Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2025-12-29 06:38 pm
rionaleonhart) wrote2025-12-29 06:38 pm
Entry tags:
Having To Do Anything At Gunpoint Is Stressful.
Last year, I posted a reflection on my favourite characters of 2024. It was a lot of fun, so I thought I'd do the same thing again!
As with 2024, I'm going to take a quick look at the preexisting favourites who've particularly occupied my mind this year, and then I'm going to comb through my 'first impressions' tag and give my favourite character from each canon I first posted about in 2025. (If no favourite character comes to mind, I'll skip the canon.) I might also cover a couple of canons I've tried out this year but haven't yet posted about.
Firstly, the old favourites I've found myself thinking about a lot again this year!
James Sunderland, Silent Hill 2. Between building my Silent Hill website and playing the Silent Hill 2 remake, James is probably the character who's occupied my mind the most this year! He remains one of the most interesting characters I've ever encountered; I could (and do!) talk about him all day. I'm so glad I like his portrayal in the remake; I was nervous!
My ships for James: James/Mary remains my emotionally devastating OTP.
My 2025 fanworks featuring James: Trouble in Paradise (James/Mary), a short fic set in the 'Bliss' ending. This was a new ending added for the remake, and it is fascinating. And I suppose my website counts as a fanwork!
Mark S, Severance. Severance returned to our screens at the start of this year, and every episode was a bizarre and gripping experience. I love a traumatised mess with memory issues, and Mark S delivers in spades. I wrote fic after fic with feverish intensity.
My ships for Mark: I ship Mark with everyone else in the Macrodata Refinement team, separately and together, but I have a particular fondness for Mark/Helly. I also think Mark/Helena has a lot of interestingly fucked-up potential.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Mark: Lots! Practical Research (Mark/Dylan) is the only fic tagged with Mark/Dylan on AO3, which is frankly outrageous. A Duty to Ourselves (Mark/Helly/Dylan) is about Mark walking in on Helly and Dylan and getting drawn in. Double-Sided is about Mark and his outie sending messages to each other. Overwritten is about reintegration. Anthropology is about Mark trying to understand Helly's outie. For Someone Else is about Helena's perspective on the team. Finding Air (Mark/Helly/Dylan/Irving) is about the Macrodata Refinement department finally having the goddamn foursome I'd been trying to write for ages. Null is about Mark and his outie speaking to each other in a hallucination.
Andrew and Ashley Graves, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. What the fuck is wrong with these siblings??? I don't know, but I can't get enough of it. The release of Decay episode three was an absolutely insane experience. Please give me more of these two ruining their own lives, each other's lives and the lives of every person they come in contact with.
My ships for Andrew and Ashley: Horrible toxic Andrew/Ashley for ever and ever and ever and ever and
My 2025 fanworks featuring Andrew and Ashley: Excuses (Andrew/Ashley, NB incest, non-consensual voyeurism) and we're not going to do better next time (Andrew/Ashley, NB incest, abuse), both of which are absolutely horrible.
Kris Dreemurr, Deltarune. I'm not sure whether Kris is actually my favourite Deltarune character; that might be Susie! But Kris is the character I can't stop thinking about. Ever since playing chapter four, I have been obsessing over Kris's goals, their knowledge, their relationship with Noelle and with Susie and with us as the player. There's so much we don't know about them! I need to know!!
My ships for Kris: Kris/Noelle has so much fascinating and worrying potential! I am unshakeably convinced that Kris has a crush on Noelle, which has such interesting/awful implications for the Snowgrave route. I also have a fondness for Kris/Susie; those two are such weirdos together and it's very cute.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Kris: Communication is about Kris having a conversation with the player; who you are and what you want (Kris/Noelle, NB consent issues) is about Kris struggling with intrusive thoughts in the knowledge that the player can force them to act on those thoughts.
And now for my favourite character from each new-to-me canon of the year!
