#I don't have a lot of thoughts about the main story yet I'm just curious about where this is going

[almea]

I love all the different routes for March's event so much. I wish all the scenes that are unique to each route were voiced as well, but at least the last scenes were, so that was something.

I like Qingque's and Silver Wolf's endings the most. There is something so funny about them verbally beating Skott down with the demoralizing realities of being a corporate worker in Qingque's, and Silver Wolf's is just like. I love Silver Wolf and whenever she appears in a story, I'm thrilled!!! Girl continues to randomly appear in events she doesn't really have any business being in seeing as she's a wanted criminal, and I love it! Does Gongshu not know Silver Wolf's a Stellaron Hunter? Or does he know and not care because both of them playing Aetherium Wars is more important to him? Also, I thought it was pretty cute that she was quite respectful of him.

I do think a lot about Silver Wolf's continued appearances in events when she's been absent from the main since the prologue outside of her one conversation with Firefly in 2.3. Like, would it feel weird once she does appear in the main story in a more expanded capacity because people might not play all the events in the conventional memoir and they wouldn't know that Silver Wolf has been regularly popping in to kind of befriend the Astral Express crew this whole time.

Judging by Silver Wolf having a line in Firefly's character story where she asks her to tell the crew she said hello, the writers do consider it canon that the crew knows Silver Wolf even though, going off only the main story, they would have never met her. I'm thinking about it a lot after this event because it establishes that March and Silver Wolf are quite friendly with and seem to like each other. One of the random events says Silver Wolf has always been kind to March, and Silver Wolf has such a sweet smile when she tells March to come find her so she can be the answer to the sword showdown. It's also very cute that Silver Wolf always calls March "March 7th" for most of her route but she calls her "March" in the last scene.

I will say that if the price I have to pay for Silver Wolf constantly showing up in events is that she never becomes main story relevant, I'll be extremely sad.

Silver Wolf saying Firefly has been humming the SoulGlad jingle nonstop since she returned from Penacony is so funny, because that literally happened to me after 2.0. After running around Golden Hour for so long that the jingle got stuck in my head and at first I was so confused because I couldn't remember where the song was from before I realized the jingle actually fucking worked.

My favourite thing about Silver Wolf's ending is that she makes so many cute faces that I don't remember seeing her make before. There's one where she looks kind of disgusted and another one that looks a little mischievous. And then there's her "Oops, you caught me. Guess I'll just have to socially obliterate you" face. There's something about how wide-eyed it looks compared to her typical expressions that makes it extra cute.

I'm curious about whether the IPC worker calling Silver Wolf "this woman" is confirmation that she's an adult, she's just really fucking short. I know people debate about it a lot, but I just never saw her as a teenager because I don't think her timeline makes sense if you assume she's like 15 or 16, especially because the Stellaron Hunters seem to be close enough that it's probably been at least a couple of years since she joined them. I do think she looks younger in her model than she does in her artwork, especially in Incessant Rain.

I love that they gave Silver Wolf this random character trait of apparently making up Xianzhou sayings. It's very funny, especially if she does it around the Stellaron Hunters too and Blade is just like "????" Although it could be Tragic if she's getting these so-called Xianzhou sayings from Blade but his memory's muddled enough that he would mess them up.

[bettsfic]

I have this thing where what I'm writing is absolutely not what I'm about in real life. I like complexity and depth in what I read. But the things I care about make only vague appearances in my writing, I don't know how to fully explain it. I have a lot of passion in life and I'm ~relatively emotionally intelligent. I'm curious about emotions, anyway, but what comes out in my writing is just cookie cutter.... Bland..... Zero complexity or emotional exploration. It's like I'm on autopilot when I write and I can't shake it.

i'm about to present to you yet another writing spectrum: director-writers and actor-writers.

a director-writer creates stories by writing discrete scenes that they see in their mind. like a film, a scene begins, something happens, a scene ends. we move on to the next scene. i would venture to say a majority of writers today are director-writers, because what's been en vogue in the 21st century is very much influenced by our visual media. we watch visual media. a great many writers like to render their prose such that it feels like a reader is watching the story play out. these director-writers are standing on the outside looking in, manipulating and moving all the pieces of their story to create the desired end result.

director-writing is so common that i meet many, many writers who trap themselves in scenic prose because they assume that's what "good writing" is. these writers are not actually directors. they don't want to be standing behind the camera; they want to be in the mind of the characters. and those people are actor-writers.

an actor-writer's prose doesn't necessarily prioritize scenes one after the next, but develops a compelling narrative voice. actor-writing is about learning to be someone who isn't you. i think the moment you abandon the forced witness of the camera and instead dive into the mind, experiencing the story instead of rendering the story, you unlock the path of that complex emotional exploration you feel is missing in your work. and you will probably never go back.

here's an activity to try:

whatever you're working on right now, open a new doc, take your main character and, in your mind's eye, trap them in an interrogation room. sit them across from you. ask them, "what is your deal?" write down their answer.

in this activity, you're looking for a few things:

what is their story? why does it matter to them? (this is probably the biggest problem i have with the pitfalls of director-writing: nothing matters. everything is just...happening. as a reader, i'm always looking for what i'm being asked to love. maybe that love is awful, toxic, contradictory, ambivalent, whatever. the point is, it matters. a huge percentage of the things i read never ask me to love anything.)

are they trying to convince or persuade you of something, making their testimonial unreliable? or are they confessing to you things they'd never admit to anyone else?

what is at stake for them? what is their deepest desire and their greatest fear? in what way is their deepest desire flawed? how is their greatest fear irrational? how have the events of their story influenced or distorted their perception?

close narration offers us the greatest possible access to the interiority of the narrator. first person is really just a monologue, an explanation, an excuse, a confession, a plea, a prayer. so so so many writers get blocked because they're trying to See the story instead of Listen to it. they force themselves into this elastic third person where the reader remains a distant witness with the occasional thought, insight, or feeling, but that comes second to what i call Bodies in Space. if i never read another "he strode across the room" again it'll be too soon. imagery is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but i would always, always rather get insight into what a character is feeling, thinking, grieving, dreaming than the knowledge that they are sitting in a chair.

i'm not saying switch to first person. you can create the effect of first person with very close third, and you can create the effect of third person with very distant first. pronouns don't really matter. what's important is voice over vision.

i say this a lot, but if i want to watch a story, i'll turn on my tv. prose is the only art form that allows us to fully explore human consciousness. let it do the thing it was invented to do.

my theory of director-writers and actor-writers is adapted from Percy Lubbock's The Craft of Fiction, in which he defines "picture" vs. "drama" writing. however i found that terminology confusing and poorly articulated, so i flipped it into a process-based approach with what i hope is more accessible phrasing. also, prose = consciousness is from 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel by Jane Smiley.

[mariikado]

Bookshelf in Good Omens 2. What clues to look for and what to pay attention to when reading each book.

And don't show this to Neil! And don't ask him about it!

Carefully! There may be spoilers here.

1. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

The main character sits alone and writes a diary. There is also a very interesting love polygon in the book. At the very end of the book there is an interesting moment about the girl’s father, who writes his book in an interesting way.

For me, this was the answer to why Good Omens 2 was made the way it was: incomprehensible, confusing and with a lot of questions after viewing.

2. No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley by Rita Marley.

This is Maggie and Nina's book.

Look for the donkey, as well as the story of Rita's shooting. Notice what Rita says when she remembers Bob (he's dead, but he's everywhere).

3. The Crow Road by Iain Banks.

Not only discussions about God are important, but also the meaning of the expression “the crow road.” Notice the angelic goats dressed as ravens in the intro. Remember the story of Job, remember those little goats who followed the crow's path. Try to tie it all together.

And also pay attention to the meaning of matches. What do they mean for the story in the book and could they mean the same for our story?

Crowley recommends this book to Muriel not only because it contains a lot of discussions about God. He knows how important the matchbox is in the story, and he wants Muriel to know it too. Muriel must know that matches are the key to solving the mystery. At the very end of the second season, the story is just beginning to develop. The matchbox doesn't appear in the plot yet, but it will happen in the future, and Muriel must know in advance what it means. I think so.

4. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

A very interesting main character, with a very interesting perception of the world around him. I think this is a hint on how to watch Good Omens 2. The second season needs to be watched the way this boy looks at the world around him. He also has interesting thoughts, some of which may be important to our story.

5. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.

I have identified five characters. One of them is a naked man (note the reason for his undressing), the second character experiences déjà vu and has strange relationships with colleagues, the third character will do anything for profit (even if he has to bomb his own), the fourth character is compared to God (note , what ultimately happens to him), and the fifth is not entirely noticeable, but wears fake glasses and a mustache. Find them all and analyze what happens to them and why, what their goals are and what consequences their actions have. Think about how this all fits into our story and who these five characters are like.

6. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez.

Besides the wonderful love triangle, there are almonds to be found here. This is a small clue to the meaning of almond coffee. The character is a photographer with his secret love - I think this is also a small key to unraveling the mystery of Good Omens 2.

7. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

There are matches here too, find them. Try to analyze the thoughts of the main character. I still couldn't decide who this book belonged to: Aziraphale, Crowley or Muriel. I'm leaning towards Muriel. Although Neil said that Muriel may not be Muriel in season three. So Aziraphale or Crowley could become Muriel in the future. I still think it's Aziraphale.

The main character of this book underwent shock therapy, and this smoothly leads us to the next book.

8. 1984 by George Orwell.

If you still doubt that history is being rewritten within history, do not doubt it. This book is direct proof. I would also suggest that the shock therapy in the book is an analogue to the erasing of memory and reformatting of consciousness in our history. Then that would explain what I said earlier about Muriel. This book confirms all my previous theories and reasoning. Who, for what purpose and how many times rewrites history - we will find out in season 3.

9. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.

This book contains another clue to the mystery of almond coffee. The book also features a dead bookstore owner who photographed the character's real killer, who was illegally transporting alcohol. There is a little quote about how everything was planned in advance, and this quote is said during the kiss.

10. In this post I talked about the Bible: here.

But I forgot to mention Aaron's rod. This is another key to almond coffee. Read the story of how flowers grew from Aaron's rod and what it means.

11. The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald.

Gatsby was a liquor smuggler, he loved a blonde and in the end he got shot because of her, don't forget that. This all dates back to 1941. So who's shooting who?

12. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.

To be honest, I have a hard time understanding why this book is on the shelf. The book could be there because of a guy who has a dead red-haired brother (yes, Crowley's brother or twin could very well be real). The book may be there because of the story of catching children over an abyss (the story of Job). The book may be there because of the description of the film, in which a guy loses his memory after a war (after the apocalypse, someone has to survive).

13. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.

I recommend reading this series of books and also watching the series. I think the books and the show together will help you understand who Sadie is in Good Omens 2.

Also look for snakes, zombies, anything related to crows, secret codes used by characters (Prime uses them too). Look for smart thoughts, there are many of them. Look for librarians, read about the secret society. We ourselves are a small secret society: we collect information bit by bit, analyze it and share it with each other. Everyone notices something different and everyone is right in their own way. There are many clues in both the books and the show. Feel free to draw parallels. There are even moments that are filmed very similarly in both series.

14. Herzog by Saul Bellow.

A difficult book. Lots of talk about God and faith. I relate this book to the character who will survive the whole apocalypse mess in season 3. Read it for yourself, maybe you will have other thoughts.

15. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

This book needs to be read from cover to cover. The whole story with the revolution and the French guillotine. Think about who those same revolutionaries in our history could be.

All moments with similarities between the two main characters, and also pay attention to the spy. Remember that Jane Austen is a spy. I still assume Jane Austen is Shax. In episode 4, Shax becomes Crowley; Before the stunt, Shax becomes like Aziraphale. Thus, in the dressing room there is a spy and two characters similar to each other (you can read about this here). There is a scene at the end of the book that may shed some light on what is really going on in the dressing room.

In the book you can also find a rose on the hat. Think about this character and the reason he put a rose on his hat.

Find this sign “👆” and its meaning in the book.

Find a seamstress in a book who walks hand in hand with someone very similar to the main character.

This book is on many posters in the hands of Aziraphale for a reason.

16. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad.

Just read Lord Jim's story and apply it to our Jim.

17. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Jim is also in this book. And this Jim stole a treasure map from a bad pirate. We can only guess what Jim brought to the bookstore in our story: a “map of buried treasure,” a book of life, the power of God. What other options?

18. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Yes, there is a very interesting love story and more than one. A parallel can be drawn with both couples from the book. Jane Austen herself also plays an important role throughout the second season.

Read books, look for clues, superimpose season 2 on these books. This is the wonderful world of Good Omens - an incredible work and an amazing journey!

[slowlydifferentbluebird]

Dreams come true - Aespa High School AU - Day three

Hello people, part three is finally out! I know this time it needed more time to come out, but I'm starting to bring more variety on the blog. Talking about this third day things are not going so smoothly anymore for our main character, time to introduce some angst in the story🤭 Also, this time I'm using a Winter Pic because I feel she plays a big role in today story, but don't worry, all the girls have their space to "shine"

"Are you still awake, loser?", the message from Minjeong read like this, making your face scrunch in confusion. It was midnight, why did she text you at that hour? "Yup, what are you up to?", you replied, laying on the bed of your room in the darkness, illuminated just by the light of the moon, coming through the window. "Wanna skip the first lesson tomorrow?", her question left you speechless for a moment. Like, she sure was a bit naughty, but this was such a bold move from someone you exchanged the phone numbers with just few hours before. "Why?", you countered with another question, trying to obtain more informations and get more time to think about it. "Because I want to bring you to a place", she explained, making your confusion even bigger. "Don't worry, we won't get in trouble, loser", she added quickly, teasing and reassuring you at the same time. You rolled your eyes, annoyed yet amused by her push and pull. "Fuck it, let's do it!", you thought, before accepting her proposal and agreeing on the plans for the tomorrow. She wished you goodnight, leaving you alone again with your thoughts, now even more agitated, before eventually falling asleep, relieving in your dreams all the events of that second day.

At 8am, the next morning, you were leaning against the wall of the back of the school. Luckily you were able to elude Mark that day: he was extra late again so you just went school alone. You were also lucky enough to not meet none of your classmates or teachers while reaching the place. You looked at your watch again: 8.05am. Where the hell was her? If this was a prank or similar... "Waiting for someone, stranger?", the soft yet active voice of Winter reached your ears, making all your doubts disappears. "Here you are, girl, you took you time. I was starting to think you played me", you admitted, being unable to show a relieved smile. "Aww, were you that eager to see me again? I'm glad, but your girlfriend is gonna be jealous about that", the bob-haired girl teased you, caressing your arm. "Are you gonna keep to tease me and Aeri forever?", you asked, sighing and shaking your head. "Just when you or her shows me proofs of the contrary", she shrugged, smiling like a satisfied fool. "Yeah sure...however why did you picked this place as meeting point and where are you bringing me?", you inquired her, looking around, almosto check the surroundings. "How many questions, I don't remember you being this curious during lessons", she smirked and you had really the strong temptation to curse at her neverending teasing. "Just follow me and you will discover, loser", she invited you, starting to walk, getting at every step more far from the school building.

"Come, we're so close right now", Minjeong whispered. Her action make you puzzled, you walked a lot and you were pretty sure about being out of the school territory, so why was she so worried? Was is it a dangerous zone? "Alright, we're basically arrived, now do like me: squat and walk slowly, no sudden movements", she explained, keeping to whisper. Once again you followed her instructions, but all that mystery left you an uneasy feeling in the chest. The area was clearly abandoned and unkempt. The anxiety was starting to have the best on you when..."Meow!", an easily recognizable sound got your attention, making your head snap in Winter direction. "Hi babies, I'm back", Minjeong announced in a kind tone. You carefully moved next to her just to discover a whole bunch of baby kitties, meowing and looking at you two. "Are they...the reason for your request?", you asked, impressed by this side of her. "Of course, what did you expect? A date? Well...for that maybe in the future", she said with nonchalance, while opening her satchel and pulling out some milk and a couple of bowls. Without the need of saying anything more, even because her smooth answer just messed up your brain, you helped her organizing the bowls and getting sure every kitty had its meal. "How did you know about them?", you demanded, while letting one of the babies play with your fingers. "Yesterday, after school, I heard a cry and I found one of them, so I just followed him till here: they are very friendly but sadly their mother is not with them", she revealed, pouting sadly, showing you for the first time a more sensitive side. "But why me? You could have asked to any of the girls and yet you picked me", your question was sudden, lefting Winter speechless this time. You were right: she didn't even think about it till that moment. However she found the response quickly enough, she just needed a look of how much fun you were having playing with the kitties, you were so lovely and happy. "I already told you: you are different from the others...in a very positive way", her answer made your gazes met. You had not noticed before how cute she was and how much her eyes were the perfect match for her smile; at the same time Winter thought it was a lot of time she didn't feel so in tune with someone else, especially a person she had meet so recently. "Ehm...and then I can always blackmail you about the rooftop", she added at last second, as if she was trying to hide again behind her mischievous nature.

