Tropers / The Aphid

Some lovely caption text.

Hello, universe. They call me the Aphid. And by "they", I mean me.

I'm about the most idiosyncratic person I know. An atheist in a family of Mormons; a socialist surrounded by true blue Americans; anti-guns, pro-choice; basically, if there’s a societal norm, I go against the grain. Also, I've finally come out as gay and am seeking a nice boy to... uh, do romantic stuff with, I guess! Still getting used to not being closeted.

I love physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and creative writing. So, I have a bit of Author Tract when it comes to those subject matters. I’m an avid video gamer, author, role-player, and moviegoer. That one scene in Star Wars VII? I saw it coming a mile away.

After taking a break from Fan Fiction for several years, I’ve returned to the scene in full force with the epic Attic Hypothesis. I’m trying to avoid shameless self-promotion (shameful self-promotion is perfectly acceptable), but I gotta say... it’s probably my best fanfiction yet. The main characters are mostly original, but Ash Ketchum and Pikachu are now main characters.

Favourite Works

Really, this list could go on and on. I’ll keep it short-ish.

• Twelve Stones: Old but gold. Infected, Bulletproof, and Worlds Collide are the best.
• Blue Stahli: I can relate to the imagery in Bret’s work on a personal level.
• Celldweller: I enjoy most of Klayton’s work. Not Argyle Park, though. Argh...yle.
• Crush 40: Been a fan of them since I was eight years old. That’s a long time.
• Miracle of Sound: Like Klayton, Gavin refuses to be categorized. He writes music in just about every genre, and he does it wonderfully. I would love for him to do music for the video games I’m designing.
• Starset: We will face the odds against us and run into the fear we run from!
• We Are The Empty: Great music, great guy. Helped me through some tough times, and he’s really cool to talk to!
• Blue Exorcist: Blue Stahli and Ao no Exorcist. Certainly seems like I’m going through my... blue period.
• Soul Eater: The first anime I ever watched! Besides Pokemon and Digimon. Recommended to me by a friend. Once you go Soul, you never go back.
• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: Brilliant magic system and fantastic art style.
• Sword Art Online: Kirito is overpowered, but it’s a brilliant concept.
• Drawn to Life: That ending made me sob like a little kid. WHY THOUGH DID EVERYONE HAVE TO DIE
• Fire Emblem: Speaking of games that make me cry. Awakening and Conquest made me tear up. And considering the fact that I’m normally rather unexpressive...
• A Boy and His Blob: My uncle was on the team at WayForward who made the remake. I got to be one of the alpha testers. Gorgeous visuals and a fantastic, incredibly fun idea.
• LEGO Universe: Still the best MMORPG ever. Bring it back please...
• Splatoon: I rock the Kasbah with a paint roller in my hands. Er, tentacles.
• Anything and everything Superhero. I’m serious. From Marvel Comics to DC Comics to Watchmen to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to Big Hero 6. Though, it really bugs me that DC Comics stands for Detective Comics Comics.
• Modern animated Disney. Wreck It Ralph, Toy Story, Inside Out, you name it. Zootopia!
• Invader Zim: Zim is my spirit animal.
• JackSepticEye: Best YouTuber, I swear on my life. I don’t like it when he uploads tons of mainstream stuff, though. He’s funniest when playing indie games and GTA.

Least Favourite Works

• Shooter games in general. They’re so cut-and-paste, and so damn over-hyped. On a scale of one to even, I just can’t.
• Skillet: I have a weird relationship with this band. Used to love them, but now they’ve been inserting more religious imagery into their songs and it’s off-putting.
• Horror movies. All of them. I know exactly how the story is going to play out, I’m fully aware that it’s not real, and yet my id cannot handle them. Example: I read the TV Tropes page on Eraserhead and had nightmares for two weeks.
• The Bible: Goes hand in hand with the Book of Mormon. You could say the Fridge Logic caught up to me.

