#I just can't believe how bad this worldbuilding truly is

[teeth-cable]

So if you want a prime example of questionable/shitty worldbuilding in the early Hazbin days: the entire concept of the Charlie comic.

So basically it was going to be set in Charlie's high school years which creates several issues.

1. Charlie was over 200 in the Hazbin pilot so that brings up an issue how long Charlie was in school and the education system.

2. It had to have been recent because Vaggie was going to make an appearance which....

3. Since its obvious Sinners don't age physically from their death date and Vaggie's design concept was shown at the same time as Helsa and Charlie's high school looks that due to lack of information implies Vaggie is high school age, which yes you can say everyone is 18 but its confusing as hell because if Vaggie is a sinner why is she in what I would assume would be a prestigious school/why is she in school in the first place? or... Vaggie and Charlie's relationship has some SUPER fucked aspects.

4. And we don't even know how aging works for Hellborns in general because like Paimon I fucking doubt is 50 but Vivzie could surprise us like she did with Stolas. Like how old are the deadly princes? Where are the ancient ass grandpa elder demons? Do demons choose when to stop aging? Is Lilith counted as a demon or human either way her age is questionable in that regard.

I'm getting a headache from how bad this world building is. So first knowing Viv, she will make the school system just like the one in America and that is another worldbuilding nightmare. Assuming Hellborns aged differently from humans, have a different history and culture from them, and will learn different subjects, it doesn't make sense to write Hazbin's schools in a traditional school system.

Second, no way in Hell would a sinner get into a Hell school especially if it's a prestigious one for Hellborn royalty. Viv said kids can't go to Hell so you have to die as an adult to be in Hell. So either Vaggie is lying about her age to attend this school or she is a possible teacher working there??? This feels such an inorganic way for Vaggie and Charile to meet each other. Like what purpose does Vaggie have to be there and with the implication of an adult Vaggie meeting a teenager Charlie in high school, I rather have them meet somewhere else where Charlie is also an adult.

Viv made a tweet about this idea back in 2019 so she had this idea for a long time now and didn't see the problematic elements or how it causes more questions than answers for the world building.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if Paimon was actually 50 because Viv confirmed Stolas was 30 despite him being the ancient prince of Hell. Honestly I don't bother with the aging for Hellborns because that is a nightmare of it's own to figure out. Both Hazbin and Helluva are filled with so many creative lore and worldbuilding concepts that the writers keep ruining due to their laziness. Instead of writing Hell as it's own setting, they write it as a Red Earth 2.0. I know Hazbin’s thing with redemption is strongly tied in with Hell and Heaven but I rather take a boring show about redemption set on Earth than a terrible demon show about redemption set in Hell where the worldbuilding has potential but the writers fail to execute it properly.

[gffa]

What is trigun stampede even about

At its heart, Trigun Stampede about the conflict between love/pacifism and rage/retribution, set between two twin non-human brothers who love each other but diverge because of this conflict, even as they desperately want to pull the other back to them, with a mix of various other characters coming along for the ride. When future humanity creates a new type of lifeform called Plants, beings that are connected to a higher dimension's energy source which allows them to be used to create food/water/air/etc., humanity is not exactly great about this. Some people are kind and compassionate, some are horrifically abusive, uncaring of the hurt they're causing. The only two sentient Plants of the series are the twins--Millions Knives and Vash the Stampede--and when they discover what the humans are really doing, Knives crashes humanity's ships onto a desert planet with no resources, where they will truly die without the Plants to create food and water for them. Vash believes they can find a way to live together with the humans, he sees the best in them. Knives thinks they should all die for how they use Plants up until they die, for how they experiment on Plants, for how they attack anything that they're afraid of. (It's very much a "the villain really kind of has a point, but takes it way too far, but you can kind of understand how he got there, especially depending on how much pain Plants are capable of feeling, not that we know the answer to that" kind of set-up.) Their conflict (not that Vash wants a conflict, but Knives isn't going to stop stealing back all the Plants the humans have taken, killing anyone who gets in his way) plays out across the entirety of the desert world, with Vash basically unable to go anywhere without some kind of trouble coming down on his head (whether through his own Plant abilities being necessary, bad luck, or Knives stealing back a Plant) and this weighs on Vash's soul like a ton of bricks. Vash tries really hard to keep up the appearance of being the local sillyman, but babygirl has the biggest case of depression you've ever seen, because he can't stop people from being hurt, he can't stop his twin from hurting people, he can't stop all the conflict going on around him, he can't save everyone, no matter how hard he tries, no matter how many pieces of himself he loses along the way. But neither can he just sit things out, because he's a Plant, he's stronger and faster and more powerful than any human, he has to at least try. Try to save them, try to reach his twin. What makes it all worse is that, underneath everything else, Knives is doing this for Vash. Oh, he's definitely not doing what Vash would want and I don't mean to make Knives sound soft or kind or nice, he's manipulative and awful, but I do genuinely believe that his motivation under all of it is to build a better world for Vash, one that doesn't have humans, one that only has Plants. It has some really beautiful animation, some great humor, some really excellent side characters, some badass fight scenes, some fascinating worldbuilding, but primarily I am here for the conflict between "we can live together" versus "the humans have and will continue to kill us if I don't do something" overlaid with how they both desperately want the other to come around to their side. Also, it's basically a Space Western with scifi elements and it's great.

[silver-slates]

My thoughts on Disney's Wish (Spoilers)

Let me preface this by saying that I haven't heard all of the negative things that have been circling around the movie, but I've heard more than a few things that painted a pretty grim picture of the movie before I went to see it. I was going in expecting something akin to Strange World going in, which I really didn't like (and that's coming from someone who likes unique worldbuilding.)

After I left the theater yesterday, my thoughts were just, "This is the worst Disney movie of 2023?" I really didn't have any issues with it at all, and even if I usually tend to have a more positive outlook on movies I watch in comparison to others, I just have to say that this was NOT a terrible movie. Disney has had a LOT of blunders in 2023, but I can't say that this was one of them. I know that a lot of people out there might disagree with me or even hate me, but Wish made me feel something that I don't feel very often: magic.

It's hard for me to know what specifically to talk about since I don't know about all the criticisms the movie's gotten, though I do know about a few. The first one that sticks out to me is the movie's art style, and how some people have called it ugly and even unfinished looking. But... I honestly don't get it. Nothing strikes me as unfinished, and I never found the art style to be irritating. It was something new, and I thought it was fine. It uses shading and colors that are a bit flatter than some of their previous works, but I saw that as it being a sort of in-between of the 2D look of the classics and the 3D look of the newer movies. There was probably only one time where I noticed something was slightly off, and that was where Asha is waving around some flags at the beginning and having no motion blur or smear frames on it looked a little awkward. I can also understand how some of the shots can feel a bit flat, but once again that's something that makes it feel similar to the 2D classics.

Up next, I heard some things about some of the characters being trash. The main two I heard about were Asha and King Magnifico. Some of the main things I heard concerning Asha was that she's dorky and silly to a fault, and what I have to say to that is that although she's pretty silly at the beginning of the movie and sometimes it can be a bit embarrassing to watch, that's just Asha being Asha before the adventure kicks off. As the story progressed, I thought that she learned to be more serious over time as she learned the truth about the wishes and Magnifico and what she really wanted to do, and most of her antics after that point are mostly concerning the actions of other characters. I never felt like she was silly in places where it was inappropriate, and I actually ended up liking her a lot. As for Magnifico, I haven't heard anything specific about him other than the fact that he's supposedly the worst Disney villain of all time. But... I just don't see it. His motivations are believable (according to my standards), he's shown to be a narcissist who doesn't truly listen to other people's criticisms, and him turning from a king who wants to maintain order while very rarely giving people what they want into a power hungry madman who wants nothing more than for his subjects to bend to his will and lick his boots feels in character for him and it had the right setup. I thought that the supporting characters were all good as well, but my least favorite was probably Valentino. He was alright and he did his job, but he really felt like more of a gimmick than anything else.

The next thing I want to talk about is the music. I don't know if anybody's had a lot of bad things to say about it, but I thought the songs were great. After Encanto I was wondering what they'd have in store for this movie, because although Encanto had some banger songs there were one or two that I didn't really like. Not so for Wish though, because I liked every last song that was in the movie. I'm... not really sure what else to say here.

I heard about there being a few cameos in the movie as well, and I picked up on a lot of them as I watched it. But the references feel tasteful, not overblown and obvious, and something you'll really only notice if you're looking for it (except for the Peter Pan reference maybe, but that's just one.)

One last thing I want to talk about is how I've seen some people calling the film's main source of conflict something that makes Asha a bad person. Basically, they say that her mission goes against Magnifico's warnings of what could happen if everybody is allowed to keep their wishes and that there could be some serious consequences that she's too headstrong to consider. But... they address all these points in the movie. Even if someone's wish turns out to be a rotten one, you can always try to step in and make sure it doesn't get too out of hand.

