Trabia Garden

When 2020 was looming, I posted an entry about the media that had made a real impact on me in the 2010s. I had fun with this, but it's hard to narrow things down across an entire decade! Maybe I should start doing these media roundups more frequently? Every half-decade, perhaps?

Oh, hey, it's 2025.

In alphabetical order, here are ten canons from the last five years that I think I'm going to remember! Note that this is media I originally experienced between 2020 and 2024, rather than necessarily being media that was originally released in that period.


1. Celeste. One of my absolute favourite games. Great music, charming characters, satisfying gameplay. It's tough, but I rarely found it frustrating, and I was delighted to realise how much I'd improved when I went back to replay from the beginning. Playing Celeste is a lot like playing the piano, learning the right pattern and timing of button presses through repetition until you can run smoothly through a level. I'll often find myself replaying Celeste levels when I've got a little time and nothing else is grabbing me, in the same way I'll often take a moment to sit at the piano and play a few pieces I know by heart.

2. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. The relationship between these siblings is just so awful and intimate and fascinating; I can't get enough of it. I want to swim around in all this hideous codependency. When I first drafted this list at the start of the year, I noted, There's a chance I'm being too hasty with this one; I discovered it right before 2024 ended, so I haven't had time to be sure it's going to be a lasting interest. But, having had my mind obliterated by the latest chapter, I can now say with confidence that I am never going to stop thinking about this horrible game.

3. Lost. What an experience! I love it when characters are stranded together and forced to bond under high pressure, and this is an absolutely stellar example. Went in some wild directions, too; I said 'what the fuck' so many times while watching this show. Jack Shephard is a wreck of a man in a way that I find fascinating.

4. Omori. This game fucked me up. A lot of it is fun and charming! And then there are the parts that severely messed with my head. Two separate aspects gave me trouble sleeping. Some really interesting uses of gameplay, including one of the best-executed plot reveals I've ever seen.

5. Person of Interest. In a lot of case-of-the-week shows, the case itself is the least interesting part for me. In Person of Interest, I found the individual weekly cases absolutely gripping. The fact that the murders they're investigating haven't happened yet gives each case a living main character, usually the would-be victim, which makes them so much more fun to watch. I really enjoy Reese as a character, too.

6. Persona 5. I picked up Persona 5 in lockdown, when it was heavily discounted. I'd heard good things about the Persona series, but I'd always been intimidated by how long and complicated the games sounded. Still, it was 2020, and I wasn't able to leave the house, so it seemed like the right time for a hundred-hour RPG. It was an incredible decision. What a stylish, fun game! What great kids! I played it non-stop for a month and a half and had an absolute blast.

7. Persona 4. I was a little concerned about going back to Persona 4 after playing 5. I'd loved Persona 5 so much; what if the previous game was a disappointment? But I ended up loving Persona 4 just as passionately, largely because of Yosuke; he's a good-hearted but slightly shitty disaster of a teenage boy who's helplessly in love with the protagonist, and I find him endlessly endearing.

8. Severance. I've always been compelled by stories about weird things happening to people's memories, and by stories about people developing intense relationships while isolated together, so Severance is essentially the perfect canon for me. By a long way, it's the most gripping show I've ever watched. I'm so nervous when I sit down for a new episode; I never know what to expect!

9. Taskmaster. What a show. It makes me laugh like nothing else. The way it keeps a single set of contestants for each series adds a lot to the experience; you really get to know the contestants and their approaches to these ridiculous tasks over the course of a series. The New Zealand and Australian versions are just as great to watch; Greg Davies remains an unparalleled Taskmaster, but, if I'm honest, Paul Williams is my favourite assistant.

Wait, that's only nine! Okay, I'm going to add a tenth, but this is definitely cheating:

10. Death Note. I absolutely did not first experience Death Note between 2020 and 2024; I've enjoyed it since 2008! But I feel it sort of fits in my 'canons of the last five years' post because I got back into it in 2023 in a way I'd never been into it before. I watched the stage musical, absolutely lost my mind and spent months thinking about nothing but Light Yagami. Let's say the tenth canon here is Death Note: The Musical.

