#any character should always have the depth and work behind their story to make them compelling no matter what

[mari-monsta]

It honestly really baffles me when people say adrien is a boring or simple character, I don’t understand where that comes from at all. Because I think the main reason he’s so compelling are his complexities, but in the same vein those complexities I think make him someone very easy to relate to. Like it’s fine if he’s not likable or relatable to everyone but saying he’s not complex is really just ???? To me. Just looking at how DIFFERENTLY he acts around different people and situations is so fascinating to me. Of course everyone takes different personas and highlights different aspects of their personality around different people but adrien is the king of doing it around the same people to the extent of which having his two personalities be the same is laughable to those who know him personally in his everyday life.

But it’s not out of no where, seeing his home life and the kind of person he’s made out to be by his situation it’s not hard at all to understand that he’s a person who is immensely self conscious. He’s constantly gauging others perception of him and whether or not he is “safe”. What’s more fascinating is the entirely different way this comes out in chat noir. Because adriens personality as chat noir is also deliberate to a certain extent but it’s deliberate in the way that that’s how he wants others to see him. He wants to see self assured and larger than life because in his everyday life he feels small and self conscious. The fact that this dichotomy is so easy to follow in his character but creates such a black and white image in his two personalities is so interesting!

Another thing I find completely fascinating about him are his high empathy and how that actually fucks him up more often than not. He’s acutely aware of how other people might be feeling and can easily sympathize. At the same time though he has a hard time understanding certain social cues and situations and seems very out of his element. I don’t think these things conflict at all. Adrien is someone who easily puts himself in other peoples shoes and can imagine and have sympathy for their situation, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to pick up on the social complexities of every interaction every time. Emotions aren’t the same as communication and when it comes to the later adrien works best with simple and straight forward interactions.

In the same vein because of his aforementioned situations he’s also a character who has a lot of repressed anger and frustration that has been building up for a very long time. In his everyday life, he feels powerless, small, and insignificant. He doesn’t have faith that anyone would listen to his thoughts and feelings and actually take them into account, because by all of his experiences no one really has. This creates a defense mechanism where he shuts himself out before he even gets to the point of sharing how he really feels. We see this really easily in his relationship with Nino. He loves Nino DEARLY, but there is something that we have seen in him constantly putting up walls emotionally. He won’t tell him when he doesn’t find something funny, he won’t tell him if he’s unhappy to do something even when it greatly affects his life because he is at his core afraid Nino will not validate those emotions.

As a result, all the frustration he’s built up from feeling powerless in his everyday life we see just. Randomly bursting out of him in inopportune moments as chat noir. It’s not that adrien is such a violent or angry person normally. But he’s so used to repressing and modulating his emotions regularly that when he feels somewhat safe to express any frustration ALL of the anger he feels constantly bubbling under the surface all of the time just suddenly rushes out, like a dam holding back hundreds of gallons of water. This happens repeatedly, and then as soon as he’s realized he’s let himself get out of control he immediately feels immense guilt and he stops the dam up even tighter. This is obviously not a healthy feedback loop but it’s fucking FASCINATING!!!!

A common thing that I feel like I see fans often misinterpret about his character in my own opinion is just how PRIVATE of a person adrien is. Adrien loves sharing his love and appreciation for those around him because he knows how it feels not to know, not to be sure of that affection. But in the same token, Adrien rarely if ever actually shares his real feelings with those he’s close to. He doesn’t like people prying into his life or his feelings and he is very private about most things. We don’t see him talking about what he likes, we don’t see him sharing with his friends his anger or frustration. And in the end Adrien is the one character who has kept his secrets most closely held to his vest. This is all despite being so grandiose and loud mouthed as chat noir. Even as chat noir, adrien rarely is entirely open about things going on in his life.

To me Adrien as a character isn’t interesting or compelling because he is shy or cute or sweet, but because there are a number of different facets to his personality that I can easily see reasons for and understand where his feelings come from. He IS sweet, but not without misplaced anger, not without repression, not without mistakes and messy emotions. Not without pain that we can both easily see the roots of but also have a wide spread variety of consequences from. We see how his formative experiences affect every aspect of his life even in ways he audience wouldn’t necessarily expect, but make complete sense. That’s so fun and interesting to me!!!! Let characters be messy but try their best anyways!!! Let characters hurt each other and try to put the pieces back together one shard at a time. People have complicated emotions that come out in ways we can’t always foresee or help, people make mistakes because of that. But despite everything adrien is a character who cares deeply for those around him and tries to do right by them despite all the rest of it, and despite sometimes not really knowing how.

It’s things like that that keep miraculous being an extremely engaging and compelling story to me. Most of the general things about adriens character are also things that I find interesting about marinettes as well! Of course the intricacies of her character are completely different, but the general hows and whys and complex motivations for her actions while maintaining the best of intentions are what make them both so interesting to me. So this is just a little love letter to adriens character because I wanted to talk about that and why I find him so engaging!

[the-cookie-of-doom]

Cookie's Fic Recs

I feel like no one really does rec lists anymore! But last night I was feeling and sappy and mushy and decide to put together my own little list of fics I love. These are in no particular order, and they don't follow any real theme/tropes other than I dearly love them all, and you should definitely give them a read!

*I tried to tag everyone I could find a blog for, but if I missed anyone, please let me know I can tag them!

The Instinctual Gravitation Towards Warmth by kimkhimhant (@kimkhimhant)

This is my comfort fic. No joke, this is what I read when I want to die. It’s angsty as all hell, it’s made me cry, but it is so indescribably good. Kim is an addict going through recovery, finding love and family along the way. He hits rock bottom—arguably multiple times—but always claws his way back, always with the support of the people that love him. It’s such a beautifully written and cathartic story, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it. But it’s almost certainly the fic I’ve reread the most. 

Error in the Code by BlackwaterVial (@blackwatervial)

Sneaking this VegasPete onto my otherwise KimChay list bc it altered me. I think most people already know what it is, but jic: it’s a sci-fi/cyberpunk/android AU, and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever read. I go feral for androids and this fic delivers in all the best ways. The world building alone makes me weep. But all of the characters interactions, the way we get such an in depth feel for everyone despite the limited PoV, and the most satisfying take I’ve seen on android artificial intelligence ever—I can’t recommend this story enough. 

Idiots & Idioms by snickerdoodlles (@snickerdoodlles)

This one is actually a series, and it's genuinely so much fun to read. For the most part it's a SocMed fic with Chay taking over Wik's twitter and making it everyone's problem, and it's fkn hysterical. This one is actually a series, and it's genuinely so much fun to read. For the most part it's a SocMed fic with Chay taking over Wik's twitter and making it everyone's problem, and it's fkn hysterical.

Silver for Truth by snickerdoodlles (@snickerdoodlles)

This fic is the Kim & Khun vs. Tawan team-up we deserve. Kim is a ruthless, demented bitch, that's too cool to beat Tawan to death bc what if he messes up his wrists right before a show?? Big, get 'im. Kim is the feral-est cat ever, leaving behind evidence and bodies for Kinn bc saying "hey bro, I still love you/look out for you" is too much emotion for him. The fic is also from Tawan's PoV which also makes it the funniest thing ever, for reason that I won't spoil <3

The Wiked Lies We Live by shubaka (@shubaka)

Oh my god, this fic. Canon divergence (technically??) where most things happen as normal... except KimChay have been bodyswaped at the start of it. The little twists Shu puts on the events of canon, given it isn't the correct characters experiencing them (such as Big being very confused about why Kim is suddenly nice to him??) are so much fun.

A Portrait of Affection by froginthesun (@froginthesun)

Kim is an artist and Chay is the part time nude model he hires. ‘Nuff said right there, except no it isn’t, this fic is beautiful. Kim’s frustration with his craft is palpable, and so is the way he rediscovers his passion through Chay. The writing is wonderfully detailed, every chapter felt like walking through a museum. And tension slowly building between them—unf. 

Sunshine in My Closet by moneskin 

This is an A/B/O AU that is so satisfying to read. Typical hilarious boundary violations (Chay stealing Kim’s clothes, a bewildered Kim handing over a freshly worn outfit, having barely any idea who this strange kid is) characteristic of the AU, but then the story also delves deeper into more serious topics. Chay has a history of abuse from a past alpha that he has to learn how to navigate with Kim, who is incredibly patient and works hard to make Chay feel safe and loved. Overall a very sweet and comforting read. Seriously, this fic makes me melt.

Your Body Feels Like Disrespect by Blue_Jay (@bluejayfiction)

This fic is so funny because it begins with Kim blurting out, in the middle of an Important Mafia MeetingTM, that he and Chay aren’t having sex, and then wanting to die about it. Followed by Kim’s family trying very hard to both support and terrorize him. It’s hilarious, sexy, and one of my favorite reads when I need a pick me up. (Bless Kinn’s determination to be a Good and Supportive Brother, and Vegas for being the Worst Person Ever.) 

