#I think these asks are going to be a lot of Worldbuilding Implications

[mountainashfae]

🖊💕

Thanks Dolly!! I'm going to grab a lesser talked about OC!

Alec Faustus, one specific friend's favorite and a guy who was fridged in someone else's backstory only to Come Back Wrong. I used him to indulge my desire in making a Possessed Oracle and putting him in the Main Writing Setting meant getting to explain the whole "sharing a body with an archdevil" bit.

Which is why I even have the Devils as they exist in Cerdinen! I didn't want to take a page out of DnD or Pathfinder's book, so corrupted deities who exist with an altered influence on reality it is! Mephisto may get renamed in the future, but he and Alec are tied at the hip forever <3

I have had questions about why I'm pulling the "Alec is possessed by Mephisto" deal with the vague Faustus inspiration and Yes. I Am Aware this isn't how the book goes. The inspiration is face value. Alec was inspired by a character who was only vaguely inspired by Faust it's FINE.

[ OC Ramble ]

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Neo Bowser City (aka Koopa City in PAL regions)

Debut: Mario Kart 7

Do you ever think of all the weird locations we only ever see in Mario Kart games? Despite being the biggest of all of Mario's spin-off franchises, when you really get down to it, remarkably few Mario Kart courses are actually based on established Mario locations!

It's not none, there's the occasional Donut Plains and Tick-Tock Clock and Airship Fortress, but most of the courses are these weird one-off locations we never see outside the context of that specific racetrack.

But have you ever taken a moment to step back and like, think of the Lore Implications of some of these places?

Like okay! Bowser just owns this whole dang cyberpunk city and we only ever see it in the context of Kart Racing! How messed up is that?!

One day Mario and Friends were looking for new places to race, and Bowser must have said something like "Gwah-hah-hah! I bet you puny punks could NEVER beat me in a race in my cyberpunk metropolis!" and right then and there it was established that Bowser owns a cyberpunk metropolis. Neo Bowser City is a city that exists in the Super Mario World and aside from returning in other Mario Kart games, it hasn't been acknowledged before or since.

Neo Bowser City first appeared in Mario Kart 7, as the third course in the Star Cup. Despite its flashy visuals, it actually doesn't really have a whole lot going on. It's a difficult track with some tight turns made more difficult by the rain making things more slippery, but besides that it doesn't really have any of the Wacky Obstacles that define so many Mario Kart courses.

Then it returned in Mario Kart 8 looking more gorgeous than ever! The bright colors really pop out, and the whole track is just oozing with detail that really emphasizes the scale of this city!

But like, the emphasized scale really only further raises the question of where this exists in the Mario World. Clearly, the fact that Bowser is plastered all over the billboards and the fact it's named "Neo Bowser City" helps us deduce that this city probably belongs to Bowser. Is this located in Bowser's Kingdom? Just how big is Bowser's Kingdom? And why does he own so many separate castles?

Maybe Neo Bowser City exists in the future? Is this a bad timeline? I mean, Mario Kart is allowed to have time-travel shenanigans. There's a Splatoon battle arena and that exists thousands of years in the future so sure, dust off Mario's Time Machine and head to the bad future where Bowser wins. Should've pressed that New Super Mario Bros. big yellow P-Switch!

I asked my friend Mod Chikako for their input and their theory is that Neo Bowser City isn't the future of Mario's world, but of our world. Clearly Bowser just couldn't take Wreck-It-Ralph losing the Oscar vote!

But in that case I guess it's a cooler cyberpunk future than the one we're living in right now. Corporate monopolies that run mass-surveillance with little government intervention due to their extreme wealth giving them extensive political power? No thank you! Neo Bowser City has bright neon colors, and flying cars! If I'm going to live in a dystopia, I want it to be a fun one. The only advertisements I want to see plastered everywhere are ones advertising Bowser!

Boo! That's the bad guy! Thumbs down!

The course returns again in that pitiful mobile game with another redesign, this time letting us see his Coney Island Disco Palace off in the distance. Does Bowser live in his Neo City? Is this worldbuilding we've been missing out on for decades, finally answered by a kart racer? Is this the capital city of Bowser's Kingdom? Am I once again falling victim to my perpetual hubris of overthinking the Mario franchise?

Really, I can't offer too much in terms of wacky fan theories, because I'm still thinking about this location existing in the first place. I'd love to know the Lore and worldbuilding here, but I guess the nature of Mario's canon is that it doesn't need to be over-analyzed. Bowser simply owns a cyberpunk metropolis, we'll only ever see it in the context of kart racing, and maybe that's okay.

Of course, this post wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention Dinohattan from the 1993 Super Mario Bros. Movie, which we've barely talked about on this blog somehow. You see, when the meteor hit, some of the dinosaurs escaped into a parallel timeline where they then evolved into humans, and then they built Dinohattan instead of Manhattan. Get it? Yeah, that movie is all sorts of bonkers. I wouldn't say it's very good, but I kinda love it. I'd recommend checking it out, if only to see a vastly different take on Mario than you'd be used to.

Anyway I bring this up because it's a completely separate instance of a version of Bowser building a large cyberpunk metropolis, and it actually predates Neo Bowser City! Do you think they could be connected? Are Dinohattan and Neo Bowser City one and the same...?

[bardnuts]

you’re shooting yourself in the foot by limiting your audience to only people “sick of romantasy.” why can’t someone like both? you’ve created a false dichotomy and stuck yourself in the losing end.

I'm definitely not limiting my audience, and I think you're putting words in my mouth. Believe it or not, I like romantasy (when it's well-written, which it often isn't), and I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum, but as someone who prefers other things I also feel a huge amount of frustration when I walk into a bookshop and it's all I see on the fantasy shelves. That frustration compounds when the query rejections I receive from agents come with notes that there isn't enough romance in my stories.

Romantasy itself is a pretty limited genre with set conventions. This video by The Cozy Creative does a great job at breaking it down without condemning it wholesale, but I'll try and summarize as best I can here as well.

Basically, romantasy leans heavily into fantasy as in daydream. In much the same way as the genre conventions of romance imply a "happily ever after" at the end--so much so that in industry parlance this is referred to as a "HEA"--romantasy expects a reader-insert protagonist (often around whom the entire fantasy world is built), a narratively "correct" love interest, and, yes, a HEA. In general, it doesn't try to challenge the reader with difficult emotions, and it doesn't ask complicated questions. Please look at me while I'm saying this: this is not a bad thing. But it also isn't the only thing.

Much as the name implies, romantasy smashes two previously-established genres together and carries the limitations of both. It's wonderful for people who are after that kind of story, and I'm very glad there is so much for those people to choose from right now, but I personally need more from my fantasy, especially if I'm writing it.

For me, romance is always secondary. I'm more interested in exploring the nuances of relationships--including why they sometimes don't work--than in writing the perfect romance. But I also like writing fantasy that has nothing to do with romance at all, and a lot of that is hard to find outside the indie sphere (especially if you don't particularly care for Brandon Sanderson): the implications of worldbuilding, questions about humanity and hope, morality, and tragedy. In my writing, I also prefer to explore the overlap of comedy and horror, and those are two genres that don't mesh well with romantasy.

So no, I'm not limiting my audience to "only people sick of romantasy." I'm saying, if you're sick of romantasy, come here. Take my hand. Let's go find some other stuff.

[aenor-llelo]

Orphan’s Path is one of the most beautiful pieces of fanfiction I’ve ever read- it just /perfectly/ encapsulates the boundless creativity that was my favorite thing about the MCYT fandom. Beyond just the storytelling though- the WORLDBUILDING just astounded me. From the more story-based beats like Sky and Moon’s Landing, Lagos’s splintering, and the Manifold, to the more general MC worldbuilding like totems of undying being created via ritual, pearleye, and ofc all the new months and the longer years and the server mechanics!

There are so many worldbuilding aspects I look at and go “i don’t know how they came up with this idea but i am going to aspire to reach for this level of creativity every time I try and tackle Minecraft as a setting.” I’m sure having multiple heads to put together for ever-fresh concepts really helped too!