Honourable mention to The Quarry for the burst of intense ficwriting it inspired in me! I wasn't that drawn in by the canon itself, but the potential in Travis and Laura's relationship really grabbed me by the throat.

EDIT: WAIT, I just thought of a legitimate number ten!

10-2: Die Hard. We were locked down for Christmas in 2020, and I was sorry that I couldn't visit my family, but the upside was that I joined in my housemates' Christmas tradition of watching Die Hard. This film was such a delightful surprise for me! I went in expecting a badass, stoic action hero; I got a desperate, terrified mess. I found John McClane's suffering so compelling. What a blast.

Before I get into the traditional talking too much about karaoke, I should mention that the annual Three-Sentence Ficathon is underway! Here's the current post, if you want to prompt or write anything.


Here is a very belated post about our karaoke-focused New Year's celebrations! Part of the reason this post was taking so long was because it's a pain to link to all the songs on YouTube, so I eventually abandoned the effort; I apologise for how spotty the linking is as a consequence.

It will surprise no one to learn that our household celebrated the turn of the year with karaoke on New Year's Eve. Here are the songs I performed!

- The Glee version of 'Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah', because New Year's Eve coincided with the seventh night of Hanukkah. A carefully calculated song choice; it's a Hanukkah song, so it was a way of saying 'happy Hanukkah!' to Rei, but it's a Glee song, so it was also a way of saying 'I want to affectionately inflict psychological damage upon you.' Rei responded by singing 'How Do You Spell Channukkahh' by the LeeVees.

- 'You and Me (But Mostly Me)', from The Book of Mormon. I modified the lyrics slightly to make this a solo, which frankly I think is in the spirit of the song. There was a lot of laughter at this one, and my housemates broke into applause at the end. 'Yes!' I declared, opening my arms to the sky. 'I deserve this!'

- At Rei's suggestion, the two of us duetted on 'Guy Love' from the Scrubs musical episode. Tem had not seen Scrubs and probably found the experience slightly puzzling.

- I was concerned that 'Dylan' by Emmy the Great might be too fast, but it turned out to be really fun to sing! This is a song I picked up from my time living with th_esaurus; she used to listen to it a lot.

- 'Last Surprise -Scramble-' from Persona 5 Strikers was also fast and fun! Everyone joined in on the too many 'oooooh's at the end.

- Rise Against songs are always both extremely intimidating and an absolute blast to sing, and 'Help Is On the Way' is no exception. I struggled with the 'RIGHT HERE' screams but had an earnest crack at them.

- Singing Gackt's 'Last Song' with Rei was a very nostalgic experience. I was nervous about singing in Japanese, but I think it went okay. It's amazing how the songs you listened to as a teenager stick with you, even if they're in a language you don't speak.

- Tem and I like to wait until everyone's let their guard down and then throw a duet from Death Note: The Musical into proceedings. On this occasion, the duet in question was 'The Way It Ends', so I got to play smug Light, one of my favourite Light Yagami modes (all of Light's modes are my favourite Light modes).

- I ran out of songs I was confident in, so I had to venture into my 'this is probably a bad idea' picks, which is how I ended up singing 'Big Enough' by Kirin J Callinan. There were incredible reactions from the room when the screaming cowboy kicked in. The fun thing about doing this song for karaoke is that, although it's a meme, only a very specific part of it is well known, so the audience may not suspect you're singing a meme song until you throw your head back and go AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH.

- Rei joined me for RichaadEB's metal cover of Touhou's 'Bad Apple', which is fortunate, because I don't think I would have been capable alone! That song really doesn't give you any breathing room.

- I enjoyed singing 'Body' by Marah! I'm always surprised by the vanishingly low viewcount on Marah's songs on YouTube; for a long time I struggled to find their songs on there at all. My brother listened to them a lot when we were teenagers, and I always assumed they were well known, but apparently not; he'd just got into an incredibly niche band, and landed me with a fondness for their songs as a consequence!

