#Bonus points if the story they tell definitely didnt happen

[poisonedapples]

LinkedIn is so great. You get to experience the dread of being stuck in recruiting purgatory, scrolling through jobs you’ll never hear back from or don’t pay enough, then the platform recommends you viral posts from CEO’s and HR people that spend 7 paragraphs sucking their own dicks

[pharaohbean]

Hey, saw your Prsk Unit Shuffle AU and am very interested in seeing more.

In particular, I'm interested in hearing more about how the groups formed. It's always neat to see how these characters first meet and interact under different circumstances. And, as a little bonus, maybe what their "Untitled"/theme song is, because I feel like that's a very key part of a unit's identity that tends to be overlooked.

(Not sure if you're still interested in asks about this AU. If not, sorry for bugging you about it)

GASP HELLO I LOVE TALKING ABOUT MY UNIT SHUFFLE AU im so sorry this too forever to get u back on!! schoolwork is a pain and then i went SHOPPING (which takes forever :sob:)

okok so i haven't really thought about all the details of how they get together? so bear with me this is a rough draft lol

SSS: the idea at the core of this group is that its a family with different strengths coming together to make music. so tsukasa is the scriptwriter, saki is the lyricist, toya is the choreographer, and kanade is the composer! the group is headed by tsukasa, who's actually been putting on these shows for all of them since he was a kid. as he got older, he started taking stardom more seriously (leading into canon), but an incident in middle school ended up with the tenmas legally adopting toya, so that definitely shook things up for tsukasa (in a good way!). so i think that (+ l/n not reforming, which does happen in the SSS main story) allowed tsukasa and saki to consider banding their strengths together, since tsukasa loved putting on shows and saki loved seeing them, but she would also help put them on for toya (and later kanade, when she joins them not long after toya does). the two of them very quickly realize that they need more hands, and although recruiting kanade as composer is easy (bc 25ji never forms- dont ask why im still figuring that out lol) toya is a lot harder bc he's still active under BAD DOGS with akito. however, with akito picking up AWR around the same time (+ hatsune freaking miku appearing to toya), toya does join under their choreographer as for their untitled, their song is Wonderland and the Sheep's Song by Hachi, but I worked out their line distributions to this lovely KYO cover! you can see my color-coded lyrics for them here if you're interested :)

R/l: im gonna be 100% honest with you SSS and AWR are the only ones with any semblance of a plot rn LOL but here's the base idea around R/l: mizuki and rui both congregate on the kami school rooftop bc, yknow, loners (mizuki is never reached out to by kanamafu, so not 25ji on their part. tsukasa doesnt end up applying for phoenix so wxs doesn't have a chance of forming). at some point, i imagine they got talking about music, but never did anything concrete. but not long into the main story (probably the very start) an also joins them, her dream of surpassing rad weekend getting weaker as she struggles to find a partner (koha will be explained later) so she goes to hang with her friend on the rooftop. at some point, mizu and an both accidentally enter sekai, where they meet miku and len. those two tell them that there's still two others they need to find because they also made the sekai. mizu and an get.... maybe a little too excited over this. an takes this chance to invite her friend haruka over to kami (so she transfers) and join the group, but in their search for their fourth member they end up accidentally alienating rui (ironic). they fix that tho-- although HOW i dont know lol their untitled was one i went back and forth on (tbh only SSS and AWR i didnt lol), but i eventually decided on Untitled Hymn by shaito! their color-coded lyrics are here (i just realized you can barely tell where an is in lines but ehhh)

ATD: okay so. ATD is the group thats given the most gosh-darn trouble. ive revised their cast motivations like, TWICE now. but basically it goes like this: shizuku and mafuyu are both members of the archery club, with mafuyu trusting shizuku so much that her public mask slips a couple of times (against her will). shizuku's not dumb, but she doesn't say anything bc i think she understands that mafu has her secrets. after shizuku quits being an idol (on more of her own terms), she still wants to find a way to share the light she had before that seemed to reach mafu a few times. enter: accidental sekai trip! this trip both gives shizu the idea for an online group (which could sorta count as MMJ but i think the big distinction is they do more streamer/vtuber stuff and less purely idol stuff?? im still working on that) and lets her see mafu with her mask fully off. eventually, shizu drags nene into the business (nene never attends kami here, workin on that) bc shizu and mafu have no idea how streaming works and nene does, but nene likes hiding behind the camera but is still a part of the group bc who can say no to shizu? and hona joins at shizu's request bc they're both beautification members (and apparently hona+mafu are both honors students so i wonder if they have some overlap?? can you tell ive never attended public school lol) their untitled gave me SO MUCH TROUBLE. because ATD is supposed to be a weird mix of 25ji and mmj? but all of their songs get swiped by either R/l, AWR, or even SSS, so it was hard to find something that i thought could be specifically them. eventually, i finally decided on Common World Domination by PinocchioP! Their color-coded lyrics can be found here :)

MxC: oh boy this one's a doozy. so the idea here is like... there are underground music rings? which sounds wild but like if music is vaguely the lifeblood of this world i DONT CARE it can happen! i don't wanna make it life-threatening tho so its more like... you get blacklisted from everything. which for shiho--who got sucked into this world in an attempt to find bandmates--is VERY BAD. but shiho's given a little bit to find a band before their first performance, but with l/n definitely gone their separate ways (and she never wanted to involve them in the first place) she's kinda stuck. enter: airi and ena! both of them had been watching the music battles, unsatisfied with their current lives (airi having just quit idol/tv work, ena just frustrated over her art), but airi knows shiho thru miya, and when she heard about shiho's impending doom, she resolved herself to very quickly learn guitar and join her group, roping ena (who has a little bit of drum experience from akito and mom) into it as well. meanwhile, while all of this is going on, kohane (being the sweet soul she is) has been trailing shiho out of concern, but then is entirely horrified at the underground battles bc shes still pre-canon meek. but she really wants to help shiho, so she agrees to try and learn keyboard. after clearing the first battle, shiho and her group are safe--for now. they'll have to clear a lot more battles if they want to escape the underground their untitled is Hello Builder by UtsuP since i wanted them to have harsher rock songs than l/n (bordering on metal-ish)! color-coded lyrics here :)

AWR: funny story--all of the above units were made in the order listed! so i got to AWR and... i have ichika, minori, emu, and akito. and im like "NONE OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE ANYTHING IN COMMON". and then i went. "WAIT. THATS IT!" so here's how AWR goes: ichika still tries to reform l/n, but fails; minori is still trying to become an idol; and emu is still trying to revive the wonder stage. all three of them, all attending miya ofc, end up bonding over this and they start thinking. is there a way to satisfy all three of their dreams (band, idol, and show) at once? and at FIRST the answer is "no lol" so they go exploring. and somehow someway (workin on that) word finds out about this and some guy on vivid street dares akito to try and fix em into shape in a week. akito--being akito--accepts quite hotheadedly, then quickly realizes that maybe this wasnt a good idea?? because EVERYONE has a different music taste and its almost impossible to keep up with them all!!! but eventually they do figure it all out, and by the end none of them wanted to split apart or anything. AWR is i think the group that has the least amount of direction which might be on purpose. i think (again im rambling rn so) part of their story is figuring out what their direction is going to be! their untitled is Lip Sync by DECO*27, written as a part of holo*27 (hi no im not rlly into vtubers i just like their music) but i count it bc its written by a voca producer and this would not be the first time a non-vocaloid sung a unit song (cough cough mafumafu and tuyu). you CAN find my color-coded lyrics here.... but i did the translations. which means they're pretty much 98% google translated then bonked around to make sense. i dont know japanese please dont sue me

i hope you enjoy my indepth explanation!!! im always happy to talk about these guys :D

[koizumicchi]

LIPxLIP FILMxLIVE Bonus CD from Animate

English Translation/Summary

~

Animate Tokuten Voice Drama

"The Most Irritating Rival In This World"

~

Track 01 - The Two People in the Dressing Room

Opens right after the events from the special cd. After the lipxlip filmxlive radio.

Aizou said it has been a while since they did the radio so he had a lot of fun.

Yuujirou: There are a lot I wanted to talk about but the time wasn't enough at all.

Aizou: Thats because you talked a lot, Yuujirou

Yuujirou: No, you're the one who talked a lot in my opinion

Aizou: You think so? Felt nostalgic so maybe thats why I talked too much

Yuujirou: Right.

Yuujirou apologizes to the staff because the staff are this busy and yet look what they did. But the staff head reassures them that it's fine.

At the dressing room.

Aizou sighs. Yuujirou sighs.

Aizou complains about his throat and is about to drink water.

Yuujirou, in a deep exhausted voice: Aizou, me too. Water.

Aizou: Ha? Get it urself

Yuujirou: You are closer

Aizou: close? If u stand, u can reach it

Yuu: troublesome.

Ai: tch. here *passes the bottle* oy, where is my thanks

Yuu: Domo

Ai: You dont mean it at all

Yuu, in keigo: Domo arigatou gozaimashita. Are u satisfied with this?

Ai: you are really not cute at all

Yuu: i do not want to be thought of as cute by you. yuck

Talking about the inside story.

About their first CM.

Yuu: *bad imitation of Ai and his lines of bittersweet taste of love*

Aizou i didnt mess up like that!!!!!

Aizou: and you. When u were complimented, u looked like you were about to cry

Yuu: ha??? When

Ai: the first time i brought u to my favorite place

Ai: dont say u forgot it

Yuu: i have no recollection of such

Yuu mentioning aizou's pathetic appearance that time he couldn't sing. And that aizou didnt became an idol just bc he wanted to be popular.

Yuu: dont tell me u did it bc u wanted to be popular

Yuu: ah yeah. *imitates aizou again* you want to become one because 'i want to sing'

Aizou as payback imitates yuujirou's 'i want to stand onstage'.

Yuujirou: annoying

Aizou: you-

Both growls.

More arguments.

And they end up calling each other idiots. Yuujirou started it and Aizou retaliates and calls him a big idiot lol. Aizou calls him out for arriving almost late before the radio.

Yuujirou: I made it in time so there's no problem! And you too. In the live, you got the first and second lyrics wrong!

And Aizou brings up Yuujirou's wrong dance steps.

Yuujirou mentions that after their lessons and Aizou takes a shower, why does everytime he forgets to bring his towel

Yuujirou: as i thought you are an idiot. BAKAZOU

Aizou: *stuttering a lot while trying to come up a counter argument*

He did come up with one though and it ended with,

Aizou: anyways hurry and go home

Yuu: hai hai understood.

And they argue a final one.

((will this ever stop lmao. if you're going, then go????))

Ai: the one who says idiot is the idiot one!

Yuu: an idiotic response (?) what are u, a kid?!

Another argument. This time describing kids.

Ai: i dont align with you about anything

Yuu: i think the same

Ai: where are you going

Yuu: to return home ofc. If i spend more time with an idiot, i'll become one.

Ai: yeah?! then hurry and go!

Yuu: even if u dont tell me!

Aizou reminds him of their tv programme rehearsal the next day.

Aizou: Definitely don't be late!

Track 02 - At The Place of Memories

Ends with Aizou's irritated rants.

~

At the end of track 1, Aizou wanted to practice but since it's nighttime already the only place to practice freely is ofc the secret spot.

Aizou: The wind is strong today.

Aizou mentions that nothing changed, no one still comes at this place.

Aizou comments it's been a while since he came here. And that before their debut, he comes here everyday after their lessons and that Yuujirou and him practiced here.

Aizou, backtracks: Enough about him.

Also Aizou: *thinks and monologues about yuujirou again*

*meow*

Yuujirou: Hehe. You're really friendly (affectionate).

Aizou: Huh? That voice just now... From around here...

Yuujirou: (if you listen closely, sounds like he's meowing lol jk)

*meow* collar jingling

Yuujirou: So. To continue what I was saying-

*rants about Aizou, not talking bad about him but more like he's annoyed at aizou but he sounds like he's also not*

*meows, purrs*

Yuujirou: What is it? You think so too?

Yuujirou continues talking to the cat. That he formed an idol unit with Aizou for his dream, but now, he wonders why he's still doing it with him.

Yuujirou: He's just a guy who gets on my nerves.

Aizou: OY!!!!!

Yuujirou: Ha? Aizou?

Aizou: Saying all you want to a place with no people!

Yuujirou: Nani? You've been watching all this time?

Aizou: I didn't mean to watch or hear you! I just heard your voice when I came here coincidentally!

Aizou: You're talking to the cat. Are you happy that they're friendly with you?

Yuujirou: Ha??? It's not like I'm happy.

Aizou: *laughs* But to think that you have this cute side

Aizou: You don't dislike cats?

Yuujirou replied, whether cats or dogs, he doesn't dislike them.

Aizou asks if the cat is the same cat that ventured here that time he practiced here.

Yuujirou answers, as if I'd know. And that because of Aizou, the cat disappeared somewhere.

Yuujirou: More than that, why are you here?

Aizou: You too, why are you here? You said you'll go home.

Yuujirou: Nothing. I felt like it (?)

Aizou: Hmmm

Aizou remembers and reminds Yuujirou this was the place when that happened. When he wasnt able to sing, Yuujirou calling him an idiot many times and telling him to sing while holding his collar.

Aizou: Somehow it's nostalgic.

And both of them start getting nostalgic and talking.

Aizou states he doesn't have any plans to go back to before of not being an idol. Yuujirou says he's the same. Aizou says he also doesn't intend to quit halfway. And yuujirou's the same too, that he's willing to bet his life. And at this point, it's now an exchange of varieties of being there for each other and covering each other when one messes up. Both laugh.

Aizou's comments he's hungry and invites Yuujirou for ramen (date haha jk). Yuujirou saying, no way he'd go with Aizou, lmao. Aizou complains ofc and Yuujirou counters "I didnt ask you to invite me".

Yuujirou, you want to eat ramen right??? Im in the mood for omurice.

Aizou: Then go with your omurice

Yuujirou: And you're going to eat your ramen by yourself

Yuujirou tells him to stop (about all of this) and comments "how unpleasant".

Aizou: That should be my line!

Yuujirou: Hurry up and go you idiot!

Aizou: Even if you don't tell me I will!

Their thoughts:

Dammit, that Yuujirou really-

that Aizou really-

In unison: -irritates me!

~

edit: i'll get back to this when i give it a listen once more.

[ardenttheories]

ardent, I have a real rough question to ask you. is it worth it to read hs^2? Ive been avoiding reading it because I didnt want to ruin what I loved about homestuck, but seeing the amount of art and interaction makes me feel like I'm missing out. I know it's not going to be good, but do I still take the risk? are there homestuck fanprojects you'd suggest instead?

