#I just frickin LOVE worldbuilding.

[davepetea]

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[licorishh]

So.

I just finished Act V of the Fontaine archon quest (aka the last one).

I am. Frankly astounded.

Like.

WOW. I am. Wow. The writing. Just. Oh my. Oh my word.

Huge frickin' massive biiiig fat 4.2 spoilers under the cut~

FIRST OF ALL, HOW DARE THEY MAKE ME GO FROM DESPISING FURINA TO ACTUALLY LOVING HER??? I thought she was a bratty little punk up until now but oh my gosh she's actually one of the most fascinatingly deep and dynamic and selfless characters in the whole game what???? HOW DARE THEY??? I was not going to pull for her at all and was gonna save for Ayato but bRUH??? WHAT??? (I also think Neuvillette should go down in history as like one of the most well-written and compelling fictional characters to ever exist, but that's just me, pfft.)

ALSO. THAT LAST CUTSCENE. WITH NEUVILLETTE MAKING THE FINAL VERDICT. I CRIED. THAT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL, DUDE. JUST. AAUGUGHG. The whole time they did the shtick with the Traveler watching Furina's side and Neuvillette talking to Focalors. Just. Ohhhm y gosh. The feELS, SIR. ILLEGAL.

And I already apologized a few days ago for the person I would become if Neuvillette and Navia interacted more and thEN LOOK WHAT THEY DID. LOOK WHAT THEY FREAKING DID TO ME. SHE FELL. HE FRICKIN CAUGHT HER. HE WAS THE ONE IN HER DREAM TRYING TO GET HER TO SAFETY. CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING. THERE WAS MORE THAN THAT BUT I'M TOO SPASTIC AND INARTICULATE TO TALK ABOUT IT ALL RIGHT NOW. JUST. HOW'D THEY MAKE ME EVEN MORE INSANE ABOUT THEM THAN I ALREADY WAS PLEASE WHAT

Kinda sad Wriothesley was barely there, but it was understandable considering he pretty much had the spotlight during the last few quest chains and since he was chilling out in the Fortress the whole time. It made sense. Nice to have Clorinde show up more, though :D

I am so insanely glad that I didn't get anything spoiled for this because blindly reacting to it all was just. So frickin insane. I am just astounded and so so impressed. Literally this game is only getting wildly better every second the story gets more added to it. Like I originally thought it couldn't get better than Liyue, and then frickin Sumeru happened, and then nOW FRICKIN FONTAINE HJAPPENED JUST. UGH. PLEASE. WHAT. HOW. DID THEY. DO THAT. SO WELL. SIR THE WRITING AND THE GENIUS AND THE AAAAGHH

I am amazed by how much character development there was in Fontaine. For the most part, the majority of the characters in Genshin Impact are somewhat one-dimensional (which is fine, because they're still cool), and they tend to lack significant depth. That combined with the fact that the other regions' quests have been pretty tame and really the most major moral dilemmas they've tackled were things like Nahida's predicament regarding how the people viewed her in comparison to Rukkhadevata means that a lot of the time, it's the worldbuilding that really stands out. While Fontaine's worldbuilding was also excellent, they really turned everything on its head by making the characters (specifically Furina, Neuvillette, and Navia) deeply compelling, with all kinds of internal struggles and issues that the game doesn't usually go into. I could give you a whole literary analysis on why Fontaine has arguably some of the best-written characters in the game, but I'll spare you, lol. I also love that they weren't afraid to really dig in and give Fontaine some serious issues and tragedies (Navia's father's death and how the guilt of being the one to issue the verdict weighed heavily on Neuvillette, the prospect of an entire nation being killed because of one mistake the archon made, characters actually dying for once, the issue with the Melusines being seen as outcast and being horribly mistreated, Neuvillette's feelings of being an outsider and unwelcome everywhere he goes, just, MAN).

Can you tell I enjoyed the Fontaine arc or

[mintytrifecta]

Okay. Okay. So. I’ve seen you tag so many posts with code name:Lenore and for the longest time I thought it was a piece of media I just happened to not have heard of, but somewhat recently I remembering you saying it was your original project and jfjddkdkdk okay pls do not feel pressured to answer if you don’t feel like it or anything but if you would like to share I’m asking, I’m asking SO LOUDLY about it cuz the little context clues I think I have picked up the vibes make it sound SO NEAT so yeah if you would like to share anything about it I would love to hear :3

DUUUUUDE I'D LOVE TO TALK ABOUT IT HELL FRICKIN YEAH!!!!

SO Codename: Lenore is a hypothetical novel I'm developing!!! Right now I'm just in like the plot development and worldbuilding stage so the story isn't fully concrete ^^; HOWEVER I DO HAVE SOME LORE >:DDD AND ITS GOING UNDER THE READ MORE CAUSE I HAVE. A LOT. SSNSGHND

Lenore is a robot built of embossed brass that's long been oxidized who wakes up in an unknown era in an unknown, tiny spaceship with only one universal truth present in her head.

She has a mission to find and record every folktale she can, before time runs out.

She doesn't know why, or how, or where this idea came from, nor does she know why time is running, but she knows she has to do it.

It's lonely, at first. Every planet she visits locally in her crumbling ship seems... empty. Devoid of any life. She spends who knows how long going to whatever area of a planet seems the least in ruins and tries to grab whatever she can but there's not much. There's barely one full legend anywhere and everything she finds she has to fill the blanks in. Although, a lot of them do seem to have the running theme of light in them. Light and grief and storms and anguish and so much pain with no real explanation.

It's only after she finds this pattern that Lenore notices the space around her is just as desolate as the planets she visits. Barely any starlight around and what little does show up is red and flicker. Finding this out, Lenore goes to a nearby star to investigate, one that barely has any shine to it.

As soon as she gets close enough it explodes and sends her unconscious and flying back who knows how far.

Next thing she knows Lenore wakes up on an unfamiliar ship with three people staring at her waiting for her to wake up.

Lenore is, understandably wigged out.

But they smile at her anyway and introduce themselves as the Lightspeeds!! A group of Star Hunters and Speedship racers who've been tracking the stars in this piece of space.

The "leader" of their group is the speedship racing pilot herself and head of navigation is Mairin!! Hothead, spirited and quick to make friends but prone to impulse. She welcomes Lenore to their ship with open arms, exclaiming how relieved she is Lenore is alright.

The engineer and head Mairin's partner lurking off to the corner is Khyun. He's closed off and cool but not neccesarily snappy. He's the one who got Lenore back up and running, claiming that they're lucky he likes history as much as he does, or else he wouldn't have recognized any of how Lenore's systems work.

Lastly, the botanist and head of oxygen and survival resources is Elise. She smiles, claiming she's the one who found Lenore's ship careening out at insane speeds and got everyone to help rescue her.

They explain that as Star Hunters, their mission is to find, record and track live stars and ghosts in the universe so that anyone else who's ship-born knows where's safe to stay for a while and what volatile spaces to avoid.

Speedship racers are a bit of a niche sport/subculture for Star Hunters. They compete in laps around stars of different sizes to see who has the fastest and smoothest ship and he winner gets to claim the biggest star found for their Star Hunter team and put it on the map under their name. To enter a speedship race you have to fill a certain quota of living stars found around a specific area and chart them under the name of your team. In this case, the Lightspeeds.

After a bit of talking they strike a deal with her. Lenore gets to help them find stars and work during their races and in return they help her search for folklore on any system-stars they come across.

A while passes and Lenore's officially a member of the Lightspeeds and she's building up a considerable portfolio of folklore. They haven't stopped though, with the theme of grief and stars, which is kind of suspicous to Lenore. They've traveled pretty far from where she was originally at and she gets that similair themes can occur in different cultures, but this is way too often to be mere coincidence.

Then it hits.

The stars are dying. They're dissapearing faster and faster than they can keep track of. The universe is collapsing in on itself with barely any time to preserve everything that's still here.

Lenore and the rest of the Lightspeeds have their work cut out for them.

