk about what they’re going through and struggling with. Maruki has such sweet goals, to help the world be a place where pain shouldn’t have to be felt anymore. He had gone through so much himself and seen so many people affected by reality that his will became so strong to the point he was able to alter reality. Therefore, his goal became to change the whole of reality to help people for the better… but the game brings to question if that really is a good thing? And the Phantom Thieves oppose this as free will is more important. I loved this as it ties the overall themes and motifs of the game with rebellion, freedom and individuality. Despite that, Maruki’s intentions come from such a pure heart of a man wanting to help, to the point of trying to be reality’s therapist. Ending with an amazing 3-stage boss sequence and amazing voice acting from the late Billy Kametz (rest in peace and lots of love Billy) and concluding the game masterfully and becoming one of my new all-time favourite antagonists. 

Others of Note: 

Here are the noteworthy thoughts on side characters go! Sojiro is probably my favourite confidant in this game, as he plays such a pivotal role to the found family of Ren with how the injustice she goes through is shown a shift of mentality. He grows to care a lot and show his softer caring side with Futaba and Ren, even their friends by supporting their cares and needs. Furthermore, he grows to regain his sense of justice and it’s such an amazing character growth! On the flip side there’s Mishima, who sucks due to the very incel characterisation he gets that makes him unbearable alongside his constant attempt to insert himself as your friend. It was annoying and I could not stand him. Takemi and Hifumi on the other hand each have a really well done support that I enjoyed a lot. Without going into loads of detail they both go into hardships these women face in their respective industries and it does an amazing job going into the kind of people that wish to hurt them. Yoshida was a fun one despite me struggling to listen to politics so directly (can you blame me as a trans woman in 2023?) but he clearly cared a lot. Kawakami sucks, there's no explaining it. It's gross and hypocritical, moving on. Justine and Caroline/Lavenza are a delight throughout comedically and thematically. The only thing I’ll mention is how forgettable the others felt either due to their intro or their overall support. 

Gameplay:

This is a game after all! However, this game has two very contrasting sides to it, so let's get into both

Social Life: 

Persona as a series likes to have two sides to itself, one of them being the social side. This sees Ren experiencing activities you can do throughout the game in a limited time. This can range from hanging out with other characters, studying, working at a part time job and so much more. The best part about this is how it has a consistent loop for rewarding each other for how they help your journey. Furthermore, they beautifully help with the “Thief Life” I’ll go into more detail soon. But you can get health items, weapons and gear and even abilities in the social side of the game that help for the thieves side! Limiting the time really makes you think about how to approach your stats and activities in what you need (i.e. money, social stats, abilities). Royal adds to this by having additional requirements to unlock the third semester. Speaking of, that allows for some final confidant interactions you wouldn’t get otherwise! Surprisingly enjoyable for what’s the most down time of the game compared to…

Thief Life:

The more typical RPG side of the game, but don’t let that make you think it’s traditional. This is what in my opinion is the peak modernisation of turn-based RPGs, as it enhances and adds to the turn-based formula to such an extreme that it may be my favourite turn-based combat of any game. There’s your basic attack, your gun with limited ammo per fight, guard, item and then Persona. Persona is the most in depth option out of all of them, of which where that character uses their will and inner self to cast magic attacks, physical or gun attacks and even buffs and heal. These all use your Spirit Points, with the exception of physical attacks using Health Points, and each element can have their own effectiveness depending on the enemy you’re fighting. If you expose their weakness, the game awards you with another turn in which you can act again or pass to a teammate and give them a stat buff. This allows for a learning of knowledge in the game and a chain of attacks that reward your knowledge. If every enemy is knocked down, you can do an All Out Attack for high damage and even quickly finishing a fight. This helps a lot with this games pacing for me as you can really quickly finish fights if you know what you’re doing and the game helps nudge a little to help you with that. 

With a decently varied party you can choose between different playstyles that each play into different roles. Ren has multiple Personas too! Allowing for her to customise her options throughout the game through the fusion or interrogate system. This is where you either fuse personas together to make a new one with some attacks from the previous two or bargain with a shadow you knocked down to recruit them as a persona in your selection. Shin Megami Tensei, Persona’s older brother series, has had this for a while and it really works with how they added it within the unique elements of Persona and especially Persona 5 Royal. 

Last but not least is the dungeons, aka Palaces. A Palace is a world with its own unique setting and aesthetic based on the boss of the place in the Metaverse, and that current arcs focused antagonists at that point in the story. These dungeons are all blooming with fun aesthetics, set pieces and level design that all vary in quality. Maruki, Sae and Shido had especially fantastic palaces with Okumura hitting more of a low point even gameplay wise. In Royal specifically, they added these 3 part collectibles called Will Seeds. Exploring rewards you for looking through every nook and cranny of a palace with these and getting all 3 in each palace grants you a huge reward. Bosses are overall good and play to the game's gameplay strengths mostly. Okumura again being the worst case for this whilst others range from pretty neat to some of my favourite fights in gaming. Royal’s final boss uses every mechanic beautifully as it is required to manage it, which Okumura’s boss tries to do but in a way that is much more draining and limits options too much. Instead there is many different approaches that beautifully use every system you’ve learnt the last 100 or so hours and can learn and manage in the way you have learnt to manage. With that there’s one last thing to mention, Mementos. This is a large palace that is a randomly generated dungeon that you can get deeper in throughout the story, sound fun and replayable right? Sadly, the layouts are so simple and repetitive that I found this to be pretty boring and would only do it when I needed to shut my brain off. I get Persona has always hand randomly generated dungeons but to me it’s clearly not working when the layout is so flat and repetitive without much to even do outside fighting.

Art: 

Art is important to any medium, and it couldn't be any more true for this game too. There's a reason this game has stood out so much...

Music: 

I’m sure it’s no surprise to hear this, but Persona 5 Royal has absolutely amazing music. Its use of Synthesiser as the main instrument adds such a smooth yet eerily unique approach to any part of the OST it touches, alongside the piano, violin, jazz instruments and so much more. Shoji Meguro perfectly encapsulates the phantom thieves and how they feel at every turn. Busy daytime? ‘Tokyo Daylight’ constant change of notes represents the mass amount of different people you’re passing by in central Tokyo each day. ‘Is it Boring’ accompanies anytime you’re in school with a long repetition of bars whilst also moments of tensity to show the mundane yet unfocused side of life you have to manage whilst being a thief. However, this OST wouldn’t have the strong identity it is known to have if it isn’t for the singer of any track with lyrics: Lyn Inaizumi. She sings every track with such power and yet grace and confidence that it is a match made in heaven for the themes of this game. The songs show her vocal range beautifully with the slow, tranquil ‘Beneath the Mask’ or the intense, determined ‘Life Will Change’. Persona 5 Royal’s OST is so cohesive and yet so varied that it never loses itself and that is beautiful. My favourite OST of all time.

