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mauesartetc · 1 year ago

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Thoughts on Helluva Boss 206 ("Oops")

Holy shit, is this episode... kind of okay? It still has issues and weird quirks that hold it back from being truly good, but I'd say this is one of the better Season 2 entries. At least it's good enough that I have a sufficiently-sized, dedicated "pros" list again. Let's get into it.

Pros:

-FINALLY, we have an mlm couple worth rooting for in this show. Fuck that Stolitz bullshit; Fizz and Ozzie are where it's at. ("Fozzie"? Yeah, that works.)

They're actually kind and caring with each other, they're playful and know how to laugh together, and they treat each other like equals rather than one partner fetishizing and sexually harassing the other. Hell, Ozzie even tends to Fizz's wounds at the end of the episode, and it's powerful to see a high-ranking demon in this society show tenderness and concern for a lowly imp. In a previous post, I expressed my doubts that Fizz and Ozzie's relationship would be any good, but I'm glad to report I was wrong.

-I liked seeing a glimpse of what one of these characters outside of the IMP team does for a day job. Approving designs at the dildo factory? Ehh, it's a livin'. (Though this once again begs the question of why demons live in a capitalistic society nearly identical to that of the US in the human world. Why do they need money to reinforce the social hierarchy when the larger, more powerful demons have special abilities and can just crush the smaller ones like bugs?)

-The heart-shaped flames in Ozzie's fireplace were a nice touch.

And they actually referenced Asmodeus' traditional fire-breathing ability at the end. Neat!

-Oh wow, one of the characters is finally floating the idea of Blitzo using an Asmodean crystal for transportation instead of the grimoire! THANK you!

And at the episode's close, Fizz permits Ozzie to give Blitzo a crystal, meaning he won't be dependent on Stolas anymore. Possible plot progression? How will this affect Stolas and Blitzo's relationship in the future? Would they still be in each other's lives even when the book isn't a factor? I hesitate to get my hopes too high due to the worrying possibility of Blitzo's crystal getting lost or damaged and forcing him to use the book again (though as to why he can't just steal a crystal and use that, I haven't the faintest idea). But I'm cautiously optimistic.

-I liked Stolas getting a chance to show some brain power in helping Ozzie negotiate the contract. This also gave us a nice tidbit of worldbuilding that states any contract signed by one of the Seven Sins is eternally binding. Is this foreshadowing? Will this information come up again in the story? Probably not, but it's fun to dream.

-It was interesting to see Blitzo, Fizz, and Striker have a conversation about each of their relationships with Hell's upper class, though it had potential to be SO much deeper and more authentic (which I'll get into momentarily).

-This is where I learned the white bits on Blitzo and Fizz's skin are actually burns. I always thought Fizz was wearing face paint and Blitzo had some form of vitiligo or something, but the reason he's burned on that side of his face is that it's where the explosion hit him. And Fizz's entire face is white for the same reason, except for his nose, since he was wearing a fake clown nose at the time. It's nice that they kept those details consistent in the flashback.

-Look, I know it's a low bar for most shows, but I appreciated how the story actually gave Blitzo a chance to apologize and redeem himself at the climax rather than making Fizz just forgive him apropos of nothing.

-Oh hey, one of Blitzo's relationships has actually progressed. He and Fizz, after hating each other for years, have made amends. I really hope this friendship doesn't revert to what it was before, like Blitzo and Moxxie's relationship did. But I don't think that'll be the case since Fizz isn't the story's designated whipping boy.

-It was nice how Fizz and Ozzie's respective interactions with Blitzo and Stolas helped them grow and change. I mean, Ozzie still isn't comfortable with anyone outside the palace having definitive knowledge about his romance with Fizz, but baby steps, y'know?

Cons:

-So Crimson's aware he just showed his face to an extremely high-ranking demon, right? He comments that Ozzie is the "weakest" of the Seven Sins, but he's still goddamn royalty, and Crimson is an imp. What's stopping him from sending someone to wipe out Crimson's entire gang after getting Fizz back, or doing it himself like it's implied he did with the lawyer? Crim really couldn't have disguised his voice and stayed in the shadows? Rookie mistake.

Come to think of it, Striker was in that video too, and it never occurred to Stolas, "Oh shit, that's the guy who almost killed me"? Again I have to ask, why isn't Stolas sending people after him? He's a prince, after all, and canonically commands multiple legions of demons. Why the fuck are you allowing this guy to run free, dude?

-I was kinda looking forward to seeing Crimson again, but his reintroduction would have been much more emotionally powerful if it involved getting revenge on Moxxie, which is what the ending of Exes and Oohs implied he now wants. And I know I've said before how going too many episodes without a mention of Striker diminished his menace, but did he have to show up just two episodes after his last appearance?

In general, Oops feels like it has too many returning "guest stars", if that makes sense. Fizz, Ozzie, Crimson, Striker... that's a lot to pack into one episode. Maybe instead of Crimson and Striker, we could have a new villain holding Blitzo and Fizz hostage.

-Speaking of the villains, MAN are they shoveling handfuls of Stupid Pills into their mouths. When Fizz sings his little distraction musical number, they just stand and watch instead of, oh, I don't know, trying to capture him?! Like damn, Crimson and Striker used to be credible threats. This is just embarrassing.

-Also, I know they need to keep Fizz alive until the ransom money comes through, but what reason do they have not to immediately waste Blitzo? Striker hates him for thwarting his assassination of Stolas, and Crimson hates him for crashing his son's arranged wedding. Are they trying to get Stolas to cough up some dough as well? Because that's a pretty major plot development that the script should have made clear to the audience. Basically, the only reasons Blitzo lived through this ordeal are that he has main character plot armor and the villains are being uncharacteristically dumb.

-As expected, in Stolas' subsequent appearance following Western Energy, he's out of the hospital. But I didn't predict he'd be completely recovered from his wounds. Seriously, not even a limp.

Stolas getting hurt was a consequence that impacted absolutely nothing outside of that episode. Are we going to see any scars later on, or perhaps Stolas getting uncomfortable at the sight of knives? Because of how wildly inconsistent this show's continuity can be, I'm guessing no. (And since we don't know how long it normally takes for demons to heal from angelic weapon-inflicted injuries, it doesn't help us get any sense of how much time has passed in the story.)

-Actually, if a royal fucking an imp is such a taboo in this world, why did Ozzie agree to meet with Stolas at all, let alone act so hospitable toward him? If Ozzie's so concerned about his own image regarding imps, wouldn't allowing a known imp-canoodler into his home raise a few eyebrows? More importantly, why in the actual hell does he have a giant, sexy painting of him and Fizz on display in his office where anyone can see it?

And that brings up another question: Why is Ozzie's relationship with an imp being covered in the tabloids, but Stolas' relationship isn't? You might think, "Well, he's a lower-ranked noble, so it's not as newsworthy" but if that's the case, why was there a crowd of reporters snappin' pics when he arrived at the hospital?

"Well y'see it's not really the imp-fucking that's frowned upon; it's the imp romance!" Then why did everyone at Ozzie's club make such a huge stink about Stolas coming there with an imp? The club is located in the Lust ring, where romance is seen as disgusting, so we can safely presume the vast majority of the couples at that club are just fucking. It would be bad form to take someone you're openly romantically involved with to a Lust ring establishment (lookin' at you, Moxxie). Therefore, the patrons and Ozzie himself had every reason to presume Stolas and Blitzo were having sex, and just happened to be right. (Also, if nobles fucking imps were actually no big deal in this world, Stella probably wouldn't have an issue with it either.)

The worldbuilding's an inconsistent mess, is what I'm saying. And Beelzebub's relationship with a hellhound is also strangely unaddressed, making that episode feel even less connected to canon than it already did.

-Man, Stolas is kinda oversharing here, isn't he. It'd be fine if a character who's already been established to let their mouth wander were doing this, but Stolas hasn't previously shown any signs of that.

He reveals he has feelings for Blitzo, to the ruler of a ring whose culture frowns on romance. And... he just expects him to be cool with that, for some reason. At this point he doesn't have solid proof that Ozzie is in love with Fizz; those are just rumors. So this is an extreme lack of tact he's displaying. Also, Ozzie ain't your therapist, dude. And as far as we know they're just acquaintances, not close friends. He could have just skipped to requesting the favor; Ozzie didn't need to know his reasons. Sure, tell him if he asks, but he didn't ask. Or maybe just hint at Stolas' feelings through subtext: His expressions, body language, and all the words he can't say. Visual medium, people.

-For that matter, why is this seemingly the first thing on Stolas' mind right now? "Oh, y'know, I'm going through a very messy divorce and my wife sent a hit man to kill me, and he's still on the loose, probably killing other people as we speak, but can you do this wittle favor for my fuckbuddy, pwease?" We could have just had a quick scene outside Ozzie's office where Stolas communicates with one of his lieutenants regarding updates on the search for Striker. And the reason he's not searching with them? He's still recovering from his injuries. Give him a wheelchair, a cane, a cast, just something to show he's not physically up to it yet. Without this information, where in the actual fuck are his priorities.

-"I know your demons are some of the only ones who can traverse freely and legally." Y'know... This is Hell... Why is legality even an issue in this setting? I think I touched on this for Exes and Oohs, which revealed the existence of Hell Jail. But why is there a Hell Jail? Why are there (presumably) Hell Cops? How does any of this make sense in an environment that thrives on chaos and discord? Oh, and Hell Lawyers are apparently a thing too, because of course. This is why you don't want to build your fantasy world with too many elements that exist in the real one unless you have airtight logic for it.