In Silent Screams (In Wildest Dreams) by BelladonnaWyck and StratsWrites 

This is definitely a darker fic. There’s DubCon, Kim is generally Sketchy, but it’s very hot. And I love explorations of his character where he isn’t just outwardly psychotic and cruel. This fic shows the kind of dark that I think Kim could have been, if you just tilted his character a little to the left. He still seems very much the way he is in canon, but he’s also… a lot more calculating and cold, sometimes. I love it. 

Forget-me-always by bisexualbard (@bisexualbard-writes)

I cannot sing the praises of this fic enough. I think it’s probably tied for IGTW for my most-read fics. I’ve probably read this one more often in reality, but only bc it’s shorter. But oh my god, does it hurt. Kim gets struck with amnesia post-break up, does a little light stalking, and gets Chay to help him learn/remember who he is. In the process realizes that wow his life sucks, and there’s no way he wants to go back to it. Especially if he’s the kind of person that hurt Chay. He would rather start over. (Ofc, he doesn’t get to). This fic makes me cry, it’s so good 

Coffeehouse Play by AirgodSLV

This is a canon divergence AU that I adore. The KimChay characterization is on point. I love that despite everything going on around them, they also get to be two boys that hang out and play videogames and try to shove each other off the couch while Porsche makes dinner. Given the age difference it’s so easy to make Kim Older and MatureTM, but he’s still a kid, and this story never once forgets that. It felt so honest and true to his character that Kim does have a lot of plans, and he’s very smart, but he’s also still so young, and sometimes shit just goes wrong. 

Want and Need by bisexualbard (@bisexualbard-writes)

God, this fic. T h i s f i c. Post-canon Chay goes to therapy and becomes a camboy (in that order) and it’s delicious. Watching the steady breakdown of his and Porsche’s relationship is so satisfying. Everything one of them does to make things worse feels awful, but is so in character that it’s hard to be mad at them for their decisions. Kim readily giving up control if it means he can be with Chay, and Chay getting a crash course in how to dom. All of it is just. So good. This is such a good fic

Your Look, Through This Lens by WildelyDawn (@wildelydawn)

AU where Chay becomes Kim’s photographer. This fic emotionally hobbled me. Just a fair warning. You will cry. But that said, the ending isn’t nearly as sad as the tags would have you believe! At least in my opinion. I think it’s fairly open/hopeful, and beautiful either way. I love the way this fic shows how Kim balances being Wik while also being part of the mafia. And I love how temperamental he is; always hot and cold, while remaining pretty even as far as how he expresses himself. Always very aloof/detached, just out of reach, with Chay never really sure where he stands/what Kim wants. But at the same time the fic happens just before Kim gets a big break, and the subtle ways he shows his excitement and nerves as things start coming together—it’s wonderful. 

Love’s a Two-Way Dream by giraffeter (@giraffeter)

This fic is dark. Kim atticwife’s Chay and it’s not a good time. But!! It’s not just dark for the sake of it; Kim is a genuine sociopath, yes, but it unfolds slowly. You get a sense of creeping dread as he does things that are just a little bit off, until finally the Big Bad Thing happens. At first he seems normal, playing the part of good and respectful boyfriend. But it just goes downhill from there, and I love every word of it. The ending especially is very satisfying. 

In the Dark of the Night by bisexualbard (@bisexualbard-writes)

Not to recc everything Bard writes, but… This is a rape recovery fic that I feel handles the subject matter incredibly well. There’s no gratuitous rape scenes, and even with the flashbacks, I don’t remember any of them being incredibly detailed. I think Bard handled the fic with incredible respect and grace. This is another one that’ll make you cry. The way Chay handles his past trauma while trying to have a relationship with Kim is so painfully real. And so is the way Kim wants to help him, but doesn’t really know how. But they figure it out together, and it’s amazing. (Also Kim acquires a stabby child in the form of an OC that I adore.) I just love the path Chay's recovery takes in this fic, it's so visceral and relatable. It's all around just. So good. I love this fic for the same reason I love IGTW and it's because both fics show an excellent depiction of recovery.

Chains and Crowns, A Flower Can Both Make by Sweet_William (@sweet-william-writes)

Incredibly Regency AU. Historical AUs are some of my all time favorites, and this is everything I didn’t know I needed. Sweet_William captures the essence of an Austen-esque style while still making this feel like the KinnPorsche characters. Chay is wonderfully feisty, Kim is delightfully complex, and the various family interactions always had me cackling. 

Simple Little Secrets by CorvusCloudburst (@cloudburst-ink)

Chay sees the future when he touches people. Kim thinks he’s either insane, a spy, or a conman. Oh, and Chay’s visions of Kim? Always sex-related. The shenanigans are endless. What more do you need?? They’re both crazy4crazy and it’s my favorite thing ever. Their banter is snappy and fun, the writing is sexy, and it never once gave me second-hand embarrassment despite Chay’s horrible situations. 

[morallysuperiorlips]

Writing a Female Character? Keep These Tips in Mind!

Messy is GOOD: In a world where everyone seems to want to write a demure and mindful woman, or a put-together gunslinging “not like other girls” badass, do us a solid and show us the messy girls. Show us the girls who are god awful at coping with their trauma. Show us the girls who are fucking trainwrecks in their daily lives. Show us the girls going through it, and going through it poorly.

Don’t dumb down your male characters to match her freak: I don’t know who needs to hear this, but PSA—making your male characters seem stupid in comparison to your female character doesn’t do any favors for her or your narrative. Dumbing down other characters for her sake might have the opposite effect of what your intentions are. There is nothing wrong with writing a smart woman alongside smart men. In my humble opinion, it makes for better storytelling when everyone is on the same page.

If you would do it for a male character, do it for your female characters: This is something I don’t think I need to explain, but I’m going to do it anyway. If you have a male character, and you go through the hoops of defining his goals, establishing his emotional depth, giving him his deep-set purpose in the story, developing his relationships with other characters, etc., then guess what? You can do those same things for a female character. The only difference between them is their gender, but both sides are equally as capable of being nuanced. This also applies to actually writing the exposition. Would you spend 6 paragraphs describing the figure of a male character? Or focus so heavily his physical traits that they start to define his character? If not, then don’t do it for your females!

Gender roles can get fucked: Of course, if your intent is to write a story with more “traditional” gender roles for whatever your reasoning is, more power to you. But if not, they hold no power over you, your story, or your fictional ladies. If the plot allows it, find ways to venture outside those societal norms, whether that’s in the way your female character thinks or acts, or what her occupation is, etc.

Strong female lead =/= emotionless, tough, “badass”: When a lot of people think of a “strong female lead,” they think of women who seem to defy the traditional female role in a story. As a result, you usually end up with these hardcore gals who appear to be written as a sort of an antithesis of what society thinks are “feminine traits,” with emphasis on how little emotion she shows, how “tough” she is, and how she overtakes every situation she’s in. These are NOT bad traits to put in a woman; not by a long shot. But the best characters are nuanced—she’s not always going to be in a state of low-emotion toughness. She’s not always going to be this perfect beacon of leadership. She’s going to have lapses in judgement. She’s going to make mistakes. She’s going to grow and change, just like all people do. And that doesn’t subtract from her being a “badass.” Women are fully capable of being “badasses” while working through mistakes, hitting their lows, or showcasing some vulnerability.

Remember her agency: I said previously that you shouldn’t be dumbing down male characters to bolster her, but that’s not an excuse to wreck her agency in the story. Her decisions within the plot should still matter, and they shouldn’t be entirely based around or influenced by other characters just for the hell of it. Not everything she does needs to be for someone else; she is her own person, with her own reasons and goals behind her choices.

[werewolfsister]

PSA: COMIC DRAMA

I've been slowly receiving critical, entitled, and passive-aggressive messages about the way I've been writing my comic! I wanted to address this behavior.

That being said, the majority of my readers have been nothing but positive! And when they spot a problem, they're kind about it. I really appreciate this; thank you to those who choose to be civil.

I'm making this post to address some issues, complaints, and questions I've seen. Let's take a look & see what we can discuss!

READ MORE UNDER THE CUT!

🦈-> I want you to use my character in your comic, but you're not using them! Sometimes, a character doesn't quite fit my vision for the comic-- even when they're designs that I love! I really do try to use as many people's characters as possible. I think it adds to the world & makes the comic feel more full of life! But I can't accommodate everyone's desires.

