#I have plans for the worldbuilding and it's going to be epic

[tryingahandinholdingapen]

I kind of want to either write or read a time travel fix-it fic where it's Tobirama who travels back in time - BUT it's not Tobirama's POV. He's only a side character. It's mainly focused on Madara and Hashirama. Occasionally Mito, Izuna, Touka

This post got real fucking long so here's a read more

Just a really funny fic where you never quite get to see what Tobirama is doing, because he's not the POV character and the other characters don't know/don't pay attention to what he's up to. But like he is doing important stuff yk he's taking advantage of that future knowledge

For example:

Madara and Hashirama meeting at the river. They've figured out/confessed to their respective clans and are discussing peace and who in their clan might or might not support them

Madara asks about Tobirama and Hashirama is like "Hm? Tobirama? Honestly I don't think he cares about the Senju-Uchiha war at all. He's far too occupied with his own war against the mold youkai."

"....The what?"

(It's not too obvious from Hashirama's POV that Tobirama keeps sneakily fucking up Zetsu's machinations, but what's significantly more difficult to ignore is that Tobirama is increasingly getting ambushed by White Zetsu drones ('mold youkai') - that he eliminates with extreme prejudice and alarming fury)

Just, stuff like that. Main plot is making peace, focused on most of the main family EXCEPT Tobirama (who is otherwise occupied and is thus rarely focused on much) and possibly Izuna. So it's all stuff about battles between the Senju and Uchiha, probably having to deal with internal issues as well (Butsuma/Tajima? Elders? Coup/assassination attempts?) and plotting how they could possibly get peace, it's stuff like negotiating with the Uzumaki + Mito's marriage to Hashirama, it's the Uchiha having to deal with one of their allied clans turning on them (barely noticed sub-plot during this where Tobirama is trying to prevent/rectify the sabotage Zetsu did to the Uchiha's fancy tablet), it's about planning for their eventual village (Hashirama finds notes on plumbing on his desk, written in Tobirama's hand - when the fuck did he have time for that? where did he even learn about plumbing?), it's about trying to get the Daimyo on side, it's about all the politics of trying to get other clans to move into the village too, it's about ah fuck bloodline thieves discovered there were plans for a shinobi village in the works and are doing a frantic attempt to kidnap/'harvest' as much as possible before the bloodline clans are too protected in the planned village so now we have to deal with this fucking trafficking ring...

The sub-plot is an Tobiizu fic where Izuna is (correctly) CONVINCED that Tobirama is Up To Something, and (incorrectly) decided it's malicious to the Uchiha et al, and has taken it upon himself to investigate and Stop Tobirama's Evil Plans At All Costs

Longsuffering Tobirama is far too busy for Izuna's bullshit. He's attempting to prevent/stop/counteract Zetsu's machinations, he's trying to kill Zetsu, he's trying to destroy the big old statue (yk the one I mean, idk what it's called, if it has a name), he's trying to make sure the bijuu are all safe and Won't get sealed into jinchuuruki OR the aforementioned statue...

(he gets distracted for a bit with a side project wherein he decides actually it would be really funny for him to convert the cave the big statue was in, into a place for the kyuubi to hang out. that takes him quite a while since he has to run Zetsu out (so many White Zetsu drones...), destroy the statue, alter the place accordingly, and then find and convince the kyuubi that actually this is a great idea - without the kyuubi just fucking eating him)

...he's trying to make life easier for Madara and Hashirama (oh, Butsuma died from a mysterious illness right before he could enact his incredibly stupid plan against the Uchiha? damn. what a shame. anyway-), he's having to reinvent everything he remembers from last time he lived through this shit because whilst some of those jutsus/techniques/inventions (cough, Edo Tensei, cough) aren't strictly necessary, some of them are VERY MUCH NEEDED

That takes. So much time. Luckily Tobirama doesn't have to do all the research over again, since he remembers it and it's incredibly unlikely anyone will call him out on it (....except Mito with regards to certain seals. he very begrudgingly does research and writes notes and invents plausible-mistakes-that-could-have-been-a-first-attempt) so for the most part he can skip straight to inventing or writing out the final project/knowledge

Some of Zetsu's machinations are incredibly annoying to counter, actually. Like at some point the blasted weed installed/had nearly installed a puppet ruler in Land of Water which, what? Why? Urgh

(Please imagine the absolutely incredible amounts of suspicion and incredulous disbelief and paranoia etc that Izuna is aiming Tobirama's way once he (eventually) discovers that the 'White Demon' is seemingly MESSING WITH POLITICS RE: WHO RULES A FOREIGN NATION?!?!?! is nobody else seeing this!! Izuna is NOT CRAZY look at this bullshit somebody needs to stop him-!)

So long story short Tobirama has a LOT on his plate and he is so so incredibly stressed. Somebody help this man. None of this shit is helped by the fact that

a) Zetsu realised very rapidly that someone was fucking with his plans, and promptly started trying to kill Tobirama off, or failing that, sabotage Tobirama's plans in turn

(thus the years long and increasingly violent 'war against mold youkai' that starts when Tobirama is like, ridiculously young, and Hashirama casually mentions to Madara)

b) Izuna. Just, Izuna. He's fucking obsessed with Tobirama (why) and also the most paranoid person ALIVE it sometimes seems, and he just, won't stop, sticking his nose in Tobirama's business, how does he seem to be fucking EVERYWHERE doesn't he have anything else to do it's not like Izuna even knows the shadow clone jutsu how is he doing this why-

(Izuna like. What could possibly be more important to my rival than ME. And anyway he can't possibly be doing anything GOOD so it's for the best I intervene really this is entirely altruistic-)

c) amongst all this, Tobirama still has to somehow maintain at least a vague, plausibly deniable, belief that he's like. A regular person, involved in only normal things. Because if anyone finds out what he's really doing, or what Zetsu really is, or that he's from the future (IZUNA GET YOUR NOSE OUT OF-), then that introduces just. SO MANY new moving parts and this is already fucking complicated enough as it is, alright? Yeah yeah yeah teamwork makes the dream work, two heads are better than one, etc, but this is essentially a war of information and manipulation between Zetsu and Tobirama and when your main power is info+manipulation the fucking LAST thing you want is more moving parts + more people who could leak info/know your info/unintentionally fuck up your (future) knowledge. No. As much as possible he has to do this on his own. Which means he needs to act like he's doing nothing at all. Actually spend time with his family, be seen running normal missions sometimes, help in clan matters, attend the Senju-Uchiha battles when relevant...

Which is all really really hard when there's only so much time in the day. And Zetsu doesn't have to worry about 'spending time with family' or anything so any time Tobirama spends doing that instead of working towards destroying Zetsu's shit is-

(thank fuck Tobirama still remembers how he invented shadow clones, is all he can say. thank fuck for that)

Over time Tobirama increasingly gets a handle on his terrifyingly long to-do list, which means that 'Izuna is being really annoying and following me almost all the time' moves up his priority list. Eventually Tobirama figures out that the easiest way to get Izuna to stop GETTING IN THE GODDAMN WAY is to just. Humour him. Give him attention. Yes yes you are the most important person in my life and all this inconvenient shit is just stopping me from devoting my energy to fighting you now if you could just put that lady over there under a genjutsu and- (Tobirama trying to get Izuna to help un-fuck Land of Water, it only sort of works)

At some point they fuck because Tobirama's stress levels are at an all-time high and he needs SOME sort of outlet. (Could be entirely sane+consensual (relatively. given who we're talking about) or it could be dubcon) and Izuna actually chills the fuck out for an entire ten hours afterwards. Amazing. Clearly they'll have to do this again

So they do

(yandere4yandere tobiizu for the win. Tobirama starts out normal (again, relatively, considering who we're talking about) whilst Izuna approached everything about Tobirama in a completely sideways obsessive way from the start, but Tobirama gradually starts to also get more obsessive/possessive over time. Like what do you mean the one person who has followed me unquestioningly for years and wants to kill me and kissed me yesterday and volunteered to help me fight a bijuu might LEAVE?? no. fuck you)

(Izuna with a hiraishin marker tattoo-)

anyway back to 'things even further complicating Tobirama's life':

optional letter d) Tobirama is trying so hard to seem normal and not like he's from the future or fighting an evil mold-plant-creature that wants to revive his mom from the moon. So, so hard. But alas, facts work against him

Like, I mean, imagine from an in-universe perspective. There's this guy with really weird colouring, he's known as the 'White Demon', he's better at suiton than anyone else alive and if you've seen him even SLIGHTLY try it's terrifying (think: drowning on dry land, sudden rain/storm/tsunami, blood ripped from a dozen bodies in half as many seconds-), there's? more than one of him? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE and he's so fucking hard to kill but even when you kill him he just. doesn't. die. (friendly reminder that Tobirama is abusing shadow clones like nobody's business in an attempt to stay on top of his insane amount of work to do -> yk, the jutsu he invented, that doesn't work like any other clone jutsu, and that in this timeline he has thus far told nobody about. someone destroys a shadow clone and is incredibly alarmed that theres 1) no corpse 2) the White Demon is STILL ALIVE after they KNOW they killed him?!)