I was wondering- did you have any sort of..personal guidelines or jumping-off-points as to how to approach integrating things into the Orp universe? Questions you’d ask yourselves or a theme to keep in mind with each new feature you figured out? Because I’d be delighted to be able to create with the same spirit y’all did. It’s inspired me ever since I first read Orp, and I think I’ll always look to it as an example of how much you can do when you’re handed a few pieces of lore and are determined to carry it all the way home.

a lot of what you're describing for how i approach worldbuilding boils down to "yes, and?" like taking even the most innocuous offhand stuff and deciding to find ways it does work. accepting it as true in some form and figuring out how this affects other things.

and the most important thing is you have to be willing to do this even with ridiculous shit. because all jokes come from something real, and you gotta not be embarrassed about writing a story or thinking about something stupid. be willing to look at something ridiculous and go "why ISN'T this stupid" first, "why IS this stupid" second. sometimes, it really can't be anything but stupid! but if you let a silly element breathe, that's where you can find a certain meat to a story that sometimes doesn't exist anywhere else.

fear is the mind killer. cringe is also the mind killer. you gotta shank any sense of shame or embarrassment that can come with engaging the premise YOU decided to create and explore, and a huge part of that is acknowledging the implications of seemingly (or genuinely) unserious elements of something at face value. writing off a character's silly name, goofy theme song, or meme humor is easier on yourself, sure, but it's so much more interesting in the long run if you don't. the absurdity of a setting is part of the setting! don't pretend it isn't!

you CANNOT get "piglin family units dictate the societal structure of the nether" in orp without first accepting "orphans killed my parents".

[you-cant-fuck-megaman]

Here, we all wonder why people can’t, but does anyone even stop to think if Robot Masters even have such capabilities? Because I feel like there are implications to making your industrial robots have the ability to bang in the first place. You don’t design and add a feature on your expensive robot just to not use it in some capacity.

I was wondering your thoughts on the matter. I hope this isn’t a bit too serious since I know this is a lighthearted blog, but stuff like this bothers me because I think too much.

It's definitely not too serious, but it's something I'm going to have to step out of character to do, since Stop Man has a lot of baggage about this subject and there's some things I can't shitpost about in good conscience.

You're correct in that there's a lot of implications in making industrial robots with the ability to have sex in the first place! There are a lot of implications.

Now, keep in mind that this is a franchise for children. Capcom isn't going to go into it, and most fandom participants aren't going to dig into it. And they have every right to not want to! But as any asexual in the last several centuries can tell you, the impact sex has on the way society at large engages with the individual formulates much of our life, whether on a micro level or a macro level.

If we're going to do some serious hypothetical worldbuilding upon the themes of this over-35-year children's franchise, we have to think about the nasty. Logically speaking, with Light striving for a transhumanist future where humans and robots live in harmony, that will have to include sex in some capacity. Sex, including the choice to have sex or to not have sex, is an essential part of the human experience.

And for a good chunk of humans, that's something they have the freedom to explore, learning about what they wish and what makes them feel whole as a person. What is it that you enjoy? What do you not enjoy? Do you want to pursue sexual satisfaction? Do you want to save it for someone that you feel is special? Do you feel your heart beat towards one person but you feel a burning inside towards another? Does it not interest you at all and it's just another part of your body's upkeep? Or etc, etc.

It's not universal, unfortunately, but ideally that's given to them by default. People given this have the freedom to explore how it defines them as a person.

Robots, well...don't have this by default. Your vacuum cleaner doesn't have a dick. It can't explore that. And that's okay, it's not human. It doesn't need to explore that.

But what if it did? What if we wanted it to be more human?

Now we're getting into some potentially very-horrifying territory.

The robots in the Mega Man world are not self-aware, not until the X timeline. The Archie comics struggled with this a bit, but generally speaking that's the big divide--until the X series, robots cannot make their own decisions. If you are building a robot, be it a Master or another kind, and you start installing naughty bits onto it, you are intentionally putting your choices onto another being.

Likewise, Robot Masters personalities have to be programmed. You can't just type install_Personality(); into the command line prompt--machines cannot do things by themselves. Machines must be specifically made to consider if X, then Y. If this, then that. If you make a machine to count from 1 to 10, and then ask it what goes past 10, it will not know what the fuck an 11 is. It has no concept of anything past ten. Maybe a 101? Going up to 1010. Then after that is 10101? The existence of an 11 must be explicitly defined by a creator. If you make a machine to catalogue a list of aquatic animals, you need to have a defined database of animals to sort through as "aquatic" and "not aquatic".

This is supported in canon by the existence of the IC chip, the Integrated Circuit--where everything that makes a Robot Master them, a dedicated storage house for all of their thought processes, considerations, and clauses to run through when making decisions. Even if we consider that the Megaman world runs on fucking wizardtech and it's possible that there's generative AI processes that theoretically allow for the generation of new reactions/thoughts/etc on the fly, there has to be a seed for this data to draw new information from in the first place.

This seed has to come from someone. And that someone is defining their thoughts and feelings on sex beforehand. And if that someone defines it as "you like sex, and you like sex with me specifically", that is...

Well, at best, that's an abuse of a power dynamic. When you're responsible for the well-being of another, you are in a favorable position of power that you really shouldn't use for your own satisfaction. Fucking your boss is kinky, but you really shouldn't.

At worst...well. As I mentioned before, this choice isn't universal even among humans. To this day, we have people being being forced to live lives that they don't want, and to be with and do things with people they don't want to.

There's ethical ways to handle this. It's possible to have a very in-depth exploration of the different roles, kinds, and ideas of sex and start setting up databases of those--attempt to give a neutral presentation. But what is neutral? Even nowadays, people argue about what's good and what's not good, don't they? When I wrote just one paragraph earlier "Fucking your boss is kinky, but you really shouldn't do it", I can guarantee you there are at least two readers--one that was nodding because they think it's morally wrong to do so and another who's thinking "But it doesn't really hurt anyone...and it'd be really hot for me and the boss". And that's one of the most plain vanilla kinks out there--but even on something as plain vanilla as that, the creator's own thoughts would influence the thoughts they inscribe into the machine. And the machine, in turn would use that thought as a basis to expand on their own thoughts.

We know the vacuum cleaner really is into sucking. But does it suck because it likes to suck, or because it was programmed to like sucking, or because it was told to suck and that's an extrapolation of performing its function (which is the natural job of a machine)? Now it's all existential and shit.

The only way to completely bypass this would be through self-aware, free-thinking machines--machines that develop themselves and do things outside of the limitations of their programming. Which we have, in canon! Reploids! From Mega Man X! Surely they would be the fuckable ones, right?

Well, yeah. They are.

I'm sure once I get back in-character and we hit the X series, Stop Man will be sputtering about how you can't fuck them because that's how he is. Or maybe I'll have a Reploid character who does that, I dunno. But if the theme of the Classic world is one of the relation between the robot and the roboticist, the theme of the X world is one of choice. They would not be restrained by the nature of what they've been programmed with--they can choose what they want to do.

But that also comes with its own consequences.

The Mega Man X world is very fascinating to me because it (very lightly) brushes against a narrative theme that I've always found tantalizing in classic literature; accepting the beauty of free will also means accepting the frustrations of free will. If you let people make their own choices, that also means that some people will not agree on what the right thing is--or worse, will intentionally not choose the right thing. If we create a new race of superpowered beings to aid us, and they decide not to aid us but instead to hurt us, how do we handle that? Do we try and suppress what made them different for our own protection? Do we roll over and let them kick us and take it for the sake of societal progress? Do we try to establish a set of guidelines to follow and systems to help maintain order? At which point, how much order is too much order? Etc, etc.

It's all very Asimovian and shit, which is appropriate since the series is founded on the Asimov laws. But the point of the laws in Asimov's stories WAS THAT THEY DIDN'T WORK! The X series is written with all the narrative skill of a ferret let loose across a series of typewriters, and hoooooooly shit does the Zero series handle it even worse.

But it's there. Robot are built, they're put off the assembly line, and they have a choice; they can choose what they like, what they don't like, what they want to do, who they want to do it with, and more. But as a result of their sexual liberation, they end up wrestling with a lot more in society as a result.

X is really struggling with the Dick of Damocles, there.

[tokiro07]

Ichi the Witch ch.23 thoughts

[I'm Not Brutalized, But I Seem to Be Struck By You]

(Topics: character analysis - Gokuraku/Ichi/Kumugi, speculation - worldbuilding)

Confirmed! The new companion is, in fact, a man! And what a pretty man he is, too

I've always been a fan of those sorts of gauntlets and greaves, his hair has a lot of interesting things going on, the markings around his eyes are distinctive, and of course, as a freckle-haver myself, I'm quite impressed that Usazaki made those such a prominent part of his design

But before we dive into discussing our new best boy, though, I'd like to take a brief moment to talk about our previous one, Ichi, and his little uh...proposal for Kumugi

What'd He Mean By This?