When both of you finally got in class, everyone eyes was directed to you. It was not like they were trying to make a story, but the the way you and Winter just came in laughing and teasing each other left few space to the fantasy. You coughed in embarassment and even the usual bold Winter immediately adjusted her behaviour, returning to act cold. You silently went your desk, avoding the gazes of your friends: Karina was staring blankly in your direction, Mark seemed confused af, Ning had an annoyed smirk on her face, and Giselle...you could feel her eyes burning into the back of your head and you had no the gut to turn back. Your emergency plan was to stay quiet and act like you were not there until the rest of the day. But, of course, you couldn't seriously hope about getting away with that. You barely managed to survive the next lesson just because miss Sunny arrived earlier than usual, but you were not lucky enough to go through the lunch break unscathed.

You saw Minjeong flee away the moment the bell rang, immediately followed by Karina, that seemed intentioned to tackle her or something. You didn't have time to worry about her tho. "So...what did I miss?", Mark asked, sitting on your desk, trying to convince you to spill the tea. "Not much", you vaguely answered, putting your things in the backpack in a hurry. "Why so eager to get away? Are you that hungry? Or do you just want to meet up with Winter again?", Ning, from the chair next to you inquired, going straight to the point; her body language was very accusatory, she tiny but she was leaning towards you enough to put pressure. "Nothing of all this, I just need a breath of fresh air", you justified, trying to get up, but the moment you moved, a couple of strong hands put you in your place again. "Stay seated", Giselle voice was stern, cold, irritated. "Now you're gonna tell me where the fuck you have been", Giselle ordered through her teeth, grabbing your chin and oblying you to look at her. "Oh my god, why are people making such a fuss for nothing?", you groaned in annoyance; this whole situation was getting ridicolous. Why were you even being questioned for such a silly reason. "For nothing? Are you fucking kidding me?", Gigi shouted angrily at you and that really made you snap. "What's your problem? What do you care if I skip lessons to spend time with Minjeong?", you shouted back, getting up to confront her face to face. "Calling her Minjeong...are you two already that close?", Ning instigated, an hint of bother in her tone; luckily both you and Aeri was too focused on each other to hear her. "Ning, I won't add fuel to this fire...actually guys, why don't we all chill and relax?", Mark tried to bring some peace to the discussion but it was kinda late to that; he was just glad that at that point it was just the four of you in class, everyone else was gone away. "What do I care? Did you already forget that I'm your bestfriend? Of course I got worried if you start skipping lessons since the third day, idiot", Giselle retorted, her eyes were starting to get watery because of the screams and her anger. "It happened just once, drop it...you know what? I'm done", you sighed in frustration, finally moving away from your spot and rushing out of the room, leaving behind you just the sound of someone sobbing.

You were so pissed off at your friends, why did they have to ruin a nice moment like the one of your morning? Did you need to inform them about anything in your life? Did they have the exclusivity on your persona? You were already starting to regret on moving there. You were actually so nervous after that fight that you were not even hungry. You were spiraling in your doubts and angry thoughts when..."Hey...can I join you?", you looked up to meet the kind smile of Karina, her eyes full of concern. You simply nodded, moving a little to leave some space on the bench you were sitting on. "Are you okay?", she softly asked, putting her hand over yours. "Kinda...yeah", you barely replied, conflicted on how to act: you were still angry with the world but it was not Karina fault. "Are you sure? I heard you had a big fight with Giselle", she exposed her worry, caressing the back of your hand with her thumb. It was not the first time she did that, it happened even the first day, it was oddly relaxing and you felt like your heart was being in peace again. "Yeah, it was a rough moment...actually it was the first time we have ever fought in so many years of friendship", you told her, looking at her pretty face with a ladle smile. "You know, sometimes it happens in these cases: human relationships are different online and in real life; probably you two just need to find...the right balance", Jimin suggested, offering you a comforting smile. She was not a genius in relationships and stuff like that, but she saw you in a moment of difficulty and she felt she had to comfort you somehow. "Maybe you're right...but I guess we need to resolve this mess first. What about you and Winter? Is everything alright?", you asked back, checking the situation you glimpsed before, but at that question Karina looked totally lost. "Did you two not fight? I saw you running behind her at the end of the lesson", you explained, pointing out what you have seen. "Ohhh, that! No, we simply ran to the cafeteria because today there was tiramisù on the menu", just at her reference of food, your stomach growled; furthermore you felt like a fool: of course they didn't fight, you were the only one attacked for that event.

After chatting a bit more, you and Karina parted away, she really helped you to calm down. Now you were not mad anymore, just sad, disappointed and very hungry. Despite that you decided to walk around again to clarify your thoughts. You were not feeling really good, but you thought that maybe walking would have helped you feeling better. The truth was that at every step, you felt even worse. With difficulty you went back in the building, trudging on the stairs to reach the floor where your class was. What was wrong with your body? Did the fight really disconcert you that much? "Here you are, hurry up, lessons are abou to star...wait, are you good? You are so pale", Ning walked into you at the corner of the hallway and, even if at the start she was intentioned to act in the usual irritating way, she immediately changed attituted, seeing your conditions. "Yeah...perfectly...fine...", you tried to act tough, but you were out of breath and you were sweating. "No really, is something wrong? Do you need to go to the infirmary?", the worry in her voice was obvious, probably your appearance was realy giving your hard time away; she placed an hand on your chest to stop you in your track, she did it kindly but you it feel like a strong push. "Maybe...just water...", you gave up on your facade, feeling your strenghts vanishing. "Let's go to the vending machine, I'll buy you something and...OH MY GOD!", she grabbed your arm to guide you, but right in that moment the world around you started to spin, you felt the lack of oxygen in your lungs until...everything went black. The last thing you remember was the faint voice of Ning asking for help and a cold surface hitting your cheek.

[utilitycaster]

I'm curious about your judgement of the success of the various format experimentations in Campaign 3. If you feel like saying a bit more, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on which are the most and least successful, and why.

Sure! So as I said earlier today, I think a big problem is that the format experimentation and the moon plot are directly at odds. Pulling off the moon plot, with all the NPCs from past campaigns and payoff of various canonical setups requires a pretty firm hand on what the current canon is, and also really did require a firmer hand in the character creation than there was. On the other hand, the point of experimentation is to let other people play in the space and introduce their ideas. This comes together in what I have referred to in the past as "Not Now." Like, the Crown Keepers showing up just as the party was grappling with FCG's death? Not bad as a concept, but Not Now. Abubakar playing Corellon? Incredible performance, but the fact that he was given free rein in a plot that's already shedding viewers left and right for its lack of direction? Not Now.

On an individual level:

I think EXU Prime either needed to be fully standalone, or Matt needed to provide a slightly more rigid direction to Aabria and therefore really couldn't play Dariax. If it's going to get woven into the main plot of Campaign 3 it needs to set that up (including giving Liam and Ashley a heads up beforehand). My personal vote would be for the former, to allow Aabria to tell her own story without it having to serve like 20 different functions, but what's done is done. If I recall, Liam and Ashley had the option to play different characters for Campaign 3 and I do wonder what would happen if they had decided differently, because you could still have Dorian pop up as a guest but I wonder if the Crown Keepers would have shown up in the same way.

Similarly, as stated, the general concept of the Crown Keepers interlude during the campaign as a means to bring in Dorian? I'm not opposed, though I think this is by far the hardest thing to coordinate generally and for a plot as demanding as Campaign 3 probably not a great idea. But it's hard to judge because the timing was truly the worst timing possible given the events of episode 91, and even delaying by like an episode or two would have at least solved that to the point that I don't understand why they didn't just...do that. (and, just to head off this particularly stupid argument at the pass, this would not have in any way affected Sam's ability to take time off for cancer treatment; it would have just shifted things around, and a lot of this experimentation was planned WELL in advance). [sidebar: I haven't listened to the WBN interlude yet but I do have thoughts because I think interludes from different GMs can be done, but the premise of Campaign 3 is particularly hostile towards them unless the main GM has a very heavy hand in their creation or unless they are light on things relevant to the core plot and mostly for the purpose of worldbuilding a la Song of the Lorelei.]

Solstice split was excellent and I think it's because it was not actually anything you wouldn't see in how people frequently play D&D at home. You have a few players who won't be available for a few sessions in a row? Great, find a reason to split the party, bring some other guest players in, and run some side quests!

Downfall was great because it was diagetic. It was a story within a story that Bells Hells was seeing and responding to, and because it took place so long ago with such specific characters, while it may bleed into how Laura, Taliesin, or Ashley feel in game (impossible to prevent, people bring their own feelings to the table), Matt still has room to decide how the Raven Queen, Wildmother, or Everlight feel a thousand years later. I also feel this had the most direction from Matt, which the other things really needed.

As said, bringing in Abubakar to DM as Corellon is something that again, this plot simply doesn't handle well. It makes for a fantastic scene, but within the 107-and-counting episodes of this story, giving the reins to someone else after you finally have a clear plan and letting them throw another curveball is a terrible idea narratively. I think this again would be fine in a story with a looser plot.