That's the synopsis and a little bit of the plot I guess gshsnsn I've got more but if I kept going this would be too long so uuuh I'll leave it at this:

In the story there's a lot of themes and allegories to ghosts. Pretty much everyone in the story is haunting or is haunted in one way or another, narratively or not. With all the stars dying, their light still remains, all the planets are gone but stories they've made get to live on, Lenore is a robot, built and decorated with a story so personal to a society long, long gone. Isn't that a ghost?

Well yeah there's metaphorical ghosts but there are also literal ones >:))

See, sometimes when a dying star sends out a solar flare or explodes in a supernova, it'll reach people living on nearby planets. Caught in that light, they die, but their bodies last second absorb that light and essentially become it. Living afterimages of the people they were made out of pure light. They keep "living" for ages after, holding onto themselves as much as possible, but it doesn't always last.

If you're made of light, it's easy to forget what it was like when you were more then that. It's easy to lose memory. Lose shape.

As time goes on it's harder and harder to keep a solid form and idea of who you are. As this happens, as you slowly fade, your light... shifts. Less solid, blue glows become yellow. Slightly transparent and with some strange shifts of appearance, sure, but you're still fine. The real danger starts when you begin to shift red.

Closer to red means closer to dead. You begin to become transparent, unable to be seen under harsh colored lights. Your memory isn't what it used to be and now that you can barely see yourself its hard to hold shape.

Thank goodness none of our cast is that right :)) Thank goodness nobody in the Lightspeeds is hiding this in any kind of shift from yellow to red right :)))))) We certaintly wouldn't want our resident botanist to be hiding something like that from their friends right :))))))) Wouldn't want our resident folklorist android being an amnesiac of one, her creator, stuck in a metal shell with no way of knowing what she really looked like and who she was before she was :))))))))) Wouldn't want a group hellbent on desperate survival and worship of gravity and black holes to force people into becoming those to praise the gravity of a singularity and turn into light as a way to live as one with a decaying universe :)))))))))))))))

[feekins]

wooooo, more Gung-Ho's! let's jump right into it! here are my thoughts and things and translation weirdness I stumble upon as I re-read ch 2 of Trigun Maximum vol 2!

(NOTE: I'm reading the Dark Horse [physical] and the Overhaul [online] translations side-by-side)

so, a few pages in, Dark Horse does that weird thing where they have a character spell out a word as they're talking? this time, it's Midvalley. in response to Hoppered being all like (paraphrasing here) "yo, don't mess with Legato! he's not like he was before Fifth Moon," the Overhaul has Midvalley saying (quoting word-for-word here) "That's exactly what I'm saying." it's the same wording in Dark Horse, except they spell out 'e-x-a-c-t-l-y'. I'm still not sure why 🤨

but ohhhhhh, trimax Midvalley is SO different from his '98 anime counterpart! iirc the anime painted him as like...kind of a ladies' man? which could've been due to the times. but anyway, trimax Midvalley is SO complex. I've always loved that about him. he's similar to Wolfwood in doing what he has to in the name of survival...but he's not stuck between a rock and a hard place the way Wolfwood seems to be. I mean, look at him - Midvalley doesn't hesitate to pull a gun on frickin' Legato.

oh, and here's a little translation discrepancy: while he's subjecting Midvalley to a little, uh...non-consensual yoga...

(Dark Horse on left, Overhaul on right)

...and now I regret saying the yoga thing. except...hang on. Legato's taking away Midvalley's agency here - the same way his tristamp counterpart does to Wolfwood. another SA allegory, perhaps...?

anyway. our next translation discrepancies come in Knives' instructions to Legato. Dark Horse has Knives saying (about Vash):

"We will cause him ultimate suffering...at the hands of you humans! He still doesn't get it. We'll show him the true human nature he so desperately protects. Fuse the futility of his purpose into his very bones."

meanwhile, the Overhaul has him saying:

"Make him feel eternal suffering...at the hands of you humans! He still doesn't understand. Show him the true nature of you humans that he so desperately protects. Engrave the futility of his cause into his every bone."

notice how, in the Overhaul, there is no "we" - just "you humans." that, I think, is an important distinction, Knives separating himself from what he's commanding the Gung-Ho's to do.

a second point in Dark Horse's corner here! the translations are p much the same (except, in the Overhaul, Wolfwood says "ya idiot" and Vash replies "Well, you see...), but that frickin "BeCaAaAuUsE" makes me laugh every. time. 🤣

after these antics, we learn of Tonim Town, another place where all the people just disappeared. it's interesting to note that, same as what happened with Carcasas in the last volume, 'KNIVES' was left, Wolfwood tells us in the Overhaul, "etched on the stone monument at the center of town." Dark Horse's translation only specifies "a stone in the town center." soooooo with the additional info the Overhaul gives us - plus similar visuals of the stone monument - that gives us a neat little worldbuilding detail. Carcasas and Tonim Town have those town-center monuments in common. I wonder how many others do, and how that commonality came about. perhaps an early town had that detail, and subsequent towns adopted similar spatial planning?

anyway. hi. I have 2 degrees in anthropology. I got excited;;;;;;

important difference - just the name VS this, that, and the other thing about this guy.

and I HAD to juxtapose these bits found one page after the next - before and after Rai-Dei introduces himself. serious...and then Vash ruins the mood. classic. 🤣

I never noticed the skull on the back of Rai-Dei's skates has a lower jaw

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

a couple more translation discrepancies. Dark Horse cuts a whole sentence from Rai-Dei, 'say' VS 'do', and then Wolfwood's line is good either way but I had to show both bc either way, he's hilarious...also, 'terrorist priest' 🤣🤣🤣

'eternal' again in the Overhaul - same as we saw in Knives' instructions to Legato

finally...that's some weird wording you've got there, Dark Horse 😆

[moonshine-nightlight]

i don’t know if you’ve answered this before, but I absolutely love your writing style! how did you get into writing?

thank you!!

short version is i got really into reading cool books when i was a kid and then i wanted to read other cool books but they didn't exist so i started just imagining those books and eventually i started writing them down.

longer version below the cut, if ur interested

it's been awhile but pretty sure i got into writing because i got really into reading lol. 4th grade (10 yrs old) is when i started just consuming as many books as i could get (i think something put me off when i was even younger but then i rediscovered books i liked and nothing could stop me) and i always loved imagining cool books or stories in my head (wouldn't it be so cool if i could find a book about x or with a character like y or had z in it? etc).

8th grade (13 yrs old) i think is when i started writing my own stories in spiral ring notebooks, both original stories (something about finding a magical path in the forest that led to colorful dragons i think?) and fanfiction (both my own and with a group of friends--we'd pass around the notebook and each write different parts of the fic).

while i've always had files and scrawled notes of original stuff, aside from some "poetry" i submitted to my high school literary magazine, i mostly posted/finished fanfic because it was shorter, i could get less distracted by worldbuilding, and those got views/comments which was more motivational.

i had a brief writing drought after i graduated college and my Real Job started and i was just very very busy, but i finally started posting again, but still just fanfic. i had started developing more original ideas and trying to actually write and finish some of them during this time, but did not truly consider posting any of it nor was i really making a lot of progress anyway.

then through tumblr, i stumbled upon some of the monster romance original works (@snowkissedmonsters i think was the specific writer i can remember jump starting that) and it kinda kickstart-ed the part of my brain that comes up with story ideas. and with some time, encouragement, and being possessed by the idea for "Nothing's Wrong with Dale", i started posting original works and haven't really stopped since.

i've always been interested in fantasy, sci-fi, speculative fiction etc, but more of my older ideas were YA because i was a YA (my protagonists tend to age as i did lol) and less romance focused, although many had sort of, side character love interests. i had always struggled with writing shorter stories and so i was interested in trying to really write short things both as a challenge to myself but also so i could actually frickin' finish stories that weren't fanfic. that's worked pretty well, even if i'm still not able to write one-shot original stories like some others out there.

i think i've imporoved a lot over the years and am really grateful for all the practice writing via fanfic i was able to do and am continuing to do, jsut on my other tumblrs/AO3 accounts (because i dont think there's a lot of audience overlap with this writing)

that's probably a longer answer than u wanted, but i hope it wasn't to rambling!

thanks again for asking and the compliment on my writing :)

[bladeoftruths]

ok so while im at it i guess i'll just share my thoughts on ff16's story overall since i have a fair share of yays, nays and other abt it. SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!

the yays:

- the prologue is still a banger no matter how many times u watch it. it was such a solid opening.

