#I like adaptations and the hard choices they create for writing

[grandwitchbird]

Like most book readers, I have thoughts on the Witcher games’ adaptive choices.

I probably hate Triss and consequently her role in those games more than average. I’ve got nothing good to say about that choice. It’s the closest I come to agreeing with book purists that the devs fundamentally misunderstood something about these stories.

Amnesia plots are also ridiculous. But I think what we see in 2-3 is active acknowledgment and a sincere attempt to clean up the mess. So not a lot to say there. It creates problems the writers find ways to largely solve so we can get back to Ciri.

I don’t hate the Nilfgaardian choices. We see plenty of what makes Nilfgaard terrible beyond just Emhyr, and that’s important. Emhyr himself is also transparently a bastard and up to no good. He might be the least worst compared to Radovid, but that’s a low bar and still a debatable one. In 2 alone he and his entire network of ghouls were actively destabilizing the North (that was the entire plot), for all intents and purposes holding Yen captive, and exploiting the Witchers. We know about his betrayal of the Scoia’tael in the same way. It’s actively discussed in the game.

A lot of the criticisms of Nilfgaard’s portrayal come down to wanting the games to smack you over the head with a sign that says ‘empire bad’. Well. The empire is bad. We see that it’s bad. They’re not the worst when it comes to their satellite states but that’s only because this is a world full of kingdoms and those are inherently unstable. We open Witcher 3 to a countryside lined with bodies on pikes and hanged from trees. Because of the empire. The bloody fucking baron is their idea of local leadership.

The fact that Nilfgaard has knock on stabilizing effects and doesn’t allow active pogroms is smart. It’s also not ungrounded at all. Rome did build roads that people use to this day. Persia did foster education and stabilize entire regions. Empires can have some knock on ‘positive’ effects. That’s not the same as ‘empire good’. And Nilfgaard is a well-written empire. In the books and in the games. They’re not a mysterious threat come to steal your women and justify the patriotic nonsense of people like Roche. They’re a culturally advanced political entity with concrete values and goals. They’re bad news with the occasional silver lining. And it’s up to you to decide for yourself if the buckets of blood they shed are more tolerable than the buckets of blood Radovid sheds. It’s one of the smartest uses of player indulgence I’ve seen in a game. They let you choose, truly. And it sucks. Because you’re not the hero and you can’t save this world. It’s also balanced and reinforced as a commentary on player agency vs the cynicism of the setting by the fact that you can help Cerys stabilize Skellige. That’s her story. But you can play a supporting role to a net positive outcome.

Ok Emhyr himself. And the empress ending. This Emhyr is one who’s already come face to face with himself. I think that’s clear. He’s still a terror, but Geralt and Yennefer have watched him stand down from his pursuit of Ciri. I think Yennefer’s dubious alliance with him is tenuous and largely works because of the shifting political landscape of the continent. It’s an attempt to bridge between the end of Lady of the Lake and this game in a concrete way (one that nonreaders won’t even notice). I do not like the empress ending. I do like its inclusion in a perverse way. Do I think there’s any universe where Geralt would tell Ciri to hear out the man who made her life a literal hell and only wants to pawn his problems off on her? Of course not. And it’s great because Geralt can say that! If you’ve been paying attention to motivations, Geralt will tell Ciri that Emhyr obviously has plans for her. The only way you get the empress ending is by ignoring every single theme of the game and also all the red flags waving in your face about Emhyr. Over and over this game tells you to listen closely to motivations and to be wary of the powerful. It does smack you over the head with that, particularly if you’re a reader. The bittersweet fairytale framing of that ending should be a red flag in itself. Ciri isn’t going to change these systems from the inside. Emhyr himself is the way he is from existing within these systems. And no I don’t care about the dev’s opinions on it (authors are all dead). In the context of the game, that is a bad ending. And it should be.

I am sympathetic to people who haven’t read the books having to deal with the issues of the political plot. The problem for those players isn’t something as silly as ‘not like book’. Again, you open this game with bodies on pikes. Empire BAD. But Radovid is the literal worst. And we want him dead. And the other alternative is a crime lord who lost his grip on reality for a sec and decided to try to kill us and our bro if we don’t let him just kill said bro in front of us. And that’s all a game-only person knows. This isn’t bad writing* either so much as it’s the casualty of pretty normal dev issues. Like we can see that in game. And this is where I’m sympathetic. The cut threads in the political plot are highly visible. Even people who have no idea who Djikstra is or why the Scoia’tael matter or why Roche is our pal even if he is kind of a cop have spotted those cut threads. It’s very much like the truncated arc for the aldecaldos in cyberpunk 2077. You can see the edges where things had to be trimmed early on just to get the game finished. That’s an issue separate to bad writing. More of a planning and management problem and near inevitable** with games this ambitious. It’s why you don’t see any of those problems in the DLCs with their more contained stories.

And a final note. I’ve been talking about rp for a Geralt who is in character from the novels as a rule. You can make the other choices and a story emerges where he’s either hardened or changed from the books into someone who doesn’t listen. Someone who doesn’t respect all these very competent women or show awareness of motivation. And the outcomes for that are. Not great. Famously they lead to the ending most of the gamer bros got and then cried about for years. They still provide a satisfying narrative that fits that rp. And that’s a feat. It’s good RP value.

*Djikstra, I’d argue isn’t so much written out of character here as he is a bit of a casualty. This plot is banking on you just being more attached to one character or another. Geralt IS out of character because he wouldn’t have gotten involved in the plot at all. There’s a metatextual thing happening where the game gives players what they want (real world-changing choices and a chance to play the regicidal rebellious hero) and then makes a point about it. YMMV. I think it’s funny.

Also, I think the shape of this plot, had cdpr continued to workshop the Scoia’tael side, would have had Djikstra in more of a corner with both Roche/Iorveth as loose ends he had to deal with. But that didn’t happen alas. Project management casualties suck.

**The exceptions are notably Sony projects like god of war and whatever kojima gets up to now. Most devs do not have that kind of stability working for them.

[fir-fireweed]

Ok, I’ve delved into Twine Sugarcube a little and I’ve had some revelations I feel the need to share.

1. Sugarcube is the devil. I mean that in the nicest way possible. I thought I was coding before… nope! I’m going to learn it anyway because the breadth of stuff I can do is amazing and worth it, but holy hells is this hard. Which leads me to number 2…

2. My fellow IF authors who use Sugarcube, you are now like gods to me. Massive respect for you. 👊 Seriously, the time and effort it takes to create a story in this, and to do it so seamlessly as many of you do, is mind boggling.

3. I don’t feel I’ve given enough credit to Chapbook. You’ve seen me talk about the lack of a save system. But for a shorter story like Viatica (currently at 155k words with Rebellion ending and coding) I don’t feel it’s a massive deal breaker. It also has no easy way to display stats or inventory or a codex. I had to jerry rig my own stats passage.

But what it does well, it does exceptionally well. Chapbook is a complete out-of-the-box format and requires no previous CSS or HTML experience. It automatically formats everything for you, headers, footers, the adaptability to be read on any device, it’s all there. There is no style sheet to create, no Java script. The biggest challenge is coding choices and variables, but even then Chapbook comes with an easy to read guide that spells out everything you can possibly need. I would also be happy to answer questions or share screenshots of what I’ve done. If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at IFs but the idea of coding is daunting, you can use Chapbook. If you want to focus on the writing, your craft, and don’t have the time or inclination to heavily code, you can use Chapbook. If you’ve never coded a damn thing in your life and think CSS stands for “can’t style shit”, YOU CAN USE CHAPBOOK!

In conclusion, Sugarcube is evil incarnate, but I’m going to learn it anyway. Hail, Satan. Chapbook is mercy incarnate. Thank you, my lord and savior. And if you’re a newcomer and on the fence at all, I encourage you to give Chapbook a try. Say it with me… you can do it. 🤗

[whirlwindstars]

When I started watching 1964's "I Miserabili", I was greeted with 11 MINUTES OF INTRODUCTION from the director and the screenwriter of the series. I sat through all of it, discovering the behind the scene of +10 hours of adaptation. Then, near the end, the screenwriter mentions Grantaire.

...You peaked my curiosity, sir.

So, without further ado, let's meet 1964 Grantaire!

Grantaire's introduction

1964 version

Grantaire has two introductions here: one done by "Les Amis", and one done by himself. Let's start with the first.

"Grantaire, skeptic"

Grantaire is first introduced to Marius (and the audience) at Café Musain, along the other members of "Les Amis". He's sitting with Prouvaire and Feuilly, a bottle of wine by his side, and he's introduced as "skeptic".

This is followed by:

I swear, this Enjolras is such a meme!

I know it's 1964 Italy, but the way Combeferre looks at Enjolras after telling Grantaire believes in him is... both indecipherable and soo clear, it makes you wonder the intended meaning.

And this is just the first "Oh" moment, trust me... It gets fruitier. XD

"Drink and shut it"

Here is where Grantaire can finally shine. Just give him a reason to talk and it's over!

Poor Feuilly, I guess he's used to R making fun of him! But this mix of cynicism, carelessness and sarcasm is top Grantaire!

But you know what's even better?

Boom!

Bro went for him harder than expected and it made me laugh hysterically!

And it's not out of character, either: in the book, Enjolras can be pretty hard on Grantaire.

Now, I said it would get fruiterer and I must not disappoint you.

What a diva.

Also, I like the choice of both pairing love and drunkenness together, while also creating a dichotomy between the two states.

Dichotomy that can also turn both into the same thing:

You can read it in many different ways, it's such clever writing!

And then he's back being the careless drunkard we know and love:

[zaebucca]

About scale, process, palette and canvas: a few considerations on pixel art as a medium

User moredogproblems answered an interesting and legitimate question by another, DiscountEarly125, regarding my work and canvas size. He also perfectly isolated two central concepts of pixel art, which are scale and process. Canvas size, which was the theme of DiscountEarly125's specific request, is more of a dependent variable to those two aforementioned concepts, rather than a starting point. I hope the following considerations I shared may help or prompt some other ideas, but this is what I could come up with 15-ish years of experience with pixel art (and a few more years of art and media studies). I was quite in the mood of writing down these few thoughts that have been floating for a while. I apologize as this may also result in a confusing wall of text, but it is all part of a my work and research, and I would love to polish all the material, hopefully with some thoughts, insights from other colleagues, as well as pictures and materials!

