#a lot of the edits i want to make of them require scenes that dont exist yet (but probably will)

[man-destroyer]

tell us about ancient spanish?

Yeah!

so. In the beginning of my comic (I'm assuming you havent read it, if you have I'm sorry) the main character is getting established as sort of a "master bullshitter" and very lucky. He's not stupid, the reason he's alive is because he reads situations quickly and lies very well... and at this point my editor had been repeatedly treating him with this sort of bumbling idiot trope, so I was already a bit frustrated.

He's caught as a stowaway on a pirate ship, and is bullshitting a treasure hunt so the pirates keep him alive long enough that he could escape. So, he makes a fake treasure map in Spanish, hoping that the pirates won't know any... because if they can just kill him and take the map, they will. And one of them knows Spanish!

So, the joke I put in to resolve the situation (which I kept) was "but can you READ Spanish?" where he's banking on the pirate's illiteracy, and he lucks out because she can't read.

but my editor wanted him to say "but do you know... ancient spanish?" which makes no sense and isnt funny LMAO to me.

There were a lot of instances like this, but this is the one I remember the most because my editor like. argued with me on putting ancient spanish in there... It was a back and forth for a good bit.

[which-hospital]

sah, teddy and paige // cool about it by boygenius

[kosmicdream]

What does your planning process look like? You mentioned not usually doing a full script, do you do something like page 57) knives get stabbed page 58) knives stabs the other guy page 59) intense backstory reveal or is it structured in a different way?

(replying to old ask, hope you dont mind!)The way I structure my scripts is in a very different way. For starters, I’ve never broken down it by panels/pages, as that comes when I am finally sketching them to give me more flexibility with pacing. It also just doesn’t make sense for me to, as I haven’t drawn them yet. The way I have constructed my scripts has changed a lot over the many years or making comics, but that hasn’t ever been part of the process. My scripts are written scene by scene, and broken down by character action/dialogue, sometimes including both and are written in script style. Sometimes I include notes for lore or something to keep in mind for myself, that might be a visual detail or something about an expression I want to remember. I don’t always write dialogue but I usually keep a rough draft of the dialogue exchange or purpose of what might say so i understand the goals intended, or include jokes I want to remember. The dialogue usually changes the most even if the end result functions more or less the same, just because of how the panels end up being drawn in the end usually changes up the flow and I will have to accommodate that. I break down the comic script scene by scene, then section by section, and usually end up with about 8-10 parts to a comic script and each of those parts can vary in page number of script. Its not exact, but usually 25 pages of script is about 250-300 pages of comics. FFAK comic scripts have been, when I write them, over 50 pages. But I chapter 16 is going to hopefully be the last of these, as its 47 pages long and I have made the other chapter scripts in arc2 around 20-30 pages long instead. Most NRD scripts barely reach 20 pages, but those sometimes have been even shorter as I tend to prioritize slow paced scenes, which don’t really require me to write a lot in script format.  They read more or less like a script for a screenplay for a movie but a lot rougher since I don’t need to polish these more than what i need. When I finish a scene I will grey out the text to make it easier to find where i left off. When the scene is done, I mark a date when it finished so i can see my progress at a glance. I slowly transitioned into writing scripts around chapter 10-12 but only fully was writing them by 13. I also only had a rough outline for NRD before I started to full scripts, although I can’t remember when that process also happened. It was probably chapter 2 or 3 though. Now, all of NRD/FFAK are written out this way until the end, but I still make edits along the way (mostly for FFAK, as its so long) to change up the pace of chapters and make things more compact.

(example of the top of the script to track progress, this ones for chapter 16! i have hidden the titles for parts 10-12 lol)

[cal-writes]

For the More Fic Writer Asks, I'd love to hear more about your writing and editing process! 17 and 1 if you have the time, please! :)

17. talk about your writing and editing process

my process is very chaotic so brace yourself

most of the time i start with dialogue. i mentioned it a few times i think but a lot of times an exchange of dialogue is the scaffolding that i build the scene around of. 221 Beika Street is the best example i think it started with this bit of dialogue

“You want us to live and work together?”

“Like Holmes and Watson.”

“Am I Watson in this scenario?”

“Well, you already have a cane-”

and it all went from there. sometimes i’ll have ideas for whole scenes that i write down and think about context later but thats usually when i already have a vague plot or premise in mind. second chapter of Law’s Eleven from zoros pov was just short single paragraphs that i then expended upon

i tend to get my ideas when im lying in bed so they get dumped into my telegram chat with myself or random docs so that ends up looking like that

when im trying to gather all the pieces i pull them all into a full doc vaguely in order so i dont lose anything. i make a copy and depending how polished the bits are i either work directly in the collection or rewrite in a new doc with the other one open on the same screen

if i already have a plot in mind or its an ongoing project with multiple chapters i might also have bullet points for plot beats or character stuff. Lucky Charm definitely requires that bc its like complicated deductions and stuff. future detco au also has a spreadsheet with a timeline and important dates and birthdays. occasionally i’ll also have a spreadsheet for characters and oc’s so with descriptions and traits so i can find it faster.

when im writing on the fic itself and i get stuck i’ll occasionally just put placeholder bulletpoints with what needs to happen and then continue on or a scene is getting its own doc

before i send it to my beta i consolidate all the pieces in one place and read it through at least once if not more times. do some minor edits, add some stuff, delete some stuff, reword. my first language isnt english so sometimes my wording is wack.

my beta does her thing, when things dont make sense or i use the wrong words she’ll make a comment and ill look over it again or she’ll make suggestions

when shes done i usually wait until to post until saturday to tuesday around 9pm my time

1. the last sentence you wrote

the last sentence i wrote is from the nami pov snippet so i shared that already and the one before that is a spoiler so i’ll share this wip

[identity-theft-101]

Not sure why and not going to think more about it but maybe Lilia would like to hear stuff about cinematography? I feel like it's a maybe with Vil? Definitely with Rook as I feel like Rook would listen to anyone about anything because he

Heck I bet talking about cinematography to Grim, Ace, and Deuce may get them wanting to make a short film.

I do think I'd find random info about cinematography interesting. Any random tidbits ya want to share?

Lilia would probably enjoy my bullshit!

(Vil and rook scare me lol)

Random knowledge:

Framing of scenes can be super important for the story! Making the choice to have certain items or a certain POV for a shot can complete change the intended energy for a scene.

The vertigo effect was invented in the 1940's and used for the movie 'Rebecca' but it didn't get the desired effect right until 1958 with the film 'Vertigo'.

It is created by rolling the camera AWAY from the Focus and simultaneously zooming IN. It is used to create an air of dramatic unease!

My least favorite equipment piece is a crane due to the annoyance of setting up and moving the sucker.

My favorites are the gimble and shoulder mount!

Gimbles are used to create a steady-cam while the camera has to move a lot. This is really handy for action scenes if you want a POV that's kinda IN the action!

They are basically good for anything that requires the camera to be moving frequently to maintain certain shots and you DONT want the camera to shake artistically.

Extreme Close Ups are a good way to make the scene feel claustrophobic or like it's closing in

My favorite film in a cinematic sense is "The secret Life of Walter Mitty"

Other bullshit:

Audio is the make or break with many films. If you have shit audio and it's not artistically intentional, restart.

You can get the best sound effects by doing the weirdest thing!! (Tree fall down? Break/eat celery next to the mic)

This is called 'Foley' and its one of of my favorite things!

I was often in charge of soundtracks becuase I loved keying up sound effects and music tracks! I also have big ass Audiophile style headphones.

