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fyeah-bangtan7 · 3 years ago

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Jung Kook: “I think we’d better not ever stop”

We asked Jung Kook to draw anything he wanted for the photoshoot. The photos featured in this article are snapshots while Jung Kook was at work. Even when the photoshoot was finished, he left the studio only when he completed his drawing.

“Butter” has been at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks straight. (This interview took place on July 12) Jung Kook: I was never attached to rankings, but as good as it is and as happy as I am since we’ve kept setting records since “Dynamite,” it also feels like a burden.

Is it because you’ve been successful beyond anything you could’ve imagined? Jung Kook: Sort of. A huge number of people have given me recognition, so I’ve been going along thinking I have to work harder, but we did even better with “Butter” than with “Dynamite,” so I think I ended up feeling weighed down. That’s what I’m like. BTS is an amazing team, but maybe my problem is that I’m not able to keep up with BTS.

You were the one to set the mood for “Butter” by singing the intro to the song. Didn’t that make you feel good? You were definitely as amazing as the team itself. (laughs) Jung Kook: “Butter” just feels so good. It’s different from our usual style, so it felt different while recording. The song’s great, too. I love that, but it’s separate from that feeling of pressure. I mean, I hope BTS does even better, honestly. Lately I’ve been thinking that that pressure means I need to do better. After “Dynamite” became number one on the Billboard Hot 100, it’s not like we’re being forced to try harder; it’s just my personal ambition. I think I can do better.

Why do you think “Dynamite” wasn’t as satisfying? Jung Kook: Because I couldn’t express everything I wanted the way I wanted to. When I listen to the remixes, I think about how I could’ve sung it differently. Like, “Aw, man! If only I could do it again!” (laughs) I got some things from singing “Dynamite,” like, I’m not quite there yet. So I try to practice singing at least an hour every day, no matter what. Any singer who’s been at number one on Billboard for six weeks had better be really good at singing. That’s what I think.

Something about the way you sang in English probably made you hear your own singing in a new light. Your tone is different from when you sing in Korean. Jung Kook: Sometimes you have to bear down a little on your words to talk in Korean. Plus I’m from Busan, so I speak in a little bit of a low voice. I don’t have that when I use English, though, so it’s like there’s pros and cons. It’s easy to use your head voice when you sing in English as well, but it can be uncomfortable, while in Korean, if you try to sing higher using your head voice, it can sound a bit nasally sometimes. But at the same time, it can be hard to break old habits when I sing in English since I’ve always been singing in Korean.

“Dynamite,” “Butter” and “Permission to Dance” are all English songs and you were in charge of the introduction for all three. It seems like you put some thought into how to create different impressions for each song. Jung Kook: “Butter’s” really bouncy, as you know. It’s a little deep, it’s got a driving beat, it’s rhythmical. And before I record, I listen to a recording with guide vocals, and then when I go to record, I have to keep all these characteristics in mind and mix them together with my own style properly in this subtle way. I think it’s seriously an intuition. (laughs) I had a hard time when we were recording, obviously, and when I first did it, my voice didn’t sound right, so I had to keep looking for the right voice. I think the most important thing is to really nail the voice you want to use first, and so is figuring out how to make it your own. In “Permission to Dance,” for instance, I sang it more the way I wanted than the style the guide vocals had.

How do you come to that kind of conclusion? Jung Kook: Everyone’s voice has to sound different, so it can be overpowering if I copy the guide too much when I sing. So sometimes I follow what I’m thinking of exclusively. I was thinking about how I should sing the first part of “Permission to Dance,” and when I went to record it, even Pdogg, the producer, told me, “It’ll work best if you go with your own voice, your own style.”

What effect does listening to so many other artists’ songs and analyzing them have on you? Jung Kook: The more I listen to music, the more my vocals change. It really changes a lot when we get a song and listen to it and practice it. I guess you could say my vocal cords are always readying themselves for improvement when I practice. (laughs) And improving while I record, and just improving any time I sing. But there’s also times when it suddenly doesn’t sound right when I try it the way I want, so I just give it a try, or I quickly look up other vocalists and listen to their songs or ask some of the older artists. Doing that helps me find a certain voice I’m looking for.

You sang uncannily similar to SUGA when you briefly sang his part in “Life Goes On” over V LIVE, even though your voices are different. You’re quick at picking up on the characteristics of others’ vocals. Jung Kook: I used to rely on that a lot. Like, I can hear [the characteristics in their voices] at least. (laughs) Now, though, it’s like, Oh, [I] guess I shouldn’t do it that way. You can safely assume I’ve heard a countless number of other singers’ songs. Then I would think a lot about how I want to sing, thinking how those other singers would sing, before making my own voice. I carry over those people’s voices and vocal patterns and think about how it would sound if they sang in this room, then I think about how it would sound in my own voice, and then sometimes I can make my voice sound similar if I try to.

It seems like it was important for you to find your own style for the performances as well. Not only were the three English songs different from your earlier work, but there were also a lot of parts in “Butter” that you could only perform through gestures and facial expressions. Jung Kook: Before “Butter,” I just worked really hard, and had fun doing it, in whatever way I wanted but starting with “Butter” I think I managed to do things in a more thought-out way. I was more attentive to my facial expressions and movements and thought through what I should do in each situation in each performance to do it in my own style. And it was kind of a fun process. I don’t feel any pressure about that; I just thought I can create that kind of image if I just try to be a little cool and not cringey (laugh) for people from now on.

What image do you want people to have of you, as an artist? One that says, This is who I am as an artist right now. Jung Kook: I don’t think I’m at the level where I need to worry about that yet. I have a general idea about what kind of singer I want to be and what I want to be really good at, but I don’t think I’ve ever imagined defining myself as a certain type of singer yet. Because it’s an ongoing process, when I can prove myself, then, bam!—I give proof and become a truly influential person, only then can I go around saying, This is the kind of singer I am. For now, I don’t have anything, I guess you could say, “substantial” to show off. I think, Even if I’m part of BTS and tour stadiums, does that automatically make me better than other artists? And then, by thinking so, I center myself again.

Couldn’t you be a little softer on yourself? Jung Kook: No. I have to think about the future many times throughout the day. For example, sometimes I spend a whole day doing whatever, but whenever I do, I regret it severely. So I promise myself that I’ll get this and that done. That’s how I live, because if I don’t think that way, I won’t jump into action to get anything done. It’s like the title of our song, “Life Goes On”: the treadmill just keeps on going, and we’re on it, so I always think, I’d better not ever stop. I can express myself better if I think while I talk, and I can organize my thoughts while reflecting back on what I said. I try to think about everything in that way. I think I need to improve, whether it’s at singing or my hobbies—more than now, better than now.

Are you doing particularly well with any of your hobbies these days? It seems like you got a little better at painting, judging by your vlog. Jung Kook: I think I’m getting better overall, little by little. My vocals are where I’ve definitely improved lately. And bowling! (laughs) I learn how to paint by watching videos on YouTube. I think I’m good at picking up skills by emulating others. I’m actually not good at learning things. (laughs) I just like to do what I like to do and I naturally learn from the people around me, I guess. And I think the things I really want to learn are still the same: singing, English, exercise.

Learning from other people and wanting to do better is a form of recognizing who you can compare yourself against. Are you at all influenced by the other members? You’ve talked a lot about how much you’ve been influenced by the six older members. Jung Kook: I think I started paying attention to people other than myself after I moved to Seoul and met the other members. I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, but I do notice them now. It’s like I really started to see myself for who I am from that point on.

That makes me think of when you talked about seeing the sights in Seoul for the first time on tvN’s You Quiz on the Block, the way you got to know the feelings the outside world can give. Jung Kook: The first time I saw the streets of Seoul, they were enormous. I was really worried, since I’d just come to Seoul, and I got to know myself because of the change of environment. I think it was the very first time for me to think for myself, and it became the starting point for me to get to know myself.

When you took some candy you liked from the BTS pop-up store, j-hope said you were still the same from when you first met when you were 13 years old. Do you think you haven’t changed at all compared to back then? Jung Kook: In some way I must be better or different on the outside, but I’m sure there’s still things about me that are the same as when I was 13. I learned how to be considerate towards the other members and how to understand them because I fought with them occasionally, but nobody’s going to stop me if I take candy. I take it like I always did. Like when Hobi and I fought over a single banana. (laughs)

But what’s changed about you, then? Being a member of BTS must have had an effect on your view of the world. You sought understanding from your vegetarian viewers when you were eating meat in a salad on V LIVE before. Jung Kook: I thought to ask because I know that many people abroad, and in Korea, too, are vegetarians. It’s one of the things you learn when you tour around many different countries. Obviously I don’t know about every single country’s culture or personal identities or choices, so even though I have a long way to go, I think it’s important to respect them based on what I do know.

I think you must know that you’ve had an influence on a lot of people. Partway into your V LIVE, you talked about how you couldn’t find any of the kombucha you drank before anymore because it was all sold out and you thanked your fans for giving a little help to small business owners. Jung Kook: Restaurants aren’t doing well and there’s a lot of closed-up shops in the markets now, as you know. So if I’ve had an effect on even one person, it’s been worthwhile. And sometimes the people I’ve had an influence on go on to make donations, too. There could always be someone who takes advantage of the things I say or do, but I’m confident a lot of people will use them for good.

This influence is something you’ve crafted with your fandom, ARMY. I imagine you’ve been influenced not only by the other members but also by ARMY since you were young. Jung Kook: There’s a lot going on inside a concert venue: the lighting, the stage, the floor, the stage design, the video projected on the screen. Plus there’s the music, the dancing, and us. Even if they’re all in balance, ARMY has to be there to complete the scene. When it comes to our concerts, ARMY are the ones who bought the tickets and they’re the main characters. I think everything we focus on comes back down to ARMY. We share in each other’s feelings and they’re the source of our strength, and I think they have synergy with us. It’s not enough to just say ARMY and us like each other, or that we love each other. There’s definitely more to it than that. It’s, well—I don’t know. It’s hard to put into words. (laughs)

I think you need ARMY to be there at the concert for you to fully realize the concert you’re aiming for. Jung Kook: Yes, exactly! Even if everything’s set up and we’re in front of the camera, if ARMY’s not there, it’s a completely different concert. Even when ARMY’s there and there’s a live camera broadcasting it, I’m like, There’s a camera? Sure. Obviously I care about it when I have to say hello to ARMY sitting on the other side, in front of their screens. Other than that, I get all my energy from all the ARMY sitting right in front of me. That’s how much they mean to me. It’s completely different.

The concept for BTS 2021 MUSTER SOWOOJOO was similar to being in concert with an audience. It must’ve made you think of ARMY even more. Jung Kook: I’m seriously good as long as I can perform. I can put on more and more concerts in the space of a year if we’re touring. I felt it more profoundly this time since we couldn’t perform with an audience. Wow, I really took things for granted all this time. I should’ve done more.

You must be disappointed. It’s your time to shine as a vocalist and as a performer. Jung Kook: (sighs) I, well, I really need to hurry up and make a mixtape, first of all. (laughs)

How’s your mixtape going? Jung Kook: I was working on it just before I came. But it’s hard! (laughs) I could just make it about myself, and then it would be like, I started as a trainee when I was 13, I worked hard, and found success. But anyone could do that. So I keep thinking I want to make up my own original, complex story and write the songs from there. Billie Eilish’s debut album left a big mark on me when it came out, in that respect. And it’d be nice to have a cohesive flow to the tracklist, but even if it’s all jumbled up, that’s fine, too, as long the good songs keep on coming. That’s sort of what I’m thinking. So these days, rather than focusing on the album’s story as a whole, I’m just going to write whatever it is I want to say in each song. If I get that feeling right after listening to a track, I’ll try and make it. And I’m going to try to make it a little bit light-hearted.

It can’t be easy for you to concentrate on it if you’re making it here and there between all your other work. Jung Kook: It’s fine if it takes a really long time—it’s just hard to work on it in pieces. I mean, if I stay up late working away at it, it’s hard to get through the next day. (laughs) I stayed up all night again last night and slept between appointments today, but I’m still going to keep working like this today and then go work on my mixtape again anyway. I’ll do my best to release it as soon as possible. I want to write and record a lot of material.

s there anything about yourself, other than your work or concerts, that you want to show to ARMY as an individual? Jung Kook: I want to show them, that, umm … Just my real self, Jeon Jung Gook. That I’m fairly easy-going, very honest, and nothing special.

What kind of person do you think you are now? Jung Kook: I’m, I’m a, lazy … person. (laughs).

You’re being very hard on yourself. (laughs) How could you be lazy if you’re a part of BTS? Jung Kook: No, I really am lazy. (laughs) If I were alone I’d probably miss a lot of my appointments. (laughs) But I have to avoid making any mistakes when we function as a group. I’m really lazy, and—oh, I overthink things sometimes. I think more than people might expect, and I do things my way. Plus, even though I don’t care what other people think of me, I kind of still do. (laughs) I have no idea. I’m sort of goofy—? But I’m also trying to live a full life��I’m that kind of person. (laughs).

Thank you for the interview. Oh, by the way, I liked your “Butter” fan cam. Your moves were really agile. Jung Kook: Really? Do you think I’ve gotten better? (laughs).

#bangtan #jungkook #m:weverse magazine #210726

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redeemerxhq · 3 years ago

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what's up, everyone! i go by chroma ( 24+, s/h ) and i'm the mun behind only sohee so far! it's been a long time since i've actually done this ( both an intro and be in a tumblr rpg ) so please bear with me when it comes to doing things like replying to ims, replying to threads, and setting things up in general, i guess. i am not used to this whatsoever, lol. that aside, i'm looking forward to writing with you lot and getting to know each and every one of the muses you've taken up if possible! to help you get to know mine, i have some basic facts below as well as on the designated pages listed directly below this little blurb. it's kind of a organized yet disorganized mess, so my apologies if it's all over the place, but do enjoy what i have beyond the cut! if anything appeals to you or sticks out, lmk via ims! i'd much prefer that over discord, but i'm in the server if you need to contact me for anything just in case!

