#as for the concepts they're both things i at base don't super care about

[humanmorph]

i have a reblog of a post about Just This in my queue somewhere, so i won't repeat all those points here, but man it's a shame a lot of pact side characters are just not that explored/well drawn (since that andy & eva post just got released from my queue. there was that one intermission with andy's diary+correspondence, but still... i would've loved to see more of the intense violent siblings & what's up with them. i thought their dynamic kind of ruled). i feel it's the biggest reason for why worm in my mind is the stronger work.

i'll still say i had a better time (like just more fun) time reading pact. been having trouble pinpointing why. i think maybe taylor is a more tragic character to me than blake. also more exhausting to be in the head of. and pact is just genuinely funny at times, intentionally comedic written which helps even during tense scenes. there's one bit i wish i had taken a screencap of bc it was so funny to me at the time... some blake(mirror) shenanigans during a fight. i really loved how creative he had to get there, it's some of the best action in pact imo.

other things i liked in pact: it didn't have an entire arc that just kind of bored me. some parts near the end were it was mostly fights got a bit iffy, but it was nowhere near the whole slaughterhouse 9000 shit in worm... also the break in the story (? i guess? idk how else to put this or if these are comparable to anyone but me), the abyss, and the resulting changes were much more fun than the timeskip & taylor becoming weaver...

[creatingblackcharacters]

Some General Notes, Week 1

(in no particular order, no you don't have to agree, no they're not "the right answer", no I'm not going to argue. They're just my thoughts!)

-What I definitely enjoyed seeing was (the discomfort and frustration of, rightfully so!) people realizing just how much writing and character design go hand in hand, when told they could not consider the writing! Context is a beast, isn't it? People unfortunately judge with their eyes a lot faster than they bother to read and comprehend (‼️‼️‼️) and so sometimes we have to think about what we've drawn, and what we're trying to or could possibly SAY with that design. It doesn't have to be super detailed, but little things can go a long way.

-White folk tended to overcorrect, with more negative opinions about certain designs than Black and NB fans of color. I don't think it came from a bad place, as much as a place of concern with some lack of understanding.

-Black viewers are overall quite gracious about Black character design if it looks like you cared enough to try (contrary to popular Tumblr and Societal Belief, we don't bite!) But it did sometimes feel that it was to the point of being too nice. There are a lot of Black people who will accept the bare minimum just to feel included, and I hope to one day see less of that. We deserve the effort!

-Measured in three separate groups, we actually tend to be on the same page about design! We won't see the end result of the polls til next week (sorry ahead of time about the poll notification onslaught) so I could be wrong, but usually after the first thirty minutes, our bars tended to trend similarly from what I saw. This is likely due to the bias of my userbase; I'm sure if this poll reached The Unfortunate Masses of Fan Racists, it would be different. We shall see!

-There is usually a beginning wave of NB fans of color that actually find designs better than Black people will, which I found interesting, but then it evens out over time.

-Professional artists seem to be real big fans of the fade. The fade and the killmonger. The fade is funny because fades have been around for decades, and no one ever cared this much, but suddenly there are fades every other character. I wish there were more teeny weeny afros and short locs and just loose curls. Twists too!

-A lot of people were surprised about some characters who were supposed to be Black (and actually were). Which is telling, both on your side as the viewer and their side as the artists! Because that means something was not conveyed, communicated, or understood when you consumed that media!

-Black folk, I love y'all, I'm saying this kindly and I want you to hear me: I think there were times where your emotional attachment to the design affected your answers, even when told to only base it off visuals (e.g., yes, I know that particular character wears wigs! I know that's in the writing! I hear y'all! But unfortunately, when told to look at that character with the pictures provided, without the writing, given the genre, no, that is not an apparent piece of information. I am sorry.)

-I think NB fans of color especially understood this concept, which is just because a character isn't Black doesn't mean they aren't still a person of color. I say that to mean, some of these people felt ambiguously brown to a point that yes, they could be anyone else! 80% of the blue haired characters submitted (and the majority of the gacha ones) fell into this category, imo. Like, we should not all have to share the One Brown for Representation.

-I definitely didn't think that people would assume that the answers were "is this design Black, nonblack, or white"... I must admit that it doesn't make much sense to me 😅 it explained some of the answers I saw, though. Felt like some folks had to be trolling. Unfortunate, not something I can control once posted. Moving on.

-I do wish more people understood that this was meant to be a thought exercise moreso than "this is the right answer" (though sometimes, there was a right answer lmao. Beau is trash IDC.) It's not to gauge "do you know" as much as "based off of what you know, what would you say". It's for you (and me) to gauge where you are! It's okay to realize that you don't know what you don't know!

[the-mad-rat1]

Maybe frisk doesn't mind being controlled as much as Kris because, get this: frisk is a young child and Kris is already a teenager. What if it's just THAT simple?

In the underground, frisk doesn't have as much reason as Kris to care for your meddling, frisk quite literally has no backstory told to us, we can only catch glimpses of their personality and guess how they became who they are now based on those glimpses, frisk also had no one that actually cared for them to even look after them after they disappeared into the underground, no one came after frisk when they left the underground either, which makes me guess that frisk didn't have much of a proper identity to themselves to have to worry about our meddling, and that's why they didn't fight back much against our decisions unless it went against their tastes, which is quite literally the only bits of their own identity they have, frisk actively hates soda, therefore when it is a possible option, they quite literally do not let us make that choice, completely ignoring the existence of the soda and making us choose something else entirely or just making the choice for us sometimes, frisk doesn't know how to count above 10 (which is a very fun coincidence, thanks to that newsletter about how 9 is the biggest number) frisk makes different expressions independent of our input, and actively did the last hit on sans without our input either (that makes so much more sense than chara possessing frisk, for the love of God, Chara goes on a rant about how they literally just woke up right now in the damn geno cutscene, you stfu) and among other things, frisk is a individual, but doesn't care for our meddling as much as Kris, because they don't have much reason to care about it, both you the player and frisk are thrusted into a new world, and frisk trusts our judgement more than anything, imagine it like you're an adult dragging frisk around, they believe you know what you're doing and go along with it because you are the adult here, not them, one thing I also noticed is that frisk really has no concept of what's right or wrong either, they trust your input so much that they actively do your bidding because of that possible trust, now the question that should be asked is: how long has the player been controlling frisk for? The cutscene of the human falling in the beginning is supposed to be Chara, which really allows us to theorize if the player and frisk have been hanging around for way longer than we think, maybe it explain why frisk doesn't fight back against us? Food for thought, we can talk about it later.

And now: KRIS. KRIS. KRIS;

Kris has way more reason to care for our meddling than frisk because they literally already has an identity and really cares about it, they are a teenager, so they already lived through a lot and has built themselves a identity that they really care for, and already has a sense of right and wrong too, so they literally cannot trust us like frisk can, frisk doesn't fight back much against us because they literally have nothing or no one in their personal life to have a reason to fight back, unlike Kris who has, family and friends all over a small city basically, they literally cannot afford to have us toy with their life like we are and that's why they actually tries to fight back, and has actual agency to be bothered about the things they're seeing.

So basically "Frisk isn't showing signs of being traumatized because that is only gonna pop up later in their life, unlike Kris who can spot when something was super messed up straight away and actually thinks about it."

Thank you for reading my ramblings.

[redux-iterum]

There haven’t seemed to be any strongly neurodivergent coded cats in the story yet (unless I missed them LOL that’s very possible for me), so I was curious! Would their clan mates be more accommodating to whatever they struggle with, or would it be seen more as a personal failure since they don’t have concepts for these things? I know that many end up as seers, but surely others wouldn’t fit in that role too. I know they are very community focused and don’t expect everyone to be good at everything— but would those with social deficits, attention span issues, or sensory issues end up in conflict with their clan mates? Would a clan cat understand tics or stims? I know that it probably wouldn’t be explored in detail in any of the books, since the focus is more on the communities at large than on one or two individual characters like in canon, but I like to make up my own cats with two of my friends based on this lore and I would love to hear a little about how neurodivergent cats interact with their community outside of the seer role!

I'll give you this for now: a major character in the third arc will be neurodivergent. I hesitate to use any specific labels, because these cats don't experience mental disorders or conditions the same way humans do (both for plot and worldbuilding reasons), so I won't be using them except as a comparison. I guess the best I can say is that this character will lean very hard into traits you'll see most often in autism, even if they aren't one-to-one with it. Along the way, as we plot out the second arc, we may add in more divergent characters (or alter characters to be divergent), but I won't declare it as a certain thing, in case we don't or can't get to it.