-When Ozzie tells Stolas Fizz hates Blitzo, his response is, "He does?" The fuck do you mean, Stolas. You were at the club. You witnessed Fizz point out Blitzo in an effort to humiliate him, call him a "total disgrace", and refer to his love life as a "pile of shit". You should already know he hates him. Sure, Stolas doesn't know why yet, but this is why you need editors to cut the parts of your dialogue that don't make any sense.

-I'm not sure what this show's actual stance on the ultra-wealthy is. Fizz tells Blitzo, "Sounds like you just hate him for being a prince", as if princes are a group that's commonly discriminated against-? Sure, a person has no control over being born into extreme wealth and privilege, but they can control how they use it. And when they don't use it to make society better for everyone (opting instead to hoard all the resources for themselves), that will naturally breed resentment in the lower classes.

Another odd thing I noticed about this conversation: You know that one rule in the Bechdel-Wallace test that states a work of fiction's female characters must talk about something other than a man in order for that work to pass? This instance makes me think we need a similar media test regarding class, because here we have three lower-class characters talking only about rich people. Not the societal systems and personal histories that led them to rely so much on rich folks just to get by, but about the rich folks themselves. Hell, Blitzo even says "Royal demons don't give a shit about guys like us", clearly more concerned about wealthy people's opinion of him than the untenable situation their complacence and wealth-hoarding has caused for countless imps. In this scene, the "haves" are very much at the center of the have-nots' universe, and it puts me in mind of a male writer who assumes the only things women discuss with each other are their relationships with men.

Now let's talk about Striker. Time and time again the show has painted him as unreasonable for hating royals, and while his methods are extreme, there's probably a rational explanation for why he holds the views he does (at least if he's being written in a thoughtful, realistic way, which is a MAJOR stretch for this show. But for the sake of this discussion, let's say he hypothetically is). The average imp in this world would have good reason to hold a vague dislike for the royals, but hatred? Passionate hatred? That comes from a deep, personal place. At least one "blue blood" must have done something unforgivable to Striker specifically, and I wish the show would properly explore his motivations. Maybe drop some hints about his backstory once in a while, perhaps in this very conversation? Because this show's villains are really hurtin' for some nuance, and Striker's the one with the most potential for it.

It feels like the writers were trying to say something about real-world issues here, but the message got muddled. Part of it seems to be "don't make broad generalizations about people", which... Okay, nice thought, but if Stolas isn't using his power to improve life for all imps, not just Blitzo, Blitzo has no reason to believe his affection is genuine. For all he knows, imps are still just a fetish to Stolas, and he's only acting nice to keep him around. His love, to Blitzo's mind, is entirely conditional, and until he sees evidence that nobles contribute anything of substance to society, he's not wrong in thinking they don't care and "They're all the fuckin' same". Maybe he'll change his mind if Stolas calls off their deal and offers to hang out with no sex and no strings attached. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

-Also, this was an unintentionally-hilarious gem:

CRIMSON: Hey, hick-for-hire! I said watch 'em, not fuck 'em!

STRIKER: (Immediately leaves)

Great watchin' there, bud. And Crimson is smiling despite Striker going against his orders-? I mentioned in the Exes and Oohs review that there was a disconnect between Crimson's dialogue and what was actually being shown on screen. Old habits die hard, I guess.

-"Everlastingly binding", Stolas? You can't just say "eternally binding", which has the same meaning and would flow more naturally? Under normal circumstances this would feel like a nitpick, but Stolas' phrasing was weird in Western Energy too. He told Blitzo he was "stolen" when "kidnapped" would have been more fitting, seeing as he's a person, not an object. (Hell, he could've just said "spirited away" if they wanted to be fancy with it.) This is a character who's supposed to be well-read, being written by someone who thinks this is how bookish people talk. An abundance of syllables doesn't equal eloquence.

-So if we take a closer look at what Blitzo is holding in the flashback, we see he has a flower and an envelope sealed with a heart sticker, with "For Fizz's eyes only" written on it. This implies he was about to confess his love for Fizz. And in Fizz's flashback, we see Blitzo's dad handing him a card that says "Wish You Were My Son", which I guess is what upset Blitzo and made him storm off, causing the fire.

But those important details are very "blink-and-you'll-miss-it". I didn't catch the card at first, so Blitzo's angry reaction left me very confused. It looked like he saw Fizz being happy on his birthday and just left in tears for no reason. Yes, a good show trusts the audience to piece things together themselves, but we shouldn't have to pause the episode and play it back to see if we missed some crucial element that flashed on screen for two seconds.

-Also, like... Why does romance need to be a part of it. These two have known each other and worked closely together since they were kids, so isn't that kind of like Blitzo having a crush on who was essentially a brother figure? I don't know, it just felt shoehorned in, like Blitzo needs some kind of flirtation or dalliance (or good ol' sexual harassment in Moxxie's case) with every single man in his life except his dad.

-I'm getting tired of these flashbacks dialing the angst and trauma levels up to 11. "This kid was horribly burned... ON HIS BIRTHDAY!" "This kid's best friend was horribly burned... AND HE LOST HIS MOM!" For fuck's sake, it's like these writers are brainstorming what the grimmest possible outcome could be in a given situation, and using that to ostensibly wring some tears out of the audience. Here's the thing, though: We never knew Blitzo's mom. We never saw what her personality was like or what their relationship was like, therefore we can't get nearly as sad as the writers want us to be when she dies.

Think back to past animated stories that did this right. You know why the deaths of Bambi's mom, Littlefoot's mom, and Mufasa were all so heartbreaking? Because we got to know them. We saw how joyful they were in life. How strong, how wise. So it stung all the more deeply when we knew what their children lost.

Blitzo's mom isn't even a character, really. She's a prop the writers are using to exploit the audience's emotions, which is even more unfortunate when you realize that's what Moxxie's mom was, too.

So let's say you're a writer and you want a character to feel guilty about a horrible accident they caused, so horrible that it almost killed their best friend. Okay... It almost killed their best friend. That should be more than enough to make anyone feel guilty, right? Well apparently the Spindle crew felt the need to heap even more guilt onto Blitzo by making that accident also kill his mom. Why wasn't Fizz enough? Why did yet another nameless female character have to lose her life? If Blitzo needed something to distract him from Fizz's pleas for help, you'd think trying to put out the massive fire would suffice, but apparently not. It's all just so forced and manipulative.

-"You're all I had left, Fizz." Wow, so Barb's just chopped liver, huh? Jesus, Blitzo. No wonder she hates you.

-This drawing of Striker's face foreshortens his snout way too much, making it look a lot shorter than it really is.

And for those who haven't seen the episode, this is a held frame, not an inbetween or smear or anything like that, so there's really no excuse for it to look like this. Let's try to suggest more length and structure in the snout, and eliminate the tangents in his smile while we're at it.

I know drawing characters with long snouts can be tricky in a front view like this, but that's what turnaround sheets are for.

-What's ironic about the song "Look at This" is that it's a perfect analogy for how this show uses slick, flashy animation to distract its audience from the amateurish writing. Just an observation.

-Fizz goes on WAY too long about how big Ozzie's dick is. Yeah, great, we get it. Move on, show.

-"Why is it always a sex thing?!" I'm with Striker on this one. Almost every queer male character on this show is preoccupied with sex to an unreasonable degree. I mean Fizz is boinking the actual embodiment of lust and has had sex robots made of himself, so the horniness kinda makes sense for his character, but Blitzo? Stolas? Even Moxxie had his moment where he said "Harder..." to Striker, though that was just to get his guard down. Still, though. It's excessive, guys. It's tired. Come up with some new material.

-FIZZ: You blew me up again, you fuckin' prick!

BLITZO: I did. But this time I stuck around.

Ehh, feels like those lines would have been much stronger if Fizz said them both. Here it sounds like Blitzo's just defending himself, as if he saved Fizz not out of the goodness of his heart, but because he wanted to score brownie points with him. Just feels a little manipulative of him, and out of sync with the more genuine moments the episode showed us earlier. Maybe something more like this:

FIZZ: You blew me up again, you fuckin' prick! (Blitzo looks down, ashamed. But then Fizz realizes something.) But... I'm glad you stuck around this time. (He smiles and hugs Blitzo.)

Allowing Fizz to come to that conclusion on his own is so much more powerful than Blitzo spoon-feeding it to him. Oh, and by the way...

-"Would it fuck up the moment if we made out right now?" Yeah, Blitzo. Yeah it would. Much like how this show can't allow an emotional scene to breathe without making a joke. It's not quite as bad as the tone whiplash with Crimson's wall dildos, but it does spoil the moment a bit.

Overall, not the worst Helluva Boss episode. Not the best, but not the worst. I fully expect the next one to be pointless filler that doesn't advance the story, though, so I might skip it. The problem is, this show's quality boomerangs from bad to okay to bad again in the span of a few episodes. One episode might get my hopes up, the next might dash them, and then there's this morbid curiosity in wondering if the next one might be the one that I finally love. I wanted to like this show so badly (gotta support that indie animation and all), but dear God, this writing.