An anon asked:  Hi, may I ask what is your opinion of fan creation inspired from Homestuck? I'm not the biggest fan of where homestuck is heading but was wondering on your opinions of fan comics. I'm leaning towards reading them over Homestuck2 because of some of the writing that Hussie and his team of writers have produced in Homestuck2 feels off and a bit weird for Homestuck. (Ps. Have a lovely day.)

I forgot to answer the anon when I first got it, but since both mention fanvantures, I’ll combine the two!

I would absolutely not recommend reading HS^2, personally. There’s just a lot wrong with it that I genuinely don’t like and am deeply uncomfortable with. Futanari Jade making Rose cheat on Kanaya to have a baby she then completely abandoned is really just the tip of the iceberg, from what I’ve read and seen; there’s also just an outright lack of care for triggers (the warnings for which were taken off chapter by chapter, so you’ve got no idea what you’re going into anymore) and so much bullshit around facts from Homestuck not being taken into consideration during writing (for instance, Rose tells Terezi about the Exiles despite Terezi being the one who told Dave about them back in Act 5).

It’s uncomfortable, sloggish, uncaring, actively written to ruin Homestuck for fans, and overall just unpleasant to read. Not only is it a bad continuation, it’s just bad fiction in general. Some of this of course is exacerbated by the writers themselves, which is another reason I refuse to read it; I do not want to support them in any capacity. 

I wouldn’t say you’re missing out. There’s some genuinely interesting things in HS^2, but a lot of it is overshadowed by how bad it is. That’s why I stopped reading, personally. You could always give it a go, see what you think and if you can handle it or if it appeals to you - because it’s different for everyone! Some people genuinely like it, and that’s okay, too - but I wouldn’t recommend it.

If you read the Epilogues just fine, you should be okay? But if they were rough for you to read, I’d definitely say HS^2 will be worse. You can still enjoy the content on the peripheral, though; for instance, acejams/sarcasmprodigy draws some HS^2 bits, but only really the designs that she likes. Consuming fan content while avoiding the comic itself is no issue, as far as I can tell.

That said, I’d 100% recommend reading fanventures. There’s a lot of benefits to them, actually!

Firstly, since they’re made by fans doing it for free, there’s a lot of love that goes into them. You know that what you’re getting is going to some degree be a homage to Homestuck, and that even if it’s an AU or divergent somehow, it’s still going to be loyal to characters you love. 

There’s a lot less - and I mean a lot less - bullshittery in fanventures than HS^2 proper. It’s done for fun, for love! It’s going to connect with you, as a fan, a little more, because it’s literally written by fans for fans; by people who know what the fandom wants because they’re actively part of it. 

Also, the writers don’t want to ruin the characters, so that’s an incredible bonus.

That said, here are a few fanventures I’d recommend:

SOULSTUCK: A fanventure that takes place in the Soul Eater universe, following Roxy and Dirk as they work towards getting that sweet, sweet final Witch soul to become a proper duo. I haven’t read too much of it, but the art is beautiful, the writing is well in character, and it’s also pretty faithful to the original Soul Eater while staying uniquely Homestuck, too.

Guidestuck: A pretty wellknown fanventure that started up again recently, following a kidswap universe where the kids’ initial sprite prototypings (the Harlequin doll, Jaspers, Bec, and Cal) are the kids (Cal Strider, Bec Harley, Quinn Egbert, Jaspers Lalonde), and our kids are their associated items (John’s a plush toy; Bro and Dave are dolls; Jade is a puppy; Rose is a cat). Also features a very unique look at what Alternia would be like if the lusii were the sapient species, and the trolls the symbiotic one.

TLCstuck: Double Death of the Author: A fairly interesting redo of Homestuck, taking control of the narrative a little after Game Over - so, essentially completely changing the story of Homestuck partway through Act 6. There’s a FAQ to give you more information - on how it’s written, how it’s changed, and how it works overall. 

Note for TLCstuck, though; it’s very explicitly ship-neutral. This means that although characters’ sexualities remain the same, no actual shipping generally happens in the comic. It also, since it continues from Game Over, doesn’t have a lot of the content that occurred in the Retcon timeline - including DaveKat and Davepeta (alongside the other combosprites). Keep this in mind on whether or not you want to read it, but I think it’s still a good read regardless.

Act 8: Might be one you’ve seen in the tags before! Unsurprisingly, it picks up after Act 7, and works a little like TLCstuck in that it changes the narrative from that point on. Just before the kids can go through the door to Earth C, the white door explodes. It’s animated beautifully, drawn amazingly well, and is well written! If you want to continue Homestuck’s story with the Retcon changes, this would be best for you to read. 

Well, that, or...

Act Omega: Like Act 8, it picks up after Act 7, only this time before they can claim their reward, a foe we’ve seen before appears to take the win from their grasp. It’s incredibly well animated and drawn from what I’ve seen so far, with an amazing initial fight sequence. It’s well written, and even from a cursory read-through, they reintroduce most of the main characters (including the Alpha trolls) for a second try at characterisation. Pretty nifty!

Homestuck: Subscript: I know significantly less about this one, except that there is some gorgeous art and design in it. It’s an interesting take compared to the others, since it actually happens on Earth C - so it’s more of a HS^2 replacement than anything else I’ve shown so far. It’s also incredibly different, though, and takes a little more a of a Candy route in so far as it focuses a lot more on relationships. It depends on your tastes!

Karkat goes to a Convention: Everything I know about this comes from a friend talking about it. It’s entirely satirical, I think, and a bit of a pisstake more than anything else? It’s quite literally what it says; actual Homestuck Karkat ends up at a normal, everyday convention. From what I understand it does get more detailed and involved as it goes on, but it’s also good for laughs. 

Abodebound: A webcomic a friend of mine wrote! It’s a completely original fanventure, essentially a fansession. There’s music and animation, as well as Homestuck-eqsue writing and original comedy, and some really sweet videos. I’ve never read it all the way through (life’s a bitch like that) but it’s what inspired me to create my own fanventure, and for something completely original but with the same feel as Homestuck, it’s pretty spot-on. 

Also, though it’s never been finished, what little exists of Heinoustuck is a delicious treat if you’re into horror. And Prequel -or- Making A Cat Cry: The Adventure is a really good Skyrim comic done in the old Homestuck style. Definitely NOT Homestuck, but it’s got the same art and humour, as well as games and animation - so it’s pretty sweet to look into, if nothing else. 

[captain-jinguji]

Okay. I have this in mind for some time now. So, i have asked about the boys with an youtuber s/o,but i was hoping if you can make another hc where the boys meet the most famous youtuber in Japan, who is also their crush. Like the youtuber is famous for such a good humour, she/he does parkour and crazy things😂. You just can't love her/him. Sorry if i annoy you with how many asks i have, i just have a lot of imagination

I just realized with this post that tumblr updated :0 idk if I like the new layout... Anyways! Your imagination is fine bb I love seeing asks :)

STARISH + QUARTET NIGHT + HEAVENS meeting the most famous YouTuber in Japan

STARISH

Natsuki:

He only watches their videos because hes amazed okay but he also gets scared when they do crazy stunts. Meeting them would not be much different than meeting anyone else because hes super nice and chill with just about anyone. Goes to the meet and greet and becomes friends with his crush :)

Tokiya:

Lets make one thing clear here. He doesnt watch their videos, otoya does and he just happens to be in the same room when he does, okay? But he does like them... And is concerned like why are you going so crazy? Asks his "crush" why they're doing these crazy things and it somehow turns into a nice convo ~

Cecil:

Otoya also got him into it and he IMMEDIATELY fell in love with them. Like worse than anything ever. Has to meet them. Goes into the meet and greet kind of like... Shy but they like him anyways because who doesnt? Totally has an easy time to connect with them.

Ren:

He loves people who dig thrill and adventure so he was bound to stumble onto their YT page sooner or later. He's at the first meet and greet ever and was one of the first fans, ever. His natural charms definitely help him ;) and they quickly hit it off.

Otoya:

Ultimate fan. He was just browsing through YouTube one day when he found them and watched ALL their videos. Goes to one of the first meet and greets and even though hes super shy, he actually makes them laugh and even holds up the line a bit.. So they exchange numbers and now they're texting day and night!

Syo:

Much like Ren, he LOVES people who seek thrill and he LOVES them. Has all the merch and goes to every event theyre at (as long as his schedule permits) is kind of awkward and stumbles over his words but ultimately leaved a good impression.

Masato:

AWKWARD. He will never admit that Ren got him into it but he goes to one of their events in secret and congratulates them on their fame. Super polite and they end up liking him and next thing he knows, they're at one of STARISHs concerts and he almost flies off the stage.

QUARTET NIGHT

Reiji:

Hes a youtuber nerd and thats just facts. He loves their videos and is always one of the first to see them. Much like Ren, he uses his natural charms to hit them up at a meet and greet. Not awkward and all and actually gets a coffee date out of it ~

Ranmaru:

Super awkward because he looks so threatening but theyre a thrill seeking person so actually, they're hella attracted to Ranmaru and strike up a convo with him before he even gets the chance to. Hates that he's getting nervous but they comment on his band t-shirt and the convo just goes off from there.

Camus:

Much like Ranmaru, he also looks low-key threatening and attractive to them. So imagine the look on their face when Camus pulls the butler card. Honestly makes them laugh and Camus didnt know whether to be offended or relieved.

Ai:

Hes the ultimate ultimate fan. Knows everything about them. Knows their likes and dislikes and even their bloodtype. Sounds creepy but its only because hes a robot he swears!!! His emotionless expression catches their eye and they strike up a convo with him and he just keeps it going from there.

HEAVENS

Eiichi:

Smh hes not even a thrill seeking guy but he just LOVES your personality. Like ugh nothing is more attractive than someone who does what they want. Also has natural charms that help him at the meet and greets and he gets a dinner date out of it.

Kira:

Hes not even into their videos, just got dragged to go by Eiichi and somehow became friends with them. Now he has their number and theyre flirting day and night 👀

Nagi:

Much like Syo, he just loves their videos but is kind of insecure about how hes gonna be perceived by them. Like yeah hes a star too but hes also annoying and he knows that. So imagine the look on his face when they tell him hes so fun to be around.

Eiji:

Super cute about it okay. Like he meets them and is one of the cute fans that just compliment them and maybe theres a little blush on his cheeks ~ and that's when they pick up on him and hunt him down, asking him about himself. Friendship and maybe more after that 👀

Yamato:

LOVES them. Goes to the meet and greet and suggests a collab since hes 👀 ya know. Also super sporty and crazy. And they actually take him up on the offer? Long story short hes in a lot of videos now and the fans started to ship them. If only they knew ~

Van:

Hes the fourth and final natural charmer. His silly personality mixed with his soft flirts are what gets him bonus points and he ultimately gets their number. Stays up all night to text and somehow also ends up in their videos.

Shion:

Hes like Eiji. His soft personality is what makes THEM talk to HIM and hes super chill like Natsuki. Just makes friends with them easily and goes on a little date with them :) super cute and wholesome.

[treppenwitzzarc]

prophezeiung

SEND  ME  A  URL    &    I’LL  TELL  YOU  THE  FOLLOWING     /

my opinion on;     @prophezeiung

_____character in general:    i  am  legit  in  love  w  all  of  her  muses .  first ,  her  muse  list  is  * chef’s  kiss * .  her  oc’s  are  well - thought ,  well - documented ,  and  the  worlds  they  evolve  in  are  so  original !!    alsooooo  when  she  offered  me  to  make  some  affiliated  ocs  ????   ......  Best  Day  Ever .  special  mention  for  kavinsky ,  btw ,  bc  canon  did  not  do  him  any  justice  but  now  that  i’ve  read  some  of  luna’s  portrayal  &  hcs  for  him ,  i’m  actually  super  curious  about  him  fitting  in  w  the  rest  of  the  charas  +  having  a  more  active  role  in  the  story .   _____how they play them:       lets  start  w  kavinsky  bc  i  have  Lots  of  feelings  abt  her  portrayal  of  him .  tbh  when  i  read  the  dream  thieves  i  didnt  care  much  for  k .  i  was  kinda  glad  w  how  the  book  turned  out  lmao  bUT  then .   luna .  her  portrayal .  her  writing .  it’s  so  Good ,  i  think  k  is  basically  her  oc  now .  maggie  doesn’t  deserve  kavinsky  anymore  smh .    as  for  her  (other)  ocs ,  i’d  say  there’s  no  wrong  way  to  write  them  per  se  since ,  yknow ,  they’re  hers ,  but  u  can  clearly  feel  that  each  character  is  diff ,  which  is  i  think  the  hardest  part .  also ,  her  writing  in  general ?  beautiful .  i  usually  dont  care  much  abt  threads  im  not  part  of  but  u  guys  make  me  change  my  mind  lmao  (  yes  im  stalking  all  of  u .....  sorry  ) _____the mun:  an  angel  !!!   like  we  had  met  for  maybe  ten  minutes  &  she  was  already  super  sweet ,  offering  to  make  affiliated  ocs  &  everything .  i  just .  ugh .  so  sweet ,  idk  what  else  to  say .  also ,  bonus  points  for  sending  me  all  of  her  ideas  &  answering  my  questions  abt  her  ocs .  

do i;

_____follow them:     yes   !! _____rp with them:    we’ve  started  to ,   and  i  already  Love  it _____want to rp with them:      definitely .  luna .  hit  me  up  whenever  if  u  want  to  write .   even  if  we  already  have 100  threads  ill  say  yes _____ship their character with mine:     why  not ???  i  have  a  cute  baker  on  the  way  who’s  married  w   pandora  so  we  basically  already  have  a  ship  lmao  also  i  somehow  have  feelings  abt  ronan  &  kavinsky  and  if  we  plotted  a  little ....  iDK  

what is my;

_____overall opinion:     i  love  her  already  ahsbhssj    as  a  great  person  once  said ,  i’ve  only  had  her  for  a  day  and  a  half ,  but  if  anything  happened  to  her ,  i’d  kill  everyone  in  this  room  &  then  myself  agbhsjs  

!!!   mun’s answer are all to be completely honest.    don’t send url if you don’t want brutal honesty.