It's immediately clear that Ichi doesn't actually have a firm grasp on the terms of the contract, as the literal first thing he does after learning that he's now indentured into Desscaras' servitude is draft his own copy of the contract and run to Kumugi, asking her to be his family too

What this tells us is that a) Ichi doesn't realize that he'd be endangering himself and Kumugi by doing this; b) he thinks that all it takes to forge a magical contract is a regular pen and paper; and c) his takeaway from that conversation with Desscaras was that they have, in fact, become family

Ichi is so excited by the prospect of having someone in his life who he knows won't leave him that he tries to apply it wherever he can, so naturally he goes to the only other friend he has, Kumugi. I won't suggest that this means that he feels anything romantic towards her, but he does value her and want her around. Even if he misunderstands the weight of what he asked, that misunderstanding in and of itself carries its own weight and implications, that he never wants Kumugi to leave him

Of course, from her perspective, he basically just waltzed in with a marriage license and said "let's get hitched." She doesn't have the context for what Ichi thinks that contract is for or even what it actually is in the first place. She saw paper and heard "family," and her imagination went wild. She does seem to appreciate that Ichi probably didn't know what he was saying, but that only leads to more confusion on her part: what did he think he was saying, and whatever it was, what prompted him to say it?

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Kumugi starts to develop feelings for Ichi over the course of the story, but I'm also not quite sure that I want that, at least not yet. This doesn't seem like a story that's built on romance, meaningful glances and women drinking from each other's glasses notwithstanding, so unless Nishi lays a lot of groundwork first, I just don't see Ichi settling down or anything

That said, if Family is meant to be a major recurring theme, perhaps tackling the topic of marriage would be helpful for developing that theme? Marriage is a contract, so perhaps a comparison could be drawn between marriage and the Mentor-Pupil Blood Contract? Like how much control one relinquishes or gains in a wedded relationship vs. how much is lost as a Pupil

We can probably explore that fine with the contract on its own, but it already doesn't seem quite as all-powerful as I expected

The Ol' Ball-and-Chain

As the gang arrives at Origumo's nest, Ichi prepares to mozy on in without hesitation, only to be pulled back by Desscaras who gives him a number of orders: "don't rush in, don't get cocky, don't eat stuff off the ground," all of which Ichi acquiesces to. This is presumably because he is under magical contract and can't defy any order from Desscaras, except there's one more that he doesn't seem bound to follow

After he says yes to the orders, Desscaras pulls a Makima and insists that the correct response isn't "yes," but "woof." However, Ichi emphatically and successfully refuses this order, even though she tries it two more times

This implies one of two things: 1) Desscaras' orders aren't absolute and there is some mitigating factor such as the reasonability of the request or relevance to the mentor-pupil relationship; or 2) that wasn't a serious order and the spell is powered by intent, so an "order' like that that's only meant for banter doesn't necessarily count

It's a minor detail and one that doesn't really need to be dwelled on, but it's a pretty immediate inconsistency that I think is worth at least considering in the event of future contradictions

I think the exact wording or specific circumstance is important to consider as well, as Ichi does manage to defy the order not to charge in unprepared after seeing Gokuraku's treatment of Oniguro. Does the context of already being in the nest negate the timing of the order? Does he have some reign to say "I'm not unprepared, so now I can charge in?" It seems strange that he's already able to resist the contract after such a big deal was made about it, so I'd really like an in-depth explanation on the mechanics

I don't expect we'll get it for a little while if we're not getting it now, but one that I think we will get an explanation for is Gokuraku's armor

Gauntlet Thrown, Gauntlet Picked Up

The clearest takeway from this chapter is that, whether or not there are men aside from Ichi in the world who can use magic, Gokuraku is not one of them

And yet, when he kisses his ring and declares "Synchro Rate 10%," he seems to be able to augment his strength at will. This gives the impression that the kiss is meant to activate the ability of his armor and that this strength comes from it rather than purely from himself

My question is how

That sounds pretty similar to the leg augmentation of Ichi's magic boots, but that requires that the user charge them with magical energy. Gokuraku can't be using magical energy on his armor because he doesn't have magic to use, but we don't have a clear alternate energy source in the story yet

Gokuraku is either here specifically to introduce that new energy or technology or to expand on the lore of how magical items work. Perhaps the armor already has magic imbued into it from another Witch and that's what Gokuraku is synchronizing with?

Or maybe he's actually incredibly strong naturally and he's adjusting his physical output to a smaller amount to account for the current situation? The kanji used is "tekigou" (適合), meaning "compatibility/adaptability/conformity," so I could go either way, but I think it's clear that Gokuraku's strength is being scaled to something, and I'd really like to know what

The idea of compatibility is particularly interesting here because that seems to be Gokuraku's goal: to find a Magik that he's compatible with, but there's something about him that's making it impossible

Swipe Left

Some of Gokuraku's dialogue ("what a silly little Magik you are" in English or speaking with heart emojis ♥) and his actions (kissing his ring, attacking with a playful forehead flick, etc.) gives a sort of whimsically flirtatious vibe. It's almost like he's looking for a partner or a soulmate and trying to convince the Magiks to love him

I don't know if that is his motivation, but I think with the theme of Family starting to develop, I'd say someone that's desperate to find love would be a perfect angle to analyze the theme from at this point

Even better for that analysis is the fact that, despite thinking that he's just doing his best, Gokuraku is actually disincentivizing the Magiks from wanting to be with him by being cruel to them. Gokuraku may be looking for love, but he's not actually trying to find it, he's trying to take it by force

Gokuraku is, for the time being, an abuser

He's a toxic man who refuses to listen to what anyone else says if it contradicts his opinions or desires. It can't possibly be that he's incapable of acquiring a Magik, it has to be that the Magiks are either lying or lazy. They either know exactly what they need to do and are being stingy, or they aren't willing to put in the same work as he is to figure out a way around it

He's deluded himself into thinking that "magic" can do anything, can break any rule that proves inconvenient to it, inconvenient to him. If there isn't currently a way for a man to acquire a Magik, then the Magik should be able to cast a spell on him that will allow him to

But magic simply doesn't work that way. A Magik only has one spell. Maybe they can use it in different and clever ways, but they aren't miracle workers. They can't change the rules of the world, no matter how much they want to

And that's unacceptable to Gokuraku. Maybe it's because accepting it would mean giving up on some kind of dream. Maybe it's because admitting he was wrong would make everything he did to all of those Magiks pointless, a colossal waste of time. It would make him the bad guy

And I think that's the problem. It's his unwillingness to accept other people's perspectives to overwrite his own, his refusal to be open to anyone outside of himself, that's keeping him from acquiring a Magik, at least on a symbolic level. I don't think having a change of heart will get him what he wants immediately, but I think the narrative is keeping him from his goal because he's allowed that goal to turn him into a monster. He is not fit for a relationship, to be family with anyone, so he doesn't get to be

It'll only be when he abandons his ego and his insistence on everything going his one, specific and unreasonable way that he'll find what he's actually looking for in a place he never looked. Once he ceases to be cruel to Magiks, he'll be able to open his heart to humans and find his family among them

But he has to change first

Necessary Evils

From this introduction, it seems like it will be difficult to make Gokuraku an ally. Not because he won't be willing, he's already endeared to Ichi, but because Ichi already doesn't like him

While Ichi does take pleasure in killing, he only kills because it's necessary for survival. It needs to be done anyway, so he might as well enjoy it. However, suffering isn't necessary for survival. There's no sense in hurting a rabbit, the goal is to kill and eat it; drawing out the process only makes it more likely that the rabbit will get away, and will waste precious energy that the rabbit is supposed to be refueling. A quick, painless death is the most beneficial for everyone involved

The World Hater doesn't seem to take pleasure in anything, they only kill because it's necessary for ridding the world of the things they hate. It needs to be done as a matter of course, so emotional investment isn't necessary. The death they bring hurts, and clearly a lot, but likely not for long. The goal is to kill them and be done with it; drawing out the process only gives humanity time to breed more to replace the ones that died. A quick death without concern for pain or pleasure is the most efficient for the World Hater