Now, for the lore questions! I'll give a rundown of the big information here, so we have a main post to link to people when they want more context:

We've mentioned before that conditions that affect the brain are not super easy for the Clans to handle. They can understand a broken leg, but (for lack of a classier term) a broken mind is invisible, and you can't just fix it with licking a wound clean or giving someone prey until they can get up and go hunt themselves. This is mostly in the cases where one hallucinates, or is severely mentally handicapped, or struggles with suicidal thoughts or depression - the Clans do not have therapists or a rank specifically built to handle such issues. The best they often can do is provide physical care and work around these disorders to keep the cat alive and as happy as they can be in the Clans. That doesn't always include becoming a seer.

Gooseleaf was extremely lucky that he happened to be in tune with the spirit world and became a seer apprentice, otherwise his schizophrenic episodes would have landed him in the elder's den as soon as he got his name. There have been plenty of challenged cats (and other disorders are included in this) that were just regular warriors, and some became elders quickly in their lives (though there have been perma-apprentices before, but they're treated as elders are all the same). It all depends on the severity of their condition and how it affects their quality of life.

As far as the Clans are concerned, you do the best you can to contribute to your community, and if you simply can't because you're mentally a kit or beginning apprentice, or you can't do much more than sit there and stare at nothing, then it becomes time for the community to contribute to your survival. Often, this includes retiring someone early, or limiting them to staying near or in camp if a caretaker isn't around. In some cases, these cats do end up going to the Houses - not that anyone wants to do that, per se, but sometimes it's just better to let the apprentice who can't learn basic hunting or fighting techniques go be a kittypet, where they'll be safe and warm and cared for their entire life.

The way a Clan decides if a cat needs to leave the territories entirely is pretty simple: if the cat is in significant enough danger from their issues that they need a guard with them at all times, even when they're in camp, it's just not a life anyone considers worth living. The Clans may have contempt for kittypets, but they're not fools; they know that kittypets live longer than any other class of cat in the known world, and they don't have to struggle. The logic then follows that their challenged Clanmate won't have to struggle either, so it's best to ensure their safety and happiness and take them to the Houses. Not anyone's favorite thing to do, but they consider it for the best.

Now, for less intense disorders, such as cat-ADHD or cat-anxiety (simply referred to as "nervousness"), where the cat can function but just has a few "quirks", no one would probably think twice about them as anything but that cat being that cat. Little Cherrypaw is just a fidgety molly who's easily distracted, she can't help that. Better get her a mentor who can keep her active and help her focus in her best way. Oh, and Ravenkit? Yes, yes, he's scared by default, so let's all approach him carefully and back off when he starts to shake. Hey, don't get upset with Mosstail, she's wandering in her mind again. You know she does that sometimes. Don't shake her, she'll get upset and yell. Just let her come back when she's ready.

The nice thing about Clan life is that the community adjusts to whatever issues crop up as quickly and as well as it can, because they need to work together to survive. This can cause friction sometimes, yes, as we've seen in CL with Bluestar - some things are harder than others to work around. But warriors care deeply for each other by default, and they'll do whatever it takes to keep each other alive and happy. If that means taking extra precautions to keep a wobbly cat standing, or letting an apprentice sprint off their energy until they can come back and focus again, or learning how to speak in sign language with a deaf warrior, then they've got no problems with that.

[musicfranchisetournament]

propaganda under the cut !!

paradox live :

ive seen my friends talk about it and also theres this really pretty girl i thibk her name is anne? i wanna kiss her mwah

The world is set in the future where the hip hop artists have these cool Phantom Metals that produce cool illusions as they perform with the downside of the performers reliving their worst trauma after using it. Every group has their own theme, aesthetic, and music style Every character has canon trauma which perfect for angst Found family It's still going on They do April Fools on the fandom every year (2024 being an ad for a cat game)

charisma house :

genuinely what the fuck. i don't think i've seen a song franchise as bonkers as charisma house and i doubt i ever will. it's so entertaining and the characters are all unhinged in the best way possible. none of them are 100% good people at the end of the day and i think this just makes the whole ordeal even funnier. are you kidding me you have some random 19 yo who invites people to go live in a random house one day and they just go. the songs are so so good (most of the time. stares at my two exceptions) and whenever it's a full group song? they're always parodies of another common popular song which is so funny to me every time i hear them. i love charisma house and will defend it to the days end

It's so silly and entertaining:) the songs are sick and super catchy . The visuals are super unique .. and the concept of these eccentric crazy guys all living in a house together with the power of charisma has some super hilarious interactions.  Also charisma is the power that can save the world.. and if these guys get too overpowered with their charisma they go through yugioh style transformations and break out into song... so there is that little detail<3

they're just ordinary guys. music part aside the story is funny until it gets serious and then it's funny AND heartwrenching. music part?? group songs are based on nursery rhymes and they fucking suck but also go so hard. their solo songs all have their own genres and they're so. Aodhajhfhdhfbd Stream viva la liberation. 

Funny gay people living in a house together and all their songs parody children's songs, and all their music videos are like Cocomelon on crack. They're funny and they have a lovely found family dynamic. Very silly guys, I'm so normal about them.

Never in my life have i seen a piece of media change me this much as a person while doing the bare minimum. Perhaps the fact that it is the bare minimum and i still fell for it regardless says more about its power than any words could ever begin to describe. So utterly ridiculous in the most perfect way possible and so weirdly deep in also the best way possible but without forgetting its still fucking ridiculous. The appeal of Charisma House is that its Charisma House, and that same thing manages to be both its strength and its weakness, but its weakness is so grand it ends up becoming a strength, and perhaps its biggest strength by far. Talking about Charisma House makes me feel insane emotions because you cant describe it as good but you still know fully well its not bad either despite that being the easiest way to describe it. Sooner than later after so many episodes you'll end up realizing you have fell in its trap. Once you start caring. Once you start analyzing the miniscule tid bits of plot. Once all of that starts occurring you will soon come to realize you have been another victim of the mystical power Charisma House has on every single person that watches it. Or perhaps you just dont fucking care after 5 episodes and you leave it at that. This is perhaps the best option for everyone in the world. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but the fact that i still do from time to time is because i want everyone else in the world to experience the unknown horrors of this media project until each and every one of them realize they have fallen down a hole they will never be able to escape. also Awwwww ohsebso cute i like ohse aaawwwww so cute 😍

[felonytaxevasion]

Can I hear more about the worm vs the boys please if you want to expand on it on tumblr? I love worm and I don’t really like the boys and I can't quite explain to myself why

Yea absolutely! Im sure there's some other Wormblr posts out there that go into this in more depth but I can paraphrase what I was saying to my friends.

We were mainly discussing the concept of "edginess" and excessive anger, violence, and shock value in media and I brought up Worm and The Boys as examples so that I could sort of warn my friend about the tone of Pact without directly spoiling anything. My main thesis is that Worm is incredibly super duper edgy, however it doesn't come across as nihilistic and misanthropic like The Boys does.

I feel as though too often The Boys is usually taking the stance of "well humans suck so if you gave humans superpowers they would find unique ways to suck and the only thing separating normal people from monsters is power. So no one should have power" which I don't inherently disagree with to an extent. It's an exaggerated critique of capitalism and celebrity. But it's also such a gross way to look at humans/the nature of humanity.

Contrast with Worm that says "bad people with superpowers will use their powers to do uniquely horrible things. But good people with superpowers will also be out there doing uniquely and incredibly good things for the benefit of humanity. Every human as the potential for abhorrent cruelty. But it is just as true that those same humans all have the potential to do good."

I think it's really important that the two final and most major antagonists in Worm are motivated by nihilism and hatred of humans. Jack Slash and Scion both have the philosophy of "Humans are cruel. The parts of humanity that are good are losing out to cruelty. Why try and fight it. It's easier to just kill everyone". Contrast Taylor who, I'm 99% sure, never for a second questions if humanity is worth saving. Everyone around her in Gold Morning says "there's nothing we can do so we should at least die happy" and Taylor says "I cannot die happy unless I spend every second of my last day fighting for the miniscule chance to save humanity from extinction". Taylor and the fucking insane lengths she will go to save humans when she doesn't even like them all that much is the heart of Worm. (And like don't get me wrong worm is also about Taylor fucking failing to not partake in human cruelty at basically every opportunity. Quite possibly the worst anyone's ever done it. But that doesn't change the fact that she is trying and in the doing is pushing the audience to try as well)

And on the other hand I think the attitude of The Boys kind of just IS Jack Slashs. I honestly cannot even fathom what the take away is meant to be beyond "people are fuuucked up dude". If I wanted to be especially cruel I would say that I think a large majority of fan base for The Boys was generated on the basis of shock value and the incredibly strong performances from the cast. It's easy to get in to season 1 because it presents a horrible world with no redeeming qualities but you can assume in later seasons "they're gonna figure it out! Good will win out! Or at least good will lose for reasons that connect with the audience and make it a tragedy" but three seasons later theyre floundering to find a message and a reason people should care about the world and it's characters.

At the end of the day TLDR I think worm works because it has something to say and uses edge to support the thesis. The Boys exists more as a framework to explore cruelty in fiction and I just don't think it has a lot to say outside of that.