A. Scale and canvas size It is true that the bigger the canvas, the more distance one may visually create from pixel art, but I personally think this is to be possibly considered a matter of perceiving pixels, rather than a fundative problem of the medium. In fact I concur with the idea of "process makes the medium" rather than identifying pixel art as how (evidently) pixeled the result feels. The general picture, or the sum of pixels, though, is a really important matter to the medium nonetheless! Pixels themselves work in relation one with another, so it's their overall result that gives context and makes the subject recognizable. This relationship between pixels links back to all the art fundamentals that each artist is taught, from color theory to shape and composition - and so on. So, the canvas size debate usually boils down to a matter of scale or necessity of your subjects. As long as the dimension (canvas) of your subject (as in: a drawing of an apple, a character sprite, a mockup environment) allows you to operate, control and keep an eye on the quantity (number/area of pixels together) and quality (color, shaping of multiple pixels, texturing obtained through color and shapes) of isolated single pixels or pixeled areas, you're in the pixel art universe. The other way around to define the matter of scaling: in order to be operating pixel art fundamentals and techniques, your subject has to be on a scale that allows you to apply principles of pixel art within the space of your canvas and your personal style. These very same principles, or basics, can be applied with different results and extent to bigger and smaller canvases alike, each with their own specific difficulties and variables. It is important to adapt your scale when learning, and trying classic canvases per subject like "16x16px" (standard tile or character sprite unit, tied to older consoles and screen ratios, it's a bit complicated there) is always a nice idea - they also tend to be industry benchmarks and necessities so in case you'd like to consider a professional output, that's very useful.

Scale also applies to the array of colors, and there lies the concept of palette: a number of single hexadecimal hues we are using for each single pixel. Any single pixel can have one hexadecimal color only.

Consequentially it is absolutely true that either a huge canvas or a palette too broad may prevent a viewer from perceiving immediately the "nature" of your medium, namely seeing square pixels, recognizing a certain amount of color - or more thoroughly recognizing that you made some choices for each subject on a pixel level. What could possibly happen on a huge canvas (without zooming in) is that you can't really grasp the pixels, but just the "overall picture" - and that may not differ too much from digital, raster art, which is of course also based on pixels. Therein appearently lies a sort of threshold that is really hard to pin down for us pixel artists, as it depends on screen size, visualization methods, distance, filters and lots of other inherently subjective parts.

This kinda is my case sometimes: I make big environments (possibly too big, and too detailed in each part I tell myself) that are a sum of many lesser parts: both tilesets and sprites that relate (but not strictly adhere) to a basic space unit that is 16x16pixels. You can indeed consider scale in a broader sense as a subdivision or magnification issue, much alike squinting your eyes to focus on a picture's overall contrast or, conversely, analyzing its fundamental parts with a magnifying glass, and then a microscope - an analogy as follows:

a. the picture as a whole is like a colorful rock that you can analyze by magnifying its grain. b. the characters, geographical elements and textures, works like the different substances that compose the rock and give its visible characteristics grain and complexity, c. single pixels constitute the very atoms of those previously recognized substances.

I mean "atom" in the traditional, classical meaning of indivisible, fundative object. That's a "quantized" part of information, which for pixel art is ultimately color (or a binary value, like yes/no black/white). If you were, for example, to crop some parts of my work - let's say 160x144 pixels (a gameboy screen resolution in pixels) you would see the substances that are characters and elements of nature, and when you zoom in again, every atom becomes visible as a single entity of color. There are 29 different type of "atoms" in Ruin Valley as in different, singularly hexadecimal colors that work together in different combinations and shapes to create different substances and characters. 18 of them are used for the different qualities of the environment, and 11 more for extra hues for characters and other elements to pop out a bit.

It's really interesting to see how many pixel artists push this "threshold" of pixel art canvases to the extremely small or the extremely big, whereas, notably, palettes are less open to growth: it is indeed my opinion that pixel art tends to quantize color (quality) over than dimension (quantity). Palettes, notably, do not grow exponentially, but tend to a lower, fixed, controlled amount of individual values instead. This usually gives the artist the true possibility and toolkit through which is possible to think about/with pixels. In other words: color (or its absence) is the founding unit and identity of pixel art as a digital medium.

B. Pixels as process or pixels as objective? Pixels themselves��(as strange as that may sound!) are not to be considered an objective of pixel art, I think, but the founding matter of its research as a medium instead. I think that making pixel art is not just devoting oneself to show those jagged, squarey areas or blunt edges that we all know and love: this is just one of the possible aesthetics that pixel art conveys or adopts - especially on small canvases. Pixel art is not about denouncing itself as pixels, but, rather, embracing the square, atomic unit to build an ensemble that conveys a content or a style. That's the important part of the discourse that emancipated pixel art into being a medium, and not just an aesthetic choice or style of representation. Again: process makes this medium. Speaking of that, I consider pixel art as part of a broader family of "quantized art", namely media that operate on/with "indivisible, founding bricks and unities" that can assume a certain quality (color, mainly) within a certain quantity (palette, canvas size) and in relation to its surroundings to describe something. This puts pixel art, with its specifics and with a certain degree of semplification, among other mediums such as cross-stitch, bead art, construction sets, textile art (on a warp and weft basis), (micro-)mosaics and others.

A classic threshold example of process vs objective: oekaki art. Oekaki art - which I love and also happen to make from time to time - doesn't really work or "think" specifically on a pixel base: it doesn't place pixels per se, but uses pixel-based areas and textures on bigger canvases with a certain degree of freedom, like one would normally do with brushes on raster digital art programs (adobe ps, gimp, clip studio and so on) in order to convey an aesthetic with fewer colors and a certain line style and texturing. That way, oekaki uses and knows pixels in a deep way, but doesn't see them primarily in a quantized way. As a result the "overall picture" shows pixels to a certain extent, and it's possible to recognize distinct pixels for each part, but the objective is not an analysis and use of pixel and quantized information, but the use of an aesthetic based upon accessibility of resources, their control and a certain rendering style.

A huge part of pixel art is its absolute accessibility: everyone with a fairly outdated computer or screen and a basic drawing program can study the medium. To be fair, it's indeed considering accessiblity that I highly support an inclusive approach to the term "pixel art" and I think traditional oekaki is a close, beautiful relative that builds upon the rules and techniques of pixel art and pixel rendering, yet keeping its identity as its very own medium - somehow like a dress may be built around/upon textile design. Anyway, boundaries are meant to be crossed and I think there definitely are lots of oekaki and pixel-based art that meet traditional pixel art mid-way - or further. I also think the "is it pixel art?" discourse possibly ensuing - and generally speaking any media belonging purist ontology - is a treacherous, slippery terrain leading to excesses, and this is not my focus today, neither am I able to tackle that subject extensively at the moment.

C. Conclusions and a few good exercises Everything above may be farfetched or too complicated as a starting point. I tried to write all down as orderly as possible. The point of this (possibly discouraging) analysis and the reasoning between scale and process is that (pixel) art is about trying different canvases, and reasoning on one's subject and objective, rather than limiting oneself to presets sizes or styles. It's important to choose something that resonates with us and, in doing so, thinking about other, more interesting limitations: that's the discourse about quantity of space and quality in color. Limiting is the best possible exercise and one I wholeheartedly encourage: by doing so we are progressively delving deeper on the basics, as we learn the fundamental relationships between shapes and colors that we can achieve through pixels. A few good exercises that I too implemented in my own workflow come to mind: 1. Trying different canvases (or sizes) for the same subject (sprite, character art, illustration or so on). This helps a lot finding a comfortable size to apply pixel techniques, as well as getting a hold over fundamentals such as aliasing, linework, conventional representation and so on. 2. Trying different palettes for the same subject, both by varying colors themselves (therefore learning about values and contrast and readability, as well as atmosphere and mood!) or singular hues and their components, in order to discover possible relationship between them. Have fun! 3. Reducing the width of the palette progressively for the same subject: reducing the number of singular colors forces a reasoning on shapes, rapresentation. You may go from 1-bit art (just black/white) to 3 colors, 4, 8 and so on. We'll not talk about transparency as a singular color there, but if you happen to be interested in retro art, transparency counts to the palette size. This exercise is very useful in rendering, and possibly tricky. And definitely fun. :') 4. Choosing an objective and usage of our work: for example trying to learn about old pixel art limitations for games, in order to reason within specifics. Get inspired by traditional games (spriters-resource is your best friend here, in case you have a specific retrogame you're thinking of)! I will probably talk about limitations and style on another post. 5. Four eyes (and other multiples) are better than two: try to talk with people and friends and other artists you trust and feel comfortable with to get their point of view. This can be scary, I know, especially at the beginning. You're not forced to, of course, but if you do (in a safespace) there's lots you can learn about concepts such as readability, subject recognition, rendering and composition. Our eyes and brains get accustomed to something, and pixel art being a rather analytic medium made of synergies, subtle changes, limitations and conventions is especially tricky on the artist's eyes on the long term. Either way, the important thing about pixel art is understanding that this medium is about recognizing and enjoying the process rather than the eventual aesthetic and in order to do so the best choice is to start simple, small, with few colors and techniques at a time! Have fun and hit me up with your progress and considerations. :')

[sol-consort]

I don't know if this is too odd, but what would you think a relationship with a Vorcha, Elcor, Hanar or batarian would look like because they are less conventional for cross-species relationships in the ME fandom. Or maybe I'm just deep in the alien fucker trenches who knows :)

"Is this too odd?" Anon asked the tumblr writer.

"I sure hope so," said the writer, whose was actually the weirdo writings guy.

Elcor In a relationship with a human

[romance, fluff, xenobiology, cultural differences]

Views on humanity?

So far, our species have yet to step on their toes... emphasis on yet. Through the trilogy, elcor have always been one of the most helpful and polite species to come across.

Our first encounter with an alien is with an elcor and volus mid-conversation. And despite all the volus's bad faith comments towards humanity, the elcor is quick to dispute his rude claims and apologetically tell us to ignore him; his frustration stems from the unfair practices of the council, not out of true malice towards humans.

The placement of humanity's first embassy next to the elcor one has got to have established some early bridges of trust between the two species. As far as the elcor masses are concerned, humans are chill.

Which is... a lot better of an impression than what the other alien species hold towards humans, shocking I know, who could ever hate us? Well, not the elcor, that's for sure.

Most salarians do hold prejudice against them... kind of a lot, so if you happen to be friends with one, it might wear thin on the stability of your relationship with your elcor partner. Otherwise, a human and an elcor are akin to two happy peas in a pod—politically speaking.

Communication?

We've already established how emotionally intelligent they are with the above example. Very composed and patient, albeit phlegmatic in the eyes of other species.

Elcor communication is intricate, multilayered, and subtle. Requiring their full cortex senses to decipher and convey a coherent reply back. The use of vocal speech has been adapted out of necessity to communicate with the other species.

Even if you studied your whole life, there is no feasible way for a human to reach a level of understanding capable of mimicking a fraction of elcor communication. It's one of those situations where you have to throw the towel in and find an alternative.

Luckily, most elcor are very understanding and considerate enough to lower their standards of communication. In more blunt terms, they settle for less with us.

Yeah.

But hey! Love is worth it, just like how you don't expect them to suddenly turn bipedal. They, too, are content with your limited range of communication and as subtle as a brick to the face.

In a one on one intimate situation, the two of you can easily work around it. But when it's time to meet your parents, or for you to meet theirs, it might create a lot of conflict. Both your families need to accommodate your choice of partner, otherwise the neglect will gnaw at your hearts.

Arguments aren't very fun, their way of speech tend to be irritating when you're already on your last straw and it feels like you're being talked down to.

As for them, you seem completely dramatic and emotional—borderline manic. It's hard to remember that humans are naturally this expressive when their patience is being tested.

It takes a great deal of effort to adapt and learn to the ways of a completely different species. A lot of times you'll wonder why do you even bother, why struggle so much to achieve a semi-normal relationship when you can get these things for granted in any relationship with another human?

