#a lot of stuff happened since the !! climax events

[12am-motivation]

HIHI Mo!! It’s so nice talking to you again 😊😊 Even though I don’t keep up to date with any big lore or plot from Enstars or Obey Me I still casually stay in the loop so feel free to let me know about anything big 😉 like I saw there were new Enstars characters?? after HOW LONG?? I was so shook

(Also the Triworlds song is such a classy banger they have been COOKING)

Heya, Avery! Thank you so much for the ask! Nice to see you too~ ^^

Now that you ask me about recent Enstars and Obey Me developments, I have... much to say about them so I'll put them under the cut; brainrot time!!

I have a massive, MASSIVE Enstars brainrot to the point that I even made a sideblog to dump my RyuseiP stuff because I don't wanna overshadow my Obey Me stuff here lol

In case you missed it, there are new albums per unit with new songs and solos

And YEAHHH HappyEle really went and had us adopt 5 new kids just recently and they're adorable! I found myself immediately attached to Yume (the purple-haired one) when he was first introduced in the 9th anniv livestream because we share a birthday, not to mention he also plays piano and does cosplay??

It made me a little giddy about it like did they put my OC on Enstars or something /j what are the odds I suddenly have a buncha things in common with an Enstars character— (Plus coser representation!!)

I haven't read much but based on a few simple translations, the new main story arc involves certain ES idols auditioning for a worldwide(?) dream unit in a show called "4piece" and we even have a new producer!

I think what's interesting about this arc is that it would focus more on the idols' individual strengths outside of their respective units

Also, I think Chiaki's also part of the audition based on how he appeared on the PV they showed in the 9th anniv livestream so I'm looking forward to it~

I'm not sure if you've seen this one too but JPstars' April fools gag this year was so WILDDD they even have a full song for it

They basically collaborated with Yagami Chitose, who is an actual shoujo mangaka artist, for the story and illustrations in the MV

The story itself involves a ton of shoujo manga tropes (including Hajime / the MC somehow bumping into 4 people at once) and it was a fun read lol

You can even change the characters while the text and their voices change accordingly so imagine the opportunities for both yumes and shippers 👀

Unfortunately for Obey Me Nightbringer, I've yet to catch up to the Main Story again because of the card grinding ;w;

But aside from Anniversary and All the Feels, they've been cooking with cards too! It takes a toll on players' funds because you need card dupes for them but the new Premium Picture feature looks so divine?? Don't even get me started on the shower pics—

Even though I was a bit iffy about the sudden story reboot in the new game, I still appreciate some of the details they changed, including MC living with Solomon at Cocytus Hall instead of them staying with the brothers (since it makes a bit more sense that they'd be closer to Sol as a fellow human), and Satan's more evident wrath compared to the OG game

We even get to enjoy random domestic moments with Sol like this one~ Since we pretty much live together with him, we sound like a married couple (though a lot of those moments involve banning him from the kitchen)

sorry for the really long answer— here's a niki beena

[cursedvibes]

My JJK Arc Ranking

Culling Game (ch 159-221) + Baka Survivor (ch 239-243)

Perfect Preparation (ch 144-158)

Itadori's Extermination (ch 137-143)

Death Painting (ch 55-64)

Shibuya Incident (ch 79-136)

Vs Mahito (ch 19-31)

Fearsome Womb (ch 1-18)

Hidden Inventory (ch 65-79)

Shinjuku Showdown (ch 222-262+)

Kyoto Goodwill Event (ch 32-54)

Cursed Child (Vol 0)

Note that this is my personal ranking of which arcs I like the most and least, not any objective statement. Like for example, I think Hidden Inventory is well-written, but it doesn't interest me much, that's why it's further towards the bottom.

With the manga drawing to a close, I thought I'd write down my thoughts about what we've gotten so far and what I like or don't like in the different arcs.

Culling Game

Starting at #1 with the Culling Game Arc. It's where my interest in the story really picked up and I got invested to the point of bothering to write analyses, dig into the lore and historical background and even start writing fanfiction. Culling Game is the meat of the story, where we got introduced to new important lore of characters, further explored their themes and connected dots that had been set up before. It is sort of a lul after the big climax of the Shibuya Incident, but I think that's also what was needed here, since this is more of a section where Gege takes time to explore concepts and characters further. Shibuya is a big payoff for the first part of the story and Culling Game builds on that, it establishes a level ground for the last part of the story. Characters like Yuuji and Maki for example found themselves fundamentally changed after Shibuya and used this time to find their footing again and try to create a new way for themselves to move forward. In Yuuji's case he had to do it twice even with the massive turn of not being Sukuna's vessel anymore aka having his role, purpose and ideal death taken from him. He catches himself relatively quickly though.

Also this arc just had a lot of moments I really like, actually most of my favourite moments in jjk happen here. Like Kenjaku calling Yuuji their son, Yuuji's fight against Higuruma, Maki's awakening, Noritoshi reconciling with his mother having a new family, Kenjaku & Uraume rolling up to the White House, the Yuki vs Kenjaku fight, the Heian trio spa day, Yorozu's backstory, Kenjaku and Tengen getting Sukuna's mummy and much more. The fights were for the most part also great. You always took something new away and I liked how we were slowly spoon-fed information about the Culling Game and Kenjaku's plans. Almost every chapter had something to pick apart and even with the cycle through the colonies there was always tension because you didn't know what this would all lead to. Even when the protagonists were doing well, things could change at the drop of a dime. There was a false sense of security. The main group got a little bit of control only to have it ripped away when they least expected it.

Baka Survivor

I put the Baka Survivor arc up here as well because while it might technically be during the Shinjuku Showdown, I thought it was so far removed from the fight against Sukuna that it's reasonable to see it as its own mini-arc. Plus, I think this section is a lot better than the majority of the Shinjuku Showdown. It's like Gege took some time to play around and write what was fun to them, the stuff they actually want to write. The end was a bit...meh. Mainly because of the context of this fight and Kenjaku's larger role in the story, especially what Kenjaku's death this early would mean (or not mean...) for Yuuji. Yuuta's integration here was also very weak because while he might have reasons to go after Kenjaku that were a little bit explored (although I think you could've done way more with it than just "wants to do it for Gojo" after all a big theme of this fight was connecting with other people and building friendships/partnerships, which is something closely related to Yuuta's character), he was absolutely irrelevant from Kenjaku's perspective. You could've put anyone in his place and it wouldn't have changed anything from Kenjaku's point of view. Well, maybe if you put Yuuji there, but Gege was clearly not interested in exploring their relationship like that....

Anyway, I have raved about this arc a lot on my blog already, but in summary I absolutely love how we explore both Kenjaku and Takaba further, compare them and their understanding of comedy/curiosity and how both of them struggle to open up to others, show their real self and make themselves vulnerable. I especially think that this was actually thematically a very nice end for Kenjaku. They indulge in what they really want, have fun without the need of excessive cruelty (although there was violence from both of them) and they allowed themselves to connect with someone else again and make a friend. Chasing after their superficial goals of merging humanity they lost their closest friend, Tengen, were thrown into doubt and Takaba both offered himself as an alternative and pulled them further away from their insane ideas. Best thing about it is that Kenjaku went for it! They got caught up in the comedy with Takaba, they paid the price for allowing themselves such a close relationship with someone else and lowering their guard, and they still didn't regret it. In fact they were glad they spend their time before their death with Takaba and finally having fun. Of course the merger plan continues, they can't just let Tengen die with them or fall into the protagonists hands and it is too late for Tengen to change back anyway, but I absolutely love Kenjaku's character development here. Just remains to be seen how Takaba will leave this fight and how he will react to having once again lost a partner.

Perfect Preparation

Really like this arc for all the new lore we get as well as emotional chapters like the Zenin massacre and Yaga's death. The introduction of Hakari and Kirara was fun too, but the highlight for me is definitely the meeting with Tengen and Maki's massacre. Ch 145 and 146 might be in the top 5 of the chapters I have reread most often. You always find something new there and there's so much about the relationship between Tengen, the Star Plasma Vessels and the six eyes to take apart, particularly with later reveals like Yuki also being a Star Plasma Vessel. Those two chapters were also what first really got me more interested in Kenjaku and their history with Tengen. It's when it becomes apparent just how much Kenjaku has planned and arranged over the past millennium and it also raises even more questions of why Tengen never mentioned them before and how Kenjaku could stay undercover for so long.

Then we of course also have the Zenin massacre. I like how it starts with giving us some clan politics. I love that shit. Wish we got something similar for the Kamo and Gojo, but oh well. Maki's meeting with her mother when she goes for the weapon storage is already pretty chilling, but it's even better when you see her mother go from "why can't you make me proud of you for once?" to "I'm glad I gave birth to you". Shows how much she suffered under the Zenin as well, despite playing by their rules. Too bad she only came to the conclusion to treat her kids decently when it was already too late. Maki also only found out her mother did care about her and was the one to finish off Naoya when she was already dead. Just like her reunion and clearing conversation with Mai, it all happens just a little too late and that's what makes it so wonderfully tragic.

Also shout-out to Yaga's death scene. I've come to appreciate it much more recently and I particularly like seeing him together with all the other autonomous cursed corpses he keeps hidden away and the hints of the friendship he has with Kusakabe.

Itadori's Extermination

Honestly, I mostly like this arc for its atmosphere. It's one of the instances where you feel the most just how much destruction, chaos and desolation Shibuya and the start of the Culling Game caused. The main characters roaming the streets all split up and sleeping by campfires, the broken buildings and civilians hunting for scraps of food, curses praying on desperate humans...it's great. Wish we got more of that later on, but I only really got a similar feeling when the foreign armies attacked.

And of course we get the fateful Itadori flashback here. I don't know how many hours I spend looking at those two pages and taking the dialogue apart. Just two pages and I've become utterly obsessed by this weird family. Also the first time we see Kenjaku in a vessel that is not Geto, so that's extra nice.