There's also rumours about him fighting/negotiating with bijuu, and quite a few witnesses to his ongoing war with 'mold youkai'

The majority of people (excepting like, people he's close to in his own clan, plus Izuna and possibly a few others) aren't sure he ever sleeps or eats or drinks, and wounds don't seem to last long (healing jutsu from the future + whilst he's sleeping/eating his shadow clone(s) are still out and about)

Then there's the insane amount of knowledge and jutsu and inventions he offers-

Long story short on top of everything else, Tobirama doesn't have to deal with people knowing he's from the future or about the whole issue with Zetsu

....He DOES have to deal with basically svery person in existence being 100% convinced he's not human, though

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Kaiju!AU Rewrite Snippet

So as stated in a previous post, I've started rewriting the chapters I currently have for the Kaiju!AU due to the original not meeting my original vision and my own pacing minimizing the quality (in my own mind anyway). I'm still on hiatus from answering asks for imagines for the AUs, but I am still working on the ideas at my own pace and will slowly reintegrate myself into something comfortable and enjoyable.

Anyway, this is set shortly after Yuu discovers the ship and plane graveyard from the original prologue, expanding a bit more on the island itself...as well as meeting someone MUCH earlier than I had planned the first time around. >v>

I've still got much to finish writing for the first chapter and get it to a point where I'm satisfied with it, but I'm happy that I've been able to add more of the worldbuilding ideas I had discussed in previous posts so far!

In short: Story begins relatively the same, but it's been expanded a helluva lot more than before and will progress differently now that I'm gaining more confidence in my own skills since first attempting this AU!

Warnings: Some swearing in the snippet and some implied blood. If I need to tag anything in here a specific way, please let me know so I can keep it in mind whenever I post the final product!

//////BEGIN SNIPPET//////

The sun was steadily rising now as they continued their search, somehow managing to escape the giant metal deathtrap maze and into a wide clearing. Up ahead they could see a jungle tree line, immediately recognizing the cluster of yellow at the top of one of the trees. Relieved to have found a food source, they ran as fast as they could towards the trees. As they grew closer and closer, however, their excitement turned to confusion as they slowed to a trot. Still the trunks of the trees continued to grow bigger, dwarfing Yuu as they stopped and stared up in horror at the sight of the trees looming over them like towers.

“What the hell is going on,” they uttered, slowly turning in a circle as they realized just how small they were compared to the foliage. Plants that should have come up to their waist or shoulders were large enough to form a canopy, shielding them from the steadily growing harsh sunlight. Trees that should have been easily 15-20 feet tall were easily three times that height, fruit that should have been easy to pluck and gather now swayed threateningly like a boulder ready to be dropped.

Buzzing overhead caught their attention as they looked up, pure terror filling their veins as they saw what could only be described as a giant dragonfly-like creature flitting about. It hovered close to a flower, the downdraft of its wings buffeting Yuu with strong winds as it landed on a petal—and disappearing the moment the flower snapped shut around its body, clamping down like a vice as it struggled to escape.

“Nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope!” was all Yuu managed to say before they scurried away, not wanting to find out if anything else had a taste for flesh. “Giant food is one thing, but I draw the line at man-eating plants!”

Giant food, giant bugs, giant plants, a deserted island, and an entire graveyard of ships and planes? This had to be a fever dream or a nightmare of epic proportions! Yet it was getting harder and harder to find logic in anything they were seeing. None of this should even be possible, and yet…here they were, stranded in the middle of nowhere with no idea of who they were, how they got here, or even why they were here. And if the insects and plants were enormous, what else was even bigger than them? They didn’t even know if there were any other survivors out the-

‘Get a grip, Yuu!’ they thought, managing to stick close to the edge of the jungle on their right and keeping the shore on their left side. ‘Panicking won’t help anything, and you need to stay focused. Food will have to wait, so let’s just find water and shel-‘ the ground collapsed under their right foot, sending Yuu sliding down a steep incline with loud, “Aaaah!!”

Whud!

“…ow,” they uttered, groaning as they slowly sat up. Glancing back where they came from, they spotted the steep slope that had been concealed by one of the leaves. The dirt was smoothed away to reveal red and yellow clay, as though someone had carved out the opening with a tool to remove any bumps or ridges. Realizing that it would be too steep a climb to get out of the ravine, they sighed and shook their head. “Great…is everything on this island trying to kill-”

Thoom…

“…me…” Their voice trailed off as another thud hit the ground, the earth vibrating beneath their feet as they slowly turned towards the densest part of the forest. Something was coming, the sound of branches creaking and snapping reaching Yuu’s ears as they slowly started to creep behind a large rock formation—before finally noticing the razor-sharp teeth and the empty eye socket. They clamped their hands over their mouth as a massive black shape began to emerge, ducking into the gap of the skull until they could peek through the socket.

The creature that emerged was gigantic, towering beyond anything they could imagine as it crept into the area on four legs. The sunlight fell across its body, black and green feathers gleaming while its beak—wickedly sharp and deadly—was slick with something damp.

‘What…what the fuck is that thing?!’ Yuu thought, pressing their body against the inside of the skull as they watched the monster move.

It sniffed the air, its four glowing golden eyes scanning the area. It sniffed at the colorful crystal formations at the base of the tree. A pair of thin, small arms extending from its chest as the strange hands grasped at the stones, snapping them from the base. When it opened its beak, the sun glinted off of sharp rows of teeth before it crunched down on the crystals. Once the crystals were gone, it sniffed around for a moment before it stood on its hind legs and leaned against one of the trees. Its neck stretched out further than they thought was possible, its sharp beak plucking at the fruit that seemed so ridiculously small in comparison. From this angle, they could see a pair of massive wings pressed tightly to its sides and a long serpentine tail lazily sweeping across the ground.

‘Okay…whatever the hell that thing is, it seems only interested in fruit, so maybe it won’t mistake me for a bug and eat me…?’

Something skittered across the bark near the monster’s claw, and a moment later its head had darted forward. A giant spider-like bug with crystalline spikes was squirming in its beak before it tossed its head back, swallowing it whole before continuing to pluck at the fruit with a distinctly happy trill.

‘…yeah, that makes more sense,’ they thought, feeling their heart beating heavily in their chest. ‘Dammit…I can’t run or that thing will spot and eat me like that spider! Maybe I can just…wait here in this skull and-”

Beep-bwoop!

“Shit!” Yuu whispered under their breath as they immediately reached down to the ankle bracelet. To their horror, the bird-lizard monster’s head immediately snapped towards their direction, the two feathery ears popping up and swiveling left and right—searching for the sound again. ‘Dammit, why is the universe trying to kill me?!’

THOOM…THOOM…

Each footstep from the monster made their heart jump as they pressed their body against the wall of the skull, bracing their feet against the other side to avoid falling over and making more noise. They could hear the beast sniff the air, the musty smell of rotting meat and fruit washing over the area while something loud scraped against the ground around their hiding spot.

‘Please don’t beep again, please don’t let it find me, please, please, please, please!’ they thought, staring at the bracelet as the light blinked mockingly up at them. The monster sniffed—horrifyingly close now—as a wave of hot air rushed through the eye socket. Through the gaps in the skull’s teeth, they could see its shadow blocking out the sunlight, the tips of what they realized were its massive claws beginning to curl underneath their hiding spot and starting to lift. ‘I just woke up, I don’t want to die!’

Just then, in the distance, a loud, echoing roar filled the air.

Immediately the bird-lizard let out a sound akin to a chirp as it dropped their shelter back down, the quiet crooning it was making earlier devolving into a terrifying hissing snarl and caw. The earth shook as Yuu heard it bound away, branches and leaves snapping in its path as they heard it barrel through the forest. Then…

Silence.

///////END SNIPPET////////

MWAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!! This is only a snippet of what to expect once I'm finished with my rewrites! Something I've come to realize is that whenever I introduced some of the Kaiju, I never really elaborated on their appearances outside of the basics from that species list I wrote before. Definitely going to be making more of a point of describing how they look to make it easier for my readers to imagine!

[literary-illuminati]

2025 Book Review #12 – Pale Lights Book 2: Good Treasons by ErraticErrata

Pale Lights has been, for the last few years, the only serial fiction I have been consistently reading week-to-week as each chapter drops. So I’m truly not sure if I can give any sort of objective recommendation on whether you should read it, both because I have long since lost all perspective and because reading this as a complete work is almost certainly an entirely different experience from inhaling each chapter as it comes out. That said: it’s really good! If you like janky epic fantasy webfics I would even say it’s actually the best out there (note that I hate most janky epic fantasy webfics).