And a few others I don't have much commentary on: 'Burning in the Skies' by Linkin Park, 'This Old Sin' by Koethe, a repeat of the sea shanty version of 'Rockstar' by Nickelback.

My favourite performances by Rei included 'Don't Be a Lawyer' from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the unfortunately named 'JAP' by the perplexingly named abingdon boys school, 'Fight Club' by Fitzy, and a couple of Tom Lehrer songs: 'Smut' (with relish) and 'The Masochism Tango' (Rei and Tem briefly tangoed together during this one, although fortunately they didn't follow the song's instructions to the letter).

Rei also performed 'Mother Mary' by Tom Auton, and the lyrics made me suspicious. 'Is this on your Billcifer playlist?' I asked, and Rei hastily shushed me. (Billcifer is Rei's Lucifer-inspired Bill/Dipper Gravity Falls AU; it's here, and I can strongly recommend it if that sounds like your thing! It's been great to see Rei's enthusiasm for working on it.)

My favourite of Tem's performances included 'Gettin' Bi' from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, 'Hurricane' from Death Note: The Musical (always a delight; Tem always puts such passion into 'I AM THE GOD OF A BRAVE NEW WORLD'), 'Godless, Lawless & Non-Monogamous' by New Here, and 'Monochrome' by BABYMETAL (with me and Ginger singing backup vocals).

I'm noting my favourite performances down in part so I can look up the original songs at some point, for those I wasn't familiar with already. One of the fun aspects of karaoke is getting to discover cool new music! However, there's always the risk that I'll seek out the original and go '...actually, I prefer this song when my friends are singing it.'

Rei, Tem and I did a couple of songs as a trio towards the end: 'Wait for It' from Hamilton and 'Six Feet' by Patent Pending. I was afraid that the Hamilton song would be too ambitious, but I think it worked out!

Tem and Rei did a magnificent duet of Sarah and the Safe Word's 'Something Is Afoot on Old Man McGrady's River', and wrapped up with the occasion-appropriate 'This Year' by the Mountain Goats. A great way to see 2024 out!

The full game of Metaphor: ReFantazio is now out, and I continue to have a great time with it! Atlus games tend to be on the hard side, so I'm playing on easy mode, which I'm personally finding to have a satisfying level of challenge.

(NB: I am never looking for a massive level of challenge in turn-based RPGs, so what I find satisfying (pretty much just 'some mild requirement of strategy') may not be what you find satisfying!)

If you're on the lookout for a mediaeval fantasy RPG, I can recommend trying out the demo; you can transfer your save data to the full version, and it definitely showcases enough of the game to help you decide whether it's up your street! In fact, the demo took me eleven hours to finish. A trailer played at the end, and I went, 'Do you... really think you still need to sell this game to me? I've been playing for eleven hours; I think you can safely assume that I'm enjoying it.'

Strohl, on discovering the existence of a washroom on the runner, was cheerfully willing to strip off in front of his companions to make use of it. Hulkenberg was scandalised by this prospect. I'm just making a note because 'Strohl thinks nothing of being nude in front of his friends' is a valuable detail for fanfiction.

I can't say for certain whether I'll end up writing Metaphor: ReFantazio fanfiction. I'd like to! I definitely ship Strohl with the protagonist in theory; as with Yosuke and Ryuji before him, it's clear that Strohl met the protagonist and fell in love with him straight away. But the protagonist isn't giving me any sense of personality yet, and I don't want my fanfiction to come across as 'Strohl is in love with a block of wood'.

Thinking about this was part of the reason I made yesterday's post about which silent protagonists I find interesting. The protagonist of Metaphor: ReFantazio is not technically silent, but he's definitely a silent protagonist in spirit. Hopefully I'll get more of a sense of his personality as the game goes on!

And, if not, maybe I'll get desperate and write Strohl/protagonist fanfiction, but in an AU in which the protagonist of Metaphor: ReFantazio is Joker from Persona 5.

Actually, that's an incredible idea. Someone rewrite the entire game with Joker at the head of the party.

On a final note: it's very funny that the fast travel system in this game involves actual canonical teleportation, and that the characters notice and are weirded out by this.