🐟->You're using my character in your comic, but you're not giving them enough screen time! Similar to the above issue, sometimes I don't think focusing on a particular character for any longer will serve the story well. Ultimately, I have final say on what happens in the comic. My advice is, if you feel your character isn't appearing enough, make your own content! Draw, write, craft, etc like I mention farther down below!

🐠->You said you were going to use my diplomat/character(s), but you only drew them in 1-2 panels. Why aren't you using them more? Similar to the points above! I was never planning on going into a TON of depth with the diplomats-- the comic focus also drastically changed, as I mention below.

🐡->You're using characters in the story that I don't like! Ahh that is too bad, but! In that case, you can always take a break from the comic & come back later to check if the characters are no longer being used, or maybe stop reading the comic altogether. However! If you have concerns with how the character is portrayed because of legitimate sexual/violence/illicit/illegal issues, then that's another issue entirely and you should let me know.

🪼->I thought this story was about rescuing Kenne, but now she's not even in the comic! I don't like the way this story is going! This is a big issue some people are having and I completely understand. There's been a lot of things going on behind the scenes that I haven't explained, which must be generating a lot of confusion. Originally, @kenneduck and I were collaborating closely on this comic. Recently, the dynamic shifted, and we're now working on the comic separately. @kenneduck is now responsible for the part of the story that heavily features her characters, i.e. Princess Kenne's perspective of the rescue, her rescue effort, and what's happening in the Domain of the Luminous trench. I am now working on a different angle of the story-- the diplomatic efforts of Zora's Domain in their attempt to negotiate for Princess Kenne's return. So, the story is still the same... the focuses have just changed and split!

🦑->You reblogged my fan art and/or linked it in your comic directory-- does that make my content canon? Oooh, this is actually kind of a tough one! Normally, if something is in the comic directory, I consider it to be canon to the story. So, if you've drawn something, and I add it to my directory for a comic chapter, I'll consider it to have happened in real time. THERE'S AN EXCEPTION! And it may be confusing, so I'm genuinely sorry! If you have drawn something where you are heavily modifying someone else's character--this means cosmetic changes, giving the character children/spouses/family, killing the character, altering their personality-- WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION, then I cannot accept that as canon. It's still fantastic that you drew/wrote/created something and I will probably put it in the MISCELLANEOUS section of the comic directory. I'VE MADE MISTAKES ON THIS! So, I've since updated the directory. And, sorry for all confusion on this issue! If you've made something & intended it to be canon, let's talk about it!

🐳->I want to collaborate with you on your comic, can I do that? That's awesome! Maybe in the future, but right now I'm not taking on any more partners. Maybe you can make your own separate additions, with your character(s) like I mention below!

🐙>I want to make fan art, can I do that? You absolutely can. Go for it. This was originally meant to be a very interactive comic, so draw/write/create away!!!

🦀->I want to draw my character(s) doing something in the world of your comic, can I do that? You absolutely can. Go for it! Like I mentioned above, however, I may or may not deem it canon to the events of the comic. But even if I don't, I'll add it to the MISCELLANEOUS section of my comic directory! ...as long as you don't alterate someone's character without permission! If you've made something & intended it to be canon, let's talk about it!

🐬->I want to make a character based on a Domain you created/idea you drew/etc., can I do that? Of course! Go for it. I love seeing what people make!

I know this is a lot of text, but it's better to be comprehensive! Please, keep in mind, I'm just one hobby artist making a comic for fun, with the spirit of interactivity and collaboration in mind. But it's impossible to keep that spirit going when people feel entitled and demand things of me that I am not obligated to give.

I queue out my pages several weeks in advance with the help of the people I'm working with, so what you see in the comic is the product of a lot of thought and work. You're getting something for free here, y'all. It ain't so serious!!!!

Anyways, thanks for reading this! And for reading the comic! Peace out ✌️

[twst-hottest-takes]

I recently read your post about the Halloween event, and I realized that Jack Howl doesn't have many SSR cards. I tried to think of a reason why, like maybe he's hard to dress up for an SSR card, or his muscles are hard to draw. Though that doesn't seem to be a problem with his SR or R cards.

So I feel like the problem is the game just doesn't really know Jack, so they don't know what to do with him. Which to be honest I feel like they do for Deuce. To twst Jack only wants to work out. And Deuce is always just trying to be an honor student to twst.

To focus more on Jack for a bit, I completely forgot he was even in the Stitch event because of how little they paid attention to him. I wish they would do more with their characters.

Careful, Anon, you could be flying too close to the sun there.

Do you really want to know why?

WARNING: We are about to tread into waters that I am dangerously invested in, so forgive me, but you may get a response a lot longer than you might have been expecting. I love Jack Howl and I refuse to keep my mouth shut about the constant injustices done to this character. I can get as heated about Jack as I do about Vil, but for the opposite reasons. While Vil is an awful character that gets blatant favoritism, Jack is awesome and gets treated incredibly poorly. The current Culinary Crucible is proof enough of that, so expect to see a decently lengthed post about that by the end of the event.

You're correct that his body type doesn't affect how difficult or hard it is for art to be made of him, but it is one of the reasons why he's so ill favored by the developers and the fans. I guess I'll put a bit of disclaimer here--

WHAT I AM ABOUT TO SAY IS PURELY CONJECTURE AND ONLY AN EDUCATED GUESS AT BEST! (I have just convinced myself that it is fact at this point, so there's going to be a lot of conviction behind this next statements.)

Anon suggests that the game doesn't know what to do with Jack, AND THAT'S BECAUSE THEY DON'T! Jack is a placeholder of a character. Jack was invented because Yana wanted to make a buff wolf-guy to add to the animal-man dorm. Jack exists purely to act as the major assist character to the MC between Books 2 and 3 of the story. Jack is so much of an afterthought of a character that whatever Disney inspiration he was "twisted" from HAS NEVER BEEN CONFIRMED! I am willing to bet there isn't one! The best guess is that he's a reference to a HALF-WOLF from an era of LIVE ACTION book adaptations by Disney. I DESPISE THE WHITE FANG THEORY! There are a dozen wolves in animated Disney films and shorts throughout the studio's history, including a generic "BIG BAD WOLF" but we will never actually know.

The game doesn't do anything with Jack because THEY DON'T WANT TO! Jack has a narrow role and is left to the side as much as possible because no thought went into him, and there are so many other characters that the developers are okay with just ignoring him and trying to work around him so they can do their best with the characters that actually matter to the story instead of trying to actually develop him and give him any kind of depth. They don't want you to take Jack seriously, so they treat him as a joke whenever possible. They do the bare minimum to say they haven't completely forgotten about him, but don't even want to give him meaningful interactions with the MC despite being a part of the Freshman class that SHOULD BY ALL MEANS BE FORMING A FRIEND GROUP AROUND THEM!

Jack is intentionally designed to not be popular. He's not a fair-skinned-pretty-skinny-bishie-boy, so the core audience doesn't find him as attractive as most of the other characters. A big part of his personality even focuses on honing his strength, and the story goes out of its way to focus on that as much as possible despite him having other fun character traits. The developers don't care to let anyone see beyond that, so the superficial audience doesn't care if he doesn't actually have a character to explore or not. ANY AND ALL NEGLECT OF JACK HOWL IS 100% INTENTIONAL ON THE WRITERS' PARTS AND I AM CONSTANTLY FUMING OVER IT!

This is why I have been saying the JACK needs to have the dream card in the next Book 7 Story Update. Jack needs more time to shine. The parts of the story that he was a part of were short and poorly written. He needs to be given a chance to really be the center of attention again WITHOUT BEING MADE INTO A JOKE! But that is probably just wishful thinking. (The blog owner signs dramatically.)

Okay, that's my thesis on why Jack suffers so much as a character. It's not his fault, it's just that almost literally no one cares to do better by him all these years, and the game has gone to no efforts to prove otherwise. I am not done. Much like the essay on Vil, this is only the start, but you can expect to see more of it as soon as I have finished reading the Culinary Crucible Vignettes from this round. Until then. . .

Thank you for the ask!

(I am so sorry if this is more than you asked for, anon. I let myself get set off. I love Jack so much. I hate that he's just left in the dust all the time. Deuce is treated much better by comparison, so also apologies for not touching on that element of your ask!)

[lover-of-mine]

i'm fine with the bt scene being what it was because it showed what is. a shallow superficial relationship that is not being written as endgame so I'm fine with them not having a more emotional connection make it more obvious its BONES in s8.