— 𝐛𝐢𝐨 (coming soon) | 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 | 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚 | 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 | 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬

tw/cw: brief mention of death, mentions of blood, mentions of a demon, nsfw mentions.

random bg notes (a mess right now)

sohee was created in a lab by a team of scientists so she's technically not a born human, but she was still made with human dna. she just also has the dna of a demon. her mother figure (a scientist on the team) donated some of her dna and an egg to help create sohee. she was also given the surname of that scientist and generally cared for by them as well.

that demon did not play a role in her birth/creation much and has been officially classified as deceased, but because they used samples from it, the demon still partially exists through sohee. she carries some of its will, abilities, personality traits, and habits. sohee also hears "its voice" (remainders from its will) from time to time.

when she was first born, she did not have a human form, so she looked and was treated more like a monster. her skin was dusty rose pink, her eyes a deep red, her hair silver, and her horns, fangs, and claws were all long and sharp. most people who did not see her regularly were very intimidated by and afraid of her, just based on appearance alone but her power (hemokinesis aka blood manipulation) and her actual thirst for blood only made things worse for her.

she also broke out of the lab they kept her in a few times to learn more about the world first hand, which caused panic when she'd be caught by unsuspecting humans and stuff. each time she broke out, she was able to learn more about human behaviors and how to emulate them.

over time, and with the help of drugs/procedures, she was able to pull off more of a human appearance, but it took years of perfecting to get her to pass for human.

the only reason she doesn't look completely human now is because she escaped from the lab she was created and raised in, and some of the serum they used to help boost her human appearance wore off after a failed experiment.

after escaping, she took up working as a silent vigilante-type wannabe hero, feasting on people she deemed as "bad" or "criminals," though most people considered her a villain due to her methods.

this earned her the name of "red redeemer" and "redeemer" because she was known to prey on people who could be seen as some type of predator and try to "right their wrongs" by... you know.

she hid out wherever possible for as long as possible until the institute came about. she didn't come to the institute willingly at first, but she willingly stays for the time being because they've been helping her.

plot / connection / starter ideas (also a mess right now)

** some wanted connections are listed on the wanted connections page i linked if you're interested in checking those out, but do read below as well!

someone to help her study or tutor sohee because she's not the brightest crayon in the box, but instead of studying maybe they go on an adventure, play games, pull pranks, or something else that's fun.

maybe your muse and sohee are both lost on campus somehow and instead of going to class/where they need to be, one of them is like "hey, wanna come to my place and (insert activity that will get them in trouble here)?" or something. (sensing a theme here)

(tw: nsfw mention, for anyone in the west wing) because your muse and sohee are wingmates and also new friends, they decide to visit each other outside of class and see where the other's dorm is/what it's like. it's sohee's turn to show off her dorm and for the most part, it looks fairly normal, but then your muse finds a secret compartment behind one of her paintings as well as her totally-not-secret nsfw sketches and random snippets of friend fiction.

(tw: blood mention) it is a little known fact that when sohee absorbs or drinks someone's blood, the sweeter it is, the more it acts as an aphrodisiac. the act of drinking/absorbing blood already creates a pleasurable feeling for her, but your muse happened to be kind enough to let her feed on them when she was visibly paling and very sickly. ever since she's been trying to avoid your muse as much as possible. it's not like she couldn't smell how sweet your muse was before, but every time she so much as catches a whiff of your muse's scent or blood now, she's panting and flushed, heavily breathing, and weak in the knees. (i imagine this will lead to a lot of silly nonsense so please take me up on this)

an ex lover who realized early on that she wasn't really built for relationships at the time, but waited until she realized it to break up with her. by then, it was an amicable split and they've since moved on, but maybe she hasn't?

a best friend turned enemy. (please take me up on this)

her handler or caretaker, or someone that just keeps her in line because she will very quickly and easily get out of line.

#( ꗃ . + ⸻ 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝‚ ooc. )#xhqintro #( i did this very quickly so if you see a typo... no u don't )#( pls im me or write with me! i'm busy but i'm around )#( will be responding to ims too btw so expect me! hehehehe )

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triforce-princess · 4 years ago

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well, i finally 100% completed hyrule warriors age of calamity in its entirety, including post game content, so i’m finally going to write a full review. beware this review will contain every spoiler imaginable so please do not click the read more if you haven’t finished the game yet and don’t want to be spoiled!

tl,dr; this game is a lot of fun despite some of its shortcomings and it’s really nice to see characters get the development they needed in breath of the wild. also a huge improvement gameplay-wise from the first game. if you’re a fan of breath of the wild it’s worth a try, just don’t expect breath of the wild style of gameplay! and if you’re a fan of the original hyrule warriors, you are going to love this a lot. ok now to get into the details. this is extremely long;

about the gameplay; it took me a while to fully adjust to the new controls and mechanics, but once i finally understood it it was so much fun. i originally wasn’t crazy about the sheikah slate runes since it was difficult at first to remember that a. i had that ability, and b. when the proper time to use it was. but when it finally clicked for me it brought a whole new interesting layer to the gameplay that challenged my memory in a fun way. it took me even longer to learn what the use of the rods were but those were great in a pinch once i figured it out. i also loved the flurry rush mechanic since dodging is a pretty important aspect of the gameplay. all these new layers added to this gameplay makes me wonder how i ever put up with the original hyrule warriors gameplay lol. something i wasn’t entirely crazy about was the wall jumping and paraglider stuff? i never really found it useful and it always just became a problem when i was trying to dodge and i’d be confused about why my character was slowly flying around at critical moments.

the camera in this game was pretty frustrating. with the more organic map & lots of tight spaces (which i’ll get more into later), the camera would get stuck a lot and you’d be unable to really see what’s going on and it got pretty frustrating at times. i wish there were some way they could fix that but i’m not sure what they could do without having the camera go out of bounds & show the edges of the map. maybe they could’ve made some of the objects that are in the middle not be things the camera get stuck on though.

i also felt like there were too many special effects going on with some enemies and attacks, sometimes it would cover up large parts of the screen & you wouldn’t be able to see what you were fighting and that was pretty stressful (i found myself frequently yelling “i can’t see!!” when i’d defeat a guardian or something in a room with lots of other enemies. this only became an issue in the later parts of the game though.

now about the maps, i do love how much more organic and natural they are. it’s a big upgrade from the original which had a lot of wide corridors leading into square rooms which were allied/enemy basses. but unfortunately, this causes issues with navigation and the camera getting stuck (like i mentioned before). i had a lot of problems where the map was too natural and i was confused about why i was getting stuck on level geometry when it looked like i could walk through there. i think the breath of the wild style makes this confusing too because you can’t really undo a thousand hours of being able to walk through nearly everything. but also it was just really unclear what was a wall and what wasn’t sometimes. i was surprised i actually had to zoom in on the mini map and look at that to move around at times. definitely an ambitious aspect of the game & i appreciate the effort and detail, but i don’t know if it works that great for this style of gameplay. i also don’t know why they bothered putting so many small details on the ground if they’re just going to pop in so close to the camera. it was kind of awkward when you cleared out all the enemies & were traveling to another location and it was the only noticable thing on screen.

speaking of ambitious, we can’t ignore this game’s framerate issues. it’s the first thing on everyone’s minds when talking about this game. most of the time, it was pretty acceptable. but they definitely pushed this game farther than the switch can go and it shows. i really appreciate the love they put into making this game as detailed as they did, but i don’t know if it was worth it in the long run. there’s only a couple times i can think of where the framerates got absolutely unacceptable, and it always seemed to be when there was a lot of electricity and enemies on screen at the same time. it happened once during the final vah naboris mission and another time where there were a ton of electric lizalfos all shooting electricity at once at the same time you have to fight an electric lynel. but, i’m not the kind of gamer that loses my shit over dropped framerates, i grew up with the n64 & have had to put up with poor early emulation many times in my life so framerates don’t really phase me until it just gets unplayable.

wasn’t crazy about how many late game missions were just boss rushes, but that’s pretty standard hyrule warriors fare. at least it was more fair in this game where most of the time you only had to fight one boss at a time and the next boss wouldn’t spawn in until you beat the first one, so there was no risk of accidentally aggro-ing a boss in another part of the map & have an unfair fight on your hands like in the first game. it was pretty anti-climactic how the seemingly final mission which had the highest recommended level was just another boss rush, and not even the hardest one (it was just a bunch of regular malice bosses in a row).

bit of a side note but i didn’t like having to grind for materials and find koroks for 100%. the koroks weren’t nearly as bad as breath of the wild though, thank god.

i’m pretty disappointed that some content that’s clearly in the game isn’t unlocked in the base game, it’s looking pretty likely that they’ll add it as dlc later & pretend it’s new content to make the game relevant again...i’ve always firmly believed dlc should be extra content that’s added in later. hopefully they’ll add some really cool stuff as dlc alongside the stuff that’s in the game & it won’t be so disappointing. there’s two characters i was sure would be unlocked as playable characters (sooga and astor) but i found it weird that you don’t get them in the post game and instead you get to play as the egg guardian (terrako) and calamity ganon???? talk about subverting expectations. also really frustrated to learn that zelda’s royal dress isn’t available in the base game but its in the files & is just missing one body part?? really hope that’s just a free update and not like, paid dlc. kind of dumb that they didn’t give the devs one extra day to model feet on the character.

about the story; the story starts out really strong i feel, i loved seeing characters get the development they didn’t get in breath of the wild and this game’s story makes breath of the wild’s story feel even more incomplete than it did before this game came out. and actually seeing the story play out in chronological order in real time without link having amnesia gave the story so much more feeling and connection. this is probably my favorite aspect of this game because i was always so disappointed with how disconnected you feel in breath of the wild because of the way the story is told. and it does so much of a better job illustrating link and zelda’s feelings. i’m probably the single most difficult person to convince when it comes to link and zelda being in a relationship or having feelings for eachother and i thought this was quite possibly the best master sword scene in any zelda game;

in previous games link has always had to prove his courage in a variety of trials spread across the land and to me its really boring, especially after how many times its been done. the thing that gets me about this scene is the master sword deems him worthy because of his desire to protect zelda even when he’s been beaten down & disarmed. that was a really beautiful moment to me & i’m glad they wrote the scene this way.

speaking of being worthy of power because you want to protect someone, i wasn’t really that crazy of zelda unlocking her power just because she loves link but honestly this game illustrated it in a much better way & i’m more down with it now. i loved this shot how it really captured what she was feeling;

it’s also in general awesome to see the champions in action, both in gameplay and in cutscenes. i remember being in awe the first time i got to play as urbosa. it feels like we finally really got to know them and how powerful they really were, instead of breath of the wild just telling us they were cool & we just had to believe it.

now for the part i know people say this game is shit because of; the time travel aspect. yeah, it’s a little silly and nonsensical, but honestly, it was kind of fun. and i don’t get how a time travel plot is somehow weird for the zelda series. the most critically acclaimed game of this series, ocarina of time, is entirely revolved around a time travel plot & the heroes would not have won if it weren’t for time travel in that game. yeah, it’s goofy, but this series is known for its nonsensical aspects & plotholes. there’s always some kind of unexplainable magic in this series that solves problems. i don’t think that makes this game shit. plus i was kind of starstruck when i first got to play as sidon lol. i was thinking to myself, man, who would’ve known 3 years later we’d get to play as sidon! crazy! none of the champion descendants were really my favorite to play as but it was still cool to see them & play as them.

something i didn’t understand was why kohga and the yiga clan joined zelda’s cause? i feel like a vital scene got cut. i don’t get why he’d join even when astor betrayed him, considering his group’s ambitions and how many times they tried to kill zelda. and where’d sooga go? the scene of astor betraying them kind of implied he was going to die but we never got confirmation of that, and he even shows up in a post game mission as an ally (no cutscene, just one line of dialogue during gameplay)

as for the ending, i guess it was alright? astor was a really lazily written villain and i just did not care for him at all. kinda don’t even care that we don’t get to play as him (yet, probably). calamity ganon’s design in this game was terrible. and i guess it would’ve been hard to make it work, but no beast ganon? just felt a little to easy to wrap up. despite this i guess it was nice to see hyrule get a happier ending even if it was a bit nonsensical at times. also this is just a bit of a personal thing for me but i liked seeing hyrule before it was destroyed. it always bums me out when you find a locaiton in game that’s been destroyed & you can only think about what it mightve looked like before. this is something that’s bummed me out since wind waker (was always disappointed you don’t get to see what greatfish isle is like!!) and breath of the wild gave me so much disappointment in that aspect lol.

one final thought but it was odd to me how many lines revali got & how often he interacted with link lol. was weird to see him slowly warm up to link a little towards the end (but of course he’s still a little mean...). no other character acknowledges link as much as revali. this scene confused me the most??

there were so many other people revali could’ve spoken to. he barely even acknowledges teba who was the one who specifically came to his aid!! and the way link looks at him with big puppy eyes?? link barely makes a facial expression at anyone else! and how revali expresses gratitude for the first time in his life after looking at link’s stupid cute anime face and smiles (but he turns around because he would be too ashamed to smile at link i guess)

anyway that’s it, i finally got out all my thoughts about this game. this went on way longer than i intended and i’m sorry if you read the whole thing & it took forever lol. this game is fun, get it.

#legend of zelda #hyrule warriors: age of calamity #breath of the wild #text #hwaoc spoilers

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seriouslysam8 · 4 years ago

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For the ask game, would you please answer questions numbered 2, 8, 14 (all of your titles have such cool names), 18 (I hope Abditory isn't one of them as that story rocks), 21, 24, 29, 30, 33, 34, 44, 51, 62, 76, 82, 85, 88, 90, and 98.

Sorry for asking so many, but I love your work! Entombed gave me so many feels! I found your stories because author Breanie said to read them in her author's notes. Best rec ever! Thank you for answering.

Wow, that is a lot of asks! Thank you so much for wanting to know so much about little ole me. I think I hit them all in this and my apologies if I missed one. Let me know if I missed one. @breaniebree is awesome and my writing BFF. She is amazing, and I love her.

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?

So, I’ve written for The X-Files, Supernatural, and Harry Potter. I currently only write for Harry Potter. I would say Harry Potter has always been the most fun.

8) Where do you take your inspiration from?

Random shit. Brontide came to me because I was browsing the HPFanfiction subreddit looking for a story suggestion and someone asked for a story where Harry was addicted to Felix. Only one unfinished dimensional time travel story was listed. It idea sparked me to write my own version. Entombed came to me because I was rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Buffy was buried alive. I knew I wanted to bury Ginny alive. As I stated in the author’s notes of last Kalopsia chapter, I drew inspiration from the Djinn storyline in Supernatural. I write about things I know, too. I have young kids at home so I like writing the Potter children as young because I can mimic their mannerisms in my writing. I’ve even asked my kids to say certain words to emulate their speech pattern in my writing if I’m writing that age group.

14) How did you come up with the title for the XXX? You can ask about multiple stories.

I HATE coming up with titles. My newest trend has been to literally Google “unique words”. There are a ton of Pinterest accounts who make fancy word and definition pictures. I scroll through all these little unique words and pick out ones I think fit a story. Sometimes I Google a unique word for BLANK and see if I can get a cool version of that name. @breaniebree actually helped me with Entombed.