- cid's arc is a banger, even tho im sad that he died halfway thru the story but this is final fantasy. your cid can either live or die so that mid could run, or vice versa.

- jill's arc is my favourite. killing your abuser is ok but again, i have a bias with her.

- i like that they give each of the main cast a time to spend with clive in respective arcs.

- kaiju battles. yes i am a sucker for that. i grew up watching tokusatsu so this is nothing new to me. titan fight is my favourite among all, bahamut second.

- clive and jill's slowburn romance is just AUGHENSKSKDKS I FRICKIN LOVE IT. the mutual pining, the slowburn and the payoff just feels... AUGHHHHHH GRAAAAHHHHH SO EFFING GOOD I CANT DESCRIBE IT IN WORDS *eats a brick everytime i see them hold hands, hug or kiss*

- the worldbuilding is also good especially in the sidequests.

- i like how they portrayed dion and terence's relationship. its not everyday u get to see a well written gay relationship that didnt feel fetishized. we need more of this. also they are both childhood pals to lovers so it hits a soft spot on me.

- the side characters are also loveable in their own right!! enough to be in the top 10 even.

- i think im lowkey glad that they decided to go for an all white/white passing cast for the game bcos god some parts of the game is super fucked up esp wrt the bearers and how the ppl of valisthea treated them. i cannot imagine the sheer backlash yoshiP and his team will get if they have a brown/black/asian character in especially if they are bearers/dominants :')

nays:

- i didnt like how benedikta just comes and goes at the same arc. like i really wish we get to know her more or at least, after she went berserk she could at least be saved so that cid could take her in and we get to know her more. GIVE US A DLC, CBU3!!!

- waloed arc to me is my biggest downer. i want to know more abt waloed. i want to know more about barnabas and how did he get influenced by ultima. the part after jill gives away shiva's power to clive at the shadow coast just... drops and until they arrived at drake's spine it just feels... eh to me. kinda like the idyllshire/hinterlands arc in HW (given that ff16 story is written by the same guy who wrote HW in FFXIV, i am not even surprised).

- i understand that they want to make waloed and origin arc the time where clive and joshua finally gets to bond together but damn i wish they didnt just leave out jill like that in the last two arcs. poor girl, let her fight even tho she can no longer use her eikon power anymore.

- i know i have beef with waloed arc but god, odin fight is so underwhelming. no kaiju battle??? i sleep.

- i want to know more abt the rest of the dominants apart from the rosfield bros!! jill's life before she was sent to rosaria, dion in general, kupka's backstory and his relationship with benedikta, cid in general, benedikta again and again, barnabas. hell, i also wanna know more abt leviathan. GIVE US THE DLC OR FIT IN THEIR LORE IN THE ULTIMANIA!!!

- i think most of us agree that the sidequests were better at telling the worldbuilding and character insight more than the msq itself. the msq focused a little too much on clive over how he and the comrades react to the world around them.

- i think we also agree that we need more characters bantering over each other especially the dominants. im sad that dion didnt get to interact with clive and jill more, nor even we get to see the rosaria trio bantering and reminiscing the good times together at the hideaway.

other thoughts:

- i'm very mixed abt the ending tbh. i like the ambiguity and open endedness a la FF tactics but at the same time WTF??? i was high on copium when i first see thru the ending but now that i looked back my brain is just on hopium. im just gonna cling to the subtle hints that were mentioned in the game where they point out clive, dion and joshua SOMEHOW survived.

- i dont get people saying that ff16 didnt feel like final fantasy... like all FFs are different in its own right?? ff15 is like contemporary modern meets fantasy, ff6 is steampunk fantasy, ff4 is fantasy with airship... the settings are different sure but as long as you have crystals being the core part of the story, as well as anime fights with giant monsters and summons plus its own unique FF-schtick its still a final fantasy.

- i also dont get the hate on 16 for being more game of thrones-ish... like this is not the first FF to have gone this route. you have effing FF tactics being the first one to do that. the only difference is how they present it. i personally feel that 16 deserves the M-rating so much bcos of how technological advances gives you more creative freedom on how u want to tell the story. back in the day you could only work with what u have so yasumi matsuno really had to restrict with how he want to write the story for tactics. also his writing inspired the ff16 writing team a lot if u notice. and while this is not the first final fantasy game to get an M-rating (FFO did it first) it is the first mainline to get one.

overall i think the game isnt bad nor is it perfect. it manages to hit the right spot but at the same time i have my fair share of nitpicks. i just hope that it makes enough sales on ps5 and wait for the announcement of a pc release bcos god i would still love to play this game even if i probably suck at action rpg games.

----

omake: my favourites among the cast overall:

boys (top 5):

- dion, clive, cid, joshua, gav (bonus: byron)

girls (top 5):

- jill, mid, tarja, martha, isabelle 'the dame' (im so sorry benedikta u deserved better :'))

all (top 5)

- jill, dion, clive, cid, joshua

i have a soft spot for jill bcos she is very much reminded me of ysayle and im weak to ice coded ladies, and dion is just aymeric but a dragoon and bahamut fucker. i know what u did there CBU3

and this comes to no surprise but i fucking love clive/jill. i am weak to childhood pals to lovers with a mix of mutual pining and angsty slowburn romance, and they just hit the right spot for me. im so glad they managed to pull off an adult slowburn romance for them so well auuughhhhhh

[crystalelemental]

DeNa's update on PokeMas is getting ridiculous especially new battle format challenge. If I'm reading it right, you need to get higher score with fixed battle sessions etc? Cause i thought Legendary Gauntlet was good enough, until they introduce this planned battle format. Of course they want us to feel hungry for new content. Seeing those getting alts and Caitlin's base is becoming underwhelming, it makes me upset :< i love that sleepyhead lady.

On unrelated note, a friend showed me to watch this spooky horror film called "Emesis Blue". I wish I was joking, but i'll tell you a short bit; It's made in Source Film Maker, and the fan creators uses Team Fortress 2's class heroes+worldbuilding in horror genre. It's hell of passionate project that has the amazing cinematography. Just be warned, it has psychological/body horror & flashing lights. I recommended with watch party group for this. TF2 community is frickin' wild.

I hope you're catching few good days out there.

Yeah the new mode seems insanely bad. I do not like anything they’re saying about it just yet. It might be fine. Like the timed battles that were a bit stressful but ultimately fine with the Johto VA. As long as max reward threshold is low it might be okay. But oh god does it sound bad.

That’s actually really funny, I’ll try to take a look with my college friends some time. It’s been really hectic so I may ask about it later if I can’t find this ask and need a reminder.

Friend. I have caught zero good days since Sunday last week. It has been nonstop tragedy and I was hanging on by the grace of “at least they can’t possibly fuck up the VA.” OOPSIE FUCKSIES

[not-poignant]

So the Fae Tale Verse saga is coming to an end and I feel conflicted. Of course I feel very sad, I mean...10ish frickin' years. I very much ike to believe this work is among some of the core-memory factors which contributed in shaping the person I am right now... that's how good your work is. I know so many people already told you that, but I cannot do otherwise. And yet I'm also so genuinely grateful for what the future holds. Despite I will miss Augus and Gwyn so much. A 1000-times gramercie!

Ahh thank you so much anon!

I feel conflicted about it too honestly.

I am relieved, because 9 years hurting the same characters frankly gets old after a while. I just want them to be happy, and that means I have to stop writing them. It's a weird thing to spend 9 years with these people in your head 24/7, with increasingly fully realised personalities, and then one day just being like 'no no it's cool, I'm going to stop hurting you' and then having a lot of other folks being upset with me about it lmao. But at the end of the day, I feel like I've told their stories, over and over again, there's so many versions of them falling in love with each other, and they're all hurt/comfort and angsty, and it's like, okay. On that level, I am 100% ready to let them go and I was probably ready a little while ago.