Horror films aren't scary to me because I am too busy looking at the camera angles and giggling like a fangirl

My favorite silent film is Nosferatu

I have hearing loss from being the designated sound guy- People always yelled into my mic as a prank (I would have a headset plugged into the mic to make sure i got good sound)

I also often doubled as a "SCRIPT SUPERVISOR" which is in charge of continuity between shots, (ie I made sure your hat didn't change to a diffrent hat between scenes)

My film team hated me as script supervisor and storyboard manager because I was "too ocd about it" and would correct things "too often"

I still want to fucking fight them over that

They also cut a lot of my audio effects from the final version of the short film and that made me even more pissed

I used to "Lone Wolf" a lot of my projects becuase everyone hated to work with me due to my work style (or just hated me lol)

I often let actors improv dialog becuase it felt more natural and I was horrible at story-telling! It was a pain to edit, but the reactions and emotions were GOLD

I really like dramatic lighting! I would often use lighting that would give harsh shadows, one of my favorite lighting sources was actually bonfires.

Fucking love horror films, they go absolutely HARD with soundtracks and specific shots (Extreme Close Ups my beloved ♡♡♡)

[mejomonster]

Im gonna finish this in 2 days who knows how. Then my reward will be reading Can Ci Pin or Sha Po Lang (or both) for a week or two straight. (And maybe my also book Weird Tales of Vampires).

Fun facts: 1. I read like half a million words over the past week (absolutely lost myself in fanfic, prior week I read like 300k words).

2. I wrote 15k words in the past week and, barring sudden hyperfocus, I'm slated to finish this novel draft either by January 15 (at 2k words a day and 60k finished words) or by the end of january (if the novel gets longer than I intend and therefore requires more words from me ToT). Because I'm averaging about 2k words a day. Although I know if I hyperfocus Im capable of 8-10k words a day and you know thats like roughly 140k words in 2 weeks (aka thats how I finished writing half of what makes monsters stop devouring in 2 weeks somehow). O can occasionally do 15k words in a day but thats... thats pushing it. That usually burns me out so no more writing for weeks. But like. It is marginally possible. I crank out 30k words in the next 48 hours and either finish my novel draft or get damn close. Whats more likely... is i get to 50k words somehow in 48 hours and then horrifically discover the novel's going to need 90-100k words for the plot. Which would happen, knowing me -.- Then again, it's more likely I only crank out 8-10k words in the next 48 hours. Which is still hefty and will put me at 40k total words complete. But would only be half of the plot to 3/4, which means yeah I'm probably hitting the end of the draft in a couple more weeks of 2k ish words a day on average. Not bad, given its only a little past my self imposed deadline. Irritated though that I could not get motivated until staring down ny timeline's end (in my defense, the indulgent break to just read whatever nonstop felt good to my brain and did shake off the writer's block by reaffirming what I like about my own writing, dislike about some other writing styles, and what I aspire to). Anyway... all that to say I'd bet there's still like a 5% chance I crank out the full rest of the draft in 48 hours somehow then my brain feels fried and I dont touch it to edit for at least 2 weeks ToT (its unlikely... but it is remotely possible). In retrospect I wish I could read Saye faster than my glacial chinese reading speed, because I think it's plot and style in particular would help me with contemplating writing issue decisions.

3. Reading so much stuff in a short period kind of made me realize... well first of all, I'm for the most part going to write worse than I hoped I would but better than I feared. For all that my writing often doesn't hit my expectations, it still has a lot in it that I personally love and it irritates me when it's absent in other stories (reading fucking like 30 fanfics this week made me realize I have no patience for flat characterization, for too general plots, for certain writing styles, for plots that lean too much in one genre without playfully utilizing more at least once in a while, and I'm drawn to stuff with strong character pov voices and thoughts and attitudes you feel when you read, with movie like scenes, with playing around with what's real or a thought, with ridiculousness sprinkled in serious matter so its not always epic stakes or heavy). Like... yeah maybe I can't think of the perfect words I want to use, but I can remember plot threads very well and thread them into minor details. I plan my stories out, which is more than some authors I admire do (and is probably why Ive got the flexibility to foreshadow so much the way I like to). I may not always pick the best presentation of a scene compared to what I desire in retrospect, but I make characters you feel and see from inside which I do love and prefer to read. Like... I'm not going to be as bad as I fear, but I also gotta just accept that if I come up with something else I prefer later... I can always write a story again. But in the meantime, as the meme I saved says: write it badly, but write it. Because it doesn't exist until its written down, putting it out there is the hardest initial hurdle. Once thats done, at least it exists in some form. At least a real thing cqn be edited, or even rethought and rewritten. But critiquing an idea, a theoretical way of writing when its not even actually written down? Thats just procrastination at a certain point...

[altairtalisman]

lets go with ✨️ ⏰️ 🔥 🔎 🎨, look dont side eye me, u hv so many hot ocs tht gale n i thirst for, surely u hv some 🔥 right

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

Well I don't want to out them, but I can tell you that the comments I really love the most are those that are lengthy and really goes in depth about the story/chapter that I've written

Just to be clear, I love all sorts of comments, I just really like lengthy comments that really talk about little bits that I've mentioned in my works a lot more

⏰️ Do you like to post fics on a schedule or at random?

Hmm... really depends on the kind of story? If it's a birthday story, a multi-chapter story or something I'm writing for an event, then it's scheduled. Otherwise, it's mostly random in the sense that I don't have a specific day but I would post at a specific time (basically times that ends in o'clock or half an hour in between the hours)

🔥 Have you included any sexy scenes in your fics? If yes, do you find them easy or difficult to write?

Yes, I have and yes, I find them difficult as these require elaborated descriptions... that's never my strength

🔎 Does anyone beta read or edit your fics?

Nope

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Oh you really shouldn't have asked me that... because I do have a few:

Winging It With Sayo: All the SayoLisa parts especially Chapter 18

Kindergarten Girlfriend: The raw emotional Duke/Martha parts

Repeat, Repeat, Rewind: I would love it if it was art about Rook's descent into vaer breakdown at the end

Faulty Relationship: Any part of the story works with me

I Don't Know Love, Teach Me Love: The SayoLisa ferris wheel scene close to the end of the story

Blockhead: The last part out of the three parts of the story

To The You In My Lens: Specifically, the part at the end where Lisa and Rinko discuss about whether or not they should date after they affirmed that they both like each other romantically

[quark-art]

i have a lot of thoughts about this!

there are two types of writing that webcomic creators use from what ive seen and heard, those being script-based and thumbnail-based. script-based means they write a script, which is not to be confused with prose, and its what i do because thats how i like to write my comic! (also insert rant here about how i have more experience as a playwright than anything else)

a script is not material thats meant to be its own product, its a blueprint for how to MAKE the final product and what its going to be, so its sort of like an outline but very very specific and long (and need their own outline). (i have a post about scripts in more detail here)

what i like about scripts is how easy they are to edit; scripts are very easy to cut material from, retroactively add material to, or move around (for instance, if i find that pacing requires i move the latter half of one scene into a scene-break in the middle of the next scene, i can do that really fast). one of the downsides of using a script for a comic, however, is that it doesnt specifically serve the medium, so you cant anticipate where the page breaks will be or what it will look like on the page, which might make the reading process a bit more awkward if you dont know how to arrange it on the page properly (but ive found that this generally isnt a problem for me)

thumbnail-based writing is when you write the story as you arrange the comic page, which follows the same principle as reds writing method. this is the opposite of script-based writing, because the story is shaped around how it looks in comic form and thus serves the medium better, but its also (i imagine) more difficult to edit beyond the scale of single panels/pages, which is why outlines are so important for this method of writing