[madam-o]

Re the weird divide in the Beetlejuice fandom, which I really don't get

Fandom is so strange. Just liking Beetlejuice himself as a character has invited all manner of unusual kinks and personal interests into the fandom, and hey, the more the merrier. Beetlefans and netherlings are an assembly of interesting weirdos, so like, you do you. And obviously, this means that you should try not to judge or make assumptions about others based on your own feelings about their interests. Riiiight?

So, Beetlebabes as a ship has been around since the beginning of the fandom, and it certainly seems likely not to be going anywhere with the sequel. Now, my own personal stance on the pairing lies straight in the middle. I think Lydia and Beej have a beautiful friendship in the animated series and musical. They're such a great comedic duo and there's something very pure and sweet about this girl and her bug-man. Their relationship in the musical IS colored by the fact that they're both using and tricking each other a lot of the time, but they seem to have a mutual respect on this point and don't let it ruin their friendship, well until the topic of moms comes up, anyway.

In the movie, it's more complicated. BJ is motivated primarily by his desire to be free and couldn't care less about Lydia's problems. He also gets just a tad creepy with Lydia, though he's not over the top about it. He claims that he thinks that she "really understands me", which is a frickin weird thing to say about a kid who you talked to for like five minutes. But the pervy implications are kept to a minimum so as not to drive the movie into darker territory. His motivations are still kept as primarily a green card thing, although the viewer is still pretty grossed out by the forced, child-bride marriage.

Re BJ, I don't see him as a human or someone who really follows human rules. He's a supernatural creature who has a vague, outsider's understanding of what being human means. Even interpreting him as a ghost and not a demon, he's too different from a human to remember what being one is like. In the musical and cartoon, he relates to Lydia from a child's pov, but tries to behave like an adult with the Maitlands. He's neither, though. He's an unliving, essentially immortal Thing. And while Lydia clearly has a lot of affection for "her monster", she's not exactly into this gross, stinky, creepy old guy. As for BJ, he's very attached to Lydia, perhaps unhealthily so, but he's not being a sexual predator with her.

However, as a Beetlefan, I've seen that it's pretty natural to pair the two up romantically. I certainly shipped them as a kid. And yeah, it's kind of a weird ship, but Beetlejuice as a concept is just weird, period. Weirdness and age gaps are hardly anything new or unique in any part of the internet. Teen fans ship characters their own age with much older characters all the time, and it's not usually frowned upon. But in the Beetlejuice fandom, there appears to be a lot of ship-shaming and accusations of p3d0ph1lia when it comes to this teen/ancient monster pairing, which I'm guessing is a lot more of an internet drama thing than about the actual pairing itself.

Now to be clear, I don't ship teen Lydia with anyone, but I also acknowledge that she's not gonna stay a kid and that things could change between them.

Personally I like the idea of Lydia and BJ being reunited after spending several years apart and things being super weird and tense based on their history. I've become primarily a fan of the relationship dynamic they have in the musical, so I see them as being distrustful of each other and competitive about getting one over the other. But they still gel in a unique way, and they can't help but enjoy their messed-up frenemy thing. And I think the awkwardness of the teen bride thing should be leaned into rather than forgotten or brushed away.

Lydia (to BJ): You really fucked me up, you know. I was just a sad kid who you manipulated. You fuckin creep.

BJ (to Lydia): Yeah but at least I didn't literally STAB YOU THROUGH THE HEART, so...point to me, there.

This type of prickly, antagonistic relationship is like catnip to me, honestly. So it's pretty disappointing and sad that all this fandom drama crap can and probably will affect my ability to share and enjoy beetlebabes content because "beetlebabes dni" appears on so many profiles and posts. It's the kinda thing that makes fandom culture such a double-edged freaking sword. Why can't people ever just let people enjoy the thing they like and try to be respectful of each other, ya know?

[sticks-stones-and-bittybones]

How about a cute little one-shot where the reader visits a friend of a friend and sees they aren't caring for their bitty properly so the reader offers to take them.

They take them home and make sure to spoil them

The bitty is up to you!

I could see this going one of two ways. One it's an abusive thing where the bitty is purposely being neglected like which makes me think of Samson or Room to Grow. They're both really interesting concepts, but unfortunately, they're unfinished.

Samson is like the very FIRST bitty and get's treated like a lab rat being used as the base for all other bittys. Then gets neglected at the lab until one of the 'kinder' scientists sends him to a bitty shop for a chance to be adopted. But he's bigger than the others, he's like a foot tall compared to the pocket-sized 3-in-ones everyone wants, so he gets left at the center for years, watching as any new friends he makes eventually get adopted and taken away. His only long-lasting friend is the first Papy bitty, who was also too big. But then this couple comes in, and they want to adopt Samson, but they won't adopt the Papy too. Samon tries to say no, but the Papy eventually convinces him to take the chance and leave him behind. But it didn't turn out well. They treat him like an unintelligent thing, and he gets punished for making any mistakes or disobeying, especially for talking back. And it just progressively gets worse and worse. It gets cut off at Samson being silenced with a magic collar, and he has to stay in his dog bed all day unless called, or he gets thrown in the cold garage without food. But even that wasn't bad enough cause the boyfriend was looking into starting him in bitty fighting. It's so fucking sad and dark and depressing, and there's no ending so It feels like Samson is being perpetually left in hell! 😭😭😭😭😭😭

The other one, Room to Grow, only has two chapters, but basically, dude is at a party, dude finds, bitty gagged, wrapped in duct tape, and locked in a dark drawer. Dude steals bitty and takes them home and promises to care for them for as long as they want to stay. This one is a lot less dark but still fucked up in that inital scene.

So those are two like super dark ideas that that suggestion made me think of.

Orrrr

It could be a, still very sad, but not like purposeful abuse like the others. I don't have a fic example for this, but a real life thing that could be adapted.

I live in a very impoverished area, so it's very common for people to get pets and then not be able to care for them because they literally don't have the funds to do so. So they often end up having to surrender their pets or find new homes for them.

So a less dark, but still sad idea, would be that the owner genuinely loves and wants the bitty, but they're in a real low at the moment and can't afford to care for the bitty and themselves. So they put out feelers through the grapevine to find someone who'd take the bitty and genuinely care for them. The owner is showing how much they care by going through the effort to vet out potential adopters, by ensuring the bitty would go home with someone who'd love and respect them. And then there would be a heart-rending scene where the two have to say goodbye not only cause they won't be living together anymore, but also because you live 2-3 hours away, so they wouldn't be able to see each other daily anymore... 😭😭😭😭 it'd be soooo saddd

[shinelikedew]

this is probably kinda niche/weird (though I suppose I've crossed that bridge already lmao), but I'm trying to figure out how sex and romance are conceptualized in the different 'verses/adaptations

@hyzenslay discussed some of it here which is great and got me thinking about it

under the cut bc it got longer than I expected:

The book is the most straightforward--romance isn't really a thing for them, which Adams says outright. They're rabbits, they don't have that. They're fond of each other, they can form very strong bonds and care for each other a lot, but Adams never calls it love and certainly not romantic love (whatever the difference between those might be). Mating/sex is seen as something completely neutral and natural and doesn't really have any stigma attached. There isn't even a concept of privacy, since rabbits mate outside--if anything, it's much weirder to mate in a "private" burrow, as is the norm in Efrafa. And there is the whole "breeding stock" issue, but the Watership bucks at least do seem to genuinely respect and care for the does. Also, even as Adams points out it's not the same as romantic love, he does use words like "devoted" to describe the "couples" in the book (ie Strawberry and Nildro-hain, Fiver and Vilthuril), so there is some level of connection and appreciation.

On the other hand, the characters in the 1999 series definitely have a concept of romance, even if the romantic relationships aren't super developed (it's always love-at-first-sight or a timeskip!). They don't talk about sex (except for Hazel and Primrose talking about how they want a million babies lmao) because it's geared towards younger kids, but I wonder how the heavier anthropomorphization would interact with that theme if it were explored in a fanfic. It would probably be a bigger deal than in the book but to what extent? Probaby not to the level of humans given Hazel's very straightforward and earnest attitude about it in 1x9.

The 2018 miniseries also has romance, and honestly it strikes me unusually romance-oriented for a Watership Down adaptation (practically everything Hazel gets up to has to do with Clover or, apparently, his ex-crush Dewdrop. For some reason). I’d have to watch it again to remember all the specifics, but like the 1999 series, the rabbits are emotionally more anthropomorphized than the book.

and a big part of why I want to consider these angles for my fanfics is so I can figure out Exactly What Sort Of Trauma Do The Efrafan Does Have From All That in each version

Because in the book they're certainly not happy about the situation, but they seem more disgruntled than frightened or hurt. The most anyone says is that "there wasn't any pleasure in it" (Vilthuril in TFWD) but mostly officers' attention seemed to be an inconvenience. It doesn't mean much because it's just sex and they're all rabbits--if there's fear, it's because a particular officer might be cruel/violent (such as Hyz being afraid in chapter 35 because she was not physically receptive at the time and would have gotten hurt if it wasn't just a cover). The principle of having the choice seemed to be the main problem.