(And I also know from watching other creators, that forcing to write characters once you're done with them, for the sake of readers, makes creators very bitter towards those characters. I've seen creators unknowingly or knowingly punishing characters just to spite an audience (Supernatural comes to mind), and I don't ever, ever want to get to that point. I'd rather depart while we're all in love with these characters, than at the point where I hate them, and everyone else is upset with what I've done to them - this is absolutely a phenomenon that happens, and as someone who felt the beginnings of bitterness at the idea of feeling 'forced' to write them, I realised it was well and truly time to close the door. I do not want to do that to any of us, and I simply don't want to keep writing them anymore).

And then I'm also sad, because I've spent again like 9 years with these guys in my head and they're great company and I love imagining them doing things together, or puttiing them in crises and I know them so well as characters that I always know how they're going to react and what they're going to do, and there's something very comforting and easy in that, and I won't have that in the same way with new characters for at least 2-3 years. Like I can do my characterisation work, but let's face it, thinking about a character and writing some exercises can never compare to writing a million words about those characters and how they literally react to things. So I'm going to miss the comfort and ease they represented re: my writing process, but I'm also just going to miss them. I know I can go back and reread, but it's not the same.

And then I'm also really scared! I don't know if I can write captivating new characters a second time. I don't know if people will stick around. I don't know if I'll attract new readers (which is kind of really crucial if I want to keep doing this for an income). There's a whole lot of - I don't know this world like I know Fae Tales, I can't answer almost every question yet, and elements of it are really challenging (the worldbuilding is way more expensive and there are conlangs).

And finally, I'm excited. Excited to try something new. Excited to see if I can do this all over again, and create something epic and fun and wild and angsty and hurt/comforty with new characters, so that we all get to have the experience of reading Game Theory the first time, or The Court of Five Thrones for the first time, but with an entirely new story, where we're all getting to react to that together.

Fae Tales has definitely contributed to some core memory things with me! :D

But yeah, the inner conflict is really too anon, it's a big thing for sure <3333

[katierosefun]

Top 5 barbie movies bestie! I think I know which ones you like and who's first but not sure about the order of the rest of them! I hope you're having a good week beloved! 💛💛💛

annnnnnnnnnnn :')) thank uuuuu, i hope you are also having a lovely week :')) // ask me my top 5 anything

princess and the pauper, because it's the best barbie movie, in my humble opinion. genuinely good songs, compelling female leads, and even though i think anneliese and erika should have dated each other, i still really liked anneliese's relationship with julian (because any guy whose voice cracks when he talks about his crush on a girl is a keeper), and i also liked dominick's relationship with erika (because any guy who knows his way around disguises is charming). also, just like . . . idk, something about the final song makes me get choked up :'))

12 dancing princesses, because i have distinct memories of dancing around my room and humming, acting like i'm going to open a secret gateway to some enchanted pavilion or something.

rapunzel, which is actually very closely tied with number 2, but like . . . i love rapunzel because of the protagonist's love of painting and also that idea of art as an escape (which is also present in 12 dancing princesses . . . can you see a pattern) but also, just like ! talking dragon ! talking rabbit ! a magic paintbrush!

mermaidia, because i had such a crush on nori. the power of gal pals. also, i loved the worldbuilding in this movie, because getting to know more about mermaids was a whole thing when i was a kid. (you're either a fairy girl or a mermaid girl . . . and i happened to be a mermaid girl, despite my quiet fear of the ocean

diamond castle, just because it's so gay. you've got the leads wearing the colors of the lesbian pride + bisexual pride colors. they live in the frickin' woods, selling flowers to passerbys. the power of music! rainbow bridges! there's a dramatic breakup scene and then they get back together! i remember being so weirdly obsessed with this movie when i first watched it, wishing that i, too, was living with a pretty girl in the woods . . . glad that it didn't take me too long after for everything to click <3

[100nebulas]

HAI my carrd is outdated and ill remake it ! later

heres a pinned post to fill in in the meantime ik its ugly but whatever. important stuff yknow

About me

Astrid, Ava, Stella

They/She

Sapphic, Arospec

White

18

adhd autism :)

Byf

most of those are just squicks but pls be especially diligent abt the bold ones !! also pls tag long posts see i italicized it that ones just really annoying to me. you can hit those with "Ava Don't Look" thank u

"we live in a simulation" type of unreality

"..." on its own

pregnancy

gothic lit

ok ko

images of the cop pride flag

milk cookie from crob/crk

long posts

dni moment

Obvious DNI criteria (racist, antisemetic, ableist, lgbtphobe, TERFs)

Ace/arophobe, panphobe, biphobe, anti-MOGAI, transmed, truscum, anti he/him they/them lesbians, exclusionists in general

Anti-anti/proshippers, fujoshis, selfcest shippers all of you are freaks

18+ blogs

Uncritical fan of any media you consume

Dsmp fans

fuck nuts frickin is not good. dont interact with me if you participate in it. BUT . i know a few of my long time friends and mutuals do enjoy it CRITICALLY. ppl i am already friends with can stay in regards 2 this but im making my stance on it clear right now

other stuff below the cut so this doesn't get too long

extra which is directly copied from my carrd mostly

On my main, I'm very forgetful when it comes to tagging.

If you have something blacklisted that I forget to tag, feel free to remind me, or if it's recurring, soft block/unfollow. I won't mind! Do what you need to make yourself comfortable.

I don't have any post tagging system. If I make one, I'll add it here.

I've kind of just been unfollowing people lately?? if we were mutuals and i unfollowed for seemingly no reason you can dm me and I'll probably follow back. this is mostly me just tryin to curate my dash 2 my interests i promise its nothing personal adghzjfxfj !!!

If you send me a post with my interests, I will love you forever

friends can ask for my discord

Interests and Hyperfix

specil inch rest

Kingdom Come

Yume Nikki, Yume 2kki, ynfg in general

Ton's Mobile Game Universe

Sonic the Hedgehog

Kirby Series

Pokemon

Pollys Orangebox Rewrite

Classic edgy Creepypastas

Rhythm games

Character design

hyperfixations ive had that are also worth mentioning bc these tend to come back in bursts

Scp foundation, Confinement by Lord Bung

Splatoon

ENA by Joel G

Kirby

Eve MVs, Kara No Kikuo

Deemo

Mystery Skulls Animated

Junji Ito mangas

No Straight Roads

My Stuff

Kingdom Come - high fantasy original universe ive been super invested in worldbuilding on. see content for it on my artblog!

Startown - my oldest original story, revived !! ye olde childhood fiction about a young superhero in space, with a wish to protect the multiverse.

Nightlight - my own yume nikki fangame that i promise i'll work on at some point

[ink-splotch]

I just wanted to pop in and thank you for making stay- it’s such a beautiful game, I’m trying to get every single person I’ve ever met to play it because I can’t stop thinking about it. Your worldbuilding is so beautiful and your characters are. Intensely lovable.

I also wanted to ask what program you used to make it, or what your process was, if that’s okay?

I used Ink by Inkle Studios, which is just an amazing, flexible, friendly narrative scripting tool. I highly recommend it if you want to play in this sort of space.

In terms of process... So there's one review on metafilter that compares this game to Outer Wilds, which fills me with smug joy. I sat down to start sketching out this game directly after watching a great Making Of Outer Wilds documentary on youtube.

(If you haven't played Outer Wilds, please go do so immediately. Read nothing about it, it's best completely unspoiled, and it will change your life. I frickin love that game-- note that Outer Worlds is a different, larger game, released around the same time with a similar logo, don't get them confused 😅)

Obviously Stay? isn't a space exploration game, or a game that involves a beautiful modeled solar system or learning how to pilot a space ship... or moons that shoot lava rocks... But the structure of OW was what caught my creative interest.

I loved the way that game gated knowledge and progress, and the myriad different paths and experiences possible inside of it. My house had spent a lot of our several playthrus picking apart how it was structured, gleefully, and listening to the creators talk through their processes in the documentary made me wonder: can I do that but with words?

