#I can have very little respect for the source material & the person who made it

[mewgatori]

There are some stories where I imitate elements of them out of admiration or fondness for the story they came from, and others where it's more like "well, it wasn't that great in the story that introduced me to it, but thinking about it did give me ideas on how this could be way more fun"

[shihalyfie]

I've alluded to tri. having some very troubled production behind the scenes, and among everything that apparently went on back there, there seem to have been at least two major bottlenecks: 1) the fact that the director (who, based on his own statements about deliberately not consulting source material, most likely didn't even watch Adventure to begin with) kept asking everyone to make things more "mature" without being clear on what that actually meant, and 2) the fact they ran out of budget and had to rewrite the entire plot halfway into it. Even the most brilliant of creators probably wouldn't be able to work at their best under such conditions.

But conversely, this also means that there were some excellent people involved in production whose efforts probably haven't been as appreciated as they should be! So I want to take a moment to spotlight some people I want to give props to:

Ayana Yuniko and Nakanishi Yasuhiro: These two scriptwriters were childhood Digimon fans who were thrilled to be on the project, and their enthusiasm clearly shows in every interview they were in. Ayana even made keen observations like noticing that the Adventure kids aren't as super-tight as people tend to make them out to be (something I've pointed out myself, and something that generally only tends to crop up among fans who have studied the series closely), and Nakanishi stated that she would slip him detailed notes about the characters and their relationships.

Both of them stated they were trying to portray the Adventure characters in a character-accurate way but kept getting their scripts rejected for not being "mature" enough, leaving them unsure about what they were supposed to do. Their roles on the series were also limited; Ayana was on parts 1, 2, and 4 while Nakanishi was on part 4 only, and they were sharing the scriptwriter role with multiple others (even within a single movie). But if I were asked to pick who on the staff list I would want to see come back for another Digimon work, it would absolutely be these two.

Kakikara Yuuko: The one in charge of overall writing for the series. tri. had a total of five scriptwriters and could have up to four(!) on a given movie, so because of that, her statements on the series and its story direction have been a bit difficult to tell whether it was her idea personally or whether she was delivering the writing room's discussion result. But one of her final statements on the series basically amounted to "I'm grateful if you even came to watch it to the end at all," and she was quite humble about saying she felt things could have been done differently; considering it sounds like she had a hard time keeping everyone and everything in order, I can only imagine she went through a lot trying to make sure everything ended safely. Incidentally, her writing portfolio is also quite respectable (and even includes kids' shows).

Suzuki Takaaki: The person with the job of "setting researcher", i.e. the one with the job of looking into the lore. Sadly, it seems like most of his ideas didn't make it into the final series (possibly because of the budget loss-induced rewrite), but his one solo interview indicates that he put quite a bit of conscientious thought into how Digital World lore works, including the idea of an EMP weapon that would affect Digimon easily but not humans (an idea that doesn't pop up among fans as often as you'd think, and took up until last year to make it into actual Adventure material via Takeru's 02TB in-universe fanfic).

Sakabe Gou: The person in charge of the series BGM. We haven't heard a lot from him, but the little we have indicates that although he also had difficulty understanding what the director was asking for when he wanted "mature" music of some kind, he himself put some very thorough thought put into the composition. In particular, he went into detail regarding the music used at the beginning of part 4, which seems to be a fan-favorite track from what I've seen (it's also my favorite too!). Sakabe also has an extensive and respectable portfolio outside Digimon; in particular, he's very highly regarded in Kamen Rider circles, so if you have a friend who's a fan, it might be a good idea to ask them about it!

[astrojulia]

PAC: Your witchy side

~Your natural magical skills

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DISCLAIMER. These general free readings are made in good faith for entertainment purpose. This pick a pile is very specific and direct, even certain people came into my mind when doing it... so I already say that it doesn't seem to be for everyone.

How to pick a pile

When you have different cards to choose from in pile 1,2,3… look at each of those cards. Wait until someone reminds you of a memory. Perhaps a character’s outfit resembles one of your own. It is this pile that has its message. What if they all remind me of something? Go for the one with the strongest memory, one might look like her earring but another might be the favorite candy you got from your grandma when you vacationed at her house. But what if none reminds me of something? Take a deep breath and wait a little longer, without charging yourself or creating worries. Relax, some will awaken some memory in you, I promise!

Pile 1 - My Melody

(Justice - Queen of Pentacles - Ten of Wands - Two of Pentacles - Four of Swords - Eight of Wands)

You are most likely an air witch with a focus on magic involving people, technical knowledge, and extensive research. Therefore, you must enjoy practicing astrology and manipulation magic. Apart from that, as a witch, you believe that you must first give in order to receive, and that everything you receive has the same weight as what you gave. You believe in equivalent exchange, alchemy, and the idea that the effort you put in will determine what you receive.

Your primary area of study is the physical realm, specifically prosperity, abundance, and fortune. You concentrate on the material aspects of your magical practices, performing magic that involves your body and personal belongings. You have a precise way of speaking, addressing your spirituality with respect but also with authority, as if you were the head of a different organization. You admire your guides, respecting and listening to them, but you don't feel inferior to them.

You manage to produce excellent results with your magic, bringing abundance to your home, but it sometimes becomes overwhelming for you. This could be due to your guides having dense energy. As a young witch, you may find it challenging to handle the amount of energy they transmit, leading to instances like an overflowing potion. In other words, even if you try to control the outcome, what you receive is often more than you can handle, whether it's positive or negative.

That's why you should practice more restrained magic. You need to choose between focusing on one aspect or another. Either you ask for love or you ask for prosperity; you can't pursue both with this type of magic. Start by engaging in more basic activities and communicating with "smaller spirits" such as children or fairies—whatever you prefer.

As for magical objects, you can have a diverse range, including daggers and swords, as well as white clothes and furry animals like rabbits, foxes, and dogs with long hair (preferably white animals). Additionally, you feel a certain connection with the cycle of life, understanding that things die and are reborn.

Your shadow side, your greatest temptation, is the desire to curse others. Many times, you want to see those who have wronged you suffer and contemplate whether you should act on it. You genuinely wish to return the harm that was once inflicted upon you.

On the other hand, your light side reveals that your primary focus is yourself. This self-focus is both your greatest strength and power. You have the ability to learn and study quickly, initiate new cycles promptly, and bounce back when things go wrong without being harmed in the process.

Pile 2 - Kuromi

(Judgment - Page of Wands - The Fool - The Devil - Page of Cups - The Emperor - Ten of Pentacles)

You're probably a generational witch or, at the very least, a member of a cult or coven. In other words, you're not a solitary practitioner and have been on this path for a while. You're deeply interested in matters related to the soul, rebirth, and karma.

Your studies now encompass new areas that you've never explored before, such as herbology and astrology. There's something you have little knowledge of but find highly intriguing.

Your greatest skill lies in the freedom to pursue whatever you set your mind to. Your magic knows no bounds, and you have the ability to accomplish anything you desire. It appears that your specialty lies in magic involving glamour, love, and relationships. You excel at making people like you or even fall in love with you. This can be through a well-chosen word that wins them over or by adding a special touch to food.

An area you should focus on studying is shadow work. Personally, I find this topic too personal to discuss, but it is what the cards reveal. It suggests that you should address unresolved issues from your past. You have traumas and situations that are currently influencing you in negative ways, fostering destructive desires. This cannot continue as it is. You need to learn to free yourself from these chains and rid yourself of greater dangers.

A magical object you can keep with you is a goblet of water, but it can also include fish figurines or an aquarium. Additionally, letters you wrote or received in the past, childhood items like dolls and stuffed animals, can provide you with strength.

As I mentioned before, your darkest side is the desire to destroy everything and start over again, hoping for a "better" outcome. You believe that if you have the power, everything will improve, free from problems and pain. You possess an explosive and uncontrollable urge that can bring harm to others and yourself.

On the flip side, your light side emerges through your involvement in a group. You have people who love you, and you reciprocate that love. You strive to do your best for them, presenting your finest version. You protect and support them, fulfilling their needs. You rarely find yourself alone, and the strength of the group becomes your own.

Pile 3 - Cinnamoroll

(Four of Pentacles - The Hermit - Seven of Cups - Three of Pentacles - Strenght - Ace of Pentacles - Wheel of Fortune)

You are most likely an earth witch who focuses on material well-being. You are a zealous and capricious person. You take pride in your appearance, especially when it comes to your hair and jewelry. You are the type of witch who enjoys casting spells using your hair, colors, and accessories. You don't conform to societal norms, but you respect traditions. If necessary, you are willing to engage in mischief as a response to being hurt by others.

Your current path is a solitary one. You are discovering things that only you can comprehend, unable to share them with others who wouldn't understand. It feels as if you are keeping a significant secret and are on a journey to uncover its meaning. You are also pursuing a dream, striving to make it a reality.

You enjoy working with potions and food, crafting spells from scratch using your own ingredients. You are the type of person who can serve others their own poison without hesitation. You possess a repertoire of tricks up your sleeve, knowing the right ingredient for a recipe or the appropriate spell for any situation that arises.

It's time for you to focus on forging new paths for yourself, working with a small group to create something greater for everyone. Additionally, you can start studying flowers and aquatic herbs.

A magical object you can keep with you is images of large animals such as lions, whales, or camels—strong animals that command presence and whose names are generally recognized. Nets can also be beneficial to you, as something you can use to capture things, similar to a Dreamcatcher (although you're aware it's primarily decorative) or, if you prefer, pictures of spiders.

Your shadow side is your ambition—an insatiable desire to possess everything while doing little to attain it. It's as if you planted flowers but never watered them, allowing them to wither on their own. You desire more, craving abundance, but it's unlikely that you'll attain everything you want, which may lead to disappointment.

Your light side is your profound faith and belief in your spirituality. You likely have a daily routine that involves prayer or engaging in magical practices, making you naturally powerful. By allowing your guides to direct you when you're uncertain, you are able to navigate your path.

(CC) AstroJulia Some Rights Reserved

[beevean]

I think I made a similar post a while ago, but I'm having another thought about how different NFCV and IDW Sonic are in adapting the source material.

I would say the game characters in IDW Sonic are superficially similar to canon, and if you let yourself be swayed by the "vibes" you won't notice anything wrong, but the peel soon comes off if you stop and actually analyze the dialogue and expressions. They're OOC in an uncanny valley way, all while pretending to be canon compliant.

In NFCV, somehow, every character from the games was reversed in personality, to the point that after a while it almost looks intentional:

Game Trevor is a charismatic, friendly man who accepts without hesitation to help humanity against Dracula despite being shunned by fellow humans, although he can be hotheaded and act before thinking, which spells disaster in CoD; nevertheless, he earned his title of Legendary Belmont. N!Trevor is cynical, snarky, antisocial, allegedly rude, and holds no love for humanity at first due to his past, although he reluctantly helps to uphold his family legacy; he also has no real successes under his belt until his encounter with N!Death in the very finale, including not being the one who effectively kills N!Dracula.

While very little was established about Game Sypha, we know she is a witch raised by the Church after he fellow witches were killed (she was reimagined into a cold, aggressive knight templar in Judgment, but while the concept makes sense, I don't consider that game canon). N!Sypha is a "Speaker" who, like everyone else, holds contempt for the Church, she has by far the least amount of trauma in the cast which makes her generally sheltered, and her personality is more or less "peppy braincell holder".

Game Alucard is broody and curt, but cares a lot about his friends (especially Trevor, as shown in GoS), and sees his bloodline as a curse to protect the world from, as per his mother's wish. N!Alucard is sarcastic, antagonistic and outright rude, insulting towards Trevor, and most troubling sees vampires as "his people". To say nothing of what their outfits convey about their personalities...

Game Dracula is the terrifying but worshipped Dark Lord, and also a cold, petty man who became a violent force of nature, whose grief is sympathetic but his actions go too far and harm everyone around him, actually best seen in Lament of Innocence with Elisabetha's death. N!Dracula starts off the same, but by S2 he succumbs to depression and becomes so apathetic and ineffectual that his castle can be conquered by external forces, as no one bar N!Isaac respects him, and he seeks emotional support from his servant; worse, he's painted by the narrative as "not so bad after all", best example being the people in Targoviste who get hit by the Idiot Ball and don't heed his warning, so that they "deserve" what they got. On top of this, while game Dracula is eventually stuck in a cycle of death and rebirth that strips away all humanity in him until Chaos' influence on his soul is severed, N!Dracula simply decides to stop his rampage not even a year after his death because his wife was resurrected.

Game Lisa's last words were begging Alucard to not harm humanity, "for theirs is a hard lot", and she clearly cared about her son and his mental wellbeing. N!Lisa is condescending towards her fellow peasants, and her last words were begging Dracula to not harm humans, urging him "to be better than them"; when revived, she also decides to abandon her son to his grief to "give him closure".