Art Direction:

As already stated, the Palaces have beautiful varied aesthetics that keep most of them visually interesting. This applies to Tokyo as well, with the advertisements of the subway popping out at you left right and centre, or the town centre bustling with lights. Whilst not perfect, I would say it does what it sets out to do within the budget Persona 5 originally had amazingly and uses these limitations to its advantage. Speaking of, the menus and UI of this game show that in full force. Everything has a red, black and white colour scheme with minor colours accenting from time to time. The use of silhouetting and sharp poses whenever you select a menu option to cleanly transition is eye candy alongside the distorted look of where you’re selected on clearly catching your eye within the stylised font. Even in battles this applies, as the options you have look to come off the character themselves, even with a silhouette of them layered behind their model for additional flare. Additionally, the UI is made clear where every button is as the options are displayed like a controller layout perfectly. Ingenious! Finally there’s All-Out Attacks, which have a barrage of attacks in a cartoonish but powerful manner of black on red visuals. If this kills the enemy, the character that triggered it will come in to do a custom animation into a key pose, where it snaps to artwork of the pose perfectly in time. You are rewarded for playing with visual flare and it does all this within its own limitations perfectly. Innovating on what the industry hasn’t tried to this extreme yet due to a limitation of their team.

Character Design:

The majority of significant characters in this game have a massive variety to them. Even with the main party they come with two main designs. With their school uniforms, each of them have very intentional subtle touches that make them instantly recognisable. Ann’s hoodie, Ryuji’s T-Shirt, Haru’s jumper all show different traits and key elements alongside other key features like hairstyle, hair colour, expressions and much more. With their thief design, we get to see a lot of their personality shine even further. Ren gets to present as cool in an unapologetic way and she comes with a traditional mask worn in the 1900s. Makoto shows her powerful side and even the surprising strength she has, even if I wish she was a little more toned in her design. Yusuke and his traditional art fits the traditional Samurai, Futaba fitting with a more Sci-Fi tech outfit, Sumire having elements of dancer gear whilst also a clear conflict within her own outfit, reflecting off of Ren partly as we learn that’s her coping mechanism. There’s one that isn’t so good though, Ann. She sadly is given a very Catwoman-esque skintight suit, which she herself is uncomfortable in and is sexualised in too. My main issue is how this goes completely against her arc and the message of the general arc of the first game. Owning one's sexuality does not mean being sexualised and should’ve gone for another angle, like her fashionista or model side.

Morgana in both forms is very strong character design, going for a black and white approach akin to mascot characters of the rubberhose era with yellow and blue to make the collar/bandana and eyes stand out as contrasting colours. Every social link design does really well with variety of age, body types and features. From Sojiro’s curved beard to Yoshida’s broader body type. My only criticism is actually body types, despite just praising them, as that tends to apply more to the men than the women and older features aren’t used much if at all to make them more appealing. I want older looking women in games! 

Finally, the Antagonists and their shadow designs. Each represents their main theme perfectly, from Kamoshida’s almost naked body to Kaneshiro’s bug look like a fly to a light as he is to money. Sae has a perfect villainess look to her especially within the context of the palace being a bank as Shido and Maruki both represent very different forms of discomfort especially in their designs (specifically third semester Maruki) with how their uniform is perfectly kept clean and without fault, Shido even having tinted lenses to show his tainted lens on the world. Whilst not perfect, I think the character design is extremely strong despite it and I look forward to seeing how this evolves in the series

Conclusion:

Persona 5 Royal is an extremely important game, to me, others and this industry as a whole. It pushed the boundaries of thematic intent through how even its UI and music so heavily emphasise the themes of this game. Persona games have always used it’s main colour to represent it’s theme (i.e. Persona 3 for blue to represent life and death) but this entry takes that to such an extreme and we are still seeing the repercussions of that today. Breath of the Wild influenced open design in the industry and how mechanically fine tuned and creative it can be, and I feel Persona 5 did this for the art, character design and music and stories of this industry. This is not a perfect game, no game will ever be and sadly a lot of bigoted people worked on this game which affected some qualities like the sexualisation. But I will never let that ruin what this game does so beautifully right as it is an important magnum opus of turn-based RPGs that fine tunes every issue the genre has had prior whilst fine tuning its own series mechanics to a stunning peak. Bias plagued this review and I’m well aware of this, but art analysis can’t be truly objective and this art stole my heart

#persona 5 #persona #joker persona 5 #ren amamiya #sumire yoshizawa #kasumi yoshizawa #goro akechi #akechi #ann takamaki #yusuke kitagawa #ryuji sakamoto #makoto niijima #futaba sakura #futaba #haru okumura #morgana #rpg #atlus #atlusfaithful #sega #jrpg #review #game review #shin megami tensei

[unhappytimeleaper]

Hello, can I request Shu × reader from that yandere alphabet prompt, um, oh can you write it using Shu's name the letter S, H, U and have a great day.

Original request from anonymous

Word Count: 3,100+

Shu is awful. I love him. One of my top ten characters. Anyway yeah, I’m still taking request for the yandere alphabet [mainly for enstars but other fandoms are fine too]. Anyway, as a note, I won’t specify what job ‘mc’ for this is working but it’s meant to imply they are apart of staff in some way. If you want to imagine them in the place of Anzu, you can, but I don’t want to intend it to be that’s the only way. I personally prefer the idea that you work along side Anzu as a friend/co-worker for a few different reasons, but if you don’t want that just see it as you wish since it’s never clarified.

Also, I’m not sure if they are comfortable with me mentioning them by name but I wanna thank my friend for encouraging and reading this beforehand. You know who you are.

Itsuki Shu; unedited. Gender neutral reader.

Warnings; yandere content, isolation, stalking, and slight violence.

This blog is 17+ please have your age in your bio or tagged; any ageless blog and below the age asked for will be blocked at the end of the week.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them?

The general answer is childhood. Pretty much, all of his issues extend from being rooted in his childhood and the way he was treated by his parents, kids his age, and later on as a creator. It’s also deeply ingrained in his sense of superiority and creating the perfect image of art. More than that, it’s Shu’s way of filling the loneliness and fears he experiences, because despite his arrogant and harsh nature, Shu seems to be deeply haunted by his past. We also know by the way he speaks to Nito and sometimes Mika there is a comfortability in seeing people as possessions, it’s a way of securing the fantasy of how his life is in his mind into reality which eventually translates into his relationships.

Now more into specifics. What brought this onto you and not someone else. To start, it really is a piece of separating his life into different parts. After the downfall of Valkyrie and Shu having to pick up the pieces of his mental state, he learned to let go of those in the group to be human. To be their own people, but this also is what taught him how to be better in the sense of never having to feel this level of loss again. I explain it a little more below, but being with Shu doesn’t come fast, rather gaining the trust and friendship of Shu takes a long time. You chose to stick by Shu’s side and often by his terms the entire time. You seeked to understand him and often do things his way. This isn’t to say he controls you entirely during your friendship; it’s not like in the past with Valkyrie where you simply give in as it’s easier, but more often than not, you learn to understand his actions and approaches to life. This accumulates in when hanging/helping out with Shu, you try to do things in a way that suit his needs.

Furthermore, supporting him in general is something that greatly influences his attachment. Knowing he doesn’t understand technology so going out of the way to write letters to him while he’s in France, supporting his designs/hobbies, and extending kindness to what he continues to do in the future. It’s the little things of knowing that Shu truly has someone who stands up and cares for the things he does that draws him in. The problems would start when Shu manages to break from his bubbled view of the world he has with you and see that there is more. You don’t only treat him this way but everyone you work with. That there are other idols and people ready to take away the affection you directed to him– the attention you give to him. You let other people touch you and listen to their fashion advice. That when you aren’t in the craft room working on your own projects as he sews, you're off with god knows who doing god knows what. It’s hard to say that you won’t become like others– notice his flaws and eventually abandon him like the others.

