#Also! I forgot the name of the main protagonist but I know he was a guy so. Transfem pomni real I take no criticism

[teethbomb]

hrrnnggg digital circus…

[physalian]

On "immersion" in narrative

I should be relaxing today taking a victory lap because my book is finally live on sale, woo!

But I have this to say first, in the realm of “you can’t please everyone”. I am not a reader who enjoys extremely fluffy narrative, not “fluff” as in “feel good cotton candy stuff” but as in “300 words of describing the layout of a bedroom” fluff. I don’t like when the pacing moves as slow as molasses, not for introspection, but for telling about every little thing that happens in the story no matter how irrelevant it is to the story or its characters.

I had a beta reader for ENNS who left at least 20 comments across my narrative asking for all this extra material because my book felt too lean. I had a birthday party for a side character’s newborn daughter, when the side character herself was never even named. The plot takes place in a castle, and, shocker, the castle isn’t only populated by Main Characters.

It was just the inciting incident of the chapter that got my characters staged in the right location and the right mindset (happy fun birthday party, sourpuss self-saboteur protagonist is really missing out).

But she’d left me a comment asking for probably at least an extra 500-700 words of details about this party. She wanted to know about the food that was served, what everybody was wearing, what music they were listening to. She wanted to have actual dialogue between the new mother and some important character, some comment about life and death and parallels, and wanted all these details about a three-day-old newborn baby.

I deleted that comment. And every other comment like it.

Why? She is not my target audience and was my only beta with such notes, but also, even if this was that kind of book, she failed to understand what, I think, counts as meaningful to the narrative. That baby only showed up maybe twice in the book. The mother, like I said, never named.

The point of the party was simply “hey happy times exist in this place that you hate, Protagonist”. Spending paragraphs upon paragraphs on a little narration side quest to give you irrelevant details that don’t advance either the plot, the worldbuilding (there were other parties where I described the clothes and food and music), the important characters’ thoughts, feelings, goals, or conflicts, at the cost of keeping the pacing more consistent would have been superfluous.

And that party in of itself was fluff. I was following through on the set up of a pending newborn, spent time describing how a castle full of immortal vampires who don’t have to sleep can crochet baby clothes for a week straight and now this baby has far more clothes than she could ever hope to wear before she grows out of them. I had my narrator, a vampire, comment on how much he likes these events because new life is so rare in this bleak setting. I spent a few sentences describing the baby herself, and then he left to continue the story, taking talk of the party to the pissy protagonist and going “buddy you are allowed to have fun and meet the baby and your attitude is really getting old.”.

500 words might not sound like a lot, but she had asked for these extra paragraphs constantly. She argued it was for immersion.

The thing is.

I don’t like superfluous fluff, but I do like fluff in moderation. I don’t think any one element that takes up more than two sentences or so should exist for one sole, niche purpose. Meaning: You want to toss in a detail about a supporting character’s woodturning hobby? Great! You want to spend two whole paragraphs going on a tangent about this hobby that never comes up again and isn’t actually that important to the character? Why?

This is not to say that I think all books should be lean, this is just what I like. I don’t have the attention span to sit around waiting for the plot the author forgot about so I can read a whole page about the kingdom’s irrelevant potato farming practices. I do have time for a couple sentences about the irrelevant potatoes. I do have time to read a whole page about the kingdom’s potatoes if it’s setup for a potato famine.

There are ways to be immersive without overkill. All this counts as exposition—establishing details that set up your world and your story—and what she was asking for was a series of exposition dumps, several of which were redundant.

As a writer, I work very hard to give expository details as they become necessary. I won’t describe the dresses at a party until my narrator has time to thoughtfully comment on said dresses at said party—which he did. He came from a place that didn’t have dresses, much less lavish parties, and criticized the castle’s hedonistic opulence. He wasn’t plotting his escape, stopping mid-thought to tell the reader about the costumes, and then carrying on.

I could have waxed poetic all day as well-constructed and seamlessly as I could to work in those details to try and make them matter, but a) that would be rehashing the ‘hedonistic opulence’ and b) it really, truly, did not matter.

Would a reader like her enjoy my book? Eh, probably not. Would a reader like me enjoy her book? Eh, probably not.

There is plenty of room in libraries and on bookstore shelves for “lazy river” style books where the whole point is reading about as many details as the author can cram between the pages and there really isn’t a plot, it’s more about the setting and the relationships. Can’t mess up the pacing with an exposition dump if there is no pacing. Not my kind of story.

Doesn’t make either of us bad writers. She will have her audience and I have mine. I only argue for details that serve a purpose, and if that purpose is a solitary and weak one, then that’s not enough for me.

[amistyshadow]

I had a really, REALLY weird dream about The Amazing Digital Circus last night!! ( @gooseworx you wanna weigh in on this?)

I have had a lot of wierd dreams but I’m usually in all of them as the main protagonist in first person view, but this is the first time that it felt like I was watching an actual episode of a series.

The cast was on some adventure and the main npc villain was actually someone who used to be at the circus, but abstracted and is now used as an antagonist npc (I think her name was Victoria? She’s themed as some giant aquatic monster with a bunch of starfish and kelp on her, think of like the Big Daddies from Bioshock, but with more sea life on her, and you could see her scarred up face).

Pomni gets paired with Jax throughout the episode and Jax FINALLY gets some character development instead of just being some kids cartoon bully with no background or character other than just annoying & torturing people. The entire cast is supposed to defeat Victoria but Pomni being the hero that she is, tries reaching out and helping her, despite Jax constantly trying to mess this up. Jax Finally gets the character development I was talking about and is still a jerk but is now more like Buford levels of jerk (still mean, but you can tell he cares and he’s a bully friend that you would invite over for a game of baseball) instead of being like Denzel Crocker (Fairly Odd Parents) or Brad (Kick Buttowski) levels of bully.