In the 1999 series it's simply not brought up because sexual assault and slavery is a really heavy topic for kids. but there are parts to be read into

The miniseries is probably the "darkest" in this respect because it includes both the "officers' rights" and a more anthropomorphic approach to the rabbits emotionally. I think the system in Efrafa would be more emotionally significant/traumatic than in the book because of that. I don't have any very strong examples though. And even though it's the first thing to occur to me, I don't know if such attitudes are appropriate to judge based on Clover's fear of Woundwort and his proposition, because Woundwort is an unusually scary rabbit. Anyone remember a relevant situation that might suggest anything?--I haven't watched the miniseries through in a while and don't remember it all.

Thoughts?

[siennaditbot]

Kim Possible x Ron Stoppable ship analysis!

I'll go through the episodes I know have something shipping related and analyse the moments and try to think what the characters are thinking!

Edited the final movie stuff btw! It's better now! Also now with pictures and GIFs!

S1 EP1: Crush

Ron doesn't really like Mankey (says his name mockingly) or the idea that Kim likes him. He later mentions this in So the Drama ("I was never in favor of that but I was there for Kim.")

I like how they're comfortable enough to talk about their crushes. In the past, sure, but now as well!

"We always go together." (To dances? What other "school functions" are there?) I kinda really wish we could've seen one of those. Like it was obvious to Ron that they would still go together! Idk how American schools work and how many dances they'd have been to at this point, but they really must be comfortable with each other to go to dances together like that. Just two pals having fun!

Neither is jealous of the other planning to take a date to the dance. A bit awkward and taken aback, sure, but both seem to be fine with it. I'd say neither is crushing at this point, but as mentioned earlier, Ron isn't fully on board with the Mankey thing even if he helps Kim with it.

Ron might ask all the other girls to the dance cuz he feels a bit left out? Not jealous left out, but a bit lost cuz it's a new situation?

"Contrary to popular belief, I am not dating Kim Possible." Proof that at this point they are aware of the idea of them being together, even if they aren't for or into it. Not a new concept, but not one they'd consider. Ron also tries to help Kim with Josh with this, clearly caring more about their friendship than whatever he thinks of Mankey.

Ron really encourages her to ask Mankey to the dance. "You can handle this!" Sweet guy.

S1 EP8: Mind Games

Small thing but Ron says that Kim is pretty <3 ("smart, athletic, pretty and popular")

Ron (as Kim) has a soff face when they practice cheerleading and are back to back <3 Looks at her, smiles and closes his eyes and leans against her <33 No idea why though. Kim has a similar expression but she just enjoys doing the routine, she smiles the whole time. Could be platonic "I like to be close to her", could be him subconsciously appreciating the closeness in a different way? No major "crushage" though.

S2 EP2: Grudge Match

Kim's had a crush on someone and now Ron has a crush. I don't think they have feelings for each other at this point since both are pursuing other people.

More open talking about feelings. Both are so supportive.

Ron's very aware that people might think they're a couple doing couple things (doesn't want Zita to see them coming out of the movie theater)

Kim's all "yeah, so?" and "you.. and me.. on a.. date?" which imo means that she doesn't think of them dating as a thing that's likely to happen.

Ron, on the other hand, goes "it could happen!" which tells me that he's more open to the idea and has maybe considered it before. Not enough to act on it but is aware and not as much against it as Kim. Still very much thinks of Kim as a friend more than anything else since he's into Zita rn.

Kim goes "I'm gonna say something that I've never said to you before", and Ron seems unnecessarily shocked or interested? To me it seems like he might have expected her to confess or smth like that based on the convo topic, idk.

S2 EP11: Exchange

Ron is clearly interested in Yori. Stares and swoons and stuff. Wiggles his eyebrows like an idiot lol. Super happy about her kissing his cheek. ("Yeah I love this place!!") Pointing this out since he seems different when they meet later in S3.

S2 EP13: A Very Possible Christmas

First of all I love how much time Ron spends with the Possible family! He joins their Christmas party <3 Seems like it's not his first time joining, either.

Also Kim, really, a cyber scrapbook of their memories together?? That's adorable. I'd cry too. Platonic but super cute.

Two hugs in this ep. Platonic but super cute.

They're really sweet to each other. Ron wanting to give the best gift to Kim and Kim looking all over the world for Ron.

Lol, does Drakken ship it? He puts them under the mistletoe. Ron found it though... Who put it up? Drakken does put the ribbon thingy on it so maybe he did.

They aren't that awkward about it, but Ron does laugh it off and Kim does give him a quick peck on the cheek. He says a positively surprised "oh" and touches his cheek with an awkward smile. He's a bit taken aback but doesn't seem to think about it too much, and neither does Kim. It's platonic to her it seems?

Ron's more confused than when Yori kissed him, since the girls are different to him? He doesn't celebrate like he did with Yori. Intriguing... "Yeah!!" vs "Oh!"... I think his reaction to Kim's peck is more genuine? Less "mr popular ladies man"?

"Season's greetings from the Possibles"? I see you there Ron lol. He's part of the fam.

S2 EP19: Blush

Again, Ron's not super into the Mankey business. ("Mankey-monkey conspiracy")

Ron says he "Finds the whole 'dating thing' overrated. Who would subject themselves to that?" Is that jealous talk or has he not had great experiences with it before? The Zita thing did crash and burn pretty fast at least. Maybe he also thinks of how Kim turns into a mess around guys? Degrading? Embarrassing?

"So he takes you to dinner, you two see a movie, big tap-dancing whoop! We do that stuff together all the time!" I see you there Ron. He compares their time together to dating...... More to mock the concept of dating than saying that they're like a couple? Does sound a bit jealous though..

He's much more negative towards him than in S1 EP1. Intriguing... The romantic-platonic levels might be changing there..

Kim's call log is mostly Ron. That's sweet. Probably platonic but sweet.

He gives her an awkward thumbs up when he saves her and lets her enjoy the rest of her date. That is an uncomfortable face though, Ron... I'm definitely moving him into the romantic category at this point. He likes her, but doesn't know it?

Kim's still platonic and very into Josh. Maybe.

Sitch In Time:

Could be (and really should I think) read as best friends being separated, but since I already put Ron in the romantic category, it hurts just a little bit more. Still tough to lose a best friend though, so no major "crushage" yet imo.

Ron wants younger teen him to grow to be a "babe magnet" but that's just his typical "mr wanna be popular" speaking. He does dumb stuff like that later as well. Also none of that happened? Time travel stuff?

Oh yeah now we're getting to the good stuff

S3 EP1: Steal Wheels

"Official Ron night". Cute.

Platonic but Kim's jealous of Ron spending more time with Felix.

I understand the whole "he's my best friend!" stuff but also shows how possessive she is of him?

S3 EP2: Emotion Sickness

Ron wants to protect Kim from seeing Mankey with Tara. Sweet dude.

Kim's over Mankey. "Grew apart. Time to move on."

Ron's bummed out about not realizing that Tara used to like him. Doesn't wallow in it though, which seems to me like he never had that much interest in her.

Ron's super awkward when Kim goes all flirty, and I'd say it's because she's not acting like herself. Been odd all day. Says that she's freaking him out. Weird enough for him to run away from her.

Monique asks if Kim liking him is not good and Ron goes "I don't know, it's not that I haven't thought about this.. I mean who hasn't..." Which really tells us that he has considered it before. It's not a new thought to him.

The 'who hasn't' part though? Who hasn't shipped them or who hasn't thought of Kim liking them? I'd say it's the first. People do often think they're a couple so it's once again understandable that he's considered it as well.

Ok, the kiss. He's surprised, but definitely into it. Fully kissing back and embracing her, even though she's "just a friend" to him and obviously acting weird. It's not gross since he doesn't pull back. He's not against it, even if it's a "in the heat of the moment" kinda thing.

If it was Yori or Zita? Would probably somewhat kiss back too. I think he'd have a different expression though. Less content, more confused and awkward idiot playboy? Would let them do "most of the work" and not fully embrace like that? He just wasn't as comfortable with them.

If he didn't already like the kisser? If it was a pretty girl he might have just stood there all confused but let himself be kissed (see Bonnie in S4).

Idiotic grin afterwards? "Whatever you say"? Would probably have a similar reaction to Zita or Yori kissing him, but I still say there would be more awkwardness and celebrating aka babe magnet stuff. Also important to note, he liked those two. Kim is getting a similar - if not better - reaction.

He seriously considers dating Kim.

"What's not to like about Kim? I mean she's smart, cute... Dating could be good, you know, the date thing."

Still, he's super worried about what it could do to their friendship. I read this as him not being ready for it or feeling like it isn't natural - which, of course, it isn't. Being friends is more important than this unnatural thing that's going on, even if he does get kisses out of it.