Gokuraku has no desire to kill Magiks, he wants to acquire their spells, he just needs to convince them to let him do so. They're unreasonable and won't give him what he's earned when he passes their trial, so he has to retaliate. It's not like they'll die, they won't even be so much as scarred! They'll walk away exactly the same as they were before, and they know it, so he's gotta get a bit extreme to really make his case. And hey, if he's gonna be there for a while, he might as well have fun with it! The goal is to make them give up the goods, and it's completely up to them how long that takes. He doesn't want to hurt them, they're making him hurt them; they're drawing out the process, and the longer it goes, the more painful he has to make it to convince them that giving him what he wants is the only way to make it stop

Gokuraku's approach shows a complete lack of respect for the Magiks or their lives. He thinks because they'll heal that he can do whatever he wants, completely ignorant of the psychological damage that they'll be left with, and how that will impact their immortal lives going forward. Worse, he revels in that ignorance, whistling while he humiliates and tortures them in creative ways

Ichi can't possibly accept that. His philosophy of Death for Death assumes the capacity to die, a dignified conclusion to a battle for survival. Nothing that Gokuraku is doing helps him to survive, and doesn't offer a way out for the victim to escape. The Magiks are not a threat to Gokuraku, and he doesn't live longer because of their suffering - Death for Death does not apply anywhere in this process

The gulf between Ichi's philosophy and Gokuraku's actions is so wide, it would be near impossible to reconcile their differences without forcing Gokuraku to grow. Somehow, Ichi needs to prove to him that what he's doing is causing real harm for absolutely no benefit, and he himself needs to be able to admit that he's wrong

I see this going one of two ways - either Gokuraku gives up hurting Magiks but is still clearly a deeply unhinged and sadistic individual in every other aspect of his life, OR he has to fight the urge to be sadistic and struggles with it for the remainder of his storyline. I'm not sure which would be more fun to see, but either way, I'm very compelled by his character already and I greatly look forward to seeing how he develops

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[deirdra-hearts-nadia]

I've been thinking about the fandom for The Arcana, and I have come to the conclusion that it's weird as hell. In my 20+ years participating in online fandom spaces, I've never seen a fandom quite like this one. I've seen drama, sure, but the core of most fandoms is a large community of people who love the same media and come together to celebrate it.

The Arcana fandom is not like that. From the very beginning we're more fractured, more factional, more fragile than most. You just have to look around at all the posts lamenting the death of the fandom every 2 weeks to see that something is really wrong here.

And I think a lot of it has to do with the nature of the canon. I am not saying this to criticize The Arcana, the devs, Dorian, or my fellow fans. I have just noticed that, as a piece of media, this game occupies a very unique space that is reflected in the way its fans interact with canon and with each other.

Welcome to the TED talk ain't none of y'all asked for.

Part of what makes this fandom unique is the evolution of fandom as a whole in the face of new types of media. As gaming becomes more mainstream and games themselves become more complex, the way we engage has necessarily changed in response.

Books/ movies/ shows are slightly more static in terms of canon than video games; canon is what it is and how you interact with what is there is largely to do with who you are. Everyone has the same base material to engage with, and that results in a certain amount of constancy. You can't interact with The Princess Bride in a way that changes the movie, only in ways that change your own perception. There isn't a whole lot of room for OCs without rewriting canon, so fans tend to consume OC-based fiction and art with the assumption that it's likely to be self-insert wish fulfillment fantasy time. That isn't always true, but there is a reason the term Mary Sue was coined.

Otome games and other choice-based video games make a very different fan environment, because the way you interact with canon is completely different. You have to build a character in order to interact with the story, and your choices directly impact your experience of canon.

But most western choice-based games are in the context of a larger RPG universe, e.g. Fallout or Dragon Age. There is a lot more to the story than the romance plot and so there's a lot more world to experience, contextualize, and build upon. There's certainly plenty of unhinged ShepxGarrus erotica, but there's also an abundance of fanworks that engage with the plot, the worldbuilding, and the canon characters with relatively little of the player's character needing to be on the page at all.

By contrast, most otome games that make it to English-speaking fandom spaces are Japanese. The romance is the point, but we also start from a place of wariness of our fellow fans. Because there's a huge difference between "harmless weeb" and "orientalist fetishizing creepo," and you know going in that both ends of the spectrum are possible, there is an amount of caution. We curate our space, looking for the creators who align with our expectations and values before we ever begin to interact.

The Arcana falls in a very unique and odd space because it is an otome, but made by Americans, with an attempt at a diverse fantasy cast. It's intended to be for American/ English-speaking audiences and is marketed as such. But making a romance game in America is challenging. Our way of approaching online media, especially smartphone-accessible media, is super fucked up, right? We are constantly trapped between the dichotomies of moral duty (Must Protect The Children) versus appealing to the customer base (Boom Anime Babes with Tig Ol Bitties). Because this is a mobile game, the developers can't make money if the game is removed from the app store, so they want it to be rated teen at the most. But the enticing bit, the thing that captures a potential fan's attention, is the flirtation and sexy implications. So from the jump they're in a weird space purely because they chose to make a mobile game instead of an indie video game released on Steam or similar.

So now you have an inherently split audience: mature adults who know they're getting into a potentially explicit romance game, and young adults/teens who have grown up in a more insulated internet culture where normal words are replaced with Orwellian doublespeak, like "unalive" and "spicy time".

THEN you add in the fact that the developers tried to build a diverse fantasy world, which is a fantastic idea both from an inclusionary standpoint and a broader audience standpoint. But because they didn't employ any actual sensitivity readers (did they think they didn't need them because fantasy can't have racism? Did they justify it as not being in the budget? Would love to know what's going on there) they fell right into a lot of the classic traps. We've been over these time and again, so I won't get into them here. Suffice to say, there has been Discourse. The presence of those issues means that more experienced fans will see those things and call them out, and that criticism causes even more of a split: the zealous apologists versus the critics. And critics can fall into two further categories: those who love the canon and want to see it do better, and the bitches who just love having something to bitch about.

Unfortunately, this combination means that there are inherently factions to this fandom, with staunchly opposed approaches to the media. So even before you enter a fandom space, it's already wildly fractured simply because of the nature of base canon.

THEN add to that the fact that this game is a dating sim. And to engage with a dating sim, you have to build a character and make choices based on that character. Some people will approach this work as storytelling, and some will approach it as an escapist expression of self. Neither of these ways of engaging with canon is wrong. Enjoying a dating sim as Me But Better is fun and completely valid! Engaging with a dating sim as a storyteller collaborating with the developers is fun and completely valid! But the two approaches are opposed in purpose, and that can make it difficult for the two types of fans to engage with one another's work.

Storytellers will well and truly invest in building a character. They may even build out communities, countries, cultures, and languages to make their world all the richer. They are investing hours of blood, sweat, and tears into Their Craft, pouring themselves into an opus of quality fanwork. Unfortunately, this can sometimes lead to big feelings. Fan artists and writers may feel underappreciated if all they get out of their hard work is 2 likes and a gif of a wolf making AWOOGA eyes. They may feel that critique of their work is unwarranted, or that there's no point creating if no one will engage.

The romantics will engage with canon and fanwork from the perspective that "this is my fantasy romance time". Their OC isn't so much Original Character as Optimized Characteristics--that is, their perfect self. They are here for wish fulfillment fun times in the relative privacy and anonymity of the internet, and good for them! But that may mean that criticism of canon or their fan work feels excessively personal--it is very hard to detach the ego from the OC when that OC is a projection of your best self. They may view any critique as a personal attack as opposed to a good-faith attempt at engagement or conversation. This can lead to defensiveness, or to leaving the fandom outright if it feels too hostile.

Unfortunately all of these factions cause rifts in the community. This sometimes turns into fandom vigilantism, where people begin to see any fan who doesn't wholeheartedly agree with them as an enemy. I've seen friends experience bullying and cruelty over their OCs and their art. I've seen predators use the isolated nature of the fandom to further isolate and prey upon already vulnerable individuals. I've seen some really shitty stuff.

But I have also seen beautiful community flourish. I've made friends who feel more like family than my actual relatives. I've seen people work through struggles and overcome deliberate attempts to tear us apart, finding forgiveness and friendship along the way. I've seen myself and others grow because of the community and inspiration we found here. And I saw all of that because I found my people. And I hope, Arcana fandom, that the rest of you can find your people too.

