#// backtracking by posting forgotten drafts.

[andonutty]

my first draft of this post had me sounding like an utter maniac, so this is take two, where i’m going to attempt to not sound as absolutely insane as i am actually on the inside. so the as dusk falls promo trailer took over my life a few weeks back and i managed to stop myself from obsessively (and i mean obsessively) rewatching it for a while, but then i rewatched it twice in the last few minutes and barely resisted the urge to start open-mouth sobbing. because it makes me emotional! and so as not to repeat the mistakes of my last draft i will end that line of thought right here.

there are a lot of things that make me scream cry throw up etc about this trailer, but i am going to talk specifically in this post about the thing that i am MOST composed about and LEAST prone to start vomiting about. which is jim.

it feels wrong to start out with this post, since i haven’t actually talked yet about how masterfully composed this trailer actually is. but tl;dr: everything about this promo is fucking phenomenal and it makes me violently ill (mentally physically spiritually etc). but the one thing that’s really relevant about the composition of the trailer here is the shots they chose for it. and again there’s a lot to say here, but let me just put it this way:

the promo trailer is for whatever game was being advertised in this poster. the only character on this poster that is not featured prominently in the trailer is joyce, and i can kind of get why that is. but it’s important and striking to me that bear and jim are neither on this poster nor are they ANYWHERE to be seen in this trailer. (sidenote & tangent i’m so relieved that bear is not present in any promo materials that i know of, since his inclusion in the story is one that i think was always meant to be shocking and jarring, and having bear in the promo stuff would sort of cheapen that impact. people should not be going into this game going omg sam douglas!! they should be entering this game invested in the story and the characters and then sam douglas jumpscare like a freight train) this is especially true for jim, since there are a lot of scenes in the promo where we know that he’s supposed to be there, but he’s purposely obscured from us. when zoe’s voiceover says “we were on our way to start a new life”, it shows her and her parents in the car, with no indication that there is a whole ass joe biden behind vince.

then, in the trailer, when the family’s approaching the motel, we get this shot:

vs. in the game, where that shot is actually...

... cutely including jim’s ass. and then here, we get:

where the trailer frames it like vince is alone, when in reality, dale’s already knocked jim to the floor. in the scenes where we see vince’s family, it’s always heavily focusing on vince, michelle, and zoe, who seem to be the three main characters of the walker family. (similarly, and this is why i wanted to make the main characters post before this one, but we live and we learn, the holt boys are shown in the promo trailer to be the three main characters of the holt family.)

so jim is just like casually missing. he’s just not there. and that is intentional, imo. because i remember the heart attack this man gave me when vince and zoe are going back to the car and we just see THIS:

jim FUCKING jumpscare. now okay, let me backtrack a little because this is IMPORTANT. when i was first obsessively watching this trailer, obviously the first thing i noticed was this little ditty, set to jay’s voiceover of “it was a long-forgotten secret buried in the dark”:

now obviously my first reaction is (beyonce meme) JIM1?!?!?!??!?!?! because i’ve already played this game and i know that jim admits to being the reason why the desert dream happens. jim clearly has a history with the desert dream and with two rock in general: paul recognizes him right off the bat and slowly remembers him as being a “travelling salesman” that went to sharon’s bar fifteen to twenty years ago. jim also, when he hears jay say that his mother is coming inside, immediately reaches for a cap to obscure his face. if the player chooses to send jim out instead of zoe, jim also stumbles to the ambulance specifically because he doesn’t want dante to see him. and when jim is concussed, if you ask him where he is, he calls the desert dream by its former name. so it’s made really clear that jim’s been to two rock before and that he’s interacted with these characters before. and he’s clearly afraid of being recognized by these people, always dodging questions about him looking familiar and doing everything in his power not to interact with key players like sharon and dante.

and something i have always noticed about jim is that whenever he’s outside, the shots he has usually include the water tower. and i noticed this because... well <3 the sniper that shoots at dale is on the water tower. so it was interesting and important to me, so seeing it in the background of, like, every jim shot was a little interesting. they are not really subtle with it! like, we see it in a bunch of different places for jim. we obviously see it in the jim jumpscare, and then we see it again when he’s approaching the desert dream:

and then if you decide to go talk to jim instead of michelle, you get this shot right after vince and jim walk out of the motel room:

and i can’t find a playthrough on youtube where someone lets jim go, but i have a feeling they include a shot of the water tower there too. so when im seeing that person digging something and they’re kind of tall and lanky and the water tower is in the background, i am like. that has to be jim walker right. like it has to be. but then im looking at this picture and i’m like ... no wait that TREE. i recognize that TREE too. and what do you know! right after zoe finishes her opening monologue in book one, what is the FIRST shot we get?

TREE.

WATER TOWER.

i’m like oh my GOD. the rest stop. the FUCKING rest stop on route 66 that weird ass abandoned little rest stop.

in the GROUND?!?!?!? under a TRE???e?!?

JUST TOT THE THErEE?!?!?!

and then. and t. AND. look at this. these are the shots from the trailer.

tell me why the tree is so emphasized. tell me why the water tower is there. do you know what we get in-game? do you KNOW?!?!?!?!