I've played a few hours of the demo for Metaphor: ReFantazio, which is basically mediaeval fantasy Persona, and unfortunately I love it. Looks like it might be time to sink a hundred hours into another Atlus game.

When the protagonist's dialogue options turned out to be voiced, I was so shocked that I paused and had to take a moment to recover. It's not what I expect from something so clearly rooted in the Persona series!

Hilariously, the background music is diegetic; your fairy companion is magically making music play in your head. Incredible. I also inexplicably find the battle music extremely funny; it's something about the singing!

This game immediately got its claws into me by introducing a mouthy, overconfident young man with a guilt complex and a desperate need to do what's right. 'Kind of a little shit' and 'fundamentally good-hearted' is a very hard combination for me to resist. And then he was nice to our protagonist when everyone else looked at us with suspicion! I immediately loved him and wanted to be his friend.

(To be honest, I've already checked whether I can romance Strohl. The answer: no, because this game has no romance system. I'm going to pretend I'm romancing him.)

At one point an army captain asked me about my skills, and the game presented me with a list of options. 'I can take a lot of punishment,' I replied. The captain's response was 'Really now? I'd not have guessed... Sounds like an invitation to me.'

I felt the game had looked straight at me and said, 'You intentionally made the protagonist say the horniest of the options, didn't you?' and, to be honest, it was right.


The rest of this entry will be a dream roundup!

( Dreams from September and October. )

A few nights ago, I dreamt there was a large, poisonous red and black frog on my bedroom wall, right next to the bed. I dreamt this so vividly that I had to turn on the light in real life to check whether it was really there. I don't usually get confused about whether my dreams are real; it was a very disconcerting experience!

For the benefit of anyone who's concerned: I have not been poisoned by a frog.

Here's the third instalment of these fandom questions from trobadora!

A pairing – platonic, romantic or sexual – that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

I'd never thought about Kirigiri/Togami before, but doreyg opened my eyes to the ways in which the characters echo Light and L, and that was all I could think about on my next Danganronpa playthrough. Before I knew it, I'd written a fic.

What was the first thing you ever contributed to a fandom?

A genuinely terrible Pokémon website, which I have since seen cited in multiple places as an example of bad website design. The first fic I contributed was Rachel's Pokémon Journey, a thinly veiled self-insert I started writing at the age of twelve; you can find an annotated version in my Old Fanfiction Book Club tag.

Do you remember your first OTP? Who was in it?

The first pairing I shipped was Squall/Zell from Final Fantasy VIII. The first pairing I got really invested in was probably James/Mary from Silent Hill 2, which absolutely broke my heart, although Satoshi/Daisuke from DN Angel might also be a candidate; I definitely shipped Satoshi/Daisuke earlier, but I can't remember quite how invested I was. The first pairing I wrote fanfiction for in large quantities, rather than just a fic or two, was the Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler from Doctor Who.

What is your favourite source text for fandom stuff (e.g. TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

Videogames! Most videogames contain a lot of detail that isn't strictly plot-relevant and let you personally explore the setting, meaning you can get to know the world very intimately. They also tend to be long, so you have plenty of time to get to know the characters. And the popularity of Let's Plays on platforms where it's easy to skip to a specific timestamp, such as YouTube, means it's often easier to double-check a canon detail in a game than in, say, a TV show.

All of this means that, when writing for videogames, I'll usually have a strong grasp of the required elements, and there's plenty of scope for fanfiction ideas. I've written about 1.25 million words of fanfiction in total, and over half of it is for videogames.

How many fandoms have you written for? How many have you been in, and how many are you still in?

Oh, God. The exact number depends on how you count, but I've definitely written for slightly over a hundred fandoms.

How many I've been in is trickier. Going by the 'five fics, or 10,000 words across three fics' criteria I use for 'my fandom history' writeups, I've been in about forty fandoms.