originally i wrote chapters without any outline at all (or, at most, a basic description of the A and B plot) because i was still getting a feel for the story and the characters and improvising helped me get a grip on everything. luckily, because the scripts were so easy to edit, i had a lot of time to revise the messiness that resulted in until i was happy with it (i have done a LOT of editing for the earlier chapters on the scale of entire scenes or even plots, mainly bc i write so far ahead of what i draw and ive gotten a lot better at writing since those first drafts). i use scene-by-scene outlines now that i have a better understanding of what im writing and find that im doing a lot less editing. to be clear, in hindsight i definitely shouldve used outlines because i work better with them, i just didnt because i started writing my comic when i was in a state of "so mind-numbingly bored, could not care less about writing technique, just need something to do" and i didnt start drawing it for like a year anyway

i think the most important skill in writing a comic is figuring out the method that works for YOU, SPECIFICALLY the best, and that can be pretty hard! generally id say its important to experiment with different methods because that can help you discover what works best for you. if you cant bear outlines, try improvising a chapter and editing it later, and if improvisation horrifies you, try an outline! there are a lot of different things you can try. either way, its still important to edit your work if you dont want your final product to be your first draft

Hey, Red, I wanted to ask your insight on one thing about comic writing yet again

How do you write "serialized" media in comparison to traditional writing? Like, people often say that "your first draft will be bad, so you have to get back to it and revise at some point", but, like, for media released periodically, like webcomics, it's much harder to do, unless you write down the entire story beforehand in a lot of detail, and revise *that* instead, and only start drawing after like third or fourth edition of the script.

But, like, I assume that, beyond basic outline, some cool scenes in the middle, and the ending, there is only so much planning you can viably do. How do you handle it? Do you sometimes have to draw a page without knowing yet what will happen five pages later? How do you balance between leaving yourself the freedom to alter things (and also free time not spent on writing a novel before transforming it into a comic) and having a good written story, with themes and foreshadowing and stuff?

It's certainly different than traditional writing, because progress becomes a rolling, iterative thing rather than full draft passes.

What I have is a many-pronged approach that gets more detailed the farther in it goes:

The toolbox. This is a big pile of characters, subplot concepts and plothooks I add to whenever I think of something new and fun. When I'm building out a new arc from scratch, this is what I draw on.

The roadmap. This is a rough plan for the overall shape of the story - I know where the characters start and where they end, and I have a rough idea of waypoints they'll hit along the way. I have one of these for the story as a whole, with each "waypoint" basically being a rough-draft concept for the premise of a single arc. To give an idea of the level of specificity, the "waypoint" for this first arc was literally just "getting the gang together." It was the one thing I needed to have happen. On a smaller scale, individual sub-arcs have more detailed roadmaps of their own, but they mostly fit the format of "characters arrive in location A -> characters fight bossfight B" with the rest fleshed out in between.

The checklist. This is the specific list of "things I need to happen in this specific substory," aka the waypoints on the smaller-scale roadmaps. It gets fleshed out as the actual story gets closer to it and specific character arcs take turns I might not have been able to anticipate. This is close to a timeline, but it's more flexible, as at this stage it's okay to shuffle around the order of things - in fact I almost never make solid linear timelines of events, because sometimes I split the party and things happen at their own pace. In these cases I just set waypoints for when different sub-timelines will intersect - at what point in the conversation will the large flashy thing interrupt, at what stage in the fight will the cavalry arrive, etc. I just need to be sure to hit all the important parts. I'll know a story is ready to turn into a storyboard once I have every important detail nailed down - what specific sticking points will come up in the character conflict, what hidden threat is going to be in the environment they enter so I can set it up correctly, what conclusion will a character come to and how will they want to proceed, etc.

The solid storyboard. This is what I turn into finalized pages, and I work several chapters ahead to make sure I have the rhythm of the story. Once it's down on paper it generally doesn't change much, though specifics of dialogue can be reworked right up to the export. This is linear progress, and it usually happens in very discrete bursts. I don't storyboard something until I know exactly what is happening in this specific scene, where they're going, where it'll end and what it's setting up for later. Sometimes I get stuck on a single panel because I'm not sure which choice a character will make, and then when I come back to it I set down that panel and like five more pages flow out afterwards. Sometimes I'll just reread all my storyboards up to the current endpoint, take a nap, then wake up knowing exactly what to put on the next panel. Sometimes I'll do a reread and tweak the dialogue at several points because the first draft I wrote doesn't sound good to me anymore. This is where I do the bulk of the work that traditional media would do in the second draft.

In order to avoid rewrites - because in serialized media, rewrites are very bad - I frontload as much of that work as I can. I don't start the storyboard until I know all the relevant details of the scene's setup, so I don't end up retconning anything important. If there's a specific hidden enemy in the environment, I want to foreshadow it accurately, so before I draw the area it's in I want to know exactly what it looks like and where it could be hiding. If they're in a facility designed for a specific thing, I want to know exactly what that thing is so the clues and details line up. If I've reached the start of an argument, I want to know what is going to end it before I draw the first panel.

I don't need to know every detail of exactly everything that's going to happen, because the characters work better when I let them make their own choices on a panel-to-panel basis, but I need to know every detail of what they're reacting to and interacting with. In a way it's a lot like running a TTRPG. So there are many times where I draw a page and don't know what's going to happen five pages later - in fact I'd say that's the vast majority of my experience - but I always have a narrowed-down space of things I know will need to happen in the next sixty pages.

[k1nky-fool]

aight lets do 😅 😈 ✨ 🍦 ❌[if you dont want to say then don't] 🎨 📈 💞 😬 💔 🤩

fic ask game

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

I have an entire scene in They Called Her Mania, where Vega jokingly slut shames both Slayer and Mania by how long it took each of them to change their mind from wanting to kill the other, to wanting to sleep with the other.

That scene has since gone under some heavy editing, but I am embarrassed that scene left my fingers in the first place.

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

"You'd kill me?" Her voice was glitching as her mask modulator struggled against the previous damage.

"Only if you survive the fall."

Putting this at the end of a Least Sane Moments part 3 is probably my favorite cruelty in my writing.

But also in Devil of the Crossroads

The assignment should have had her back by sundown at the latest. It would have been more dangerous to hit the warehouses at night as Sevika had found weeks ago, his security was tightest after sundown.

"Silco." Pepper's voice warned. "Where is she?"

He didn't have an answer.

Is another cliffhanger I'm very satisfied with.

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

Uhh… I like to think that I write very compelling and likeable characters, even in antagonistic roles.

🍦 What's the sweetest fic you've created so far?

Without a doubt, Innocent Schemes and Guilty Consciences part 1 is the fluffiest thing I have ever written. I don't think that fic is going to stay very fluffy tho.

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

Emotional clinginess is by far the most annoying thing I keep seeing in a lot of fics. If it's something you like, then it's great that you found something for you, but I personally, absolutely hate seeing fics where the OC or the reader insert is just overly dependent.

Like, if you wanted to write a fic about Viktor, if your point is to write him in character, then he would not drop everything because his partner is pouting for attention. He would not thrive with a partner that constantly requires him to leave his passions at the door for them. Nobody should expect their partner to drop everything and give attention whenever it's convenient for them.

And I hate even more when the OC/reader insert acts like their partner owes them something in return for not dropping everything and giving them attention. I've been in enough relationships with emotionally clingy people to tell you that shit is draining, and I could never write that unless I was specifically trying to show a dysfunctional relationship.

🎨 How do you feel about fan art of your stories?