Yugamu Omokage, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy. I'm fond of erotic violence in fiction; Yugamu's central character trait is being incredibly horny for murder; I was doomed to enjoy him.
My ships for Yugamu: I will happily ship Yugamu with any member of the Special Defense Squad, but I have a particular fondness for Yugamu/Takumi. Yugamu's constant creepy flirting is a delight, and I like how, although Takumi's weirded out by it, he nonetheless really values Yugamu as a friend and a member of the team.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Yugamu: All That's Left (everyone/everyone) is about half of the Special Defense Unit having an orgy. Piercing the Heart (Yugamu/Takumi) is about Takumi struggling with stabbing himself, and Yugamu being more than happy to help. Kindred Spirits is a Horizon Zero Dawn crossover in which Yugamu meets Nil, a man equally horny for murder. Within Reach (Yugamu/Takumi) is about Yugamu and Takumi sharing a bed.
Maelle, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. She's selfish, she's flawed, she's good-hearted, she's traumatised, she's a little bit cocky, she can dole out genuinely terrifying quantities of damage, she's the best character from the best videogame of the year.
My ships for Maelle: I don't ship anything in Clair Obscur particularly hard, but I do think Maelle/Verso has really interesting (and horrible) potential.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Maelle: I haven't written anything for Clair Obscur under my own power, but I've written a few short ficlets in responses to prompts for other people, which you can find on my secondary AO3 account. (NB: every one of these ficlets is for a fucked-up pairing! A few different pairings, but all fucked up in their own ways.)
Rumi, Kpop Demon Hunters. I remain inescapably fond of self-loathing characters who make terrible decisions. Poor Rumi, desperate to claw her own skin off and become somebody else!
My ships for Rumi: I really like Rumi/Jinu; I think they needed more scenes in the film to develop their relationship, but they have a lot of chemistry. And Rumi/Mira/Zoey is very cute!
David Chiem, Danganronpa: Despair Time. Of all the characters I've newly fallen in love with this year, David is the one I fell for hardest. I was not prepared for my progression from 'yeah, David's there, I guess' to 'actually, I'm sort of interested in David; I want to know what his deal is' to 'oh shit I suddenly love him'. What a mess of a person. He's awful and I adore him. At one point I spent twenty minutes just fondly looking through all of his sprites.
My ships for David: David/Arei is surprisingly cute, given the people involved! I also love the idea of horrible self-loathing David/David selfcest, and David/Teruko has some fun potential. I wouldn't necessarily seek David/Xander fanworks out, but I do nonetheless headcanon David as having a crush on Xander.
My 2025 fanworks featuring David: Bad Company (David/Arei) is about David and Arei bonding over being bad people. Self-Discovery (David/David, NB dubcon) is about David having fucked-up hatesex with himself in his dreams. Reality is about David willingly hallucinating as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Mutually Regrettable (David/Teruko) is about David and Teruko becoming... enemies with benefits?
Wolfgang Akire, Project: Eden's Garden. There's something very compelling about Wolfgang's ferocious, slightly worrying passion for justice!
My ships for Wolfgang: The events of chapter one left me eyeing Diana/Wolfgang with interest; I think it has a lot of unsettling potential! Apparently I'm the only one, though; there is a single fic in the Wolfgang/Diana tag on AO3, and I'm the one who wrote it.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Wolfgang: Unaccounted For (Wolfgang/Diana, NB consent issues) is a horrible exploration of what might have happened in the boiler room during that weird stretch of unaccounted-for time in canon.
Tsurugi Kinjo, Danganronpa Another. There's... there's something very compelling about Kinjo's ferocious, slightly worrying passion for justice. It's possible that my obsession with Light Yagami has given me a type.
Yoshiki Tsujinaka, The Summer Hikaru Died. Yoshiki's not a character I'm passionate about; The Summer Hikaru Died is more about the absolutely insane relationship between the main characters than about the characters themselves. But, if you ask me to pick a favourite, it's inevitably going to be the normal kid who's desperately trying to hold on with his fingernails while his world falls apart around him.