"We're a great team, but dating could complicate things." Understandable to be afraid of change (he is bad with that), but I think it's mostly how unnatural and sudden it is.

Would probably swoon over any pretty girl talking to him like that, but there is a hint of "I knew Kim was pretty but wow." in there imo. Definitely not a platonic reaction there my guy. Uncomfortable but into it.

"So I guess the crush and everything was all moodulator, huh?" he says while looking sad and disappointed. Guess he did want it to be real after all?

Kim's "Not everything. There's still fireworks." though? Confusing. Is that her straight out admitting that she thinks there's something there? She does say a few eps later when Ron's bummed out about not getting that Yori liked her that "you got me", so maybe she just likes to stay stuff like this?

Also Ron is so happy about her words with his "You think so?" and is a bit disappointed/confused? again when Kim points at the sky.

My headcanon is that Kim's really starting to get feelings and realize there might be something there after this episode.

S3 EP4: Bad Boy

First things first, cozy movie night. Friends do that too, but I've been there. More special if there's feelings there. Which both have at this point.

Ron hasn't managed to get a date with him before (to a wedding) and goes "Unless.." and looks at Kim. Immediately awkward, tugs at shirt, looks away. He considered her a date-date for a bit there.

"Not that I'm asking you." That wouldn't be as awkward if there were no feelings there. Friend date. Both are thinking of a date-date. Which is awkward to think about cuz they're still just friends.

First time Kim seems to actually react like Ron does. Awkward and in denial. Both label it as awk-weird. See above.

Ron is intrigued about Kim liking bad boys. Both that and girls liking bad boys in general cause more babe magnet shenanigans. Definitely tryna attract other girls though.

"Thanks for being my date- uh, friend", he says. They do go together, and everything's fine. A bit funny of Kim to make sure he doesn't think of it as a date-date though. Maybe she just hasn't accepted her feelings yet? Ron's happy to call it a date though.

S3 EP9: Overdue

Shego asks Ron where Kim is, and he goes "She's not my girlfriend!" very suspiciously. Leaves me a bit confused though. At least shows that he's been thinking about the possibility? Linking the gf term to her as well. Such denial can only mean he'd prefer the opposite.

"Ooooh... Awkward...." with a laugh too. That's very suspicious my guy.

S3 EP12: Gorilla Fist

Happy to see Yori ofc, but clearly lacks the "OH YEAH YORI HI" factor. A lot chiller. Over her, into Kim.

Kim's very jealous. If it wasn't obvious before, it is now. She's interested.

I feel like Ron's trying not to make Kim get the wrong idea about Yori when they first meet. "She's not my secret girlfriend!!" type of talk imo.

"I knew he crushed on someone when he was there!" Very platonic of you Kim. Makes one think.. Has she had some feelings for him all this time? There's the "It took 12 stinking years for you to kiss me!" in S4 so it's not impossible. Small, 'not wanting to accept them' kinda feelings she's tryna cover up with other guys? Who knows.

More great denial. Aka the opposite of what she's saying. Very jeal.

Ron's super smug about Kim "freaking over about his friend Yori". Happy about Kim being jealous huh? Dude's so in love already. Cute.

Ron's not super phased about being caught by Yori. Business like usual, nothing special there. No swooning.

Kim asks about their relationship, obviously curious and jealous. More ok with her now though. Shocked about the kiss though.

Ron has a calmer reaction to Yori's cheek kiss than before. Eyes widen and he smiles, laughs in a flattered way? Still different from S2. Immediately tries to explain to Kim what just happened lol.

He's only a bit disappointed when Kim tells him Yori actually liked him.

"Why can't girls be more obvious? - - How am I supposed to know what's going on?" "Well, you got me." Very sus of you Kim. Even says it a bit shyly I think? Indirect confession? Not that indirect though. Ron still misses it.

And finally, some notes from So the Drama:

Cute how Ron grabs onto Kim when they're falling. He know she protecc.

"Captain of the chess team. Or worse." She makes a scared face? An 'oh no' type expression? It's really emphasising how, at least in the context, Ron is anything but boyfriend material to her. I know Bonnie's talk is affecting her, but she really shows no trace about having feelings for him in S3, which she absolutely did have btw!

"Is there anything sadder than going to the prom with your 'just a friend'?" A bit confusing, Kim. Does she want someone else, or does she want to actually go with Ron? As more than friends? Or does she think she's unlovable and a failure n stuff if she doesn't bring a romantic partner? That's more likely, but one can dream.

"I mean, a "date" date would be nice, but a stinking 'bf'..." Another confusing Kim line. She was looking at Ron before speaking. I'm reading it as 'a real date with someone (else? Not actually sure if she's excluding him with that) would be nice, but I wish there was at least a guy', which is pretty much how the Finnish dub put it. It clears this up a little. The tone of the conversation is that she'd like a "proper" boyfriend who's not like Ron and fits better into the food chain etc so this makes sense I think. Kim's so difficult.

"I'm gonna end up with Ron!" "Mom, he's not a guy, he's Ron!" He's "obviously" not boyfriend material! I love denial and whatever but she really doesn't seem to want to accept the idea. Bonnie is affecting her yadda yadda but still! Stuff like this is why I think everything after the confession happens a bit too quickly. She acts like he's the worst case scenario which is a bit odd for someone who kisses him not that much later, right? Is she covering up her existing feelings out of fear she'll be mocked? Has she just not come to terms with her feelings yet? I can't accept her coming to like him only after and because of his confession, that would be too shallow of her, and odd since she was this against it earlier. She's not that desperate for attention. There was definitely something there before, but she's just not willing to see it until he confesses?

Hooked up? "Eww. Kim and me? No, no, no. Best friend since forever but not like that." The denial sounds genuine, I guess he just hasn't realized or accepted his feelings at this point. But then he's immediately uncomfortable by Eric's "extreme steam" comment. "Let's not talk about her that way ever again." To me that sounds protective. He does not appreciate others talking that way about her. Hint of jealousy? Doesn't wanna think about her like that himself? Confusing.

Immediately jealous and uncomfortable with Eric's advances and Kim's obviously positive reaction to him - he knows how Kim acts when she gets a crush. Cue sad montage. It's kinda funny how he still hangs out with them on their dates btw. Doesn't wanna give her up? Friends don't join their friends on dates though. Did Kim's parents make him be their chaperone? Could see James doing that.

More and more jealous as time passes. He angy. Dramatic "cooties in the area"! Understandable. They're barely noticing him anymore.

I always thought he took the pepperoni off the pizza cuz Kim and Eric had a silly moment related to it. He seems like the kind of guy who would like pepperoni otherwise.

Probably feels betrayed as well. Kim was so quick to say bye to him. Barely even looked at him. He could see it as 'Bye bye, this person is more important to me now.'

Still a good friend though and immediately goes to help her find her dad when asked. Manages to act normal as well. (I'm kinda mad about how useless he's in the action scenes btw.)

Ron's monologue about his feelings is the best scene in this movie. I love that stuff. He goes pretty far back as well with the locked braces thing, which is part of the 'she's been with other guys before which I wasn't in favor of but I was there for her' talk. I wonder what he thought of it all back then. He was a really supportive friend at least, helped even if the situation was uncomfortable or odd.

"Something's different now. There's something between us... Who am I kidding? That's not different. Something's been there a long time. I think there's something there. Does she?" Peak. (I've quoted that so many times here, it's so good.) Also now I kinda have proof of this, having gone through a lot of the series just for this post. For how long though...?

He's finally willing to look at his feelings properly and puts everything into perspective. Comparing this to the 'Emotion Sickness' monologues? He's less afraid of change. He's feeling different enough to want to actually go for it this time. The situation is more dire, but more real.

"There's something there". Does he figure out that Kim's been showing signs of feeling the same? The "Does she?" is probably him wondering if she's realized it too. The "something" could be anything from S3's awkwardness to smaller changes in their dynamic from S1 and before. Suddenly not going to dances together and having to think about this stuff more.

He's actually saying that he wants to date her. "Kim's worth [telling her about my feelings even if it's humiliating]!" "What if I start yapping about my feelings and she chooses Eric and not me?" Just the 'realizing his feelings' talk is great, but he actually wishes she would choose him as her boyfriend. Proper acceptance of feels right there. No denial whatsoever. He will hide it for Kim's sake, but he wants to date her. (I love this soff dude!!)

Dude's skilled for being able to act like he didn't just realize and accept a lot of scary and life changing feelings. Chooses friendship over any jealous and possessive behavior, even if it is a bit tough at times. Gets a bit smug when they do decide to go save the world though.

Tiny cute detail: when on the scooter together and Ron drives, Kim holds his shoulders, but when Kim drives, Ron has his arms around her/hands on her hips.