It's still possible the series could evolve into something great, but my patience in waiting for that is very nearly worn out. Maybe (and that's a GIGANTIC maybe) I'll stick it out to the end of the season, but if the finale sucks, I'm done. Anyway, I need a palate cleanse, so here's more Fizz and Ozzie to end this on a positive note.

#helluva boss #helluva critical #review #critique #writing #rewrite #long post #worldbuilding #redline

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obscure-imaginations · 2 years ago

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Some random clergy headcanons. This is most likely going to be a series, I have so much lore and worldbuilding for this band...

SFW, cut for space.

-The main ministry buildings are hidden in the mountains of Sweden. There is a single road heading down the mountain (about an hour by foot) to a Swedish village, where the locals are allied with the ministry. The locals also worship and work with the Infernals, but have chosen to remain in the village-like environment. From there, it's a two hour walk to a big city, that has no idea the village nor the clergy exist. This is for safety reasons. The ministry itself is giant, with many buildings, a farm, a ranch, an orchard, and anything else needed to be self-sustaining. Most of the ministry's power is from solar panels on the rooves, but there are many options in case of emergency.

-The primary languages spoken in the ministry are English and Swedish. Most Siblings of Sin communicate in English, Swedish is mainly used to interact with locals. However, there are an abundance on languages spoken- all the way from ancient Latin, to Afrikaans, to Navajo, to Spanish. There are also many types of sign language. If you ask around, you can certainly find enough Siblings to speak every language on the planet!

-Families have their own separate building, where there are family quarters, classrooms, its own library, and separate cycles of laundry and food. This is for safety reasons, as the main building is easy for a child to get lost in. And no one wants a kid walking in on a ritual that isn't... child-friendly. The only exceptions are ghouls (they have their own building) and children of the bloodline. For families with multiple children, if one reaches of-age, they can choose to either move into the main ministry, or wait until their sibling(s) are of age so the entire family can move. Classes for children are held in this building as well.

-When a sibling reaches age, they must choose a job to do along with their studies. They can choose a job that associates with their 'major' (whatever they study, alongside the required religious courses), or just something that needs doing, like janitorial work or farming/ranching. Ghouls aren't the only ones working hard!

-Speaking of ghouls, most ghouls have duties along the lines of Sibling work, but they also have more in-depth magical jobs. Maintaining protection magic, assisting in rituals, getting rid of negative energy, you name it. Siblings can assist, but a ghoul is required to get a full coverage.

-Not all of the ministry is human. There are a scattering of supernatural beings as well- namely werewolves. Strictly in management terms, werewolves are easiest for the upper ministry to handle. There is magic to suppress changes, if the Sibling chooses, or a place where they can transform safely. Vampires are also easy to maintain, but can be tricky. If there's a vampire with telepathy or charisma magic, it could be very easy for them to take over the clergy. Ritual 'sacrifices' are always available if someone goes rogue.

-That being said, any and every supernatural being is welcomed with open arms in the clergy. There are requirements depending on the species (such as fae being required to drop fae law), but they all have a place, as long as they can devote themselves to the Infernals and the work of the clergy.

- From the time they reach age, Papal heirs go through the regular ranks as a part of their training, from deacon to cardinal. However, unlike the other members of the ministry, only those in line for Papacy may take the title of Arch Cardinal. It’s the final step before Papacy. The highest a non-Papa member can reach is cardinal.

-Despite popular belief, pets are common in the abbey. However, they are not permitted to roam, which is why visitors think that they are banned. They are all well taken care of. There is even a ward dedicated to veterinary medicine and magic!

-Siblings have a required uniform, but there are many options for everyone to comfortable. The uniforms are solid colors of black, red, or white. Siblings are allowed to accessorize, within reason. Anything can be worn off duty. Siblings are not required to veil, but many choose to for aesthetic reasons.

-The library is extensive and has many keepers, always flitting between the shelves, tending the books and any disruptive Siblings. No one (except maybe the Papal line) is quite sure what the Keepers actually are, as no one can agree on what they look like, but they guard the knowledge dearly. No one has to worry about late fees or anything, because the book is mysterious gone from the belongings of the borrowing Sibling after the day that it's due.

-As much as the clergy hates to do it, some knowledge is restricted and kept only for the Papas. This is purely for safety reasons- the magic that is contained is dangerous.

-As you might know, the Papas are not entirely human. Their bloodline is demonic, and has a lot of supernatural genes as well, from various Prime Movers over time.

-The masks that the ghouls wear have several purposes. The masks bind the ghoul to the clergy, so no outside source can use them against the ministry. It also keeps them contained within a humanoid form- less intimidating and less destructive. On tour, the band ghouls have the most restrictive masks to keep them looking entirely human. In the clergy, however, they are allowed a bit more freedom. Claws, horns, tails, and fur are common sights among the ghouls.

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andromedaexists · 10 months ago

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Infinity Alchemist || Kacen Callender

★★★★★

TW: ABUSE (FAMILIAL, ON PAGE), DEATH (MURDER), GUILT, GRIEF, MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS (FADE TO BLACK), VIOLENCE

I always feel like I don't know where to start with these. 9 times outta 10 I'm writing reviews right off the end of the book and this one... I have tears in my eyes. This is a 6 star book for me. Firmly. My heart hurts

I received this book as an ARC in return for an honest review. Thank you to Tor Teen and NetGalley for the ARC.

Infinity Alchemist releases in just a few weeks on Feb. 6th I believe, and I highly recommend it to anyone who will listen.

Once again calling back to any book that makes me physically feel something get an automatic five star, but this book did more than that. This book wrapped my heart in tendrils of alchemical magic and refuses to let go.

Let's start with the characters: Ash, Ramsay, Callum, and Marlowe. Ash is our POV character and in a trans POC man. He is an asshole who has a rough life, growing up in the slums with a mother who passed away not too long ago. He wants to prove himself worthy of his absent father, and will stop at nothing to do so.

Ramsay is a prodigy, the genderfluid child of known and executed terrorists hell-bent on atoning for their sins. She uses he/she pronouns, though leans more towards she/her throughout the book. She is also such an uptight prick... until she's not. I genuinely love how prickly and rude she is and how much that shows to me as an autistic mask. I just love her so much.

Callum is a black man and the youngest son of the Kendrick house, more or less the police state in book. He is kind and caring despite the heavy hand of his father and all he wants to do is heal. He wants to heal and help others, like the good man he is.

These three, oh these three. They hold my heart.

Marlowe is my obligatory redhead (listen I have to point them out when they are given to me!). She is an orphan of House Lune and becomes so integral to the story in ways I never thought possible.

Without given away too many spoilers, I want to tell yous: there is so much diversity in this cast. So much! It's beautiful!! And, AND, we get not one, but two (2) separate Rivals-to-Lovers ARCs that don't end in a love triangle, but a polycule! We also get best friends to lovers to bitter exes to lovers once again!!

As far as the worldbuilding goes, I have to say that Kacen is a master at weaving these mystical and fantastical realms together in a way that not only make sense, but feel real. I felt like I was in the higher realms with the characters, like I knew exactly what each house was and why they were there.

I have aphantasia, which means that I cannot imagine what anything ever looks like. And yet, the beautiful world descriptions put me there. They called back to things that I do know and do have experience with and built off of it. I very genuinely could see myself in the world, and that is saying a lot.

I don't think I can talk too much more about this book without bringing myself to tears again, so let's pivot to some of my favorite quotes to make y'all understand the gravity of this book:

The world became a white blur. The snow turned red. It fell to the ground, drops spreading like blots of ink. The blood dripped from Amelia's cheeks. Her smile faded as the screams began.

That's what privileged assholes like you always say.

[redacted] paused, but only for a moment. He opened the [redacted]. There was an explosion of light.

It was too late. [redacted] was already there.

It wasn't death he'd feared, he realized, but the change—the transformation that forced him to release.

This light held the vibration of energy that the physical body would translate as love.

They all created the same infinite light. They were eternal.

It was an interesting place to be caught, stuck between grief and gladness that they were gone.

Okay, I think that's all I can put without spoilers.

One thing I forgot to mention: this book is genuinely funny. Maybe it's because of the autistic mask I mentioned earlier, but the interactions between Ramsay and Ash at any given point past like 20% of the book are genuinely funny. I love Ramsay's sense of humor.

Anyways, that's all for this book! I am going to curl up in a ball and cry while I purchase a physical copy to annotate and put on my recommendations shelf. This is a story that I will be thinking about years down the line, I just know it. Ash is a part of my soul now, and I can't wait to see what he does next.

#andi reads #book reviews #booklr #bookblr #lgbt books #queer books #queer book directory #infinity alchemist #kacen callender

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anheliotrope · 2 years ago

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Shallow Approaches to Transhumanism

I recently watched Rhystic Studies' video on Phyrexia. In case you aren't aware, Phyrexia is a hellscape and a faction where horrific and runaway transhumanism features heavily.

I am often disappointed by how shallow even (supposedly!) great works of art treat transhumanism. I don't think Phyrexia says much that is meaningful on the topic of transhumanism's political problems -- and I'm pretty sure that was never the goal. I don't think MTG has to be deep on this axis, people don't go to fantasy for realistic political analogues, but despite that, people are drawn to trying to suggest strong connections to real world political issues. And this always makes me focus on the inadequacies of art rather than its virtues.