Echoes of the Solstice and presumably the upcoming Vox Machina Malleus Key/Mighty Nein Weave Mind concept is again pretty good. This also fits into things that D&D home games have been doing forever - run a one shot or mini campaign following different characters but DM-ed by the same person that have an impact on the current plot but aren't too closely interwoven. Basically this is like the solstice split in concept.

Essentially: I think playing around with the format within a campaign but having the same GM is pretty easy to do. Once you introduce other GMs acting within the world concurrently (rather than as a story with a foregone conclusion a la Downfall, or for that matter Calamity) you need to be extremely careful if you are trying to tell a specific story with a lot of moving parts, as Matt is with Campaign 3. It's one thing to improvise based on things your players do or say; it's another to do so based on improv by a major NPC or someone doing extensive worldbuilding mid-game that you now need to incorporate. This wouldn't be an issue in a more sandbox-style game; Campaign 2 might have been able to withstand it more gracefully, though I'm still not sure. But Campaign 3 was the wrong place to do it. Again, it's trying to converge in some places and diverge in the others and as a result it's just kind of flopping around in place.

[takaraphoenix]

Ooh.. so now I’m curious. I’ve never given it much thought but do you have a family tree for stiles that you use or do you just change up his family when you want to make something work for a story? I’ve never thought about his family outside of the sheriff to be honest.

I do not change it up!! Hate changing things up. Once I decide on it, it is set. But Stiles' family tree is something that's still a work in progress in a way. I have the closer family established in my head, but since he is of Polish ancestry, there needs to be bigger family because I have it on good authority that family's very important in Poland too - something I highly relate too - so I kinda want there to be great-grandaunt and her family too, the side of the family that still lives in Poland. Haven't had a plot that features them yet though so they are just a vague concept.

Noah's side of the family is less fleshed out though. I only got his parents, Eliasz and Janina Zieliński, aka Elias and Jane Stilinski, who changed their names to appeal better to American palates and didn't argue when their last name was misspelled upon entering the country (because Stilinski isn't an actual Polish surname and a nonsense word so I needed to justify that somehow and Americans making up surnames for immigrants because they don't care is... not a new concept. So I picked one that phonetically would be close enough to maybe be a misheard and then misspelled.)

We know grandpa Stilinski sucked, but I think grandma Stilinski was a nice and kind woman, very soft spoken though so she never stood up to her husband.

Claudia's side of the family I have more fleshed out though.

Mieczysław Gajos, aka the only one who has a canon name and thus technically actually exists in canon, was a strict and stern man. He absolutely hated that Claudia married a man so fully removed from his Polish roots (my headcanon that John never learned the language, or culture, because his parents were so set on Americanizing themselves). But he loved his daughter and grandson very, very fiercely and was incredibly proud that she named her kid after him. In canon main timeline, I do headcanon him to be dead but I do have a fic planned where he's very importantly alive (and where I will most likely also get to explore the extended family more).

His wife, Małgorzata Gajos, known as Granny Gosia, was much more forgiving and the member of the Gajos family who was the most welcoming toward Noah, however I headcanon that she died even before Claudia, so when Claudia died, Noah had no one left who was on his side.

In my mind, Claudia has a younger brother named Stanisław, who usually just goes by Stan. I first mentioned him and his kids in Delivery Upon Death and had him turn his back on Stiles and his dad.

I'm kind of ping-ponging between uncle Stan's family cutting ties with Noah after Claudia's death, or, the more painful headcanon I used in Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy), where they actually took Stiles in and raised him for a stint as a kid after Claudia's death, after Noah became an alcoholic.

That something happened that got CPS on the map, personal favorite that Stiles accidentally set the kitchen on fire trying to cook dinner because he was an eight year old child who shouldn't have to cook. And then Stiles spent some time under uncle Stan and aunt Carol's care.

Carol is a Texan country gal, big and loving and she doted on Stiles a lot while he was under their care.

They got two daughters, Maggie and Miri, who Stiles grew up close with and grew even closer to when he lived with them. Maggie is roughly Stiles' age, while Miri is a few years younger than them but loves to trail them. He learned riding with them. Yes, Stiles can now ride in any of my universes because I like the idea of him and horses (which is mildly hilarious to me, because I do not like horses).

I'll get around to making a proper family tree for Stiles once I ironed out the extended family, plus I'm still smoothing out the edges of the Hale family tree because I haven't fully settled on all angles there.

[evelynpr]

For the character ask game can I pick toga :)

I'm gonna be very honest in these, and I might disappoint, but here it is-

My first impression - I started watching BNHA around 5 years ago? It's hard for me to remember what exactly was my first impression of Toga, but back then I really didn't care for her much. Honestly, I just found it quite problematic that the only main female villain in BNHA is an overly cute school girl who fits the "cute yandere" trop to a t when the rest of the male villains look a lot more serious and scary.

My impression now - Perfectly honest- I really only started paying attention to her because of Ochako. I was, and still am, a massive Ochako fan, and when I heard that she suddenly had a massive romantic and tragic battle and narrative with Toga after leaving the fandom for 3-4 years, I was immediately deadly curious. - Even with how much I resonate with her story and character, I generally have a big ick for blood as a whole (surprising for a very loud tgck fan I know). Right now, she's my poor desperate little baby who really really needs love and therapy (affectionate). I wish we got to see more of her regular girly side, like caring for the LOV especially Magne and Twice.

Favorite thing about that character - That her entire story is a mentally ill and queer narrative. Like I said earlier, I actually have a big ick for blood and the cutesy yandere trope. But the thing that gets me about Toga is that she is the most openly bisexual/pansexual character in the series, very clearly mentally struggling, and both thrives and suffers because of her choices and circumstances. - She's such a tragic and hopeful character that represents so many weird people like me that I can't help but be attached. She makes me want to embrace my more girly and selfish side, and screams at me that I should live my life how I want to. - I can't leave out Ochako from this part. Holy shit the themes and story about their relationship makes my heart both break and soar so bad it genuinely hurts. Save people by understanding them, helping them, listening to them. Show someone you can be selfish, that they deserve love, that she deserve a chance. It's so much it punches me to a million sobbing pieces.

Least favorite thing - For the 3rd time now...not into blood. I don't like its taste, look, and the mere thought of bleeding genuinely grosses me out. - You probably think "How in the world are you attached to her then?" well its because I understand that Toga's "blood" is also a representation of her violent tendencies and love. I see it much more as a narrative device for her character and themes.

Favorite line/scene - Shocking, but I actually have not read the manga. I can't say what my favorite scene is just yet because I want to truly witness it animated, when the time comes. - If you want an answer well, from the anime so far, it probably is when she gets her quirk awakening in MVA, or when she confesses to Izuku in the final war (mostly because that scene is so damn hilarious, tragic, and important).

Favorite interaction that character has with another - ...I mean obviously it's Ochako lmao? Every interaction is a fight of ideals and love- which suddenly morphs into a way of challenging each other- then growing into understanding and loving each other. That is. Just insane. How the fuck did BNHA's writers come up with this.

A character that I wish that character would interact with more - For the sake of my Tgck Bkdk square, I really wished for her to have interacted with Bakugou at least once. Just see how one person's violence and power was praised, while the other was abandoned and shamed. How they both have a strong squishy-faced freak they're obsessed with, and also obsessed with them, even if they don't feel like they deserve it. - Oh and, definitely more LOV random shenanigans and bonding time. I wish I was able to get more into them ngl, but I never really felt that sadly. Man...

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of that character - UHHH??? I genuinely have no idea. I am drawing at a blank I am so sorry T__T This is the firsts time I have ever been interested in this kind of character??? Really sorry-

A headcanon about that character - This is kind dark so be warned - I got this idea from a fic and now I can't stop thinking about it. Toga always wanted her love to be reciprocated or understood by someone. Anyone. I feel that she was taken advantage of and abused by horrible people in her earlier days of running away...especially since she's a young teenage girl in a cute school uniform. I am so sorry...

A song that reminds of that character - I am working on a Togachako playlist! It's about both of their characters respectively and also their story and relationship, but here's the ones about Toga specifically! - Hayloft II (THIS ANIMATIC), The Red Means I Love You (obviously lol), Butcher Vanity, Hero (Charlie Puth, mostly tgck), Pink Pony Club (Chappell Roan, early Toga)

An unpopular opinion about that character - She's not the possessive type, and she's really very open to people she loves loving other people at the same time, polymarous kind. This is probably a pretty common hc already tho since she says this repeatedly? - Her most common form of love is a very impulsive/sexual/admiration/attracted kind. You could even relate this to hypersexuality (something I struggle with) where the moment you find something you're into on someone, you body and brain genuinely go kinda out of control. I project onto her my own inability to hold and control these kinds of feelings at times, but Toga is quite the manifestation of my fears.

