#(I just use those for tag cohesion at this point)

[mikeyp16]

Adding onto my previous rant cuz these tags refueled my fire for a more cohesive rant.

First off: People call Planes 2 a Cars 3 ripoff?? HUH??? Where TF is that argument coming from? But I guess it ties into the second point, I've also noticed a lot of people are so quick to dismiss both Planes movies really easily, (not helped by cartoon reviewers who also dismiss these movies)

I’ll state my bias, I personally enjoyed Planes more as a kid, and have fond memories of them. Are the Planes movies perfect? No, but they are just as valid films as the Cars movies. plane kids deserve movies just as much as car kids.

When it comes to critiquing the films there are some valid critiques but most people don't go that route to justify their hatred for the films. First if you’re going to critique the films you should at least categorize it correctly.. Like people calling it a ripoff are not just wrong because of how different Cars and Planes are, they’re also wrong because Planes is a Spinoff. It takes place in the same universe that follows different characters and a different area of the world. Forgive me for bringing up the controversial franchise but that's like calling Helluva Boss a Ripoff of Hazbin Hotel, like that’s just not true??

Secondly, Planes and Cars have very different themes and the protagonists go on very different journeys, and I feel like people calling Planes a copy is a by-product of people missing the whole point of Cars 1. 

Cars 1 isn't about racing. What I mean by that is the film doesn't really revolve around McQueen preparing for and participating in a race like most racing films do. Yes there is a time between the three way tie and the tie breaker race, but McQueen spends that time in Radiator Springs, fixing the road he broke. Along the way he learns to slow down, appreciate the smaller parts of life, that you can't always be a one man show and that winning isn't everything. The King even foreshadows the Lesson Mcqueen is going to learn at the end of the intro race. McQueens conversation with mater and later with Doc are both good examples of McQueen maturing as a person, being less of an asshole and letting people help him. When he loses his mojo and motivation for the race you can literally see it come back when he sees his friends and by implementing what he’s learned from Doc. At its barest bones, Cars is about a celebrity learning to be humble and winning not by physically passing the line, but by being a good sport. That is the theme and message of the first Cars. 

Planes on the other hand is more of an underdog racing film. Being about Dusty trying to overcome what those around him keep telling him to be. Throughout the film Dusty is almost always constantly being reminded he’s a crop duster, he isn't built for speed and that he should stick to crop dusting. He’s told this so much it frustrates him, and you can see this in his conversation with Skipper when he gets chosen. (i used that clip on the previous post)

You can tell in his voice that Dusty is frustrated, he KNOWS he’s a crop duster, he doesn't need people to keep telling him he’s very much aware of that fact. But you can tell he’s un fulfilled, he’s tired of doing the same thing for years as he’s put it, he wants to race because he wants to fulfill a dream of his, in his home you can see the racing posters and figures to show how important this dream is to him. At the start of the film his goal isn't really to win, but to prove he can do it. It's here where the two films’ themes really diverge. 

Like I've mentioned Planes does have some genuine critiques, like the weird military ending (not even I can explain why) or the plot hole surrounding Skipper’s time in the navy yet only having one medal? Even if he did only one mission I'm sure he would have had a few more, considering the age he’s implied to be? Like he would have had to do quite a bit before becoming a flight instructor correct? I do love Skip but i think they tried to re-create Doc’s Backstory when in context it doesn't really work, keeping your racing past a secret is different than repressing your military service, etc, But these are conversations for another day

My point with bringing these up is that some people when critiquing Planes tend to dismiss it as a cars clone and call it a day or pull points that arent relevent to the film, this is especially true with Planes: Fire and Rescue, ( PFR ) and comparing it to Cars 3

First, saying this is a copy of cars 3 is crazy, especially when Planes Fire and Rescue came out first,

Plus while in both films the MC is forced to stop racing, in Cars 3 McQueen keeps trying to prove he can still do it, Dusty essentially becomes disabled since his gear box is out of production and while he tries to go McQueen’s route to prove he still can race at first it doesn't work out.

On a surface level, the films are about how life doesnt always go the way we want it, but they handle it differently. While McQueen tries to continue the Racing life and prove he's still got it and eventually staying with Racing, in PFR Dusty physically cant but learns that even with his busted gearbox, he cant let it stop him from doing something esspecially when it comes to firefighting

This moment with Blade showcases this

This is what makes these films different, at least to me. and yeah my bias might be showing as I am not the hugest fan of Cars 3, but It annoys me that people "analyse" and critique Planes when they only under stand both Planes and Cars on a surface level. Or just go with what the cartoon reveiwers say about them. (Like saying Fire and Rescue is propaganda but we're not gonna go into that)

TLDR: Planes are underrated and people need to stop calling the films cars clones because it proves they missed the point of both

[oddygaul]

Rogue One

Unfortunately, Andor does not fix this movie. If anything, watching the two back to back spotlights Rogue One’s biggest issue: a story where all the characters die tragic deaths by the end is a great concept, but if the audience isn’t given enough time to get emotionally attached to those characters, their heroic sacrifice falls flat. Watching Rogue after Andor only widens the narrative gap between the cast. Chirrut and Baze’s pretext for joining the team was already paper-thin with how little characterization they receive; now that I know Cassian Andor’s mom and all of his childhood friends, the contrast is even more dire. Emotionally manipulative death scenes filled with meaningful glances and slow-motion can only get you so far.

Comparing the two also exacerbates the jarring tonal shift already present in Rogue One. Despite its breakneck pace, there’s moments in the first act that are in line with the serious, weighty violence present in Andor: Cassian’s murder of the informant on Kafrene and the insurgent street attack on Jedha both feel deadly and high-stakes. Then, in the literal next scene, Donnie Yen uses kung-fu magic and a stick to singlehandedly knock out a dozen armored stormtroopers, making Marvel quips all the while. It just doesn’t feel like these moments are even in the same universe.

it is incredibly funny that one of the things Andor clears up about Rogue One is that no no no, this isn’t oxygen Saw’s breathing in – mf is just huffing whippets 24/7

Finally, it also makes it clear that Rogue was a rough first attempt to dig into themes and ideas that Andor more fully explores. Andor is allergic to having a main character: time and time again, the show highlights how it’s the actions of the collective – as Nemik says, the constant “random acts of insurrection” – that compound to bring about change. And, well, Rogue One is trying to make that point too, with its rag-tag cast of heroes who won’t see the next day despite pulling off one a foundational victory for the Rebellion. Problem is, Jyn Erso is one of the biggest main characters ever to main character – she can’t go two scenes without delivering an unearned speech to someone. Her lecturing Cassian about the morality of the Rebellion is particularly absurd with the additional context of Andor.

Look, I get it – Rogue One was made first, and they had no plans for any of this backstory. I’m just seeing some takes about how the two works supplement each other perfectly, even about how watching Andor straight into A New Hope feels like a cohesive experience and uh… absolutely the fuck it does not lmao

[cupcakeslushie]

I really love what you do with the colors pallets. I was wondering if you had any tips on how todo them? I over complicate things, and I feel like I can’t do the pallets right, like is there a certain rule on color placement? Like the darker colour goes in the background, lighter further front?

… sorry 😭, other artists just make pallets look so easy, would you recommend using 3 or 2 colors to start with?

Sorry for babbling and thanks again 😂, honestly love seeing your art 😙, also, if someone wanted to gives your art/fic would you mind if they tagged you or would sending it in an ask be better?

I’m still very new to choosing my own pallets. As for order, often I find the “pop”, or most saturated color works good for the background. Then for the characters, a less saturated version of the compliment color….or one that just looks nice. Then I do a light color for the eyes and any other elements I wanna emphasize. Lineart is done in black and then just alpha lock->fill layer with a color and slide around the adjustments until I’m happy. There’s not really a particular number of colors I think looks best, but I’m starting to like five color pallets. You can do three or even two, but five gives you some breathing room for variety.

A lot of it really is just what looks nice. I hate to say that, but there’s not an exact science behind it. Yes, you have to have knowledge of color theory, but also…It is just training your eye. Studying other people’s palettes, figuring out what rules they’re following, and how to play with and bend those rules.

This is why I will often go into the “color palett” tag for a starting point. But as a way to make them my own…I’ll do each color on its own layer. This way, I can change the hue/saturation/brightness and change, change, change, change, change until I’m satisfied. So much of the process is just playing. Play with one color, hop to another layer, play with that color, hop back to the other and adjust it slightly. And so forth. It sounds like a lot of time, but you get faster the more you practice.

This most recent color pallet actually started off as the THIRD row of colors, and then I just adjusted it until it was different, but still satisfying to me.

Finally I added one solid color (for this one I believe it ended up being a dark blue) above all the layers, and then just cycled through each of the adjustment layer types, until I found the one that looked the best. This last step is the clincher for tying all the colors together, and making them look cohesive.

Then colors are picked and saved. New pallet to use in the future!

[whatevertheweather]

Hi hello. I miss y'all. That is my own fault but it's still true, and I'm writing this on saturday night and feeling maudlin about how wonderful and talented and dear this fandom is and how I never join in anymore, so I'm making my little post okay.

I'm going with Musical Chairs again because it's so far past time for that to be done. And I've said this before, but it is approaching done. And I'm gonna get into that, but it'll all be behind the scenes rambling, so it's below the cut, and for those who don't want to delve that far, here is some freshly written Penny POV.

“Ah,” Shepard smiled, “a good deed wasn’t motive enough on its own?” “Not when it’s for a stupid reason.” “What is your un-stupid reason?” “Un-stupid?” Penny repeated. She turned resolutely to her drink. “Nevermind. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” “Hey now,” Shepard said, ducking into her line of sight. “You struck me as someone who prefers being honest.” It was a job not to smile at that, but Penny put the work in.

Now for the mess.

It's a good mess I think. I have a new section in my miscellany document, tucked in between nine (9) sections of ramblings and cut scenes, and the new section is called "we got it this time boys," and I think it's right. I've written a full draft of the scene that's been holding us all back. It's there in its entirety, it just needs to be edited. And I'm so scared to reread it, because every time I think I got this scene right I come back and it's wrong. Which I've decided to be fine with, because so what!!! So what if I got 36k right and there's 5k that doesn't quite hit the way I want it to!!! The earth will keep spinning!!!