[lanamemories]

hLO itsa me nai-io!!!!! (read shrieked in a high voice like mario if he buckled his dungarees too tight around the crotch)...... im sad i missed opening bt i had a pretty busy past 2 days so i didn’t hav any chance at all to b online bc i ws staying at a friends bt. anyway. excited to b here nw regardless of my Fashionably Late entrance. i’m 22 n live in manchester (the u freakin k Bay Bee) n cackle a little too mch like a witch fr supernatural suspicions nt to arise. thts all u rly need to kno. like this or hmu fr plots!! 

p.s. this is her pinterest for those of u tht like tht kind of thing

「 bridget satterlee. cis-female. 」have you seen lana jameson around yet? i hear SHE decided to be in ALPHA NU for their JUNIOR year as a DANCE major. the 21 year old SHEEP is known to be vivacious, alluring, childish and impulsive. ➨ the muse is written by nai. she is 22, in the gmt.

some random aesthetics: a red water pistol topped up with caribbean rum and covered in stickers of cartoon pin up girls, a vinyl record whirring silently because you got too distracted by a stranger’s hands to reach over and flip sides, giant inflatable flamingos floating in the aftermath of a pool party, smudgy lipstick kisses left like an autograph on someone else’s mirror, seventies platforms covered in bowie inspired lightening stripes, fanning the flush in your cheeks with a bright red flamenco fan in the back of a crowded lecture hall, michelangelo reminiscent statures clasping at their stone in suggestive places, bopping stranger’s on the forehead with heart shaped lollipops, a bumper sticker on the back of a convertible cadillac that says ‘SCRAPPY DOO IS A FILTHY SLUT’, lighting a paper lantern and saying “aw, how pretty,” only for the whole party to shriek as it crashes into a children’s tent in the next garden over, a ball point pen that turns a woman naked when you click up the nib, cackling so ferociously that you almost throw up and your ribs ache.

ok im a Lay Zee gorl n dnt wna waste any mre time redoin lana’s intro so im pastin in her old one so i cn hop right to interactions. the only thing i can think tht needs to b added is the stuff abt danny nielsen (an evil npc of mine bc im a sadist) who recently beat up zeke van doren (full name this is Official feel like im writin a journalist article) bc he found out him n lana slept tgether n her n danny were kind of dating if....u can call his idea of romance tht. danny is in custody nw bt its a whole Thing like.... is prob... known around lockwood bc it ws a pretty intense..... thing tht happened n danny ws quite a popular senior

grew up in a big house in albany, NY, bt also spent time all over the place n was in the city a lot

okay so her mum is an old money socialite / three time campaign model way back when n her dad is a big record label mogul. he owns a label called jameson records n they repped a few big rock bands back in the eighties, altho they’re mostly known for ‘poppy injects’ whose lead singer had a big heroin scandal tht brought down his career. lana p much grew up around musicians snorting lines instead of spooning down cereal fr breakfast n her parents were v much absent her whole life

they’re pretty well off obviously n bc of her relation to such a big music industry figure she’s hung out w a fair few relatively high rep ppl thru her teens. she amassed kind of an instagram following mainly fr her style (v penny lane-esque in some aspects aka lots of fur cuff trimmed jackets bt then also jst…. a wild combination of everything honestly. pastel faux fur coats, seventies style platforms, flame red cowboy boots, pink fishnet tights n glitter used like highlight Everywhere) n bc she’s undeniably very pretty

her parents always kind of jst… didn’t like her. it was v clear that she was an accident after her older brother caleb n that even when they just had him alone they weren’t cut out for parenthood. they always kind of jst… ignored her n hoped she’d go away. she had to mke herself microwave meals when she ws only like 12 bc they’d forget to get her anything. once she went like 6 days without her mum even looking her in the eyes once

despite this tho!!! she’s always been insanely close w her brother caleb. he’s her whole world. thts why when he decided to sign up to the army she ws understandably scared bt supported him after initially bein mad tht he ws leavin her all alone. bt then he wound up getting discharged under grounds of severe ptsd when he witnessed his best friend die in an explosion tht took place in a shock raid. caleb returned home n he was never the same n lana kind of felt like he’d died out there too. he’s in n out of hospital a lot n it’s rly hard on her bt she doesn’t tlk abt it to anyone rly

growing up lana was always a huge social butterfly. jst literally…. knew everyone n everyone definitely knew her. she ws one of those girls tht ws kind of impossible to ignore or forget. very animated, always made u feel like u were the centre of the universe whenever she spoke to u, always made it feel like u were best friends even if ud only spoken to her once. she has this magnetic way abt her tht is kind of hard to find in real life. it’s something ud only rly expect out of a movie character n she like. deliberately puts tht on sort of. kind of.... is always playing A Role of the person tht she wants to b seen as

she’s always been insatiably spontaneous n adventurous. always doing something weird n wild every weekend. she has ten thousand stories tht always earn a laugh or a gasp over how ridiculously absurd they r

anyway so after caleb got back he was rly withdrawn n depressed. he shut lana out n was kind of harsh to her a lot of the time, always telling her to leave him alone or pushing her away. it didnt help either tht lana had a rly traumatic experience w some of her dad’s colleagues at the label when she ws 16 n he was away n she cldnt even tell him abt it once he was bk bc of his own traumas. she kind of jst shut it all in n kept it to herself

this obviously?? made her spiral a lot. she was already a girl tht loved sex (she’d only rly done foreplay before tho) but since her trauma it got…. completely out of hand. it got to a point where she couldnt rly go 2 days without it, probably not even 1. her lowest point has probably been scrolling thru craiglist for anonymous encounters n meeting up w strangers on there fr a quick fuck jst for the thrill even tho it’s insanely dangerous n she cld wind up getting herself killed. it’s v clear at this point tht she has a sex addiction whether she’s ever admitted it or not

she also currently? is working as a cam girl. she found this website bc she trawls… porn stuff a lot n she wound up applying to work as one bc she thought it’d b fun n wld earn her some disposal income (even tho she frankly doesn’t need it bc she’s already well off). the guy tht manages all of the girls on the site is kind of suspect n it’s a whole plot i’m gna unravel where it’s actually like the front for a cult or something wild so. stay posted ig. kgjdkgjh

personality/some fun facts: uncontrollably flirty. boundlessly confident. cld make a joke out a paper bag n her comedy is sometimes surreal / absurd. she tends to laugh when she feels like crying n has a smile brighter than a ray of texas sunshine. always dapples her fingers thru the breeze when she’s driving in a car w the window down. her fav book as a child used to b alice in wonderland n she’d fantasise abt having her own little wonderland too where everyone knew her name n asked her things n took her on adventures. at the time it didn’t rly strike her how evident it was tht that was bc she was so lonely. she almost always has some sort of sweet on her, whether it’s strawberry laces or gummy bears or cherry lollipops. she adores david bowie n prince n madonna n anyone tht’s a vintage style icon w little care fr what ppl think. wildflowers r her favourites bc they’re the brightest and u can’t buy them. she’s had like 8472493874 ‘relationships’ n none of them hav lasted beyond a month / hav been terrible / hav seen her being treated badly / she’s cheated on them. i dnt think she’s actually been w anyone she hasn’t cheated on in some form or another

plot ideas: exes tht lana’s fucked over hideously. she’d probably cheat a lot and it’d be a whole…mess. mayb someone tht flipped the switch and cheated on her? a cousin plot cld b fun too. a friend tht lana fel out w bc she slept w their significant other. someone tht’s getting lana into drugs?? she’s kind of impressionable/down for anything so tht’s a likely scenario she’d get into tbh. an unrequited crush!! (either way is cool). someone tht is just hanging out w her/using her bc she has a lot of instagram followers or they want to b signed to her dad’s label. someone in a band!! she’d probably make like penny lane n b their groupie/sleep w them all fgjkshgkh. umm a good influence too mayb? oh and a past summer romance/fling tht cld either have meant a lot or not have meant anything at all. bonus points if both of them hav a diff viewpoint on it. honestly?? anything is fine i cld ramble for days

[missjackil]

My 14x11 Opinion

Damaged Goods

I have so many feelings about this episode!! Its been the hardest one to wait for all season because we were teased all week about this mysterious hug!! I am trash for brohugs, I wont even lie. Any episode that includes a brohug gets bonus points from me!! But what was different about this brohug than others? It was a slip in from behind hug that Sam wasnt expecting. Gentle, and cautious, yet full off angst and despiration. 

The scene was set in a way that assured me this episode would be emotional. The library dimly lit while Sam while Sam researches for ways to help Dean. Dean wont even answer the question when Sam asks how hes feeling. Dean just doesnt want to talk about this. He makes it known though that he appreciates the effort Sam has been putting into trying to help, and Sam responds, “of course... always” . He’s not looking for praise or appreciation, its just something he is gonna do. He’s gona help Dean. Thats all. To him its like getting up in the morning and going to the bathroom. It doesnt matter what else is going on in the world, this is what’s gonna happen.now.Deans in trouble. Sam is gonna help.

Dean tells Sam he’s going to go spend time with Mom, Sam is gonna get packed up and go too but Dean wants to go alone. Sam looks hurt. This isnt surprizing. As much as Sam doesnt need to be, as we all know, he still gets insecure with his ploace in Dean’s world and he doesnt like to be left behind for anyone, even Mom. but in the traditional character of Sam Winchester, he isnt going to make a fuss, he’ll swallow it up and let Dean go if he feels he needs it. Dean isnt cold, nor blind to this. He wont tell Sam its a farewell tour, but he needs Sam to know hes loved. So he just comes around behind him and holds Sam’s head to his chest and face, and tells him to take care of himself. As sweet as this was, did Dean really think it wouldnt sound every alarm in Sam’s head? However, this hug will go down in my heart as a classic. One thing I love most about the brohugs, is that J2 deliver a fresh one every time that say their own things. Theyre never cheap, never lacking a message, and always packed with feeling. 

Sam was pretty adorable when he tried to tell mom about the hug.I know he said they dont hug unless its literally the end of the world. but how was he really gonna tell him mom that they hug for many reasons, but this one was very different? Im sure she understands that theyre close, but does she even have a clue at how close and co-dependant they are? I dont think so. Sam gives her fair warning, and shes gonna keep an eye on Dean. 

Meanwhile, Nick is being a dick, and has a run in with Donna. Now I know many of you all dont like Donna and Jody, mainly for the Wayward crap, but I still like THEM, I just hate that story. I really like this new, tougher Donna that came to be last season in Breakdown. The bubbly silly blonde from The Purge and Hibbing 911 got on my nerves and served no purpose but comic releif. I cant stand those characters. Thats why I dont like Garth, and never liked Ghost Facers, because all they did was assure that the episode wouldnt get very serious.But lets move on. 

Mary makes Dean something he loved as a kid, Winchester Surprize. This is the first time we heard of this dish, and I would call “bullshit” on Deans ability to remember something like that from being no older than 4 the last time she made it, had he not mentioned how Dad apparently made it also, but when he and Sam tried, they messed it up and Dad got pissed and tossed it out. Dean laughed about it, but Mom was uncomfortable, and so was I. Im not a John hater as y’all know, so new negative information makes me sad. I guess before John comes back in 2 weeks, Mary will need to know that he changed a lot after she died and wasnt the greatest father to the boys.And to assure us that the reuinion wont be all rainbows and butterflies. There’s gonna be some angst.

Now Im gonna talk about how HOT Dean was while welding. the flipping of the face shield. the sparks flying around his feet, the leather apron.... mmmm Magic Mike moment y’all?? It was a great music montage, something we dont get a lot of. No Time Left For You is a good song, and for any of my readers under 40, that was an 8 track tape Dean was playing.😉 we also see that Michael is still pounding on the door in Deans head. Jensen is really doing a great job of showing us in his expressions and posture that he’s barely holding him in.

Now Sam has looked around the bunker and noticed things missing. Okay... Dean is definitely up to something. Mary waited till Dean was asleep and went to see what he was doing in the shed, she sees he’s built this box with the plan to lock himself in it and be dropped at the bottom of the ocean so Michael cant escape the box once he gets out of Deans head. Mom calls Sam, but he’s already on his way. and during this time Nick kidnaps Mary. 

Now, I think Mary was just being stupid for most of this, she had no reason really not to comply with Nick. Theres a time to be tough and a time to just be practical. A big part of being a hero includes not trying to get yourself killed for no good reason. But hey, its ok because your sons are fucking suoer heros and they’ll come save your ass! So Abraxus gets released and reveals Lucifer had him kill Ncks family. This leaves me with wonder. Will Lucifer come find Nick but Nick say no to him now that he knows Lucifer had his family killed? Leaving Luci without a vessel and heading to mess with Sam again? Possibly even Jack? Hmmmm

So Donna shoots Nick in the leg, he’s arrested. Sam goes to talk to him. I didnt like that Dean bitched at Sam for letting Nick go, though Im glad Sam got to tell him why. though he’s feeling guilty about everything that happened now. Im also pretty sure that Dean was telling Sam when people cant be saved, you just walk away, more for himself than anything. So Dean barked, but he didnt stay angry and thats good. 

Sam confronts Nick and apologizes for not being able to help him which is so very Sam, but, my boy is getting harder around the edges, he’s really 1000% done with the bull shit. He tells Nick he doesnt feel sorry for him, he feels sorry for the people he killed, HE can burn. 

Meanwhle mom confronts Dean and tells him he knows what hes up to... and if he doesnt tell Sam, she will. Im so glad it didnt become some secret between Dean and Mom being kept from Sam. That never ends pretty. 

Now, this scene, is my favorite scene so far of the season. Sam just not holding back at how horrible he thinks it was for Dean to plan to kill himself and not tell him. “Not tell me?? ME??” Do you realize how messed up that is? How unfair??” it took me back to when Dean sold his soul for Sam and Sam figured it out. Sam knows first hand how awful being trapped forever with a crazy archangel. You could see it in Sam’s eyes when he said it, he knew what Dean would be up against for eternity. “Do you know how INSANE this is?”

Dean is set in his choice and tells Sam he couldnt tell him because hes the only person who could talk him out of it💖💖and he loves hm for trying to help. Thats a very big statement in this show. So he gives Sam a choice, either he helps him, or he does it alone. Of curse Sam agrees to help. He cant save Dean if he walks away, and he wont let Dean die alone 💔💔💔💔💔💔😭😭😭😭😭

Thats gonna kill me all week!! Next weeks trailer looks like a real kick in the balls, but, Im fairly sure the brutality will be over early in the episode because Donatello’s issue is the headliner. Its hard to see Dean freak out when his phone dies when hes in the box, but Im thinking maybe he’s testing it and gets a dose of what being trapped feels like, and maybe that changes his mind. So I dont think the whole episode is going to be super heavy, but we’ll have some good brofeels anyway. In conclusion I loved this episode. It could have used more Sam but Sams parts were all great! So on a scale of Bloodlines to Who We Are, this gets a 9. the heavy brolove got it massive points and more Sam COULD have taken it to a 10. See y’all next week :)

[kosmicdream]

Hi I’m Kosmic. I draw webcomics and my webcomics are really long sprawling huge cast ones that will go on for years and they’re non linear and all this stuff that makes ppls heads spin when they try to explain wtf they’re about. I ask myself this question a lot: How the fuck do I maintain this motivation for continuing projects that are honestly, probably bigger than i can possibly feasibly create??? How do i avoid swallowed up by anxiety of my own creations???? is that energy going to run out at any time? should i be worried?? Well! For some reason I... don’t? like i get winded sometimes but in the end, I actually quite like what i do and I don’t care that it takes literally years to make my stories. but when I step back and look at it objectively it does make me scratch my head and wonder how i came to be in this situation. So, sometimes i  try and write a few things that help me with understanding my own process, for whatever reason. Or at least I’ll TRY to articulate some of the things i seem to tell myself again and again that help me feel very comfortable with my writing/creating process. So if you want an insight into tips that i give myself.. this is that! 