Tropes That Describe Me, According to Me

• Admiring the Abomination: Tentacles, baby.
• Berserk Button: There’s a reason why on Fanfiction, my persona is split into three. They’re the dominant aspects of my personality, like in Inside Out. I don’t actually have voices in my head, natch.
  • Black-and-White Morality: I hate people with this mentality. Morality is a heavily nuanced subject matter, and to insist that all actions are either evil or good is to create a false paradigm. It’s an oversimplification of a very, very complex world, which leads to elitist mindsets and the overall degradation of society. It’s not immoral of a starving person to steal bread.
  • People who insist that fanfiction can’t use an entire cast of OCs. I say that some of the best fanfiction uses more original characters than canonical entities, and I give anyone who says otherwise a royal “screw you.” Project Chimera - The Attic Hypothesis relies heavily on its original cast. Needless to say, I love OCs.
  • Right-wing fools who demand their gun rights. Bad guys will kill people with or without guns, but they can kill a lot more people with guns.
  • A while back, I was having a political discussion with an old classmate. He kept insisting that socialism was the same thing as Marxism, Leninism, and communism. It’s really, really not. He also said that no true Christian can be a socialist. First of all, that’s literally one of the most well documented logical fallacies. Second of all, I’m not a Christian, and I don't want to be.
  • I don’t like hypocrites. And yes, I realize that’s hypocritical, but I never said I like myself, did I? At least I’m trying to be less wrong... unlike some people.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: My father was abusive to me when I was little, that is when he was around at all. He spend most of his time deployed overseas, in Afghanistan and the like. My mom was inexperienced as a parent (I’m the last firstborn, duh) and kind of a Shrinking Violet so she didn’t stand up to him at all. This translated into me being abusive to my little sister. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I’m not hiding from my past.
• Black Comedy: How many babies does it take to paint a house? Depends on how hard you throw them.
• Came Back Strong: Before boarding school, I tried to commit suicide on a yearly basis, suffered from terrible depression, and worst of all, was a devout Mormon. I came back from boarding school healthy, happy(ish), and heathen.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: I have ADHD, and I used to be Autistic. It’s a long story, which involves lightning, a mini van, and a black kid. Point is, I have a hard time paying attention sometimes. I’d make a good harpy.
• Covert Pervert: Not many people know about my sexual deviations... but thanks to the LGBT forum, I'm finally starting to open up.
• Dark Is Not Evil: I am the peaceful night. But beware my wrath.
• Deadpan Snarker: If I’m at a movie with my friends, expect to hear me mocking the characters onscreen. If I’m at school with my friends, expect to hear me mocking the characters in the other class.
• Determinator: We move forward, one foot at a time, always a step ahead of the person we were before. No matter what obstacles we face, even when we slow to a halt, we don't turn back. We embrace out limitations and overcome, using our flaws as tools to shape our failures into success. You call me a pawn? I only advance! That's how a pawn works!
• Freaky Is Cool: Still waiting for the right person to come along. But if friendly Starfish Aliens were to land on Earth looking for human recruits, sign me up.
• Grumpy Bear: Cynical and short-fused, there are a lot of areas of my life which could use more positivity.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: I get worked up about the dumbest stuff without even realizing it.
• Innocently Insensitive: Not a lot of inherent empathy here. I'm working on it.
• Jerkass Realization: Though I'm a lot more mature than I used to be, I'm slowly realizing that being mature isn't the same thing as being considerate all the time.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Broken blade, revenge is calling, savage shade, in the dark I dash; broken blade, black blood falling, shadow of the ash.
• Love Hurts: Never had a significant other, but I’ve been dumped thirteen times. I went on a date with a cute girl once. We held hands during the movie. Later I learned that she’d had a boyfriend already at the time, and didn’t even like me.
• Occam's Razor: I apply this to any worldviews that claim legitimacy whilst also threatening those who disbelieve. Christianity, conspiracy theories, Roko’s Basilisk... it all cuts so cleanly!
• Pungeon Master: Some say my sense of humor is a bit pun-gent. They call me the Pun-isher because I can take out even the most serious of foes with just one pun-ch. When people call upon my services as a pun-dit, I am always pun-ctual.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: I’m very cynical about many things. The exception to this is when it comes to human nature. Contrary to what many people in the world will tell you, I think humans are inherently neither good nor evil, and are forced by our circumstances (real or perceived) to make decisions that negatively impact the well-being of others.
• Straw Atheist: Expect to see other people represent me as this. ''Gawds''.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Which mask will you choose? What is underneath?
• The Stoic: I didn’t cry when one of my best friends hung himself. Nor did I cry when my cub scout leader died of cancer. Nor did I cry when my cousin died at birth. I have trouble showing my emotions, but since coming out of the closet, I find myself smiling a little every now and then.
  • Not So Stoic: Sometimes I cry for several hours straight, then hop back up and keep moving forward.
• You Keep Using That Word: For a while, I kept using the word “vindictive” in sentences where it really didn’t belong.

Tropes That Describe Me, According to Y'all

This folder is vacant. Feel free to contribute!

I Have Friends

• marcen12: I joined the LGBT forum recently and tuned into a livestream done by this fellow. It was pretty fun!

Desecrate This Temple

Space for graffiti, since I'm actually starting to make friends. Shout if you're with me now!

Hi-Phantom from the LGBT thread

Hello! It's Marcen! Howdy!

• AAAAAHHHHH! THE EMAIL GAG ON MY WAAAALLL!