#I’M ALSO A SUCKER FOR THEMATICS!!!!!!

[grandwitchbird]

Veilguard is generally a well designed and well written game. I’m clear on what I think about DA as a whole, but it’s easily the best actual game in the franchise.

People are picking up, however, on a real critical flaw and mostly failing to locate the flaw while getting distracted by nonsense. It’s a flaw present in every DA game if you dig enough. Let’s talk about story bosses.

This is a tricky thing in arpgs. RGG and CDPR try to ensure that story bosses are densely interwoven into the world in a way that works thematically.

Adam Smasher would have been a problem in any universe; he’s just enabled and enshrined by this one. Hansen points us right back to the military industrial complex, the ghost of which we’ve spent the entire game wrestling with. Literally. All of that directs us right back to the systems in place in our cyberpunk world. It points us at our own motivations as V and interrogates our love of the power fantasy as a player.

In an RGG game, when you run down a corridor towards a boss, it’s a gauntlet. It’s there for fun and also to highlight the legendary clash that’s about to happen with reference to the Yakuza films the series started as an homage to. The boss may wait at the end or jump you, depending on their personality and goals. There will be mini bosses along the way because you’re generally fighting hierarchical organizations.

In Veilguard, our enemies wait at the end of a corridor. They’re powerful and don’t need to come to us. Ok good start, also a nod to ME. Occasionally you’re lucky and get story ‘minibosses’ that interrogate that very idea. The first warden is here to flesh out everyone’s motives and challenge us as the player. Sometimes you’re very lucky and the boss is Johanna Hezenkoss and she’s exclusively here to have clear motives that flesh out Emmrich’s arc and to cause problems because it’s fun. Most of the time, you get Aelia or whatserface Aelia 2.0 in Lucanis’s arc. Or the others I don’t remember after playing the game 5 times. Anaris? What did he even want? No I don’t mean power. What was under that? What was his motivation? Because I can explain the power-hunger in every Yakuza shithead or nationalist asshat I’ve fought in an RGG game. But Veilguard, like all of DA is avoiding real discussions of power and psychology and ~implications~.

I’m not a forgetful person. I’m meticulous and have the true blue autistic pattern recognition. I genuinely can’t say what made Aelia and Aelia 2.0 anything other than cosplay tyrants. Not without projecting onto the text or stretching it to breaking point by leaning hard on one specific short story.* Dragon guy and other antaam guy came out of literally nowhere. Mail order villains those two.

Even with our big bads, we get mere hints and gestures. Everyone is impressed with whatsisface doing a bad imitation of Bowie’s lines in Labyrinth. He’s a spirit of tyranny though. What does that mean. What makes the tyrants work in this world. And why are we cribbing from the Goblin King while carefully editing out the sucker punch?

We know the answer in the real world and can project that onto the game. But it’s not in the game. Not in a way the text doesn’t flinch from. And this is something people are picking up on. It’s also not been in any of the other games sorry to say. So this isn’t new. Veilguard just isn’t hiding behind obfuscating design choices and allusions to better stories. It’s still making those allusions (see gif above) but it’s a more honest text re: its limitations.

As with everything. The Mourn Watch and Grey Wardens stand heads and shoulders above the rest of the faction/companion-based conflicts. Their bosses have clear psychologies, motivations, and represent coherent and grounded goals (in hilariously disparate ways) Solas, likewise, has us/Rook as a mirror and his needs/wants and the conflict between those needs/wants are forefront and incredibly well developed. It’s not all bad. It’s actually quite good.

But when people flounder at surface details looking for the ‘problems’ with the writing. This is what’s getting missed. The problem is never ‘plot hole’ or ‘bad lore’. It’s something in the structure and conflict and motivation. And I’m afraid to say it’s old news with DA (Loghain is fine but the entire end of origins is an asspull. Don’t @ me). This game is much stronger than the others on that front. That would still be true if we had only Solas. We also got Johanna fingerguns Hezenkoss and the entire Grey Warden plot. I, for one, am counting that a win.

*the extended media is a critical weakness of the franchise. Referencing your own EU is not the same as entering a dialogue with an existing subgenre populated by works from diverse sources.

[vigilskeep]

i had a dream last night where sol was a companion in veilguard (your ocs are invading my dreams. not that i'm complaining <3) and now i have to ask..... what would sol's companion quest be like if they had one

omg

i did think about this at one point. i thought it would be fun if i leaned into sol’s bodyguard role i.e. viago sends them to help protect you. they would be clearly irritated by this. charming, and never unkind, but their priorities are clearly at home and in their lighthearted way they make it clear they’re not all that interested in the world-saving business. (you need the de riva backstory incident and the year with varric to ease them into that, which i’m assuming they don’t have here.)

you’d think them pretty callous but always fun until you’re fighting darkspawn, when they suddenly seem to... come into focus? like everything else was a performance and suddenly they’re really alive. laughed off afterwards. sol conveniently by nature has broadly two paths for the future—staying with the crows or leaving with some kind of blight-fighting veilguarding purpose. so that suits a “hero of the veilguard” choice. reaffirmed crow sol is more “fun” and funny in their erratic adrenaline-seeking way, sharp and brittle, whereas blight fighter sol is a little steadier and warmer

i wasn’t sure what to do with their “mini villain” that every companion gets. i had a vague idea for something elaborate with a house kortez survivor, as blindly loyal to the dead talon whose plot viago uncovered in tevinter nights as sol is to viago. self recognition in the other (derogatory). they would be set in their ways if they kill them, and stunned and open to change if you encourage them to try to reach out with mercy (which they do very reluctantly, clearly just humouring you) and it works. or something. to recreate the impact bellara and davrin’s personal quests had where they suddenly realised people could change? idk this is messy and i don’t know what the blight has to do with it. the kortez has a blight bioweapon from ghilan’nain or something blah blah blah who cares. separately, an awakened darkspawn would be funny and thematically appropriate but is also a wild can of worms to open in the middle of this game

they’d have opinions on abandoning treviso but i don’t think they’d be mechanically “hardened” by it, since viago’s fine, and they just wouldn’t expect any different. they kind of come already hardened by nature lmao so everything you do for them is a surprise not a hope you can disappoint, if that makes sense

if romanced by rook, i think you could do a funny casual sex -> idiots -> lovers dynamic since iirc nobody in the lighthouse is covering that classic. they’d turn up the ill-advised charm and to themself be like “since i’ll convince viago to bring me back home any day now, what’s the harm in a little fun while i’m here?” and then instantly trip and fall in love with you. like a sucker. they immediately freak out about how they only know casual relationships and a life of violence and betrayal and they’re not good enough or safe enough for you—but wait don’t date anyone else they’ll do it! clown.

