#ikaros talks

[fenrirgodspeed]

hehe hey what if i...started writing some for otome again

[zenyukis]

they really killed off allura.......they really did that.........as a casual fan who doesn’t rlly care about vld ships i genuinely believed there was nothing the season could do to upset me but here i am. it’s a big yikes from me

[fenrirgodspeed]

even if you don’t ship jonalot or fenray or hoki or harlance or any of the ships in ikerev romantically, it’s still super cool that the men in ikerev have close, intimate, affectionate relationships with each other and and are open about them and it’s just. fucking normal and even celebrated. it’s not a constant masculine posturing ceremony where the only time they interact is to 1. fight or 2. compete for mc’s interest; they all feel like real people in a real world with real history, and that is 100% where the magic and immersion lies.

i notice that mobile ftp games that tend to miss the mark for me are severely lacking not just in continuative world building or fleshed out characters, but proper relationships BETWEEN the characters who exist so closely with one another. the suspension of disbelief only stretches so far, and once it’s broken, i generally lose interest after i finish a route. sometimes i don’t even get that far.

there are times i am in the mood for fast-paced whirlwind romance stories where nothing and no one else matters, so it’s not that i think those games are shitty/not valuable or that there’s not a market for them at all--they’re just not what i’m going to keep up with and pour my resources into on a consistent basis. i guess this all boils down to why you play otome or what you get out of it, but i am not sure i will ever like a game enough to play 10 different routes solely for the romance between me and a man w the same cookie cutter character archetype from every other game. what keeps me (and lbr the majority of players) coming back for new routes and events for months and years to come is the chance to learn more about the world, the suitors, and the relationships between them.

midcin and ikesen especially (i’ve never played dtl so rip) have great examples of meaningful relationships--not necessarily romantic, though it’s valid to interpret them that way and you can fight me if you disagree--between men, but i think ikerev has really taken the cake so far in that regard n i just. wanted to say that i love it

[fenrirgodspeed]

i’m glad there’s a realistic variance of phisique in ikerev like why would the doctor who drinks all the time and never works out be stupidly built let him have his cute lil beer belly in peace

[fenrirgodspeed]

anyway,, reminder to any and all writing peeps that need to hear it: you can write any kind of fic you want as long as you warn/tag correctly for it. we’re all responsible for curating our own fandom experience and avoiding content that upsets us, especially on sites that make that so easy to do via tagging systems and rating filters. also, you’re not obligated to disclose your trauma or lacktherof with x problematic thing in order to justify writing about it w/o explicitly condemning it. cathartic expression and consumption is normal and human.

this surging echochamber of puritanical anti-intellectualism in fandom can be overwhelming at times even for those of us who actively combat it, but lemme say this for those of you who are as ashamed as i was: you’re not a bad person for exploring dark themes via writing.

[fenrirgodspeed]

okay,, here we go,,,,

[fenrirgodspeed]

anyways. fenray i s fucking CANON

[fenrirgodspeed]

do y’all wanna hear a horror story? so the ikerev data update from this morning wouldn’t download for me for me for some reason (it was stuck on 2% and wouldn’t move for over half an hour), so justine suggests i try clearing my cache. i do, but even that bar won’t budge. i think it might be my internet connection, but all of my other apps, devices and internet services are working normally.

i haven’t been able to access the game all day, lucky time starts in an hour, and ya girl is trying to stay ranked in the top 300 so she can get all of the bonuses, right? so what choice do i have except to delete and redownload the app and hope that will solve the problem?

cautiously, i do. my account is linked with google, so upon redownlaoding (which is the first thing to go smoothly and quickly for me in regards to ikerev all day) i choose to recover my data with that. but the pop up says “signing into this account will overwrite existing data. are you sure you want to continue?” which. eye. that sounds a whole lot like “your entire account will be overwritten” but at this point i just want access to the game, so i press the button. and for a solid 45 seconds, in which the home screen looks like it did when i first downloaded the app a year ago, i am .03 milliseconds away from having a breakdown.

and then it prompts me to do another data download. the update from this morning. it takes, i’m not fucking kidding, 15 seconds. and then my account is restored. i am tired. i am filled with aborted anxiety. and above all, i am relieved that hundreds of dollars haven’t been electronically burned. that was SO scary y’all i am. i need a nap