(And I think... I did. I'm very happy with Stay?)

In terms of building the game, I actually structured it first. I built the whole basic structure with each "scene" being a line. Ex. In the original framework, in the magic shop that whole section would just read something like: "Magic Shop -> Be nice to Suzie? Yes / No -> Befriend Mad Scientist? Yes/No -> Go to Ball"

I wanted to make sure all the logic and paths worked first. Once I had that all sturdy and set up, I started filling things in (you notice Myka didn't even have a name, above. Suzette is the only one who started out named). I turned "Befriend Myka?" into that whole dialogue tree, with branches off to dates and things, with different versions of those conversations depending on what you'd chosen and done before... My wife, who betaed all versions of this, found it very frustrating that Ossani was so much harder for her to befriend in the final game than the initial "Befriend Soldier? Yes/No" option.

During the fleshing out process I ended up building a lot of new structures -- for instance in the model above you can see there's no place for having drinks with Mister Pent. But I found building structure-first was really useful for me & if I did it again that's probably where I'd start.

That's partially because... If I wanted just to tell a story, this would have been another novel. I think with gamewriting, which I'd love to keep doing, there's got to be a structural component that makes it *interesting*-- or it's a story I should just keep as a book.

[pencilofawesomeness]

Fics I Absolutely Adore and Would Recommend to Anyone

I’ve been meaning to do this for a long, long time, because I love reading fanworks and they deserve a lot of love and I love sharing things that I love. 

Obviously this isn’t everything, and if it’s not on this list that doesn’t mean I don’t love it, it just means I forgot at this moment. I will be adding to the list and I remember things or come across it again. (Trying to sort through my bookmarks and subscriptions is like trying to catch a fish bare-handed.) I’m also gonna shy away from the one-shots, even though I adore fun one-shots, just for the sake of organization. The list would be super long otherwise, and those are best sorted by fandom. Here... Here are just some brilliant works I want to rant about. 

Disclaimer: I say “recommend” because I would recommend these works, any time any place, but do keep in mind the story’s rating and tags and stuff. Not everything is kid-friendly.

There is absolutely no hierarchy to the list below. They are added as I add.

Fairy Dance of Death

by Catsy ( @fairydanceofdeath​ )

Fandom: Sword Art Online Word Count: 660,282 Status: ongoing

「AU reboot of the entire SAO storyline, beginning from the premise that Kayaba Akihiko was obsessed with magic and Norse Mythology rather than swords and pure melee. As a result, he created the Death Game of Alfheim Online rather than the floating castle of Aincrad—a world in which player-killing is not a crime, and the nine player races are in competition with each other to reach the top of the World Tree. Multi-POV epic following the stories of multiple canon characters throughout the game.」

If Catsy wrote the SAO light novels and anime, SAO would be among the legendary series. Fairy Dance of Death has this amazingly simple premise of making Alfheim Online, the video game from the original series’ less-than-stellar second part, the game that the main cast becomes trapped in. However, it’s so much more. They took the characters and made them characters, and everyone gets ample spotlight—even background characters that normally wouldn’t receive a second thought. It’s masterful work, and to boot, there is a lovely frame of in-game mystery and player conflict. The organization is phenomenal and I aspire to world-build the way they did. Not to mention that stakes are so much higher and this series has ripped my heart to shreds more than once. 

It has also brought me great joy, and even when I was in the dumps and didn’t want to read anything, a FDOD update made me pick up my phone and read when I otherwise wouldn’t have. It has a really special place in my heart. It updates once in a blue moon, but that’s okay. 

Even if you have never seen a single piece of Sword Art Online, Fairy Dance of Death is still a great read. In fact, it’s the Better Version of SAO, if we’re all being honest, so I would especially recommend it if you hadn’t seen the original. Or if you have. The characters are given so much love and detail, to the point where Fairy Dance of Death’s characterizations are More Canon to me than Kawahara Reki’s work. It is just a beautiful piece of fiction, and it makes you question the depravity of man on levels that SAO shied away from. 

Poisoned Dreams

by StrangeDiamond

Fandom: Genshin Impact Word Count: 82,852 Status: Complete, with a complete sequel and more to come

「 Every night now, Diluc dreams of death. Usually Kaeya's. In between these nightmares his life is falling apart. It doesn't take Kaeya long to realize that this is something much more insidious than simple bad dreams. His brother's life and sanity are on the line and there is nothing Kaeya won't do to save him. Bonus chapter added.」

In a growing fandom from a new game, StrangeDiamond swooped in and characterized these bad boys so well I think it’s canon. It really breathes life into the video game lore, and it’s an A+ depiction of awkward sibling re-bonding post-Terrible-Happenings. Poisoned Dreams can be read alone with a basic understanding of Genshin storybuilding, but StrangeDiamond has an entire group of fics and oneshots set in the same headcanon, and they integrate them really well and subtly together. Not to mention that the narrative style is really clever with making you question what is real and what is dream (a big point in this story) and the inner voices of the point-of-view characters are very compelling. 

One Word to Change the World

by AgentMalkere 

Fandom: Fairy Tail Collective Word Count: 43,988 (30 parts) Status: probably never coming back

「 In just one universe, Ultear called out to her mother instead of turning away and the fate of Fairy Tail and the world was irrevocably altered. These are glimpses of a world where a single word made all the difference.

In other words, welcome to the Butterfly Effect - Fairy Tail style. 」

It’s a really cute canon-divergent, and while the series makes no attempt to re-write Fairy Tail, it addresses the major events and just snippets in between. It does a good job at giving the vast cast ample spotlight, but it’s also an easy read. It’s special to me because it was the series that made me really pay attention to Bickslow in particular, and I respect that.

Vigilantis Pretium Libertatis

by aradian_nights 

Fandom: Attack on Titan Word Count: 399,226 Status: Complete

「 Five years ago, an accident freed Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlelt from an experiment that forced the most extraordinary powers onto them. After five years of separation, of being raised apart to be heroes by a set of three very different adults, they meet again. As they uncover the truth behind their captivity they realize being free and being heroes are sadly nothing but an illusion. 」

This wrecked me.

I still remember when I read it. It was the beginning of 2018, and I had the flu and a lot of time on my hands, so I binge-read this. It was simultaneously the best and the worst thing I have ever done, because I resonated with it so deeply there were times I was just staring up at the ceiling wondering what was real. I empathized with the characters to a level I rarely achieve, and I empathize easily. I laughed. I cried. It was amazing.

I refer to this story in conversation to this day. It handled themes published authors have only dreamed of achieving. Heck, if Dani (the author) took out the names of the AoT cast and replaced it with new ones, it could be its own stand alone novel. It is worldbuilding from the ground up, and any fandom knowledge you take in with you is used against you like a knife leveraged against your throat. Yet, no one is out of character. It’s phenomenal. I would say more, but this is something I daren’t spoil for anybody, because you must be as wrecked as I was. Vigilantis Pretium Libertatis is a level of writing I achieve to gain as a writer myself. It is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.

Life in Glass Houses

by blueskyscribe ( @blueskyscribe​ )

Fandom: Transformers (Transformers Prime, Transformers: Shattered Glass) Word Count: 119,900 Status: Ongoing (maybe, I hope)

「 No one would have thought Bumblebee and Knock Out were capable of getting along, but when they're stuck in a strange new world and their only hope of survival is cooperation . . . Yeah, they're probably doomed. 」

I could be biased because Knock Out and Bumblebee are two of my favorite characters, but it really is brilliant. Two enemies, stuck together—but not in an overly cliché way. It’s the right amount of cliché, with heaps moral conflict and inner conflict and sometimes just beating each other with a broom when no one is looking. It’s also a fascinating look into what makes a character the way they are in relation to the morals they possess, and how stalwart those morals can be. I can’t help but think of this story whenever I see or write a “role reverse” or mirror-verse AU. It does an excellent job at making all of the characters engaging and their own character, despite being in a mirror-verse.