Anyway, "we got it this time boys" is 3 pages of what is technically kind of an outline for 5 pages of story, and every time I read the header it's in the voice of someone from some black-and-white hardboiled detective noir, which brings me the joy that might be the only reason I feel I've gotten it right in the first place. The outline is all written about as cohesively as it starts:

I think maybe, and gosh haven’t I said this a million times, I just need to stop trying to go that way. Stop trying to go any way. Like always “how do I get them to this moment” instead of “what would they do in this situation.” Unfortunately, the latter requires I connect with them on a level I’m not sure I can right now. But I guess let’s try. Actually let’s go for a walk, I can see the sun setting on the top of the house across the way and it’s lovely. Okay nice, it was lovely. Relaxing, refreshing. Saw a stump that looked like a beaver. Saw a cat. Thought of the opening to something I’m never going to write. So anyway,

It also sort of ends with:

Oh shit came up on an obstacle immediately. [Redacted]. This does not actually open the door for Baz to say something that can incite “[Redacted].” Fuck god okay whoops already going completely back on all I’ve decided and thinking maybe we could keep some of the new exchange I’d written, maybe he does reveal the ugh no stop I hate this. Just figure out a transition to bring in [...], what would Baz say to that other than what I’ve written him saying to that which doesn’t work for what I’m trying to do. I guess it could just be, like…he murmurs incorrigible. Or something. With a raised brow, a la baz. Sure let’s do that, however, I’ve laid down to do this and learned I’m actually quite sleepy, so let’s do it another time. Hopefully I don’t come up on another immediate problem and despair. Just remember not to start combining things and rereading things yet, okay. Please.

This would be alarming if I hadn't already gotten past this point and written the thing. So I'm going to go into editing it with the mindset that nothing substantial shall change and boohoo to me if I want it to, and once that's done we're pretty much home free.

Now tags.

Gonna dip a toe back into being melancholy and wistful about this fandom k, I really do miss it even though I'm the only one keeping me out. You're all my friends even if that is a surprise for you to hear because we haven't talked in months or maybe ever, but I love each and every one of you x

@fatalfangirl @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @moodandmist @cutestkilla @artsyunderstudy

@bookish-bogwitch @aristocratic-otter @mooncello @noblecorgi @alexalexinii

@rimeswithpurple @ivelovedhimthroughworse @basiltonbutliketheherb @whogaveyoupermission @facewithoutheart

@martsonmars @iamamythologicalcreature @run-for-chamo-miles @thewholelemon

@forabeatofadrum @youarenevertooold @ileadacharmedlife @monbons

[timegears]

answering your ask like this so it doesn't show up in any tags. being very negative here and i don't want to rain on anyone else's parade. also a lot of this is just word vomit so i have no idea how cohesive this is lol.

i will say i haven't played e0ts myself so take what i say with a grain of salt but everything i've heard about it (including from my wife who is a trusted source on this to me) it just sounds like it's very meanspirited. i've heard it won't ever shut the fuck up about ch@tot like for the love of god we get it already can you please talk about anything else. also not a fan of the way i've heard it treats the female characters (particularly team ch@rm and cr3sselia, making the former out to be corrupt idiots and making the latter an utter bitch) when the base game is already limited on how many female characters it has. especially when those scenes are used to hype up a male character like. okay.

i have more of a leg to stand on for zero. i haven't finished the postgame/main story section yet, so i won't comment on that, but i have finished the prequel aspect of it and. ghghh. the way this game treats disabled characters is really horrific. gulpin's death was genuinely so upsetting to watch as a disabled person myself. i don't see why we had to watch one of the disabled characters die violently onscreen while the able bodied deaths occur offscreen, so we're spared the details of those. it feels so masturbatory in how it wants to pat itself on the back for how it handles ableism but treats disabled death as shock value. and i'm not saying that disabled characters can't ever die ever, it's just how their deaths were handled in comparison to the abled ones.

and i'm not indigenous, so i won't put my foot in this too badly, but saying that "dungeon pokemon are more inherently violent because they weren't raised in civilisation" is. bad. like REALLY REALLY fucking bad. they even call r@mpardos the anti-indigenous s slur at some point iirc like. good fucking god. can we not parrot actual colonial rhetoric in this p0kemon game.

the whole thing with r@mpardos being uniquely evil just sorta spits on the messaging in se2. like the point is that separating people into black and white boxes of "good" and "bad" is meaningless because "good people" are capable of doing some really horrendous things and "bad people" are capable of doing wonderful things, which is just a realistic fact. and i give the base game shit for doing this with d@rkrai as well, so i'm not targetting just this fangame with this.

speaking of d@rkrai but brainwashing duskn0ir to be evil is such a boring direction they could've taken that in. him simply being afraid of death and using that to fuel his bad deeds is so much more interesting.

also HATE the way this game flanderizes c3lebi. i know the base game doesn't give her much but god if you could give the male leads a ton more to their characters (regardless of if i liked what the game did with them or not) then you don't have to make most of c3lebi's scenes be hammering in her crush a billion times. it's why i've actively grown to not like a lot of fut*re trio fancontent because of how misogynistic people are about c3lebi. i could fix her (make her more suicidal). with all this being said, i do like how it handles esp3on as another female lead (though i don't care for her dead teammates. maybe if the game didn't make them fatphobic and then try to make them sympathetic, i would've cared more lol).

one last thing is that i also can't stand hero in this game. oh my god they don't fucking shut up ever. this game knows that it doesn't need to have 20 entirely full boxes of dialogue from them in a row, right? they just drone on and on, and it's so tiring to read (god bless my wife for being the one to voice them when we stream the game together).

for the most part, zero has been really unpleasant to experience, especially as a disabled person, which is why i really don't like it being regarded as "basically canon." i won't say there's nothing i like about it because i actually like a lot of the shelter cave section, but once everyone leaves the cave, it nosedives straight downhill for me.

i'm giving e0ts a pass for now as it would just be unfair for me to give genuine critiques when i haven't played it myself (emery can sound off with her own much more valid critiques in the replies if they want).

i don't like to tear fanprojects so viscerally (especially as someone with a pmd story myself. i don't want to foster any hate in fandom that way) and please don't think that these critiques are me personally having it out for the creators of these games, but these being fanprojects doesn't excuse them from being criticized, especially on the more bigoted end of things (i do the same with official games, such as super's bad fatphobia issue). and them being seen as "basically canon" when they just feel much more meanspirited than the official games and don't capture their integrity just feels wrong.

[spiritsglade]

thank you for the tag @glitter-stained :]

Fic Writer Ask Game

1) How many works on Ao3?

33

[fun fact there used to be 2 more but they're gone now. lost media.]

2) Total Ao3 wordcount?

161,906

3) Top 5 fics by kudos

lies of omission

Something's Wrong with Jason Todd

homicidal tendencies

admonition

Unfortunate Circumstances

4) What fandoms do you write for?

27 - DCU/Batfam (26 are about Jason Todd)

3 - Moon Knight (2 of the show adaptation, 1 for comics)

3 - Wings of Fire

it's been jason todd for like 7 months straight at this point, but I do want to come back around to marvel eventually + wings of fire is like a sleeper agent that awakens every now and then and forces me to write another angsty oneshot about a children's book series. also i'm reading more non-bat dcu characters so maybe !! one day we'll get something there.

lots of unposted fics as well about ocs i have in various media (among us, hollow knight, rain world, etc.)

5) Do you respond to comments?

i am extremely inconsistent about this, but i do try! i do definitely read & cherish all of them though <3

6) Angstiest ending?

um. first instinct is protocol. because i do have other fics that end in very angsty ways but they're in like... 'hey remember this canon thing that happened? i'm gonna frame it in a way that hurts even worse' ways, while protocol innovated new and exciting pain.

7) Fic with the happiest ending?

why is my catalogue compressed misery who let this happen hang on. i think redux is the closest to a happy ending and even that is just the promise of joy on the horizon. maybe i need to be adding more fluffy codas to my works.

Something's Wrong with Jason Todd has a happy ending i think but also i am holding that fic at an arm's length still so i'm not rereading it to double check.

8) Do you get hate?

not off the top of my head, no! lies of omission gets a lot of people cursing out the characters (bruce, babs, and most recently cass) and i'm worried one day they'll figure out that it's me forcing said characters to do these things and redirect all the negative energy at me (joking)

9) Do you write smut?

nope.

10) Do you write crossovers?

no, but writing for comic characters is trying to wrangle 3 separate canons into something cohesive at all times, so it probably replicates the experience well enough, lol. i certainly think about crossovers often, and maybe one day one of my more well-formed concepts could make it onto a page.

11) Ever had a fic stolen?

i think the answer to this is no but i'm weirdly uncertain?? i know my art has absolutely been stolen so maybe i'm thinking of that instead.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope, but i've had someone ask if they could, so maybe that'll happen one day?

13) Have you ever co-written a fic?

yes! honestly it might have been more than once but the one that comes to mind is... i believe it was called Mirage, and i could dig it up if i really tried (which i will not be doing so). it was a future dystopian wings of fire fanfic that i think we got about seven chapters into and there was a general embarrassing lack of coordination between us lol.

anyway the person i was writing it with later revealed that they were multiple people using the same account and i'm still not entirely clear on which of said multiple people was actually writing it with me. you think you know a guy.

i would love to cowrite something again. it sounds like a lot of fun. does anyone want to roleplay with me and turn our transcript into a fic-- (also used to do a lot of roleplaying!! those were the days <3)

14) All-time favourite ship?

my wings of fire ocs. canary/aethon they're both fucked up and their relationship was a messy messy thing even before canary got themself blown up (don't worry about it) and it's even worse now. they're the dragons in my pinned post and i think the fact that aethon is killing canary there helps you get an idea of what their relationship is like. also acanthus is there and unwillingly part of the world's worst polycule.

for favorite ship that people might be more familiar i'm gonna have to go with marc spector x greer grant nelson (although jayroy might be edging them out for the top spot. it's hard to tell rn but jayroy has the benefit of a large fanbase throwing more propaganda in my direction.)

sorry thinking all the time about how marc's last words were him apologizing to greer because he promised he'd come back, and greer planning to break a god out of prison just to bring marc back, and neither of them were the 'first' for each other but that devotion is genuine. how greer first came back into marc's life as a way of monitoring him and he knew this and the way he betrays her trust and lies to her face later and they talk through these issues!! they make it work!! god. i lvoe them. i should probably figure out what their ship name is at some point.