NOTHING. NOTHING. THEY PURPOSELY PUT THE TREE AND WATER TOWER IN THERE TO SIGNAL TO YOU THAT THE TREE AND WATER TOWER ARE A WALKER CURSE. AND THEN THE FUCKING WATER TOWER CAN KILL DALE. THE WATER TOWER IS LITERALLY A DEATH OMEN. IT IS L.

like my personal theory is that jim killed someone and he is digging a grave in the trailer. like he does offhandedly mention to zoe that he had a car he really loved and he just got rid of it one day, and as dusk falls experts (aka bluffmotel dot tumblr dot com) have theorized like okay maybe he moved the body in it so he had to scrap it. and it would make sense since it parallels jim to bear, since bear um ... killed someone! and then buried him alive! or at least tried to. like idk it says something TO ME that the only two characters who must die in every playthrough of as dusk falls are dale and jim, and both of them are heavily defined by the water tower. IDK! i think jim killed someone. and that something related to them is buried under the tree in two rock by the rest stop. and idk who the stalker is. maybe it’s eddie.

[ratislatis]

hey this was part of an early draft of The Normal AU but I changed everything about it. also. I dislike this draft a lot. but I'm posting it anyway cause I think the ending is cute

under the cut is normal and hero being siblings for the first time in their lives. they're both mid-20's. Normal is also an apprentice luthier

Walter the Immoral's human name, here, is Walter Asmat (this is important near the end).

word count: 607

rating: general audiences

   Days go by much the same, until a green afternoon in September, windows locked tight to combat the honey mugginess, maintenance on the instruments growing tenfold. Normal doesn’t check when the bell over the door jingles. He’s too busy psyching himself up to glue his violin. He doesn’t hear the murmurs, the heavy footsteps plodding closer. 

   “Hey, Norm,” says Hero from the doorway. 

   Normal freezes. Does an internal double-take. Scrabbles at the paperwork of his thoughts, throws them into the shredder. Manually staggers to turn and meet her eye. “Heeeeey, Hero!” 

   “You weren’t expecting me.” She smiles—it's in good nature, but doesn’t quite reach her eyes all the same. 

   “I’m—did you text, at all?” 

   “Yes,” she says. 

   Normal throws himself into a blind fight for his phone, hands fumbling over dust and paper. “I was on do not disturb, wasn’t I?” 

   “Yes,” she says. 

   He picks his phone up, crushes it against his face, keels over and sighs. “Sorry.” 

   “No, there’s--there’s nothing to be sorry for, Norm. I just... How are you doing? How is the... shop?” 

   “Shop’s fine.” 

   Silence. 

   “Um—” Normal spouts, like an idiot— “did you come here for a specific...?” 

   “I just wanted to...” She wrings her hands together. She’s—Normal shakes his head. He’s never seen Hero do that, not in front of him, not even when you could slice through the perfect square of awkward encasing their every conversation. 

   A laugh punches from his gut, but he hardly feels a thing. “You’re always away, for a while.” 

   “This time it’s... I mean, it’s different.” 

   “What do you mean?” 

   She laughs, and Normal sees fluttering leaves, hose water, chalk-mucked concrete. He sees that she laughs at how he repeats her, how he flounders. And he sees that she’s charmed. “I mean you can text me. When I’m... not here. I wish you would.” 

   She backtracked? “Her——” 

   “No, I’m just... Yeah. Sorry. Would you text me more often?” 

   “I didn’t know...” 

   Her smile is bright. She has the cutest bunny teeth in the world. Normal feels sick. “You do now, silly. I’ll, um...” Her eyes dim as the smile retreats, and he realizes all at once that’s her neutral. “You don’t have to respond right now. I’ll take my leave.” 

   “No!” All too fast, he scrabbles for her wrist, grips it too-tight. Whipping motion and then a stall of blank nothingness. “Agh, just—give me a second.” He pries every individual finger away, burrowing behind his palms. 

   “Norm?” 

   “Give me a second.” A wide breath rattles through him. Ebb and flow. In and out. “Can you send me pictures?” 

   “Of... what?” 

   “Of where you’re going. So I...” He chokes a little. “So I know you’re okay.” 

   “You want me to take Instagram photos in the Forgotten Realms?” 

   His heart shudders, in a laugh and a damp bone-deep wound. “Yes! Yes, I want you to take Instagram photos everywhere you go. And send them to me.” Pause. “So I can sell them on the internet.” 

   That twinkle is back in her eye, and he sags with the world’s smallest bout of relief. “I want half the profits.” 

   “You can have all the profits, gods’ sake.” 

   “I want all the profits.” 

   His eyes practically roll into the back of his head. “What did I just—? Get out of my workshop, Hero. Go annoy Mr. Asmat.” 

   As Normal bulldozes Hero into the hall, she yells, “Walter! Your employee is harassing me!” 

   Mr. Asmat’s congested tone booms from the register around the corner, “Normal Oak-Swallows-Garcia!” 

   “Oh my god, he’s going to reduce my pay below zero.” 

   “You’re going to have to pay him,” Hero snickers. 