Yesterday Upon the Stair

by PitViperOfDoom ( @pitviperofdoom​ )

Fandom: My Hero Academia Word Count: 424,070 Status: Complete

「 Midoriya Izuku has always been written off as weird. As if it's not bad enough to be the quirkless weakling, he has to be the weird quirkless weakling on top of it.

But truthfully, the "weird" part is the only part that's accurate. He's determined not to be a weakling, and in spite of what it says on paper, he's not actually quirkless. Even before meeting All-Might and taking on the power of One For All, Izuku isn't quirkless.

Not that anyone would believe it if he told them. 」

As a person who normally doesn’t read these kind of minor canon divergences, especially at the time of reading, I frickin’ love this fic. In fact, I think YUTS gave me a deep appreciation for canon divergence fics. It’s MHA in all of its glory but it’s so much more, and even the parts that rehash canon give new light to the characters and their points of view. 

I had read Viper’s work before and saw Yesterday Upon the Stair filling my inbox, and then I finally watched My Hero Academia. It was one of the first MHA fics I read and it still has a very special place in my heart. I recommend this series to people who don’t even watch MHA; in fact, there are some who might prefer the darker tones and themes of heroism vs apathy to the main series. Not to mention the writing style is phenomenal, and I aspire to be that good. It made me laugh. It made me cry. Yes, tears streaming down my face crying. It is the best ghost story I have ever read.

the Vantage Point Universe

by Aggie2011 ( @aggie2011whoop​ )

Fandom: The Avengers (MCU) Collective Word Count: 1,032,651 (35 parts) Status: Ongoing (just slowed down)

「 Six months after the Loki incident, Clint isn't adjusting well. When an enemy from his days in the Army comes back to haunt him, he'll be forced to face a part of his past - and to move past Loki, if he has a hope of finding his place with the Avengers. (First of a universe created to center around Clint Barton) 」

// description taken from first installment

Have you enjoyed the MCU, especially the first-era Avengers phase, but like me, were disappointed in the fact that Hawkeye was barely there? The VP universe is for you. 

I honestly have a hard time remembering what was canon and what was VP. And if it’s not canon, it should be. The VP universe gave so much life to Clint and to Natasha and to all of SHIELD and even the rest of the Avengers. It’s just...so good. It’s completely immersive. It focuses a lot on Hawkeye and Black Widow from before the Avengers team-up, as well as after, and it all flows together so beautifully. Not to mention that I can be reading a mission that happened pre-series, so I know that they are going to live with all of their limbs, and I still sit there on the edge of my seat the whole time.

The OCs, minor as they are, that are created for this are also wonderfully done. I can’t believe Dan and Phil don’t exist in canon. Every character, canon or no, is engaging and dynamic, it is a pleasure to follow each point of view. The emotional turmoil is also handled very well, and the VP universe carries the MCU trend of humanizing its heroes and takes it so much further. 

Ghosts of the Future

by Evan Stanley ( @evanstanleyportfolio​ )

Fandom: Sonic the Hedgehog Word Count: comic (18 issues) Status: ongoing

「 About 200 years in the future, Silver the Hedgehog is an average kid living in San Francisco... except for his strange and terrible dreams of a dying Blue Hedgehog, a Black Hedgehog, and mysterious gems called "Chaos Emeralds". What will he do, when these "figments of his imagination" appear before him in his real life? 」

// description taken from first installment

Okay so this is the only one that isn’t an Ao3 story, but rather a comic on DeviantArt. However, it is still one of my favorite stories. Even though it takes the commonalities of Sonic canon and turns them on its head, GotF really treats the characters well. There are enough familiar world elements to create intrigue, but it is set in a completely different take of the future, so there is ample opportunity for world building and being able to engage with a completely new thing. I wish SEGA put as much love in the series (namely the games, because the comics are *chef’s kiss*) and all of its possibilities as creators like Evan Stanley do.

The friendship and family relationships in GotF are so diverse and all so fantastic to witness. It’s a keynote example of the new hero and the old veterans, and both parties are active and trying their best.

Do not be alarmed by the starting art style. Sure, it’s rough around the edges at first, but then it gets better, and then it gets gorgeous, and then you’re left there so stunned that it looks like just life canon art. And then you could be like me, blinking slowly as my small brain finally connected that this Evan Stanley is in fact the Evan Stanley. GotF is an amazing fanwork, but she also draws and writes for the Official Canon comics (the IDW ones now) and that work is also phenomenal and should be supported. 

Whirlwind

by Lynse ( @ladylynse​ )

Fandom: Danny Phantom, American Dragon: Jake Long, Miraculous Ladybug, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja Word Count: 75,556 Status: Complete

「 Jake should be used to ominous predictions by now. Randy should know better than to blindly follow McFist. Adrien should think twice before sneaking away. And Danny really should've expected something like this when he got that phone call from Jake. (Secret Quartet fic) 」

I have to start by saying that I adore all of Lynse’s fics, and I chose this one simply because it is one of my favorites. But it’s all fantastic, one hundred percent. I also love Mirrored, the sort-of prequel to this fic, but Whirlwind just has the chaotic pure bean energy that each of the shows bring and it foils against each other so perfectly. This is the epitome of the Secret Quartet crossover, truly.

All fandoms and all characters get ample love, and the way the reader gets to see just how badly the characters’ assumptions are going is positively wonderful. It’s so easy to fall into the “I know what’s happening and so do the characters” trap, but Lynse leaps over it gracefully and lands in greatness. The fic had me smiling like a maniac one minute, and feeling sorry for my babies the next. Wonderful. Simply fantastic!

[yourdorkiness]

More Fire Force Opinions That Literally Nobody Asked For (pt.2)

Guess who finished the manga~ Guess who finished the manga~ This gal~ I’m surprised that my Fire Force rant/essay meta was so well received by the fandom, thank you guys so much!!! Anyways, today I’ll be discussing some a lot of my ideas, opinions, thoughts, future predictions, and commentary on moments from the Fire Force manga.

Warnings: Spoilers for future Fire Force Season Two arcs, and for the Fire Force manga. Read at your own discretion! Now that the warnings are over, onwards! ヽ(ヅ)ノ

(I’m actually trying to order my opinions via arcs, but I feel that this is really important, so I’m putting it first.) 

1. There are no iPhones in the Fire Force. 

This is so sad? My favourite characters don’t know the joy that is staying up late, scrolling through social media, watching YOUTUBE, having MEMES, KNOWING👏THE👏GREATNESS👏THAT👏IS👏VINES!!!

I’m slightly disappointed that Vulcan, who is literally named after the god of forging himself, who can make frickin’ HOLOGRAMS, didn’t bring back any of the pre-Catalysm technology to recreate, improve, or experiment with. As an expert engineer (I say this 0.2% seriously, with the two years of high school engineering course experience under my belt), I would’ve been interested to see what kind of gadgets Vulcan could whip up. *insert ‘Inspector Gadget theme song*

Please have this very sad Jigglypuff to show how sad this is.

2. Sister Iris and Religion in the Fire Force Storyline

In the beginning of the Fire Force series, I’ve accepted the fact that Iris' role as noncombatant, meant to act as the religious and public face of the Eighth Company. I think it is a fascinating role, because it allows the story to explore the idea of religion and belief in depth, which I was really looking forward to. I was excited how the author would handle Iris’ character, but I’m somewhat disappointed that it took so long for us to see Iris and other side characters like Maki and Tamaki become more fleshed out (I’m not counting Iris’ and Hibana’s backstory in Season 1. I felt that was more backstory to flesh out Hibana’s character rather than Iris’).