Set in the subterranean, god-haunted, repeatedly post-apocalyptic and roughly early modern fantasy world of Vesper, Book 2 of Pale Lights picks up pretty quickly after Book 1 finished – though now with twice as many protagonists. Along with Tristan (alley rat, unrepentant thief, sole follower of a very involved and often unhelpful goddess of luck) and Angharad (noblewoman fleeing her family’s purge and massacre, masterful duellist, swore her soul to an ancient eldritch god for the strength to take vengeance) from the first book, the story now gives equal time to the POVs to their minders from the last trials: Song (expert sharpshooter, aspiring officer, heir to literally the most cursed and hated family name in the world) and Maryam (‘Navigator’ (sorceress), technically princess and first witch of a now-conquered and enslaved people, recipient of a ritual that was supposed to fill her with generations of occult knowledge and might which inexplicably failed). Together they form a cabal at the newly reopened Scholomance, the incredibly cursed and actively malevolent but otherwise extremely useful university used by the god-hunting Watch to train the next generation of their officer corps.

The book follows the four of them through their first year of studies, first at the Scholomance itself and then on a practical exam where the four of them are sent to the troubled principality of Asphodel to fulfill a contract for its ruling Lord Rector. As might be expected, nothing at any point goes according to plan, and all four of them are hounded at every turn by the ghosts of their past. Also scheming gods, titanic monsters, and incredibly unwise romantic entanglements.

Now this is serialized web fiction, and has both the strengths and the weaknesses typical of the medium. You spend an immense amount of time just existing in all four protagonists’ brains, and every one of them is by the end intensely nuanced, interesting and compelling (likeable, even!) after getting their own richly detailed character arc through the book (The friends reading along with me week-to-week basically all disagreed, but for me at least the story managed the rare trick of not having a single POV I sighed in disappointment to realize was the focus of an update). The worldbuilding is also full of fun details and extraneous little complications that don’t serve any particular purpose in the story, but do an incredible job of making Vesper feel like an actual place with a real history and not just dark fantasy set dressing. On the other hand, the pacing is...let’s be nice and say unhurried. Some of those fun tangents outstay their welcome, and I literally needed a reference page to keep track of all the supporting characters at points. It was also written in pretty much real time across nearly two years, and you can definitely feel that it took some time to decide just what the defining arcs and conflicts of the main cast were going to be – not to even mention the number of plot hooks or details that were basically forgotten about as things progressed.

The plot is divided fairly sharply into two sections – first at the Scholomance and then on mission in Ashpodel. The break is sharp enough I wondered for a while why this wasn’t just broken into two books instead of one (it’s certainly long enough), but having actually finished it all four character arcs really do run through both sections and only get really satisfying thematic resolutions at the very end. Of the two, I vastly preferred the second half – but then, that’s at least mostly just because my tolerance for magical school/university plots has worn incredibly thin these days. (Even the Asphodel plot verged a bit too close to ‘this is all the protagonists running through their teacher’s rat maze and everything is going according to plan’ at times, especially with a couple late revelations that irked me for entirely petty and subjective reasons). But even the true university sections thankfully only spend a bare minimum of time on expository lectures and stressing about exams in favour of politics, vendettas, and kidnapping or murder attempts.

I really can’t figure out quite how to phrase this without sounding dismissive, but the overall shape of the story is basically about the power of friendship, and learning to implicitly trust and rely on (and risk and sacrifice for) your friends instead of trying to control or manage everything yourself. But it really genuinely works! In large part I think because all four protagonists have arcs that approach and reflect it in their own distinct ways and end up reinforcing each other (the big climax cutting between all of them as they culminated was incredibly well done) – but also just because the sheer length the medium enables let the story really dwell on the 2nd act where they’re all wounded and resentful and keeping increasingly dangerous secrets from each other. Entertaining, compelling dysfunction that almost convinced you they really were just going to fall apart.

The worldbuilding is – well, hardly groundbreaking (the historical inspirations of every cultural are entirely transparent, though there’s at least a little twist on each), but a fantasy world that’s early modern rather than medieval in inspiration is honestly still refreshing enough to buy more goodwill than it’s ever needed from me. And the execution of how it’s portrayed does an immense amount to make the place feel lived in and just compelling – the different cultures and states all cohere and are full of enough bigotry, hypocrisy and petty vendettas to be believable, mostly. The gods, monsters, and magic is all genuinely eerie and on occasion awesome in the literal sense. The aesthetics of the whole series are just incredible, really - just don’t think too much about the whole ‘everything is a giant underground cavern’ thing when picturing scenes.

It helps that sheer constant, unrelenting practice have left Erratic really quite good on the level of prose. The banter and little slice of life moments are endearing and both heart-warming and funny as they’re supposed to be, and the dire ruminations and real drama almost always lands like it’s supposed to. Not always in either case, but honestly far more consistently than a great many traditionally published (and edited) authors seem to manage.

It’s impossible to really recommend sprawling web serials like this to 90% of people, but if you are in the market for a secondary world fantasy epic I really don’t think you can do better than this one.

[haveyoureadthismcytfic]

Summary:

The story ends as it always began- with a man who had nothing but wings and the clothes on his back. Because we know how hard it is to catch up on or get into the Dream SMP source material, this series is written so that you will be able to read it blind, without ever having watched the Dream SMP.

Author: @aenor-llelo and assuringly others? I wasn't given those @ though

Note from Submitter: Grand and sprawling emduo epic making synthesis of throwaway lines and previous lore to make a fantastic overarching canon about these characters. Absolutely outstanding QPR depictions, brilliant side characters, worldbuilding that it's really really hard to not simply go "oh that's canon for how minecraft works", guys of all time I am holding in my hands forever.

[frumfrumfroo]

A few years ago, I was discussing The Last Jedi with a classmate and he said something like “It was a good movie, just not a good Star Wars movie”. At the time, I chalked it up to the fact that he was a teenage boy who was probably parroting the vague and irritating criticism that the movie faced at the time. Years later, I began to think about that moment more and more. Despite hearing that critique so many times, hearing it from him made me reflect on the concept of “getting” Star Wars and what fans perceive as “getting” Star Wars.

What the last few years (and the stream of post-TROS shows) have taught me, is that a large portion of fans don’t actually get what Star Wars is. The same is true for those who are currently planning the future of the franchise. They don’t see the value in the mythical framework of the series or care to understand it, it seems like they overlook it entirely. They’re so consumed by the fidelity to “the lore” that they can’t take step back and see the (mythical) elements that drew them to the story in the first place. It feels a bit arrogant of me to say that, but it’s a feeling that’s been bothering me.

Yes, part of the core of the problem is that even the people who actually like SW that DLF hired seem to be mostly fans of the old EU who are fundamentally unconcerned with what SW is actually about. People who prioritise 'lore' and minutiae, who think trivia is worldbuilding or that 'worldbuilding' is what defines the GFFA.

Whereas what actually defines the GFFA is the themes ('love people, that's all Star Wars is' -George Lucas). The universe exists to tell the story and the story exists to communicate the themes. It is character-driven, not plot or setting driven. Things making emotional sense is the only thing that matters in the OT, the logistics are irrelevant and incidental. It's not sci-fi and never has been, there is no interest in explaining the rules of the technology or codifying the Force into a structured system. There is no exploration of the relationship of society with technology because this is an epic fantasy story focussing on the conflict going on in the human spirit between selfishness and love; it's about the coming of age of an individual where the entire setting is established to facilitate that. SW is a story about individuals and their journey to ethical adulthood.

TLJ is written to the mythic archetype and themes of SW, its basic narrative shape is absolutely textbook exactly what anyone who understands literary criticism should have expected. It is exactly what a SW sequel to TFA should and needed to be. Which is why so many people doing that kind of analysis were able to accurately predict its main story beats.

The lore fans who want 'realism', video game power system Force magic, and the kind of moral ambiguity which is foundationally incompatible with SW are not fans of the story, they are fans of the trappings. These are the people who dismiss Vader's redemption as a unforunate incidental that 'everyone' can ignore because the rest of RotJ is good (paraphrase of an actual post I saw).

THE moral victory, the protagonist's moment of vindication, the entire POINT of the story and this dude thinks it's like, an accidental blooper that just kinda snuck into the edit because he wants Luke to be a standard American hero and not to have his worldview challenged.

I am totally comfortable saying they don't get SW no matter how much trivia they've memorised and merch they've collected.