Confession scene. (Peak Ron for getting Kim out of her "pity fiesta" btw.) He's simply saying that a guy, a real guy that's good for her, exists, and that he's here, about to say 'someone like me'. A bit of a roundabout way to say it but it gets the point across. Mostly saying it to make her understand that she's not unlovable? There's a hint of 'guess this is a good opportunity to shoot my shot', too, but in a selfless way, not asking her to like him back. Just wants her to know so she can get her groove back. He thinks they could work. (Includes himself in "guys that are better for you than Eric")

Kim's reaction confuses me a bit once again. "Oh. Really?" She's happy about it, sounding hopeful too? 'Didn't think he actually liked me' surprised? 'I'm not unlovable' surprised? Both? 'It wasn't unrequited after all and I shouldn't have been afraid'? Why she so difficulttt

Kim's oddly flirty when hurrying to the prom, but the prom scene itself is adorable. Them being awkward about the change. Some distance inbetween that Rufus gets rid of lol. Stuff's different but they're still themselves.

Soff kiss with the soffest gazes I've ever seen. A bit quick to get there, but adorable. The point of a proper kiss is that both are in on it, and here they are. Better than the 'Emotion Sickness' kiss, but Ron's even more comfortable and less lovestruck with it. He knows it's real this time and that he's ready for it now. Kim's also finally getting over the food chain talk and really accepts her feelings for him. Feeling like 'This is still a bit odd, but it's him, and it's alright. I trust him more than anyone else. He's safe, and this feels right." or smth?

Is it finally done? This took... Almost 7 hours. It's 3am right now, so it might've started to get messy halfway lol. I hope someone out there gets something out of all this hard work.

Extra few hours (like 5, one edit didn't go through...) from editing after waking up. The movie stuff makes more sense now!

[syndrossi]

Bit of a non-resonant question for once:

What program do you use to write with? Any particular fonts or techniques that help get you in the writing zone? Do you edit as you write or write and then edit after you have a skeleton/base finished?

Ah, love me some writing questions!

Writing program

For my very early fandom life, I liked to use Wordpad (rather than proper Word) because it was very simple but still allowed basic formatting and didn't have Word's annoying "suggestions" that I always ignore.

Then I bought Scrivener, which appealed to me because it let you organize your writing into "folders" almost, while allowing you to still easily switch between separate bits of writing and view the work as a whole. I loved it because I'm always playing with concept work or alternate POVs, and it let me organize all the related bits around the main work. I still use Scrivener to organize my D&D games that I DM!

These days, I tend to use Google Docs for easy syncing. I like being able to write and read my work everywhere. I mostly write at my desk, but will reread and edit occasionally on my phone (at home or elsewhere) or on my laptop when I'm lounging in bed. One thing I used to do, in summer of all things, was take a nice long soak in the bath and reread Resonant before starting work on a new chapter. It's too long these days to do that, alas!

I don't love Google Docs itself, because I really do miss the organization Scrivener gave me. (Scrivener would be amazing for the Halloween prompts, honestly!) And the single doc that holds all of Resonant is starting to choke a bit on its size. But the convenience keeps it as my writing tool of choice for now.

There was one other piece of Scrivener-esque paid writing software I looked at a while back that sync'd its content in the cloud, but I remember not being super blown away by it and I've forgotten the name.

Getting into the zone

This is usually a matter of rereading the current chapter or the previous chapter to get my head in the right place, both in terms of tone and flow. Sometimes, if I'm feeling very fancy, I'll light a scented candle. But I'm a pretty basic person. It's usually just me deciding "okay, enough screwing around, let's do some writing" and then I write. (In the past, when I was strict about reaching 1K/day and was struggling with a particular section, I would give myself the "treat" every 100 words of a short break.)

I had a period where I only felt "in the zone" when the sun was still out, which makes things hard when you work a 9-5 job and have to take care of dinner/the dog after. Fortunately, that phase is over and I'm back to writing whenever. That phase was odd because I am more typically a "can't really get in the proper zone until midnight" person. I would say that most of Resonant was written between the hours of 10PM and 4AM.

The hardest things for me to write are new characters and new POVs, as those usually involve me refreshing myself on the body of work for that particular character (rewatching them in the show, and rereading their bits in F&B). Not applicable to OCs, usually, unless they're Essos-related characters, because those involve a lot of interpolating of the few scraps GRRM has shared of the Free Cities.

Editing process

I'm pretty much the opposite of a skeleton writer. 😅 I'll constantly edit myself as I write. There's a certain minimum level of "acceptable" I have to maintain to move onto the next paragraph, with the sole exception being the heavy writing months with my word count minimum where I just wanted to be done for the night. That said, I do on occasion make use of [finish this scene] or [name this later] or [figure out how this works] injections.

And since I reread the current chapter when getting into the writing zone, that usually means doing light editing as I go if an easy fix to something I wasn't happy with occurs to me.

Sometimes, a particular stretch of scenes or chapters doesn't "feel" right, and I have to rewrite, remove, or add entire scenes. That's usually done at the start of a writing session and sometimes takes up the entire time.

The day before posting is the "final edits" day. It's where I fill in any brackets I left behind, and edit the most stubborn bits I wasn't happy with, until everything is close to 100% satisfaction. I definitely do the most editing of a chapter in this span, and often this adds 500ish words to a given chapter. I've had chapters where I was already pretty much completely happy (ch13 comes to mind) and I just had to do a basic grammar/flow check. Those are nice, they take no more than an hour. Others, I'm burning the midnight oil to fill in the blanks and figure out how the heck to fix a particular sentence or phrase of dialogue that's been vexing me.

[eldritch-elrics]

i finally watched the backrooms webseries by kane pixels!

because "weird architecture"-based horror is one of my absolute favorite vibes, i knew i had to check it out eventually. and i'm glad i did! overall it's astonishingly well-done, especially from a technical/effects perspective. very good visual design, audio design, etc.

under the cut i'll add some more detailed thoughts + criticisms!

things i liked:

pretty much all the found-footage episodes are extremely well done. there's real tension! it's super spooky! my favorites are the ones entitled "pitfalls" and "found footage #2." i really enjoy how the creator is able to innovate on the concept of the backrooms, keeping things visually cohesive while branching out into various styles of architecture. i don't think i can do them justice other than to say that the vibes are perfect.

i also found myself more invested in the main "plot" of the series than i thought i would be. i like the interactions between the scientists/explorers; they're both fun and also realistic-feeling. while the introduction of async (the shady corporation trying to expand into the backrooms) initially made me go "what a cliche!" - i think their goal of ~solving the housing crisis~ by building shitty homes in a dangerous alternate dimension is pretty unique and interesting. i love the parts where it's clear they're rushing the job of making the backrooms "habitable" because they want to impress investors. it's not what i expected from the series, but i'd love to see more of that. always gotta respect a horror series with concrete themes.

also, this is very specific, but i like how the explorers have lots of lingo and safety procedures. that's an important part of making something like this actually feel naturalistic. i am convinced that this is a real, government-funded investigation!

neutral observations:

while i don't think it's fair to call the backrooms webseries cliche/unoriginal, it's clearly building heavily off of preexisting media. kane pixels's youtube channel makes it clear he's a portal fan - that's absolutely an inspiration here. there are also heavy vibes of control (2019 game) and annihilation (2018 movie). since all of these are things i like, i'm happy! and i think the webseries is doing a unique spin on "shady government project sends scientists/explorers/etc into surreal alien phenomenon." but at the same time, i find myself questioning why it always has to be a shady government/corporate project. for sure, it lets you investigate themes like "the limit of science" and "how much control do these organizations have over us and do they really care about our safety" and fun things like that, but i would have been equally happy if it wasn't doing that trope again.

i also have no strong opinions on the idea of introducing monsters into the backrooms. some people have strong opinions on this. i think the monsters add to the tension in fun ways. i like how inhumanly they move! and i like how it's implied (ish? at least this is my theory) that the monsters are mutated forms of people who've gotten lost in the backrooms. and how they have this kind of fungusy vibe...

for the most part, though, the series is scariest when there aren't any monsters around. but the threat of monsters keeps tension high, and i like how they're integrated into the plot so far. it's less about monsters being present and more what you do with them, i think?

criticisms:

my biggest criticism might seem like kind of an unfair one, but it's central to how i view found footage as a medium/genre. fundamentally, to me, found footage is about medium-as-plot-device - the camera is a character, the editing is done by people in-universe, and there should be a strong feeling that the work is presented the way it is for a diegetic reason (even if we don't know what that reason is).

the backrooms webseries consistently fails to convince me that it is entirely shot and edited in-universe. one might say "but it isn't trying to be convincing in this way," but i don't think that's true - the way the episodes are labeled with dates, and the way everything is cut together, makes it seem like it's presenting curated videos from the fictional 90s. it's possible other people are more lenient about "what a found footage series should be," or if they classify backrooms as "found footage" at all! but the way i read it, its particular priorities as a found footage series seriously clash with my own definition of what a found footage series should be concerned with.