One thing I forgot to mention is that in the adventures, Caine gave the characters the ability to fuse together to become more powerful and fight through. At first, Jax simply just uses Pomni to get stronger and the fusion they start out with is like; INCREDIBLY toxic! Think of it like from Steven Universe, with Lapis and Jasper becoming Malachite and showcasing a toxic and abusive relationship. (As Garnet said; “They’re a bad match for each other”) But as time goes on, Jax starts to see how fast Pomni’s already non existent mental health is deteriorating faster and faster, even when he stops fusing (mostly because he’s annoyed with how Pomni is slowing them down and making the fusion weak with her problems) her problems starts showing on Jax. After the both of them almost abstract because of Jax trying to do something he sees as “fun”, (trapping the rest of the cast in a cave to make them panic) Jax and Pomni have a heart to heart and realize how they need to work together to complete this adventure and get back to the circus. Once Jax finally realizes that, he lets go of the controls a little bit so that Pomni can also take charge. By the end of it, they’ve bonded and their fusion relationship is more like Stevonie with the fusion even changing to show both of them equal amount.

For some reason, Caine absolutely HATES the idea of Victoria coming back to the circus, something about “it’s not up to him” and “against the rules and company policy” several times the cast has to stop him and beg for him to not turn her into confetti like he did with Gummigoo. Caine ends up putting the cast into a new adventure and sets them up with an impossible task. They all have to agree on something or team up together to let Victoria stay.

The cast is transported to some falling apart school that is floating in the middle of space with some dim sun in the center, yet it’s freezing cold. The way I can describe the school is like Elmore Junior high (from amazing world of gumball) I think I even saw some of the gumball characters here and there? But the students and teachers were more like demonic zombies…

The cast is split up and only Pomni and Kinger are the only ones who believe that Victoria should get a second chance at the circus, after all, she was human just like them. Even Ragatha doesn’t want to know what might happen when they bring Victoria back (as she’s been playing the villain for so long she doesn’t know how be a supporting role) not to mention for as long as any of them have been there, they’ve never seen Caine act so hateful towards any of the npcs or avatars. But when Jax is struck with an ultimatum, and chooses to save Pomni and the cast over himself, the rest of the cast says Victoria’s name and they are all transported back to the circus with Victoria.

Victoria’s look has changed almost entirely. I’ll do my best to describe it… she had blue skin now, blonde hair in a high bun, but she looked very abstracted (not tadc abstract! Like an abstract painting) very blocky, and chunky, and she only had one eye now and it was on her right side of her face, which still looked scarred, but no where near as bad as before.

The dream ended with the cast showing her around, and telling her to take it easy as she’s the first person to not only come back from being abstracted, but also the first so-called “npc” to come back to the circus. Caine was floating near by still glaring at Victoria like she was a piece of filth that shouldn’t be there, while bubble is annoying him. Before I wake up Pomni and Jax are wondering if all abstracted humans became npcs or if this was just something new that Caine tried like with Gummigoo ai and making something actually scary for zooble like before.

That’s when I woke up. I’ll tell you that had to be the weirdest dream I’ve had in a long while. @gooseworx you wanna say anything about this???

[thepalaceofharuhime]

Hmmm…

Looking at your fandoms, I can’t help but think some sort of Bingqiu in Spy X Family (or a SxF Xianxia fusion) could be super fun!

The question is… what would their roles be.

Assassin Luo Binghe, or spy Luo Binghe… and which of them gets gender swapped. 🤔

Oh!! Maybe Shen Yuan was meant to be an ally of the female half of the main duo, Liu Mingyan, but through shenanigans he somehow ends up with her role instead, and the System demands he fake marry Binghe anyway. 😂

This is exactly the kind of prompt i was hoping for! TY!!! 🙏

The way i see it Binghe would definitely be the assassin, Shen Yuan is too big of a softie not to mention one who so easily put on the mask of another man before so he would definitely be the spy.

But also being oblivious to feelings yet a capable badass, bad in the kitchen, feeling inadequate as a partner? All Shen Yuan. Binghe with his protagonist Halo meanwhile would fit better with Mr. All around perfect Husband. So i guess it'd be a little like Yor and Loyd had switched professions.

Shen Yuan's over protective brother in a position of power? I wonder who that would be? Enter Shen Jiu haha. Rather than secret police he'd be a detective looking in to all the murders rather than keeping state secrets from spies though. To keep that rivalry between him Binghe. The family member Binghe became an assassin to provide for? His mom. The gardener AKA the guy who hired him and hands him his missions? Meng Mo. Franky,the spy's funny informant and gadget supplier, occasional babysitter and not to mention bestfriend? Shang Qinghua.

I dont know if i should replace Fiona with Liu Quinge as Fiona's character really would fit Binghe better. But Liushen is a weakness of mine even if onesided and those two were just made for coworker romances. Maybe I should give Binge someone trying to woe him too? Sha hualing? Then if i dont go with your other idea of having SY transmigrate in to Liu Mingyan (which i am saving up in my head because i absolutely love the idea) then i can add something in the background with her and Sha hualing. I'm positive i could find a way to write in Mobei for SQH or i could go with Scumplane and have him end up Shen Jiu and actually yeah that would work, need to distract SJ long enough for Bingyuan to get it on afterall. Oh what about SQH x SJ x LQG? Or should Shen Yuan get a second husbandafterall? Alternatively imagine LQG crying over a bowl of icecream.

Next question is if SY didnt transmigrate into LMY then who is he? What about Ning Yingying? Who could be SJ's little sister in this world? Or he couldve just been put in there as a female version of himself. Or like it was with Shen quingiu a character who vaguely resembles him and has a similar name. She just happens to be a woman though. Or maybe go with the mulan aproach and have him crossdress? But then how does he explain to his brother that he's suddenly - he could say that he's in love with binghe and the only way to marry him was fake his papers to pretend to be a woman since queer marriage isnt yet allowed in their fictional country. Like no one cares if they date its just they havent gotten to the legalisation of marriage yet. And if SJ asks why they had to get married so suddenly anyway (cuz no way in hell is SY getting away with saying he forgot to tell him for a year) he could say that they had to so they could adopt their daughter. Who in this case scenario could be Ning Yingying, should she still have Anyas powers? damian could be Ming fan or the little palace girl or whatever (im not yet far enough in the books to now her and the old man that well so id have to check the wiki) and i could make the palace master donovan desmond and have SY and LBH team up to take him down in the end.