I literally love it so much, please make all the fanart, I will reblog it, and perhaps I can offer blog shout outs in fics, and even feature fanart (with permission and proper credit) in chapter updates themselves.

At this point, you can also send me short stories with my own OCs (just credit me) and I will reblog them. If I like it enough, and it's possible, I might even enjoy putting the short on my canon timeliness (with your permission and proper credit also).

📈 How many fics do you have?

I have a lot of fics (especially in my star wars phase) that never saw the light of posting. And as of now, I also have several fics in other places, that I have yet to post because they're sequels to fics that are already on my Masterlist, and I need to finish those stories before I start posting sequels and short stories and other fics.

I have 9 currently on my Masterlist, 3 more MHA fics that may never get posted, 1 Venom x OC fic that I barely have a concept for but still have something written, 9 unfinished Star Wars concepts including several space lesbians and other pairings, 1 other Doom fic that I actually already have 18k written for and I just haven't finished editing the first few chapters, and 2 sequels to my current Arcane fic lineup that both start a bit before or during Act II of Arcane, including a fic of a grown up Sketch, and Devo joining Viktor in a spiral out of Piltover's control.

💞 Who's your comfort character?

In MHA, Fatgum

In Star Wars, Ahsoka Tano, Cal Kestis, and Hera Syndulla

In Doom, Vega

In Steven Universe, Peridot

In Arcane, Ekko, and Viktor

😬 Which of your fics would you be most horrified for friends, family, or coworkers to stumble upon?

I suffer from a disease known as "No shame to the point that I openly talk about writing fanfiction in my real life."

However, that being said, there's a reason I have yet to post that second Doom fic. And it's because I'm not too sure how my friends (who know my tumblr) will react to knowing I wanna fuck a 10 ft tall, morally gray, robot. Like they probably already know, I'm just scare of the consequences of them knowing exactly in what detail.

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?

Honestly, Least Sane Moments breaks my heart most of the time. I have the occasional moment in Fuck Around and Find Out where it just hurts, but Least Sane Moments is just a heartbreaking story the most put of all of my fics. At its core, it's a story of someone getting all the support the world can possibly afford them, and still struggling to accept and trust it because of how they've been treated.

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

Pepper very quickly became my favorite character to write when I realized just how much people liked to read her. Whip smart with a funny accent, and an attitude appears to have accidentally been the crabby patty formula for a very specific niche of OC content consumers, and I couldn't be happier about it.

I don't know how many of my followers know this, but I'm from Georgia. I've grown up around Southern accents, and I even struggle to keep mine down a lot of the time. Writing Pepper wasn't really a therapeutic experience, she's just a fun one. Like she doesn't have to be anything for me, she's just entertaining. And I think a lot of the reason her dialogue is so fun to write is because it comes naturally to me, and her narration is fun to write because it's usually what I'm thinking anyway, she just thinks of it quicker than I do.

[latibulesims]

Hey Lati!

I’m so sorry to press you for more information, but I’m so fascinated by your filming process and I have some additional questions if that’s okay. Specifically around your sets that are just individual rooms, are these just multiple secular room sets on one lot, or do you use a different lot for each set? Like with the River’s house when any family member is coming downstairs, is Tresor or Raign’s room not on that lot? The living room and kitchen? Lol I’m just so fascinated by this if that’s the case, and if so it’s extremely impressive because they look like they all could actually be one complete set. Sorry if this makes zero sense, I’ve just never thought to try this and now I really want to! ☺️ Thanks so much!

Haha no you make total sense!! First of all thank you for watching my series, and don't worry at all about asking questions! I know filming with The Sims 2 can be difficult bc of how often it crashes and its loading time, so any tips I can give to help the game crash less, im happy to share 💖

The sets are actually on different lots entirely! So, when Tresor "comes downstairs", or the characters go from the living room to the kitchen, I load an entirely new lot! I think the only exception I make is with bathrooms because they're so tiny haha, but any time you see the characters going from one room to the other, it's usually a different lot all together. :')

It may sound exhausting to some, having to jump from one lot to another, but over the years (I've been doing this since 2017, at least!) I've managed some tips that help, for those that are interested:

1) I make multiple sims of the same character, so that every sim belongs to every lot! So, if Tresor for example needs to be in her bedroom, the living room and Simons bar within the same episode, I create 3 Tresors (TresorBED, TresorLIVING, TresorBAR), and that way I don't have to move her around.

I should also note that I change neighborhoods every episode (more on that in tip #3), so it might sound like a lot of sims over the episodes but really it's usually just 3 versions of the same character in one neighborhood at a time.

You might find it's easier to just move the sims from one lot to the other, but in my experience moving the sims around (or using the tombstone to extract them) always ends up crashing my game so this is a really good way to avoid it all together!

2) I don't film chronologically, but by sets! This is my #1 tip. I basically gather up all the scenes I have in 1 set and I film them. That way i dont have to go back and forth between lots, instead I just finish off all the scenes I need using a lot and move on to the next! Sometimes a set has so many scenes I end up filming in one set for weeks at a time (usually Simons bar, haha, that S2E1 Christmas episode needed like 3 sets (Simons bar, Simons living room, The Rivers living room), and I spent two months just filming in Simons bar).

The only time I won't recommend this, is when you havent yet found your own style. Then you might risk something like this happening: You're just starting to film, and you have the 1st and last scene in the episode in the same set. So, you film them both. Then you film a couple more scenes after that, and then you reach the final set and by then your filming skills have changed (if you haven't found your style and take months filming an episode - which is completely valid, BTW - this could mean a drastic change). Then, scene #1 (which you filmed at the very beginning) could have a completely different filming style than scene #2 (which you filmed at the very end), and so on. You wouldn't want that.

I had something like that happen to me, where I discovered reshade mid-filming an episode, so the scenes I filmed at the beginning of the episode didnt have it, and then the scenes I filmed at the end did it. It made the epsiode look incosistent, which is something I don't really care about (and neither do my viewers, really), but you might so letting you know as a heads up! Some of these tips do compromise the "professionalism" of the episodes, but it's how i manage to film and pop out episodes with (relative) quickness :').

Thats why for many reasons, including should you want to film by set instead of chronologically, I suggest you find your style before filming an episode or starting a series all together. This can be done through creating small machinimas, filming tests, music videos, etc. Take it from someone who can't even handle sitting through the first 8 episodes of my own series because of how much my style back then. The way it drastically changed from one episode to another irks me so much! 😅

3) And this is my most controversial one, LOL, but I always build sets + new neighborhoods from scratch with every episode. As I mentioned above, I change neighborhoods with every episode because, in my experience, neighborhoods get corrupt with time so starting with a fresh neighborhood every episode helps avoid crashing. Previously, neighborhoods would get so corrupt, they'd stop loading at all mid-filming an episode, so im forced to interrupt my filming streak and build the sets and characters all together which absolutely wrecks any motivation I have to film afterwards. Once, this happened mid-filming a scene and so I had to rebuild, and let me tell you: Theres a difference between sets looking a bit different because I had to rebuild between episodes, and sets looking different within the same scene. At least when you rebuild the set with every new episode, you can blame minor changes on the fact that time passed from one episode to the other.

Also: I make sure to build all the sets I need for the episode before I start filming, because I dont want anything to interrupt my filming once I start it. If Im forced to build when I'm motivated to film, I end up losing that motivation in the time I spend building, if that makes sense. As u probably already know as a machinima maker, we do the work that is usually required of a team (writer, director, editor, and also stylist and set designers), so I like to do things one at a time so I can have a clear understanding of my schedule and timetable. So, I dedicate 2 days to style all the sims, a week or so to build all the sets, usually months to film the episode, then another week to edit and audio edit. I try my best not to have all of those parts overlapping, otherwise it gets too overwhelming.