TIP #1 - Everything you Plan will take longer than you planned, but you can make it easier by unexpectedly including information you might have otherwise withheld.

Secrets are cool in your stories. I have so many of them, but I also understand that they’re much more fun to share than to always keep locked up and out of knowledge. I often overshare to the point where ‘info dumping’ happens which is often considered an unattractive quality in comics. But IDM it so much because my comics just need to be drawn and you can’t glorify and hold every flaw over your shoulders when in the end its not going to be that big of a deal. I think its better to give out more information than finding reasons to bend around a story to avoid revealing things. I feel it might even be more obvious if you attempt to do that.

Also, I feel that everything planned in a story can happen quite quickly, and feel much shorter than actually drawing it. Even with the experience ive gained, i still am surprised just by how much i must throw out to make my long scenes shorter and snappier. even then, they are still really long scenes. I don’t mind doing this, I like to make my stories this way- but ive also designed my comic to serve this pace by making my pages less intensive physically to make. I’m not going to go in depth about this as ive already discussed this many times before, but I do think its important to understand that generally, a commitment to a comic is going to be bigger and longer than it appears in your mind or even on paper as a script or thumbnails.

(my comic eggshells, for example, was originally going to be 340ish pages long. but back then, my pacing was much different-- and my pages were generally twice as wide with around 15 panels per page..sometimes more. but i would over-render and make them hard to read, and now i draw very few panels per page and my comics are much ‘longer’ in page count.)

TIP #2

-Accept that your ideas are bigger than what you can draw and enjoy the private context and history of your work without feeling like its less accomplished for not being all out there. Validate yourself but also understand that your readers are not going to understand the depth from your perspective and they will be engaging with the view they’ve been exposed to.

This is kind of a complicated one but I think that its both humbling to accept your work as this multi layered experiences of contradicting perspectives.. theres the planning and your engagement with the goals, the work of translating your creation to others and the vulnerable exposure of these ideas to the audience. As the creator, you get to see things in a very unique way that no one else can but... the one feeling you will never get to see is the audience who has no idea what will happen next. You can anticipate it, but in the end its so vast and unpredictable that it will be impossible to judge what they ALL will FEEL and sometimes? their perceptions can alter your own enjoyment of your work. I guarantee it will change it in SOME way.. that’s part of the sacrifice.

TIP #3

-Allowing change, flexibility and growth into your series- and letting go of control over all facets of it.

As time goes on things just change. Its hard to accommodate or prepare for that kind of investment in your work when you feel like you havent even gotten through the starting gates of your story. Comics are particularly difficult for that because once you draw a thing, it takes time to edit and you cant really undo and go back. Each panel informs and builds on the next. You have to use what’s there and figure out how it can be a structure for the future.

Accepting the past that has helped create the situation and platform of your comic in the present, which will lead into the future. Personally, i’m not a fan of retconing* certain decisions that have been already made into the canon-- however, i think if a new conclusion or idea is discovered in the process of writing and it works to include because it creates a new and alive energy in the work that will help push it to the next stage.. i think that’s very helpful and useful for sustaining the growth and motivation in a story. Making choices like this can be tricky, however, but even small ones can give a lot of natural growth and flexibility in the comic. The problem can often come with letting go of that unseen, unrealized version we had intended. I know for myself, i can get very nostalgically attached to old ideas but-- if i think of something better that works or makes more sense, I’m always thankful to let go and let my stories grow into a better thing. I try to remember where it came from, however. Because that helps inform me where to go.

(*generally my definition for this is altering events of the past, certain core plans of the comic, character motivations, or facts that are connected to the worldbuilding. im kind of a hoarder so once its in the story aka on a specific page-- its not going anywhere. until then things can be up in the air. for example, the characters knife and spoon were not originally intended to be mutually in love and it was more of a one sided idol worship, but as i fleshed their characters out i realized that it was mutual and it changed and altered the story because of that. now it cannot/will not be “undone” for whatever reason bc this is.. an established fact in the story. but at one point, it was not! i hope that makes sense.)

SO TO SUMMARIZE... plans will always be “”bigger”” in the ever expansive space of your mind so also dont be afraid to get to the point sometimes even if it feels a little, like. less exciting than you thought? accept your story is going to be different for YOU vrs your audience and make peace with that disconnect even tho its disorienting + upsetting sometimes & accommodate the ~natural personal and artistic growth~ you will experience and let go of things that might be holding you or your work back from improving with you. but also dont try to cut out too much of the past because.. it is what helped you get to where you are right now? focus on the present & allow growth for the future, dont try to alter the past and pretend it didnt happen. bc that will be confusing as fuck for everyone involved and also probably hurt the story more than help it. esp if its a long one. ur building a tower dont pull out too many foundational blocks and try to make it too much of something else unless its growing there on its own.. u kno? 

When I try to write these tips these are just things I find myself doing in a cycle as i create that seem to keep re igniting my passion for my story again and again. It makes me curious because it also is a very instinctual thing so I thought I might try and write it out!!!!!!!!!! ENJOY.

ALSO some bonus thoughts!!!!!!!!!! I will say that I’ve never completed a long format comic series, so take it w/ a grain of salt imo. HOWEVER...I probably will, eventually. Even if I don’t, I do enjoy writing really big ones and I feel very happy with the work i do on them! and still feel no inclination to move onto other things. Or even when I work on other things, I don’t have a feeling of dropping a story entirely. (for example, i still intend to work on my older series eggshells and don’t really feel a desire to ‘quit’ that story even when i have matured as an author/artist since starting it.)

When I read really long comic series I wonder a lot of internal decisions that happen out of sight, since the timeline of a comic that you read is so much different than the timeline it takes actually creating the thing. its so easy to write/plan/form ideas for lifetimes of work that will never be realized, so what is it that we actually get in the pages? What aspects of this author are we actually seeing? how much have they grown since beginning and what about the story we will never know? I know I’ll never know, because, I am only the reader! And as the creator, I will never know what the feeling of my work as the reader. or the cool and interesting things they predict will happen based on their perseptions, which are so different from mine. Yet!! we are all engaged in the same story unfolding, never fully discovering what its like on the other side but only getting little glimpses and thats fascinating how a story is almost this vast illusion of experiences maintained by so many different minds. 

Long format comics captivate me because they are just, really time consuming to make and the pacing of them are so different and less consumable than other stories. They like become.. this place you live in! Why are they my favorite to enjoy even when its natural that, when a story becomes longer, its going to end up attracting more & more issues? Why do i Not care about resolutions to long stories sometimes bc my expectations for them are different?? (also lets face it, experience writing long stories is going to be different than writing short ones because it takes time to write longer things & we are not going to have as much experienc having more than one completed super long multi-act-multi-characterplot story vrs a bunch of smaller ones. it doesnt mean its EASIER to write shorter ones, if anything id argue its probably much harder to write good short things + isolate a story down to that focused vision than making tons of long ones that avoid endings) but..yet!! here i am...

why am i constantly drawn to trying to understand long format stories when I probably could improve faster by writing shorter things??! i dont really know! but i follow my heart and my heart likes to do things this way......

anyway, this entire post is mostly inspired by the fact that many of my favorite stories started before i was even born or have been going on for decades and i wonder if we’ll ever read the endings to many of them.... would it.. matter? they’ve already inspired me so much even without a resolution because i can imagine my own endings to things.. but in the end that is not what happened in the actual story. it was only in my mind.. and yet it never happened, and was an illusion unknown to anyone but myself.....and sometimes my favorite stories are my favorites because of the things i imagined them to be, rather than what they actually were or how they actually turned out.. i dont know how this happens..... but i wonder about what this means with my OWN comics, and how my perceptions of what they could be vrs what they are is like, this weird illusion that also exists only in my mind and no one else can see it. yet we are both looking at the same thing. and i want to know what others see and i never will get to??? ....stories are......... so fucking spooky!!!!!!!!!! AHHH!! ok thats all. thx for reading

[smengus]

favorite kpop songs of 2017 from a fan who got into kpop the beginning of this year

aye!! 2018 is almost here, and i have been DYING to make a favorite songs/mvs in kpop of this year thing. it has been a fucking ride let me tell you.... first things first, just to celebrate this year and give myself some leeway, there will be 17 songs!! and they are in no particular order!! i am not a favorites person, i have too much love in my pitiful heart.... anyway, lets start!!

17. movie - btob (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42A-rFdralM)     there are many things i love about this song. i got into kpop quite literally the very beginning of this year, and thats wild, but this song was one of the first of many i had heard, and didnt know much about then but love now. i specifically remember going through that one hot 100 kpop song playlist on youtube and finding this one, and instantly love it. its one of the classics of this years, and def opened my mind to a lot more. 

love’s like a movie~

16. really really - winner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tBnF46ybZk)    ohhhhh my god i could go on and on about this song. out of all the wonderful kpop songs weve been blessed with this year, this is the one that’s consistently stuck, and everyone knows it. its just that song. the music video is gorgeous and diverse but so simplistic with the black and white. dare i say its iconic; all of it.

널 좋아해~

15. rookie/red flavor/peek-a-boo - red velvet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0h8-OTC38I) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyiIGEHQP8o) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJf2IT2Zh8)    ok, so yall are gonna hate me for literally putting all of their 2017 title tracks but oh my god... every single comeback they had this year was amazing, and id feel like id be playing someone if i just chose one or the other. like most sm groups, its not hard to absolutely love all of their songs. but in terms of aesthetic, sound, and all around look, red velvet killed it this year. so there. hope yall are satisfied with this.

peek a booooo~

14. fine - taeyeon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHXUM-6a3dU)    to keep this b/b/g/g pattern going, im choosing this one next and dear lord. this is another song id heard in the very beginning, and i was... frankly i was shocked. like, btob was surprising, but it was what i expected it be: boy group, fun, catchy, etc., but with taeyeon... god, her voice and the whole video... i was tearing up, not gonna lie. the lyrics especially got to me. its been in most of my playlists consistently this year, and i cant say the rest of the album isnt a must listen, just a recommendation from me personally.

its not fine~

13. dramarama - monsta x (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1afdZk0qcI)

 ok, i had a hard time on this one. its common knowledge they went through 3 major comebacks this year, all of which were amazing, but originally, beautiful is what stuck with me. i love the heck out of that song. then dramarama dropped a little over a month ago and... lets just say thats what convinced me to finally start stanning them for real. i have a thing for story driven music videos (bonus points if the story is actually mad good), so combine that with the absolutely amazing song and choreography, and you get their best comeback yet. honestly, it was so good, i urge yall to check it out if you havent.

dramama ramama ramama hey~

12. cherry bomb - nct 127 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkuHLzMMTZM)

 this song... THIS SONG... oh my god. i dont have an in depth discussion over the music video or the song or any of it but good lord... if youve heard it you know what im talking about. its another one of THOSE songs. its too bad it was generally slept on, but god... can i add i also love the choreography??? like a lot???? im the biggest hit on this stage~

11. palette - iu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9IxdwEFk1c)

 yall KNOW i wasnt gonna put this one off any longer. this is also the song that got me to start stanning this wonderful, amazing, beautiful, spectacularly awesome woman. she’s great. and this comeback?? ive easily listened to the whole album about 50+ times. i was going to put ending scene instead since i adore that one too, but this is the one that really stuck out to everyone. aesthetics?? on point. lyrics?? poetic. voice?? like an angel. lmao, i really love iu...

i like it, im 25~

10. as if its your last - blackpink (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amq-qlqbjYA)

 ok the best part about this one was... since i was a new baby fan, at the time, the only group i really like, stanned, was bts. but i wasnt shut off from the rest of the music community tho, ofc. thats what im truly into kpop for: the music. so duh, i knew about blackpink and their bops (whistle was a personal favorite of mine). but for some reason, over time, they casually just became another group i was into? like, i knew the names, voices, roles, songs, etc.. so when i heard they were having a summer comeback, while i was free from school no less, i was ecstatic. i rewatched the teaser several times, stayed up and hyped with people online. and it finally dropped and instantly became my favorite song by them. its so goooood. my wife lisa, like, yas baby slay that rap while looking cute af. i love it very much, and im sure other blinks do too.

blackpink in your area~

9. dont wanna cry - seventeen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97cx53Tpp6g)

 yeahhh, im not gonna choose their most recent comeback for this one, sorry guys... its a good song, dont get me wrong but! this one is the one lmao. its so fucking beautiful. when i watched the mv for the first time, i was in awe cause the choreo was so good, and so different from what i had seen before, but it went with the song so well. its a very good listen.

울고 싶지 않아~

8. move - taemin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcEyUNeZqmY)

 yes. yes. yes. this song??? yes. oh my god. so, this next bit is gonna be a bit sad (to read and to write), but just because an explanation is needed for each of these... im a shawol. i was the second i watched 1 of 1. and god, it still hurts so much to think of what happened? but, this explanation is taemin. so, i was into shinee, period. i knew taemin was a solo artist. i dont know why i wasnt paying close attention to it, but one day move just like, dropped. out of nowhere. and i went ‘where tf...?’ and watched it and OH MY GOD. i cant convey on here well enough, but bitch, i rewatched that shit repeatedly. the song was constantly replayed, and it finally pushed me to take the step and go back and listen to all his other stuff (which i love). its just so... androgynous and he dont give a flying fuck how he looks, dances, or sounds, and i adore it. definitely another THAT song of this year, dear lord.

youve got got the rhythm~

7. 1+1=0 - suran (ft. dean) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA6G74gk6R8)

 ok, i was torn over this one. i bet everyone and their mother knows her for her “collab” with my boy suga, if i get drunk today. and YES!! THAT IS AN AMAZING SONG AND IM STILL SO PROUD OF BOTH OF THEM. but bitch, this had dropped sometime whenever, idk when since i dont stan and her, and i saw it on youtube and thought  ‘shes the suga girl, i wonder if thisll be good’. i was so surprised when i listened to it. the music video?? snatched. the song?? snatched. wig?? bitch its gone. lets just say, first listen, i had already loved it way more than the song i originally knew her by. 