Throughout Fire Force’s story, some of the things I looked forward to the most were the religious elements, motifs, themes, and questions that are sprinkled throughout the story, one of my favourites being the portrayal of the dichotomy of religion. In Joker’s backstory, we see the darkness of the Holy Sol faith, and what happens when any religious belief is taken TOO far, without any regard for human life or rights. This idea of viewing humans as a collective, no regard for the individuality and feelings of a single person in the pursuit of faith is embodied by the captain of the Shadow of the Holy Sun, Joker’s former captain and abuser. However, we also get to see the goodness religion and belief can achieve in Iris’ mini arc, which focuses on Iris’ internal struggle as she struggles with her faith after being informed of the Evangelist’s part in the founding of the Holy Sol’s religion. Shinra and Huo Yan Li, the bucket hat 1st Brigade lieutenant (Seriously, which is the correct way to pronounce this guy’s name? Huo Yan Li?? Foien Li???) interaction in the Iris arc really summed up the arc and Iris’ character beautifully. Religion and belief gives people closure, hope, and strength to keep on moving forward. Seeing the anime adaption was an amazing experience. Fire Force’s animation was the reason I decided to watch it in the first place (before staying for the intriguing plot and religious side plot), but this particular episode?? Pure art. The colouring, ambience, storytelling? So good＼\ ٩( ᐛ )و /／

Like, the little detail of the burning nun in Iris’ eyes? (lmao sorry for the extra trauma, sweet child) *chef’s kiss*

The importance of belief is also hinted in the Asakusa arc, where all the district’s inhabitants believe in Benimaru, and expanded upon in later manga chapters, when we learn that Adolla is linked to humanity’s perception and beliefs about the world around them.

I would’ve liked Iris a lot more if we got to further explore her character and the affects of religion on others more deeply, perhaps see Iris visiting the Infernals’ families and loved ones, trying to help give closure through the nation’s (mostly) shared faith in Sol. They mentioned offhandedly in both anime and manga that Iris visits the deceased’s families, and I felt it would’ve given the deaths more significance and depth if we get screentime of how families are affected by the death of their loved ones. It would have also given the Holy Sol’s religion more depth and meaning if we saw believers of Sol’s actions due to their religion, (also giving more impact when we learn surprise surprise! The Holy Sol temple is founded by the Evangelist!) since belief without actions is just lip-service.

I would have also liked to see how Iris’ prayers affect others in the Eighth company. We do get to see this, 140+ CHAPTERS LATER in the mini Iris arc does Shinra (finally) mentions how Iris’ prayers helps him not lose sight of why he serves as a firefighter and kills Infernal. I’m glad that we got this scene, because better later than never, especially since Iris’ and Shinra’s discussion and overall the entire Iris mini arcs shows the power of prayer, but I would’ve like to have this topic discussed sooner.

2. Obi’s Sole Flaw

I think that Obi was an okay character, but they kind of pushed the boundary of his “normalcy” when we saw him topple pillars and rip railways out of the ground with “brute strength”. There are limits to the human body, it is fragile, and it doesn’t matter how much conditioning or “going beyond your limits” you do. People do experience boost of adrenaline, which is probably what the very anime-like titled “Pressure of Death” is based on, since life or death situations can heighten your performance and strength. However, I do understand that this IS shonen, and it isn’t meant to be realistic.

What made Obi’s sole flaw (and a physical flaw, at that!) was his “normalcy” while surrounded by more powerful individuals then he, and having to make up for something he can’t help by working twice as hard as everybody else. Now, although I was disappointed that Obi didn’t have any character/moral flaws, what made Obi’s character mediocre to me wasn’t the choice of Obi’s sole flaw. In fact, I could see how this could be an interesting character narrative IF WE LEARN MORE ABOUT OBI’S BACKSTORY, THEREFORE EXPLORING HIS CHARACTER MORE!!! (We only know Obi was a regular firefighter, being decorated twice, and then having his titles revoked for prioritizing the lives of citizens before becoming the captain of the Eighth.) No, what I didn’t like about Obi’s character is that we never see him STRUGGLE with his flaw, how others were born “superior” to him thanks to there invulnerability to flames, how he lives knowing one day he could just burst into flames. There’s SO many interesting things about Obi’s character, that could explained further, making him so much more interesting!!!

On the other hand, Obi’s character is a great role model for what a “normal” person can do (while jacked up on adrenaline, and when they manage to overcome flight reaction in fight or flight). He works hard, training to the best of his ability, doing what he CAN do, pushing his limits so that he can go above and beyond, overcoming the “Pressure of Death”, and staying true to his ideals, something very hard to do in a world where you might burst into flames at any given moment. I know that if I were to wake in a world where I could die any second (I mean, I could die tomorrow in Real Life™, but what are the chances of that?), I would definitely find myself struggling with my faith, and staying true to the morals I admire and was taught by my parents, especially if I was putting myself in danger despite of this weakness.

3. Asakusa Showdown Arc and Shinmon Hibachi

The Asakusa Showdown arc. Yes. Just yes. I-

It was amazing, periodt. The art, the overall aesthetic, the storytelling. *Cue violent fangirling* I took SOOOO many screenshots of the fight between Benimaru and Hibachi, I’m pretty sure my camera roll is 95% manga caps now. I love how the author actually gave a (fairly) valid reason for the cool Japanese aesthetic of this arc, in that Adolla is slowly gradually colliding with the Fire Force universe, causing people’s perception of the fight to seep into the universe. Overall? It. Was. Amazing. Albeit not my favourite arc, (that honour goes to the mini-Iris arc) I think that the Asakusa Showdown arc is easily in my Top 5 Fire Force arcs.

The Asakusa Showdown Arc mirroring and showing the ideals taught in the Mini Iris Arc was quite clever, though I’m not sure if this was purposefully done Okubo, or if I’m just scrabbling at crumbs.

In the Mini Iris arc, we see how religion and belief gives closure; a stark contrast to Asakusa with its proto-nationalist/atheist values. In THIS arc, centering around Asakusa and it’s proto-nationalist inhabitants, we see what happens when there isn’t enough effort to emphasize or give closure in what happened to Hibachi, and his subsequent death. 

Shinmon Hibachi, as the leader of the neighbourhood fire watch, understood the significance of killing Infernals; of taking somebody’s life. But because of the unwillingness to let others (i.e. the inhabitants of Asakusa, that one kid who stabs him) understand the weight of killing Infernals and gain closure through understanding the reasons behind his harsh actions, Hibachi shoulders the consequences of both his and the actions of his predecessors’ ALONE, therefore leading to his demise. 

The kid who stabbed Hibachi was still a CHILD, and children don’t always have a comprehensive understanding of death and the consequences of responsibility (no matter how much that kid believes he was ready to be an adult and support his mother).

3.5 Extra Worldbuilding Questions About Asakusa

I also have so many questions about Asakusa in general! How is Asakusa powered without being supported by Amaterasu, which is the country’s (and isn’t that mind boggling, that a whole country is supported by one power source with no backup source or other forms of energy/electricity, because of patriotic pride in a machine that might one day shut down, cough manga readers where u at?) I’m assuming that Asakusa mainly use coal, candles, and lamps for energy and lighting, since we did see one example of lighting in Asakusa (an ancient oil lamp), but I’m not sure if that would be sufficient to support a whole district of people. People were able to do that in the olden days, but back then there was a smaller concentration of people, and power necessary to support them.

Is Asakusa a district that is mostly atheist or polytheist? Do the inhabitants believe in no gods, not just the Sun god brought by the White Clads and Raffles I, including the Shinto or Buddhist gods from before the Catalysm, or do they believe in multiple gods/ancestor worship and they just don’t want to worship the Sun God like the rest of the Tokyo Empire because they’re unwilling to accept the new culture, immigrants and religion caused by Amaterasu, wanting to keep up the old Japanese traditions?

4. Arthur Deserves Better Parents 2k20 (Hint of Arthur’s Secret Ability?)

When Team Vulcan + Arthur found Arthur’s parents in the sewers Nether... Honestly, I don’t want to touch on them much, since I want to be (fairly) logical in my opinions on them, not letting my personal feelings twist my hypotheses for what may happen in the future of the Fire Force storyline.

Putting aside Arthur’s parents obvious neglect and bad parenting, I’m curious if Arthur's dad is actually a prophet or did he just get lucky with his delusions. Is this related to how Arthur can notice the difference between dopplegangers and real people? Perhaps because Arthur’s delusions of knighthood are so different from how he truly is (an abandoned child who deluded himself as a knight), therefore allowing him to notice the difference between dopplegangers and Adolla, as they are created by people’s perception of a subject.