Favorite picture - I love it when a character's mask peels off. Toga genuinely angry, upset, and just not smiling is so fascinating and beautiful to me in a "It's okay my dear, show all of you, stop hiding" (Ochako might disagree with me on this tho, since she loves her smile lmao-)

[oodlyenough]

So now that you finished the 6 games, Just curious. what is your opinion of Apollo?

(I haven't played SOJ's dlc case yet but I don't even think Apollo is in that one? So...)

I think my feelings on Apollo are a resounding... "he's okay". Lmao. Which sounds harsh? I don't dislike him, and I found him pretty enjoyable to play in AA4 and AA6.

What sucks for Apollo as a character is that 4 sets up a lot of potentially interesting relationships for him (the betrayal of Kristoph as his mentor, awkward half-mentor half-resenting relationship with Phoenix, his friendship and secret siblinghood with Trucy, whatever is going on with him and Klavier) and then 5 and 6 have no interest in any of those. Phoenix and Apollo's relationship just gets watered down into, I don't know, whatever they're going for tbh -- some kind of straightforward hero worship, which is boring and a disservice to both, and Trucy and Klavier basically cease to exist as characters in 5-6. So then both DD and SOJ have to reinvent the wheel with new characters/relationships for Apollo, to differing degrees of success.

I think AA5 Apollo was the worst, not even that I was like ... mad at him or anything, just that I felt his characterization was so bizarre and his story was so underwritten and it detracted from the game's main character, which should have been Athena. Clay was the weakest attempt at making the audience emotional over a relationship they never saw and a character who never had a line of dialogue. "I'm fine" is just not that emotionally resonant a catchphrase to begin with. If we're going to explore a cynical Apollo, we could've done that based on the events of AA4, Kristoph and Phoenix both, not the death of Clay.png

But AA6 Apollo's backstory was more interesting to me. I thought the relationship with Dhurke was surprisingly well done by sequel trilogy standards, lol, I liked that Apollo had quite a prickly reception to begin with and the slower rebuild of trust there was interesting. As justifications for a retcon go, him being so bitter and hurt about the abandonment that he hasn't wanted to think or care about Dhurke or Nahyuta for years works pretty well. I think fandom probably doesn't like the ending of Apollo leaving the WAA to be with characters they don't like much (Nahyuta and Rayfa), but frankly after those three games I think Apollo striking off on his own is for the best, lmao.

So I guess I feel he's enjoyable moment to moment, but across his so-called trilogy his character work is patchy, and you're left more with a build-a-character outline for headcanons and fanon. I can see why that appeals to people. I like him but he's not a character I want to spend hours fleshing out where canon did not, through fic etc. For me there are just too many other characters in the franchise who interest me more and make me more inclined to put that work in.

[lopposting]

DLC interview notes Compilation + speculation

[Please note, these are all rough translations]

Compilation of links I found of director choi discussing the DLC, from as way back as 2022.

It looks as though, as of 2022, the DLC would pertain to the world of Pinocchio, and we probably won't see Oz related stuff just yet as teased by the Dorothy appearance in the end cutscene. Given that the DLC is slated to be released soon-ish, we can assume that it's been planned far in advance and that the 2022 interview is relevant to the content of the DLC that will be released this year [Just my assumption].

Q. You reinterpreted the fairy tale ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’ as a cruel fairy tale. Do you have any plans to release other fairy tales in DLC form in the future? [Choi Ji-won] Rather than thinking about another fairy tale, the DLC plans to unravel Lies of P's world as originally conceived. We are not immediately thinking about expanding the fairy tale with new material or new IP. Of course, if there is an attractive fairy tale, there's no hesitation in choosing it. Gametok (KOR) [2022 Oct 17]

The worldview envisioned for Pinocchio is vast. I want to show a lot of what has been prepared through DLC. Rather than a new fairy tale, I want to [elaborate on the world of Lies of P]. However, if there is an attractive fairy tale there's no hesitation. We are fully willing to consider it as a next project. gameabout (KOR) [2022 Oct 11] (Nearly the exact same answer)

gamey (KOR) [2022 Oct 17] (from the same event/panel probably. Maybe this is just the exact same answer processed through different media outlets? I'm not sure)

DLC has been in preparation for some time. Plus, talk on expanding on the story elements in the main game, and pretty much confirming it will expand on "truths" that were not covered in the main story:[LETS GOOO]

Q I’m curious if there are any plans to add DLC or PvP content. A General Director Choi Ji-won = DLC has been in preparation for some time. The 'Lies of P' worldview that was thought of at the beginning of development is much more extensive, and we plan to unravel that part through DLC. The main theme will be the journey to find the truth and explore the world that was not covered in the main story. PvP content is not being considered. dailygame (KOR)[2023 June 9]

(Again, it seems like there is more to the story than what was really present in the final game.)

[Note!!: This may not confirm PVP content is not being considered *for the DLC*? This is what I think is a pre-release interview and he may be referring to PVP not being in the main game. I'm not sure. Although, I don't see PVP being added given LOP's linear style.]

I notice he mentions story in many cases when talking about the DLC. This makes me think that the DLC will be primarily story-focused:

gamey [KOR]

pinpoint news [KOR][2022 oct 17]

[from the director letter video, while talking about the DLC.]

- DLC를 통해 콘텐츠를 추가하거나 스토리를 확장할 계획이 있는지? 최지원 PD: 지금도 DLC의 구상을 하고 있다. 제대로 된 이야기가 보장된 작품을 만들고 싶은 욕심이 있다. 이 세계관과 관련된 다양한 이야기를 더 확실하게 확장하고 싶기 때문이다.

- Are there any plans to add content or expand the story through DLC? PD Choi Ji-won: We are still thinking about DLC. The ambition is to create a work that guarantees a proper story. This is because [we] want to expand more clearly the various stories related to this [world/universe]. gameabout

"I'll put it this way: there are more stories I want to tell in Lies of P, so I hope [it] does well." gamesindustry (ENG)[2023 Sept 20]

As of August 27 2023, he mentions that DLC has already gone into production (sportsseoul)(KOR):

More notes: LOP's development time was supposedly remarkably tight. It seems like it had a development time of roughly three years? LOP had tight goals and a very tightly focused scope (no multiplayer) to achieve that timeframe [also just a good article below]:

"South Korea belongs to the PC package and console game barren land" - article

Again, please note these are rough translations

The full list of links I found of LOP team mentioning the DLC below (also just a ref for myself):

gametoc

gameabout

pinpoint

sportsseoul

inven

dailygame

gamey

[lady0ctavia]

Okay, mask-off.

I don't know how to shut up. So please enjoy my endless plethora of words.

I wanted to give you guys an update about my 2p!Prussia reader-insert fanfic and its future.

I'm gonna be honest with you guys here. I've been struggling with it lately, and it's obvious. So much so to the point where it's not as fun for me to write it anymore. Don't get me wrong, I still very much love what I've created. And while I know the general storyline I want, I made a writing decision 10+ chapters back that wasn't in my initial plan. But I went along with it anyway because I was curious to see how things would go. At first, I thought I was doing fine, but I soon realized that I had made a huge mistake.

I don't want to explain the massive mistake I made, as that could potentially spoil future events in the story (though I trust some of you can figure it out). But in case you were wondering, here's the domino-effect. That being a list of problems that one writing decision caused for me:

Dragging the story down.

Too many characters for me to mentally keep track of.

Not being able to focus as much on the main couple as I should.

Character assassination.

Screwing up character's motives.

Diverting a bit too far from the initial theme of questioning religious belief while still maintaining your faith.

At the end of the day, this story has begun to feel more and more like a chore to complete. This makes me a little sad, as I've become very attached to this particular fanfic. True, I like it for self-indulgent reasons (I mean, it is a self-insert, after all. There's no point in hiding the self-serving nature of this fic). But I've also had a lot of fun writing and creating a whole story to go with it. I feel like I've done a lot with it so far, and I'm not keen on abandoning it any time soon. This has been my first time writing anything of real substance for a long time, and I've loved getting back into writing again.

But gosh, that one writing decision I made a while back really made a mess of things.

So, with all of that said, here's my plan going forward:

I am going to rewrite the whole thing. Flesh out certain characters and elements, add in other Hetalia characters to the knights themselves (it's fanfiction, who cares if it doesn't make sense for certain characters to be in the Teutonic Order? Though I will keep some OC's), be way more historically accurate, be better about giving the main couple more meaningful moments together, and most of all; keeping true to the initial plan I had (more or less). I will be treating the initial version of this fanfic as a first draft.