1 plus 1은 0~

6. ddd - exid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axVvZrDz60k)

 i put this one off long enough too. and this is obviously a very split opinion. they also dropped night rather than day which i am also 100% over the moon for. but god, i love sexy exid. and that is exactly what this comeback was. sexy, powerful, and aesthetically catchy as hell. (btw, exid is another group i actually stan, so i had been anticipating this one; i watched it while i was at school dusbgukg). so sad solji couldnt physically make it this comeback, but she was in the album, and that was enough for us. still wishing her the best recovery!

덜덜덜덜~

5. dont recall - kard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Dp7Q-SM1Y)

 oh kard. the group that had millions of fans before they even debuted... they gave us many tasty treats this year, all of which were total bops, but dont recall... bruh, its just stuck with me. i still know all the others, but when i think kard i immdiately think the of the legendary beat drop tied with the beautiful mv of dont recall. also another THAT song, no doubt. sorry i dont have much for this one, i dont know much about kard, but this song has personally been a go to of mine for the past many months. 

그만해 i dont recall~

4. ko ko bop - exo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdssuxDdqKk)

 lmao, you will not catch me in a 10 mile radius even THINKING about power. i drink to forget. its cute and all but... mmmm.... ANYWAY. im gonna be totally honest, i really love their 2016 year in terms of music more than i did this one (lotto, lucky one, monster, etc., etc., etc.,) BUT! out of the comebacks they had this year, i am 100% 10x more into ko ko bop. not gonna lie, i didnt dig it at first listen. but a little later, i tried it again and... hooo boy, what a good song. i dont know anything knowledge based about music or music production, but i know that ko ko bop is a good song. very good.

shimmy shimmy ko ko bop~

3. gashina - sunmi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur0hCdne2-s)

 ok. OK! so... yall gonna hate me, but i intentionally put off listening to this for the longest time. why?? i have no clue, its a great song. but i did. so by the time mama 2017 (IK THAT LATE) came around and i found out my boy taemin would be doing a collab stage with sunmi i was like... ‘ok i need to know who this girl is...’ i FINALLY sat my butt down and watched it and BITCH. okokokok, scroll back up, skim that taemin one, and imagine all those feelings, except like, gay. like, instead of thinking it was inspiring, i was just thirsting and being absolutely in love because holy shit everything about the song and the video are perfect????? THE LYRICS THOUGH TOO??? absolute women power i was 100% there for jesus christ.  왜 예쁜 날 두고 가시나~ 2. snow - zion.t (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiGSDywrX1Y)    this song made me cry :( straight up, when i first watched it, i cried so much. it got even worse the second go round when i knew the lyrics. its so.... beautiful. im a big fan of zion.t as well, so this was no disappoint for me. i luv it... and fun fact, its my favorite music video ever, kpop or not. im very into cinematography and photography so it was such a treat to watch it. youd have to watch it for yourself to know what i was talking about. 

눈이 올까요~

1. anything from bts this year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBdVXkSdhwU << this is dna just cause i dont wanna post 3 songs lol)

 yall honest to god probably hate me. ‘we just read this whole list to get a biased, lazy ass answer?!?!’ but hear me out... lmao thats all i got. bts is my ult group, but ult group or not, every single thing they dropped this year was spectacular. truly honest to god, its probably been their best year yet. jk, idk about that, 2015 and 2016 were pretty good. BUT STILL. spring day, not today, dna (lots of ayes), ALL OF IT SO FUCKING GOOD. gosh, i love them...

 dna~

well, thats all of them! keep in mind, this is a personal opinion thing, and there many, many, MANY songs of this year i loved, but this is a list and its gotta end somewhere, so i chose the ones that really stood out to ME. this was probably a waste of time, and bet this gets no notes, but in my heart, it was worth it. i love writing and ranting out my thoughts. this was my first year in kpop, and while yes, there were a few devastating and heart breaking moments that im still not fine about, it was good. my friends are gonna hate me, but this is just one of many years to come of me being into this shit. hope next year delivers as good as this one did. happy new years kpop fans!

[kasssiopeia]

Final thoughts on NDRV3

posted under cut because spoilers!

So I want to write a little review for.. i dont even know whos gonna read that? probably nobody that still wants to play the game afterwards, haha. Anyway I felt like writing a final report on what I liked or... disliked, at least for the record I guess.

Starting with characters:

When I first watched the trailer, there were quite a few characters that caught my eye. Especially Yonaga and Amami, also Saihara and talent wise I was really looking forward to Ultimate Magician cause?? Nice? Also the promo pictures oh my.. Akamatsu and Harukawa?? Hell yeah. Saihara and Momota? Yeah alright! Amami and.. whos that again? Ah yes Ouma.. well I don’t really care but sure? (haha)

Actually playing the game made me think twice on a lot of characters really quickly. First of all I immediately fell in love with Chabashira and the fact that she and Akamatsu got along was just suuuper exciting!! Also Shinguuji seemed interesting but his story seemed a bit difficult for me to understand in Japanese. After getting to know Hoshi for a bit I also became really attached to this character cause he was kinda relatable for me? and I dont mean because of the same alias, I just felt his kinda nihilism and will to sacrifice himself for the others cause they have more “will to live” hit home really closely. I think if it were me, surely I’d behave similarly. Halfway through the story I suddenly realized I really love Ouma, I don’t even know how that happened cause at first I was kinda meh towards him but smh it happens quite often that characters who pissed me off before suddenly become my bias, soo we are stuck with him now I guess? but ill talk about him in more detail later. Saihara turned out to be a true “meh i dont really care about this guy” character, Harukawa was annoying cause in the end her behaviour changed nothing and it was just plain boring. Hagakure.. I mean Momota was same, and it was even worse that these two kinda became a romantic pair cause that just made them even more boring. I could only acknowledge Momota after it was found out that he agreed to Oumas plan.

Also I ended up disliking most of the other characters, ESPECIALLY Yumeno cause she was equally boring and useless and dont act like you ever cared about Chabashira cause Im not buying that. Angie WOULD have been interesting if she had killed someone after all, but yeah whatever. Shinguuji had the potential but they decided to completely fuck over his character in his trial.

The game mode:

Tbh at this point, I cant really complain much? I gotta say I disliked logic dive and forgot how its called.. the sword mode something something. But then again I played this on pc and I think both wouldve been a lot easier with a controller. Now lets look at brain drive, which works similar like logic dive and... what? i have to pick up sex workers? Saihara’s car is full of sexy ladies? WHAT

seriously i dont know what they were thinking but that just weirded me the fuck out. The rest wasnt so bad. The new game mode they brought in wasnt so bad, relatively easy to win but to this day id need so much more time to figure out how to clear every block. The showdown thing?? pretty shit. I liked panic talk action in the previous games, but now it became a button mashing rhythm game that was.. pretty difficult aint gonna lie. Also the fact that you literally tear off their clothes until they are half naked in the end.. what. the. fuck.  Climax logic was alright, but the pictures got really tiny i think? sometimes it was hard to get what was going on unless you read the description. Scrum debatte was great, and the new feature to lie? ... Meh. Smh from the trailer I got the impression that i could either lie or tell the truth. Maybe I was just too stupid to do that, but i dont think i ever had a choice to do either. If someone was able to do different, please tell me cause I was a bit disappointed. Ah also, weak point panic talk(?) where you have to listen to many characters at first. if im not wrong it was introduced as something only Akamatsu can do? because of her musical ear I mean. Well guess that was a lie,

The trials:

Probably THE main thing in dangan ronpa I mean hey we all came here to enjoy a little murder mystery right? (jk im here to romance the characters in peace mode) Let’s say I wasn’t... too impressed with them.

The first trial was pretty interesting, well done too, if it WASNT for the point that the player character herself was the killer and got executed. Wait what, you just took my character away? after the FIRST trial? Yes exactly. I’m not sure what they were thinking except adding a bit more drama and man pain for Saihara but ill write more to that later. At the end of this trial, everyone cried more for the killer than for the victim just because her motive was something as noble as “I knew we wouldnt make it in time so one of us had to kill someone.”

second trial was... incredibly weird and unnecessarily cruel, and I’m not saying this because Hoshi is my bias. Okay maybe I am. But seriously first he gets drowned and then his corpse is eaten by piranhas so theres not even anything left of him anymore? The whole creating a ropeway with a pool floating thing just felt weird to me as well but sure I wrote it off as “after two games theyll eventually run out of ways”. Speaking about the motive... it was similar to the first murder in dr1, but the fact that Toujou turned out to be some president of a country (if I got that right, I was bored and didnt bother checking unknown words) and she wanted to get out to save her people just.. what? And I said this before but I dont believe that Hoshi just “let himself get killed”. Why’d he fight for his life otherwise and leave all those scratch marks on a fucking stone sink? After the trial, again, nobody cried for the victim, they were all ridden on the killers noble idea of getting out.... okay? what

the third trial!! hell yeah!! that was finally one i could really enjoy, despite my waifu getting killed (but she was beautiful until the end). I actually dont know what really got me to like this murder, but the fact that it was definitely plausible maybe helped. Also when it happened right in front of everyone was just really exciting! The trial was... good, until Shinguujis “real identity” was revealed. His motive was pretty gross, I mean the fact that hes romantically in love with his sister and kills for her, which also implied hes a serial killer just.. idk that was weird, but FINALLY they didnt cry for the killer but for the victims.

trial four was a PAIN to get to, istg this stupid game world pissed me off to the point where i didnt  wanna play anymore, also cause i heavily suspected Ouma to do something and I didnt want him gone haha. The death itself turned out to be pretty interesting (tbh i wouldve never thought theyd kill of a ero character like Iruma! ) so I’d say i liked this trial.

Dude trial five!!! hyped me up so much. I was so torn between hoping Ouma is the killer and also Ouma being the victim... if I ignore the stupid romance interval between Harukawa and Momota, I could even say this was my favorite trial. But it also heavily reminded me of Komaeda’s trial which was a bit.. weird. I got pretty pissed that in the end, Momota didnt go through with Oumas plan, therefore making his death basically useless.  But boy the trial gave me so  many Ouma feels, so that was nice...

The sixth and final trial... where do I even start? Well its where the whole plot comes to an end right? And the kotodama looked pretty interesting, just like the build up but then.. I understand that 4th wall breaking is cool, but do it too much or at the wrong time and its just a pain in the ass.

The trial almost had me throw away my ps vita in frustration also it was so boring i ended up skipping a lot of dialogue cause what are you even trying to get at? Not even the end or some more 4th wall breaking could fix this and literally until the end i was so bored that i just skipped through so i could unlock bonus mode... i almost feel like telling everyone, dont play this game now lol.

The story

If the beginning had you wondering, isnt that normal for all dr games? at least i thought so. normal game, normal killing, great. But the new main character! Akamatsu was pretty lovable. I enjoyed the way she brought in her talent into conversations (and left others stunned cause they couldnt relate). She was just really refreshing to play as, just the small romance-y sections with Saihara were boring (but at this point i thought its just being friends so okay) . Compared to Naegi who was seen by the others mostly as a “loser” or weakling who sometimes says something good, and Hinata whom everyone really liked, Akamatsu seemed to me like having some people who really trust her, and those who are somehow against her. AND THAT FELT RIGHT.

Too bad she literally gets killed as the murderer during the FIRST trial and replaced by Saihara who evidentally gives off a ~Naegi vibe~. Seriously why would you even do that.. It was stupid as heck, but the only good thing is that it saved us from possible Saihara and Akamatsu love story.

Continuing, Saihara loses some of his weakness thanks to Momota, and also it is hinted that Ouma can’t really be trusted or can he...? Cause what he did that was thought to be evil and possibly harmful for the others actually turned out to be a way to at least prevent one killing. After that I got the feeling that he actually grew just a little bit closer to the group and became even more helpful again.

Then we have these weird scenes with Harukawa and Momota, which are just weird and Harukawa herself was a boring character, but if you care for some tragic background and forseeable character development that of course has to end with romantic feelings, sure.

The student council thing to prevent murders from happen was actually pretty interesting and i wish theyd gone through with that just a bit more, but it was a nice turn of events.

Talking about Ouma, the moment you think hes on your side, theres this weird scene with him and Monokuma and you know somethings up. I made a post about this earlier too, wishing for him to double cross everyone and eventually turn out good, but that suddenly turned into a pretty far fetched wish after the fourth trial where hes portrayed as ultra evil and later on reveals that hes the mastermind (wait, is he really? should his black and white clothing scheme have given him away sooner?)

i guess i... didnt mind it so much except for the fact that Ouma wont appear that often anymore. he even goes as far as to say that the killing game is over, but isnt it kinda boring that the character who hinted that he was evil, turns out to be evil after all? Well a lot of things in this game were a bit boring, so... sure. We even learn that Ouma is a remnant of despair and what?? how does that even make sense. If they are supposedly students of the new Kibougamine Gakuen which was built by Naegi, Junko and Despair wouldve long been dead! Alright then? Oh yes also the whole setting ins in SPACE and those students are the last 16 humans from earth who were put in cryosleep until they reached a new planet to live on. Oh...kay? Why not I mean.

For Hope to win, everyone sets out to kill Monokuma to finally make the Killing game end for real and.. look, Ouma is helping them! Somehow that is really giving me hope for his character even if his insane laugh and incredibly creepy sprite (seriously what the fuck) are a bit unsettling...

And then.. who wouldve thought? Another killing happens but this time with a twist. Ouma wasnt actually the ultra bad guy everyone thought and guess what! Hes not even the mastermind! Thats my son. I was super happy that some faith in Ouma was restored, even tho his plan to snuff out the true mastermind reminded me of Komaeda going crazy to single out the traitor... especially cause there are quite a few similarities between those two.

So for the final trial, it seems that there are quite a few hints linking to the true mastermind being Enoshima... again? How did she even get here. But theres some weird plan from the government and the fact that Monokuma is here as well might be that someone implanted some sort of virus like in sdr2? We also know that theres definitely someone who is watching the whole killing game. And thats... where it all goes to shit.

This dangan ronpa is the 53rd installment and the people watching are actually dangan ronpa fans! surprise youre all just fictional characters who chose to be here, and so is every other dangan ronpa character! nothing is real, you dont even really exist! lololol

do i need to say any more

I think that was the worst plot twist ive ever seen? You couldve just somehow figured something out, even make it a reality tv show for crying out loud but not some bullshit like ohh the dangan ronpa fans wanna see you despair! they wanna see you have hope!

fuck. off.

if it wasnt for that ending, that game wouldve been a solid 7/10 I’d say, especially with the last 3 chapters really getting me fired up. But that shit.. Its a literal, oh we just made this game cause you fans wanted it? we didnt actually wanna make this but you keep asking for more?