5. Let Sho Be a Normal Kid at the End of the Show 2k20

Please let the small child be happy at the end of the manga. I mean, being raised by a cult underground isn’t exactly a Hallmarks childhood. For example, in the beginning of chapter 231, look at how Sho looks longingly at those kids on scooters and was so happy when he got a balloon from the firefighter mascots! (bruh, same balloons bring me so much joy)

I hope that in the end of the manga Okubo lets Sho, Shinra, and Eighth have some quality time. In one of the early arcs (with the first speaking demon, Minamoto?) Shinra saw some kids going to school wearing school uniforms, mentioning that if Sho was still alive, he’d be old enough to go to school. I’d be so sweet if at the end of the manga, Sho would have the chance to go to school, maybe the Fire Force academy (if it’s still running if by the end of the manga they’ve discovered the reason behind Human Combustion), makes friends and beat up anybody who badmouths the Eighth.

6. Cool Combat Medics!

I’d love to see more of the cool combat medics from the Sixth! We only saw the captain, Kayoko Huang, in action with her Asclepius staff pyrokinesis, which, might I add is a fascinating and terrifying ability. Think about it, she’s controlling CELLULAR DIVISION!!! She could start creating tumors in the bodies of her enemies! Could disintegrate people cellularly and no one would know, because fire snake, so no fingerprints!

Anyways, that is all I have right now. Thank you for reading my opinions about “Fire Force”, and for the nice response I got when I published my first opinion piece! Bruh, it took so long for me to edit this... 😔 I’m thinking of doing another meta going more in depth with my theory on Arthur and how he’s able to distinguish the difference between people and their dopplegangers, but that’s for another day. Feel free to discuss about your own ideas or thoughts in the chat, or tell me what you think! I promise I don’t bite. Have a wonderful day!

[starlightshore]

asriel is more digimon like but chara is also probably way more familiar with pokemon than digimon

I actually WAS going to say Digimon but I don't know how well known Digimon is on tumblr, they were equally cool when I was a kid but who knows...

Funnily enough I just watched the first episodes of Digimon last night (1990s and the new 2020 reboot) the dub was a mess from the start they described a landslide/flood as being like chocolate milk within the first 2 sentancss like oh my GOD. Its so weird. That dub is wild. The new show takes itself seriously and more grandeous (not sure if there's a English dub tho, so I can't compare) which I like.

Both have their strengths, I like the design of the digital world we see in the old one more. Watercolor backgrounds... so nice... the new one has a bigger budget and more established worldbuilding pre-written so it feels more coherent and modern, but the original is also just a fun, low-stakes silly kid's adventure show. I'll have to watch more of the new but there was a distinct lack of jokes. (Maybe the dub added in humor?)

But yeah watching them both is why I thought to make this post today. My favorite ABSOLUTE favorite is terriermon and lopmon

These bad bitches are peak character design. They got horns, pleasant color schemes and are cute as hell.

Most imporyantly: The looooong ears!!!!

The Digimon movie is a frickin mess in a billion ways but it's nostalgia and camp is fantastic to rewatch (last rewatched it 2 years ago) and I loved terriermon back as a kid too, I had a toy and I'd cry over his lost twin and the reincarnation stuff really stuck with me. You can see this influence on Feylow actually (long ears especially) and my love of the devoted sibling tragedy trope

Anyway Digimon is good.

Look at him. Why he got pants. Its so stupid. He has guns for arms. Stupid as hell. Love it to death.

Honestly what if i started drawing the dreemurs more like this. Longer ears and :3 faces.

[sword-of-stardust]

WIP Tag Game

Thank you @iwritedumbshit​ for tagging me in this!! I’ve seen other people do it and I wanted to do it too, so now I get to! Thank you!

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Then people can send asks with the title that intrigues/interests them and you’ll post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it!

(Most of my WIPs without real titles are very literally named. Most of them don’t have fun names sorry lol. Also I have multiple different folders for my WIPs separated by fandom, so I’ll just list the fics from all those folders. Also! This will only include my fanfic WIPs, not my original stories.)

My Current WIPs:

The Caged Bird Sings Of Freedom (on AO3. The old title for its document was ‘I’m frickin writing Minecraft fanfic can you believe this’)

Obsidian Walls Reflect Like Glass (on AO3. The old title for its document was ‘Dream in the Prison (What Will He Do?)’)

Take Me Under Your Wing (on AO3)

Feared and Loved (on AO3)

Knights Born From Iron (on AO3)

D&D AU

Goodwill Hunting AU

The Sting AU

Cyberpunk AU

FranMaya College AU

Rewriting TLJ and TROS because I’m still angry

Pokémon Worldbuilding (Aura Knights)

I never know who to tag in these things cuz idk many other people, let alone other writers, so ??? I tag whoever wants to do it lol

[jcmorrigan]

NINE FAVORITE FILMS IN POSTERS

I was tagged by @gavillain​ to do nine favorite movies in posters and I actually had to think hard about that because it seems I’ve been more into games and shows lately, but it was kind of a fun think because I got to go on a nostalgia trip in my head and here are my results

Some quick notes

1. The Boxtrolls is my favorite movie. Ever. Of all time. Not even joking. Because of Snatcher? Yes. But also because I still can’t believe how a quirky children’s film managed to distill so much social commentary into a simple and fun narrative that takes place in a cozy setting. And a lot of that is thanks to how much work they put into their main villain so it all links up

2. TENG might actually be my favorite Disney movie at this point but I’m hesitant to admit that because it is VERY silly and lacks the epic components that other faves from the Disney catalog hold for me. But I can quote it for insanely long periods of time (like, every time I try to say a line from the dinner scene I end up doing the whole dinner scene) and it always makes me lose it. Though while having Kuzco alone was absolutely the right marketing move I’m like...if you didn’t put Yzma on every single poster you are doing it wrong

3. Aladdin is a more conventional fave of the Disney catalog, and what’s weird is that I know my favorite thing from the Aladdin universe isn’t even in this first film at all but it still holds up really well without me jonesing too hard to see him? It’s got beautiful art design, bright colors, a really likable cast of characters, Jasmine, Jafar, a fantasy story packed with stakes, Jafar, and did I mention Jasmine

4. POTC is my high school nostalgia series and DMC is always my fave of the trilogy. Something about how the new stakes were introduced with Jones and the Kraken and the team bonding required to face the new threat and the set design of the new locations. Yes. Yessss

5. Weirdly, Labyrinth is the first movie I can remember hyperfixating on; Disney was always kinda in the background and I loved it as a collective a lot, but then Labyrinth happened and I couldn’t watch any other movie for like a month. It was one of the few live-action films to have enough offbeat imagery to capture my little-kid mind, and I love that it holds up every time I rewatch it.

6. I did want more Disney on this list, though, because that’s my bread and butter, and Hercules is the other big go-to I have for when I want a Disney film that’s just the total package of fun characters and pretty art and a high-stakes adventure. It really helps that I’m a Greek mythology girl at heart.

7. But Monsters, Inc. is another HYPERFIXATION FILM from my youth that also still holds up on all revisits. The monster designs and environmental humor, the fact that it’s a father-daughter foundfam story, the worldbuilding we get out of seeing one location in Monstropolis, Randall is a great villain, the out-of-left-field jokes that make me choke laughing, I already made the “repeats one thing over and over in my list” joke so I’m just gonna say Randall is the next five items on this list

8. Is The Neverending Story an accurate adaptation of my favorite book? No. Does the first film have my favorite character from that book? No. Is it still absolutely magical every time I watch it, with its grand melancholy, ethereal cinematography, and themes of overcoming one’s darkest hour with the help of fiction? YES YES YES

9. Okay so this is kind of cheating because I’ve seen T5E a grand total of once and there’s only one character I really care about but I care about that person SO MUCH that my friends can tell you I freak out every time I see him in their fanworks and there was that time one of them killed him off violently in a video series and I actually almost cried (which I never do) and if you’ve been paying attention then I should not have to tell you which character this is and anyway I love him so frickin much his entire movie gets on this list

I tag no one. Do if you want