That’s when everything comes back around, the emotions of loss and fear. That you’ll do what humans do and become corrupted, with Shu [+ Mademoiselle] left to pick up the pieces of his mind and heart. It does slowly make Shu more overbearing and possessive; if he’s around, he tends to constantly be popping up to drag you off with him for whatever task he can think of. He gets the help of Mika to ensure he knows where you were or who you were with, as well as Mika becoming a very unscary guard dog to keep strangers away. His comments, once threats to hurt you from intruding on his space or time turns into threats of others, that you need to be watched and kept away so they can’t ruin your opinions on him.

Eventually, things become a snowball effect– he finds it hard to even work on projects without you in mind. If it’s not about random aspects to you as inspiration its about who you are with, what you are doing, where you are, how you are. There never was a specific thing you said or did differently. You can spend all your time racking your brain at what you could have done differently to have kept Shu in a normal state of mind, but there will never be an answer. Guess the biggest hint you can find would be the days Shu sketch designs all focused on one person– although it will be hard to gain access to those sketchbooks.

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

I’d personally say the aftermath of when Shu first acts on a threat of physical violence, even more, how it plays out after. Part of this would come from a few angles as to why it’s one of the worst— although compared to many other yandere’s, it’s probably hard to label the worst as Shu would be decently unbearable the majority of the time. For one, I think even something like this would come as a shock to Shu partly as it’s known he’s quite weak, even he is aware of this and has to rely on other skills of his to keep you in check most of the time. Also, while often giving very horrendous threats of violence to you [far before Shu started his romantic exploitations], no one has taken him seriously as he mostly says these comments in passing frustration. Even you likely wouldn’t take him seriously, given that getting close to him in the first place would require becoming accustomed to his ‘colorful’ language. Beyond the pinch of an ear or dragging you somewhere by the wrist, nothing had ever caused harm past a few hours.

Finally, the last reason is due to the complex nature Shu likely holds. On one hand, he’s moved on from the people are dolls aspect he once held, but as a muse, you still have to be treated with the perfect care of an antique. Violence is something he often wouldn’t want to consider, never wanting to damage you. After all, it’s likely a huge factor as to why you’ve been locked up. But you already appeared so full of marks and scars… while he’s helped make them fade to match the beauty you should exhibit, he doesn’t want to leave anymore on you. Just like the treatment of Mademoiselle, Shu touches you often with the most delicate ways and often gets extremely worked up if someone goes to even brush some lint off your outfit. Yet he couldn’t help it! Perhaps you were going on about something after a few warnings or making some sort of escape attempt. He really didn’t mean to push you down so hard, but the frustration he usually keeps inside managed to boil over and your footing. It’s nothing extreme, a small twist of your ankle and your wrists hurt from the attempt to break the fall, but enough to bring tears to your eyes.

One of the biggest things that would have to become part of the routine is understanding how Mademoiselle functions between the two of you. Despite playing the role of a lover to Shu in this state, it’s rare that his softness will leak through, and he keeps himself quite guarded— something present throughout the entirety of the time you’ve known him. It’s not that he doesn’t have moments where he acts and treats you like a significant other, and over time he becomes much more comfortable. Still, overall it’s obvious Shu has always struggled to communicate more positive/caring things to those around him. Nevertheless, you often do understand Shu’s true feelings through the conversations you have with Mademoiselle. Unlike how many others portray Shu as not needing Mademoiselle as his obsession grows, I don’t think her presence ever disappears entirely because of how his connection with her is built. There will always be fluctuations of her around as Shu’s mental state shifts; you can often tell if it’s worse if Madem is around more (giving hints on when it’s better to not cause issues, less you want life to get a lot worse). Mademoiselle knows Shu better than anyone else, but for the sake of understanding, she isn’t Shu alone— her own personality who is kind to you and a mediator of his emotions. She lets you in on his feelings (wing-doll of the year), extends kindness, offers moments of advice, although most aren’t very helpful as most tend to just be giving into Shu’s whims, and if you’ve been under Shu’s lockdown information about the outside world.

Shu’s anger and fear would likely still be running high in the heat of the moment. He’d turn around and promptly leave the room, shutting the door behind him. In the aftermath of the shock, you’d be left to pick yourself up and hobble into the bathroom to wrap up the injury and, if lucky, perhaps see if you could find some pain killers [whether or not you find them is questionable]. It wouldn’t be for a few more hours that you’d hear the door open and Shu slinks into the apartment. Not in the mood to talk given that issues from earlier would likely still be extremely sensitive, and being hurt was something that came as a surprise. It wouldn’t be until you felt the bed sink a little more as Shu sits next to you. Mademoiselle stares at you; she apologizes for Shu, saying you might not forgive him right this minute but Shu really didn’t mean to hurt you. He just was startled, and you’ve seen how he can be with intense emotions and doesn’t like it when people overrun their mouths. Just give it time. You’ll come around and remember the person Shu genuinely is. The Shu who was your friend. While you understand what she is trying to do— what she represents— it twists the knife deeper into the memories of when you did consider Shu a friend; now, it feels mocking. Like a mother scolding two kids who got into a fight on the playground or over a toy, that the situation can just be fixed with a mutual apology.

It hurts more that Shu would just scoff; you deserved to be punished, didn’t you? It’s the only way you’ll learn! You should be lucky he did something so simple— he could have done something far worse. Mademoiselle has heard it all, the things he’s threatened, so she should know. Despite everything, you can see on his face the remorse if you look hard enough. It’s something the average person probably wouldn’t notice, but after so much time with Shu, you can tell deep down hurting you was never a part of the plan. The rest of the night is spent in silence from both of you, stuck wallowing in the misery of you trapped in this life and Shu not knowing how to make it back to how it was before while keeping you protected in his fantasy.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

One of the main things would be how long it all takes for this to go down. See, you have some yandere’s who move too fast, or you have others where it feels like a sudden snap. Even with some, it feels like it’s progressing in a very normal way. With Shu, it takes an extremely long time for everything to reach its peak. In fact, this is what makes it so hard to avoid— so many of the warning signs would be brushed off as “that’s just his personality.” The fact is they aren’t wrong either; everyone would be semi-used to his creepy, threatening comments especially knowing how Nito was treated yet it’s never been something he’s acted on so it really feels like harmless Shu being his eccentric self. Eventually, you would get used to it as well because of how long it seemed to take for Shu to reach the point where he feels he needs the relationship. It takes months to even get Shu to really even acknowledge you, maybe having a few conversations with Mademoiselle in the time being while Shu himself spends most of those insulting you.