If we take 'being in a fandom' to mean 'belonging to and actively participating in spaces dedicated to discussion of a particular fandom', things narrow further: Pokémon, Final Fantasy, Red Dwarf, Jak and Daxter, Silent Hill, Doctor Who, Scrubs, Top Gear, Glee, British comedy RPF, Derren Brown RPF, Assassin's Creed (sort of; the fandom space in question was a series of Google Docs in which two fellow fans and I enthusiastically plotted out a lengthy cowritten AU), Life Is Strange, Your Turn to Die, Lost, The Quarry, Death Note and, weirdly, Lord of the Rings, a canon I enjoyed but have never actually been that into. And, uh, I went to a Supernatural convention, so that probably counts.

How many am I still in? I'm not actively in a community for any specific single fandom at the moment, but there are plenty of canons I still talk about and occasionally write about, and I'm always just a rewatch or replay away from flooding your reading page with rambling about something I haven't thought about in years. I am still in all and none of my fandoms.

Has social media caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

The author's social media has severely complicated my feelings about Harry Potter.

For the most part, social media doesn't usually harm my feelings about a canon. If I don't like what I'm seeing from fans on social media, I'll just seek out fans whose approach I prefer.

What fandom broke your heart?

Oh, dear. That would, of course, be Linkin Park. The lead singer died right when I was at the peak of fannish obsession, and I, er, didn't handle it very well. On reflection, I think my subsequent year-long mental breakdown would probably have happened sooner or later anyway, but that's what ended up breaking the dam.

Linkin Park recently reformed with a new singer, which I was excited to see! I think going with a female singer is a smart choice; any male singer would inevitably be compared to Chester constantly, whereas welcoming a woman to the band makes it clear that they're doing something new, rather than trying to replace him. Their new single, 'The Emptiness Machine', is pretty cool.

Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you dislike or even loathe.)

I'm going to stick specifically to characters I dislike so much I wish they weren't in the canon at all, which makes this a challenge!

I like the way that, after his time in prison, Sam Drake of Uncharted is a little out of step with modern technology; that's a fun little detail.

Pierce of Community has a few good lines; 'If it's so serious, why don't they call it meningitis?' really got me.

Teddie of Persona 4, er. Oh, God, I can't do it. I'm so sorry.

Probably one instalment of these questions to go!

More home karaoke! Yes, it's only been a couple of weeks since the last session. I swear this isn't going to become a fortnightly habit; the timing just worked out that way.

It's time for me to talk about the things I sang in unnecessary detail!

We had a couple of guests I'd never met before, and both they and I were a little nervous about singing in front of strangers. The best strategy for overcoming karaoke nerves, I've found, is to make a fool of yourself straight out of the gate. To this end, I went with the Sonic Underground theme song for my first performance, perhaps the most dramatic cartoon theme song ever composed. I had a blast.

As we now have multiple microphones and don't have to share, Tem and I were able to perform 'Stalemate' from Death Note: The Musical as God intended: stalking slowly around the room, staring intensely at each other as we sang. People in the room were shouting 'Now kiss!' by the end of it.

We did not kiss, but we did later sing the homoerotic tennis duet from the same musical at the request of a guest who'd previously seen us perform it, which is basically the same thing.

I was Light in both cases, naturally! And also wearing a new Death Note T-shirt Tem had given me for my birthday. It seems to have become an unspoken rule that I should always wear a Death Note shirt for karaoke.

To my delight, Rei had been listening to Koethe's 'Haunt Me' since I'd performed it at our last karaoke session, and they suggested we duet on it for this one. I think Koethe's music is fantastic, and I'm very pleased to spread awareness of it!

The song I was most concerned about performing was 'Prayer of the Refugee' by Rise Against; I wasn't sure whether I would be able to get the ferocious shouting right. But I think it went well! I really enjoyed singing this one. At one point I turned around and spotted one of the guests air-guitaring on the solo.

I thought Persona 5's 'Life Will Change' would be a self-indulgent 'pretty much nobody else knows this' song, but it turned out to be a great choice, because it transpired that the two new-to-me guests love this game! They both leapt to their feet at the first notes and spent the entire song dancing enthusiastically. What a banger.