[nondelphic]

hey! i was wondering if you have any advice for me: I am wanting to write an epic/high fantasy book, and i started with my worldbuilding, then i moved to characters and their individual arcs. my main struggle is coming up with the overarching plot, the main conflict. any tips for coming up with ideas?

thanks for the ask, anon!! (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) ♡⋆𐙚₊˚⊹

tbh i don't have a lot of experience writing fantasy, but! just because i don't have "a lot" doesn't mean i don't have any!! i was in a similar situation to you literally just a few weeks ago when i started worldbuilding and outlining a fantasy plot :D

so!! i'll just tell you the process of how i came up with my plot!! i hope it can help somewhat!

♡ pulling from your worldbuilding

the beauty of worldbuilding and having complete characters is that you literally have everything you need to START writing. but as you said, coming up with an overarching plot can be difficult. i don't know how extensive your worldbuilding is, but for me, my planning included a list of major historical events/eras in my fantasy world. from this, i just decided "okay, the plot is gonna take place during the *insert historical era from my fantasy world*."

then i'd think "okay... what was society like during this historical period?" what kind of power struggles, conflicts, or changes were happening at that time?" from there, the plot practically started writing itself! by narrowing down a specific time and place within your world, you're essentially placing your characters in a pressure cooker of events that are naturally going to generate conflict.

♡ character-driven plot

another approach you can take is to look at your characters’ arcs and ask yourself what situations would force them to grow or challenge their beliefs. think about what each character wants most in life—what would happen if they couldn’t get it? or what if they got it, but at a great cost? you can build the main conflict around these personal stakes, and that can really help drive your plot forward.

for example: say you have different species in your fantasy world, and one of your main characters belongs to a species that’s an outlier in their geographical area. maybe this species has been historically oppressed, or they’re seen as a threat due to some misunderstood ability or ancient conflict. you could focus on how your character fits into the world—they might struggle with their identity, trying to prove their worth in a society that fears or rejects them. this inner conflict could be the spark for a much larger plot, like starting a rebellion or becoming the key to resolving a long-standing feud between species. their personal journey, then, could naturally tie into the broader conflict of your story.

the key here is to use the uniqueness of your character's background and situation to fuel the plot. how they navigate the world around them can lead to choices and events that shape the entire story!

♡ external threats

sometimes the easiest way to spark an overarching plot is by introducing a big external threat. it could be anything from an invading empire, a natural disaster, or even a rising rebellion. something that shakes up the world your characters are comfortable in and forces them into action. this external conflict can intersect with their personal journeys and create some interesting tension.

♡ combining personal and world stakes

the most gripping plots often combine both personal and external stakes. maybe your character is fighting for their home or family, but there’s a much larger political or magical conflict brewing that they become a part of. it’s not just about saving themselves, but the entire kingdom or world. the trick is to make sure the personal stakes are always tied into the larger conflict, so it feels cohesive.

♡ take inspiration from your fav fantasy works

don’t be afraid to pull ideas from the things you love! if a specific scene, mission, or plotline really stuck with you in a book, game or movie, ask yourself why. for example, when i came up with my fantasy plot, i was inspired by a mission in the witcher 3 where geralt and triss are navigating the tunnels under novigrad. triss, living in secret as a mage, is forced to use these hidden passageways to carry out her plans. i remember thinking, “hmm… tunnels or catacombs are a great way for people with secret missions to carry out said missions!” that one detail sparked an entire subplot for me, where certain characters use an underground network to secretly move around, gather intel, and plot revolutions.

you can take bits and pieces from your favorite stories and use them as springboards for your own original ideas. sometimes it’s a specific setting, a character dynamic, or even the vibe of a scene that can get your creative wheels turning. the key is to make it your own and let it evolve naturally in your world!

i hope these ideas don't sound too "obvious" or like "well, duh," but rather a reminder that you've already done the worldbuilding, so use it!!

good luck with your epic fantasy!! sending digital hugs filled with all the creative energy i have left today to you and anyone else reading this (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

[ckret2]

So is does the candidacy decide like the mayor for the multiverse?? Do the gods have a voting system??? Like do they start a supernova to vote? It just sounds like an interesting and also boring bureaucracy?? Also what are the departments.

also do the time engineers(giants??) just maintain timelines and ALSO ALSO is time baby related to them and if he is does that mean giant time babies in general maintain one planets timeline?? Just kinda curious:p

I picture whatever the gods have going on as like, petty small town council politics. But I'm not interested in worldbuilding the full politics of a vast multiversal pantheon—because this isn't a sweeping sci-fi epic about a space empire, it's a fanfic about a silly cartoon—and I don't want to lock them into a rigid defined government in case I think of something else more interesting to do later. So we're not getting more specific than "petty local politics" and "voting's involved."

There's an urban planning committee, and VENDOR's on it. THEY handle budgeting. I haven't had a need to think up any other departments.

Some Time Giants become cosmic engineers. Having telepathic control over time offers a bit of an advantage on the job. Not all Time Giants are cosmic engineers and not all cosmic engineers are Time Giants. They're not like born specifically to be engineers, they're just people. Big people who can control time. They can choose what they wanna do when they grow up just like humans do.

Canonically, Time Baby is the last surviving Time Giant. Generally Time Giant babies don't have jobs just like human babies don't have jobs. Time Baby's just conquered Earth because he felt like it and no one could stop him.

[centurywrites]

amazing intro post GO!!!

hiya! i'm century, this blog being named for my main wings of fire oc. they're not my sona or anything, they just happen to be a character of mine I enjoy the most. any pronouns are okayish for me besides it/its, but she/her are my preferred pronouns and are encouraged!

i'm in a TON of fandoms, and if its on roblox i've probably at least heard of it. note that i use the term fandom loosely here, as i don't usually interact with a good chunk of the fandom spaces for media I like. here i'm just talking about things i know and enjoy!

here's the list!!:

wings of fire / wof roblox

warrior cats / wcue

sanrio

pikmin

deltarune

gravity falls

epic object show

love of the s*n

vocaloid

regretevator

phighting

kaleidoscope

poppy playtime

forsaken

block tales

NO SPOILERS AREA!!!!

one piece

spy x family

dungeon meshi / delicious in dungeon

brooklyn 99

bfdi

the apothecary diaries

mob psycho 100

CURRENTLY READING LIST!

okay I don’t wanna sound like a broken record so everything under here is SO GOOD! It’s mostly fandom related stuff but for people in those fandoms I HIGHLY RECOMMEND READING THESE!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!! GO CHECK THESE OUT

the average adventures of genericheart

A parody of warrior cats by TessuSaysHi on ComicFury, however it is extremely well written! Good for anyone into warrior cats, especially fans who are tired of the tropes in the books. Do note that it is a sequel to the average adventures of genericpaw.

death in the family

An official comic for phighting! To avoid spoilers, basically after Medkit disappears, Sword goes on an adventure to find him. Yeah I’m not good at summaries sorry

saltburn's clan

Another fan comic for warrior cats centered around clans in the Mojave desert! Created by Mobiusghost / Nanistar, it also has a tumblr, tapas, and deviantart!

gray-thistleclan

ClanGen based warrior cats comic, created by sillystrung / bok bok choy, aka the creator of the warrior cats animated series! Extremely unique art style, plus a unique plot!

push and pull

Fun pizzaburger (forsaken) fic by angel1tez / CallistosDotCom on ao3, very accurate with the dynamics and a must read for anyone into pizzaburger!!!

dirtclan

planned clangen comic by LockandKeyHyena, I haven’t seen anything similar to this comic’s plot! Good art, as well, and I recommend this for anyone into clangen.

delicious in dungeon / dungeon meshi

Fantasy manga by Ryoko Kui, very similar to the world of D&D with even more detailed worldbuilding! Currently finished and (relatively) easy to access, recommend to people who want something new out of the fantasy genre while still retaining its core aspects

no specific dni besides fully nsfw blogs, i don't care if you occasionally say/reblog something nsfw. have common courtesy please, don't make me add a dni list :(

i enjoy decora, neons, fairy kei, and a bunch of other aesthetics!!! i'm still figuring out a style, however, so expect blog themes to change in the future!

DIVIDERS!

BLINKIES!

MORE BLINKIES!

EVEN MORE BLINKIES!

STAMPS!

MORE STAMPS!

EVEN MORE STAMPS!

[cleolinda]

Weekend links, February 16, 2025

My posts

Silent Hill 2 update: I HAVE FINISHED THE GAME OMG. I actually played the final boss battle pretty well (...for me), but honestly, I played the one before that so badly that I just confused the two Pyramid Heads to death. I’ll take it. 

(Here’s my tag for my playthrough posts generally; here’s my final list of achievements. I am not telling you how many times I opened the map.)