Progressing a ‘friendship’ with Mademoiselle actually would be the ticket to getting closer with Shu as well. And at the pace of a snail, that’s how it starts. It’d likely starts with passing conversations where he’s still quite hostile but enough to actually gather some information on him, to a more casual discussion, walking with him to the cafes to get a croissant, only to have him begin to seek you out. Reasons would be to have another set of eyes on his practice [a stopwatch is good timing down to the second, but nothing can combat the feedback from someone else], to want to eat his meals with you, even getting to enjoy your presence while he works on projects. Another consideration as to why this would take so long is because Shu constantly is going between Paris and Japan; until he’s decided you need to be kept from the world, Shu doesn’t necessarily bother with taking you with him. Once having what can only be seen as tsundere like friendship, you might hear from Shu more often with calls, something you never would expect given Shu’s rough relationship with technology. Or him seemingly coming to you for general information like how to work the computer, which leads to trying to get FaceTime to work and Shu seems to become obsessed with that form of communication. All of this ends up being an extremely long process where if Shu wasn’t as messed up as he is, it likely could have progressed into a normal relationship if he had just talked to you.

One of the biggest things would be how everything with Shu is a walking contradiction. You’d probably be let on early into a friendship that most things would be difficult with Shu given how he naturally is, but love only seems to make it worse. It goes from the basic hot and cold nature of his personality, from constantly showing praise on how you’re his muse, his inspiration– but still holds his sharp tongue in his remarks that come off as insulting. To how he throws himself into work for hours, barely giving you a hint of attention due to focus he has yet doesn’t want you gone from his sight for even a second. How he claims he knows you’re real, you aren’t a doll or item but treats you delicately enough in how you can't do anything without him, something for him to dress up, and will be dirtied by people if they get their hands on you.

Even to the little things. Shu doesn’t necessarily like to be touched, and if you often make the first move, might be startled; however, he always seems to want to have his hands on you in one way or another. Often just to fix something but also as a sign of possession-- something like cuddling late at night or having you sit on his lap while he’s working on more simple projects. Probably the most ironic and funniest to tease him about more simple concepts. Something like how Shu doesn’t understand the appeal of swimwear or fancy undergarments— yet he’s the one always trying to undress you and feel under your clothes for his designs. Or as high and mighty as Shu is, often being taken down by simple technology having to come to you for help despite not wanting you to have access to such. This is all just the start, listing out every other contradiction could take forever. Either way, if you’re not worried about making him upset and making your day worse with his mood, you’re stuck doing cartwheels to understand precisely what he wants now things are ‘furthering in a relationship.’ At some point you probably are mentally exhausted enough you don’t have energy to be physically resistant to his poking and prodding while working.

Lastly, there is one big difference, and that’s how freedom works. It’s very fast into this idea of Shu seeing you as more of a partner and muse that he needs to keep isolated, but also not something Shuu can do easily compared to many other yanderes. In general, being an idol makes it challenging but he moves around so much as it is Shu doesn’t want to just leave you in the apartment alone… or with Mika necessarily. It’s not even the lack of trust in Mika either, although it’s not like he’d be able to babysit you 24/7, giving you plenty of time of time to disappear if you tried. Mind that Shu knows you’re not quite the same as Mademoiselle, but you eventually become a sense of comfort in the same way. Inspiration, a muse for his craft but also a way to relax with the stress that comes from his daily life, we already know how intense Shu is, and he probably calms down a good 2% with you around. So lucky you! You’ll end up being stuck going with Shu wherever he goes.

Holed out in the crafting club making outfits for a performance, that’s your room for the next few days. Although, be aware you’re expected to not leave the room even if Shu has to leave for a few hours to pick something up for his work [or is hungry enough to need something to eat though he’ll make sure to bring something back for you]. Better get used to traveling as you’ll be going from France to Japan quite frequently. However, despite not being fully chained and locked up in a room, that doesn’t give you much freedom. If you aren’t playing ‘dress up’ for Shu, you’re often stuck in the corner or next to him holding Mademoiselle and left to your own tasks. Usually there won’t be much to do, perhaps reading or drawing, or some other hand-held craft, given that you aren’t allowed to have access to a phone/tv nor talk to anyone. Well, unless you want to face Shu’s anger which no one really wants, it seems everyone knows to simply avoid trying to start a conversation [if they even could get close enough]. It’s incredibly isolating, but somehow hurts even more given that you are left watching the world move past you without being a part of it anymore, given the tight leash Shu has. After all, he has had a lot of time to think about how to keep you from breaking or straying too far with the downfall of Valkyrie in the past. Guess one good did come from that experience.

#enstars.leaps #yandere #yandere x reader #yandere writing #yandere enstars #yandere ensemble stars #ensemble stars #enstars x reader #yandere shu #yandere shu itsuki #shu itsuki #tw; yandere #tw; isolation #tw; stalking

[faithfromanewperspective]

alastair/alice carstairs/jahanshah, strength and suffering

closing up alastember, a little late I’m sorry, I wanted to finally write out my thoughts on @thevagabondexpress’ characterisation of Alice, the genderbent version of Alastair. And mostly how this character got me so emotional, so much more than Alastair himself. From her POVs early on and her own insecurities and perceived invisibility to the whole shitshow with Claire and her time rebuilding and reconnecting with family and how she stood up tall (metaphorically) during the whole thing. I have to admit I did harbour a bit of prejudice towards bully-Alastair (courtesy of NBS era) but I think this re-characterisation has made me realise some things:

1) I wish we got to see this much of what happens in Alastair’s personal life in canon, I’d absolutely melt because something just does it for me about (usually) men who are prickly on the outside and yet suffer so much and through it all are proud and independent and reluctant to accept help but they finally do and it’s the most beautiful thing ever. And so a big shoutout to anyone who has fleshed this out in their fics over the last month (tumblr seems to be not taking my tagging rn, I don’t get it but you know who you are. I think). Like we did get some cuteness with Cordelia once she knew and accepted Alastair for who he really is (once the eavesdropping was forgiven). And maybe it’s easier for a woman to find comfort and emotional support from her Persian relatives than a man (seriously, when can men be emotionally vulnerable and still respected?) but I would LOVE to see Alastair free to do that, Thomas by his side.

2) is it the way that women seem more vulnerable because of Social Features or this very talented authorship that has me just feeling everything? Because the genderbent versions of all of the tlh characters are so much more heartbreaking to read, albeit and a really warm, inviting-hugs-from-reader way. Is it because Thomas always narrates the way he sees Alastair as ‘proud’ and ‘glorious’ and likened to a ‘Persian prince’ and goes on about his forearms that the Alastair we see seems someone heroic, in the way that we’re conditioned for men to ideally be and that includes a stark contrast from the Emotionally Sensitive Softhearted Men Who Are Definitely Unrecognised Neurodivergent Cassandra Clare is famous for? (Which in some ways Alastair is a nice change from, personality wise, not that he’s not sensitive but that he’s practical first, too practical to ever show how much he’s hurting). Is it because of the heartbreaking abuse situation with Claire and the ED stuff and how much we see it breaking saeed’s heart when he finds out, and also when he realises exactly what Esther has done to her and connects the dots between the two situations she should never have gone through, that Alice seems so uncharacteristically vulnerable? Because there really isn’t much difference compared to canon, except for gender and the others’ reactions likely as a result of it. Is it the way we so easily project physical attributes onto how we view someone, and maybe I’m not immune to that when I read how tiny and thin she ends up at points in her story? No matter what, it’s clear that both characters are incredibly resilient, and sometimes it’s a good thought experiment to see someone genderbent if it makes you realise that.