Okay, I'm gonna say this and I need everyone to know I genuinely mean it, I'm not fine with it. I am tired of the show giving Buck and Eddie love interests that exist to have no agency besides girlfriend/boyfriend or plot device for an exposition dump. I desperately wanted to care about bt. Buck being bi is such incredible representation and I spent the whole season waiting to be convinced I should like T and bt together for anything beyond the fact that they are a queer relationship but I keep coming up empty-handed. I like being a hater right now because no criticism of him is allowed without someone screaming that you're homophobic or hate gay people and that everyone in the show is problematic why doesn't he get a pass too so I am grabbing on to every wrong thing about him the same way people are blowing the good things to justify my aversion to him. But the thing is, T is a character who's being written in a way that is so hard to sympathize with when it comes to Buck. He has this shell that makes him rigid and he has this dry sense of humor and he could be interesting if he was willing to bend a little bit for Buck. That relationship was not something I could get behind when T left Buck on the curb, because while I do believe T was incredibly justified in not liking the situation Buck put them in, he could've communicated that better before he was literally in the car leaving Buck behind, so there Buck was once again in a relationship with someone who left him because they can't handle who he is. That was the impression I got from that first date and I keep waiting for them to be cute for me to move past it and the show is giving me nothing. Why did they make the choice to not let T dress up for the bachelor party and indulge Buck when the job by definition requires for him to change into a uniform so he could've put in some effort? Why did he let Buck walk around with his face covered in soot when they could've shown us a shot of him cleaning Buck's face before they walked into the room holding hands and give the impression that there's more going on there than a few makeout sessions? Why weren't they affectionate at the ceremony? Why wasn't that conversation in the hospital, where it would've shown a level of care and that joke could've been seen as an attempt to make Buck feel better about what was going on? Why are they always two steps to the left of being cute or having any fighting chance? And that's ignoring how intertwined Eddie is with the beginning of their relationship because that's just disturbing. The triangle thing is annoying as fuck if Eddie was not gonna get confirmed as queer and the sides wouldn't actually connect.

I think narratively Buck and Eddie getting together is the thing that makes the most sense for both of their characters, but if that's not gonna happen, I wanna care about the people they're with. I love Buck as a character, I want him to have a nice love story if for whatever reason we are not getting buddie because love is the thing he's been searching for, and whatever bt has going is not it. And the thing that's killing me is that it could be. It's the same thing they did with Taylor because if Taylor was as intense about Buck as she is about the job, they could work, but the show made a choice to use the development of her character to stir away from Buck. And T, he's just there. And it's frustrating. I don't even wanna get into the comparisons between buddie and bt because imma be honest I'm still processing the way the show had T refusing to dress on theme and then had Eddie suggest matching outfits in the next scene, what even was that?? But the way the show constantly takes the chances they have to give depth to their relationship, looks it in the eye, and runs the other direction it's just........... yk? This is Buck's fifth relationship and I can't for the life of me look at it and see where it's going because they are making it seem like it's going nowhere. T parallels Taylor all the time visually, when it comes to screentime he's just a step above Ali, he's nowhere near as developed as Taylor was at this point. I had hopes for that scene when they started to talk about parents, for 20 seconds, I believed they were gonna give emotional depth to them, but they didn't. And I was literally sitting here begging them to give me something to care about when it comes to them if they are gonna keep them together but I have nothing to show for it and I hate it. There's no emotional connection, they will probably breakup at some point during s8 and I'm just gonna be there "oh wow another failed romance what a surprise" while they keep playing up Buck and Eddie's partnership and not letting them go all the way, and it's just tiring.

And this is ignoring the way we keep getting yelled at for not resonating with them. I sincerely don't want to hate them but I can't find a reason to care about them.

[pricechecktranslations]

I have a question, who's the worst written character and sinner, I don't mean that they're poorly written just who's the worst written out of them all and who's the best written character and sinner in your opinion (or not opinion)? Also who's your fav character? I Mean it's a personal information so you don't have to answer it

Hm. I don't really think of the characters in terms of who is better written or not. Mothy's character writing in general is one of the strong points of his work, imo. Some have more depth than others, it's true, but there's uses to having more simplistic characters for a narrative so that's not necessarily a hallmark of bad writing. And for the Seven Deadly Sin protagonists specifically, mothy has put a lot of work into making each one interesting and complex, because they are such key facets of the story.

I mean, to go on a bit of a tangent, I don't find it helpful to think of something as simply "badly" written, or even "well" written. I think it's better to ask, what were the intentions behind this writing? Do they succeed? If they don't, does it work anyway? Could it have been better? I'm not saying the writing is perfect (far from it) but I've been trying to move away from a value judgment lens in recent years because I don't like it just from a learning standpoint. I seek to improve my writing and so it's more useful to understand the decisions other writers make than just broadly call them bad.

For Evillious, each character is built around the story they appeared in. They don't exist in a vacuum. Like, the Gift novel (and Pierrot, to an extent) is structured more like a mystery thriller than previous books in the series. Margarita, as a villain, receives most of her development in slices of reflective diary entries that focus heavily on her mental state, taking a back seat in the actual plot until it's time for the big reveal. This ultimately makes her feel less active as a character, like she's more "tell" instead of "show", but like--it's kind of essential that mothy does it that way because in addition to it being a genre convention of crime thrillers, he's building up to an even bigger reveal that Margarita's personality itself is a lie. A self-delusion that cracks under pressure.

Like, I can't comment on the writing of a character independent of the story they appeared in. Characters like Ton Corpa are one-note villains with no redeeming or interesting features, but his role in Pierrot is to be Lemy's first murder, so he CANNOT have anything that would make an audience sympathize with him or find him interesting enough to keep around. Hence, he's well-written given the context of what he exists for. Evillious characters aren't blurbs on a website to just digest and collect like trading cards (well--they are for Prosekai players I suppose), they are devices for telling a story and should be judged based on how effectively they do that.

Anyway, the characters that I like also don't always have to do with how well they're written. I really like Gumillia because I find her relatable and because she's a boss. I mean, I think she's well written too, but that's beside the point. There's too many I like to consider any my favorite, it depends on what sort of mood I'm in and which installment I've read recently.

[gtbutterfly]

Quincy and the forest giant part 10

hey, I got this one out a lot sooner than expected! I might try to work on a new story or maybe some one offs between this chapter and the next one. Anyways, this part is a bit more in depth than the last one. Hope you enjoy it! Critism is appreciated! (Sorry I forgot to say that last time)

previous part:

______________________________________________________________

I’ve never understood why in movies and cartoons, whenever one character was tiny and another character was big, they had the smaller character sitting on the bigger one's shoulder. I always thought that it would be too easy for the smaller person  to fall off from there. When people have parrots and other birds on their shoulders, it makes sense, because the bird is holding on with its talons. But with a person, they’re not really hanging onto anything, they're just balancing, and they somehow don’t fall off. If they had to hang onto something, it would probably be the ear, which would be painful for the bigger character. I never realized why those shows always did that until Ella took me for a walk that day. She had me cupped in her hand while she was walking through the forest. Her elbows were bent so I was upright in her hands. After a while, she started carrying me in one hand against her chest while she put her other hand down, and she switched hands a few times, which was a bit disorienting for me. I figured out her arms were getting tired in that position, so I decided to say something when she switched again,

“Um…hey, Ella?” I said,

“Hmm?” The giant looked down at me, “oh, sorry kid, I know changing my hands can be a bit much,” 

“Uh…it's fine…hey, do you want to, like, hold me in a different way?” I asked.

“What other way?” she asked, “this is the most comfortable way I can hold you without you dropping 40 feet,”

“Well…it doesn’t seem too comfortable…” I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Comfortable for you I mean,” Ella said. “Would you rather I have you in a fist around your neck again?”

“Um…no,” I said, “uh…how about…I dunno, your shoulder?” I suggested.

“You’d fall in seconds.” Ella said dryly.

“Um…your pocket?” I asked,

“You wouldn’t be able to seeQuincy. That would defeat the whole purpose of going on a hike.” Ella said. “My pockets are too deep for you to see over…do you want to know what's in my pockets?”

“Um, No?” I said, in a mixture of scared and genuinely confused.

“Good.” Ella said, continuing to walk. 

“Um…do you have any ideas?” I asked.

“Hmm…” she sighed, “your too small to walk beside me, obviously,” she said, “maybe…sigh no,”

“Um…what?” I asked,

“Nothing..” she said, starting to murmur something to herself about “me being too young.”, I couldn’t fully make it out. She sighed again. “Maybe we should rest for a second, how does that sound?” 

“Yeah…that sounds fine,” I said. Ella looked around, before slowly lowering herself to the ground, which was covered in leaves and plants, some flattened by giant footprints, supposedly from Ella stepping on them before. She sat with one leg outwards and the other bent towards it. She placed me on the ground on her right side, next to the bent leg, and leaned back with both her arms behind her. I looked around at the forest we were in. The trees were even larger than the 60 foot giant looming over me, their leaves were massive and completely blocked out the sun. The floor of the woods was covered in bushes and shrubs and flowers that took whatever light did seep through the leaves of the trees. Next to me was a foot print the size of a small car where the plant life was completely flattened. It was Ellas footprint, but it wasn’t somewhere she stepped before. I looked up at her.

