I'm good at pretending I'm not crazy

I need to talk about why the dark lord isnt a one-dimensional villain, and how Alan and his team managed to pull off a character who's deal is 'i was made for violence so I will do violence' while managing to pull it off well.

To preface this, i think it's important to note that the writing that alan does for his series isn't godly. It's not something that deserves 50 million awards. What it is though, is really solid. The story he's telling is generally quite simple, with familiar topics. But its the fact that he can tell a good story that makes this so good. The story is compelling. The characters are lovable and hateable. The visuals are wonderful. The themes are consistent. Ava/AvM can't really be seems as some revolutionary film series, (the fight scenes will go down in history as absolutely legendary though istg), but it will always have a reputation for solid and decent writing.

Dark's character is very interesting to me. From what I can see, they are definitely a complicated character with specific interests and views on morality and ideas, that go beyond their name being The Dark Lord.

I could describe dark's general character in a few words. Bloodthirsty. Cruel. Detached. Opportunistic. This combination is what makes dark such an interesting character to talk about.

They're definitely bloodthirsty. I think that much is obvious. The first thing they decide to do while out of Alan's hands is to wreak havoc on other beings. The various attacks on different websites (especially newgrounds), their nether rampage in Animation vs Minecraft 0, their murderous rampage in rocket co; you get the idea. They like commiting acts of violence. Most of this probably comes from their name being literally the dark lord. But dark definitely had the opportunity to learn other behaviors outside of violence- chosen offered to build things with them in the avm 0 episode, the entire time period where tdl and tco were laying low- tco was able to gain some degree of awareness that what they were doing with tdl was evil (but was probably too codependent to confront tdl or leave them). So I feel like that tdl is definitely making a choice to continue being as bloodthirsty as they are.

On top of that, the dark lord is incredibly cruel. You can be bloodthirsty without being cruel, but this bastard likes to make sure what theyre doing is extra violent and painful. They doesn't immediately take out the color gang when they try to fight them- they just engange in hand to hand combat, then, deciding they've had enough, slaughter the color gang. When fighting the chosen one, they are also extremely brutal about it- skewering them, stabbing them, slicing them- although tco didn't die from that, there could've been other equally as effective ways to subdue both tco and Alan without this degree of brutality (virabots). Then, after being obliterated by a child, they go onto not learn their lesson or even feel some sort of hesitancy towards violence. Instead, they jump right back to it. And the first plot we see them hatch? Leveraging victim's trauma to get victim to do the dirty work of building the revive-o-matic for them. And they were not remorseful or even neutral about emotionally manipulating victim. Victim, in that moment, probably felt like they finally succeed their only goal for past decade and was fully prepared to jump back into their idealized life. And then we just see dark chortling in the background while victim get more and more confused on why Misti is not responsive. They took enjoyment from inflicting that pain. Being a bloodthirsty harbinger of evil is one thing, but that wasn't in the job requirements.

Dark is also incredibly detached. Their reaction to defeating an anguished and livid victim, who, might I add, was trying to wreak revenge on them for the manipulation and the murder of their close one; was to offer their their hand in a 'well, back to it!' fashion. And when the enthusiasm wasn't reciprocated and victim decided to finally turn away from their blinding desire for revenge, dark basically shrugs this off and then cuts them in half. After that, they immediately recruit the revived victim as a champion of death- they just move on from 'victim goes against him' to 'they murder victim for their "betrayal"' to 'getting back on the murder train' in mere minutes. Dark isn't unaware about victims feelings- to be able to manipulate someone to that degree, one needs innate knowledge on how feelings work. They just dont care about others. This level of casual murder and manipulation comes from being so unhinged.

I think a lot of the stuff I talked about up there can properly demonstrate how tdl is opportunistic and self serving. They immediately team up with tco, knowing that the can't break free from Alan alone. They immediately weaponise their knowledge on mitsi's death to play victim like a fiddle. They see tsc's powers and their first idea is to find a way to make those powers serve them. Heck, their entire gimmick about viruses is also about that. Computer viruses work because they prey on naivety and the trust of others for their own self gain. People who use viruses maliciously are seeing opportunity for self gain by using others. The dark lord is the same.

That genuinely did not go the way I thought AT ALL

Spoiler warning and extremely disorganized rant ahead:

I've noticed all the Hollowheads have gotten some kind of "upgrade" this season (Second's powers getting reawakened, Dark Lord becomes Goop Lord, Victim becomes H4ck3r). I'm calling it now that they're gonna reutilize Second's connection to Chosen by having him awaken some kind of "next level" powers in Chosen, and then he finally gets to beat The Dark Lord himself. That is the only satisfying way I see Chosen's character arc playing out, and I am going to bite someone if it doesn't happen.