15) WIPS you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

something shaped like brotherhood. fucking HATE that thing. it's um. from back in november. it was supposed to be part of what crawled out. let's not talk about it.

okay actually i will talk about it a little bit. the issue with that fic is that the plan for it was far too ambitious for my understanding of dc canon at the time and now that i do understand it slightly better, i don't think i could write it in a way that feels satisfying and true to the characters without wildly reworking how all of it works, and at this point i have other vague plans and concepts that hit similar emotional notes/plot points that i'd rather work on instead. like i guess i don't want to finish sslb itself but i do want to do things with its concepts and i'm sad that i can't reuse what i actually drafted for it without having to do major rehauls.

+ i do like the general concept for what crawled out. and i do want to finish the series but it's ughughhg. unlikely at this point. especially since i'm now rehashing similar beats in other fics.

anyway here's one of a couple theoretical summaries for it that have been Sitting There. Abandoned.

Red Hood slams onto the scene in Gotham in a meticulous, extravagant demonstration of violence. Nightwing disappears off Bludhaven's streets as everything that defines him crumbles into ash. These two things are, for the most part, unrelated.

there are fics that i really want to write and know that i realistically am unable to ever get done (cough cough suicide watch) but i'm still in denial about that and am chipping away at that monster very very slowly. if i just believein myself hard enough.

16) Writing strengths?

i like to think i'm good at dialogue + giving the narration a Distinct Voice. i love my limited third person pov that is filtered through a specific character's perspectives and beliefs!!

also TRUST that i am good at imagery. please. i know i don't dip into the flowery figurative language bucket often but i know that when i do, i do it well! i should do it more honestly. look out. i'm gonna personification all of your phenomenon.

17) Writing weaknesses?

i am weak on action scenes unfortunately :( i hate having to research and meticulously put a scene together and i think it shows a little when i vaguely navigate my way through a scene while describing minimum possible things going on. i'm gonna be entirely real. i forget how to write humans sometimes. i don't know how these bodies work despite living in one. it's what i get for being exclusively into a dragon book series for like 6 years straight.

like i genuinely believed if i watched more shows/movies with fight scenes i'd be better and more confident at blocking them out. anything including the characters doing more movement than waving their hands around a little makes me Struggle.

18) Thoughts on mixed language dialogue?

hmm i don't have any strong feelings. the way i speak at home is a fucking mess of chinese & english so like yes i can see multilingual characters speaking this way, though it's only in pretty specific scenarios (like with family that also knows all languages involved). and as a reader i'm always a little excited when the writer starts blending in a language i Sort Of know so i can guesstimate at the meaning and then check the translation to see how far i got. + when people don't include translates but write the narration around it so you get the gist of conversation anyway is very fun. little endearments & nicknames (mijo, baobao) are neat. <3

but it's also like i do think if you're writing in other languages you do need to put in the work to make sure you're translating things correctly & sprinkling in the words in a way that would actually be natural for the speaker. (ex. damian calling jason 'akhi' -- akhi means 'my brother' so saying 'his akhi' just... is not right. and i've seen posts i can't find now about how that's formal arabic no one actually uses to address their siblings? take that part with a grain of salt i don't know any arabic & i'm repeating things from memory.)

19) First fandom you wrote for?

wings of fire!! my love for this children's book series about dragons truly knows no bounds. but i've also written entirely original writing back in like... fourth grade, or so. i was nine at the time, i do know that. i have an entire completed story about this girl named lokia born of the goddess of spring who had to go on an adventure to defeat the winter god after he kidnapped her mom. she met a cloud named fluff on her adventures. apparently it's titled Seasons and Dragonflies, and i actually managed to dig it up so have a lil excerpt:

“The blizzard is enchanted,” said Fluff. “It’s special.” The blizzard sprayed snow everywhere. Fluff charged into it and was whirled around by the storm, and thrown to the ground. “Oww…” said Fluff painfully. Lokia thought about what she was carrying. She knew she couldn’t destroy the blizzard with a sword. Suddenly she knew what to do. Taking out a few dry sticks, she poured the last of the fire onto the sticks. The flame flickered, then started burning the sticks. The blizzard felt the heat and melted, fell gently, like rain, and disappeared into the snow. The fire flickered and was also gone. Lokia and Fluff entered the palace with caution. 

that's the solution guys just melt the blizzard.

unsure what my first wings of fire fic would be. it's almost certainly deleted by now.

20) Favourite fic you've ever written?

one that is not on ao3... it's about aforementioned wings of fire ocs <3 whom i love dearly, and it's titled A Thousand Words We Never Said. here's an excerpt from it. my writing was Worse than it is now but the Heart of it. the CONCEPTS. they're Killing Me. and each other, apparently.

"You're distracted." It wasn't a question, but she offered a shrug anyway. "Too busy daydreaming about your pretty eyes." They were dark brown, rich, deeper than the night sky that glinted before them. They ignored her. Fair enough. "It's compromising your ability to fight." "Oh, we both know that doesn't matter. We'll just keep sparring, and I'll beat you next time." "I'll kill you, one of these days." Their eyes flickered towards her, without the slightest shift of their head. "I'll forget, or I'll overestimate you." She hummed, because there was nothing else to add, because it was true, because it ran both ways and it was just as likely that she'd be the one tearing a chunk out of their throat one day.

um for fic that you can actually read. compound fracture. ossification series in general i am very fond of compared to most of my other output.

no pressure tags: @birdieisnotwriting @havenesc @helsingvania @haithhegimp @just-a-random-dungeon-master + all my other beloved mutuals and anyone else who may want to join in!!

[ostrichmonkey-games]

Everything I see from Dark Confluence looks sick, and you should use this as an excuse to talk more about it

I don't think I've actually talked a ton about what Dark Confluence is going to be like as a completed game, so I'll take this as an excuse to do so lmao.

So, I like the souls-borne "series" a ton. But my favorite part of all the games is the world that you're let loose in and get to explore. Piecing together the story through bits and pieces, hidden clues, secrets, implication and interpretation. The goal of Dark Confluence is to do that together at the table.

To that end, Dark Confluence is all about the setting and unfolding story you all put together. It is as much a game as it is a chopped up setting book that never tells you exactly what's going on - because that's the fun! Making it all up! Crafting your own unique crumbling, melancholy universe and then rooting around in it to see what you can make sense of.

Character mechanics draw a lot from my other game Extracausal, so its a lot of tag/trait based stuff, but there's also DNA from games like Wanderhome in there, with how the Realms ("levels") and Lords of the Tower ("bosses") work. I want the game to give the table a bunch of tools for getting into weird and complicated situations, and then stringing it all together into something uniquely cohesive.

Most of the mechanics are mostly done and written at this point, all that's left is just all the other writing lmao. There's 36 character backgrounds (each with their own set of 3 unique items), 12 Realms, 12 Lords, 18 Magical Spells, 18 Artifacts, 18 Major NPCs, 36 Creatures and Wretches (and more!), all of which have embedded within them little "lore sparks" for the table to play around with. Nothing is "canon", but there's a lot of moving parts - building blocks - for the table to play around with.

You're all gonna be wandering around your unique version of the Infinite Tower (the dark confluence of the multiverse), confronting the Lords of the Tower as you shape the universe to come. Along the way, you'll meet weird and interesting NPCs, horrible and dangerous Wretches, and uncover and create your own deep lore and secrets.

As a reward for everyone reading through all this text, here's a new Artifact

Ossifrage Great Bow; tags - ravenous, violent A great bow shaped from many fragments of bones. It glistens in the light, bleeding like an open wound. Effect: The wielder never runs out of arrows, as the bow fires massive, barbed, missiles grown and harvested from the skeleton of the wielder themself. Burden: The wielder’s sternum must be kept pried open, beating heart exposed. Augments The bow can launch a flurry of smaller arrows that darken the sky The bow can steal the bones of another whom it has injured The projectiles fired from the bow leave a burning stream of blood in their wake

And! A new Spell!

Fragmentation Effect: Unleash your manifold soul, allowing the hungry, grasping hands of Fate within you to reach out and unravel whatever they touch. Requirement: Consume an entire age’s worth of Fragments, becoming infinite, fractal, and glorious. Ember Moves Like tangled strands of a knot, all Fragments are secretly connected. All Fragments must take a Curse. The howl of the dying cosmos echoes louder, consuming the dreams of those within the Realm, replacing them with something else. One of your many soul-pieces sloughs off, becoming a Fragment all its own, one with the Fate of bringing about your final Dissolution. They say that souls are the building blocks of the cosmos, and the gods merely stonemasons. From where then, do souls come from?

It's gonna be done eventually. I might be on the lookout for playtesters once I have the text done. So, keep an eye out for that maybe?

[katrinafaire]

In 30+ years of writing, you do improve; here's some things I've learned.

When I first started actively writing stories -- we're talking single digits here, under the age of ten, as some of you may relate -- my initial goal was spelling things right and having a (mostly) cohesive, if simple, storyline.

Then, in some order I'm not sure of, were things like description, consistent character voices, character development, character driven plots, subplots, worldbuilding -- the list goes on, I'm sure we've all worked on some if not all of these things. (The beauty of writeblr, we're all here together despite different levels of experience.)

I feel like I've always written, but I didn't really sit down to write novella and eventually novel sized works until my late teens-early twenties. I had a lot going for me, because I'd been writing consistently over the years prior. But I had some... quirks. Here's a non-exhaustive list you may find of use:

I struggled with maintaining a clear POV -- who's perspective we were in, how to coherently jump between characters, how to balance that to the best benefit of the narrative... yeah, that was an issue. And I still have a bit of trouble with that now and then, though I'm worlds better.