What this means is that I’ll be able to start recording the full commentary on New Game+ next week. @idoherty451 will have his first one on Twitch next Wednesday, and I may be able to post my first video on Thursday or Friday. That is, under ideal conditions—there’s no reason I shouldn’t—but I’m always afraid of tempting fate and, like, causing the entire state of Alabama to sink into the sea. 

The idea is that it’s actual video gameplay with voice commentary, not just my janky Voice Memo audio from the early days, but it’ll also come with a writeup/summary of what I’m discussing, sources, links, other videos I watched, and so on. I’m going to post my basic notes-to-self outlines on Patreon first, if you’d like to see what I’m planning on talking about before I sit down and restart the game. 

Meanwhile, I figured out that horror is a safe rollercoaster you can get on, yes, but it’s also a rollercoaster you can get OFF. Except that I started half-dreaming about Pyramid Head.

Reblogs of interest

Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl:

Watch Josh Johnson accurately predict how that performance was going to go

The political imagery of the half-time show

A Crash Course to Kendrick’s Super Bowl Performance, from a Black Woman

--

The American Medical Association is monitoring the bird flu on YouTube even if no one else is

The new version of “Do not comply in advance”

Bison Ranchers Return Thousands of Animals to Native Lands and Witness Total Rejuvenation of Ecosystem

Some really lovely Protect Trans Kids stickers

I too was terrorized by the Flesh Hat Kid until someone said to filter the “tubi” tag (no, I can’t just use Ad Block; I use the Tumblr mobile app)

@dduane has helpful hints for your smut worldbuilding

The Traveler’s Warning, a comic

All the loving effort that went into filming the Lord of the Rings trilogy

Mr. Frodo, do you remember the ribs

If you’re not familiar with “I would never jeopardize the beans,” start there, but now we have “beans r not woke. How could u do this?”

How to turn off Google’s Gemini AI tracking

An interesting discussion of non-coercive parenting

"it’s amazing the entire dashboard is just old things. shakespeare. arthuriana. gargantua. the epic of gilgamesh" is why I'm still on Tumblr

I forgot to link this comparison of Nosferatu and Breaking Dawn last week but it has haunted me ever since

“WHAT??? WILL YOU DIE THE RICHEST MAN IN THE GRAVEYARD?”

Beneficent Chain Posts: the Toad of Success

This penguin would like to science

The gator and the stolen hat

The Gunch

Video

A Vine compilation with the rare Baby Sand Guardian

I could really use a crow bar

An amazing folklorico Sailor Moon cosplay

Cleaning along desire paths

Qi gong: stretch now while you still can (I am a big fan of “gentle fitness”-type videos)

A big week for music:

Hostile government takeover

Three bears and ten thousand rats

How I flirt with your dad

Side note: "The Slur Song" is climbing the actual music charts

The sacred texts

Pop Tart discourse

Where is the sprezzatura?

Personal tag of the week

You know what, let’s go with polls; I really enjoy those picker wheel polls, although I’m not sure what a Genasi ranger is.

[caffetato-the-caffeinated-potato]

Yeah, I know this is a few days late. But this drawing took me a lot more time than I anticipated, and the executives weren't always functioning, so it is what it is.

It's hard to believe that I only started posting art Rise art in late September, and have already gained a modest following. I have @onejellyfishplease to thank for a lot of that, I believe. I would often make fanart for them and when they reblogged it I'd receive a significant spike in notes, and sometimes a new follower. So thank you, Jelly!

Jelly is also the one who encouraged me to make Tabletop Turtles, the first AU I've made since I was 12! And now I'm starting to be able to carve out my own following without needing to ride on Jelly's coattails.

Speaking of TTAU, how about an update? [Under the cut]

TTAU is still very much in development, though I'd say it is now out of the conceptual stage and is now in the planning stage. I've got many ideas for the story and am currently in the process of organizing those ideas into a rough outline and filling in some blanks.

The story of TTAU will retell the plot of the show, reimagined by the fantasy setting and different dynamics created by the separated AU aspect. Plus, with some of my own subplots and worldbuilding thrown in as well.

All that to say; this story will not be short. In classic Me fashion, I've managed to take a simple concept and turn it into an epic-length story. Because I'm incapable of telling short stories, apparently.

So, the comic probably won't be ready to start for at least a couple more months. I am a plantser, who leans a little more towards outlining, so I don't want to jump into the story without at least a general idea of where I'm going. I'll try to keep making some art for TTAU in the meantime.

And, because this is my first time ever making a comic, and literally every comic making advice video ever practically begs you not to start with a long comic, I'll be making several short comics as practice. I'll probably start with simple comic strips, work my way up to short stories. Some might be related to TTAU, but most probably won't.

Thank you for your patience, and your encouragement! Especially to @overthinkingspark-blue, @idk-im-just-here-now, @starsandspacefog, and @varianlikescheese! This idea would have fizzled out a long time ago without you guys bouncing my excitement back at me and keeping this flame burning.

And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to send me an ask!

[pluckyredhead]

I have fallen down a Fourth World rabbit hole (this is @ngoziu's fault) and am now reading everything DC has ever published with these characters, in order, as is my wont, and I have a lot of thoughts and feelings, so I'm going to start dumping them all here. Sorry.

Background if you have no idea what I'm talking about but want to read this post anyway (why?): in 1971, Jack Kirby left Marvel because he couldn't put up with Stan Lee any longer and came to DC, where they were like "Yes you can do anything you want" (this was a lie). He immediately began writing, drawing, and editing an incredibly ambitious epic that stretched over four simultaneously published books: Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen (we can mostly ignore this one), New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People. These books came to be known as Jack Kirby's Fourth World Tetralogy.

The books all center around the war between the utopian planet New Genesis, ruled by the benevolent Highfather, and the dystopian planet Apokalips, ruled by the evil Darkseid. At the heart of the narrative is "The Pact," aka The Cosmic Baby Swap. To ensure a (temporary) truce, Highfather and Darkseid traded sons when said children were very young - so Orion, Darkseid's son, is raised on New Genesis, and Scott Free, Highfather's son, is raised on Apokalips. Neither knows who their real father is until adulthood.

Orion grows up in a utopia, but tormented by his feelings of rage and otherness that he can't explain. Scott is raised in a torture orphanage, because that's just what happens on Apokalips, but eventually he escapes to Earth and becomes the escape artist Mister Miracle. The Cosmic Baby Swap begs what to me is the central question of the Fourth World, which is: what is the nature of good? Which boy will be a hero? The one born to good and raised by evil, or the one born to evil and raised by good?

TRICK QUESTION THEY'RE BOTH HEROES!!! GOOD IS MORE POWERFUL THAN EVIL! LOVE WINS AND FASCISM LOSES! This is so, so important to me and any version of these characters that doesn't understand the really not very complex symbolism here is invalid and kind of embarrassing for the writer (looking at you, Tom King).

Also Scott falls in love with and eventually marries Big Barda, one of Darkseid's fiercest warriors, who was born on Apokalips and raised on Apokalips and chooses good anyway. LOVE WINS AGAIN! BARDA TOPS HER TINY HUSBAND IN THE NAME OF PEACE AND COMPASSION!

Sadly DC canceled New Gods and Forever People after only 11 issues, which kind of killed Kirby's whole vision. Mister Miracle limped along until #18, but as a really pale shadow of itself. So we never really got the full scope of Kirby's original plans.

ANYWAY. That's the background. Now thoughts on the actual comics:

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen: I love Jimmy, I love Superman, I love the Newsboy Legion, but this book feels very tangential to the whole Fourth World experiment and I think we can safely set it to the side. However, if you love the 90s Superboy series, I recommend dipping into this because it's the source material for a lot of Kon's worldbuilding (Cadmus, Dubbilex, clone Guardian, etc.).

The Forever People (1971): So I originally read all the Jack Kirby Fourth World stuff like...at least 15 years ago, when I was still relatively new to comics, and I'll be honest: I didn't get it. Kirby is sort of an acquired taste, and I didn't really have any context for what he was doing. I understood the metaphors, but I didn't get why people found the work appealing. And Forever People in particular was the book where I was like "Why. What is the point of this" the most.

Rereading it many years later, I find it to be a lot more moving and profound - like, the Happyland issue alone is a knockout. That said, Kirby is, uhhhh...not great at ensemble characterization without Lee, and the Forever People themselves are unforgivably bland. Default Guy! Big Guy! Black Guy! Girl! Kid! Props to Kirby for making it a not all-white group - and for introducing five out of seven of DC's first Black characters in the space of, like, two years - but it would have been nice if he gave them personalities, too.

New Gods (1971): This is Orion's book and the heart of the Fourth World. At its best, it's the pinnacle of "Makes no sense...compels me, though." Like, "Glory Boat?" I don't understand a single thing that happened in that comic but it's so fucking good. I just want to read thousands of words of comics scholars over the past 50 years going "????" in collective confused admiration.