As such, I won't be taking it down from my Quotev account, whereon I will also post the new version of the fic. But I am seriously considering taking it down from Tumblr. Whether or not I start posting the new and improved version on Tumblr is yet to be determined. I know I have some followers here on this platform who've been incredibly supportive of my fic, and I'd hate to leave them with nothing. But at the same time, having two versions of the same fic up here may be extremely confusing for some people.

Maybe I will just publish this fic on Quotev from here on out and share the links to new chapters as I publish them. Or maybe I will delete the other chapters on here and replace them with a better, more improved version. I'm still figuring that part out.

Regardless, I thank you all for your support, and I look forward to rewriting this fanfic soon and sharing it with you all in the near future! Though I might take a quick break for the time being... <3

Stay tuned everyone~!

[fazedlight]

Sapphic Media Roundup

My last reblog reminded me: I've been trying to watch more wlw ship media recently, perhaps in part hoping that I'll latch onto an ongoing fandom instead of joining after the show ends (like with Supergirl 😂). So far on the list that I've tried...

Arcane - Absolutely loved the show, and definitely loved caitvi as a ship. It didn't leave the holes in my heart that drive me to continue the story, though, so I doubt I'll write here (other than continuing the smut scene).

Agatha All Along - Absolutely fantastic show. And a delicious ship (though the ship isn't quite central in my head). I wrote a few ficlets, but otherwise feel satisfied with it. Looking forward to whatever happens next with these characters.

Hawkeye - Just finished watching this and loved it! I absolutely adore both Kate and Yelena as characters. Though I don't think I ship them.

Wicked - Was a HUGE fan of the musical growing up, though I didn't see the characters as gay ("they're straight, just like I am!"). Haven't seen the movie yet, but given that I already know the musical and the book, I don't think this'll spark anything.

Hazbin Hotel - Chaggie, my beloved 🥺 I have a ficlet/small one shot idea that might eventually make its way out. But I don't think I'll write a ton of fics here. I am VERY MUCH looking forward to the next season though!

House of the Dragon - Okay, guys, you can tar and feather me. I think the show's plots are really cool, and Rhaenyra and Alicent are both interesting and infuriating characters at various points (same with the others), but I don't actually ship them. I feel I have betrayed my people, I'm sorry 😭. In any case, I finished S1, but don't plan to continue with S2. It's just too dark a show for me (both in topic, and because they still haven't learned how to light a night scene since GoT).

Wednesday - Absolutely fucking adored this show, and eagerly awaiting season 2. Couldn't get into wenclair as a ship, though - nor either canon ship in the dumb love triangle - because Wednesday strikes me as very aroace. (Watched a while ago.)

She-Ra - Fantastic show and ship. This was a lot like Xena, in that it was so close to perfectly crafted that I don't want to touch it, despite loving it a ton. (Also watched a while ago.)

Warrior Nun - Decent show and decent ship. I don't have it in me to write a season 3, and there aren't holes in earlier seasons that I want to explore. (Also watched a while ago.)

Legend of Korra - Absolutely loved the show and Korra herself. I liked the romance with Asami, though she was much less of a main character than I thought from how people spoke of her, so I think I found myself a little disappointed with canon there.

Rizzles - Watching this show is actually what got me really reading fanfic (around May 2021). I bet I would've written for this ship had I thought about writing earlier, but I wouldn't think about writing until the next year. Love them.

Maybe trying at some point:

Grey's Anatomy/Station 19 - I actually used to watch both until the pandemic, which was right around when marina got started. I love both characters individually and could totally see them together, so maybe I should catch up 😂

ALOTO - I watched an episode or two and couldn't get into it. But this happens a lot with me, so I may give it another try.

OUAT - I've actually seen this in the entirety before. But I'm curious if I'll see any chemistry around Emma and Regina if I rewatch it (I didn't the first time). This ship feels like the closest cousin to supercorp, in terms of seeing it on tumblr, so I might want to give it a conscious shot.

[enulaz]

My reread of TBHK, Spook 3: The Boy Exorcist

I love how the chapter opens with Nene and Hanako just hanging out on the school's roof. She brought a magazine and I imagine she thought about what Hanako said before about hanging out with friends after school, and she wanted a way to connect with him.

She daydreams about a cute boy coming from the sky and saving her from an evil spirit. Then of course Kou shows up and it would almost seem like foreshadowing here, but I love how the manga flips the trope here. The boy will end up saving the evil spirit for her to then get her first kiss with said spirit.......but I am getting ahead of myself here.

So Nene questions how Kou can see Hanako and that's when Hanako explains a brief history of the Minamoto-clan, but again I wonder why he didn't bring this up when Nene was trying to get Teru to notice her in Spook 1.

Also, Hanako knows a lot about the history of youkai and how they were slain by the Minamato-clan. I'm interested to know when he learned this and who he learned it from.

Nene blocking Kou from harming Hanako is a great scene. He's now saved her twice, and she saved him. Sooo onto another interesting section. Kou explains how Hananko is not just any supernatural but a *super* evil one and it took all of his grandmas strength to seal him. One tiny thing I'm curious about here is.....so the rumors have always been that Hanako-san was a girl. Yet all those long years or rumors never changed his gender. I mean, maybe that's not quite how it works. But just thinking about how human rumors effect the supernaturals sooo.....

I wanna know if Grandma Minamoto knew Yugi Amane and helped him become a supernatural when he died....

Also Hanako reveals he made a deal with God, and if he fulfills his duty on earth, God will erase his sin. And. I just wonder if this "God" was actually God and not another evil spirit that convinced him into something like it did with Tsukasa. Kou even says "that doesn't even make any sense."

I love how, when Hanako gets the upper hand with Kou, he just teasingly swings his knife around. Then flicks and sits on him.

Hanako seals Kou's staff and Kou demands he take it off. Hanako says "don't wanna" and it reminds me of when Nene saves him from Teru way later and she tried to get him to confess his feelings for her, and he says "don't wanna!" Such a brat.

Love how Nene openly admits that she's worried about Hanako and wants to hide the staff. "So you can get along with even a murderer, huh, Yashiro?" I really want to know what he's truly thinking here. Is he judging her? Is he impressed?

The chapter ends with the rumor starting regarding the Misaki stairs.

This was a great chapter to get our three main characters established. Though now I feel like I'm even more curious about how things went down in the past based on Kou's story of his grandma. I know this is still only volume 1 and pilots often get reconned later when the authors decide to go in a different direction, but I'm sticking with the notion that all these early chapters have huge meaning for the rest of the story and it's about putting together all the puzzle pieces.

End Spook 3.

[venigni]

Personal preferences aside, I've been thinking a lot about the lore implications of this new hairstyle. Specifically, how P would feel about it and why he would come about this style post-Rise of P ending.

If the specter truly is future!P we know that his hair is meant to become long and light (in that particular timeline anyway). For this reason, I feel like the long grey hair is his 'canon' post-game style. Probably the style he would sport in a sequel, I'm guessing?

But! Then the short grey hair came along with the patch and I kinda feel like it could be interpretted as like...P getting his life back together? Starting a new journey? Freshening himself up after he let himself go a bit due to the huge amount of stress he was under during the game's main story, that kind of thing.

On one hand, P's hair growing long is a physical manifestation of his newfound humanity. Puppets' hair is not supposed to grow.

We can see Geppetto was kind of upset when his hair grew, too, and couldn't figure out why it'd happened.

He even guesses that someone "dangerous" (Romeo) did this to P, as though it was a terrible, defiling thing (because it is, to Geppetto, as it makes P less Carlo-like) and not something that came about from P, himself.

He starts muttering to himself right as P is leaving his study, so P definitely overhears this sentiment. It's clear Gepetto is unhappy about it.

Leaving his hair long and not letting Geppetto fix it is literally P rebelling against his reason for being created (being a Carlo clone), and against Geppetto's will. It is him making a choice, as a human would. Of course you can go back and make the hair short again with Geppetto's tools but P narratively doesn't actually do this since in the Sophia scene his hair only changes to grey when long.

This being said, I have not yet tested if this is no longer the case with the short grey hair being implemented into the game. I would be very curious if they let the short hair turn grey, or if it forced a revert to the long grey hair. This would kind of change the entire narrative so I lowkey kinda hope they didn't do this even if it would be more consistent with less immersion breaking.

ANYWAY.

Lastly, it's what majorly separates him from Carlo in terms of appearance (eyes and freckles aside). We don't know how Carlo ended up looking when he was older, but it is safe to guess he probably had hair similar to P's short style. Not only would this be much easier to manage as a stalker, but it is how P was meant to look and how Puppet Carlo ends up looking in the Real Boy ending.

Wanting to differentiate himself from how Carlo looked probably makes the long, rebellious hairstyle more appealing for P. But on the other hand, I could also see him cutting his hair short again as a nod to Carlo; as him coming to terms with--yes, Carlo is, indeed, a part of him. He is not Carlo and Carlo is not him, but a part of Carlo lives on within him. And wearing his hair similarly to Carlo, despite the difference in color, could be his way of being at peace with that.