“Um…do you come to this part of the forest often?” I asked.

“Yeah…part of my job,” the giant said.

“Oh yeah….your job…” I said, looking down. “Um….is it ok if I…ask now….um, what your job is?” 

“I told you, I’ll tell you when I’m ready to,” Ella said,

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I rubbed the back of my head, “um…but….I’m just wondering if you can, uh, just tell me what you do,”

“What do I do?” Ella asked.

“Yeah…uh, you don’t have to tell me how your a giant or anything about the company, or Derrick, or anything like that…I just want to know what you do, that's all..,”

“Hmm…alright then,” the giant sighed, “I’m only telling you because they apparently want me to adopt you, or whatever,” she closed her eyes and sighed again, before looking forward and away from me. “I walk around the forest…and make sure everything is…” she waved her hand in the air as if trying to think of what to say, “normal” she finally said, with air quotes.

“N-normal?” I asked.

“Not normal like, normal, normal like, the way things are supposed to be,” Ella said.

“Um….ok…um, like what?” I asked, tilting my head. She looked down at me.

“That's harder to explain without getting into…y’know,” Ella sighed again, changing her legs to be crisscrossed. She then held out her hand to me. I looked at it for a moment, confused as if we were going to continue walking or not, before climbing onto her palm. Ella stayed on the ground, lifting me upwards to a tree. My gut felt weird being lifted like that, I thought that I would be used to it by now.

“Do you see these trees?” Ella asked. I looked at the tree in front of me. It was thick and wide, much more dense than a normal tree, but not as much as say a red wood. The trunk was brown, and the leaves were much bigger, they seemed like normal leaves, but they were almost a foot long. 

“Y-yeah…what about it…?” I asked.

“These are oak trees, Quincy.” the giant holding me said. “They're the kind of tree your townspeople chop down.” 

“But…they're so big…” I said, “...trees from centuries ago don’t get this big…at least as far as I know,” 

“That's the work of the company.” Ella said. “Its experimental, these are the only trees in the world being grown like this. Since its experimental, there are some worries from the company about these modified trees affecting the animals, or their existence being found out to the public and other companies try doing the same thing,” 

“So…you make sure those things don’t happen?” I asked.

“If an animal mutates or whatever, which never happens, I’m supposed to give it to the company for testing, and if a human is found out here, I’m supposed to take them so that no one finds out about what the company’s doing.” Ella said. “So, yeah, I just walk around and make sure those things…don’t happen,” she shrugged.

“So, you're their security?” I asked,

“That's a way of putting it,” she said dryly. She looked down at herself for a moment, almost seeming sad about something. I looked up at her and patted hand a bit, I don’t know if she felt it or not, she didn’t have a reaction. I looked down for a moment, before backing up and looking up at her.

“So, uh, they were worried about the big trees making…big animals?” I asked,

“Yeah…they never did though, at least as far as I can tell,” Ella said.

“Did they make you big…in the same way?” I asked sheepishly, looking down slightly. Ella turned her head towards me and sighed. She was silent for a moment.

“It's a bit more complicated than that…” she said, before she got on her knees. I could tell she didn’t want to talk about this anymore. She looked forward. “Come on, let's start heading back, I should start making lunch for us,” the giant said, still holding me as she stood up.

“Yeah….um…how does…uh, venison…taste anyways?” I asked. 

“You’ll see,” Ella said, her footsteps vibrating the ground as she walked with me in her hands. She was looking straight forward as she walked. I looked up at her face. She seemed like she was thinking of something, something that was bothering her. She was passively sad, looking forward with her mouth frowned and her eyes a bit droopy and tired looking. I patted her thumb again.

“Hey…um, are you ok?” I asked, looking up at her. Her eyes widened a bit as she glanced down at me.

“...what do you mean?” she asked, seeming genuinely confused.

“Um…you seem..down about something,” I said, rubbing the back of my head. Ella’s eyes shifted to her side for a moment. They flickered slightly in thought. 

“Um…yeah, it's just sort of…been a lot happening lately,” the giant said, “usually things are a lot more..uneventful out here,”

“um…I know what you mean,” I said, “but I meant…well…you seem…sad….”

“It's nothing,” Ella sighed.

“Um..it's ok…” I said sheepishly, “if you're sad…I just…if you want to talk about it ... .or anything…” Ella sighed again, interrupting me. She let out a slight smile, that was clearly just meant to make me feel better.

“It's fine, Quincy. You don’t have to feel bad for me,” She said, rubbing my back a bit with her finger, “honestly…I probably deserve this, anyways,” 

“Ella…don’t say that…” Said, touching her thumb again.

“Its alright Quincy, you don’t know…” she said, sighing again. “I’ll tell you everything soon…tonight…I’ll tell you everything tonight…make sure to hold me by that, ok?” she said, tilting her head. I paused for a moment.

“...ok,” I said, looking down, “...you really don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to…”

“It's fine Quincy,” she said, rubbing my back again, “you should know…you deserve to know…”

And then she kept walking.  

[invested-in-your-future]

What are your biggest issues with the first three volumes?

Hmm.

The Vagueness

The show, from the very start, has been way too vague about specific things it shouldn't have been vague about- be it the racism or how ANYTHING works.

Do other countries have military or did all of them randomly dissolve it? If so then why does Atlas still do?

How does anything in the world work? What was the great war beyond few weird snippets?

What can or can't Aura do? What IS Magic?

WoR has some context here and there, but it's also pretty sparse for a lore video. And the show grows sparser and sparser as it goes.

Shaky foundations could be fine if the later Volumes expanded upon the world but...

They really didn't.

The Faunus/WF Subplot.

The milquetoast "violence bad" takes, using WF as generic mooks, the Faunus discrimination overall not being expanded upon, the way team RWBY handles Velvet bullying - it all stinks of ignorance and unwillingness to actually delve into it all at all.

This is basically the depth of RWBY's take on discrimination:

The Faunus are "angry at discrimination" but "being angry and violent is not right, they should protest peacefully and out of sight".

What discrimination? What do we see of that beyond just one school bully instance nobody does anything?

Why do Faunus appear only when the show needs someone to get beat up? What drives them to join WF in such numbers?

HOW do Vale's citizens view Faunus? Is it different from other Kingdoms?

Nothing.

(And yes I know that V2 subplot is just something they lifted straight out of Korra, but Korra had an entire show beforehand showing multiple benders as oppressive and powerful beings that made the world tremble - the idea behind the non-benders being fearful at least makes sense, especially since we DO see benders who exploit others through the Book One)

Heteronormativity

The showrunners, all of them, shouted from the rooftops about how Remnant is an inclusive world and yet in show the LGBTQ+ community existence was reduced to weird gags (sometimes literally going against the "inclusivity" comments like when entire school - all women paired up with men in the background - laughs at Jaune in a dress) or bait (sometimes intentional, like how in V2 commentary Miles talks about how they put in Ruby and Weiss scenes to attract shippers).

And yet the showrunners kept talking about how the gay people totally exist and how the world is inclusive and how they are just planning things and "getting better" at writing while they had no issues throwing in a TON of straight ships into the mix or highlight heteronormative romantic interactions and attractions.

The weird thinly veiled sexism.

Literally most of Jaune subplots pretend to be about how Jaune is in the wrong, and yet it's the women who are in the wrong - "Jaune hit on Weiss and Weiss said no? Oh how evil and selfish of Weiss to not give him a chance!" and all.

Some are okay like the Cardin blackmail idea but the execution just grinds everything to the halt.

Screentime and Focus Disbalance

Jaune gets A LOT of focus, while Ruby gets barely any. Now it would work fine if you assume the show is just building up to her development as she reacts to Fall of Beacon and all that - but the volumes after don't do that and instead keep giving focus to Jaune.

Specific character allusions.

Some character references are...uhhh, yeaaaah.

Like, I love the first three volumes a lot and I love the trailers but there are flaws - I was just more forgiving of them because of the usual growing pains and because there was always that promise of the show doing better going forward which they never fulfilled.

You can like something flawed and derive enjoyment from it. As long as there are things to like and the flaws don't overcome whatever good is left in the story.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

I hate how She-Ra tries so hard to demonize the heroes/main characters of the show to make the villains looks better.