Mister Miracle (1971): This was the book I was most invested in when I read the Fourth World years ago, because I already loved Scott and Barda from JLI, but now I think it's weaker than New Gods and arguably even than Forever People. Kirby doesn't seem as invested in going all in on Big Concepts here, and Scott escaping endless weird deathtraps is only compelling for so long. The later issues, after the other books were canceled and DC made Kirby pivot away from the Apokalips/New Genesis war, are nothing. But Scott and Barda (and Oberon and Shilo) are everything, so I guess it balances out. Anyway Scott clearly already knows a lot about Earth by the time he meets Oberon and Thaddeus Brown, so DC please feel free to hire me to write a Mister Miracle: Year One miniseries about Scott's arrival on Earth, thank you.

Okay, now for the post-Kirby (or really, intra-Kirby) stuff:

Mister Miracle (1977): This picks up the numbering from the Kirby series, running from #19-25, and was written by Steve Englehart and then Steve Gerber, and it sucks so bad. For three reasons, in escalating importance:

Riddled with continuity holes and factual errors that don't match what Kirby established. Himon is shown on New Genesis - how did he get there? Metron is depicted as subservient to Highfather when Kirby showed him as a neutral, independent agent. Etc.

The treatment of non-Scott characters is largely terrible. Oberon is written really condescendingly (Scott's like "Ride on my shoulders like you used to!" even though they definitely did not ever do that before, because Oberon is not a child). When Scott feels guilty that he's not actively fighting the war, Highfather's like "I don't want you to fight because I feel bad that I traded you to Darkseid, let Orion do it" as if that isn't the root of Orion's severe emotional trauma TOO. And worst of all is Barda, who is knocked out and captured in the first issue and spends pretty much the entire rest of the series unconscious, waiting for Scott to rescue her - except for the brief scene where she wakes up brainwashed, requiring Scott to beat the shit out of her. Lovely.

The series is reeeally fixated on the notion that Scott is a god, and extrapolates that to Scott deciding he's the messiah. Now, I'm not going to say that the Fourth World can't be used to explore Christian themes just because Kirby is Jewish, because Kirby was very definitely exploring biblical themes extensively and frankly I don't know enough about the Bible to say whether he was sticking religiously (ha) to the Old Testament. But I do think taking one of the central characters of a Jewish man's magnum opus and making him the messiah is, uh, pushing it. And there's no way to argue he's not a Christian messiah because, uh, he T-poses a lot in this series and Granny also specifically states that if Scott is the messiah, she'll find an anti-Christ to combat him (which...wouldn't that sort of by default be Orion? which just further proves that the idea of a messiah really doesn't work in the Fourth World framework). Anyway it's gross and I hate it.

New Gods (1977): I'm kind of using this as a catchall to cover all of Gerry Conway's New Gods work, which includes the actual 1977 New Gods series (which picks up the numbering from Kirby, so it's #12-19), the conclusion of the story in Adventure Comics, and the Justice League of America crossover with the Fourth World. (Also there's one issue of Super-Team Family where Lightray and Metron team up with the Flash to save Orion, who has grown really really big, but that doesn't fit with the rest of Conway's continuity so I guess we can ignore it.)

Anyway this stuff is not as infuriating as Mister Miracle, but it's also not...good. The central concept is that Darkseid has discovered that the Anti-Life Equation is contained within the brains of six humans, so Highfather sends six New Gods to protect said humans: Orion, Lightray, Metron (he doesn't work for you, Highfather), Forager (also does not work for you), Lonar, and Sensational Character Find of 1977, Jezebelle of the Fiery Eyes (Original Character Do Not Steal).

Mostly this series is frustrating because all the New Gods are wildly incompetent and fail completely at their tasks. Orion is dumbed down to The World's Most Basic Superhero (he has a big O on his chest now!). I spent the whole time yelling "HE CAN'T FLY, GERRY!" at the comics. Forager is lumped in with no mention of that whole thing where...he's a New God who was raised among the Bugs, who are being persecuted by the New Gods? I feel like that should be explained or at least addressed? (Presumably Kirby would have gotten around to it eventually.) Forager also should not be flying but here he does. I guess. Lonar flies too but mostly on his horse, which bothers me less for some reason, I'll accept a flying horse. (Also Lonar's human he's supposed to protect is Inuit and hoo boy is this comic racist. The poor guy wears a fur diaper the whole time and speaks a completely made up language.)

And then there's Jezebelle of the Fiery Eyes. Who is blue, for reasons that are never explained, and wears a bikini and fishnets because it's 1977, and mentions her fiery eyes (heat vision) every time she speaks. She's from Apokalips, but defected to New Genesis during battle. Which, like...I appreciate that Conway recognized that this team should have a female character, but what with Orion, Scott, Barda, and Inexplicably Present Himon, it feels like we have enough characters who have defected from Apokalips in some way? And it's just super weird that the ONLY female characters we have seen from New Genesis are Beautiful Dreamer of the Forever People (trapped in another dimension indefinitely) and Scott's dead mom. Like, what's the implication here? Heaven doesn't have women? Also, I know Conway was going for biblical names to match New Genesis and Izaya (he also introduces a Lucifar), but, like...Jezebelle? JEZEBELLE. Your only female New God and you named her "whore." Amazing.

And with that, we have covered the New Gods in the 70s (minus some Mister Miracle/Batman teamups). Next time: the 80s, and Kirby tries so so hard to kill Orion but DC won't let him.

[almaasi]

hello tumblr friends, i am alive! and here to rec a game to YOU SPECIFICALLY

(i.e. the people who follow me and have followed me through a series of fandoms over 15-odd years, both for reblogs and my own fanfic content. this is a rec for you, regardless of whether you are a gamer or not.)

it's called BALDUR'S GATE 3

it's a realistically-animated fantasy role playing game. which means you make a character, then play as them as you go on an EXTREMELY EPIC adventure. it's based on dungeons & dragons, so it's like playing d&d but in a movie-esque form. you don't need to know anything before you start. (you do need a PC or console with 8GB of RAM that can run a game.)

you collect friends, who you talk to along the way (the game provides sentences you can click, which sway the story). you get to know them, and help them fulfill their personal destinies. they start as utter disasters, and you gradually find out their damage, then you can assist them or turn them into worse messes, depending on what you choose.

and you fight monsters - either to rescue vulnerable people, or to be evil, again depending on what you want.

if you loved things like supernatural, star trek: deep space nine, or are an enjoyer of something like lord of the rings, you'd love this.

that's true whether you enjoyed the homey, comfy moments, the dark emotional depths, the comedic relief, the silly episodes with goofy characters, or the heart wrenching moral-questioning life-altering storylines.

the music, atmosphere, the depth of the characters?? the found family!!! the FOUND FAMILY!!!

THE F O U N D F A MI L Y

and if you like schmoopy fanfic, this is for you. if you want your lil blorbo to kisskisssnuggle or perhaps bonk the other blorbo, you can do that. if you want to polyamory or threesome about it, for some characters, there are ways.

if you want to live vicariously as a genderswapped wizard version of you, this game is for you. if you want to mix and match gender and body presentations and masc-femme voice and clothing options, you can do that too.

if you want to observe your trauma expressed in a character and try and help them through it, without you needing to find the words to do so, in a way that is not you talking to someone about it directly, this exists as trauma processing on a cracker.

if you are spending your days bedrotting, scrolling on your phone, or watching things end to end and not knowing how to give yourself enrichment without leaving your home or expending precious spoons, this is your answer.

the writing? FANTASTIC

the worldbuilding? FLAWLESS

the characters? i would die for them (and have, repeatedly.)

the women are WRITTEN WELL. their stories have MEANING.

the graphics? beautiful and just real enough that you can exist in the world and become immersed.

you can adopt a dog. and an owlbear. and there are innumerable delightful other animals you can talk to.

i was very surprised by the combat. because listen, i don't like violent things. i shut my eyes when there is bloody violence in a thing i'm watching. however. this is not mindless pewpew violence, this is pause, slow down, think about what you're doing and why combat. for a decent amount of fights, you don't need to kill if you don't want to, you can toggle off lethal attacks. you are fighting for your life sometimes, and to rescue people other times. you can plan ahead. you can do it again if you want to change what you did. you can TALK YOUR WAY OUT OF IT so you don't end up in a fight at all.

the learning curve for the controls and the character-creation options may be steep if you've never gamed or played a RPG before, but i googled some basics and i had it down in a couple of days. the rest i picked up as i went along. i started on the easiest setting (explorer mode) and increased the level as i got the hang of it.