Just some spur-of-the-moment thoughts; would be happy to hear y'all's as well.

[noxiatoxia]

HEY so I know its been a minute since I've sent an ask, but I saw some of your posts about danganronpa, specifically regarding another episode, udg, and I was agasp because I was literally in the middle of playing it for the first time lmao. So after finishing the game last night I really wanted to ask, if you want to ofc, your in depth thoughts on the game and why you like it so much, or even thoughts on the gameplay and mechanics since its so different than the danganronpa staple. I quite liked it personally because of Komaru and Toko's relationship, them becoming two of my fav characters in the franchise so far, and because I became very endeared to the kids by the end of the story. I have some qualms with how Kotoko was handled in chapter 3 at... that part... but she's also my favorite of the kids at the same time lol.

Anyways yeah no pressure at all, I just was really curious because I liked the game a lot and found it so funny that you posted stuff about it as I was playing it. Also because I really enjoy your ouran opinions. But again I get if not, the game has some senstive subjects for sure. Thanks!

THIS IS LIKE THE BEST ASK EVER FOR ME TO RECEIVE. I AM SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS GAME AND HAVE BEEN FOR NEARLY A DECADE AT THIS POINT.

Okay....where to even START....

(I will be referring to UDG as DR:AE or just AE in this. SPOILERS FOR ALL OF DR:AE.)

Firstly, the environment. Unlike the main series, DR:AE does not take place in a secluded area away from the real world. It does the opposite; you are in such a vast area, you are not caged, yet you are still trapped. Even if Komaru didn't have that wristband on her, where would she go? The game is great at highlighting what the world outside of what we are told in the mainline games is actually like, how caged things are even outside, all while expanding upon existing characters' backgrounds by introducing family members, or little pieces of dialogue that serve to flesh out the world.

The gameplay itself, personally, I find VERY fun. I'm not a shooter game person, but DR:AE was a game I could play many times over. I love the different types of ammo, the puzzles, the possibilities with how to destroy the monokumas. Just a fun game all around. It's by far the most replayable Danganronpa game, as the main series games are all about the story. Once you know the story, there's really no reason to replay them. In fact, they are quite slow and boring without the intrigue of the mystery.

But the highlight, obviously, is the characters. As is Danganronpa's specialty.

While I still maintain Hajime is the most interesting protagonist of the series, Komaru serves as a great subversion of the expectations set up by Makoto's actions in the first game. Makoto is someone who preserved no matter what, changed those around him with his hope. He was your quintessential paragon protagonist. While Komaru displays this a little in some scenes (namely rallying the adults under Haiji's protection) this is only the result of speaking from her own wants and experiences. That is to say, unlike Makoto who always tried to help others even if it cost his own life, Komaru is much more realistic. She cares, first and foremost, about her safety. Her helping others to stand up for themselves comes from her own desire to keep fighting so she can live, and so she imparts that onto the people around her. Fight so you can live. She says it herself: she is not like Makoto. She is selfish, she is not endlessly optimistic. She's more like Hajime in this way, but unlike Hajime who find his own brand of philosophy, Komaru really doesn't. Rather, while Hajime's character serves to show you don't have to choose a predetermined path (hope or despair) and rather your path can simply be believing in yourself, Komaru's character shows that sometimes, and maybe even most of the time, believing in yourself or a specific ideal is not feasible. Komaru believes in the people around her - namely Toko. She believes in her friend, and believes with her friend that things can keep going. This in my opinion is an excellent twist on Makoto, who was, by all means, that friend that people believed in, not the one doing the believing.

And, as an aside, Toko and Komaru have the best development of any pair of characters in the series. Yes, even moreso than Hajime and Komaeda (who I maintain never really had "development" between each other than just a very, very good dynamic from the get-go that was influenced at points by outside plot forces on Komaeda's end. Think Light and L from Death Note in this manner).

Now, let me talk about the real meat of the game, and my favorite characters to date in the whole series: The Warriors of Hope.

I won't lie that I'm biased. I'm very biased for these guys. But I think a lot of people don't give these guys the credit they deserve considering this is a Japanese game. In Japan, child abuse is a bit of a taboo topic (that thankfully has been resolving over time). Due to the nature of Japan's politeness system and "family above all else" attitude, many child abuse cases not only go unreported, but are flat out ignored. The epidemic of babies dying in coin-operated lockers being an especially egregious example of rampant child abuse that occurred. Despite being prevalent since 1971, it took till 1993 to be socially addressed.

This is just one example, but I think it serves my point: child abuse is/was an issue in Japan when it comes to socially speaking of it. ( In fact, in the game itself, Nagisa and Kotoko both directly say they tried to reach out and get help, but were ignored by adults). This is why art regarding child abuse is so important. And that's why a huge series like Danganronpa centering a game about child abuse is such a huge deal. It sparks discussion and promotes visibility of the topic. Not to say media before hadn't talked about it - in fact, there is a lot of Japanese media about child abuse for this very reason - but that does not undermine the importance of Danganronpa deciding to portray it so openly. It is even more important, to me, that they do not stop at physical or sexual abuse. Rather, abuse focused on verbal harm and emotional neglect are portrayed as being just as damaging, which is one of the most overlooked and underplayed forms of abuse in general.

Their portray of abuse also is rather accurate. I will make a confession: I was definitely a bit too young to play danganronpa when I did. Definitely not 18 yet. But I was a teen, and very aware of different types of abuse, sexual abuse included. But despite all the PSAs, books I had read on my own or even ones assigned to me for classes, I had never seen a sexual assault victim be portrayed as hypersexual before. In fact, I didn't even know such a thing was possible. Yes, it is very, very likely I just got Komaeda levels of unlucky to not encounter that in any of my reading or research material at the time, but I think it's common, nonetheless, that people to this day still have the misconception that sexual abuse victims are all afraid of sex or anything sexual. While that is true for some, many people are now becoming more aware that sexual abuse survivors can often display hypersexual tendencies. In this way, I DID learn a lot about the effects of sexual abuse based on how Kotoko acted, and was able to do my own research from there to learn more. Furthermore, the game is good at portraying things like specific triggers in the form of words, smells, items, or specific phrases. Again, I feel it's mostly stereotyped that most triggers are objects that "make sense" like cigarettes or alcohol (much like with what Masaru was afflicted with). But the game made sure to include ones that were "non conventional" like specific words ("gentle" in Kotoko's case) and portrayed both triggers, no matter how common or uncommon, as equally severe. The game also shows negative effects child abuse can have on those around the children. After all, the WoH would not be doing the things they were doing if it weren't for how they were treated in the first place.

(Aside: This is particularly WHY I get so mad when people hate on DR:AE for being "icky". If you are personally uncomfortable with topics of child abuse, that is wholly reasonable and you do not have to play or even like a game that centers on that. You are in your full right and perfectly valid to say "I think this is gross and uncomfortable, therefore I do not like it" or "I don't like this game because I felt personally overlooked/triggered by it" or "I don't like this game because I felt it was not fun or well written". But to say it is objectively "problematic" or "disgusting" to have a game like this exist? That is just spitting in the face of people trying to advocate for visibility of child abuse. You are doing nothing but making people like myself who felt vindicated, seen, or educated by this game like bad guys. Sincerely, please do not call a game that does not shy away from the uncomfortable realities of child abuse "problematic" based on that alone.)

(Aside aside: there are "problematic" elements in the game and things to criticize as is true of all media. The Kotoko minigame I would say is the biggest "why is this in here" moment and is definitely just a fan service scene. I don't like it either. This does not mean the game itself and as a whole is valueless or bad.)

That leads into my next point: I love how morally gray the "good" and "bad" guys are. The WoH aren't doing what they're doing (save Monaca) because they want to hurt people for the lolz (though they have fun with it, as kids would). They think what they're doing is genuinely good. It's a good way to rival Junko, who knew she was evil and batshit crazy, but didn't care. These kids think they are helping children and keeping them safe. And they're kids - young kids can't really think in very complex manners. If you were treated horribly by most adults in your life, and your peers were as well and shared the same sentiments as you, you would be 100% convinced your convictions were righteous then. Hell, I've met adults that think this way (pretty much all extremists who think anyone part of x group, race, gender, religion, etc is evil). A kid thinking this way is very realistic. They are also all different levels of "morally gray". Nagisa, for example, ends up helping Komaru because he feels that a paradise for children is more important than the sole idea of killing all adults. Meanwhile, Monaca, perhaps because of the abuse she suffered all her life, has become a person that we can assume will just enact similar abusive tactics on everyone around her till the day she dies. While it's a misconception that people who suffer abuse often turn into abusers themselves (they simply just have a higher chance to commit crimes, anything from petty crimes to violent ones) there are undoubtedly cases where this does happen. A real life example is Douglas Spinx (HUGE TW; CSA & BESTIALITY). My point is: the portrayal of abuse victims in many different lights from people who can inflict harm unintentionally but with help and intervention can make recoveries to those who, in the rarest and saddest of cases, will turn to a full life of inflicting harm on others intentionally, is important - for someone like me, at least. Without the proper care or attention, horrible things like these can happen. I find this a very important thing to be open about.