[the-burd-lord]

I think I finally landed on a Lute design I’m happy with. Still need to work on the armor though.

I know a golden eagle would fit better thematically, but also…. osprey are really cool!

They have special adaptations regarding their claws wherein they can rotate one of its three toes to bend backwards to allow for better grip on fish. They also have sharp spicules on the underside of their talons to allow for this extra grip. Kinda like with the adaptation of suckers on giant squid. They also have incredible eyesight, and are able to see through the glare of sun on the water to catch fish.

The coolest thing though is despite them being called "river hawks," they're actually in their own family called Falconiformes!

[boneles-ss]

I loved the ending of the silt verses for so many reasons: because I’m a sucker for the smoking Chekov’s gun, a thematically rich tragedy, and the sickly sweet stench of a narrative that is ultimately and above all else, hopeful.

We were shown the dangers of hope, in the (in retrospect) most seemingly “out of place” episode in the entire series—the hope motel one with the doomed gay people. It was an amazing episode, do not get me wrong, but listening to it for me was like “okay, so based on this, when is hope going to, once again, bite us in the ass. Or literally bite us idk we had somewhat similar foreshadowing used with the sleep god thing from season 1.”

And of course it would be the finale. Of course it would be reading through the transcript, knowing that there’s a shadow of a chance that Carpenter lived to do all the things she was so ready to do, that she wasn’t giving up, or that she died in the water, on her feet, brought to a prophesied end in the god who could not seem to let her go, but that ultimately, she did NOT GO WILLINGLY.

Of course it would be the unknown of Paige and her caravan, trekking through the polluted lands in search of something kinder, something new, knowing that Paige would leave them behind one day—but that day is not today—and she would see them on. It’s hoping beyond hope that they all escape, that they can make something better out there, and that there are ways for people to follow out of this old world, if they choose to read the signs.

That’s what I think that episode was “for.” Obviously episodes like that don’t NEED to tie into the plot directly, and they’re sometimes narratively more satisfying if they’re left self-contained (the power plant ep was also brilliant in a very similar way (and I’m realizing now that that ep also mirrors Paige’s journey….that should be it’s own post)), but its about the theming, the framing of the tragedy, and the foreshadowing of it all. The motel was tragic and awful because it toyed with our hope—rending it functionally untrustworthy. But we choose to hope anyway (I’ve seen the polls lmao) and we make a good story on our own, in our own minds, out of that ambiguity. The ending to me is so good because WE can choose how it ends. We are given that agency, and I think it’s so satisfying either way! We KNOW the god in the motel was fucking with our hope and eating those who dared to try and we still said BUT WHAT IF-

so what’s the harm in hoping for the best for those whose stories continue after we stop consuming them? Hhhhhh this show and this ending are going to stick with me forever

[delphiniumarchangelmoon]

Guys what pokemon do you think BSD characters would have

So far my ideas are:

- Akutagawa- Banette and maybe Darkrai later? Darkrai or Lunala it really depends on what I would do with Atsushi, if he gets Solgaleo then Lunala works thematically for Akutagawa, but aesthetically Darkrai is perfect for him.

- Nikolai- Mime Jr and Blacephalon. Also if we want to give him a legendary I think Chien-Pao matches his vibe super well (and I’m not just saying that because I really love Chien-Pao and wanted an excuse to give it to someone)

- Mori- tinkaton and blissey (one to cause harm and one to heal, 50/50 shot every time he takes out a pokeball)

- The Tanizaki’s- Plusle and Minun as a duo but also Juni has a kecleon

- Dazai- Hisuian Zoroark (bro is fucking DEPRESSED) but on a full team it would be themed around nullification: protect, imprison, type immunity, flinching, all things that prevent other pokemon from acting. Pokemon like Runerigus (3 type immunities + learns protect and disable by level up) Ninetales (learns imprison and disable by level up) or Absol (1 type immunity + learns detect and sucker punch by level up + has pressure as an ability)

- Chuuya- probably eternatus genuinely. Or Giratina. But as a primary battler I guess… something with levitate. Mismagius maybe. Or hydreigon. Or just a flying type. Honchkrow has a hat. I think that the move perish song also could act as a good allegory to Corruption, since it can kill the user if they’re left in battle too long, and Mismagius learns that by level up.

- Fyodor- whichever scary legendary Chuuya doesn’t get and also a standard Zoroark for Dazai related metaphors and such.

- I keep going back and forth on what to do with Atsushi cause he’s supposed to be super powerful but I feel weird just giving him Solgaleo? A shiny Litten could also work as his primary battler.

- Part of me wants Kunikida to have a Snivy but I also think Gallade or Lucario could be a fun one for him.

- Fukuzawa is hard cause there are too many choices. Kingambit is a fun one, but I could also see a buff-based team that primarily works to improve the stats of allied pokemon, similarly to his ability.

- Ranpo I really don’t know. Maybe an Alcremie?

- people I have literally no ideas for: the entirety of the Black Lizard, Higuchi, Sigma

[eldritchpluto]

Ghost Quartet Set Ideas

Ok, for context, I’ve been thinking about a set for Ghost Quartet for 3-4 years now . As much as I love the sparse staging of the original show, I’ve always been curious to see how the show could be translated to a different style of production! Also I’m a sucker for big complicated sets.

An important disclaimer. I’m not a set designer in ANY sense of the word, I’ve just been working in school/community theatre for the past 4 or 5 years as an ASM, an SM, or shift crew guy! I’m fully aware that most of this is very unrealistic or even impossible. I just wanna nerd out!

Alright, let’s do this.

Firstly, my idea staging would be a type of thrust stage. I think the original production (and many that came after it) saw how beneficial a more immersive staging would be. This is a very intimate story in many ways, so taking advantage of that is a great idea. However, I’m thinking of a slightly edited version because it works a bit better for my vision.

It would be similar to this above stage, but would have a much wider back part more close to the dimensions/sizing of a smaller proscenium stage!

Then, the set itself! The set would be largely situated in that back part of the stage, and would take the form of what looks almost like a dollhouse. (Again, probably not practical at all, just let me nerd out here)

The house would be a very typical “family home”, and I would want much of the style of furniture to match the vibe that other productions have captured. The photo below has what I’m looking for! (And this is from the London cast I believe? Idk if it was their real set or something just from this one video, but either way!)

The set being a house is very very central to a lot of the thematic ideas I want to go for with this staging! I’m not fully set on what rooms there will be, but the rooms/set pieces that are important to my “vision” are a staircase, a bedroom, an attic, a kitchen, and to hopefully have a piano of some sort in there. Otherwise, nothing is set in stone.