Game Hector is a melancholic, sharp man filled with guilt and self-loathing, prone to emotional outbursts and susceptible to the corrupting effects of the Curse, who nevertheless understands that he can be more than a tool for destruction and learns to appreciate the value of humanity, and that's why he runs away from his cruel Lord and finds love in the human world. N!Hector is stunted, a "manchild" so alienated from mankind that he agrees to the idea of culling humans without thinking much about it and never learns how morally wrong he was, passively going along with any proposal presented in front of him, and constantly stripped away of his agency and dignity to be less than a tool for other people, until his final act is choosing to stay with his latest abuser... who would rather kill herself than stay with him anyway, leaving him in the exact same place he had started from.

Game Isaac is flamboyant and larger than life, clearly reveling in his most evil actions and without pity towards humans, but also embittered by his own inferiority complex and desire to be a good tool for Dracula: his descent into madness due to Hector's betrayal and Dracula's death is tragic and horrifying, but the narrative never justifies his vile revenge, and eventually there is no escape for him. N!Isaac is deadly serious, prone to philosophizing, fully convinced to be a good person surrounded by evil and petty humans despite the atrocities he commits, and eventually decides that he wants to live for himself and have agency, rising to a new position of king. They both start out as simps, but that's the extent of their similarities. In fact, N!Isaac has infamously more in common with Hector than Isaac.

(as further note, in the games Hector was favored over Isaac due to his better abilities, although both of them were relatively respected; in the show, N!Isaac is massively favored over N!Hector, to the point where N!Dracula calls the former his friend and hired the latter through a lie because "he's easy to lie to")

Game Saint Germain is a whimsical, unflappable time traveller who tries his best, with the limitations imposed on him, to stop Dracula from being brought back. N!Saint Germain is certainly eccentric and capable of dimensional travel, but he's also plagued by grief over one woman and through it he's eventually manipulated into reviving N!Dracula instead (insert "god is going to have sex again" line here).

Game Death is Dracula's most loyal servant and confidant, affably polite but unswerving in his desire to bring his Master back over and over. N!Death only cares about feeding on souls and was ready to make Dracula suffer undescribable pain to use him as a pawn, all while infamously talking like a drunk sailor. The few things they have in common are their manipulation skills and ability to assume a disguise to blend in.

Game Carmilla is another vampire devoted to Dracula, responsible for his resurrection in CoTM; N!Carmilla despises Dracula and everything he stands for, more or less hijacking his role as the main antagonist.

Game Richter in RoB starts out as a hotblooded, enthusiastic young man eager to fight and uphold his legacy... which leads him to a dark path later on when he succeeds and has nothing legt going for in his life. N!Richter is just as enthusiastic, but starts his story suffering from the trauma of his mother's death that makes him prone to panic attacks, and has little legacy to uphold.

Game Maria is a bubbly, cheerful, innocent young girl who doesn't even understand Dracula's talk about power. N!Maria is a surly, bitter teenager only concerned with political matters.

Game Annette is a perfectly normal woman in love with Richter, but braver than she lets on, shown in the cutscene where she attempts to slit her own throat to reject Dracula's advances. N!Annette has literal godly powers, is unique in the show's environment as a runaway slave, her bravery is actually rashness that often causes problems, and she's mostly furious at the world and everyone around her, especially N!Richter for being "a child" and "useless as fuck" (though this is set to change as they are bound to fall in love).

Game Juste is shown to be protective towards his loved ones to a fault, best seen in the good ending where he wants to deny the truth of Maxim's actions to Lydie. N!Juste abandoned his family after Maxim and Lydie's death, and has completely given up on fighting evil, having become cynical and despondent (it's possible that this, too, is set to change).

As you can tell, some game characters were deeper than others, but that is no excuse. If the writers wanted to, they could have done what thousands of fans do, and fleshed out the characters starting from the base lines canon offers. The elements are there! It's just a matter of a little effort and respect towards canon! But there weren't. Instead, the characters were more or less flipped on their head, turned into OCs in all but name, because it's easier and allows them to reap the praises from the fans who think the games need to be "fixed".

I'm mostly just amazed by how consistent the pattern is. It's as if no character was deemed good enough as they were. As if the show went into IDW's opposite's direction and strived its best to be as far away as canon as possible... and better, ofc.

[ask-codeearasure]

STOP STEALING OTHER PEOPLE'S WORKS YOU COWARDS (and other disorganized ramblings)

Yeah, I'm starting this off aggressively, big whoop.

Hi.

The point is right there in the title. Yeah, I'm looking you in the eyes and telling you right the hell now, I want you, yes you, the one with the massive galaxy brain who thinks that you can make a better Dreamtale or Underswap, or whatever the fuck, to listen to me. Walk with me to this pier please. This fandom has a harassment problem, everyone and their grandmother's crusty white little dog knows that, but there is also a massive theft problem as well and half the time I see it's born out of hatred for creators dubbed "bad" for whatever reason. (I am not debating whether these reasons are justified or not, I know it varies on a case-by-case basis)

"But Ouija, why shouldn't I harrass that person and just credit the AU to the fandom?"

Because it's a genuinely shitty thing to do. It's literal theft. Unless the creator blatantly says their creation belongs to someone else now, what you're doing is theft and there is no good defense for that. Yes, even if the creator is an asshole. Yes, even if the creator isn't active in the fandom anymore. Plus, if you sell the impression that it is OKAY in this fandom to take things that aren't yours, things you DID NOT CREATE, you are going to teach others that that behavior is perfectly acceptable, and along the way, discourage other creators from sharing their work. You will actively participate in what makes this fandom look so monstrous to outside audiences. Congratulations, you have become the asshat you didn't have the awareness or foresight to think you would become. I hope you have enough sense to not want that outcome.

Stop that. Do something else, you have plenty of options here. Creating your own shit is the one I highly recommend.

Sometimes the best things are written out of spite and instead of pouring your energy into harassing some random middleschooler for drawing Rose Quartz just a little too thin for your liking -- fuck you by the way -- do better.

Let me give you an example.

I hate the fandom's spin-offs of Dreamtale and there are very few exceptions to this statement.

I said it.

I fucking hate them. Not gonna specify which ones, just know I absolutely despise most of them. I find that next to none of them have any real passion or love put into them, no effort or respect to the source material whatsoever. The vast majority of them were created to specifically target Joku, and there was no genuine drive in that project outside of that one thing, which is malicious intent. Congratulations, you have submitted yourself to uhealthily parasocial behavior. This is unfortunately a theme I see in quite a few fandom remakes of other AUs as well. You don't like the creator, therefore, you assume you can do "better" despite knowing jack shit about what they actually created. (I am not defending Joku by the way. I'm saying this behavior reflects badly on whoever does it and has done it within the past eight years.)

They're boring, and if not boring, absolutely horrific. A lot of the time, they're used to romanticize shit like incest, abuse, and other inherently harmful things that should NEVER be presented in a favorable light. This is NOT me saying it's a bad thing to want to make your own versions of AUs and put your own spins on them, that is not what I am saying at all, and I literally did the same fucking thing several times over. Just bear with me here, I am begging you.

I made my own variation of Dreamtale using a few concepts I liked and ran in the complete opposite directions of both the original version -- which is actually fascinating when I learned about it thanks to Sarco -- and the fandom's trashy as hell boring as shit versions of it that makes watching paint dry seem like a more entertaining spectacle. I did this not out of hate for Joku, someone I don't fucking know (nor should I personally care about), but out of fascination for the Dreamtales I did see and picked and chose what ideas I liked, then added a lot more ideas from other inspirations. This is not a new concept, just about everyone does this.

What I am saying is that instead of talking shit with no supporting evidence and doing your best to humiliate someone you don't like on the internet (which in this fandom are people you don't even FUCKING KNOW, nor have 90% of you been present for the actual issues in action, if there were any), apply that energy to your own projects. That is arguably the more productive and enjoyable thing to do.

Hell, Palworld was made to spite Nintendo for being boring pieces of corporate shit, and that piece of work turned out to be pretty fucking good. (Note that spite in this context is used as a creative drive, not malice)

American McGee's Alice was made using the concept of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland out of literal LOVE for the original story.

Ever After High was made out of the ORIGINAL FAIRY TALE STORIES that Disney twisted into being more kid friendly to various successful extents.

A lot of the AUs Sarco and I tore apart and rebuilt take small aspects from the originals and tweak them just enough that it makes a wave of difference, and we later expanded them to have MASSIVE differences. This isn't to flex or put others down. I am just sick and tired of seeing a bunch of people online (mostly people who left this fandom) saying "there's nothing good in the fandom anymore" and it makes me want to grab my giant ass Edgar Allen Poe collection and beat them over the head with it. ...Figuratively, I stress that part. I don't wanna go to jail. I'm frustrated, I know that's obvious. What I really want to do is encourage more creativity than the constant rehashing of the same shit repeatedly, and perhaps make it abundantly clear that shitty behavior is not something that should drive ANY community. I mean I'm not the boss of you, by all means create whatever you want, it would just be nice to see more variety than I do today, y'know? Give me more weird shit like Gastale and GZtale did, something that makes it stand out and has room for so much more character exploration and fascinating concepts. Hell, I would LOVE to see more OCs too! There should always be room for more of those. But perhaps you're already doing all that, and I just haven't seen it yet. I'm still re-learning how to navigate this fandom and all it has to offer, after several years of inactivity as a mere observer, and now as a creator.

If you want me to expand on all of this and also help with giving you all some concepts and even an example just ask. I'll happily type a mountain for you to help you all with expanding your creativity. -- Ouija

[broomsick]

Heathen-izing your spring celebrations

The earth wakes up from its slumber, snowdrops poke through Skaði's coat of frost, yada yada. You guys know I'm not such a huge fan of spring. I do have, after all, a favorable bias towards winter (sue me). However, something paganism has helped me develop is the taste for each of the seasons our planet has to offer. Having worshipped Freyr for quite a long time, I've come to appreciate the beauty of spring. For one, the celebrations that come with the equinox. Spring festivals carry quite the unique, undeniable excitement, after all! Which is why I'm very happy to share some of my personal practices and ideas regarding norse-paganism oriented spring festivals.

Quick disclaimer! Unlike Jól, the celebration of spring in Iron Age Scandinavia and within the Germanic tribes is quite poorly documented. We've got access to little to no sources describing practices surrounding spring or the spring equinox. Still, I hope this handful of personal ideas and practices prove useful to you! I've summed up a few interesting historically attested (or attested-ish) practices as well, but I suggest looking into them by yourself if you're interested in more detailed information.

The basics

I'm going to assume that many of you are already familiar with what neo-pagan sources generally consider the "symbols" of the spring equinox. Why the rabbit? Because spring marks the beginning of the mating season among hares and lagomorphs. Why the eggs? Because they're a symbol of birth and renewal. Still, neither one of these symbols has any strong ties to historical practice, least of all in Germanic traditions. In the case of Scandinavian practice specifically, the painting of eggs is more often than not believed to have originated within Christian circles before moving north. That doesn't mean, however, that the symbols of hares/rabbits and eggs can't be used in pagan practice! I use them to decorate for the spring equinox no matter their origin, simply because I really do think they fit with the mood, for the reasons previously mentioned. I also love using local symbols of spring, such as snowdrops, to decorate. If you're looking to weave more norse pagan tradition into your celebration, phallic idols/representations are the way to go. They are a major symbol of Freyr, who is closely tied to spring. By worshipping this symbol, you are asking for the prosperity of the land! You can start by "cleansing" the symbol, so to speak, using incense smoke or water depending on what material it is made out of. I tend to use melted snow to cleanse it, to further the symbolism of spring. If you're on a budget or simply aren't interested in buying such an idol, anything can still be turned into a phallic symbol, honestly. A simple tree branch you've picked up outside could do the trick nicely, after you've trimmed away whatever sticks out of it! This is just an example, but I'll trust your creativity to find anything that you feel works as a phallic symbol.

Deity work/worship

At this time of year, it's also pretty commonplace to make offerings to the Vanir, the landvættir and your local Dísir! You can thank them for the summer that has passed, and the one that’s to come. You can ask for a plentiful year, and for an abundance of resources. If you’re not sure how to go about working with landvættir, I suggest taking a quick look at this previous post I made on the topic of land spirit work. Landdísir are especially venerated by neo-pagans at this time of year, because they are considered the guardians of one’s land. By offering something to them, and/or the landvættir, you show your respect for the land itself. I’ve already spoken a bit about worship of Freyr for the coming spring, but let me dig a little deeper on that topic. I almost feel compelled to do so because his association with spring was so widespread that he was at the center of an important springtime festival called Disting. This festival was especially important in Uppsala, where large numbers of people would gather to make sacrifices for victory, and where lovers would allegedly exchange gifts. However, Disting and Dísablót are very often mixed up, as the difference between the two vary depending on the region. But back to our main topic: springtime Freyr worship today. Effigies of boars make for great decoration to invoke the benevolence of the King of Kings. After all, the boar held a major role in his worship: it's generally viewed as his fylgja, and boars were sacrificed to him on Yuletide, according to the Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks. This is the reason I treat my loved ones and myself to boar meat around the equinox, or when it's truly starting to feel like spring. I cook a meal out of boar (trying to change up the recipe every time!) and share it around to family members or neighbors. In fact, the act of sharing has become quite an important part of my worship of Freyr. It allows me to embody his generosity and benevolence! You could see this as a form of devotional. Now if you’re looking for more ideas on Freyr worship, this other post I wrote could prove useful!