Anyways yeah these are just some ideas, and again thanks for the prompt! I can't wait to write this! Maybe i'll draw something for it later too. ❤️

[apr1lr4in]

EDDSWORLD FALLOUT AU

Ok I'm putting this here because I have had this as an idea for so long and I don't rlly expect eddsworld fans to rlly be into fallout BUT I AM, OK? I got a lot of points I wanna talk abt and MAYBE I'll draw it MAYBE SETTING- Every fallout game is in America and EW is not, but I think I can keep the setting in England. As ur gonna see later, I thought Tord being a synth would be fitting. BUT UNFORTUNATLEY synths are only present in Fallout 4 and that is largely due to the institute not being a huge presence anywhere but Massachusetts. Compromise? There is no institute, but something similar (Will talk more in the Tord section) EDD- Honestly I LOVE cowboy Edd, but the only game with a huge cowboy setting would be New Vegas. But think about it, a survivor in the wasteland who is obsessed with prewar relics and clothing. Places like the midwest or even the Mojave are very different from England, but Edd seems like the kind of guy to be into the whole Prewar cowboy nerd. Ofc he's the protagonist, I'm not sure what kind of name he would have though. You know, lone survivor, the courier, i forgot what the protag is called in fallout 3 i havent played it. The "Goulden one" would be kind of funny though. I want him to have the same energy as the Courier, got shot and survived and is now a menace in the wasteland. But he's more heroic obv, going on silly adventures with the gang and make the wasteland a better place

TOM- I can see him being a vault dweller, but choosing to leave the life of one. It wasn't working for him and he probably didn't live in one of the good vaults. He travels with Edd and matt because he probably would get killed if he went by himself (Alcohol and chem addict) and is possibly out for revenge. Revenge for what? You'll se :3 ofc this is just brainstorming, maybe he wouldn't end up as a vault dweller and perhaps Edd was the vault dweller and Tom is the jagged wastelander. MATT- I have to say it, Matt is a ghoul. But does that affect his self esteem? No! I don't think there's a single ghoul in fallout who doesn't have a captivating personality, Matt is no exception. He is definitely the type to pick up random junk from the wasteland and is over encumbered. And he loves those fuckass monkey symbol things that make noise if you've played fallout 4, you know what I'm talking about,,,shudder) But people don't take him seriously BECAUSE he is a ghoul and full of radiation. But Edd has a good reputation and is able to vet for him. I also just thought what if he was a celebrity before the war? That would explain his lingering ego, but failing to realize nobody really cares anymore. RED ARMY- Notice how I didn't put Tord here? That's because he is unfortunately the enemy. Moreso his Red Army, but he isn't aggressive towards Edd or anyone else. He thinks positively of the 3 (maybe except Tom), but the issue is his reign against the wasteland. Think of him like Mr. House or the Brotherhood of Steel (Not the vegas BoS, they can go kys) he is the only military force around, but it's not a good one. The Red Army are known for their brutal enforcement of rules and are in fact transhumanists. They want to slowly take control of everyone and "improve" the human form. Why? Tord is essentially a partial synth. Not fully robot, but not a natural human. Yes his robot arm is coming back and YES power armor is being involved. I would like to mention that as much as I want to include characters like Paul and Patryck in this post, they are not as "essential" as the main 4. They are still Tord's righthand men, but it would be unfair of me to include them in this post and not other lesser known character. I DO have plans though, but I'll have to iron all of this out first. Larry will be thought of dw bing and larry fans, all 10 of u <3 These are all ideas! Basic thoughts i've had for a while now and maybe some ppl won't understand it. But if anyone does like fallout and EW...GIVE ME UR IDEAS!!! Perhaps even draw up some designs? I know I def will revisit this but I have a haircut today

[kestreljaylover]

My Top 10 Favorite Warrior Cats.

Cinderpelt was the main source of entertainment and enthusiasm in book 2, and 3 and I love that! She would have made it higher is the authors (don't remember the name, and too lazy to look it up) didn't kill her off so soon. Twilight was so annoying, the entire book was terrible, and I was so sad when she died. And her disability was very terribly written. She broke her leg by a car, and she can't be a warrior anymore. I would discuss about it all day long, but I need to move on to #9.

I love our little fruit loop! I mainly love Tallstar's character because of his Super Edition. Tallstar's Revenge is my favorite Euper Edition of all of warrior cats. The characters in the book got stuff done for once. (I don't remember all of the super editions, it has been a long time since I read them). And his little relationship with Jake is super cute! I met someone at a library and she doesn't like Tallstar x Jake. She was a homophobic, and I hate homophobes. She just make me angry, so I never talked to her again. Anyway, I just thought the bowtie idea was cute, and I decided to put that in.

I really love frostpaw because I can relate to her issues, but I think she was like a reboot of Shadowsight. Which Shadowsight was fine, no problem with him. I think frostpaw is just a cute name in general. I have never drawn her before, so i had to some up with grays on the spot. Anyway the next one!

Now we got some of the best kitties in my eyes! Ravenpaw was my favorite characters in the books before someone else came along that will be in #1. But he was basically the start of the series besides Firestar. Think about it, he tells him what happened with the Tigerstar situation. Firestar would have never known if Ravenpaw didn't spill the truth. And I think him moving to the farm was probably the best thing that has happened to him. Barley is not my favorite, it is just that I wanted to draw them. Next one!

Honestly Lightleap is probably the best character in arc 8 because she is so entertaining and snarky. The best type of character. And she caused a lot of drama which I love. It sucks that she has not been there much in book 3 and 4 of A Starless Clan.

She was supposed to be #4, but I forgot I didn't do 5, so instead of thinking more, I just put her there. Briarlight is the only good cat in her family. Mille is very mental, Blossomfall is very bad, and is very.... dramatic? I don't know how to describe it. Graystripe who i don't know what is going on in his head, and Bumblestripe who obsessed with a girl who doesn't want him. Briarlight is the sweetest cat and her death in the fourth or fifth book in AVOS was very sad. I love her friendship with her best friend, Jayfeather. (Yes, best friend! Jayfeather is gay in my head! I don't care if he loved Half Moon). Briarlight is just great! Love her!

Don't really have a reason to put her up here. Maybe I am just obsessed with the name i gave her. I was gonna switch her and Briarlight out, but oh well. I mainly like first arc Bluestar not her super edition (I mean, who does like her super edition)? I just like calling her Queen of the double wide.