And I think those are all the things I had to say concerning Wish. I personally feel like it paid some good tribute to the animated classics with its story and familiar themes, and it was a good way to celebrate 100 years of the Walt Disney company, though I'm well aware that there are plenty who disagree. If there are some things that I didn't cover or consider please let me know, and I'd like to hear what you all have to say about the movie as well.

[necronatural]

Here's my review of the ANN Ryoko Kui interview

No one asked but the visceral reaction people had was just so funny I'd like to have some clarity in how I view it from my personal perspective

-An opener to get to know Ryoko Kui personally that whiffed hard because the manga did not come from the mind of someone who likes to cook and experiment with food

-A question about Ryoko Kui's favourite dish. As she had such an empty answer for the previous question and many had heard of Ryoko Kui's picky eating this question is like a slow motion train wreck. It was popular to talk about but most people still wouldn't have heard about the picky eating thing so this is a good thing to have in an article

-The only truly, intrinsically unforgivable question: "OBVIOUSLY you like TTRPGs". Ryoko Kui will not stop fucking talking about CRPGs. The main party was conceived of as a Wizardry OC party. She constantly absolutely nonstop makes references to Wizardry. I'm going to get a headache that there was a possibility of asking her if she has ever played Fallout 1 and the interview is just so uneducated on her creative influences that this opportunity slipped through their fingers. This question makes me want to microwave my own eyeballs so I don't have to watch someone whiff this bad

-Baldur's Gate 3 isn't going to save that. I can't believe the followup question wasn't about CRPGs. Does the interviewer know what a CRPG is? I genuinely have to ask

-Pretty good softball question about worldbuilding.

-Tapping into the most interesting aspect of the main character by asking about personal influences in crafting such a person

-The follow-up about the idea of a 'perfect monster' really feeds into her "I made it up" perspective of her worldbuilding and more of her personal influences. It paints a picture of her process that I find really similar to my own and that's neat :)

-This is like, the most artisanal fucking question about disability and identification you could POSSIBLY do and I'm not kidding. Lead with the scene that caused the most discussion. Refer to the readers who relate to this deeply autistic experience in their fight. Ask if this resonance was on purpose. Circle back to the Laois-Toshiro conflict, the real root of the interaction. I think it's like...the west, specifically the US, has this really bizarre individuality and fascination with tidy little boxes to fit into, so it's incredibly disarming for a lot of people that she like...answered the main question. Laios is written as a relatable, accessible character. Those autistic experiences you mentioned hindered his ability to interact with Shuro, but Shuro was hindered from engaging with Laios by his own burdens. She talks about this inability to weigh each other's circumstances causing strife. Which is pretty straightforward! But people wanted the validation of the little box. Doomed question but not a whiff

-The Laios question was so well-crafted and meticulously designed to communicate to Kui why the question about the fight left such an impact, but the Senshi one is like the TTRPG one; just assuming shit of her that is obviously not the case. If I wrote this I would comment on the dichotomy between Senshi's very obviously silly and non-erotic panty shots and the incredible care she puts into illustrating him as handsome and cool (i.e. that chapter cover) in serious moments. It is a miracle of fucking god this whiff ended with us obtaining such a funny and direct answer and Kui found the influence interesting to bring it into the interview but it's still awful form to ask this

-WHY WOULD YOU FOLLOW UP ON THAT. LET IT GO

-The question about Marcille's outfit is really neat! I think it's cool to get confirmation on its roots, and the mother/baby influences really make you think

-Mediocre question about farcille. Again, there wasn't a lot of care put into this and the shipping seems more important than curiosity about how she views the intensity of her own writing. This question did not whiff & gave us something interesting but you really can't help but be annoyed when you're more interested in why she wrote them that way and not if Kui blesses your OTP

-Ending it on the Izutsumi question ties into the interview also ending I like the pacing of it and leaves me thoughtful and reminiscing on the series. Good one

FINAL SCORE

It was simply mid. 💔

[not-poignant]

!!!

palmarosa and 5, 6, 11 & 12 for the fic ask thingy pls! (If that’s too many questions for one ask then just. Any of those. Ty!)

Re: Palmarosa - okay let's gooooo

5: What part was hardest to write?

So far, the sex scenes (although see below for some of my issues re: behind the scenes researching). They honestly are often the hardest parts to write. But also, Astarion is rather more sex averse than I initially imagined him being, but as I've been writing the more 'concrete' fic, I'm finding he is very sex averse and has a lot of reasons to be, and as a result it's slowed Raphael down. It's not bad, but I already struggle with sex scenes in general just because I want to craft something decent.

6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

Mmm. Astarion's a vampire and I actually (can't believe I'm admitting this) don't really love writing vampires! Writing creatures who drink blood to live I think is a tentative first for me, lol. Otherwise there's more similarities than differences. Like, the fandom and characters/pairing are different, but a lot of the themes are the same.

I'd say this is the first world I've written in re: fandom that has this much lore to go through, and almost all of it contradictory in some fashion. So I'm having to do more research kind of like through three separate fandoms to find what I want, or to realise I have to invent something new. That side of things is challenging.

11: What do you like best about this fic?

The crunchy dynamic between a not particularly pure-of-heart vampire spawn and a definitely not pure-of-heart devil. I really enjoy their banter. They're both very theatrical and performative. They both like a good show. They both think elements of violence are fun. They're both not particularly concerned with being good people every second of every day.

I get to have Astarion say some really fun lines, and that gets to be relatively in character. I get to have Raphael say some truly unhinged purple prose bullshit, and that's also pretty in character for him! I think I also really enjoy matching the voices as much as possible. I sometimes feel like I can 'hear' them saying their lines, and that feels really good.

12: What do you like least about this fic?

Probably the lack of easy ways to research the dialogue and world etc. I was very spoiled by like... the Dragon Age: Inquisition wiki, and even the Stardew Valley wiki. They have most of the dialogue and written parts there. The BG3 Wiki is kind of terrible for almost everything I need to know and I'm surprised when it can actually help me. It's also not immediately easy to add to, which I've thought of doing in the past (I have a Wiki account, and I have edited/added to them before - but Fextralife is different). And then also, a lot of it is contradictory.

The game writes pretty significant character growth in many different directions which means you can canonically write Astarion as two completely different characters in terms of morality and it still be...canon compliant. And then on top of that, there's just typos and issues - Korilla is 'Korrilla' in almost all the correspondence and texts, and 'Korilla' in the dialogue. So which is it? Do I just get to choose for fun? (I do).

As a result I've read hundreds of raw datamined dialogue files, and that's just laborious, because 90% of that is irrelevant to what I'm doing. In general, there's not a ton to hook into for Raphael, and some of his best lines are actually written down or transcribed.

I don't think anyone will ever truly know how much behind the scenes research I've done for what is ultimately a very Id/ridiculous fic, but I've done a metric fuckton of it. And when people then go 'oh but actually Gale is an X and you got that wrong' I want to claw my own eyes out, because I've spent at least 50 solid hours researching and compiling a fairly information dense Obsidian Vault for worldbuilding, and when I get basic things wrong it makes me want to cry and then immediately quit, lmao.

(In case anyone wants to see what that looks like so far:

--

From this fanfic meme!

[roxtron]

Y'know now that I think about it, the kh fandom seems to have a huge problem with ignoring or disliking games they find "irrelevant" to the plot. I came into the fandom post-kh3 so I can't say I know how the fandom's changed over time but.. it's kinda ridiculous to me tbh. Because from what I read it sounds like most people hated/ignored BBS and 358/2 days because they were "spin-offs." (Which is dumb anyway, like, even if hypothetically KH3 didn't exist and they were just spin-off characters- Why is that a bad thing? Why should you treat them like they don't matter? Why do some people think the characters from those games don't matter because they only care about the fate of the Destiny Trio?) And even still people consider Chain of Memories irrelevant because "Oh Sora forgets everything anyway, all you need to know is that." And then they consider Coded/Re:Coded irrelevant because "It's all data anyway." And THEN they consider DDD irrelevant because "All you need to know is the Xehanort time travel stuff in the finale." It's so weird to me how some people can claim to be invested in these games yet only care about the numbered titles. It can't be because they care about Destiny Trio that much if they consider titles including them to still be irrelevant.. So what is it then?? Is the concept of a spin-off inherently bad to these people? Like, sure, if you're thinking of the BARE MINIMUM KNOWLEDGE then yes I would agree you don't need to know much about those games beyond what I listed.. HOWEVER, that does not mean it's good to only go into the games with that knowledge. If you truly care about this series and its characters, you would value the ways those games expand on their characters. And even if you don't.. If you're only going into these games with the idea of "vaguely understanding the plot" but the plot alone. Not the characters. If all you care about is "How did Xehanort revive other versions of himself?" And not the buildup for the characters and how these arcs affect them, y'know, as characters..