Lighting would be rigged in a way that would allow for the possibility for just any one room is fully lit at a time! But also the whole house could be lit as well. Also, with the returning idea of stars in this show, I’d love to have small LEDs on the back wall of each room, which could be controlled to light up as stars, even in rooms that are currently dark!

Ok, with the basic set idea out of the way, let’s focus on WHY I want it to be staged like this. Firstly, it’s obvious one of the main themes of this show is family, or just in general, deep connections. On top of that, all of these stories and people are connected in some way! So, having it set up like this would help emphasize how all of these stories, no matter how big or small, are a part of each other. One of the main ideas is having each storyline based in only one or two rooms, allowing them to still feel separate, and to create a visual distinction for each storyline.

Now for the REALLY fun part!! Talking about how I would stage this. I’m not going to go through every single song (although I do have thoughts for all of them), but I’ll focus on the big ones!

All of the songs that take place “out of” the story (I mean not fully, but you know what I mean) are outside or the house. These would be located on the thrust part of this stage. Firstly, this is to frame our quartet as our storytellers, and kind of our framing device into this all. They’re a more introspective group, so they are outside of it a bit. On top of that, it gives them more chance to directly connect to the audience. Songs with this would be “I Don’t Know”, “Any Kind of Dead Person”, “Four Friends”, “Prayer”, and “Wind and the Rain”!

The songs involving the astronomer will take place in the attic. He’s always looking up at the stars, and is using the high vantage point to see it all. Also this is a bit of a stretch, but having him here makes sense because he’s kind of “hanging over” the story. During songs like “The Telescope” and “The Astronomer” the LEDs would be on in the other rooms to simulate the stars.

I think the Usher storyline would take place in two side by side bedrooms? Maybe just to help separate the stuff with Lady Usher/Roxy compared to stuff with the younger cast of Family Meeting. I also just have some ideas for some specific blocking that could utilize two side by side rooms!

Here’s where it gets fun! I very badly want “Starchild” to take place in a stairwell. Here, Starchild is in the house, it should be connected to everything else. But, despite being so close, she can’t enter any rooms. She’s stuck. A part of the house, but never one that any sort of family spends time in. Also because I’d love to have family pictures in the stairwell, which starchild can look at, but it’s only reminding them of the family they’re separated from.

Subway!! I see the subway storyline as our “connecting piece” of the show. It’s directly referenced in the other storylines very often, and it’s very much a turning point for Rose’s character. So, instead of having Subway be concentrated in specific rooms, I think each “archtype” in that storyline gets their own room. And as they’re mentioned in the song, the light of the room they’re in flashes. I have a very very specific mental image I’m having a hard time describing, but it’s there!

I want solider and rose to take place in the kitchen, and the kitchen has kind of a bar stool situation? Just fits the vibe. Also because I’d love to have the honey just come from a kitchen cabinet, that’s oddly funny to me.

My ideas are the least developed for the tango dancer storyline, but I’d love for the room it takes place in (likely a living room) to have a piano!

My ideas are similarly murky with the camera shop, I’ll figure it out :(

Ok!! Time for my favorite staging which is, of course, “Hero”. This is the point where Rose is reflecting on everything and sees the entirety of her lives. I think this song would start on the outside of the dollhouse, but as it goes on, she begins walking through the house. Before, during specific storylines, characters wouldn’t leave their designated rooms. But now, Rose walks through it all, finally seeing the whole picture. She can also interact with props from other storylines!! I would want this moment to be really big, and for it to shatter a lot of the norms set by the staging thus far.

Ok, I’ll stop my ramble there for now!! I understand this is super unrealistic, but I wanted to say my ideas anyway! I love this show more than anything, and I’d do anything to work on a production someday. I would just love for the set to also lend itself to the major thematic ideas, because I think it could be used in a way to strengthen the show.

If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for listening to my ramblings!! Feel free to send me any ideas if you have them, or if you have any questions/clarifications! I’d love to talk about this :D

[ghostzzy]

also. my current companion opinions:

- i was NOT expecting to be an emmrich guy but i totally am. he’s charming… and he’s a bone freak….. and i think his fear of death and the choice you make about his lichdom or manfred is actually really interesting and thematically relevant to the rest of the game

- i like davrin… idc about the grey wardens that much in general sorry but i found davrin’s writing pretty strong and tonally consistent with the story at large… rook didn’t feel like his therapist as much as some of the others, which helped. and him & assan were so cute.. i am not immune to the puppy bird…

- i am very endeared to bellara. i find a lot about her very cute and i’m always a sucker for tragic brother backstories (even tho i thought the ending w cyrian was kinda lame). she’s good i always liked having her around

- i have a huge crush on neve. love her voice, love her vibe. think her personal quest was super boring unfortunately. but depending on some of the choices, she gets to do some sick batman shit and i do love that

- i liked a lot of harding’s story Conceptually but her personality felt flimsy to me sometimes, her voice just wasn’t as strong as some of the others? idk something just wasn’t clicking for me. she’s adorable tho…

- taash fell flat for me. i have A LOT of opinions about how they were written, it deserves its whole own post. but all of that aside, they just felt really young and kind of superfluous and it sucks cuz i really wanted to like them. sighs

- lucanis was my biggest disappointment… he is SO up my alley, on paper, but in execution i just. felt nothing. he had no real edge. spite never felt like a real pressing threat. idk i was just. bored.

[webbywatcheshorror]

Webby Reviews Horror: Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Thir13en (or Thirteen/13) Ghosts is a story about a family that inherits a bizarre and beautiful house from a late relative that contains many secrets- and a basement full of murderous ghosts.

This is one of my personal favorites and has been since I was a kid. It came out in 2001 so the earliest I could have seen it would be when I was around 12 or so, and that’s assuming I saw it the year it came out, which I literally have no way of knowing. I’m going to operate under the assumption I saw it at 13 because it’s likely, and it’s thematically hilarious to me.

Also it definitely is one of about three ghost related movies that really solidified ghosts as being my ‘thing’.

Enough about that, let’s talk about the movie! Review under the cut, and as always, SPOILERS ahead!

I literally cannot overstate how much I love this movie. It’s one of the first real horror movies I ever saw as a child, and it’s definitely one of the ones that altered my brain chemistry to a degree that could never be undone. SO much of what I love in a horror movie comes from this one. 

Weird house? Check. Loads of ghosts? Check, obviously. Pathetic but attractive guy covered in blood? Check. Jokes that make me cackle but don’t interrupt the flow of the movie? Check. Body horror that makes my skin crawl? Check, check, check. A twist that’s set up previously in the movie if you’re REALLY sharp eyed? Check. Environmental storytelling, a weird morbid kid, two worlds in one space, and a WHOLE LOT of lore. It’s got it all!