Tfw you proceed to lose to the dumb jellyfish.

Thanks for the tag @winterandwords

Describe the plot of your story/ WIP in five words or less

Alrighty then. I think I found a new way to describe Snow on the Pines:

———————

Just what is going on?

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No pressure tag @ark-inkweaving @dyoniawrites @aalinaaaaaa @corinneglass @i-do-anything-but-write

TRS:

Saving a Dumbass from himself

JoR:

Everything is on fire... 👍?

The Flames of Revolution:

Idiot teen descends into darkness

Phoenix:

Supers have citywide custody battle

Spy series:

Learning to be human again

MTBOLWBA:

Three weirdos make a family

heart of a lindworm:

Let's reconcile the world together!

in the cards:

This kingdom's not my problem

An Element So Ephemeral: Fetch quest turned time shenanigans

Golden Masquerade: Sons of Garmadon but angstier

I See Roses: My favorite ships but toxic

Bestowed: Elemental weapons find their family

Clumsy dreamer being unlucky ninja

The Journey is the Way;

Hero's Journey without hero

@ashirothebird @kyodrawsstuff @arrowchristian @dragonessfire

King Orange’s Guide to Adopting Traumatized Minors:

Single dad adopts superpowered kids

I’m Here for the Green Ones:

College student adopts superpowered teens

Pin point: Retired swordmaster adopts self-hating musician

Woven together, to fall as one: Parental trauma siblings

The Fame and the Blame: Siblings fight over commiting genocides

my Roman Empire is this one image on Pinterest and everyone thinks it’s a base/dynamic template when it’s actually Animation vs Minecraft fanart

Ha yes, thank you! That one's from a few months ago, when I was trying to figure out poetry (short stories being the general range of my comfort zone). The draft of that one isn't even finished, which is why the name is just a keyboard smash hehe. Here's a few verses:

The day we met, I recall playing God -

floating above in the rafters, I watched

as the holiest creature I’d ever witnessed

danced, and crumbled.

Where before my life had been empty,

you settled in – the swan,

a splash of light, nestled

amidst the coolness of a vast empty pool.

When given the opportunity, he lets go of any worry and starts playing. This causes a lot of anxiety for Mango, but I think it's a testament to how much Purple trusts him. He doesn't think the Aether is dangerous, but he also (usually) doesn't fight Mango when Mango makes a different call.

(tagged by @cheap-lemons-and-theatrics, sorry this is a tad late lol)

i really had to think about this. although im a little shy when it comes to revealing things im working on, i do enjoy the mystery myself.. hehe. some of these are writing related, others are art related C:

- Mystreet Comic WIP -- Dialogue

- Content Contensions

- MCD + MYST rewrites

- You Over the World

- Annihilation Invasion (YOtW prequel)

- LetUsLoveForAllEternity

- ShipOpinions

Book, Perhaps

Elivyrian *

The Forest *

Maya and Meadow

(most of these are extremely short and unfinished)

Ignis

A Story

Unamed Writing Idea

Fractal

Easier

Retribution

All is Found

Sand Through our Fingers

yeah these range from like three sentences to 100 pages, have fun figuring out which are which

not going to tag 8 people because I don't want to bother you all, but @ashvian-arts, @a-field-of-thistles @spookthelilguy?

before my history ends

if our grave was watered by the rain

god is dead(but i am too)

ghost vin time travel

kelsier lives to make things worse

false kandra (x2)

kidnapped au

mare lives au

all of these are aus with a few being just. the same one jus in a new file lol. i tend to try to keep my stuff more organized than this but alas

(and yes, i like to steal song lyrics for titles- its very fun)

through the ages

dandelion seeds

closing night

asdalsld

you should be able to guess the lerati fic lmaoo. actually, if anyone has ideas for better names I would be VERY grateful... I don't really mind it per se but it's a little too close to a certain actual mistborn book lol. alternate titles include Secret Secret History or This Could Be Dragonsteel But You Playing™

Ok here we go:

We who can finally rest

The light we must forget

Friends...forever?

Woven together, to fall as one

The fame and the blame

Around the world in... just a day, actually

Pin-point

They are fics for two fandoms, some are stuck, some in progress, some in the eternal editing stage. I tried to generally pick the ones that are likely to ever see the light of day, since I've got tons I may never finish, lol.