I just don't understand how you can go into these games like that and still have fun with it. Like sure if I'm into a series where I appreciate the worldbuilding but there isn't much to the characters I can get behind that. (And I mean that in the sense of games with blank-slate protagonists, not to say the characters don't matter to me, but that the characters don't have much personality to get attatched to.) But in a story like Kingdom Hearts where it is about the characters, and the story is just how the characters choices affect each other- I dunno man. I'm not sure of the right words to explain what I'm trying to say but it just feels so dull and boring to only care about that in a series, and especially a series like this. I could go on and on about the ways those games affect the characters and the story more than those little one-sentence quotes.. And sure, maybe I will in addition to this, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here. Even if they didn't affect the story, even if they were solely character-building, or even if they barely served a purpose at all beyond a couple of scenes.. It shouldn't devalue the entire experience as irrelevant. (Chain of Memories I kinda get disliking due to the combat LMAO but aside from that + some people do like the combat-) The games are more than story alone. They're more than gameplay alone. And they're more than characters alone. All aspects of the game come together to create an experience, and if you want to devalue the entire experience as a bad game, because you find it irrelevant due to it not fulfilling your specific preferences of what you want out of these games- Then I have a hard time believing you appreciated this series at all to begin with. Also a hard time believing you have good media literacy or even care about having any but hey that's a topic for another day am i right

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Writer Q&A

I was tagged by @clairelsonao3 and I think I'll leave it an open tag, because it's a whole lot of questions and I am tired and can't think.

What is your absolute all-time favorite idea you’ve ever had?

What if I started writing in English?

More under the cut, template at the end.

Is there a question you’ve been asked in the past that really stands out to you, and you still think about sometimes?

Ok so. Kinda two. One was basically "but does he have to be gay?" about a side character (Cedric) who just arrived with packed bags and a husband. It annoyed me so much, I made sure there wasn't a single confirmed straight char in the next book.

The other was also about Glass Shards, the first version of which was very similar to the current one, including the two scenes of SA. Which got basically a concerned "do you want to say anything with that?"

Which yes. I had a lot of frustrations back then, but not like that. And I get the question for the SA. No one asks me about the childhood trauma or any of the other shit. The possibility of people jumping to conclusions is always at the back of my mind when I think about sharing what I write.

What is your favorite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

Creating something. Just. I made something. I can hold it. I can share it. It exists, and it will not un-exist.

Fuck editing, though, I don't like it, and fuck worrying about putting it out there.

What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

The story I want to tell does not exist, so I need to write it.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever read or been given as a writer?

Not a piece, but a very dear friend once went through the trouble of leaving so. many. line. edits. on two of my chapters when I had just started out writing in English. I truly believe that has done more for my style than all the "don't use adverbs! :)" — "don't listen to them! >:(" posts ever could.

Half of those edits could probably be summarized as "please remove this and" 🤣 I like to think I've since gotten better at uh, balancing sentence structure and length 😬

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

I think I answered something similar to this before, and it boils down to... I don't know. I think my progression was fine. There's no glaring problem that could have been fixed by a glorious piece of knowledge. Yes, I "wasted" years of my life trying to worldbuild, but I don't think I would have been ready to write a story I was happy with anyway, so whatever.

Without the hundreds of books I've read, without the roleplays I did, without the friends I found, without the games I played, I would not be where I am today, and I like where I am today. The time I spent experimenting, and the time I spent away from writing, doing other things I enjoyed, was not wasted.

What is your favorite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you’d like and can!

Should I cheat and count the Glass Shard saga as one? I mean technically it starts at Nuisance and ends at Fancy Boots :)

I only wish I were done editing already, I know the first chapters especially can be better. But alas, it asked for story, not prose :p

Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

I mean, if we leave the bad guys out of this (I am sure hoping no one here agrees with Ed! 😂), Cedric is fun in fiction, but I actually do not think a murdery criminal is a good role model, no matter how kind he is to people he likes.

If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

"Whoa, cool. Can I read that?"

Is there a question you’ve been asked in the past that really stands out to you, and you still think about sometimes?

What is your favorite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever read or been given as a writer?

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

What is your favorite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you’d like and can!

Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

[baladric]

Oh! Oh! The DVD commentary style ask thing, if you want!

~~~~~

A slow-spreading smile, and it was one that Csevet had seen before: intent, heated, typified by a fixed, assessing quality to his gaze. Beneath that gaze, that smile, Csevet became the center of the world. Beneath it, he danced too close to a flame, and he would have balked from it like every other time had Bas not reached out to flick at one of the tashin sticks in Csevet’s hair.

“These,” Bas said, while Csevet was busy suppressing a shiver at the odd ghost sensation of the touch-that-wasn’t-a-touch.

“Oh,” he said. “Yes.” He felt dumb. “I stole them.”

Basreiët barked a laugh that would have better suited a crow than a man. Csevet was impossibly charmed by him.

“One day, thou shalt rule the world from some dach’osmer’s bejeweled shadow, and no one will believe me that thou once hailed with pilfered sticks.”

This was… some sort of nonsense.

“Makest me sound like a scheming little…” Csevet squinted. “ Hailed? What on earth does that mean? Are they—” Warily, he touched the base of one stick. “Are they bad?”

He did not know what to label Basreiët’s expression then. Glee? Astonishment? A peculiarly mirthful sort of wonderment? It only served to deepen Csevet’s frown. He just wanted to go to the damn opera, not field Basreiët’s catlike focus.

~~~~

the thing that motivated me most in this section, and this fic as a whole, is this underpinning feeling in my head that until this particular evening of his life, csevet has never felt truly, genuinely wanted before. i think his existence has been very lonely, in a way that he most definitely blames himself for (salvoing a great many admonitions about coldness and hauteur unbefitting thy station at himself)—and here comes basreiët lunethara, whose first cogent thought in my head after he became an actual character for me in 2021 was that he wants to eat csevet aisava alive. even when csevet is refusing to recognize it or think about it, basreiët so clearly wants him—is intent upon him—is categorically and unambiguously interested in him—and this is so so scary to him, and so so wonderful.

and bas more than just wants him, right? bas sees him, and has been seeing him in a way csevet hasn't recognized at all (which is good, bc if he knew he'd been for real clocked as queer, he'd have pelted so far in the opposite direction). "fleet-footed csevet" he calls him, before and after this snippet, and that's more than just me trying to make greek epithets a thing again—it's basreiët's vocalization of that indelible poise we see in csevet all through the goblin emperor proper, in a way that reaches deeper than his physical grace and taps into this crystalline clarity of thought that basreiët has noticed in him. “One day, thou shalt rule the world from some dach’osmer’s bejeweled shadow," he says, and it's a joke, but it's also very much not, bc he sees csevet's ambition, his skill, his intelligence as the presentiment they are.

and the cherry on top of no, actually, i am very much just some weirdo that comes with oh lol no i totally stole these, like, basreiët is having a HELL of a time here!! and THEN it turns out csevet actually has NO idea that he's arranged his pilfered tashin sticks to say Certified Babygirl ;) like, truly, this is easily one of the situations to have ever occurred.

this whole story is such a run at that moment when you realize that the thing separating you from real human connection is just a flimsy little curtain. like, yeah it is an excuse for me to worldbuild some queer stuff, and to write porn, but also just blahblah mary oliver blah "Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, / the world offers itself to your imagination, / calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting— / over and over announcing your place / in the family of things."

and i honestly can't tell if any of this was or is coherent, but a fair number of dvd commentaries i've listened to weren't super coherent either and it was mostly the enthusiasm that always stuck with me, so!!! idk, basreiët tripped over csevet's previously undiscovered Bimbo Mode button and neither of them rly know what to do with that at first, but they sure do figure it out!!!!!

dvd commentary writer ask meme!