Also, I hugely overused epithets, those descriptive terms instead of pronouns or names. (The tall man, the blonde woman, the sullen teenager -- you get the idea.) You see, I didn't understand how they worked. I used them mostly because I had a lot of big casts and was not fond of he said-he said-he said with three different he's and I felt like I was over using names.

As I began to hone my craft, it became clearer that these had their place -- but only where they were relevant, not as a replacement. For example, if the POV character doesn't know the name of another character, they will use epithets because that's all they have. Or you can use it to emphasize something:

"There's no way we can deliver the message in time!" Aaron said. The fastest man in the world just smiled; his time had come. "Watch me."

Presumably you already know the speedster's name, but even if you don't, the epithet delivers important information to the narrative; that is the perfect (though not only) time to use one.

There was a huge movement when I was just starting more serious writing and you have likely still seen these posts circulating: said is dead. And I took it as gospel. Now, first let me say I am still a huge fan of dialogue tags. Big fan of things like "whispered" and "sneered" -- things you can't easily convey simply with punctuation.

However.

Using them every line, or every other line, or every third line -- in short, frequently -- isn't good. And it's not because these things are inherently bad. The reason, as far as I'm concerned, is twofold. One, when you deviate from "said" then your audience immediately is drawn to this new dialogue tag, taking it as Important Information. Which is good! We want that when we put those in. But if you have too many in too short of time the brain just quits processing them as important, or worse, it keeps taking them out of the story.

Point two is directly related in that in that overuse of dialogue tags not only clogs up your dialogue, it also makes the dialogue tags less valuable. Imagine this if you will, that every dialogue tag is a colored font and "said" is just black. If you constantly use dialogue tags, do any of them stand out? Even if someone screamed in bright red, does it matter if you just had something in bright orange a line ago? Not really.

But if all you have is black on black on black and suddenly there's a bright red streak on the paper, it jars you! It makes you pay attention! And that's what you really want when you use dialogue tags, isn't it? So that's why I've tried to cut down on mine, and have beta readers specifically work with me on it.

There's also several punctuation and formatting things I've struggled with. Overusing italics, misplacing en dashes — and em dashes (look I even copy pasted the right ones instead of typing two en dashes --) — as well as a severe abuse of... ellipsis. I'm working on them to this day. I'm a dramatic wordsmith. Sometimes it helps for me to write it however I want the first time and then make a new draft, stripping the formatting and seeing with fresh eyes where it's needed.

There's other things, too (I have never done enough description, I'm working on it now) but this post is getting long and I've shared some main points that I feel others can benefit from my mistakes. Feel free to reblog with your own mistakes you've learned from or are working on!

[emmalovesfitzloved]

Can you tell me about Fitzloved?

"OH MY GOSH, AM I ABOUT TO INTRODUCE YOU TAYLOR SWIFT?!"

that's what i first meme when i saw your lovely ask! hahahah

Introductions

So its a fandom based on the epic fantasy series that follows for the most part, 2 soulmates, from their childhood all the way to their older years as they grow from friendship, partners to lovers. And I have to admit, the way it's written is almost euphoric. It's utterly lyrical.

So introductions now put aside, 'Fitzloved' is the ship name for "Beloved" (one of his many names) name of the characters and "Fitz". They are the two ongoing protagonists in one of the most respect and wonderful high fantasy series ever created, Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb. They are the main couple shall we say that span the 16 book series. I think a lot describe it as the "mona lisa of fantasy series" within the genre. It's aesthetic is very much evermore meets folklore meets Merlin. Its veryyyyy cozy fantasy and perfect for the season but also the Fall/winter.

The big 5 writers of fantasy rn i have been told are: Brandon's, Robin Hobb's, GRRM (Although he's lost a lot of respect in the community because of his insane hiatus!), Steven Erickson's (Malazan series) and Joe Abercrombie. While you will see with the Cosmere, Brandon is very much straight to the point, prioritises fights, magic system building and very cohesive ensamble casts. Unlike her peers, Robin Hobb on the other hand, is a delicacy. A slowly made dessert that has sweet and salty tastes if you will. And another defining feature is that her series does not involve a massive war at the epicentre of the fantasy plot, which ironically is rare in high fantasy now a days.

Of Cats and Closed Doors by @tragediegh

HOWEVER. The WAY in which i was introduced to this series is kind of dumb and silly, i.e. very me lol. i stumbled across a fiction on ao3 under 'in a the cabin era way' tag and stumbled across @tragediegh's soul-binding, amazing wonderful fiction called Of Cats and Closed Doors that is still ongoing and she updates mostly weekly! At first, not joking i thought it was an original work, but only well into crying, loving, reading, laughing, did i realise when i looked better at the tags it was actually based on ROTE lol. I was new to ao3 that's my only defence :P

And what @tragediegh and Hobb are doing probably tell from my handle, is make literally my roman empire. Like I reread chapters everyday before going to sleep. It's fr fr my safe space. and what i love is the maturity in which they both write, as they create stakes in different ways. She creates a very tangible atmosphere, a world you can touch, the foods cooked, how they smell, and what the character's rely on. From banquet halls, to the wood carvings the Fool leaves behind, the well lit fireplaces, mugs of ale and coffee on the table, through jewels adorned, to how the dragons gleaming like jewels in the sky… it's simply amazing. You get me. There is NEVER a moment where you feel like it's a slog or dull moment. Like I did sometimes while reading the Stormlight Archive or Outlander (those books in their defence, are longer individually).

And like I said, the thing I LOVE the most with how they make us and fall in love with Fool (one of the protagonists) through the eyes of naive and a socially sometimes challenged Fitz. Fitz himself, is the most passionate, handsome, humble hero i've ever read. He is a bastard prince who from day 0 was neglected, abused, unwanted, un-named, manipulated, gaslit just all around most traumatised character one could read. Which most people end up overlooking and resenting bc he is riddled with insecurities (despite him being a hotttie hot chiseled smokie pie that everyone wants to cuffff) and developed unhealthy copying mechanisms that can effect the readability of the main series. Which is entirely relatable. I strongly believe the hero of Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson that everybody loves, is heavily inspired by Fitz in ROTE. In fact I think Brandon said it was one of his fav series.

But really, the masterpiece of this world is obviously the Fool. When I look at the other characters, its a bit like watching a glorious puppet show - I can see how the strings are moving and what the puppets are made of…But not so with the Fool, he is an infinite mystery and creating a character like that is something I`ll never be able to get out of my head. he is other worldly. Put Tolkien fae and beautiful faeries to shame with his grace, elegance, mysticism. His story with Fitz (the other main character) with that @tragediegh and Hobb are doing imo is one of the greatest love stories of all time.

Gender Identity

And I think also, Fool (also known as Beloved to a special someone 😉) is a lgbtq+ individual, and their identity and how they chose to present and address themselves daily (and not address it!) plays a massive role in the ROTE/OCACD overall. It extremely realistic, how it's writen, where for the most part some characters are confused, don't know how to navigate the topic. Which isn't helped by how private and mysterious the Fool remains. But for the most part, is heart warming, as the gender fluidity of the Fool is openly accepted by his mate (YES MATE) with open arms as he accepts it, and it's got me CRYINGGGG as i type this fr....! These characters were created pre-2000's, which just goes to show how timeless these gender questions and acceptances really are i think!

Music

CANON FOR ME swiftie songs that are FOR fitzloved to get a feel r:

ur loosing me

my tears ricochet

invisible string

stay don't go

the lakes

mastermind (YASSS beloved go manipulate ur boy fitzieee ily)

dress (as of chapter 48 and beyond hopefully alkdfjalkdjfj)

and Fitz's song for me for ever will be:

i see fire live and in session by ed sherran (i just feel the literal passion that fitz has through this song not to mention the howl XD)

Conclusion

So yeah, I cannot recommend enough this ongoing story and series to you.

TLDR: Fitzloved is a ship i read myself to sleep every night and cry about how amazing they are XD

Feel free to ask any more questions about them or even my favourite artists that do ROTE work bc ngl this post was 2x as long as i included artistic work but it was getting too long so i decided to leave that for a more specific ask :)) As you can tell i can just dedicate entire evenings singing from the top of these crusty english rooftops how amazing and life changing these two silly beans are. I hope this was enough of a good overview of my love for them and why! :)) Hopefully one day you will give it a go, and i swear your life will be changed for ever ! <333

[snake-bytez]

Why do I get interested in all the rarepairs of II?? How come there's only like... 50 or so Cabtube fics on AO3 (not counting my recent posted ones) I thought they were more popular than that I used to see them everywhere- Either I'm too damn good at filtering my online experience, or y'all need to step up your game bc where the hell did they go..... /lh Need to add their ship tag to my followed tags on here too, I don't use tumblr often enough to warrent it but I'm starved of content /j

Anyways, on another note, bridging the gap between my love of Fantube and Cabtube with another dose of polyamory in the shipping sphere /hj Test Tube has 2 hands, of course. But I'm a sucker for Polylights too and have a hyperspecific dynamic with them in my head (which I think I partially explained in the end notes of "A Full Mansion Brings Warmth" but it goes even deeper and that was just the tip top of things mentioned in the fic-)

Fantube is married always sorry do not split them. They love each other so deeply. They are the bestest of friends who one day decided "yeah let's stick together for life. Tax benefits." and they raise a kid (Bot) together. It's not for show, they love each other and their family so much but also they're pals! They're silly little guys who are entwined with each other forever! Hands you demiro Test Tube gently, hands you aroflux Fan gently. I usually say aroace TT but I've evolved into a few more specific labels that I shove upon them lmao

Cabtube is highly more romantically charged than Fantube and I'm not apologizing for it. They're soft, they're each other's anchors, they are sickeningly sappy with each other, if they were in highschool they'd be that couple that takes up the hallway space kissing and not being aware of anyone else's space, they both struggle to reach out for help but they wouldn't hesitate to provide said help and comfort! Cabby is the textbook u-haul lesbian she fell first and fell hard and suddenly in the blink of an eye she's got her whole life packed up ready to integrate herself into this crazy family/co-parent dynamic Fantube has with the entirety of Polylights– Test Tube will never not be giddy about Cabby, it has only exactly three true loves and they are Cabby (romantic), Fan (qpr, married), and it's lab (transcends all known laws of love /j). If they were still in the game after getting together, they would be each other's strongest downfall purely because the competition is built to turn those you love against you for entertainment. They would have the largest crash and burn of the entire show and somehow they'd still find their way back to each other because they love each other that much.