[norbezjones]

Bez Reviews Independent Books 5: The Last Bread Mage

Hey everyone!  I wanna do little reviews/writeups for the independently-published books I find on itch.io, and so, here I am.  I want to review one book every month or two (or quicker, if I’m lucky); it’ll get me reading more, and get authors who often go without feedback some thoughts on their work!  I think it’ll be cool for everyone!

If you want your book reviewed, the only requirement I have is that it’s hosted on itch.io.  Even if itch is just one of many places you can get the book, I want to review books that have a home there at least.  Feel free to get in touch with me with your books—I’m @NorbezJones on Twitter (I refuse to call it X), Bluesky, Pillowfort, Threads, Instagram, and Tumblr; I’m norbez2.0 on Discord.

Looking forward to seeing your books! <3

__________

After I reviewed M. Kirin’s Memory Leak, Kirin ( @maxkirin ) contacted me and asked if I wanted a review copy of another one of their books, The Last Bread Mage!  I said yes, and here we are!  So to make it plain as possible: I was giving a free copy of this book in order to review it.  However, that does not sway my opinion of the book either way, and my opinions are 100% my own.

So, what’s The Last Bread Mage about?  Well, in a fantasy world, the end times have arrived.  A red mage named Fel manages to survive the destruction of his magic school, and he finds a saint named Amara, who insists they must go to The Pinnacle, the center of the world.  Along their journey, they find a knight named Virgen and a thief named Dormi.  The four journey to the center of the world using the help of Fel’s magic, and when they get there, they make a surprising discovery.

There are almost 30 chapters, and between each chapter is a mini-chapter that describes something that ended off the previous chapter and/or will start off the next chapter.  This “something” can be an object, a person, a piece of worldbuilding, anything really.  These mini-chapters are a cool idea and add a lot to making the world feel real.

So, I won’t bury the lead: I liked this book a whole lot.  I really, really love it.  And not because I got it for free—like I said, that does not affect my opinion, and I honestly wish I could go back in time and spend money on this.  I’m going to make this review as in-depth as possible to make up for the fact that barely anybody has read this fucking amazing book.  I have criticisms, obviously, but overall, this book is a 10/10 from me.

It reminded me of the thick sci-fi & fantasy epics I read to pass time in the hospital (to be clear, that is a compliment), immersing myself in deep worlds with rich characters between the pages.  I wish I’d had The Last Bread Mage during my last trip to inpatient.  I’m glad I have it now, at least.

Also, it’s one of those books that the more you read it, the more the meaning of the cover becomes clear & changes.  The last time that happened was with Still Life With Woodpecker, and it was pretty cool to see it happening here.

You might be asking, “Why is it called The Last Bread Mage?”  This is because Fel is the last red mage, and “bread mage” is another name for “red mage” due to the fact that red mages make bread for hungry people.  They basically use their magic to bend the rules of the universe using the three basic components all things are made of: texture, fiber, & substance.  By mixing & matching these basic materials, they can turn one thing into an entirely different thing, like when Fel renders the bars of a cell into bread.  They use up energy when they do that though, so they can’t do it forever—after all, even magic-users are only human.

The magic system in this book is very interesting, and makes for some very unique ways for Fel to get him & his friends out of the perils they end up facing.  It also soon leads to theological implications, because red mages’ magic changes the logic of the universe set by God.  However, God can only “see” the basic components all things are made of, so since a transmuted item retains the same basic materials, in God’s eyes, nothing has changed.  These theological implications are explored in various ways and go in many directions I didn’t expect, like when Fel uses his powers to make him & his friends not exist in the eyes of God.

There are also times where Fel’s powers go awry, though, through no fault of his own.  Basically, the apocalypse occurring in the world is causing the world’s logic to fall apart, drowning continents and making fantastical creatures appear that previously only existed in fiction.  This means that the logic behind Fel’s powers sometimes fails him, such as when he tries to make a doorway for him & Amara to escape down the block from a threat, but when they go through that doorway, they’ve been transported halfway across the world.

By making the story about the logic of the universe and how it can be exploited or make what should go right go wrong, the book carries a consistent throughline throughout the whole thing, even & especially when Fel does his most shocking action near the end of the story.  It’s a very admirable feat.

Speaking of the ending, I do want to talk about that.  If you don’t want to be spoiled, skip to the “SPOILERS END HERE” line.

**SPOILERS START HERE**

When Fel and his friends reach The Pinnacle, they meet a few other folks there—and they meet God.  I wasn’t sure if God was going to end up being real or not, but there it is, fretting as the world comes to an end.  It’s revealed that God made the world in an effort to make order out of chaos, but chaos keeps seeping through, no matter what it does.  It has ended & restarted the world many, many, many times, always bringing back The Chosen Four (Amara & three others named Lumbre, Huesos, & Frio) and The Fated Four (Fel [true name: Felicidad], Virgen [true name: Virtud], Dormi [true name: Domino (a name Dormi finds “fucking stupid”) & Beatrix [true name: Hambre])

Beatrix is a very interesting character.  In this lifetime, she was the butcher in the prison Dormi was locked up in, ruthlessly killing many of Dormi’s friends.  But she regrets being that person, thought she had to make herself into what she now realizes is a monster.  Her & Dormi’s reflection is shown in this passage:

“Dormi and Beatrix‌—‌who had been incredibly lost until this point‌—‌found themselves looking at one another. They thought about the life they’d led and wondered how different things would’ve been had they switched places. It humbled Beatrix, for she had been taught to hate the people of Gritlan, and it scared Dormi, for they were terrified of the butcher they might’ve become.”

The eight of them are always created when a new cycle begins.  Amara remembers every single cycle, every single timeline that has ever existed.  So does God, of course.  And now, it’s time for the world to end for a new cycle to begin.

The Chosen Four all carry pieces of The Worldly Egg, from which a new cycle of the world will hatch.  They take out their pieces, the egg forms—but God doesn’t hatch it.  Instead, God admits to them that it is tired of change, of chaos.  It longs for predictability, and wants this all to end.  It wants this to be the last cycle to ever exist.

Of course, everyone else protests.  So, God asks them all to vote whether this should be the last cycle of the world.  God votes Yea, as it is tired of doing this over & over again.  Everyone else votes, until finally, Fel has to be the tiebreaker. 

But instead of voting, Fel takes the The Worldly Egg and rends it, crunching it down to its most basic materials and absorbing them into himself.  In doing so, Fel absorbs everything existing into himself—the world, his friends, even God—and becomes the new creator of the universe.  The Prince of Absolute Chaos.

He creates a new cycle, brings his friends back.  God is reborn as a child, and as a being who has never had a name, it asks Fel to have his—to be named Felicidad.  Fel says yes, as long as, “[Y]ou must promise me to honor the name by living a life full of joy, laughter, and smiles.  Do you promise?”

The previous God thinks about it—after all, life could be full of “joy, laughter, and smiles” or it can be full of “misery and misfortune”.  In the end, it promises Fel it will uphold the name, and the book ends on that final exchange.

I teared up quite a bit as I read through the ending, and even going back to find quotes for this review made me tear up again.  Saving your friends, saving the world, and even saving God—there’s something very beautiful in that, I think.

I also love how Kirin was able to bring aspects of his Mexican culture into the book, by making all of the true names that of “the first language” within the book’s universe (Spanish).  It’s a nice little touch and I think it’s neat.

**SPOILERS END HERE**

Now for my criticisms.  Like Adrian in Memory Leak, Fel is referred to as “the young man” quite a lot.  Sometimes this happens multiple times in the same paragraph.  This seems to be in an effort to avoid using pronouns instead, but sometimes, it’s better to just say “he”, as someone who also has this problem in eir writing (thanks, OCD [literally, not a figure of speech]!).

That’s basically my only nitpick.  I wish I had more to criticize honestly, but I really don’t.  Good problems to have.

In conclusion, I’ve never been angrier that a book isn’t popular than when I finished this one.  Where are the Tumblr shitposts and multiple pieces of fanart for this book?  I’m so mad lmao!  Also, I imagine I will have that feeling quite a bit as I continue this book review series.

I want to leave off with these words that Amara says to Fel, because I think they’re beautiful:

“‘The only thing worth a damn in this world is being the best versions of ourselves. What does that look like to you, sweet Fel? What does the best version of you look like? It may seem far away, unreachable at the best of times, but you should reach out for this impossible ideal. Be the truest version of yourself. That’s the only thing we can do. Everything else? My dear, everything else is a gamble.’”

So true, bestie.  Amen.