[hungry-skeleton]

Chicken Police: Into the Hive was fun, I like Marty's title drop 4th Wall moments, Lewis is actually a bad bitch spy, the insects gang and The Hive, the animal noises they make, Monica used to be a diva queen and the implications that she might've had sort of a motherly bond with Lupus, the wolf guy, I think it's kinda sweet given that she was his dad's mistress, funny how if Monica had accompanied the Chickens, things could've gone more smooth, I mean even the Roaches bros know her and are her fans apparently, also it was implied Natasha is a spy too which says a lot and Meredith is a Lioness, I was expecting a Bird Lady but that's fine too

I just don't like everything else besides the above points: The romance between Monica and Sonny is so unnecessary, we didn't even know what truly happened between Sonny and his ex-wife, Molly despite the previous game's after credit scene which implied Molly was about to visit Sonny before retreating then left (Possible Molly is a royal spy too? She and Natasha were working at the same place and Madam Zaiwass is an ex-spy, they should make stuff about this storyline), I don't think Sonny's dream even counts as the truth, I actually thought Molly was a pigeon but turned out she's a parrot

I feel like Monica and Sonny should've just stayed friends, the storyline with Molly could've been expanded upon if Sonny is involved but now it just seem unlikely

Mick and Kayla are great villains but it just ended up meh for me, I didn't like how to deal with Mick and Kayla's stories, I would rather Mick just stayed the heartless gangster he is without that out-of-nowhere backstory drop while he's pointing a gun at someone, it's not bad he had loved a woman once before, but the lore reveal in that moment is super unnecessary

Kayla's death is pretty anticlimactic, I don't know how to explain it but I feel it could've gone better (Letting the King Hector killed her felt more suitable given that he had all the right to)

Lastly Marty's death, I've seen a better character death before, out of everyone in this game, he's the least expected and unnecessary to die, literally the guy has all the reasons to stay alive: A family to come home to and his wife is expecting. I just hate dumb unnecessary deaths in Fiction and I can't believe they did THAT to me! I would rather the chickens are gay for eachother than THIS! He didn't deserve to go out that way

There are so many other ways to explore the lore and expand the worldbuilding, but y'know without all the bad points up there

The game's problem is that it was so obviously rushed. I understand the development was troubling but I really don't think that's an excuse for poor writing choices that are just so absurdly incorrect.

Another thing I realized is how different the tone of the game is. What made the first chicken police so good is that they took their absurd concept dead seriously. Now it feels like they're leaning too far into the comedy aspect, which normally I wouldn't mind but like I said the way they played the first story completely straight is what actually made it funny. The game is just a real disappointment all around which really makes me upset.

Also Meredith was described as a tigress in the first game I'm 90% sure so the species wasn't a surprise btw lol

[thecloudybookshelf]

Glow of the Everflame by Penn Cole

This book….I straight-up devoured it. This book is so good. Everything about it was top-tier. The drama and action never ended, everyone schemed and planned, and BIG things were revealed. The ending left me with my mouth hanging wide open and frustration coursing through my veins. That is probably the one thing about this book that I wasn't a huge fan about; the frustration. Like obviously, a book is good if it makes me feel, but some of these characters DROVE ME CRAZY—especially Diem. There were so many moments when I wanted to grab Diem and shake some sense into her. I'm not sure she has ANY critical thinking skills at this point. It's not that Diem is stupid; she is very smart. It is just the fact that she STILL is determined to expect the worst from Luther and the Descended even after EVERYTHING they have done for her. Also, her whole thing with Henri made me want to gouge my eyeballs out. I almost screamed at one point. Diem WAS being stupid when it came to Henri, and I understand that to an extent, but GIRL, how many times does he have to disappoint you for you to realize he NEVER truly loved you? PLUS, the fact that multiple other characters told Diem girl this dude is bad news. UGH. Besides Diem being an actual mess, the other characters completely stole my heart. I am absolutely in love with Luther (he can do no wrong), Eleanor, Taran, Alixe, and of course, Lily and Teller (my baby angels). But why was Sorae my favorite character? Probably because she acts like a puppy, lol. Overall, this plot is BONKERS; the magic is wild, and the worldbuilding just keeps on getting better and better. I literally can't believe the ending, and I NEED to find out WTF Diem's mom is up to and why Diem's blood was gray.

[peofun1]

okay the new anime season is already in full swing, so I gotta get my thoughts out on the last season. because I have once again watched Way Too Much Anime.

same as before, we chose what to watch mostly based on which PV trailers looked interesting before the season aired. now I'm gonna yap about all 17 shows for way too long.

✨obligatory disclaimer that this is Just My Opinion, Man. if I say something mean about your favorite show, please don't take it personally!

everything we watched, in alphabetical order: Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Bye Bye Earth, Dahlia in Bloom, The Elusive Samurai, Isekai Suicide Squad, Magical Girl and Evil Lieutenant Used to be Enemies, Mayonaka Punch, Oshi no Ko S2, Quality Assurance in Another World, Senpai is an Otokonoko, Shikanoko, Shoushimin, Tasuuketsu, Too Many Losing Heroines, Tower of God S2, VTuber Legend, Wistoria: Wand and Sword

Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian - 1 episode, dropped funny that this one is first alphabetically, cuz I only watched one ep with a group of friends, mostly just to clown on it. I swear there's at least six anime exactly like this one every season: hot girl randomly takes an interest in the most boring man on the planet. Boring Guy is Boring. there's probably a weird little sister involved. but the girl is Russian in this one, because that's easier to write than actually giving anyone a personality. fucking snore dude

Bye Bye, Earth - 8 episodes, dropped this show is… weird. the worldbuilding feels incredibly dense, but also not very well explained. it felt like they were introducing new concepts and Proper Nouns every other sentence. I fully believe that this all makes sense to the original creator -- like I'm sure they have a 400 page Lore Bible with all the deep rules of their world, because it all feels very intricate. unfortunately I don't have that lore bible, so I found it really hard to follow.

that said, I think I like it? kinda? the animation style is kinda ugly, but for the most part I like the character designs. I think it's great to see a female lead in a show like this, and I really like what I've seen of the MC and her motivations. there's some really interesting fantasy ideas -- like the way people "grow" their weapons as an extension of themselves, MC's curse that her sword can't cut living things, this society that revolves so heavily around music -- but all of it together just becomes a confusing jumble.

it's not bad, but not good enough for me to finish this season :/

Dahlia in Bloom - 6 episodes, on hold this is honestly one of the more refreshing romance anime I've seen in a long time. It's a little slow moving and not very action-packed, but I love how well Dahlia is established as Her Own Person before the main love interest is even introduced. My girl has a career! hobbies! a friend group that stands by her while she goes through a messy break-up! it's so easy to root for her, and early episodes of this anime truly had me screaming "GIRLLLLL DUMP HIM YOU CAN DO BETTERRRRR" at my TV (in a good way)

and her main romantic interest is really good too! he has a personality beyond just being a perfect hot romance boy! the two of them have great chemistry! they act like adults and have a believable slow-burn starting as friends! idk it's kind of wild how realistic the romance in this show feels, despite being set in a fantasy world.

unfortunately this show did get put on the back-burner while we were watching a bunch of other things, but I'd really like to return to it sometime. I wanna see Dahlia thrive in her career and personal life!

The Elusive Samurai - 7 episodes, dropped okay, guys. you guys. listen. I really wanted to like this show, okay. I watched the previews and was like holy shit, CloverWorks has done it again. if this is as good as Wind Breaker, maybe I can finally forgive them for what happened to Promised Neverland. I saw the clips on twitter from episode 1 and thought this could be the big standout of the season.

but, uh. it's not. at least, not for me.

the tone of this show is extremely inconsistent. it flips wildly between wacky gag-manga comedy, and dead fucking serious horrors-of-war. sometimes multiple times in the same episode! add that to the break-neck pacing (in the first few episodes especially) and it left me with emotional whiplash. like, okay -- the more dramatic, gritty grimdark stuff I rather enjoy. the scene where the villain obliterates a whole battalion single-handedly, and then gets swarmed by adoring fans while the one survivor tries in vain to tell them what a monster he is -- that shit gave me chills. it's some incredible visual storytelling. but then the show inevitably cuts back to the weirdo priest doing some weirdo shit with the kids and I'm annoyed again. eventually I just got tired of it.

absolutely banger OP and ED though. probably my favorite ED of the season, and second-favorite OP.

Isekai Suicide Squad - 5 episodes, dropped boy, this one sure does do what it says on the tin. this sure is an anime about Suicide Squad -- yes, the DC comic book characters -- getting transported to another world.

honestly I was really enjoying it, at first. it's not doing anything particularly new, but these versions of the characters are fun and the animation was good enough to carry the story. and like, I'll say it -- anime Harley Quinn is pretty hot. I'm a lesbian with eyeballs, I can admit that.

unfortunately the animation takes a nosedive suddenly right around the point where I dropped off. the fight with the dragon is REALLY rough, like almost unwatchably bad. and when the animation is that bad, I stop to wonder what we're even doing here. they're taking a huge detour from the main plot to randomly fight a dragon, and it doesn't even look good. I don't know if the animation gets better again after that, but I decided there were better things to watch this season /shrug

pretty good OP and ED, though. I like the really stylized animation in the OP, and the ED is a decent bop.

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies - 2 episodes, dropped this one looked cute, but mostly I wanted to take a look because it's made by Bones. and it is pretty cute, but for such a prestigious animation studio, it didn't exactly blow my tits off. after two episodes, I really felt like I'd seen most of what this anime would have to offer. the guy is "evil" but has a soft spot for one girl, the magical girl is cute, he gets flustered when she does cute stuff. it's fine, but nothing to write home about.

the episodes are real short though -- about half as long as an average anime episode -- so it's not a huge time sink. who knows, I might pick it up again sometime if I want something fluffy.