Anyways I think y'all get the gist at this point lmao. I should do a full relation chart explaining my extended polylights dynamic.... It probably would be more cohesive than a giant wall of text and also I'm a sucker for putting together a ship chart explaining my complex polyam relations hcs. This... Happens often...... You cannot be around me without me shoving some polyam ships in your face lmaooo

[afniel]

@shreedle tagged me so let's do this thang. *Breaks knuckles*

Total number of AO3 works: 5. I know this one without looking.

Total AO3 word count: 551,230 and rising. Yes, that is across only 5 works, though mainly only 3 of them. Yes, I'm absurd.

Fandoms I've written for: Mega Man X. Now, actually, if you count non-AO3 works, also Zelda and classic Mega Man kinda mashed up with Captain N...but we're not gonna talk about those, they're high school era and you would need to know exactly where in the Wayback Machine the MM fics are. The single Zelda fic is still legitimately out in the wild of ff.net after all this time. It's under a pseudonym I've never used elsewhere or again. It's also weirdly difficult to get it to show up in a search even by author name? Good luck finding it, lmao.

Top 5 fics by kudos: Well, seeing as there are only five, that's easy enough.

>E.04642-SYS: Failure to compile. (48)

>W.09880-INT: Outcome unpredictable. (14)

>I.12864-NRG: Power cycle. (12)

>E.00192-SYS: Delay. (9)

Arc and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (8)

Do I respond to comments?: Yes! Just about every single one. Is anybody even out here answering 'no' to this and if they are, why? Comments are so much fun. I'm quite literally 50% of my comment count because if you talk to me I will absolutely reply.

What has my most angst-ridden ending?: Good question...I don't think I've got any angsty endings? If you count the climax of the story in with it, though, I can't say much because it's still being posted and we're almost to this exact point but I think Power Cycle will win that title. But generally I'm a happy ending type of writer.

What has my happiest ending?: All of them in their own way, but that's a copout answer. I think though that Failure to Compile has the most naïvely happy ending so let's go with that one. It being a little too easily and tidily resolved is what made me start writing Outcome Unpredictable...it felt very nice as an ending but a little unrealistic for how trauma actually is, you know?

Have I received hate?: Nah. I've been lucky. Not that it would accomplish anything at this point anyway. I'm the most stubborn I've ever been and I've been exasperatingly stubborn my entire life.

Do I write smut? And what kind?: I mean, I've certainly RPed enough of it. I've got a 90,000 word wip full of it also. I'm not sure what to say for what kind, though. The sex kind? It's probably pretty different, considering it's all reploids and most of them don't even have the requisite parts, so...there are some inventive solutions involved and a whole lot of character exploration. I'm on the fence about what to do with it. It needs a lot of work still before I can even think about posting it, if I even will. I had an anxiety dream where my family went to read my fic and all they found was the smut, so that's on my mind every time I think about it...but I do think it could be really interesting, so who knows.

Have I ever gotten a fix stolen?: I have not, unless you count scraped by AI.

Have I ever had a fic translated?: Nope, and good luck to anybody that may try, because if you can do stories of that length you should really be doing it professionally.

Have I ever co-written a fic?: No, and you do not want to find out what I'm like to work with on creative projects. I have everything in my head, I have very little ability to convey it aside from via the finished product, and I get very tetchy about who's in charge. My report cards consistently listed me as "does not work well with others" and even in my 40s I'm still not beating the accusations.

Writing strengths: I have no problems letting moments breathe and take up space. Length without excess padding is just how I roll. Third-person limited is my comfy place where everyone's narrative voices and perspectives (and biases) get to play. I can spend an entire novel unrolling a cohesive plot with no idea what I'm doing or where it's going. And I'm pretty damn quick at getting readers to care about characters. There's a chapter in Failure to Compile that I affectionately call The Chapter That Makes You Cry because despite the fact that at that point you've only known the characters in it for the length of that one chapter and they're all OCs, the events in it have made a bunch of readers get very attached and then very emotional.

Writing weaknesses: I hope you didn't want it to come in under a hundred thousand words, whatever it is, because we are going to be here all day and I cannot change this. If I lose inspiration, nothing happens. There's no "practice writing a little ever day" with me. I'm full steam ahead or I'm just not writing, nothing in between. I have little to no interest in writing normal canon, so everything I touch turns into alternate timeline, and I tend to view characters from very different angles than is common. The pacing is basically guaranteed to be like if a rollercoaster was 90% hill with a really great view and 10% trying to kill you to death with whiplash and G forces the entire way down.

Do I like foreign language dialogue?: Yes, and if I can't read it right offhand (I can read a little bit of a whole lot of languages, it's sort of ridiculous) I'll go look it up and learn something new.

First fandom I wrote for?: Classic Mega Man.

Favourite fic I've written?: Oh my gods don't make me choose between my children...but it might be Failure to Compile, because as much as I love both sequels, that first one just has some kind of magic to me. Maybe it's because I dreamed part of it and it's got the dream-vibes I was chasing and actually caught, maybe it's because I didn't feel like I could write anything that long until I already had, but it's just special. (But I do love the others also.)

Thank you for the tag! It's 5:15am so I'm gonna not worry about tagging anybody else in particular, but if you want to consider yourself tagged, y'all already know the drill.

[jackiequick]

Agents of SHIELD Incorrect Quotes 🔏

-> In other words, Nikolai, Melissa, Marlene and Amelia being idiots ;)

—~~—

Maria Hill: Report of your mission with Melissa Wallace.

Marlene: Target was taken out.

Maria Hill: Very go-

Marlene: Then I took her to a lovely restaurant. Candle lit dinner. I proposed by the end of it. She has my last name now.

Maria Hill: I—

—~~—

Nikolai: I can’t believe you live nearby, and you won’t let anyone crash at your place.

Marlene: You people already know too much about me.

Melissa: I know exactly three facts about you, and one of them is that you won’t let any of us crash at your place.

Amelia: Leave the poor girl alone!

—~~—

Cop: You’re receiving a ticket for having three people on one motorcycle.

Marlene: Shit.

Nikolai: Wait, three?

Cop: Yeah?

Melissa: OH MY GOD AMELIA FELL OFF!!!

—~~—

Amelia: Am I in trouble?

Nikolai: Take a guess.

Amelia: No?

Nikolai: Take another guess.

—~~—

Marlene, tending to Nikolai’s wounds: How would you rate your pain?

Nikolai: Zero stars. Would NOT recommend.

—~~—

Melissa: Is something burning?

Marlene: Just my love for you.

Melissa: Honey, the toaster is on fire.

—~~—

Nikolai: I can explain.

Amelia: Can you?

Nikolai: If you give me thirty seconds to think of a lie.

—~~—

Amelia: Someone will die.

Melissa: Of fun!

—~~—

Melissa: I turned out perfectly fine!

Marlene: Babe, this morning you thought a ghost made your toast.

Melissa: I DIDN’T PUT THE BREAD IN! YOU DIDN’T PUT THE BREAD IN!!!

—~~—

Marlene: I prevented a murder today.

Amelia: Really? How’d you do that?

Marlene: Easy. Self control.

—~~—

Nikolai: *Kicks the door down looking panicked*

Melissa: What did you do?

Nikolai: Nobody died.

Melissa: WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS THAT?!

—~—

Nick Fury: I know you snuck out last night, Marlene.

Melissa: Play dumb!

Marlene: Who's Marlene?

Melissa: NOT THAT DUMB!!!

—~~—

Nikolai: Are you sure this is the right direction?

Marlene: Certainly, I'm as sure as I am honest!

Amelia: In that case, we're definitely lost.

Melissa: Well shit!

—~~—

Nikolai: You're the love of my life and my best friend, I would do anything for you.

Amelia: I want you to eat three meals a day and have a decent sleep schedule.

Nikolai: Absolutely not.

—~~—

Melissa: Man, I only ever see you awake, do you ever shut down or stop running?

Marlene: Oh, I’m always running!

Melissa: The question is from what.

—~~—

Maria Hill: You know those things will kill you, right?

Nikolai, pouring another glass of whiskey: That’s the point.

Marlene, smoking a cigarette: We’re trying to speed up the process.

Melissa: *Nods while eating raw cookie dough*

—~~—

Nick Fury: I think we're missing something.

Amelia: Teamwork?

Melissa: Cohesion?

Marlene: Research?

Nikolai: A general sense of what we’re doing?

—~~—

Amelia: I’ve done a lot of dumb stuff.

Marlene: I witnessed the dumb stuff.

Nikolai: I recorded the dumb stuff.

Melissa: I joined in on the dumb stuff.

Coulson: I TRIED TO STOP YOU FROM DOING THE DUMB STUFF!!!

—~~—

Coulson: Anyone d-

Melissa: Depressed?

Nikolai: Drained?

Amelia: Dumb?

Marlene: Disliked?

Coulson: -done with their work... what is wrong with you people ...

—~~—

Marlene: Good morning.

Nikolai: Good morning.

Melissa: Good morning.

Amelia: You all sound like robots, try spicing it up a bit.

Nick Fury: MORNING MOTHERFUCKERS!!

Amelia: Just like that!

———

Thanks for reading! Keep it going y’all haha

Please like, comment and reblog for more like this one

Tags: @msrochelleromanofffelton @gcthvile @hanlueluver @gaminggirlsstuff @parisparker269 @rooster-84 @superspookyjanelle @sherloquestea @blackheart-beauty @yetanotherwells @triptuckers and etc.