My ships for Yoshiki: what the FUCK is going on between Yoshiki and Hikaru, it's incredible, never stop
Jax, The Amazing Digital Circus. 'Wisecracking, self-loathing cynical mess' is often a fun character type! He should meet Dr Cox. (He should not meet Dr Cox; they would hate each other.)
My ships for Jax: I have a longstanding habit of shipping cynical arsehole characters with the person who makes them a little less cynical. I really thought the weird character designs in this show might put me off shipping, but no; Jax/Pomni still managed to get me.
Chip, Death Trick: Double Blind. The Magician doesn't seem particularly impressed by Chip on first meeting, but I found him strangely likeable! Entertaining and friendly and surprisingly charismatic. Congratulations on getting me to like a clown, Death Trick.
Robert Grove, The Goes Wrong Show. My cousin introduced me to this show by putting on the episode 'The Lodge', and I found that the house's creepy owner really drew my attention; he was imposing and strangely attractive, and he got knocked out by a falling vase, smashed through a series of bannisters on a stairlift and then plummeted from the upper level to the stage like an absolute champion. I've now seen the whole of the first series, and Robert is my firm favourite of these ill-fated thespians. I don't often find people hot, but he hits hard on my long-established and perhaps unfortunate weakness for a large man with a loud and aggressive persona; see also Jeremy Clarkson, Charlie Brooker and Greg Davies.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Robert: I haven't written any, but I'm including this because I'm so fascinated by the question of how you could possibly write fanfiction for The Goes Wrong Show. Constant typos? The fic's text size slowly, unstoppably increases until the characters are forced to escape the fic to avoid being crushed by the words??
Dexter is a surprising omission here! I watched a lot of that show earlier in the year, but I just don't have an answer to the 'who's your favourite character?' question. I like Deb, but not passionately enough to say with confidence that she's my favourite; I find Dexter interesting, but I can't say for certain whether I like him. I tend to be a very character-focused fan, so it's always a little surprising to me when I get into something without latching strongly on to any of the characters.
As with 2024, I'm going to take a quick look at the preexisting favourites who've particularly occupied my mind this year, and then I'm going to comb through my 'first impressions' tag and give my favourite character from each canon I first posted about in 2025. (If no favourite character comes to mind, I'll skip the canon.) I might also cover a couple of canons I've tried out this year but haven't yet posted about.
Firstly, the old favourites I've found myself thinking about a lot again this year!
James Sunderland, Silent Hill 2. Between building my Silent Hill website and playing the Silent Hill 2 remake, James is probably the character who's occupied my mind the most this year! He remains one of the most interesting characters I've ever encountered; I could (and do!) talk about him all day. I'm so glad I like his portrayal in the remake; I was nervous!
My ships for James: James/Mary remains my emotionally devastating OTP.
My 2025 fanworks featuring James: Trouble in Paradise (James/Mary), a short fic set in the 'Bliss' ending. This was a new ending added for the remake, and it is fascinating. And I suppose my website counts as a fanwork!
Mark S, Severance. Severance returned to our screens at the start of this year, and every episode was a bizarre and gripping experience. I love a traumatised mess with memory issues, and Mark S delivers in spades. I wrote fic after fic with feverish intensity.
My ships for Mark: I ship Mark with everyone else in the Macrodata Refinement team, separately and together, but I have a particular fondness for Mark/Helly. I also think Mark/Helena has a lot of interestingly fucked-up potential.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Mark: Lots! Practical Research (Mark/Dylan) is the only fic tagged with Mark/Dylan on AO3, which is frankly outrageous. A Duty to Ourselves (Mark/Helly/Dylan) is about Mark walking in on Helly and Dylan and getting drawn in. Double-Sided is about Mark and his outie sending messages to each other. Overwritten is about reintegration. Anthropology is about Mark trying to understand Helly's outie. For Someone Else is about Helena's perspective on the team. Finding Air (Mark/Helly/Dylan/Irving) is about the Macrodata Refinement department finally having the goddamn foursome I'd been trying to write for ages. Null is about Mark and his outie speaking to each other in a hallucination.