We live in a world where, sans AI risk, the main threat from technology is unequal control, which will lead to the class that has control over technology dominating the class that does not -- and this process can accelerate. This social problem is rarely represented in media and it is ongoing. It is not a problem of the future, it is a problem of the present. Those who do not have access to technology are forever at the mercy of those who do. And technological progress accelerates technological progress.

More on Phyrexia

To take Phyrexia as an example of shallowness -- it has beings that are just stronger than others. The resulting hierarchy is somewhat arbitrary or fueled by fantasy worldbuilding -- it is not generated by the societal structure of Phyrexia. The concept of Phyrexia generates the social structures as needed, in order to serve the themes the artist already wanted to depict.

And a lot of these themes of technology-induced spiritual degradation are used purely because it is a popular and easy theme to approach. It has been affixed to the shared artistic consciousness of humanity though sheer repetition because it is an easy way to introduce a tension where none would otherwise exist, and to explore interesting and messed up things.

Its origins lie in two places. Religious opposition and economic fears. For that matter, I can freely admit it is delicious for Phyrexia to have religious overtones -- this embraces spiritual degradation, it's just on the nose now, but it also assimilates a desire for spirituality within that which supposedly destroys it. I think MTG fails to take this synthesis to its extreme however -- Phyrexia is never a genuine religion that just happens to be extremely messed up, but rather it is a monument to the sin of pride, ala Divine Comedy.

Phyrexia's language is vastly more developed by the creators and has its own unique beauty, but the same care isn't given to its religious worldbuilding, which remains, in most cases, just an inversion of good, failing to emphasize the alien.

Human Revolution [spoilers]

Looking at Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the endings feature a pretty insane set of choices. I am going to explain them very expediently, feel free to look them up in more detail.

Reveal the truth about what corporations have been doing with augmentation technology and let humanity decide.

Pervert the truth, blame extremists, so that skepticism of augmentation technology does not rise.

Pervert the truth, to make all of it look as just an accident that can be resolved by increased government regulation.

Destroy the mcguffin facility, never share any information to humanity, to "let them decide".

The fourth ending is so idiotic we can ignore it.

If you have any respect for your fellow humans, casually creating an extremely potent distortion of reality by falsifying evidence on such an important matter should be out of the question (2 & 3).

If you pick ending 2, Adam talks about how it is in humanity's nature to rise above its limitations. Ending 3 is like a dumbass centrist take, humanity should self improve, but we need more oversight.

Ending 1, which is, on the object level, the least morally objectionable one, triggers Adam to say some extremely opinionated shit at the end such as "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal". Technology is bad and humanity cannot be trusted with it.

The common theme in all of this is that there are never specific groups at fault or specific features of how we have set up society. It's always about the essential moral value of technology and whether humanity's nature is good enough to handle technology. It is inherently both a collectivistic view and a strongly morally essentialist view. Phyrexia investigates transhumanism from the same angle, in this respect. I could rant for two hours how extremely Christian brained this is, but I'll spare you that.

What I mean to say in the end is that the vast majority of media is completely allergic to dealing with object level problems, with specificity. It is easier to repeat existing themes than to look again at the world and investigate something more relevant to our lives.

#transhumanism #phyrexia #deus ex #anpost #human revolution spoilers #the world really needed another mid rant #vidya #worldbuilding

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ethanhuntfemmefatale · 1 year ago

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I feel like you’re the only other person in the world who is as intrigued by the ethan/claire/jim dynamic as I am. It drives me crazy! I love that ethan, who is portrayed as a pretty flawless guy (he just cares TOO much) in the later movies gets this like crazy quirk of being in love with his father figure/boss’s wife and I love that you’re not always sure how much is manipulation and how much is genuine every time they interact. Severely underrated. Anyway loved the fic!

anon i am so so glad that you loved the fic and i am so glad to hear from another person fascinated by the ethan/claire/jim fuckery. (incidentally being a fellow ethan/claire/jim interested individual entitles you automatically to friend status should you so desire)

your ask touches on some things and it's giving me the urge to rant so please forgive me cause im probably about to get very off topic. I just love your point about the way that ethan (who is so steadfastly heroic in later movies!) starts out with this massive, like, to lean into the MI1 religious imagery, sin. And that sin isn't resolved in any satisfactory way--both of the people involved die, and no one is left alive who even knows what really happened, and this makes me feel rabid to think about. (Luther saw the cheek kiss, but has no context for it, and I feel strongly that Ethan has never told him anything else about that. I really think Ethan never breathes a word to anyone about Jim, Claire or Max. Kittridge is probably the closest to being able to infer some of the details, he knows Ethan loved Jim, he knows about Max's "entrapment," but he's too much of a self-absorbed bureaucrat to give a shit.)

But back to the point about the sin. For my money, Ethan's sin is the heart of MI1. The movie tells us that Ethan's sin is being in love with Claire--but in a queer reading of the movie, it's easy to read into Ethan's interactions with Claire and Jim and infer that his real sin is being in love with both of them, a sin that Jim will never openly acknowledge, but that all three of them are aware of to some degree. Ethan's sin is also portrayed as being...not actually his fault. He doesn't participate in any of Claire's "seduction moments," although from his expression after the cheek kiss IMO you can see that he has strong feelings about them. Ethan's sin is something that is done to him, and regardless of whether or not he wants it, regardless of whether initiates or even participates, he is corrupted by the experience. He's only (to some degree) cleansed by the death of claire, jim and krieger, the only people who knew about what happened.

(one of the reasons I drew from gawain and the green knight in the end of the fic is because--beyond the parallels of jim as the lord going hunting in the woods, claire as the lady going hunting for gawain, ethan as the knight just trying to make it out alive--that's a story that deals heavily in impossible moral tests and loss of agency. And Gawain emerges from it 'fey-touched', fundamentally changed despite the fact that most of what happened to him was unwanted and unavoidable. That's how i feel about ethan at the end of MI1)

It's important to note briefly that I actually don't think of the Claire/Jim/Ethan thing as his only sin in the movie. It's the only one that's remarked on directly, but the whole thing with Max feels like it's presented too similarly to ignore. It's another situation of power differences and emotional and sexual manipulation where Ethan is put in an impossible position and emerges morally corrupted (by the rules of the movie), but victorious.

In a lot of ways, I feel like the sin itself almost serves less as an indictment of Ethan and more as a worldbuilding device. MI1 establishes the world of the IMF really vividly without showing us hardly anything about it! we don't even know what the IMF is really, it doesn't have a headquarters, we don't get to know any other teams outside of the one that dies in the beginning, but the movie renders the world of the IMF through Ethan's relationship with Claire and Jim. I've talked before about the "sea of lies." The thing that made me love MI1 so much in the first place was the specific feeling that is so beautifully evoked, of gradually realizing that everyone you have ever loved wants to use you. That's the IMF! That's spywork, baby! Ethan doesn't realize it in the beginning, but he sure figures it out by the end. it's impossible for ethan to make it out of MI1 without becoming part of the corrupt world of the IMF, the real IMF that Claire and Jim and Kittridge are in, not the fantasy of the team in the opening. (to go back to the green knight metaphor--he has to take the sash in order to live--and even though that means compromising his morals, he's blameless. Corrupt, forever, but blameless.)

despite that--ethan is not the IMF. He believes in Claire. He believes in Luther. He avoids killing. he has an honor code that he sticks to even as he gets deeper and deeper into the sea of lies. that's what makes him the guy we see in the rest of the franchise, that at arguably his most vulnerable point, his most corrupt point, he believed in the people he loved and tried not to hurt anyone. The point of the sin, to me, is that Ethan is forced into the deep end of the murkiest grey moral waters and held underneath, and in the process he sacrifices moral purity for moral integrity and makes it out alive. and the movie doesn't hate him for it. He's a hero.

lots of thoughts for this ask lmfao thank you very much anon for indulging me. and thank you for reading the fic. i am so glad you liked it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#mission impossible #long post #mission impossible 1 #claire phelps #jim phelps #ethan hunt #max mitsopolis #jim phelps evil polycule

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griseldabanks · 1 month ago

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1, 2, 7-10, 14, 17, and 23 for the Fic Writer's Ask, please?

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

Probably my Captain America fic Make Me Whole, which is about what would happen if Steve decided to save the Winter Soldier without knowing that he's Bucky. It's the kind of thing where, if you like this fic, there's a good chance you'll find some other fics of mine to your liking; if you don't like this fic, you probably won't care for most of my other writing either. And while it's the first of an ongoing series, it provides a fairly satisfactory ending in itself, if you don't want to read any more.

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

"Angst," "Alternate Universe," and "Angst & Hurt/Comfort." Yep, sounds about right! I love me a good AU, and I'm all about that angsty angsty goodness.

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

I'm pretty pleased with the worldbuilding I did for Creta in my FMA fic of skulls and secrets. I went for "vaguely Italian" for inspiration, and also researched some real-world alchemists to rework into the story I wanted to tell. One of my favorite parts of writing that fic was writing Ed speaking Cretan, which he's good at reading but terrible at speaking, so it's kind of like he's translating each word separately as he hears it rather than understanding the sentence as a whole. For example: "I myself never seeing, never asking about either was. Alchemy—too many brains for this of mine head!"

8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?

From the first time I heard it, "Still Be You" by David Hodges sounded to me like a soulmate AU. I may write it someday myself (since nobody knows David Hodges, alas), but the trick is deciding exactly how the soulmate stuff works, and what characters it would be about.