The cold open is so good. It establishes the level of violence the dead are capable of (The Breaker having more than tripled his kill count after his death, for example), and gives us some major players and their clashing personalities. It also kind of reminds me of the opening scene in Jurassic park where they’re moving a raptor into the enclosure and it all goes to hell in a similar way.

Every new thing that gets mentioned just draws me further in, and I, a known sucker for lore, want to know everything. If I lived in that world, Cyrus would have had me hook, line, and SINKER, as long as he promised me ghost knowledge lmao. I’d be dead as hell so fast.

The inciting tragedy for the main characters plays over the opening credits and this, too, is something I adore. The environment changes along with the audio- a cheerful house with a loving family fades into a crummy, box-filled apartment while the anguished cries of Arthur and his children mourn the loss of their mother Jean as the camera pans to the left. We don’t have to see it to know what happened, or how much pain its caused.

One thing I love, love, love about this movie is how much story is told through the environment and small details alone, rather than just explained by the characters. Arthur doesn’t say he’s struggling to keep his shit together, but his instant mood swing at a small inconvenience sure does. The past due bills pinned to the corkboard in the background do, too. The set designers did an amazing job- I could probably find hidden important details in every scene if I had the time to comb through them.

Some other things I want to mention in this first part of the movie- the pictures of the house that the lawyer shows the family are all taken in a way that obscures the fact that every wall is glass; when we’re shown Kalina’s place, there’s a newspaper clipping about Cyrus’s death that names Ben Moss, the lawyer, as the spokesperson of Cyrus’s company, hinting at him having more of an involvement than simply the lawyer; and how nobody in the family really tries to deter Bobby from his obsession with death even if it makes them a little uncomfortable. 

The glass house is so iconic. It’s so fucking weird and impractical and sinister and beautiful all at once. And that’s BEFORE it goes full Rube Goldberg. There is nothing at all about this house that gives the vibe that you should move in here and raise your children. Hell there’s nothing at all that gives the vibe that it’s even a house. It’d be a museum, if anything, especially with how much stuff Cyrus has crammed in there.

Except the library. Almost all the books are on the floor in there. Cyrus I’m going to throttle you, you could have had the coolest occult library but instead you just stacked that shit on the ground. I’m so disappointed in you. It’s such a weird choice, given how much else he clearly planned out: every room has the ghost glasses in it somewhere, and there are multiple rooms that might tempt each new resident (living or dead perhaps). He wanted them to see their oncoming doom, wanted them to feel terror and heartbreak and despair. He planned for so many possibilities it’s actually pretty impressive- he knew the lawyer would kick off the process by going right for the money, for example, and it’s clear that he wasn’t told just how fast shit would pop off, since he just sort of saunters back down the corridor instead of getting the hell out as fast as possible. Nobody else was meant to leave that house alive, except Cyrus.

Cyrus himself is so easily hateable right from the get-go. He’s an asshole, he’s pushy and considers everyone else beneath him, and every new sentence out of his mouth makes me hate him more. There’s no attempt made to get the audience to sympathize with him, with the possible exception of the video they play as part of his will and testament, not that it works very well. What a great villain, and a fascinating character as well. I hate him so much. I’m delighted I got to see him die twice. (Ok so the first one was a fake out but it was still satisfying.)

And then there’s Dennis. Just as I hated Cyrus immediately, so did I love Dennis immediately. He’s a tormented little weirdo with psychic abilities, hunting ghosts and hating every minute of it just so he can have some kind of human interaction that doesn’t center on him being the target of whatever cruelty’s going on. He’s kind of an asshole, but he’s still compassionate (to the living at least), and funny to boot. Also, he’s played by Matthew Lillard, so of course I was going to love him. (However, at this point in my life, the only other thing I’d seen with him in it was Scooby-Doo, so the whiplash was real lmao.)

Honestly the man is prime blorbo real estate, as the kids might say. I’m surprised at how few fics there are on Ao3 for this movie/man.

My god, the lore in this movie is incredible. Each and every ghost has a name and a story, despite never getting addressed in the movie itself, and they all look phenomenally unique. They all have clearly distinct personalities, too, despite all (well almost all) of them being murderous freaks. I’d love to watch a miniseries or something about each spirit, I’d eat that up.

I loved the twist reveals, both Kalina’s and Cyrus’s. I really would like to know how he got her to fall for him, and whether she’d always been on his side or if she’d started out genuinely opposing him. One thing’s obvious though, and it’s that she is terrified of the man. Her personality does almost a complete 180 in his presence, she’s overexplaining, she’s desperate for his approval. It’s funny that, just a few minutes earlier, she’d taunted Dennis about how Cyrus was just using him and didn’t actually care about him, yet apparently never suspected the same about herself.

One more thing I’d like to mention is that I love how the family, and only the family, survives. Cyrus gets what he deserves, Kalina is betrayed, and Dennis sacrifices himself, but the entire family makes it out alive- including Maggie, the nanny. Where other movies might not have considered her family enough, and killed her off, this one says no, she’s part of the family. She gets to live. Which is great, since she was so right about pretty much everything, as well as probably the funniest character. (I will never not laugh at ‘did the lawyer split?’)

I do want to know what happens to all the ghosts, as after the destruction of the house they can all be seen presumably going off to commit murder elsewhere. And of course I also want to know where Ghost-Dennis went off to. Did he cross over? Did he decide to tag along with the family? Did he go off on his own? Whatever he chose, he finally looked somewhat at peace for the first time in the entire movie.

Maybe it’s nostalgia, maybe it’s because of how it shaped my interest in ghosts and horror, maybe it’s because I can’t resist a good pun, but I give this one 13 outta ten ghosts. I’ve seen this movie probably about 167 times and still haven’t gotten tired of it and I hope I never will.

[afniel]

Yo hi there? I’m hoping you dont find this ask strange, weird or whatever you call it 😞 Just wanted to ask a favor if you could possibly check the post I pinned for my cat? Its on this blog, please do check if you have a spare time and reblog/boost it as we badly need help because there’s some kind of a rash on her mouth and im so so worried 😭😭 Im so sorry if I did bother you, just need some help. Please do send me a msg to reply or answer the ask privately, please and have good day! 😭🙏🙏🐈

So here's a real common likely scam. Account seems legit at first glance, name makes sense, contents are thematically related, seems like it all checks out. Except as of the time of this reply, this account is a whole 11 hours old, and the only personal posts they've made are asking for money for this cat that might or might not exist.