Mayonaka Punch - 12 episodes, completed alright, now THIS show is the absolute underrated gem of this season. it's fun, it's funny, and it's even a little bit gay! the cast are the best kind of likeable assholes, and they had me laughing out loud multiple times an episode. the more emotional/dramatic parts are pretty well done in my opinion too. particularly the way the show depicts Masaki being haunted by nasty comments online feels very "real", without being too much of a huge bummer.

genuinely, Mayonaka Punch is just a great time. I never felt bored watching this, and I'd gladly watch another season if PA Works decide to continue the story! but even if they don't, I think this has a pretty satisfying conclusion. it's nice to enjoy a good 12 episodes that wraps itself up neatly at the end.

also my absolute FAVORITE OP of the season. I'm a sucker for OPs that are sung by the cast, it's super catchy, and the animation is great. all the references to actual viral videos and trends are funny without feeling forced or cringe -- jumping on viral video trends is what the whole show is about, after all!

Quality Assurance in Another World - 3 episodes, dropped man, I honestly don't have much to say about this show. the broad concept is kinda interesting (QA testers working on a full-dive VR game get trapped in the world of the game SAO-style) and the art style is kinda unique. it just didn't really hold my attention, unfortunately. my wife watched a few episodes past the point where I stopped and she said it kinda popped off a little later but ehhh. someone might really enjoy this one, but it's just not for me.

Senpai is an Otokonoko - 7 episodes, on hold so this anime was made for my wife specifically. she's read the whole comic (I think it's a webtoon?) and adores it, so she was beyond hyped for the anime adaptation. and it's honestly really well done! I think the way it uses chibi characters for comedy (and to save on animation lol) is really cute. the characters and drama are pretty well written, and I really like that the two "rivals" in the love triangle are actually friends with each other.

the only thing is that parts of the story/drama are kiiiind of heavy. my wife is a trans woman and relates very strongly to the main character, so it's a hard watch for her sometimes. even though she's read the comic and knows what happens, she's said she really needs to be in the right headspace to watch this one. there's nothing egregiously bad though, omg -- the worst I've seen so far is the MC's mom being really transphobic and them trying to go back into the closet because of it 😬 so definitely a trigger warning for that

but yeah, really like this one, we're just watching it pretty slowly so I haven't finished it yet.

Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan (My Deer Friend Nokotan) - 2 episodes, dropped hoooo boy. the big meme show of the season. I feel like anyone who follows seasonal anime has probably heard of this one, at least. I saw the OP going around a lot, and I'll admit, it's an earworm.

maybe this is a controversial opinion, but ya'll, I did not care for the actual show at all. I went into it with pretty high hopes, granted, since people were hyping up how funny the manga is. In two episodes I think I actually laughed maaaaybe once? I dunno, the hyper-realistic CGI deer are pretty good the first few times you see them, but boy does the gag get old fast. even the scene where deer-girl busts through the wall of the classroom only got a little snort out of me. and then that joke completely overstays its welcome by going on for like two full minutes of gratuitous slow-mo.

really all I can say is: not funny, didn't laugh! Mayonaka Punch is way more fun, watch that instead.

Shoushimin - 6 episodes, on hold first of all, this anime is fucking gorgeous. truly every frame a painting. I've seen people talk about "cinematic" anime this season, and Shoushimin really embodies that. the characters, the environments, the framing, the lighting, ugh. I wish I could eat all of the lovingly-rendered pastries in this show.

animation aside, this is a veeeeery slow-paced kind of slice-of-life. it's all about small, mundane mysteries, so I can definitely see people finding it boring. my wife decided after about 4 episodes that she just doesn't have the attention span for this. I mostly like it though; it makes me think of a more chill version of the fake manga the MCs write in Bakuman. that said, I need to be in the right mood for something this slow, so I've been watching it on and off.

also shoutout to the OP because I am an Eve fan first and a person second

Tasuuketsu: Fate of the Majority - 2 episodes, dropped I would have completely forgotten about this show, if crunchyroll didn't keep trying to get us to watch the next episode. it's an extremely generic death-game show with pretty stupid rules imo. frankly I would have dropped it after one ep, but there's a cliffhanger at the end of ep 1 that was intriguing enough to convince me to watch a second. they completely undo that cliffhanger in episode 2 though. boooo 👎

best thing I can say about this show is that there's a plot-relevant kick to the balls. no I will not elaborate on that.

Too Many Losing Heroines - 12 episodes, completed man, okay. so from the PVs before the season started, I thought this one was an easy skip. I don't care for harem shows, and this looked like just another boring light-novel romance. no amount of pretty "cinematic" animation was going to get me interested in flat, annoying characters that I've seen a hundred times. we were literally late to start watching it, and only picked it up toward the end of the season because people would not stop talking about it.

so take into account that I am very biased against this entire genre when I look you dead in the eye and tell you: this show is kind of incredible? like don't get me wrong, it's not exactly re-inventing the wheel here, and there's some fanservice moments that made me roll my eyes. but overall, this has some of the best character writing and drama out of everything we watched this season. the girls are genuinely a lot of fun, and their friendships are very believable. even the stuttering shy girl, which is usually an archetype I find super annoying, managed to win me over in the end.

the male MC is probably the weakest part of the show to me, but he still has more going for him than most guys in this genre. I like that his story is more concerned with him learning to be platonic friends with people, rather than just trying to push him into romance with all the girls. even if he ends up with one of the girls in the end (probably the blue-haired one), I appreciate him building a real friendship first.

and I gotta mention the EDs, because each of the main girls gets their own dedicated ED song and they're all beautifully animated. the OP is pretty fun too.

Tower of God Season 2 (part 1?) - 13 episodes, completed I'm honestly pretty torn on this one. once again my wife has read this whole webtoon, so she would have more thoughts about this in terms of adaptation, but I'm anime only. I really liked season 1, even though I found some of the worldbuilding hard to follow, so I was looking forward to this.

and man… I'm so disappointed in the animation for this season. The art style in S1 was one of my favorite things about it, so seeing them drop that in favor of a much more generic modern anime style was a huge bummer. If it was done so they could go all-out on the action more easily that would be one thing, but all of that is pretty lack-luster too, and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

as for the story, maybe I just don't remember S1 well enough, but I was pretty fucking lost sometimes. this is another story with mountains of worldbuilding, and I'm sure some fans of the webtoon could go on for hours about the lore. unfortunately that's not me! maybe I'd have a better time if I re-watched S1. even so, I did like most of the new characters, and seeing the returning ones when they showed up.

I dunno. 6/10 overall, not enough Khun. excited to see Khun more in the next cour.

VTuber Legend: (extremely long LN title) - 12 episodes, completed I cannot believe my wife made me watch this whole thing. I can't believe I actually sat through every episode. this show is some peak brainrot, but that's not always a bad thing?

don't get me wrong, I like vtubers just fine! I follow a couple of english-language ones that I like, though I'm not deep into the ~fandom~, as it were. I have no idea how accurate this show is for Japanese vtubers, but boy are these characters weird and horny. sometimes they're funny, sometimes they're unbearably cringe. though that probably doesn't come as much of a surprise, given the premise. who knows, if you like vtubers and bizarre fetish content, you might like this one.

Wistoria: Wand and Sword - 12 episodes, completed this show wound up being a kind of sleeper hit this season. I remember basically no one talking about it before it started airing. it must have had some crazy word-of-mouth recommendations though, because it shot up into the top five seasonal shows on MAL at some point. I started watching from episode one just because the PV trailers looked dope, and I was not disappointed!

in terms of story, again, there isn't anything we haven't seen before. magic high school, kid who can't use magic and gets bullied, but he's really good at sword fighting so he kills lots of scary monsters. but here's the thing, guys -- he looks fucking incredible while he's doing it. this show is completely carried by its slick animation and art style. it's just an absolute treat to watch, and I wish I could eat the colors and intense shadows at work here.

it's already confirmed for a second season, too. my wife liked S1 enough to read ahead in the manga, and she said it only gets better, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Honorable mention:

Oshi no Ko: Season 2 - 1 episode, on hold okay this is embarrassing but IN MY DEFENSE! I'm caught up on the manga! 😭 so I already know what this season is about!!! we just decided to wait until the whole season aired so we could binge it, and haven't gotten around to it yet. also it's annoying to watch, since I don't want to pay for fucking HIDIVE, so we have to watch it……. elsewhere.

but like I'm sure it's good. this is easily my favorite arc in the manga, so if the anime kept up the quality from season 1, I'm gonna have a great time. when we get around to it 🙃

[hopeaterart]

More from the next chapter of Xenia because it's basically one long infodump about the worldbuilding and I. Want to share it.