Here's Dovewing! My baby! I am happy to put her here on this list! I really don't understand why some people hate Dovewing. She is a great protagonist, and a good mom as well. And also I feel bad for her because she was forced to be with him (Bumblestripe) for a while because of peer pressure. But I am glad she made to choice to get out of the pain.

AAAHHH! SQUIRRELSTAR!!! SHE'S HERE! I have been waiting for 4 years for this. She is basically just like me. (Except the shortness! I am not short). I do what is right, but I don't need approval from anyone. Honestly her husband is a dickhead, so I am glad he stepped down. I wished he would have died though.

JAYFEATHER! HE IS MY FAVORITE KITTY EVER! Does anyone need to explain why he is some people's favorite? Well I do. I can relate to him because everyone is an idiot! The books make them really dumb sometimes, and points out Jay's blindness. And guess who points this out? Jayfeather! He is my favorite for that reason. He is grumpy, but has a valid reason for it. And I can't get myself started on his boyfriend. He is not that interesting, but seeing fanart of Jayfeather and Kestrelflight just makes a smile on my face. (Dusklight for example, go follow them! One of the remaining kestreljay fans, and their work is flawless)! Honestly the sunglasses idea was random. I love a video that someone posted on Christmas day, https://youtu.be/ijd4YaXCjIQ?si=QY8NmE_tV46Yk_8x anyway, that is it. I am tired. :(

[bettsfic]

Oh yes! I think you would love the main protagonists and their connection. I'm feral about this movie, I just watched the day before yesterday, and I'm so anxious to have time off so I can draw fanart of the thing because it's soooo good.

Now, I love horror, so I have seen so much horror in my life that I can tell you this is one of those movies in the genre that are different. Our protagonist is Sam (short for Samira) and she has a cat named Frodo (I'm sorry but that was genius in so many ways, I can't tell you why because spoilers but they really make it made sense, there is truly a connection there). Frodo the cat is a character as well, I have never seen a movie before that has an animal that has indeed some weight into the movie (at least not one that is not like Marley and Me or those kind of movies).

Anyway, sorry, back to Sam. The first thing you know when the movie starts is that she has cancer. A woman who has cancer in a movie that develops into an apocalyptic world is really interesting. The movie explored this in detail, and I loved every second.

She is tired, she is angry, she is brave, and at the same time, you can tell she is scared af. She has some problems trying to connect with people because she thinks there is no point in it anymore, and probably because she thinks they are sorry for her and therefore their interest is not genuine.

She used to be a writer. She wrote a book about poems. She doesn't have the drive to write anymore, but she carries a notebook, whatever she goes, and I love her so much, Betty. I can't even explain the whole of it.

So next, we get to know the ML. Name is Eric, she is from England and went to NY to study to be a lawyer. He is how you write Eddie on your Stranger Things fics. I went even more feral at this point, I was chewing my fist. They were perfect together.

They connect. They make wonderful things for each other.

THEY EXCHANGE CLOTHES!!!!

OLDER WOMAN, YOUNGER MAN!!!

I don't wanna say more about it so you can enjoy it for the first time yourself, if you want to watch it. (But if you want to know more, just say so, I would be happy to talk about it for hours!)

I would say something I just learned yesterday before I go. Eric has anxiety in the movie. He has panic and anxiety attacks during the movie. What they removed is that he was trying to kill himself when the whole alien/monster ordinal began, and then, he met Sam. They erase this part from the movie, I guess because of time, because I could tell anyway while watching that Eric was maybe suecidal or that al least he was neurodivergent (again, I would love to elaborate but spoilers).

Hope you have the chance to watch it, I would love to know your thoughts if you do so. Also, you can scream at me about it if you enjoy it as much as I did.

So basically, this is a movie about two really lonely people that connect and gain perspective about life and themselves while trying to survive the beginning of an apocalypse. It felt very transformative. It was perfect.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Also, sorry for any weird grammar sentences. I hope I manage to come across all my ideas, English is not my first language.

I forgot to tell you, they are not trying to escape the apocalypse for 3rd parts of the movie. They are just trying to get pizza. SAM STOPS TO SMELL BOOKS AT A BOOK STORE IN THE MIDDLE OF AN APOCALYPSE!! HELP! SAD BOY FOLLOWING OLDER WOMAN LIKE A PUPPY!! There is so much going on, and I can tell this is not a horror per se. I just adore them so much. Sorry, I just needed to add these.

okay you have Compelled me. i will walk to the ends of the earth for any "sad boy following older woman like a puppy" narrative.

this is one of the few movies i don't want to see alone so i'll have to see if my roommate would want to go with me sometime this week. if i see it i'll let you know my thoughts!

[violivs]

NMTDaily: And So It Begins

- Beatrice’s first vlog! What an opening line, I love it lol. I remembered the hand wave on “hello, people of the Internet” having a wider arc across the screen than it actually does, funny enough! Glad I didn’t specify the wide wave when I referenced this line in MARRIED, the fic I posted on the 25th.

- “I’m not too old for Halloween”, girl after my own heart!

- Always thought it was interesting that Bea’s mother is American. I wonder how/why they decided that. It’s the kind of super specific detail that makes Bea feel so real, because who would make that up? It’s also interesting that it means Bea and Ben’s families are both somewhat international. Another parallel for them, another thing they have in common.

- I bet the Aunties’ wedding was the cutest thing ever, imagine Hero and Leo standing up with them! That’s probably the last time all of the Dukes were together before the story starts.

- I’m surprised Bea’s parents moved because her dad got a promotion. I would have assumed her mom did, because we get the impression of her as the high-powered businesswoman. But good for Bea’s dad. Is it canon that he’s a university professor? (Promotion = tenure?) Or did I make that up for fanfic and/or confuse him with Ben’s parents being professors in canon? Listening for that. Maybe Bea’s dad was actually also a business person all along and that’s how her parents met. Who knows.

- Bea says Australia like I say Indiana, lol (no hate to anyone from Indiana though! Just another of those inborn rivalries with the neighbor, like the Oz/NZ one.)

- “A great science program” I forgot Bea was a science person!

- I always loved the set decoration in this room, I remember it’s Hero’s room, and it’s so artsy and cozy and pretty. Love the wall art.