I remember also really liking Yuuta's reintroduction when the chapters first came out. He looked so much worse than in Vol 0, so that was really intriguing. Bit disappointed there wasn't more conflict and it turned out he looks like shit because...well, that's just his look now. Still good arc.

Death Painting

I like this one because it's where Yuuji, Nobara and Megumi feel most like a team going on a mission and solving a mystery. Especially the opening of it, with weird paranormal events that remind you of classic Japanese horror stories is really nice and always manages to draw me in. Kinda wish there were more missions like that just for the sake of atmosphere, even though I don't think the story necessarily needs it. Seeing Mahito and Kenjaku capture a civilian man, strip him, nail him to a wall and then feed him a cursed fetus was also insane. Never get tired of watching/reading that no matter if it's the manga or anime. Vol 7 was the first jjk volume I ever bought and I remember how striking it was to open the book and start with that scene. Gave me chills.

I also love the entire fight with Eso and Kechizu. One because I just like their characters and getting introduced to the background of the Death Painting's existence was interesting, but I also really enjoyed Yuuji and Nobara's dynamic here and their talk about what it means to kill.

Shibuya Incident

Really good arc and what made me more interest in how jjk would continue when I first read the manga, but rereading it there are definitely some fights and scenes that really drag for me and I end up skipping whenever I read it again or when I watched S2. Like all the curse users working for Kenjaku that ended up being entirely irrelevant. The backstory of Ogami and the guy with the big eyes was nice because it gave us an insight into what the life of regular curse users (not big hitters like Geto or Kenjaku) is actually like and how society changed when Gojo was born. That's some world building I very much appreciate. Aside from that all the curse users are very forgettable though. There's a reason I only remember Ogami's name and none of the others'. Some other stuff also just comes down to character preferences like I'm not that interested in what Nanami or Ino were up to and Toji was also...eh. Nice, but I'm not losing my mind over it. Nanami's death scene is great though. I mostly love Shibuya for its later stages. Yuuji's fight against Mahito, how seeing his friends and civilians die through his inaction makes him breakdown, how his world view changes over the course of fighting Mahito and their scene at the end when the roles of predator and prey are reversed. Kenjaku's entrance and explanation of their plan and what was to come is also very interesting and probably the part I reread most in this arc.

Vs Mahito

I gotta say I do really like Junpei's story and his developing friendship with Yuuji. Yuuji's first few encounters with Mahito are great as well. It's nice seeing them get to know each other and seeing the inciting incidents that cause both of them to gradually get more and more obsessed with killing the other. I also really appreciate this arc for giving us some of those slower scenes that are just focused on Mahito, the curse family or Mahito & Junpei talking philosophy. Mahito is a quite fascinating character even in his simplistic cruelty and here you can also see the most just how horrific, but also intriguing, Idle Transfiguration is. This arc has one of the best horror in jjk and I appreciate the anime for emphasizing the comparisons to the Human Centipede movies and human experimentation even further. It's really close between this and Shibuya Incident. I just ended up putting Shibuya higher because when it hits, it hits hard and I still like the high points it has more than the Vs Mahito arc. Still appreciate the groundwork this arc laid for Shibuya to be as impactful as it was.

Hidden Inventory

Like I said in the beginning, I do think this arc is well-written and I think it's a great way to flesh out Gojo and Geto's characters as well as give us more world building and establish the background presence of Tengen and the connection of the Star Plasma Vessel and six eyes to her. I'm also convinced that what we learn here about the Time Vessel Association and the cults that build around Tengen will become relevant again when we get to the Heian flashback and Sukuna's/Tengen's/Kenjaku's backstory. Still have that "Kenjaku created the Time Vessel Association in the Nara period" theory in the back of my mind. This lore is also the main thing I like about this arc. Don't get me wrong, Gojo and Geto's struggles and change in mindset is nice too, but I don't care much about Gojo and don't like Geto, so I ended up focusing more on everything around them. Including Riko. I find her story, the way she grew up and her inevitable death very interesting. Episode 3 of season 2 is still my favourite episode of the season of maybe even the entire anime because it's just that beautiful and I love how they added to the themes of her character by connecting her to the ocean. The inside of the Tomb of Stars is also so eery and entrancing, I could soak in that atmosphere forever. The only reason it's so low is because a lot of this arc is dedicated to Gojo and Geto and their relationship etc. While that is absolutely necessary and was very well done, it's not something I'm much interested in.

Fearsome Womb

Start of the series. It's really those first few chapters and the mission at the detention centre I like about it. It's where you see Yuuji still quite naive and ready to play the hero. I am very interested in his life before joining Jujutsu Tech and when he first got introduced to jujutsu, so this is always nice to revisit and see how he acted before he was forced to become a seasoned sorcerer very quickly. Those glimpses of how Yuuji was always a bit of a loner and also extraordinary from the start due to Kenjaku's meddling. Knowing his family background makes these scenes now even more interesting. His mentality back then is also what makes the moment in the detention centre so special, where he realizes Sukuna isn't Kurama and won't be a convenient power source for him. He could die if he is careless (which he is, of course, he never dealt with anything like this before) and he is scared of it.

Besides that, I also like the introduction of Kenjaku and the curses, how chill it is and how you see them walking among regular citizens undetected by anyone. I think that's especially a fitting introduction to Kenjaku's character. They are unassuming in the beginning of the series, easy to overlook next to flashy Mahito and Jogo, but that's how they have always been throughout history and it's part of the reason for why they never drew much attention besides the Death Painting experiment, which wasn't directly linked to them. Of course Tengen covering for them was the other big reason.

Overall, nice start into the series, even if some parts are a bit slow and don't animate me much to reread them.

Shinjuku Showdown

Shinjuku Showdown fights on a reread do merge well into each other, but it's undeniable that they are very formulaic. Yuuta starts out the same way Higuruma does. Talking about regrets, giving his all, how he has to end everything with a technique only he can use and then he gets cut down. Same with Maki, Kusakabe, Miguel and Larue. It is all the same. We are currently literally watching a slight reshuffle of the fight that started this arc.

Parallel we learn more about Yuuji's new abilities and Sukuna has to gradually exert more force. Technically a good thing, but it's all so repetitive that it loses more and more of it's emotional impact for me. If there is any emotional impact at all. Eventually it just becomes explaining of cursed technique after cursed technique that won't work anyway with minimal depth otherwise. Things get a bit better when most people have been cut away and we start focusing on Yuuji and Sukuna, but by that point I'm already so tired by everything that came before that I can't get that hyped about it and just want a complete change of pace that breaks all rules that have been set up and introduces something completely new. Like the merger for example... Although I have to say, Kashimo's fight might be my favourite still out of the bunch. Has a lot to do with my particular interest and what I'm looking for in a fight. It was short, but we got a nice wrap-up for Kashimo's character, learned more about the Heian era, explored the theme of love and strength and got what is so far one of the deepest looks at Sukuna's philosophy and mindset.

Besides that, on the reread, by the time Kusakabe's fight happens I'm catching myself only skimming the pages. It doesn't help that there's not much initiative happening from Sukuna's side besides the very recent chapters. He's just waiting for others to do something, which lowers the perception of any imminent threat from him. The later half (before Yuuta showed up again) isn't as bad as the Gojo vs Sukuna fight, but I'm still having a hard time staying invested while reading it. Gojo vs Sukuna 2.0 pretty much tanked my interest again. Every week I'm shaking Sukuna to just spit out his backstory already and release Tengen because that's the only thing I care about at this point and I'm bored of this fight. But again, my opinion, others likely feel otherwise.

Kyoto Goodwill Event

Was a bit tempted to put it above Shinjuku Showdown, but at the end of it Shinjuku Showdown still has some scenes I really like, like Kashimo's fight, Yuuji fighting Sukuna and the Sukuna, Uraume and Kenjaku scenes in ch 222. That's more than what I could say for Kyoto Goodwill Event. I don't necessarily dislike it. It doesn't really have any moments that bother me as much as the ones in Shinjuku Showdown, but at the same time nothing in this arc really stands out to me or catches my interest. Often I end up forgetting about it entirely. There's not really much to say about it because I don't have any strong feelings about this one. Not really something I reread unless I'm looking for some very specific information.

Cursed Child

When I first read Vol 0 (right before the Death Painting arc) I thought it was a concept story for jjk. The infant stage of it before Gege made the proper story. Sort of like the original chapter of Naruto where he's actually a fox spirit. Interesting to read to see where jjk started, but not tied to canon. That's also why I didn't question Geto acting very different here. I just though "wow, they made his character way less aggravating". So yeah, Vol 0 is really not something I find interesting or enjoy and I think the writing in it is quite rough. I didn't find Yuuta very compelling. He's an obvious Shinji rip-off, which wouldn't be that bad in itself except I don't find his personality that interesting and him pulling powers out of his ass without any of them being set up prior made me really dislike him. He can just copy techniques now and use them much better than the original person because he's just that overpowered. Who knows how he learned about any of this, who knows what the limitations to any of his powers are, he can apparently just do anything and that makes his fights not very thrilling because there aren't really any stakes. He also has barely any connection to the villain of this arc except that he happens to kill people Yuuta cares about. Geto's ideology is entirely irrelevant. Geto could've said he's killing people because he wants to turn them into Christmas decoration and the fight would've happened the same way. I think putting an ideologically-driven villain against someone whose only care is that his friends are alive and who has also not even the experience to judge if anything Geto says is justified wasn't a very good move. Centring Gojo and Geto's conflict would've been better and also showing us literally anything that would make it possible for us to judge if any of Geto's complaints are justified, if he's talking about real problems. Just going by Vol 0, we don't know that. We can only tell that the bullshit he spouts is an allegory for white supremacy/racism, which obviously is bad. But on it's own it seems like he's just spouting bigotry for bigotry's sake, which doesn't make for a very compelling villain, especially if the rest of the characters and setting don't fit his attitude. Nobody can ever even bring themselves to say something like "genocide bad, eugenics bad". They just don't engage with what he's saying and if that's the case, then why bring it up in the first case. It makes Geto's antics even more unnecessary. On its own it's really not that good of a story and since it's a oneshot with initially no guaranteed sequel, I would expect a bit more.