The next deity I'll be touching on is the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre (otherwise called Ostara), who understandably comes up often when researching the Vernal equinox. We unfortunately know very little about her, including whether she was ever worshipped in history. One thing's for sure, though: she is certainly worshipped by many pagans today, which is why I would suggest looking, not only into historical sources, but also into SPG and UPG if you're interested in devoting a ritual/offering to her. She is heavily associated with dawn, which is why her devotees will sometimes wake up to see the sun rise on the day of the equinox. Dew and flowers are common offerings to her! While I’m at it, let’s talk about flowers some more. They are your best friends when it comes to decoration! Natural ones obviously feel a little more lively, but it’s also perfectly fine to use artificial ones, or even ones made out of paper! They make excellent material for crafts, and having flowers inside the house can be likened to inviting spring itself within your home.

At this time of year, many heathens also engage in Sigrblót ("victory sacrifice"), a blót for victory, or success. This conveniently aligns with Freyr worship, which is often oriented towards finances, personal success or else, due to his association with fertility. The Sigrblót was attested in the Ynglingasaga, though it could be better described as a celebration of the coming summer rather than of spring itself. Now, this celebration is sometimes called Somarsdag ("summer's day"), and it's often said to happen on the fourth full moon after Jól, or on the 16th of April. However, if you aren't tied to any particular group and tend to perform blót alone, I'd say Sigrblót could very well be celebrated on any designated day which feels right to you. Pretty much all the information we have on that sacrifice is speculation, but it would make plenty of sense to perform it around the equinox, in my opinion. The Sigrblót is the perfect occasion to set some goals for yourself! After all, you’re asking for victory! What’s a project you wish to see succeed this year? Since Óðinn is very tightly associated with victory, you can choose to involve him in this ritual, by devoting an offering or a song to him, for example.

Another practice that’s great for a springtime celebration is lighting a fire! It’s a great way to symbolize the return of the sun and warmth. If you are interested in sun worship or if you already actively engage in it, this is an opportunity to do something for Sól! This activity is something that makes for a beautiful devotional. If your area is already pretty warm and if you’ve got the right fixtures, why not make a bonfire outside! And if your area, like mine, still looks like it’s halfway through January, a fire in the hearth will do the job perfectly. Lighting candles does the trick as well, and what's useful about them is that you can carry them around your home, so as to “spread the sun’s light” in your living area, and set them on windowsills to welcome the sun! I actually usually couple the lighting of the hearth with the Sigrblót. Once the blót is performed, I can throw written prayers or wishes in the fire. Though it doesn’t stem from any historical ritual, I’ve developed the habit of carving the simple shape of the Isa rune on a piece of wood, which I throw in the fire to symbolize the end of winter, the melting of the ice! A means of saying goodbye to winter that’s passed, so to speak. If you’re working with candles, this could be done by writing the rune on a piece of paper.

[internetgiraffekid1673]

Milo Johnson Through the Ages:

This is post number 6 for The Cross Roads, and the last of our main characters! The Cross Roads is my little pet project of a crossover between Milo and the Phantom Tollbooth, the Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland. It focuses on all the main kids from those stories going to the same high school and going on whacky adventures through their various Magical Otherworlds.

More info about the AU, additional notes, and non-formatted drawings under the cut. Here are the posts for Alice, Wendy, John, Michael, and Dorothy.

Chicken Scratch Translation (in the order the boxes should be read):

[The Lands Beyond Era. Age: 10. Source: MS Paint pieces by Alice Lidell & Dorothy Gale]

[Notes: While he was quite apathetic and malcontent at this age, his adventure would open him to the possibilities of the world and permanently change his personality.]

[Lovable Outcast Era. Age: 16. Source: Sophomore year back-to-school selfie]

[Notes: Liked by just about everyone, but he has some quirks that keep people from getting close, like his extreme enthusiasm, occasional depressive episodes, and habit of talking about magic like it's real.]

[Insane Teacher Era. Age: 27. Source: School Staff Photo]

[Notes: He's a kind and competent elementary school teacher who is also so enthusiastic that most students are convinced he's nuts. He's basically a male Valerie Frizzle.]

AU info:

The source materials I am drawing from for this AU are: the book for Milo and the Phantom Tollbooth; the 1939 Warner Bros movie for The Wizard of Oz; both the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass books; mostly the Disney movie for Peter Pan, but with elements of the stageplay and the book as I see fit. This is mostly due to my familiarity with these source materials, but there are a few other canon-welding/writing reasons too.

This is a modern AU taking place sometime between the 90's and the 2010's.

The story will be just about evenly split between slice-of-life high school adventures and a fantastical plot that will take them through all the Magical Otherworlds seen in the original stories.

The school is 7-12. At the time of the main plot, Alice and Michael are 8th graders, Milo and John are sophomores, and Dorothy and Wendy are seniors.

The story takes place in rural Kansas, U.S.A., somewhere around Dodge City (as you may have guessed from Milo's T-shirts). While the original events of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan still took place in England, both families moved to the same area in Kansas sometime after the events of canon. Milo, was initially from some random suburban town in a different U.S. state. This decision was made for a number of reasons, first and foremost being that I am not British, I'm American, and writing in America will be much easier for me. Secondly, it had to be Kansas because my characterization of Dorothy has her very attached to her home and farm, and they'd literally never move unless they were forced to. Third, the original events of at the very least Alice in Wonderland had to still take place in England, because. . . well, if you've never read the books, let's just say Alice is very British and Wonderland is her creation, and we'll leave it at that.

There will be ships in this AU: Dorothy x Wendy and John x Milo (what were you expecting something straight? This is tumblr!). Dorothy and Wendy are both sapphic, although they're still figuring out where they are under that umbrella. John is gay and Milo is aspec. Since this is the Milo post, I finally did my deep diving into his character, and decided he is asexual and demiromantic. These identities will be respected in his ship. Alice and Michael will not be actively shipped with anyone, but Alice is pan and Michael is the token straight.

These information files exist in universe! Who assembled them? Great question, hopefully I end out writing the damn thing so ya'll can find out. >:')

Additional Notes:

Thanks so much for sticking with me through this art series. It's not the last of The Cross Roads by any stretch of the imagination, but any art I post for them will now be a bit less organized and a bit more "I had brainrot and doodled the kids."

On the ages: So. I based all their ages and the relative time they had their adventures on the Darling's ages, because they're siblings and are spaced out in canon. I decided that the initial events of Peter Pan took place 5 years before The Cross Roads main plot, when Wendy had recently turned 12 and John and Michael were just shy of 10 and 8 respectively. 5 years later puts them at recently 17 and about to start senior year, recently 15 and about to start sophomore year, and recently 13, about to start 8th grade. I do believe Michael's age is incorrect on his post, since I hadn't done all the proper math quite yet.

Anyway, I slotted the other 3 in between them. Alice actually had her first adventure a little earlier than everyone else to account for the fact that Looking Glass is already Time-Skipped from Wonderland. She went to Wonderland when she was 7 (a solid 6 years before the plot), and went to Looking Glass Land when she was 9 (4 years before the plot). Everybody else had their adventures in the year in between those two. Milo had his adventure while he was 10. Dorothy was 13 when she went to Oz, and is one of the oldest kids in her grade.

Other time events include Milo moving to Kansas about a year after his adventure (4 years before the story), the Darlings moving a year after that (3 years before the story), and Alice moving a year after that (2 years before the story). I do have plans to explore the intermediate stages as their group forms, and how they ended out clocking each other as fellow magical interdimensional travelers.

I made up Milo's last name because he doesn't have one in his original book or movie. That's why it's so boring and unassuming. I didn't want to get too crazy with it.

Dodge City Kansas' mascot is actually the Conquistadors, but this is my universe, and if I say it's the Twisters for comedic reasons, then it's the Twisters. Also, Milo is specifically wearing a shirt bought from their baseball team.

I have also updated all previous posts in the series to have links to all other posts. Let me know if I need to make a masterpost.

Unformatted Drawings:

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Arc 1, Reflections

Well, Arc 1 down, time to reflect.

First and foremost, I do like it. I mean, I'm not really happy in some ways that I'm committing myself to reading this whole thing, and a significant part of the reason I'm reading worm now is because I have fic ideas I developed after reading all the discussions I read and reading various fanfics, and I at least have enough self-respect as a fanfic writer to believe one needs to read the source material to write fanfic about it.

Also spite, tbh. Because while yes, one cannot have a completely informed opinion about things that happen in a story without consuming that story, one can still have a reasonably informed opinion under some circumstances, and I'm going to find out if my opinion on the thing is the same once I've read the whole thing. (I was going to read it eventually anyway, or so was the plan, but spite plays a role in why now. If my opinion doesn't change, I'll feel vindicated, if it does, I'll never mention the previous thing again and pretend it never happened).

Anyway:

As a first arc, there's not that much that happens apart from the Lung Fight (which is like saying not much happens in the first half of a New Hope that isn't Darth Vader killing Obi-Wan, I suppose), but there's some vital establishing character moments, key worldbuilding, and a ton of tantalizing questions left open - what caused Taylor to be hospitalized? Where did the powers come from? If you judge the timelines around, the two are linked, obviously.

Why do Emma, Sophia and Madison hate her? Why is the school system quite this fucking broken (Which, tbh, I don't really buy. Each part of the bullying feels realistic, but the whole picture *and* the sheer degree by which the system is just... doing nothing, really does strain credulity. There's a reason a lot of fanfics use various fanon explanations to try to make sense of it. As a whole, it all feels a bit gratuitous).

I believe I heard once that Wildbow tried out a lot of main characters for this story before settling on Taylor, and I wonder what it is about Taylor in particular that made him think it was such a good choice. She doesn't seem a bad choice, and obviously without Taylor Worm either doesn't exist or is unrecognizable, so obviously it worked out.

Danny wants to be a good dad, and just... can't. There's too much going on, crossing that distance is hard, and each day it gets harder.

Taylor desperately wants to be a hero, but stumbles right out of the gate.

Armsmaster is a hero, but he's also a bit of a prick, even if his prickishness in this scene has been overstated.

The powers and the way they work, such as we know of them, are fascinating to think about so far. How do they interact, what cancels what, etc? I can certainly see why this story would have hit Spacebattles's buttons so very hard - right at the start you get the seemingly weak power being overoptimized and used to nearly take down a guy like Lung, who is presented as a huge hitter. Sure, it take's Bitch's dogs to really take him down at the end, but even then, the dogs alone probably wouldn't have been enough either.

But when Taylor used her powers cleverly, along with a bit of luck, and then the fortuitous arrival of the Undersiders to help finish the job... well, in the end, it does rather work.

Overall, I can also see why people bitch about TINO so much - though I suspect a lot of that is people not understanding things like different interpretations or not thinking about how different experiences will change a person - but also, I can see why it would come up so much.

Taylor's voice is a little hard to pick out, because... well, it's all Taylor's voice except in the interludes. But the writing in the main chapters (of Arc 1 anyway)... it feels more like... narration that is detached, than by a character who's right there in it all, feeling the emotions.

Honestly, I felt more emotional depth from Danny in his 3rd person interlude than I did from Taylor in her 1st person main story, at least pound for pound.

Not that we don't get any hints of Taylor's emotional state at various places, we do, but it feels much more... tell, rather than show.

Which may be a function of the way Taylor acts and feels, especially after a year and a half of bullying, but I also think it's a limitation of the 1st person narration, tbh.

There's a reason why I don't really care for it. Not enough to make me not read it, but enough to be noticeable.

Anyway, all this aside, I do like it. Fic ideas or spite aside, if I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't choke it down. I'm not that kind of masochist, nor do I have that kind of time.

[thenanamisimp]

This isn't something I've really done much since I started this blog but I really wanted to discuss this week’s TGCF episode.

This is your spoiler warning!!

Heaven official's blessing season 2, episode 6 spoilers but there are also discussions of the respective scenes from volume 2 so if you haven't finished reading the novel, I'd suggest maybe not reading this post.

For context, I saw a user on twitter discuss how the donghua has been adapting Hua Cheng's display of emotions towards Xie Lian.

Source

I also saw another user discuss the difference between how the novel/audio drama and the donghua have been showing Hua Cheng expressing emotions.

(I can't share the source as the OP is now private on twitter)

While I haven't actually listened to the audio drama and I'm only on my first re-read of TGCF, these posts inspired me and I have thoughts and opinions that I need to share before I implode (one day it’ll happen I swear).

The scene the posters are talking about is after hcg saves xl from the heavenly Xianle palace, where they talk about what happened at paradise manor (aka xl apologising for burning down the armoury and lying to hcg about the earth master and hcg apologising for hurting xl’s arm).