[iridescentoracle]

Hello! I am here to ask about your Dior headcanons re: the political cohesion of Doriath. 👀

Oh man, I didn't expect anyone to actually take me up on that!

(Okay so I got partway into writing this and then realized I should probably note up front that I tend to stick to the Silm (& LOTR/the Hobbit where applicable, but they... aren't, here) as the most authoritative version of canon, and I can get into why and where the nuances/exceptions are there (I do say tend to stick, it's not hard and fast!), but that's mostly a side note here: the point is simply that I don't really factor other drafts or the poetic Leithian into my take on Doriath, Thingol, Dior, etc, just what we're told in the actual Silm. I also read the Silm as an in-universe history text compiled by in-universe scholars, who, being people, are going to have their own biases and blind spots, even when they're doing their best to be accurate!)

So, this is a two-part thing: #1, there's the political cohesion of Doriath before & at the time of Thingol's death, which i talked about in the tags of the post that prompted this ask but is kind of necessary as context for the Dior part to make sense, and #2, there's the actual Dior headcanons. Both of these parts are very long because I've never really seen anyone else suggest any of this stuff and I want to explain where I'm coming from thoroughly enough that it actually makes sense to people who aren't me, but the TL;DRs:

TL;DR 1: I think Doriath was probably a hot mess politically after Thingol died, with tensions between various groups of Sindar and Laiquendi in the leadup to Thingol's death & Melian's departure, and more political tensions afterwards between those who wanted Beren & Lúthien to come be the new rulers, and those who thought they should stay gone, with someone still in Doriath taking over.

TL;DR 2: I think Dior became Eluchil, potentially at the request of some portion of the Iathrim, hoping to help prevent Doriath from devolving into civil war, and saw dealing with the Silmaril-Fëanorioni situation as a lower priority than stabilizing Doriath's internal political situation until it was too late.

1. The political cohesion (or rather, lack thereof) in Doriath prior to Thingol's death

So, okay, the thing about Doriath is that we don't actually have any real idea of like... how much the Iathrim liked being the Iathrim? We're never told about any intra-Iathrim conflict, but a) the Silm was probably compiled mostly by surviving Gondolindrim or their descendants, so they wouldn't know about anything liike that unless surviving Iathrim told them, and after the Second Kinslaying I don't imagine many Iathrim would've been eager to talk about how things had actually been tense/messy/etc when they could remember everything as having been perfect until it was ruined by the Fëanorionrim, and doubly so after the Third Kinslaying, so why would anything like that make it into the Silm?

and b) what we do know about Doriath is that it wasn't really Doriath as we know it until Morgoth came back to Middle-earth, and everything went to hell.

At the start of the first age, you suddenly get Doriath (the fenced land!) being the one protected area of a continent that used to be totally free and open. How many Sindar actually didn't particularly care for Thingol's style of leadership, or simply preferred to live nomadic lives, going basically wherever they pleased, until suddenly that wasn't safe anymore, and you were only guaranteed survival if you were close enough to Menegroth to be within the Girdle when it went up? ditto how many Laiquendi had no interest in swearing loyalty to Thingol right after their own king had just been killed, but again, made it to safety and stayed there over taking their chances on their own in the outside world? (None of this is meant as any insult to Thingol himself, by the way; he can have been a good king who did his best for his people and still rubbed some of his new subjects-by-necessity the wrong way, through no fault of his own or theirs.)

I think it's entirely possible that there were always potential political tensions under the surface in Doriath that just... never got written about, because they never boiled over into actual political conflict, and so it was never the sort of tension that had any bearing on the historical record.

Except then Beren & Lúthien happen to the world, and a few years later the Narn, and in the blink of an eye suddenly the only king Doriath has ever had is dead, and the only queen Doriath has ever had is gone and the Girdle with her—and more than that, the only rulers the Sindar had ever had for three thousand years before Doriath existed.

And where a few years earlier I think the Iathrim would probably have turned pretty universally to Lúthien, now she's abandoned them for her human husband—and while she's my favorite character in the entire legendarium hands-down and I don't blame her, I think that's another place there might have actually been some very mixed feelings among the Iathrim that nobody wanted to admit to later because how could anyone have been upset with Lúthien—and on top of her abandoning them for him, I think it's extremely probable most of Doriath did not actually get over their xenophobia about humans in general or Beren in specific when Thingol did (we know for sure at least some of Doriath didn't, cf. Saeros insulting Túrin's mother & sister to his face), but again, who's going to admit to having had a grudge against the holy couple of Middle-earth after the fact, you know?

Conversely, there could've been a sizeable faction of Sindar who had been totally loyal to Thingol until everything happened with Beren & Lúthien, but who found his actions towards them and/or Finrod to be where they drew the line, and while (unlike B&L themselves) that faction stayed in Doriath, there could've been a new, additional tension on that front.

Finally, for all we know there were multiple factions within the Laiquendi of Doriath, with political tensions stretching back to before their king died, rooted in who-even-knows!

2. Dior

All of that, of course, sets up a very, very messy political situation for Dior to walk into.

The Doriath stuff is arguably more speculation than actual headcanon, but here's where the unambiguous headcanons come in: I don't think "Dior Eluchil set himself to raise anew the glory of the kingdom of Doriath." Obviously that's how it got written down, but bluntly, I can't see Beren and Lúthien having a kid that stupid or, like, power-hungry and arrogant?

What I can see is a situation where the messenger that brought word of Thingol's death and Melian's departure asked Beren & Lúthien to come take over as the new king and queen, we promise we're not mad about you leaving and we won't be xenophobic to your husband anymore we swear it's fine now pretty please, Beren & Lúthien said no, and the messenger either asked Dior as a second choice, or said "okay fine none of that was actually true but Doriath is falling apart and we need a leader ASAP and there's about eight different contenders* (mostly kinsmen of Thingol or Laiquendi) being backed by various factions and it's going to devolve into civil war any minute so if you care at all—" and Dior said "would I do?"

(* Ask me about my Galadriel headcanon)

I don't think Dior necessarily wanted to be king of Doriath, and I don't think he saw the throne as his birthright or anything like that; I don't think anyone involved, from Thingol to Lúthien to Dior himself, ever considered the possibility of Thingol dying and needing an heir! I think it's possible he was asked, or at most that he offered, and either way, I think he saw becoming king as taking on a responsibility for the sake of others.

(Which, like, "well here's a potentially impossible task that I'm going to take up even though probably no one thinks I'm actually capable of it, but it's my duty to help others as best I can" sure does sound to me like an attitude one might develop when raised by Lúthien "I kicked Sauron's ass cast a sleep spell on Morgoth and persuaded the Valar to find a loophole in the fabric of reality" Tinuviel and Beren "I stayed by my father's side as an outlaw to give my mother time to lead the rest of our people away hopefully to safety knowing I would never see her or any of them again (and then spent several years being a giant thorn in Morgoth's side for good measure)" Barahirion, where "apparently my grandpa I may or may not have ever met died, guess that makes me the king of a place i may or may not have ever been" does... not.)

I also think he either took on the epithet Eluchil, or was given it by whichever factions of the Iathrim accepted him as king, when he actually became king. Obviously he's going to be referred to as Dior Eluchil even before that in retrospect because that's how he's thought of later, but that doesn't mean it was actually a name he always had, you know?

The final thing is, I think if Dior essentially walked into a political situation five seconds from devolving into civil war, it makes his inaction regarding the Silmaril prior to the Second Kinslaying make more sense: the Fëanorioni have been sitting around doing nothing about the Silmaril in Doriath / with Beren & Lúthien this whole time, the letter saying "hey that's our Silmaril give it back now" is probably just a formality, and Dior's only been ruling for a couple years, there's still plenty of people dubious about whether he should be king at all, he might well be subject to at least some of whatever xenophobia remains about humans in Doriath, and in general all the work he's done on stabilizing the kingdom will absolutely come undone again if he screws up; he's trying to keep a kingdom from falling apart, the Silmaril thing can wait.

Of course, it wasn't a formality, and it couldn't wait, but why would Dior have known that?

[beetlesau]

SoulBox

CHAPTER 5, THIS IS IT THE LAST CHAPTER

I'm wrapping this up because I just don't have the steam to make a cohesive story anymore lol. I thought I'd have one more chapter but then I crammed it all into this one, oops.

I'm sorry if you wanted to be tagged still it's just been so long since an update I feel anxious about it.

It's time we meet.

You unwrapped a crisp little note that rattled your Soulbox,

Actually this time. No distractions, nothing getting in the way. I'm starting to feel way in over my head about this lately and I've never felt that way about shit before. You deserve the truth. I don't even know if you'll like me for who I am. It doesn't feel right to not tell you everything. 

You read the note a few times over to yourself. It was so... perplexing. Up until this point, you'd thought he had just been busy, but now you realized he was avoiding you for a reason. The anxiety you felt was enough to call in a personal day at work. You lay on your couch, wads of crinkled papers thrown around the room. You had no idea how to respond. You wanted to meet, but after obsessing over these cryptic words, what did he mean he's not who you think? Who is he? Is he a villain? Is he even in the hero profession at all? 

Why, oh why, did none of those options.... matter, to you?

Your anxiety was centered around why none of this seemed like a big deal to you. But, it was a big deal? And you should be anxious that your soulmate has a deal-breaking secret to tell you, but you aren't. Which is just making you anxious for all the wrong reasons. 

... you felt bad for... not .. feeling bad. 

You were pacing yourself sick when the buzzer to your apartment rang. It startled you enough you nervously approached the speaker by your door. What if it was him? What if he had found you somehow? What if now was the time? What if-- The buzzer rang again, more feverish and unending now. 

"Hello!?" you all but screamed to whoever was ringing your apartment's number. 

"What the hell are you doing? Why the hell aren't you at work dumbass?" a familiar voice growled through to you.

"Oh! Bakugo... I... I'm uh, I'm just not feeling well. I think... I have a cold!"

"... Bullshit. You've never been sick a day in your life, your quirk won't allow it."

How did he... never mind, there were probably plenty of people who could figure that fun fact out about you, not just Midoriya the hero-obsessed wonder.