And, well, you'll have to find the answer to the question yourself. Because the novelty of dating a shiny new alien will wear off in not a month's time.

In the end, you'll be left with another person, a whole being with a soul just like you, who longs, loves, and needs. Who is also wondering the same thing, why do they stay and make this difficult for themselves? Why don't they just leave to find another elcor?

Because there are many great difficult things in life that are worth the effort.

It's not always all doom and gloom; remember that line about how a human smile is as subtle as a fireworks show to an elcor?

Imagine how it must feel for the elcor, to see your partner being so loud and proud—in your prespective—with their happiness to be around you.

That every small nonchalant "love you, bye bye" you said at the end of a phone call, is akin to a declaration of love shouted from the rooftops. To be so clearly and shamelessly loved. There is no playing hard to get with an elcor, something as small as the glint in your eye as you steal a glance their way speaks mountains to them.

You are a fireworks display. They love you for it and wouldn't have it any other way.

Romance?

It's not elaborated on much, what their species consider romantic, where do they draw the line between platonic affection and other? How many types of love do they have?

Humans are tribal, herd mammals. We enjoy taking all of our treasured belongings and putting them in a cave, hopefully with another treasured person inside.

As children, we daydream about being neighbours with our friends when we grow up, we wish to visit our loved ones a ton, and sleepovers are beloved for a reason.

Elcor are the opposite. They are solitary creatures spread out across their planet. The dense gravity their species developed under might imply they find cuddling or any form of extra weight against them uncomfortable.

Or, actually, it might do the opposite.

Think of it this way, their bodies got so used to the crushing gravity of Dekuuna—their homeplanet—so much so that once they left it, they started feeling a lack. While they may hate the feeling of extra weight when on their homeworld, they begin to miss it and crave the added weight once they leave to the Citadel, Earth, or anywhere else.

So when you cuddle them, lean against them, or cover them in a weighted blanket, they feel at home.

The flora of Dekuuna not only offers an overabundance of lush forests but is also protected by the law. Meaning they place great cultural value on nature itself.

Which means their romantic gifts may also stem from nature, like ours, except an elcor would think it's more romantic to gift you a living plant than a bouquet of flowers; the act of cutting them itself is seen as insulting.

But if you give them a potted flower? The romantic innuendo will come across!

Elcor migrate a lot, as in walking the distance to move their capital, because they enjoy doing it. They like being outside, maybe dates to the park or somewhere vast and open will appeal to them?

Some of them are seen to consume nicotine and alcohol; you can safely ask them out for drinks, flirting by paying their tab and walking them home.

They enjoyed Hamlet enough to adapt it! They have a taste for theatrics and tragedy. Implying their preference overlap with humanity when it comes to art and expression. Not only that, but it proves they deeply enjoy art.

You've hit the jackpot, you take an elcor on a picnic at a nearby park, share a bottle of wine, use some classy flirting lines and watch them add "says flustered" in their speech tone indicator, then bring em home, cuddle on a pile of blankets and watch a doomed romance together!

Eventually, they, too, will get the hand of what makes your heart flutter and smile widens. That humans place sentimental values on material things and enjoy receiving fun little trinkets, shiny stuff, your prefered colour to receive them in, your favourite food to eat, the snacks you like.

They get the hang of it with practice and observation. They can pick up on a lot of your subtle body language that you're oblivious to. They recognise what you're feeling without you having to say a word. They act accordingly each time. Being considerate and thoughtful are in their nature.

Sex?

Wouldn't you like to know weatherboy

[it-crowd-unexpected-reboot]

Of all the media mentioned on Moss' Lonely Hearts profile, the only one I'm unfamiliar with is Tek Wars (as I've actually watched the first few episodes of the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series).

So, because I'm a longtime lover of media history, I did a not-so-deep dive and found out that TekWar (Moss misspells it) is a whole media franchise, beginning in 1989 with a book series, created by William Shatner.

That's right. Fucking William Shatner.

On the set of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Wiliam Shatner started writing notes for a novel series that would blend elements of both Star Trek and an early eighties police procedural called T.J. Hooker, which is a show he happened to play the titular role on.

So on the set of Star Trek, he was basically writing a fanfiction of...himself? His own shows? Where he was the star? But you know, every hugely successful actor needs some fantasy fulfillment.

So anyway, he wants to write this book, so he does what anyone who wants to write a book would do...he doesn't. Instead he hires a ghostwriter, Ron Goulart, who also ghostwrote for Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Vampirella, and...Groucho Marx? A series of novels about Groucho Marx I guess?

But what's the premise of TekWar?

Basically, "Tek" is an illegal drug in the form of a microchip, which creates a simulated reality.

The protagonist, Jake Cardigan is a former cop framed for dealing Tek who has been sentenced to 15 years of cryo-imprisonment. He has been summoned by a guy named Walter Bascom to solve Tek-related crimes. But Jake's also a recovering Tek user, so he's a bit hard-boiled.

And then he gets a sidekick named Sid Gomez, who Wikipedia oddly refers to as a "good-natured and charismatic Mexican" as of writing this. I have a lot of questions about that phrasing. I am also going to guess no one ever looks at the TekWar Wikipedia page except me. But anyway, they have a buddy cop dynamic going on I guess.

So it's basically a self-insert of William Shatner, who plays T.J. Hooker, but this T.J. Hooker got Han Solo'd (or, alternatively, Austin Powers'd) in cryo-sleep, and is now a Blade Runner for Tek in a society that's basically the DUNE universe.

And with the sidekick storyline it might also be kind of like a hard-boiled detective novel plus In the Heat of the Night?.

Well, whatever it is, it's a whole fucking franchise.

They wrote 9 novels of this. TekWar (1989), TekLords (1991), TekLab (1991), Tek Vengeance (1993), Tek Secret (1993), Tek Power (1994), Tek Money (1995), Tek Kill (1996) , and Tek Net (1997).

I'm absolutely amazed at the creativity of these titles. I mean, literally all of them have "Tek" in them. I'm also really interested in the choice to make "Tek" and the word that follows separate words beginning in 1993.

In 1992, after the release of TekLab, the third TekWar novel, they adapt TekWar into a comic book series called TekWorld.

But they do this with Marvel comics. The principal artist of this series was Lee Sullivan (who's worked on Doctor Who, Robocop, and Judge Dredd comics) and Fabian Nicieza, the comic book writer/editor who created Deadpool.

In 1993, they release TekWar trading cards. Here's somebody selling them on eBay for $12.99 (as of time of writing).

In 1994, it becomes a TV franchise with 4 television movies--TekWar, TekLords, TekWar: TekLab and TekWar: TekJustice (again, the creativity of these names!).

You may be confused why they didn't choose to go from TekLab to Tek Vengeance. Beats me. TekWar: TekJustice is apparently an original movie not based on an existing TekWar property.

And after the 4 TV movies comes an 18-episode TV series, broadcast in Canada between 1994 and 1996. And the episodes are hourlong.

You can find all of the TV movies and the entire TV series very very easily, on the website where most free videos are viewed. So if you're interested in watching all of TekWar, I encourage you to.

In 1995, they even make a first-person shooter video game called William Shatner's TekWar (an especially funny title that I feel implies William Shatner himself was the in-universe instigator of the Tek-related conflicts).

Now, it's worth noting that William Shatner appears in basically all of the TekWar media, but he doesn't play Jake Cardigan. Which is really interesting, because I feel like even from a superficial look at the summary, and the fact that this is a sci-fi novel written by William Shatner, I can infer that Jake Cardigan might be a little self-inserty.

But no, William Shatner plays Walter Bascom, the summoner of Jake Cardigan. The wise mentor who guides him through the Tek investigations or whatever. Which I suppose is fitting for the actual author of the series to play. Kinda cheeky, I guess.

So the TekWar FPS also includes voiceover of William Shatner as Walter Bascom, apparently.

I didn't want to include the entire walkthrough of the game that's available on YouTube but here's a short clip of the gameplay (since I love the 90s graphics). I think you can hear William Shatner groan sadly when the player dies at the very end, but unfortunately it doesn't include the voiceover.

Sounds like you need to tell the insurance company you mean business. Call Hupy & Abraham, right now.

Where the fuck is TekWar

Whenever somebody self-funds a vanity project like this, I feel like it's always hard to tell whether sales are actually good and people are watching this, or if the rich person moneypool and star power is what keeps this going.

Apparently TekWar did sell for a period, because schlocky sci-fi TV was so big in the 90s. But the TekWorld comic series was discontinued in August 1994, even after they'd tied the comics into the TV show. Marvel was going through financial issues at the time, but it still makes me think that the comics probably weren't selling all that well even then.

And the entire film/TV franchise being super easy to bootleg, means the studio that made it probably doesn't super care about it.

Most bizarrely, however, there's not a single AO3 fanfiction about TekWar. Not even of Jake Cardigan and Sid!

There's a single 859-word fanfiction on Fanfiction.net, a heartwarming Jake Cardigan father-son story. Set after the Betrayal episode for those who want to avoid spoilers. That is all I found. And I'm happy to plug it here so this person gets reads.

So, is TekWar dead?

Maybe not? They actually did greenlight an adult animated series of TekWar in September 2021, but we haven't heard anything. It's been almost 4 years which I guess you could say is a bad sign, but film/TV is a slow-moving industry, so we won't know for sure until they tell us.

TekWar in the style of Invincible would be a wild combination. Just a thought.

I'm not sure if TekWar fell off, or could fall off considering how low the bar was. So if you know anything about TekWar or are a fan please let me know.

[compromised-emotionally]

Racebending Interview with the Vampire: Power, Companionship and the Search for Freedom

I wrote a paper for a queer studies class that I'm kinda proud of. It's not particularly mindblowing as it was just a 200 level course, and it's kind of dry cause I was trying to stay formal. It's mostly just referencing other writings on race and queer studies and relating them to the show. It's about how the choice to racebend Louis deepens and transforms the thematic explorations of queerness in the original text. I wanted to share it below because I worked hard on it, even if no one reads this lol:

 

Racebending Interview with the Vampire: Power, Companionship and the Search for Freedom

Interview with the Vampire was originally a novel by Anne Rice, published in 1976. The novel told the story of a Louisiana plantation owner turned vampire named Louis de Pont du Lac, the French vampire named Lestat who was Louis’ maker, and the life they shared together. A film adaption was released in 1994 starring Brad Pitt as Louis and Tom Cruise as Lestat, that, like the book, displayed their relationship as deep but never explicitly sexual. It was not until the 2022 AMC television series that Louis and Lestat’s story was allowed to be explicitly romantic and sexual. The series was made further transformatively progressive with the casting of Black-British actor Jacob Anderson as Louis. In Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics, Munoz stated “A soft multicultural inclusion of race and ethnicity does not, on its own, lead to a progressive identity discourse” (pg10). Rather than just using “color-blind” casting for empty representation, Louis’ character was changed from slave owner to a black Creole man in the early 20th century. The addition of racial elements deepened thematic explorations of the nonnormative. By racebending Louis, AMC’s Interview with a Vampire expands on the original works’ examination of the vampire as a societal “other” and metaphor for homosexuality as well as Louis’ struggle to assimilate to vampire life. It relates the power dynamics between Lestat and Louis as creator/created to racial dynamics and interlocking systems of oppression.  