“-unlike what everyone on the Surface believes, prisoners of Tartarus are allowed to make appeals for their sentences.” Hades explained, Persephone nodding. He’d figured that, since Persephone was going to be staying, he might as well explain to her how he ran things. The two were sitting behind his desk, currently covered in maps and schemes of the underworld. “I don't preside over everyone's trials, and both the judges and Furies can get overzealous. If the accused can make a good case as to how they don't belong down in Tartarus, then I move them somewhere else. Most often Asphodel.” As of now, he'd just explained Tartarus’ place in the scheme of things, at least as a place.

“Do many succeed in their appeal?” Persephone asked, curious.

Hades thought for a moment. “Not really, most get a reduced sentence. Most often, the ones I allow to pass through are thieves. In the grand scheme of things, it's such a nothing offense…”

“Are they the ones who appeal the most?” She asked, tilting her head.

“No, that would be men who were cruel to those lesser than them. They don't realize that they're nothing special.” Hades told her, before rolling his eyes. “Honestly, they all bleed blood at the end of the day. And entering legend takes much more than a few fearing your name.”

Persephone nodded, thoughtful. “Are there appeals that you… can't take?”

“Blasphemy and hubris. They've angered other gods, and I can do nothing for them.” He explained. “And most murders. It isn't very often that one is able to properly justify ending another life.”

Persephone thought for a moment, rubbing her chin. “You said only bad people end up in Tartarus. Where does everyone else go?”

Hades snorted. “Not the bad people, Persephone. Just the truly awful, those who actively harm in both actions and intentions. One can be completely and utterly mediocre to the core without ever crossing that threshold. But to answer your question, most go to Asphodel.”

“Asphodel…” Persephone muttered under her breath, trying to figure out where she'd heard that word before. She then gasped, plucking one of the white flowers out of her hair. “It's those flowers! I was wondering what they were…”

Hades chuckled. “Not a lot of things can grow down here, unfortunately. Tartarus is hostile to life itself, and both Asphodel and the rock upon which my house is built aren't much better. The only thing from the surface I've been able to maintain is a pomegranate tree.”

“Oh… what other plants are able to grow, besides these flowers and your tree?” Persephone asked.

Hades hummed, tilting his head. “Unless it's gifted by one of my siblings, all wooden furniture in my house was made from either cypress or white poplar.” He started. “Mint also grows very well.”

Persephone blew air out of her mouth, exasperated. “Even in the land of the dead, Minthe holds on stronger than most…”

“Due to being a staple back on the surface, barley has also found its way down there. Somehow. A lot of souls down in Asphodel cultivate it, while waiting for what comes next.” Hades continued explaining. “As a result, most of our plant-based food comes from the Fields of Mourning and Elysium. We get meat and other things from a mix of imports from Olympus and animal sacrifices.”

Persephone frowned. “The Fields of Mourning? I thought the Underworld was made up of three sections.”

“I- it's how I first organized things when I took over Iapetus’ position, yes.” Hades started. “Tartarus for the wicked, Elysium for the favored, and Asphodel for everyone else. However, it turns out that humans are more complicated than that. When they die, they're forced to leave behind things, and they mourn for those things.” He sighed. “Some mourn much more strongly than others.”

“So, you put them in the Field while waiting for them to calm down!” Persephone finished, beaming when Hades nodded in confirmation.

“Ultimately, my goal is to ease the process of reincarnation. Souls, once dead, break down into shades, and then these shades melt down and back into the fabric of reality.” He explained. “The favored are allowed to live in eternal bliss in Elysium, the waters from the rivers diluting each other so much it goes back around to being a regular river for those barely-shades.”

“Very dangerous to mortals though, I should guess.” Persephone pipped up, the smile on her face turning amused.

“And you'd be right. Just the Styx mixing with the Lethe would result in certain death. If you add in the Archeron, Phlegethon, and Cocytus, it would instantly kill them. Wouldn't even leave a body behind, being struck down by Zeus would be less violent.” Hades answered, smiling at her amused giggle. “But my point was: souls that mourn strongly are temporarily placed in the Fields, their energy pours out of them and into the plant “life” around, and once they've properly calmed down, they're moved to Asphodel. Once there, they often pick up what they did in life, and simply go through their motions until their end arrives.”

“I see… you mentioned rivers?” Persephone then asked, tilting her head. Hades nodded in answer. “I was only aware of the Styx. What are the other four? Do they have a function?”

“Oh! Well… you already know that Charon ferries souls across the Styx. It's also through that river that souls flow back out to be reborn.” He explained. “The Lethe is essential to the reincarnation process, as it erases memories and feelings.”

Persephone gasped in realization. “It allows the souls to break down faster!”

Hades nodded in confirmation, smiling. “You get it. Animals and monsters come through here by following the banks of the Acheron, but they break down much faster than human souls. Most often before they even make it here. The Plegethon is made of liquid fire, and flows out of Tartarus. Not all souls in Tartarus are actively punished and imprisoned, I already told you that.”

Persrphone nodded. “Not all crimes are equal. What does that have to do with the… Phlegethon river?”

“Those who can't take existing in Tartarus are allowed to throw themselves in it, and disappear.” Hades explained. “To them, it's indistiguishable from lava. It also allow their souls to reenter reincarnation.”

“Oooh… What about the Cocytus?”

“That's where souls who die at sea end up.” Hades informed her. “As well as those who weren't buried properly. Funeral rites are, in fact, very important for the dead's safe arrival here. Unfortunately, we have no safety net for souls in case they're not respected.”

“Oh, that sucks…” Persephone muttered, thinking it over. “Can't Charon offer them the ride?”

“Despite how Zeus might insist, us gods do, in fact, have flaws.” Hades deadpanned. “They tend to come with our domains. You've probably noticed that water deities tend to be choleric?”

Persephone thought for moment. “... I just thought lord Poseidon had a problem.” She then blurted out.

“Oh, he does. It's ridiculous, how easy it is to set him off.” Hades confirmed. “But have you truly not noticed it? Haven't you found that water nymphs tend to be far more badly-tempered than plant nymphs?”

“Oh! Now that you mention it…” Persephone thought about it. “Wait. Queen Hera is badly-tempered, but she's not a water deity.”

“Having a bad temper isn't exclusive to water deities, it's just the most widespread flaw amongst them.” Hades explained with a laugh. "Also, Hera and Poseidon are twins. They share far more in common than one would think."

"Uh!" Persephone exclaimed in surprise, making him laugh harder.

His expression then turned more serious. “For us Chtonic deities, our most widespread flaw is greed. Charon is included in that. Unless someone pays him, he won't ferry them across the river. And unless that someone is, let's say, a small child giving him a shiny rock, he demands a coin as payment.” He explained. “And I can’t just make him ferry everyone. He's still a son of Nyx, and she adores her children. I need my relationship with her to be positive.” Him and his siblings paying her proper respect where their predecessors failed had quite literally been the deciding factor in them solidifying their power.

Persephone groaned. “I can't think of anything to solve that…”

“It's alright.” Hades reassured her. “I don't want you to fix all of our problems. The thing with Cocytus isn't urgent. Let me worry about running things, alright?”

Persephone took a deep breath. “Alright… you still haven't told me about Elysium.”

“Ah. Elysium.” Hades gasped, before rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “It's where the god's favored go. Heroes and legends, people who have made. If they request for their families to come with them, I allow it, as long as this family isn't in Tartarus. They've earned their paradise.”

Persephone hummed, thinking. “I have a request…”

“Ask it, then.”

“Could you… maybe… allow the truly virtuous into Elysium as well?” She requested, smiling. “Consider it as them earning my favor.”

Hades chuckled, before reaching out and tucking a curl behind her ear. “Truly, you are too good for this place. Your request will be taken into consideration. I do believe that's all.” He then declared, straightening in his seat and stretching his arms above his head. “Is there anything else you're wondering about?”

“Well,” Persephone started, frowning. “I was wondering about some of the people living in your house. I do believe the three judges aren't gods, and neither is the head maid or your other head of security…”

“Oh! That's because they aren't.” Hades started explaining. “With the exception of Medusa, most of the servants in my house are shades that circle in and out of Asphodel. Minos the First, Rhadamanthus and Aecus were kings who made a good name for themselves and usually reside in Elysium, so I have them judge most souls in my stead. As for Medusa and Asterion…” He sighed. “They're monsters. They can't be judged on the same standard as humans, and I found it easier to simply… not. Especially poor Asterion. So, I have them serve my house until they're ready to rejoin the cycle.” He then got out of his seat, and offered her his hand. “Now, I do believe we should go get something to eat. Are you coming?”

Persephone smiled, taking his hand. “Lead the way, O Hades.”