HOW ABOUT YOU DIDNT EVEN MAKE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE

im gonna go romance ouma in peace mode now bye

[artistsodyssey]

la la land analysis (SPOILERS)

DISCLAIMER: so this post has been made because, i texted an analysis of la la land to a friend right after we saw it (as she had requested, also because i love doing them) and then more and more people have since wanted to read it and understand it better, and tbh i was getting tired of texting 14 screenshots to people, this is copy and pasted directly from my messages, so here we have this post :) (aka its not a critically appropriately toned/written piece)

so the running theme throughout the whole thing was kind of “life doesnt happen like it does in the movies”, right from the beginning when we first see mia shes on her phone in the car, talking about auditions etc, very modern day. then when it jumps back to seb in his car, hes very “vintage” lets say, so i think her character embodied the modern day film industry and his the whole old hollywood thing.

they paid attention to literally every single tiny detail, like even down to the focusing, sometimes it was standard present day film focus/camera work and other times it was very very much like the blur/noise quality of the old films.

both the lighting and the prop lights were really outstanding too. i noticed the prop lights in so many of the scenes, they were so prominent, especially in the fades. i think this relates into what i was saying in the cinema of it being set in LA (the city of angels) (also i JUST fully got the title, wow ok) that the lights were kind of reminders or something that theyre eachothers angels. the lighting as well was so so beautiful, it was so creative, and definitely was more of a stage technique style than a film one, which i think really helped amalgamate stage and film.

the use of colours in the lighting really set the mood and created the undeniably magical atmosphere. the costumes and colour scheme of just everything really did that too, everyone was wearing a solid colour most of the time and i think that also helped link the whole stage and film thing, as well as give the old hollywood atmosphere.

something that i really noticed as well were the transitions, not between scenes but in the scene, like the camera would pan mid scene, possibly to create the comparison of current vs old hollywood, as well as maybe showing a transition within the character/relationship etc, but it was really interesting to notice.

ok no the opening scene i cANNOT. it was all done in one take, dO YOU KNOW WHAT A FREAKIN CHALLENGE THAT IS, NOT JUST BC OF THE ACTORS AND THE DANCERS ROUTINES AND TIMING ETC, BUT BC OF ALL THE EQUIPMENT. so that was another very stage like kinda thing, the opening scenes job too is to set up the entire story, so the fact that that was all one flowing scene and that it was very much a stage technique is just beautiful. i love it. it establishes the film as not just a film but a theatre piece too.

i think the whole message of the film was in the “city of angels” thing, the old hollywood references and in the ending. i think they were eachothers angels, only meant to be together for the time that they were so they could push eachother to follow their dreams. there were so many references to fate and angels etc, the way they kept showing up places, the song in the restaurant etc, which is why that would make sense.

the way the ending was a montage of an alternative life they could have had (also very stage like too, much appreciated, much difficult to do, anyways) really emphasised the point i think theyre trying to make in that “it only happens in the movies” and life isnt really like that, which is why the ending worked out the way it did. i loved as well how they didnt need to say anything, their eyes said it all like “look at you. you did it.” and that was the finishing note that we didnt hear him play on the piano, (i think the crowd cheered over it??) he couldnt have played it because that wasnt the ending, their stories hadnt had their final perfect cadence yet, the look they gave eachother was that final note, and it had to be bc theyre eachothers angels for that reason^^ and they accomplished what they set out to do.

so then i was thinking, ok the old hollywood thing is great and all but whats the relevance??? WELL i think its that theyre trying to say, like the way they were both struggling artists, how old hollywood made it look so easy and glamorous, and today it seems so hard. i think it was kind of to show that theyre not all that different, old and current hollywood. (side note: i just realised the whole “bring back jazz thing” is the same as them bringing back old hollywood) that it may seem like its entirely different now, but in a lot of ways its actually not??? so i think that relates into the whole city of angels and fate thing again, that fate and angels have always been around and that wont change. i think as well the montage at the end is suggesting, in addition to that last sentence^^, that although fate is always going to be there, life could still take any direction and you have control over that, yet still showing just how powerful fate is. i think thats a message as well to aspiring artists, that although auditions are all about chances and probability etc, you have at least some power to make your own path.

there was a lot in it too regarding that last part^^, like for other artists, in that you shouldnt be making your art to be pleasing other people, it should be for you firstly and everyone else is a bonus, between him in that band and her having nobody at her play. and then they both tried to give up and “grow up” but they knew they werent happy and followed their dreams in the end.

then there were loads of small bits of symbolism too that helped out the main story, i cant remember everything but when the rialto closed, it was at the same time their relationship started ending. when the fire alarm went off during their fight, it was the alarm in her head telling her to leave, it was also at the same time whatever had burned in the oven was revealed, just as their relationship had “burned” or run its course, there was a thermostat on the wall at some point and the wall was like a warm colour and you could see her shadow as she entered and that was kind of the warm homey happy feel she had there.

the little bits of comedy in it too were just right, like it spiced it up just perfectly. but omg overall literally everything was a perfect balance. it deserves all 14 oscars its nominated for tbh.

also, during the montage at the end when she was playing with the children, it helps when you dont think about it as “heres a montage of emma stone playing with multiple random children.”

(analytical messages from the second time seeing it, that were mussed the first)

so in the first audition when shes on the phone, shes all happy and talking at first then suddenly it gets sad and shes crying and then she gets interrupted. it was aLL FORESHADOWING OF THE ENTIRE STORY. FIRST THEYRE ALL HAPPY TOGETHER AND EVERYTHINGS GOING GREAT, THEN THEY BREAK UP AND ITS ALL OVER, AND THEN IT CUTS TO 5 YEARS LATER.

there were a lot of old hollywood references i missed the first time too, there was one actually that i noticed the first time but forgot to mention, was at the end when she walks into the coffee shop, shes dressed exactly like audrey hepburn, referencing all those movies. BUT OMG you know the scene when they go to the observatory?? i noticed his acting was very very old hollywood, i got that the first time but didnt think much of it, but then tonight i was like hmm reminds me of the short film “la voyage dans la lune” by george melies, it was made in like 1919 or something and was one of the first few films. BUT THEN it showed the ceiling of the observatory of people like dancing or something idk fEATURING A MOON, IT ACTUALLY WAS REFERENCING THAT FILM (bc in the film they all get on this lil rocket and crash into the moon but the moon is made of cheese etc)

so thats it, these are literally copy and pasted from texts, which is why its all typed like that. i hope you can understand and appreciate the film better now :))

[andseperand]

thoughts

ive been sitting on this post for the better part of a year. i tried to read through it and make edits, but im going to have to post this as is. maybe ill be able to edit it someday. anyway, this is completely composed of spoilers.

tl;dr: i mostly wrote bitterness about “kung food,” “origins part 1,″ and “reflekta.”

these are my thoughts on what ive watched of the first season of miraculous ladybug (i have watched most of every episode except the last three).

i may be confused or misinformed on some points. some of this is not as serious as other parts, and the writing style is disjointed because i didnt write it all in one go. any links are formatted within brackets (as in [text]).

ordered by the order i initially watched (parts of) the episodes in and indicated by villain name somehow (english, korean, french, french translation, etc.).

stormy weather/climatika

why did alya just toss manon like that? she couldve hurt something just being thrown around with her tiny little bones and joints that lack any significant cushioning. not to mention that her neck is completely unsupported. safety, much?

the bubbler/le bulleur

so the record is fully functional but also survived getting smacked off a building on its edge? wow.

copycat/l’imposteur/the imposter

i get that alya is supposed to be that “go-getter” friend who pushes marinette to be brave, but honestly, if she had waited another minute for marinette to be more ready for making a phone call, this wouldve been less of a mess. yeah, i get the “pushing boundaries to build confidence,” but honestly we could have waited for marinette to stop stalking adrien, too.

i gotta say: marinette is truly fearless. my phone is so suspicious. i would not have the confidence to deliberately touch it with my face and risk contact with who knows what has been on it.

the “moral” or whatever of this episode is kind of unclear? steal someones phone and run into issues with security but then also somehow break into it and get what you want anyway? no, thats not okay. its not that funny that marinette legitimately stole someones phone, and she doesnt even get seriously reprimanded for this.

timebreaker/chronogirl

one of the most pressing questions i have for this episode is why no one thought of using pockets or a bag or something to hold this important watch. hand perspiration is pretty bad for a lot of older and newer mechanical objects alike. why is this clearly-important item treated any different? ive considered both the “tikki is in the bag” (doesnt mean it has to be marinettes bag) and the “girl pockets” (marinette designed her own clothes, though) possibilities, and im still stumped.

mister/monsieur/mr./m. pigeon

how did chloe know what the colors were or even what the embroidery pattern looked like from a pencil sketch? it looked like chicken scratch.

lady wifi

im not sure that “dont violate other peoples privacy” was very well stated, seeing as alya was landed with an unfairly harsh punishment due to corrupt politicians. and how did that get resolved, anyway? was she still suspended? was there even supposed to be a moral in this mess?

the pharaoh/le pharaon

the villain is a pharaoh, continuing the ages-long trend of pretending ancient egyptian culture is just ~so interesting~ and that its portrayal isnt exploitative at all. i cant really say much about this, but i dont like those special ancient egypt episodes of anything.

rogercop

a mess

im pretty sure that this was to save animation budget or something, but why was marinette picking up those croissants off the floor and arranging them so nicely as if it really mattered what she did with them besides cleaning up the spill? i guess ill let it slide if shes trained that way as an advertising thing (though advertising doesnt get a free pass by default just because its strange).

the evillustrator/evil artist/le dessinateur

off topic, but could that tablet also erase or create living beings?

dark cupid/le dislocoeur/heartbreaker

this was still technically a kiss without consent? doesnt really feel all that romantic and whatnot. i cant really get behind this as shipping material.

horrificator

side note: i really liked how chloes english voice actor delivered the lines mockingly announcing mylenes “award” in the beginning.

im not a fan of the “you must kiss as part of acting” plot point. it always gives off those peer pressure vibes from other people and opportunistic vibes from main characters who want to actually kiss the other person.

darkblade/le chevalier noir/the black knight

sabrina is honestly super lucky that marinette made her box have a hole big enough for super tiny animated character wrists or else she wouldve been in a world of more pain.

alya had a platform? im so confused about how this election worked. did they do ballots or some sort of “heads down” in-class vote thing?

the/le mime

seeing as people dont lose their memories of being attacked by the villains, i really dont see how tearing down the eiffel tower (even in an animated show where people are not in the structure at the time) is the best way to minimize traumatic experiences. i get that it was supposed to be a “wow” moment for the plot and just visual effects but not the appeal.

kung food

the second i ever laid my eyes on this name i knew it would be bad, i just didnt know how bad because there were just so many ways it couldve gone with that phrase and i didnt know what to expect until i actually watched the episode. more on this in a bit.

there was literally no point to having the famous chef be related to marinette other than contrived circumstances to get adrien into this episode. im using this as a launching off point for talk of other stuff.

why didnt marinettes parents do anything about a relative coming to their house? this really baffles me because they have their daughter meet an effective stranger with no help.

why didnt marinettes parents tell her what languages the relative spoke? honestly, it kind of seems like they just didnt even care if this would cause her extreme anxiety or anything. you would really think they would have at least discussed this as a family because it was made pretty clear that his visit was actually expected. i thought way higher of their characters until it seemed that they pulled this crap move.

i know it was supposed to be all cute and a bonding moment when adrien came over to translate, but it was even more of a disaster. why did they take a car literally around the corner to get to the hotel? why didnt the chef go directly to the hotel if it was so close? was that adriens car? who was in charge of organizing this event and making sure the contestants didnt end up in the wrong place? how in the world did the chef even get to the bakery? because of the close proximity of the hotel to the bakery, it doesnt make sense that he would go to the bakery instead from an airport or something? unless he was supposed to meet his relatives? which, in this case, was not facilitated at all? so many questions are raised.

i dont speak nor understand mandarin, but im pretty sure adriens wasnt good enough for him to actually be complimented for it. then again, its nothing new to see white people getting complimented for deigning to learn a ~foreign language~ while i get interrogated about my lack of “authenticity” for not speaking “my native tongue,” so i guess the writers were just being realistic.

he bowed...funny story, at least one time i went to a restaurant with other visibly asian people and the apparently-white waiter kept making this weird head bobbing motion every time they left the table and what im saying here is that i know adrien has presumably been learning about culture stuff, but i also know firsthand that creators really love to shove bowing into media whenever asian people show up. (that waiter did give us extra mints, so i guess that was nice.)

sarcasm alert: i love when ~asian~ people have ~asian~ accents. its not like this is a tired gimmick that i dont need to see literally everywhere i turn (oh, wait! according to the english version, it is! hooray for me! this is probably the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me ever! im not being sarcastic at all! or overly sarcastic to the point where im sarcastically putting in that everything ive written in this paragraph is sarcastic because im just so mad! or maybe it definitely is! it probably is all sarcasm!) [bonus sarcasm here]

the chefs english/default dub language fluency was either inconsistent or this was just a straight-up rude portrayal of a nonnative speaker of a language, because adrien didnt seem to wait five seconds (for the chef to even consider the question about what he was cooking) before talking to the chef (and naturally, being a polite person, the chef listened to what adrien was saying), and i feel like it was only for the sake of adrien being ~useful~ because right after that, he talks to the chef in english/whatever language? dont think i didnt notice that his english speaking got “better” after becoming a villain. you know, if they hadnt faked the accent in the first place, they wouldnt have had to hastily cover for the fact that their voice actor couldnt even execute it well.

im sure adrien and marinette tag-teaming to argue with chloe and her racist comments was supposed to be this whole “wow look at that team” deal, but it felt like adrien was shoehorned into this mess sloppily. woohoo for the white boy defending marinette because she cant do it herself or something! i do appreciate when white people help stand up for me, but in this context, it feels off.

i have such a big problem with the “pep talk” adrien gives marinette when she thinks the chef doesnt like her. first thing, white boy explaining things about a person of color to a person of color, and the two people are actually literally related? i think the bouquet misunderstanding was really bizarre, and when did adrien have time to gain all this extensive exposition? the interview when they first arrived was short, and i dont think that both adrien and the chef would be so rude as to exclude marinette from their conversation in the car on the way over. this just comes off as a way to have adrien ~encouraging~ marinette, and its not a very good one.

this supposedly super prestigious competition literally has no security to make sure no one is mucking around behind the scenes, let alone ensure that the contestants arent up to any funny business. because why not. and no cameras around either, because cooking-based television programs never show any cooking, just the tasting and subsequent subjugation by a villain (this is a sarcastic sentence). even if this is supposed to be a featured dish and thus one they dont want to showcase the recipe behind, they could still have those little soundbites interspersed with candid panorama shots (can you tell i have no idea what any of these words mean?). im just going to have to chalk this one up to animation budget and move on.

i know this was just a sort of (intendedly funny) visual thing, but i highly doubt that the objects chloe put in the soup could just go unnoticed, especially since i presume a chef would thoroughly stir (and taste) their cooking, and the soup didnt appear to have properties of decomposing things touching it. otherwise that tasting session would probably have turned out a little messier (i am completely kidding here).

why is the chef being upset about being sabotaged made into a ~cultural~ thing? why is a white boy telling marinette about her ~own~ culture? sheesh, its like you cant just be upset because your shot at a world title was ruined on live television and you have confirmation that you were deliberately sabotaged. yes, chloe did it because shes petty and racist, but the results of her actions could upset anyone! its not just because the chef is chinese! what is the point of saying that? its a pointless throwaway comment! why dont you just find some other way to get the chef alone so he can be become a villain that isnt a) nonsensical and b) making sweeping generalizations about people? (granted, i cant speak to the validity of anything said about cultures, but i sure can comment on why saying such things about them isnt okay regardless).