[mikeellee]

I see your rank about water based quirks, and it's quite interesting because I've commented the same thing on reddit before and people seem to agree on the fact water quirks have little representation of MHA.

Not only because they are portrayed as way weaker that any other elemental quirk, but usually pure water quirks (not ice ones) only belong to minor and diposable character.

You have:

-Manual "the normal hero" which is sort of a joke character which most prominent moment was keep Aizawa and Monoma's eyes hydratated.

-The firefighter hero from the first episode which I don't think appears ever again and he's only there to extinsguish fire.

-Kota parents are dead imao, and Kota himself is just a child so his quirk doesn't really come into play.

-There was an unnamed villain in the USJ attack who controls water but he's fooder.

While other elemental quirks have a lot of characters which are depicted as really overpower by MHA standards. For example:

-Fire has Endeavor, Dabi and Bakugou to an extent. Self explanatory in this case.

-Air has Inasa, who was probably the most powerful student of his generation before any quirk awakening bs from Class A. Inasa even was stopping Sad Man Parade by himself at one point.

-Earth has Cementoss who was described as op in urban enviorenments, Shindo who is way more powerful than people give him credit for, and if we count metal here Wolfram from the first movie was a really powerful fighter.

So yeah, the difference between water with the rest of the elements is kinda big. Even ice users aren't treated as particulary powerful in the story.

Geten needed to train his whole life without go to school and have a quirk awakening but had problems with a Dabi who was holding back, and he lose against Cementoss for some reason despite there wasn't concrete during their battle.

Shoto is a special case, because notice how the story always treats his fire side as the real powerhouse and not his ice. I mean even Endeavor thinks on the ice quirk as just a way to baypass the overheat rather than a power Shoto can make shine on it's own, isn't that ironic? The ice in Shoto is just a patch for the weakness of his strong side, not this perfect balance between elements.

Perhaps the only truly badass water quirk user we have (despite he's treated as fooder as well) is the nameless leader of the Cider House gang.

Seriously I love this guy for some reason. His design and quirk are awesome, and he's such a fun minor villain.

Wish we had more content of him and his real name, despite calling him Cider is funny.

Hi @nyc3

So before I answer your ask...let me ask you this: where is the others' healing quirks? Is R.G the only one who has this quirk? Bc if so that raises some questions...so are all the doctors quirkless? I´m especualting here as Hori has no desire to do worldbuilding but if we take this as true...then Izu could have been a doctor.

"Quirkless doctors face discrimination" its something I can see someone saying IF the quirkless are the doctors and this is so supremely dumb. I don't think quirkless discrimination IS a thing in the text, what we have is IZU BEING ABUSED.

Now as for the question...yeah, people in MHA prefer quirks that are stronger, fire IS strong...but then again, on the same wavelength, they don´t care to know more about quirks (Izu is seen as the odd ball for analyzing quirks when this should be the obvious, everyone should have a quirk analyst)

Endy wanted a child from a woman whose quirk is ice. Still, he looks down on water type quirks...while yes, he did that to make sure his kid has a cool off system in him for the fire (HIS PLAN IS SO DUMB HOLY SHIT). I ask, ignoring the implications, if he wants to do a quirk marriage and thinks FIRE is the best, why not marry someone who already has a quirk?

Water is seen as weak and I don´t get why. Maybe Hori has some bias on the power scale.

Wind is something Inasa has but... let's be real, Inasa is an ass in canon. He is an Endy´s fanboy and hates Shoto bc Endy didn´t smile at Inasa...entitled fan much? (I HATE HOW PEOPLE MAKE IZU BE THE CREEPY FAN WHEN WE DO HAVE CANON CREEPY FANS)

Hori doesn't seem to care to make powers interesting...nor consistent.

Look at BK, how many quirk awakenings this asshole had?

To make this short, I believe is not about the power, is how you use...and no one in mha wants to think outside the box.

(on that note, why Toga is the only one who has a transformative quirk?)

[oneinathousand]

So, when is "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" in Star Wars? A lot of people don't even think about it, but the implication is that the events of the franchise take place in some other galaxy in our very universe.

As far as I know, this answer has never been given in canon, and I've seen many fans dismiss it as nothing more than a sort of fairytale opening to get the audience to suspend their disbelief.

However, there is a second-hand source claiming that George Lucas actually had something in mind. In, of all things, Lord of Misrule, the autobiography of Christopher Lee (Count Dooku) had this to say:

Much of Attack takes place on the planet of Geonosis, where those skeletal bipeds with dragonfly wings are the Geonosians. Some Geonosian dialogue is difficult to put over because it is a mixture from an ancient time in a faraway galaxy - which George told me was considerably more than 7,000 years ago - and modern speech in our own galaxy of cinema duplexes.

And there you have it. If what Lee says is true, and Lucas really did mean this and didn't pull the answer out of his ass, then at the very least the events of Star Wars take place during the very beginnings of Earth civilization, quite likely even before that.

Some of you may be wondering why Lucas would tell Lee this of all people and possibly not anybody else. I think the answer is that if Christopher Lee asks you a worldbuilding question, you're gonna give him an answer of some kind. Since Lee was a LOTR fanboy and surely knew that Middle Earth was set in our distant past, he probably noticed SW was apparently the same and asked Lucas about it.

Of course, since this is second-hand, you can dismiss it if you want to. I'm sure many of you would prefer not to have any answer to the question at all like the Force got with the midichlorians, and that's totally cool.

I, however, will accept this as canon in my heart just because it's REALLY, REALLY FUNNY to imagine that while the SW characters are going "Somehow, Palpatine returned", we're just chilling on Earth figuring out how to grow crops like

[mosylufanfic]

Answer the Questions and Tag 5 Fanfic Authors

Tagged by @rifle-yes, the fool

1. How did you get into writing fanfiction?

See answer #3 below, but the short version is that I started writing and posting stories at the Derbyshire Writer's Guild, a Jane Austen fanfic site. And it's all been downhill from there.

2. How many fandoms have you written in?

Oh boy. Hang on. This is a hard one because multiple of my fandoms are like, within a larger fandom? So there's a good amount under the Star Wars umbrella, and a bunch of Jane Austen, and a lot of DCTV. Going back and counting the major fandoms (the ones I remember being really into and doing several fics for, as opposed to just one or two to scratch an itch), I think it's seven. If you do count the one-offs, it's more like 12 or 15. Look, I've been on many fic sites and I'm still trying to get off my ass and archive everything on AO3. It's hard!

3. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

Pretty much since forever? I remember writing Little Mermaid fic in fourth grade, although I didn't really have that word for it at the time. And there was an epic (and epically bad) Star Wars sequel that I worked on for years in my tweens. I started posting fic online at 19 when I realized that was a thing I could do (see #1). So in terms of writing fic that I shared with other fans, 24 years.

4. Do you read or write more fanfiction?

Definitely read, although there are times where it's a close run thing.

5. What is one way you’ve improved as a writer?

I think my worldbuilding has improved over the years. I never did it on purpose, but I see a definite uptick in how deeply I think about the worlds I'm writing in and the various implications of that for the characters.

6. What’s the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Oh so many things! I freaking love research. I think the most morbid (and mathiest) was trying to estimate how much air a man had available in a 10x10 space buried underground.

7. What’s your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?

This is like asking what kind of cake is best, but I do love the ones that pick up on something I didn't even realize about the story. I had one recently that pointed out a shift in language that signaled deeper and more focused intimacy in the course of a smut scene. And I was like, ". . . huh. Well, I'll be. That sure did happen."

8. What’s the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

I think probably the Space!Paperwork in Lost & Found was the fringiest thing I've ever done.

9. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

Oh, man, longfics. I often come up with an idea and I just know from the shape of it that it's going to be a a monster. And then I have to decide if I want to go through all the work of plotting and writing thousands and tens of thousands of words. That's why I have so many one-shots that are basically "pilot episodes" for longfics that will never be written.

10. What is the easiest type?

Modern AUs, especially high school AUs. There's so much there that's already known to the readers that I can just laser-focus on the part that's interesting to me.

11. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

I do a lot of my writing on Gdocs. I know they're the devil, but I might be settled down to work on four or five different machines throughout the course of my day, and half that time is on the public floor where I have to look available to help people. So to me, it's better to be able to quickly sign into a website and tap out that quick scene than to try and hide my phone under the desk and write on that horrible little keyboard. (I'll do that too, but only when I have no other option.)