[wispmotherr]

1, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting? - I'm a default font bitch. but i'm old and my eyes suck so i write with a dark colored bg and off-white text. 6. What is your darkest fear about writing? - That's the work I produce is bad. Bad grammar, bad spelling, bad plot, bad characterization... not even that it's not someone's cup of tea, but it's Just Bad and that no one is being honest with me about it, that one of the few things I'm incredibly passionate about, that i really truly enjoy doing is something I'm actual dogshit at. keeps me up at night. 7. What is your deepest joy about writing? - Knowing a story I wrote made someone feel something, or is a comfort to them or even that they enjoyed it just a little makes powering through my crippling self-doubt worth it. 10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you? -Some personal, unshared AU's (monsterverse lmao iykyk) have haunted me in the best way possible. They just stick around in my mind and keep finding new life and are such a comfort in their own bizarre way. 11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve? - I wish I were braver when it comes to killing characters, especially ones I give a shit about. I want happy endings, I want soft futures with love and ease and safety for my characters. I might put em through the ringer but 9 times out of 10, everyone lives. (except for that one time I killed Damien)

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy? - I can't think of any topic that's presented itself as being incredibly difficult to write about yet. Most scenarios can be researched or asked about and I'm pretty good at finding sources for things I'm not personally familiar with. Easy subject matter though... I'll get back to you, haha. I don't know!

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text. - We don't have fucking time for that. I invest way too much time and effort into lore and worldbuilding for fics two people will read, lmao.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage. - idek where to go with this one lmao

[kanansdume]

I agree with all of this that you're saying about Anakin (I'm not a fan of his, so I can't honestly say that I LIKE him because of his nuance nor do I truly believe in his redemption, but I also can't deny that he's SUPPOSED to be sympathetic and that the nuance surrounding his character is what makes the entire storyline more nuanced since it is, in essence, his story), but I wanted to touch on one of your tags:

[id: tags that read #i shouldn't have expected nuance from disney #but oh well]

I've had people say this to me before and I feel like it almost lets the current era of Star Wars a little off the hook when it makes bad content and we don't have to do that. Because it isn't even entirely true. Not for me, anyway.

Because it's not like Disney CAN'T create more well-written content that is more in line with Lucas's own themes and messages. We have both the Obi-Wan Kenobi show and Rogue One/Andor as prime examples of this. All three of these stories have pretty major themes that touch on things like attachment and letting go, selflessness, and sacrifice. They're VERY Lucas-like themes, very JEDI-like themes. And while Rogue One and the Kenobi show have been controversial, Andor was received pretty positively as a well-written show.

And even the things that have moments of inaccurate Jedi criticism like Rebels and the Cal Kestis games, Jedi Survivor and Jedi Fallen Order, are still generally focused on the same themes of selflessness, sacrifice, and letting go/non-attachment. The main characters of both stories have identities focused around being Jedi and how important that is to them and it ultimately ends up looking pretty similar to how the Prequels Jedi ended up looking (whether the creators of these stories realize this or not). Reconnecting with that heritage openly and proudly is VITAL to their well-being and positive growth.

So you CAN expect nuance from "Disney" because there have been MULTIPLE different mainstream stories created within this era that have been more nuanced and more Jedi-positive. There have been multiple different pieces of media that still clearly had themes that were similar to Lucas's own.

Which means I absolutely hold them to a higher standard when shows like Ahsoka and TBB and The Book of Boba Fett come out and are just... flat and sloppy. None of them had to be that way. And while it's entirely possible that part of the reason they're all terrible is because Disney as a studio has stepped in and caused problems, I find it hard to believe that that's the ONLY reason they were bad. I have seen Disney-era Star Wars that was SO GOOD, that made me cry, that even made me see Star Wars in a new way. Disney Star Wars CAN be good and I refuse to brush off shows like Ahsoka being fucking trashfires that intentionally break Lucas's worldbuilding and shit on the Jedi as just a Disney problem. It's not. It can't be. Disney Star Wars can be better, it just takes a creator willing to DO something better and give us what we deserve. Sadly, the dude in charge of the Ahsoka show just isn't that person.

You shouldn't feel like Disney Star Wars never has anything to offer. It's given PLENTY of really wonderful additions to the franchise and you don't even necessarily have to look that far for them, either. Just because the Ahsoka show happened to be a bad offering doesn't mean it should be representative of everything that comes out of this particular Star Wars era. Don't give it that kind of power, it certainly doesn't deserve it.

It's continuously frustrating that this show REFUSES to condemn Anakin for the things he's done or even really explicitly call him out on them, and they even go so far as to basically decide none of it even MATTERED.

But all they can say about the Jedi is that they failed.

When asked what Anakin was like, all Huyang says is that he was "intense."

The worst Ahsoka says is that he was "more dangerous than anyone realized" and then two episodes later she's calling him a "good master" despite everything he did to her and the rest of the galaxy. She never ONCE condemns him for committing a genocide against the Jedi and hunting them down for over two decades. She never ONCE condemns him for enslaving the clones and betraying their loyalty and using them as weapons against the Jedi they loved. She never ONCE condemns him for trying to personally kill HER.

He jokes with her, he gets to say that he wants to protect her, he gets to guide her into choosing to live, he makes recordings for her that she still uses years later. Anakin gets to be "more" than just his failures.

But the Jedi, somehow, do not. The Jedi are ONLY EVER their failures. Ahsoka never mentions them otherwise, she never remembers them fondly at all, she has no stories or connections about any of the other Jedi, she constantly disregards Jedi protcols as foolish and ridiculous at best.

The best thing they can say about the Jedi is that the "idea of them" had merit. But Anakin gets to be a GENUINELY good Jedi Master, more than just a good IDEA.

And this just feels like the WORST of double standards to me.

[transmasc-wizard]

I absolutely want to hear your opinions on the generic YA fantasy writing style

thank you for giving me a reason to Scream, friend

So. A lot of the YA fantasy writing These Days is so incredibly formulaic that I actually made a formula.

I wish I was kidding.

It goes like this: chip bag worldbuilding + incredibly vague descriptions + ALWAYS using verbs + melodramatic emotions + super close camera + characters blank enough to project on but characterized enough to feel vaguely attractive = YA fantasy novel.

To further show this, I've written a little snippet of generic YA fantasy writing, following all the rules here that apply:

He was gorgeous, all curved muscle and tall frame, leaning casually against the wall. His dark eyes searched me with cool and impersonal purpose, but there was something else behind them--intrigue, maybe. At a girl like me? I was small and blond, nothing special about my face or body, and yet I could have sworn he thought me to be pretty.

Desire bloomed in my mind, a golden firework show of want. Then guilt slithered in my gut, gripping me tight and reminding me that the Divine Girls were not supposed to want the love of anyone but our gods. And yet my wishing could not stay quiet, shouting in the back of my mind even when I shut it into the corner.

I smoothed my blue velvet skirts; they were the finest money could buy, adorned with shining jewels and clearly well-made. Then I smiled at him and asked, "What's your name?"

Ew. Ow. I'm done. But that gets the point across, yeah?

The descriptions are so vague I want to cry. Believe me, I wanted to tell you more about Fantasy Love Interest Guy's actual looks. I want to tell you more about Miss Protagonist than that she's small and blond. I want to talk more about why the dress seems so well-made. (Obviously not all at once, but like. In the damn scene at some point.) But I couldn't, because that's not how YA Fantasy does it. Descriptions don't actually have a solid feel to them; they're not thought through or ever given little things that might make them feel more real. (And people are attractive, but it doesn't, like... tell you specifics. The guy is Muscled and Dark-Eyed and Gorgeous.) I based them on Throne of Glass especially, but it's far from the only inspiration.

And the emotions. Guilt gripping her tight. Desire as a firework show the first time she meets him. Like... wtf will it be when they actually get to know each other and fall in love? By immediately making the emotions huge, it means they either can't get bigger later or will be big to the point of melodrama. Pretty much every YA novel I read is like this (same with the verb thing).

Speaking of the damn verbs. Everything, even concepts, is doing something. Desire blooms, guilt slithers, wishing shouts. I don't think you can never do that, but again. It feels so dramatic. Sometimes, you've got to save the dramatic things for later. (See: that quote I reblogged about how if you say "infinitely" when you mean "very", you won't have anything to say when something is truly infinite.) Sometimes lighting flashes instead of striking the sky with a boldness, or the character is just tired instead of so exhausted they want to sleep and never wake up again. It's ok. It's like "try not to use adverbs or passive voice" turned into "no adverbs or passive voice ever and if you use them it's terrible".

The camera's super close, too. This isn't inherently bad, again, but a lot of YA does it regardless of whether or not it benefits the story. Like... this might be a story that's good for third person & farther away narrative distance. But who knows, bc YA authors don't Do That!