9. How do you find new fic to read?

I have a backlog of fics I want to read from the past, like, ten years at least, so I'm all set XD (And what puts it on that list is usually either a recommendation from someone I trust or an author that I read one fic and liked, so I decided to go through all their other fics.

10. How do you decide what to write?

What grabs me and won't let go? What plot bunnies gnaw at me in the dark watches of the night as I try to fall asleep? What is such a good idea that it pushes past the insecurity and laziness so I end up writing it despite myself?

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

You know, the first thing that popped into my head was the fic my friend @dairogo wrote subverting the "there was only one bed" trope. She's probably the only one I'd trust to do that right XD

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

Now, that would be telling ;)

Uhh...most of the ideas floating around in my head are AUs, really, and a lot of them are ones with the potential to be popular if I ever get around to writing them, like the FMA/Firefly crossover I've been wanting to do for years. But I think I'll go with a Final Fantasy X fic I actually have all planned out but just too many other things I'd rather write first. It would be called The Path to Sin, and it's based on an FFX RP I did way back in the day that fell apart with no satisfying conclusion, but then I brainstormed the rest of the story with my brother one summer. It was super fun, and basically went from "just another summoner's voyage to defeat Sin" to a really epic alternate story of how Sin could be defeated for good. I don't even remember all the details, but it would make a really epic chapterfic...unfortunately, I feel like very few people would know/care enough about FFX to bother reading it, so the motivation to actually write it is pretty low at this point ^^'

23. What’s a trope, AU, or concept you’ve never written, but would like to?

After thinking about this too much, I'm going with my answer for number 8. I've never written a soulmate AU, but I kinda want to if I can figure out a really good story for it.

Fic Writer Ask Game

#ask and you shall receive #valiantarcher #ask games

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scarletooyoroi · 1 year ago

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Alright! S'been a hot minute the AQ and it's been properly digested so to speak. Under the cut I want to go over a different spin of content in the overview, mainly what I feel like were worldbuilding plot points that met odd ends.

Naturally will have some touch of spoilers for those not caught up.

The first thing I want to dive on is the issues that we were teased about Fontaine having.

First example being.

This was one starting example, but there was a few more NPCs and Liben's accounts that told of Fontaine's infrastructure. Now we could angle this as these researchers thinking extremely long term, yet, the realm of Fontaine itself never gives any visual or quest based storytelling of this account. If anything, there seems to be a craze trend with both robotics and the issues regarding the primordial sea.

To me that always just scratched the thought of this being a storybeat that ultimately needs attention. That said, we've virtually got none of that in response. The initial energy issues weren't even an issue as the newly established power source of Indemnitium (which we've never seen even be USED for the town, only Pneuma/Ousia has been utilized) didn't have no concerns what so ever. On top of that, we've learned from Focalors that a mere, minuscule fraction alone was enough to power Fontaine.

So okay, cool, with the granted direction and it's eventual demise, even though it's come at the VERY end of the AQ, that could lead to some future Fontaine stories for this route, right?

Well, no, for again the potential energy issue that needs to be regulated is then magically hoisted up by Nevuilette's hand. His Hydro authority granted him immediate generation, upkeep and control of Pneuma/Ousia energies. Which I mean.. is fine. That said, what to make of all the prior region teasing? Why are the humans there even bothering when technically, there should be no signs of downfall to warrant this concern? As it looks we've seen no measure of heavy pollution at all there either.

In return it gave me the impression that Fontaine's environment might've had a vastly different outlook before. Moreso a deeper look into aspects of pollution, purity and having to make good on caring for the land.

Sliding over to the next!

Another aspect of Fontaine it felt like we were going to get depth in was this, how there was this supposed shadow war between new and old generation Oceanids. Egerias idea of love and unity, Focalor's..??? We never really learned what she did to warrant this distaste, since her plan was moreso focused on just getting the Heavenly Principle's plan situated. Did the Oceanids even know about her existence? Was the distaste aimed at Furina?

There's also the new generation Oceanids in question. Was it the Hydro Phantasms that warranted this issue, or was it the Oceanids that followed the desires in becoming human? The latter feels difficult in being the case as we've seen no rhyme, reason or sign of Oceanid humanity even bothering with them, it's all in their own lives.

While the Hydro Phantasms can still be up for contention, we've rarely met any of them focused on this task. They're either wild spirits or in cases of the Veluriyam mirage, phantasms that wanted to keep the wishes of travelers there alive.

Being a longer time player, this is where many of the storytelling issues didn't end up-- bad (at least too bad to me), rather, it's a really weird note of them just shuffling some past ideas under the rug and calling it a day. I honestly don't think we're going to find any ground on them, given the gradual changes of their story overtime.

These were the big two about Fontaine that I really needed to get out there. With themes such as 'Purity' being a key part of it's story, this felt really weird to just topple on the wayside like this. Instead, it looks like it switched Egeria's sin of human creation instead.

Have you noticed any particulars yourself? Stuff like this fascinates me so I'd love to hear it.

damn you really out here readin' a lot.

#| OOC Musings #| Genshin Stuff #reminds me of like the time when #A big hoyo teaser teased the idea of Irminsul burning the fk down #in a prophetic dream with Dottore before it. Only for that to never get mentioned at all

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fipindustries · 9 months ago

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-of three

yuuuuuup, i think this is where i tap out, whatever was the comic i originally fell in love with this is no longer it, hasnt been for a long while.

in a sense it was kind of inevitable, if this comic intended to last any serious ammount of time and try to tackle a serious kind of story it couldnt stay as the wacky, histrionic, horny and chaotic extravaganza of cool body horror and funny silly characters it was when it began.

the later, more angsty, more complex, more... can i even say "grounded"? let's say heavy parts of the story were just not doing it for me, though not through any fault of their own, i should clarify. is just simply not something im in the mood for anymore.

i think something changed in me, in my temperament, in my tastes, in who i am. i think i lost the taste for highly dense, highly complex convoluted stories with thousands of characters and moving pieces and giant ambitious worldbuilding and deep lore. or maybe is not that i lost the taste for them, is that ive already involved myself in far too many of them. i am currently reading one piece, kill six billion demons, gunnerkrigg court, the locked tomb series, as well as watching dungeon meshi, yellowjackets and a bunch of other shows. maybe my head has just ran out of ram to keep all of those things straight in my head and still care and be invested in all of them simultanously.

or maybe feast for a king is just a little TOO damn chaotic and its cast a little TOO crowded with people and its timeline a little TOO convoluted. to be honest, after a while keeping track of it all felt more like homework than anything else, and after hitting a certain scale you kind of start hitting powercreep induced nihilism. like, between the five different types of hekatonks, the queen worms and the king worms, the kings seeds, whatever celadon is, cyborg powers, heart worlds, double hearted mandragoras, the weeds, hybrids, clones, mutants, gods??? it really feels like just about anything goes. death is kind of meaningless in this world, powerlevels are kind of meaningless, what is possible or impossible is kind of meaningless, we have shapeshifters and possessing bodies, and mind control, and astral projection, and ghosts, and time travel. anything can be anything anywhere all the time, it just becomes meaningless. insipid. there is no up or down.

on top of that the morality of any given character is so fucked and the scale of the horrors and sins commited in this story are so overwrought that i also fail to be morally invested on anything? are there good guys? bad guys? is there even a right or wrong here anymore? i know there are characters i nominally like, but i dont even know what version of that character do i sympathize with really, do i really like this character or do i like what who they were 500 years ago? or maybe i only liked someone else pretending to be that character, or maybe i dont like the character i like the worm they became after they were eaten by worms, etc etc and so on and so forth.

i just lost the plot. it got away from me.

i think you can be highly chaotic and ambitious in one or two things when executing your story. either worldbuilding, or the order of storytelling, or characterization, or morality, or nature of the cast. but not all of them all at once.

still, i do not want to leave this with a bitter taste in my mouth. i do still highly respect this strange beautiful beast for what it is and for what it tries to be. i wouldnt want it to be anything else. its just too strange not to like. im glad something like this exists. and by golly did it give me some great moments. let me say that again. it gave me some amazing moments, some truly magical experiences that i never got from anything else. and just for those incredible scenes and characters i will always have a corner in my heart where embers will burn dedicated to it. i dont think its flaws take away from the good i got and i would still enthusiastically recomend this to anyone who is mildly curious and has way more patience than i do

it was truly a feast, in all senses of of the word, and i had my fill of it.

#feast for a king #simon Did not do and indeed will never do Anything Wrong ever #simonXknife4lyf #simon best character #possibly best person???? ever????#the true deffinition of my little meow meow

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librathefangirl · 2 years ago

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Hey Libra! 👋

First of all I love your blog! And that icon makes me happy every time I see it :D

Second of all this is actually the THIRD time I’ve tried to type this ask. 😂😅 first time I was nervous. Then Tumblr deleted the second one seconds ago because it’s bad luck day I guess. The curse of the broken headphones is spreading. It killed my laptop charger an hour ago and is now directly deleting my writing. Is the universe trying to send me a sign? Luckily, I am not listening. Though I do tremble in fear

I am writing a SDS demon analysis essay inspired by zorria’s post that’s been circling around about Tristian and Io. I wanted to ask you if you’d like to give a special guest / character / concept mention that you'd like to see me ramble on about! I’ll research pretty much anything.