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Sadly, I would put Abditory in this category. Never say never though. I think about it from time to time. Honestly, I abandoned it due to such a negative response I was receiving and the lack of positive response. I became discouraged. It wasn’t even negative response due to my writing, it was literally a bunch of “why would you waste your time writing a story about the biggest plot hole in the books? JKR butchered the whole SK storyline and it’s unbearable to read.” So, basically, my reviews and PMs were filled with JKR hate over that plot point in the books. They heavily outweighed the positive reviews I received. Honestly, I think that’s why a bulk of stories get abandoned - lack of positive reviews or enthusiasm for a story. If I didn’t get so many great reviews for my stories, I don’t know if I’d be able to finish them or continuing writing new ones. Fanfiction is free, (as it should be) but it’s a lot of time and hard work. A little appreciation goes a LONG way. So, my advice, review everything you love reading and encourage writers to keep writing. I always say in my authors notes that reviews make me want to write and inspire me. That’s the truth. The moment I stop getting reviews will probably be the time I take a writing break again.

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

@breaniebree. I mean she’s dedicated years to a single story with so many plot lines and characters that I’m amazed she did it. She’s a fantastic writer, and I definitely consider her my writing BFF. I feel like I’ve learned a lot from her and enjoy talking about writing with her so much. I’m so glad we’ve become friends.

24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes?

Horrified. Anytime I get a little steamy in my stories, it goes immediately to @breaniebree who usually adds way too much smut and then I cut it down to still be somewhat PG-13 in order to appeal to a wider audience.

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

I feel like Kalopsia isn’t getting as much love as my other stories. I’m way behind in my normal review count per chapter. I wonder if it’s just the confusing storyline or if it’s just not as fun to read? But I was definitely worried it wouldn’t get the love I thought it deserved when I started writing it and it’s lived up to that expectation.

30) In contrast to 29, is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Cronus Rising. People still recommend it occasionally and I still get random reviews. I’m like, “why????” Its horribly written and a stupid plot line. I literally was getting back into writing after not writing for a good five years, so it’s abysmal. I’ve often wanted to rage delete it.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

When someone tells me I should write an original novel and they’d buy the hell out of it. I do have some original novel ideas floating around (one I’ve been writing since I was like 15), but crippling fear of rejection from publishers have stopped me from ever actually finish an original novel.

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

I got some criticism in Brontide for having drama for drama’s sake with no real purpose or goal for said drama. I felt my drama served a purpose, drove the story along, and I add a lot of fluffy and cute family moments. I feel like in real life, when you to your loved one is going through sometime, it feels like nonstop drama and bad news and like a dark cloud just follows you. I wanted to emulate that in real life. So Harry’s POV was often drab because HE was the one going through something horrific and it was all doom and gloom for him.

44) What is the last line you wrote?

“You never think I listen to your ramblings, but it’s kind of hard to block out, mate.”

51) From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing? (No downplaying yourself!)

Um... I’d say a 3. I think I have some good and unique plots for stories but sometimes I struggle on how to execute those on paper effectively. I struggle with descriptions, action, and showing rather than telling. But I do think I’m good at dialogue and capturing a character’s personality. So, 3.

62) Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about.

A lot! I have a Teddy/Victoire stalker story in the works that I’m excited about. I have (this is going to sound weird) but an outsider rom-com planned where Ron/Hermione breakup right before Hinny’s wedding and Hinny struggles to get them back together before the big day. I have a Potter family vacation fluff/comedy story planned. I have a game night one-shot planned. I have a short story about Luna’s wedding. So many that I want to write and don’t know which one to write first!!

76) Is there anything you’ve wanted to write, but you’ve been too scared to try?

I’d say no. I’ve always tried to write my ideas down. Some I’ve never finished because inspiration peters off and some I plan on finishing once my newest big project is done.

82) Summarize a random fic of yours in 10 words or less.

Harry goes through some shit, and Ginny is his soulmate.

85) Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

I don’t understand why people don’t ship Harry/Ginny more. I don’t understand the Harry/Daphne obsessions (like just why???) or the Harry/Hermione ship at all. I always see people asking for story recommendation and they specific say “no Harry/Ginny”. They are literally perfect for one another and they are soulmates.

88) If you could ask one other fanfic author three questions about their writing, writing process, or works, what would they be and who would you ask?

@breaniebree .

1.) How do you organize all your charts? Send me the ALL the charts. Because I don’t understand how you keep everything straight!

2.) How do you write so much? You’re like a little writing machine in a cute little package.

3.) Where do all the ideas come from? In a dream? Just thinking? Driving? Do you write everything out in your head like meeee? Can I have some of your writing mojo?

90) How do you process and deal with negative reviews?

I obsess over them. I analyze them. I may get bummed out and not write for a few days. If you don’t like what I write, then don’t read or review. It’s a hobby. I do this for free. I’m not asking you to critique me. Give me a nice review or ask me a question, but don’t be cruel or mean because you can hide behind a keyboard and be a bully to make yourself feel superior.

98) If you had to give up either snacks and drinks during writing sessions, or music, which would you find more difficult to say goodbye to and why?

Music. I grew up with three older brothers. My house was always rowdy and loud and obnoxious. I need it to be loud. I can’t stand the silence or focus when it’s silent. I need music to help me think and write. When I’m home alone, I always turn on the TV or music, because I can’t stand when it’s silent. I think I’d go insane.

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omegalomania · 4 years ago

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i fucking love hearing suitehearts au stuff, and au stuff in general... so like tea i wanna hear the fun stuff

LMAO well then anon i will do my best to deliver. idk if i’d call it an au exactly? i visualize the characters of the suitehearts as their own thing independent of the people portraying them, but i won’t bicker over people reading it how they like!

opens up my bigass disorganized Fucking Document of suitehearts lore i have frankly mostly invented

SO the thing about the suitehearts is that i view the world they occupy as kind of...an exaggeration of reality. it is not literal reality. in part cause we get this handy shot in the video

which implies to me that people can actually cross into this world via portals from “normal land” i.e. reality as we know it. normal landers are humans, ordinary people, and they can cross into the reality of...the suitehearts. i call it Hollywood Hills because like, thats definitely what it’s emulating, but it’s not the literal Hollywood Hills.

so the way i read it is this: when the Hollywood-centric entertainment industry got big in Normal Land, an extant mirror world entailing all of Hollywood's greatest sins and triumphs formed as well. the Hollywood Hills we see in the video are like a funhouse mirror. they’re exaggerated, hyperbolic reflections of all that the industry there represents. it’s hard to say which is the more “real” version of reality. do things happen “first” in Normal Land and see themselves reflected in the Hollywood Hills here? vice versa? do the events in one version of reality trigger similar events in another? or are they just echoes of the same song?

the answer to that is who goddamn knows.

putting the rest of this under a cut cause....goddamn this got FUCKIN LONG.

the point is that the Hollywood Hills we see in the video and the reality the suitehearts occupy is....bizarre. it’s full of grotesque exaggerations. and at the center of it all of it are the Suitehearts, and the Suitehearts are....i’m not sure how to describe them other than i guess maybe avatars? conductors? in the context of this world. each of them represent and have mastery over an “element” or aspect that’s intrinsic to the entertainment industry. that’s what i really zeroed in on here when i started building this whole thing, mostly cause a) that’s what the america’s suitehearts song/video focuses on so Obviously yeah i’d go that route and b) those themes resonate very nicely with the rest of the folie a deux album which is nice.

anyway! the suitehearts.

mr. sandman is the suiteheart of dreams. this one is a given, since he’s named after the sandman, which is a folklore creature that puts people to sleep and gives people dreams. in the context of this universe, he presides over dreams and by extension sleep in general. he can’t create dreams (because dreams come from the SELF this is very important) but he can alter them and manipulate them. dreams are an important thing to have when you’re in any kind of massive industry, but in this case i don’t mean dreams in the abstract like motivation. i mean more dreams in terms of inspiration, and the seeds of your subconscious in dreams that can be harnessed into facilitating creation. sandman exists kind of partially out of the reality of the Hills; he can’t actually sleep or dream on his own, so he more or less slips in and out of people’s sleeping subconscious...es. so the “physics” of the Hills apply a little less to him. he can float slightly, he’s got this shadowy/smoky aura that never dissipates, and he’s always shrouded in darkness.

horseshoe crab is the suiteheart of luck. another given, since the video title card calls him the “luckiest man alive.” he can alter anyone’s luck, make them extremely lucky or extremely unlucky. he is also himself preternaturally lucky to a really really horrible extent. he can’t turn it off, so there are like...no stakes in his life. he has no regard for personal safety because he’s so absurdly lucky that he never has to worry about it. concepts like hope are just obsolete to him. he knows the outcome to everything that happens to him before it happens because he’s always going to come out fine on the other side. this results in this intense nihilism and apathy and difficulty in giving a fuck cause like...it’s all gonna be fine man. why bother worrying about literally anything?? he’s been known to describe his luck as being able to see this perpetual set of rolling dice in his head. the dice always keep rolling, so he knows his luck will always hold. he...doesn’t know what happens when they stop. they never have. it doesn’t really bother him though. it’s hard for anything to bother him.

donnie the catcher is the suiteheart of attention. i wasn’t sure about what he would represent since “catcher” plus donnie’s title card just kind of hinted at something related to sports, which isn’t reaaaally an intrinsic part to the entertainment industry. but the “america’s suitehearts” song makes a very explicit parallel between sports and paparazzi/media attention in the lyric “down, set, one, hut, hut, hike / media blitz” - which is especially clever since “blitz” is an actual football play. plus “catcher” can have a lot of meanings, such as to “catch” someone’s attention. and this is VERY important if u wanna make it in any big industry like the entertainment one! so donnie has the ability to alter how much he or others are noticed. he can make himself so forgettable and imperceptible that he might as well be invisible, or someone so eye-catching that they’re wholly impossible to ignore, and so on. there are limits here that will depend on context, like it’d be difficult to make someone performing on stage nearly imperceptible mid-performance, but it’s very easy to make someone disappear into a crowd if they want. he indulges in this very often in fact. any time donnie is confronted with a situation he doesn’t want to be in he can more or less just disappear from most people’s perception and not deal with it :T donnie also has the uncanny ability to notice things most people wouldn’t, which comes w the territory of being what he is.

dr. benzedrine is the suiteheart of euphoria. again i wasn’t super sure what to do with him until i did some research into the “benzedrine” drug and that was super fascinating. point is that benzedrine is a trade name for a pharmaceutical that among other things is very energizing and can induce euphoria. and euphoria is of course pretty essential to anyone chasing their hollywood dreams, PLUS it’s very topical for anyone who ends up chasing a chemical high in any industry, given how rampant substance abuse can get in that context. benzedrine is in theory capable of controlling and altering the levels of happiness in himself and others. in theory i say, because benzedrine is very much Unique and Not In A Good Way as i’ve mentioned before, and one of the consequences of this is that he can’t moderate his own happiness levels. he can experience it organically or not at all but he can’t induce it in himself - only in others. benzedrine more or less defaults to being kind of cranky and is seldom very genuinely happy, though he has been known to whip out a downright terrifying, completely insincere, and very, very wide smile if he’s really pissed off. he’s also got that giant, grinning shadow that literally always follows him and he. really doesn’t know what is up with it. and he doesn’t like that he doesn’t know what’s up with it cause it’s obviously linked to him in a very demonstrable way. and it’s creepy as all shit and he kind of hates it and so do the others.

the “job” of the suitehearts is basically to give what visiting Normal Landers require from them. if someone wants attention, luck, euphoria, dreams - the suitehearts give it to them. and it costs a little something of course, just a little portion of their mortal souls, but the Normal Landers are willing, for the most part. not all of them are - some wander in by accident - but inevitably they succumb to the kaleidoscopic lure of this technicolor world and the temptation of perpetual luck without compromise, bliss without fear of a comedown, dreams that will forever inspire you, all the attention they could possibly want. and maybe it helps them get big in Normal Land. but more likely and most frequently, it just brings them back and back and back for more and more and more until eventually they’re mere hollow caricatures of who they were. and at that point, they sink into the acid green moat and the Hills claim them for good.

do the suitehearts like that they do this? well...they have varying opinions. sandman fucking loathes it. horseshoe doesn’t really care because it’s hard for him to care about anything. donnie finds it unsettling. benzedrine thinks it’s very irritating because he’d rather be getting important studies and work done since he’s the most dedicated to learning everything he can about the world they’re in. but the crux of the matter is that they don’t really have a choice in it. that’s what they’re there to do. they facilitate the trade of souls in exchange for the boons and benefits they boast. they can no sooner stop being a part of this than they could remember anything outside of their lives in the Hollywood Hills.

which they can’t, by the way. they have no memories of anyone or anything outside of their existence in the Hills. they’re not human, but what are they? were they human once? did they ever have actual names? how long have they been here? does time even pass normally in the Hills? they can’t leave the Hills after all; the portals to Normal Land simply refuse to allow them through, and the boundaries of the Hills are impossible for them to surpass.

these are their roles. (who decided those roles?) so they play their parts. (don’t think about it.) they do as they’re meant to. (how do they know to do that? no one ever told them.) this just their lot in life. (are they even alive?)

and what happens when some of them start to get the feeling that there’s something important that they’re forgetting?

#askin hours #anon #america's suitehearts #i...don't know how to tag this.#like it's not meta but idk man #*mine #*lore #I DONT KNOW LMAO ILL CHANGE THAT TAG IF I NEED TO

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rigelmejo · 4 years ago

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gonna be honest i think a huge weak point of immersion based learning methods (specifically ones like massive immersion approach/Refold and AJATT) is learning good production skills. In general these study approaches say explicit grammar instruction is unneeded (though you might choose to seek it out). So in general, you’re learning grammar through exposure. And word use through exposure. I think these study methods work well for comprehension skills, and that the study methods they use to learn grammar implicitly enough to understand it (srs flashcards, looking things up, etc).

But for a few reasons I think they aren’t super great for learning good production skills (and some of these reasons just apply to general self-studying languages in general):

A lot of people who DO these study approaches, and record their experiences, are beginners/intermediate. And since these approaches say do NOT focus on production until you have a high comprehension level, there’s just not much documentation of what to even DO during the production skills learning process. In general it is doable to find examples of individuals who have successfully done methods like Massive Immersion Approach enough to comprehend X material in a language, and who have explained what they did and their comprehension milestones. So it is feasible to copy their study plan and expect a similar result.