The reason I rebuild from scratch, as opposed to just extracting the lot and installing it in a new neighborhood is because, again, I prefer a fresh start and have found that lots are less likely to get corrupt if they're "new". A lot of people think im crazy for it LOL, or that it's a colossal waste of time, and maybe it is! But it's the process that works best for me, and I end up filming really fast with much less crashing and hiccups because of it!

Hope that helps!!! :') Let me know if you have any other questions about my filming process or any other tips 💖💖💖 I'd love to help!

[thecandlesticksfromlesmis]

My sister's college's theater group decided to FILM their musical one person at a time and edit it together(!!) and I'm in engineering grad school, and am aware that art school is a v v different experience but this made me think: how are you guys doing this? Are you ok? How do you learn to direct if there can't be two people on screen together? Is it like the Tom Holland thing where he didnt know who was in scenes with him? Are the editing students happy about this? If you dont want to answer I totally get it but I'm asking because engineering not in person kills me so I just. Can't fathom what you're doing. I wish you the best 💙

HEY omg yeah it’s a mess. It’s been a mess since this all started and I think it will continue to be a mess for the rest of this year. 

Rest of post under the cut cause I’m just ranting.

So when everything first hit, all filmmaking was stopped completely, which for me as a screenwriter was fine because I am not required to be on set unless I wrote the script (or have been bamboozled into script supervising ugh) anyway. But I know it hurt literally every other discipline, especially cinematographers because they need to touch cameras in order to learn and the school provides all their tech. 

Towards the end of last year, the school started back up with productions, making it mandatory for all the films to be shot on our big sound stages (usually we have free rein of all of LA and a little outside it in shoot in) and to include a COVID safety supervisor. Our sound stages were upgraded with new air ventilation systems and the school also rented out other stages to accommodate the huge number of shorts that needed to be shot. 

In order to be on set you had to have proof of a negative COVID test and have isolated in your home for two weeks before shooting. On set was a big production of face shields and masks and sanitizer and staying six feet away from each other---except for the actors. The actors could be in scenes together, provided they did all the steps above and agreed to be close to someone in a scene.

No one is happy lmao. It’s pushed back thesis schedule SO MUCH, that lots of people in my class will still be having to shoot and finish thesis after we technically graduate this year. Technically, I’m still responsible for writing a script for a project that was cancelled and removed from the “you need to do this to graduate” list. It’s been rescheduled to shoot in August when I will be rigorously prepping for the huge event where I pitch all my project to industry execs. I don’t wanna do it, but my whole team still wants to so ya know 🤷🏼‍♂️

I have no clue how the fuck the production designers are functioning. I hope they’re still able to go to the school to access the building stations and literally all their materials. Editors have to go into the school to do their work because AVID costs so much money and no one is gonna buy it personally and that’s what they edit on! Directors are being dramatic as usual (lol I love some of them but goooood the shit they’ve put writers through y’all). 

Basically, it’s all around absolutely NOT what we signed up for to earn our masters. This school’s big selling point is hands on, collaborative work, and it’s really tough to do that now. Writers have less to deal with, but what I wouldn’t give to be sitting in workshop, giving notes to people in conversation form, rather than trying to have a natural dialogue over zoom. It sucks! And I miss my friends. 

There was this beautiful room on campus, that was a “no talking zone” in the library, that I used to work in every day. It was a room full of screenplays--like stacked shelves top to bottom of bound screenplays, some original behind glass doors, some signed by writers. It was really good place for me to focus on what I came here to do. I really really miss it. It made me feel a part of something! I have barely left my house for a year and now all the words I’ve written are trapping in our one bedroom apartment and it’s so stifling. The stories are blending together and GOD I can’t wait to get a break. 

I’m burnt out and tired of the one thing I know how to do. 

But I’m going to end this on a bright note! Mike and I are getting our second shot soon, we’re working on a film project right now, I’m finishing drafts of stories I’ve been working on for so long. If everything was the way it was before all this, the things I’m accomplishing would feel so small and not impressive. But now I’m realizing just how hard they really are to finish, and I should be less hard on myself in the future! 

Anyway, thanks for asking! Hope engineering grad school is going well. I’m sure it’s hard with all this going on too! Wishing you the best 💚 

[daggery]

Gif Maker Appreciation Tag

rules: answer the first half of the questions with gifsets of your own, then answer the second half by tagging gif makers you love!

@iridescentides @deweyduck tysm for tagging me! ❤️❤️❤️

LINK A GIFSET...

Link a gifset you’re really proud of:

definitely the malvie gifset. i feel like if i could solidify this type of gifset as my Style tm i would be satisfied but unfortunately that requires making more gifsets like this one lmao

Link a gifset where you tried something new:

this huma set i tried out channel mixer and i like how it turned out on the individual harry and uma panels esp

Link a gifset that features your favorite character or celebrity:

not a gifset but a little graphic for inej ghafa love of my entire fucking life!!!!! hoping to gif her more from the show in the future when i have more time!!

Link a gifset that you want more people to see:

glowy eyes mal gifset, even though it’s simple it was a gifset i had tried to make several times before but wasn’t happy with for whatever reason until now. gifmaking has rly exposed the way im a perfectionist help. but i do feel like i’ve improved!

Link a gifset that you had fun making:

LOTS of fun making my halloween descendants set, i made it in one day which almost never happens. usually finding the scenes to use is so boring but it was fun to find clips that matched the halloween theme

Link a gifset that you created as part of a meme, challenge, or series:

haven’t made one yet. i did make a simple descendants giffing meme for myself some months ago, but i haven’t posted it yet because i. dont want to commit to it

Link a gifset of yours that makes you smile:

jay eyebrows >:) and i’m still unapologetically obsessed with my xiaohei and wuxian gifset bc it makes me smile but also want to cry in a good way they’re just so found family

Link a gifset that you made for someone else:

the malvie and huma ones^^

TAG SOMEONE WHO...

Tag someone who inspired you to start making gifs:

gonna go out on a limb and tag a non mutual to say i love @wespers jamie’s creations!! they were one of the first gifmakers i followed and even though i havent tried out pale coloring yet, you can probably see a bit of the pale gifset format insp in my first(ish) gifset. so yeah they were an inspo for me to start making gifs and i rly love their recent shadow and bone sets!!! (currently in my queue) <3

Tag someone who makes great vibrant gifs:

@moorsgrimhilde / @malviesbitch sofia is singlehandedly keeping the descendantsedit tag alive with her gifs not to mention how bright and vibrant and pretty they are and i just think thats iconic of her

Tag someone who makes great pale/pastel gifs:

@deweyduck i associate her with like, bal, barbie and ALSO!!! this one ducktales gifset whose colors really stood out to me, it’s so pleasing to look at

Tag someone who gifs for a fandom you love:

@mobei-juns making xiaohei and wuxian sets (latter one currently in queue!) for legend of hei <333 the best shifu-student duo.

@oretsevmal kat’s shadow and bone gifs i adore them, the coloring and text on the malina one is so pretty. also descendants gifs!! i get so happy when i see them

@inejkazjesper the CUTEST jayvie roadtrip au gifset ever. i love gifsets that use clips from videos other than the original movies to create something unique

Tag someone who uses text/typography really well in their gifsets:

@hersilentlanguage i love the text on this jaylos edit with the placement and colors and just nailing the vibes overall, all of their graphics are a+++

Tag someone who motivates you to step up your game:

@iridescentides the way i reblogged this gifset again and almost immediately others also reblogged it to reminisce abt everyone collectively freaking out over it as well.. this gifset was literally a community bonding event. also need to mention your colors i literally dont understand how you do it!! 