All that being said, the first time I read Vol 0 I was very annoyed and glad I followed it up with the Death Painting arc, something which is much better written and more up my alley. If Vol 0 was my first exposure to jjk, I don't think I would've continued reading. Having more context from Hidden Inventory fleshes at least out what Gojo and Geto have going on, but my complaints about Yuuta and his lack of meaningful relation to Geto and what he stands for still makes me dislike this arc.

[color-cacophony]

I was going to make a Big Official Review Post about Rayman in the Phantom Show but I don't really have enough complete thoughts to make something comprehensive and organized, but I still want to share some points from my experience with it so uhhh without further ado, here's a bunch of thoughts on what dazzled me and what I thought could have been done better.

Here I go...

I'll start with the stuff that bugged me first because I don't like to end on a bad note:

I think the biggest issue is that giving the player the option to complete each set in any order diminishes the opportunity to have a linear story. Without a series of events building up to the finale, the actual climax doesn't feel as grand or substantial as it should be (it definitely feels like a few lines were cut from the moments before Phantom's first verse with how abruptly it starts). It would have felt more immersive to see actual scenes of the heroes trying to play their roles and have more varied quests based on puzzles or even characters and dialogue (like the search for Sweetlopek's stolen axe), all whilst gradually putting the pieces together that they were led into a trap.

Speaking of putting the pieces together, it would've paid off to have Beep-0 learn from his own arrogance in the past instead of repeating his assertion that he knew what Phantom was up to all along. That part made me kind of sad because I really like Beep-0 and it seemed like they were setting him up to eventually become less uptight and more open to admitting his mistakes, which would be more satisfying and obvious!

As we all know, Beep-0 isn't the only one who repeated himself. I remember an exchange I had with @randomrabbidramblings about our predictions for what would happen in the climax; they were hoping the final showdown with Phantom would not be redundant with his first encounter, having the same battle gimmick as before. Unfortunately that is, in fact, what they ended up doing. While framing it as Phantom being unoriginal or making a callback helps it a little bit, ultimately it made me feel let down (although I love Beep-0's delivery when he reiterates his line from Kingdom Battle. he means business).

As for the aftermath of the battle, I want to know where Phantom went. There doesn't seem to be any sign of him anywhere in the studio. It's really odd, given how this was supposed to be his grand comeback (alongside Rayman, of course), but we don't get even a simple explanation of what happened to him after he was defeated for the second time, unless I missed something. I presume this is his last major appearance in a game (unless they decide to do something completely different with him in the distant future??? wishful thinking but not ruling it out!), so it's a strangely underwhelming and mysterious send-off to our beloved ghostly diva. I would have been bummed that we didn't get lore paintings for him, but the memory entry summarizing his surprisingly short-lived career actually made me laugh and honestly, the thought of him only releasing one album and becoming so well-known just because he's notoriously a huge jerk and a producer of incredibly terrible films is so in-character for him.

Another choice I found unusual was the lack of any explanation as to how he got his voice back, since it's been established that he screwed it up by overdoing it. Although, they must have dismissed it knowing that not everyone is going to find the mural containing the only source of that detail. His voice could have healed over time anyway, but it just doesn't entirely make sense that they don't acknowledge it at all (I did see @bramble-scramble 's post mentioning a detail @randomrabbidramblings pointed out where a gramophone can be seen in a box in the studio's control room and it is supposedly the one Phantom replaced with a new one when he messed it up, but even if that's true, it's still a bit easy to miss).

I understand that a lot of these issues were due to restraints since it's only a DLC and they could only fit so much in, but that goes to show that this concept is a little too big for a DLC, but not quite big enough for a full game.

Now, for the things I loved...

I must give massive props to the artists and animators for taking reference from multiple Rayman games and essentially making the pinnacle of his goofiness. Rayman was HIGHLY entertaining to see (and listen to, thanks to David Gasman) and very lovable in this! And the way his dynamic with Rabbid Peach and Rabbid Mario changes up until the end where he becomes friends with them and realizes that he can work with the Rabbids now instead of against them it's just 🥺 awgh... It feels cheesy to talk about it but it really does make me happy now that Rayman has a chance to be an equal to the Rabbids and have something resembling a mutual understanding.

I appreciate them bringing back characters from the main game and giving them their own sets. Fittingly enough, it's like a curtain call for the final installment of SoH.

The return of Beep-0's swearing. SERIOUSLY IT'S SUCH A SMALL THING BUT IT DELIGHTED ME

The studio's lobby is gorgeous. Absolutely STUNNING I love all the details and the music notation motifs on everything.

Honestly the rest of this is just going to be me gushing about Phantom hehehe...

First of all, I was completely awestruck at the decision to give him a swing/jazz sequence because I love the aesthetic of the whole sassy big band musical number kind of thing so when I saw that Phantom was going to do that I went INSANE. The animation in the song sequences is absolutely top tier. Phantom is ALL OVER THE PLACE, very charming, very energetic. The swing bit made me realize just how unbelievably coordinated he is. Like when he's zipping and spinning around the stage and it doesn't affect his singing at all? Holy crap. Then, I went even MORE insane when rock/metal Phantom showed up. I would have wanted a verse in that style too, but I get that it was cut because it would mess up the pacing of the battle.

I love Phantom's inability to contain his excitement at the start of the battle, his annoyed lines when you destroy the lights, his smug remarks even when he's taking damage. He's just so- I'm just gonna say it- so freaking cute in this! His line deliveries in general made me fall so hard for him, especially "were you EVER a thing, Rayman?". The way he drops his voice sounds so cool...

Regarding his abilities, I thought they were going to explain why he could turn people to stone in Kingdom Battle, but they simply took that detail away. I don't have a big problem with this, as the Stone Deaf ability could have been part of the Megabug's influence (and it makes him at least a bit less OP lol). I'm also satisfied to finally know that he can indeed phase through things like any other ghost and isn't limited to just teleporting.

His death acting has definitely improved since last time, in that it's silly and makes me smile instead of just making me feel embarrassed lol.

So uummmm yeah that's all the noteworthy stuff I can think of! Overall I thought the DLC was delightful during my playthrough, but after I finished it I felt kind of sad because it just didn't feel "thorough". However, given that Sparks of Hope generally improved on so many aspects from the last game, I'm confident that they'll keep adding and experimenting with more characterizations and scenarios and make something even better if they decide to continue with Mario + Rabbids. And even if they don't, we'll always have the amazing fans to continue the story and put even more wonder into this wild crossed-over universe!

Anyway, thank you for reading through this highly disorganized rant/gush! And while I'm at it, thank you to everybody in the Mario + Rabbids community for making such amazing art and just being here to share our love for the series. That means thank you to @randomrabbidramblings @bramble-scramble @salamifuposey @hostess-of-horror @phandrow @pastelprince18 @critterzone13 @hostdoozy @majorpepperidge and more! You guys are super cool and I appreciate you even though I've never directly interacted with all of you, hehe. I suppose all I have left to say is goodnight, so goodnight/day everyone! Until next time I decide to dump more nonsense onto your dashboard :D

[stevetown]

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

Playtime: 59h 29m Completed: April 17, 2024

I put off writing this entry because I didn't want to admit to myself that I really did not care for Rebirth. Remake was my favorite game of the last decade, and I rarely get hyped for new titles nowadays, so to swallow the bitter pill and admit the last four years of hype were wasted...hurts.

It happened sometime around Costa Del Sol. After a lengthy chapter involving a card tournament, which itself was followed by a chapter whose climax hinges on a rhythm game parade segment, here was another chapter where you had to complete multiple required mini-games to get tickets to dress our favorite cast of destiny defiers for the beach. On its face, Rebirth should have been exactly what I was looking for. I love these characters so much that just hanging out at the game's equivalent of Atlantic City should have been an easy slam dunk for me. And there are good, if fleeting, character moments to be found here!

But at this point in the game, it became apparent there's no pathos and no forward momentum pulling the party forward other than "I guess we'll bumble around looking for black robed figures." It's a confusing approach to the middle chapter considering even the original was so clear about the stakes for each character and what they were after once they left Midgar. Remake was also so keen on engaging with our knowledge of the original's plot. "You can't fall in love with me" sent me reeling. Rebirth offers no such assurance that it knows nor cares about what's coming.

Emotional catharsis is nowhere to be found. Character moments like Barrett and Dyne's reunion and Red XIII's Cosmo Canyon homecoming are offensively brief, having little to no lead up and no follow through indicating those events had a lasting impact on anyone. The few beats where the game does take swings and add new material are almost never talked about amongst the cast, leading to narratively clashing moments that left us scratching our heads and screaming at the screen for anyone to talk about anything of importance. Whenever the game begins to build any kind of emotional crest, you can count on it falling short of a satisfying conversational resolution if it wasn't interrupted by Yuffie screaming about materia for the thousandth time this chapter.

It's not all bad. There's good stuff here with Cloud and Tifa's relationship. Vincent and Cid's character introductions are highlights that got some good belly laugh's and felt like old school Remake character magic. The second visit to the Gold Saucer got the waterworks going. The combat is more of the same, which is to say fairly good, but it's hard to keep all of the character play styles straight in your head and the Folio system is the worst character upgrade system since Final Fantasy II.

Then there's the climax, which I'm honestly too exhausted to get into. It's not that I hate the idea of what they're going for here, but during the moment where the game needed clarity the most it decided to muddle the message and leave us shrugging more than salivating for part III. It's clear this Final Fantasy VII remake experiment wants to have its cake and eat it too, offer titillating change and remain faithful to the original, but instead offers neither. I'm not left with confidence that Hamaguchi, Nomura and co. know how to wrap this up and deliver a satisfying conclusion to what they kicked off with aplomb and intrigue in Remake.