Andrew and Ashley Graves, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. What the fuck is wrong with these siblings??? I don't know, but I can't get enough of it. The release of Decay episode three was an absolutely insane experience. Please give me more of these two ruining their own lives, each other's lives and the lives of every person they come in contact with.
My ships for Andrew and Ashley: Horrible toxic Andrew/Ashley for ever and ever and ever and ever and
My 2025 fanworks featuring Andrew and Ashley: Excuses (Andrew/Ashley, NB incest, non-consensual voyeurism) and we're not going to do better next time (Andrew/Ashley, NB incest, abuse), both of which are absolutely horrible.
Kris Dreemurr, Deltarune. I'm not sure whether Kris is actually my favourite Deltarune character; that might be Susie! But Kris is the character I can't stop thinking about. Ever since playing chapter four, I have been obsessing over Kris's goals, their knowledge, their relationship with Noelle and with Susie and with us as the player. There's so much we don't know about them! I need to know!!
My ships for Kris: Kris/Noelle has so much fascinating and worrying potential! I am unshakeably convinced that Kris has a crush on Noelle, which has such interesting/awful implications for the Snowgrave route. I also have a fondness for Kris/Susie; those two are such weirdos together and it's very cute.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Kris: Communication is about Kris having a conversation with the player; who you are and what you want (Kris/Noelle, NB consent issues) is about Kris struggling with intrusive thoughts in the knowledge that the player can force them to act on those thoughts.
And now for my favourite character from each new-to-me canon of the year!
Yugamu Omokage, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy. I'm fond of erotic violence in fiction; Yugamu's central character trait is being incredibly horny for murder; I was doomed to enjoy him.
My ships for Yugamu: I will happily ship Yugamu with any member of the Special Defense Squad, but I have a particular fondness for Yugamu/Takumi. Yugamu's constant creepy flirting is a delight, and I like how, although Takumi's weirded out by it, he nonetheless really values Yugamu as a friend and a member of the team.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Yugamu: All That's Left (everyone/everyone) is about half of the Special Defense Unit having an orgy. Piercing the Heart (Yugamu/Takumi) is about Takumi struggling with stabbing himself, and Yugamu being more than happy to help. Kindred Spirits is a Horizon Zero Dawn crossover in which Yugamu meets Nil, a man equally horny for murder. Within Reach (Yugamu/Takumi) is about Yugamu and Takumi sharing a bed.
Maelle, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. She's selfish, she's flawed, she's good-hearted, she's traumatised, she's a little bit cocky, she can dole out genuinely terrifying quantities of damage, she's the best character from the best videogame of the year.
My ships for Maelle: I don't ship anything in Clair Obscur particularly hard, but I do think Maelle/Verso has really interesting (and horrible) potential.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Maelle: I haven't written anything for Clair Obscur under my own power, but I've written a few short ficlets in responses to prompts for other people, which you can find on my secondary AO3 account. (NB: every one of these ficlets is for a fucked-up pairing! A few different pairings, but all fucked up in their own ways.)
Rumi, Kpop Demon Hunters. I remain inescapably fond of self-loathing characters who make terrible decisions. Poor Rumi, desperate to claw her own skin off and become somebody else!
My ships for Rumi: I really like Rumi/Jinu; I think they needed more scenes in the film to develop their relationship, but they have a lot of chemistry. And Rumi/Mira/Zoey is very cute!
David Chiem, Danganronpa: Despair Time. Of all the characters I've newly fallen in love with this year, David is the one I fell for hardest. I was not prepared for my progression from 'yeah, David's there, I guess' to 'actually, I'm sort of interested in David; I want to know what his deal is' to 'oh shit I suddenly love him'. What a mess of a person. He's awful and I adore him. At one point I spent twenty minutes just fondly looking through all of his sprites.