            Episode 3 “Is My Very Nature That of the Devil” opens with Lestat and Louis sitting in a park, as Lestat pontificates about the history of that park and reads a column about its design in the newspaper. Louis replies asking if the story mentioned how they used to put the severed heads of runaway slaves on the gates, then ponders if there’s a “greater purpose” for vampires on Earth. Lestat does not take Louis seriously, telling Louis that only that he (Lestat) is his creator and he put him on this Earth for pleasure. This interaction is emblematic of their relationship throughout the show. Lestat repeatedly minimizes the importance and legitimacy of Louis’ struggles, both the external oppressions he faces and his internal struggle to adjust to vampiric life. Vampirism acts as a direct parallel to living a queer life in the original text, though that symmetry is more complicated in the series since there is also explicit queerness in the show.  If humanity is the dominant, normative group in this universe, then Lestat’s approach to vampirism can be read as counteridentificatory. Lestat considers himself and Louis to be completely separate from human society, and has none of Louis’ impulses to assimilate with the human community or hold on to any ties to it.  Louis, conversely, still values the things that were important to him before turning: his club, “appearances”, his relationship with his family. He decides in this episode that he no longer wants to kill people, that he will feed off of animals alone. Lestat interprets this as a Louis denying his “true” identity as both a vampire and a queer man, an attempt to assimilate and identify with humans while rejecting Lestat and their shared identity. In some ways this is understandable, as the drinking of blood within this text is explicitly linked to their sex drive. But Lestat is also continuously upset throughout this episode when Louis refers to the black community of New Orleans as “his people”.  Despite the fact that Louis’ resilience and strength as a black man succeeding in a white world was one of the things that first attracted Lestat to Louis, he cannot comprehend why he still feels such kinship with the race he has always been a part of.

            Lestat treated turning Louis into a vampire as if that would supersede or eliminate the other aspects of his identity. The only difference that mattered to Lestat was vampire vs human, paralleling Cohen’s critique of white queer activism that envisions the world in a hetero/queer divide (Cohen, pg 447). When Lestat turned Louis at the end of the first episode, part of his pitch and promise to him was that as a vampire, racial oppressions would no longer hold him back. Lestat’s proposal was that becoming a vampire would give him (Louis) the power to counteridentify from the racist system, as well as freedom from loneliness and companionship in the form of a life with Lestat. Throughout this episode, Louis is grappling with the lie of that promise. Though he has a physical strength and power of a vampire, he must still move through world as black man in the early 20th century and deal with all the indignities that come along with that. He is also lonelier than anticipated, with a partner who will not acknowledge their differences. Audra Lorde said this of difference “…community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist” (pg 112). E. Patrick Johnson expounds further on this in his article on quare studies, explaining that such communities and theories are not progressive ones, and that LGBTQ of color cannot afford to adopt such theories for themselves.

Louis begins working to integrate the different aspects of himself and his new immortal life into a theory of self that feels true to his experience and acceptable, feeling “the tug and pull of having to choose between which parts […] to claim and wear and which parts have served to cloak us from the knowledge of ourselves” (Moraga and Anzaldua, pg 23). Louis reunites with an old lover, a black soldier passing through on his way to deployment. They have sex out in the Bayou and Louis feels some true companionship, but this is followed by a series of emotionally fraught failures that isolate and disempower him further. He is rejected by and frightens his family. He gets news that his nightclub/brothel is being shut down due to segregationist laws. Lestat throughout this is throwing a temper tantrum over Louis’ dalliance with the solder, despite being the one to open the relationship and begin an affair with the singer at Louis’ club (a white woman). Lestat’s reaction here, paired with the way he shows his disdain for Louis’ choices throughout this episode, display how unsettled Lestat is when he is not in control of Louis, when Louis acts as an independent equal rather than adoring student. Louis pushes aside Lestat’s attention grabbing antics in favor of meeting with a group of white businessmen and politicians in an attempt to save his club. He had interacted with this group before regularly, in a manner that could be viewed as dis-identificatory. He had regular poker games with them, laughing at their jokes, sometimes letting them win, while simultaneously influencing their opinions and nudging them towards social policies that would help him “working on, with, and against a cultural form” (Munoz, pg 12). Johnson’s piece on Quare theory points out that disidentification has always been “the process through which people of color could survive a white supremacist society” (pg12). He gave them a performance of “Mr. Du Lac”, a version of himself that made them comfortable enough to for him to influence their opinions and actions toward him and his businesses. But his previous tactics are no longer working; he can hear the thoughts of the white men insulting and demeaning him while they outwardly suggest that Lestat acts as “the face” of his business. It is also an interesting visual note that Lestat is framed throughout this scene alongside the other white men in the room, despite theoretically coming to support Louis. The degrading tone of their thoughts as they offer outward sympathies suggests that Louis’ tactics with them were always more assimilating and conforming than he wished them to be. If his persona and his performance with them never actually gained him any respect, than perhaps this was little more than a minstrel show.

The beginning of the Munoz essay states:

[…] disidentification is not always an adequate strategy of resistance or survival for all minority subjects. At times, resistance needs to be pronounced and direct; on other occasions queers of color and minority subjects need to follow a conformist path if they hope to survive a hostile public sphere. pg 5.

Louis’ initial response to this realization was a type of malicious compliance: hanging a “coloreds only” sign on his establishment, thereby technically following segregationist wishes. This of course only brings further retaliation from the establishment. Louis’ final response to this situation is his first and most direct counter action He declares himself a vampire for the first time aloud, scaring the alderman and letting him feel powerless for the first time. He kills the man, and hangs his body on a fence with a whites only sign (likely the same fence where the heads of runaway slaves were once posted). But Louis does not get to revel in this at all, as it brings immediate retaliation via the burning of the black neighborhood and businesses of New Orleans. Lestat instead is the ecstatic one; he believes this act of violence is a sign that Louis has finally embraced only vampirism, still misunderstanding the reasons and meaning behind Louis’ rage that drove him to murder the alderman. It pushes Louis away from Lestat again, roaming the burning streets of the place he once belonged, lost and unsure of what the correct approach is to finding community, home, and freedom. Louis wavers, unclear and undecided on how to find this meaning (the writing asks the same; his attempts to play friendly brought only mockery and his show of rebellion brought destruction). It is not until he suddenly hears the voice of Claudia, a 14-year-old Creole girl crying out in his mind for help, that he seems to find an answer. He finds her dying in a burning boarding house and brings her to Lestat to be turned into a vampire. The become a family – “Daddy Lou” “Uncle Les” and Claudia.

            There’s so much to examine in this series even when just considering Louis’ relationship with Lestat and the world around him. But it would be an oversight to not spend some time on Claudia, who would become the guiding motivation and emotional core for Louis. Because Lestat is the one who turned both Louis and Claudia, he is unable to read either of their minds. This further eats at Lestat, this companionship which he cannot share, this difference that he cannot stamp out. After accidentally killing a boy she loved, Claudia grows resentful of the immortal life they’ve subjected her to (Episode 104). Her mind grows but she stays perpetually trapped in the mind of a teenager, and she begrudges being made permanently infantilized. She leaves them to travel on her own and try to learn more about vampires than the little information that Lestat offered.  But when she finally meets another vampire and is excited to find kinship, he rapes her. After this, she decides to return home, but only to retrieve Louis, who has been depressed without her. She recognizes the truth that Audra Lorde stated in Sister Outsider:

Without community there is no liberation, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between an individual and her oppression. Pg112

She is unwilling to trust Lestat, who has continuously demonstrated an unwillingness to grow, to empathize, to “recognize those differences and deal effectively with the distortions…” (Lorde, pg 122).  Lestat reacts to the threat of abandonment with a great act of domestic violence, beating Louis and dropping him from the sky, which almost kills him (Episode 105). Louis eventually forgives Lestat for this in the next episode, but Claudia does not. Though all three characters share the nonnormative vampire identity, Lestat chooses to wield his status as their maker as an oppressive tool against them. All three become more feared and hated as the series goes on. Their home is vandalized on multiple occasions, and it’s made clear by the end of the series that they will need to leave town. But despite this shared struggle, Lestat cannot or will not stand in solidarity with Louis and Claudia. “…our future survival is predicated on our ability to relate within equality” (Lorde 122). Louis’ condition for forgiving Lestat was that he was honest and treated both Louis and Claudia as equals. But Lestat values his control over their lives over having them as true companions, even after promising change; he lies and manipulates them both and threatens Claudia with sexual violence (via letting her know he can invite the vampire who raped her to their home).

Change means growth, and growth can be painful. But we sharpen self-definition by exposing the self in work and struggle together with those whom we define as different from ourselves, although sharing the same goal. Lorde, pg. 123

            Claudia changes and grows the most over the course of the series, beginning as a child but gaining maturity and intelligence as she experiences the pain and joy the world has to offer.  She desires freedom for the first time in her human or immortal life, and feels that both her and Louis can achieve it if they work to free themselves at last from Lestat as a master. By the end of Episode 106, she has finally convinced Louis of the same.

            Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire was already an intriguing piece of queer media that was progressive for its time and how it used vampirism as a vehicle to explore homosexuality, struggle, and longing. In the behind-the-scenes interview piece, producer Adam O’Byrne expressed the production’s desire to reckon with the media in a new way, as they were a new generation interpreting this art. Johnson stated: “quare studies offers a more utilitarian theory of identity politics, focusing not just on performers and effects, but also on contexts and historical situatedness” (pg13). With this new reckoning and interpretation of this media, the artistic team took a piece of queer media and transformed it into “Quare”. With all the inherent complexities of racial relations examined in this interpretation, the audience is able to explore the dynamics of power, freedom, longing and companionship in a deeper and more complicated way than was offered in the original text.

Bibliography

Ep 103 “Is My Very Nature That of a Devil” Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, teleplay by Rolin Jones & Hannah Moscovitch, directed by Keith Powell, AMC Studios, 2022.

Ep 104 “…the ruthless pursuit of blood with all a child’s demanding” Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, teleplay by Eleanor Burgess, directed by Keith Powell, AMC Studios, 2022.

Ep 105 “A vile hunger for your hammering heart” Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, teleplay by Colin Albert, directed by Levan Akin, AMC Studios, 2022.

Ep 106 “Like Angels Put in Hell by God” Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, teleplay by Hannah Moscovitch, directed by Levan Akin, AMC Studios, 2022.

Ep 8.1 “Interview with the Vampire: Behind the Scenes” Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, AMC Studios, 2022.

Lorde, Audra. Sister Outsider, The Crossing Press, Year, pgs. 110-123.

Munoz, Jose Esteban. Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics, Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota Press, 1999.

E. Patrick Johnson (2001) "Quare" studies, or (almost) everything I know about

queer studies I learned from my grandmother, Text and Performance Quarterly, 21:1, 1-25, DOI: 10.1080/10462930128119

Cathy J. Cohen; Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?. GLQ 1 May 1997; 3 (4): 437–465. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-3-4-437

Moraga and Anzaldua, Entering the Lives of Others Theory in the Flesh, 23

[utilitycaster]

The thing I've realized, in the broader Actual Play space, is that a lot of creators are trying to turn Actual Play shows into TV shows.