In a return to our teenage roots, Rei and I dueted on 'Byakuya ~ True Light', the theme song to DN Angel. It has several instrumental breaks, and we danced through every one of them. Afterwards, my housemate's boss asked about the anime it was from, and we had to explain, 'It's about a fourteen-year-old boy who transforms into a legendary art thief whenever he gets horny.'

My last performance of the evening was this sea shanty adaptation of 'Rockstar' by Nickelback. One guest went 'oh, no, I hate this song' when they saw the title, but I'm pleased to report that they quickly came around to the sea shanty version. By the end, they were joining in on the chorus.

Some other performances I really enjoyed: Tem draping xemself in a cloak and waving it around like bat wings during BABYMETAL's 'Akatsuki'. A guest's incredible performance of The Little Mermaid's 'Poor Unfortunate Souls' in French. A lovely duet of 'Born to Die' by Lana Del Rey, and a very fun performance of 'Move Your Feet' by Junior Senior, which is a great song for audience participation.

One of the guests, J, is great to have around for karaoke because they always choose massive crowdpleasers that the whole room can join in on, whereas the rest of us can't resist performing weird nerd songs that nobody else will know. Rei and J absolutely belted 'You Give Love a Bad Name' by Bon Jovi, there were intensely enthusiastic performances of No Doubt's 'Don't Speak' and Alice Cooper's 'Poison', and I was compelled to join in on 'Stacy's Mom' by Fountains of Wayne. I kept waking up last night with J's performance of 'Ain't No Rest for the Wicked' by Cage the Elephant in my head.

Rei made vast quantities of shortbread for the party, but people kept forgetting to eat the snacks, so now we have a huge amount of delicious leftover shortbread. How will we cope with this terrible fate?

When I have a fic idea, I’ll usually scribble it down in the back of my diary. It’s time to switch diaries again, so it’s time for the annual fic concept roundup!

This post lists all the fic ideas at the back of my 2023-24 diary. If I’ve written the fic, I’ll include a link to it. If I’ve started the fic, I’ll share a snippet. If I haven’t started it, I’ll write at least a hundred words on the spot.

First of all, here are the fics I’ve written in full. Fandoms: The Quarry, Death Note, Severance, Final Fantasy VII Remake. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( Written fics from my 2023-24 diary. )


Next, let’s look at the works in progress (or at least the works that were started; I’m not sure they’re actively progressing). Fandoms: Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (2023 game), Severance, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy XV, Uncharted. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( In-progress fics from my 2023-24 diary. )


Finally, it’s time for the fic ideas I haven’t touched and now have to write something for. Let’s see if I can do this.

Fandoms: The Quarry, Persona 4/Spider-Man (?), Kingdom Hearts/Silent Hill 2 (??), Final Fantasy XIII-2, In Stars and Time, Death Note. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.


( 2023-24 fics I hadn't started... until now. )


As ever, I have no idea whether any of these will end up becoming full fics, but I’m glad to have written at least a little for each concept!

I was going to be sensible and wait for the cost of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to go down. I really was. But then I saw no fewer than six of you posting about it on my reading page, and it made me sad that I couldn't read any of your posts!

Here are some early impressions of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth! Very early; I'm in Kalm, in chapter two, and I'm currently supposed to head to the clocktower.

Be aware that, although I've only just started Rebirth, this entry includes spoilers from the original Final Fantasy VII.


( First impressions of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. )


I love the unnecessary physics on everything. I walk into a hotel room and promptly knock three chairs over because I'm a fuckup. Immersion!

A few times over the years, I've tried to pin down my ten favourite fictional characters and have quickly given it up as an impossible exercise. I love so many characters! How can I possibly narrow it down?

At long last, though, I've actually managed to put a list together! The key was imposing a rule on myself: characters only qualify if I've loved them for at least ten years, so I can be sure that this is a long-lasting affection and I haven't just been blinded by something new and shiny. Sorry, Jack Shephard; you might have been a contender if I'd watched Lost when it first came out.