i find it particularly jarring when it's playing spooky music over cut-together photos and video. even if async is supposed to be sinister, why would they make videos that so obviously paint them that way? is somebody else supposed to have created some of these videos? if so, i would have liked an indication of who and maybe why, even if it isn't really explained! the final episode (for now) does this pretty well - presents itself as an internal communication to be shown to other async employees. the episode "motion detected" is also really good: it's clear what purpose the video has in-universe. but others, especially towards the beginning of the series, feel jarring because their creation isn't so grounded in the universe.

there are also segments where the filmmaking language shifts from found footage to cinema. see, i think i understand why these segments are here, but i simply do not think it works at all. when you create found footage, you, by nature of the medium, make your viewer extremely aware of the camera as an object. when the series shifts into a cinematographic mode - filming and cutting between actors like in a movie - it feels incredibly fake. (see the episode "report" for an example of this.) who is filming these people? why? why cut stuff together in this way? i get the sense that it's supposed to be an "objective" view of stuff going on outside the backrooms, stuff that no in-universe cameras are supposed to see, but if that's the case, the series's chosen medium has already undermined any sense of objectivity here, since previous episodes have taught us to question the camera. i do hope any continuation to the story addresses this! i would love to know why async is filming themselves like this! and it's always possible that the cinematic language is supposed to make the viewer feel uneasy. but idk. i'm not a fan

overall, the backrooms is truly excellent found footage horror. when it stops being found footage, though, the found-footage-ness of the rest of it can't help but make me stop suspending my disbelief!

[flecks-of-stardust]

yo you think the iterator and void worms are stronger than the higher beings?

i've had this ask sitting in my ask box for a while now, and now i actually have the time and dedication to sit down and think about this. so sorry for leaving it for so long, shit happens djsngjs the tldr answer of this would probably be uh. how are we defining each of these things exactly?

under a cut because i am verbose:

so first of all. what do you mean by 'stronger'? what metric are we using here? are we talking about theoretical knowledge? ability to do Something? capability of damage? it's hard to say which of these is 'stronger' when they're such different things. sure, the iterators call themselves biomechanical gods, and compared to slugcat? yeah, they absolutely are. but that's very much not the same thing as a higher being, they can't really be compared. same goes for void worms. all of these also depend on how you interpret each of these things. in other words, take my answer with a grain of salt, since some of my own headcanons are rather specific.

when it comes to knowledge, i personally think iterators and higher beings are fairly evenly matched. iterators are highly advanced, highly efficient supercomputers. given enough time and sufficient resources, they can theoretically find the answer to anything (except, obviously, the great problem. but we're not considering that here). for me, higher beings are sort of similar? they're not really omnipotent; they could be, i guess, but the state we see the higher beings in in hollow knight suggests otherwise to me. but they have all of eternity to learn and research and find the answer to something. of course the timescale of iterators is more finite, but for many questions, i think both iterators and higher beings would be able to find the answer. so i don't know who would necessarily win in this regard. i'll discuss void worms later on.

as for ability to do... whatever, it really depends on what that something is. i'm saying that a lot, but seriously. understanding the flora and fauna around them? both iterators and higher beings probably have it down pat. make social connections with those around them? possibly trickier for higher beings because of their status, but probably not an issue for either of them. creating... things, be it purposed organisms or. uh. children? sure. not a big deal for either of them, provided the iterator has enough resources.

capability for damage though. i'm assuming this is probably closer to what you mean by stronger? because. come on, iterators are buildings. they're gigantic, super high tech, but ultimately sessile buildings. if you mounted missile turrets on an iterator can i guess they could do ranged damage? but otherwise their capability for damage is mostly limited to brain blasting the poor slugcat that pissed them off too much i think. (and the rains, but that's not really the same thing.) their field of influence is very limited to their own facility grounds and what their technology allows them to do. higher beings, on the other hand, have magic at their beck and call. obviously this also depends on how you think their magic works, but for me it's based entirely on what the wielder can think of and whether they have enough energy to execute the action. so theoretically? higher beings can do anything. they could level an iterator if they wanted to and had enough energy to, and the iterator wouldn't be able to do shit. i guess in a way this makes them stronger? i think it's kind of a moot point, they're just really different things.

void worms? i don't have a clear concept of what i think they are. i have some theories, which involves some uh. fourth dimensional mumbo jumbo terminology bullshit, but in short i would consider them more fundamental than higher beings are. kind of. they could. theoretically beat higher beings on all of these metrics, i guess? i just don't think they'd care enough to ever bother. they're kind of just vibing in the void sea i think.

so uh. i guess my final answer is i don't know. depends on a lot of things.

[rustycottoncandy]

It's funny how you can just create stuff. You don't need a license, you don't need a special permission and neither do you need to be a genius or professionalize in anything to make up something and call it your creation. You can just create stuff.

You can think of a concept and expand it with more concepts. You can think of an idea and build it into a monument with just words or images. Perhaps not even that at all, they can also be just thoughts. You don't even need to write a book to create a story or a character; you're not obligated to. They can just stay in your head as concepts and will still be great.

You can create anything you want: from different realities, to new species, languages, cities, universes, and even hundreds of characters.

You can create somebody and base them off of things you have lived or make them the complete opposite of what you've seen and done, or just make somebody and build them up as time goes by, without a clear direction. They don't even have to be super complex, you can also try to make a character and leave them as a WIP, and that's fine, because you can be messy. That applies to stories, too.

In terms of imagination and creativity, there are no limits to what you can or cannot do unless you set them yourself. You can go nuts if you want and create something terrible, even, and it will be fine because you'll be following your rules alone. You don't need to be driven by morals in your imagination. You are just as allowed to create a heartwarming story as you are to create the most messed up shit that could ever cross your mind and they'll both be great.

Creativity and imagination are and will always be beautiful. Fiction is beautiful.

Creativity is like a harmless anarchy that rules upon your mind. There's no rules and with them come no laws. Any rules that you want to add would be set and controlled by yourself alone, which I guess would turn the anarchy to a tirany, but even then, you could still break your rules because that's what creativity is all about. Breaking and following rules, making up stuff, imagining stuff or sometimes simply wondering stuff. Anything that you make up in your mind could be considered creative, regardless if it follows or breaks a rule or two. Regardless if it's moral or not, something made up by you will be considered creative and thus be beautiful. Creativity is beautiful.

Fiction applies to made up stories, concepts or characters — well, general concepts, basically. Everything considered fiction is made up. In other words, they're lies. A fictional story is a lie with fake people in it that follows events that never actually happened. Fictional stories are lies, yet they're still able to make us feel real feelings. Isn't that beautiful? They're able to make us care about what they explain and tug our hearts, both nicely and badly. A fictional story can make you cry, but it can also make you laugh, or frown, or - well, it can get a reaction out of you, that's what I mean. You can have negative or positive emotions towards a fictional character or something they have done, and those feelings will be real. Their actions will be made up, but your feelings will be real.

Last year, I read Radio Silence, by Alice Oseman, and I always got extremely angry whenever one specific character appeared. I would be reading at class and turn to my classmate to complain about something that specific character had done or said, or generally about her existence. There'd be times during which I had to stop reading, even. How beautiful is that? How amazing is it that somebody can make a character able to cause real, strong emotions on a living, existent person? That someone can make up a fake person, somebody who never existed, and cause other people to feel genuine hate towards them? Or the other way around, make others love their creation? Their lie? The fake little creature inside of their brain?

I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself the way I want to, but it's late and I'm tired, so let's blame any expressive mistakes on the time, shall we?

Reading something that somebody else has written or hearing them talk about something that they have created is, in a way, getting a peek of their mind.

When you read a book, you're driving your eyes through a text that somebody else has written. A text that was once a part of their mind and a text that has been read by that person's eyes before they reached your own. You're reading, and at the same time visualizing, an idea that once formed part of someone else's mind. You're sharing their thoughts and exploring their ideas.

When you read, listen to, or watch something that somebody else has created, you're not only witnessing a story. You're being guided through the creator's mind and discovering part of their way of thinking. You're getting to know a part of them. A very small part of them, at that, but you are. You're getting to know the characters they care about, the scenes and places that have once caressed their mind, the concepts that they once embraced and the ideas they once had. You're witnessing them with your own mind and at the same time sharing them - living them, even, if you're too invested in whatever you're watching, listening to or reading.

Fiction is beautiful.