But for production skills, there are less examples of people who’ve successfully learned to produce to the level of fluency they are satisfied with, and to find examples of them explaining specifically HOW they worked on those production skills. I can think of only 2 examples of people I’ve seen who did mia and then ‘somewhat’ worked on production skills - Khalifa who studied Spanish (he did frequent tutoring sessions with lots of speaking practice to improve his production skills - https://youtu.be/lqxWYAGDQy0), Luke Truman (he produced language and did language exchange from the beginning of his learning and throughout - https://youtu.be/dDZgec6uzMs). In both of these examples - the people learned production skills by producing language with a language partner often (sometimes a tutor) to smooth out production skills. This does not particularly tell us if they could pass a language fluency test with their production skills, use their production skills professionally or in classes in that language, or if they’re still working on production skills (if so how much longer did they take tutoring sessions, how did they structure the sessions, and did they do any Other exercises to improve production skills?)

Since its hard to find what people even do during this production phase of learning in such approaches, its hard to see if it’s successful and by how much. Hard to see what pitfalls they have to work on addressing, hard to see what methods people do AT the production stage to improve and solidify their production skills. In general it is just HARD to see what steps people are even meant to take during this production stage if using these language learning approaches. In the examples I mentioned above, I’ve seen people practice production by simply TRYING once they reach a certain level of comprehension skill, and trying often. But that doesn’t address improving mistakes/issues with production.

For accent - Shadowing has been mentioned in mia as an activity to do to improve production accent (which is a practical activity to improve that skill). For grammar mistakes and correction, mia’s Matt has mentioned making srs anki cards for grammar points he notices he can’t produce or think of and then drilling/studying them. This indicates looking up correct grammar points explicitly at some point - or does he just look at example sentences? Also this indicates still using anki cards, so is the solution to just continue drilling sentence examples even for production skills?

From what I can tell, the methods for working on production seem to be:

Get a tutor. Start practicing speaking at least weekly. Also do language exchanges if possible. (only a tutor might explicitly address helping you notice and improve errors)

Start shadowing (improves accent, and I do think this is a free study method that would help)

Make more srs anki cards to drill any sentence patterns you don’t seem to know how to say well/notice you’ve made errors on (so continue the srs anki approach that you used in comprehension learning stage - what I dislike here is this is still potentially implicit study of grammar, so for example if you made the mistake to/too/two in english it would be studying example sentences instead of reading an explanation of when to use which to/two/too which seems more confusing/harder to quickly grasp for the kind of learner I am).

I am guessing here - but if planning to take a language test (like the JLPT, HSK, CEFR) get a test-prep textbook/guide/site/worksheets/practice-tests and work through it. I can’t remember if I’ve seen anyone do AJATT or MIA and then take the JLPT test, but most youtubers I’ve seen who have taken the test in general got a prep-textbook or course ahead of time to study and prepare.

So. If I were going to apply developing production study skills to myself, what might that look like? Since I don’t like using srs flashcards much, and I hate learning from examples when there’s quicker ways to get a correction.

What I might try to do in future for production skills:

*Shadowing - pretty self explanatory. Improve listening skills, improve accent. (And maybe if I’m lucky it will help with active vocab a little? Although I’ve seen no specific studies on that).

*Write more often in language - easy ways to do this include journaling (journaly is a thing?), so I have time to look up words I want to use (might help active vocab expansion) and think about my grammar. Strategies that might help grammar here could include looking at language sentence patterns (grammar/sentence pattern book/website), and practicing substitution (using other words relevant to me, while practicing a sentence pattern as a journal entry). This could help me practice from generally ‘correct’ grammar form, while also helping my active vocab and learning how to say what I generally think of saying.

*Use a test-related textbook/site and work through it doing the exercises. (Like the HSK books I have). While not super fun, I think this is the closest way to get classroom-like benefit of doing correct grammar patterns with aids to refer back to.

Language exchange - aiming to talk/write more. This would be free, and simply production practice (would help with active vocabulary, might only be practice for other skills).

Paid: see a tutor weekly. Would help like language exchange, likely be more targeted since less time spent in english, and more likely to receive feedback on mistakes.

*Paid: test-related courses (like the coursera courses, or Chinese Zero To Hero* courses: https://chinesezerotohero.teachable.com/). Benefit would be more videos, possibly more support, and exercises specifically with direction and aids to refer back to. (I’ve had Chinese Zero to Hero courses recommended to me)

* starred ideas I think would be most likely to help.

---

For me:

For free things, I think journaling based on sentence-pattern sentence examples would work very well. So read a grammar textbook/sentence-pattern guide/site/textbook then do a journal entry emulating that point with words I want to put into active vocab. I think that activity would put my already-owned study books to good use, and allow me to practice production/active vocab/correct grammar.

I also think working through a test-oriented site/book would help - I have pdfs of some so this is something I could do for free, and it would be something I could combine with journaling like the idea above. This would also be more progressive/organized more according to difficulty (which could bore me or alternatively help me build good habits from the bottom up).

Shadowing and language exchanges I already do a little, and plan to do more once I start focusing on production more. I think for paid options - the test-oriented courses may actually help the most with the concern I have for ‘improving overall grammar.’ Tutors can help with production practice, more focused than some language exchanges, so tutors may help eventually too but not in that ‘explicit grammar improvement’ way I want to be able to mostly study and fix myself.

So I think, ultimately, what my study plan is going to look like for production skills:

1. Continue improving comprehension skills. Add shadowing more, over time. (language exchange if desired)

2a. Once comprehension is in a good place, pick a book I have (sentence patterns if I have one, or HSK oriented textbook) and go through it doing practice journal entries for each example. Try to use words in the example book, and words in general I think I’d want to use. (Continue shadowing, and immersion in general for comprehension skills).

2b. If I can stick to doing this, work through a book/site. If I cannot stick to this (boredom, badly organized book, etc?) then look at paid course options at that point (Chinese Zero to Hero?) in case a class-style organization/commitment will push me to complete it better. (Continue shadowing, and immersion in general for comprehension skills).

Then After all that, practice away lol.

#study plan #study method #rant #may #may progress #production #production skills #nts #note to self #yeah this seems obvious #output #but for me it really isn't ;-; i have been contemplating for a few months how to improve production skills if self-studying like i am rn #comprehension skills are really pretty straightforward tbh... learn basics. then TRY. then lookup some reference as needed.#a lot of just 'try and DO' like drawing lol.#but production skills are like... english class in school... its like how do you emulate learning to write essays correctly when you have no #teacher or courses guiding your activities?

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scarlet--wiccan · 4 years ago

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You can ignore this if you don’t have any thoughts but what your ideal new young avengers run look like? Who would be on the team, what would you even call it now that they’re all adults (except Cassie I guess?)

One of my favorite things about Young Avengers, which I think is often underplayed to the detriment of the characters, is that the team is routinely forced to operate outside of the law and against the wishes of their elders. In the core YA books, the kids are more often working in opposition to the Avengers rather than in cooperation. These are characters whose methods and motives are not usually aligned with those of the established superhero organizations, which is also reflected in many of their appearances beyond YA-- Strikeforce and Empyre are great examples, as are Cassie's adventures in Astonishing Ant-Man. This rebel element is often at odds with the fact that many of the characters admire the Avengers, or have close personal relationships with individual Avengers members. The dissonance becomes especially strong when Billy and Teddy, who have the most reason to distrust and resent them following Children's Crusade, are consistently characterized as Avengers fanboys.

That's not to say that I think the Young Avengers should, like, hate the old Avengers, but I do think that this tension is a key part of the series. The 2005 run was about a group of kids who stepped up, at a very young age, to do a job that wasn't getting done because the previous generation had failed, only to get shot down by the people who had failed them in the first place. It's about a group of kids grappling with complex and painful family histories, and, in many ways, they're foils to the Runaways, which is why I don't really like it when they play junior Avengers or emulate the traditional superhero team structure-- WCA was really fun, but I'm not going to pitch a second volume, you know? I much prefer them operating as an ad hoc group, mainly because they each come from different backgrounds, have different goals, and work in different fields. They're not people who work together because they're part of an organization, they're people who show up for each other because they're friends and they care about one another. That is, in my mind, a more effective approach to a team book with such disparate characters than what the typical Avengers title tries to do.

So, anyways, that's what I think makes Young Avengers special and it's why I think the book still has a place in the Marvel world. Pitching actual story ideas is hard now because Teddy and Billy are, apparently, living off-world and very busy being royalty. In my previous post, I outlined an older idea for a BillyTeddy ongoing series that could have easily functioned as a third volume of Young Avengers, but would require some editing to work in a post-Empyre world. The idea was for Billy and Teddy's apartment in New York to act as a base of operations for a revolving cast of their friends, who come and go over the course of various story arcs. The two of them are presumably living full-time in space now, but it's also been established that they're magically anchored to each other in a way that makes it easy for Billy to warp between New York and the throneship-- anywhere Teddy goes, Billy can instantly follow, and vice-versa, which means that the series could still use Earth as a main setting without pulling the royal couple out of their other storyline.

I'd love a Young Avengers/Runaways crossover set in space-- their previous crossovers mostly have to do with alien drama, after all, and I've been itching to get Xavin back on page. I'm very serious when I say that I want Xavin, Teddy and Noh to be best friends, and I think they'd be fun leads for a miniseries, or even the opening arc of a limited run that eventually folds in the other YA and Runaways characters. I'm imagining an extended version of the interstellar road trip from YA (2013). Maybe Teddy will recruit his two closest alien friends to go on a sensitive diplomatic mission where he can only bring a small party, but it turns out to be some kind of trap and they end up stranded somewhere and have to, like fight their way out of hostile territory and make their way back to the Alliance with no ship. Billy can reach Teddy, obviously, but he can't just warp the whole party home because the distance is too great or they're in an alternate dimension or something, so he rounds up a rescue party and Karolina insists on coming along because, I don't know, the Light Brigade is mixed up in this and she feels like it's her responsibility to help Xavin even though they haven't seen each other in years. Nico obviously comes along with her, and can help Billy with tracking spells.

I'd also like to see a YA book led by the series' most under-served characters-- Tommy, Eli, and Cassie. Building off of Cassie's capers in Ant-Man, I'd be very into a heist or espionage story about the three of them, probably joined by Kate because she'd add a lot of cohesion to the cast and is so well suited to this type of adventure. Maybe they're undercover, and they have to, like, fake-fight some of the other Young Avengers, but they all join forces once the misunderstanding is cleared up. I'm picturing a cold open where the whole first issue is made up of, like, security camera footage of three masked figures breaking into a high-tech vault at AIM or Roxxon, and they steal a bunch of weaponry and fight their way out through a bunch of goons, but then it's revealed that the whole thing was a distraction to cover up a fourth intruder who moves too fast for the cameras to track. At the end of the issue, it's revealed to the reader that the intruders are the Young Avengers, and the real prize was a computer holding the last backup of Jonas's AI. The rest of the first arc is about them trying to rebuild Jonas with help from Vee, but they have to keep it a secret from the Avengers because they're planning an even bigger heist against, like Kate's dad, and they need to keep the whole operation under wraps because he's got eyes and ears all over.

I'm not particularly eager for another fantasy story after CC and YA(2013), but I'd be into a cosmic-fantasy arc about America solving some sort of inter-dimensional crisis or chasing a villain across worlds with Tommy and Billy's help. I really want more development between America and Billy, but I also think that she'd be really funny friends with Tommy and I want to see more of him playing off of magic characters. Maybe Leah (the one from Earth-15513 that's living on Earth-616 now) receives a mysterious message from Loki and asks the Young Avengers to help her track them down. America and Billy volunteer and Tommy tags along. Along the way they end up discovering some sort of evil curse or spell and go on a quest through various dimensions in order to break it. In the end it turns out the whole thing was set up by Loki to manipulate them into defeating an evil alternate-universe Loki-- maybe the one from Leah's native dimension-- because Evil Loki had used an enchantment that made it impossible for 616-Loki to harm them, which includes allies who are knowingly fighting on Loki's behalf. Better yet, it's a proxy war, and Evil Loki has recruited pawns of their own-- including Sylvie and Lisa from the Young Masters! 616-Loki does come clean when the dust is settled and finally reconnects with the Young Avengers. Loki is glad that Leah found a way to escape her destiny, but they admit that they don't feel they've succeeded in breaking out of their own cycle, to which America and Billy are like "we've seen how far you've come, but you need to remember that people care about you and stop bailing on us when we actually want to talk it out with you," which Tommy backs up because, like, he's been that person. Friendship! Character arcs that don’t fizzle out when a book wraps in under twenty issue!

Anyways, if we got a third Young Avengers volume, I'd prefer a limited run with a cohesive story, but all of the ideas I just outlined would probably work better as smaller arcs in an ongoing series. I have a lot of ideas about tying up loose threads and continuing arcs that are already in motion, but I'm hesitant to plot out what the next big step in these characters' lives should be. I definitely think it's time to give Tommy and Cassie another shot at the spotlight, and I want Eli to come back with a new costume and codename.

At this phase, it's just really hard for me to land on any larger, deeper stories because I'm so unsure of what the next few years will look like for Billy and Teddy. There's also an America title that's been in production limbo since the pandemic started, and I feel like there's some kind of drama on the horizon between the Maximoffs and Krakoa which would theoretically impact the twins as well. I also anticipate editorial pushing for Kate in a Hawkeye book when the tv show comes out.

#young avengers #robintext #runaways

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aloera · 4 years ago

Note

The ask prompt is too long to fit into an ask TT_TT but here's the doc for it docs(.)google(.)com/document/d/1yDI7iFRhOJ8ENv_IwZAo3rDSUqj80EiJROS10RzRbj4/edit

the lengths u are going for this,,, much appreciated you're very sweet!!!

prompts + answers under the cut!!

INTRODUCTION

Name: aloera

AO3 account: aloera

Fandoms you write for: bnha

How many stories have you written so far: 19

FANFICTION PROFILE

What's your favorite fandom to write for? hmm,,, used to do pjo and eah (ever after high) and eah was fun as fuck i will say!!! i think bnha is my fav mostly bc i made the most friends in this fandom :D

What's your favorite character/person to write for? bkg and kirishima!! cannot choose do not make me <3

Fic you'd want to improve? probably what we deserve? i rushed the beginning and the confession is a bit stilted imo

Hardest fic you've written? between lion and men -_- bc there is so much canon compliant stuff i've gotta write out before i get to the divergence and its HARD

Easiest fic you've written? come home to me!!! it happened so easily,,, no second guessing no writers block just vibes <33 was lovely i miss it

What would you say is the most "famous" fic you've ever written? also probably come home to me? its got the most interaction

first line of the first fic you've ever written and published. [not including my 2014 ffnet fics] "The bell rings, class starts, and Katsuki and Midoriya are inexplicably absent." from come home to me

Have you ever done a collab with another writer? yes!!!!! on two separate occasions and its so fucking fun i highly recommend trying it out its the best

Do you beta? if asked but honestly im a shit beta lmao

Do you like joining fic fests/exchanges? depends on what i have going on irl but in general yeah!!