In the donghua, we see hcg very obviously upset. He appears obviously and genuinely very sad about having hurt xl, even with the whole incident having been an accident. The distress in his eyes and voice is evident and clear-cut, seeming perhaps even a bit childish. In contrast, when reading this scene in the novel, while hcg definitely comes across upset, his distress appears a bit more calm and collected and he instead truly seems like a responsible adult who made a mistake and is sincerely apologetic for it to xl.

I believe that there’s multiple reasons why the dongua team chose to show hcg’s emotions in the way that they did. In my opinion, a reason why they could’ve chosen to do it this way is because of censorship. Now hear me out; clearly as a western fan I can’t speak much on Chinese censorship as I’m not highly knowledgable on the subject. However, I’d like to believe that the producing team is trying to work around the censorship laws in their own way. By making hcg’s emotions a little more over-the-top and obvious, it’s a lot easier for us as the viewer, especially queer fans that might understand queer dynamics better than others, to see and pick up on the subtext of what those exaggerated emotions mean while never having to be said out loud. And yes, we could argue that for those of us who have read the novel, it’s easier to recognise those subtle moments of vulnerability even if hcg’s reaction was made as ambiguous as it is in the book, because we have a lot more context. We have to remind ourselves that Hualian’s love story is never gonna be shown in the donghua in the same as the novel and people who are new to the story won't pick up on their relationship as easily.

As someone who hand’t heard of TGCF until Netflix licensed the donghua in my region (in 2021 I think?), I actually highly appreciate this difference in hcg’s character in the donghua. And while I don’t appreciate queerbaiting, watching season 1 made me search for the original source material and ended up with 8 very expensive books on my shelf (it took me 2 years to find volume 2 in stock somewhere…. 2 YEARS because I refuse to buy from amazon). San Lang (specifically referring to hcg’s form in volume 1 or season 1) is definitely slightly more aloof and energetic than hcg in his real form, so I do believe that his adaptation in season 1 was a lot more true to the source than season 2 seems to be.

My personal opinion is that, we need to view the donghua with a little more leniency as they have limits to the scenes they will be adapting later on (if the donghua doesn’t get dropped. Let us all pray together) and they have to make some things a little more obvious (but still no homo) to keep as much of the gay factor as they can without getting, you know, arrested. At the end of the day, it comes down to us what we prefer to consume and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people preferring one over the other. It's valid to prefer hcg in the novels and it's valid to also enjoy hcg's donghua adaptation, even if he's different and not completely true to the OG material.

Now when it comes to the whole “making xl seem oblivious thing”…. The jury is still out on this one I’m afraid. This was the final scene of the latest episode meaning, we don’t actually know how they’re gonna adapt the following scenes and this could very heavily affect the way xl reacts from here on. An adaptation is just that and like mentioned before, the donghua team has to make decisions on how to adapt things due to censorship. And at the end of the day, I think this is an interesting take on xl’s character as one of the biggest parts of his character is how he struggles to accept love and care from other people so one can argue that… He actually is oblivious in this scene? Especially at this point in the story considering he’s known hcg for like, a week, 2 weeks max (do not quote me on that, I haven’t actually calculated, I am lazy. Point is, he hasn’t known him for very long at this point in time). And while I would for sure be a bit disappointed if he still is presented like this later on in the story, we’re still too early into it to criticise the donghua over this and future scenes that haven’t even been touched yet. It’s not in any way fair to base our opinions on the upcoming scenes on a singular 2 minute clip of Hualian’s interaction.

So, I have said my peace. Please remember that everything I’ve discussed is purely my opinion and not fact, so take this post with a grain of salt. I’d actually love to discuss this further with people so please send asks if you have anything to add!

(This is also another good post to read about the censorship stuff I talked about in this post. I like how this user phrased it.)

Once again, thank you for reading a (lengthy for once) ramble!

theNanamiSimp

[rei-caldombra]

The time hath come! For a passionate post of one of my favorite series Demon Girl Next Door / Machikado Mazoku. (above image made by me)

Just wanna say right away that I adore this show and I am largely just bringing up positives. This is a gushing post that ended up being super long. And reminder that my writing isn’t meant to be all encompassing and describe the show in every detail. So if there’s something I mention about the show that intrigues you, you should check out the source material (and if I encouraged you to do that then I've succeeded!)! This will contain direct spoilers. I do not bring up every single aspect of the plot and characters, but I bring up many of them. Skip to the end if you just want to hear a short conclusion. 

DGND is incredibly dense despite how simple it seems on the surface. This show is so much more than just goofy wholesome fun. 

When it comes to stupid moe derpy characters, i think Shamiko is one of the best examples of this archetype. She has plenty of personality aside from that. Some stupid characters feel like they only exist to be stupid for gags. They genuinely don’t seem like they can function as a human being on their own, to the point of feeling like they could be offensive portrayals of mental retardation. 

But Shamiko is well rounded. She is not JUST a character who is dumb. Her lack of smarts and common sense does actually have some explanation too. You learn that the curse on Shamiko’s family has a physical effect as well. Shamiko spent most of her childhood in intensive care at a hospital, her physical issues exacerbated by the curse. And Shamiko was not just taking on her portion of the curse, her soul had chosen to take on Ryo’s portion of the curse as well. Before she awakened to her demon heritage, she wasn’t even able to walk through her school without collapsing. She was not able to get a proper education very well before the start of the series.  She had less opportunities than most to get normal experiences. She also had little capacity to be physically active, which gives more reason for her being pathetically weak than because the jokes of her being incapable demand it. This strength of writing just gets better as the series goes on because we see her develop into a character that is less incompetent and less physically weak. Rather than riding on these same failure jokes, we actually see Shamiko develop into a character who is capable. She manages to defeat a magical creature on her own, Sakura (the character who set up this whole town and is the most important non main character in the overall story) basically passes the torch of being the town’s caretaker on to her, she is the leader of the operation and successfully uses her abilities to remove Mikan’s curse and save Ugallu. She starts out the series as incompetent and capable of very little, being liked but looked down on by most of the cast. But she grows to be respected by everyone, to the point where Momo and Mikan eventually do consider themselves her “minions”. She truly grows from a dumb and unconfident little girl into a leader that very capable people like Momo and Mikan see as an equal. She grows mentally as well as physically. She gets access to more magical abilities, she gets less physically unwell, she gets more confident in herself. 

Ryo is shown to be very smart, which makes sense in comparison to Shamiko because she was healthy enough to be in school. And she is not just naturally smart, she actually has the drive to be smarter as she wants to support her sister. Which you can say is her wanting to support Shamiko in return for how Shamiko took on her portion of the curse. Ryo stands out more than just the “smart child” archetype she fits into. DGND is filled with details that elevate even the minor characters into more than just archetypes. 

Shamiko still has the motivation to win and get stronger, but she realizes intentionally hurting Momo or another magical girl isn’t the way she wants to go about it. And she doesn’t want Momo to hurt herself to get her the blood either. Especially when we learn from the accidental blood offering that the result of using blood to lift the curse permanently weakened Momo slightly. Which by reading into the subtext you realize means she lost mana, which according to the way they describe magical girls in this universe, is her entire existence. This is one specific example of how dark subject matter is present in the generally goofy and bubbly story.  

I love Shamiko and Momo’s dynamic, it's the crux of this series and the appeal. Their “rivalry” quickly develops into basically being just a roleplay bit between the two. It changes from Shamiko wanting to physically beat Momo to effectively emotionally overtaking her. She wants to be respected by Momo and make Momo into her vassal. It still has the original intention of making Momo submit to her, but in a more intimate and consensual way. It doesn’t feel like the idea of defeating Momo in battle was forgotten, it feels like Shamiko’s goals and motivations naturally change. 

You really buy into Shamiko and Momo’s friendship because we get so much time with them together. There are other characters who are important and get screen time, but Shaminomo is the focal point. 

DGND is legitimately the only ship I care about in all of anime. Their personalities mesh so perfectly. Simplest way to describe them is tsundere x kuudere. I really want to put emphasis on me, someone who has never cared for shipping, am very into this ship. I live for cute fanart of them together. They have so many cute and funny interactions. The way their personalities flip on the stereotypes of a demon and magical girl are very good. Shamiko is incredibly pure, always wanting to help people and find a peaceful solution. On the other hand Momo is fairly dark in the way she thinks, being more conniving and directly confrontational when a situation comes up. 

There’s so many situations where the series has very obvious romantic subtext. And I fully buy into it, it works so well. Its romantic af. I also think their dynamic is written very great because you don’t HAVE TO interpret their relationship as romantic. You can see it as just very close friends. Or you can see them as having a sisterly bond, having the report of both argumentative and caring similar to how I’ve heard people describe sisters. The idea of Momo’s (not blood relative) sister’s core literally being in Shamiko also lends some credence to this interpretation. 

Do I think they’re gonna be in a romantic relationship by the end of this? Probably not. But that doesn’t necessarily mean this is trashy gay baiting. I think it being up to interpretation is fine when it’s backed up by good writing. And here it absolutely is. And even though I made the point that you could see it as unromantic, I just can’t lol. Just to give one example- Shamiko learns about the vassal contract (aka demon marriage) that her Mom and Dad went through and then immediately goes to Momo and says she should be her vassal. That scene has very obvious romantic intention and you cannot deny it. And this moment is not just some one-off thing to get the yuri fans going again, the idea of Momo becoming Shamiko's vassal is very important going forward from there.

I love these two so much as a couple. They have hilarious back and forths, their personalities mesh very well, we see their growing understanding of each other, they can be adorably possessive at times, there's is just so much endearing and charming about their dynamic. I finally understood how people who are super into a ship feel. 

All of the characters are at least enjoyable in some way, but the heart of the show is the main duo. And the show never really tries to go against that. If you don’t ship Shamiko and Momo that's fine, but to me it never really presents anyone else as super shippable other than Mikan, and It's very clear that isn't something the show itself is pushing. 

To quickly go on about other core characters- Lilith is really great, she is really cute and has a lot of funny jokes. And later on she ends up spending less time being the butt of jokes and is genuinely very helpful. Ryo is cute and her relationship with her sister is super wholesome, Mikan is really great and gets a lot of personality and more to do S2 onwards, Shamiko’s mom has some funny moments and has an interesting role, Anri is funny and a good goofball friend, Lico is a funny addition who grew on me a lot, Shirosawa has some funny moments and works as a straight man to Lico’s shenanigans (as well as being the only male character in the show), Sion was my least favorite at first but she also gets a lot to do later and gets more characterization than just “occult + science girl”. 

DGND has a much larger and overarching story than most cute wholesome shows do. And it’s written very well. It seems like this would be a mostly episodic cute event of the week kind of story, but its got a heavy story and complete continuity. Story details are spread out well, dripped in between various normal moments in the show. There are constantly little hints being thrown around about the history and background elements. A lot of things that initially seem like just gags actually end up being relevant to a later scene or the overall story. There are a lot of visual details that end up being used later. The story resonates very strongly because the characters are deeply involved in it. A simple story for this simply could’ve been “an evil threat enters the peaceful town and Shamiko and crew need to stop it” with some random villain. Instead, everyone is relevant. Shamiko’s father is involved, Momo’s sister is involved, Shamiko being in the hospital is involved. The town and the characters in it really feel like they have history, and that history is very important to them and the story. And the story does have a lot of dark elements to it. I really like how this very positive and upbeat series has these serious and dark accents that help to balance it out. It makes it more engrossing. It's a very good mix of goofy with enough dark and dramatic elements to make you pause and think seriously about what is going on. The show manages to have plenty of simple episodic bits where it's just the characters being cute and having fun, but not too often or lacking little bits that remind you that there's a serious story and deeper issues. The story generally just continues being interesting and engaging, it never really dips. There are lots of mysteries that you really want to know the answers to. 

One moment I like from episode 12 is when Shamiko, Momo and Lilith are talking about Shamiko becoming her vassal.

This just seems like a joke in the moment since they are calling out how Momo is much more like a Demon and should fall to darkness by becoming Shamiko's vassal. Later on this is exactly what happens, despite Momo declining becoming her vassal. But even if you did immediately think this is foreshadowing, when it does come back up it's not exactly how or when you would expect it. So, it's interesting and surprising whether you assumed its foreshadowing or not. This is just one of many moments and a more direct one where something you expect to just be a joke ends up being an important detail later that gets revisited.

A truly unique aspect of the town is how demons and magical girls are set up to not interact with each other. That is in order to apparently keep the peace. Shamiko is able to transcend this because she has Sakura’s core. So she is the only one who can unite all the magical people in the town in order to figure things out and protect the town. I really like this detail. 

To compare DGND to another one of my favorite series, the town of DGND feels similar to Morioh of Jojo part 4. Over time we spend so much time getting to know different places and people in it that it grows into a place that you can believe exists. You see all the moving parts and areas that make it function. You can imagine where people go and what they do outside of what's directly on screen. This is what is required to make a fully realized setting, and as a result makes the story very engrossing. Reaching this should be the main goal of a series that has a static setting, and I feel both these shows excel at this.

There is so much well written slow growth in the series. Shamiko and Momo opening up to each other, Shamiko growing more capable, Lilith being able to interact more, the characters learning about the history of the town. It's very satisfying and feels natural. Its distributed very well. 