[rwby-redux]

Preface

RWBY is the breakthrough anime web series created by the late Monty Oum of Rooster Teeth. Originally teased on November 5th, 2012, and officially debuted July 18th, 2013, the series follows the journeys of four young women enrolled in an academy that trains monster-slaying warriors known as Huntsmen. Set in the fictional world of Remnant, the story initially focuses on the surface-level plot of fighting against humanity’s ancient adversary, the ever-present Creatures of Grimm; over time, it becomes apparent that things aren’t what they seem, as the cast slowly begins to connect a string of heists committed by a criminal syndicate with the violent acts of a terrorist cell. The series is aired weekly on Rooster Teeth’s website, with its main arcs spanning 12 – 16 episodes per volume. In the years following the show’s initial release, RWBY has spawned numerous merchandise and related media, including two spin-off shows, multiple side-stories published as mangas, two standalone books, three mobile games, a behind-the-scenes artbook, and OSTs for every volume to date.

As of Volume 7 there are 98 episodes in total with a collective runtime of 18:52:00, or approximately 1,132 minutes, with more episodes and side content underway.

At best, they’re visually interesting; at worst, they’re disappointing.

Let me take a second to backtrack before the lynch mob starts to sharpen its pitchforks. The series deserves much of the praise that it’s gotten. RWBY was the first American-produced anime to be released in Japan (and if you’re a fan of anime, you know how insane those words sound). The 3D models and animation from Volume 4 onward are breathtakingly stunning, and even before the show made the leap from Poser to Maya, the fight sequences managed to be equally creative and entertaining. The show was nominated for and received multiple Streamy Awards, and was awarded Best Animated Series by the International Academy of Web Television. The Volume 1 soundtrack reached number one on iTunes, beating out the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Such is RWBY’s (and Rooster Teeth’s) reputation that it managed to attract the attention of, and later bring on, industry veterans and vocal legends such as Jen Taylor, Josh Grelle, and Aaron Dismuke.

That’s to say nothing of the fandom this franchise has amassed, of kids, teenagers, and young adults alike. RWBY has generated dozens of forums dedicated to fanfiction, fanart, and roleplaying. Thousands of people the world over have bonded over this show, fans from all walks of life. They’re passionate about this series. The fact that I’m writing this post is a testimony of that. If I didn’t care about RWBY, I wouldn’t be sitting on my couch at 3 AM, hunched over my laptop in my pajamas.

If RWBY is so good (or occasionally threatens to become good), you might be wondering, why, then, does this blog exist?

Well, because…when you stop and look at it critically, it actually kind of sucks.

Despite initially being written by a three-man team, the series is full of inconsistencies and an underdeveloped cast. The characters, especially from Volumes 1 — 3, are full of one-dimensional stereotypes whose contributions to the story amount to a three-word summary: “The School Bully,” “The Wacky Professors,” “The Racist Cop,” “The Cutthroat Bitch,” “The Anime Waifu,” “The Audience Surrogate,” “Discount Elle Woods,” and so on. Fundamental elements of the story, like Aura, Semblance, and Dust, are either poorly-explained or not explained at all, and the limitations of those core concepts can change at a moment’s notice to suit the needs of the plot. The primary antagonist of the first three volumes is universally hated by the fandom for having no discernible motivations beyond being “ambitious and power-hungry,” and having a personality that consists exclusively of irritating smug. The show-writers, despite repeatedly promising queer representation, have failed to make even one of their ten central protagonists queer. This isn’t touching upon the fact that the first openly-gay character on the show was an antagonist, or that the next two were side-characters who were relevant to the plot for all of seven episodes, before vanishing from the story entirely. The two leads that are currently being hyped as our first queer main-cast members have only been repeatedly teased, with said characters never once uttering the words, “I’m bi,” “I date women,” “I’m not straight”—nothing but narrative subtext and playful winks from the VAs whenever a fan asks if they’re queer. Subplots end up having no pay-off or get entirely forgotten mid-volume. The story is so protagonist-biased that the heroes are frequently able to get away with being hypocritical, or committing criminal acts because “it was the right thing to do,” with their POV framed as an infallible “fuck you, got mine” verbal gut-punch to the audience (while other characters in the show, who often make the exact same calls as the heroes, are ridiculed by the show and the fandom). Whenever the story isn’t spray-painting stolen cars and selling them to their original owners, it manages to clumsily handle allegories for real-world issues such as systemic racism, mental illness, abuse dynamics/victim survivorship, and gray morality. The worldbuilding is absent from the main show and has to be supplemented through RWBY’s spin-off series World of Remnant. The story’s setting feels flat and lifeless at times because the “cultures” of this world are never established.

The list goes on and on.

So if this show has so many flaws, why are we still having this conversation?

Because I’m captivated by the untapped potential of this world. When you brush away all of the detritus, you can see the wealth of raw material buried beneath. This is a world where the gods have forsaken their creations, with one having even deliberately created the monsters that hunt humanity. The two characters who are central to the history of this world are tragic figures, one cursed with immortality as a punishment for demanding that the gods revise the first draft, and do away with needless death; and the other, cursed to ceaselessly reincarnate into the minds and bodies of like-minded souls, waging a war of attrition against a person warped beyond recognition by the capricious spite of the gods. This is a world of forgotten magic, of shifting allegiances, of characters embarking on personal journeys and unearthing deadly secrets. It’s a story of people from all walks of life learning to cooperate and work together, forging friendships and alliances in order to face the challenges that lie ahead.

It could easily have the bones of an epic fantasy series as long as it remembers to drink its milk.