Tag someone who you have taken inspiration from:

@hersilentlanguage i haven’t actually posted anything yet BUT i do have an idea or two for future things hopefully :)))

Tag gif makers who you admire and appreciate! (Put as many people here as you want!): 

i can count the number of gifmaker mutuals i have on two hands so everyone’s tagged above :)if you’re tagged do this if you want (invitation extends to you too sparrow for your graphics!) ❤️❤️

[thevoidcannotbefilled]

Its been a while and I dont remember it well, what happened with the w359 finale?

Ooof okay. To you and the other anon here’s my answer. I’m not blind myself, so if I say something out of line, please tell me and I’ll make correction. But here we go: 

Dr. Miranda Pryce was introduced in the final season as one of the main big bad villains of the show. She’s an AI specialized who created Hera, who we already know put the thought of “You’re Not Good Enough” in her head in order to control her. As we hear more of her, we learn that 1) she has a habit of punishing/abusing AIs in order to control them, even revels in it, and 2) she is willing and for the fun of it, used her technological abilities in order to essentially turn the crew on her ship into brain-dead soldiers, not quite dead but only living bc of her machines like human puppets. She also uses said technology to 1) torture information out of Eiffel’s brain and 2) turn everyone else into puppets. 

Overall the impression we get of her: She is a scientist who uses technology in order to control people in whatever means necessary because she finds the ability to control and change people both satisfying and amusing. 

Now, I set this background up to 1) remembering what happened in W359 and 2) the impression we get of this character. She is not sympathetic nor is she trying to be. And that’s fine! You don’t need those type of characters all the time, especially since W359 is FULL of characters that join our side after realizing they’re being used or help the team in one way or another because of sympathy. 

But then, we’re also told that she has cybernetic eyes. And at one point, she losing full sight in them after they were destroyed in an explosion that Eiffel caused. I won’t analyze up to this point how Pryce’s blindness was treated in universe. Again, I’m not an expert and there would be a lot of more subtle nuances I would be missing if I tried to analyze the writing. The only questionable part is having a blind villain when no other character other than arguably Hera are disabled. But also, again, I’m won’t make a fuss for the writing up to that point. 

HOWEVER WE GET TO THE FINALE AND OH BOY. 

The finale starts with a speech from Pryce. Summed up? Pryce was a blind orphan girl who was treated badly because she was blind and was creepy for making “dolls”. She then was recruited by Cutler in order to make AIs and eventually, get the technology to copy people and to change humanity in a way that in their eyes is “better”. IE: turning people into perfect puppets for them to control. 

Okay, lot to unpack there: 

1) In the speech Pryce repeatedly calls herself broken. In fact, describing herself as a “broken girl” when she was picked up by Cutler. Yes, the speech wasn’t literal and was meant to be like she was telling a story, but that doesn’t mean that it makes it any less ableist. No, it does not matter if the blind character is the only who is calling herself broken, 1) there are no other blind characters to counter that, 2) none of our heroes countered her, and 3) may I remind you she is 100% a villain. This means “I was blind and treated awfully for it. I wanted to change the world bc I was mad about I was treated and then went full dictator on things with less power than me” is one of our VILLAIN’S backstory. Idk if they were trying to have some humanity in her or what, but it does not work. This character is too far gone to make sympathetic especially in your finale episode. And if they weren’t trying to make her sympathetic, they were straight up saying, “This character felt so broken by how she was treated and her blindness that she used her skills in order to manipulate and hurt others for my own gain”. That just straight up demonizes blind people. It’s bad writing at best and straight up ableist at worst. 

2) This one is more subtle, but the general idea of technology being used to make people’s lives better, especially enhancements to the body being framed in a negative light has ableist elements in it. Because you know, technology isn’t the issue, it’s what people use technology for that’s the issue. For example, there’s a scene where Pryce is working on her eyes while someone else is in the room. The other person found the idea of talking to her while she didn’t have both eyes in unsettling. Ergo, the message is “cybernetic eyes are creepy”. In reality, technology that can be used to replace body parts, especially tricky things like eyes is so good!!! It shouldn’t be required to have, of course, (Some blind folks don’t mind being blind and people should always have control in regards to what happens to their body if it only affects their body!!!) but having the choice to repair your vision if you’d like is AMAZING. But the show sort of frames any sort of technology as invasive and inhumane. Another example, only the main villains have body modifications. Cutler made enhancements to his body to make it faster and stronger (which makes sense in character), but also with it, the implication that having body modifications makes him less humane. 

There’s a running theme in the show that humanity is a choice, a messy choice with messy lives, but one you make. With that, while the villains are human, they lose their humanity by not caring about others. Which good!!! Excellent theming!!! But, in Wolf 359, the villains also make body modifications to themselves, and only the villains. This builds on the long and tired trope of things like canes, braces, artificial limbs, and other similar things are a sign of villainy or inhumanity, as if adding these elements to yourself modifies your humanity. Which, just isn’t the case. This is especially strange in this series because we have an AI main character who struggles with being treated as human because she’s an AI, but definitely sees herself  and wants others to treat her as a person.

This is especially disappointing because the villains’ plan is to reshape people and make them “better”. Cutler’s plan is to turn humanity into mindless puppets for them to control. It’s a natural conclusion from “being utterly disposable when necessary” to “you’re being kept around because you’re useful” to “you’re useful, but we don’t care about your humanity, so we’re taking away all your humanity to control you”. You didn’t need the other stuff with the blindness and the implication that body enhancements at all to make this point. 

So, I won’t go on for longer, but TLDR: Wolf359′s finale has a blind character not only call herself broken but also has her be one of the main villains. A villain who doesn’t care for other’s boundaries and repeatedly uses her technological skills to modify others without permission. There are also undertones within the series that physical modification in general is creepy and invasive without nuance.  This could have easily been avoided within the narrative because most of this was added either within the final season or within the finale itself. That’s why parts of the final season and especially the finale are ableist. 

(If I’m overstepping, please tell me, and I’ll reblog additions/edit the post as necessary. This is meant to be an explanation because I got a few anons about it). 

[laufire]

Hi I love your opinions on shows and their structures (its just a really interesting take which I dont really see people discussing. I was curious about your opinions on shows storylines which have a weak male lead/ted. For instance tvd got stronger in the seasons where it switched from stefan to klaus and then when they tried to phase him out the storyline got a bit convulted? Then in comparison the gifted it felt it had no male lead in that sense and had no direction. (part 1)

part 2 - we know that murphy ended up being a stronger male lead in the later season (bts reasons or because without octavia bellamy just may not have been as fun to write idk) did you notice how klaus and murphy had a similar effect on the endgame. For instance klaus loved immortality so the main take over from tvd was immortality and the supernatural was the superior option (we even got the show legacies from this pov).

part 3 - murphy's choice to transcend to being a prime was A) a peak romantic moment and was framed that way and then B) also framed as correct considering season 7. Then his decision to stay with emori ended up being the endgame for the group at the very end. I don't know how much I'm just reading into it but I just felt that narratively speaking that they had similar effects in regard to the original male lead?? Just wanted to see what your thoughts were about this?? 

(oops, forgot I got these today. I’ll get on the memes next ^^U)

Thank you! I can’t take credit for the structural analysis as it all started with a user that later deleted... but it’s an interesing way of looking at narratives and I’ve found it really useful, in terms of figuring out what it makes a story tick, my own included.