FANFICTION PREFERENCES

Fluff or angst? definitely fluff

"OCs" or "Reader" inserts? reader inserts!! have been going ham on them recently

Blurbs or drabbles? blurbs!!

One thing you love about fanfiction i just. i really love slice of life romance?? and most media doesn't give you that bc its dedicated to plot and action and that's valid!! but fanfiction fills in the gap which is really nice

One thing you don't like about fanfiction most of the stuff i don't like is less about actual fanfiction and more about how people behave about it

What is/are your favorite fandom author/authors? IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!!! TURN IT UP!!!

bnha: hiuythn, rae_tnub, Moniix, Ata_Lanta, wrunic, chezka, PurplePersnickety, surveycorpsejean, mahadevi, arxaris, deviance, Oceanbreeze7, MikeWritesThings, bonnia, wonhaebunny, dinosuns

voltron: hiuythn, Oceanbreeze7, DeerstalkerDeathFrisbee, arahir, dinosuns,

and honorable mention to loveclouds im not even in the haikyuu fandom i just love their fics So Much

these are just the ones off the top of my head i have so many favourites idc if i'm only supposed 2 have one!! die mad about it!!!

What is your favorite trope? secret relationship + relationship reveal til the day i die babie <3 <3

Least favorite trope? hm,,, probably just like. angst lmao i cannot stand 90% of it

A fanfiction cliché that you can't help but love? coffeeshop aus,,,, so good

Do you have a type when it comes to pairings? the otp where its like. piece of shit + himbo = love. ex. krbk, catradora, jade/beck

Favorite setting/au? hm,,, truly i cannot pick one KGKSJNHKj but i really like college aus!! and modern aus!! and roommate aus!!

Explain the meaning of your favorite line of dialogue you've written as if someone hasn't read it in context. “He doesn’t know,” Katsuki says, softly. “My timer stopped and nothing happened. He’s not mine.”

the line is from what we deserve!! it's a soulmate au where your timer counts down to the moment that you meet your soulmate!! bakugou's timer ends at USJ when he and kirishima attack kurogiri at the same time (impulsive kings <33) but kirishima's timer doesn't end until kamino because that's when he accepts himself as bakugous soulmate!! unfortunately, when bakugous timer has reached 0, he turned to see that kirishima's was still ticking and therefore believes that kirishima isn't his soulmate.

this line just,, idk. it's really sad. bakugou is such an action-driven character? if something doesn't go his way he Makes it go his way. he's got this insanely volatile quirk and he's got impeccable control of it!! but his love for kirishima isn't something that he can change and he's not going to ruin kirishima's chance of finding his own soulmate because he loves him and wants him to be happy. i really wanted to focus on how resigned he is? and how unusual that is for a character like him.

Favorite trope/genre to write? again, secret relationship with relationship reveals <33 fluff in general is my wheelhouse!!!

A trope/genre you haven't written but think would be a fun challenge? idk if this counts?? have been working on some dead dove concepts!! its super different from what i normally write so its a cool challenge

The one trope/concept you'll never touch and why probably cheating/infidelity?? it just looks,,, super difficult to write well and i don't have enough of an interest in it to try it out

Which do you prefer to write: longer or shorter fics? shorter!! low attention span gang <3

Ideal length to read? 5-10k?

Ideal length to write? 4-8k!!

How long was the longest fic you've ever written? control fraek is around 28k i think?

Have you ever written an AU? yeah!! i've done restaurant au's, soulmate au's, pro hero aus, and fantasy aus (general, not the bnha fantasy ending)

What's your favorite AU trope? hm,, probably when two people in authority are in a secret relationship? ceo's/uni professors/etc etc

Have you ever written smut? yeah!! was. difficult tho

What's your comfort genre? (the one you fall on most in writing/reading) fluff,,, hurt/comfort,,, fix-it fics with happy endings <3

If you were to start writing in other fandoms, which would they be? maybe jjk?? the characters are really cool!!!! fr i might go back to my ever after high roots i love the characters and setting so Much its so fun!!! idec if no ones into it anymore!!!!!

Is there a trope you think you could be easily recognized by in your writing? i've had people say they saw the mention of buff hagakure and recognized it was me so. probably that skdjhnksjd

WRITING STYLE

How would you describe your style? i tend to use shorter sentences and pretty simple words i think? and i gravitate towards lighthearted concepts that allow for ensemble casts and humour!!

Describe your style in three words romcom but fanfic

Favorite words to use when writing? the word reverent!! fuckin love including it!!

Dialogue tags or no dialogue tags? (she said, he said, they said, etc) dialogue tags!!!

Favorite dialogue tag (other than said, if you use them) again idk if this counts but "they said softly" is unmatched

Long sentences vs short vs a mix short <33

What colors would you use to describe your writing? hm,,, depends on the fic i would say?? control fraek is dark green to me?? kinda like a forest at night yk?? scary but there's still life there. sugar cookies is yellow like early morning sunlight, when it rains is yellowy-orange like a caution sign. not gonna list all of them cause theres a lot its just. do u get it? the colours change based on the vibe of the fic.

What song or music genre would you use to describe your writing? think. i am constantly trying to emulate that moment at the end of wasteland baby when hozier goes "im in love/im in love with you."

What kind of metaphors do you rely on? religious metaphors my beloved <33 they're just so pretty!!! i also love comparing stuff to water for some reason?? like that ocean vuong quote thats like "what are you now?/water." it goes hard!!!

What's something you'd say is experimental in your writing at this time? definitely action!! i have,,, no idea how to write it so anything i do is really just me playing around and seeing what works and what doesn't

Do you prefer to write by hand or to type? i've tried both!! personally i prefer typing because it goes way faster but i will say that writing by hand lets me get words down when i'm going through writer's block

What is your preferred place to write (notebook, laptop, cellphone, etc.)? laptop!!

What app/apps do you use to write (word, notepad, etc.)? google docs skjdnkjh its fine on desktop but mobile is,,,,, disgusting

Do you keep a notebook or file/notes page in your phone/device for notes on your writing? ngl i just have everything organized in my drive?? one folder per fandom and then sub folders for ideas+hcs, unfinished wips, and finished fics. multichaps get sub sub folders so i can organize outlines and drafts

Do you listen to music to help you write? yeah!! playlists organized by fic vibe :D

Where do you usually go to write (bedroom, living room, etc.)? mostly in my bedroom??? but moving around to different stops helps too i think!!

How long does it usually take for you to write? again this depends on what i have going on irl, how attached i am to the idea, my mindset at the time, etc!! i am,, the least consistent person skjnhdkjh.

What's your favorite font to use when writing? times new roman my beloved

Other writing habits? sometimes i'll write in the dark?? bad for my eyes but for some reason it gets the words flowing

CONCEPTUALIZATION

How do you conceptualize your ideas? (See specific moments like they're a movie, writing specific lines in your head, don't know until you put the words on paper, etc.) i tend to get inspiration from movies, books, poems, or other fics!!! sometimes one line just makes me go oh,, i want to write something like that,,, and then it helps me create an idea that makes me feel the same way?? i did this with control fraek!!!! i wanted a scenario where bakugou was cold and calculating and i was like hm. to do that he’d have to be focusing on something important. and from there i was able to flesh out the rest of the idea.

Which comes first: the pairing or the plot? with krbk its always always the pairing,, i'll be sitting there like wow <33 i love them <33 what if one of them had amnesia <33 (which, yes, wip!!) otherwise it's usually the plot!! and i slot in characters that i feel make sense

Have you ever used a prompt? yeah!! used a prompt for wlw week 2020 and it was fun as hell

Do you write around the story around a specific scene you want to get to or do you start from a plot idea definitely the first!!!! i almost always write like,,, a super messy scene thats 90% dialogue, keep it in my head, and then write the entire fic around that one moment

Do you find that you include a projection of some part of yourself in the way you write a character? a lot of the time when i write love confessions or love in general i'll have one of the characters think or say that the other person makes their head quiet? and it's because that's what i feel whenever i'm in love?? a quiet mind. i project on characters yeah but i think most of the projection actually goes to the way that i write love

Do you research some of the things you write deeply, partially and kind of wing the rest, or play entirely by ear (in this case, go with whatever base knowledge of the subject you have)? most of the time if i do research it'll be about the setting (ex. the izakaya in to have and to hold) or if i'm having the characters interact with an object that they like. need to know how to use (me, in control fraek: google. hey google. does someone die if they get shot in the foot??? no???? awesome thank u <3)

Have you ever had an idea for a story and forgot about it? lmaoo yeah all the time i'll find like 500-2k words of concepts in my gdocs like i do. not remember this at all

Is there a trope you think you could be easily recognized by in your writing? probably krbk secret relationship lmao

Are there concepts you've tried that turned out better than expected? yeah!! i fully thought the action in control fraek would be awful but it turned out not bad??? which im happy with

Are there concepts you've tried that turned out worse than you expected? again, what we deserve, i personally think it would have worked out better if i'd paced it slower and drawn out the pining but i. do not feel like going back to fix it so its staying the way that it is. pining is so fucking hard to do AHHHH i get so tired with it!!! im like just date already!!!!

PROCESS

How do you come up with titles? in rare occasions (literally. all my multichaps for some reason) the title comes after writing like .5 words of the first chapter im like YES this is it!!!!! sometimes i write the whole thing and pick out one line that fits (what i did with come home to me) a lot of the time i just. steal from songs or poems that i like

What's your favorite emotion to cause on your readers? i like making people happy!!!! love when people comment saying they're cheered up

What's your favorite emotion to write? lovelovelovelovelovelove

Have you ever cried or felt any emotion while reading something you've written? never cried?? but sometimes i'll rereading my hurt/comfort fics 4. yk. comfort

Do you write in order or whatever comes to you? in order!! unless i have a scene that i Need to write and i'll quickly jot it down so that i don't forget

Usual way you procrastinate while writing? ...doing asks like this, making playlists, discord, watching netflix. what don't i do smh

Do you outline or free write? i am. so shit at outlines. i mostly free write and write lil notes for stuff that i wanna add later

Do you set word goals or scene goals (scenes you want to include)? yes!! like i said i'll write loose notes for scenes that i want to add later!! it gives me something to write towards :D

What do you consider when writing your scenes? what goes into making the atmosphere and mood you want? to set a scene i do two things? the first is like,, the five senses bc that always sets the scene really well and makes it feel Real. i'll visualize stuff in my head like its a movie and write out what i would want to tell the set designer?? if the lights are low, if the space is busy, if it's supposed to exude comfort or not.

for putting forward the character's mood one thing i've found that makes a difference is sentence length!! long sentences are good for making a character seem flustered and nervous or not really in control of their emotions? good for love confessions. short sentences are good for when the character is focused on something or short on time. good for fights!!

What's something you never considered to include in your writing that you can't leave out now? def buff hagakure,,,, once i thought of it i was like. if i don't include this at least once in every single fic how could i look at myself in the mirror!!!!!! how could i face anyone!!!!

How do you start a story? establishing a fact about the character or describing the setting! option a is one single thread of gold, option b is between lion and men

How do you end a story? either by tying it back to the beginning or doing like a funny kind of closing??? option a is sugar cookies, option b is a godless society

How do you get out of writer's block? change something!! move something!! i go from typing to handwriting, moving from my bedroom to my living room, switching wips to work on something else!! i do sprints as well?? give myself like fifteen minutes to write something and sometimes 200 words opens up the way for another 2k. sometimes i'll just delete like 500 words and start fresh

Do you edit? or do you toss your writing out there? i edit!!! i'll go over it myself then send it to one or two betas (bee my beloved <33)

How do you edit? do you use spellcheck, grammar checkers, etc? bee is my grammar checker bc he is So Good with grammar. i use grammarly as well for spellcheck stuff mostly?? sometimes my edit process is just like "am i tired of looking at this!! yes <3" and then i post it

PROGRESS

Do you usually like what you write? yeah!!! i post stuff that makes me happy and that i'm fine with rereading!!! i write stuff for self-indulgence reasons first and foremost and i think my writing reflects that sjhnksj

Have you ever written something you didn't like but posted anyways? nope!! even what we deserve i LIKED even if i see a lot of room 4 improvement!! if i don't like smth it's not getting posted

Do you find yourself rereading your writing often? yeah!! the reason i wrote so much krbk secret relationship is because i loved it but i'd read all that there was so i just,, wrote more,, ngl its kinda nice being in a place where i actually like my writing bc i can write stuff that i want to see and really enjoy it!!

Can you tell us anything about your current WIP? sure!! i'm currently working on when it rains which is a fic where bakugou gets hit by a crying quirk!! i'm gonna be using it to explore So Much of all might's character and his relationships with bakugou and aizawa (and i think some people from his past!!)

Can you give us a sneak peek on your current WIP? “You did something. What the hell did you do?” Kirishima sounds pissed off. It would amuse Katsuki if he wasn’t fighting just to stay standing.

“Nothing he didn’t ask for,” Shinsou replies.

“K’ri… shima,” Katsuki croaks out. “‘S fine. Not him.”

His chest collapses back into the familiar dry heaving after that but Kirishima shuts up. He doesn’t apologize to Shinsou.

Kirishima’s a good friend, stubborn and loyal. He stands by Katsuki’s side like an attack dog, blocking him from the view of anyone ogling at his tears.

The last line you've written Ochako knows more than she'd realized. She knows enough to keep her guard up.

It’s not enough.

Open a wip. what’s the first line?

Katsuki wakes up feeling like absolute fucking shit.

INSIGHT

What's your favorite thing about writing? touched on this before but it's mainly just being able to write the things that i want to see and actually enjoy them!!! actually reread them!!!! i thought "wouldn't it be cool if bkg and kirishima owned a restaurant together" and then i wrote it and i like it enough to reread it!!!! being able to create content for myself makes me. so happy

How do you keep yourself inspired? this is gonna sound narcissistic maybe but honestly i'm just really excited about my ideas and where i'm gonna take them and the idea of "i'm gonna get to That scene" keeps me going through the entire thing. also my friends!!!! i'll talk to them about fics and their reactions keep me hyped up enough to finish!!!!

What is your favorite thing to write? just,, slice of life romance,,, stuff thats silly and makes people laugh!!

What do you think your strengths are in writing? i'm good with dialogue!! i do lil voice acting sessions with myself to make sure everything sounds natural and like it's coming from that character skhjnskj

i'm comfortable with my portrayal of love as well??? i spend a lot of time thinking about what it is exactly that i'm trying to get across and i think it turns out well!!