- “Leo and I are in charge of the house for the next six months” Excuse me, does this series really only take place over six months? Well, it ends in the first week of November, so that’s seven full months. I think it felt like it lasted a whole year when it was airing though. Time slowed down during a certain arc for sure.

- “in-joke with myself!” Classic. I kind of love that the text on screen saying “good one Beatrice” is Bea talking to herself again in-world, but out-of-world it’s kind of the Candle Wasters talking, interacting both with their own main character and with the audience. Meta.

- “Sorry my life is so boring” are like, THE famous last words for an LIW protagonist. Honey, you got a big storm coming!

- I was always so incredibly impressed with Beatrice’s independence, her comfort with leaving her parents and essentially being on her own before she even finished high school. I was alone in a college dorm hours away from home when I first watched this, second semester of freshman year if I’m not mistaken, and I could barely believe I’d managed it. I couldn’t imagine doing that any earlier than I had. I thought she was so brave and cool. I think Bea actually shows more hesitation and nervousness than I realized she did in this episode, both because she’s not used to vlogging yet and because being in a new place is nerve-wracking, but I still think she’s so brave.

- It’s so interesting that in a reversal of the play, it’s our Beatrice who comes from away to Messina to start the story, instead of Benedick and the other men returning from war. Of course, we’ll see how the boys’ arrival on the scene is modernized soon enough!

- Harriett does such a great job making you care about Bea and like her right from the start. You just want to keep listening to her talk. I can’t wait to do just that over the next seven months.

- The Benedict Cumberbatch crush is a stroke of genius, but what are the odds that there happens to be a super famous guy named Benedict that you can reference who is at peak relevance in the exact year your MAAN modernization premieres? Truly, this series as it exists could only have happened in 2014. It was the perfect time and the perfect people. What luck.

- Oh, this is the wider arc hand wave I was remembering! It’s just at the end of the video and not the beginning. Funny!

- Covering the camera with her hand and ducking out of frame at the end of her first video is a direct parallel to what Bea and Hero do in their final NMTD video, sliding out of frame and all. Love that.

- I can’t believe how much there is to talk about even with these early episodes. These posts are gonna get so long they’ll have to go under a cut for the later episodes!

💖🦩🥭

[humblefryingpan]

I feel like so many shows make the worst people the main character and rely on people rooting for them just bc they're the main character

(This is a long ass really bitchy post about lots of fandoms I'm in sorry in advance if you choose to read this. Also these are just my opinions, please don't be mad at me 😅)

Once upon a time - Emma Swan screws Regina over billions of times (if you put up your child for a closed adoption, that means you can't go steal him back because his new mum is a bit mean to you??) but whenever Regina is an asshole back (or a lot of the time when she didn't do anything) she's the "evil character"

How I met your mother - Ted Mosby is full of himself, never developed as a character and doesn't really care about any of his friends feelings.

Batman - Bruce himself. What the fuck, why does he treat his kids like that??? Tim's 16th birthday? In some older comics he punched Dick? Also he's a ✨billionaire✨ in a city that's such a mess and never tried to help with that (to my knowledge)

Heathers - Veronica is a bad person that acts like she's amazing. No one in this is really meant to be a fully good person though so moving on.

Hazbin Hotel - I know I'm meant to root for Charlie's dream but holy shit can she stay out of other people's business for once? Her "rehabilitation" is peer pressure from an adult woman who acts like she's 12

Miraculous Ladybug - Marinette is a literal stalker. She's such a an awful person and I swear every season I've watched she's got worse. Just because you're a "hero" doesn't mean your life is more important than someone else's

Most Alice Osman books - Angel from IWBFT, Francis from radio silence, I forgot her name because I didn't get that far in but the girl from loveless, all drive me crazy. They're so self centered (Francis sees someone crying and immediately makes it about her?)

Also Ted from the lorax (self centered and a bit creepy), Harry Potter (billionare wizard chad), Mirabel from encanto (self centered and victim complex) and most anime protagonists

And there are a bunch of shows where the asshole main characters are intentional they still get so much more development than these people (blitz from Helluva boss, the main character in doki doki literature club, etc)

[boundless-ut]

Here again with more questions abt the lore!

For these current characters, a few dont really seem to be human... or normal paper folk anyways, are there any unique species? Or are these goof balls just unique ones? Like quark, the skull candle fella (forgot their name) and page most of all!

Is there a reason page doesnt have a face? Or will they get one in later versions of the game? How do they communicate to others? Telepathy? Sign language? Writing? Or do they just... talk anyways?

I so would love to make ocs for this already!!

Oh and a silly ask, if I gave quark a konpeito would they be offended? (Konpeito is a candy that looks like their head shape)

-paper anon

Thank you for the questions! I'll answer them as best I can! The responses get a bit lengthy, so I'll number them.

(In the future though, I'd highly recommend sending questions individually. If there's ever the case where I can't answer a question to the point where not answering would also be an answer, I'd have to scrap the entire ask even if there are other questions I can answer, and that'd be a shame!)

1. Species:

In regard to species, the Lorian Plane is a very magical place, as such, many unique and interesting species have come to exist within this reality! Quark is a part of a broad species called "Thingkin", an in-universe term for all the 'object head'-esque characters. Thingkin are created when an otherwise inanimate object becomes animated through an ancient form of magic. The less refined version of Thingkin are just called 'Things', which describes an animated object that looks more like itself than a humanoid body with the object for a head.

Candlevera (a unique-ish name, it's Candle + Calavera! Candlevera ✨) is a different story. The same way magic can bring inanimate objects to life, there's magic to animate dead things as well! (Bones are just things after all) It's a bit rude to be woken up from your eternal slumber like that, but Candlevera is making the most of it. There are also a few others that are 'one-offs' like Diamond where you might not necessarily see more of their species in game, but there are. There will be some 'one-offs' that are actual one-offs but they're rarer cases and are going to be mostly things like (main) bosses. On the subject though, the 'normal paper folk' are actually these little fellas!

(L➡R: Digsby Jones, Train Station Master, Plain Dotty) They're called Dotties! They're a bunch of soft little fellas with fluffy tails, named after their typical face marking which is a dot of color on their face. Though, like in the case of Digsby, that 'dot' can come in a variety of shapes.