I did have fun with Rebirth! I put a lot of hours into it, despite the game's incessant efforts to make me hate it at almost every turn (I never want to hold down triangle for three seconds every time I need to do anything in the environment, thanks). There are good nuggets buried deep within the expansive nothingness that is the game's take on Ubisoft map design. But this is a game that is impressively all fat with little meat to chew on. Golden moments are spread too thin, not explored to satisfaction, and at worst become utterly confusing. I know in a year I'll still be pining for the last installment, which is more of a testament to how enduring these characters are than anything Rebrith itself did. I might as well see this through, but I'm left feeling disappointed that Square has shown this experiment to be what I wasn't looking for after all.

[dreamerdoesthewritething]

More Leon S. Kennedy headcanons. This time I think they’re mostly going to do with relationships of the romantic and/or intimate variety. But these things get away from me, so we’ll see.

Think about original RE4 Leon, or I guess original timeline Leon since I might reference events outside of that game, when you read these.

(Also Ada is an outlier for lots of things lmao. Maybe. Woman is a mystery wrapped in an enigma.)

---------

Leon Relationship Headcanons:

He values honesty and stability. Too many people in his life lie or obscure the truth. He doesn’t want his partner to do the same. As for the stable part, it’s about having someone to come home to. Something normal. Something that remains when everything else is so messy, so chaotic, so unstable.

That said, there's stable and then there's boring. His partner can't be too boring.

Appearances don't mean much to him. He doesn't fall for people solely for their physique. Personality matters much more.

Prefers commitment over one-night stands. Doesn't mean he never has them. Just means he'd rather have a solid relationship than a meaningless fling.

If given the chance to actually show it, he is very physically affectionate. Likes touching just about anyone he cares about, but especially his partner. (Get your head outta the gutter; these are platonic touches.)

Shameless flirt, as we all know. Ramps up when he's smitten, because he loves watching his partner's reaction. Always finds it so cute when they're flustered and/or blushing.

Likes to think he doesn't get jealous easily. Reality doesn't always agree with this thought.

More under the cut, particularly the ~spicy~stuff. If you're a minor, you know better than to venture further. Even though I don't get too explicit. You've been warned.

Unless it's a one-night stand, he won't have sex with his partner until at least the third date. Would rather get to know the person before sticking his dick in 'em, you know?

Is open to experimenting in the bedroom. Roleplay, however, cannot relate to police work, the government, secret agents, or doctors/ scientists. Also not huge on inflicting pain or being hurt during sex, but can do so if he and his partner are comfortable with it.

No choking the poor man! Tyrants and other B.O.W.s do that to him too much for it to be anything but traumatizing. He won't choke his partner, either.

He's fairly average as far as size/length and girth are concerned. But it's not the size that matters; it's how he uses it ;P

Has some serious stamina.

Makes sure his partner cums first. He's definitely not a selfish lover.

Won't tell his partner any of his kinks unless they're a serious couple and if asked directly. He thinks his are kind of embarrassing, even if they're not that weird. Can't have someone knowing how to manipulate him in any way, you know? lmao

Sex in public and/or a place where the risk of being caught is high is definitely one of them. As is his partner being loud because he's fucking them so well. As is his partner being just loud enough that only he can hear them. Paradox? Maybe. That happens with these things sometimes.

Couldn't care less if his partner screams his name or if they don't. As long as they're making noise and seem to be enjoying themselves, then he's golden.

If there's time, he absolutely enjoys foreplay. Good opportunity to tease his partner for as long as possible, edging them and bringing them closer and closer to the climax only to hold them there. Begging for more. Begging for him.

Aftercare is a necessity in his opinion, even with quickies. The rougher he is with his partner, the more time he'll spend on it. If he gets too overbearing, his partner will have to call him on it. He just wants to be sure they're really okay after what just happened.

I mentioned this on my other headcanon post, but Leon needs to sleep alone. It's because of his trouble sleeping. He doesn't want to disturb their rest with his issues. Doesn't just get up after sex and go to the couch and fall asleep, though. Will stay and cuddle until they're asleep and then he slips away to the living room. Sometimes he'll sneak back in before they wake up to give the illusion that he was there the whole time. If the relationship is solid enough, he might try to stay in the bed and may learn to actually sleep with another person beside him, but it'll take time, patience and understanding.

[emeraldspiral]

Been thinking about how they could adapt the Zimvoid arc into a film, because I think it works really well as a finale. I think Zib is a perfect villain to make Zim and Dib realize ugly truths about themselves and challenge them to be better. But there's no way they'd just do a straightforward adaptation. They'd have to make major changes to the story so it'd be something new and exciting and not spoiled right from the start, just like how they started ETF as an adaptation of the first comic and then veered off into something totally original.

I like the idea of playing it like the comic story is canon and the movie is actually a stealth sequel. Like, Zib used time travel to go back and do everything over and he remembers how everything went the first time and is making changes throughout the story to take it off the rails toward a different end goal. Maybe he was even the one who made Zim forget "Phase 2" and caused the events of ETF to happen.

I'd really like to see Zib introduced a lot earlier or at least for the story after the twist reveal to go on for a lot longer because I feel like in the comic everything happened pretty quickly and there was so much more that could've been done with Zib. Like, he doesn't really do much outside of exposition. Even at the end, all he does is sit on his throne holding Dib captive while the Zims battle his giant robot for like 2 pages before main Zim merges them all and Zib's plan falls apart. I'd really like to see a big horror movie chase sequence with Zib as the monster, relentlessly stalking Zim and Dib through multiple realities and tearing through every obstacle like cardboard, like Wanda in Multiverse of Madness. Would also really love to see Zim and Dib tag-team against Zib since the climax of the original comic has Dib doing nothing while everything Zim does to achieve victory happens off-screen and it feels like kind of a missed opportunity to not have them work as a team against a being that is a combination of the two of them.

There's also a lot of sequences in the comic that are just kinda skipped over that I'd really like to see in some capacity. Like, we don't see much of Zim's battles in the arena so we don't know how he managed to beat 166 opponents in a day while supposedly being the worst Zim. We also don't see the rebel Zims battle against the top 99 elite Zims or #2 fighting his way through the Massive to get an audience with the Tallest, so I feel like we missed out on some potential for really funny and exciting action sequences.

I like that Zim and Dib had parallel arcs of being confronted with the idea that there are better versions of themselves out there and maybe they're actually the worst, before ultimately coming out on top to prove they're actually the best, at least by the logic of "I'm only failing because I've had it harder than anyone else". So I'd like to take the natural next step and have them become self-aware about how much they validate each other.

Like, in the comic the alternate Zims openly admit that they're happy to see a Dib and express admiration for their own Dibs, which makes sense because they've had time apart to realize their true feelings. But we never see if this gives Dib pause and causes him to reflect on how his Zim might feel about him, so that's something that could be added onto the original arc. I also really like the idea that while main Zim was imprisoned with the other Zims they were talking the same way about their Dibs in front of him, and because he hasn't had that time apart to reflect and come to terms with his feelings he's uncomfortable with the thought that he might actually like Dib. Plus, I think adding a scene like that would give extra context to why Zim refuses to work with Dib when he breaks them all out. I also like the idea that in general, because they've had no one but themselves to talk to in the void, the alternate Zims have been able to work through stuff that main Zim hasn't. Like, they all know that their mission was fake, the Tallest never respected them, and they're a joke to pretty much everyone but Dib, but main Zim's still in denial about all of it.

Meanwhile, Dib wouldn't just take Zib's explanation for what he did at face value. He's convinced no Dib would be stupid enough to attach Zim's PAK to themselves and not expect to be corrupted, and he can't bring himself to believe it was just the lack of recognition that drove him to it. He'd demand to know the real reason so he can avoid making the same mistakes and eventually Zib would admit he did it because he missed his Zim.

"You never really know what someone means to you until they're gone. Until you destroy the only person who ever respected you, who understood you, for a world that doesn't even appreciate the sacrifice."

Zib attached Zim's PAK to himself because he wanted his Zim back, but the PAK had been damaged and all that was left of his personality were his final thoughts and feelings. Fear, anger, regret, sadness, resentment, and shame. The Zim part of Zib's mind is just a malevolent ghost in the back of his head, and the Zimvoid is nothing more than a hell of his own creation. The Zim part drives Dib to commit atrocities to get back at him for killing him and the Dib part torments the alternate Zims and plots to destroy all the Irkens to get back at the Zim part. Both sides want to punish each other and both sides allow it because they feel like they deserve it for being failures.

Learning all this is hard for Dib to swallow because it means there's seemingly no good outcome for earth no matter what he does. Either Zim wins and earth is destroyed or he wins and destroys earth himself because his life is empty without Zim.

What makes all the difference to the story's outcome though is that because ETF happened Zim and Dib are in different headspaces than in the original story. Dib has already realized that proving Zim is an alien was just a means to an end to get what he really wanted, which it turned out he already had, and now that he knows it he can see that it's exactly the same for Zim with his mission. Meanwhile, Zim's walls of self-deception have already started crumbling since he realized he "lost" the Tallests' respect, which makes him desperate to reinforce them even as they grow more fragile.

So maybe instead of trying to get rid of all the other Zims to prove he's the greatest of them all, he'd try to hijack Zib's plan and turn it into a plot to conquer all earths in every reality to really show the Tallest he isn't a joke. But Dib would realize that there's an alternative to the no-win scenario he thought they were in; making peace. And he does it by echoing his father's words to Zim, "You're always trying to prove to your leaders that you're amazing. But you never needed to prove that to me, Zim. I've always thought you were amazing."

And Zim realizes that as often as he's said it himself, no one's ever called him "amazing" before, and Dib shows Zim how much he matters to him by risking it all just to save him from his own reckless stupidity.