Longfics get ported into Scrivener when they get too unwieldy for Gdocs, but I'm still more likely to write scenes in Gdocs and paste them into the Scrivener file when I'm done.

12. What is something you’ve been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

Probably some of the longfics that are knocking around in my brain, especially the ones that concern areas of the Star Wars canon that I never really got into.

13. What made you choose your username?

It's a nickname my mom used to call me when I was a teenager, and when I was picking my AIM screen name in college, that's what I went with. Actually, I had another one first that was objectively cooler, but I forgot the password to that account and either I was too dumb to reset it or there wasn't functionality for that. So mosylu it was. I also decided at the time that it would be my Internet Identity, and it still is.

Tagging @andorerso, @hedgiwithapen, @incognitajones, @colleybri, and @youareiron-andyouarestrong

[loosingmoreletters]

1. Thank you and That One Anon for making the English speaking fandom for Weapon Creator!

2. In the name of bullying Yun Taeheon, I need his reaction to Mun Doyun- aka the B rank assassin that was Shin Junseo’s guild leader. Cuz objectively, Yun Taeheon knows a lot can happen in a year and stuff, but also he’s an S-rank leader of a top guild that is willing to give Shin Junseo just about anything and he still cannot recruit him. And then there’s this B-rank nobody (to him) who specifically hired Shin Junseo - as a D rank weapon creator who could only make an average knife every 20 seconds - BC HE HAD A SKILL THAST DESTROYED THE BLADES HE USED. Literally the same reason!! But no, somehow Yun Taeheon is losing this race.

Even better if he somehow gets more backstory or through some time shenanigans he meets the other Mun Doyun, who is basically the reason Shin Junseo is even as good as he is. Like, the reason sjs learned all he could and stuff. Anyway, yth being objectively, obviously on a higher level than this dude and yet still absolutely seething at the very idea of how much he apparently is not measuring up. How do you think that should go?

also, looking at the firsts chapter and think the first chapter and I think Sjs could be the little kid at the very beginning? Meaning that he has grown up in he world of hunters and gates, giving some cool world building to how this is a whole generation of ppl growing up with gates and magic.

However, for the sake of getting more of your sugar daddy au, I am ignoring that. Or maybe it could be incorporated, like- yth was trying to figure out how to ask sjs for just, an actual relationship. And sjs had stopped their contract after signing onto the guild. Extra tension!! Cuz obviously yth wasn’t gonna reach out and be like, “Hey, so that didn’t work out…”

glad to be of service!!!!! taking it from the bottom here, you mean this kid?

Huh! Now that you mention it, that could track! Would be rather interesting too as I'd put this kid somehwere between 8 and 12, which implies dungeons have been a thing for much longer than just a couple of years. Tho I assumed the adult in the next panel was YTH, so hmmm. But also what does this say about the state of his family. where the fuck are they. I need answers. And also I'd love some worldbuilding around growing up in such a world. In SCTIR, one of my fave things is to linger on like, the first weeks after the dungeon breaks. how did legislation change, the government, the way people reacto to this-

"In the name of bullying YTH" man we really all just took a look at this guy, who is probably meant to be like a cool badass character and decided we shall treat him like our sibling's new boyfriend and thus make fun of hinm. huh. god given right to bully the man.

But yeah, do you think YTH assumed just a little bit that SJS had like weird trauma. and also like- okay full confession time. when I started reading this, I assumed this guy would be our love interest second protag. I mean. look at him and SJS reaction to praise

and the way SJS also thinks of this guild in the future memories he receives? a place where he was accepted, found friends, where they kept pushing forward together- Listen. also the way it lingers on MDY's body there. I'm just saying, the vibes are accurate. to me.

Anyway, YTH does have the vibes of somebody who is incredibly understanding but privately also has beef with a dead man. he knows it's unfair and stupid, but also he could buy SJS a god damn pent house apartment. he would. that and any item he wants. actually I just realized while typing this would've been really fucking great to insert into my little soulmate fanfic given I did toss in like one sided bonds existing there. something to consider for the future.

But man, I think it would be interesting if SJS is confronted with him again also in the context of like, SJS not recognizing MDY's brother despite his future memories, which sure has some implication. I told a friend that like my assumption is that Mun Dojin died in the other timeline and I desperately need him and SJS to talk because even if the memories SJS has never actually existed here, that still sort of makes him the only person MDJ can talk to.

actually, man. this would make anything SJS/YTH even funnier. here's your crush. there's your crush's vampire familier and his ex guildmaster's (former bf's??????) little brother. god I need MDJ and Elizabeth to show up more often. slkdfhsldkh sorry got entirely off track here.

OKAY BACK TO SUGAR DADDY AU- I just realized how fucking hilarious this would also be because like. SJS manages to bag one man and it's this big shot guild leader. and instead of signing up with his guild, he goes to these small nobodies. like, it probably just makes sense to SJS. This was a job, now here is another, newer job. Life goes on.

YTH meanwhile is the math meme. Min Huisu told him to get a social life. he paid someone for that, but the guy turns out to be actually cute and fun, so he'd like to have a relationship that is not just superifical. and this guy just. mcfucking signs on to a guild he hasn't even heard of. f in the fucking chat

[drinkyourvillainjuice]

About the Altruists fan ask: why would Kay think her fans are degenerates? (I mean her IRL fans probably are but i think that's just the target demo for IFs lol). If it has to do with the sheep stuff, do you think that speaks to a larger problem in the DYVJ universe? Like do you think parahumans with unusual bodies in the public eye would face more objectification, fetishizing and exploitation? Its always intresting to think about the broader implications In fiction and how that can shape story.

Basically, Kay is generally insecure and would be quick to jump towards the worst case answer that plays on her body image issues.

"I'm a villain" -> "what kind of people like villains?" -> "it must be because of my appearance" -> "they're fetishizing me"

Kay wouldn't think about how she has cool, kinda flashy powers and is exciting to watch. This is all new to her after all.

I'm not sure how much I'll be able to delve into some things in the broader DYVJ worldbuilding because Dime necessarily has a very strangled perspective on a lot of things. I'm hoping to include some stuff a bit more organically throughout the narrative to explore how parahumans are viewed and to an extent commodified* (thanks, DPR!) But yes, I think unusually-bodied parahumans definitely get treated differently in the media and online.

I do think villains genuinely get fanbases provided they're not absolutely reprehensible. The presentation of masks is such that they're often treated in a larger than life, celebrity manner, so assuming that your villain isn't just murdering people left and right, they'll probably have some people thinking they're cool/badass. (and getting yelled at on the internet for it)

*(there's potentially a little bit of discussion if one hangs out with Mal in the current patreon update, and I still want to adjust something from the flashback chapter as it's currently trapped underneath a highly Beth-specific interaction and I think it helps paint the setting a lot!)

# Did she have to say it like a supervillain?? Seriously, all she needs is a white cat and one of those swivel chairs and she's in touching distance of becoming a criminal mastermind. "Beth, if you're going to start muhahahhaing, please at least give me some warning, okay?" She blinks. "…What?" "Only supervillains talk like that." Beth raises an eyebrow. "I have no idea what you're saying." "Have you seriously never listened to a villain speech?" "No, due to the fact that they are criminals and hence unlikely have anything of value to say." For a second you just stare at her. Bombastic villains proclaiming they'll crush their enemies (and then laughing evilly) are like a staple of your weekly online watching. It boggles the mind that your best friend neither watches what are probably the most interesting news stories, nor has ever picked up on your own habitual browsing. "So let me guess this straight. You've never heard Glamoura gloating that she'll restyle an entire city? Hallucinogem giving one of their 'diamond membership addresses'?" Beth throws up her hands. "$!{mc_name}, I do not know who either of those people are!" Your jaw drops. You get so caught up in quizzing an increasingly-baffled Beth about various villains (and then, in utter disbelief, heroes) that by the time you reach your destination, you've distracted the both of you away from the topic of crushes.

[itsclydebitches]

I’ve recently joined the Twitter RWBY fandom(a horrible choice, really) and a lot of them hold this regard that Ironwood being a Military Man aswell as Atlas Academy being a pipeline to the Military being foreshadowing and, I can’t really understand that? No where in the show is any of that implied as bad. I was thinking about it a little bit and came to the inclusion that despite Remnant’s worldbuilding calling for a positive outlook on the military, because this is an American anime mostly 1/2

I've thought the same for awhile now, anon. RWBY, for all its many pitfalls, is trying to be a progressive show and that includes taking a hard, critical stance against military might—an argument that, yes, is very much born of America's history. I'm not going to turn this ask into a history lesson (one I'm by no means an expert on anyway), but suffice to say there's indeed a lot to criticize and thus it's no surprise that the queer friendly, unity-focused, American show about an individual "simple soul" would want to paint militarism in a negative light.