You mentioned Kollok in your tags, and the creator of that has mentioned creating Kollok in a way to try to appeal to the Netflix audience.

And I'm all for experimentation, but tbh if I wanted to watch a TV show, I would go watch a TV show. That's not what I'm looking for in an Actual Play and over editing and gimmicks actively turn me off from it.

Folks creating Actual Play seem to put a lot of weight on it, but I don't know if it's that important from an audience perspective.

Hey anon,

Huge same - I've been thinking about this for a while, especially in regards to choices I didn't like (notably on D20, though the Candela split screen in chapter 3, while relatively minor, felt like part of the same trend and I'm really interested in seeing whether they keep it). I actually did mean to write more about this not in the tags of a reblog, so thanks for this ask because it gives me that motivation to do it!

Earlier this year I was at an event and someone who to be totally honest I found kind of annoying was talking about Dimension 20, and I decided to keep quiet and listen to what other people had to say, and another person (whom I respect and specifically know to be like, left-leaning and inclusive and not gatekeeper dudebro type, which is relevant to the next statement) who is solidly in Gen X and has been playing D&D since at least 2e mentioned that he doesn't like Actual Play at all because he is from the era where D&D was frequently played in third person and is somewhat of a purist in that sense. Ie, this guy would say "Gawain pulls out his sword and smites the dragon, with a 24 to hit", rather than "I'm going to pull out my sword and smite the dragon." He described his idea of D&D as being very much collaborative storytelling in the sense of a bunch of third person narrators who happen to be the storytellers for one specific character, not a first-person acted scene.

I happen to like both forms of narration and am not a purist either way, and indeed use both third person and first person myself as a player (as do many actual players; you see this on CR and D20 all the time). But I think this does show just how broad this spectrum is. You have people all the way on the "I am narrating an improvised story, I am the storyteller puppeting my character and I am not trying to be immersed" side and then you have shows that are trying to push this into full immersion...but so long as you have dice rolls, you'll never achieve it.

I prefer something in between: I do love watching people act, but I really like the gears and wires! I love mechanics! I think people who say "I love actual play D&D but I don't really care for combat, only RP" don't actually like actual play D&D! This is a specific format and I do not want people to hide the fact that they are using the rules of a game and are at a table, because they are and we know it.

This came up when I and others talked about the Legend of Vox Machina adaptation: they're probably going to have to find a way to convey the same tragedy and gravity of Scanlan's ninth level counterspell that doesn't require viewers to know the mechanics, because if you watch that scene as actual play the meaning of Sam saying "Nine" is immediately apparent. It hits hard with that one single word, but that won't be the case in an animated adaptation where no one is rolling a D20. Mechanics are in intrinsic part of actual play. You can enjoy actual play without that knowledge, but a solid grounding in those mechanics will only enhance that enjoyment (well, unless you're one of those rules-lawyery weirdos who gets bitter about any GM rule of cool/homebrew that they couldn't predict from the rulebooks but those people will never be happy).

The more general context of "being in a game", not just mechanics, is also in my opinion valuable. Brennan, on a Worlds Beyond Number fireside chat, referred to certain NPCs like Caramelinda as "furious that they are in a D&D game" and it's a funny and true statement. I feel like trying to push actual play into the realm of scripted shows is that: it feels like you're trying to hide the origins, and I think the quality of the show will ultimately suffer when you do that. It feels almost ashamed of what it is, and I don't think you can make something that transforms a medium/genre/thing in between the two without having a profound love and respect for the original, even if you also find it flawed. (This is also, tbh, how I feel about a lot of attempts to divorce D&D from the fact that it is ultimately a game influenced heavily by sword-and-sorcery fantasy, or about attempts to turn high or heroic fantasy into something that neatly affirms all of one's 2024 real world political beliefs, but that's another post).

I also think that the out-of-character element of actual play is a big draw. I have been open about having complicated feelings about the parasocial and projection aspects; but those feelings are "hey, this is still a show that is a source of livelihood, you are not hanging out in someone's living room and getting weird about the fact that the CR cast no longer responds to every tweet is dumb" and "you have not been betrayed by the creators because you didn't get the plot you wanted," and "the fact that two actors sit next to each other is not, in fact, a solid basis for shipping." I am equally opposed to the idea of "the actors do not exist, only the characters do," put forward in that attempt to make actual play Netflix-ready. It's fun to watch the CR cast rib Travis for turning bright red for, as people said, pretend kissing his real wife. It's fun to watch the Intrepid Heroes heckle Brennan when he plays a villain. It's fun to hear Aabria and Erika scream at WBN plot developments and for the McElroys or the NADDPod crew to wheeze with laughter and all of these shows but CR are to a degree edited, and all leave that element in, which I think says something really important about what actual play is understood to be!

It does not escape me that the seasons/shows using heavier camera edits have often, in my opinion, sacrificed story quality for a visual style I don't even care for. I do watch prestige television, and one of the more striking cinematographic choices I've seen lately are the extremely long single take shots used on both Succession's final season (Connor's Wedding, 4x03) and The Bear's first season (Review, 1x07). Prestige TV is not doing the glitchy Neverafter stuff. Hell, I liked Sagas of Sundry: Dread and never finished Madness before it went offline and haven't made an effort to seek it out specifically because the black box theater feel of Dread felt fun and new but not too removed from actual play vibes, whereas the higher production values of Madness, ironically, made it feel too artificial and stilted to keep my interest.

Actual play is its own beast, and in trying to appeal to a new audience you're probably going to lose a lot of the one you have. A big part of why I haven't been motivated to check out Kollok is that everything I hear about it, even positive reviews, makes it sound like it's missing the things I like from actual play and doesn't achieve the level of scripted shows. Honestly I think the REAL answer here is that if you want to find a space between a Netflix drama and an Actual Play show, ditch the rules and make stuff like Midst, which is as discussed inspired by ttrpg/actual play spaces, but is broadly plotted out in advance. I think that approach can combine the best of both worlds, whereas I feel as though attempting to be a Netflix show will usually spend so much time trying to hide the fact that there's a table there that it will detract from the actual story.

[silviakundera]

The Princess Royal ep 35 comments

So the writers made a signifucant change here, with having a traumatized, pregnant Li Rong decide to hide the revelation of the past from Pei Wenxuan instead of just having a complete breakdown in his arms.

The adaption has actually been overall shockingly novel complaint (it may be streamlined and less able to communicate complex character dynamics but on the whole the major events all track and tons of dialogue is lifted from the novel)... so I find myself curious about the few big deviations.

Why do I think they made this choice?

Suspense: the desire to create a conflict & tension btw our leads, because by this period in the story they are so on sync and united in purpose that I think the screenwriter is worried that it's too bland (if we recall The Double, some viewers felt a certain malaise with that couple at the end because they just supported each other w no conflict & drama).

No sex : in the novel they fuck about it; not gonna happen here. With all that stripped away, all of the emotional conflicts & resulting catharsis are happening between other characters in the last chapters. So what to do?

Mirrored behavior: I think perhaps we are intended to see a comparison in how SRQ didn't want to tell LR this secret out of protection for her mental health. He would rather be the villian to her who killed her for a blood feud, than see her face the truth. He originally wanted to "fix everything" without her having to know. SRQ is LR's foil. So I can see how perhaps drama writers thought it would be a plausible reaction for LR hide this from PWX and try to "fix it" behind his back, so his hands are clean and HE didn't betray the crown prince. In the drama as she is doing this, her voice over literally thinks that the only person she can trust is PWX. She just wants to keep him out of it. And then says some stuff in temporary anger when they fight about it.

So how do I feel about the change? While I do prefer the novel version, I guess I can agree it's a plausible scenario in the drama - because the drama's streamlining has reduced the emphasis on LR and SRQ standing on opposite sides politically. In the novel, frankly I do not see her joining w SRQ's camp for even 10 minutes. It just wouldn't happen. At this point, sure she knows he means well but they fundamentally disagree on what is the right path for the country. Even a panicking & broken novel!LR wouldn't be tempted to let a puppet Li Cheng take the throne.

But if I keep an open mind, I can see how in the live action version this might seem like a plausible stop-gap measure for LR and then she thinks she can recover and course correct after. I don't agree with the writing choice but I don't HATE it.

I'll be honest - It's hard for me to judge her too harshly for her immediate reactions in either novel or drama because her lament is just TOO SAD. I know she's far from a perfect person, but it really hurts my heart.

novel snippets of her soliloquy:

"Li Rong, let yourself go."

These words were like a heavy hammer hitting Li Rong, shattering her heart abruptly. She wanted to fight back, to retort, but in the end, it only became a rhetorical question, "If I let myself go, who will let me go?"

"No one has spared me!"

When these words came out, she could no longer restrain the pain she had been trying so hard to contain, "Everyone is using me, Chuan'er doesn't believe me and killed me, Shangguan Ya and Su Rongqing watched me die. Pei Wenxuan," Li Rong grabbed Pei Wenxuan's sleeve as she stared at him with tearful eyes, "how do you want me to let myself go?"

"No one believes me, you all think I'm bad, that I'm selfish, that I'm power-hungry, that I'm unscrupulous, that I won't think of any of you."

"So Li Chuan wants to kill me, Shangguan Ya wants me dead, Su Rongqing watches me drink the poison and says nothing, and even you," Li Rong tugged at his shirt with a deadly grip, "do you also think that I'm pushing you now? That I'm slandering your feelings, that I'm suffering so I'm making you suffer too?"

Pei Wenxuan froze, Li Rong lowered her head, she restrained herself, she tried to calm herself down a little.

She had hurt too many people, everyone had abandoned her, she wanted to be kinder to Pei Wenxuan, she shouldn't have indulged herself.

"I didn't."

She sounded dumb, "I just want to, to be nice to you. I want to be nice to everyone, but I can't do anything right."

"I don't talk well, I'm too dictatorial, I'm like a hedgehog, and anyone who sees me thinks I'm bad. I can't even, when I try to like you, do it well."

"I've done so much for Chuan'er," she said as tears poured down her eyes, "but he still doesn't believe me."

"I fought like that for a' Ya and Chuan'er, and a'Ya still gave up on me for the slightest risk."

"I'd gone to so much trouble to keep Su Rongqing, but I still can't live in his heart, he hasn't even given me a little trust."

"I'm not forcing you, I really just want to be good to you, I don't know what to do, I just want you to not suffer a little in front of me. But I still can't do it right."

"I'm sorry ......" she tilted her head to look at him and said it over and over again, "I'm sorry ......"

Pei Wenxuan did not say anything, he looked at Li Rong in front of him, she no longer had any semblance of decorum to speak of. The most wretched thing in life, he's afraid, is her now. Even when he met her in prison, she was fully clothed and tied up, her posture was calm.

*

"...That was the last life, I can ignore it, but just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't care."