3) prolonged childhood trauma and parnetificarion (don’t ask me to fix its spelling. Sorry) and neglect are absolutely brutal things to go through and even though she herself was affected (and I often wonder if she was ever in Alastair/Alice’s shoes as a child) Sona does have a lot to apologise for as well as Elias. We see how it flows into relationships (ie with Charles/Claire) and when Saeed tries to make things better and holds Esther accountable, I was really glad and relieved to see that. Alastair goes through everything he does like it’s normal and he’s willing and that’s how he copes, but I’m DYING for him to realise how much better he deserves, and I’m glad, really glad, that Alice kind of makes her way towards that realisation. Because he deserves the world. So many good things. He really does.

4) the solidarity between Alice and Judith, both around Judith’s ruination, the collaboration for the house, Judith’s insistence Claude supports Alice, and there are many more occasions. I just love to see it. As women, or really teenage girls, it’s easy to see similarities between them: despite their vastly different family backgrounds they’ve both been abused and ruined, they’re both experiencing Big Mental Health Things Claude doesn’t completely understand but still tries his best to be there for. As men, or teenage boys really, we do see them working together sometimes and mostly being not too mad at each other—but there’s so much anger and a history of violence and all the never fully resolved things from the academy that still grate against me. Because of Cordelia in the middle of them who would do great as Claude does to have the siblings in law have a relationship of solidarity, but also because the similarities are there and I just so badly want to see them heal together. I think with Thomas and Matthew’s help they’ll get there, but I also don’t think we’ll see it in canon. I guess if I’ve learned one more thing from this, it’s that that’s what fanfiction is for.

to wrap this up I’m going to make a few final additions to the Alastair playlist (who do I tag for this?? Please, trust my song selection!) that both differentiate Alastair and Alice and also bring them together. Firstly, because the SGFG brainrot shows no signs of expiry, these two 5 seconds of summer songs are applicable to both of them, yet one is more one and the other more the other, as you will see:

-invisible. This is SUCH and Alice song, from the first time we meet her, and hear how ‘what she does best’ is disappearing. i was already missing before the night I left/just me and your shadow and all of my regrets (bold because italics decided to Not Work. I’m never writing a long post on my phone again) anyway to me this captures so much of how Alice is feeling. I feel like being a woman she’s able to be more vulnerable about this than Alastair who is definitely feeling this but to him it’s normal, and I think hidden behind the family responsibility he feels, he normalises it and doesn’t even acknowledge it as something he’s dealing with

-jet black heart. Everything about this is Alastair. From the “hurricane underneath it trying to keep us apart/I write with a poison pen/but the chemicals moving between us are the reason to start again” (Thomas lightwood, do you know how magical you are?) to “the blood in my veins is made up of mistakes” (the one line I need Alastair AND Matthew AND James AND Grace to all bond over) it’s just. Utter perfection and I’ve never seen such hope and self-deprecation co-existing before. “Maybe there’s nothing after midnight that could make you stay” reminds me of Charles and Alastair and how he takes that hurt and the view of himself it builds into his relationship with Thomas. I don’t think Alice is quite as self-deprecating and it’s more than being left that she goes through, control and many many bad things—I hope she finds some radical love for herself and stays away from self deprecation. But it’s a good song, so it stays

-youth by shawn mendes feat khalid is one I love that so captures the hope and pride and dignity and determination to do good despite everything that’s been done to them that both Alice and Alastair have. Pain, but I won’t let it turn into hate, no I won’t let it change me. (Look, italics works again smh) and this soul of mine will never break/as long as I wake up today, you can’t take this youth away

-finally, one that’s about family and because I seem to connect everything with the same 5 musicians, it’s Scar by Ashton Irwin. Talking to his mother, younger sister and baby brother it even fits Alastair’s family perfectly—but Alice is the one who bonds with her grandmother and Persian relatives. And the “can you help me be a better man” is just so. So what Alastair longs for without having had that guidance as a child.

#alastair appreciation month #alastair carstairs #genderbent tlh #genderbent tsc #song recs #music recs #by (shameless tag promotion) #5 seconds of summer #shawn mendes #ashton irwin #alastember

[bongkillua]

20 for the ask game? i love seeing how creators interact with and connect to their characters :>

i am so sorry i saved this ask to be a reward for me after work yesterday and then completely forgot about it.

20. Have your ocs helped you in self discovery? How?

yes!!! a lot actually!! all in very individual and unique ways. i mean i literally went by tucker as a name for a time because of how much tucker influenced me lol. it’s actually funny because you can always tell when i’m going through some sort of identity crisis because one of my ocs will just get a dramatic overhaul or like intense deep dive into their character.

in terms of queerness specifically… tucker is the whole reason why i discovered how werewolves and wolves connect to my masculinity and my gender. that’s something that i still carry very close to me and probably my first baby steps into butchness before i even fully understood it. hes a very old monsterhearts character that i made him at the beginning of the pandemic when i was in this weird limbo space of my transition and how my neurodiversity played into that. he definitely represented who i wanted to be/look like at the time. and over time his identity has changed to reflect mine- from being a gay man to bisexual to a butch dyke to all three at the same time. tucker tends to reflect me the closest but i think i also just change him whenever i’ve Already discovered smth about myself.

xanders gender presentation has given me a much higher respect for drag and Gender Weirdness in general. not to say i didn’t have it before but it feels a lot more personal now. he’s just so fun to play around with in ways that i’m not comfortable experimenting with my own gender url but are still experiences i like to explore if that makes sense. he was also definitely my bisexual awakening when i was in denial for like 6 months. like when i finally accepted that i thought xander was a hot guy AND A HOT GIRL was when i finally accepted that i liked men and women lol. it’s also when i decided xander would be bigender as opposed to a feminine man LMFAO.

ummm tucker and jordan’s relationship pushed me to think a lot more about my queerness growing up and how my experiences growing up as a Queer Girl influenced my Current identity. their whole relationship is like. very personal to me and the queerness of their childhood is such an important part of the story and Why They’re Like That. like idk Queer Childhoods are a very prevalent theme in wolfsbane and i guess i don’t really Discover anything when talking about/working through their backstory but i definitely reflect a lot on myself and my own experiences and it’s just made me a lot more Aware of my childhood.

jordan is actually my oldest character of the bunch that i made back when i was transitioning in high school and was definitely me sorting through some Gay Repressed Emotions but his backstory was just so different back then that it’s hard to relate to it. jordan’s queerness is such a diff experience from i mine though that i can definitely say for certain that he has helped me with self discovery in other ways way more than in terms of queerness. his relationship to his body (less in a trans sense and more in a psychosis sense) and reality are like. the big things i sorta project onto him.

konami reflects a lot of my gender apathy and “unseriousness” about queerness and while i haven’t thought about it much before he definitely represents a future i wish i had for myself of being raised in a communal queer space so like. he’s my inner child in a way :3c i think they also represent like. how my queerness was influenced by the internet and digital spaces but like that was as close as i got to having a queer community growing up so it still relates back to that first point about queer upbringing!

but yeah my characters are always very clear reflections of me and my experiences it’s very intentional. you can definitely tell how i perceive myself and my identity at the time based on which of the four im hyperfixated on the most. i will literally change my entire wardrobe when i decide to delve into one of my characters more. we sorta grow in tandem though sometimes my love for them changes my identity/i subconsciously project things onto them first and other times i realize something about myself and then add it to their characters. we’re very connected though!