In my experience, three things can happen with weak male leads: if things were so from the beginning but there are no competitors, it’s just... aimless. Directionless, like you said. It sounds like that could’ve happened with The Gifted (I only watched a few episodes back when it first aired, so idk).

Another possibility is that a competitor entered the game, like Klaus. Then it becomes a question of which is stronger, and there are a lot of factors involved. A key one is their romance (and IMO, KC was stronger than SE. I know, I know xD. But SE had structural weakness from the start, even if I could only see them in hindsight. The fact that Steferine came first is a big one, for example. Stefan falls for Elena first because she has another woman’s face. That’s sacrilege!! It makes her less ~unique).

Another is their willingness to Get Things Done, usually by acting as The Bad Guy. Although for male lead, the possibility of a last moment Hero Edit seems necessary. Writers don’t like their male leads to look back, and their standards for “look bad” are fucking ridiculous. For example, cheating on their One True Love is deathly (btw, I’m convinced this is related to what happened with Murphy and Ontari. I believe the writers didn’t intend that to come across as a rape scene, but they didn’t want Murphy to come across as a cheater. So they chipped away at Murphy’s agency until they had something that fit their requirement. And even then, they didn’t even show them touching at all, as if they couldn’t bring themselves to). Mass murder can be okay xD.

In those cases sometimes the structure becomes a contradictory mess because the writers are struggling during the transition. Or there’s a slow take over of the new victor’s values. One thing I’ll say is that, once there’s a strong enough oppositor, the original male lead doesn’t seem to be able to recover, in any of the cases I’ve seen. The new one might fail, or might take some blows by the leftover power of the first (that happened a lot to Klaus; IMO the spin-off itself was about trying to minimize his influence lol), but I don’t remember a case where the original prevailed.

The last case is when the male lead has become weak due to other factors (bts drama, the writers losing passion for him like in AOS with Ward...), and he leaves the field open for anyone else strong enough to take over.

I think the last two cases happened on The 100; first, it was Finn vs. Bellamy, then Bellamy fell and Murphy pounced xD

And yes, I do think Klaus and Murphy altered the values of their ‘verses; those always reflect the lead’s. That’s part of why those shows feel so, so different from how they started: they’re literally reflecting different, sometimes opposite priorities. In The 100 it’s even messier because it went through three guys lol, and neither of them was that well-established (Finn’s structure fell appart quickly, Bellamy had to fight and managed to sort of establish itself in late-s4 and s5 to fall apart even quicker, and Murphy’s had little time in a season with other issues).

Legacies is a good example, and so are other details in the Plecverse, like how more and more characters are happy supers instead of Stefan’s-like constant angst about it xD (even Stefan’s own mother!!). I think that’s why Damon got a better ending than he would’ve otherwise, since he aligned more with Klaus’ values.

I’ve been thinking about that regarding the finale, but I still want to rewatch it all to iron out some details... I agree on those examples, yeah. And one thing I kept thinking of was on Murphy’s fear of going to hell ending with him being seen as morally pure enough to transcend xDD.

I think it’s also why parts of the ending feel contradictory: the transcension theme vs. Memori’s romantic progression, for example (because Murphy is such, such a terrenal character *-*, and so is Memori as a ship -there’s a reason they’re accused of being too horny for each other lmao).

Memori likely contradicts what JRoth wanted the show to Be About; for one, he doesn’t seem romance-oriented at all (if anything he seems to favor brother-sister relationships, judging by a film of his I wanted to watch but fell through), but theirs clawed their way into the center of the show bit by bit. This was actually the source of my worries wrt Memori’s ending: a lot of writers end up resenting this kind of storylines, and retaliate against them any way they can, although they often can’t fully break them down (i.e. Bonkai or KC. Though there was obviously far, far more resentment towards the first lol). I’m very happy it wasn’t the case here lol.

[patientfocusly]

major canon divergences 

( i don’t expect anyone to read this because it’s a lot lmao. this is more so for me to have a reference because i forget things about my own muse / canon rip. if we’re rping together we’re probably also talking ooc so anything important from this post will be mentioned to you at some point. )

( please note that by canon, i’m referring to my general main verse which includes no interactions with other muses. each interaction with a muse is put into its own verse. new interactions can come into the main verse at any point of the timeline and then diverge from that point. )

does not marry curtis. they noticed each other because they worked closely as part of the atlas crew and maybe if the time and place were different there might’ve been a chance for them to get to know each other and form something but for shiro, there is a lot weighing on his mind that he needs to wade through

( a ) shiro has been thru Sum shit and he has an endless list of reasons to be sad but i just want to make it known that shiro’s no. 1 source of guilt and just general mind-anguish is the fact that he is living in a borrowed body, that he took from someone who had to die for him to live. 

( b ) at this stage he is also coming in touch with his feeling for keith which have been with him for a while, so even if he was aware of other potential interests . . . he’s not actually interested back.

adam is alive. he was critically injured in the first wave of attack by sendak and recovered enough only to provide ground support for the second wave. he remains an officer of the garrison and heads training and recruitment. he does not fly again. he’s happily married and reaches out to shiro. they’re amicable, but not close friends. maybe eventually they will be. ( this will obviously not be the case if i’m writing with an adam. )

allura is alive – i need to rewatch the end of season 8 to figure out how, but she’s alive.

after a year or so of captaining the atlas, the need for atlas to be an offensive military ship decreases and shiro consults sam and pidge for their thoughts on deweaponising his prosthesis. The new arm is still powered by allura’s crystal but looks more similar to the galra arm ( except it starts at the shoulder since his bicep??? disappeared magically ), but it’s coloured white and light grey, and the lit up areas are aqua ( same as the crystal. )

speaking of the crystal . . .  the original arm was designed to operate via a balmera crystal, because that’s what most of altean designs are based off of. however they didn’t have a crystal to use, and sam says the remaining energy required for the armto work would be drawn from shiro’s own electromagnetic field. he tries it for the first time and . . . his body rejects it, in what looks like an incredibly painful and potentially fatal way, if it hadn’t been for allura stepping in and replacing the original energy source for the arm with the crystal from her tiara. we don’t ever find out why shiro’s body rejected the first energy source but here are 2 theories:

( a ) shiro’s body is actually kuron’s body, a clone, manufactured by haggar, using ~space science~ and likely some form of quintessence. the electro magnetic field coming off of the clone’s body would vary to that of a human’s, which is what sam would’ve based his calculations on. balmera crystals have incredible properties that aren’t really explained in great detail but we know how powerful they can be, regardless of size. 

( b ) because it’s kuron’s body, maybe the connection to haggar didn’t completely shut off when keith cut off the arm. that flash that happens when the arm connects and shiro’s body starts rejecting it is very similar to the flash that happens when haggar starts controlling kuron earlier ( better explained in this headcanon piece. ) my only issue with this headcanon is that it implies haggar may still have some degree of control over shiro, and I just………….it’s been so overused, i just don’t want that for shiro anymore, so i’m most likely sticking to theory a !!!!!

still on the subject of the crystal, let’s talk about what shiro says after allura places the balmera crystal in his arm ; “i feel strange . . . i feel – great !” strange, as in he’s feeling something he’s never quite felt before. this is in contrast to what he feels when the first energy source is used in his arm ; “i feel . . . good,” but he sounds hesitant, like he doesn’t feel good at all, and obviously we see why moments afterwards. the great part is emphasised. he almost seems excited, like he really does feel great, and the scene cuts off with him trialling his arm by making a fist, and smiling. again, the properties of the crystals are pretty much undefined, but they are an immense source of power – what allura’s tiara contains is likely more than enough required to power shiro’s arm, and going back to how allura operated the castleship, and how shiro is able to operate the atlas, i’m loosely headcanoning that the crystal acts as a link between “captain” and “ship”, though obviously, allura herself channels quintessence and has so much more capabilities as a “captain.” 

what does the crystal providing an energy source for not only the new prosthesis, but also shiro’s body mean for shiro? an external boost of energy and human-compatible quintessence is probably the first dose of anything resembling treatment shiro has had since the kerberos mission. i don’t see the balmera crystal nor altean healing pods having the power to edit genes but as far as healing goes, it must have some effect in alleviating pain and / or fatigue for shiro to exclaim, “i feel great !”

