I’d rather be an ageless, endless, abstract entity

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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna

I’m Arbi, but you can also call me Nya!

Same username on ao3, where I’ve posted the following works!

Ruby and Emerald au: (BNHA) When Pro Heroes Deku and Dynamight find themselves face-to-face with their 13 year old selves, they decide the only course of action is to train them up and save the future!

your claims were steady till I’m dead (but then I’m gone): (BNHA) AFO captured his son, Izuku, and… does not treat him like a valued son. All Might, seeking to save Izuku, falls into the same trap… (WARNINGS: cannibalism, human experimentation)

Neo Fairies: (Fairy Tail) Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Gray, and Juvia are thrown through time before the war with Alvarez ends. Determined to save their guild (and the rest of Fiore), they devote themselves to taking down threats from behind the scenes!

I will soften every edge: (KNY) post-manga demon slayer fic exploring how the kids grow up and deal with life after the Corps.

to make light truly count: (KNY) spinoff of above fic where Sanemi goes to Asakusa, makes friends(?) with Yushirou, and joins the Tokyo Police.

sand gator gets his face punched in: (One Piece) time travel taking the post-Dressrosa group and plopping them straight into Alabasta.

WANTED: WHITE BLADE KUINA: (One Piece) kuina lives au where they both join luffy’s crew in shells town. 

Symbols of Fear and Hope: (Batfam) Reverse Robins fic where an eight-year-old Duke Thomas is the first kid Bruce picks up.

Billy Batson Week twenty-eighty-four ⚡️: (Shazam) assorted one shots for Billy Batson week 2024

California Demon (Explain Yourselves!): (Gravity Falls) inspired by a tumblr post linked in the fic, Bill Cipher in his own human body shows up in Piedmont and it goes downhill from there.

Relativity (as we relate to each other): (Gravity Falls) my take on the relativity au ft. Grunkle Mason’s Gallery of Mystery!

Pinned Post pinned post arbitrary speaks asdgh the obvious fondness for time travel.... wow i promise I have other ideas yall I'll probably add to this in the future as I add more works to ao3 ruby and emerald au neo fairies edited to include the fucking horror fic I keep FORGETTING it jump scares me every time I check my ao3 stats sushizuku mended heart series time travel: alabasta 2 au wanted: white blade kuina symbols of fear and hope bb84week explain yourselves au gallery of mystery
ranahan
pyrrhiccomedy

I feel like we need a refresher on Watsonian vs Doylist perspectives in media analysis. When you have a question about a piece of media - about a potential plot hole or error, about a dubious costuming decision, about a character suddenly acting out of character -

  • A Watsonian answer is one that positions itself within the fictional world.
  • A Doylist answer is one that positions itself within the real world.

Meaning: if Watson says something that isn't true, one explanation is that Watson made a mistake. Another explanation is that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made a mistake.

Watsonian explanations are implicitly charitable. You are implicitly buying into the notion that there is a good in-world reason for what you're seeing on screen or on the page. ("The bunny girls in Final Fantasy wear lingerie all the time because they're from a desert culture!")

Doylist explanations are pragmatic. You are acknowledging that the fiction is shaped by real-world forces, like the creators' personal taste, their biases, the pressures they might be under from managers or editors, or the limits of their expertise. ("The bunny girls in Final Fantasy wear lingerie because somebody thought they'd sell more units that way.")

Watsonian explanations tend to be imaginative but naive. Seeking a Watsonian explanation for a problem within a narrative is inherently pleasure-seeking: you don't want your suspension of disbelief to be broken, and you're willing to put in the leg work to prevent it. Looking for a Watsonian answer can make for a fun game! But it can quickly stray into making excuses for lazy or biased storytelling, or cynical and greedy executives.

Doylist explanations are very often accurate, but they're not much fun. They should supersede efforts to provide a Watsonian explanation where actual harm is being done: "This character is being depicted in a racist way because the creators have a racist bias.'" Or: "The lore changed because management fired all of the writers from last season because they didn't want to pay then residuals."

Doylism also runs the risk of becoming trite, when applied to lower stakes discrepancies. Yes, it's possible that this character acted strangely in this episode because this episode had a different writer, but that isn't interesting, and it terminates conversation.

I think a lot of conversations about media would go a lot more smoothly, and everyone would have a lot more fun, if people were just clearer about whether they are looking to engage in Watsonian or Doylist analysis. How many arguments could be prevented by just saying, "No, Doylist you're probably right, but it's more fun to imagine there's a Watsonian reason for this, so that's what I'm doing." Or, "From a Watsonian POV that explanation makes sense, but I'm going with the Doylist view here because the creator's intentions leave a bad taste in my mouth that I can't ignore."

Idk, just keep those terms in your pocket? And if you start to get mad at somebody for their analysis, take a second to see if what they're saying makes more sense from the other side of the Watsonian/Doylist divide.

wolfsbanesparks
thefawcetttimes

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