And then I like the idea that it's kinda like a Sylki situation where even with all the universe's infinite possibilities they're still supposed to be enemies in every reality so them becoming friends kinda breaks reality and gives them the power to resolve everything and get back to their home universe when it seemed like they were trapped with no hope of escape.

And then that would be like the ultimate perfect ending for the series. Zim gives up his mission and Dib gives up trying to expose him because they both realize they don't care about winning anybody else over as long as they have each other.

[collectorcookie]

fandom/game vent

tw: csa

Uuugghgggh. Idk why but nothing feels right lately.

On one hand, the enstars fixation died down A LOT. Great for my bank account tbh, i don't wanna spend another cent on gacha games. My brain is free🎉🎉🎉

And rather than feeling this pressure of "omg i must grind new events and get new cards" or "omg there are so many event stories i missed out on" or "i must grind every single new song on all difficulty levels for dia" i just. Don't do that anymore lol. I actually just play the songs whenever i actually feel like playing any and i read only the stories that actually interest me. Which definitely aren't a lot tbh. (still waiting on that knights climax tl) but yeah i'm basically reading 0 stuff from engstars.

So if you wanna break free from a gacha game sucking your soul, I think the reason why the enstars fixation died down so much for me is a combination of

burning myself out trying to get cards

getting bluetooth headphones (which basically make it impossible to play the game with headphones)

turning the BP game notification off

Engstars TLs getting worse than fan TLs

Obviously i still have basic but since i can't read japanese, i can't stress myself over reading new stories because i can't read anything at all. Yaaaay. I have evolved into a casual player.

Now. On the other hand. The new fixation. My beloved wizards. Mahoyaku.

I'm gonna be so honest, i kinda hate it here.

Don't get me wrong, i love the game, i love the story, i love the characters. But the fans. The fans man.

Like with enstars fandom, i started out with tumblr, and sure, i had to occasionally block some people and filter out some stuff, but that was it. That was enough for me to be able to chill and actually be comfortable in the enstars fandom space on tumblr.

Now, there are basically no mhyk fans on tumblr. Ok fine. Guess i'll go on twitter instead. So i made a twt account.

I truly cannot explain to you how much i should not have done that.

Like, ok, LOTS MORE fanart which is great. Fantastic. Lovely. However, a lot of proshippers. Many many proshippers. Like i do not have that much experience in fandom spaces in the first place but i swear the amount of proshippers is disproportionately large in mhyk fandom, on twt at least.

Ok another warning for talk about csa if you somehow didn't catch the one above

I think it's obvious from my blog here alone how much i like northfam, especially Snow and White. To be so honest, Snow and White were the biggest hesitation for me to NOT get into mhyk because we all know the "child looking character is actually over 2000 y.o." is NEVER handled well in fiction. Well, i ended up reading mhyk anyways, and to my relief, s&w's child forms do not get sexualized ever. Thank god.

But like mentioned before, this is not the case for the fandom. Not only do i always end up finding people shipping s&w together, but also many other of my faves, like oz and arthur (foster father and son) or mitile and figaro (student and teacher). Which i do not want to see ever, and the thing with twt is, you can't tag and filter stuff like on here. And even after being on twt for...idk how many months, i STILL end up seeing stuff i would like to stay 4869761093 lightyears away from.

I've been trying to do everything, from blocking to muting words to clicking the three dots on each individual post i don't want to see for the "please don't show me stuff like this". AND IT STILL HAPPENS.

Idk man...as a csa survivor myself it feels so hopeless...like is it really worth it here if i'll just keep finding stuff that triggers me? Is it worth meeting new people and constantly being on edge if this new fan thinks being proship is ok?

I really did like making fanart for fandom purposes, it made me draw a lot more, but between my dying interest in enstars and mhyk fandom thinking the stuff that has and will put me in therapy for decades is hot. I don't feel like interacting with fandom that much anymore ngl....and that makes me genuinely sad. Idk maybe this is a depressive episode that will go away but i feel so tired for now....hobbies are supposed to be fun....

[teatraps]

IDV game 5 lore rant

I heard tumblr is good for discussing analysis and theories and stuff, so a little game (group?) 5 ramble since I love them. I feel like people focus on the poison part a little TOO much. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a key event in the story, but it’s not the ONLY event. From what I hear, games usually last about 10 days and the poison only happens on day 3. That’s a whole week of unexplored story, since we have almost nothing talking about those other days. With the exception of Jose’s 2nd letter, which seems like a full 180 from what we’ve been told about this game so far since he makes everything seem like they’re all unified and ready to win. The poison is described as one of the triggers for the rest of the game, not the climax. We still know very little about the effects Jose’s hypnosis has on how he interacts with the others and the rest of the game, what happens to Vera on the 4th and 5th days since her experiment file says something big happens with her, or literally ANYTHING about Edgar. There’s a lot more to this game than the poison, and even then people don’t look too closely to how that whole thing played out. For example, the fact Vera didn’t even really want to do it and only followed along in what Jose was doing so he wouldn’t target her often gets skimmed. It also leads to ppl making non-central themes into central ones. I’d argue that racism isn’t a central theme in game 5, given Vera and Edgar don’t seem to have a problem with Patricia or Kevin based on their races. It really only comes up with Jose. However, with the way ppl have centralized the racism as a key point of everything, Vera and Edgar have gotten mixed in with Jose (even tho Edgar in specific has been stated to be separate from Jose and Vera’s 4th letter shows she doesn’t want to associate with Jose that much) and now the three of them are treated like symbols of racism during the late 1800s early 1900s from Europeans. A little ironic, considering both Vera and Edgar have expressed their dislike of European society. I don’t fully know where I’m going with this except to say, game 5 is still a developing story that we know VERY little about, so just keep that in mind when interacting with this group.

[farlynthordens]

V9 post-reading thoughts

i enjoyed the book a lot. i was all for seeing bisco's wholesome and happy family life as well as red's absolutely soul-crushing and lonely existence. when i started reading, I was surprised that bisco and red get along so soon since i was expecting her to play an antagonizing role for most of it (and possibly try to do things like steal milo away). the cover and pre-release advertising kinda gave that vibe lol

it started off great then fell off for me at certain points in the middle, but then the ending saved it. we also yet again had a last minute plot twist/reveal of the true villain.

n'badu's identity was probably the most confusing part of the whole book and i did have to double back to make sure i understood what was going on. if he's the manifestation of bad timelines, is he a god of spacetime who can consequently only create negative events? it seems that way from when you look back on what n'badu had done throughout the book and what he threatens to do at the ending.

i thought this was going to be the end of the series, so as i got closer to finishing i was very confused how this was going to wrap up. i was pleasantly surprised that there's still going to be one more book. red's character arc is more or less resolved, but she obviously has multiple stakes in the new issues that have arisen so i hope she still plays a notable role in v10. i'm worried there's a good chance red will disappear for good when they inevitably defeat n'badu (see meta section).

i wrote down a couple of gripes/critiques prior to reading the final chapter, but many were resolved by the fact that there will be a continuation + the things cobkubo mentions in the afterword. ex:

i was sad that bisco/milo had zero scenes of just the 2 of them since those were generally the highlight of every other book. however, 9 essentially made red the protagonist and bisco/milo were more there to be HER support rather than the other way around like what we've seen in every other book. cobkubo mentions tho that v10 will be more about bisco and milo's bonds.

we never concluded what happened with milo and he's still stuck in another timeline, so that's yet to be resolved. as well as... like.. you know, everything else... I'm still sad that he wasn't there for the final battle tho.

Meta stuff

Early on we learn that red has never used the choushin bow, but its wish granting power was what I had thought to be the main thing that caused sugar's birth and why she turned out as a literal god, since sugar's powers are the highest form of the choushin ability. So in red's universe, sugar turned out as a normal baby bc red and blue never had that ability. Never being able to use the choushin bow ties into what red realizes at the climax, which is that she never truly believed in [loved] herself. She only fought and kept going bc she thought that's what everyone expected of her. She thought of everyone's love for her as obligations she could never fulfill, rather than seeing that everyone just loved her for herself and wanted the best for her regardless of what that meant in the end.

Because of this, red put the weight of the world on her shoulders and wouldn't accept losing or running away from what she thought was "her destiny". But she failed to save her universe at every opportunity she could have technically had, bc she didn't trust in herself or she doubted the love of those around her (like when she chooses to not kill blue). the timeline could have been saved had she gained the choushin bow, realized her true powers (and thus removed her achille's heel of the souls's power burning her when she used it), and/or if sugar was born as a god, etc.

when we learn at the end that red's timeline was just a copied reality and that she, everyone she knew, and everything she ever experienced were "fake"... my question was then "WAS it really all fake?" n'badu doesn't explain why he made the dark timeline, but i felt the implication was just that it satisfied his own desires of seeing 'bisco' suffer, since that was never able to manifest in the main timeline.

even if red's reality wasn't meant to exist, i don't think that makes her or her experiences any less real than bisco's. she is still a living, tangible being. and as we saw towards the beginning when n'badu tried to overwrite the main timeline, bisco too had begun disappearing in a similar way to how red did when she attacked n'badu. if all timelines are subject to be rewritten like that, then i don't see why one would be lesser than the other.