#cemeteries #blurry answers #wolfsbane #tucker #xander #jordan #konami #mine #this is long as fuck jesus christ my bad

[steelandblood]

Hi!

This ask might come off as mean to some of your followers so I'd understand if you'd rather not engage, but: I'm so glad to finally come across femwhump that feels like a regular story. Thank you for sharing your works and the story behind your OCs!

I know femwhump tends to be a debated topic on Tumblr and personally, I don't have a preference for the Whumpee's gender. I just really like the idea of heroic characters finding solace in each other, then have one or two of them get sick or hurt and then receive comfort and care. That's all. But whenever people tag femwhump as such, I feel like the things I come across are a lot more fetishized and male-gaze-y than in gender-neutral or male whump. I'm not saying it never occurs in whump starring male characters, of course - it does too - but when it's ironically a lot easier to find well-written whumpy stories starring women if you avoid the "femwhump" tag rather than engage it in, then it's frustrating to remember just how sexualized violence against women is. I've been trying to find some fluffy femwhump sickfics too and SO MUCH of it tends to be kink content. I even wanted to write some sickfics on my own but I don't want them to be associated with kink.

(I've seen some good whump starring female Whumpees by users whumpy-bi and whump-or-whatever too, but it saddens me that stories that treat female whumpees as human beings are rare, even if the whumpee herself happens to be, idk, a gargoyle or whatever.)

Usually I agree with the sentiment of NOT king-shaming, but when 90% of the generic femwhump I come across is based on kink, it gets really tiring. I want to read about female characters that feel human, characters who feel like they're real people, and NOT a caricature of someone's sexual fantasies. Hollywood already does that a lot.

-Lapte 🥛

Hi! I completely understand you! As a woman who mostly only cares for female characters it's really frustrating how even some of the supposedly most generic no named characters things are written with males as the default.

The use of the tag is really a debatable topic, I use it only so It's easier to find my writing, because the general tag is so saturated with male characters. It really sucks that we have to have a specific tag for female characters, because the stories are so rare, while also trying to avoid the sexualized violence we have too much of in the real world already. I just want to project onto characters and imagine I'm being taken care of and being told I have worth as a person regardless of how useful I am, not read someone's sick violent sexual fantasy.

Thank you so much for appreciating my stories, it really means so much to me! (And I have more in the work that I should start posting once I'm back from vacation, in fact I'll continue writing right now as you really motivated me)

Ps

Whumpy-bi's stories ARE really great, I'm existed every time she posts

[northlight14]

It’s rambling about rare pairs O’clock bitches so buckle in!!

Today we have Mondo X Byakuya because not enough love is given to this ship!! Granted, Naegami and Ishimondo will forever own my heart but Mondo and Byakuya definitely have the potential for some great interactions.

To preface this, I’ve only finished the first danganronpa game and I’m only onto the 3rd trial in the second game. Please don’t give me spoilers for anything beyond that or any other type of danganronpa content. All these points are gonna be based off of the first game and there will be spoilers for that game so warnings for that

For these headcanon’s, just assume I’m talking about a non-despair au

Ok, in terms of tropes, right off the bat we’ve got the rebel x prep kinda dynamic which I love. It’s also just two assholes in love which honestly is a very fun trope when done right. Also enemies to lovers, which is best trope

Would they argue a lot? Probably. I don’t see this being a relationship that would last forever. HOWEVER, I do think they’d have a good impact on each other in the time they are together. We all know Mondo is very insecure about his masculinity meanwhile Byakuya at least seems to be more comfortable with things seen as typically “feminine.” He has his clothes be professionally made and takes great care in his appearance and (ignoring the whole Chihiro situation), he states several times that he doesn’t want to touch a dead body, something the other characters in the game seem to consider a more “masculine” trait, calling it weird that Kyoko is so comfortable touching dead bodies while being a girl, among other things (these gender roles are so weird, bro😅). So I think Byakuya would be able to help Mondo with seeing a new side to masculinity and being a man that isn’t just violence, yelling or having to asset physical strength. After all, Byakuya is more in touch with what is stereotypically seen as “feminine” traits and he’s one of the most powerful men in the country!

In contrast, Mondo could help Byakuya relax a bit and just live freely, embracing life rather than working 24/7 for once. These 2 could give each other a moment to just breathe and not have to worry about being the best for once and I think that’s really important

They also have a lot in common when it comes to their backstories. No one on this Earth can convince me that Byakuya doesn’t feel some sense of guilt or survivors guilt over what happened to his siblings. Granted, they may not have physically died (not by his hand, anyway) but they’re still seen as dead to the family and their lives were ruined because Byakuya defeated them. Meanwhile, we know Mondo has some really intense survivors guilt over his brother. Because of this, I think they’d be able to understand each other in a way most others can’t. Mondo I think would also fucking hate Byakuya’s dad (same bro) and would either help Byakuya stand up to him or would yell at him on Byakuya’s behalf (cut to Byakuya falling in love with him all over again.)

Both have a competitive streak that means there’s a lot of opportunities for fun banter and friendly competitions

I headcanon Mondo is trans, and at this point I will forget that that’s not just canon. As for Byakuya, I think he’d realise later in life that he’s non-binary. All I’m saying is, t4t couple my beloved. They also both have ADHD in my mind (mainly for projecting reasons) and just them bonding over their experiences and trauma related to that I just thejfhwbskfhs

#byakuya x mondo #byakuya togami #mondo owada #tw cursing #tw caps #mondogami #danganronpa #danganronpa headcanons #danganronpa trigger happy havoc #trigger happy havoc #multishipper moment #trans mondo #nonbinary byakuya

[funnywormz]

putting some red dwarf headcanons below the cut bc im feeling kinda crappy and just wanna talk abt them.

please keep in mind that these are my readings of the characters and im in no way trying to claim these things are canon or the "correct" way of interpreting them, this is just how i see them personally. a lot of this is just rlly self-indulgent and involves me Projecting. if you don't agree with me on any/all of these, that's fine, i don't expect anyone to be on board with all of them tbh, just pls be nice to be abt it im sensitive

also just a warning. this post got very long bc i have a Lot to say lol

lister

gender: trans man, he/they

sexuality: bisexual

other: adhd (inattentive type), depression, amputee with prosthetic arm

notes: i headcanon lister as a trans man bc im trans masc myself and i find it very comforting to see him that way. it also fits in well with some aspects of canon, like his pregnancy in season 2. he's also just trans masc swag personified lol.

the bisexual headcanon seems to be shared by a lot of ppl in the fandom, and it's personally the way i see him. i think he has a definite preference for women but is still occasionally attracted to men, and (i am pretending that one scene in series 7 doesn't exist here lol 😒) i don't think he'd be repressed abt it at all. he's horny and not afraid to act on it

in terms of the neurodivergent stuff, i think adhd-i fits with his personality pretty well. i think that combined with his tendency to be depressed makes it hard for him to stay motivated and focused, and often means that he doesn't rlly take care of himself or his personal hygiene and seeks out short-term sources of pleasure like food, video games, alcohol and sex to keep himself happy, but can't rlly focus on long term goals. being the last human alive stuck in deep space definitely doesn't help. often his "laziness" is a result of his lack of energy and motivation rather than being an intentional thing. some days he just spend all of his time curled up on his bunk sleeping bc he can't find the drive to do anything else. he doesn't rlly WANT to be that way, he wants to have fun and actually do things, but it doesn't always happen and he has some rlly bad days at times.