"Ah, uh, that's not, true. Um, see I think it must be a new strand. Yeah, I can't seem to even use my quirk to get rid of it I'm so sick. *Cough Cough* ah, yeah see? So you'd better just leave, I can't have you coming up and getting si--"

You nearly jumped out of your skin as there was a pounding at your door. You checked the peek hole and saw it was none other than Bakugo, scowling into the lens.

"Son of a. WHO let you in the building!?" you screeched, turning to the mess that was your apartment. You scrambled to pick up loose notes, wadded papers, and an occasional tissue when your thoughts went to the worst possible meaning behind the sudden soul-sent message. 

"Turns out the doorman is a huge fan of Dynamite. What the FUCK are you doing and why have you not opened this door yet, huh?" he grumbled. "I'll break it down, you know I will." You could hear the agitation in his voice.

"NO! ugh, just give me a second would you!? I told the office I was taking a personal day, I didn't know I also had to tell you too!"

You march back to the door and yank it open, "Remind me to look for apartments with better security--what? What are these?" Your eyes caught the tufts of color lowered by his side.

"What the hell do they look like, Smokey, they're flowers." he pushed them to your chest before inviting himself in. 

"I...? Thank you. Why?"

He didn't answer, he just looked at you like you were the crazy one for even asking. 

"Okay. Anyway, I'm sorry, is there something I can help you with? I took the day off for a reason you know?"

"What reason?" he quipped.

"It's just one day, Bakugo. I'm just having a personal crisis I guess. My soulmate wants to try and meet up again."

"So? Isn't that what you wanted?" his face unreadable, he made his way uninvited to your couch. 

"Make yourself at home, I guess?" Shifting into host mode you pulled bottled water from your fridge and offered it up to your new houseguest. "Well yeah, but the way the note was-- wait how do you know where I live?"

"Wow, distracted much? Your dumbass friend from work, Karen or whatever the fuck told Kirishima and I heard so here I am."

"Kirishima asked where I lived. Why? Wait who? Who's Karen? I'm totally lost."

"Jesus, the secretary lady, I don't know her name I thought it was Karen. WHO CARES. You focus on the dumbest shit, I swear."

"It's not dumb, it's completely valid! But, FINE. WHY DID KIRISHIMA, need to get my address from Sahrin, the secretary!?!" you raise your voice to the absolute bafoon sitting in front of you.

"He heard you were sick and wanted to have a card signed by the office and sent over to you, shitty woman!"

"I'M NOT SICK, HOW DID HE EVEN GET THAT IDEA??"

"OBVIOUSLY FROM ME, IDIOT? I JUST KNEW SHE WASN'T GOING TO GIVE ME THE ADDRESS BECAUSE SHE'S AN ASSHOLE!"

"So you're telling me, you got Kiri to think I was sick, planted the idea that I needed a get well card sent over to me, so you hid within earshot while he probably flirted to get my address out of the secretary, "tHe AsSHolE" Sahrin NOT Karen, and then took it upon yourself to come to my apartment and harass me on my day off, right?"

"I didn't fuckin' hide. I could have got it myself if I wanted, I just didn't wanna flirt with some extra." he huffed. 

"Okay, Bakugo. Well?"

"Well what, hag!?"

"... where's my get well soon card!?" You held out your hand, only for it to get harshly swatted away by the blonde. 

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? GET SERIOUS."

"Oh wait, so that's what the flowers were for! Everyone thinks I'm sick?"

Bakugo's face blanked a moment, his mouth moving without speaking before his words finally caught up.

"Sure. Anyway, how is your dumbass soulmate causing you to take a personal day off work?" his face was heavy with stress, even with him trying to hide it you could see.

"Right. I dunno. I know it's so stupid--"

"I didn't say it was stupid. I just want a real answer."

"I'll get there! I just, he wants to meet again and the things he said in his note just... didn't sit right with me." You slouched into the couch trying to collect all your various free-floating thoughts.

"First he tells me he's been busy lately. So we haven't messaged a lot, which is fine. But, he's been ... acting differently whenever we do."

"Different? How?" Bakugo leaned in close, his expression told you this conversation had his full attention. It made you feel... wrong. This was the kind of thing you should tell a close friend, not some coworker you started having a crush on. It felt like cheating. 

A what-- you turned your eyes away from his burning red one. A bit of a slap to the face that something very obvious had only just now been realized by you. 

"I- I-" you stammered, Your thought process seemed to have come to a halt on the outside but on the inside, you couldn't stop the flow of information that was coming from this new discovery. 

You hesitated to meet your soulmate now, after minimal contact these past weeks. Why? Because you had someone else to occupy your thoughts now? Was that fair? Was that even right?

Did you stay home out of fear?

Fear that your soulmate wanted to reject you, no it would seem not.

Fear that you would go to work and see someone that didn't make you feel all that bad about that possibility, maybe.

And then what? Bakugo has a soulmate, and from what little he's told you about them, the way he's told you, they might as well be the Sun compared to you. 

"I'm sorry. I don't know." You glared hard at nothing in particular. "No, that's not true. It's been me. I've been different." You wrung your hands from the anxiety. Your thoughts and feelings were unfolding before you in real time, not exactly in the way you were used to. 

"You?" Bakugo inched closer to your face, something anyone else wouldn't think twice about being that it was a minuscule distance, but at this moment you were hyperaware of every little thing about him. The way his eyes searched your face for more answers. Answers you didn't want to give. 

"Yeah. What if I don't... what if it turns out I don't want him to... I've spent my life, believing in him as my one true Soulmate. I know that the world has so many possibilities for us, that there's never just One option. One outcome. But he was my first. And as a child, I banked so hard on fairytales and true love. I was so stubborn I didn't think about ever moving on just because he wouldn't speak to me. And that obsession with him being the one grew because of all the hard work I put into loving him and making him love me."

"But now you don't feel the same?"

"I love him. I do. Or I know I'm supposed to. I know that I will. Because he's my soulmate. I just thought..... I thought he would be the only one I loved." you confessed. Suddenly overwhelmed you stood. "I think you should leave." Your heart tremored at what you needed to do. There was no way you could keep going down this path, you could see no light at the end of it. Even if your soulmate had something horrid to tell you there was no use leaning on Bakugo for any of it. You wouldn't dream of chasing something forbidden as another person's soulmate

He stood without argument or snark as he normally would and silently headed towards the door. He seemed to understand what you were going through, having gone through the same quite recently himself. 

"I'm sorry. That I did this. This isn't how I wanted things to go, and I never meant to confuse you. I want you to know that all of this has been very real for me. I'm sorry for not being who I should have been from the start, instead of being an asshole. But I promise you, things can be fixed now." he left quietly, and the air was thick with unspoken words. 

You took your Soulbox and moved to the counter. You couldn't wait or hesitate any longer. There was no reason to stall, no reason to overthink it. You quickly jotted down your reply to your waiting soulmate. 

Then let's meet, Soulmate.

Let's meet at this park outside of this cafe, here.

The letter came shortly after you'd sent yours. It couldn't have been more than thirty minutes after Bakugo had left. It was a park not far from where you'd had lunch with him so many days ago. 

Alright, when?

Now.

Your heart skipped a beat. Now? But you were... well... you weren't busy. But they didn't know that. Maybe you could come up with an excuse... Why were you so nervous? This was what you'd wanted your entire life but the butterflies in your stomach were overwhelming you. 

I know you're free today, don't bother trying to get out of it. 

You read the message that followed, your heart vibrated so hard you were sure it could activate your quirk and leave you. How? How did they know? Oh god. You felt yourself so desperate now. You needed to know. 

I'm on my way. 

Know that I love you. 

You stared at the message, unsure of your feelings. You mindlessly held on to this note as you gathered your purse and locked your apartment door behind you. 

You decided to walk, it wasn't far. You needed time to gather your thoughts and your courage for the meeting. When you arrived, however, you were met with a familiar face unexpectedly. 

"Hey! Kirishima, what are you doing here?" you paused on the idea that he was your soulmate, but it was quickly cast from your mind when he jumped straight to the point. 

"Did you know that Katsuki never had a Soulbox? He still doesn't." he smiled at you like you'd been in the middle of a perfectly normal conversation. 

"What?"

"Yeah, he used to just stuff letters into the front pouch of his backpack in UA." Kirishima's sharp teeth grinned in fondness at his memories. "One day me and some of our friends were curious so we took it when he wasn't looking, and we found a letter form his Soulmate, that was how we found out."

"Oh. That's... funny. Why are you- Why tell me this?"

He ignored you in favor of telling another story. 

"So a few years before you came to UA, you remember on the news that he'd been kidnapped and all that? Then we started staying in dorms on campus. Everyone wanted to know what his room looked like because he wouldn't let us in. Anyway, we told him we wanted to study and we all agreed we should do it in his room. He let us, thinking we were actually going to study. The jokes on him cause we all barely passed our classes either way. But yeah, so Mina saw a keychain hanging on the bed's headrest. It was some AllMight holiday edition I think? I don't remember. But, not the point. So we grilled him and he told us it was the first thing his soulmate ever sent to him, funny right?"

"Funny." Your heart was in your throat now. You could feel tears threatening at the corner of your eyes. You needed to hear more but needed silence all at once. It was so much to take in. There was no reason for him to be telling any of this to you. This strangely similar parallel story that you feel like you lived in some way. 

"And do you know what the first thing he ever sent to his soulmate was?" Kirishima asked you gently.

You instinctually reached for the locket that lay around your neck, realizing you were still holding the note you'd carried with you to the park. 

"What was it?" you whispered so softly you didn't think he'd heard your question. But he didn't need to, it wasn't for him. 

"It was a shitty gum wrapper." a familiar gruff voice spoke behind you. 

You spun so fast on your heels that you'd lost balance enough to fall into this voice. 

"Please." your tears fell freely now. "Please say it's you." you whimpered. 

"I tortured someone for years because I had fallen in love with them. I did everything I could to keep myself from getting close to them because I was scared it would mean I didn't really love my Soulmate." Bakugo steaded you, his grip on you was firm and desperate as if you would try to run away. "Then I found out the truth. That I was pushing away the one person I wanted by my side forever."