"One has to hold the power to have a choice. And when you gain power, it shouldn't be mixed with feelings. I used to talk about liking power, but in fact when I made decisions, I always put a lot more trust in them and was willing to fight for them. So when I came up, I always thought of helping Chuan'er, solving his present problems for him, his future problems."

"My mother scolded me, saying that I was thinking all these things. That the emperor thought of me as a princess, and that in the eyes of the future emperor, I was no different in nature from the noble lineage. I thought she was silly at the time, but now I realise that it was me who was silly."

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I think what's truly horrible, what traumatizes her so deeply, is that this was a long process. LR and PWX remember her descent into chronic illness! How she wasted away as PWX brought her doctors to try to save her. Her brother didn't kill her in 1 momentary act of rage & paranoia. He decided over and over again that she must die and he killed her THROUGH THE GAMES THEY PLAYED TOGETHER. Poisoning the weiqi pieces. All of what she thought were private family moments were the tools of her slow murder.

While the confrontation scene she has together w Li Chuan in the novel was sincerely beautiful and literally made me cry... I SO GET her initial repulsion and urge to walk away.

[side note: I can empathize on 1 thing with SRQ - feeling he had no choice but to watch this cruel betrayal and hating himself & hating Li Chuan more and more as he watches what's happening to her... no wonder, considering what also happened to his family, he thinks of Li Chuan as a monster who must be stopped. Like, I'm not in his side at all because the nobles are fucked. But I do think his beliefs about Li Chuan are like the most normal thing about him. I also see why SRQ hates himself (cause he should) - and why he is increasingly distressed as he sees Li Rong prove in this life how little he understood her and much he underestimated her inner goodness & also her bond with PWX. All the reasons he thought he couldn't risk saving her in the 1st life were wrong. So of course this only makes him hate & resent LC more.]

[super-hero-confessions]

One thing I strongly dislike about Tumblr fandoms is how Disneywashed things need to be for them to enjoy it or just not hate it and claim everything under the sun is "bad writing". That's not to say there isn't bad writing in the industry. But with all the complaints about characters essentially being or acting as normal humans would coming from people with exactly 0% background in actual critique, it's pretty clear there's a massive disconnect between what they want to categorize as "good" characterization and what actually is, at least more objectively. I want to facepalm every time this crap pops up but I'd be left without a face at the rate it does.

Humans are messy, stupid, contradictory. They say one thing and then go back on it immediately. They do things we don't like on occasion and then remind us why we love them. Like it or not, it's just true and we all know it. We've all done it. I can understand wanting to make "perfect" characters who do and say everything "right" the first time because of having control over the fiction and when we write it but it is so unbelievably absurd to shit on writing or writers that prefer to make their characters act and feel "human" as opposed to just being caricatures or being the "preferable" parts of people rather than being complete. Especially when we are human ourselves and even these "perfect dolls" are going to be as flawed as their makers, just in ways that are overlooked. Not hyperbole btw, I've legit seen characters actually super well characterized within source material or adaptation in direct comparison to human psyche and psychology and then seen dumbasses go out of their way to call that "bad writing" and then try to swap and rearrange the order in which things happened so it's more "perfect". Straight up ignoring the realistic "human" elements in favor of something more "ideal".

There's so much puppet master writing in fandoms that essentially destroys everything fanfic authors dislike about their "favorite" characters. Writing that removes the more human or unsavory elements in favor of making said character more "ideal", more of a "doll" to play with. This on its own is fine, I promise. Fair enough that fiction is fiction, creative freedom is a thing and should be respected. However, coupled with the endless complaints essentially about writing that doesn't follow this sort of pattern gives me the ick. Fiction is fiction but the people behind it are real. If we have to put the work of others down just to feel good about what we create, what are we actually doing? Is it really "good" or "better", or are we just telling ourselves that at the expense of others because even we're not convinced? Is this just fandom insecurity showing through? Calling everything "bad writing" because we don't feel confident in our own work?

Puppet master writing has become so common that it's also become incredibly boring for me and makes it harder to enjoy fandoms as much as I used to. Don't get me wrong, that still doesn't make it "bad" imho, and I don't even hate it, so I don't think people should stop if that's what they like. Sometimes it can be fun, it's just not my preference especially given prior experience but I'm just so tired of this specific form of writing being confused with "good" and being pushed on everything and also used to shit on anything that isn't structured this way. At this point, I honestly prefer bad grammar and poor editing that retains some semblance of the more "human", frustrating or even melodramatic elements of characters as opposed to the perfect "dolls". Or just crack fic. But obviously, that's more of a me thing.

Idk, I'm just tired I guess. Why is it so hard for people to enjoy a piece of fiction and also acknowledge that they are different people who would make different creative choices without trying to harm or shame others that would make different choices from them? This isn't religion so what the fuck?

[rosie-zia]

Luca Kaneshiro x Reader

A/n: After being on hiatus for eight months, I decided to go back and write stories again. This fanfic is an inspiration from Luca Kaneshiro's cover of "Honeymoon Un, Deux, Trois." This is a very long one so I hope you enjoy! :^) Word count: 2.3k+

Luca Kaneshiro was famously known as the evil mafia boss around the city and in the streets. Most people fear Luca because of the stories they have heard about his crime syndicate, but only a few knew he was like every other married man with a wife behind the closed doors of his manor. His beloved spouse was none other than you, Y/n Kaneshiro.

Luca didn’t see himself getting married so soon; however, it all changed when his father laid eyes upon you. You were known as the daughter of an elite mafia boss hailing from another country. Naturally, Luca’s father thought it was a good opportunity to create a strong alliance between two powerful organizations. Thus, a pact was formed and an arranged marriage took place. Despite you and Luca being against this whole ordeal, you two had no other choice but to go through it, and the rest was history.  In the beginning of your marriage, it was awkward as you two tried to adjust in spite of the pressure since you and Luca perceived marriage only as business and not as love. If needed, both of you would do your best to present yourselves as husband and wife in front of other mafias at every gathering and every meeting. When you and Luca fully adapted in the ways of matrimonial life, you two ended up catching feelings but were just too scared to tell the other. 

Luca saw you as nothing but a simple woman who has been involved with the dark side of the law, but his eyes were slowly opened and realized there was more to you. He highly thinks of you as a sweet lovely lady with kindness and beauty unlike any other. Your simplicity and grace immediately caught his attention that made him fall for you so hard that he feels he lost his breath every time he sees your bright smile. The blonde man doesn’t know how to express his love, so he only does it in which way he knows best: giving you materialistic things.  Ever since you married Luca, he often showered you with luxurious gifts that filled your entire room. From small trinkets, expensive clothing, and everything in between. As the recipient of his gifts, you were slightly overwhelmed how your husband provides you such an extravagant lifestyle. It felt like a one-sided marriage for you, so you did your best to be an obedient wife that takes care of the house and his needs while also involving yourself in the mafia business. Even though your marriage with Luca was mostly a smooth sailing, there had been some disputes that happened between you two. Lately, you have gotten yourselves in a heated argument with Luca, and it has been bugging you ever since.

_______________________________________

*Flashback*  “Luca, please let me know if you are in a bad condition from your missions. Don't try and hide it from me.” You and Luca are in the bathroom as you tried to tend his wounds carefully with bandages and ointments. He just returned home from another mission and unfortunately got hurt. The blonde man tried to ignore the pain and hide it from you but failed to do so as you caught him red-handed from the moment he stepped into the house.  “You don’t have to worry about me, Y/n. I’ll be fine.”  “But you are hurt right now, Luca. I worry about you sometimes… you should not let yourself get hurt like this.”  Every night, you mostly worry about him whenever he takes dangerous missions in the Kaneshiro mafia to the point you would always pray he will come back safe and sound. Although you sounded genuinely concerned about him, something about it irritated Luca into thinking you didn’t trust him enough to do his work “I said I’ll be fine, Y/n. Geez, you’re making me sound like I’m just a kid. You have no idea on what it is like to be in my position. Just mind your business will you?”  This led you two to argue for thirty minutes straight until he had enough and walked out. He may have looked irritated but deep inside, he felt like he hurt you. He ended up realizing that you were just looking out for him, but it was too late to take everything back. In that moment, he knew he had to make things right before it was too late.

________________________________________

After thinking about the events that happened that night, you were immediately snapped back to reality as one of Luca's men laid a ball gown with other fancy accessories that complimented the dress. "Greetings, Mrs. Kaneshiro. I was given an order from the boss to deliver his present to you. He wants to be present for the ball this evening. It will start in a few hours, and Mr. Kaneshiro will be escorting you to the party."

His bodyguard bowed down in respect and walked out the room to leave you alone to prepare for the ballroom party that will be hosted by Luca himself. You have no idea what is the special occasion celebrated in this event, but you assumed it was just a simple gathering to get more influential connections in the mafia.

You don't feel like going to that party, but Luca's small lion cub, Augustus, helps you raise up your spirits as he lets out small growls.

"You're so lucky that you don't have to attend a party with so many people. I wish I could just stay with you in bed."

You gently pet Augustus in which he gives out one of his toothy smiles. You knew very well that not showing up at the party is clearly not an option. Not wasting anymore time, you started your makeup routine to look good for the party. You're just hoping for the best that you will survive at the end of the day.

_______________________________________

You and Luca arrived at the ballroom before the event started as you two waited for the guests to arrive and made sure everything was in order. As always, you two will put up a face as a married couple in front of all the mafias who will be attending this gathering. One by one, you both greeted all of the guests with a smile on your faces while linking arms with each other. It may look like you and Luca are the perfect married couple and yet you both still did not resolve the argument that happened yesterday. You sighed to yourself and let Luca properly welcome the guests in his honor. When all of the guests had arrived, Luca clinked his glass to get everyone's attention. "Good evening, dear friends and loved ones, and thank you for attending tonight's ball here in my manor. I just want to celebrate a very special occasion that is very important to me. I do hope you all enjoy this night. May the party commence!"

As Luca finished his speech, all of the mafias and other guests talked away and enjoyed the party in their own ways. The gathering felt lively under the bright lights of the chandeliers in the ballroom. With the lively aura in the party, you're still confused on the special event Luca failed to specifically mention. You stayed beside Luca as he conversed with other mafia bosses until you felt like you're out of place. You excused yourself from Luca, and went somewhere else to get a breather and away from the crowd. The party was still going, and Luca can't help but steal glances once in a while to see how you are doing. He sees you by the balcony being alone by yourself with a glass of champagne in your hand. Luca knew how you can't deal with handling big crowds like this, but something about you was different from the way you look. He may be oblivious to most things but his thoughts went back to yesterday's fight, and he takes the blame for not considering your feelings.

________________________________________

After hours of dancing and drinking among the guests, the guests waved goodbye to you two and went to their respective homes. Finally, all of the guests have left, and you went back inside to close the lights in the ballroom and call it a night. The grand mechanized clock chimes to let you know it was quarter to midnight, giving you the signal to close the ballroom doors. Before you even got the chance to do so, you heard the orchestra on your left begin to play their instruments, producing an enchanting-like melody. You were about to stop them but you caught something from the corner of your eyes. Lo and behold, it was your husband by the grand staircase in all of his glory.