Like calling out Glimmer for her actions depite her being the only one with an actual plan (i mean, she was being a little shit but at least she accomplished more than Adora), making Adora looks like the villain for leaving Catra, the heroes attacking Scorpia depite her not oposing any treat, Bow and Adora going after Entrapta only so she could help them (like, for real they only think about Entrapta when is convinient for them) and the constant remarks about them leaving her behind.

I like when heroes have flaws they have to overcome, but the princesses um She-Ra always act so unfriendly sometimes that it makes the show looks way more cynical then it should be, which is weird since is supose to be a show about friendship, but none of these characters seem to have any reason to be friends other than necessity

i totally agree! i'm a sucker for flawed heroes, but the thing with she-ra is that their characters are just not well-written at all. they've clearly not done any prior planning to the story so it all seems like muddy water.

for example, some mistakes that the princesses make are considered worse than the others. glimmer lashing out at adora was given the narrative weight it needed, and she had to apologize later. but perfuma and the others being ableist towards entrapta is never mentioned. instead entrapta has to prove herself to them, when she had no reason to.

and yeah, entrapta was really just a tool for the princesses (and for catra too ofc). they only needed her because she was useful. like you said, the "friendship" between the princesses make no sense because half of the time they're fighting and the other half they're begrudgingly working together. they seem more like coworkers than anything. and there's nothing wrong with that, but the show wants us to believe that these characters are close friends while not bothering to write them that way.

remember when the S1 finale had that whole "power of friendship" trope? i swear it was so painful to sit through. the only real friendship i could see was between adora, glimmer and bow. the rest of the princesses always had trouble working together and even seemed to hate each other sometimes. but then out of the blue, they're suddenly the closest of friends and defeat the evil villain with the power of believing in each other or whatever.

i went off on a tangent, but i think the reason the princesses were so unlikeable is because the writers wanted to make them “different” (they're not your standard princesses, they're cynical or aggressive or whatever) but didn't want to give them enough depth to make us like or relate to them. if you want to look at well-written flawed characters, there's korra from the legend of korra, wirt from otgw, literally all the protags from infinity train. this is because these characters have depth, we see enough sides to them to understand why they are the way they are. not to mention, each of these characters explored their issues and got good character development by the end of the series.

for example, korra is arrogant and reckless because she was the prodigy raised almost in isolation, and she didn't know enough about the real world to navigate it. tulip was cynical and quick to anger because her parents got divorced and she had been secretly blaming herself for it. lake was aggressive and rebellious because she lived in a system where she would be killed for not fitting the norm. all of these characters are relatable in some sense, because we get enough character exploration.

meanwhile, why is mermista so cynical and sardonic? who knows. why is perfuma impatient and prone to anger and ableist? couldn't tell you. frosta had something of a character arc but it still didn't go anywhere, besides stripping her of any unique personality she had, and turning her into the typical chaos child. these princesses are so 2d that they're not relevant to the plot at all. take them out of the show and i'm pretty sure there would be no difference.

[luonnon-varainen]

The last hide and seek

Just want to give a bit of depth in the Collector-Archivists relationship, in my headcanon, as they are siblings(all kinds of siblings relationships are the best relationships dynamics and I'm gonna explore them even if I don't have nearly any material on them). Pointing that they used to be actually siblings, doing siblings stuff together, spending quality or not time, expressing in any way their concern for each other, even if it wasn't always nobel and caring reasons. They are terrible creatures, but still they are older siblings so they should behave like ones and use this knowledge to achieve what they want.

I'm not fan of black and white "The archivist were just terrible jerks with lack of any emotions or bond with Collector. They just saw them as tool and leaving them for Collector was just nice and easy choice. Colly even didn't hesitate to leave them as they realized all bad shit was their fault" idea. I prefer " Their relationship is as complex as trying to imagine 4th dimension without any computer simulation - full of uphills and downhills, eldritch god's conventions and attempts to keep everthing in good shape even if the ceiling was falling on their heads. Leaving the archivists for Collector was actually a very tough and devastating choice. Meaning leaving everything they knew, understood, found safe, "caring", familiar, all their good and bad memories, childhood, stability in conclusion family which whether good or bad always was somewhere nearby and they could hide behind when there was a need. They had to choose it after realisation what they all participated in and how morally "not ok" it was, how bad they felt with themselves after discovering it and how much they didn't want to do it again ", aka. ✨Dramat✨. Black and white type of a relationship/character is cool, but for me it needs full presentation of character/relationship( like Jack Horner from Puss in boots), not only short and simplified story without even appearance of characters we talked about.

In summary and in less overly complicated way to say this I mean: I want Archivists and Collector to have actually dysfunctional siblings relationship instead of shity coworkers or strangers which were put together in a closed room and forced to cooperate.

And I have to make a "map" of types of relationship between each of "siblings of the collapsing star"-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I really need to do something with all: my devices, my drawing program and mostly with myself because I'm loosing my patience with them and my work looks worse and worse- and there are less excuses than ever(only money)! - sorry for all the time complaining it's the trait that runs through my veins for generations and I fight to end it!

In description of the pictures are the words in tooltips, because my handwriting is a nightmare from which I can't wake up and win.

[acaciapines]

I just read all your deltarune fics and. I have to know. do you have playlists for each of the characters. and if you do. could you please share them. i’m so so curious about songs you attribute to each of the characters bc i love your interpretation of them so so much

oh!!! im glad you enjoyed them!!

i do have several playlists but not in any form i could share so. uh. instead i'll just make a list of all my most favorite songs i associate with these kids 'cause if i did every song we would be here for A Long While.

do feel free to send in another ask if you want me to explain one in more depth!!! im one of those people who cannot escape associating songs w/ characters/stories so i have a LOT more i could say if that is wanted lol.

Little Fang - Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks: literally The Most Kris Song Of All Time, like do I even have to explain it. its just Them.

Real Love Song - Nothing But Thieves: this is a newer one on my kris playlist but i think it really fits their relationship with dess--taking the 'love' part in a familial/platonic way, 'can i sing this to you / got a thing about you / and it won't go away' i think this song really captures the sort of...hold dess's opinion always has over kris's sense of self, and the way they feel about her isn't exactly returned equally. in a sense this fits more with my dess-raises-kris au but it does work for kris in my other works too.

San Cristobol - Mal Blum: this is the dess song of all time to the point where it's my voiceclaim for her and is half the reason the band au exists. one big part of my dess is that she leaves voluntarily, even if she might get stuck in a dark world later on--she leaves ON PURPOSE, because she wants to. and this song is like, leaving people behind, 'sometimes i think i left you just to see if i'd be missed,' and sort of wanting to reach out but also maybe not. in a world where dess sings this she is singing it to asriel.

My Tiger, My Heart - The Boy Least Likely To: another dess song of all time, if the last one is dess singing to asriel, this one is her to kris&noelle. this song has been on my dess playlist for so long i've scripted out an animatic to it. specifically i see this as being a song for the space after she sees the bunker but before she leaves--like 'my tiger my heart / we're growing apart' in regards to how she sees kris, and then 'and i think it would be / happier / being free' LIKE. GOD. ITS SO GOOD.

Wash - Floor Cry: noelle about dess...specifically noelle as i write her in the holiday-dreemurr kids series, her pov fic in there was named after this song, but its just about. how you idolize your older sister and then she leaves and comes back and maybe isnt as good as you thought she was and you realize you're going to pick kris over her and so its about 'i never want to / become just like you / it's pretty simple / wish i could tell you why' because noelle struggles with this because she should be happy her sister is back, right? and yet...

Sidelined - The Garages: this is THE RALSEI SONG OF ALL TIME.....like. oh my GOD just listen to it. it's ralsei all the way down, how she struggles with figuring out who she is, with being a darkner, with the prophecy and the weight it puts on her, and how she's supposed to be left behind and forgotten but she doesn't want that and how scary it is to try and be a person when the world never wanted you to be one.

Pluto - Sleeping at Last: ANOTHER RALSEI SONG....this one specifically is in regards to the dess raises kris au lol since i explore ralsei/susie/noelle there but it works for ralsei in all universes. like just listen to it. it's so ralseicore. its similar in theme to sidelined so im not going to repeat myself but just 'i've been worried all my life / a nervous wreak most of the time' to the chorus of 'til one day i had enough / of the exercise of trust / i leaned in and let it hurt / let my body feel the dirt.' LIKE

and these are most of my big ones! i have more around somewhere but most of these i dont even have in a playlist i just sort of remember whenever the song comes on njdfgdfg. sorry theres not so much asriel or susie here i just dont have as good songs for them.

once again if you (general) want me to dive more into one of the songs lemme know!!! i will always talk about these kids!!!

[spiritstoptalkingaboutseduceme]

Character Analyzing in Seduce Me

If there’s one thing you should know about me, I love character writing. A story is only as good as the characters in it, and a big part of what makes me like or at least be intrigued about a character is its writing. However, the character writing in Seduce Me is… fine.