“kung food” oh my god. this is such a piece of crap name. it is racist. you can literally try to argue against this until youve gone far beyond oxygen deprivation and in a grave but itll still be racist by the time youre done. aside from the pharaoh, there arent a bunch of ~ethnic~ names (not that it would be okay for that to be the case anyway) running around, and yet we get one with this specific villain whose ethnic and national origin is talked to death? okay.

and ive seen this pointed out, but the villain appearance seems to have a kind of anime-inspired design, which is honestly a good laugh because who was just talking about not conflating china and japan again? weeaboos and sinaboos are often in the same boat.

okay, not related, but adrien just had to taste a suspicious substance off the floor. why. there are so many ways to figure out what a substance is before putting it in your mouth. or you could just not do that at all. before this point, they did not appear to suspect a food-related villain, so this couldve ended badly.

another side note: i dont know how that receipt retained its integrity long enough for ladybug to wrap the villain up after dipping it in the soup. do the magical items just have super special properties like extra toughness that allows them to defy the reality of paper receipts? i wonder how many of the things ive talked about in this post have been me marveling at the sturdiness of lucky charm items.

of course this turns into an ~accountability~ lesson for marinette. and chloe doesnt get reprimanded? yeah, she got booted off a panel she didnt even want to be on and no one actually clearly articulated to her that the things she said were absolutely unacceptable? then again, this is a “diversity episode,” so i dont know why my standards are so high.

wow, marinette really needed to have adrien encourage her before going to take a picture with her great-uncle? im going to be generous and allow that she wanted to make sure he would be okay with her ditching him for her much cooler great-uncle because she didnt want him to feel bad about how not-cool he is in comparison. there, you see what i mean about making up story elements? (though im really not much of a writer, oops.)

im so over people making fun of how others dress as a joke. before i realized that i am autistic and reflected back on my life, i didnt realize that i gravitate toward clothing i find comfortable rather than fashionable, and ive always gotten negative comments, ill-intended or otherwise. so i really didnt appreciate marinettes jab at chloe, even if it was to defend herself. it was just unnecessary.

i want to talk about the whole ~chinese representation~ thing in this show. yeah, i know marinette is one of the very few chinese and mixed main characters out there (and there are barely any that are both), but im going to be super honest about this: i dont think shes all that great. i am a big fan of her and this show, but that doesnt make it infallible. the fact that adrien of all people is telling her about her own culture is a huge failing in itself. i dont know everything about my own cultures, but its not cool to have a literal outsider being shown to be the expert on someones culture and be the one to guide them through that. theres barely any portrayal of sino stuff in the show as is, and i hate the way this is only shown as a kind of special episode topic. i would be way more fine with this if this wasnt basically the sole instance of discussion of marinettes heritage. and no, the fact that her mother wears stereotypical clothing doesnt count. at all.

okay, this has been a huge issue for me before and after this point, but it was in this episode that it was made abundantly clear just what we are dealing with. i know that it is completely possible, genetically speaking, for a mixed chinese and white person to have blue eyes. its also completely possible for a chinese person to have gray eyes even without being mixed (i say this because i dont know if her mother is monoracial). however, if you only have two confirmed recurring characters of chinese descent, and their eye colors are ~special~ colors...well, thats kind of iffy there. why is it that the minor chinese character has stereotypical eyes? theyre basically just expanded pupils for all intents and purposes, which is not the problem, because its possible to have irises that are so dark as to make figuring out whether they have a distinguishable brown tint to them really hard. anyway, i suppose i dont want to talk about things ahead in the season, but why is it that the background asian characters get the stereotypical eyes but the main characters who are asian get the special eye colors? (that was a rhetorical question. i know exactly why.)

im pretty that at some point in the creation of this villain name, someone patted themself on the back for being so ~clever~ like “haha kung food geddit? its like kung fu but with food because im actually not that creative and more racist than i would like to openly admit.” okay, i know im being a bit harsh. but its really annoying when one of the few things people “know” about sino people is that kung fu exists. and honestly, i kind of suspected this, but ive seen other people say that the villain more resembles a villain from anime, so...thats kind of disrespectful there...

the/le gamer

i really disliked marinettes combo move names. they all had ~asian~ words like lotus, jade, oriental, etc.

animan

i find the sniffing scene to be kind of creepy. personal space much?

the city has really high quality buses. i cant believe the bus didnt end up backfiring on their plan because if i know anything about buses its that the ones ive seen are probably way older and more decrepit than me.

antibug

how do the earrings work in this setting? as far as i can tell, it would make sense for chloe to have pierced ears and a pair of ladybug imitation earrings that she could put it, but how is it possible that ladybug was able to just pull the earrings off? because that could be a really, really messy situation if they are actually piercings with backings and everything, but is there an explanation for this? magnets, clips, anything?

the puppeteer/le marionnettiste

can that glowing bright red effect that comes from her yo-yo and the power cord being swung around just for the viewers, or can it actually be seen in-universe? or is that a null point because both items are generated by ladybugs magic?

reflekta

this show really didnt need any “haha look a ~guy~ in a dress” jokes. and honestly, this was ill handled (though arguably, its very existence was ill handled). first of all, im not the best judge of this kind of thing, but to me, ladybug felt out of character while mocking chat noir? honestly, marinette doesnt strike me as the type of person to find that kind of situation funny in the first place, so the premise doesnt really hold up in my opinion. i know marinette can make mistakes, but youd really think she would be more open to not thinking this way because she knows what its like to be bullied for other things. moving on... [though, to reiterate]

the way this was not addressed? at all? yeah, ladybug apologized for that one comment at the beginning of their conversation, but then she continued to make jokes at chat noirs expense, and it just wasnt as funny as it was probably intended to be?

i know the whole thing about ambiguous chronology, but there is no reason ladybug wouldnt take chat noirs opinion into account when planning for things anyway. it felt like that part was written specifically so he could “prove” his worth to the rest of the episode and ensure that, yes, he is still allowed to be in it after being turned into a reflekta lookalike, and the whole thing smacks of trying to write out of a corner...that was written into in the first place. if it hadnt gone the route it did with the mocking of appearances, i dont think it would have had to be as convoluted as it ended up being.

i personally dont care for high heels, but i dont get the kind of “fashion cracks” that were being made about them. like yes, high heels can be hard to move in? yeah, it isnt fun being turned into the appearance of someone who isnt you against your will? i just dont understand this gag.

guitar villain

did ladybug really honestly just full-on spray someone in the face with the contents of an aerosol can? im aware that the point was that the hair was in front of his face, but what if some had gotten into guitar villains eyes? dang, what if someone tries to emulate this in real life? ouch.

digital/numeric

kind of done with the spotlight on stalking behavior this show has.

marinette still shows no fear of suspicious screens. she continues to use parts of her face to touch one multiple times, never mind that she literally flings her yoyo all over the place.

stoneheart/coeur de pierre i

did marinette have pierced ears in the first place? shes not shown taking any earrings out, and we dont get that clear a view of her earlobes anyway. that might be deliberate for modeling budget and all.

master fu has brown eyes. so thats like four ~chinese~ characters that are in this show, and the main character and her mother have the special eye colors, and the minor character who is somewhat important to the plotline has non-black eyes, and the minor one-episode character has the black eyes. what a shining example of diversity (no).

anyway this is a good point to say that some things are just not for you. there are things that you just cant be a part of no matter how much you want to be because it just doesnt work that way. and the mess that is the miraculous “mythology” is definitely an example of this. i myself have very little knowledge of anything sino, but i sure as heck can spot that this...”history” thing is so off.

at this point i should probably mention i really dislike master fu as a character in general. just as a single point, apparently hes based off the teacher character in karate kid? i saw somewhere that the creator said he basically made marinette mixed because he was dating an asian person when he was thinking about the show and that marinette is basically his idea of their mixed kid? and back to the eye color thing (again), ive even seen someone with green eyes and blue hair suggest to him that they could be the child of marinette and adrien, and he said theyre like his grandchild? (im not really inclined to try to dig up an iron-clad, indisputably genuine source for this right now, but if youre honestly searching for completely serious, well-researched information in a really good quality post, this is not the post you are looking for.) i have no idea where i was even going with this paragraph.

stoneheart/coeur de pierre ii

why is marinette so invested in her crush on adrien? this couldve been a sweet crush, but no, she has to make it so creepy? leading up to this episode, i really didnt know what to expect because i really thought there would be some sort of explanation for just how extreme the lengths marinette goes to are, but from what i can tell, shes just being super invasive? the ambiguous timeline doesnt really help with this, nor does the fact that the origins episodes were aired at the end of the season. whatever characterization was supposed to be inferred from this feels choppy and unnecessary.

simon says/jackady/jacques a dit

i dont really blame her, but ladybug totally could have reduced the level of adrien distractedness going on here. shes previously shown signs of compartmentalizing ladybug and even having to face the fact that it isnt worth using up her power over adrien, but gosh golly, what gives?

princess/princesse fragrance

ive seen criticisms of how ladybug was written to be overly competent in this episode, which i think is fair since it keeps happening, and its so late in the season by this point that its gotten tired.

volpina

i try not to be too judgmental, but frankly, adrien is not that great of a prize.

anyway, from what i can tell about this episode, i think that there was too much on marinettes flaws, which i really think is a bit much to have in the last chronological episode of a season. its already been established that she makes mistakes with her decisions, but i just thought her unequal prioritization of adrien was too much. it just seemed contrived to squeeze in scenes that the creators wanted to animate regardless of overall context in the show, which is really unfortunate because of how the show becomes a little less chronologically ambiguous at this point.

[comicteaparty]

May 24th, 2018 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on May 24th, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on Nwain by Terrana Cliff.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

COMIC TEA PARTY START!

Good day everyone~! This week’s Comic Tea Party is now officially beginning~! Today we are discussing Nwain by Terrana Cliff~! (http://nwain.com/) For those new or in need of a reminder, discussions about the comic are freeform, so please feel free to bring up whatever you wish. However, every 30 minutes I will be dropping in a discussion question to help those who would like a prompt. These questions are totally OPTIONAL to answer, and you can pay them no mind if you wish. If you miss out on any though, they’ll be pinned for the duration of the chat once they’re posted~! Remember, constructive criticism is allowed, but the primary focus here is to have fun and appreciate the amazing comics that the community makes~! As a bonus, each chat a top comment will be picked and featured in the archives and on an ad for CTP! All that being said, let’s get started and have a great discussion!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

not my favorite but i do want to say of all the animated scenes i really liked the opening few pages best. i forget what page it was but there is a shot of nwain on a cliff and the animation pans up to show the town. i thought between the lighting, the motion, and everything else, it was immensely beautiful and breathtaking.

snuffysam

the opening shots were beautiful, for sure

i forget the page number, but there was a page where you could click on the different locations and get a little interaction. that was super cool

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah i remember that! i have to say that was definitely the most creative page. cause man, cannot imagine the work that went into that one

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I have two takes on this, which can be seen somewhat independent from the animation style... a favourite scene and a best scene.

My favourite scene was probably the one where she first did the teleporting and actually phased between the panels. Super cool. Sticks in my head.

snuffysam

the teleporting panels are all great

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

What I'd say was the best scene was when Nwain was put in the stockade near the start and offered up the line "what are you in for"... I felt like it captured the comic excellently. She does something heroic, but due to circumstances, ends up in trouble for it, and yet there's humour to be found in the situation too.

And yes, the animation style with the panning blows my mind. I know the one with the clicking on locations that you meant - just, whoa. You could even click on them again and they'd retract. Mind blowing.

snuffysam

putting aside the artistic talent and effort put into the comic - the technical skill is extremely impressive. getting all these different pages working is a huge feat. like, there's not a single bug to be found

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I can see why it takes a month to put together a couple pages. Even that feels fast.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Greetings!

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I think there was one panel once where the dialogue ran off the edges. I couldn't tell if that was intentional.

I shouldn't be nitpicky.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i really liked the stockade scene cause i think it demonstrates nwain's imperfections as a person. like shes not this perfect, stoic, and regal knight. shes just this person who has some fighting skills, makes some boo-boos in life.

hey super~!

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Nwain often seem to be messing up, honestly. But it's done in such a way that it's easy to relate to, like, I might've done the same thing in her place.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

tbf some of the messups arent really her fault. like a lot of stuff at the tournament makes sense cause shes not from the time period. how was she supposed to know some game rule was declared illegal O_O

my favorite scene is actually probably the one where she throws the favor and uses it to win the race. because it was the scene that i didnt know where it was going to go. i knew she was going to aim for the favor, but i didnt know for what purpose. was she going to go for it seriously? use it to take over the world? and then she used it as a distraction and laughs were had

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Well, yeah, true, it's rather situational/owing to circumstance. Still, she ends up needing to apologize.

Hm, I wasn't sure she was going for it until she did, and as soon as RoyalPerson (I suck at names) said it was the oldest trick, I was like, ahh clever.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

wait a second math how is your favorite scene not that one where they said a bunch of puns

snuffysam

OMG that scene!!!

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Heh. I did like the cloud puns, but I don't call that a mist opportunity.

I think my favourite LINE would be "pun pals". Did not see that coming.

Also, Princess G, fave character.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i was surprised how many puns they could make for clouds XD

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Water you talking about?

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Late, but hey Rebel!