RWBY’s issues aren’t insurmountable. Most of them are the byproduct of the series’ blind adherence to “rule of cool,” the motto that practically codified the beginning of the show. From Volume 4 onward, the series took a radical shift in tone that tried to be “more mature,” and only succeeded in making the earlier episodes absurd in hindsight. Why, in Volume 6, are the characters concerned about civilian endangerment, when in Volume 2 they happily pursued a giant mech in a highway car-chase scene that would’ve caused untold collateral damage and civilian death? This change in storytelling created a thematic disparity that reoccurs time and time again, retroactively emphasizing just how inconsistent the worldbuilding and storytelling are.

It tried to be Avatar: The Last Airbender, and what we’re left with instead is Game of Thrones Season 8.

Now, I’m not using this blog as a platform to damn Monty Oum (or claim to be a better creator than him). But it’s important to address the flaws in his story, and to acknowledge that his passing doesn’t make RWBY somehow sacrosanct or immune to constructive criticism. RWBY has flaws, ranging from nitpicky to potentially capable of causing real-world harm (in the case of the aforementioned queerbaiting and racism analogies). I’m a firm believer that art doesn’t exist in a vacuum; art is informed by our beliefs just as much as art informs our beliefs. We can still respect and admire the potential RWBY has to offer, while being mindful of where it needs to improve.

That’s where this blog comes in.

At the end of the day, the RWBY Redux exists as a thought experiment. I’m writing it chiefly to entertain worldbuilding ideas and headcanons I’ve spent years musing on. I’m not asking readers to agree with any of my numerous stances, nor am I going to shy away from other fans’ criticism as I hammer this project out. With a little TLC, perhaps I’ll manage to create something that manages to be more complex than its source material. And if you choose to follow along with my endeavors, hopefully you’ll find this project equal parts engaging and entertaining.

Wish me luck.

[artemis-entreri]

[[ A new title appeared on publication websites today. Timeless by R. A. Salvatore is slated to be released on Sep 18, 2018 through HarperCollins. Earlier, a book synopsis was posted with the page count, book dimensions and ISBN on Edelweiss’ entry for Timeless, but it has since been taken down at Salvatore’s request. 

Before it disappeared, the synopsis read:

At long last, New York Times bestselling author R. A. Salvatore returns with one of fantasy’s most beloved and enduring icons, the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden, in an all-new trilogy full of swordplay, danger, and imaginative thrills Centuries ago, in the city of Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, the City of Drow, nestled deep in the unmerciful Underdark of Toril, a young weapon master earned a reputation far above his station or that of his poor house. The greater nobles watched him, and one matron, in particular, decided to take him as her own. She connived with rival great houses to secure her prize, but that prize was caught for her by another, who came to quite enjoy the weapon master. This was the beginning of the friendship between Zaknafein and Jarlaxle, and the coupling of Matron Malice and the weapon master who would sire Drizzt Do’Urden. R. A. Salvatore reveals the Underdark anew through the eyes of Zaknafein and Jarlaxle—an introduction to the darkness that offers a fresh view of the opportunities to be found in the shadows and an intriguing prelude to the intriguing escapes that lie ahead in the modern-day Forgotten Realms. Here, a father and his son are reunited and embark on adventures that parallel the trials of centuries long past as the friends of old are joined by Drizzt, Hero of the North, trained by Grandmaster Kane in the ways of the monk. But the scourge of the dangerous Lolth’s ambitions remain, and demons have been foisted on the unwitting of the surface. The resulting chaos and war will prove to be the greatest challenge for all three.

There’s still much uncertainty, and the many questions abound can only be answered definitively with officially released information as the release date draws closer. Salvatore and anyone else in the know are bound by NDAs to not reveal anything, be it confirmation or denial. When asked about the appearance of this new title, Salvatore had this to say:

This kind of placeholder has been put up a dozen times before for me (even in negotiations, a publisher will often slot a potential book) and I've never heard a peep.

Furthermore, James Lowder added:

To further emphasize that nothing can be known for certain currently, Lowder explained:

When asked why the placeholder already has a name, Lowder further explained:

However, here is what we do know, some of which are recaps of things that I’d already shared in the past:

- Wizards of the Coast stopped renewing novel contracts in 2016, leading many to believe that the Forgotten Realms novel line was officially dead. The total number of novel releases had already been massively cut down from what they were in the past. There was no news of anything on the horizon following the  “final” book releases from Erin M. Evans, Ed Greenwood, and R. A. Salvatore. Furthermore, these books had conclusive tones, which further supported the theory that novels were being stopped. It wasn’t until late last year, October 6, 2017, did D&D Director Nathan Stewart reveal in a Fireside Chat session that new fiction was definitely forthcoming. Aside from this, there’s been no information.

- Timeless will be published by HarperCollins, whose website includes “drizzt” in the URL (see above screenshot from HarperCollins’ website, Harper Voyager). This would be the first time that we’re seeing an official Forgotten Realms novel published by someone other than WotC. While WotC and TSR before it published their own novels, WotC is owned by Hasbro, which is a game company that probably isn’t the best suited for (or most interested) in novel publication. WotC has licensed its intellectual property through other publication companies in the past, and it’s not unusual for a game company to license its novels to other publishers.

- In the past, there had been Forgotten Realms novels that were similarly previewed and set up for publication, but ended up never released to the public (i.e. Shores of Dusk). Work had always been put in to the point of draft manuscripts first.

- Hero was released on October 25, 2016, and along with Maestro, released on April 5, 2016, offset the March/September release schedule for the biannual Drizzt book releases by a month. Timeless, slated to be released on September 18, 2018, would recommence the original publication schedule. Salvatore takes a little under a year to write a novel, and the release date is for 7 months from now.