HOWEVER. framing red in this way makes me worried that she is going to disappear. i expect that in v10 she'll be around as a deuteragonist to bismilo, but in the end they're going to defeat n'badu and cause her to stop existing. it would be a very bittersweet ending, since bisco had invited her to be part of his family. another bit of evidence for this is the v8 epilogue... where in which red of course doesn't show up (cobkubo had not even thought of her character yet at that point).

there is a possibility tho for v10 to end well for red. since the antagonists are gods who can rewrite spacetime, sugar (freed from n'badu's control) may be able to completely remake red's timeline herself and allow her to live happily without rust/n'badu's existence.

re: the "do you love yourself?" bit from cobkubo's afterword:

milo is very confident in himself, bisco is unsure. i think this is exemplified by the parallel scenes of them trying to summon their special bows with only their own power. milo is able to summon it because he is extremely self-assured in who he is and what he believes he can do (thanks to bisco always believing in him/learning from bisco that he is a capable mushroom keeper). HOWEVER, this sometimes leads to moments of over-confidence that rebound negatively on him in some way. summoning the mantra bow completely exhausted him and put him in potential danger because he didn't have someone to share the burden of it with.

bisco was not able to summon the choushin bow at all because he needed someone else there to believe in him. he even specifically says "I can't do it without milo" because milo is the only person he's used that bow with/knows milo is the one who believes in him most of all. having red - functionally, himself - be there and say she believed in him opened up a new path to strength. it showed what he could do if he simply had the heart to believe in his own self.

Final thoughts

my initial impression upon finishing the book is that it probably ranks somewhere in the middle of my overall favorite volumes (maybe between v6 and 8?). i definitely enjoyed reading it a lot, the events felt more coherent than 8, and it surpassed my expectations in multiple ways. i'll prob have a more solid placement once i think on it for a bit longer.

positive/high points:

I think v9 has one of the strongest openings of any volume. the first 4~5 chapters were really good. I think the middle was a bit weak at times, but then the final battle saves it.

Has a pretty big cast of characters, both new ones and old ones who are brought back, but it was handled well and it didn't feel confusing. i think my summary probably made it seem more confusing

Red was overall a good and very enjoyable character. I liked getting to see/learn her backstory in pieces, because each new bit of info is a new sadness gut punch. she's also badass in the final battle.

I thought rust was a good antagonist. you could say there's not much dimension to him since he's just a ruthless and (literal) robotic murder machine who loves to see people suffer. but i like it. the whole point of red's dark timeline is that everything has gone to shit and is as terrible as could be, so rust matches that mood pretty well. not every villain has to be DeepTM

Continued the themes seen in 7 and 8 well, such as the idea that you should feel free to live your life the way YOU want and not feel burdened by others' expectations.

From re-reading thru the summary post and thinking back on the events, i felt like there were a couple hints to n'badu being the Real Bad Guy sprinkled throughout the book that i didn't notice during my initial read. in hindsight, this was not a complete surprise like the v5 ending's kurokawa reveal for example.

negative/low points:

I really disliked having bisco nerfed for most of the book by being turned into a kinoko. I feel like this detracted from the emotional impact of the conversations he and red have during this time. there surely could have been ways to showcase red's character than by eliminating bisco's usefulness to the plot for anything other than talking.

Related to above, while in kinoko form bisco often felt uncharacteristically goofy.

N'badu's speech pattern is annoying

Bisco self-cest hint at the end???? red isn't cool being kissed by milo but kissing her alternate reality self is just fine. it isn't cheating if it's with yourself.... i guess.......

other things of note:

This vol brings back citymaker, lifemaker, AND mantras with lots of new skills showcased for each one. i wouldn't say it was confusing, just maybe excessive.

We get a new tidbit of jabi lore

Domino comes back and gets to have a scene where she fights and is very cool. it was also fun learning her personality a little more since we don't really get to in 3

Salt is mentioned a couple times but literally does nothing the entire volume. i know he's just a normal kid in a story full of god-like powers, but they didn't even give him a single spoken line

[susie-dreemurr]

My wishes for Season 3 of Dead End: Paranormal Park!

—This contains spoilers for both seasons. Also, please don’t spoil me with book content, I can’t read it 😭

•More Courtney lore. We still don’t know what she did to get banished, and the way she was initially dealt with, (memory loss, trapping her in the neutral plane) even for most of season 2, (kept on watch by fingers instead of being put with the other fallen, along with all the ominous “he has plans for you” that didn’t amount to shit) is very clearly shown to not be the normal procedure, and also the symmetrical broken halo….What Is Up With Them. After all the foreshadowing and hints, it’d be disappointing if they weren’t important in some way.

She’s shown to have a lot of self-loathing, especially about her internalized prejudice against her species (Plural. Bc her situation is…complicated, now 😅) . Maybe, while/since her friends won’t be around as often, she decides to investigate her past, something spurred on by talking with the other Fallen Angels and realizing how different her experience is. This could be an opportunity to explore the angels, as well.

•Please, for the love of all that is good in this world, no more time travel. At all. we as a society have moved past the need to time travel. You kind of have to refer to the past events but don’t make any character time travel anymore please 😭

•Norma being a bit of an anti-villain, at least for a while, due to the season two ending. Alongside that, I need some shenanigans of the Zagan, Norma and Temelechus possible trio because hello???? Iconic potential???? It’d also be a good opportunity to give Zagan more depth, she needs it.

•Norma’s autism gets at least name-dropped. Please… for me 🥺🥺🥺? Especially if she has a tiny plot where her feeling like her mom treats her like a little kid is actually addressed because, oof. It’s relatable to a lot of us!

•Aro Badyah!!! Based on this clip. There aren’t many aro characters, especially ones who have it dealt with in the actual show, it’d be so important to me. Especially because Badyah thinking she has to be straight because so much of our world revolves around romance that you can’t escape it, it’s everywhere. I headcannon she can find people attractive and mistakes that for romantic feelings.

•So far, Barney seems like the kind of character who had all their development/arc in season one, so he’s stuck as static for the rest of the show. However! The show can save this!!! His relation to Pugsley is something that will spark a change in his behavior. His feelings of grief and (implied) survivor’s guilt gotta have some focus, even if the show keeps a lighthearted tone. However, while he shouldn’t find out in the first episodes, Barney definitely needs to be majorly involved in Pugsley’s thing. Which, speaking of….

•Whatever tf Pugsley’s got going on….not gonna lie, I have no idea for what and how it’ll happen, except that I hope it’s creepy and that it brings him back. Also, as mentioned before, Barney has to be majorly involved in it.

•The main gang feels a bit separated (Norma’s revenge alliance with the demons, Barney and Logs traveling, Pusgley’s wtf credits, my Courtney suggestion) in the ending, lean into that. Of course, they still hang out, but it’d showcase the big negative impacts the finale had on the cast, while exploring the quadruple’s writing on their own more. Near the climax, all their storylines would combine, and that could be sooo cool!!!

•Clone Courtney was, from what I remember, missing from the prison break out. Not even a single backround shot, when we gave the other two clones some time to shine! Plus, didn’t you find it off that they just put Courtney in the F.A.P after all the ominous “He has plans for you” talk? Well. I need me some stuff about that.

Sorry for rambling, haha! Thinking of the great potential of season three keeps me from disliking the ending, lmao.

[starswallowingsea]

this might be sooo late already but im here to ask for any enstars story recs... Go off if you'd like 🛐 thank you user starswallowingsea

OH i feel you on that anon I try to keep up with all the event stories as they release in engstars so i can really get a feel for all the units and that's kinda how i ended up falling in love with some of the characters I wasn't expecting to ehehe. And since my favorite unit is exclusive to the !! era, I kinda just poke around ! era for what seems interesting. I'll throw some recs under the cut though for both eras!

! Era

Steampunk Museum: Focuses on 2wink and Valkyrie and is where the line where Shu says he can tell the twins apart by their hair length comes from! It's just about the two units doing a live to help out with a museum that has undergone renovations and is doing a grand re-opening basically. It's cute and light and really sweet.

Duel: Trickstar v Knights ROUND 2 I think this was a continuation of Sakura Fes which was the first event and I have not read it but it was still pretty easy to understand either way. It is from like 2015 though so fair warning for canon typical transphobia towards Arashi. Another pretty light event.

Kabukimono: Akatsuki v 2wink! Mostly a focus on Akatsuki's developments post-war but there were some really cute moments for Shu and Kuro's relationship as well, and some brief moments with 2wink, as well as Yuta and Souma interactions.

Aquarium: I so wish I read this before Meteor Impact. It does come after MI chronologically but it does a good job of like. Laying down all of Kanata's problems and relationships. If you haven't read MI yet, read this first it will make a lot of sense I promise.

Obligatory Reminiscense stories here. They're all good I haven't read all of them yet but I have read Meteor Impact and Checkmate and it's made me wish I waited to read them for the first time. Spend some time with the units before reading these is my advice.

!! Era

Okay full disclosure, I've only read the events and scout stories that have been released in Eng (and even then, only the scouts they did the auto unlock for the stories + like. Honey Bee and parts of Vagabond and Tales of the Moon) and Crazy:B events so this list is gonna be a little less diverse.

Any Crazy:B story: Literally my favorite unit of all time I cannot even tell you. My suggested reading order is like. Spider -> Hot Limit -> Night Club -> Ariadne -> Obbligato. The only one I haven't read is Sudden Death and that's only because I am Trying to Be Patient and wait for it to come out in Eng <- suffering greatly. Lumping them together so this part doesn't become Crazy:B infodump

Conquest: Hiyori's song event. The song is fantastic and the event did a good job introducing their dynamics in this era imo. Drop a like if you want Ibara to swear more often.

Twin Peaks: 2wink event! If you liked Night Club you should definitely read this since it expounds on a lot of stuff touched upon in Night Club (I really like Night Club can you tell). All about Hinata coming to terms with actually starting to grow apart from Yuta and become his own person along with one last hurrah as identical twins.

A Dark Night's Passing: Double Face introduction! Although DF stories tend to put a lot of focus on Madara, I did still enjoy this event for them. They both have people they want to protect and keep their darker sides away from and really set up some potentially good dynamics. I haven't heard that Spring Evening's Respite (Kohaku's center for DF) was great for them, since it continued to focus on Madara, but their intro event was great and it's pretty timely to read it with their Climax coming out in a few days.