What are things you wish you could practice more? on one hand i wanna get better at writing angst on the other hand i dislike writing angst. do you see my issue

One way you've improved your writing since you began? characterization!! i think i've gotten better at writing characters that are all Different and bring different things to the table!!! i used to project a lot more and it would compromise the characterization because the character was like 70% me and 30% them? not to say that projection is bad but if you do it too much it just,, doesn't read like the character and from a reader's standpoint the narrative can become less compelling

One aspect of writing you're still working on? writing action!!! i. literally hate writing it but i write for a fandom about superheroes so. Unfortunately i gotta learn.

A piece of writing advice you've learned while writing saw this on another tumblr post but they said sometimes if you're struggling with a scene, the problem is five lines back. i've found that to be true!!!! sometimes u gotta delete a chunk and start a little ways back!! i did this with too busy being yours because i was stuck for Weeks and i deleted like 25% of what i had but it helped me actually finish it :D

A bit of writing advice you can't stand when people shit on show don't tell for being overrated lmao bc when u read their writing you can Tell

Something you wish you knew when you first started writing? ,,,,honestly i kind of wish i could know some of the stuff that i used to when i first started writing?? technically i'm better now but creatively i was must better when i wasn't stressing about whether anyone would like what i was writing. so i guess i wish i knew that i should keep that confidence? i kinda wish that i wasn't as insecure about other people's writing styles because i never used to be!!

Something you've learned in life that you apply in writing there's no point in feeling inferior?? writing one genre isn't better than the other. being in one fandom isn't better than being in another. the kind of language you use or the length of your paragraphs- none of that stuff like. matters. what matters is that you're having fun and happy with what you're creating!!!! enjoy other peoples writing but don't let it make you feel worse about yours :D

#AHH ive wanted to answer these for so long...... bro fr i was so happy when u sent these!!! like wow!! finally got sent one!!!#sorry for how long the responses are idk how to be concise #asks #anon #a(lore)a

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captain-s-rogers · 4 years ago

Text

Have A Little Faith In Me

(gif credit to the creator)

Part One

Master List Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC // Clint Barton x OFC Word Count: 1,900 Warnings: none? A/N: Debuting for OC Day 2020! Here’s the first part of the rewrite of my first ever Marvel series! If you want to be added to my tag list please let me know! Feedback is cool :)

Rockefeller PR firm. Though not connected to the famed family by any means, legend had it the J.D. Rockefeller himself had hired the founding members to handle his public relations in the very early success of the family. As a show of gratitude, in addition to a substantial cash and client flow, Mr. Rockefeller had allowed the firm to use the family’s prosperous name.

Anyone who was anyone in New York City knew of and often employed Rockefeller PR. The firm put on benefit events like they were going out of style, constantly hosting galas and banquets for one charity or another. Of course, with the guest lists for the events most often restricted to Manhattan’s elite, the donations poured in left and right. The firm had reached their renowned status as the most profitable and most charitable over the years.

In more recent years, Sophia Hawkins and Lucy Cleveland had made names for themselves as the firm’s most successful representatives. That success had given the clout they needed to swing an event entirely different from anything the firm had done in a long time -- possibly ever.

For starters, this event wasn’t being held to raise funds for an art gallery or secure investors for a corporation. This event was being held to raise funds to donate to several different organizations that supported the US troops and veterans. Not to mention, the event was made open to the public -- another component which had never been a part of a Rockefeller PR event. The thing was 1940s USO; everyone who showed up to attend the event was required to dress accordingly and make a donation at the door, in addition to their purchased ticket, of course

Both Sophia’s and Lucy’s grandfathers had fought in World War II, which had been Sophia’s inspiration for the idea. The firm’s executives hadn’t been keen on the idea when the two women first presented it, but between the excellent publicity that would come from supporting the troops and veterans, and the girls’ track record of successful events, convincing them to endorse the event hadn’t taken but a few minutes.

The night of the benefit arrived, with a line forming out the door a couple of hours before the designated start time. Sophia and Lucy were dressed to the nines, double checking that everything -- from the menu to the music -- was in order. The servers were dressing in period-appropriate waiter and waitress uniforms, and the trio of women singing were emulating a 1940s singing group to a T. While the musical act ran through their era-specific setlist, Sophia and Lucy shined up the finishing touches on the decor.

“Soph!” Lucy called out across the banquet hall, “do we need to alter the table settings? Caitlyn still has place cards for high-profile clients set out.”

“We can just toss the cards, since there’s no guest list and we’re closing the doors as max capacity,” Sophia replied, already plucking name cards from a nearby table.

“Do we have enough food?” Lucy continued.

“We’ve got the chefs cooking for one-hundred-fifty and there’s one-hundred seats. I think we’re okay,” Sophia smiled. “Calm down, Luce. Everything is going according to plan. Nobody can plan like we can.”

Finally, Lucy was able to calm down. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right.”

The women smiled at each other; everything was going to be perfect. Despite Lucy’s worries, they were well aware that this had been one of the smoothest events they had ever planned. Not having to please a bunch of snobby clients made the process a breeze.

With only a few minutes to go, Sophia and Lucy decided they were happy with the state of things. After a short breather, they told the doorman to begin letting guests in the hall.

Manhattan’s elite mingled with some lesser known citizens, filling the room and milling about the dance floor with freshly served drinks. The two event planners flitted about, adjusting table placements as necessary, making sure the food and drinks stayed well-stocked. The turnout was set to be huge, and within ten minutes of the doors opening, the hall was filled to capacity.

Once everyone had found their seat, Sophia made a brief yet spectacular speech welcoming everyone and thanking them for their donations -- with the total amount to be named later in the evening -- the musical act took to the stage. Drinks continued to flow, the appetizers were served, and the nostalgia of the songs pulled a few couples to the dance floor. Sophia and Lucy stood at the back of the room, admiring their handiwork.

“Ya know, Soph, I think we did a good job with this one,” Lucy mused, accepting a martini from the bartender.

“I think you’re right,” Sophia agreed. She sipped wine from the glass in her hand and took another cursory glance over the room, ever vigilant for any little thing that might go wrong.

“Everyone seems to be having a good time,” Lucy added. “And, speaking of a good time, I do believe that gentleman in the corner is eyeing you. He has been all night.”

Sophia choked her drink. “You’re kidding, right? Lucy, tonight is not the night for your games, friend.”

“I’m not playing games,” Lucy laughed. “See, over by the band? Tall, blond. Might have to call the doctor, since he’s been nursing that beer for over an hour. But, yes, friend, he keeps glancing over at you.”

“I think you’re full of shit,” Sophia mumbled, though she looked somewhat hopeful as she threw a casual glance in the direction Lucy had indicated. She locked eyes with the man Lucy had nodded toward.

“Still think I’m full of shit?”

Sophia scoffed, shaking her head before she downed the rest of her wine and set the glass on the bar. Yes, she had been hopeful seconds ago, but this man was beyond handsome -- and she was on the clock, to boot.

“Go, talk to him!” Lucy urged.

“Not a chance, Luce. We’re working, remember?”

Before Lucy could come up with a suitable response to change her friend’s mind, the man in question started towards the two women. When he was close enough for them to see he was, for certain, headed in their direction, Lucy whispered a quick ‘good luck’ in Sophia’s ear, then made herself busy checking on the status of supper.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” the man began, “but are you Sophia Hawkins?”

Sophia nodded. “I am. Can I help you with something?

“I’m Steve Rogers,” he introduced, extending a hand. When Sophia slipped her hand into his for a confident but cautious handshake, he continued. “I wanted to thank you for coordinating this event. It’s a great cause, and I’m very impressed with the level of authenticity.”

Sophia faltered for a moment, running through her mental files so could explain the familiarity of his name. She recovered quickly, pasting a polite, professional smile on her face.

“We did our best to make it as authentic as possible. My grandfather and great uncle were in World War II, and my co-planner, Lucy’s grandfather was in the war, as well. We were able to find a lot of photographic evidence to go off of.”

Steve hesitated, casting an uneasy glance at the ground before meeting her eyes again. “Yeah, my grandfather was in the war, too. I think he would appreciate how well you pulled it all off.”

“Why, thank you,” she smiled. They stood in silence for a moment, and Sophia noticed the authentic detail of the Army uniform Steve was wearing -- even with the best costume designers, nothing they had provided for the waitstaff or singers was this authentic. The longer she looked, the more familiar the uniform seemed.

Steve met her eyes. “Everything all right?”

Sophia nodded and quickly dismissed the strange familiarity as something she had seen in her own family’s photos. “Is the uniform your grandfather’s?”

Again, Steve hesitated, almost as though he was looking for the right words to answer an otherwise easy question. “It was. Found it in my mother’s attic before the event. Since time-period attire was required, seemed like the uniform was the way to go.”

“It suits you,” Sophia smiled. She turned away for a moment to ask the bartender for another glass of wine.

Steve quickly took a sip of his beer while he waited for her to return to their conversation. He looked around the room, catching sight of the dance floor; a warm blush creeped over his cheeks and down his neck. The tempo had changed from upbeat and quick to slow and steady. A surge of confidence swelled in his chest, pushing him to act on impulse. Steve finished off his beer and set the bottle on the counter, then extended his hand to Sophia again.

“Forgive me if I’m out of line, but would you like to dance, Ms. Hawkins?” Steve asked.

Sophia’s blush matched his as she turned to set the wine glass on the bar. She accepted Steve’s hand. “Call me Sophia, and I’d love to dance.”

The couple eased into a simple waltz as the music began to build from the first verse into the bridge of the song. They danced in silence through the chorus, concentrating on the steps before changing focus to each other.

“You told me about your family, but what made you decide to do an event open to the public? I’ve been told your firm generally caters Manhattan’s high-status citizens.”

“We do, you’re right,” Sophia confirmed. “Lucy and I have done so many of those, we wanted to do something different. We were looking through old family photos together one night, just for fun, and the idea to do a benefit for the military came to us. The USO theme followed.”

“I don’t want to sound like a broken record,” Steve smiled, “but you did a really fantastic job.”

Sophia showed her appreciation for his compliment with a modest smile. When the song ended, though she was reluctant to do so, she thanked Steve for the dance and turned to return to the bar.

“Sophia?” he called, gently grabbing her wrist to keep her from getting too far..

She turned to face him, brows raised in question. “Mm?”

“Would you want to get dinner some time? Maybe get to know each other better. Sometime when you’re not working.”

Sophia didn’t bother to stop the ear-to-ear grin that spread over her face. “I would love that.”

A pen was handy in the pocket of her dress, since she was, in fact, working. She took Steve’s hand again and jotted her number across his palm. She clicked the pen before putting it back in her pocket.

“I’ll call you in a few days,” Steve promised. “We’ll work out the details.”

“Sounds good.” Sophia nodded and winked at him. She turned to walk away, this time looking over her shoulder to add, “Thanks for the dance, Captain.”

He froze for a moment, fearing that Sophia was aware of his full identity. Her eyes glanced to the patches on his jacket before she turned away from him; that had been what tipped her off to the rank. When she was back at the bar and conversing with her friend, Steve looked down at the phone number written across his palm. With a suppressed but victorious smile, he worked his way back into the crowd.

@arrowsandmixtapes @the-murder-strut-murdered-me @growningupgeek @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan @captain-rogers-beard @kitkatd7 @patzammit @sagechanoafterdark @what-is-your-plan-today

#steve rogers fanfiction #clint barton fanfiction #oc appreciation day 2020 #ocs are people too

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s-tier · 4 years ago

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As some of you guys may have noticed on Twitter this past week or so, there were a couple different hashtags trending for short bursts of time like SaveSmash, FreeMelee, among others. I'd like to take the time to help give those out of the loop some context because there has been lots of misinformation going around.

First, if I get any facts mistaken let me know and I’ll be happy to correct it.

On 19 November 2020, Smash Bros tournament series, The Big House announced on Twitter that they have received a cease and desist from Nintendo of America (NOA) “primarily due to the usage of Slippi” and will cancel both the Super Smash Bros Melee and Super Smash Bros Ultimate online events. The Big House series has been hosting Smash tournaments for almost 10 years, and the more recent installments were even partnered with Nintendo.

Earlier this year, 22 June 2020, Project Slippi releases a version of Dolphin (a Nintendo Gamecube emulator) that includes features new to Melee like rollback netcode, integrated matchmaking, replay files, complex game statistics, and more. Rollback netcode is easily the most important addition, giving players an online experience that’s significantly better than what most modern fighting games provide. It’s especially valuable in a time where the world is fighting an ongoing pandemic and gathering dozens of players to compete in-person poses a major health risk. I could gush over how incredible Fizzi36 and the rest of the Project Slippi developers are for being able to incorporate rollback netcode into Melee, but that’s not the point of this post. Just need to know that the game’s ISO file and its contents do not need to be modified in any way in order for Slippi to do what it does.

Now, despite their claims, NOA is lying. As the copyright holder, Nintendo indeed has the legal right to shut down events, streams, and media that include any of their intellectual property. Most game companies don’t assert this right because, unlike Nintendo, they know it’s not a very good idea. However, based on The Big House’s initial statement and NOA’s follow up statement to Polygon on the C&D, the tournament was shut down for other reasons: game emulation/modification and piracy. First let me say that I’m not a lawyer and would rather have someone better suited explain; but from my understanding, Slippi would not be considered illegal modification of Melee, the game, since everything is done with Dolphin, the emulator, instead. And while it is possible that numerous Melee players may be competing on illegally obtained copies of the game and don’t own their own physical copy, the responsibility falls on Nintendo to prove it.

Some suggest The Big House takes this to court, but with how big Nintendo is, many agree that the amount of time and money needed to settle the case would be too high of a price for anybody in the community to pay. So is fighting for The Big House’s online tournament a lost cause? For this event in particular, most likely yes. It’s been over a week since the C&D was issued and despite the public backlash, NOA has yet to retract its decision. However, the Melee community is already making moves in response, and for the average person, all we can do is spread awareness and see what happens next.

News of The Big House shutting down had spread far and wide, trending on Twitter for some time, reaching influencers like moistcr1tikal, LudwigAhgren, and Mutahar(SomeOrdinaryGamers), several news outlets like Kotaku have covered the story, and gained support from various other competitive gaming communities including ones that play the games that Nintendo actually supports like Splatoon and ARMS.

Few days later on 23 November 2020, an anonymous Twitter account posts a Twitlonger that contains a list of claims exposing how Nintendo has actively gone out of its way to prevent the growth of the competitive Smash scene for many years as far back as 2006. Nintendo’s actions have not only have been a detriment toward the Melee community, but all the newer Smash games and beloved fan-game Project M, as well. Many figures in the Smash community agree that most or even all the statements made in that document are legit, and I highly recommend reading it for yourself and forming your own opinion.

I won’t go over everything covered in the Twitlonger, but in the past Nintendo famously tried to shut down the Melee tournament back at EVO 2013. Melee earned its spot at the event after raising almost $100,000 for breast cancer research. After a day of constant public backlack after the story reached the top of Reddit, Nintendo stepped down from their decision, and after that came one of the most memorable and impactful Smash events in history.