Fun fact: only one character on the final list has never intentionally killed anyone, and half the characters on the list are outright murderers, which I'm going to define as 'have intentionally killed someone who posed no immediate danger to them'. (Possibly more than half. There's one weird borderline case.)

I'm going to post a little writeup for each of the characters on my 'favourite characters' list, probably in three parts: one post with four characters, two posts with three. Here's the first set!

I'm not posting these in order of preference (I could not possibly pin down an order of preference); the four characters in this post are just the four whose writeups I finished first, and I've listed them in alphabetical order within the post itself.


Elena Fisher, Uncharted


Who is this character and why do you love them? It's strange to think back on it now that Nate and Sully have won me over, but, back when I played the first Uncharted game, I wasn't really a fan of any of the characters. I liked Elena a reasonable amount; I disliked Sully; I was uninterested in Nate. But then Elena kicked her kidnapper out of a helicopter, and I went from 'I like you okay' to 'I think you're wonderful'. And, having won my heart, she made me like everyone else through her interactions with them. She's bold, she's adventurous, she's playful, she refuses to take any shit, and she elevates any other character she's around. She reminds me a little of my sister-in-law, actually.
Do you ship this character with anyone? Elena/Nate is one of my absolute favourite pairings of all time. When I try to think of pairings I ship, my mind will usually go to them first. They play so well off each other, they have fun with each other, and I love how much Nate admires her. I really like that the games allow Nate to show vulnerability around Elena, too.
What's your favourite fic you've written about this character? Familiar and Strange. I enjoyed Uncharted 4, but I was hoping it'd focus more on the established characters rather than newcomer Sam. This fic envisions how Uncharted 4 might have played out if Elena had been more involved from the start.
Are there any similar characters you love? Teresa Lisbon of The Mentalist is very like Elena, I think. I was actually half-debating whether to put Lisbon or Elena on this list, but another character from The Mentalist was on the list already, and I thought it made sense to keep it to one character per canon. (Yes, I'm talking about Patrick Jane. I don't know why I'm trying to play coy. Of course I'm talking about Patrick Jane.)
Anything else you'd like to say about this character? Elena poking fun at you while you play Crash Bandicoot is my favourite moment in the entire Uncharted series, and I think Naughty Dog should come out with a full-length Elena Fisher Mocks Your Videogame Skills Simulator. I can tell you right now that it would be the best game ever made.


Joshua Kiryu, The World Ends with You


Who is this character and why do you love them? Joshua Kiryu is an obnoxious little shit who causes problems on purpose. When I first met him, I hated him; I just wanted Shiki back! But Joshua was just so unapologetically and gleefully awful that somehow he ended up winning me over. He's so much fun!
Do you ship this character with anyone? I'm a big fan of Neku/Joshua in which Joshua spends the entire time driving Neku up the wall. Neku's feelings for Joshua are so complicated and interesting.
What's your favourite fic you've written about this character? Select Player Two, in which Joshua drags Neku into another round of the Reapers' Game. It is a blast to write Joshua being as annoying as possible at all times.
Are there any similar characters you love? Like Joshua, Beatrice of Umineko: When They Cry gleefully launches herself into ensuring everyone has a terrible time. There's also Nagito Komaeda of Danganronpa 2; Komaeda isn't quite as intentionally awful as Joshua, but he definitely inspires similar 'holy shit, why are you like this and why do I have to put up with you?' feelings in the people around him.
Anything else you'd like to say about this character? My current laptop is named Joshua, after Joshua Kiryu, because it's tiny and silver and pissed me off the moment I met it. It made me jump through so many hoops if I wanted to save files onto the hard drive by default instead of onto the cloud!