So far for writing topics we have: zeldris, cursed by light, ethics of our least favorite tryant parents and the consequences, the supreme dirty specifically making me concerned for the future of the goddess clan for 90 minutes, Elizabeth’s holy war shenanigans, and Jenna and Zaneri making me question the druids.

If you would like to submit a Thought to the “thinking about demons and what nakaba’s wild writing actually means for the worldbuilding” train please do!

None of our SDS mutuals have responded to me about this yet, so in the meantimeeee I'm writing a Pre Holy War fic because time to write my first fanfiction I guess! First two chapters are done and end on cliffhangers, inspired by your latest SDS fic which I love.

Featuring! TC Meliodas’s Questionable battle strategy, Zeldris being a literal brat (child Zel!) but a very smart one, the Ten Commandments doing their job well for once but behind the Demon King’s back, Fraudrin being forced into the role of NPC, the predecessors of the Six Knights of Black being even worse at their job than the ones the Sins best in prisoners of the sky, and the lack of goddess characters forcing me to come up with one on the spot. She has a randomly generalized name and her fate is undecided.

If you would like to submit a Thought to that as well, I'm all ears. In any case you and the mutuals can expect something interesting from me soon I guess.

Thanks for reading if you end up reading this. I have no idea now many asks you get on a daily basis.

Have a wonderful day!

Hey!! 👋 (I've been trying to answer this ask all day but I'm also helping my sister take care for my nephew who's sick at the moment and it's like I swear there were more hours in the day??)

Anyway! Glad you're enjoying my chaos ;) And the icon - that's exactly why I picked it! I just love that scene (no matter how brief it is) and always replay it so I can watch that smile again (so soft! so happy!) So I thought, hey why not make it so I get to see it everyday?

Oh no, not the Curse of the Broke Headphones! 😂 It really must be spreading tho. My standard video viewing program on my computer (that I prefer to use for my videos) just works like... 1 out of 10 times, for the past few days. No clue why. Kudos to you for being persistent! If you hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten this fun ask 😊 I feel you on the nerves though. I think I've only ever sent 1 ask. And that was to thank for hosting a whump event. And I know saying there's no need to be nervous is pretty pointless (because if you're like me you're gonna be nervous anyway) but just know you can write whatever to me. No judgement!

Okay. So, that essay sounds sooo interesting! And I... don't have anything specific in mind at the moment. (Like always, somebody asks me what's my thoughts on Topic are and I'm like... *cricket sounds*). But seriously, all those topics so far sound really good and interesting. Man, the SDS demons really are Something to think about, aren't they? Honestly, the demons, the goddesses, the first holy war are all so fascinating to think about. (And definitely something I wish had gotten explored more in canon). Like, take the goddess clan in that era for example (admittedly not something I think about as much as the demons but) and the SD's role in the war. Like obviously, as seen in Cursed by Light, she didn't want the holy war to end, wanting to keep her "game" and the balance between light and dark, but at the same time we have people like Ludociel, who is dead-set on not only ending the war but destroying all the demons. Actually, this goes for the DK and the demons too! Neither the Supreme Deity nor the Demon King wanted the holy war to end, yet had their best soldiers fighting tooth and nail to end it. It's just interesting to think about, how did their thought process work? The archangels and the Ten Commandments are their elite troops, right? And - what, they didn't actually expect them to win? Like what would have happened if one side had figured out a way to win that didn't include the disappearances of both demons and goddesses? So much to think about.

Oh! First fanfic, yay! I remember my first fanfic - or actually I don't. But I remember my first fanfic that I posted (not sure if that's the first I wrote or not). It was for Lab Rats over on FF.net back in 2016. (Oh, man, just typing that out made me feel old. Have I really been writing fanfics (on-and-off) for almost 7 years now?). To the surprise of absolutely no one it was angsty and family-centric.

And yeah, gotta write those cliffhangers ;) Happy to be of service (inspiration)! To share some excitement from my end as well, I am currently (as in as soon as I'm done typing this answer) working on chapter 2. So, hopefully I'll (finally) have that up soon!

Okay, let me tell you something: that fic sounds absolutely amazing! So many good things included. You've definitely got me intrigued already! And I feel you on the goddess character. I can't tell you how many times while writing my fics I've been like wait I need a goddess/demon character for this. And they need a name and an identity?? Not to mention the time I had to come up with a name for an entire dragon species. Thank god for name generators 😂 Usually I just generate names until I find one I like and then maybe change it a bit (like for the dragons where I swapped two letters around because I liked it better that way) or just take whatever name pops up in my head (that's sort of what I did for Mel's sister in my Dragon Meliodas AU; I took a name that popped up in my head and switched it up a bit to be more similar to Zeldris' for maximum angst). One time I even went: you know what, this goddess is a minor character, that's gonna flee the scene of the crime almost immediately and isn't really the point of the story, and then just didn't bother give her a name at all 😅 Actually! I'm in this spot right now too. I still haven't named my demon character in When the Past Comes Crashing, but it's okay so far. He's still an unknown mysterious demon to the readers, so I have time to figure it out 😂 😅

Anyway. Excited to see whatever you come up with! Also, this is like the fourth(?) ask I've gotten. Ever. So, yeah, there's always room in my inbox (or dm if you prefer) to come yell, rant or just chat with me about SDS, fics, or anything you want to 😊

Thank you for this amazing ask! And I hope you have a wonderful day as well!

#libra answers #hihopelessromantics #nanatsu no taizai #seven deadly sins #long post

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serenephenix · 2 years ago

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So, I think enough time has passed to maybe tentatively look at Trigun Stampede in relation to the manga and some issues with the pacing that I did notice over the course of the past weeks, especially considering the story elements that have been shuffled around for the most recent episode.

For anyone here to have a good time and cry in tears of agony about this show: Power to you and have fun! Anything you don't wanna read is under the cut!

Also, massive spoilers ahead for the Trigun manga if you haven't finished it yet!

First of all, Trigun Stampede brings a lot of good things to the table, like the score that really sets the mood and breathes life into the scenes, to the almost looney-tooney animation elements that really give it some of the charm the manga has, the gorgeous flashback sequence we got today, the incredible effect of twisting the music/visuals just as Wolfwood's body and mind get twisted in the experiment, as well some worldbuilding that had only been hinted at in the manga.

I really like Trigun Stampede but it is, unfortunately, produced at a time where the market has deluded itself into thinking that less than 20 episodes is the best option for marketability and that it will cut them losses if they need to cancel any show for any inane reason.

The parts that I want to focus on here, is the decision to have Livio introduced this early into the series and the... let's call it "lack of understandable motivations" behind his attack on Vash on the Sand Steamer.

I was curious to see why exactly Livio would appear here in the first place.

In the manga, Livio only appeared after it became clear that Wolfwood had defected and deceived Knives, the Gung-Ho Guns and the Eye of Michael. He was sent to eliminate Wolfwood and lessen the risk of him interfering with Knives' plans in any remarkable manner.

And what had made the encounter between Wolfwood and Livio heart-breaking in the first place, was that Wolfwood for his part had believed him to be safe back at the orphanage, away from all the bloodshed and monstrosity.

To Nick, it had almost been a sort of cruel, twisted punishment for his perceived sins - one of the reasons why he then tried to confront Livio all by himself in his last battle.

And in that context, Livio's appearance in the story and his impact makes a lot of sense.

Him being on the Sand Steamer now and attacking Vash, makes little to no sense on the other hand, unless the Eye of Michael itself has been torn up into two factions - one that follows Knives every command and one that thinks that Vash is too great of a risk to the heralded promised day and want him eliminated.

I hope they do explain it a bit more in the future because right now, it doesn't add up.

I also have to admit that, what Stampede has not yet been able to really establish and drive home to the audience, is how much of a vindictive and downright sadistic pleasure some of the Gung-Ho Guns take in making others suffer for the heck of it. How little they care about humanity and are willing and even excited at causing as much collateral damage as possible.

While the church sub-plot puts a lot of actions into perspective for Stampede and makes it easier to explain why characters like Rollo come into being and can ease new viewers into understanding Legato's mindset - at this point - they will not have any perspective on how much the Gung-Ho Guns just love to mess with people because they can. Because Knives has put them in a position to do so.

Because, as someone who knows the manga, I know that Legato has no qualms in extending Vash's journey even against Knives' wishes, because nothing brought Legato more pleasure than seeing the man in Knives way suffer over and over. That became apparent from the very first moment they both had their first exchange in the manga.

An insight into Legato's motivations that we did not get from the short dialogue between him and Wolfwood (although I must say that I really enjoyed the twist of Wolfwood having this kind of very personal beef with the man).

As a newbie, I'd have no idea what even is going on anymore except for the part with Wolfwood and Livio (on a surface level).

Heck, when Legato and Zazie showed up, I was sure they were there to collect Livio because he had acted upon Razlo's wishes to find a worthy opponent. The episode could have, very honestly, done well without them. It was already packed full.

I'm also somewhat saddened by the fact that they cut away the whole plot about the Sand Steamer and Kaite. For me, at least, it was an important part of establishing that, despite what we saw in the manga so far, the people on this planet are complex characters driven by all sorts of motivations and that they can have a change of heart. It made them all more human to be honest.