Where many stories rely on big lore dumps, DGND never has this problem because of how well details are parceled throughout the series. Momo starts out as a very taciturn character you don’t know much about. Momo never goes on some long rant about her entire sad backstory in one moment. That isn’t necessary because if you pay attention during the dialogue, you can get all of it in a more natural way. As it comes out organically through her conversations with Shamiko and other characters and when the story actually demands that information. She doesn’t need to directly say that she is depressed because you can figure that out from how she talks and acts in little moments. She doesn’t need to directly say why she is not an active magical girl anymore because you can figure out that bad things went down from little moments in her conversations. The writing is not lazy and does not treat the viewer like they are dumb. It gives you the opportunity to speculate and figure things out yourself, then later when it makes sense for the characters to be direct, they clarify things. 

Putting great writing aside for just a moment, DGND is SO CUTE AND WHOLESOME. So many moments of the characters just getting along and having fun together that are super endearing. This show is just so charming and makes you smile. 

DGND is also very funny. Shamiko and Momo’s report is hilarious, especially at the beginning when they’re more at odds. There’s lots of silly weird gags, like puns and random goofy things. All over you can see little visual gags, like text on an object or a goofy item. DGND has a openly goofy tone that it presents confidently. One recurring joke that's really funny is how all the normal people react tamely to all the magical stuff that goes on. There’s a good mix of different kinds of jokes. There are also lots of gags parodying magical girls. I mentioned how I like how it has the negative perspective of magical girls to balance the positive aspects. The show continues to be very balanced by having magical girl parody as well as unironically cool magical girl things (mainly the transformations). It does its silly moments in good ways. Its goofy but doesn’t do it too much and make it feel like its random just for the sake of it. The anime mixes goofiness and story perfectly. I love the tone of this series so much. 

There isn’t exactly a ton of serious life messages, but there’s nice stuff about societal expectations and getting along with people. When it comes to the magical society, it's very clearly anti segregation and anti-stereotyping based on race. 

This show has the philosophy of “finding joy in the little things” that you see a lot in Japanese media. Such as the very poor Shamiko family still remaining happy. I’ve always vibed with this perspective and like how it's portrayed here. 

DGND is not the best-looking show visually in the animation department, but it is great where it matters, and the weaker parts are often played as a strength. The art is generally very good but the animation is very limited. But especially in season 1 the limited visuals are played very well. Whether it's the magical transformations still looking very good or using limited animation to do funny gags (like the EEEHHH gif you probably saw even if you did not watch the show when it first came out where they just wiggle around the static image). Imo the limited animation really doesn’t hurt the viewing experience. And it gets better in S2. All the magical transformations are really good. I think the coloring in particular for the anime are very nice. 

And there’s one visual aspect of DGND that takes a lot of extra effort, which is the character designs. One visually distinct thing that elevates DGND above a lot of anime is the number of outfits the main characters have. It adds so much more personality. They feel so much more alive because it feels like they actually have a closet full of clothes. There is so much more effort put into the character design. So many series just have the characters in a singular outfit 99% of the time. Which is understandable because that's easier to draw and replicate. But it can make them feel more like a character that only exists for that singular thing. Characters only shown in combat outfits are hard to imagine in another scenario when they aren't on the battlefield. With school uniforms it's hard to imagine then without them. But with DGND the number of outfits we get for the characters make it easier to imagine them in a variety of situations. They feel like they have lives because they have all the outfits they would for people who have normal lives. Sometimes shows feel like time stops in between what we as the audience see, like the characters don’t have lives outside of what we see. But DGND in multiple ways avoids this issue due to its character designs and other details. This is an incredibly important point to me. I absolutely love this aspect of the show and wish more shows did this. I have a lot more respect for the art of the show because of this point. 

Another character design aspect that is done very well is Shamiko’s tail. Her tail is incredibly expressive and constantly moving and changing. It portrays a lot of her emotions and is a thing for us and also the characters in the show to react to. I love the characters, primarily Momo, reacting to Shamiko’s tail expressions. It really shows how Momo pays attention to Shamiko and makes the characters feel like they have more spacial awareness. Bring that up because I feel sometimes shows can make characters appear to only see or hear what the writing allows them to in a questionable way. Verbal example of this is when a character says half a sentence before getting cut off, and everyone acts like they heard nothing at all. The anime portrays the tail well, and further makes Shamiko a very expressive and an interesting character to watch. Which is very important for a main character. 

While there can be limited animation it still succeeds at making the characters be very expressive. There are lots of great faces.

I also like all of the openings and endings. One thing nice about them is that they don’t directly spoil anything like many openings tend to but do have little things that can make you go “oh i know what that creature is” or “I get that now!”. 

Now to the sound design, which is immaculate. The anime has the best sound effects of anything I’ve watched. There are so many great goofy sound effects that add to the character's reactions. My favorite has to be the train whistle toy used when Shamiko or Lilith is angry. The sound effects further add to how expressive the characters feel. The creators clearly had a ton of fun doing the sound design and it comes through. A fun goofy soundtrack for a fun and goofy show. 

The music is also very good as a whole. I usually don’t pay a ton of attention to background music but I’m obsessed with DGND so I do here. I think the BGM fits well with the setting. They sound very magical and fantastical while also sounding modern. It's very peppy and can get high energy with Shamiko’s strong reactions, while also being very low during the slower moments. And sad when it needs to. I’m not great at describing good music since I’m not a huge fan of music, so I’ll just say it's far above average in my opinion. My favorite track is probably Shamiko’s transformation theme. 

The voice acting (just talking about the Japanese voice actors, i haven’t seen a lot of the eng dub) is super good. Of course, Konomi Kohara is absolutely amazing as Shamiko. She is the master of cute anime girl noises and gives so much energy in her performance. She brings out Shamiko’s wide range of emotions and mannerisms extremely well. Momo’s voice acting is also extremely good, the soft but dull voice perfectly fits Momo’s character. All around the voice acting is excellent but the main two really have their personalities on full display from the voice acting. 

When it comes to anime vs manga, I do like the manga. But the voice acting, soundtrack and anime additions add so much for me. I have to recommend the anime over the manga. But if you are more sensitive to the anime girl noises type of thing and find it annoying, you will likely enjoy the manga more. 

—---Here’s a good spot if you are skipping to the end—----

Each individual aspect of the show is strong. The characters and the world are very dense and endearing with great drama and emotion behind them. If you are into light romances, you will very much adore the sweet relationship between Shamiko and Momo. If you enjoy light fantasy then I feel DGND provides a unique world with interesting interpretation of magical girls and demons. If you just like comedies, DGND will keep you laughing constantly with its silly gags. If you enjoy a detailed story that builds over time, you should greatly enjoy the story here. If you just want girls doing cute and wholesome things there’s plenty of it. I really do recommend this series to anyone. 

I absolutely adore this series, it's very close to my heart. It’s in my top favorites and I consider it my comfort show. Fanart of DGND never fails to make me feel a little happier. I love this goofy world and its endearing characters. I love the complex and constantly developing story. I love the wholesomeness with dark flavors behind it. 

I had a ton of fun writing this one! It brought me a lot of joy getting back into the nitty gritty of this series. I wrote a ton for this and spent way more time on it than my other posts so far. Hopefully it wasn’t too much messier than the others in terms of formatting, separation etc. It’s so long and I didn’t want to spend a ton more time just doing minor edits lol. But I truly did put a lot into this one, it deserves it! I really tried to put down anything I thought of well and remove very little. I could go on even more if I let myself, but I do not want to force it and have this take a long time. I've written enough, I'm satisfied.

Also if you want to hear more gushing about this show and get that episode by episode, I highly recommend Anime Slushie’s YouTube videos on DGND. I like their discussions on the show. And re-listening to them helped me to get the writing juices flowing. If we get a season 3 you better believe I’ll be doing episode by episode posts where I go into detail on everything. 

I want to end this by wishing the absolute best to Izumo Ito, the author of DGND who has been combating health issues. Thank you for all your hard work on this amazing series! Thanks for reading! Please check out Demon Girl Next Door / Machikado Mazoku! And please give us season 3.

[idsfantasy]

Okay so, head up, I think your videos are cool and I respect the effort and work you put into theories. I also understand not every theory is going to be actually reflective of views, instead following different roads of logic to see what seems the most likely.

But the big reason why I think robot people being in the games is such a reviled concept by so many people, is that it feels like a lame twist that doesn't really accomplish anything and doesn't really go anywhere. And part of that is the source material it comes from. (Warning: long and emotive analysis incoming)

In the actual Fourth Closet book Charlie being a robot isn't handled well. She's written as a mostly normal human person with internal emotions, struggles, and thoughts only to be completely discarded because she's "not real". As soon as it's revealed, she immediately kills herself and Elizabeth with no narrative buildup, and the only possible resolution is a cliffhanger ending that is never fully explained and left up to speculation. We don't really feel the weight of this on anyone, except possibly John, who never discusses it with anyone and never actually ponders what that might mean beyond feeling bummed the girl he wanted to date is dead and also not human. It also gives Circus Baby a very needlessly convulted backstory for the sole purpose of having her run around in a humanoid form and double down on the henchwoman characterization introduced in FFPS.

It doesn't even really explain much beyond a few strange lines and wonky plot threads, it's a thing that happens and despite Charlie being a protagonist she doesn't really get to react to this.

Sammy is completely dismissed as a concept despite it being such a big deal in TSE and TTO and the whole point of Charlie's arc of acceptance and grief. And we get one line saying he's actually alive... and living with the mother Charlie herself mentions talking to in the past. It's a mess.

The only character who is made more intresting and given more weight by this reveal is Henry. Because it changes perception from "flawed man struggling with mental health but ultimately a very loving to father" to "all the above but also with those flaws much more prevalent and damaging". It's fascinating because what he does is incredibly messed up on so many levels, yet entirely understandable. Henry in the novels is a straight up antagonist, not a villian, and not actively malicious, but someone very poorly coping and causing harm by proxy. And that's reflective of a lot of people who are understandably struggling and need support, but at the same time refuse help and find themselves sinking deeper while their loved ones feel helpless. It's deeply tragic, and leaves Henry being a much more nuanced character, mainly because of the fact Charlie doesn't know quite how to feel about him. When she's still allowed to have thoughts, at least.

The whole point of the Charliebots is that grief and loss can make vulnerable people susceptible to delusion, and how that effects the children around them. Both the Charlie-bot and Circus Baby are shaped around trying to conform to a grieving parent who wants them to fill a role that at a certain point, they simply can't. The moment Charliebot stopped living past the age of three, she simply wasn't reflective of that real little girl anymore. She was someone new, based on the hopes and dreams her family had for her. The Charliebots are so so intricately linked to this theme, that I really feel removing the idea of androids from it is kinda insulting to the whole premise.

William blatantly says he couldn't build robots like that, Circus Baby is build upon a failed experiment her modified for his own use, even the Twisteds were implied to be a joint effort. He also simply didn't see his kids in the same way, I truly don't believe he would drive himself to that same point of delusion for kids he just doesn't love.

I've seen some fanauthors right really compelling narratives around these ideas, but they simply aren't in the actual texts. To approach something purely logistically is to deny to narrative and emotional potential of it.

Yes, it's 100% possible. I don't doubt Scott might try to do it. But that doesn't make it impactful. So if he doesn't want to engage with the premise outright, and doesn't say it outloud, then why should I care either? If he's not going to committ to the idea and explore it, then neither am I.

Glad you generally like my videos! And I understand that perspective, but I disagree. Honestly, I think robot people works great thematically for the modern era.

Ithink part of the interest with Charlie being a robot is that she's a robot, but she IS alive. She's not the original Charlie, but because of Henry's emotions she has her own soul.

With William, his goal iirc wasn't to create a human *looking* robot. His goal was to find a way to create that same spark of life that Henry did, but he wasn't able to. Elizabeth was the closest but she's still an actual human soul inside a robot.

When I suggest that robot people are present in the modern games, I don't think they were made out of love, and I don't think they have that artificial soul that Charlie in the books had, hence the connections to CC and Elizabeth. Heck, we know for a fact that there are robot people present in Tales, so why would that be impossible in the games? The issue wasn't making a human looking robot, it was giving said robots life.

Just because we can't see the end goal at the moment doesn't mean there isn't one. Additionally, assuming Scott isn't going to engage with the premise or saying it out loud is probably something to steer clear of. After all, the main evidence I use for Gregbot isn't the weird vision or him looking like the Crying Child, but the wall code in the Sister Location room that describes Gregory in SB to a T while also saying "I built the breath they hunt drawn to life not real still keen" etc. That seems pretty "out loud" to me given the obscurity of most things in these games tbh.

So I do think Scott has committed to the idea. That's why there are 3 robot people in Tales. That's why there are 2 Vanessas. That's why there's the wall code in SB. To me, it seems as though the themes of Help Wanted and onward are highlighting where the line is drawn between the real and the artificial, the virtual and genuine. And imo, having characters who blur the line between the mechanical world and the real and the spiritual adds pretty well to that whole theme. We just haven't seen everything play out yet since we're only partway through the arc.