anyway i just love this experience, and if you have ever enjoyed a thing i have also enjoyed, THIS GAME IS FOR YOU. i'm playing by myself, romancing the vampire twink known as astarion, and i'm also playing another game with my sixty-something year old mother, who has never played a game before.

it's expensive. i think it's $60 USD - for me it's $100 NZD at full price, so i put off buying it. i was gifted it by my friends who were playing, because they knew it was worth it. now i've played, i also know it's worth it. the sales on steam bring the price down about 20%. HOWEVER. with the sheer amount of content, depth, and quality, i'm shocked they're not charging double. it's worth saving for. you WILL enjoy it.

if you don't have time, you can split the gameplay up and play it over years like a tv show, if you want to. i'm about 300 hours in and i'm not done yet. (i am doing every single side quest, and i'm in no rush.) and it's also replayable. i went back 80 hours of gameplay to change something. and the catch-up i did after had almost nothing in common with the previous time i did the same section.

if you need any further convincing, here's a clip of my character (starling) talking to astarion, and giving him what is most likely his first hug in 200 years. (cw discussion of sexual trauma)

k that's all.

baldur's. gate. three.

enjoy~

[thaltro]

Hey there! I've been following for a while bc I saw your absolutely gorgeous bad sans ref for Nightwatch and upon finding more content and context i am so excited for the comic- I love the characters and worldbuilding- I wanted to ask a few questions bc I've been loving this everytime I see new art I eat up the new meal :D no pressure to answer all of them ofc! Take your time if you need it-

Will you post the comics on tumblr or a different website?

Was there something that inspired you to make this comic/Kickstart the want to make it?

As someone who really struggles with motivation to do stuff does anything motivate you to draw and worldbuild? Or does it just come to you?

Not sure if anyone has asked this yet but do have a favorite character you made or are making for Nightwatch?

Like I said no need to answer all the questions, love your art and content! :)

Ooh a QnA ok

1) I’m definitely posting the comic to tumblr, but also on my toyhouse! I won’t just suddenly post it though, before that I’ll release pmv trailers which should be very soon.

2) for inspiration I’ve always loved horror- what started the idea of nightwatch was reading I have no mouth and I must scream, the idea of perpetual inescapable torture is fascinating, especially personalized hellscapes. I also really liked AM as a character and he heavily inspired Atrophy (I headcannon his voice to be AMs) (wait I guess it’s not a headcannon hm)

3) I love world building, im a history major and also studying sociology and psychology- I’m definitely inspired from human history and global cultures. Nightwatch’ s world building is a conglomerate of different social stratifications, but leaning heavily towards conservative religious cultures. For world building I really recommend learning history- it makes you passionate about the patterns of humanity and more aware of the tropes you can use.

But for characters it just comes to me naturally (literally) most characters are based off of my Alters haha. So a lot of them like dream, psych, atrophy, memory, killer, horror etc are all aspects of myself. As the host I hold our productivity, our ego, and our low empathy- that’s what psych is heavily based off of. Dream is based off two parts who hold a lot of of our childhood trauma and religious trauma, likewise Atrophy also is based off of alters who hold childhood trauma. When your a system you go typically through some crazy stuff, when I’m done nightwatch I plan in the future to write horror stories based off it but yeah. Aside from system experiences a-lot of the characters who will experience ableism like memory does, is based off my experience with how people treat my physical and mental disabilities.

Suffice to say, I’m an angry person and I hate the world around me. Nightwatch let’s me vent that hatred in a coherent artistic way. I have a big ego and like to think I’m an interesting person so I write stories based off that because I think it’s interesting. My hatred for pop psychology, ableism, child abuse, and religious abuse is pretty obvious in it I guess. If your struggling to write the easiest thing for me at least is to write about what you hate or are scared of the most- then develop a world around it.

4) my favourite character is Dream probably- I mean I never stop drawing him, Atrophy comes close too. Though there are alot of characters I enjoyed writing like Fresh, Dr. Fell, Dust, Epic, Error yk- I like writing comedic characters. But what I’m most proud of writing it’s probably just Psych, Dream, and Atrophy as I put an equal amount of effort into writing both.

Thanks for the questions it feeds my ego nom nomnomnom- kidding I just genuinely like not shutting up and it’s weird that people actually care to ask

[bearsintreesofficial]

a recreation of a sonic fanfiction i wrote when i was 10

ok y'all, some context is needed.

we have a song called cassiopeia coming out tonight. i made a tiktok that said if the sound for cassiopeia is used 100 times, i'll publish the sonic fanfiction i wrote when i was 10 that i joke about a lot but have never shared. anyway, this happened in an hour. i am shocked. i did not expect it to happen so quickly, if at all. i begin my search.

well, it turns out i can't publish it because the places it was published no longer exist, and 10 y/o me didn't back it up (although i thought i had). bummer. an early internet relic gone.

either way, the plot details are seared into my memory because honestly? for some reason, that small act of creativity was a core memory in my life. so while i can't share it, i can retell it, because it's silly and pretty accurately captures what it's like to be 10 and obsessed with a piece of popular media. so here goes.

enjoy, and stream our new single cassiopeia tonight.

SCENE OPENS

the fanfiction was about a page long. the story opens with me - in school, as i did most every day of my life up to that point. in the story, sonic/tails/knuckles live in the human world, and essentially function as superheroes. there's no explanation for it, they just are there keeping the earth safe and such. we are also friends. there is no explanation or backstory for that either.

with the setting established, we're straight into the action; an alien pod crash lands in our school playground after school. me and my friend are the only kids left. where are the teachers? who knows. as is evident, worldbuilding was not my strong point.

anyway, in this alien pod is...an alien. it was a spider that looked a lot like the facehuggers from the alien film franchise, because i'd seen a clip of that as a kid and it freaked the hell out of me. i call sonic (where did i get a mobile phone from?) and let him know something Serious is going down. sonic and tails arrive - knuckles is too busy trying to get the master emerald back from doctor robotnik in this instance.

my friend and i take a back seat and let sonic and tails deal with the weird alien thing. they deal with one, but as soon as they get rid of it 10 other capsules drop in the area. sonic and tails can't take them all, so me and my friend join in to help take them out. i didn't really account for how, but we're fighting all back to back and it's very epic. (sonic x was the prevailing sonic show at the time, and it was y'know - very dramatic. so this was like a scene from that.) tails even brings in the tornado two, his personal plane, to run rings around them. after we finish the final facehugger alien off, a final alien pod descends. but out of this pod emerges...

shadow the hedgehog.

the aliens had been sent by him, and he was here to take sonic down. this was all part of his master plan.

the piece then ended, because i suppose i was going to follow it up at some point. but alas, that did not happen.

moral(s) of the story:

archive the silly stuff you wrote when you were a kid, it'll be fun to look back on later.

stream our new song, cassiopeia. it has nothing to do with any of this, but i think it's neat regardless.

thank you.

[synergysilhouette]

Ranking Disney revival films

Pretty self-explanatory! Just my personal feelings (condensed) about Disney's Revival Era films up to now--even though many say the Revival Era is over now. Hoping we don't have to wait another decade for a good era to return. I'm sure my placement of some films are a surprise.

15. Wish--It hurts my soul to put a musical at the bottom of this list, especially seeing how it had all the ingredients for a critically-acclaimed, box office success. But the end result wasn't satisfactory; the message was muddled, the songs were generic, and the use of hybrid animation, aside from not being something I like, was ill-fitted for this film. If all the scrapped concepts I liked were used in this film and the creative team wasn't stifled/confused by executives (I NEED a behind-the-scenes documentary for this film), I think this would've been top 5, maybe even top 3 for me on this list.

14. Strange World--The film has a really interesting theme of environmentalism and using it via aliens, but it never comes off as unique or interesting; even the alien animation is generic. This almost feels like something that would've been handled better in the post-renaissance era (and subsequently been underrated, but isn't that better than how it is now?) It's a shame, because Searcher is one of the few Disney films where the main character is a parent/grown adult instead of a young adult. Disney could've opened up to a new audience here if this film was better. I only put this above "Wish" because "Wish" had too much expectation from me.

13. Wreck-It-Ralph--I like the message the film offers, but I think part of the reason I couldn't engage with it was because of the retro inspiration; I was never a big arcade game player. I think it was cute, but it just wasn't engaging. It's not that this was a bad film, but there were other Disney films of this era that I think I gravitated to a bit more. I do hope Disney makes a video game-inspired film one day, though--but I don't know if their current management would handle it right.

12. Wreck-It-Ralph 2--Again, I found it a cute film, but it just didn't engage me. The ONLY reason I placed this above the first was for obvious reasons: the Disney princesses (and most of their original voice actors) returned, so that was an honor to see.