And this will be a scout stories section! The scout stories tend to mix people from different units together for their interactions which is always really fun to watch how those play out. I particularly enjoyed Reloaded which was the Tomoya Izumi feature with the "Zombie Apocalypse" happening while they were handcuffed together. It's very silly but also has a really good Izumi Senior Advice moment at the end. Also shout out to Honey Bee and ASOBI-- *I am forcibly removed from the post*

[kittyandco]

KITTYYYYY 📝 for whoever u wanna talk abt my friend 💝💘💗

-cherrypieships 🍒💕

@cherrypieships I'M ANSWERING for my BOP s/i too 👀 (our s/is should be friends ...... Despite Everything) (and i'm answering for the heart emoji too since it's in there 😌)

📝: How would your story in canon go? How would you influence the events of the original story?

my s/i feels very... devoid of purpose, sick of people seeing her as cowardly, whose fate will never move beyond domesticity, not knowing what to do with herself after everything in her life completely falls apart; so, she turns to a life of crime. mostly petty stuff at first, but it feels good. and now she wants something big. it has to count. it'll feel so good. she wants to feel something, anything. and that's where roman comes in.

she hangs around the black mask club pretty often, mostly because she feels like she can blend in there. but mostly, she wants to watch. she knows there's more than meets the eye there. yeah, she has kind of a cute crush on roman, because it's so easy to... but she uses that as a front to get close to him, to make herself seem more unassuming, because she can't hide from him for long. he notices her sitting all alone and of course he just has to entertain (i'm trying not to blush i hate it here 😭)

but she wants to take everything he has. that's her big thing she wants to do, the one thing that'll give her some kind of fulfillment. there's no one above him in the gotham hierarchy at this moment, and she wants to change that. not because she craves the power or wealth; she craves something in the first place

so she's playing with fire here, right in the thick of it, whereas harley & co. keep a bit of a distance until the climax. diana just thinks i'm roman's girlfriend of the week, but i become much more than that have more up my sleeve!

a lot of what happens between us in the enemies stage would probably not fit into the film well since it's mostly harley-focused (as it should be), so that stuff is kinda off to the side canon-wise

the mask starts to slip near the end. my s/i doesn't want cass so involved. she has a couple of limits, especially being new to this whole career criminal thing. roman isn't that surprised. mostly disappointed. she escapes, assuming he's going to kill her (he wasn't going to, but not because we love each other yet... that comes after the Real Betrayal), and that's the end of that as far as actual canon goes

💘: Why would people love your ship? Why would people dislike your ship? How might it start debates?

SNDFNDJFN PROBABLY NOT 😭 we definitely wouldn't be The Most Popular Ship (that would be you, harley, and helena, obviously). i don't really hang around DC fandoms as it is, but i would understand why ppl would be wary of roman & i and it's 100% because of him 😭 like no he does NOT deserve me but i don't care

on the other hand... enemies-to-lovers enjoyers would rally behind us big time 😭 the way he slowly falls for me despite knowing i tried to take everything away... the way we understand each other: despite seeming invincible, we know that we aren't. i know that no one else would want me... and i don't want anyone else to want me now.

‘Imagine Your S/I Was Canon…’ Self-Ship Asks

[yanderefairyangel]

Yeah 3H does feel like the writers were trying to mash at least 3 stories into one, which is why the Agarthan Nabatean conflict takes a backseat except for exposition. Shame cause I feel like they should've made it a big deal at least for SS and CF since that's the reason for Edel's conquest/war in the first place.

Yeah, that's the problem with 3H, the structure for this game's story felt all over the place.

The common story White Clouds is supposed to be this light hearted arc where Byleth take the time to get along with their students, enjoy their time as a teacher, have precious memories with them so that the events later can strike with the strengh of a maelstrom...but instead of doing what should've been that is to say light hearted chapter progreviselly dwelling unto mysteries, with things getting darker until we reach the climax, 3H instead already throws you into the "dark political mystery stuff" cause sorry but how am I supposed to see a difference between the war phase and the academy phase when I have to babysit my students during an expedition against bandits where everyone tells me to make sure they don't get killed with said students being absolutely horrified that they killed someone for the first time ?! Then you have that Lonato chapter, what the HECK is doing in a LIGHT HEARTED PHASE ?! How is any of what happened in the academy light hearted ? You are just running in circle sloving chores for Rhea scooby gang style with one chapter that can be seen as light hearted and then boom chapter where Eddie declares war... like ?

This game collections conflictive narrative and not because of the unreliable narrator factor, but because it's trying too hard. I already said it and I will say it again, 3H tried to do things to big for a video games format, in reality 3H could be its own subfranchise just so we could get the "full picture" Hayashi and Kusakihara were talking about, the full picture they forgot/didn't knew about ... and then there is this biais factor since the devs each liked one of the character over the other. KT has a biais for Eddie whereas Kusakihara loves Rhea. A lot of stuff accumulated and we ended up with the final product that feels so unfinished. People who love theory/lore crafting will find their happiness but I can't help but have this bitter feeling of frustration about how so many stuff were done rushed and all.

[moccahobi]

Yearly Toppers

Looking back at the data from 3 years, I wanted to honor and reflect on the top 3 fics from each year (2020, 2021, and 2022)! A note for 2022: I am highlighting the fics with the most notes at the current moment. I have fics that I’ve not posted yet and older fics will have an edge up on newer fics simply because of how time works.  

2020

Safety (Namjoon x Reader) 

Summery: You can’t lie to your soulmate. It was a fact that many people knew, including you. You just didn’t expect to find your soulmate during your night shift at the MSN book store you work at. You also didn’t expect them to be the Kim Namjoon, an up-and-coming star.

Angst, Fluff

I think something that struck me about this fic is it was my first time writing a soulmate au. I really enjoyed it and found the story something that I easily fell into. Just as I hope readers were, I found myself rooting for the reader in the climax and anxious with them as the show started! I’ve been meaning to write another soulmate au but I’ve simply not had time yet. Mayhaps next year I will try to!

Midnight Musings (Jungkook x Reader)

Summery: You just moved to Korea for a teaching job and on your first night, you decided to visit a local cafe. You even took a photo to commemorate the move! That photo actually lead to something very unexpected happening though.

Fluff, smut, a touch of angst

One of my first smuts! 2020 was truly a year of exploration for me! I think it was my first year trying mxm and branching out into got7 fics! I must admit, I don’t think I will write smut much more because though I am sex indifferent, the idea of sex really... I don’t enjoy it. It just sort of is something. I laughed all while writing this fic and my other smut. It was a fun experience and I greatly admire all smut writers but it isn’t something for me as a hobby writer.

Slow Mornings (Jungkook x reader)

Summery: You decide to make Jungkook breakfast in bed.

Fluff

Honestly. I was shocked by this looking back. I don’t often think of drabbles as stuff that really leads to much but please don’t underestimate the power of drabbles for getting eyes on your blog! It was a fun and short fic and I think it makes me want to get back into doing some drabbles! I’ve been thinking of how I want to start of 2023 and playing around with the idea of a drabble series. Maybe... if you all have drabble requests, I could take those instead!

2020 was truly a year of exploration for me. I had a lot of fun with all the stuff I wrote! It is quite fun to look back and see what range of stuff I did! Interestingly, the notes on these fics haven’t changed tons since I took note of them in 2020 but that’s ok. These stories hold a special place in my heart. Especially safety! 

2021

Taking it Slow (Namjoon x Reader)

Summery: Reading with Namjoon

Fluff

I had a lot of fun writing this piece. I started as half a page free write. Then I made it the length of a full page. Then I wrote it up on a google document and tried to double its length once again. I enjoyed it a ton and writing this piece made me feel quite calm! It was an attempt of mine to spark some creativity and while I found some creativity with writing this piece, I didn’t find much that carried over. 

A Spark in the Commons (Yugyeom x Reader)

Summery: You help an anxious deer shifter in the shifter union commons and a friendship buds.

Fluff

This might’ve been one of my first posted Got7 fics! What are my thoughts on it... 1) I am happy I started writing Got7! I really love them a ton and I am glad that I finally branched out again! I had leaned into BTS after starting to write for Seventeen. 7 is much less than 13 and only recently have I started branching out again! 2) I am... not the biggest fan of this fic. I’ve been open about my struggles with writing in 2021 so it isn’t personal to the event or anything like that... but I was using events to push me to write and while I am glad I wrote this and glad people enjoy it, I do not have a strong bond to it. 

Drawing Blood (Taehyung x Reader)

Summary: An attempt to get over a two year crush on your friend (and a suspected vampire) leads to interesting discoveries.

Fluff, Angst

I uh... remember making the graphic more than I remember writing this fic. TO BE FAIR! I WROTE 24 FICS IN 2021. TO NOT REMEMBER A FEW HAPPENS (plus I think because it was posted on sssc, I didn’t get the notifications of interest and thus had to check it rather than seeing it on my notif bar). That being said, I did have some fun writing this fic and when I look back, I am really curious about the world I was writing in. I think if I could go back and do this fic again, I would. I’d expand on it and add another plot that really highlighted the vampirism rather than just had it be a characteristic. It is 3.8k afterall. I wonder what more depth I could add to it if it became 8k! This fic was a gift for a dear friend of mine, @voiceswithoutlips. Potentially it could be something that I further expand on with Kas’s help!

A year of distance between me and 2021, I still don’t fully know how I feel about the year. There are stuff that I do hold dearly, but I really do think I was nearing or at burnout. I was tired and fried and I think it shows in my writing some. I wasn’t fried for the whole time but I was for a while. I think as well... I hold a lot of guilt for the year. As mentioned a few times on my blog, part of why I took time off from school early 2021 was because of a surgery and mental health struggles... last time I had a major surgery though, my writing surged forth like a protective barrier and this time... it got hurt with me. Again, I had fun and I look back on some of my stuff fondly but I also look back at stuff and wonder “when did I write this??” and I see the hurt and scared person I was. I see how I was struggling to cope and wishing desperately that my writing would be a safe space for me again while somewhere in me, I knew it wasn’t. 