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

since you brought up fave character, i really like the magician.

snuffysam

i love mousebot. she's a friend.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

The magician's really interesting! Is he (for lack of a better pronoun) an artificial life form?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah thats what im understanding about the far listeners. that theyre robots. or at least one character called them robots. either way i think theyre the most interesting people so far. and of course mousebot is adorable

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

(It's weird, using "it" feels impersonal, because of society. Fascinating use of gender in the comic, incidentally. Lots of backstory there.)

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Also can I just say, I love that the comic has animated bits every now and then

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I like how the magician was going to bring in these life forms as champions and they have this big off button. "Why do they even have that?"

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 2. Nwain’s home, Sundial City, has been lost to the present world for almost 200 years. What do you think happened to the city that caused it to disappear in the present day? Was it something the city folk did, or was it some sort of natural disaster? Do you think Nwain will be able to reach Sundial City? If so, what do you think Nwain will find? Will there be people there, or will only ruins be left? Speaking of Sundial City, do you think the events hinted at in Nwain’s past have something to do with the city’s current state? If so, how do you believe they factor in?

snuffysam

well, they liked to experiment with time travel

i think the city just... left, somehow

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I feel like the City just kind of cut themselves off from the rest of civilization. (A bit like Tarn Vedra in the "Andromeda" universe, if anyone's seen that show.) Possibly accidentally (owing to the whole time silk problem) but yeah. Unless they're out of phase.

Meaning they're making some great phasers.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

when you say left, are you saying that maybe they time traveled the entire city and like, the city hasnt shown up yet cause it went a bit farther in the future than nwain? cause that was my pulled out of the hat theory.

snuffysam

yeah that's what i'm thinking. currently it's 200 years in the future. the city went to, like, 1000 years in the future

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Interesting. I hadn't considered that as a possibility.

snuffysam

or maybe the city went to one minute in the past, then ran into itself and exploded

whoops

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

There must be some residual effects left behind though, since that's what the Magician was able to read with his device.

I've done that with my time travel stories. Good times.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i feel like the time silk has to have something to do with the city's disappearance. since i mean, its not like nwain was purposely trying to travel with time. idk if it could time travel the whole city, though id believe it if it time traveled a lot of the people. if there were any left. cause i mean nwain left after that place pretty much burned down or something from the flashbacks. so maybe there was just so little left its inconsequential

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Seems like the "magic" they knew back then was pretty damn dangerous too though. Maybe in trying to rebuild the city after the fire they cut a few corners and whoops, we kinda sealed ourselves off like Sleeping Beauty or something.

snuffysam

the city going away for centuries is kind of sleeping beauty-esque, huh?

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

There is that too, I suppose.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

does this mean nwain is the prince who has to roll on up and smack it awake?

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Yeah, as for Nwain returning... I don't see that happening. Because I feel like that would end the story. She has no real desire to return, and we never saw her leave (except in flashback) so narratively speaking, it's in the past (literally). Bringing it forward feels like it would bookend the whole thing, somehow.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i do want to call shenanigans on sundial city's magic being more dangerous though. that seems like one of those stigmas that comes about because nobody knows what happened to the city. so thus they blame a scapegoat and it just becomes a common accepted fact with no basis.

snuffysam

i think she'll try to figure out what happened, but i don't think she cares to return yeah

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i think shes gonna at least find the city in the present though. i think shell give up on time travel tho. unless she tries and whoops, winds up even further in the future

the subtitle of this comic is "the knight who wandered dream" and that makes me wonder if this is gonna be the comic that fully embraces the "it was all a dream cliche"

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Except Nwain herself was pointing out that safety's a necessity with magic when doing the tutoring, and had a story of someone who befell bad things.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yes but my point is i doubt its more dangerous

than current magic

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I don't see time travel being a major component. Unless it becomes a factor in those portals somehow too.

snuffysam

"dream" is something to do with the magic i think? like inside the worms was dreamstuff or whatever it was called?

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Ehhh, fair, might just be different dangerous, but I still think that could have played a hand in things.

snuffysam

so perhaps she gets trapped in the dream world at some point?

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I feel like it's too random to be a dream. Like, why would Nwain dream that board game rules became illegal?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i doubt its a dream. but i feel like the title has gotta be something

oh

maybe

they tried to teleport the city

and it got stuck in the inbetween

snuffysam

i feel like the story has been foreshadowing someone or something getting stuck in the inbetween

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Maybe she is the dream.

Everything is just a figment of Shade's imagination.

Oh, I like that theory, Rebel. Only lost people can find the City.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah i mean its at least a specific detail to mention. thats theres an inbetween. and sundial city is the missing thing right now.

snuffysam

it's something that's been mentioned multiple times too

rule of writing. setup, reminder, payoff

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

regardless tho i think nwain is....not gonna find any people at the city.

and have to accept lonliness

snuffysam

yeah i think they're all dead

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

They were all turned into catgirls. Or catyith. Or catomith.

snuffysam

if they all teleported into the inbetween and didn't time travel, they've been cut off for centuries

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

But for them, maybe only a few months.

snuffysam

is that how the inbetween works?

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

D'you think they were the ones keeping the Crimson Empire in check?

It seems to have flourished since that time.

I have no idea how anything works.

snuffysam

the crimson empire didn't exist at all back when sundial city was around

maybe they were preventing any one power from rising up? i dunno though

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

the crimson empire is sundial city. they just changed their name after that fire. were reborn like a phoenix and left their old life behind. but they dont want anyone to know so they erased their past and hid the city

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I was never great at politics.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

more seriously, if the inbetween is like a dream realm i could buy that time doesnt function like in the real world

snuffysam

they took the city and pushed it somewhere else

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

But did they build this city on rock and roll?

snuffysam

that would make sense, rebel. it's also possible that time passes faster in the inbetween, so it's been 10000 years for the citizens

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

We don't know the lifespan of people either.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 3. In order to earn star maps, Nwain’s current dilemma is participating in the Tournament at Lacefort. However, numerous ups and downs have occurred during the course of the story. Who do you believe will be the ultimate victor of the tournament, or do you think something will prevent the tournament from concluding? Will Nwain earn the favor of the Margravine, whether by accident or on purpose? If Nwain does earn the favor, what do you think may happen? Will things go as the Magician predicted or will the Margravine have a change of heart? Do you think the tournament will end with Nwain getting the star maps, or will something drastically alter that course of action?

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Nwain having the favour is awkward. If she doesn't end up with it, all I can think is that she gave it back to Margravine in secret. Meaning... she has to marry herself? IDK.

snuffysam

now, that all depends on the difference between holding the napkin and actually having margravine's favor

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Owlgirl/Penny has a whole plot that needs to happen at some point though. So I feel star maps are inevitable.

snuffysam

like, margravine does seem to like nwain somewhat? though mostly as entertainment i think

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Oh, right, I suppose the favour could be rejected. Well, Nwain's more than a novelty now, she can teleport people and all.

snuffysam

probably not on a mass scale, though she can do some teaching

and watch as they all make the same mistake that sundial city probably did

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i do feel the story has been building up the margravine's like for nwain a lot. so i could see the favour not being rejected somehow. and then ya know, the entire political system being uprooted and there being massive strife. and then the magician headdesking wondering what horrors they brought upon the world

snuffysam

yeah or worse, someone else gets the favor, and margravine rejects it because she prefers nwain

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

The favour of the month.

Maybe they can spin it as a way to stop the drought.

snuffysam

well i guess that would work? since nwain having favor with margravine means the magician gets closer to making that water deal

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

now thats a path i could see happening more. someone else gets the favor and the margravine is like "nah nwain is way cooler did you see how she teleported me."

ah!

i could not actually remember why the magician was there tbh XD cause we havent gotten to see much of the dealing for that water deal

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Also all the tears of joy shed over two ladies in love.

snuffysam

one lady and one laidth

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Truth, my bad.

I show my age at my difficulty coming to grips with the gender fluidity.

I love how it's just this matter of fact thing though.

snuffysam

that's just how her culture be. still not great because adult laidths don't have that great of a standing in sundial society

or, didn't, i suppose

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah whatever nwain's social standing, its a new day and a new life

as for who wins the tournament, i feel like nwain is too far behind in points. unless they give it to her cause she helped with the elemental giant situation thing

snuffysam

how many rounds are left?

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Don't forget the person with the favour gets two additional points.

I believe this was the last round. Because they said they'd settle up the favour thing at the end of it.

Of course, I don't know how many points you get for coming in second and stuff, if any.

snuffysam

she won the race iirc, and i don't think anyone has more than three points. so that means she won

...assuming she counts as having the favor

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

idk. this is assuming all events are awarded equally. not to mention how do they deal with teams? like...a team event seems like a poor last event. XD cause youd have to know you were already going to lose by that point and that makes for poor team members

snuffysam

the rules really weren't explained. but that's fair because we're seeing this from nwain's point of view. and she was just pushed into the ring and told to do her best.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Which reminds me. She has a ring. So she was married once. That could throw a wrench into everything. (Did she even hear the Magician say 'marriage' that one time? Seemed like no.)

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

That can only go so well IMO

snuffysam

nwain was?

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yes. nwain was married but i think her family died in the first?

fire

i can spell

snuffysam

well then, good news

marriage is done

so that problem's solved

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe not tho

at the very least

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

They're stuck "in between".

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

when shes asked "hey were you married?" she says "i was."

so she considers it past tense at least

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

That has a familiar ring to it.

snuffysam

most marriages aren't designed to last past the 200 year mark

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I wonder if she was married to another yith.

snuffysam

it's possible

given the social standing thing especially

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

QUESTION 4. At current, Nwain is focused on helping two individuals: Owlgirl and Princess Joza. In regards to the former, do you think Nwain’s idea of taking Owlgirl to see the harpies will work out? If not, what exactly will go wrong? Assuming it goes wrong, what do you think the two will do then? Will Owlgirl stay in her current form, or will Nwain find a way to fix her? In regards to Princess Joza, do you think Joza will be able to learn the magic Nwain is teaching? Given how dangerous the magic is, though, do you think Joza learning it is a good idea? Lastly, do you think there will be political fallout for Nwain teaching Joza, or will everything be fine?

snuffysam

Joza is 100% going to mess something up

she's not an idiot, but she does seem moderately reckless

just a bit

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Everything will not be fine. But it will go pear shaped in unexpected ways.

Joza is eager.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

im not sure if id say joza seems reckless, but i do think joza is overly bold and overconfident

snuffysam

yeah, that's what i meant. overconfident

anyway, as for what the fallout will be - been a while since nwain's been in the stockades

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

When they're in the city, they're over everything.

The Penny storyline has been very much in the background. I'm starting to feel like it's a side quest.

snuffysam

it does kind of have that aura about it. a villager mentioned penny offhandedly. nwain came across her by accident. and she'll get around to helping her once she's done with this tournament business.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah i agree it feels like a side quest. but that almost makes me suspicious itll amount to more somehow. tho im not sure what

maybe the harpies know the truth about sundial city

and thats what this is an important questline

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Maybe the harpies can teach them to play harps and they form a touring band?

Along with the cymbals on that one car.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

i dont think the harpies know how to plays harps O_O alas

im actually seriously assuming theyre dead XD and that owlgirl is gonna be stuck with nwain forever

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Hope that'll be owl right with her.

snuffysam

that would suck if everyone was wrongly afraid of the giant owls, and then they all died before they could be redeemed

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

maybe the giant owls are the people of sundial city

nwain journeyed for nothing

they were there all along

snuffysam

that would explain the shield symbol

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

That'd be a hoot.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

Owlet you keep making your owl puns.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

One of the things I like, btw, with the animation style is how sometimes random extra panels appear. Like a bonus. The one coming to mind is when Joza's learning magic and there's the worry about the random snakes.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Don't give a hoot

snuffysam

it's always cute when that happens

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I gotta go owl in.

snuffysam

besides looking cool, the animated panels make it so that you don't know any of the actions that happen ahead of time

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Could there be random ladders with the random snakes?

snuffysam

which can lead to some funny moments

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Powel Up

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

snuffy: That's true, interesting point I hadn't considered!

I sometimes just marvel at how people blink and stuff.

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

on the downside tho the animations make referencing things hard cause you gotta remember which panels had which story bits. so can take a while to find things sometime. XD

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I'm pretty good at remembering stuff like that. ^.^

Actually, when I first saw it I thought 'oh, neat, some panels will animate'... but it's ALL of 'em.

The little circles help with knowing to click on too, not just the blue borders.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Yea thats understandable, Rebel

and good for ya Math

snuffysam

i do like the little circles that show the dialogue progression. the comic really excels with UI design along with everything else

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

^^

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah, technically speaking its executed very well. i found the interface to be pretty intuitive for getting through the panels.

snuffysam

i can't even imagine how much time/effort it takes to do each page, but dang is it worth it

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

It give it a creative edge over your usual comic

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

ah so since i didnt say it before, i actually think nwain might suffer some political fallout for teaching joza magic. at the very least i can see a plot line where joza goes to the crimson empire and joza's mom throws a fit XD

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Not saying every comic should have things like animations and interactive elements

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

It's one of those things that really takes advantage of the digital medium. You can't exactly do that with a regular comic book.

snuffysam

i think nwain has the potential to cause political turmoil every time she takes a breath

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Rebel, yeah, I agree. Though it could be that it gets Joza out of trouble, like if she'd been able to teleport away from the crazy snowball.

So perhaps all is forgiven.

Snuffy: Truth. It's a skill.

snuffysam

she has a tendency to drop the ball a bit. or at least, there's a tendency for the ball to be dropped in her vicinity.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

yea

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

yeah. i doubt nwain will be in serious trouble or anything. just gonna get an afternoon in the stockades again O_O

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

I also like the nickname Spoony.

Superjustingo of ✨Time🕑&Space☄✨

Agreed with ya there(edited)

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

It's soup-er.

MathTans the Pun 👑Prince👑

Anyway, guessing the current arc will wrap soon, be interesting to see what happens. Impressed how long the comic's been going too, years!

✨🐱 RebelVampire 🐱✨

COMIC TEA PARTY END!

Unfortunately, the scheduled Comic Tea Party time is now up~! Thank you everyone so much for reading and joining this week’s chat~! We want to give a special thank you to Terrana Cliff, as well, for making Nwain and volunteering it for our reading queue. If you liked the comic, please be sure to support Terrana Cliff’s efforts however you’re able to. All that being said, if you would like to continue discussing this week’s comic, we highly encourage you to do so~!

For next week, Comic Tea Party will focus on Dawn of the Dad by AnitaComics. As always, please use the next several days to read as much of the comic as you would like. We hope to see you next Thursday on May 31st from 5PM to 7PM PDT for the chat~! Until then, happy reading~! Comic: https://tapas.io/series/Dawn-of-the-Dad