11. Moana 2--The film had a really good concept, but the execution of it wasn't as good. It was very apparent that Disney only gave them 10 months to make a tv show into a movie with little wiggle room to change anything (as confirmed by the screenwriters), which was only 4 months in terms of writing since animation takes about 6 months for 3D, if I recall. I'm pretty sure they did this when it became clear that "Wish" was going to flop, so this was their backup plan. This only goes higher than the other films before it due to familiarity of the property.

10. Winnie the Pooh--This was a sweet film, but I don't have much to say about it. I'm not a big fan of WTP, so it's not a film I'd rewatch a lot, but it was good when I watched it.

9. Raya and the Last Dragon--As I've said, if this film had been different, I think it could've been my favorite Disney film EVER. Unfortunately, last-minute story/cast/crew changes led to it changing significantly, and it just wasn't as good as I think it could've been. I love the idea of a SEA fantasy epic, but the worldbuilding and message of it all needed revising; Raya is offered no validation for her trauma and trust issues, and she's the one who has to move past it because her divine friend is innocent and trusting.

8. Tangled--I'm NOT a fan of this movie, but I love Gothel's songs, so that's a plus. I'm very annoyed with the selfish guy tropes that Flynn Rider exhibits, as well as the fact that why he's like this isn't shown to us; it's just a minute-long discussion. Plus he feels a lot older than Rapunzel because of his jaded attitude, and their adventure to the kingdom is kinda boring to me. A part of me feels like they were going for "Shrek," but it wasn't NEARLY as good to me. (But to fair, it sounds like Disney was micromanaging even back then, too.)

7. The Princess and the Frog--I like a lot of aspects of this film, but the reason it's low is because I'm not a big jazz fan (I do like some of the songs, though), and I'm not crazy on animal-centric movies due to the different POV they have. If Naveen and Tiana had stayed humans for most of the movie, I would've enjoyed this film a lot more. Best believe I would've watched "Tiana," Disney.

6. Frozen 2--This film is the opposite of "Moana 2"; the concept alone isn't really interesting (searching to find a mysterious voice), but the execution is better, even if it has a lot of moving parts that should be cleaned up. Again, this was a production nightmare, but I'm just glad the returning cast and crew were able to make something emotional and powerful, even if the story itself was a bit messy and Kristoff got the short end of the stick.

5. Encanto--This film was good, from it's music to it's setting; I love it when Disney explores different cultures. I think the reason I took points off is because I felt like due to having 12 family members, the story arcs for some of the family members didn't feel as fleshed out as Mirabel's own arc. Plus this story was much more domestic than typical Disney fantasy films, going for magical realism versus high fantasy.

4. Moana--This was a gorgeous film to look at, and I think the music really carried it, but the story itself was still solid enough to push it into the top 4 for me. My only qualm was that I wish we had more main characters and that Moana's "Know Who You Are" had more parallels, since she and Te Fiti went through very different feelings, as Moana never fell into a rage or almost lost herself while on the journey.

3. Big Hero 6--I adore this film so much! The message and the ability to take a very unique comic series into an emotional film made me adore it, especially when processing the ugly sides of grief and accepting that you can't always get back the things and people you've lost. My only critiques are that the villain reveal happened too late to properly have parallels between him and the protagonist, as well as Fred having an unequal amount of screentime compared to the others in the friend group, and the costumes. I'm a sucker for more unique costumes than that.

2. Frozen--When I saw this film, I swore that it was the best film ever. It's really amazing with it's music and storyline; it felt like a (properly-written) modern fairy tale, albeit a bit heavy on the commentary, and we didn't need a twist villain here. I'm also not crazy about how they characterized Elsa and Anna's parents, particularly their dad.

Zootopia--This may come as a big surprise since I'm a big fan of musical films and I'm not a fan of animal-centric films. However, since this movie has the animals in a human setting, it was a film I was open to. The racism metaphor and narrative of prejudice touched me in a way I wasn't expecting it to; I was fully planning to skip this movie. Nick Wilde is essentially what I wanted from Flynn Rider, and Judy Hopps is one of the routes I wish Disney went for Asha.

What's your ranking for Disney's last decade of films up to now?

[tanoraqui]

I would love to hear your STRONG SUGGESTIONS on Cosmere reading order, if you feel like sharing! (From your tags on /post/773079877074206720.) Your posts about the books are inspiring me to give it another try but I'm not sure where to begin.

First, accept that when it comes to the more recent publications, you're almost certainly going to have a Discworldian experience of there simply being NO reading order that lets you be aware of every time crossover or reference - or, if there is one (1), trying to adhere to it would diminish your overall reading experience, and some of the references are going to be so ambiguous that you wouldn't catch them anyway.

In my judgement, there is no point where you won't understand what's happening in a book set on one world because you haven't read a book set on another world. Maybe a bit of confusion, an awareness of lack of context, but what needs to be explained for the current narrative always is.

I think this state might end with the upcoming Ghostbloods trilogy, ie Mistborn Era 3. It will almost certainly end by the space opera trilogy that is (planned) Mistborn Era 4.

Also, this flowchart is pretty good, though I disagree with it in places.

I find it useful to think of the Cosmere in phases:

COSMERE PHASE 1: Warbreaker, Elantris, Emperor's Soul (novella), original Mistborn trilogy. Read these in any order, adhering to internal series chronology (ie, Mistborn 1 > 2 > 3). You can also read short stories "Sixth of the Dusk" and "Shadows for Silence in the Forest of Hell", but you'll only find those in the Arcanum Unbound short story & novella collection, which is overall Phase 2.

^ Warbreaker, Elantris and Mistborn are all set on key worlds with characters or worldbuilding that will be vital to the Cosmere as a whole later on. The fourth key world is that of the Stormlight Archives.

^ Feel so free to start with the stand-alone novels rather than the Mistborn trilogy, if you need to ease back into this. It's 100% fine. None of these books connect to each other at all.

^ oh yeah, White Sands probably goes in here too, which I literally forgot about because it's a comic book rather than novel, so I've never read it. I mean, I hear it's perfectly fine; I'm just not a comic book person. I think that flowchart forgot it, too.

IF you have already been spoilered for the big finale results of the original Mistborn trilogy, consider reading just Alloy of Law (Mistborn Era 2, book 1) to get your metaphorical engines revving for Scadriel, then go back and read the original Mistborn trilogy, then read the rest of the Era 2 series. It's not necessary, and you should ONLY do it if you know the Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Ascends to Godhood parts of the original trilogy. But if you previously stalled out of the universe, this might help!

COSMERE PHASE 2: Mistborn Era 2 series, Stormlight Archive #1-5, Arcanum Unbound (short stories & novellas, including Mistborn: Secret History).

^ Stormlight Archive is VERY Epic Fantasy, all oaths and secret magic of ancient history and world-spanning politics, each book a MINIMUM of 900 pages. Mistborn Era 2 is detective-adventure with a dash of Indiana Jones, each book like 400 pages max. Feel free to alternate, honestly, to keep your brain fresh.

^ ...and the flowchart is right that the optimal experience is to have read all of Mistborn Era 2 (including Secret History) before SA #5. And if you haven't yet, read Warbreaker before SA #3.

^ and read Elantris before Secret History.

^ For Mistborn Era 2: the chart is wrong; you should read Secret History AFTER Bands of Mourning, for the optimal frantic theorizing/"what the HELL" experience.

^ I've definitely forgotten some short stories in Arcanum Unbound, but they're clearly associated with specific series, so just read them when you obviously should.

COSMERE PHASE 3: Tress of the Emerald Sea, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, The Sunlit Man. The Ghostbloods trilogy (MIstborn Era 3) when it comes out.

^ Due to [STORMLIGHT SPOILERS], the Cosmere is currently, in-universe, in kinda-lull before some sort of all hell breaks loose (probably in SA #6). These books all take place during that kinda-lull.

^ You technically can read Tress or Yumi earlier, in that they have no plot connection to any other book...but the narrator of both is a diegetic character and they go here in his personal timeline. And he casually references worlds beyond those of the books, for flavor. So you're really best reading them here - unless you want a mild sense of confusion the first time through, and a strongly satisfying "Oh, THAT guy!" upon rereading them several years later after reading everything else!

^ Sunlit Man you really should wiat until after SA #5.

Other books likely to happen in this Phase: Warbreaker sequel (novel? novella?); novella crossing over Stormlight Archive x Mistborn Era 3; Mistborn cyberpunk novella (era 3.5, may turn into multiple books and its own Era because that's what happened with Era 2). Maybe an Elantris sequel.

COSMERE PHASE 4 (predicted): Stormlight Archive #6-10. Elantris #2 and/or #3. Mistborn Era 4 epic space opera trilogy (aka Cosmere: Endgame). Dragonsteel book and/or trilogy, explaining the backstory to All Of This, wherein 17 bozos decided to kill God and eat the ashes.