2022

Heated Blanket (Jungkook x Reader)

Summery: After finals, you choose to take a nap. Your favorite heated blanket comes to join you.

Fluff

I posted this fic before I really started changing my writing habits... or at the very least, I wrote it before that happened. It was hard to write this fic on many layers. I was low motivation and energy, I was recovering from the first inflammation of my nerves, and I was battling the feeling of needing to do more. This fic was a gift to a good friend of mine ( @ditttiii) and I am really glad I managed to write something for her! It’s a fun little drabble!

A Story From a Different Time (Taehyung x Reader)

Summery:  Love. Love is such a wonder. Your love story is especially wondrous to your grandkids who love love as much as you and hang on to every word as you relive the time in your life as a teacher when you met a soft hearted tattoo artist.

Fluff, hint of angst

This fic was a year in the making! I started it sometime last year (maybe October? Or early November?) and had some bones of it created. That being said, I wasn’t happy with it. Throughout this year, I’ve worked on it bit by bit and tried hard to get it out in time for @taegularities birthday! Seeing it already able to make it to the top three was a shock because it’s only been a month or so (then again, most of my fics this year get like 10 notes or less so...). I am fairly happy with the writing process and how this fic came about! It’s full of tons of references and nods to Rid and I also got to write a fic that passes the Bechdel test this year (if you’ve not heard of it, essentially to pass it you need a woman talking to another woman about something other than a guy)! Having fics that pass the Bechdel test when I have women in my story is something I want to do more of (similarly, I want more representation of disabilities, sexuality, and of people all around the gender... cloud? I know spectrum is commonly used but like... it’s not really a spectrum so idk what to call it otherwise).

Let You Fly (Jimin x Namjoon)

Summery: Namjoon and Jimin have been together for only 7 months and it’s been near perfect. The two fit together wonderfully. All changes when Namjoon’s dream job offer slides itself into his inbox. He’d been eyeing the position in Japan for years… It wouldn’t be fair to Jimin to pack up his bags and join Namjoon, but it wouldn’t be fair to Namjoon to try to force him to stay. Instead, Jimin must let him fly.

Angst, hint of fluff

THIS FIC! I AM SO HAPPY THAT THIS FIC IS ONE ON THIS LIST! It’s based off of a song (Seven Months by Sunshine State) and I had so much fun writing this fic. This was written shortly after I realized something must change. I was very intentionally working on trying different things and I feel like it really paid off for this fic. I got immersed in it, made a playlist, made a graphic for it, did character interviews, and tried doing a teaser. Most of it’s notes came from BWC’s bookclub and honestly, I am so content with that because it came with people giving me their thoughts on it. It’s a brainchild of mine and I am so honored to have people share their thoughts on it and to have people read it!

It’s not lost on me that all the fics that are on my top 3 for 2022 are ones that were gifts or bookclub fics. Why do I think this is? Well... a multitude of reasons. 1) I posted half as much as I had in 2021 and 2020 (24 and 28 respectively in comparison to the 14 I posted this year). And almost half of what I posted (6 fics) were for my series A Fae’s Brew to Take You Away. Something I started 3/4 years ago and let collect cobwebs for two of those years. It gets less than 10 notes and half of the notes are just nets rebloging. Please know, I am ok with that. I am not complaining. I just want to finish this series. 2) Aside from ASFDT and Heated Blanket, all I wrote was MxM which doesn’t do well on tumblr. 3) I post infrequently. 14 fics is roughly 1 every month. I know I didn’t post that regularly though. And on tumblr, there’s an expectation to churn from readers. It’s social media. You’re rewarded for more posting. 4) I don’t get a lot of traction to my blog. I sit contently at 750 some followers and many of my fics don’t reach the top page (or if they do it’s only for a short time). 

That being said, keeping in mind the few notes and the traction being from other writers reblogging, I am really happy with the stuff that I’ve posted. I finished writing AFBTTYA so hopefully I will be able to edit and get to a point where I am posting something from it every month all next year! In the past few months, the amount I am writing has increased. I am feeling creative with what I am writing! I think that this devopment may take a bit of time to shine through on my blog because with series, I am trying to finish it before I start posting. I am trying to widdle away my 30+ wip list. I am still in school. I still have nerve inflammation. But I think this year has been a year of me trying to better my relationship with my writing. It will take time and I still struggle (just yesterday, after writing 3.5k the day prior, I got anxious about not writing that much again) but I am learning better coping strategies. In some ways, the low notes help because I can really work to untangle my love of writing and want to post from those notes which will hopefully help me keep that boundary if I get higher notes. 

I think I am going into 2023 excited for my writing. It’s refreshing. 

[bizarrequazar]

(@feanorianswelcome​ I’m giving this its own post since I ended up writing a lot, so here’s my honest thoughts on the Advance Bravely novel)

I finished it about a week ago and my review is that it’s the narrative equivalent of a car crash—horrible but you can’t look away.

It was BAD, like easily one of the most ridiculous and least sensical things I’ve ever read, but it wasn’t unenjoyable—there were a lot of parts that made me laugh if only for the absurdity. The main thing I think is you need to go in knowing that it shouldn’t be taken too seriously lol. Also all of the characters are horrible people to some degree and you just have to roll with it (except Tian Yanqi, who absolutely did not deserve everything that happened to him).

I did get a bit annoyed towards the end, for two reasons specifically. First was the breakup scene which was 100% abusive—I’ve seen a number of people say the relationship in general is abusive and honestly I disagree (it’s not healthy, but it’s not abusive until this point), but that scene really had me hoping that they wouldn’t get back together for Xia Yao’s sake. Yuan Zong’s behaviour in the breakup scene and during the time they were broken up made me really dislike him tbh. My second issue is just how many subplots revolved around one of them thinking the other was cheating. I mean once or twice, sure, but it happened AT LEAST five times just counting off the top of my head and the novel even ended on one of those plots?? They’re literally that “you know other men?” meme.

Honestly the novel should have ended after the well scene like the show did since that was the big dramatic event that led to them getting back together, everything after that kind of felt like an unnecessary extended epilogue.

I enjoyed it, I don’t regret reading it, but... yeah I don’t think I can recommend it at all lmao. I think if you watch the drama it’s worth it to read up to the equivalent of episode 28 since it does give you a lot of context that makes the show make more sense, but it’s not worth it to finish out the novel. There’s no big climax, that well scene is it (and it doesn’t come until around chapter 190 after a good forty chapters of stuff the show didn’t include).

Also I’m glad I never have to see nipples described as red peas again. 

Thanks boys, it’s been real.

[sam-glade]

Happy STS, Sam! This week I’m wondering about planning. How do you plan a story before you write? Do you just have an idea? Just an idea and an ending? If you outline, how much detail do you go into? Or is there another way you prefer to plan before you start writing?

Hi Moshke! Happy STS!

Buckle up for a ride.

I consider myself a pantser, who loves playbooks and step-by-step processes. I'm slowly accepting that I'm an SRE at work and actually like it.

I start writing a novel-length project at the point where I have a) 3 distinct characters AND b) 3 scenes that act as sign posts.

I think the setting is the easiest for me to come up with, or at least I'm most confident that I'll be able to fill in gaps in it when needed. Characters come next, and I usually choose/create(?) based on who'd be the most interesting person to watch this world through. I tend to have at least one 'learned' character that knows a fair bit about the world, and one that for whatever reason needs to learn Note that the 'learned' character is not going to info dump the other one OR the audience. I just need a character who knows how a lot of stuff works, and when they don't have an answer, they'll know how and who to ask.

I realise that what follows may sound a bit formulaic, however I see it as a vague enough outline that there's a lot that can sort of fit in it.

Then come the three events.

The event that connects the two characters. It's an event I'll conceptualise in a lot of detail, and can picture very vividly. It's also usually my opening scene/chapter. In Gifts of Fate it's Lissan (the needing to learn character) almost dying to a demon, and Ianim (the learned character) arriving just a tad too late. Ianim's duties involve responding to demons' attacks, since not every attack causes a Sword to manifest. Most of them just result in injury and death. In The Fulcrum it's really not that exciting - the needing-to-learn character is drawing pictures in sand, and the Land Treader approaches her asking for directions. In The Truth Teller, the characters don't actually interact during that event, it's just that the learned character's actions triggered it for the needing-to-learn character.

The mid-point. OK, this isn't always exactly at 50% mark, but that's how I think about it. It's an even that is a turning point for the story. It's usually a big discovery, whether it's revealing a mystery about the world or realising that the stakes are much higher than expected. Again, I need to visualise it very clearly. I sometimes will write it out of context before witing the rest.

The almost-climax. It's the even that triggers the climax or a snippet in the middle of it. Whatever it is, it sets the tone for the climax, encompasses the stakes, etc. I will be able to work backwards and forwards from it.

I let the characters find their way between these points, and I don't mind them making detours (I can always cut that). At the beginning, especially with a new cast, I'm mostly interested in nailing down the characters. I'll write quite a few scenes (5k in total?) for each character to figure out their inner voice, what they care about, what are their ambitions, etc.

On a smaller scale, I don't really outline. I may sometimes jot down events that will happen between the three initial events, as a 'currently, this is the most reasonable path to get from A to B'. 'Reasonable' here means a good choice for the story, a balance between making sense and being exciting. I don't mind straying from it, and I'm not attached to it as much as the three events.

I tend to conceptualise about 2 scenes ahead, and write mostly in order, however there will be some key events that will insist on being written down, else I won't focus on anything else, or a chapter or two where I know I need to figure out something more exciting than the obvious choice - then I'll leave these for later.

And once all of it is wrapped up, I'll end up with what I refer to as a discovery draft. The pacing will be off. There will be scenes that are perfect for showing off the characters' personalities, but nothing beyond that.

At this point I discard (i.e. stash away and not look at it again) all of the scenes that aren't packed chock-full with plot progression and other info, and rewrite the rest, now being more familiar with the characters and the paths they'd take.