And it would have been fun to actually have Wolfwood and Vash interact with him. If it had played out in a similar manner, with Vash ending up drugged, it would have been a rather interesting thing to see him and Wolfwood arguing about how he is taking way too many needless risks.... but I digress.

So, I'm still excited for the next episode but I hope, deep in my bones, that they not just... not address any of this.

#trigun stampede #trigun maximum #trigun spoilers #listen i have a lot of feelings thoughts and opinions and i need to let them out #this is not a negative review and more like an introspection on how some of the shuffled story elements do not add up right now #i hope that makes sense?

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sokokoko · 2 years ago

Text

I will not answer or reblog anything that asks for money/has to do with donations. Please understand 🙏 Any messages I receive about such things will be presumed to be a bot and deleted.

‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❝ 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 ❞・ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ︵‿

/ ❝𝑰'𝒎 𝑺𝒐𝒌𝒐❞ /

/❝𝑰'𝒎 𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍❞/

/ ❝𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒆❞/

/❝𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝑰 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆, 𝑰 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘❞/

/❝𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐❞/

/❝𝑴𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏❞/

♡✨𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈; 𝒍𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔✨♡

I should probably mention my alt is @all-eyes-no-dragon because you will see me use it some places

𓁹 Insta 𓁹

❀ 25/03 birthday ❀

𓁹 purple is my favourite colour 𓁹

❀ You may also call me Nova ❀

If I write something stupid, feel free to poke holes in it! Thinking is hard 🥲

Also! If you feel like it, I would love an @ if you use any of my word prompts or writing prompts. It's not required, I'm just genuinely intrigued as to what you might've written. Only if you want to share though 💜

Down, down, down to read my stuff ⬇️

Resources:

✎ Writing piece classifications

Definitions and more. Ever wonder how many words it is to be considered a novel? What is a novelette? What is the average word count for different types of genres? What's the word count of a drabble? I got you.

✎ Really good name website: behindthename

❀ Look at: #writing prompts or #writing prompt in this account for a few ideas to spark inspiration in that wonderful Brian of yours

❀ In #whispers you'll see things I think all writers should get to hear

❀ #word of the sometimes is random words that I challenge you to write something based off

❀ #qfmn is random out of context things pulled from my notes (quotes from my notes)

❀ #random honesty is just that.

❀ #writing quotes is pretty deep as well. You'll find some wisdom nuggets by searching this!

My Personal Works:

✎ All the stories I want to write from A-Z

A vast majority are only concepts, characters and worldbuilding. I can count the number of stories I've fully outlined on one hand. Some stories I am holding off writing as I one day hope to make them into comics.

🎆 The PPU (Paranormal Powers Universe) 🎆

✎ Universe layout + descriptions

Stories:

✩ After School Guardians

✩ Dreamer

✩ Nighttime Live!

✩ The Boy Who Grew Wings

✩ Keepers Of The Sun

✩ Lovers Of The Moon

✩ Gateway To The Stars

✩ Children Of The Clock

✩ Made In Mechania

✩ Wisteria's World

✩ The Bee & The Boy

✩ An Alien's Observations

✩ Hand Me The Moon

I'll update this list with more recent, better works at some point, currently going through a period where I don't have time to.

✎ The Raven & The Dove

Completed novelette. 13 chapters, 10.8k words and my only finished story, discounting a cringe 8 chapter short story I wrote when I was 12. Am I proud of this? It's not my magnum opus, that's for sure. I wrote this in 2 months. However, I'm happy that I finished a story and hope to write many more in future.

Summary:

Shadowed by a civilian woman who knows of his profession and yet doesn't care, the assassin for hire known as "The Raven" can't help but act more human.

When the woman, Hannah, worms her way deeper and deeper into the wretched life he lives, The Raven wishes that he was strong enough to turn her away. But his infatuation and her damned persistence won't let him.

As the two spiral deeper down a path of no return, The Raven has to wonder, “Who’s ruin will this lead to?”

His own? Or Hannah’s?

🪻 One Shots 🪻

✎ He, The Whisper (Dreamer adjacent)

POV of a character I don't plan on giving a POV in the actual book. Secondary main character of "Dreamer" and a powerful entity stripped of his original rank. This one shot goes through his thoughts as he's trapped in the Nightmare Realm. 200 words.

✎ Synth-ia, Sin-thia

Quick crack about Zinthia from After School Guardians meeting her original concept who was made by me as a young child. 994 words.

✎ The Storm Called Death

Vivian from The Frost Prince's Paramour? feeling cold and angry for 195 words. This is only significant because there's a curse on him that causes him to always be cold and will eventually freeze him to death. The only thing that can stave it off is human contact but his family want him to die so he's forbidden from being touched. Otherwise, this is just him having a pity party.

✎ A Pane-ful Scene

The newer, better piece I wrote for The Frost Prince's Paramour?

✎ Horology

730 words. Father Time stops time because he's disgusted with mortals but the birth and commands of some entities born outside his reach scares him into letting the timestream flow once again. Based off of a line I wrote for a companion piece song to Nighttime Live!

"Once upon a time seven powers arose

Born to a land where time itself froze

The Netherworld let out a quake

Father Time began to shake

In fear of what his God could make"

✎ Monster Knows Best

A young Kai from Pyre & Frost talks about the monster that lives with him in his house. Murder is mentioned and covered up. 374 words.

✎ purple; out of reach

What the colour purple means to Shadow, a Boogeyman from "After School Guardians" who was born wrong. 290 words.

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sparatus · 1 year ago

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6 (dealer's choice), 7 and 37!

fic writer asks

6. What’s one fact about the universe of [insert fic] that you didn’t get a chance to mention in the fic itself?

in exdiff, it's implied here and there, but never outright stated: cnclr sparatus is a follower of a very old faith from his homeland of tiirtias that was adapted to fit the conquering cipritinians' terminology so it could survive imperialism. the gods are called spirits now and they let people believe it's just old tales, but tiirti polytheism is very much still alive, and ierian carried it to the citadel with him. in his specific case, while the statue in his office shepard fixates on is of sun-carrier, the dazduus god of the sun and the daytime/summer, his patrons are actually bright eyes, god of curiosity and strategy, and clever song, the goddess of the hunt and guardian of the dead.

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

gonna veer off from what everyone's probably expecting here – yes im proud of tiirtias and the great war and the council but i talk about them a lot, im REALLY chuffed with everything ive done about batarians. not just the resistance, but the hegemony itself and the perfect storm it's boiling into. bioware calls it a shadow of its former glory and i've run with that as far as i can; the hegemony is a terrible place full of terrible people, but it's also in horrific decay and cannibalizing itself to survive. the resistance isn't succeeding because good vs evil or whatever, it's succeeding because the situation is finally dire enough to make conditions right so it can succeed.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

let's go with absolution, because i will never stop being feral about it. it's kind of a little character study on garrus and his tattoos, sliding into rarepair garrus/citadel dlc turian lady at the end – how he feels about his tattoos when he's younger, and how that changes as he gets older and everything goes wrong, until after omega when they're another reminder of how much he's failed, and then his adoration of tasora and how she doesn't care about the reputation he's trying to live up to and it feels freeing.

like, i'll be straight up, i don't think me3 garrus's characterization and attitude, especially towards archangel, makes sense. he was given to a different writer for me3 and you can tell. i am biting patrick weekes with my mind. why is he cocky and bragging about archangel, it was a deeply traumatic experience that kicked him down a deep dark hole, 6 months isn't that long to be okay with it to the point of casually bragging. all of his friends are dead because of him, patrick. so i love absolution because im just exploring what's going on in his head, how even though he tries to play cool he's still deeply unsettled and just trying to convince himself there's no ghosts in the mirror.

the religious imagery is a plus too, im ex-catholic and gleefully appropriating the imagery because it's sexy and also fitting for garrus. no turians don't have angels in their mythology and it's annoying but gods and altars and forgiveness of sins are still a thing i can scatter about like rice at a wedding

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bonesandthebees · 3 months ago

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tommy! their argument/ talk here is rlly sweet, tommy blaming himself and wilbur comforting him is just aaaaaaaa, bonding!!!!

wait is there gonna be murder? ah yes, this ball will be very exciting lol

'you'll be safe again, i promise' :D

'he would have to learn to bear the weight of his own sins' whoa. go for it man, if you're sure about this. your dad might be willing to do just about anything for the people he cares about, but you don't have to follow him if it makes you scared -> corruption time

oh wow toxic quackity and schlatt. this could easily be them talking about the assassination attempt on tommy, that's clearly what quackity is talking about, but is schlatt the one behind this? he doesn't seem like the type to be that careless about the letter. he might also have something else planned. too bad he might just die tonight

ooooooo the difference in how he thinks of the ferronnière contrasting with the cane - they both represent his relationship to Phil, but the ferronnière is one of power and position whereas the cane, whilst lovely, is one that induces pity but was given out of love. oh these are gonna be important later i can feel it

oh niki's outfit! everyone's outfits! i can tell the research that went into it - i am now incredibly curious about this worldbuilding, aahhhh i love it

ohoho! the decision to trust niki with this or tommy? niki would obviously be the strategic choice, with her ruthlessness and care for wilbur she'd help in a heartbeat, but tommy is one of trust and kindness. his choice of tommy really says a lot -> trusting someone with the knowledge of the darkest parts of yourself, and after the vulnerability of that wilderness survival adventure, this'll go a long way for their relationship

but tommy!!!!! he so young!!!!! oh this is gonna weigh hard on him. but wow does the tommy charm help out lmaoooooo

the ferronnière during the poisoning. the symbolismmmm

phil pov! oh, so the poisoning was also just training wheels - a show of trust but the knowledge that wil can't go all the way just yet and doing the murder for him. i love how cold-hearted he is - :D

love how crimeboys had such a sweet bonding moment/conversation and figured out how to communicate only for things to get so messy later on