with the prosthetic arm, personally i think they should've given him a prosthetic and had a proper character arc around him learning to cope with a disability back in season 7/8, rather than playing it off as a joke and immediately retconning it. i haven't rlly done much planning for this one yet but i just know i want it to be a thing. i think he would probably have a dope looking robot arm or something bc there's no way he'd just go for a boring generic arm if he had the choice imo. he would love to deck it out and customise it and put stickers all over it despite kryten telling him not to hehe

rimmer

gender: mostly cis man but maybe with a little hint of nonbinary-ness in there that he unfortunately refuses to acknowledge. he/him

sexuality: h for homosexual BABEY!!!!!!

other: autism, adhd (hyperactive), panic disorder, generalised anxiety disorder

notes: i think that it's quite possible that rimmer could have a little bit of gender stuff going on. when he projects his own insecurities abt gender and sexuality onto ace he specifically makes jabs abt ace probably wearing women's clothes in secret multiple times, which is equally as telling as his sniping abt ace being gay.

i also do headcanon rimmer as gay, but deeply, deeply repressed about it. he pursues women and kinda forces himself to believe he's attracted to them, but it's out of his desire to meet his own stupid arbitrary expectations of what he "should" be like, rather than out of any genuine attraction. ik a lot of ppl see him as bi, which is perfectly valid! but personally his pursuits of women read to me as something he does bc he feels he needs to do it to complete his image rather than something he does out of any real desire. he's also got enough internalised homophobia that it'd probably take decades of therapy to make him be normal abt it lol. rimmer wants to be the kind of man that he thinks will receive respect and will meet the expectations his family put on him as a child, and having a wife and children was always part of that image for him. he never really stopped to consider if that's something he actually wanted. i think he becomes more accepting of his own queerness as time goes on, but it does take time.

the neurodivergent stuff should be pretty self explanatory but im gonna rant abt it anyways. as an autistic person myself, i find rimmer very relatable. there are multiple scenes in the series where jokes and sarcasm go over his head completely, and countless times where he misreads body language and doesn't seem to get what kind of behaviour is appropriate for certain situations. he just seems to struggle with social interaction and bonding/making friends in general. he has intense interests that others don't rlly understand, like telegraph poles, risk, cars, morris dancing, etc. he gets pleasure out of organising and sorting things to a degree that seems pedantic to others, and seems genuinely confused when lister doesn't share his enthusiasm for cataloguing the ship's food stocks as a fun saturday night activity. he seems to enjoy routines and predictability, and gets upset when unexpected things happen. he also tends to get obsessive about small details rather than focusing on the big picture.

in terms of hyperactive adhd, it seems to me that rimmer often has a hard time slowing down and relaxing, and seems to need to be constantly on the go and doing things and generally fussing about. he also is self aware abt the fact that he has a hard time being quiet, and needs to talk more and at a faster pace than most other people, especially when he's nervous or distracted. as well as this, he often stims by rocking back and forth and jiggling his leg up and down (this also fits with the autism hc). he also has a tendency to procrastinate and seems to have a hard time studying, despite his attempts to convince people otherwise. it often comes up in the series that he'll get hyperfixated on doing something a bit arbitrary, like making an impeccable study timetable/schedule, or tidying, or sorting things into perfect order, rather than actually STUDYING, which is part of why he continuously fails his engineering exam.

the panic and anxiety disorder thing should be pretty self explanatory too. rimmer is clearly a worrier and has multiple panic attacks in the actual series. he seems to spend most of his time in a highly strung state of near panic, to the point where it interferes with his physical health. the way the canon narrative handles his anxiety, and his neurodivergent traits in general, is often a bit shitty lol, but it seems clear to me that he suffers from anxiety and panic attacks. kryten mentions that he's at a higher risk for those kinds of disorders due to genetics, but i also think that his childhood trauma and subsequent lifestyle (deathstyle??) definitely haven't helped him get any calmer lol

the cat

gender: trans man, he/him

sexuality: bisexual aromantic

other: autism

notes: most of these are more of a "because i said so" situation rather than things with canon evidence lol but still. esp the trans man one. i don't think the cat rlly has much of a concept of his own gender at all tbh, he just decided one day he was more comfortable as a man and stopped thinking abt it after that lol. i see the cat as bisexual bc i don't think he'd rlly give a fuck abt gender as long as ppl are hot and well presented, and i think he's aromantic bc throughout the series he doesn't seem to show much interest in a committed romantic relationship with anyone. when he does show interest in people, it reads more as purely sexual attraction to me than any desire to settle down or have an actual relationship.

i think he's autistic but it isn't always picked up bc his special interest is fashion, which isn't perceived to be a "typical" special interest. he seems very particular abt textures and colours, and puts meticulous effort into his wardrobe and often only wants to talk abt clothes even when ppl want to talk to him abt something else. to tie in with that, he doesn't seem great at reading social cues and often makes faux pas and accidentally insults others without realising it. he seems to generally have a hard time with empathy and understanding that others might not always share his interests and priorities

kryten

gender: nonbinary, any pronouns but generally uses he/him and is fine with this

sexuality: aroace

other: autism (again)

notes: ik that robots being nonbinary and aroace and autistic can be an unfortunate and frustrating stereotype sometimes, but it's just hard for me to see kryten any other way 😅. anyways, although im not aro or ace, i AM autistic and nonbinary and i think robots rule and i adore kryten so WHATEVER!!!! take it up with my nonexistent lawyer or something idc

in terms of being nb, kryten seems to only have the vaguest idea of what gender actually is, and i doubt that he really identifies as particularly male or female. he's most used to being perceived as male, but i don't think he really identifies with manhood. he seemed actively repulsed by male reproductive organs when he was briefly human, which makes me think that if he was human he'd probably suffer from gender dysphoria if he had to live in an amab body, but likewise he seems to have mixed feelings abt being perceived as a woman in season 8. in truth, i think he fits somewhere in the middle.

i see kryten as aroace bc he just never rlly seems to express any interest in sex or romance, even seeming confused by both concepts at different points. he IS a deeply loving and passionate and affectionate person at times imo, but it's always platonic i think. he just doesn't strike me as someone who would get any enjoyment or fulfilment out of having sex or being in a romantic relationship.

the autistic hc should once again be pretty obvious. he has a hard time reading social cues a lot of the time, and enjoys repetitive tasks that other ppl find boring, like ironing etc. he also just generally does and says things that strike others as eccentric without meaning to come across that way and jokes often go right over his head. he's autistic to me. ik that a lot of this is tied up with him being a mechanoid, but im autistic and i love kryten so im claiming him fuck you

kochanski

gender: trans woman, she/her

sexuality: lesbian

other: autism, generalised anxiety disorder

notes: ive seen a few ppl hc kochanski as a trans woman and i rlly warmed up to it. it also makes sense that lister would get a crush on her if he knew she was trans and they had "two of the only trans ppl on the dwarf" solidarity, like i can imagine it being part of why he came to like her tbh.