Personally, I've got no problem with that thesis. That's actually a show that I would love to watch. Thus, the problem is not RWBY taking a hard stance against a fictional military, it's—as you say—its failure to convey why Remnant's military is worthy of criticism. The work is simply not there. I could write you a novel-length meta on all the ways RWBY dropped the ball in that regard, starting with the world building question of, "Why is a military seen as oppressive when they exist to fight souless monsters instead of other people?" through "Not a single detail in RWBY implies that people are coerced, manipulated, or left behind once they align themselves with the military," circling around, "You spent six Volumes writing Ironwood as a flawed hero, gave us a few episodes as a misguided antagonist, and then a few hours in-world as a villain," straight on through to, "The group coming upon Atlas' battleships is meant to exist as a stand-alone argument of evilness—look at what Ironwood has done in the name of safety!—which is a problem all on its own, but the same image of battleships hovering over Vacuo is meant to exist as a stand-alone argument of celebratory unity and do you see how that doesn't work?"

RWBY wanted to write an anti-military story. They did not write an anti-military story until Volume 8, by which time it was WAY too late to undermine all the positive implications and unanswered questions we'd gotten. However, many viewers—particularly American viewers—picked up on those not-so-subtle hints (hi there, cartoon Ironwood) and ran backwards with the argument, ignoring everything that didn't support it in previous Volumes, or, in a few extreme cases, outright lying about what happened in the show until portions of the fandom heard it often enough that they started misremembering things. Then they passed those simplistic, inaccurate readings on, all of which is exacerbated by many viewers' real feelings towards the military and the knee-jerk assumptions they have if others appear to be promoting it. Even if "promoting it" just means saying something like, "This fictional character in this radically different fantasy world maybe isn't pure evil because the show forgot to establish why creating the means to destroy the literal non-metaphorical monsters is a bad thing."

Which is why it's so difficult to discuss RWBY's failure in this regard because the fan at the other end of the conversation has to acknowledge the nuance of, "Yes, I personally agree with this thesis, but it's a thesis that doesn't exist in RWBY. I'm not arguing that dictators are good, actually, I'm arguing that Ironwood never was one." The moment you talk about anything related to Atlas, Ironwood, their military, etc. and by extension start discussing the ways in which the show canonically wrote those all these as positives in Volumes 1-7, or at the worst flawed necessities, many fans simply jump to, "Oh, so you're okay with Ironwood shooting minorities? Got it." Most in RWDE (that I've come across, anyway) are discussing the depiction of the military within the show—what actually wound up on screen, regardless of the writers' intentions and regardless of our own, irl politics. In contrast, most non-RWDE fans are discussing what the military is meant to represent irl, despite the fact that this representation fails on nearly every level and, as a result, doesn't really exist. That's a huge disconnect that I doubt the fandom will ever get past, especially when these subjects hit close to home for so many and, frankly, it's far easier to toss out accusations that imply a real-life failing than it is to acknowledge that a favorite show is not only badly written, but thoroughly bungled a subject you deeply care about. (Insert the same problem with RWBY's queer rep here.)

[olderthannetfic]

Re: https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/738859016693874688/why-do-some-popular-things-have-such-small & the person who replied to it in Another ask about Slay The Princess --

This answer was a facinating read as someone currently in the James Cameron's Avatar fan space -- i was only 8/9 when the first movie came out, and wasnt very into fandom Yet, but around the early 2010's when i Did get into it and went looking, there was almost Nothing to be found (and the few that Did exist were either short character studies written by some of the smartest people on the planet or troll fics), less than a 1,000 Total in the media tag on ao3 iirc?? And i remember feeling Fine with that, for the exact readon you both mentioned -- the first Avatar is a very well rounded film, no matter what everyone cares to say about it. It was Written to be a stand alone film, and bc JC is good at what he does, that Worked, and there truly wasnt much to write fic about besides Extreme au shenanigans or a few theoretic between-scenes, you know the type.

Then the second movie came out Last year and then the Game came out THIS and the fandom has just. Exploded. It's almost funny because so many of the younger fans, who were in it for x readering with the Sully kids, keep complaining about how "the fandom is dying 😭😭" in the tags the past few months and i just have to stare at it like pal just because we're not still shooting metaphorical fireworks about how much we loved the sequel and game doesnt mean we've all Moved On 😩 Im still Diligently mpregging the resurrected villain in my new longform crack fic thats probably going to be finished around the time the 5th movie comes out. Wee child you must Power through with us. Increase Your Fandom Stamina 💪😎🏃‍♂️!!!

But yeah it's just been Extremely interesting seeing how drastically things have changed, going from that completed, hard-to-write Wholeness from how compact the first film was vs the Flood of worldbuilding and lore and new characters we've been given (and have yet to Get, there may be some evil f/f fics beyond the horizon...) and how much the Sequel has contributed in the process of making Avatar easier to enjoy Casually, rather than as a "stereotypical", "extreme" strawman'd Avatar fan of yor (our elders who i respect most vehemently, for their help in understanding and writing the Na'vi conlang in all our fics 💪❤).

Even though the canon movies have a lot of problems, ive been luckiy enough to see the Fandom do what its always done best -- ive met wonderful people and Incredible artists while the life experience + background knowledge who can flesh out the areas of the concept that JamCam has yet to delve into, for whatever reasons he claims to have, and ive And others have felt moved enough by it all to start writing our Own incredibly self indulgent and sincere stories, within the same framework! Bc good lord it really is a sandbox. The moment you start diving into all the Implications of Avatar's universe, how the RDA is run, how Eywa works, etc etc etc.... jesus. ive lost so many hours of sleep reading real academic papers on Actual xenobiology (yes its a real thing, it both is And isnt what you think it is) for these movies, its nuts.

So some days like Now i just have to sit here like. Wow. We built this house And made it a home. and its Awesome. these asks made me want to gush about it 🥰 thats all! tysm!! Love this blog SO much, keep up the great work n have an awesome day everyone!!!

--

[supertale-au]

In this world, is there some kind of envy in society and too much expectation from heroes? What percentage of heroes are there in society?

Like, people will envy those who have something that they could only imagine.

Hm…

This is a bit of a difficult question to answer. I suppose you could say heroes have a lot of the same expectations of them from the public as most public service professions? (eg. firefighters and doctors and suchlike) But it would really depend on who you ask, just like in real life. Different people have different expectations.

I can’t really give you a solid percentage of how many heroes there are in a given population. A lot of this au is more about getting the vibes of a superhero setting than actually doing all the crunchy bits of worldbuilding to figure out how it works on a logistical level. Since the vibes of this au are based on stuff like dc and marvel (or at least tropes that they originated) I suppose whatever assumptions you usually make about the makeup of those settings would probably apply here.

Supertale is generally based on a number of superhero settings i’ve read over the years, and it’s not really intended to be doing anything super unique with the genre. I’m planning to keep the tone pretty light and fun, aside from a few specific plot points a ways down the road, so in that vein I’m leaving a lot of the darker implications of this kind of setting either in the background or entirely absent. So I’m not going to be doing any deconstruction in the vein of a story like Worm or My Hero Academia on the likely pitfalls of a society where superheroes are normalized.

I will say there’s definitely some prejudice towards heroes with powers over those without, because I think some of that is inevitable in a setting like this. It’s not a theme I’m planning to directly explore, but it is an element of the worldbuilding that has an influence on certain character’s behavior.

Honestly, though tension between heroes and civilians is common for these sorts of stories, it’s probably not going to play a huge role in this one. Undertale has so few major characters that it’s difficult for me to justify keeping any of them out of the hero stuff, so unless I end up giving a lot of screentime to some really minor characters it’s unlikely that any civilian characters will play a large enough role for me to really explore that side of things.

I am very much open to anyone who wants to creating derivative works based on my stuff, so if anyone else ever wants to write a version of this story that focuses on that they’re welcome to, but since the au is still very much in its infancy, I don’t expect anything like that to show up until quite a bit farther down the road, if at all.