Squall Leonhart, Final Fantasy VIII


Who is this character and why do you love them? Squall Leonhart was the first character I ever really connected with. As a deeply socially awkward thirteen-year-old, I was shocked to discover this character whose inner thoughts were just like mine; he didn't want to hurt other people, but he didn't know how to talk to them. I felt that this game understood me, and I wasn't used to feeling understood.
Do you ship this character with anyone? Squall/Zell was the first pairing I ever wrote fanfiction for, at the age of thirteen, and I'm fond of it to this day. There are echoes of Squall/Zell in Ryuji/Joker, Yu/Yosuke and Prompto/Noctis, all of which I ship enormously. Apparently I have a weakness for pairing the quiet protagonist up with his energetic, loyal, compassionate friend who very openly admires him.
What's your favourite fic you've written about this character? With These Signs Upon Our Souls, a Final Fantasy VIII/Final Fantasy XIII crossover, in which the characters of Final Fantasy VIII become l'Cie. It's the longest continuous story I've ever written, and I'm proud of myself for finishing it. (It's 26,000 words, which I know isn't actually that long in the grand scheme of things, but it's long for me!)
Are there any similar characters you love? Other characters who are socially inept in a way I find relatable include Noctis Lucis Caelum of Final Fantasy XV and Mark Corrigan of Peep Show. I also love Lightning of Final Fantasy XIII; I find her brand of social ineptitude less personally relatable, but I do think she's generally very similar to Squall.
Anything else you'd like to say about this character? If you were planning to erase my memories of every fictional character I'd ever loved and you were only letting me keep one, that would be a weird thing to do, but I'd keep Squall. I don't think I'd consider him my favourite character of all time, but he's definitely the character who's most important to me.


Light Yagami, Death Note


Who is this character and why do you love them? Light is a terrible kid who discovered an untraceable murder method and decided to kill off all the criminals to make the world worship him, and somehow I find everything about him enchanting. I love watching him come up with convoluted plots that screw over everyone around him, himself occasionally included. I love watching him firmly convince himself that he's totally, totally justified in the terrible things he does. I love that his ego will never let him resist a challenge or an opportunity to rub his victory in someone's face. I love the tiny hints of warmth that we occasionally catch glimpses of - his love for his family, his fondness for Ryuk - and I love that, even if that softer side exists, it's not enough to stop him from going too far; he's absolutely prepared to bury it if he has to.
Do you ship this character with anyone? I ship Light Yagami with himself, hard, in every possible variant. Light interacting with another version of himself in dreams or visions? Perfect. Light encountering an actual duplicate of himself, and the two of him attempting to seduce and murder each other, because they can't both be gods of the new world but they can't just write 'Light Yagami' in the Death Note? Magnificent. Light just masturbating while thinking about how great he is? Beautiful. I apologise for posting yet another entry about Light Yagami masturbating.
What's your favourite fic you've written about this character? Shackles, in which Light and L are toxic soulmates. 'They're both in love with each other, but they will not hesitate to destroy each other' turned out to be a fun dynamic to work with! I'm pleasantly surprised by how enthusiastically this fic was received, too; the Death Note fandom is remarkably active, considering that the canon ended over a decade ago.
Are there any similar characters you love? It's actually hard to think of anyone like Light. Light's not the sort of character you usually see committing atrocities. He's not an outcast, he hasn't had a hard life; he's a golden boy. He's smart, he's polite, he's popular; he's used to being praised and admired. He works hard, but he knows he'd still beat everyone without really trying. And, because he's gone through life without ever truly being challenged, he assumes he can murder thousands of people and get away with it. (EDIT: Wait, Akechi! Goro Akechi from Persona 5, particularly the expanded Royal edition, is very Light in both appearance and personality.)
Anything else you'd like to say about this character? It can be tricky to talk about liking Light Yagami, because some parts of the fandom can interpret 'Light is my favourite character' as 'I think Light was right'. No! Light was wrong! Everything he does is terrible! That's why I love him so much! I keep getting his musical song 'Where Is the Justice?' stuck in my head, because it's a banger, but it doesn't feel great when I catch myself singing 'where is the justice when the guilty all go free? why don't we lock them up and throw away the key?'

I've finished Persona 5 Strikers!


( Late-game notes on Persona 5 Strikers. )


That was good fun! Nothing life-changing, but I enjoyed playing it and it was good to spend more time with these characters. I don't think it needed to exist, but I'm glad it does.

If they made a sequel like this for Persona 4 - an action RPG about everyone having a post-game roadtrip together - I would buy it twice.