- Salvatore has long expressed interest in writing a Jarlaxle and Zaknafein prequel, however publication of such a work had been rendered difficult by both the termination of the novel contracts as well as WotC’s stance on focusing in the current timeline moving forward and not backtracking to revisit older lore. However, workarounds to this policy do exist, in which past lore was revisited alongside present lore, as seen in Ed Greenwood’s Elminster in Hell. 

So, what does all of this mean? Here is my personal take on it. Please note that the following is SPECULATION. While I try to make my most educated guesses, I don’t know any more than what I’ve presented already in this post.

I believe that we are indeed seeing the return of the Drizzt franchise. The drow ranger generates revenue, and so long as people continue buying the books, which it looks like they will for the foreseeable future, it would make good business sense to milk the franchise for all that it’s worth. Salvatore also likely wouldn’t need to prepare as much as he usually does when writing a new book, he probably has Jarlaxle and Zaknafein prequel material already written, so it’s just a matter of splicing that into new material that he writes of Jarlaxle, Zaknafein and Drizzt adventuring together, which the now-deleted synopsis suggests will happen in Timeless.

The fact that a release date and a plotline have both been announced most likely means that there is a legally binding contract that exists. Whether Salvatore has signed it yet or not is another matter. It also makes a lot of sense for WotC to contract an experienced book publisher to handle their future novel releases. This allows them to satisfy the consumer base that demands more novels, gather revenue from this consumer base, and not have to delegate as many resources to handling something that they’re not as well-equipped to handle as a company that’s completely set up for it. It’d be a win-win all around for them.

The timeline for the “present time” as described in the synopsis for Timeless is a little odd, because while the mention of demons aligns with the Rage of Demons storyline and where Hero left off, it’s pretty old as far as the current Forgotten Realms setting is concerned. The world has moved far away from the threat of the demon princes to frost giants and then the death curse in Chult. While it isn’t unusual for the Drizzt books to drag behind the “current” campaign setting of the Realms, and it even makes sense for it to do so especially with two years away, it’s still a little strange, given WotC’s stance. Furthermore, a lot of loose ends were wrapped up, some of them all too cleanly and conveniently, that the thought of starting anew is a bit awkward and contrived. For instance, when we last saw, Catti-brie is pregnant with Drizzt’s child, and to me, it seems unlikely that he’d leave her side even if it is to fend off the threats to the world. The Companions of the Hall have their own lives now, with Regis settling down with his beloved Donnola Topolino and Bruenor ruling Gauntylgrym with his twin queens at his side. The Companions of the Hall might not assemble, for the synopsis suggests that it’s only Jarlaxle, Zaknafein and Drizzt going out and about, but if the CotH were to rise and be the heroes they were once more, they, like Drizzt, would be uprooting themselves to once again pursue the habits of a previous life, which I think is very unlikely. But, much of Salvatore’s plot choices have stopped making sense to me for a while now, so I suppose we’ll just have to wait to see how that goes. 

I can’t help but feel a sense of dread at how much this new endeavor is an act of fan service. Similar to Drizzt’s fight with Grandmaster Kane, in which he shouldn’t have had a chance at all, Drizzt, Jarlaxle and Zaknafein traveling together to fight the forces of evil seems to be more of that cool thing that people want to see rather than making logical sense. As always, I hope that I’m proven wrong. ]]

[remnantoforario]

Some excerpts from an interview Hiro Mashima did with ANN at NYCC this year:

Here’s the full interview on ANN

Both Rave Master and Fairy Tail are fantasy works. Have you ever considered doing something outside of the fantasy genre?

I personally just really love fantasy works in general, so if I do a new series, I would like to try to make it fantasy again. Rave Master was about friends saving the whole world, but Fairy Tail is about closer-knit relationships. So if I do another fantasy story, I would like to try a different approach.

Funny, judging by some people I talked to the characters in Rave were much more “close knit” than the ones in FT. Also FT eventually became about saving the world by the time Oracion Seis rolled around so *shrug*

Have you ever considered revisiting Rave Master?

At the autograph sessions, I have been experiencing a lot of people actually requesting characters from Rave Master, but I realize that I have forgotten how to draw a lot of the characters from that series, so it might be hard to revisit it.

I can understand this honestly. I’m sure he remembers how to draw the mains (Haru, Elie, Plue, Musica, etc.) but some of the minors and supporting characters would be hard to remember without a picture or something.

Many comic book artists have said that they know the last page of the series before they start. Was that the case for Fairy Tail?

I honestly didn't have any idea what the last scene of the story was like in my mind when I started the series. The fact that I didn't know what was going to happen next was actually the best part of working on this series. For example, when there is a cliffhanger where the characters are in a really tight spot, the fans wonder what is going to happen next? Well, that's actually my question and I really have to think about it.

Believe me, the “flying by the seat of my pants” writing showed. Especially in the last arc.

I find Zeref very interesting. He isn't your typical bad guy and he is sort of a tragic figure. Why did you decide to make him like that?

I didn't want a typical bad guy. I kind of combined all of the elements I had been cultivating and inserted it into this character, and he became a really highly complex character.  

Maybe in the beginning. Too bad all that potential was wasted by the time we saw him again post-Tenrou.