Big props to Michaela Laws, she has worked so hard in making me want to know so much more about a character, but unfortunately, a lot of that curiosity is locked behind a whole account, @sm-asks (which I highly recommend any new person or person wanting to learn more about the game check out because you can get lost in the account). Don’t get me wrong, I love the game, but I feel as though things are lacking and that’s what the account is for. Any person who has a question about the game goes on the blog and asks which Michaela then answers. But what of the people who don’t know about the blog who are missing a big chunk of the story?

I’ve learned pretty recently that if I have to look at another form of media to research a question that I have about something like a show or game, then the game is not doing a good job of expressing its storytelling. Now of course, having a comic or book about said form of said adding on to interesting or fun tidbits about a character by making something like a side story is fine, but if I know nothing about a certain character or plot I should know more about, why should I be forced to look somewhere else.

Of course, the game does a great job at expanding on characters like the incubi and Diana, but there are a ton of characters in Seduce Me. There are the incubi’s moms, their wives, the MC’s friends, the generals in the second game, the devils, etc.

Now obviously I get why Michaela wasn’t able or didn’t want to explain every aspect of every character (hence why sm-asks exists), but I feel like it’s kind of a waste to make these characters only to barely describe who they are. What I hate most is having a character JUST to further the plot, you might as well just have a box with a sign that says, “It’s dangerous to go alone, here have some trauma.” And while yes, characters are an important part of the story, again, it feels like a waste to write a character and only use them once for the story and never bring them up again. This is why I’m talking about character analyzing :DDD.

“So what is character analyzing?” I hear you ask, well the simple answer is looking at a certain character and figuring out who they are based on their interactions. But I like to go even more in-depth. We’re going balls deep into this shit baby >:D! I like looking at a character not only based on interactions but also on how they think, their feelings, how they changed, their sight, their taste, their smell, ok may not be that deep but you catch my drift.

Characters are only as good as the storytelling and the best way to tell a story is to connect. No single human is a single thought or action, humans are complex, what they do may not match what they think, what they think may not match how they feel, what they feel may not match what they do, and the cycle goes on and on.

But humans are not characters. A character isn’t always allowed on every path. Take Zeus and Hera from Greek mythology for example. They aren’t humans, they’re gods. Gods dedicate everything to one thing (or things) and they have to follow it. Hera is the goddess of marriage. If she sees someone cheating (cough cough her husband) she will take action. But since she can’t punish the LITERAL KING OF GODS, she has to punish the mistress even if they had no say in the situation, which is fucked up but a human wouldn’t do something like that, and Hera is not a human. Zeus is the god of hospitality, so if he sees you breaking the rules of hospitality, he will fight back. The gods are characters, consistently used to portray the story.

Now I want you to take everything I said about characters, humans, and gods, and throw that away. I like to consider humans and characters similarly because that makes for more interesting characters. Seeing a character as one thing doesn’t help the character, considering their complexity will help further analyze how they are in the story and what their actions were and will continue. Makes sense? Just follow my lead ;).

Let’s pick out a character from Seduce Me. Let’s do Sam because he’s the easiest to analyze (that’s not true at all XD). When we first meet Sam, he’s brash and short-tempered. Always fighting, always swearing XD, is constantly forceful (I’m running out of adjectives clearly ;v;). He’s your stereotypical bad boy and you can tell because he ripped off the sleeves of a perfectly good varsity jacket >:(

This is pretty good information to start with. However, when we pick his route, we start to figure out more information about him. First of all, his powers are super strength and speed. Second, while being short-tempered, he does tai chi. Tai chi is a form of martial arts that focuses more on rehabilitation with slow, focused motions and gentle breathing. Despite what “Karate Kid” says, martial arts is less about everyday combat and more about self-defense, and tai chi isn’t a high-impact form of martial arts. It isn’t like karate or taekwondo where the focus is more on using your body to deal blows, tai chi is closer to yoga from what I researched. This is quite surprising coming from Sam considering what we just learned when we first met him. Even the MC comments on this. Why choose Tai Chi over any other martial arts?

The more we go through his route, the more we learn that he had no reason to leave and just wanted to leave with his brothers, even though he doesn’t see the appeal of the human world. We also learn that being a demon means a lot to him. It goes more in-depth in the second game with the Binding Spell, but it is something we learn pretty late in the first game.

Now you might think I’m just listing off different things that happen in the game when interacting with Sam, but each of these interactions I can tie to an assumption. If I could skip over the first few parts for a moment,

* “Powers are super strength and speed”

- The strongest and fastest of his brothers

* “While being short-tempered, he does tai chi”

- Does tai chi as a way to calm down or is calm but gets labeled as hot-headed

* “Doesn’t see the appeal of the human when finding out at first” and “being a demon means a lot to him”

- Both points can go well together, being a demon is something very close to him which would make him hesitant about leaving his home

With these few points I just brought up, we can now look at the first few points I made and start contradicting when we first met him versus what we learned about him.

* “He’s brash and short-tempered”

- He might know of this and work towards it, but I like to think we assume this just from first interactions because we don’t see him do this after we get to know him (I mean outside of flashbacks)

* “Always fighting, always swearing”

- He is the strongest of his brothers, physically speaking. The always swearing thing I feel like that’s just habit, (I might be the nicest people who swear like sailors XD)

* “He’s your stereotypical bad boy”

- Judging by other points I brought up, I feel as though it’s just a style more than an actual personality because again, the more I see Sam, the more I start to think.

Sam doesn’t seem like the tough bad boy with anger issues. He acts more chill around us and his brothers (most of the time). We can look into his past as well. He was a middle child, he’s the only brute demon amongst his brothers, he never learned to read or write meaning he spent his time fighting and light pillaging.

If there’s one thing I’ve considered with brute demons is that while yes they can get angry (and usually do) they technically don’t have to be angry all the time, they only feed off of anger. Think of the 3 demons we know are brute demons. Sam, the Demon Lord, and Sergeant. Sure, from time to time, they do get angry, but they aren’t always angry. I’ve mentioned how Sam is pretty chill, but I also think that Sergeant is pretty chill unless he gets angry due to unreasonable circumstances, which is a fair reason to get angry. He’s determined and holds a lot of willpower, but that doesn’t relatively mean he has to get angry. And the Demon Lord is just plain evil. I can’t see him being angry, I only see him as a spoiled toddler XD.

With Sam being a middle child and not being taught basic learning I think can go together as well. Think about the stereotype of middle children, always forgotten and seeking attention. This would explain why the Demon Lord only cared about coddling James and abusing Damien while completely ignoring the rest. Sam never got any attention unless his mom appeared to give him a daily check-up. He probably had just enough attention to slip away and do whatever without getting caught.

A lot of the characters are very complex the more you get to know them, but Sam I feel is a little more concrete. While yes, I did say that a lot of the points we know of first meeting him versus getting to know him contradict, I completely understand why he would be considered and why he’s more like the ladder. I’ve always seen Sam as the more emotional of his brothers. One thing I know about anger issues is that people just don’t get it for no reason, in some cases, they get angry because the people around them don’t understand what they’re trying to prove. Sometimes they would get so angry that they’d start crying. I’ve always wanted that side of anger issues to be shown. The most I know of someone having anger issues is that they just want to be heard and understood, and Sam sticks out to me because of that. Constantly being told that you’re angry because you are a brute demon would lead to you constantly wanting to be understood and then getting angry for not being understood. Showing those emotions to me would make him feel more human. He doesn’t have to be one thing just off first base, he’s allowed to feel certain ways based on interactions.

Or at least that’s just how I see it. Everyone assumes different things based on what they think. Some use research while others use their own experiences, I use a combination of both. But if you are curious about a character, I highly recommend you take the time to analyze them and see what they could be through your thoughts. If you don’t know how to start, make a mind map, they look like the eponym of garbled thoughts spat up on a piece of paper. If you don’t know how to start it, start with a question and write the answer down (of course, you might want to make sure you write down why you made the point just so you know). Then look at the answer and start looking into where, this will start to make you think of why they act like that and research some more. Every thought has a string and it’s up to you to follow it and if you should stop.

I find character analysis fun. They not only help me understand a story better but also with writing my characters. Of course, you might want to do someone easier like Damien or Erik because they just have so much obvious shit written about them. And since I do enjoy analyzing characters, I might do this with the other characters (I have some fun ones in mind ;)), however, that might take like 80 years, so you might want to bear with me. But until then, I’m going back to fighting the urge to replay Seduce Me and staring at a wall for 15 hours.