"you don't have to follow him if it makes you scared" you underestimate how badly wilbur does not want to see phil's disappointed face

hmm well you can't say for sure that's what quackity and schlatt were discussing when wilbur overheard their conversation. but there certainly are issues in their dynamic. also, love how everyone keeps saying schlatt wouldn't be that careless about the letter. I think you guys might be overestimating schlatt a bit.

yesssss I love the differing symbolism between the cane and the ferronnière and how they show the different aspects of wilbur's relationship with his father

literally spent so long brainstorming the outfit ideas for the ball there is SO much thought that goes into those things. I'm glad you like it :D

the thing about wilbur trusting tommy over niki though that's really sad is that wilbur and niki have been best friends since they were children. niki has never given wilbur any reason not to trust her. she's never told his secrets or betrayed him in any way. they've been incredibly loyal to one another for over a decade now. he's literally only known tommy a few months. of course going through a near death experience with someone can really boost how much you trust them, but if l'mannes had never happened, wilbur would still firmly be trusting niki and only niki with that stuff

tommy is 13 and has to help murder a man he does NOT need that pressure. but he's great at improv!

I mean technically the poisoning worked, if ponk didn't figure out what kind of poison they used then schlatt would've died anyway. it just wasn't convenient to wait that long. but yes, it was basically training wheels. wilbur learned how to murder :)

#ask #:D anon #rose ch 11

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raincloud-the-33rd-frog · 10 months ago

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Thank you for the thoughtful reply!

Yes, it is definitely good to remind yourself sometimes about the peace Christ should bring. And it was a perfect time for me to hear that from someone else, thank you. Scrupulosity is one of the bigger struggles in my life and it's hard to sometimes step back and reevaluate, but I am trying.

[I also agree with you on the worldbuilding note, lol. I love worldbuilding, mostly genealogies and fake creatures- but when working on my own stories I still hope that the messages are valued more over this. I think a story can still be great with 'weak' worldbuilding, as long as it has a strong, truthful theme and a solid plotline.]

I suppose where I also get stuck is also when engaging with secular fantasy fiction [or, as Ill say in the end, even with Christian fantasy].

I am very careful with what I read/watch [probably too much so], and honestly I think I am... alright? At sifting through what is "good" and what is "bad" in a story, so that I have some level of protection. Obviously, no one is perfect at this, but I tend to overthink rather than underthink things.

If you have time and care to answer- you do not have to- but as an aside. What are your thoughts on stories that do include overt pagan themes without shaming them- for example, Percy Jackson? I mention this on your note, "What really matters is whether or not the story treats the sin like sin, and not like an admirable thing."

I grew up listening to greek mythology and thought they were fun, never felt compelled to admire or worship the "gods", just liked the heroes and their stories and the drama, as well as history. So naturally, I did read percy jackson as a kid, and I remember liking it [not so much the later series].

Meanwhile, me, present day- cannot quite forgive [ this isnt very Christian of me I know :') ] C. S. Lewis for his adding of pagan greek gods in friendship with Aslan. It has stopped me from trying to reread Narnia, although I would like to, now that I'm an adult, and can survey it with a more critical lens [I was a kid last i did].

"Jesus told stories. His servants tell stories. We're made to tell stories."

I try and remind myself of this a lot. Where I sometimes get stuck is on the fact that, from what I remember, most [if not all] Jesus parables were realistic. I mean... then again, you are right, Jesus himself was not "realistic" but miraculous and that really happened and was good. I suppose scrupulosity is just extremely good at finding the bad before the good.

Makes me think about how Paul said, "if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." I feel like many scrupulous people take this whole verse to mean "I can't ever encounter or witness darkness and must only think good things", but- I wonder if it also is trying to tell us to focus on the things that are of merit, far more than what focus on what is evil.

I have loved reading your posts on various fiction from Christian perspective. I am wondering your opinion on when fantasy/"magic" fiction becomes too much? I used to encounter a lot of people talking about how basically -anything- fantasy was evil. I have struggled with scrupulosity OCD for many years now so I tend to think things towards a legalistic lens. I'd like to be able to enjoy fantasy again, while carefully discerning, so I'd love to hear what you think are the merits/limits of fantasy

Hi! First off, Jesus said: "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." When you're wrestling with scrupulousity, sometimes it helps to see or hear out loud the reminder that life in Christ is one that's supposed to give you peace, not constant worry about doing everything right--even if you've heard that before and you already know it, sometimes it can help to hear it over again from outside your own head. So there it is! 🤝

Next: thank you for asking me! I'm no professional. But someone did ask me this question once before. I am having a hard time finding it on my blog right now, otherwise I'd link to it, but I'll try to summarize at the end of this post!

EDIT: You asked me to talk about the merits and limits of fantasy and I got carried away explaining why fantasy fiction is not outright evil according to the Bible. I moved that to the end of the post 😅 here's what I think the merits are:

All of Reality, our world, our timeline, was invented by God. That makes Him the storyteller, us His characters, and reality His narrative. Just like any storyteller, He made up a system of rules for His world: rules like, "humans sink in water," and "humans can't be cured of sickness by touching other humans," and "the weather doesn't change just because humans tell it to." Then God, the storyteller, broke His own world-building rules. On purpose. He wrote Himself (Jesus) into the story as a human who COULD walk on water and COULD heal other humans with a touch and COULD tell the weather what to do, and it obeyed.

In fantasy stories, when a character can break the established rules of the created world, we call that "magic." We call it "magic" when the storyteller brings in a supernatural element to show that this character is special, powerful, capable, set apart from all the others.

So that's what I think the merits are. Fantasy stories have a special kind of closeness to The Storyteller Who Invented Stories, because of that very element of "make the rules then bring in rule-breaking specialness" that He uses.

That's where you get Gandalf, or even the Fairy Godmother, or of course Aslan and the Deep Magic.

The limitations to the genre, I would say, is that fantasy stories are very tempting for storytellers' egos. Because of Tolkien, there's this generation of storytellers who think that inventing a fantasy world with rules and races and magical systems and cultures and, to sum it all up, a whole universe of their own design, is the POINT.

They think the themes and the message of their story comes second to how thorough and clever they can be with their made-up magical systems, or fantasy-race-relations, or made-up languages.

Basically, in no other genre have I observed storytellers getting so excited to play god-of-their-own-clever-world than in fantasy. Then they forget that the important part of a story is the message, not the brain that's capable of inventing worlds and languages and cool-sounding names and ancestries. What they have to say basically gets lost in how flashy and cool they can be while saying it.

But that's another soap box for another time. Those are basically the merits and limitations, I think, broad-strokes.

On to the Biblical worldview for magic in stories below!

"Magic" is mentioned in the Bible. It's sorcery. Specifically, the Bible is telling Christians to stay away from "real" magic...which is basically just "trying to connect with spiritual forces to accomplish anything supernatural." We were created to have relationship with one Spirit: God. Anything outside of that is like a fish trying to breathe oxygen: it hurts us. So the Bible says, "no real magic."

But.

"Fantasy fiction magic" is not "a real live human trying to connect with real demonic forces and accomplish something supernatural." Instead, "fantasy fiction magic" is just "a real live human making up a story. Playing pretend."

The Bible has no commands, no rules, against that. Jesus told stories. His servants tell stories. We're made to tell stories.

And the Bible has no commands against telling a story that includes magic in it.

Think of it this way: God said "do not murder" right? But then in Matthew 18 Jesus tells a parable where one man tries to choke another man. There's attempted murder in the story Jesus is telling: but just because God disapproves of the act of murder, does not mean He disapproves of telling a story that features murder.

Sin being in a story isn't a bad thing. It's realistic, because sin exists. What really matters is whether or not the story treats the sin like sin, and not like an admirable thing. Because the point of all stories is to tell the truth in a compelling way. If the story treats something sinful like it's not sinful, that wouldn't be truthful. But if the story treats sin like it's definitely bad, then it's doing what God invented stories to do: tell the truth.

Now here's where you might say, "yeah, but most fantasy stories treat magic like it's a good thing."

Right. But remember: most fantasy stories don't have what the Bible calls "magic" in them at all.

When the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella says "bibbidi bobbidi boo," she's not calling upon demons to give her supernatural power (which is what the Bible is talking about when it condemns magic.) She's using a pretend superpower that the storyteller made up, on the spot, for the story. Her "magic" is not what the Bible calls "magic," so it doesn't even matter if it's portrayed as "good" or "bad" morally.

Fantasy fiction is fine. There is no reason, Biblically, for Christians not to read fantasy fiction if their only reason for it is "well there's magic in it."

There's nothing wrong with telling a story that has a supernatural element in it. It's only a story. As long as it's not real humans doing creation-worshipping or demon-contacting practices, in real life it's okay to write and it's okay to read.

Let me know if that makes sense!

#thoughts

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