[the-firebird69]

And we like the ideas and we like the fact that our son is searching and searching and finally found something and he found something and it's in Oregon and bja owns it and it's a failure cuz he's going off a very old chassis and nobody bought it and it's too weak of a motor he thought it would work because it's a light shell and that's pretty much how much the other ones weigh but it doesn't work because the shell is too heavy and they made it a different material. Ourselves pretty light and it's not lighter than his but we use a different chassis and would beef up the suspension and that's it we're going to start making them and to look pretty much exactly like a Humvee Bob Marsh Mack Mike 2 and a bunch of people over there so going up there to look at this they said it's a super idea it's got the wrong chassis and they have chassis too they're going to make it more like the Hummer too and make it high performance and it's a great idea and this house been going and bja is mad at both and we don't care and he's going to go up there to Oregon and to Washington State and get his ass kicked and we need that cuz he has a lunatic and the phones are lunatics but they want to steal the things and that makes sense that's kind of more reality but BJ's in that case and he has been even when he had full power and he had a lot and he's a loser we hate him. So we're going to go up there too and we're going to be at the same place maybe we're not really going to make it the same way but we want to see how he made it because it came out pretty damn good it says it's like one piece and it just bolts on and they never had success doing that and we'd like to see how because we'd like to do that too it's a real pain in the ass to do it the other way and it's unique the design is unique and it's worth a lot of money because it works that way and we do have some people that have them so we're going to look at ours and see if there's a difference and the design schematics I guess we'll have to do it surreptitiously cuz they're already there this is one of the best concept vehicles I've seen for a long time and we're not going to pay bja a Time cuz he just would not do anything for our son or and was trying to harm our people the whole time and actually if he tries to build these will probably just take them the clothes will anyways but really what a dick that guy is and he deserves this treatment this is a great great concept it's really really nice I said we're too big for it and we're too heavy yes if we had light people and how fast it would go we do have lighter people 250 lb people they go $330 roughly miles per hour with a little performance kit in the desert and about 350 on the highway or more and wow that would be great I mean geez and we have a response team all over the place light response team everywhere and we can start putting bases everywhere small one by one or two by two we're going to start doing that this is going to pay for it thank you very much Brian

Thor Freya

Tell you what you're so mean to me I can't stand it he said good now you know what it's like enjoy. So he said that I guess I deserve it and it's going to keep going this way

Bja

You're not really a rebel you're a huge a****** and you're more or less rude the rebel movement for the warlock except for riding and I can't stand you cuz you're still too dumb to understand that

Zues Hera

My forces are weak and crumbling but not gone but you're right I kind of destroyed us all it's my prerogative and my thing to do

Bja

No it's not you come sucking weasel I want my people back and going to beat the s*** out of you you're a f****** liar too Trump is not saying that I can't stand you you're a liar you're a moron and you're bothering him and cheating him and he has nothing you're a piece of s*** and we're going to mess you up

Jenna

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

I havent written him yet so i dont know the specific formula for good dappering, but ive been a bbh main for a minute so maybe i can help. stand by for info dump. -dapper uses any pronouns! most people in game refer to him with he/him but it's correct to use she/her, they/them, all neos etc. (he is one of five trans eggs, which are: dapper, juanaflippa, tilin, leo, and richas (<- had his gender decided via democratic vote))

-dapper has a dry, sarcastic sense of humour that he uses constantly. hilarious egg. has told cellbit and roier that they're allowed to call him tupperware because, like tupperware, he is their "mom's favourite thing." He throws "pocket sand" at bad and likes to hit him with hammers. The reigning bit right now is bad's "dementia," where every time Bad gets silly about his skeppy obsession dapper will say "DAD TAKE YOUR MEDICINE" and throw splash potions of health at him. If there's a "everyone's thinking it but no one is saying it" moment, then dapper will probably be say it to make people gasp and laugh. -He's the least human out of any of the eggs. a grim reaper in training, and a silly guy who likes to play up the egginess. When richas asked "wait, brother, you don't brush your teeth?" dapper's response was "we have teeth?" Bad lied to both of them about dentists and braces. dapper doesn't know about a lot of real-life concepts unless bad tells him (bad is currently trying to convince dapper christmas = arson).

-he's very smart. he loves the create mod- he's made all of the machines in bad's bases. he's trying to collect every animal and has an entire zoo in his inventory it's incredible. sometimes he dabbles in the occult (his dad IS a grim reaper, after all). he's very nonchalant about all of this but likes to show whatever New Thing he has. he's writing guides to leave to bad so that his dad knows how to work all the machines when dapper dies.

-dapper is. shocked that he's still alive. he did NOT expect to be around this long. a lot of people call bad paranoid but like. dapper was hunted by the code 9 times (and successfully killed 1 time). dapper was hunted by several players in the early days. dapper has seen the danger that bad protects him from, so he'll stop playing and get serious when the danger gets real. bad and dapper take care of each other more equally than any of the other egg-parent groups. -after he died he baked bad apology brownies and apologized. he wants bad to know that it wasn't bad's fault. he's not scared of dying. he's worried about his dad being sad when he's gone.

-dapper and pomme are super close <3 pomme "knows him better than anyone" and she's promised to protect him. When they're safe they like to take their armour off and spin slowly to music. sibling behaviour. when they're scared they'll huddle together. she calls him "dappy" and he'll call her "pomdrapi"

-dapper takes after his dad when it comes to showing emotions- he shows them primarily through actions. yesterday (pomme's birthday, the anniversary of his death) he didn't go to their party, but he left presents at the satellite (place he died) and some signs for bad. Note how he was honest about his feelings, but tried to figure out jokes to "ease the mood" of sharing them, and that he's emotionally aware enough to purposefully do that. here are all the signs- > https://www.tumblr.com/bigboobyhalo/725857491799457793/i-cant-stand-it-here-it-hurts-me?source=share -if he's not feeling social, he won't be social. he'll go hang out with his ants (in a large terrarium in their base) or work on some machines.

-he liked to talk about killing elquackity, but hasn't mentioned it since he was kidnapped :C when bad and maximus killed elq for the second time, dapper was worried. he and pomme discussed safety logistics to protect against elq while the adults talked (make a base 200k blocks out; the dungeon base should be safe, etc).

-stood there quietly with pomme when bad said (paraphrased) "if i have to give up my eggs to protect them, i'll do it." his dad suggested giving him up to keep him safe, and other eggs may have made a big deal of it but dapper didn't, because he understood.

-scared of elquackity now. has developed claustrophobia from the kidnapping. he's rarely helpless because of just how Kitted Out he and bad are, but all of his items were taken from him. i wouldn't be surprised if he would be twitchy about being made helpless.

-he likes to hang out with ramon! they're triplets (leo is the third) and when left alone for an entire second ramon and dapper will just start beating the shit out of each other with hammers. he's got that sweet sibling relationship with pomme, and he's got the cain instinct with ramon

-will drown himself or stand in lava if bad upsets him too bad. will not come out until bad apologizes sufficiently. caves relatively quickly when bad sings you are my sunshine.

-he accepts skeppy as his other dad! he got to talk to skeppy once. skeppy is stuck in a gas station and cant come to the island. dapper once put bad in a cage and tried to get him to admit his skeppy addiction and when bad shot back "dont you miss your other dad too" dapper let him out of the cage.

-after bad lost his scythe, pomme and dapper gave bad a new scythe with full enchantments that they named "sunshine protector"

-i didn't think i knew this much about this egg i will not lie

-baghera is dapper's mom! when bad went away for a while he was going to leave dapper with fit and forever, but dapper wanted to hang out with the french so bad changed the plan :3 dapper asked baghera to be his mom. etoiles might be his adopted dad, too? but i wasn't paying attention idk

-etoiles thinks dapper is SO COOL and dapper will happily share cool shit and facts with him. etoiles also thinks bad is cool and joins me in the "bad should go batshit and kill things" club.

-you know that thing where when streamers are afk the eggs will stand in front of them and talk to chat? dapper pioneered that with Dapper Time. there's a whole little area set up in bad's base for it it's very cute. bad's chat is called "ghosties" and bad keeps us all locked up in a bell. sometimes he'll 'let us out' and act like the resulting blue area effect animation is chat given form in-game.

-dapper is just generally p casual, day-to-day. casual guy who wears a top hat all the time. again, very sarcastic, dry humour. witty. silly. aware that danger is out there and prepared to deal with it. won't panic dramatically, but still obviously affected by his fears. he spends the most time with bad and pomme (and richas, who will come hang out with them a lot).

-help me i wanted to share some pomme facts too but i know Too Fucking Much about dapper. here's an example of pomme and dapper's relationship at its most vulnerable. https://www.tumblr.com/kadextra/725859725091192832/dapper-left-gifts-at-the-satellite-dish-where-he?source=share

-and some generally Fantastic pomme thoughts. https://www.tumblr.com/odusseus-xvi/725196517022072832/pommes-parano%C3%AFa?source=share

here the same person points out really fantastically the ways pomme can be mischaracterized, and what she's actually like https://www.tumblr.com/odusseus-xvi/724634251456331776/pomme-the-french-egg

Does anyone have any tips on how to characterise the eggs? I've been wanting to write a fic with the eggs as main characters but the only thing holding me back is that I don't know some of the eggs that well. Specifically, Dapper and Leo as I don't really watch much BBH or Foolish and Richas and Pomme because of the language barrier.