Dotties can also have a colorful body and a white marking / tail! Or have a colorful body and colorful marking / tail, or even have the same color for both. I created them to be flexible and fun to customize :)

2. Page:

What Page is is a bit of a mystery! Page doesn't quite fit into any of the 'defined' species that exist in the lorian plane. The lack of face is considered strange even by lorian standards, but in a world full of oddities it's one that most can look over once they get to know Page better. Despite a lack of a face, Page is able to talk with others just fine! Those unfamiliar with Page might have a hard time gleaning what Page is feeling at the moment at a glance (considering the lack of face), but in conversation Page makes up for this with a greater emphasis on body language. Page's design is pretty set in stone for the time being, so I don't expect it to change any time soon. In terms of character design norms, it's probably a bit of a risk to have a faceless protagonist, but I think I can make it work well enough.

3. Konpeito:

I'm glad the fact that Quark is a konpeito came through! Though I suppose it's a shape you'd recognize if you know what it is. He wouldn't be offended at all. In his case, it'd be like giving someone a gingerbread man...or...giving a magical gingerbread man a gingerbread man (since Quark is a konpeito thingkin)

It's definitely a complicated question, but the simple answer is that he'd eat it, (he has a bit of a sweet tooth!)

[lej222]

Aslfua new chapters just dropped last night. Share us your theories, ideas and premonitions about what may happen next from this.. Also make your posts looooongerrre cause I love reading your writings for hours♡

Wow, you're so nice! I've been really busy lately, so I quickly skimmed the chapters. I really believe now everything depends on what the author wants to convey with the story. There are a lot of ominous signs for Cheol and Miae, Iike Miae losing the name tag Cheol gave her, how Cheol still didn't give her back the hairpin, a third person warning Miae that it's too late. There's also the fact that Miae really wants a picture with Cheol to have, but the one Cheol's dad took is not with her, and now they were interrupted again so there's still no photograph. I feel like this could be significant if the creator wants a bittersweet ending with them, like the one picture she can finally have might be their last one and a memory for her later on. If not, it might just be a conflict in the story, who knows, I still have this strong feeling that the story will mostly be about their middle school days because every interaction they have feel fleeting if that makes sense, especially the latest chapters. It's like recalling your younger days as an adult that were once important to you. I actually expected them still running away from each other, but I hope that there will be some resolution to their feelings, the outcome doesn't matter as long as they can learn from their experiences.

The third person narrating is super interesting, though, because we have no idea who that is. It could be the stone deity Miae made a wish to in the countryside to be friends with Cheol. It also could be the universe itself who looks after Miae (and everyone for that, but Miae is the main protagonist of the story). Looks like past and present will reaaaaally intertwine in this season, because we have two pairs who were thrown together again by the universe - Cheol&Miae and Jisu&Miae. They parallel each other in lots of ways, like how Cheol was Miae's hero as a kid, and how Miae was Jisu's. Miae was the catalyst to Cheol's growth, Jisu seems to be Miae's. Miae met Jisu in the city and knew him for some time as her classmate, but doesn't remember him (probably important plot point of the season). Miae met Cheol in the countryside for a few days, but she remembered him. Jisu transferred in spring after moving around, Cheol did the same in the autumn semester. Cheol is judged because of how he looks (his height, his scar), but he's actually super awkward. Jisu was probably bullied because he was born different (probably neurodivergent as I theorized here like many other readers). Cheol keeps running away from his feelings, Jisu is super blunt about what he thinks. Miae is the bridge between them- she's from the city, but has been in the countryside, she's been bullied because of her appearance, but she also seems to have ADHD. She probably had to meet these two boys again because they had to learn from each other and still have unfinished business together. I think we will soon get all the answers, like Miae's last memory from the countryside trip (we have seen every other countryside memory except that one), Jisu's own memories and how they are tied to Miae's, and the outcome of Miae's relationship with Cheol, how it's connected to the stone tower wish and maybe the airplanes.

Side note, readers who keep hating on a 14-year-old boy just because he has a role in the story, grow up please. It's so annoying how people keep coming after Jisu no matter what he does in the story. I really don't care about who ends up with whom, I'm here for the growth story, but if I get more messages about grown up adults bullying a teenager I guess it will be a sign to leave this fandom for good. Anon, your message was really kind, thank you for reading my posts, I hope that I will be able to write more in the upcoming weeks once more chapters drop.

Edit:: I forgot to mention but now I'm 99% sure Jisu is neurodivergent. In the new chapters it's really obvious how he avoids eye contact, and he freezes up after he tells his thoughts again to Miae, looking right at her, and he looks away again. And notice how his mouth is almost always slightly open when he has to react emotionally, I guess now this theory seems proven (not sure if it will be addressed because of the time period of the story). And I loved Cheol running away awkwardly, poor boy is going through it, but it's part of growing up so Cheol - hang in there!✨ Miae also looked so happy when she was told she looked good with the lipstick😭 they are just kids, I hope they can keep their inner children as they grow up

[kosmas-posts]

Hiiiiii!!

Yeah, I wanted to ask this for like a few days lmao and completely forgot

You posted your characters Vencer (his name got autocorrected to Gender 😭😭) and Cutlass, and I actually was going to ask if they're from the same universe as Flare and the others? And if they are, what are their powers?

Also I had a question of do you have any duos/trios/squads? Characters that know eachother, relationships? You've never mentioned that, except for Vortex and his sunshine best friend.

Feel free to rant as much as you want lmao

Hey!! Thanks for asking!! That's actually a really interesting question, I'll take up that offer and rant a bit now lol

Answer is under the cut:

So both Cutlass and Vencer are from the same universe as the other OCs I posted so far. Almost all of my OCs are actually from the same universe (except I have a few video game OCs but I haven't posted them yet), its the only one I got (it's enough work anyways lol)

About Vencer and his duo-dynamic:

Vencers race is a Radiationmaker (haven't mentioned them yet, I might design the Lord soon-ish because she's really important) which means he's practically immune to all radiation. Since all powers are created and kept running through radiation, this ability is crucial for all the other powers to function, which makes it the second most powerful race and ability. Noone can limitlessly use their powers and in short; Radiationmakers are a sort of super-battery and can support other people by overcharging their abilities.