I'll allow that reverse image search didn't pull up any identical cat photos, but the single photo they supplied doesn't show any kind of oral lesions, or indeed anything specifically wrong with the cat at all. It's just a cat photo. Cute, but not credible.

Asking to only reply privately about what seems to be a public fundraiser is a huge red flag also. Normally if someone asks that, you do it, right? That's been considered Tumblr good manners since the site's inception. However it's shady to go around sending copypasta asks to strangers for money and then essentially asking them to not blow your cover.

The link in their post not only uses PayPal and not something more reputable for fundraising, but it specifically asks you to send it as friends and family to avoid them taking a cut. This also handily avoids almost all of PayPal's built-in scam protection and refund systems.

Checking their pinned post also reveals that someone's already pointed out that it's likely a scam and they didn't even refute it, when it would have been super easy to go, "Sorry it sounded sketchy, here's more detail."

And even if this is still somehow real despite entirely failing the sniff test, and there really is an 11-hour-old account with a sick cat, no pictures of what sounds like it should be a visible ailment, no idea that GoFundMe exists, and parroting an extremely common scam (and let's be real here, I don't believe that to be the case for one moment)...

Don't fucking prey on strangers with this. That's not what we're here for. Like I'm flattered that you think my following is large enough to contain a few suckers but get the fuck on outta here, buddy.

I'm off to report and block this person now and you should do the same.

[l-crimson-l]

Favorite Gundam series?

Favorite mobile suit design?

Favorite AU show is definitely 00

Favorite UC show is Unicorn. I am a staunch Believer In Humanity enjoyer

Favorite Gundam design is a tough one bc the Seed suits are really well designed (astray my beloved) but also I’m a sucker for Unicorn but I think I’ll actually say Exia bc 00 really got me back into Gundam in a big way and thematically it ended up being a big part of my personal ethos

Fav grunt suit design is probably the stark jegan and FUCK YOU BANDAI MAKE IT A STANDARD RELEASE

[moghedien]

Also like yes I’m like a sucker for making the most thematically pleasing character to romance specific options with and I’m like 90% done with my idea on the funniest possible character to romance Minthara with

[strawberryrat]

I don’t normally do long posts about my interests on here but with the mtg 30th anniversary announcements that happened today I was trying to check them on twitter and saw that they for some reason decided to not put the announcements in a thread but by responding to one post multiple times.  This was really confusing to sus out the full timeline chronologically for me and my friends so I watched the actual video on youtube after it was uploaded and made a post organizing it all in order on discord and thought I’d put it here as well.  As well as speculate and ramble on things I found of interest, especially on the vorthos side of things.  All the stuff in order and thoughts about them under the read more:

2023 - The next set, Wilds of Eldraine, will start the next major story arc which will span the next three years of magic and be split into three smaller one year arcs starting with the “omen paths.”

Jurassic Park cards are coming to collector and set boosters of Lost caverns of Ixalan.  At least a thematic crossover, neat.

Khans of Tarkir, the entire original draft set, is coming to Arena!  That means fetch lands will be on Arena finally which is wild, plus a lot of nostalgic cards for me since khans block is when I started playing standard instead of just random tabletop jank with friends.  The rest of the block won’t be on there but still kind of excited.

2024 - Ravnica Remastered and Ravnica Clue were both unexpected, interesting sounding at least.  Dominaria remastered was a really fun set to draft and unlike time spiral it’s actually affordable and still around to be played.  Hopefully RR follows suit.  Ravnica Clue will also be typing into the first set proper of the year Murders of Karlov Manor, which also means it’s the first time in this post I can rant about Vorthos stuff!

First thing of note, no Teysa in any of the art revealed so far which is concerning, hope she’s not dead!  Second, we’ll be seeing a Ravnica set without a guild focus, which after March makes some sense as large chunks of the under city were upheaved to the surface, the golgari guild might be... just straight up dead?  And all the other guilds are recovering from what happened. The line up of characters on the above splash are are interesting though as we (going from left to right) seem to have a new character in the form of an Izzet Viashino; Aurelia, leader of the Boros; the totally inconspicuous Massacre Girl; and in center a new character who seems to be a detective using what appears to be Dimir memory magic, I knew the Boros and Azorious had detectives and while it makes sense to see one in Dimir, I believe this is the first time we’ve seen one under Dimir employ, at least based on the magic; next to him is Judith, a high ranking Rakdos performer; and finally the gobbo, the myth, the legend Krenko!

After that is going to be a set of Fallout franchise commander decks themed after the various in universe factions which joins the list of crossovers I was not expecting.

Then the next one I have a fair bit to say about, Outlaws of Thunder Junction.

Old Rutstein from innistrad has apparently crossed some Omen paths in this Wild West inspired set to put up shop.  Not the legend I was expecting but I’m a sucker for Innistrad rep!  The real big hitters come from the next image though:

In a line-up I never would have expected we have some ambiguous and not so ambiguous silhouettes, going from left to right again we have (heavy speculation) a large tinybones the trinket thief; more speculation, a gorgon who I dearly hope is the return of Vraska and if we’re very blessed, Jace next to her, but nothing about that person’s silhouette screams any character we know of so I’ll keep my hopes in check (but damn do I want them to return rootin and tootin if they aren’t going to be coming back on Ixalan);  front and center is Oko, returning in the last set I would’ve expected and even getting the extra splash art over the gang; next to him is a new character with some claw weapons I’ll have the image of below this rant; and finally TINY RAKDOS? No idea what he’s doing outside of Ravnica but that’s unmistakably him.

The new character looks cool, and they said they did cultural consulting to avoid negative or offensive representation in the set so time will tell how well they choose to represent a fantasy version of a very dark time in history.

After that during the summer we’ll get Modern Horizons 3 which will have double faced cards.  Nothing too much to say about it other than hopefully they reprint the other fetches and there’s a lady in some of the promotional art with hydra imagery that looks familiar but I can’t quite place.  I want to say it’s something relating to progenitus though?

There’s going to be an Assassin’s Creed set of cards that, from how they described it, will be sold in what sounds like reskinned theme boosters for all the different games and times those games cover, which will be a new approach for universes beyond stuff.  Also it will be modern legal.

Bloomburrow comes next and I adore the aesthetic!  I read a lot of Rewall in my teens, I’ve been reading some of the mouse guard graphic novels when I get a chance to pick one of the books up recently.  Woodland animal people is my jam.  There’s a squirrel necromancer in some of the promotional art and a confirmed return of raccoons in black border!  It will also feature the start of the second year long mini arc of the upcoming larger narrative, “dragon storm.”