I don't really have an opportunity to show the chip bag worldbuilding (worldbuilding that seems good at a first glance but, like chip bags, is actually like 70% nothingness), since it's just an excerpt. But most of the YA fantasies I've read would take the Devine Girls (whatever those are, use yr imagination) and give... like... very basic facts about them. They're a convent, they worship the gods to become closer to them, they wear all grey and live simple lives, they're mostly respected, and they are not supposed to put anyone before their gods. (Miss Protagonist will obviously do this. It's probably the point of the plot.) That's not enough. It's a jumping off point, something to say in... you know... a tumblr post. Not a novel. It should talk about why the Devine Girls exist in the first place, why they're so much more religious than most people, why they want to be closer to the gods, etc. But it probably wouldn't, because that's just... not something that's thought of.

See: Little Thieves by Margaret Owen did not actually do a lot of worldbuilding in regards to magic or gods, despite a literal curse from a goddess being the centre of the plot. (It did do moderately well with Creatures and society, though; i'll give it that.) It's all super vague and just enough to make you feel like you got some nice nutritious worldbuilding, but like... it'd be nice if that worldbuilding bag was not mostly air.

I don't know how to conclude things but. yeah!! formula!! i don't care if other people like this, but personally i'd like to see some variety for once!! (also i challenge writers to attempt the Formulaic YA Style for a few paragraphs on their own, just for funsies. it's interesting to write imo.) Peace and love on planet earth <3

[beautifulterriblequeen]

B2:S - Chapter 3

Much of this series will be about the differences and additions in the novel version, and how they contribute to my understanding of story canon. But there will be character appreciation, the odd theory and headcanon, and suchlike as well.

Here be Lujanne, Callum, Rayla, Ezran, Bait, and Soren goodness!

Spoilers for Book Two: Sky below.

Lujanne having excellent fitness for all her walking around the Moon Nexus, and she's so energetic that Callum has trouble keeping up with her! She seems like those active grandmas who almost never stop moving, who have a lifelong supply of endless stamina. It makes me wonder if Lujanne will need that level of fitness for some upcoming conflict.

Callum feeling really hungry over not eating grubs and then still deciding he'd rather be hungry. It makes me wonder all over again how Lujanne got to the point where she eats grubs, considering that other Moonshadow elves we know of back in the Silvergrove don't. I still love my hc that the giant leech ate all of Lujanne's moonberry bushes and she's taking her revenge. Whatever's going on there, Callum is definitely not at that point yet.

When Lujanne asks Callum how he knows she's real, he thinks to himself that he'd put up with just about anything from someone who was going to teach him magic. That's a great parallel and foreshadowing for Viren's student/master relationship with Aaravos! And it's telling that neither student gets exactly what they hoped to get. Lujanne doesn't actively teach Callum any spells, because she believes he can't learn Moon magic at all. Aaravos does offer Viren power, but it takes him to some very dark places - literally and figuratively - and the cost is terribly high.

Callum sees a moon shape among the ruins, and Lujanne explains that the Moonhenge layout is an intricate rune that uses the structures themselves as part of its symbols and power. That's apparently a thing even with ordinary Moonshadow villages like Hollow Wood in the east, which is the coolest idea I've seen in a while: city planning as magic runes!

Yes, that's the same shape as the pendants Ethari made for himself and Runaan. Protection? Home? Feelsiness? A sense of safety and belongnig for all cycles and seasons?

Wonder what this Moonhenge rune stands for, then, and how much of this landscape is included in that rune. I bet it's more than we think!

But it makes sense now, how toppling the stone pillars would disable the spell the druids would cast to connect with the Moon Nexus lake. Breaking the infrastructure of the Moonhenge breaks the rune.

There's a physical sensation involved with the visuals that Historia Viventem brings up! When that one ghostly druid walked through Callum, he felt icy cold. Like in ghost stories. I really wonder about what exactly Historia Viventem is doing when it activates. It shows truth, "what really happened here?", so it must have some kind of time-related element, maybe tied to how the moon always repeats the same cycles or something. But it also seems to draw on the spirits of any living people involved in the flashback, because Callum could physically feel that wispy shape passing through him. So very interesting!

Orrr... is that all wrong, and there's something else at work with this spell than time? Maybe the world beyond life and death can act as an imprint of the things that have happened in the living world, and the spell that Lujanne (and later Callum) casts taps into that place, with perfect recall. I'm looking really hard at the sentence that says "dozens of translucent elf ghosts" and "phantom Moonhenge" and "lost in their own world" here.

Lujanne says more here than in the show about the world beyond life and death, being her mysterious Moonshadow-mage self. She says that "beyond" and "between" might both apply to where this other plane of existence is, and she doesn't much care which. With all the relativity swirling around this place, and not much in the way of empiricism, it's sounding like perhaps multiple conflicting ideas might actually coexist in such a place, allowing more ideas to fit there than we might normally believe is possible. Which is a fascinating bit of worldbuilding. Basically, every headcanon anyone has ever had about the Moon Nexus could all be true at the same time, for all we know.

Oh oh oh, Callum coming in soft with a secret wish! He takes one look at the Moonhenge and immediately thinks of finding a way to see his mom again! Poor boy, my heart! I'd say that could be another interesting parallel with Viren, but then, who wouldn't hold that sentiment?

Oh my, is this another breath of life into Ye Olde Ley Lines headcanon? Lujanne mentioning the Nexuses again, so soon after talking about the runic design of the entire Moonhenge, makes me wonder if the six nexuses are in fact giant runes. On Earth, the places where ley lines cross are called nexuses, and there are those who believe those points got marked with ancient structures, like Stonehenge and many many others. If Xadia were crossed with magical lines which naturally formed nexus points where they met, and if powerful magical runes were built across those entire areas, well. That would be cool beans, fams. Can I smack a map of Xadia and release a spell like Luz Noceda does? Because ngl that is my first instinct here.

Lujanne has got to be missing some grandkids to spoil, right? The way she's always whipping out cake and ice cream for Callum, and she's so grandma-ish about it. Headcanon about her being Runaan's mom aside, she is canonically lonely and she's very sweet to Allen and Ellis and I think she's missing whatever family she once had in the past. She may never get to have that family back, so she's finding a new one among the humans who live nearby, and I think that's sweet. Found family isn't just for the young.

But Ellis is straight up gonna be her fave, I bet, because she didn't turn up her nose at Lujanne's illusion food!

Ezran and Bait have a lot more to their relationship than was visible in the show, and I'm so excited by it! Ez can tell by looking at Bait's colors that he's not truly jealous of Zym, even if he's really grumpy about the dragonling taking up his favorite human's time.

And Ez thinking a lot about his dad and the things he's taught him. They're soft leadership material, and I love that so much! "Pick your battles" and the importance of encouragement. Ahh, my heart. Ezran, you're going to be such a good king.

But wait a second: both times that Bait gets extra grumpy in Zym's first training session, Ezran has just mentioned something about flying. Guys, I think Bait wishes he could fly, really badly. And that's his biggest problem with Zym, and with Ezran teaching Zym to fly, instead of Bait who doesn't have wings so. Bait is so old that his secrets have secrets, and I'm really curious how flying fits into them now!

Rayla, Dramatic Assassin: "I need to patrol for dark forces." That's what Lujanne called the source of the purple wisps that found them. I wonder if that's an official term all Moonshadows know, or if Rayla is just taking her cue from a veteran Moon mage. And I wonder how far Rayla is falling into the apparent pattern of "one mage, one assassin", since she does spend a lot of her time patrolling without being asked.

When Callum tells Lujanne that he was bad at prince stuff, and she asks if he didn't give up and got good at those things anyway, it's an opportunity for Callum to embrace subverting his parents' expectations in favor of seeking his own path, which is a primary theme of the show. But Lujanne is a couple generations older than Callum, at the very least, and I have to wonder what her upbringing was like. Is her version of success the one she took? Was she bad at magic once too, but she persisted? She is very soft and doesn't want to kill anyone.

Maybe Lujanne had dreams of doing something else with her life, but she felt she had to pursue the destiny that others handed to her, so she studied magic as hard as she could, and she did get good at it, but using it to defend Xadia from humans is not what she wanted to do with her life. Whether there's a parallel between her and Ethari on that point, there's one between Callum and Ethari, I think. How much of your life are you willing to let others direct for you?

LISTEN I WAS DYING AT THE EAR BREAD SCENE OKAY

This is my new favorite Soren and Claudia moment ever. Soren loves him his bread, okay. Even as earplugs for Claudia's sleep ocarina tune. The fact that it's "super effective" makes me think of a Pokemon defense. The fact that he learned it at camp, where he also learned about Moonshadow Madness, is hilarious. Later on, Corvus doesn't know Soren by name, but I still love the idea of Corvus being a kind of Strider-esque camp instructor, filling the ears of his young charges with all kinds of useful tactics like ear bread for magic spell songs (which actually seemed to work as intended), and warnings about the enemy elves' blood-themed tactics (which may or may not come back around in BH)

I thought they were gonna go in a kind of deep direction when Soren still wanted his ear bread back, but then he just. Eats them. Just noms them. I love this kid. Give Soren all the bread!