Have a good night :D

[bookswithsyd]

My First Cozy Fantasy | Legends and Lattes

Cozy Fantasy is not a genre that I have hear a whole lot about, and the main title that I kept seeing come up again and again was “Legends and Lattes.” I kept going back and forth on if I really wanted to check this title out, and when I found it available to check out on the Libby app, I pulled the trigger and tried it out.

Like most other books for me, this was a rough start. We get Viv finishing up her last mission as an adventurer before finding her new home. Most of the story involves Viv and friends creating the first café in the town, introduce coffee to the townspeople, and create new sweet treats.

On a surface level, this book is nice, its got its fun moments, it has highs and lows. But, I feel like it’s lacking some substance. Nothing that happened in the story came as a surprise, there was no suspense. We see Viv trying to start a new life, go down a new path, and build a life of ease in this new town after killing and questing for all her life. I wish we saw more of a struggle during the adjustment time for her, see some character development. We get to see only a glimpse at this when she questions on if she should solve her problems with violence (as suggested by her old adventuring crew), but she scrubs the idea quickly.

This is an issue I have with the other main cast as well. There is not a lot of depth to any of them. They each play a role, and that is it, none of them grow or develop. Tandri is the only main player that seems to have a real personality, she pushes for the shop to be better and she also wants what’s best for Viv. It can be explained by the stone brining people together, but Tandri dropping everything to give her life to a shop that sells a product she has never heard of seems insane. Cal shows up when he is needed and does help process the story by building up the shop, but he always has the answer one way or another. Thimble is a character that has personality by moving around and only speaking when absolutely necessary, I wish more could have been done with his character in some way, I feel like he could have been more important than just a baker that makes new treats.

I will say, there is a single person who has an incredible turn around, and that is Pendry! Pendry starts out so incredibly shy that he sprints out of the shop the first night he tries to serenade that crowd. He slowly develops into a confident performer who proudly plays and sings for the large crowd of customers. Plus, during the re-building stages, he admits that the family business is stone laying, but that his performing is simply a passion (as seen why he explains why he doesn’t feel right putting out a hat for coins). Pendry feels like a real character that finishes in a different state than he entered the book.

All of the big events that happen could be spotted from a mile away. The issues with the Madrigal was obviously going to find a compromise. I will admit that I love the compromise that they came to, I thought that was such a cute thing. But once threats started and Fennus came into the story, I just had this terrible feeling that the café was going to be set on fire… I didn’t expect it to be set on fire at night with Viv and Tandri INSIDE or it to be magical fire that can’t be put out and burned down the whole thing. I was sad to see all the hard work vanish in minutes, and seeing Viv so depressed (as she has every right to be) was really taking away from the nice happy feeling that I came to this book to feel!

I did enjoy reading the rebuilding section where everyone comes together to make the café even better than before, proving that the community is behind Viv and what she was brought to them all. The ending with the perfect grand re-opening was a beautiful scene to imagine. It did seem to tie everything up in a lovely bow with all the important characters getting a share of the café as a show of gratitude that they all built this place together.

The last three pages escalate the side-lined romance plotline more than the rest of the story combined. The inkling of progress happens with the adorable picnic that Tandri packs for them, plus Tandri insisting on staying in the café with Viv in case anything happens. It is clear that feelings are there, but it is barely touched on. Then, all of a sudden Viv invites Tandri to live with her in the café with her own room with a bunch of art supplies, like where did this level of infatuation and love come from? And then it just ENDS! Reading this on my kindle, it said I was 85% of the way done with this book so I was thinking, “where are we going to go from here?” Only for the story to just END.

Overall, this book had a great ending half, but the middle lacked a lot of substance for me, so I’ve given this book 3-stars. I would not recommend this book, but I do want to try out more books in the genre.

[ssaalexblake]

I mean this in the nicest way as it's possible to mean something objectively kind of dickish, but at some point, the absolute cynical Need to assume that the people in charge of the media you consume are just bumbling fools never knowing what they're doing only makes the people assuming that look, uh, not super smart, and has absolutely zero bearing on the creators. That this happens on meta posts that Literally Explain what's going on and people still fail to comprehend that the work of a few different people all pitching in and agreeing on it would have been necessary for it to happen, doesn't help. And yes, it's a thing that's happened a whole bunch of times on my posts alone, let alone on random ones.

Me: hey look how theyre showing that 13's messed up!

Person: lol I doubt the showrunner knows that!

Sure, Jan. The 89 times he wrote 13 being as messed up as all the other doctors were just flukes for his blonde fairy-princess of good mental health and goodness regeneration 🤷

Well buddy, that's Your problem. It's one thing to see a messy as hell narrative with no clear ending or moral to it (think of the new star wars trilogy) and clock it was totally on the fly and that anything profound was likely to be an accident (I use this example cuz they admit this is what happened). It's another to look at a complete narrative that includes foreshadowing from the very beginning that tracks all the way to the end, written by a guy who is open about having planned it for a while, who has said that he has A story to tell and then he was done and left, and then go 'yeah he has no idea what he was doing'.

I have no idea when cynicism became the suave fandom thing in Any situation even if none is warranted, but it doesn't actually make people look cool and unaffected if that's what you're all going for, it just makes it look like you're incapable of making separate judgements on a case by case basis. I am cynical as hell over certain things because I actually thought about them and decided I was. I am not like this for everything bc not everything deserves cynicism. Sometimes, it doesn't actually matter what was or what was not intentional to start with. Anybody who has created anything, ever, has unintentionally started something and it turned out to be something they pursued. It just works like that sometimes! It's not a problem!

But if you can Honestly look at 13 doing all that messed up crap she did with no introspection over it and think it was the writer not realising she was being messed up because they didn't hold your hand and point it out every single time like they do in peppa pig, despite the fact that the character is Always to some degree messed up and this tracks with the show outside the era, and Fail entirely to consider that her lack of repentance in 13 was an actual consistent character trait and that you should use your brain to actually analyze what that means for the story and for the person... You should have paid more attention in English classes. You are supposed to think about what that means. I know it's a kids show, but it's not preschool.

The problem is not the material not having the depth to analyse, it is the audience's inability to objectively parse it. It does not matter if you love it or hate it! but people are merely displaying they lack the skills to even decide if they do or not by refusing to look for narrative reasons for things and instead just looking behind the scenes to say Obviously it was all just an accidental written by the clueless to justify not bothering. And then going on to make that fact very public.

And you know what, I don't care if you bother or not, you don't have to justify not wanting to think about it! but when people make it my problem I get sick of the crap.

Like why? Really? If you dislike it why are you blogging about it? And if you like it but feel like you're honour bound to act like chibnall is a moron every time his work is brought to your attention just to Make Sure Nobody Will Think You Like It, I mostly think you need to take a step back and smell some grass (or your own regional equivalent of an outside smellable thing).

[bookshelf-in-progress]

One extra difficulty in writing fairy tale retellings is making sure that you're not letting other retellings limit your imagination.

It's a problem I'm very aware of as I try to write this Goose Girl story. It's amazing how many times I've struggled with some aspect of the story feeling like it's been forced into the wrong shape, only to find that I'd unknowingly been influenced by Shannon Hale's version, and the moment I stepped outside that influence, I could come up with a solution that was a much better fit for my version of the story.

The latest breakthrough came today, and I'm going to talk about it so I can keep this straight.

I'd been struggling with the relationship between the princess and her handmaid. The story is more about how the princess and the old king get her crown back, but the handmaid is vital backstory to that. Their relationship drives everything that happens in the story. But any attempt at imagining their dynamic always felt wooden.

Because the handmaid has to hate the princess enough to overthrow her, I thought that hatred would have to be hinted at from the beginning. The handmaid thinks herself superior, and the princess is uneasy around her and thinks herself inferior because her handmaid insists on pointing out how she fails as a royal. But then I realized that's just the dynamic from Hale's retelling, and while it fits with the overarching theme of leadership, it doesn't work for the story I'm telling on a character level.

In Hale's version, we don't get the scene where the princess and handmaid show up at the castle together in their switched identities, but mine centers on that scene. To understand the dynamic between those two characters, I needed to understand what the princess was feeling as she watched her handmaiden claim the life that should be hers.

And I realized that she's heartbroken. There's no history of rivalry or disdain between them from her POV. She legitimately considered the handmaid her best friend, and she was blindsided by this betrayal, and the depth of hatred that must have been behind it. She feels foolish and naive. If she was that wrong about one of her closest relationships, how can she trust her own judgement about anything? Her arc then becomes one of learning to see clearly and judge rightly, not falling too far into either innocence or cynicism. A bit of a fairy tale Catherine Morland, perhaps.

It's not groundbreaking, but it feels fresher, and it's much more organic to the story. And all I needed to do was see where I'd been letting other stories shape my imagination too much.