The information brought public by that first Twitlonger caused others came forward with their own claims against Nintendo, exposing their actions against these communities happening behind the scenes. These statements come from members of the ARMS, Project M, and Splatoon communities. (If I come across more, I’ll try to add them here.)

These developments, soon after The Big House’s C&D, made a lot of people upset towards Nintendo. While there are several ways to go about informing others and expressing your frustration with the situation, demanding fans of Nintendo to boycott their products will not help. Doing so would probably just make less informed people not want to support the Smash scene at all.

All this noise has made many people question what the Melee scene was after. Would a rerelease on modern hardware be the solution? No, if anything, it can give Nintendo more leverage to continue this abusive relationship with the competitive community. The Melee rerelease would also likely be the PAL (European/Australian) version of the game, but the community as a whole has already abandoned it in favor of NTSC (Japanese/American). Do Melee players want Nintendo to put up their own money and sponsor competitive events? In the past, yes, but after many, many years of no shown support thus far that is no longer the case. With how malicious Nintendo has been towards the Smash community over the years, many just want the company to turn a blind eye and leave Melee alone at this point.

Mentioned earlier, the Melee community has already taken action in response to the C&D. The general plan as of now is to respectfully spread awareness and continue announcing online tournaments. In December, Ludwig is hosting a big online Melee tournament using Slippi where the winner decides which charity organization will receive the prize money of tens of thousands of dollars. Fizzi released an updated version of Slippi with a spectator mode that enables smaller, independent tournament organizers to run online competitions without needing to rely on streaming, Discord’s screen share feature, or other methods of broadcasting gameplay. Many content creators and players are also taking the time to express how much Melee means to them and how the competitive Smash scene has positively influenced their lives.

Somehow, despite everything exposed up until now, people still actively defend Nintendo as if they did nothing wrong at all and tend to base their arguments on flawed logic and/or incorrect information (you’ll see a lot of it on the Nintendo subreddit). For the remainder of this post, I’ll try to break down a few common misconceptions and explain why Nintendo should not be defended by anyone that isn’t getting paid by them.

Thank you for reading.

________________

“The competitive Melee scene hurts Nintendo’s bottom line.”

Super Smash Bros Melee has been out of production for many years now, and Nintendo has yet to release it on modern consoles.

The competitive Smash community has historically been supportive of Nintendo’s current products at the time.

Assumes the existence of competitive Melee takes opportunities away from other Nintendo games’ existing communities, when in reality it was Nintendo’s own poor community management.

Assumes that competitive scenes negatively affects Nintendo’s brand and is unwelcoming to casual players and newcomers when companies like Blizzard and Valve pump millions into their competitive scenes knowing how profitable they are.

“Nintendo doesn’t want to support events for a scene full of abusive community members.”

Claims like these are ESPECIALLY BAD because it disrespects those who have been victimized by members of their community.

Implies that exposing and ejecting abusive people from the community, and attempting to create a safer environment is bad for the scene.

Assumes people in other communities aren’t capable of doing the same horrible things.

Long before all the allegations came out, Nintendo had already invited several of these community figures to events in order to promote their games.

“Just play the new game lmao Melee players don’t know how to move on”

Has been said for ages, and clearly those saying so don’t get it.

This is literally what Nintendo wants.

“Melee players have always been after the money.”

THERE’S HARDLY ANY MONEY TO BE WON IN THE FIRST PLACE. NO THANKS TO NINTENDO.

If playing video games for money was all Melee players want, they would not be competing in a game this difficult to be good at where tournament winnings can’t reliably pay the bills.

The majority of competitive Melee players are only in it for the passion, and being able to make a living through competing in a game they love is the dream.

“Competitive players take the fun out of games! Why should I support them?”

Unless you can’t read, or are some corporate bootlicker with no sense of empathy, I see no reason not to be supportive.

This whole situation is about a dedicated community that has existed for almost 20 years trying to play their favorite game with each other online in the midst of a pandemic, and for no good reason a big company will not let them.

“Supporting Melee and/or boycotting Nintendo means I have to give up my favorite games!”

No, buy and play what you want, how you want.

Do know that Nintendo is a big company with no intent on being your friend. Stop putting them up on a pedestal.

Boycotting Nintendo won’t do anything anyway; they’re too big, and the FreeMelee movement isn’t far-reaching enough to cause any significant harm to Nintendo’s profits.

"ACTUALLY, Nintendo is within their right to shut down events. They are allowed to kill Melee if they want.”

Yes, and Nintendo is within their right to suck my nuts.

Just because it’s legal doesn’t necessarily make it the right thing to do.

#won't blame you for not reading this; shit's kinda long lol

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superviza · 5 years ago

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For all the characters I’ve never liked, Master Fu is the only one I’ve ever done a PowerPoint for. Maybe that secretly means I love him.

I created this series just to organize my thoughts regarding Master Fu’s character. Exploring this character was my of asking questions that allow me to enjoy the show more. Just trying to solve a mystery and learn more about a show I like. In that quest these questions arose.

Doing this has made me wonder, do I hate Master Fu? The answer I come back to is no. But Supervisa, people don’t create write whole PowerPoints roasting someone that they like. Debatable. I often judge characters based on a few questions, one of which being, “Can I have lunch with this person?”

The results vary....

No I’d rather not have lunch with Sakura or Leenalee Lee. (For some people, thems fight’n words.) But I also adore Azula and by no means would I have lunch with her. The only way they’d let me in the room is if I were serving lunch. In other words, this calls into question the character’s morals. I personally am a sucker for virtuous persons, or in some cases someone who tries to be, the antihero types. A person with outstanding morals and ethics is the type of person I want to talk to, get to know and above all emulate. That guy I’ll buy lunch for. Now that creates a contradiction. Sakura Haruno is one of the good guys right. Its not like she supports murder or human rights violations. No, but I never saw her as friendly person, between telling Sasuke Naruto was a bad person because he had no parents, to lying to Naruto so she could kill Sasuke with the very limited power she had (at the time, no lie I dig Sakura Uchiha a tad) I’ve just never seen her as someone I wanted to be like. Bringing up Sakura can usually start fights but the bottom line is, if I’m thinking about a character with traits I’d like to possess, I’d shoot for maybe Izuku Midoriya. Specifically his love for people which I could use more of. So do you want to be like Azula? That brings me to the next question.

“Did they do their job?”

That’s the question that separates my Sakuras and Azulas. Azula played the bad guy with finesse. She was tactical, decisive and ruthless and did the job of every and any character in any literary work, she supported the plot. Why am I so passionate about this? I love storytelling. The job of every character, anything mentioned in a story; is to support the plot. Nothing in a book, movie, graphic novel or TV Show, should occur due to happenstance. That’s not how real life works. No one exist for no reason, everyone has purpose and everything that happens to (wo)man is of no coincidence. (If you choose to give it meaning.) Therefore a body of work should reflect that otherwise its a waste of ink on paper, a waste of a polygon in a 3D mesh. A writer should be able to justify every stroke.

I think everyone agrees that Zuko had some of the greatest development the art narration had to offer. However, how often do we talk about the parallel of his growth to his sister’s decent. Azula was who Zuko was trying to become, confident, feared and above all, respected. Imagine if Azula didn’t posses those traits, book 2 would’ve ended differently. Zuko’s growth would’ve been motivated in some other way. In addition to that, she was the adversary that was most difficult to defeat after her father. This is not just because of strength, she was cold, ruthless and calculated, driving the Avatar’s objective. And imagine, once she has everything she wanted, and what Zuko thought he wanted, she came to the same conclusion her younger brother had arrived at. Everything we were taught, the callousness, the rigger and patriotism, it amounts to nothing. Her own mother was afraid of her. No amount of honor she gained could restore that relationship. Thus, I believe this supports my prior statement, Azula is a great character, not due to morality, but because of how she supports the plot and character growth in the series.

Does the character have multiple dimensions?

Everyone loves a multifaceted character, but do we know how to create one? This is another concept the resembles our reality. Humans, animals, creation in general is just a network of stories. (Get’n philosophic) Why else would we create characters ranging from human to bacteria source: Ozzy and Drix. But how do we make that character seem real? We’ve heard “one dimensional” used to describe characters in a negative way but why. This usually means the character needs more traits or lacks realism. It’s the difference between the relationship with your child and the relationship with your co-worker. A good parent is more likely to know what their child is thinking before the child acts. (You know, your mother just comes in with something you wanted but haven’t asked for yet.) A co-worker on the hand, even if you’er friends, the relationship will have to see a lot of upgrades before you have the same level of trust you would with a parent, generally speaking, but by then you maybe married by then. In a literary sense, a character with one dimension is essentially a stranger or acquaintance to you. How do we turn that character into our baby?

We get to know them like a real person. What was their childhood like? What event changed their life? What kind of things frighten them? What’s their hobby? If they could vacation anywhere for free, where would they go? The beach? The mountains? Some place urban? Take Izuku for example, he keeps notes on any and every hero? That’s a dead giveaway that he’s a relatively organized person, even more impressive for a 15 year old boy. It also gives the impression that he has a lot of self discipline. He did pick up a work out regiment from a world renowned hero and completed it in ten months, after he overworked himself. He also found ways to work out in during class. It makes you ask how he developed that self discipline. Even his room, covered in action figures and memorabilia, is organized and the rest of the decor matches. Not something very prevalent in men let alone teenage boys. His mother doesn’t seem particularly strict, but Izuku has proven himself to be very thoughtful. Keeping a tight ship may be the result of an attempt to make things easier for his mother. Theory, but that’s fun part in my opinion. It’s like that satisfying feeling that comes with scratching off a seal with a coin. Even if the conclusion you draw isn’t cannon, every time you ask questions about the character or world, it’s like you read/watched the squeal. And if the theory is proven in the show, film or book, it becomes that much more fun. A one dimensional character isn’t destined to be awful however, it just means we need more time to get to know them.

So where does Master Fu fit in this complex scale of character appeal I’ve been painting? Can I have lunch with him? Sure. Do I want to emulate him? Absolutely not. Is he invited to the cook out? Depends on who all over there. Did he do his job? This is the moment of truth. Before I characterized this question from a literary stand point. That, I can’t speak to with an ongoing series.(I’m not holding my breathe though) Thus far, the character of Master Fu has supported the plot, giving viewers plenty of information about the world and lore. Does Master Fu perform the tasks he’s given in the duration he’s on “stage.” No, he failed miserably. Is he multifaceted? I’d say so, in fact, that may be the vary issue I’ve subscribed to. He has 186 years of backstory that I enjoyed probing. Even if the question I raise take me down the wrong rabbit hole, it’s like I got to explore the show from a new angle.I refrain from details because they’re in the slides.

So I say all this because I realize I may very well be alone on my Disaster Fu island. So if any viewer is wondering how I arrived at this conclusion, I hope this clarifies that. I can’t hate Master Fu if I wanted to. I have a healthy anger toward him, like the anger one has when their significant other leaves dishes in the sink. (Except your boy/girlfriend probably didn’t destroy a temple.) I think he would be a great cashier, but not a guardian. Master Fu could work at a mall kiosk, but miraculous guardian is not for him. It do be like that sometimes. Art, I am good at, but don’t ask me to play an instrument. I wasn’t planning writing on an essay but I felt an explanation was in order.

I don’t hate Master Fu

I don’t believe Master Fu was a good or even ok guardian

I decide how much I like a character according to their moral makeup or even attempt at morality

I decide how much I like a character according to their role in the plot and how suited they are to the role

I decide how much I like a character according to their different facets.

With that criteria in mind I made this series to organize my thoughts

This is just my way to explore an aspect of The Miraculous Adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir

That being said I hope you like the series as much I enjoyed making it. Maybe You agree with it or you don’t regardless, I shared it hoping it would make you laugh. I hope it makes you ask questions not just about Miraculous Ladybug but about your work and whatever you fan for. I hope those questions allow you to experience the story again in a new way that’s enjoyable. There will be more soon!

@solembum22 @starcrossedrose @firstdove15

#miraculousladybug #the miraculous adventures of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous ladybug #ladybug and chat noir #ladybug #chat noir #marienette #adrian agreste #rena rouge #alya #alya cesaire #nino #nino lahiffe #carapace #100 miraculous reasons why master fu is a disaster #100 miraculous reasons why #miraculous reasons why #master fu #master fu is a disaster

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foxgirlintestines · 5 years ago

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More Secret Lairs...

I’ve said enough negative things about Secret Lairs as a whole, so I am specifically going to just talk about the latest one. If you haven’t heard my other rants basically it can be summed up by “I really don’t like them.” So, International Women’s Day themed Secret Lair. As much negativity as I have for the product as a whole the theme of this one actually makes me happy. Secret Lairs celebrating occasions is where I feel they accomplish their goal of being unique and fun. I do feel however that this celebration is a bit forced, and that instead of celebrating this occasion they used it as an excuse to monetize it. I feel like this particular drop is a bit half good half bad in terms of the fact it is both supporting the day and also just pushing a product due to it. The last drop was also released less than a month before this one goes on sale, so the timing seems forced to just fill out the schedule and International Women’s Day was just a coincidence they could use to drive the product.

Now, this drop is also going to donate $25 of each sale to a charity. Even though this could be seen as a tax write-off and publicity stunt, that does not change the fact that money is going to go to that charity. The charity in question is the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. That is where the optimism drops in terms of the noble deed being done. The WAGGGS are one of the best funded charitable organizations there is. I do like that they are donating to a cause to help women for this product, but I wish they chose a better charity, one that needs the support much more. Aside from that, the WAGGGS do help and promote girls, so it is not like the money is going to be wasted, but there are definately causes that have much more need for support.

That’s enough about the background, how are the cards themselves? There are 5 cards given the full borderless treatment that was first seen with the Mythic Editions, and later on extended to be used for planeswalkers found in Collector’s boosters. This is the first time the frame is used on creatures instead of planeswalkers, so it has some uniqueness appeal, but not anything really novel enough that they stand out. The art is ok. It is a very moden-era MtG art style. Something you would expect to see on a MtG card, not a unique art style like others drops have had in the past. I am disappointed by this, I think they could have been a bit more creative with the art used; maybe emulate the styles of famous female artists or something would have made these much more special. Style aside they look really homogenous. Woman posed in a battle ready stance, with a vibrant background. Its not bad art, but they look very similar, which is something I personally do not like as much, but for others this could be a good thing as they match each other.