My ships for David: David/Arei is surprisingly cute, given the people involved! I also love the idea of horrible self-loathing David/David selfcest, and David/Teruko has some fun potential. I wouldn't necessarily seek David/Xander fanworks out, but I do nonetheless headcanon David as having a crush on Xander.
My 2025 fanworks featuring David: Bad Company (David/Arei) is about David and Arei bonding over being bad people. Self-Discovery (David/David, NB dubcon) is about David having fucked-up hatesex with himself in his dreams. Reality is about David willingly hallucinating as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Mutually Regrettable (David/Teruko) is about David and Teruko becoming... enemies with benefits?
Wolfgang Akire, Project: Eden's Garden. There's something very compelling about Wolfgang's ferocious, slightly worrying passion for justice!
My ships for Wolfgang: The events of chapter one left me eyeing Diana/Wolfgang with interest; I think it has a lot of unsettling potential! Apparently I'm the only one, though; there is a single fic in the Wolfgang/Diana tag on AO3, and I'm the one who wrote it.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Wolfgang: Unaccounted For (Wolfgang/Diana, NB consent issues) is a horrible exploration of what might have happened in the boiler room during that weird stretch of unaccounted-for time in canon.
Tsurugi Kinjo, Danganronpa Another. There's... there's something very compelling about Kinjo's ferocious, slightly worrying passion for justice. It's possible that my obsession with Light Yagami has given me a type.
Yoshiki Tsujinaka, The Summer Hikaru Died. Yoshiki's not a character I'm passionate about; The Summer Hikaru Died is more about the absolutely insane relationship between the main characters than about the characters themselves. But, if you ask me to pick a favourite, it's inevitably going to be the normal kid who's desperately trying to hold on with his fingernails while his world falls apart around him.
My ships for Yoshiki: what the FUCK is going on between Yoshiki and Hikaru, it's incredible, never stop
Jax, The Amazing Digital Circus. 'Wisecracking, self-loathing cynical mess' is often a fun character type! He should meet Dr Cox. (He should not meet Dr Cox; they would hate each other.)
My ships for Jax: I have a longstanding habit of shipping cynical arsehole characters with the person who makes them a little less cynical. I really thought the weird character designs in this show might put me off shipping, but no; Jax/Pomni still managed to get me.
Chip, Death Trick: Double Blind. The Magician doesn't seem particularly impressed by Chip on first meeting, but I found him strangely likeable! Entertaining and friendly and surprisingly charismatic. Congratulations on getting me to like a clown, Death Trick.
Robert Grove, The Goes Wrong Show. My cousin introduced me to this show by putting on the episode 'The Lodge', and I found that the house's creepy owner really drew my attention; he was imposing and strangely attractive, and he got knocked out by a falling vase, smashed through a series of bannisters on a stairlift and then plummeted from the upper level to the stage like an absolute champion. I've now seen the whole of the first series, and Robert is my firm favourite of these ill-fated thespians. I don't often find people hot, but he hits hard on my long-established and perhaps unfortunate weakness for a large man with a loud and aggressive persona; see also Jeremy Clarkson, Charlie Brooker and Greg Davies.
My 2025 fanworks featuring Robert: I haven't written any, but I'm including this because I'm so fascinated by the question of how you could possibly write fanfiction for The Goes Wrong Show. Constant typos? The fic's text size slowly, unstoppably increases until the characters are forced to escape the fic to avoid being crushed by the words??
Dexter is a surprising omission here! I watched a lot of that show earlier in the year, but I just don't have an answer to the 'who's your favourite character?' question. I like Deb, but not passionately enough to say with confidence that she's my favourite; I find Dexter interesting, but I can't say for certain whether I like him. I tend to be a very character-focused fan, so it's always a little surprising to me when I get into something without latching strongly on to any of the characters.