Then we have Haiji. Haiji is supposed to be a "good guy". He's cowardly, yes, but he does fight to help the adults being killed. He attempts to bolster moral. But...despite having good intentions and even doing some good things, he's kind of horrible. After all, he's the one who contributed to Monaca's abuse and made her the way she is now. He's just like the kids except reversed; he thinks all children are evil because they're the ones killing everyone. And in his position, I do think most people would feel that way. I mean, if literally every kid in your area was wearing a helmet that turned them fuckin murderous and were killing all your friends and family would you, after enduring months of this, still bother to be like "not all kids though!". Likely not. Even though it is wrong, it is still a realistic way these things would pan out, much like how it did for the WoH. I mean, for a real life example, one need not look further than one of those extremist radical feminist blogs here on Tumblr that believes every single person born male is a brute. Most of those people believe that way because they have personally been hurt by one or several males in their lives, and y'know, fear and pain leads to hate and all of that.

Speaking of, I like the brainwashing in this game far more than in DR3 the anime (spoilers for that later on but tbqh DR3 is not worth anyone's time). I never liked brainwashing as a trope - I feel it is lazy. However, in DR:AE and DR1 they're utilized pretty well. In DR1 it's literally glossed over as "does it really matter? The outcome is more important than the means" which considering DR1, moreso than any other game in the series, is a satire and is supposed to focus on absurdity, I think having the brainwashing LITERALLY be hand-waved as "eh, it just happened" makes a lot of sense thematically with the goofy writing. But as you know, as DR went on, it became more and more serious with itself (for...better and worse...) in DR:AE, I like how the brainwashing affects only the nameless children. DR3's anime was lazy by having all the main characters get brainwashed by a funny little video, both in future&despair arc. In AE, it's a helmet. I think this makes much more sense as theoretically the helmet could be attached to the actual brains of these people. Plus, as said in the game, they blow up when the controller is destroyed, giving credence to that theory. The brainwashing in AE is not a vehicle to explain why main characters act the way they do. Rather, it's just a device used to create background conflict/build up the main villains, leaving the main characters to be affected by persuasion and manipulation (the objectively better version of "brainwashing").

Circling back to the WoH, outside of their thorough portrayals of abuse and standings as "villains who think they are doing the right thing", they're just fun. Like, legit, I just think they're fun. Outside of their trauma, they aren't very complex, but that's the point. The game is a commentary about abuse and how it affects you, the people around you, and the world. The WoH are not the characters meant to be developed and complex entities who undergo deep changes - that is left to our protagonists. As most series with static characters do, they assign each member a core personality. Every Warrior of Hope has a number of traits influenced by this personality (the "sporty" one, the "smart" one, etc) that make them vastly different from each other, making them not only distinct but just fun to watch their personalities clash. After all, if they were not bonded by their trauma, they probably wouldn't be friends at all. it's honestly like a Teen Titans situation in that way, and I've always loved stuff like that. Of course, their personalities are also heavily influenced by their trauma, again a realistic depiction of how trauma can and will change who you are as a person and present itself in many facets of your actions.

I THINK that's all my MAIN points. Suffice to say, DR:AE is my favorite game in the series. I think it's the most fun, has the best character developments and dynamics, I think its story is the most emotional and deep-cutting, and it really spoke to me during a time that I needed something like this to reach me. I won't say it's the best DR game in terms of overall narrative (that honor goes to SDR2) but it comes close. And I know not everyone will feel the same way about this game that I do. Thanks for this ask; yet another reminder I need to do my bi-yearly replay of this game.

(Footnote so I don't get "so you hate waffles"'d: my bringing real-life examples into this is not to say those instances are exactly like what happens in the video game nor to say they are on the same level of importance. Obviously real life is far more important and complex than anything that could happen in a game. I only bring them up to support my points about certain aspects being realistic by using, well, real life examples.)

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

My Love Mix-Up - Episode 1

Before anything else. To say I was skeptical would be an understatement. I am a massive fan of the japanese version. I have also read the manga. Both Aoki and Ida are on my top favourite ql characters list. And I have a weird a relationship with remakes of all kinds. I question the need for them a lot. I get too attached to the original work and have trouble separating that. This is not a ql exclusive thing btw and I know it's a me problem.

Just a couple of things that I've been thinking about.

Both @lurkingshan here and @bengiyo here have written already that the main roles seem to be playing against the actors strengths and I completely agree. I don't think Fourth excels at the physical comedy bits that are a big part of the character imo. I think Gemini might've done better here. Perhaps even better - @happypotato48 made a great observation here about how Aungpao would be such a good choice for this. I agree.

Gemini's not doing necessarily a bad job at playing Ida Kongthap although he's leaning too much into the confused look and I'm not a fan. That first reaction to the eraser read more aggressive than confused which I thought was weird but I guess he made up for that by looking confused the rest of the episode.

Also about the cat. I love cats. So I'm not at all bothered that Kongthap has a cat instead of a dog Mametaru, like it's about the sponsors I get it. But I wonder if they chose a white cat to match the one that can be seen lounging outside of school in Kieta Hatsukoi.

Cause if that is the case, it's great.

Moving on. The rhythm of this episode felt off to me though. Considering that they covered as much ground as the first episode of the JP version and still they added the sports, cat bits and the dinner date, it all felt a bit really rushed to me. Like they added stuff but at the same time it's like they skipped steps. atm can't really find a better way to explain it.

I like Matmi a lot. And I like her and Fourth together. I think that friendship could be well done here.

I'm not really sure about the dynamic between Atom and the bff, like I'm not hating it but also it seems forced somehow. I'm not sold on their particular chemistry yet.

There are a couple more things but it's the first episode and let's see if they improve on some of the editing choices.

Overall, this is better than the trailer advertised (which is not saying much because that trailer was a mess) and I'm gonna stick with it for now. I'm curious how much of the manga they will cover and after CM did some wonderful choices with adapting a japanese story with thai elements, I wonder how they will do this one. I wonder if the trip to the mountains will be the beach episode in this version.

[ternasyl]

Just a few quick thoughts on TMAGP

Magnus Protocol is easily the podcast I've been most excited for, and it DOES mostly deliver, making me feel vindicated in my excitement. I look forward to each new episode in a way I rarely do with any ongoing series, be it a podcast or something, and that is really nice. That being said...

I do have a few grievances with it as a whole, honestly. The statements are probably the elephant in the room - I feel like we haven't gotten a single properly scary statement such as the ones from early-to-mid TMA. Not only that, but most statements don't get nearly as intricate and complex as the TMA ones - the ones in TMAGP very much feel just like reports of isolated odd incidents, while TMA felt more like an actual horror anthology where the individual stories eventually start coming together into a coherent larger framework. I think I wouldn't mind either of these things separately, but as things currently stand, I do feel like there hasn't really been anything as memorable as the statements from early TMA yet. I *do* like Bonzo and I also thought the scary movie episode was fun, but... I dunno. I can't help but feel like the statements lack bite overall.

I do actually like the bigger focus on the main cast and their interactions with TMAGP's world, though. I suppose that the weaker statements are partly due to the fact we're getting more screentime for everything else.

I've also been feeling a bit underwhelmed by the post-hiatus episodes' contents - pre-hiatus TMAGP absolutely had a lot of bombshells per episode, so it's quite weird following that up with several episodes where barely anything happens. I do feel like we're kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it's still odd. Maybe I'm just a cranky bitch who doesn't care terribly much about Sam's romantic troubles, who knows? Wish the episodes were juuust a bit longer, honestly.

I think it's very very funny how you can simply tell I'm writing this moments after finishing episode 14 - it really does feel like the current culmination of my issues with the podcast.

All of this in mind, though, I do have to say that I'm still very much hooked and am not likely to fall off anytime soon. The production is insane, the creepy old computer aesthetic rules, and I'm VERY curious to see how this new setting differs from TMA's and what they could even do with a story like this which they didn't already do in TMA. Protocol has so so much promise and I really hope it won't only live up to it, but exceed it. Erm. What else can I say. Alice is endearingly annoying and I like her a lot more than I expected. Gwen is my oomfie. Colin may have not appeared at all within the past few episodes but that is because he is currently very busy with being my boyfriend. Gootbye.