Vencer also overcharges his weapon and arrows with radioactive energy, which is too high for opponents of other races to withstand, but won't harm him or people of his own race.

Vencers best friend Dakari is a Metalmaker (the strongest race), he's also the last one to exist, since all of the other Metalmakers have been hunted down by the Warmakers. So this also answers the second question a bit; since Dakari and Vencer are both gladiators, they started working together as a power-duo (although they have a bit of an enemies to friends story lol), with Dakari being incredibly powerful (I will explain his powers in detail in another post sometime), while his powers almost never run out as long as Vencer supports him with his ability. The general story is split up in about 5 arcs and one arc revolves entirely around Vencer and Dakari and their time as gladiators in the arena, until their paths cross with the rest of the main cast in the following arc.

About Cutlass:

His story is shorter, because he's not as relevant as the other characters I shared so far. As I mentioned he's a pirate captain, and he's a Gravitymaker, which is why he has a huge advantage in space, given how gravitymakers can bend gravity to their liking to a certain degree and period of time, depending on how powerful they are. Cutlass comes from a poor background, he was just an orphan who lived in the streets as a child, until the former captain of the pirate crew picked him up. Said captain was an evil man, Cutlass eventually orchestrated a mutiny and took his place. Once he was in charge, he led his crew to glory and caused chaos across both the sky and earth. In the story he's simply a chaotic side villian (with redemption potential thanks to his boyfriend, but I won't go into that yet🤐) who's just sometimes causing problems for the main cast lol.

Dynamics between characters:

Phew I have lots of duos etc and relationships between my characters lol. I will only mention some very important ones for a start (also I'lll leave out the dynamics between mine and my friends OCs for now)

So the main duo are Lucho and Vortex, my sweet sunshine war prince and edgy Peacemaker as I mentioned before. The story starts out with Flare (Also mentioned before: the protagonist, who is the only lord who never figured out his powers, so he keeps his identity a secret and works common mercenary jobs) being forced on a mission with Lucho and then eventually running into Vortex which makes them a trio for a part of the story. They have this fun dynamic with Flare being like an overworked dad with Vortex (being 14 at the time of the stories beginning) is a chaotic troublemaker and Lucho (being 16) is a curious naive kiddo who's never been outside and dosen't understand the world at all lol.

For... reasons (🤐) Vortex and Lucho are separated from Flare at some point, but they end up meeting a girl, Citra, who joins them for quite a while and they become quite a trio. (She matches Vortex troublemaker nature so I do feel sorry for Lucho lol)

Another very important relationship is between Flare and Rae. They're the only person Flare ever truly trusted and the only one who knows his true identity.

And of course eventually... there's Flares love interest (who I'll keep a secret for now), heh.

So that's enough ranting for now lol, I'll drop more lore again in the future! Thanks for hearing out my rant lol

[rainbowninja00]

title pending!

so there's this idea that's been bonking around my mind for... years? I'm not sure how many but it's been a while. so, it started with the idea of characters based on the 7 deadly sins (original I know) and grew into a whole false tv show in my brain. first off, LONG POST WARNING!!!!!!! just letting yall know. second, there is some inspiration from Ready Player One here, if you haven't seen it, dw you dont need the context of the story, just the idea of a VR kinda thing for the internet, EXCEPT your body ceases to exist outside of it when you arent in the internet (tm) so no bullshit someone's gonna get you while you're in there! I can and will go into the intricusies of how the internet (tm) works but there are other things I wanna expand on. mainly, our main characters!!! there are 8 main characters: one for every sin and the protagonist. (some images included to show off the general vibe/colour palette of the characters all from pinterest) starting with our main character, she doesn't really have a name cause i cant think of a good one, but she's 14-16, new to high school and experiencing the internet (tm) for the first time, she's been online, but never in the actual world before. I like to think she wears mainly black and white with hints of red or other colours in the beginning and gains more colours as time goes on and she learns more about herself and the world around her. she is heavily inspired by moon girl from marvel's moon girl and devil dinosaur

next, Pride! she is the general leader of the group since she's the most commanding and takes no shit. she tries to keep the kid safe and out of trouble, she has her own in securities and such that I can go over in a stand alone post about the specific characters. she is kinda inspired by garnet from steven universe but only in a design way.

then we have the most developed and a literal self insert: lust! he's the resident "heart throb" of the group and is probably the silliest of the group, also the one the protag meets first. he is the insighting incident in many a misadventure cause its easy to use him for that. I will go into this more later, but he's lust cause he lusts for a relationship, he's a sad boy (like me) inspiration is angel dust from hazbin but only in personality.

envy and greed are twins, identical within the internet (tm) and fraternal outside of it cause oh yeah, the 7 are all real people too. they work together very well and put on a show of wanting what the other has to outside observers. the only inspo I can think of is the general aesthetic of grossology and mammon from helluva from a design stand point.

(pretend there's an image of a big ol oversized hoodie here, almost all those photos have people in them and I dont feel comfortable with that) wrath was one of the hardest for me to pinpoint initially, his thing isn't being angry, he makes others angry by being goofy and messing with them. Like kel from omori, also his design SOMEHOW ended up being cowboy esque in my head??? so like clover from undertale yellow.

sloth is actually my favourite, she loves hyperpop, all things pink and pastel, loves performing songs with lust, but she's sloth because she doesn't do anything unless it interests her, no chores, no responsibilities, she leaves the internet(tm) the least out of them all. I saw an artist on twitter once and was like YEAH THATS THE VIBE but I forgot who they are TwT. she is also based on moon girl design wise. BEE AND PUPPYCAT AESTHETIC MY GOAT!!!

(idk if this is fan art, if it is and someone knows who made it lmk)

last and sadly least is gluttony, I don't really have them super developed, and if anyone has any ideas for them I would love to hear it!

If anyone wants to see or hear more I will happily yap about it for hours, PLEASE I AM BEGGING ON MY HANDS AND KNEES FOR PEOPLE TO REBLOG THIS I just wanna know if anyone would be interested on hearing more so I know if I should bother typing up more posts on these guys! (also id appriciate help w/ the title)

[artistibatt]

Please Oc infodump I love seeing it !!