The reprints themselves are an interesting choice. “We've selected a few of the most powerful and influential women from the history of Magic.” Ah yes, the influence of two creatures  who were printed in Commander pre-cons and largely forgotten after the little stories that were made about them. Oona is kind of an evil queen, I wouldn’t exactly call her a good representation for International Woman’s Day. Sisay and Narset are the ones I agree with, they have had pretty important roles in the story of MtG. Aside from flavor, the selection falls flat in terms of content. Meren and Oona are decently popular Commanders, and Sisay was a card that gained a lot of use after the change to Planeswlkers being considered legendary, but Saskia is kind of a forgotten relic from C16 and Narset is a bulk mythic nowadays. The drop is very narrow, its kind of hard to see the cards included see much use especially since many of them do not work together. So its more of a drop for collecting than for playing with, and I personally don’t think Secret Lairs are worth collecting. I think most people would only want a single card out of the five and just have the other four sitting around in a trade binder or so.

The final disscusion point is the price. it is $49.99 making it the most expensive drop released. The cheapest cost of the cards in TCGplayer is $17, $11, $10, $4, and $1 meaning all the cards inside could be obtained for $43, so you are not getting “value” on this drop. Now, the secondary market price does not change the price for production, and it is simply a 5 card non-foil package which is the exact same as Bitterblossom Dreams was in terms of production, and much, much less than Year of the Rat. The price for this drop is basically only due to the money beign donated, which defeats the point of having proceeds donated when you make the buyer cover the costs.

In conclusion. I once again do not like this drop. I feel like this one has a lot of fluff hiding some very obvious flaws, and if the intentions were good a lot of descisions made for the product would be different. It was released way too soon to be special, its quality is low, and its price is high. You would do better to support the cause by donating to a charity instead and then purchasing the singles you want.

#Secret Lair Drop Series #MtG #Secret Lair #Please make these stop

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dysphoric-affect · 5 years ago

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The Fallacy Of Blaming Mass Shootings On Video Games

I’ll be frank with you, I don’t want to write the article I’m writing here. Every word I’m typing bothers me to have to say, every key I press bothers me to have to push, but it is also vitally necessary. Because instead of discussing the positive aspects of the future of the games industry today, I find myself, given recent news, forced to address the subject of violence in video games. More specifically, the question of their culpability in inciting violent behavior, namely the mass shootings that have occurred with greater and greater frequency in recent times.

This, of course, originates from people in the United States government and other positions of influence having again invoked video games as an influencing factor motivating the killers in these mass shootings toward the actions they’ve taken. The argument remains fundamentally unchanged from when it was first invoked: games allowing you to commit violence with guns and presenting it as a form of fun without negative consequences encourages an association that engaging in the same behavior in real life is acceptable. The appeal of this argument which is the key to its seeming refusal to die is, I believe, in its simplicity: encouraging violence surely encourages violence, no? If it’s understood to be socially acceptable one way, it can be extrapolated into feeling it’s okay in every way, no?

Actually, in fact, NO.

The ease with which one can find flaws with that “logic” and with that argument when making any attempt at critical consideration of this issue makes readily apparent the bias against and lack of understanding of video games and gaming culture by all proponents of such, enough so as to warrant dismissal of any need for considering the objective validity of that point of view. However, as the view has persisted in spite of this fact, let’s run down those various problems for clarification’s sake.

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1. No study has ever successfully linked violent video games to inciting violent behavior. Such studies have been done a number of times by several entities after games have been accused in the past in the same manner they are now, but the findings have never ended up supporting these theories. The only thing any of them have shown which could be construed as a negative result is a player’s level of aggressiveness in terms of brain chemistry can be a little higher immediately following playing a violent game. The effect is so miniscule and short term, however, it can’t account for the willingness to kill someone or the longer period of aggressive thought that would go into planning out an attack. One doesn’t have to be a psychologist or sociologist to figure this out even, as a number of facts are readily evident by simply observing the world and using common sense, such as...

2. Violent real life behavior is not endemic to the gaming community. Millions of people around the world play video games every day, yet the vast majority do nothing violent in real life to emulate the behaviors of the characters they play in games. In fact, for many gaming is a way to get a break from the stresses of life and possibly vent frustration into. Further, gaming has also led to the development of new friendships and communities between people which wouldn’t otherwise exist, as well as has been used as a means toward charitable efforts for various causes. Interestingly, these positive social aspects don’t seem to be brought into the discussion when the aforementioned accusations come up, just reference to the nonexistent greater proportion of people who game who commit violence out of the total number who enjoy it compared to those who commit such acts and enjoy other forms of entertainment.

3. Many countries consume video games at a comparable rate to the United States, but don’t have comparable levels of mass shooting violence. As proponents against video games seem to enjoy simple logic given the view they ascribe to, I’ll here dispense some logic simple enough they should be able to appreciate it: if something causes something else to happen, then wherever the thing that causes something else to happen is, the thing that is caused should also be found. In this case, games are the cause in question and real life violence is the effect. Yet, while games are found worldwide and in great numbers in other places as well, there are not a proportionate number of incidences we see occurring in these other countries with gun violence to coincide the proportions in our country, in spite of the fact that if games are the major or one of the major causes for such violence to occur, then we should see such violence proportionately occurring wherever they are found. This “common denominator” argument ignores that lack of equivalency in the results found to occur with these other countries, however. Whether that is simple ignorance or deliberate avoidance of these facts - and let us be clear, the lack of results I just mentioned isn’t an opinion, that is a statistical fact - is something I’ll not here venture to speculate on, but suffice it to say this is something that isn’t addressed by these critics.

4. Games never directly or indirectly encourage the specific forms of violence seen occurring in instances of real life mass shootings. The most relevant genre to consider here when considering whether games instigate such real world behavior would be first and third-person shooters, naturally, given the similarity in weapon usage. When we look at such games, however, there are a few common traits shared amongst them which make clear no encouragement for such immoral behavior is actually provided within the violence occurring in the games themselves.

For one, the motives of the characters played as are typically good. We are playing as a soldier or agent of some sort whose job is to protect innocent lives and whose enemies wish to take innocent lives, making what killing with guns occurs possessing a specific context: an act which serves the ultimate goal of protecting innocent people, in decided contrast with mass shootings which have an ultimate goal of achieving precisely the opposite of this. For another, those presented as targets to be killed in shooters are clearly identified as not being innocent civilians. Often, they are not human at all, being monsters, aliens, robots, zombies or other kinds of supernatural threats. When they are human in species, though, then they are tradtionally overtly identified as not being innocent, with their association with ostensibly evil figures, organizations and belief systems expressed openly and repeatedly. These figures and organizations are typically fictional even, but when pulled from our reality for sake of the story the game is telling, it is figures and organizations - most often the latter - that are widely considered to have an evil association, such as the Nazis or various terror groups. While we’re bringing up the fictional nature of the presentation to be found in such games, it is worth noting that often it is the case that a good deal of the weaponry players can even use is fictional in nature, making the fact of the game’s fictional nature and not something representative or emulative of real world conditions all the more indirectly enforced for the minds of players.

Even where more morally dubious actions may occur, a common factor still remains in that at no point is a player ever encouraged to act out such behaviors as what players can do within these games in real life. To anyone who would say that they don’t specifically warn against it, I would say only this: if an individual needs to be told not to murder others by the games they play in order to know it isn’t okay to do so, there is an issue with the mental health of that individual for seeing lack of warning against doing so as license of its permissibility, an issue with those who’ve raised them and the culture they’ve grown in for not properly indicating such behavior is immoral and never acceptable, or perhaps a mixture of the two. The one thing that isn’t culpable in such cases where it were to occur is with the games themselves.

5. Those accusing video games of inciting violence typically have no actual experience with them personally which informs their view. This isn’t a problem with the argument itself, but a flaw with the people purporting it as valid that enables them to justify its validity, so more accurately a flaw surrounding the argument. It would be a rather different matter when it comes to refuting this view on violence in video games if the various politicians and other figures speaking out against them actually played any and could firsthand attest to the negative psychological impact they instill from being played; arguments could obviously still be presented against them if they claimed feeling pulled to kill people in real life from their gaming experience, but I digress. However, these individuals make it readily apparent this is not the case. Many have freely admitted to having no experience directly playing them, taking it as a point of pride, both in reference to the issue at hand and in general conveying a clear disdain of video games as a waste of time that is beneath their station in life somehow. Those who’ve made some effort to learn about them, though, still present a clear awkwardness in mentioning the titles of various games or describing details about them that make apparent their actual unfamiliarity with the medium. This is something difficult even to describe, but something anyone who is a gamer can clearly feel when hearing these people speak in interviews about this issue where they are condemning games; everything about how they invoke the name of games and their details resonates with both their disapproval and bias against the medium that betrays the “educated” front they present, a measure it feels clearly was taken to strengthen their presentation and add a false legitimacy to their claims.

Let their be no mistake here: everyone is entitled to live their life as they see fit and for all that I do love games, I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with someone not enjoying them. Games are entertainment and that is always largely a matter of subjective taste, so I understand why they’re not for everyone. However, what is a problem is those who don’t like them taking their private views and speaking out against them publicly in hopes of denying others access to them, or more bluntly, denying others the right to be entertained as they see fit when they wouldn’t wish such a right to be denied to themselves undoubtedly.

This is critically important, because given the lack of actual evidence that violent video games encourage real violence, the only thing that remains which can stand to cause change in access to them is people in positions of influence speaking out in such a way. When you bring your private bias into the public sphere and attempt to use your status in the world to deny others their rights, you can and should be rightfully critiqued, especially where only subjective disdain and no concrete facts support your effort to deny others their rights. A demonstrable harm should have to be shown before any measure that influences others lives and rights and happiness is made, but the influence of such people can circumvent this, so their ignorance and bias and lack of valid support must be spoken out against with fervency to counteract the strength of the influence they possess. The strength of the gaming community collectively raising their voices and pointing out the facts on this matter can stand to rightfully drown out these critics if we so wish it. Only effort there will win the day, though.

6. Innocent, non-violent gamers become undeservedly stigmatized while real solutions to the problem of mass shootings are avoided. Again this isn’t a flaw directly with the argument itself. It is a flaw in the sense of the consequences it incites, before any laws or other change in policies regarding violent games are made. The first is that it encourages an outlook of seeing gamers as not only potentially more violent, but as more likely to be murderers, simply because of that hobby. This is incredibly disrespectful and insulting to the millions of gamers who every day aren’t in the news because they are living out their lives peacefully with gaming happening to be one of their pastimes. To the contrary - and as I referenced before - gaming has enabled individuals to connect with others and build friendships in places that wouldn’t have existed otherwise, fostering a greater sense of community with and affection toward others. Never mind the number of different charities raised up associated with gaming directly or in part to aid in a variety of great causes and which have raised a substantial amount of money for them.

It doesn’t mean gamers are perfect. There can be a great deal of toxicity that occurs in the gaming community over ultimately trivial matters of opinion, far more than is ever warranted in the depths of personal attacks on others it can sink to. That I freely admit, because it is a fact and it should be discouraged. However, their is a solid line between the worst of those such peoples’ behavior and a willingness to murder others. What I mention isn’t something exclusive to gaming, either. Fans of all manner of things - sports, politics, whatever - get into spirited debate about their passion, and some take that to an extreme it shouldn’t. In all of these cases, one fact remains the same: the vast majority of people, even the most negative among a particular group, are still rational and moral enough to never murder other human beings in the first place, or to do so on the basis of feelings given to them by their passion of choice for that matter. That takes a mindset and beliefs wholly removed from anything created or encouraged within these various communities.

In the process of scapegoating gaming, the harm doesn’t just extend to impacting the reputation of gaming in an undeserved way. It also by default means an avoidance of seeking out real sources of motivation for when these tragedies occur, as well as ideas for real solutions to how to prevent such events from occurring that can only begin with identifying those actual sources first, with the solutions naturally building off having identified them. So, in essence, those casting gamers into this negative light aren’t purely disrespecting gamers, something I doubt they care much about anyway: they are also disrespecting the victims and survivors and everyone else impacted by such mass shootings themselves, those who they do claim they care about, as they are fostering an outlook on the issue and resultant process for dealing with it that by avoiding dealing with things the right way, only leaves in tact an environment where things are just as able to occur again. I’m not saying they are responsible for further events that occur - the foremost blame goes to those who commit them, of course - but they certainly are liable in not helping prevent them.

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I had thought, or maybe just wishfully thought, that as a culture we had moved past this strawman argument blaming games for real violence. When gaming was somewhat more of a niche pastime, it was easy to vilify it because what it involved was more foreign to the masses, and in absence of firsthand knowledge it was therefore easier to accept negative claims made against it. But then as time moved on, gaming became more culturally accepted. Halo, Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, Pokemon GO, Minecraft, Fortnite and many others have grown gaming from something only “nerds” and the “socially awkward” enjoy to something people in general enjoy. With that broader acceptance the interest in blaming games for mass shootings seemed to have gone away...but then, these events didn’t use to occur with such frequency. Now that it seems they are a near daily occurrence, this argument has again reared its head where once it might have been thought lopped off.

It unfortunately only gains more traction and weight when people so prominent in the public eye and capable of generating influence promote such views. Currently, this now extends so far as our current president Donald Trump and others in significant positions of influence in the government, such as House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy. When individuals who hold the power these do promote these false claims and stall the discussion it becomes all the more difficult to move on to a more substantive discussion and toward finding real solutions. Let me be clear: this isn’t a political blog so this isn’t about singling out one party or another as a villain. I am against anyone who supports and encourages these attacks on video games. It happens that the bulk of these within the political spectrum are found on the Republican side, but wherever a Democrat were to be found promoting the same I would condemn that as well. I consider myself an independent in any event, for those who wish to know, so I have no vested interest in promoting or condemning either party here. My interest is only in condemning evidence-less beliefs that encourage the demonization of innocent people and activities and by extension deny the world better solutions to the issues at hand, and in promoting truth and real solutions.

What are the sources of the motivations for these mass shootings? How do we prevent them the best we can? Whatever the answers to these questions, the one thing it most decidedly doesn’t have to do with is the one thing that is currently getting the lion’s share of the blame. I promise you this, though: take away all the violent video games in the world, and these events would still be occurring, unfortunately. So quit wasting blame where it doesn’t belong and focus on finding real answers.

I think I’ll end here and go get some headshots in Halo, which has never once tempted me to do the same to strangers in real life. Then go work as a productive member of society, check up on my family I love, talk to the friends I care about and so on. The same type of everyday, normal, decent things every other gamer does, because we aren’t any worse than you who condemn us. Though there’s an argument to be made for the opposite, I suppose.

#video games #mass shooting #guns #gaming #online gaming #Halo #call of duty #assassin's creed #pokémon go #minecraft #fortnite #donald trump #kevin mccarthy #republicans #democrats #debate

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