And to wrap the year up of paper releases will be a new horror inspired plane, (also my jam) called Duskmorne.

Wrapping things up in general for the year is Pioneer masters on arena, which they’ve said will catch explorer up to all the major cards in pioneer needed to match paper tournament decklists, etc.  Also they’ll be working towards bringing fnm and other lgs events into giving bonuses on Arena, such as experience, when you attend them which is something that’s good to see finally.

2025 - Starts with Innistrad remastered, I’m basic, I like Innistrad, I hope this set slaps but as with this and everything to come we don’t have much more info than a loose idea of what it will be themed after and a name/ code name.

First real set is “tennis” which is going to be a multiplaner death race spanning three different planes.  Which is honestly not a concept I ever would’ve expected but the part that get my brain whirring is the fact that the three planes it will take place on will be planes we’ve already seen before, two that have had full standard sets but no returns before, and one which has been featured on cards but never given a set before.  Speculating on what those could be is wild because the sets without returns could be anything from newer planes like Amonkhet to Capenna, to older planes like Ulgrotha or Mercadia.  The third plane though has a lot of fun possibility, they could troll us with finally showing more of Vrynn, it could have Regatha, Shandalar, Segovia, or some other niche random plane.  My most out there bet though is based on one of the concept arts for the dragsters having a spirit and skull motif possibly being Ulgrotha based, anything past that, sky’s the limit.

Afterwards is “ultimate frisbee” and we’re finally returning to Tarkir!  They stated they’ll be looking to join the best of what people loved about khans and dragons and since dragons of tarkir was a major part of what made me take up the game, I’m excited.

Then is the big summer set for Final Fantasy.  They said it will be a tent-pole set like lotr was this year which means a full draft set, it will also be coming to arena, plus presumably commander decks etc., and they’ll be making cards covering all the mainline numbered final fantasy titles. (so no crystal chronicles rep 😔)   To be honest I’m really surprised they’re going to try and cover that much in a single set with a couple supplementals.  But the thing that was most exciting to me about the announcement was that the arena lead stated that following what they saw with lotr, they expect it to bring in a lot of new players and want to create things on arena that better suit newer players playstyles, since 1v1 competitive is seen to be off putting for a lot newcomers.  So they are hoping to implement content either around the time the set comes out or in the year following with some amount of single player content, achievements, and if possible multiplayer modes, which has been asked for for so long at this point and said it wasn’t in the cards, I hope they can deliver on it.

After that starts the final miniarc and beginning of the end of the next major arc with “Volleyball,” a space opera inspired plane, the concept art seems interesting, no idea what to expect overall.

Next is “wrestling” which will be the return to Lorwyn/Shadowmoor.  Honestly so glad to hear there will be a return, the vibes and aesthetic of the original block is sublime, I adore it.  Going to be interesting to see how they cram so many sets worth of ideas and identities into a single set but they also stated they’ll be taking the kamigawa approach so who knows how much they’ll keep themselves beholden to.

2026 - The two last sets they announced are in vision design, there’s nothing they could show or talk much of outside of basic “here’s the idea.”

First is “Yachting” which will be a return to Strixhaven/ Arcavios, I can only hope with less complexity creep than the first time. And finally “Ziplining” which will be the finale set for the big arc ala War of the Spark or March of the Machine.

Thanks to anyone who decided to read through all this, hope it helped if you didn’t have time for the full vid or didn’t want to piece stuff together on their twitter page.  If there was anything that I missed that seems important, or lore stuff any of you all would like to talk about, I’d love to hear it!  I keep up with the lore more than I play nowadays and while the product fatigue is real, I do enjoy the speculation from some story stuff in at least the near future of sets.

[tuiyla]

Ranking Once More, With Feeling songs

Eyyyy let’s go. Separating songs that were part of a medley, for the most part. Going out to @rachelberryy​​!

Not part of the ranking:

The Mustard: wouldn’t feel fair or necessary to include it in the list. Still, as well executed as the rest of them and a fun La La Land feel wayyyy before La La Land actually happened.

Bunnies: I find Anya to be ridiculously delightful, including the bunny running gag and this was a shocking but funny and appreciated interruption in the middle of I’ve Got a Theory. The rock opera was a fun genre to bring in and yeah, Anya’s just cool.

The Parking Ticket: again not necessary to include in the actual ranking but a fun background (foreground) moment. Man it really reminded me that basically all of these songs have a CXG “equivalent”.

Dawn’s Ballet: fully instrumental so excluded for that reason. But eyyy, Zach Woodlee! Even if we don’t see his face. Again proving that playing around with genres and committing fully to the musical episode is fun.

14. Dawn’s Lament

Despite technically ranking last I actually really like this short song. The fact that it’s so short is the only reason it’s so low but even in just two lines of lyrics I think it sums up Dawn’s angst and, well, lament really well and makes me wish she got a full feature. It’s my understanding that Michelle Trachtenberg asked not to sing too much so that’s understandable. But yeah, I think it’s good that she had this much, especially because, as I understand, despite Dawn’s behaviour being understandable she gets a lot of shit from the fandom.

13. What You Feel (+reprise)

Nothing against Hinton Battle who of course does an amazing job but the real strength of this episode is revelations about our beloved characters, not the monster of the week song. Not that this number isn’t as fun as the rest of the episode but it simply can’t compare to main cast’s solos, duets, and group numbers. The reprise shouting out the episode title is extra fun, though.

Best part: ironically in many ways, Dawn’s parts. Particularly “see, my sister’s the Slayer”

12. Something to Sing About

I feel like a lot would consider ranking this so low criminal. And in a way I do wish it could be higher but musically, I just don’t much vibe with it. I understand and appreciate the sentiment behind it, it’s a powerful scene and includes the big revelation about Buffy having been in heaven. The backup bit is amusing and Alyson Hannigan acts her butt off in the background as the reveal is going on but I simply can’t put it higher when I know this won’t be the song I listen to the most. I much, much prefer Buffy’s other solo. It’s also just, a bit long oops.

Best part: Musically, the beginning, but thematically probably Spike’s ending verse.

11. Where Do We Go From Here

I’m not sure how to justify ranking this above the previous one. I guess I’m just a sucker for group numbers and I think it has the appropriate balance of drama and levity. It feels a bit funky that Sweet leaves and yet they sing this afterward but whatever.

Best part: Giles’ solo line: The battle's done and we kind of won

10. Coda

As you’ll see further down this list I love a good reprise and this mash-up of Buffy and Spike songs only to culminate in the first step towards their relationship, it’s really chef’s kiss. Very very brief and closes by going back to the previous song but still, a good coda.