Before I start yapping, I’ll say that if y’all wanna see more oc stuff and ask questions about my ocs, feel free to go to my oc blog: @artistibatt-ocs

I love talking about my ocs so much :)

I’m writing this after writing everything under the cut, I love talking about my ocs and ideas and I will take any opportunity to talk about them. I have so many I didn’t even mention below-

Now I’ve been developing a story for less than a year now called The Storyteller’s Game where the whole premise is: Sage gets trapped in a different reality to play in a being called The Storyteller’s game. They have to find others to escape while Storytellers throws obstacles in the way.

A lot of my ocs currently are from that project so I’ll talk about my favs from that!!

Sage is the protagonist who I adore! They are based on some of my favorite protagonists in shows/games such as Phoenix Wright, Sara Chidouin, and Hajime Hinata. They have plant and owl motifs. (Everyone in the TSG universe have an animal inspiration)

Storyteller is probably my absolute favorite!! She usually resembles a human with ermine/weasel features and is the main antagonist with Corvis, an anthropomorphic crow. She is chaotic and likes to have fun due to her excitable nature. (Think Hades from KIU).

Moth is also a favorite of mine. He’s a human kid with a really sad backstory. Without going into detail, his parents weren’t the best and now he lives alone with issues. I’ve had him for years and I’ve always found him so interesting because of how he is now when looking at his past. Like, he is the youngest in the human cast but he’s vulgar and violent due to his environment. A nicer thing I can add here is that he has a scarf based on the Deathhead’s Hawk Moth! It’s a very cool bug I can assure you!!

Kitt is another fav of mine who is a Sherlock Holmes fanboy. He was actually very much inspired from Sherlock in the Great Ace Attorney. He has gone through some stuff but he has people who care about him: his father and his brother/friend Italo, a wannabe lawyer). There’s a drawing of him on the other blog but I’ll describe it here. He has a pink ribbon around the collar on his collared shirt which was a gift from one of his dad’s friends fun fact!

I’ve show him here before I got the new blog but Aries has always been a favorite!! He looks human with some goat features. He used to be a one-off oc but I’ve been getting ideas for him! Their whole thing is that they have a short-term memory and they forgot everything about their human life (I should add they’re 11yrs old). I wanna make it so they believe that forgetting painful memories is better than living with them as they died so young and have mixed emotions about being the only one in the antagonist group to not remember anything about it)

(There is like 21 characters from this project alone so if you wanna know more, you can ask on the other blog)

I do also have ocs who aren’t a part of this universe!

Loki and Dice are some old ocs I wanna revamp. They are humans/humanoids with animal features. Loki is a goat and Dice is a cat. They were friends who had a falling out. Why you may ask… I have no clue right now-

Sparkle and Arcane are two animal ocs I had many years ago that I remembered existed and wanted to bring back. Sparkle is a fox/cat/dog creature from outer space and Arcane is a creature from earth. Sparkle can’t go back home but Arcane finds her and shows her around his world. Sparkle is also inspired by Sylveon

I also have another universe where three guys go on adventure to stop an evil warlock/wizard from trying to take over the world. Max is a human sword fighter, Eve is a witch and uses magic, and Dyle is a half-dragon maybe prince. Max is the grounded one, Eve is the silly one, and Dyle is the egotistical one. Eve also has a pet named Noi-Noi and Dyle has a small dragon friend named Quill!

[honeymochibubbletea]

Howdy! Can we get more of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fic? Also, did you intend it to be this Charlie

If so that’s funny. (This is from jencil’s blog btw, I’m sure you know just wanna credit the artist)

Hi! Sorry for the late reply! 😅

As for your question: yes and not exactly, let me explain:

Since i’m going to make some changes on the fanfic to suit better the world of Telltown and the characters it would be basically be like this:

The main cast:

Cortney as Charlie (you know, the protagonist of the chocolate factory and not our dear hero Charlie)

Phantasmo as Willy wonka

Barron as Charlie’s grandpa (sorry, forgot his name. And also, Barron would still be an adult, not an elder person. Just wanted to clarify this, lol)

And as for the other children… let’s just say that… it’s going to be a “special guest” surprise~ ;) (they may or may not be from other fandoms, hehehe >:3)

Also as for the “yes”: when i was writing the fanfic, i only noticed in the middle of it that there was this coincidence. Yeah, it’s a funny coincidence that our Charlie has the same name as the protagonist from the film/book! Lmao

(Also, cool/sad “fun” fact: did you know that the original author of the book intended for Charlie to be a black kid? He only didn’t do that because he thought that not many people would buy his books if he placed a black protagonist… yeah… racism sucks… that’s the bummer part about it… But! Now there is going to have a black protagonist! :D (well, one of the protagonists, but a protagonist nonetheless!))

And don’t worry! The fanfic is 85% almost done! I promise to post it very soon! ;D

(And one more thing: if you want to send me requests to write, i’ll gladly accept them! (Really, i am accepting anything) be it one-shots, snippets, headcanons, anything at all!)

[anueutsuho]

Honest idea I had for Deltarune ending:

So, The Player won't be the final boss, but Kris will kill 2 birds with one stone and just straight up throw the SOUL at the final boss to destroy both. Basically, regardless of your actions, the ending will progress the same, but it won't be one of those bosses you need to lose in order to progress or smthn.

(Also if you have the Dealmaker equipped, then Spamton will come to life and jump after the soul only to be destroyed. Like Gollum or something. I think that would be a funny follow-up to the implication that Spamton is alive as glasses.)

Then it suddenly becomes Gaster at like a laboratory, whereupon we finally get that survey we were promised and he asks how we rated the game on a scale of 1-10, among other questions. Then he'll thank the player for their participation in this little experiment. The game window won't reset and eventually he'll ask if you have anything better to do.

The game won't really let you know what happened to Kris. Did they die, or did that fully break them from the player's control? Even Toby won't reveal it. Either way, it would kinda be like Mother 3's ending where it raises a ton of questions and involves the protagonist defying the player's control one last time.

Though I kinda forgot about the second voice who stole your Goner Vessel when I imagined all this. Who would they be, and what are they saving the vessel for, if it's not really discarded? I like the idea the main antagonist stole it so THEY could use it as a host body. Either way I kinda want it back. I don't remember what I named it, and I'm worried it was something stupid.