( a ) sometimes it’s difficult to write in a universe set in the future because things of our current reality ( social injustices, shit politics, technological limitations etc. ) may not be a reality say 100 years in the future, and add space and alien technology to the mix and you’re sort of left with a lot of potential for creation and imagination and progression but also hindered by the reality of present day and representing present day. i wouldn’t want to “magic” away shiro’s disease or magically come up with a cure, but at the same time i don’t want to take away the possibility for him to be potentially cured ( which is what the “i feel great !” line hints towards ) just because of the limitations of today ???????? i’m just having an inner conflict over this - i will update what i decide when i decide !! 

major fanon divergences

does not qualify as space dad. it simultaneously infantilises the other paladins and takes away from their own journeys of being forced to grow up too quickly and take on the responsibility of fighting in a war, and puts undue stress on shiro who is only ~25 himself responsible for his team only in the role of their commanding officer at best

his prosthetic arm is not a sex toy, it’s a prosthesis ( refer to this post on arm related bed time activities )

shiro did not have a romantic connection with keith pre-kerberos. if anything the earliest signs of anything resembling a romantic connection would be late into season 2, but that is pending heavy plotting

shiro came from a happy family . . . he just lost almost all of it very early on. he grew up loved even though he learnt about loss too quickly ( please refer to this headcanon. )

shiro cannot sing lol . . . i dont know where this headcanon came from, but it’s sticking

i think it’s popular headcanon for shiro to have a little sister, or a big family; i wrote his backstory with his older sister before i came across this, so i’m sticking to my original headcanon because his bond with his sister is so strongly formed in my head  

shiro is not afraid of death . . . but he doesn’t want to die. i feel like his relationship with death needs its own post but the tl;dr version of it is that he had a timer put on his life when he was around 17 years old. life goes from seemingly endless to suddenly very very short ( not just in the sense that his lifespan is predicted to be shorter, but that his body will soon restrict him in movement and opportunity. ) and then kerberos happens, and the arena happens, and voltron and zarkon and he’s reminded that life is short regardless of whether they give you a timer at 17. any moment could be his last and shiro has had a long time to come to terms with this. it makes him incredibly grateful for the present, and of what he’s had in the past. it also is potentially why he prioritises a mission that will take him to see the stars, over a relationship with adam ten years down the track.

if anyone makes it this far . . . ur the real mvp, thank u for reading my brain ramblings <3

[moonguilt]

Voltron MMORPG AU: Chapter 2

alright here’s the next segment of overly elaborate headcanons. we’re finally getting some real klance lads

side note for people who dont RP: double parentheses ((like this)) indicate that the real person, i.e. lance or keith, is the one speaking. proper grammar is used for when they are making their original characters speak.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 3

finally, f i n a l l y, they are all playing voltron together

coran and pidge are still caught up in raiding and player-versus-player, but coran makes time on the side occasionally to act as dungeon master for the others, when they want to go on a particularly epic quest

meanwhile pidge adamantly proclaims they are all dorks, and when she attends their roleplaying sessions in-game, she insists that she is “only here to keep the high level elite creatures in this zone from killing you all while you're singing campfire songs like a bunch of camp rock dweebs”

when she eventually starts joining in on the roleplay here and there, under the guise of doing it “ironically,” no one comments on it

matt kind of gradually integrates himself alongside shiro. he shares absolutely none of pidge's qualms with the concept of RP, and in fact played a lot of dungeons & dragons as a teenager, so he manages to acclimate fairly easily

allura and keith both have a hard time getting into the idea of roleplaying. it strikes them as silly and they have trouble letting go of their dignity a little. lance whinges about them both having “major party pooper sticks up your butts come ONNN” but all the while, he is gently steering them in the right direction and subtly teaching them how to loosen up a little and immerse themselves in the fantasy world he has grown to love

sometimes they decide to hang out in heavily populated in-game cities together, where they can people-watch and build casual camaraderie among their characters. and perhaps interact with the occasional random player brave enough to approach their group's table in the tavern

“its not really OUR table” shiro points out one day when they walk into the tavern to find their usual seats occupied by other players

“YES IT IS” -keith and lance, in unison, approximately 29 seconds before their first RP bar fight

they decide eventually to create their own adventurer's guild so that they can easily connect with each other when they are online

shiro wants to name the guild “the paladins of voltron,” but pretty much everyone protests on the grounds of “shiro, you're the ONLY paladin in this guild”

the only exception is hunk, of course, who assures shiro that it is a very cool name, but perhaps they could just edit it slightly? maybe change “paladins” to something more class-neutral? like, “lions” perhaps?

yeah. yeah, “the lions of voltron” seems to work with everyone. whether that's because it's a good name, or because hunk is the one suggesting it, no one could tell you

as they all grow more comfortable with RP, their characters start developing bonds with each other

allura and matt, the guild's healers, hit it off swimmingly. they enjoy making their characters dramatic and exasperated with everything the others do. matt jokingly gives his character an enormous, embarrassing crush on allura's character just for the laughs

keith and pidge's characters both have dark, edgy pasts. pidge made hers extra dark because she wanted be funny, but keith seems to really enjoy the way their characters can bond over their shared trauma. she suspects there is an underlying reason for that and decides to never reveal that she intended for it to be a joke

the most interesting of all is, of course, the relationship between keith and lance's characters

everyone expects them to be rivals, to bicker constantly, etc

partially as a prank and partially because they think it would be fun to RP, they decide behind-the-scenes to make their characters the best of friends

“Oh, Keith, you are so strong and heroic!”

“I would be weak if not for the strength you gave me, my one true friend in this cold, dark world...”

“I am so glad I have a great warrior like you by my side...”

“You are my rock.”

“... even if you have a weird name.”

“((for the last time get off my case about the name, lance))”

“((literally never gonna happen. die mad))”

it starts to affect their relationship in the real world too, slowly, at first in the form of jokingly mimicking their characters' dynamic:

“oh, mighty keith, i require the salt on the other end of the table. would you please bless me with your aid”

“but of course, noble lance, i hereby entrust you with my sacred salt and place it in your skillful hands”

“illustrious keith?”

“yes, immaculate lance?”

“thats gay”

“fuck you”

R O M A N T I C  T E N S I O N in the R E A L  W O R L D

nobody fucking addresses it but everybody knows it's there. way worse than it ever was before somehow, which is saying something honestly. and it only gets worse as the days and weeks pass

“if I may say, good sir keith, you look particularly dashing today in this black ensemble of yours”

“why thank you dearest friend lance, i chose this specially to please you”

“then you may certainly consider yourself successful in this endeavour”

are they complimenting each other as a joke??? why do their eyes go half-lidded and their lips quirk lopsidedly when they shower each other in praise?? nobody knows

thats a lie. everybody fucking knows

no i never learned how to format tumblr posts. you will have to deal with my absolute trash aesthetic sorry

tune in next (and final) time for the most elaborate ridiculous speech i have ever written