Everyone likes the female characters in Fairy Tail. They seem to be both strong and sexy at the same time and self-confident. How did you go about making such balanced female characters?

This is actually kind of what I like in females. This my personal taste so I inserted it into the character. It's kind of my wish.

“Balanced Female Characters”?

Where? I didn’t see that in FT. The closest to balanced was Lucy (and possibly Wendy), but she fell short of that mark a long time ago.

Is there a particular character you wish you had more time to develop?

One of the characters that I think of is Acnologia. In my mind I had a deeper setting for this character. But the story is from the main character's point of view, so I couldn't really do that. I may have some time to explore the story of Acnologia at some point.

Here’s a small list of NOT main character’s who received more development and background than the main villain of the story:

Lyon Vastia

Ultear Milkovich

Irene Belserion

Minerva Orlando

Sting Eucliffe

Rogue Cheney

Zeref

Mavis Vermillion

Nearly the entirety of the Oracion Seis 

Flare Corona

Anna Heartfilia

Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki

August

What I’m trying to say is that is you gave Irene 3 chapters of flashbacks, then you had no excuse not to develop Acnologia, Mashima. Too little too late to want to do it now.

What Fairy Tail character will you miss the most?

There is a character named Brandish. I wish I could draw more of her.

Yes. You missed drawing Brandish so much that you didn’t even have her show up or even be mentioned in the final chapter. 

Ok.

In American spin-offs, they worry a lot about continuity. Did you worry about that over the 11 years you worked on Fairy Tail?

I was thinking about it a little bit, but it wasn't the highest priority. It is more important to me to make the story exciting and really portray the emotions of each character. So if the fans find some flaws in the continuity, I am actually excited to know that people are reading that much into it.

This is probably my biggest peeve about this interview. I get wanting to create complex characters and a good story BUT a good chunk of that hinges on continuity. Character’s development has to be consistent throughout. Without following internal continuity the story devolves into an unorganized mess with no logic (which is ironically what FT became at the end of its run) and the fans stop caring because they feel that nothing previously established matters anymore.

One of the most egregious examples of this is telling us of Fairy Law’s added consequence of killing the user WAY after it was introduced, only to immediately backtrack on that by the final chapter. 

American comics can get away with this in a way because they have many writers handling a single character over a number of years. For example Spider-Man has been around for 50+ years and has had no less that 20 writers working on him in different points in that time frame. Each writer brings something new to the table, some good (Death of Gwen Stacy), and some bad (One More Day). 

Manga is held to a different standard because there is only ONE writer (usually). They (and by extension you, Mashima) are the only one who controls the story. Outside of spin-offs (which mostly aren’t considered canon by a majority of the fandom) and sometimes sequels, (but even those have input from the original creators) no one else will write these characters so there is no excuse for you to not to put continuity as a priority. 

I understand forgetting one or two minor bits, but FT sometimes ignored entire plot points or outright ignored things that were previously established. Some almost right after they were introduced (Alvarez was littered with these). 

The fans should not be focused on pointing out flaws, they should be enjoying the story.

Sometimes in Fairy Tail characters die, but they always come back. Why did you decide to do this?

This has to do with the fact that in Rave Master, a lot of characters actually died and it turned out to be a sad story. When you are working on a manga in a magazine, it is up to the reader's polls and feedback whether you can actually stay in the magazine. To be quite honest, the chapters that have the death of a really important character get a lot of reaction. Knowing this, I really wanted to make sure that people don't die in my series.

So basically you killed people off for shock value just to bring them back. Instead doing all of that, how about you NOT kill people off in the first place?

Since a weekly series has such a fast production pace, were you able to take care of yourself by eating and sleeping?

Of course! I have no problem eating and sleeping.

Sarcasm aside, it is good to know that he has a decent schedule and can remain healthy. Too many mangaka push themselves too hard writing their stories and end up getting sick. Oda immediately comes to mind. 

If you were in the world of Fairy Tail and you could have three people on your team, who would it be?

Lucy, Erza, and Juvia.

On a technical level this is a decent team. On a more petty level OF COURSE he’d be on a team with three of the most sexualized women in the series.

A lot of shounen characters seem to have the same characteristics. Like they are rebellious, but very skilled at what they do. What makes Natsu unique?

His pink hair! And the fact he gets motion sickness.

Nice to see Mashima not even attempt to lie at how generic Natsu is as a protag. Also is motion sickness really all that unique when all the DS in the series have it?

As you move onto your new series, what will you carry with you from Fairy Tail? What mistakes will you avoid or what things will make your life easier with the next series?

One of the things I learned, and feel that I succeeded with in Fairy Tail is developing lots and lots of characters with very unique personalities. I would like to apply that in my next series too.

“developing lots and lots of characters with very unique personalities.”

A comedian this man is.

Do you worry about the elements of Fairy Tail bleeding too much into your new series?

I honestly don't think it is necessarily a bad thing that my new work reminds people of my previous work. In Japan, there is kind of a jinx. After the first big hint, your next series is going to be a flop. I personally am not worried about it. I don't think Fairy Tail was a giant success.  In this way, I feel no pressure to work on a new series.

Nice to know the bar is low.

Is he being humble? or does Mashima himself know Fairy Tail isn’t that great?

You make the call!

An anime adaption will add many more elements to the story. What do you like the most about the anime that is not in your manga?