9. I’ll Never Tell

This is pure fun for Anya and Xander and a great performance. Harsher in hindsight, now that I’ve seen Xander leave Anya at the altar. But I keep being a sucker for Anya shenanigans in particular and this was very fun as that. I don’t care for all the lines but I appreciate all the effort that went into this number in particular.

Best part: His eyes are beady!

8. If We’re Together

It’s heartfelt and maybe a bit cheesy but hey, I love cheese and the power of love, found family and all that. It fits BtVS to have something like this, it simultaneously makes fun of the show and also emphasizes that yeah, this is the strength of the Scoobies. I also enjoy the double meaning behind Buffy’s what does it matter lines. We support our girl in her depression era.

Best part: Hey, I’ve died twice

7. I’ve Got a Theory

This is just that quintessential first group number with the lighter tone and everyone involved. It feels different enough to separate from If We’re Together and slightly ranking above it for the fun factor, including Xander’s ramble about witches. Points for being the song with the most Willow in it

Best part: Honestly, Xander’s ramble.

6. Under Your Spell

I kinda wish I could rank this higher. And it is good! It begins a new tier on our list and there’s much to appreciate. Amber Benson’s voice (even though I would prefer more chest voice but shhh okay okay) and the fairy tale vibes, and just the fact that the big love song went to the lesbian couple. The sentiment is lovely even with the darker undertone of Willow’s literal spell from the previous episode, but more on that in a bit. It feels apt to give Tara, usually a quiet and reserved ch a solo in the musical episode to express her feelings fully. I’m in awe that this was on television in 2001 and was quite shocked that they went there at the end lol. What do you know, they sure had the cojones and I appreciate that.

Best part: as cheesy as it is, the willow tree line

5. Rest in Peace

I debated putting this below Under Your Spell but I gotta appreciate the rock vibes, the angst, and the sheer over the top poetry of it. It’s really the perfect song for Spike and as much as I think the metaphors and puns are over the top, again it just fits him. Plus, I have to admit, it’s just more fun to listen to than Tara’s solo (still with love to her of course). God Spike would make such a dramatic lesbian.

Best part: If my heart could beat it would break my chest

4. Standing

Anthony Stewart Head really went for it and this song was perfect for both his voice and Giles’ character. I do think the sentiment felt a bit, hmm, off, but that’s a convo for another day. Giles’ fatherly love for Buffy is the very DNA of this series and him realizing that he has to let Buffy go, just after getting her back, hits all the right emotional places. If we had to let go of ASH, as a main cast member at least, this was as good a sendoff as we could get. Also curious that this is the only song that seems to be in just once of the characters’ head? Whatever, it’s musical logic.

Best part: the way he delivers Wish I could slay your demons

3. Under Your Spell/Standing Reprise

Ohh okay, so yeah I love an apt reprise and this mashup was incredibly powerful. Under Your Spell gains its darker meaning as Tara realizes what the audience had known and to parallel her sense of betrayal and, though it will take her another episode to truly admit, realization with Giles’ is so cool. To parallel a young woman’s queer love for her girlfriend with a middle aged man’s for his daughter figure. For both to realize, albeit for vastly different reasons, that they can’t be the ones helping their loved ones anymore. For Giles, it’s to help Buffy grow. For Tara, it’s the realization that she can’t, even inadvertently, continue enabling Willow. It’s such a cool thematic concept and executed beautifully musically, and cinematically as we see the shot of Buffy and Willow talking, ignorant the difficult decisions their loved ones are making. Well done, show.

Best part: Wish I could stay (but they can’t. and doesn’t that just break your heart?)

2. Walk Through the Fire

Here we go, the best group number of the bunch even though the other ones all have their strengths. It combines so many excellent parts. Buffy’s depression, even Going Through the Motions making a brief return. The Scoobies’ realization that yeah, they should help. Spike’s own realization that he’ll always come back to Buffy’s aid. The ‘villain’ parts. ASH once again delivering his solo bits very well, particularly the Dawn line. Beady-eyes is right, we’re needed! It combines funny and deep and heartfelt and really, that sums up the show well. Plus yeah, the small reprises.

Best part: I think this line's mostly filler. Pls, that’s too funny.

1. Going Through the Motions

Okay listen at first I was like, can I? Can I actually rank this first? But why not. What an excellent song to start us off with. A few minutes into the episode and this already had me so hyped. The composition, the flow, how fun the demons are in this, Buffy’s attitude, SMG’s voice to be honest. The fact that this is her I want song! The very first song! This is just such a fun and yet meaningful song. It’s funny how SMG turns inexplicably British in it (heaRt has an R, surely) but I don’t care, she does a great job and this song really embodies my love for season 6 Buffy. So good!

Best part: How can I repay...? Whatever. This was SO funny. The rhymes throughout the episode can be a little too simple but when they work they just work.

So that would be the list, hope I didn’t shock and upset anybody. I knew going into this that people heralded Buffy’s musical episode as not only an OG but one of the, if not the ultimate best and you know what, yeah. And if anything it really proved to me that jukebox musicals are not where it’s at - if you’re gonna do a musical, put your whole pussy into it. Write those original songs! Make them relate to the characters and reveal interesting things about them. That’s the whole point and it’s why, though the villain song was fun, others were far superior. Not that I didn’t love this series before but Once More, With Feeling well and truly cemented my love for BtVS.

[infiniteorangethethird]

Hellooooo hi, I'm too lazy to scroll yeah

Can you tell me a bit about your paracosm? :3

A bit? Nope, sorry, no can do, I can only tell you a metric fuck TON about my paracosm. Hope ur prepared for an infodump >:)

Sooooo uh. There’s a lot to talk abt (because I don’t know how to shut up) so let me break it up a little. Setting-wise, the story’s set in a fantasy version of Earth, where the most important difference (aside from the presence of magic) is that if someone writes a story and enough people read it, the story becomes real in a parallel dimension. I originally thought of this as a way to explain how my OCs could meet with the characters from my favorite shows/books, nowadays it’s both a mechanic that facilitates the story and (recently more frequently) the focus and source of conflict.