I understand if you disagree, but I think writing it off as something to consider would be the wrong move personally. Hope you have a nice day :D

[vanillahub]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN.

respond to the prompts out of character!

what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have? Obviously, I'm heavily influenced by a set list of characters I personally love, which means I come up with a take/portrayal as I delve deeper into the lore. I tend to have a preference for side characters, rather than protags or lore heavy ones, bc of the freedom I get... BUT at the same time I've had numerous muses that carry a lot of weight in their respective franchises (see: Seto Kaiba, Captain Rex, rival Barry, Richter Belmont and Sea Dragon Kanon just to name a few).

I mainly write as canon characters, I genuinely have little to no interest in making or RPing as an OC. At most, I have 1 OC in two out of the RPCs I'm currently part of. Which explains this huge disparity.

is there anything you don’t like to write? My hard nos are Incest, Adult/minor types of relationships. Bodily fluids/toilet stuff and fetish focused RPs. One-liners and really short replies aren't fun for me, sure, they can be fun for crack/joke interactions. But they won't last long. I really love working and expanding on the source material, so RPs for me really need to have that good plotting to back it up. While I'm totally open for exploring darker/taboo subjects (e.g.: adultery, toxic relationships, etc.), they MUST carry weight on the characters and be handled accordingly.

is there anything you really enjoy writing? GIMME ALL THE WEIRD COMBOS TO INTERACT WITH!!! Characters that never met or barely interacted with one another in canon but, they can interact in our RPs!!! My jam is doing worldbuilding and expanding on the source material!!! I also enjoy writing comedy, fluff, romance, slice-of-life, over-arching stories that connect/get refferenced in other threads.

how do you come up with headcanons? I look for plotholes or anything that was barely touched upon, in the source material, and I go off from it. I try establishing connections or make them clearer, to serve as future reference for me and my RP partners. I also love taking influence from other medias I'm into.

do you write in silence or do you play music? I used to be able to multitask a lot easier in the past. Now, I mainly prefer writing in silence. Only in very rare cases, I may play some kind of lo-fi beat or lounge music.

do you plan your replies or wing them? It depends on the thread in specific! Most of them have been plotted out, so I go off what we have laid out. Only in a few cases I try to wing it.

do you enjoy shipping? YES YES. GIMME. However, due to some bad experiences in the past, I'm really picky with platonic and familial stuff (popular fanons my beloathed).

what’s your alias/name? Vani

age?  27

birthday? 19th of July

favorite color?  Purple, blue, white, red-

favorite song?  Tô de pé - Maneva

last movie you watched?  I genuinely can't remember it LOL. It must have been Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary.

last show you watched?  Saint Seiya Omega

last song you listened to? Discoholic - Disco Soul (Mr. Hoosteen's "Disco's Revenge

favorite food?  Pesto Pasta

favorite season?  Summer

do you have a tumblr best friend? Check these fellas out <3

These ppl know me for the longest time Gen ( @gems-of-lirema ), Simone (@unchcsen ) , Shiba ( @celestiialnotes ), Retto ( @245s ), Bobo ( @roleplayersoul ) and Smeargle ( @ofpokemon ) !! Really special mentions to @radi0activesmile, Val and @mxlik you guys will forever hold a v special place in my heart!!

Then I'm always chatting with Ama ( @gwiazdowe ), who genuinely is one of the best ppl I've met!! Honestly, I couldn't feel anymore happier to have met you! Can't forget urs truly Mica, who lives rent-free in my walls LOL. Lea ( @todefendlife ) and Mars own my house smfh.

And also special shout out to folks I've met more recently, but still deserve a place here: @shouxryuuxha / @wayfaringstrangxr / @eternalstarlights / @triko-the-fluffy-artist <3 Love u guys!

TAGGED BY: @mayxthexforce TYSM <3333

TAGGING: Anyone wanting to do this!! Just say I tagged you <3 !

[cageyworld]

A nuanced recommendation for "Unchained Love" (浮图缘 – fútúyuán)

“Nuanced” meaning a lot of disclaimers, probably. First one being: I’m a U.S. American viewer. I’ve been studying Mandarin at my university since 2021 and I watch a lot of Chinese shows, but I am not of the culture of the source material. Inevitably, my perspective of the show is colored by my own Western upbringing. I can’t pick up on the finer details of language, clothing, history, etc. that may rankle other viewers, nor will I be fully conscious of all the ways my cultural viewpoint impacts my perception of the show.

With that said: I’ve been so charmed by “Unchained Love” that I thought others—perhaps especially my fellow Western watchers of these lovely Chinese-made shows—might enjoy it, too. There’s a lot to love.

I will keep spoilers to a minimum.

Some highlights of why I love this show:

Women voicing their rage and grief about patriarchal systems

A romance of respect and clear communication

Badass Dylan Wang (looking incredible in his costumes)

Found family

Cute dog

Angst with a happy ending

Read on to allow me to persuade you even more…

CRITIQUES—A.K.A. “THE JANK.”

THE TONE

I’ve read the criticism that the tone can be uneven, especially if you come to this (like I did) right after watching 苍兰决 “Love Between Fairy and Devil”. I agree. The tone is super uneven throughout the series.

The storyline contains some truly horrific and dramatic elements (see the list of content warnings at the end of this post), and yet tries to maintain an overall soft, romantic dramedy feel. It’s not successful in this and does create some dissonance. This dissonance is only amplified by…

THE MUSIC

The opening theme is a banger, but the scoring choices throughout the show itself are distracting. Sometimes we get plinky, Mickey Mouse comedy music when the dialogue and acting convey drama and high stakes—and occasionally, vice versa. From my experience, this isn’t unique to “Unchained Love,” but oh boy, is it striking in this series. The music seems to work against the narrative at times. I found myself saying, “I don’t feel like laughing right now!” at the screen. There can be emotional whiplash, from the very serious to scenes suddenly meant to be effortlessly light-hearted. It is not effortless.

WHAT GOT CENSORED

This show got chopped for sure. From what I can tell, it was largely the scenes of more overt sexual content between Xiao Duo and Bu Yinlou. This couple becomes respectfully, mutually horny for each other and it’s a bummer that so much of that got trimmed. That said, what remains is still lovely (and quite sexy at times).

The ending is also rushed in a way that feels like aggressive editing. It ends happily for the characters I loved most, and leaves lots of room for fanfiction expansion or extension, but it’s still a little unsatisfying as a viewer.

WHY THESE DIDN’T PUT ME OFF, PERSONALLY

I was able to make peace with the uneven tone mostly because of where the unevenness struck. The most serious elements of the show nearly all revolve around some aspect of violence against women. While this violence was not always treated with the gravity it warrants, it also wasn’t played for laughs. The choice to include each of these incidents is questionable, but I never felt the show was downplaying the seriousness of that violence itself.

Also, I appreciated that the women were in the forefront of those moments. We were expected to empathize with their situation.

For example, the opening episode’s plot of the deceased emperor’s brides being hanged as tribute to him wasn’t shown entirely as the horrific nightmare that is—but it also didn’t make all the women nameless, weeping beauties who existed only as tragic figures. Our heroine comes from within that group, and we see each of the women find their own way to deal. Some (understandably) weep, others negotiate their way out or flaunt their privilege to do so, others accept their fate. And then you have our Yinlou who is always eyeing an escape or a new foothold to a better situation.

We’re invited, tacitly or actively, to identify with the women being murdered. The violence against them isn’t set dressing. It’s very much an implied motivator for everything Yinlou does—she is a woman who fears the “cages” in which society can trap women, so she’s repeatedly calling attention to all those various cages.

There’s a later scene that’s not of much consequence overall where Yinlou comes upon a concubines’ graveyard. There are no markers with their names. She comments upon this and identifies with them, as a woman in their same situation. I deeply valued moments like this in “Unchained Love”—a character acknowledging how men in power are so often surrounded by “nameless” women whose own hopes and lives are forgotten.

One of the show’s major themes is: It is dangerous when powerless women catch the eye of powerful men.

THE GOOD – A.K.A. WHAT MAKES EVERYTHING ELSE WORTH IT

DYLAN WANG as Xiao Duo

I mean, he’s why I’m here, so we gotta start with him. I adored his performance as Dongfang Qingcang in 苍兰决 and he’s even more impressive as Xiao Duo, the head eunuch of the feared Zhaoding Bureau (FYI: in episode 2, we learn he’s not actually a eunuch—he’s pretending). This is an Earth-bound tale, so don’t expect the wild range of body-swapping or high drama of Hellfire power. Instead, he gives a far subtler performance where the harshness of the character blends smoothly with his softer moments.

He makes excellent use of his ability to look cold and cruel, and even the fact that he’s very handsome is relevant to the plot (because he, too, catches the eye of someone dangerous and powerful). For me, he disappeared into Xiao Duo in this performance. His mannerisms, body language, and tightly controlled expressions all felt so consistent with this man’s lived experience. He felt thoroughly three-dimensional and authentic.

Xiao Duo judges him. You. Xiao Duo judges everyone. CHEN YUQI as Bu Yinlou

I left “Ashes of Love” having most enjoyed Chen YuQi’s performance, so I was thrilled to see her in this. I like her energy on screen, and her goofy little smiles. She’s an uncouth mess as Bu Yinlou, and yet can believably play the perfect imperial concubine when she needs to. My fellow Eowyn “I fear a cage” and Beatrice “if I were man, I’d eat his heart in the marketplace” girlies will love Yinlou. Her fear of that patriarchal cage is one of her primary motivations throughout the series, and Xiao Duo is often the Benedick to her Beatrice in a “name the heart and the marketplace, baby” kind of way. Yinlou’s go-to problem-solving strategies are: gamble, lie, or set it on fire (literally).

Yinlou shares her secret fourth method of problem solving. SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

Not a dud in the bunch as far as I’m concerned. Everyone’s acting is strong and all the major characters are given the opportunity to be three-dimensional, to have their own perspectives and hopes. I found one of the side love stories a bit silly and cringey, but even that couple won me over by the end. Yinlou’s closest companion is her servant (played by Nan He – Duo Er La from “Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty.” I was thrilled to see her!). Xiao Duo has his own devoted right-hand man, and even a himbo of a general. There’s manly devotion everywhere, women being friends, bonding with sex workers, and hierarchies dissolving to become “family.”

The four pillars of the found family.

A braincells trio.

XIAO DUO and BU YINLOU TOGETHER

This is very much a “the man falls first” story and it seems likely that some of the early scenes got chopped, which is unfortunate, but I will say, it didn’t bother me. Perhaps it’s my years of writing and reading fanfiction, but I could find the threads easily.

Bu Yinlou catches Xiao Duo’s eye first by being clever. He’s initially wrong about what she’s scheming—but he’s right that she’s a schemer who is smarter than she pretends to be. For her own survival, she tries to stay on his good side and he's used to people praising him (or paying him) to get his favor by flattering his power, his strength, his ambition. Bu Yinlou starts praising his kindness, his mercy, his intelligence. For his own reasons (no spoilers!), he’s deliberately made himself a terror. Bu Yinlou starts talking to the real person he is inside.

Xiao Duo gets the thumbs up from Yinlou.

We do get the delightful Chinese drama tropes like slow-motion gazing with the love theme playing, but I didn’t see it as a normal “oh, she’s so beautiful” sort of moment. She’s being ridiculous, and Xiao Duo is struck that this woman is being ridiculous for him. He’s the scariest man in the Imperial Palace! People literally drop to the ground or run when they see him! And here’s this woman trying to make him smile, or grabbing his sleeves, or heckling him. What a strange creature she is…and you know, she’s rather pretty, too…

Pretty (and drunk at the mo')

After only a few meetings, Xiao Duo and Bu Yinlou instinctively understand one another, even if they don’t fully realize it. They’ve met the other person who plays 4-D chess and who never wanted to be here in the first place. I find it truly a joy to watch them—two people who barely trust anyone—maneuver around one another and learn to believe each other.

The actors seemed very comfortable with one another, so there’s lots of casual intimacy and affection in their body language together. With Xiao Duo, Yinlou feels safe enough to experience attraction and express her own desires for the first time. Her giddiness and girlishness about him are so heartwarming to watch.

Something has been awakened in her...

We also get the fantastic subversion of some classic romantic tropes. I admit: I’m a viewer who is frustrated by major conflicts erupting from simple misunderstandings, characters deliberately withholding information from each other—or worse—not having the five-minute conversation necessary to clear the air. Xiao Duo and Bu Yinlou COMMUNICATE. They truly treat each other as equals.

Avoiding spoilers, there’s one moment where a bad guy captures Bu Yinlou to bait Xiao Duo into a trap. A man in love, Xiao Duo storms out to go rescue her—and then pauses. “This is a trap,” he realizes, and he goes back home. He trusts that Bu Yinlou can get herself out of the scrape—and she does. Bu Yinlou does the same for him a few times. They profoundly trust one another and it shows on screen through their actions, not just their words. I found that unbelievably refreshing, even if it means we don’t get the HIGH DRAMA of so many other romantic dramas.