The heels of his shoes clicked as he made his way towards you. Something about him right now feels different than he usually carries himself. His lavender eyes seem more gentle, his outfit exactly matches the gold accents of your dress, and his overall appearance was much more dazzling compared to what he looked like during the party earlier.

Luca bowed slightly and brought the back of your hand against his lips to give it a small kiss which made you a bit flustered by the gesture. He uttered a few words that made you caught in a trance from how his voice dripped like honey.

"My dearest and beloved wife, shall we dance?"

---------------------------------------- Now playing: Honeymoon Un, Deux, Trois - Luca Kaneshiro Cover ----------------------------------------

Before you can properly process his words, Luca gently grabs you by the waist and sways you along with the music, taking the lead between you two. You let his fingers entwine with yours, and his hand fitted perfectly, letting your bodies become one. Under the dim lights in the ballroom, his features radiated perfectly, capturing the essence of the mafia boss before you. He also starts to sing along with the instrumental playing in the background in a foreign language you've never heard him speak before.

You may not understand most of the words he's singing, but you felt addicted to his voice like he was casting you under a deep spell you cannot ever break free from. It felt like a fairytale as he pulls you in twists and turns, also letting you have your way in the waltz of love. Every step you both took, you both were in sync with the song he's singing.

Never in your dreams he would act genuinely romantic towards you. This was the side of Luca you thought you would never witness, and here you are dancing with your husband in this empty ballroom. The moonlight illuminates the golden hues of the marble tiles beneath you two which makes it the perfect night for lovers exactly like you and Luca.

As he finishes up his song, he romantically dips you, and then pulls you back up. You wished it lasted longer, but you redirected your attention to Luca once more when you felt his fingers caress your hair to the side of your face.

"Y/n, I just want to apologize for last night. I'm sorry for being a jerk and not considering your feelings. I should have let you know that I took dangerous missions like these in the mafia. Could you forgive me?"

He says as he looks at you directly with tears in his eyes that are threatening to spill in a moment. With a sigh, you managed to forgive him.

"Alright, I forgive you, Luca. If you're hurt, please let me tend to your wounds after your mission, is that clear?

"Yes, I promise, Y/n..."

You both laugh while basking in each other's presence. It didn't take long before your laughter became silence... and silence became awkwardness. You knew you had to do something, so after debating with yourself, you decided to break the silence between you two.

"T-thank you for the lovely dance this evening. I still don't get why you hosted a party without any special occasion."

Up until now, you still don't know what the celebration was all about, to which Luca only replied with a smile on his face.

"It's our first wedding anniversary, Y/n. I thought I could celebrate it with you."

Hearing Luca's response made you so embarrassed and flushed that you forgot it has been one year ever since you married Luca. Now it was your turn to apologize to him.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Luca. I didn't know it was today. I have completely forgot about it, I-"

Your husband just chuckled and placed a finger on your lips, shushing you and stopping you from rambling such nonsense.

"It's alright. I know you don't see our marriage in a romantic sense but I wanted to tell you that I love you. I'm glad that I have you as my lovely wife."

He then proceeds to cup your face with his hand and pulls you by the waist with his other arm as he plants a chaste kiss on your lips. When you two pulled away, you ended up confessing how much you love him as well.

"I love you too, Luca. I'm also glad that I married you. You will always have my heart."

At that moment, you felt your hearts have become one. From this day forward, the marriage you have with Luca has gotten stronger from just business to pure and unadulterated love. Feeling so many positive emotions all at once, you just held him close to you just savoring this moment.

"Shall we dance the night away one more time, my lady?"

"Yes, Luca, we shall."

The grand clock chimed once more, telling you both it has struck midnight, but you just stayed there with the prince of your dreams without a care in the world and living the fairytale you truly deserve.

________________________________________

A/n: Thank you so much for reading this fanfic, and yes, I do Luxiem fanfics and possibly other Nijisanji members. I'm trying to explore and write more characters. If you liked this one, I might probably write more in the future, but it might take a while since I'm busy with school and other things. If you wish to chat me and give me some ideas for future fanfics like this, I would gladly accept them. See you in the next fanfic! ^^ - Rosie Zia

[fir-fireweed]

How did you figure out creating IFs was something you wanted to pursue? And potentially, what tips would you have to start out?

For a long time, I've always wanted to write but could never figure out what medium I wanted more, a story, etc. But with IFs, there's a whole plethora of opportunities! Even if it's not something I want paid for, I've always wanted to have people feel involved in my work, to experience a story for themselves. From Theater to Creative Writing and even writing a play, it's been a passion of mine for a long time. I just... don't know how to pursue it, especially with being married and having a kid of my own. But it's been inspiring to see people like me be able to create just as well!

Your stories so far have been wonderful, and are definitely one of my inspirations to pursue creating IFs 🫶 I am so excited to see what comes next for Cantata!!

Hello, fellow mama writer! 👋 I love this ask so much, thank you for it!

When I was younger I wanted to be a fiction novel writer. Got my degree in English Lit, tried the old school way of submitting manuscripts to publishers. Viatica the novella was one such work. But I never did publish professionally, I had a shoebox full of rejection letters. Then life happened—career, marriage, family, and I just didn’t have the time to write for myself anymore.

I’ve played story games for years now: Choices, Romance Club, Episode and dozens of others. I love reading interactive fiction, but I never thought of doing it myself until June of last year when I stumbled upon the Hosted Games app, and from there I found itch.io. And when I tell you I had an epiphany I am not exaggerating!

Me: Holy crap! These are people like me! These are not triple-A game developers, not huge publishers. These are average people writing stories FOR FUN that other people interact with. Holy shit!! YOU CAN DO THAT?!

So my tip, as trite as it may sound, is really to just try. Don’t worry about doing it regularly if you don’t have time, but I do encourage carving out time for yourself. I’ve (willingly) put myself second in a lot of things with family, but you really do need self care, too. You take better care of your fam when you’re in a good place, too. Writing does that for me.

Another tip would be to start with something you’ve already written—whether it’s a story, play, or even a poem, and adapt that to an IF. I first tried to come up with a new grandiose adventure and it was just too daunting and too overwhelming. It was much easier to learn Twine and get back into writing by resurrecting a near and dear manuscript like Viatica. Start with something familiar, and make a plan or outline before you even start writing, even if it’s just a list of bullet points. But also don’t be hard on yourself when (not if!) plans go awry.

I hope that helped, and I apologize if I got long winded. I love talking about my journey and I’m over the moon that I’ve inspired others like me! Thank you again for the ask, and good luck with your writing endeavors, whatever you wish to pursue! ❤️

[jccatstudios]

I have been following your soc comic adaptation and it just so good!!! I love how you draw them!

I have just one question: Why did you not include Inej's opening musings about Kaz on the first page? (Kaz Brekker didn't need a reason etc) I actually really like how there is not text on the first two pages, it's really atmospheric and moody so this really is not a criticism, I don't want to insult you. I guess I was just wondering what the thought process behind that was?

Oh, I've been wanting to talk about this for a while! Buckle up, this is gonna be one of my long comic rants. (Also, no offense taken at all! Anyone's welcome to question my artistic choices and I'm always happy to take critique, even though that isn't your intention.)

So, the thing is I actually planned on including that first paragraph into the comic! Here's when I first shared the thumbnails on here. Just for the sake of this post, I'll insert them here too.

The boxes are meant to be where excerpts of that introduction would go. When I was creating the thumbnails, I was thinking about how iconic these lines were and how well they introduce the world and characters. I even finished the pages with the intention to include those lines. This is from my original csp file.

When I lettered it all out, I felt like something wasn't right...? Hard to explain. I wanted silence for the opening and the narration took that away. I then thought about the reader who'd go into this without reading the novel first, wondering if they'd be thinking, Who's this Kaz Brekker guy? Is it this character on the page? It's clearer in the book, but I didn't think it paired well with what I drew. I didn't want any confusion. It's also Inej's chapter, and while Kaz's parts take up most of it, I still wanted it to feel like her POV and her story. We can hold off officially meeting Kaz until page four.

But the main reason I took it out comes down to my philosophy when it comes to comic adaptations. I believe that an adaptation should use the original story in the best way for the secondary medium. A comic adaptation should play to the strength of comics, not the original source material.

Time and time again, I see a lot of comic adaptations of books try to use a book's strength instead of a comic's. When that happens, you get pages upon pages of narration boxes and exposition that could've easily been told in a single panel's image. If you want to read excerpts from the original novel, go do that! They're beautiful and well-crafted and you should be reading the original anyway! If you're making a comic adaptation, make a comic, not an illustrated version of the novel (that's a whole field of its own).

This whole thing really ties well into what I'm doing for Chapter 3. Kaz is such an internal character, his chapters have a lot more exposition that isn't setting description or character actions. I've had to do a lot more of my own writing for this chapter than the last just to turn that exposition into his own voice as an internal monologue. Sometimes, it's just a change from "he" to "I," but there are other times I've had to write new dialogue and find ways to naturally flow between thoughts. If I didn't do the work to adapt the expository text and instead just put in narration boxes of text from the book, there would be a greater disconnect between the reader and Kaz. Third-person limited works great in books and doesn't separate the readers from the story, but in comics, first-person internal dialogue keeps the readers inside the scene better.

If I were to redo Chapter 2, I think I would try to find a way to incorporate the information from the chapter intro better. I think by losing the intro I initially planned to include, I didn't establish certain ideas very well. Ketterdam and Kerch are established later on pages 4 and 5, but I don't think I ever go back and mention The Barrel. Also, the idea that Kaz is deliberate, even if his reputation says otherwise, is important too. I've made sure to fix this kind of issue in Chapter 3 and keep record of what kind of information I'm losing as I adapt it.

[meltthefrozenheart]

FROZEN 3 and FROZEN 4 are both in development, and I can't wait!

The news sounded odd to me initially, I didn't expect anything like this from Disney Animation, but it became immediatly appealing the moment I realized the GREAT potential a double feature could have for the franchise, most importantly when Bob Iger specified “Jenn Lee, who created Frozen, the original Frozen, and Frozen 2 is hard at work with her team at Disney Animation on not one but actually two stories.”, which would mean:

More time to enstablish new elements, new characters, time to explore new lore and new places without the risk to rush everything;

A bigger story that can help flesh out our protagonists in their new roles, their new wants and changes they might face, considering how the F2 ending brought many new possibilities;

A narrative context where the new crysis (whatever it might be) could be explored even better, also allowing to maintain things in a complex prespective just as the Frozen movies like to do, where the matter of "good and evil" not at the center, and things are first of all deeply personal for the characters

It seems to me that Jennifer Lee always wanted to delve deeper into things, this is why the Broadway Musical was a perfect opportunity for her and the Lopez to expand the characters and flesh out things in the story, also adding new elements that would've been useful for F2.

And when they worked on Frozen 2, they built it as the "second part" of the story, reconnecting almost all the aspects of the sequel to the 1st movie, and the story was clearly meant to be BIGGER and longer compared to what we ended up having because of numerous issues and rewrites. J. Lee and C. Buck didn't want to introduce something that would feel just as "a new adventure", and more about the actual characters evolving, see what they left unresolved, breaking the "Happy ending" scenario of F1, which also led them to NOT give the new human characters (Mattias and the Northuldra) the same relevance given to Spirits of Nature, in order to remain focused on Elsa, Anna and the rest of the gang.