I think the biggest contribution of the anime is the work of the voice actors. Even on the US side, the voice acting is really similar. It has the same kind of feeling as the Japanese voice acting. I am actually quite happy with the outcome of it.

Are you happy now, sub purists? Even Mashima says the Dub is good. Can we stop the hate now?

Can you describe how much influence your editor has?

One of the main processes is that I usually write the first draft of the chapter and I show it to the editor. The editor will give me feedback about whether it is good or bad. If the editor says it is not good, I was would ask the reason why so I can fix it. This creative process is very important. Sometimes we get in a conflict when the editor says one thing and I disagree and I push forward with what I believe in. If I don't succeed, I feel like I should have listened to him. Or sometimes when I am stuck on an idea he gives me very prompt advice, which really helps me.

Man, if Alvarez was what the editor approved, I can only imagine what he turned away. Either that or he just gave up after awhile. 

[kinky-miss-quinn]

Kinky Blackmail Secrets It’s a blog, not reality

I told you I’d keep our kinky blackmail secrets to ourselves. I lied. While you were busy sending me that last $400, I was busy preparing your slutty pictures to post all over xnxx.com‘s forums! Hahahaha!

All I have to do is hit one little button and every one of our kinky blackmail secrets will be exposed for the world to see. ‘What’s the likeliness that anyone I know will see it?’ you may be asking yourself.

The risk is actually pretty low, until you realize I’m going to post it on my Twitter and Tumblr too…and maybe even Soundcloud! Hahaha! All anyone is going to have to do is run a Google search of your name and BAM! There you are, buttplug so deep inside of you that you can see the bulge in your stomach.

Give me another $600 or I’m posting it all right now! That’s a good boy, open that wallet wide for your Blackmail Goddess. You really should have known better. I hold all of the cards here. There’s no big, bad phone sex company to keep me from exposing you to the world.

PAYING TO KEEP YOUR KINKY BLACKMAIL SECRETS

So, $1k in less than 15 minutes…that’ll keep your secrets safe for a while longer. You’d better hope that I forget about you for a while though. There’s still the pressing matter of what to do with your wife’s email address. Oh, you thought I’d forgotten about that, did you?

You’re a stupid little cunt. How could a professional blackmailer like me forget about that?! I’m saving that little gem for a rainy day. I never know when I might need a down payment for a new car, or to relocate because I scream at little bitches like yourself too loud.

Don’t you fucking scoff at me, maggot! I’ve been evicted for it already and am actually ready for a move…maybe I should just email her and get it over with, though, if you think it’s so funny. My other boys can pay for me to move, but right now none of them can provide such sweet satisfaction as outing your extra-marital activities to your wife.

Perhaps you’d like to offer your meekest apology now? Get me to backtrack without demanding more money from your pathetic savings account? That’s what I thought. Good boy. I’m still going to prepare that email, though!

FANTASY OR REALITY

I know you thought you’d be getting fantasy and not reality for your kinky blackmail secrets, but you gave me real information! That’s on you. All you had to do was send fake information and it all would have remained play. Instead, you pay.

And that’s on you! Don’t give out real information if you don’t really want to be blackmailed. I’m not going to use your billing information to blackmail you, ever. It’s every other detail that I listened to that spelled your doom.

It’s not my fault you got too comfortable to remember who I am: a sadistic bitch willing to fuck you over until it hurts!

So now I’m going to write out that email, so that should I wake up ready to fuck you over and say goodbye to your pathetic ass I’ll be prepared!

I���M THINKING SOMETHING LIKE THIS:

Dear Annie,

It fills my heart with sorrow to be writing this to you. My job is hard to explain delicately, so I’ll be blunt. I’m a domination phone sex operator. Your husband has been in contact with me for quite some time and recently let slip that he’s not single. As such, I wanted to reach out and let you know what perverse things your husband has been having me discuss with him.

In your position I would be unlikely to believe the word of a stranger, so I’ve attached the photos he has sent me, along with a few emails between us to give you a clear picture of what he’s been up to.

As you can see for yourself, he’s not your run-of-the-mill slut. He’s been dreaming of some very kinky things while you’re away. Feel free to reach out for more evidence. Should you pursue a divorce, I will gladly testify about our ‘relationship’

I hope you heal from this terrible truth and that I haven’t caused too much pain.

love and light,

Miss Quinn

KEEPING KINKY BLACKMAIL SECRETS

Hahaha I wish I could see your face right now. You have no idea what you said in those emails, but I do:

“Mistress Quinn please! I need to cum so badly and I can’t stop thinking of my ass getting torn wide open!”

Hahaha! I know you didn’t actually say that, but it’s so naughty of me to say you did! Go ahead, tell her they’re fake once she looks at the cc bill! See what she says.

I’ll keep your kinky blackmail secrets for now, though. This draft will just sit in my email until you fuck up or I get bored.