It made for a subtler experience that is perhaps just for me (but I write this in the hopes that it’s not). All the pain of the later episodes comes from truly understanding that Xiao Duo and Bu Yinlou would be happy together. Not in a soft-focus, dreamy-eyed, picture-perfect way, but in a real and tangible way. They could live together with their friends and their dog, raise some goats, and have wonderful life with one another. But there are powerful, dangerous, unpredictable forces in the way, and that hurts beautifully to watch.

THE PLOT

“Nirvana in Fire” this ain’t. The imperial palace intrigues are broad and only rarely more than 2-dimensional, but I still found myself delighted by some of the unexpected twists. There are characters I loathed in episode 1, and then grieved in episode 36. That’s the good stuff.

Bu Yinlou is the emotional center of the series. She wants to be free. The primary conflict of the show, then, is built around two suitors: One who will help her fulfill her dreams, even if it hurts him, and the other who will make her dreams match his, even if it hurts her.

This is all happening within larger maneuvers of outside forces trying to take down the empire. To them, Yinlou is a pawn in a larger game to control the emperor and Xiao Duo. (And Yinlou does not appreciate being treated like a pawn.)

THE VILLAIN

I have complex feelings about the primary antagonist for the show. I think that’s a good thing. He feels, in many ways, like an Incel given imperial power—he is both a sad, awkward, lonely man, and an entitled, spiteful monster. He’s played so deftly by Peter Ho, it took several episodes for me to realize he was the antagonist. On rewatch, it can be heartbreaking to follow his story, too, because there were moments of intervention where it could have gone differently. That, to me, makes for a richly imagined antagonist—who goes full “scenery chewing” villain toward the end. That, too, is compelling to watch. Peter Ho was clearly having a good time.

A PERSONAL CONCLUSION (and maybe a plea for fanworks)

“Unchained Love” is not perfect, but there’s such clear heart in the performances that it more than makes up for the show’s weaknesses. They explore storylines and themes and especially gives Yinlou some moments that I’ve longed for in a show maybe all my life. I like that Eowyn in the Lord of the Rings movies talked about fearing “a cage.” I wish she’d gotten to talk more. Yinlou gave voice to so much of what I wanted to hear her say.

“Unchained Love” quickly joined the tops of my favorite Chinese media, alongside “The Untamed” and “Yin Yang Master: Dream of Eternity.” I will probably end up writing some fanfiction for it, and I hope others will too. The gifsets on Tumblr have been so excellent that I can only hope for more. More fanworks, I guess that’s what I’m saying. There’s such great fanworks potential in this series. It’s in that sweet spot of having compelling characters, beautiful costumes and settings, and juuuuussst enough left on the cutting-room floor that we fans have all the room in the world to play.

HOW TO WATCH

The first two episodes are up for free on YouTube with English subtitles. It’s also streaming on both Viki and iQiyi. I liked it so much, I bought it on DVD from AustinDVDStore on ebay. The subtitles move too fast sometimes, but hey, I’m practicing my Mandarin anyway…

CONTENT WARNINGS

For the show overall:

The entire show deals with the idea of women as objects—which means there are often people treating women like objects. This is depicted as a bad thing, but it’s still hard to watch.

Some gender essentialist nonsense is spewed in relation to eunuchs and what it means to be “a man.” Later in the series, the villain becomes particularly fixated on this concept.

For specific storylines:

Opening episodes revolve around concubines of the deceased emperor being killed in tribute to him.

Accidental death of a child in episode 4.

A man in charge of the Imperial Mausoleum targets and sexually threatens, harasses, and assaults a woman forced to live there.

Yinlou’s father is verbally abusive to the women in his family.

Yinlou’s sister is forced to marry an enemy prince; this enemy prince is violent and threatening to her. The emperor is also violent and cruel to this character. (Yinlou’s sister is essentially a “what if Yinlou did what she was told” character, so her storyline highlights that going along with these powerful men won’t save you… It’s rough.)

The emperor’s dissent into tyrannical behavior is paired with a physical disability he develops. He also becomes fixated on his inability to bear children.

[ourimpavidheroine]

Welp, you probly saw this one coming. And I'm gonna be the one to ask it. Have you seen the live action AtLA, and if so, what did you think and/or how did you feel?

I have watched it!

Spoilers ahead, so I'll put it under a cut.

Hmmmm. Well, I didn't hate it, the way I hated the live action movie. The producers clearly cared a great deal about the source material, which was a nice change. I do feel like the series was done with love for the source material, which was not what happened with the movie. (Shyamalan himself admitted he'd never even seen ATLA - neither before nor after he directed the film. Unacceptable.)

I think, however, that there were two issues with the Netflix version that made it so it couldn't possibly match up to the animated series.

Due to time and budget constraints, they could only show the plotlines that moved the main story forward and thus missed out on so much of the deep dive into the characters and worldbuilding that the original series is known for, and;

The show is unclear about who the series is actually for.

The first point is one that streaming services like Netflix and the rest are especially guilty of perpetrating all the time, not just with Avatar, for sure. While I appreciate the time and budget constraints, the reality is that all of those "filler" episodes in ATLA gave us a greater understanding of these children, their world, and their relationships with each other. It's important that we understand that Aang is a LITTLE BOY - in his mind, in the beginning, he's only been the Avatar for a day. He isn't even his teens yet! Having him want to sled on otter penguins and ride elephant koi establishes for us that he's just a 12 year old kid who has zero idea what being the Avatar means, because he's not had the time to learn what it is to be the Avatar. (It's established in the original that the Avatar isn't told who they are until they are 18 or so - the decision to tell Aang so young has to do with war, and not tradition. It's also very telling that the Avatar after Aang can already bend 3 out of the 4 elements when still a fucking toddler.) Having him understand the gravitas of being the Avatar straight out the gate - not even a day has gone by for him, despite 100 years going by for everyone else - takes him right the fuck out of he's just a child figuring it out territory and into he's a Messianic Figure territory in the space of 30 minutes. Which you know. Makes it into a different show entirely.

Sokka and Katara, despite their trauma, are still kids. They don't know how to handle their shit yet. (Which is why, in the original, Sokka tries to be the adult of the group, but in reality he's a 15 year old kid who's had too much responsibility heaped onto his head and he is aching to just be a regular teen in a way he's never been allowed to be. And do dumb shit. Like drink cactus juice. Or go shopping for matching bags.) The showrunners have explained that they didn't think Sokka's misogynistic arc was necessary but uh. It is. Sokka has no idea what it means to be a man, because he's had no good example. He has to learn that as he goes - and by the time he gets to the North Pole, where misogyny is actively practiced, he has matured enough to understand why it's wrong, even during war. Sokka, as a character, learns more than all the rest of the Gaang put together. Sure, he's not a bender and no, he hasn't got Zuko's redemption arc, but Sokka is their leader. He has to learn how to actually lead the rest of them without being a douche about it, and that growth - which he does on his own - gives us the Sokka who has become a respected leader at the end of the series, despite his age. He grows into that, despite his mistakes. He learns. And he never gives up his humor, his sarcasm, and his personality to do it. We know, in the original, that Sokka has been damaged by this war. It's painfully clear. But that's because the original shows us, and it does that through all of the "filler" episodes. It does not tell us. The Netflix version tells us, and then tells us some more, making him humorless and dour. Oof. Why the hell would either Suki or Yue be interested in this dude? The original Sokka was funny, despite his missteps. He was humble in trying to make amends. He was vulnerable. This kid? Yeah, whatever. No shade on Ian Ousley. He's not being directed well, and the writing has failed him.

And Katara. Well. Let's just say that I would believe that this Katara would be happy to grow up into nothing but a wife and mother, content to raise the Avatar's babies and sit passively by in her old age, refusing to get involved in the civil war brewing in the South Pole, not expecting a statue the way the rest of them got. The only time we see her with a bit of a spark is when she challenges Pakku, but even at that there's no passion, no anger. Where's our passionate Katara, the match for Zuko's rage? She's the last surviving Southern Water Tribe waterbender, and original Katara is constantly aware of that in a way that Aang, the last surviving Airbender, isn't for quite some time. That juxtaposition of the two of them and their awareness of who they are - in the entire world! - shows us the difference between a girl who was raised in and suffered great losses due to war and a boy who was raised in peace and prosperity. The Netflix version doesn't even TELL us this, short of a flashback of her mother being fried. OG Katara is driven to learn waterbending because she knows that her very people - her very culture - depends upon her learning it, and despite her patience with Aang and her natural gift for teaching, she never forgets it. And again, no shade on Kiawentiio, who I think is actually a fine actress. She's just not being allowed to do what she needs to do by the writing/directing, and that's not on her.

The same goes for Gordon Cormier, who is fine as Aang. But I wish like hell they'd actually let him play Aang, instead of whoever this kid in the remake is. Because I bet if they had let him, he would have nailed that wonderful, playful and yes, deeply afraid little boy who does depend on his friends, but not just because the script makes him tell us, again and again and again. (We get it, Albert Kim. You don't have to keep telling us, in so many words, that Aang needs his friends. Please. For the love of Kyoshi, stop telling us.)

But really, this is one example of what condensing 20 episodes into 8 does for us. We're told Aang needs his friends, instead of watching it unfold naturally as time goes on. Only hitting the bare basic of plot points means that it's the plot that concisely drives the live action show, and not the characters. It really changes the show, and not in a way that I personally enjoyed.

Now to be clear, I was fine with some of the changes they made to the original story. I was okay with both Katara and Sokka being taken into the spirit world, etc. I wasn't expecting a remake beat by beat, and honestly, wouldn't want that. You hope to see something new in a remake, or what's the point? But boy, did I miss the filler bits. Which, in a show as well done as the original, were vital to the show itself.

Plenty of people have bitched about the CGI with regards to all the fantasy animals but it's no worse than any of the endless CGI we're subjected to nowadays. I just expected it to be as crappy as any of the rest - looking at you, Marvel movies - and it was. At this point I keep my expectations at zero with CGI. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised, but in this particular case it did the bare minimum of what it needed to do, even if it meant that Appa had zero personality. (See only focusing on plot instead of characters, above.) I don't really know what else to say about that.

The costumes were adequate. That being said, Sokka and Katara's perfect clothing was a joke. I mean, you keep TELLING us that the war has devastated the Southern Water Tribe but these kids are wearing brand new, well-fitted, unstained clothing? Come on. They'd be wearing hand-me-downs, worn with use, repaired with whatever their tiny, isolated village had at hand. It's appropriate to have certain characters wearing well-made clothing - the Fire Nationals, to name one. (Bumi's outrageous hat was glorious, and perfectly on point.) But these peasants we see, the Earth Kingdom ones who are downtrodden, often starving? Why are their clothes so nice? I'm not talking about their clothes not being fancy. I mean, where's the wear and tear? Why aren't the costumes more ill-fitting or on the ragged side? Even Jet looked pretty spiffy, scruffy hair notwithstanding. It was something that nagged at me the entire time I was watching.

Although props to whomever is doing hair and makeup, because Kiawentiio's messily braided hair and her clear, bare skin are perfect. (That applies to all the teenage girls, none of whom were made up. Not counting the Kyoshi makeup, of course. That's what happens when you cast a 14 year old to play a 14 year old, instead of a 30 year old with a pound of makeup on her face, trying to make her pass for younger.) Not to mention I really appreciated Gyatso's faded, creased airbender tattoos. That was a great touch, right there. Tattoos fade and darken!

The settings were well done, true. I really enjoyed that part of it. The Southern Air Temple, was so beautiful, and Omashu! I know it's all CGI, but they did a good job with that part of it. The set pieces clearly had a lot of care put into them, even if some of them were fairly basic. No bitching from me on that point, although that's usually something Netflix in general manages.

All that being said!

There is one area where Netflix's version does really well, which is more insight and focus into the adults. Ken Leung's Zhao is flat out amazing in the live action - we see far more of him and his machinations, and it's so good. And holy shit, Daniel Dae Kim's Ozai! Watching him pit his children against each other in such a malicious, determined way takes him away from the distantly crazy Ozai that hates Zuko and loves Azula of the animated series to a complex and deliberately evil fascist in the live action and I was living for it. I truly was. They are not wasting either Kim or Leung here, and good on them. I want more of Ozai if they get another season!