ik kochanski's statement abt her dave being gay and them just pretending to be in a relationship was immediately dismissed by lister and she didn't argue abt it, but i like to personally believe it's true. i think for a long time she struggled with internalised homophobia and didn't mind getting attention from men, esp bc it validated her gender as well. but in my headcanon it was always uncomfortable for her and never felt right, hence why she broke up with her lister before the accident (although the breakup was also in part due to her lister's struggles with his sexuality as well). much like with rimmer, i think kochanski had high expectations of herself and felt anxious for others to see her as a "real woman", and for a long time it was hard for her to reconcile being a lesbian with those expectations. but she gets there eventually.

at first i was on the fence abt headcanoning kochanski as being autistic, but i decided to do it. she's better at masking than rimmer is, but it still shows through in her very particular sensory preferences and attachment to comfort items and occasional misreading of social situations. likewise with generalised anxiety, i think she has a tendency to get anxious and worry abt things that other ppl might not care abt, and becomes stressed pretty easily. she tries her best to hide it, but she likes to be in control of a situation and know what all of the likely outcomes are, and when she can't have that level of control she finds it deeply upsetting and destabilising. she likes to have predictability and routine and takes comfort in familiar objects and sensations even when those things might seem silly or irrelevant to others.

holly

gender: nonbinary (imagine all of the computer related puns she could make abt this lol he would love it), any pronouns

sexuality: bisexual

other: n/a

notes: holly is so nonbinary to me. it's basically canon already considering that they switch back and forth between male and female presentation multiple times. i don't think gender means a hell of a lot to holly but she enjoys messing around with it and trying out new things. my personal headcanon is that she prefers presenting in more of a feminine way but the default presentation he's programmed with is masculine and she can't rlly be bothered changing it a lot of the time bc she doesn't rlly give a smeg.

likewise i think holly is attracted to men and women and everyone else. i don't think he feels sexual or romantic attraction that often but it definitely happens. they only ever really feel attraction to other ai though and aren't into organic beings in that way, and bc he hardly ever gets to encounter other ai her romantic life is kinda nonexistent lol.

i think holly probably has some Brain Stuff going on but idk what exactly so ive left that blank for now. if i come up with anything i will probably edit this later

OK THAT'S IT FOR NOW sorry this post is long as fuck. hope you guys enjoyed reading me ramble on abt the silly little fellows

#i dont think im gonna put this in the main tags bc im scared of ppl making fun of me for these 😔 #like i said it's very self indulgent i dont expect ppl to agree with me or even understand. but i just needed to go on a ramble #pls be nice

[ace-ace-attorneys]

maya fey?

my girl!!

sexuality headcanon: aroace! i can see her as a lesbian too, but aroace maya is my preferred hc. either way i think she tried for a long time to convince herself that she liked men because she thought that was what she was supposed to do, but eventually had to come to terms with the fact that she didn’t and was never going to. it took some time and some unlearning internalized aphobia/homophobia, but she eventually came to feel comfortable or even proud of her identity. i also think that during the trilogy she can see pearl starting to go through the same thing, and so she tries her best to guide her through it, being there for her while still giving her the space to explore her own identity and figure things out.

gender headcanon: girl. maybe demigirl? i can see her using she/they pronouns. in general i think she’s pretty comfy with identifying as a girl though

a ship i have with said character: since i mainly hc her as aroace, i don’t have any really strong ships with her, but i think franmaya, emamaya, and farafey are all cute!

a brotp i have with said character: obviously maya and nick. my top post of all time is how much i love their relationship so this should be obvious. i love her relationships with miles and gumshoe too!! this is a bit of a tangent but i also saw someone once bring up the possibility of shipping her with simon blackquill, since they’re the same age, and while i originally thought that was super weird, i’m actually starting to realize there could be a lot of potential in their dynamic. since i hc them both as aroace, i think they could be fun as qpp or simply as friends <3

a notp i have with said character: again, obvious, but shipping her with phoenix. even if it weren’t for the age gap, it’s just… not it.

a random headcanon: she dabbles with creative writing as a hobby in her free time, and mostly writes fantasy chapter books like the ones she loved when she was little. she’s terrible at finishing things though, and not very good at planning, so she usually ends up giving up partway through and moving onto something else. (i may be projecting a little.) she still has fun with it though, and when she’s older she maybe ends up actually finishing and publishing something

general opinion over said character: she was the very first aa weirdgirl and while i love every weirdgirl that followed in her footsteps, she did it first and did it best. i also think that the fanbase consistently mischaracterizes her in the same way, but that’s a whole other post so i won’t get into it here. either way i love her dearly <3

#thanks for the ask!! #maya fey #pearl fey #fey clan #ace attorney #skye speaks

[lumine-sm]

i just wanna say thank you again for responding to my post, it made me really happy to see, and i love love love talking about headcanons and my favs !! so please feel free to just jump into my notes anytime !!

Anyways, on that note, I'd love to hear about some of your Gorou headcanons if you're comfortable sharing ? :3c (no pressure of course!)

No problem! I’m glad I got to hear some takes on this as he’s not a character many of my Genshin playing friends tend to take much interest in and honestly your headcanons are just really good!

For me personally my main interest in the character comes from the way he helped me get to grips with my gender identity a bit. Because of this my head canons and theories tend to lean towards Miko and his life outside the army, which is why I hadn’t considered the Kokomi headcanon.

Personally I headcanoned him as bigender for a while, seeing him as coming to occasionally use the Hina pen name in his personal life after stuff like the meet and greet (Gorou Hina skin when? Please hoyo). A lot of this came from projecting onto the character and him being a vessel for my own gender discovery. Now I stand by this headcanon but I’m less… militant about it, shall we say. idk if it’s the best one and I think there’s a big place for transmasc Gorou and however else one sees him! Because really I think there’s a case to be made for a lot of different gender identities which I think makes him a really interesting character, at least to me, a gender enjoyer. That said I do think transmasc Gorou holds the most water and is the most recognised.

I’ve also always been a big fan of Ittorou. It’s canon compliant, they work well together, and also, Itto was my first five star. He was sort of the reason I kept playing Genshin and the reason I first pulled for Gorou. Regarding the ship I’ve read a few fics that follow the premise of Itto falling for Hina then falling for Gorou, sort of like that old post about a Bi person falling for a hot man and a hot woman and then realising they’re the same genderfluid person?

I’ve always like the idea of Gorou being a good complimenter? Like you described the way you saw him as a very empathetic person, I see that as one of the ways he connects with his troops, that he’s someone who’s good at positive reinforcement and recognising strengths.

In terms of personality I don’t think I have anything different or interesting to say than what you did. Someone who’s passionate and happy but more quiet and thoughtful in private.

I was originally gonna put this in the tags but here’s probably better. Thanks so much for responding to my asks and reblogs! Hearing someone else’s perspective and passion about something I care about has sort of made my day (I know that might seem silly). I may pop into your notes in the future but

#I am normal about this dog #How does a fictional character change your life and make you a better person??? #Idk but having something to be passionate about that helped mw understand myself made life a lot easier these past few years