Now, Lee will most likely not direct or write these two new movies, but she is still directly involved, because it's both part of her job as CCO of Walt Disney Animation Studio and because Frozen is her (and Chris Buck) baby. It will be curious to discover with what idea Marc Smith came out with, but the fact he worked on the 1st Frozen as a storyboard artist and the became Director of Story for Frozen 2 says a lot about him and why Lee trusts him so much, and I'm sure they will follow the approach used with the 2nd movie and carry it on with 3 and 4. Numerous sagas used the two-parter approach, like the books adaptations of Harry Potter, Twilight and Hunger Games series, or more "original cases" like Pirates of the Carribeans or what we are getting now with the animated Spiderverse movies (Across and Beyond). But I think the best similarity (and probably what led to this ambitious choice) is with Avengers Infinity War/Endgame, where the BIG FINALE gets developed in two movies.

[sleepieshifting]

My reality shifting spell ingredients list and spell deep dive.

Per request on discord. I'm gonna be putting a list of the herbs that I use for my spells relating to reality shifting as well as going over the ways I perform them

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This is going to be a long post Keep that in mind and some of the grammar might be funky.

For the record I am not at all an expert witch So unfortunately I do not have the answers for everything. This is a guide of what I know so far about this spell since it's only like a year and a half old.

Before this begins, I want to preface that I recommend you do your research before adapting any of these spells. Although I call this deep dive I purposefully left out information to make it more consumable for people who are new at this and this would have been a mile long otherwise. Again, I highly recommend you do your own research so you can understand it much better than how I already put it in this post. These signs, you might figure out other things that you can put in the spells.

I also went into more detail on some parts more than others such as the herbs being more detailed than probably the rest of the post.

Good luck and hope this helps ya'll!

The Main Herbs

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• Salt

I often use salt as a base for protection. Salt is the first thing I have to put it. Any assault should do, but I often like sea salt and Himalayan salt, but table salt is perfectly fine to use. Black salt may also work in this circumstance.

• Lavender

Lavender is often used as psychic enhancer. Often helping in meditation and dream work. I use it to help reinforce the protection of the salt. It is a very common herb that often aids with dreams. It is also good for cleansing. And anxiety for when you're shifting.

• Rose Petals.

Though often used in love spells, they did have other uses. I use them to add sweetness to this spell as well As to attract self-confidence.

(just to make you feel like THAT MOTHER FUCKING BITCH when shifting)

I most of the time use dried Rose petals. But regular rose petals Should work as well.

You can write runes on them if need be or just leave them as is. As for color, it's your choice. But when I can I choose yellow as to represent travel. I've just been using what I can find, which are pink and red roses.

• Rosemary

Rosemary is also an herb that's known for its protection and dream work. But it also has heavy associations with memory. In the way I use it It's for clarity as well as keeping and ATTRACTING memories from your DRs.

(I found out that last bit the hard way)

• Mint

As for this hurb, I use it for its travel symbolism. It will promote your successful and safe travel. Though it seems its associations with money are more prevalent in the everyday. It is also known for its amazing luck and success. This earth will be very useful with inducean your Successful journey.

• Star Anise

This herb is the main bulk of the spell due to it's various abilities it has for this particular spell. It covers almost all cylinders when it comes to this spell and is known as a Spell enhancer Meaning that it heightens the strength of one spells. It promotes And creates vivid dreams Including Lucid dreams and make it easier to remember them. It can heighten your psychic abilities, clarity, and awareness. Works amazingly with Divination. It can also potentially help with connecting with others from your DRs due to its property of also being able to connect with spirit guides and other such things.(So if you do channeling this should be a major help) It also Provides a lot of protection to boot.

One full star is usually enough, but feel free to add 2 or 3 more.

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I'll be providing visual examples Down here V

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My Other Ingredients

These are the Thanks I add Regularly to this spell.

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• Two Sigil bay leaves

The first Leaf

Skip to The 2nd leaf If you don't work with any Guides Or Entities.

First ask your Ditties or guides that you think you can help with this. If they agree to help you write their sigil on the bay leaf. For example one of the gods I work with is Hecate.

(BUT I DO NOT RECOMMEND DIVING INTO DEITY WORK SO EARLY IN ONE'S PRACTICE!)

Doing deity work is in fact a lot of work. You don't have to work with anyone for this spell.

If you don't already work with any Deities or guides you can just go with the second option which is....

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The Second Leaf

For the second bay leaf I write the Shifting symbol on one side and on the other I write.

"I am (Insert DRself Name) and I have shifted to (Insert DR)."

For example...

"I am Vesper Córvido and I have shifted to My hero academia."

After I set up both leaves amd I burn both In a pot, bowl, or bucket To activate them.. It is fine if there are remaining Bits of leaves and I'll explain why later. You can also substitute the bay leaves for paper or rose petals.

(Be safe around fire there are other ways to activate them!) Such as...

Breathing on them.

Speaking intention over them

Anointing oil on them

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• Boosting oil

This is optional and you can substitute it for a other things.

I made my own boosting oil that I use with every spell. If you do decide to make it just know that it's a lengthy process. The ingredients for this is.

• Vegetable oil-(But any cooking oil should be fine)

• Lavender

• Coffee grounds

• Mint

And I had it ferment for a month, so all the things would be infused into the oil, and I filtered it out later.

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Ways one can perform the spell

You can potentially do this spell in any way that you can easily do so. The three of these techniques here I did myself Before you do any of these however be sure to protect within your home and around the space that you're making this spell, as well as cleanse your tools and ingredients. There are millions of ways of cleansing that you can look up. I often use incents.

Also, for all of these, I recommend putting on subliminals and/or saying affirmations while performing these.

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• Candle spell

For candle spells, I recommend the following colors...

•Purple - Wisdom & Psychic Gifts +

•Yellow - Travel & Joy +

•White - Purity & Unity + (Because white is also made up of all colors, it can be used interchangeably for any candle you need)

•Black - Protection & Removing negativity +

•Blue - Communication and intuition +

Before you do anything with the candle You can crush up the herbs To prepare for the next steps.

After obtaining your candle (I recommend candlesticks, but T lights or container candles should work), you can carve any sigils, affirmations, or the shifting symbol Into the candle.

After that anoint Your candle with oil and cover it with the herbs Then slightly melt the bottom and stick it to a plate or anything that you're containing this in I'd recommend a plate that you think can withstand heat or Cookie pan. After planting it within the center circle it with salt. I usually contain it within a pentacle.

Then use any leftover herbs that you used to cover the candle and spread it about the circle as well as within it. At the base of the candle sit down the baileys or note. It is optional to have the the leaves burned or not burned beforehand.

After that Light the candle with intention And let it burn. For me during the process of burning I'd like to see how the flame and candle react during the process as a form of divination and possible messages I can use. You never know what you can you just gotta know where to look.

When The candle is done burning You can look around the dish and use divination to see if there's any signs for your journeys or any repeating symbols.

As for disposal you can Contain the herbs for later use or return both the wax Add herbs to nature. But if you're not sure if the wax is plastic based you can contain it for later use.

My notes

1st thing to mention with this It's to be safe around fire. 1st time I did this it went insane and cracked it's candle holder in half. As for results I got a major memory And accidentally went into the void state with that. They'll be story times about both of these at a later date.

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• Spell jars

The perks of having a spell jar are having a physical object to carry around with you and meditate on.

You'll need some type of food container like a bottle or in most cases a jar There are places online to get them for cheap or you can go to Craft stores. After cleansing it You can put all your herbs in it. Personally I'd like Lairing them like...

•Salt

•Lavender

•Rose Petals

•Rosemary

•Mint

•Star Anise

Then, take your activated bay leaves or paper and crumple/fold it up It in the jar. And it's at this point that I would put drops of my boosting oil into it. As for the next step Make sure the jar is properly sealed. Then take a candle of your Choosing and light the candle melt the wax unto the jar make sure it's sealed tight.

My notes

Very useful For when you're on a road trip and you're trying to hide it. During Spring vacation A while back I did the julia with this in my hand. My body proceeded to fist like a soda but Before anything else can happen my little brother woke me up.

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• Charm bag

Much more beginner friendly and is much less fire intensive With Bay leaves. You can refresh this spell when you need without having to dispose of everything. I You can put items in such as crystals and jewelry that you Want to charm for shifting. For example I put A large clear quartz that looked like it had a lightning Bolt in it.

Take a string pouch. You can also get these online or craft stores. After cleansing it, just pour in each herb, but you can also grind them before this. Then, put your bay leaves or paper into the pouch along with your items that you want to charm. You can meditate over it to activate it. You can also shake it around and mix all the herbs together within the bag.

My notes

This one had the Quickest results the first time I made it. I made it off of a whim I had put in extra star anise Crushing up one and put it in two hole ones and I had only gotten that crystal that day. I had set the bag next to me that night. The result was that very same night Me getting a memory from my DR in a dream And it was the most vivid vision I had ever seen. In fact this is the Koji Kode of memory I was talking about before in one of my last posts.

I'll be linking it here When I posted!

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If you made it this far Thank you so much for reading and I hope this helps you! If you do decide to do this spell commit your results or put it in the asks. That memory post will be coming soon! Good luck shifting!

blessed be<3

[mummer]

is hotd a good show ?

fascinating question. is it a good show? i mean, yeah, it’s pretty good. it’s a bit difficult to evaluate because season 1 is structured so weirdly (not a diss, i think they made the best choice given the crazy timeline of f&b), NO original tv show would ever EVER be structured like that. it’s also hard because i think as source material fire and blood isnt very good. like, it’s not a narrative in the same way and it has to make a lot of odd choices to make all the dates and character ages and stuff function, and it literally does not HAVE a definitive narrative, it’s epistolary, there is no character drama except for what the reader extrapolates from records, and it intentionally offers multiple versions of events. which is fine, but it’s bad when you have to make a tv show out of that. so in that way, again, i think they mostly made the most compelling choices they could have made in this highly specific scenario.

completely aside from the adaptation complexities of it all i think it’s good! i think it’s got interesting stuff to say and mostly layered characters with compelling conflicts. even with the extended timelines they make excellent choices in containing episodes to one big event, succession style, making them feel self contained in a fun way. i like the huge doomed tragedy of it and the way it plays into that. i like the horrible bloody web of incestuous and patriarchal family dynamics. alicent alone is a triumph of a character. it’s got some good writing, some kinda chunky dialogue, but it’s rarely bad. is there stuff i’d change absolutely. i think it’s missing levity really sorely, stick a comedic side character in there, i think humor is usually derided but it’s more important than people realize. i think some of the choices they make are done to create shocking moments but end up feeling a bit stupid or undercooked in the implications? idk lol

ummmm anyway, a lot of the really interesting stuff in the dance happens at the end so im not really mad about middling parts of the setup if they pull off the big culminations. it’s like a 7/10 so far but in a way that makes it interesting to think and talk about, which in a sense makes it more fun than a solid great 8/10 with nothing going on