I also very much like Dallas Liu's Zuko here. (Although come on, showrunners, do the scar right.) They've done more to flesh Zuko out - he's not quite the firebrand of the animated Zuko, but he's more tormented, and I see it as a solid acting choice on Liu's part. It would be really easy to make Zuko one note, but that's not happening, at all. Liu's making Zuko his, and as far as I am concerned he's doing it right. And god, don't even get me started on Paul Sun-Hyung Lee's Uncle Iroh. I knew he was going to knock it out of the park as soon as I saw he was cast and he has not disappointed. That scene where Zuko sits next to him during Lu Ten's funeral (and the soundtrack started playing Little Soldier Boy and how very fucking dare they) and Lee lets one slow tear track down his face while sweet young Zuko helps him keep vigil made me have all kinds of feelings. The way Lee, throughout the season, looks at Liu with such love and tenderness, all for this boy that everyone else sees as a piece of shit is so GOOD, ya'll. So good. Lee and Liu have palpably good chemistry together, and the showrunners are taking advantage of that, for sure. I mean, we know that Uncle Iroh is part of the White Lotus, and the entire show he has to balance letting Aang do his thing as the Avatar while at the same time keeping his clearly beloved nephew from falling into total despair and Lee nails it. I do hope, if the series continues, that we get to see a little more of Iroh's playful side - it humanizes him and also humanizes Zuko. (The moment where Jun tells Zuko she'll hunt down the Avatar because his Dad's cute and Zuko's face of teenage disgust made me laugh right out loud. More of that, please!) Lee and Liu's scenes were standouts for me.

But all of this brings me to my second point, which is who is the intended audience for this show?

The original was for kids, for sure. Absolutely. Bryke, for all their faults, were able to to work war and its devastation into the story while still keeping it firmly G-rated. The show's focus on the actual kids in the show, rather than the adults, meant that kids could relate to it in ways that have traveled with them into adulthood. There is an entire generation of people for whom this show was and is a lasting legacy and influence. It was like Star Wars for my generation. It was HUGE. And still is.

That being said, the Netflix show is not G-rated at all. People are being immolated in front of us. Many, many times. And while I appreciate that it gives us a visceral awareness of how terrible this war really is, it's certainly not for children! I mean, I would not have let my six year old twins - the age they were when we watched the original - watch the live action! Not on your life!

So who is the intended audience? The now adults who grew up with the show who are going to be extraordinarily hard to please? Adults who might have actually not have grown up with it for whatever reason and are watching the show without any preconceived expectations? Those of us who were parents, who raised our kids on it, who knew as adults how truly fucking outstanding the original was and who are going to be critical of the remake?

It surely cannot be for kids, or at least not younger ones. Even Netflix acknowledges this.

Because the thing is, there is only so much interest adults are going to have about the story of a 12 year old messiah and his little friends. Or at least that seems to be what Netflix thinks. So they've "Netflixed it" - they've made it darker, grittier, more violent, less playful. And because of that, they've taken the core trio of Aang, Katara and Sokka and have tried to make them grow up - made them humorless, more self-aware, more openly traumatized, more serious. And in doing so, they've really done these characters a huge disservice.

In fact, what I honestly think would have been better would have been to have made a live action feature that focused on the ADULTS. Made the Gaang peripheral to the plot - we see them when we see them, but they aren't the focus of the show. That would have been an interesting choice that I would have been all over, especially seeing the really good stuff with the remake that's set with the adults. Iroh, Ozai, Zhao, Gyatso, the Machinist, Bumi, Pakku and even the new character of Yukari, Suki's mother - all of them are excellent, and drawn into focus the way only Iroh was in the original show. If the focus had been on retelling the story through adult eyes, when we did see the Gaang, showing them as being just kids like they were in the original - immature, playful, etc. - would have worked instead of trying to mold the kids into mini-adults to keep them in line with the remake as it's clearly been envisioned. Actually, the more I think about it the more I think that would have been a fucking amazing remake, and if I am honest? I am really pissed they didn't do it.

But how it's been envisioned at this point - a show clearly for adults, which still focuses on a bunch of kids - is not really successful. It's a shame. I found myself really enjoying the adults in the show, and not enjoying the Gaang at all. Which surely was not the intent.

And on a completely personal note, seeing Kuruk with blue eyes made me miss like hell all of the different eye colors in the canon universe. I am very pro casting Asian and Indigenous actors in roles - it's how it should be done, end stop, no whitewashing, please - but at the same time, this is a fantasy world, not Asia, despite its acknowledged Asian influences. (Sometimes I do think people forget that.) I wish we'd seen the eye colors. Especially relevant when it comes to The Legend of Korra, where we see Republic City, and its melting pot, where waterbenders like Tahno can have fair skin and gray eyes due to mixed heritage, and brothers can have different bending and eye colors like Mako and Bolin. I miss Zuko's amber eyes, and Sokka and Katara's blue eyes. And Aang's soulful gray eyes, for sure. I get it that it might have been hard to expect the kids, at least, to wear contacts. But yeah. Not a dealbreaker for me, but I never stopped thinking about it while I was watching, so. Certainly something I actively missed, and not just for the aesthetic, either. It really does help us as viewers to understand by showing us how, in this particular time, that people from the different countries are keeping to themselves, especially when it comes to fraternizing (ahem). In other words, it wasn't done in the original just for cutesy anime references. There was an underlying reason for it. And the fact that the remake showrunners don't seem to either get it or find it important is very, very telling.

[kimtaegis]

{Kimtaegis’ GFX Breakdowns, Ep. 1:

↳ SARANG/SARAM; a namgi web weave}

better late than never – I’ve mentioned that this year, I will start writing my thought process behind my graphics down in actual posts instead of hiding them in the tags of a self-reblog, both for myself and those who are interested in that, so here we go!

the first more graphic-y post of the year was a little birthday present for @outroindigo, who told me that namgi’s dynamic as well as their solo music are extremely important to her, so that was the starting point basically! I initially wanted to use a web-weave-like layout for yoongi's birthday post this year, but thought that it just fit too well for this project, since including lyrics and website screenshots made it so convenient to explain the topic. the main source of inspiration but also material source was doolsetbangtan, an incredible blog that not only translates bts' lyrics, but also gives extra insights and explanations of their word plays, references to reoccuring lyrical themes and even links to other media that are connected to the songs' content. they were a huge help, most elements that ended up in the post had been already pointed out under their sites for trivia: love, people, and people pt. 2 respectively, I pretty much only had to follow the mentions and use them!

my post starts with the first half of a quote from namjoon from his november 2016 vlive and ends with it as well (in the caption) to tie the whole set together. I tried to organize the elements in a way that even someone who has never heard of the whole live/love/sarang/saram thing can easily follow and understand it, while also maintaining a pleasant overall layout and colour change (planning that took quite some time, I tell you). the trivia: love lyrics panel is a screenshot I took from spotify, I just changed the background colour to fit. underneath the people performance gif is an excerpt of yoongi's billboard interview from july 2023. the rest are screenshots directly from doolset, gifs from yoongi's iu's palette interview and selfmade visualisations of lyrics, etc. I decided against listing all the content elements in the caption - as usually done for an actual web weave - because some media was used multiple times and it would've felt weird to repeat it in the listing.

regarding more stylistic choices, I decided on a blue and warm yellow-orangy colour scheme, both because kari's current blog layout is this beautiful blue, but also because I associate blue with both namjoon (especially after indigo, obvs) and yoongi (his painting from 2020 instantly comes to mind). since 'love' on the other side is often portrayed as something warm and cosy, red/orange/yellow became the contrasting colours. I tried very hard to make all the colours look as consistent as possible and to match the shades of blues to kari's blog colours. funnily enough, there always seemed to be either something blue or warm-toned in the actual content, which was pretty convenient. besides the pseudo-screenshots for some of the lyrics (typed out in fonts that are typically used in books), I created three graphic elements as well, simply because I know sweet kari appreciates them and I wanted to have a personal kimtaegi touch in it. the first one is a visual representation of people pt. 2's lyrics. I always thought of faceless silhouettes when thinking of people, and combined that with yoongi's painting style (you see that painting means a whole lot to me lmao). since I can't really draw, I used paintings I found on pinterest (you can find the whole board in the source of the og post), masked the person and the heart out and changed their colour (which is not as easy as it sounds!). the fading effect was achieved by carefully going over both until I liked how it looked (which again, took embarrassingly long). the second graphic element is again a direct visualisation of the lyrics used in the panel: I digitally cut up a picture of namgi, in multiple rectangles that are supposed to represent the letter ㅁin saram. I actually printed the picture out first and cut it up with scissors, but I couldn't find a good way to scan it back in :( so digital cutting it was; please note that the edges of every snippet are rough, I always try my best to make it look as realistic and tangible as possible which is time-consuming but adds a nice touch in my opinion.

the collage effect of this graphic is inspired by works of anthony garace. his artworks are stunning, and I do love a good mixed media effect! also it just fits perfectly with the lyrics... among all these straight lines (-> the rectangles), [I find/ is] my love, my love, my love (-> little snippets of a picture of the two). the flowers in the last graphic both represent yoongi (the lotus flower cutout, referencing his amygdala lyrics about blooming like a lotus flower, which is also achieved by love, y'know :( ) and namjoon (the wildflower; yes it's an actual blue wildflower, I researched! it's a wild blue flax; referencing his same-named song). I used an actual photograph of it and made it look like a painting with photoshop magic. it also was supposed to look just a litte like a cynotype as used in his album design.

again, look at all those nice rough edges in that panel, this is all added intentionally. I hope everyone who saw the post also caught the teeny tiny animation of the hangul letter ㅁ to ㅇin the text on the left side; quite literally eroding edges <3

the last gif of ot7 was perfect to round it all up, referencing the lyrics above quite emotionally, starting off with the two of them, then them being joined by the rest....sigh. I will be honest, there have been a few tears falling onto the keyboard. I hope this set can convey namgi's beautiful lyricism in an interesting, artistic way. it's easy to get inspired by their art, it definitely makes you appreciate everything they do even more.

[ussjellyfish]

Hi! Rain and Psionics for the elemental writer ask? Or any of them. I'd love to get inside your process a little since your writing is awesome!!

thanks for asking!

Rain: Have you ever made yourself cry with your own writing?  If so, what was it?

Oh I do all the time. Crying usually sneaks up and then, boom. It's cathartic though. I enjoy it when I can make myself cry, it means I did a good job. Writing is such an emotional dredging process sometimes. It feels likeI have to be aware of the feelings to write it.

Some scenes that got me where Chapter 35 of Quantum Variations on a Love Theme, when Laira gives birth because that one has so much support, I love that one.

Also chapter 26 of Firefly (Philippa gives birth and so much of that is letting go for her, and I had a good time writing it).

I like to tie myself into knots emotionally while I'm writing my characters doing the same because it's almost relaxing? I liked acting in high school, and part of the fun was getting to put myself through this situations consequence free, there's nothing to worry about.

Writing is similar, I can just dive into all the feelings and then move on. Have the experience and the catharsis and then I write another chapter.

---

Psionics: How do you get into the heads of your characters?

Watch the source material and analyze the little things they do. I'm in a Laira mood, so I'll talk about her.

I make a character bio for myself, so I can try to make organic choices. I take what we know, I try to extrapolate for other parts of it. I borrow things from other writers, and try to make as detailed of a person as possible so they can live in my head.

Things we know about Laira Rillak: She's a former cargo pilot, basically a space truck driver, and then she got into politics and made it up to the leader of the Federation. Both of her parents seem to be dead, if she has siblings, they're not mentioned.

Pilots have certain traits we get from other characters we know.

Keyla Detmer, Erica Ortegas, Christopher Pike, Jean-Luc Picard, Tom Paris, Travis Merriweather, Dal R'El, Wesley Crusher...

There's bravado there. There's that sense of invincibility and how they can totally do the incredible dangerous thing. We see that in her when Discovery jumps, and she's totally fine with it. Most characters are disconcerted by their first jump (Michael, Pike, Rayner...) jumping is weird.

Laira is fine with it. She has that pilot bravado. Which explains part of why she wanted to be president now, when things are so wild. Michael and Discovery have solved the Burn, and defeated the Emerald Chain so being president right now will be hard, really hard, and promising, in a way it hasn't been in her entire life time.

She's the kind of person who looks at "someone needs to lead the Federation through this unprecedented time of rebuilding and reaching out and that someone is me." She knows what she can do. She wants to make things better. She believes in connection.

She's also really lonely. her mother is dead, it sounds like perhaps when she was young, and it doesn't sound like her father's still alive either. She has a partner she doesn't see very often and for all the effort she spends on helping other people connect, she's bad at that.

We see that later, when she's thrown by what's happening and when Michael starts looking out for her. She's great at leading, not great at looking after herself. She doesn't think her own feelings are important until Michael calls her on it.

She also fidgets with her bracelet, chews her lip when she's nervous, wears her hair in very ornate knots on the back of her head that must take some work, but also stay up all day.

She's good at thinking on her feet and can come up with an inspiring speech in a moment, and she's well respected. Michael is often at odds with her, but has faith in her abilities. Laira also isn't very good at science. She has the more complicated things explained to her often, and she's nice about it, so is the crew.

If she were a D&D character, her stats are high wisdom, high charisma, high constitution and intelligence is kind of her dump stat and that's okay.

I take that and think about what's her motivation. What do I want to accomplish. Am I leaning into her strengths and her weaknesses? What would she think in this moment? What are the emotional beats, what parts of her am I using? I lean into acting things about getting into character and think about how her voice sounds. Often I try to imagine the actors saying the lines in my head. Would it sound right? What feelings do I want them to have behind it? What do I want the audience to feel?

Sometimes it's just...this is cute banter because I love them, but that's after I've built a character and I can call on them.