[airoasis]

Finding Inspiration in Spite of CRPS Discomfort & Painbrain

It can be the simplest thing on the planet to do absolutely nothing when I am feeling like crap. The discomfort of CRPS can be so overwhelming that I wish to do is hide out in the dream realms of my distractions. I don't indicate to say that it's easy to simply lie around when my physical suffering is amped up, "easy" is not the best word for that at all, however not doing anything during flares needs much less inspiration, concentration and decision than the mountainous task of doing something.It's a glarey-flarey sort of day today. The sky had a bit of a sook previously and then the sun came out to chase away the rain. Annoyingly, the rain fled to conceal under my skin. My body actually hates unexpected visitors so there's been a lot of yelling, signals are being thrown around and all sides are taking blows.The past week has actually brought many of these battles, each day it

has been a bit harder to not relinquish control of my life to the damaging. I cling to my little somethings, my small success, and I savor my shining accomplishments. They might be laundry, or cooking, or simply consuming or showering. They may just be little somethings, but they're mine.It's inadequate to do absolutely nothing, not when there's an opportunity that pressing through the discomfort might

not make anything even worse. Sure, I imply it may, doing things might just leave me in more pain with less functionality, but I have to keep going as though it won't . Not doing anything for fear of effects, even in the face of extremely real dangers, is still acting from a location of fear.

It's enabling worry to dictate my behaviour, which is generally the definition of being a scaredy cat and I am not some ridiculous little feline. I'm a bigass, king of the jungle type of cat. You can tell by the spots on my bra.Look, it's not my fault that the designers-that-be brought leopard print back. I have to go shopping cheap.The point is that if I let fear of painguideline me then I may as well simply snuggle in a corner and forget living. Pain is simply a part of CRPS and because that's not going anywhere, I have to have the ability to press on in spite of it.The way to do that is thoroughly. It's not a negligent, toss cares to the wind and just get things done sort of motivation. I'm not aiming to welcome further pain here, I simply desire to keep momentum in my life by getting rid of the pain I'm stuck to. I have things to deal with and objectives that I wish to achieve and I have actually gained from experience that none of that happens if I just stop trying when things get rough.Over the years, I have actually gotten better and better at moving through physical discomfort. Of course, sometimes the flares are so blinding that I really cannot do anything and at those times,

doing absolutely nothing isn't an option, it's just the way of things. Other times, the pain is excruciating but I handle to find methods to move through it, to base on burning feet, talk with burning cheeks, or type with burning fingers.The human body is pretty fantastic at adapting. Discomfort is an understanding and perceptions are things that can be altered. CRPS involves a malfunctioning of the discomfort system. Instead of resembling a fire alarm that signals authorities to the starts of a burny, smoky catastrophe, CRPS is like a smoke alarm that some kid in your class tripped due to the fact that he 'd rather go and stand on the school oval than take a mathematics test. Both are loud and disruptive, but just the first instance is a genuine emergency.To move through my pain, I have to encourage my mind that there is no fire, whilst likewise thinking about that at any instant flames might really break out if I do something that activates a flare. It isn't really a case of persuading myself that the emergency isn't

real, experiencing a realisation and after that I can do anything after that. Persistent pain varies a lot and whenever it begins to increase, the alarm system goes off and must be identified and dealt with as soon as more.Confused? Yes. Coping with CRPS is very confusing.Overcoming physical pain in order to function is just one part of exactly what I have to do in order to get encouraged. I likewise have to conquer the painbrain, the jumble of disconnectedness that invades my mind in addition to all those unneeded pain signals. This can frequently be the more difficult task.How can I operate

if I cannot even believe?! I have actually realised that I need to be able to work around painbrain in little steps, meticulously and determinedly, much like the method I approach working around physical pain. If I wait till I am thinking plainly then I will barely ever write anything, or read anything, or discover anything. And I take place to like composing, checking out and finding out extremely much.It's been a matter of lowering my requirements. Life is not about all or absolutely nothing. Not every blog site post needs to be

a masterpiece, not every draft has to be released. Not every status upgrade requires to be perfect, not every email, not every remark or reply, certainly not every tweet.If I'm being genuine in what I'm aiming to communicate then most points seem to get to their destinations. If I'm feeling too cloudy to process communication for a while then

I just do not need to interact then. The more I practise, the better I get at reading my state of minds and acknowledging when I may not be processing details correctly and could stand to take a little time out. The technique to maintaining momentum in spite of routine time out is to keep awareness of when my sanity

starts to drip back in and to just embrace it without fear that it will abandon me when more.It's too easy to mentally turn off then just leave the system down. Specifically in Autumn, when the mornings are so extremely painful. In attempting to work around painbrain, I require to keep discovering inspiration to sign in with myself because my state modifications. I may wind up writing or studying at unusual and unexpected times of day, but that's fine, that's wonderful, that's a million times much better than not composing or studying at all.Reading doesn't always have to be quick or complex. In some cases my eyes will skim along the lines, collecting every letter, consuming

every nuance of what I read. Other times, none of the words appear to make it into my head, I have to backtrack every few lines, I have to actively visualise what I'm checking out in order to see it, to bear in mind it. Both of these times are OK, they're just different.Not being at my finest doesn't need to suggest refraining from doing at all.This is one of those lucky days. My hands are just slightly more pained than when I began typing, probably an 8/10

for those who like rankings, however my fingers are still obeying my commands therefore I can manage that. I'll rest them shortly. My disjointed ideas appear to have actually aligned themselves into a post that ended up making sense and will not be lost to the file of forgotten crazy rambles.I have to rest now, but I've done it. I've done something. I've absolutely made a break in my fantasy realm of distractions, no regret or

unhappiness necessary.Do you find painbrain as tough to navigate around as physical discomfort?

What techniques do you use to attempt to overcome this?Love & Cheerleader Kicks, Caf