"I wanted it to be you." was all you could manage, You held out your hand and the last Soulmate letter rolled in your palm, crinkled and wadded up. He took it from you, fixing it, folding it neatly this time before taking the wrapper from your locket and replacing it. 

"I don't want you to hate me. I pushed you away because I thought you belonged to someone else. That I belonged to someone else. I should have known it was you all along. I could never be with anyone but you." Katsuki wiped the tears from your face, now holding your cheeks in his calloused hands. 

"I wanted it to be you. I'm so happy that it's you, Katsuki."

It was all he'd needed to hear before pressing his lips to yours. 

[benzgarfield]

Housekeeping Post

I mentioned a while back that I would be splitting the social media updates tag in two, one for staff/official account updates and one for cast updates. I've completed going through the 300-and-some posts that were in the tag at the time and back-updated everything.

I also mentioned that I would was separating the fanmeet tag by each tour stop. This is done, I just need to go through and add each fanmeet to the timeline. (The general fanmeet tag is still there)

Speaking of the timeline, I reached the limit in number of bullet points allowed per post segment (which I was not aware existed until now), so I had to split it up by year, which is probably more legible anyways. It's likely only a matter of time before it grows long enough to need to be behind a cut, but I'm loathe to do so bc I use it as reference on a regular basis when tagging or dating old events, and I'd rather not have to add an extra click. But it is getting to be a long post.

Y'all may have noticed that I've started tagging posts by month and year. This is to provide a more cohesive idea of the timeline that includes social media posts that aren't tied to a particular event, and to allow people to look at everything from a particular month rather than clicking through individual event tags. Of course, this means I have the work of back-updating the tags, which is easy to do in bulk for event tags, but more time consuming for the social media posts bc I have to do those manually.

As far as archiving goes, I am making more targeted progress on archiving old 2023 posts and have made it through at least half of the year on twitter.

I've come across a lot of IG stories from the Pit Babe workshop last year that I will wait to post, since we're at a point rn where it will jumpscare anyone that does not see this post into thinking that Pit Babe 2 workshops have started. But I've gone ahead and drafted all of it so that it's at least saved. I'm trying to outpace the rate at which things are disappearing off twitter, but we'll see how far I get.

A note on future posts:

As previously mentioned, I will be tagging any Pit Babe 2 Workshop or Filming posts as "#pit babe 2 workshop" and "#pit babe 2 filming"

Any Pit Babe 2 posts will be tagged pit babe 2.

It usually takes me a day or two to get into a new tagging habit, so whenever s2 does start filming, please bear with me if I miss a few posts. I will try my best to keep from spoiling people who don't want it, but I do mess up sometimes.

[pinksilvace]

Hey fern, what if you dropped a top 10 favorite cats the musical characters list

omg 😳😳😳 maybe we could find out 😳😳😳

1: Alonzo

Surprise, surprise, I know. Silly little vain/uncertain/bravado guy. What is he doing. I just know he's so full of anxiety but he's also probably emotionally illiterate. He's SUCH a big bro figure in my brain in a number of ways, but mostly because I think he'd be the kind of guy to try and fix problems, fail, and dejectedly call for mom's help after the fact.

There's not much I can say about Alonzo that I haven't already said:

Here's where I ranted about his adjectives.

Here's where I ranted about his design for the Egg Cracker Bracket.

Goodness knows I've probably ranted across many many many tags as well. Idk man he's just so Gender to me and I think he's really funny and I love that he's a bit of a loser depending on how much the actor plays up the "uncertain" part of his character (the one that prominently comes to mind is here during Grizabella, the Mac scares, the end of M&R, and the IMMEDIATE change in demeanor during the Song of the Jellicles). I LOVEEEE that he's often shown to despise Tugger; it's such a funny dynamic. I love that different productions have him looking to Munkustrap, Skimbleshanks, and Cassandra for guidance. I love that fics make him a bit of an ass sometimes. For whatever gripes I have with Broadway revival choreo, I also love that it gave him some more character moments than he used to :D.

Every depiction of Alonzo I see gives me a new, interesting look at the character. I have yet to find one I dislike.

Aghhhh we've reached the point where this ranking gets really hard 😭😭😭 LMAO

2: Demeter

She was my favorite when I first got Really into cats circa 13 years old. I'll forever be bitter that she had no presence in 2019. She's LITERALLY the second most important character for the sake of the plot and they just LEFT HER OUT??? Just because she's hard to recognize after only a single watch or two??? hhhhhhhhhhhhh

The way actors portray her is ALWAYS entrancing. If cats is Subtext: The Musical, Demeter is Subtext: The Character. The Macavity number??? Come ON. The fact that she opens the show? Her reactions to literally everything??? Oughhhh sometimes she makes me want to chew on concrete.

Sometimes, there are portrayals of Demeter that I dislike, though. I guess it makes sense for a character whose words are skittish/cautious/paranoid, but sometimes, those traits seem to supercede her personality, which is always a shame. I particularly enjoy her interactions with Munkustrap and Bombalurina, of course, so when those are overshadowed by just how scared she is, I think it tends to weaken stuff overall. After all, those relationships thrive on how they interact and curb that fear.

I don't spend nearly enough time thinking about Demeter and it's an absolute travesty. Ma'am you are the heart and soul of the show to me. You keep everything thematically linked together. I love you

3: Munkustrap

I think that Munkustrap might be the definition of a comfort character for me. His mental health is rock solid. He's so dad-coded it's unreal. I desperately need to watch a production of Cats and only focus on Munkustrap, because his interactions with everybody are spectacular. There is so much character fit into this guy. He's also entertaining to me because I would NOT guess his adjectives, ever; they always come across as a characterization secondary to his role, and I like that quite a lot.

And oh my gosh, his DESIGN!!! I think Munkustrap has some of the prettiest makeup in the show, and his whole look is pleasingly cohesive. There's so much happening on his face, but when it's good, it's PHENOMENAL.

COME ONNNNNNNN, the HIGHLIGHTS on those WHISKERS??? The gradients on the cheeks and nose??? oooohhhhhhh it pleases me IMMENSELY. I also really like how the makeup blends into the wig, and the shape of the wig is also one of my favorites in the show - especially when it's a bit droopy, like Michael Gruber's in '98.

let's not forget about the collar

Anyway YEAH!!! He's one of my favorites to see actually moving onstage, consistently has a beautiful voice, and has some of my favorite relationships in the whole show :D

4: Admetus

This is a bit of a cheat listing. I really don't think about Admetus that much, but I would REALLY like to think about him more. I want to know what his deal is. Like Munkustrap, I think he has some fascinating relationships onstage that all present very differently - his time spent with Tumble/Pounce, Victoria, and Alonzo come to mind.

But also

THE MAKEUP

THIS LOOK WITH THE BIG LOWER LASHES??? GIRL HELP YOUR CAT IS GNC AS HELL. EASILY my favorite cats makeup look EVER. I know it's just because they have to slather on Mac's stuff later but I love that most of the face is left plain so they went absolutely ham with the eyes. It's the opposite of Munkustrap's. Brilliant.

anyway yeah he looks cool and I think his role in the tribe is in a really interesting flux stage

5&6: Pouncival and Tumblebrutus

They are a pair... do not separate

okay okay OKAY I know I often talk about my favorite characters in terms of how funny they are, and these guys??? Absolute clowns. The product is exactly what's written on the tin; they sure do pounce and tumble!!! Even a few weeks ago, they probably wouldn't have been so high on the list, but writing CFP and forcing myself to learn more about their characters as a result has skyrocketed the amount of love in my heart for them. If I had to choose, I'd probably say that I like Pouncival just a tiiiiny bit more since I think he's more memorable and I prefer his design, but the way they both look up to almost everybody else in the show is intoxicating to watch.

My favorite moments of these two are, of course, Pounce here (2:35 onward) and Tumble here (2:14:25 onward). I just think they're neat.

7: John Partridge The Rum Tum Tugger

(Okay, but, like, John Partridge is the ultimate here. My second favorite is probably Zach Bravo since his take on the character is so different, but there might never be a Tugger as suave as Partridge ever again.)

Going back to his antagonistic relationship with Alonzo, I think it's interesting that they share "vain" as a descriptor. I also think that Tugger's relationships are interesting in that a lot of them aren't necessarily dissimilar with one another (they're all quite teasing, whether romantic or platonic), but they are unique to him. The dynamism of his character is probably what makes me like him the most; I love how he code switches between his own number, Old Deuteronomy, and Mr. Mistoffelees.

Aside from all that, come on. The swagger is magnetic. (I'd write more but my fingers are starting to hurt)

8: Bombalurina

women <3

(I do have additional thoughts about her character! She's intelligent, generous, and flirtatious, and though she's always seeking romantic/sexual attention, those interactions are always secondary to her relationship with Demeter, which is something that I really like. Depending on the performer, she can easily come across as one of the strongest characters.

...but yeah. women <3)

9: Skimbleshanks

(swings microphone around) I am once again answering on the basis of "I just think they're funny"

Seriously though, at this point, there are so many characters that could make it onto this list. I think Skimble juuuuust made it here because EVERYBODY loves him, and that just makes me love him more. He and Mistoffelees definitely seem like the most popular choices for fanart from folks outside of the fandom, 2019 or otherwise.

Also, whenever I need an answer in Quiplash and can't think of anything, I put in Skimbleshanks, and without fail, somebody always votes for it, even if they have no idea who (or, in their mind, what) Skimbleshanks is.

There's not a single thing I dislike about this cat or his number; I couldn't possibly begin to list everything here. I just haven't thought particularly hard about him as a character yet.

10: Electra

I must admit that I've barely spent any time at all thinking about Electra. HOWEVER, her interactions with Munkustrap are adorable, and the single father alonzo fic has irreparably changed my brain chemistry, and for those reasons alone, she's earned her place here. I also think the unitard design is really unique and beautiful :D

Honorable Mention: Tantomile. She was my favorite when I watched Cats '98 as a young'in :).