Because of the setting, aside from the numerous stolen characters from other media and reworked versions of said stolen characters, there’s obviously a lot of magic going around with a fuckton of places to visit and even more magical species to populate the world and wield said magic – “angels”, demons, shapeshifters, monsters, gods, you name it. Most of my paras are non-human and those who are also tend to have non-human ancestry or some kind of extra magical power (what’s the point of fantasy without fantasy, yknow?). But also, because I have a weird obsession with Organizing and Putting Things In Boxes, I have the physics of magic worked out to an absurd detail, feel free to shoot me an ask abt it if you want to be bored to death :D

Plot-wise… well. I would summarize the story, I actually HAVE a pretty decent summary, but it’s like, 100+ pages (50k+ words if I recall correctly), and I’m pretty sure tumblr would not Like That (and this version’s not even up to date), so. There used to be a lot of exploration of the world (aka me integrating my current interests into my paracosm because I can), nowadays it’s a lot more character-focused, with the plot revolving around 15-ish “main” paras and their lives. Which can be anything from “I can finally go to college and study the stuff I wanna study! Yay!” to “oh god oh fuck I’m a general in a multidimensional war and thousands are dead if I make the wrong move” so. There’s a lot of throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. (I am a sucker for big epic fights tho so that happens a lot lol)

Thematically, I like to focus on the inner worlds of my paras and how they relate to the world around them. Each of them come from different backgrounds with different perspectives so any time I wanna explore a concept I can just pick whoever falls closest to that (like, “oh THIS one was abandoned by their family but THIS one is a stable father figure, found family trope go brrr” just to name an example). There’s a lot of hurt/comfort generally speaking, heavy on the emotional angst and, because I’m a secret whump enjoyer, there also tends to be a lot of blood. Like a lot. (Dw I always balance it out with some old-fashioned “finding peace in each other’s presence” daydreams, especially soft and cuddly.) Oh yeah and also everyone’s gay but that’s pretty much expected at this point.

Sometimes I also like to wonder about the morality of certain aspects of this universe, since the setting and world is so different from ours, but ig that’s a topic for another day haha

Anyway yeah that’s as short as I could get it 😅 it’s a bit hard to talk about my paracosm as a whole because it’s so old and as a result incredibly widespread. I do have a sideblog dedicated to it but tbh I haven’t really touched it in ages so what little info it has is probably outdated. Idk what else to say, if there’s any part you’d want me to go into greater detail feel free to ask (I know ppl mostly only care about the paras which, fair, but when it comes to talking abt my paracosm practically any topic is free for the asking lol), and sorry for the long ramble haha

Bonus doodle of one of my paras (Rowena) I did like a day ago

[tmsource]

Hello Emorfili, Britt and Ana! Another question for the mods: Do you have a favourite scene from the show? Perhaps, to make it easier, a favourite scene that you giffed or something like that. I'm curious what fills you with joy when you see on your dash (presuming you also follow tmsource lol) or when you reblog for the 'memory palace' tag! No pressure to answer tho <3

Dear Theo,

your investment in this blog is honestly delightful, thank you for all your sweet messages and requests!

Here are Britt's and Ana's answers quoted (I've also linked gifsets for reference):

Ana (gifset)

I just really really love Jane and Lisbon’s hugs!! I’m a sucker for hugs in general, but something about the way that they hug at different points in their lives and all their hugs have a different meaning/motivation but parallel each other so well makes me feral. I love to gif and see gifs about this thematic!

Also, honorary mention to the scene where Jane touches Lisbon’s face while she smiles on “Bloodshot” (1x16) because it’s one of my favorite scenes of them and was also the moment I was sure I was going to be really invested in jisbon lol 💞

Britt (gifset)

Wellll ya knowwwww me. It’s the 5 second 4x24 hand hold scene Although you know I’ve never just giffed that scene on its own… always in some kind of set

Me (gifset)

I absolutely adore the flirting of early seasons and generally any indication that Jane wanted Lisbon from early on, but was too traumatized and invested in his revenge to consider anything with her. So generally I love to see and gif those scenes. My absolute favorite would be the one in episode 2x19 in the container, also the scene where I started shipping them and decided to bing the show from the beginning. I mean the TENSION!! (fun fact: the greek sub team actually dubbed Lisbon saying "because I love you" when Jane asked "why did you agree to work with me in the first place?" although in brackets so that it was obvious it was not what she said, but I lost my shit regardless lmao.) Also I love the scene in 3x06 when they hide under the counter, cause wtf is personal space? 🤭

Your turn❣️

[onewomancitadel]

Hey, I’m a huge fan of your Arc Furnace fics on AO3. As a fellow writer myself and also a total sucker for male hero/female villain ships, I wanted to get your perspective on writing Jaune. What parts do you find the most difficult in writing him? I want him to be competent in my own writing, I hate leaning in too hard into that whole bumbling idiot shtick he sometimes has going on, but I also don’t want him to be cartoonishly OP or uber-competent either; that’s just poor writing. Would love to hear any advice you might want to share!

Thanks for reading my fic. I would really suggest to you that you think about what you want to write and why.

I'm not really sure how to answer this, because I think you might not be expecting the nature of my response; I don't really like giving out direct writing advice like this. I think you should be considering what are the canonical attributes of his character that you value and what the thematic ideas of the story you're trying to realise. Why do you or do you not like canon attributes of his character? Why do you not value that he's somewhat of a loser? Why does that make you uncomfortable?

This is why I don't categorically say I ship certain archetypes - male heroes/female villains - in the sense that I think it leads to a discomfort with actual canon attributes. What's 'more' interesting to me about Jaune and Cinder are their canon characters. They both kind of suck, but they also don't, because in their romance is the thematic heart of the story, and the actual transformational ideas.

But is my account of them the 'most true'? The only reason I think fic writing is worthwhile is if you feel you have something you want to say about them. You're your own author, etc.

I don't find writing Jaune 'hard' per se because the point to me is writing character as it so relates to romance and plot, because the 'point' is effectively the work you're laying out here. It's hard insofar it's the mechanical demand of actually writing the thing, but writing the thing is worth it, and is the creative form proper.

That's entire motivating point to me. It's why I write, despite the fact that it's a rarepair and I feel like I get more asks for writing advice than I do actual comments on my fanfic.

I have to admit, the way you've described Jaune here really rubs me the wrong way, but rather than letting my discomfort show - and not tell you what you ought to write, because I think that's bad form - I'd just ask why it is you want to write Jaune/Cinder if you don't like fundamental attributes of his character. Or, that similarly there is demonstrable competency of him in canon (especially if you're watching Volume 9) which you can still draw reference on - these characteristics are actually in balance. But then again, a lot of people don't really pay attention to his Semblance and are instead paying direct attention only to killdeathmurder (which is, again, the whole point of V9's development, to demonstrate why this is wrong). What's valuable to me about the Jaune/Cinder dynamic is that its heart is nonviolence.

I think also it's worth mentioning that I abhor fanon and I abhor archetypal blindness which happens when people assign the wrong expectations to the wrong characters. So I don't want my opinion to be given undue authority, and equally I think writing actual meaty, fun stuff comes from considering it through your own perspective.

Also, I call it Knightfall.